InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Happy Place ❯ Little Hanyou Lost ( Chapter 2 )

"Everyday, Mary says, it's okay.
It's easier to say those words
and run away - You don't feel this way.
Why don't you go on and get in your happy place?
They say, why don't you go and get in your happy place?"
-- Happy Place, Susanna Hoffs, 1996

He had no idea of which direction he traveled. All he had to guide him was his sense of smell but even that had been rendered useless after the rain. The fact that the sun had come out didn't help, either. It stood directly above him, sending wave after wave of warmth upon him. He knew that he could find east and west when the sun started to set but he couldn't wait. Not in his current condition.

'I have to get back to the village . . . but how? Kagome's in her own era and won't be back for at least another day or so. And unless someone comes to look for me, I'm a sitting duck.'

Inuyasha sighed and flopped to the ground. At least, he felt himself sighing. He knew his eyes were wide open but it didn't matter. His sight, his hearing, and his ability to speak . . . gone. Stolen by a group of sorceresses.

'Come to think of it, I've never seen sorceresses work together. Most don't like working together like that so why were they? Just what the hell is going on?'

He sat there, mulling it over. Why did these sorceresses work together like that? What was their motive for singling him out? Did Naraku set them up to it?

For a moment, a chill stole over him at the thought of Naraku getting the better of him. If Naraku had then Kagome would be in danger when she came back!

'No,' he told himself with a frown. 'Naraku couldn't have set them up to it. Not with the words the one spoke to me . . . See what the blind can see, hear only what the deaf can hear . . . That isn't Naraku at all.'

A familiar scent caught his attention and he tensed up. He'd been found but by the last person he wanted to be found by. Inuyasha placed a hand on his Tetsusaiga as he envisioned his brother closing in on him.

His brother . . . He had always known what he had looked like. Sesshomaru had always stood a good foot or so over him, always wearing that white haori with the red flowers embroidered on the left side, his silver hair trailing behind him and that white fluff that always hung over his right . . . What startled Inuyasha was the vibrancy of the colours. He could see his brother clearer than what he had ever been able to before and he froze.

* * *

Sesshomaru allowed himself a tiny smirk as he came across his half-brother, the half-demon's hand resting against the hilt of the Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha had somehow become defenseless. He could tell by the way his half-brother moved. What exactly had happened, he couldn't say. He just knew.

'What have you gotten yourself into this time, little brother?' he asked himself as he continued to walk towards Inuyasha, noting that the half- demon had suddenly relaxed as he proceeded. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. What was his brother up to?

"Inuyasha . . ."

The half-demon didn't acknowledge him. His ears never twitched, causing Sesshomaru to frown. Had his brother been struck deaf? Sesshomaru knelt in front of his brother, sniffing tentatively. No sound escaped him. His eyes never blinked.

'Most puzzling. Who could have done this?'

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a feather-light touch on his forehead. Blinking once, he watched as his brother's hand traced its way from the crescent moon on his forehead, down the bridge of his nose to his lips before finally coming to a stop on his cheek.

"What is he doing?! How dare . . ."

"Jaken . . ." He could only imagine the toad's indignant dance.

"Yes, m'lord?"

"Be quiet," he commanded, keeping his attention focused on his brother. Jaken gulped and said no more. Tentatively, Sesshomaru lightly touched Inuyasha's forehead, tracing a finger across his brother's face. Whatever had happened to him, his brother seemed to be at ease around him.

'Maybe he shouldn't be,' he thought darkly, but he couldn't bring himself to attack the younger one. The fight would not be satisfactory.

"Let's go," he announced, standing up and bringing Inuyasha with him.

"Go? Go where?" Jaken asked.

"To Edo. Where else?"

* * *

'What is he doing?' Inuyasha thought as he felt his brother guiding him to his feet. 'Is he helping me?'

He felt himself being led a short distance then being lifted onto some creature's back. Inuyasha frowned to himself. What was Sesshomaru up to? An icy feeling spread from his stomach.

'I'm at his mercy and he knows it. Dammit. Why the hell did this have to happen?'

As they traveled to who the hell knew where, Inuyasha became lost in his own thoughts . . . and memories. As when he envisioned his brother, the colours were bright and vivid and he could hear things that he had never paid attention to before. The sound of the wind in the grass, crickets chirruping . . . his older brother laughing.

Inuyasha sighed. It had been a long time since he'd heard Sesshomaru laugh for the pure joy of laughing. Hell, it had been a long time since he had laughed for the joy of it. But there had been a reason then.

It had been a day unlike any other. Inuyasha had just turned five the week before but his brother had yet to come visit him and wish him well. He'd waited by the window every day, watching and waiting for his aniki.

Inuyasha had always looked forward to his brother's visits. His father had died when he was three and the only things he had left were an image of his father's face and his brother. It was something that he could never admit to Sesshomaru. His brother had always been . . . unemotional and frowned upon any kind of emotional displays.

"Mother . . ."

"Yes, Inuyasha?"

"When is Sesshomaru going to get here?"

"Oh, Inuyasha," she had chuckled. "Your brother will get here when he gets here. You know that."

"I know," he had sighed in disappointment.

Inuyasha sighed as the memory came in clear, clearer than it ever had before. Sesshomaru had finally appeared, much to his delight, then turned around to leave. He had begged his brother to stay longer, the older demon agreeing reluctantly.

'But what did we laugh about?' Inuyasha frowned. 'I can't remember. Dammit, why is it so hazy? Why is everything about my past so hazy?'

He had no answers to those questions.

* * *

Sesshomaru cast a small glance at his brother. He had seen the hanyou's shoulders rise up and down, a sign that he had sighed but the only sound to pass from his lips was the air escaping him. Now his brother's face had become pensive, thoughtful . . .

'How unusual . . . What is that you're thinking, Inuyasha?'

"Lord Sesshomaru, we're approaching a human village . . ."

'But not Edo . . .'

"Rin . . ."

"Yes, my lord?" The young girl practically danced towards him. He picked her up and set her next to Inuyasha. Jaken immediately followed. With the three of them, it didn't allow him much room but he'd manage. Carefully, he climbed on and indicated for Uhn and Ah to take to the sky.

'Best not to take any chances,' he told himself.

As they flew over the village, Sesshomaru lost himself in thought. There had been a time when he had cared for his younger brother, almost in the same way that he cared for Rin, but he never would have admitted it. The times had changed. He had changed and to be burdened with the care of a hanyou . . . It was something he couldn't ever afford.

'Yet, I haven't killed him,' Sesshomaru mused. 'I've come close many times but have never succeeded. Why is that?'

'Maybe because he becomes more and more like your father everyday in both looks and temperment,' a little voice whispered. 'Or perhaps you know how much your little brother once adored you and you still relish the thought. Which is it, Sesshomaru? When was the last time you heard your brother laugh? Or the last time you laughed, for that matter?'

'A long time,' he conceded after several moments of thought. 'Inuyasha was only a pup . . . and I had just met Jaken for the first time . . . He'd become my retainer then . . .'

He had stopped by Izayoi's several days after Inuyasha's fifth birthday. The pup had been more than excited to see him and had begged him to stay longer.

'I shouldn't,' he had told himself. 'If I stay, it'll put them in danger.'

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but I can't stay. I have important business to take care of."

"But . . ." his half-brother had begun to protest, tears forming in his golden eyes, "you just got here . . ."

"Lord Sesshomaru has already said he can't stay," Jaken had snapped. Inuyasha had looked surprised at Jaken's outburst then his shoulders had slumped in defeat. Without another word, he had left the room. Sesshomaru had felt a twinge of guilt when the salty scent of tears assailed his nose.

"My lord . . ."

"What is it, Izayoi?" His head snapped towards the woman who had spoken. She was close enough to touch. How had she moved that quickly?

"Just stay for the night," she whispered. "You're the only other family he has left. Even now, your father's face is all he can remember and that is fading as well. I do not wish for your face to fade from his memory either. Stay the night. It means so much to him."

"Jaken . . ."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Refrain from speaking on my behalf unless you're told otherwise," he commanded, walking towards his brother's room.

"Yes, my lord."

Sesshomaru allowed himself a small smile as they safely passed over the village and Uhn and Ah landed. Inuyasha had been different then. Full of laughter and happiness. No one had mocked him for being different and, when he had told his brother that he'd be staying the night, the hanyou had literally attacked him in a hug. That's how happy he'd been.

'And Jaken had been his source of amusement that night . . . though that jar of honey had been quite by accident. I never saw Inuyasha laugh harder than he did that night . . . And I laughed like I never had before.'

Sesshomaru's eyes flashed briefly at the memory. He could tell Inuyasha that he remembered that one time that they had laughed together but it wouldn't have mattered. His brother couldn't hear him, and that . . . That was worse than being run through with a sword.

A light touch on his cheek brought him back to the present. Confused, his eyes met Inuyasha's and saw the same confused look that he was sure that he was wearing. Sesshomaru touched his cheek and understood his brother's questioning look. He'd been crying.