Chapter 22.

His father had said don't kill the humans, so he would not kill the humans. That didn't meant that he would not harm the humans, deeply and painfully. It would be better if they tried to run from him, that way he would have a reason to use his wipe, and who knows maybe he could miscalculate the force he used and end up cutting one leg or two by accident, not that anyone would believe he made such a mistake because he never made mistakes but he knew no one on their right mind would go against his words.

It had been almost a century since he had gone hunting something for personal reasons, and even longer since said prey had been a human. He never really enjoyed hunting humans, it was never a fair chase, they were too weak, too slow and too stupid to present a real entertainment for him, so he had never understood why back in the time other youkais found it so appealing. What was the point of chasing a weak prey? What joy could it bring to defeat someone that didn't have the conditions to present a fight? It was pointless to him, even when he was a young pup with all that extra energy that usually motivates his kind to want to rip things into pieces just for the fun of it. The few times he had been forced to chase humans had been because said humans had trespass into his territory and had to chase them out, killing one or two was just part of the business to make sure the rest understood what awaited the others if they dare to do the same. And even then it had not been his decision at all, always sent by his mother or even his father (before he had developed that fondness for humans).

As he got older he had spent most of his time looking for youkais that were stronger than him to fight, the stronger they seemed the better because once he defeated them he could be sure that he himself was getting stronger. He spent his energy that way until there was no one worth the trouble to fight. Satisfy with the fact that there was no other creature stronger than him in this earth, other than maybe his own father but he could accept that.

So you must understand why deciding that he needed to go and hunt this humans on his own was kind of confusing to him. The moment he caught the stench on Rin's arm he had gone immediately into hunting mode, staying seated for as long as he had had took all the concentration and self-control he had developed over the centuries he had lived. He never thought he was capable of hating so much someone he had never seen in his life, but he did now and he didn't care. That piece of filth had dare to threat Rin, had dare to touch something that belong to him, and he would meke sure the human regreted the moment he thought doing that had been a good idea.

Now, why was that he needed to punish so badly some lowly life because of Rin, was another different dilemma on itself. He was not supposed to care that much over the girl. He was sure he was not going to develop any sort of real affections towards her, because he was not taking a mate at all, not a youkai and definitely not a human. He was better off alone, a mate would only make him weaker and he was not a weakling, he was perfect and powerful, flawless. Having a mate, and a human one at that, would only put a stain on his perfectly carved existence, something that his enemies could use against him, a weakness. He had seen it with his father once so many years ago. How he had been brought to his knees when his enemy had taken away the human woman threatening to end her life if he didn't submit. As shameful as it had been, his own father had lost that fight and ordered them, ordered him, to back out in order to save her.

Sesshoumaru had felt disgusted, seeing his father humble himself because of a human, and then even more ashamed of him seeing him cry over an unborn pup that lost its life during that particular conflict. That day he had sworn to himself he would not take a mate, no matter if he found his perfect one. he had heard the stories, how everyone said that it was something stronger that your own self, something that could not been denied, but all of them were just weaklings that wanted to be subdued, he was not such a thing, he would be able to overcome the pull, he would kill her if he needed to, he didn't care.

But, oh, how wrong he had been…. The day he met her, it took him by surprised, he didn't even have the time to process what was happening. The feeling had been so strong, stronger that anything he had ever felt, he hadn't seen her before, not even once, but he knew exactly who she was just by her scent, and it had driven him crazy, for the first time since his own transition he had lost control over his own instincts and it took everything on him to not transform into his real form, and that only because he had known that she could have been scared of him if he went to her as a giant dog demon and because it would be uncomfortable for her if he had to take her away on his snout, because he had also known, of course he had, he knew the moment it hit him that she was no youkai like him, he knew she was human and he hadn't care one bit at the time.

Once he realized what he had done he felt angered and disgusted with himself, partially because he had kidnapped a little human girl, scaring her so much that she had fainted, but must of all because he had lost control, and he had been just barely able to get it back seconds before he did something that would have brought more shame upon himself and certainly scarred the girl that by then had been laying on his bed. He wasn't proud of that memory, he had almost rape the human, his instincts not caring how old she actually was or if she was willing or not, only demanding for him to claim and mark what belong to him, it had been his mother, that upon seeing his forceful entrance to the palace and sensing his dispersed aura, had come to check on him just because she was feeling bored and in need of some distraction. Her sudden interruption had helped him clear his mind enough for him to stop in what he was intending to do.

He remember her sardonic tone when she told him that he was in fact his father's son and asked what he was waiting for. He had snarled at her (though, up until this day he wasn't sure if it had been an instinctual thing, a snarl that meant for her to get away from him and his intended or as an answer to her malicious words) but she had simply laughed at him, not seeing him as a real threat. Seeing her so relaxed made him snapped completely out of his haze and he had sprinted out of the room. He hadn't gone near the human girl again after that, though, he hadn't gone too far either, his cursed instincts demanding he stayed closed to her and protect her.

The following years had been as shameful for him as that first encounter, he frequently found himself standing on her room in the middle of the night just watching her sleep, even when he had been resting on his room on the western palace a few hours before. He had looked for something, any thing that could tell him how to end that pull but he hadn't found a single lead, and as much as he tried to convinced himself that it was only because she was the daughter of a board member, he couldn't bring himself to actually killed her as he thought he would if come to be the case, he knew better. He wasn't able to rise his hand to harm the human, just the thought of it caused his inner self to writhe in anger and distaste. But even if he could not bring himself to erase her existence he sure was strong enough to keep himself away from her. If was just a matter of time for things to go back to normal, after all humans didn't live that long, for him it would be just a bunch of years of dealing with this pull until she died and then he would be able to go back to his normal self once more. He just had to wait a little and stay away from her.

He had lost that battle the second time he had kidnapped her, and this time he had not been able to keep her in the dark about who she was to him. Seeing her cry looked in her room when she learnt who she was thanks to his impertinent mother and seemingly blaming herself over the fact that he didn't want her, hadn't helped his determination and his instincts hadn't been on his side either, causing him to give in and allow her a chance to prove her value to him. And now, with each passing day that he allowed her to be in his presence he found himself more drawn to her, and doing things just like this, hunting down a human, that wasn't like him at all. He knew it wasn't him, it was all coming from his low instincts to mate and protect, instincts that he thought he had gotten rid of long ago… but that girl had a way of awaking in him so many emotions he thought he had gotten rid of centuries ago… and he was finding himself curious about what else she could get from him if he let her. But that didn't mean he was planning on taking her, not at all, on the contrary, he was just using her to appease his instincts, to soothe the ache that he was forced to feel when he denied himself having her by his side because of the pull of the perfect mate.

This was only temporary, he had sworn himself he would find a way to get rid of the pull, and he was going to make it. But for now, just for this brief moment, he would give into the urge of protecting his false mate, he would give in into the urge of soothe and give her everything she wanted, he would give in into the need of having her close and make sure she was safe and happy, just for now, just until he discover how to get rid of her completely…

Or so he kept trying to convince himself...or maybe it was because she was still considered a little girl in human's standards, she was definitely a baby compared to all the time he had already lived, that he couldn't bring himself to abandon her, because she was in need of his protection, that he could give. And that was after all the reason he had to hunt the humans, they present a danger to her now, they had already proven themselves a risk to her existence, and he as her auto proclaimed guardian couldn't allow that risk to exist. It was nothing more, that was the explanation to his anger, and the need of exterminating them, because they had dare to threaten something that was under his protection, and that he would not allow.

He might have overdone things a little, almost forgetting his father's orders of not killing the humans, too caught up in the chase when two of them have been foolish enough to think they could scape him, he had almost smirked when he saw their pitiful attempts to get away from him. He may or may have not let too much of his poison seep into his claws when he was forced to wound their legs to stop them in their attempts to scape. That have been more than enough to incapacitate the humans that fell writhing in pain over their injured legs.

As he had thought, hunting humans wasn't fun at all, everything was over the moment they had found them and he hadn't had the pleasure of a good fight. Seeing them laying on the floor didn't appease his blood either and having to drag them to the police station was been as disagreeable as he knew it would be, but he would not break his promise to his father. His little brother hadn't been the complete disappointment he had half expected him to be. He was getting the hang of things regarding his pure blood and that almost made him feel surprised, almost, it was not as if he feel any interest on what he did or stop doing. Between the two, they had gotten over and done with their mission in less than five minutes.

Things having been taken care of, he had gone back to his nightly routine. It was well past midnight, but he was confident he would still make it on time. The human always slept so soundly that she never noticed his presence, he was able to enter her room through her window and sit on her bed and watch her sleep until after the sun got up and she had never woken up, not even once. He was slightly concerned about her survival instincts, or her lack of them for that matter. She was even more vulnerable to dangers when she slept, her parents couldn't even be considered as some reliable source of protection either, none of the humans in her house were, as they had never noticed his presence, not a single time over the almost two years that he had been coming to see her. And that was his reason to keep on coming, and even so more after what had happened to her that night. The human girl needed his protection 24/7, and that he could provide. It had nothing to do with the foreign sense of peace he got when seeing her peaceful face, or the questionable adoration and curiosity he felt every time she move or let soft whispers in her dreams. No, it was none of that, he being seated on her bed stroking her face until she sighed and whispered his name was not the reason of his constant visits, and it definitely wasn't because he needed to feel her presence near him to calm his murderous aura, no, it was just because he was granting her his protection, and just until the moment he could find a way to get rid of her for good.

The hunt was over far too soon than he had expected, mainly because of his father that against all of his and Sesshoumaru's wishes had forbidden them to kill those bastards. "The girls are all right" he had said "killing the humans would only put you two on a difficult position. Catch them and bring them to Yoshino, he will take care of them properly." Had been his order. Sesshoumaru hadn't been pleased with this turn of events but he had complied with his father's orders. Having him aiding made things just so much easier and faster. As Inuyasha had thought his asshole of a brother had caught the robber's scent from Rin earlier so he had taken the lead on their search, and he had let him. He had better things to occupy his mind at the moment, namely Kagome.

Their conversation, or lack of it for that manner, had gone as badly as he had imagined. He had barely been able to get her to her house and watched her cross the door without redoing the mark (for the second time that day). She had refused to change to the front seat when he got back in the car, and had hummed her answers to the questions he made. She hadn't been angry, just sad and nostalgic, and it was driving him crazy. "can you tell me what's on your mind already?" he had asked looking at her on the rearview mirror, she had turned her sight to him but had averted her eyes as soon as they met his, she bit her lower lip and sobbed the beginning of her tears showing on the corner of her eyes. "Kagome" he had groaned. "can we just… not talk right now…?" she had asked him and he had been tempted to stop the car and get on the back seat with her and held her until she expressed with words all the emotions he know she was feeling, but he knew better than to put himself, and her, in a position where he would be also tempted to bite her again, so he didn't and instead he did as she had asked him.

"Thank you for bringing me home, and for helping me back in that alley…" she had told him when they stopped at her house. "I can get inside on my own… I… know you can't get close to me right now…" she had let out in a whisper more guilt radiating from her.

"Kagome…" he tried but she interrupted him

"I'll get better at controlling my feelings, I promise. I meant it when I told you that I want to make things easier for you…" she had faked a smile for his sake. "Talk to you tomorrow. Night!" and just like that she had hopped off the car and run to her house. He could feel his eyes pricking with her tears and his chest constrained with the pressure of her sadness, the knot on the pit of his stomach getting tighter…

"Great… just… great…" he had mumbled starting up the car and driving to his house.

He was a tiny bit grateful for the distraction, he knew he would not be able to fall asleep for the following three days if he wanted to pull this through, and he didn't trust himself falling sleep now, not after what had happened that evening. He was sure that the moment he drifted to unconsciousness his youkai blood would take advantage of it and would take him to her, and he could not allow that to happen a second time. The next three days didn't look at all promising for him. But he had to do it, for her, for himself, he had to do this.

"If you find our hunt so boring you could go back to your house, little brother, I can take care of things on my own." Sesshoumaru brought him out of his musings, being slightly irritated by his lack of commitment on their hunt.

"Keh! No way I let you have them to yourself" he fired back "it's not as if you would be able to find the other two without me" he pointed out, his brother didn't answer and just kept running. They were doing this by foot, for obvious reasons, they had gotten to the alley where Inuyasha had found Kagome and Rin so that they could pick up the humans' scents and tracked them to wherever they had gone to. They had been jumping from one building to another concealing their presence from the few humans that were still on the roads, it didn't took more than twenty minutes for him and Sesshoumaru to pin point the location of the humans.

Once they were in sight Inuyasha felt his blood setting on fire again seeing the scum that had been threatening Kagome's life with that rusty knife. He wasn't sure how or why but he didn't stop it from surfacing, even when he could feel the tale tales of his transformation, as he had done so many times before. For some reason this time it felt different, he didn't felt the lust for blood and death that overcame him every time his blood tried to take over before, no, this time it felt different, like it was trying to help him get over with this treat as soon as possible so that Kagome would never have to worry about it again. Besides the red thin in his sight and the discomfort he felt every time he transformed because of his elongated fangs he noted he was in complete control of himself and his body. And once they had knocked out and tie up the humans his blood had resided without him having to force it back. It was weird but a good kind of weird. Maybe his father had been right after all, he just needed time and practice to be able to control his blood completely.

After they had handed over the humans to Yoshino they were ready to go their separate ways, but the old wolf asked them to give their declarations so that the humans' commission could take care of things properly. So there they were standing on a police station full of hideous scents that sting his nose and too much spare time for his mind to wander on things he didn't want to think at the moment, thankfully enough it seemed that Kagome was already sleeping as he didn't feel her raging emotions rushing through him at the moment, giving him a break and more space to think on things he didn't want to either, meaning the last piece of his conversation with Miroku, and how maybe he should stop worrying about all this and give in into his instincts. No, that was for sure a path he didn't want to go down at the moment.

Trying to distract himself thinking on trivial things that didn't involve Kagome he remember something that promise to offer a distraction, but above all and despite of himself, Inuyasha was really curious about all this Rin thing his brother seemed to have. He had had his suspicions even before that night about who was his brother's future mate but he hadn't had real proof until then. Inuyasha could see why his brother had found all this perfect mate stuff so inconvenient, he was so opposed to the idea of mating a human that having one as his perfect mate sure had to have been a slap in the face for him.

"Why haven't you taken her yet?" he had blurted up before being able to stop himself. Sesshoumaru looked at him with a raised brow and an expression that said excuse me? But didn't answer his question. So he kept pressing "Rin, why haven't you taken her? I know that she is your perfect mate, and I know that you have known for quite some time now, so… why haven't you mated with her yet?"

"It has nothing to do with you" was all he told him.

"Sure…" he mumbled, what else was he expecting, right? "I just don't understand you" he continued not caring if he was listening or not. "you are able to know for sure that she is the one, you don't have to worry about whether or not she is going to make it through the mating ritual, you don't have to worry about killing her yourself, you have everything on your side and you still have not claimed her…" he glanced him from the corner of his eye to see if he was still paying attention, he acted as if he wasn't hearing him at all but Inuyasha knew better. "I guess I get it… you won't low yourself to be with a human… right?" he pressed more. "That's just it, am I right? You haven't mated her because she is human…" he concluded and for the first time in history he felt Sesshoumaru's youki flare with his irritation for what he was saying.

It seemed like he had touched a nerve there, Inuyasha was sure of it, even though, Sesshoumaru was keeping his stoic and all bored expression to cover up for it…. Inuyasha almost smirked… "Why did you let her know who she was if you weren't planning on taking her, though? I am curious about that. Was it father? Did he force you to tell her? You know it's just cruel to have her know about this and give her false expectations. You sure know that she really loves you..." He said turning to look his reaction. When he didn't do or say a thing he continued "I didn't understand why, though I suspected it was something you told her to do, but she never ever tell a soul about you directly, but everyone knows that she has a person she likes. The others press her a lot to tell them your name, but she has never faltered, she talks about you, though, it makes me laugh to hear how wrong of an impression she has of you…" he teased and Sesshoumaru almost seemed tense, almost "she gets this shiny loving eyes every time she talks about something you got her or somewhere you took her to. She says you are the most amazing man in the whole world. As if…" and then he actually let out a short laugh. "She is my friend, you know. I would hate to see her hurt because you are giving her false hopes. And I can tell that she really believes she would end up becoming your mate. So if you are not planning on doing that you should let her go…" why was he telling him that? He felt like such a hypocrite saying that when he wasn't able to do that for Kagome.

"What makes you think that I plan on hurting her?" Inuyasha blinked in surprised, had he actually responded to his teasing? "This Sesshoumaru would never do something to hurt this one's Rin's feelings" he added with a frown.

"Huh?" was all he could said "then why…?" he asked again but Sesshoumaru had already turned to leave the room.

"She's still too young…" he said walking out of the room effectively ending their conversation, or at least that's what Inuyasha thought he had said…

When he finally got away from the station he made his way to the slayers community. Thankfully he didn't have to announce himself when he got there, he had always find it incredibly irritating having to talk to the guards in the main entrance and wait till the guard went to announce him and return with the permission to let him in, or not, meanwhile he stood in there like an idiot. He understood, don't get him wrong, he knew that most of the people had to do the same when they went to his father's territory, here and in the western lands, and he understood it was for security reasons, though at the moment they were relatively at peace, there was a time when the slayers' community was not hold in good esteem as they were now, and they had had to find a way to protect themselves. He understood it all, but that didn't mean he liked it.

He wasn't surprised to see his parents there, the only reason Toga hadn't accompanied him and Sesshoumaru on their little hunt had been because he was supposed to pick up his mother later that night, though, he didn't mention where. Toga was slightly surprised to see him there, but he didn't commented on it right there and then.

Inuyasha had been greatly pleased to know that Sango's father was still alive. All had been a misunderstanding from her little brother, after being denied access to his father earlier in the night, and by not having someone to provide him with a proper explanation he had panicked, and after eavesdropping on a certain conversation out of context the kid's imagination had gone wild with ideas of his father being on his deathbed.

Tetsuo had had a difficult day, that was true, the antidotes were taking more time that anticipated to remove all the poison from his system which had caused him to have fever the whole day and kept him mostly unconscious, the poisonous powder that had burn his face seemed to have also gotten inside his left eye and Izayoi was afraid that he might ended up losing sight on it as there was not antidote efficient enough to heal the damage already done, there was also the fact that he still hadn't regain his voiced but he wasn't dying any time soon, his mother had assured Sango when she had entered the room running and crying her soul out. Her mother had apologized to her and her brother, Kohaku was too young in her eyes and she hadn't wanted him to see his father suffering and so had sent him out and back to the house, but the damaged had already been done and the boy had trouble believing the adults that his father was not actually dying. When Inuyasha got there Kohaku was perched to his father's bed holding his hand with red puffy eyes.

The visit hadn't been too long, his mother was already preparing herself to leave after a long afternoon of work assisting the injured when Inuyasha had gotten there. His parents had waited for him to give his greetings to the elders, wish a smooth recovery to the other injured and talk with Sango to make sure she was alright and then they were on their way back to his house.

Once inside he asked to have a word with his father planning on asking him about what Miroku had told him earlier. Toga had seemed confused by his request but had agreed and lead the way to his study, motioning for his mother to go ahead and wait for him on their room while he and their son walked to his studio.

"Did things go well with the thieves?" Toga asked as soon as he took his seat behind his desk, Inuyasha simply nodded his answer knowing full well that his father already knew the answer to that question. "Good" He said with a pleased smile on his face "Is something bothering you?" he then asked sensing that he hadn't asked to see him that late to talk about his and Sesshoumaru's hunt.

"Is there something I need to know?" he fired back, copying him and sitting on one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"About what?" his father inquired with furrowed brows acting as he had no idea of what he was talking about.

"Miroku told me." He simply said.

"Of course he did…" he answered with a sigh pinching his nose in frustration.

"Well? Were you planning to tell me any time soon?" Inuyasha pressed.

"There is nothing to say, son."

"Nothing to say? The slayers found the spiders that were used to make the poison that killed Kagome's father and you say there is nothing? What is going on? And stop giving me this crap! I know that finding Keiichi's murdered is as important to you as it is for me, so stop lying! Tell me, who is this Naraku Sango was told about in that forest? Who were those youkais? Do you know them too?" Toga sighed, he knew that keeping him, or his brother, in the dark for much longer was only going to cause trouble, especially if what he feared became true but out of all the possible ways in which he had been imaging that conversation taking place this one was not one of them. What good would make for him to know that there was an ancient and powerful youkai sealed in that forest? One that had sworn to annihilate all humans and youkais that dare to polluted the pure youkai blood by mating one another, and that despised the offspring of such unions? One that he could not kill because of a stupid vow of brotherhood that he did when said youkai was still his friend? That would only fuel his fears of taking Kagome as his mate he was sure of that, so no, definitely now was not the moment. But he knew his son and going by the branches would only arise more questions, so he went for the third option, gave him a half truth.

"I do know who Naraku is, and I have an idea on who those youkais were, but I don't know what are their intentions as of now, or if there really were the ones responsible for Keiichi's death, so no I was not planning on telling you anything any time soon because I know how crazy you get when you don't know things and how impulsive and reckless you can be when trying to find answers, and yes I was planning on waiting until I get things figured out to tell you about the spiders the slayers found in the forbidden forest." He told him with an air of finality on his voice, he didn't want this conversation to keep going.

"That's it then. We wait for an answer to fall from the sky…" Inuyasha retorted sarcastically.

"Pretty much." His father said with the same tone. "I not sitting on my ass doing nothing, pup. I'm moving my people looking into things here, and I have full hands with the board and all the problems you have caused so don't push my buttons. When something important comes up, and I need your assistance, you can be sure you will be informed. For now, I recommend you to deal with the problem at hand and don't meddle in things that don't concern you at the moment." he ordered him, and stood up from his chair making his way out of his studio before Inuyasha could recover and said anything else.

So here you have it. Another chapter. I hope you like it and I will try my best to update faster next time.

Thank you for reading!