Ok, hello and I hope somebody is actually reading this! This is the first time that I have ever posting anything anywhere, so please help me out with some comments/criticism!

Well, in further chapters there will be some lemon-type thiings and they'll involve an adolescent Sesshoumaru. And there'll be many many (hopefully) Yaoi moments as well, so if you don't like, or it makes you uncomfortable don't read it please!

And I suppose I should say I DON'T OWN INUYASHA AT ALL IN ANY WAY. Ok, so here it is.

The Spring, The Moon, This Night

Chapter 2

He let himself get lost inside his memory. So clear, so real as though he had been transported back to it. It began in horror. An ambush carried out by a group of Panther demons who'd sworn to destroy his father. He'd been traveling alone, something his father had constantly warned him against, but in his stubbornness and his need to show his strength to his father he'd left without his normal escort.

They flew at him at once. Teeth, claws, spears and swords tore at him from every direction. It had happened so fast he had barely had time to react. His lightning fast reflexes hadn't quite developed yet. It was this battle that prompted their oddly rapid appearance. His blood drained as he finally got his bearings. His own powerful claws filled with his poison found target after target. He felt necks tear and arms and legs break in his hands. His sword and his claws tore though flesh and bone as he flew from demon to demon. He devoured them. No longer feeling his own wounds he saw only his enemies and would stop only when their bodies lay broken and bleeding at his feet.

When it was over this Sesshoumaru was cover with blood. Whether his or that of his enemies he couldn't say, but this victory, the first that he could truly call his and his alone coursed though his veins. But it had cost him. Only now could he feel his weakness. That he had lost a great deal of blood, was still bleeding. His limbs torn and broken. He was dying. He would die if he could not find help. He was too wounded to be able to heal the way he normally, as a demon, could. He would be dead long before such horrible cuts and tears could heal.

He had wandered too far from the lands and villages of his subjects. His father was far away. Again. His mother had long since gone to rule the vast mountain lands of her father. He wondered if she would help him even if she knew of his nearing death. This thought settled and his energy slipped away. He was alone. Never had he faced death. And now it seemed he would meet it with no one there to…

A thought suddenly entered his skittering mind. Father, he had been here, to this place. There was a castle. A woman. Then he remembered.

The bastard.

The half-human disgrace. It was near this place. What should he do? To allow himself to be seen this way. To depend upon that…that thing. He had to act. Soon the smell of blood and dead flesh would bring carrion demons. The thought of being torn and eaten alive moved his feet away. Moved them toward that place.

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Mother always warned him about straying too far into the forest alone. But he ignored it. He wanted to play. To be by himself. He hated being stared at, being talked about. "Filthy hanyo", "disgrace", "such a shame that our beautiful princess has been ruined by that demon and his seed". He'd heard it all his life. So much it hardly hurt anymore. But he knew that it hurt her. She cried when she thought that he was asleep. She'd hold him, softly rocking him back and forth, and cry over him. He wanted so much to end that sadness but he didn't know how.

So he did what he could. Learned all that stuff about manners and how to behave himself at court (when he was allowed there). Kept himself clean and neat, learned whatever lessons he was supposed to. He did it all so she'd be proud of him. So that even when people said that stuff she'd know that they were lying, that he wasn't worthless. And sometimes when he was especially good or had done very well she'd really smile. So much her eyes would smile and sparkle at him. He'd know he'd made her really happy, if only for a little while.

But he promised himself, one day he wouldn't have to do any of it any more. He'd never wear fancy clothes, not even shoes if didn't want to. He'd wander all around and nobody would make him feel bad. Nobody would make him cry or be ashamed of himself, of being a hanyo ever again. He was strong. He was as smart as any other child at court, smarter even. He had to be. He was a good boy and no had the right to make him feel bad. No one.

But for now, a few hours in the deep woods by himself would have to do. Mother was asleep and everyone else was busy, so he was free to do what he pleased for a while. He liked looking around him as he sped into the woods, watching the trees get bigger and darker and closer together, but soon he began to smell something. It was strange. Familiar. Then he recognized it.

Father.

His father smelled like this. Well, kind of. It was like his father, a lot like him, but not really. He was confused. Even more so when he realized that whatever it was also smelled like HIM. Then he remembered. Once, when his father was here he'd mentioned…Se-Sesshoumaru. His older brother. A full blooded demon, just like his father. That was what he smelled. But he realized that there was something else. Blood. A lot of it too! Maybe he was hurt. Maybe he needed help. Without another thought the tiny Inuyasha ran as quickly as he could to see this Sesshoumaru and help him if he could.