First Meetings

Chapter 1: Rin Gets A Boo-Boo

A/N: I own nothing! And I know Sesshomaru is slightly OOC but its fan fiction so who really cares!

Kagome could only vaguely remember when normal days included doing her homework and hanging out with her friends after school, not sitting on a hillside watching a half-demon battle his older brother. "This is boring," she sighed heavily, resting her head in her hands.

"You said it," Shippo agreed as he eagerly licked a lollipop.

"It is becoming rather tiresome," Sango said, petting Kirara on the head. "That's what, the second time in as many weeks?"

"Unfortunately," Miroku shook his head in dismay. "Since the Tetsusaiga in Inuyasha's hands is extremely powerful and the Tenseiga protects Sesshomaru you'd think they'd eventually realize that neither of them can win and give up." The monk sounded quite satisfied with himself until he saw the disbelieving looks being sent his way by his three companions. "Nah. Who am I kidding?" he chuckled. "Those two will never come to their senses."

"I heard that!" Inuyasha's shout drifted up from the battlefield, causing Miroku to jump and the others to laugh.

"Keep your mind on the battle, Inuyasha," Sesshomaru chided even as he forced the half-demon back a step. "Otherwise it would be far too easy for me to defeat you."

"Yeah, right," Inuyasha retorted. "How about I cut off that other arm for ya and we'll see how confident you are then."

Sesshomaru's eyes flashed red momentarily and he snarled, baring his fangs. "Try and I'll kill you," he threatened.

"I'd sure like to see you try," Inuyasha snorted.

Before either of them could come up any other retorts a voice suddenly interrupted them. "Papa?"

Startled, the two brothers turned their heads, golden eyes widening in surprise. The speaker was a little girl, no taller than Shippo. Long black hair fell halfway down her back, a little of her hair gathered in a side ponytail while bare feet peeked out from underneath a long-sleeved orange and white checkered kimono. Small, grimy fists rubbed at tears leaking from big, brown eyes. "Papa," she wailed again, toddling forward a step.

"Don't come any closer, kid!" Inuyasha shouted, suddenly terrified for the girl's safety.

"Papa," she repeated then shrieked when her little foot hit a root in the ground.

For a moment time stood still as her body fell forward. Then there was a flash of light and time moved again as the girl fell into Sesshomaru's arm, just barely missing his armor.

Inuyasha snarled and was about to charge forward when the girl spoke again. "Papa!" she cried, wrapping her tiny arms around Sesshomaru as far as she could.

The demon allowed her to hug him for a moment longer then gently pushed her back. "Rin, why are you here? Where is Jaken?"

"Rin don't know where Master Jaken is," she sniffled, the tears beginning again. "Rin got lost and couldn't find anyone but Rin tripped and cut her arm."

Sesshomaru just looked at her so the four-year-old took it upon herself to further explain. "Rin got a boo-boo."

Sesshomaru blinked as he stared at the girl and his shoulders slumped so slightly that Kagome was certain she had imagined it until he spoke. "Where?"

Rin's entire face lit up and she eagerly rolled back her sleeve, revealing a small scrape less than an inch long on her elbow.

"All this fuss over a scrape that small?" Inuyasha grumbled, sheathing the Tetsusaiga.

"Sit, boy!"

Sesshomaru ignored the sound of his half-brother hitting the ground and instead did something that would forever ruin his reputation and horrify his enemies; he kissed the scrape on Rin's elbow.

Sango's mouth fell open and she stood to her feet, not caring that Kirara dropped to the ground with a snarl. "No way."

"That's not Sesshomaru," Miroku gasped, tightening his hold on his monk's staff.

"Aagh!" Shippo shrieked and clambered onto Kagome's shoulder for safety. Not that the girl from the future was any better; her mouth hung open and she could only stare in wide-eyed shock. Inuyasha raised his head out of the dirt just in time to witness this most despicable of acts and promptly fainted.

"Is that better?" when Rin eagerly nodded, her tears all but gone Sesshomaru picked her up, making sure that she was comfortably situated on his hip before striding towards the forest.

"I didn't just see that," Kagome finally said, breaking the uneasy silence.

"It was definitely a hallucination," Miroku stated while Shippo and Sango nodded in agreement.

Inuyasha sat up very slowly, reluctant to see if Sesshomaru was still there with the little girl. To his everlasting gratitude, however, his half-brother had seemingly disappeared. "Something's wrong with that guy," he said at last.

A/N/N: I just wanted to explore the various ways Inuyasha and his group could have met Rin. If you have any suggestions let me know! They will all be considered carefully. Hope you enjoyed!