Here is chapter 2! I'm glad that people so far have enjoyed what I have, hopefully I can keep up the pace. Sadly things will get more depressing for poor Inuyasha before it gets better. But hey it will be exciting!
Beta read by the wonderful Kiya-chan!
Chapter two: Journey 'home'
Inuyasha was nervous, and who wouldn't be with mister 'Killing-perfection' behind them, as they slowly made their way to more pain caused by a pretty little girl and her 'Osuwari'. It was like he was trapped, he couldn't even run away from this situation. One because of obligation, second because of his own fear.
He sighed heavily; nothing was going his way, then again when did it? Getting sat by Kagome; literally molested by that wimpy wolf and now being dragged back home by his brother. Oh he was just peachy. All he needed now was to add Naraku into the mix and everything would be bloody perfect! But that didn't happen since they entered the clearing where everyone had set up camp, his footsteps faltered slightly at the sight of his friends.
"Inuyasha!" shouted Kagome when she caught sight of him. "Where have you been?! SI-" but she stopped half-way through her tantrum when she noticed the intimidating figure looming behind him.
"Sesshoumaru!" the whole group jumped up and grabbed their weapons ready for a fight. Inuyasha quickly raised his hand, telling them to lower their weapons.
"Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru is behind you!" Kagome shouted; her bow poised and ready to shoot.
God how stupid did she think he was. "Don't ya' think I know that wench?! Now lower your weapons, he ain't gonna hurt us," at least not for now, Inuyasha thought.
Kagome bit her bottom lip, suppressing the 'sit' command that was trying to make its way out. Instead she lowered her bow, watching carefully as he went past her and sat down by a nearby tree, and surprisingly enough his brother followed him to sit down beside him. She stomped her feet in irritation, but it was obvious that she wouldn't get any answers right now. So she went back to the dinner she and Sango were preparing. Soon everyone joined her although there was a definite tension hanging in the with Sesshoumaru's sudden arrival, especially Shippo who was hiding behind Miroku.
The Daiyoukai frowned glancing around the ragtag team. "Are you sure you want to take your pack with you Otouto?" he heard a growl from Inuyasha.
"Of course I have to, they are my responsibility," he snapped.
"And what if they don't want to go?"
"Would you just leave it!" he went silent for a while but Sesshoumaru knew that he was contemplating the situation, and working out all possible solutions. He watched as the Hanyou slowly stood up drawing the attention of the rest of his group towards him. He walked up towards them clearing his throat. "Everyone, we are going to stay with Sesshoumaru at the ancestral home in the western lands."
"..." the group was quiet, until little Shippo spoke up. "Are you demented Inuyasha?!"
"Why you little brat!"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome intervened hiding the fox kid behind her.
Miroku cleared his throat, and walked in-between them in an attempt to stop the death glares passing among his friends. "I think what Shippo was actually trying to ask was, where this sudden decision came from?"
Inuyasha grumbled under his breath, really wanting not to go into this but answered. "It's mating season in a few days..." he didn't want to say more than that. He didn't want his friends to know of the sudden changes he was going through, it was all too embarrassing.
The group went silent again; looking at each other as in confusion and bewilderment. Kagome blushed, no doubt her mind getting the wrong idea, although by now he was glad that he couldn't mate with her when the time came. Not that mating with some dude would be any better, probably would be the lesser of two evils.
Sesshoumaru sighed behind him, when he stood up as well. "None of you are under any obligation to accompany us; it will just be safer for Inuyasha to stay in the castle, where I can look after him."
"Of course we are going!" Kagome shouted out. "We wouldn't leave Inuyasha behind, how long does this mating season last?"
Sesshoumaru frowned in irritation, he didn't like how this girl showed no respect towards him, even his brothers other ningen friends seems to have more tact. "...Two weeks at the most." Although he didn't mention that Inuyasha would be staying a lot longer than that.
"Alright let's leave in the morning!" Kagome replied enthusiastically.
The inuyoukai bit back a growl; it wouldn't do for him to show his emotions so freely, but what gall of this ningen. Who was she to order him around?! Truly she held no respect towards him or anyone else it would seem, not even to his brother who was Alfa of this pack. He sneered; maybe he should teach this girl a lesson...
Almost, as if reading his mind, Inuyasha turned around and gave him a look at that stated not to do anything. He snorted inwardly, even if this was his brother's pack, the girl should know better or at least the brat should have 'educated' that girl himself.
So instead of doing anything else, he went back towards his claimed spot to sit, soon his brother joined him, and Sesshoumaru had to suppress a smirk. His youkai was definitely causing his brother to stay close to him, obviously his aura exuded 'protection' which made the Hanyou more comfortable. They watched the rest of the group go to bed, and as the campfire slowly die down to glowing embers.
"You should sleep Otouto," he said barely above a whisper.
"I need to keep watch, you sleep," his brother hissed back defiantly.
"Sleep Otouto, you need to rest," although now it came out more of a command.
He heard Inuyasha grumble and curse under his breath, and the sound of shifting as his brother adjusted to a better position, then silence. Sesshoumaru smirked again, 'so docile', he thought.
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The mismatched group walked through the wide open field, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha taking up the lead as they went on the long journey home. Although if it weren't for the human's slowing them down they would have already been there.
"How long does it actually take to get to your castle?" Kagome asked her legs ready to drop off from all this walking.
"We would have already been there by now, if you didn't want to rest every few minutes wench!"
"Inuyasha," came the threatening tone from the young miko, Inuyasha instantly quietened, but kept glaring ahead of him.
But Inuyasha was right, Sesshoumaru thought. They could have been there a few hours ago if it weren't for the miko wanting to rest, at the pace they were going it would most likely take another day. He snorted inwardly at them, humans were always so weak. They would have to get to back soon, staying so out in the open left them exposed to attack, especially with Inuyasha's pheromones attracting demons to them.
He turned towards the Taijiya. "How many can that neko of yours support?" he asked
Sango was taken aback by the demon lord actually speaking to her, but quickly composed herself and answered. "At least two people, maybe three."
Sesshoumaru nodded, "Alright you and the monk should ride on it then with the kit, Inuyasha carry the girl. This journey is taking longer than it should."
Once again Inuyasha grumbled hating how he was being ordered around like this. He squatted down to let Kagome climb on his back; at least she didn't have the weird metal wheeling thing with her. That would have been more annoying to carry it as well as her. He could tell that everyone was surprised by his sudden compliance, but no one commented on it which he was glad of.
Sesshoumaru gathered his Ki around him to create his usual cloud and flew high into the sky. They continued on their journey, although this time at a much quicker pace than before.
After a few more hours of travel the castle came into view, he heard gasps and whispers of awe from the ningen behind him. Which was to be expected after all the structure was impressive. High walls surrounding a large ornate castle, spiralling towers reaching high into the sky. Wide stain-glass windows, and impressive stone statues depicting fully transformed Inuyoukai in different possess dotted around the grounds.
The castle was an architectural design copy of a foreign country. Their father had always wanted something different from what all the other Lords had; he always did like to show off. They reached the gates, which where guarded by two black haired Inuyoukai, they bowed down for Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, but looked at the humans more apprehensively. Obviously not sure what to do with them, but if their Lord was alright with it then it should be fine.
Once again everyone was stunned at seeing the inside of the castle, high ceilings which arched and pillars that supported the ceiling; and large bay windows let some light through. Stairs in the far ends of the room lead to two large double doors. Paintings decorated the walls, depicting ancestors and others who were held with importance. Inuyasha also noticed that there was a large amount of vases filled with flowers; he didn't think they were to Sesshoumaru's taste, but rather that of the young ningen girl that he kept around.
Inuyasha sneered when he noticed that his friends were uncharacteristically quiet, they were impressed, well he was as well...but he wasn't going to admit that to anyone; especially not to Sesshoumaru.
Speaking of that bastard, he was talking to that little imp in hushed tones. Jaken looked terrified at the prospects of having the Hanyou and more ningen staying, but he bowed quickly and hurried off to tell the servants to prepare the guest rooms. The Daiyoukai turned and regarded his guest with boredom.
"While your rooms are being prepared you can freshen up, food has already been prepared. Leave your things there a servant will bring them later to your rooms," he instructed, then quickly turned around and made his way towards what Inuyasha thought was the dining area.
And he was right.
The dining area was even bigger than the entrance hall; low tables circled the room in a square shape, with large piles of cushions underneath them to sit down. One side of the table was already laden with food, and the smell of succulent cooked meats was making his mouth water.
What surprised him more though was that the human girl that tagged along with his brother was also there. Standing at attention by her seat, she smiled but said nothing as the guests came in.
"Sit," Sesshoumaru said and sat down himself at the head of the table.
Inuyasha was about to sit by Miroku, when he felt the strong pull of Sesshoumaru's youkai, he turned around and saw his brother glaring at him.
"Inuyasha you must sit beside me," Sesshoumaru didn't elaborate any further, it was a simple command and Inuyasha knew he had to follow it.
He sighed and slowly made his way towards his brother, all the time feeling his friends gazes on his back, they all must be wondering why he wasn't arguing. Nevertheless Inuyasha ignored it all and sat down on the empty cushion beside his brother. While he did that a few servants came around carrying a basin with water in one hand and a towel in the other, the humans didn't know what to do with that. They watched Sesshoumaru simply dip his clawed hands in the water and use the towel to dry them afterwards, and copied the motion. The servants picked up the dirtied bowls and left with them after that.
"Eat," Sesshoumaru said in a monotones voice; and everyone started piling food into their plates, just as Inuyasha was reaching for some roasted chicken his brother stopped him.
The Hanyou suppressed a growl that was making itself out; he looked at his brother questioningly. "What?!" he snapped.
"Don't take that tone with me pup!" Inuyasha instantly lowered his head in submission, a smirk tugged on Sesshoumaru lips.
"Am I not allowed to eat anything?" he heard the Hanyou murmur hatefully.
"Of course you are Otouto, but this isn't our food."
As soon as Sesshoumaru said that more servants came in each holding onto a large silver platter filled with raw meat. Inuyasha felt himself salivating at the sight, raw meat. He hadn't had any of that since Kagome's arrival, she had something against it, and he got 'sat' so many times that he tried to avoid it.
But it seemed like Kagome was about to ruin it again. "You can't eat that! It's bad for you!"
Sesshoumaru arched a delicate eyebrow "I assure you that raw meat is an essential part of a demons diet, unlike when cooking meat which takes a large amount of the vital nutrients away. It hinders the development of a demon, which would explain as to why that fox kit of yours is so small at its current age." This got little Shippo's attention.
"What's that meant to mean?" she demanded, a light blush making its way up her cheeks. Inuyasha couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or anger, possibly both.
The inuyoukai quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at the confused fox kit. "Tell me kit, how old are you?"
His little green eyes widened at the question and he looked away from the older demon. "8," he mumbled.
The Daiyoukai frowned. "Your real age fox," he demanded.
Everyone gasped out in shock. Inuyasha cursed, this couldn't end well
Shippo himself was stunned. "W-what...?" but the Sesshoumaru just glared at the fox angrily, Shippo sighed, he'd been found out. "40, I'm 40..." well it wasn't that old in demonic terms, still just a child, yet with Shippo's size...
"As I was saying Miko, at his age he should be at least be the same size as Rin if not taller, Kitsune's are tall and slender creatures, and so far you have neglected him terribly," he stated snidely and picked up a large fork to serve some pieces of the raw meat into his and Inuyasha's plates.
Yet the Hanyou couldn't even focus on his plate, he knew that Shippo wasn't eight, of course he knew that but the rest of the group didn't. They would be too quick to judge, not taking into account how demons aged. The Kitsune looked ashamed, even the usually boisterous Kagome was now quietly staring at the fox. "Is that true?" she asked,
Shippo just nodded as a reply, and for a second it looked like Kagome was about to hit him.
"Kagome leave it, even at 40 he's still just a pup." Inuyasha himself at 250 was just entering his late teens while his brother at 700 was barely an adult. Demons aged slower the older they got. It was all part of survival, they would age quickly from birth, and then after the first 5 to 6 years they would age slowly. That was only once they hit maturity when they would practically stop aging.
She passed a glare towards Inuyasha and then returned back to her food, not even caring to fill the fox's plate like she usually would have. Moreover to everyone's surprise Sesshoumaru did it instead, and when Shippo looked up at with a dumb expression the older demon who just sighed and commanded him to eat.
The rest of the meal continued in ominous silence, glances were being thrown at each other, especially at Kagome and Shippo. Inuyasha was worried; his submissive omega was rearing its ugly caring side out, and telling him to comfort Shippo. The Kittling was practically his adopted son, and seeing him put under the spot like that made him feel uncomfortable. He sub-consciously whined, which caught Sesshoumaru's attention, he spared the Hanyou a glance, noticing the desperation in those sun burned eyes.
He's worried, that much Sesshoumaru could tell, and for some reason that bothered him. It was just his own instincts making themselves known, his alpha youkai wanting to take care of the omega. That really annoyed Sesshoumaru, because he didn't want to, traitorous youki. Inuyasha wasn't the only one having to deal with odd emotions. However he would have to remedy this situation.
"Stop your senseless whining pup," he snapped. Inuyasha instantly stopped and looked down at his plate, and now that submissive gesture made him even more irritant. "Stop snivelling, and eat." he growled out.
And Inuyasha started following that order fearfully. Kami he hated not being in control.
After lunch Inuyasha left the table abruptly, he couldn't sit there any longer being influenced so heavily by his brother. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he was just better off staying in the forest, then again thinking about the near miss attack from Kouga it might not be such a good idea.
Inuyasha sighed heavily, he hated not being in control and right now he was being forced to do things he would never do without a good fight. Now all it took was a glance, just like Kagome and her 'sit' commands.
How frightening that they were both so similar.
Inuyasha turned to look out of a window, his expression mournfully depressed.
He just hoped these two weeks would end quickly, before he went mad.
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Kagome was actually very happy, for the first since she entered the Feudal era she felt that she had some privacy. They all were given their own separate rooms, their own space, and what rooms they were! Her quarters currently was the size of the lounge back in her time, a large bed with translucent drapes hanging down to cover it, she moved them to the side to see that there were a large amount of cushions against the head-bored. Even the sheets were made out of the finest silk. On the floor was a thick carpet that felt wonderful between her naked toes.
The room itself was connected a hot spring, how they got the water to pump all the way up her she didn't know nor cared. A huge wardrobe was on the other side of the bed, she tentatively opened it and gasped in marvel at all the fine silk kimono's inside. Beside the bed there was a writing desk and at the one side there were two big bay-windows that led out to a balcony. The view from up here was amazing; she could see the lake, the forest and rolling hills. Clear blue skies, and just near the edge of her vision of what looked like a small village dotted around.
Oh yeah, she could get used to this.
All she needed now was a strapping silver haired Hanyou in the bed with her and things would be great.
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Inuyasha had finally managed to calm down. He didn't even understand why he was being so emotional. Obviously it was his stupid omega side causing him to act this way. Yet as long as he stayed away from his older brother he had some semblance of normality. It was mid-afternoon now. He and Shippo were relaxing out in the palaces huge back-garden. However Inuyasha was bored, usually they would be walking the land in search of Naraku or the jewel shards, so this 'peace' unnerved him.
The Hanyou could feel someone staring at him, he titled his head to the side only see Shippo looking away quickly. Inuyasha cursed, he forgot about Shippo, the Kitsune could possibly smell the difference in his scent; but seemed to be afraid to ask about it. Which Inuyasha was glad of, he didn't know how to explain this to the young youkai what was happening to him, and after all he himself didn't fully understand it.
So he finally took his chance to train the Fox kit without Kagome's interference, it would be a great distraction, and Shippo really needed it. By the time Inuyasha was 8 years old his mother had taught him how to track and hunt, the basics of survival, Shippo compared to that was far behind. His nose was unreliable and he was scared of virtually everything, although his courage was improving. Yet out in the wilds courage wasn't enough, if you didn't know the basics you wouldn't even have a chance.
The garden would be a large enough area to do some tracking practice; there were many places to hide. So he went inside and gathered up some small item's he found in his room, and then called out to Shippo to gain the Kitsune's attention.
"Oi, brat time for some training."
"Now?" the young fox asked, a slightly bit annoyed at having his 'sleep' interrupted.
"Best way to pass the time," he answered back.
Shippo huffed and walked towards Inuyasha dejectedly. The Hanyou was holding a small bundle of items in his arms, the Kitsune arched an eyebrow. What was going to happen now, he wondered.
"Alright then brat, see these things? I want you to take in their scent," he said, Shippo jumped over to the older youkai and started sniffing them memorising their scent. "Good, now I'm going to cover them in my own scent, close your eyes Shippo I'm going to hide them."
He strained his aura around the objects then when he was sure they were musky with his scent did he start hiding them around the area. To make it more difficult he covered them in earth so to dampen their smell, and spread his own scent around random area's s as to confuse the fox. The objective was to find the right item only by scent, which would be hard with other scents covering them.
"'Kay Shippo you can open your eyes now. Listen well brat I've hidden the items around the grounds, I want you to find them in the order I tell you. Ready?" Shippo nodded determinately, balling up his little fists to show his resolve.
"Vase."
Instantly Shippo got to work, sniffing the ground, his initial idea was to just follow Inuyasha's scent trail, which he soon found out it led out everywhere. So he tried to remember what the vase smelled like, that light ceramic scent; but there was no way he could scent that over everything else. Yet he remembered that the vase was freshly polished and cleaned, so by simple deduction he should find something that smelled soapy.
Inuyasha watched him with curious golden eyes; so far the fox was doing well. This was more than just using your nose; you also had to think about the scent changes an object can go through. There is never just one simple smell on an object and it would be Shippo's task to sort them out. Soon the little fox kit emerged with the small vase in hand. Inuyasha passed him a proud smile, before calling out for the next article.
Throughout all this Sesshoumaru watched from his office window, a part of him was angered that Inuyasha was using family heirlooms in such a way, while another part of him was proud of his brother's incentive. The training he was giving the pup was pretty high-class if not a bit crude. It showed the Daiyoukai that Inuyasha wasn't lacking in his 'maternal' instincts to take care of his adopted pup. The Daiyoukai was impressed at how his little brother handled the pup when he brought back another hidden object.
A smirk tugged on his lips, his brother would make an excellent 'mother' one day.
So what do you think?
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