Thanks to: Chibi Inuyasha Lover 4ever, Movie-CaffineAddict (lines where i'd forgotten to put in lines after new dialogue? I'll check that out, thanks!), Prozacfairy, GoingGhost, Sasia, Silver Wolf Pups, Sesshoumaru Minion, PhantomGRL91, NoSortOfMuse, and Sayuri-Chan 16 for all your great reviews! And I've done a temporary fix of the l key on my laptop! Yay!
Tessadragon
Disclaimer: Sesshooumaru doesn't know the meaning of brotherly affection. And I don't own Inuyasha, more's the pity.
Chapter 6
A lone tree overlooking a hill, where its land was soft with lush grass. That was where they camped: Jaken and Rin, Sesshomaru and young Inuyasha: Rin kept watching the young half-demon curiously like he was about to ask if someone could throw a stick for him to fetch. Instead of being angry at her, he was just embarrassed, ducking his head and kicking the grass as he walked.
That was, until they got here, until he recognised this part of the land. Then he had to look up at the sky instead of the small carved stone that jutted from the grass below the tree. He squinted into the darkening sky, blinking back something from his eyes. Then Inuyasha lowered his head and acknowledged this blow as harder than any physical one. That small carved stone that jutted from the grass was his mother's grave: this was where she'd been laid to rest…how long ago?
"Inuyasha, how long ago was it that your human mother died," Sesshomaru asked coolly.
Young Inuyasha didn't look at him as he sat down on the floor in front of the grave. "I know it should have been…a long time ago," the young half-demon whispered, his golden-tawny eyes wide as he kept a steady gaze on his human mother's grave. "But right now it feels like yesterday."
"Are you younger in just physical appearance, or strength and memory as well?" Sesshomaru asked. His eyes were cool and appraising of his younger half-brother.
"Just physical appearance," Inuyasha said immediately. His voice was hardly a vestige of his older self. In fact, the older voice inside, demanding for him to go back to Kagome, to check if she was okay, had died down to nothing but a whisper. He was a little boy, and his older brother was there…almost as though he was looking after him. But a gut feeling told him there was something more going on.
But he was tired. It'd been a long day. The sun was dying below the horizon. His feet hurt. "Mother never made me travel this far in one day," he said, trying not to sound plaintive. "Why am I tired?"
The older Inuyasha would have made a point of saying that because he was a half-demon, he didn't get tired.
"Get some sleep, younger brother." Sesshomaru got up and walked away, calling out to his servant, Jaken, "Keep watch over Inuyasha and Rin. Make sure they are both safe. Or I will kill you."
Jaken's petulant look changed to one of fear. "Y-yes, my lord."
Rin was already curled up and sleeping. Jaken looked at Inuyasha, expecting that the boy would leap into the tree branches: he knew that was the lowly half-demon's habit. But no, the boy was already sprawled out asleep, one bare foot twitching in a fast dream.
Sesshomaru walked to the edge of the cliff, paused for a moment in his reflection of today's events, then simply stepped off the edge of the cliff, falling gracefully and landing equally so on the rocky riverside.
"Inuyasha…a child," he murmured. "But how?"
Age meant nothing to him. He viewed immortality as a trivial thing, so it didn't matter to him for now how long he would live. What was intriguing was the possibility that if this young Inuyasha continued regressing into his child state…he would no longer be able to wield Tetsusaiga. Lord Sesshomaru would finally be able to take possession of the mighty Fang bequeathed to his lowly half-brother by their great Father!
He needed to know. What kind of demon did this to Inuyasha? He raised his face to the wind, inhaling the scent of the land around them. His own aura explored the range around them: there were minor animal demons all around them. A few beast demons, but none with an aura such as that, that would be able to do this to his half-brother.
"I will tolerate my half-brother's presence…until I have figured this out," he murmured to himself. "If I can take the Tetsusaiga from him, that is my aim. If I can kill that poor excuse for a half-demon, I will."
He despised such underhanded tactics, but he was curious by the transformation of Inuyasha. Leisurely he walked back to his travelling party, listening to the world. He couldn't hear those humans that his young half-brother had chosen to travel with: they must be beyond an hour's travel from him. He smiled thinly: would they even know if Inuyasha died at his hand or not? Seeing as they'd usually been there, watching him thrash Inuyasha, that'd be ironic…except…that louse of a half-demon did manage to hold onto the Tetsusaiga despite my superiority, his mind told him coldly. There is hidden strength to it. Perhaps that futile drive by humans to survive to try and win a hopeless battle. That is what kept my half-brother from rotting and joining his mother in the grave.
He sighed softly and arrived back at the camp. Inuyasha had curled up now close to his own charge, Rin. Somehow Inuyasha looked only very slightly older than Rin. It roused a cautious anger in Sesshomaru, a possessiveness of his young charge, exacerbated by it being his half-brother so close to her.
Jaken watched him nervously. "My Lord…why are we keeping Inuyasha with us?"
"That is none of your concern," Sesshomaru said quietly, not willing to risk Inuyasha's near-keen senses hearing of his intention to claim Tetsusaiga for his own.
Kagome stoked the campfire with a spare log before tossing it into the low flames: they rose and crackled a little louder.
"You miss him," Sango said quietly; it wasn't a question. It was easy to see the isolation, the loneliness in the priestess's eyes.
"I haven't been without him a single night since I came to the feudal era," Kagome said just as softly. "I mean no offence to you and Miroku, but I'm just unused to the idea of sleeping when I know Inuyasha isn't there, sleeping in the branches above me." She'd used to watch Inuyasha, trying to determine if he did sleep and pretending to sleep herself. The forest canopy above them was a sore and dark reminder that Inuyasha wasn't here…and that he might never be again.
Miroku slept with his back resting against the trunk of the tree. Well, not sleeping. His eyes were shut in meditation but he listened intently to the girls' conversation. Shippo slept up in the tree branches, no, he was only pretending to sleep too. Sometimes he looked out over the forest, nervously searching for the demon that had turned Inuyasha into a little kid. But there was nothing: the forest was silent.
"It is very odd," Sango said with a nod, and hugged her knees to her chest, gazing into the flames in the same melancholy fashion as Kagome did. "But…Inuyasha is a survivor. We have to trust in his abilities."
"But he's a child."
"Shippo survived, didn't he?" Sango pointed out.
"But he was always a…wild child. You know, always living in the forest. How do we know that Inuyasha wasn't brought up as a child in some domestic, lavish surroundings?"
"Excuse me?" Sango forced a laugh, "The man that complains when we don't sleep outdoors?"
Kagome had to smile at that. Casting her gaze upwards to the starry sky, she recalled first Inuyasha's child complexion, and then his handsome grown-up countenance. Then she silently cast a prayer for his safety and that she would get to him. She even promised that she would truly tell Inuyasha how she felt about him…as soon as this was all over.
"What will we do?" Sango asked her opinion, then wished she'd rephrased it better, as Kagome gave her a worried look. "I don't know. Should we go after the demon that cast the spell on Inuyasha? Or should we go to find Inuyasha?"
"We shouldn't split up," Sango suggested.
It was a difficult choice. Sango thought back through all her demon-slayer father had taught her. "The death of a demon ends its enchantments."
"Like Miroku's wind tunnel when we'll kill Naraku," Kagome said with a nod.
"Yes," Sango agreed. "So if we kill this demon that turned Inuyasha into a child, Inuyasha will turn back into his real self wherever he is."
For a moment Kagome could hear nothing but her heart. She struggled to make the choice: whatever choice she made, she might lose Inuyasha.
"Sleep on it," Sango advised. Downcast, Kagome nodded.
"And there's one thing," Sango added gently.
"Yes?" Kagome looked at her quizzically.
"I am very glad that you at least are okay. If I was stuck with just Miroku…I would go crazy."
Kagome had to laugh.
"And what," Miroku asked, not opening his eyes, "Would I do to drive you crazy, my dear Sango?"
"You'd find a way," Sango said darkly. "Now go to sleep, you pervert." It was endearing the way she said it. Miroku smiled and obeyed, falling into dreams of Sango.
Sango would never admit if she had dreams of Miroku. Kagome was the last to fall asleep, and when she did, it was a strange dream. She dreamed of a great and elegant building, where tall shadowy men discussed strange matters. She dreamt of a small boy—Inuyasha!—racing across the courtyard, then slowing to give these strange men a long curious glance, then shaking his head…then he grinned: a boyish young smile that she'd never imagined seeing him do, and raced off across the remainder of the square and over a low small wooden bridge. She followed him into this beautiful garden…
Then the sky darkened, and she felt a strange thought, as though in Inuyasha's older voice, inside her head: This isn't supposed to happen…
The young Inuyasha kept running as though he didn't notice the darkness that was engulfing all his surroundings…and then he was gone as well. Fear gripped Kagome's heart and something inside her whispered that she mustn't forget this dream, no matter what…as the dream faded into sleep's natural darkness.
