A/N: One of my favorite chapters of all time! This originally came from another fic of mine, which isn't posted and probably never will be. It just fit so well in this fic, though, that I had to put it in here. I revised and edited it a little, but it's basically the same. This never happened in the actual anime, and I doubt that Rumiko was thinking anything along these lines when she wrote the story, but it's just my version of what went on. Hope everybody likes it! ;)
Reminder-... /-/-/-/memory;... +-+-+-+past, not a memory;... /-/-+memory and past;... #(anything after)special pov
Disclaimer: I don't own Rumiko's characters, just my original ones. Songs aren't mine either, they belong to their respective owners. No suing me.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 25-Nothing Else Matters (Metallica)
So close, no matter how far-couldn't be much more from the heart...Forever trust in who we are and nothing else matters...
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Look, Sesshoumaru, you have a baby brother," Izayoi whispered softly, going over to the stoic demon. He was standing on a cliff, the same place his father had been not long ago-it had only been a mere day since the great demon's death.
Sesshoumaru had his back turned to Izayoi, and he remained still, acting as if she did not exist. He hoped she would just leave him to his thoughts.
"Your father...he named him Inuyasha," Izayoi continued, stepping forward to stand right behind Sesshoumaru.
"I have no desire for your friendship, nor do I want your compassion," Sesshoumaru finally spoke, his voice calm and steady. "You were the woman my father chose, and so I cannot kill you or harm you. However, that does not mean that we are obligated to be cordial."
"I know that I am not obligated to be cordial," Izayoi said. "I do this out of love, my Prince-no, my Lord. Lord Sesshoumaru, I care for you, whether or not you care for me. You are the son of InuTaisho, the man whom I trusted with my very heart and soul. And this-this child is your younger brother."
"He's a halfbreed. Do you know what that means?" Sesshoumaru asked, whirling around suddenly to stare her in the eyes. "It means that he will be tortured by countless demons, shunned by humans, teased and taunted and unwelcome in any village he happens across. The demons of the royal court will not accept him, the humans of the villages will hate him, and the only future he could have is one of solitude and regret! I care not about you, for at least you can find acceptance among humans...but this child, my younger brother-he will be beaten, abused, hated, and disgraced a thousand times over! And all for the love of my father, and his desire to be with a human!" he snapped viciously. He quickly turned around again, closing his eyes against the tears that wanted to form.
"Lord Sesshoumaru..." Izayoi whispered softly. "Is there nothing that can be done for him?"
Sesshoumaru bit his lip until he drew blood; there was only one way he knew of.
"I can only lessen his suffering by turning against him," the young demon murmured. "If I told the demons of the court that I hated him, and if I were to fight him when he grew old enough to defend himself, I could claim killing rights. No other demon, or at least no other intelligent demon, would dare to touch him. And I would have reason to kill any who tried," he said slowly, turning to face her again. He blinked back the sudden tears, wishing he could rid himself of all feeling.
"So, in order to save him, you must hurt him?" Izayoi looked down sorrowfully at the bundle in her arms, tracing her finger lightly along the child's face.
"I cannot save him," Sesshoumaru repeated. "I can only make it easier for him. I can tell the other demons that I despise him for his human blood, and that I claim him as my own prey. If I convince them well enough, they will leave him alone, and then he will only have to worry about minor or foolish demons. And as for that, I can slay them with the reasoning that I cannot allow anyone else to kill him, that I have an obligation to rid him from this earth by myself. It's all I can do, Izayoi," he said quietly.
"I am sorry, my Lord," Izayoi stifled her tears. "I did not mean...to cause such pain..."
"It's not entirely your fault," Sesshoumaru said softly. He walked over a few steps to stand in front of her, looking at his younger brother for the first time. Izayoi held the small child protectively, hoping that the demon in front of her had not spoken true, but knowing that such hope was in vain.
"Lord Sesshoumaru..." Izayoi looked at him pleadingly. "You...you will protect him?"
"I will protect his life," Sesshoumaru nodded slightly.
"Where shall I go, if not your Father's-your castle? The demons there will not take to him so kindly," she pointed out.
"I know of a village where you will be safe," Sesshoumaru answered. "You realize that he will not age as humans do, he will remain young for far longer than you expect-you will die of old age before he matures."
"And will you look after him?" Izayoi asked.
"I will do what I can," he answered with a heavy sigh. "If other demons think that I care for him, then they will consider both of us weak and constantly attack us. I could not take him in under my protection, because it would only breed confusion and hate. I will watch him from the shadows, Izayoi. He will be safe, though he may not always know it."
Izayoi nodded, holding back her tears as she returned her gaze at the boy in her arms.
"His name is Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru asked quietly after a few minutes of silence.
"Yes, it is," Izayoi nodded.
Inuyasha opened his eyes at that moment, and his glowing golden orbs fixed on Sesshoumaru. He cried out gleefully, stretching out his arms. "Haa!"
"Inuyasha, that's your older brother," Izayoi said softly.
"Haa!" Inuyasha agreed happily, trying to struggle out of his mother's arms. He reached for Sesshoumaru, and his small hand finally touched the demon's arm. The child stopped, content with the contact, and he grinned hugely.
"Izayoi..." Sesshoumaru whispered, feeling a new flood of tears tugging at his eyes. "Let me hold him, Izayoi."
Izayoi looked up sharply in surprise, but simply nodded and held out her baby. Sesshoumaru took the child in his arms carefully, and Inuyasha was delighted. He gurgled happily and reached his hand up, straining until he grasped a flowing strand of hair. He immediately stuck the end of it in his mouth, making contented noises as he tried to chew on the hair.
"Inuyasha..." Izayoi began to scold mildly, but Sesshoumaru lifted a finger to his lips and hushed her. He looked down at his baby brother, smiling slightly as the child reached up once again. He leaned his head forward slightly, and Inuyasha touched his nose. The tiny ears on top of his head twitched as his eyes grew wide, then he laughed happily before closing his eyes. He fell asleep within an instant, a strand of hair still in his mouth.
Sesshoumaru held him for a minute longer, feeling the small heart thump against his arm. He almost began to cry right then, but supressed it. He shifted carefully, moving a claw up along the strand of hair and slicing off the silvery lines. The action left no visible mark, no look of unevenness. Sesshoumaru barely smiled as he loosely wrapped the hair around his finger, laying it on top of the blanket that Inuyasha was curled up inside of. He leaned forward and kissed the tiny forehead affectionately, then handed him silently back to his mother.
"Sesshoumaru..." Izayoi's voice was full of regret and sorrow.
"Father is really dead, is he? That would make me the new Lord. I'll send my soldiers to escort you to the village," he said, turning to the edge of the cliff once more and refusing to look at her. "I will have a trusted guard check up on you every so often. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask."
"Thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru," Izayoi whispered. Sesshoumaru inclined his head slightly in a half-nod, though not turning towards her. Izayoi stepped back to the men who had escorted her from before, and only when all of them were gone did Sesshoumaru allow himself to glance over his shoulder, wondering if he could really force himself to hurt his brother.
"He'll hate me for his entire life," Sesshoumaru whispered to himself. "He'll never know the true reasoning behind it all, he'll never know that I care..."
But as long as you're safe, little brother, then nothing else matters...
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
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AIEE! Baby Inuyasha is so cuuuute! Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. He's just adorable! With those cute little ears...
YAY! I finally got to see the third movie! A bit different than I expected...I'm going to try and get the Japanese version. The English dubbed version is just plain weird. Takemaru has a British accent, Sesshoumaru sounds different-I think his voice actor either got sick or took a vacation and got replaced at the last minute or something. What makes it worse is the fact that Inuyasha sounds normal, and the other characters sound normal most of the time, but Sesshoumaru only sounds like himself half the time, which makes it strange. I mean, if he sounded-well, not like himself-through the whole movie, then I could get used to it. But if he sounds like himself every other scene, then it gets unnerving. I mean, one minute it sounds like him, and the next minute it doesn't...very extremely confusing sometimes. Good thing I was at full brainpower the first time I watched it, or else I would have been really mixed up. And as far as InuTaisho, well, his voice was exactly how I imagined it, but the way he said things when he was rescuing Izayoi...kind of, I don't know, choppy. Everything ended with a period, you know? Every word sounded like a sentence, or else they ran together too much. Before rescuing Izayoi, and at the end, he didn't sound that way, but just that part...
"Damn you fool!" ... "Go. Live." ... "Inuyasha." ... "The infant's name."
I think you get what I mean...
Bleh, sorry. I'm giving away a little too much, aren't I? Er, well, this story is sort of giving away a lot too...guess I can't really give away too much more. But anyways, I'm rambling here, and you're probably not paying attention to me, so I'll be quiet.
Please review! Anything accepted, flames too! I'm in a good mood right now so lames are probably not going to be returned with equal brutality. Yay for Bittorrent! I love getting movies for free! -happy-
"La la lala la la la, lala la la lalala la!" --me, singing randomly in a screechingly tone-deaf voice
"AAHHH! Stop it! You're making our ears bleed!" --Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Shippou, holding their ears
"Grrr..." Kirara and Ah-Un, growling at me
"Uh...nice kitty? Nice dragon?" --me
"Ah-Un...kill her..." --Sesshoumaru
"Not if Kirara gets her first!" --Inuyasha
"Why don't we just go kill her ourselves?" --Shippou
"..." --Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha
"You have a valid point, kitsune." --Sesshoumaru, cracking his knuckles, death glare towards me
"Uh...nice doggie? Ehehehehehehe..." --me
"HAHA! She called you a doggie!" --Inuyasha, laughing
"Three...two...one..." --Shippou, looking bored
-CRASH-
"Ow..." --me, laying on the ground, beyond a wall with a very large hole in it
I got bored...
Sorry...