InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Flower Girl ❯ Play ( Chapter 98 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

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Rin looked down at the flowers she held, and smiled a little, then looked up at the young man sitting a little ways away quietly watching her, Shippo and Kirara play.

With a sigh, and a compassionate look crossing her youthful face, she went towards him and sat down next to him.

For a while, she didn't say anything, merely rolling the flowers she held around in her hands, and enjoying the scents of the other flowers that were being carried on the light breeze.

After a time, though, she finally looked over at the older boy, and asked, "Are you ready to talk about it?"

Kohaku turned his head and looked at her, a deep frown appearing on his face as he really looked at her.

"Just who are you really, Rin?" he asked. "You know too much to be just a human child."

At that, a strangely adult sounding laugh came from the tiny body sitting next to him, and she asked, "Who do you think I am, Kohaku?"

He continued to stare at her, not missing the flare of otherworldly knowledge that lit her eyes for a moment, and he shook his head, disturbed, though he wasn't sure why.

"I don't know..." he trailed off uneasily.

She shifted a little. "I'll tell you who I am. I'm Rin. I'm Rin - who's died twice, and been to hell once. You know about that one. Those things change a person, you know. So now, I'm Rin, a little human girl - and an old human girl, though I'm still inside a young body.

Kohaku nodded solemnly. "I know... I died once, too. But I bet you never killed your family... or lots of other people, either."

She shrugged. "Nope... but neither did you."

He stared at her, astonished. "Yes, I did!"

"No, you didn't. Tell me something," she asked, as he stared at her with confused eyes, "if Naraku had changed into your form, and killed your family, would you still blame yourself?"

He blinked, caught off-guard at that question. "Well... no, because it really wasn't me, by my will, it was Naraku."

"It's the same thing. Naraku took your body away from you, right?" The boy nodded, and she continued. "So, it's like you were a puppet. You had no will of your own. It's the same, don't you see? It wasn't by your will that your family was killed."

"Huh." Kohaku thought about that for a while, then said, "But it's still my fault because I couldn't fight him off - keep him from taking me over. I was weak," he finished sadly.

Rin rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, please," she said. "There's no way you, a young, human boy, could have saved yourself from Naraku, and that tainted shard he put in your back. You're only responsible for your own actions - not anyone elses. Naraku is the one that killed your family, not you."

"How did you get so smart, Rin?"

"It's all that dying I told you about. When you die, you kinda see everything the way it really is... and it's not something you can ever forget, either."

"So... how did you die the first time?" he asked, "If you don't mind telling me, that is."

She shook her head, a somber expression on her tiny face. "Not really. The village I was living in was attacked by wolf youkai, and I was sorta chewed up. It was really scary, and sometimes I still have nightmares about it - it hurt a lot. But then Sesshoumaru-sama found me..." she trailed off.

Kohaku shuddered as she said that, his eyes wide. No wonder she doesn't seem like a normal little girl. After everything she's seen and been through, she's right - it would change a person. Kinda like I don't seem like a normal young boy, either.

I never really knew... I guess I'm not the only one that's been through really horrible stuff like that, he thought.

"After all of that, how can you come out here with Shippo, and Kirara, and play like you do? Like there's nothing ugly in the world?" he finally asked.

She held out the pink hyacinth flowers in her hands, and looked at them admiringly. "Because ugly isn't the only thing in the world. It's not even the biggest thing in the world. Just like these flowers... they stand for 'play', you know. They aren't ugly. And I'm not ugly, and you're not, and Shippo and Kirara aren't, either."

He looked at the flowers in her hand, and then down at the ground, and finally, a tiny little smile worked itself across his face.

"You're right, Rin... ugly isn't the only thing in the world. So... you wanna play?"

And she stood up, and giggling, took off running. "Come on, Kohaku," she yelled over her shoulder, "catch me if you can!"

Soon, there were three young at heart, but old in mind, children playing in the field...

Along with a young at heart, but much older, neko youkai.

After all, playing doesn't have an expiration date... anyone can play, no matter how old they are...

Or how much ugly they've seen.

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A/N: And that's why Rin seems so strangely adult at times. After all, how could someone who has died twice, not gain some wisdom? And children often see things much clearer than we as adults ever do, anyway... as I've stated before, I've kinda modeled Rin in this story off my oldest daughter in a way - while keeping her sweet character from the anime, some of the things she's done in this story are strangely reminiscent of things my daughter did or said when she was just a tiny little girl. I have to admit, she often astonished me.

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter...

Amber