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Artwork by Ge--yo
Rin had not realised it at that point of time, but when Sesshoumaru had dropped her off at Grandmother Kaede’s several years ago and demanded that she stayed to apprentice with the old woman, her adopted father was in fact, selling her off to child-slavery.
“You are human. Learn to be one.”
“But--”
“Had you not expressed your desire to become a healer like the priestess?”
“Yeah, but--”
“Then learn. No child of mine should be satisfied with being a weak-brained fool. Human lives are short, make the most of it.”
The atrocity!
As if he was so smart himself?
He?
The same demon who ate the tough hairs off of wild hogs whole even though he hated it, just because he could not be bothered to strip the hide?
Hypocrite.
So she had pouted. She had argued. She had sat on the ground petulantly with her knees to her chin for hours until her butt ached.
But Sesshoumaru had not budged, not even when she conjured up tears and wailed (he had seen through that immediately), and guilt-tripped him by asking if he was abandoning her now that she wasn’t small and adorable like before (he had scoffed, saying that she had been more annoying than adorable even from the very start). When she had finally relented and grumbled that she would stay to apprentice, he took her embrace with a hand on her head, grunting a stern reminder to study hard, and a promise to visit frequently.
Well, it’s not like he didn’t keep his promise. And he picked her up frequently to spend time at his home with himself and Kagura on the measly vacation days that Grandmother Kaede let her take too.
Not that that mattered anyway, seeing how Kaede treated her like free labour to deal with trivial tasks that she wanted done. Half of what she did wasn’t even related to healing or medicine. Picking warabi to make mochi for the children in summer? Why, she herself was a children. No wonder Inuyasha called the old woman kuso--
“You do know I’m only back home because its my week off from training with the taijiya team, right?” Kohaku grumbled next to her, pushing himself up to stand with his arms on his bent knees.
Rin blinked, shaking herself out of her mental cussing at her elderly mentor. She turned her head and took a glance at him before she resumed prodding at the dirt surrounding a stalk of the fern that was embedded in the ground. “Yeah, and?”
“Jiro worked me really hard yesterday! My shoulders and thighs are aching like they’re going to split open any time now.” He tsked, side-eyeing her. “Can’t believe you’re making me help you with your chores-”
“Hey, I helped you with yours last week. Ungrateful.” She rolled her eyes, just as the warabi stalk pulled free. “You were just lying around at your sister’s anyway.”
“Yeah, because my entire body was aching from training!”
“Please. It’s not that tough--”
“I had to carry another guy on my back and run up a mountain track twice. Twice, Rin!”
Huh, that did sound pretty tough.
Oh, well.
“Too much rest is going to undo that hard work, you know.” She stood up straight and threw the stalk behind her head into the basket that was tied to her back, adjusting the straps at her arms. She smiled, and cocked her head. “In a way, I’m helping you.”
He groaned, then flicked a bit of soil on his fingers at her. “Shut up. He wasn’t a small guy too.”
“You get more days off than I do, Kohaku. Don’t complain.”
“You eat sashimi and lounge in silks with Kagura nee-san on your days off. I take care of my nieces on mine.” He scoffed, and flicked his fingers at her again.
She dodged to avoid his flicking, and chuckled. He had pulled out another stalk from the ground, and was standing up with visible effort, groaning softly under his breath and pushing his bangs back with his free hand. He lifted a shoulder to wipe the sweat at the side of his face and...
The straps at his sleeves exposed his biceps, and him moving his shoulder like that pulled more of the fabric up.
The training he was getting with his taijiya masters were evidently paying off.
She blinked, and looked away sharply.
Her face and neck were feeling warm because spring was already well near its end, she decided. Or maybe she had over-exerted her body. This bending and squatting to pluck out those stupid ferns was tough physical work after all.
“Let’s take a break then.” She sighed, her hands on her waist. “It’s getting warm.”
Kohaku grunted his agreement, already shrugging off the basket on his back. He dropped down to sit on the ground gingerly then spread his legs out in front of him before he leaned back and plopped his back onto the grass with a groan. “Did you bring water?”
Uh..
Huh, she had forgotten to. “Nope. Sorry.” She shrugged, pulling her own basket off her back before arranging herself to sit beside him.
A quick glance at both of their baskets revealed that they had a long way to go if they were to collect enough to make warabimochi. Rin sighed, leaning back to rest on her palms. She closed her eyes, savouring the gentle breeze that rolled past, bringing with it the sweet scent of flowers that were still in bloom.
She let a small smile spread across her lips. She supposed it was a lovely day, all considered.
“Hey, Rin?”
“Hn?”
“You ever...think back to those days when there were more demons than humans around you?”
She opened her eyes. Hm? That was out of the blue.
“You mean when I was still travelling around with Sesshoumaru and Jaken?” She cocked her head. “Yeah, sometimes.”
“Oh. Well...I do too. Sometimes.”
Rin turned her head to look at him, but Kohaku had his eyes closed, his arms thrown above his head on the grass. “Why did you ask, though?”
“I just..No, nevermind.” He breathed, his voice quiet. She waited.
“It’s just.. The way the air smells, right now. It...brought back this memory of doing a stakeout for Naraku.”
Ah.
She nodded, humming softly, but not saying anything else. When Kohaku was in moods like this, all she could do was listen, and desperately hope that her listening ear was of comfort for him.
It has been several years now. Rin herself could hardly remember the time before she had met Sesshoumaru, when he had taken her in as his own.
But things like that never did fully go away, did it?
“It was a beautiful day, too.” He sniffed, then chuckled joylessly, a bitterness laced his voice. “Too beautiful for what I was doing then.”
“Mhmm.” She nodded again, her eyes downcast as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “Were you already hanging out with Kagura?”
A soft rustling indicated that he had sat up. Kohaku slounched with his forearms resting on his knees. “Yeah.”
She flicked him a smile. “You’ve really known her a long time, huh.”
He nodded, his eyes fixed on some point in the distance. Another gentle breeze brushed past them and she closed her eyes again, enjoying how it cooled down her skin.
“Had she changed much since then?”
Kohaku shrugged. “Maybe. Not really, I guess. Although,” he straightened his back and rolled his shoulders backwards with a grimace on his lips, “she laughs more now. And is less angry.”
Ah, of course. Freedom would do that to a person.
She smiled, then pressed a hand to her lips as she giggled.
“Those terrible unfunny jokes of hers? Had she always loved those?”
He paused in his stretching and fixed his eyes on her, a brow raised. His eyes narrowed as he seemingly considered his response for a moment. “Nah. That’s probably entirely Miroku-aniki’s fault.”
Rin threw her head back and laughed. That much was true. It was an unusual friendship that nobody saw coming, but ever since the first time the monk unsealed and finished an entire jar of rice wine with Kagura when she and Sesshoumaru had visited her in the human village for new years’, it had become some kind of a monthly ritual for them to meet and drink until one of them passed out.
Her heart lightened at hearing Kohaku chuckling along with her. “I’m telling him you said that.” She grinned, punching him lightly on the arm.
“I tell him that myself almost everyday.” He scoffed good-naturedly as he ran a hand through his bangs. “Well, what about you, then?”
“Hm?”
“The time before you came to live here in the village. I mean, it’s obvious Lord Sesshoumaru took care of you but, you know, how was it?”
Oh.
“Well, I...I enjoyed it, actually.”
She frowned, feeling...somewhat awkward. Would he feel disappointed that she did not have the same negative memories of living with demons? She breathed in. “Sesshoumaru really did take care of me. And Jaken was like an annoying uncle that you love no matter how annoying he gets.” She continued carefully, glancing at his face for his reaction as she did.
A small smile was on his lips as he nodded, still staring at some distant spot away. “That must be nice.”
She nodded. “I saw so many different places and people while travelling with them. Of course, it was a little scary sometimes, but...everyday was an adventure, you know?”
Kohaku hummed, nodding. He said nothing, and the gentle smile was still on his face, so she continued.
“To be honest, sometimes, the peaceful way of living in the village becomes a little dull if I compare it to those days.” She shrugged. “I know how much bigger the world is. Feels weird sometimes knowing that I’m staying here when there’s so much out there I haven’t seen.”
“Don’t you agree, Kohaku?” She turned to face him, grinning. And he...
He was looking right at her, the smile on his lips widened.
She looked away, casting her eyes back out to the field of bright green in front of them, speckled with the whites, yellows, and pinks of budding summer wildflowers.
Summer was definitely at their doorsteps. That must be it.
“You’ll like being taijiya, I think.” He chuckled.
She had not noticed it changing, but since when had Kohaku’s voice been so deep? Almost like a man’s..
Warm. The afternoon sun was making her feel way too warm.
She shrugged, waving a hand at her face to stave off the heat. “Maybe. I bet I won’t be whining like an injured dog after some training like you, though.”
He barked out a laugh. “You wish. You’d be crawling to move anywhere after just the induction programme.” He pushed himself to his feet, and grabbed the strap to his basket. “You have to finish your apprenticeship with Grandmother Kaede first, anyway. You have, what, half a year more to go, right?”
She grunted. “Yeah.”
“Well, let’s get this warabi-collecting done quickly or she’ll extend it for another few months for your incompetence again.” He tsked as he secured his basket back on his shoulders and surveyed the sight before them. “Gods, as if it wasn’t hard enough. There are so many wildflowers out here making it difficult to find those stalks.”
“Hey, they’re really pretty, alright?” She stood up too, pulling her basket on. “I love wildflowers. Picked them a lot wherever I went with Sesshoumaru.”
Kohaku scrunched his face up, incredulous. “What? Pretty? They’re literally everywhere.”
“Just because they’re common doesn’t mean they aren’t pretty, stupid.” She nudged him with an elbow, then laughed when he winced at the assault to his sore muscles. “You know, back then, when Sesshoumaru was in a good mood, he let me weave some of the ones I’d picked into his hair.”
He laughed. “Really? That’s humiliating. I can’t imagine--”
“Shut up, they look really nice! See, I’ll show you.” She squatted down, breaking a small white flower by the stem with her fingernails. She stood, then reached up to slide the flower onto the back of his ear.
“There.” She grinned, stepping back to admire her work. “You see, it’s really pretty!”
...Kohaku was staring at her, his lips slightly parted and his eyes wide.
What? What was--
A slight flush was crawling up his neck and darkening the tip of his ears.
Ah. She--
She snatched her hand back. Her face heated, and this time, Rin knew she couldn’t keep blaming it on the changing seasons.
“That’s-that’s dumb, Rin.” He spluttered, looking away. Kohaku had a hand on his neck, scratching idly. He suddenly moved, taking wide steps forwards ahead of her. “I- I must look really silly now.”
Ah.
He hated it...
Her heart fell as she pursed her lips, following behind him as she secured the basket straps tighter to her back. She kept her eyes to the ground.
Ugh! Stupid Rin. Stupid! Gods, why did she have to ruin it by doing tha--
“Anyway, we have to hurry it up.” Kohaku paused, turning to wait for her to catch up. “Grandmother Kaede would really chew you out if you didn’t do this task properly, right?” He called out.
She looked up.
He wasn't looking at her, still, but he had that gentle smile on his face - brows upturned slightly, and his lips stretched.
He reached up with a hand to tuck the flower deeper into the hair at his ear before he turned around again and continued trudging ahead.
She blinked.
Oh.
He didn’t throw it away.
Her heart pounded, and she knew she was grinning like a fool.
“Wait up!” She jogged a little to catch up, her cheeks mildly aching from the way her lips were stretched widely from ear to ear. Her spirits soared at seeing the tiny green stalk bounce at Kohaku’s ear with each one of his steps.
Maybe next time, if he let her, she could weave a few into his ponytail.
This chore wasn’t all that bad after all.