This is a oneshot written for the Livejournal community IYCaptions. The original permission post and picture can be found at: community. livejournal. com/ iycaptions/ 15385. html# cutid1
Family Ties: The Babysitter
It was a warm spring day, a light breeze graced the meadow where they were gathered. The sun shone gentle on the throng of people who had come together for the Tango no Sekku celebration. His Father had demanded that he attend. The bonds of Family honor, he said. Sesshoumaru's brows drew together as his frown deepened. What honor in celebrating the half breed. It wasn't even a Taiyoukai celebration. He was doing it for the woman. To keep her happy.
Around him laughing families hung streamers from trees and bushes. Samurai dolls were presented to the children and families wished each other good fortune for the boys. His lips curled slightly in a snarl as he saw his Father lift the halfbreed onto his shoulders to hang a paper carp on a branch higher than those of the other village boys. The whelp laughed as he reached for the highest branch he could. His Father steadied him on his shoulders as the woman laughingly warned him to be careful and encouraged her son higher at the same time.
Sesshoumaru sighed and tried to step away. Perhaps if he could reach the forest edge, he would not be missed until it was time to leave. He had a headache. The squeals of the children were like daggers in his temples. What his Father saw in the weak humans was beyond him. Why his Father insisted on dragging him to these gatherings was even further. These useless human rituals. The Gods granted success to those brave enough to take it. Sesshomumaru was certain they were not overly impressed by a brightly colored paper fish hanging from a tree.
His Father had said that he would need to know the subjects of his future realm. As Lord of the Western Lands, he would need to know what his subjects could give their Lord. And what he would have to give them. Give them indeed. As if he, Sesshoumaru, first born of the great Inu-no-taisho, would care what mere mortals would need. They provided him with skills and supplies, and they lived on at his mercy and good grace. But they meant as little to him as the cattle in the field. They were often as dirty and loud as those same cattle.
Sesshoumaru's thoughts wandered as he stepped closer to the shadows of the forest. Just a little further and he'd be free. He might face a lecture from his Father later, but that meant little to him. His Father was lessened in his eyes for his insistence in congregating with humans. It was then that he felt the tug. He looked down, and there was the brat. The half breed. His Father's second son, but never his brother he swore silently. His cold eyes glared down on the child, who looked up at him with eyes big and dark.
"Ses-Sesshoumaru?" the pup whined slightly, tugging the sleeve of his robe with fingers sticky with candy.
Sesshoumaru sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. He could swear the throbbing just got more intense. "What do you want, halfbreed?", he responded, doing his best to sound civil.
"Papa, he ast me...he ast me to tell you somfin", the little hanyou tugged again on the robe.
Sesshoumaru tried to pull his sleeve from the sticky grip. But the pup had gripped it tightly. Sesshoumaru momentarily wondered if he would have to kill the cub to free his sleeve. "What is the message?", he asked.
"He said, he said...he said ta watch me.", Inuyasha responded, trying to lower his voice and sound as important as his Father did. "He said he was gonna go wif Mama and that you were to watch me or there'd be big trouble."
Sesshoumaru groaned aloud. Surely he was not serious, surely his Father was merely...he looked around...his Father and that woman were gone. And here was the mutt, tugging on his sleeve. He buried his face in his hand. He would rather face a million foes than watch the hanyou, and his Father knew it.
Looking up, he saw the pup sitting in the grass, scratching at one ear lazily. "Hey, Sess? Aren't you gonna sit down?"
Glaring he replied, "And why would I sit with you?"
"Cause you're my babysitter, silly. You gotta sit!", Inuyasha responded happily.
Sesshoumaru knew at that point that bonds of Family Honor sometimes were tied too tightly.