Beyond 21

The next morning was bright and cheerful, but the Lady had to leave yet again as she was making preparation to eventually join her son in the West with her daughter. It was obvious that Aimi was blossoming under the more natural surroundings with her brothers than when she had been cloistered in the Palace of her mother. It was time for the Lady to get over her protective fears and trust in her powerful son and his brother. Strangely enough though, it was Inuyasha who felt jittery at her departure although he hid it ruthlessly.

The day progressed much as the others had with the exception of the hot spring play, there was hunting and chasing and general relaxing which was most beneficial to Inuyasha…or should have been. But the night ahead was his time of weakness and he was still chary of letting anyone see him in his human state. He had spied out the area over the time spent in the camp and had found a suitable cave in which to spend the night; now all he needed to do was to persuade Sesshoumaru to take Aimi back to her mother without him. It shouldn't be too hard; the older brother would surely accommodate Inuyasha if he truly needed his help in the West.

As he worked out his verbal strategies, which he admitted to himself were not his strongest point, he didn't notice Sesshoumaru glancing at him from the corner of his eye. The older brother raised his eyebrow at Inuyasha because the boy actually startled when he spoke;

"You have been preoccupied for the afternoon Inuyasha, is something wrong?"

"Feh! Of course not."

"You do not lie well Little Brother; your scent proclaims you are somewhat apprehensive. Do I still unnerve you?"

"What are you on about? You never unnerved me, I ain't scared of you."

"I didn't say you were; don't be so quick to take offense when none is intentioned, but I have scented that you are…perturbed?" Sesshoumaru struggled to find something that Inuyasha wouldn't rise to, but it was difficult sometimes.

"How on earth would you know what my being perturbed smelled like…are you saying you think I'm nervous, like some little kid?"

"An Inu scenting ability is second to none…you use your own nose Inuyasha, you are being ridiculous."

"I can track, tell who's around and if someone is angry, hungry, frightened, sad and a lot of other things…" Inuyasha trailed off and Sesshoumaru was left to realise once again, that the pup lacked the basic training that he had been entitled to, namely in this case, distinguishing all the nuances of scent. Now that he thought about it, it was obvious that Inuyasha had been at a disadvantage, he had never been able to tell when to leave best alone with the humans he travelled with. And he did always look first using his eyes, before scenting more accurately with his nose in whatever he did. It seemed that by his admission, Inuyasha had learned the hard way to put a scent to a mood.

"This is something else to remedy when we return home Inuyasha; at least there will be plenty to do to keep you occupied." If Sesshoumaru expected his brother to rise to the bait he was disappointed;

"You really mean you can tell what someone is thinking by their scent?"

"Not exactly; it is possible to make an educated guess if you know someone very well, for instance I know all of your own scents and what they mean."

"You can't…you don't know me, we hardly ever saw each other…"

"When you were tiny, I knew you very well; and still you are very open in your ways, at least to me. Personal scents do not change very much as you grow."

"You saying that you knew what I was thinking when we met…when I was with my pack?" Inuyasha was beginning to be worried.

"Naturally…just as I know that the knowledge embarrasses you for some reason." Was the cool reply.

"Of course it does…"

"Inuyasha you were and are a pup, stop being concerned over what I did or didn't know in a time that is past now."

"Easy for you to say." Inuyasha muttered; knowing now that Sesshoumaru would have known each time that Inuyasha was sometimes glad and relieved to see him during the quest.

"Now we have established I know what you are feeling Inuyasha, what is concerning you at the moment?"

"Feh, nothing, oh yeah, can you take Aimi back this afternoon, I just need some time to myself before we go to your place. I'll be back in the morning."

"I'm afraid that is not possible, Aimi wants to stay in the small cave near here overnight, she knows it is due to rain and wants to experience it from outside shelter." He looked at Inuyasha's dejected face and added; "She will have to learn about your human time in any case Inuyasha, it might as well be tonight."

"How did you know?"

"We were together on your last human night, have you forgotten so soon?"

"Yeah, that's strange and it was only a couple of weeks ago weren't it, what's happening?"

"Time sometimes seems to pass differently in my Mother's Palace, days are longer; she uses her youki to prolong them so that her gardens flourish how she likes. But back to the point, I have always known of your time of humanity Inuyasha; ever since you were a whelp." Sesshoumaru said as Inuyasha just stared at the older male sadly.

"How you hated me."

"I watched over you, you fool; how else would you have lived?"

"Sometimes, I never knew how…"

"That time is passed; it is fruitless to go over what has happened."

"Yeah, I know…you need me now."

"I do, and you still need me. So tonight I will go and hunt for our meal while you prepare for your night of mortality." With that said, Sesshoumaru left his brother to check up on their sister; he didn't want to stay near Inuyasha who typically became more belligerent, spoiling for a fight, as he felt his powers wane. Inuyasha meanwhile busied himself with making the cave warm enough and stocked with water, anything to keep his mind off the stupid hurt that had arisen because Sesshoumaru knew about the night of the New Moon, and neither killed nor cared for him.

But there were too many grievances to remember and none helped them get along now. And besides as Inuyasha remembered the youthful glee on his older brother's face in the hot spring, it only reminded him that Sesshoumaru was not much more than a pup himself and that thought too was put to the back of his mind. It was still unnerving to think that he had been willing to put much of his own safety in the hands of a pup and if he wasn't careful, Sesshoumaru would scent his apprehension again.

For the rest of the day Inuyasha kept to himself near to the cave. He watched the two full siblings as they hunted and cleaned the kill, setting a portion aside for him to cook over the fire when it was hot enough. He also arranged the furs and cushions inside the cave so that they would not be in the way of draughts or damp; while trying not to look at his brother's armour as it sat looking forlorn in another corner. Sesshoumaru had opted to take it off while he relaxed around his brother and sister not realising that it was this sort of uncharacteristic behaviour which was disconcerting Inuyasha.

The afternoon slipped away and the evening became significantly cooler as Inuyasha felt the familiar but hated change come over him. He was always more conscious of being grateful for the warmth of the protective fire rat on these nights. As he gathered more firewood near the mouth of the cave he became aware of the quiet; the gentle noises of his siblings had ceased and Inuyasha assumed they had gone further into the forest. Then he realised that it wasn't just the lack of Sesshoumaru and Aimi he could hear, there was no sound from the creatures, birds etc., everything was quiet…too quiet even to his dulled hearing.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck made him shiver as they stood on end and instinctively alerted him to danger. Something was hunting and Inuyasha was far too experienced to ignore all the signs, whatever it was out there was hunting him. This left him in a dilemma; something had got through Sesshoumaru's warning aura that meant it was either ridiculously strong or monumentally stupid. Inuyasha thought the latter more likely; it was therefore probably brutish even if stealthy, usually such a creature would be no match for the hanyou, but as a human he was disadvantaged. Inuyasha just hoped the thing was stupid while the back of his mind realised that Sesshoumaru was far enough away to not yet realise something was wrong.

It would not do to be trapped inside the cave and running was no good, his stamina might be needed to fight. No, outside and up in a tree was the best thing and thankfully he was adept at climbing almost as much as leaping into them. In the dark Inuyasha couldn't make out a lot, the creature was quiet and yet he knew that it was watching him as he moved. This was unnerving; stalking was not the usual modus operandi of a stupid being, yet he could hear some movement, the creature was unafraid of him. Inuyasha could feel eyes watching him, and they were coming closer.

Red eyes glowed in the darkness, following every move that Inuyasha made but when they jumped up into the same tree he was in, the hanyou decided that enough was enough and the cave had fire at least. He leapt out of the tree absorbing his fall with bent knees and rolling forward before breaking into a run as he tried to reach the cave and a lighted branch. The creature he could tell was right behind him and so picking up a burning stick he turned to face his foe. Malevolent red eyes shone in the half light, a fearsome jaw full of sharp fangs grinned at him and he could feel the sheer power of its aura.

Inuyasha was transfixed, his burning brand held uselessly in his hands as he gazed on the terrifying face knowing that he could not attack. The blue crescent moon was the giveaway and yet where he had not flinched from inflicting pain on his often deserving brother, Inuyasha had vowed to protect his sister, the girl who had enchanted him from the start and who was now going to kill him.