InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ War's Shadow ❯ Messages ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Note - This chapter was written before I saw the 3rd movie, which contradicts some things in this, but...eh...it's fanfic. It's not always gonna be right. XD


Chapter 3 - Messages

Waiting rather impatiently for the cavalcade of dog demons to notice him and come to a stop, Inuyasha looked on, Shippou poised beside him. The little runt refused to leave, which both pleased and annoyed Inuyasha. At least the kid was tall enough now that he wouldn't get stepped on if things took a violent turn.

As he watched, he felt something tug lightly at his mind, pulling at some of his earliest memories. A cool wind swept dust into his face and he blinked against it, frowning as he tried to gather more of these obsolete and appropriately vague images and words ...


Inuyasha yawned and stretched wearily, one eye opening, left ear automatically twitching at the sound of low, urgent voices. He became much more awake when he recognized the voice of the visitor and quickly clambered out of bed, nearly tripping over the slightly too-long legs of his new bedclothes.

He pulled open the door and stuck his head out, listening for sounds of Mother. He would be in trouble if she discovered that he was out of bed so late, but maybe she was already asleep ... Walking carefully and quietly down the hallway, he listened to the voices as the words they were saying became audible.

"He is up to something," Sesshoumaru was saying fervently, and Inuyasha instantly flattened himself against the wall, amazed that his brother had already caught on to him. But as he listened further, he discovered that, to his relief, Sesshoumaru had been speaking of someone else.

"Did you hear of the scuffle with the wolf clan?" Sesshoumaru continued.

"Yes, but I have had other problems to contend with. The wolves will have to see to themselves this time, unless you are willing to help them," Inutaisho replied.

"Ryuukotsusei?" Sesshoumaru guessed. "He is a strange creature, Father. You should call for me when you go to meet him."

A low laugh emanated from the taiyoukai. "You may have had problems in your battle with him, Sesshoumaru, but I think I can manage. He needs to be removed from this area. If he had not run like a coward the last time, he would already have been dealt with."

Curiosity getting the better of him, Inuyasha quietly poked just enough of his head around the doorframe to try to get a look at the individuals inside. Inutaisho was seated casually, but Sesshoumaru, as always, was standing with his arms crossed, wearing the ever-present look of vague irritation. Inuyasha wondered if Sesshoumaru would ever find enough time to come to see them when he was in a happier mood ...

"Then I will go meet the northerners," Sesshoumaru was saying, though his voice trailed off and his eyes flickered to the small pointed ear and eye that was peering at him from the hallway. "And if a dog-eared brat is going to eavesdrop, he should at least do it in full view, instead of skulking about like a rodent. How long do you expect us to ignore you, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha grinned at the gruff reprimand and took that as his invitation to bound into the room. "Konnichiwa, Aniki!"

"He will also inherit this conflict one day, Sesshoumaru. It is good for him to hear it," Inutaisho said calmly, though he eyed Inuyasha sternly as the boy moved to kneel beside his chair.

"He will have no place in it," Sesshoumaru answered with equal seriousness, eyes grazing from the child to his father. "I will make certain of that."

Both of the older men went very quiet. Inuyasha peered up at his father's face and then at Sesshoumaru's, feeling as though he was not understanding something. Did Sesshoumaru think he wouldn't be able to help him just because he was so much younger?

"I've been practicing! I can help," Inuyasha promised excitedly and raised a small hand in a claw-like gesture. "Sankontess---!" He was stopped when Inutaisho's hand clamped down over his. "Do not do that unless you truly mean to use it," he corrected Inuyasha quickly. "And never use it against him, do you understand?"

Inuyasha nodded, but thought it odd that his father seemed to be speaking to Sesshoumaru when he said those last words. His brother did not comment, but made a motion as though to leave, adding, "Do what you will with Ryuukotsusei. That is your battle, Father. Nothing has changed with Eizan and his people. They are still eyeing the west and will continue to do so until they are permanently eradicated. It seems that that chore will fall to me."


Inuyasha snapped back from this memory, blinking against it. He realized that now, having looked at it through eyes that were no longer childish, he could understand what had happened in that room, as well as its true importance. Perhaps that was why his mind had clung to it. It had not been long after that their home had been suddenly attacked while Father had been away. Inutaisho had returned in time to save him and his mother, but had been seriously wounded in the process. Some festering anger had seized him and he had pursued Ryuukotsusei, sealed him with a fang, and died shortly afterward. It seemed Sesshoumaru had been fighting elsewhere at the time ....

Eyes narrowing, Inuyasha's hand moved to rest on Tessaiga as the group's obvious leader drew to a stop not far from him.

"What have we here?" Keito called to Inuyasha. "A hanyou and a fox child? Move out of the way."

"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha asked in return, though his gut instinct was telling him he already knew.

"I'm your new master, puppy. Go ahead and bow," the dark-haired dog demon called again, causing a low rumble of laughter to issue from the ranks of his men.

"Northern youkai," Inuyasha grumbled, pulling Tessaiga, which quickly transformed, the fur on the hilt billowing in the breeze.

Keito blinked thoughtfully as his mind seemed to come to a conclusion. "You're Sesshoumaru's little brother, aren't you?"

"Barely," Inuyasha replied. "Turn around and leave."

"Inuyasha! What a surprise to locate you so quickly. It's a little early for our battle, but we'll find you again when we're ready," Keito pulled on the reins of his horse as though to maneuver around Inuyasha, but as he came closer, Tessaiga moved to point at him.

"I told you to leave," Inuyasha reminded him. "I'm not jacking around with you. Get the hell out. Now."

Inuyasha's face was very serious as he looked up into his opponent's, but his ears registered the sounds of weapons being drawn and turned his head as a projectile cut through the air. He reacted in time to bat the weapon away with Tessaiga, and then pulled back to bring the sword down with a yell of "Kaze no Kizu!"

The rush of explosive energy met with the demon that had thrown the weapon and reduced him to spare parts, the blast knocking three of his compatriots from their mounts. The dog demons hurriedly picked themselves back up, but by that time, Inuyasha was threatening Keito once more. "Unless you want that pathetic army of yours to be vulture food, you'd better turn tail now, pal."

Scowling down at the hanyou, Keito seemed to be weighing his options, but appeared to quickly decide on one when Inuyasha gestured with the sword again. Keito smiled grimly. "As I said, our battle will have to be reserved for later. I will meet you again, hanyou."

"It's your funeral. You pick the day," Inuyasha replied with a matching glare, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as Keito's horse reared around and returned in the direction from which it had come, his fellows following with equal speed.

"That was pretty good, Inuyasha," Shippou commented.

"'Pretty good'?" Inuyasha repeated incredulously. "I just sent that guy running back home without even touching him. That's better than 'good’!'"

"It really wasn't that impressive," Shippou said nonchalantly, turning to walk off, his fluffy tail swishing back and forth. "Let's go. If we hurry we can eat with Kagome and then get to Sango's in time for her dinner, too."

"Hey, brat, I didn't see you doing anything out there!" Inuyasha called, waving Tessaiga in exasperation as he stalked after Shippou.

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Dismissing the obviously nervous messenger, Sesshoumaru turned and stormed his way back into the house, stepping on Jaken in the process of walking through the door. Croaking loudly in protest, Jaken recovered and skittered after his master, wondering what could have come up in that discussion to create such a reaction. Still, the retainer had been waiting for just such an event, something that would spur Sesshoumaru-sama out of this domestic stall. Jaken could not remember the last time they had spent so much time lingering in one place and decided it was easiest and most accurate to blame Rin for that. She was becoming entirely too friendly with Sesshoumaru-sama for Jaken’s comfort.

"Sesshoumaru-sama ---"

"We're leaving, Jaken. Lock down the house," Sesshoumaru ordered before the toad could finish his inquiry.

"H-hai," Jaken stammered obediently, before turning and making a rapid escape in the opposite direction. Whatever the messenger had said must not have been good news ...

Returning to his own room, Sesshoumaru halted at a large, black lacquered desk, seating himself and pulling the ink toward him as he reached for writing materials. Scowling deeply, he wrote with long, practiced strokes the few characters that would be needed in order to adequately relay his thoughts. He paused for a moment in the process of a downstroke as a thought occurred to him. Is the hanyou even literate? he wondered in irritation. He finished the note and sealed it, thinking that even if Inuyasha was incapable of deciphering the characters, the monk or the miko would be able to act as his interpreter.

He barely noticed when Rin entered the room, so set was he on his task. She watched him cautiously, brown eyes wide with questions. "Jaken said that we're leaving ---" she began, but trailed off when he interrupted.

"We are. Gather what you need," Sesshoumaru replied instantly, getting back to his feet and sliding open the screen that led outside. He made some strange whistling sound, which almost instantly brought an enormous black crow to the railing, its beady eyes fixating on him expectantly.

Rin looked on as Sesshoumaru allowed the bird to take the rolled letter in one clawed foot, listening as he muttered something to the creature before it turned and soared off toward the north.

"What's going on? Has Eizan already done something?" Rin inquired with concern as Sesshoumaru reached for his chest armor and pulled it on, securing it with blurred, rapidly moving fingers. He then moved across the room and grasped Toukijin.

"He sent a small army into my territory almost directly north of here," Sesshoumaru replied tersely, running a hand lightly across Toukijin's edge to check for any dulling. He wanted that blade sharp enough to handle a lot of necks.

"You're going to go fight them?"

"There's no need. They were ... repelled," Sesshoumaru said the word distastefully, looking highly displeased.

"Repelled by what?" Rin asked with a frown.

"The meddling half-breed," Sesshoumaru revealed, golden eyes darkening to amber as he reached for a sharpening stone and ran it quickly up and down the edges of the sword.

"Inuyasha," Rin exclaimed with a bright smile. "It looks like you might have some help after all, even without asking." Her smile faded as she eyed how quickly his hand was moving over the sword, mentally imagining the horrible mess there would be if he happened to slip. "Should you be doing that when you're angry ...?" she asked calmly.

As if in answer to her question he stopped, put the stone down on the desk, and ran his finger back across Toukijin's edge again, looking satisfied when the slight motion sliced easily through skin. It had been a while since he had used it for anything worthwhile and he found that he was actually looking forward to this coming confrontation. It would no doubt be fairly long and involved, and Sesshoumaru could almost feel his blood start to burn at the idea of settling this permanently. He enjoyed a good fight, a heated battle where he could watch the life drain from his enemy. The experience was invigorating enough to bring out feeling in him, briefly pulling him out of that all-encompassing indifference in which he normally existed. To him, only two things created this sense of being very alive: battle … and a human girl. Now he would have to participate in one while keeping it at bay from the other. Certainly a challenge …

"Did Inuyasha really fight them all on his own?" Rin asked, wondering if that was why Sesshoumaru suddenly seemed so eager to vacate his home in search of a battle. That rivalry would not allow for Sesshoumaru to stand by while Inuyasha involved himself in something that did not directly affect him.

"No. There was very little fighting," Sesshoumaru said, then turned his head to look at her fully. "Go on. Go get your things."

She caught onto the urgency in his voice, noticing that he seemed to be seized by some sort of adrenaline. There was anticipation in his eyes, as though something had broken through that cool demeanor to stir him into action. Rin could not decide whether that reassured her or worried her even more, since she could not imagine what mindset he would have to be in to actually look forward to a violent altercation. That was definitely a point at which they differed. As she turned to hurry back to her own room, she was stopped again by his voice.

"Rin ... are you certain that you want to do this?"

"Completely,” she replied with sincerity, finally taking her leave when he nodded his head in agreement.

As she swept from the room, Sesshoumaru attached Toukijin at his side and moved to reach for Tenseiga.

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Night blanketed Kaede's village, extending beyond the looming presence of Inuyasha’s Forest to the darkened huts that held sleeping families. It was peaceful and quiet, but there was still one home that was blazing with light even at so late an hour.

Inside Sango and Miroku's home, Shippou was sprawled out on the bare floor, snoring loudly in front of the crackling fire as the adults discussed Inuyasha's confrontation from earlier in the day.

"Do you think it will become a bigger problem?" Miroku asked Inuyasha.

"If it does become a huge issue, it'll be stomped out, so I'm not worried about it,” Inuyasha answered easily.

"But, Inuyasha," Kagome broke in, "it sounds like they plan to involve you. He did say he would meet with you again, and you've already told us that you remember something about a conflict with the northern dog youkai that your father and Sesshoumaru had to deal with before."

"It's Sesshoumaru's job, Kagome. He can get off his lazy ass and handle the rest of it," Inuyasha told her around a wide yawn.

Looking troubled, Kagome pondered Inuyasha's words. Some gut instinct was telling her that this conflict was about to expand to him, whether he chose to involve himself or not. It was times like these that made her want to haul Inuyasha bodily into the well and get him to try living in her time for a year or so. Of course, that would involve lots of hats and creative explanations … but they never seemed to escape these sorts of problems for very long in the Sengoku Jidai. Despite his brash statement of indifference, she knew well that he would be keeping an eye on this conflict if it began to escalate.

A squawking sound made her jump then and her head swiveled to the window. A black crow was poking its head inside, almost blending in with the dark that surrounded it, cawing meaningfully at them.

"Get lost!" Inuyasha ordered, pointing an authoritative finger at it, though the bird looked completely unperturbed, and instead chose to glide down to perch on the sleeping Shippou's head. The fox demon awoke with a startled cry and swatted at the bird, which shrieked at him in return as it dropped a rolled piece of paper on the floor and swooped back to sit on the window.

Shippou looked around him wildly, as though expecting to have been beset by an entire flock of the creatures. "What was that?" he complained.

"A letter," Sango said quietly, reaching down to retrieve the scrolled piece of paper. She inspected the unfamiliar seal that had been adhered to it before noticing the name that was scrawled beside it.

"Inuyasha," she said with some surprise, extending the letter to him as everyone else looked on with blatant curiosity.

Eyes quickly moving to the seal, Inuyasha's confused frown became an evil smirk as he sliced through the wax with one claw and unrolled the paper. Kagome moved behind his shoulder to read with him, eyes widening when she saw what was in the brief note. Inuyasha gave a short, sneering bark of laughter.

"What does it say?" Miroku asked.

"’Mind your own business, ----‘" Inuyasha read from the letter, stopping short of the last two characters and handing it over so that Miroku and Sango could read the rest for themselves.

Sango blinked in astonishment. "I didn't think someone like Sesshoumaru would know how to write such an obscene word ..."

“I guess he decided “mutt” and “half-breed” were losing their charm,” Inuyasha said, looking very pleased at the idea that he had annoyed Sesshoumaru sufficiently enough for the guy to actually have sat down and written something that undignified.

“And why doesn’t it surprise me that he would have it delivered by some creepy bird with a bad attitude?” Shippou complained loudly, rubbing at his forehead.

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Brow furrowed lightly as he quickly scratched characters across the page, Eizan read as he wrote, making sure he was wording these two letters carefully. It was important, politically-speaking, to paint himself as much the victim as possible. To make it look as though his actions against Sesshoumaru were anything except preemptive self-defense would make the south and east nervous. He certainly did not want Isamu and Furu involved in this ... unless, of course, it was to be on his side.

As for the dirtier aspects of this war, he would distance himself from those as well with the aid of Zadi, who was now residing within Eizan’s castle-like home. Sesshoumaru was a brutal opponent and was likely securing his own few allies in a similar fashion. Eizan would never have even considered approaching a human for help had it not been for the rumors that had reached his ears of an almost-successful attempt to bring down Sesshoumaru some months earlier. The entire situation had been created and manipulated by a human. Though the western lord had managed to escape this Ashrem’s plotting none the worse for wear, it had set forth an idea in Eizan’s own mind. To approach such disgusting creatures as humans for involvement in his conflict had been completely foreign to him … but then he had recalled his army’s experience with Zadi and her people, and it had been quickly settled.

For only the price of a small hanyou child. Eizan was immensely pleased at how this had worked out. Ashitera would go to her mother’s people and he would double his territory. It was perfect.

He could admit that Sesshoumaru was a worthy enemy, but there was no way he could stand up to sheer numbers, even with the few allies he was likely to track down. He was too proud to call for help from anyone around him that was of any real substance, and by the time the west rose to aid in its own defense, the war would already be decided. There was little left of Sesshoumaru's family, his own had seen to that, having nearly wiped them all out several centuries ago. That had been a campaign that had been led by Eizan's older brother, and though it had been mostly successful, in the end, Eizan could see that his brother had been sloppy. Eizan was now having to clean up the mess.

Kanaye would certainly rise to such a conflict with or without Sesshoumaru’s request. He was a bloodthirsty old cur, especially where it concerned the north, understandable as he had been one of the few survivors of that centuries-old conflict. Typically, Kanaye minded his own business as far as Sesshoumaru's turf was concerned, but he would not sit idly by once this started. That was why Eizan would take care of him first ... or, rather, Zadi would take care of Kanaye in his stead, and he would be able to move on to the enemy that garnered more of his interest. Though Kanaye’s hatred for Eizan and his family was well-known, he would never see what was coming, not after all of Eizan’s carefully orchestrated overtures of friendship.

Those expressions of peace and harmony had been false on Eizan's behalf, but necessary. He enjoyed the fact that Kanaye knew precisely why Eizan had been making such a display of effort and it nearly made him laugh. Sashe. That was what they were fighting over. Sashe, as Kanaye's eldest, was fourth in line to controlling the west and she was Eizan's key to a legitimate claim on that land. Mere kindness had been enough to secure Sashe's loyalty, especially with her heart so thoroughly enthralled by him. It had been so easy to capitalize on the estrangement between Kanaye and his daughter ... and now the young woman was living willingly within Eizan's own walled fortress.

Once Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha, and Kanaye were safely dead and the war was over, Sashe would certainly agree to be his mate and the west would be Eizan's in all but name. What could the other lords possibly have to say about Sashe assuming her rightful role in the absence of those that had been queued ahead of her? It would just so happen that she would have excessively close ties to Eizan himself. Really, it would have been far easier if Sesshoumaru had just responded to Elif, but there was no helping that now.

Eizan looked up from his writing, staring ahead at the flickering oil lamp as he regained his thoughts once more, but was disturbed by a soft knock behind him. He turned in his seat, already aware of who was behind the door, and so called out in the kind voice he reserved for her, "Sashe, please come in."

The door creaked lightly open, and an elegantly beautiful face beset with yellow-gold eyes peered in, smiling lightly. "Eizan, I wanted to have a word with you ..."

"Of course, my dear," Eizan replied, gesturing for her to move further into the room. She did so, long, star-white hair swaying from her movements as she turned her back on him to close the door.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, though he could easily guess.

The smile faded and her face became more troubled. "I wanted to let you know that I’m going to pay a visit to Sesshoumaru.”

"Ah, of course. Do you believe you will be successful where I have failed?" he asked with a polite smile.

Looking thoughtful, the young dog demon moved to kneel across from him, lightly flipping through some of the scrolls that were placed on a low table, detailing bits and pieces of the north's history. He watched her as the scant light softened her features until she looked child-like. She was very young ... but certainly not scandalously so. He reached out a deeply-tanned hand and affectionately stroked the top of her white head. She looked up at him, the smile in place once more.

"You are bothered by this," he said quietly.

She nodded, a slight movement that was felt underneath his hand. "I don't want this conflict. It puts me in a difficult position."

"Yes, of course," he agreed solemnly. "You know ... I will not ask you to involve yourself in this. That would be callous and unfair. You should feel loyalty and affection toward your cousin. I will not ask you to subvert that for my sake."

"I'm where I belong," she replied sincerely.

"Your father would disagree." And indeed Kanaye had disagreed, vocally, loudly, and with threats and expletives in more languages than Eizan had been able to recognize.

"That makes me even more certain," she answered mischievously.

He put down his writing instrument and reached to pull her up to his level until she was seated on one of his leather-clad legs, her arms moving to circle around his shoulders. "What will you tell him?" he asked, carefully searching her eyes for any shift in emotion.

"I don't know. Asking him to stand-down would be pointless. He won't agree to that. I think ... I think that I hope he will see that this is not necessary once he understands that you would prefer friendship over war."

"He does not like me, Sashe. He never has, and I can understand those feelings. The feud between our families was long and bloody. I would hate to see it repeated, but it is Sesshoumaru's decision."

She nodded sadly. "I'll see what I can do."

"And attempt to let him know that you are not a traitor?" he asked.

"There will be no convincing him of that,” she said with a negative shake of her head. “He will write me off as that as soon as he hears what I intend to tell him. Everything is black and white to Sesshoumaru. You either are or you are not. There is no in between with him."

"I am sorry for that."

She leaned her head in closer until he was able to smell whatever scent she used when she cleaned her hair, a light, lavender-like smell that he allowed himself to enjoy. Her lips pressed softly against his cheek.

"As you said, it is his decision, not mine."




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Rin was grateful that spring seemed to be permanently moving winter out of its way, but the night was still very cold and oppressively dark, making her silently wish that Sesshoumaru had chosen to postpone their departure until the morning. She burrowed her face more deeply into the long, heavy overcoat she was wearing. It was ridiculously too big, trailing down to her ankles, but it helped make up for some of the chill.

She had purposefully forgone the cumbersome kimonos for this venture, as she could remember how tiresome it had been as a little girl to try to run or maneuver very well in them when faced with a dangerous situation. Instead, she had chosen more practical attire, things that she had made a special trip into a large town to buy. They were boys' clothes, but they were much more suitable, and so now Rin found herself wandering through a tall-grassed field, trailing behind a youkai lord, dressed as an effeminate boy, and thoroughly wrapped up in some old, long-forgotten coat that had been rummaged out of Sesshoumaru's home. Her life was indeed strange.

The cawing of a bird echoed overhead and Rin looked up questioningly, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Sesshoumaru was doing the same. The bird dropped down to release a letter in his outstretched hand, and Rin watched his unreadable expression as he unfolded it.

Sesshoumaru quickly noted that he was holding his own letter in his hand, a message that had been returned with a response written on the opposite side of the paper.

He seemed unfazed by what the letter said, saying quietly, almost as though to himself, "So it seems that he is literate after all ... if you can call this such." His eyes inspected the two sloppily written words that had been meant as a reply. The characters were barely legible, the language was appropriately impolite. Yes, he could be certain that this had come from Inuyasha.

Melting the rude response within a clenched fist, Sesshoumaru called to his two companions, "Let's go," before turning to stride forward, leaving Rin and Jaken to exchange glances of confusion before they began to trail after him once more.