Hikaru walked on all fours through the thickening darkness, nose sniffing busily in the air. She knew that they had to be around here somewhere. The girl had seen them earlier that day. After she had seen them, she had done her best to remember what their scent was. But the air now was so filled with the promise of rain that she was having difficulty finding it.
She didn't want to hurry, but she was anyway. The storm was going to come down any minute now; not to mention that her brothers might notice her gone soon. So she picked up her search and continued onward.
******
Inuyasha dug further into the pile of blankets that was Hikaru's bed. She had to be here, she had to be. There was no way that imooto could have snuck out on them, could there?
++ 'imooto' means little sister.
Meanwhile, Sesshomaru was stewing in his corner. How could this have happened? How did that little girl child get out without either of them noticing until now? He couldn't answer those questions, but he did know one thing. If anything happened to her, Father would blame it on him. With a sigh he realized that he had no choice but to go out and find Hikaru. And hopefully before the storm decided to start.
He stood and left the room. "Stay here, Inuyasha. I don't want to have to look for you as well!" he shouted over his shoulder.
The hanyou emerged from where he was and stared after his nii-san. He wanted to look for Hikaru too, but Sesshomaru said to stay in the room. And his tone didn't sound like it wanted to be disobeyed. He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. He had no choice but to stay here and wait until they both got back.
"Inuyasha? Hikaru? What's going on here?"
Inuyasha sat up straight. It was Father. He must have seen Sesshomaru leave. Gulping he answered, "I'm in here, Father."
Inutaisho entered the room with a curious look on his face. "What is going on here? I just saw Sesshomaru leave and he looked angered. Have either of you done anything to upset him?"
Inuyasha knew that by the look on Father's face that he could not lie to him. So he blurted out the whole situation to him. The youkai was shocked to hear that his only daughter had managed to sneak out on her own without anyone the wiser. He was also upset that she had disobeyed him. He hung his head and sighed.
"Inuyasha, stay here. I'm going out to help your brother find Hikaru. And that girl better have a damn good reason for doing this." He said and left the room.
Inuyasha nodded and wrapped himself in the blankets. His sister's scent still clung to the fabric and it gave him some comfort. Father and nii-san would find her, he knew it! They had to.
******
Outside, the wind had grown to almost a howl; scattering the scents and lessening the chance of distinguishing Hikaru's scent from everywhere else. Sesshomaru grimaced. How in the hell was he suppose to track the foolish hanyou? He bent his head to keep his eyes from being watered by the high powered gale. Looking down, a thought occurred to him. He knelt on the ground and lowered his head until his nose was scant inches from the ground. After taking a few experimental sniffs, he smiled. Although the air and grass had given up Hikaru's scent to the winds, the ground itself held on to it stubbornly. Keeping low to the ground, the young youkai tracked his sister through the increasing darkness.
******
Not too far behind him, Inutaisho watched his son go out into the darkness. It touched him that Sesshomaru was actually making the effort to find his imooto; but he was disappointed that he hadn't told the older youkai. He didn't use his nose to try to pick up where his daughter was. The winds would have swept all away by now. Instead he focused on her youki. True, it would take longer to find her; she was so young. But in the end it would prove to be more accurate than just sniffing her out.
It took him a few moments to locate her signature, her houriki and her youki were struggling with each other. But when he focused on that struggle, he found her with little trouble. With a determined expression, Inutaisho set out to bring his daughter home.
******
Hikaru huddled against a tree trunk to protect herself from the wind. The little hanyou had given up half way through her quest; too frightened and tired to continue on. But she was proud that she had been able to at least get this far. The wind had gotten stronger and scarier as she had worked. And now she was taking at least some refuge with the tree.
From above her, lightning lit up the sky and an instant later, thunder bellowed in the dark. Hikaru screamed in fear and curled up into a little ball. She wished that she had never thought of this idea and had been a good little girl and stayed inside like Father wanted! She wanted Father and Mother right now; she was so scared.
And as if someone had heard her wish, Inutaisho stepped out of the gloom right behind her. She looked so scared that he was for a moment touched and inclined to be easy in her for disobeying him. But he knew that she would receive some kind of punishment for going outside.
Hikaru jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. A glance showed her that it was Father. She smiled with relief and joy at the sight of him and threw her arms around him in a big hug.
"Oh, Father. I'm so sorry for not listening to you. But I had to do it, I…"
"Hush, hush now, my child. You can tell me all about it after we get back inside," he said.
He gathered her in his arms and stood. When he turned he saw Sesshomaru standing not too far off. His son must have found her shortly after he had. The young youkai's face was closed to him, he had no inkling what he could be thinking.
He sighed. "Come on, let's get back to the manor before the skies open up on us and try to drown us," he called out. The wind was truly howling at the moment, he needed to raise his voice to be heard. Wordlessly his eldest fell into step with his parent and they headed back home. Both knew that an argument was waiting.
On the way back, the heavens did open and drench all three of them thoroughly.
******
"I still don't understand what the big fuss is all about. The brat was found and brought back here safely," Sesshomaru said.
The entire family was gathered in the children's room for this meeting. Inuyasha was sitting on Mother's left with Hikaru wrapped in a blanket in her lap. Father was sitting the other side and Sesshomaru was on the wall opposite of them.
Inuyasha sat quietly. He didn't want to say anything which was all right, he had no idea what he could say to help things. Both Father and Sesshomaru were calm but nii-san's calm seemed so, forced. He was scaring the little hanyou.
"Son, the point is that you should have come to me first before going out on your own. You could have gotten hurt looking for Hikaru. And if that happened, who would have been left to know where you had gone? Both of you could have gotten sick or died from the exposure from the elements outside! I cannot believe that you would be so irrespirable in such a manner, Sesshomaru," Inutaisho replied.
"So you were really worried about both of us, Father?"
The youkai did not like where he thought that this discussion was going. There was something in his son's voice which disturbed him. It gave him an ominous feeling that could only get worse.
"Or, were you more worried about that thing in your woman's lap?"
It did get worse.
"Sesshomaru! How can you ask your father such a question? And how can you say that about your sister? Of course he was worried about you both!" Mother replied.
Sesshomaru's voiced quivered as he spoke, "Don't you dare talk to me, human wench. You may be my father's mate but you can never be a member of our noble family."
"Sesshomaru!"
He ignored the voice. It seemed that all the rage that had been pent up in him had decided to come out. "Your children are nothing more than hanyou, half-breeds. Although they share some of the same blood as mine, it has been tainted by your human waste."
Mother went speechless while her children gasped and shrunk up against her for protection. Inutaisho had lost his calm demeanor and was on the verge of anger. Inside he begged his son to be quiet.
But the young youkai wasn't through yet. He now turned his attention to Inuyasha and Hikaru. "And you two. Hanyou are the worst lot. They belong neither amongst humans or youkai." His eyes narrowed to mere slits. "It probably would have been better for the both of you if you were never born. Then our family's bloodline would have remained pure." At hearing these words, they whimpered and nestled against their mother for comfort.
"That's enough, Sesshomaru. You have gone too far now." Inutaisho shouted as he slammed his fists to the floor and half-stood up. Rage and anger was written all over his face. Son or not, the boy had gone too far; it was one thing to criticize Inutaisho and his second wife. It was quite another to do insult the hanyou children.
Sesshomaru stood as well. Anger and hurt were on his features. Apparently he had decided to drop all pretense and state what he thought was the truth. "Oh, so I can what I want about you but I can't talk about that human and her offspring? Why not? What's so special about those damn hanyou?" he shouted.
Hikaru thought that she could see tears in his eyes. But she wasn't sure about it.
"They are my children, just as you are, Sesshomaru. I would be just as angered if someone started insulting you!" Inutaisho insisted. He tried to make his voice sound earnest and sincere, but he didn't know if that would get through.
"Now, why don't I believe you? Oh, maybe it's because you favor them over me," he replied; his voice laced with sarcastic tones. There was also something in it that gave the youkai pause. Whatever it was, was tugging at him.
"Sesshomaru, I don't understand. Son, what are you saying?"
"What am I saying?" he echoed. There was an edge of hysteria in his voice. "I'm finally saying the truth, Father. That's what I'm saying. And the truth is: you love those hanyou more than me! You had them with this human wench because you don't love me!" he shouted pointing an accusing finger at both Inuyasha and Hikaru. With that done he rushed out the door leaving a stunned audience behind.
Inutaisho sat down with a thud and sigh. He had suspected how Sesshomaru felt about his younger siblings for a while now; but he never thought that his eldest would actually come out and say it. What will happen now?
******
Sesshomaru didn't go far when he had stormed out of the family meeting. There were indeed rare tears in his eyes and he couldn't see clearly through them. The young youkai found and empty room and sequestered himself inside. Only in the darkness of the storm and the noise of its voice did he allow the tears to flow. He was a mixture of emotions. Anger, sorrow, and shame assaulted him all at once. How could he be reacting like this? Sesshomaru thought that he shouldn't be crying like some weak human. He was supposed to be strong, such as some of the other youkai he knew of.
But, a voice inside him said, your father seemed to prefer the weak humans over some of his own kind. And why is that?
Nothing resembling an answer came to mind. After a few uneasy minutes, he fell into a doze. He awoke to the whispers of the hanyou and the dripping of water off the tiles since the storm had passed. Looking outside, he could make out snatches of night sky from holes in the clouds. Night had truly fallen.
Curious, he crept to the room where Inuyasha and Hikaru where and listened to them talk. Inside he could see Hikaru still wrapped in her bed with Inuyasha next to her. On the floor in front of them were Inuyasha's toy soldiers.
******
"Do you think that he'll be back soon, nii-chan?" Hikaru asked.
Her brother shrugged. "I don't know."
"Do you want him to come back, Inuyasha?"
"I don't know." His voice was neutral and his expression. He played with his toys without really paying attention to them. Something seemed to be on his mind. His sister noticed this. She gently placed a hand on his arm and stilled him.
"What's the matter, Inuyasha? Is something wrong?" she said.
Inuyasha looked at her for a moment and slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think that you can say that. Have I ever told you before that there was a time that I wanted to be like Sesshomaru?" he replied.
Her eyes went wide and shook her head. Outside, Sesshomaru let out a soft gasp. Never in his all his years would he have guessed that about Inuyasha. A small spot of pride swelled up in him. It was a big compliment to him to hear this.
"You really want to be like nii-san? But…"
"I said that I wanted to be like him, Hikaru. Not anymore. I never want to be like him!" Inuyasha interrupted.
This statement took his siblings by surprised. Sesshomaru wondered what had happened recently to change this.
"Inuyasha, what happened? Why don't you want to be like Sesshomaru anymore?"
"I realized today how cold and mean he is. I wanted him to play with me, but he said no and crushed one of my soldiers. And earlier, he all but said that he hated us. I could never be like that; I don't want to," he explained.
"But why would you want to be like him in the first place?"
"Because he's strong, like Father is. I want to be strong."
"Why?"
"So I can protect you and Mother when Father isn't here. Sesshomaru won't do it; you know how much he likes to wander around. And sometimes Father has to go out to fight. Someone has to be here to protect the both of you." the hanyou said. His voice was very impassioned, up to the point where Sesshomaru was touched for a moment. The boy merely wanted to protect his family.
And what do I want to protect, he wondered. Is there anything I'm willing to protect besides the family honor and pride. The question bothered him and he pushed it aside. Otooto and imooto where still talking.
"Do you think that Father really loves us more than Sesshomaru, Hikaru?" Inuyasha asked. She had picked up a few of the soldiers and were playing quietly with him for a moment before replying.
"No."
"Why do you think that?"
"Inuyasha, is there a soldier that you like better than all of the rest?" she countered.
The comment caught him off guard. "What does my toys have to do with anything?" he demanded. He normally didn't angry at his sister this quickly, unless she had done something really bad to him. But the whole day had left him on edge.
"Just answer the question, nii-chan," she said.
He thought for a moment, looking at them all. It took him a moment to answer. "No, not really. I mean, they're all special to me. I guess I have to say that I like them the same," he said with a shrug. "Now tell me what does my toys have to do with the three of us and Father?" he repeated.
She sighed. "It's simple. We're a lot like your soldiers. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, but Father sees us all in the same light. He's our father. Nothing can change that," she started. But she stopped when she saw the confused look on Inuyasha's face. She couldn't help but giggle a little.
"Let me try something else," she offered. "Umm…remember the garden? All those beautiful flowers and trees?"
He nodded somewhat. This seemed as random as asking about his soldiers. But he was willing to let her talk. "Yeah, it's really beautiful."
"And does Mother have a favorite flower?"
He thought for a moment, "Um, no. not really. She likes them all."
"Exactly! We're like flowers. Each of us has his or her own talents and weaknesses. Yet Father loves us all despite it. It just that each of us needs some different care than the others. Nii-san doesn't understand that just because Father loves Mother and us, it doesn't mean that he loves Sesshomaru any less," she said.
"Now, that I can sort of understand," Inuyasha reflected. And he did. But there was something else that was bothering him. "But, Hikaru, why where you outside earlier? You never told me."
She gasped with remembrance and reached within her kimono. "I was outside getting a surprise for Sesshomaru. And I wanted to get them before the storm started. If I didn't then they would have been ruined!" she said. She brought out her hand and clutched within her grasp was some fresh, crushed flowers. There was enough fragrance left in them to tickle their noses. It was subtle but a good combination of smells. "I was going to give them to nii-san as a present. I saw him earlier and he didn't look too happy. I thought that these flowers would cheer him up."
Outside, Sesshomaru sat down, deep in thought. So that was why she had gone out. It was for him. The little hanyou had been willing to risk herself to cheer him up. And Inuyasha had looked up at him as sort of a role model. But why? Why were they acting like this about him?
Then it hit him. It was because he was their older brother. Part of that role was to act like a role model and friend for them. And their father, it never occurred to him that he loved all three of them. He did have to admit that their swords would help to protect them better. He had never thought of things that way. He had mainly been thinking about himself and his place in the family. The youkai had never thought of the others in the family. Maybe now was the time to start.
******
The little hanyou were playing nicely with each other when they heard a small polite cough from the doorway. Standing there was an uncomfortable and nervous Sesshomaru attempting to smile. They stared at him. What was he doing here and what was wrong with him?
"Would you mind if I joined your game?" he managed to get out.
She didn't want to hurry, but she was anyway. The storm was going to come down any minute now; not to mention that her brothers might notice her gone soon. So she picked up her search and continued onward.
******
Inuyasha dug further into the pile of blankets that was Hikaru's bed. She had to be here, she had to be. There was no way that imooto could have snuck out on them, could there?
++ 'imooto' means little sister.
Meanwhile, Sesshomaru was stewing in his corner. How could this have happened? How did that little girl child get out without either of them noticing until now? He couldn't answer those questions, but he did know one thing. If anything happened to her, Father would blame it on him. With a sigh he realized that he had no choice but to go out and find Hikaru. And hopefully before the storm decided to start.
He stood and left the room. "Stay here, Inuyasha. I don't want to have to look for you as well!" he shouted over his shoulder.
The hanyou emerged from where he was and stared after his nii-san. He wanted to look for Hikaru too, but Sesshomaru said to stay in the room. And his tone didn't sound like it wanted to be disobeyed. He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. He had no choice but to stay here and wait until they both got back.
"Inuyasha? Hikaru? What's going on here?"
Inuyasha sat up straight. It was Father. He must have seen Sesshomaru leave. Gulping he answered, "I'm in here, Father."
Inutaisho entered the room with a curious look on his face. "What is going on here? I just saw Sesshomaru leave and he looked angered. Have either of you done anything to upset him?"
Inuyasha knew that by the look on Father's face that he could not lie to him. So he blurted out the whole situation to him. The youkai was shocked to hear that his only daughter had managed to sneak out on her own without anyone the wiser. He was also upset that she had disobeyed him. He hung his head and sighed.
"Inuyasha, stay here. I'm going out to help your brother find Hikaru. And that girl better have a damn good reason for doing this." He said and left the room.
Inuyasha nodded and wrapped himself in the blankets. His sister's scent still clung to the fabric and it gave him some comfort. Father and nii-san would find her, he knew it! They had to.
******
Outside, the wind had grown to almost a howl; scattering the scents and lessening the chance of distinguishing Hikaru's scent from everywhere else. Sesshomaru grimaced. How in the hell was he suppose to track the foolish hanyou? He bent his head to keep his eyes from being watered by the high powered gale. Looking down, a thought occurred to him. He knelt on the ground and lowered his head until his nose was scant inches from the ground. After taking a few experimental sniffs, he smiled. Although the air and grass had given up Hikaru's scent to the winds, the ground itself held on to it stubbornly. Keeping low to the ground, the young youkai tracked his sister through the increasing darkness.
******
Not too far behind him, Inutaisho watched his son go out into the darkness. It touched him that Sesshomaru was actually making the effort to find his imooto; but he was disappointed that he hadn't told the older youkai. He didn't use his nose to try to pick up where his daughter was. The winds would have swept all away by now. Instead he focused on her youki. True, it would take longer to find her; she was so young. But in the end it would prove to be more accurate than just sniffing her out.
It took him a few moments to locate her signature, her houriki and her youki were struggling with each other. But when he focused on that struggle, he found her with little trouble. With a determined expression, Inutaisho set out to bring his daughter home.
******
Hikaru huddled against a tree trunk to protect herself from the wind. The little hanyou had given up half way through her quest; too frightened and tired to continue on. But she was proud that she had been able to at least get this far. The wind had gotten stronger and scarier as she had worked. And now she was taking at least some refuge with the tree.
From above her, lightning lit up the sky and an instant later, thunder bellowed in the dark. Hikaru screamed in fear and curled up into a little ball. She wished that she had never thought of this idea and had been a good little girl and stayed inside like Father wanted! She wanted Father and Mother right now; she was so scared.
And as if someone had heard her wish, Inutaisho stepped out of the gloom right behind her. She looked so scared that he was for a moment touched and inclined to be easy in her for disobeying him. But he knew that she would receive some kind of punishment for going outside.
Hikaru jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. A glance showed her that it was Father. She smiled with relief and joy at the sight of him and threw her arms around him in a big hug.
"Oh, Father. I'm so sorry for not listening to you. But I had to do it, I…"
"Hush, hush now, my child. You can tell me all about it after we get back inside," he said.
He gathered her in his arms and stood. When he turned he saw Sesshomaru standing not too far off. His son must have found her shortly after he had. The young youkai's face was closed to him, he had no inkling what he could be thinking.
He sighed. "Come on, let's get back to the manor before the skies open up on us and try to drown us," he called out. The wind was truly howling at the moment, he needed to raise his voice to be heard. Wordlessly his eldest fell into step with his parent and they headed back home. Both knew that an argument was waiting.
On the way back, the heavens did open and drench all three of them thoroughly.
******
"I still don't understand what the big fuss is all about. The brat was found and brought back here safely," Sesshomaru said.
The entire family was gathered in the children's room for this meeting. Inuyasha was sitting on Mother's left with Hikaru wrapped in a blanket in her lap. Father was sitting the other side and Sesshomaru was on the wall opposite of them.
Inuyasha sat quietly. He didn't want to say anything which was all right, he had no idea what he could say to help things. Both Father and Sesshomaru were calm but nii-san's calm seemed so, forced. He was scaring the little hanyou.
"Son, the point is that you should have come to me first before going out on your own. You could have gotten hurt looking for Hikaru. And if that happened, who would have been left to know where you had gone? Both of you could have gotten sick or died from the exposure from the elements outside! I cannot believe that you would be so irrespirable in such a manner, Sesshomaru," Inutaisho replied.
"So you were really worried about both of us, Father?"
The youkai did not like where he thought that this discussion was going. There was something in his son's voice which disturbed him. It gave him an ominous feeling that could only get worse.
"Or, were you more worried about that thing in your woman's lap?"
It did get worse.
"Sesshomaru! How can you ask your father such a question? And how can you say that about your sister? Of course he was worried about you both!" Mother replied.
Sesshomaru's voiced quivered as he spoke, "Don't you dare talk to me, human wench. You may be my father's mate but you can never be a member of our noble family."
"Sesshomaru!"
He ignored the voice. It seemed that all the rage that had been pent up in him had decided to come out. "Your children are nothing more than hanyou, half-breeds. Although they share some of the same blood as mine, it has been tainted by your human waste."
Mother went speechless while her children gasped and shrunk up against her for protection. Inutaisho had lost his calm demeanor and was on the verge of anger. Inside he begged his son to be quiet.
But the young youkai wasn't through yet. He now turned his attention to Inuyasha and Hikaru. "And you two. Hanyou are the worst lot. They belong neither amongst humans or youkai." His eyes narrowed to mere slits. "It probably would have been better for the both of you if you were never born. Then our family's bloodline would have remained pure." At hearing these words, they whimpered and nestled against their mother for comfort.
"That's enough, Sesshomaru. You have gone too far now." Inutaisho shouted as he slammed his fists to the floor and half-stood up. Rage and anger was written all over his face. Son or not, the boy had gone too far; it was one thing to criticize Inutaisho and his second wife. It was quite another to do insult the hanyou children.
Sesshomaru stood as well. Anger and hurt were on his features. Apparently he had decided to drop all pretense and state what he thought was the truth. "Oh, so I can what I want about you but I can't talk about that human and her offspring? Why not? What's so special about those damn hanyou?" he shouted.
Hikaru thought that she could see tears in his eyes. But she wasn't sure about it.
"They are my children, just as you are, Sesshomaru. I would be just as angered if someone started insulting you!" Inutaisho insisted. He tried to make his voice sound earnest and sincere, but he didn't know if that would get through.
"Now, why don't I believe you? Oh, maybe it's because you favor them over me," he replied; his voice laced with sarcastic tones. There was also something in it that gave the youkai pause. Whatever it was, was tugging at him.
"Sesshomaru, I don't understand. Son, what are you saying?"
"What am I saying?" he echoed. There was an edge of hysteria in his voice. "I'm finally saying the truth, Father. That's what I'm saying. And the truth is: you love those hanyou more than me! You had them with this human wench because you don't love me!" he shouted pointing an accusing finger at both Inuyasha and Hikaru. With that done he rushed out the door leaving a stunned audience behind.
Inutaisho sat down with a thud and sigh. He had suspected how Sesshomaru felt about his younger siblings for a while now; but he never thought that his eldest would actually come out and say it. What will happen now?
******
Sesshomaru didn't go far when he had stormed out of the family meeting. There were indeed rare tears in his eyes and he couldn't see clearly through them. The young youkai found and empty room and sequestered himself inside. Only in the darkness of the storm and the noise of its voice did he allow the tears to flow. He was a mixture of emotions. Anger, sorrow, and shame assaulted him all at once. How could he be reacting like this? Sesshomaru thought that he shouldn't be crying like some weak human. He was supposed to be strong, such as some of the other youkai he knew of.
But, a voice inside him said, your father seemed to prefer the weak humans over some of his own kind. And why is that?
Nothing resembling an answer came to mind. After a few uneasy minutes, he fell into a doze. He awoke to the whispers of the hanyou and the dripping of water off the tiles since the storm had passed. Looking outside, he could make out snatches of night sky from holes in the clouds. Night had truly fallen.
Curious, he crept to the room where Inuyasha and Hikaru where and listened to them talk. Inside he could see Hikaru still wrapped in her bed with Inuyasha next to her. On the floor in front of them were Inuyasha's toy soldiers.
******
"Do you think that he'll be back soon, nii-chan?" Hikaru asked.
Her brother shrugged. "I don't know."
"Do you want him to come back, Inuyasha?"
"I don't know." His voice was neutral and his expression. He played with his toys without really paying attention to them. Something seemed to be on his mind. His sister noticed this. She gently placed a hand on his arm and stilled him.
"What's the matter, Inuyasha? Is something wrong?" she said.
Inuyasha looked at her for a moment and slowly nodded. "Yeah, I think that you can say that. Have I ever told you before that there was a time that I wanted to be like Sesshomaru?" he replied.
Her eyes went wide and shook her head. Outside, Sesshomaru let out a soft gasp. Never in his all his years would he have guessed that about Inuyasha. A small spot of pride swelled up in him. It was a big compliment to him to hear this.
"You really want to be like nii-san? But…"
"I said that I wanted to be like him, Hikaru. Not anymore. I never want to be like him!" Inuyasha interrupted.
This statement took his siblings by surprised. Sesshomaru wondered what had happened recently to change this.
"Inuyasha, what happened? Why don't you want to be like Sesshomaru anymore?"
"I realized today how cold and mean he is. I wanted him to play with me, but he said no and crushed one of my soldiers. And earlier, he all but said that he hated us. I could never be like that; I don't want to," he explained.
"But why would you want to be like him in the first place?"
"Because he's strong, like Father is. I want to be strong."
"Why?"
"So I can protect you and Mother when Father isn't here. Sesshomaru won't do it; you know how much he likes to wander around. And sometimes Father has to go out to fight. Someone has to be here to protect the both of you." the hanyou said. His voice was very impassioned, up to the point where Sesshomaru was touched for a moment. The boy merely wanted to protect his family.
And what do I want to protect, he wondered. Is there anything I'm willing to protect besides the family honor and pride. The question bothered him and he pushed it aside. Otooto and imooto where still talking.
"Do you think that Father really loves us more than Sesshomaru, Hikaru?" Inuyasha asked. She had picked up a few of the soldiers and were playing quietly with him for a moment before replying.
"No."
"Why do you think that?"
"Inuyasha, is there a soldier that you like better than all of the rest?" she countered.
The comment caught him off guard. "What does my toys have to do with anything?" he demanded. He normally didn't angry at his sister this quickly, unless she had done something really bad to him. But the whole day had left him on edge.
"Just answer the question, nii-chan," she said.
He thought for a moment, looking at them all. It took him a moment to answer. "No, not really. I mean, they're all special to me. I guess I have to say that I like them the same," he said with a shrug. "Now tell me what does my toys have to do with the three of us and Father?" he repeated.
She sighed. "It's simple. We're a lot like your soldiers. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, but Father sees us all in the same light. He's our father. Nothing can change that," she started. But she stopped when she saw the confused look on Inuyasha's face. She couldn't help but giggle a little.
"Let me try something else," she offered. "Umm…remember the garden? All those beautiful flowers and trees?"
He nodded somewhat. This seemed as random as asking about his soldiers. But he was willing to let her talk. "Yeah, it's really beautiful."
"And does Mother have a favorite flower?"
He thought for a moment, "Um, no. not really. She likes them all."
"Exactly! We're like flowers. Each of us has his or her own talents and weaknesses. Yet Father loves us all despite it. It just that each of us needs some different care than the others. Nii-san doesn't understand that just because Father loves Mother and us, it doesn't mean that he loves Sesshomaru any less," she said.
"Now, that I can sort of understand," Inuyasha reflected. And he did. But there was something else that was bothering him. "But, Hikaru, why where you outside earlier? You never told me."
She gasped with remembrance and reached within her kimono. "I was outside getting a surprise for Sesshomaru. And I wanted to get them before the storm started. If I didn't then they would have been ruined!" she said. She brought out her hand and clutched within her grasp was some fresh, crushed flowers. There was enough fragrance left in them to tickle their noses. It was subtle but a good combination of smells. "I was going to give them to nii-san as a present. I saw him earlier and he didn't look too happy. I thought that these flowers would cheer him up."
Outside, Sesshomaru sat down, deep in thought. So that was why she had gone out. It was for him. The little hanyou had been willing to risk herself to cheer him up. And Inuyasha had looked up at him as sort of a role model. But why? Why were they acting like this about him?
Then it hit him. It was because he was their older brother. Part of that role was to act like a role model and friend for them. And their father, it never occurred to him that he loved all three of them. He did have to admit that their swords would help to protect them better. He had never thought of things that way. He had mainly been thinking about himself and his place in the family. The youkai had never thought of the others in the family. Maybe now was the time to start.
******
The little hanyou were playing nicely with each other when they heard a small polite cough from the doorway. Standing there was an uncomfortable and nervous Sesshomaru attempting to smile. They stared at him. What was he doing here and what was wrong with him?
"Would you mind if I joined your game?" he managed to get out.