[AN]I am so pissed at fanfiction.net right now... I'm considering leaving this site for good, taking all my stories somewhere else, where censorship isnt a problem and spiteful little *bleep*s dont delete stories simply because they despise the pairing. "Unleash your imagination and free your soul" my ass... But anyway, I've calmed down some by now...
Why am I pissed? Naoko2, probably my best friend on earth -AND- my wonderful beta reader, has had three fics deleted in the past week. "Tenseiga Sword of Life" (the second time its been deleted because of "inappropriate content" when it was clearly just because of a pissy anti-sess/rin fan) and "Sesshoumaru My Lord My Love" which was a beautiful fic and an original take on their relationship. Anyway, yeah. It sucks. She's had to move all her english fics up to an R rating to avoid deletion, which is really unfair.
Anyway, without further ado, here's Chapter 3 of Notches in a Cherry Tree.
===============================================================
After about 30 minutes, Rin and Jakotsu had calmed down the cryers, gotten each toddler situated with a toy or coloring book, and put on a Sesame Street video on the television in the back for those that didnt wish to play.
The cousins now sat on a counter spanning from wall to wall, seperating the small kitchen area from the rest of the playroom. The top was a bright blue, the rest painted yellow and red and a waist-high (on Jakotsu, the taller of the two) door with a child-proof latch provided an entrance to the area for the adults.
The kitchen area was tiny, with a tiled floor and wood cabinets stocked with Kool-aid mix, sugar, packaged snacks, etc. There was a fridge with a top freezer, and both were covered in Jakotsu's anime magnets, which held up various crayon drawings and paintings done by their charges.
"Hey Ja... You know what? I've been thinking..." Rin started. Jakotsu chuckled.
"Wow, thats a first!"
"Oh shaddup you!" She playfully thwapped him with two fingers, and he quieted. "Anyway, as soon as the press gets word of this, we'll have reporters swarming the place..."
"And maybe we'll get more business... But that'll mean we'll need more help..." His face took on a thoughtful look.
"Yeah... I wonder if your brother Suikotsu and his fiancee know anyone that would like to help out sometime... " Rin moved her legs so she sat cross-legged on the counter.
"But then again Rin, what if the press never hears about this, or if its just a one-time thing?"
"Then things'll stay how they are. I'm good with that, you? Besides, we'll worry about everything when the time comes..."
"Yeah, I suppo--"
Screams erupted from across the vast room.
"DUN YOU TOUCH KOU!"
"Oh great..." Rin slapped her forehead. It was the Iizuki girl. "I'll handle it Ja..."
She leapt down and strode over to where Aikou was swiftly smacking a white-haired, dog-eared boy with a plastic firetruck.
"AIKOU!" Rin yanked the toy from her hand and pulled her off the boy. Aikou kicked and screamed, scratched and bit, trying to struggle free and get at the poor kid again. "JA! A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Rin was more startled than she had ever been. No child she had come across in her lifetime had ever acted so wild! It wasnt natural!
Jakotsu's eyes widened slightly; he leapt off his perch on the counter and took the struggling girl from his cousin, holding her firmly but gently. "What's going on?! Whats up with her Rin?!"
"Does it look like I know?!"
By now the room had gone silent other than Aikou's screams, and the adults' yelling. Toddlers stared with wide eyes, their toys forgotten.
"Take her out into the lobby, Ja. I'll call Suikotsu and Kikyo. I have a feeling we'll need some extra help..." Rin managed to calm herself, gently picking up the little boy and cradling him. Jakotsu nodded and stepped out into the lobby, trying to calm the Iizuki girl down.
Rin swung the small half-door open and stepped into the kitchen area, then closed and bolted it once more. Sighing, she held the sniffling boy to her shoulder, gently speaking words of comfort. "Shh, its okay Seloce... Its okay... Calm down..."
Little Seloce let out a whimper, snuggling against Rin. "Meanie new girl..."
"Poor Seloce..." She sighed, stroking the boy's hair like a mother would do.
After she had quieted the boy, Rin picked up the phone and dialed the number of her cousin Suikotsu awkwardly with her pinky finger. She held the reciever to her ear, holding it in place with her shoulder. It rang once, twice, three times, before a woman picked up.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Kikyo? Its me, Rin."
"Oh hey Rin! How is everything?"
"Not so good... We have two new charges, the son and daughter of Iizuki Sesshoumaru of Taiyoukai Computers Incorporated!"
Kikyo sounded stunned. "Rin, you're kidding me aren't you?! What would Mister-High-and-Mighty-Peoples'-Magazine-Celebrity-of-the-Year be doing around in that part of the neighborhood?!"
Rin groaned, not answering the question she didn't know the answer to. "His little girl is a monster, Kikyo! She was hitting poor Seloce with a toy truck!"
"Seloce-chan? Is he okay?" Kikyo immediately sounded worried. Rin smiled slightly, knowing he was one of her favorite charges when she was helping out at the center... Not that they played favorites of course...
"I think he'll be fine... I just dont know what caused such violent behavior in a 4 year old!"
"Do you want Sui and me to come down?"
"If you can, that'd be great." Rin was always grateful for the extra hands, and while Suikotsu and Kikyo werent professional child care workers, their jobs did include children and they had taken the proper classes and such.
"Sure, I'll get him and we'll be right there."
"Thank you SO much Kikyo! You're a lifesaver!" Rin said, an instant sense of relief flooding her mind.
"I know," Kikyo laughed. "See you in a bit, ja Rin!"
"Ja, and thanks again!"
The two women hung up, and Rin settled little Seloce down in a corner with a Gundam coloring book and some crayons. He seemed much happier. The blows to his head probably didnt do much; the boy had quite a thick skull, she was sorry to say.
Rin waited in the playroom until she saw the white van that belonged to her cousin Suikotsu and his fiancee Kikyo. She rushed out to greet them, hugging the both of them: her tall, brown-haired, brown-eyed cousin Suikotsu, and the slightly short, dark haired, brown eyed Kikyo.
"We'll go take care of things inside while you deal with the Iizuki girl, okay Rin?" Kikyo said, smiling warmly at the smaller woman.
"Alright, thank you both."
"Any time dear Cousin." Suikotsu said good-naturedly. "Come my darling Kikyo." He took her hand and led her into the play room.
Rin took a deep breath to calm herself. Now to deal with the problem child... Taking a straight, 'I'm the boss' pose, she marched into Jakotsu's office, where he was currently trying to get the child to talk.
"I can't get her to say a word Rin..." He sighed, looking defeated and glancing to his cousin for help. "Maybe you'll have better luck."
"Yeah, I can handle this... You can go help Suikotsu and Kikyo, they just arrived..." She said softly. Jakotsu nodded and left the office.
Rin glanced to where Aikou sat in Jakotsu's spinny chair, gold eyes narrowed... The child almost seemed to challenge Rin's authority, and Rin wouldnt stand for it.
"Aikou... Why did you hit Seloce?" She said slowly, firmly, yet quietly. She wouldnt resort to yelling at a child so young, no, not Miyazawa Rin. Ever since Rin started Shikon Child Care Center with Jakotsu, she found that yelling didn't work as well to let the child know they did wrong, and often made the scoldee erupt into tears.
"He poked Koushi." She said coldly, much too coldly for a girl her age. Must take after her father in more ways than looks, Rin thought.
"But he didnt do a thing to you."
"I gotsta stand up for my brothew, a'cause he won't stand up for himsewf."
"Seloce was just poking him, you said."
"Nobody touches MY brothew wifout going thwough me first."
Rin's eyes narrowed slightly, but she refused to lose her calm tone. "What would your father think?"
"He told me if someone was bein' mean, I could be mean back."
Rin, taken aback, gaped at the girl's statement. Her FATHER told her to retaliate against bullies?! What kinds of things was this man teaching his kids?!
"Well, I'll have to have a talk with him when he comes to pick you and Koushi up, now won't I?"
Aikou didn't say a word; she just glared.
"Now, Aikou, hitting is not appropriate and will not be tolerated here. Okay?" Rin said, lifting Aikou out of the chair and taking her back into the playroom. "If I catch you hurting anyone else, you -will- be in trouble little missy." She set the girl down on the carpeted floor.
Aikou stuck her tongue out at the woman and ran off to join her brother, who was building a tower with blocks.
Rin sighed, sitting on the counter top again. She hated disciplining toddlers, but sometimes it was necessary.
Rin was broken from her train of thought as laughter erupted around a low table, where Suikotsu was seated Indian style on the floor, surrounded on all sides by giggling toddlers. He had a crocodile puppet on one hand and a dog on the other, seemingly telling a story.
Then she glanced to where Kikyo was playing Barbies with a few small girls, smiling and laughing. She was helping them dress the dolls in colorful, mismatched outfits that the girls had picked out.
Rin smiled slightly at the innocent scenes, though a wave of sadness washed over her mind. Sadness for her cousin and his fiancee.
The two had always been wonderful with children, and loved spending time at the daycare. They seemed so happy around the young ones, and had been planning their lives out to accomodate four, maybe even five youngsters of their own.
A trip to the doctor's last year had ruined those plans, those dreams, had nearly crushed their very souls.
Rin couldnt remember Kikyo's exact condition, but the doctor had regretfully told her that she couldn't ever have children. It would kill her, and the offspring.
Unshed tears made Rin's brown eyes shimmer with color. She remembered that day last year when Kikyo had called her, sobbing uncontrollably, pouring out her fears to her best friend.
-=-Flashback-=-
The phone rang late that morning. Rin had been sleeping in, when her slumber was disturbed by the ringing of the phone. Reaching over the mass of blankets that was her bed, she grabbed the phone from where it sat on her night table.
Her eyes widened when she heard loud, hysterical sobs.
"Rin! My god, its awful Rin!" The sound of her best friend's voice reached the woman's ears.
"Kikyo? Kikyo! Whats wrong? What happened?" She felt herself growing tense, panicky. Something bad had happened to Kikyo, or to Suikotsu.
"Rin... I-I went to the doctor's this morning for a checkup... He... He..." The sound of Kikyo's sobbing increased in volume. "He ran some tests..."
"What kind of tests? What's going on? Hey, hey, don't cry, it'll be okay..." Rin wasnt' sure if everything WOULD be okay, but she didnt know how else to comfort her distressed cousin.
"He ran some tests... And he said I... I... Oh god!" Rin heard a soft 'thump' on the other line and guessed that her friend had fallen back onto a chair or something.
"Hey, calm down Kikyo..." Rin said in a gentle, calm voice, hoping to reassure the woman on the other line. "Tell me what happened, it's okay..."
Kikyo's next sentence came out in a tiny, meek whisper. "I can't ever have kids of my own Rin... Never..."
"Oh my god, Kikyo... I'm so sorry..." Rin clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock and sadness.
"He... Th-the doctor said it would kill me and the child... Rin I don't know what to do! I haven't told Suikotsu, I just can't! He... He was looking forward to having kids of our own, raising a family... I can't give him a child Rin! What if he leaves me?!" Kikyo's distressed ramblings continued for nearly a half an hour. Rin let her vent, occasionally speaking a comforting word or two between sentences. Soon her sobs quieted to small whimpers and silent tears.
"It's going to be okay Kikyo, it will... Suikotsu will still love you no matter what... You know that, right?" Rin said softly. A sniffle answered her. "Just tell him the truth, gently of course... He'll understand..."
"O-okay Rin..." Kikyo sniffled again. "Thank you... Thank you so much..."
Rin heard the opening and closing of a slightly squeaky door in the background, and her cousin Suikotsu's usual 'Kikyo dearest, I'm home for lunch!'.
"S-Suikotsu's home... I... I think I'm going to tell him now and get it over with... Thanks again Rin..."
"Of course Kikyo-chan, what else are friends for?" Rin said affectionately, smiling even though the distraught woman couldn't see it.
"Goodbye..."
"Bye, and good luck..." Both women hung up.
-=-End Flashback-=-
Rin had heard from Kikyo that things had went rather well. Suikotsu had hugged her tightly, brow creased in worry, whispering comforting words.
Imagining the scene in her head, Rin had to smile slightly. Suikotsu was going to make such a sweet husband.
And hopefully, a sweet father.
Recently, she knew, her cousin and his fiancee were planning their wedding for September, and were looking into adopting a needy child.
'I wonder if I'll ever get married and start a family...' Rin mused to herself. 'Probably not, considering how my lovelife is going.' Taking her mind away from thoughts of marriage, children, and dates, Rin went to play with Kikyo and the little girls, always keeping an eye on Aikou, who was now coloring with her brother, in case she decided to act up again.
Why am I pissed? Naoko2, probably my best friend on earth -AND- my wonderful beta reader, has had three fics deleted in the past week. "Tenseiga Sword of Life" (the second time its been deleted because of "inappropriate content" when it was clearly just because of a pissy anti-sess/rin fan) and "Sesshoumaru My Lord My Love" which was a beautiful fic and an original take on their relationship. Anyway, yeah. It sucks. She's had to move all her english fics up to an R rating to avoid deletion, which is really unfair.
Anyway, without further ado, here's Chapter 3 of Notches in a Cherry Tree.
===============================================================
After about 30 minutes, Rin and Jakotsu had calmed down the cryers, gotten each toddler situated with a toy or coloring book, and put on a Sesame Street video on the television in the back for those that didnt wish to play.
The cousins now sat on a counter spanning from wall to wall, seperating the small kitchen area from the rest of the playroom. The top was a bright blue, the rest painted yellow and red and a waist-high (on Jakotsu, the taller of the two) door with a child-proof latch provided an entrance to the area for the adults.
The kitchen area was tiny, with a tiled floor and wood cabinets stocked with Kool-aid mix, sugar, packaged snacks, etc. There was a fridge with a top freezer, and both were covered in Jakotsu's anime magnets, which held up various crayon drawings and paintings done by their charges.
"Hey Ja... You know what? I've been thinking..." Rin started. Jakotsu chuckled.
"Wow, thats a first!"
"Oh shaddup you!" She playfully thwapped him with two fingers, and he quieted. "Anyway, as soon as the press gets word of this, we'll have reporters swarming the place..."
"And maybe we'll get more business... But that'll mean we'll need more help..." His face took on a thoughtful look.
"Yeah... I wonder if your brother Suikotsu and his fiancee know anyone that would like to help out sometime... " Rin moved her legs so she sat cross-legged on the counter.
"But then again Rin, what if the press never hears about this, or if its just a one-time thing?"
"Then things'll stay how they are. I'm good with that, you? Besides, we'll worry about everything when the time comes..."
"Yeah, I suppo--"
Screams erupted from across the vast room.
"DUN YOU TOUCH KOU!"
"Oh great..." Rin slapped her forehead. It was the Iizuki girl. "I'll handle it Ja..."
She leapt down and strode over to where Aikou was swiftly smacking a white-haired, dog-eared boy with a plastic firetruck.
"AIKOU!" Rin yanked the toy from her hand and pulled her off the boy. Aikou kicked and screamed, scratched and bit, trying to struggle free and get at the poor kid again. "JA! A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Rin was more startled than she had ever been. No child she had come across in her lifetime had ever acted so wild! It wasnt natural!
Jakotsu's eyes widened slightly; he leapt off his perch on the counter and took the struggling girl from his cousin, holding her firmly but gently. "What's going on?! Whats up with her Rin?!"
"Does it look like I know?!"
By now the room had gone silent other than Aikou's screams, and the adults' yelling. Toddlers stared with wide eyes, their toys forgotten.
"Take her out into the lobby, Ja. I'll call Suikotsu and Kikyo. I have a feeling we'll need some extra help..." Rin managed to calm herself, gently picking up the little boy and cradling him. Jakotsu nodded and stepped out into the lobby, trying to calm the Iizuki girl down.
Rin swung the small half-door open and stepped into the kitchen area, then closed and bolted it once more. Sighing, she held the sniffling boy to her shoulder, gently speaking words of comfort. "Shh, its okay Seloce... Its okay... Calm down..."
Little Seloce let out a whimper, snuggling against Rin. "Meanie new girl..."
"Poor Seloce..." She sighed, stroking the boy's hair like a mother would do.
After she had quieted the boy, Rin picked up the phone and dialed the number of her cousin Suikotsu awkwardly with her pinky finger. She held the reciever to her ear, holding it in place with her shoulder. It rang once, twice, three times, before a woman picked up.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Kikyo? Its me, Rin."
"Oh hey Rin! How is everything?"
"Not so good... We have two new charges, the son and daughter of Iizuki Sesshoumaru of Taiyoukai Computers Incorporated!"
Kikyo sounded stunned. "Rin, you're kidding me aren't you?! What would Mister-High-and-Mighty-Peoples'-Magazine-Celebrity-of-the-Year be doing around in that part of the neighborhood?!"
Rin groaned, not answering the question she didn't know the answer to. "His little girl is a monster, Kikyo! She was hitting poor Seloce with a toy truck!"
"Seloce-chan? Is he okay?" Kikyo immediately sounded worried. Rin smiled slightly, knowing he was one of her favorite charges when she was helping out at the center... Not that they played favorites of course...
"I think he'll be fine... I just dont know what caused such violent behavior in a 4 year old!"
"Do you want Sui and me to come down?"
"If you can, that'd be great." Rin was always grateful for the extra hands, and while Suikotsu and Kikyo werent professional child care workers, their jobs did include children and they had taken the proper classes and such.
"Sure, I'll get him and we'll be right there."
"Thank you SO much Kikyo! You're a lifesaver!" Rin said, an instant sense of relief flooding her mind.
"I know," Kikyo laughed. "See you in a bit, ja Rin!"
"Ja, and thanks again!"
The two women hung up, and Rin settled little Seloce down in a corner with a Gundam coloring book and some crayons. He seemed much happier. The blows to his head probably didnt do much; the boy had quite a thick skull, she was sorry to say.
Rin waited in the playroom until she saw the white van that belonged to her cousin Suikotsu and his fiancee Kikyo. She rushed out to greet them, hugging the both of them: her tall, brown-haired, brown-eyed cousin Suikotsu, and the slightly short, dark haired, brown eyed Kikyo.
"We'll go take care of things inside while you deal with the Iizuki girl, okay Rin?" Kikyo said, smiling warmly at the smaller woman.
"Alright, thank you both."
"Any time dear Cousin." Suikotsu said good-naturedly. "Come my darling Kikyo." He took her hand and led her into the play room.
Rin took a deep breath to calm herself. Now to deal with the problem child... Taking a straight, 'I'm the boss' pose, she marched into Jakotsu's office, where he was currently trying to get the child to talk.
"I can't get her to say a word Rin..." He sighed, looking defeated and glancing to his cousin for help. "Maybe you'll have better luck."
"Yeah, I can handle this... You can go help Suikotsu and Kikyo, they just arrived..." She said softly. Jakotsu nodded and left the office.
Rin glanced to where Aikou sat in Jakotsu's spinny chair, gold eyes narrowed... The child almost seemed to challenge Rin's authority, and Rin wouldnt stand for it.
"Aikou... Why did you hit Seloce?" She said slowly, firmly, yet quietly. She wouldnt resort to yelling at a child so young, no, not Miyazawa Rin. Ever since Rin started Shikon Child Care Center with Jakotsu, she found that yelling didn't work as well to let the child know they did wrong, and often made the scoldee erupt into tears.
"He poked Koushi." She said coldly, much too coldly for a girl her age. Must take after her father in more ways than looks, Rin thought.
"But he didnt do a thing to you."
"I gotsta stand up for my brothew, a'cause he won't stand up for himsewf."
"Seloce was just poking him, you said."
"Nobody touches MY brothew wifout going thwough me first."
Rin's eyes narrowed slightly, but she refused to lose her calm tone. "What would your father think?"
"He told me if someone was bein' mean, I could be mean back."
Rin, taken aback, gaped at the girl's statement. Her FATHER told her to retaliate against bullies?! What kinds of things was this man teaching his kids?!
"Well, I'll have to have a talk with him when he comes to pick you and Koushi up, now won't I?"
Aikou didn't say a word; she just glared.
"Now, Aikou, hitting is not appropriate and will not be tolerated here. Okay?" Rin said, lifting Aikou out of the chair and taking her back into the playroom. "If I catch you hurting anyone else, you -will- be in trouble little missy." She set the girl down on the carpeted floor.
Aikou stuck her tongue out at the woman and ran off to join her brother, who was building a tower with blocks.
Rin sighed, sitting on the counter top again. She hated disciplining toddlers, but sometimes it was necessary.
Rin was broken from her train of thought as laughter erupted around a low table, where Suikotsu was seated Indian style on the floor, surrounded on all sides by giggling toddlers. He had a crocodile puppet on one hand and a dog on the other, seemingly telling a story.
Then she glanced to where Kikyo was playing Barbies with a few small girls, smiling and laughing. She was helping them dress the dolls in colorful, mismatched outfits that the girls had picked out.
Rin smiled slightly at the innocent scenes, though a wave of sadness washed over her mind. Sadness for her cousin and his fiancee.
The two had always been wonderful with children, and loved spending time at the daycare. They seemed so happy around the young ones, and had been planning their lives out to accomodate four, maybe even five youngsters of their own.
A trip to the doctor's last year had ruined those plans, those dreams, had nearly crushed their very souls.
Rin couldnt remember Kikyo's exact condition, but the doctor had regretfully told her that she couldn't ever have children. It would kill her, and the offspring.
Unshed tears made Rin's brown eyes shimmer with color. She remembered that day last year when Kikyo had called her, sobbing uncontrollably, pouring out her fears to her best friend.
-=-Flashback-=-
The phone rang late that morning. Rin had been sleeping in, when her slumber was disturbed by the ringing of the phone. Reaching over the mass of blankets that was her bed, she grabbed the phone from where it sat on her night table.
Her eyes widened when she heard loud, hysterical sobs.
"Rin! My god, its awful Rin!" The sound of her best friend's voice reached the woman's ears.
"Kikyo? Kikyo! Whats wrong? What happened?" She felt herself growing tense, panicky. Something bad had happened to Kikyo, or to Suikotsu.
"Rin... I-I went to the doctor's this morning for a checkup... He... He..." The sound of Kikyo's sobbing increased in volume. "He ran some tests..."
"What kind of tests? What's going on? Hey, hey, don't cry, it'll be okay..." Rin wasnt' sure if everything WOULD be okay, but she didnt know how else to comfort her distressed cousin.
"He ran some tests... And he said I... I... Oh god!" Rin heard a soft 'thump' on the other line and guessed that her friend had fallen back onto a chair or something.
"Hey, calm down Kikyo..." Rin said in a gentle, calm voice, hoping to reassure the woman on the other line. "Tell me what happened, it's okay..."
Kikyo's next sentence came out in a tiny, meek whisper. "I can't ever have kids of my own Rin... Never..."
"Oh my god, Kikyo... I'm so sorry..." Rin clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock and sadness.
"He... Th-the doctor said it would kill me and the child... Rin I don't know what to do! I haven't told Suikotsu, I just can't! He... He was looking forward to having kids of our own, raising a family... I can't give him a child Rin! What if he leaves me?!" Kikyo's distressed ramblings continued for nearly a half an hour. Rin let her vent, occasionally speaking a comforting word or two between sentences. Soon her sobs quieted to small whimpers and silent tears.
"It's going to be okay Kikyo, it will... Suikotsu will still love you no matter what... You know that, right?" Rin said softly. A sniffle answered her. "Just tell him the truth, gently of course... He'll understand..."
"O-okay Rin..." Kikyo sniffled again. "Thank you... Thank you so much..."
Rin heard the opening and closing of a slightly squeaky door in the background, and her cousin Suikotsu's usual 'Kikyo dearest, I'm home for lunch!'.
"S-Suikotsu's home... I... I think I'm going to tell him now and get it over with... Thanks again Rin..."
"Of course Kikyo-chan, what else are friends for?" Rin said affectionately, smiling even though the distraught woman couldn't see it.
"Goodbye..."
"Bye, and good luck..." Both women hung up.
-=-End Flashback-=-
Rin had heard from Kikyo that things had went rather well. Suikotsu had hugged her tightly, brow creased in worry, whispering comforting words.
Imagining the scene in her head, Rin had to smile slightly. Suikotsu was going to make such a sweet husband.
And hopefully, a sweet father.
Recently, she knew, her cousin and his fiancee were planning their wedding for September, and were looking into adopting a needy child.
'I wonder if I'll ever get married and start a family...' Rin mused to herself. 'Probably not, considering how my lovelife is going.' Taking her mind away from thoughts of marriage, children, and dates, Rin went to play with Kikyo and the little girls, always keeping an eye on Aikou, who was now coloring with her brother, in case she decided to act up again.