**A little idea i had for a once shot while i was trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep last night. Hope you like**

***A heads up...this takes place five years after the Shikon has been completed and Naraku destroyed. Rin is human. Oh, and Sesshoumaru has both arms (funner to write about two!) LOL**

Homecoming Present

Part One:

Lord Sesshoumaru sits quietly at his desk, studying the parchment before him. Many othes are stacked on his desk but they lie ignored, his intense golden gaze focused on the unrolled parchment before him. His long silver/white hair is bound, which is uncommon, in a long, tightly braided column down his back. Gone was his customary armor, the spiked shoulder guard gone. His fluffy, as Rin so lovingly put it, was gone as well, stored away in his rooms. The armor he wears now is much like his fathers, thought specifically designed with him in mind. It is the armour of war.

There is a hesitant knock on the door and his advisor peeks his head in. The advisor was usually meek, but even more so seeing his demon lord in the battle armour. The lesser demon coughs slightly.

"Lady Rin is here to see you my lord." He nods, motioning the advisor to see her in.

He forgets the parchment for a moment, studying his mate as she walks in. Long gone was the childlike innocence that she had carried with her. The small ponytail she had long ago had disappeared, her hair now hanging in long, wavy ebony lengths down past her waist. The dark blue kimono with white lilies accented her sun kissed complexion and her large brown eyes.

She approaches his desk and bows deeply to her lord.

"You summoned me, my Lord?" She asks quietly, keeping her gaze down. He doesn't respond, letting his mouth slide into an easy smile he saved only for her. After a moment she looks up, but her face is not one of puzzlement but playful, teasing. He shakes his head slighlty and she laughs, straightening and coming around the desk to sit on the arm of the chair he sits in now. Lightly she plants a kiss on his brow as he encircles her with his arm, letting his hand rest on her waist.

Only when she is sitting beside him does she become aware of his solemn dmeanor. She glances back, noticing his hair is braided and she takes in the change of armour with fear in her eyes.

"What's going on Sesshoumaru?" She says quietly, the fear evident in her voice. He taps the scroll lightly with a claw.

"I recieved this today." She leans over slightly, reading the vertical, elegent writing. Her small gasp lets him know that she fully understands the implication of the message.

"Has this really been going on?" She asks quietly, her hand gripping his shoulder tighter. He nods.

"The dragons of the North and East started attacking at the same time a week ago, ruining villages and killing the villagers along the entire border before heading inward. The dragons of the South and West want to fight thier brothers. They were strong allies of my father. The dragon armies of the South and West will be arriving this afternoon. Jaken and Au-Un are out spreading the message now. I will lead the demon army and dragon army up to drive back the dragons of the North and East."

"Wasn't it a dragon of the North that killed your father?" She asks quietly. He nods, not hearing the emotion in her voice but seeing it in her face. He frowns.

"Rin?" She smiles slightly and it is then that he catches her scent. His frown deepens. "Are you all right?" Beneath his hand he can feel her middle, his hand shifting slighlty noticing a change in her.

She nods, smiling uncomphortably. "It is almost that time." She says quietly.

"Are you sure?" She nods and he sighs, leaning back in his chair.

"I had hoped..." His voice dies away. "Though with this conflict arrising, i guess it is good to know you are not with child. I could not, in a right mind, leave you hear knowing you were with child and alone." He misses the change on her face, a brief expression of pain before Rin suddenly slides off the chair arm and into his lap. He smiles slightly as she kisses the under side of his jaw.

"I understand that you must go, my love." She says quietly. "And i shall await your return." He sits up slowly, clutching her fiercely which surprises her. His voice, when he speaks, is low and slightly pained.

"I don't know when i will come back though." He says quietly. "It may take a long time, years even, before i can come home again." Her heart nearly stops at that point but she inhales deeply, drawing on all her strength to smile. He needs me right now, to see my smile. She thinks as she looks up at him, a smile spreading slowly across her face.

"No matter how long it takes, Sesshoumaru, i shall be here." He nods, about to kiss her when there is a knock at the door. He growls slightly, yelling at the closed door.

"Come in!" The advisor peeks his head in, turning slightly red at seeing Rin in his lord's lap. He swiftly averts his eyes to the floor.

"My lord, the dragon emessaries from the south and west are here." Sesshoumaru sighs, nodding once.

One the door is closed Sesshoumaru looks down at Rin. Even sitting in his lap he still has to look down to see her. She smiles widely, shifting in his lap to rise up, placing a gentle, loving kiss on his cresent moon on his forehead. His eyes drift closed at the feather light brush of her lips and a calm settles over the turmoil in his soul as it always did at her touch. As she draws away she smiles.

"It is time my lord." He nods as she shifts off his lap, smoothing out her kimono as he rises.

Rin watches from the balcony overlooking the garden as Sesshoumaru directs his army, standing beside the emmessaries of the south and west. The two dragons easily tower over the dog lord, but to her eyes he still surpasses them both. She watches him, fighting back the tears as he sends orders to the groups. In his armour and braided hair he appears like they always say in legend, the tales whispered of his father in the halls and across the land.

Thinking of his father Rin has to wipe a tear away. His father had fallen to the dragons. She prayed with all her might that she not loose him like his father had been lost.

Lost in her own thoughts she does not see him approach or leap up to land on the balcony near her. Upon seeing him she forces a smile, bowing slightly knowing that the dragons are watching them. He approaches slowly, all his grace and beauty making her heart ache more knowing this could be the last time she sees him.

"Rin, its..." Unable to contain herself anymore she lets her tears go, throwing herself into his arms and pressing her face against his neck. He sighs, clinging her to him before releasing her. "Rin, it is time for me to leave." She nods, staring up at his face and committing his face to her memory though already knowing that it would be there already and forever. He kisses her gently on the forehead before drawing away.

"Remain here. I will come back, no matter how long it takes." He says quietly. She nods.

"I love you." She says quietly. He smiles slightly. Though still not able to voice the words on his own after spending so many years alone he tells her with his eyes. I love you with all me heart. His eyes speak to her. She nods once, biting her lower lip as she watches him leap from the balcony join the group below.

At once they set off, the dragons taking to the air. Sesshoumaru forms the cloud beneath him, rising up and casting one last look her way before disappearing to the north.

As he disappears Rin slowly collapses to her knees, kneeling on the cold stone balcony and wrapping her arms around her herself, rocking gently as she finally lets the tears fall.