Title – Of the Soul

Chapter Three – Because of a Human

Toukijin would not obey him. It was as useless to him as the Tetsusaiga. Pure demon blood still flowed through his veins, but that apparently wasn't what allowed him to command the power of the blade. Somehow it worked conjointly with his soul, which gave him another reason to pursue the unagi - as if having his soul stolen in the first place was not reason enough.

Except, there was a single problem that he had failed to recognize in his hasty yet resolute decision to retrieve his soul: he didn't have his demon endowments. Essentially, he was as weak as a human was. The thought should have disgusted him, but he pushed the notion into the back of his brain and ignored it. If he faced the eel demons without a well-conceived plan, he would perish. He needed a plan.

"SESSHOUMARU!"

Panic surged through him, but it was gone so suddenly that he was sure that the reaction had been created from some dark alcove of his mind. He ripped his gaze away from the fire and looked to the light cascade of water that hid the cave entrance. He waited for Inuyasha to burst through, expected him to, but didn't want him to. Even without the capability to feel emotion, Sesshoumaru knew the humility his human appearance would bring after he recaptured his soul.

If he could recapture his soul. It was a rather precarious problem.

"Come out here and fight me!" his half-breed brother demanded.

"Inuyasha, this is that 'something stupid' I was talking about last night…"

Sesshoumaru's dull gaze roamed over the fire, over the algae growing on the rocks of the cave wall; he glanced at Rin, who had stood so that she might peek out through the space between the ledge and the waterfall. Inuyasha had brought along his human girl, which only gave him more incentive to remain seated behind the waterfall.

"Consider yourself lucky, Inuyasha. I do not feel like killing you today."

Killing him with what? Your pelt? the sardonic part of his brain quipped. Sesshoumaru concluded that he had found yet another detestable aspect of humanity.

"Ha! You've never succeeded in killing Inuyasha. What makes you think this time would be any different?"

He could think of a few things that would make the fight quite different. Like a humiliating death, for example.

"Would you shut up, Kagome! This is my business, so butt out."

"Your patience with this creature is astonishing, Inuyasha."

A feeling of de ja vou hit him and his brain worked quickly to recall the instance when he had said that before. Again, he found his eyes falling upon Rin, who was looking back and forth between Inuyasha and him, and he remembered. Back in his father's tomb, after Kagome had pulled the Tetsusaiga from the stone…

…You protect her, indulge her, even seem to love her. Certainly these feelings of mercy are something that I did not inherit from our great, and terrible, father.

His memory was flawless. He didn't bear that weakness when it came to humans, unlike Inuyasha and his father, yet images of a smiling, gap-toothed Rin flashed through his mind.

"Who you got with you, Sesshoumaru? Smells human," Inuyasha sneered.

The insult was out of her abilities to comprehend, and so Rin took the remark as an invitation. She giggled and skipped out of the cave. Sesshoumaru probably should have stopped her, he had almost gotten up to do so, but they would most likely assume that she was another mere servant.

Since her kimono was still soaked, Rin was wearing his relatively dry top and his white pelt around her shoulders for warmth. Sesshoumaru dimly wondered what that was going to look like to them, though he didn't care either way.

"Hello!" Rin said brightly.

"She's a… little girl?"

"Sesshoumaru. You're just sick. She's not even ten. Pedophile," said Inuyasha.

He thought Inuyasha's attempts to rile him were immature. Obviously, his brother didn't know him well, otherwise he would know to jibe at his pride. Not that that would make any difference in his current condition.

Again, Rin seemed to misunderstand the statement. "Lord Sesshoumaru is not sick! He's ju-"

"Rin," he said loudly through the waterfall, "why don't you go downstream to fish?"

He had seen her eyes light up and her big grin many times before, and he could imagine her face then. His chest felt warm, but the heat was just from the fire.

"Can I really?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes."

He heard her laugh and plop onto the wet grass, but her childlike laughter suddenly turned into a shriek.

"Rin, huh? Hey, stop squirmin', brat," Inuyasha snapped.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" she cried.

"Hey, no kicking! Gah! No wonder he likes you."

"Put her down, Inuyasha," Kagome grounded out.

"Help!"

"I'll put her down as soon as Sesshoumaru gets his sorry hide out here for me to kick. Ow, ow, ow! Stop biting me, brat! That's it! You're going in the river."

Sesshoumaru frowned, shielded within the cave from the run off water. He could feel nothing no matter how deep he delved for the emotions that he had always kept locked away. Still, he knew that he did not appreciate Inuyasha threatening - or even handling - his property.

He didn't move.

She was a helpless human girl that he protected, indulged; he showed her mercy. Rin was a weakness that he should not have had.

"Lord Sessho-aaah!"

SHPLACK!

Putting aside his thought-conjured dilemma to deal with later, Sesshoumaru stood. He didn't know if she could swim. He didn't know if he would regret not rescuing her… again. Regret? He had never regretted any decision before. He couldn't care now, so he wouldn't care later if she died.

Hands splashed in the water as Rin struggled to break the surface. Sesshoumaru could see Rin coming up to gasp for air in his mind's eye, only to have her mouth burble with water as she slipped back underwater. He heard her come up again, this time choking and trying to call out his name.

"How could you do that to a child, Inuyasha?" his woman chastised. "Hey, let me go, buster. I need to get her out before she drowns!"

"I'm not letting you go in there until Sesshoumaru comes out to fight me."

"Oy! You're willing to sacrifice a child for your ego?" Kagome shouted incredulously.

Sesshoumaru discarded his white undershirt by the fire - it still had some drying to do. He checked to ensure that his belt was tied securely and that Toukijin was clear in its scabbard, even if he was unable to use the blade's full power with this cursed human body.

Stepping onto the ledge, he dove through the curtain and into the frigid water. He remained underwater to prolong their discovery of his black hair, brown eyes, lack of noble markings and the general fact that he did not look like a demon. His human eyes were wide and the vision was poor, but he spotted Rin, her arms flailing wildly and her legs kicking as if expecting to find something solid under her feet. Already his lungs burned. With his arm he grabbed Rin and propelled them to the surface with a few strong kicks. She gasped ravenously for air, and he did the same, though much more quietly.

Sesshoumaru acted as if there weren't two spectators gawking at him. He concentrated instead on getting Rin to solid ground, which proved to be a difficult task with only one arm and no footing to spring from in the deep water. He shifted Rin onto his back, much to her delight, and she clung to him even after they made it to the bank. She rested her cheek against the back of his neck and sighed contentedly.

Although he should have dumped her off, he chose not to. He could be no more undignified, so a child playing piggy back didn't much matter.

In his mind, he was reluctant, but he turned to face his half-breed brother and his whelp without hesitation. Sesshoumaru stood regally. Well, as best one could when they were drenched, shirtless and had a child on their back. His eyes were empty as he stared at them, which they would no doubt misconstrue as challenging and defiant.

"You're human?" Kagome blinked.

Inuyasha burst out laughing. It was forced, loud, obnoxious and most of all, taunting. Sesshoumaru walked around the raucous half human and his dumbfounded girl. When he got his soul back, they would both die immediately.

A clawed hand caught his wrist, the pointed nails digging into his skin. Sesshoumaru turned calmly. His light brown eyes narrowed. His degrading half-breed half brother was still sniggering.

He felt nothing.

"Oh c'mon, Sesshoumaru. Fight your half-breed brother!" he mocked.

Rin was resting on a few wet pieces of his hair, unknowingly pulling on them. He moved his hair to rest in front of his shoulder.

"'Not in the mood to fight me'. Ha!" he continued, forcing out more snickers.

Kagome moved in front of Inuyasha, still staring. Except now she was scrutinizing him, inspecting Sesshoumaru's human form. He found her studying unpleasant and unwanted.

"You will both die," he said flatly.

His words only made Inuyasha's laughter grow louder - and perhaps a bit more genuine. The girl, however, was undeterred. A little afraid of the demon she remembered him being, the one that could have killed her with one well-aimed swipe, but she didn't back down. Yes, indeed they both deserved to die.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

Sympathy? Sesshoumaru snorted at her. Unfortunately, Rin was not so accustomed to remaining quiet.

"He saved me," she nodded proudly.

"Yes," Kagome said slowly, glancing at the girl, then suspiciously back to him, "he did get you out of the river."

"No," Rin giggled, drawing out the word. "Before. He saved me from the things."

Inuyasha's chuckling faded and he stood up straight, scowling.

"Rin, that's enough," Sesshoumaru warned.

He turned to leave, but the whelp moved right back in front of him and gave Rin a little smile.

"What 'things'?" Kagome asked gently.

"They killed Ai-Un and Jaken and took me away," she answered sadly.

Sesshoumaru chose not to mention that Jaken was alive and most likely searching for them. However, Sesshoumaru wasn't too keen on having his servant see him like this, so he made no extra effort to find the toad demon.

"Oh goddamnit!" Inuyasha exclaimed as he whirled around.

He drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath, which morphed into the deadly fang of his father with a bright gleam of light. The blade rang with the distinct ring of a drawn sword.

Two green-gray masses came racing over the waterfall, pressing their wings against their sides for a short dive before reopening them again, flapping just in time to save them from a midday swim. Purplish slobber dribbled from partially open mouths, elongated fangs protruding over the bottom half of the muzzles. One of the eel demons let out a shrill, broken screech and flapped harder, shooting forward through the air.

"Kaitoukon didn't tells us that we would be getting more than one souls…" one of the unagi hissed, its thin black lips pulled into a hungry grin.

"Oh no you don't!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Inuyasha, its glowing!" Kagome called to him.

"Well I can't see it!" he grumbled.

He leapt high into the air with Tetsusaiga at his side, exhaling with a deep growl. The eel demon unhinged its jaw and propelled itself forward with another mighty flap of its wings, planning to devour Inuyasha before he could even lift his sword. But Inuyasha moved with an unexpected speed, bringing the blade up and slicing the head from body where the spine attached. The head fell to the ground, staring as if trying to figure out what had just happened, until the brain finally realized it was dead.

Rin's arms tightened around Sesshoumaru's neck so that she was almost choking him, except she was too small to really to do so. He pulled his mouth into a line of grim irritation and reached up to hold her wrists, to keep them off his windpipe, not to comfort her...

The other unagi was undoubtedly headed for him. This one was more determined, more focused. Sesshoumaru didn't run. Not even when it circled around Rin and him, preparing to coil its body around them and crush them.

"We would have lets you lives if you had stayed off our lands," it said, small droplets of spit coming off its tongue as it spoke.

Sesshoumaru met its wild eyes with an empty expression. The Western Lands were his, but he didn't care enough to correct it. His life was about to come to an abrupt halt, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Get away from them!" Kagome screamed, pulling an arrow back in her bow. "You can't have our souls!"

The arrow found its mark in the joint that connected its wing to its body. Blood spurted from the disconnected limb as the wing slipped onto the ground, half-splashing in the water. The eel demon fell to the ground with angry wail. Its yellow eyes widened at Kagome. It sprung forward with its powerful tail and lunged for her.

Its body, still circled around Sesshoumaru, swept under his feet. Unable to jump over it in his pathetic human body, he hopped onto the sliding body, then to the ground on the other side. He landed in a crouch, one knee on the ground and his hands splayed in front of him, to keep him from toppling over with Rin's weight on his back. Rin clung all the more fiercely to him.

"Make them go away," she half wined, half whimpered.

"What be lefts of his soul be a morsels… Your soul wills be a fine meals!" it said.

Inuyasha, a blur of red and silver, leapt above the grounded eel demon. In the next instant, the body was separated into two, clean-cut pieces and the wave of golden energy was slamming into the ground beneath it. Dirt and rocks exploded in the fissure.

Sesshoumaru remained stoical, not even flinching as the front of the body landed just a couple feet in front of him.

Inuyasha touched down at the edge of the water in a graceful crouch. He stood and sheathed Tetsusaiga, tossing a satisfied smirk at his brother.

"You are lucky to hit anything with your reckless swinging, Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru said blandly.

Inuyasha blanched.

"Ya know what, I just saved your sorry ass from getting eaten by those things! I didn't see you moving to do anything. Oh, wait, you can't. Because you're a weak little human," he sneered. "I should kill you right now, you ugly bas-"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome thrust her arms down at her sides and stomped her foot. "Watch your language. There are children present!"

At the mention of children, Rin finally slid off of Sesshoumaru's back. She made a face at the bloody carcasses, but showed no signs of uneasiness or queasiness.

"Feh! She'll get over it," he said as he folded his arms, but he did quiet with a last snarl toward his brother.

Kagome bent down to Rin's eye level and smiled at her.

"Are you alright?" she asked compassionately.

"Uh huh!" the little girl nodded. "Lord Sesshoumaru protects me."

"What? He didn't do a da-"

"Sit," said Kagome.

FOOMP!

Inuyasha smashed face first into the ground. A cloud of dirt rose around him and then settled into new ground.

"I told you to watch your language."

Sesshoumaru's unfocused gaze fell on the water. This was a waste of his time. The unagi were obviously after him. Without his soul they shouldn't have even thought of him as a minor problem, yet Kaitoukon still considered him a threat. They didn't want him on the lands they had stolen from him and claimed as theirs. They didn't want to even consider the possibility of him regaining his soul and slaughtering them. They were going to kill him before he could even try.

Everything was Rin's fault. If not for her, he would not have been without his soul.

"Sesshoumaru…?" Kagome asked uncertainly, paused, then continued more assuredly. "Did you have an encounter with the unagi?"

His eyes rolled back in her direction, lifeless. She met his blank stare with deep brown eyes abound with life and emotion.


"They stole your soul, didn't they?" she pressed, though it was more of a statement.

"Ha!" Inuyasha barked as he picked himself up off the ground.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer.

"When you went to save Rin? Is that when they stole it, Sesshoumaru?"

"You should mind your business, human," he said.

He moved passed her, listening for footsteps behind him to let him know that Rin was following, but he heard nothing. She didn't move. In fact, he even heard her talking, though he couldn't discern what she said. Sesshoumaru had no qualms about leaving her behind and now was as good of a time as any - and probably one of the few chances he would get.

"Do you want your soul back? Because I don't think you can get it without our help."

"Hey! Wait a second here. I ain't helping him," said Inuyasha, casting a clawed hand in Sesshoumaru's direction.

Sesshoumaru ignored him and looked to the human whelp, inclining his head slightly to the side. "I have sworn to kill both you and Inuyasha… and yet you want to help me? You are a foolish mortal."

"I'm not doing it for you," said Kagome, "I'm doing it for Rin. She knows you want to be a demon again and for whatever reason, she cares about you. So you better not let her down, mister."

She waited for his response, but he said nothing. He didn't even turn around. He just shoved away the notion that Rin cared for him because the feeling was not mutual. All she was to him was a nuance that he had to get rid of before she lost him more than his soul.

"Well, will you come with us or not, Sesshoumaru?" Kagome demanded patiently.

"I'm not agreeing to this, Kagome!" Inuyasha hollered.

"Oh c'mon. You won't fight him when he's human, so don't you want him to get his soul back too?"

"Actually, I'd rather just let him suffer for the rest of his life…" he mumbled.

If he went with them, he could get rid of Rin. In the middle of the night, when they were asleep, he could slip away. Then he would be free to pursue the unagi alone. There was no reason for him to accept their help in this. The woman was only meddling in his affairs. Sesshoumaru liked to think that he still had his pride. It still existed in his mind, at least.

"Alright. I will go with you," he said flatly.

"Yay!" Rin squealed. "Then Lord Sesshoumaru will be happy with me again!"

Completely disregarding anything she said, Sesshoumaru headed to the cave to retrieve their drying clothes and put out the fire. He had never been happy with her. He would never be happy with her. He would only be able to live without her.

Author's Note – Ugh, this is one of the most difficult chapters that I have ever written. The situations I have put these characters in is so complicated that they're reactions are… complicated. *continues griping* But anyway, next chapter will be the second to last chapter. Joy joy!

Fanart is welcome. I'm taking picture requests. And remember to review!

Thank You's – To my ever so wonderful reviewers. I'm glad to get each and every review that I get, it puts a smile on my face!

New Fan – Well, I don't know if he'll really be able to understand human nature without a soul to feel anything… Perhaps afterward he will gain a bit of an understanding, but being Sesshoumaru, 'tis very doubtful. Besides, technically, he's not human. He's just in a human body and not demon, but with demon blood. If that makes any sense to you.

Christy Kay – Ah, the world of fanfiction would also be a much better place if people took lessons from you. I'm disappointed to know that it's a oneshit, but perhaps you'll continue it for me one day. *nudge nudge* As for the picture, I will either draw you a picture of Sesshoumaru without all of his armor or I will draw the new and improved Kaitoukon. Decisions, decisions.

Deadly Tears – Tee hee, hope you liked Inuyasha's reaction. I think its right on the nose, but that's just me. Too bad Sesshoumaru can't feel anything, otherwise he might have actually been embarrassed. Oh, and I'm trying to find a scanner, so bear with me!

Divine-Heart – Oh I think Inuyasha definitely took advantage, just not in the way you were expecting. ;) If Sesshoumaru ever gets his soul back, maybe he will finally feel the blow to his dignity. Or, how horrible would if be for him if he got his soul back… but his body remained human?

Demonic Rose – Thank you kindly! Adults always say that the best thing I have going for myself is my creativity. It's an art form that should be mastered by all.

CrazyGirl3 – I'm sorry to make you wait so long for an update, but I do hope the chapter was worth it. Very happy to know you like the story. That warms my cheesy little heart. *grin*

WildfireDreams – If you can't wait for more, we may be in trouble. You won't be waiting, and I won't be posting tomorrow. Aieee! I will apologize for the slow updates, though, and for you I will try to speed them up.

K-Chan – My ever so wonderful beta-reader. Whom I both love and hate dearly at the same time. Hugs and bruises, darling!