Disclaimer: I do not own any part of InuYasha or any of the characters in this story. InuYasha and its characters are the ownership of Rumiko Takahashi. This story is purely for the sake of fanfiction and I claim no ownership.

Walk Away

"Milady, I have done as you requested. My Lord Sesshoumaru is in the West Garden, watching the sun set."

Slapping her fan closed, the Lady of the West, smiled sharply at the young demoness and waved her fan. "Thank you Seira. You may go."

The stout, short demoness bowed deeply and removed herself from the Western Lady's presence, and the older demoness let the smile slip from her lips as she frowned thoughtfully. After she'd sent Sesshoumaru out to pursue the human priestess, he'd been gone for weeks at a time, appearing once in a while for a second at his personal manse, and then vanishing again. Which was why the Western Lady had decided to make herself at home in Sesshoumaru's small, but quaint house.

But as of a week ago, Sesshoumaru had randomly appeared at the manse and here he'd stayed. At first he'd buried himself in the politics he'd pushed upon the little toad-demon he called a vassal, but then he'd begun to leave for extended hunts that left him exhausted when he returned home. Then he'd started restlessly pacing the halls at night, stalking unseen foes as his normally calm youki seethed with an emotion the Western Lady hadn't seen since he'd learned of Touga's infidelity to her—anger.

And despite all the intentional jabs that she made to provoke a reaction, hoping to enrage him enough so that she may learn what had happened, the Western Lord had closed himself off to his mother and she was, for once, absolutely blind to what was surrounding her son.

And the Western Lady was never blind to anything.

So, with her son's greatest interests in mind and her own interests at the forefront, the Western Lady swept gracefully from the room she'd claimed as her temporary residence and made towards the lush West Garden that her thoughtless son currently found himself in.

…

That damned woman.

For days Sesshoumaru found himself fighting the need to return to the priestess' village and cut down the stupid woman where she stood, but it was only his thoughts of Rin – his ward would frown upon the priestess' death, surely – and the challenge his mother presented that kept him from acting upon the calls of his pride.

That didn't mean he was at peace though.

It had been two weeks since Kagome Higurashi had challenged him in the forest of her village and in those two weeks his need to rip out her throat and taste her blood had lessened no less for him… nor had his inexplicable want to see her as she had appeared the night of the full moon – flawless, beautiful and pure – diminished any. And Sesshoumaru didn't like those conflicting feelings. Especially when they were for the female he despised.

Closing his eyes, Sesshoumaru took a deep breath and tried to harness his thoughts.

"I see you still whittle your days away in endless contemplation instead of productive actions. I swear, you become more like your father every day."

Barely biting back the snarl that wanted to pull from his lips, Sesshoumaru opened his eyes and glared into the fiery sky. "You continue to try my patience Mother. I have no need of your presence here."

The Western Lady laughed brightly and ran her hands through the bright colored flowers adorning the stone path she walked upon. "Oh Son, you delude yourself if you think it is your choice where I decide to take a rest at."

"I am under no delusions Mother." Sesshoumaru slowly and gracefully stood and faced his mother. "I am fully aware that you are inferior to no one, I however have grown tired of your presence and your endless games and wish to see them end."

The Western Lady primly cocked a smooth white eyebrow and smiled sharply. "Well Son-of-mine. I must admit, I am curious. It is much unlike you to withdraw from a fight. The shame. Even your father's half-human whelp is more stalwart than you."

Sesshoumaru's well concealed youki snapped and his eyes flashed red as he barred his fangs at his mother. "That filthy hanyou is nothing compared to me, you should know this well Mother. Or are you insinuating that your blood is inferior to that of the witless human princess who Father pupped?"

Sesshoumaru finished speaking and the Western Lady found her cool façade breaking for the first time in two hundred years. Her eyes shone an eerie, iridescent blue as she snapped, "Do not speak of that woman to me. Your father broke his vow to me, and by that I was owed blood, but I never took my revenge, I never whetted my thirst for vengeance. By that I am stronger than either he or that woman ever were. But you, you have taken on your father's weakness. No, not his fascination with humans, but his lack of commitment. He betrayed our bond and snuck around for the fascination of a woman. He was faithless, weak. I had hopes for you Sesshoumaru. First you hid behind your anger. Then you hid behind your fear. Now you run from a challenge simply because of the emotional repercussions that you are not willing to face. That is not the taiyoukai I raised. That is not the Lord of the West."

Raising her head regally, the Western Lady looked down upon Sesshoumaru with normal, golden eyes. "I will leave you Son. I will leave your presence, but remember my words. I will not have a son who cannot rule himself rule others."

In a flurry of youki, the Western Lady lifted herself into the air and towards the direction of her majestic sky palace which Sesshoumaru was no doubt banned from for the foreseeable future. Well that was fine with him. He had no want to see his mother again for another hundred years, which was very likely since the Western Lady could and would hold grudges for centuries.

Maybe this time she'd actually stay away.

Clenching and unclenching his hands, Sesshoumaru sat back down on the bench he had vacated and looked out at the nearly dark sky. The sun cast weird colors upon the low-lying clouds covering the west and turned the sky vibrant oranges and bloody reds. A sudden chill ran down Sesshoumaru's spine as a breeze brushed his face, carrying with it the scent of lilacs, grass, fire and blood.

He stood reflexively.

Sesshoumaru… help us.

.:!:.

A/N: So…. Here's chapter fourteen! (Finally.)

I am sorry, as always, that it took so long. I found that this chapter was really hard to write because I changed the plot like six different times and couldn't get a feel for the chapter until I suddenly wrote in the Western Lady… then it all clicked. I guess we were lacking in our Western Lady love.

I hope you all enjoyed and that you all keep reading. My life's been quite the rollercoaster lately and I've been up and down, back and forth, and all over the emotion wheel, which makes it incredibly hard to write. I'm actually surprised that I even got this chapter out I've been so funky recently. But for you guys, it happened.

Now onto chapter specifics:

Sesshoumaru referred to Kagome as "Kagome no Higurashi" because , of course, in the Feudal Era, people did not have last names, only titles, (like Inu-no-Taisho—the Dog General) and Kagome still tells people she's Kagome Higurashi, so I wrote it like Sesshoumaru figured it was a title—"Kagome of the Sunset" is how I figure its roughly translated. If any Japanese-speakers out there would like to help me, feel free to correct my shitty Japanese. Thanks!

The Western Lady does have a name that I've already got written up and such, but it isn't until later that I am going to reveal it.

For whatever reason, I wanted to make the Western Lady have blue demon eyes because Sesshoumaru's got red-blue demon eyes and Touga's eyes are red, so I figured I'd make The Lady's eyes blue—just 'cause.

The Western Lady's "façade" is the semi-cold, semi-cruel persona that she took on after Touga's infidelity to her and the loss of her mate (even after he cheated on her). I say two hundred years because I figure that's about how old Inuyasha is (I think my older sister/editor came up with that number; I don't remember how but I remember I agreed with her so that's what its gonna stay).

And finally…

There is trouble on the horizon! Sesshoumaru smells something that he recognizes mixed with fire and blood… then he hears a voice. O.O

What shall the next chapter bring!

"Walk Away" by Five Finger Death Punch I think fits Sesshoumaru, Kagome, and the whole ploy his mother has cooked up very well, plus Sesshy is trying to walk away in this chapter, so that's what this one is.

Onto chapter fifteen!

~Love, Tempest~