Another One Shot based on a series of head canon conversations I had with some other tumblr users a while ago. This one was mine, so I thought, like my last one, I'd flesh it out!

This story exists within the canon of Light Me A Lantern.

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The village had been quiet for the past few weeks. The land was barren from Naraku's miasma, a constant reminder of what had happened. Kaede wished she had more time to heal the barren hearts left behind, but she had a village of people relying on her to find enough food for winter. Their crops were ruined, and although they'd saved what they could, it was going to be a rough season. They would only survive on the generosity of their neighbors, and thankfully their gratitude to the village's heroes was enough to aid them.

Sadly though, their heroes were the reason the village was so quiet. Kaede ambled her way through the dead forest, a basket carrying whatever herbs she could find slung over her back. Making her way through the trees, the last thing she had expected was to hear the two quietest people in the entirety of the Musashi Plains.

"No, Rin, wait, you have to keep your arms straight or you'll-"

"Ow!"

"Fall flat on your ass."

Following the voices she hadn't heard in weeks, Kaede came upon Inuyasha and Rin in a clearing surrounded by thick naked trees, where a small patch of grass had survived. Inuyasha rolled his body off his hands planted on the ground, and stood straight. "Like that." He instructed.

Rin nodded, trying another cartwheel on her own with the same result. She pouted and rubbed her bottom as she picked herself up, but the look of determination in her eyes never dimmed. "This is a lot harder than you make it look."

Inuyasha shrugged. "I've had practice." There was also, of course, the fact that he was a great deal stronger than she was, but he refrained from saying so. He didn't want to discourage the girl. "Still don't see why you want to learn so badly anyway."

Rin planted her hands on the ground and kicked the rest of her body following the momentum, managing to stay still with her feet in the air. "I want to learn so I can get stronger. I want to learn how to fight, and how to move like you do, so I can keep up with Lord Sesshomaru." She explained as she wobbled. "Then I can follow him again."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Rin, you know that's not why he left you here. Besides, Sesshomaru isn't exactly a Saint."

"Oh, I know he's not." Rin answered as she allowed her body to fall forward and land on her feet. Inuyasha raised a brow. That was the last answer he expected, the girl practically worshiped his brother. "But he protected me, and taught me how to take care of myself, so I want to stay by him. Besides, he doesn't say so, but I think he gets lonely. Sure, Jaken is there, but he doesn't sing or tell stories like I do, so it must get boring."

Once again reminded that Rin's family had been killed, Inuyasha nodded. It still confused and amazed him that his stoic brother had essentially adopted a human child. "He taught you how to take care of yourself, huh?"

"Mhm!" Rin nodded. "He said that if I wished to eat, I would have to find my own food. If I wanted to drink, I would have to find my own water. But he'd always stop me from eating things that were poisonous."

"So you learned because you had to." Inuyasha mused. "I've been there."

Rin tilted her head up at him in curiosity, before preparing to try another hand stand. "You have?"

Inuyasha nodded, dropping himself on the ground at the base of a tree. "Yeah, once my mother died, I had nowhere to go, so it was either I learned to fend for myself or I died."

Rin frowned, trying feebly to kick her legs over her head. "Didn't Lord Sesshomaru help you?"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Wincing as she fell on her back, Rin decided not to get up and lay there with her arms spread out. The sky above them was clear and clean, nothing like the earth below it. "I think," She began, "that if the Sesshomaru now and been the Sesshomaru then, he would have helped you."

Inuyasha wasn't entirely sure about that, but he didn't argue. "Maybe."

"Maybe!" Rin chirped. "So, I have to become strong and learn how to fight, so I can keep up with the Sesshomaru now."

"You want to learn how to fight, but I'd rather forget it right now." Inuyasha sighed.

"Is it because of her?"

"Yeah."

Rin frowned, chewing the inside of her cheek. Without another word, she picked herself up, walked toward the tree, and sat beside Inuyasha against the trunk. Her eyes swept the forest, able to see straight through the barren trees and to the mountains beyond. "I don't like being left behind again." She whispered as she rested her head against Inuyasha's shoulder.

Inuyasha let her lean against him, subtly shifting so she was more comfortable. His eyes didn't stray the setting sun behind the mountains, but managed a glance down at the girl by his side. "Me neither."

Learning how to fight didn't mean Rin would be able to follow Sesshomaru again, and Kaede knew Inuyasha was well aware of that. Her strength wasn't the issue. It was her mortality. One look at the way the two of them sat together in such quiet understanding told Kaede exactly what Inuyasha was thinking in going along with her. He was just trying to be for her exactly what he wished he had when he was in her position; orphans left behind again.

It was the start of a bond that would grow over the years, and Kaede knew it the moment she saw Inuyasha carrying Rin home on his back, after a long day of cartwheels.