Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I own any other anime. Oh my, that suks!
Modern times...
Sesshoumaru looked at his watch and mentally slapped himself. The watch was very precise and looked good on his left wirst. It was one of the few human gadgets he was quite fond of. That's why he hated it so much. Wasn't he a demon? A demon lord at that? Yes, he was! He should know the time by instinct and not depend on that petty device!
But using said device was so damn quicker, not to mention easier, that he grew lazy. Lazy! He didn't bother to use his instincts; instead he looked at the watch every three minutes. In fact, he got used to it so much that when he accidentally forgot the watch at home, he felt like he lost an arm – again.
He hated it all. The watch. The lazy person he was forced to become. His new name, his new appearance and his job. He liked his house, but he couldn't stand his neighbours. And the noise. And the smell. Every twelve hours he had to take pills, which would dull his senses, so he could live normally and breathe without the fear of throwing up.
There were still places on the Earth, which weren't polluted. Sometimes he thought about visiting the Himalayas, or maybe some isles near Antarctica. He wouldn't mind the extremely low temperatures and would have some peace for a change. The other demon lords had already left Japan to find a serene place, where they could live and end their lives. He liked to fantasize about following their example, but as much as he wished to join them, he couldn't bring himself to leave. Not for too long. Japan was his home, his territory, his cradle and his coffin. It was his.
Some would say that he was like a captain, whose ship was lost at heavy sea without any hope of save return. But is the safe return truly the thing I seek for?Nobody can turn back time, not even me, that I know...
His musing was interrupted, when something light landed on his left shoulder. He snatched it and looked at it. There, in his long, slender fingers was a soft, warm and obviously panic-stricken ball of feathers. Its small black eyes looked at the demon with fright and received one of his infamous cold glares in return. The lord was quite displeased with this little interruption. And it happened every time he tried to think! It was like he was a mangnet for pathetic, defenceless creatures. How foolish they are, he thought angrily and squeezed the bird little harder and stilled it. Every other creature knows better than to pester me. So what makes these small fools seek out my presence?
He could feel and hear the bird's rapidly beating heart. I can crash it. Then they will stop comming, start to fear for their lives. That's how it's supposed to be. He squeezed the bird one last time and then he finally let it go. The poor disoriented creature hesistated only for a moment, then it hid under a near bush. It didn't fly away, though. Sesshoumaru felt its eyes on him and almost regretted not killing it.
He couldn't do that. Crash it, kill it. It seemed that Rin had had some influence on him after all. Now, instead of killing the pest like it deserved, the only thing he was capable of was scaring them and even that didn't last long. No matter how hard he tried, they always returned.
They always come back.
It had been his curse so far, but now... Now it was also his hope.
o
The feudal era...
After several minutes of fruitless persuasion, Sango decided to start anew and this time more effectively. "You know, Kagome-chan, I think you should stop worrying about that. After all, Sesshoumaru has always been a spoiled little brat."
Kagome gasped and immediately stopped her sobbing. "Sango-chan! How can you say that?!"
Sango congratulated herself for her first small victory. Keep going! You can do this, Sango! she encouraged herself. "Alright, alright, I take it back. He is not little."
The younger girl covered her mouth and looked round the surroundings as if she expected Sesshoumaru to pop out from the bushes and then killing both of them for their insolence. The slayer chose to continue, this time more seriously. "Kagome-chan, do you remember how he used to fight with Inuyasha over Tetsusaiga? How he considered Tenseiga worthless?"
Kagome nodded.
"You see, Sesshoumaru is a fine warrior, he can be honourable and sometimes, sometimes even reasonable. But he has some bad traits too. In fact, he has many bad traits.." Sango paused and got lost in her own little world.
Kagome wasn't really comfortable with this. "Sango-chan? I still don't see your point."
That as enough to bring the older girl back from her daydreaming. "Oh, I am sorry, Kagome-chan. The point is: One of Lord Sesshoumaru's bad traits is that he has never been able to see the true value of things and persons. He tends to either overestimate them or – more often – underestimate them. He lost his arm because of this bad trait and still he didn't learn from it."
"So, basically," Kagome started carefully, "you are saying that the thing that's off isn't my present but Sesshoumaru's abitily to judge things?"
Sango nodded her head and Kagome smiled a little. Even though she still felt a little embarassed, Sango's words calmed her down. Sesshoumaru really coud be a spoiled brat from time to time. And when she remembered their first meeting, she had to add 'tricky'. To use a ghost with the face of Inuyasha's mother to get some answers from him was awful. Even though it was supposedly Jaken's idea. Who cares?! He agreed to it, so he was an accomplice! Yeah! Suddenly, she wasn't sad at all. Instead she felt rather angry. That jerk!
The slayer felt the change in her friend and knew that she overdid it. Maybe I should say somethig, before she bursts in Sesshoumaru's camp and tries to do something rash. "Kagome-chan, you shouldn't waste your energy on him... He may be a spoiled brat sometimes, but don't forget he was brought up this way. It's not his fault. Not entirely, that is."
"I know..." Kagome sighed. "You are right, Sango-chan. I'm sorry."
"Don't be! Just forget the whole thing, alright?" She asked and hugged the priestess.
"Alright," Kagome responded quietly and rested her head on Sango's shoulder.
A rustle the from left alarmed them to another presence. There, just a few steps from them, stood Inuyasha with an unusually serious expression on his face. He sniffed the air twice, as though he wanted to make certain of something. Then he looked down at his friends.
"What did that bastard do?" he growled.
A sharp intake of breath was his only answer.
"What did he do?" he asked again, his patience thinning with every passed second.
Kagome didn't want to tell him anything. She knew him too well to answer his question truthfully. He would freak out. On the other hand, she was sure he would do that even if she didn't tell him anything. So she tried the only thing that seemed to be right at the moment. "Um... Who?"
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, the act strangely reminding the girls of his older brother. His gaze shifted from Kagome to the way she came.
"N-no, Inuyasha," Kagome stammered and stood up. "Nothing happened, ok? Really! Nothing! See? I'm fine! Am I not fine, Sango-chan?" Sango quickly nodded. When he looked back at them, Kagome thought everything was alright again. This thought was a short lived one, because the next second he vanished from their view.
"Damn."
A/N: Took me long enough, huh? Sorry for that! At least I passed my exams! Yay! This chapter kinda short. Sorry for that, too! My brother keeps bothering me and even now he wants me to go. I don't have time to reread it, so if you find more errors than usually, it's his fault! His!