The alarm clock started its hideous chime at 7 A.M. Rin's hand slammed on the snooze button and she wondered why it was that she had set her alarm clock for such an early time since it was Sunday. Then the thought hit her that it was Sunday.

She jumped out of bed and got showered and dressed in a sweater and a pair of jeans. She glanced at the weather on the TV quickly before grabbing a coat since it was now 50 degrees outside. The fall air blew across around the corners of the buildings sending her hair floating around her, but she didn't care if it tangled at this moment because she was too preoccupied with getting to the shrine in hopes of finding Sesshomaru there again.

To her disappointment she found herself alone in the shrine. She fell to her knees in defeat before the statute and prayed to the maiden to bring her the man her heart deeply desired. Little did she know but he was standing behind her until his shadow cast over her small figure.

She turned around to see him standing there with his hands in his pockets. He watched her as she gave him a gentle smile but her eyes gave way to the surprise and exuberance of seeing him. "I thought you would be here," his voice rang out throughout the shrine.

Rin looked down in hopes of hiding her blush and said to him, "I had wondered if you would be here today." The shakiness in her voice alerted him that she was trying hard to control her voice and movements. He took note of the fact that she was now dressed in her regular clothes instead of her kimono, which he took to mean that she was planning on seeing him there in hopes that they could spend more time together. She stood up and moved aside, her hands wringing in front of her around her waist level. "I don't mean to keep you from your prayers."

Sesshomaru looked at the statute and then back at her and said quietly so only she could hear him, "I didn't come to pray." His eyes bore into her as she understood his words fully. Her cheeks stained red again, and Sesshomaru thought about how much he enjoyed seeing them the color they were.

This had been unimaginable for him only a month ago, acting this way, but right now he cared little about what others would think of him. Perhaps it was his age; the long time alone may have started wearing down on him as he was starting to think about settling down now with someone for a long time. It was more likely due to the extreme joy that had been coursing through him at the thought of being with his Rin again after losing his chance 500 years ago.

Rin would not look up at him as she asked him, "What do you have planned for today?"

"I thought we might look at the zoo today." He was pleased to see her face light up from the joy of his suggestion. He placed his hand on her lower back supportively and gently while directing her towards the door with his other arm. She started walking with him at her left side.

The zoo was only a couple of blocks away, and they spent most of the day looking at the animals spending a great deal of time looking at each. Rin explained to him how she used to run away to the zoo to get away from her foster parents when she was younger.

As they sat down for lunch she finally got up the nerve to ask him, "What about your childhood and family?"

He stopped preparing his burger for consumption to look at her trying to put on a puzzled face. "What about them?" he asked almost dangerously.

"You never talk about them," she offered him before taking a bite of her chicken sandwich. One of the onions slipped out from under the bun and she slipped it back under the bun before continuing, "I was just wondering if you would tell me about your past."

He took a bite of his hamburger and chewed it slowly thinking over his story carefully. Finally he swallowed his food and said to her, "I really don't like to talk about my past. I didn't exactly have a good past myself." The look on her face showed her concern for him, but he could still see that she was desperately interested in knowing about it, after all she had shared her troubled past with him.

"My father left my mother when I was a teenager for another woman. He got her pregnant and then died while trying to save her and my half-brother from his greatest enemy. My mother was a cold woman who died recently, but I hadn't seen her in years." He watched her face grow more ashamed for asking him, but he reassured her, "You had every right to ask me, after all you have shared much with me." She gave him a weak smile signaling to him that she had heard him but still felt horrible.

She finished her sandwich and watched him as he ate his before she spoke again. "Was there at least something good in your past?" She was trying hard to cheer him up.

He remembered the joy he got from receiving the title of Lord of the Western Lands, but he could not explain that to her. More importantly though, he remembered the joy he had from the short time he had the first Rin within his presence. "I was in love once," he admitted to her.

Rin leaned back in her seat from her upright position and watched the people eating around them. "I believe Kagome mentioned that once. She said that the woman left you because you had not told her about your feelings for her."

He said to her in a slow pace, "She died from a rare disease, but I do regret not telling her about my love for her before she died." He looked at her again and the look he was giving her made her insides lurch from excitement. "I won't allow that to happen again, even if it could never work out." A tingle ran down Rin's spine as she hoped that he was talking about her.

They sat there for a few minutes unable to speak to each other before Sesshomaru asked if she was ready to continue on. They walked next to each other in the direction of the reptile house when she felt the fingers on her right hand brush against her open left palm. Rin stretched out her fingers to let his fingers entwine with hers. They walked throughout the zoo and back to her apartment holding hands most of the way.