Question: Why does Sesshomaru covet the Tetsusaiga?

Words: 200

Genre: Drama / Angst

Chasing Ghosts

Inu no Taisho sat reduced to a desolate tower of bones and armor. Partially missing from his gaping maw was the left canine.

"Father, I seek to defeat you, the demon with supreme power."

Sesshomaru remembered the words as if he'd spoken them yesterday; and the desire that had accompanied smoldered unextinguished.

Two centuries ago, the Dog General's son knew he wouldn't have been able to match his father's power. Inu no Taisho's true form was easily ten times his own. The daiyokai thought that when the Great Dog had passed, he would inherit Tetsusaiga – the treasured fang imbued with Inu no Taisho's tremendous power.

Yet the blade was bequeathed not to the Western Heir, but to his illegitimate half-brother, that hanyo of tainted blood.

If he couldn't obtain the Dog General's strength through an heirloom, how else was Sesshomaru ever to know his worthiness to hold his father's esteemed position?

Sesshomaru shuddered. He despised these moments of apprehensive weakness. Two hundred years since Inu no Taisho's demise and he still remained uncertain.

He smirked mirthlessly. A grown dog-demon grasping for his father's assurance – only it wasn't there any longer. The last vestige rode at another's hip. Not Sesshomaru's.