"Sess-san, Rin forgot her key. Rin is so sorry."

The child had awoken just as he had tucked her into the bed. Sesshoumaru had easily changed her out of her light tan corduroy overalls and pale pink long sleeved shirt. Most times, the child would wait up for him to come home and right after hanging up his coat and sitting his brief case to be abandoned in the foyer, they would began the nightly ritual. This was always completed from day one of Rin's adoption mainly because at that time she didn't know where anything was. Together the two would prepare the child for bed. First, she would change from her day attire into one of the many night dresses that hung just above her ankles or perhaps on colder nights, Rin would prefer a pair of decorated pajama pants and matching shirt.

Tonight, though normally Rin was usually falling asleep throughout the entire time which is also precisely why she wanted his help, but now she was practically unconscious. Sesshoumaru still easily chauffeured her small body into the pale blue night dress that was showered in inch sized moons of varying descents or ascents in their lunar cycle. Then because of the slightly colder atmosphere of their apartment he slipped a pair of white socks on her dainty feet that were fringed shortly at the top with lace. Her father figure had then placed her in the bed deciding that tonight he would be lenient and not disrupt her sleep just to brush her teeth, but just as her back had hit the sheets her sleepy milk chocolate eyes opened to stare into his hair cloaking the light from her face.

Sesshoumaru at this point had leaned down to kiss her lightly on the forehead, but was notified of her state of awareness by the small hand grasping his long strands to brush them from hindering her sight. A dazed smile crossed her lips. She stated one short sentence that she didn't even manage to finish before a yawn escaped her small throat. He would have shushed her anyways. Rin was already unusually more responsible than a girl her age should be and forgetting her key, as she did often, was a minor offense. Her head should be filled with pictures of ponies and flowers not remorse for forgetting her key. Sesshoumaru then reached into his jeans pocket to procure the item he'd ordered from a magazine especially for his girl.

It was slipped into her hand as she sat of slightly to stare at it, before squealing dazedly with happiness, she was still slouching with tire after all. There in her hand was a dark blue stringed necklace with a silver pendant of a crescent moon. Behind the moon was a small catch and clip.

Rin smiled and asked, "For my key?"

She truly was intelligent. It was simply amazing how she seemed to catch onto his thoughts and speak of them so easily. This wasn't such a major topic of discussion, but the one concerning her adoption had been, at least it was a rather large step for him. Rin had only smiled and hugged him lightly attaching her to his leg, clearly picking up on his nervousness and also the question he never could never quite get across. Sesshoumaru rewarded her with a small, affectionate pat to her head and then set it on her nightstand where the key sat. Not wanting her to accidentally choke herself at night, he attached the key to the small clip in the back opening its hatch via the catch behind the crescent. Then he set it on her small black backpack near her closet neck to the door.

Rin yawned again tiredly; she had accomplished her homework while waiting in the hallway, so she had no qualms as she passed into her own little world of dreams. The watching male flipped off the main light as she slumbered silently and as always remembered to turn on her night light on her bedside table in case she awoke because of nightmares, then left the room on hushed padding feet. Sesshoumaru retrieved his briefcase from the front hallway and crossed the large interior to his decently sized office.

His computer was currently on from this morning when he had awakened early to read over a few memos sent to him by the company's board of directors that reported to him. Sales were consistently high and marketing was raking in more buyers everyday, since they were now offering insurance along with their products. And as suspicious as people were today, they found this an advantage and wished to take the benefit of it. His stomach churned hungrily and a grimace heated his normally cold visage before he stood from his leather, high backed swivel chair. The chair pushed out behind his due to the hard wood floor beneath its wheels and slid away from the darkly stained oaken office table.

Sesshoumaru's computer screen flashed as more and more emails flooded his inbox. A headache burned at the front of his forehead and his pinched the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb to try and ease the throb. A stinging in his neck also instigated an aching pull from the base of his neck, following along his spine all the way down to his hips. A vicious stretch quelled some of the complaints in his weary muscles, but still he switched off the dinking computer and also the lamp light sitting on the corner of his desk. The male stalked to the kitchen not wishing to wake his precious daughter. He opened the fridge, but paused at this thought. Yes- she was precious to him.

An exasperated sigh coursed through his lips. Ramen again tonight it would seem. His fridge was fully stocked, but he did not have the energy or the time to make himself something more suitable. Sesshoumaru's face contorted in a thinking gesture, did Rin have dinner? But then he had remembered her lunch box, the one with the Disney princesses lining the front, being light when he picked it up. And he knew for certain that Kaede, the elderly widow a few floors down that always insisted to make Rin's lunch packed extra in case the girl was left outside the door per usual. Hopefully the chain he had bought for her would help her remember the stupid thing, not that it was her fault. Sesshoumaru, though he wouldn't admit it out loud, just felt guilty for always coming home so late to find her out there alone. It was a wonder why she never went to visit Kaede?

After all, the kind old woman had been there since before Sesshoumaru had started to board in the penthouse. She was a good, but healthy, seventy or so. Her appearance was wrinkled and aged, but wise. Her no doubt once glossy black hair had dulled grey-white. Her two good eyes had been destroyed to leave one covered with an eye patch and the old woman dependent of the last. Sesshoumaru recalled the story Rin had told him of how she had lost it. An arrow pierced the very outside corner of the lid, but still scratched the cornea badly enough to lose her sight in that eye only. Apparently she had been a miko's apprentice in her youth.

This explained why the woman was always attired in traditional and sometimes considered ancient clothing styles. Her words were also of the elder tone and speech. Sesshoumaru missed those days, almost wishing he had been blessed to be born before these hectic times tangled up in a web of materialism. In those times, everything was much simpler, where one could become much more at peace and connected to the Earth from which we were conceived.

Review please! But keep on going! This story goes up to Ch31, but the disk I put all of my chapters is being fickle. I could only get random chapters out, after 13.