Chapter VIII
Rin looked around for the voice that sounded familiar in the surrounding darkness, while searching her memories trying to locate where she heard it from. After coming up with no answer, Rin waited for it to speak again, after all she wanted the answers to the questions springing up in her head, and somehow she knew that, that voice knows the answers to them, so she waited. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to find that an image had come to life in front of her. Sparing a look at her companion, she saw that he was just standing there with a blank expression and staring into the darkness. Guessing he wasn't seeing anything she shrugged her shoulders, and turned back to the image in front of her and watched as a scene played out in it. Before long she realized what the scene playing in front of her was.
It was the day Melody gave birth to Kazumi in her perspective. With that revelation images sprang from left to right in a lighting fast pace, confusing her with how fast and unoriented they were going; but as suddenly as they began, they stopped.
"Rin-san," Melody's voice echoed in her head. "With these memories, you are officially Kazumi's mother in blood, body, and soul. In less than an half an hour you will forget that Kazumi was ever your daughter only by adoption, and that you've ever met me. My memories will become yours, meaning that during my pregnancy I will be replaced by you and your body will have been the one to go through the process of having given birth to Kazumi, instead of myself. This is how it'll go, leading up to the pregnancy and during. Everything that was mine during my pregnancy with Kazumi and before is yours, including the ultrasound pictures and the experiences I endured with the pregnancy. You and all the people who have been told that Kazumi is only your daughter by adoption will forget those memories and have them replaced with new ones. Kazumi will and always will be your daughter, of that I've made sure of. All the answers to your questions lay in these memories. Take care."
In another bright flash of light, Rin was sitting behind her desk again holding Kazumi in her arms and facing Sesshomaru with widen eyes. Sitting in front of her is the father of her child, and she couldn't help but mentally smack herself in the head for not figuring it out in the hours she spent in his company. After all one can never forget those looks of his and personality, she's seriously wondering what she saw in him when she decided to lie with him almost two years ago. Looking towards Kagome, Rin made eye contact with her and silently message asked her to leave, with a nod of her head, Kagome stood up from her spot on the couch and left the office without saying a single sound. As the minutes passed and neither Sesshomaru nor Rin spoke, Rin finally gave up staring at Sesshomaru and instead focused her attention on Kazumi, who had been silently watching her from the moment she woke up, something shocking since she was usually up and running from the moment she woke up, until the moment she fell asleep.
Heaving a silent sigh, Rin ran her fingers through Kazumi's silky black hair and began thinking a plan to get herself out of the current situation she found herself in, while still remaining calm. Looking into Kazumi's golden coloured eyes, Rin unconsciously began to take in her features, noticing for the first time that Kazumi had her father's golden coloured eyes but her eye shape, as well as her ebony coloured hair but his pale complexion.
Shifting her attention elsewhere, Rin finally noticed the bento boxes on her desk and was reminded of how hungry she was. Shifting Kazumi so that she lying her back against her front, Rin reached for one of the bentos and without a word placed it in front of her and Kazumi. Moving the wrapped chopsticks to the side, Rin pulled the lid off, and almost moaned at the sight of a tonkatsu styled bento. Unwinding the chopsticks from its prison, Rin carefully snapped the chopsticks apart, before bringing it to the bento and grabbing a generous amount of seasoned white rice. Bringing it to her mouth, Rin silently moaned at the deliciousness before swallowing and taking a smaller portion and giving it to Kazumi. Rin was happily looking inside the bento and deciding on what to eat next when a cute, quiet, "Pwease," caught her attention.
Looking down at Kazumi, Rin noticed that she was silently asking to be put down, slightly confused, she complied. Rin watched as Kazumi hurriedly walked around the wooden desk until she was standing right in front of Sesshomaru's chair, Rin looked on as Kazumi stopped to look at the demon with a curious tilt of her head before using Sesshomaru's pants as a climbing leverage to pull herself up. With widen eyes, Rin watched as Sesshomaru silently helped her get comfortable on his lap while facing him before settling a hand on her back so that she wouldn't fall back by accident and proceeded to look down at Kazumi with a raised eyebrow and a slight inquiry in his eyes.
"You's smell funny m'ster!" Kazumi exclaimed with a furrow of her brow and a wrinkle in her nose.
"Indeed?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Yes!"
"Explain."
"You's smells like Mommy but you not Mommy. Who's you?"
"I am Sesshomaru."
"Sessmuru," Kazumi repeated with a smile, butchering his name quickly. "I's Kazumi!"
"I see," Sesshomaru said slowly as he looked at the child sitting on his lap with a raised brow for a moment longer before he lifted his gaze to Rin and, without removing his gaze from her, asked Kazumi how old she is.
"I's turn one's t'day!"
"Hn. Happy birthday, Kazumi," Sesshomaru said. Although it was a simple statement spoken, Rin got the feeling that he was accusing her of some crime she committed without her knowing. Forcing the feeling away, Rin finally broke eye contact with Sesshomaru and looked down at her bento, suddenly not so hungry anymore.
"Onna."
Snapping her head up at the sound of his voice addressing her, Rin silently watched as he stood up-after making sure Kazumi wouldn't fall-and walked up to her desk. For a period of time neither said anything before Sesshomaru deposited Kazumi into her mother's arms and, without a word, turned around to pick up his brief case from where it was resting on the floor and proceeded to make his way out of the office. With one foot out the door, Sesshomaru finally stopped and looked over his shoulder to see Rin standing behind her desk with Kazumi in her arms.
"I expect to see you at the entrance of the Rinshi-no-mori park* this Saturday at promptly ten o'clock. Don't be late." And with that he left, leaving both Rin and Kazumi alone in the office wondering at the strangeness of the demon Sesshomaru.
(*) A park located in the Shinagawa prefecture in Tokyo
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REVISED!