Chapter 2.
It had been a little over a day since InuYasha had left the others and began his journey to the mountain of Totosai, he was now very close, only about an hours climb kept him from the home of the sword smith. InuYasha gazed upwardly towards the mountain slope. He sighed a bit, then began the long climb up, leaping from rock to rock, from ledge to ledge, grabbing a hold of what ever seemed to be strong enough to support him. He continued this for little over half a hour before becoming tired and running out of breath. InuYasha then leapt towards a large ledge on a side of the mountain, and sat down, catching his breath and resting for while. "Damn it….what the hell is going on with the Tetsusaiga? When I reached my hand out to grab it yesterday, it warded me off, like I was a full Youkai or something." He muttered quietly, looking towards the Tetsusaiga which lay dormant inside it's sheath. The memory of what had happened replayed it self over in his mind, again and again.
'I reached my hand out to grab the hilt…and then the next thing I felt was pain…hot, searing pain…' He thought to himself, as the image of the Tetsusaiga shocking him flashed through his mind again. 'The Tetsusaiga rejected me…the same way it rejected Sesshoumaru, and that other Youkai, the moth Youkai, Gautenmaru…' He sighed and looked at the Tetsusaiga for a moment longer, before standing once more. "Well, I guess I'll know what's going on once I get to the top of the mountain." And with that, he leapt up and onto another rock face, and continued his upward climb.
Sesshoumaru stood, becoming annoyed with the constant waiting that Totosai insisted upon putting him through. He turned, beginning to walk to the opening of Totosai's home. "I grow tired of this constant waiting, Totosai. I want to know what is wrong with the Tenseiga, and if you will not tell me, than I will take my sword to someone else." Totosai turned his head from the fish he'd been cooking, looking over to the white-haired Youkai. "Please, Sesshoumaru, have a little more patience, you should know the answer soon enough, your little brother has just arrived." No sooner had he finished, than InuYasha's voice could be heard calling from outside the entrance to Totosai's hut.
"Hey, Totosai! I've got a problem with the Tetsusaiga!" InuYasha shouted as he walked through the entrance to the hut, only to be greeted with his older brother, Sesshoumaru, standing directly in front of him. "What in the hell is he doing here!?" InuYasha shouted angrily, pointing a clawed finger towards Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru smirked slightly, remaining where he stood and speaking in his normal, arrogant tone. "Well, it's nice to see you again too, little brother." He swung his arm forwards, knocking InuYasha's hand away from his direction. "It's impolite for lower class weaklings to point at beings who stand above them in stature." He stated, sounding as cold as always. InuYasha growled and clenched his fists, the only response he could come up with through his blind rage was, "Shut the hell up, jack-ass!!" Sesshoumaru shook his head, seeming disappointed in what InuYasha could assume was meant only to mock him. "Well, little brother, I can only assume you are here for the same reason I am." InuYasha turned, walking past Sesshoumaru, not giving him the satisfaction of an answer.
He noticed Sesshoumaru was carrying one-less sword than usual, and he assumed the sheathed sword that Totosai was holding was Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga. InuYasha grabbed the sheath of the Tetsusaiga and set the sheathed sword down onto the cloth on the floor of Totosai's hut. "Something's wrong with my sword, old man! It won't even let me touch it with out shocking me to ward me off!" Totosai nodded and reached out, grabbing the Tetsusaiga and unsheathing the sword. Totosai examined the sword for a while, then set it down and unsheathed the Tenseiga. Sesshoumaru walked over to the two of them, standing behind and slightly to the left of his little brother, watching as Totosai held up the two swords.
The Tenseiga and the Tetsusaiga began to pulsate, reacting to one another, as if they were brothers speaking to one another. Technically, they were brothers. They were forged from two fangs from the same Youkai, and the Youkai happened to be the father of InuYasha and Sesshoumaru, the Youkai Lord, Inutaisho. InuYasha and Sesshoumaru watched as the two swords reacted to one another, pulsating and glowing, and then, they both stopped, becoming still, and motionless once again. Totosai merely nodded, as if he'd understood every 'word' that had been spoken between the two swords, he then turned his head towards InuYasha and Sesshoumaru and spoke.
"You two, pick up your respected swords, and see what happens." InuYasha turned his head towards Sesshoumaru, looking to him briefly, then looking back to the Tetsusaiga when he saw that Sesshoumaru was not returning the look. InuYasha and Sesshoumaru both reached out and grabbed a hold of the hilts of their swords. InuYasha was rewarded with yet another yelp of pain when the Tetsusaiga sent it's Youkai-ward shocking InuYasha's hand severely. Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga did the same, shocking him harshly, searing his hand a bit. Yet Sesshoumaru, being the more dignified of the two brothers, merely set the sword down and examined his hand, then turned his gaze towards the Tetsusaiga, then to his little brother. "So, the Tetsusaiga has rejected you from wielding it, just as the Tenseiga has rejected myself."
InuYasha responded with an annoyed growl and then turned his attention towards Totosai. "Well? Are you going to tell us what's wrong with the damned swords or not, old man!?" Totosai sheathed the two swords once more and handed the swords to their respected owners. InuYasha took the Tetsusaiga, and Sesshoumaru reclaimed his Tenseiga as well. Totosai then stood and looked at the two of them. "It is clear that the two swords have decided to reject you both, but the reason, I am not completely sure of. The best I can come up with, is that your father doesn't want his only two son's fighting with one another, the way you two are. It is my belief, that only a union between you two will put an end to the actions of the Tetsusaiga and the Tenseiga.
Simply put, the swords are like two brothers, brothers who are sick of fighting against one another. If you two can put an end to this fighting, then I believe you will be able to wield your swords once more. But Sesshoumaru, InuYasha, know this. Only a true union between you two, will stop the rejections of the two swords." InuYasha stood up immediately, his face red with anger. "DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT I HAVE TO TRY AND GET ALONG WITH THAT JACK-ASS!?" He shouted while pointing at Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru side-glanced at his easily-enraged brother and then looked at Totosai once more. "I'm afraid I have to agree with InuYasha, I find it unlikely that the two of us will be able to 'get along' as you're saying we must." Totosai shook his head and looked at the two brothers once more. "If you want the use of your swords back, then you must learn to stop hating one another, it is the only way, you must unify with each other, and stop the hatred you have for one another, now, I suggest you both get back to your respective groups, and then find away to try and get along."
A little over a Day later, InuYasha was once again with his friends, Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shippou, how ever, they were not alone in their journeys. Kagome turned her head, looking a bit nervously back towards Sesshoumaru, who was walking a few paces behind Miroku and Sango, with Jaken walking at his side, and Rin, whom Kagome didn't mind so much, being carried upon the back of Sesshoumaru's two-headed demon, Aun and Uun. She noticed Sango and Miroku were walking a bit faster than normal, most likely in an attempt to keep themselves a bit further away from Sesshoumaru is possible. Understandably, none of them trusted him, or his little toad Youkai, Jaken, but InuYasha had assured them, painstakingly, that it was the only way to get the Tetsusaiga and Sesshoumaru's Tenseiga, to work again.
Kagome had informed InuYasha that they had collected the last Jewel shard from the body of the slain Bear Youkai and it was safely in Kagome's shard bottle. InuYasha had seem at least somewhat happier after hearing that, but it didn't last long, it seemed that the constant presence of Sesshoumaru had set InuYasha into a constant state of irritation and had made him a bit melancholy. Night had soon fallen, and the first of the arguments between the two brothers had begun. Sesshoumaru stood intone of his brother, refusing to allow him to go any further. "It's hours past sunset, we will stop and rest for the night." Sesshoumaru had stated, which only made InuYasha disagree and insist that they had to keep going. "It's not that late! We can keep going for at least another hour or two!" Of course, Sesshoumaru wouldn't allow it.
"No, it's becoming late and I want Rin to be able to sleep, I will not have her walking around until midnight, just because you are infatuated with fragments of a broken jewel. We will rest for the night, and that is the end of it." Sesshoumaru had then walked past InuYasha and over towards Rin, who was fighting with all her will to keep her head up and her eyes open. Rin had tried her best to hide a heavy yawn as Sesshoumaru had approached her, but she'd failed at it. Sesshoumaru had lifted her up and into his arms, with a small protest from Rin. "Lord Sesshoumaru, I am not tired, we don't need to…" It was the last thing she could manage to say before she'd fallen fast asleep, her head leaning against Sesshoumaru's fluffy tail. InuYasha turned to the others and motioned for them to keep walking. "Come on, just because he needs to stop, doesn't mean we're going to stop, too!" He turned and began to walk again, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
InuYasha turned and looked to the hand, seeing that it was Kagome's. Kagome walked in front of him and then spoke quietly. "InuYasha, you said yourself, you can't wield the Tetsusaiga again until you and Sesshoumaru learn to get along with each other, and that won't happen if you keep fighting over things like this. Look, it is getting kind of late anyways, and I'm sure we could all use some rest. It's not like the world is going to end by tomorrow, we can keep going in the morning." InuYasha growled, then sighed reluctantly. "All right, fine. We'll stop here for the night." InuYasha, Kagome and the others walked over to where Sesshoumaru and his group were, and sat down.
Kagome pulled out her instant-ramen packages and other food things. Miroku dug a small hole and he and InuYasha had filled it with leaves and twigs and broken branches and Kagome had used some paper and her lighter to make a fire. Sesshoumaru sat and watched with a look of interest as Kagome used the technologies from her era, stopping Kagome to question certain things she was using, such as her lighter, her cooking utilities, such as her quick-make cooking grill, and other objects as well. Kagome happily explained what they were and how they were used, and what they were used for. She'd never had these questions asked by InuYasha, and it was fun for her to be able to explain things to someone who was interested in the technologies they had in her era.
Sesshoumaru seemed to take great interest in the books she'd brought with her, books of history and geography were what most sparked his interest, and he spent at least an hour or more reading her history book, mainly reading the history of Japan, which was like looking to the future for him, reading about the first and second world wars, and reading about the new country which hadn't yet been discovered in her era, the country called "America." After a bit longer, the group decided it would be best for them to eat now and then get some sleep, it had grown late, later than the group had realized. Kagome opened her bag once more and got out her make-shift stove and her pot and some bottled water she had brought with her.
She began cooking five large buckets of Ramen noodles, she had begun to make four when Sesshoumaru declined the invitation to eat with them, saying he was more interested in continuing to read the books Kagome had, but Kagome had insisted he eat with them, if nothing else than for the sake of trying to get along with his brother, InuYasha. Kagome set up a small, foldable table she'd brought with her, and set down five bowls onto the table, pouring parts from the Ramen buckets into each bowl. The group ate, Sesshoumaru remaining silent for the most part, he had no one to discuss anything with really, Jaken had taken to his bed over an hour ago, and Rin was fast asleep as well, and he wasn't exactly sure how welcome his conversation would be amongst his former enemies. He'd reached out with his chop-sticks to grab the last piece of shrimp in one of the buckets, when his chop-sticks were met by a tug, InuYasha had had the same idea that about the shrimp.
The two of them locked glares with one another, keeping there chop sticks on the single piece of food, neither of them willing to let it go. Kagome, Sango, Shippou and Miroku all watched cautiously as the two brothers began exchanging words. "Let go of the damn shrimp, Sesshoumaru!" Sesshoumaru kept his cold gaze to InuYasha and responded in a dry tone. "It's impolite to speak to your superiors in such a manner, now release the shrimp."
The argument was finally ended when the shrimp had broken in half, InuYasha getting the tail end of it, and Sesshoumaru getting the head end of it. The two merely grumbled in annoyance at one another and ate the now divided piece. Kagome sighed and shook her head, then leaned over towards Sango and whispered quietly. "I don't think those two will ever get along." Sango nodded slightly in agreement and replied under her breath. "They may as well give up their swords if things continue at this rate." Sango and Kagome both nodded in unison, signifying their mutual agreement with one another. Kagome stood and looked over towards the two brothers, attempting to lighten the now edgy mood they had all just been put in. "Um, why don't we all get some sleep, I'm sure you two are both very tired from the trip to and from Totosai's mountain, and it's going to be a long walk ahead of us tomorrow."
Sesshoumaru and InuYasha remained silent, still glaring at one another as they ate. Sesshoumaru was the first to stand, setting his bowl down onto the table. "Very well then." He turned and walked over towards Rin, Jaken, and his two-headed Youkai, Aun and Uun, and sat down, leaning back against a tree and closing his eyes. InuYasha growled in resentment of his older brother, then stood, setting his bowl down onto the table as well. "Fine, I'm going to sleep." He turned and walked over to a tree with a fairly low-hanging branch, and leapt up onto it. He lay himself back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes, and soon, fell fast asleep. Sango, Miroku, and Shippou helped Kagome clean everything and pack it into her bag before the rest of them also turned in for the night.