The Lily of the Valley signifies "The Return of Happiness"

Disclaimer: The depictions of the characters in this story are completely fictitious. In no way does this represent the views or the story arcs as envisaged by the original copyright owners of this franchise and its characters. The ownership if the characters and the original concept are sole properties of Rumiko Takahashi.

***Chapter 1 – A nightmarish chapter in Rin's life***

The night was young, calm and quiets a while ago, but soon after the stars that were twinkling brightly overhead disappears. All of which is quickly replaced by the appearance of numerous dark clouds with a strong wind blow. The heavens indicated that rain showers will begin anytime; in fact it was expected to be a thunder storm. It is a midnight with neither the roads nor the gardens showing any signs of life, not a human being insight. Then without warning the silence of the night has been broken.

"Lord Sesshouamru!" Rin lets out a loud scream. The nightmares have haunted the young girl quite frequently of late. She keeps having this strange nightmare every now and then, it become clearer each time it recurred. She dreamt that a group of tiger demons came and attacked her lord's castle and her lord was defeated. It was a nasty dream because Rin has never seen her lord defeated after he gained his own sword Bakusaiga, with which he had surpassed his father in terms of power during the confrontation with Magatsuhi , the evil spirit from the sacred jewel shard that was possessed by Naraku. It happened when Rin was still a child. In her dream she saw how the tiger's demon devoured on her beloved Lord's flesh, until her Lord ceased to breathe. The demon was laughing out loud before he exclaimed insults in front of Rin. "A pathetic weak dog, now that you are finished your land will be mine as well as your women." When the demon made his advance to the place where Rin was standing, she cried out her lord's name, that's when Rin awakes up from the nightmares every time.

She is shivering, the night is uncharacteristically chilly, and Rin is sure that she had all the windows tightly shut before she went to bed. What is strange is that she feels this chill is coming from the lower part of her body. It is not the chill alone that is disturbing her; she feels a terrible pain coming from her belly. Although a little pain was not uncommon but the pain that she feels now is unbearable. Rin rises from the bed and struggles to move herself to the side of the bed. She is trying to reach for the lantern in the dark, which is placed on top of the table right beside the bed. She manages to grab hold of the lantern and lights it up. She then brings the lantern closer and examines herself. When she moves the lantern a bit lower to her belly she notices a wet trail. Concerned, she follows the trail to the lower part of her body. The revelation turns her skin pale. She is shocked to find that her bed is also wet. It didn't take her long to realize that her water broke while she was sleeping. The pain that she is experiencing right now has confirmed to her that she is about to deliver.

Rin is afraid; she knows that Tsuyu san will not be here until next morning, as she has informed Rin earlier that she needs to take care of her sick granddaughter since her son was away on duty. Besides, she did not expect to deliver early; it is supposed to be one week away before the baby is due. "Oh my sweet child, why did you have to arrive into the world at this time?" Rin mutters melancholy while stroking her belly. Rin realizes that she cannot let her grief distract her from focusing. The longer she stays here, worse the situation will turn into. She gets determined to be strong at least for the sake of her child. She gets up and puts on her kimono before she picks up a bamboo bag that was given to her by Kagome for her to keep her belongings. Inside the bamboo bag there are two clean white cloths, one fine silk and a small pillow. Once she has her slippers on, she inhales deeply and exhales for a couple of times. The pain is growing; she knows that she can't hold it for long. She needs to make haste and head to Tsuyu san's house, as the house is only 15 minutes away on foot. She knows she can do it.

Rin reached for the door to slide it open when she hears the loud crackle of the thunderstorm, which makes her step backward from the door and almost loosing her balance. She regains her balance and walks closer to the door and quickly opens it wide. "Oh kami sama..." Rin clamps her mouth with her fingers in shock. The down pour is relentlessly heavy.

Visibility is appalling to the point she couldn't see anything in the immediate vicinity in front of her with the wind blowing hard and lightning striking frequently. Given the bleak situation it seems impossible for her to walk over to Tsuyu san's house. It will probably take more than 15 minutes to reach Tsuyu san's house in this weather. Rin hesitates for a moment but is determined to not give up. She quickly turns back into the house to pick up an umbrella along with the lantern. She shifts the bamboo bag onto her shoulder. She has her right hand holding the umbrella while her left hand holds up the lantern to light up the path ahead. Without remembering to close the door behind her, she braves into the darkness to head to Tsuyu san's house.

The path ahead is hard to see, the lantern she is carrying is proving to be of little use. The soil is softening with the down pour, her steps are getting harder and harder now with her stomach pain growing ever more. She finds the need to stop frequently in between to breathe and then continue on. A strong draft almost whisks her umbrella away but Rin manages to hold on and tighten the grip before she continues on.

The pain is really unbearable now and Rin starts to run instead of walking. She has to reach Tsuyu san's house in time as the child's safety is in danger. As she walks rapidly her right foot collides with a fairly large rock, throwing her off balance and she falls on the grass. The bamboo bag bounces away, as well as her umbrella and the lantern. She tries to get back up but finds her right foot is injured. Her stomach landed so hard on the grass that it makes her feel like it is almost about to explode. The pain is excruciating. Tears roll down her cheek; she starts to cry out for help. But it proves pointless, as no one will be passing by at this hour especially in these weather conditions. Things are really not going her way now.

She can not stand nor even move herself. She tries to use her ankle and push herself into a sitting position. She then slowly crawls to the nearby tree to rest her back. Her kimono is now soiled with mud. The temperature is dropping, she is now feeling the freezing cold and she can't feel her hands. Rin rests her head on the tree while stroking her pain belly slowly. Her right foot is bleeding, her arms and her belly paining, and she is exhausted. She can barely move any part of her limbs. She is lost as to what she can do now, she has no energy, she can't move back to her hut or head to Tsuyu san's house. All she can do now is cry.

Out of hopelessness she starts crying hoping someone would pass by to hear her voice. She just isn't able to hold back her tears anymore. The tears stream down her dirty cheek as she tries to wipe it away with her palm. She feels so... lonely and scared. Things would have been better if Lord Sesshoumaru were around. "Lord Sesshoumaru please helps me" Rin tiredly whispers her lord's name with her eyes shut. Her lord's image keeps coming to her mind at this time; as she knows whenever she was in trouble her lord will always come for her and when her lord is present she fears nothing.

Wiping her eyes with her Kimono sleeve, Rin slowly opens her tired eyes and to her distress she has notices that blood started to stain her kimono that covers her legs. "Oh no kami sama please helps my child..." Rin realizes that this is not the time to cry, she needs to deliver her child here or else her child could end up dying in her womb. She shifts her sights to search for her bamboo bag; luckily the bag was not hurled far away. She uses the energy from her arms to move herself to the location of the bag, and then needs to crawls slowly, very slowly to a better place. She needs to find a good shaded zone. At least she needs to find a larger tree, which would be enough to shade her from the water from reaching her body.

After a bit of looking around she finds a reasonable spot. She takes out a white cloth from her bamboo bag and lays it out on the grass before she shifts her body on top of the cloth. Resting her head back on the tree, she pulls her kimono higher to her waist level and parts her legs. She has helped Sango and Kagome in delivering before when she was left under the care of kaede so she knows some techniques that might help her to deliver her child easier. All she needs to do is to breathe harder and push harder. She keeps breathing and pushing for at least 8 minutes and her efforts are paying off. Rin manages to push the head of her child out, and soon through rainy background noise she could hear her child's telltale crying. Tired, Rin manages a smile. The sounds of her child crying reaffirms to her that her child is safe.

All the pain that she feels somehow instantly fades away by her child's crying. Her child is her life and means everything for her. Rin takes another clean white cloth and wipes the blood that covers her child's body. She wraps the baby with a silk cloth that she has brought along. Rin uses the now stained white cloth to clean the blood on her thighs and she pulls her kimono down to cover her freezing legs. Rin then curls herself holding her child close to her chest. She needs to keep the baby warm.

She parts the silk a bit to check her child's gender; she couldn't hold her tears as she finds out that she has just delivered a son. She smiles broadly. The world around her and its problems seems to be unimportant now, as long as her son is safe in her arms. She places a warm kiss on her son's forehead and observes her son attentively. "Aww my poor son, you look exactly like your father." Rin just couldn't hide her happiness as she grins happily from ear to ear to herself. "You will grow up to be as strong as your father, as handsome as your father." Rin whispers gleefully before placing another kiss on her son's forehead. She starts to ponder what name she should give to her son. And then it happened, she has this name playing in her thoughts. "Aito! Yes my son's will be name Aito. Oh my dear Aito, you will be a healthy son. Your father will be so proud of you" Rin kids to her son proudly while she hugs her son tightly. She names her son after affection, affection towards Aito's father. Aito is a gift from the love she has for him.

Rin closes her tired eyes, she is thoroughly exhausted now. She is freezing, she has nothing to cover her body and all she hopes is that she can give her son enough warmth. His small frail body will not be able to survive this nasty weather. She opens her eyes slowly and looks at the patch of grass around her, it feels so inviting. The grass looks so comfortable that she couldn't resist laying her body on it. Rin starts to gently rock back and forth, trying to provide her son with the soothing sense of warmth and comfort him. She then slowly starts to lay her body onto the grass and place Aito on top of her right arm.

Aito seems to have dozed off. Rin gazes at her son worriedly, the rain has now slowed to a drizzle. With dawn approaching very soon, she hopes that some villager will start their daily routine a bit early, she needs someone to bring her to Tsuyu san's house. Rin's vision started to get blurry, she can barely keep her eyes open for long, and she decides to shut her eyes while laying in wait for the villagers to spot her. Rin starts to hum a song while gently massaging the back of her son. "In the mountain in the breeze, in the forest in my dream, Lord Sesshoumaru where are you? Jaken is serving under you." Rin hums the song with a lump in her throat, tears stream down from her closing eyes. Her heart is aching, she lost her parents when she was a child; she was bullied by the villagers. Her life got better when she met with Lord Sesshoumaru. Right now she is suffering yet another nightmare, and that too her son has to face the same tough circumstances. She blames herself for not being able to deliver Aito at a comfortable safe place. She clenches her fist and cries out. "Lord Sesshoumaru I miss you so much!"

Rin feels like she is drifting away into another world, she stops massaging her son's back. She thinks that she has lost her consciousness. Suddenly she feels a mild warmth encircle her body, she tries to figure out what it is as she is pretty sure dawn is yet to approach. Forcing her tired eyes to open, her blurry vision catches a tall white figure, very close to her. She tries to clear her vision but she is too exhausted to do so. Rin feels her body is being lifted up by strong arms. She tightens her hold on her son while she feels she is being embraced by someone. It doesn't matter who this person is, she just feels so warm. "Lord Sesshouamru?" she murmured to herself while grabbing this person's hand and shaking desperately before she continues on. "Lord Sesshoumaru please help me, please take me to Tsuyu san's house, Aito ! He needs to be kept warm, PLEASE MY LORD!" Rin cries out these final pleas before she passes out.

Chapter End Notes:

Hi guys, I have never write story in my life :p so this is my first attempt at writing anime fiction, please help me to improve with honest comments (^_^) I will thank you for that as well.

*million hugs and thanks to Mr. Vikas for being my beta reader.*

Love,

Jenni