To Inuyasha's surprise, Sesshomaru calls him again.
When the flickering light touches his eyes, he's half asleep, leaning against the thin wall of an old temple that Miroku managed to get them a night in. At first, he believes tiredness is to blame for his vision that starts to play tricks on him, but the more he opens his eyes and observes, he realises it's no mistake. Sesshomaru's summoning him.
He looks about the room to make sure nobody can question him if he decides for a sudden departure. Miroku is a few rooms away tending to some temple princess and Sango is outside, taking a walk with Kirara. He's left alone with a sleeping Kagome, and if he's sneaky enough he will be able to leave without alerting anyone.
But does he want to? He shouldn't, not after the tone of their last interaction, where Sesshomaru accused him of assault when all he wanted to was to get some well deserved answers.
Still, Inuyasha didn't think he was going to get summoned again. Their last meeting left him under the impression that their arrangement is over and the next time they will meet, it will be on a battlefield with their swords against each other's throats.
Wherever this might lead, he's going to take the chance, Inuyasha decides. As he moves from his spot on the floor, the light does too, showing him the way towards Sesshomaru's whereabouts.
His brother is not too far. Once the light alerts him of the yokai's presence, following his scent becomes easy. He expects the meeting to take place in one of their usual spots; a dank cave, an eerily quiet clearing or a riverbank, but the light guides him toward another temple, somewhere not too far from the one they are spending the night in. This one, however, seems long since abandoned.
The tiny light dissipates right at the temple's entrance, leaving Inuyasha confused and disoriented until his eyes get accustomed to the thick darkness. He can feel the yokai's smell, but it's far from precise; it seems to be coming from all directions yet none at once.
"Sesshomaru?"
Silence.
He's left to wonder about, checking most of the rooms without any luck. His brother is close, his scent unmistakingly tells him so, but there is once again that distance between them that Inuyasha never gets the privilege to cross.
"Inuyasha."
In normal circumstances, Inuyasha would have been startled, having his brother sneak up behind him, but now his only reaction is a long, annoyed exhale.
"There you are."
"Here I am indeed," Sesshomaru responds then turns his back to Inuyasha and heads towards one of the rooms with his younger brother following closely.
"How'd you even find this place?"
Sesshomaru doesn't regard the question as important enough to answer, choosing to advance through the long corridor in silence. The room he settles for gives the impression that it was once rather luxurious, belonging to a noble or a lady. Now, it is dark and murky, with moldy patches growing over the rot-covered wood walls.
Taking in the details of the room makes Inuyasha miss the haste in which Sesshomaru undresses. The faint thud of his armor hitting the floor is what draws his attention back towards the yokai.
"I imagine you'll want to undress as well. Unless you intend on wasting my time with frivolous talks yet again."
"Damn right I want to talk. I can't keep coming whenever you summon me like a docile dog and do whatever you want me to without at least an explanation."
"Does it matter so much?"
Inuyasha tries to keep his anger in check, because if he doesn't he knows he'll either punch Sesshomaru straight in the face — and he likes to think they're past that — or sob, and he's not a little prissy. He's not that affected by Sesshomaru's coldness, he just wants answers, dammit.
"It matters to me! Because you… you fucking asshole can have any yokai you want in your bed. You could spit in front of them and fuck knows, they'd lick it, because you're the future Lord of the West, the strongest, most wanted yokai bachelor or some shit. Yet you chose hanyou half brother that brought shame to your name or whatever. Excuse me if I'm a little confused."
Sesshomaru eyes him, and this time his expression is so stern and devoid of all other emotions that Inuyasha can't read him. He feels awkward, wonderingi being this honest to someone who gives no shit about him was worth it.
"The difference between you and all the other yokai is that they do not have Inu no Tashio's blood running through their veins, nor are they in possession of his legacy."
"Of course this too is about the cursed sword. I can't fucking believe you," Inuyasha yells.
"Your foolishness has no limits, brother. You truly don't understand a thing I'm telling you."
"Well, then make me understand! If you have anything to say just say it straight, damnit!"
Sesshomaru does not say anything more. Instead, he kisses Inuyasha hungrily, again and again. His tongue forces itself into the hanyou's mouth, brushing against his fangs in search of Inuyasha's own tongue.
"Fuck off!" is the hanyou's response. He won't let Sesshomaru ignore the situation like this when this exact course of action was the reason Inuyasha got scolded the last time they met.
"I ask you once again, Inuyasha, what is it that you so desperately want to hear from me?"
"I–," he tries, but the yokai is not finished.
"That I want you to be my mate?" Sesshomaru spits out the last word so venomously that Inuyasha feels as if he's been stabbed by his brother's poisonous claws. "That I mean to take you back to my mother's castle and marry you? Make you the Lord of the West?"
Blood fills up Inuyasha's cheeks as he grabs Sesshomaru's wrist in a death grip.
"I just want to know that the reason I'm here is not only to fulfil your damned power fantasy. I don't want you to look down on me anymore, like I'm a thing that you can simply use and then throw away after you're done, you asshole!"
Sesshomaru's expression does not change, but there is something in his eyes that wasn't there before, something that Inuyasha can't hope to identify.
They sit like this for what seems to be a small eternity, Inuyasha still tightly holding Sesshomaru's wrist in his hand, inches away from piercing the soft skin with his claws. They both stare into each other's eyes.
"I do not look down on you, Inuyasha. I stopped doing so quite some time ago. You're just too imbecile to have realised."
The yokai's hand is released, falling at his side, just as Inuyasha's mouth drops. "You– you mean that?"
"You're my brother," is all Sesshomaru says, and it's enough. It's all Inuyasha ever wanted— no, needed to hear.
It's awkward and completely unnecessary, but he throws his arms around the yokai nonetheless, hoping that he won't be caught teary-eyed.
"Don't get emotional, foolish hanyou. I know it's part of your human nature to do so, but it's hardly fitting – "
"Shut up, shitface."
Sesshomaru exhales a long and heavy breath in annoyance, but he wraps his own arm around Inuyasha nonetheless.
It's not about blood or legacies or whatever stupid shit Sesshomaru makes up in order not to break his image as the supreme asshole of the west, Inuyasha realises. His brother simply trusts him like he trusts nobody else. Of course he won't ever admit it, but Inuyasha doesn't need him to. It's enough, he realises. Sesshomaru's words can't seem to leave his mind and there is no doubt about it, Inuyasha is his brother, and it is enough.
They have sex that night. It's not so different from any of their previous times, except it is. The air is heavier, and whenever Inuyasha gets a whiff of it, it's no longer the scent of lust that fills his nostrils, but something else entirely. It's foreign and dangerous, sweet and sharp at the same time. Neither of them can get enough of it.
Sesshomaru doesn't leave in a haste that night, deciding to simply lie on his pelt and rest. The idea to touch him, maybe embrace him once again tempts Inuyasha, but he doesn't have enough time to ponder on it before Sesshomaru speaks.
"You may call me, if you wish to. If I'm not otherwise preoccupied, I will come, and we might spend the night together."
"Took you long enough," Inuyasha says, seemingly irritated, because as happy as he is, he won't make it easy on the asshole.
"A simple word of gratitude would have sufficed, hanyou."
"Eat my ass. Besides, how am I even going to do that? I don't know how to send you creepy flickering lights."
"I suppose you'll have to figure it out on your own," Sesshomaru says, and there is definitely a glint of amusement in his voice, Inuyasha swears by it.
It feels good, he thinks, as he watches his brother take flight later that night, becoming smaller and smaller the further he flies. As if he was never here to begin with.
Except nothing can deny that he was. His presence left Inuyasha with a warm, fuzzy feeling that he doesn't remember to have felt too many times in his life. They talked and bickered and had sex, and it was good, Inuyasha realises. He is all that Sesshomaru has, in a way, and the more he thinks about it, it becomes clear that what they have is so unlike any other relationship in their lives.
They don't meet for the next few months. Time flies faster when Inuyasha's only occupation is finding and killing Naraku. Still, once in a while, when he is alone with his own thoughts, he can't help but think about his brother.
"You're my brother," he whispers to himself, as if Sesshomaru is here to hear him, or say the same exact words to him once again. The word brother tastes just as pleasant on his lips as Sesshomaru's kisses do...
Author Note: Hello there and thank you for reading my work. If you enjoyed it, leaving a review would be most appreciated. This is the first installment of a series called 'moonless'. The rest of the series isn't exactly plot heavy and FFN friendly, if you know what I mean. If you'd like to check it out, it is on my Dreamwidth account and also archived on AO3.