Brief Moments

By Mishi

Chapter 17

Revelations

This was so looooooong! I'm glad it's done.

Inu-dai – It's what Karen calls InuYasha and Sesshoumaru's father. Dai means great, or preceding in Japanese. She is calling him, "The Great Dog."

Chichi-ue –Sesshoumaru uses this when talking about his father. He actually uses this in the manga and the anime. Chichi means father, while ue refers to higher rank. Kohaku uses Anee-ue (older sister of higher rank) for Sango. It works the same.

Midoriko -The original priestess who fought against the youkai. It was from the combination of her soul and the youkai's soul that formed the Shikon no Tama.

Toukimaru -The husband of Midoriko. I made it up. This one is not canon. Touki means winter season, and maru is a typical ending for a young mans name. It is a guy's name that I took a liking too.

Concubines -What Sesshoumaru says about concubines later in the story is true. It was common for the upper classes to keep concubines. I would go into a lot of the history, but I think that Sess is going to explain it more in the next chapter. If I don't write it into the story, then I'll write a special note on the subject next time.

Yutaka –I named this character after the bass player of the band Buck-Tick. I'm so obsessed!

Now to the story….

Rin had just begun her conversation with Nishi as Sesshoumaru emerged from the forest. He appeared to be carrying a large boar by its hind legs. The animal's head was missing, and its belly had been sliced open at an odd angle. The closer he came, the more disgusting the image became.

Sesshoumaru came to a dead stop directly in front of Rin. Without turning his body to face her, or looking at her at all, he asked, "Will this do?" The words came out of his mouth as if he had been talking to her intimately, yet his face was as blank as ever. His entire stance conveyed an eerie elegance that only he could accomplish with such ease.

Rin leaned away from the animal and nodded, "Arigatou gozaimasu, Sesshoumaru-sama."

With her appeasement, Sesshoumaru walked up to Inu Yasha and tossed the carcass at his feet. "I've fulfilled my obligation. The rest is for you," he said and turned away.

"Hey," Inu Yasha jumped up from his place at Kagome's side. "Where the hell are you going now?"

Without looking back, Sesshoumaru answered, "To rid myself of this filth."

As always, Jaken jumped up to follow his master, only to be immediately rejected once again.

"Poor Jaken-sama," Rin said sadly, while Jaken's body fell backwards into the grass.

"There's not a drop of blood on him," Nishi whispered.

"It's the smell that he's talking about," Inu Yasha grumbled as he watched Sesshoumaru disappear into the trees.

"Sango-chan!" Kagome gasped as she took off after Sango, who was running towards the nearest line of trees.

"Wha…what the…?" InuYasha asked in confusion as he spun around to face Miroku.

Miroku's back was to InuYasha as he explained, "She suddenly got pale, and…before I know it, she was running."

"Great," InuYasha grumbled. "I guess I'll start on this thing." He unsheathed Tessaiga, and announced, "If I'm gutting the pig, someone else is getting the fire started. And it's not going to be me who cooks the thing."

"Oh well, I'm sure that Kagome-sama is with Sango by now. I'm sure it is better to let her tend to Sango, anyway," Miroku sighed. He didn't care what chore he got stuck with, as long as he knew that Sango was being looked after.

InuYasha stuck the end of the Tessaiga into the meat, and then stood to remove his upper garments. Blood and pig's fat were not things he wanted all over his clothes. Despite his annoyance at being left to gut the filthy animal, he tried to take Miroku feel better. "Sango's a strong woman, you know. She probably just caught wind of the smell," He said as he tossed the clothes aside. "I know I've smelled youkai who've had a better scent. I'll be surprised if I don't puke before I'm finished."

Miroku smiled and nodded towards InuYasha before saying, "Come on, Shippo, help me look for firewood."

"Can I come with him?" Nishi spoke up as Shippo hopped to his feet.

"Stay here with me and Rin," InuYasha ordered. "Things will get done quicker, if he is in a rush to get back to you."

Nishi watched dejectedly as Shippo was lead away by Miroku. However, Rin didn't let Nishi sit and sulk. Instead, Rin went back to asking questions.

'He would pick something this messy, just because it took so little effort to kill,' Inu Yasha thought as he cut a large piece of the meat away from the body. 'Heaven forbid the mighty Sesshoumaru should get dirt under his pretty nails.'

By the time Sango had realized that running wasn't making her feel better, she was in the forest. She had thrown herself against a large rock, just in time to empty the contents of her stomach behind it.

Kagome waited silently as Sango fought to keep her hair away from her face. Without a word, Kagome moved up beside her friend, and took over the job of tending the long black hair.

When there had been nothing left to expel, Sango stood up by leaning on the rock for support. With a shaky voice, she whispered, "I'm sorry, Kagome-chan. I didn't want anyone to see that."

Kagome placed her hand on Sango's back. She made small circles with the flat of her palm as she said, "I know, but I followed anyway. You don't have to worry about it."

"Arigatou," Sango replied. She was still too embarrassed to say much more.

"What's happening Sango-chan? This is only the second time that I've seen you sick like this. Are you ok?"

"I need your help to answer that question."

Kagome looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"I got sick like this the morning of your wedding. Your mother was the only other person awake, and she found me in the bathroom. I was too embarrassed to talk to her about it. So, she insisted that I bring something back with me. She said that you would be able to help me use it."

Kagome took a second to wonder what Mama could have sent back. Then suddenly it came together in her mind. "Oh my God…," she gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "Sango-chan, are you talking about a pregnancy test?"

Sango looked up at Kagome with even greater embarrassment than before, and replied, "I don't know what that thing is called. But…I do think that I'm pregnant. All the signs are there. I need to be sure before I tell Miroku."

Kagome tossed her arms around her friend, and asked, "Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

Sango returned the hug and responded, "You had so much to deal with. I didn't want to burden you."

"You should've told me. You're my best friend. Don't ever think that way again," Kagome insisted. "Where's the test?"

"It's back at the village. We'd have to sneak back to get it."

"Do you think you can run without getting sick again?"

"I hope so. I think it was the smell of the boar that made me sick."

"Then let's go. If we are gone too long, they'll come looking for us. If we're lucky, you'll have an answer really soon."

InuYasha stomped through the forest. He had left Miroku and Shippo to cook the pieces of pork he had cut. A large towel had been draped across his naked left shoulder, and he was holding a bar of soap in his right hand. He was hungry, tired, and thanks to the boar, he stank. He had no choice but to take a bath in the cold river. It was something he was not looking forward too.

'Great, Sesshoumaru had the same damned idea that I had,' he thought as his brother's scent came to him on the breeze. 'He would pick this spot. Screw it! I don't feel like walking any farther. He's gonna have to share.'

InuYasha exited the trees to find Sesshoumaru's clothing lying on the side of the river, and his brother standing in waist deep water.

"Why are you here?" Sesshoumaru asked arrogantly, without bothering to turn around.

"Your choice in food stinks," InuYasha said as he washed his hands in the water.

Sesshoumaru looked back at InuYasha. He had found amusement in the pun, and could not resist the smirk that appeared on his lips.

"Nice to know that Rin's given you a sense of humor," InuYasha mumbled in amazement.

Sesshoumaru blocked out the words and returned to his task of splashing water onto his body.

InuYasha dried his hands with the towel and threw it over a nearby rock. Successfully removing some of the mess from his hands, he removed his pants without leaving a smell on them. He looked down at the water and said, "Damn, that's going to be cold." Taking a deep breath and clutching the soap, he rushed into the water and fell backwards.

"Cold, cold, cold, cold, COLD!" InuYasha yelled as he popped up out of the water.

"Stop acting like a child," Sesshoumaru demanded with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

InuYasha stood up and splashed his way farther into the water, which brought him closer to Sesshoumaru. "Oh forgive me, Oukou-sama," he said sarcastically. He was going to drop it after the comment, but he couldn't. Losing the sarcastic tone, he followed up with, "I know I'm spoilt by Kagome's world, but you're telling me that you don't think this water's cold?"

"I do not choose to complain about it, as if I were a child."

"Man, you're a pain," InuYasha snorted and turned his back to Sesshoumaru.

"Your acting a bit overconfident, aren't you?" Sesshoumaru was showing the first sign of anger since InuYasha had entered the water.

"No!" He snapped as he turned to face Sesshoumaru. "If you think about it, we're both very naked, and standing in very cold water. And…," InuYasha pointed towards the riverbank. "All our weapons are over there. I don't think we'll be touching each other."

The logic had left Sesshoumaru stunned and staring at InuYasha.

"Why does everyone give me that look!"

The last rays of sunlight loomed over restless heads as the group waited for Karen. Dinner had taken much longer to prepare than to eat. For a group mixed with human and youkai, waiting wasn't what anyone wanted.

Inu Yasha finished the last of his dinner and throw the stick towards the fire. "Karen's been gone for hours. I wish she'd come back and get this over with. I'm tired of waiting for her," Inu Yasha griped as he rested his head on Kagome's lap.

"You'll find that Karen does things according to her own notion of time," Sesshoumaru commented in a flat voice. He was seated with crossed legs between Rin and Jaken.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon. Just be still and let me read this," Kagome said putting her hand on Inu Yasha's chest. She was trying to read one of her textbooks as Inu Yasha wiggled around looking for a comfortable position to lie in.

"Hey," Inu Yasha whispered as he looked up at her. When she ignored him, he pushed his hand in front of the page she was reading. "You and Sango were gone for a long time. What were you doing?"