Heart of Ice

Disclaimer: Go look at the previous chapter. Not mine!

Chapter Two – Avenging Rin

"Indeed." The taiyoukai moved forward, his eyes flashing spasmodically from gold to crimson as he regarded his bastard half-brother. "Such an intelligent observation."

"What do you want, Sesshoumaru?" the hanyou snarled, flexing his claws.

He gazed steadily at the abomination before him. "I'm here to avenge her," he replied softly.

"Who?"

"You know perfectly well who, unless you've killed more humans than it's possible for you to count. Then again, you never could reach any numbers above six."

Kagome stared at the two brothers in confusion. "I...Inuyasha doesn't kill humans, I'd know if he did."

"Quiet, you foolish girl!" The uncharacteristic outburst from the stoic youkai lord unnerved her; she fell silent, casting a pensive look at Inuyasha's tense pose.

Without warning, Sesshoumaru ran forwards with silver claws outstretched. The Tetsusaiga cleaved lines in the air, but the blade only hit emptiness. Soaring high above, the taiyoukai dove suddenly, and when the two parted for a moment to survey each other, a thin line of crimson marred Inuyasha's face.

"I haven't killed humans," Inuyasha snapped, carelessly flicking the blood away from his wound. "Do you think I'd seriously harm a human? I mean, I'm traveling with three. You'd probably be the one to slay innocent men."

"In case you hadn't noticed, I...used to travel with one as well."

"And where is she now? You killed her, didn't you?"

Blinding rage obscured the Lord of the Western Lands' vision. He veritably flew at his upstart brother, his claws flashing with reckless abandon, the canine jaw ripping, tearing. Clamping his own fangs on the Tetsusaiga, he ripped it out of the hanyou's hands and flung it aside, one transformed paw pinning Inuyasha to the ground.

Inuyasha's eyes darkened dangerously to blood-red.

"It doesn't matter now," Sesshoumaru hissed down at the changed demon, as the youkai lord slowly reverted to his normal form. "You may be a damn youkai, but you're soon going to be a dead one." His claws cut into Inuyasha's throat, drawing more beads of blood from the wounds.

"Let him go or you'll die too."

Sesshoumaru half-turned to stare unblinkingly at the young miko, an arrow strung upon her bow. "Impetuous brat. Drop that bow."

"Hypocrite!"

His claws dug deeper, aiming for the pulsing vein. "Drop it."

Inuyasha writhed, suddenly lashing out with his legs. Sesshoumaru was thrown aside, the taiyoukai immediately twisting to his feet.

"Out of random curiousity," Inuyasha sneered, having grasped Tetsusaiga again, "why don't you just use the Tensaiga to revive that kid of yours?"

"It's broken," Sesshoumaru replied angrily.

"Broken?"

"Yes, broken. Even you, with your meager vocabulary, should be able to understand that." Sesshoumaru clicked his claws, testing their sharpness.

"How did it break?" Kagome asked, never releasing her bow.

He didn't spare her a glance. "That's none of your concern."

"It's mine," Inuyasha interrupted. "You broke our father's fang..."

"You do not deserve to call him your father, bastard!" Sesshoumaru's anger showed clearly in the set of his clenched jaw.

"Are you implying my mother was a whore?"

"Exactly." The taiyoukai clenched his fists angrily, which wasn't the best of ideas, since his claws dug into his palms.

"How interesting. As fascinating as your family disputes are, however, I'm afraid I'll have to interrupt."

Kagome loosed her arrow immediately, but a whisper of wind sent it thudding into a tree. "Naraku, you coward, get down here where I can see you."

"I'm afraid that's impossible, since he's currently residing within his castle, watching this scene from my sister's mirror." Kagura dropped lightly to the ground, her fan shielding most of her pale face. "As for your current predicament, I'll help you solve it. Sesshoumaru, kill your half-brother now, along with everything else, and give me the jewel shards. I'll let you go in peace after that."

"I don't care in particular whether you let me go in peace or not. Either way, I'll leave unscathed." Sesshoumaru's tone was amazingly icy; any colder and winter would have pervaded three months early.

"Have it your way. Just remember, I had the power to destroy your father's fang."

The taiyoukai's involuntary motion wasn't unnoticed by the wind youkai, whose soft laughter resonated around the clearing. "Now, let's make a deal, all of us, shall we?"

Inuyasha's grip tightened on the Tetsusaiga. "Kagura, get the hell out of here."

"Temper, my dear mutt. At least your brother's a purebred." She smirked nastily.

"What do you want, Kagura?" Kagome's bowstring was cutting into her finger.

"Nothing from you, actually, unless you're willing to hand over the jewel shards?" Her eyes scanned the miko's mutinous face. "I thought not. Lord Sesshoumaru, I must speak with you alone, far from these infidels."

"Why do you presume that I would listen to your request?"

Kagura smiled. "Naraku has something you lost," she replied coyly.

"The Tensaiga...?"

"He didn't specify." Motioning to him, Kagura drifted into the forest, and Sesshoumaru followed immediately after.

"All my lord Naraku needs is a simple task," Kagura explained, trying to find a way to phrase the task correctly so that Sesshoumaru wouldn't slay her in disgust. "It's quite easy. You merely need to convince Inuyasha's wench to...follow you around willingly, do anything she asks you to, basically to be infatuated with you."

"You want me to seduce the bitch."

Kagura sagged. "Well, that's a rather blunt way of putting it. But yes, that would be the general idea."

To the wind youkai's surprise, the Lord of the Western Lands smiled; deviously, to be sure, but it was still a smile. "I'd be happy to."

"At the end of one year, you are to bring her to Naraku's castle. Before that, and mark this well: You are not to remove her bodily from Inuyasha's side. All you may do is steal her heart. And she must keep all her jewel shards."

He acknowledged this, his golden eyes sparkling, relishing the challenge.

She nodded, not believing that he'd agreed, and pulled the feather from her dark tresses. Tossing it to the ground, she climbed up and soared away, glancing back at Sesshoumaru as she did so.

And seeing him turn away from her, she found that her hatred for Naraku had just increased drastically.
It was perfect, of course. When he managed to get that girl – whatever her name was – to follow him around willingly, he would have both his revenge and his Tensaiga. It would be a beautiful day when he saw his half- brother's face when Kagome willingly followed him to her death.

Sesshoumaru slipped back towards the clearing. He heard Kagome's shouting at Inuyasha, who apparently wasn't behaving too intelligently.

"What do you mean you killed a child?"

"It was an accident! I was trying to kill the youkai attacking the fucking child!"

"Oh, and you missed accidentally, did you? After all, the differences between a child and a demon are so subtle!"

"Shut up, bitch! I only tried saving the girl because you told me to help protect humans!"

"Placing the blame on me? I'm not your scapegoat!"

"You're just a catalyst!"

"I'm surprised you know words that aren't monosyllabic, you hypocritical egotistical imbecile!"

"Big words. Know what they mean?"

"I do, but I'm not sure you can understand them!" Kagome snarled viciously. "I've had enough of this! I'm going home!"

"Fine, and good riddance!"

Storming off, Kagome was fuming too hard to notice where she was going until she ran straight into someone. She peered upwards. "Oh, um...hi, Sesshoumaru."

He looked rather amused. Deciding that there was nothing else to be said, Kagome turned and resumed her walk towards the well.

"Wait, wench." Shit, that was smooth. "Where do you presume you're going? I didn't give you permission to leave."

The arrogant, spoiled brat. "I'm going home," Kagome retorted as calmly as she could, given the circumstances. She turned to glare at him and found that he was watching her intently.

His golden eyes were tantalizing, serene, tranquil. They held the luminosity of the sun but none of its warmth. Specks of crimson, a tribute to his youkai heritage, added flames to the orbs.

He stared into her sapphire eyes, pools of darkness quenching the fires in his own. She was trembling slightly – not many people could withstand his gaze – but he, too, was suddenly cold, even frightened.

Pulling her gaze away, Kagome stared intently at the grass. She whirled, fleeing for the safety of the well, trying not to hear the vicious pounding of her heart. Her breaths came in gasps, loud enough to drown out Sesshoumaru's calls for her to stop.

Only one thought remained predominant in her mind. 'His eyes are prettier than Inuyasha's.'

Ok, so she was a really shallow girl at times. Actually, that wasn't the one thought, but that thought she was afraid of expressing, afraid of understanding.

So she pushed her feelings to the back of her mind and threw herself into the well.
She landed on top of Buyo, who let out an indignant shriek. Climbing off the cat, she gave him an apologizing pat on his back and began scaling the well.

"Hey, Kagome, you're back!" Souta's cheerful voice rang through the enclosure. Kagome smiled faintly at him, clambering over the side and stretching when she dropped to the ground.

"Hi, Souta, what's new in the past week?"

Her brother looked rather thoughtful. "Well, on Monday Eri came by with your math homework and a bit of gossip. She said that Sakura's going out with Kiyoshi. Like I care." He shrugged absently. "Hojo came by with this absolutely repulsive doll. It's really disgusting."

Kagome growled at him.

"He also dropped off some medicine. On Tuesday, Ayumi came this time with a note from your history teacher about a field trip that was supposed to be on Thursday. Also, Sakura broke up with Kiyoshi."

Kagome blinked. "Um...great."

"And Hojo came by again, this time with more medicine and a get-well card that Buyo shredded. That's a really smart cat you've got there."

"Look, Souta, I know you don't like Hojo much..."

"Don't like him? No, that's not it. The guy's just clueless to every hint I made. I mean, at one point I stated, 'Kagome's going out with a demon from feudal Japan' and he laughed and said, 'That's a nice imagination you've got, Souta. Tell her that I hope she's feeling better.'"

"Well, common sense, brat. No one's gonna believe you."

He shrugged impatiently. "Wednesday, Eri came by again without anything but gossip. Apparently, Sakura's going with Hikaru, and Kiyoshi found Akari. Hojo left 'healing gloves' for your 'poor, swollen hands' and also left some repugnant flowers that even Mom refused to touch. Buyo wouldn't eat them, either. They're rotting on the front porch."

"Souta! You could have put them in water!"

"Hey, I'd just taken a shower. I wasn't about to stink myself up. Anyways, Thursday was the field trip. Afterwards, all three of your crazy friends came over to say that Hikaru dumped Sakura for Kiyoshi's Akari, who decided to cheat on him! Oh, my gosh!"

"Stop acting ditzy," Kagome snapped irritably. "What else?"

"Er...Hojo bought some 19th century herbs for you. He says, 'I really hope these aren't poisonous. If they are, put all the blame on me.'" Souta snickered.

"Where are they?"

"I stuffed them in some smelly old socks. Friday, Sakura made up with Kiyoshi, and they're going 'steady', which probably means they'll dump each other in a few hours. Akari stood up Hikaru, who is apparently planning to dump her on Monday." He shrugged.

"And...anything else?"

"More medicine, which Grandpa thought was an evil spirit in a jar, so he smashed it out of Hojo's hands. It was really funny seeing the brown liquid spatter all over Hojo's surprised face."

"Souta!"

"Well, it was funny." He scampered away, carrying Buyo. "Mom wants to see you, by the way."

Sighing, Kagome moved towards the door of the shrine, wondering what new revelation would surprise her today.

But as she walked up the steps, a picture of two golden eyes floated unbidden up into her mind.

And she could not tell whose eyes they were.
Thanks, Lauren! I completely forgot about the Tensaiga! -Moonlight