Disclaimer- I don't own any of the characters.
AN: This is basically a filler chapter. I hit a snag on the next xhapter so I have to rethink it.
SessRin2003, duckknight, DiLLiRgA, Twilightkitty, Naoko2, Ookami Spirit Hishana- :D Thank you for your kinds words and for reading.
Rin looked at the clock and groaned. Seven-thirty. She couldn't remember the last time she had willingly gotten up at this hour. She turned over and tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. I might as well get up and get some work done on the murals. She got up and headed to the kitchen. Sesshomaru was already in there. She looked at him and rolled her eyes. Naturally he was already dressed and looking perfect. He smirked lightly when he heard her mumble something about hating morning people. She was wearing a long black t-shirt that said I'm out of bed and dressed. What more do you want? She eyed the cup of coffee Sesshomaru had just poured.
"Thanks." she said as she snatched it up. "What's for breakfast?"
"Refrigerator, cabinets, stove, dishes." he said pointing them out. "Figure it out."
He poured himself another cup of coffee, sat down at the breakfast bar and began reading the business section. Rin went to the refrigerator and pulled out some spicy shrimp that she had found the night before. Sesshomaru smelled the shrimp the minute she opened the storage container. He lowered his paper and frowned when he saw her picking out the shrimp with her fingers.
"Disgusting." he said. "Utensils. They were invented for a reason."
She picked up another shrimp with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. Sesshomaru went back to reading his paper. Rin smirked as she picked up a fork and began using it. She was going to have lots of fun annoying him. Sesshomaru stood up to leave.
"Can I catch a ride with you this morning?" she asked.
"You have a car."
"But you're going that way. Just let me take a quick shower and I'll be ready."
Sesshomaru was about to say something when he saw movement out the corner of his eye.
"What is that doing here?"
Rin looked in the direction he was staring and smiled.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you that I have a kitten." she said with a wide smile. "Her name's Fudge."
"Get rid of her. The building doesn't accept pets."
"I've seen people with dogs in the building." she said.
"Let me amend that, I don't accept pets in my apartment. Take it back to your house."
"I can't. Claire and my father will forget to feed her and she'll die. You don't want her death on your hands do you?" she said as she picked up the cat. "She'll be no trouble. She's house trained and everything. Please."
Rin gave him her best innocent face. She even managed to get her eyes to well up with tears.
"Keep it out of my way."
"Thank you." she said smiling. "Say thank you Fudge."
Rin held Fudge out to Sesshomaru and Fudge responded by hissing and trying to take a swipe at him. Sesshomaru glared at the cat as Rin quickly took her to her room.
What in the world is wrong with me? Why do I keep letting Rin get her way?
Hehe, you know why.
Sesshomaru frowned and started going over his day in his mind to drown out his own thoughts. Rin sat Fudge on the bed and grabbed some clothes.
"Be good or you'll have to go back to my house. And we don't have any delicious shrimp there." Rin said with a smile as she held out a shrimp for Fudge to eat.
She ran into her bathroom and quickly showered and changed. When she went back into the living room, Sesshomaru was gone.
"I really do hate him."
An hour later, Rin made it to his office.
"Good morning Marianne." she said waving to his secretary. "He in?"
"No. He has meetings all morning."
"Good. At least now I can get some work done."
Rin went in his office and spent a few hours working on the mural. She needed to wait for the paint to dry so she went and sat at Sesshomaru's desk. There were some papers on his desk so she decided to go through them. One memo caught her eye. It was an invitation to participate in a charity bachelor auction. Sesshomaru had written a note for his secretary to inform the host that he'd donate money but like the year before, wouldn't participate. Rin could feel the horns growing on her head. She balled up Sesshomaru's letter and then faxed the host's secretary a letter saying that he would participate.
"It's for charity." she said wickedly to herself.
She then reclined in Sesshomaru's chair and put her feet up on the desk. When she started getting bored, she got her sketchpad and began sketching. She was still sitting there when Sesshomaru returned.
"That's an antique desk you've got your dirty shoes on."
"Where were you all morning?" she asked as she took her feet off the desk.
"Working. Something that is obviously foreign to you." he said.
"I have to wait for the paint to dry some."
"Get out of my chair."
She got out of the chair but sat down on the edge of the desk.
"I have work to do." he said looking at her. "Unless you're planning on helping, get lost."
"I'll pass on helping you work. Maybe I'll go get some lunch or something."
Rin grabbed her things and then left. Sesshomaru noticed that she had forgotten her sketchbook so he picked it up and looked through it. Towards the back there were pictures of people. He wasn't surprised to see one of Inuyasha. In it he was sleeping. Rin had drawn a halo around his head and named the picture Sleeping Angel.
"Curiosity killed the cat." Rin said.
Sesshomaru looked up at her. He hadn't even heard her come back.
"No, looking at this disgustingly sweet picture did it."
"Oh poor baby, don't be jealous." she said mockingly. "I made one of you too."
She flipped through the rest of the pages and then held it up for him to see. She had also given him a halo but it was made of flames. He had two small horns on his head, a tail and he was dressed completely in black. He was standing on the top of a building using lightening bolts to destroy everything around him.
"Angel of Darkness." he said reading the title. "Cute."
"I try to be. Here, you can keep it." she said ripping the page out. "That'll be worth something once I'm famous."
"In other words, I can burn it now."
Rin grabbed her chest and pretended to stumble.
"You wound me. Sess-Horrible."
"Goodbye Rin."
She waved and then left again. Once she was gone, Sesshomaru looked at the picture and smirked. He wouldn't ever tell her but he actually liked the picture. He put it in his briefcase and went back to work. Later that afternoon, he finished work and went home. Sesshomaru was about to put his key in the door when it swung open. Rin was standing there with a huge grin on her face. What has she done now, Sesshomaru thought.
"You're late. Come look at this."
She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. Once they were in the living room, he immediately saw what she had done. There were pencil marks on the wall.
"This wall is the focal point of the living room." She said.
He was about to say something about it but she pulled him up the stairs. Rin stopped on the landing and then turned him so that he could look down into the living room.
"But you can also see it from here. And from here, you can see that it's curved." she said pointing at the wall she had drawn on. "I happened to notice it and this great idea came to me."
Sesshomaru looked at her strangely as she started to tell him her ideas. Either she had lost it or she was so excited about her idea that she didn't care that she was telling him all about it. From her almost giddy reaction he knew that it was definitely the latter. After a few minutes, she stopped talking and looked at him.
"Sorry." she said with a half smile. "I'm really excited about it."
"Don't apologize for your enthusiasm." he said.
Rin stared at him. Where was his usual snide comment?
"You don't have anything sarcastic to say?" she asked.
"Should I?"
"You usually do."
"Well at this moment I don't."
"You must be sick then." she said. "I have to go get some special paint. I'll be back soon."
"You don't have to report your comings and goings to me."
Rin glared at him and then left. When she walked back in the house an hour later, the heavenly aroma of food greeted her. I hope he ordered enough for me too, she thought. She walked in the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks. Both her bag and her mouth dropped. Sesshomaru was cooking. He turned and looked at her when he felt her staring.
"A picture will last longer."
Without saying anything, Rin went to her room. Thank god for digital cameras, she thought wickedly as she got hers. She quickly went back to the kitchen.
"Hey Sesshomaru."
He turned to face her and she instantly began taking pictures.
"That one is going to be great." she teased as he frowned.
Rin thought he was going to make a grab for the camera so she stuffed it in her pocket. She sat down and looked at him.
"I can't believe that I never knew you could cook? Do I get to taste?"
"Can I stop you?"
"Not particularly." she said grinning. "So I guess this means you cooked all of the food in the refrigerator?"
"How else would it get there?"
"I figured that you either had a cook come in or you were anal enough to put take out in storage containers." she said. "So, why do you cook?"
"Why does one usually cook? To eat."
"You know what I mean. No offense but you don't exactly look like the type to cook. Order out, yes. Cook, no."
"Let me put your overworked brain to rest. If I cook for myself, I'm assured that it's done right."
"Or maybe you like to cook."
Sesshomaru didn't respond and she knew that she was right. A few minutes later, he put a plate on the table in front of her.
"Wow, not only do you cook but you serve." she said. "Is it poisoned?"
"I can only hope." he said.
Rin tasted some food and then looked at him.
"It's great but you already knew that Mr. Perfect." she said. "Just for the record, you do understand that I'm going to take great pleasure in knowing this right?"
"Yes."
Sesshomaru sat down next to her and began eating. After dinner she helped him clean up and then went to her room. She got her laptop and began uploading the pictures she took of Sesshomaru. Rin giggled as she looked over the pictures. In her wildest dreams she would have never thought that Sesshomaru loved to cook. She was about to send Inuyasha the pictures in an email but right as she was about to hit enter, she stopped. For the strangest reason, she didn't want to do it. Am I going soft on him, she wondered.
"No." she quickly said out loud. "I just owe him one. He didn't made any sarcastic comments about my excitement over the mural so I'm not going to make fun of him loving to cook."
Rin looked at the pictures again and smiled. Besides, she thought, they'll be much more useful as something to blackmail him with.