Sesshoumaru sat in his immense library, pacing back and forth. 'Why did I bring her here? I could have just put her somewhere else in the land and been done with it! No, here is where she'll be safest. And Rin can always use someone else besides Jaken to look after her.' He walked over to a book laying on a small table. He flipped through it for several seconds, before slamming it shut and putting it down again. 'Used to be that I would never even look at a human. Rin must be making me soft. Now I have not one, but TWO humans living in my palace! How do these things happen?' he asked himself for the tenth time that afternoon. He walked outside to the balcony, hoping that the fresh air would clear his mind.

Katara awoke suddenly. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she felt that someone was looking at her. She kept her eyes shut, thinking to herself, 'If it's Sesshoumaru, I'm going to smack him for all he's worth. I don't care if he's the Lord of the Western lands, or Lord of Middle Earth! (little LOTR joke) He shouldn't sneak up on me like that!'
She opened her eyes, and looked into not amber, but chocolate brown-colored orbs.
Katara sat up on her bed. "Rin? What are you doing here?"
Rin looked at Katara, her ear-to-ear grin firmly in place. "Lord Sesshoumaru asked me to check on you. You've been asleep for a while! It's already nighttime!" Katara gasped. She felt as if she had just closed her eyes, and now suddenly, it was nightfall. "Well, Rin, you see I'm awake now!" Rin grabbed Katara's hand. "I'm about to go to bed, will you tuck me in?" Katara looked unsure for a moment, but then thought, 'what the hell. She probably hasn't had anybody tuck her in in a while, seeing as she lives with two demons.' Katara nodded, and Rin began walking, dragging Katara along.
Rin's room was big and spacious. A bed as large as Katara's stood in the middle of the room. There were little toys strewn about the floor, here and there. Rin ran over to her bed, and got in. Katara walked over to her, and began to tuck the sheets in around the little girl. When that was done, Katara began to walk out of the room, but a little voice stopped her. "Katara? Stay with me for a little while." Katara turned and sat at the edge of Rin's bed, right beside her. Katara sat thinking for a moment. She remembered her mother tucking her in at night, and singing to her. She loved to hear her mother sing. "Rin, would you like me to sing for you? My mother used to sing me a song when I was very little, and I still remember it." Rin nodded, and excited grin spread on her face. "Yes, sing Katara! Please!" Katara smoothed Rin's bangs away from her face, and began.
Cherry blooms, cherry blooms, pale against the bright spring sky...

Sesshoumaru was pacing in his study, still thinking about Katara. 'Why is she so confusing? She's different from other humans. Well, she's a hanyou, but that's beside the point. She's very powerful. She proved that when she healed me. Of course, I would have healed eventually, but she did it in a matter of seconds!' He sighed. 'Katara, why do you irk me so?' he asked himself for the three-hundreth time. A haunting tune floated in from down the hall, and reached Sesshoumaru's ears.
Reach as far as we can see...
Who was singing? He knew it must be from down the hall, but who was it?
Misty blossoms in a cloud, smell the perfume on the air...
He walked out of the study, following the voice.
Come with me, come with me...
Sesshoumaru arrived before Rin's bedroom, and stood at the door, listening.
Come and see...come and see.
Sesshoumaru saw Katara smoothing back Rin's hair, almost as if she were her mother.
'Katara would make a good mother someday. She seems to care for Rin a lot.' he quickly shook himself out of his thoughts and heard Rin ask, "Katara, sing me another one!" Katara laughed. "My, you like my songs? Very well, I'll sing you one more, but then it's off to bed for you." Rin giggled. "I'm already in bed, silly!" Katara laughed, too. "I can see! Well, my mistake. Here, this is one of my favorite songs."
Quietly awakening...
I always, always wish
that these fleeting thoughts
would reach you...
Unable to move forward across "just a little more" distance
The way I see before me is always blocked
Every time the days I want to see you but can't pile up,
My strong heartbeat turns into heartbreak.
These words seemed to come from Katara's heart. 'She has a beautiful voice. She seems to be singing from her soul.', thought Sesshoumaru.
I think of you
and that alone is enough
to make the tears start to flow now
I always, always wish
that these fleeting thoughts
would reach you...
'I wonder who she's singing of? She sounds so sad.' he thought.
(A/N: Oh Kami, Sesshoumaru! Could you be any more dense:))
There's definitely things I want to show you
And so many words I want to hear
I want to see all sides of you, when you laugh and cry
So I'll stop waiting
and seize my "chance."
Katara kept singing. Even if she had wanted to, the words would have just kept pouring out of her soul. 'Why am I singing this song? It's not as if he can hea-eep!' Katara had looked around and found that Sesshoumaru was standing at the door of Rin's room, listening. She faltered, but Sesshoumaru shook his head as if saying, "No, go on." Katara turned to Rin again, and found the little girl fast asleep. 'No matter, I'll keep singing. He seems to like it as well.' she thought. She took a deep breath, and kept going from where she had left off.
I think of you,
and I feel like that alone is enough
to make my heart grow stronger.
I always, always wish
that these fleeting thoughts
would reach you...
I think of you
and that alone is enough
to make the tears start to flow now
My distant voice can't reach you now, but so that someday
it definitely will...
Katara's voice faded, and she put Rin's hand down gently. She got up, and blowing out the candle, walked out of Rin's room. She very nearly ran over Sesshoumaru, who was standing in the hall, waiting for her. Katara didn't know what to say.
"Uh, hi. You were listening..." She looked at her feet, as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. She heard Sesshoumaru reply,
"Yes, I was. I could hear you all the way from my study. You have a very beautiful voice.", though he said this with no expression in his voice. Katara looked up at him, and practically beamed. "Thanks! I used to sing for my dad all the time, that is, before he..." She trailed off. The memory still pained her. She had been incredibly close to her father. He was the only one in her world that understood her. Sesshoumaru understood that she was still in pain, even though it had been about three years. He was still hurting about his mother, too. He changed the subject. "So, that song...that's a nice song." Katara very nearly blushed. "Yeah, um, I remember hearing it once, and I've always loved it." They stood silently for a few minutes, neither sure of what to say. Katara decided to break the silence. "Do you have a library?", she asked hopefully.
"Yes. It's down the hall.",repied Sesshoumaru.
"why? Do you like to read?" Katara's face broke out into a huge grin, and Sesshoumaru felt something in his stomach churn. 'What was that? No, I won't pay attention to it.' Katara's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Katara repeated what she had just said. "I said, I love to read. I used to lock myself in my room, and just read and read and read. You don't mind if I..." Sesshoumaru looked at her. "No, not at all. You are welcome to the library whenever you want." Katara gave him another smile, the ones that made him feel...well, he wasn't sure what he felt, but all he knew was that her liked her smiles. 'But that's all I like about her!' he thought firmly. Katara began walking off. "I think I'll check it out right now, if that's alright with you." Sesshoumaru nodded, and watched the hanyou girl walk away, the haunting melody of her song still playing in his mind.

Kagome looked up at the star-encrusted sky. (is it me, or does that sound weird?) She sighed, thinking about the problem she had at hand. I used to think that having two guys fighting over me would be a dream come true. Now, I'm not so sure... She fingered the wolf-fang bracelet that Koga had given her. Koga is so sweet, and he really seems to care about me. Sure, he can be a little possesive, but he's a sweet guy anyway. But...what about Inuyasha? He's rude, crude, and treats me like dirt most of the time! Yet...he can be so tender. The way he held me close yesterday at the spring... She sighed, yet again. "Inuyasha...Koga...oh, what am I going to do?", she asked herself softly. Unknown, hidden in the tree above her, was a half-demon wondering the same thing.
(alright, I'll admit it. I don't really like writting about Inu-Kag right now, but I promise, at the end of the whole story, everything is going to come together like a PB and J sandwich!)