Inuyasha was having an outing with his okaa-san in a field near a human village. Energetic little child that he was, Inuyasha had run a distance away from his mother and was chasing a rabbit. Not paying attention to where he was heading, the young Inuyasha wandered even closer to the human village without realizing it. The next thing Inuyasha knew, rocks pelted his skin as he tried to protect his head from the sudden barrage of stones. Through the pain, Inuyasha could hear his attackers yelling. It's a demon. Kill it. It's a monster. The young Inuyasha, because of the physical and emotional abuse combined, became enraged beyond reason. Growling, he rushed forward and before the group of humans surrounding him knew what happened their comrades were lying in a pool of their own blood.
Sesshoumaru arrived to see Inuyasha giving chase to two humans in the direction of the field. At the time, the younger Sesshoumaru's eyes had widened at the carnage caused by his brother. Catching up to Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru found him sitting on his haunches, eyes glowing with violence. The two humans, a child and a man, were both dead. In the moment Sesshoumaru had taken to glance over at the bodies, Inuyasha attacked. Surprised, Sesshoumaru evaded Inuyasha's claws and called his name. Not wanting to hurt his half-brother he tried to calm the boy down by calling his name. When calling his name had no effect, Sesshoumaru thought it would be prudent to knock the boy unconscious before he hurt himself. Although young, Sesshoumaru was the elder as well as a full youkai, and so, easily managed to hit Inuyasha. Inuyasha released a scream of rage that brought his okaa-san rushing towards them. When she arrived, it was to find Sesshoumaru holding onto Inuyasha's arm and slamming the smaller boy into a tree.
The woman had rushed over to the now unconscious boy and scooped him into her arms. Casting a fearful look at Sesshoumaru, she ran quickly towards the castle as though the boy would try to kill her also. The youkai looked at the bodies of the humans once more in distaste, after all, they did attack and try to kill a youkai. But otou-san says that we should try to get along with the humans although they are different. Sighing, Sesshoumaru delivered the bodies to the entrance of the human village so that they could take care of their dead. Heading back to the palace, Sesshoumaru wondered if otou-san knew what had happened yet. Otou-san would not be happy with what happened, as he didn't tolerate killing humans unless it was absolutely necessary.
Upon his return, a servant informed Sesshoumaru that he had been summoned to the throne room by his otou-san. On his way to the throne room, Sesshoumaru wondered how the brat was doing. He had nothing against the Inuyasha, but the boy seemed to be spoiled by his mother. Although the human woman had been married to the Taiyoukai for six years now, Sesshoumaru had no liking for her. He couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly it was about her that he disliked. Although his otou-san had a liking for humans, from what Sesshoumaru had seen of humans, they were a distasteful lot. Many offended his keen sense of smell and more oft than not, were lacking in intelligence.
Approaching the throne room, Sesshoumaru pondered upon his relationship with Inuyasha. When the hanyou had come into this world, he had disliked the cub. He had no need for another shallow being living with them. When possible, Sesshoumaru had done his best to avoid both mother and son, only appearing when his presence was requested by his otou-san. But as fate would have it, he had found a five years old Inuyasha crying because his favorite ball had rolled into a cave. Sesshoumaru had taken one look at the small crying face and sighed inwardly. At least the boy had enough sense not to wander into a dark cave on his own. Killing the demon that was playing with the lost ball, Sesshoumaru returned the ball to the hanyou. To his chagrin, from that day on the cub had taken to following Sesshoumaru around. The cub's constant hovering was an annoyance but Sesshoumaru found that the hanyou was not as dumb as he had thought. Slowly, Sesshoumaru found that Inuyasha grew on him an d he found that the boy was tolerable.
Looking up, Sesshoumaru realized that he was standing before the doors of the throne room where two stone statues of legendary inuyoukai stood in their true, majestic forms. Entering the throne room, Sesshoumaru bowed to the inutaiyoukai, his father. Next to his father, the human woman cast fearful looks at the young youkai, as though he would attack her at any moment. Giving her a cold look, Sesshoumaru watched as the woman shifted closer to his otou-san without expression. Inuyasha wasn't present, but the condition he was in, Sesshoumaru didn't really expect him to be there.
"Sesshoumaru. Did you attack your brother?" At the taiyoukai's nod, Inuyasha's okaa-san grabbed otou-san's hand and held on tightly. "Explain to us what happened today."
"I arrived in the field by town to find Inuyasha giving chase to two humans: one old, one young. As I had just arrived on the scene, I was unable to do more than watch as he ripped them apart with his claws. As soon as I had gotten near Inuyasha, he attacked me. And the rest, I'm sure his okaa-san has already told you."
The taiyoukai's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the words but it was gone in a fraction of a second. As it was, Sesshoumaru was told that Inuyasha would recover when he awoke but nothing was explained as to why the hanyou had turned suddenly vicious. Shrugging it off as otou-san's business, he had not given it any further thought. From that day on, Inuyasha's okaa-san always shrunk away from Sesshoumaru's prescence and stayed glued to otou-san's side constantly. The human woman's view of Sesshoumaru did not concern him, but otou-san wasn't happy about the situation. But as fate would have it, not two months later otou-san was mortally injured by the dragon youkai with a body of steel, Ryuukotsuei. It was at that time that Sesshoumaru received Tenseiga and it was most likely that it was also then that otou-san used the last of his strength to hide his grave within Inuyasha's eye. Soon afterwards, Inuyasha's mother, unable to stand being in Sesshoumaru's presence any longer, left the castle. The human had left in the dead of the night, taking Inuyasha with her.
Sesshoumaru had known the woman's plan but saw no reason to stop Inuyasha's okaa-san as he had no real liking of her. The youkai followed the fleeing woman silently as she had chosen to leave at such a bad time, solely because there remained a sense of responsibility towards Inuyasha. Their lands were surrounded by many demons trying to take advantage of the death of a taiyoukai. Anyone with common sense would realize that right after the death of the ruling demon of the land, chaos would rule, and yet the woman had chosen this time to run. Sesshoumaru watched in exasperation. The foolish woman was asking directions from a demon while Inuyasha clung to her skirts. The hanyou probably sensed something was not right but was not old enough to know what it was. Suddenly, the cub let go of his okaa-san's hand and ran slightly ahead to where Sesshoumaru was watching them. Sniffing his small nose he carefully sniffed the air as though he smelled something he recognized. Turning suddenly, the hanyou growled at the demon disguised as a man and pulled his okaa-san away from the youkai. The man smiled evilly before dropping his false form as fangs appeared and his nails lengthened to become claws: a wolf youkai.
"Run Inuyasha. Get out of here." Inuyasha's okaa-san had picked up a log and had pushed the hanyou behind her. "RUN."
Well, the human woman finally managed to do something right. With the way she cowered whenever I was around I would have thought she would have just turned and ran. Actually, Sesshoumaru was impressed with her love for her cub. It reminded him of his own okaa-san and the way he would always protect him. It was almost the same situation as with Sesshoumaru and his okaa-san. The only difference being her mother had gotten into a life-threatening situation because of him. The young Sesshoumaru had stumbled into Ryuukotsui's lair and his okaa-san had been there to rescue him. This was one of the reasons why otou-san had taken off to fight the dragon youkai when his whereabouts were discovered.
Looking back at the scene below him, Sesshoumaru saw that Inuyasha had ran a short distance away and the youkai was attacking the woman. It's too late. The youkai had been standing beside the woman the whole time. At any time, the youkai could have killed the woman in less than a heartbeat but probably wanted the added bonus of also capturing the boy. Sesshoumaru jumped to land in front of the wolf youkai just as the youkai slashed the woman's throat. Seeing Sesshoumaru, the wolf youkai threw the corpse of Inuyasha's okaa-san at Sesshoumaru. Instead of dodging, Sesshoumaru slashed through the corpse to kill the wolf youkai. Unfortunately, the moment Sesshoumaru slashed through the woman was when Inuyasha turned around.
~End of Flashback~
A soft whimper broke the stunned silence that followed. Sesshoumaru slowly rose to his feet, pushing off with one hand placed on the ground. Slowly, the youkai turned to face the one who had struck him and bounded softly off the broken balcony towards the ground below. In his arms, a little girl clung tightly to his kimono, her eyes streaming with tears of fear. Kagome sighed with relief at seeing Rin unhurt and rushed towards Sesshoumaru as he landed softly on the ground. Her friends watched with part shock and part fear, as they wondered if Sesshoumaru would attack Kagome when she approached the youkai. Sinking to one knee once again, Sesshoumaru handed Rin to Kagome without a word. Standing beside the demon lord, Kagome sensed that he was tense with anger. There were probably few things that could cause Sesshoumaru to lose his temper, and apparently, Rin was one of them. Kagome rubbed Rin's back comfortingly while she anxiously wondered what Sesshoumaru would do. The youkai gazed at the crying Rin silently.
"Rin. Stop crying." Kagome's eyes widened in surprised anger at his quiet command and opened her mouth to make an angry retort. She had barely gotten Sesshoumaru's name out when Kagome realized that Rin had stopped crying. Hearing a small hiccup, Kagome looked down to find that Rin was rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. As the little girl lowered her hands, Kagome was amazed to find a happy smile on Rin's face. Rin tapped on Kagome's shoulder, letting the teen know that she wanted to get down. Walking over to Sesshoumaru, the little girl bowed energeticly to the youkai.
"Sesshoumaru-sama protected Rin again! Sesshoumaru-sama daisuki!"
Sesshoumaru placed a hand upon Rin's head, acknowledging her words, but not taking his eyes off of Inuyasha. The hanyou's turbulent eyes hidden by his long hair, the Tetsusaiga's tip slowly lowered to touch the ground. How did this happen? I almost killed a little girl, human and defenseless. All I wanted was to save Kagome from Sesshoumaru. Instead, at this moment she is standing with my brother, her captor, but also the one who saved the little girl. Miroku laid a consoling hand on his shoulder, only to have it shaken off. Shaking his head, Miroku took his position behind Inuyasha, if Sesshoumaru should attack, he would assist the hanyou.
Sesshoumaru watched Inuyasha dispassionately as the hanyou stood with his head bowed in guilt. Inuyasha's failure to notice Rin had almost cost Sesshoumaru to lose something important. Although, through the use Tenseiga he would have been able to bring her back for reasons he didn't care to think upon Sesshoumaru did not wish Rin to be hurt. The carelessness Inuyasha showed could not be allowed to go unpunished. Sesshoumaru's gaze took in Inuyasha's friends and assessed them. Although, they held a level of importance to the hanyou, they were not enough. The things of importance to Inuyasha were easy enough to see. These things included the Shikon no Tama, Kikyo, Kagome, and the Tetsusaiga, not necessarily in that order. Tetsusaiga would be his in due time but the other three things required more thought. Sesshoumaru had no interest in the Shikon no Tama as he had no need to use objects to increase his strength. Also, with the acquirement of the Shikon no Tama would bring many lesser demons constantly giving chase. Sesshoumaru did not need the added job as guardian of the jewel and it would be useless without the purifying powers of a miko. The thought of having anything to do with Kikyo was distasteful. A miko corrupt with darkness and hate, living off of the souls of others was irony at top form. That means only Kagome was left as a feasible choice.
Kagome was a small distance behind him and the moment talking to the young kitsune that always seems to cling to her. Kneeling on one knee, she smiled and patted the kitsune comfortingly. Rin captured her attention as she began tugging on the kitsune's tail. The surprised Shippo yelped causing Kagome and Rin to giggle. Soothing the cub, Kagome introduce the two young ones and admonished Rin gently about pulling on tails. But when the cub and Rin turned away, Sesshoumaru saw the cheerful face slowly fade to be replaced by a worried look as she watched Inuyasha.
Sesshoumaru found himself staring into worried eyes as Kagome raised her eyes to his. Her blue-grey eyes seemed to beg him not to be angry and not to hurt her friends. Sesshoumaru's gaze was cool as he regarded Kagome's eyes. With her gaze fixed on his, Sesshoumaru delved into Kagome's thoughts. He saw the familiar red haze of pain from when he first found her but it was oddly diminished. He focused on the more dominating shade of fear and found he was able to see her thoughts more clearly than the first few times he had touched her mind. Sesshoumaru saw that she feared that he would hurt her friends. Seeking to know more he stumbled over a stray thought. A part of Kagome also feared for Sesshoumaru's safety in addition to the safety of her friends and Inuyasha. Silly human, he thought to himself, this injury is nothing. He saw Kagome's eyes widen slightly and immediately shut off the contact.
Then, without warning, Sesshoumaru was standing beside Kagome, his hand on her shoulder. Surprised by the sudden contact, Kagome found herself staring up at Sesshoumaru. His hold on her was firm but it didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her. Maybe it was from seeing the way Sesshoumaru treated Rin, but Kagome found that she wasn't scared that he would hurt her, not really anyway. It was strange, but a moment ago, she could have sworn she heard Sesshoumaru's voice in her head. Shippo shouted Kagome's name at seeing her situation, bringing Inuyasha out of his daze. Sango and Miroku had already taken battle stances at seeing this sudden development. Kagome began to worry, not about herself, but about Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku. Sesshoumaru would have no problem killing them and she wasn't sure that Inuyasha could defeat the youkai lord. The most likely explanation as to why he had not killed her yet was because Rin liked her. Also, it seemed that Sesshoumaru wanted her to teach him what love was. Kagome blinked, then blushed. Mou, this isn't the time to be thinking about things like that! Especially about a cold-blooded killer. Kagome no baka!
Inuyasha clenched Tetsusaiga tightly, helplessly at seeing Kagome held hostage by Sesshoumaru knowing that the youkai could kill her before he could get near them. Knowing Sesshoumaru, he probably wants Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha shook his head in frustration. I would give Tetsusaiga to Sesshoumaru in exchange for Kagome's life. Resigned, Inuyasha returned Tetsusaiga to its sheath and removed it from his belt, holding it out in front of him. He looked up to find Sesshoumaru with a small, amused smirk on his usually expressionless face.
"For the moment, what I want is not Tetsusaiga."
Inuyasha looked up in shock. Kagome stood in confusion. If Sesshoumaru doesn't want Tetsusaiga what else would he want from Inuyasha? Kagome turned to face Sesshoumaru and the world came to a sudden stop. They all watched in disbelief as Sesshoumaru kissed Kagome.