InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Windows on the West ❯ Half of an Inheritance, and All of My Pride ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer:  I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

-sSs-

Kagome glanced behind her at the tall, elegant figure of her current protector, and frowned slightly, a little concerned.  

Normally, the powerful daiyoukai was stoic, calm, and even-tempered – but since last night, there had been a dark melancholy in his aura that was really bothering her.  He was hurting – she could feel it.

And that bothered her.  There was just something about Sesshoumaru – he should never fall prey to harm or pain of any kind.  It was wrong.  But she didn't know what it was that was so bothering him; she couldn't fix it if she had no clue what was broken in the first place.

Asking him, however, wasn't really the way to go.  Sesshoumaru was not one to just accept being questioned – all she could hope for is that at some point, he would seek her out and use her as a sounding board -  as he had done several times, lately.  

So she surreptitiously watched him that day while they traveled, and that evening as they settled down for the night, and tried her best to project a soothing aura, keeping it passive, but there – it wouldn't do for him to know what she was doing.  It might upset his rather prickly pride.

After Rin had fallen asleep near the fire, Kagome smiled at the daiyoukai, and stood to walk out into the field they were in a little, wanting nothing more than to lay in the grass and look up at the stars.  And hopefully, that would also give him the opportunity to speak to her if he wanted to; he wouldn't be overheard by his nosy retainer.

It worked.  About ten minutes after she'd headed out, he appeared next to her, there between one moment and the next.  Seating himself  near her, he was silent for a time, and Kagome was content to leave it so.  He would speak in his own time.

“My brother does not deserve any of what he has been so freely given,”  he said, after a few minutes of quiet.

Kagome blinked.  “Given... by who?”  she asked, a little confused.

A long pause, then,  “Anyone.”

Now she was really confused.  “What has he been given?”

He canted a quick look her way, then set his gaze back on the sky.  “Your loyalty... the Tessaiga – half of my inheritance... and all of my pride.”

And then Kagome understood.  Understood his current melancholy – and all of the times he had fought with Inuyasha.  She remembered the acid words spouted by his father's old enemy over the Tenseiga, and the Meidou – how he'd been given a mere cast-off of the Tessaiga, as though he were disdained by his father.

It was all over his father's respect – and love.  He didn't feel like he had it... any of it.

She folded her arms under her head and sighed.  “You know,”  she said, almost idly, though her words were really anything but,  “it's funny how two people can see the same situation so very differently.  You feel as though your father saw you as the lesser son, and that he gave everything of any value to Inuyasha... and yet, I see it the other way around entirely.”

When he stiffened, she knew he understood that she could see through his cryptic words, and knew what was really bothering him.

“And how does a little human girl see it, then, miko?”  he asked quietly, his voice cold.

“Your father gave him the Tessaiga because he knew Inuyasha needed it to even survive – and you did not.  He knew that you were strong enough that having that sword would only weaken you, really.”

He was startled at her words, though he did not show it.  “What do you mean?”

“Isn't depending on something weaker than you a crutch, Sesshoumaru?  You're stronger than the Tessaiga, and if you had actually managed to take it, every time you wielded it instead of depending on your own strength, you would have been weakening yourself – until one day, you would have woken up, and really needed the Tessaiga, because your own strength was finally the lesser.  Simple as that,”  she said, matter-of-factly.  “Everything I've ever heard about your father said that he was very wise... I think he would have known something like that easily, if even a little human girl like me could figure it out.”  Her voice was lightly teasing at the end – she didn't want to offend him by making herself out to be smarter than him, after all.

With a swirl of  moonlight locks, he turned his head to look down at her, his expression, for one moment, open and unguarded – he looked uncertain.  And she couldn't stand that look on him, so she smiled and said,  “You may have lost a part of an inheritance, Sesshoumaru... but you haven't lost any of your pride.”

For just one tiny second out of time, she saw the ghost of a smile curl one side of his mouth – and then his expression smoothed out, and he once again lifted his gaze to the sky.  “I suppose, in that, miko, you are correct.  I do have a great deal of pride.”

Kagome smiled wider, and stared at the bright stars, glad that his usual calm was back, and the melancholy of earlier was gone.

He was Sesshoumaru again, and that was good enough for her.



Converting /tmp/phpcgVOtd to /dev/stdout