THE END [3/12]

[Calla Lily]

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Sesshoumaru held out his hand as Rin walked down the steps leading out to the gardens, her skirts hitched up in one hand to avoid tripping upon them. He waited for her to speak as they strolled past rose bushes covered in spring buds but she remained silent. They walked under a canopy of fruit trees that gave off the sweet smell of blossoms? she opened her mouth then closed it again. Like a fish. At last, when they reached one of the water fountains and watched the water gather into the shallow pool below, did Rin sit down on a bench and motion for him to do likewise.

?My Lord, you know that I?ve been acting strangely of late.? She stared at the red-gold carp swimming happily in the marble pool, the sunlight glinting off their scales. He nodded.

?I?m sorry that I didn?t inform you where I went this morning.? He nodded again.



?At the end of a river, The water stops it's flow.?



?Sesshoumaru,? she whispered quietly, ?I?m carrying a child.? And as turned to look at him, Rin?s eyes sparkled with absolute pride.

?Is it mine?? he took her hands in his, his face showing the same lines of anxiety that his wife had borne so many times before. To his surprise, the corners of her mouth twitched and she giggled.

?Of course it?s yours, who else would it be?? He blinked.

?????

Lady Rin laughed again and this time her husband joined in with her, their joy echoing throughout the garden just like water from a fountain. The goldfish jumped in the air.

?Come, Rin, it?s time to go back inside??



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Lunch passed quickly and the soon-to-be-parents found it relatively easy to keep their secret hidden, sneaking small smiles here and here whenever their eyes met. Rin retired to her chambers and sought the counsel of her handmaidens while Sesshoumaru dealt with his usual proceedings as Lord of the Western Lands. In-between reading scrolls concerning land property, Jaken?s ceaseless babble and the welfare of his trading goods, his mind started to wander.

Three years since his marriage to Rin, and fortune had been kind to her. She had been given a home here in his palace ever since their first encounter and decided to take her under his care. How did such a thing come to be? At first, even he thought it was disgraceful to bring a human child into his household but her infectious grace and happiness touched him? and so Rin stayed.

Her arrival was another thing, to convince his demon servants that a human would be take up sanctuary with their Lord. Jaken was the hardest to convince, since he was present the time his Master had revived her with the enchanted sword. But looking back on it now, Sesshoumaru realized that it was a blessing in disguise that she was merely a child and not a maiden at that time. An innocent girl was far easier to accept than their older counterparts, lacking the hardened bitterness that growing up often did. Rin was young and impressionable; the other demons could have used that to their advantage, including him. It would have been so easy?

And yet, they couldn?t.

It was that same sweetness of hers that melted Sesshoumaru?s icy mask? it spread to them as well. Soon, Rin was the joy and life of the palace, brightening up a room with her small presence. She loved to watch others do their work. She loved to listen to stories. Whenever she was not with the silver-haired demon, she would be in Jaken?s care? and though he did not admit it, the toad grew to like her.

All too quickly, Rin still had to succumb to the fact that she was human, unlike the others in her home. One night, when the child was tucked into bed and had said good-night to all, she asked Sesshoumaru a simple question.

?Why do I look so different from the others? Why don?t I have marking like yours or claws or long tails?? He gave her the simple answer and planted a kiss on her brow, leaving her to her thoughts.

The curiosity grew more profound and reflective as Rin reached her 14th birthday. That year, she had requested her own independence from her Lord and the possibility to visit other human villages? to seek the company of people. The servants dreaded letting her go, lest they corrupt the very thing they worked so hard to keep pure. Only Jaken and an older female servant thought the child should be given the right to be with her own kind. With a simple nod of the head, Sesshoumaru planted another kiss on Rin?s brow and left her at a main dirt road leading to the gates of the safest town, leaving Jaken to pick her up at the end of the day.



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