A/N: I got twelve reviews last chapter! Yay!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Inu: (singsong voice) You brought me baaack. You brought me baaack.
Me: Shut the hell up before I kill you off again.
Inu: (Quiet)
Silence settled over the glade. Tsukiko glared hard at Sesshomaru. The demon lord soon became annoyed and refused to be taken in by the warm, pomegranate scent that was given off by Tsukiko in her irritation.
"Wench, move."
"No," Tsukiko said stubbornly. "This is neither the time nor the place for you to kill your brother…"
"Half brother!" Inuyasha shouted loudly.
"…and you know it," Tsukiko continued as if uninterrupted.
Sesshomaru was surprised to find just how angry Tsukiko was. Her eyes were swirling and her hands were clenched. She turned on her heel and stomped away from him.
She called over her shoulder, "We're going to make camp."
As she led Ah-Un and Rin away, Jaken hopped off the dragon to waddle to his master's side. Sesshomaru felt like sighing. Instead, he turned his attention back to his half brother, still not totally believing that this was truly Inuyasha and now some illusion.
Had he not had use of his nose, Sesshomaru would have never guessed that the demon standing before him was Inuyasha. He stood perhaps a few inches shorter than Sesshomaru, the difference more than made up for by the large root Inuyasha was standing on. His silver hair was still roughly cut, but no longer topped by those ridiculous ears. Instead, his ears were tapered much like Sesshomaru's. His face was slightly longer, more elongated and two magenta stripes, a bit less defined than Sesshomaru's slashed across each of his cheeks. Everything about him screamed demon.
"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru said, his indifferent mask firmly in place, "care to explain why you are a full demon?"
Inuyasha looked as if Sesshomaru had slapped him across the face (or at least, someone had, as Sesshomaru would never stoop so low). He lowered his sword (which seemed to be untransformed) and Sesshomaru had the distinct impression of a dog with its tail between his legs. There was a quiet moment before Inuyasha slowly and deliberately turned around, and slid from the large root he had been standing upon.
"Come," he said simply.
Sesshomaru nearly growled at his impertinence. With the thought that he might be able to satisfy his curiosity (and that Tsukiko would definitely need some more time to cool off), Sesshomaru followed him, though much more quietly and with more grace than his half brother could seem to muster.
The brothers had never really reconciled, but the fight with Naraku had brought them closer. Inuyasha's priestess, Kagome, had somehow convinced Inuyasha to go to his brother for help to battle Naraku. Sesshomaru would never admit it, but secretly he was glad for his brother's need; even with his amazing abilities, Sesshomaru was at a sore disadvantage so long as Naraku could use the Shikon no Tama to revitalize himself. Not only that, but Sesshomaru was privately impressed with Inuyasha's ability to swallow his pride (though he suspected that the bossy priestess had something to with it) as he had, even offering the Tessaiga in exchange for help. They had agreed that Inuyasha would give up the sword, which Sesshomaru saw as his birthright, despite the fact that he could not touch it, after the final battle with Naraku.
However, with Inuyasha 'dead' after the final battle and the Tessaiga missing, Sesshomaru had moved on. Still, a mutual amount of trust and even camaraderie had grown around that final campfire the night before the battle. Several times during the foreplay of the battle (the fighting against minor demons), Sesshomaru had saved Inuyasha or one of his companions, though he had not answered their calls of thanks, and Inuyasha had prevented Naraku from causing a wound that would have become annoying later.
As trust built that final night, Sesshomaru had been questioned about Rin and (although he replied with only the barest of answers) in turn questioned his brother's group on how they came to be. He had learned how the group had been drawn together and through the talkative human girl Kagome, much of their travels and adventures together. It was through this knowledge he knew that his half brother was leading him to the God Tree, which held some sort of significance to Inuyasha.
Inuyasha finally came to a stop at the tree, and bowed slightly before it. When he had moved away, Sesshomaru could see three small black stones, on which were the crudely carved names; 'Kagome', 'Sango', and 'Miroku'.
"Fitting, that they should be buried here," Sesshomaru said, opening the conversation with what he thought would be a harmless statement.
Inuyasha laughed mirthlessly, and Sesshomaru quickly felt his patience tested. "She's so stupid," his brother finally said. "That stupid woman."
"Repeating yourself makes you seem unintelligent." Sesshomaru said. "Now say what you intended to tell me."
Inuyasha laughed again, a rough sound that grated on the demon Lord's ears. This time it was longer, and Sesshomaru became aware of the rapidly approaching night. He could smell cooking, and knew that his wards were not far. Inuyasha was still laughing. Sesshomaru's inner beast raged at the insult. Never before had anyone laughed in Sesshomaru's presence.
He pinned Inuyasha to the tree by the throat. His half brother's laughs stopped, and his golden eyes narrowed into slits.
Inuyasha seemed to be in hysterics. "It won't work this time, Kikyo. I'm a demon now. I'm the demon everyone wanted me to be. Come on, Kikyo, kill me. Kill me. KILL ME!" Inuyasha roared into Sesshomaru's face, sending spittle flying dangerously close to his eyes.
Sesshomaru dropped Inuyasha in anger and disgust. As he walked away, he heard Inuyasha's voice call out again.
"No… Kagome, I wasn't seeing Kikyo again. I'm sorry… I'm sorry!"
Sesshomaru quickened his pace. His youkai was furious. His brother had insulted him in far too many ways to be forgiven, madness or not. Outwardly, he appeared superior, but inside, he was seriously considering lowering himself to punch a tree.
Unwilling to do that, he quickly walked to the camp he knew Tsukiko set up not too far away, hoping that his extra energy would be used in moving quickly. He stopped when he saw the fire, opting instead to move his usual grace, though his annoyance was still peaked.
He spared the resting Rin a glance, and, assured that she was indeed sleeping before moving over to Tsukiko. She was mad; he could smell pomegranate rolling off of her in billowing clouds. He was vaguely reminded of when they had been joined in a small sphere of their combined energy (A/N: Chapter thirty), and the affects of her scent upon him. She seemed to be saying something, but Sesshomaru was only able to concentrate of her lips. Her scent was completely exhilarating.
Sesshomaru's guard slipped for an instant, and that was all his inner youkai needed. His body jerked spasmodically, but stopped himself, glad he had not moved enough to make it seem that he had lost control. He did not know exactly what his youkai had intended to do, but he could guess that it would not have ended well. Still, he noticed, Tsukiko was glaring at him with her arms crossed.
"Let's talk," she said hotly.
A/N: Review!
Okay, so I know that I haven't updated in forever, it's the same with all my stories. I'm having a bit of trouble juggling everything. I'm really sorry.
I decided to do a story on deviantart. Anyone who likes my stories probably would like that, but I promise that this story is probably a lot better than the stories on fanfiction. My penname on there is 'elpmip' and keywords for it are 'fallon', 'love', 'insanity', 'warrior', 'moon', 'sun', and 'fortress'. You'll probably have to enter a bunch of them in. After that, you will probably have to go into my gallery to find the prologue and read it in order. So, here's a summary:
Men have attacked the Fortress of Stars. After a night of terror and confusion, only a woman, Fallon, and her daughter escape the massacre. Alone and afraid, they flee to the Fortress of Stone.
Now, Fallon must try to become a part of the Fortress' daily life, but the residents are scornful of both her and her daughter, who is more than meets the eye. At the same time, Fallon must wrestle with her depression from her husband's and her family's death. With no respite from either, Fallon slowly begins to question her faith and her sanity.