Disclaimer: Nope, none of Takahashi's characters are mine but the OC's are so e-mail and ask if you get the random urge to nick one.

Eternal

'The greater cats with golden eyes

Stare out between the bars.

Deserts are there, and different skies,

And night with different stars.'-Victoria Sackville-West

Chapter One: Blood Brothers

It was a wonder, even by demonic standards; the creature towered above him, bronze scales covering the long body then reaching up to the snake-like head. The skin of its human form was hung heavy with poisoned oils and its back was set in ridges that gleamed like burnished gold in the evening sunlight. These ran down into two parallel lines above malicious blue eyes which glittered beneath its brow. Unfortunately, Inuyasha didn't take a huge amount of time to appreciate the view as he promptly began to hack it into very small pieces.

He was in an especially bad mood that day; he had been exhausted, though unwilling to admit it, the day before as he had had to fight it out with a combination of new incarnations and Kagura. So when he was rudely awoken from one of his rare naps by Sango hitting Miroku and then screaming at him under the Goshinboku tree things had taken a turn for the worst; so to relieve the stress, he went and pounded Shippou into the ground a couple of times. He probably would've kept on at it for a bit too, if Kagome hadn't kept sitting him all the time. Then, to nicely round everything off Kouga had turned up, called him a halfwit puppy, flirted with Kagome, only to run off again when Inuyasha pulled out Tetsusaiga.

'Not jealous not jealousnot jealousnotjealousnotjealous!' He thought, continuing to pulverize the now thoroughly dead demon.

So all in all, this cast-off of Naraku's was a welcome punch bag. You could almost feel sorry for it, that is if you hadn't seen the deformed corpses hunched around its feet, the remnants of their faces twisted in horror.

This was a straight hunting job. No shards had been found, but the others had refused to leave the demon running loose and Inuyasha had silently agreed. Maybe it was too much time around his 'friends' or it could be the influence of his sword's protective instincts, but he found the sight of mangled bodies and grieving families affecting him even worse than it had when he was younger and he had found the best way to cure it and generally make himself feel better was to destroy whatever had caused that pain in the first place.

The hanyou finally noticed that the others were now watching him nervously from across the mess of monster entrails. He looked down. One glassy blue eye looked back at him.

Sango was the first to speak, "Inuyasha, I think it's definitely dead." She hadn't repacked Hirakotsu yet, unsure whether or not Inuyasha was in his right mind. Next to her, Miroku was more relaxed, still able to detect his halfling aura, but had his eyebrow raised and Kagome was biting her lip while Shippou hid in her skirts and Yoshi cowered behind him.

"Feh." Inuyasha muttered, sheathing Tetsusaiga. The wind changed, carrying away the stench of blood and rotting carrion which had his stomach curling. Now he could smell the scent of the forest, pine, water- 'Sesshoumaru!' He didn't bother to draw his blade, he and his brother had been on, what was for them, good terms. Sesshoumaru had pretty much stayed away, but when they met it had that that little human of his seemed to be softening him up. Inuyasha mentally grinned at that, yeah about as soft as a dragon's hide.

His white silk kimono billowed around him where the wind blew at it in frozen gusts as the elder demon emerged from the undergrowth. He was alone; Kagome had already visited them once in the winter apartments where Rin was staying with one of Sesshoumaru's courtiers, but not even Ah and Un were with him. Inuyasha felt the prickling of uncertainty, but still didn't draw Tetsusaiga; he didn't want to provoke his brother by going on the offensive, "Hello, Sesshoumaru."

The demon in question didn't reply, instead he began to pick up speed, closing rapidly on the hanyou. His body was tense and his face unreadable. When Inuyasha caught the faint smell of poison prickle at his nose, he glanced around the clearing sword unsheathed, searching for the enemy his brother must have sensed. He looked around again 'What's he looking for I can't-'

The first blow slammed down onto his arm and he felt Tetsusaiga's shield spring up, as Sesshoumaru reached for it. "What the hell!" He sprung out of the way, glaring at Sesshoumaru, "What do you think you're doing!"

The half moon etched between his brows creased as Sesshoumaru frowned, "I would think that obvious even to you little brother. I am here for the Tetsusaiga."

At this Kagome ran forward, shucking off the children who kept trying to cling to her. "No! Lady Kagome, you mustn't-" she ignored Miroku and leapt over the youkai remains, to stand in between the two brothers, "That's ridiculous Sesshoumaru! You have Toukijin now, as well as Tenseiga, why would you possibly still need Tetsusaiga?"

"Get out of the way, miko," he said without bothering to look at her. The Western Lord had deigned to recognize her existence once he had found out she had spiritual powers, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy talking to the human.

"No. Sesshoumaru, you and Inuyasha were getting on so well, I mean at least bett-" she said. Why would Sesshoumaru do this? He and Inuyasha seemed to have reached a truce, this-this didn't make any sense!

"Kagome, move!" Inuyasha said, "He isn't going to listen." His voice had changed. It was soft and serious, causing Kagome to glance confusedly between the two and then back away. "You aren't, are you?" the hanyou was still a moment longer as the question hung in the air. Then, in a flash of red, he streaked into the trees followed a breath later by the silver blur of Sesshoumaru.

The others stood motionless looking at the spot where the inuyoukai had been seconds before. Kagome was the first to recover and dived into the forest after them, "INUYASHA!"

The sound of blade on blade ripped through the forest, sending a draft of birds screeching into the overcast skies as the brothers slashed at each other. Ripples split the air, emanating in glittering waves of power from where the metals struck. Sesshoumaru lashed out, his claws glowing green as they ripped through the shoulder of Inuyasha's haori, leaving four parallel marks decorating the hanyou's chest. The boy barely flinched at the crimson gashes and quickly responded with his own 'sankon-tesso'. It was fast, catching Sesshoumaru on the flank and shattering his armour. Dark blood clotted on the white silk and he stared at it for a moment, fascinated. 'He made me…bleed?' Then he was bringing up the other hand which held Toukijin and slicing upwards through his little brother's shoulder, twisting the metal to carve between the now exposed ribs.

Branches grasped at her hair and clothes, but fear gave her feet wings and she snapped the smaller twigs away while her aura blasted away the larger braches. One thorn burrowed its way into her leg but she ignored that, concentrating instead on following the path of destruction the siblings hand carved and on the myriad thoughts tumbling through her head. What was going on between those two? Inuyasha had practically seemed acceptant at Sesshoumaru's sudden change of heart, and then that look in his eyes. Regret. Resignation. It was all so strange. Seeing a shadow of white and red through the trees; she picked up speed.

Inuyasha crashed to the clearing's floor, his body bent with spasms while he hacked up blood. He pushed his weight up onto his arms, refusing to let himself crawl at the Western Lord's feet, but as he did he felt one of the splintered ribs crunch in on itself and pierce his lung. His breathing jarred and his arms jerked out from under him letting him collapse to the ground. The shard of bone dug deeper in to the soft flesh and stabbing out the other side.

Pain shot through Kagome, forcing her to her knees, hands clutched to her chest and gasping for breath. 'What was that!' she thought checking herself for any sign of blood but there was nothing, and the pain had gone as quickly as it had come.

The boy was perfectly still, the blood around him cooling in the wintry air, shrouding his body in mist. Sesshoumaru drew back, sword still raised. 'A trick?' Surely he hadn't killed him? Even a half breed couldn't be knocked down by a gash to the shoulder- his train of thought was abruptly cut off as he caught a sweat drenched scent on the wind. Footsteps followed moments later and Kagome emerged from the wood, cheeks flushed and panting, her hair a black nest of twigs and leaves. Sesshoumaru's sharp nose caught the smell of her blood even beneath the overpowering stench of Inuyasha's and saw a steady trickle of red running down her legs from the angry puncture where a thorn had been crushed into her skin.

The girl stood stunned and her brown eyes widened in shock at the scene before her. She loosed a little whimper and took a hesitant step towards the hanyou, then looked back with a mix of horror and disbelief at Sesshoumaru, then downwards to his bloodstained blade and claws.

"Why?" With a hitching sob her voice cracked but the sound still rang out clearly, the question condemning in the night. The words faded and silence returned, save for the steady thump of his heart and the wild hammering of hers. They resonated in Sesshoumaru's ears. Two heart beats, just two. He looked away from the crying ningen, in favour of turning to the now battered Tetsusaiga which lay in the limp hand of its master.

He took a step forward before he was thrown back by a massive blast of chi as the girl slammed into his wounded side. "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" The girl leapt at him and brought her fist back to strike, but he caught it in a single movement and snapped the wrist cleanly before capturing her throat in his claws. The miko's energy continued to burn through his body, but the pain eased as it redirected its attention to healing the fractured bone.

"I have no interest in a hanyou's corpse miko; it is only his sword which I came for. He himself is of no value." The words helped: no value, the boy had no value. Death should be a blessing to such a creature, such an abomination. But the guilt curling in his gut kept his grip around the throat of his brother's woman from tightening.

Those brown eyes were wet with tears, Kagome twisted her head awkwardly to try and see Inuyasha, but could only glimpse a haze of red at the corner of her eye and that could just be blood. Her vision began to darken. Releasing that much magic would have effects, she knew that, but at that moment she couldn't have cared less. She would've gladly died to save him, to stop this. She couldn't see any more now, her eyes were too filled with tears as the darkness crept in.

"Inuyasha…please…" She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could. Behind her lids the world dissolved into obscurity and flashes of lights. 'Close your eyes tight enough and you can see him, even if he isn't here like he used to be.' Her mother had told her that when her father had died and now, more than ever, she wanted it to be true. If she could just see him again, just one more time…Strength blossomed through her; pulling back her faded consciousness.

"Let her go." Sesshoumaru watched his brother clamber unsteadily to his knees, his hand knotted in his chest where, moments earlier, he had pulled the bone from his lung. He had it gripped in his hand now and his face was ashen from the loss of blood. The human flayed in his grasp frantically, kicking at him now and clawing at his hands, the magic and grief fuelled adrenalin which had allowed her to knock him off his feet though, was gone and he didn't even bother to glance at her as he tightened his grip.

"Let her go!" Inuyasha was leant upon a fully transformed, gleaming crimson Tetsusaiga. It was more than the pain which caused him to cling to the blade like a lifeline. Watching Kagome in that monster's clutch was more than enough to bring his demon blood to the boil, but he knew if he let go now his demon blood would take over and leave him useless to both of them. If Myoga had been right, then his only hope was to talk with his elder brother. He clutched the hilt harder, forcing himself not to watch the struggling Kagome, trying to look at him, knowing she could be dead in seconds if his brother chose.

"Give me the sword and I'll release her." The golden eyes reflected the moonlight and he rose silently to his feet, bringing the girl up with him, who swung slightly off the ground.

"No! Don't give it to him Inuyasha! Your transforma-" Sesshoumaru pressed down onto her larynx and the words were cut off. Inuyasha however didn't break eye contact, keeping his gaze trained on Sesshoumaru. There was no hint of the usual frown creasing his brows or even the occasional smirk. He shifted his weight, standing straight and centred. For the first time, Sesshoumaru felt a curious emotion, the sudden feeling that his world had changed, moved forward without him and left him floundering for something familiar. It would not be the last.

"Sesshoumaru, you know that if you take Tetsusaiga I might be destroyed by my demon blood, and kill countless people in the process, right?" The half breed remained unreadable.

"That is no concern of mine."

Inuyasha glanced briefly at Kagome. She was holding very still, keeping her breathing even so as not to allow the lack of oxygen to make her panic. Both of her eyes were fixed on him, waiting for a signal. 'Good.' He thought. In the year they had been together, she had learned a lot about how to protect herself in combat, she was calmer, and more controlled 'We both are.' he thought. Turning back to Sesshoumaru he sighed and allowed his body to relax out of a fighting pose.

The Western Lord slowly followed suit, but kept the poison in his claws hanging just below the surface, letting Inuyasha to smell the undertones of it on his skin.

"What is the point of all of this, Sesshoumaru?" He waved at their torn clothes and the decimated forest, "All of this? It won't achieve anything." He let out a low chuckle, but his expression was almost pitying.

Sesshoumaru recoiled, tensing again, "And what do you mean by that?" He hissed. His mind was screaming in outrage at the idea of being pitied by a hanyou.

"I didn't understand at first, why you wanted this sword so badly when you already had Toukijin. Your wanting a sword, not even a particularly more powerful one than your own, that was designed to protect humans. So I asked Myoga about it." Sesshoumaru said nothing but his aura was blazing with fury. Kagome winced; his grip had intensified and she could feel the acid crawling its way into her skin, she prayed that whatever Inuyasha was about to say wouldn't end in the inuyoukai getting angry enough to kill her. Inuyasha was thinking much the same way but he didn't know what else to do. In his condition he certainly couldn't fight his brother and Kagome's magic was exhausted.

The tension was palpable and Sesshoumaru's words cut through the silence like a knife, "Well little brother, what did your parasitical keeper have to say about me wanting to claim my birthright?"

"He said that you needed it to take vengeance on Shisen."

Silence.

"Tell me Sesshoumaru, are you really stupid enough to think you can kill death?"

Before anyone mentions it this is NOT going to be a Sess/Kag fic and there is a reason to Kagome's pain. I really hoped everyone liked this beginning, pleas review for more! I am really open to criticism but please don't flame, that's just pointless. Hugs to all my original reviewers and my AMAZING beta Diana Artemis Silvermoon (read her stories!)

Eva