Heading Back

Rin awoke the following morning after a good night's rest. She found herself laying down on the cool hard ground. Slowly rising to sit on her butt she noticed Sesshomaru was nowhere in sight. "Maybe I dreamt that I saw and spoke to him?"

She shook her head awake, rose to her feet to wash her face in the river. When her head lifted up, there sitting on some boulders was her lord. "So it wasn't really a dream, you are really here?" She was elated to see him.

Sesshomaru turned himself around to see the girl he revived from the dead all those years ago. Rin was no longer the eight year old child who followed him close to a year. She was a young woman, with hopes and dreams for her future. To his eyes she was tall, slim and very mature for her age. He watched her walk gracefully and sat on her knees in front of the lake. "You thought I was a dream?" He raised an eyebrow her way.

She lightly giggled and slashed some cool water to her face, "Yeah. But it was super late last night when we talked. I hardly remember what we spoke of."

"We spoke of why you were out here and your goals of work. You said you wanted to be a seamstress?"

She rose to her feet, hands held together in front of her, as she turned to face him fully and with a smile on her lips. "Yes, I recently made some newborn kimonos for my friend's newborn baby."

"Mmh." He looked back to the lake and asked, "are you hungry?"

Rin's stomach growled as she again let out a slight giggle. "I guess that answers your question. I'll go grab some berries that'll satisfy me for the trip back."

"Take your time," he watched her walk off.

Time passed again and they were several miles down the road. They remained silent, but would look each other's way in the corner of their eyes. Rin always had a smile on her face, while Sesshomaru kept his usual demeanor with a straight line to his lips.

They passed open fields of many villagers at work and children at play. Some of the village girls ran over to Rin and handed her little white flowers as a gift, but she in return kept a few and stuck the rest in their hair, between their ears. The village boys just looked up at Sesshomaru and didn't say a word.

Before they left, a little girl no more than eight handed Rin two ears of corn that hadn't been shucked. She got down to the girls level and placed ten silver shillings in the girls hand. The child's eyes lit up seeing money in the palm of her hand. She threw her arms around Rin's neck, kissed her cheek and ran off.

They were only an hour away from the shore, when Rin wanted to stop for a drink from a different river. As she scooped up some water to drink, Sesshomaru asked, "Rin, why did you give that child part of your payment?"

She didn't look his way, but towards the moon, with a smile and she answered, "I didn't want to take the food for free. She handed it to me and I thought she deserved to be paid."

"She was a child."

Rin knew how to answer with a story. "When I was her age, way before we met, I had no money to buy food. I would steal fish just so that I could eat. When I couldn't, I would go out into the woods and gather vegetables, berries and nuts so I could at least have a meal." She was now looking his way with the same soft expression, "my ways of fetching my food have changed. I no longer steal to survive. I earn money to help pay for sacks of rice for granny Kaede and myself. The money I gave that young girl, it will at least put one snack of rice for their dinner this week. I hope you understand, My Lord?"

Sesshomaru only nodded his head. He knew her life before they met was tragic and miserable. She had lost her family to bandits that killed them when she was six years old. It was the same reason she became mute. She was kicked from her home and had to live in a shack by the river all alone. It had no way to keep heat and the roof needed to be repaired quite often.

Sesshomaru remembers the day they first met. He had awoken after failing in a battle for his father's sword by his half-brother Inuyasha. Rin appeared behind some bushes and he tried to scare her off by showing his fangs and red eyes. Though he made her jump with fright, he watched her swallow her fears and approach him slowly. He remembers how cautious she was and standing strong. The smell back then that wafted off of her was of dirt and grime. He remembers when she dumped a wooden cup of water on his head. Back then he knew how pissed off he was. Now looking back he quickly smiled and returned to his natural expression.

"My Lord, are you okay?"

"Yes, go eat your dinner before it burns!"

Rin had been cooking off some fish and the corn that she received earlier. "Yes!" She went to eat her meal in silence.

Sesshomaru watched how graceful Rin chewed her food. She would take small bites of her meal and chew slowly. His eyes were on her lips. He noticed how plump they were and a very light shade of pink. His golden eyes saw her brown ones glistened by the fire, almost dancing. He couldn't help but wonder if any of the village boys professed their feelings for her yet.

"My Lord, are you hungry?"

"No, are you still hungry?" He took notice of the fleshless carcass of the fish that she had eaten and the cornless cob.

"No, I'm quite full." She looked up to the sky seeing the moon was close to being in the middle. "I guess we should be on our way. I told my friend I would be back before midnight."

"You are not tired?"

"No, shall we be on our way?"

On their journey back Rin mostly talked about herself and what she's been doing since the last time he visited her. Other than making kimonos she said, "I've been helping granny Kaede out a lot. There are days when she can't get around much and I do the check ups on the expecting mothers to be and the men who have returned from war with injuries."

"Mhm, have any of the village boys found a liking to you?" He knew Rin had grown into a beauty that boys would stop in their tracks and admire her beauty.

"I guess. I don't really pay attention to them." She was waiting for the right man to come along still and ask her what she wants. "When I find the right one, I hope they allow me to make decisions sometimes, instead of them."

"What kind of decisions do you mean Rin?" He was curious.

"Mhm, well...to respect me for who I am. Will they be able to provide and take care of me? I don't want to be pressured into things that are dirty within their mind. I want to be able to travel every so often to visit friends." Thinking of traveling made her smile. It brought back memories of the months that she traveled with Sesshomaru, Jaken and A-Un.

"Anything else? Do you always want to travel? What of settling down with a family of your own?" Was it wrong for him to ask.

"Eventually, yes. Just now I want to do things for myself and maybe in a few more years I'll be ready to settle down. Speaking of family, Inuyasha and Kagome are expecting their first child later this year. You're gonna be an uncle," she smiled happily up at him.

Sesshomaru didn't say anything about his brother but he did say, "the day you settle down I hope that you'll invite me to the ceremony."

It made her smile hearing him say that. She grabbed his hand and hugged his arm as they continued walking towards the ocean village. "Yes, you'll be the first one I'll be inviting. For now I want to enjoy my freedom of being single. I also want to enjoy our journey back to Edo village in the next few days."

She knew they would be together for several days. It would give them time to still get to know more about each other after not seeing one another for two years.

They made it to her friend's hut. Rin turned fully to face Sesshomaru and wished her lord, "goodnight, my lord."

Sesshomaru cupped her cheek and wished her, "goodnight, Rin."

Thank you Elohiniar for helping with the decision making for Rin. There are so many things that could point to her when a boy wanted to be with her. Hope you all enjoyed this new chapter. Sorry it's been awhile since I posted for this. I'll post again soon.

ZafrinaMente: I'm glad you are enjoying this story. Hope this chapter was to your liking.

Silvia S.K: Was their conversation to your liking?

Mechine: I'm happy that you enjoyed this chapter a lot. I hope this chapter you liked too. Sesshomaru could never be mad with Rin traveling alone. She does have a big warm soul. Rin was very happy for her lord and always has for his own dreams.