InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Brotherly Love ❯ Chapter 4

Disclaimer: When, oh when, will the comic Inuyasha be mine? When I am Rumiko Takahashi.

 

Author Note: Inuyasha is still referring to himself as a hanyou, and the others still think of him as a man, despite the fact that he is a woman now. Please ignore the discrepancies if you feel they exist. I put them there on purpose, to express how the characters see each other.

 

Brotherly Love 04:

 

“Potato chips?” Kagome asked, gesturing the bag toward Sango's little brother. Kohaku had recently awoken, and although he had yet to speak, his eyes seemed a little bit softer and less self-accusing already. He had told them once that he felt peaceful around Kikyou, and Kagome wondered if the same went for her, or if Kohaku's newfound calm was restored by the presence of his sister.

 

Shaking his head shyly, the boy resumed his intent scrutiny of the fight. As he watched Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, his body sat inert like a statue but his eyes flickered wildly back and forth between the contestants. And consistent with today's ever-widening spiral of bizarre behavior, Kohaku seemed to be mildly concerned for Sesshoumaru's safety. He winced every time Inuyasha got in a lucky hit. Rin had joined Kohaku in his silent vigil, yet she was less overwhelmed by the fight, because she was absolutely certain Sesshoumaru would win.

 

Since Sesshoumaru did not seem very committed to harming his brother… er, sister… today, Kagome was not very worried either. She munched calmly on the bag of chips and pondered when the boys would quit throwing punches so that she could return to the Bone Eater's Well. She had a lot of explaining to do. Naraku was dead, the Jewel had been restored, Inuyasha was a woman, and she was a youkai. And it was only mid-afternoon.

 

The fight was progressing much like the scrapping Inuyasha and his brother had done in their Father's grave. Inuyasha could not use the Tessaiga at the moment, since he was a full-youkai and not fighting to protect anything but his own purity, and Sesshoumaru refused to use Tenseiga, preferring instead to whip his brother with pulses of light. Yep, just like the good ol' days. Basically the youkai's light-whip simply served to annoy the hanyou, since the fire rat fur Inuyasha wore was effective armor against such an attack.

 

Unbeknownst to the rest of his group though, Inuyasha was rapidly tiring. Fighting in female form was exhausting - his arms were slightly shorter than his natural form, and he had to force himself to reach the extra distance each time he threw a punch. Furthermore, as a youkai, all his attacks were faster, and he wasted energy trying to compensate for his extra speed. Worst of all, he had no support. Suddenly those lacy bra things that Kagome wore didn't seem so bad. He had criticized her for wearing them once, in a less than rational moment. In fact, even the bindings that Sango wore would have made an appreciable difference. It hurt every time he landed, or rolled, or jumped… Damn things were a nuisance.

 

This line of thinking fueled the fire, rekindling his wrath toward his brother for causing such an outrage to his person. For real this time, he was going to kill the bastard and then have Kagome purify his ashes to hell. And after that he would build his brother a gravesite, only to deface it and tear it down again. It would be fitting punishment.

 

Of all the ways he had imagined spending his life after Naraku's defeat, living with his brother had not been on the list. He had dreamed of kissing Kagome, resurrecting Kikyou, maybe marrying them both, or maybe neither. Even helping Sango rebuild the demon slayer's village had been an option. But not this. He would not live life as a girl.

 

Since a miko's pure wish (he refused to believe his brother's wish had been pure) had created him this way, he suspected and hoped that another miko might change him back to his original form. But in the meantime, what was he supposed to do? The only answer he could accept involved bashing Sesshoumaru's handsome face in and then spitefully tromping on his grave.

 

The problem with this idea was that hitting his brother in the face involved touching him, and this was not a very appealing idea either. Plus, the taiyoukai was light-years faster than he was, and without help from Tessaiga, he wasn't sure how to win this fight. Halting his attack for a moment, he watched his brother pause as well.

 

The bastard was toying with him! He wouldn't even fight seriously; he was merely reciprocating the steps his opponent took! How insulting. “Oi!” Inuyasha panted, his voice so exhausted from yelling that it sounded like its old, gravelly, abrasive self. “Fight seriously! Don't hold back just `cause I'm at a disadvantage. That's not like you.”

 

“All right,” agreed the taiyoukai blandly. Stepping forward with stately grace, the demon lord almost seemed to glide over the grass toward his brother. Inuyasha glared at him. Without even breaking a sweat, or breathing deeply, Sesshoumaru had brought him to this. Their eyes met, and the taiyoukai smiled slightly, before he disappeared from sight, and slammed his hand into the back of Inuyasha's neck, where the spine met the skull. Perhaps it was dirty, but the hanyou had told him to end the fight, hadn't he?

 

Picking his brother up like a sack of potatoes and securing his legs over one shoulder, the demon turned to look at the rest of Inuyasha's group, before gathering his youki cloud and lifting off the ground. Rin would be all right with these humans for the time being. He felt certain that the little miko would allow his ward to come to no harm.

 

“Sesshoumaru!” cried the miko, “Wait!”

 

Her plaintive call was echoed simultaneously by his retainer, but the demon lord never looked back.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

When he awoke, he had the headache of the century, and he was wearing a lady's kimono. Several layers in fact. Instantly he leapt from the bed, and began tearing off his clothes in terror. Wait, bed? Why was he in a bed?

 

Staring at the innocent futon in furious anger, he kicked it across the room, watching it skitter into the side of the wall. Other than the futon, the blanket, and his self, the room was completely bare, and the blank shoji screens that surrounded him seemed to mock his ignorance of these surroundings. The building smelled slightly familiar, but he didn't know why that was. Breathing deeply, he scented Sesshoumaru, a layer of dust, and something… else. It smelled like home. Where was this place?

 

No answers came from the empty walls, so he marched resolutely toward the screen door, ready to slide it open, violently lifting it right off its tracks. But as he swung his hand forward, the appendage came into contact with a barrier. It hissed and sputtered as his claws scraped for the door, and Inuyasha was forced backward, cradling his hand.

 

He tried the other door, with similar results. The walls too were covered with this invisible barrier. Finally, the impatient hanyou resorted to punching holes in the floor, only to find the barrier had been placed beneath the floorboards as well. Someone had done a very thorough job at containing him. The barrier would not even respond to his blood claw attacks. Wishing he had the Red Tessaiga with him, he moped for a few moments, before surrendering to boredom.

 

And boy, was he ever bored. As the hours crept by, the monotony grew until it was an oppressive weight on his chest. He counted all the panels in the shoji screen walls. He punched additional holes in the floor and used the wood to begin a carving with his claws. He attempted to see how long he could continue to live without breathing. The tedium was endless.

 

Where was Sesshoumaru? Obviously his brother had brought him here, so why wasn't the bastard in the room, picking on him? It was night outside already, and he wondered if his companions were okay. Perhaps Sesshoumaru had gone back for Kagome? Growling fiercely at the thought, he hoped this was not the case. If that son of a bitch even looked at the miko the wrong way, he would rip his brother limb from limb.

 

At last, not knowing what else to do, Inuyasha began screaming. “Sesshoumaru! Get your filthy stinking carcass in here! You hear me! I won't stand for this kind of treatment from a pompous, cowardly loser!”

 

It was the yelling which finally hooked his brother and drew him toward the room. Sesshoumaru had been trying to let his half… er… full-youkai sibling rest and calm down after a trying day, but his incessant obscenities disturbed the servants. Really, the boy had no sense of decency.

 

Sliding the shoji open, the white demon stood patiently outside the doorway, watching as his sibling's eyes narrowed into slits. In order to avoid a fight, it would probably be best to answer any questions from here, he decided. With that, Sesshoumaru slid gracefully to the floor and crossed his legs.

 

“Yes, brother?” intoned the taiyoukai, as if he had all the time in the world.

 

It took a moment for Inuyasha to regain his bearings. He had been counting on sparring with his overbearing half-brother immediately, but it seemed as though the coward was unwilling to enter the room. And to go and say things like that… Not once in his life could Inuyasha actually remember Sesshoumaru calling `brother.' It figured that the bastard finally would start calling him such, when he wasn't one anymore. Technically now he was a `sister' if anything.

 

Yet it did demonstrate a family bond, and a little respect. In addition, it meant that Sesshoumaru did not see him as a… a female. This, of course, was very, very good. So perhaps he could try to reason his way out of this situation, instead of punching through any obstacles he encountered.

 

“You'd better not be the one who changed my clothing,” Inuyasha growled threateningly. An excellent opening, if he did say so himself! Let the damn prig know that he wasn't intimidated, and he was unwilling to take any crap.

 

“Of course not,” replied the taiyoukai calmly. “Servants did it.”

 

“Next, I'm not attracted to men!” snarled the hanyou, “Regardless of the body I inhabit!”

 

For a moment, this gave the white demon pause. Sesshoumaru tilted his head to the side slightly, considering the notion, his silvery hair shifting over the blue moon crest on his forehead. Hadn't the boy been listening earlier, while he explained the situation? Somehow he had thought Inuyasha would understand. “It is not about attraction,” the taiyoukai explained slowly.

 

“What's it about then?” grumbled his half-sibling, rebelliously crossing his arms over his chest, only to discover his brand-new bosom got in the way of the gesture, causing him to look ridiculous.

 

“Duty.”

 

The Lord of the West could think of no better way to spell things out, so he did not elaborate further, and the silence grated on the already frayed nerves of his guest. “You make no sense!” barked Inuyasha, finally losing his patience, “Why not wish someone ELSE into a female inu-youkai? Like Rin for instance? I'm sure she would love to serve her lord in every way.”

 

Immediately, Sesshoumaru's expression darkened. “Listen carefully, hanyou,” he responded ominously, lacing his words with venom out of habit, despite the fact that his brother was no longer a half-demon. “You will never again imply such obscenity concerning Rin. I will not be so lenient in the future. This Sesshoumaru thought a half-inu such as yourself would be closest to understanding the life of a full-inuyoukai. It would never do to foist such an ordeal on the unprepared, such as the kitsune did with your miko.”

 

Although the slur on his lineage should have offended him, it did not. In fact, Inuyasha never even heard the word `hanyou' out of his half-brother's mouth. Instead, a feeling of possessive ire blossomed in his chest as the taiyoukai mentioned his kitsune. “Shippo didn't mean to do anything wrong! Maybe he's an idiot, but you have no right to insult him.”

 

Shocked by his own vehemence, Inuyasha wondered where this sudden feeling had come from, and whether this was how his brother felt toward those he was assigned to protect. If so, no wonder the taiyoukai had become irritable when he implied Rin was some kind of a harlot. Obviously it wasn't true, the girl was just a child; she was purity personified. He had only said it because he was mad. But that didn't give Sesshoumaru leave to insult the fox-kit either!

 

“Argh!” he groaned in frustration, “I cannot believe I am having this conversation with you. Look, the offer still stands! I will give you Tessaiga, if you let me go. And what'dya mean you're no longer interested? What the hell? You've always been after Tessaiga! The only reason you stopped trying was because I beat your ass with the Kaze no Kizu!”

 

“Incorrect,” stated the demon flatly, back to being his usual, unflappable self. “I stopped coming after the blade when I learned that you needed it to control your demon-blood.”

 

And right then, Inuyasha learned something about his brother.

 

At a loss for words in the light of his realization, he couldn't think, he could barely even breathe around the panic that gripped his throat. No, he thought desperately. No, that's not why. It's because I beat him. It's because of the barrier on the sword. It's because he was honoring Father's wishes. He's never cared about me. Never.

 

But the fact remained, hovering in the air between them. Sesshoumaru, icy demon-lord of the West, had indeed ceased all pursuit of the Tessaiga the same day he learned his brother's sanity depended on owning it. After that day, Inuyasha could not remember a single instance when his half-brother had tried to steal the sword. It was possible.

 

He might not be lying.

 

Worst of all, Inuyasha realized he wanted it to be true. More than anything in his life, he had looked up to his brother, and until he had found Kikyou, he had always wanted to be a full-youkai, to live up to his family's expectations. It had been years since he met Kikyou, of course, and now he had Kagome, Shippo, Miroku and Sango… but a small part of him, safely locked away, still pined for acceptance. And now, the son of a bitch was saying he cared?

 

“I…” muttered Inuyasha, unsure of himself for the first time in decades, “You're such a bastard.” His voice was too high, and it unnerved him how weak he sounded, so he growled and turned away, unhappy with the whole ordeal. Why couldn't things be simple? Why did his half-brother always have to ruin his life?

 

As Inuyasha faced away, the taiyoukai stood smoothly and suppressed a sigh, “This Sesshoumaru will leave you to your thoughts, then.”