Work Text:
Lay
Sesshomaru was unashamed to rush through the halls as the morning sun crept along the sky. He was exhausted. Mentally, more so than physically. With no one to breathe a word of his actions and his family’s quarters within reach, slowing his pace wasn’t an option. He slipped around corners soundlessly, passing by the quarters of dignitaries and breezing past half-opened doors and windows barely lit with dawn light.
Quiet murmurings from attendants beginning their daily tasks floated to his ears and were promptly dismissed. Whilst few of the palace’s inhabitants were waking to greet the early dawn, he hoped the ones whom he sought out were not. He ached for his bed. Sweet gentle pressure from his daughters’ hugs around his legs and arms, their earnest displays of affection missed after seven nights apart. Even Jaken’s crowing or his mother’s dry teasing would have been appreciated in comparison to the snarling and bickering yōkai snapping at his heels incessantly.
Though what he missed the most was his wife. Rin insisted that he sleep next to her through the nights though he did little more than close his eyes, dwelling between wakefulness and dozing. Her palm covetously placed over his heart as she slept peacefully, sleep-mused hair obscuring his view of her face and tickling his nose as he pressed a kiss to her head. He missed the way she curled against him. Batting him away when he tried to wake her with a gentle shake or a word. Brown eyes, glossed with sleep, opening blearily to meet his own. Her lips pressing together then tipping up at the corners into a gentle smile as she whispered a good morning to him.
Sesshomaru breathed in deeply then exhaled through his nose, dispelling the thought. His quick strides eased into a brisk walk as he found himself in the hall outside of his family’s shared chamber, a ringing sound breaking the silence as the tip of his boot connected with something. Looking down, he saw an orange and yellow temari rolling into a swath of pale blue light streaking across the dark wooden floors.
He stepped forward slowly and leant down to pick it up. Bells sounded again as he scooped it up in his palm. The corners of his lips twitched up to a smile as he recalled Rin’s finished product. His thumb brushed against the green circles dotted along the ball’s seams just as Towa’s had when Rin presented the ball to her. Setsuna, standing aside her sister with her own.
The ringing was endless, both girls intending to make good on their mother’s gift, and Rin laughed, leaning into him when Jaken began to tremble with barely kept annoyance.
“I give him two hours before he’s chasing them with the staff,” she said.
Sesshomaru looked to her then, and the mischievous twinkle in her eyes summoned a ghost of a smile on his lips. “A half.”
“Of an hour?” She asked incredulously, brows raised and lips parted in disbelief.
He couldn’t help himself in leaning closer to kiss her as he hummed an affirmative. Her laughter muffled, turning to a soft sigh beneath the temari’s ringing.
Sesshomaru sighed. The memory receded as he turned the temari between his palms. It was chilled and likely had stayed in the halls once Towa had finished playing with it for the evening. Her scent was heavily embedded in the fabric along with small hints of Setsuna’s and Rin’s. Together then, he thought to himself, tucking the temari in the crook of his arm as he went to find his family.
Rin’s scent was stale on the path leading to their chambers and after such a time apart, he doubted she would have slept there for long. A twinge of guilt nestled in his chest and burned at the thought of her curled in their bed alone. She never clung to him or demanded his presence. Autonomy was the basis of their relationship and while they were independent of each other, what drew them together was stronger than what kept them separate. Rin was comforting. He could forget the world outside of her embrace with his nose nestled against the hollow of her throat, and her arms wound around him.
To go without that was nothing new, but the sting remained. .
He could hardly imagine how the girls had taken his leaving. The only comfort he had being they weren’t alone — Rin aside, his mother and Jaken were also present to entertain them or give them affection as they needed.
The love of another will never compare to their father’s. You aren’t replaceable, Sesshomaru-sama.
He held the temari tighter, relenting as to not ruin its shape. Rin’s voice echoed in his mind as he slid the door open, taking a moment to brush his fingers against the prints along their door’s hikite. Fireflies etched into the paper rented against the wood. A reminder, Rin had told him when it was complete, her hand fitting into his own. He wondered at the time why he would need something to remind him. As if he would forget that night.
Sliding the door open, he stepped inside and surely enough, their bed was empty. The room cleaned to the point where Rin’s books were neatly set upon the small desk off to the corner. Sesshomaru moved seamlessly through the darkness, setting down the temari near Rin’s desk and brushing his knuckles across her journals and papers with half-written missives poking out from beneath their binding. He slipped a hand in his clothes, pulled out several opened envelopes, and tethered them together with a tie borrowed from the small jar set on her desk.
He wound them together as he walked to the other end of the room to a chest with several long drawers where more of his belongings were kept. Little effects though Sesshomaru had, he kept what interested him. Glimpsing over the letters for a second time, he kneeled down before the chest and, opening a small swinging door in the lower-right corner, removed the small sliding door and eased out an obsidian varnished box.
Opening the top of it, several dusted and aged envelopes were joined by the ones in hand. The chest closed after he studied the envelopes for a moment longer then tucked the box away, setting the door in place and closing the outer one. With a flourish, Sesshomaru stood and started to disrobe. His blades were kept within arms reach as he undid the ties on his armor, slipping it over his head and setting it on the stand. His boots, having been taken off at the door, were set facing outward.
Weariness was tender against his patience and in his eagerness, he sniffed the air, delighted to find their scents together. His ear twitched at the even breaths and hushed snoring from Towa and Rin. Setsuna’s mumbling half-broken sentences, nonsensical and brief, cutting off before he could discern what she was talking about. Rin assured that it was temporary, but he still remained vigilant when the girls dropped into slumber.
Relief cooled Sesshomaru’s exhausted mind as he slid open the fusuma, watching as the endless sky painted on its surface moved aside, granting him the view of his family. His collection of scrolls filled with his father’s stories were strewn about the floor amidst pieces from games, flower crowns, paper dried with paint, and emptied bowls. Light outlined their sleeping forms. Towa half-falling from her side of the futon, flecks of blue and green paints beneath her fingertips, her yukata messily done. Setsuna laid with her fur tucked beneath her head, her hand brushing shy of Towa’s stomach, claw catching on her sister’s obi. And aside them both, fast asleep beneath the cherry blossom printed sleeves of his childhood furisode, was Rin.
One arm stretched over the girls while the other tucked beneath her head, flower petals messily clinging to her hair. Sesshomaru could only imagine what manner of mischief and play they’d gotten up to in his absence, but he was content to watch them for a moment longer. Setting to the task of cleaning up to prolong his moments with them, he was careful to avoid making too loud of a sound that would rouse his daughters’ from their slumber.
It was only after he finished with the last of the scrolls, tucking it away on the shelf where it belonged, that he heard a quiet murmuring of his name.
He glanced over his shoulder, finding Rin half-propped up with her chin resting on the palm of her hand. Eyes still closed and voice heavy with sleep, but awake. He said nothing. Partly not expecting her to be awake and also to hear what she would say once her body caught up to her mind. As her lips parted, he pressed his together tightly, and smiled as she let out a jaw-cracking yawn. She muttered a curse under her breath before she sniffled and lied down again.
“Welcome home…”
Sesshomaru smiled to himself and stood, strolling over to her side and sinking down to his knees just shy of where the comforter was bunched at one end of the futon. Taking it in hand, he lifted it up and over as Rin began to shuffle backward, raising a hand to stop him.
“Lay.”
He raised a brow. “It would hardly be comfortable,” he pointed out, glancing at how the three of them were sprawled.
“I’m not looking for comfort,” Rin murmured, holding her hand out and pawing about in the darkness. Sesshomaru huffed, more fond than annoyed, and eased her hand back to her side. Lying down at her back, his arm slipped over her waist as he tucked his nose against her shoulder. Rin’s soft sigh and gentle pat to the back of his hand stammered his heart’s beating, and he closed his eyes to savor the feeling of her cuddling close to him.
Setsuna seemed to process that as her cue to curl closer to her mother, which in turn prevented Towa from tumbling off the futon entirely. Sesshomaru wanted to point out that he was right and that this was barely comfortable, but in a way, it was.
“How did it go?” Rin asked, scratching small circles along his wrist.
Sesshomaru hummed low in his throat. “Norimasa is growing, and the headman wished for me to give you her condolences for not visiting. She asked that we bring Towa and Setsuna when we visit next, informally.”
Rin chuckled sleepily. “I’m glad, but I meant how are you…?”
When the question left her lips, Sesshomaru felt humbled, exhausted, and enamored. Rin shifted slightly, her shoulder brushing against his chin and he glanced up to see her peeking at him.
Sesshomaru smiled faintly, nudging against her cheek then tucking a kiss against her temple. “… Complete.”