Birthdays
Birthdays
A barely muffled giggle was enough to rouse Sesshoumaru from his light slumber. He could hear his young charge moving around, clearly trying to tip-toe her way stealthily out of the campsite area. With a small sigh, he wondered what she was doing. It was unusual that she rose before called for and also unheard of that she woke before him.
He opened his eyes, but refrained from moving; the dew lay thickly on the ground and the tree bark against his back was almost uncomfortably damp. He wondered with slight worry if it was the wet conditions which had caused her to wake.
He turned his gaze onto Rin as she bounced from foot to foot watching her two ‘sleeping’ companions. She was clearly in a state of high excitement, but also anxious not to wake anybody; the effect made her look as if she needed to relieve herself.
“Rin.”
Sesshoumaru’s voice made Rin jump. It seemed the light was still too dim for her to have noticed he was awake. She gave a slight bow.
“Good morning, Sesshoumaru-sama.”
“Rin, why are you awake?”
“I couldn’t stay asleep, I was too excited.”
“Hmm?”
Sesshoumaru raised one eyebrow in question while keeping his gaze locked on the small girl. She certainly seemed excited; a grin was plastered across Rin’s face, her eyes sparkled with suppressed joy, and she could barely keep her feet still.
A giggle escaped her as she looked at the solemn face of her lord, but as he continued to gaze at her in silence without showing any signs that he knew what was going on, she started to calm down.
A sliver of icy fear trickled into her.
Surely he was just playing with her; surely he knew what today was.
The smile slid completely from her face.
“Today is Rin’s birthday, Sesshoumaru-sama.”
If possible, the tai-youkai’s eyebrow rose further. Of course he knew about birthdays, but demons didn’t celebrate them. They lived too long for the passing of years to matter much. He should have guessed that mortals, with their short lives, would feel differently.
“A birthday is just another day, Rin.”
She shook her head, incomprehension that anyone could not celebrate birthdays written all over her face.
“What about cake?” Her voice shook with disappointment. “Cookies? Games?”
“Go back to sleep.”
He tried to ignore the way her eyes filled with tears and how her entire body drooped as the happiness drained out of her. She nodded and slowly laid back down.
He waited until her breathing regulated before rising. Silently, he swept from the campsite and into the next field and began work.
When Rin rose several hours later, it was to the lingering smell of burning. At the end of her bedroll was a small charred lump placed carefully on top of a bunch of flowers.
“What is this?” Jaken squawked, picking it up and sniffing it disdainfully.
A smile crept back across Rin’s face. She looked at the tiny burnt lump of pastry in Jaken’s hand as if it were the greatest thing in the world.
“It’s a birthday cake.”