: Chapter Eleven : (Part 1)
The sky was now an ink ocean filled with glittering, diamond fish dotted about. All around had gone silent. It was a fitting end to a day with as much excitement as there was.
Sesshomaru stared at his 'gift' arm while he walked along the dirt road path. His brow furrowed, he began to wonder.
'What should happen exactly to this Sesshomaru should he decide to stray? Would Naraku truly inflict pain upon me so as to prompt my return? I doubt that the slimy invertebrate would have the stomach. Not after he declared his 'love' for me so passionately. Let me test this theory. Should I be wrong, then I shall face the consequences.' he concluded as he continued to walk along the path--which led away from his lover's castle.
He smirked to himself. This was going to be fu-- He stopped. Inhaling deeply, a sudden scowl and deep crease in his forehead carved a different look of anger into his ivory features. He smelled the airs once again. He did not like the stench floating about him. It not only made him a tad uneasy, but flare with rage. That was why he became a tad uneasy.
There was a scent present in the night air around him. It was all too familiar. After all, he had lived with it following him for nearly half of his lifetime. That is correct.
Sesshomaru decided to stray towards the source of the reeking atmosphere. His legs took him to an abandoned and unmarked bamboo thicket. Running through it was a frail looking natural stream.
Kneeling to the edge of the stream was a rather attractive but unusual being.
Ears perked. Golden eyes flashed upward. Silver hair swished behind the suddenly arched posture. A sword was ever so quietly lifted an inch out of its sheath. Teeth bared. Claws tightened.
Sesshomaru smirked as he stepped onto the sandy soil before his late pursuer. His own gaze flashed with hatred as his hands shone a sickly green. He breathed in deeply, the light fading out as a result of his calmness. However, his leer did not vanish so easily.
"What a quaint little shock," the straying prince remarked snidely to the obviously angered other.
There was a growl for a response. More muscles in the strong back tightened as the body attempted to restrain its wanted attack.
"I see. As uncivil and animalistic as ever. How pleasant to see you as well, Inuyasha." he cooed to his younger sibling.
"Shut up you pompous bastard!" the hanyou snarled, removing his sword. He sprang forth to strike a killing blow (for any normal demon), but merely murdered a rice-field sized patch of bamboo instead of his half brother.
Sesshomaru chuckled, hiding his mouth behind his kimono sleeve. "Look at you. Have you learned nothing? Your blade cannot touch me. I also come to see how much you absolutely appreciate your environment." he simpered sarcastically upon noticing the large amount of plants destroyed.
Inuyasha was not quelled by his sibling's snark insults. His glare became even more intense than before as he swung the substantial blade, the infamous Tetsusaiga, above his head.
"KAZE NO KIZU!!" he screamed, dropping the blade into the earth with such force that a tidal wave of pure whitewash energy exploded from the place of impact, heading straight for his half older brother.
All Sesshomaru did was stare at it with as much false tranquillity as he had his younger brother. He concentrated his energy solely on keeping the 'weak' attack from tearing up his clothing, which formed a deep blue, translucent bubble around his entire body. He opened his eyes as the wave of strength impacted upon his shield, which disappeared on cue after even the smallest of remaining currents vanished.
Inuyasha crumpled to his knees. It seemed that he truly had put all of his strength into that one shot, thinking he could defeat Sesshomaru for all time after he had been away for so long. He assumed that he could catch him off guard…
"Still believing that you can overthrow me with merely one strike? I have told you once, no, a thousand times, younger brother, that you shall never master the true power of Tetsusaiga and therefore you shall never come into conquest over me." Sesshomaru criticized.
The breathless hanyou glared upward with a single eye. He panted for air; his lungs complaining that he wasn't inhaling fast enough. He managed to make it to his feet, using a convenient boulder as support. He made sure that his sword clicked safely back into its hilt before returning his glowering to his relation.
"It seems that fifty years pinned to a tree by your lover did you no good; you still act as a child. Your movements rash, your behaviour: lurid. What did you hope to gain by killing me, anyhow?" the older male mused.
"It doesn't matter--You're still living, so why want to know why I'd want you dead? Besides, haven't I made that clear yet?" Inuyasha spat the word 'living' as though it were a wriggling earthworm in his mouth.
"Hnn hnn. Apart from your soul-deep hatred of me and desire to protect those you deem precious to you, I see no other reason for my extermination." Sesshomaru reasoned from his distance.
"Yeah, because you are a stuck up ass with nothing but your own selfish wants in your view," Inuyasha mumbled acidly. "Why are you just standing there? Aren't you going to get me while I'm weak?"
Sesshomaru knew that his sudden interest in Inuyasha's appearance vexed his brother, but what were his personal matters to him? He wasn't bound to reason, so why should he have right to hear one?
"I will do as I choose, and what I choose for a short while is to travel amongst your--what shall I call it--party?" He was not asking permission to walk among his young relative. He would follow whether approved or not.
"Wha-- What are you…? It this some kind of sick joke?! Do you plan to follow me so that you can destroy us in one sweep?" Inuyasha roared.
Sesshomaru tut-tutted, looking commercial. "I shall offer you a deal of sorts. Will you accept?"
The younger inu looked wary. "Why in my right mind would I accept anything you had to give me? You try to kill me twenty-four seven!" he reminded.
Sesshomaru was a bit confused. "Twenty-four…seven? What is that, some kind of subliminal enchantment?"
Inuyasha rolled his amber eyes. "No. Kagome told me that it means 'twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.' Anyway, no, I refuse the offer."
A wry grin crept over the pale lips. "What if I aided your situation? While travelling amongst you, I would do my part in--," he used the word lightly, "protecting--your comrades? So that you could first replenish your own vigour before attempting something rash."
"Hah! You don't give a rat's ass about any of us, me given no slack. You'd never keep that kind of promise! We'd boot you after day one!" the half dog scoffed, looking as though he was fighting laughter.
The fairer was beginning to lose patience. "The name your price. Since I cannot seem to hit the nail into place, perhaps you could aid me to make the offer more appealing."
"I told you, you ain't staying with us no how. You'd slow us down and try to kill someone, I know it. No use trying to worm your way in. No's the answer." Inuyasha turned his back on his brother with a swirl of his silver hair, which made him a bit unsteady. He had forgotten about his lack of 'juice,' so he gripped strongly onto a particularly thick stalk of bamboo to keep balanced.
Sesshomaru growled throatily. He knew what he had to do, even if it meant-- His dirty look at Inuyasha become more defined and he took a step forward. This would be the winning bait, he knew it.
"What if I supplied you with Naraku's whereabouts?" he asked rather smugly.
A canine ear twitched with interest, the rest of the body turning around slowly. An eyebrow raised. "And you would know this…how?" he questioned, wanting to know whether to trust him or not, which he sill wouldn't no matter what he said.
"This Sesshomaru, though I know you will think me a liar to it, has become a guest at the castle in which your nemesis resides. I have remained there for a while now, in fact. If you inhale deeply, you should be able to recall his 'stench' from my kimono…"
Inuyasha made a clucking noise, but he still approached. He reached for the dangling sleeve of Sesshomaru's upper robe, bringing the silky fabric gently to his nostrils. He breathed in like a reversed heavy sigh, then his nose wrinkled in distaste. He dropped the linen.
"It's true then. No other demon could hope to clone Naraku's rank odour. I will never give you my trust, but…I suppose you might can tag along. Only for a week! No more!" he barked, turning round in a flash and disappearing through the thicket.
In about two hours time, Inuyasha returned to Sesshomaru's waiting form, bringing with him only Kagome and Shippo. He heaved the Highschool girl's enlarged pack to the ground next to the boulder he had used as support earlier. It had taken only a moment for her and the young kitsune to catch on.
The brown eyes widened in terror. "Inuyasha! What's Sesshomaru doing here?" she gasped, clutching onto his shoulder.
He placed his hand delicately on top of it. "No need to worry, Kagome. The big pussy's no threat to us now. He wants to stay with us for a week while we travel around. He says he knows where Naraku is, so I let him on." he explained to the clearly unsettled teenager.
"He knows where Naraku is? But he could be spying on us for him!"
"No, he told me that he's been sleeping over at the bastard's castle for a while now. Besides, this is where he says, 'This Sesshomaru will not be used for such a foolish purpose,' or some droll like that."
Kagome suppressed a giggle at Inuyasha's impression of his serious brother. She began to unpack her things, while Shippo remained quiet all the while. She unrolled her sleeping bag and removed the Bunsen burner from within the poor stretched satchel's depths, along with a pot and other cooking necessities. She served ramen noodles to Inuyasha, Shippo, herself, and even made some for Sesshomaru, who had never seen anything quite like it before.
"What is this gruel you feed me?" he hissed after tasting it.
"It's ramen noodles. It comes from my time. Our people use it to feed the astronauts when they go into space," she explained to him; he looked bemused.
"Astra…knots?" he sounded out, tasting each syllable. He had never heard of such a thing.
"Yes. They fly into the sky in transportation devices named, 'Rockets.'" Kagome spoke to Sesshomaru like he was a curious four year old. "Normally, rockets are long, white, and made of metal. Fire is expelled from these things called thrusters at the bottom , which propels the rocket into space." She demonstrated by drawing a picture of one with her finger in the dirt.
Sesshomaru still did not understand. He peered at the drawing, only to quickly jerk back, looking shifty. He thought that the rocket resembled something he knew all too well by now… He cleared his throat into his loose kimono sleeve, holding it up there after he had finished to hide his flush.
'Humans use such interesting forms of transportation. But beside the point, I do believe that whomever created this 'rockette' must have been in heat, for it takes the shape of a male reproductive organ,' the Lord of the Western Lands reflected with a bit of internal embarrassment. He coughed haughtily once again to clear his head of his perverse fog.
"Sesshomaru--er--sama, are you alright? Do you need a coughing tonic?" Shippo finally piped, although he hid behind Kagome's thigh.
Sesshomaru scoffed and averted his eyes from his brother for fear of his--references--to the rocketship returning.
Kagome smiled and tossed a small dime-sized tablet at the full youkai, who caught it without so much as a glance at her.
He stared at the pink tablet. His prim eyebrow raised in scepticism. "What is this that you give me?" He sniffed the circular medicine.
"It's to help with allergies. I know that inu youkai's senses are extremely sensitive, and so that medicine will help them to stay clear," the student piped.
"Do you think me sickly? This Sesshomaru has no problems with his senses. You foolish girl." He tossed the tablet into the fire, making it turn a bright purple.
All stared at the quick chemical change in astonishment. Eyes were dazed, but Kagome broke the silence that had engulfed them by saying:
"Inuyasha, don't you dare tell Sota that chewable Benadryl's will do that, otherwise we'll all be sick for the rest of our lives."
Inuyasha gave a slurred response, clearly still bemused.
Sesshomaru glared. He despised when his brother spaced out on him like that. Clearly, to have pissed him off so much, Inuyasha must have done it since he was a child. The elder of the two picked up a small stone and threw it directly at his younger brother's head. It made a barely noticeable hollow sound.
"Focus, you oaf," Sesshomaru hissed.
Out of his dreamlike state, Inuyasha angrily jumped to his battle stance quicker than you could say 'meep' (which is pretty darn quick seeing as it's a one syllable word). He did not remain on his feet for long.
"Osuwari." Kagome muttered, sending the hanyou to kiss the mineral-rich soil. She continued with the usual ranting-after-sitting by saying, "Honestly! I have never seen any two relatives act more rude to one another. You both, no matter how old you may be, are acting like toddlers! Even poor Shippo is more mature than you."
Shippo, delighted to be more mature than Inuyasha, popped onto Kagome's folded legs and pulled down his eyelid while sticking his tongue out. He proceeded to do many other childish gestures while the hanyou was retained, only laughing at his threats to 'beat him to a pulp once he got up.'
'Or so I declared…' Kagome sighed, watching the displays of immature hatred between the two canine demons. She couldn't help but smile.
Sesshomaru couldn't take the sparkle atmosphere that was surrounding the familial bliss of himself and Inuyasha's counterparts (the Devil Sesshomaru was swatting agitatedly at it with his mini-Tokijin). He cleared his throat and asked without care, "I do believe that some of your party members are not present. Who is it--ah--the monk and the taijya?"
Inuyasha, having regained his sitting position around the bonfire, replied with as much concern as his brother, "Oh yeah. I forgot to mention. Sango is in Kaede's village having Miroku's baby. Who woulda thought it?"
Kagome looked edgy. "I really hope that Sango is alright. I don't know what I would do if…"
Inuyasha pulled her close to him. He wrapped his red sleeved arms around her tightly, then whispered into her hair, "Don't you think like that. Sango needs all the support she can get, whether we're near or far away from her."
Kagome snuggled into his arms, closing her eyes. She made a small noise of affirmation before falling very deeply asleep in his embrace.
Inuyasha spread his legs apart so that she could move closer. He then placed her legs angularly around hers, which were instinctively bent close to her. He rested his chin on her head before gazing nonchalantly into the scarlet flames.
Sesshomaru was no fool. He could sense his brother's aura deepen and relax even more when he was around the human girl. He knew that there was a love in Inuyasha for the female in slumber against him. He did not know why, but he did not feel that the love was conspired completely for her alone.
"Inuyasha. You love this girl, do you not?" he asked coolly.
Ears perked. A startled look in the eye, but soon an at ease expression. "Why would I tell you something that deep about me? Why do you care?" was the astonishingly bored reply.
"Is there any other reason that you hold her so dearly, so close to your heart? If you did not love her, then she would be asleep not on you but in her portable futon."
Inuyasha made direct eye contact with his brother for the first time. He stared into the tar black slits that were Sesshomaru's pupils without fear or hatred. He was…unyielding.
"I would always hold Kagome close to my heart. After all she has done for me--for everyone. She deserves better than what I am, and yet she accepts me. All of me." He paused for a moment, looking upon the young woman's serene features with soft admiration. "In my own way, in our own very special way, Kagome and I…we are in love with each other." He paused again, this time glancing to the curled up form of Shippo inside of Kagome's sleeping bag. "Kagome told me three days ago that she loved me. I…I told her that I loved her this morning."
Sesshomaru was not only appalled, but suddenly at ease. It was almost remarkable. He knew that in his routine, this would be the time that he scoffed at his brother for being so weak to love a human. He would slither into the rickety subject of how his brother had inherited their father's taste for human passions, and then he would saunter off on his own, not to appear again for a long, long time. But not this time. There was something about the way that Inuyasha had looking directly into the pits of his eyes without fear or loathing and said that he would always hold the Kagome girl dear. It seemed too innocent. It was too innocent. Sesshomaru wondered.
"Perhaps you do love her, Inuyasha, but is there not half of you that yearns deeply for the form of your lost love Kikyo? Is it that half of you which sees the resemblance and knows the connection that they share, and so creates an even more fiery passion?" The youkai breathed, waiting for the intensely anger-propelled glare. He was disappointed when his brother's aura did not falter. "Did you say that you loved the girl merely because you missed the many opportunities to tell Kikyo?"
Inuyasha's eyes stared at Kagome's face. His eyes were softened; he looked about to tears, but did not spare a single one. He stroked her cheeks with one finger, loving her baby-soft skin. His lips parted, ad he murmured, "No. Kikyo is dead. I have come to embrace, after such a long time, that she may walk among me but her heart does not beat. I have realized that Kikyo and I never had the slightest chance of becoming more than what we were; friends.
"She was a priestess, bound to guard the Shikon no Tama for as long as she lived. She vanquished demons to protect it, but knowing that I was half demon, she thought that she could spare me and create something more. To her I was nothing but a tool, I see, to free her from her duties. If we married, she would become a normal woman and live a normal life with myself. I knew it would never be.
"But, once I met Kagome, she also accepted me for what I was, but not to any kind of benefit. We were companions, one to look out for the other and vice versa, and I knew almost immediately that she was the one. I do not love her for her ties to Kikyo. I do not love her because she reminds me of Kikyo. I love Kagome because she loves me for me, not for something that I'm not."
Sesshomaru said nothing. He could say nothing. He tried to come up with something, believe me. Another question, a snide remark, even a noise that might give off a signal of some kind, but he was out of stock. He had been astounded so fiercely that all he could manage was a firm nod. He never knew that his brother, brutal, childish, arrogant, greedy Inuyasha, could have matured so much. All for one single purpose: to be with and protect the one he proved that he loved.
Sesshomaru stared at them with a smidgeon of envy. Inuyasha leaned against the boulder he had used for support with Kagome nestled in his arms and against his body comfortably. Inuyasha sleeping so soundly with the one he cherished so deeply in his grasp. Inuyasha, who had once wanted nothing more but to be the strongest in body and ability; now Inuyasha, the one who was strongest in heart and soul. It was something that Sesshomaru knew that he could never achieve. He knew that he could never have something so precious as what his brother had formed. His contemplations and wistful-ness were unimpaired when Kagome touched Inuyasha's ears subconsciously and purred, "I love you, too, Inu…" before settling herself beneath her admirer's chin.
Notes: (in case you don't know these) 'Osuwari' means 'sit.' 'Kaze no Kizu' means 'Scar of the Wind literal', or as you manga-tards know it, 'Wind Scar.' XD
AN: Kawaii! I didn't mention the pairings because I like to surprise. Before anyone else asks me, I don't dislike Inuyasha and Kikyo's love. I simply liked them before the little 'pinning Inuyasha to a tree for fifty years and then hating him and blaming him for everything' stage. They were simply darling, don't get me wrong, but non-stop accusing and reminiscence of past relationships really bug me. Patience is a virtue; remember that as I write my segments. Toodle pip!