Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the other original characters in this wonderful Anime/Manga series. The are the property of the amazing Rumiko Takahashi, and she deserves all the credit.

This story is for entertainment only and is not intended for profit or financial gain in any way. This is just for fun, Folks.

Preview: This story mixes incidents in both the anime and manga series and may contain spoilers. I am rating this for older teens and above because of language, mature themes and some lemons in other chapters. It is not a dark fic though and will attempt to keep the characters IC as much as possible. There are a few of my own characters in here, but trust me, no Mary Sues.

The Tormented Road

An Inuyasha Fanfic

Prologue: A Lord's Reflection

Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands rose impatiently from his desk fighting the urge to thrust the documents of ruler ship from the surface with a savage swipe of a clawed hand. Such temperament did not become the cool, collected Youkai Prince that everyone looked to with awe, respect and fear, but every moment he remained working on these idiotic, pedestrian demands, sorely tried his temper. He was a Warrior, not a bureaucrat, but some things he could not just pass on to his ever-present, obsequious staff of scribes. Some things needed his personal seal, or his superior scrutiny. He controlled his annoyance, as he always did, and slid aside the Shojii into his gardens. As the cool, night air surrounded him and the moon's calming rays bathed him in silver light, he soaked up the energy and managed to find his grounded center once more. Even so, troubling thoughts filled his mind. Ever since Naraku's creation, the Wind Sorceress Kagura, had died in his arms, he had been plagued with restlessness that never seemed to be far from the surface.

Did you do this to me, Sorceress? Was this your Master's last pitiful attempt to exploit my alleged vulnerbilities? He glanced down at the sword, Tenseiga. Totosai had reforged it into a killing blade, declaring that him showing kindness to Kagura was a sign that he was now more compassionate and thus, worthy of gaining more use out of the sword his father bequeathed to him. The Meido Zangetsuha had been the result. It was a cold and frightening ability for a sword that supposedly was based on his developing more compassion. He glanced back down at the blade, which he now carried with him always, and felt it's reassuring pulse against his remaining hand. Of that, Sesshomaru was certain. Totosai spoke a lot of nonsense and gibberish; even now Sesshomaru was not sure if the blade had developed its new power because of Totosai's work, or the changes Sesshomaru had been experiencing personally, but it did seem undoubtedly to be a question of compassion.

Sesshomaru was very aware that he was beginning to feel uncomfortable things: soft emotions like deeper feelings for Rin, concern for Jakan, compassion towards a woman who had been nothing, but an annoyance all her existence, just because she had admitted having warm feelings towards him. But the worse was that he knew that he was developing a certain amount of concern, even pride for the one whose very existence he had always cursed: Inuyasha. I do not wish to kill him any longer, I even find that I no longer feel much desire for his cursed sword. Why? Is it a natural development, or simply due to the fact that I have chosen an even greater foe? Will my feelings towards my Half-Breed brother return to the way they were, once I destroy Naraku, or is this a permanant change? His eyes strayed again to the blade at his side. And what of you, Tenseiga? Are you truly a blade worthy of one of my power and glory, or are you a cruel joke by my father; a last sting to tell me that he valued his Human Whore and his Half-Breed son more than Mother and me?

But even as those venomous thoughts entered his mind, he dismissed them. He had often referred disparagingly towards the Human Izayoi, but it never felt right. She was a princess, daughter of a powerful and influential Human house, and she had been the great Inu No Taishou's choice. No matter how Sesshomaru wrestled painfully with fear of his father's contempt of him and his mother: the honourable and high-born daughter of the North, Saishoukora; he still respected him, and if he had chosen the Human woman, there must have been something that made her worth all the trouble their marriage had caused. That was, strangely, the most painful thought of all. It was inescapable. It seemed that all the questions he had about his past and his future centered on the same thing: Learning more about Inuyasha, and as Inuyasha's clumsy course was taking him closer to another of the focused lord's goals, fate seemed to have already dictated the next step in Sesshomaru's own course. Very well, you cursed Half-Breed. It seems like Father will have his way with me after all. From this day on, I am your shadow, and I will not let you die, until the foul Hanyo Naraku, is completely destroyed. After that, Little Brother, we will see; we will see where our destiny leads us, but I will have my answers, and if those answers mean your destruction, I will not hesitate to follow through!