"A bouquet?!" Sesshoumaru's mother gaped down at her son as they sat in front of the school in her car.

Sesshoumaru looked at his feet as they swung idly back and forth and nodded, mumbling a brief "Yeah"

The woman chuckled. "I bet this has to do with why you came home all muddy yesterday, huh?" at seeing her son nod, she laughed and unbuckled him and herself. "Well, Sessh, it's a bit late…and perhaps too expensive…for us to run to a florist, but maybe you could find some around the school. If we weren't running so late I would help you pick some, but unfortunately you are late and so am I!" glancing at her watch, here eyes widened.

Sesshoumaru glared up at his mother; he had specifically called her the night before and asked her to pick him up extra early with the idea in mind that he could pick some flowers for Rin and meet her before she went into the school. But she was an irritating woman and she'd shown up extremely late—so late that lessons had already begun. And now he would have to wait until recess (a time of the day that seemed to hold continuous bad luck for the boy) to do anything.

His mother grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the school. However, as the pair passed the same patch of flowers Sesshoumaru had first seen Rin, he resisted her pull and stooped to pick a haste bouquet of random flowers he didn't really even have time to look at. His mother laughed at his persistence and stooped to help her son pick a more suitable and less weedy bit of flowers. "There. The best free bouquet I've ever seen. Now, we're really running late!" she once again grabbed his hand and they rushed into the building.

They stopped at the door and Sesshoumaru paused to stuff the flowers as neatly as he could into his backpack. "Oh my," his mother sighed and rolled her eyes before knocking on the door. Ms. Kaida answered and she explained the situation hurriedly, gave Sesshoumaru a quick kiss and literally ran back to her car.

It took the class a few minutes to settle down after this recent interruption and Sesshoumaru quickly made his way to his seat without looking up. "Hey Sessh!" Hiten whispered. "We're not gonna take this from those girls! My older brother helped me and Manten come up with a plan that's sure to get them good!"

Sesshoumaru was beginning to catch on; if he told them what they wanted to hear, they would shutup and leave him alone a lot faster than if he just ignored them. "Cool. Sounds great. I can't wait to hear the plan," Needless to say, Sesshoumaru's response was lack-luster but it was something and so the boys settled down and resolved to wage the biggest and most decisive battle against the girls yet.

Sesshoumaru hung around the classroom a bit after recess began, grabbing his backpack, flowers and all before dashing out the door. All the girls had gathered on one side of playground, and the boys the other. But Sesshoumaru had learned not to pay attention to the peculiarities of his classmates.

"Rin," he muttered to himself, looking for her face among those of the huddled together girls. He was surprised, however to spot her far from the action; sitting in the sandbox and singing to an ugly little green doll. Across the playground was a long way, especially since he'd have to walk between the boys and girls, risking being caught in the crossfire.

However, as he caught the murmurings of her song, he suddenly decided he didn't care. "There's nothing wrong with having friends that are girls—I'm sure some of them wished they could be friends with the other girls, too."Izayoi's voice echoed through his mind as he steadfastly marched across the playground. He ignored the shouts of both boys and girls alike and stomped with something akin to fury as he grew closer to the obliviously singing girl.

"Hi Rin." She whipped around, her face confused and then surprised.

She looked up at him and squinted her eyes against the sun. "Hi." She replied shortly and her eyes followed his form as he silently sat across from her. "Why aren't you playing with your friends?" she asked quietly as she averted her eyes and stroked the head of her doll once more.

Sesshoumaru shook his head absently. "They aren't really my friends, I don't like them much."

Rin nodded in understanding. "They are kind of pushy; and they always want to play together. I'd much rather sit and play with my doll, Mr. Jaken!" she giggled and twisted the little green dolls arm.

Frowning at the doll's odd name, Sesshoumaru shook off his curiosity and reached into his backpack, fishing out the bouquet he'd quickly picked that morning. At exactly the same moment, something happened back in the playground. Loud yells erupted and Sesshoumaru could faintly detect a flurry of movement somewhere behind Rin. However, as he gazed into her bright chocolate eyes, he couldn't find it in him to care.

Rin squealed at the sight of the flowers and dropped 'Mr. Jaken' in joy. "Oh Sesshoumaru! They're so pretty!"

Sesshoumaru smiled as well, happy to see Rin so enthused. "I…I picked them this morning. I'm sorry about everything that happened."

She grinned again. "That's okay! I knew you weren't like the other boys anyway!"

That was good, Sesshoumaru decided as they passed the rest of recess enjoying one another's company and completely ignoring the epic battle raging a few meters behind them. Sesshoumaru figured as long as he could become good friends with Rim, he would not have to worry about any trivial sort of battles during recess.


Yay, last chapter--the end. Fini. Au revoir. I enjoyed writing it. I hope you all enjoyed reading it! Thanks so much to my reviewers, your encouragement and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated!

I hope you enjoyed my shameless Jaken guest appreance...it just seems right that Rin should have some sort of Jaken relic. Someone noticed the absence of Inu and Kags. In my mind, putting them in this story would ahve somehow added an extra element of...something, explanation, development. I wanted to keep this simple, prose more than anything else, which I think is clearly reflected in the story. So Inu and Kags can exist as babies that are only mentioned by name only (and really only Inu).