Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any other of the characters under that manga series… Sadly… T_T
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Chapter Three: Old Dogs and New Tricks
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"Rin likes having Kagome-chan as her teacher!" exclaimed the child as she proudly looked down on what she'd just scribbled down on the paper. She had successfully written Sesshomaru's name.
"Well, good, I'm glad," Kagome smiled, watching Shippo's progress as well. She'd been teaching him how to write for a while and he knew quite a lot. She was, at the moment, giving him a quiz and watching as he thought, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth in deep concentration.
"Are you ready Ship?" He wrote the last letter and then looked up at her, his eyes lit in determination.
"Yep!"
"Concentration. You need good concentration for hunting," she gave as an example. He went back to work, focusing on his task.
"Rin likes how Sesshomaru-sama's name looks," she smiled as she looked down at the paper lovingly.
Kagome sensed some movement near the door and looked up to see Sesshomaru himself standing there, observing Rin with a miniscule tilt to his lips. He glanced over at Kagome once before looking once again at his ward. Neither of the children noticed him, Rin because he was out of her peripheral view and Shippo because, as Kagome noticed, Sesshomaru was concealing his aura. Although, she smiled, if Shippo wasn't so intent on his quiz he may have noticed from scent. He had an excellent sense of smell.
"I'm ready for my next word Haha-ue!" Shippo exclaimed.
"Frequency." She didn't get a chance to give him a sentence because Rin was demanding her attention in her own way, tugging on her kimono sleeve.
"Will you teach Rin how to write your name?"
"Of course," she said, taking up her own brush and motioning Rin to edge closer.
Rin watched in fascination as she used quick but clean brush strokes to spell out each letter.
"Now you try it."
Rin frowned as she concentrated, being ever so careful not to drip any ink on her sleeves. When she was finished she held it up, smiling widely as she compared hers to Kagome's.
"Now Rin can write Haha-ue's name too!"
Kagome gasped lightly, a blush staining her cheeks. Had Rin just called her mother? Having realized her mistake, Rin stared blankly at Kagome, her mouth clamped shut and her face red as she waited for Kagome's reaction.
Kagome glanced at Sesshomaru quickly taking in his slightly surprised expression, which was the most she'd ever seen on his face, and looked back to Rin, afraid to hurt the child's feelings by saying the wrong thing or looking away for too long.
Eventually Kagome smiled softly, choosing not to say anything but instead to accept it as it was and continue with what they were doing. It was neither a reproach nor a confirmation. And as much as she loved the little girl she wasn't sure how Sesshomaru would react to it, since Rin was most definitely his.
"Very good Rin, now do you remember how to spell Jaken's name?" The little girl's face lit up and she went back to her previous seat, her brush already in the ink bottle.
"Yes and Rin will make him a sign to put on his door!"
When Kagome looked back up to the doorway Sesshomaru was gone.
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"Isn't it nice out?" Kagome asked the taiyoukai that afternoon as she sat on the steps outside of her bedroom's garden entrance, basking in the sunlight that filtered through the trees and into the yard. Only the rooms in the west wing had free access to the gardens and now she knew why. It was one of the only peaceful places in the fortress.
He gave no reply as he sat nearby, one step up, and watched the children as they played among the flowers. His eyes particularly focused on Rin. Kagome noticed.
"She adores you, you know," she mumbled. "I could always tell that, from the beginning." She glanced back up at him, noticing his expression never changed. He might not have even been listening for all that she knew. She frowned, a little irritated that she was being ignored.
They sat in silence once again for what could have been hours before he chose to reply.
"While I see that she enjoys my presence and does not fear me as she should, I cannot discern how it is that she does view me."
It took Kagome a moment to realize that he had spoken, because he'd spoken so softly, and also because she was not expecting it. In fact, her mind had already wandered elsewhere. Now it flew at a million miles per hour to come up with an answer.
"Are you worried that maybe she does not think of you in a paternal sense?"
"Hn," came his reply. She leaned back a little, once again turning forward to watch the children as she thought.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about in that sense," she began. "She relies on you to protect her and feed her and she becomes incredibly excited when she knows that you're coming to see her." He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees as he thought it over. "If anything I think she may just be unsure of how you'd react if she said anything." He nodded minutely. "Perhaps if you were more affectionate with her outwardly it would give her the courage." All was silent then for a time save for Rin who squealed in delight as she "tagged" Shippo.
"I shall take what you say into account." He stood, stepping off of the steps and into the garden. As he passed by to head to his rooms, Rin stopped dead in her tracks, looking up at him expectantly. He looked down at her for a moment before placing his hand on her head and continuing on his way. Kagome watched as her face lit up before she continued to play with the kitsune. She was immensely proud of the small personal leap he'd just made. For Rin that was perhaps the first piece of deliberate contact from her "father" and while it was just a pat on the head it was certainly better than nothing.
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~~Hope you all liked this chappie! Again, I know it's short but I can update faster this way and it feels like I can put more content into the chapters like this instead of filling in all of the boring details. And don't worry, I'll get to revealing what happened to the Inu-tachi eventually as well as how Kags got Haru…All in due time! Kags isn't ready to reveal it just yet… ^_^ And let's just assume that Haru is down for a nap nearby at this time…lol…anyways, that's all for now, will update soon!