「 Affections Touching Across Time ( Toward The Western Sky ) — Compassion 」

Sesshomaru was capable of many things: relieving enemies of their lives, silencing an army of humans single-handedly, and instructing those under his command. Though, what most would expect him incapable of is compassion.

For her? He could make an exception.

Sesshomaru had grown accustomed to the idea of change. It was an inevitable, unpredictable, and untethered force constantly inspiring. In lieu of Naraku's threat, life ebbed on as it had before, with obligations and concerns he had no prior interest in rearing their head. His mother was far more talkative than she'd been centuries past.

Though not wholly to him. While their relationship wasn't hostile or that of strangers, she'd taken more to communicating with Rin than she did him or Jaken. Granted, he could understand why she neglected to speak with the latter. She seemed to derive some amusement out of Jaken's plight. A terrible thing for the small imp. The Lady of the West did not tire easily and his anguish might keep her for the next millennia or so.

However, the West was one of his issues. An achievement of which he had no interest in until his mother divulged information to Rin and curiosity beset her to ask. Perhaps showing immediate interest in Rin's revival whilst in his mother's presence wasn't the best idea. Unknowingly, he'd handed her quite a bit of ammunition to use against him in the form of someone he couldn't rid himself of easily.

Or at all, if he were honest.

The years he'd spent apart from Rin gave perspective. Time to understand his place in the world, seek out stronger opponents, and wander his father's lands. In his absence, his mother took the helm as the Lady of the Western Lands and her opposition was quickly dealt with. She would not allow his father's hard work to be undone by unruly demons or upstarts of humans believing the aftermath of Naraku's defeat was cause for rebellion.

"I will hold until you are ready," she said. Her voice carrying from the mouth of Bokuseno, eyes unseeing and wooden lips shifting without the demon's will. Sesshomaru had half a mind to turn on his heel and leave but spindly branches blocked his path as the forest reacted to Bokuseno's will.

It both pained and amused him that the tree demon could be possessed by his mother. A pain reflected in his stoic countenance as he listened to her words.

"Once you are prepared to take the helm as your father's successor, heed these words. You will have need of the dragon, imp, and seeress. Though we may be inu yōkai and many remain in our court, we are surrounded by vipers, waiting for the faintest showing of skin to strike. Remember compassion as it has been taught to you, my son. Blade and claw will not serve you well in an arena of words and promises. I've protected you as long as I could and I will continue to do so, but change is coming, Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru clenched his jaw but said nothing as sight returned to Bokuseno's eyes, his boughs trembling with a shudder as best as a tree could muster.

"What did I say, Lord Sesshomaru?" Bokuseno asked to Sesshomaru's back.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes as he cleared the path of branches before him with a flourish of his hand, whip cutting through the rattling wood, sending it raining down as he passed. "Nothing I don't already know," he said, his mother's warning and thinly veiled assurance receding to the back of his mind as he heard Jaken and Rin's laughter.

In the glistening waters of a stream teeming with fish, sunlight dancing upon its rippling surface, Rin and Jaken splashed about in hops of catching another fish to add to their ever-growing pile guarded by A-Un. While the imp who'd sworn himself to Sesshomaru's service hadn't changed a bit from they met, Rin had grown into a woman in the blink of an eye. Truthfully, he knew it had been longer than that. Years spent apart with letters and fleeting visits, her life detailed to him with words on scrolls written by her own hand and enthusiastic retellings from her own lips. Gone was the starry-eyed way she'd regard him, replaced with a sharpness and wit, along with an accuracy for interpreting his actions and words ( few, though there may have been ).

Brown eyes compelled Sesshomaru to speak earnestly, even if his words were sparse. Rin's intuition had grown as much as she had. Deduction and sneakiness allowing her past his defenses. And try as he might, he couldn't reconcile who she was now with the girl she'd been. The Rin that followed at his side, barely standing taller than his knee, was and wasn't the Rin praising Jaken for a successful capture after he'd toppled into the water and nearly gotten swept away with the current. Her hands supporting him under his arms as he recounted the feat.

She lacked his former ward's innocence.

She no longer viewed humans with contempt but remained wary of their intentions.

Kindness came to her easier but so did decisions, and her hand was swift in carrying them out.

He no longer had to shield her from a fight. Her tricks and skill made her an even greater asset.

Sesshomaru decided to concede his mother's point. Change was coming as before. It had already come for Rin, taking his former ward and instead granting him a trusted friend and companion. Who learned throughout the years how to hide things even from his eyes.

Dusk fell over them gently. Jaken and Rin, exchanging blunted barbed words and smiles until they tired, the tall grass swaying in the breeze while the fire crackled between them. A-Un settled comfortably at Rin's back. Since her return to their group, the dragon was rarely if ever not by her side. While Rin no longer required their constant protection, A-Un's electricity crackled brightly in their open maw and smoke plumed through their nostrils when a threat to her was posed.

Thankfully, as Rin slept at A-Un's side with Jaken curled beneath the dragon's tail, there were no physical threats to harm her. Mental, however, was another tale.

Nightmares lingered in the reaches of Rin's psyche. They were not an enemy Sesshomaru could destroy or a plot to thwart. An ill-given punishment for the actions of others marred upon her mind in scars no remedy or spell could heal. He'd been patient with her in her youth. Waking her when she was in tears and calming her when she screamed herself hoarse. It wasn't her fault, he reminded himself, and the agitation he felt waned. Worries lingering in the back of his mind during their time apart.

If others would be cruel to her when she wailed and cried.

Would they steal her voice away with callous words?

Render her unable to even muster a smile?

Gratefully, none of his concern came to fruition. To his relief, Rin no longer screamed in her sleep or woke with inconsolable hiccuping sobs.

Instead, she rose in a solemn silence. Muted shadows swallow her as she wandered from A-Un's side and over the mumbling lump that was Jaken, disappearing into misty thickets with only the curl of her hair on the wind as if bidding farewell. Sesshomaru wasn't a heavy sleeper. Years of battle making it nigh impossible for movement to go unnoticed. And he'd seen her the moment she rose to leave. Briefly considering letting her be until salt — sharp, heady and bitter — spurred him into movement. Rin's footsteps were noiseless.

A faltering pride swelled in Sesshomaru's chest as she ducked beneath low branches and side-stepped gnarled roots, likely having memorized the path after venturing it earlier in the day. Though at that time, the sun shone brightly, pinpricks of sunlight visible between the leaves haloing her in a soft golden glow. She'd been smiling and humming, skipping through the foliage freely.

Not walking quietly, back straight and head raised high, hands lingering at her side with fingers twitching. Alert and prepared, but no less weary of something and upset.

Sesshomaru's nose twitched at the potent scent of flowering blooms, sweet and strong, overpowering the salty bitterness tinging the air. Slivers of moonlight colored the mist lingering over a decadent array of blooms swaying amidst the tall grass. Rin's steps, careful and calculated, avoided clusters of flowers deftly as she stepped in a rhythm almost as if she were dancing. Sesshomaru lingered beneath the boughs of a withering tree, watching her quietly as she moved, only to crumple to her knees after a misstep.

Her shoulders trembled but he heard no sound. Sharp and bitter saltiness drowned by the flowers' sweet scent, crisp snapping of flower stems joining the chirping crickets and buzzing insects. A quiet wind rustling the leaves on the trees and carrying her hair eastward. Rin's hand snapping at another flower's stem and tucking it in her lap before pulling a single dusky black plait from behind her ear, her thumb caressing the orange tie at the ends before falling to her lap, resuming weaving together the flower stems.

Sesshomaru refused to look elsewhere. His nose hadn't failed him in years and he doubted it would now. But he couldn't intrude. Autonomy had given Rin a need for privacy. However, it also hardened her stubbornness. At heart — Rin was a free spirit and akin to providing comfort to others whilst bearing her own burdens, yet she faltered when allowing others to assist her. In years prior, Sesshomaru would have never thought it was a trait they shared. Rin had always been cheerful as a child. Akin to speaking her mind, no matter how crass the thought.

But there was much he didn't know of her. And while this was one of the lessons he disliked, he would pay attention nonetheless — finding himself at her side almost in an instant when a silvery tear rolled down her cheek.

"Rin?"

Her hands stilled. The flowers stems tremble in between her fingers and in the dim of the night, he cans the myriad of flickering emotions painting anguish across her features. Sesshomaru knelt in the blooms, careful not to crush them, but lingering close enough to her side that he could make out the dried tear streaks amidst the rivulets of newer tearfalls.

Lowering her hands to her lap, Rin muttered in a voice barely above a whisper. "… I thought the flowers would hide the smell…"

Sesshomaru's lips twitched at the corners, threatening to dip into a frown. He told himself once more that he wouldn't fault her for this. Her memories, while old and in the past, were just as meaningful to her in the present. Lifting his hand achingly slow, Sesshomaru carefully wiped away the streaks of tears with his thumb, wrinkling his nose as the sharp salty tinge grew stronger.

"Why would you try to hide them?"

"Have you seen A-Un try to tiptoe through flowers..?"

She tried to laugh. A tired giggle, mirthless and utterly hollow, crude compared to her usual infectious guffawing laughter. Sesshomaru could imagine what would happen if A-Un were to wake and see Rin like this. The dragon would have stopped at nothing to find the source of her pain. Curled around her as if she were their own and held her close til morning. But A-Un remained in the clearing and Sesshomaru knelt beside Rin, wiping away the tears as they fell.

"Is it the nightmares?"

Rin's smile fell almost immediately and her eyes shuttered. Sesshomaru did frown at the look on her face. Devoid of cheer, almost completely blank, save for the tears wetting her eyelashes and the pad of his thumb with every swipe. She sighed, a wispy rattling laugh parting her lips. "… It's funny.." She said, though the humor was both lost on him and nowhere to be found in her words. "I thought I didn't have any tears left to cry. But… here they are…"

Sesshomaru wasn't sure what to say. Words oft escaped him in matters such as this and he doubted they were what Rin wanted entirely. So where words failed, action prevailed. There was only a small space where the flowers wouldn't be easily crushed and it wasn't enough for both of them to sit comfortably side by side. With his hand leaving her face, Rin's eyes widened fractionally and he heard her breath catch as he shifted to sit behind her. His armor carefully removed and set aside, allowing him to wrap his arms around her.

She stiffened in his hold. Every muscle tensed and quivering, the tension gradually melting as she sagged against him, her head thumping against his chest. There was little else Sesshomaru could do but rub his hand up and down the length of her arm, squeezing gently when she shifted. Content to listen to Rin's shuddering breaths and the wilds around them until she was ready to speak, leave, or do anything at all..

After a lingering pause, a long pause broke the silence. "I lied to Master Jaken," she admitted, sucking her teeth and brushing the back of her hands beneath her eyes. "Just a bit.."

"Mm?"

"Well, it was a harmless lie. If I told him the truth, he would've just panicked.. And he sleeps like a log anyway."

"What did you say?"

Rin snickered, likely amused by the memory, and Sesshomaru was pleased that her laugh had regained some of its enthusiasm. "I had something I needed to do. Girl things. You should've seen how quickly he turned tail, it was a little funny."

Sesshomaru almost wanted to smile as she laughed, but every time her hands pulled away from her eyes, the brackish scent assaulted his senses. Squeezing her upper arm, her laughter stuttered and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"You don't have to hide from me."

Rin paused and inhaled deeply, laying her hand against his sleeve, her fingers curling into the fabric and pulling it taut. "… I know," she managed to say and the weariness combined with the fragility of her voice tensed something in his chest. He held her tighter in response and if Rin noticed, she was gracious enough not to point it out. Continuing with a rough tear-filled sigh, her hold on his arm so tight that she was shaking. "I'm just a little ashamed, I think. It's been so long. I should be better now."

Sesshomaru could hear the admonishment. Her frustration, fear, and anxiousness. Perhaps at one point in his life he had felt similar to her. Though his qualms were of a different sort, and he'd had centuries to come to terms with them for better or worse. Rin was forced to confront her worst fears, death, and understanding of a species that she both feared and abhorred. Sesshomaru wouldn't fault her for her feelings but he wouldn't uphold the way she spoke of herself either.

Where others might have broken, Rin hadn't.

Her pain could take centuries to heal and he would hold her throughout it all.

"You are allowed to feel what you do," Sesshomaru insisted.

Rin said nothing and briefly, Sesshomaru wondered if that was the end of their talk. Then, the world seemed to slow as she turned in his embrace to face him. Brown eyes, glazed over and brimming with tears, met his own. Her lips trembling as he drew her into his lap and cradled her against his chest, allowing her to pull her knees in close. The soles of her feet, dirtied with damp soil and grass, brushed against the leg of his hakama and he could care less for the stain. Flowers fell from her lap as she moved and he reached out to cup them in the palm of his hand, lifting them back to her view and allowing her to pluck them from his hands.

Her fingers caressed his own for a bit longer as she gathered the last of the flowers, tracing the lines of his palm.

"Thank you," Rin murmured, her lips soft and warm as they brushed against his cheek as he leant his head down.

"… Mm."

He knew she didn't mean about the flowers but chose not to touch on the subject. Allowing her to shift in his lap, spreading the flowers out in her own. The pungent scent dissipating as she brushed her fingers along the flower petals. Peace reigned as Rin gathered herself, examining each of the flowers with interest. Her fingers occasionally falling to the exposed skin of his wrist, tracing the length of his marks with interest.

"One day, I'll grow taller than you…"

With how lazy her touches were becoming and the dreamy tone of voice, along with such a ludicrous idea, sleep must have been creeping upon her again. Rin had grown considerably but in comparison to his half-brother's wife and the slayer woman, she was quite small. Still, he would humor her.

Burying a smile in her hair, Sesshomaru muttered low. "Will you?"

"Absolutely," Rin protested, wiggling her toes as she laughed heartily. He drank in the sound, reveling in its return as she added. "And then we'll see who hugs who."

"…I look forward it," Sesshomaru said, wiping away a few stray tears as he pulled away to see her face. Her eyes flicked up to meet his own, unspoken apologies and hopefulness glimmering beneath the fog of discontent.

"Can you stay with me for a bit longer?"

He could have told her that he had no intention of going elsewhere. That he would stay with her until she felt at ease. Carry her back to sleep at A-Un's side or his own. But he said neither thing, simply pulling back to rest his chin against her head. "…Continue what you were doing."

Her breath hitches but he could practically hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. "Are you sure, m'lord?" There was a slight shuffle, and he could hear the telltale sounds of her muttering as she weaved the flower stems together. "If I finish this, I will try to make you wear it."

"Will it make you smile?"

After a short pause, Rin nodded.

Like this, Sesshomaru cared little for appearance and decorum. What he desired was the smile he adored and if he had to endure wearing one of her flower crowns, then so be it.

"I will wear it then."

This was a labor of love and I adore it! I've never really written anything from Sesshomaru's perspective before, and getting into his head is an interesting experience. On one hand, he thinks quite a bit. On the other hand, what he wants to do is often different than what he does or says. Rin understands him well enough and they're growing together, but I think he learnd to tolerate a lot of things because she doesn't do them out of simple want and desire.

She's just been hurt a lot and he's trying to help her just as she helped him.

Anyway, as usual, you guys can find me on tumblr, twitter, instagram, pillowfort and tapas at unlockthelore.

Thank you so much for reading!