Protecting You (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter Three: Rikako's Deep, Dark Secret

Rikako sighed. It had been two weeks since she first arrived in this village, and plenty of things had changed already. Inuyasha was as annoying as ever, but a little more tolerable than usual. Miroku disgusted Rikako with his perverted acts, though he seemed good enough of a father. She herself had become rather close friends with Kagome and Sango, and Sesshomaru tolerated her a lot more than he did Inuyasha when he visited, which was apparently a huge honor.

However, Rikako had to admit that amongst all the villagers, she was closest to none other than young Rin. Ever since she had saved the younger girl from those demons the day they met, Rin had absolutely adored her, even going as far as tagging along behind Rikako wherever she went, just like a shadow.

Kaede had noticed Rin's feelings towards Rikako, and had specifically asked Rikako to watch over the little eleven year old, since Kaede was getting much too old to take care of her by herself. Rikako had agreed, and Rin was simply delighted.

Once Sesshomaru had heard about Rikako's new role as Rin's new 'big sister' figure, he had come straight to the village to speak with his half sister.

"Rikako, I'm warning you." Sesshomaru had said a little over a week ago. "If anything happens to Rin, I'll kill you."

"Big Brother, do you have any idea just how insulting it is, that you're treating your own little sister like an idiot? As if I'd ever let anything happen to Rin, ever."

Sesshomaru had eyed her suspiciously, then turned and left. Still, ever since then, it seemed as though he treated her a little better. And by a little better, she meant that he wasn't glaring at her as much anymore.

Rikako was sitting at the base of a willow tree, surrounded by her wolves, when a voice reached her ears.

"Lady Rikako! Lady Rikako!"

Rikako peeled her eyes open, and saw Rin running up the hill towards her, holding a small bouquet of colorful wildflowers. The wolf pup tagged along at her heels, tongue lolling happily. It was thanks to this tongue that the pup received his name, Loly, a name given to him by Rin.

Rin ran up to her, beaming as she held out the flowers. "Look, Lady Rikako! I found these by the stream. Aren't they pretty?"

"Of course they are, Rin-chan. Make sure you're careful when you go down to the stream, or you'll fall in and catch a cold."

"I know, Lady Rikako. I was very careful, I promise."

Rikako sighed. "I've told you before, Rin-chan, to call me nothing more than plain old Rikako. There's no need for all this 'Lady' business."

"But it's only proper that I call you Lady Rikako! It'd be disrespectful, especially since you saved me!"

Rikako took the flowers from Rin, and held them to her nose. "Mmm, these smell nice. Shall we bring them to Kaede?"

"Okay!" Rin agreed, beaming.

Rikako felt her heart soften as she smiled back, before helping the little girl onto the back of the largest red wolf in the pack. "There we go. Ready?"

The younger girl looked a little embarrassed as she turned pink in the face. "Um---Lady Rikako?"

"Yes?"

"Can I hold your hand?"

Rikako blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Of course."

And so the two of them took each other's hand, and headed back towards the village together, Rikako's wolves trailing them.

"Hey, Kagome, would you look at that." Sango said as she hung out the freshly washed laundry on the clothes line.

 "Huh?"