Tear

Inuyasha was obedient and silent. Sometimes Sesshomaru completely forgot that he wasn't alone, and this suited him very well. On one of these days, wandering in the evening fog, he came across a poisonous youkai, who managed to bite him on the arm before dying. Sesshomaru was very annoyed by the fact that he missed such a stupid attack, and walked gloomily until the road in front of him fell into a cliff. The daiyokai stopped and froze, wondering which way to turn this time.

Blood mixed with poison flowed down his hand — Sesshomaru didn't pay attention to it until he felt a timid touch. The daiyoukai looked down in surprise — Inuyasha was clumsily tying his arm with a piece of cloth torn from his haori. He pressed his ears back, fearing his brother's reaction, but his eyebrows were furrowed.

"I don't need this," said Sesshomaru, slightly pushing the boy away.

"Grrr!"

"You dare growl at me?"

Inuyasha stubbornly clung to his wrist, continuing to bandage the wound. He didn't look in the brother's eyes, but even so he seemed brave. Hanyo tightened the knot as tightly as he could, and Sesshomaru didn't mind it. He raised his palm, looking at it in some bewilderment.

"Fool."

"Khya!" responded Inuyasha, clearly disagreeing with this.

And then he disappeared behind the daiyoukai again, becoming silent. Sesshomaru indifferently lowered his hand along his body and finally turned towards the river, which flowed somewhere below in the fog. So, they moved again in a silent and slow procession.

Inuyasha walked, looking out for mushrooms. Sesshomaru was deep in thought, occasionally glancing at his bandaged hand. Rain fell from the sky a couple of times, but it died down even before the hanyo had time to lift the burdock leaf above him.

"When did you last eat?" Sesshomaru asked suddenly.

Inuyasha flinched when he heard his deep voice, breaking the quiet like thunder.

"Why are you silent all the time, onii-san?"

Sesshomaru stopped, looking at the hanyou over his shoulder.

"Answer the question."

The boy froze next to him, holding an armful of mushrooms. He looked up hesitantly, raising his head, meeting his brother's gaze. His ears drooped as if he was guilty of something.

Surprisingly, Sesshomaru understood him without words.

"Throw it away," he ordered, resuming his walk, "they are poisonous."

"Uh? Really?" Inuyasha drawled with disappointment. "Aren't they shiitake?"

"Tsukiyotake," for some reason Sesshomaru didn't keep silent. "They glow in the dark."

Inuyasha curiously turned the mushrooms upside down and saw a greenish glow. His ears perked up happily, he smiled and giggled.

"Beautiful!"

"Throw it away."

"I won't eat them, onii-san! I'll just watch!"

Near the river, Sesshomaru made a stop: there were fish that Inuyasha could catch. Although it was dark, the boy was jumping in the cold water until he began to tremble, but there was no catch — just like the previous evening. Inuyasha was too young. Human children at his age walked hand in hand with their mothers, and so did demons.

Sesshomaru reluctantly stood up after making a fire and walked over to the river. It only took a second to catch an eel with the hand where Inuyasha's bandage still was.

"How fast!" the boy admired.

"Study. You have to feed yourself."

The hanyo was cooking without any help, sleepily rubbing his eyes. He did a bad job: it smelled burnt. But at least he was no longer afraid of turning over the stick with the eel. Sesshomaru looked at his brother, leaning against a tree and hanging his wounded arm from his knee. His skin had been overgrown, but the daiyoukai wasn't in a hurry to remove the bandage, as if it meant something to him.

Inuyasha sighed and slid down onto his haunches, hugging his knees. His face was slightly ruddy from the fire, and he sometimes nodded off. The fish still wasn't completely cooked. The mushrooms, that Sesshomaru ordered to throw away, lay nearby. Their caps glowed dimly.

"And you?" asked the boy, trying to distract himself and not fall asleep.

"What?"

"Will you answer my question, onii-san?"

Sesshomaru remembered that Inuyasha wanted to know the reason for his silence. The daiyoukai chuckled. Then he mercilessly tore the bandage with his claw, and it flew to the cold ground, full of moisture after the rain.

"Every word must be weighed, Inuyasha. And you should always think about whether what you are going to do or say is true."