InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Worth Fighting For ❯ Questions and Answers ( Chapter 2 )

As we slowly but surely got nearer to the northern territory, the scent of Inuyasha, Kagome, and their supposedly newborn child became stronger and stronger. The thought… the mere thought of Inuyasha making a human woman his mate, sickened me… I myself had grown accustomed to having Rin by my side, but mating with a human? It just seemed unnatural to me… It always had, and it wouldn't change.

Seeing that I was lost in thought, Rin walked up beside me, looking at me curiously.

“Sesshomaru-sama, are you alright?” she asked.

“Yes… Nothing to worry yourself over,” I stated, glancing at her briefly. Rin was constantly asking if I was feeling alright whenever she saw that I was thinking deeply, so the question was familiar to me and I had long since memorized the answer.

A few hours later, we arrived at the border of the northern lands. Inuyasha's scent was becoming stronger, and I knew I was getting closer to finding him. I also realized that Jaken had been unusually quiet and looked over my shoulder at him, seeing that he was looking around nervously, eyes wide. Jaken isn't the type to not say anything for hours at a time…

As if reading my thoughts, Rin asked Jaken, “Jaken, what's wrong? You seem troubled.”

Jaken replied, “I'm fine…” Suddenly, the sound of a twig snapping made Jaken scream and leap onto Ah-Un's back, clinging to its manes of black hair tightly in fear. He cried, “What was that?!”

“It's just a twig, Jaken…” I mumbled, rolling my eyes and looking at him oddly.

Jaken let out a nervous laugh. “Uh, eheheheh… My apologies…” I turned back around and continued onward, pondering over and over what I was thinking when I allowed Jaken to travel with me. Baka… It figures that a cowardly demon like him would be afraid of a twig…

About fifteen minutes later, I stopped walking and ordered that Rin and Jaken not move. Jaken sounded confused when he asked, “Why did you stop, m'lord?”

I narrowed my eyes, looking to my right, my hand moving to the Tokijin's hilt.

“Someone's coming…” I said calmly. I sniffed the air, trying to determine if what I was facing was a powerful youkai or a troublesome, dog-eared half-breed. Yes, it was indeed a demon. However, from what I could tell, it smelled rather weak. This will be over fairly quickly…

I was expecting some rather large, clumsy, awkward-moving demon with no common sense… but the demon who emerged from the bushes was nothing at all what I expected—it was the young kitsune who traveled with Inuyasha. He was about an inch shorter than Jaken but seemed shorter because he began cowering in fear as soon as he saw me, his big green eyes were wide, and the fur of his bushy tail was standing on end. I recognize this fox child… I believe his name is Shippo.

I looked down at him, keeping my expression as calm as possible. I did not want to frighten him away—yet. I needed to question him about whether or not my speculation that Inuyasha and Kagome had a child was correct.

“Konnichi-wa…” I said.

I saw Shippo gulp and he stuttered out, “K-Konnichi-wa, S-Sesshomaru… H-How are ya…?” I could clearly the terror in the little demon's voice as he spoke to me.

“Calm down… I have no intention of harming you, kitsune… I simply wish to ask you a question…” I stated bluntly. I could smell Shippo's fear disappating slowly and thought I saw him raise an eyebrow suspiciously at me.

“Huh? A question? About what?” he asked curiously, sitting down on the ground and crossing his arms, looking up at me.

“It concerns Inuyasha and that mortal priestess called Kagome… This morning, I picked up their scent on the wind, but there was something strange about it… somehow, it smelled different than the both of them, yet the same as well… Tell me, kitsune… have Inuyasha and Kagome had offspring?” There was a look of confusion in Shippo's eyes at my question, as though he were having difficulty grasping the words fully. After several moments of silence, he spoke, and he sounded bitter.

“Why should I tell you?! Besides, why do you want to know, anyway?!” he interrogated angrily, standing up to his full height (which even then was barely a foot and a half tall).

My eyes narrowed dangerously and I held up my hand, showing the little kitsune my claws, cracking my knuckles slowly and threateningly. “Because if you don't… I will have to force you to tell me…”

Apparently, this was enough of a threat to make Shippo's aura contort and twist with fear once again. I saw him withdraw slightly at my words and he squeaked, “J-Just go ahead and try it, you bakamono!” In the more than 500 years I have been on this earth, not a living soul ever dared to call me such a lowly name as `bakamono,' (which in English translates to `stupid monster').

“My patience is wearing thin… Tell me,” I started, my claws starting to glow light green in color, “or pay the price…”

Shippo screamed in terror when he saw that I was about to use my poison claws and curled up into a tight ball on the ground, holding his head in his hands and trembling like a leaf in a warm summer breeze. He cried, “Gomen-ne! Gomen-ne! Oh, please don't kill me, Sesshomaru!”

My eyes narrowed further at his cowardice and I prepared to lunge at him with my poison claws. I was surprised when I saw Rin run past me and kneel down beside Shippo, lifting him up into her arms and holding him close to her chest. She looked up at me imploringly.

“Please, Sesshomaru-sama, don't kill him… Maybe if you were a bit nicer to him—and I don't mean to insult you by saying you're not nice, because you are—he'll tell you what you want to know,” she mentioned while trying to comfort the kitsune in her arms.

I don't know what it was that made me do it, whether it be Shippo's petrified sobs or Rin's pleading with me to spare his life, but I found myself lowering my claws, my expression softening somewhat.

Rin smiled and whispered comfortingly to Shippo, “It's alright, little guy, Sesshomaru-sama won't hurt you… So please, calm down…”

Shippo looked up at Rin, tears streaming down his cheeks. At last, I saw him usher a small nod and he looked up at me.

I glanced at him and asked him one more time, calmer this time, “Now then… did Inuyasha and Kagome have a child?”

At last, Shippo answered my question.

“Yeah, they did… It was just last night, actually…” he explained, wiping his tears away with his sleeve.

“Male or female…?”

“…If you're asking whether it's a boy or a girl… it's a boy…”

I looked up into the direction I was going, brow furrowed. A son, is it…? I then looked back down at Shippo, nodding slightly to him. “Arigato… You're free to go…” I began continuing on my way, walking past Rin and Shippo.

I could hear Shippo's footfalls as he ran after me and I looked down at the end of my fur when I felt a tug on it; sure enough, Shippo was clinging to it as if it were his last lifeline.

He looked up at me with tear-filled eyes and cried, “Wait, please don't leave me all alone out here! Take me with you if you're going to Inuyasha and Kagome, please!”

“I don't have time for this… Now get lost…” I mumbled, turning my attention back to the path ahead.

“I'm not letting go until I get back to Inuyasha and Kagome!”

This young kitsune was starting to become quite the nuisance… I stopped walking, glaring down at Shippo coldly and said, “Release me at once…”

Tears were streaming down Shippo's cheeks as he clung to my fur tightly, apparently not wanting to let go of it.

“Please… take me with you…” he said tearfully.

Realizing that getting Shippo to let me be would be a futile attempt no matter what I did, I sighed and said, “Very well… I shall take you back to Inuyasha and Kagome… But after this, you leave me alone…”

Shippo grinned and nodded, climbing up my fur and sitting on top of it. He piped, “Alright!” and remained silent.

I glanced up at him and rolled my eyes, looking straight ahead and entering the northern mountain territory. We were almost there.