Chapter Fifteen
I, Sesshoumaru
"I know you're there, Inuyasha."
Dog-ears twitched.
"Why don't you come down?"
Standing at the edge of the planting fields, Kimiko stood looking up into the branches of a tree. There was a flash of red, and the hanyou landed on the ground before her.
"You've been watching me," she said lightly. "I'm flattered."
Inuyasha crossed his arms. "Keh! With you just walking around everywhere carrying the jewel, you never know when someone's gonna attack you. Pretty stupid on your part to wander around alone like this. Someone's gotta watch you."
She gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry I worry you, Inuyasha."
The hanyou's cheeks flushed. "Heh, you don't worry me woman." He turned and leaned back against the tree he'd been in previously, ignoring her. His attitude is so unpredictable, Kimiko thought. He acts so gruff and rough sometimes, but other times I can tell he wants to touch me again. What is the key to his heart? What is the real Inuyasha?
For the past week the hanyou had been like a true forest spirit – disappearing for hours without a trace, and suddenly returning to stir up the villagers, or simply sit on the roof of a house and watching everyone. His behavior reminded her almost of a shrine Kami; he was the village guardian, and it was obvious from the display that first night with the centipede and others after that how seriously he took this duty.
"Where do you go for so long?" she had asked him once after he had disappeared for an entire day, returning at sunset. He had turned his nose up at her.
"Places," was his response. "I'm a busy man."
Kimiko knew the truth was that he never strayed far from the village. She could always feel his youki nearby even when he was gone for hours at a time. Inuyasha was remarkably good at not being seen, but he couldn't hide his presence.
At night Inuyasha stayed in the trees at the village outskirts. Many times Kimiko had asked him to stay in the village at night, but he refused. He knew that if he did, he would stay on a roof for he hated being indoors, and it would most likely be her roof, and he would be able to smell her and hear her all night. He didn't want another incident to happen.
Kimiko began to walk, and Inuyasha returned to the trees, leaping from branch to branch and staying slightly in front of her.
"You're an odd creature, Inuyasha," she said as she walked. He paused, and glared down at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Don't take offence, I meant nothing bad by it." He snorted and continued tree-hopping. "It's just strange, because…don't jump there!"
"Huh?"
His foot touched the branch of another tree, and in a split second the tree had come alive. Surprised, Inuyasha tried to leap away, but soon found himself hanging upside down from its branches, which had wrapped themselves around one of his legs.
"Whoa!" he shouted, kicking his legs. "Hey, what the…"
Kimiko drew an arrow, and shot the trunk of the tree. Immediately, the branches released and straightened back to their original positions, dropping the hanyou. He landed on his hands and flipped onto his feet, and then gave the tree the nastiest look he could possibly make. Kimiko laughed slightly when she heard him growling.
"It's a youkai tree," she explained. "It will capture and hold anything that touches it, and no amount of youkai power and strength can break free of its branches. Had I not been here, you would have been unable to get free."
"Why is it here?!" Inuyasha growled, extremely ticked off at this creature that had captured him so easily.
"Calm down, Inuyasha. When the creatures who are after the Shikon no Tama come, this is the direction they come from most often. We had the tree planted here purposely to capture the ones coming this direction. It has helped greatly, for as you've seen, the only way to make it release its victim is with a miko arrow, or by destroying the tree altogether." She grinned. "I would suggest leaving it alone from now on."
"Keh," he muttered. "You could have warned me sooner instead of waiting until I was on top of the stupid thing. Any more surprises I should be prepared for?"
"No, I think you can handle the rest. Come on, let's return to the village."
As they walked away, neither took notice of the pair of golden eyes watching them from a carefully chosen patch of forest that was downwind of the hanyou's good nose. The slitted golden eyes watched with little emotion as the pair walked away, and then faded back into the forest.
"Hmm. Interesting."
* * *
Kimiko walked through the village, her spirit feeling rather unsettled about something. It was night, and rather late, so she was the only person out. She could sense Inuyasha but barely; he was on the other side of the village somewhere in the forest, and the fact that he had not shown up showed that he had no idea she was awake and out walking. That was not what was troubling her.
This feeling of youki, she thought. I felt it earlier today as well. Then I had dismissed it, for I had been with Inuyasha. But this time, it is unmistakably near, and very powerful. It feels somewhat like Inuyasha's youki, though different at the same time. Almost as if it were stronger.
Walking through the sleeping village, Kimiko wished she had the hanyou's enhanced senses. As a human she could neither smell nor hear anything dangerous if it were there; her miko training was all she had, allowing her to sense youki that she knew was out there, and very close by. Shuddering slightly, she clutched her bow closer and continued to search out the feeling. A moment later she paused, closed her eyes, and then turned to look out towards the forest. There, gazing intently at her through the trees, were sharp golden eyes that were extremely familiar.
Inuyasha? Kimiko thought, confused. No, it's not him. I can feel him on the other side of the village. A relative perhaps?
Very faintly, she heard a rustle, and saw a flash of long silver hair and a metallic reflection from the moon, possibly from armor. In an instant, she readied her bow, aiming directly for the creature.
"Don't move, youkai," she said. "I know you're there. If you move, I will kill you."
The eyes staring at her showed no hint that he had heard her. Kimiko heard another rustle, and faintly saw white cloth moving. A second later, her arrow was released.
In a blurred movement, the youkai caught her arrow inches before his face. She gasped as his hand briefly glowed green, and her arrow dissolved. Quickly, she readied another one, but the moment her hand touched it he spoke.
"Foolish human. Do you think a mere miko's arrow could damage this Sesshoumaru? You truly are a fool."
Before she could think, let alone move, the youkai flew forward, and for an instant she could see him. His eyes and hair, so similar to Inuyasha's, were the only resemblance, for this creature was obviously no hanyou and cared nothing for a weak human's life. Especially one who had shot an arrow at him.
His right hand began to glow again, and as he lifted it up a shriek pierced the night.
"Sesshoumaru!"
A blur of red and silver raced towards them as the poison whip began to form on Sesshoumaru's fingertips. Inuyasha willed himself to run faster as he watched the whip begin to arch towards Kimiko, who stared up at his brother in shock and terror. Time seemed to slow as Inuyasha, in a final burst of speed, leapt between his brother and the miko, and the poison whip went straight through his torso. The hanyou cried out, and fell to the ground between them, blood seeping from his clothes.
Shocked, Sesshoumaru's eyes widened almost unnoticeably, and he immediately retracted his hand. The whip disappeared, and he landed softly on the ground a few feet from his wounded brother. Kimiko stood on the other side of him, breathing heavily as she noticed her clothes splattered with Inuyasha's blood.
"Fool," Sesshoumaru said. "Always willing to risk your life for a human."
Inuyasha's body shuddered, and he painfully forced himself to his knees, and then to his feet. Turning towards his brother, he gasped, "Don't…don't you hurt her. Just leave me alone."
"Save your heroic speeches, Inuyasha. I had not meant to slay you. That wound is your own fault."
"Go back to your castle, Sesshoumaru."
"Inuyasha, you're hurt badly," Kimiko said worriedly from behind him. "You shouldn't be standing…"
"Ursai!" he shouted, looking over his shoulder. "Get out of here, Kimiko."
"Inuyasha…"
"GO!"
The girl backed up from him, but didn't run. Clutching her bow, she stared at the figure in white who had so easily ran Inuyasha through.
"Don't you think you should listen to her, Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru said. "My whip is not an easy thing to survive, and it went straight through you."
"Ursai, Sesshoumaru. Go away."
"Foolish hanyou. You really should listen to your aniki [older brother] from time to time."
Kimiko's eyes widened. Aniki?! This Sesshoumaru…is related to Inuyasha? I see the resemblance, but he's a full youkai.
"You have no room to tell me what to do," Inuyasha spat. "Not when the wound was caused by your own hands."
For a moment, the youkai's gaze flickered. "I told you already, I had no intention of harming you."
"Keh, you always did before."
"Yes, before we lived together in peace for years. You should know by now, I am no longer after your life Inuyasha. I no longer hate you."
"Why are you here then?!" Inuyasha shouted, though a waver in his voice betrayed him. He was close to collapsing; his blood had seeped through his clothes and was forming a puddle under his feet. He held one arm to his wound, willing himself to stay standing and conscious.
"Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru said calmly. "Now is not the time to talk. Allow your miko to treat you; it is not below you to seek the help of a human. When you are healed, I shall then talk with you."
"And what will you do until then? Slaughter the people of the village? Go back home, Sesshoumaru."
The youkai blinked, and held his head high. "I will not touch your village. But I will not leave." He turned and began to walk away. "Find me when you are healed, Inuyasha."
"Wait, Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha yelled after him. "Aniki!" He was answered by silence; his brother was gone. Staring into the darkness, the hanyou's vision blurred, and he finally fell.
* * *
A/N – I realize that in the show, Inuyasha would have never called Sesshoumaru "aniki". This is taking place after they lived together for many, many years, and no longer hate each other. Sometime during those years, Inuyasha began to respect him, and so in my story he will call him "aniki" from time to time.
