I wrote this some years ago, when I first watched Inuyasha. So please, no flames... be gentle! x3

I enjoy constructive criticism so feel free to review, since I can always improve. Also please try to ignore any spelling and grammar mistakes you might find... I did my best to write it correctly D:

Also Sesshy is neither a schizo nor a lolicon, I promise! xD I just wanted to emphasize his inner conflict so I made his youki seem like a separate entity from his mind. Yeah, I know it kinda looks like he's a schizo but trust me, he's not xD

P.S. I don't own any Inuyasha characters, Rumiko Takahashi does ;3

1. Hunt

"She's close."

Touga's voice was coarse and dry... nearly a whisper. Yet Sesshomaru had no trouble in hearing it loud and clear.

"So is the one following her." he answered in the same low tone.

They had been tracking an inu-youkai – a small girl – for three days, and Sesshomaru had just about had it with how she eluded them, though it was somewhat natural for her to do that. She was being hunted by another youkai... a feline from the Panther tribe. Touga had stumbled upon the girl's parents three mornings earlier; their corpses had been dumped by a riverbank, half eaten by that disgusting feline's tribe. It made Sesshomaru's blood boil in anger only to think about that. Inu-youkai rarely lived in packs, unlike their similar cousins, wolves. They usually lived with only their families, but they did treasure their own kin above anything else as any intelligent youkai would.

At the site Sesshomaru had noticed the girl's tracks leading into the forest, while his father had been busy burying what was left of the two inu-youkai. Most likely the felines had thought her dead as well, but apparently she had managed to run away. Thus Touga decided that he and his son would join the hunt, in an attempt to find the girl while she was still breathing and – why not? – slay the feline in the process.

"Her scent changed."

Touga's urgent whisper brought Sesshomaru back to the moment. Indeed there was a different scent on the air, somewhat sharp – fear – mixed with an acrid fragrance – tears, as his youki kindly informed him – and… fresh blood? His eyes widened somewhat and a low, threatening growl vibrated in the back of his throat.

"She must have found the girl, father."

Without another word, Touga vanished from the bushes where he and Sesshomaru had been hiding out of sight. Immediately the adolescent youkai followed, only stopping when his father did, at the edge of a clearing. The feline was standing in the middle, twirling a short sword in one hand, the other resting on her hip. Her crimson eyes gleamed with the pure joy of killing. Judging by her maniacal grin, she was so focused on her prey that she hadn't even noticed the two inu-youkai standing a mere few feet behind.

The girl was on her knees in front of the feline, holding her right arm where a fresh cut was gushing blood, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. Despite her body's tremor, her blue eyes still held a somewhat defiant spark as she sustained the feline's gaze. Her torn clothes were stained in blood as Sesshomaru noticed almost immediately... she must have been truly young considering how slowly her wounds were healing. Still, that defying gaze of hers – even when faced with certain death – made his heart twitch in a way he had never before felt.

"Let's see... I'll let you choose how you want to die, Sayuri-chan." the feline grinned. "Slowly and painfully or fast and painless."

She trailed her tongue along the blade, tasting the girl's blood. Deciding she had nothing more to lose, Sayuri gave a growl in response.

"If you were after me, why didn't you come to me? You didn't have to kill mother and father for that!"

Crouching in front of her, the feline chuckled reaching to ruffle her hair.

"Now, now Sayuri-chan... I had to warm up somehow, didn't I?"

In the blink of an eye the woman pulled away, three claw marks now trailing across her chest. Her peaceful expression morphed horribly into an enraged one, as she clenched her hand on the sword's hilt.

"You little wench... that was my favorite shirt!"

Sesshomaru tensed somewhat as his nose tingled with the scent of the feline's blood that now dripped from Sayuri's claws. His fingers twitched... oh, how he ached to dive his own claws into the feline's flesh, to feel her life draining and hear her screaming in agony, while his poison slowly melted skin, muscle and bone.

"Go get the girl." Touga whispered unsheathing one of his twin katana. "Make sure you're faster than me."

Eyeing the Tessaiga, Sesshomaru vanished, moving at his highest speed across the large clearing. If his father was going to use Tessaiga he had to get Sayuri away before she was destroyed in the blow. The feline raised her blade, finally ready to kill her prey. A thin whip of yellow-green youki shot out of Sesshomaru's fingertips, wrapping around the feline's wrist to deflect her aim. Before the woman had had time to understand what was going on he wrapped an arm around the girl's waist, pulling her to safety just when his father's attack reached them.

"Tch... she got away." Touga growled even before the smoke had cleared away.

Returning the blade to its sheath he then walked over to the side of the clearing, where Sesshomaru was now on his knees after having released the girl.

"D-don't come near me..." she said, shying away from Sesshomaru's intense gaze.

"I am not here to harm you. I am an inu-youkai, like you..."

He held out a hand to the trembling girl, trying his best to soften his gaze. Touga stopped a few feet away from them, deciding it was better to let his son handle it. The boy seemed to know how to act, even if it was only instinct guiding him.

Sayuri fixed her gaze on his and he took his time to examine her eyes. It was the first time he had seen an inu-youkai whose eyes were not golden like his or his father's. And it stunned him to see the way they changed. When she had been facing the feline they had been a cold blue, almost like a frozen ocean. Yet now he could see that ice melting, leaving room to a paler shade of blue, like a river glimmering in the sun, until her eyes were twin pools of clear summer sky. Sesshomaru was lost in that gaze for a brief while.

It took a few moments but finally the girl reached back to him, albeit hesitantly. A little smile curved Sesshomaru's lips at the feel of her small hand resting onto his palm, and his golden eyes broke contact with hers to examine her delicate, pale fingers.

He was amazed by how smooth her skin was, compared to his calloused hand due to the long years of swordsmanship. It was then that he finally caught a whiff of her natural scent, now that she was relaxed, and he found it quite appealing despite the girl's age. Before he even realized what he was doing, Sayuri was all cradled up in his lap. She was obviously exhausted considering it took her no more than a few moments to fall asleep in his arms. Moving to his feet he returned to Touga, making sure the two spikes protruding from the armor which covered his chest didn't accidentally hurt her.

"Well, we're done. Might as well go home." Touga smiled, casting a glance at the girl.

Nodding silently, Sesshomaru followed his father's footsteps back to their castle. The moment they set foot in the large front yard, the youki gathered there over generations slithered up his body until it reached the girl, as if it was measuring her and trying to include her in the vast network of the building. His own youki showed a particular attraction for the girl, thus he looked to his father.

"Where should I take her?"

"Hmm... there's that bedroom next to yours that no one ever uses. Lay her there to rest then you may do the same. I will call a healer to check on her wounds."

Silently Sesshomaru crossed the stone yard, his eyes focused solely on the small creature sleeping soundly in his arms. His youki – after having chased away the one in the castle – now focused on her entirely, filling his mind with sensory images of her.

"Sayuri..."

He felt his lips moving as he mouthed her name without a sound. She was so small that only one of his arms would have been enough to hold her... ultimately he had chosen to use both in order to cradle her safely without risking her falling to the ground.

"So small... so frail..." his youki murred in his head. "She smells so good..."

His nose suddenly filled with her scent to the point where he felt he couldn't breathe. He had to stop in the middle of the hallway and shake his head to clear it, before he was able to walk any further without collapsing. He could almost picture his youki basking in her scent with such wild, raw joy that it sent a shiver down his spine.

Making sure none of the servants were around to see him, he leaned down until the tip of his nose dived into her silky, dark strands. Her hair was even softer than his or his father's. Was this what a female's hair and scent were supposed to be like? It reminded him of lilies and the clean, moist fragrance of the forest after a heavy rain. The scent of purity... the scent of fertility... the scent of life. He inhaled deeply and the next thing he knew, he was leaning against the wall panting slightly. For real? Had he almost fainted just from inhaling her scent?

As soon as his gaze cleared and he felt the tremor leaving his legs he resumed the way toward what would become the girl's bedroom. She was dangerous without even realizing it... she stirred his youki and every last male instinct in his body, in ways no one ever before had.

"You want her!"

His youki chose that exact moment to yell it out in his head, making his heart twitch again.

Did he really want her? Wasn't that wrong? She was clearly too young to have a mate. He inwardly growled at his youki until it submitted to his will again. Such perverse thoughts made him feel like a monster in a way he didn't like at all. Sayuri was a child, not a woman... what's more, he was sure his father would adopt her. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to save her. So then how could he lust for his own future sister? He shook off those thoughts, throwing them into the very depths of his mind where he locked them, never to reveal them again. Or so he hoped...

Finally reaching his destination he entered the bedroom. It was slightly smaller than his but large enough to avoid the feeling that you lacked air. Next to the far wall, beneath a painting of his family crest – a silvery crescent encased in magnolia branches – laid a bed large enough to easily accommodate two people, as his youki insisted on pointing out. Crossing the Persian carpet, he gently set the girl on the silky dark blue covers. At least her wounds had stopped bleeding but he still had to bite his tongue, lest he did something out of line like using it to speed up the healing of her body. His throat suddenly felt dry as he realized his youki had twisted that thought into yet another set of perverse images which now flooded his mind. No... she was his sister and he would have to resign himself to seeing her as such.

With that thought in mind he moved to leave only to feel the fabric of his kimono sliding along his wrist. Turning his gaze downward he saw the girl watching him... were those tears in her eyes? Her tiny hand had clenched around the edge of his sleeve, holding it in an unrelenting grasp.

"Don't leave me alone... please..." she whispered and he felt unable to breathe for a moment.

Why? Why did she wish to keep torturing him? He could have simply snatched away his sleeve and leave the room without a second glance to her. Or he could have lied and said that he had business to attend to, or that his father needed him... yet the sounds he tried to muster refused to come out of his throat. Ultimately he exhaled a faint sigh and sat on the bed, reaching to part her hand from his kimono.

The girl yielded and instead grabbed his fingers holding them just as tightly. It startled him, albeit invisibly, though he would never admit it. His head tilted lightly to the side as he tried to figure out what it was that she wanted of him. He reached his free hand to hers in order to set his fingers free, but Sayuri reached back with her other hand and grabbed his second one too.

'So... now what?'

He imagined how silly they must have looked but he shook off that feeling to speak.

"I am not leaving. You may let go now."

He tried to make his voice sound as gentle as he could, but still it startled her and he sighed. He wasn't one to know how he was supposed to behave with children. Some moments later however, the girl finally released his hands trying to sit up instead. Without thinking too much Sesshomaru moved a hand on her back to help her up, thus he was taken by surprise when Sayuri curled up against his left side.

'This isn't happening. Please, Kami, not this...' he thought briefly, his mind desperately trying to find a way out of that situation.

Yet the more he thought about it, the less control he had over his youki which guided his arms around the girl's small form. When he finally realized what he was doing, Sayuri was fast asleep against his armor apparently not minding the uncomfortable material. Heaving a deeper sigh he laid the girl on her back... where the heck was his father with that healer?

The very instant that he got to his feet, Sayuri opened her eyes as though she had never fallen asleep and looked straight into his. Such a piercing gaze Sesshomaru had yet to encounter. It was as though she was looking into his very core... in the most hidden depths of his heart. For a fleeting moment he felt his stomach cringe at the – of course, silly – thought that she might see the lust he was battling so harshly to subdue.

"You promised."

Her voice brought him back to the moment and he quickly searched his mind for something to answer. He wasn't one to break his word after all, even though he had been about to do just that.

"You fell asleep on my armor, you could have gotten hurt."

Victory... he bit back a smirk at his own intelligence as he saw understanding in the girl's gaze.

"So take it off." she said bluntly and his little bubble of happiness burst like it never was.

He honestly hadn't expected her to say that so he complied before he could give it a second thought. Reaching to his right side under his tail, he unclasped the armor, sliding it off his slender but rather well toned torso and moving to set it on the armchair which lied in a corner of the room. Turning to face the bed once more he noticed the girl had already sat up to watch him.

"As I said, I am not leaving. You need rest, Sayuri."

He could see a faint blush rising in her cheeks when he said her name, and that left him utterly confused. It was true, she wasn't the first youkai female he had dealt with but she was so unlike any other youkai. And come to think of it, she was the first inu-youkai female he had ever had so close. Walking back to her side he sat down once more, and within a moment Sayuri's little arms were tightly wrapped around his waist, her face hidden in the soft silk of his white kimono.

"So beautiful..." his youki murred in delight, recalling the sight of her pale cheeks painted in that soft shade of pink.

He shook his head to rid himself of that image, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off the bedding to set her on his lap. Had he gone mad? Hadn't he spent the last ten minutes trying to get away from her? He felt another sigh rising in his chest but he swallowed it down. There was no reason to worry her and have her asking Kami knew what.

"What's your name?"

His ears delighted in the sound of her soft voice, the corner of his mouth twitching in an attempt to make him smile.

"Sesshomaru."

She looked up and he blinked in awe. Her eyes were warmer than they had ever been and they were shimmering as though she was ready to cry, yet there was no sign of tears in them. For some reason, that gaze of hers made his stomach do a double flip.

"Sesshomaru-sama..." she whispered.

Well, well, it seems the untouchable Sesshomaru has found his heart. Will the adolescent youkai cave in to his impure desires or will he find a way to resist? R&R please and remember, no flames, it's the first fic I ever wrote so expect it to not be of high quality :)