I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA!

Chapter 12

He felt safe. It should have made him happy but all it did was confuse him. He had never cared for his brother. He had done his duty to their father and then did his best to forget he even had a brother. Now all he could think of was the pain and loneliness that filled the half-demon like a sickness. He had always been able to suppress his own emotions. In doing so, he was happy being alone. But something about being mated to Inuyasha has caused the walls he used to contain his feelings to crumble. He realized that he was lonely as well. His happiest days were spent with his father. When he died, Sesshomaru had no one. Nothing but his duty in watching over his brother.

But he wasn't alone anymore. He never would be again. He laid in the warmth of the old human woman's home, his head on his mates lap, and felt contentment for the first time in over 200 years. In a strange way, he was happy that had Inuyasha found him in heat in the forest. And that is one of the things that confused him. He wasn't sure if what he was feeling were actually his feelings, or if it was something he was picking up from Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru took a deep breath and let it out slowly, settling himself more fully against his mate. He decided it wasn't really worth thinking about. Nothing he could do or say would change the fact that he was mated to Inuyasha. Or the fact that he now carried Inuyasha's child within him. The thought caused a strange fluttering in his chest. What was that? Was it nervousness? Or was it some form of happiness? When he had first learned he was an uke, he thought that he would never be able to provide an heir for his father's bloodline. Any child he carried would he of his mate's bloodline. But with Inuyasha as his mate, he would carry on the bloodline that was important to him. That fact caused a strange sort of joy to fill him. At least one good thing would come from the mating.

He groaned softly when Inuyasha's fingers began working at the stiff muscles in his neck. He was more relaxed than he had been when they had first entered the village, but he was still tense. And his neck was the worse spot. He started to drift, floating in warmth and comfort. He hoped it always felt like this.

Inuyasha leaned against the wall and simply held Sesshomaru. He had fallen asleep and rolled onto his other side so his face was pressed against Inuyasha's stomach. His hair spilled across his lap and over his legs like living silk, so warm. He could sit like this for hours. But he knew this peaceful moment wouldn't last. He could still hear Kagome's shouting from the other side of the village. It wouldn't be much longer before his friends came back and started demanding answers from him.

"Are you going to leave us?"

Inuyasha jumped at the voice. He swung his head up to see Shippo sitting on the other side of the fire. He hissed at the young fox and looked down at Sesshomaru. He was still asleep, his breath warm against his stomach. "Keep your voice down. If you wake him I'll strangle you. What you doing in here?"

"Kaede told me to go away. She said I'm too young to hear the stuff Kagome is yelling. But even in here I can still hear her." He scratched his ear and picked up a package of cookies pilfered from Kagome's bag. "What is incest?"

Inuyasha sighed. "It is what humans call it when someone has sex with a close blood relative."

Shippo looked confused. "Is that bad?"

"It is for humans. But we aren't human. We have different ways of doing things."

"My parents were brother and sister. They were born in different litters though. Would that be incest?"

"Not for demons, Shippo. It's a human thing."

"Okay." Shippo nibbled on a cookie and watched Inuyasha curiously. "So, are you gonna leave us? Now that you have a mate?"

"I don't know yet. It's something I need to think about."

"Are you gonna have a baby? My dad told me that when a demon mates they have a baby."

"Yes. We are going to have a baby." Inuyasha smiled and touched Sesshomaru's head softly.

"Can I play with it? It would be nice to have a friend my size."

"Sure, Shippo. You can play with it."

"Why is Kagome so mad? No one else is mad. Sango is confused, but she isn't mad. Is it because your mate is Sesshomaru? He has tried to kill you a few times. But he is your mate now."

"This is going to be hard for Kagome to accept. She still doesn't know much about demons, about how they live. All she has really seen are the demons who make trouble, the ones that give us all a bad name. She has spent some time with the wolves, but not enough to really understand. I don't know if she is really mad, probably she is just confused and the only way for her to express that is to yell and argue because she can't accept something so foreign to her."

Shippo frowned again and looked at the demon sleeping peacefully with his head buried in Inuyasha's lap. "Is it because you had sex with Sesshomaru? Miroku said that Kagome was just jealous because now she can't have sex with you."

Inuyasha chocked down a laugh and shook his head, smiling. "Miroku shouldn't have said that. It was rude."

"But is that why? I don't really understand what is so great about sex. It looks kinda messy and painful."

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably. "What do you know about sex? And when have you seen it?"

"My dad told me about it. He told me some about mating." He popped a cookie into his mouth whole and spoke with his mouth full. "I used to sneak into houses and steal food. I saw some humans having sex once when I was in their house. It didn't look like much fun. But father said you have to have sex to make a baby. So if Sesshomaru is gonna have a baby than you had to have sex with him."

"Yes, Shippo, we had sex. You have to in order to mate. You will understand the appeal when you are older. You're too young to understand right now."

"I would if you explained it. I'm not stupid you know." Shippo flushed with temper and his hand clenched around the cookie bag.

"I know you aren't stupid. It isn't something you can understand until you are older. It has nothing to do with being smart or stupid. It has to do with your body. At your age, you can't understand because your body can't feel what it needs to feel to understand. Sex feels good. But until you are older, you won't understand because you can't feel what you need to feel. Does that make sense?"

"I guess. Kinda like not knowing what a cookie tastes like until you eat one?"

Inuyasha smiled. "Yes. Like that. You can't understand something until you experience it."

"So than why is Kagome angry that she can't have sex with you now? Did you guys have sex and now you won't be able to anymore because you have a mate?"

Inuyasha felt Sesshomaru stiffen. He wasn't asleep after all. "No, Shippo. I never had sex with Kagome. We are just friends. I don't know why she is so angry." Inuyasha gently stroked Sesshomaru's head again, trying to make him relax once more. "Why don't you go see if they are done talking?"

"Okay." Dropping the cookie bag, Shippo bounced out of the hut.

"I thought you were asleep." His hand fell away as Sesshomaru sat up and looked at him.

"I was. The loud chewing woke me up." Sesshomaru rubbed his eyes and turned so he could lean against the wall beside his mate.

"Shippo is addicted to cookies. If Kagome doesn't watch her bag they disappear quickly." He took Sesshomaru's hand and held it between his own, needing to feel the touch of his skin. "I didn't you know."

"Didn't what?"

"I didn't have sex with her. If you were wondering."

"I know. You thought it was amusing when the kitsune asked."

Frowning, Inuyasha brought Sesshomaru's hand to his mouth and nipped one of his fingers. "You being able to feel my emotions is going to take a while to get used to."

"Once the child is born you will be able to feel some things from me. Not as intensely as I feel from you, but you will feel some things."

"Like what?"

"Mostly you will be able to feel if I am afraid or panicked. Or if I am injured."

"If you need help."

"Yes." He leaned to the side and set his head on Inuyasha's shoulder, turning so he could press his nose to his skin. "I have a question."

"Okay. What?"

"What is a cookie?"

Inuyasha laughed, making Sesshomaru jump. "It's a type of sweet." He leaned forward and snatched up the bag Shippo had dropped. He pulled one of the cookies out and held it to Sesshomaru's lips. "Try it."

Sesshomaru obediently opened it mouth. He bit into the crunchy morsel and an unfamiliar sweetness exploded over his tongue. He chewed slowly, savoring the flavor. When he finally swallowed he reached for the bag and glared at Inuyasha when he moved it out of reach.

"Did you like it?" Inuyasha smiled at him wickedly and Sesshomaru could feel a wave of amusement coming off of him, pulling the corner of his mouth up slightly.

"Yes. Are you going to give me the bag? Or make me beg for it?"

Inuyasha handed it over and watched with a smile as Sesshomaru started to shovel the food into his mouth. "If you're hungry I'll go get something for you to eat."

Sesshomaru shook his head. "Not really hungry. But these are good and I can't seem to stop."

A soft chuckle came from the doorway and Sesshomaru stiffened, lowering the bag and swallowing what was in his mouth. "You will eat quite a bit more while you're pregnant. I saw one of the female wolf demons eat an entire boar in an hour while she was pregnant." Miroku stepped in and sat on Inuyasha's other side. "Kagome is really pissed off with you."

"Why? What does it matter to her if I take a mate?"

"I think it is the fact that you didn't choose her. And she doesn't understand your choice of mate."

"I didn't exactly choose him." His face flamed and he glared at the monk. "I didn't know exactly what I was doing."

Miroku nodded and pulled a bag of potato chips from inside his robe. He casually handed it across Inuyasha to Sesshomaru, not bothering to look at the demon. "I thought so. You are entertainingly naïve when it comes to many of the demon customs. I'm not surprised that you don't have much knowledge of demon mating."

Sesshomaru took the bag from the monk and merely looked at it. Inuyasha pulled it from his hands and opened it, sending an enticing scent of onions wafting out. "Onion flavored potato chips. My favorite. You'll like them." He handed the bag back to Sesshomaru and turned back to Miroku. "Why would she think I would choose her to be my mate?"

"Inuyasha, surly you know that Kagome is more than a little in love with you."

"What are you talking about? I know she likes me but she's just my friend. I've never done or said anything to make her think I wanted to be with her that way."

"Maybe not. But that doesn't mean she doesn't wish for it. And now it can't happen. Not only that, but the mate you chose is male. And your brother on top of it. Your brother who has tried to kill all of us on multiple occasions."

"If I had wanted to kill Inuyasha, I would have done so. I may have fought him, but I never actually tried to kill him. The rest of you were simply fleas jumping around the dog. You weren't important enough for me to give much thought." He pulled a chip out of the bag and put it in his mouth. He closed his eyes in bliss. It was even better than the cookies. His sense of taste seemed to have been enhanced. He began eating the chips in earnest.

"Well, as one of the fleas I thank you for not thinking about us. I did always wonder why you never beat Inuyasha."

Inuyasha took in a deep breath and glared at Miroku, his eyes blazing. "Are you implying that I couldn't possibly beat him in a fight if he was actually trying to kill me?"

Miroku sighed. "Inuyasha, you are very strong. You have beaten some very powerful demons. I will not deny that you, yourself, are very powerful. But there are powerful demons, and then there are the demon Lords. Sesshomaru has not kept the title of Lord of the Western Lands simply because he is the son of the previous Lord. The demon Lords are the most powerful demons in the world."

"Inuyasha has beaten me several times. Just because I wasn't trying to kill him doesn't mean I wasn't trying to hurt him. He surprised me with his skill and power. He will be a good Lord." Sesshomaru, oblivious to the openmouthed stared of the other two men, continued to eat the potato chips.

"Are you saying Inuyasha is stronger than you are?"

"If I had been willing to kill him I possibly could have beat him. I would say he is more my equal. He will need that strength to hold the Western Lands once word gets out that I'm an uke and no longer Lord."

"I don't want to be the Lord, I told you that." Inuyasha yanked the bag of potato chips away from Sesshomaru and took out a handful before handing it back.

"Doesn't matter what you want. When we mated my lands and titles became yours."

"What if I say no?"

Sesshomaru turned to glare at his mate. "You may not want it, and I can feel how much the idea of being a Lord frustrates you, but would you willingly let our fathers home be conquered by another demon? Father spent hundreds of years making his lands into a safe and as peaceful a place as possible. You have no idea how hard it has been for me to carry on his work. Especially during the years I spent watching over you."

Inuyasha sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I wouldn't even begin to know how to be a demon Lord. And how can I be when I'm only half-demon?"

"There have been other half-demon Lords. Usually of small territories, but still. You are as powerful as I am, Inuyasha, and you still have yet to realize your full strength." He reached up and pushed a lock of hair away from his mate's face. "I know you will be a good Lord. Better than I was. I don't really care about the humans. You do. So did father. I kept the land safe but have done nothing to improve the lives of those that live there."

"If keeping the land safe means to kill anyone trying to move in there and hurt the people, I can do that. But I don't know what to do to help improve people's lives."

Sesshomaru smiled. "But you have. How many times have you helped the people of this village? I have watched you sometimes. I have seen you helping in the fields, helping build houses. You haven't just kept them safe; you have aided them in making their lives easier. That is what will make you a good Lord. You were helping your people before you had the title."

Inuyasha smiled, slightly embarrassed. He brought Sesshomaru's hand to his face and laid it against his cheek. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted when the curtain was thrown aside.

Kagome stood and glared at the two demons. Her face was red with anger. "I want to talk to you, Inuyasha. Alone."