Author Note:

Purely inu brothers fluff chapter... or is it? Chapter five is here, and it is LONG! Bruh, I don't even know why it got so long! Anyway, I hope it would still be a fun and exciting chapter to read.

Chapter 5

Inuyasha caught up with Sesshomaru in a small clearing a few miles out of town. Sesshomaru drew his swords' sheaths from where they were on his hip and waited for Inuyasha to do the same.

"Ready?"

Inuyasha nodded, "Ready."

On cue, they planted their sheaths on opposite the edges of the clearing, right by where they stood. Energy crackled off the sheaths as they generated a shield enclosing the clearing.

"Now, otouto, we begin." Sesshomaru cracked his knuckles. "Transform, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha drew in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and focused. He let his energy loose and felt it transform himself. Jagged, purple stripes appeared on either of his cheeks. His claws and fangs elongated. He opened his eyes and they started to bleed red. A soft gowl welled from deep within his chest.

"Focus, Inuyasha. Control it." Sesshomaru commanded the raging hanyo-turned-youkai.

The newly-turned youkai panted heavily. With each breath, however, the beast grew calmer. The crimson in his eyes slowly faded into its usual gold. Finally, with a last sigh, Inuyasha calmed his youkai down, but still remained transformed.

Sesshomaru has been training his brother to control his full youkai form for the past year. Although there is hardly any threat left to push the young inu over the edge anymore, Inuyasha still fears for the safety of those under his protection should he lose control, for whatever reason.

During the early stages of their training, Sesshomaru gloaded the hanyo into transforming, by beating him into a pulp. Then calmed the beast down with his own blood. Letting the enraged hanyo drink his blood, he found from scriptures of old, would help him regain some sanity, but the strain of digesting a full youkai, or worse, daiyoukai blood would revert the transformation in a few minutes and leave the hanyo feeling ill for at least a few days.

Once before, the enraged hanyo managed to get past the daiyoukai, endangering the very same people Inuyasha wanted to protect. Sesshomaru barely managed to contain his brother before he'd done any real damage to the village. Ever since, they trained a bit further away from the village. As an added precaution, Totosai suggested they use their sheaths to generate a barrier around their training area. The barrier, according to the old swordsmith, may not be strong enough to completely contain the powerful brothers, but it would at least provide a delay for a certain wild hanyo-turned-youkai. Plus, it keeps unwanted participants out of harm's way.

Inuyasha's training has come a long way since then. He can now control his full youkai for a solid five hours. Also, he now keeps a quarter of his full youkai powers open at all times.

This has changed the hanyo in some ways. He has grown significantly taller and broader. He is now almost as tall as Sesshomaru and slightly broader as he is more muscular than the older sibling.

Inuyasha stared back into golden eyes so similar, yet so different from his own. "Okay, bring it on, asshole." He beckoned for the older inu to attack.

"Tch. Such insolence." Although Sesshomaru's expression remained as placid as ever, his voice as monotonous as always, there is a glint in his eyes that was the only tell of the playfulness of the statement. He took on an offensive stance, "Prepare yourself, hanyo."

"Keh. Just shut up and fight, ya prick!" Inuyasha yelled back. He crouched lower into a menacing stance, his eyes shown with excitement and suppressed bloodlust.

In a flash, Sesshomaru was at Inuyasha's side, bringing down his sharp claws onto the younger. It would have torn him to shreds had his senses not been heightened by his full youkai form and jumped out of the way in the nick of time. Sesshomaru's claws dug into the earth, leaving a dent in the hard soil.

"Your colorful vocabulary never ceases to fascinate me, Inuyasha." He said as he stood up, readying for another attack.

"Keep pissing me off and you'll hear a whole lot more, ass-"

Before Inuyasha finished his taunt, Sesshomaru was at him again, this time with a string of attacks. All the younger inu could do was to frantically try to block as much as he can. A claw came swiping at his face from the right, Inuyahsa ducked low, but a foot connected with his stomach, making him stumble back, knocking the wind out of him.

Inuyahsa wheezed, dizzied by the impact of the kick, when his eyes widened as an uppercut smashed his chin upwards. He flew a few feet off and plopped unceremoniously into the ground some distance away from where he stood.

Sesshomaru regained composure. He watched the unmoving figure warily. The purpose of this beating was to push Inuyasha off the edge, to a point where his youkai would feel the need to override his sentient mind. Despite this, Inuyasha must surpass his insatiable bloodlust and remain conscious. He could see Inuyasha's fingers twitch as he sensed a rise in youki being emitted by his brother. The true test begins now.

"Is that all you got, hanyo?" Sesshomaru taunted, but still watched the other intently. "Get up and fight."

As if following the elder's command, Inuyasha got up but took on a defensive stance. His bangs fell over his face. His tongue was bleeding from where he bit into it and blood filled his mouth before dripping down the corner of his mouth to his chin. A single drop fell onto the ground between his feet.

Something's not right

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at the pup. Such a tremendous rise in youki in such an accelerated pace often led to the hanyo losing control, according to their previous exercises. Although it's been months since the hanyo last lost control, the older inu chooses to side with precaution and keep his guard up. Something about his brother losing control to his inner youkai still unnerved him even after all these years, though he would not openly admit it.

"Inuyasha?"

A deep rumbling growl emanated from the younger. Slowly he picked his head up to look straight into the older. His eyes were once again tinted blood red.

The smallest of gasps left Sesshomaru's lips. "Inuyasha-!"

Inuyasha leapt off his feet and pounced at Sesshomaru, making them both stumble to the ground. Inuyasha crouched on top of Sesshomaru, who is now lying on the ground, staring wide-eyed at the menaced brother. "Inuyasha, stop-!" Sesshomaru swiped at him to get him off, but Inuyasha caught his wrist easily and pinned it back down to the side of Sesshomaru's head. He tried attacking again with his other hand, but that got caught and pinned to the other side of his head just as easily.

Sesshomaru struggled, but panic started to fester within him as his wrists remained trapped in his brother's grip. "Realease this Sesshomaru!" he growled.

Inuyasha pulled both wrists above Sesshomaru's head and held them down with one hand. He raised his other hand, claws aimed for the older's neck. Sesshomaru's breath hitched as the clawed hand was brought down to its mark.

Suddenly, the hand stopped just before it broke the skin and the creature atop him laughed, not a menacing one, but one that sounded playful and mocking.

"Hahaha! You should have, haha, seen your face, Sess! Hahaha! PRICELESS!" Inuyasha laughed as the red slowly drained from his eyes.

Sesshomaru blinked, half confused and half relieved. Then realization dawned on him as his face twisted back into a snarl. "Get off, you filth!" He growled as he pushed the younger inu off him, who stumbled back but continue rolling on the ground laughing. He sat up, arranged his clothes and smoothed out his hair. Slowly, he exhaled the breath he didn't realize he was holding, willing himself to calm down.

"Woah, haha!" Inuyasha chuckled as he propped himself up on one hand while the other clutched at his side, "It's been a while, haha, since you last, ha, called me that. And here I was thinkin' maybe you and me are getting on better terms." He stood up and extended a helping hand towards Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru cannot hold back the smile he made at that, though it was gone as quickly as it had come. He playfully slapped at the hand in his face. He stood up and dusted himself off before facing his brother. "Pull off another stunt like that and I might just reconsider ending your pitiful existence again, you worthless waste of space."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Ooooh… such big talk. Let's see if you can back that up in round two!"

Inuyasha once again leapt into attack and their battle started once again. Their fight raged on for another few hours.

"Man, that was good work out!" Inuyasha sighed as he sat himself down on the soft grass, leaning against a tree. He had both arms folded behind his head as he hummed a tune softly to himself. He was still transformed, but Sesshomaru decided that they had enough training. They've learned from previous sessions that proper cool down was needed to allow the hanyo to revert back without putting too much strain on his body.

Sesshomaru gracefully took a seat beside him. He rummaged through the pockets of his sleeves and retrieved a long, red silken ribbon with a tiny golden bell sewn to each of the ends. They made a slight jingling sound as he held one end in between his teeth and started gathering his hair up into a ponytail with the other end.

The tinkling of the bells awoke Inuyasha from his trance. He cracked open an eye just in time to see his brother tying his hair with a piece of silk ribbon. "That looks like a good idea," he said as he sat up straight. "Got another one of those ribbons?"

Sesshomaru paused in the middle of securing the ribbon, thought about it for a second before pulling it off. His long, platinum hair fell back down over his shoulders. He fixed them back behind both ears before patting the space in front of him. "Come here," he motioned for Inuyasha to sit with his back turned to him.

Inuyasha cocked his head, but shrugged and did as he was told. Long, elegant fingers expertly gathered his hair up and secured it in a tight ponytail. He did, however, leave the fringes on either side, so that they frame the hanyo's face. After he was satisfied with how the puppy's hair looked, Sesshomaru turned Inuyasha around so that the younger inu was now facing him. His emotionless gaze studied the other's face in complete silence.

Inuyasha was clearly disturbed by the staring. Nothing ever caught the daiyoukai's attention long enough for him to actually stare. Unless he wanted to kill you. Inuyasha added after a thought.

The puppy's discomfort is now starting to show. His twitching ears are now folded down and back into his head. Inuyasha started to protest when Sesshomaru suddenly spoke. "I thought so."

"Huh?" Inuyasha cocked his head to one side. By now his transformation was starting to come undone. His facial markings were the last to go, fading back into the tan of the hanyo's skin.

Sesshomaru shook his head, finally breaking eye contact. "Nothing, it's nothing." He leaned back into the trunk of the tree behind him. "I just thought that you looked so much like our father. Even your facial markings are similar to his."

"Is that so? I mean, I barely saw otosan that time with the Sounga."

"Yes, it's something that you do better than me, regretfully. I am told that I look much more like my Hahaue than Chichiue. Father also wore his hair up with a ribbon similar to that. I used to weaf mine up as well, when I was younger, but I stopped when..." Sesshomaru trailed off.

Inuyasha thought he saw a glimpse of something in his brother's eyes, but it was gone as soon as it was gone. Sadness?

Sesshomaru suddenly found the forest canopy very interesting. "Did you know why I agreed to train you, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha shook his head. I've been wondering that myself…

"I have come to truly recognize your power and place in this world not only as my father's son but also as my brother, this you already know. What you do not know is that I have also come to regret never having treated you the way that I should, both as your elder and as your last remaining family. I let my own prejudices which I have so childishly justified by blaming the so-called weakness of your tainted blood, regardless of how illogical, get in the way of fulfilling my duty to you." He was now staring back directly into Inuyasha's eyes. Although the face looked as cold and placid as ever, there was a certain softness to his brother's eyes. "I… I had hoped..." Sesshomaru averted his gaze again to stare at the ground. He whispered something barely audible, but Inuyasha did not catch what he said.

The older inu suddenly stood up. He abruptly changed the topic before Inuyasha had the chance to ask him to repeat what he had just said. "You have never gone to the Western Palace, have you? Perhaps one day I will take you to our palace. It is past time that my heir finally came home, after all. But for now, I think it is time that we started to head back." He started walking back into the forest.

"Hey, wait!" Inuyasha scrambled after him. "Hang on, you can't just-!"

Suddenly, the wind picked up and a blinding light shone behind them. They both turned in time to see a rip in space appear in the middle of the clearing. Four mysterious men stepped out of the portal. Two of them seemed to be demon, one being a silver fox demon and the other a fire demon, while the other two looked to be human enough. No, the tall black haired one is definitely part demon, too. Inuyasha thought to himself. Physically, none of them looked to be any older than the inu brothers. Nevertheless, it was clear that their powers were not to be taken lightly.

A fifth figure stood at the mouth of the passage, but the glaring light shining through behind him made it impossible to tell his features. A gust blew past him, rustling and shifting his hair and clothes.

The scent of the fifth mystery man wafted to the brothers' sensitive noses. Their eyes grew wide at the recognition.

"How... how is this... possible? How are you... HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"

Author's Note:

Worlds collide and it's bound to get messy. Stay tuned to find out what happens next.