InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A New Sibling ❯ Sesshoumaru?! ( Chapter 6 )

*Somewhere Just Outside of InuYasha Forest*

"I can sense them getting closer…"

"Who M'Lord…?"

"Must you speak so loudly? He may be hanyou but he has reasonable hearing…"

"Gomen ne sai…"

Before she could hardly finish her sentence, Sesshoumaru bolted into the brightening forest. `I wish he would at least give a single word of warning before he does that…' Kuzume took off after the young lord muttering about ignorant dog demons and men who think they rule the world.

(A/N: when I use the word "young", I use it loosely and compared to the other lords of Feudal Japan…If you actually add up his apparent age-around 25-and the 50 years InuYasha was asleep plus about, let's say, 20 years before hand, he's around 95 years old…wow…for someone of his…*ahem*…stature… *cough, cough*… he sure is old…but just for the sake of my fanfic, he shall be…let's say…382…picking a random number here people…that would make Kuzume 381, yes? Anyway, I'll let you get back to the fanfic and stop boring you with my stupid analyzing of the demons' ages…man, I am such a dork…*sigh*…)

As the pair reached the dirt road, Sesshoumaru came to an abrupt halt, which almost caused another pile up. (A/N: heh heh heh…) He leapt to a tree branch and awaited the arrival of his half-brother while Kuzume leapt to a branch on a second tree to his right.

Sesshoumaru sat back in the nook of the limb and leaned his head back against the trunk, closing his eyes but staying tense, ready to attack or defend if need be; they had a while to wait. Kuzume stayed crouched on her branch, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sesshoumaru's infamous half-brother.

*Somewhere down the road*

InuYasha stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air. He turned his head slightly to the left and glared at an unseen being. `It can't be…'

Kagome noticed that they were short one half-demon and turned back to stand next to him and stare at…whatever had caught the hanyou's attention.

"What is it, InuYasha?"

He turned to look at her, then back to the forest.

"Sesshoumaru…"

By this time, the entire group had noticed the stop of their journey and ventured back to the speaking couple.

"S-Sesshoumaru…? You mean y-your scary older b-brother…?"(A/N: ah Shippo-Chan…so frightened and, yet, so easy to kill…^.^)

"Damn it all…why is he here?"

InuYasha took off down the road, keeping his eyes on the forest to his left. Seeing his sudden closure of the conversation, the gang followed as best they could. It was quite difficult keeping up with the half-demon of superior speed.

They all stopped abruptly as InuYasha stared up into a tree to see his older half-brother.

"Kudos on finding us so quickly, half breed."

Sesshoumaru gracefully leapt out of the tree and landed in front of the group. He stood waiting for InuYasha to start his usual screaming, but was not so sorely disappointed when the monk interrupted him.

"What do you mean by `us'?"

"He was referring to me, of course!" (A/N: Sorry, RFP. I just see her as a person with a really bouncy personality…^.^)

Kuzume jumped from her own tree to land a few feet behind Sesshoumaru and off slightly to the right. She glanced down at Shippo and started to swish her four creamy white tails.

"Hello, Shippo!"

"Onee-chan!!!"

Shippo launched himself into the older girl's arms and hugged her ferociously.

"I'm a little confused here…"

Sesshoumaru glanced at his younger brother and sighed inwardly at his stupidity.

"Why does it not surprise me, InuYasha?"

InuYasha snorted at him and they began glaring pins and needles at one another.

"Did you wish to ask something, Sesshoumaru, or are you just here to torture InuYasha as always?"

Sesshoumaru glanced towards the miko and was seriously considering backhanded her, but decided against…It was not a lordly thing to hit a woman, human or not. He turned back to InuYasha and hesitated before speaking. `Humiliation, you taunt me so…'

"I have come to ask of your," he waited a moment, trying to get out the one word that could destroy him, "assistance…"

All motion stopped. In that moment, you would be able to hear a pin drop. The animals in the forest seemed to sense the unnatural statement even, and ceased in their activities. You would swear that everyone had stopped breathing and the world had stopped.

InuYasha snapped out of his stupor and rubbed his ears.

He continued to stare at Sesshoumaru, whose eyes had darkened, and asked, "Ahem…did I hear this right…?"

"I believe you did, InuYasha, as long as you heard that he just asked you for help."

"That's what I heard, Kagome."

"Don't test my patience for you, little brother."

InuYasha cringed; he hated when Sesshoumaru used that term when speaking to him. He didn't like to admit that he was related to his brother, and Sesshoumaru knew this.

"Why would you need our help, Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru turned to Miroku and narrowed his eyes at the mention of his own request.

"I am sure that you are aware of Ayumu's disappearance."

"Yes, she was with us at the time."

"Her youki has been tampered with and she is with Naraku. I ask of your assistance in getting her back."

"I'm sorry," InuYasha joined in the conversation again, "but why do you want to rescue her?"

"Much like yourself, InuYasha, I have grown…accustomed…to Ayumu's presence."

"So, you care for your sister, also, Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru sighed inwardly and turned his eyes towards Kagome. He was tiring of their questions. There was little time to waste in getting to Naraku's castle.

"Hn…"

"Oh, don't worry about Lord Sesshoumaru, miss. He just doesn't enjoy sharing his feelings."

Kagome watched as Kuzume stepped out from behind Sesshoumaru with Shippo still in her arms.

"I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself. My name is Kuzume and I am Shippo's older sister."

"It's very nice to meet you. I'm Higurashi Kagome."

"May we get back to the matter at hand?"

"You have my apologies, Lord Sesshoumaru." Kuzume said as she turned back to the others and placed Shippo on the ground-who then ran back to sit on Kagome's shoulder. "We have precious little time to waste. From what I have heard, this `Naraku' is one bad character. We must hurry."

"There is no way I am going to help Sesshoumaru!"

InuYasha stalked down the road as he tried to ignore the eyes staring at him. Everyone knew that InuYasha would need Sesshoumaru's help, even him, but he still refused to admit it. (A/N: ah, denial…it ain't just a river in Egypt!)

Suddenly, before he knew what was happening, InuYasha was dangling above the ground with Sesshoumaru's claws digging into his neck.

"Whether neither of us likes this idea or not, you need my assistance and I regretfully need yours. Turn your back on my offer and you turn your back on Ayumu."

"You really do care about her, don't you?" InuYasha managed to choke out.

Sesshoumaru increased the pressure on InuYasha's neck, cut a little deeper with his claws, then finally let him drop back down to the ground in a heap when his face started to turn a rather disgusting shade of blue. He turned away from his brother and began to walk back to Kuzume-who was starting to look a little nervous because he might not have let go of InuYasha's neck.

InuYasha stood up and put his hand over the cuts in his throat. He glared at his brother with unseeing eyes. `His logic makes perfect sense, but I can't accept this. All our lives were spent hating and trying to kill one another. I just can't accept his help like this.'

As if reading InuYasha's mind, Sesshoumaru said, "You do not have to accept being my brother, nor do you have to settle our conflicts here and now. All I request is that we put aside our differences for the time being to retrieve Ayumu."

"Wow…most words you've ever said to me at one time, Sesshoumaru." InuYasha walked over to stand in front of his brother and held out his hand. "This calls for a temporary truce. No assassination attempts, no battles or physical fighting of any kind, at least until Ayumu is back and safe. Agreed?"

Sesshoumaru hesitated then took InuYasha's extended left hand in his own. "Agreed…We must leave immediately. You have wasted much of our time with your incessant suspicions."

"My incessant suspicions? I'm sure that you were just as…"

"InuYasha, he is right about the fact that we should be going."

"Fine, but-Hey! Wait up!"

Sesshoumaru had turned and started to walk down the road after Sango had interrupted InuYasha. He had yet to heed InuYasha's begging for him to slow. Sesshoumaru did not need for InuYasha to travel right beside him. In fact, he didn't want InuYasha to travel anywhere near him.

"Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru sighed inwardly once more and turned back to look at whichever human had wanted to speak with him, ending up watching Miroku.

InuYasha had, by this time, realized why Miroku had stopped his brother. He decided to question Sesshoumaru himself.

"Your arm…"

Sesshoumaru caught on to what they were all gawking at, but decided to improve the hanyou's mind by making him elaborate.

"Yes? What about it?"

He raised his left hand in front of his face and flexed his fingers, extending and retracting his claws as he did so. Afterwards, he placed it back by his side and turned his attention back to the humans.

"It's…It's there…"

"Yes," Sesshoumaru turned around and continued walking. "Usually, when one has an arm, it is connected at the shoulder and hangs by one's side."

He said this as if he thought he was actually telling them something that they didn't already know.

"You know what we mean, Sesshoumaru!"

"Yes, but you cannot expect me to actually dignify your simple in explicative statements with answers that do not suit what was said."

"Fine…When did your arm grow back?"

"Approximately one year ago…" (A/N: This entire fanfic is placed in Feudal Japan about five years after Kagome first arrived. Sorry if there was any confusion about that…-.-;)

"Well, after this is all over, we'll just have to fix that, won't we?"

Everyone continued walking as the two brothers took the lead.

"We will see, InuYasha. We will see…"

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OOOoooh…dun dun dun!!!

Ok so…you guys have every right to email me to chew me out about taking so d*mned long with this chapter. Just please, start reviewing again! The last chapter will be explained later, trust me!

Happy Reading!

Taiyoukai Ayumu of the Northern Lands

(My member name is incorrect…I am Taiyoukai of the north, but just felt like putting west…)