Authors Notes: Perhaps it is best that I explain a few things now that the first chapter is out ne? Now lets see, oh yes of course this is a Sesshomaru and Rin based story. I might have another coupling in this as well, but its main characters are my favourites in the series. Its is an AU story even though it is still in the Sengoku Jidai Period.
A few changes have happened so to make things easier instead of having people guessing I'll spill the beans on the obvious:
Sesshomaru is but a pup (even though 84 years does seem quite old but never in youkai terms). I'm making him age 7 years at a time like a dog, Rin ages like all us humans and Inuyasha will be half the dog years since he's only half demon.
In this story for the most of it (I'd say about 90%) Sesshomaru will be in his dog demon form. I have to make his transformation memorable; so yes he does get his human form, but just wait for it.
Sesshomaru isn't huge like he is in the anime (not yet anyway). His height at the moment is just under or just reaching adult knee height. I made him a runt at the moment, but he'll grow I promise.
Also he will most likely be out of character at times, but I want him to show emotions in this story. Who wants a non-emotional Sess-chan anyway?
Sesshomaru's father is alive, his full demon mother is dead, Inuyasha is but a small child and he does know about Sesshomaru and actually loves him too. Aww… They grew up a little bit together, but Sesshomaru is a bit confused with the whole "hanyou thing" and how to deal with it. Inuyasha's mother is alive also and now lives in the castle with Sess-chan, Inuyasha and InuTaisho. (Does their father actually have a proper name? Or is it just common to use InuTaisho cause that's what I'm going to do). Inuyasha's mum, well I haven't figured out a name for her yet as those three are absent for sometime in this story. Ten years has to pass after all. ^_^
Sesshomaru can communicate with all other demons (if he wishes to) and can hear everything been said or spoken to him. In other words he understands the "human tongue" very well.
Rin-chan is the human baby he found. Like that was a big shock ne?
In this story Kagome lives in Feudal Japan as well, which you'll see her soon.
Kouga and Sesshomaru are now rivals not Inu-chan and Kouga because Inuyasha is too young.
Sesshomaru and Inuyasha will reunite and something bad will happen, but don't panic I won't make them hate each other. (Though it is funny the way they act in the anime) I won't have them like this in the story. Of course they'll have awkward moments, but hey I'm sure I'll make them get over it in time.
Well I'm quite sure that is it so far, if you have any questions you can always leave a review ne? (^_^) Ja and I hope you enjoy!
~ The Extent of a Demons Heart ~
Time passed quickly, the sun setting past the horizon for yet another day in the Fukai Mori. Sesshomaru had smelt a village and begun his journey heading towards it quite some time ago. Carrying a child between your teeth and fangs wasn't exactly easy going. It wailed non-stop, his pleas for it to "shut up" weren't working anymore. Had it only been pure luck the first time? Sesshomaru rid himself of that thought as he brushed through some foliage and looked over the small hill and into the village below. It would do him no good to start doubting his ways now. He believed in what his father stated and somehow…in some small place within his heart he knew this baby was the rare being that will set his powers free.
Please be silent, we are not too far from the village now.
Sesshomaru spoke softly, in a voice that would fill the child's mind with serenity as he again willed it to quieten down as they approached the dark village. Or so he hoped. He just knew the gods must have been looking down upon his frustrated self for the child did exactly that. As he neared the front entrance to the village, moving stealthily across a wooden bridge, he finally took note that there were no humans around. No fires were lit and all he could hear was the faint echoes of relaxed heartbeats and soft snores. The village folk were asleep for the night.
Sesshomaru passed a large hut, this one obviously belonging to the elders of the village he supposed. He wasn't stupid; he had heard stories and knew all about humans. It would do him no good to venture off on his own without learning certain things such as what humans was like. Funnily enough Inuyasha's mother had been kind enough to tell him all she knew.
As Sesshomaru surveyed the area, he noted a small hut situated not too far away from the others. It looked to be abandoned and so he made his way towards it and sniffed the straw mat where the front entrance was just to make doubly sure no one was inside.
It was empty.
The young pup headed inside, his impeccable eyesight taking note of a worn straw bed to the back of the hut. This would have to do for the child for this night. It would do him no good to awake the humans and alarm them into killing him. Although he wasn't quite sure what to think of humans, he always stating he hated them – though he wasn't quite sure as to that statement now since he was looking after one. Though Sesshomaru could handle himself, it was in his own best interests to leave the village people alone…for now. Obviously the less noise made the better he was off for if a ruckus broke out it would surely bring bad youkai to the area. There were five types of youkai roaming the lands.
There was the dying breed of youkai – The Great Monster Demons with the likes of his own father being in that category. There were the Pure Soul Demons of Good Deeds – His own mother was in that category. Next came the Neutral Demons – ones that moved about the lands freely and ones that didn't care for much until something effected them personally. They moved about from place to place, not siding with good or evil and in fact only fought for themselves. Sesshomaru felt he was pretty close to this category then the Tai-Youkai like his father or the Pure Souls like his mother. There was also the Bad Youkai's – ones that pissed off the good for they had nothing better to do, which Sesshomaru swore Kouga was in that very category as he seemed to piss everyone off, including his own tribe. To round up all the groups there had to be enemies and these were the Pure Evil Youkai. Though Sesshomaru had never seen any roaming into the Western Plains he knew Evil Youkai were out there somewhere, plotting against other demons, but especially against humans.
Sesshomaru placed the baby down on the straw, noticing it had actually fallen asleep. How odd that such a creature…an innocent creature at that was not afraid of him. All humans feared demons and yet this one didn't fear him being near her at all. Was it because she was too young or did she automatically know he was not here to harm her in any way?
As Sesshomaru sniffed the child once more, his nose came in contact with chilled skin. As he lifted his head to peer down at the small bundle he began to wonder about how when he was young and cold he had his mother to embrace him with her warmth and yet this small baby had no one. Instinct took over the young pup as he moved onto the straw himself and lay close to the child, his head resting on his left paw and his eyes drooped closed for a short rest. His floppy ears twitched slightly as his hearing senses were on full alert just in case some sort of demon wanted to approach the unsuspecting village during the night. He had now begun his long journey without fully realising it. The pup was beginning to protect his rare human.
~ Morning ~
At first light, the pup's senses became unmuddled and were back in full swing. His ears moved around as he caught a soft humming coming from outside the hut about 50 metres away from where he and the baby rested. It seemed one of the villager's children were up and fetching water from the river.
Sesshomaru pealed his eyes open and glanced down at the baby still lying beside him noting the fact that when he sniffed its skin once again, it smelt like salt. The child was sweating profusely. This was not good at all.
"All that is asked of you is to protect the one meant for you from harm…"
I remember father…
Sesshomaru voiced to himself when he heard those words run through his mind. His human needed some help…and quick. The now agitated dog demon ran out of the abandoned hut and straight towards the unsuspecting girl. She had been busily humming a tune her mother had taught her when the bucket she was collecting the water with was dropped, a soft tugging at the hem of her small green kimono surprising her from her short lived daydream. The young girl was probably 5 years old and turned around to stare face to face with a white dog. Her light brown coloured eyes stared into golden ones as she watched the demon run back towards the abandoned hut once more. Too young to understand the dangers of such a creature, the girl followed Sesshomaru as the motion he was creating with his head obviously meant he wanted her to come with him.
Sesshomaru rushed inside, the girl tentatively following as she watched him head for the straw bedding and nuzzle the baby squirming in its dirty blanket. Once the 5 year old girl heard a small cry, she was over in a flash and starring down at the flushed face of an infant. She gasped in surprise and awkwardly picked up the child after feeling its high temperature. In seconds she was out of the hut and dashing for her home, yelling for her mother.
While the young girl continued to scream her lungs out, wanting her mother to pay attention to her for she had something extremely important to show her, Sesshomaru ended up staying confined in the hut. His demon eyes were trained on the little girl as he watched a woman come out of the large house and head down the stairs wondering what all the fuss was about.
"Kagome-chan what is all the fuss about?" The woman spoke, but gasped in shock as her daughter awkwardly held out the baby for her to take. By now villagers had emerged from their own homes to see what all the commotion was about.
"Kagome dear, where did you find this child?" Kagome's mother questioned her as she sat down on her front porch, cooing the child lightly while waiting for her daughter's explanation. Villages stood by awaiting her explanation as well and the little five year old let rip with her story about a beautiful white dog with a blue crescent moon on its forehead had asked her to come with it and that's when she found the baby in the hut. The villages looked sceptically down at the five-year-old, there eyes moving towards the place where she was pointing, it being the hut.
"Higurashi-san, perhaps it is time that you stop telling bedtime stories to Ka-" The villager was unable to complete his sentence when he watched with wide eyes, along with many others as the pure white dog came out of hiding. Sesshomaru stood no higher then adult human knees and he cautiously made his way towards the mother that had been holding his rare human. In an instant the village folk were armed with any sharp weapons or tools and not to forget rocks that they could grab their hands on. They were ready to beat this demon away from their village for good. Sesshomaru did not care however, as his eyes were still intent on the squirming bundle in the elder woman's arms.
"Don't hurt him! Kachan tell them to stop please! The doggy saved her and means no harm honest!" Kagome pleaded to her mum, her brown eyes welling up with tears as the village people began to move closer towards the unsuspecting demon.
"Minna that's enough, we are not barbarians. Drop your weapons at once." Kagome's mother spoke softly, but in a stern overpowering voice, watching as every villager that had been armed had now dropped or placed their weapons down.
"I only ask you to watch the demon carefully, but don't attack. It may look small, but I am certain it is stronger then all of us put together." The village elder spoke, her head turning to face Sesshomaru as he now jumped onto her front porch heading towards her. He was not stupid and knew all eyes were watching him intently, but all that mattered right now was her. Golden eyes stared into brown ones for a mere second before he dropped to his stomach and lay near the baby's head, his muzzle nudging the side of the baby's head, instantly quieting its wails and lulling it to sleep.
"Well, this is certainly interesting…" The village elder, Kagome's mother voiced softly. Never had she seen such an act between a human and a demon before. She nodded her head, silently telling the village folk to go about their usual day as though nothing happened, which was quite hard to do when you had a demon now residing in your village at this very moment. Kagome sat beside her mother watching as the "demon" as her mum had described the dog to be bent his head and closed his eyes.
"This demon…looks like her protector." Kagome heard her mother mumble, a confused expression crossing her face at those words but instead she went back to starring intently at the demon lying on the right side of her mother.
~ Three weeks have passed ~
Only three weeks have passed and still the villages were graced with the presence of the dog demon in their village. It seemed it was intent not to leave the human child alone even for a moment. It had passed its fever the day it was found by Kagome, only to move from being a normal bubbly wailing baby to becoming sick once more. That is what Sesshomaru hated the most, how fragile humans were against anything and everything.
He had done many things for the villages and still they did not know how to gaze upon him, whether in awe or in fright. There had been a lack of fresh 'meat' roaming the village boundaries and one day he had headed for the main house where his human seemed to stay and overheard a man complaining that his family had not had any meat for an entire week. The village elder began to worry and thus Sesshomaru set off on his own, the young Kagome calling out to him as she had seen him race off.
All villages had stopped working and children had stopped playing when they saw the demon pup that had been living in their village head through the main dirt road with blood dripping from its fur. They watched in amazement as he dragged a large kill, probably twice the size of him though the dirt and straight for the woman who had taken his human in and begun raising it as her own.
He growled softly, indicating he was back and watched the woman, Kagome and a few other village elders move onto the porch to gaze down at him. Now these humans believed the rumours that demons could understand their "human tongue" as Sesshomaru had brought them some much-needed meat.
"You are full of surprises, that you are Inu-chan." The woman holding the infant spoke as she sat down on her porch once more. They knew nothing of the dog demon that took up residence in the abandoned hut and therefore she opted to refer to him as "Little Dog or Little Pup". It almost seemed funny to her as everywhere she travelled, this dog demon was not far behind. It now was a given he seemed to be eyeing the child she cared for these days and in fact her suspicions that he was protecting her was now confirmed. Mrs Higurashi ordered the men to take away the kill so it could be cleaned and cooked and they did so immediately. This supply of meat would last the village an entire week.
"Kagome-chan, why don't you go wash Inu-chan for me?"
"Yes mama." The five-year-old replied while rushing into her home and coming out with a bucket, a cloth and some scented wax (soap). The young girl stood next to the bloody Sesshomaru and pointed towards the river.
"Come on now, she'll be okay with mama I promise."
Sesshomaru took one look at the sleeping girl in Higurashi-san's arms and then reluctantly followed Kagome towards the riverbank. He eyed the human child as she filled the bucket of water and then proceeded to pour the entire contents over his fur making sure everything was drenched. He growled at the coldness of the water but stayed still when he felt a scrubbing against his back. That he didn't mind…it kind of tingled a little. Anything was better then the stench of blood and guts on your fur that was for sure. Again his head turned back towards the porch of the house and listened to incoherent words being spoken to the child. She was obviously up now. Sesshomaru turned his head when he realised that the human girl, Kagome, who was washing him was actually talking to him.
"I wonder where you come from, where you've been and where you were going. I mean you must have been heading somewhere instead of here ne? I wonder what your name is too? And how old you are as well? Did you know my name is Kagome and I'm 5 years old, but then…I guess…you wouldn't really know that huh?" Golden eyes stared blankly into light brown ones as Kagome filled the bucket a few more times and consistently poured the water over Sesshomaru until his fur was free of crimson blood and soapy residue.
"Hmm, can you understand anything of what I'm saying Inu-chan?" Kagome tried again and watched with wide eyes as the pup nodded its head once.
"SUGOI!" She shrieked loudly and scratched behind his ears. Sesshomaru felt no need to try and communicate back through his mind for he wasn't too sure whether the mind of a 5-year-old could actually handle the power of mind merging. Instead he remained quiet and listened to the humming of Kagome once more.
"Kagome-chan, Inu-chan, its time for dinner!" Higurashi-san voiced loudly. Kagome watched Sesshomaru shake himself of excess water and teleport himself right in front of her mother whom was just standing up.
"Oh my, you have some hidden talent there Inu-chan." She had left the baby girl resting comfortably in a makeshift cot on the porch, as she discovered how much the dog demon liked being beside her and would not doubt him of his right to do so. How can you doubt a demon anything when it provided the village with meat and had saved a small human baby from dying? Not all demons were bad it seemed. Mrs Higurashi watched from her doorway, while ushering Kagome inside, as she observed Sesshomaru nuzzle the side of the baby's head before lying beside it, the warm evening breeze drying his now clean fur.
A small frown encased Mrs Higurashi's face as she gazed between the human baby and the dog demon. Thoughts began to plague her mind; even she was still not sure what to think of this demon staying in the village. What adventures and dangers would this demon place on her and her village? Just what were his intensions?
~ TBC ~