I know, I know, it's been over a month and I haven't updated. But what can I say? School's starting in a week for me, and for a while I was very unhappy with this chapter. Still am, actually. It's probably boring, but it serves a purpose: it sets the scene for most of the rest of the story. While this particular fanfiction of mine won't have much in the action department, EVER, it gets more interesting from here.
Oh, that reminds me... A few people have asked about romance... Sorry, but that won't be happening very soon. They've got to build a friendship first; you don't just fall in love with a guy simply because you've moved into his house and you are taking care of his kids. In fact, this entire story is an experiment of mine to see if I can build a gradual, realistic relationship between two people.
Anyway, I'd just like to thank everyone who reviewed, but especially Kitkat07, whose review pushed me to finally edit and post this chapter. :) I'd like to recommend her story, Moving Up in the World. It's honestly one of the BEST SessxRin stories out there; I absolutely loved it. :)
With that said, on to the story.
Rin rose to her feet, smiling as she took Aikou's and Koushi's hands. "So how about you two give me the grand tour?" The twins both nodded excitedly, each taking one of her hands and leading her, rather insistently, into the mansion.
She heard Sesshoumaru (might as well call him by his first name, at least mentally.) give the movers a few more specific instructions, and looked over her shoulder, watching him pad after the three of them in his black sock-clad feet. It was strangely amusing, seeing the normally reserved, normally impeccably-dressed billionaire like this. His hair was even down, left out of its usual low ponytail.
But she drew her attention away from the owner and back to the house. First Aikou and Koushi pointed out that this was the entrance hall (or, coat room, in their words.) where they, of course, kept winter coats and the like. Like the young woman had predicted, it was neat and orderly, the dressy black trench coat hanging immaculately from the line of hooks beside two much smaller, designer coats, one white and one dark red.
Next Rin was led into the living room, which actually looked more like an old-fashioned parlor with the multitude of antique furniture and paintings. This room didn't seem very lived in, if the layer of dust over the wood coffee table was any indication.
"I only use this room for entertaining important guests," Sesshoumaru said, levelly, only a couple notches above monotone.
"No wonder..."
"Ooh! Sissy! We gotta show Rin-Rin the den!" Koushi chirped, hopping up and down, his bare feet managing to make quite a bit of noise against the polished wood floor.
"Oh, yeah! C'mon Rin-Rin!" Aikou responded, beaming. She and her brother darted off through the door on the side, Aikou's silver ponytail, tied with a cute blue scrunchie, bouncing against her back. Rin giggled and walked after them, Sesshoumaru trailing along in her wake.
The den seemed more like a large play room than anything. The entertainment center was against the far wall, and Rin was barely surprised to see the Gamecube, Playstation 2 and Nintendo 64 in the open cabinet under the large television, which was on and playing a re-run of some cartoon on Cartoon Network. To the left was a tall cabinet of DVDs and games. This seemed to be the most lived-in room of the house, so far at least, thanks to the carpeting of toys and books that covered the fluffy blue carpet and the squishy couch situated in front of the entertainment center.
Chuckling, Rin looked around. "You two sure want for nothing, eh?"
"I thought the maid had cleaned this up earlier..." Sesshoumaru muttered quietly, having stepped on a Lego block. Ouch... Those things hurt, as anyone with kids or younger siblings knew from experience.
"She did! We couldn't find anything!" Aikou complained, gathering the block her father had stepped on and adding it to the over-flowing bucket of the brightly colored plastic death traps.
"The maid always puts your toys in the toy box, right over there." He motioned toward the far corner of the room, where a large cardboard (which amused Rin to no end, as you'd expect a fancy carved toy box or something else to sit in its place) box sat, innocently empty.
"Easier to find stuff this way, no digging!" Koushi chirped with a happy little smile, surveying his and his sister's work. Rin couldn't help laughing aloud when she heard Sesshoumaru mutter, ever so quietly, that buying them Legos was a bad idea.
"Anyway," the silver-haired man started, straightening a little. "Through that door, on the far right, is my office, if you ever need me." The oak door in question was covered in pictures the twins had drawn, but there was no doubt that inside was a high-tech office with sleek furniture and a state of the art computer and accessories. "Otherwise, I don't like people in my office."
"Understandable," Rin nodded, making mental notes of where everything was located in this huge house, ignoring the slight pang of sadness that came at the thought of Jakotsu never rummaging around in her office again and stealing her sparkly pens... She no longer had an office; while she was still quite welcome at her old place of work, that she still co-owned, she had given her office to Bankotsu, the new hire (despite Jakotsu's dismayed cries of "He can share mine!").
'Wonder how those two are doing...' Rin thought to herself, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Heh, Jakotsu had probably already asked his new employee to dinner or something. Poor guy was absolutely smitten, but what did you expect? That braid WAS hot...
"Rin?" Her silver-haired employer was standing a tad too close, one slender eyebrow raised, staring down at her with penetrating amber eyes. Oh dear... She had spaced out... "I can call you Rin, right?"
"Oh, yes, sure," She answered quickly, snapped quite effectively out of her thoughts. Why not be on first name basis? They were living under the same roof after all.
"Then you can call me Sesshoumaru." Hm, that was still a long name... Rin briefly wondered, 'Would he spazz out if I called him Sesshy?' Heh heh. Not a good idea. "Anyway, I assume you wish to see the rest of the house?"
"Of course. I might need a map though... Someone could get lost around here..." Rin mumbled jokingly, tapping her chin and glancing around. Sesshoumaru apparently didn't find it funny, however.
And so Rin was showed around the rest of the ground floor by two enthusiastic children and their not-so-enthusiastic father. She made mental notes of the locations of both bathrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the indoor pool (Yes, it amazed her too.), and the veranda. Next it was up a flight of stairs to the first floor. (Second floor, for you Americans.)
The first floor had the clean, rather impersonal feel of a hotel, albeit a very nice hotel. The only sign of life was the crayon-scribble-covered sheet of paper tacked to one of the doors, proclaiming it "Aikou and Koushi's Room" in large, awkward letters.
"To the far left, the one by the twins' room, is the master bedroom," Sesshoumaru informed her calmly, motioning to said door.
"That's daddy's room!" Koushi added helpfully, beaming. Rin smiled and patted him on the head, noticing how soft his black hair was. Heh, probably just as soft as daddy's... Youkai could be a vain bunch, that was for sure.
"And to the right of their room is where you'll sleep." A large, clawed hand turned the knob and pushed the aforementioned door open, revealing a rather nice-sized bedroom with wood floors and periwinkle paint coating the walls. The queen sized bed was without sheets, just a mattress resting on a box frame, and there were layers of dust on the night tables and vanity dresser. An old vase, empty, sat forlornly to the side of the dresser. Stacked in the corner were the cardboard boxes brought from Rin's apartment.
"It's nice," Rin assured Sesshoumaru with a smile. It was only dusty and unused... Nothing a bottle of vanilla-scented Pledge and some strategically placed clutter wouldn't fix, right?
The silver haired man didn't return her smile; he only knelt and gently told the twins to go pick up their toys in the den. Aikou complained a bit, but soon ran off after Koushi, not to be outdone by her more helpful brother. Rising to his feet again, Rin caught him sigh, almost imperceptibly.
"It was my wife's room, before the divorce."
"Oh... Do you miss her?"
"I don't miss her." Sesshoumaru wasn't lying. He didn't. They didn't get along after the wedding, and especially after she got pregnant. No... It was having a normal family that he missed, not the woman that completed that normal family.
"That's awful."
"She walked out on me and our children a week after their first birthday. Don't talk to me about awful." Sesshoumaru turned cool amber eyes to Rin, silently daring her to challenge him. It was best to step down and ignore the subject, to avoid confrontation, and that was exactly what Rin did. "I'll leave you to unpack. Dinner is at 6:30."
She nodded, watching him turn and walk gracefully down the stairs, as if he hadn't almost lost his composure. Brown eyes followed his back until he disappeared into the den, and a soft sigh escaped her lips. The divorce must have been rough on all of them, Sesshoumaru especially. He ran an entire company, and still tried hard to keep his tiny, broken family together, tried hard to be a good father...
Rin wiped the moisture from her eyes before it could trickle down her cheeks as tears, entering her new room and closing the door behind her.
No matter what professionals said, divorce wasn't always hardest on the kids.
Rin was mostly unpacked by the time 6:30 rolled around. Her clothes sat, neatly folded, in the drawers of the dresser, the surface of the vanity was cluttered with her brush, comb, detangler-spray, etc. The once-bare mattress now displayed hand tie-dyed sheets and a denim comforter. In fact, it looked much like her room at home, only bigger. On the floor in the corner sat a lone unpacked box, filled with the things she wouldn't need immediately: DVDs, CDs, magazines, books, photo albums, and the like.
Rising to her feet, she ran her fingers through her dark hair and glanced in the ornate vanity mirror. Well... At least she was presentable. Rin straightened her shirt and left the room, bare feet padding on the wood floor (she had taken off her shoes a while ago) as she made her way down to the dining room.
Only to find it empty. They must be in the kitchen.
So that was where the girl headed next, and soon found that her assumption was correct. Aikou and Koushi were sitting at the small table, quietly watching their father, who was staring at the fridge and stove, looking cutely and utterly confused and disgruntled. And a little ticked, too, if Rin was reading these emotions correctly. Such an action didn't exactly come easy when it came to the Ice Lord.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, stifling a chuckle and trying not to sound amused, when she quite obviously was.
"The cook took a sudden vacation," he stated simply, staring down the stove as if it'd suddenly start cooking dinner on its own. Almost as an afterthought, he added absently, "And didn't give me any notice."
"And you can't cook?"
The silver-haired business tycoon turned his stare to his new employee, his eyes asking what he dared not ask aloud, 'Are you insane, woman?' He, of course, meant to look menacing, but Rin just giggled to herself, shaking her head and brushing past him, opening the refrigerator door.
"Well lucky for all of us, I myself am a decent cook." With that declaration, brown eyes began scanning the inside of the fridge for something to fix, finally pulling out some leftover chicken breast, a package of shredded cheese, and tortillas. Quesadillas would work fine for tonight, surely. Kids generally loved them, and Sesshoumaru was really in no place to complain.
After dinner, Aikou and Koushi ran off into the den to watch television until their bedtime at nine. Sesshoumaru picked up his son, who was already starting to nod off, and Rin stepped in and hoisted Aikou into her arms. While she wasn't sure if her employer needed her help putting them to bed, the brunette felt it couldn't hurt. After all, it was best if the twins were comfortable with her.
"Can't I stay up tonight, daddy? Please?" Aikou begged, turning her head to stare at her father with big golden puppy eyes (no pun intended).
"No, it's bedtime," he answered, in that 'It's final' voice parents always used in the most inopportune situations. The adults made their way up the stairs and into the twins' room, which, unlike the den, was rather tidy, excepting the occasional pile of stuffed toys.
The small, toddler-standard beds were set against the far wall, made of dark, polished cherry wood, the left decorated with paintings of little flowers, and the right decorated with colorful cars and airplanes. And, surprise surprise, the bedding matched also. The entire room looked like something out of a home decor magazine, with light green wallpaper adorning the walls and cream-colored carpet to go with the choice of wood.
Sesshoumaru pulled the covers back and gently lowered Koushi into bed, tucking him in lovingly, like a normal parent. Normally, it would be hard to imagine the cold-hearted, quiet businessman doing anything in a 'caring' fashion, but then again, it'd be hard to imagine him as a good father, if you hadn't seen him with his twins.
A smiling Rin set Aikou down, and watched as her employer tucked her into bed also, taking a minute to brush silver bangs out of his daughter's eyes. It was just so amazingly adorable... A true Kodak moment, if ever there was one.
Switching off the light, he murmured quietly, "Good night Aikou, Koushi."