"No, Sesshoumaru-sama, don't leave Rin!" The little girl with wavy chocolate locks and puppy dog brown eyes pleaded with her impassive lord. Impressive as always, Sesshoumaru stood ten feet away from the human village, letting the breeze float gently through his platinum locks. He gazed at the girl, not even a woman yet, that had stayed as his faithful ward for two years now. Her tears left an acrid scent in the air and for the tiniest moment something within him twinged with grief. Then he thought about his castle, his lands that were in turmoil because of the daimyos squabbling among themselves. Rin would not be safe there. Rin would be safe here, in this ningen village.

"You are to stay here Rin. You will not follow this Sesshoumaru-sama when he leaves. Is that clear?" The soft sobs broke into an almost painful caterwauling. She begged for him not to. She promised to be good, to listen better when Jaken was teaching her lessons, anything to stay with him. He picked her up and put her the hands of the youngest wife of the head chief. "Rin. Stop that noise this instant." The girl lowered her grief to sniffles and hiccups.

"Please, Sesshoumaru-sama. Please. Don't make Rin leave. Please."

"No, Rin. Stay here."

He walked away and her heart broke.

Rin awoke gasping for breath, tears still streaming down her cheeks. It had been ten long summers since that day, twice her entire lifespan. She had never felt so close to anyone else, never let herself love like she loved Sesshoumaru-sama. With the sole exception of Nishi, but that was a completely different kind of love.

"Kaa! Are you up? To- Why are you crying, Kaa?" A ball of black and forest green blurred onto Rin's futon. The five year old curiously wiped the tears from her mother's face, trying to be careful with her small, blunt claws. "Did you have a bad dream?" Rin chuckled a little, giving the little hanyou an Eskimo kiss.

"Yes, aijou, I did, but I'm okay now. Where's Watari?" Rin had a soft spot for orphans, being one herself, and when he showed up one day asking for work she happily gave him a job. After a few hot meals and a fresh pair of clothes he was there for life, adopting Nishi as his official little sister and dubbing her with the nickname that she was now recognized by.

"He's skinning the rabbit we caught this morning! It's a really big one! I found him all by myself!" Nishi chattered cheerily on about her catch while Rin slipped on her clothes for the day. Her head was crowned with a shock of black blue ringlets that bounced genially as she talked, bright sunshine hued orbs sparkling in light of her namesake.

"That's wonderful, aijou." She broke off her little one's monologue with a smile. "Let us go to the riverside this morning and greet the sun, while Watari finishes breakfast. We can get some laundry done and maybe some fish to sell in the village." Nishi let out an excited whoop, zipping out the door to relay the message to her aniki. Stepping outside, Rin rolled her hakama up to her knees, letting her toes sink into the warm, marshy earth. She had never liked footwear, too constricting in her personal opinion, but Watari seemed to favor them.

"Kaa! Come on!" Nishi was already skipping down the path to the river, filled with youthful exuberance at the thought of a trip to the river. Rin shook her head and grabbed both the laundry bucket and the fish bucket, following behind her pup, knowing she'd stay within earshot. The walk to the river was filled with such excitement such as "Look! A butterfly/tree/bush/squirrel/flower/bird etc.!" from an enthusiastic Nishi, with a tolerant "Mm-hmm" from Rin even though she actually couldn't see what she was pointing to.

At the river's edge, Rin got to washing half the basket before she realized it had been at least five uninterrupted minutes of peace and quiet. This fact, by default, meant Nishi had found herself in her some serious trouble. Nishi could handle lower level youkai and small game, but other than that Rin had to be prepared for anything. She placed the clothes on a nearby rock and got up to scan her surroundings.

"Nishi!" She called, feeling the beginnings of panic set in. "Nishi, where are you? Aijou, please answer!"

"KAA!" Rin bolted down to the riverbank toward the sound of her daughter's voice. She found her crying, covered in mud. Rin quickly embraced her, cuddling the shaken pup until she stopped crying.

"Aijou, what happened? Why did you wander off?" Rin cooed comfortingly, still scanning their surroundings for any lingering danger and her pup for any wounds.

"I was," Sniffle. ", running and I slid into the mud. So I," Sniffle. ", went into the river to wash off but when I did this little green man came up to me and yelled at me and called me mean names."

Rin's breath caught. It couldn't be.

"Where'd the mean man go, aijou?" She looked around for any telltale signs of Jaken, trying not to get her hopes up too high.

"You're standing on him, Kaa." Nishi giggled and Rin looked down to observe she was indeed doing so. Stepping off, she kicked the now muddy kappa over to see his face.

"Insolent human!" He sputtered as soon as he could breathe. "How dare you stand upon this Jaken, interrupting his very important mission to his lo-" His airflow was suddenly cut off by a very strong hug. "Wha-? Ningen! Remove yourself this instant-"

"Jaken! It's me! It's Rin! It's been so long!" Tears sprung to Rin's eyes, this was a dream come true. Jaken paused and sputtered, looking into Rin's face, seeing traces of the little girl he once knew, but it couldn't be. It just couldn't be. Not even a year after his lord left her the village had been decimated by an attack. Sesshoumaru-sama hadn't been the same after that.

"Rin? Rin! It can't be. It just can't." He gasped, overcome with emotion. Two years with the little brat and she had grown on him. When his lord had returned that day, with only an order to pack up, he automatically asked where Rin was. He could never remember a colder look on his lord's face when he replied that she was no longer part of their pack. Jaken and Ah-Un had cried that night.

"Kaa?" Both of them turned at the sound the little girl's voice, soft and confused. Jaken responded faster than either of them could think.

"Are you still here you worthless lit-" Jaken blinked as stars swam across his vision. Damn, only Sesshoumaru-sama hit him that hard. He looked up into the face of not only an older Rin, but of a protective mother.

"You will not speak to my daughter like that Jaken." Rin's voice was cold and it hurt to be treated like that from her, it hurt more than Jaken ever thought it would.

"I-I'm sorry, what am I to call her Rin-sama?" He spoke solemnly, silently asking for forgiveness.

"Her name is Nisshouken."

#

Holy Shit! I wrote a fanfic! Be shocked and amazed!

Translations:

Nisshouken – The right to Sunshine
Aijou – beloved daughter
Kaa – informal name for Mother
Daimyo – feudal warlord
Ningen – human

Anything else is pretty standard but feel free to ask.

So many questions unanswered! What will Sesshoumaru think? Will he care? What does Jaken think? Does anybody care? Where the hell is Watari?

All questions may or may not be answered next chappie. Stay tuned and find out. Don't forget to press that sexy periwinkle button and review!