Writer's Yaps: Oh my gosh, I know I haven't updated in like 2 months! I do apologize, it's just that I've been so busy with work and a heckuva lot of other stuff. Well, here's chapter 8 by the way, I hope you guys like it. Please read and review!

Eien Wo Shinjiteru

Chapter 8

He had not come for her.

Which was just as well. In her mind, she kept telling herself that this was for the best. She had chosen to run away. Sesshoumaru-sama had always let her do what she wanted. But in the nether regions of her heart, she was deeply hurt. She fervently hoped that he would come to take her back. If he had showed up, he would simply tell her it would be her decision if she wanted to return with him or not. No questions asked.

Rin had been with the Inuyasha household for almost a month, and in that time she had come to love them all. They had treated her as one of the family, as if she had been living with them for years instead of weeks. She had yet to tell them what had happened, but not once did they pry or press her for details. They had been sympathetic but not overbearing in their concern. For that Rin was very grateful. She had grown close to them, especially the children, Inuyasha and Kagome's daughter Reika; and Sango and Miroku's seven year-old identical twins Kiyota and Hiroshi. The children were veritable imps and was a force to be reckoned with. They were a contrast of sorts. Reika had inherited her father's devil-may-care attitude and her mother's sweet, caring disposition. The twins, although you couldn't tell them apart in appearance, were as different as night and day. Kiyota was the more serious of the two, he had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and was always asking questions. If he wasn't gallivanting about with his brother and Reika, you would find his face buried in a book. Hiroshi, however, never took his lessons seriously. He loved being outdoors and was always wrestling with someone, preferably his Uncle Inuyasha. The threesome had looked up at her with wide, questioning eyes the first time they met, and they had latched onto Rin and led her outside to show her the tree house their Uncle Kohaku had built exclusively for them. They had been sleeping over Kaede Oba-chan's place the night Rin arrived, so she wasn't able to meet them until the next morning. With the amazing perceptiveness of children, they had sensed her loneliness, so they did their best to distract her by engaging her to play silly harmless pranks on everyone in the house, Inuyasha being the favorite butt of their antics.

Kohaku. High up in the tree house, Rin's thoughts shifted to the handsome boy who had shown her such tenderness and concern. He was so kind and gentle. They were little more than children when they met all those years ago, when he had been an unwilling pawn in Naraku's web of evil. Everything that happened in the past seemed so far away now, as if it were all part of a strange dream.

A soft knock roused Rin from her reverie. Kohaku was standing on the topmost steps, only his upper body was visible. He shoved a large basket just inside the open doorway. "Er, may I come in?" he asked hesitantly.

"Of course." Rin answered, smiling. She dragged the basket over to the window. "What have you got in here?"

Kohaku scrambled over to her side and grinned. "I thought you might be hungry so I brought you dinner."

Rin looked at him gratefully. "That's very thoughtful of you." She flipped back the cloth cover and peered inside the basket. "Hmm, it smells so good.

"Let's see…we have spaghetti, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and chocolate mousse for dessert," Kohaku said eagerly. He reached inside and withdrew several covered plates, two plastic cups, some chopsticks, a bread knife, a large bottle of soda, and the rest of the fare. He pointed to the bottle, "This is a drink from Kagome-sama's time. It's called soda. It has a strange taste but it's delicious, especially when it's cold. It goes well with the chicken," he said with a small chuckle.

"I've never heard of those before, but we do have chicken sometimes back-" she paused abruptly. She was going to say 'back home in the palace'. "Back then," she finished lamely. She began to unwrap the plates, hoping Kohaku would not notice.

Kohaku handed her a plate and chopsticks and ignored the slip. "Go ahead, have some of everything," he encouraged. "Here, you got to try this one." He put a huge dollop of mashed potatoes on her plate and smothered it with gravy. "The brown sauce is called gravy. It's made from the chicken drippings. You can also dip the chicken in it. The food from Kagome-sama's time is quite unusual, but they're very delicious."

"Oh it is wonderful!" Rin exclaimed. She dug into her plate eagerly, savoring everything Kohaku had brought.

They ate in companionable silence. Occasionally, they would look up at each other and smile. When the meal was over, Kohaku reached inside the basket again and brought out a deep dish with a flourish. "Ta-da! And now for the highlight of the evening…chocolate mousse!" He put a huge slice on two plates, placed a fork in each one and handed the other to her. "Here you go. This is a favorite back at the house. I had to be really quick or it would've all been gone, hehe."

Rin deftly cut a piece of the chocolate cake and raised it to her mouth. Reika had taught her to use a fork and she was used to it by now. The chocolate was smooth and sweet and melted in her mouth. "Oh! This is absolutely heavenly!" She closed her eyes as she slowly chewed, savoring the unfamiliar but exquisite taste on her tongue.

"Yes it is," Kohaku swallowed a lump in his throat as he gazed at Rin, mesmerized once again. She was so utterly beautiful. He was thankful for the dim light, as his face was heavily suffused with heat. Suddenly, he felt a flash of anger at Sesshoumaru. What had he done to cause this enchanting, spirited girl to run away? Kohaku knew he was being irrational. Rin hadn't told them about Sesshoumaru's part in this, but her face had clouded over when Inuyasha unfeelingly (but unintentionally) mentioned his brother once at the dinner table a couple of days back. Everyone had turned to Rin with stricken looks on their faces. Kagome had dug her elbows into Inuyasha's side and tried to cover the slip with a joke. Rin had kept her eyes on her plate and was silent for the rest of the meal. The subject of Sesshoumaru was never brought up again.

When they had finished eating, they put everything back in the basket and sat back by the window, gazing out at the moonlit night. There was a slight breeze, but it was relatively warm. Still, Kohaku retrieved a blanket from the basket and handed it to Rin. "Just in case you get chilled," he said.

Unexpectedly, Rin's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you," she said shakily, setting the blanket on her lap. "You have been so kind to me, everyone has been so utterly kind and understanding. I don't deserve to be here."

"There, there, please don't cry," Kohaku pleaded. He reached out and patted her hand awkwardly. "We love having you here. Everyone adores you. It doesn't matter what happened before. You will always have a place to stay here with us." In fact, I never want you to leave, he added silently.

"I'm sorry," Rin swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. Kohaku had been there for her all this time. He had given her the courage to go on when everything was so bleak, doing whatever he could to make her smile and take her mind off her loneliness. She would be grateful to him forever. "Kohaku-kun, I-I want to thank you for everything you have done. If only if I could somehow make it up to you…"

He smiled gently and said, "Well, I would really like it if you smiled more often. For me, that would be enough." He didn't think his face could get any redder.

Rin placed her hand on top of his and held it tight. "It's just things happened so fast. Everything was different all of a sudden."

Kohaku shook his head vehemently. "No, please don't feel you owe it to me. You will tell me when you the time is right, but not before."

Taking a deep breath, Rin proceeded to tell him the horrifying events regarding her rape, the journey back to the castle, and the lonely weeks afterward. "I thought everything would somehow be back to normal with the passage of time, but it seemed to get worse. Her eyes were sad when she said this. "I was not allowed out of the palace grounds unlike before. Jaken-sama still felt as if everything was his fault. I tried several times to explain that I don't blame him for what happened, but he can't seem to get it through his head," she laughed harshly, staring sightlessly at the huge oak tree outside. "As for Sesshoumaru-sama…he-he has no need for me anymore."

"I am sure that is not the case. Sesshoumaru-sama cares for you, I've witnessed it before," Kohaku said feelingly. He placed his free hand on top of hers and squeezed it reassuringly. To his surprise, Rin turned to face him with a look of utter grief on her beautiful face. She shook her head slowly as tears poured silently down her cheeks. In a faint whisper she said, "There is no place for me in Sesshoumaru-sama's heart. He is betrothed to someone else. He would be married before the year is over."

-o0o-

Well, that's it for now. I hope you guys enjoyed that one. Please don't forget to tell me what you think. I'll try to update sooner! See ya around!

-bungeegum-