AN: Well, it has been a while eh? You all seem to like this story so here we go!
Disclaimer: Do NOT own it. If I did, well, I'd be laughing my butt of right now for not knowing it sooner...
Chapter 3
Gone Are The Days Of The Innocent...
"Though shattered glass may be repaired, never again can it be, as it was before."
Inuyasha's eyes lit up with happiness the moment he opened them. He knew what today was, today was his fifth birthday. Practically giddy with delight he jumped down from his bed and ran to his window. The day was bright and sunny, nothing seemed wrong in the world, at least not to him. There were no clouds in the sky, no wars being fought. To the eye, everything looked like it should. However, soon, a sent crossed his nose. Tilting his head up to get a better whiff he inhaled deeply.
Anxiety, suspicion, apprehension, fear.
At that last sent he snarled visibly. Fear smelt horrible, at least he thought so. Sesshomaru said if he was ever hungry, it would smell like heaven on earth. And Sesshomaru –in Inuyasha's opinion at least- knew everything. But all of these mixed together made for one hec of an awful smell.
"Damn, something is wrong." He whispered,
Odd language for such a small child, however, hanging around his brother, his father, and numerous other male figures had taught him every curse in every language imaginable, as well as when to say them, and when to hold your tongue.
Just then there was a knock on his door,
"Young lord, your mother says it's time for you to bath and come down to breakfast!" a woman called shrilly from behind the door. Inuyasha shivered.
Curse that woman, and I do mean the maid! Every morning, always on time. Damn her! He growled to himself, and then looked out his window again. An evil grin spread across his face. Try to make me take a bath will you? He thought, We'll see about that!
And then he opened the window and jumped out into the dawn.
Sesshomaru sat with his father and Azume at the table. They were all eating in silence. Trying to hide the worry that they could all feel. A storm was coming, Sesshomaru could sense it. The winds carried with them a sent of fear from the people, and a sent of disaster from the South.
The demons from that area were said to be heading this way. And some people said they were coming for the Taishou families blood.
My blood, my father's blood, and Inuyasha's blood. Hell, probably Lady Azume's too, just because she is mated to my father. That will be enough for them. He thought.
The demons were said to be lead by Ryokotsie, a demon of dangerous and evil power equal to that of his father and himself. Sesshomaru shivered, not a happy thought. But then, very few of his were.
"My lady?" Sesshomaru barely glanced at the maid who entered, he didn't need to look at her to know what she was doing. Fear of a different kind hung over her however. Sesshomaru frowned, she was the maid who looked after Inuyasha. What would be wrong for her to be worried?
"Yes Nora?" Azume answered, calm as ever.
"M, My Lady the young Lord Inuyasha has, he has disappeared My Lady." She stuttered, her face paler than usual.
Sesshomaru raised a brow questioningly, and sniffed the air discreetly for his younger sibling. Nothing. He growled softly to himself, and heard his father do something similar. The maid's face paled even more, she thought they were growling at her. Sesshomaru stood quickly and was gone, his father who had stood to go as well turned to the maid first,
"We are not angry at you, Nora right? Inuyasha did this one on his own and it was no fault or slip of yours, take a day of to sooth your nerves and hope others shall not be so unhinged." And with that he too left. Seemingly disappearing into the very walls. Nora fell to her knees, trembling visibly, Azume went down to her.
"Forgive them Nora; they are gruff when they get scared." She said, softly to the frightened girl, Nora shook her head,
"N, no My Lady I am not afraid of them, but for little Inuyasha, it is only his fifth birthday after all, I fear for him Lady Azume." She said, Azume blinked, and then smiled,
"Fear not, with those to men on his trail, he'll not get far." Nora nodded,
"Of course My Lady. Forgive my dark thoughts." And Nora stood and left. After she was gone Azume put her head in her hands and began to weep...
Please, my child please; be alright...
Inuyasha was more than alright were he currently was. He stood on the side of a hill that looked out on the castle of a house that he lived in. He was sitting there in a squatting position, his golden eyes looking out on the landscape that was his home.
He searched his memory going back over everything that he had ever been through that he could possible remember. Birthdays, holidays, parties, time with his family, assassination attempts on him or others that had really been exciting. Even his brother teaching him things, like how to run, or how to jump, and even how to fight correctly.
Out of everything he really like the last things best. Time with his brother was the most fun thing he ever got. He loved to just sit there and talk, or to just sit there, it didn't matter to him. If he was with his brother he was at peace. Which was weird cause he'd found out recently that he wasn't really Sesshomaru's brother, but his half brother. The difference being that they'd had different mothers. But Inuyasha really didn't care. He still loved his big bro.
Just then Inuyasha heard someone calling him. He stiffened,
Crap, someone is coming already? Man, that maid must have practically flown to my mom.
Inuyasha stood up and ran into the forest. This was a place he knew well. Or well enough to hide from most people anyway. Sesshomaru knew the woods better than himself but he knew enough to stay hidden for a while.
Inuyasha ran through the forest to find a suitable hiding place. A tree? No, he hated trees, for some unknown reason he despised them to the core of their being. A bush? No he was too big. A hole? No his brother said that holes could house things, plus they kept you confined and trapped. A small clearing that no one knew about? Perfect. And it just so happened that Inuyasha knew of such a place.
Quickly he put on speed and ran into a secluded part of the forest...
Inuyasha stayed in that little part of the forest for a good two hours before he smelt it.
Where is the fear coming from? I can smell it even here, and this is pretty far out. He thought to himself, and then frowned, Demons, and lots of them. Where are they coming from? There are like, hundreds. Yuck, they smell disgusting too!
He snarled to himself, and then he smelt something else. Sesshomaru.
The sent only had about two seconds to register in his brain before a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him from the place where he'd sat. Inuyasha barely suppressed the yelp that rose to his throat by half an inch. Instead he turned to his older sibling and growled softly. And received a sharp tap on the nose for his trouble.
"Don't you growl at me whelp. Running off like this! Father's worried sick." Sesshomaru snarled, Inuyasha almost winced, Sesshomaru only called him whelp when he was angry. Or scared.
"Sorry." Inuyasha muttered, glaring dejectedly to the side. Sesshomaru sighed and dropped him unceremoniously onto the ground, Inuyasha landed with a plop. Then he sat up, crossed his legs and put an arm in each of his sleeves in what his mother called his 'puppy pout'. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes at the pup.
Pathetic. And he'll rule the West some day? Yeah, right.
Sesshomaru was just about to tell Inuyasha as much when suddenly he heard a roar. Instinctively, he bent down and picked up his brother, but then realized that it was their FATHER'S roar that he'd just heard. Then there was another roar, and Sesshomaru saw Azume, running towards them Sesshomaru crossed the distance between them in a few seconds, handing his younger brother to Azume,
"HERE!" he snapped, she grasped his arm as he tried to go,
"He told me to tell you-"she was cut off as a demon threw her across the clearing.
That kinda ticked Sesshomaru off. Inuyasha was still in his mother's arms, a scared look in his eyes, but a firm determination was also present in that gaze.
Sesshomaru spun and raced over to Azume, slicing the demon in half as he went,
"Are you badly hurt?" he asked quickly, knowing that if she was, he was dead.
"No, but, here comes another one!" she said pointing behind him.
Sesshomaru turned again, but not quickly enough, then demon knocked him away, his head connecting with a large tree. Cursing quietly as he heard Azume scream he stood, she remained unhurt, but Inuyasha was in the hands of the demon.
That was it.
Sesshomaru's eyes turned a blood red color, and he flew at the demon with all the rage he possessed. There was a spray of blood. Sesshomaru and the demon began to do battle; Inuyasha was lying at the bottom of a tree, sporting a large cut on his head. As Azume stood to go to him Sesshomaru saw her,
"STAY THERE!" he yelled, she did as he said, luckily. The demon crossed the path that she would have taken only a moment later.
By the time that he'd killed the demon, he went towards his younger brother, who was barely awake,
"N, Nii-san?" he asked weakly, Sesshomaru nodded, and picked the boy up, and handing him to Azume, "Are you alright?" Inuyasha muttered thickly. Sesshomaru didn't bother to look down at his brother, merely replied,
"FEH." And then ran off to help his father....
Azume looked down to her little boy. He was fading into unconsciousness again.
I wonder if that cut will matter much? Oh gods, let them all make it through this...
At that moment she realized she wasn't just talking about her mate and his son. She was talking about everything. The maids, servants, nearby villagers. The demons that were attacking were beyond normal power. This could change everything....
And little did Azume know. It would.....
Epilogue
Blood was spilt that day, more than any other battle the West ever faced. As we all know, Inutaishou died in the battle of Ryokotsie. Sesshomaru was wounded and not seen again by the people of the West. Inuyasha and his mother retreated to a safe village far from the Western lands to avoid the conflict of Inuyasha becoming the next lord at age five.
However they couldn't escape the treacherous life they left behind completely. Other than the cruel treatment that Inuyasha received from the villagers, he soon found that he couldn't remember anything of his life before the attack of the demon that had given him his concussion. He did just plain know things, like how to run properly and gain speed. How to jump and how to curse. Much to his mother's dismay. And he also remembers one word, 'Feh' a saying he used forever more.
However, soon Inuyasha would lose something precious to him to the life he left behind. His mother was killed by a demon assassin. Leaving him to raise him self. Soon afterward he lost his purity. He killed many humans in a blind rage.
Meanwhile Sesshomaru who had by that time found Inuyasha was so ashamed of letting his brother down that he didn't show himself to Inuyasha right off. And when he did, Inuyasha didn't remember who Sesshomaru was, and the two fought for the first time. Inuyasha was only 10.
From that moment on Sesshomaru only watched Inuyasha from the shadows, helping very little until a rift grew between them they neither could repair.
You know the rest of the story of course. He met Kikyou, and got pinned to a tree for 50 years Met Kagome. Shattered the jewel, not him personally, but it happened. Got the sit necklace, and ended up falling in Love with two women. His life was complicated. He was and still will be put through more than any normal person should. But it is as some say, 'Greatness cannot be inborn. You must earn it.'
And the story of the two brothers is not yet finished, but what shall happen at the end of this tale? Who knows?
AN: ok so there you have it, I would like to thank all who reviewed, you rock. And I would like to ask you, do you want me to elaborate on this story like another epilogue? If you do say so, cause if you say nothin, that is what I'll do, nothing. Love you all! OH, and by the way, since I'm done with this for the time being I'd like to tell you all that I'll be starting back up on my Li story, 'To Tangle the Strands of Fate'
And I got a new homepage. check it out man!