Hindsight

A/N: I am latelatelate. Call me Wabbit. PirateWabbit? Anyways, I give you...Sesshomaru!!!
This chapter is random and gorgeous and I happen to looooooooove it.

PS: Snow, you gorgeousgorgeous person, you. Everyone, bow at her toesies, because she is brilliant. Brilliant, I tell you! Brilliant! Your idea will come up in exactly two chapters, because I just couldn't smush it in here, and it was too good to throw away.
I would give you my pirate booty in thanks, but...well...there was this one bar and the rum was...

PS Take 2: And when reading Rin, think Jeannie, of 'I Dream of Jeannie' fame, for inflection and intonation. I couldn't shake that stupid genie from my mind when I was writing Rin. Maybe because I was up watching Nick at Nite...whateevvvveerrrr!

Disclaimer: The Titaness owns nothing.
Seriously. Nothing.
And if she were to own Inuyasha, she would most definitely be lording it over all the lesser unowning mortals, instead of sniffling pathetically in a corner, gripping a Sesshy plushie!

Day Three, Act Two: Sesshomaru
Chapter 16: A Day In The Life Of Sesshomaru


**********************

Sesshomaru eyed the disturbingly silent miko with no little concern, ignoring the inane chatter of the slayer and monk crowded around the fire of the old miko’s hut, as well as the feeble glares of his idiot kin.
For two days, Kagome had been very quiet, speaking when asked a question, then not at all. He had caught her staring at him with a focus that made even him uncomfortable several times.
Whenever they were engaged by pathetic youkai out to stake a reputation for themselves, she always found herself in trouble, forcing him to save her several times from attacks she would have otherwise easily repelled.
In the shady protection of the corner he currently leaned against, he smiled faintly.

He had not been aware that he was that good.

Obviously, he was unsurpassed in the field of kissing, and this dangerous power of his was highly effective on his miko.
Sesshomaru’s chest puffed out in pride at his ability to strike her silent with his mere presence.

Of course, Inutaisho had been in fine form for the past two days, reaching a new plateau in squawking, nagging complaints, slowly driving Sesshomaru to the brink of insanity. However, in this Inutaisho was thwarted by his own training. Sesshomaru had been conditioned to resist all forms of physical and mental torture, from slow, painful screws dipped in Inutaisho’s own poisonous concoction, to fifteen hours straight of giggling inanity courtesy of twelve virginal inuyoukai princesses on the prowl.

Nevertheless, approximately once every five minutes, Inutaisho would rain fiery rhetoric on the evils of disobeying one’s elders, and the karmic backlash that was sure to follow.
Sesshomaru had to physically restrain himself from rolling his eyes luxuriously at that.
Still, not even he could conclusively declare as to precisely why he had kissed the miko.
He just could not not kiss her at that precise moment.
And whatever random reason prompted him to said action faintly worried him, as he could not identify it, and therefore could neither anticipate nor subvert it. This meant he could be struck with the urge to maul the miko at he most inopportune times…Sesshomaru groaned in the privacy of his mind.

His attention was diverted by faint growling. He turned to regard the idiot boy, his expression one of incalculable boredom.
Inuyasha, apparently tired of trying to force a reaction of the now-yawning Sesshomaru, turned his attention to Kagome.

“Oi! What the hell has you so distracted, eh?” He asked belligerently.

Sesshomaru winced. Obviously he had not been exposed to any verbal training.
Yet another reason Sesshomaru refused to present him to the other Taiyoukai.

Kagome’s head shot up, and she looked at Inuyasha, eyes still a bit distracted.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m sorry.” She said apologetically, worrying her long, elegant fingers together.

“Feh. Why don’t you just go home? You’re godsdamned useless this way. Maybe your mother can help you fix whatever womanly thing has you so stupid lately.” He blustered.

Kagome’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and the monk rose quickly from his seat next to the slayer, hurrying to Kagome.

“Now, now, Miss Kagome, I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way.” He said, placating.

“Why, thank you for allowing me, Inuyasha. Your magnanimity knows no bounds.” She replied sweetly, inciting the occupants of the room to stare at her in slack-jawed shock.

As Inuyasha gaped at her, she collected her enormous yellow bag and walked to the entrance of the hut, pausing to turn around and smile toothily at him.

“See you guys tomorrow. And, Inuyasha…Why don’t you just SIT there and be comfortable? I mean, by SITTING there you can relax, maybe even take a nap. And, a nice SIT would do you wonders, don’t you think so? Because SITTING, I mean, a good SIT, would do you a world of good. So SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT SIT and be merry, okay?” she asked, smiling perkily at the groaning, prone Inuyasha, turning around with a flick of her hair and flouncing away into the dark night.

Sesshomaru unfolded himself, quickly following her, incapable of hiding the smirk at Inuyasha’s painful predicament that unfurled across his face.
As she stormed off, Sesshomaru followed quietly, glaring murderously at the odd youkai appearing at her bright pink holy aura and obvious power.
His sharp ears picked up her muttering about stupid jackasses in general, brainless inuyoukai and ‘that self-serving son-of-a-’, the night swallowing her last word.

Sesshomaru would not care to offer a guess as to whom the last referred.

As she reached the old well, flinging her bag down with an ill-natured heave and dropping herself onto the rim, Sesshomaru stood, concealed, in the fringe of trees, curious as to why her going home necessitated a trip down a musty old well stuffed full of youkai bones.

“Just so you know… I know you’re there. I don’t care. Do you know why? Because, whoever you are, Sesshomaru or Inuyasha, I would just like to take this opportunity to tell you that you suck.”

As she addressed the air in general, before pointing her nose in the air and pushing off the rim of the well to disappear in a burst of light, Sesshomaru grinned, his white teeth a flash in the black night.

Never say that she wasn’t spirited.

But what, exactly, did he suck?

*****************************

Kagome’s short departure afforded Sesshomaru a needed opportunity to return to his palace.
As he touched down on the cool green grass, Nobu hurried forward to meet him, smiling.

“A pleasure to see you, Lord Sesshomaru. How goes your new quest?”

“Fine. How are things here? Any repercussions from Keichi’s treachery?”

“No, my lord. It has become a practice to go down to the gardens to view him. Rather macabre, but…”

“He still lives?”

“Yes, my lord. But he is utterly miserable.”

“Good.” As Sesshomaru smiled faintly, and nodded towards the soldiers that bowed, he turned at the horrified squawk that rang through the palace gardens.
The occupants, looking up for a second, shrugged and returned to their tasks, inured to the sound.
Jaken dashed out of the halls, screaming in outrage and not a little fear, a dervish scooting behind him, waving bright pink ribbons and calling piteously.
As Jaken crashed into Sesshomaru’s side, he rolled his eyes and counted for patience.

“Lord Sesshomaru! You’re back! Rin wanted to get Mister Jaken to play dress-up with Rin, but Mister Jaken does not like pink, and Mister Jaken said some very bad words to Rin, and now Mister Jaken does not want to play with Rin anymore! And yesterday, Miss Sakura wanted Rin to take a bath but Rin does not like baths because Rin gets her hair wet and how are you, Lord Sesshomaru?”

As she banged into his legs, wrapping her arms around his knees and beaming a gap-toothed smile up at him, Sesshomaru flicked a look at Nobu, who was trying his best not to laugh.

“Fine, Rin. Jaken, take Rin to the ballroom and entertain her.”

“But, Lord Sesshomaru! The utter indignity! It does not befit a youkai of my stature! It is…it is…it is embarrassing.”

Because pink turned Jaken an even more unappealing shade of sickly green, reminiscent of the entrails of a rancid pile of fish.
Or Keichi...

Sesshomaru shifted his gaze to Jaken, who bowed deeply, giving Rin ample opportunity to fasten a bright pink ribbon on his pointed ears.

“Of course, Lord Sesshomaru. As you say, Lord Sesshomaru. I live to serve you, your Greatness. No matter how lowering the assignment, no matter how much it demeans me, I do as you say, as always, your Benevolent Eminence.”

As Jaken trudged away, muttering, a chattering Rin in tow, Sesshomaru embraced the enormous feeling of amusement that always came with the daily torture of the inimitable Jaken, who defied all logical description.

“Lord Sesshomaru, uh…the Lord of the East once more sends his greetings.”

Sesshomaru grunted, eyeing the nervous Nobu assiduously.

“He does. How…irritating.”

“Um…well…that isn’t all, my lord.”

Sesshomaru glared at the suddenly shifty-eyed inuyoukai, who backed away, well aware of the fate of the bearers of horrendous news and Sesshomaru’s sentiments on the topic of the Eastern Kingdom.

“Well…He’s…here.”

“Here?” Sesshomaru asked, disbelieving.

“Yes, my lord. We could not persuade him to leave. He insists on awaiting your arrival.”

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and glared murderously at the sky, then shifted his gaze to the earth, as his blasted father could not have possibly ascended at death.
‘This is entirely your fault, you feckless…’

The gleeful cackle that suddenly resonated through his brain had him gritting his teeth.

Bastard.

Blasted, bloody bastard.

Sesshomaru strode into his palace, nodding at the bowing servants, aiming for the best guest room, where the Lord of the East was currently lounging.
He threw the doors open, glare icy-cold and out for some blood.

“Who dares enter my quarters thusly?” the irate demand had Sesshomaru envisioning a painful death, poison, and a position near Keichi for the owner of the voice.

“Last time I checked, Juni, this was my palace.” He said coolly.
The corpulent figure reclining on the luxurious bed shot up, eyes panicked, as a figure darted out of the bed and into a corner.

“Ah, Lord Sesshomaru! A pleasure, a pleasure. Come in!”

Bristling at the invitation into his own home, Sesshomaru entered, glaring daggers at the nervous youkai.

“To what do I owe the honour of your presence, Juni?” Sesshomaru asked tonelessly, the very lack of welcome an obvious indicator that he was to pack his things and exit, posthaste, or surrender his…unmentionables.

“Oh, you know. That same old business.”

“As I told you in a missive just last month, I am not yet capable of fulfilling that particular obligation.” Sesshomaru said coldly, flicking a glance at the frightened maid cowering in the corner, silken sheets clutched desperately at her obviously nude body.

“Ah, but we are getting a bit impatient.” The arrogance in his tone had Sesshomaru leveling up the fury in his gaze, causing an immediate return to fawning courtesy.

“Imagine that. I would have to ask you to leave, Juni. I have unimaginably important affairs of state to attend to, and I unfortunately cannot deal with this right now.”

“But, Sesshomaru, certainly allowances can be made for-.”

What, was he deaf as well as dim-witted?

Sesshomaru threw his patented “You’re-two-seconds-away-from-becoming-unpleasantly-acquainted-with-your-inner-self” look at the Lord of the East, immensely satisfied when he stuttered to a halt.

“Of…of course. I, myself, have affairs of state to attend.” He said importantly, pulling himself up.

Certainly, if wasting his kingdom’s wealth on a non-stop orgy and the most distasteful example of excess Sesshomaru had ever seen qualified as ‘affairs of state’…

“Oh, by the way…as a token of the continued goodwill between our kingdoms, I think a gift would be most appropriate?”

Sesshomaru turned, registering the lascivious gaze of Juni on the terrified maid.

“Do you now? I would think that the Western Kingdom’s continued tolerance of the Eastern Kingdom’s soldiers’ raids on our human villagers is goodwill enough.”

Juni shifted a frightened gaze his way, and Sesshomaru smiled wolfishly in the privacy of his mind, allowing the tiniest smirk to show on his face.

“Ah, yes, I know about that. I would hate to think that they do it with the sanction of their Lord.”

Which they definitely did.

“Ah…quite right. I’ll…I’ll just be going.”

As Juni stumbled out, giving Sesshomaru a highly unwanted view of his wobbling posterior, Sesshomaru’s smirk widened.

The maid scurried out, head lowered, and Sesshomaru sighed, before striding out, thinking highly uncomplimentary things about his father.

****************************

Sesshomaru glared at the piles of paperwork stacked on his desk, ordinances Nobu had neither the authority to sign nor enact. He wistfully flashed back on the past few days, where all he had to do was send some deserving youkai back to their Maker, before pulling the topmost scroll from the mountain and starting to read.
Halfway through the pile, Sesshomaru was distracted by a rapid knock at his doors.

“Lord Sesshomaru! May Rin come in, please?”
“Yes.” He said coolly, rioting with joy at the highly welcome respite from the drudgery of his title.

As Rin poked her beribboned head through the now open doors, smiling widely, Sesshomaru, not for the first time, found himself wondering just when he had gotten so attached to the little human.

At first, he had kept her around for her bravery in trying to help him when he was injured, saving her soul in repayment. As he was, of course, Sesshomaru, and could not let a good deed go without reward.
Now, he was Lord enough to admit to himself that he actually liked her for herself, and looked at her rather like an adopted pup. Of course, Inutaisho had stuck his two cents in on child rearing, but after Sesshomaru reminded him of his own techniques, Inutaisho had stayed remarkably silent on that topic.

Because Sesshomaru highly doubted that tossing a bound Rin into dense, youkai-infested forest with a dull dagger and the instructions to find her way home or don’t bother calling herself his child would be beneficial to her upbringing.

Or sanity.

She bounced over to him, a bunch of flowers in her grasp, proffering them.

“Rin brought you flowers to make inside prettier. Do you like them?”

Sesshomaru gave her the small vase put in his study for that specific purpose, watching as she arranged the flowers, chatting to them gaily.
As he stared blankly at the scented petals dancing in the gentle breeze, he noted that Rin had fallen silent.

“Is there something wrong, Rin?” he asked.

“Um…Rin…Rin…Lord Sesshomaru? How do you know when you love someone?” she mumbled.

Sesshomaru stood stock-still, eyes wide in total, inescapable terror.

“Why do you ask?” he queried instead, mind whirring through the implications of her question.

“B…because Rin’s tummy gets fluttery and Rin’s face gets hot when…” as she trailed off, her cheeks turning a fiery red, Sesshomaru’s own face tinged a pale green.

“When, what, Rin?” he prodded weakly.

“Um…when…Taka…” her words abruptly cut off, and she stared assiduously at the study floor.

Sesshomaru groaned. How did one deal with a lovestruck little girl? Wait…Taka?

“Taka? Nobu’s son?” he asked in amazement.

At the rapid nod that sent her ribbons flying, Sesshomaru was struck with the urgent need to sit down. Fast.

“Oh…gods.” He whispered, his heart plummeting sharply into his stomach.

“He is very nice, and kind, and he does not laugh when Rin cannot keep up when we all play.” Rin explained shyly.

Sesshomaru dimly considered slicing off his own ears, scratching out his own eyes and hiding somewhere where he would not have to hear this…he had always considered the moon a beautiful place.

“Uh…” struck speechless for the first time in his life, Sesshomaru gaped at his tiny little daughter, at an utter loss.

“Lord Sesshomaru? Are you alright?” Rin asked, concerned.

“I am fine. I will need some time to answer, Rin. Don’t concern yourself overmuch.” He said coolly, full-blown panic causing him to stall spectacularly.

“Rin will try, Lord Sesshomaru. But, why are you sad? Did that old mongrel Inuyasha do something mean again?”

“Old mongrel?”

“It is what Mister Jaken calls him. Is that not what he is?”

At the innocent tone of her question, and the curious tilt of her head, Sesshomaru was hard-pressed not to laugh outright, ecstatic that he did not have to counsel a little girl in the art of courtship at that moment.

“I am not sad, Rin. Merely preoccupied, and a bit busy.” He prevaricated.

“Is Rin bothering you?” she asked, looking horrified at the mere idea.

“No, Rin.”

As she beamed up at him, before bouncing around his study, cheerfully recounting her days since he had last seen her, Sesshomaru resigned himself to the fact that he had become a soft, malleable excuse for youkai in relation to his little daughter.
And that he would have to keep a sharp eye out on Nobu’s little son.

***************************

Sesshomaru skulked through the forest, head bowed as he scowled blackly at the soft brown earth, mumbling shockingly obscene language under his breath. He was not in a pleasant mood, and he could place the blame squarely on the slender shoulders of the troublesome miko.

He could smell Inuyasha a ways away, surprisingly bathed and clean for once. He thought that he detected Kagome for a moment, but the scent was so buried by clay and earth,

Sesshomaru concluded that Inuyasha was with the golem Kikyo.

Sesshomaru would not trade all the Rins in the world in exchange for seeing what those two were up to.
He leaned against a handy tree, eyes fixed on the old well where he had seen Kagome last.
Juni’s highly unwelcome visit had him in a rather pensive mood, thinking on subjects he had never willingly considered. If only his feckless father had not been drunk that fateful day…
Sesshomaru sighed. But Inutaisho had indulged in the cellar of fine, potent wine. And he had opened his godsforsaken mouth.
And he had made certain to make Sesshomaru’s life a living hell.

Honestly, he had not even remembered that ludicrous state of affairs with the Eastern Kingdom whilst he had kissed Kagome. But now, he recalled. And he cursed once more.
Then, of course, was the harrowing encounter with Rin, which still had him in a state of panic.
And now, on top of that, the irritating miko would not even show up on time. He glared at the well, on the off chance that it would quicken her steps from wherever in the hells she was.
To his surprise, the well burst with a flash of light, and Kagome’s scent filled the small clearing.
As he watched, she scrabbled up the well, sitting on the rim and breathing heavily, the yellow bag, now overstuffed, slung over her shoulders. She straightened for a bit, then huffed and walked pointedly away from him.

Sesshomaru half-smiled at that, before silently following.

She suddenly shifted direction, following a ghostly-white blur that looked vaguely familiar to Sesshomaru.
She peeked around a tree, and her shoulders stiffened so suddenly, so completely, he seriously believed that she had been hit over the head with a blunt object.
He shifted forward, trying to see what had her so rigid, and shook his head.

Inuyasha sat with the golem, making puppy eyes and kissing, causing Sesshomaru’s lunch to rise majestically from his stomach to settle amiably in his throat.
Sesshomaru, having never before been in a situation where seeing one’s sibling enacting romantic gestures and courtship rituals, as the gods thankfully did not see fit to burden him with more than one Inuyasha, found himself in an unfamiliar territory.
He watched in morbid fascination as Inuyasha cooed into the undead miko’s ear, rolling a flower gently over her dusty cheek.

Kagome suddenly turned around and slipped away, walking directly towards him.

He stood still, eyeing her, trying to gauge her mood, wondering if she would collapse in pain and anguish, fully aware, as he was, that she harboured a tendre for the idiot, and turn that emotion onto him.
Instead, as she stalked past the mighty handy tree he was currently huddled ignominiously against, he could have sworn she was muttering rather colourful curses under her breath, her fisted hands punching none-too-gently at her long legs.
Sesshomaru watched her go, bemused, then cast one last glance at his half-sibling, before following dutifully, resolved to protect any hapless being stupid, or unlucky, enough to get into Kagome’s way.

She was obviously on the warpath.

For some reason, that brought a delighted smile to Sesshomaru’s lips.

He, for one, could not wait to see what she would do to Inuyasha once she next saw him.

A/N: Anyhoo...next up, we have Kagome, my pretties!