The rest of the council was seated in the war room, awaiting the dog demons to arrive. After the meeting, where he would introduce them to his heir and discuss any concerns, the lords would join their families and soldiers in the banquet hall for the feast, and a small introduction ceremony would take place. The gathering would then become one of a social nature. There was a good chance the meeting would be contentious, but hopefully not overly bloody and drawn out. He hadn't the patience at the moment.

Sesshoumaru arrived at Inuyasha's room to find him fiddling with his formal kimono, trying to make sense of the ties. He had sent his mate off with the others to give them time to prepare, but he could have used her to help him get dressed.

He had never learned to do any of the fancy stuff his brother had to take part in; kimonos, and meetings, ceremonies...there was a huge learning curve for him. All he knew was how to fight, and that seemed to be enough for Sesshoumaru. He would show him the rest.

Was this going to be his life now? He hoped not too much of it.

He was standing in front of the mirror as his brother approached him. "Too bad the old man ain't here to see this," he mused, still struggling with his ties. "Bet he never would have thought in a million years he'd see his half-demon son getting named to inherit the title from you."

It was true. His father's indiscretion had cost him his life. But if he would have survived, Inuyasha and his mother would have been in great danger to remain in The Western Fortress, where Sesshoumaru had grown up. He had to hide their existence to protect them while Izayoi was pregnant, and would have either had to keep them a secret, or start a war.

Sesshoumaru wouldn't run or hide. If he wanted a half-demon as an heir, everyone must bend at the knee and accept his will. Or face his wrath.

He scoffed, "It is merely a formality. I am not going anywhere, little brother." The statement was oddly comforting.

"Father was too much a coward to claim your mother openly in demon society, therefore resigning you to a life of misery and hardship. If he'd had the courage you presently display, the task of creating peace between the species would not lie so heavily on your shoulders."

It was still so weird to receive praise from his brother that wasn't sarcastic. It was even stranger to hear him speak ill of their father. He had never spoken of him with anything less than reverence before. It was almost as if he feared he would pop up from hell and thrash him one for insulting him out loud.

He wondered if that was how he behaved when Sesshoumaru was a boy. Just the thought of Sesshoumaru as anything less than a full-grown prick seemed wrong. But he had more than proven him wrong in that as well...the jerk.

"Yeah, well, I still wish he was here." He hoped he was proud of him, wherever he was.

"I thought for sure Kagome would at least make it. She should be here."

"Agreed." How he wished she was.

Finally fed up with Inuyasha's fumbling, and pressed for time, Sesshoumaru stepped in to help him get his kimono tied up right, tucking and folding around his waist and shoulders. Inuyasha allowed it, turning his focus on his brother.

"You know, no matter what, she has always been a really sweet kid." He still cared for her. Whatever indiscretions she would be guilty of, she had more than earned some loyalty on his end.

"Hn." Inuyasha watched as his brother fixed his clothes, trying to commit it to memory for next time.

"She's not the kind of girl you wanna play 'love her and leave her' with," he seemed to warn. He knew about his brother's reputation. He hadn't been interested in any female for longer than a night or two, and had left more than one heart broken in his wake.

Sesshoumaru stopped his fussing to regard Inuyasha seriously in the mirror, "Who says I am going to leave her?"

The admission shocked the hanyou into silence, and Sesshoumaru went back to work on the garment. He guessed he shouldn't be that surprised. Kagome wasn't like other girls. She had a way of making you love her, especially when you didn't want to. Speaking of which...

"So, I guess you heard about that mangy wolf sniffing around her, huh?"

"I have my sources." He figured that's why he had detained Shippo earlier. He couldn't blame the fox demon; his brother was nothing if not intimidating.

"He's a real piece of work. I don't know what she ever saw in that guy, but I was sure it was over." Sesshoumaru absorbed the information silently as he kept with his task. "I was pissed when I saw them saying 'good night' this morning, and I told her about it. I know I should stay out of your guys' personal business, but what she did was rotten, and she shouldn't have done it. You deserve better."

Now it was Sesshoumaru's turn to be shocked. Kagome was, at one point, the boy's only companion. They had been to hell and back together, literally, and he knew he cherished her beyond even perhaps his mate in some ways. That he would side against her with him, his once much loathed half-brother, was a feat in itself.

It also stood to mean that the miko had truly done something unforgivable. Had she?

"Thank you, Inuyasha. But perhaps you judge the miko too harshly. She is not one to go around being careless with the hearts of others. Whatever she has done, I am sure she had a good reason. And I eagerly await to hear it. There." He withdrew himself so that Inuyasha could admire his handy work in the reflection.

"Hey, nice! Where'd you learn to do this stuff?" He turned to appraise from every angle.

"Father taught me." He should have known. "Now I have taught you. And because that is all he could have helped you with today, you no longer need him."

He'd spent his whole life idolizing his father. He was the greatest demon to ever rule The Western Lands, and he'd never even got to meet him. It was so unfair.

The thought of all he could have learned from him, all he could have had, being taken away and left with nothing...it was why he walked around with a chip on his shoulder.

But looking in that mirror, seeing the full demon that looked so like his father, he realized he'd never had 'nothing'. Sesshoumaru's methods were harsh, but the lessons got through. Be strong. Work hard. Don't worry about what others think. Don't rely on anyone else to help you. These were things he had taught him from afar. Things he'd learned through suffering, about the world and its fairness.

He'd wished he got to follow his father's lessons like Sesshoumaru had, but then he didn't really know how Sesshoumaru had learned those lessons. Maybe his father was harsh as well. Maybe his brother really did take his father's training- unforgiving and spiteful, and relayed it just so. It seemed to work, for them both.

He thought his brother had been handed everything, but Sesshoumaru had also learned a thing or two about fairness. His sword. His arm. The burden of duty. Growing up in the shadow of greatness. And Inuyasha now considered, for the first time, that Sesshoumaru had lost his father as well. It should have brought them closer, but it only drove them further apart.

He had spent so long hating his brother, worshipping his father as a god. But one of them was here with him now, and the other was not.

He'd spent his whole life longing to meet his idol – the greatest demon to ever rule The Western Lands. He didn't realize until now, that he already had.

'I don't need him anymore. Because I've got you.'

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru."

A/N: I think this might be my favorite chapter. What do you think?