InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shadowed Nights ❯ Blossoming Affections ( Chapter 6 )

Shadowed Nights

By The Black Dragon Queen

Co/Authored by Kallipso .

Notes: Oh hell, this was supposed to be a story focusing on Inuyasha. How in the world did Sesshoumaru monopolize the entire Fic?

Inuyasha: You bastard! YOU PLANED THIS!

Sesshoumaru: It’s simply I’m more important, obviously. And I have the bigger fan base.

BDQ: Er, I think Kuufuku has got you beat there.

Sesshoumaru: WHAT?

Erm, yeah. Anyway, I’ve been in a really big writing mood, as you can tell since I updated this story within the month and have been currently helping Kallipso (AKA Shadowdreamer Lady Fate) With her Ranma ½ story, a crossover with another series (try to guess what!). So if you really like Rumiko Takahasi’s stories and our wonderful interpretation of them please go and read it! Yay!

On Fanfiction: Adult Fanfiction: http://anime. Media Miner: This is to riki-tiki-tabby on who reviewed every single one of my chapters and asked about the Sesshoumaru/mate situation not knowing that I had already hacked out Chapter 31 which I hope explains a few things while complicating Sesshoumaru’s life all the more!

Pairings, Summary, Disclaimers, and Rating & Warnings: Please Read “The Pact-Part A” (Though why you would be reading a story out of order is beyond me…

Fonts: “Speaking”… ‘Thinking’… “Surprise!”

Now (Finally) on with the Story! Shadowed Nights Blossoming Affections: Chapters 31-36

Chapter Thirty-One: What Now?

The youkai stared down at the horrid sight before him.

It took all his strength of will not to run fleeing in terror from the mangled, twisted shape that was curdling before him in all its revolting glory. Never before, in all his time of travels, encountering the mass hordes of crazed and bloodthirsty youkai, could anything ever put such fear into his heart.

There had never been a single, solitary thing that he had ever witnessed that was so frightening, so disturbing…

…So very, very burnt.

“We’re supposed to eat this?” Shippo inquired cynically as he poked at the mound of charred rock on his plate that Sesshoumaru passed off as food.

“Oh shut up and eat your breakfast,” Sesshoumaru snarled as he dumped another armful of destroyed cookware into the designated washing barrel. ‘Breakfast,’ he determined, ‘is a frightening ordeal indeed.’

“Rin’s food tastes funny,” Rin’s voice was filled with disappointment.

“Sure you still have your tongue?” Shippo whispered.

“I would suggest you bite yours kit, before I cut it out.” Sesshoumaru’s eyes were filled with barely suppressed rage and Shippo wisely stayed silent.

‘Finally,’ Sesshoumaru breathed a sigh in relief, ‘peace.’

“Why isn’t Inuyasha here?” Shippo demanded behind him.

‘Crap.’ Sesshoumaru could feel his eye beginning to twitch. “I told you he left to go hunting.”

“Seems to me he’s the only one who ever does anything around here,” Shippo muttered.

A carving knife slammed down into the wood of the table, neatly severing the dinner plate in two. Shippo “eeped” in fright as Rin simply scooted farther back out of harms way.

“You could very well go after him you know,” Sesshoumaru growled.

Shippo shook his head wildly.

“That’s what I though,” Sesshoumaru reclaimed the knife and frowned at the halved plate. “Fuck,” he muttered.

Rin giggled but said nothing of the destroyed item when gold eyes quickly focused on her. “Rin wants to play in the snow!” she said instead.

“You have chores too you know, it’s not just Inuyasha.” Shippo gulped as the eyes turned to him. “You, go feed the dragon. Rin, put the beds away.”

Rin nodded and set off to do her task with out a fuss. Sesshoumaru was not so lucky with the kit.

“ME?” Shippo squealed in indignation. “Feed your fat, flying lizard? He’s got two heads you know! He’d sooner eat me for breakfast!”

“One could only hope,” Sesshoumaru drawled under his breath.

“But you can’t do this!” Shippo wailed.

Sesshoumaru leveled a look at him and Shippo suddenly remembered that this particular Inu was not a youkai to be messed with- at least for now. The small kitsune scuttled out of the cave as fast as his little legs could carry him and hopefully it was to the little pen that housed An and Un to do as he was told.

‘Little brat,’ Sesshoumaru scowled as he surveyed the destroyed cutlery. Letting out his breath in a great, depressing “whoosh”, he began the vast undertaking of cleaning up.

It actually was methodical and mind numbing. It was no wonder that Inuyasha cleaned so often.

‘Damn,’ he cursed in annoyance. ‘Can’t even go three seconds with out thinking that blasted hanyou’s name. Oh hell. Years of nothing, decades of ignoring him and all I do is spend little under half a year with the brat and he becomes the primary focus of my disturbed little thoughts…not that it maters much when he finally comes back to kill me!’

He sighed again. It was official. The night before could not have gone any worse. Two steps from a total meltdown was about as bad as any one could get. ‘Feh,’ he scoffed using Inuyasha’s coin of phrase, ‘went down like the proverbial rock.’ He looked down at the table and the uneaten reminisces of breakfast. ‘Speaking of rocks, wonder if we could use these as paperweights once they cool down?’

‘Oh hell, I’m losing my mind.’ A sudden noise drew Sesshoumaru’s eyes to his still laid out futon and the furry creature nestled in his pillow. ‘Then again, is that so surprising?’

There was a satisfying squeal of terror as the knife buried itself halfway into the wall with a pleasing “thunk” right above the rat’s head. Sesshoumaru itched to finally do away with the creature but he knew just knew that it would only push Inuyasha to kill him faster so Sesshoumaru knew it wouldn’t do to kill the thing in front of Rin. She’d just tattle to Inuyasha when ‘if,’ he contradicted bitterly, he returned.

Fucking kids.

Sighing, he continued to scrub the thick layer of grim with renewed vigor only to draw back his arm and release a hiss of pain. Bringing his hand upward he surveyed the damage to one of his elegant claws. ‘These can tear through flesh. Pierce the strongest metal and all it takes is one damn pot to fucking undo them.’ He vaguely wondered if he brought along his diamond tipped filer before biting off the rest of the chipped piece and got right bake to scrubbing.

Spitting out the taste of soap, Sesshoumaru searched for a rather dull spot on the wall to focus on. ‘He’s never coming back,’ he finally told himself in a droll tone. ‘I have finally done what I have been longing to do since I first heard of his imminent birth. I finally, finally, drove him away for good. Well, huzza. Go me.’

Sesshoumaru scowled, ‘just wish he took the damn rat.’

He heaved another sigh and dropped the two halves of the plate into the now murky water.

‘Oh hell, just who am I kidding?’ he thought bitterly. ‘If he comes back after last night, it will be a fucking miracle.’

Fiercely racking the scouring brush across the pots and pans, the Inu vaguely wondered how it came to be that he had so utterly and completely lost control of his senses the night before. ‘It’s one thing for my youki to recognise Inuyasha as its mate; it’s another thing entirely for me to do the same.’

The brushing began to slow as his mind conjured up the images of Inuyasha from the night before. The image of Inuyasha, whose downy soft ears were as memorizing as any woman would ever dream of being. Those eyes, that were a mirror image of his own but yet so different.

There were images burned into his mind of Inuyasha from past encounters, face coated in blood as he fought off youkai after youkai; images of the hanyou charging at him, eyes full of furry and a wild in anticipation as they fought to the death.

‘Well, not as if it really ever was to the death. We’re both still breathing.’ Sesshoumaru groaned and wondered if putting his head in the water before him would be better than thinking at all.

He had always adored the look of Inuyasha in battle. Had always chalked up the feeling to the fact that he too was a total battle nut and the thought of anyone in the middle of a fight was a sight to behold. But now with his youki in such turmoil, he began to wonder if that had truly been the case.

Inuyasha in battle truly had been a sight to behold but was that really all there was to the hanyou? Until they had settled on a temporary accord, Sesshoumaru had never really even seen Inuyasha when he was not fighting battle.

He was always looking for those silly little pink crystals with that rag-tag group of his.

‘Humans. What the hell was such the big deal about humans anyway?’ he wondered. ‘Rin not withstanding, they’re really a very hypocritical lot full of bigotry and hate…’ Sesshoumaru scowled as he removed some of the now clean plates and looked around for any sort of towel to dry them. ‘And clearly they do not care for Inuyasha as much as he believes if those bruises were anything to go by.’

He growled as he dropped the plate on what he now believed was the sought after dishtowel remembering what Inuyasha had said of the thrice-cursed priestess.

Rin had paused in her task and looked up at the multitude of sounds emerging from his corner and Sesshoumaru shook his head before returning to the dishes.

‘Okay,’ he scolded himself. ‘We are not going there. Think of other things. Think “happy thoughts”,’ he looked at the barrel. ‘Like why the hell four people need so many dishes.’

Reclaiming the scrub brush for the second go-around, Sesshoumaru decided that he had to figure out just where he went wrong the night before. ‘Perhaps if I conclude as to where I lost my sanity- er, nerve, I could apol-apolo- aw hell, I could fix it.’

His thoughts then wandered to the images of Inuyasha from the night before. Remembering Inuyasha climbing into his pallet, the feel of the heat radiating against his back from the body so near his own.

He remembered Inuyasha’s shocked expression as he stared up at him cheeks flushed a tantalizing hue. Those golden eyes staring up at him, the glow of the fire making them flicker with an intense light.

The feeling of those lips under his very own, so moist and yet firm. The pure taste that was Inuyasha, a sweetish sour flavor that both enticed and haunted him. He could feel the small koinu fangs underneath those tantalizing lips. The hot desire to force that delicious mouth open to explore further… deeper…

Sesshoumaru groaned as he could feel the obvious pull of pressure in his groin. ‘Oh fuck,’ he moaned. He braced himself against the barrel and tried to take a deep, calming breath. ‘This is so not good.’

He could hear Rin behind him; playing with the damn rat as she did moved the large pillows. ‘Reallynot good.’

He wondered briefly if he could get by the girl and make his way down to the privacy of the storage tunnel with out her noticing his… problem.

“Sesshoumaru-sama?” the small voice floated behind him.

‘Oh Kami, now what?’ he wondered. “Yes,” his voice squeaked and Sesshoumaru quickly coughed to clear his throat before he tried again. “Yes Rin?”

“Rin is done.”

“Oh, good,” Sesshoumaru hissed through gritted teeth. “You can go play in the snow if you like.”

Rin let out a cheer as she bundled herself up before tromping out the door into the white. Unfortunately, as Rin went out, another entered shaking snow out of his fur.

‘Oh can my life get any worse?’ Sesshoumaru moaned as he watched the small kit shed his large scarf. The Inu tried to shifted slightly, very grateful for his love of wearing baggy pants.

Now if only he could get past the kitsune.

Shippo looked up suddenly and actually glared at him. Glared at him. Him! Sesshoumaru! The High Lord OF the West.

This little no nothing kitsune who still bore only a single tail was scowling at him as if Sesshoumaru were nothing more than a mere bug in need of squashing.

“It bit my tail,” the youko told him blandly.

Sesshoumaru gawked for a moment before he finally burst out laughing. “Go fat, flying Lizard!” he cackled.

Shippo’s glare darkened. “It’s not funny!”

The Inu was still laughing.

Shippo huffed as he plunked down at the table and glared at the now cold rocks. “What are we suppose to do with these?” Shippo asked as he poked at them aimlessly.

Sesshoumaru managed to get himself under control, berating himself for losing control for a second time in twenty-four hours. He wondered if the kit had heard the slight edge of hysteria in his voice when he was laughing.

‘Oh Kami,’ Sesshoumaru thought. ‘I think that the strain is getting to me.’ He wondered if this had anything to do with the fact that his youki was fluctuating so rapidly with the bombarding feelings for Inuyasha.

‘Hell,’ Sesshoumaru tossed the towel aside. ‘Why the hell am I getting so worked up over the dang Hanyou?’ He shifted and started putting the wooden utensils away as he tried to desperately ignore his still present erection.

His mind suddenly turned to the strange pulls of his youki whenever his blasted half brother was around.

‘Okay, I realized that my youki has never before acted this way when I was at that lake and for some reason it’s treating the koinu as a mate,’ he thought. ‘It’s never before acted this strongly for any potential mate. Not even when I took other lovers.’ He frowned as he studied the thought.

‘Oh hell,’ he realized. ‘When was the last time I went into heat?’

Sesshoumaru racked his brain as he tried to remember how long it had been since he felt that pull of intense hormones. The raw need to fuck any Youkai as if there were no tomorrow.

‘Oh SHIT!’ Sesshoumaru dropped the plate as his mind counted backwards to his usual heat. It should have been two months ago. After his agreement with Inuyasha, before he stubbornly moved in with the hanyou. He realized that he hadn’t gone into his normal heat. Not once.

It was something that had never happened to him before. Not once in all the centuries he’d lived and it was something that Sesshoumaru had never, ever expected would happen to him.

He had been told that there could be a day some time far in the future when his heat would fail to arrive.

Hell, even his father had pulled him aside when he was reaching three hundred and told him that if he ever felt himself ready for a life mate, his youki would start to search for a compatible youki to be his mate.

When it found that youki, his heat would subside and only react towards his Recognized Mate. Meaning that Sesshoumaru would never again be attracted to any other Youkai than his chosen mate. A.K.A the Idiot Hanyou.

“Oh hell,” Sesshoumaru groaned as another, more frightening realization hit him. That his youki would never relent until the two were properly bonded…

As in soul bonded.

‘Fuck! Fuck!Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!Fuck! Fuck!’

He growled and slammed his fist against the barrel. Shippo yelped in surprise but he ignored the child.

‘Damn, I knew I should have investigated when humans go into heat,’ Sesshoumaru looked around the little cave in total wonderment at the sudden insight. ‘But a Ningen doesn’t have a youki. Is it possible?’

The Youkai started pacing the massive room, ignoring Shippo’s curious gaze. ‘Ningen’s have that reiki, that silly spiritual power of theirs. So what the hell is my youki reacting to?’

He turned back around, stepping over the few articles of clothing and multitude of toys the children had once again left scattered on the floor.

‘An Inu Youkai has never had a hanyou for a Youki Recognised Mate, even more rarely do they take a human.’ Sesshoumaru thought stubbornly. ‘I thought my youki’s pull was just a standard reaction to Inuyasha’s pheromones from being so close to him for the past months, not a Recognition’

He pacing became more furious, more determined. ‘It was shocking enough that my youki was reacting to him in his half youkai state, but if it was when he was a human that caused my youki to fall into recognition, then what the hell does that tell me?’

He glared at the sword, leaning against the wall of the cave once more forgotten by its master; a testament to Inuyasha’s mental state when he bolted from the cave and more specifically Sesshoumaru.

‘It tells me that I’m fucked up, that’s what it tells me.’

He paused momentarily before continuing on, never noticing that Kuufuku had come to sit next to the small child to join the kit’s Inu watching.

‘That’s not really true,’ he realized. ‘Father had tried to tell me something that night, right before he took off to rescue Inuyasha’s mother. Could it be possible?’

He shook his head, refusing to believe. But there was some part deep inside of him that told him that the conclusion his thoughts were heading towards was the right one. ‘But that wasn’t a true mating. Father was just allowing stupid emotions to get the better of him when he met Izayoi. It couldn’t have been Recognition.’

He shook his head as he continued to pace. ‘That doesn’t explain my youki’s reaction to the idiot though.’

He groaned as the implications of his youki’s choice suddenly registered. ‘If Inuyasha is indeed my Recognized Mate, then it presents a whole new slew of problems. Starting with the damn council.’

He sighed as he turned and sat down across from his staring audience. ‘Hell, this was the whole point of this cave situation. I wanted to avoid the damn councils criticism.’

He sighed in frustration as he slumped his head into his hand.

Shippo and Kuufuku looked at each other in silent question before looking back at the dejected Inu.

“Sesshoumaru-sama?” Rin suddenly came flouncing into the cave, her cheeks flushed from the cold. “What’s for lunch?”

Sesshoumaru froze as he stared at the girl. “Lunch?”

Shippo groaned and brought up his hand against his forehead with a resounding smack.

‘Inuyasha, you better come back soon,’ Sesshoumaru thought desperately. ‘If only so we all don’t starve to death.’

Chapter Thirty-Two: Questioning Objectives

The figure stared down at the little village below him. The people were just getting up and starting their chores for the day. The men went to work in the woods while the women started the cleaning or any job that was their life.

It was so depressing.

Inuyasha would have done anything to belong to such a peaceful life.

The time spent with the humans had spoiled him in that. The longing to belong, to have a place that he could go back to and call home, gnawed at him. He had sat there, just watching for a whole day.

It was smaller that Kaede’s, but was much more lively, more peaceful. People called out to one another in happy greeting. His human side pained with longing. While youkai’s were solitary creatures by nature, humans were filled with the need to socialize.

Inuyasha sighed sadly as he watched the people moving about their daily lives. It was so disappointing to Inuyasha that he could only watch from afar, but he would never be allowed to participate in that life.

Well, not so much as yet another stone flew dangerously closer to him. He scowled down at the culprit who was currently re-arming himself. “Be gone foul demon!” the small voice shouted with false assurance. “I will protect my village from you evil deeds! Be gone! Before I unleash my fury!”

Inuyasha stared down in astonishment at the small child that could not be any older than ten human years that hurled yet another rock at him. It was amazing the boy could actually throw that high considering the branch he was sitting upon was more than half way up the old tree.

Inuyasha sighed and snatched the next rock out of midair and sent it hurtling back to its source. He grinned as the stone hit the boy dead center in his forehead.

The child gapped in surprise before turning back towards the hut and went running for his mother, yelling to her the demon in the tree was attacking.

Inuyasha sweat dropped and decided it was perhaps a promising idea to move to another branch. He glanced about nervously for the villagers to suddenly arm themselves and come running down to purge the foul youkai from their home.

So it was surprising when the mother finally emerged, being forcefully tugged by the boy as he dragged her towards the tree and pointed upwards.

The mother obligingly looked upward into the vacated tree before glaring down at the boy. “But he was there!” the child moaned. “I saw him! His eyes were glowing and he had horns on the top of his head!”

‘Horns?’ Inuyasha thought offended. ‘I am not some stupid ox demon…’

“Kaoru!” The mother snapped. “You will cease these silly stories about youkai and go do your chores! I will not have you disobey again!”

Inuyasha ginned as the mother grabbed the child by the collar and started dragging the protesting boy back to the little hut.

“But I’m not making it up! He really was there!”

Inuyasha smirked as he snatched a nut from the tree and sent it flying. The child yelped as it hit him in the back of the head and he whirled around to stare back at the trees.

Inuyasha couldn’t help himself as he hooked the back of his knees on the branch and hung upside down to wave at sputtering Kaoru.

“MOTHER!”

“I’m not listening,” the mother sang cheerily as the two disappeared into the darkness of the hut.

Inuyasha smiled as he righted himself and settled down to watch from his new vantage point. Honestly. It was no wonder that he could pilfer what he needed from these people. Not that he took anything these people really needed. Most of the items that furnished the cave were items that people had used over the years until the items were no longer needed or were replaced.

Hell, the little table he had stolen had belonged to Kaoru’s house. The family had placed in the discard pile to be used as firewood after the father had finished carving a new table for the expanding family.

Inuyasha was grateful that the village was so considerate to one another that they always helped each other out with what they needed.

It made his job so much easier when he filched an assortment of spices and other forms of exotic foods from their stores.

If it was one thing he was grateful for from his time in the other human village was the fact that Kaede had taught him how to cook properly. He had always loved to cook and learn different ways to make the food he loved taste better.

Now if only Kagome would take lessons from the older woman. The one reason he loved that Ramen so much was the fact that Kagome didn’t make it. Her foods were always over done, over spiced and she never once realized that as a Youkai, especially an Inu’s tongue was more delicate than a humans.

Even the slightest amount of spice would explode in his mouth like an explosion of flavor. Shippo he supposed never complained because in the kit’s eyes, Kagome could do no wrong.

‘NO!’ he suddenly yelled at himself. ‘I will not think of Kagome!’ His hand went briefly to the side of his face before he hunkered further down on his branch, folding his hands into his warm robe.

He scowled at the remembrance of those terrible times. ‘Well, Sesshoumaru never complained about my cooking.’ His shoulders slumped even more. ‘Two days without one thought about him and now it’s all that’s on my mind.’

Inuyasha knew he was being childish. He had hoped that staying at the village he could avoid the subject but he knew he had to return to the cave some time-if only to save Sesshoumaru from the children.

Shippo could be quite the hell raiser once he got over his fear and apprehension of a person. And he had seen after he awoke from his unintended nap he could tell that the child had long ago gotten over his fear of the Taiyoukai.

He chuckled slightly. ‘Poor Sesshoumaru, Shippo can be devious. The youko’s nature as a trickster.’

He thought a moment. ‘Then again, the prick deserves it.’ Inuyasha scowled as he ran his fingers over his lips. ‘Imagine him taking such liberties. Damn bastard. Thinks just because he’s a “great lord” that he can do anything.’

A fist connected with the trunk of the tree, shaking the branches slightly and sending squirrels scurrying away.

Inuyasha’s mind had come to a multitude of conclusions as to why Sesshoumaru had done such an intimate thing with him, him of all people. One being that it really wasn’t Sesshoumaru at all and perhaps was another of Naraku’s tricks.

It made sense. Sesshoumaru hadn’t been acting at all like himself ever since that night in the rain.

Inuyasha however scratched that reasoning off the list however. He knew his brother better than most people thought. Hell, he had always been obsessed with the idea of his brother ever since all those years ago his mother had told him the stories his father told her.

No, it truly was Sesshoumaru.

So if it was the jerk, why the hell did he kiss him?

‘There is no reason for him to do what he did,’ Inuyasha thought. ‘Hell, I’m technically underage, so there should be absolutely no reason that any youkai would desire me. So what the hell is Sesshoumaru’s problem?’

He wondered if it was the same problem that Kagome always had. She had always acted as if she were his mate and wanted him to act the same. Always wanting him to be with her.

Inuyasha shook his head as he banished the odd thoughts out of his head and tried to focus on the issue at hand. ‘Sesshoumaru loathes me to the point of insanity, for him to come out of the blue and… …“attack” me is way beyond normal.’

He sighed again as he ran over the other night in his mind, trying to see if there was some detail some little sign that he might have overlooked in his haste to run away.

‘Sesshoumaru has been acting strange ever since that time he was gone when Shippo arrived. But it couldn’t be because of Shippo’s sudden appearance. He was acting strange beforehe left.’

Inuyasha moaned as his thoughts went whirling around, ‘there is absolutely no reason as to why Sesshoumaru actually… …kissed me.’

He looked at the swirling snow as it drifted to the ground. ‘Is there?’

The soft sound of the village hummed around him as he sat there wondering. Allowing his mind to just listen to the noise and lull him into a sense of security.

‘I mean, why the hell was he kissing me now of all times?’ he thought. ‘It’s winter for crying out loud, there’s no reason for him to go into heat or anything like that. So if he’s not in a frenzy, then what the hell was it?’

He scowled. ‘If he just wanted a fuck, I’m sure that there are plenty of bitches for him to screw back at the palace. There was absolutely no reason for him to go after me.’

He ran his fingers back across his lips as he remembered the feeling of Sesshoumaru’s lips pressed against his. It had actually felt surprisingly good to have the larger Youkai’s body towering above his own.

For one surprising moment, Inuyasha had felt completely safe.

That feeling had scared the daylights out of him.

For a hanyou always on the run, to have some one over him, restricting his movements, was always a bad thing. But for Inuyasha to feel comfortable underneath his brother, who was most defiantly a more powerful, dominant youkai was more frightening than Naraku ever was.

He had been relaxed and even had begun to hesitantly wanting to press back against the kiss when he had felt Sesshoumaru’s hand move from his shoulder to his cheek, it was so gentle, so soft.

It was then that Inuyasha knew that it was wrong. That Sesshoumaru should not have been touching him.

‘It’s not as if he wants me or anything, I just happen to be the only person around,’ he told himself stubbornly. ‘He just wants to use me… right?’

Inuyasha felt a sharp tug against his chest at the mere thought that Sesshoumaru was simply using him.

‘So what does he want with me?’

Inuyasha sighed as he shifted into a more comfortable position as he thought all the way back to the beginning when he had first run into Sesshoumaru all those centuries ago.

‘He was standing right there, and I was still only a child then. Why the hell didn’t he do anything then?’

He could remember the first time he saw Sesshoumaru and that strange “I will kill you” speech. He had been so excited when he first saw his brother that he could feel his very soul hum in excitement. There had been some childish notion with in him that he had really thought that Sesshoumaru had come to take him away. To bring him back to his father’s people and to train Inuyasha to be a noble warrior just as Sesshoumaru was.

The fact that the jerk just left him was a harsh slap of reality to the child.

It was far different than the picture his mother had painted of the young Inu Youkai. He wondered if his mother had perhaps embellished Sesshoumaru’s good nature or something to that effect.

Perhaps it had been his father full of pride when he spoke to Izayoi about his eldest son; Inuyasha didn’t know and truly didn’t care.

It had been yet another lie that was spoon-fed to him in a long list of lies that made up his life.

Then that blasted meeting when Sesshoumaru was searching for Tetsusaiga, which Inuyasha noticed absently he had left behind… again...

It was a wonder he had survived all these years.

‘Then again, I never used a sword before. Just not use to the bloody thing.’ It was amazing that people thought that he was able to master the sword so well when he first used it and defeated Sesshoumaru so soundly.

Something that Inuyasha once in a while felt very sorry for, yet Sesshoumaru didn’t seem to care of the loss of his arm. So if Sesshoumaru didn’t mind, the Inuyasha thought that it didn’t really matter. He still was sorry though.

The truth of the matter was when it came to Tetsusaiga, the stupid sword talked to him.

Well not literally but still when he held the sword he could see images of a masterful Inu Youkai using the different techniques against his enemy’s. Some of the images were so complex that Inuyasha knew that it would be decades before he could fully use the sword to its maximum potential but at the same times the humans, and even the other youkai, thought that he had complete control over the blade.

‘Feh,’ he scoffed. ‘Idiots.’

It wasn’t until the incident with the third sword and the image of his father appeared did he even make the connection that it was his father that he was seeing.

It was actually very humbling.

He had always envied Sesshoumaru for actually knowing their father and had seen the man that the whole Youkai Lands dubbed the Greatest Warrior of all times.

Inuyasha had wished that he had met his father at least once.

Izayoi had told him that his father was there on the day that he was born and held him for that brief moment before Izayoi fled her burning home.

She also told him it was his father who had named him…

Inuyasha had wondered later if his father was delirious from the pain when he named him.

That was another thing that Sesshoumaru had hated him for. He knew from Myouga that it was Sesshoumaru’s mother and not their father who had named the Inu heir.

Inuyasha wondered why it was such a sore point with his brother. He actually liked Sesshoumaru’s name.

Sighing, Inuyasha flipped over onto his stomach allowing the warmth of the winter sun flow over him. ‘Why is my life always so complicated?’ he wondered.

‘Aw hell,’ he cursed. ‘What the hell am I going to say when I get back?’ then another thought occurred to him.

‘What if Sesshoumaru has already left? Returned to the palace and all those willing women? Oh fuck!’ Inuyasha bolted upright. ‘He would have taken Rin with him but Shippo may be alone.’

He cursed again as he stood, wanting to see for himself that the kit was all right before logic settled in.

‘But what if he didn’t leave?’ he mused. ‘Sesshoumaru may be a complete ass but I doubt he would leave the children alone… right?’

Inuyasha plopped back down on his branch. ‘He is after all, a demon. Then again,’ he realized, ‘so is Shippo.’

He sighed as his thoughts went whirling around in his head.

‘Oh Kami-Sama, I reallydo not want to face the jerk.’ Inuyasha thought desperately. ‘He just wants to use me like some two bit… ’

He squashed that train of thought firmly. ‘Though I understand that he is older and has other, more adult needs but hell, why the fuck does he have to drag me into it?’

‘Hell, I’ll have to face the bastard some time,’ Inuyasha told himself. ‘But I will not allow him to get away with this.’

Inuyasha was brought out of his musing when the door to the hut suddenly opened again and the mother emerged from the building with a basket over her arm. She made her way into the woods with out even looking for any signs of danger and walked with determination in her steps.

He sat up attentively, wondering if he should follow her or not before sighing as he realized he would never forgive himself if she did not make it home safely.

Kaoru was right when he said demons walked these woods.

Quietly, he jumped from branch to branch, never once disturbing even the leaves as he followed silently.

The woman walked for a few minutes before finally coming to a halt in a small clearing still with in sight of the village. Inuyasha watched puzzled as she set the basket down before turning again and making her way back towards the village.

Inuyasha stared at her in complete confusion as she returned to her little home before curiosity finally got the better of him as he dropped down and tentatively lifted the cloth that covered the basket.

He gasped in shock at the multitude of food that filled the basket. Bread, fruit, cheese, even a few slices of salted meat filled it to the brim.

His eyes widened when he finally saw the scrap of parchment that was placed between the foods. He wondered if he should read it or if it would be better to just leave it alone. After all, this was probably meant for one of the men, chopping wood in the forest.

Perhaps it was for her husband for a hearty lunch.

The note was in Inuyasha’s hand before he knew it and he unfurled the little paper and his eyes darted over the words written there before bringing the paper closer to his face in shock, sure that he had not read those words.

It can’t be good for your health sitting in trees all day.

The woman’s basket was sitting on her front stoop the next morning with a small reply attached written from the stain of berry juice.

Thank you.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Damn Kids

Sesshoumaru was at his wits end!

It had been two days since that damn kiss and Inuyasha ran off. He thought he could handle it! Hell, he ruled an entire kingdom! Running one little cave with only two kids and parasitic rat should have been nothing.

He had done it before on those days Inuyasha was unconscious so he should have been all right. Right?

‘Wrong!’ Sesshoumaru groaned. ‘Fucking brats!’

Sesshoumaru never realized that when Inuyasha had been there, the children were actually very well behaved. Take away the pending threat of punishment and well…

He stared down at frozen slab of ice that was supposed to be his bed.

The little twerps had dunked it in the sub-zero river and allowed it to freeze out side before returning it to its proper place. Sesshoumaru sighed as he dragged the block of ice nearer the fire in hopes to thaw the thing out.

He knew that it had been the blasted kitsune that had actually come up with the plan; Rin would never do anything remotely cruel to her wonderful “Sesshoumaru-Sama”.

‘Hell, that’s another thing I have to fix,’ Sesshoumaru thought sourly. ‘Rin has got to stop clinging to me. Although, she is starting to leave me be a bit more and follow Inuyasha.’

He sighed as he kicked aside the assorted knick-knacks.

By day two, he had given up trying to do any domestic chores. It really wasn’t worth it in the long run. He’d move something and then not two seconds after he turned his back, it was right where it had started.

His bed was not the only thing that had fallen victim to the little terrors. Any thing that belonged to the Inu Youkai seemed to be fair game.

What remained of his clothing had become yet another tool in the psychotic Kit’s pranks and Sesshoumaru sighed as he looked down at his current ensemble.

‘I should just run the little jerk through and be done with it,’ he scowled as he turned his eyes away from the blinding vision.

“How the hell did he manage to get the dye?” he wondered aloud as he glanced about the cave.

Sesshoumaru sighed as he shoved stuff over so he could sit down.

The kitsune had actually taken to making the meals! Granted, it was mostly soup but at least it wasn’t coming out burnt. Hell, it was embarrassing.

He was the elder Youkai and it was a stupid kid that was taking care of him. ‘Pray no one finds out,’ he hoped. ‘Not that I have any friends…’

His mind moved from the children to the one that they were missing.

He had been reeling from his realization of his feelings regarding Inuyasha and knew that his mind had simply shut down with the implications. However, with the threat that Inuyasha could be back at any moment, Sesshoumaru knew that he had to figure out a plan and soon.

‘I can’t believe that it’s that little hanyou that my Youki is reacting to. Hell.’ Sesshoumaru sighed as he watched the water drip off his pallet.

‘I’m so screwed up,’ he told himself. ‘Inuyasha will sooner kill me, let alone listen to me when I tell him about the Recognition.’

He leaned back as he listened to the children playing in the snow outside.

‘Hell, has anyone ever told him about Recognition?’ he wondered. ‘Like he so loves to rub in my face, he never really had a Youkai’s upbringing.’

Sesshoumaru frowned at this, ‘Really, he didn’t have any upbringing at all.’

He wondered what Inuyasha would say once he was told about the current situation they found themselves in.

No, scratch that. He knew exactly what he would say. He was going to say that he was completely crazy that’s what he was going to say.

He scowled as he moved his bed closer to the flame. There was no possible way that Inuyasha would believe him. That they were bound together by their youki?

The hanyou was going to laugh in his face.

“Damn,” he hissed. “There’s no possible way that he’s going to understand the significance of this.”

He sighed as he rubbed his tired eyes. He had been up all night after still thinking about the implications of Inuyasha being his mate. The fact that his youki would only react to the hanyou for the rest of his life was a daunting thought indeed.

Now if only he could convince Inuyasha.

‘Oh hell,’ he thought. ‘How is Inuyasha going to react when I tell him that he can never be with any one else other than me. His hateful brother who has made his life a complete misery.’

He suddenly jerked upright. ‘What if Inuyasha wants some one else? What if he really is in love with that… girl.’

Sesshoumaru slumped back. ‘If he really is than that means that I really am ruining his life.’ He groaned. ‘I really am the worse thing that’s ever happened to him.’

He looked about the cave. ‘Perhaps it would have been better if I really did leave him alone.’

He scoffed as he quickly squashed that thought. “Not like he has much of a choice anymore,” he grumbled. “Even if he loves that silly ningen, he’s mine now whether he likes that or not.”

Sesshoumaru groaned as he brought his head down on the table as he heard himself. “Oh Kami, he’s going to fight me tooth and nail over this.”

It was gong to be a complete uphill battle when it came to convincing Inuyasha about the mating. Though there were some points that Inuyasha may not resist.

A youkai mating wasn’t like humans where it was together all year. There were some mates that only saw each other once or twice a season. It wasn’t as if Inuyasha had to stay with Sesshoumaru indefinably.

Youkai lived centuries, so having a life mating wasn’t really that large a deal. The only thing that it meant was that they could not have other mates.

He sighed. There was another problem.

Inuyasha’s age had to be considered.

Sesshoumaru wasn’t sure if Inuyasha had yet experienced a coming of age. Very unlikely considering that he was still a very young hanyou. That and after observing Inuyasha after he had met him while searching for the Tetsusaiga he could tell that Inuyasha had never acted as if he was on the look out for potential mates.

He certainly never looked at any of his companions or anyone else with the look of raw need. Then again, he did consider Inuyasha a very young youkai.

But if his own youki was reacting to Inuyasha then that had to mean the Inuyasha had gone through a heat.

‘Oh Kami, I’m getting a headache,’ he moaned as his thoughts continued in little yapping circles.

Sesshoumaru was jerked to the present when there was a sudden scream outside.

Fearing the worse, Sesshoumaru bolted from his spot, tripping over the different items on the floor as he grabbed Tokujin and ran out the door.

He prayed that they weren’t being attacked, that the kids were all right, that he would be able to find his way back.

‘Oh hell, now what?’

Sesshoumaru stumbled out of the cave into the bright winter sun and immediately searched around for a threat.

It was quite easy to stop the children. There were bouncing around the other side of the small clearing chatting excitedly.

Sesshoumaru gasped when he saw whom it was they were speaking to.

“Inuyasha,” he called out in surprise.

The hanyou looked up from the eager children to where Sesshoumaru stood. His golden eyes widened in shock as they studied him from head to toe and back again.

Sesshoumaru could feel his cheeks flush as he shuffled uncomfortably, suddenly very conscious of his clothes. ‘I had hoped for more time,’ Sesshoumaru thought defeated. ‘But on the up side, at least he’s smiling.’

Inuyasha, meanwhile, could not suppress the wide grin that spread against his face. He could feel a laugh begin to bubble up within him but he tried to desperately to suppress the expression as he tried to look down at Shippo with a stern glare.

“Shippo, I told you those berries were for later.”

Shippo looked down at his feet trying to look sheepish thought Inuyasha knew very well that the small kit was smiling too.

Sesshoumaru groaned as he realized exactly what it was that was making his clothes a very vivid pink.

Inuyasha smiled again before turning to the children and asking them to continue playing outdoors while he and Sesshoumaru spoke.

He could hear Sesshoumaru huff behind him, but Inuyasha didn’t care. He had actually managed to come to a decision after Kaoru’s mother had left him that basket.

Now all he had to do was get Sesshoumaru to listen.

Shippo looked between the two curiously before grabbing Rin’s hand and pulling the girl away from them, saying that they should go look for more winterberries.

Inuyasha ignored Sesshoumaru’s little shout of outrage as he reminded the kids not to go to far into the woods. He turned and followed Sesshoumaru as the Inu re-entered the cave in a whirl of furry.

Sesshoumaru refused to look at the hanyou as he marched to the table and sat down with a growl.

Inuyasha took in the situation with one glance, pausing for a moment over Sesshoumaru’s half thawed pallet by the fire. He turned to then examine the Youkai himself. ‘He looks exhausted,’ Inuyasha realized. ‘But is that from the children or because of what happened?’

Glancing at Sesshoumaru’s clothing he determined it was the kids.

“Inuyasha,” Sesshoumaru suddenly broke the silence. “We need to talk.”

Inuyasha took a deep breath as he made his way over by his brother. “We certainly do,” he replied.

“Now I know you may be a little confused…” Sesshoumaru started.

“Oh no, I understand perfectly well.”

Sesshoumaru jerked up in surprise. “You do?”

Inuyasha nodded. “Yes. I understand that you haven’t been around any other youkai’s and that your…” Inuyasha squirmed slightly. “Frustrated.”

Sesshoumaru gawked.

“And I know that you didn’t mean it and that you can’t control something like this. You are after all, an adult. However,” Inuyasha turned to stare Sesshoumaru straight in the eye. “I will not be your whore.”

And with that Inuyasha stood from the table and left the cave calling for the children to get in there and clean up their messes.

Sesshoumaru was still sitting at the table in complete shock as he realized that explaining the Youki Recognition was going to be a little harder than he thought.

‘Well, there’s always plan B,’ Sesshoumaru reasoned. ‘Now if someone would tell me what “plan B” is I’ll be eternally grateful.’

Chapter Thirty-Four: Plan B

Plan B.

The idea of needing a “Plan B” had never occurred to Sesshoumaru. He had never needed a “Plan B” in all his life. So the fact that there had to be a “Plan B” must mean that there was once a “Plan A” and that said “Plan A” had failed.

From what Sesshoumaru could understand was that the failed “Plan A” had been to explain to Inuyasha that their Youki’s were compatible to each other and that they were now mates. However, the idea of trying to explain to Inuyasha the implications of aYouki Recognition while the hanyou was under the impression that Sesshoumaru was just a horny bastard who wished to screw anything that moved…

Sesshoumaru blinked as a barrage of lewd mental images assaulted him of the multitude of Inu councilmen at his palace.

‘Ew’

…Well, it was just asking for a beating.

Sesshoumaru wanted to avoid a fight with Inuyasha, not be the cause of a whole new one.

So it had come to a point of Sesshoumaru in need of a “Plan B”.

Naturally he could not tell Inuyasha about the Recognition. Inuyasha probably wouldn’t believe him anyway, so that meant that he had to get Inuyasha to be his mate without telling him about the recognition. However, Inuyasha thought that Sesshoumaru just wanted him because he was the only “mate-able” youkai around. This meant that Sesshoumaru had to prove that he needed Inuyasha as his mate and not just anyone.

In other words, “Plan B” quite simply meant-Seduce Inuyasha

Sesshoumaru started banging his head against the cave wall.

‘I’m dead,’ he thought, ‘he’s going to not only take the other arm but my whole headas well.’

Sesshoumaru groaned as he slid down the wall to his knees, grateful that the barrels of the storage tunnel hid him completely from view from the entrance. After Inuyasha had gone to fetch the children, Sesshoumaru thought it best to make himself scarce and thing things through. So once again, he found himself in the storage chamber.

‘How the hell am I going to do that?’ he wondered. ‘I’ve never had to seduce any one in my entire life. Usually all I have to do is look at them and they’re in my bed before I could blink.’

He glanced around his surroundings in hopes an idea would come to him. None did.

“FUCK!”

“Sesshoumaru-Sama?” a small voice floated down the passage. “Hello?”

Sesshoumaru groaned as he stood and made his way to the main cave only to stop short at the sight before him.

The cave was clean! And what was that smell? That wonderful and glorious non burning smell?

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as the Great Inu Taiyoukai squeezed himself between the two children and immediately began eating the grilled fish, sans chopsticks.

It really shouldn’t have been that surprising. The kids were doing the exact same thing.

“I can never leave again, can I?” Inuyasha asked rhetorically. Four enthusiastic nods answered his quire. “Well!” he chuckled as he dished out some more servings of rice.

Kuufuku by far was winning the impromptu eating contest. The little rodent had managed to put two whole bowls away.

‘Whatever,’ the hanyou thought. ‘It’s good to be needed.’

Sesshoumaru took the next helping graciously, which meant he didn’t thank Inuyasha with a full mouth as Shippo did but still there was a nod in there somewhere of thanks.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he quickly moved back to the fire to rotate the next serving of fish there. In truth, he was still very apprehensive around the older Youkai. Never knowing what Sesshoumaru had planed tended to make him nervous to the point of paranoia.

Throw in hormones into the mix and Inuyasha really had no idea what to expect.

‘I should have made it clear to him that I won’t allow him to use me,’ Inuyasha told himself. ‘Now if Sesshoumaru actually follows my warning, everything should go back to normal… yeah… right.’

Inuyasha sneaked a glance back over his shoulder at the table and its occupants. Gold eyes were staring straight at him.

Inuyasha quickly turned back towards the fish and blew his bangs away from his face. ‘I should know by now that Sesshoumaru does what he wants.’

Inuyasha could feel those eyes still on his back and he shifted slightly with apprehension, feeling those eyes follow every little movement, every little twitch.

He took mental stock of himself, hoping that he looked as he normally did. His ears were swiveling madly with nerves but Inuyasha knew that it couldn’t be helped.

In fact, it seemed to be Sesshoumaru’s focal point as Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder again. Inuyasha gritted his teeth and forced his ears to hold still. There was a sigh of disappointment behind him but nothing else.

Inuyasha slowly released his breath so as not to be heard by the intently observing Youkai. ‘Okay, clearly Sesshoumaru has some issues and is still obsessively staring at me,’ he thought. ‘Then I suppose this explains why he was staring at me all those other times, he was already thinking of jumping me.’ He giggled slightly under his breath. ‘Who knew Sesshoumaru was a pedophile?’

Inuyasha removed the now golden fish from the pan and served the still eating group.

‘Of course it could not have to do with my age and have everything to do with me,’ Inuyasha realized as he dug into his own portion of food. ‘It may just be because it’s me that he did that but then again...’

Inuyasha glanced upward through his bangs at the Inu who was still stuffing his face. A sudden blush stole across his cheeks and he quickly looked back down.

‘Well, clearly my warning had some effect if he’s leaving me alone. Then again, it could just be because the kids are here. Feh, what a mess.’

Inuyasha suddenly smiled as an idea flashed across his brain. ‘That’s it!’ he suddenly tore into his food with gusto now that he had a plan.

‘Just make sure that I’m never alone with the bastard and always have the kids with us!’ Inuyasha smiled. ‘Brilliant!’

Sesshoumaru glanced questioningly at the now very perky hanyou who was grinning at him idiotically.

The Inu sweat dropped. ‘Okay, some one has had a good day…’ Sesshoumaru’s chewing slowed considerably as he tried to determine the cause of Inuyasha’s sudden mood shift

It had been really disappointing when Inuyasha’s ears had stopped twitching. The two points were always a thing of interest to the Taiyoukai. He had never really seen a youkai or hanyou for that matter before with such delectably enticing ears.

Sesshoumaru suppressed a groan as he felt his groin sit up and heartily agree with him.

Forcing his thought under control he glared as one of his fish suddenly appeared in front of Kuufuku who was devouring the morsel as if there were no tomorrow.

‘Pesky rodent,’ he scowled as he took another large bite from one of his remaining fish. ‘Now, back to business-how the hell am I suppose to seduce the blasted hanyou?’

Sesshoumaru’s mind thought back to his time in the palace and the different conversations he had overhead. The guards were actually quite chatty when they thought their lord wasn’t around and he had over heard some juicy tidbits concerning his staff’s love life.

Though, cooking a romantic dinner seemed out of the question.

Sighing, he reached down for another serving when suddenly his hand suddenly encountered empty space. Looking down, he frowned at his dish and the now single half eaten fish that lay there.

He glared at the now happy and full rat before moving his rice bowel some distance away.

Inuyasha across from his smiled with amusement before he fetched another fish for the still scowling Taiyoukai.

Sesshoumaru’s scowl deepened as he nodded his thanks and returned to his meal. ‘Really out of the question.’

He sighed as he slowed his eating noticing that the rice bowel he had moved had suddenly been claimed by the still gorging kitsune.

‘I hate my life.’

Inuyasha frowned as he scolded Shippo before once more retrieving another serving for Sesshoumaru.

Glancing around the table, Sesshoumaru realized that action needed to be taken and got up to stand beside the wall. Ensuring that all of the cave’s occupants were in his line of view, Sesshoumaru quickly finished his meal before dumping the dishes into the washing barrel and reached over for the scrubbing pad.

He needed some mind numbing work and in lieu of a good fight, he had found that washing dishes was a good way to go.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, sat there completely flabbergasted as he watched his brother- who had never before done any domestic chores ever- wash his dishes.

He didn’t know whether or not he should be grateful that Sesshoumaru was finally pulling his own weight or terrified that the world was coming to an end.

“Er, are you finished Rin?” he asked instead turning to the small girl.

Rin nodded as she handed her plates over to the hanyou. “Arigato Gozaimasu, Inuyasha-sama!” she chirped brightly.

“You’re welcome. Shippo? Are you still eating?” The kit nodded enthusiastically. Smiling, Inuyasha brought over his and the girl’s plates to where Sesshoumaru still stood scrubbing away.

Curiously, Inuyasha glanced at Sesshoumaru’s face.

The Inu was focused and working with a determined air. Much like he looked during a fight.

Grinning, Inuyasha mischievously dropped the extra dinnerware into the barrel and waited for the expected shout of annoyance from Inu.

It was with some surprise that Sesshoumaru simply took the newly added dishes and went right on with the scrubbing.

“Are you feeling alright?” Inuyasha asked, worry evident in his voice.

Sesshoumaru turned his head to give Inuyasha a glare worthy of freezing the artic. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

Inuyasha immediately moved backwards, hands held up in the air. “Nothing.” Sesshoumaru scoffed but said nothing as he went back to his cleaning.

“Inuyasha-sama!” Rin chirped as she flounced over to where the hanyou stood. “Inuyasha-sama and Sesshoumaru-sama must come outside and see the huge snow castle that Rin-chan and Shippo-kun built.”

Inuyasha smiled at the girl. “Well, sure. Show me what you did.” He glanced at the Youkai beside him. “Ya coming?”

Sesshoumaru looked over at the challenging grin that the hanyou was presenting him with. He suddenly realized that perhaps by showing that he could be nice to the children, he could perhaps show Inuyasha that he wasn’t the cold-hearted bastard that Sesshoumaru knew he was.

Throwing down the dishtowel, Sesshoumaru nodded. “I would love to see this ‘castle’,” he said.

And ignoring Inuyasha’s gasp of surprise took Rin’s hand and allowed the girl to pull him out into the blinding white.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Snow Forts

Inuyasha stared at the empty doorway.

After a full minute, he slowly turned and looked back at Shippo who was still eating like there was no tomorrow but was now looking out the cave entrance as well with a look of suspicion.

“What the hell did you do to him while I was away?” Inuyasha demanded.

Shippo shrugged his shoulders as he slurped up the rest of his meal. Kuufuku gave a rodent-ish burp but said nothing on the subject.

“Inuyasha-Sama!” Rin called as she poked he head in the cave once more.

“Hai! I’m coming!” Inuyasha huffed.

Shippo tossed his dishes in the wash barrel before trotting to catch up to Inuyasha, scrambling up onto the hanyou’s shoulder.

Inuyasha glanced at the boy before reaching up to pat him quickly on the head as they emerged into the bitter cold wind. Tracking through the snow, Inuyasha made his way a few yards over to where Rin and Sesshoumaru stood staring at a rather large lump of snow.

“It very… nice Rin,” Sesshoumaru was saying as he eyed the pile dubiously.

“Isn’t it?” Rin chirped. “And here’s the garden and here’s the kitchen and here’s pond and here’s…”

Inuyasha glanced at Sesshoumaru who obviously had no idea what the little girl was chatting about as she pointed out the different mounds of snow. ‘Well, at least he’s trying.’ he thought.

“Why would you put the pond by the kitchen? You never have a pond by the kitchen.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at Sesshoumaru’s attempt to converse with the little girl. Rin had stopped abruptly and blinked up at Sesshoumaru cluelessly. “So Inuyasha-sama can see the fish while he’s cooking of course,” she explained.

Inuyasha chuckled as he listened to her reasoning. “Aren’t we all being a little over obsessed about food?”

“No,” Shippo and Sesshoumaru responded simultaneously.

Blinking in surprise, Inuyasha shrugged and turned to listen to Rin as she continued explaining the different rooms deciding to ignore the two walking stomachs.

Sesshoumaru meanwhile, was shooting convert looks at Inuyasha as the hanyou pointed out random sections and asking Rin what rooms they were. It was slightly more difficult to see Inuyasha’s face as Shippo perfectly blocked Sesshoumaru’s view.

‘What I wouldn’t give for a very strong gust of wind right now,’ he thought bitterly as he turned back to the pile of snow. He couldn’t understand the girl’s logic. No matter how he looked at it, it was just a rather large mound of fluffy frozen water.

…With rat sized tunnels in which Kuufuku continually poked his nose out of before ducking back into the mound.

Sesshoumaru hand itched for his throwing knife. ‘I knew I should have taken him out when I had the chance.’

“All right you two,” Inuyasha’s voice broke thought his thoughts. “It’s starting to get dark. Time to go in.” The two children groaned in disappointment but Sesshoumaru actually was relived to go in. His nose was getting cold. He turned in a full circle until the cave came into his line of vision and not allowing it out of his sight, marched strait for it.

Sesshoumaru was in the cave before Inuyasha had even managed to turn around.

Shippo smirked on his shoulder. “Wuss can’t stand a little cold.”

“Shippo,” Inuyasha hissed as they followed the youkai into the cave. “What had gotten into you? You were never this bratty.”

Shippo shrugged as the entered the room only to find that Sesshoumaru had already squirreled himself away in the back. “He doesn’t scare me any more,” Shippo explained. “He’s actually a rather large, cranky goof ball.” Inuyasha gave the kit a sidelong look of skepticism. “Well he is,” Shippo insisted. “He can’t do anything right. He can’t even make soup! And soup’s easy!”

“Shippo! You know he’s never done anything like that in his life. This is all new to him.” Shippo scoffed at the suggestion. “Well he’s trying.”

“I doubt that,” Shippo argued.

“Well he hasn’t killed you yet has he?”

Shippo actually had the grace to blush.

Inuyasha chuckled softly as he started tucking the two into bed. Rin demanded two stories and Sesshoumaru finally returned just as he finished the last story. Rin immediately demanded a story from Sesshoumaru as well.

Inuyasha had to suppress the look of complete horror that crossed the Youkai’s face as Sesshoumaru turned to look pleadingly at Inuyasha who decided to take pity on the frazzled man.

“Enough stories Rin. It’s time for bed.”

The girl pouted for a while before she snuggled into the blankets. Ensuring the two were actually falling a sleep and not pretending, Inuyasha turned to find Sesshoumaru staring down at his still sopping wet bedding.

He frowned in concern. Inuyasha actually felt bad about how the kids, or rather Shippo, had acted while he was off sulking. With a sigh, he made his way over to the still fuming youkai.

“Do you want to use my bed?”

Sesshoumaru never thought he would hear that sentence coming out of Inuyasha’s mouth in all his life. His hormones immediately sat up and cheered him on to take the offer before Sesshoumaru viciously herded them together and locked them in an imaginary trunk.

Mentally tossing the invisible key over his shoulder, he looked up at Inuyasha gratefully. His first instinct was that of course he was going to use Inuyasha’s bed as his own was ruined but Sesshoumaru immediately squashed that feeling down, trying to see it from Inuyasha’s view and knew that the other was offering mostly out of guilt.

Guilt or no, it was actually a very kind offer.

Sesshoumaru mentally berated himself for never realizing how kind Inuyasha really was. ‘Of course it’s rather hard to tell when the other person starts cursing like a sailor the moment he spots me.’

“Sesshoumaru?”

Inuyasha’s worried tone jolted Sesshoumaru out of his thoughts.

“Er…” Sesshoumaru wondered how to best handle the offer while not sounding pompous when suddenly he wondered if this would be a good moment to try and start with “Phase One” of “Plan B”.

Prove to Inuyasha that he was not a selfish ass.

“Together?” The word was out of his mouth before he could stop it.

Inuyasha gasped in shock before his features morphed into a fierce scowl.

‘FUCK!’ Sesshoumaru groaned at how eager he sounded. ‘Baka! Baka! Baka!Baka! Baka!’ He scrambled to salvage the situation before Inuyasha’s reaching hand managed to grasp the hilt of Tetsusaiga.

“I- I mean, where will you sleep?” Sesshoumaru’s words flew out of him in a rush. “Its too cold to just sleep on the floor.”

Inuyasha’s expression softened slightly as he took in Sesshoumaru’s concerns and looked about the cave. “I’ll be fine,” he said even though he too some doubts as to whether or not he would be comfortable.

Sesshoumaru’s mind whirled for an idea, any idea that would help him impress Inuyasha. None was forth coming.

‘Think you idiot!’ he yelled at himself. ‘You can’t just expect to take his bed since yours is ruined. That was the old Sesshoumaru; this is the new more thoughtful Sesshoumaru. So get your head out of your ass and think!’

Inuyasha was already turning away.

‘Say something! Anything!’ “Er, I could always sleep on the floor.” ‘BAKA! You’ve never slept on a floor in your life!’

Apparently Inuyasha agreed with Sesshoumaru’s inner critic, which strangely sounded like his old edict teacher, as the hanyou turned and started backing away from him very slowly.

“No! I mean- I mean- um,” gold eyes swiveled frantically around the room. He finally spotted the pile of the horrid pink robes. Scooping them he held them out hopefully. “I mean if you wish, you could use these.”

Inuyasha stared down at the offered material before looking up at Sesshoumaru who was looking anywhere but at the hanyou. It was clear to him that Sesshoumaru was nervous as hell about something and Inuyasha had a vague notion on what it was.

‘He must feel really bad about what happed,’ Inuyasha determined, ‘else why would he be trying so hard to be nice?’ In truth Inuyasha wasn’t sure if he should feel flattered or frightened. ‘Is he always this way when I’m not around or is this some sort of trick?’

He looked back up at Sesshoumaru who was now looking back down at his offered robes with doubt. Slowly, Sesshoumaru began to pull the clothing back towards himself when Inuyasha instinctively reached out and took the offering.

Sesshoumaru’s head jerked up with surprise before… ‘Is he blushing?’ Inuyasha wondered in amazement as Sesshoumaru suddenly turned his face away.

Inuyasha was feeling just as embarrassed, as he knew Sesshoumaru felt. He turned his head away as well as he tried to quash his own blush, “arigato.”

Sesshoumaru’s eyes widened slightly and he nodded curtly in response.

“Inuyasha-sama?”

Both youkai jumped as Rin’s voice suddenly floated from behind them.

“Ye-” Inuyasha cleared his throat and tried again. “Yes?”

“I left my scarf outside,” Rin admitted softly.

“That’s alright Rin, we’ll-”

“I’ll get it!” Sesshoumaru’s voice broke through Inuyasha’s sentence as he suddenly bolted out the door.

“-get it now,” Inuyasha finished lamely as he watched Sesshoumaru disappear out the door. “Well, that was awkward,” he muttered. Rin looked at him quizzically, her eyes almost completely shut once more. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered.

Rin nodded and did just that much to Inuyasha’s amusement.

Smiling, he gathered up the rest of the pink silk and made his way to where Sesshoumaru’s pallet use to lie before being moved by the fire. He separated the cloth and with a flick of his wrist spread out the robe on the cold ground.

Kneeling down to smooth out the wrinkles Inuyasha allowed himself to slowly fall forward into the cool silk, enjoying the feel of the material against the skin of his cheek.

He had never felt such softness. It was so smooth under his touch that he almost felt bad using it as impromptu bedding. Opening his eyes, he reassessed his opinion as the bright pink assaulted his eyes.

Closing them against the sight, he rolled onto his side inhaling deeply as he got more comfortable.

The robes smelled of Sesshoumaru… and berries… but mostly Sesshoumaru. A berry scented Sesshoumaru.

Inuyasha groaned as he quickly got up and moved to away from his makeshift bed. ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ Inuyasha wondered anxiously. ‘And how long dose it take to fetch a hair tie?’ he wondered as he looked to the cave entrance in which Sesshoumaru had disappeared almost ten full minutes ago.

Sesshoumaru meanwhile, was having problems of his own. He had clearly not been thinking when he darted out of the cave grateful for any excuse to leave the awkward situation.

His thoughts had been filled with the idea of “get away” when they should have been “stay within the tree line”.

‘Okay, I’m not that far from the cave,’ he thought as he glanced around at the dense cluster of trees surrounding him. ‘Damn winter and making all the trees look exactly the same.’

Sesshoumaru looked upward, hoping to get his bearings by using the stars. “Damn you clouds!” he shouted in frustration.

“Sesshoumaru? Where the hell are you?”

The youkai wasn’t sure if he should shout in aggravation or sigh in relief as Inuyasha suddenly appeared behind him. “What are ya doin’?” Inuyasha asked suspiciously.

Sesshoumaru, not wanting Inuyasha to know of his complete lack of direction, immediately went on the defensive. “Is it so wrong to get a breath of air?”

“Er, I guess not,” Inuyasha replied.

“Well, I suggest we fetch Rin’s hair tie then.” Sesshoumaru didn’t move as he watched Inuyasha expectantly.

“Okay…” Inuyasha drawled as he made his way back to the little clearing, Sesshoumaru right on his heels.

They both stopped at the snow hill, a.k.a. the “castle” to search for the tie Rin used for her hair. Searching for something so small in the dead of night would have been a problem for the girl, but with their enhanced vision it did not take the two youkai’s long to find the strip of leather.

It was with some shock when both their hands met over the innocent item, Sesshoumaru’s closing over Inuyasha’s smaller one as the hanyou gripped the leather.

Inuyasha immediately tried to yank his hand away only to find in caught firmly in his brother’s grasp. He glared upward at the other youkai only to yelp in surprise as Sesshoumaru’s head rapidly descended and Inuyasha found his lips covered by Sesshoumaru’s own.

This time however, Inuyasha was not caught by surprise and with a great shove, sent the taller man tumbling backwards into the mound of snow as he quickly darted back to the safety of the cave all the while strengthening his resolve to never again be caught alone with the clearly psychotic youkai.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Not Exactly Friends

Sesshoumaru was rudely awakened next morning by a fierce smack to the nose. Snapping his eyes opened Sesshoumaru looked around to find the culprit, already prepared to give the person the most scathing insults from his arsenal.

He blinked. There was no one there.

“Squeek.”

Blinking, his eyes blearily traveled downward to find Kuufuku happily flouncing away, his long pink tail held high like some perverse triumphant flag.

“Oh for the love of-” Sesshoumaru fell backwards on to his bed with a groan.

His very lonely, very hard, and very pink bed.

Glancing out side, Sesshoumaru estimated that he probably got at most two hours worth of sleep the night before.

After Inuyasha had given him the sudden snow bath by pushing him into the snow pile, of which Sesshoumaru was very suspiciously thought had been built over an existing pile of rocks, he had returned to the cave to find Inuyasha already bundled up in his own bed. The hanyou was more than likely just pretending to be asleep but Sesshoumaru figured his best course of action was to leave the other boy alone.

Grudgingly, Sesshoumaru wandered over to the already laid out robe as wearily collapsed on the horrid surface.

The Taiyoukai had spent hours upon hours yelling at himself for losing such control around Inuyasha. But then again, it seemed as if whenever he was around the sexy hanyou, his youki had decided to take the initiative and Sesshoumaru found that he would no longer find himself in control of his own body.

‘Oh Kami,’ he groaned as he dragged one of the pink sleeves over his head. ‘I am so dead.’

He laid there for a few minutes simply enjoying the feeling of stillness before finally shoving the sleeve off his face.

‘Hell, I’ll have to face the boy sometime,’ he told himself.

“Inuyasha-” he started as he sat up. However Sesshoumaru found himself only addressing the kitsune who was giving him a rather amused stare.

“Inuyasha isn’t here.”

“Thank you, for stating the obvious,” Sesshoumaru scowled. “Now could you possibly tell me where our illustrious cave-mate went?”

“No idea.”

‘Must. Not. Strangle. Child!’ Sesshoumaru pinched the bridge of his nose. “He didn’t tell you where he was going?”

“He didn’t say anything to me,” Shippo explained with a sigh. “I woke up and he and Rin were already gone.” The kit paused. “Kuufuku is still here though.”

Sesshoumaru’s eye twitched. “Great,” he muttered. “Where the hell did he go?”

Where Inuyasha had gone, actually, was not very far into the woods at all. He was in a small geln some distance away picking berries furiously with Rin.

‘I’ll kill him,’ Inuyasha thought. ‘Bar that, I’m kicking his sorry ass out into the snow tonight.’

Another fist full of berries found their way into the basket at his side. ‘Rin can stay, but the prick has got to go.’

He fiercely yanked at the small red globes of fruit, most of them squashed into juice, for a good while before he finally managed to slow himself down. “That bastard,” he muttered, but was surprised that his voice did not hold as much malice as he had before.

It had been so aggravating the night before that Sesshoumaru had completely disregarded his warning of not allowing himself to be used as Sesshoumaru’s personal play thing but Inuyasha had to admit that at the time, Sesshoumaru had looked just as surprised that it happened as he did.

A thought occurred to him that perhaps Sesshoumaru really didn’t have any control over what he did. Hell, Myouga never really explained a Youkai’s mating habits. Considering Inuyasha’s age, the bug probably didn’t think it was necessary yet.

‘Oh hell, I can’t kick him out if it’s not his fault,’ Inuyasha thought bitterly. ‘I can beat him up, but I can’t kick him out.’

“Inuyasha-sama!” Rin’s cheery voice rang across the field. “Rin has found more berries!”

Unable to suppress a smile, Inuyasha wandered over to where the girl stood triumphantly next to a rather large bush. He stared down at the bush with a frown. “I’m sorry Rin, but we can’t eat those. They’re not meant to be eaten.”

Rin’s eyes got huge as she looked at the bush in dissaointment. “Why?”

“Because they’ll make you sick,” Inuyasha explained.

“Why would the make Rin sick?”

“Because they don’t taste very good.”

“But why don’t they taste good?”

Inuyasha sweat dropped. “Er, I think I saw some over here that we could gather.”

“YAY!” Rin cheered as she danced over towards the indicated bush, her own little basket swinging from her arm.

Inuyasha sighed in relief as he watched the girl move away, taking her circling questions with her. ‘Who knew kids were so difficult?’

It was then that he heard it. A sudden gasp of indrawn breath behind him.

Inuyasha’s temper flared at the thought that Sesshoumaru actually had the gall to follow him when he thought it was clear as day that he wanted to be away from the youkai.

Whirling around, Inuyasha nearly bit off his tongue when he saw that it was not his brother behind him but rather some one else he really did not expect to see for a long time.

It was Sango who stood behind him gapping in surprise, her giant boomerang hanging limp from her hand. The two stared at each other, neither one quite sure what to say.

It was actually Kirara who broke the silence, for Inuyasha anyway. ‘I’m sorry pup, I hadn’t realized which direction we had been traveling.’

Inuyasha told her silently that it was not the two tailed neko’s fault while he nearly groaned aloud with dread.

For where ever there was one the others were sure to be…

“Inuyasha!” Miroku said amazed as he stepped into the clearing behind the Demon Slayer. “My god! You’ve been missing for months! Where have you been?”

Cue the perv.

Inuyasha gave a little nervous laugh as he raised a hand in greeting. However before he could say anything another voice stabbed into the silence.

“Inuyasha?” a high-pitched screech sounded from the background.

The hanyou tensed and automatically took a defensive step back.

Kagome, in all her futuristic glory stormed over to the small cluster of people a scowl that would put Sesshoumaru’s to shame planted on her face.

“OSUWARI!” She screamed in fury!

Both Sango and Miroku flinched in anticipation of the resounding bang of Inuyasha hitting the floor, but the hanyou simply stood there smirking.

With a smirk of triumph, Inuyasha held out his arms and did a full one hundred and eighty degree turn. “Notice anything different?” he asked. Kagome gapped as she stared at the empty neckline. “You!” she screeched “How dare you remove those? You have no authority to remove those! You-” her voice trailed off into an inhuman screech.

“Kagome, please. Calm down,” Sango tried to place herself between the fuming girl and the now very worried hanyou while Miroku tried to place himself between the girls.

‘She’s worse that before,’ Inuyasha realized as he stared at the girl in shock. ‘I didn’t even know that was possible.’

Suddenly Inuyasha felt pressure in his free hand and looked down to see Rin clinging to his hand as she stared at the other tree humans apprehensively. “Inuyasha-sama?” she whispered.

Glancing at the other three he leaned down and whispered to Rin to go by the berry bush and to stay there, no matter what happened. He quickly asked Kirara if she would stay with the child and spotting the girl, the neko immediately agreed.

He looked back just in time to see Kagome throw off her two companions and marched as quickly as she could through the ankle deep snow right at Inuyasha who was not an idiot and immediately moved away from the charging female.

“Just what did you think you were doing?” she hissed. “How dare you leave the village! You have an obligation to search for the Jewel shards! You can not slack off on your responsibilities!”

“Yeah right!” Inuyasha shouted back as he ducked behind Miroku. “I ain’t have to do shit!” Kagome gasped at the swear word but Inuyasha stubbornly continued before she could even utter a word of protest. “Who was it again that broke the damn thing in the first place? It certainly wasn’t me who shot that arrow.”

Kagome made a frantic lunge at the youkai who quickly jumped out of the way, this time landing behind Sango who looked at him furiously for putting her quite literally in the middle.

“You were there! You made a vow that you would help me find the shards.”

“I did no such thing!” Inuyasha gasped as he evaded another swipe of the girls’ fingernails. From the way Miroku was wincing, Inuyasha knew that those things just had to hurt.

“Yes you did!” Kagome counted. “You said you were going to gather the shards!”

“For myself you whacked out psycho! I wanted the jewels for my own purpose. The fact that you tagged along didn’t mean I was friggin’ helpin’ ya!”

Kagome gasped in anger and made another desperate lunge at the silver figure. “What of Naraku?” Kagome snapped. “You vowed to get revenge and stop him from obtaining the sacred Jewel.”

“What the fuck dose that have to do with YOU?”

“Inuyasha!” A familiar voice rang into the glen as Shippo suddenly appeared and clambered up onto his shoulder. “Miroku! Sango! You’re all here!”

Kagome stared at the small kitsune in shock. “Shippo!” she gapped. “YOU!” she whirled around to point an accusing finger at Inuyasha, “how dare you kidnap that poor child and force him to live in the woods!”

“What?” both youkai shouted in shock.

“Inuyasha, what is going on?” Shippo demanded as he stared at Kagome in shock as she still continued her shouting about Shippo still being only a child and other such nonsense.

“What are you doing here?” Inuyasha asked the kit.

“We got tired of waiting for you to come back and make breakfast so we decided to come and find you.”

Inuyasha boggled. “‘We’?”

Suddenly there was dead silence followed by a rather hallow thump.

Turning, Inuyasha stared at Kagome’s slumped form laying flat on the snow covered ground, the other two beside her both in battle formation. Sango’s boomeranged held at the ready while Miroku already had his free hand grasping his beads.

Inuyasha stared at the slumped woman in complete shock before he slowly looked up past the unconscious figure to the silver figure that stood directly behind her.

There in a triumphant pose, stood Sesshoumaru- wearing a shit eating grin and a holding a gigantic rock.

TBC

Stares at the last line Oh they are so going to kill me!

CELEBRATE! CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES! COME ON! Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, doo woo hoo!

I FINALLY HIT 200 PAGES! Oh MY GOD! I have never written this much before EVER! The longest story I had was an old Digimon fic waay back when that was 73 pages… I think I beat it! YAY! Really AMAZING considering this was originally suppose to be a single one-shot story in which the two Inu Princes were stuck in a cave over night and due to overwhelming hormones fuck like rabbits.

As you can see, the story kind of… … … exploded. … Oops.

Kallipso laughs hysterically. This was supposed to be a one shot for my birthday a year ago Wensday. I don’t know about you but this seems to be the birthday gift that keeps on giving. Whatcha think?

Okay, about the Youki Recognition. I got the idea out of the old comic “Elf Quest” by Wendy and Richard Pini. I tried to explain it, as I understood it but the old series never really explained “Recognition”, it just was. There is a major plot point about the Recognition in the “Elf Quest” series as far as I could figure but if I explain it here that will be giving away some major points! They’re reprinting the series now so please go and enjoy.

A repost of the Challenge!

We will be introducing a new character that is not a cannon character but a new person that has popped out of the dredges of my odd little brain. There actually has already been a hint in previous chapters as to this person's identity. If any one can figure out who this new character is gets a cookie and a short Kuufuku tortures Sesshoumaru side story dedicated to them! Only Two More Segments until this person is revealed!

Japanese Index:

Arigato (gozaimasu)-Thank you

Baka-Idiot/stupid

Hanyou-< i>Half Demon Hakuchoo-Swan Inu-Dog

Kitsune-Fox

Kisama-Bastard (roughly)

Koinu-Puppy Kumo-Spider

Miko-Priestess

Nani?- What?

Neko-Cat

Ningen-Hu man

Otouto-Younger brother

Ookami-Wolf

Osuwari-Sit

Shika-Deer

Taisho- General

Tokage-Lizard

Youkai-Demon

Youko- Fox Demon (Think Kurama in Yu Yu Hakusho.)

Youki-Demon Spirit