A/N: This was originally posted for Forthrightly's Second Annual Drabble Challenge on LiveJournal. Enjoy! I suppose you could call this the third installment in my small collection for this challenge. The four are not necessarily related and they certainly are not consecutive, but they share the same event: the Obon Festival, which is a version of Halloween more akin to Dia de los Muertos than the American tradition.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of "InuYasha" by Rumiko Takahashi nor the wonderful world she has created.

Morning had come early for Jaken as his fingers teased his forehead and his dry, scratchy throat ached from remaining open throughout the night. The small imp knew that his lord would already be gone when he awoke, so there was no ill composure when Sesshoumaru was not in the distance. Fitting his staff once more into his tiny claws, Jaken turned to his left, secretly despising these routines, but knew that if Rin were in jeopardy so was he.

This is precisely the reason that Jaken's forehead was now colliding itself willingly with a tree; Rin was missing.

A few meters away, Rin sat cautiously against the edge of a hot spring. She knew not to get too close, but her harvest needed tempering. In one single thrust the young girl cast warm water onto the pile of berries she had collected earlier that morning and slowly began to make a paste. Humming softly, Rin was quite content with her work and once the desired consistency had been reached she smacked her lips in satisfaction.

"Won't lord Sesshoumaru be surprised, and master Jaken too."

Leaning a coy finger forward, Rin swiped up a sample of the viscous, magenta goo and proceeded to smear it all across her face. Taking a glance every now and then at her reflection, Rin saw the progression of her marks. She began with a few across her cheeks and proceeded down her wrists until the girl's skin was almost completely covered in the stain of berry juice.

Stopping her work was the rustling of the bushes behind her and with a wide grin Rin about-faced and ran to her lord's side. Beside him was a red-faced Jaken, whose face looked swollen and bruised in places. Sesshoumaru switched his glance from stoic curiosity toward the girl to annoyance and pleasure toward the imp.

"Rin!" Jaken cried in his high-pitched squeal. "Where have you been? Don't you know you have had your lord looking everywhere for you?"

"You have?" Rin asked in awe. "Lord Sesshoumaru— you have been worried?"

"I helped look, I should have you know," Jaken mumbled complacently under his breath.

"Rin." Sesshoumaru began. "What have you done to your face?" His voice was hushed and unmoving, but Rin's smile grew for she knew he was insatiably curious.

"Rin looks like Sesshoumaru-sama now." The child's blatant reply caught the lord off guard and he was forced to quickly hide his surprise as she continued. "It was supposed to be a surprise—see?" Rin pointed to the marks on her cheeks and wrists.

As Sesshoumaru called the group to walk once more, Rin found her place by his side. Impulsively, her lord stole a quick, prideful glance at her for unknowingly, she had pleased him. It is true that a demon is most dangerous when posing as a human, he thought, but what they rarely tell you is this: the most innocent is when a human masquerades as a demon.

As always, I would love and be honored to have any reviews/comments/suggestions that my fantabulous readers may have. I treasure them all!

Truly yours,

Mickey-the-Mouse