Side by Side

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha's characters, I just borrowed them for a while to make up my story.

Summary: Sesshomaru, the Lord of the West, got a serious disease that left him too weak to even stand on his own feet, his sickness news spread to another rival kingdom. The Lord of this kingdom started to prepare for attacking the West Kingdom, what will Sesshomaru do in this enormous problem?

A/N: This is my first time to write for this fandom so my name will be unfamiliar to most of you, I just wish to write even one story for Inuyasha because I always like his character and all the other characters of the manga minus Naraku, of course.

Warning: English isn't my mother tongue so you may find some grammatical errors or spilling errors, you are welcome to mention if I had written something wrong but please write the correction with it to teach me the right thing.

I wish you enjoy this story and I will appreciate your respectful reviews.

Chapter Three

The two youkai's stopped by their Lord's door and the big youkai knocked the door loud enough for their Lord to hear the knock and they waited patiently for the door to be opened. They stood just few moments before the door was opened revealing one of his lord's healers and he of course questioned about the reason of the visit and they told them that they needed to talk to the lord urgently. When the youkai healer scented their true need to meet the sick lord, he finally permitted them to go in and they slowly and quietly approached the bed of their Lord. Sesshomarou's eyes were closed and the two youkai's became hesitated to come close him, they didn't want to disturb his sleep but the young Lord felt their hesitation and opened his eyes to show them that he was aware of their presence. He scented their worry and hesitation which were mixed with fear, he wondered in his mind what on earth made them in this state of worry and fear so he gathered his energy and spoke firmly and coldly as his habit,

" Bishamon, come close, " ordered the silver haired lord firmly while gesturing with his hand to the youkai that he wanted him to stand by his bed.

" Ok, sir. " was the instant reply of the head of the west army. When the youkai came closer as his master said, the suck lord shot him a direct question,

" May I knew what is the important thing that led you to visit me in this early hour? " asked the Lord politely but strictly.

" Lord Sesshomaru, I am sorry but I had bad news,…. " said the warrior youkai but stopped suddenly because he needed to gather his courage to disclose the war issue to his sick master. Sesshomaru noticed the nervousness and the worry that his man was emitting and raised his eyebrow in confusion because he never saw this person nervous or worried before he is an epitome of courage and power so what on earth would bother the youkai so the young lord decided to push the warrior further to know what was upsetting him to this extent.

" Don't worry, Bish, I can listen to whatever you say but don't try to hide anything from me because you know well that I am not tolerant with anyone tries to lie at me. " the young master spoke calmly but the experienced youkai caught the underlying warning so he forced himself to continue speaking,

" The wild cat demons….. " started the war champion but staggered when he saw his master's features changed when he heard the name of their adversaries but he had no choice, he must tell the lord.

" The wild cat demon accumulated all their forces and readied all their equipments and intended to carry out an assault on our kingdom. Probably, they heard the news about your highness' sickness and they found it a chance to break our truce and attack our lands again. " stated the old youkai and waited patiently for his master to deal with the news after few minutes of silence, Sesshomaru asked more questions to estimate how big the danger of the attack of the cat clan,

" Do you know how big their armies and do you know when they could reach our first line of our defenses? "

" Their army is as big as our army, they had not less than one hundred thousand warriors and they had various equipments and they may reach the first line of our forces in three or four days. " replied the leader of the army truthfully.

" Only three days, this is very soon we had to gather our forces quickly and put a counterattack plan, " said the Lord in weak voice as if he was talking to himself but the two youkais picked all his words clearly.

" Bishamon, I need you to inform all our champions that there is an urgent meeting in the gatherings hall and make sure that all of them come and as fast as possible and there is no excuses for anybody. " demanded the lord of the west firmly then he dismissed the warrior without any other word. Jaken who was listening to all the conversation between his master and his subordinates could feel that his master was flaring with anger, his eyes turned from their amber state to red so the old imp tried to placate his anger with some light words,

" Don't worry master, our army is very strong and well equipped with various weapons and we could turn them down easily and under your guidance and wisdom, every thing will be okay even if you couldn't fight with them. " encouraged the toad youkai but he received a sharp glare and a fearful loud growl from his master that made him cringed and he realized that he was idiot when he add the last few words of his master's incapacity of fighting.

" I.. a…m so…rr..y, Lo…rd S…essho..maru, I didn't m..ean to bo…ther you, " stuttered the green imp, he was afraid that his master may lose control over his temper and kill him with his poisonous whip but his master calmed himself and ordered the imp curtly to go away before he decided to finish him and the little green youkai run away to save his life.

Sesshomaru was a proud pompous youkai who has huge faith in his power, wisdom and intelligence so he tried to evaluate the situation by himself before discussing it with his subordinates in the gathering. He knew well that his health was not improving and no medicine until now showed any effect on his disease and he also knew well that he hasn't enough power to lead his troops by himself. But he was totally aware that his pack couldn't fight with all their high potential with the absence of their Master, they would feel that they had no one to lead them to the triumph and they would be like stray dogs without him. He was bewildered, he may participate in the war but this would be a great risk because the cat demons will focus their attacks on him and he knew in his current state of health, he would be defenseless against their attack. He even had no enough energy to transform to his original youkai form and he may be killed in the first few hours of the war and the consequences of his death on his soldiers would be greater than the effect of him not sharing in the fight.

The thoughts and the possibilities started to flow on his mind and his brain was boiling from the intense mental exertion, he was practicing on himself. He felt that he was lost, he didn't know what to do or what to order his men to act, he wished that his father was him feeds him with his wisdom and reassures him with his immense power. He wished if he had another brother who could share the burden with him and support him, his mind was confused in that moment that he almost forgot about his little brother, Inuyasha.

After an hour of the intense thinking, he raised up from his mattress and bathed himself and dressed his royal silk kimono and headed towards the gathering hall, he could smell the different scents of the west champions who were accumulated in the meeting room. On his way, he met the green imp and he ordered the small youkai to follow him to the meeting and of course, Jaken, did as what his master ordered him. When the Lord entered the meeting room all the other youkais stood up and bowed in respect and acknowledgment, he gestured to them to sit down and he beckoned to Bishamon to come and stand beside him and the leader of the army did as he was told to do. Then the west lord asked Bishamon to feed all the attendants with the news of the coming war when the youkai finished Sesshomaru studied the reflexes of the attendants after hearing about the war and he felt relieved when he saw their resolution of victory and he heard that they would crush the cats with their fangs and claws but he was worried that this high spirit may quench after telling them that he wasn't going to lead them in the war but he had no other choice, he had to be honest with them.

The Lord of the West thanked Bishamon for explaining their situation to the attendants and asked him to go and sit on his place and the youkai went to his place and sit down. Then Sesshomaru directed his eyes to them and said,

" I have something important to tell you, " this few words stole the attention of all the attendants, when the young lord noticed that the fuss died down and all of them were heeding to him he continued,

" I want to inform you that Bishoman only will lead the forces and I am not going to share in the battle from the beginning,…. " he couldn't finish his words as the gasps of surprise and the murmurs of protest and annoyance hit his senses so he had to shut them up by growling tremendously at them and they absolutely stopped their fuss and listened again to him.

" Of course, you all heard about my disease and unfortunately, I still need medical care and if I shared in the battle right now, I am not sure of the consequences. " he stopped few minutes to let his champions digest his words and they all understand their Lord's words and they all knew that if he shared in the battle all the cats' attack will be directed on him and in his sickness, he won't be able to deflect their attacks and they will waste all their energy in protecting their Lord than defending their lands and thus means their defeat. But someone who seemed to have other fears stood up to share his fears,

" But my lord, our soldiers, from long time ago, used to fight with their Lords and your absence would affect passively on the soldiers' resolve. We need someone from the royal family to lead us and give us the reassurance we need. "

Sesshomaru stood silent, he knew that someone may say this comment but he had nothing to do he is the last one of the royal family and he himself hasn't a heir for the throne so there is no one can lead the army. And for the second time, he forgot all about his hanyou brother so he regretfully apologized for not having any relatives of the royal family, except his mother, to lead the army but the Lady of the West wasn't accustomed to the atmosphere of fighting and battles and she wouldn't be able to lead the army by herself. Jaken who was standing behind his master looked at his Lord with eyes full of confusion, he didn't know why his master didn't mention that he had a little brother. He thought that his master may feel ashamed of mentioning having a hanyou brother but Jaken knew well that Inuyasha, his Lord's little brother, is an efficient strong warrior who has great experience of war and he knew that he did great work in getting rid of Naraku so he may be a good substitute for his master in leading the armies of the west to defend the lands, especially he has the great general Inu no Tashio's formidable sword.

Jaken was not sure what to do, he was afraid to remind his master of his hanyou brother because he never wants to experience the wrath of his master but somehow he felt that it was for the behalf of the western lands, he had to suggest asking Inuyasha to help them so the green toad youkai gathered every atom of his courage and swallowed the lump which had been accumulated on his throat and spoke in a trembling voice,

" Lord Sesshomaru may I say something? " the young Lord knew that his green servant wasn't too intelligent but sometimes he had some good ideas so he turned his head to look at the little servant with his calculating eyes.

" Speak, " ordered the cold master dryly.

" What about Inuyasha, you knew that he…., " stopped the green imp when he saw the eyes of his master gleaming with red hue and repeated his little brother's name vehemently,

" Inuyasha, "

To be continued,

End of the chapter