The Bonds that Binds the Brothers

Inuyasha was hurting.

The young hanyou was limping towards the only person he knew would at least pity him. His red robe was dirty and had spots of what looked like to be blood. The child's head was hung low and his ears were drooped in submission, shame, and humiliation. Servants that passed by said nothing, but had small, sadistic smiles on their faces at seeing the half-breed looking so beaten and abused.

Finally, Inuyasha reached his destination. A large, elegant crimson door was the last barrier between him and his protector. Timidly, he knocked on the door four times before recoiling his hand back and clutching it close to his body, like he had been burned. It felt like centuries before the door opened and the regal form of his older brother was presented before him.

Sesshomaru was peacefully relaxing after spending all day by his father's side, attending meeting after mind-numbingly boring meeting. The Inu Lord took pity on his son when the revered first born tried to hide a jaw cracking yawn. He had been dismissed and immediately went to his chambers, his soft, warm bed calling out to him. He had just changed into a simple, silver yukata and laid down when four knocks on his door forced him to get right back up with an annoyed growl. When he opened it, ready to berate the person who disturbed his nap, he was surprised to see his hanyou half-brother. The pup looked downright pitiful; his robes were tattered (and bloody?), his hair had all sorts of filth and tangles in it, and when he craned his head up to look up at the older male, wide, golden eyes were shiny with fat tears and scratches and bruises marred the beautiful baby skin.

"A-A-Ani…ki…" The poor dear's voice was raw and it sounded painful to talk. It broke the usually cruel and phlegmatic daiyoukai's heart.

When Inuyasha first came to live at the palace, Sesshomaru kept his distance, not wanting anything to do with the half-breed. But at his father's urging and his mother's reluctant approval of his half-brother, the stoic youkai started to spend time with Inuyasha and soon the pup was irretrievably attached to his brother. And in turn, Sesshomaru grew fiercely protective of the boy.

The Inu Prince kneeled down in front of his crying brother. "Inuyasha." He softly said, raising a hand to a bruised cheek and gently rubbing away the tears that now fell freely. "What happened?"

Inuyasha said nothing, but he reached for Sesshomaru, wanting to be picked up and held. He whimpered in pain when he was lifted, but snaked his arms around the elder's neck and buried his face in Sesshomaru's throat.

Closing his door, Sesshomaru tip-toed to his bed, careful not to cause his armful anymore pain. Sitting down, he patted Inuyasha's back, rocking back and forth, trying to calm the crying child. "Inuyasha…my dear otouto…please, stop crying and tell me what troubles you." He asked softly, holding his brother tightly.

After a few more minutes sobbing, Inuyasha leaned back to look Sesshomaru in the eyes. "When I was coming out of the library," He began, voice small and still raw. "I had just finished my calligraphy lesson and Fudoki-Sensei told me to take a small bowl of ink and some paper to my room to practice some more." He was rubbing his eyes and hiccupped a little. "So I was walking back to my room and I passed by some servants. I dunno if one of them tripped me or I tripped myself, but I fell and the bowl fell too, and ink got all over the floor." He paused, looking nervous and scared.

"Go on." Sesshomaru urged, although he thinks why Inuyasha was so beaten up.

Said hanyou sniffled and continued with his story. "The servants got really mad and started calling me a disgrace on the family and that I was a worthless, dirty blooded hanyou and it was no wonder nobody loves me and then…" The tears were back full force and Inuyasha's voice broke. "T-t-two of-of the ser-servants grabbed me b-by my-my hair and drag-dragged me outside and then…and then…" He grabbed Sesshomaru's yukata in an iron tight vice like and bawled out the last part. "And then they beat me, Aniki! They said that you and Otou-San and Yuzuki-Sama were weak and a bunch of other mean things!" The child sobbed and sobbed, tears rolling down his face like rain.

Sesshomaru was absolutely floored. How dare mere servants talk about the Royal Family in such a disrespectful manner!? How DARE such low, weak, pathetic creatures beat and abuse the brother of the Prince, even if he was a hanyou! Inuyasha was a child and a child of the Inutaisho as well. Inuyasha may be a hanyou, but he was Sesshomaru's Otouto and Inutaisho's Nibanme no musuko. No one was allowed to touch him in an offensive way!

"Inuyasha." Sesshomaru crooned. Inuyasha lifted his head at the sound of his name to look at his older brother. There were still tears falling and never had the daiyoukai wished more for bloodshed and slaughter than at that moment. 'When I find those cretins, they will beg for their deaths when I am done with them!' He thought savagely, but he spoke to his brother with a soothing voice. "If I leave to talk to Father, will you please clean yourself? I will bring you fresh clothing and Father. You need to tell him what has transpired."

The young boy's eyes widen at the thought of his precious brother leaving him. But it terrified him that he was going to have to talk with his Father. He voiced his fears with a loud cry of, "B-b-but Aniki! What if Otou-San gets angry with me!?"

Sesshomaru's elegant eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why would Otou-San be angered with you?"

Inuyasha sniffled. "I dunno." He admitted softly. "I've never really seen Otou-San since he brought me here, so I dunno if he would be mad at me for spilling the ink or what."

The older Inu Youkai chuckled and shook his head. "Trust me, Otouto. If anyone will spark Father's ire, it will be the servants that have thought their place to beat you. I can assure you that after everything is taken care of, Otou-San will be spending more time with you."

Inuyasha's eyes lit up. "Really!? Will he really play with me more!?" He asked excitedly, any traces of negativity gone with the promise of time with their shared parent.

Sesshomaru's lips curved into a smile. "Yes. That I promise you." The young boy cheered and the older Inu couldn't keep the happy laugh that bubbled from him. "But first, you have to clean yourself. You want to look nice for Otou-San, do you not?"

"HAI!" With that, Inuyasha slid off of Sesshomaru's lap and if not for the limp, he would have skipped to his brother's bathing chamber.

The daiyoukai watched him scamper off, the smile still on his face. Not even when he looked down and saw that his yukata was mud-stained did it disappear. Only then, he thought about why it was stained and a scowl appeared on his face.

Standing up, he took the robe off and tossed it into the laundry basket to be cleaned. He grabbed another one-this time a dark blue with silvery-white hems-, walked out the door and carefully lock it, making sure that no one would be able to enter the front way.

There was another way to enter his private chambers; a hole in the kitchens that was covered by a shelf and it led to another hole in his bathing chambers. No one knew it was there because Sesshomaru had used a large, decorative rock to hide it. Even now, when Sesshomaru was almost as tall as Father, could he still use his secret passage way. Though, he had to crouch down instead of standing up.

But he was comforted be the knowledge that only he knew of its existence. And with that, he marched off briskly to his Father's chambers.

~~/*\~~

The demon servant watched as his Lord's eldest son walk to his Lord's offices. With the sneer on his face, the demon guessed that he was ratted out by that insufferable hanyou.

'Wretched brat!' He thought. Since the moment the dirty-blooded bastard child came to live in the palace, Akumaru had made his hatred known by the continuous beatings he inflected on the half-breed. And now, it seems, that the child has finally told his brother, and the brother will tell the father.

"Milord Sesshomaru?" The eldest son's most devoted follower, a little green imp named Jaken, called out to his master in a trembling voice.

The Prince stopped and looked at him with an impatient glare. "What is it, Jaken?"

Bowing low, the imp said, "May I inquire what has displeased Milord on such a fine day?"

Neither Akumaru nor Jaken expected an answer. But the Prince snarled, "Some of the servants have decided that it was their place to lay a hand on Inuyasha. Today, he was beaten for being tripped and spilling some ink on the floor. And they have also thought themselves greater than the Royal Family, for while they were beating my brother, they were talking filth about Haha and Chichi and myself. Inuyasha is in my bathing chamber, but once he is clean, and the both of us talk to Otou-San, the servants responsible for all this will wish they were never brought into this world."

"As they should!" Jaken agreed with his Lord. "I may not like Inuyasha-San, but he is still Inutaisho no Jinan, and that alone makes him of higher rank than the deviants that work here!"

Akumaru pretended to be working, but when the Prince said that the hanyou was alone, did the wheels in his mind start turning. Being as inconspicuous as possible, the youkai made his way to the kitchens.

'The Chōnan Prince thinks he's so clever! I know about his secret little passage way!' A sick, twisted smile plastered on his face, Akumaru made haste to the kitchens.

~~Author's Note~~

MUWHAHAHAHAHAHA! YES! I have written something new! I know I'm just procrastinating for Ghosts of the Desert, but I'm in SUCH a SessInu rut that it's not even funny.

So this is what my disturbed little mind came up with. I know that it was a bitch move to end it there, but if this gets positive reviews, I'm gonna continue it. But for now, this is a one-shot.

If people DO like this and wants it continued, it'll most likely be a two-shot.

Until We Meet Again! LemonWicky!