Sesshomaru watched his brother's small pack from the darkened shelter of the trees.
There was the taijia woman, and the monk, along with the fire neko and the kitsune kit, on one side of the pitiful campfire. InuYasha and his dead miko were on the other.
Even Sesshomaru, with his limited contact with the group, could tell all was not well within this pack.
"When did you say Lady Kagome would return from her realm, InuYasha?" the monk asked.
InuYasha shrugged. "You know how she is, monk. Kagome likes to take her time. She might not come back at all, if I didn't go get her."
He was lying. Even if the two ningen in the group couldn't tell, Sesshomaru could, and both the kit and the neko looked at the silver-haired hanyou suspiciously.
"How would we find the shard without her?!" the taijia exclaimed.
"I am more than capable of doing a better job than my reincarnation." Kikyo said. She smiled, but it was weak and brittle, as if her face was unused to the movement.
Sesshomaru might have stayed to hear more, but at that moment, he caught the faintest reek of Naraku. It was too weak for InuYasha to catch it, with his dull, hanyou nose, but Sesshomaru, being the badass, superior taiyoukai he is, did smell it.
And the stench was coming from the direction of the Palace of the Moon.
Nearly as fast as thought, Sesshomaru stood at the gates of his home. They were twisted and warped now, a foreshadowing of what he would find inside.
Sesshomaru walked in, ignoring the scores of dead and dying, both enemy, and his own servants. There would be time enough to deal with them later.
But, Sesshomaru understood Naraku, perhaps better than he'd like to admit.
No, not like that, you pervert.
The evil hanyou would go directly for Rin. He knew that targeting his young ward would enrage Sesshomaru the most, make him more likely to make mistakes.
When Sesshomaru burst into the room he smelled Naraku in, an unexpected sight met his eyes.
Rin was hiding behind the miko.
And the miko, bleeding from wounds that had reopened, faced down Naraku.
"Kukuku, welcome, Lord Sesshomaru." Naraku chuckled. "However did you get a hold on the little miko?"
Sesshomaru, in classic Sesshomaru-style, ignored the question, and replied with one of his own. "Why are you here, Naraku?"
"I've come for the little miko." the evil hanyou answered. "Imagine my surprise, when my Saimyosho informed me that she was here, of all places. Whatever have you two been up to?" He raised an eyebrow suggestively.
"This Sesshomaru has no interest in the miko." Sesshomaru told Naraku coldly. "Take her, and leave this Sesshomaru's castle."
The miko turned from Naraku now, to stare at him. There was horror in her blue eyes, and fear. But, there was betrayal there, too, and some other emotion he couldn't place.
Naraku had her wrapped in his arms in an instant. She shuddered at his touch, and Sesshomaru had the fleeting urge to rescue her, to tear her out of the filthy hanyou's grasp, to save her…
But that moment of weakness passed quickly.
Naraku gave a mocking bow to the Lord of the Western Lands. "My thanks to you, Lord Sesshomaru." he said, as he walked out, the miko forcibly in tow.
Rin ran to Sesshomaru, hugging him tightly. He could feel her trembling.
Rin was safe. That was all that should matter.
So why did Sesshomaru feel as though he had lost?