Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

And You, My Brother	By : Arianawray Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 15027 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 21
- 22
- 23
Chapter XXII: My heart was to thy rudder tied
Slicing the air in a great arc with the Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha cut through the trees towards the human-eating demon he had come to slay. The beast looked ridiculously like a drawing in a storybook about "monsters from outer space" that Kagome's little brother, Sota, had long outgrown, but which their mother could not bear to discard because it had been his favourite book not that many years ago. It was the greenish creature on page five, the one depicted as attempting to eat a downtown Tokyo office block, that came to mind when he faced the present beast.
The resemblance almost made him grin, but this was no storybook, and the hanyou stopped himself from daydreaming before continuing in his attempt to lure it away from the village. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to distract the thing, as Inuyasha's bright-red garb and attention-grabbing yells made him appear a tastier morsel than the skinny farming folk fleeing in terror. Objective achieved, Inuyasha grunted with all the satisfaction of a predator to see that he had succeeded in separating this monster from the villagers it had been trying to trample and eat. "Got you at last!" he growled.
The way now clear for him to strike, he cleft the ogre-like beast asunder in one clean diagonal move from its left shoulder to its right hip.
As the villagers screamed and their few cows lowed nervously, the demon's newly-created two halves slid apart, its top half crashing into the field and the lower half tottering a couple of steps before toppling over. Inuyasha watched the remains bubble and seethe with poison escaping from its innards, along with a few human remains from its last meal. When he was sure it would stay dead, he sheathed his sword, dusted his hands, and walked away.
He heard the cries of the people behind him, but refused to heed them. Most of the time, these simple folk were as afraid of him as of the beasts that had been terrorising them, and sometimes threw stuff at him to drive him away.
"Y-you're a demon too, aren't you?" one particularly loud and persistent voice cut through the general noise. "What do you want from us?"
That made him stop and turn to glare over his shoulder at the crowd behind him, a look which made them all take a few steps back.
"I don't want anything – can't you get that through your thick skulls?" he snapped. "You didn't ask me to come, so I'm not asking anything of you!"
He walked on, but heard the group following him. He whipped around to glare at them and yell: "What now?"
"Er… we just want to say thank you," said the farmer who owned the persistent voice. "May we offer you a meal, or at least something to drink? We don't have much, but we do have some food and a bit of rice wine."
Now that, Inuyasha thought, was a first. The only times human communities – apart from Kaede's village – had ever been nice to him were when Miroku was around to sweet-talk people into providing their pack with a hot meal, a roof over their heads for the night (and ideally some young women to amuse the monk through that same night). It didn't hurt either that Kagome and Sango were human, pretty and good-natured enough to provide further encouragement to their hosts to put them up.
On his own, Inuyasha had never faced anything but abuse or avoidance from the villages he had helped, whose folk feared he would only be the next tyrant to bring more misery into their lives.
"Thanks," he told the man, whose community was visibly poorer than Kaede's. "But I think you need all the food for yourselves, from the looks of it!"
He jumped away so they could not follow, and disappeared into the surrounding forest. It felt nice to be thanked for helping someone, although expressions of appreciation invariably left him outwardly irritated and embarrassed. "Don't expect that to last!" he said aloud to himself. "Next lot you help will probably try to cudgel you with their farm tools!"
Still, that pleasant feeling remained in him, and gave him a warm glow somewhere in the region of his chest and tummy, where it did some good by relieving that other sensation – the unsettled one of not knowing what the devil that singular brother of his was up to.
When he had failed to see Sesshomaru face-to-face in the forest behind Kaede's village, he had stalked off in annoyance, but his heart had sunk as he realised that he wasn't following him. That's it, then, he had thought at the time. He's been staying in this forest all these days for some weird reason of his own – maybe he's fallen in love with Sango, hahaha. If he had been staying for me, he'd come after me now that I'm leaving, wouldn't he?
But by the time he reached the next forest on his way to slay the troublesome beast, Sesshomaru's youki was in evidence again, although the taiyoukai himself was still hidden from sight. It seemed as if he had been held up by something which had prevented him from immediately going after Inuyasha.
The initial thrill he felt upon realising that he was being tailed quickly turned to confusion as Sesshomaru steadfastly refused to show himself, speak or leave. He was keeping away from him all right, but he was also keeping Inuyasha very much at the centre of an imaginary moving circle whose circumference he was patrolling.
Being shadowed like that began to grate on Inuyasha's nerves, as it dawned on him that he was truly being treated like a little brother – a very little brother who obviously couldn't be trusted beyond his guardian's immediate range of influence.
What the hell is he up to? Inuyasha wondered again, as he moved away from the village he had just saved from the demon, and continued to feel his brother's presence. Is he just going to stalk me from a safe distance? For how bloody long?
"Hey! You do realise that I know you're there?" he turned to yell out into the miles of trees behind him, causing a flock of birds to take to the air with frightened squawks.
No answer.
"This is what you consider 'something better to do' once I'm well? Stalking me?"
Still nothing.
Inuyasha issued an exasperated vocalisation, glared at the lines and clumps of trees he had just passed, then kept moving.
By evening, he was annoyed enough to roar: "Are you EVER going to show yourself? What do you think is going to happen, for crying out loud? Do you REALLY think I'm going to jump on you, overpower you and outrage your modesty?!?"
He naturally received no reply, although he did detect something like mild amusement in the vibes emanating from his invisible brother. Sheesh – was that so funny?
At nightfall, after roasting and consuming some wild poultry he had caught for supper, he was reduced to muttering loudly in a vague direction over his shoulder, and among his murmurings was the irritated protest of: "For pity's sake, either come out or GO AWAY. Can't I at least have a moment's privacy to take a leak without wondering which damned direction I shouldn't be facing in?"
More amusement, and that powerful youki even flared so that it felt like he could be anywhere, watching him from any direction. Terrific. His brother was apparently choosing to develop a perverse sense of humour at this most inconvenient time, and Inuyasha ended up hiding in the underbrush to empty his bladder, which wasn't pleasant as those twigs were horribly scratchy, with caterpillars and such, and he was, after all, exposing a rather delicate part of his anatomy.
As the night deepened, he scoured the area to make sure that no other demons or dangerous beasts were around (other than Sesshomaru the Super Stalker), and took to a tall tree so he could get some rest.
He sensed his brother winding down too, obviously having completed his own scanning of their surroundings. For a while, it comforted him to know that someone not very far away was looking out for him. But it quickly occurred to him how ridiculous it was to be shadowed by an individual who had implied not eight nights back that he might not want him as a lover after all. If that was so, shouldn't he be the one stalking Sesshomaru instead?
The absurdity of being trailed by the one he wished to pursue irked him, and he grumbled aloud: "You can be such a jerk, you know that?"
He had more than a strong suspicion that the small pebble which whizzed over to his tree and hit him smack on the back of his head right after he spoke those words had been launched from a certain claw-tipped, long-fingered, stripy hand.
** *** **
The following days revolved largely around the same pattern of Inuyasha minding his own business of slaughtering demons that were up to no good near human settlements and the dens of peaceable youkai, catching himself fish and animals for food, nibbling on wild fruit and edible leaves, and trying not to feel too self-conscious about answering the call of nature in the presence of what he knew was a very observant audience of one.
It also followed a pattern of his alternately ignoring the taiyoukai, and feeling frustrated at being watched the whole time while never being able to provoke him into showing his face.
He flew between moods of temptation to flush him out by Wind Scarring a hundred-mile radius of surrounding countryside, and softer moments when he wished he would stop staying out of sight and just come out so that he could throw himself into his arms and refuse to let himself be pushed away. At intervals, he amused himself with the private joke that maybe all this was part of some obscure taiyoukai courtship ritual.
Ha. If only.
On the tenth day, he checked back in with his friends at the village as he had promised he would, then ventured off again in a different direction this time, with his now-familiar albeit unseen shadow following at a discreet distance.
The lowest point came on the afternoon of the sixteenth day, when he found himself standing in a clearing and screaming his head off at Sesshomaru: "HEY! You said I would be ready to talk when I was next angry with you! Well, I'm angry now! I'm FUCKING ANGRY! And I still want to talk! Dammit, I'M FURIOUS WITH YOU, AND I STILL WANT YOU! What does that say, huh? HUH?!? So can we bloody talk NOW?"
He received no answer, but as he quietened down, he noticed a family of river otter youkai staring at him in wide-eyed amazement from the edge of the clearing, on the banks of their stream. As he gaped at them, the parents, who were large but obviously harmless, pushed their two little offspring behind them to shield them from the clearly insane, very potty-mouthed and patently randy dog hanyou shrieking on their doorstep.
Flushing almost as red as his robe with humiliation, he gave the invisible Sesshomaru another growl of exasperation and jumped into the trees, away from the family he had startled, sensing as he fled the clearing that his brother was laughing quietly to himself.
Oh, go right on ahead – laugh at me right after I've declared that I want you, why don't you? he muttered to himself, his cheeks burning. But as he flew through the trees, he had to admit that the looks on the faces of those demons had been pretty funny.
He allowed himself a snort of laughter at his own expense, and felt a weight that he hadn't realised was there lift from him. He hadn't found much that was genuinely hilarious for quite some time – very little in general since Kikyo's death, and less to smile about with heartfelt warmth since he had been separated from Kagome – but he supposed that screaming about wanting to get it on with his brother in front of a bewildered pair of otter youkai and their two young ones, all with identically incredulous looks on their faces, was a fair enough candidate for something worth laughing at.
** *** **
On the nineteenth day of his nominally solo excursion, he turned and headed back towards Kaede's again, for the next night would be another night of the new moon, and he had promised his friends that he would be safely ensconced in the village for that.
It crossed his mind that he could get Sesshomaru to emerge by spending his human night out in the open like bait, and waiting for someone or something to come by and attempt to eat him. Now that would have his brother flying out towards him, or more accurately, towards whatever might try to devour him, like a bat to a bug – a tall, strong, dangerous, beautiful, silky and very fluffy bat.
But no, that wouldn't be fair. It seemed like playing dirty somehow, and he wanted Sesshomaru to come out when he was good and ready. He needed to know that he really wanted him (or conversely, that he had decided he didn't) and not that he was present only because his hand had been forced.
So he dutifully turned up on Kaede's doorstep by the eve of the new moon, stayed the night, and spent the whole of the next day helping her, Rin and Shippo with their chores. As the sun began to set, he kept indoors and underwent his transformation uneventfully, reminding Rin once again that she was not to tell anyone about his human nights, and cuffing Shippo because the young bigmouth had told so many people before. Shippo had to run to Sango for protection, as she and Miroku were joining them for the evening meal, and he knew Inuyasha wouldn't hit Sango even if she was kicking his butt to bits in an all-out fight, now that she was pregnant.
"You're setting off again tomorrow, aren't you?" Miroku asked Inuyasha as they drank their soup.
"Yes," Inuyasha affirmed. "I guess I'll be gone for another ten days before checking in with you lot again. If I've had enough space and solitude by the time that's over, I should be back here on a more regular basis after that."
"Don't you get lonely out there all by yourself?" Rin asked. "I would if I were all alone."
"In between butchering bad demons, it does get very quiet," he told her. "But I'm used to it."
He didn't mention the matter of how her guardian seemed to have become his self-appointed guardian too.
"Maybe Inuyasha has friends out there we don't know about, who keep him company all through the long, lonely nights," Miroku told the little girl, smirking at the hanyou, for he could tell that Sesshomaru was close by again, back in the forest behind them.
Inuyasha almost choked on his soup. He glared at the monk but said nothing recognisable as speech, primarily because he was busy trying to get a piece of tofu out of his windpipe.
"Did you run into Sesshomaru while you were out there?" Shippo asked innocently, re-emerging from under Sango's arm.
It was hard for Miroku to tell if Inuyasha was colouring at the mention of his brother's name, for he was still red from coughing his food back out of his air passage.
"No," the half-demon said, spitting the treacherous bit of beancurd back into his bowl. "Run into him? Oh, no. There's no way I could run into him at this time."
Shippo was mystified by his sarcastic emphasis on those words, but put it aside and pressed on: "He's back in the forest again – I can sense him there. He left when you left, and he's back now that you're back – so why haven't you run into him?"
"I have no idea. Why don't you go and ask him?" the now-human hanyou gave the kitsune a toothy grin. "Cos I would like to know too." He spoke those last few words a little louder, as if Sesshomaru's ears would be able to pick them up.
Shippo blanched. "Uh, no thanks. Just because he didn't squish me the last time I went looking for him doesn't mean I have to push my luck again."
Reminded of how his little friend had risked his life and overcome his own fears to help save him from the sorcerer and Kinrin, Inuyasha regretted cuffing him earlier, softened and decided to communicate in a less obscure fashion. He said to him: "He's been around. I've sensed his presence a lot. But I haven't seen him at all."
"Why haven't you seen him, Inuyasha?" Rin asked. "Sesshomaru-sama was really worried about you when you were sick. He never worries about anything, but he was worried about you."
"Yeah?" he asked the girl softly. "I guess he was. But I'm well now, and I can look after myself. He knows that, so he doesn't have to hang around me too closely any more."
"Does that mean he left me here with Kaede-sama because he knows I can take care of myself too?" she asked.
"Erm, kid, I think he wanted you to live with Kaede-sama because you can't take care of yourself – and he didn't think he could do a better job than the old lady here. He just wants the best for you."
As the words came out of his mouth, the realisation struck him that Sesshomaru was trying to do what he believed was best for him, in his own peculiar way. At present, he evidently did not think it was ideal for Inuyasha to be with him – whether that was to be temporary or permanent remained to be discovered – and he was keeping physically apart from him to allow him to process his thoughts and feelings more clearly.
"Yeah, he wants to do what's best for you," he murmured to himself as well as to Rin.
"He certainly does," Miroku added, seeming to speak to Rin, but with his eyes fixed on Inuyasha.
"He has a funny way of going about it, though," Inuyasha grumbled.
"It's the intention that matters, isn't it?" Miroku asked.
"The trouble is that it can be damned hard to tell what his intentions are."
"Maybe he too finds it hard to tell what others really need and want," the monk suggested.
"Why the hell does it have to be so bloody hard to understand someone else?" Inuyasha asked in frustration, his voice rising as he set down his empty soup bowl and picked up his bowl of rice, quite forgetting that they were supposed to be talking about Rin's guardianship arrangements. "Why can't we all be more transparent?"
"Ah, nothing worth having is easy to obtain," Miroku intoned sagely.
By this time, Rin and Shippo were thoroughly perplexed while Kaede was having her suspicions about the brothers confirmed, and Sango was trying to stifle her giggles with her chopsticks.
"So…" the baffled Rin began. "What are Sesshomaru-sama's intentions?"
Inuyasha gave her a piece of meat out of his own bowl and said to her: "That, kid, is the question."
"Stop confusing the child," Kaede implored. "This topic of conversation has nearly moved on to a point where it is almost unfit for the children's ears."
"I'm confusing the child? Well, somebody tell him to stop confusing me first!" Inuyasha complained, throwing another little tantrum.
"Hmm," Miroku murmured thoughtfully. "Perhaps if one wishes to stop being treated like a child, one should first stop behaving like a child."
"Your point being…?" Inuyasha voice held a note of warning.
"Oh, nothing," the monk said innocently, rolling his eyes. "Nothing at all. More meat, Rin-chan?"
- 21
- 22
- 23
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

And You, My Brother