It's his scent, Inuyasha's sure the moment he catches a whiff of it off the wind, the half-demon just knows. Recognition is instant and action doesn't skip a beat. The group was already split in two, Inuyasha and Miroku had been broken off from the others for awhile now, so a small detour isn't out of the question. He's off in a flurry of motion, jumping to the trees without second thought. Inuyasha doesn't bother wisping his companion up with him, instead silently hops away, knowing the monk will trudge frantically along after him. Miroku's calling and shouting for a moment but gives the sounds rest after he picks up into a jog that keeps Inuyasha is his line of sight. The red figure soaring in the trees retreating from his vision with each clean jump from branch to branch. Shifting into a sprint doesn't keep the monk horribly behind, and leaves him with his thoughts, wondering what's got Inuyasha so jumpy.
Inuyasha moves quick catching more scents as he moves forward, only further complicating the situation. It was Sesshomaru in the distance, and Sesshomaru's blood, and a demon. A strong demon that he assumes made a dent in the great Sesshomaru's armor, which the possibility that the demon lord's cool exterior and insane fighting capabilities had been matched has Inuyasha itching to be there, defeat what Sesshomaru couldn't would be far better revenge than splitting the demon lord in two. Besides, Inuyasha couldn't do that in his right mind now, Sesshomaru had helped him in many ways in recent and in the past. The demon lord had talked all that shit about not having a 'heart' or an 'ounce of kindness in his soul' yet he saved the 'despicable' humans—Kagome, Miroku and Sango—and an entire human village. Hell, the bastard stepped in when Inuyasha wasn't having the best of times facing Naraku. Things changed between the two of them, the swords clenched in their hands, once ready to slice the other's throats, now stayed sheathed in the other's presence. It was a rivalry of comradery, fights meant for tests of strength and for the sake of fun instead of tense battles intended to end in death. And Inuyasha is more than content with that.
The branch he lands on bends under his feet, snapping back into place as Inuyasha's weight is removed. The demon's scent changed and the scent of Sesshomaru's blood only got heavier. The other demon's scent was colored with something...something familiar….was it arousal? Unconsciously Inuyasha has sped up, his mind blanks after the acceleration, intent on getting to the scene as soon as possible.
Just past the branches he sees the familiar white with a few red accents across it than normal. There's a rather large demon standing above the white figure looking down at the scrambling pale thing. Then there's movement, the brown beast is crawling over the smaller figure, and Inuyasha's speed picks up again. There's a horrid sound that Inuyasha never wanted to hear, a scream that is wrenched from the throat of Sesshomaru. It's one of agony, the agony that Inuyasha bares witness to but he's still far out. The blurry depiction of what was occurring fueling his need to accelerate. The beast pulls away standing back to peer down at the smaller being in white again. The scent of Sesshomaru's blood is densely carried across by the wind, and as Inuyasha nears, he sees the deep bite wrought into the side of Sesshomaru's neck and shoulder. Inuyasha recognizes its placement and significance, mating. It meant that Sesshomaru belonged to this vile demon.
The crumpled pile of white now dressed in that vivid red from a deep wound, is crawling, inching toward something. Inuyasha can hear the pig headed demon roar from here, his inner demon creeping into the situation, suggesting severely violent ways of dispatching of the demon. Not that Inuyasha gets the chance, a tree or two from the scene set in at the edge of the forest, just where it began to dip into grassy plains, Sesshomaru had sliced the demon's head off. Wounded and unsteady, Sesshomaru had viciously snapped into motion after having the hilt of his sword in grasp. Shooting across the small space in a bout of green and blue lightning strikes, ending in the severed head and burnt markings across the clean cut. Inuyasha smile to himself, it's small but it's of sheer pride and amusement. He'd wanted to save Sesshomaru, but really, the only person who could save Sesshomaru was indeed, Sesshomaru. The demon lord in question, towering over his dead foe for a moment before toppling to his knees, dropping Tokijin in favor of clutching his open wound. Inuyasha lands a good few feet behind him, quietly and Sesshomaru hadn't noticed him yet, too distracted by the smell of his own blood and ripping pain in his shoulder.
"Shit, he did a number on you." Inuyasha admits isn't the best opener, especially to a bleeding unsuspecting Sesshomaru of all people. Yet he wasn't expecting the demon to spring into action, grabbing Tokijin and whipping around to point it at Inuyasha's nose. Sesshomaru's hand was wavering though, and Inuyasha slowly realizes to his surprise, that Sesshomaru himself is shaking. His shoulders jittering as an uneasy breath escapes a previously clenched jaw. He doesn't lower his blade though, just apprehensively steps backward much to Inuyasha's confusion. "Woah, there, I'm here to help."
Inuyasha raises his hands in surrender and wonders what brings Sesshomaru to not trust him. Things had changed between them. Inuyasha knows Sesshomaru recognizes that, so he questions what could cause this. Then he takes a moment, and a deep breath through his nose, and like magic it hits him.
"You're in heat. Holy shit." That explains every tense move that the demon lord made and the 'mating' bite embedded in his shoulder. "I'm not—I don't want….uhh...I'm totally in control here—I—" Inuyasha sputters out trying to assure the other that he hasn't fallen prey to his instinct like the other defensively assumed. Trying to convince Sesshomaru without our right saying that 'I don't want to mate', or 'I don't want to fuck you'. So he settles for something in the middle.
"I'm not trying to fuck, I'm trying to help." And it comes off kind of comical, and Inuyasha would've laughed if he weren't so determined on convincing Sesshomaru. The demon in question closes his eyes to save himself from an eye roll. "Inuyasha," he shakes his head slowly before meeting the half-demon's gaze again to find an immature smile plastered on the other's face. "It was kinda funny….but about that wound," Inuyasha says and moves on to what's bothering him, mating bites from what little he knows, from the few encounters he's had with the type, is that it heals weird. As in it usually takes long to heal and it scars over to express to everyone that 'I'm taken!'. It won't scar Inuyasha's sure, the bond wasn't strong enough to begin with and it's broken in two now thanks to the fact that the asshole demon who started this mess is in two pieces over there. It will still take longer to heal, so bandaging the wound will keep Sesshomaru from bleeding out. "It is none of your concern." The demon lord walks, more like stumbles to lean on a tree and Inuyasha realizes that the open bite in his shoulder is one of the many wounds Sesshomaru suffered.
"This one demon gave you all this trouble?" Inuyasha accepts Sesshomaru's denial for now, jumping to another topic so he can work his way back to Sesshomaru accepting help. "It takes more than a demon to give me hell and a mating bite." The demon limps back over to the dead body, leaning down to pull something from empty eyes. In between thin fingers is jewel shard, a rather large one as well as if the demon had been collecting them. Sesshomaru tosses it to Inuyasha, the half-demon turns it in his hands. "A jewel shard? Now, that make a lot more sense."
The half-demon then comes up with a proposition.
"You should join us for awhile, just until this whole heat thing is over."
A proposition that earned a curt, "No." as Sesshomaru turned to stumble on his way.
"Come on, those wounds are bad! Don't be fucking dumb!" Insulting Sesshomaru wasn't going to win this, but calm Inuyasha had left the building ten years ago and hasn't come back yet.
"No, I don't need it. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself—"
"Not in that condition you're not! A gentle breeze could knock you into your grave!"
That particular phrasing received a rather intense glare that Inuyasha is simultaneously used to and terrified of.
Miroku panting enters the conversation, having heard only that last bit and eyeing the worrying condition of a certain demon, he adds his two cents to the pot. "With all due respect, there is merit to Inuyasha's harsh words."
"I appreciate your concern, but it is unwarranted and without need. I can handle this." He's limping off again, clenched fists in an attempt to hide the quivering of his hands. Raising a hand over his wound again, the placing is terribly familiar. Horribly recognizable, the pain too, it's the same as before.
And he handled it before.
No one could protect him, like he protect himself. He'll handle it now, in the present without Inu-Tai—Inuyasha just like before. Under his breath, while Miroku continues to try and reason with him, he whispers, "If father couldn't do it, you can't either."
It's a gentle whisper that Miroku doesn't catch, but Inuyasha hears all too clearly. The half-demon breathes and lets it be focusing instead on the wound that plagued his stubborn ally. "Alright, enough, whether you like it or not I'm helping you—"
Miroku cuts in before Inuyasha 'lays down the law'. Forcing the demon lord should be their last resort. "It is a dangerous time, and this was a close call. What Inuyasha is proposing will only benefit you and Rin."
The glare is slightly softened at the monk as Sesshomaru begins to bend to their will. It's hard to argue with the monk and Inuyasha when they're right. His condition is shitty and denial is now impossible.
Dirty bastard bringing Rin into this, his wounded pride sings a stupidly sorrowful song as he relents for the good of Rin. Slowly Sesshomaru realizes that there really is no choice in the end, as beat up as he is he can't fend off the monk if he attempted to drag him to some human village, let alone Inuyasha.
Furrowed eyebrow twitching with his defeated ego, Sesshomaru folds to the pressure of the situation to Miroku and Inuyasha's delight.
…