Warning : minor spoiler for current Inuyasha manga. Just a hint at it, but I suggest you read the current chapters.

Note: as I see Rin when she has grown up to be not young and not old. I picture her to be very polite and formal when it comes to her master. The times have changed and she has become an ideal woman. Rin seeks to truly understand the one that she's loved all this time. The love that she wants from him is different…

Rin Through the Ages

Side Story : She Understands A Little

Age 3X

She's aged quite well. She's never had a child but she once had a miscarriage. Rin the woman that followed her lord everyday was looking at him in a different way. Ever since she understood the way of the world she realized that he was a great being. He was incredible beyond words. He could kill her with a simple stroke of the hand but he helped her, protected her with his life.

"Sesshoumaru-sama where did Jaken-sama take Ah-Uh this time?" She had matured in body and mind. Rin now spoke like an adult and quite politely to her master and to many people if she came in contact with them.

Sesshoumaru shifted his eye to his left and looked at the woman before him. Even he had to that she had matured into a beautiful woman of indeterminate age. But he knew he's always known how old she is.

"Jaken will be away for a few days." He looked away from her because there was a different look in her eyes.

She always had a way of looking at him in a strange way. Ever since she was little he knew that he could not do any harm to her because of the way she looked at him. He could only call that look admiration but as she aged that look changed. The Rin that he once knew had changed completely. She was an adult. Sesshoumaru always knew that she was an adult ever since she went through puberty but he never really accepted that fact. To him she would always be that little girl that followed him fearlessly.

Rin wanted to know him. She wanted to truly understand him completely. Rin remembered when she was still a young child that Sesshoumaru looked really sad when she died. That woman, she might not have had many things going for her but she was kind in her own way. Rin wondered if Sesshoumaru could have loved her or in fact did love that woman from a long time ago. At the time Rin was a little girl but she understood that the woman 'liked' Sesshoumaru enough.

"Sesshoumaru-sama would you like to know what I'm thinking of right now?" She giggled slightly but in a mature womanly way. Although Rin was a woman she was still herself. She waited for a few seconds for his response but she knew that he never really paid much attention to her. He was listening though like he always was.

"I wonder why Sesshoumaru-sama is so serious all the time." She just smiled at him as she got in front of him. Sesshoumaru looked at her plainly as if not amused. He was amused though because she sensed a change in his eyes ever so slightly.

"I bet if Jaken-sama was here he would be scolding me. He would say, 'Rin don't bother Sesshoumaru-sama you little insect.'" She had changed her voice to match that of the imp. Rin knew that she was perfect at imitating him. Sesshoumaru only looked at her for a moment and his mouth twitched slightly. The girl would always be amusing to him.

"How was that imitation?" She smiled at him and started to walk ahead of him. Sesshoumaru followed after her. There were times when she walked ahead of him but he always followed closely.

Rin stopped in mid-step and turned around and smiled at him. Sesshoumaru never noticed but she had grown beautiful and incredibly graceful as well. For a woman that grew up mostly in the wild she was quite well bred. It was as if she were naturally born into nobility. She could have easily passed off as a princess in any country. Rin was already in her thirties but she only looked like a teenager. She had grown much taller as well. All that outdoor activity and food must have made her grow so beautifully.

"It's a good thing that I grew taller than Jaken-sama. He can't bully me anymore." She smiled gracefully at him.

"Don't you think it's unfair to Jaken?" He was quite amused with her. She did grow taller than Jaken and stood quite close in his own height.

"Sesshoumaru-sama don't be mean to me. Jaken-sama started it after all." She ever so delicately touched her stomach. "Well if you'll excuse me I have to get something to eat." Turning to leave she started to walk two steps when his voice stopped her.

"Rin." She turned around and looked at him. That voice that he used was very unlike him. "There's a river nearby. We can take a rest there." He turned away and walked towards the river.

"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama." She bowed slightly as he left her. All these formalities in the world were there for a reason. As a younger child she didn't understand the need for respect, but as she aged she naturally learned to be formal with her lord. Almost all her gestures were formal and gentle like a woman her age should move. Her speech was always formal when she spoke to Sesshoumaru-sama. When she spoke to Jaken she was a bit less formal but still she spoke in complete respect for the two. The only being that she didn't speak so politely was probably Ah-Uh.

Sesshoumaru sat on a rock looking at something in the distance. Rin had tucked her skirts in her sash and rolled back her sleeves. Ever since she had grown up Sesshoumaru never really looked at her. She yearned for him to look at her.

Rin managed to catch a few fish with ease. She might have acted like a noble but she was still a country girl at heart. There was a time in her life when she felt torn between to the two worlds, but that didn't matter out there in the wild. Her lord didn't care either way which almost made her sad because it seemed like he didn't care about her at all but he did.

Holding a fish in her bare hands she watched as it squirmed. After she finished catching her fish she went to get a fire started. Sesshoumaru stared at the spot that she was standing at just a while ago. There would be a day when she would really no longer be with him. He knew that she wouldn't leave him for anyone because she loved him the most. Love was a strange and mysterious thing to him still. Rin would leave because time would take her away eventually. Sesshoumaru didn't think that far ahead, he just couldn't bring himself to finish the thought.

Rin returned with the wood in her hand and started a fire. She stuck a stick through the fish and placed it near the fire. When had she become so adept and independent? He wanted to ask her but he couldn't bring the words to her mouth.

"Sesshoumaru-sama what are you thinking about?" She asked in her innocent voice that eluded ideal femininity. She was beautiful in such a way that he could not understand quite clearly.

"It's nothing." He looked away from her gentle eyes. He had known since the first moment that he saw her that she was special. Rin had a truly kind heart and it hadn't changed through time and it probably never will.

The woman was aging as a normal human would; he had noticed that her long black hair had started to turn grey. She was still a young woman but the grey was still there. Of course she didn't notice it, but he saw the first one from the beginning.

"Sesshoumaru-sama is strange today." She laughed politely with a hand slightly covering her mouth. These lady like gestures when did she have the time to learn these niceties? Sesshoumaru could almost feel the familiar twitch of his mouth.

"Rin is always strange." He said plainly but his eyes twinkled with mischief.

She was surprised that he said that. "That's not true." Rin smiled at him. "I've become strong haven't I?" The woman walked closer to him. "I've always watched you." She slowly and very hesitantly reached out to touch his face.

Sesshoumaru didn't move away from her touch but looked at her hand. She caressed his face gently and he just looked at her plainly. He was so beautiful, truly the most beautiful thing in the world. Her other hand came up to touch his other cheek. This time Sesshoumaru brought up his hand to hers. Gently, he held her wrist.

There was a sharp contrast between the two hands. His sharp nails could have cut her with his poison. His purple stripes marking him as a demon could not be ignored. He looked at both of their hands as he held her wrist gently. This was probably the most affection he was able to show since she had grown up to be a woman.

"Rin." He looked into her eyes. She just smiled gently, but not her usual smile. Her face seemed to tell him that she was forcing herself to be happy for him. "Are you happy with me?"

The question he asked sparked many questions in the woman's mind. What did he mean? Did she approve of him? Or was the question asking about her being happy staying with him. Of course she was happy with him, she would always be happy as long as she was with him.

Sesshoumaru gently let go of her hand. He had waited for a long moment for her answer. She was silent and her face looked sad, he couldn't bear to look at her eyes.

"Of course I'm happy with Sesshoumaru-sama." She hugged him tightly. He instantly noticed that she didn't use her polite language. Rin was speaking from her heart. "I'll always be happy with you." She tightened her hold around his neck. There was something more that both of them wanted to say. 'I care about you.' or 'I don't want to be apart from you.' those words didn't seem to be enough to express their feelings.

I love you.

He didn't respond to her affections but she knew how he felt. She was the only one that ever really understood him.

It was getting late and Sesshoumaru knew that he had to meet Jaken soon. Although he could have made his servant wait as long as he wanted, he knew that this moment must be put behind him, behind both of them.

"Rin." She let him go. "We're going." He gently said to her.

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama." She nodded after him as he walked ahead of her. They didn't say any words but he could feel that although something might have changed nothing really did.

Rin knew that she shouldn't but she had to. It was as if today was the only day that she could show how much she cared for him. Her hand reached out to hold his. Always she had wanted to know what it felt like to hold his hand, would he hold it back? She would always wonder to herself.

Sesshoumaru felt a hand in his palm; he looked to the side and saw Rin looking forward. Letting his hand dangle there, he didn't respond or pull away.

Just like that Rin thought that she understood him just a little bit if not more. Sesshoumaru is an ageless beautiful demon; who didn't love freely but when he did he didn't do it half-heartedly.

END of Side Story

AN: I know I wrote a semi SessXRin story, but this chapter just explores what might have been. I wrote this story while listening to 'Toki no Sabaku' (Desert of Time) by Mica Arisaka; it's from Gundam Seed Destiny. Well, send me an email if you have thoughts, comments, questions for me (please look at my user lookup for my email). Leave a review if you feel the need to, anything is greatly appreciated.

Meryl Lee