Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Pairing: Inuyasha/Sesshomaru

Warnings: Rated M, Inucest, YAOI

oOoOo

Recap

"Good thing they didn't ask me where I will be spending the next month. Keh… they would never believe me anyways."

Inuyasha smiled grimly as his thoughts went back to his half-brother's missing limb.

"I will not be an ungrateful guest or a freeloader Sesshomaru." He thought. "I think I know just how I will pay for my brief stay. Now to gather all the ingredients before he arrives. I have about a day to complete preparations. Best hurry."

Chuckling softly, Inuyasha slipped the cursed necklace off his neck.

oOoOo

Hidden in Plain Sight
Arc 01 – Journey to the Palace of the West

oStilloDreamingo

Chapter 3

Ah-Un tossed both of his heads rapturously in the wind and released a sound that was a combination of a whinnying horse and a roaring dragon. Behind him in a silver-chased, amber chariot rode Lord Sesshomaru. The daiyoukai had already used up a day and a half, getting Rin settled into the home of a samurai lord, whose family had been loyal to the Inu-youkai clan for generations. He was now racing at breakneck speed to reach the clearing in time for his appointment.

The samurai lord, Lord Kengeki, had accepted the responsibility to care for the Daiyoukai's ningen ward for the duration of the mating season. Rin was unhappy to leave Sesshomaru, even if it was only for a short while, but the youkai lord had Rin trained well enough to accept orders without question, so the child relented. The child was ecstatic when she learned that she would be taught the basics of swordplay by the samurai lord. Rin was very fond of her guardian, and she frequently wished that she would be less of a burden and be better able to defend herself. She frequently mentioned the young boy, Kohaku, she met when she had been kidnapped by Naraku. The girl had been very impressed with Kohaku's mastery of the chain-scythe, and had repeatedly begged the youkai lord to provide her with a weapon so that she may be able to assist in battles as well. Rin was a very intelligent ningen for her seven years of age.

"She will need to be trained in the ways of the ningen if she is to be an acceptable mate for a ningen lord. Lady Teiyoku will see to it…" reflected Sesshomaru.

The lord and lady of the samurai had been childless for their ten years of marriage and had been disappointed to learn that the daiyoukai would not permit them to adopt Rin as their own daughter, and raise her to be the heir. Sesshomaru had been pleased with the development, but decided to withhold his decision in letting the samurai couple to take over his charge permanently, until after the mating season.

"Rin needs to be given enough time to decide if she would like them to be her new family."

Sesshomaru smirked at the memory of the indignant squawk the kappa let out when Sesshomaru ordered Jaken to remain with Rin and the samurai tribe as her guardian, to see to it that the child was well treated. Of course, there was no danger of that happening as they samurai were honorable to a fault, and did not believe in spoiling their children. The daiyoukai tended to be overprotective of his ningen charge. Also, Sesshomaru did not want the kappa's flapping beak to jeopardize Inuyasha's initiation into adult youkai society.

"It would not bode well to be belittled in pubic by an inferior being. Combined with Inuyasha's temper, the results may be disastrous…"

Sesshomaru pulled back on the reins sharply, and the dragon-familiar amiably slowed down to a more decorous pace. Sesshomaru then guided the chariot downwards through the tall trees of the forest. Ah-Un, apparently having picked up his scent, knowing the purpose of the visit, began picking a path towards Inuyasha, who was waiting for them in the glade.

"And not a moment too soon…" thought Sesshomaru, as the sun slipped away beyond the mountains as the chariot came to a stop before Inuyasha.

Inuyasha walked up to Sesshomaru, as the youkai was about to dismount.

"Don't get off Sesshomaru. I want us to get to the palace as quickly as possible. The moon will not wait for me." Inuyasha said curtly, not wasting any time on formalities as was him custom, leaping into the open chariot beside his half-brother.

Sesshomaru nodded in comprehension. It would be for the best if Inuyasha was safely within the walls of the castle before the transformation took place. Time was of the essence.

With a rap of the reins, Ah-Un once again took off, this time heading in towards the palace, without any directional prompts from the youkai lord. The dragon familiar was an intelligent creature, and seldom needed any instruction, making it a very valuable companion. Ah-Un was soul-bound to the royal inu-youkai clan much like the cat familiar, Kilala, was soul-bound to the ruling family of the Taijiya.

Sesshomaru sniffed discretely, and picked up the scent of a young kitsune-youkai and lavender bath oils on Inuyasha.

"A female kitsune? Certainly not the fox kit that Inuyasha travels with, but then who?"

Judging by the freshness and intensity of the scent on Inuyasha, Sesshomaru concluded that Inuyasha had only embraced the kitsune goodbye before Sesshomaru's arrival in the clearing. Also, there was no trace of unhappiness or any negative emotion in the scent, suggesting that the kitsune-youkai and the inu-hanyou were on good terms, but not sexually involved. For some reason, that thought made some of the tension in his shoulders ebb away.

Sesshomaru more felt than saw the inu-hanyou's eyes flick towards him suspiciously.

By the scent, Sesshomaru knew with complete certainty that the female kitsune was decidedly one belonging to the noble clans like those under Sesshomaru's rule and not a commoner fox like Inuyasha's companion, Shippou. The daiyoukai, however distinctly remembered that there was no other youkai was present for miles around the glade, and the kitsune scent was present only on Inuyasha himself, and nowhere else. He had detected this scent on Inuyasha on several other occasions, but he had never been able to track down the elusive fox. All of this had the daiyoukai very confused.

It was almost midnight before Sesshomaru let the reins go slack, and tied them to the chariot seat, confident in Ah-Un's abilities to guide them safely. Sesshomaru turned to look at his half-brother, and found reclining against the back of the chariot, face tipped upwards, peacefully staring at the crescent moon, moonlight bathing his tanned face and reflected in his deep amber eyes, his wavy dark silver hair splayed about him, rippling in the wind. Sesshomaru reigned in his awe at the sight of the creature before him. In all the time that he had known the hanyou, Sesshomaru had never seen him during the night. The boy had an uncanny ability to stay hidden when he did not want to be found. Reclusive by nature, Inuyasha preferred his solitude by night, limiting any interaction with other living creatures to daytime.

Sensing his lingering gaze, Inuyasha turned towards him with questioning eyes, before turning away with a smile, his eyes darkening with amusement.

"Like what you see, dear brother… ?" Inuyasha whispered, his voice so soft that it was barely heard above the wind, and held no trace of mockery in it, only genuine amusement.

Sesshomaru stared at his little brother a while longer, feeling that there was something different about Inuyasha, and finally he realized what it was.

"The rosary… he no longer wears it… Has the miko freed him of her curse?"

"I took it off." said Inuyasha, breaking into his thoughts.

The youkai lord realized that he had been staring at the boy's neck.

The reply had him puzzled which Inuyasha picked up on making the hanyou sigh.

Sesshomaru watched as Inuyasha reached down into his leather pouch that Inuyasha carried with him when traveling and retrieve the rosary. Sesshomaru then watched him put the rosary on and then take it back off.

"The rosary", Inuyasha explained, "is used by the ningen with spiritual power to subjugate a youkai to their will, by binding the saigen of the youkai and the reiryoku of the ningen to the beads. The rosary is then activated by using a key word that will send immense amounts of pain to the subjugated youkai, making them subservient to the ningen. The youkai also experiences excruciating pain when attempting to remove the necklace…"

Sesshomaru waited for Inuyasha to continue. Sesshomaru remembered his father's warnings regarding ningen gifts, especially in the form of jewellery. Many great youkai have fallen in the past due to their foolish pride, believing that there exists nothing that is truly able to subdue them. These youkai ultimately met their death at the hands of their subordinates, or those that were subdued by powerful ningen and their artifacts chose to commit suicide rather than to live a life of shame.

"Or they were slain by their blood to alleviate the shame of possessing a blood relation to such a subjugated creature." He added in his mind.

In hind sight, he felt rather foolish of having not accounted for the fact that the presence of the rosary around Inuyasha's throat would have made him a legal target for execution without trial at the Gathering, that Sesshomaru, despite his rank would have been unable to prevent. Sesshomaru wondered at his reluctance to slay his half-brother on sight. He had convinced himself previously that it was because Inuyasha was a weak hanyou, hence not worthy of death by his hands, therefore left him alone for the most part. Later, after Inuyasha's awakening, he had been enraged when he saw the rosary around Inuyasha's neck for the first time. It led Sesshomaru to commit the one act that he loathed himself for committing even to this day. He had been pleased when the encounter led to the loss of his left arm.

"A fair price to pay for dishonouring our father and his chosen mate."

But after having lost to his arm to his little brother, he could no longer deny Inuyasha's true strength.

"It was no small feat to deprive a daiyoukai of his limb with a newly acquired weapon that one has no practice wielding." He reflected.

And when the hanyou transformed into the blood thirsty parody of a demon, Sesshomaru felt driven to restore Inuyasha to his hanyou self instead of executing him. And he could not understand for the life of him, why he allowed his brother to hold on to the Tetsaiga, when it rightfully belonged in his hands… hand?.

Sesshomaru pulled himself forcefully from his reflections to see Inuyasha staring at him with a half annoyed, half amused look.

"You weren't listening, were you?" said Inuyasha dryly, his chest shaking with suppressed laughter. "Don't worry about it. I'll repeat myself…" Inuyasha said generously.

Sesshomaru nodded meekly, blushing faintly for his lack of attention, not trusting his own voice for the first time in his life.

He was incredibly grateful that in the final phases of the moon, the slight colouring of his face will not be noticeable.

oOoOo

Author's Note:

Special thanks to my reviewers: petpeeves12, A Lost Child From Heaven, ryougabriellucile, twilight-abyss, RKInu241, fluffys-sidekick, yllom21, thr3e, The Great Susinko, SonnyGoten, sesshomarunaraku, Princess Sin, akilana and Malimillions.

Hi Again!

Hmmm… turns out this fic will be even longer than I originally planned as I am fleshing it out. This is my longest chapter yet. Everyone, I have made some minor revisions to all the chapter, which mostly involves weeding out grammar mistakes. Also, in the last chapter, I gave Miroku and Sango a little more definition, as some people pointed out that they did not get a clear sense of them.

I am happy to see that you guys are picking up on the hints of upcoming events, (like Sesshomaru getting back his arm! Good guess ryougabriellucile and SonnyGoten!).

Also, there have been requests that I have Shippou travel with Inuyasha. Sorry to disappoint, but Shippo will not be going to the Palace. He does play a major part later on in the story, so keep looking!

Also, I very much try to keep my characters in character (Except my Inuyasha much smarter). I would be grateful if people would point out to me if they go Out Of Character. (Thank you twilight-abyss).

And guys, I apologize for the minor cliff-hanger in the last chapter. The story does have a mystery element. I promise, all will be explained soon.

Guys thanks for the reviews again! They help a lot!

Please continue reviewing!