Passionfruit
Autumn had claimed the land. The earth was alive with color and emotion. The last of the flowers were entering the final stages of their growth and all the birds sang their songs of farewell as they prepared to depart to warmer, safer climates.
Sesshomaru's garden was bursting with the red and orange tints of the new season. His surroundings were slowly changing around him. One minute, the air was warm and sweet, holding on to the summer that has just ended; the next, it was chilly and stiff, welcoming the whispers of fall with its brisk winds and quiet mornings of frost- covered pastures.
Sesshomaru didn't even notice. More importantly, he could care less. None of these things mattered to him. And why should they, after all? He was a demon lord. He had much more important things to think about. Never mind some silly flowers that would die during the winter anyway.
He observed his garden with evident boredom. He had grown tiresome of his land. There was nothing for him to do around his palace any longer. Actually, there hadn't been for quite some time now.
Suddenly, a temptation to attack his pitiful brother struck Sesshomaru and he pondered it for a moment. It wouldn't exactly be a horrible idea and he had nothing better to do anyway. Maybe he'd finally be able to get his hands on the Tetsuiga.
Just thinking about it made the demon lord grind his teeth together in fury. What had his father been thinking, giving such an esteemed, powerful blade to a half-breed? If anyone was worthy of wielding his lordship's fang, it was Sesshomaru, of course.
His stupid brother having the sword wasn't even what vexed him so. It was the fact that he had not been able to get it. He wasn't able to steal the fang from Inuyasha and that both enraged and revolted him. The halfling was nothing more than a puppy with a bad temper. How was it that the mighty Sesshomaru couldn't disarm him like he has all his other adversaries? Against him, Inuyasha is a weakling, except when he was defending his bitch.
Ah, that's right. The filly in the inappropriate kimono. She appeared to have had a great deal to do with Inuyasha's consistent triumph. If she was, in fact, the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo than she harvested much more power then she seemed to realize. She was, in a sense, even stronger than the hanyou.
Thinking of the miko reminded Sesshomaru of one other thing. Slowly, he raised his left hand and extended his fingers. She was the reason he had that arm again.
How ironic. The inferior half-breed took his arm from away and his careless bitch gave it back.
Her expression had been most amusing. As his arm has begun to come back, he looked at her, too shocked to think about hiding it. She looked absolutely horrified. Sesshomaru had left soon after, not wanting to wait and see if she got a second chance to do what she had originally intended which was probably to purify him to some extent.
Though he had chosen not to admit it to anyone in particular, having his arm back had certainly been a relief. Not to say that he wasn't able to operate as efficiently without it. He'd merely lived some 2,300 years with both appendages and it was rather agreeable to be able to swing back into his regular routine.
She was definitely unique, the miko.
Suddenly, a new, much more unusual urge caught the demon lord unawares. It was so strange, so unlike him, that he thought he might actually want to do it.
Though he despised his idiot brother and wished for him to rot in hell, he felt nothing towards the girl. She could be rather annoying at times, but he felt no malice when he was near her. At the same time, he didn't particularly like her. He just happened to find her especially…
Interesting.
Sesshomaru had thought that maybe he should attempt to get close to the girl. Then, he could easily learn the extent of her powers and figure out how to avoid them. And, if he was able to earn her trust, he may be able to obtain the Tetsuiga.
Why hadn't he thought of this sooner? That girl was the perfect loop-hole, an outlet to everything in Inuyasha's camp. After all, she was only human. Humans are so predictable and never seem to recognize deception until it's much too late. They give away their trust to anyone who acts like they actually want it. Sesshomaru had sensed on more than one occasion that her emotions were very unstable. From his experience, that seemed to be very common in the human females. He was sure he could win her over with no trouble.
Sesshomaru almost smiled. Finally, he was discovering how to get to his brother.
As it would appear, Inuyasha's greatest strength was also his greatest weakness.
Unwilling to dawdle any longer for the chance to put the egotistical half-breed to shame, Sesshomaru set off in the direction of his camp, his plan of action already developing in his mind.
His first step in getting to the miko was to show her a side of him that she, or no one else for that matter, had ever seen before.
He was going to thank her.