Disclaimer: Okies, you know the routine. I don't own Inuyasha. I never have and I never will. But thanks to my magnificent friends, I now own everyone's favorite lecher monk, Miroku, the abused Jaken, and the great Youkai lord of the Western lands, Fluffy, in plushie form! YAYS!

OtakuGirlEmi: Hello everyone! After a very long hiatus, An Unlikely Pair is finally back! Yay! And despite waht many of you probably thought, I am still alive and well and writing fanfiction. (to some extent) Fic.s just kinda got lost in the shuffle of my life for the past year and I wasn't inspired and I didn't have the time to write. Now, I still don't have a ton of time, but things are more peaceful and I've been feeling a lot more inspired to write. Once again, I apologize profusly about the extremely long wait and I give all my thanks to those of you who have stayed with me, despite all of this. Thanks so much! Anyhoo, regarding this chapter...I really like this chapter, probably because it's different than the previous chapters in the story. Rather than focusing solely on Rin and Sesshomaru, it involves the theme of family and how Sesshomaru reacts to it. Also, it was fun to be able to include characters like Shippo, Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and 2 new characters in this chapter. So I hope no one is too disappointed with it. I did throw in some fluff in the end though! Now, onto chapter 5! (finally)

Chapter 5: Dinner with the Family

The rest of the afternoon in Kagome and Inuyasha's hut progressed quietly enough for the two guests. After his angry exclamation, Inuyasha had left the house to go off and sulk somewhere, Miroku and Sango had remained at Kagome's, while Kagome herself continued to pop in and out of Rin's room to check on her. The young girl had been steadily getting worse as the day wore on; her cough becoming constant and harsher, along with a higher fever. Sesshomaru never left her side, though whenever Kagome entered the room he was as far away from Rin as possible. (Usually a faint blush on his face) But the miko was positive that he was always asking how Rin felt and soothing her. He really has changed a lot, she thought to herself as she carried a small tray of food down the hallway. And for the better.

As Kagome entered the room, Sesshomaru surprised her as he remained sitting next to the teenager. His golden eyes locked with hers as he softly, but firmly, commanded, "Be silent, she fell asleep and I do not wish to wake her."

After the Miko had set the tray down next to the snoozing girl, she gestured for the Inu Youkai to follow her into the hall. Sesshomaru silently refused, sitting resolutely at Rin's side, watching her sleep. He reminds me of a loyal dog, the miko thought, a smile playing at her lips. "Please?" Kagome whispered. "I'm sure that she'll be fine without your guarding presence for a few minutes." Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed dangerously at the sarcasm-implied comment, glaring at her stubbornly for several seconds, until- with inhuman speed and grace- he silently stood and walked out of the room.

Kagome let a small sigh escape her lips as she surveyed the room and sleeping girl. It seemed that the only trait that the two brothers shared- hard-headed stubbornness- was still as strong as ever in Sesshomaru. I don't know how you put up with him, Kagome thought as she watched Rin. Almost as if she had heard the miko's thoughts, the girl grinned in her slumber like she was trying to say 'Even I sometimes wonder how I do it'. Satisfied, and knowing that Sesshomaru would only wait a few more seconds, Kagome turned and walked out of the room.

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"So, what do you wish to discuss? I have little time for chit-chat." demanded the white-haired Taiyoukai as he stared coolly at the nigen woman.

Kagome smiled as sweetly at the demon as she swung around from closing the hanging door to the other room. "I want you to take a break and relax."

Sesshomaru cut in, protesting, "No. I need to watch over-"

"Rin, I know." Finished Kagome, smirking as the youkai seemed taken aback by her impertinence. She crossed her arms over he chest, adopting a patient tone as if she was speaking with an insistent child and not the Lord of the Western Lands. "Listen Sesshomaru. I know that you're worried about her and would like nothing more than to stay by her side and protect her from the world-"

"I believe I said no such thing about that…"

"But," Kagome continued as if she had never been interrupted. "She's finally sleeping, so why don't you give her a little peace? I'm sure she can survive without her loyal protector for little while." The miko raised her eyebrows, waiting for a reply.

The inuyoukai narrowed his golden eyes at the raven-haired woman-- an action that would have terrified any normal person, but only made Kagome glared back resiliently. (Demon glares didn't bug her since she'd been dealing with Inuyasha's temper for years) The two stayed like that for several seconds, the air seeming to crackle with clashing wills. Damn her persistence, Sesshomaru thought. No one orders me, the Lord of the Western Lands, around like this! His stubbornness wavered for an instant… but it would be nice to eat and relax for a short time. And then I can go back to Rin.

He replied coolly, "Fine, I agree to your invitation." And abruptly turned around and swiftly walked down the hall, leaving a surprised miko in his tracks. Ok then, Kagome thought, grinning, as she followed him, I guess that's a yes.

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"I'm telling you, Miroku, you don't need kids! Don't have 'em. The little brats will drive you crazy." Inuyasha was forcefully insisting as Sesshomaru entered the dinning room. The monk sitting across from Sesshomaru's half-brother looked annoyed, but apparently the hanyou wasn't paying attention, as he continued to go on and on about the bad points of children.

"...and they always make noise and never shut up, they smell, constantly make messes…" the hanyou went on and on as Sesshomaru sat down at the table gracefully. Inuyasha was so absorbed in his own whining that he hadn't noticed the demon lord, who was listening intently to the one-sided conversation while maintaining a calm-if not slightly annoyed- silence.

When Inuyasha finally stopped lecturing to take a breath, Miroku cut in, "It's a little late to change our mind now, Inuyasha. May I remind you that Sango is due in a matter of months?"

"Besides Inuyasha," interjected Kagome as she set several plates and bowels on the table, "How can you talk like that? You know that children are wonderful." She seated herself at the table and smiled at Sango.

Inuyasha, slightly sedated by Kagome's words perked up when he discovered the food on the table in front of him. His mouth widened into a grin that showed off his canine-like fangs, and he eagerly picked up his silverware. But the hanyou suddenly turned as stiff as a statue when he finally noticed who had joined the table.

Sesshomaru tried to keep himself from smirking. Trust the baka hanyou not to notice me until now. He's more dense than lead, thought the taiyoukai. A split second later, Inuyasha jumped to his feet with inhuman speed, his hands curled into fists. "WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE?!" he demanded, making Miroku flinch slightly.

"Since your pathetically tiny brain cannot seem to remember, I shall remind you," Sneered Sesshomaru, brushing a stray hair behind his pointed ear. "I am a guest at your house for the next 2 days. And your mate generously offered me a seat at her table. So I suggest that you close your gaping mouth, half-wit, and eat."

Sesshomaru could see the vein in Inuyasha's neck pulsing in anger as he clamped his mouth shut and slowly sat down. But his golden eyes remained locked with Sesshomaru's in a stare down.

Dinner passed in relative peace. The conversation, supplied between Kagome, Sango, and Miroku, was punctured only by Inuyasha's grumbling comments. Sesshomaru remained silent during the whole meal; he tried to eat as quickly as possible so he could get back to Rin. My Rin, he unintentionally thought once.

A loud knock from the front door got everyone's attention as Miroku broke off in mid-sentence and Kagone stood up. She disappeared from the room and the sound of a door opening was accompanied by her voice "Oh, hi! Come in. We're just finishing dinner." She returned to the room followed by 3 people that Sesshomaru didn't know; Two were children and the third was a teenager that looked oddly familiar, but Sesshomaru couldn't place.

The older child (who looked to be about 6) was a boy who had short silver hair and two small dog ears perched on his head. He wore a loose blue haori and hakama and he was smiling very brightly, much like the miko guiding him. The younger girl possessed long locks of raven hair and wore a small pink yukata with a yellow ribbon tired around her waist; She, too, had tiny dog ears sitting on her head.

Suddenly an image flashed in Sesshomaru's mind. These were the two humans playing on a blanket in the picture in the hallway, he thought. He couldn't help but wonder who the tykes were. As the children entered the room, they spied Inuyasha and their faces lit up. The silver-haired boy ran toward the hanyou and tackled him in a hug. This furthered puzzled Sesshomaru. Why is that human pup hugging my oaf of a brother like that? A nagging thought occurred to the Youkai, but he didn't bother to even consider it. They couldn't be, he thought, surely not.

The little boy let go of Inuyasha, who then, blushing slightly, ruffled the boy's hair affectionately. "You promised when I got home we could spar!" the boy demanded, smiling. "Can we please? You promised Daddy!"

DADDY?! Sesshomaru couldn't stop his mouth from dropping open. THESE ARE THE IDIOT HANYOU'S PUPS?! His thought had been correct after all. The demon slayer next to him giggled at his expression and Sesshomaru closed his mouth quickly, embarrassed at his show of emotion. "…We'll see, Ryo; Maybe after dinner. But first, you and Tori need to meet our guest." Inuyasha replied.

Ryo looked at his father quizzically. "Guest? We have a guest?" Inuyasha nodded.

"Daddy, Daddy, who is it? I wanna meet our guest!" The girl, Tori, piped in excitedly. She unattached herself from Kagome and looked around the room. She spotted Sesshomaru and asked "Is it him? I've never seen him before!"

Kagome and Inuyasha both nodded. "Meet your Uncle Sesshomaru, Youkai Lord of the Western Lands," Announced Inuyasha, an evil smirk playing on his lips. Sesshomaru felt like killing the hanyou on the spot: He was most certainly not these brats's uncle! He would have nothing to do with mongrel hanyou pups!

He opened his mouth to correct his clearly insane brother, but was stopped as Ryo and Tori threw themselves at him. Tori fearlessly hugged Sesshomaru with her little arms while saying, "Hello Uncle Sesshomaru! I'm Tori. Do you want to be friends?!" Ryo jumped into the fray, tackling Sesshomaru like his sister. "Hey Uncle Sesshomaru, I'm Ryo!" Sesshomaru's golden eyes widened, shocked by the children's pure happiness. Their cheerful and innocent words reminded him vividly of Rin, and he found himself incapable of speech.

"Hey, hey!" Tori got the attention of the stunned Sesshomaru by tugging on his long, white fur.

"Uh...Yes?" replied Sesshomaru, unsure of how to talk to a child.

Tori lifted up the fur, as if to show it to Sesshomaru. "What is this thing? It's really fluffy and warm!" She cradled the fur in her arms, and then hugged it, causing Sesshomaru to turn a bright shade of red and incapable of speech yet again.

The little girl turned to her brother, as if a sudden realization had dawned on her. "Hey…Uncle Sesshomaru is a really long name, right?" Ryo nodded. "Well, since he has this fluffy thing, let's just call him Uncle Fluffy!" she proclaimed, giggling at her genius.

"Yeah!" cried Ryo simply delighted. He pointed a clawed hand a Sesshomaru and declared "You are now Uncle Fluffy!" As Sesshomaru sat there, trying to process what had just taken place the slightly calmer children got off him and returned to their mother.

Kagome escorted the 2 children to seats at the table as she listened to them chatter about their day. Tori had a voice as clear and sweet as a bell. "…And then we went to the creek to play. It was lots of fun!" she was telling the miko.

"Umm…Kagome?" the familiar-yet-implacable teenager who had faded into the background interrupted Tori's rambling, his voice quiet.

Kagome turned to him, her eyes brightening. "Yeah Shippo?"

Sesshomaru felt his mouth involuntarily drop open again. So the reason the teenager had looked so familiar was because Sesshomaru had seem him countless times before. Is that really the scrawny fox brat? He thought, slightly awed. And he had good reason to be. Shippo, who nearly a decade ago had been an annoying child not even as high as Sesshomaru's knee had changed a lot. He now stood slightly taller than Kagome, and wore deep emerald pants with a fur tied around his waist and a matching emerald vest covered his chest. Though his hair had grown into long light brown locks, it remained bound in a ponytail with a green bow.

The fox-demon's face flushed in embarrassment. "Kagome, I can't stay for dinner like I always do because I…have to meet someone in the village." He fidgeted with his ponytail, clearly uncomfortable about something.

Before Kagome could reply, Inuyasha's brash voice rang out. "Ha! You finally got yourself a girlfriend, Shippo?!" the teen's head sank down and a bright red blush crept across his face. Inuyasha cackled in delight. "I knew it! The little brat's finally growing up!"

Kagome glared at her husband. "Inuyasha, shut up! You need to learn how to shut you big mouth! We should be happy for Shippo."

"Yeah, yeah. I am happy for the runt…" protested Inuyasha while Shippo glared at him.

"Shippo isn't a runt! Now SIT!" yelled Kagome. The Hanyou crashed into the floor and remained there. Tori and Ryo rushed over and held hands as they happily jumped on him singing "Daddy got 'sat'! Daddy got 'sat'!"

Kagome turned her attention to the fox demon. "Go ahead Shippo, have fun! Oh, and don't pay him" she pointed at the smashed hanyou "any mind. He's happy for you…in his own way." Shippo rolled his eyes at this, but grinned as he walked out the door.

Sango and Miroku both let out a sighs of exhaustion as Shippo left, the kids retuned to the table, and Kagome walked over to Inuyasha to talk to him.

"Is... it always like this around here?" Sesshomaru's cool voice made them both jump. The demon lord hadn't spoken to either of them all dinner long.

"More or less." Replied Miroku, shrugging. "But, you get used to it."

Sango let out a laugh. "Ha! Yeah…that's dinner with the family for you!"

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Rin stirred as the door to her room was lifted, and then closed. "Uhhh…" she moaned as she rolled over and opened her eyes. She had had a nice nap, but was glad to be awake. She searched to find who had opened the door, and found him next to her. Rin peered up into the face of her loyal protector, Sesshomaru and smiled.

"Hello master." She said, her voice creaking with sleep.

The demon seemed embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Rin. I had no intention of waking you. I was merely returning from dinner." He explained as he took a seat on one of the cushion by her bed.

Rin moved her eyes from him to peer at the small window in her room. When she had fallen asleep, there had been sunlight coming through it, but now soft moonlight filled the opening. Its graceful beams fell directly on the demon lord across from her. It took his already beautiful form and made it look even more inhuman. His silver hair seemed to glow with its own light, while the deep violet moon on his forehead contrasted completely with his unearthly pale pallor. His body was so perfect and graceful that it would have made even the world's greatest ballerina look like a clumsy cow. At that moment, Rin wanted nothing in the world more than to be held by him as he whispered things into her ear with his velvet voice.

Rin felt the sting of tears as her eyes brimmed with them. He looks so perfect and it breaks my heart, she thought, despair echoing in her mind. How could he ever love me?

Sesshomaru was by Rin's side in an instant as the tears freed themselves from her chocolate eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Without thinking, he immediately scooped up the crying teenager and retreated back to his cushion in the moonlight.

"I-I'm so sorry." Rin whispered, hiccupping as she attempted to choke back sobs and clutched his white kimono.

Sesshomaru silenced her apology quickly. "Nonsense, Rin. There is nothing to be sorry for." Though she didn't agree, Rin felt herself nod as she gazed into his eyes. "…But" Sesshomaru spoke again, keeping his tone light to hide his concern, "It would not be unwelcome to know what made you so upset."

Rin smiled and assured him, "It's nothing...really."

When the tears stopped pouring out of her eyes, she involuntarily let her head sink back into his warm chest, her face slightly warm. Sesshomaru glanced down as he felt the weight against his chest, his eyebrows silently raised, and his face red.

"So…" Rin's soft voice broke the silence. "How was dinner?"

Sesshomaru allowed himself a sign before answering. "It was…an experience that I would not be inclined to repeat often." He struggled to phrase his answer, reflecting on the loud and dysfunctional event.

The girl sitting in his lap giggled. "An experience, huh?"

"Yes."

"But," she said. "It was kinda fun, wasn't it?"

Sesshomaru sat up and peered down at the girl, wondering where she had come up with such an absurd conclusion. The young woman laughed at his reaction. "Master," she explained, "You never said you didn't like it. You just said you couldn't do it every night. For you, that's about as close to saying you like it."

Except for a small smile that played at his perfect lips, the demon lord didn't respond, but Rin knew she had hit the nail on the head. She smiled contently as she resumed lying on her protector's chest and let her eyes drift shut. Her breathing became quiet and even and her lean body relaxed completely.

"…Lord Sesshomaru?" the demon was surprised at her whisper, he had assumed she was asleep.

"Yes Rin?"

The girl answered, but it was muffled and unclear. He bent his head closer to her full lips to hear. "Is it okay if I sleep like this tonight? You're so warm, and," she paused and bit her lip, hesitant to finish her thought.

"And…I feel safer when I'm with you."

Sesshomaru felt his face flush in happiness, but did nothing to betray his calm demeanor. "Yes Rin, if that is what you wish, you can sleep like this."

Rin smiled and closed her eyes again. "Thank you…"she mumbled before drifting off to sleep.

Sesshomaru freely studied her beautiful face before he, too, closed his golden eyes and let sleep take him, cradling the girl he loved in his arms.

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OtakuGirlEmi: Well, how was it? ( I wonder if my skills have worsened since it's been so long) Personally, I'm really glad I added the last part to the chapter. It wasn't originally planned ot be, but it just popped into my head while I was tping and I put it in. It was just a sweet scene, and we get to see some of Rin's thoughts about Fluffy. I have to say though, props to my friend DarkMoonFang for suggesting the idea of 'Uncle Fluffy'. It just came up in conversation we were having about Sesshomaru spending time with 'the family' and what if Kagome and Inuyahsa had kids. Any critiques are accepted, and reviews and comments are loved very much! Until next time!-Emi