Lessons for Pups

Inuyasha swallowed the sudden lump that formed in his throat at the nasty way his son had tricked him; he reminded himself that Shippou had often done similar things and although it was cruel, the pup probably hadn't meant to hurt him as badly as he had. Inuyasha managed to keep his voice steady however as he answered his son truthfully.

"You are right Shinmaru; I can't read or write as well as you all can, your Grandpapa is teaching me now. Perhaps Izamai will read to you tonight if you aren't sleepy and I'll see you all in the morning." Inuyasha turned to leave them but bumped into Sesshoumaru at the door. His father's face was as impassive as it had been of old as he walked in and looked down on the pups.

"Explain where you got the paper Shinmaru." Silence greeted his words; Sesshoumaru knew that none of the pups would lie outright, but they were obviously not going to be forthcoming. "Very well, I shall tell you; you retrieved it from a waste paper basket in my study. You did not have permission to do so, let alone be in my room so please explain why you did this."

Suddenly there was no good reason for their exploit; neither of the twins felt very proud of themselves for the exposure of their father's illiteracy, especially in the way that Shinmaru had done it. It was as if he was scoring points over their Papa and trying to hurt him. Sesshoumaru could tell the pups were not going to tell him anything further, perhaps they didn't know how too and so he carried on and took it out of their hands.

"Izamai, come to me." Sesshoumaru ordered, pleased when she did so without question; although he could hear a soft, but worried whimper coming from Inuyasha. He ignored his son though for now, understanding the hanyou's concern for his pup; Inuyasha had been very familiar with his Papa's ways when he thought him his brother, and had spent some time in his care.

"Izamai, did you know of this paper?"

"Yes Grandpapa, we all did."

"What did you do about it Pup?"

"I said it was none of our business and that Papa didn't want us to know, so we shouldn't say anything."

"What else should you have done though Izamai?" This time the answer was longer in coming as the little girl battled with knowing what she should have done and her sense of loyalty to her brothers.

"I should have taken it off them and told Papa or you… but I wasn't going to snitch."

"You should also have encouraged them to own up, but you didn't do that either; you are the eldest Izamai and should have set a better example." With that, Sesshoumaru pulled her slightly bent against his knee and spanked her with four firm swats; but he remained holding her closely to him and looked with piercing eyes at the boys who were obviously unhappy that their sister had been punished and were growling.

Once the girl was calmer and her tears ceased, Sesshoumaru put her back on the futon into her sisters' care, then he called both boys to him. Once again, he was pleased to note that both small pups came even though they must know that they were in trouble.

"Do you know why I am going to punish you and not allow your father to deal with you boys?" The twins both shook their heads negatively. This message was for Inuyasha too, he was getting distressed that Sesshoumaru was taking it upon himself to chastise his children.

"It is not because you tried to humiliate my son, however much I deplore your actions; that is a matter for him alone and it seems that he is prepared to ignore it, whereas I feel that you acted completely beneath yourselves, all of you. You, boys have showed a serious want of consideration for your father that shows up a nastiness of character."

The twin's faces flamed with the censure; neither had realised how someone else would see their prank, and Souta's eyes filled with remorseful tears, he loved his father and hadn't really meant to hurt him. Neither had the more rebellious boy Shinmaru, who only had meant to get one up on Inuyasha but not upset him. Sesshoumaru was pleased that the youngsters were obviously sorry for their misdeed but he still had to be firm with them.

"Shinmaru and Souta, in your attempt to find out what Inuyasha was learning, you violated my study and stole something that did not belong to you. Not only is the study your grandfather's private room, it is the private domain of the Western Lord who is your Alpha. You both entered without permission and thoroughly searched amongst things that were not yours, then took something that you were not entitled to have. You left your scents all over the place; had you been adults spying out my room, you would have been interrogated in the dungeons."

It was clear that the boys had no idea of the seriousness of their misdemeanour and of course Sesshoumaru was completely aware that they had not seen it as stealing from their Alpha Lord; but he wanted them to learn that his study was not to be rifled through again. They both apologised and assured Sesshoumaru that it wouldn't happen again and their Grandpapa was going to make sure that it didn't.

"You will follow me boys; your father will wait here with your sisters until we come back." Sesshoumaru didn't ask, he informed; and Inuyasha heard the clear order and knew that he too had to obey his father and Alpha in the same way as his pups, even if he didn't like the fact. Sesshoumaru led the boys back to his study and made them lean on his desk while he switched them on the backs of their thighs with a willow wand.

Inuyasha and the girls could hear their yells and became anxious; but as he couldn't smell any blood, he didn't feel he could rush to their rescue. Before long, the boys were back and standing against the wall rubbing the tops of their legs and wailing. Close inspection from Inuyasha showed that the boys had only been whipped enough to sting; and the reddened marks on the tenderest areas would fade in no time. His eyes met Sesshoumaru's and he saw his father's smirk which was the most he would allow as he watched his subdued grandchildren.

But now Inuyasha was quiet as he too kept a watch on his pups; the boys were calming as they lay face down on the futon and feeling sorry for themselves. Izamai went over to her father and begged to be picked up, longing to feel his arms comfort her. Inuyasha obliged and held her close as his daughter whispered her apologies to him; but he was angry now, not with his father, but with his pups. He had had time to digest Sesshoumaru's words and could see the serious trouble that could have arisen and he had to speak.

"I am so ashamed of you all, especially you boys. You should have asked me what I was learning, I would have told you, but you went and snooped around in places you had no right to be in and stole from there. I thought I had taught you better than that; for the first time I'm glad your mother isn't here, she too would have been mortified."

Sesshoumaru looked at Inuyasha and went over to him putting his arm round the boy's shoulders, seeing that the hanyou was shaken and had sounded rather harsh. The pups however were all in tears at their father's words; they had heard the disappointment in his voice and that even more than Sesshoumaru's discipline had made them fully realise the error of what they had done. Shinmaru suddenly launched himself at Sesshoumaru grabbing his legs and crying;

"I'm sorry, sorry; I didn't know it was stealing, it was in the rubbish, I wouldn't have stolen it." The pup was making a soggy mess of his grandfather's hakama by now but Sesshoumaru stroked his head.

"You were not thinking at all Shinmaru, neither were you Souta; you would have taken the paper no matter where it was, because you were looking all over the office for something. No matter that you found it in the waste; it was not yours, fullstop. But enough now, you have all learned your lesson and the matter is now closed; you need to sleep if we are to be off early tomorrow and that now includes your Papa."

Sesshoumaru now steered Inuyasha out of the pup's room and into Inuyasha's own where the pair sat on the bed. The hanyou was giving off an air of defeat that displeased Sesshoumaru who was well aware of the fact that his son was still feeling hurt at his pup's cruelty and the perceived failure of his own to bring them up properly.

"You are surely reading too much into the events of this evening my son; do not fret so, your pups are good children, they just got carried away and needed correction as all pups do from time to time."

"Feh!" Was the short answer and Sesshoumaru left him to prepare for the next day; the Daiyoukai had some ideas to put into action for the planned excursion. He was also the first awake in the morning putting his affairs in order for a week; he planned on taking the pups on a journey of discovery instead of the original short hunt.

At breakfast, which was one suitable for slow burning but lasting energy; the pups were back to normal after seeing their Grandfather wasn't still angry with them. Inuyasha was tucking in with gusto and everything appeared well, but Sesshoumaru could tell that Inuyasha was feeling inadequate; it never took a lot to bring up the lack of self worth that his son still suffered occasionally. The laughter of his pup the previous night had knocked Inuyasha's confidence and his eyes wouldn't rise from his plate for long.

It was time for this to end as far as Sesshoumaru was concerned and he hoped his plans would work although he knew he would have to once again pull rank and seniority on his pup for them to do so. Soon it was time and they set off with the pups' excited chatter surrounding them. Inuyasha knew that Sesshoumaru was planning something and he wasn't sure he was going to like it, but knew he could do nothing; all the same he was on alert, but nothing so far was spoiling the easy walk to their hunting grounds.

The morning and early afternoon passed as they travelled, the pups using up their energy running too and fro playing games with each other and when they were called to halt they realised how hungry they were. Inuyasha had a fire going already and called the pups to go and wash in the stream knowing that they would end up playing for a few hours as well as getting clean. This didn't matter as it would take that amount of time to cook the meat Sesshoumaru had caught.

When everyone was sated and the meal digested, the pups had started to play again but less vigorously than before they'd eaten, the early evening was warm and pleasant and soon the pups were getting drowsy and ready to settle down for their customary story and then bed. They all came and cuddled up to their Father and Grandfather and Sesshoumaru looked at them all before saying;

"This week we are going to go on a survival exercise as well as a hunting trip and I want you to all try and remember what you were like when you were ten years old. You should remember because you all had a special celebration on that day; I know both your Papa and I can remember you all." Ten was easy for them to remember because it was the age that their growth slowed down and their human friends would start to grow older while the pups stayed young.

There were lots of comments about being ten, ranging from stop sucking their thumbs to going to sleep without a nightlight; or being able to see the fire light from the main room and letting their doors close. There were lots of giggles when one of the twins said he was ten when he went to the latrine for the first time on his own at night; when he was big enough to carry the lantern by himself down the path in the garden.

After a while all the little anecdotes had been discussed and Sesshoumaru was convinced that the pups could all picture themselves as ten year olds again, as they laughed at how young they had been and acted. Meanwhile Inuyasha had also remembered being ten years old and had got a vague inkling of what Sesshoumaru was planning for his pups and his eyes darkened in deep concern. Ten was just a number in youkai years; and as their development slowed right down, his pups were still not much more than ten now, all were pre adolescent youkai.

Sesshoumaru was very aware of Inuyasha of course; in fact he would rather the boy was not here on this excursion, but that would have been impossible to arrange. He did however rumble in Inu youkai at him to trust in his alpha father. Then turning his attention back to the pups he said;

"I will tell you a story about a very young hanyou in the days before your father and his friends made it much safer to be a hanyou." The pups all settled down to listen. "The little hanyou lived with his mother and she loved him dearly but she was the only one, everyone else was afraid of him because he was not human. He was treated by the rest as if he was an animal and if he did anything that proved otherwise, he was beaten and far harder than you have ever been.

"Then one day the little hanyou was thrown out into the wild on his own, his mother had died and no one wanted him around; he now had no home or Mama, and had to learn to live by himself when he was only eight, until his brother found him. His brother looked after him for a while but he too was often cruel to the small boy and eventually after a couple of years, the hanyou left his brother to live again on his own."

"Did he survive Grandpapa; where was his Papa?"

"He did survive even though his Papa didn't want anything to do with him, and you are going to learn how he did so; this week you are going to pretend to be the small hanyou boy surviving out in the open. But unlike him you will not be alone." Murmurs met this declaration, there was excitement and trepidation; but overall the pups wanted to know what to do. Sesshoumaru led the way to the forest where during the night his servants had dug little trenches beneath some trees, lining them with dried leaves.

"Now, the little hanyou often slept in a scrape such as these, you are to find things around that will make it more comfortable to sleep in; it is not cold at night yet but there will be no fire. You may not help each other, now choose which tree you want and go to find your bedding." The pups rushed off and soon had armfuls of dried leaves of which there was an abundance, in the litter of the forest floor. Izamai had even found a branch that still had leaves attached and she planned on using it as a form of roof for her bed amongst the roots.

Soon they were all settled down and the chatter ceased as night crept over the forest. True to his word Sesshoumaru hadn't lit a new fire and so the night was dark except for the stars and moon. Later the small sounds of the nocturnal animals could be heard and the rustling of the leaves surrounding the pups who were all getting more nervous as the night darkened.

Sesshoumaru had his hands full with Inuyasha who was unhappy at this situation, he had always protected his pups from knowing any harshness; but his father thought they should be exposed to some of the reality that had been Inuyasha's life. All Inuyasha could hear were the noises indicating his pups were getting cold and he nearly leapt up when Souta called for him, wanting to bring the boy to him.

Sesshoumaru forbid Inuyasha to go to the pup; but he did say loud enough to be heard;

"No one is coming to you Souta; no one came to help the little hanyou when he cried for his mother." Sesshoumaru was firm, but he kept an arm round Inuyasha and spoke once more in Inu growls to reach the hanyou's inner youkai to stop it worrying so much.

"Leave pups, not hungry well fed, not cold night, no danger. Pups need to learn and respect father. No argument for Alpha." He felt Inuyasha relax next to him and together they kept silent watch throughout the night and eventually the pups slept, albeit restlessly and they would be stiff and sore in the morning.

At dawn the pups were stirring and they got up to relieve themselves, after rubbing their stiff joints and trying to get warm. There was no sign of either adult and the pups were a bit alarmed, they had never been alone in this way before. During the day they had to find food for themselves, foraging for fruit and nuts in the hedgerows and the girls tried to catch fish in the stream that ran nearby. As the day progressed, tempers started to fray and they were huddled together for warmth by the evening.

As darkness once again loomed, they knew that they would be spending another night in the scrapes without having seen their Papa at all; they were still hungry and beginning to look dishevelled, one or two began to cry. The second night was far longer being as they were hungry to start with; and one of the boys wet himself as he was too scared to get out and find somewhere more suitable.

Inuyasha was beside himself as he could hear that all of them had started to cry during the night and his heart was breaking for his little ones. Sesshoumaru however was not moved, he felt that the experiment was working and although the pups were not very happy for now, they were perfectly safe and it was not long until the morning when he would start to conduct stage two.

TBC