Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha! But Sessy I'd like to own! n.n
Sesshoumaru and Shippo both looked at the toddlers running around and play fighting each other; except Kagome, she was with Sango playing dolls with Shippo's fox tricks.
"What are we going to do Sesshoumaru?" Shippo whined.
"Stop whining. We already have five toddlers doing that," Sesshoumaru ordered. Shippo nodded. Rin had even volunteered to help baby-sit the little guys. Jaken even did that but he did it because he was ordered to.
"Still, what are we going to do?" Shippo asked looking at distant eyed dog demon. Shippo watched him for moments and realized Sesshoumaru was lost in a memory of long ago.
"Nissan!" Inuyasha cried happily as he came across his beloved 'Nissan'. Sesshoumaru merely sighed this was the fifth time this week had Inuyasha escaped his nurses/babysitters to go find him; and of course he did. One thing that had to be credited to Inuyasha was he did have some strategy. Inuyasha ran on all fours and hit his older brother in the shin and beamed happily up at him. "Up Nissan! Up!" Inuyasha bounced up and down waiting for his older brother to pick him up; which of course Sesshoumaru did. Inuyasha immediately snuggled up in his older brothers tail, burying his face in the fur. "Nissan," he muttered as he buried his face.
"Little brother," Sesshoumaru muttered holding the little bundle that would be his brother.
Sesshoumaru snapped back to reality and realized Shippo was staring at him to this he rose an eyebrow. Shippo immediately stopped staring not daring to ask the demon lord what he was thinking about. Shippo followed Sesshoumaru's gaze to little Inuyasha who was chasing Miroku for touching Kagome. Sango was wailing because Miroku had touched her too but Kilala was quickly taking care of Sango's tears. Kagome was more interested in picking flowers now with Rin than with what Miroku had done. Jaken was grumbling about watching over a pathetic half-breed and his human friends. He was immediately silenced by Sesshoumaru.
"Wow Miroku's always been a lecher," Shippo sighed.
"So it appears," Sesshoumaru picked up the feuding boys and kept them separate by holding one in each arm on opposite sides of his body.
"Nissan! Let me go Nissan!" Inuyasha squirmed around in his older brother's grip but couldn't get out. Miroku was doing the same but again it wasn't working.
"So Inuyasha's always been aggressive?" Shippo asked, amazed at the patience this enemy was showing.
"Unfortunately yes," Sesshoumaru leaned once more against the trunk of a tree while Inuyasha and Miroku both struggled futilely in the dog lord's grip. Miroku was the first to give up. Inuyasha never stopped all the while shouting at Sesshoumaru to let him go.
"Maybe Inuyasha should have been lord," Shippo muttered.
"And have the western army at his disposal?" Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at Shippo again. The western army had the reputation of being unbeatable. In reality, it was true. The western army was the strongest and with the Tensaiga now able to be used, the dead soldiers could keep being resurrected.
"Good point," Shippo nodded, "I know I wouldn't want Inuyasha leading the most powerful army in Japan." Sesshoumaru merely nodded. The rest of the day was spent in silence as Inuyasha sat near Kagome, who was playing happily with Rin under the watchful eye of Jaken, who was under the watchful eye of Sesshoumaru.
As night rolled around, all the toddlers curled up in Sesshoumaru's tail. Shippo watched in amazement at how docile Sesshoumaru was being toward a hated enemy.
I guess at one point they weren't enemies but brothers. Shippo thought as he curled up against Kilala and fell asleep. Sesshoumaru remained awake though. He didn't sleep, never had.
Sesshoumaru carried the sleeping half demon back to his room where his frantic father and Inuyasha's mother awaited anxiously the return of Inuyasha. Once Sesshoumaru showed up, Inuyasha was plucked from his arms by his father. Inuyasha squealed with delight at seeing his father.
"Papa!" Inuyasha shouted happily as he swung himself with his father holding his hands. Sesshoumaru watched this with slight contempt as his arms fell limply back to his side.
"Thank you for returning him Sesshoumaru, we should start paying you to baby-sit," Inuyasha's mother laughed. Sesshoumaru gave a polite laugh but nothing more. Everyone was surprised that he even gave that.
"I can not see why he always runs to you," their father looked at Sesshoumaru who merely looked back at him with his usual emotionless eyes, "of all the people to find." Inuyasha's mother glared at their father who looked at her then shrugged. Sesshoumaru decided to take his leave before they started fighting.
"Now that Inuyasha is safe, I will take me leave," Sesshoumaru gave a slight bow and walked away. He could already hear his father and Inuyasha's mother arguing.
Shippo yawned and stretched the next morning momentarily forgetting everyone he loved was younger than he was. He looked at the sleeping toddlers and it took everything for him not to shout. It helped Sesshoumaru clamped a hand over his mouth as well.
"No shouting or you will wake them all up," Sesshoumaru growled fiercely. Shippo nodded frantically and Sesshoumaru released his grip on the fox demon's mouth. Shippo walked silently over to the still sleeping toddlers. Who would have believed they could be this quiet. The fox demon looked up at the standing demon lord who towered over all of them. "We will have to go to the west. There research can be done on how to reverse this," Sesshoumaru sighed slightly that meant taking Inuyasha back to where it all went bad.
"Wait, so we need to take them all the way to west just find out how to change them back?" Shippo sounded alarmed. The West was very far away.
"The only other way is to watch over them until they reach their true age," Sesshoumaru looked at Shippo with his emotionless mask in place but still if looks could kill. Shippo thought on that for a moment.
"The west it is," Shippo smiled a bit.
"We leave when they wake up," Sesshoumaru walked away leaving Shippo to wonder where he was going.
Shippo paced as he waited for Sesshoumaru to return. As he paced, the toddlers once more woke and were again at what they were going best; which was basically yelling, screaming, and chasing each other. Sesshoumaru returned with a dead boar over his shoulder that had already been carved.
"Jaken," he ordered and immediately Jaken started a fire to cook the boar.
Inuyasha ran over as usual shouting his little battle cry of "Nissan." After Sesshoumaru sat down Inuyasha started climbing in him and blabbering about who knows what while Rin played with Sango and Kagome and taught them what she had learnt.
As Inuyasha climbed all over him Sesshoumaru once more became lost in thought.
"You really need to start treating Sesshoumaru like a son! He's not just any demon Seibushi! He's your son!" Inuyasha's mother, Izaiyoi (yes I know I spelt that wrong) lectured.
"How can I treat him like a son if he won't act like one?" Seibushi yelled back. Sesshoumaru shut his eyes to it. It reminded him of when his mother and father would fight. Of course it was about him. It usually was. The heir to the West wanted to run, wanted to forget about all this and deny his birth right to the throne. He couldn't do that though. He refused to do that to Inuyasha.
"I need Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru muttered, "I need someone who won't look at me like I'm a criminal." He turned the corner into his room.
Inuyasha had fallen asleep in his brothers arms while he had drifted to the past once more. Shippo looked at Sesshoumaru who looked over whelmingly sad for just a moment before his emotionless mask set in.
Something terrible must have happened when Inuyasha was around this age and Sesshoumaru remembers it. They must have been brothers before all this. Shippo thought while gazing at the demon lord that was frightening him less and less and intriguing him more and more. I still won't ask it isn't my place to. Shippo thought and played with Miroku seeing as Sango and Kaogme were busy and Inuyasha was asleep.
None seemed to notice the human boy watching from the shadows, soulless eyes gazing at them.