A/N – Inuyasha and co. set off shard hunting. Can they trust Sesshoumaru to be rational? A moment (a very brief moment) of brotherly bonding.

Disclaimer – I don't own the canon concepts or characters of Inuyasha. I'm just borrowing them.


Chapter 4


Sesshoumaru was glaring at him. Inuyasha could feel it: his nerves were quivering, and the hair on the back of his neck was crawling with alarm. He was sitting high up in his tree, facing away from the village, and he could still feel that malevolent, hate-filled gaze boring into him. But Inuyasha was accustomed to Sesshoumaru's hatred; the only difference now was in the level of animosity.

Kagome, warm-hearted and compassionate, was inclined to think that Sesshoumaru would soon see reason and focus his hatred on the true architects of the situation – the men who had forced him into his childish form. But Sesshoumaru was not a creature of reason, or logic, or anything but his own desires. And he had been humiliated, badly, first by his forced reversion, and then by his weakness, and then finally by Inuyasha himself – although Inuyasha would do it again, a thousand times over, just for the glorious sweetness of that one, perfect moment.

Still basking in the memory of Sesshoumaru's face, Inuyasha heard Kagome's footsteps on the undergrowth, heard her approach the base of his tree. "Inuyasha!" she called out imperiously. "Come down."

He peered down at her, scowling automatically despite his mellow mood. "Why should I?"

Her mouth set, her eyes narrowed, and she stamped her foot. "I can sense jewel shards to the north, baka. But if you're not interested –"

He leapt off his perch, landing so close to her she took an involuntary step back. "Why didn't you say so?" he demanded. "I can't wait to get out of here and ditch that over bred cur –"

Something about Kagome's stubborn, confrontational stance warned him. "Sesshoumaru's coming with us," she said adamantly.

Inuyasha blinked. "The fuck he is!"

"Inuyasha," she scowled, drawing out his name in a way he particularly hated, "we can't leave him alone in the village. Who knows what the villagers will do to him?"

"What the villagers will do to him?" he sputtered. "Oi, Kagome – he's not nice. He hates humans, and –"

"He's a child, Inuyasha. Whatever he was before, he's alone and vulnerable now; we can't just abandon him."

Inuyasha disagreed. He saw a rather appealing symmetry in the idea – after all, Sesshoumaru had abandoned him in the wild, after tiring of an indifferent guardianship.

But Kagome was having none of it. "He's coming with us and that's it," she told him, her folded arms and narrowed, impatient eyes signals of an impending flash of temper. Signals, also, of her readiness to invoke the rosary; recognizing his danger, he backed down, glaring and muttering under his breath.


Six days. Six days since he'd been turned into this…this mockery of his former self, and four days since his half-brother and his motley crew had brought him to this flea-infested human village. Since then, he'd hidden in the old miko's house, cowering in corners and shadows, careful to avoid human notice – it went against every single instinct he possessed, chafing his spirit in ways he hadn't even known possible.

Be rational, Inuyasha's human wench told him. Think. Is your pride really worth so much?

But he was not rational, and he didn't want to think. He wanted to lash out, rip his enemies to pieces with his own bare claws – and failing his enemies, he would settle for these dull, bovine humans with their filthy, dirt- and manure-covered hands and their wretched superstitions and pitiful concerns. He wanted to kill, to prove himself more than a weak, useless cripple – he wanted to see fear in his victims' eyes again, not contempt and amusement.

Outside, he could hear the hanyou and his wench shouting at each other, her voice shrill and strident as she insisted that he was a child, too vulnerable to be left alone –

A child.

A child.

He'd show them how vulnerable and weak he was, he'd tear their mocking, laughing eyes out and make them eat them, erasing the memory of his weakness…

"Kagome is naive," the old miko said tranquilly, ignoring his red eyes and sub vocal growling, "but she has a good heart. You would be a monster indeed, if you took advantage of her."

Glaring furiously at the old, one-eyed hag, he flexed his claws, imagined plunging them into her sour, wrinkled face and tearing…

"You won't kill me, boy," she grunted, her hands busy sorting and tying herbs. "I'm not fool enough to think you weak, but I do think you honourable, in your own way."

Boy. He remembered this wretched crone's grandmother as a snivelling, terrified babe. He remembered when this cursed flyspeck village was nothing more than an encampment in the wilderness –

But she had given him shelter.

Frustrated, thwarted, he let his eyes bleed back to gold.

"Sesshoumaru!" the half-breed snarled, ducking his head into the hut and scowling at him sullenly. "We leave in half an hour." And with that, he stomped away, cursing, his bad temper clear for all to see.

That was what his father had died for.


In rather more than half an hour, they set out for the north, Kagome on her bicycle with Shippou in the front basket, Inuyasha bounding along, a red and white streak, Sango, Miroku and Kirara traveling at a more sedate walk. Sesshoumaru followed behind, his eyes fixed on the northern horizon, his thoughts a complete mystery. He was simply there, not speaking, not interacting in any real way, and not – despite Inuyasha's dark predictions – trying to murder them in their sleep.

But Sango had to wonder just how safe it was, to have such an unpredictable ally in their midst. Kagome might swear that he was safe, but the exterminator remembered the mad, feral look in Sesshoumaru's eyes after Inuyasha had humiliated him, and remembered all the dark stories, whispered round the dying fire, of the Western Lord and his rise to power. Once, only once, had anyone tried to rise against him.

Youkai were not human. They were not social creatures, as humans were, with a sense of connection and responsibility to their fellow beings. Youkai were solitary, supremely self-centred, and unconcerned with ethics, morals, or empathy. And the worst of all, her father had taught her, were the great ones, the taiyoukai – the smooth, sleek, beautiful ones who could pass for human but who weren't. The danger lay in believing they would act as humans did, and finding out, too late, that they had no heart, no soul, nothing but self-interest.

"Hey, Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha called out lazily, as his elder brother fell a little behind, "don't stray too far away. I don't want to have to keep rescuing your poor, weak ass whenever you get into trouble."

Sango sighed. This sort of thing didn't help, either.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome snapped.

"The day I need your worthless help to save me, hanyou," Sesshoumaru replied coolly, "I will take my own life and save the enemy the trouble."

Things went downhill after that.


Night fell, and they camped in a little hollow in the woods. Inuyasha stayed on the ground, Tessaiga clutched possessively to his shoulder, his eyes fixed on Sesshoumaru's every movement. The others, still unnerved by the taiyoukai's silent presence, moved silently and a little awkwardly at their accustomed tasks; Kagome tried to draw him into conversation but gave up when he simply looked at her, his eyes reflecting the firelight with an eerie glow. Finally, they settled in for an awkward night's sleep, leaving Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru awake, staring at each other over the dying fire.

"If you touch one hair on Kagome's head," Inuyasha began, "I will rip you apart."

Sesshoumaru said nothing, but held his gaze steadily. Here, with this simple statement, devoid of bravado, bluff, or insolence, was what he suspected was the core of Inuyasha's strength. He remembered, more than fifty years ago, a young pup who had showed small signs of such strength…

"I'm not a fool, Sesshoumaru. This change must be disastrous for you."

In the quiet dark, with no one else listening, Inuyasha could say such things. Sesshoumaru could allow himself to imagine the consequences that would flow from the news of his…condition. And two brothers could connect, so very cautiously, in a way that would be impossible in the morning.

"Our father ruled over the West for more than a thousand years, Inuyasha. Some of the humans thought him a god, dealing death with one hand, and granting life with the other."

Inuyasha frowned. "Tessaiga and Tenseiga?"

"Legends sprang up, myths; mystics, groping in the dark for the unattainable, sought for divine explanations. They began to speak of twice-born, those few that Father thought worthy of reviving. They thought they had some kind of power, that they could penetrate the mysteries of the Veil –"

Inuyasha snorted.

"Yes. Some of them sought to take Tenseiga from him, once, before he wiped them out. But not even he could wipe out every clan of mystics in Yamato, and the legends persist, even now."

Inuyasha's brow furrowed as he tried to process what Sesshoumaru had told him, to fit it to the circumstances in which he had found him –

"The girl?" he asked, frowning. "You revived her? And they stole her, to – what? Use her in their rites? Draw you in, so they can take Tenseiga for themselves?"

Sesshoumaru was silent for a long, long while, his small, half-grown hands absently caressing Tenseiga's hilt, reassuring it, reassuring himself. With the fire reflecting hellishly in his eyes, he did not look childish, nor in any way weak or vulnerable.

"Whatever their motives," he said, half under his breath, "I will hunt them down to the very ends of the earth, if need be." He looked up, suddenly. "Once I find the mystics, I will regain what they took from me – in the meantime, I will not demean myself by tormenting you or your useless companions."

It was a promise, of sorts. Inuyasha took it in the spirit it was offered, scowling and snapping some sort of retort; they both knew that in the morning, this strange council would be forgotten, and the normal order of things would resume.


A/N – Next chapter: a random youkai attacks. Sesshoumaru has a chance to relieve some of his frustration. Much blood and gore.

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