Innocent Beginnings

Innocent Beginnings
By: Maggz
Disclaimer: InuYasha and Co. © Rumiko Takahashi

Chapter 34: All's Well That Ends Well


...And so it went. Sesshomaru and I `mended our fences'. We `called a truce'. We `made up'. There WAS no more KISSING and making up but he tried very hard to show me just how sorry he really was about everything that had happened.


Two days after he'd found me at Kohaku's and brought me back home, he sent a huge bouquet of baby pink roses - my favorites. There must've been three dozen in the bunch and they were absolutely gorgeous. My entire room smelled heavenly - in fact, the whole house smelled that way for the remainder of the week.


He also came by twice to spend a bit of what he called, `quality time' with me. We did nothing but sit on the porch swing and talk, order pizza in, and watch movies. It was nice, kinda like old times again. I'd missed it; I just hadn't realized how MUCH I'd missed it.


Kohaku stopped by on the second afternoon that Sesshomaru was visiting and to my surprise, they chatted and went on like old chums. I could only look back and forth between the two of them as they talked about football, music, jobs and the like. After I'd given it time to sink in, I realized it was kind of nice to have them on the same wavelength - chatting and laughing like friends. It made me breathe a bit easier... that was until Kohaku spoke up just before leaving to ask if I still wanted to go over to watch him shoot hoops with Shippo a little later.


I could feel the tension ebbing from Sesshomaru as soon as the words left Kohaku's mouth and determined to make a show of my independence as well as TEST him with his newfound promises to me... I smiled at Kohaku, rose from the sofa and walked over to give him a quick kiss, telling him I'd be ready as promised IF he remembered he'd said he was taking me out for chili dogs after the game.


Kohaku had seemed pleased. I'm sure it was a `guy thing', and after kissing me back, he grinned over at Sesshomaru and said his goodbyes to him. Sesshomaru smiled tightly and rose off the sofa to come stand by me at the door as Kohaku jogged lightly down the steps and toward his car. It almost made me laugh when I felt Sesshomaru slip his arm around my waist just in time for Kohaku to glance back and catch it.


I turned to look at him once the sound of Kohaku's poor little car had quieted and found HIM looking right back into my eyes, a funny but sad little smile on his lips.


"What?", I smiled, punching him lightly in the chest.


"What the hell was THAT for?", he frowned, capturing my hands in his as he rubbed over the spot where I'd socked him.


"YOU!", I laughed, wriggling one hand free to put on his shoulder.


"What ABOUT me?", He countered. "I surely wasn't the one getting covered in your sweet kisses, now was I? I'M not the one taking you out ght ght either, am I?", he asked, raising a brow.


"I'm too young for you, remember?", I frowned.


"...and so you are for Kohaku.", he commented.


"No. There's a difference, Sesshomaru. Kohaku doesn't THINK I'm too young for him but YOU do. It's all in the way you look at things.", I said before stepping around him and walking into the kitchen.


"...ah, I see and just HOW does your boyfriend LOOK at things, Rin? Or better still, WHAT does he look at?"


"Don't start it, Sesshomaru! Things have been going so wonderfully!", I begged, reaching into the cupboard for a bag of crisps.


"It just sticks in my craw that you might be sleeping with him! That's all!", he glowered, taking the bag out of my hands to reach inside for his own.


"I DO sleep with him.", I said, watching as his ears reddened.


"FUCK THAT!", he roared, throwing the bag onto the counter and grabbing my hands in his own. "Are you playing with me, RIN or is it the truth I'm hearing now?", his breathing was hard.


"Jeez, Sesshomaru! I was- stop that, it hurts!", I whined, pulling at my hands where he was crushing them with his own.


"Not until you tell me the truth, Rin!"


"The truth, OK. Well, I DO sleep with Kohaku sometimes at his place. I didn't say have SEX, did I? I said SLEEP and that's what YOU asked me, right? Yes, I sleep with him from time to time!", I argued.


"You like making me jealous, is that it?", he asked.


"No. That would be YOU that does that, trying to make me jealous.", I shot back.


"What in the HELL have you got to be jealous of, Rin? There's nobody in my life that occupies the place you have in my heart. You KNOW that! How could you NOT!?", he frowned.


"And what IS that place, Sesshomaru?", I asked, my heart pounding a hundred miles per hour now.


"Dear God! You KNOW the answer and I'm not gonna play your little game with you just so you can say you've won! Now stop it!", he said and dropped my hands as he turned away from me.


"Then what is... I mean, what was SHE?", I asked quietly.


I could see his shoulders tense at my question, but damn it all I wanted an answer from him!


"Nobody.", he answered me, just as quietly. "She's a fucking nobody..."


A nobody that came to the STATES to follow him around like a puppy... or was it the other way round? Was he following her around when she deigned to honor him with her presence? I just wasn't sure. She sure hadn't seemed like a NOBODY as far as I was concerned.


"Nobody...", I whispered.


He turned around, his eyes troubled and walked back toward me, his arms held wide.


"Yeah, nobody.", he said softly as he folded me into his embrace and pressed his lips against my temple.


"OK.", I breathed. I so wanted to believe him, with everything in my POWER I wanted to know that this was true, but I just didn't trust myself to believe him only to be hurt once more.


"Sesshomaru?", I whispered against his shoulder.


"Ummm?


"You and me... will we... I mean... we'll always be close, right?", I asked, a huge lump forming in my throat.


"RIN? Where is THAT coming from?", he asked.


"It's just that... with you gone so much and me being busy with school, and when we date others... and... oh shit! I don't KNOW. I just don't feel as safe in the knowledge that you'll always BE there as I did while at Sacred Heart. I mean, now you could just turn and walk away from me, Sesshomaru. I'm HEALTHY, I'm not NEEDY. You'd have nothing to lose, you know?", I said.


"You think that of me, eh?", he whispered, pressing his warm lips to my forehead before heaving a deep sigh.


"No. I... I just don't know.", I cried.


"Know this, Rin Matsumoto. I'm yours `til the end of time. Always! Now what YOU choose to do with that little bit of 411, well, it's all up to you. I'm I'm not going anywhere... at least not HERE.", he said, rubbing a smooth circle over the place where his heart rested.


"You mean it?", I asked, sniffing back tears.


"Yes. I mean it.", he said simply.


"OK.", I smiled, lips trembling.


"So I guess I better get going.", he said. "Seeing as how you've got your boyfriend to get ready for."


"You're terrible!", I laughed, wiping my hands over my face.


"No. YOU are!", he frowned. "He's got no business dating the likes of you. I'll tell you that much...", he mumbled as he walked away from me and toward the front door.


"Sesshomaru. I love you.", I said, smiling brightly as he turned to glance back at me.


"Really, Rin? You do?", he asked.


"Yes. I do.", I nodded, pressing my fingers to my lips and blowing him a kiss. He made a show of capturing the kiss in his fist and pressing his knuckles against his mouth as I laughed.


"See you!", he smiled, turning away from me to run down the steps and out to his car.


I walked to the screened door, watching as he slid underneath the wheel and started the engine. How could my heart ache and rejoice all at the same time???