It turned out the imp- Jaken- was very annoying. He talked almost constantly in his nasally, high voice. Most of it was praises, some of it was events way overblown.
On Jaken's current recitation of how he had saved him from being eaten, Sesshoumaru noted that he was going on about how his mere presence had fire falling from the sky to destroy his enemies.
"Jaken"
That was all it took. Just saying his name and he would quiet. Although Sesshoumaru was not sure if it was out of fear or reverence, the silence was worth more than anything at that moment.
Jaken seemed to have a large amount of knowledge about mystical items. When presented the riddle he thought about it for two days before he admitted he had no idea.
They had been traveling along the border between the west and the south when he finally caught the scent he had been searching for. Inuyasha.
Using pure youki to follow the scent, Sesshoumaru sped towards him.
He was perched in a large tree when Sesshoumaru reached him. Looking up into the tree to see his brother for the first time in decades, since he had to banish him, he felt relief wash over him.
Until Inuyasha opened his mouth.
"What do you want, you bastard." He huffed from his position in the tree. His ears were pulled back in anger, which was fair.
"I have been searching for you for decades brother, I need to explain" Sesshoumaru knew he was not going to come down and listen, so he floated up. "Inuyasha, I had no choice"
"Yea right, hide me away like a dirty secret? Keep me where no one could find me? Bullshit."
"Don't you see brother? If I had claimed you then, all of the threats on my life would have been on yours" he reached out to grasp Inuyasha's hand but it was yanked away "I was trying to protect you."
In the end, Inuyasha punched him in the face and ran off.
Jaken found him hours later sitting in the tree alone staring up at the waning moon.
He found it was a lot easier to keep the mask of cold indifference up once again after his brother left. He returned to the shiro with Jaken and over the next decade rarely left.
He did not patrol, he did not renew his borders with youki, many times, days would pass before Jaken would harass him to his office to handle, at a minimum, reading scrolls.
Jaken came bursting into his office one afternoon announcing a hatching in the stables.
The excitement that Jaken had at the announcement perked Sesshoumaru up enough that he walked down to see the hatching.
It had been many years since one of their lesser dragon beasts of burden had a clutch, and he wanted to see what the new steed would be.
He found many of his men gathered in the stables waiting, they all parted as he walked in, leaving a path to the egg by the hearth.
When he was only a couple feet away, the egg burst open leaving an upside-down two headed dragon blinking bleary into the room. A small yawn from each head the little dragon righted itself and turned. Both heads as one looked towards Sesshoumaru and crooned.
It was common practice that when a steed is hatched, the first person it lays eyes on is its bonded partner. Not only was the two heads a surprise, but the fact that both had seen Sesshoumaru and bonded with him simultaneously.
In the first few days, he carried the hatchling everywhere, there had never been a recorded two headed dragon in the west before so each interaction was new.
The two heads fought over everything from affection to food.
Watching the dragon take its first steps had caused Sesshoumaru to laugh for the first time in what seemed like forever. Thankfully, he was in the privacy of his rooms where none could see him drop the mask.
The two headed dragon followed Sesshoumaru everywhere. You would hear the bickering of the two heads as it chased after the Lord. It's claws clicking along as it ran down the halls trying to keep up with Sesshomaru's long strides.
As the dragon grew over the next several years, Sesshoumaru took great pride in teaching it how to fly, as well as to use its youki attacks.