"..Would you always remember me?"

The summer wind blew through her raven hair as eyes, dark as earth, stared out to the horizon while the sun began to peak from beneath it, changing the colors of the sky to gold and blush. Memories of laughter swept through the tall grass and she could remember being a young child here before, as the sun began to rise. She closed her eyes..

She could remember dancing and spinning as the white seeds of the dandelions lifted into the air like a reversing snow and into the sky to spread their beauty throughout the world. Not everything had been easy for her. In fact, very few things.. 

The girl with the smile that reflected true happiness and innocence, had begun the tragedies in her life by witnessing her parents and her brothers savagely murdered by thieves, leaving her all alone in the world. It was then that she had to learn to take care of herself. No mother to wash and brush her hair and tie flowers together with. No father to toss her into the air and catch her, teaching her to rely on her fathers strong arms. No brothers to wrestle with and annoy. They were all gone. In a world of demons and unspoken creatures, her first trauma.. had come from that of her own kind. The real monsters. Humans.

A fear for humans had plagued her nightmares for as long as she could remember. Except for the gasps and cries in the night as her nightmares took over, she had become a mute. She wouldn't speak to anyone.. further outcasting herself from the rest of the humans in her village as some sort of.. freak. They would beat her and scold her until she was unresponsive. She had memories of lying in the dirt, so sore that she was numb. Dissociating herself until she could move again.. and she would. She would show that fighting spirit even before she knew what that spirit was. She would pushed herself up and make her way back to her abandoned home to live another day.

She discovered the daiyoukai Sesshomaru in a forest near her village. Relentlessly and fearlessly tried to help him, even though he would not accept it. She went through the trouble of finding food in the village preserves or in the forest itself, and brought this food to him. Sesshomaru never actually ate the food or accepted the help she gave him, but she continued with her actions. She was caught rummaging through one of the village's fish preserves, and some village men beat her and warned her not to do it again. When she later brought food she foraged in the forest, Rin's visible injuries sparked Sesshoumaru 's curiosity, and he asked her about them. This brought about a beaming smile on Rin's bruised face. Sesshoumaru scoffed at her, silently wondering what had made her suddenly so happy.

When Rin returned to her home later that day, she discovered a thief going through her food. She was shocked and remained in the doorway, frightened by the man. When the man realized she was there, they could hear the sounds of the Wolf-Demon tribe attacking the village and searching for the thief. Whilst the thief ran off, Rin realized that she had to get away from the village. She ran into the forest, hoping to escape with her life. However, the wolves gave chase to her and she was soon overcome and killed by them. Her last thoughts were of Sesshoumaru .

Elsewhere, Sesshoumaru had been rejoined by his traveling companions Jaken and a two-headed dragon. He picked up the scent of blood and discovered Rin's corpse in passing. Her death did not interest him and he had planned to continue on his way, but he recalled the girl's smile from earlier, which made him pause. He unsheathed Tenseiga and it began to pulsate, allowing him to see the messengers from the other world surrounding her corpse. To satisfy his sudden curiosity, he tested his sword Tenseiga and he slew the messengers. Once he had, Sesshoumaru knelt down by her side and was satisfied when she opened her eyes. Feeling his task complete, he stood back up and continued on his way, ignoring the questions from Jaken. Without a care, Rin followed him, and became a part of his entourage from then on. She regained the ability to talk when she was revived, so she spoke very often to Jaken, the two-headed dragon whom she named A-Un and to Sesshoumaru as well. Oh how she spoke to him in ways Jaken would verbally punish her for.. but her Lord Sesshoumaru did not seem to mind. If he did, he need not say a word.. for a stern look was enough to get her to calm herself.

Being a young girl without combat skills, presented the problem of becoming a liability to Sesshoumaru when he battled. She dutifully remained in safe places far from the battlefields as instructed of her, often awaiting his return with A–Un and Jaken. She was also told she would have to fend for herself if she ever got hungry. This did not faze her, and she agreed since she already knew how to survive on her own. He had Jaken accompany her to assist whenever she went in search of food, much to his argument. Though even the small demon eventually gained a soft spot for the girl.

Her mind had wandered to the past. To the past where she had journeyed with Lord Sesshoumaru, A-Un, and Master Jaken and had the best days of her life. When she eleven, it all ended. Lady Kaede, a kind old woman from the village near the well that Lady Kagome and Master Inuyasha had settled down, had thought it best that Rin know how to survive with her own kind. That it was safer for her. Oh how terrible a day it was to be left with humans again. Not that Lady Kaede wasn't always kind to Rin but.. she wasn't Sesshoumaru.

Oh she longed for his vists. Frequent, at first.. until they grew farther apart. Perhaps he didn't know that she noticed. How could he. How could he know that she went to bed every night after looking out at the forest line or the horizon of the sky, hoping to see him come back for her. She learned much over the years. She learned medicine, how to shoot a bow and arrow, how to identify herbs and how to throw a Kusarigama from Kohaku. She didn't like fighting, not in the least, but she had hoped that if she could prove to the others, prove to Lord Sesshoumaru that she could be ready for whatever came their way and that she didn't have to hide anymore.. that he would finally come and take her away. 

Kohaku was a kind boy who grew into a kind young man. She could hear the whispers or the huddled words of Kagome and her friends when they said how cute Kohaku and Rin looked together. What a wonderful match they would make! But it was then, and as she grew older, then she noticed more and more how long it took for her Lord Sesshoumaru to come back to her. 

She closed her eyes again and let the memories fade of such a time. Even then, she never really fit in. But now..

"Rin! Are you coming or not!? We must not keep Lord Sesshoumaru waiting!"

Eyes, dark as earth, opened again and she lifted a hand to brush back the long raven hair she now held in her youthful womanly age, and turned to see Master Jaken calling for her across the field. She could see Lord Sesshoumaru waiting at the edge of the forest before catching her eye and turning to leave within the trees. "Coming Master Jaken!" a now soft, tender voice called out to him before she turned again and looked down at the village from the top of the hill. He had returned.. and for some reason, she didn't have to stay anymore. The village had not yet awoken but perhaps this was the best way to leave. No goodbyes of saddness, no desperate words to make her stay. This village, as kind as it was to her, had never truly been home. Her home was with him. 

In those last moments, she saw Kaede, always the first one awake, exit her hut and look up the hill to see Rin there. It was in that moment she knew. Rin offered her a smile, Kaede returned a sorrowful one- perhaps hoping the girl had found this village to be the place where she belong to drown out the wanderlust she felt after the demon who had saved her so long ago. With that smile held, Rin turned and once again her bare feet padded through the grass, the trail of her kimono and the length of her hair blowing in the breeze, her giggle in the wind and a smile on her face as she ran after them.. once again home.

"Um, I was wondering Lord Sesshoumaru. If I died one day, I was wondering... Would you always remember me?"--Rin, Age 9