Dead leaves broke the evening silence, crunching loudly under foot as he nimbly walked through the forest. Had he been human, his only guide through the dense foliage would've been the great moon overhead, but his enhanced demonic sight and smell guided him clearly through the night. The gentle breeze of early fall caressed his fine silver hair and tickled his soft furry ears. He paused, and listened to the still forest and felt the impulse to smile, but refrained, he calmly maintained his expressionless façade. His deep amber eyes glimmered in the moon light, amusement was evident only in his slanted gaze, and apparently, the creatures of the forest still had the good sense to fear him.

Wise. He thought, as he absent-mindedly cracked his fingers and centered his gaze on an offensive rustling not of his own making. Perhaps not so wise..

With surprising speed, in his current state, Sesshomaru sliced open the terrified animal with his light whip. Frowning he leaned down at the whining creature pathetically clinging to a life that was gone the moment it moved, alerting the killing perfection to his presence. With a modicum of respect and perhaps even pity, although the demon lord immediately dismissed that, he did not feel pity. Frowning in confusion at this new emotion blooming in his chest; Sesshomaru placed his razor sharp claws at the beast's chest and mercifully ended its suffering. His bright eyes lingered on the beast's still form for another moment, the blooming uncertainty in his chest hadn't disappeared. Sesshomaru's lips pulled down in annoyance as flicks of his ethereal silver-blue hair ticked his nose and his ears began to flatten against his head without him realizing it. It seemed he was experiencing something more than annoyance…but what? He thought. Suddenly, his brows furrowed deeply and his mouth set into a hard line as he looked back down at the slain beast with indifference.

The Western Lord was many things: Honorable, Brave, Strong, Intelligent, and even funny, if a situation amused him enough. But human emotions—compassion, pity, and love, where not emotions he was familiar with nor did he want to be. Pulling his hand from the fading warmth of the beast's chest he placed a finger to his lips to inhale the fresh kill. Instantly, that hand went to the ground to steady him as he felt his stomach roll uncomfortably, a sensation that could only be described as nausea. His indifferent mask momentarily cracked, his eyes widening as his mouth opened to inhale deeply, as he attempted to quell the nauseous wave. But as soon as the expression appeared, in a flash, it was gone, and he regally stood up in defiance against his weakened state. With one quick flick of his wrist he'd managed to remove the blood from his claws and continued on walking. His sudden and unnatural reaction to blood made Sesshomaru's mind begin to return to the conversation he'd had earlier that night with his half-breed brother about his 'condition'.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had walked a few feet from the campfire where the collection of their two groups had congregated.

"Look, Sesshomaru," Inuyasha paused, his grimace deepening as he folded his arms and considered his next words. Sesshomaru attempted to remain patient but his nerves over the last few days had been pulled taut. Somehow though he managed to stay calmly composed as he watched his brother with a bored expression. But after almost ten minutes of Inuyasha grumbling and staring at his feet, Sesshomaru finally broke the tense silence, "Speak, Inuyasha." He said simply, Inuyasha's head snapped up and he growled low and frowned as his snow white ears flicked down in anger at his tactless brother.

"Look its hard ta say-"

"Just say it, fool."

A slew of profanity spewed from Inuyasha's mouth, while he aggressively reached for Tetsusaiga but stopped, Sesshomaru was half-demon now, and so he took a deep breath and re-sheathed the sword. Looking back over at his brother he saw an elegant eyebrow rise, ever so slightly, at him.

"Fine," Inuyasha grumped out, "But don't take it out on me if you don't like what I gotta say." He paused and watched his brother, if he was going to say anything he showed no sign of it, Sesshomaru merely gave him a bored look.

Sighing Inuyasha looked up at the sky, momentarily wishing a swarm of demons would siege upon him so he wouldn't have to tell his brother what happened. So, he wouldn't have to tell the 'Great Lord Sesshomaru' that not only was he a half-demon but he was weaker than his brother. He really was not in the mood to fight and although the Inuyasha of just a decade before would've jumped at the chance. Sticking it to his pompous elitist brother just wasn't as alluring to him as it once was, so still staring up at the stars Inuyasha took a deep breath and finally began, "You came at me…outta nowhere…and you looked," he looked over at his brother and gestured to his ears. "Well, like that…I was confused but you didn't give me a chance to talk to you - you just came at me."

Inuyasha paused and ran a hand through his tousled mess of snow kissed hair, "And well, I drew Tetsusaiga and I kept telling you to draw your sword and that I was gonna use mine..."

Inuyasha saw Sesshomaru's form visibly tense, "I guess you thought you didn't need it, I parried you a bit but…Dammit to hell, Sesshomaru, I was fed up so I hit you..." Inuyasha looked to his stone-still, emotionless brother and motioned towards his left shoulder. "I cut you straight across that arm…or uh…shoulder, I guess. And then you fell back and I thought you were done, so I sheathed Tetsusaiga and walked over. But suddenly your eyes were red, your markings were growing, and you kept phasing in and out of mid transformation till finally you just ran at me."

Inuyasha stopped and looked back up at the sky; he knew he didn't need to say anymore. His brother was smart enough to realize how ironic the situation sounded, years ago Sesshomaru had been in the same situation as Inuyasha was in now. The problem was Inuyasha didn't have the sort of blood Sesshomaru had and his was…monsterous.

"Anyway," Inuyasha sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, pushing the image of Sesshomaru's half canine/half human face from his mind. "I figure I'm the only one who can stop you, otherwise you're gonna get yourself killed." Inuyasha did not miss the spike of demonic aura from his brother or the way the air seemed to crack with his power. Inuyasha, wasn't scared, the fact of the matter was he was feeling uncomfortable. He and Sesshomaru had been under remarkably good terms over the past decade, tenuous maybe, well they weren't going out for a beer anytime soon (as Kagome would say) but they were…okay. Finally he turned his gaze back to his brother, sunrise met sunset, in what Inuyasha could only describe as a blaze of rage on his brother's part. He could feel it, but he could also sense…something else. Inuyasha furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms against his chest defiantly, "What if I'm not around to stop you? What if Rin is and what if she fails?"

Sesshomaru stared up to the moon and huffed, "Ridiculous." He murmured, now that he was aware of his cursed body's new weakness, he would simply refrain from losing control. The Demon Lord began walking back towards the campsite, having quietly come to terms with this information, he was ready to return, and subsequently, ignore all the humans again. His wounds were healing quite well, although, not as fast as his true form, he was pleased that most of the pain in his left shoulder was gone. He rolled his shoulders minutely as he began to near the camp, hearing the voices of Inuyasha's humans and Rin's…

He stopped walking.

Rin…

That name had once been so simple, when it belonged to the little girl who traveled with him, picking flowers and asking foolish questions. But now, he was uncertain what to make of her, although, he was certain simple was not it. Now, she was a woman and though she maintained that innocent smile and laugh that always made warmth spread through him like fine scotch. Burning him but not painfully and he wondered how she had this effect on him, were there other bewitchments he'd fallen into unknowingly, but Rin was nothing like a witch or sorceress. The thought brought an imagine of the vile crone who'd done this to him, seemingly at random, who exuded a black aura that was thick, poisonous, and highly displeasing to his sensitive nose.

Sesshomaru watched through the parting leaves as he walked closer till Rin came into view and her scent reached his nose. His eyes closed, she smelled of a fruit he'd only ever tasted once, an exotic treat, called a strawberry. His eyes opened again and lazily watched her laugh and smile with Inuyasha's Kagome.

She is like a single flower in a field of grass…But like the flower she will bloom brightly and die…

A rolling sensation pulled at his gut, like a swirling rock was dropped to the pit of his being, and he hesitated. It did not make him nauseous…what was this strange feeling? It swirled like a bewitching gust of magic that overwhelmed him and made his heart…ache.

xxx.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:Okay, so for all of you who continue to support me by reading and writing all those mazing reviews, thank you! I'm not sure if any of you read my other Sesshomaru and Kagome fanfiction, but in case you don't, I haven't been updating because I foolishly signed up for two 6 week summer courses this term and its kicking my ass! Anyway, sorry this is a little short but I'm very tired – if there are any spelling errors I am very sorry! Anyway I hope you enjoyed this new chapter – good news it these courses end June 17! Please don't forget to Review! Review! Review! It gives me the strength to go on and well they are all so lovely.