Okay. Now it's been like a year since I updated, a fact that I must apologize profusely for. But I'm back the last two chapters of this story ready to go. Thanks to all those who have reviewed, you really are great inspiration and I'm sorry for my extreme case of adjusting-to-living-at-college-with-roomates-who-are-old-friends-who-never-knew-I-was-obsessed-with-fanfiction-and-think-its-weird syndrome. It wasn't just that but also the fact that I kept getting new ideas and then starting to write them. So basically it was stupid! But I'm happy to be back. I only planned to have one more chapter, but my new fan fiction friend, Elton, who was gracious enough to read the last chapter of this story suggested I write one on Sesshomaru. And well…Tada! I did. The next chapter is pretty much ready to go, I'll probably post it in a couple of days, to give this chapter a chance for feedback. Assuming anyone is interested at all anymore. Moving on…

Like I just said, this chapter is Sesshomaru, and I'm not sure I did so well with him. He's hard to read! I kind of picture him as being the kind of person who locks some feelings so deep that even he doesn't realize what he really feels. I also think that he doesn't hate his brother as much as he says. I hope that my portrayal is satisfactory. Please tell me! Review please!

Almost to the story, just three more things:

I first of all want to thank Elton, for reading over these chapters and encouraging me tons.

I secondly want to say that I do not nor will I ever own any part of Inu-Yasha. (Disclaimer)

I thirdly want to say that since everyone has probably stopped reading these notes (even I'm not interested in what I have to say) on with the show.

Witness: Sesshomaru

I, Sesshomaru, will not let this go unpunished, my dear brother.

Sesshomaru seemed to glide through the forest as he made his way purposefully towards the spot where his insolent brother and his human companions (the fox kit did not really count, and the cat seemed to be little more than a pet) had stopped in their trek home.

Naraku was mine to kill, for thinking he could use this Sesshomaru to do his dirty work. He was too afraid to take on my worthless brother himself, and thought that he could manipulate me. I am not surprised that even Inu-Yasha's poor fighting skill was sufficient for this battle. However, I, Sesshomaru, am not pleased at being denied my retribution. I come for you Inu-Yasha, prepare yourself.

"Gah. Sesshomaru-sama! Please wait!" the toad demons voice, grated at Sesshomaru's nerves, pulling him out of his thoughts and into slight annoyance.

"Where are we going Sesshomaru-sama?" surprisingly (though not to him, because he would certainly not become surprised over anything relating to a human girl-child) Rin's high, cheerful voice did not further annoy him, but seemed to alleviate some of his anger.

"Stay here Rin. If you follow me, or wander too far, I will be angry." He watched passively as the little girl gave him a cheerful salute, allowing only a faint trace of approval at her behavior to show on his pale, beautiful, and generally emotionless face.

This Sesshomaru does not care for you Rin, he merely permits you to follow him, because it suits his whim. Do not think you can sway me with your insidious affection. I could dispose of you at any time.

Convinced once again, Sesshomaru, turned to leave, "Watch Rin, Jaken." The toad, who had been ready to follow his master, frowned but managed a dutiful, "Yes, Sesshomaru-sama."

Sesshomaru knew his half-brother was just a little ways ahead, though even if he was far he would have been easy to locate, for the demon lord knew that the hanyou was loud enough to hear for quite a distance. He found the fact rather irritating, if his brother was going to insist on defeating the foe that Sesshomaru had marked for death by his own claws, the least the hanyou could do was act more like a proper demon.

Unfortunately, Inu-Yasha has always been woefully lacking in proper demon composure. Hot-headed and brash as a common human warrior. He always insists on acting as though he is cursed with their laughably short life spans, while insisting on fighting as if he were some sort of common demon rabble. It pains me to say that even human warriors, due no doubt to their constant fear of dying, show more presence of mind in battle.

"MIROKU! WAKE UP!" Sesshomaru cringed at his half-brother's worried voice.

Loud and overly emotional. Seemingly unaware of the death that clearly hangs in the air. Calling out like a pitiful human. This is what I must bear as a blood kin. Our family was meant to be respected, feared, untouchable.

"Inu-Yasha! I think—I think--he's dead… Oh… no, no…Inu-Yasha, he's dead, he's not breathing…Miroku, Miroku! He's not breathing –I can't feel a pulse- No, Miroku. Inu-Yasha—He can't be dead!" the girl's voice was high and panicked and her scent picked up the salty smell of tears.

"No! He can't be dead! He was fucking fine a minute ago! OI! Miroku! WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Inu-Yasha's voice was rough with worry.

He's really no better than that human girl. Embarassing.  I should have killed him long ago. I should have known that being raised by a human woman would make him too human.

When Sesshomaru entered the clearing he was irritated to find that his pitiful excuse for a brother had not even yet noticed his presence. He was hugging the girl, next to the body of the priest. Near the cat demon he saw the exterminator, looking not much better than the priest, bleeding from a wound in her abdomen.

I could kill them all right now. And it wouldn't even be satisfying.

But he missed the subtle tensing of Inu-Yasha's shoulders before her threw the girl behind him and swung the sword into a ready position in front of him, his position protecting the girl and his other companions.

"Bastard! What are you doing here? Get the hell away!" The edge of Inu-Yasha's loathing was taken off by the grief noticeable in his countenance. The way his eyes shifted not only to the girl slightly behind him, as Sesshomaru had known they would, but also to the body of the priest, eyebrows drooping in what could have been confusion, ever so slightly.

Foolish, crude, hanyou. I can see through you, I can see your pain so well. It would be easy to kill you now.

As if guessing what he was thinking, the girl moved from behind Inu-Yasha, placing her hand on his arm until he lowered then finally sheathed the Tetsusaiga. His hand remained firmly grasping the hilt. She looked at Sesshomaru with an air of what he recognized as defiance.

"What do you want?" her voice was mild, and he smelled no fear on her, only slight apprehension. He suspected she took his allowing Rin to stay with him as a sign of "humanity" a sign of him being "safe." It seemed a likely human belief. It irritated him that even looking defiant, the girl no longer provoked any real feelings of malice in him.

Meddling, annoying girl. It is lucky for you that today Sesshomaru has no desire to take your life. Do not think that slight resemblance to Rin would save you otherwise.

If Sesshomaru had truly been keeping watch on his thoughts he would have realized the slip he had just made in comparing Kagome to Rin. Why should there be any reason to think that little Rin was a factor in whom he killed? Why would he be comparing the two humans anyway? However, Sesshomaru instead chose to smile a small, condescending smile.  

"Once again you embarrass yourself, brother. I could have killed you and your woman by now, as well as the rest of your companions, so easily it hardly would have been worth the seconds it would have taken."

"Keh! I'm not in the mood to humor you today. So fuck off." Sesshomaru's smile faded into a look of cold foreboding.

"I, Sesshomaru, am not something for you to choose to humor or not to humor. You killed Naraku, who I had sworn to kill."

"Keh, damn right I did. You think I was going to leave him for you? Let you take your time? Not fucking likely." Inu-Yasha gave a snort. It was a crude, utterly uncultured sound.

Maybe if he had been brought up in the ways of our lineage, he would not be so infuriatingly emotional. It's his biggest weakness, and it has only grown stronger. I should probably have killed the girl when I had the chance. Or killed him like I always intended.  

For some reason Sesshomaru felt no strong desire to draw his brother into combat today. Nor did he have the urge to strike out at any of his brother's companions, to show him how vulnerable his emotions would make him. Instead, Sesshomaru allowed one delicate eyebrow to raise as he surveyed his brother.

Tense, you're so tense. And I can see that you are trying to cover your concern for the girl, and the priest, though you betray your intentions too easily as always. I can see that she is concerned too, but for you. She is not afraid of me Inu-Yasha, at least not that I can tell. Human idiocy, and she has her hand on your shoulder to control you. Is that all that's holding you back? The hand of your…beloved is it?

Sesshomaru noted the rising growl coming from the hanyou he was scrutinizing but made not outer sign of noticing it. He chose to instead turn his attention to the body of the monk, where he could, putting a hand on Tensaiga, see the demons of the underworld preparing to bear the soul off to hell.

Monks and demons alike to face the weighing of their souls, to be purged of their old lives and thrown back into the cycle of life and death. The monk will not fair well, corrupt, lecherous thief that he is. And the taijiya does not look far behind him in coming.

"I will settle this matter with you on another day Inu-Yasha. You will make it a more worthy use of my time when I return." Sesshomaru turned. His brother would not attack. He was too far under the charms of the human bitch. "In any case, I will leave you to dispose of the priest. And I expect that the other human will soon be joining him in hell."

He looked back around to see the girl eyeing him shrewdly. Her eyes had widened slightly, seeming to pick up on things that she had no business inferring, things that she should not be allowed to believe.

"Wait." She had released his stupid brother's arm and was approaching him tentatively. Sesshomaru paused. For a moment he ignored the girl, in favor of watching his brother's slow mind catch up with what had just happened. It was a mildly amusing thought. But he allowed passive eyes to flicker pack onto the girl when she addressed him again.

"Your sword. The Tensaiga." She nodded pointedly at his hand on the hilt. "It brings back the dead, right?"

"In a matter of speaking."  Kagome looked at him expectantly. When he only stared back blankly, she looked to Inu-Yasha, whose hand was still on the hilt of his own sword, and looked painfully ready to attack. He did not know what she was getting at.

Even that human girl should know better than to expect him to know what's going on. Perhaps this misguided faith is one of the reasons he pursues human females over demon. Though of course it must also be the lack of self-respect. A demon woman would not think to mate one that was so beneath her as a hanyou… In any case, I cannot see why this girl persists in dragging this out. Sesshomaru's time is not to be taken lightly.

Kagome sighed in exasperation. "So you could use it right? To bring back Miroku? He's only just…died." She flinched at the word died, fresh tears welling in her eyes as she looked at the body.

The only thing I could ever understand about humans was their fear of death. They have such pathetically short lives.

"Why?" he found he was actually interested in the answer to this question. What made this girl think that he, Sesshomaru, would actually lend any sort of help to this situation.

"Because you don't have anything to lose by doing it. And I know you aren't bad You've helped us before, you saved me a couple times, and you didn't kill Inu-Yasha, or Kohaku that one time. And you even helped Sango once when…" She was babbling, and it irritated him, but something in her eyes kept his interest on her, where others would have quickly found themselves left behind (if he was in a good mood), or decapitated.

Her eyes are familiar. How? What is it in them? What is endearing in that gaze? They are no special shade, not really so special at all.

Her eyes were still pleading with him, but that was not what he found tempting him. It was there with the lack of fear, behind her plea but so much more important, and so familiar.

Rin? Is there something there that is like her? Trust? That's what it is. This girl believes I won't hurt her. She believes that I will help her merely because it will be of no inconvenience to me. She trusts me.

"Inu-Yasha." Sesshomaru's voice was cold, betraying none of his thoughts. He held his brother's angry gaze. The one heated by every year of his miserable childhood, as well as their more recent battles. Inu-Yasha did not trust Sesshomaru.

It is unwise to trust so easily. I know that this was another part of what drew Inu-Yasha to human women in the first place, though the first one's trust was untrue. She was more wise, she knew that trusting too much creates vulnerability.

"You intend to mate the girl?"  Inu-Yasha snarled.

"If you even think-"

"Silence. I am not presently planning to do anything regarding her. I was only seeking verification. And I will take your lack of vehement protest as such. It is just as well, as I have told you before, to act at your own level." Sesshomaru paused, not, strangely enough, knowing what exactly he was doing.

Do I want to help them? To unburden them of this? Why? Because his anguish is, even though he is now distracted, still painfully obvious? Because I see the eyes of my charge in his bold woman? Because this girl who has watched me attempt to kill herself and my brother multiple times now turns eyes of warm trust on me? No, I cannot. I am not Inu-Yasha, with his embarrassingly strong emotions. I am not like my father, able to be charmed by the simple love of a human girl who defies me, or one who trusts me.

Sesshomaru looked over the scene again.

He was a friendly child once, and more intelligent than I expected a hanyou to be. He was a defiant adolescent, even by demon standards. He always was determined to be a demon, yet drawn to humans, for their compassion and pity no doubt. Of course even the humans recognized him as not one of them. They shunned him also. I never saw him with companions before. 

"Would you agree with your future mate, Inu-Yasha? Do you wish for the monk to yet live?"

I never cared for him, the shame of a noble demon line, made all the more shameful by his disrespect and brashness. I disliked him for the part of Father that he represented. I hated him for being sealed to a tree by a miko woman he thought he loved, clear proof of his weakness.

"Keh. Why would you do that? It doesn't do anything for you."

Interesting that his answer is the exact opposite of hers.

Sesshomaru drew the Tensaiga, noting that when his brother tensed to attack, the girl went to his side and once again placed a restraining hand on his arm. He relaxed an almost unnoticeable amount.

Interesting again. He will trust her opinion on this, then? Is that what that is, restraining him, more successfully than I've ever seen his stupidity restrained?

Sesshomaru took slow steps toward the priest's body. There was no rush he knew he had brought both Rin and Jaken back from longer deaths. And although he seemed oblivious to the furious conversation behind him he paused in his steps to let the conversation drag on.

"What the hell does he think he's doing? It must be some kind of trap. That bastard…"

Sesshomaru has no need for tricks Inu-Yasha, if I wanted you dead you would already be dead.

"I don't think it is. He's going to do it."

"Keh, you should just let me kill him! We don't need him!"

"Inu-Yasha! Don't be stupid! He's going to save Miroku!"

In the past he would have rushed blind into battle, no matter what was at stake, no matter the intentions of the enemy. I do not know if this is an improvement or not. I would have liked to have a brother who amounted to more than a careless fighter or a girl's lapdog.

"B-But it's Sesshomaru! He doesn't just do things out of the goodness of his heart! Damn it! What does he think he's doing?!"

"He's changed Inu-Yasha! Haven't you noticed? He hasn't tried to kill us in ages!"

"Just because he hasn't tried lately-"

"Don't be a jerk Inu-Yasha. YOU tried to kill me the first time we met but you don't see me holding it against you!"

"That-That- It's not the same thing! He's a fucking cold hearted bastard!" Sesshomaru noted that, like many less intelligent creatures, Inu-Yasha seemed to swear more when he was flustered.

He tried to kill her? I suppose that's how he got himself collared. The girl is correct. He is an idiot.

"Inu-Yasha you will not stop your brother from saving Miroku! People change!"

"Idiot wench! He's not 'people'"

"Inu-Yasha!"

"Gah! FINE!" at this point Inu-Yasha's voice out of the low volumes that the conversation had previously occupied! "But I don't see why you have any reason to think that he could just change!"

"I don't know? But I think he has." Her voice took on a thoughtful tone. "I think it's that little girl. You know, the one who travels with him? He takes care of her, even if he pretends not to care. I think it's sweet. And I think that she's the one who's changed him."

"Keh. Whatever. If it wasn't so fucking hilarious to think of him tied down to a little girl, I'd still be happy to end the bastard's life."

"Inu-Yasha…"

"Yeah yeah. Well that damn priest better be thankful. And if he ever touches you again, after all this shit, he'll wish I let him stay dead."

Thank you Inu-Yasha. And you'll see. I know I'm right about him."

Sesshomaru swore he could detect a hint of pride in her voice, unplaceable pride, while he finally moved forward and raised the Tensaiga. He also noticed that both the girl and the hanyou were quite tired, especially the girl, whose miko power seemed to have been nearly exhausted, meaning she had brushed by death not too long ago. He let the Tensaiga fall. A moment later it was done. The priest choked, eyes fluttering faintly, not coming into full consciousness, but his body now able to properly handle the poison left in his blood.

He turned to a beaming Kagome, and a suspicious and surprised looking Inu-Yasha.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama." Her voice was refreshingly respectful. He dismissed her thanks silently.

"Inu-Yasha. Do not think this means I have forgiven you. For taking my prey or for sharing my blood." Sesshomaru paused, "And I, Sesshomaru, may allow a human girl to travel with me, but at least I have the dignity to not be controlled by one, my dear brother."

Your opinion is of little consequence anyway. One day the time will come when I remind you of what you are. Of the fall you represented in our father. Of why you must pay for his death.  Consider this…do not consider this at all. Do not think of me, brother. I will not think of you. For now, I will allow you to bask in your ridiculous happiness. Did you know I had noticed Inu-Yasha? Not since you were a child have you been so content to simply live.

The dog demon swept away without a backward glance. Moments later he had returned to the place where he had left his charge and his servant, and was greeted by Rin, a bit dusty, but grinning as usual, and Jaken, who looked thoroughly hassled and relieved to see his master return.  

"Come Rin."  His thoughts went back to his brother and his human companions, particularly his mate.  

So trusting. Is it a trait of many humans? It is a respectable quality that even I cannot quite comprehend. What had I done to earn that girl's trust, but show her indifference and some chance help, rather than cruelty? What did I do for Rin, but turn up nearby too wounded to harm her, and trapped for her to practice her clumsy compassion, to be a forced companion to her.

"Sesshomaru-sama! Rin played hide and seek with Jaken-sama, but Jaken-sama could not find Rin! And then Rin and Jaken-sama ate dinner, but Jaken-sama would not tell Rin when Sesshomaru-sama would come back. And he said that Rin smells bad and that is why Sesshomaru-sama went away. But then…"

I cannot dwell on such things. I am not my brother. I am not my father. Sesshomaru will not be domesticated by a human. Sesshomaru will not forsake his heritage. Rin is…

"Sesshomaru-sama?" he didn't answer. But the ghost of a smile flitted across his face as he looked down at her.

…unimportant. I do not need Rin. Both my father and Inu-Yasha needed their human women, loved them. I care little for Rin. I do not have any need of her. Her constant chatter and inane happiness are…pleasing in their own way, but not necessary.

It didn't occur to the Demon Lord that he had for the first time admitted to himself that he cared for Rin at all, or that he had never realized how silent his travels had been before she took to reporting to him every mundane detail of her simple life.

I, Sesshomaru-sama, will see you again Inu-Yasha. I will see what you make of the life you have chosen. I will not change my ways.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" the girl repeated, finally gaining his attention.

"What is it Rin?" he murmured, as offhand as he ever spoke.

"Rin is thirsty because she has talked so much."

Sesshomaru did not respond but turned toward the not too distant bubbling of a creek.

He did not realize that he was already changed. Or that he already needed her.

But (luckily out of hearing range) Kagome was all too aware. And she and Inu-Yasha discussed it as they bore their recovering companions towards the village that had become their home.

"I still think he's a bastard."

"Well, I suppose you two will never really get along."

"I sure as hell hope not."

"It's too bad really. I bet he'd make a funny uncle." Inu-Yasha blushed at this casual referral to their future children and snorted, hoping that the priest was not just faking his unconciousness.

"No pups of mine are going to get anywhere near him."

"But that little girl's changed him. And she seems to really love him. A pity he hasn't realized it all yet."

"Keh"

"I think it's kind of sweet. Anyway, you've changed too, you know."

"I haven't changed." Inu-Yasha scowled. "Wench"

"Well okay," she began, letting him slide on this, "Never do" she grinned at him in a way that would have given Sesshomaru pause, had he been there to witness it. It was after all, similar to many smiles that had been bestowed on him before and to the one he was receiving at that moment, when he pretended not to notice that Rin had reached up to grip one small hand on the empty sleeve where his left hand would have been. It was a smile that was infuriatingly knowing and even more infuriatingly lacking in anything that could warrant anger his anger. Sesshomaru didn't understand it.

Next Chapter coming right up! Until then please review! (even though I'm a bad author for taking so long to update!)