InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Brothers After All ❯ Chapter Three: Sesshomaru's Tears ( Chapter 3 )

"Brothers After All"

by: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Three: Sesshomaru's Tears

Kikyo stayed upwind and well-hidden to prevent Inuyasha from discovering her. Granted, he was fairly well-distracted, so he probably wouldn't have noticed her if she was standing right next to him, but she wasn't about to take any chances.

`So that girl is finally dead, and Inuyasha is the one who killed her. Interesting,' she thought as Inuyasha left, looking rather down-trodden and pathetic.

She waited a few more moments before sending her soul stealers to claim what, she figured, rightfully belonged to her anyway. The ball of light was claimed from Kagome's chest, and pleased with herself, Kikyo left the body behind to whatever animals would have it.

`Inuyasha, what should I do with you now?' she wondered.

Sesshomaru watched impassively as the sun began to sink over the horizon. `I know I said dusk,' he thought, `but she's always been back by this hour before. I think I'll go look for her.' He sighed mentally. `Kagome, when it comes to you, I'm just so weak.'

"Jaken, I'm going to get Kagome. I'll return in the morning," he said flatly before heading away from his home.

It didn't take him long to find her; she wasn't even half a day away from his estate, lying in the road. Lying dead in the road.

His usually impassive features stiffened, his lip quivered. `Whoever did this to you WILL pay,' he thought with a sneer, but there were so many scents here he couldn't locate the right one. And everything was drowned out by the scent of her blood, Kagome's blood, the blood of the one he loved.

Sesshomaru drew the tenseiga from its hilt almost savagely as the anger boiled up in him. But it wasn't such a big deal, he could resurrect her easily enough. She would be fine. SWOOSH. The blade whistled through the air before he dropped it in the sheath again and kneeled beside the dark haired form as she sat up, silently, a vague expression on his face. And even as her blank eyes stared at him, and even as she said nothing, he still told himself. `She's fine. It's just shock. She's. . . fine.'

Shippo gasped as he saw Kagome and Sesshomaru and. . . so much blood. He'd run this far, hoping to reach the Western Lands before Inuyasha, but he could smell Inuyasha on the road almost the entire way. . . but now, here, the scents were so thick, so muddled, it was hard to decipher just what was going on.

"Kagome!!!!" he called desperately as he ran over, still dragging the tetsusaiga behind him. Reaching the pair he stopped, gasping for breath. "I'm so glad I found you! Inuyasha's done something HORRIBLE!!!!" he squeaked.

Sesshomaru's head snapped up at the voice of the fox kit, and Kagome, she just turned her head, rolling it slightly to the side, staring at Shippo as if he was something curious and inanimate.

Noticing the tetsusaiga, Sesshomaru asked gravely, "what about my brother?"

"He used the jewel to turn himself into a full youkai!" Shippo answered, only a little hesitantly. He might be afraid of Sesshomaru, but he was more afraid of what the demon would do if he didn't answer, than he was afraid of what he would do for giving him an answer he didn't like. "I think he's gonna do something b-bad!" the boy stuttered. "Kagome! What do we do!"

The girl said nothing, just blankly stared from one to the other.

"Kagome, what's wrong?" Shippo asked, bounding up into her lap, tugging on the bottom of her shirt to get her attention. She just looked down at him and said, in an eerily toneless voice. "Yes?"

Shippo gasped and fell backwards.

"What's wrong with her?" he demanded of Sesshomaru before shrinking under the critical golden gaze he gave the kit.

"She's in shock. That's all. Tell me everything you know."

So Shippo went through the details as he had witnessed them, catching his breath at the end of his short tale with a yawn. He'd had missed a lot of sleep in his haste, something children just shouldn't do.

A sinking feeling, like a blade driving slowly deeper, inch by inch, moment by moment, claimed Sesshomaru's chest. Cautiously, he asked, "Kagome, who was it? The name of the person who killed you."

"Inuyasha," she said emotionlessly.

He swallowed hard. `I thought so. Inuyasha, you WILL pay for this. You caused Kagome pain. I dislike that.'

"You're name is Shippo?" Sesshomaru asked flatly, helping Kagome to her feet, getting the feeling that something was terribly wrong with her every movement. So fragile, so puppet-like, not the slightest hint of anything resembling life.

Shippo nodded. "Y-yeah."

"Take the tetsusaiga and follow me. We'll rest at my estate tonight. In the morning, I am going to hunt Inuyasha down and finish him once and for all. YOU will monitor Kagome for me."

Sesshomaru laid Kagome down on the bed. `She shouldn't still be like this,' he thought. "Hey," he said, turning her head slightly to lock her gaze. "What happened to that annoying, talkative girl that I love so much, hm?" he asked softly.

Kagome stared at him for a moment and then answered the question frankly. "She isn't here right now."

He scowled, and Shippo, who had just about fallen off to sleep gasped. "Something's wrong!" the kit whined.

Sesshomaru swallowed hard to keep from crying. Yes, something was very very wrong. This was NOT his Kagome. And he didn't know how to get her back.

"S-Sesshomaru?" Shippo asked hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"We should take Kagome to Kaede-baba. She'll know what to do. Kaede-baba always knows what to do."

Sesshomaru lay down and pulled the warm, yet unresponsive body tightly against him. He didn't speak for a long moment, trying to will the emotion out of his voice.

"Alright," he said finally. "Tomorrow. You'll show me the way to this Kaede-person tomorrow morning."

Shippo nodded. "O-okay," he said, nuzzling up against Kagome's leg and taking one last look up at Kagome and a demon who's name he knew, almost from birth, was something to be feared, and, in the moonlight, he saw them. . . Sesshomaru's tears.