A/N: Ok so it's been a while and I'm sorry about that, but I have a special treat for you this time. Not two, but three, that's right, three chapters. A whooping 15 pages! Needless to say I got carried away, but I hope that you enjoy it, because I enjoyed writing it ;-)
I do not own Inuyasha. It belongs to the lovely and talented Rumiko Takahashi.
Rin was extremely proud of herself. She was sitting at the kotatsu eating breakfast with Master Jaken and had yet to humiliate herself. True she hadn't seen Lord Sesshomaru since last night, but she wasn't going to let that ruin her high spirits.
Ten days passed since her lord had shown up in her room. Rin had thought that it would be a while before Lord Sesshomaru came to her again, but he'd spent every night since the first with her. Rin hummed a song while putting more rice into her bowl. She didn't think it was possible for a person to be this happy.
Jaken watched as Rin hummed her song, blissfully unaware of the pointed glares that he'd been sending her way ever since she entered the meal room late. It wasn't her tardiness that was the cause of the imp's glares – she'd been late to breakfast for a while now – it was her happy mood.
Like everyone else at the estate, Jaken was aware of Rin's changed . . . status. Jaken lowered his head and continued eating. He still couldn't believe that Rin and Lord Sesshomaru were lovers. He knew his lord relatively well, and was understandably worried about the effect this relationship could have on Rin should things go . . . bad. More than enough time had passed for Lord Sesshomaru to make Rin's relationship to him clear, but he still had yet to do so. All anyone knew, including Rin, was that they were lovers.
Jaken personally thought that his lord was using Rin, which was the cause of his glares at the girl. He couldn't very well glare at Lord Sesshomaru - it might be the last thing he did. If his lord wanted Rin for a mate, he would have marked her. Rin was still unmarked. If he wanted Rin as his concubine, he would have told the staff she was his "consort", the correct way of honoring one's concubine in demon culture. The servants had yet to be informed. Jaken wanted badly to warn Rin not to let her heart run away with her, but he couldn't possibly do that. To do so would show a lack of faith in Lord Sesshomaru's intentions towards the girl. Jaken set his bowl down and began to wring his hands. What to do, what to do?
The door slid open and both he and Rin looked to see that it was Lord Sesshomaru. Jaken turned back to the table and saw a becoming blush spread across Rin's face as she gave their lord the most glorious smile the imp had ever seen. He fought back a groan. Clearly, it was too late for him to warn Rin not to fall in love with their stoic and aloof master. He only prayed that she didn't end up hurt. He was quite fond of the girl, though he would never admit it out loud.
"Rin, are you finished eating," Lord Sesshomaru asked. Rin nodded. Sesshomaru turned from the door and began walking away, leaving it open. Rin knew that she was to follow, so she quickly excused herself and rushed out the door, sliding it shut rather loudly.
Rin turned and saw that Lord Sesshomaru had paused down the hallway. He glanced over his shoulder before he continued walking. Rin quickly hurried after him. Eventually they came to his workroom.
Sesshomaru entered and waited for Rin to close the door. She turned her small, beautiful face towards him and blushed again. Sesshomaru was still reeling from that smile she'd given him when he opened the door to the meal room. If he'd been the type to smile like some lovesick puppy then he would have done so. As it was he'd kept his purpose for seeking her out in mind, resisting the overwhelming urge to drag her to the nearest bedroom and pay her back in kind for that smile.
Rin was pregnant and had been so for the last three days. Sesshomaru was a little surprised at how quickly he'd pupped her. It took female demons much longer to conceive even when they were in heat. He was hoping to at least have a full month with her before having to deal with pregnancy and all the inconveniences that came with it. Of course, Rin didn't know of her condition yet, but he would tell her tonight. He would also tell her that she was one of the Kazufuhei and what that meant so that she wouldn't be shocked should she give birth to a pup instead of a half-breed. But first things first. "Rin, I want you to move all your things into my rooms by the end of the day," he told her.
Rin's eyes grew big as she digested what he said. Then she cleared her throat and asked, "Your rooms as in your personal rooms, or your rooms as in the suite of rooms?"
"My personal rooms, Rin," Sesshomaru clarified, although it was good that she asked. He occupied the rooms belonging to the Lord and Lady of the house; as such the suite consisted of two bedrooms separated by a sitting room. Rin would be sleeping with him from now on, not in the room intended for the Lady of the house. That would be where the pup stayed.
Because Rin was pregnant, Sesshomaru needed to be close to her for several reasons. First, it would appease his protective instincts knowing she was close at hand. Second, he wanted to hide her scent – which would be proclaiming to all in the vicinity her state – as much as possible. Rin was very vulnerable to being kidnapped right now even though she didn't know it. Sesshomaru wouldn't put it past some stupid fool to try to take Rin and raise his pup as their own. There were some incredibly idiotic demons out there. And third, he needed to be close at hand in order to scent any changes in Rin that might warn of danger to herself or the pup.
He'd already asked Rena if she'd noticed any alarming changes in Rin's scent besides the obvious and had been told no. So far both Rin and the pup were fine, but it was a well-known fact that dog demon pups were notoriously difficult to carry to full term. The next eight months were going to be very difficult for Rin.
He was pulled from his musings by Rin. "Yes, my lord." Her head was bowed in the proper show of respect. Sesshomaru stepped closer to her and brought his hand to her cheek, cupping it and lifting her head so that he could see her rich, velvety eyes. He stared into those eyes for a while, watching as a blush spread across Rin's cheeks. It amused him that she blushed so easily, although he'd be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy it. Besides he knew that he would be hard pressed to get a blush out of Rin in due time. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted. Sesshomaru lowered his hand and turned away, walking to his desk. As he lowered himself to the table he said, "Then I'll see you tonight."
Rin shakily agreed and left the room.
Rin spent the rest of the day packing up her things and sending them up to Lord Sesshomaru's rooms. She wondered why he suddenly wanted her in the same room as him. It seemed out of character for Lord Sesshomaru to want someone in his personal space. And because of her lack of experience with men, Rin didn't know if this was a natural progression to something deeper or not. Rin sighed and picked up the last thing in her now empty room - a white orchid. With it in hand, she headed up to what would now be her sleeping quarters.
Lord Sesshomaru's rooms were on the other side of the house from her own, so it was quite a trek before she reached her destination. Rin pulled her heavy, winter kimono close as she reached the hallway that held her lord's rooms.
As she approached the sliding door, Rin felt both nervous and excited – she'd never been inside Lord Sesshomaru's rooms before. Sliding the door open she stepped into an enormous and spacious sitting room.
The first thing Rin noticed was that the room was practically bare. There was a low table that served as a desk in the middle of the room. Off to the side of it sat Lord Sesshomaru's armor on a stand. So he didn't keep it in a closet, Rin thought to herself. She'd always thought he had.
The wall across from the desk held the Tenseiga and Bakusaiga. They had been positioned so that they were hanging in the middle of the wall, and were framed by two extremely old pieces of parchment. Rin wandered over to see what they said, but the language wasn't human.
One wall held two large windows. In the space between the windows were large bookcases that went from the floor to the ceiling, three in all. Every space within the cases was packed with books, scrolls and pamphlets. Near the first window sat another low table, which held a carafe of water and some drinking bowls. Rin walked over to the table and set her orchid on it. Then she walked over to the windows and peered out. It was snowing. Lord Sesshomaru had a beautiful view of the lake at the back of the house. She took a moment to take in the frozen beauty of the outside world.
Rin shivered. It was very cold in there. She pulled her kimono close once more. A quick survey of the room showed that it contained fire pits to keep it warm, but none of them had been lit. There were also two doors that led to different rooms. One of these rooms was dark, while the other was bright. The bright room must be Lord Sesshomaru's, Rin concluded.
Rin looked at the door that led to the Lady of the house's room, the room she felt would be more appropriate for her to be in. She was still a little uneasy about sleeping in the same room as Lord Sesshomaru. It wasn't that they hadn't done it before, she just felt like she was crossing some line. Rin shook her disquieting thoughts aside and turned to the room that Sesshomaru slept in. She pulled the door opened and gasped.
Warm air hit her face the moment the door opened. Rin hurriedly stepped inside and closed the door. Then she turned around to survey the opulent surroundings once more. Her eyes were drawn to the huge bed that dominated most of the large room. It was piled high with pillows covered in bright silks. Rin wandered over to it and softly touched the bed. It was real.
Rin had never seen a real bed before. Only the wealthiest families and lords could afford them, which explained how Lord Sesshomaru had one. Come to think of it, she remembered back to when she'd first arrived at this estate. Lord Sesshomaru had asked her if she wanted a bed, but Rin had promptly said no. She didn't want him to spend more money on her than was necessary. Of course, those thoughts had quickly proven useless because he'd bought her the best futon money could buy.
Rin looked at the pillows that were practically burying the bed. It didn't surprise her that he had a lot of them. She could just picture him arranging the pillows around him until he was comfortable, much the way he did with his fur. Rin noticed in the short time that she and Lord Sesshomaru had been bedmates, that he was a burrower – moving this way and that until everything was just right. She found it to be very cute.
Rin saw two large wardrobes on either side of the bed and opened both of them, to find that one held her clothes, while the other held Lord Sesshomaru's. There were fire pits in each of the four corners of the room and her small dressing table sat between two large windows. Rin walked over and saw that it had all of her toiletries in it before sitting back on her heels and thinking. Only her clothes and toiletries were here, so where were the rest of her things?
Rin walked to the hallway and stopped a passing servant, "Excuse me, but I only have half of my things. Do you know where the rest of them are?"
"Of course, Lady Rin. Lord Sesshomaru told us to put only your clothes and toiletries in his room and to put everything else in your tea room."
"Oh, thank you. I was just wondering," Rin said before withdrawing from the hallway.
So it was official. She was now going to be sharing a room with her lover. Rin slowly sank to the floor as the magnitude of the situation finally sank in.
She was Lord Sesshomaru's lover, practically his mate. Wow.
A/N: So how did you like Sesshomaru's room. Was it what you thought it would be?
By the way I'd like to thank all of my reviewers. I mean 50 reviews.? I don't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting to get so many so soon. Your support and comments really keep motivated. Thank you so much!