"Can I please go play with Rin now?" Shippo asked for what felt, to Inuyasha, like the thousandth time.
"No!" He responded gruffly. "Sango told me to watch you. Now stop talking I'm trying to concen—oof!" His last word was cut off by a tremendous blow from his sparring opponent.
"Asshole!" Inuyasha barked, and swung back at the imposing form of his half brother. Sesshoumaru blocked the attack easily with tenseiga and struck again, swiping below the hanyou's feet so that he landed flat on his back.
"Bastard..." Inuyasha groaned.
"Giving in to your anger," Sesshoumaru drawled slowly, "will only make you vulnerable." He sheathed his sword, considering the lesson over. Inuyasha growled and sat up, rubbing the sore spot in his gut. "You know, you're not as all-knowing as you think," he muttered at his brother's back. Sesshoumaru's only response was a quiet rumble, which might have been laughter.
"Lord Sesshoumaru!" A bright voice called, then, "Oh, Shippo!" Rin emerged from the woods with Sango on her tail. She was clutching a generous bunch of flowers. As she crossed the field to where he and her sort-of father stood, Inuyasha marveled again at how quickly she had grown in the ten years since they defeated Naraku. He reminded himself that humans aged much more quickly than demons. Shippo had barely changed at all. He was still the obnoxious kitsune Kagome had adopted all those years ago. But Rin, who had been a grubby child when Sesshoumaru found her, was now a young woman. She still loved collecting flowers and she still played with Shippo whenever she and Sesshoumaru came to visit, so in Inuyasha's mind she had just gotten a lot...taller. That's all it was. She was taller and sometime, sometimes, she was cleaner. She always did carry with her the scent of earth, but it wasn't a dirty smell. It was like the soil after the rain. Pleasant. Sunny, even.
"RIN!" Shippo launched himself at her and she laughed as she caught him, sacrificing her flowers in order to cuddle the little kitsune. "Rin I wanted to come play with you in the woods but they wouldn't let me!" He chattered.
"It's okay, I was just trying to find these flowers—" her voice died down a bit as suddenly, Inuyasha was there, picking up the flowers and handing them to her, "they are pretty rare this time of year." She continued quietly. Inuyasha shrugged and stalked away, aware of his older brother's eyes on him. Rin continued into the village with the flowers tucked in the crook of one arm and Shippo tucked contentedly in the other. Sango looked back at Inuyasha and his half-brother as though she wanted to say something, then thought better of it and went down towards the village herself.
"Watch yourself, hanyou," Sesshoumaru growled as Inuyasha walked by.
"I ain't gonna do nothin'!" Inuyasha snapped. "Keh. I don't even know what you're worried about."
"Hnn." The taiyukai looked down his nose at his half brother. "I said I would train you, but maybe the time has come for our pack to depart."
"Fine. Get going then," Inuyasha spat and leapt into the trees, still muttering to himself about flowers and clumsy girls.