Another installment in my Reflections series! I hope you enjoy. This covers manga chapters 62-63 and anime episodes 18-19: the second battle between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. It's from Sesshomaru's perspective, though he is not the speaker.

Brotherly Stirrings
Part of the Reflections series

Sesshomaru knew he was in way over his head. Granted, there was no comparison between his power and his bastard brother's – the amputation of his left arm was merely a lucky shot – but Sesshomaru couldn't help but feel that he was…drowning somehow. It was a strange experience for a powerful yokai like him.

He had not expected that stealing the Tetsusaiga would be so difficult. Sure, he had not expected the hanyo whelp to hand the fang over submissively; but he had anticipated making short work of the boy and his pathetic companions. The fact that he was forced to use the mysterious insect hive from his unknown ally – Naraku, his name was – showed how far he had been pushed by what should have been easy prey. What was it about these wretched creatures that made them fight so hard?

An arrow brought him out of his reverie, smashing through the armor that covered his left arm with purifying power. That girl…she was getting in the way. He had allowed her to live after she negated Tetsusaiga's transformation in favor of pounding Inuyasha, but this last arrow had come far too close to his borrowed human arm. He couldn't afford to let the wench blow his left arm off, not when he was so close to accomplishing his goal…

Inspiration came in the form of Inuyasha's fist pounding his stomach. The stupid half-breed actually thought he could injure the great Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, with a simple punch. Well, to use the bastard's own expression, he could "kill two birds in one stone." Grabbing the boy around the neck before he could recover his stance, Sesshomaru sent him flying towards his annoying, troublesome wench.

As strange as it seemed, Sesshomaru could've sworn he could feel Inuyasha's impact as he and the girl crashed into the rocky ground. There was a strange feeling – was it relief? Impossible – in the elder yokai's mind when he saw his brother recover almost immediately, but it only lasted an instant.

"This is as far as you go," he warned. Inuyasha's returning hate-filled glare erased all thoughts of weakness and compassion. The last time the boy had been this angry, Sesshomaru had made the mistake of underestimating him…and it had cost him his left arm. This time, the foolish brat would die. "Go to hell, along with that girl." The words felt hollow, empty; but why?

The young houshi who had recently taken to traveling in the half-breed's group attempted to interfere, but to no avail. Sesshomaru was almost sorry when Inuyasha interfered to keep him from sucking up a lethal amount of saimyosho. It would've been amusing to see the young man writhe in pain as he gasped out his last breaths. Such things always made Sesshomaru feel relaxed and in control, and he needed that at the moment. No matter…he would go slaughter another group of bandits after he finished with these interfering creatures.

His pointed ears caught his brother whispering to the houshi and the fox kit to run with "Kagome." Ah, that was the annoying woman's name. Well, he certainly gave Inuyasha credit for idiotic bravery, but it would do his companions no good. After all, he still had the Tetsusaiga. "With a single swing, everyone will die," he reminded the pathetic bunch. Locating the clash of winds between his powerful aura and a certain half-human one, he swung down with all the might the borrowed human arm would lend him.

To Sesshomaru's great surprise, Inuyasha rushed directly into the flow of the Kaze no Kizu, catching the human arm in mid-descent. Of course, the bastard immediately ruined any advantage gained by catching the tai-yokai off-guard by yelling at his companions to run, but that was no concern of Sesshomaru's. His main target was literally clinging to his arm; he would deal with the others later. He summoned his yoki into his remaining hand, causing the dokkasou's poisonous aura to engulf his elegantly pointed claws. "Fool…" He plunged the hand through his brother's back. "Exposing your back to an enemy…"

The drowning feeling came once again. Enemy? Was that what this boy was? He could feel the half-breed's pathetic shudders as his body convulsed with the combined pain of the wound and the poison, and fell limp. It aroused something almost paternal in his mentality: a small, almost imperceptible need to protect this pup from his pain. Would their father have wanted them to be…enemies? Sesshomaru found he didn't care. It was his father's fault that this disgrace had come upon his family, anyways. His father's will be damned.

The human girl screamed Inuyasha's name, and the shaking stopped. The heartbeat slowed considerably, and Sesshomaru fought the urge to snort in disgust. After all the trouble the half-breed had caused, he should've lasted just a bit longer. "It brings tears to the eye," he whispered to the near-dead boy still clinging to his arm. "You intended to buy some time to rescue your companions, huh…" He was about to throw the body into some rock pile to rot when the golden eyes – eerily similar to his own – opened wide with arrogant pride.

"What's this, Sesshomaru? You haven't noticed, have you?"

"You bastard…" Too late, Sesshomaru realized that a conscious and angry Inuyasha had grasped his left arm…the arm he was holding Tetsusaiga with. Before he could pull away or decapitate the nuisance, his left hand was ripped off. Only a stub of an arm, held on by the Shikon no Tama fragment, remained. Sesshomaru felt no pain – it was a borrowed arm after all – but decided to make the half-breed pay anyways.

Before he could dole out proper punishment, Inuyasha coughed up a large amount of blood and collapsed, leaning heavily on the still-transformed sword. Sesshomaru allowed himself a grim half-smile. The brat still had a lot of poison in his system. Even if he survived, he would be unfit for battle for days, if not weeks.

A crackling energy alerted the yokai lord to the fact that his brother, though rapidly losing consciousness, was still in full control of Tetsusaiga. "Don't come any closer," he warned Jaken as the toad attempted to approach the half-conscious boy. As if to prove his point, a line of yoki flew from Tetsusaiga straight towards his retainer. Calculating the speed of the attack, Sesshomaru's battle instinct warned him that he was no match for his father's sword. Even the short time it would take him to reach the hanyo would be more than enough for Tetsusaiga to hit him with the full force of its power.

"We're leaving, Jaken." As Lord of the Western Lands, he felt it best to count discretion as the better part of valor and retreat. He had to regain some dignity, even if it was only in the eyes of some weak humans, a baby kitsune, and his pathetic half-brother. "As I can't touch the Tetsusaiga any longer, it's pointless to stay." He didn't add that the smell of his brother's blood was making him feel slightly ill, or that he would probably spend the next few days discreetly trying to get it off his claws.

Perhaps the half-breed disgrace would survive, but once again, Sesshomaru found that he didn't care one way or another. If the bastard died from his wounds in this battle, he could claim the Tetsusaiga without any further trouble; those humans, even the kazaana-gifted houshi, were no match for his power. If he lived, they would surely meet again.

Sesshomaru dreaded the thought. He hated the sinking feeling that came whenever he fought his brother. He hated the tiny voice telling him that his father would not be pleased if he saw how his sons were behaving themselves. Most of all, he hated the smell of his brother's blood – so like his father's, only mixed with human stench – being spilled on the ground and smeared on his claws. But he could not afford compassion; he could not afford pity. He could only allow that small, annoying piece of his innermost soul the fleeting hope that the brat would grow stronger through all their scuffles, perhaps someday becoming so powerful that Sesshomaru would no longer have the desire to hunt him down like a pest.

Until then, the Lord of the Western Lands had no need to trouble himself with the half-breed whelp's doings. Inuyasha had grown up on his own, and he would continue to do so without Sesshomaru's interference. If they did meet again, they would each make the best of it.

In the meantime, Sesshomaru had a meeting with a certain saimyosho-master in a monkey suit who was trying to devour him with a Shikon shard and this stupid human arm…

This story addresses Sesshomaru's inexplicable reluctance to finish his brother off. He seems to waver between a murderous hatred of Inuyasha and a toying, almost playful stance. In any case, he lets Inuyasha off way too much for it to be mere coincidence.

JAPANESE GLOSSARY

Yokai – mythological, usually superhuman being (also spelled 'youkai;' usually translated "demon" in English)

Hanyo – a being who is half human and half yokai, like Inuyasha (also spelled 'hanyou')

Houshi – a Buddhist monk, like Miroku

Saimyosho – poisonous insects used by Naraku for spying purposes, and also to keep Miroku from opening his kazaana (translated "Hell's insects" or simply "poisonous insects" in English)

Kaze no Kizu – Tetsusaiga's main attack, which can kill a hundred lesser yokai in one shot (translated "Wind Scar" in the English anime)

Yoki – youkai magical power (also spelled 'youkai')

Dokkassou – Sesshomaru's poison claw attack

Shikon no Tama – the jewel that Kagome split into teeny tiny shards (translated "Jewel of the Four Souls" or simply "Shikon Jewel" in English)

Kazaana – the curse on Miroku's right hand that, when unsealed, sucks anything it's pointed at into a void (translated "Wind Tunnel" in the English anime)

By the way, the ending line is a reference to Naraku. I always thought it was ironic that Naraku tries to devour Sesshomaru with a human arm.