Chapter Twelve: Brother

Just as Haku insisted for Inuyasha, the following morning, he was spying on Sesshomaru from the moment he woke up. He wanted to see what this 'other' half was and get a new idea of how much he changed.

Yoshimaru woke up that morning doing what he always did, going out his room and make it to his parents before Haku would try to stop him. That morning of course, Haku wasn't there to meet him at the door. This made the young pup confused, looking around to try and find his guardian instead.

Inuyasha blinked when he saw the boy walk past him. "Hey… Yoshimaru?" He said, unsure if he said the name right.

The pup looked back at him, those emotionless characteristics seemed to send trembles down his uncle's spine.

"Yeah… Sesshomaru's kid alright. No doubt in that." He mumbled, watching his nephew walk off to search for his caretaker. He decided to follow the boy, having nothing better to do anyway, not expecting Sesshomaru up this early. To his surprise, he had to sneak his following, realizing that Yoshimaru didn't like being followed by his uncle. It was a typical thing he inherited from Sesshomaru. 'Where is he going?' He thought.

Yoshimaru walked down the hall where he soon managed to find himself into the kitchen where the castle chef was making breakfast.

The elder demon looked down to the boy who was sniffing the air. "Well hello young lord Yoshimaru. Are you here to accompany old Gatu in his cooking?" He picked up the boy and sat him on the counter, giving him a smile.

The pup watched the elder dog demon cook, enjoying the smell that was coming from the pots.

Inuyasha watched from afar, seeing that unlike his brother, the boy had some compassion and curiosity of many things around him. 'Not so much like Sesshomaru I see…' He thought with a smirk. 'Probably gets it from his mother.'

After a while of watching, Yoshimaru was on the move again, this time heading to the east side of the castle to try and find Haku. The small boy had a limited vocabulary so far consisting of 'Mama' 'Papa' 'Ku' and a few variations of words that never came out completely right. It was enough to set his point across.

Inuyasha followed him to a new part of the castle he never saw for the day he's been there. He saw a few statues here and there, some older than others. 'Weird place…' He thought as he crept around the halls to watch the boy.

Haku walked out of his bed chambers, closing it behind him slowly. He had not realized he had overslept until seeing the small pup. "Prince Yoshimaru."

"Ku!" Yoshimaru ran up to him, tugging on his pants. "Bad Ku… Bad."

"Forgive me young one, I had not realized I slept in." He kneeled down to him. "Did you come all the way from your room to here by yourself? Or…" He moved his gaze to a statue where Inuyasha was hiding behind. "Were you accompanied?"

Yoshimaru looked back, sensing his uncle there as well. "hanyō…" Was all he said to make Inuyasha bolt out, fully angered.

"Damn it all, can you not call me that?!" Snapped Inuyasha and he stood there.

Haku stood up, looking to him. "Good Morning, Inuyasha." He spoke softly. "Please don't raise your tone in the castle. Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Yuri are still sleeping."

"I don't really care, their damn kid has some horrible manners. I'm his uncle and I'm treated poorly." Stated Inuyasha.

"I assure you, young Yoshimaru is not poorly educated. He is taught by me and I know right from wrong. You on the other hand… Are not educated. You walk around barefoot."

Inuyasha noticed both Haku and Yoshimaru were wearing shoes while he did not. He felt a bit embarrassed but soon shrugged it off. "Well I don't need shoes! I'm perfectly fine like this!" He stormed off.

"Such a half demon." Mumbled Haku as he picked up the pup. "Now let's see what to do with you."

"Ku, down." Demanded the prince. "Walk."

"You want to walk?" He put him right back down. "Of course, I am glad to see you want to walk more now. I bet you had fun walking all the way here by yourself. Well supervised, but none the less."

The boy nodded. "Yes. Yoshimaru big." Stated the pup, very serious and sure.

He chuckled. "Oh I see, well by all means, lead the way to the garden."

The eager boy started making his way to the garden, remembering where to go by heart. If there was one place he loved, it was there. He loved to be there because it was where his mother and father spent time before his birth, their scents all over the beautiful garden. At times, he would feel that they were there with him when they were off on important tasks for the west. It was one of the many benefits of having a demon connection with parents.

Haku followed slowly, greeting the morning maids as he passed. "Ladies, bring me some nice tea to the garden. I will be watching the prince this morning. Lord Sesshomaru and Lady Yuri will be leaving soon to carry out an important mission concerning our small prince. Do inform the guards as well, we need full protection for Yoshimaru and as well as Inuyasha's pup."

The maids looked to one another. "The hanyō pup?"

"Let's not frown down to that. The pup is family to our Lord Sesshomaru, he asked this and we shall do as he wants. Our opinions are not his concerns." Said the dog demon, letting Yoshimaru walk off on his own. "I have seen the hanyō pup, who is also part miko, and there is a lot of demon power in him for such a young age. Before we go ahead and start hating the child like we did for Inuyasha when he was that age, let us come to accept the boy a bit more. He is blood of our Lord Sesshomaru."

They all nodded to him, returning to what they were doing for the morning.

Inuyasha at that moment had run into the garden where he saw Yoshimaru enter. He blinked some when he saw him stand there and sniff the air as he reached his arms up to be carried by something.

From behind a tree, Sesshomaru emerged, having gone hunting before dawn with a few of the guards to gather meat. He walked over to his son, kneeling down and picking him right up. There was a warm smile on his face, seeing his son smile back and nuzzling against the Mokomoko on his shoulder. "Yoshimaru, what are you doing outside on your own?"

The boy nuzzled against him, smiling softly. "Waiting." He closed his eyes and stretched some as Sesshomaru softly scratched his back.

"You should know, never alone, not outside and not without Haku." Said Sesshomaru with a soft voice, walking inside with his son in arms.

Inuyasha had to blink a few times, seeing the care and concern for his son. "Wow, not so cold after all."

Haku cleared his throat behind him. "Satisfied?"

He jumped and nearly screamed. "Do you have to sneak up on people like that?!"

"Do you have to spy on Lord Sesshomaru 'like that'?" Mocked the demon a bit, having a smirk on his face as he walked off to do rounds around the castle.

Inuyasha glared as he walked off, mumbling to himself. "Stupid dog demons in this castle…"

"Dad..." Little Kenji walked over, yawning loudly. He had been dressed in new clothes to fit the lifestyle of the castle. From how he was dressed, he could pass for a regular demon in appearance alone. "Look what they gave me."

He smiled and nodded, not wanting to say nothing negative to his son. "You look very nice, Kenji. Where is Kagome?"

"She's still sleeping, so I came to look for you." The small boy looked at the garden, sniffing the air a bit. "It smells nice here."

"I suppose." He rubbed his son's head, kneeling down to him. "Kenji, I have to talk to you about something very important."

"Like what?"

"Well… You know you're not a full demon right?"

"I know. I'm a half demon but mom says I shouldn't feel bad about it because half demons are strong too." He twitched his ears some.

Inuyasha smirked to that. "Yeah, and you'll be a strong half demon like me. You have my powers and the ones of your mom. You are half demon by my side but part miko from hers. You should feel proud to be mixed like that."

"I'm one of a kind. That's what uncle Miroku says all the time when he visits us. There is no half demon alive that is part miko and part demon." Kenji smiled at his dad, the boy fully proud that he was one of a kind and that he was the only half demon that was part dog and miko. "Whose castle is this dad?"

"This is my brother's castle where he lives with his wife and his son." He explained, sitting with him at a nearly bench. "He's my only brother, well half brother."

"He's still your brother, half or not dad." Said the boy, looking at the shoes he was given along with the clothes. "He cares about you."

"Not exactly, he's more towards feeling sorry than caring." He sighed. "He's got his own way of showing feelings, if you want to call them that. I've only seen him show some sort of feelings to Kagome from time to time but never towards me exactly. You were more of an interest to him when you were born, maybe because I got a kid before him."

"I don't think he doesn't care if he's letting us stay here. Yuri is nice to us all the time and she likes you." Kenji got off the bench, moving in front of his father.

Inuyasha smiled at him, petting his head. "You have to me your mother's son if you look at me like she does." He got up and ruffled his hair. "Let's go see about getting Kagome out of bed."

*A/N: So we've seen how this is going. Maybe the two stubborn brothers' can actually be more brotherly to each other rather than wanting to kill one another... maybe..