Pinkie Swear: Thunderstorm

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, any of the characters, etc.

[A/N] This is a one shot. It is a complete fic. There is no more. But its sweet and I am fond of this piece, so I posted it. Enjoy ^_^

PS. Rin is still a child, about three years older than in the anime/manga.

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[Rin, first person]

The first peal of thunder awoke me. Uncurling from the cradling roots of the gnarled oak I had chosen as that night's bed, I immediately scanned my surroundings for Sesshoumaru-sama. No vision of white stood out among the shadowed shapes of the other trees, but the sleeping forms of Jaken and Aun assured me that all was well.
I sat half in, half out of the hollow my body had made in the soft ground, debating whether to go back to sleep. A hollow flash of white lightening, followed by another ground shaking rumble of thunder, convinced me to give up the pursuit of slumber. Balancing against the sturdy trunk of the tree, I removed the bits of leaf litter from my kimono and straightened the way it hung on my small form. Satisfied with the neatness of the garment, I looked up as the first fat raindrop landed on my nose.
At that wet signal, I took off into the forest, as fleet and sure footed as a young deer. I knew that where my lord Sesshoumaru was, there would be warmth, comfort, and shelter from the rain. Unerringly I found him, heading up and into the forest until I came to the boulder strewn clearing that crowned the hill.
There he perched upon the highest rock, looking for all the world like a pagan god as the wind raised his hair and the pelt on his shoulder whipped behind him.
I paused at the treeline, taking temporary refuge from the storm amid the limbs of an elder cedar. Breathless because of the vision of beauty he created, I gazed upon him with my hands braced against the cedar's sticky trunk. The contact both kept me upright in the wind and also grounded me in reality despite the awe that filled my being.

I did not run directly to Sesshoumaru-sama because I knew he might not wish for me to join him. Yet, I never knew when I was welcome. The best I did was to blindly grope after him, hoping to stumble upon a moment when he was in a tolerant, indulgent mood. I had had limited success so far, but those rare moments of kindness, of a smile not riddled by sarcasm, kept me coming back like an addict.
Such was my dilemma. Sesshoumaru-sama was aware of my presence, so if I left now, he would question me about it in the morn. But there was no guarantee that he would acknowledge me should I crawl up beside him.
I paused indecisively, admiring the gorgeous creature that had taken me in. After living with him for these three years, I had come to know the nature of the monster I had offered succor to. Was he a demon? Yes. Through out forever, that would be the way my lord thought of himself. Yet, telling glimpses of his dog side showed through at the oddest moments. Like the way he rubbed his cheek against his pelt, or the way he delicately licked the blood off of his claws. Meticulous in his personal grooming and bathing, he somehow came across as very controlled instead of fussy. As cunning as a wolf, with that spark of intelligence to make him calculating, and the very control that made him himself, all added up to a cold killer that was more than just a predator.
I shook my head instantly at that conclusion. No, Sesshoumaru-sama wasn't a cold killer. Practical, yes. Very practical, to the point of removing any annoyances in his life. To my knowledge, Jaken was the only annoyance Sesshoumaru-sama had allowed to live. Perhaps because my lord secretly loved tormenting the toad. As for myself, I had no doubts that should I prove to be an annoyance, Sesshoumaru-sama would dispatch me with a swipe of his poison claws.
Somehow, my master does not find the constant need to protect me an annoyance. The task of killing my youkai, would-be eaters must strike him as a noble act, an act in which he dispatched the riff-raff of his race. Not once does he comment on my seemingly ability to tempt all youkai in the area into thinking I am a delectable meal. Jaken, on the other hand, complains long and loud. But then, I've never listened to Jaken.
A shiver ran up my back and despite the thick boughs of the cedar, I was quickly becoming thoroughly soaked. Another shiver wracked through me, and belatedly I noticed the cold. Wrapping my arms around myself, I tried to still my body's trembling. Lightening flashed, illuminating everything, but the reason I looked up again was because I felt the weight of my lord's regard.
Amber pools, fiercer and wilder than I had ever seen them, met my own shocked brown ones. I froze like a deer, pinned to the spot by the impersonal, active interest evidenced in his eyes. When I returned his gaze, unable to look away, the heat of his eyes sharpened until I felt the burn of his undivided attention
"Rin," he said quietly into the night, but I heard it as clearly amid the tempest of the storm as if he had whispered it in my ear.
My name.
One word.
Undeniable command.
Heedless of the fury of the storm, I clamored over the rocks until I stood on top of the one just below the one he sat on. From this distance, I could see him clearly and his unearthly beauty choked up my throat. Not just a combination of dog and demon, no. My Sesshoumaru-sama was possessed of a sheer force of spirit and mind that would suit a god better than a mere physical being. In all of my learnings, before my family's death, I was never introduced to a great entity called God, but if a man's god is the being by which he lives and dies and swears by, then Sesshoumaru-sama was my god.
I was unmoving beneath the casual study of my god, waiting with all the faith of a fanatic and all the patience of the blameless. Around us the storm raged unnoticed.
Finally he offered me his hand, and I took it, climbing up beside him. Though he looked like he had been birthed by the torment of elements that surrounded us, his hand was surprisingly warm and welcome against my skin. Silently he tucked his white pelt around me, sheltering me from the storm.
It was dry and fuzzy against my cheek, heavy around my shoulders in a way that suggested that soon it would turn my escaping body heat into a warm haven. But the gesture itself warmed me, from the heart out. It showed caring, a willingness to share comfort, and meant that my presence was welcome to my lord Sesshoumaru.
There was a brightness to his eyes that wasn't usually there, and I named it emotion, for lack of any better understanding of which emotion it was that moved him. Uneasiness curled in my stomach. A show of emotion from Sesshoumaru-sama meant he had relaxed his control. Usually this resulted in many violent and painful deaths, the first of which might be mine.
His hand curled around my head, his fingers threading into my hair. Applying gentle pressure, he bent my head toward him. Then he did the oddest thing of all, and buried his nose in my hair. He inhaled deeply several times, then rested his cheek against my hair, his fingers still threaded through the strands.
"The scent of rain becomes you," he said at last.
I held my breath, anticipation and giddiness twitching in my gut. I fought to stay still, the urge to wrap my arms around his neck in a hug almost more than I could bear. Not only was my Sesshoumaru-sama in a mood to tolerate my presence, he was also in a mood to expound upon whatever was on his mind. If the moon was shining tonight behind all those clouds, it definitely was blue.
"My father died because of a human," he voiced at last. Although he seemed to be talking to himself, I knew that he meant for my ears to hear what he was saying.
"That might be why I hate them so much," he told me, and I wondered anew what made me so special to him that he would forgive the fact that I was one of them.
"Yet now I have you, my Rin.” His voice was soft, so that I could hear the affection in his voice, but it was twinned with a weariness that told me the acceptance of that fact had been hard for him. His fingers began to caress my scalp in idle strokes, as if to reassure himself that I was real and safe.

"The fates must be smiling at the irony," he mused, and I could sense more than see the sad, self mocking smile that graced his lips.
"He was so worried about outliving her, yet it was she who lived after him for several years," he reminisced. Reaching around me, he drew Tensaiga and laid the shining, naked blade across our laps. The initial tension in my shoulders relaxed. I had nothing to fear from this sword. Recklessly he let loose the hilt and returned to stroking my hair. He took another deep breath, sighed in a mixture of bittersweet contentment, and continued talking.
"This is the sword I saved your life with," he told me. "Go ahead, touch it. It should recognize you."
Hesitant to touch the sword that was his birthright, but unwilling to risk his anger by disobeying, I placed the pad of one finger against the flat part of the metal. Accordingly it pulsed, gently humming its pleasure at the life within my body.
Sesshoumaru-sama scowled at it darkly, but there was no anger behind it, only resignation. He sheathed it again, wiping the moisture away from it with his pelt.

"Can you imagine me wielding a healing sword?!" he asked me suddenly, incredulousness in his voice.
I shook my head no under his hand with a tiny movement to the right, then the left. I could not picture my ruthless lord with a sword of mercy, yet the sword was so much a part of him that I would not have separated the two if given the choice. I knew that my opinion would not please him, but I kept it to myself because I knew I was to listen, not talk. More than I loved being with him at moments like this, I sensed that he needed it, that somehow it helped something heal within him.
"Yet my father left it to me, and bid me protect my brother with it," he sighed, looking out into the night. His fingers stilled in my hair at that confession, then resumed their rhythm as he went on.
"By the time I stopped resenting my father's command, Inuyasha was sealed to a tree. There was nothing I could do, and I had a war on my hands."
As incredible as it was, I heard regret lacing his voice.
"Now the last legacy of my lord father, Tessaiga, answers only to that whelp. He no longer needs my protection and never wanted me as his lord. And he steals that which should have been mine, passed down with the title of Lord of the Western Lands, leaving me to utilize inferior weapons like the tainted Toukijin."
The regret was gone, burned away by a heat that stemmed from old wounds that must have started when his father fell in love with a human and when he could no longer see eye to eye with his father. Through it all I sat wide eyed and silent, absorbing it like a sponge.
Sesshoumaru-sama turned to me, lifting my chin with his knuckles so that I met his gaze.
"Do you find me lacking?" he asked in all seriousness.
I regarded him with all the honesty of a child, looking over the features I knew so well. "No."
Abruptly he withdrew from me, casting his eyes skyward again. But I could feel him soaking in the sincerity of my tone, basking in the lack of hesitation with which I answered.
"Go to sleep Rin," he ordered me with all his usual briskness.
Reluctantly I began to rise, but his hand clamped around my arm. "Stupid girl," he chided me. He tucked me into his side, rearranging his pelt to his satisfaction.
"Now, go to sleep Rin," he ordered me again.
And I did, drifting off to the sound of rain and the scent of my lord Sesshoumaru.

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[A/N] I did have this posted under kiistune, but since my nick is spiralbluefetish on ff.net, I decided to switch over to it here. Sorry :P