Simply Special

Upon a night so dark and peaceful with nothing but the stars and the wind to carry you, Inuyasha went from the little campsite he and his close companions had set up maybe an hour or so before. For it was the new moon, it was odd and intriguing that the human Inuyasha went from the slowly dying fire that was solely his only source of light in the surrounding blackness. But nevertheless he left in the late hours of the night, defenseless.

He could hardly see his feet that tread through the smooth grass and twigs below him. He needn't stretch his hands out before him. He knew his forest all too well to be afraid of simply walking straight into a tree.

It was quiet. So quiet that Inuyasha could hear his own breathing as he inhaled and exhaled freely.

He came out from under the trees to stand on the ledge a cliff with narrowed eyes and his arms wrapped securely around his weak frame. His deep violet eyes traveled from the almost indiscernible rocks downward to the purple and midnight blue sky above him. He closed his eyes if only for a moment to feel the calm wind move through his now darkened tresses and red fire rat clothes.

He sensed the Lord long before he came to stand by his side, Toki-jiin still settled in his sash securely.

The two brothers stood in silence, both looking upward and not knowing what to do yet not really caring if it stayed this way. They were enemies, true, but maybe they both got a bit tired of that sometimes. Maybe a fight wasn't really what they were seeking from each other.

Sesshomaru moved a clawed hand up to his hair to push a silvery strand behind his ear. Then, while moving his head down to the landscape before him, Inuyasha spoke to his brother. The words were not said harshly and he wasn't intending to make Sesshomaru leave by saying them.

"What are you doing here?"

Nothing. There was no answer for a moment, but then his neutral voice finally reached the hanyou's sensitive ears.

"I caught your scent and decided to follow you." It didn't really explain why, but Inuyasha could guess the reason his brother had come.

"Do you wish to spar with me in this form?"

"No…Inuyasha, do you know why I battle with you so much?"

Inuyasha turned to face Sesshomaru as the other brother did the same. "…no…" Hesitation followed, but not enough to make the half breed uncertain.

"I do it because I want to make you stronger. I want you to become an opponent I cannot defeat. I want you to become even stronger than father some day." Sesshomaru's gaze never left that of InuYasha's. This told him he wasn't trying to deceive him to gain possession of Tetsusaiga.

Then Inuyasha did something he'd normally never do in front of an enemy. He smiled. A real one, filled with true joy and contentment, all for someone he never thought he would.

No words passed between them for a while until Inuyasha again broke the silence. "I'm glad that's why…Do you know my motivation to continue to battle with you?"

Sesshomaru shook his head slightly on response to the question as his younger's smile stayed in place.

"I do that because I know you can't beat me." Sesshomaru's eyes hardened at this and then InuYasha began again. "And I know I can't beat you either…"

The older youkai looked taken aback for a moment but then returned to his usual demeanor quickly. And he stayed quiet waiting for more. And it came.

"I know we'll keep fighting and fighting. And then one day when everyone else is gone, we'll get so tired that both of us will fall and we will die…together. No one but us in the end. And I want that more than ever…" InuYasha looked away from the other after this.

A hand came to catch Inuyasha's first tear as it fell from his cheek into the palm of his only family left in the world. Sesshomaru watched the tear roll around his hand, spreading the clear liquid around his skin.

Then the gentle touch went to Inuyasha's face to shift his head to look at himself. When Inuyasha did look at Sesshomaru, he saw something he thought he'd never see gracing his brother's face.

It was a genuine smile that could only be his own.

Sesshomaru's soft eyes found Inuyasha's and he finally said what he'd been meaning to in all the years he'd known Inuyasha. "I'm happy to know that, little brother. And I will carry that knowledge to the next time we meet to fight."

His fingers slid through Inuyasha's silky hair just as Inuyasha's hand touched Sesshomaru's cheek right over his red birthmarks. Their lips met in a short, chaste kiss. It contained no tongues or teeth, but it was special. The kiss broke off and Sesshomaru's cold glare came back to his features and he turned around without another word and left Inuyasha alone. There wasn't any need for words, they both knew what the other had not actually voiced into real words that merely were empty.

Inuyasha watched his brother leave until he was back in the brush of trees and out of sight. Then he turned back to see the sun rising right over the hills and mountains and he again smiled as he felt the warmth of the new sunshine fall over him in waves. His transformation began as he looked out over the land and thought.

There was only one way to describe his Nii-san and Inuyasha had reflected about it for a long time.

He was simply special.