In the school cafeteria
Kagome slammed both her palm flat down into the table as she heard the recount of her best friend.
"WHAT! YOU SLEPT WITH SESSHOUMARU LAST NIGHT?"
Rin stretched up in her own desperation to cover Kagome's mouth. Without her own knowledge, her friend was yelling out so loudly everyone turned to stare at the two of them….. including Inuyasha. He was having lunch with his friends but Rin noticed…. He heard them!
"Shhhh….. Softer…." The girl was worried that the basketball captain is going to get the wrong idea again.
"But… you slept with Sesshoumaru!" Kagome started again once she was freed from Rin's grasp.
"I-I stayed over for the night. That's all. Nothing happened between us. REALLY! My mom was away and uncle fetched me there." Rin tried to explain, her eyes nervously gazing towards Inuyasha to examine his reactions. However, she couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"But you said…."
Rin let off an audible sullen sigh as thoughts of Sesshy returned to her.
You were talking in your sleep last night… You said you're falling in love with me….
"Ahhh…. I don't wanna talk about it anymore." The girl rose from her seat, heading out of the room. Her confusion about how she was feeling towards her Otooto, her indecision of his character was simply drowning her out. She needed a breath of fresh air. "I'm going to the resource room. Dr Tanaka asked me to gather some stuff for him for the lesson today."
Kagome wanted to stop the girl but an exploding thud alerted her attention to be drawn to the basketball captain instead. To her immense shock, Inuyasha did a hard slam too on his book as he stormed out. He was DEFINITELY not pleased with the news nor the girl.
What can she do to help her friend? Sipping her hot cocoa, Kagome was at a lost. That last look on Inuyasha's face… it was really, really scary… so unlike him. Suddenly, a bento box fell from the sky onto the table, instantly cutting all strayed away musings.
Kagome's eyes were large as a goldfish.
It was Sesshoumaru.
"Where's Rin? I have something for her."
In the resource room
The girl wasn't feeling any much better. Besides being invaded by numerous images of Sesshoumaru and how he had looked the night before as she tended to his wound, his tenderly teasing words… they were having the most devastating effects on her. Her pulse was racing faster by the minute she thought about him. Still, she felt contrite, as though she had betrayed Yash. But, what could she do? All that had happened, they were events not within her control.
As Rin was about to leave, she sighted an uninvited person standing behind her.
"Y-Yash." She tried to keep her balance of the books in her hands. "Y-You scared me. Why are you here? Are you looking for me?"
The girl noted something wasn't right with the basketball captain. He wasn't his usual self. He had…. He had a dark and murderous expression on his face.
Rin gulped as Yash moved in on her slowly, squeezing her into an unlit edge of the empty room.
"Y-Yash?"
"Tell me, Rin." He finally began. "What am I supposed to do? When I found out that the girl of my dreams had the same feelings for me, I was delighted." His fist tightened till it was white and bloodless. "But you, you betrayed me time and again, here kissing Sesshoumaru and there, sleeping with him. Tell me, if you were me, what would you do?"
Rin was pale.
"Y-Yash! No, I-I didn't SLEEP with him." Deep inside, she was hurt by his words. So, he thinks so shallowly of me. "I-I merely spent the night at my stepfather's house." She jumped to defend herself.
"Then, what does this make me?" He was inching in on her, suddenly grabbing the girl by her shoulders forcefully pulling her to him. "I'm supposed to be the one doing this to you, not that bastard Sesshoumaru." He brought her in as Rin trembled in great fear, wanting to kiss her.
She struggled, summoning all her strength to push him away. Well, she liked Yash, of course. But… But there wasn't the way she was planning on kissing him. That… That was so not Yash.
"Y-Yash… please…" Rin begged, finding she hadn't enough strength to free herself. "This… This isn't the Yash that I know. Yash… Yash is supposed to be a gentle person."
"GENTLE!" The captain found that word almost an insult. Yes, he was too nice, too nice for his own advantage. "Perhaps you've been wrong. I never once said I was gentle! I have needs too. And now, I just want to claim what is mine before anyone tries to take it away again!"
With that, he pulled her in for a kiss, the girl tearing uncontrollably, her heart totally smashed. She couldn't break free. There was nowhere to run. There was no one to help.
Rin closed her eyes, yielding painfully what was to come.
Suddenly, a deep husky voice echoed through from behind the two of them.
"Hey, what are you trying to do?"
Rin's eyes instantly flew open as she recognized that familiar intonation.
"Sessh…" It escaped her lips so reflectively it pissed off the captain even further.
It was Sesshoumaru and for the first time, she couldn't be happier to see him.
Her heart lightened as Inuyasha finally let her go. The captain was growing rapidly to a pinnacle of fury, his eyes red with sheens of sweat lining his brows as Sesshoumaru approached, flashing that ever cool and charming grin on his face.
"My personal opinion…" He inspected the still shaky girl worriedly though he did his best not to make it known. "Next time, Yash, if you wish to do unspeakable things like this, it's good that you choose a much more private spot. If not, there'll always be nosy people like me barging in and spoiling everything." He chuckled.
For a moment there, Rin thought the boys were about to start a fight but instead, Inuyasha merely paced pass Sesshoumaru, giving him a hard shove shoulder to shoulder before making his unceremonious exit.
Sesshoumaru took a silent second, watching the girl as she stifled her sobs, his brows furrowed at the tears drenching her rosebud cheeks. He walked up to her, holding up the lunch box.
"Dad made this specially for us." He intelligently tried to draw her attention away from that recent unpleasant experience with the captain. "Eat it while it's hot. Don't let it go to waste."
Though his words were seemingly nonchalant, deep inside, he was so concerned that his heart even felt like it ached as she cried. He had never once felt this way with anyone before, let alone, this puny powerless girl who was about to become his ne-san. He wished he knew the right words to make her feel better but he didn't.
Then, it was too late.
Not heeding his call, Rin dashed out of the room, hiding her face from him. Too many thoughts were flooding in at this moment and the girl just didn't wish to let her Otooto see her like this. She ran pass Kagome at the corridor and her best friend took after immediately.
"Rin…. Wait up!"
The girl didn't stop. She headed all the way out of the school toward the nearby park, panting as she stopped at a bench. A little while later, Kagome arrived, equally exhausted from the two hundred meter dash.
"Rin, what happened with you and Yash? I saw him. He looked really mad."
"Kagome, I-I don't know anymore." Rin started sobbing afresh. "It's… It's as if I don't know him at all."
"What? What are you saying?" Her friend was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"I-I thought he was a gentle sensitive person. That's why I liked him." The girl recalled the first time she had come across the basketball captain. He was helping a little girl look for her parents in a shopping mall. At that time, he had seemed so sweet and caring, so tender toward the lost child that it had touched her heart. But now… "Now, I don't seem to know him anymore. He wasn't the Yash that I thought he was. Perhaps, my feelings are … are just …"
"Just what?" Her friend sounded increasingly anxious for the conclusion.
"Perhaps, what I felt for him… it wasn't love… I was just infatuated…I don't know…I don't feel the same way for him anymore."
Kagome was silent as her eyes closed, deep in thought.
"Rin…" She started again. "I'm… I'm disappointed in you."
Rin looked up, rather shocked at what she had heard.
"Rin, I thought you were serious about Yash. He's not what you said he was. Your words…your actions, it had probably hurt him too. How did you think he'll feel if he keeps seeing his girlfriend with another boy… a rival?" Tears were forming in Kagome's eyes. She had given up her own feelings for the captain, instead preferring to help her friend. But Rin… she was so indecisive. She shook her head. "I-I feel sorry for Yash. Rin, you should think about what you want. If you stay on like this, you're gonna hurt everyone around you."
Rin wanted to stop her friend but Kagome had run off even before she could mouth an apology of any sort. The girl could only watch her friend go, being just as lost and pained by both the hash experience a moment back as well as her best friend's words.
At the basketball court
The captain hurled the ball relentlessly into the basket, venting his frustration, his mind bursting with rage and resentment. Damn that Sesshy! He had spoilt his only one chance with the girl. Just as he was about to pick up another rolled away ball, he sighted the one whom he wished to kill at this very moment.
It was Sesshoumaru!
And he still seemed so bland and dispassionate about what he's done. Damn him. Inuyasha clenched his fist until it hurt.
"Yash! Are you mad?" His words were so light and teasing, so filled with smug sarcasm. "I've gotten into you way, didn't I?"
"What are you doing here?" Damn him! He must be here to gloat, the captain mused spitefully.
"Why the pretence?" Sesshoumaru kept on poking at him. "Rin's not here. You don't have to act like a such a goodie! She can't see it." The boy was trying to do something but Yash hadn't an idea what. But still, his words made him fume like a volcano.
"PRETEND! Why you bastard!" Blinded by anger, Yash sent out a punch straight at Sesshoumaru, thinking that he'd easily dodged that. Well, the captain didn't really wish to hit him.
Sesshoumaru didn't, to Inuyasha's immense astonishment. The boy fell onto the floor, a line of blood formed at the edge of his lips, his cheeks slightly red and swollen.
"Why didn't you dodge that?" Inuyasha blurted out, feeling a hint of remorse. "You could have easily done that."
"Why should I? You do want to beat me up, don't you?" Sesshoumaru got up, staggering back to the captain's side.
"What? You did that on purpose. Why are you doing this?" Inuyasha was filled with an equal portion of bemusement and guilt. But still, he wasn't ready to forgive the boy that easily.
"Why? Because I like you, Yash." Sesshoumaru gave a wink, almost amorously and that repulsed the captain.
"Who're you to call me Yash…" Inuyasha charged forward, raising his fist once again and even as he was about to swing it at Sesshoumaru, the boy wasn't at all showing that he wished to shield or protect himself. He was just smiling back so cheekily!
Just a split second away from another deadly punch, Yash halted, panting and exhaling to calm himself down.
"Good. You found some sense in yourself." Sesshoumaru spoke finally. "You need to let out some of that pant up emotions. If not, you'll go psycho one day. Or worse, you'll become bald." He stood up, adjusted his jacket a little, ready to take leave. "Don't misunderstand. I'm not apologizing. I did you no wrong. But if I ever catch you doing that to Rin again and making her cry, I swear I'll not let you off."
At Sesshoumaru's house
The boy dropped himself languidly onto the couch, simultaneously peering around for the girl who had been on his mind since she had left him that afternoon at school. How is she? Is she feeling better? Rin was nowhere in sight.
Hearing the closing of door, Inu-no-Taisho strode out from the kitchen, a plate of salmon in his hand.
"Sesshy, you're home. Dinner's ready." He placed the dish on the dining table. "Where's Rin?"
Sesshoumaru stood up at those indicative words.
"What? Hadn't she come home?" His heart was racing again, utterly blaming himself. Where is she? Why isn't she back? How could he be so careless? Perhaps, he should never have left her alone, like this. Will she do something silly?
"No. I thought she's coming home with you. Sesshy?"
Inu-no-Taisho searched around for his son. He had just turned his back but Sesshoumaru was already gone.
At the park
Since her best friend left, the girl had not left that spot in the park. She sat on the bench, her mind mingled with Kagome's words.
Rin's narration
Detested… I'm being detested… like a roach that everyone chases out of their homes… Kagome detested me… so does Yash… sigh
Lonely as the moon, that's what I am. peering at the crescent above her
What is love? I cannot tell the difference anymore. What am I going to do?
Sesshoumaru spotted the girl's silhouette even from a distance. He was instantly relieved. He had spent the last hour exhausting all the possible places he could think of. Rin… She was… crying… still? The girl had her head buried in her lap.
"And I was wondering which fool's here in the park alone crying in the dark. It's my ne-san. Why are you always crying?" He reached her side, imploring with the most indifferent tone he could find. It was difficult. He had so worried that for once in his life, he had felt so lost.
Rin looked up and seeing Sesshoumaru, she pouted fretfully.
Him. It's him again. She mused internally, cleaning and drying her tears from her cheeks. Why must he be here now? He's the last person I wish to see in this world.
"I'm not crying." She replied in a choked voice.
"Yes, you're crying."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. Is it me? You do not wish to see me?" Sesshoumaru sat down beside her, pulling out his hanky and offering it to her. The girl took it, grateful for this hint of gentleness.
"No, it's not you." Rin confessed honestly. "The problem lies with me. I've been too insensitive to the feelings of Kagome. I've never considered how she'd feel. All I thought for was myself, that I was lost and confused but in the end, I hurt my friend."
"So, what're you gonna do about it?" He gave a slight smile.
"She hates me now. She told me off today." The girl pursed her lips.
Sesshoumaru chuckled lightly as he gazed at the girl, rather entertained.
"I thought my ne-san was immature. But now, I know, she's also not that smart."
Rin stared at him, a hint of resentment flashed pass but soon faded as the boy elaborated.
"Don't you understand by now, my little ne-san? The words which hurt the most, the ones that told the truth, could only be said by people who cared for you the most."
Slowly even to her own surprise, her heart was lightening up by the second after hearing that and soon, her eyes shifted to search for Sesshoumaru's. A slight smile was curving up her lips, the boy noted at long last.
"Sesshy, did you come specially to look for me?" Rin realized how late it had become. "Sorry. I've made you worry."
Instantly, the boy drew back, a hint of bashfulness grazed through his cheeks. He got up and as composed as he could, paced toward his bicycle, setting it up and ready to go.
"Get on. Let's go home. I'm starving."
Rin smiled. His tone was so impassive but the girl understood all the same. She was beginning to know him. Sesshoumaru just preferred to act cold.
The boy rode home with the girl behind him.
"My goodness, you look so skinny but you're so heavy! What's your weight?"
"Err… sorry…"
The girl gasped as Sesshoumaru paused. She looked down. It was the steepest down slope she'd ever seen!
"If you do not want to die, then hug me tightly!"
Sesshoumaru yelled on the top of his voice as he sped down, the frail bicycle shaking out of control as Rin screamed, embracing the boy with all the strength she could find. In fact, they had gone so fast that the girl almost felt her heart had ceased. As they approached the busy junction below at lightning speed, the girl closed her eyes in fear as Sesshoumaru pressed on the brakes with all his might. The bicycle screeched to a halt right before it hit a passing car but the force had been so great that the two were flung off, landing flat on the ground.
Rin heaved several laden pants, laughing as she was greeted by a whole sky filled with stars.
"Sesshy, tell me… Why is it always so dangerous around you?" She couldn't stop chuckling.
Lying beside her, Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed with delight and amusement.
"I cannot stop danger from finding me…" He let out a charismatic laugh. "But, I'll protect you, I promise." His irises turned somewhat darker. "Besides… you do not know… where the true danger lies…"
With that and without a hint of warning, Sesshoumaru flipped and bounced up from his position, landing on top of Rin, his mouth matched and sealed her the longest and most deepened kiss she'd ever had.
The girl's resolve softened significantly as she finally reciprocated, kissing him back with much passion. As their lips moved and pressed against each other, Rin felt him, the warmth of his seams, the feel of his hand as he gently stroked her cheeks. For the first time, she knew. She… she was in love… she was in love with Sesshoumaru.
So, this is how it feels like to be with a demon…Rin didn't want to shun. She has made a decision that night. She has decided who she wanted to be with. She had decided who she really loves.