Recap of Prologue
"Where's Sesshomaru?" He jerked back as the girl burst into fresh tears.
"That's why Rin needs Inuyasha! An evil lady hurt Lord Sesshomaru." The girl stepped aside, allowing him to see why her dismount had been so awkward.
Standing there wrapped in his own much-too-large Kimono and that weird fluffy boa thing was Sesshomaru, only he seemed to be about five years old.
Inuyasha took a good look before falling over laughing, positively rolling on the ground when Sesshomaru squeaked and hid behind Rin again.
Chapter 1After calming down he leapt quickly across the river to sniff and confirm that it was Sesshomaru, easily dodging the small claws as his half-brother growled and swiped. "You little idiot smell me, I'm family." He held out his hand like you would with any common dog, grunting when the dog demon did and stopped growling.
He turned to Rin, "How did this happen?"
The little girl glanced to her now child protector as he circled Inuyasha, "Rin is not sure, Lord Sesshomaru went to visit a lady in the mountains. Rin followed when Rin got bored and found Lord Sesshomaru sitting with his clothes when Rin went looking."
He though for a moment, ears twitching as he came to the conclusion that his older half-brother had had a nasty encounter with a witch. "He isn't speaking and he didn't recognize me. Did he know it was you?"
She shook her head, "Not until my Lord smelled Rin. Rin didn't know where to go since Jaken was gone. Then Rin remembered Inuyasha and Kagome and Shippo and Sango and Miroku and Kohaku, so Rin told Ah-Un to find Inuyasha." The little girl yawned, he could see how tired she was and it was getting close to sundown. As much as he disliked his half-brother, Kagome would want him to help.
"Come on kid." He turned away and began walking to a nearby clearing. Glancing back to see if they were following he let out a sharp bark of laughter. They were following with the girl leading the dragons by its reigns and his half-brother clutching tightly to the back of the girl's dress. He found it extremely amusing how small and innocent Sesshomaru seemed, the normally proud and regal dog demon reduced to holding a little girls dress for comfort.
After reaching the clearing he told them to stay put and raced off to find wood for a fire. He didn't need it and usually slept in the trees but he didn't want to deal with sick kids on top of his current problem. Soon he had a good fire going and turned to the girl, she was petting the dragon's twin heads and thanking them, Sesshomaru still attached to her dress. "Have you eaten?"
"Rin has eaten some of the food Lord Sesshomaru left, but could not get my Lord to eat it."
"You still hungry?" She looked up from Sesshomaru, worriedly glancing back at him as she shook her head no. "What about his swords and clothes?"
She pointed to the dragons, "Rin could only get one sword and the clothes, Lord Sesshomaru told Rin to never touch the other one." Crouching down by the stuff he pawed through it, finding Sesshomaru's clothes and armor along with the Tensaiga. He experimentally lifted the armor, it was way too heavy for that little girl to have moved alone; she must have used the dragon. Picking up the sword he stuck it in his sash behind his own to keep it safe.
After putting the clothes back into the bag he reached into one of his large sleeves and pulled out some leftover fish from his lunch. "Hey kid, bring him here" Rin walked over, followed closely by his half-brother. He held out the fish to him, growling when the dog demon turned up his nose. "Well what the hell do you eat anyways?" He sat back on his haunches and tore into the fish himself as he glared at the haughty little demon.
Rin walked up to him cautiously, the way he was sitting put them on equal levels. She threw her arms around his neck, surprising him. "Thank you so much Inuyasha for helping Rin, Rin was so scared."
"O-Okay kid, you're welcome. Go lie down and get some sleep, we're leaving in the morning."
She let go of him sniffling and wiping her eyes on her sleeves. "To where?"
"Sango and Miroku's."
Brightening she clapped her hands, "Will Kohaku be there?"
"Yeah, now go to sleep." Rin skipped away to lie against the dragons as Inuyasha grabbed Sesshomaru.
"Come on, we are going to get something for you to eat." He rolled his eyes as tiny claws latched onto his sleeve. He looked down at his miniaturized half-brother with a snort, "I think you're more annoying like this." He pulled the kid along by his own sleeve, "Come on." His brother whined at him as they moved away from camp. "Look, either you learn to speak or you find some other way to tell me what you want. I never learned the dog demon language." The large eyes just blinked at him before Sesshomaru whined again and tugged him back towards camp. "Look ya little brat, aren't you hungry?" He picked the demon up and settled him on his back, making sure that he was holding on before moving silently and listening for game.
He felt his half-brother move up his back, his tiny claws pricking his skin and grabbing his hair. Before he could ask, his question was answered as little hands grabbed onto his left ear. He tried flicking it out of the way but it was held too tightly. Then to his ultimate displeasure he could feel warm air blowing past it right before sharp teeth dug into his soft ear. "Ow! You little brat, stop that!" He knocked the demon on his head and he whined again, removing his teeth before licking the small wounds while making apologetic sounds. "Yeah, yeah, just shut up now."
Even with the demon child on his ear he managed to find a hare. With a quick pounce and jerk of his hands the hare was dead before it knew what hit it. Figuring that Rin wouldn't want to see it if his hunch was right he settled down where they were and pulled Sesshomaru off his head. He held it out but the kid just whined and looked between it and Inuyasha. "Suppose I have to cut it up for you too?" He grumbled as he cleaned the hare and cut the meat into strips before handing it off, watching with mild disgust as they were devoured. When it was all gone he cleaned him up as the pup yawned. He tried setting him on his back, only to peel him off when Sesshomaru headed for his ears, so he settled for carrying him.
They got back and he put more wood on the fire after setting Sesshomaru down next to a sleeping Rin. "Go to sleep." He jumped high up into a tree, settling on a wide branch and cradling the two swords in his arms. Not five minutes later he could hear whining under the branch he was on. Cracking an eye open he looked down to find two glowing eyes peering up at him as the dog demon whined and clawed at the tree. "I thought I told you to go to sleep?" Sesshomaru just whined and looked up at him. "If you want up here you'll have to do it on your own."
Soon there was a scrabbling sound that lasted for about eight minutes then stopped, punctuated by more whining and panting. A glance down found the child whining on a branch halfway up the tall tree, he was panting and his small arms were shaking as he tried to go up further before sliding down.
Feeling a little bad about the near-to-tears demon Inuyasha jumped down to a branch near Sesshomaru's and scooped him up single handedly before returning to his own resting place. "Now sleep." He grunted in surprise when his half-brother butted his head up under his chin, making a small growl that sounded like a purr. He set his chin on the head of the small child resting on his chest with a sigh. 'This is just great; I'm stuck with a kid Sesshomaru who instead of hating me, is completely clingy. Why the fuck does this shit happen to me?' With another sigh he closed his eyes, ears twitching alertly as he attempted to get some rest and ignore the current situation. Which was hard considering his purring half-brother was snuggled into his chest.
A little after dawn he jumped down from the tree, ignoring his half-brother's whining for being woken up he set him down. "Are you hungry brat?" He grumbled when the annoying demon child turned up his nose, "Fine then ya arrogant brat, don't wander too far if ya have ta leave."
The two-headed dragon was already stirring as he woke up the little girl, "Hey kid. You still got food for breakfast?"
"Yes, Rin still has food left." She was blinking sleepily.
"Good, when you're done we'll leave."
"To Sango and Miroku and Kohaku?" He nodded absently while dealing with the remains of the fire. She ate her meal quickly, eager to be on her way to see her friend. "All done!" She looked for the half-demon and found him sitting grumpily, holding her lord away from himself with both hands. "Why is Inuyasha keeping Lord Sesshomaru away?"
He let go, grimacing when the dog-demon attached to his neck, butting at his face a little with his own before climbing up to grasp an ear in his hands. Holding on but nothing more. "That's why." He grimaced again when the girl giggled with a quiet 'oh'. Standing he grabbed the reigns for the dragon's, glaring when it tried to pull away. "Get on kid we're leaving." With a sharp tug to his shirt Sesshomaru was placed on Ah-Un by Rin, only to have the demon pup launch back onto him with speed that was incredible by human standards but only typical for demon children. He growled when the girl giggled again as the demon grabbed his ear in both hands.
"Rin thinks Lord Sesshomaru likes Inuyasha and wants to stay with him." Peeling him off once more he set Sesshomaru on the dragons with a look and growl that said, 'stay put.' Rin cuddled the upset demon and gave Inuyasha a dirty look, "Inuyasha upset Lord Sesshomaru. All my Lord wanted was to be by Inuyasha."
Cursing his soft heart and wondering when it turned that way he stopped walking to pick up the demon. "Fine. You can stay with me, but no ears. I need to hear." He settled him on his back, satisfied when his ears remained untouched and the only sign was the claws holding his kimono and the magenta striped face pressed in his hair sniffing. There was a little sigh before the movement stopped all together.
Right before lunch they reached the outskirts of the slayer village. Not even wanting to see their reaction he trudged in. Most definitely not looking foreword to the explanation and the comments that would result.
To be continued
Wish He Was Mine