Chapter Twenty-Nine

I'll make a Man Outta You II

Disclaimer: To put it bluntly, I don't own InuYasha

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Sesshomaru watched his youngest son train on one of the obstacle courses that was just a little ways away from the main training grounds. He had on the same outfit as the previous day and his hair was again, in a braid. With hands behind his back, he watched the boy carefully and shifted his weight, stepping on a block that sunk into the earth, revealing a set of enchanted dummies, blocking his son's path.

Katsu looked over to his father and lunged at the dummies, slicing through them with his claws. He sweated a little and his father's words kept ringing in his mind.

"You must be swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon." Katsu growled a little as he sliced his way through the rest of the dummies. Heaving heavily, he tried to stand but dropped to one knee, bracing himself against the ground with a fist.

Sesshomaru's face looked completely emotionless but inside, he was rather proud of his son.

"Get up." He ordered once and narrowed his eyes when the boy didn't move. "I said get up!" He barked, making the healers wince. InuYasha stepped up beside his brother.

"Don't you think you're being a little hard on him?" Sesshomaru didn't move or acknowledge that he heard his brother.

"He is the one who begged me to train him. I am only doing what I did to you." InuYasha scoffed a little bit, knowing full well that this hardly came close.

"Maybe but he's still a kid." Sesshomaru looked to his brother, seeing his concern for his nephew written all over his face.

"True but so were you. He may be my child but he has somehow inherited your stubborn determination." InuYasha chuckled a little bit.

"Which is a good thing, wouldn't you say?" Sesshomaru looked to his brother again, smiling a little.

"Yes. I am truly proud of all of them. By the way, did you see that boy who was sitting on the wall and watching the session yesterday?" InuYasha blinked at his brother.

"Eh? What boy?"

"Blond hair, blue eyes from the human village closet to here." InuYasha thought for a minute.

"Isn't he from …?" Sesshomaru nodded.

"Yes." InuYasha sighed a little bit.

"Do you think she's already seen him?" Sesshomaru nodded again.

"Most likely. Don't you think it's odd though, InuYasha, that he would watch from the walls instead of coming onto the grounds?" InuYasha turned his gaze back to his still training nephew and nodded a little.

"I still haven't found anything on that kid, either. Haku or whatever his name is. The one who had the jewel." Sesshomaru nodded a little.

"I believe the person to ask would be Takara." InuYasha frowned.

"What makes you think that she knows anymore about it than we do?" Sesshomaru raised a brow at the question.

"She does spend the most amount of time with the boy so, chances are that she knows more about him than we do."

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In the darkness, a figure held three jewel shards in his hand and a dark, evil laugh could be heard. Sitting against a wall, he just looked at the jewel shards.

"This is perfect." He snapped his fingers and a demon woman with black hair tied into a ponytail with a single white feather placed in it and red eyes appeared, holding a fan and bowing low. Though the spider scar on her back was gone, she still wasn't free.

"What say we go and introduce ourselves?" The person bowing before them didn't say anything and just waited for her master's command.

"That boy interests me." The figure suddenly closed his hand around the jewel shards and opened his eyes, looking directly at his servant.

"Kagura, go stir things up." Kagura nodded a little bit and vanished. As she left, flying on the feather that was once in her hair, she glared at the castle a little bit. She had enough of being someone's servant from being in Naraku's grasp and she didn't need this, but somehow, this new person who she had never seen knew all of Naraku's tricks but always put some new twist on them.

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InuTashio walked towards his two sons, now realizing how much he had truly missed. Though they were different, they were also a lot alike and he found it amazing how both of them had managed to surpass his power.

InuYasha's ear twitched at the sound of footsteps and his mood soured a little.

"What are you doing here, old man?"

"Just came to see my sons and how my grandson was doing." InuYasha was about to respond when he caught that all too familiar scent and cursed, taking off towards the castle and towards the smell.

No way! No god damn way! Wasn't she destroyed with Naraku? I swear him and all his stupid incarnations were killed years ago! I should know, I did it myself!

The sound of panicked screams only made him speed up more. He arrived just in time to see everyone surround Kagome and the children, including two of his own and his own mate. He heard the squalling noise of his two twins and growled ferociously, skidding to a halt in front of them and drawing Tetsusaiga.

"Kagura! What the hell are you doing here?!" The wind sorceress smirked a little.

"My how things change in time. I never thought that you would lose that stupid girl to your brother, InuYasha." She opened her fan and smirked again.

"Dance of Blades!" She shouted and InuYasha gathered everyone up, jumping out of the way just in time. While everyone was busy, Kagura spotted the very boy, alone and without protection and smirked.

Swooping down, she snatched Katsu up and nearly made her escape before Sesshomaru showed up. Fear pulsed through her at the sight of him. She couldn't see his eyes for they were covered by his bangs but he was walking towards them, all too calmly and holding an unsheathed Tokijin. Kagura gulped and paled a little bit, stopping her feather to see what the lord was up to.

"You dare invade my home and try to take my son?" He looked up and his eyes were like ice, hot ice. She had never seen him this angry before, in fact, no one had, not even Kagome.

"I'll do as I please." Came the wind sorceres' reply. Sesshomaru just held up Tokijin and uttered two of the deadliest words to ever come from him.

"Dragon Strike." Everyone gasped and a huge, blue dragon appeared from the sword and went straight for Kagura. Katsu looked at the attack and broke from Kagura's grasp, jumping the several feet from her feather, just missing being hit by the attack.

The attack just missed Kagura and impaled itself into the ground, causing a huge explosion, catching Katsu in the middle of it and sending him flying across the ground, skidding along, the rocks breaking his skin and the dirt infecting it.

Once the dust from the explosion had died down, Sesshomaru watched the spec that was Kagura barely escaping with her life. Sesshomaru sheathed Tokijin and looked to the group behind him. InuYasha and his mate were trying to calm their terrified twins and Kagome was brushing off some of the village children.

When he walked over though, he was greeted not by a grateful mate but one with tears in her eyes and an icy glare that could give his a run for its money. Before he could even get in a word edgewise, Kagome cut him off with a single hand.

"Don't even talk to me. What were you thinking? She had our SON! You could have killed our son!! And don't give me that excuse of how he has to become a man on his own or whatever. He's just a baby, Sesshomaru." Tears welled up in her eyes and her chin trembled just before she bolted away from him.

Ai came out after seeing what played out and helped Yuri collect the children, just leaving Sesshomaru and InuYasha.

InuYasha looked to his brother and sighed a little, shaking his head. "You know … I really think you're taking this too far." Patting his brother on his shoulder, he shook his head and left to check on Katsu, whom the healers were putting on a stretcher to take to the hospital wing.

Suddenly, uncontrollable anger welled up inside him and he took off towards his and Kagome's bedroom where his nose told him she defiantly was. Arriving, he found the door locked and he growled angrily, banging on the door with his fist.

"Kagome! Open this door at once!" How dare SHE yell at HIM? After he'd pretty much just saved their lives no less!

"Open this door or I'll damn well break it down!" He snarled. The door was yanked open and the sight the saw was nothing that he was expecting. He was expecting her to be angry, maybe even say that cursed word but he defiantly wasn't expecting to see his mate with red eyes, shiny nose and tear streaked cheeks. Her breath hitched and new tears formed and he reached out to touch her, to comfort her but she only shied away, slamming the door in his face.

Growling, he stalked away, smashing one of his priceless artifacts as he stalked down the hall, fully realizing that his staff was now in hiding. He walked out one of the French doors and into the garden, only to pace angrily, occasionally glancing up at the balcony that connected to his and Kagome's room.

Sighing, he slumped down on one of the benches with his head in his hands. Kagome was right …

He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice someone come and sit next to him until they put a hand on his leg. Looking up, he half hoped that it would be Kagome but instead, he was met with Rin's sympathetic smile. He just sighed again, looking to the ground.

"It's not like you to be so reckless." Her soft voice surprised him and he looked up at her, watching as she looked to the sky, watching the clouds slowly move by before coming down to look at him again.

"I know that you're honoring Katsu's wish but, there are better and more effective ways to go about it. He's still a kid, you know. I'm not saying that you should stop training him because I think that it's good that you're helping him become stronger but, maybe, give him a little slack." He didn't say anything in response and just looked down, feeling a little guilty, something he hadn't felt for a while now.

"He really admires you, Kasei and Shippo, too. He actually considers you his hero, if you can believe that. You don't want to drive him away." Getting up from the bench, she began walking but stopped and turned to him again.

"Take some time and just go do some fun stuff with him, maybe teach him about herbs or something. He wants to learn but just remember to make it fun, that way you can enjoy it and you bond. You've missed out on the first eleven years of his life so why not make the next eleven really something special to remember?" With that, she turned back and headed into the castle.

After a while, Sesshomaru finally stood and headed to his and Kagome's room. Just as he was lifting his hand to knock, the door opened, revealing Kagome carrying some of her clothes and a few other of her things.

She just ignored him and walked by, into another room just down the hall, closing and locking the door behind her. Sesshomaru watched this and sighed, all thoughts of apologizing and making things right gone right out the window.

Then dinner came to his mind and he was filled with renewed hope. Kagome would have to come down for dinner and then he would make things right with his mate again!

Filled with new hope, he went and changed for dinner, arriving in the hall shortly after.

While he watched everyone filter in, he noticed that one seat remained empty, even through dinner; even Katsu who was covered in bandages was at dinner. Sighing a little, he stood from his chair and excused himself from the table, going up to his and Kagome's chambers.

Later that night, he had one hell of a time getting to sleep. Kagome's scent was everywhere in the room and it only kept reminding him of how much he'd messed up. He had even messed up even more than his brother in the time that they traveled together and that meant that he REALLY messed up.

Sighing, he rolled over and slowly, his lids came over his golden orbs and he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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Days later, Kagome was still giving him the cold shoulder and it was just making him a little depressed. He didn't know what to do. He'd never felt this helpless before and he was completely at a loss of how to go about even approaching her. Every time he tried, she had just brushed him off and, in truth, it should be infuriating him but it was just making him depressed. A knock on the door brought him from his thoughts and he turned, seeing Katsu in his training outfit.

"Father? Are we training today?" Sesshomaru looked at his youngest son and Rin's words rang through his ears. With a smile, he walked over, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Not today. Today, we are going to go for a walk and I'll show you some places I used to go when I was your age." This really seemed to catch his son's interest.

"Really? You mean it? Just you and me?" Sesshomaru smiled and nodded.

"Yes. Just you and me. Now, go get changed and I'll meet you outside." Katsu nodded and took off. Little did either of them know that Kagome was just about to step outside when she heard their little discussion. A smile crept onto her cheeks and she leaned against the door.

Maybe he was beginning to understand. That's all she wanted. She didn't want any apologies or anything like that, she just wanted him to figure it out on his own and it seemed like he was beginning to do just that.

In all honesty, she had been missing the feel of his arms around her and his tender kisses and their little nicknames that they would call each other just before falling asleep at night.

Opening the door, she saw Sesshomaru stop and turn around, a look of surprise in his eyes. Just as he was going to utter her name, Kagome ran, full speed and launched herself into his arms, her own arms going around his waist. She felt his arms go around her and she looked up with a smile. He opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him by putting a finger softly on his lips.

Smiling still, she stood on tip toe, bringing her lips to his for a moment before letting him go and pushing him towards the stairs. Sesshomaru looked at her with a slightly confused expression but slowly smiled, heading down the stairs, smiling and shaking his head slightly.

That girl of his … she was truly something else. All this time, she hadn't wanted him to apologize, just for him to understand just what Rin had told him. Katsu was still a kid, after all and why should he have to miss out on what he had missed out on?

Seeing his son turn and smile broadly as he waved, Sesshomaru's smiled softened. She sure was something else alright. Something really special.

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A/N: Well, how did you like that chapter? I hope there was enough fluff in there for you all –smile- I unfortunately have to say that this will probably be the last chapter for a while since I'm moving again and I won't really have access to a computer. Well, not regularly. I might, though!

Anyways, I've updated a total of three times (for this story) in about two days so that's not so bad!

I would like to thank:

AtomicKittenOnTheLoose

mangadreams

shikonprincess15

Zutara Lover

Wandering Hitokiri