Annnnnnnnnnndddddddddddddddd another chapter done. Phew.

Thank you all for the spectacular reviews. I have to say that one of your reviews (girl, I hope you know who you are) was the one that made me smile the most and urged me on to post this next chapter.

I hope you all enjoy.

I own nothing. Never forget that.

Chapter Five

Home

Once Jaken was asleep that night, curled in on himself a handbreadth from the fire, Rin tiptoed out of the cave and spared only one melancholy glance backward at the demon who had raised her. She sent him her silent goodbye, wondering who he would nag and who would sew his robes when they inevitably tore.

She left behind for him her thread and needle.

Rin stood outside of the cave trying to calm her pounding heart. Once she had seen Sesshomaru's face, the decision had been made for her. He had been afraid. She had never seen the demon lord afraid in her life.

It was not in her to believe that Sesshomaru could kill their child. He had done so many purely cruel things, but she knew that that was one thing he would never do. That was not why she was leaving. No, he would not harm the baby. She was leaving because he did not want it. She had spent half her years as an unwanted child and she would not watch her own go through the same thing.

An unwanted child is not much of a child, and even less of an adult when they are grown. They need the attention of those around them and give way easily to anger, revenge, and hate. Rin was certain that she would doom her own baby to this fate if she stayed.

Her heart ached, but she could not stay. She simply could not.

"Hello, A-Un," she whispered to the dragon. It lifted its two heads, its eyes opening blearily in the late hour. It emitted a gentle, happy groan when she leaned her forehead against its body and began stroking its black mane. "Take care of them for me, A-Un."

A-Un grunted sharply, its four eyes creasing in a sleepy sadness. She pet its mane until it fell back to sleep, slipping a sheathed knife from the pack sitting next to it. Jaken had stored the weapon there just in case the three of them were ever taken off guard by attackers while Sesshomaru was not there to protect them. Now she tucked the knife into her obi, wary of the sharp weapon pressing against the folds of fabric. Her satchel slung up around her arm, she tightened her braided hair and, not sparing another thought or look backward, she walked away from everything she had ever known.

Rin was more than exalted to cut through the forest trees towards the general direction of Inuyasha's home. It had been nearly eight years since she had visited Sesshomaru's brother but she found it hardly difficult at all to remember the path. She recognized the landmarks Jaken had taught her – rocks, boulders, a willow tree, a mud-hole lake the shape of a foot – and found it easier and easier to navigate through the forest.

She had always felt a sort of kinship to the forest, being as she had spent half her life in its presence. It was as though the trees parted for her, stinging nettles failed to cling to her clothing, mosquitoes bounced off of her and her hair passed easily through branches. Tonight, the forest seemed to revolt against her, whipping at her face, tripping her feet, tearing at her kimono. With each branch against her flesh, each fall, Rin's heart broke a little more and, before she could properly understand her actions, she was sprinting blindly through the trees.

By the fourth or fifth hour, she realized she was hopelessly lost. What had previously been clearly recognizable became muddled and unfamiliar. Instead of wandering aimlessly, doing herself more harm than good, she slid down to hide herself from animals inside of an indent in the ground beneath a jet of rock. An hour passed by from then, or two hours and more, as Rin could not tell from her hiding place. Her back and legs ached from holding them so straight. The mud in her hair was drying and that felt truly awful. She was bone tired as well, realizing she had not slept at all the entire night. Her eyes flickered with the effort of trying to stay awake, her mouth forming a silent yawn.

A branch breaking jolted her fully awake and she snapped up to her feet, crawling out from the ground. Her hand went immediately to the knife, pulling it out and holding it with shaking hands. She had not held a weapon before, at least not with the intent to kill, and she found that the very thought tore down to her soul. However, there was a life inside of her she had to protect. Rin was surprised when her fingers gripped the knife's handle with more determination than she felt.

"S-show yourself!" she called, her voice hardly more than a whisper.

A voice said sombrely, "Peace, human. It's only me."

Rin relaxed slightly as the familiar form of the fox demon, Kira, took shape out of the darkness. Her demon eyes glinting eerily in the moonlight, Kira ambled carefully and unthreateningly towards Rin.

"Walking around in the forest alone is a stupid act, even for a human. Even if you are armed, a knife will do no good against a hungry demon." She flicked her sharp canine teeth pointedly, grinning. Her arms folded as she studied Rin's few meagre things around her. "Where are you going?"

She was not sure why her heart flamed almost angrily at this woman, but the side of her lip pulled up in an unconscious snarl. The words from the night before roared in her mind. "Are you to marry that woman?"

"If I wish it."

Rin could not look at the woman as she answered, "A human village. I have…There are people there who will take me in."

Kira looked justly puzzled. "I doubt Sesshomaru has grown tired of you – he was a great deal too fond of you for that. So why, may I ask, are you going to a human village?"

Rin said nothing. So many times she was close to saying something and this is when she chose to say nothing.

"So you won't tell me." The woman sighed almost wearily. She took a few steps away and then heaved another heavy breath, seeming to fight off some inner thoughts of her own. Kira lifted her hand and curled her finger twice at Rin. "Follow me."

"What?"

"I can't very well have you dying on me, now can I?" she asked. "Runaway or no, Sesshomaru would have my tail if he knew I had let you parish out in this forest."

Though the very idea of being aided by this demon made Rin cringe, there was not much choice. She was either to stay with Sesshomaru or entrust her safety – as well as the safety of her child – to a demon she had met only hours before. She could not stay and so she would go.

Quietly, Kira led Rin around the forest. They wandered from the farthest tree to the one closest as possible to them in a confusing and eccentric path. They walked and walked back and forth. Rin tripped along after the fox demon, falling, stumbling, sprawling and lurching until she was covered with mud from her dark brown hair to the toes of her painfully annoying shoes. Her clothes clung to her and she had to constantly pick up the hem of her kimono when it became tangled up in her legs.

Rin wondered a little as to why Kira's movements were so erratic and unusual, when she understood that the fox demon must have been purposely wandering around so as to throw off whoever she imagined Rin to be escaping from. Despite her ire towards the woman, Rin admitted begrudgingly that she was grateful.

"Shall we stop?" Kira repeated for the third time since they had begun. She said a little snidely, "I understand humans need their rest."

The very idea made Rin's temper move like molten lava beneath her skin. She had abandoned her shoes one mile back, her feet feeling free for the first time in weeks, but she had not caused the woman to think she was weak. She had not complained, she had not stopped for a moment, and she was proud that she had kept up with the demon's strong legs step for step.

"No," Rin said.

And they trudged on.

The two made their way slowly through the forest in a sluggish, trudging march over slippery slopes, past drooping trees, wilting flowers and buzzing insects. Wasps plagued the air and mosquitoes bit at Rin's skin, though the air was cold now that the year had fallen into the autumn months. Kira led her to a spot that was not particular nor spectacular. To Rin, it resembled all the other parts of the forest she had seen before: the same rocks, the same dirt, the same everything. Had they gone in circles?

"This is as far as I can take you."

Before Rin could open her mouth to answer, Kira was in movement. Sweeping aside some brush, she exposed a small valley with houses spread apart from each other; they were so small and simple, even moreso than the last human village Rin had seen, that they almost marred the gentle green grass they sat upon. There, so close that she had to gasp, was a hut built on probably the only hill in the cavernous valley. The hut was certainly nothing special with its sagging wooden roof, plain brown windows, small wrap-around porch and dreary grey curtains, but there was a touch of beauty to the home by a splash of colourful flowers and herbs growing in a small garden on the side.

Kira left just as Kagome slid her front door open, stepping out with a bundle of sheets piled in her arms, and Rin simply stood, her feet frozen to the dirt, as she waited for the older woman to notice her. First, Kagome's eyes widened, then her arms tightened around her bundle, and finally her face decided on looking mildly surprised but gentle.

Kagome was as pretty as Rin could remember, though perhaps wiser and more seasoned. There was still that saucy spark in her eyes, as though daring Rin to do something as rash as perhaps attempting to attack in a powerful half demon's household. Her defiant stance stated that there were also demon hunters close by if any threat was presented.

"Who are you?" Kagome demanded.

"Rin."

With a raised eyebrow, Kagome could not rush Rin into the hut faster if she tied her in ropes and dragged her in. No sooner had she stepped past the threshold than Rin found herself seated at the table with Inuyasha and Kagome, cleaned up from her excursion in the forest and holding a steaming bowl of food. Her nose scrunched up at the bowl in her hand. Though she did so want to eat, for she had not eaten since two days before, the rolling in her stomach fast discouraged her hunger.

Turning her head, she placed the bowl down as a sadness crept over her. Suddenly, she felt tired beyond her years. Her hands went around her stomach, trying desperately to gain some strength to carry on with what she desperately needed to do.

"I have come for your help," she provided. "I am...I...it is..." No matter how she tried, the words did not form and she leaned back, pleading that she could keep from vomiting.

"Rin." Kagome moved a little around on her knees, her eyes wide as her mind slowly worked together the signs she was seeing. "Are you…pregnant?"

No answer was needed; the faint pink blush that spread under Rin's tanned skin told the married couple everything they wanted to know. A double set of fearful, confused eyes fixed on her, studied her, and examined the presence they could feel emanating from her. A moment of tasting the small ball of energy in her stomach caused the half demon's face to contort in pure, unbridled fury.

"That idiot bastard!" Inuyasha snarled.

"Sesshomaru doesn't want this child." For an unknown reason, Rin suddenly wanted to explain to them. "I believe he thinks it's what I want."

"That bastard."

"Inuyasha, shut up." Kagome cut her husband a sharp glare, attempting to clarify that he was hindering this situation, and then she gave Rin a soft, level look. "Is it what you want?"

"No." Rin looked at her hands in her lap. "It's not."

The young priestess nodded in understanding. "Don't worry, Rin. You can stay here with us."

"She what!" Inuyasha smacked the table with his fist, the dishes clattering noisily. A bowl of rice toppled over as he leaned into his wife. "Kagome, you can't be taking on more things in your condition."

It was then Rin truly saw the bulge underneath Kagome's robes and she realized that the two girls had a great deal more in common than she first thought.

"Taking care of you is hard enough. But I'm not an invalid." There was a flash of anger in her dark eyes for a heated moment before she reached over to take his hand in hers. "She has nowhere else to go," Kagome pointed out sadly.

"I –" he stuttered.

Her fingers squeezed his palm tenderly. "Thanks for agreeing."

Inuyasha could do nothing but grumble at that and they knew he had given in.

Months passed, at times much quicker than she expected and at oft times as slowly as she expected. Miroku and Sango accepted Rin in their community as easily as they would another addition to their ever-growing family and Sango's brother, Kohaku, found time from his demon-hunting responsibilities to speak with her while she went about her chores.

Soon after Rin's love for plants was discovered, Kagome sent her immediately to train with Kaede, to learn how to create healing poultices and which herb cured what sickness. Kohaku sometimes wandered around with Rin, poking at hanging thyme and making faces at the strong aroma sitting like a fog around them. Rin suspected he was merely trying to keep her company, but she was glad for his interest and went along with his ruse. She showed him gantwort, how its spiny leaves could bring down swelling. She told him how spinthistle roots ground into a powder could heal a wound faster than any other herb. Though he seemed more satisfied with drawing a tooth than her medicines, Rin sometimes suspected he found her information of more interest than he feigned.

This caused Rin's days to pass by with greater speed and before it seemed she could blink, her own stomach had grown out in a healthy, round fashion. As Rin grew, Kagome's body in turn reached and grasped for its 'due date', as she called it. Apparently the traditional Japanese robes were not comfortable during pregnancy – at least not for Kagome. She spent hours, when she was not doing her duties as a priestess, tossing and turning in her clothing and complaining all the while that she could never relax. She could often be heard commenting, "I wish I had my sweatpants and t-shirt" and when Rin asked what those were, Kagome would merely look forlornly out the window and demand that Inuyasha take her for a visit to her own time.

They, unfortunately, did not go to her time for many more months. Kaede served happily as midwife and Rin helped, reluctant but anxious for Kagome, and prayed reverently that the blood would not make her faint. Many times she had seen demons ripped apart at the hands of Sesshomaru, but they had been demon men intent on hurting them and not a woman desperately trying to bring her baby into the world. Somehow, in that situation, the blood disturbed her a great deal more.

It was only hours later that their son was born, a little quarter demon pup with faded grey hair that bordered on brown and magnificent hazel eyes. His little nails were defined claws, his tiny ears human and rounded at the tips, and Rin could catch a splash of pretty freckles on his little nose. She immediately adored him, knowing that even if his humanity was ugly in other demons' eyes, it made him vastly beautiful.

Kagome held him tightly to her chest, the fatigue on her face as prominent as the joy. She met Inuyasha's eyes. "Can we call him Soichiro?"

"I like it." He nodded, reaching a single finger gingerly down to stroke his new son's cheek, so softly that he looked afraid he might break the baby. "You're going to be a fighter someday, little guy."

Though she did not speak, Rin watched them looking at each other, unaware and uncaring towards the world's thoughts of their love. It was in these moments that Rin felt an unfamiliar sense of longing for what they possessed, and an unmistakable feeling of being alone.

Rin knew that she should not see herself as alone. She was welcomed there. For the first time in her life, she truly had friends, people who openly cared for her, women whom she could speak with and connect to. She also noticed that Sango's brother, Kohaku, had been sneaking her glances whenever they were in each other's company.

Kagome spoke of 'romance' and of 'home' when she spoke of humans, and told stories of her time as she soothed her baby to sleep. After wondering for years what their world would offer, Rin was finally with her own kind. She could hear their laughter, see their emotions on their faces, and, frankly, the first time she had seen Inuyasha eat human food had caused her to choke on her rice.

Somehow, though, seeing this truly happy family, she felt more lost than ever before.

It did not feel like 'home.'

Okay. This chapter did not turn out like I originally pictured it but it turned out. I guess that's all that counts.