A Bitter Pill

By TwinEnigma

Blanket disclaimer: Anything you recognize, except for my OCs and the plot, I don't own. I do this for fun and absolutely no profit.

Warnings/Codes: AU, Sesshoumaru being... himself.

Pride is a bitter pill to swallow. For some, it is easier to swallow their pride and go with the flow of things. For others, humility is anathema – a sign of weakness – and, thus, they let no one and nothing cow them. Such a thing is unthinkable, absurd even.

Lord Sesshoumaru is proud, even as he stands on the edge of the smoldering battlefield. He is distant, refined and impassive as the moon itself. He has somehow retained an immaculate appearance throughout the conflict, with not so much as a hair out of place. Even his clothing retains its elegance, untouched by blood or gore and lacking the tatters of the other participants. Truly, he is the very picture of his station, an exemplar of all that is and all that it means to be taiyoukai.

He stands at the edge of a crater, where once stood the foul hanyou Naraku and now naught but purified ash and dirt remain. His back remains fixed firmly to the center of the crater and his eyes to sky, aloof as always and beyond the understanding of those others who fought. He knows they wonder as to why he lingers, but cares little for their bewilderment; he is above them and his motives are as mysterious as his soul.

Does he fight to protect the devoted small maiden that trails on his heels? Or is it merely anger that such a lowly beast as Naraku would dare to harm that which belongs to the lord inuyoukai? Such things are not to be known by mortals and pride does not allow him to think long on the matter himself. He simply knows that he has acted and he is not wrong in his course of action.

He listens now to the sentimental babblings of his lowly half-brother and the indecently dressed foreign miko he travels with.

"The jewel is purified." She inhales sharply as she goes to pick it up; it is not unexpected, as she is wounded.

"It's over," Inuyasha says. His voice is numb with shock, but euphoria bleeds through in growing undertones. "It's over. It's finally over!"

The sudden whoop from the hanyou and startled yelp from the miko aggravates the taiyoukai; his hearing is far better than the half-breed's and the pitch of the woman's voice grates on his nerves.

"Oi, put me down, Inuyasha!"

"Keh! I don't think so, wench!"

"Don't make me use it!" Her voice held a half-hearted warning.

"If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"

"Oooh... You're insufferable! Now, put me down so we can figure out what to do with this stupid thing!"

"Well, if you say so..."

There was a squeak, followed shortly by a thump as Inuyasha dropped the miko on the ground. She rounded on the hanyou, scolding him shrilly.

Sesshoumaru tuned them out, instead focusing on the gentle breeze that bushed over his face. His eyes slid shut with a slowness borne of deliberation. The wind was forgiving now, pacified and complacent where she had raged before. But he knew, as his kind always did, that the wind would soon forget and wander on. Such was the way of things.

"What do you think we should wish for, Inuyasha?"

"How should I know? All that fighting made me hungry! We can make a wish after we eat!"

"Baka! Is that all you ever think about?"

"Of course not, wench! I just can't think of a good wish on an empty stomach!"

The taiyoukai snorted as their pointless argument continued. "I wish Inuyasha had been born a full youkai," he muttered, snidely. If that was so, he would not have had to listen to their drivel.

Suddenly, a crackling energy began to rise behind him, eliciting surprised and alarmed cries from the hanyou and the miko. The taiyoukai, curious but not yet worried, opened his eyes, only to see his shadow outlined on the ground by blaring pink light. He frowned as the energy grew in strength, shoving against him with steadily increasing strength.

A pair of arms wrapped around his torso from behind him and an armored body pressed close to his. Then, a woman's voice whispered in his ear, her lips gently brushing against his skin with each word:

As you wish.

Involuntarily, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as the world spun, twisting and spinning as a cyclone guided by the wind witch's fan. The arms slid away from him as the presence faded and he was dropped like a stone back into reality, the world jerking to a sudden, nauseating halt. He did not stumble, nor do much beyond grimace and shut his eyes for a moment.

"Sesshoumaru-san, are you all right?" It was the miko. Her tone was of concern, yet he was more focused on the manner in which she had addressed him. It was not as respectful as it should have been and the taiyoukai fully intended to correct the impertinent girl, when he was interrupted by something he hadn't heard in centuries – not since his half-brother was little more than a small child.

"Aniki-ue!"

Of course, it was impossible. The hanyou was practically a grown man.

"Aniki-ue!" Inuyasha demanded, giving him a sharp tug on his sleeve.

The taiyoukai looked down, refusing to believe what his ears were telling him.

Reality, however, was latched firmly onto his sleeve, staring up at him from the face of a full youkai child. "Are you all right?"

Sesshoumaru scanned his half-brother's face, noting the thick purple markings – a single stripe on each side – that so resembled those of their father and the pointed ears at the sides of his head instead of those ridiculous dog's ears that previously crowned his head. So, this is what his brother would have looked like if he had been born a full youkai...

"...You look like Chichi-ue," the taiyoukai said, finally. He was not certain as to what exactly had just occurred and could not yet discern if this was reality or illusion. For now, he would merely go along with whatever was going on and come to a conclusion about what to do at a later time.

Inuyasha beamed, revealing his tiny pointed fangs. He still had his milk teeth though and, from his apparent age, it would probably be some time before his adult teeth came in. The taiyoukai recalled that he had been about five centuries old when his own adult teeth had finished coming in.

Sesshoumaru frowned; thinking about that brought up something he hadn't previously considered and prompted some immediate calculation.

"Inuyasha-chan!" the familiar voice of Rin called out. Shortly, she appeared from the other side of a fire-blasted knoll, running towards them as fast as her short human legs could propel her. As soon as she was close enough, the small girl came to a halt, put her hands on her hips and scolded, "Inuyasha-chan was supposed to stay with Rin and AhUn!"

Inuyasha protested, "But I had to help aniki-ue!"

"Sesshoumaru-sama told Inuyasha-chan to protect Rin!" the little girl countered.

"Jaken and AhUn can protect you just fine!"

"Nu-uh! Even Rin can defeat Jaken-sama!"

The miko giggled at this – even she was aware of how painfully easy it was to disarm and subdue the small youkai.

"Shippou got to fight," Inuyasha said, petulantly. "And I can fight much better than he can."

Rin huffed and stomped her foot. "But Rin is safer with Inuyasha-chan because he fights better!"

"Really?" the youkai child blurted, turning pink all the way to the tips of his ears.

The miko smiled and looked up at the taiyoukai. "You never did answer my question. Are you sure you're all right?"

"This Sesshoumaru is unharmed," he replied, too busy with his thoughts to really pay much heed to the miko.

She shrugged, fingering the pink jewel around her neck, and looked back towards the still-bickering children. "If you say so..."

Sesshoumaru, upon reaching the verdict that his math had indeed been correct, concluded that it would be at least four to five centuries before his half-brother would be physically able to survive on his own as a full youkai. If he had not been mistaken (and provided that no crazed dying miko had pinned Inuyasha to a tree for fifty years), Inuyasha was roughly two hundred years old. As a hanyou of a powerful and noble bloodline, Inuyasha had been comfortably into his early adulthood at this age. But as a full youkai of such power and noble lineage, he was still in his childhood and would remain as such for several centuries to come.

Mid-classed youkai, such as the Yourouzoku, bred and grew fairly quickly. They reached adulthood in a century or less, owing in part to their savage nature. However, they possessed little sense of complex things, such as diplomacy or civilization, and rarely ever were born with the amount of youki necessary to execute powerful youki attacks such as those of the taiyoukai. Kouga was, perhaps, the only recent exception to this and, still, he knew better than to cross fang or claw with a taiyoukai.

Lesser youkai were little more than pests, irritating at their best and a waste of time at their worst. It was common practice among the taiyoukai to let the spiritually gifted humans, the taijiya and the mid-classed youkai deal with these annoyances, either through purification, extermination or use as a food source.

Taiyoukai were the old ones, lords of the animals as mononoke and guardian kami when it suited their interests. It was no wonder that there were so few of them, for their youths were long and vulnerable and their battles did not stop until there were none left to avenge. Much of the last generation of the taiyoukai was gone, having battled each other into the grave or having been sealed away by one stronger than themselves. Their heirs remained, some still too young to understand vengeance and others more concerned with the growing numbers of ningen than avenging elders they have forgotten or found folly with. Still, there would always be those that did seek vengeance. Such was the way of things.

"AH! STUPID KOINU! ENOUGH ALREADY!" Rin shouted, attracting the taiyoukai's attention.

Inuyasha had transformed into his true form: a rather fuzzy, white inuyoukai puppy. Meaning, of course, that what should have been an intimidating blood-crazed mononoke actually resembled an overly-playful, clumsy puppy the size of a small shrine building. He was slobbering all over the place, practically knocking the little girl over with a single affectionate lick. It was a very good thing for Rin that Inuyasha was so young and his youki weapons were probably still developing, otherwise he might have accidentally hurt her.

The miko was making an interesting face that warred between amusement and disgust. And, after a minute, it seemed that the disgust was finally winning out over the amusement. "Inuyasha, you turn back this instant!"

Inuyasha turned his head to her, his ears drooping as he gave a soft whine.

"Don't give me that look," the miko intoned, with all the airs of a mother scolding a recalcitrant child. "You're not fooling anyone."

The taiyoukai was suddenly aware of a small hand tugging at his sleeve.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin needs a bath," Rin said rather matter-of-factly and crinkled her nose at her now sopping yukata. Softly, she added, "Stupid Koinu-chan!"

Speaking of idiotic puppies, Inuyasha had discovered his tail and was enthusiastically chasing it in circles, while the miko rubbed her temple, clearly vexed with the young youkai.

A familiar swell of youki approached, drawing the attention of the taiyoukai to the sky. Accompanied by the scent of ink, fox magic, and taijiya poison, the hi-neko mononoke appeared. She looped carefully, avoiding detection by the over-exuberant puppy for the moment, and gently landed near the miko. The smallest of her passengers – a kitsune child – bounded straight into the miko's arms, nuzzling against her happily.

"Well, everything must be all right here," the taijiya female stated, smiling slightly as she patted the fur of the hi-neko. "Inu-chan found his tail again, ne?"

The miko sighed in frustration. "He's impossible, I swear. Was anyone hurt?"

"Kohaku seems to be fine, just tired," the woman hesitated; Sesshoumaru noted her eyes on him, but chose to ignore them and look elsewhere.

"I'm sure he's all right, Sango," the miko replied. "What about Miroku?"

As though his name had somehow alerted him, there was a twitch from the unconscious monk's hand.

"He'll live," the taijiya muttered, her entire form bristling, "...Though I might chop off his hands."

Sesshoumaru raised a single eyebrow. Humans were very strange creatures.

"What about you? Were you able to find the jewel?" the taijiya asked, dismounting.

The miko nodded, beaming as she held it up. "Right here!"

"I'm glad," the woman said, relief bathing her scent.

"Sango-nee-chan!" shouted Inuyasha as he scampered over to the girls unsteadily, once again in human form. He appeared to be a little dizzy from chasing his tail. "You're all right!"

The taijiya female smiled as the little youkai latched onto her affectionately. She seemed quite used to this sort of thing. "Of course I am. Don't be silly."

"Stupid dog," the kitsune child grumbled.

Inuyasha rounded on the smaller youkai with a growl. "What are you doing on Kagome-san, you jerk!"

The miko started to open her mouth to say something, but was cut off.

"It's none of your concern," the kitsune countered, giving him a malicious grin. "You're just a guard dog, after all."

"That's it, brat! You're gonna die!" Inuyasha cried, his small claws starting to glow with green light.

"WAHHH! KAGOME, SAVE ME!"

"INUYASHA!"

"HE STARTED IT!"

Rub-rub...

"HOUSHI-SAMA!"

Smack!

"What bliss..."

"Sesshoumaru-sama, I'm hungry!"

The taiyoukai sighed, feeling a headache coming on. Maybe when he woke up in the morning, this would all be a very bad dream.

Meanwhile, deep inside the Shikon no Tama...

Midoriko smirked at the demons sitting across from her. "You think he's got a headache now, just wait until tomorrow when he realizes this isn't a dream!"

The demons chuckled and then looked down at their cards. "Got any fives?" they asked in a disjointed chorus.

"Go fish," the ancient miko replied.

"Damn."

AN: A one shot that stemmed from a doodle I did on some notes of a little full youkai Inuyasha.