Disclaimer: No, I don't own Sesshomaru... or everyone else. Just to change the common disclaimer a bit.
Now, on to business… (Ss pie drops down to knees and begins bowing uncontrollably) I love you guys! We have finally past the hundredth review mark! (Throws confetti and hands out balloons to anyone reading) I can just cry! That has been my goal ever since forever. Now on to the next big numbers! And just to show my love, here's the next chap, in a record-breaking update! Lol.
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Chapter 13: Keeping Forgotten Memories
Rin stirred some oatmeal in a pot, humming a soft tune as she prepared to pour in some more milk. Miraculously, she'd woken up before Kagome, so she thought it would be a pleasant surprise for her friend if she made breakfast for once. Sesshomaru watched from his spot in his common corner, also enjoying the quiet morning.
"Inuyasha!"
The peace was short lived, though, as the lord had to fight back a wince at the feminine yell while Rin prepared herself for what would come next.
"No Kagome, wait! I-I can explain!" A last, frantic cry for forgiveness.
"Sit boy!" And its normal, ever-so-hurtful reply.
"Augh!" Thud!
The result.
Rin held on to the stove as the ground shook for a second. When it died, she smiled silently. Apparently Kagome had found Inuyasha looking at her in her sleep again—and ever since the miko had found out she could still use her command on the purple necklaces' owner, she never hesitated to use it accordingly.
Hmm…I wonder if Lord Sesshomaru looks at me in my sleep, too, she thought. Taking a quick glimpse over her shoulder she spotted him, eyes closed, so she began humming again while stirring, a simple smile gracing her face. She then heard a door open abruptly, slam, then another open and slam as someone stomped across the hallway, growling. Its muffled voice could be heard coming from the bathroom.
"I swear; men have never had any manners! What does it kill to get some privacy in here!"
Rin covered her mouth and laughed. She couldn't help herself. The same scene repeating itself over and over again almost every morning was just too much. The bathroom door swung open again.
"Rin! Find me a shot, pronto!" Kagome made her way into the kitchen still stomping her feet, Sesshomaru opening his eyes again slowly, following her with his sight. Sadly, woman now-a-days had no grace whatsoever and supposedly drank. A lot.
But the older roommate stopped dead in her tracks as she saw one of her most horrid nightmares in play.
"Rin? What are you doing?" Before Rin could reply Kagome interrupted, eyeing the pot. "Never mind; I don't want to know. Now get away from the kitchen before you set it on fire again." You could tell she wasn't a morning person today by the sound of her voice.
Rin turned to her with shiny, puppy-dog eyes. She sniffed melancholy for enthusiasm. "Oh no you don't!" Kagome shooed her into the living room. "Be a good girl, won't you, and go play with something else? Anything besides my kitchen?"
Rin shook her head defeated. Kagome never let her have any real fun, so she retorted sternly with one of her more serious tones, which uncommonly showed up every once and a while. So well was her switch that her once-dog had come to believe there were two sides of her. "You know I know how to cook, right?"
Kagome began washing her hands without looking back. "Not when you don't feel like it." She was in no mood for playing 'pretend cooking' and dried her hands on a cloth while rummaging through the fridge. "Just…go and clean up your room or something or, better yet; take out those boxes I told you to fill out yesterday."
Rin's jaw dropped, her usual silly character making its appearance yet again. "No! You can't make me do it, Kags, they're my life! You can't make me!"
"There's no use for them now."
"Uh-huh! Yes there are! I want to keep them! And they're mine, so you can't make me throw them away!"
"Rin," she warned, glaring at her, a hand holding the refrigerator door open.
The girl wined. "But…But…" Kagome pointed towards her room strictly. "It's not fair!" She obeyed, though, dragging her feet toward her room, over exaggerating her cries. If Sesshomaru were one to go so low as to roll his eyes, he'd done it twice now. What was he thinking when he decided to claim that noisy brat as his? Clearly she acted as a child.
Inuyasha came in not too happy himself, fixing his jaw to see if it hadn't been broken yet from the falls. He made for the kitchen, making sure to keep a safe distance from his former-master. "I said I was sorry, wench! Why is it you have to be so uptight, huh?"
Without saying a word Kagome shoved him the pot with the oatmeal. He grabbed it instinctively on its underside and the girl watched as his senses kicked in and the pot danced in the hanyou's grasp, trying not to hold it but fighting against making it drop to the floor all at the same time. After a while of embarrassment he finally grabbed its handle and exhaled deeply in relief. His hands really burned, but he was quick to insult. "What were you thinking!"
Kagome looked at him, fire in her eyes. He stepped back as she moved in on him, a little intimidated. "Look here, bucko. You have no right to be angry with me when I've just caught you in my room, while I was asleep, looking at me like some sort of perv, for God knows how long and for what purposes, for the fourth time now!" Inuyasha stared at her clenched teeth as not to see her eyes, ears clamped upon his noggin. He noticed they were quite clean.
"Well!" Immediately his eyes shot back at hers, not knowing what she wanted. "What do you have to say for yourself!" The hanyou gulped down on hard saliva. She really was frightening when she needed to be.
"S…s-sorry?" His voice was a higher pitch than normal, mixed with uneasiness. Kagome harrumphed and walked back to her food preparations.
"And as punishment, you'll have Rin's oatmeal to eat." Inuyasha made a double take. Rin's cooking? As if being 'sat' wasn't punishment enough! He stretched out his hand and slowly let the pot rest on a table, backing away from the meal stealthily before the angry woman could notice him. Upon walking back to the hallway to get away, he bumped into Rin and caught a very large box she was carrying before it fell down.
"Oops. Thanks, Inu; I'd hate for it to fall." Inuyasha carried it for her into the living room without effort, seeing she was in desperate need of man strength. He set the box on the floor where she pointed out to.
"What do you have in this thing? It's so heavy," he said, meaning that it was more of a burden for her than on him. He looked curiously, ears twitching as she opened the lid and looked inside. There were so many things in it that he couldn't make out what any of them were. He sniffed them, noticing they held a very peculiar smell to them…
"Well? Is that it?" Kagome wiped her hands on her apron as she came close and looked into the box herself.
Rin sniffed again and took out what seemed to be a chewed-off white, jumbo bone, hugging it like there was no tomorrow. "I…I…I can't believe you made me do this, Kagome! You're so cruel!"
Kagome sighed at her immaturity. Snooping inside the box, she took out what was left of the body of an orange, stuffed-cat while Inuyasha took out its head after her, turning it on all sides in wonder. Her grave voice left no reason for arguing.
"Rin; it's time."
The girl started bawling. "But I don't wanna! I love 'em!"
"Oh get over it! Technically, they're not even yours," she said flatly.
"I don't care!"
Inuyasha threw the head away uncaring and ran through the rest of the contents. He picked up each item one by one, throwing them on the floor behind him as he inspected them. The girls watched on, their eyes following the flying objects as they hit the floor somewhere, some even bouncing a few times or squeaking.
A ball, a bone rug and a comb with silver fur still clung to it; a bell, a bigger ball than the first, a racket, a dog dish, a rotten shoe; a tennis ball, two mini basketballs and tennis balls; a jump rope, two plastic sandwiches, three fake newspapers and an over-sized steak play-thing that was tempting enough to chew on but the hanyou knew what was good for him so he didn't; a doll, another yellow ball, six more cat-related things and a giant, fluffy, white bed for canine companions.
"What are these things?" Inuyasha took out a last, warm, light-blue blanket, covered in tiny dog bones, inspecting it.
"They're my dog's toys," Rin said, looking at the floor behind them covered in a sea of dog-heaven miserably. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha both raised a brow, her phrase hitting them like an awakening. It was then that the brothers recognized fully what the mysterious scent was.
It was royal dog drool.
Inuyasha felt a cocky smile come to his lips"You mean… Fluffy's toys?" He took out a dog leash that read said name on the tag.
Rin nodded sniffing while wiping an award-winning tear from her eye. "Uh-huh. Fluffy. You know, Sesshomaru. I named him 'Fluffy', remember?"
Kagome stared speechless, the idea of reminding the immortal, aristocratic assassin over there that he'd been nicknamed after something cute and adorable hitting her like an are-you-this-dense, ton-pound brick as she could imagine his eyes turning blood red behind her, ready for a massacre. She didn't dare turn back to figure if she was right or not.
It took Rin some time to realize the tenseness in the room until Inuyasha started shaking slightly beside her. Both women looked at him, thinking something was wrong with him, and heard as an almost silent chuckle rose to a mad laughter in just seconds.
Inuyasha held his stomach from all the laughing and tried to speak from between breaths and snorts. "You…You…You called him 'Fluffy!'" He fell on the floor and began rolling on his back, kicking his feet in the air. It was just too priceless! Kagome and Rin never took their eyes off him, sweat dropping.
"Hey! Sesshomaru! You hear that! They called you..." He laughed even harder, tears in his eyes. This was too good. He inhaled deeply and let out, "Fluffy!" before chuckling again. He never laughed so hard.
"Hey! Why are you laughing! We told you that before, you know!" Rin pointed out.
Inuyasha managed to reply an "I know", still laughing his heart out. "It's just that it's too cute! Ha ha! Fluffy!"
Kagome's heart plummeted. Surely they'd be killed for calling the lord that name. Rin, on the other hand, felt real tears coming to her eyes. She loved that name, and here Inuyasha was making fun of it. She yelled at him as a tear rolled down her cheek. "That's not funny!"
"Of course it is!" Inuyasha took the time to finally stand up, wiping the tears off his face. He never stopped grinning. "In fact, it's hilarious!" He changed his voice into a deep, reflecting, mocking one. "Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western lands, has let himself be referred to as Lord Fluffy-kins of the human domains!"
Rin bit her bottom lip and started whimpering. Her eyes were hidden from all the salt water she was emanating. Inuyasha noticed this and immediately took the defensive, shrugging.
"What? What did I do!" Rin hid her face behind an arm. Surely he'd hurt her feelings, big time, and he hated to see women cry. "Look! I was just kidding, okay! It really was funny!"
Before Rin could bawl any more loudly, a metal figurine crashed into the hanyou's head at the speed of light, making him fall dazed to his side on the floor. Rin immediately shut up, while Kagome just kept her mouth shut. That is until she noticed that what was thrown had been one of her antiques, an elephant with its trunk now broken. She couldn't keep quiet then.
"You baka!" she yelled at the emotionless Sesshomaru, who was now standing up in his corner, evident him being the only one else possible to have thrown the object. "That's an antique! How many more priceless items are you two going to break in here, huh!"Rin gasped. 'Baka' was the last thing she thought they could ever call the two armor-cladding, sword-wielding, centuries old, demons-of-the-war in front of them.
Sesshomaru just narrowed his eyes and began a staring contest with Kagome, which was a bad idea, Rin thought again. She knew both Kagome's and her former dog's proud ness, so she knew she had to intervene quickly, which she did by coughing exaggerated. Both pairs of eyes turned to her now.
"I...uh…Hey look!" She dug into the box again, taking out another toy. "His favorite play radio!" Kagome barely kept herself from falling to the side.
"Are you dumb! Rin, give me that!" She yanked the toy from her hands and began putting back everything else inside the box. "Rin, we'll throw this out as soon as we can get out of this apartment, for everyone's sakes. A head-injured hanyou lying on the floor agreed silently to that.
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Kagome sat next to Inuyasha on her bed, trying to finish dabbing the throbbing lump on his head with medicine she'd found in her room. She would have finished by now if he'd kept still for once.
"I told you, I don't need your help!" he complained.
Kagome blew at the spot she was attending. "Of course you do, now hold still!"
Inuyasha argued again but did as he was told. He let her apply some odd-smelling ointment on it and finish up by wrapping some white bandages around his skull, careful of his ears. She pinned the cloth to keep it from unwinding and took Inuyasha's head in her hands to examine her work.
"There. All better now." The boy watched as she went through her drawers and placed everything back where it belonged, cleaning up afterward, her sweet, caring voice replaying inside his head.
When she was about done, he called her attention. "Kagome?"
"Hm?" Paying no mind to what she had been doing, she looked at him curiously.
He fidgeted for a response, staring at the floor. He couldn't do this looking at her. "T-thank you. You know…for…helping out." He turned to face a far wall.
Kagome smiled warmly and tilted her head to the side. "Of course. You're welcome."
Inuyasha met her gaze again. "No. I mean—for everything. For…uh…" He cleared his throat sitting straighter on the bed, thinking he'd gone too far to go back now. He tried to find the right words but couldn't manage to spot them in the room, eyes wondering.
"It's okay." He looked back at Kagome again. Somehow she'd known what it was he wanted to say and he didn't even have to say it at all. He exhaled. Good. That was hard for him enough. He nodded knowingly, and sought for a change of subject.
"Did I ... I mean, you…ever have a box like that for me too?"
Kagome blinked. She hadn't expected that. In fact, she thought he would refrain from seeing anything that could remind him of his transformation. "You really want to know?" He nodded, a little too affirmatively, she could say.
Her mind blank as to what would happen next she looked through her closet and found two, three small boxes in it, putting them on the bed. Inuyasha opened one first as she stayed back, observing. She watched silently as her old companion took out old trinkets, holding them in his wandering hand. Memories flashed back to her of their time together; he could only imagine what those thoughts could be, since his mind had been erased from them. Toys, clothing, brushes; he looked at them all without saying a word until he arrived at a plastic toy ball in the second box. Staring at it all around he looked for something, as if he knew there was more to it than a simple play thing.
Kagome held her breath as he finally found the on switch, triggering it by twisting the two-part circular object in a certain way. His eyes grew in amazement as lights began blinking on and off inside it, the mechanisms used to operate them moving as decorative gadgets and wheels with teeth connected together to make one, big, moving factory. A song played not soon after, a clinking version of "London Bridge is Falling Down" playing over and over again like it would in a child's crib mobile.
The inu's ears twitched with the melody fondly. The glint of his eyes reflected the sparkling lights and his soon broadening grin showed that he was pleased.
Kagome smiled, thinking this was one moment she would never forget; of how a grown man could find joy in such a simple thing. She found that she took a lot of things for granted now. He'd probably never heard of such mystery or seen such a strange sight, and knew she'd instantly fell in love with his amusement with the toy, which could only be explained as child-like innocence to something new and shiny. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she was almost surprised at noticing his eyes on hers.
"This is neat," he voiced. Knowing him by now, he'd meant that he'd enjoyed it. His smile was telling a lot more.
Kagome returned his gesture and opened the last box quietly, taking out a large, thick book in her hands, making space for it in between them on the bed by scooting things out of the way. Turning it right-side up to face him, she pointed out the words on the cover.
"This is a photo album. It's where we keep our memories in." The hanyou was surprised at first, thinking something that awkward was absurd, but looked on anyways as she began opening the first page over to reveal some photographs of a pair of girls and their dogs. His eyes widened, a lone claw tracing the outlines of the flat people and animals he saw. How could such a thing be possible!
"It's a picture," Kagome laughed warmly. "We have these things called 'cameras' that can create a perfect copy of whatever we want and draw it on paper, like a painting; only its better than a painting. It's a 'photograph'." Inuyasha looked up quickly to show that he had understood what she was saying and let his eyes fall on the sight before him again. He realized now that the girls were her and Rin, holding on to a pair of familiar, yet unfamiliar faces.
"This is me and Rin," Kagome pointed out at the women, her finger slowing as it traced over the dogs later. "And this is you," she signaled. The inu was being nuzzled in his doggie neck by his owner, tongue outside its mouth. Inuyasha gasped, ears tall and alert. Kagome thought he was just so darn cute.
"And this is Sesshomaru, see?" She traced her finger to the dog next to it. The crescent moon and soft pink marks on his features were enough for him to believe her. That, and Rin was circling him tight with her arms, laughing. He nodded and without saying another word, took the book from the woman's hands and laid it on his lap, turning the page over.
His mind raced as his eyes roamed through tens of hundreds of memories, all those which he had soon to remember. It was as if each picture stood for a thousand words, and they were telling him all that he needed to know. The girls loved them. They really did love them. He could tell by their faces, forever held into a pose in these magical paintings; them, and his and his brother's happy gestures and wagging tails. Memories of forgotten sights, sounds and smells came to him in those instants that he held the book, voicing out his then hidden, but now discovered recollections as if one big déjá vu.
"Wow! Is that really me! I'm so big…"
"Heh heh! That one's funny…"
"Hey! I think I know this place…"
"I don't believe it! Sesshomaru did what!"
"Oh my gosh! Look at all those dogs! Hey, do you think they could all be demons under spells, too? Ha ha ha!"
Kagome inwardly hoped not and looked down at that last one. All four of them were in a dog park, Inuyasha running around freely being chased by her and Rin trying to make Sesshomaru go after a Frisbee. Inuyasha continued flipping through the pages.
Next were ones with the girls celebrating their first year as dog owners and the times when they gave them baths, fed them, pet them, combed them, and even brushed their teeth followed in the next pictures. Those were the funniest, since neither photo showed signs that the boys had willingly helped out in their dental hygiene, the girls ending up either wet or dirtied on every picture. Inuyasha pointed each founding out, as if it were a story book.
Last were photos that made Inuyasha look at them in silence, reflectively. Kagome couldn't see because he had lifted the book away from her view, until he finally gave it to her to look at. Taking it into her hands she blushed more than anything, imagining the thoughts running through his male head at the moment.
"So, uh…what does this mean?" Inuyasha wanted to know.
Kagome tried her best to make her voice not sound shakily. "Um…Almost all dog owners let their dogs share their beds with them." The fact was harder to say to him for some reason, though, as he was now a grown man and not a furry pet anymore.
"Oh…Interesting…" The subject dropped, and the two looked around the room awkwardly, not liking the silence. Kagome took it as a sign to close the book and put it away.
"No, wait—don't throw it away." Kagome looked at Inuyasha, than at the claw that was currently holding on to her arm. She had never thought about doing such a thing and was surprised he'd believed she was about to. Going back to the morning's conversation with Rin and all she realized that the hanyou was against throwing out all those times spent together on film, even if they weren't what he'd call "fond memories"; or at least that's what she thought he'd seen them as. Now she wasn't sure where he stood on the subject.
"I mean," he took his hand back, realizing her stiffness, "if you don't really want to." He blinked, not looking away from her eyes. "I don't mind."
Kagome smiled after a while, knowing this was just another way for him to mask what he really meant. It was because he didn't want to.
Walking back to the closet she placed it on a high shelf securely. "There. I won't throw it away."
Inuyasha nodded, folding his arms into his sleeves. "Good. 'Cause I'd hate for you to blame me for regretting having thrown them away. It's not my fault you're so attached to these...memories of yours, as you call them."
Kagome laughed. "Of course…"
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Sesshomaru blinked to wet his eyes; they almost dried before he noticed he'd been focused intently on what his brother and miko were conversing on, his sights set on nothing in particular. To another, it would have seemed he was prying in on their private chat, but to him it was more like… insightful overhearing. His brother knew very well about his super-human senses, so if he'd wanted to keep something a secret from him, he wouldn't of said it at all. For now, the whole house was his domain, and he'd know what was happening in it at all times.
Memories, he thought. They are memories. I suspected as much. He'd seen those 'papers' before, clinging on the walls all over the house. But now that he'd listened in on the conversation about photographs, he saw now what he had overlooked before; emotions. The pictures showed thousands of emotions. On the human's faces, in their jesters, actions; it wasn't just a recollection of where they'd been, these photographs of theirs; it was a reminder of what they have felt, and who they have felt with. Sure he thought such a frozen memory caught on painting was useless, but then again he could read someone's mind with them, and he was planning to do just that, having someone in mind to test his little theory on.
Said human was lying on the couch, bare leg bouncing on the other's knee, hair sprawled carelessly to her side and onto the floor. She held a distinctive yellow paper with perfect, blue, paralleled lines crossing it horizontally, some types of…commands, or scribbled nonsense, as he saw it, dotting it in no particular order whatsoever. The contrast of the paper and the extraordinarily thin ink used to dote it made a bizarre contrast, like perfect against sloppy-- just how a child would write on good parchment.
Rin bit at the eraser on her wooden pencil, caught up in deep thought. His soft voice took her away from it.
"What is it you scribble about?"
"Hn?" She would have missed it if the house wasn't so damn quiet, although she always tried keeping a sharp ear alert in case he ever did speak at all. Whenever he did, which was almost never, she wanted to cherish it and make the most of the conversation as she could. After all, how else was she going to help him feel comfortable around her, enough for honest interaction? That and he was hot. Beautifully hot.
"What do you write?" he repeated his question, although he hated repeating himself. Not that Rin was an exception, but he knew she had been well-concentrated on what she was doing to react quickly to something else-- he too knew how irritable it was to be disturbed while in deep thought. He'd care less if it were his brother, but again, this was Rin. Someone he wanted to get to know more about. It was more so meant for… business purposes, as he saw it. So the reason for repeating himself.
"Oh?" Rin sat upright on the couch, which was facing the TV, which was on the wall where he sat. Looking at him for the first time ever with a certain hope for real conversation, since he'd finally addressed her into it first, she tried her best to sound intelligent and interesting.
"I was writing a screen play for my drama class."
Now, Sesshomaru disliked having to show his interest on something so… simple and unimportant, but most of all he hated to let someone know that his intellect had missed something. Nonetheless, he voiced his doubt.
"Explain yourself."
For a second Rin had forgotten that these men knew less than she did about happenings in the last five hundred years, even though they were hundreds of years older than her, but caught up with her wondering thoughts and explained to him what every word of her sentence had meant. Of course, there were words that needed more explaining than others, which she knew how to tell because of the slight movements in his face indicating confusion or incomprehension, which she, knowing him best (as a dog, but found out later on that they worked the same way in his human form) could make out. At times she found herself having to reach back into her vocabulary to find a suitable answer for them, one that he could understand with. When she finally finished, she thought she'd bored him to death.
She looked down at the floor grimly, feeling her face redden. "But I guess I was just blabbing too much; I'll quiet up now."
From her teachings Sesshomaru now understood that she held well education (although apparently ceased to show it)—far more than he'd ever suspect a woman could ever grasp. Evidently he was still left in the shadow upon trying to figure women out. These mysterious, secretive creatures were as incomprehensible to him now as they were then, in the Past, if not more, if they too received education like lords now.
"No."
His simple reply made Rin look up at him again in renewed hopes of civilization. He wouldn't say it but he had been fascinated by her little story; and he wanted to know more. More about her, more about this world.
Not waiting for her to speak first, he then asked something else alluring to his knowledge.
"What is that you hold on your face?"
Rin immediately starting feeling her skin, afraid he'd spotted something icky that would embarrass her to no ends, but found nothing. Curious, she took off her glasses and tried to feel better without them on.
Sesshomaru looked at her as if she were blind. "What are you doing?"
Rin met his gaze again and knew she was definitely turning red now. She'd embarrassed herself in front of him, alright. But how she did it, she hoped she'd find out soon.
The lord noticed her baffled expression and looked into her right hand. At a moment's hesitation, Rin put two and two together and finally realized what it was he had meant all along. "Oh! Do you mean these?" She pointed to the pair of specks and he nodded, just slightly. Boy would she want to kick herself for that later!
"Um, they're glasses. They're supposed to help you see, if you're loosing your eyesight."
Sesshomaru blinked. Was she going blind? Somehow that felt discomforting; for her, Rin, to have to experience something so disabling for a human such as blindness. He asked her.
"No, no, I'm not going blind or anything," she assured, chuckling. "They aren't the real thing. I just like to use these whenever I have work to do for a play. They make me feel smarter." After hearing herself she kind of felt stupid for commenting such a thing, and hoped he got it the right way. She hoped he didn't think she wasn't bright, although he wouldn't be the first. She waved them at him. "You see? These are props; you know, like what I told you about before? They're just for pretend. Here; do you want to try them on?"
She handed them out to him, encouraging him to walk up and take them if he wanted. He only looked them over once and moved his sight away to where the window above him was again even though he was too low to see through it beside watch the sky.
Rin sighed audibly, but lightly. Again, their relationship was going no where. So, being the outgoing, daring person that she was, she took it to herself to do something about it.
"So… 'Lord Sesshomaru', is it?" The question was lame, but at least it was something and it drove his attention back to her, if only after a moment's passing. He nodded, again almost blind to the common eye. The two stared into each other's eyes for a while before Rin caught on that it was up to her to say something else or she was going to loose this breakthrough forever.
"What were you 'lord' of?"
He blinked again before answering in his smooth, bass tone. "I inherited the entire Western lands when my father died; I ruled them after him as one of the most feared taiyoukais in the country." Rin was surprised; a little by this new information, but more by his complete answer. She'd gotten more from him than she expected, and she liked this part of him that talked to her so normally. Upon thinking his words over she realized that what he was saying was something big.
"Wow! Really? That's so cool!" She replied a little more joyously than she expected, but she'd juice it for all it was worth. "You mean, all of Japan's Western lands? Castle and everything?" He nodded, showing more of it this time. Secretly, he was glad that she was fascinated by this discovery and had been more comfortable around him, communicating-wise.
"Wow!" She reminded him of an innocent, happy child again. "Well, I wished that I owned something like that…" She lay back in the couch again, crossing her legs one over the other, head resting on her arms. She looked at the ceiling as if thinking of something. It worked, because Sesshomaru was still watching her like a curious puppy—as she saw it. Good. She had him in her hands. Now, if only to think of something really good to ask this time…
Meanwhile, he thought of her words about his lands and domain. Did she not possess a castle of her own? He knew they lived far above the ground, higher even than his full height in his true demon form. Why would she say then that she owned nothing in comparison to his wealth? Perhaps it was because of all the other monstrous castles he saw outside their window as well? Maybe everyone had one now, and they were common. A lesson he would learn about skyscrapers soon enough.
"So, glad you have opposable thumbs now?" Rin looked at him from her side. Either he wasn't taking the joke, or he thought she wasn't serious about the comment. Maybe, she thought, just maybe, she'd have to explain about that too?
He blinked. One moment she was pretty interesting, the next she was talking gibberish and nonsense again. This human was too complicated for him to want to understand what she really was sometimes.
Rin took the time to change the subject. She'd said too many foolish things already. She looked to the ceiling again.
"'Sesshomaru'. I like that name. It's pretty." Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, the closest thing he could get to show frustration at her. Rin jumped up-right on the couch again and faced him, immediately apologizing once she noticed she had said something even more stupid, not having to look at his own reaction to find it out.
"I-I mean, I like it. You know, i-it suits you." His glare never left his eyes, and he thought that if she knew what his name really meant she wouldn't be still standing here in front of him, speaking to him of such things. "It means 'destruction' or something, right? I think that's brilliant."
Again, she managed to amaze him in a turn of events. She knew more than she was letting out to be, and her change of voice and choice of words drew him to her. She sounded like a brilliant woman herself; whenever she choose to act like one.
Rin remembered a more important question to ask. "Hungry? I can make you something. I-I won't even tell anybody. It could be our little secret?" She smiled, trying to seem inviting, but he didn't take the bait. Instead, he looked at the opposite wall in front of him.
"No." The word was stretched as long as it could have possibly been. The girl even sore she could feel the word vibrating in her stomach from the owner's deep tone of voice.
The door to Kagome's room opened just then to Rin's disappointment, since she really wanted to try and feed her dog something in private. It was almost two weeks since they were stuck inside the house and he still hadn't eaten anything. Maybe she would try again later.
Kagome came into view, stopping in front of Sesshomaru's card board box of doggie toys. She looked at it, thinking of something. Rin jumped over the couch in a flash, getting in between her valuables and the one thing that threatened to destroy them with her insensitivity.
"No! I already told you I'm not throwing them away just because you said so. I love them too much!"
Perhaps it was because of her recent talk with the lord that one could find more authority in her voice rather than a child defending her things, Sesshomaru didn't know, only that she had confused him yet again with her sudden change of character. He could only relate its use to the fact that she had told him that she was studying something called 'acting', which she'd explained earlier on, in between other things.
Or maybe there was more to her than met the eye?
"Relax, Rin. I'm not going to bother you anymore with it. You can keep it if you want to."
Rin was a little surprised to the sudden change of heart, but tried not to let her feelings get the best of her just yet. She wanted the truth. "R-really? You mean that?" she asked incredulously, her words losing their prior authority.
"Uh-huh. It's yours. I shouldn't of had meddled in your affairs in the first place, anyway. I'm sorry."
Rin blinked, placing the back of her hand on Kagome's forehead. "Are you feeling alright, Kags?"
Kagome slapped her hand off gently and replied with a Spanish accent, "Tonta. Yes, I'm fine. I just…thought about it, that's all." She walked away into the kitchen. "It's about time I made some food."
Rin smiled. It seemed like Kagome was in a good mood again. The fact that she called her baka in another language proved it. When she had the motivation, Kagome used any and all vocabulary she'd learned from Rin of her knowledge of cultures and world-wide travels. Now, only about twenty more languages to teach…
But first to the matter at hand. The girl crouched over and hugged the cardboard, soothing it on all sides and making perky, kissing noises all over. She then accented the drama by quoting one of her favorite movies, in the original husky pitch and all.
"My precious."
Sesshomaru was a little skeptical at first when hearing it, thinking she must be possessed by some sort of demon. But again, her uncommon actions every once and a while would make him sure of one thing: she was crazy.
Inuyasha came in just then and stared at Rin the same way his brother was, only showing signs of it on his face. "Hey. What's wrong with your friend, Kagome?"
Kagome let rest the bread she was holding on the table. "Nothing. She's just her normal, freaky self, as always." Inuyasha clicked his tongue and shook his head. He felt sorry for her.
Rin began dragging the heavy box back into her room, more than ready to keep it, along with the rest of the boxes filled with her lord's things. Because, of course, as a top-class dog owner she couldn't just have one box of things for him; she had to have many.
"Then again she's only acting out a movie we saw, so it's no big deal. Not like she's been possessed by a dem—" Kagome decided not to continue that phrase.
Inuyasha blinked at the new word. "'Movie'?" He heard something he liked.
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Omg…I'm writing more chapters than I'd originally intended. But I think its okay, if they're pleasing…and not thirty pages long each, lol.
Read and Review : D