Chapter Text
Everything that lives will someday die.
It felt like a lifetime ago when Jaken told Rin she was insatiable. She figured she should have forgotten such a simple word in the litany of scoldings she received from her old caretaker. But back then, their parting cursed her with a bittersweet longing that would only grow as those words chiseled into the back of her mind with the image of the imp stealing glances over his shoulder as he waved farewell. Though Rin resolved never to tell Jaken how she felt that day, lest he forgot the exchange or burst into tears at the memory, she had to concede that he was right.
To put it simply, she was insatiable, but for what constantly eluded her.
While she knew when enough was enough or when she'd received too little to do with or too much to handle — there were things that she would never tire of and others she craved endlessly. Experiences she wouldn't trade for any number of riches in the world with utterly irreplaceable people. Saying 'no' was much easier than it had been as a child. When all she could do was take the scraps given to her, hoping that her deference was enough to sate the egos of the adults who were quick to dole out a beating, dread from those days still woke her at the small hours of the night, but now she was not alone to brave the living purgatory of grief and sorrow.
The daiyōkai she called husband, to the chagrin of many whose voices did not reach the heaven she found in his arms. His quiet voice, music to her ears, drowned out the dissenting cries of her pursuing ghosts. While he was a man of few words, she cherished how many he gifted her when she lost her voice to the tatters of an old promise. He promised her little, for his love was in certainty rather than speculation. And if it was in his power, she knew he would have taken those days from her mind, but she refused even the silent offer to find a permanent solution to her phantom pains.
Revenge hadn't crossed her mind no matter how vile the memory was, but if it had, then this would be her vengeance. She would take their hatred and unrest, loathing and sorrow, and live through each day.
Thriving as a married woman and mother to a pair of wonderfully rambunctious children. Her hunger growing, for now, she had a family again. One that grew from her womb and the connections between her heart to others. A beautiful family filled with warm faces, outstretched hands, and kind words. They were all quite odd, but Rin rationalized that so was she, and she yearned for every day that she could spend with them. She came to terms with the knowledge that a part of her would always be that small child who ran from what she feared to protect her own life, but she nurtured that child against her own beating heart. Showed life's splendor through every morning and coaxed her into slumber when specters touched her dreams in the night. Never again would she tell her to quiet her tears or to hide her splotchy, reddened face as she wept inconsolably.
The briars around her heart were sharpened to a point, bleeding Rin of her joy as she plucked them one by one. Whispering promises to that small girl who deserved none of the abuse she endured, promises that she would never allow a child to suffer as she had. She would become the person that child needed back then. The mother Rin's own had been would come alive beneath her skin as she wrapped her arms around her children and held them close.
In that moment Rin decided, nothing would come before her daughters.
The humans she grew up alongside could have opinions as long as they treated her children civilly. Flowers would only become vile in a wicked garden, and just as her mother had before her, Rin would shield children's budding hearts until they could blossom and stand tall on their own. Perhaps humans and demons would always hate them for what they were rather than what they'd done, and one day she would need to explain that the world was not as beautiful as it seemed.
But for now, they were children. She had passed down her insatiable hunger for life to them, and she happily watched as they grew. All of their time spent earnestly chasing after their desires while being lavished with affections rightfully theirs since before their birth. Her opinions differed from her husband's. To her, there would be time for explanations and earth-shattering revelations later. For now, they were sweet and looked at the world with eyes filled with wonder. Their voices drowned her fears and doubts of the future, and every time they referred to her as "Mama," she felt a part of her filled to the brim with love.
Drawn from her thoughts, Rin gazed down at the children caught in the throes of sleep as they pillowed their heads on her thighs. Blankets decorated with butterflies and temari rippled over their curled legs as they shifted in their slumber, splayed out then continued to snooze away the afternoon. Absentmindedly, she ran her fingers over the messy tie of her eldest's ponytail and brushed away her youngest's bangs. Sleepy murmurs were her reward and squirming placing pressure on her numbed thighs as they curled closer to her.
"Let them sleep as much as they want," Rin told Jaken when he came to bring her a cup of tea, pitying her as she couldn't move without waking either child. Hands warmed with cup's ridges resting between her palms, Rin tipped her head back as a wave of yōki washed over the house's shingled roof. A silhouette swallowed up the light in the front yard leaving the grass washed in shadow. Jaken jolted, holding the platter to his chest as he stared up at the ceiling with bulging eyes while a smile ghosted Rin's lips.
"Welcome home, Sesshōmaru-sama.”