InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ It's my Life ❯ Day two. ( Chapter 20 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: Ok, now obviously I don’t own this, any original characters that pop up, yeah those are mine. But everyone else, those are all owned by Rumiko Takahashi.


Inuyasha stared up at the ceiling as he continued to simply lay in bed. He had awoken about an hour ago but for some reason he just didn’t have any desire to get up and do anything. For the first time in his life he had woke up and not had a pile of problems waiting for him, he didn’t have to desperately search for food. But for some reason he was so…un-relaxed.

All he could hear were the soft chirps of birds, yet he was nervous. Last night Sesshomaru had sent a tailor up to his room, and now there were a half dozen wardrobes hanging within the armoire that he had been told was his, with supposedly more coming, so he didn’t have to search for clothing to cover himself with and whenever he wanted he could leave the room, walk down a few hallways, enter the dinning hall and order whatever he wanted. Or he so wished he could walk over to a box that was sticking out of the wall, open it up and pull on a green rope, which would supposedly summon someone to take his order and then bring it up to him.

Yet…he was worried about his future.

He was finally within his ancestral home, as protected from the elements as anyone could be. Yet he found himself wondering where he might go, and where he would stay after all the business was finished.

There was a war going on inside of him, on one side there was the tug in his heart, that only grew stronger and stronger with each passing moment….and on the other side was the knowledge, and the anticipation, that anytime Sesshomaru felt so inclined he could bring the hammer down, driving Inuyasha out once more.

And it would come down, he knew it, as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow. The key was that Sesshomaru wanted something, something beyond what he had stated. Inuyasha could just feel it….but what could it be? Was it his Tetsusaiga? His life?

But Sesshomaru had been in a position to take both more then once since this whole mess had started. So there must be something else, something that he didn’t know about.

Sesshomaru claimed their blood feud was over, that he wanted Inuyasha to come home…but experience had taught Inuyasha to know better. If it sounded to good to be true….that’s because it was.

Sesshomaru needed him here for something…for all Inuyasha knew his bastard half-brother needed his blood for some type of spell or some other crap.

What was even worse was just how quickly Inuyasha found himself sinking into this kind of life, it was ridiculous, after only one day even. He had woken up in the middle of the night and he had been hungry, it had been so tempting to pull the rope that he was told would summon Retsu, but he had managed to will that thought away. That was nothing more then a trap, one that would haunt him once his life returned to normal….well normal for him that was.

Inuyasha slid out of bed, his bare feet touching down on the cold floor. He had a pair of slippers under his bed, but he refused to use anything of the sort. Besides…his feet had long since adjusted to much harsher conditions then a cold stone floor.

Walking over to the box on the wall, Inuyasha opened it and reached in to pull the food rope, he was hungry again, and he didn’t want to deal with anyone right now. Stretching Inuyasha returned to the bed, splaying himself across it as he waited. At least this way he could see if the thing actually worked.

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Breakf ast had been nice, once again personally delivered by the ever cheerful Retsu. Picking through the bones on his plated Inuyasha laid back, sliding himself under the covers. He had been awake for hours now but he still hadn’t even left the room. He just didn’t want to, didn’t want to deal with anyone right now, not even Shippo. For some reason he felt safe in this room, as if no one could enter unless he let them, which was stupid, because if Sesshomaru wanted it, he would just come in.

Sighing Inuyasha turned over onto his side, drawing his knee’s up a little as he pulled the soft fur around him. Maybe he would just take a nap, he deserved a lazy day….after all, he had never had one before.

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Sessho maru sighed as he read Daigon’s report, not one scrap of information he wanted to know was on it, just some general information, height, weight and other useless facts. Some vague statements about Inuyasha’s claws, which was marked with a little symbol near it, indicating that Daigon was still studying.

About the only interesting piece of information was the bit about Inuyasha’s ribs, but even that read more like a lecture about how he should not strike the boy there, rather then a report.

Well….at least today was a slow day, there wasn’t much work to do, thank the gods…

“Hmmm…perhaps I could go talk Inuyasha into spending a portion of the day with me….I would very much like to talk to him again.” Sesshomaru whispered to himself. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to talk about exactly, but a nice secluded walk though the gardens or the surrounding forests sounded so good. But even more then that he wanted to touch Inuyasha, to hold him close once more, to continue to try and establish that connection. Perhaps if he could just sneak in some light casual touches it would help Inuyasha get used to being touched by him. He had noticed how the hanyou tended to flinch when he laid a hand on the boy….not surprising, but disheartening nonetheless.

Well that was it then, all he had to do now was locate his little brother. Neatly arranging his paperwork on his desk Sesshomaru rose, making his way out of his office in a smooth glide. The first place he would go to was the one of the guard posts, to inquire about the whereabouts of the hanyou, granted he could track him down by his scent, but if Inuyasha had been seen in a certain part of the castle then that would help narrow down his search. Plus the walk would give him time to think about how he was going to entice his stubborn baby brother into joining him.

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Reaching the one of the outposts that surrounded the guard’s quarters did not take long. Sesshomaru cleared his throat to gain the rather sleepy looking guards attention, he had to resist the urge to laugh as the man’s head snapped up, eyes wide. Why did everyone always seem to surprised to see him within his own home?

“Yes sire? Uh…how may I help you?” the guard asked, nervously pushing a lock of blond hair behind his ear.

“You may start by explaining why you are so lax at your post.” Sesshomaru replied coolly. He was seriously considering putting the entire castle back through training after all of this was through.

“W-well, my mate gave birth la-last night, our first born, so I was unable to get much sleep.” Blondie explained. Sesshomaru’s annoyance softened a little, at least he had a good excuse.

“Is that so….gender?” Sesshomaru asked.

“A boy milord.” Blondie answered.

“Congratulations.” Sesshomaru replied, he wasn’t totally sure why, just seemed like the thing to do.

“Tha-thank you sir.” Blondie stammered, blushing slightly.

“But the real reason I have come is I would like to know if my brother has been sighted on this side of the castle.” Sesshomaru explained. Blondie perked up, looking a bit relieved.

“As a matter of fact sire there was just talk about your sibling. Apparently he has not left his quarters all day and Retsu was seen delivering breakfast to Lord Inuyasha’s room.” Blondie answered.

Hmmm…that was strange. He would have thought Inuyasha would have been wandering the castle by now, surely the hanyou was not still sleeping so late in the afternoon? Nodding to the guard Sesshomaru turned and began to walk away, at least he knew right where to start looking.

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Locki ng his eyes on the guard stationed at Inuyasha’s door Sesshomaru stopped in front of him.

“Have their been any problems?” Sesshomaru asked, if there were he would see to it they were resolved.

Personally.

Bloodily if he needed to.

“None of much concern. That strangely dressed human girl seems to have found out that these are Lord Inuyasha’s chambers. She has demanded entrance several times and quite frankly I’m getting ready to make a sign that says -NO!- and hang it around my neck.” The guard reported.

“Inuyasha has barred her entrance?” Sesshomaru asked. Despite all that had happened it still was a little surprising, Inuyasha had always seemed to care for the human’s greatly, it seemed unlikely that he would start cutting himself off from them now. Of course Inuyasha could also have been showing his authority by denying the girl.

“No. To be honest I have not seen the Lord once since I started my shift. The only real evidence I have that he is even in there is the fact that Retsu arrived to deliver lunch a short while ago. I barred the girl entrance on general principals, I was not told otherwise, she was disrespectful and considering how loudly she hollered his name I would think he would have come to the door if he wanted her in.” The guard answered. Sesshomaru was starting to think about putting name tags on all of his guards, it was just so hard to remember all of their names, and it was getting a little old to think of the man as “The guard”….not that he was going to ask his name. No…that would make him look stupid.

“A safe assumption.” Sesshomaru muttered. It wasn’t like he cared, if not because of their connection to Inuyasha he would have never allowed them to enter their home and if Inuyasha made it clear he wished them gone then Sesshomaru would toss them out of the gates personally. “I however wish to enter.” Sesshomaru said.

The guard smiled.

“Well I certainly will not be trying to stop you.” He said as he stepped aside.

Smiling inwardly Sesshomaru stepped up to the door and knocked, he wanted to be polite after all. But there was no answer, so he knocked again, louder this time.

“As I have said, I’m not even sure he is in there.” The guard said. It was possible, but Sesshomaru knew, and the guard didn’t, that unless Inuyasha leaped from his balcony to the garden below that there was no other way out of the room. Well there were the several secret passages leading out of the room, but he doubted Inuyasha had stumbled onto one of the hidden triggers to open one of them.

“Inuyasha.” Sesshomaru called out firmly, when he received no answer he sighed and entered anyway. Inuyasha had also not figured out how to lock his door it would seem. Closing the door behind him Sesshomaru surveyed the room, Inuyasha wasn’t inside but his scent was thick within the room, which pleased Sesshomaru for some odd reason, Inuyasha’s room finally starting to smell like him, and the sound of Inuyasha’s breathing also reached his ears. “Inuyasha.” Sesshomaru said again as he neared the bed.

“I don’t recall saying that you could come in.” Inuyasha voice came from behind the curtains that surrounded the bed.

“You also did not say that I could not. It is rude to ignore your brother like that.” Sesshomaru retorted as he slipped through the soft material and came to stand beside the bed. Inuyasha stared up at him, the hanyou was still dressed in his sleeping clothes, his hair splayed out around him as he remained stretched out on the bed.
Sesshomaru might have been annoyed or amused had it been anyone else, but with Inuyasha he found the sight filling him with an urge to pounce. But although it was so tempting, good gods was it tempting, to leap upon his rather succulent looking little brother, he managed to resist.

Barely.

For such behavior would not endear Inuyasha to him.

“It might!…maybe” Sess-youkai mumbled weakly. Inuyasha actions had totally thrown his other half asunder, he could feel its confusion bubbling inside of him.

“Do you intend to stay in bed all day?” Sesshomaru asked.

“I might.” Inuyasha confessed. “Its not like I have anything to do today right?”

“That is true, but it does seem like a waste of a day.” Sesshomaru replied.

“Your point?” Inuyasha asked, covering his eyes with his pillow.

“No point really.” Sesshomaru answered, sitting himself down on the bed.

“I’d ask if I gave you permission to sit on my bed, but I doubt it would do me any good.” Inuyasha mumbled. Sesshomaru’s eyebrows furrowed, just what had happened to put his brother in such a apathetic and lethargic mood?

“Does it truly bother you that I rest myself upon your bed?” Sesshomaru asked.

“I might care….but none of this feels like mine, so I guess it doesn’t matter.” Inuyasha sighed. Sesshomaru had anticipated that Inuyasha would resist accepting that he now had a great deal of belongings, but still…this was not the Inuyasha that Sesshomaru was used to….but was that a good thing…or a bad thing?

“How do your ribs feel today?” Sesshomaru asked, deciding to switch up the conversation a little.

“Like ribs.” Inuyasha replied. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, it would seem that Inuyasha still possessed his smartass remarks.

“Is something wrong little brother?” There…he had asked, he had swallowed his pride and simply asked. Not something he would do for just anyone..

Inuyasha removed the pillow from his eyes and stared up at Sesshomaru.

“Nothing, go away.” Inuyasha muttered, covering his eyes once more.

“Really, well you seem rather…drained. You just don’t seem to be yourself.” Sesshomaru pressed on.

“Nope…I’m me, all day to day, just want to be left alone.” Inuyasha said.

“Well that is good, because I have come to ask if you would like a more extensive tour of the castle and if you were ill you could not go.” Sesshomaru continued, somewhat appalled that he was making an effort to….dare he say it? Be cheerful.

“No.” Inuyasha grunted.

“No what?” Sesshomaru asked.

“No I don’t want to go on any stupid tour.” Inuyasha clarified.

“Ok ok, stay calm, another approach perhaps.” Sess-youkai suggested.

“You do not wish to see more of your home? “Sesshomaru asked. He almost couldn’t believe it, he would have thought Inuyasha would jump at the chance to explore their home. Or perhaps the hanyou was only turning down the offer so that he would appear to eager.

“What’s to see? Bunch of walls and crap.” Inuyasha retorted. Sesshomaru resisted the urge to punch Inuyasha in the head, much of what he had planned on showing Inuyasha had to do with their Father and their family. It was most certainly not crap.

“Perhaps a leisurely walk through our forests then?” Sesshomaru supplied. Perhaps some open air would do the boy some good.

“No…once you’ve seen on forest, you’ve seen them all and I have spent more then enough time in them.” Inuyasha stated blandly. Biting back a growl Sesshomaru continued on, it was true that Inuyasha had spent most of his life in forests after all.

“A walk through the gardens then? Father spent a great deal of time on them, each one is quite different from each other.” Sesshomaru suggested. Maybe that would work, he was fairly certain Inuyasha had not spent a great deal of time in gardens as extensive as theirs. Plus it did have to do with Father.

“No…I’m not a girl, what do I care about flowers?” Inuyasha countered.

Oh for gods sake…here he was actually reaching out to the hanyou and he was getting shot down.

“A trip to the lake then? There is a very beautiful waterfall there.’

“No.”

“A tour of the foundry then? You could get a look at our home’s metal working. Why you could even design armor for yourself, I’m sure completed before you know it.”

“No.”

“To the southern wing? I could show your our bakery, I’m certain you could find something sweet to your taste.

“No.”

“Perhaps to the underground levels. I could show how a great deal of our water and communication systems work.”

“No.”

“We could gather up your friends then, allow the Keera to put on a show for us? I know you have not experienced much theater.”

“No.”

Alright god damn it….Sesshomaru could literally feel his blood pressure rising. He had never made such an effort in all of his life. Just what was Inuyasha’s problem?

“Well then…perhaps I should just strip down to my lower garments and lay in bed with you?” That had been a suggestion from his youkai, he was fresh out of ideas himself. Besides if that did not get a reaction out of the brat, he wasn’t sure what would.

Without moving, or even removing the pillow from over his eyes Inuyasha answered.

“Fuck no.”

“Well it sounded good to me….” Sess-youkai whispered.

Fine then, if Inuyasha wished to be so difficult then he was left with little choice. Rising up from his seat on the bed Sesshomaru was about to leave, he would return shortly, perhaps he would bring that stupid miko to harass Inuyasha, maybe that would make the brat appreciate his efforts more. But then Inuyasha spoke.

“Finally…sure took you long enough to fuck off.”

Sesshomaru ground his teeth together, little snot….just who did he think he was?

Reaching down Sesshomaru wrapped his fingers around Inuyasha’s ankle and pulled. Inuyasha cried out in surprise as he was jerked up into the air.

“Sesshomaru?! What the hell?!” Inuyasha snapped as he glared upside down at Sesshomaru. Without answering Sesshomaru released his hold on Inuyasha’s ankle, allowing the hanyou to crash head first back onto the bed.

“Asshole! What is your-” Inuyasha began as he righted himself.

“You will rise, you will wash and you will dress. You will remove yourself from this…this…funk you seem to have descended into. But what you will not do is remain in bed like some kind of spoiled brat throwing a tantrum.” Sesshomaru stated firmly.

“I don’t have to!” Inuyasha fired back as he actually flopped backward onto his bed, yanking hi furs over him, covering his whole body as he curled into a ball.

Sesshomaru blinked, did that just happen? In a way it almost made him happy, that Inuyasha would willingly put himself into such a tactically disadvantageous position…and it was sort of cute. Not that it was going to stop him.

“If I have to drag you through the halls in your bed garments I will.” Sesshomaru threatened. A loud growl was his only answer. “I’m not joking little brother, I will pull you from this bed and drag you around by my tail if I must. Get. Up.”

“What do you care? Just leave me alone!” Came Inuyasha’s muffled reply.

“It is not healthy to lie in be and sulk all day long, there is so much you could do, so much for you to experience. Besides…how are the inhabitants of the castle going to greet you and began to adjust to your presence if you hide in bed like the proverbial bump on a log.” Sesshomaru growled. He was not going to be dissuaded, no way was he going to allow Inuyasha to stay in bed and have his rotten mood continue to fester.

With an exasperated growl Inuyasha flung the covers off of him, leaping out of the bed and stomping over to his armoire.

“Your such a fucking asshole!” Inuyasha shouted as he yanked the doors open.

“Wash first.” Sesshomaru said.

“I already washed!” Inuyasha shot back.

“Very well, wear the green one.” Sesshomaru ordered.

“Fuck you!”
Sesshomaru smiled, turning his body to keep Inuyasha from realizing it. The last thing he wanted Inuyasha to wear was that ugly pile of green cloth. It was big and baggy, even more so then Inuyasha’s fire rat robes had been. But what was worse was the color, a hideous olive green, it looked like Jaken had exploded all over cloth that had then been turned into an outfit. Sesshomaru had already informed his tailor that he would be speaking to him later. How dare he fashion such a horrendous outfit for the youngest son of Inu-Taisho…

Perhaps it was time to replace his tailor….there was a female Raven demon in the appropriately named Western town near the castle that seemed rather promising. She had sent Sesshomaru several rather pleasing samples…and it would also help prove that he did NOT always prefer men….stupid Daigon.

He doubted Inuyasha would willing chose the nasty outfit, especially not if he was ordered to wear it after all.

Pulling out what he had apparently chosen to wear a scowling Inuyasha turned his head to glare at Sesshomaru.

“Turn around.” He ordered.

Snorting lightly Sesshomaru complied, giving Inuyasha his back while the hanyou dressed. As he listened to the clothe rustle Sesshomaru had to chuckle slightly. Inuyasha’s modesty was rather cute, by why bother? They had been intimate with each other, Sesshomaru had held a naked Inuyasha in his lap when the poor boys muscles had cramped up. So why hide now? They had nearly rutted in the washroom yesterday, a fact that made Sesshomaru’s insides ache, so really…why bother hiding?

“So where the fuck are you dragging me?” Inuyasha snarled. “It had better be really fucking good…”

Sesshomaru rubbed at his lips as he turned around.

“Well I had thought….” Sesshomaru started. But his voice froze in his throat as he laid his eyes on his baby brother.

Oh….

Oh my….

The material was not green, thank the gods, but black. A very striking color when matched with the paleness of Inuyasha. Their family crest was embroidered above Inuyasha’s heart, a deep, yet noticeable red.

But it was not the contrast with Inuyasha nor the crest that halted his voice.

No it was the…tightness of the material. Both the upper and lower portions clung to Inuyasha, not quite skin tight…more like skin snug, for he could still clearly see the curves of Inuyasha’s muscles, and the…slight swell of his manhood, not that the outfit was obscene, it left much to the imagination, just a little bump was all.

It certainly did not help when Inuyasha turned, tightening the clothe around his shoulders, a thick material that jutted out at an angle, much like the pads that kept his armor from digging into his flesh, but that wasn’t the problem, no what made it all worse was the clear view of Inuyasha’s tight, sculpted ass. That and the teasing view of Inuyasha’s manhood caused Sesshomaru mouth to fill with saliva. Thin red and gold patterns curled down the black clothe and Sesshomaru tried to focus on those instead.

“Well? Where the fuck are we going?!” Inuyasha snapped. Sesshomaru whipped his head up, staring at Inuyasha’s angry face.

Oh…right….

“The barracks.” Sesshomaru said as he spun around. Perhaps some exercise would help tear Inuyasha out of his mood….plus…it would allow him to watch all that tight muscle as they glided under that snug clothing.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Sess-youkai cheered.

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Inuyasha was fuming as he followed Sesshomaru through the halls, staring intently on his older brother’s back. Maybe if he focused hard enough he could will Sesshomaru to burst into flames…

If not for the fact that he knew Sesshomaru was a total asshole, he might have been surprised. All he had wanted was to be left alone today, after all the shit he had been through in his life he felt he deserved at least ONE fucking day to relax, truly relax. He had really been committed to laying in bed all day long, he had actually been enjoying that part of it, dozing in and out, he hadn’t been bored or listless.

It had been peaceful, something his life had never been. Well…minus those fifty frozen years, but he didn’t really count those.

But of course Sesshomaru had to go and ruin it. Didn’t he get it? Couldn’t he see that Inuyasha just wanted to be left alone? Not only that, the bastard had to bully him into removing himself from his peaceful sanctuary. He had no doubt that the bastard would have embarrassed him just as he had threatened, and then telling him what to wear?! What was that shit?

So just to spite Sesshomaru he had picked the black one, of course he had not realized just what it was when he when he grabbed it. But he had already started putting it on so he wasn’t about to stop. It reminded him a lot of Sango’s slayer outfit. A really snug, soft material covered most of his body, excepted his arms, it stopped near his elbow.

But thankfully there were other things that went overtop of it. Which was good…considering how the thing clung to him, especially over his groin. Without the belt like piece with the interlocked straps hanging down over his ass and groin it would have been almost indecent.

It wasn’t something he would normally wear by any means. But it was surprisingly comfortable, it didn’t restrict his movement in the slightest and his sword hung normally at his hip.

He had been confused as to how it all went on, but inside the pants part had been a note from Komar, explaining that he had designed it, he hoped Inuyasha would enjoy it and was sure he would look divine. Plus it explained how it all went on.

Though he wasn’t sure what was up with the shoulders, the strange triangular pads that locked into hooks hidden in the first layer confused him. They were ridged, didn’t move at all when he walked or they bumped into something, but they were not like armor or anything like that…so what were they for?

“Are we almost there yet?” Inuyasha grumbled. At his side Sesshomaru sighed, for some reason the demon lord had moved to walk at his side, and if he sped up, so did Sesshomaru, if he slowed down, same thing.

“Yes Inuyasha, my impatient brother, we are nearly there.” Sesshomaru said tolerantly.

Why the hell Sesshomaru wanted to take him to a barracks eluded Inuyasha, all he wanted to do was go back to his bed.

Before long they came to a large door covered with iron bands and Inuyasha could hear the sounds to metal clashing and people shouting. Inuyasha sighed as Sesshomaru pushed the door open and made his way inside, reluctantly Inuyasha followed

Inside were masses of demons, Inuyasha noticed there was actually a good number of female soldiers mixed in, the most women he had seen in the castle.

It was slightly interesting, he had never seen so many people training at once, he was a little amazed at how organized it all was and the way some of them were holding their weapons was much different then he was used to.

Inuyasha groaned inwardly as he spotted Imalia on a raised platform right in the center of all the demons. Gods…not her again….well maybe they wouldn’t go over there…

Then Sesshomaru changed course and began heading RIGHT towards Imalia.

Of-fucking-course….

Maybe she wouldn’t talk to him though, that would be good.

Imalia bowed slightly as Sesshomaru neared her.

“Ah greetings Lord Sesshomaru.” Imalia said. “And what brings you here today?”

“A simple inspection…and I was considering using the fields.” Sesshomaru replied.

“Ah well, as you can see I’m simply running them through the paces, nothing large today.” Imalia stated.

Inuyasha looked over at those who were now standing in attention, a great deal of them were breathing hard, all were soaked in sweat. This was nothing large? They all looked as if they had the crap beaten out of them, not that Inuyasha cared, considering the treatment he had been given by the guards so far.

“Very good, perhaps I will observe a little longer.” Sesshomaru said as he began to walk to a high platform with two fancy looking chairs sitting upon it over at the far side of the room.

“Nice to see you’ve decided to join the world Lord Inuyasha.” Imalia said as Inuyasha stood in place, not following Sesshomaru. Sarcasm dripped from her tone.

“What?” Inuyasha snapped.” You have something to say to me?”

“Oh no, its just that some of the boys had a standing bet on how long you intended to sleep. Looks like I’m down two silver pieces. I thought you’d only emerge once the sun went down.” Imalia said. Inuyasha ground his teeth together as several of the surrounding demons chuckled.

“For you information, I was not sleeping. I was laying in bed, enjoying some time to myself.” Inuyasha forced out between his clenched teeth.

“Well that must be nice, to sit around and do nothing all day.” Imalia chided.

“Oh fuck no she didn’t…” Inu-youkai snarled.

“Imalia.” Sesshomaru snapped, disapproval clear in his voice, it was a warning. Imalia bowed her head to Sesshomaru and turned her back on Inuyasha, focusing her attention on another group, barking out an order.

Inuyasha was seething, he most certainly did not leave his room to be treated like this. He had deserved a day to relax, one fucking day out of a lifetime of struggle and now some bitch in armor was giving him shit about it? Oh sure he could probably leave it alone and let the whole thing drop, but he didn’t feel so inclined, how dare she insult him here!

“Are you calling me lazy?” Inuyasha growled. It was just like in Daigon’s office, this righteous anger just bubbled up out of no where. Imalia’s ear twitched in his direction but she didn’t turn around which only pissed Inuyasha off even more. He was dimly away of Sesshomaru calling his name but he ignored it and took a step towards Imalia. “I asked you a question bitch, don’t ignore me.” Inuyasha snapped.

There was a collective gasp among the demon’s that were near them. Imalia turned around, a pissed off look on here face. Inuyasha took a moment to look around at the demon’s that surrounded them. Some of them wore outraged faces, looking at Imalia as if the sun shone out of her ass, others watched her with thinly veiled disgust, as if they despised the very air she breathed.

“What did you just say?” Imalia growled.

“Get your ears checked, I don’t like repeating myself. But I said, I asked you a question and I expect and answer.” Inuyasha growled back, then added on. “Bitch.”

Imalia’s nostrils flared, seemed she didn’t like that.

“Well what would you call it?” Imalia shot back.

“I’d call it, shut the hell up about things you don’t know a damn thing about.” Inuyasha retorted. “Gonna add in a weak hanyou comment next?” Glaring at him Imalia took a step towards him, moving them only a few feet apart.

“I hardly feel the need to draw upon your heritage, lord knows how little that means to me, but as to weak….well you said it, not me.” Imalia replied.

“Ohhh…well….in thatcase how about I kick the fucking shit out of your. Right here. Right now.” Inuyasha suggested.

“Oh now is that a threat?” Imalia asked. Inuyasha bared hi fangs in a feral grin.

“No…its called a challenge bitch.” Inuyasha answered.

“ENOUGH!!” Sesshomaru roared, startling everyone assembled, even Imalia and Inuyasha jumped. “Any challenges must be approved by this Sesshomaru and I do not grant my permission.”

“Feh..” Inuyasha snorted, holding one hand out and giving Sesshomaru the finger. “Like I need your fucking permission asshole.”

“You can not talk to our Lord like that!!” Someone shouted.

“Oh suck my cock!” Inuyasha fired back. “I talk to MY brother however the fuck I want.”

“Its rather obvious that you need a lesson in respect.” Imalia stated.

“I could say the same for you lady. Now if you have any balls, figuratively speaking of course, you’ll shut up and put up.” Inuyasha countered

“In a heartbeat boy, but the Lord has forbidden it, and I do obey.” Imalia replied. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and was about to speak when he felt Sesshomaru’s hand grip the back of his neck.

“Sesshomaru…” Inuyasha snarled.

“Enough Inuyasha.” Sesshomaru ordered, his voice cold and hard. “I am being lenient with you, more so then I have ever been with anyone, but this nonsense ends. There will be no battle between you two in my lands.”

There it was, that was the real Sesshomaru finally coming out. Overbearing, controlling and all around unpleasant.

“I don’t take orders from you bastard. How many times do I have to say that?” Inuyasha asked.

Sesshomaru’s grip increased, putting incredible pressure on Inuyasha’s neck, causing it to ache and Inuyasha suddenly found himself down on his knees.

“Must I make an example out of you Inuyasha? Behave yourself.” Sesshomaru whispered.

Through his anger Inuyasha resisted the urge to laugh, who knew what the would provoke after all. But at last! At fucking last! The charade was over! The bastard was back. He knew it, he hadn’t been fooled. But his humor quickly vanished, Sesshomaru had him at a major disadvantage, but was that anything new? And the prick would hurt him, Inuyasha had no doubts about that.

But the thing that really seemed to get to him was when he looked up and saw Imalia looking down on him. She started this whole fucking thing…why wasn’t she on the ground?

“First that stupid human puts us on the ground, lets that other human spit on us and kick us and now our own brother seeks to do the same?!” Inu-youkai roared.

Inuyasha’s body began to shake, his youkai’s rage rising way above his own.

“And who are you to interfere with my business?” Inuyasha asked. Shit…he could feel his demon bubbling inside of him, it was sooo pissed, and as tempting as it was to let it out to tear up as much as it wished, he didn’t want to risk losing more of himself forever.

“I am your Lord.” Sesshomaru answered. Then Inuyasha could hear the snickering laughter of the demons that watched them, he doubted they could hear what was being said, but they could all see and that was enough. Was this way Sesshomaru had forced him out of his peaceful place? To humiliate him?

Inuyasha tried to rise but found he couldn’t, if he pushed up Sesshomaru just pushed down harder and he just knew he was going to have more then a bruise when this was all over, his neck would probably hurt for days. Everything always hurt for long periods of time after Sesshomaru was finished…

“Well I guess our little working agreement just went right out the window.” Inuyasha mumbled. Sesshomaru went still for a moment, even his breathing ceasing. But it was true…it wasn’t like he was going to let this slide. Insulted and humiliated…he was so sick of it.

“Inuyasha…” Sesshomaru sighed. “You are neither an effective military leader nor a good trainer. You would not serve well as my general.”

Ok…weird insult there.

“What are you talking about?” Inuyasha growled.

“I will not allow you to challenge for Imalia’s position, simple as that.” Sesshomaru replied.

“I don’t want here position, I want her fucking blood.” Inuyasha’s voice snarled, his youkai asserting itself once more. “And I…will NOT…allow anymore of this!” Inu-youkai screamed inside of Inuyasha’s head.

The next thing he knew his legs were tightening and with strength he did not know he had…he started to rise. He made it up to a low crouch before, with absolutely brutal strength, Sesshomaru forced him back down onto his knees.

“Cease Inuyasha, I will allow you to rise once my point is proven….or you apologize to me.”

“Apologize? APOLOGIZE?!” Inu-youkai roared. It was so strange, Inuyasha was aware of what was going on, not forced back like before and yet his youkai was talking through him and even moving him.

Pushing back against it he was surprised when it did relent, allowing him to the forefront once more. Reaching back Inuyasha was able to clutch at the arm that held him down, it was difficult though, he had to bend his wrists in an awkward away. It would figure Sesshomaru would position himself just right.

“Let me up Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha requested. His youkai continued to seethe under the surface, filling him with a different kind of rage then he was used to.

“Not yet.” Sesshomaru answered. Strangely Inuyasha’s fingers began to tingle, just as before. Growling once more Inuyasha dug his claws into Sesshomarus arm, because of the angle he couldn’t pierce it, but it could not have felt pleasant.

“Let…go…” Inuyasha demanded, his voice going deep and rough.

“Inuyasha…” Sesshomaru began.

“Haven’t you done enough? You keep me from defending myself from your goons and their insults, you deny me my retribution and you humiliate me in front of dozens. What more to do you want?” Inuyasha spat. Sesshomaru opened his mouth to speak but Imalia chimed in.

“Your retribution? Are you that eager to fight with me?” Inuyasha gnashed his teeth in return.

“I don’t care what he says, he can’t protect you forever.”

Imalia smiled.

“I say a gain, I would gladly accept. If only to find out if all your bravado has anything to back it up. But the Lord’s word is law, thus there will be no battle between us.”

Inu-youkai pushed a dark laugh past Inuyasha lips before the hanyou spoke.

“Like I said, he can’t protect you forever…better grow eyes in the back of your fucking head. I’ve got nothing but time, from now until my body finally quits.”

Imalia’s eyes went wide as she growled, baring her own fangs.

“You would attack me without proper sanction? And from behind?!” She raged.

“Well welcome to the real world, I can’t tell you how many times that shit has happened to me.” Inuyasha spat.

“Enough! Both of you cease this at once!” Sesshomaru ordered.

Taking a moment to look past his and his youkai’s anger, Inuyasha was annoyed with himself. He was a little hurt by Sesshomaru’s behavior, though he had been waiting for this. It was just….that for a moment…he had actually thought….Feh…it didn’t matter what he thought now.

“Are you going to let me up now?” Inuyasha snapped.

“Are you going to behave?” Sesshomaru countered.

“Oh yes big brother, I will be a good little bitch who eats all of the shit that is given to him. You see I had forgotten your policy on insulting me, thank you ever so much for reminding me. Oh and you were right, this has been soooo much better, thank you for dragging me out here. This was a definite improvement compared to what I was doing before.” Inuyasha answered sarcastically, curling his fingers around the hilt of his Tetsusaiga. He wasn’t very good at his fang with the very same arm it sat below, but he was pretty damn sure he could get it clear of the scabbard before either Sesshomaru or Imalia could do anything about it.

“Release your sword and I will release you Inuyasha.” Sesshomaru said. Inuyasha rolled his eyes, which didn’t help the headache that had formed in his skull, his neck ache was spreading upwards now.

“I don’t think so. I’m not exactly feeling safe at the moment.” Inuyasha replied.

“No one is going to attack you little brother.” Sesshomaru stated.

“Ha! I hadn’t even been in this shit-hole for ten fucking minutes and your goons were taking swings at me. Now do you mind letting go? Your hurting me and I have a lot to do today.” Inuyasha fired back.

“And just what tasks do you have to perform today Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru asked, sounding curious, which only served to annoy Inuyasha more, that Sesshomaru could be so damn causal right now.

“Well first off I have to beat the ever-loving shit out of the bitch here.” Inuyasha answered, earning a growl from Imalia. “That will probably take a few minutes, then I have to go and find my all of my group, which could take a while, and then after I do all of hat I have to find the front door to this place.”

Sesshomaru’s grip changed slightly, because although he was still holding Inuyasha down, he was also slightly massaging Inuyasha’s neck with his middle finger.

“And why do you need to find your humans, the little kitsune and the front gate?” Sesshomaru asked softly, sounding cautious.

“So I can leave…duh!”

Really…what kind of question was that? Why should he stick around after all this? “So let go damn it. I’m sick of this place and I’m sick of you.” Inuyasha snarled.

“Sick of me? I have been nothing but civil and kind to you from the moment we arrived.” Sesshomaru whispered harshly.

“I bet that was just killing you too, it sure didn’t take long to wear of.” Inuyasha grumbled. Sesshomaru groaned slightly and then asked, so softly that Inuyasha could barely hear him.

“Do you wish for me to release you?”

“Yes!” Inuyasha snapped, in that same soft, nearly nonexistent tone Sesshomaru spoke again.

“Then ask, politely.”

Inuyasha grumbled various obscenities to himself, before he forced his voice into the most neutral tone he could and asked.

“Would you please release me and let me stand?”

Sesshomaru released Inuyasha, a motion so quick that the hanyou nearly fell back onto his ass. In an instant Inuyasha sprang to his feet, turning to face Imalia, more then right to fight now, only to find Sesshomaru standing between them. Inuyasha growled in frustration, didn’t the jackass have anything better to do?

“If you wish to dual then you must make an official request.” Sesshomaru suddenly said. What the?

“She insults me, calls me weak. I’m not about to allow something like that.” Inuyasha snapped. He was so tired of everyone he met badmouthing him, why did everyone feel the need to tear into him? Verbally or otherwise, couldn’t they all just leave him in peace?

“Then am I correct when I state that you, my younger brother Inuyasha, are requesting permission from this Sesshomaru to duel with my second in command, the Lady Imalia, not for rank, position or titles, but for a personal satisfaction.” Sesshomaru said, in a very official, booming voice. Inuyasha would have been surprised if anyone in the place had not heard him.

“Yes.” Inuyasha answered. Well that sounded like what he wanted….but now he was a little confused.

“And you, Imalia, accept this challenge?” Sesshomaru asked without even turning to face the woman in question.

“I do.” Imalia answered.

“Very well the, my permission is granted, and I will personally oversee this contest. However it must be conducted outside of the castle, so our destination is now the fields. Any who wish to witness the event have my permission to do so.” Sesshomaru declared.

Inuyasha blinked as everyone began to make their way to a large set of doors at the far end of the barracks. Only Sesshomaru lagged behind, simply standing there, watching Inuyasha closely. “Come Inuyasha, this is what you wanted no?” Sesshomaru said softly before he too began to leave.

Inuyasha was confused, and more then a little annoyed.

“Who cares? Lets just go show that wench just who she is fucking with.” Inu-youkai growled.

Hmm…what a lovely idea.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If Sesshomaru was the type, he was pretty damn sure he would be beating his head up against something hard right now. Why couldn’t anything go right?! His only intention had been to take a quick peek at the activities of his troops and then devote the read of his time to Inuyasha. A warm up, some exercise and then perhaps a light spar to get Inuyasha’s blood pumping. Then he wished to spend some time alone with Inuyasha, away from the castle, either in the gardens or the forest.

But it didn’t look like that was going to happen now….damn it! Why did Imalia have to open her stupid mouth and provoke Inuyasha? Granted he did realize what people would think about Inuyasha’s extremely late rising and Imalia was the type that despised such behavior, it was obvious she felt Inuyasha was lazy…and a poor fighter because of it. But did she have to speak her mind right then?

Sesshomaru had been poised to reprimand his second, but before he could even open his mouth Inuyasha had opened his own. It was stupid to think he would simply scold Imalia, allow her to turn away and then leave it at that, he had only been waiting for Inuyasha to return to his side so that he could usher the boy away.

It had been fine with him, Inuyasha defending himself…right up until he had heard Inuyasha challenge Imalia and his first thought had been that same stupid law that had gained Imalia the position in the first place. After all it was possible that Inuyasha had learned of the law, all he had to do was poise the right question to the right person. Why Inuyasha would do such a thing eluded him, all he knew was that he could not let it happen. His administration had suffered enough jolts lately as it was, another could cause pure chaos.

Plus Inuyasha was just not qualified for the position, he had never commanded soldiers in battle, nor knew the way to properly hone their skills. So Sesshomaru had intervened and put a stop to it…or so he thought.

He had hoped he could draw Inuyasha way before there was further incident but then Inuyasha had to go and be…well Inuyasha.

Had Inuyasha insulted him as such in private he would have shrugged it off, it wasn’t anything new after all. But such blatant disrespect and disobedience in front of his subordinates….Sesshomaru just couldn’t allow that to pass. It would make him look weak, something he could not afford during such a volatile time. Had he not asked Inuyasha to keep his grievance to himself until they were in private?

Although Inuyasha was right, their shared blood did allow him to treat Sesshomaru much differently, Sesshomaru still could just simply let it pass. He did not want to do anything negative to Inuyasha, but he had to punish the boy.

But he did not want to hurt Inuyasha, not to mention that doing so would not aid his own agenda at all.
The only thing he could think of doing was to force Inuyasha into a submissive position and keep him there. It at least allowed him o show his dominance without harming Inuyasha, the hanyou’s obvious dislike of the treatment would work in Sesshomaru’s favor, politically speaking and it did make sense for him to be more lenient with his last living relation. But Inuyasha continued to argue with him, forcing Sesshomaru to have to assert himself.

He had hoped that his baby brother would get the hint and calm down, but then someone had laughed, who Sesshomaru had not been able to tell, otherwise he would have beaten them bloody himself. Yes public embarrassment was part of the punishment but Sesshomaru had not wished to wound Inuyasha’s pride too severely.

Inuyasha had begun to shake, something that had worried Sesshomaru, and then Inuyasha had tried to rise, which Sesshomaru could not allow. But it had been surprisingly difficult to keep Inuyasha from rising. However what had really worried him was when Inuyasha’s youkai had made itself known once more, which confused Sesshomaru. If any part of Inuyasha understood what Sesshomaru was doing and why it should have been Inuyasha’s youkai.

To make matters worse it seemed to be just as much, if not more, upset then Inuyasha himself.

Sesshomaru had tried to be reasonable, stating the reasons he was denying Inuyasha, only to have the have the hanyou state he wanted nothing of the sort. Which made Sesshomaru feel a little stupid…but how was he supposed to know?

Sesshomaru had wanted to end it right then and there, if only to lessen Inuyasha’s anger towards him, but he also knew that holding Inuyasha on his knee’s was just not good enough. It hit him that if he could just get Inuyasha to politely apologize then he could let the hanyou up without any further trouble.

But of course the moment he suggested it, it only increased Inuyasha’s ire. To make that worse he suspected it was Inuyasha’s youkai was only fueling the hanyou’s anger.

Some of his confusion had been cleared away once Inuyasha basically stated that he felt like he was being wronged, but then Inuyasha had to go and say that it did not matter what Sesshomaru said, he was going to do what he wanted anyway. Thus making it much harder for Sesshomaru to let the matter pass. He had hoped a promise from Inuyasha to behave would smooth things over, but Inuyasha’s rather sarcastic and bitter reply would not accomplish that in the slightest and it had served to make Sesshomaru feel even more guilty then he already did.

He would have released Inuyasha right then and there, but he had noticed Inuyasha clenching his weapon and he just knew Inuyasha was planning to attack the moment he got the chance. Wanting to be reasonable and seeing a chance to get Inuyasha to declared obedience, Sesshomaru had asked him to release his weapon, but, surprise, surprise, Inuyasha just HAD to refuse.

Granted Inuyasha logic was at least slightly sound, he had been attacked once within the castle walls, it still annoyed Sesshomaru that Inuyasha would think that, that he was not safe in their home.

But that had disappeared when Inuyasha had stated he had tasks to perform. That had made Sesshomaru curious and hopeful, if there was something Inuyasha wanted to do then Sesshomaru could use that to end this mess and move on.

At first Sesshomaru had been rather agitated when Inuyasha said that his first take was to attack Imalia, but that had transformed into mild worry as Inuyasha continued on and his heart had sank when Inuyasha had declared his intention to leave their home.

But he could not believe it when Inuyasha had said he was tired of the situation and sick of Sesshomaru. That had actually angered Sesshomaru more then anything had in months. He had been trying so hard, had been nothing but kind and civil. But when he had pointed that out…then the truth had come out.

It all boiled down to the fact that Inuyasha thought that it was nothing but a trick, that Inuyasha believed that this was Sesshomaru’s -true- self coming out. He had to figure out a way to get Inuyasha to believe him, he had thought that his current trend would be enough, but apparently it was not.

But one thing was for certain his current actions were doing nothing but stabbing himself in the foot. The only thing he could think of to try and fix this was giving Inuyasha what he wanted.

He had managed to get Inuyasha to request permission, a point in his favor, and at this point he didn’t have a problem with it. He was furious with Imalia, not only because she had opened her mouth and upset Inuyasha, which ended up straining his relation’s with his sibling, but also for crashing in and throwing everything into disarray. Everything had been just fine within the castle before that woman showed up. There had been no discipline problems, Garith would have never mouthed off to Inuyasha like that. So he rather hoped Inuyasha smashed her to be honest, might just give his brother a bit of satisfaction, which could help Sesshomaru mend this tear before it became worse.

Inuyasha was very angry, which would be fine…just as long as Sesshomaru could keep that anger from being directed to or about him.

Though it would not be an easy task, Imalia was an extremely talented swordswoman and Inuyasha….wasn’t. Sesshomaru didn’t want to consider the humiliation Inuyasha might feel if he lost. Which really was one of the reasons Sesshomaru had not wanted the fight to occur in the first place. About the only good thing that could happen is he could always offer to train Inuyasha, to help him avenge a loss.

…But the time for reminiscing was over however.

Inuyasha and Imalia stood across form each other in the open field, Imalia was slowly rotating her wrists, Inuyasha simply stood with his arms crossed. Everything was read, they were only waiting for his signal.

“The winner shall be decided when either one of you is incapacitated or submits. However death is prohibited…I will not allow either of you to kill the other.” Sesshomaru declared. A mummer rippled through the crowd behind him. Sesshomaru could hear bets being placed and was slightly annoyed that Imalia seemed to be overwhelmingly favored to win.

Betting against a son of Inu-Taisho how…disrespectful.

“Imalia, do you understand the rules as I have explain them?” Sesshomaru asked.

“I do sire.” Imalia replied.

“Do you, Inuyasha, my younger brother, understand the rules as I have explained them?”

“Yeeeep.” Inuyasha drawled.

“Then you may draw your weapons.” Sesshomaru informed.

A few light impressed sounds whispered through the crowd as Imalia flipped her twin blades out of their scabbards. Not many could wield two blades at once with any type of skill, most did it because they didn’t know any better, or because they thought it would be more impressive.

With Imalia though…you could see she was all business. A balanced shorter sword sat in her lead hand, with a larger, more weighted blade in her right hand.

Inuyasha snorted as Imalia slid her feet into position, raising up a bit on her toes. Sesshomaru hoped Inuyasha would not make the same mistake Garith had made.

The familiar sound of Tetsusaiga transforming echoed out as Inuyasha drew his fang, swinging the massive blade up with one arm and allowed it to come down across his shoulders. The impact made the ground around Inuyasha shake slightly.

That was…unusual.

A mummer bubbled around behind Sesshomaru. Imalia herself looked a tad concerned, and a little surprised. She obviously didn’t expect such a weapon.

“Think he’s compensating for something?” Someone snickered.

“Oh please….he whips his other…tool out and all you people are going to do is drool.” Sess-youkai quipped. “Drool and wish he’d let you have a taste…dumb-asses.”

Sesshomaru made a mental note, maybe a three hundred mile run was in order….or maybe the assembled troops would be pulling irrigation duty very soon. Mouthy twits…

Sesshomaru focused back on the two in front of him, discipline would have to wait…but it was coming, oh yes…it was coming. But for now….

“YOU MAY COMMENCE!” Sesshomaru shouted.

Almost instantly Inuyasha covered the distance between himself and Imalia, Tetsusaiga crashing down on the spot that Imalia just barely had time to vacate. Before she could even touch down Inuyasha dove into her space again, and in a split second Inuyasha had his feet firmly planted, his whole body behind a massive horizontal swing.

Imalia managed to get her blades up, she would be able to block the blow. But Sesshomaru knew it wouldn’t matter, Inuyasha’s most powerful blow was not the leaping overhead slash that the hanyou tended to use, but rather the very attack he was now going for. Inuyasha was not a quick graceful fighter, in many ways he was rather clumsy, but all he had to do was plant his feet and the sheer force he could generate was frightening.

Imalia cried out in surprise as Inuyasha’s fang crashed into her blades, the force lifting her up off of her feet and hurling her sideways. To her credit Imalia was able to regain her bearings as Inuyasha rushed in once more. Her left blade darted out, forcing Inuyasha to halt his charge for a moment to bring Tetsusaiga up to block Imalia’s blade, but a moment was all the female general needed, in an instant she was back up on her toes, circling Inuyashas, her left blade slipping out three more times. Each time Inuyasha was able to block the strike, but at the same time it was forcing him into a stationary position.

That was another weakness of Inuyashas, when he charged in he tended to carry his fang low, at his hip, or to high, thrown over his shoulder, which made it very difficult to block or parry a blow without having to stop.

A solid shield locked to his lead arm would do the trick. Sesshomaru was certain Inuyasha could wield Tetsusaiga one handed if needed, so that could fix the problem. Though at the same time Inuyasha always seemed to refuse to sue anything other then a dual hand grip. Most likely because Inuyasha only focused on dealing out single heavy blows.

Hmm…armor then…if Inuyasha could not modify his style, something Sesshomaru felt was unlikely, the boy just needed proper instruction, then perhaps sturdy, solid armor would do.

Interesting enough, Inuyasha’s weakness fight right in with Imalia’s greatest strength. Her footwork. It continued to show itself as the fight proceeded. Imalia continued to keep Inuyasha pinned down with her rapidly flicking light blade and when Inuyasha was finally able to swing his own fang, Imalia had already moved. It was the same thing that had lead to Gariths defeat.

But…there was a way for Inuyasha to win, especially with his own style.
As if he had heard his elder brother’s thoughts Inuyasha snarled, crossing his fang over his chest and dove in. Imalia backpedaled, her left blade darting out once more, but Inuyasha came in low, the blade jabbing past his head, and with one push of his powerful legs he was right inside of Imalia’s space.

However…Inuyasha had placed Tetsusaiga over his chest to block a possible strike to it, but now he couldn’t swing it.

Sesshomaru had to smile as Inuyasha shoved his fang up with both hands, Imalia tried to lean away but the flat of Inuyasha’s fang crashed hard into her left shoulder, nearly knocking her off of her feet. As she stumbled back Inuyasha spun, leaping up for added weight, before bringing Tetsusaiga down in a tight diagonal strike, headed right for Imalia’s back. Imalia pushed forward, just narrowly avoiding Inuyasha’s attack.

With a quick sidestep Inuyasha was right in front of Imalia once more, swinging his weapon straight down at her head. In her crouched position Imalia didn’t have time to move, she was forced to bring her swords up to block Inuyasha’s fang. The sound of metal clashing rang out, so loudly many winced. Inuyasha’s blow drove Imalia down to the ground, but as he stepped in to take advantage he was met with a savage kick to his right knee. The hanyou roared in anger and pain as his leg went out from under him, but he was able to remain vertical. Imalia however was also able get to her feet in that moment.

Her left arm twitched and Inuyasha brought Tetsusaiga up to defend, but the blow never came. Instead Imalia twisted, her right blade slicing towards Inuyasha’s unprotected face. The hanyou managed to lean away, with the blade just narrowly missing him. An extremely close call.

Sesshomaru growled to himself, so many holes….even a simple feint managed to catch Inuyasha off guard.

Once again Imalia took the pace, gracefully darting this way and that, circling Inuyasha, testing his defenses and keeping him off balance.

This was Imalia’s fight, she could dance circles around a person, and make you look like a fool while doing it. It was what had confounded Garith, who preferred to fight at mid-range. Which worked perfectly to Imalia’s advantage. She preferred to fight at long range, darting in to mid and back out again and has used her speed and ability to counter to tear Garith apart.

Inuyasha however preferred to fight on the inside, despite possessing a weapon with great reach, which is just what Imalia did notwant him to do. Sesshomaru knew just what Imalia was trying to do, she was looking to slip that left blade in and then drop the right. It was a one-two combination that would end Inuyasha if she could land it.

“You have to move in Inuyasha, you can not stay there, she will rip you apart.” Sesshomaru thought.

Inuyasha took a step forward, which Imalia matched with a step back. Sesshomaru could see little rivets of blood running down his younger brother’s hands. Imalia must have been able to knick the boy a few times.

Much to Sesshomaru’s annoyance the crowd of soldiers decided to make itself known, as they, although not all of them, began to cheer for Imalia.

“Come now Inuyasha…your weapon has more range then both of hers. Use that! Push her strike to the side and move in!” Sesshomaru thought.

But much to Sesshomaru’s disappointment Inuyasha did not do as he should, instead he stood, rooted to the ground, bobbing, weaving, blocking when he could. But he wasn’t moving, wasn’t attacking, he was allowing Imalia complete control.

Imalia’s attacks began to gain speed, her right blade coming into play more often. Inuyasha was forced to step back, or was pushed back, as Imalia’s strikes began more circular, transforming into a deadly whirlwind.

The crowds cheering became louder, as Inuyasha was sucked into Imalia’s trap. Only one person had ever been able to withstand Imalia’s deadly dance. Only one person had been able to defeat Imalia.
And that was Sesshomaru.

But he had been able to catch Imalia’s timing, and use his greater speed to counter her into oblivion. He had defeated Imalia three times, each easier then the last, in small duals like this one, meant only to keep skills sharp. Imalia did not present much challenge to him, he understood how she fought, but Inuyasha didn’t. Nor had anyone else been able to crack the mystery, even those who had seen Sesshomaru do it.

It was all about timing, the speed of Imalia’s attacks was incredible, Inuyasha himself was lurching backwards furiously to try to get away from it. But there was very little variation.

One-two.

One-two-three.

One-two.

One-two-three

One-two-three

One-two

One-two -three-four.

It was all about timing, and the timing was very precise. It had to be, otherwise she would have zero control over her movements and no control meant a lack of power and would increase the odds of the move failing. She could trip, blades could clash together, it would become more of a desperate liability then an a proper attack.

But if you had the timing then all the speed and flash meant nothing, you could easily slip a counter in, or stop the attack altogether.

However getting the timing down was easier said then done. You had to stand there in that bladed maelstrom, with blades quicker then vipers raining down on you. Each capable of taking your life or maiming you severally. Most simply did not have the nerve to stand there, the skill to avoid the blades, the eyes to follow the swings and the brain to put it all together.

Of course he was THE Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru’s gut knotted tighter as Inuyasha continued to be drove backwards and Sesshomaru could see more blood running down Inuyasha’s arms and hands. He was getting hit…and if he was getting hit now, then he was in serious trouble. For Imalia could go even faster then she was now, Sesshomaru knew that for a fact.

However….Sesshomaru took a moment to focus on Inuyasha’s face. The hanyou looked uncomfortable but not panicked, he was giving ground rapidly but his eyes were focused. Sesshomaru felt a little rush of excitement within himself.

“Do you see it little brother?” Sesshomaru thought.

Suddenly Imalia launched herself into the air, her whole body spinning rapidly, her blades extended in a deadly twister like movement. She was looking to bring both blades down upon Inuyasha at once, using the same high speed rotations for added force. But as she descended upon him Inuyasha stopped his backwards movement, instead planting his feet once more, digging them into the earth as he distributed his weight between them. He drew Tetsusaiga back and Sesshomaru had to wonder just what he was doing.
When Sesshomaru himself had faced this very same attack he had waited for the moment right before the blades would have struck him and then darted to the side, leaving Imalia absolutely no time to defend as Sesshomaru attacked her unprotected side.

But Inuyasha was far to rooted in place for such a split-second maneuver.

Just as Imalia’s swords joined each other side by side in their downward slash, Inuyasha stepped forward, pushing off with his feet and rotating his hips perfectly the hanyou heaved yet another massive horizontal swing.

Tetsusaiga met Imalia’s twin blades as they descended, and an ear piercing clash tore through the air as the female general’s weapons shattered in the path of Inuyasha’s fang.

Shards of metal rained down as Imalia tumbled out of her spin, crashing down hard on her face. Inuyasha charged forward as Imalia rebounded to her feet. Growling in annoyance as Imalia literally turned and ran from him, Inuyasha hunched down, pouring on his own speed as Imalia’s shaking hands reached behind her, drawing two more identical blades from their hidden sheaths.

Turning around Imalia had just enough time to raise weapons to block yet another mighty swing from Inuyasha. Imalia cried out as she was again blown back from the force of the blow. She tired to use her feet, to keep Inuyasha out of his favorite position.

But Inuyasha would have none of it.

Now this was Inuyasha’s fight. A chugging, unrelenting push forward. Inuyasha was the one who tended to make a fight, who dictated the pace, whether it was for him or against him.

Which was just what generally doomed him in his fights against Sesshomaru. Inuyasha only know one direction, straight ahead. But for someone stronger then him, like Sesshomaru, thus able to force him back, something Inuyasha could not fight effectively while doing, just owned the hanyou.

But in this case…Inuyasha’s single minded determination fit right in with the one thing Imalia hated most. Imalia utterly hated to be crowded, and her face clearly showed the tension.

Now Inuyasha completely controlled the pace. She would have to stop moving to effectively use her right blade and she simply could not stand and trade with Inuyasha. Her left blade was quickly being rendered useless, either being blocked or dodged completely.

While moving forward Inuyasha had an uncanny ability to bob and weave with great speed, and he was coming in low again, which enabled him to slip right under the jabbing blade.
This was Inuyasha’s best, perhaps only chance to win.

Technically Imalia vastly dwarfed Inuyasha, her speed and agility were top notch. She handled her swords exquisitely and her offensive and defensive skills were perfectly balanced. She could throw a blow just as hard going backwards as she could forwards, a rare skill.

And Inuyasha….

Well Inuyasha had NO technique. He only had one thing ticking away in his mind. Straight ahead and into the person’s middle. That’s all Inuyasha ever wanted to do, Sesshomaru noted a little humorously.

Imalia grunted as she had to block one of Inuyasha’s blows with her shoulder armor, again being hurled to the side, only to find Inuyasha was right on top of her before she could even think.
Sesshomaru could see sweat forming on Imalia’s brow and her chest was starting to heave.

That was Inuyasha’s chance, he still couldn’t quite catch Imalia…but she was getting tired. Inuyasha had to wear her out, his strength and stamina were his greatest weapons. Physically Imalia was in top notch condition, but Inuyasha was applying terrible pressure.

It wasn’t particularly draining to swing a sword, nor dashing around, at least not for a demon. Putting them together might be a little rougher but it still wasn’t anything that would drop you for quite some time.

However doing all that while being steadily pursued by another, who was dishing out attacks that could easily slice you right in half was a completely different story.

Each and every single swing of Inuyasha’s was a fight ender, your reactions had to be exact, or you would end up with missing limbs or dead before you eve knew it. Sesshomaru had to admit that even he was not comfortable facing Inuyasha in a pure in-fight. But he had the strength and abilities to force Inuyasha fight in a way that was against his style.

Inuyasha was rapidly pushing Imalia back towards the outside wall of the castle, if he managed to pin her against it then she was finished. The only reasons she was still in this fight was due to excellent blocking and the speed that she could move away with. But if she couldn’t move away, her only options were to try to go around Inuyasha, or through him. The former would be canceled out by the speed Inuyasha had already proven he could side-step and the latter?

Well going through Inuyasha was about as easy as chewing through a bolder.

A counter was an option of course, and Sesshomaru could see Imalia was looking for it. Inuyasha’s timing was blatantly obvious, but he was far to close for a counter shot to work. Which had to be beyond frustrating, to see an clear opening yet be unable to take it.
What Imalia needed to do was slow the pace back down, to catch a breather and get back into her own rhythm.

“Which is easier said then done, because you have got Inuyasha standing in front of you, and he is not moving, he’s just swinging away. Haha…you don’t have to look for Inuyasha, he’s right in your chest.” Sesshomaru thought.

Though if Inuyasha didn’t stay tight and small, if he made a wide swing, Imalia could slip under it and get around Inuyasha. Then he would have to start all over again.

Patience was the key.

The fight had now gone on for over an hour and a half, with the last thirty five minutes being solely in Inuyasha’s favor. What’s more is that it happened to be rather hot outside…

It wasn’t unbearable by any means, but it was a little dry and there wasn’t much of a breeze either.

Which could prove to be something of a problem for Imalia, she was in full gear, her normal clothes, then a layer of padding as needed, then heavy armor. While Inuyasha was dressed in light clothing. Light clothing that was clinging in all the right places….

Sesshomaru shifted uncomfortably, he was rather annoyed that his body had thickened slightly. Now was just not the time.

“Oh shut up…he’s gorgeous and I’m enjoying watching him move.” Sess-youkai snapped.

Another wicked blow whizzed past Imalia’s face, causing her to lose her footing and stumble back. Her hair and body were soaked with sweat and she was viably and audibly gasping for breath. Inuyasha had a light sheen of sweat on his face, but his breathing was still even.

“The longer this fight goes the better it is for you little brother. Don’t be hasty.” Sesshomaru thought.

Inuyasha dove in, his fang just narrowly missing Imalia’s waist. But her backwards leap was cut short as she slammed up against the solid stone of the castle. Imalia glanced behind her, then whipped her attention back on Inuyasha, a distressed look was plastered on her face.

The hanyou charged in, leaping into the air for that accursed vertical slash of his.

“Idiot! You had her!” Sesshomaru roared in his head. It was extremely difficult to hold back his voice as Imalia easily moved out of the way of Inuyasha’s wild attack, slipping around hind him.

Inuyasha quickly turned, swinging his weapon as he did. In a second he was back on top of Imalia, swinging away.

Well….at least he didn’t give her to long to recover.

Sesshomaru cooed slightly under his breath as Inuyasha’s swings began to speed up, the hanyou was rocking his body back and forth, almost in a figure eight movement, putting a great deal of his weight behind each swing and building up even more momentum with each rotation.

Imalia was dodging frantically now, and Inuyasha’s fang was getting closer and closer to her with every passing second. She wasn’t even trying to block Inuyasha’s attacks anymore, instead she was trying to turn them away just enough so that they would not hit her.

“She does not have the strength to meet you anymore Inuyasha, this is your time, keep at it!” Sesshomaru cheered silently. How he wanted to unchain his voice, to cheer for his baby brother as the soldiers who favored Imalia were giving their support even now.

But he couldn’t, despite Inuyasha being his sibling, he was still the overseer of this dual. Thus he still had to be impartial, or at least give the illusion that he was.

Inuyasha continued to flurry, his fang gleaming in the sun light. Imalia continued to dodge, but her armor was getting struck, pieces of it being torn off and tossed aside. It was only a matter of time now…as long as Inuyasha didn’t let her back into the fight.

Her face was beginning to change color now as well, deep red but with little specks of blue at certain points. She couldn’t breathe, and when she could she was being forced to hold her breath just to keep moving like she was.

It was an endurance test now, who could keep at this frantic pace the longest. Inuyasha with his rapid-fire swings or Imalia with her nearly blurring dodging. Again Inuyasha increased the speed, pushing off with his toes to lunge himself forward, his fang flashing out faster then Sesshomaru would have ever though him capable of.

A few astonished gasps rang out from the crowd, both combatants were nearly a blur, it was becoming difficult to see where one movement ended and another began.

Suddenly Imalia let out a fierce, desperate shout, scissoring her blades and driving them straight down into the earth, deflecting Inuyasha’s thrust towards her belly and locking his fang up with her own blades. Imalia nearly collapsed against Inuyasha, wild, frantic gasps pulling from her as she struggled for air. Inuyasha snarled and tried to raise his fang, but Imalia pressed down harder, using all of her weight, plus she had leverage on her side.

“Fine…have it your way.” Inuyasha growled.

Keeping his right hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha released it with his left. Drawing his hand back and tightening his fist Inuyasha whipped it forward, Imalia released a loud, agonized grunt as Inuyasha fist drove into her stomach, her amour was weak there for improved mobility and one of Inuyasha’s Tetsusaiga swings had torn it clean off.

Again and again Inuyasha hammered huge blows into Imalia’s exposed stomach. A particularly nasty one lifted the female general up off of her feet. Sesshomaru chuckled, if she was having trouble breathing before then she would be lucky if she didn’t pass out from lack of oxygen now.

Though she did look like she was about to vomit.

Imalia’s face still managed to show determination as she lashed out with her right leg, driving her shin into Inuyasha’s groin.

“HEY! Not there you big breasted wench! Why do you have to go for the fun bits!? Stomp on his foot or something if you have to!…..Although we could always offer to rub it to make it feel better.” Sess-youkai complained.

The hanyou yelped but made no attempt to move away. Snarling Inuyasha cocked back for yet another punch. This had turned into a brawl and that just so happened to be one of Inuyasha’s only specifies.

Imalia tried to twist her body, to protect her battered belly, but that was a mistake. Inuyasha’s fist crashed into Imalia’s side and the female demon’s eyes bulged out as a straggled, gurgling gasp slide past her lips.

“Caught you in the liver did he?” Sesshomaru thought. That was one of the worst places to be struck, the pain was excoriating.

Sesshomaru could recall a spar where his father had wanted to….shower him something. What that something was, was a incredible working over of Sesshomaru’s body. His father had caught him in the liver twice in rapid succession and he, the great and mighty Sesshomaru, had promptly doubled over, fell to his knee’s and vomited. A hell of a lesson on your first teenage year…

But his father hadn’t been trying to be malicious, he had been trying to explain something, Sesshomaru had argued with him, basically made the mistake of telling the older Inu that he was -full of crap- so….his father had shown him just what he was talking about.

Striking the body took longer to finish an opponent then repeated blows to the head. But in a long, grueling battle almost nothing worked better. Inu-Taisho had once said that body blows were the pebbles in the road to a living hell, and judging by the look on Imalia’s face, she agreed with the words of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha’s father.

Sesshomaru knew just what was happening inside of her as Inuyasha continued to punch, each shot landing dead center in her gut. First your stomach muscles would begin to tighten, cramping up in ways you would never think possible. Which also made it so very, very hard to draw breath. You would try, but your insides would fight you, and even when you succeeded the simple act required to keep you alive would send shock waves of pain through you.

Inuyasha cocked back yet again, twisting his body for added force. His fist was a barely visible blur as it surged forward, drilling into the very same spot once more.

“Liver blow number two.” Sesshomaru thought.

This time Imalia did not grunt, no a gagging, retching scream pulled away from her, startling the on looking crowd and could have sworn he had heard a faint cracking noise right before the scream turned wet and Imalia’s body drooped and she vomited, her breakfast and lunch splashing all over the ground.

Even that did not stop Inuyasha from raining down another shot, this one driving right into Imalia’s left kidney. The woman swooned, her knee’s starting to give out. She tried to shake it off, pushing forward and driving a pointed piece of her armor into Inuyasha’s sternum.

But Sesshomaru knew what had just happened, she had nearly passed out right then.

Inuyasha grunted in pain, but grinned, curling both hands around the hilt of his Tetsusaiga once more Inuyasha began to lift it. Imalia tried to stop him, keeping all of her weight upon Inu-Taisho’s gift. But Inuyasha would not be denied, the hanyou’s strength was still daunting because not only did Tetsusaiga begin to rise, but Imalia along with it.

With a grunt of exertion Inuyasha freed his Tetsusaiga, tossing Imalia to the side as he did. Inuyasha shouldered his weapon as Imalia slowly rose to her feet.

“Had enough?” Inuyasha asked.

“Not hardly.” Imalia declared as she brought her weapons up, regaining her stance. Amazingly she motioned for Inuyasha to come in with her left blade. “No more games, come hanyou. I’ll end you now.”

“That’s it Lady Imalia! Take that boar down!” Someone, a woman by the sound of it, shouted from the crowd.

It was annoying, but Sesshomaru was more puzzled with Imalia’s behavior, surely she was not serious? Was she actually meaning to stand in front of Inuyasha and slug it out? A quick glance at Imalia’s feet revealed that she had indeed come down off of her toes and spread her legs for a wider base. Interesting…not a tactic Sesshomaru would have thought she would go for.

As Sesshomaru began to bring his eyes back up to observe the rest of the fight he caught sight of Imalia’s legs. They were shaking. Badly.

It was then it hit him.

“She is not standing there because she wants to, she’s standing there because she can’t move. Her legs are dead.” Sesshomaru thought.

It wasn’t just exhaustion, Inuyasha’s thunderous blows to the body had caused this. Sesshomaru knew that after taking so many hits into the stomach your legs would just turn to jelly. It was like the damage just spread downwards as the muscles locked up. Simple walking became one of the hardest things in the world to do, to say nothing of rapid evasive movements.

Yes…Sesshomaru knew all of this, but did Inuyasha?

The hanyou still had not moved in, Imalia had stated that there would be no more games, but that was all that this was, a game, a diversion. Imalia did not want Inuyasha to come in. But by putting on a cold face and challenging him to do just that, she was hoping to confuse him and make him wary, and thus not come in lest he be caught by whatever surprise she was hiding.

But she was bluffing! She had nothing left, she was just trying to buy time to recover.

“Go now Inuyasha! Stop standing there! She can not move away from you anymore, this is your chance!” Sesshomaru thought urgently.
Still Inuyasha did not move.

“Are you afraid boy?” Imalia sneered.

“it’s a trick! Can you not see it?!” Sesshomaru thought. Gods all he wanted to do was say those words, to aid his little brother.

“Actually….” Inuyasha muttered, Tetsusaiga began to pulse with power as Inuyasha brought it off of his shoulder. “I’m tired of chasing your ass around. I think I’ll just end this right now.”

A confused look flashed over Imalia’s face.

“What….are you quitting?” She asked.

“Nope..” Inuyasha grunted as power continued to swirl around his fang. Sesshomaru had a moment to realize just what was about to happen.

“Inuyasha! NO!” Sesshomaru roared.

But it was to late.

“Kaze no Kizu!!” Inuyasha shouted, his fang slicing through the air.

Like a torrent from hell the Wind Scar was unleashed, over twice as large as Sesshomaru remembered it. The earth was shredded violently as it raced towards Imalia.

This was precisely why Sesshomaru had ordered the fight to occur outside the castle…but he had not thought Inuyasha would actually use it.

Clearly that had been a mistake.

Imalia’s legs found themselves and she began to backpedal as fast as she could. Sesshomaru knew that Imalia did not have the same acute senses that he and his brother did, but by the look on her face it would seem that everything inside of her was clearly informing her that what was quickly gaining on her was nothing short of a massive wave of death.

Sesshomaru began to race forwards, granted he did not care if Imalia perished, she had proven nothing to him, disrupted the inner workings of his home and he still had series doubts about her loyalty. But he had publicly declared he would not allow either of the two to kill the other one, which had actually been more for if she had defeated Inuyasha then anything.

So he did have to do something, but even with his speed he doubted he could be able to get to Imalia in time to pull her out of harms way.

With only a few feet left before she was struck, Imalia made one last ditch effort. Shifting her weight Imalia dove to the side, trying to remove herself from its path completely.

She managed to get out of the middle of it, but was still caught by the last tail of the left side.

Crossing her arms and blades in front of her for protection Imalia was engulfed by the Wind Scar. Her blades and arm guards shattered completely as she was hurled back, carried like a pebble in a raging river. A collective gasp echoed from the crowd as Imalia began to scream, a loud, painful, terrified scream.

Sesshomaru could sympathize.

Her hardened armor tore off of her as if it was nothing more then paper as the Wind Scar continued to surge forward, lasting much longer then Sesshomaru remembered, obliterating everything in its path.

The problem was it was headed RIGHT for the castle.

If their home was damaged….Sesshomaru would not be pleased.

Fortunately the attack finally ebbed, before dissipating completely. As the blinding wave of light faded, everyone received a clear view of Imalia crashing into the wall of castle, so hard that she actually bounced forward, leaving a bloody splat mark, before landing hard on her ass and slumping backwards against the stone wall.

Her armor was nonexistent, her clothing almost so, ragged wounds sat angrily in her flesh.

Sesshomaru watched as Inuyasha causal sauntered up to Imalia, his sword resting on his shoulder once more. Sesshomaru had stopped his raced towards Imalia once the woman had been swept up in Tetsusaiga’s deadly wave. But now he found himself, and the crowd behind him, following Inuyasha.

There was a chance Imalia still lived, she had not faced the full brunt of the Wind Scar, if so he would not allow Inuyasha to finish her off.

As they neared Sesshomaru could see that Imalia was indeed still alive, he could hear her shallow breathing, she had one eye locked on Inuyasha, while the other side of her face was a gore soaked mess. She was just barely conscious, perhaps she was trying to rise, but she couldn’t even get her fingers to move it seemed.

Clearly she was finished, could be dying. Sesshomaru knew he should call the fight, yet…he was interested to see what Inuyasha would do. But much to Sesshomaru’s surprise Inuyasha tightened his grip on his weapon as he neared, moving it down to his hip. Finally he stopped in front of Imalia, clearly poised to deliver yet another blow. Was he actually going to try to finish her? That…was unlike Inuyasha.

Hacking a choking Imalia spat out a gout of blood, the fluid running down her jaw and onto her body.

“I…..I….con…ceed.” Imalia proclaimed, her voice rough and jagged, right before her head slumped forward, if not for the fact that he could still hear her breathing, still hear her heart beating, Sesshomaru would have thought she had just expired.

“Imalia concedes! Inuyasha is the victor!” Sesshomaru declared, just incase anyone had not been able to hear, or had not understood the woman.

Though he did have a moment of smugness, he had taken the full brunt of the Wind Scar before, and although he had been grievously injured, he had not been as mangled as the woman before him.

Clearly the sons of Inu-Taisho were simply head and shoulders above the rest of the demon races.

“I still say we should have just stripped down and joined him in the bed.” Sess-youkai complained.

Yes well…..hindsight was 20/20 after all…..

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

G rinning Inuyasha sheathed his Tetsusaiga.

“Serves you right.” He mumbled. Trying to ignore the twinge of pain in his ribs Inuyasha took a moment to look around. The first person that caught his eye was the bastard. Sesshomaru was rubbing the fur of his tail between hi fingers, he looked…nervous.

Well not that Sesshomaru ever showed much emotion, but somehow how Inuyasha just knew.

Ignoring Sesshomaru for the moment Inuyasha turned his gaze to the assembled demons. Some of them looked down right outraged, with pensive eyes focused on Imalia, or angry eyes focused on him. Others looked like they couldn’t care less, though they looked at the fallen Imalia smugly. Which kinda pissed Inuyasha off, it was his victory, what the fuck did they have to be proud about? It certainly didn’t look like anyone had been pulling for him, which….hurt. It was stupid but…didn’t anyone what to see him win?

Just then an annoyed, scolding voice broke though Inuyasha’s thoughts.

“Perhaps someone can tell this one just why the Lord Inuyasha was doing the very thing Daigon explicitly stated he should NOT BE DOING?”

Inuyasha turned around, only to see a rather angry Daigon standing a few feet away from him.

“Well?” Daigon chided, holding his hands out expectantly. Inuyasha chose not to answer, it wasn’t like he needed to explain himself to anyone.

Sighing Daigon rubbed at his temples.

“Then perhaps you, Lord Sesshomaru, can explain why you allowed Lord Inuyasha to disobey the directions given to him?”

“He was very insistent.” Sesshomaru replied. Inuyasha snorted, yeah like the shit-head cared what he wanted.

“That is not an answer!” Daigon snapped, surprising Inuyasha. “As his elder you are responsible for his health. Or does this one actually need to explain just what that entails to you?”

“He would not accept no.” Sesshomaru said defensively.

“Your god damn right I wouldn’t.” Inuyasha muttered.

Imalia grunted in pain as Daigon’s assistants lifted her and placed her on some type of portable table. Daigon glanced at her for a second then turned his angry eyes onto Inuyasha.

“Do you realize that you have very likely torn most, if not all, of the new tissue?” Daigon asked, crossing his arms in front of him as he stepped closer to Inuyasha.

“I’m fine.” Inuyasha grunted.

“Oh is that so?” Daigon scoffed. “Very well, small test then, raise your right arm please, and then this one will get out of your hair.”

Hmm…well that seemed easy enough. Shrugging Inuyasha raised his right arm, ignoring the small stab of pain in his side. Daigon stepped in, cocking his head to the side as he stared at Inuyasha’s torso.

Then without warning Daigon’s arm snapped out, slapping Inuyasha right in the ribs. Inuyasha cried out in pain and surprise as his side exploded in raw agony, doubling him over slightly.

Fuck that hurt!!!

“Your -fine- huh?” Daigon quipped sarcastically. “You have torn them up again, and if your not careful, it will not heal properly. It will turn to scar tissue and continue to feel just as it does now for the rest of your life.”

Inuyasha still couldn’t believe Daigon had struck him.

“What kind of…healer….hits someone…in their wound?” Inuyasha asked between clenched teeth.

“The kind who has patients who blatantly disregard his orders.” Daigon countered. “Now stay there….this one will return shortly.”

Inuyasha watched as Daigon walked over to Imalia, leaning over her as he began to….well Inuyasha didn’t know what he was doing.

Inuyasha was so focused on his green haired tormentor that he nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand was laid down upon his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Sesshomaru asked softly. Inuyasha jerked his shoulder away in annoyance.

“I’m just fucking peachy.” Inuyasha snapped. What…did the bastard think he had forgotten about him already? Sesshomaru seemed to ignore his statement altogether though..

“What is your pain level? Do you need to sit down?” Sesshomaru asked. Inuyasha just started at his brother, a feeling of disbelief filling him.

‘No I think I have been on the ground more then enough today.” Inuyasha shot back. Sesshomaru sighed.

“Why must you be so difficult with everything?”

Before he could respond Inuyasha felt hands on his ribs, one on either side and he tensed up.

“Hey-” Inuyasha started to say.

“Oh shut up….this one is only trying to gauge just how much damage your idiotic actions have caused. Now raise your arms.” Daigon ordered.

“If you hit me again…” Inuyasha growled.

“He will not.” Sesshomaru said gently, but there was a threat there.

“Oh NOW he becomes protective.” Daigon muttered as Inuyasha reluctantly raised hi arms. Normally he probably wouldn’t have, it was a little embarrassing, but it seemed that everyone, including all of the soldiers that had gathered had cleared out while he had been distracted.

Daigon let out a long suffering sigh.

“This one doesn’t even need to remove your clothing to see what you have done. You’ve torn through the wrapping, which means you’ve stretched the muscles and torn the connective tissue again. Your ribs are completely out of their natural alignment. They can not be re-wrapped until they settle back into their proper positions.”

“And what must we do to do that?” Sesshomaru asked before Inuyasha could even open his mouth.

“Two choices. One. You hold Lord Inuyasha while this one pushes them back into place.” Daigon answered.

Ok fuck that….

“Or?” Sesshomaru prodded.

“Or…it is possible that they will realign on their own. Provided of course he takes it easy. Resting an in up right position would probably help the best.” Daigon finished.

“That will work out just fine, we were just about to take a bit of a walk through the forest. I will make sure Inuyasha is able to rest and does not strain himself.” Sesshomaru said as he placed his hand back on Inuyasha’s shoulder from behind. Daigon looked a little skeptical.

“That should be alright…as long as this one’s directions are followed.”

“Now wait a minute! I sure as hell am not going anywhere with this bas-” Inuyasha started. Sesshomaru gripped his shoulder hard and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“Unless you want him pressing and prodding in very painful area’s I suggest you go along with me.”

Crap…go with the bastard…or feel pain….

“Well Lord Inuyasha? Just what is going on?” Daigon asked.

“I’m thinking…..”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X

An uneasy feeling began to settle in Sesshomaru’s stomach as he walked next to a fuming Inuyasha, this was not the nice peaceful what in the woods that he had hoped it would be. It would seem that Inuyasha wad dedicated to holding onto his grudge.

Sesshomaru wanted to apologize, he did feel guilty, but…he had no other choice. He had tried to make it as quick and painless as possible, what more could he have done? Perhaps he should have gone after Imalia first…maybe that would have curbed Inuyasha anger, if only slightly.

Inuyasha didn’t appear willing to talk at all however, the hanyou appeared content to stomp through the forest like an ogre in china shop.

Sesshomaru knew he needed to get Inuyasha to sit for a while, Daigon had been very specific in his direction. The three knots on the upper side of both sides of Inuyasha’s ribcage needed to drop three or four inches, and Daigon had stated that if it did not happen in at least two hours then Sesshomaru would have to attempt to push them back into place.

Providing Inuyasha would let him of course.

Daigon had said it could range between gentle massaging to down right shoving.

Sesshomaru knew of a nice spot over looking a waterfall, the grass was very thick and soft, and he had been trying to herd Inuyasha in that direction but it was proving difficult.

Inuyasha wouldn’t turn when he would, the hanyou would just keep walking forward, forcing Sesshomaru to alter his course to continue following his baby brother. As it was they had circled the destination Sesshomaru had in mind five times now.

Now if he happened to bump Inuyasha then the hanyou would change course, but other then that Inuyasha was ignoring him.

Well….it would seem like he was going to have to do something drastic.

…Again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Inuyasha grumbled to himself, this was so stupid….he should have left alright. The only reason he hadn’t was because he didn’t want the psychotic healer chasing him down while he was looking for his group.

“Ass monger…hitting me in the ribs” Inuyasha thought. Inuyasha felt Sesshomaru bump into him again and he veered right, moving away from his older brother. Asshole just kept nudging him, like Inuyasha had forgotten he was there….

“Just how long do you intend to ignore me little brother?” Sesshomaru asked softly.

“Fuck you.” Inuyasha thought. “I said I’d walk with you, I never said I’d talk to your stupid ass.”

But Inuyasha kept his thoughts to himself, he didn’t have anything left to say to the shit-fucker anyway.

“Will you at least follow me? Daigon will have a fit if you do not rest, which is not pleasant, believe me, and I know of a very nice spot.” Sesshomaru said.

“Not a chance in hell, I don’t want anything to do with anymore of your side trips.” Inuyasha thought. He was hoping that Sesshomaru would get the hint and leave, so he could finally go sit down by himself. As much as he hated to admit it his sides were aching to the point that sitting down and relaxing for a little while sounded very good.

For the next few moments there was nothing but the sounds of the forest, mixed in with their footsteps. It was very strange to have Sesshomaru of all people at his side. Although he knew it didn’t mean anything…

It didn’t….

Right?….

Fuck…he felt so confused. Plus he was so pissed off at himself right now, because….well….god damn it his fucking feelings where hurt.

Over Sesshomaru.
Sess-fucking-homaru of all people.

But he found himself actually bothered at how Sesshomaru had put him on the ground like that. It…hurt. Which was so damn stupid, Sesshomaru had beaten him within an inch of his life before, had knocked him around after he had almost be….almost be raped….and then left him there for it to happen anyway.

He knew better then this, something was wrong with him clearly, to be feeling like this. Maybe something was in the food…

“Very well…again you leave me with no choice.” Sesshomaru grunted suddenly.

Inuyasha barely had enough time to be worried before Sesshomaru’s fluffy thing, his tail was it?, curled around him, tying up his feet and trapping his hands behind his back.

“Hey damn it!” Inuyasha exclaimed as he found himself being lifted up and carried, bridal style, though with only one arm Sesshomaru had to use his tail to help distribute the weight.

“Why is it I must do such drastic things to get you to unchain your voice little brother? And even then you hold not one kind word for me..” Sesshomaru muttered.

“I got a question too! Why can’t you leave ME the fuck alone!?” Inuyasha snapped, trying to free himself. Just how could something so damn fluffy and soft be stronger then iron bands!? However Inuyasha found his movements instantly impeded as Sesshomaru only held him tighter, which didn’t hurt for some reason…he would have thought it would hurt.

“Cease your struggling little brother. I am not going to hurt you and I do not want you to hurt yourself further.” Sesshomaru assured. Sesshomaru changed course, moving left, to where Inuyasha had no idea, but he didn’t want any part of it.

“Let me go!” Inuyasha demanded.

“No.” Was Sesshomaru’s deadpan reply.

“Let me go Sesshomaru!”

“No.”

“Let me the fuck go!!”

“No.”
“God damn you! You puss sucking, horse fucking, piss drinking, Naraku cock-sucking son of a bitch! LET. ME. GO!!” Inuyasha roared.

“No….and I would never touch that disgusting filth in such a manner.”

“Well at least he has some taste.” Inu-youkai groused.

Inuyasha was so full of anger he was surprised his veins hadn’t burst yet. He let out a pent up, frustrated sigh.

“I fucking hate you.” Inuyasha spat.

“I know….” Sesshomaru whispered.

That froze Inuyasha for a moment, to hear such sadness and…heartbreak in Sesshomaru, sadness so thick he could taste it, like a cold bitter rain on his tongue. He didn’t know what to say, he was still angry yes, but for some reason he couldn’t muster the strength to say anything back.

He still wanted to be let go though.

“He is kinda…warm and comfy…just saying…” Inu-youkai added.

God damn thing was schizophrenic….jumping around like it did, wasn’t’ it just pissed at Sesshomaru like….a few hours ago?

After a short while they came to a cliff overlooking a beautiful waterfall, the thing was huge too.

Had Inuyasha been in a better mood he might have been able tot appreciate the way the sunlight made the water sparkle, like a cascade of diamonds. He might have been able to enjoy the scent of cool clean water, might have been relaxed by the sound of it pounding on the rocks.

But as Sesshomaru sat them down on the ground, scooting himself backwards to rest against a large smooth rock that jutted out of the ground, all Inuyasha was focused on was getting out of Sesshomaru’s grip and away from him.

Inuyasha snarled as Sesshomaru sat him down between his spread legs and pulled him back to rest against his chest. Of course Inuyasha also noticed that Sesshomaru never made a move to release his arms or legs.

“Well this is pretty fucking relaxing…” Inuyasha griped.

“I know you Inuyasha, the moment I release you, you will jump to your feet, most likely hurling curses. Probably try to strike me and in doing all of this injure yourself even more.” Sesshomaru muttered.

Actually….yeah that did sound like him. Two points to Sesshomaru.

“So what…you gonna just keep me here for a while? For what? For fucking what!?” Inuyasha growled.

“To give your ribs a time to settle.” Sesshomaru replied.

His ribs, his ribs, his ribs, his ribs. He was so fucking tired of hearing about his damn ribs.

Inuyasha opened his mouth, sucking in a deep breath, preparing to start shouting when Sesshomaru’s hand clamped over it. Inuyasha still let out a muffled, aggravated shout. Fucking asshole….

He found that he couldn’t bite Sesshomaru, not that he didn’t try a few times. He could lick Sesshomaru’s palm…and he did….if only for spite.

“I am sorry.” Sesshomaru whispered into Inuyasha’s ear, resting his chin onto of his head. “It was not my wish to embarrass you like that, but you left me no choice. But I am sorry little brother.”

A few moments past before Sesshomaru very slowly removed his hand from Inuyasha’s mouth.

“The fuck do you mean I left you with no choice? I didn’t do shit!” Inuyasha shouted.

“I am right here Inuyasha, you do not have to raise your voice so. Now as for not doing anything….did I not ask you to keep your grievances to yourself until we were in private? Yet you openly insult me in front of my subordinates, you blatantly disobey my orders and you go so far as to state that you are above my authority.” Sesshomaru whispered.

“Well you are an asshole. I don’t take orders from you and I will do whatever the fuck I want to do.” Inuyasha countered.

Sesshomaru sighed.

“I had to punish you Inuyasha, you can not speak to me like that in public. Why do you not understand that?” Sesshomaru asked.

“I don’t see…” Inuyasha started.

“This may mean nothing to you but….do you know what I would have done had it been anyone else? Anyone other then you to do such a thing? I have broken every bone in their miserable body and then had them imprisoned in my dungeon for at least six full weeks.” Sesshomaru interrupted.

“Oh what am I supposed to be grateful?” Inuyasha snapped.

“No…I do not expect that, it would be pleasant, but not required. I did not wish to harm you, that is the whole point and the only act I could think of that would be acceptable was what I did.” Sesshomaru replied.

“Acceptable? What the hell are you talking about now? Its not like anyone is going to really argue with you.” Inuyasha shot back. After all those years of Sesshomaru’s high handed -I am the Lord of the West- attitude, did Sesshomaru really think he was going to believe that someone would actually challenge him about something?

“Perhaps you have not noticed, or perhaps you have, but let me explain. The West is in a state of political upheaval at this time. So much has changed so rapidly. It makes me weary, and I can not afford for anyone, not even you, to make me look weak. Had you kept your feelings to yourself, all you had to do was ask to speak to me in private Inuyasha and we could have swiftly dealt with the problem. But no you did not, and although I know not what problems could have been caused, I also will do everything in my power to keep them from forming in the first place.” Sesshomaru explain.

Inuyasha squirmed, this was twice now that Sesshomaru had been able to entrap him, it was somewhat embarrassing.

“She insulted me, you had no business butting in when I was only defending myself.” Inuyasha growled. Again Sesshomaru sighed, his hot breath sliding over Inuyasha’s ear, causing his stomach to tingle.

“Oooh…more of that…go there….it’ll be much better.” Inu-youkai suggested.

“Again…I apologize, I misunderstood your intentions. I had thought you were attempting to gain Imalia’s position.” Sesshomaru whispered. “I have no love for that woman, but I couldn’t allow it.”

“Well I didn’t want her fucking position or whatever.” Inuyasha grumped.

“I know that now….but I did not then. I did not punish you for that however….please do not think that I did. IT was your other behavior that brought that on.” Sesshomaru said. “I am still sorry, it was not my wish, but I had to….I tried to be gentle.”

Once again…please coming out of Sesshomaru’s mouth? Were his ears broken? Maybe he should get them checked.

“You know…I thought you said this was also my home. So your telling me that I have to pretend to be something I’m not here?” Inuyasha asked. Course it wasn’t his home…he knew that. But hey…any chance to use Sesshomaru’s own words against him was great in his opinion.

Although Sesshomaru’s tail never released Inuyasha, the demon Lord began to stroke Inuyasha’s hair.

“No…but you must give me time to integrate you into the castle. These people do not know you, the do not know how you are. I ask that you take it slow, that you understand that you are no longer in the wild, things work much differently here. Besides….showing your older brother a small bit of respect isn’t a bad thing.” Sesshomaru chuckled.

Inuyasha growled.

“Yeah well I haven’t exactly been shown a whole lot of respect since I got here anyway.”

“Oh do not worry about that, it will be taken care of. Imalia included. That I do promise.” Sesshomaru declared. Inuyasha sighed, Sesshomaru sounded so damn sincere, which was weird. As a matter of fact he sounded…eager.

“Mind letting me go now?” Inuyasha asked softly, feeling completely drained all of a sudden. How many times had he asked that exact same question today? He was not sure….way to damn many though.

“Are you going to do something that will hurt yourself? If so the answer is no.” Sesshomaru replied just as softly.

“Why does everything have to have stipulations with you?” Inuyasha spat.

Sesshomaru was quiet for a moment, as if he were thinking. During that time Sesshomaru continued to stroke Inuyasha hair, which felt waaay to fucking good, those long, deadly fingers slipping through his hair, massaging his scalp so sweetly. It was damn lulling is what it was.

“It is for your health Inuyasha, Daigon was quite serious when he said you could leave yourself injured for the rest of your life. You are to rest. And….” Sesshomaru trailed off.

“And?” Inuyasha asked, somewhat impatiently.

“And I want my baby brother close.” Sesshomaru whispered gently in Inuyasha’s ear, teasing it slightly with his tongue.

Honest if Inuyasha had not been sitting down he would have fallen down after that…confession? Is that what it was.

Silence reigned, Inuyasha sincerely could not think of anything to say. Then out of the blue Inuyasha found his hands and legs free.

Inuyasha would have sprang up, despite all else he still wanted away from Sesshomaru. But Sesshomaru suddenly began to nuzzle him, rubbing his cheek along Inuyasha’s own, and that just….just seemed to shut Inuyasha’s body off. His legs didn’t want to move.

Sesshomaru continued the gentle movements, a slight purr rumbling inside of his chest. It touched something inside of Inuyasha…something he’d never felt.

“What…what are…are you doing?” Inuyasha gasped. Though…it wasn’t a sexual feeling, it did not send blood racing to his lowers.

“You do not know little brother? Truly?” Sess asked, his voice filled with confusion as he laid a gentle kiss on the side of Inuyasha’s neck.

“If I did, I wouldn’t ask.” Inuyasha replied. Sesshomaru pulled away, only to slip over to the other side of Inuyasha’s face, repeating the movements from before.

“Know you…you might.” Sesshomaru said. Sesshomaru’s voice just sounded so different when it was soft and gentle, it didn’t match the picture of Sesshomaru that Inuyasha had always had in his mind. “What do your instincts say? Listen to them Inuyasha.”

That might have been decent advice to some, but Inuyasha’s head was buzzing in confusion, what was worse was that he could feel yet another struggle inside of him, both in his blood and in his mind. It was as if something was making one last ditch effort, throwing everything it had at its opposition. But why?

He was used to his human and demon sides fighting over nearly everything, but he hadn’t felt it since his body had started….doing whatever it was doing. But this felt a bit different, it felt…desperate.

“Ju-Just tell me….no games.” Inuyasha gasped. He couldn’t hear his youkai all of a sudden and his head was starting to pound.

Sesshomaru laid another gentle kiss on Inuyasha, this time on his temple, as if he could feel Inuyasha’s building distress.

Maybe he could…

“I am asking for your forgiveness, you have not yet accepted my apology. There is so much that is said between Inu, especially family, that does not require words. It is beyond words….beyond speaking, so much deeper…so much more…meaningful.” Sesshomaru explained soothingly, sounding distressed that he had to.

Did he forgive Sesshomaru? Could he forgive such humiliation?

He couldn’t answer.

He opened his mouth but nothing would come out. He felt so conflicted, as if deep down he wanted to forgive, yet at the same time wanted to reject Sesshomaru, to shove him away and scream at him for treating him like that.

Inuyasha’s head was pounding so badly now, he felt as if it would split open at any moment.

He could tell what was happening now, his human and demon sides were going at it. But this was worst then he could ever remember, it felt like an all out war.

And his human side was winning.

Which almost never happened, except on the day before his human night his two halves had always been perfectly matched.

But his human side felt crazed in its desperation and was driving against his demon half with everything it had.

Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut tightly, the pain never ebbing. It hurt so much that he felt as if he were out of breath and he began to gasp, nearly writhing against Sesshomaru. Which was an act he was trying to fight because it only brought out intense pain in his chest and sides.

Sesshomaru’s arm tightened around him, helping him stay still.

“Inuyasha? What is wrong? You scent smells pained….is it your ribs?” Sesshomaru asked, sounding worried.

Inuyasha’s vision went red and his voice still refused to work. He shook his head no, which was all he could do at the moment.

His demon side began to push back, it felt like it had been caught completely off guard by his human’s assault, but it couldn’t seem to get any leverage. His human was beating against it frantically, like a child attacking a monster that had fallen to the ground, desperately trying to keep it from rising once more.

“M….my….d-demon….human….fight& #8230;.I..I cant….” Inuyasha managed to gasp.

Sesshomaru’s tail wrapped around him protectively.

“What can I do Inuyasha? How can I help?” Sesshomaru asked insistently, becoming all business. Inuyasha shook his head, trying to convey that he didn’t know when his human side level a massive blow against its demon opposition.

And Inuyasha felt it. Recoiling as if he had been smashed between the eyes with a hammer Inuyasha nearly head butted Sesshomaru in the mouth.

The older Inu’s hand slid up the side of his face, cupping it tenderly, but it did nothing to stop the onslaught.

“Both of you….s-st-stop!” Inuyasha half ordered, half begged. “My…head….your no-not….supposed…..gods your…your tearing me apart!”

Another blow rang out inside of Inuyasha’s skull, causing him to nearly tear himself from Sesshomaru’s embrace. He couldn’t help it and he felt warm blood running out from his nose, spilling over his lips and down his jaw. It began to drip down, splashing onto Sesshomaru’s arm, staining his clothing.

Inuyasha had a moment of pure, irrational fear, he remembered quite well what had happened the last time his blood had ended up on Sesshomaru’s clothes.

Sesshomaru looked down and Inuyasha was able to tilt his head back just enough that he could see Sesshomaru’s eyes go wide at the sight of the crimson fluid. That did nothing to diminish Inuyasha’s fear.

“Please….don’t hit me…” Inuyasha managed to plead. Ashamed that he had to…fearful that it wouldn’t be enough.

Sesshomaru let out a straggled, choking almost sob and then quickly produced a silk cloth that he used to wipe Inuyasha’s nose and face.

“Never. I promise you…never.” Sesshomaru said. “But something is hurting you…it has to stop.”

Sesshomaru placed the bloody cloth in Inuyasha’s hand, pulling his arm up and placing the cloth against Inuyasha’s nose. “Keep pressure on it as best you can.” Sesshomaru advised, helping Inuyasha pinch his fingers around his nostrils.

As another jolt of pain tore though Inuyasha’s skull he had a moment of deep anger. Sesshomaru couldn’t even hold a rag for him?

Instead Sesshomaru’s hand went down, slipping under the edge of his shirt before crawling up his chest.

“Perhaps this will help….I hope.” Sesshomaru muttered. Gently Sesshomaru’s fingers began to stroke the mark on Inuyasha’s chest. A burst of warmth flooded through Inuyasha’s body, blessedly pushing back against the pain.

Then he felt it, the piece of Sesshomaru that rested inside of him pulsed in recognition, it opened like a valve and suddenly Inuyasha could feel Sesshomaru’s power, or perhaps his own youkai, pouring into him. Much like the faucet above the sink in Kagome’s house.

Difference was….Inuyasha was the sink…and there was no drain.

The piece of Sesshomaru joined with his own demon side, together they both began to push against his human, which let out a scream that reverberated though Inuyasha’s mind, pushing another trickle of blood out of his nose.

Dear gods….he hoped that they weren’t doing any real lasting damage, being a hanyou was bad enough, being a bran damaged hanyou was not an experience he wanted to live through.

Slowly their combined efforts began to push his human half back, but it seemed to dig in its heel and for a moment it refused to budge. He could hear it shouting, but he couldn’t understand what it was saying, he just had the feeling that it was trying to get through to him.

“Oh shut up.” Sess-youkai snapped. Which freaked Inuyasha right the hell out, to hear Sesshomaru‘s, or at least some part of Sesshomaru, voice inside of his head. He had enough crap in there as it was.

Finally Inuyasha’s human side lost its grip, rapidly losing ground under the power of the two combined demons. In a way Inuyasha had to be impressed, yes it was losing, but it wasn’t going down easy and even now, as it was being forced back deep inside of him, it wasn’t giving up, wasn’t backing down. He had never thought his human half was nearly that strong.

He was rather intrigued by the though, and he was curious as to why it was fighting so hard, he might have made more of an effort to listen in to what it was saying, but the pain….his head hurt so much. He just wanted it to go away and so he did nothing as his youkai and Sesshomaru’s slammed his human half back down.

Minutes pasted as the pain slowly ebbed away. His body became stabilized once more but Sesshomaru made no move to pull back, his presence lingered, filling Inuyasha, warming him.

“If you ever need me….don’t hesitate.” Sess-youkai whispered softly in his mind before it slid away.

“Are you well now?” Sesshomaru asked.

“Yeah…I think I’m alright.” Inuyasha answered, but then added. “For the moment.”

Sesshomaru continued to lightly stroke his mark, which actually suited Inuyasha just fine, it seemed to be a remarkably good painkiller all things considered.

“What just happened Inuyasha? I could feel some sort of battle inside of you.” Sesshomaru said.
That kinda confused Inuyasha, he had felt Sesshomaru inside of him, creepy as that was, yet his brother had not been able to tell what was happening?

“I could hear you…in my head.” Inuyasha stated instead of trying to answer. Sesshomaru shook his head as Inuyasha wiped his nose with the cloth and then tossed the bloody thing away.

“Not me….well not that part of myself that I control.” Sesshomaru said. Inuyasha made a small agreeing noise, man he could relate to that….

Minutes past, neither brother said a word. Inuyasha was just waiting for his blood pressure to return to normal, not to mention….yet again Sesshomaru’s presence was lulling…he had to keep himself from letting his eyes close because if he didn’t he was sure he would fall asleep.

“On a small side note I thought you might wish to know that we should be ready to set out for our meeting with the other Lords and begin our…trial either tomorrow or the next day.” Sesshomaru said. Wow…that was pretty quick.

“Ok…” Inuyasha said softly. He really wasn’t up to doing a lot of thinking right now. Still…Inuyasha felt a small hunger in his belly, a small bit of lust for the demon at his back. It was…disturbing. He wanted to turn around and plaster his lips to Sesshomaru’s own once more…wanted to taste him. Wanted to bite and suck at his neck….

Almost as if sensing his thoughts Sesshomaru began to speak.

“We bear each others mark of claim, we will always feel a pull towards the other.”

Sesshomaru began to comb his fingers though Inuyasha’s hair, which nearly drew a moan from the hanyou, who know his scalp was so sensitive?

“I’m really not sure what to think about that….it bothers me, plus I have no idea what you think about it. I mean its so…”

“I think we will simply have to sit down and talk about it. There is a great deal to cover and…I feel there is much you do not understand.” Sesshomaru interrupted hastily. “We can do that Inuyasha. We can discuss our problems, our concerns. There is no need for us to scream and curse one another”

That sounded reasonable…he liked the sound of that. He was tired of having to fight all the damn time. A person’s life shouldn’t be like that…there should be at least some peace.

Suddenly Sesshomaru’s hand left the mark and began to trail along Inuyasha’s ribs. But even though it was a sensitive area, Inuyasha felt no need to stop him.

Up and down Sesshomaru stroked Inuyasha’s left side, before he moved over to the right. Sesshomaru then sighed pleasantly.

“Fortune smiles for a change. They feel as if they have settled on their own…good.”

Well that was good to know Inuyasha supposed, the young Inu could just see Daigon bitching at him the whole time he was re-wrapping them, and Inuyasha just knew they would be wrapped once more. He had the feeling that if he did not go to the green haired nut, then the man would just track him down anyway.

Though for some reason that did not bother him at the moment. He felt…peaceful. But he couldn’t help but wonder if he was truly at peace, or if he merely felt this way because a part of him had been forced into submission.

Then a thought occurred to him.

“Hey….Sesshomaru?” Inuyasha said lightly.

“Yes Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru responded.

Inuyasha touched the tips of his bangs nervously before he tilted his head back up to stare into Sesshomaru’s eyes.

“You….were apologizing to me?” Inuyasha posed tentatively. He wanted to see if Sesshomaru would do it again. Was it what had set his two halves against each other? Would he feel anything now that they were quiet?

“Indeed I was.” Sesshomaru said softly. Without another word Sesshomaru’s head dipped down, resuming his actions from earlier. This time Inuyasha did feel something….and more then just that. Words formed within his mind as clearly as if Sesshomaru had shouted them at the top of his lungs. Why had he not felt this earlier? Had his human half been attempting to block it? Why would it do such a thing?

Inuyasha’s youkai was silent but he could feel it, it felt tired…drained. Apparently exhausted from the fight with its human counterpart.
Sesshomaru was asking for forgiveness from his earlier actions…but….

“Do I forgive him?” Inuyasha thought.

It was very rare for anyone to apologize to him for anything, let alone be so persistent in finding out if Inuyasha accepted it or not.

Slowly Inuyasha turned, being careful to turn his entire body rather then twist his torso. Half on his knee’s Inuyasha locked eyes with Sesshomaru once more, the older Inu looked a little surprised…and hopeful.

It was as if Inuyasha were being told what to do the second before he did it.

Slowly Inuyasha leaned in, and as he did Sesshomaru tilted his head back, exposing his smooth, pale throat to Inuyasha. The small part of him that was not running on auto pilot could not believe that. Sesshomaru…exposing his throat?! A thing unheard of to be sure.

Little by little Inuyasha leaned in further before finally laying a gentle kiss on the center of Sesshomaru’s throat.
Sesshomaru began to tilt his head forward once more as Inuyasha started to pull away.

“Don’t do it again ok?” Inuyasha whispered, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

“I will be reasonable if you will my brother.” Sesshomaru replied.

Inuyasha snorted humorously and was about to get up but Sesshomaru reached out, somehow managing to turn him back over effortlessly with only one arm, without hurting his ribs, and then pulled him back into his chest once more.

“Rest a while longer Inuyasha.” Sesshomaru said. Inuyasha certainly didn’t have any complaints, he wasn’t even angry at the slight manhandling. He was still surprised at how warm and pliant Sesshomaru was, Inuyasha would have bet what little possessions he had that Sesshomaru would have felt ice cold…and hard as a rock. “I have one more place I would like to take you Inuyasha. If you feel up to it that is.” Sesshomaru whispered.

“Where?” Inuyasha asked. He probably should have been wary but instead found himself simply curious.

“To the marketplace, there are a multitude of shops that you could look through. I’m certain you could find something to your liking. I think…it could be…an enjoyable little outing for us.” Sesshomaru answered.

Inuyasha’s heart skipped a beat. He had never really shopped before, it wasn’t safe, plus he had only had the means to purchase something twice before in his entire life and even then no one would accept it, not from a hanyou, not even if he was only a child trying to buy food.

Of course they had been perfectly willing to rob a hanyou child, beat him and leave him for dead, of his two bronze coins only a short while later, but a few miles down the road.

“I don’t have any money.” Inuyasha said, and even he was shocked at how young and…lost his voice sounded.

“You have a massive fortune now, you have only but to ask.” Sesshomaru responded. “Would you like to go?”

“Yes….I think I would like that very much.” Inuyasha answered sincerely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ses shomaru’s heart was soaring. There had been a few hiccups but finally it looked as if he had been able to break at least the first wall around Inuyasha. The boy had been very angry but Sesshomaru had been able to get past that, they had shared a moment as brothers and on top of that he had been able to aid his sibling in a time of need.

He had not been this pleased with his progress in something in….well a rather long time, which in a way was quite silly, but he didn’t care in the slightest.

As they walked their pace was slow yet steady, he had even been able to coax some light conversation out of the grumpy hanyou. Though he didn’t really blame Inuyasha for being a little curt at the moment, he did after all appear to be in great pain just a short while ago. Sesshomaru just wished he knew what happened. Inuyasha had apparently suffered some sort of attack, he had mentioned something about his human and his demon and Sesshomaru had felt some sort of colossal struggle inside of Inuyasha when he had touched the mark. But what did Inuyasha mean his -human- and his -demon-? The boy was of mixed blood yes….but….did that mean that just as Inuyasha had a youkai speaking to him, he also had some type of human counterpart?

Sesshomaru suddenly pitied Inuyasha greatly, having a youkai was bad enough at times…but two of them? No wonder the hanyou was always so pissy all the time.

However Sesshomaru had not expected his own power to react the way it did, he had felt like a pitcher being poured into another, a very strange feeling indeed, but in any case he was glad he had been able to help. It made him feel warm inside, knowing that he had put a stop to his baby brothers pain. Still….it might be worth mentioning to Daigon.

It was not long before they reached the east gate, only a short while longer and they would been at the marketplace. Much to Sesshomaru’s own amusement Inuyasha seemed to be quite eager, the boy said nothing, but Sesshomaru was becoming better at reading his body. Sesshomaru knew it probably had to do with something in Inuyasha’s past and it was true that if he wanted to he could probably try to recall whatever memories might have to do with it. But Inuyasha’s past was nothing but pain and Sesshomaru wanted nothing of the sort in his future, not to mention he didn’t want to have to shift though countless dreadful recollections just to find the one that could possibly be responsible for Inuyasha’s eagerness. Besides…how could he get Inuyasha to stop dwelling on his best if he, Sesshomaru, was doing the very same thing?

Just as the east gate was being opened the sound of running footsteps reached Sesshomaru’s ears, along with a very familiar voice.

“Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru!” Rin chanted as she raced towards them. Sesshomaru stood still, giving Rin time to catch up, Inuyasha also made no more to proceed, though he had his back to the approaching human child.

Finally the girl stopped in front of them, making a big production of catching her breath, so cute really.

“I finally found you Lord Sesshomaru!” The human child exclaimed.

“Oh?” Sesshomaru puzzled, he hadn’t known he was being sought after. Rin nodded enthusiastically.

“Yup! I finished my lessons and wanted to come see you.” Rin said. That made Sesshomaru’s heart even warmer, Rin always had that effect on him, the girl was so sweet…so innocent.

“I see…well I am taking my brother Inuyasha to the market.” Sesshomaru explained.

“Oh! Oh! Can Rin come to?” Sesshomaru smiled.

“Yes, I think that would be fine.”

“Yay!” Rin cheered as she bounced from one foot to the other.

Inuyasha was silent as the three of them made their way through the gate, though Sesshomaru was sure that would change once they reached their destination, if not for the hustle and bustle of the market, then for Rin. The human girl was so sweet she could make corpse gas smell like roses if she tired.

The day was looking up now and Sesshomaru had the feeling that the rest of it would go rather nicely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the day was going to be crap…Inuyasha just knew it. Granted it had started out nice enough, then quickly turned to crap, then peaked…and now…well Inuyasha had a bad feeling.
Which was rather aggravating because for a short while there things had been going so well. The walk through the forest had stirred up unknown feelings inside of him, unknown but so warm…so nice.

He and Sesshomaru had talked, not about anything in particular, just like random banter. But he had felt so relaxed and it just came so easily. He didn’t have to think about what to say next, didn’t have to struggle with unfamiliar subjects just so he wouldn’t look stupid. He just knew what he wanted to say the moment Sesshomaru finished speaking and never once did Sesshomaru respond negatively or anything like that. It felt so…natural, just two brothers taking a walk through the woods.

There had been a moment of anger when Sesshomaru had suddenly thrown his shoulder into his own, knocking him off balance slightly, but that swiftly went away when he saw the light, teasing amusement in Sesshomaru’s eyes, and he was smiling. Sesshomaru, the Lord of the West had smile a real smile…for him. Not a slight turning of the lips, not a cocky smirk, a real warm, gentle, amused smile.

Inuyasha had become a little choked up after that. It was what it was…an older brother playing around with his younger sibling, a little teasing. Inuyasha had to fight back tears.

Was this real?
At long last was he finally being accepted?

It was a hope against hope, Inuyasha wanted to believe, with all his heart he wanted to believe.

But he was scared. What if he did believe, accepted what he was being shown, what if he did that and….it was a trick.

It would kill him, his heart would literally stop within his chest, if he finally thought it was over, that he had a family at long last. Only to be discarded once more.

Inuyasha had survived some devastating attacks in his life, but he truly felt that it would kill him if such a thing were to happen.

So he had decided to hang back a little, emotionally that was, and just observe. Not so much go into his shell but instead view Sesshomaru unobstructed, to just try and ignore the past and see what his elder brother would do now.

He had just made up his mind when then little human girl, Rin, made an appearance. To be honest Sesshomaru did not want her to join them, didn’t really want her within ten miles of them. He had been looking forward to this, as silly as that was, and wanted it to be just the two of them, him and Sesshomaru.

He had been annoyed at her intrusion, and that’s what it was, and even more so at Sesshomaru’s allowance of it. He had been about to speak his mind when he remembered what he had planned on doing. He was not going to influence anything, he was going to let it play out all on its own. He was just going to observe, whatever the outcome.

But thus far he was not liking what hew as seeing.

At first a rush of excitement had rushed through him as they entered the market. The sights, the sounds, the smells. There was so much going on and for a brief moment he had felt like a little child again, holing his mothers hand, looking up at the wonder of it all. There had suddenly been so much he wanted to see, wanted to do.

But that moment had been all to fleeting.

Things had changed so suddenly that it had taken a few minutes just for it to sink in and now Inuyasha felt uneasy. The whole way through the forest, both to and from, and the whole time they were in the castle Sesshomaru had walked by his side. They had walked together like equals and that had also begun to touch Inuyasha. Oh it had taken him a little while to figure out just what was really going on, he was slow on the uptake sometimes…but he got there all the same. He had begun to appreciate the gesture. Because not only had Sesshomaru done it, he had done it in front of others.

And for Inuyasha, a person who had been told he was lowly scum by ninety-nine percent of the people he had met in his life, to be called equal, especially by someone of Sesshomaru’s towering stature, had been….incredible.

More then just that there had came a point when he wanted to pounce Sesshomaru, to roll on the ground and wrestle.

He wanted to play.

To be the child he had never been able to be, if only for a little while, to do the things that brothers would do. But fear had held him back, fear of Sesshomaru’s reaction, fear of rejection.

But now….

Now Sesshomaru was walking ahead of him, by several feet actually. He was leaving Inuyasha behind and it wasn’t like he had slowed his pace down to see if Sesshomaru would match it. No…he was moving at the same speed the had been at.

It had been Sesshomaru who changed it, and why?

To keep pace with the girl…with Rin.

Inuyasha tried to shrug it off, after all Sesshomaru was probably just trying to keep the girl out of trouble and experience with Shippo had taught Inuyasha just how much, and who quickly, a child could get into trouble.

Still…it bothered him, not only that his brother had left his side, but who is it was for and how quickly it had happened.
Every so often Sesshomaru would look back at Inuyasha, a quick glance before he focused back on what was in front of him, Rin most likely.

“What….is he checking to see if I’m still here?” Inuyasha thought.

Inuyasha began to browse a little here and there, it was so strange, to be in a marketplace full of people and NOT be running for his life. Though one thing was the same, people would look at him, but not linger. It seemed that some things never changed…no matter how old you got.

Sesshomaru had been right about one thing though, the place was jam packed will all kinds of stuff. Food venders, clothing and cloth shops, assorted jewelry stations, livestock. You name it…it seemed to be there.

One shop in particular caught his eye, Sesshomaru happened to look back once more and Inuyasha jerked his head towards it, trying to specify that he was going in. Sesshomaru smiled and nodded, apparently getting the message, and made a motion that he would soon follow.

Sesshomaru’s current situation was on the opposite end of the spectrum from his own. Nearly everyone seemed to be vying for Sesshomarus’ attention.

“Maybe that’s why he is staying so far away…to keep that mess away from us.” Inu-youkai suggested weakly, it sounded wore out and it did not have much conviction behind its words. Inuyasha shrugged, not bothering to answer as he entered the shop.

There were all manner of items, a great deal of them Inuyasha had no clue what they were, stacked up on various shelves. All the shelves were lined up, making little rows that people could walk down, rather convenient really.

Inuyasha made no move to announce his presence, and his bare feet did not clunk with each step as boots would. He just didn’t feel like having someone talk to him at the moment, he just wanted to look around a little.

Up and down the isles he walked, coming to a rack Inuyasha allowed his fingers to play upon the trinkets which hung down from sparkling chains, little pendants and the like. The swung back as he past, clanking together, making soft metal noises as they did.

A brown haired coyote demon poked her head around the corner. Her eyes narrowed when she say him but then widened as she honed in on something. Following her line of sight Inuyasha realized she was looking at the crest embroidered on his clothing. But he also knew what her first thought had been.

“Great…a filthy hanyou.” Had been written all over her face. Which like always…hurt.

Inuyasha did his best to ignore it, nothing new after all, and nothing to worry about either. He was bigger now, stronger. He could and would defend himself. Plus it wasn’t like he had anyting to steal this time around.

Then a faint sparkle caught the corner of Inuyasha’s right eye, turning his head to the source in the far corner of the shop Inuyasha then approached curiously. His breath caught in his throat when he finally saw what it was.

A beautiful golden butterfly, with a multitude of jewels inlaid in the wings, simulating the real creatures erratic coloring, sat on a velvet pillow. On either side there were diamonds, rubies, sapphires, jades and amethysts. Other various details were etched into the gold, and if he did now know better he might have thought it was real.

However it was neither the sparkling jewels nor the weight of the gold that caused his heart to skip, the vast material worth of the piece eluded him. No…it was the fact that it looked exactly like the butterfly his mother had once had.

But how?

It couldn’t be the same one….could it?

“Excuse me?” Inuyasha chirped, trying to get the woman’s attention. As she made her way over Inuyasha pointed to the bejeweled insect. “Who made this?”

The woman blinked before she leaned closer.

“Oh…the butterfly? Well I believe it was crafted by the artist Mateli.” She answered.

Mateli….

The name rang out in Inuyasha’s heart…yes he knew that man. Mateli had been the one who had created the butterfly for his mother in the first place. He had said something about being inspired by her delicate beauty. Normally that probably would have been some sort of come on, but Mateli had been a good man, kindhearted and innocent in a way that few adults could manage. Inuyasha had liked him, the craftsman had always been very kind to him, always giving him some sort of baked treat that his wife had made, or scratching him behind his ears.
Perhaps strange behavior from a man so talented that even demon Lords sought him out to commission him for work. Knowing that Inuyasha also knew why this butterfly looked so much like his Mothers. For whenever Mateli created anything, he always made two.

“It makes me feel connected to them you see, for at anytime I may look at my work and know that somewhere someone who had touched me enough to create such a thing may very well be doing the same” Mateli had once explained to Inuyasha.

But what was it doing here? Unable to withhold his confusion Inuyasha posed the question. The woman scratched behind her ear and sighed sadly.

“For every bit as skilled and kind as Mateli was, his son was just as useless and stupid. After his parents death the son, Jinchi I believe was his name, basically proceeded to live off his fathers name. he also managed to develop an extremely bad gambling habit.”

Ah yes…Inuyasha remembered Jinchi as well….mean little shit. He would sit on top of his father’s cart and chuck rocks at anyone he didn’t like for any reason. Which was pretty much anyone who happened to walk by. His mother would whip his ass black and blue…but the little cuss never stopped.

“Well you see Jinchi ended up getting in way over his head on to many times. He took to selling everything his family had ever owned to try and save his own hide. It worked….until he got in trouble again and this time…..well he didn’t have a pleasant end I hear.”

Inuyasha chest constricted with anger. A great man’s hard work being pawned off like third rate trinkets. Disgusting is what it was. Mateli’s legacy deserved much better treatment then that.
A warm had was laid upon Inuyasha’s shoulder a after Sesshomaru’s scent entered his nose.

“Any problems little brother?” Sesshomaru asked. Inuyasha shook his head.

“No…no problems.”

“Good…find anything you like?” Sesshomaru asked.

“I think so…” Inuyasha whispered.

Sesshomaru’s hand left Inuyasha’s shoulder.

It had to be fate, he was drawn here…right here to this very spot. What were the chances of finding the duplicate of one of his mothers treasure? She had loved the butterfly, had joked about making it the family heirloom.

A million to one? A billion? Could he even count that high?

He had to have it, he had not been able to save even one thing of his mother and here was the twin butterfly, a piece of his past, a piece of his mother.

Yes…he had to have it

“Hey Sesshomaru…” Inuyasha began as he turned around.

But Sesshomaru was gone.

Where did he go? He was just here!

Then Inuyasha caught sight of the elder Inu. Sesshomaru was in front of a cart directly across from the shop Inuyasha was in…with Rin. The human girl was pointing at something enthusiastically and without any indication of having a second thought Sesshomaru produced a small pouch and bought…whatever it was for her.

Inuyasha was more then just a little annoyed, again Sesshomaru had walked away from him. Inuyasha forcibly pushed the feeling away, this was not time to become angry, a gift from the gods had been dropped into his lap, this was a time to rejoiced. Besides…surely Sesshomaru would be right back, he had asked if Inuyasha had found something and he had answered affirmatively. So Sesshomaru would be back and then he could have the butterfly.

But Sesshomaru did not come back, instead he turned and walked away, following the girl once more. Inuyasha stomach dropped and then he realized he had not heard the girl call Sesshomaru, he could hear her singing some stupid song about “Shopping with Lord Sesshomaru.” right this very moment. So he would have heard her call out to Sesshomaru. No…his brother had chose to turn away from him, turn away from his brother and go to the girl.

Anger began to curl in Inuyasha’s heart, ever since that brat had showed up Inuyasha had ceased to exist in Sesshomaru’s view, that much was clear. Sesshomaru had left his side, leaving Inuyasha behind to walk with the girl, Sesshomaru was focusing all of his attention on that stupid human….

What happened to it being about them?

Inuyasha took a step away from the butterfly, his hands shaking slightly.

“My Lord?” The shopkeeper said. “Were you wishing to purchase the butterfly?”

“I was…” Inuyasha answered. “But I don’t have any money.” Inuyasha hated the fact that the voice of a lost, lonely little child came out of his mouth as he spoke.

“Ah…have to hate that. I can hang on to it if you like? Oh and a word of advice, don’t wander around in a market when an empty pocket, it only gets the hopes up and can hurt the heart.” The shopkeeper said.

“Yeah….to true. Now that I think about it…it must be hard to set up shop here…there are just so many.” Inuyasha muttered, still watching for Sesshomaru’s return, one that he didn’t feel was likely to happen.

“It is…and the others give me a hard time…all because I’m a woman. Not to mention they don‘t seem to like my breed…”

Remembering how the female coyote had looked at him when he first entered Inuyasha spoke.

“Yeah…its touch having everyone judge you based on who you are or how you look.”

Inuyasha did not wait for an answer, and although it broke his heart to walk away from Mateli’s butterfly, he did just that.

Inuyasha looked around after he exited the shop, he didn’t see Sesshomaru anywhere. Well he had gone to the right so…Inuyasha followed.

After about five minutes Inuyasha spotted the demon Lord way…way…waaay far way from the shop Inuyasha had been in. Looks like his brother had not planned on returning anytime soon.

Inuyasha watched as Sesshomaru listened to Rin talk, if she was talking…her mouth was moving a mile a minute.
Suddenly an image flashed in front of Inuyasha’s eyes, and for a moment he could have sworn he saw himself as a little child standing there instead of Rin. As quickly as it came, the vision was gone. Leaving Inuyasha with only knives of pain stabbing in his heart.

Sesshomaru was listening so patiently, and he even sore a slight smile on his face…..and that hurt.

The same man who had once kicked him in the face as a child for daring to claim kinship with him was now….now….gods…Inuyasha couldn’t even think about it.

Come to think of it…the girl didn’t look very well to him either, her skin was pale and she was sweating, it wasn’t very hot either, the temperature had dropped since his fight with Imalia, which felt like it was a lifetime ago.

Then as if to prove him right the girl was suddenly hit with a coughing fit, doubling over from the force of it.

Instantly Sesshomaru was kneeling before the child, concern written all of over his face. Then Sesshomaru actually put his hand on the girl’s forehead, feeling for her temperature.

“You see!! I told you how he is!!” A faint voice shrieked inside Inuyasha’s head.

“Shut up!!” Inu-youkai snapped at it.

A memory bubbled up inside Inuyasha and he could see it play out in front of him, as clearly as Nefrume’s strange curse had forced him to relive hi pain those few short days ago.

Inuyasha recalled a time when he had become incredibly ill, he had been so young and he had never been so sick before. Even when he had been ill he had had his mother there to care for him.

Now he was alone.

It had come quickly, right out of the blue. He had awoken feeling fine, gone through about half of his day and then his head had begun to hurt. Then it spread to his belly, before moving into his limbs. His joints had ached, it became hard to move and he had felt so weak. What little food he had he could not keep down, yet he know he had to try to eat.

It continued through out the week and he had despaired. He hadn’t known what to do, how to make himself well.

And no one would help him.

It became a simple downward spiral. He ran out of food, hunting became impossible, gathering nuts, berries and roots might as well of been a massive boulder that he needed to push up a mountain.

He remember the pain in his throat, the unrelenting bouts of coughing. He remembered the horrid, thick, dark fluid that he had choked on as he struggled to spit it up, and there always…always…ALWAYS seemed to be more where it came from.

Then came the chills, even in the heart of summer he had shivered so badly he thought he might tear something out of the socket. He had desperately wished for a fur to cover himself with…but there had been nothing.
Finally came the fever and time became nonexistent. He had become delirious, that much he now knew. He would wake up curled in a tight ball, but unable to figure out what was going on, unable to remember how to move.

But what he remembered most were how hot his hands had been, unbearably hot and no matter how long he held them in the stream the refused to cool

Then one day he had been sure he had seen Sesshomaru walk by his cave and he had pitifully crawled after him, but Sesshomaru never stopped, never looked back, never made it all better like he was supposed to.

Inuyasha had tried to call out, his mind so far gone he could barely even remember how to do so. But all that had come out was more of that revolting fluid.

Inuyasha had collapsed then, face down in the dirt. Shinigami had come calling, and Inuyasha had felt his icy fingers reaching into his chest, reaching for his heart, not to crush…but to torment him by gently holding it still despite its attempts to pump blood through his little body.
His heart had fought valiantly, but it couldn’t win.

Inuyasha remembered opening his eyes and seeing roots sticking out of the ground in front of him. He had been so angry, at being sick, at being abandoned, that he attacked them with his fangs, biting and chewing, desperate to make something else feel his pain, to die before he did.

Turns out that last defiant act had been what saved his life. He had later learned from Kikiyo that the roots he had consumed that day were actually quite renowned for their medicinal use.

Luck.

Pure blind luck had saved him that day, no one else, not even his own brother.

Granted the only proof that Inuyasha had that Sesshomaru had even been there was a fevered image in his mind and the faint scent of the demon Lord in the area.

Nevertheless Sesshomaru had not been there for him during that ghastly time, nor any other in fact yet now….now he was clearly fretting over some girl, some human girl who shared no blood with him.

“And you want us to trust him!” The faint voice screamed.

“He is our sibling! Our only family!” Inu-youkai shot back.

“Yet he abandoned us! Never cared for us! But there he is, caring for someone else! Explain that!” the voice roared.

Inuyasha could feel his youkai’s confusion, its frustration, it didn’t have an answer, just the mention of it made it hurt and angry and it grew silent.

“Please listen! Think! Don’t just react! Think!” the other begged before it faded, becoming to soft to hear.

And think Inuyasha did.

What was so special about here? Why was she receiving the care and concern that he had been denied? It was interesting though wasn’t it?

Sesshomaru had been kind to him earlier, displaying a tenderness that never in a million years would have Inuyasha attributed to him. Sesshomaru had also been very adamant about spending the day with him, even when he had protested, hauling him out of bed and forcing him to dress.

Yet the second that girl showed up all of that went away. Sesshomaru’s attention had clearly shifted to her and again he had abandoned Inuyasha, leaving his side.

Inuyasha felt his anger beginning to rise.

Just what was so fucking special about her?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Things had been going well Sesshomaru had thought, Inuyasha had been browsing, Rin was being her normal cheerful self. But now Sesshomaru was kicking himself, how could he have not noticed that she was ill?
He could try to blame it on all the stress he had been under lately, of the overwhelming amounts of scents in the air, making it difficult for him to detect the underlying smell of sickness on her.

But it was still inexcusable to be so unobservant of his ward.

“I haven’t felt very good since this morning.” Rin confessed.

Well that made up Sesshomaru’s mind. Straight to Daigon, that was were he was taking Rin. He would simply ask Inuyasha to wait in the market for him to return, his brother could continue to explore, the shopkeepers would gladly hold all purchases for the Lord of the West’s brother, and Sesshomaru would swiftly return.

He did not like the idea of leaving Rin, but he always knew that there would be nothing he could do to aid her, he would just have to let Daigon do his job. Plus he did not want his day with Inuyasha to end just yet…it was selfish…but he wanted more time with his baby brother.

However Sesshomaru was not prepared for the sight that greeted him when he turned around to return to the hanyou.

Inuyasha was standing several yards away from him, which really was not unusual or shocking, but what was, was what Inuyasha was doing.

Then hanyou was standing with his legs spread slightly, his hands were balled into fists at his side. Even from a distance Sesshomaru could see that the hanyou’s body was shaking slightly. But what really concerned him was his little brother’s face. Inuyasha had his head lowered slightly, staring ahead through his eyelashes and bangs. His mouth was twisted into an unmistakable feral snarl.

Sesshomaru did not have to be able to read body language to get the message Inuyasha was sending.

“Oh hoo…he is pissed….holy hell he is really, really…REALLY pissed.” Sess-youkai whispered.
That much was apparent. But why? Sesshomaru scowled.

If someone had dared to insult his baby brother to the point that this level of rage had been brought forth then Sesshomaru would have their head on a pike before the day was out. Not only had Inuyasha clearly been his company, having entered the market with him, but he was also wearing their family crest for all to see.

“Um…is it just me…or is he staring at us?” Sess-youkai asked.

Why yes…Inuyasha was looking at him…well no it was more like the hanyou’s eyes were boring holes into him. But surely Inuyasha as not upset with him? He had done a single thing to upset the boy.

Sesshomaru glanced behind him, checking to see if it was actually someone behind him, that stupid wolf from before could probably earn such ire from Inuyasha with only his appearance. However although there were a large quantity of people behind him not one of them was really all that focused on them at the moment and clearly no one was having a stare down with Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru focused back on Inuyasha just in time to see Inuyasha raise his left hand a foot or so and beckon him with one finger. Placing his hand on Rin’s back to help usher the girl, and catch her if the poor thing feel, Sesshomaru began to walk towards Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru’s stomach began to twist into knots. Gods he hadn’t been this nervous since his father had called him into the family chambers as a child after he had broken a two thousand year old vase and then tried to hide it.

Considering that his father had tanned his hide so badly he had barely been able to sit for three weeks he couldn’t help but hope this would go better.

But what did Inuyasha want? Why did he look like he was barely suppressing a violent outburst?

Inuyasha’s hand dropped back to his side as they neared, Inuyasha’s eyes flicked to Rin, which didn’t immediately worry Sesshomaru, but they lingered there, the anger he could now see in them never wavering.

Now THAT did bother Sesshomaru and he stopped, halting Rin along with him. Gently he pulled the human girl to stand behind him.

“Stay behind me Rin.” Sesshomaru murmured. He didn’t know what was going on, perhaps Inuyasha was having another attack, and Sesshomaru did not want Rin hurt if something were to happen. Not to mention he knew that guilt would eat his brother alive if he were to hurt the child on accident. So for Rin’s safety and Inuyasha’s peace of mind, Sesshomaru would gladly take a possible blow.

“Yes Lord Sesshomaru.” Rin replied.

Inuyasha’s eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed once more and if anything the anger in them seemed to intensify.

“You…needed something Inuyasha?” Sesshomaru asked, forcing hi voice to be calm and collected. If Inuyasha was having another of those attacks he did not want to worsen it, a neutral tone was probably the best choice.

Inuyasha pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, the pink muscle peaked out from behind his fangs.

“Yeah…just wanted to say….I’m going back to bed.” Inuyasha answered, his voice tight, hesitant, as if he were picking each and every word very, very carefully.

“To bed? Why?” Sesshomaru found himself asking. Inuyasha had seemed so eager, excited even, to come…so why leave now? He had barely even seen two percent of the market. Was he also not feeling well? If that were the case Sesshomaru would carry both Rin and Inuyasha if he needed to.

“Its…been a…long day. I think….I think it should end now.” Inuyasha explained, sounding more like he was threatening someone with death rather then explaining his intentions.

“But you have only been to one shop, surely there is more you would like to see. Do you not wish to explore? Do you wish to leave here empty handed?” Sesshomaru puzzled. Granted he was worried about Rin’s sudden illness, but he also did not want such a thing to inconvenience Inuyasha, plus their day together had just started to improve….

Inuyasha suddenly drew himself away from them slightly.

“You don’t remember what I said in that shop?” Inuyasha asked.

Strange question but….damn it no he didn’t. Rin’s sudden fit, and the nasty yellow-brown fluid she had spit out had jarred him. He couldn’t even remember what he had been able to do, much less what had been said to him minutes ago.

Bloody hell….

Sesshomaru’s mind whirled. What was he going to say? He did not want to admit he had forgotten, that felt like it would be a VERY wrong answer.

“I remember, it seemed like nothing of importance, but perhaps you would care to elaborate?”

That sounded good, he could get Inuyasha to repeat himself and it also made it looked like he cared what Inuyasha had said to the point that he wanted to make sure he did not misunderstand Inuyasha’s words.

But Inuyasha did not reply, instead his eyes closed and he seemed to collapse in on himself.

Then Inuyasha’s eyes popped open as he stood tall once more. The golden orbs were full of fiery conviction, as if Inuyasha had just decided something of grave importance.

“Goodnight Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha said as he turned to leave. But it sounded more like a curse then a well-wishing. Sesshomaru was at a loss for words as Inuyasha stormed away from them.

“What was that all about?” Rin asked innocently.

“I don’t know.” Sesshomaru confessed, his voice sounding as lost and confused as he felt. “I don’t know…”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inuyasha wiped at his eyes as he stomped through the castle halls, trying to remember the route to the stupid room with his name on it. He would not cry, he would not fall apart. This was nothing…nothing at all.

As Inuyasha entered a large room he was dismayed to find that his group, all of his group, was inside of it and although their faces lit up when they noticed him he desperately wished that they would let him pass without comments.

He was not so lucky, they began to make noise, asking him questions and other nonsense.
Spotting Shippo on the floor playing with some type of toy Inuyasha chose to focus solely on him. He seriously felt like he was about to have a fucking meltdown…but maybe something innocent could prevent that.

“Whatcha got there kid?” Inuyasha asked softly.

“Its one of Rin’s toys, she said I could play with them.” Shippo answered.

“How nice of her….can I see it?” Inuyasha asked as he held out his hand. This was helping…as stupid as it was it was actually helping.

“Sure!” Shippo said cheerfully as he hopped up on his feet, skipped over to Inuyasha and put the toy in his hand.

“Wow…cool.” Inuyasha murmured, more for Shippo then for himself, as he looked the toy over. He had never had really had toys as a child, it was something that always hurt him to think about actually, yet another loss of his childhood.

It was pretty well made, probably expensive. Inuyasha turned it over.

“You know…it kind looks like a….” Inuyasha started to think as his eyes caught a small detail.

His heart froze.

Then shattered.

Then ignited into a white hot nova.

Inuyasha.

His name was engraved on it.

It was something that was supposed to belong to HIM.

HIS FUCKING NAME WAS ON IT!!.

With his voice trembling Inuyasha asked.

“Can you show me were you go this?”

Not noticing Inuyasha’s reaction Shippo nodded his head happily.

“Sure!”

The others voice their confusion but Inuyasha ignored them as he followed the fox kit to a large, fancy looking wooden box. Pulling it open Inuyasha began to dig his way through the contents, his heart screaming with every discovery.

Inuyasha.

Inuyasha.

Inuyasha.
Inuyasha.

They all had his name on them, each and every one. Inuyasha managed to stagger away from the box, his back smacking into the wall behind him. He could feel trickles of tears running down his face as he swallowed hard.

“Their mine…” Inuyasha sobbed softly. “All mine….ALL MINE!!!” He roared as he swung his arm backwards, crushing the toy wagon in his hand as he struck the wall. Chunks of stone exploded out from around his arm, the entire wall quaking from the impact. Everyone jumped back away from him, worry and fear plastered on their faces.

“Inuyasha?” Miroku said.

“What’s wrong?” Kagome asked.

Forcing himself to calm down just enough to speak Inuyasha tired to do just that.

‘I….please….just leave me alone….I need….I need to…be alone…right now.” Inuyasha choked before he turned and rushed away.

There was a door in his path and he didn’t even bother to open it, instead he just drove both hands into it, exploding it right off of its hinges.

As he charged to his room people raced to get out of his way, one guard literally jumping half out of a window to remove himself from Inuyasha’s path.

Smart man.

Inuyasha spotted the door to his so called -room-, the guard at the door turned to face him, a surprised look on his face, but Inuyasha never even slowed down.

Just as he reached the man he shot his hand out, locking his fingers around the guards throat and drove him back against the wall.

“You…you’re here to keep people out right?” Inuyasha growled.

“Ye-Yes.” The guard stammered, he seemed to be having trouble talking…or breathing for that matter.

Imagine that….

Inuyasha tightened his fingers just for the hell of it.

“Good. Then listen up. I don’t want anyone bothering me, no one is allowed in…not even Sesshomaru.” Inuyasha spat, then he thought about that, growling to himself as he realized there would be one other person pestering him. “Scratch that…I’m going to call Daigon, after he shows up, and leaves, then no one gets in. NO ONE. Understand?”

“Yes….but…I-I…gack̷ 0;..can…not…bar Lord…Sess-Sesshomaru entrance.”

“Try.” Inuyasha snarled before releasing the guard and shoving his door open. After walking through it and slamming it so hard the wall shook Inuyasha stormed over to the box on the wall. With one quick motion he tore the cover off completely, hurling it away. The sound of wood shattering filled the room as Inuyasha caught a hold of the multicolored rope he had been told was Daigon’s and proceed to pull on it on it like he was trying to rip it out of wherever it was hooked to.

He had probably already caused a headache to someone with the damage he had inflicted on the stupid castle already.

….Good.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Hours later Inuyasha, with his ribs now tightly re-wrapped, sat in the corner of the room, he refused to think of it as -his- any longer.

He had his knee’s drawn up slightly with his Fang between his legs, resting against his shoulder as he leaned against the wall.
Even though his back was aching slightly Inuyasha refused to get into the bed, and he was hungry but he sure as hell wasn’t going to call Retsu either.

He was done, it had been a nice change for two days, but it was a trap, he recognized that now.

Tomorrow morning he would go out and catch his own breakfast, he wasn’t going to the stupid dinning hall and he wasn’t eating anything he had not prepared himself.

Inuyasha glanced at the bed and laughed humorlessly. Hell…even if he wanted to get up and get into it he couldn’t, because his body had decided it was time to cramp up again. He couldn’t even move…much less walk. Hurt like hell too….

Oh well…what was a little pain? He’d lived with it his entire life.

His heart was still aching, that stupid tug was still pulling insistently, pissing him off to no end. He was kicking himself for being such a fool. All of his life he had wondered what it would have been like for him had his father lived. But now he was finding out just what his life would have been.

And it was killing him.

He would have been cared for, well fed, he would have had a real bed to sleep in. He would have had shoes for his feet, he would have had playthings, and surely as the Lord son he would have had other children to play with. He would not have been the outcast that he was now.

A slight wetness began to gather in his eyes and he wiped at them furiously, he had cried all he was going to over this.

He wasn’t going to let himself be sucked in any further, he had started to become used to this life all to quickly. But it would end, he was sure of that now. He wasn’t doing anything more with anyone.

He would wait, Sesshomaru said they would be ready within a day or two, he would wait that long and no more. If the day after tomorrow came and they still hadn’t left then he was leaving anyway.

He would leave and he was NEVER coming back.
So let Sesshomaru have his stupid human bitch, let her dig the bastard out of the deep shit he claimed they were in.

Even if Sesshomaru meant every word he had said one thing had become all to clear.

She was more important to Sesshomaru then he was.

She had taken his place, been given his home, the care that belonged to him, been given HIS playthings.

WHY?!

What made her so god damn special?

She didn’t deserve it…so why did Sesshomaru seem to care for her?

When she had coughed he had seen real concern in Sesshomaru’s demeanor.

All he had ever received was scorn and pain.

She lived in a castle.

He had been left to die.

Was it because she was a girl? Would Sesshomaru have accepted him if he was a sister rather then a brother?

That would be fucking stupid….

Was it because she was a pure human, while Inuyasha was a mixed breed? Sesshomaru had always harped pure blood after all.
But the bastard hated humans…..

Inuyasha really didn’t know the reason, but he did know one thing.

He fucking hated that girl.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daigon grumbled to himself as he walked through the hallway. He wasn’t sure what set it off but Lord Inuyasha was in one FOUL mood.

He had nearly had a heart attack when his bell had rung, just how hard had Lord Inuyasha pulled that rope? When it had blared throughout his chambers he had assumed the worst, it had to be some type of emergency for someone to summon him like that.

He had gathered up his things and raced to Lord Inuyasha’s room, storming past a very nervous looking guard only to be greeted by the sight of a shirtless hanyou who had ordered him to re-wrap his ribs…and quickly.
Daigon had begun to speak, he had been working on lecture ever since he had discovered them in the fields, and now that he knew no one was dead or dieing he had planned on delivering it. With great detail.

But Lord Inuyasha had cut him off.

“Either wrap it or don’t I really don’t give to shits, but if you don’t do it now then you won’t be doing it at all.”

So Daigon had done his duty and taken care of the Lord’s ribs, he was rather pleased that they didn’t seem to be to damaged, they must have actually followed his orders this time. But he had found himself literally being tossed out of the room by Lord Inuyasha after he was done.

A little rude….

So now Daigon found himself heading towards Lord Sesshomaru’s room, perhaps he could shed some light on Lord Inuyasha’s disturbing mood.

Getting past the guard was easy, being the chief healer of the West allowed him to go pretty much wherever he pleased.

But for the second time today he was startled by Inu boy behavior that he was not ready for.

As he closed Lord Sesshomaru’s door behind him he caught sight of the very man he was looking for. Lord Sesshomaru was sitting at his desk, which wasn’t odd at all, but what was, was what he was doing.

Lord Sesshomaru was leaning over his desk, and was slowly raising his head up, then allowing it to drop back down, bouncing his skull off of the wood of the desk over and over.

“Um…Lord Sesshomaru?”

THUD!

“This one was wonder…”

THUD!

“Your brother seems ver-”

THUD!

“You know….this one will just come back another time.” The healer said as he fled the room.

As he closed the door behind him once more Daigon turned to the guard stationed at it. Clasping his hands together and rocking back on his heels Daigon spoke.

“Uh…Lord Sesshomaru should not…be bothered tonight. At all. Under any circumstances other then catastrophic.”

“Something happen?” The guard asked.

“Let this one just say that whomever enters that room….will be far beyond this one’s help to heal.”

The guard paled and nodded.

Daigon started to walk away, heading back towards his chambers. Let them all think Sesshomaru was in a violent mood, it would be better then the scandal that could occur if someone other then Sesshomaru’s inner circle was him head butting his desk.

But what had brought all of this own? Daigon didn’t know…but he was worried.

He could tell the two brothers needed each other, but they were both either two stupid, or two stubborn to admit it. He wasn’t all that happy with Sesshomaru….but Daigon could tell he was trying.

Inuyasha though…Daigon didn’t have a feel for him at all….he wanted to help, but he also didn’t know how to do that.

Daigon sighed.

“Leaving poor, poor Daigon with these two pups….this one is going to kick your ass when he sees you Inu-Taisho….if he can kick that high…and you still owe him three gold pieces….”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sesshomaru didn’t know what happened. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know why Inuyasha was so upset, and he didn’t know what was wrong with Rin.

It wasn’t fair….he didn’t deserve this….he was trying damn it!

“My name means perfect killing circle….not….perfect….know…everything circle!” Sesshomaru snarled in frustration.

Please….PLEASE let tomorrow go better…..

To be continued.

Ok! Wow I have been gone for a little while eh? Well I’m not dead. Originally I had thought this would be a shorter chapter, especially compared to the others….but it just kept growing. Plus…I dunno for some reason writing this one wasn’t easy, I knew what I wanted to do, it was just a struggle to get it out. I’m not sure why.

Isis191: Glad you enjoyed it, hope you like this one.

TShrieken: *bats eyelashes* Now whoever said it was poison coming out under Inuyasha’s claws? As for being clueless over his bodies changes, well how would he know? Hehe its not like there is anyone to tell him, and Inuyasha always strikes me as being uneducated, not stupid, just not very well learned.

wolfluv: Well I just thought that if Sesshomaru was running down a hallway it might cause a bit of an alarm, after all why would he be running? I’m trying to keep then in character, but at the same time I know Sesshomaru is waaay out of character really. Of course that was the whole point of chapter 13, to give Sesshomaru a real reason to be so OOC.

Eastsidegeorgiaboy: Maybe there are boy readers…hmm if there are I wish they would let me know haha.

LadySess: Sometimes I worry if I’m making Kagome to bitchy, but I needed a bit of conflict there and she was the only one I could think of to start it. Again with the poison? Man…why is everyone thinking it’s that. I gotta make him different then Sessy haha.

UPDATE MAN!!: Well of course Sessy prefers men, wouldn’t be much of a yaoi story if he didn’t lol.

hyperactive pup: Eh don’t worry…I’m not dead. Well you got more, hope you enjoy it!

ginger75125: Well I really don’t think I can pull off an update every week, I’m just not that good. Hehe and I love Daigon too.

wbk: I do seem to be getting rather long with my chapters. Its just how I am, I always have a certain amount of material I want to get out, and I’m not going to stop until I do.

The Reaper: Well I’m thinking Sesshomaru is about a head taller then Inuyasha now, and as for Daigon well. You caught me. I couldn’t think of a third person way of saying “My Lord” and “His Lord” just sounds stupid. We could say that Daigon can do it because its more of a title then Daigon referring to himself, but the truth is I just couldn’t think of anything else.

Cat Happy: I always update, I’m good like that.

loretta537: Another poison claw person eh? Well I don’t want to give a lot away, but let me just say I dislike doing something that has already been done, and Sessy already has poison claws.

UPDATE!!!: Just did.

Make more chapters!!!: Kagome and Inuyasha might be able to reconcile, but I don’t think they will ever be what they were. Mostly because Sesshomaru has got some major lust going on for Inuyasha.

Bibi11: Always love your comments dearie, and I’m loving your picture you sent me. But in this comment there are all these weird symbols inside of it…its rather hard to read. I really wanted to show a lot in that chapter, and in a way show some of the differences between the brothers. Yes Kagome’s room is a total set up, but that’s what happens when you make Sessy mad in his house. Inu-youkai might very much like a few “test runs” but I don’t think Daigon will take matters into his own hands to try and bring the brothers together. Not his style….plus they wouldn’t be very happy with him.

princesssirenity2000: Hehe glad I could give you such joy.

Ashlan: I’m not sure what the ending will be, but rest assured it will have one….and maybe even a sequel.

StarsLikeMillions: Ah yes the mistakes….I know there in there, but it just seems to have something to do with how I write, I’m not really trained to write, I just do it as I think.

Snowfall: Ah you always leave such good comments hehe. I just thought it would be funny to have Inu fingering Sesshomaru and then Inuyasha freaking out, only to have Sess be kinda. “I really…don’t want you to stop, but you should.” True Sesshomaru did set Kagome up, but he could have done a lot worse to her. I wanted Sesshomaru to assert himself there, and I also wanted to show that despite Inuyasha’s growth, Sesshomaru is STILL king of the mountain. Of course Retsu had to interfere, there are hungry Yash’s out there! Lol. Yes their home does have an effect, but that won’t really come into play until much later. As for the blue fluid, well I’m not sure what I want it to do yet….but I know what it ISNT.

Kai: I worked very hard to make Sesshomaru be guilty in a believable way, I thought it would take a HUGE event to make him change his mind about his feelings on Inuyasha, thus chapter 13 was born. It also only makes sense that Inuyasha would be leery, he wants it so badly…but if it isn’t real then it will simply shatter him.

Lina03: That is a lot of questions…annnnd….I don’t have a lot of answers hehe, but you’ve given me some stuff to think about. I’m a plot guy, which is why there had not been a whole lot of sex hehe. As for the marks, well I’ve a few more planned, and their purposes, so you’ll just have to stay tuned.