Disclaimer: This story is based on "Inuyasha," copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied.

Flaws

Inuyasha did his best to apologize to Rin, and to admire her new clothes, but he knew his best wasn't very good, and he couldn't help but feeling put upon. He still felt unused to the idea of being a 'civilized' person who could live in a human village, and have human friends and little girls who were unafraid of him and wanted to follow him around. Yet, he also knew that he didn't want to go back to living like he had before he met Kikyo, let alone Kagome. The thought of living alone, without friends who trusted him and weren't afraid of him and who cared for him … he didn't want to go back.

And Kagome wouldn't want it for him, either.

But, it could be so hard, to just sit down inside of four walls and make conversation, to pay attention to what was being said, when what he really wanted to do was to storm off in a sulk.

Bedtime for the little ones finally came around, Kaede firmly overriding Rin's protest that she wasn't sleepy. Miroku announced that he and Sango were going to take a brief walk; with that, Inuyasha decided that if they could take off, so could he. He stated his intent to take a run, gave Rin a smile and said goodnight, and nodded to the others and slipped out the door. He was in a full sprint less than two steps outside.

The moon was waning and not yet up, but his night vision was more than capable. He ran up the road from the village at full speed for several miles until he worked out the sour feelings, then turned around and wove a leaping, bouncing path through trees, shrubs and meadows, heading towards the well. Time to give Kagome another 'report.' And then, maybe he'd just go sleep in Goshinboku. He just didn't want to be inside…

He ran into a fist. With a yelp, he landed on his posterior a good three lengths away. "Ow!" Sitting up, he gingerly touched his jaw, glaring at the ghostly figure. Compared to most times he had encountered that fist, this one was little more than a tap.

Never mind it still would have broken a human's jaw.

"What the hell was that for?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Rin smells unhappy when she talks about you."

Inuyasha groaned and fell back. He didn't need this! "Ah, give me a break, big brother! I'm trying to be nice to her, but I just … she wants to follow me around all the time! And she sings, she talks, she wants to pick flowers, for me, make chains, all the time, and I just … " He closed his mouth on what he might have said.

"Exaggerations."

The voice was dangerously iced. Inuyasha turned his head far enough to see the white-clad figure of his brother, taking in his smell and the sense of his youki. He was not pleased. Sighing, Inuyasha sat up, rubbing his temples and then pulling on his ears, wondering how he could avoid an argument—or worse.

"I guess," he conceded, moving into his hands-between-feet squat, and staring at the ground. "She's a cute kid, Sesshomaru: don't get me wrong. I—I want to like her, I try not to be jealous, and, and I—I don't want to ever hurt her. You know me, Sesshomaru—you know I'd never hurt a kid."

"I don't know."

Stung, Inuyasha was on his feet, snarling. "What do you mean, you don't know! I would never harm a child! Never! Ever!"

"Even in the blood-madness?"

Inuyasha flinched, under the lash of agonizing mental pain and shame. He whirled, shaking, claws sinking into his palms as he shook, as the flashing memories tore through him. Kagome, approaching him, as he tried to understand the feelings surging through him, his shout at her to keep away as he felt the surge of glee and abrupt, horrible desire to kill her. The smell of human blood beneath his claws, the smell that wouldn't go away no matter how much he scrubbed. And the vague memory—feeling more nightmare than reality—the tainted Shikon no Tama calling out his blood rage, driving him mindless, and how he had managed to retain just enough awareness, breathing in the smell of Kagome's blood, to push her away rather than kill her, he still didn't know.

He fought the pain. Kagome was safe, he reminded himself. No matter what happened to him, she was safe, n the future. He couldn't reach her. He couldn't harm her, even at his blood-maddened worst.

But, Rin wasn't safe.

Nor Miroku.

Or Sango.

Or Kaede.

Or Shippo.

Tessaiga pulsed at his side, but the youki in its flare only made the pain worse. He was only a hanyo, cursed with a taiyoukai half, unable to depend on himself for control, reliant on outside seals and spells. How many years had he felt like little more than a moving target for everything and everyone, and a tiny, treacherous part of him wondered if he shouldn't have stopped moving at some point, and let the arrows or spears, jyaki or spells reach their target. To have died before knowing of the horror he could become—

"Outoto." Strong hands grasped his upper arms. "This one … was unkind."

The powerful aura of the taiyoukai lord—his brother—surrounded him and sank into him. Inuyasha gasped, and leaned back, as the icy-hot power shattered the black spiral of pain and doubt. "Gods," he whispered, as he felt the aura that had once seemed to hold only anger and hate wrap around him. Relief poured through the chasm left by the darkness: he was safe. With Sesshomaru, he was safe.

"You won't let me kill them," he whispered. "Promise me, you won't let me kill them."

"Your life is mine, outoto," whispered the taiyoukai. "Rin's life is mine."

Inuyasha sighed, content to rest for the moment on his brother's strength and unspoken promise. There would always be a kernel of bitter regret in his awareness of his potential danger to the humans in his life, and his potential inability to stop himself. But, he would live with it, could strive to accept it. As long as he had Sesshomaru. His big brother.

"You will not make Rin cry."

"Keh!" Inuyasha pulled away, then ducked as Sesshomaru swiped at him with a fist. "Can't promise—I'll do my best, but even you won't be able to keep Rin from crying, someday."

Sesshomaru glared at him, offended. "Rin will not cry because of me."

"Hah!" Inuyasha danced backwards, smirking. "You just think that—you know less about human girls than I do!" He grinned, stuck out his tongue, then whirled and ran.

Two wraiths whirled through the night, red-black and glimmering silver. Sesshomaru chose to end the chase, bowling Inuyasha over in the grass at the hanyo's favorite cliff. They watched the moon rise as Inuyasha sat, puffing, recovering his breath, communing in silence until Inuyasha yawned. They parted, and Inuyasha made his way back to the village and the crowded hut, for the moment balanced and content, ready once more to pick his way through the complexity and bewilderment of human society…

Author's Note: This was written for the prompt "Moving Target," for the LiveJournal community "Inuyasha FanFiction: A Drabble Community." It was originally posted on August 7, 2012. It took second. (10/8/2012)