A/N: So this little bit o' fluff was written a while ago but was never posted to my first account. however, since I promised a few people some more Sess/Rin drabbles...Hope you enjoy!

Exception to The Rule

Rin hesitated. Her lord had never looked so handsome! His long hair was swept into a high pony tail, and he had exchanged his trademark kimono and boa for a silky pitch-black kimono that left him enticing, defined and vulnerable...

"Lord Sesshomaru," she gasped, awe-struck.

"Rin, close your mouth."

"My lord, what are you doing?"

"Do you refuse my offer to dance?"

"Of course not! I'm just surprised," she tried to keep her hand steady even as he captured it in his own and placed the other on his shoulder, bringing her close.

His gold eyes never left her face even as the music began a slow, soft tune. Rin felt her cheeks reddening under his stare but was absolutely powerless to stop it.

"You're so handsome, Lord Sesshomaru," she breathed, lowering her face immediately afterwards.

He said nothing but brought her closer still until she could feel his warm, sculpted chest against her cheek. Rin sighed. Never in her whole life would she have dreamt that Lord Sesshomaru would go to the trouble of devising a dance in her honor, much less that he would actually dance with her.

Even still, she tried not to think too much on it and get her hopes up. After all he probably felt obligated, if he felt anything at all...

"Rin, your heart races. Are you unwell?"

"Quite the opposite, my lord. I'm so happy I could die," she proclaimed with a sad smile.

"Don't say such silly things."

She giggled softly, and Sesshomaru felt it through his thin, new kimono. The whisper of her breath on his skin awakened a thrill inside him the likes of which he'd never known. Not for the first time, he wondered if he wasn't destined to follow in his father's footsteps. First to become daiyoukai, and then to mate with a human...

That thought still caused his stomach to flip uncomfortably, but the thought of mating with Rin was an entirely different matter. Just when had she transitioned from childhood cuteness to a woman worthy of his desire?

He pushed gently against her, creating a more appropriate distance between them.

"I'm glad I got to share this dance with you, Lord Sesshomaru," she gave him a shy glance through feathery lashes.

Then she made to curtsy, but his arms were a vice around her waist and prevented any such movement.

"The music has not yet ended. Are you so eager for our time to end?" he cocked his head to one side.

"No, my lord, I merely assumed...I mean, I know how you feel about humans so-"

"I think you'll find, Rin, that there are exceptions to every rule."

Her breath caught in her throat, her chest tight with anxiety. Surely he was toying with her. To think that the great Lord Sesshomaru would place her in such high esteem was a preposterous thought indeed!

No, she refused to believe that even a fraction of her feelings could be returned...

"If only that were true," she moved the hand on his shoulder to push weakly against his chest, her fingertips dipping inside the kimono's fold just barely.

His grip was cold against her skin as he took her hand in his.

"Rin," he gave her a hard look. "Cease this foolishness. You would doubt this Sesshomaru?"

"Never, my lord. I only mean to stop you from doing something you might regret," she nearly choked on a sob, "and because the rejection would kill me."

Tears had formed in her eyes, and Sesshomaru's expression softened. Her doubt was something he understood on an intimate level as he himself had wrestled with it since first meeting her all those years ago.

He had asked himself back then how he could even tolerate her presence, as a lowly human. With time, however, that question evolved to how he could ever tolerate her absence and -since her coming of age- how he could ever provide her with the life she so rightfully deserved.

But now, with her body flush against his own and her scent intoxicating him with its unique fragrance...

"How could I ever reject you?" he whispered.

Rin's eyes shot up to his face in wonder. Could she believe her own ears? Did he mean the things he said?

"My lord!" she crushed herself against his statuesque frame until there was no more space between them. "What are you saying?"

He grasped her chin, angling it until her neck was craned to meet his eyes which burned with a newfound intensity.

"Rin, the western lands are lonely without a Lady."

Her chin still held captive in his hand, he brought their lips together in a chaste kiss.

Her entire body ignited with the simple action, her lips tingling against his. Sesshomaru's kiss was not at all how she expected. It was tender, gentle, and his lips were not cold like ice but rather feverish with passion.

Fisting her small hands in his expensive kimono, Rin stood on her tippy-toes to further press her lips against his. She tried desperately to devour him, to devour this entire moment and its blissful absurdity...

All this while tears overflowed her eyes until they graced the fingers that still seized her chin.

"Why are you crying, you silly girl?"

"This is a dream. It must be," she wept miserably. "And soon I will wake up."

He gave her a flat look. "Your refusal to believe in me and my intentions is insulting."

"Forgive me, Lord Sesshomaru. I just can't believe...to even think that you might -might want me," she trailed off uncertainly, still not daring to embrace fact.

"Rin, come away with me," his steps remained fluid and graceful, even as he led them away from the dance floor.

"Right now?" she asked, astonished.

"Only if you so choose, of course."

"How could I ever refuse you, Lord Sesshomaru? I just -Kagome and the others...they'd miss me...and-"

"You may visit them whenever you so desire."

Rin's hands trembled with a manic case of the nerves. To imagine a life with Sesshomaru, and as his wife no less...

"I love you," she blurted without a second thought, for she needed him to feel the same warmth and excitement that'd overcome her.

Sesshomaru froze. How strange. It was the first time anyone had ever proclaimed such feelings for him. Not even his own mother, growing up...But this small, human girl had stolen his heart years ago with nothing more than a toothy grin and unwavering devotion, and he was such a fool not to have realized it sooner.

"So you will come, then?"

"Yes, my lord!"

"There is no further need for you to address me as such. To you, I am Sesshomaru. Just Sesshomaru."

"Sesshomaru," she tested the weight of his name on her tongue without an honorific. It didn't feel as wrong as she'd thought it would. "I like that, Sesshomaru."

"Hn."

Guiding her by the hand still, they proceeded to a clearing where AhUn waited, patiently saddled.

"You -did you plan this before the dance?"

"When I disappeared," he spoke in his calm, measured way, "after your show with the fans, I realized how much you mean to me. It was with Lady Kaede's blessing and help that I procured your belongings and the steed so I guess you could say that, yes, I planned it."

"And if I had said no?" she asked teasingly.

"You did not say no."

"But if I had?"

"I might have taken you anyway," he said, tone serious while his eyes danced with mischief. "Rin, your absence has affected me. Never before meeting you did I ever experience true happiness, and never before your absence had I ever felt lonely..."

"Oh Sesshomaru," she squeezed his hand tightly.

She knew it was the truth, remembering the way she could tell by looking at him that something had changed. He did not look ill; she doubted if, being daiyoukai, he could even get sick but he had an air of forlorn about himself. Sadness, melancholy, loneliness...

"I am such a selfish being," he continued, "but I crave your affections, need them even."

"You already have them," she turned to face him fully, reaching up to plant a shallow kiss in the hollow of his marble throat. "And you always will."

-Fin-