The Nursery and the Fight
The children were playing deep within the den in a well lit room used strictly for the benefit of their young. It was a playroom or a nursery. It was buried very deep within the den, yet high high above, in the great dome ceiling, was a circular opening that allowed in a brilliant shaft of light. There was a fountain in the middle and flowers galore sprinkled all over the garden nursery. The light was brilliant. Even without the sunlight, the playroom was well lit. The children ran and played and tested their skills under the supervision of their nurses, nannies, and family familiars. This particular day, Inuyasha's nanny, assigned by Sesshomaru, was instructed to take him here to play. When he arrived he met a girl, who looked a lot like him with her silver hair and golden eyes.
"Who are you?" curious about the new boy.
"I'm Inuyasha" he responded.
"I'm Dokuhana" They differed with respect to the markings on her face. She had one blue stripe on each cheak. They bowed to each other, just as they were taught to when being polite and then looked over at the other children who were playing. There were guards posted at the entrance, and even high up on the walls or perodic ledges built for just such a purpose. Inuyasha imagined that there were guards outside the skylight as well.
There were family familiars running about and some were standing back against the walls. The familiars were different types of demons. Up until now, Inuyasha had not see other types of demons. There were toad demons, hare demons, and some that smelled like birds and others like mice.
The game the children were playing didn't' seem to have any rules. It appeared that one child ran around trying to tag the others. The tagged child would then cease moving, maybe dramatically clutch their chest, and lie on the ground.
"What are they playing, Dokuhana?"
"Lord of the den." A child let out a shrill noise and pretended to drop dead.
"I don't understand."
"The one who is tagging the others is Lord Sesshomaru and everyone else needs avoid him," another child drops to the ground "or they die."
Inuyasha, being a bright child, thought about this for a while. "Who made up this game? Has it been aroudn a long time" 'or is it because of Sesshomaru's vicious rule?'
"We did, kind of! Our nurses told us about a game that they played when they were young, but we changed it. It's fun! Let's play!" Inuyasha, not having played with many other children in his short life, jumped at the chance.
Unbeknownst to the occupants of the nursery garden, Lord Sesshomaru had arrived in the doorway. He stood in the shadows curious about the children, and his little brother. He watched the pups swirl and run and dive, laughing and squealing, while trying to avoid the great and terrible tagging-Lord-Sesshomaru-child.
The entire scene moved in slow motion for a moment as he remembered a similar game he played when he was a young pup like these before him. However, the Lord didnt' kill everyone he touched, back then. They could try and play the mercy move and not die, but instead help the lord to tag the other children or offer mercy to them. 'Death is not always necessary my son, you must learn mercy!' said his father.
Sesshomaru noticed in the den before him, some of the mothers and nurses that came to watch them play. Among them was the female who he did not kill from the garden, and whom he later mated with. He felt a stirring within him and quickly stifled it. He was not here on pleasure. He continued to watch Inuyasha.
His little brother ran and played like the rest of the children, but when his fried, the little girl was threatened, he pulled her to safety. It didn't work for long and they both were tagged and played dead. Inuyasha, even stuck is tongue out the side of this mouth and made his friend laugh.
When the game was nearly over the tagger started to sniff the air. "You're a human" he screamed and pointed at Inuyasha. Inuyasha sat up, twitched his ears, and realized the entire room was looking at him. The tagger stomped over towards Inuyasha, sat on top of him and started to pummel him.
Sesshomaru would not interfere. 'Perhaps this will not be the last time he will fight a fight like this. He must learn on his own.'
Those tending the children did not know how to react. Should they interfere? Lord Sesshomaru would be sure to hear about this. When he did would Lord Sesshomaru be angry this child was beating on his brother? Would he care, the child was half human, after all, and the Lord always spoke so harshly of humans. But he does have that weird exception for little ones.
After Inuyasha got over the initial shock of becoming a target, he took a few hard punches, but gave one well placed one to his attacker. The punch was hard enough to knock the boy off of him and then Inuyasha began to do the pummeling instead. They rolled over once more, the tagger on top. The tagger then began to play dirty. He punched his foe in the crotch and Inuyasha let out a yelp.
Sesshomaru noted what boy he was, and to which family he belonged. 'That was a dirty and dishonorable move, Inuyasha. Yet those moves do occur, how will you react?'
Inuyasha yelled at the boy "STOP! OR I'LL REALLY HURT YOU!"
The other boy laughed, kept punching, and even mocking Inuyasha. "Sto-op, OR I'LL reeeeally hurt you! Ha ha ha ha!"
Inuyasha said "Alright, I warned you!" Then next thing the child knew, he was covered in blood. Inuyasha had slashed his face with the claws he inherited from his father, claws that develop early in life compared to the pups in other lines. The injury he gave the boy bled a lot, but was not a life threatening wound, it would heal in a day or two. Nevertheless the large amount of blood scared the child, and his fear was evidenced by the stains in his pants.
"IEW!" yelled Dokuhana, "IEW! You made poopie in your pants!"
Sesshomaru had to stifle a chuckle and a smile. He too had a fondness for the word poopie…when he was young, of course. 'Hehehe, she said poopie!'
Sesshomaru decided now was a better time than ever to collect his little sibling. The fight caused a lot of shuffling about and nurses running back and forth, yet no real actions were taken. It all went still when Sesshomaru walked into the shaft of light at the center of the nursery. Everyone kneeled, foreheads touching the ground. Children were curious, and kept stealing more direct looks before planting their foreheads, with mischievous giggles, back to the ground.
The children were in awe that their glorious Lord had graced them with his presence. To them he was the tallest demon in the world and the most powerful. Lord Sesshomaru was as beautiful as he was mighty. They were all very glad he was their protector because they thought that nothing could defeat him. His eyes were a bit softer when he looked at them, even at one they now called Poopie Pants.
Sesshomaru had arrived with Tanele and one other guard. "Inuyasha, I have come to take you from here," as he walked back to the darkness of the hallway his voice was heard echoing "We have things we must discuss."
Inuyasha scrambled to his feet, returned a funny face he got from Poopie Pants, and followed his big brother into the darkness of the hall. The den was warm and smelled of fresh spring flowers that day. The sounds of the children echoed down the hall behind them and faded as the small group arrived in the next corridor. Inuyasha was uncomfortable in the lower levels and became conscious of how good he had it by sleeping up in his brothers apartments.
Inuyasha realized they were getting closer to the surface when they walked through a large rotunda. It was full of delicate metalwork laced with vines, flowers, and gossamer fabric. The ceiling allowed in great amounts that of light that poured down which was then reflected in hanging crystals. The floors were made of gray marble and the sounds of small waterfalls rang through the vegetation. The guards and Lord Sesshomaru took no notice, but Inuyasha stopped and walked in a circle to take it all in. Once he realized he was falling behind he ran to catch up.
