Chapter 9

Rin

'Where, oh where, could my Lord Sesshomaru be?' Was only one of the thousands of questions running through my head. Others were 'when will he come for me?' and, 'Why did I dream of him battling Shippou?'

That was a weird dream, too…I remembered crying…and something moved me…and I was warm. I dreamt of Sesshomaru, but then I dreamt of Shippou as well. It was strange…I was hugging Sesshomaru and then I turned and saw Shippou standing there, his Fox Fire in the palms of his hand, holding it out to me…Then, Sesshomaru pushed me behind him and transformed…he lept at Shippou and then I woke up, startled, to the morning…alone.

I got up and went outside to see Miko and Kimiko playfully chasing eachother around the village. Lady Sango and Lady Kagome were giggling as they watched their kids play together. They looked up at me and their smiles curved down a little, probably thinking about how my hopes were up and when I found out that my Lord had not returned yet.

"Goodmorning, Rin," Lady Kagome greeted me, hiding her slight frown and giving me a warm smile.

I bowed my head slightly and looked back up at her to return the greeting. "Goodmorning, Lady Kagome, and Lady Sango."

"Please, just call us Sango and Kagome, Rin," Sango said courteously. I smiled and nodded.

Inuyasha walked out of his hut he must have finished rebuilding late last night and gave a long yawn and stretched out. "Goodmorning everyone…Kagome, where are the kids?" He asked, looking around anxiously. Inuyasha was a great father, but he was always too…"on-guard". He always had to know exactly where the kids were, all the time.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Miko and Kimiko are playing, and Kanji and Kiba went fishing with Shippou."

Sango laughed at Inuyasha's sniffing the air to make sure. He gave her a slight look of annoyance. "Well, where are your kids, Sango?" He asked in an irritated tone.

Sango lifted her eyebrow. "Like Kagome said, Miko's with Kimiko, and Kimi and Nina are with Mirkou, they're sleeping in.

"Ah, so that's where that lazy, do nothing monk is. He needs to get his ass up and help me rebuild homes." Inuyasha rumbled as he ambled toward Sango and Miroku's little, half-completed hut.

Kagome watched his moves in shock. "Inuyasha! Don't wake the kids up!"

But it was no use, Inuyasha was already inside the little hut yelling at the tired monk about being a lazy indolent who does nothing. Mirkou groaned and told him to get the hell out, to which Inuyasha picked him up and carried him outside, with Miroku half nude. Luckily, it was his chest that was exposed.

Sango gasped but then couldn't help but laugh at the two of them, while Kagome and I gaped at them.

Kagome rubbed her temples for a second then groaned "siiit…" as if she hardly even had the strength or attention span to yell at him. Didn't matter, Inuyasha still landed flat on the ground (or…in the ground, at least two inches deep). We all laughed at him, except for Miroku who was still half asleep on the ground next to Inuyasha.

"Ka…go…me…why'd you…do that?" Inuyasha growled from the dirt. Kagome ignored him and walked away to do some chores.

Kagome looked back at me and asked for my assitance. Willingly, I said yes, desperate for something to distract me from the thought of Shippou being in my dreams…Even though he was a good friend of mine, it was a little bit of a creepy situation.

About an hour later, Kagome, Sango, and I were hanging up the damp clothes on the line. It was a hot and slightly breezy day, so we expected the clothes to be done maybe in the late afternoon.

Shippou came back a little while ago and offered some berries that he picked with Kanji and Kiba for breakfast. He held some out to me and I accepted them awkwardly, then he smiled and went around the village to offer more. Kiba was sneaking his little hand into the basket whenever the chance arose.

About evening time, the clothes were done, and I had decided to go fishing with Shippou for dinner. We laughed and joked as we splashed eachother with water after catching a few medium sized fish. After the splashing, we got a little bit quiet, and I realized I needed to change out of my wet and dirty clothes.

"Good thing I always bring another kimono…" I joked with myself quietly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shippou blushing wildly.

"Don't you dare look perv!" I threw a stone and it knocked against his head. He whined in pain, but turned away from me and rubbed his head. His aggitated look reminded me of Inuyasha's when Kagome once smacked him across the head for making a rude and innapropriate comment about her body in front of everyone.

I looked back one last time to make sure Shippou wasn't peeking. As obedient as always, he was sitting cross legged with his back towards me, looking up at the orange-tinted skies. I lifted my kimono over my head and dropped it on a boulder a couple of feet away from me. I ringed out my hair of all the water, and then had a strange urge to look into the water.

Of course, all I saw was my reflection. The young girl was staring back at me with wide and curious eyes. The body she had developed was perfect, the curves that made every other girl in the village jealous of her. Her long lashes made her look, in Kagome's words, "like she always was wearing some strange natural mascara" whatever that was. But soon, the girl would grow old, and wrinkly, and she would no longer look perfect and young…not like Lord Sesshomaru, who would be perfect for years and years to come.

Now, the girl looked sad and lost…her hair hung over her shoulder and her bangs were in the way of her eyes. A little drop of water came off her cheek and made ripples in the water, scattering the vision of her beauty.

"Rin, are you done yet?" The fox demon asked, trying not to turn around.

"Oh, um, yeah, hold on…" I turned around to grab my out of season kimono and threw it on. "Alright, let's go. Don't forget the fish, Shippou."

He looked at me strange but picked up the fish and hurried next to me. "Is something wrong?" He asked carefully.

I sighed and shook my head, ignoring the strange pain and the uprising thought in my head.

I will die before Lord Sesshomaru…

Thank you for all the kind reviews and adds! I'm having a thought of starting another fanfic soon, about Inuyasha and Kagome before they had the twins and Kimiko. I don't know what the title will be, but if you're a lover of Inu and Kagome fics, you will LOVE this one!

But, if I decide to start another fanfic, this story will probably take a little longer to upload, hopefully its worth the wait, though.