InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When there is a full moon ❯ Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru ( Chapter 12 )

I DON'T OWN INUYASHA

Author's note: Wow, thanks for all the reviews, that was a hell of a lot of fun. Sorry guys for the formatting before, but it was my first time posting so I didn't know how to do it right. But thanks to Striking Falcon (my favourite author, that's right) that's all fixed now. I've reposted the earlier chapters with the right formatting and all, so my English teacher can go back and relax cause I did learn something in her class, contrary to popular belief.

Anyway (never write 'anyways' because there is no such word in the English language), enjoy and don't forget to review.

Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru

Inuyasha watched as Sango, once again, bashed Miroku across the head with her boomerang for touching her. He often wondered just why Miroku continued to irritate the Taijia even though he was quite familiar with the consequences. Kagome had often told him it was because the two like each other, only they were too slow to realize it themselves. He had to say, he quiet agreed with her analysis.

Shippo was riding in the small basket on the front of Kagome's two-wheeled contraption from the future as she peddled her way behind him. Shippo often liked to ride with Kagome, and Kagome was always willing to give the fox child a ride. It was clear to Inuyasha just how loving Kagome was, and he liked her all the more for that.

Kagome, herself, seemed to be daydreaming again. She seemed to be doing that far too often lately, her eyes taking a glazed look to them as her mind wondered. She never said what it was that she thought of, but Inuyasha could see that, whatever it was, it was confusing her greatly. He often had to catch her just before she drove her bike into a tree or just before toppling over. Every time this happened, she would look startled, and then she would laugh and apologize at the same time. If he had thought her confusing before, he should have been holding back his assessment for moments like these.

Neither he nor Kagome ever talked again of what had happened at the village with the five mikos. At first, Inuyasha had been furious with her for helping his enemy, and even Sango and Miroku seemed to agree with him on that. But as he thought more about it, he had to admit that Kagome had been right to save him. Had it not had been for Sesshoumaru Kagome would have been dead already, and there was no denying that. But that left one very huge question in Inuyasha's mind: why would Sesshoumaru, the renowned human hater, even consider saving Kagome's life? But something else about Sesshoumaru bothered Inuyasha, something that he had smelled when he had gone after Kagome at the waterfall. Something that made Inuyasha be very wary of his half-brother being near Kagome, especially when they were alone.

Nevertheless, somehow the five of them had managed to find four more jewel shards, drawing them closer and closer to the ultimate fight with Naraku. Inuyasha was both happy and nervous about that, and, to some level, so were the rest of them. They were all happy that the jewel would be completed soon and this whole masquerade would soon be over. But they were also rather frightened to 'face off with Naraku' as Kagome would say it. Inuyasha wasn't stupid; he knew the danger that Naraku posed, and was very wary of it, to say the least.

Suddenly, Inuyasha stopped in his tracks looking forward with growing suspicion. As soon as he recognized the scent coming their way he turned to warn the others. But Inuyasha had barely even turned around when he reached them since he was moving so fast. Moving as quickly as he could, he turned to face his brother, only to realise that Sesshoumaru was already past them and still going without any intentions of turning back around.

"What the…?" he murmured just loud enough to be heard.

"Was that who I think it was?" Kagome asked apprehensively.

Inuyasha, still looking down the path that Sesshoumaru had taken, nodded. He smelled the air with caution, trying to make sure he hadn't just imagined that. He frowned slightly as the smell of Sesshoumaru's excitement and slight tension reached his nose.

"Do you think he meant to do that?" Sango asked no-one in particular.

Miroku opened his mouth as thought to answer but was interrupted by Inuyasha before he could say anything.

"I'm going after him," he said curtly.

Shippo jumped onto Kagome's shoulder with an indignant sound as she abandoned her bike to run after Inuyasha. "Wait, Inuyasha," she called but he was already out of her field of vision.

"Kagome-sama," Miroku reached out and held Kagome back. "You can't follow him; he's going far too fast for a human to follow."

Kagome glared at him angrily. "I realise that! But how do you expect me to help him against Sesshoumaru when I'm not there? I can't just leave him alone."

Sango stepped forward slightly, allowing Kirara to jump out of her arms and transform. "Me and Kirara will go after him. You don't worry Kagome-chan, will bring him right back in no time at all!"

She jumped onto kirara's back and flew after Inuyasha a few feet above the trees. Kagome made a move as to follow, but was once again held back by Miroku. Sighing in exasperation, she sat down on the forest floor. Shippo moved to sit in her lap where he could take a short nap.

Plying absently with Shippo's hair and trying to calm her frayed nerves at the same time, Kagome allowed her lids to droop shut, ignoring Miroku who still stood looking after Sango's retreating form. She felt Shippo's breaths deepen as he fell asleep and she smiled gently. I hope Inuyasha's okay, she thought to herself. She was very worried about her friend even though she felt that she shouldn't be feeling so. Sesshoumaru, though still very dangerous and hard to predict, had undergone many changes, many of which were brought about by the little girl that always travelled with him. She was still thoroughly perplexed by the demon lord, and she could not help but worry for Inuyasha.

She opened her eyes suddenly at the sound of rustling bushes. She looked around the small clearing. Miroku was no where to be seen, and Shippo seemed to be almost unconscious in her arms. She shook him with worry, but he didn't respond. Bringing her head closer to his chest, she listened carefully for a sign of his breathing. She sighed with relief as she saw his chest rise and fall in rhythm to his almost inaudible snores. She looked back up in question, still no sign of Miroku. Her bike lay innocently in the center. The forest had gone unnaturally quiet, so quiet that she could hear her own heart beating loudly in her ribcage.

Carefully, she lay Shippo down against the tree. She stood up, smoothing her knee-length skirt. She made a move to stand by her bike, but froze immediately as she heard the bushes rustling again.

"M-miroku," she said in a shaky voice. "I swear to god, if that's you, I'm gonna beat you up so bad you would wish you were never born!"

She thought she heard a slight chuckle coming from behind one of the bushes. She moved towards it, stopping when she spotted a pair of sandaled feet sticking out from under it that looked awfully like Miroku's. She gasped and quickly brought her hand up to muffle the sound.

She reached behind her to pull out an arrow and set it into place. "Whoever's there, come out slowly; I'm armed!" She was quite surprised that her voice sounded so sure.

Not even the sound of the wind rustling through the trees met her words. Once more the forest was deadly quiet. Swallowing hard, she inched closer to Miroku's feet. The arrow in her hands was quaking slightly with her arm. She had reached the shrub and she could feel the sweat gather on her skin as her fear rose.

As quickly as she could, Kagome reached down, grabbed Miroku's ankles, and pulled him away from the bush. She was pulling so hard that as soon as his body came free, she lost her balance and fell on her bottom with an "oomph". She lay on the forest floor, her eyes clamped shut, trying to hear any movement from the forest. All she could hear was the loud banging of her own heart that was beating somewhere near her throat.

After a few minutes of rigidly sitting, she creaked open an eye and looked around for any intruders. Miroku lay at her feet and Shippo continued to doze against the tree she had laid him against. Once she was sure, she looked over Miroku to see what was wrong with him. He was breathing normally, his chest rising and falling undisturbed. She reached behind his head to see if she could feel a bump. There was none.

Completely perturbed, she reached out with her miko powers and could not hold back a gasp. She could see Naraku's aura surrounding Miroku, the dark energy licking his body.

She looked up sharply as she heard a twig snap just behind her, but she already knew who stood there. She turned to confront her enemy, but was submerged into unconsciousness before she could even blink.

Sesshoumaru ran as fast as he could towards where he had left Rin. He had left the little girl in the care of Jacken while trying to carry out the first steps of his plan. He had been just about to show himself to the hanyou and his group when he had suddenly smelled the other hanyou, Naraku, near where he had left Rin. He didn't even hesitate, but ran towards her with a sense of growing unease.

He stopped short as he reached the small clearing where Rin was sitting happily making leis. Not too far away from her, Jacken was sitting with four different coloured leis around his non-existent neck, grumbling about human females and their useless habits.

"Jacken," his voice cut across the lazy summer air.

The toad looked up with surprise just as Rin turned around to look at him with adoring eyes. She jumped to her little feet and made a bee-line for him, stopping a foot away from him and screaming his name with unabashed zeal. "Sesshoumaru-sama," the toad squawked. "Have you returned to -,"

"Did you sense the hanyou Naraku while I was gone?" he interrupted coldly. He knew that the toad wouldn't probably have been able to sense the hanyou, but he still wanted to know.

Jacken looked at his master with surprise, then hastily tried to answer him. "N-no, Master. The hanyou was nowhere around us, I'm sure of it for I would have been able to smell his foul stench."

Unless your own foul stench was over-powering his, Sesshoumaru thought sardonically to himself. He glared at the 'sad excuse for a youkai', the uneasy feeling of his instincts growing the more he thought about Naraku. "Head back to headquarters! And, Jacken, if anything should harm Rin the price would be your head."

With that said and done, he headed back towards the shard-hunter's group, all the while mulling over what the evil hanyou might be up to. That's when something more disturbing than he would have liked occurred to him. What if he had been trying to lure him away? But why would he want Sesshoumaru away from his half-brother's group?

He paused once more, this time because he could smell his half-brother coming towards him. He could also smell the taijia and her fire cat demon. But there was no trace of the monk, the kitsune, or even Kagome for that matter. He waited for the two to reach him.

Inuyasha panted into view with the taijia following close behind. "What did you want?" he asked before he had even caught his breath, his rude tone already annoying Sesshoumaru.

He looked at him with disdain, "Next time, brother, when you are speaking with myself, I suggest you show more respect. You will be dead before the next word comes out of your mouth." The hanyou looked as though he was about to answer back with another rude remark, but Sesshoumaru interrupted him before he could. "Now, what do you mean by 'what did you want'?" Does he know of my plans for Kagome? The thought ran through his mind before he could stop it.

Inuyasha looked at him as though he thought he was crazy. "Where were you going with such a hurry?" he asked with as much disdain as he could manage.

Oh, that's what the mutt means, he thought to himself. "I don't remember when my business was any of yours," he quipped coldly.

"You wanted something from us; why else would you have been there?" the hanyou said.

Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to tear open the halfling's throat. "I don't have time to explain things to you, little brother. Perhaps that miko that always travels with you would do you the favour of doing such a tiresome deed." Ignoring the hanyou's outrageous look, Sesshoumaru casually strode away from him.

"What do you want from her, Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha asked in hushed voice just as Sesshoumaru stepped past him.

He paused in his steps, looking at his half brother with veiled surprise. He decided to play it safe and feign ignorance. "With whom, little brother?"

Inuyasha smirked with a shrewd smirk. Sesshoumaru did not like the look that was displayed on his face; it was far too calm for his liking. "You want her, don't ya? No use denying it, I could smell your arousal after you met at the water fall."

Sesshoumaru just continued to look at his half-brother impassively. On the inside however, calm was the last thing that he was. "Perhaps you have forgotten, hanyou, but the miko is nothing but a human." He had completely turned around to face the hanyou now. From the corner of his eyes he saw the taijia becoming tenser, the demon cat transforming into its true form; they recognized the ring in his voice.

Inuyasha, though, only smiled wider. "How did you know it was Kagome that I was talking about?"

Sesshoumaru ignored his slip, but allowed the poison to gather at the tips of his claws. The hanyou was going too far.

Suddenly the smirk on Inuyasha's face disappeared. "Don't fool yourself," he ignored Sesshoumaru's growl, "she would never let you have her, never mind me!"

Sesshoumaru didn't hesitate another moment, and lunged strait for his brother's throat. His blood was pulsing with the need to spill the hanyou's blood and end his miserable life at that very instant. Inuyasha dodged and pulled out Tessaiga in the same move.

He attacked again, this time pulling out Tokijin; he had no plans of holding back. The sword gleamed dangerously in the bright sunlight, cutting the air just in front of the hanyou's face as he just managed to dodge the blade. Inuyasha slashed his sword in the general direction of Sesshoumaru, but the taiyoukai was far too fast for him. He jumped away and dodged the weapon the taijia had hurled his way in an attempt to help her comrade. Without fazing, Sesshoumaru readied himself for another assault.

They both made a move as to attack each other, but both froze as the smell of Naraku and magic reached them.

It came from the direction that Inuyasha had just come from, from where Sesshoumaru had been heading towards. It came from where Kagome was.

*~*

That was the end of that chapter, but tell me if you'd rather have me post a bunch of chapters at a time, or post each chapter as soon as they are done.