There was a spring in her steps as she ran out of her soon-to-be old home. The chores had just be finished, the house was clean to the last corner, the clothes were washed and dried, folded neatly in a pile by the cabinets, and she had stored the last of the firewood into the now-full wooden shed in their small backyard. Everything was set in place, exactly where she needed them to be.

Today was the day, after all, that she had long been waiting for: her 18th birthday, the day she comes of age.

Boisterous laughter filled the midday air - the sound of horse-hooves against the sun-bleached, hard-pressed dirt path in the middle of a busy crossroads could be heard from yards away. The sun was in clear view; no clouds blocked the piercing rays of sunshine. The birds were chirping, seemingly singing tunes that matched the young maiden's clear excitement. This was it, after all. After 10 long years of waiting, this was the day she announced her choice - the day she chooses the path to the rest of her life.

Clad in her signature kimono, her long, ebony-black hair tucked behind her ears, Rin felt ready - more than ready, even. 10 years ago, after the fall of the demon Naraku, the demon lord Sesshomaru had left her to the care of the priestess Kaede and was told to remain still till the day she comes of age, when he would come back to hear her choice. On that day, she will have a choice to pick whether she'd choose to remain with her people and live out the rest of her life surrounded by her own kind at last, or if she'd choose to follow him once more, in a world of violence, fear, and uncertainty that was the core of demon kind.

Of course, Rin had her mind made up 10 years ago, long before Naraku had even fallen. There will always only be one place she truly belongs: next to him.

Much had changed with her in the last few years: she had grown a lot, for instance, and her perspectives were now different. What was once a small child is now a woman. She had grown taller than most girls her age, her once-rounded face slimmed down to a sculpted one, with well-defined cheek bones, round, full lips, and big, bright eyes that shone like the galaxy were in them. She was slim, toned, and slender, with voluptuous curves in all the right places. Her skin was flawless, baked to the perfect shade of light brown. She had matured well - and mother nature had been generous in giving her the perfect built befitting the title as the most beautiful woman in the village. She was built like nobility, tall and elegant, and had, of course, captured the heart of many from a very tender age.

But it wasn't just her body that had gone through a transformation.

She could never seem to pinpoint just when exactly the change had occurred: it came in a steady, gradual pace and she never quite realized it was happening until it was fully there. One day, she viewed the silver-haired daiyoukai like some sort of angel she admired; her hero, her provider, her guardian - the next, she looked at him with longing and passion, spending a decent amount of her time in daydreams of a future she wished they could have together. The innocence in her childhood admiration had slowly faded away replaced by a feeling of desire, one that had taken her quite sometime to settle with herself, inter-personally. Despite it all, one thing remained a constant throughout the roller coaster of emotions in her troubled heart: Lord Sesshomaru is the center of it all, just like how it's always been.

With the wind blowing on her face, pushing her frizzy hair in all directions, she ran faster than she ever thought she could. Through the rice paddies, the bustling marketplace, the busy streets. Breathing hurt as she drew gasps of air from her tired lungs but she didn't care. After all, Lord Sesshomaru is waiting - waiting to hear the answer to the question no one's yet asked out loud: Which world is she going to choose?

Finally, she could see the clearing through the woodlands leading up to the Bone Eater's well. At the end of what felt like a long tunnel of green and trees, she could see his armored figure: long, silver hair draped elegantly on the spiked pauldron that covered his left shoulder, the white kimono that carried the crest of his family in reminder of his noble birth, the sashinuki hakama that gathered at his ankles by his black ankle-high boots, and his signature mokomoko-sama that drags behind his right shoulder.

"Lord Sesshomaru!"

Her raspy breathing showed in her voice as she rested her hands on her bent knees, taking deep breaths as she reached him. He looked at her in mild confusion, his gold eyes inevitably scanning for signs of danger.

Why was she in such a rush?

"Are you alright?"

She looked up at him from her bent position, dark brown eyes speaking volumes of her uncontainable excitement.

"Yes my lord! I just didn't want you to wait long, that's all!"

She took one last deep breath before straightening herself up, bowing her head slightly in perfect posture in revered greeting, as was customary in meeting someone of his social class. It wasn't the first time she's ever done it, but the demon lord still found this new habit of hers quite a curious one. They never had such formalities when she was a child, perhaps it was something that came with age? He wasn't sure. He's never raised a human child before her, after all.

He nodded his head slightly in response before turning his head away from her towards the corner of the well where, for the first time since she's arrive, Rin had realized a third person sat idly. She recognized her well - the short hair tied in a small bun pinned by two white feathers, the traditional dancer's kimono with the whole right side removed, hanging from her yellow obi sash, revealing the green basic kosode underneath, and those piercing red eyes she's seen too many times before: Kagura of the Wind. Their eyes met in swift recognition and the wind sorceress raised her right hand in a half-wave.

"Yo."

Ah, that's right.

Kagura had survived the wrath of the spider, Naraku, with the help of Sesshomaru's Tenseiga. The day her poisoned heart was returned, the great demon lord had arrived just in time to save her life, an act she was more than grateful for. She herself and the Lady Kaede had taken it upon themselves to help with her recovery after the war for the Shikon no Tama had ended; the miasma had spread from her very heart and had damaged her body tremendously. Even a demon like her had to take some time to regain her physical independence. Soon after she was able to fend for her own, the wind sorceress did exactly what she had long longed to do: to fly free and explore the world as she pleased. Since then, she hasn't seen her, although from the occasional visits from her Lord Sesshomaru and Jakken, she had overheard that the former incarnation of Naraku had joined up with the daiyoukai in service of the Western Lands. She didn't think much of it then, but seeing her now with the demon lord by her side, Rin felt a foreign tug in her heart from an unfamiliar emotion she's yet to learn about.

"Lady Kagura."

She bowed slightly in greeting, an action that elicit a small chuckle from the older demon.

"What's with the formality? I don't remember you being this formal since the last time we met."

"I suppose not. I was a rather crude child, but I'm older now and I know better. It's only polite to show respect to my peers."

Rin added a small smile at the end of her sentence, hoping it would wipe away the awkward, uneasy feeling that's begun creeping up on her in the few seconds.

What is wrong with me? I've never felt like this around Kagura-sama before.

"I suppose. Anyhow, I just dropped by to greet you in person. I heard this age is monumental to humans. Otanjoubi omedeto*." [*Happy Birthday]

"Arigato*!" [*Thank you]

She hoped the smile on her face looked as genuine as she hoped. There was no sincerity in it, but for now, she hoped it was enough. This was far from how she expected this day to turn out; while she knew most of her extravagant daydreams of a surprise proposal from the demon lord was far from reality, she had at least held expectations that it would a lot more... personal. Heartfelt. Sincere. She pictured this moment to be between him and her alone, discussing their future together, with her reciting the speech she's long planned and perfected at the back of her mind about how important he is to her and why she'd always choose him no matter what. Part of her even toyed with the idea that she might muster the courage to speak her mind and tell him how she felt about him after all these years, despite knowing the high likelihood for rejection. She had mentally prepared herself from likely scenarios, how she could say all the things she wanted to say given different possible circumstances. She had even expected the whiny imp to show, but this? This was something that never even crossed her mind as a possibility, let alone a reality.

Finally, the daiyoukai shifted. Reaching in from behind his mokomoko-sama, he pulled out a brown parcel, tied with a small, pink ribbon. Extending his clawed hand, he handed the small package to the young woman.

"This is for you."

She gingerly took the gift from his hand, carefully undoing the knots of the perfectly tied ribbon. Pulling the parcel packaging aside, it revealed a beautiful kimono, much unlike any he had given her before. The craftsmanship was beyond exquisite: it looked hand-made, the perfect seams and impeccably centered patterns were obviously well planned out. The cloth was nothing short of immaculate - easily the finest silk she's ever seen. It was an alternating color of white and bright orange, as if a spoof of her childhood favorite yukata, with embroidered cherry blossom patterns around the sleeves and collar, similar to the crest on his very own attire. It felt more personal compared to most of his previous gifts. He had obviously put a lot of thought into the making of such a personalized item, and knowing that gave Rin a weird-but-pleasant feeling in her stomach. A present like this must have costed a fortune, she realized.

"It's... beautiful. Thank you my lord!"

He nodded in response, a man of few words, as always.

As if on cue, their third companion stood up from her seat by the well, walking leisurely over to stand by the much taller dog demon.

"I suppose now's the time to ask the big question, no?", she chimed.

Rin didn't need the reminder; she hasn't forgotten. She inched forward, moving closer to the standing demon. Looking up at his beautiful face, the proximity revealed details to it she had always admired as a child: the magenta stripes on both his cheeks, the bangs that partially covered the crescent moon on his forehead, those deep, golden eyes framed perfectly by his well-defined features that marks both elegance and masculinity all at once on an almost porcelain-like complexion.

"Rin."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Have you made your choice?"

His body stiffened, but very slightly, in what she assumed was anticipation. His face was just as stoic as always and he gave no visual hint or bias on an answer he wanted. He simply looked like he was asking for mere curiosity, but she knew better. She liked to think she's always known him best, even compared to Master Jaken. So she smiled - that classic smile she always showed him as a child. He looked at her with a small glimmer of hope in his eyes and she caught on to it; she knew exactly what he was hoping her answer would be, and it is.

"...I will always follow you, Lord Sesshomaru."

He nodded, his shoulders relaxing. She could hear the subtle hint of relief in his voice.

"I see."

In those short seconds - that solemn moment - Rin had almost forgotten Kagura was even there. She could only see him and the way his eyes looked right into her as if he could see through her very soul, into the deepest parts of her heart. Somehow, she wished he did - maybe that way, she wouldn't need to fumble around a way to confess her feelings for him.

But the earnest moment didn't last long as the wind youkai rushed over, putting her arm on her shoulder with a gleeful smile on her face, calling her back to reality.

"Welcome back aboard! I guess we'll be traveling together from now on."

Wait, what?

She diverted her gaze to the face right next to hers, looking straight at the deep red eyes that looked right back at her, blinking in subtle confusion.

Did she just say 'we'?

"Lady Kagura is Lord Sesshomaru's travel companion?"

"Of course. I have been, for a while now. I'm sure you've heard I've come to serve as an ally of the West after I returned from my travels."

"I did, I suppose I just assumed you were stationed at the Western palace."

"I was, but travel had always been my calling. Jaken took charge of managing the palace in Sesshomaru's absence, so I decided to accompany him in his journey instead."

"I see..."

She curled her upper lip to keep herself from saying anything more. Not that she had much left to say but her mind was whirling with thoughts that only made her assume the worst - whatever the 'worst' was. She couldn't understand why, but she felt a pang of disappointment stab into her heart. She always liked Kagura, so it wasn't that she was disappointed to hear she was well - in fact, she was glad to hear about her return. They had a good relationship prior to her leaving in pursuit of her dreams for exploration, back when she was still a child. While the wind sorceress had never proactively engaged in attempting to keep contact after, she was happy to hear stories of her travels from third party accounts, even wishing her old friend could come and revisit the village every once in a while, but seeing her now gave her a much different feeling than she was hoping for. The heavy feeling that weighed on her upon seeing the demon lord with her grew even heavier at the knowledge that they had been traveling alone together for quite sometime.

Why did they even have to leave Ah-Uhn and Master Jaken behind?

As if he felt her unease, the daiyoukai interrupted the women's awkward reunion, his voice dragging her back to matters at hand.

"Do you need to make preparations for our departure?"

Returning her attention to him and ignoring the woman by her side, she went through a mental list of what she needed to do in the village before she leaves. There wasn't much, really. Lady Kaede and her friends - even the whole village - knew what today was and they all could have guessed what she was going to choose. She loved and cared for everyone, but her heart always belonged with the wandering demon lord. Preparations were established days before her coming of age and there were very few things left for her to do.

"I only need to inform everyone and grab personal belongings and some provisions, my lord."

He nodded in understanding.

"Very well. I shall return for you tomorrow at sundown. Be ready."

"I will!"

With that, he walked away just as he did each time after he visited. Turning his heels towards the deep woods past the well, he walked on a brisk pace, the gently breeze blowing through the thick mass of silky, silver hair. She stood still, feeling the pressure on her shoulders recede as Kagura pulled her arm back, walking swiftly behind the leaving the daiyoukai, her bare feet making no noise against the green grass.

"I guess we'll you you tomorrow."

Rin stood there for a few minutes after the two figures vanished from sight, recalling the encounter just moments before. The news about Kagura was new to her, and the feeling of unfamiliar heaviness in her heart still lingered.

What is this feeling?

The thought that her lord had traveled for weeks now - alone - with the wind sorceress left her with a surge of unfamiliar emotions. It hit her like a wave of all things foreign; somewhere in that tide of turbulent emotions, she felt a mix of helplessness, anger, disappointment, mild heartbreak, desperation, and love. It was corrosive, like the very poison in her lord's claws, worse than any negativity she had every felt. Like acid, it burned - and oh, it burned deep. Everything around her felt quiet while her head screamed in voices only she could hear, playing out every possible scenario of what their lonesome travels together could have been like, all alone with no one to disturb them. It was maddening; and for a few minutes, she stood there, unsure of how to handle this feeling of uncertainty.

Finally, she turned around, walking back towards the village towards the crowded streets of the small town entrance, her wooden sandals clicking quietly against the rocky path, her mind grasping a new concept to her unrequited admiration to the demon lord.

"So this is what jealousy feels like", she muttered under her breath.

A/N: This is my first attempt at a series and a love triangle. Despite the bias of the first chapter, the perspectives will switch on the next chapters after to create an actual balance between Rin and Kagura - I mean, story is kinda bland if you know how it's gonna end right? Even I haven't yet decided who it's going to be and I'm letting it flow as it goes on. Anyways, thanks for giving it a read! Reviews would be much appreciated as I do take into consideration reader's requests as to where the next chapters might lead! Thanks again!