So the next few weeks Rin acted like everything was perfect in her life. She greeted everyone with a cheery 'hello' and laughed harder than ever at everyone's jokes. But she knew that none of it fooled Sesshomaru because he knew her well enough to know that she was fronting. But she kept at it as if it would suddenly change her sadness to joy.

Rin had shared her conversation with Kagome and Sango, so Kagome, with Izayoi's full knowledge and agreement, invited Rin to eat dinner with them every night hoping that Rin's increased presence might drive Sesshomaru to the breaking point.

After a few weeks of this routine Rin found herself sitting in the family's parlor with Lord InuTashio, Lady Izayoi, and Sesshomaru. Izyaoi was craddling her granddaughter while her parents were not in the room. After half an hour InuTashio asked, "Where are Inuyasha and Kagome?"

"They're getting some rest," Izayoi informed him. "I thought it might be nice to take Kaede for the night so they could get more sleep."

"I highly doubt their sleeping," InuTashio commented.

"I know that, but they do deserve some alone time. Colicky babies are so hard to take care of and they're both still young."

"The least they could do is visit with Rin since they invited her for dinner." Rin knew that he wouldn't send her away because he fully had expressed to her previously that he wished that Sesshomaru would change his mind about her.

Rin stood up and walked over to Izayoi and offered, "Why don't I take Kaede for a little while."

Izayoi smiled and carefully placed the baby in Rin's arms. Rin sat down again and cuddled the infant carefully so as to keep from waking her. Kaede was absolutely adorable with her father's golden eyes and doggy ears. She had her mother's facial structure and black hair.

With a featherlight touch Rin stroked the child's ears putting the child into a greater comfort level with the stranger. Sesshomaru looked up from his desk nearby and watched Rin as she held his niece. She looked like such a natural despite not having any children of her own. Shortly afterward when he turned back to his paperwork the infant started crying. "She needs to be fed," Izayoi commented. She stood up and motioned for Rin to follow her to the kitchen so they could prepare one of the bottles sitting in the refrigerator.

Rin was allowed to feed and burp Kaede before Sesshomaru ever made his presence known. Rin was about to head back to the parlor when she saw him standing there in the main doorway to the kitchen. He was staring at her intently, so she whispered to him, "Are you afraid I'm going to hurt your niece?"

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I was thinking about how beautiful you would look holding our half-demon daughter."

Rin blushed at his words. She leaned up and whispered to him, "That's not going to happen until you can openly admit you love me. I need to be married before we can have fun." She gave him a seductive smile. He leaned in and licked her ear slightly to elicit a brighter blush. "You can't convince me that easily."

"I have to marry you?"

"Yep."

"Then let's get married."

"Now?"

"No. I want you to have that fairy tale wedding you've been dreaming about."

"So are you going to ask me properly then?"

Speaking out loud now he asked, "Rin Yoshida, will you marry me?" Rin leaned up and kissed him lightly all the while trying to keep Kaede from getting smashed between them.

But their moment was quickly ruined by cheering. The couple turned their heads and saw his entire family and Mamoru standing there cheering for them. Kagome took her daughter back into her arms and commented, "Geez, we even had to use my daughter to finally get Sesshomaru to propose."

Sesshomaru turned to Rin and asked her, "Did you know about this?"

"No," Rin answered him honestly. And then in a rather uncharacteristic move Sesshomaru pulled her close and kissed her again with his whole family watching.

"So it turned out that I had two secret admirers in my lifetime," Rin explained to her teenager daughter.

"Geez, Dad was a jerk back then."

"Yeah, but people change over time."

"Do you ever regret not marrying Fumio or Mamoru?"

"Not one day in my entire life." She paused and looked at the note her daughter brought home with her from school this White Day. "I do have this strange feeling, though, that somehow I'll end up related to Mamoru."

"How?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if your White Day Secret Admirer wasn't his eldest son."

--

The End!

Thank you to all my readers, especially those of you who left comments. I hope I didn't disappoint.