Welcome back as we hit 20,000 words. This chapter is loosely inspired by Alannada's suggestion. I played with the idea for a while and somehow this was the result. I couldn't quite get their idea to fit, but hopefully this is worth a similar laugh.

Chapter 15: Rin

One amazing thing about being a hanyou was that his morning runs/patrols were truly relaxing from above. He didn't have to wait at intersections, rooftops provided a much better view, and the noise was just more distant. There was a simple sense of freedom that he couldn't get elsewhere. He sighed. I guess that's enough for today, time to go back to the real world. Taking a quick look around and seeing no one, he hopped into the alley.

"Eeeek," came the squeak from behind him.

He turned around, "sorry…kid?" She couldn't be older than ten, but she was filthy. Her clothes were halfway to being rags and she smelled like she hadn't showered in weeks. Her hair was a mess except a small bit pulled into a ponytail. And she was thin, really thin. "You ok kid?" Unfortunately he didn't get much of a reply from her. She waved her arms around a little and made a few small noises, but nothing resembling a word. He could tell she was frightened. Ok, one thing at a time. "Wait here a minute kid." No reply from the kid. Heading out of the alley, he wandered to the nearest food place, WacDnalds, and grabbed three burgers and some fries. He got some weird looks for it too since he hadn't bothered to change for the brief time. It was early so not a huge crowd and it wasn't like there weren't pictures of him out now, he just kept his head down a little and tried to ignore the activity. Taking the hot food, he returned to the kid who was fortunately still there.

"Hope you like it kid," he said while handing her a burger. In response she moved her hands a little, seemingly trying to gesture at something. "It's for you kid." Placing the burger in her lap, he pulled out one more for himself, gave her a smile, and started eating. "C'mon kid, it's good." She looked again at the burger, pointing to it, then herself. He nodded, "yah kid, that one's yours." She gasped before quickly unwrapping it and scarfing it down. "Liked that? I got three." He dug out the third burger as well as the fries and passed them to her. The kid quickly ate all of it before he even finished the one burger.

"Alright kid, you want to tell me where you're from? We gotta get you home." He expected tears, maybe hope. He figured she either was truly lost and scared to ask for help or running from something. But instead, the only reaction he got was a blank stare. "You have somewhere to go? A home? Orphanage? Uh, police?" Still nothing. "What's your name?" She just looked around a little and was moving her arms, seeming to be gesturing at something, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what. Suddenly she tackled him in a hug and gave him a toothy smile. "Kid!" If she's too scared to talk, I'm not sure I want to force her to the police until she trusts me a little more. Hmm "Hey kid, you like heights?" He was getting used to her quiet stare. He sighed and crouched down showing her his back and pointed a thumb to it. "Get on". She seemed to get the idea, and started to climb on him. Her arms went around his neck, and being safe he grabbed onto her legs. "Get ready, hold on tight." Figuring she wouldn't get it, he let himself jump just a few feet high and laughed a little when she squeaked as expected. "Don't worry, I won't drop you. Just hang on."

The grip on his neck was as close to choking as a ten year old could get so he took the opportunity and jumped all the way to the rooftop then continued along. For the first jump he could feel her clutching him tight, but by the tenth roof her grip had loosened to being merely a good grip. By the time they were half way to his intended destination, she was holding on with one hand and screaming and laughing into the air. He wanted to tell her to stop drawing attention to them and to stop breaking his eardrums, but he didn't want to ruin her obvious joy. It ain't a big deal. Everyone knows I travel by rooftop now, and no one would believe a little kid about just how well I jump. She isn't chatty anyways. Soon, they arrived at Taisho headquarters and Inuyasha jumped them in through a window he always deliberately left open.

"So uh, yah, here we are." The little girl took in the room, awestruck. "We should get you a bath." She didn't react to the comment so he took hold of the girl's arm and gently pulled her towards the large bathroom. She continued looking around the huge room but didn't fight his pull. "Oh I hope you can take a bath on your own." She just tilted her head in confusion. He growled internally. "Bath!" he practically shouted while pointing at the tub. This she seemed to understand, pointing at the tub then herself. "Yes, bath." She didn't seem to understand and pointed again at the tub then herself. "Yah, you're old enough right?" he questioned while subconsciously nodding. Her toothy smile returned before she began reaching for her clothes. Seeing the action, Inuyasha bolted out the door. He wandered to his father's bedroom and his pile of reject clothes. Most were gifts from clients that his dad would never be caught dead wearing. Seeing an oversized orange checkered shirt and a green tie, he figured it could work. Not like it was worse than the rags she was wearing. Grabbing a clean towel on the way, he simply laid them on the inside of the door before heading to the couch to relax. He kept an ear trained on the kid, just in case, and fortunately the kid apparently liked to hum so he could tell she hadn't drowned herself.

Almost 20 minutes later silence filled the place. He was getting worried until the door slowly opened. The kid came out wearing the large shirt draped around her like a kimono with the tie serving as a sash. It looked clumsy, but it worked as well as he could hope. He was glad she figured out his intention. "You look better kid." She approached him and again gestured something he couldn't figure out. Her left arm was across her body with the palm facing towards the floor. Her right hand went down as if to slice the left one off. And her head bowed slightly. She repeated the motion three times slowly and deliberately. "Whatcha tryin to say kid?" He couldn't help but laugh slightly at the annoyed look on her face, but he really couldn't figure out what she was trying to say. "Sorry kid, I really don't understand." For a moment the expression on her face didn't change, but then she let out a sigh and started climbing on top of him on the couch. "Kid!" She wasn't going anywhere. "C'mon kid, we gotta figure out what to do with you. I don't even know your name." She seemed to be ignoring him. "Ugh. Fine, you can have a nap first."

A 'nap' turned into four hours of sleep for both of them, only for the slamming of the main door to startle Inuyasha awake. The kid seemed to wake up a moment later. "Huh? Sessh what are you doing here?"

He only just seemed to notice the pair despite Inuyasha's youki being on full display. "I had come here to drink in private."

It was then that Inuyasha noticed the beer bottles in his brother's hand. "I didn't know you drank."

"I was not aware you were ignorant to the definition of private."

"Jackass. I was here first and you shoulda sensed me. What has you so distracted?"

"I am sealed. That tends to block one's senses. As you should be too, I prefer keeping this place quiet." He paused. "Should this be being discussed with the child on your lap?"

He looked down. "Oh this kid? She's pretty quiet and you know how kids are." He gave the kid a smirk, "hey kid, meet the big bad dog." He glanced over to his brother.

The little girl looked over at him and gave a gesture. It resembled a small salute followed by picking her hands up with only her index finger up and curled, then dropping her hands slightly. Sesshomaru raised a brow at the gesture, but repeated it. The kid, who had been looking timid before, brightened up immediately. "Hey what'd you do? What'd that mean?"

"You brought the kid here and do not know?"

"If I did, I wouldn't've asked you."

"Foolish little brother. It would seem the child poses no risk whatsoever. She is most likely deaf. Her lack of response merely proves it."

"Deaf?"

"Did you not notice she is speaking in Japanese Sign Language?"

No… Whoops. "How the fuck do you know sign language?"

"I am centuries old. I know dozens of languages."

Of course. "You never answered my question you know, what has you so distracted?"

Sesshomaru didn't sigh, but it looked like he wanted to, "An incompetent competitor who has been growing exponentially over the past year."

"Incompetent and growth are typically a bad combo."

"Indeed. I offered him a simple settlement over a lawsuit, but I just received word from his lawyer that he plans to fight me in court."

"Really, they say why?" That was odd. Most knew that the Taisho legal team was unbeatable if you went against them.

"The lawyer referred to her client as an overreaching fool."

"Ha! Really the lawyer said that?" No case is good when your lawyer doesn't believe you deserve to win.

"Unofficially. But she is a youkai I have met before and is simply trying to avoid unnecessary trouble. Though she still plans to represent him for reasons I don't know."

"Still ain't going to be a hard case."

"Sometimes it is the fools you must be most careful with. He has grown somehow." That was when Inuyasha noticed Sesshomaru had started drinking.

"Hey before you get drunk, think you could ask this kid her name and where home is?"

Not actually caring for the kid, but wanting her gone, Sesshomaru did precisely that. Inuyasha was grateful that he could finally talk to the kid for real. He thought it was actually neat that his brother knew sign language though some of the signs didn't match his normal stoic persona very well.

"Her name is Rin. She won't give me a family name, but both her parents died in a robbery. She was placed in an orphanage. She will not say it outright, but it appears she was bullied and ran away." Having gotten enough information out of the girl to leave the situation to his brother, he proceeded to head to the master bedroom to relax. That is until the girl ran over to him and firmly grabbed his pant leg.

*What?*

*Father needs to stay with mother.*

Sesshomaru spoke perfect sign language, but he must've misunderstood that.

*What?*

*Father* points at Sesshomaru *needs to stay* points at Inuyasha *with mother*. The girl finished up the line with her toothy smile, although it was a totally happy smile, not any sort of sarcastic one.

*Mother?*

The girl, Rin, tilted her head. *She took me home. Mother.*

The barest of smiles appeared on Sesshomaru's face. Inuyasha, worried, asked, "Sesshomau, what does this mean?" He held up one hand in a rock star pose and moved it sideways while putting down the index finger. It was the sign she made when pointing at Inuyasha.

"It means mother. It would appear she is under a misunderstanding brother."

"Mother!? What?" Although maybe that explains why she was so comfortable around me earlier.

"Hn. You brought her home, it smells like you fed her, gave her clothes, and let her sleep on you. I do believe you adopted her."

"B-b-but why mother!?" Sesshomaru didn't answer, he merely grabbed a beer and headed for the bedroom as was his original intention. "W-wait! You can't just leave it at that. Tell her I'm a guy! And I can't adopt her!"

Sesshomaru never got as drunk as he wanted to that afternoon. Instead, the company lawyer was called. He contacted the police and reported the child as found. Soon, the orphanage was called and adoption paperwork was put through. By the time it was done, the child had grown on Sesshomaru and even he couldn't deny she wouldn't do well on her own. So she was adopted under his name, with Inuyasha being a little young to adopt a child of his own. A few things were explained to her, falling into that 'grey zone', since Inuyasha was technically first responsible for spilling the secrets even though he never outright revealed anything, except maybe the jumping. But they couldn't have her 'talking' too much now that she'd be learning aside others knowing sign language. It was mostly just the stuff about his being the crimson vigilante. Youkai were just children's stories. And Sesshomaru never corrected Rin about Inuyasha's gender. Though he'd started Japanese sign language lessons of his own, so it was probably only a matter of time. Until then, he would enjoy embarrassing him.

AN: Apologies if I misrepresented anything, I tried with what I knew. Although the signs described in this story are accurate to JSL (I think). And if it wasn't clear, the *...* represents characters using sign language. Till next time, poor Inu is getting the beads.