((AN: About time for another update I think ^.^ This one's just another rather short and sweet one, a musing about how Sesshomaru connects with both Rin and Jaken, and how the two of them might sometimes come to argue about how best to consider him. At the end of the day, and in different ways, they have in common their adoration of the demon, and who could blame them, really? x3 The flashback at the beginning is probably around the beginning of the Final Chapter of Inuyasha somewhere, and the latter part takes place not long after he and Rin started traveling together again after their marriage.

I still have quite a few ideas written down; in the spirit of Valentine's month (though who am I kidding, I'll write good romance anytime xP), I've been working on two nice fluffy stories-an InuKag and a SessRin-both of which may end up stretching the rating on the collection. It seems I like to see how far I can take affectionate scenes without breaking into lemon territory; they might be limey at the very most. x3 We'll have to see.

Thanks again to my readers for sticking with me, I'm always happy to hear from you guys, and do enjoy! ^.^ ))

Consideration

Rin recalled a time when she was still a little girl, a time that seemed almost like yesterday, whenever she wanted to recount the days she journeyed with Lord Sesshomaru. That particular day, she had been jostled out of a daydream by Jaken (which happened quite often), who was pushing lightly on her shoulder.

"You should not stare," the imp admonished in a hushed tone when she whipped her head around at him. The two of them were sitting on A-Un's saddle during this pause in their travels. "It is quite rude."

"I wasn't staring," she'd argued, turning her head back to the demon at the focus of her attention. He was several feet away, standing atop a rock and looking out across the landscape; his hand was laying loosely, pensively on Tenseiga's handle. "I like to look at him and try to guess what he's thinking."

Jaken glanced from the girl to his Master with a hum, and back to her again. "There is hardly anything to guess. His mind is always on his personal growth and quest for power."

"Maybe," she shrugged, "Lots of people say that he's mysterious, but I notice different things in his expression, so he must think of more than that. He's not hard to understand if you try."

"All this from staring?" the little demon blinked, incredulous, as he rested his hands in his sleeves and tapped his foot.

"Watching," she corrected with a sigh, turning and looking up to the clouds. "I wonder if anyone even really tries to understand Lord Sesshomaru better, like I do...and then if they did, they wouldn't see a bad demon."

Jaken huffed. "I can understand him just fine, thank you. And I doubt that he wants to be seen as anything other than a powerful and intimidating being."

"Well," she raised her chin, defiant, "I'll learn to understand him too...I'll bet he likes to have someone try to do so; everyone wants to be considered. I know what that's like, you know...nobody wanting to understand, or have anything to do with you...and you want them to know what you're telling them, because somehow you can't say. You ever feel that way, Master Jaken?"

"Oh, uh, well…" the vassal hummed, looking away for a moment and grimacing as he scratched the side of his head. He sighed and shook himself out of his thoughts when nothing came to him in reply, but a shocking amount of empathy for what he knew of her plight...something new for him to feel. I'll lose my mind if I keep entertaining this girl's questions.

"Not in the least. Now don't bother Lord Sesshomaru with such things. If he's thinking anything right now, it's how rude it is that you stare so."

THOCK!

At that second, the imp let out a sudden yelp as a small rock careened at him, striking him square in the head and making him fall off the back of the draconic steed.

"Or perhaps how rude it is to insult behind his back," Rin giggled, looking up to see their Lord lowering his arm from the throw he'd just performed, his brow furled slightly in impatience.

"Let us go," he commanded evenly, turning to resume walking without a second glance.

"You heard him, Master Jaken!" Rin called as A-Un started to follow, and she held the reins. "Keep up!"

"Gyuh, I'll do so if you ever slow that thing down!" he gruffed, rushing to stay right behind as he held his aching head, while the girl kept her eyes as usual on Sesshomaru, smiling.

I knew he wanted to be understood too.

Years later, one of the things she hadn't really missed from those days was arguing with Jaken over how the two of them seemed to understand Sesshomaru in different ways.

Rin was wringing most of the cold water from the stream in front of her out of a small, moist towel, which she would be using to help tend to the Great Demon as he lay in the woodland thicket some feet behind her, cushioned by his fur. Most of his armor (the pieces of which lay beside him) and clothing were in bloody ruins from the battle that he'd just endured, and she couldn't even imagine the wound itself, from the way she'd seen it happen.

"You really worry too much, Rin," Jaken pointed out with a sigh as he stood nearby, mashing some herbs into a paste as per her instruction. "Even a wound like that isn't much to a Great Demon, you know. I surmise he will need just a day of rest, and then he'll be back on his feet."

"Yes," she nodded with a sigh and wiped her brow with the back of her hand, wet from the stream, "But still, getting impaled like that must hurt quite a bit, even when it's healing." She tried to will the shaking out of her hands, her chest still aching with worry, surging through her blood with every beat of her heart. "I still want to help him."

Jaken looked briefly into where Sesshomaru lay in the protection of the forest shadows, and he could see his face, as he'd quite often seen it as he was recovering: scrunched up, as if in concentration, with the barest of trembles escaping across his brow every little bit.

"Well, of course it's painful, that goes without saying," the imp pointed out, looking back to Rin. "But, demons pride themselves on their endurance. Showing pain is showing weakness. Lord Sesshomaru has always managed to recover quite admirably on his own."

The young woman's lips pressed to a tight line, determination etched in the tight knit of her eyebrows as she made sure a second cloth was thoroughly wet and cold. "I know it, Master Jaken." She looked into the imp's wide-eyed gaze. "But there is the strength of his endurance, and then there is feeling imprisoned by your pride. It shouldn't be a weakness to accept a little help while he does recover. He shouldn't have to endure such pain if he can choose not to."

"Lord Sesshomaru would refute that…"

"Would he? Or are you refuting for him?" she interrupted, her voice a razor edge, tempered with her concern.

To say that Jaken was taken aback was an understatement; he was quite often so anymore since Rin had rejoined them. Grown as she was, she was more certain of herself, and her convictions all the more steadfast. It wasn't just under Sesshomaru's command and for her status as his wife that he'd gained more respect for the girl...her stare when showing her temper, as it was now, could pierce him and stay his feet.

She blinked at the little demon's silence, and her look softened an inch. "I will not sit by and watch him suffer, even for a moment...he wouldn't do so for me, nor you. Now that I can do more to help than I ever could in the beginning, I surely will, unless he tells me himself that he does not need me. Now," she stood up with the wet towels and also took the paste of herbs, "I will tend to him, and I will hear no arguing from you."

"But…"

"That's an order, Jaken."

The imp again blanched slightly at her tone and the drop of his usual honorific, speechless...but nonetheless, obeying, with a long sigh. She almost never uses her power over me, but when she does, BOY is it effective. "Yes, milady."

Satisfied, the young woman turned into the thicket and approached her ailing husband, and Jaken could but trail along to watch the silent interaction closely.

Sesshomaru seemed to still as she came near, and she saw that while he was no longer trembling, his jaw was still set in a clenched frown, eyes closed. Rin prepared herself for the ghastly sight that she might behold, and stepped within the border of the mokomoko to drop to her knees beside him, her hands hovering over his blood-stained top.

The battle had happened only hours before. He was challenged by a large, hulking draconic beast with spines erupting from its tail that looked like bone, but were apparently about as hard as diamond...he'd managed to dispatch the creature, but the tail had released one spine into the air and straight through his left side, piercing armor and flesh...it had left a gaping hole, with only the remains of his armor and tattered flesh keeping him together as he floated to earth. With Rin and Jaken immediately going to hold him up on his unmarred side, he managed to stay on his feet and slowly hobble down into a dark, cavernous clearing of shrubs before letting himself collapse.

Carefully, and watching him for signs of protest, she peeled the ruins of the fabric away from his torso to glimpse the injury. To her surprise, the hole she'd seen had just already closed, leaving a semicircular flesh wound like something had tried to bite out his lower side...still very bloody and raw. But, at that rate he would indeed be able to stand within half a day, and perhaps, become fully recovered in the night...for that, she was relieved.

Steeling herself, she set to work cleaning the dried blood from around the area, and then spreading the pain-killing blend of herbs over it. Imagine enduring this, she couldn't help but shake her head. Perhaps it is much easier for demons...but I know they do feel pain. She looked up to see another small tremor in his brow, but nothing else for movement, in response to the medicine. I must thank Granny Kaede again for teaching me all of this.

Once done with that, she set the dirty cloth in a bucket to be washed and took the other one, fresh and cold, for soothing over his brow and face.

She watched his expression slowly soften into relaxation, the intensity leaving every muscle under her ministrations. She wondered how well the herbal remedies that could treat humans would work on demons...she would have to get more of Jinenji's insight at some point as well...but at least Sesshomaru didn't seem so tense any longer.

After a moment, as she was about ready to go soak the cloth again, she saw his eyelids twitch and open slowly, peering up to meet her gentle, smiling expression.

"Welcome back, my lord," she murmured. "I'll be done soon to let you rest more, if you wish me to."

There was a pause of silence, before his hand reached up to find one of hers; the one that wasn't holding the cloth was resting on his chest, feeling the steadiness of his heart, and he gathered her fingers in his with a short squeeze.

That small gesture alone seemed to convey more than enough of his gratitude, Jaken observed, given the way that a light blush crossed Rin's face and her smile grew wider, the two of them sharing their eye contact as they often did. Not terribly to his surprise, the woman was right...Sesshomaru was indeed not spurning her help with his recovery, but welcoming it readily.

It occurred to the imp, then, that perhaps the girl could read the demon lord very well in her own way. While Jaken himself was empathetic enough to his Master to have taken on the role of an extension of him, his emotions, temper, and even sometimes his ego...Rin, through her efforts to understand him, hadn't become another part of him.

It seemed that she was instead meant to be his antithesis, his opposite...and his balance. Someone brave enough to cut through his pride. Just as she soothed his physical wounds, she was there for him to show his inner turmoil, to show the vulnerability that he would to none other, the calm upon the storm...the light in darkness. Unwittingly, she had learned to understand him so that she could take that role without hesitation.

I suppose credit is due to Rin, Jaken admitted to himself. I can no longer doubt that he does in fact need her. He let a smile cross his beak-like jaw. The happier Lord Sesshomaru is, the better, I say.

"I'm glad milord is recovering quickly!" the imp exclaimed once he also caught his eye. "I feel I should set a camp up here until you are on your feet. Lady Rin, do you need me to make more of that herbal paste?"

"No, that won't be necessary I think...making sure this place is secure is a good idea though, who knows if any more of those spiked beasts are around. Thank you, Master Jaken," she smiled.

"My pleasure," he bowed and turned his attention to surveying their momentary shelter, leaving her to the task of tending to their injured leader.

She turned back to see him having closed his eyes again, falling into his healing sleep, his hand letting go of hers. She continued to run the cloth over his skin, cleaning blood off where she could reach, before dropping it in her bucket and simply laying beside him to keep vigil. Her fingers drifted across his brow. "I'll be right here, then," she promised in a gentle murmur, knowing that he could probably still hear her...an assurance to the silent plea she'd seen in his eyes to stay by his side, and out of danger.

It was dark when Rin awoke, having fallen asleep next to Sesshomaru after helping to clean their impromptu camp with Jaken. They could not light a fire in the thicket, for they were still more or less in hiding, but there was still plenty of the moonlight outside piercing into the woods, allowing her to see enough vague outlines and shapes. She saw the imp stretched out on the ground nearby, fast asleep...and she followed the path of the mokomoko to where her husband was standing at the entrance to their cavern, looking around.

She let out a little gasp and instantly got up to her feet, hurrying over to where he stood. He hadn't yet replaced his armor—it appeared that the pieces were still regenerating themselves, though quickly—and he was bare from the waist up, the pieces of his top hanging from one of the branches of the brambles surrounding the shelter.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Rin exclaimed in a loud whisper upon reaching his side, "You're awake...how do you feel?"

"I am recovered," he answered, his eyes holding onto a fixed point outside, "My things will soon have repaired themselves as well. When they do, we will leave this place; other demons are stirring, likely they'll have found the fallen one. His power likely meant he'd earned a rule over this forest."

"That would be wise then, I think," his wife nodded as she looked down to inspect his side in the sparse light; he looked very much intact, only that he had a very large, reddish bruise where the wound had been. She reached out to touch it, and he moved not an inch as she ran her fingers over the discolored, but healed, skin and taut muscle. "I don't think any of us expected that attack to be so effective in breaking through your armor. It would be best to get out before you are sought."

"Other demons do not concern me," he hummed. "But there may be a curse here that had given him that power...something in the aura of this forest smells foul. I would not tangle with it." He then looked down, watching her for a moment as she thoughtfully pressed and trickled over his wound with her hand. A bit of amusement found his way into his voice. "Are you still concerned, Rin, or are you merely taking the chance to touch me?"

"Oh, I take any excuse to do that, my lord," she replied with a grin, and she felt a bit of a thrill when the corner of his lip quirked upward with his brow, "But, it is out of concern, too. Demon healing powers are so very useful...and yours seems much faster, where when I first met you it had taken you roughly two or three days to leave that tree, it now would take only one."

"A testament to a Great Demon's power," he informed, turning to face her as her hands fell away from him. "I can still be killed, and I cannot regenerate as Naraku had, for I am only one demon. But I can endure worse than I could before, and my defense maneuvers are so that it is nigh impossible to hit necessary organs."

"That is a relief, at least," Rin sighed, her head inclining. "Master Jaken, I suppose, was right; I worry too much when you are hurt. You are more than strong enough for anything. But I'll continue to help with what wounds you may suffer, if you do not mind it at all."

His expression softened as he regarded her reply, and he reached again for her hand and raised it, placing his lips in the center of her palm. Her heart picked up its pace at the gentle action...it told her that her presence and attention had been, and would be always, appreciated. When he opened his eyes ever so slightly and focused back on her, pressing a kiss into her lifeline, she blushed deeply...that look had become another tell, one that told her he'd also make sure to thank her quite properly later.

"I have no protest," he matter-of-factly hummed as he let go of her hand, and turned back out to his watch in the woods. "Get some more sleep. I will rouse you when we should take our leave."

"Of course," she nodded, leaning close and leaving a peck of a kiss on his shoulder before turning back into the shelter, giving him one last smile. "Good night to you, my invincible husband."

"And you, my lady."

His reply, practically silent in his breath, could only be heard by her as she started to half fall into slumber behind him, and he saw a smile that couldn't leave her lips as she curled in warmth against the tail of his fur.

Could it be that all I had ever needed was someone willing to comprehend me to the extent she does, and would willingly chase away my discomfort? A fascinating thought...that is what love does, I suppose. I should not still be so cautious to accept it after all this time...it makes her happy.

It would be the break of dawn before they could ride off again, flying quickly from the dense woods and making note of its location in case that more trouble could arise there. Jaken had shared Rin's relief that the demon lord had mended easily, though he wouldn't again question the Lady's resolve.

One thing they shared in common is that they would follow him to the ends of the earth, which he could appreciate...and neither would confirm out loud that perhaps, he needed them too.