Moments In Time
He scratched his forehead in annoyance. This had not gone as well as he had hoped, and now his father was gone. 'This is ridiculous.' If only his father had listened to him. Fuming silently to himself, he turned and walked away from the hilltop he had shared with his father only moments before. The moon shone brightly, but it wasn't a soothing light, but one filled with incredible evil that filled the air with contempt.
Sighing, he sat down on a rock that seemed to be misplaced among the fields of grass, snow and dirt. Deep in his heart he knew he would never see his father again. His injuries were too severe. But rather then allow himself time to heal; he had instead gone racing to 'her' side. Closing his eyes, he sat there and pondered what he would do without his father. Rather his father's guidance. Shaking his head with anger, he despised the woman who stole his father's heart. He despised the unborn child as well. He knew he shouldn't, but he did.
Innocent, that was what the child was. Even unborn, he or she was without any doubt, innocent. Growling, he shoved himself to his feet and retraced his steps to the hill top. Looking down, he stared at the blood stained snow. Kneeling down on one knee, he scooped a handful into his hands and continued to stare at it, as though it would become his father.
Taking a deep breath, he threw the stained snow back onto the ground, and glanced in the direction his father had gone. Above the tree line, orange filled the sky. Gasping, he stood racing towards it. Sniffing the air, he immediately detected fire, and blood. Growling with rage, he ran, without even knowing he had changed his form into a frenzied dog. His jaws snapped as he heard his father's howl of rage fill the night.
As he ran, his last conversation with his father raced through his mind in a rush of frantic and frustrated images.
"Are you going, father?" He had asked. His father stood with his back to him.
"Are you going to stop me, Sesshomaru?" His father said above a whisper.
There was a moment's pause, as he regarded his father. "I'm not going to stop you." Taking a deep breath he continued. "However, before that I would like the fangs, Sou'unga and Tessaiga, to be handed to me."
His father lowered his head looking at his feet. "If I say I won't give them to you… would you kill your own father?" A small faint smile danced on his face. "Do you desire power that much?" His father looked over his shoulder slightly. "Why do you seek power?"
"I must travel the path of conquest. Power is necessary in order to walk that path."
His father's eyes narrowed. "Conquest, huh?" His father lifted his face to the moon. "Sesshomaru, is there something you want to protect?"
Sesshomaru frowned. "I have no need…to pursue such an endeavor." He flicked his right hand out.
The air swirled around them, the cool night air swarming around his father. As he watched, his father transformed and growled. Glancing once at his son, he dashed off towards the village where 'Izayoi' lived. He had smelled her blood, her time was close. The child's time was close.
Sesshomaru watched his father race off and he lifted his nose to the wind and sniffed. Blood. Curling his lip, he smelled 'her' in the air, the same scent that lingered on his father whenever he returned from seeing her.
Sesshomaru jumped onto the outcropping of rock and silently watched the burning village. His keen sight immediately caught sight of his father, and his jaws opened slightly. Had he been in his usual form, it would have been a gasp, but because he was in dog form, it came out as a snarl. Snapping his jaws shut, he returned to his usual tall figure. Much like his own father, but his long silver hair hung down his back rather then in the top knot his father wore. Golden eyes watched as his father battled, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a human female run to the forests edge, below him. A small babe was clutched to her chest, and Sesshomaru winced.
The babe was crying, and it hurt his sensitive ears. Lifting his eyes once more, he watched his father battle fire, and humans, and he cursed. Looking down once again, he caught 'her' whispered words calling out for 'his' father.
Was this Izayoi? Furrowing his brows, he sniffed the air. She smelled of his father. In her arms must be his hanyo sibling. Closing his eyes, Sesshomaru heard cries of rage and pain fill the air and he winced. His father was dying. 'Why protect them? Why miss them?' He frowned. 'Why love them?' Taking a deep breath, he had a choice. Either assist his father, even though his father had never allowed for it. Or assist the woman his father loved.
Voices rose, closer to Izayoi, and his eyes snapped open glancing down at the approaching torches that searched out Izayoi and the hanyo child. Against his better judgment, his father's words came rushing back to him. 'Sesshomaru, do you have something to protect?' Curling his lip in frustration, he jumped into the air, landing between Izayoi and the men who hunted her. The distance was great between them, and he proceeded towards the 'human' woman and child as her retreating steps came to his keen hearing. He could kill her. But if his father lived, which Sesshomaru doubted, the disappointment in his father's eyes would be too much.
His father loved this human, loved the child as well. Perhaps…Growling, Sesshomaru broke into a run. Human men had this woman surrounded. Catching sight of her, on her knees crying openly, but silently, she rocked the small child in her arms, trying to sooth the babe's frantic and frightened screams.
She didn't notice him approach. Standing over her, he watched a moment. Smirking, he saw silver hair, and 'ears?' Taken aback, Sesshomaru hissed. "Get up."
Izayoi gasped surprised, stumbling over her feet as she stood. Spinning around startled, she stared at him in surprise. The babe even stopped its howling, and golden eyes opened curiously. They locked onto Sesshomaru's and this caused the elder to frown in annoyance. The annoyance deepened when the babe cooed. 'Cooed?' He snorted.
"Come." Sesshomaru turned, not waiting to see if she followed. It was a moment before he heard her steps, and he allowed a small smile of satisfaction as she followed him, trustingly.
"Wh-who are you?" She whispered fearfully.
"His son." He retorted.
She didn't have to be told whose son, she knew immediately. He had spoken about another son. Looking at the almost grown yokai in front of her, she saw the likeness. Same silver hair, same tapered ears, similar marks donning the face. Golden eyes. She allowed herself a smile, and followed without question. As Izayoi looked at the yokai who lead her away from the only home she had ever known, she saw coldness, and something else that was barely distinguishable on his features. The woman couldn't put what it was to mind as she stared at him.
He was tall, not as tall as her husband, but he towered over her none the less. His features were flawless, elegant almost. He had a small perfect nose, and on either side, he donned two burgundy stripes running from his ears to his cheek bones. Much like her husbands, but his were lavender and he only had one per cheek, where his son held two. Two golden eyes stared straight ahead, and if she didn't know better she would have sworn they were her husband's eyes. Her brows creased as she glanced at the crescent moon that donned this yokai's forehead. It was the color of her husband's stripes, and seemed to almost glow in the moon light.
"What is your name?" She whispered.
The yokai stopped, his head turning slightly. "Is there importance of knowing my name?"
She held out the child to show him the babe. "Your father named the baby Inuyasha."
Taken aback, however keeping his cold façade on his face, he frowned. Named after his father? Lifting his eyes from the hanyo, he looked at her hard. "Sesshomaru." He began walking again, but didn't hear her following. Annoyance filled him, as he turned around seeing her standing there confused.
"My name." He hissed. "Is Sesshomaru." She appeared stunned, but nodded and quickly cuddled the baby in the red fur that rested around her shoulders.
He had recognized it. It was his father's. Curling his lip, he waited. She seemed to sense his frustration and quickly ran to his side. "Where are we going?"
He pondered that, and began walking again. How easy would it be for him to lead her to yokai infested plains? If his father survived he wouldn't know, would he? Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, Sesshomaru turned his head to peer at the woman. "A place where you can live in peace and raise that hanyo."
"H-hanyo?" She mumbled confused.
Snorting he quickened his pace. "Half breed." Without another word, he led her through the night, and she was quickly growing tired, and her steps were getting sloppy. A few times, Sesshomaru had to stop and wait for her to pick herself up and run to catch up to him. Her lips were blue and her teeth chattered, causing him to grind his own teeth in frustration. 'Humans are so weak.'