So sorry for the MASSIVE delay on this! It has been pure chaos lately! We're still in the 3rd movie timeline wise!
Tensaiga rattled in its sheath the closer he gets, letting him know he is getting close.
He can scent Inuyasha now, the scent of despair fills the area. Coming out of the woods he sees Inuyasha looking out from a clifftop over the destruction wrought by the Dragon Twister. It was powerful, Sesshoumaru knew his brother was capable of great strength, but this, THIS level of destruction is far past what he would have expected.
"How did you come to posses the S'ounga? Don't tell me another one of father's swords chose you." Bitterness fills his words, but the veins traveling up his arms from the sword show that the sword isn't under Inuyashas control, but rather the sword was fighting for control.
"How do I know? I'd gladly give it to you, but it looks like you'll have to take it from me by force though" Inuyasha grumbled, the sword coming up into a ready stance that he had never seen from the pup.
Rin and Jaken had caught up, and were hiding behind some boulders a short distance away. They should not have come so close. The S'ounga would target them if it realized they were there. It probably already had as it was connected to Inuyasha. He would need to protect them as well as try to get the sword away from controlling Inuyasha.
The swords met with a powerful blast of youki.
"I hate that our fathers blood runs through your veins!" He wasn't sure where that had come from, but he felt like a small weight lifted with the admission.
"Sesshoumaru, when my blade closes with yours, I know all your thoughts. Even how Inuyasha cut off your left arm" the S'ounga cackled gleefully. He needed to be cautious, he could not let the sword know the truth. The sword could not know his worry that it may take over Inuyasha and he would lose him.
The swords met again and broke apart with Inuyasha lunging towards Rin and Jaken. He followed right behind, the pups speed had drastically increased at the behest of the sword.
He swung, pushing Inuyasha back trying to get him away from Rin and Jaken.
S'ounga came alive in a flare of red youki, feeding its strength into Inuyasha and as Sesshoumaru watched the sleeping beast awake within Inuyasha he realized that he may be the one to have to actually kill Inuyasha. The idle threat that had protected him, that he would only die by Sesshoumaru's own hand, may actually come to pass.
Inuyasha suddenly turned, lunging again towards Rin and Jaken, but Sesshoumaru reached out gripping the Tessaiga and drawing it from its sheath releasing a wind Scar that would hopefully free Inuyasha. He knew the sheath would protect his pup, but he had others that needed the protection as well.
Tessaiga burned in his hand. Waves of pain rushed up his arm, the sword denying his use. He dropped to his knees with the pain.
As the dust settled, Inuyasha still stood holding the S'ounga, his nose lifted, nostrils flairing. In horror, Sesshoumaru watched his brother scent out his little pack hidden behind the rocks. Watched as Inuyasha moved with a speed that he had never had before, and as time slowed he rushed towards them, to save them all. He wouldn't make it and as Inuyasha brought the sword down he saw the rosary around his neck light up with reiki.
He almost couldn't hear her as she screamed "SIT" his blood was rushing so loudly in his ears.
Her small body collided with Inuyashas and with a great boom he was sent to the ground. The sword sent flying through the air, driven off by the strength of the miko.
He could tell that she wasn't seriously harmed, and he needed to retrieve the sword before any other being got ahold of it.
By nightfall, he still hadn't found where the sword had been flung to. It must have traveled much further than he thought. Without being in contact with a being, it had withdrawn its aura.
For some reason his left arm began to itch. It did not make sense, as the arm that it he'd was gone, yet he still felt like something was touching him, causing false sensations in his mind.
He had thought that over time these random sensations would end, yet on this night it was like when it had first happened. He could almost imagine a hand wrapped around his arm, tingles of a numb limb gaining circulation again, fingers gripping and holding. He looked to the stump in dismay, these feelings were such a nuisance.
Throughout the night he could not rid the sensations, and as dawn broke over the landscape he felt the distinct youki from S'ounga off in the distance. It seemed he didn't find the sword because something else had picked it up and was using it.
He made his way in the direction of the swords youki, not noticing at first where he had tred.
The scent of flowers began to clog in his nose. After 200 years, this area still smelt of Izayoi. The flowers gave way to bamboo thickets, walking through where he knew the fortress had once stood.
He caught Inuyasha's scent on the light breeze, and headed in that direction.
Inuyasha was quick to prepare to draw Tessaiga against him when he entered the clearing he was in.
Breathing in through his nose, the scent of decay, the distinct flavor of S'ounga's youki, that samurai Takemaru, and oddly enough, he could scent himself in the area. Although all the scents were several hours old.
He knew then, what had happened here.
"Takemaru of Setsuna, so the sword chose that vermin as its host?"
"You know about him? What are you even doing here? This is a human burial site. What is your connection to him?"
"You are wrong, it is you who has the connection to him. You are ignorant, perhaps that is this ones fault."
Inuyasha drew Tessaiga, pointing at him. Sesshoumaru wondered if the speed that he had attained while under the power of S'ounga would remain. If his reflexes would be impacted by any change. He drew his sword as he charged, internally grinning as Inuyasha met the blade with his own.
Their swords sliced through the bamboo as though it were nothing more than water.
This place, the scents were reminding him. Izayoi's smile flashed behind his lids when he blinked.
Youki began to swirl around the Tessaiga and Sesshoumaru pulled his youki into his sword. He would respond to the wind Scar with an attack of his own. Holding his sword level to the ground, he released his dragon strike.
He knew it would easily overpower the wind Scar, but he expected Inuyasha to use the backlash wave. As if he had told him to, Inuyasha released the attack.
Sesshoumaru took a deep breath, closing his eyes to focus his youki to push the attack back.
He was on that cliff on the beach. The ocean spray on his face. Father's blood dripping on the snow. Tasting the ash on his tongue as the flames lapped the wooden structure where father had died.
His eyes snapped open as he released an uncontrolled burst of his youki, easily overpowering the backlash wave, the sheath of Tessaiga protecting Inuyasha from the blast as he went flying back.
Looking at Inuyasha laying amongst the broken bamboo, he did not scent blood, and there was movement. Inuyasha would be alright, but as Sesshoumaru turned and walked away he wondered:
Would HE ever be alright?