Disclaimer: Inuyasha and company does not belong to me. Only Nekoyasha.

"Spoken"

/Thoughts/

Chapter 17: New Moon Night

Inuyasha watched the couple leave. That left him alone in the hut with the three unconscious people. He glanced outside at the setting sun, Miroku had forgotten in his concern for Sango. Tonight was the night of the new moon. He shrugged it off. Hopefully Sesshomaru wouldn't come in this evening.

The sound of their heartbeats became softer and softer until he couldn't hear anymore. Inuyasha shook his head as he noticed his human nails. The temperature was more noticeable. There seemed to be a slight chill in the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kohaku shiver. Inuyasha got up and stoked the fire. It helped a little.

Closer inspection showed that the boy had kicked his blanket off. Inuyasha covered him back up. Kohaku still shivered. Inuyasha put another blanket over him.

Inuyasha turned his attention to his girls. If the boy was cold, then they should be as well. However they showed no signs of it. Neither girl shivered. Hell, neither one did anything except just lay there. They barely breathed. Where Kohaku tossed and turned in his sleep, the girls were still.

Inuyasha collected more blankets. In her human form, Nekoyasha would require more warmth even if she didn't show it.

After adding the additional covers, Inuyasha knelt by his cousin. He gently brushed the raven-hair from her face.

"I'm sorry. I should have never drawn you into this," he whispered softly.

Nekoyasha continued to lie there. Inuyasha wasn't expecting an answer anyway.

He turned to Kagome. He ran his fingers though her hair and closed his eyes.

"Come back to me, Kagome. I don't know what to do without you." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

He sighed and took up his position once again. He became lost in thought.

/This is all my fault. Those I care about suffer because of me. If I hadn't fallen in love with Kikyo...

/No, that's not right... Something would have happened no matter what. Perhaps it has something to do with me? Those that associate with me always seem to have bad things happen to them.

/No... Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all had problems before meeting me./

He looked again at Kagome. /I promised to protect you. And yet it feels like I haven't done a very good job with it. Kikyo was murdered, and I went to steal the Shikon jewel. The list that has kidnapped you is longer than it should have been. Yeah, I've done a wonderful job protecting you./

Hot tears begin to roll down his face. He didn't even care. After all, he was alone on his human night. He was allowed to be a little weak.

/Now I may have lost both Kikyo and Kagome./ His heart froze. /If their souls are together, what will I do if it is Kikyo that wakes up? Or if Kagome remembers everything that Kikyo does? I couldn't bear to see that distrust in her eyes. /

The tears started falling harder. He bowed his head to his knees. So lost in his grief, he didn't notice the figure in the doorway.

Sesshomaru was doing a nightly round. Surprisingly all was quiet. Of course, the fact that he had hunted every night for the last three nights might have been a reason. But there was something else nagging at him. He looked up at the night sky. The stars were shining brightly. He narrowed his eyes. They were too bright. The only reason they could be that bright was if… there was no moon.

Sesshomaru frowned. That meant they were human tonight. He told himself that he was not concerned for Inuyasha, but Nekoyasha was under his protection.

He quickly made his way to the miko's hut. Outside the entrance he sniffed. In side were four humans. That meant the monk and his demon slayer weren't there. The demon lord growled softly. They had left his brother alone… on a new moon night.

He also smelled the stench of salt water. Someone was crying.

The silver-haired demon silently pulled aside the door flap. The firelight illuminated the three figures on the floor and a figure huddled against the wall.

He was crying softly. Only the tremors showed the boy's sobs to the observer. Sesshomaru could remember when his brother's sobs could be heard a mile away.

The older dog stalked over and sat by the tearful human. Inuyasha still did not acknowledge his presence.

After a few moments, the silver-haired man rose and went to one of the girls. He knelt by the human cat. Gently he reached out and ran his claws through her hair. He noticed the sobbing had stopped.

Sesshomaru looked up into a pair of violet eyes. It had been years since he had seen those eyes.

Inuyasha sniffled, but made no move to dry his eyes.

"Are you here to kill me?" the young man asked softly.

"Not tonight," came the response. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at him. The demon lord sighed. "Inuyasha, I have always known about new moon nights. You did live with me once. I haven't sought you out, because defeating you on those nights would pose no challenge." He looked down at the sleeping girls. "Besides, if I was to kill you now, these girls would make sure I wouldn't see another day when they awoke."

Inuyasha turned his head away from his brother. Sesshomaru knew that fresh tears were streaming down his face by the smell.

Inuyasha was not known to cry. The older demon could only think of a few times even as a child. Of course those were when his parents had died.

He went to sit by his younger brother. There was silence between them for several moments.

Finally he softly said, "You should sleep."

"I don't sleep on human nights," came the mumbled reply.

"You haven't slept in the last three days."

"So?"

Sesshomaru calmed himself. "If anything happens, you are not going to fight well if you haven't rested."

Inuyasha turned to look at his brother.

"You can sleep without fear. You are in a miko's home in a village that accepts you. Sleep." As an afterthought he added, "I will watch over the girls and will wake you if anything happens."

Inuyasha stared at his brother for a long while.

Finally the Demon Lord heard Inuyasha's breathing even out. As the boy slept, his hand slipped to rest on Sesshomaru's fluff. The older dog glanced down.

He had grown accustomed to Rin doing this. And, if he let himself remember, Inuyasha had done the same thing years ago.

Over the next couple of hours, the human boy moved closer to his demon brother and cuddled more into the fluff. Sesshomaru knew he ought to push the boy away, but as long as there was no one to see, he allowed it. It reminded him of more innocent times. Besides, the Demon Lord enjoyed the calm silence in the hut.

Unfortunately, his reverie came to an end with a figure coming through the door. He tensed ready to attack.

xxxxx

Miroku lazily opened his eyes. He sighed in contentment as he felt Sango's body press against his. He was glad that she was finally getting a well-deserved rest. He watched the stars twinkle.

/They seem unusually bright tonight. I guess the moon must be behind a cloud…/His eyes widened. /Oh, Buddha! It's a moonless night! That means… Inuyasha is human!/

He looked at Sango. Miroku knew they needed to go back, but he was reluctant to wake her.

Quickly he rose and dressed. Not wanting to rouse the slumbering girl, he wrapped her in the blanket. Gently he lifted her and the bath bundle. Swiftly and silently he made his way back to Kaede's hut.

He was unprepared for the sight that greeted him.

The Demon Lord was prepared to attack. Ordinarily that would not be odd. Even if he was shielding two unconscious human women. What made it odd was that Inuyasha was curled up in his brother's fluff, asleep.

There was a long pause as the monk and the demon stared at each other. Neither one backing down.

Miroku saw the demon lord relax slightly. The monk walked into the house like he owned it. The demon's eyes followed the couple to the other side of the hut. Miroku sat himself opposite the brothers, still holding the demon slayer in his arms.

Sesshomaru raised his eyebrow at the monk. Miroku flushed slightly and nodded back. "I won't tell if you won't."

A shadow of a smile graced the demon's features. He nodded.

The rest of the night passed without incident.

xxxxx

Hello all! I have returned. Still have a little writer's block but it is getting better. So I decided to update for all of you. I know it has been a while. Lots going on in my life right now. Moving for one. Getting engaged for another. That's all for now!