Chapter Fourteen-The Talk
"What are you doing here,Inuyasha? Haven't you caused enough trouble?" Sesshoumaru looked up as soon as he smelled his younger brother in his doorway. "And Rin….with him now,are you?"
"He came to speak to you about Saraku." Rin replied boldly. "The least you can do is hear him out,My Lord."
"How dare you…." Sesshoumaru replied quietly. "Go to your room."
"Go easy on her, Sesshoumaru. She's worried about your other daughter." Inuyasha told him. "As we all are."
"I don't care about Saraku anymore. I'm tired of her running off."
"She runs off because we act like children." Inuyasha told him.
"Don't come into my castle,lecturing me." Sesshoumaru growled. "And the last time I checked,you tried to take her away from me."
"You kidnapped her! She was happy with me and Kagome!" He glared at him. "Everything I ever had,you wanted to take away from me!"
"That's where you're wrong! Inuyasha,all I ever wanted to do was keep you in your place,like any other older brother would. " Sesshoumaru gestured to a chair,and watched as his little brother as he sat.
"My place is beside Kagome,and that is all you need to know." Inuyasha told him. "That's Saraku's place too."
"Take her. I don't care anymore. Really." The older brother replied.
"You might want to rethink that, or you'll lose Rin next." Inuyasha told him. "If not for yourself,at least want her for Rin." Inuyasha arches an eyebrow at his own thinking. I came here to negotiate letting her come live with me,and here I'm telling him to want her! "I'd be glad to have her, Sesshoumaru,but first,you need to make sure you don't really want her. I don't want you coming back later and trying to take her back."
Sesshoumaru turned,and eyed his brother. "Why do you care? I'm giving you the chance to take her freely. Why worry over what I really want?"
"As I said. You're not coming back later to lay claims on her if you say no now." Inuyasha repeated.
"And if I did say yes?" Sesshoumaru asked now.
"Then we negotiate." Inuyasha told him quietly. "We've to stop fighting over her, Sesshoumaru. She's not a piece of land or a sword. She's human."
"Did Kagome tell you to come here? She wasted your time." Sesshoumaru replied coldly. "That girl deserves a lot better than you!"
"Appearently, Kagome feels the same way about us both. She's letting Kouga,the wolf demon prince take care of her!" Inuyasha spat. "It's because of us that Saraku ran away in the first place."
"Alright. Let me get this straight. Kagome knows where Sara is,yet she won't go get her until we come to some sort of agreement?"
"Right. So will you be my brother just this once,and put off this prince act?"
"I've always been your brother, Inuyasha. I've just never wanted to acknowledge the fact. The truth is, I,too, am tired of the arguing."
"Is that so? Well,you could've fooled me." Inuyasha folded his arms. Then he sighed. "Sesshoumaru, all I ever wanted was to be your little brother. I envied you for having full demon blood, and the power to heal,rather than hurt. I can't help what I am. It's not like I told my mother to mate with father."
"You….envied….me?" This was a new concept for the demon lord. "I thought you enjoyed the kill?"
"I did. But then I met Kagome, and she showed me that humans can be just as cruel as demons. She changed me, Sesshoumaru, just like Rin changed you. You can't tell me you still enjoy killing humans after you saved one."
"We're cursed, we are." Sesshoumaru said softly. "What should we do about Saraku? We both love her, and she loves us both."
"Kagome was telling me about a concept that separated parents use with their children. It's called joint custody. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but each parent gets the child for six months….or maybe we should use two seasons,since we understand that better."
"You want to share her?" The elder brother seemed to be thinking this over. "Well,if you were willing to come all this way to talk to me about this, I suppose I can compromise. We'll have to get her back first. I fear that will be no easy task."
"Sure it will. I'll just go tell that wolf prince to hand over my daughter,and if he doesn't, he and Tetusaiga will dance."
"Inuyasha….I knew where she was all this time. Come with me. What I'm about to show you will hurt." The brothers walked down the hall now, to Sesshoumaru's personal study.
**************************************************************************
"I remember this place…" Inuyasha muttered. "This is where father told me I was worthless,on several occasions."
"He only did that to impress his advisors. Don't take it personally, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru couldn't help but chuckle slightly, remembering.
"Hey! It was humiliating,okay?!" Inuyasha growled slightly. "Besides, you took it personally, all the praise you got! "for his advisors" my ass!"
"Calm down." Sesshoumaru removed a cloth that was draped over his Seeing glass. "This was Father's. I never knew it was here,until Saraku and Rin found it one day. I can use it to find anyone I want. The other night, when I came home from looking for her, I asked it to show me Saraku. And it did. I sit here some days,and just watch her. She seems to really like Kouga and his tribe."
"Don't be stupid! Kouga kidnapped her before!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "I can't believe how much you and Kagome agree on. Perhaps she should mate with you instead of me!"
"She's not my type." The elder brother replied simply. "Do you want to see for yourself, Inuyasha?"
"Yes." Inuyasha replied. This is turning out to be quite a visit. I expected him to fight me a lot longer than this. Could it be he really doesn't want to be rivals anymore?
"Seeing Glass, show us Saraku." Sesshoumaru commanded. In an instant, the form of the child in question was visible in the mirror.
"Try this, Kyoko. That's how my friend Sango does it." She was showing her adopted sister how to feed her cub Kilala.
"Thanks for letting me feed her. She's so cute."
"Yes, she is. But you should meet my other pets sometime. I have a two headed beast back at Lord Sesshoumaru's castle. Ah-un. And then there's this one's namesake,Kilala. She's Sango's ,but sometimes, she protects me too."
"Do you miss your other families? You've got two of them, you know." Kyoko dared to ask.
"Sometimes,but it's good not to hear them yell about which one of them is better for me." She made a face. "Let's talk about something else. Do you think your father will let me go on the hunt tomorrow?"
"I hope so. I've been asking and asking. You're a good spear thrower." Kyoko grinned. "Do you hear that? It's hearth time!"
"I wish I had that kinda hearing. Inuyasha's got great hearing."
"Shh! Not that name! Sesshoumaru's one thing….but…."
"How come Prince Kouga don't like him?" Saraku asked
"He just doesn't, okay? Now come on." Kyoko stood up abruptly, and the two girls disappeared into the den.
"Still think it's going to be easy?" Sesshoumaru asked his brother when the mirror went black.
"I doubt it. She seems almost settled there." Inuyasha made a face. "And Kouga still can't stand me."
"Yes, that does factor in. He's more than likely going to let me have her than you." Sesshoumaru crossed his arms. "So what now?"
"First, we have to show Kagome that we're not going to fight over this anymore." Inuyasha told him.
"Yes, and then we'll have her help in getting Saraku to leave those demons."
"I want to come too." Rin's voice came from the doorway.
"Very well. You will join us. Tell Jakken to get Ah-un ready to leave. Inuyasha and I will be out in a moment." Sesshoumaru smiled slightly, watching Rin skip off. "I haven't seen her smile in days it seems."
"I know the feeling." Inuyasha replied. "Kagome's been moping."
"Well, maybe now it will all end." Sesshoumaru left the study, with his brother behind him. "Maybe we can be the family Saraku really wants, together."
(A/N:I'm sorry if they're too OOC,but I had to do it. You see,in order for my plan to work, they had to be able to get along. But it's not completely over until I say it is. I'm glad you're enjoying it. By the way,it might be a bit before another update. *See my profile page for details.)
