The moments inbetween "x's" are flashbacks.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you for taking the time to read this and double thanks for your reviews. -Druidica


Xxxxxxx

His face hit the ground and slid along the hard packed earth for many yards. The pain exploded in his head and he could taste the metallic flavor of his blood leaking over his tongue as his fangs cracked together with the impact, searing his lips. Sesshomaru's shoulder burned at the joint and he knew his arm was pulled out of its junction. Though his first instinct was to groan and lay there like a dead heap, his pride would not let him. I must not let him see me this weak, his mind mumbled feebly. Pushing up with his other arm, he tried to slide his knees under him so he could sit up. A wave dizziness and nausea assailed his senses and he tumbled back onto the ground.

The day was bright and warm, but a cold shadow covered his rumpled body sending slight tremors along his nerve endings. I can feel his eyes looking at me with disappointment. Once again I failed to disarm you, Father. The young demon mustered every scrap of energy left in his broken body, willing his mind to push back the pain that thrummed through his entire form. Tucking his knees into his chest, Sesshomaru again struggled into an upright position. He swallowed back the bile that rose to the back of his throat from the dizziness that flooded his senses, and with pained determination stood shakily to his feet. The world was spinning. Pinching his eyes tight, he slowly reopened them and tried to focus on a single object, his common sword lying on the ground. Wiping the grime off his face with the back of his hand, Sesshomaru spat the blood in his mouth onto the ground and faced the Great Demon Lord of the West.

Steely golden eyes met his stare with cold indifference. His father's face was indiscernible a blank piece of parchment that refused to be inked with any emotion. Still his glare could tuck his tail between his legs and have him running scared to his room. Inu Taisho held Tetsusaiga at his side, a great fang of destruction that had tasted his blood on more than one occasion. Each drop was a reminder of his inferiority to his father's great skill and power. One day, I will surpass you father and it will be I who looks down my nose at you. Leaning towards the ground, Sesshomaru picked up his sword with great effort and held it aloft preparing to take up the defensive once again, while his left arm hung useless at his side. His body burned and yelled out in objection at continuing, but he would not back down. Tensing his muscles he waited for the first strike.

It never came.

The Great Dog Demon turned away from his determined child and walked silently over to a boulder that rested under a large tree. Sheathing the sword at his side, the demon sat casually on the large stone and breathed in the fresh mountain air. His son's skills were improving and the thought brought a small amount of comfort to him. It appears that he learns more from the tutors I hire then from me. A touch of sadness raked across his mind at the realization. How did these walls come between us, my son? Your mother would have understood you better, I fear. Shaking off the tension of the sparring, his shoulders visibly slackened and he gauged his son from a distance. He's so proud, he mused. One day I fear it will be the cause of his downfall. His mouth slanted grimly at the thought. There is so much you do not know and so much I am supposed to tell you, but the words fail me. Despite his thoughts, his son stared at his father blankly.

"Come here, my son. Rest against the tree."

"I do not require any reprieve, Father."

Inu Taisho's eyes sparked mildly at his son's defiance.

"You will do as I say, pup!"

Sesshomaru could not hide the momentary sneer that graced his lips as he trudged over to his father's location. Just before he slumped under the tree, his father grasped his left arm and shoved it back into his shoulder. His eyes were blinded by the sharp flash of pain that radiated from his shoulder. A thousand pins pricked along his muscles in a silent staccato concerto of agony up his neck, down his back and out through his fingertips. Falling to his knees he grasped his shoulder with his hand and used all of his will power not to scream as he doubled over in excruciating pain. Inu Taisho could do nothing but bear witness to his son's misery, a torture for any parent.

"Breathe, my son. The pain will pass momentarily."

Sesshomaru had not realized that in trying to block out the pain he had stopped taking in air. He opened his mouth and sucked in the life giving wind into his lungs. The air felt harsh and bitterly cold in his chest, but after a few slow breaths the pain began to recede. His body still felt sore and battered, but at least he his left arm felt functional again. Why do I always appear powerless in his presence? Pocketing away his lapse of resilience with growing bitterness, he leaned up against the tree and stared up at his father.

The great demon was gazing down at his son and there was a touch of softness in the man's eyes, but Sesshomaru blinked and it was gone. It must be the pain. It's making me see things that would never come to pass. Closing his eyes he willed his mind to be silent and stop the constant hammering in his skull. In all of his training exercises he had always excelled, even disarming his tutor on several occasions. Yet, whenever his father deemed it a worthy time to test his skills, he could never stay on his feet more than five minutes. He must see me as a disgrace to his bloodline.

"I did not come out here to spar with you, my son."

Sesshomaru paused then opened his eyes to look up at his father, blinking his eyes against the bright backdrop behind the Great Dog Demon. The sun blazed in the sky partially concealing his father's features in a blinding light, but he could still see the strong profile that could not be obstructed by the sun's meager rays. This was the infallible monument that the unfledged Inu longed to surpass, an idol that even the heavens could not shadow.

"Then why seek me out, Father?"

"My servant sought me out to advise me of your recent queries regarding the 'Hunt.'"

The young demon looked away his eyes narrowed in consternation, a slight blush suffusing his face.

"Myoga speaks too much."

His father laughed, causing the youth to cringe inwardly in mortification.

"You were foolish, my son, to think your life was so private. Whether you choose to avoid me or not as your father I know what goes on in your life. There are few secrets a child can keep from their parents, despite youth's arrogance to think otherwise. You forget I was once a young demon as yourself. I asked the same questions as you do now." The Great Demon turned his head to look at his son. His golden eyes glinted in the corners and there in their unfathomable depths resided the deep rooted disappointment. It was a look Sesshomaru loathed every time he saw it, as it meant that once again he was a failure in his father's eyes. "You should have come to me with your queries, my son."

Silence was the only response Sesshomaru gave his father. He did not feel the need to explain his actions or his reasons for avoiding his parent. I will kill the flea for betraying my confidences to my father.

"You will not harm him, my son." His father spoke in finality and Sesshomaru blinked in mild surprise at his father's astuteness. "Myoga follows my orders as he should. So, ask your questions my son, because you will find answers nowhere else in the manor."

"It is of no importance, Father. The hunt no longer holds interest for me."

Spots flared in front of his eyes as the Great Dog Demon's clawed hand buffeted the back of his son's head. The youngling gave a small yelp and grabbed the back of his skull to try and still the rattling.

"Insolent whelp! You are a descendent of one the greatest blood lines among demons; do not disgrace yourself with spouting pointless lies! I grow weary of your arrogance and your feigned disinterest. Now ask me your damnable questions!"

Sesshomaru clenched his fangs, and bit back the scathing retort he would have loved to lash out at his sire. His hands gripped the insides of his torn kimono and he could feel the toxic poison from his claws leaking onto the fabric, burning it away. Bringing his arms closer to his chest so not to make them obvious to his father, he gritted out the question he now detested, "What is the 'hunt', Father?"

The great dog demon relaxed and settled himself back on the boulder. I know that was not easy for you, my son. It was not easy when my father trained me either. A small smile lifted the corners of Inu Taisho's mouth and reached within his haori and pulled out a small scroll. Holding it gently between his clawed fingers he stared at it thoughtfully for a moment. My son is maturing faster than I could have imagined. Wasn't it just yesterday he took his first step?

The young demon thought he heard a sigh escape his father's lips, but it was too absurd to think his father was sentimental over anything other than the honor of their bloodline. His father's hand extended out and offered the scroll to him. Cautiously, he took the proffered parchment and glanced up at his sire in question. The great Inu's eyes closed.

"The hunt," He began quietly. "Is a sacred pact between the world around them and a demon's very blood. It is not a trivial matter or something to be entered into with great haste. Once initiated within you, you will be bound to complete the hunt or it will haunt you the rest of your days. For an immortal, that can be a very long torment."

Sesshomaru felt a tickle in the back of his mind that pleasantly traveled down his spine. This sensation had first assailed him when he caught part of a conversation between a few of his father's men, but they had been vague in their details. Still, since then, part of him knew that what he was about to learn would be vital in the future, though he did not know why.

"What is the prey that I would hunt?" Sesshomaru asked, his curiosity piqued.

His father chuckled again. You are my son, he thought amused.

"It could be one of many things, my son. It could be as simple as the quest to avenge a comrade or as complex as pursuing a mate. Whatever it is, it will invoke within you a thirst that cannot be quenched by any liquid, but only sated with the completion of the task. Trust your deepest instincts, my son. If it is in your fates to take on the hunt, then you will know without any question or doubt."

The great demon patted his son's shoulder and stood.

"Read the scroll. It will tell you what you desire to know. Along with," Inu Taisho paused. "Other things."

Sesshomaru stared at the gold encrusted handles of the scroll that were embossed with intricate patterns and designs that seem to have no beginning and no end. A flood of images flashed across his mind of places and people he had never seen or met. I do not wish to see such things, his mind yelled out. The young demon blinked willing the sights out of his mind. A waking dream, he thought. This was not the first time he had one, but he assured himself that the frequency was not enough to warrant concern. Already the pictures are fading, he mused.

Leaning comfortably against the tree trunk, the young demon read the arcane scroll.

Xxxxxxxx

Sesshomaru traced the mating mark with his claw. This mark binds our emotions and our flesh as one, Rin. You cannot escape me. Summoning every tingling trace of desire boiling through his veins he concentrated it in his mind into a molten mass of pure demonic lust. Focusing on the mark, he allowed his mind to recall the memories of their first night together. Though the events had seemed hazy that morning when he first woke, they now flowed easily and vividly into his mind.

Even in her innocence she had been very brazen.

Xxxxxxx

His young mate had an insatiable appetite. Lying on his stomach spent from their last joining, Rin wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. Closing his eyes he breathed in her scent of wildflowers laced with his own spicy mix of deep forest woods and pure masculine virility. Silky tresses rained down on his flesh causing every nerve on his body to spring to life with burning passion yet soothing him like a warm night breeze lulling him to surrender to this woman's wanton charms.

Delicate tapered fingers slid over his abdomen, her nails teasing his flesh with the barest of touches. His muscles contracted slightly with each pass sending slight shivers down his legs. Every one of his senses was in overload, completely open and sensitive to every brush of flesh and escalated beat of heart. Her lower lip lightly skimmed over his skin, a teasing caress that left him wanting for her even though she was right there with him. She did not kiss his flesh, but rather traced the expanse of his back with her soft lips, a tantalizing path of unforeseen pleasure.

Sultrily, yet subtly, Rin teased and tasted his flesh in slow motion. In some moments only her lips would graze his back, while in other moments the tip of her tongue would lick a small line along his spine where it would end with the slight pressure of her fangs drawing on his skin. She did not seem to miss even the smallest patch of his skin in her quest to devour him whole. Every contour was precious to her as she passed her downy lips over his body. Sometimes she would glide her bare body along his flesh till her breath wafted over his cheek. There she outlined the points of his ears with her tongue. She had done this numerous times throughout the night and it always procured an appreciative little growl from deep within his chest.

He searched his senses for what hidden thoughts might lay inside this vibrant woman's mind. Arousal was abundant of this he needed no extrasensory perception to deduce, but there was something more, a hidden layer beyond the obvious that was evoking these feelings of duality with her loving actions. Sesshomaru scanned his mind for the right word, an emotion he was certain he had never felt in his long lifetime towards his being. With all my strength and power this frail woman makes me feel like I am in the safest place in the Western Lands. Slowly, his eyelids opened and in his inebriated haze a lucid moment stretched out before him as the elusive word was discovered.

Cherish.

She's cherishing me.

Xxxxxxx

Her scent reached him at the same time the mark on his shoulder flared with her intense desire. A small smile curved his lips for the briefest of moments before returning to his normal inscrutable repose. Sliding open the panel, he stood tall and lowered his eyes to Rin. Her heartbeat was thunderous and her eyes were glazed over from the onslaught of passion he had pushed onto her. Sesshomaru noticed the subtle changes of her body's transformation and he raised his clawed hand to her face. With careful precision he swept his claw along her jaw lineand around the outside edge of her now slightly pointed ears.

Rin's eyes fluttered close at the contact, her breath caught in her chest. Her body temperature elevated dramatically and the sweet aroma of her arousal caressed his senses. He was addicted to her scent, and suddenly he wanted to be saturated in it. Sesshomaru's gaze focused on her pouting lips. In a fell swoop, his hand cupped the back of her head and his mouth crashed onto hers. Her lips instantly parted and he delved his tongue into her sweet mouth. Unlike the last time, Rin responded immediately matching him in his fierce dance.

Breaking away from her sweet mouth with a low growl he trailed burning kisses along her jaw and down her throat. Rin's arms clasped his shoulders in a fierce grip and her breath rasped in his ear. His blood roared through his veins and he almost missed the mumbled words she spoke. The syllables trickled slowly into his ears and pierced through the clouds of desire to the front of his mind. He felt their sting with more force than if her hand had slapped his face.

"Have I served my purpose now, my Lord?"


...Chapter 13...it's there...your fingertips can almost touch it...cry out if you want it...