(A/N: Thank you readers for being steadfast and true! I just wanted to let you guys know that the end is approaching. I plan to finish by chapter 20, give or take. Hope you guys continue to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!)

Chapter 16

Innocence and a Smile

Despite Rin's integration into Kaede's village, her suspicion of other humans had hardly eased. She had only learned to form bonds with a particular set of humans that she knew she could trust. Even the village, at-large, was filled with those she was wary of. She preferred to only interact with others is accompanied by a member of the inutachi. Naturally, her most common companion was Kaede.

Rin could often be seen trotting behind the old priestess, assisting her in whatever way possible. This day it would be a wedding, and in that sense, poor Rin's insecurities about her use would be agitated.

"Rin-chan, it is best that you busy yourself with something outside of the shrine today."

"There's nothing I can do Kaede-baba?"

The priestess shook her head no at the crumbling postured child. "Play with the other children while you wait."

Rin felt awash with unease as Kaede stepped away from her. There was, indeed, a pack of ungainly little monsters clamoring on top of each other in some sort of game. Boys. Cautiously, she approached.

"May I play too?"

The air stood up in Rin's chest, refusing to move. Calling attention to her own presence seemed to halt everything within frame. The boys opened their mouths dimly at her. A supposed leader stepped forth. He was bigger than the other boys—sweatier as well. He seemed to move forward on half of his body at a time.

"Are you stupid? Girls can't play with us."

Rin was very much happy to oblige him and turned her gaze to passersby as she fell with a thump to the ground. Her legs were akimbo and rested her weight on her hands behind her, leaning back and feeling the warmth of the sun on her face. The boys began to reassemble into whatever pile they were previously in, but not the leader. Rin's indifference seemed to eat at him and he trudged toward her and heatedly kicked her wrist from out beneath her.

Rin's vision went white and when she came to she looked at her wrist. It was the sight of it; dirty and covered in scratches. He bandage had all but come off and the cut on her palm reopened. A dull throbbing pulsed with her bleeding and the tears streamed down her face. She could hear all of the little ingrates laughing at her. Little by little their laughs muffled and a sharp ring entered her ears. Her face became hot and her belly tightened. The fire in her launched her back to her feet.

"You gonna run away little girl?"

The leader smugly crossed his arms over his chest before being covered by the shadow of a flying Rin. She ripped the gold and jadeite pin from her hair and embedded it in his arm, falling off of his much larger form. He wailed in horror at the ornament sticking out of him and shuffled back, succeeding in unwittingly aiding Rin in its return as she grabbed hold of the head of it.

Before Rin could come to understand what she had done, she was being manhandled by angry parents.

"How dare you?!" "That's what happens when children are raised by animals!" "She even acts like a demon!"

She shook herself free and ran as fast as she could before Kaede's attention could be drawn to what happened. She had to move fast before word got to any one of her guardians. She was filled with guilt, they would be shunned for bringing her into the village…surely. She was of no use to them, and only ever seemed to bring trouble. They'd be better off without her around.

Rin stabbed her hairpin back into her hair and ran back to Kaede's hut. It was only a matter of time till this happened. Villagers had a way of turning on her. Still, she was somewhat horrified at what she had done. She'd never been violent before.

Bursting into the empty hut, she filled a bag with as much food as she could after strapping her koto to her back. Rushing out, she called Ah-Un and strapped all of her effects to their saddle and hopped on, urging the two-headed dragon to fly as fast and as far as he could into the forest.

She was in a panic. Everyone would hate her even more now. There was no way she could stay. She had no talent for being around other people. She would miss them…the inugumi…but she knew she could return to her Lord Sesshomaru. That filled her with some relief.

Sesshomaru missed Rin's smile. His servant's negativity gnawed at his ears.

"M'lord! We'll never get through all of these boar demons! No matter how many you kill, they just keep coming!"

Jaken loved to point out the obvious. It was his only reprieve from being a sycophant. Sesshomaru must have killed dozens of them by now, but they seemed not to heed the warning of the bodies of their fallen brethren. His lands stunk of dead pig, and yet live ones continued to barrel in, wreaking havoc. It seemed to him that he would have to kill each and every one of that tribe of mononoke.

Rin's smile. She seemed to be the only happy being in a sea of malady. Sesshomaru admonished himself internally. You're being weak.

The first time she smiled at him was so curious that it buried within him. So much joy at nothing. So much joy at him. He had never brought happiness to someone before. The feeling was strange and addictive.

He remembered how Shinokiri looked at his father. Those same wide, glowing eyes. Scrappy and smiling at nonevents, just because the daiyoukai was in their view. Being admired in such an innocent way was pleasing to the ego…to say the least.

Sesshomaru was an angry whelp. He was prone to temper tantrums. At first, it was manageable, but as of late he was a terror. His rage seemed to be brought on by his father being in residence. He would tear at shoji and torment servants just to get his father's attention.

The young heir threw rocks against the wall. He could see them. His father and the orphan. She seemed to be sounding out the words on a scroll. He watched her shyly look up at his father for approval and he urged her on. She was smiling so brightly. Both of their eyes shone at each other. His father looked proud.

Sesshomaru struggled to think of a time he had shared such a moment with his father. He kicked at the ground. The young demon struggled to grasp what he was experiencing, but he wanted to destroy things. He vowed never to talk to the orphan. She was his enemy now.

Shinokiri had remained in his land. Her scent was very much there. He believed it to be a test, and so he kept his distance and allowed her free reign. As much of a nuisance as the hogs were, they were an excellent outlet for his frustrations.

In her true form, Shinokiri soared through the sky like an impending storm cloud. She couldn't leave the Western lands. Her gut kept her there. She was restless and idle, but she could see that something was happening and she was curious.

Her mate had been littering the countryside with hog demons and it certainly was catching her attention. I seemed that he meant to stop their infiltration of his territory in this way and she desperately wanted to intervene. Her lips suffered from the biting it took to restrain herself from getting involved. She would, at least, allow herself to witness the conclusion to all of this.

Suddenly her eyes shifted downward and she plummeted toward the earth, returning to her humanoid form. In the thick of the woods, she could smell Rin and Ah-Un. How odd… As she got closer she began to hear singing.

"Nama no naka

Mori no naka

Kaze no naka

Yume no naka

Sesshoumaru-sama doko ni iru

Jakken-sama wo—Shinokiri-hime!"

Rin's song was stopped by a sharp yelp at the demoness which fell from the sky in front of her. The child jumped from the now stopped Ah-Un and ran to embrace Shinokiri's legs. Her smile shimmering.

"Girl, why are you so far from the village?"

"Lord Sesshomaru doesn't need to worry anymore, because of the Oto no Joka Kabe. I can be with him again."

"That wasn't why you were to stay in the village child."

Yanking the girl up by the fabric on her back she planted her back onto Ah-Un.

"I made a mistake. You overestimate yourself already. You are to stay with your kind until you are old enough to choose to roam with a demon."

Rin's heart dropped. "No! I don't want to go back. Humans are stupid and mean!"

Her face was red and her brows furrowed. Shinokiri sighed deeply.

"That is true of most creatures…but what if you decide one day that you want children and a house…your own life. You can't have that with Sesshomaru-sama."

Rin huffed indignantly. "Yes. I can."

Shinokiri tilted her head for an explanation, somewhat worried as to what it might be.

"I can bring kids with us."

"What about your husband?"

"He can come too."

"I don't think he'd be happy about that Rin."

"I would only marry someone who would be happy about it."

"Rin. Be serious."

"I am Shinokiri-hime! I promise! I'll be useful! I can look after your puppies!"

The demoness leaned on the two-headed dragon next to her for support. She suddenly felt very tired. Why was she humoring this conversation?

"Rin. We will get to all of that when you are a woman, but for now, you must go back."

"But I'm in trouble."

Rin's watery eyes bore into Shinokiri, trying to draw all of the demoness' sympathy out with her pouting. Shinokiri squinted at nothing in particular. A dull pain had developed in her head. No opponent was more fearsome than a child.

"I am sorry to see that you're a coward, child."

Rin drew a sharp intake of breath and puffed up her body. "I am not a coward."

"Then you will face the consequences of whatever foolishness you are running away from. You are too old to behave like this."

Rin scratched at the saddle with her nails and twisted her mouth. The struggle was visible on her face.

"Can I stay with you for a while before we go back?"

Shinokiri shut her eyes and let her eyebrows touch her forehead and she breathed in deeply.

"It is close to nightfall. You will sleep here and then we depart in the morning."

Rin nodded her head excitedly and sprung from the saddle right on to Shinokiri's neck and squeezed tightly.

"Thank you Shinokiri-hime! Will I get to see Lord Sesshomaru?"

The demoness pinched the bridge of her nose and lowered herself as to allow Rin to release her neck.

"Are you hungry Rin?"

"I brought food!"

"Make yourself a fire, child."

Rin hopped into action, collecting twigs and Ah-Un plopped himself down right where he stood. The little girl was pleasantly surprised at how lenient Shinokiri was with her. She reveled in the prospect of spending more time with this new presence in her life.

After some time, a fire was made, with Rin sandwiched between her youkai companions. It was quiet apart from the slightly wet sound of Rin nibbling on dumplings.

"What you did was selfish Rin."

"What?"

"Apart of what I need you to understand is that your actions affect others. How do you think Kaede feels right now? Inuyasha is probably searching for you…no none knows whether you are safe or not…"

Rin let this sink in. It was true. She felt shame wash flood through her. Her eyes began to sting and she began to hyperventilate with tears.

"Shinokiri-hime! I'm so sorry!"

She did not look at the child, pretending to be indifferent. "I'm not the one to whom you should be apologizing. Save your tears. They are pathetic."

Still, she allowed the little girl to bury her face into her lap and wipe away her sadness in the fine fabric. Shinokiri let a clawed hand comb through Rin's raven locks in order to meagerly comfort her.

"You're destroying my clothes."

Rin quietly sniffed back her tears. Runny-nosed she looked up at the demoness apologetically.

"I'm sorry Shinokiri-hime."

She roughly wiped off her own face with her kimono sleeve. Rin's gaze fell on Shinokiri's clothes as she traced the gray bamboo figures. The demoness could faintly smell blood and looked at the ornament in Rin's hair.

"Did Sesshomaru-sama give you this?" She gently tapped the stone end of the hairpin.

"Mhmm"

"It's lovely."

"I really like it. It reminds of yours."

"It's much nicer than mine was."

Was? Rin looked up at the demoness' ponytail to see it quite unadorned.

"What happened? Did you lose yours?"

Shinokiri leaned back against a tree and nodded.

"You stabbed someone. Are they alive?"

Rin avoided eye contact, putting her head back into the elder woman's lap. "Yeah, he's fine…he kicked me first." The response was laden with sleep as the girl's eyelids became heavy.

The corner of Shinokiri's lips began to turn upward. "Is that all it is then?"

The silence fell between them as Rin succumbed to sleep.