Disclaimer: InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. This is a not for profit fan work.

A/N Thank you, everyone, for your reviews and for following and favoriting this story. It means a lot to me. I'm going to get one chapter out a week from here on out, likely on Tuesdays.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Six

Sesshoumaru disliked humans.

Even before the treaty had been thought up, he found them annoying, foolish, and altogether monstrous. He had been with his father during every stage of the treaty creation, from inkling, to gathering the human leaders, to working out the details. Sesshoumaru had even been involved in the mass exodus of humans from the lands north of the planned Wall line. He had seen what humans did to their own kind first hand. Theft, murder, rape, it had all happened to the refugees as they travelled the roads clogged with oxen and carts and human bodies. Refugees inflicting pain on to other refugees. It was disgusting.

He had been there when the humans first proposed the idea of sending criminals over the Wall as a punishment. He remembered the council looking at each other uncertainly when the proposal was made. What purpose would it serve? They had wanted to send humans over for any number of crimes, but the council had tempered the humans. Murders, only the most vile murderers. It was not supposed to be an easy sentence, for anyone involved. It was supposed to be the ultimate deterrent. If you could not be human enough to refrain from killing your fellow man, you deserved to be with the demons.

And now, they sent girls who had done nothing but help a demon in need.

Sesshoumaru strongly disliked humans.

He remembered when his father had first brought Izayoi to the estate, the uproar it had caused. She should have been open season. There were demons that waited for the murderers to be sent over so that they could chase them down like they had in the old days. But his father had been curious. Why send a female? They had never sent a female before. The standards had been meant partly to prevent petty murderers from being sent over, and hers had been a petty case. Self defense should have been exempted, but, they had followed the letter of the law in her case, if not the spirit. She had been lucky to catch the attention of one of the most powerful demons in the realm, someone who could declare her a member of his household and expect that every other demon would obey.

She had been alright. It had been almost expected when she became pregnant. A great demon lord didn't take in a lovely female for the fun of it. Sesshoumaru's mother had even been somewhat fond of her and they had a friendship, of sorts, until her death. Izayoi, and her half-human son, were novelties, of a sort. Strange and unique and worth watching.

This situation, though, this Kagome Higurashi, this was a prime example of why he disliked humans so much.

He had told the General he would return on the solstice to confirm things had been dealt with appropriately, and yet, they were unprepared. When he lifted the phone to inform them he had arrived, they said the update could be done over the strange device instead of face to face. That was unacceptable. How could he even be sure he was speaking to the right person if he could not see him? Could not smell him? The terms of the treaty stated that a clan leader could speak to a human leader face to face, and he would do so.

Eventually, they gave him clearance to go to the top and speak to the General. His desire was simple. A face to face meeting to confirm that the girl was in their custody and that the terms of the treaty were being investigated to ensure such a breach did not occur again. He was aware that this might require multiple meetings. Humans could be notoriously slow to decide things and get things done for how fast they lived otherwise.

When the general arrived, he was escorted by several armed guards. Sesshoumaru looked at the weapons they carried, long black things that stank of gunpowder. The design of the weapons had changed greatly over the past five centuries, but he had no doubt that that they were as dangerous as ever, if not more so.

"Lord Sesshoumaru," said the general, bowing less deeply than Sesshoumaru would have permitted from one of his vassals.

"General Muso," he replied, bowing respectfully. He may dislike humans, but that did not mean he was going to snub one. He, at least, was a polite and civilized being. "I trust things with Kagome Higurashi have been sorted out."

Muso nodded. "Indeed. She is secured in one of our facilities not too far away. I have brought up your concerns with the highest level of government and they are looking into it. It may take some time, but, well, you understand how politicians are."

His brother would have made a show of sniffing the air, of looking at the general with a glare and a growl. Sesshoumaru did none of those things. The lie was as obvious as the sun or the clouds in the sky. The shift in heartbeat, the scent of anxiety, humans couldn't possibly detect these things so, while they might be able to school their faces and voices to mask a lie, they couldn't hide the physiological responses.

"May I speak with her?"

The general nodded, hesitating for only a moment. "That can be arranged. Nishi?"

"Just a moment," said the aide, pulling a rectangular object from his pocket. He began speaking into it, loud enough for Sesshoumaru to hear, likely on purpose. They seemed to be following a kind of procedure. The male voice on the other side changed to a female and then the aide handed him the device.

"A cordless phone," he said turning the device over in his hand. The image on one side shifted colours.

"That's right. It's called a cell phone."

"Fascinating." He may not like humans, but he admired their ingenuity. A device like this was undoubtedly useful. He held it up to his ear, the device awkward in his hand. "Hello?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru," came the voice from the other side. It was hard to tell if it was her voice. The phone warped it ever so slightly.

"Kagome," he said playing along for the time being. "How are you?"

"Just fine, my lord." The voice seemed happy, eager, a little nervous. "Thank you again for your help."

The aide made to take back the phone, but Sesshoumaru held on for a little while longer. Glares seemed to scare the humans. "Have they been traeying you well?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Good. And your stomach is feeling better? You were rather ill after our dinner the night before you left."

"Yes, my Lord. I'm feeling much better."

He pulled the phone away from his ear and held it in his fist. It was an easy matter to crush it into a clump of metal and plastic. He released it and it dropped to the ground in pieces. The aide and the general gaped.

"You lied to me."

Now the general looked nervous. "My Lord?"

"That girl was not Kagome Higurashi."

The general almost immediately calmed down, his face hardening into something more in line with what Sesshoumaru would have expected from someone in his position. The attempt to placate him had failed, and so, there was no need to continue on that path.

"No," he said, "it wasn't."

"She is no longer in your custody at all, is she?"

"She is to carry out her sentence."

So, they had returned her to demon territory where she was a living violation, living proof that the humans were no longer holding onto their word, and that they had no intention of remedying the situation. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the general, frowning. This girl could mark the end of the centuries of peace between their peoples, and Muso seemed to find the whole thing amusing.

Sesshoumaru hated humans.

"You realize doing so is a clear violation of the treaty?"

Muso shrugged. "It is how we have been told to handle things. Now, I think this meeting is over. Leave the Wall, my lord."

Muso turned, walking towards the door that would lead him into the interior of the Wall. When Sesshoumaru did not leave at once,the general made a signal with his hand. At once, the weapons all turned towards him. He did not know how powerful these things were, but he understood a threat. He snapped his fingers and, at once, a glowing yellow stream of energy flowed from them into a long string. With a flick of his wrist, all the rifles came apart, most in two or three pieces. The guards looked frightened now, and the aide was backing up for good measure.

"Very well, if that is how you wish to respond, I will end this meeting. You can expect a response from the council before the second full moon."

He turned his back to them, they were no threat after all, and summoned his cloud. He began to float away, giving them a clear view of the fact that he was not held back by the Wall they had built so high, but by the treaty.

In the meantime, though, he had more important things to worry about. Back on his side of the wall, there was a human female wandering about who could cause everything his father had worked for to fall apart. Foolish humans. Now he was going to have to find her and see that she was taken care of until this matter was properly resolved. For the second time, the dog clan was going to shelter a human female.

Sesshoumaru was ecstatic.

InuYasha had lived most of his life alone.

He had left the family home shortly after his mother's death and had only returned a few times since. Usually, it was during the worst winters when hunting was bad or for formal events that he was required to attend.

He wasn't comfortable in those places. He was an oddity, the half-human son of the great dog demon. Loyalty made it so none of them would dare speak an ill word about him because of his mixed blood, but that didn't make them the most friendly of companions either. He heard the whispers as he passed, he felt them gawking.

If he wanted company, Myouga was usually easy enough to find, or he could make the trek to the volcano home of Totosai, the swordsmith. Sometimes, he even spent time with his brother. He went into the nearby village every now and then to trade. While he never felt unwelcome, he didn't have any friends there either.

He knew it was partly because of what he was. Half human. He wasn't mocked or hated because of his blood. He was an oddity, a unique specimen. So far as he knew, he was the only half human born since the treaty had been signed. When he went into populated areas, people pointed him out. That's him, they would say, the half human. No, InuYasha was used to living alone and he liked it that way.

His life was pretty routine, and simple, and he was content with it.

And then the girl had showed up.

InuYasha had become aware of her almost as soon as she entered his territory. He had become immediately curious. He hadn't seen a human female since his mother's death and, so far as he knew, there hadn't been one sent for more than a century. The humans typically sent males, older males at that. Murderers. Everyone knew that.

It had been several years since the last human had passed through his territory. He had watched that man, too. Wondering how capable he would be, wondering how he would face the challenges facing him. He had been fierce, determined to survive, and brutal. When a smaller demon had attacked him, the human had taken a hatchet and hacked it into pieces, grinning the whole time.

That, he thought, was a true monster.

When she arrived, he had once again put a pause on his normal routine to follow her, curious. He watched her find the hut. He watched as she took it over, cleaned it up and made it her home. He watched her set-up simple snares around the hut meant to catch small game. He watched her try fishing at the stream nearby. He saw her lose her first fish because she hesitated to kill it.

He was intrigued. The treaty with the humans said murderers. He had been made to memorize the key points of it while he had been young and it definitely said murderers. This girl didn't seem like a murderer. Not if she couldn't even bring herself to kill a fish. Intrigued, he chased a pair of rabbits to some of her badly placed traps and watched with interest as the girl found them. There were tears in her eyes as she killed the rabbit, and she gave the thing an apology.

This girl, a murderer? Not bloody likely.

Which brought him to a conundrum. The treaty was clear. Murderers were fair game. Anyone could hunt them down and there would be no retaliation. Otherwise, humans were off limits. He didn't like that this was thrust into this position. It shouldn't have ever happened. He needed confirmation of the girl's crime. And then, if he was right, what would he do? The next gathering of the clans wasn't until spring, and it wasn't as if he could march to the Wall by himself and demand the humans keep up their side of the bargain. He didn't have any kind of standing that the officials there would recognize. He wasn't the leader of a clan, but it certainly fell on him to do something.

He wanted to take a wait and see approach, but, seeing how much trouble the girl had with killing even one rabbit, there was no way he could guarantee she'd make it to spring without intervention.

He needed to know what to do, so he sent for the only person he could think to ask: Myouga. The flea had been his father's vassal and had been there at the signing of the treaty. If anyone could tell him what he had to do, it would be the flea. At least, he could get the flea's advice before he tried to pull Sesshoumaru into this.

He was lounging outside of one of his den when he heard the scream. It had only taken a moment to figure out it was the girl, and some minor demon had slipped into his territory. So much as he would have liked to keep a hands off approach to this situation, he didn't want the girl to die because he didn't intercede.

He had found the girl easily enough, running from a centipede demon. The demon even seemed to be missing an arm, somehow. But, then the girl tripped. He attacked and slew the demon with one swipe of his claws, immediately retreating to the darkness before the girl could even chance on seeing him. He didn't want to start explaining what was going on, not until he knew what was proper procedure.

He watched the girl as she got up. He had to admit, she was handling the situation rather well for someone who had just had a run in with a demon. Her face was streaked with tears, and she smelt of fear, but there was something calm about her. There was something else in the air, too. A scent he couldn't place, like fire, though it was faint and fading. He watched her look around, as if expecting him to just walk out.

And then, she thanked him. A cry out into the darkness, and he felt himself becoming even more interested in her. She had just been attacked by a demon, and now she was thanking another. She wasn't what he had expected at all.

He watched her limp back to the hut, and then stayed in a nearby tree all night. The body would attract scavengers, and he didn't want any of them getting any bright ideas. There was no need to worry, though, as that night and the next day, nothing of note happened. The girl mostly stayed in the hut, tending to that limp no doubt. At least she wasn't fool enough to go wandering when she couldn't run properly.

On the morning of the second day, he returned to the den and found Myouga waiting for him. He explained the situation as he saw it, including his interference with the centipede, and waited for the flea's counsel.

The flea's advice was simple. Talk to the girl and determine the nature of her crime. If she was, indeed, a murderer, he was to escort her to the edges of his territory and let her fend for herself. As he had already given her some protection, killing her now would be dishonourable. If she was not a killer, then the matter would have to be brought to the attention of Sesshoumaru.

He didn't like it, but he knew Myouga was right. He sent the flea to fetch the girl while he prepared for a guest.

She made things immediately more challenging. He had to hunt more, because now there were two mouths to feed. He had to scare off more demons, because they were intrigued by the rumours starting about the human female he was protecting. He had to deal with someone who had no idea what she was doing and needed to be taught like a child the simplest things for survival. He had to suffer through the indignity of babysitting a full grown female.

But, it wasn't all bad. He enjoyed the bickering. Few people had dared to even talk back to him due to his parentage, let alone defy him. He enjoyed how she treated him as an equal and a person, not as something to gawk at. He enjoyed having someone else cook for him, and who used herbs he had never tried before to make the same old meat taste new and different and delightful. He enjoyed the company, the sound of someone else breathing in the den at night, the scent that clung to everything. His den felt much less empty.

It was natural, he told himself. She was female, he was male. It was instinctive that he would enjoy her presence, that he would feel a need to take care of her. Of course, he would like having her around. Of course, it bolstered his ego to have someone praise his hunting skills. Of course, he was going to miss her. He didn't fully trust her, but she had awoken in him some of the instincts he had been pushing away, the need for company, for a pack of his own.

Her scent lingered over the den, in the corner she had used for her bed, the spots she had sat in reading that book, or meditating, or trying to figure out how to skin his latest kill. She had actually been getting better.

The scent annoyed him now. It was a distraction, a reminder of the company gone. It was time to go back to his old routine.

It annoyed him more when he returned to the den with two rabbits instead of one, and then had to go about cooking and cleaning them himself. The meat was flavourless, but he ate it anyway. He didn't have much choice.

Sesshoumaru hadn't stuck around. He had more important things to do, after all. He would check in after the solstice, tell him what had been done, and that would be the end of the whole affair. InuYasha would never hear about the girl again. He ignored the lingering emptiness and focused on preparing the last of the things he would trade during the festival.

The festival itself was be the same as the rest of them. Loud, and crowded, with demons that would tolerate him. He didn't linger, he rarely did, but he left more quickly this time. The smiles and polite conversation felt more insincere than before, and he hadn't been able to shake the undeniable sense that he wasn't wanted. Usually, he stayed until the solstice itself, to enjoy the full festivities, but everything felt oddly hallow.

He briefly considered going up north, maybe spending some time in his brother's lands for a while. He could use some company on a more regular basis. Maybe, he thought, it was time to take Myouga's advice and try to court a mate. Someone who could cook. He snorted at the thought. Who would be interested in mating a half human? Besides, Sesshoumaru would probably want some hand in choosing his mate anyway for political reasons.

Speaking of the devil, he caught his brother's scent on the wind. Inuyasha looked up, frowning. It was off. He was agitated. Sesshoumaru was never agitated. InuYasha walked to the entrance of his den, looking out at the woods.

He was bringing the news from the Wall, the news that the girl was safe and sound and enjoying being back in the safety and comfort of whatever punishment the humans had devised. That had to be what Sesshoumaru was here to tell him, but what was making him agitated?

When Sesshoumaru walked into the clearing, InuYasha frowned. He looked upset. Sesshoumaru never looked upset.

"What happened?"

"The humans lied."

InuYasha's stomach fell.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the Sesshoumaru part. I mean, there's something really satisfying about Sesshy crushing a cell phone in his hand.

I also liked breaking from the closed perspective of Kagome to give a bit more background on the demon side of things.

Hope you enjoyed!