Rice Balls
AN: This is a birthday gift for Lady Erised, a very good friend of mine who was recently turned on to Inu Yasha (or Sess, really) by yours truly. As such, it is my duty to keep her obsessed by baiting her with sweet little tings like this. I love you, habibi! Happy Birthday!
Summary: Sesshomaru upsets Rin by letting her ignore his birthday, and by being content to ignore hers. One small gift of unusual insight is all it takes to placate the dejected little girl.
Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, son and heir to the Inu no Taisho, feared and respected by (almost) every human and (many a) demon, was, at the current moment, playing babysitter. It was not something he minded so much. Rin was fairly quiet when she had a field of pretty flowers to keep her attention. Spring was in full swing now, and the meadows, watered by snowmelt, were a riot of color and scent. Even Rin, with her weak human nose, could pick up the scent of the flowers well before they had arrived at the field.
After being cooped up in the castle for the whole of winter, Sesshomaru thought a good walk, and a little bit of relaxation would be just the thing to pink up the girl's cheeks. She had grown pail during the winter, forced to languish indoors.
So, armed with a basket and a few rice balls for Rin to snack on, they had set out from the castle. It hadn't been hard to find a field that satisfied Rin, and as soon as she had taken off Sesshomaru had settled himself against a tree to wait and keep watch.
Rin had gathered more flowers than her little basket could carry, and had plopped herself down beside him. After eating one of the rice balls, she began to weave all the flowers into elaborate little circlets and crowns, content to enjoy the beautiful weather and her Lord's company, however silent and brooding it was.
"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin asked quietly, looking up from the crown of wildflowers she was weaving, "when's your birthday?"
Sesshomaru frowned, though had anyone else been present they would have said his expression remained blank. Rin just knew him better.
"The last day of the cold season," he answered finally, looking at a distant point over her head.
Rin gasped, and Sesshomaru looked down to find a dismayed expression marring the girl's youthful features. He made no comment, certain that she would make many comments without prompt.
"No one made any sweet rice balls with plums or anything," she said softly, looking up from her half-woven circlet. "No one wished you happiness, or blessed you for 'nother year."
The one being who might have celebrated my birth is long dead, he thought, and the other hasn't even opened her young eyes to the cruel truths of this world.
Instead he said, "Youkai do not celebrate birth as humans do. What good would it be to celebrate life the closer one draws to death?"
There were tears gathering in the corners of Rin's eyes and she looked down at the wilting flowers, strangled by her tight little fists.
"Why ask you?" he said gently, concern creeping in to his voice.
"It's my birthday, today," she whispered sadly, almost to herself.
But Sesshomaru's hearing was such that she would have had to not say it at all for him not to hear it.
"I think it is, anyway," she added, and Sesshomaru had to swat her arm away from her face as she attempted to wipe her nose on her sleeve. She looked up at him and said, "Mama always went out to gather flowers for me. That's how I know, 'cause the flowers were coming back when I was born."
How appropriate, Sesshomaru thought to himself.
Keeping Rin was like tending a small, but hardy flower: it endured much, but it had to see the sun once in awhile to grow.
So Sesshomaru smiled gently down at the girl - once again, most would have said his expression remained blank - took one of the finished flower crowns out of her basket, and put it on her head.
She giggled, tears disappearing, and stood to throw her little arms around his neck.
She stepped back suddenly, and looked him up and down as if assessing his appearance.
"Do I meet your approval?" Sesshomaru asked, voice just barely devoid of humor.
She shook her head, selected a crown of white baby's breath, and stood on tiptoe to place it on his head.
"Happy birthday, Sesshomaru-sama," she said, hugging him again.
He just hugged her back, because the words refused to come out of his mouth.
Rin's small room was not far from Sesshomaru's. He hated idle company, and so there was never anyone but himself, Jaken, the girl, and the occasional visit from an old lady fox who did the cooking, cleaning and laundry. He preferred to keep the girl close. She didn't like being alone.
When Rin ventured from her room that morning, she nearly tripped over the small packages that had been set out before her door. There were two of them: one wrapped in plain rice paper, the other in soft pink silk, tied with white cording. Lying on top was a scrap of parchment, and a crown of pretty pink and white flowers she didn't recognize.
Sitting down in the hall, she donned the crown, immediately feeling prettier for it, and tore into the two packages. The silk-wrapped one contained a set of gleaming silver and pearl combs. They shone immaculately when held up to the week morning light, and Rin set them aside in reverence. She adored them immediately, but they were really too nice for a girl her age. Maybe in a few years…
The second gift was a darkly finished bento, and inside it were three sweet rice balls with plums.
Fin