Work Text:
Rin decided a while ago that she liked to see him go. There was a comfort in it that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. He didn’t sleep, she knew that as well as he did, but on the days he had to leave, he laid by her side until the horizon prickled with dawn’s blues. Then, he would rise in a way that was far too quiet for a man of his size. Somedays, she would stir when his fingers left her hair, and she would reach for him only to feel him push against her hand. Then, soft lips brushing against her cheek dipping into the space beneath her jaw. He would kiss her, slow and lingering, like he was savoring the feeling of her.
Sometimes, she wondered if he did it because he was afraid that it would be the last time, they could lie together like this. When she asked him, he looked at her as if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. And of course, it didn’t, because he made her an oath to return, and thoughts of failing in his obligation to that promise would be beneath him. By the time he climbed out of their bed, she would have been kissed into a half-doze, only able to watch him from beneath her lashes as he started to dress.
He glowed as if his body was made of moonlight, slipping in and out of her sight like the moon’s lazy turn around the earth. She would giggle to herself when she recalled Kagome’s ramblings about science, and how her face blanched as she recalled the tests she used to take. Those memories wouldn’t come upon her most days, but when they did, he would look back at her as he pulled on his inner robes.
Too tired to let him know her mind, she would snuggle against his fur left to the fate of being her pillow that evening. And something in his eyes would soften when he looked at her, his expression peaceful, shaded in the blues and greys of early morning – but so known to her eyes that she can see every shift like the ripples on a placid lake disturbed by a stone’s throw.
Was she the stone, or was she the cause of the ripples? Both, she decided as she allowed herself to settle and watch him in return. A part of her knew she would never grow tired of this – watching him, learning him, loving him, and the time spent away from him only fed that thought.
Her mother-in-law told her that he had been a brat once – overconfident but not unduly, sardonic, pompous, and cruel – but he hadn’t always been that way. Rin held in her heart the image of a little boy with bright eyes, and a sensitive nature. A boy who loved his father and looked at him as if he held up the very heavens, and once he was gone, a part of that boy died as well.
Rin wondered. Who would he be when he returned to their home? What did he see, where did he go, what did he say? He had so few words to give even when he was in a good mood. And as he finished dressing, he would come to reclaim his fur. Gently prying her arms from around its girth by distracting her with kisses to her sleep-warm mouth until she relinquished it in favor of pressing her hands to his neck to bring him closer.
There was no hurriedness to it, despite his impending departure. He didn’t pull away even as she felt the pillowy cushion of his fur slip from beneath her back. His tongue sweeping into her mouth as he cradled her head, easing her down onto the futon. A small part of her would forget he was leaving her soon. Her arms slipped over his shoulders; fingers joined in the silken fall of his hair. She thought he liked the novelty of kissing her, that one day he would tire of it as some men did of their wives, wanting naught but companionship and less of intimacy.
And she had never known him to be passionate in this way, that is until he kissed her for the first time and has taken every opportunity to since.
Rin giggled, dragging back her hands to brush away the wetness clinging to his lips when he shifted enough to look at her with a frown. “Shouldn’t you be going, milord?” She placed her hand on his cheek, brushing her thumb against the mark closest to his eye, and if she hadn’t been so close to his face she might have missed the quick glance toward her mouth. The way that he gathered himself in one blink, longing then not. His lips pressed to her forehead, and she knows he is telling her: “Fine, I will.”
Soft laughter bubbled up as he slipped away, cold rushing in where his warmth had blanketed her. But she wouldn’t complain, drawing her blankets up to her shoulders as she watched him gather himself then finish dressing – his fur wound around his shoulder and his armor tied into place before he slipped his swords into his sash. Her gaze drifted to his feet, still bare, because he did not wear shoes in their home.
Their home, she thought with a giggle.
“Sesshōmaru-sama,” she called as he made his way to the doorway of their bedroom. His head turned slightly, golden gaze finding her in the dim. “… Come home soon, okay?”
On the days she would wake, she would talk to him until he left. When she was not, she dreamt of someone watching over her as she slept and hearing his voice telling her goodbye. But when she woke up, it felt as if it had all been a dream.
“Sleep, Rin.”
A smile turned up her lips as she watched him leave, falling back with a happy sigh.