Inuyasha wasn't in the mood for talking. When he entered the front doors, the guards said nothing to him. Sango was leaning on the wall, waiting. They probably watch him as he walked back to the compound. The cameras covered a lot of the surroundings. Sango was in awe and a bit scared, but maintained her composure. She had many questions, but his demeanor said a lot. He was usually vivacious, fighting, mocking others, and screaming all the time. Right now he seemed miserable, looking at the distance with glassed eyes. In the security footage that she saw, he was clean and looked healthy; right now he was covered in blood, and his face looked sunken. 'what could have happened since this morning'. A killing spree, she figured, sometimes he took Miroku with him to blow off some steam and clean the borders of the yokai territory. Since everyone took care of their own section of the country in whatever way they wanted, the limits of a city or a yokai territory were always the most dangerous and criminal spaces. She walked with him in silence to his place, not wanting to visit the infirmary was the usual move for Inuyasha, Sango always admired him for his strength, every other yokai dismissed him and paid the price, he was used to over-performing, Inuyasha pushes himself to the limit to avoid appearing weak. That made him the perfect warrior, always wanting to get better, never giving up. But that came at a higher price. He was emotionally immature, a real sick puppy said Miroku. 'He must have made a mess searching for Kikyo' was the conclusion of Sango's thoughts. After 3 days they declared him missing, the protocol was clear. The boss was angry, Inuyasha wasn't one to mess up, he would have to give a good explanation. They entered his place, and she left him at his desk, where a message from Sesshomaru awaited him. An order for him to go to the castle. She would have to talk to him when he returned. Without a second glance, Sango went looking for Miroku.

Inuyasha wanted to be alone and not be interrupted. This would not happen until he recounted the facts or something. 'Better to get this fucking shit over with'. He took a quick shower, changed into comfortable clothes, and let his feet walk him to the castle. This part of the property was, for security reasons, at the end of the compound where it could not be penetrated in a siege, surrounded by rock and carved to his brother's taste, the thing exuded power. Inuyasha took his time to cross the massive patio and, remembering his mistakes, prepared his body for a beating. He had failed in the job and he had failed with her. 'I cannot think of her right now, I was almost dead, but that will not be a valid excuse to Sesshomaru'.

The double doors of the war room opened but Sesshomaru walked out, Inuyasha knew better than to ask and just followed him, curious where shit was going to happen. He has always reprimanded him in the war room and the fighting happened on the training grounds. By spilling his blood, he paid for his sins. Those things had not happened since he was a teenager.

Sesshomaru's personal library was not his guess, despite that, they were here. His brother was silent, maybe awaiting the typical eruption of anger from Inuyasha. He took the bait. "WHAT fucker what? stop staring at me! I know I fucked up. The perimeter walk became a chase, and the chase became a bad tip and a trap. Maybe I should have noticed, but I didn't. I was almost dead when… and then I didn't send a message right away of my survival, I was too fucking happy and didn't want to give it up. As I fucking predicted, the day that I send the message was the day that I lost her and..." he stopped abruptly, he had revealed too much but was too wounded to really care, falling on his knees he awaited his sentence.

"Koga came to see me," said Sesshomaru, and looked for the first time at Inuyasha's face. His little half-brother couldn't hide his jealousy, such human emotions, Inuyasha had fallen in love with another's intended, this was a mess.

Inuyasha immediately got angry. It was going to be like this forever. At the mention of the wolf, he would get a craving for blood and broken bones.

"He said that it surprised you to see her taken. He left, as a personal favor to me, leaving you alone with her, did you kill her?" Sesshomaru calmly asked.

Inuyasha was horrified at once, "ne… Never, NEVER would I hurt her, you don't know, you couldn't possibly understand…" he said and explained nothing further.

'Good, one problem averted'. Inuyasha was as impertinent as ever, but something was off too. Sesshomaru probed. "Why did you court a taken woman?".

Inuyasha stood up glaring at him, "He has taken nothing! She is mine, I feel my yoki calling for her, she wants ME, she is going to live here and be mine even if I have to kill him, even if we go to war, even if…" he hesitated, "even if you forbid it," he said in a murmur.

Could this be? Had his little brother found his mate? Someone who, no matter the pain she caused him, could not be hurt. Someone that no matter how hard it was would always be worth the fight. Koga, on the other hand, wanted to kill Inuyasha for her but didn't seem as emotional as his brother was, but Koga was a full yokai 'hmm, how am I to know who is in the right' "So, shall we kill him?" asked Sesshomaru.

Inuyasha took his time. "No, he is a powerful ally with many at his command. It would be a stupid fucking war". This didn't sit well with Sesshomaru, his brother making rational, moral decisions was out of character, and he just said that he wanted to kill him no matter what. He pressed the issue. For this, he used his silence. Inuyasha always caved before silence, always wanting to fill the room, to feel less alone. In a few moments it happened, "he is a friend of hers, and if the worst thing happened… if she were to love him… we cannot touch him".

Those were quick words but difficult to say, they carried love, commitment, a little hopelessness but still a firm decision, Inuyasha had found his mate, Koga did not. The books said so, books that Inuyasha hadn't read, for he rejected anything but genuine experience. The fight, the actions, those were his familiar domains. Sesshomaru knew the value of both the fight and the plan, the training, and reading. Those were the elements that allowed him to make this decision, even if he had not felt love before. He could recognize it, could see it before him. "leave and tonight I'll have your report" Sesshomaru said and selected a book.

Inuyasha grew suspicious and went for it "what are you going to do? I cannot believe that you are letting me go without punishment", 'maybe he is growing soft with old age'.

"Brother, your rival is better than you in so many ways, I have seen human women and female yokai adore him. I believe you are being punished already," said Sesshomaru and left, book in hand, to his private gardens. Inuyasha stood there alone, thinking that his brother was as cruel as everyone thought because he was a fucking mess, and Sesshomaru as good as made fun of him.

The report:

I fucking failed ok? leave it alone.

Inuyasha.

The revised report:

Inuyasha acted on an anonymous tip given to us by an enemy yokai found in the compound's periphery and apprehended a few blocks east. Rumor was that an abandoned factory acted as the hideout of one of Naraku's high yokai. The trail led to a situation that seemed gone awry, as if the enemy took a misstep. They scattered many dead in the ground. The corpses carried documents with other addresses; the clues showed separate ways, and so the team split up. In one of those second locations where the backup team hadn't come, Inuyasha was attacked by a demoness that used knives or something sharp to cut his intestines out (Intel tells us that her name's Kagura), he crawled out to the street for she left him presumably dead in there and he was found by a human with medicinal knowledge. The human presents no risk since prince Koga of the wolf tribes vouches for her. The medical report is inside the beige folder with the conclusion that the asset is fully healed.

Sango.

The next few days he didn't show, she could only hope for him to be alright. The entire scene seemed to her like an out-of-proportion reaction to just hugging a friend. She could ask no one, she didn't know any humans that dated yokai, they always uprooted the human and lived god knows where among their own. Besides those things were rare, Inuyasha was an anomaly, children of both humans and yokai were the anomaly. Books about them and research about them were only to be seen by yokais eyes. Humans lived like always, but protected, at peace, with less crime and minding their own problems because yokai didn't meddle, they just watched and punished criminals, always in the dead of night, always justified. They lived and mated among their own. Koga was the anomaly too, befriending a human, caring for her. She was lucky; she knew theirs was not a common friendship; he didn't know of her powers; she trusted him but couldn't make him an accomplice, for he would not turn her in.

Every supernatural creature in this world followed yokai law, but she didn't, she was hiding as a simple human. Living a low-key life, like a criminal, she assumed, even if she didn't know the rules, that one was surely a law. Inuyasha didn't get it, she was in trouble when she used her powers again to help him; she was in trouble when she accepted to live with him; she was in trouble the minute she found him, nevertheless, she wanted to be with him, to heal him and love him. Didn't actions speak louder than words?. But if that was so, he left. That was the thing that hurt her the most. He left just because she allowed another yokai in her life. Gone forever for all she knew because of jealousy. In her honest opinion, he wasn't at all like he used to be.