Servant Brother

It was an important day in Inuyasha's short life. It was the most important one. Today - tonight - he was going to serve his brother officially for the first time. The hour of his performance was drawing near and the young boy was finishing preparing.

He bathed and brushed his hair to make it look more tame. While working he was thinking about all the lords and ladies gathering to dine with his brother tonight. He was merely a half-breed, none of the noble youkai bothered to learn his name or remember he existed, but Inuyasha knew them by scent. His brother was very firm about him learning names and smells of his allies and enemies.

Inuyasha knew that without his brother's help he would be dead by now. He hated the feeling of being despised by everyone in the palace, but since his brother tolerated him no one dared to say or do more than call him a filthy hanyou or push him. It was nothing like the hate humans had shown him. Inuyasha was old enough to know that youkai would be much worse. but they feared to anger Sesshomaru. And Sesshomaru was willing to tolerate him, give him a roof above his head and a purpose in life only because their father had sacrificed his life to save Inuyasha's. And, even with hi blood tainted by his human part he was still pack.

Inuyasha picked up a silver tray with an ornate cup of the finest sake, called the Sake of Sages. It was almost time for him to walk to his brother and offer him the drink, according to tradition Sesshomaru would drink only this one cup of sake tonight.

As Inuyasha entered the chamber he saw a lot of various youkai dressed in finest robes. Many smells, some nice, some nasty, assaulted his twitching nose while his ears swiveled madly to take in all the noises. No one of the youkai standing in the room seemed to notice the little hanyou entering the room and making his way to the throne where Sesshomaru was going to sit upon arriving.

The hanyou stopped when a boar youkai in yellow kimono stopped in front of him.

"Half-breed, it's the Western Lord's cup?" he asked in a low voice. Inuyasha nodded mutely He almost took a step back when he saw the boar take out of his sleeve a small vial and pour a few drops of a transparent liquid in the sake. "It's a blessing, so your dirt won't ruin the ceremony."

Big golden eyes looked down and almost missed a wide smile on the boar's face when he walked away. Inuyasha resumed his walk, but soon was stopped again and a similar thing happened, this time with a female oni.

When finally Inuyasha made it to the throne Sesshomaru was already there, sitting in silence and looking indifferently at the crowd.

"It took you long to get here," he commented. Inuyasha bowed his head.

"I'm sorry, lord Sesshomaru," he whispered, unhappy that his savior was not pleased with him. "Many youkai stopped me on my way."

"You should learn to walk around people and not bother better than you," Sesshomaru picked up the cup. He noticed that his guests were looking at him, many with hope shining in their eyes. "Report."

Inuyasha took a deep breath and stood straight. He started a long list of names and poisons added to Sesshomaru's sake. Some of the mentioned people tried to cry that the hanyou was a liar, but one glance from the Western Lord was enough to silence them.

"You did well, especially since it's your first time, Inuyasha," it was a praise, but spoken with a monotone voice, it sounded more like a comment about weather. Still, Inuyasha smiled and looked up at his brother who took a sip of his sake. Some of his guests gasped. "Let it be known this Sesshomaru is immune to poisons. Your pathetic attempt at killing this one and using this one's half-blooded brother to deliver the poison was a failure from the beginning. This one shall have your heads separated from your bodies when the ceremony is finished."

Inuyasha looked in awe at the full dog youkai when he drank all the sake and put the cup on his tray. The boy almost ran out of the room, happily smiling all the way. He did well, he was useful.

A/N: Okay, this was an odd AU... What do you think?