InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cloud Watching ❯ Learning the lessons of life ( Chapter 8 )

Learning the lessons of life

By Melissa Spoula

Sesshoumaru watched as Rin sat in a clearing watching a few small butterflies. Even though his expression remained as cold as ever, inside he knew it was in no way a reflection of what he was truly feeling. In the past few years this human child had found a way to melt his heart as no one had done in all his five hundred years of life. (I don't know how old fluffy is so that is my best guess.) The thought that this child, this human could effect him so, had once caused so much rage in him that he would leave her for weeks at a time.

During that time he tried to convince himself that she meant nothing, that she was nothing. The fact that he could never stay away from her for more than a week was more than enough proof of just how strong of a hold she did have on him. It was only a year ago that he finally came to terms with what he thought was the only logical explanation for his irrational feeling towards this human.

It was all his father's fault.

There must be some flaw in his family gene pool that attracted them to humans. Hell, he no longer even felt the need to kill that no good half-breed brother of his. In the end he knew it was his fathers accursed wish for him to find and cherish something, his father's desire for him to love.

Since he had figured this out he had never left her side. She went with him everywhere. That is everywhere until now. Today is Rin's thirteenth birthday and though it pained him to think of being separated form Rin, he knew it had to be done for her sake as well as his.

"Rin" he called "come here." Rin happily ran to his side. She had grown over the years and was now almost as tall as his chest. From his pocket Sesshoumaru produced a brightly colored package and handed it to her. "A gift for your thirteenth birthday." He placed the package in her tiny hand and she looked at it for a long moment. Normally she would have been jumping for joy at the fact that Sesshoumaru had given her a gift but now she looked at it like it was a death sentence.

She knew what her thirteenth birthday meant and had been dreading it for some time. She had hoped he would forget it, the gift in her hand was proof that he didn't. Looking up at him she handed the package back and shook her head. "No Sesshoumaru today is not Rin's birthday. We have many more months before it is Rin's thirteenth birthday." The girl smiled up at him hoping he would buy her lie. Sesshoumaru only placed the gift firmly back into her hand. "Rin, I have told you before it is wrong to tell lies. Today is your birthday and nothing will change that."

Rin sadly looked down at the package in her hand. " Rin knows, but Rin does not wish to leave Sesshoumaru." Tears began to form in her eyes but she did her best to hold them back. "Rin you are a woman now and too old to be crying over something so silly. We will only be separated for a month at most. This is something that must be done. You need to learn thing's I could not possibly teach you and I can not stay with you while you learn them. We have talked about this." Sesshoumaru placed a hand on her shoulder. "Open your gift."

Rin unfolded the silk rapping to find a beautiful gold hairpin. The pin was in the shape of a dragonfly, it's body made of emeralds it's wings made of diamonds. Carefully Sesshoumaru undid the ponytail sticking out of the side of Rin's head letting all of her hair fall down around her shoulders. He took the hairpin from her hands and placed it were the ponytail just was. "You're not a child anymore. It's time to start looking more adult." Rin touched the side of her hair and smiled up at him. "Thank you." Sesshoumaru looked off into the distance where the sun was just beginning to set. "You should get your things packed, we will be leaving tomorrow." Rin gave a sad little nod and the two walked off in the direction of home.

Thinking about what he had to do tomorrow was frustrating. Half of it was because he had to leave Rin. The other half was because of whom he had to leave Rin with. He knew it was his only choice. Rin could learn nothing from any demon he would have chosen to teach her and handing her over to just any human was out of the question. No, he only had one choice. A choice he had made long ago.

The only person in the world who could teach Rin what she needed to learn was Kagome.

Kagome and Sango had just returned form the city where they had been shopping for material for their wedding outfits. They found a shop that carried vary high quality white silk. Sango's had a light blue pattern while Kagome had chosen a golden colored pattern. They had each bought enough material to make their wedding kimonos and the boys wedding outfits. Sango brought their bags inside while Kagome walked around the house in the direction of a loud thumping noise. Inuyasha was standing beside a pile of neatly chopped firewood. He had on his white under shirt his red haori removed laying on a nearby tree stump.

Kagome watched as he chopped the last log in half and stacked it on the pile. After a few moments of her mindlessly staring and daydreaming Inuyasha finally got her to come back down to earth. "What's wrong with you? I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes now and all you've done is stare into space." Kagome blushed slightly and smiled at him. She walked over and gave him a hug. "You had my attention. I just wasn't thinking strait." He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Tell you what, next time I cut firewood I call you before I start so you can watch the whole thing." Kagome swayed slightly in his arms. "Now that's what I call entertainment."

Inuyasha stiffened and sniffed the air. Suddenly his ears flew back against his head and a loud growl erupted out of his chest. "Inuyasha what's wrong?" Kagome looked around for any sign of what had gotten him so upset. Inuyasha stared darkly at the tree line. There was no mistaking the smell that was coming this way. "Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha pushed Kagome behind him and waited for his brother to appear.

Sesshoumaru appeared slowly form the forest Rin trailing close behind. As soon as Kagome saw Rin she know what Sesshoumaru wanted. "Inuyasha it's ok he's just here to. . ." Inuyasha wasn't listening, he had drown Tetsusaiga "What the hell do you want!" Sesshoumaru was now standing in front of Rin much the same way Inuyasha was in front of Kagome. Sesshoumaru remained calm in spite of his brother's anger. "I am not here for you this time half-breed. I am here to speak with your mate. I have no business with you. Step aside before you get hurt."

Inuyasha felt a new wave of anger fly through him at the mention of Kagome. "You're right she is my mate and if you come one step closer to her I'll rip you into so many pieces not even god will be able to sort you out." Sesshoumaru remained unimpressed with his brother's anger. " Kagome, please inform this pathetic excuse of a demon of our arrangement so I don't have to be subjected to any more ridiculous threats."

Inuyasha glared down at Kagome. "What the hell is he talking about `arrangements'." Kagome scratched her head nervously. "Well you see I think I may have forgotten to tell you about them." She gave Inuyasha a crooked smile and he continued to glare at her. " Tell me what's going on Kagome." Inuyasha kept his eyes on Sesshoumaru while he listened to Kagome begin her story. "It was about a year ago that I talked to Sesshoumaru. See it all started when you and I were fighting….."

Flashback

"SIT, SIT, SIT!" Kagome turned on her heal and stormed off toward the forest muttering a long line of curses to herself at the dog demon and whatever god had deiced to tie her to him. In her anger she took in no note of her soundings, and where usually she would have felt the presence of someone as strong as Sesshoumaru, he was able to watch her closely with out her knowing.

Kagome found a fallen tree to sit on and attempted to cool off a bit before Inuyasha came to find her. Kagome was just thinking about how it would feel to sit Inuyasha until he made a ten-foot crater in the ground when she heard a twig snap. `Damn he's here all ready! I'm still mad! Guess I can sit him a few more times to get it all out of my system.'

"You can stop hiding and come out now I know your there!" Kagome called not even bothering to look in the direction the person was coming from. "You have such little sense for such a smart human." Kagome jumped up at hearing that calm cold voice. She turned around to find Sesshoumaru starring at her with no discernable expression on his face. "What do you want? Inuyasha will be here any minute now and when he finds you he'll….." Kagome was silenced when Sesshoumaru raised his hand. "I am not here to hurt you, and I do not care to deal with the hanyou at this time. I am merely here to talk to you."

Kagome was still suspicious and a little scared but tried not to show it. "What do you want?" Sesshoumaru moved to sit on the log Kagome had just been on. He sat down perfectly upright hands neatly folded in his lap. "I am in need of a service only you can provide." Kagome stepped back until she thought she was out of lunging distance. When she felt safe she spoke. " What could I possibly do for you. After all I'm just a `worthless human'."

That's when Kagome witnessed a sight that made her blood run cold. Sesshoumaru smiled. "It is precisely because you are human that I need you girl." Kagome was speechless. "I….. what….." he kept the smile on his face as he continued. "You see I have with me a traveling companion. She is twelve this year and will soon be thirteen, at which time she will start to become a woman. I myself have no knowledge of what females go through let alone human females. Also I do not know what it is that she should be learning about to prepare her for womanhood."

Kagome was more curious that afraid now. "What do you want me to do?" Sesshoumaru stood. " Not only are you a female, but you are a human female who has no fear of demons. The fact that you are to mate with my half-brother is proof alone you hold no ill will toward demon kind as so many other humans do. You are the only person who I can safely entrust her to."

Kagome shook her hands in front of her. "Wait just a minute here. You tried to kill Inuyasha just for being born and me and the others just for being his friends. What makes you think I would do you any kind of favors?"

"Because I am willing to make a deal with you if you do." Kagome crossed her arms in front of her chest. By this time she felt no fear, it almost felt like she was dealing with someone who had half a heart, not Sesshoumaru. "You have nothing I want. What could you possibly give me."

"I am prepared to leave the half-breed alone if you agree." Kagome was stunned. Here she was standing in the middle of a forest, alone, having a actual conversation with her greatest enemy next to Naraku and he just agreed to leave her and Inuyasha alone for good. She must be dreaming. "What is it you want me to teach her?"

"You need to teach the thing's that will take her from childhood to adulthood. About the changes her body will go through, her monthly heat, mating, whatever your mother taught you. Most of all teach her how to live as the mate of a demon." Kagome understood him until that last little bit of information. "Are you going to mate this girl!?" He rolled his eyes and turned his head in a manner she more expected to see from Inuyasha than Sesshoumaru. "She lives among demons, it is natural she would choose one for her mate. Who that will be is none of your concern. You merely need to teach her what it is like for a human to take a demon mate."

Kagome had a lot to think about. This was definitely not the Sesshoumaru she knew. The Sesshoumaru she knew would never care about a human let alone consider taking one as a mate. But the idea of getting him knocked of the long list of enemies she and Inuyasha had acquired over the years was to good too pass up. "If you leave Inuyasha and I alone, than I except your offer."

Sesshoumaru stood and began to walk away in the direction he had come from. " If you follow me, you can meet her now." Kagome followed a good distance behind him watching his every move for any sign that he was leading her into a trap. Coming to a clearing she saw a little girl siting on the back of a large two-headed dragon. On the grown near her was Jaken looking not at all pleased with his roll as babysitter.

The girl dropped of the dragon's back and ran to Sesshoumaru's side. Seeing Kagome she smiled up at her and gave a little wave. Sesshoumaru pushed Rin in front of Kagome. "Rin this is your sister Kagome." Rin walked up to Kagome and gave her a hug. "Hello sister Kagome, Rin is happy to meat you!" Kagome couldn't help but smile at the girl. "I'm happy to meet you to Rin."

Sesshoumaru glanced off into the distance. He could feel Inuyasha coming, thought his brother was still to far away to sense him. "We must leave Rin." Rin quickly obeyed him and walked to the dragon. She hopped on its back and was joined by Jaken. Sesshoumaru glanced back at Kagome. "When you and the hanyou have a suitable home I will bring Rin to you." With that he began to rise into the air in a cloud of smoke. The dragon took off after him and Rin waved down to Kagome. "See you later sister Kagome."

Kagome watched them fly off into the distance. When she could no longer see them she turned to walk back into the direction of camp. Half-way back she ran into Inuyasha. "Where the hell have you been wench, it's getting dark and you know better than to be off on your own. Shippo was worried that something might have happened to you." Kagome began to tell Inuyasha what had happened. "Inuyasha you're not going to believe what just happened but……" Inuyasha picked her up and began to run back to camp. "You can tell me later, right now I have a bad feeling about these woods. Like there is something here I don't like." Kagome sighed and held on to Inuyasha. She could tell him about Sesshoumaru later, right now her head hurt and she just wanted to take a nap.

End of flashback

"And there you have it. I guess I forgot to tell you. Sorry." Kagome gave him the cutest look she could come up with. Inuyasha however kept his eyes on the two in front of him. His gaze shifted form Sesshoumaru to Rin and back to Sesshoumaru. "How long do you plan to leave the girl here."

Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome. "As long as Kagome thinks is necessary. I will come back from time to time to check on Rin's progress." Kagome walked up to Rin fearless of Sesshoumaru. " I'm sure this will only take a few weeks. That's enough time for Rin and I to bond a little and for me to tell her what she needs to know. Rin do you have everything you need?" Rin patted the bag she had swung over her shoulder. "Rin has everything right here sister Kagome." Kagome held out her hand and Rin took it. "Then let's pick you out a room."

The two girls walked into the house. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru stood for a long moment just starring at each other. Sesshoumaru turned and began to walk off. "I don't know if I should believe you or not. I do know that if you try to hurt Kagome or any other member of my family in any way I'll….." Sesshoumaru turned around, his face as expressionless as ever. "I no longer wish to play games with you hanyou. You and your family hold no interest for me." He began to walk off again when Inuyasha had a thought. "What made you change your mind about humans?"

Sesshoumaru stopped once more. " The curse you and I inherited form our father." With that he was gone. Inuyasha knew what he meant, but it had been a long time since he had viewed falling in love with a human a curse. Still he found it hard to believe Sesshoumaru would change five hundred years of hatred towards the human race for one little girl. But stranger things have happened.

Author's notes

If Sesshoumaru seems ooc it is because this is the way I needed him for my story. Whether or not Sesshoumaru sees Rin as a daughter or a potential mate will come later on in the story. For now, just know he feels love for her.

One more chapter and kikyo will enter the story.

Love missy