Inuyasha Oneshot: Sesshomaru's Delicate Flower

Like I said in my first one-shot for this pairing, they're just too cute not to write more about. This was a little idea that popped into my head after watching episode 75,when Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and Koga fight the panther tribe (though I've been working on this fic a while now. Im on like ep 97 of the anime now). Hope you guys like this little one-shot. Please review!

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The information on the flower Hydrangea was found on various sites including Wikidpedia and Teleflora.

Summary: When Rin comes down with a terrible cold, Sesshomaru goes in search of something to make the poor girl feel better.

"Lord Sesshomaru, I don't feel so good..."

That was all the little eight year old girl had said before she fell off Ah-Un's back right onto the ground in a face-plant. Sesshomaru instantly ran to her aid and discovered the human to have a terrible fever and heavy breathing. It had somewhat baffled the dog-demon at first. Of all the time she had traveled with him, Rin had never been in the horrible state she was now. Her face beet-red, sweat pouring down her cheeks as she coughed and wheezed in agony. He had never seen someone in such a condition before.

"I believe the human girl has what their kind refers to as a cold," stated an irritable Jaken who had just fetched water from the nearby river, "I got what you requested, Lord Sesshomaru."

The white-haired man simply motioned for his servant to put the bucket down beside Rin, who laid on the ground with Sesshomaru's fur laying over her like a blanket.

"What a troublesome child." The demon frog thought aloud with the shake of his head, "Getting sick and forcing us to stop early for the night. What a pain."

Sesshomaru's frown worsened at his servant's words, "Jaken."

The frog turned to his lord with the rotate of his head, "Yes, Master?"

"Go get some more firewood."

"R-Right away, my lord!" With that, Jaken was gone yet again.

Sesshomaru's lips twitched upward a moment. Good. With Jaken gone, maybe he and the ill Rin could get some peace and quiet.

"Nghhh..."

Sesshomaru's golden orbs wandered down to Rin who still had a scarlet, sweaty face. Extending his hand, Inuyasha's brother felt the girl's head. He flinched at the heat he felt clash with his flesh.

"Her fever has become worst..."

As if things couldn't get any more terrible; small, violent coughs began to sound from the sickly child.

Rin's eyes fluttering open, the girl turned towards her master with a desperate look painted on her face,

"Lord Sesshomaru..."

"What is it?" His calm, deep voice hiding the slight concern he felt deep down.

Grunting a little, Rin sat up. She was about to say something when a sudden sneeze and another cough interrupted her.

"Lay back down." Sesshomaru ordered, pushing the child back into laying position. The man then rose from his seat and started out away from their campsite.

Meanwhile, Ah-Un snuggled closer to Rin to serve as a pillow for her pounding head. Before Rin could ask her Lord of his intentions, her eyelids fell shut and sleep took over once again.

Sesshomaru scowled at his surroundings, irritably. He had decided on the spur of the moment to go in search of herbs that could possibly help bring down Rin's fever and cure her of her illness, yet he had no idea as to where to start. To make matters more annoying, Jaken had yet to return from getting firewood, so the only warmth the poor child had was his fur and Ah-Un. If things remained like this all night, Rin would only get sicker, not better.

"I can't afford to waste any time." The older brother of Inuyasha growled to himself as he started walking through the forest without another thought. He wasn't sure if he would even find anything to help Rin in the forest but he had to try. Sesshomaru and his group could not stay in the same spot for too long. Wasting time and being dragged down were two things the elder dog demon couldn't stand. Then again, things couldn't be helped. Rin was only human. It was actually surprising that, in the many months the child had been traveling with him, that this was the first time she had ever fallen ill. Perhaps Rin was less susceptible than most humans.

An hour passed, and by now, Sesshomaru was sure it was already well passed midnight. Just as he had feared, nothing had jumped out at him through his little journey through the forest. It's as if any and all herbs had been snatched from the forest before he had gotten there. This irritated Sesshomaru even more.

"...Hmph. Useless." Sesshomaru turned to head back to the campsite when something sticking out of the ground caught his eye. The demon walked over to get a better look. Leaning down, the dog caught sight of two beautiful blue flowers that glowed in the moonlight clashing through the tree branches that were hanging overhead.

The blue plant's color reflected in the golden orbs of the dog demon. For some reason, the flowers looked familiar to him. He had seen them somewhere before. His eyebrows furrowed down as he tried hard to remember where he had seen them before.

Suddenly, the memory hit Sesshomaru.

"Rin showed me these before..." Sesshomaru shut his eyes a moment and thought back to a couple months ago when he and his servants had been traveling through a countryside.

~Flashback~

"Lord Sesshomaru, look what I found!" Rin flashed to her Lord's side and held out something in her hands.

Sesshomaru calmly looked down at the object in the girl's hand. He said nothing in response and simply nodded. He was about to continue walking before Rin cried out again, still shoving the blue flowers towards him.

"Aren't these pretty, Lord Sesshomaru? I think they're called Hydrangea. I heard somewhere before that these types of flowers come in all sorts of colors."

"Is that so." Sesshomaru mumbled, not bothering to look down at the plants in the girl's hand. He had no interest in such things. They were trivial and meant nothing. As if he could care less.

Rin continued to rattle on about the flowers, much to Sesshomaru's dismay. He wasn't sure if she just wanted to get his attention again or if she just felt like talking about her proud accomplishment of finding such a beauty. Either way, the dog decided to half ignore the girl and kept walking.

"I just remembered something, Lord Sesshomaru. My mother used to find these flowers frequently around where we lived. She once told me that this flower has a special tradition behind it. Mother said that many people give bouquets of this flower to people they care about to show how grateful they are."

Sesshomaru didn't respond. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Rin had stopped and was moving her arms. Sighing silently to himself, Sesshomaru stopped to look back at the distracted child.

"Rin..."

Rin suddenly hid her arms behind her back and walked up to her Lord. Sesshomaru stared down at her, frowning.

"Rin, enough fooling around. We have to-" But the man's voice disappeared when a large bouquet of the same blue flowers was shoved towards his one existing hand.

Blush dusted itself across Rin's tiny cheeks as she smiled shyly at the dog demon. Grabbing hold of Sesshomaru's hand, she placed the bouquet of flowers into his palm and giggled, "I found a lot more of these flowers then I let on. They were all so pretty. And...I am very, very grateful to you, my lord."

Sesshomaru lifted his hand to get a close up look at the flowers. The bouquet was handmade and slightly messy but the amount of flowers Rin had shoved into it was somewhat impressive.

Rin pointed a finger at all the flowers, "Mother also told me that each flower represents how grateful you are to the person receiving the gift. I put in as many flowers as I could fit, because I am super grateful to you and very happy that I met you, Lord Sesshomaru." The blush on Rin's face darkened and her smile shined like the sun that hung above in the sky.

Sesshomaru looked at the flowers for a moment then turned back to Rin, his eyes showing a slight glimmer in them. He then picked one of the blue flowers from the bouquet and leaned down to Rin's height.

Rin tilted her head in confusion, "My lord?"

Using his claws, Sesshomaru tucked some strands of Rin's hand behind her ear, then placed the flower stem on the tip of her earlob; balancing the flower as if it were an accessory. The elder brother of Inuyasha rose and turned so that his back was to Rin.

"...I am...grateful as well, I suppose." Without saying another word, Sesshomaru started off down the rode again. Meanwhile, Rin was frozen in place with her face as red as a tomato.

Small tears brimmed in the corners of Rin's hazel eyes. Sniffling, the girl grinned and ran off after the man she was truly grateful to.

"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru! I don't care what anyone says. I think you're the nicest person ever!"

~End Flashback~

After a quick flick of his wrist, Sesshomaru started off back towards the campsite.

Once he was back, the dog demon noticed his foolish servant Jaken had returned but collapsed by the fire. The demon sighed and looked back over to Rin who seemed to have also fallen asleep with Ah-Un. Being as quiet as he could be, Sesshomaru sat beside the girl. He looked down into the thing he had brought back with him. While the thing could not physically heal the child, it was about the only thing Sesshomaru could do for the sick human.

Careful not to wake Rin up, Sesshomaru tucked some straying pieces of hair behind her ear and stuck three blue flowers behind her earlobe. After he was sure they were in correctly, Sesshomaru drew back his hand and stared down at the girl. Her cheeks seemed redder then before and her skin still gave off a hot temperature. The dog ran his fingers across the top of Rin's left cheek as gently as he could. His golden eyes glimmered slightly when he felt the heat come together with his flesh.

"...Get well soon, Rin." Was all he spoke before taking away his hand and lowering his head.

The next morning, Sesshomaru awoke at the crack of dawn. To his surprise, he noticed something sitting in front of the burned firewood when he opened his eyes.

"...Rin?"

The figure turned, revealing Rin's happy grin, "Good morning, Lord Sesshomaru! Did you have a good night's sleep?"

Sesshomaru extended his one arm out to touch Rin's forehead. After a brief touch, relief swept over him like a waterfall. Rin picked up on his reason and nodded,

"My fever's all gone. I feel much better now."

Sesshomaru nodded, hiding his emotions as usual. The stoic man then stood up and grabbed Ah-Un's collar, forcing the creature to stand up as well.

"If you're feeling better, we should continue on. Wake up Jaken." Sessomaru was about to turn when he felt a tug on his pant leg. He turned to see Rin looking up at him with a timid smile.

She held up the same blue flowers he had tucked behind her ear the previous night,

"I think these are the reason I got better so quick, my lord. When I woke up, they were tucked behind my ear."

Sesshomaru stared down at Rin for a moment before turning away. The man lowered his head slightly and began to walk away. Rin's smile grew and she tucked two of the flowers back behind her ears. With one flower left, Rin ran to catch up with the white-haired nonhuman. Jumping in front of his path, Rin shoved the last flower into his hand. When Sesshomaru gave a somewhat questionable look at her, Rin wrapped her tiny fingers around Sesshomaru's large hand.

"I know it isn't a bouquet but I'm still very grateful to you, Lord Sesshomaru. Thank you so much. Giving me flowers when I was sick is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me." Just like that day a few months ago, Rin's smile seemed to be as bright as the sun in the sky. Then, the girl caught sight of something that surprised her.

It was very hard to see but thanks to the typical paleness of Sesshomaru's face, Rin noticed a slight red color was painted on the corners of his cheeks. Rin covered her mouth which made Sesshomaru turn away in embarrassment.

Rin gasped and tried to get closer to the slightly blushing demon, "I-I'm sorry, my lord. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable..."

Sesshomaru looked down at the blue flower that he still held in his hands. Regaining his composure, Sesshomaru tucked the flower into his kimono and looked to Rin.

"Let's get going, Rin."

Rin nodded and gave a swift kick to Jaken who was still asleep. After a cry from the annoying companion, Rin ran back over to Sesshomaru's right side and grabbed hold of his hand. Sesshomaru was about to give her a look but stopped when he noticed the same happy smile still painted on her face.

As the group headed back out on their journey, a few words escaped Sesshomaru's lips without his realizing it.

"...That smile suits you far better than that ill face you had last night."

Rin looked at Sesshomaru oddly for a moment but then smiled warmly and hugged his arm tightly. This time Sesshomaru didn't disagree with her actions and let her hug his arm as much as she wanted while they continued their travel together.

Author's comments: I apologize for the quick and somewhat poor ending. I wanted to end this without dragging it on so I just kind of wrote whatever at the end. I think this fic turned out rather cute. I really tried hard to capture Sesshomaru's character in this fic since I messed up on him in the first fic I posted of him and Rin on here. What do you guys think? Reviews are appreciated!

Also, if I messed up on the flower facts I wrote in this, then I apologize. The tradition behind the blue flower that Rin loves is actually one of many theories that people have on the Hydrangea. I thought the theory fit Rin's feelings towards Sesshomaru well so I added it.