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Camaraderie	By : BlackberryPatch Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 16228 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

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Love, Siblings, and Their Relative Faults

Sango sat staring into the fire.

She had been startled to hear what Miroku had to say. Of all the things that she and Kagome had supposed the secret might be about, that had never been a possibility. True, their guesses had been pretty farfetched- Kagome's tending to involve creatures known as aliens and things called government conspiracies- but Sango prided herself on her ability to observe people, and demons in particular, and she felt a bit stung that she had been caught so completely unawares.
She let her fingers drift through the thick fur of Kirara's ruff and a deep rumbling purr sounded from the demon's throat. Sango glanced over at Kirara, and smiled suddenly. "You already knew didn't you Kirara?" The cat shot her a look that said, Of course. What do you take me for? Sango chuckled. "Then if you're not worried, I guess I shouldn't be either?" Kirara snorted and laid her head back down, the unspoken command to resume petting her unmistakable.
Sango let her fingers comb through Kirara's fur again and let her thoughts drift and wrap around the concept of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru... Her main worry in the situation was that Sesshomaru had initiated the relationship and was using it to maintain some sort of hold over Inuyasha, but if Kirara, who had been aware of the relationship before any of the rest of them, did not appear to be concerned then it was unlikely that that was the case. True, Kirara's values and ideas of acceptable behavior differed from her human companions, but if Inuyasha was being coerced Sango didn't think Kirara would have been as cavalier about Sesshomaru joining their group as she had been.
The idea of a sexual pairing between two males was not unknown to Sango, and while it was not something she really had any interest in she didn't see a problem with it. Between two males who also happened to be brothers... Well, Sango had to admit that the relationship between these two brothers was weird anyway, and she would be the first to acknowledge that demons adhered to different standards than humans did. She supposed the true issue at hand was what Kagome thought of the situation.
She sighed and leaned back against Kirara, letting the warm rumbling of her companion's body lull her into a doze as she waited for the others to return.

--

Sesshomaru lifted his nose and inhaled the wind as it passed by him, carrying to him the scent of the camp. Something was... different. He sighed in relief- the stale scent of restrained, frustrated anger was gone. It had become overwhelming in the past few days, so much so that he had been forced to remove himself from the company for long periods of time just to maintain some semblance of sanity. On one level he understood Inuyasha's hesitation to speak to the priestess, but on another he wished his brother would understand that it was his attempt to preserve his relationship with her unchanged that was destroying it. Sesshomaru scowled; since when had he become more observant of the humans than even Inuyasha? Too bad he wasn't going to share his insight with his half brother. Inuyasha needed to figure this out himself.

Slowly making his way back to the camp, Sesshomaru paused to observe Rin and the fox demon playing in the water, the monk lounging not far away. A peal of laughter from his charge brought a small smile to the demon lord's lips, unnoticed in the darkness that surrounded him. He continued on to the camp, slipping out of the darkness and into the bright area where the fire's light reached. Only the young woman, the demonslayer, was there, reclined against the large body of her feline companion. He mused, with dry mental humor, that there had probably never been a slayer so surrounded by and at ease with those she had been trained to destroy. The cat observed his approach and stopped purring. As if this had been a signal, the slayer's eyes opened. She regarded him with familiarity, then seemed to come more fully aware of her surroundings, her eyes widening in surprise as her gaze grew suddenly appraising. Sesshomaru's lip curled at the sensation that he was being judged, but he reined in his instinctive response and spoke instead. "I noticed a change in the scent of the..." He paused. "Kagome," he said clearly. "Has something happened?"

The woman- Sango, he reminded himself- looked slightly surprised then speculative, as if she wasn't sure how to tell him. She opted for the direct approach. "Inuyasha told Kagome that the two of you..." She paused. "...have been engaged in a physical relationship."

His eyes narrowed. She made it sound so... cold, so detached. Cold and detached were not words that should be used to describe an act that left him so hot and so completely incapable of coherent thought. "Good," he said simply. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. "To deliberately keep such information from her was causing all of you discomfort."

"All of us?" she riposted. "Not you?"

The corner of his mouth curved upwards slightly. "It made you all smell horribly."

Her eyes widened, and she laughed out loud. Sesshomaru regarded her in mild amusement then turned his attention to the ground beside the fire. After a moment he folded his legs and settled himself across the fire from her, pulling both of his swords from his side and laying them in front of him. Surprise slid across her face again, but was quickly replaced with a welcoming smile. They were silent for awhile, watching the fire and listening to it crack and pop with a sudden ferocity, before Sango broke the stillness. "Do you love him?"

Sesshomaru froze. His eyes shifted to her face, and after a moment she returned his gaze, holding it. There was only a sincere question in her eyes, a desire for understanding and a wish to protect her friend. They stared at each other as Sesshomaru warred internally with his own thoughts and past ways of doing things. This Sesshomaru answers to no one. I do not need to justify my actions to her. But she asks without guile; it would be base to answer her any other way. ...What she asks is impossible. He does not even ask it of me. What is it with humans and their desire for words?! He dropped his eyes to the fire again, the light dancing in his golden eyes. "Yes," he breathed.

Sango nodded, satisfied.

--

Inuyasha stopped running. Dropping to ground, he leaned against the tree he'd been standing in and waited for Kagome to catch up with him.

Stupid, stupid, his mind berated him continuously, and his ears flattened in apprehension as he contemplated facing her. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to Kagome... but ever since she had come back, the sight of her filled him with the strangest feeling. He felt weirdly guilty, but also angry, since he didn't know why he should feel guilty. He wanted to tell Kagome... tell her about how much he cared for Sesshomaru, how much he believed his brother cared for him. He wanted her to be happy for him. He figured that was too much to expect; he'd lied. He hadn't told her, and now she knew anyway... The heavy footsteps of Kagome's running stopped as she broke into the small clearing around the base of the tree. Inuyasha tensed, one hand on the tree and claws digging into the bark. He forced himself to turn around, to face her.

She looked at him, breathing heavily from her chase, her hair wild around her face. He wanted to touch it. "Inuyasha," she said, having caught her breath, and he flinched.

"Don't! I..." he stared, completely unsure what he was going to say next. "Kagome?" he asked, pleadingly, meeting her eyes.

She looked confused, wary, surprised, hurt, and he had to look away. She moved closer to him and he stood his ground, his back to the tree, his claws tearing into the trunk of it. "Inuyasha," she said again, softly. "Why... why didn't you tell me?"

His ears were flat against his head and he turned his face away, his eyes closed. "I thought... You wouldn't like it," he said lamely.

She was quiet for a minute, looking at him. She raised a hand suddenly and touched his cheek. He flinched, but raised his eyes, meeting her gaze with surprise. "You thought I would... reject you?" There was puzzlement and hurt in her voice.

"I..." He felt stupid. "Yes," he said quietly.

"Inuyasha!" She threw her arms around him, and he could only stand there, stunned. After a moment he raised his own and wrapped them around her. "I could never do that," she said, her voice soft but firm. She leaned back a little to look at him. "I could never do that," she said again. "I love you."

He stared at her, her upturned face soft and inviting in the moonlight, and brushed his thumb hesitantly across her cheek. "I... I love you too, Kagome." He bent his head and pressed his lips to hers.

The sensation was entirely unlike anything he'd experienced before. Kagome's mouth was soft, pliant, giving- so completely different from Sesshomaru's. Her body fit against his easily, her hands soft in his hair. He broke off the kiss and looked down at her wonderingly.

She looked back up at him, smiling softly, but she seemed to be realizing something. "Inuyasha, let's si-" she cut herself off, remembering who she was talking to. "Have a seat." She sat on one of the large roots of the tree poking up from the ground. Inuyasha looked at her warily, his ears pricked forward intently, before he sat beside her. God, he had to sit right next to me didn't he? she thought frantically, but she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "After your mom died, you didn't have a lot of contact with humans, right?"

He bristled. "Yeah, so what?"

She put her hand on his arm reassuringly. "How old were you?"

He hesitated. "I dunno. 10?"

"So, you never got to talk about," she blushed- she hadn't even had to talk to her brother about this, much less the attractive demon man she was running around medieval Japan with- "when you started feeling... feelings toward other people." God, she sucked at this. Huffing slightly, she tried again. "I mean, when people get to be a certain age, their bodies change. And they start to feel things... that they didn't before."

Inuyasha blushed furiously and snatched his hand away from hers. "Yeah," he said shortly, and she figured he understood what she was talking about.

"People... learn how to deal with these feelings by interacting with each other. You..." Kagome hesitated.

His ears went back. "I didn't," he said shortly. Hesitantly, he looked at her from under his bangs. "What does that mean?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly, but one thing I know is," she blushed, "you don't have to kiss everyone you love." He looked a little confused. "I mean," she clarified, "that there are different kinds of love and you express them in different ways. Like," her expression went distant and fond as she thought about her family, "I love my mom and I show it by helping her out and trying to do good in school and giving her hugs. And I love Souta, but I usually show it by teasing him. My mom loved my dad and she showed it by having his kids. You see how they're a little different?"

He nodded slowly. "You're saying I got 'em all mixed up cause I didn't get to be around other kids when I was growing up." His jaw tightened. "You're saying that's why I started screwing Sesshomaru."

Kagome would have blushed at that point blank confession, but she was too busy thinking about something else. She took Inuyasha by the chin and made him look at her. "I'm not saying that you don't love him, or that you don't know how to, or that you're wrong," she said firmly. Then she blushed. "It's just that... when you kissed me now... that's how couples kiss. So... I was confused."

He hesitated. "Kagome, I..."

Dear god, she thought, her heart starting to beat faster.

He looked at her, his golden eyes filling her vision. "Kagome, I... care about you, almost more than I've ever cared about anyone in my entire life."

She took a deep breath. "Almost?" she said weakly.

He shrugged uncomfortably. "Not my mom."

"Ah. Go on," she told him, her voice still weak.

He hesitated again. "I just... wanted you to know that." He looked at her hopefully, as if waiting for her to tell him what that was supposed to mean.

"Inuyasha, you mean a lot to me too." She smiled. "You're the best friend I've ever had."

He smiled back, his ears pricking forward. "So... is that what this feeling is?"

Her heart thumped irregularly. "What feeling?"

"I... hurt, here," his hand went to his chest, "when you're mad at me, or when you're in danger."

"Oh, really?" She breathed. "I... I worry about you too." She closed her eyes. "Inuyasha, you have to figure out for yourself what exactly it means. I... I can't tell you. I just want you to know that you can talk to me, about anything, and that there is nothing that could stop you from being my friend."

"Thanks, Kagome." He reached his arms out hesitantly and wrapped them around her tightly. "I never... I never had friends before."

Suddenly overcome with emotion she returned the embrace fiercely.

--

Sango watched Sesshomaru across the fire, following his movements closely. He was ill at ease, but masked it well- the way his eyes kept darting toward the forest, in the direction in which Inuyasha and Kagome's scents disappeared, was the only thing that let her know he was worried at all.

"Why do you want to destroy Naraku?" she asked him suddenly.

His eyes shifted to her, narrowing as he attempted to decide whether or not he should answer such an inane question. But as he had answered her before, he did now. "I don't like him," he said shortly. "Why do you expend your energy in such a course?"

Her eyes shadowed, but it was a fair enough question; she'd asked it first. "He manipulated my brother into killing our village, and even though Kohaku's body is already dead, Naraku keeps him alive by the power of the jewel to do his evil bidding."

Sesshomaru focused his attention on her; it was a series of small gestures, mostly that his eyes stopped flitting toward the trees, but she could feel his interest come to rest on her. "A fitting reason for seeking blood vengeance," his smooth voice said softly. "He is your brother," he observed, remembering the boy in Naraku's employ that he'd encountered on occasion.

"Yes," she replied focusing her thoughts on the Kohaku she remembered from before Naraku.

He was silent a moment. "Does your brother cause you endless annoyance?"

Sango smirked. "Most definitely."

Sesshomaru sighed. "Then I suppose it is something that cannot be helped."

She hid her smile behind her hand, but couldn't suppress the laugh that bubbled out around it. The demon glared at her, but she gestured appeasingly. "I'm sorry," she said when she could speak again. "I was laughing at the idea of us talking like this. If my father, or anyone from my village saw us this way... It is very odd," she finished with a grin.

Sesshomaru grinned as well, though it was a dark, feral expression that showed more teeth than it did mirth. "If I saw us talking this way... I would not believe the proof of my eyes." He frowned thoughtfully. "Perhaps my reason is similar to yours." It took Sango a moment to figure out that he was talking about Naraku again. "He... manipulated my brother." His eyes narrowed, flaring with a dark red light that made her shiver, and his lip curled in a silent snarl. "He sought to manipulate me as well."

She nodded. "Hatred for Naraku brought us all together," she said softly. "And out of it we have forged great friendships." Sesshomaru's eyes lifted to meet hers, the surprise in them shifting into acknowledgement.

"Friendship? Is that what they're calling it these days?" Miroku's low voice echoed out of the trees as he approached the camp. Sango looked up to see him, one arm supporting Rin, the other Shippou, both children fast asleep. "Say you're going to tie me to a tree and them leaving me to tire out the youngsters while you just sit around taking it easy," he said scoldingly, but there was a playful twinkle in his eyes. "Sango, I haven't had the opportunity to... acknowledge your particular attributes for over a week," he complained, sighing dramatically. Sango's eyebrow twitched. "I hope you appreciate my sacrifice," the monk continued.

"Miroku," Sango shot him a glare. "I hope you truly appreciate the presence of those children, because they're the only thing keeping you from getting smacked."

"Sango! How could you say such horrible things!" He gently laid Rin and Shippou next to the fire and, even though the night was not yet cold, lay a blanket over them.

She rolled her eyes and lay down on her side, turning away from Miroku. "This conversation is over," she said flatly. "And don't even think about it," she admonished, catching one of Miroku.s errant hands in process without even looking.

He pouted at her back. "Sango..."

"No."

Opportunity lost for the moment, Miroku abandoned his attempt and settled down beside the fire. He gazed into the warm flames, trying to stay awake despite his weariness, when he heard a quiet voice.

"Sleep. I will stand watch."

Miroku glanced to his side, slightly surprised to realize that it was Sesshomaru who had spoken. But he attempted to cover his surprise and nodded. Sesshomaru rose from his seat and slid the two swords back into their places in the sash at his side.

--

Kagome applauded as Inuyasha skipped a stone almost all the way across the small pond they'd found. Her attempts at the game hadn't been nearly as fruitful, but she was content to be the loser in this case. The smile on Inuyasha's face was triumph enough.

She'd never really understood that he hadn't had much of a childhood before, or she had, but he hadn't seemed open to discussing the fact. For some reason, now he was, or at least he was more open to letting her see him as being vulnerable. Something had changed between them, and it was for the better as far as she was concerned. But still she wondered... Inuyasha had readily accepted her declaration of friendship, but she wondered if that was really all she felt for him. She cared about him, so much... almost more than her own family. And it wasn't that she wasn't attracted to him- cause she most certainly was- but there was something that... just didn't... quite... fit. And she had no idea what it was or what it meant.

"Kagome?"

She looked up at Inuyasha's hesitant question. "Yes?"
He looked at her intently, then moved purposefully closer to her. His arm went around her waist and he leaned his face near her neck, inhaling deeply. She felt a shudder go though her and her knees go weak, and she grabbed the front of his haori, gasping softly. "Kagome," he said again, breathing against her neck. "Do you think..." He hesitated. "Did you want to... have sex with me?"
She breathed. Uncannily, Inuyasha seemed to have picked up on exactly what she had been thinking. She raised one hand and cupped it around his cheek. "I think you are amazingly beautiful," she said honestly. "And I want to stay with you. For as long as I can." She frowned, but shrugged and grinned. "That's all I know."

He paused. "Thanks," he said softly, and she looked at his proud, determined face, and wondered how anyone could ever have wanted to hurt him.

"Oh, Inuyasha." She leaned against him, throwing her arms around his neck and closing her eyes. "You're welcome."

After a pause, Inuyasha lifted Kagome easily in his arms and turned to head back toward the camp. She sighed and let herself be carried, falling into a light doze. Some sixth sense alerted her when they arrived back at the camp, and her eyes fluttered open as Inuyasha laid her gently on her bedroll. The fire was low, but she could make out Sesshomaru standing on the other side of it. Inuyasha went to stand in front of him, leaning his head up to say something in the demon's ear. Sesshomaru's ear twitched, in what Kagome assumed was surprise, and Inuyasha turned around to face the fire. Sesshomaru's arms came up and wrapped around his brother and he leaned down to one fuzzy ear to whisper something back. Inuyasha smiled, then gestured to Kirara, who had been watching them. She lifted her lips in distaste, but growled a soft affirmative. The pale forms of the two dog demons seemed to melt into the forest behind them and disappear.
Kagome lay where she was for awhile, but she suddenly found that any sleepiness she'd felt had left her. She rose quietly and walked toward the trees with apprehension. At the tree line, she glanced back at Kirara, but the cat only flicked an ear, as if to say You know what you're getting into. Kagome nodded, and slipped between the trees.

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