Author's Note: More battle scenes in this one so it may get a little dark and gory. Suggestions are always appreciated, so feel free to send them my way! Please read n' review! Thanks to all who read!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

Sesshoumaru sat near his father as they watched from the side of the mountain, waiting for the army of the dragon clan to appear. They had been spotted only a few miles away, traveling to Inutaisho's fortress to annihilate the armies they expected to be there. In their arrogance, they had never expected a trap. Perhaps that was why they never prevailed in their attempts to conquer the western lands.

Behind him, Sesshoumaru could smell the fear emanating from Shintaro. He turned to him and saw that although he was trying to put on a brave face, he was shaking slightly. He wasn't ready for battle, and both he and Sesshoumaru knew it. It was unfortunate that a situation such as this had to occur before he was better trained.

"Remember, stay close to me and out of my way." Sesshoumaru told him. The boy shakily nodded.

Remembering his teacher's words from the previous day, Shintaro straightened a bit, gathering his resolve. "We will win." he said to Seeshoumaru. "There is no possibility of defeat." Sesshoumaru looked at him for a moment and turned to his father.

They could see the enemy coming closer now, almost within striking distance, but still far enough away that Ryuukossei and his army were unable to sense their presence. "Wait for my order before you strike." Inutaisho instructed. "On my command, we must attack swiftly and with all our strength." "Surround them from all sides." he told Sesshoumaru and Makura, and the order filed down the ranks.

After a few tense moments passed in silence, the command came. "Strike now!" Inutaisho shouted, and the battle began. The armies under the great dog general attacked swiftly and precisely, but they were fighting no trivial foe. The northern and western warriors got as well as they gave, and even after a lengthy engagement, the battle wasn't swaying to the favor of either side.

Sesshoumaru had never had to use nearly so much of his power before, but he found he felt little fear. He found instead that he rather welcomed the challenge; never before had he been able to truly test his limits and skills. He knew also however, that his father was counting on him, and that they must emerge victorious.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, what should I do?" he heard Shintaro call from beside him. The young demon was looking around frantically, not sure whether to try and attack or do as he was told earlier.

"Do as I told you!" Sesshoumaru turned and shouted, and in that split second he was nearly overtaken by a large dragon. The beast was swift for its size and quickly had Sesshoumaru pinned, digging its claws deep into his right shoulder. Barely managing to break free, Sesshoumaru finished him quickly with a stroke of his poisoned claws. He looked around for Shintaro, but he was lost now in the sea of the battle.

Inutaisho had expected the battle to be long and costly, but it seemed that the ranks of the dragon clan were hardly affected, though he saw their dead laying all around him. He knew there were not this many warriors in Ryuukossei's force. He then began to realize that there were dragons among the dead that looked different than those in Ryuukossei's clan. They had come from the east; they had not struck early enough to prevent them from joining forces. He turned to Makura. "Finish them!" he shouted. "As quickly as you can, two or three at a time if possible!" "We do not have the force otherwise to beat them!"

Sesshoumaru heard his father's shouted order, and heard something then in his father's voice he had never heard before. Desperation. If his father was desperate, then he knew the situation must be dire. He held out his arm, willing his energy to form the extension of a whip once again. He would kill as many as he could with it and his poison claws, even if he had to give his life for it.

Finally, the remainder of the forces that had come from the east turned and fled. They abandoned their new comrades, shouting that they would not die for them. Inutaisho smiled, exhausted, as he watched the few left among Ryuukossei's army retreat as well. He knew that they would take care of their betrayers with no help from him, thus eliminating the threat to his army as well.

As the sun sank red after a full day of battle, Sesshoumaru felt an exhaustion and weariness he had never before experienced. His entire body actually ached and burned from the use of nearly all his energy. He began to look for Shintaro; he hadn't been able to find him through the rest of the battle after they were separated. "I was only distracted for a moment." he thought to himself as he wandered through the legions of the dead.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, you are still alive." came a faint voice. He turned and saw Shintaro lying on the ground. It was obvious he was mortally wounded, blood was seeping from his chest and side. "I am glad." the boy said, his voice rough from forcing himself to speak. He actually smiled up at Sesshoumaru.

"I told you to stay by me!" Sesshoumaru found himself shouting at him as he knelt down. "Why did you not find me!" "Why did you not flee your attackers and seek me out!" "You knew you were not fully trained to go into battle!" he seethed.

"You told me to steel myself, to stop being so uncertain of my skills, that I had as much capacity to be a warrior as anyone else." the boy said slowly. "I wanted to stay out of your way so that you could fight without me as a burden." "I am glad I fought with honor and depended on myself." "I thought of your strength, and it made me stronger." I do not regret my death." he told Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru could only stare at him as he faded away, his face still smiling in death.

There was an empty feeling rising in him that he could not place as he looked at the lifeless boy. His father had asked him to teach the boy. Was it that he did not have enough time to let him hone his skills or had it been his impatience with him? These thoughts only made the empty feeling in his chest grow stronger. It was no use thinking about it now, he decided, the boy was dead and there was nothing he could do about it. He turned and walked away from the still form of Shintaro to find his father, and see where the battle had left them.

Inutaisho sat alone near a stream on the side of the mountain that they had attacked from. His army was decimated. The only consolation he held was knowing that Ryuukossei's was as well. He had lost well over half his army, warriors from both the north and west. He had stood looking out across the battlefield in the eerie silence of the evening. So many dead, they seemed to stretch on forever. He had not been powerful enough to slay many at once, and neither had the rest of his force. The battle had been slow, and that accounted for much of the loss. If only he could find a way to take out legions of his enemy at once, even a hundred at a time. He vowed to pursue it.

He heard his son approaching, and felt relief rushing into him that he was still alive. He turned to look at him in the fading light of the day, and saw that his son was battle worn and injured in his shoulder. Shintaro was not with him.

"I am glad to see you well, my son." he said gravely. "We have successfully defended the western lands once again."

Sesshoumaru looked on as his father stood by the stream, looking down into its depths. Even though he was still rather young by demon standards, he suddenly looked old, and stood as if a heavy weight were on him. As his father turned to face him the look in his eyes hit Sesshoumaru hard. It looked as though his father was the one who had been defeated. He didn't know what to say, or if he should say anything at all.

"Where is Shintaro?" his father asked finally. Sesshoumaru stood for a moment, again seeing the boy lying in the grass, smiling as he passed on.

"He did not survive the battle." he told Inutaisho. The empty feeling was growing in his chest once again, and he wished there was something he could do to quell it.

"He is with his grandfather, then." Inutaisho said as he looked up toward the sky. "There is hardly anyone left alive." "We may have driven off the enemy, but what is left of our armies would be unable to fight even a small battle now." "It's a good thing that most of our threats were taken care of before this day." "Even the dragon clan will need as much time to recover." he told his son as he sat down by the stream and took a drink from it. "Tomorrow we return to the north, I need to ask something of your mother." he said.

Sesshoumaru nodded his understanding. He hadn't been to his home for very long in quite a while. He returned to the main camp, and fought in his mind against images of Shintaro to go to sleep.