A/N: Okay my lovelies hope you enjoy this update. I tried to put it out quickly because I was delayed over the holidays. Hopefully will have a new update out by Friday as well.

So last time, Sesshomaru played a game with Inuyasha that he used to play with his chichi-ue when he was much younger. But in truth, it was more of a training exercise. So why did he do that? Did Inuyasha even appreciate the fact that his elder brother had done something with him, other than try to kill him, for once in his life? Did that game do anything to relieve the pent up tension between them, or are their individual emotions to deeply ingrained in them to make any kind of difference. Or, will they both look at it as a starting point. I truly hope so.

Sesshomaru & Inuyasha: Kyoudai in Kōtetsu
Sesshomaru & Inuyasha: Brothers in Arms

Sho 9 - Nani Izenkei Konkai?
Chapter 9 - What Happened Now?

It was now late afternoon; the sun still blazed warm overhead, while a gentle breeze buzzed softly across the stream as it flowed slowly in front of them. Sitting silently side by side at the base of two large nearby trees, the youkai lord and the hanyou each concealed their private thoughts.

Sesshomaru realized that even though he had never allowed himself to be bothered by the weather, other than feeling slightly disrobed; he found himself feeling more comfortable sitting without his mokomoko and his haramaki. He decided he would forego it for a while, at least until he went back on patrol. Of course, he would never follow the hanyou and go without boots, but he could not deny the fact that other than the change in his ultimate appearance, he was considerably more comfortable without the additional attire; which was odd, since comfort had never been a requirement for him. He had been properly attired ever since he had learned how to display his mokomoko.

But the youkai lord knew he had removed it for the hanyou's sake; because he had gotten angry after his youkai style healing treatment of him, but at least this way, they could appear closer in status. Perhaps that would help them begin to bond; eventually. Sesshomaru was uncertain why he was making such an effort to ensure the hanyou's comfort level around him, but he knew he was. It was only partially because of his promise to his chichi-ue; a promise he'd made after the information Toutousai had provided. He was now aware of his chichi-ue's concern over his eldest son's limited display of emotions and his concern for the hanyou's ability to protect himself. The youkai lord knew, though, it also had something to do with the fact that once he had made up his mind to do something, he was not the type to fall short of his objective. He would do whatever he believed was required to accomplish his goal; which is why once he had decided to save him, there was no way he would allow himself to fail.

Just barely diverting his attention to study the hanyou beside him, Sesshomaru wondered whether it might be too soon to act on the thoughts he had been considering for the past few months. He also wondered if it was too late, if he did. He had never hesitated to do what it was his desire to do. He had never considered how his actions might affect anyone other than himself. He had never had to. Once he had decided to do something, he did it. Neither Jaken, Rin nor anyone else, had ever stopped him from doing what it was his desire to do when he wished to do it. But he knew taking on the hanyou would be different. He was more human than he'd ever thought. He was more of a reactionist than he had ever considered. Such things had never interested him; but he was certain after having a closer look at the hanyou over the past couple of days, that personal interactions were important to him. Yes, Inuyasha would rush into things without thinking about the repercussions first; but it was his inane tendency to always wish to run back to the humans that infuriated the youkai lord most.

He knew though, his display of anger the previous night had not helped matters. The hanyou's trust of him was already very low. What reason would Inuyasha have to travel with someone he did not trust? Sesshomaru understood now that the hanyou had hopes of eventually being accepted by those human's he loved so much; for whatever reason. They were his first thought; would probably always be his first and only thought. When things did not go as he desired, the only thing he could think of was to run back to them; like he was some pathetic mongrel begging them for their meager scraps of affection. Protecting them as if he was performing tricks for his beloved master.

He knew he could compel him to travel with him. That was youkai custom. He could demand it as repayment for his debt. He had saved his life, after all; but that was not what he wanted. That was not the way to build trust. Besides, the hanyou likely knew nothing of youkai customs. Other than the encounters they had experienced over the years, Inuyasha had likely known no other true youkai in his life; except of course, for those little low-level youkai he had seen him with. It would not be appropriate to simply thrust him into the life in such a manner. His reaction to his healing treatment was a definite indication that would not work. He had learned more about the hanyou in the past few days, than he had ever known. To compel him, would be no better than what the humans had done. That was not the promise he had made to his chichi-ue. They had never been friends; they had never even been brothers. They may very well never be. But he knew they definitely would not be if he did not find an appropriate manner in which to reach out to him.

Inuyasha hated thinking, and he knew that; but he did it when he had to, and now, sitting here with Sesshomaru, what else could he do? Besides, he had no one to chase down, no one to fight; so he sat there, trying not to divert his gaze in his brother's direction. But try as he might, he could not prevent his thoughts from going there. What was this all about? Why was Sesshomaru allowing him to sit so closely beside him? Had the youkai lord lost his mind? Perhaps even his sight and sense of smell as well?

Inuyasha tried to remember what had happened before all this had begun; before Sesshomaru had taken him on that crazy trip to his mother's grave a couple of weeks ago. There had to have been something and he'd simply missed it. But he couldn't remember anything important. The only thing he remembered was when his brother had asked if he believed the miko would be willing to care for Rin for a while. Yeah, that was crazy in itself, Sesshomaru coming to him and asking him something like that. But other than that, there was nothing else; because before that, they'd all been involved in that battle to destroy Naraku. So what did he miss?

Was Sesshomaru simply messing with his head, or as insane as it was, was he intentionally trying to be nice to him, a hanyou? For what purpose? If he knew anything about that arrogant brother of his, it was that if he did do something like that, he would do it only because he wanted something in return. But hell, what did he have of any value?

Now, this thoughts drifted back to the time before he was sealed, it was about 40 or 50 years after Sesshomaru had left him alone and they'd run into each other for only the third time since that day; about 10 years since the last time he'd seen him. Sesshomaru was with Jaken, by then.

He remembered that Sesshomaru's scent was the first scent that he'd ever committed to his memory. When he'd scented him, it had seemed like a ghost from his past. He'd immediately known it was Sesshomaru he was tracking. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why Sesshomaru hadn't scented him and stopped. But he'd trailed that scent for at least 30 minutes until he found him. It was almost like that time after his mother had died and he'd went running up to him. But there was no jumping into his arms this time. He was too big to even try, but there was no way that youkai was going to allow it anyway. He remembered calling to him several times, before Sesshomaru finally acknowledged him and stopped to turn around.

"Inuyasha, still alive, are you?" Sesshomaru had said when he turned to face him. "And you've managed that on your claws alone, I see."

"Lord Sesshomaru, who is that?" the little youkai had wanted to know.

"A hanyou of no consequence."

"Big brother, I..."

"Your brother? Me lord, is that...?" the little imp had quickly interjected

Sesshomaru had glared at him. "Do not call me that. You are no brother of mine," he had snarled with a maliciousness Inuyasha couldn't remember ever hearing before or since; not even from those humans who hated him; or those who still did. "I will kill you if you ever call me that again. You will address me as, Sesshomaru," he had none too tactfully reprimanded him with an inordinate amount of disdain spewing across his typically disinterested lips. That look of his that was all too familiar, today. "Let's go Jaken. I'm going to fly," he'd said as he simply turned away; leaving Inuyasha stunned and shaking where he stood.

"Yes, me lord," Jaken had said, giving him a haughty look as he made his way to his brother's mokomoko and they'd disappeared into the evening sky.

That was the first time Sesshomaru had ever threatened to kill him. From the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, Inuyasha knew he had been serious. Any subsequent encounters hadn't gotten any better, culminating with the times Sesshomaru had actually tried to kill him when he'd been released from his seal, as if doing that-being released-was the ultimate insult. He couldn't help but think that Sesshomaru had seemed to hate him even more as the years went by; which made this moment, what they were doing now, seem so incredibly out of character for the youkai lord; not to mention for him.

Inuyasha couldn't remember how long it was after that incident that he'd realized Sesshomaru had probably scented him from the very beginning, and had made every effort to ignore his scent. He wished he understood him more; understood exactly what it was he had done to cause him to hate him so much.

"What do you plan to do now that Naraku is dead, Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru asked, pulling himself from his own musings; still uncertain about his desire to ask the question now; which puzzled him greatly. He could never recall ever having uncertainty in his life.

"I hadn't thought much about it," Inuyasha replied. In truth, he'd thought a lot about it. He couldn't count the number of times he'd thought about that. Lately, there'd been little else to do except think. Seems like every day since Naraku had been killed and his friends had departed, he'd wondered what he would do now. But he saw no future for himself. His life just seemed to stretch on and on into oblivion with no true future. He had no one left; no friends; nothing. Sure, he could still visit Miroku and Sango when he wanted, but what fun was that. They were planning to start a family. What need did they have to have a hanyou hanging around?

Inuyasha couldn't help but think how short-sighted he had been not to even consider what the end would really mean while they were on the chase. But he knew that was likely because he'd never really thought about anything. When he did, somehow, he'd thought they'd always be together; that they'd kill Naraku and things would continue as always. But they hadn't; and now all he knew was that those days were the best times of his life. Serves him right, for leaving all the thinking to Miroku. If he'd done some thinking on his own, maybe he could have come up with some way for them all to still be together; but no, if they hadn't killed Naraku when they did; Miroku, himself, would likely be dead by now. His kazana was already starting to rupture during that battle and he would have definitely been sucked into it. In fact, he would have been, if he hadn't caught up to him and stopped him from opening it that time. "Why? What about you?"

"In a month, I must go back on patrol across the western lands," Sesshomaru replied wondering if the hanyou indeed spent so little time planning out his life. If so, perhaps any implied structure he had to offer would truly not be appreciated. "I was planning to wait until Rin was trained, but I do not believe I should," he said, still not knowing if Inuyasha would train her or get the youkai slayer to do it. He said he would, but the hanyou was so temperamental that he was likely to change his mind for any number of reasons. He would probably do it eventually, but he could not allow his patrol of the western lands to go untended for much longer. "Except perhaps in general, I have not actually patrolled in some time while Naraku was around."

"So where are you going?"

"I shall start along the coast, then move inland," Sesshomaru decided not to ask; not yet. He would not be leaving for several weeks. He would give the hanyou more time to get accustomed to the idea of being around him. He believed he understood him well enough to know that he would not wish to cling to the older brother who had tried to kill him unless some level of camaraderie was built.

With the sun nearly setting, Sesshomaru finally scurried from his seat as he rose to begin to make his way back in the direction of his camp. Inuyasha rose behind him then stopped as he actually looked at his brother for the first time since he'd removed all of his accoutrements.

Without the mound of fur that normally draped across his shoulder or the armor he'd never seen him without, Sesshomaru somehow seemed smaller and it surprised him. He was still much taller and his shoulders were far broader than his own, but without the armor the narrow tapered plane of his waist was clearly visible; accented by the obi that circled it; his thin haori clung to the defined muscles of his chest. "Huh," he said, suddenly stunned by a thought. Sesshomaru looked almost approachable.

"What is it?" Sesshomaru inquired as his gaze dropped down to look at himself then went back up to the steady scrutinizing gaze of his younger brother.

"You look ... different," Inuyasha said as he shrugged without providing clear meaning. His ears twitched uncomfortably as he turned away. "And I guess I just never thought you'd actually ever take that stuff off."

"And now that I have?"

"Now," Inuyasha looked up for a brief moment, before turning away to conceal a crooked grin. "I guess I can't just think of you as a stuck up youkai anymore."

"Wretched hanyou," Sesshomaru snarled as he nipped his ear slightly with the tip of his claws.

"Oww," Inuyasha yelped reaching up to protect his ear; exaggerating the degree of pain he felt as he accidentally on purpose bumped into the youkai lord. "Maybe I was wrong about that," he snarled, humor flickering in his eyes as they began to move in the direction of the camp. "You forgot your haramaki," he offered upon realization; all the while realizing he had not broached the subject that had angered Sesshomaru so much the previous night.

Throughout the day, Sesshomaru had actually seemed to be directing him away from the topic. But at least the youkai lord no longer seemed to be angry at him. Inuyasha was beginning to think that maybe it was a subject best left alone. He couldn't help but wonder though, if doing that would cause that event to come back and bite him one day. Sesshomaru had never shown so much emotion toward him before and he couldn't help but think how little he knew of him and what actually made him tick. But it seemed like that much emotion wouldn't be shown unless he either truly cared or truly hated him. It didn't take much for Inuyasha to figure out which one it really was, Sesshomaru had never made a secret of his feelings toward him. Perhaps he just got a kick out of freaking with the stupid hanyou's head. He did seem to get a kick out of keeping that stupid imp around. Maybe he was in search of bigger game.

"It is unimportant for the moment," Sesshomaru responded as they continued toward the camp.

Inuyasha looked up at him thoughtfully. "So Sesshomaru...," he began uncertainly, not confident that Sesshomaru would truly be willing to tell this hanyou anything about himself, despite the fact that he'd already proclaimed he knew so much about him. "You said that game you proposed was a training exercise. What else did you do?" He asked finally, trying to get a sense of what Sesshomaru's life had been like. He knew, undoubtedly, it had been a lot different from his own.

"Kenjutsu," the youkai lord said, not bothering to divulge the fact that that was the primary mode of training he had considered engaging in with his brother. He was not naïve. In fact, he was fairly certain Inuyasha would not willingly accept his thoughts of wanting to enhance his fighting style just yet and thus he refused to divulge his ultimate plan at this time. He had no doubts Inuyasha would simply look at it as an attempt to degrade him in some way.

"And?"

"Bujutsu," the youkai lord added, knowing that fighting was what he had done all his life. It was what he knew. It had actually become his purpose. He knew the hanyou himself loved to fight and he believed it was probably the only way they could begin to truly bond.

"Anything else?" Inuyasha questioned further, despite already having a good sense of where this conversation was headed.

"Bugei."

"But those are all Koryū techniques, aren't they?" Inuyasha asked surprised; was fighting his brother's only interest? "When you were young, did you ever do anything fun?"

"Those exercises were fun," Sesshomaru stated evenly, as he proceeded toward his camp.

"Fun how? It's just fighting."

"They helped improve my abilities as a warrior," Sesshomaru said diverting a narrow golden gaze down toward the hanyou.

"And that's fun to you?" Inuyasha asked coming to a stop and looking up into Sesshomaru's eyes as the youkai lord stopped beside him.

"Since that was my ultimate objective, I could have wanted for nothing more," Sesshomaru replied without emphasis, as if he truly had no interests other than fighting.

But Inuyasha wondered if that was just his brother's calm demeanor; he truly was a hard person to figure out.

"Do you not have your own interest in battle?" Sesshomaru asked as he began to move again, curious to get a sense of whether he had judged accurately.

"Maybe not enough," Inuyasha responded almost listlessly. Most of his early life was so different. Before he'd gotten the Tetsusaiga; he'd fought only when it was absolutely necessary until he'd met Kikyo and they'd gone on those demon hunting expeditions together. It was no wonder Sesshomaru had always shown such confidence whenever he had approached him. It wasn't just his abilities as a youkai; he'd trained all his life to be a warrior. That was probably just one of the many reasons he had been so angry at him when he had been unable to obtain the Tetsusaiga from their oyaji's grave. He must have really hated it when he was burned by the kekkei. Suddenly, a thought he wished hadn't come to mind, flooded him like a deluge. How long had Sesshomaru been looking for the Tetsusaiga?

About 200 yards from the camp, Sesshomaru stopped. The hum and scent was unmistakable, even for the young hanyou's scenting and hearing abilities. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha both scanned the skies above. "Ah crap, saimyoushou," Inuyasha barked, as a hand full of bees headed straight toward them. Not even enough to warrant the hanyou using his sword on them. "If they're looking for Naraku, do you think we should tell them he's dead?"

Raising his hand, Inuyasha cracked his knuckles in preparation as he waited for them to get closer. "I'll get them," he called to Sesshomaru as he leapt upward; preparing to attack. "Sankon tetsusou," he shouted, releasing his claw attack, but he was immediately stunned when his gaze took in an unfamiliar sight, causing him to miss his step as he landed and fell flat on his bottom. The demon bees had been sliced to shreds; dead from what should have been his faithful claw attack; but his attack, somehow, seemed... different.

Smack-dab in the center of it, one of his energy lances spiraled into a long thin whip, catching him completely off guard as he seemed to have lost control of it. Looking down at his claws in stunned confusion, he then saw it as well; protruding below the hem of his haori's sleeve-a faint, pale pink trace of something that looked like a striped marking-Sesshomaru's striped marking. "What the heck was that?" Inuyasha asked of no one in particular as he looked up once more and stared at the spot his energy lance had just appeared, then pushed up his sleeve to glare at his arm again. The stripe was growing fainter as he stared at it, but there was no mistaking it, it was there.

"What was what?" Sesshomaru turned to look down at the hanyou, who remained sprawled on his bottom.

"You jerk; what the heck did you do to me?" Inuyasha's face growled with fury; his eyes vibrating with anger and hatred. That youkai puts his tongue on his arm, and the first thing he sees, is that his energy attack is not his energy attack at all, it's some weak version of Sesshomaru's.

The youkai lord furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Look at that," Inuyasha ordered, leaping to his feet and pushing back his sleeve; stretching his arm out for the youkai lord's view. But by this time, there was nothing to see, nothing that is, except a healing, tanned bare arm. That, though, did not stop the hanyou. "You've always hated the way I was haven't you? Even that damned game you proposed was for no other reason than for you to find out what's wrong with the stupid hanyou, wasn't it?"

Sesshomaru watched him in puzzlement; his eyes narrowed and guarded.

"Now, you try to make me into another you-a shittier version of you. Well, whether you like it or not Sesshomaru, I'm not you, and I never will be!" Angered beyond rational thought, Inuyasha reached out, flinging sharp, deadly clawed fingers deep into Sesshomaru's face, viciously peeling away the skin, leaving deep, horrid gash marks that revealed bone and muscle. "I'll kill you for that," Inuyasha yowled with a growl so darkly dangerous, an ordinary human would have utterly died from fright.

Stunned as a slight confusion skated across his otherwise finely tuned features, by what seemed a sudden, unprovoked attack; a sure sign of the hanyou's unpredictability; his tendency to simply react without warning; Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed in disbelief as he seethed internally. He felt the wind permeate is very throat as anger burned deep inside him, his youki blaring from his voice. "You filthy hanyou," he bellowed, simultaneously smashing his fist into Inuyasha's face, swinging with such vicious force, it sent the hanyou flying backward crashing hard to the ground and skidding along as gravel fluttered up in every direction. Sesshomaru's flying claws had just barely nicked the delicate skin of Inuyasha's cheek, in turn tearing its own gashes down the smooth flesh; blood filling the crevices as it flowed off his chin. "I should have let you die!"

"Yeah, you should have let me die," Inuyasha countered hatefully; quite used to the taste of blood in his own mouth as he spat it out angrily. "I'd rather be dead than turned into a crappy copy of you. But you piece of shit, if you think you can kill me now, come on and try," Inuyasha crawled back to his feet, pulling himself off the ground, drawing his Tetsusaiga to the ready. "Let's see who kills who," he spat maliciously.

Sesshomaru pulled his Bakusaiga from its sheath, the tang of metal whizzing through the air; but he stopped almost immediately upon fingering the leather bound tsuka. He could kill him in an instant, wipe him off the face of the earth if he so desired; his Bakusaiga would not fail as his Tokijin had failed. He would be gone and he'd have no further issues with this imprudent hanyou. But if he did that, would that not in fact make his efforts to save him pointless. Had he not stopped himself from killing him the previous night for that very reason? Almost as quickly as his anger had erupted, a sense of calm composure suddenly enveloped the youkai lord. Nothing this Sesshomaru did would ever be deemed pointless, by anyone. Without a word, Sesshomaru inhaled, then turned and slowly began to walk away; his long silver-white locks flowing and bouncing with his movements.

"What the heck are you doing Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha demanded from behind him. "Are you running away from me? Are you afraid to fight?"

"Go Inuyasha," Sesshomaru ordered, his expression unchanging as he sheathed his sword, calling across his shoulder as his almost soundless footsteps made their way across the grass, further away from where Inuyasha stood. "Escape with you life. Do not let me look upon your face again."

"What?" Inuyasha balked in disbelief, "Come back and fight me, you piece of shit."

Sesshomaru did not stop, nor did he offer any further comments. He was done. It was clear now, that any attempt at unity was impossible between them. He simply left his brother standing there, howling, with sword drawn and no one to fight.

Stunned speechless, Inuyasha stared through disheveled strands of white hair at the retreating back of his elder half-brother, Tetsusaiga dropping heavily to the grass. He nearly yelled out once more, just to make certain Sesshomaru had heard him; his eyes focused as he watched him intently to ensure he didn't suddenly fly back and swiftly plant the blade of his Bakusaiga in his gut. But Inuyasha knew if he continued to goad him, Sesshomaru would definitely answer his call; but if he did, then what? One of them would die for sure. Inuyasha couldn't be all that sure it wouldn't be him, because he had no idea if he had the guts or even the ability to kill Sesshomaru.

I'd rather be dead than turned into a crappy copy of you.

That stupid, idiotic fool. He knew not how close he had come to his death. Was that his intent, to die? If not, what was that about, Sesshomaru wondered before attempting to refocus. He did not understand, but then he had rarely understood that hanyou. Was that what life with the hanyou to be about? A mass of confusion and mistrust? How had the hanyou assumed that he was attempting to change him? How had he assumed that he could? Sesshomaru exhaled heavily, placing his hand against the side of his face, then pulling it away as he stared at his palm. Truly, he should be dead for once more spilling the blood of this daiyoukai. But he had not killed him and he failed to understand why.

Sesshomaru breathed deeply now. This attempt at a relationship was. . .vexing to say the least. He literally accepts all forms of abuse from his human friends, yet issues uncalled for strikes against his only kin. Never had this Sesshomaru expended so much energy and accomplished so little. Was the hanyou even worth his efforts? He was nothing more than a hanyou, after all. He meant nothing to him. He was his chichi-ue's mistake, not his. Why should he want him in his life? Even if he had an answer to that, would anything ever change? He now knew what his chichi-ue wanted from him, but had he learned that too late? Did he even have the commitment to fulfill his chichi-ue's desire?

But more importantly, was his chichi-ue's desire even his desire? Why had he even bothered to make such a promise? Was it simply because of Toutousai's message as to why his chichi-ue had bequeathed his swords as he had? Why had he even cared about that? What merit was there in having his heart progress to a level of caring; and especially enough to care about him? Had he not always said that emotions led to nothing but trouble; that they put you at a severe disadvantage; that they made you weak?

Should he even care what his chichi-ue wanted him to do? He had killed himself after all. Well perhaps not killed himself, but he had allowed himself to die, had he not? No, he did not know that for certain, either. He may not be able to get pass the 'why' his chichi-ue had died, just yet; but he would not allow himself to believe he had wanted to die, without knowing for certain. Besides, whatever happened then, was done. He truly did not enjoy revisiting events of the past. He could not change it no matter how much the thoughts disturbed him; he needed to focus on the issues now.

But the issues now, were...

Was his own ability to tolerate the hanyou still so very low? Did he even want this to work himself, he wondered. Had the hanyou sensed that he did not? Should he simply leave things as they have always been? Perhaps too much time had passed for either of them; perhaps too much hatred had developed. The hanyou trusted him so little, if at all. He would not even accept his offers of assistance in his healing process. Is that why he had attacked? Was he displeased about how the healing of his arm was progressing? Sesshomaru did not know. Inuyasha had not said. He only knew that any unexplained development could easily result in an attack; an attack that could eventually cost the hanyou his life. If he had not maintained control, it probably would have already.

This was far more difficult than he had ever imagined it would be. It was difficult to watch the hanyou's ignorance of what it meant to be the son of a daiyoukai. It was difficult to watch the hanyou parade around in that human village, allowing them to treat him like he was nothing. It was difficult watching the hanyou protect those who cared nothing for him. But the hardest part was watching the hanyou wield a sword for their protection with absolutely no idea how little his protection was appreciated.

But perhaps he should not toss the hanyou aside again so swiftly. He had done that once before already. He had made himself into a more powerful youkai when he had to compensate for the lost of his left arm; but if the changes in his heart had warranted that return, then perhaps there was more merit in caring than he had previously thought. Yes, he had survived without his arm, but he could not honestly say he preferred being without it.

Straightening and baring his damaged face to the cooling afternoon air, the youkai lord closed his eyes briefly, breathed warily, then turned and headed back to his camp.

"Lord Sesshomaru, where have you..." Jaken's customary greeting was cut short by a deep raspy gasp. "Me Lord, you're wounded," he exclaimed upon spotting the intensely deep claw marks marring Sesshomaru's face. Despite popular opinion, he indeed did have a brain inside his head, and had instinctively understood its origin. "It was that filthy hanyou, Inuyasha wasn't it. I knew you shouldn't trust him. He's just a low level hanyou. Did you kill him me lord?" Jaken asked almost delightedly content in the knowledge of knowing that for his lord's sake, Inuyasha was finally dead.

"Silence Jaken."

"What?" Jaken asked, his eyes widening in confusion. "I don't understand me lord, does that mean you didn'tkill him?" he asked with a disheartening groan; his little feet moving quickly to keep pace with his lord's long, graceful strides. "Why on earth not?" Jaken demanded, straining to look up into the youkai lord's face, while simultaneously trying to avoid being stepped on. "You have given him far too many chances."

Sesshomaru closed his eyes briefly once more. "Silence," he repeated with a slightly louder rasp to his voice, not bothering to look down as he flared his youki to seal the wounds. The scars would remain for a while longer, but at least the wounds were sealed. He should have done that before he had returned. Why had he not? Had the hanyou's actions disrupted his thought patterns so completely? Or did he simply wish to hear Jaken's annoying comments? But even if he had sealed them, Jaken would have certainly noticed the scars regardless; so his comments would not have gone unspoken either way.

"He does this after you save his miserable life and you don't kill him?" Jaken persisted. "You need to punish him for his insolence," he added finally.

"I said silence," Sesshomaru snapped with a vicious burliness, as he shot a sharp, threatening glare down in Jaken's direction. That little youkai could be so tiring; and he'd had enough of this conversation. He could not understand how after all these years, Jaken could still have occasion to cause him to raise his voice or repeat himself.

The frightened little youkai braced himself for the inevitable head thrashing, which did not come, leaving him more confused than ever. "Yes me lord," he said then grumbled softly to himself. 'Me lord shows more respect to that stupid hanyou than he does his faithful servant. Could he possibly be afraid of him? A lowly hanyou?' he mumbled, then immediately silenced his disgruntled thoughts when his lord's fist connected with the top of his head-hard.

Unbelievable, no far worst than that, how could he have been such a fool; and a fool he was, to think for even a second, that Sesshomaru and him could ever get along as brothers. First chance that crazy youkai lord gets, he does his best to try to remake him in his image.

Inuyasha jumped, leaped and soared through the air as quickly as he could as he wended his way back to his village. He tried his primary claw attack, the same one he'd used against the saimyoushou-sankon tetsusou, then he dug his claws into his arms and flung the blood to initiate his secondary, more powerful claw attack.

You filthy hanyou. I should have let you die.

"Hijin-ketsusou," Inuyasha called as he slung his claws forward. He needed to duplicate what he'd seen earlier. He had to be sure. He tried it again and again. He pulled up his sleeve and stared at his arm. Then he tried his claws once more; almost frantically. But the results were the same as they had always been, nothing unusual, no Sesshomaru whip-like energy; no Sesshomaru youkai markings; no Sesshomaru anything; nothing at all. Did he imagine what he saw? Did he attack Sesshomaru for no reason? No, he saw it. He knew he saw it. But where the heck was it now? What happened?

Arriving finally, Inuyasha stalked his way to Kaede-babaa's hut to demand answers to questions he already knew she probably didn't have the answers to. The sun had set and the sky had darkened, but as if waiting for him, the old miko was sitting on the porch outside her hut. She had lit a small fire in the porch pit and was separating some peas into a bowl. He was pleased to see that Sesshomaru's little brat wasn't around. The last thing he needed was something else to remind him of that crazy youkai jerk. "Kaede-babaa, how do I look to you?" Inuyasha demanded the moment he got close enough. Not a thought about asking if she was well.

Looking up, the miko shrank back with a soft gasp. "Ye has some horrible gashes on ye face," Kaede said reaching out to touch them, but Inuyasha jerked away. "Have ye been fighting? Is that what ye mean, Inuyasha?"

"Do I look different? Do I look like I've changed?"

Kaede moved her one good eye, repeatedly scanning his face in search of some hidden mystery. "Is this a game, Inuyasha? I do not know what ye mean, but ye look the same to me," she said in her steady, analytical tone,

"Well what do you know about that time Sesshomaru saved me?"

"That was nearly two weeks ago, why are ye asking about that now?" She studied him curiously, almost piteously; as if believing fever had somehow seized his head and he wasn't quite sure what he was talking about.

"Just tell me what you know?" he demanded discourteously.

"I don't know much of anything, I wasn't in the room," Kaede said succinctly, ignoring his curtness as she grabbed up a hand full of new peas from one bowl, snipping off the edges, then snapping it in half and tossing it into another.

"Did you know he didn't use his Tenseiga?"

"I assumed as much," Kaede replied without stopping her actions.

"And why is that?"

"Why he didn't use it, ye mean?" she asked looking at him once more. "I do not rightly know, but it looked like it wouldn't work," the miko said, thinking back to the events of almost two weeks prior.

"Wouldn't work?" Inuyasha repeated, that was the first he'd heard of that.

"If I remember correctly, I seem to recall him reaching for it, but he stopped. If it didn't work, he seemed as surprised about that as anyone. And, yes," she looked up moving her single good eye back and forth as if searching for some elusive memory, "I believe I heard him tell Jaken and Rin that, but I was partially asleep, so I can't be sure."

"Tenseiga didn't work?" Inuyasha repeated once more, stunned. Why hadn't the old hag told him that before? But would it have mattered, would it have changed anything? Probably not.

"From what I could see, no," Kaede said as she continued sorting her peas. "But what I do know, is that Sesshomaru spent three full nights and a day sweating that poison out of ye body."

"Three nights and a day?" Why hadn't she mentioned that either. Actually, he knew why she probably hadn't. After he'd heard that Sesshomaru had saved him and he'd realized he'd used his damned fangs all over his body, he'd been too embarrassed and far too humiliated to discuss it further; so he had in essence, shut down all conversation related to that incident. "I've never been completely out of it for that long."

"As far as I know, ye've never been attacked in ye human form before either," Kaede said rather matter-of-factly. "Whatever Sesshomaru did, I think he was the only one who could have done it," she stopped and looked up at him. "He had the heat in this place up to high heaven in the middle of the summer," she said it as if she was still annoyed about that. "Only youkai could have put up with that."

The old miko filled him in on what little details she knew of the few days of his life that he had been under Sesshomaru's care as the youkai lord did whatever he could to prevent the hanyou's inevitable descent into death; from cleaning him and his bedding; to ensuring he had sufficient clean water; to actually remaining by his side while he cared for him. She'd had no idea why Sesshomaru had done it, and regrettably neither did Inuyasha.

Inuyasha's face grew withdrawn and pensive as he re-considered the events of the past couple of weeks, especially what Sesshomaru had to do to save his life. Tenseiga wouldn't work and Sesshomaru had done whatever he had to do to save him; including using his freaking fangs, he thought silently.

"What is wrong Inuyasha? Ye seem displeased about something."

I thought of you as my little brother who was injured and I believed I could help.

Displeased? If anyone had any rights to be displeased, it was Sesshomaru. He'd saved the life of a lowly hanyou only to be repaid by having his face clawed open; now that was gratitude for you. Inuyasha turned his golden eyes to the blood sticking to his fingers and claws; blackened beneath the dim light. He'd completely torn open Sesshomaru's face with his claws. Had he deserved it? With his temper subsiding, Inuyasha honestly couldn't say just who deserved what because he didn't really know what had happened back there. What had he mistaken? Why the hell had he gotten so angry anyway? Was it because all he did while he was with that youkai lord was think about every bad thing Sesshomaru had ever done to him, like some broken hearted little girl? Would he ever be able to forgive Sesshomaru for the past?

"Yeah, I guess."

Incapable of erasing his brother's disfigured face from his mind, Inuyasha left Kaede's hut, feeling drained, sore and literally quite tired. In essence, he felt like crap; like the events of the day had literally sucked every bit of life out of him. He needed to clean himself up; to get Sesshomaru's blood off his freaking fingers before the scent drove him completely insane.

Stopping at the lake for a few minutes, he scrubbed his hands, and then made his way slowly back to his tree. His thoughts, suddenly, uncontrollably flashed back to the time he'd clawed those bandits to death. But he'd been out of his mind then; what excuse did he have this time?

You filthy hanyou.

Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut.

I thought of you as my little brother who was injured and I believed I could help.

He had the heat up to high heaven. Only youkai could have put up with that.

As much as he might hate it, Inuyasha knew he had to admit it; he'd probably messed up big time. Was this some kind of delayed effect from Naraku's miasma or something? Was he just going insane or something? He'd been out of it for four days, which meant it was definitely like everyone had said, he was dying and there was nothing anyone could do to save him. Nothing anyone could do, except for Sesshomaru that is.

Not knowing what to do with himself, Inuyasha took a deep breath as he climbed to and pulled his legs securely onto his tree branch. He couldn't help but think what a pathetic creature he truly was.


A/N: So, Inuyasha allowed all his memories of the bad times he's had in dealing with Sesshomaru to influence his actions? Oh well, I think they've tried, but is it possible there's just too much bad history between them. I hope that they can at least try to talk to air out their differences at some point. Thinking about the difficult times will never help anyone. Hopefully a heart to heart is coming soon.

Yes, I know; as much as I love Sesshomaru, he was pretty mean to his younger brother, and I'm sure that little glimpse through Inu's thoughts didn't even cover half of it-I guess you could say Sessh was a real 'dog'. (lol) But Sesshomaru was probably pretty mean to everyone. His meanest was unimportant to him. If you could not help him; you were just that; unimportant. Could his heart really be opening up? Is that why he didn't kill the hanyou? Or was it for his own pride?

At any rate – the next chapter brings in the first of several new original characters that will change their lives. Let's see where that goes.

bujutsu - (art, or craft of war)
bugei - (martial art)
chichi-ue - (father)

haori - (shirt/top)
haramaki - (armor)
hijin-ketsusou - (Blades of Blood)
kazana - (wind tunnel)
kekkei - (magic spell- a technique limited to inheritance by blood or "Bloodline Limit")

Kenjutsu - (the art of the sword)
Koryū - (ancient Japanese martial arts)
mokomoko - (Sessy's fluff)
obi - (sash)
oyaji - (old man)
saimyoushou - (demon bees from hell)
Sankon tetsusou - (soul scattering iron claw/iron reaver soul stealer)
tsuka - (hilt)