The Bow that Breaks

I don't own Inuyasha

Chapter 8

Sesshoumaru playfully batted at one of his mother's ears before catching the fur in his mouth and proudly displaying it as she laid down to rest. Satomi wasn't sure how Sesshoumaru still had enough energy to play after their run in with the bears, a meal, and traveling for the rest of the day. By any account he should have been tired. Satomi snorted as she shook her head trying to free her wet ear before pinning Sesshoumaru on his back under her paw. He was not deterred and instead he seemed to be enjoying the challenge as he continued to nibble and bat at the offending ear. Satomi sighed and settled for giving Sesshoumaru a bath while letting him hold onto his catch. He would most likely carry on until he was exhausted enough to rest. Too impatient to wait him out, she put an end to the play as she shifted back out of her true form. Sesshoumaru was noticeably disappointed but did the same. He sat beside her, wide eyed and ready for a new game as she rested her head against the tree she was sitting under.

"Momma…

"..."

"Momma"

"..."

"Momma"

Satomi did her best to try to ignore the incessant repetition of her name but Sesshoumaru was persistent as he began to tug at her sleeve.

"Rest Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru shook his head as he growled playfully and pounced on her.

"Play?"

"No Sesshoumaru."

"…tory?"

"No stories. Go to sleep."

Satomi's words were met with a long and drawn out whine and an angry pout but he kept his claws out of sight.

Sesshoumaru's hopes of any stories or play were soon dashed as his mother fell asleep. He watched the darkness before noticing a few fireflies. He crouched down as if attempting to hunt them, pouncing into the bunch and swiping at them only to catch air. He watched them come back together in a small group only to try again and again to attack his flickering enemies and catch them in his claws. Sesshoumaru paused as a lone light flickered farther away among the trees. A gentle breeze lifted a familiar scent to his nose and he was immediately on his feet. He waited for another breeze and when it came, it carried the same scent as before.

"Daddy?"

...

As Satomi adjusted her hands across her stomach, she half expected Sesshoumaru to be resting on her peacefully. Instead, Satomi's hands were met with an emptiness that she wasn't expecting to embrace. Her eyes shot open, searching around her for her child's presence. The darkness still consumed the sky, the stars above quietly shown brightly accompanied by all of the moon's glory. She tried to calm and use her senses. She knew that Sesshoumaru wouldn't stray far from her and his scent was still fairly strong within the vicinity. But there was another scent that was faint…Taisho's. She knew better than to believe that it was Taisho himself. The scent was too muddled and difficult to weed out which meant that it was old or carried in by someone else, possibly an enemy that he'd fought with. The latter thought made Satomi cringe in thinking that Sesshoumaru could have become confused by it and went to investigate, only to encounter a foe that would jump at the opportunity to kill him. Satomi quickly go to her feet following Sesshoumaru's scent in hopes of finding him before he got into any trouble.

Sesshoumaru continued to follow the scent and flicker of light as it stopped momentarily before again moving away from him. Closing some of the distance he could see now that the light was coming from a lantern dangling about an old horse drawn cart. The man on the back moaned as he held his arm to him. It was obvious that he'd been injured. Sesshoumaru stayed among the scant bushes hoping that they would be enough to hide him despite how close he was. The man in the cart sat up and took a deep breath as a woman joined him and seemed to be tending to his wounds. Sesshoumaru listened as the two of them conversed.

"Damn demons always fighting each other and getting us caught up in it."

"The dog general did manage to get us out alive though, and for that we must be thankful." The woman spoke calmly as she dabbed at the wound.

"You speak of him with too much admiration. Now we are further in debt to him."

"He protects us."

"You're brainwashed by that horrid demon. He's using us!"

"Using us?"

"All of our resources we provide to him and the countless sacrifices of our children who grow up becoming nothing more than his servants and his concubines…is that not proof enough?"

"Our services are payment for his protection. Many of our children grow up to live better lives serving him than they ever would in our village."

"Believe what you want but it's only a matter of time before Taisho brings us down with him."

The woman looked off not wanting to argue the man's words.

Sesshoumaru perked up hearing his father's name. Though the man seemed disappointed with something his father had done, the woman did not seem to be a threat and spoke highly of his father. Sesshoumaru slowly crawled closer becoming still as the man looked up and into the darkness where he was sitting and pulled a knife from his sash.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Sesshoumaru became aware of the fact that the man could hear him but not see him and the same went for the woman. Sesshoumaru cocked his head to the side trying to understand how both of them had lost their sight. Some demons' sense of smell was not as strong as others but all had the ability to see well in the cover of darkness. Sesshoumaru yelped as he was pulled from his hiding spot. He looked up to see his mother place her finger over her mouth signaling him to stay quiet as she spoke.

"Travelers…"

The man turned in the direction of her voice as the woman brought the lantern over. Sesshoumaru watched the two of them catch their breath and bow immediately as they came into view. He'd seen others bow to both his father and mother but for some reason his mother struck fear in these people and he was immediately sure that she held some other unknown power. Sesshoumaru felt his mother straighten further and even in her arms he tried to do the same. However, the sneer that left her lips left him confused.

"My lady, forgive us. We were not expecting your presence."

"Stand. My son and I request refuge for the remainder of the night in your village. Food and water will be provided. Do that and your lives will be spared for your degrading remarks regarding my lord."

"Of course my lady."

Sesshoumaru remained quiet, trying to understand the tension his mother seemed to be giving off while following these strangers, yet she trusted them enough to hold to their word and take them somewhere safe. Entering the village, a few of the people popped their heads out of windows or stood outside bowing as they passed by. No one spoke a word, they simply cleared the way.

The accommodations were what Satomi knew to expect from the humans. It was the best that they could do and she could not fault them for that. In the least there was a roof overhead and she would not have to worry about Sesshoumaru's safety while she slept. Satomi listened for the travelers to make sure they'd distanced themselves before she let anger creep into her features and into her voice.

"You are to never to leave my side again! You could have been killed!"

"…but Daddy...?"

"And was he there?!"

"No." His voice trembled under her tone.

Satomi was surprised by his reaction. She counted many times when she'd raised her voice before and he'd been completely indifferent. She'd half expected Sesshoumaru to be the same this time but he was visibly upset. Between a lack of rest, nearly losing her son twice in the same day and having to resort to a human village for protection Satomi felt herself leaning on the edge of reason and yelling at her child would do nothing but destroy any of the relationship they'd gained.

"It could have been an enemy using your father's scent to try to trick us. You have to trust me to tell you when it's safe, okay?"

"...kay"

Satomi felt relieved that Sesshoumaru had taken her last few words better than the former but she was now curious as to what had gotten Sesshoumaru's attention as he moved to sit near the window and watch the outside.

"...?"

A few people walked by but the village was quiet otherwise. Nonetheless, Sesshoumaru pointed to them as he gave his mother a quizzical look.

"The people?"

Sesshoumaru nodded, "Not see…dark?"

Satomi was struggling to understand. There were the times when he'd cut words short and she could figure it out but when he tried to put all of it together it was a puzzle with multiple missing pieces. She ran the fragment through her head a few times trying it different ways until she got it.

"They can't see in the dark because they're humans. They're weak and it is pointless to think much of them."

As Sesshoumaru settled next to her satisfied with the response, she realized that he'd never known to separate humans and demons. Taisho would not be happy that she'd introduced the divide but there was something more concerning that she now agreed on with her mate. Sesshoumaru was not purposefully withholding his words to spite her as she'd initially thought.

A/N: A lot going on here but I hope it all made sense. My continued thanks to everyone for being patient and reading!