Sesshomaru had been gone for one month without word as to his whereabouts. As soon as it was reported that he was missing the media tracked Rin down at Sango and Miroku's house making assumptions that there were marital problems. Sure, there were marital problems, but it was none of their business as to what was going on between them nor to be pestering her friends. So to save the couple any more sleepless nights she moved back into the palace but not back into the bedroom she had shared with Sesshomaru. Shuichi had been strangely silent to Rin in the week and a half she had been back, so she could only wonder what he was thinking about with his son's marriage on the rocks while he was completely missing. Of course Rin also wondered if he knew exactly where Sesshomaru had run off to.

Rin was seated in the lab looking over the plants as they grew in their planters under a sun lamp contemplating everything that happened in the past month when she heard some people outside in the hallway talking about a delivery of flowers often nicknamed the Parrot Flower. Parrot flowers were amongst the world's most rare flowers only growing in a remote part of the country for two months of the year. It must have been quite difficult for the sender to have located a florist willing to come all the way to the capital to deliver them.

Without any thoughts of the flowers belonging to someone she knew in her department since none of their family members lived in that area, someone walked in the with large vase of flowers and put them before Rin. "Who do you suppose sent you the flowers?" the secretary asked her. Rin looked back at Sango who seemed rather confused about the situation also. Sango had always thought it best to accept Rin's packages, even the business ones, in case they contained something meant to harm the Lady of the Western Lands. But never before had Rin been sent flowers, and with Rin's marriage on the rocks it was hard to imagine who could possible send them except for perhaps a stalker. Sango searched through the flowers to look for anything suspicious before having a demon co-worker of Rin's smell for something wrong.

"It seems that everything is okay," Sango announced as she took the card off for Rin to read.

Rin tore open the tiny envelope to get to the note. Inside it read: "Every day without you feels like an eternity. I hope to return to you soon to make amends for everything. Sesshomaru"

The tears that had been threatening to fall from Rin's eyes for the past two weeks now started falling in full force. Sango took the card from her and read it as Rin rested her head in her hand that was leaning against the lab table. "Rin..." Sango started to say. What could she say to make her friend feel any better? Her marriage had always been rather troublesome, but then all of that happened in a the course of two days. And he had been gone for nearly two weeks without talking to her. Did he know what he was putting her through?

"Every time I think things are over...He seems to pull me right back in with words like that. I wish he would make up his mind."

Rin's co-workers had now all stopped to pay attention to Rin. It was considered to be rather off limits to talk about her personal life since it was often splashed all over the TV, magazines, newspapers, and Internet, but today was something different. They were all aware that Lord Sesshomaru had gone missing, and it appeared that this may have something to do with it. "Are you okay?" her boss asked her.

Sango thought it best to pull the woman aside to say, "Rin is going through a rather rough time in her personal life right now, as I'm sure you already know. And with everyone wanting to talk about it I think that has added to the stress. Then there are these flowers...So I was wondering if you could let her go home today. If she's still in a bad mood tomorrow I'll make sure to call you and let you know she won't be coming in."

The boss nodded to her and then walked over to Rin to say, "Go ahead and take off the rest of the day." Rin nodded to her blankly and then left. Sango took the flowers with her as she followed Rin down to her car.

Once at home Sango suggested that Rin go to the family room and wait for her. Meanwhile Sango took the flowers to the study where Inuyasha and Shuichi were hard at work. She set the flowers down on Shuichi's desk. Inuyasha asked her before Shuichi could, "What's up with the flowers?"

She pick the card out of the holder and handed it to Shuichi. He read the card and then placed it on the desk. "Where's Rin?"

"In the living room," Sango answered him.

Shuichi sighed, "This couldn't have come at a worse time."

"Why? What's going on?" Sango asked him.

"The enemy just invaded our northern border."

"What can I do?" Rin asked nervously from the doorway. No one knew that she was standing there.

Shuichi was rather proud that Rin was stepping up instead of wallowing in her misery. "I would like you to take a leave of absence from work. We will be taking in a number of advisors to help with the 24 hours planning, so Izayoi will need plenty of help with arranging for their needs. Besides, this would be a great learning experience for you and Kagome depending upon which one of you will some day become empress."

"I'll do what I can even if I am to never be empress," she assured him.

Half way across the world Sesshomaru was flying through a mountainous region. He was wondering if the flowers he had sent to Rin had finally reached her. It was difficult to find someone to ship the flowers so far, but he was determined to make sure she got them. He knew how much she loved flowers, being a botanist and all, so as soon as he saw the beautiful flowers he knew she needed to enjoy their beauty also.

He had been thinking a lot about her lately. Well, he thought about her every minute of every day since she left him. She was even in his dreams. And he would be seeing her soon because he finally possessed the Shikon no Tama. But the sun was starting to set, and soon he would have to rest. He knew his mother lived within the region, and it had been ten years since he last visited her. Perhaps she would be grateful if he were to stop in.

And indeed she was very grateful to see him. It was now nearly ten in the evening and she had just finished hosting a dinner party. "Sesshomaru, I am so glad to see you," she gushed in front of her guests as they were leaving. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home preparing for the war?"

He didn't want to embarrass himself or her in front of her guests so he just said, "I'm heading back now. I think I should have enough time to get home before it gets too serious. Our armies in that region are amongst the strongest." He knew not what region of the country, but in fact he was correct in that the armies in the north were the strongest.

The guests left them and he and Miki sat down in the sitting room. She had quite a fabulous house, which he knew not how she achieved since his father had sent her away with just enough to live off of for a year. He often suspected that she would con men out of their money with her looks and charm. "You had no idea about the war, did you?" she asked him harshly.

Sesshomaru remembered exactly why it was that he never visited her. She had only come to visit him a few time since his father divorced her, and she was never the matronly type. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he knew that Rin would be a good mother to their children, she was the complete opposite of his own mother.

"No, I was in search of the Shikon no Tama," he informed her. "I'm sure you already know I am married to a human." He felt the bulge of the small jewel in his breast pocket of his button down shirt to assure himself that it was still there.

"I have been reading about that disgusting creature you married. And frankly I was delighted to hear that you were considering divorce."

"I am not considering divorce," he warned her. "As soon as I get home I will turn her into a demon."

"That is good to hear," she said cheerfully. "I always thought you would be better off with a demon woman. They are of better breeding and are more shrewd. That human woman who calls herself the empress has made your father weak just like that wife of yours has." She smiled a rather prideful smile. "Together you can destroy all of the humans when you become emperor."

Inside his head Rin's words repeated, "I will never be the demon woman you want me to be. Once I lose my humaness I can't be the loving person I am. I've seen what demon blood does to a half-demon. Inuyasha becomes a killing machine when his demon blood goes unchecked. If I become a demon then there is no bounds to what I will do to you and possibly to everyone in your family."

Just now listening to his mother he finally understood what she meant. Oh, what a fool he had been! He would leave at first light to make the two week journey home in hopes of reconciling with Rin.

--

Note: Parrot flowers do exist. Their scientific name is Impatiens psttacina, and they only grow in parts of Thailand, Burma, one district of India during the months of October and November. They are so rare that the exporting of the flower and its seeds has been banned by the Thai government. I got my information from Wikipedia.