A Sword and a girl
Chapter 5: A Sword and a Girl
“Who the fuck does he think he is?”
As soon as Inuyasha was able to breathe normally, he started ranting about his elder brothers last words and how he would definitely not wait until his lordship graced him again with his presence. It took him some time until he realized what state Kagome was in and how thunderous her expression had become.
“Oy… what happened to you, anyway?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. I just got chased by a demon and would have ended up as his dinner if Sesshoumaru hadn’t saved me. YOU MORON!”
By the end of Kagome’s tongue lashing, Inuyasha almost wished the rosary back. When she was done with him, he took the young miko on his back and carried her to the village stream where she finally got to wash all the grime of her adventure off her body. In the meanwhile, Inuyasha went back to the little clearing where his brother had told him to wait. He would have preferred to go home to Kikyou but Kagome had made him see that Sesshoumaru would get his meeting one way or the other and he wanted to spare his wife the sight of him being dragged to the woods by a pissed demon lord.
….
When Sesshoumaru reached the hut of the old miko who took now care of Rin, he found the little girl fast asleep between the fox kit and the old woman. She looked peaceful in her slumber and Sesshoumaru wondered not for the first time why he couldn’t just leave her there and let her live a normal, human life where she belonged. Silent like a shadow, he placed the gift he’d brought her next to her futon and left the hut. Not one of the hut’s inhabitants had stirred when the powerful demon moved between them. Being the predator that he was, Sesshoumaru could hide his presence from others as long as he wished to do so. Maybe he should from now on only come when his ward slept. It would be enough for him to see her healthy and safe and Rin would be able to gradually forget him.
While he walked back towards the forest, Sesshoumaru contemplated the human that had once been his hanyou half-brother. It was remarkable how much he still resembled his father even with his now human appearance.
To his surprise, Inuyasha was waiting at the exact spot where he had left him. Maybe his younger brother had learned something from their previous encounter after all. Sesshoumaru acknowledged Inuyasha’s presence with a barely perceptible nod and came straight to the point.
“The Tetsusaiga. I want you to give it to me.”
At first, Inuyasha wanted to lash out at his brother. Insult him, tell him that there was absolutely no way he would ever hand his sword to his elder brother and that Sesshoumaru should finally get over his father-complex and accept that he had wanted his younger son to carry the mighty sword. But then he thought about how Tetsusaiga was laying in the corner of his simple hut, battered, unable to transform. It didn’t look suspicious but it was still a powerful demon sword. What if some other demon found out that the Fang of the late Inu no Taisho could be found in a village with no one to wield it? He looked at his brother who, like most of the time, regarded him with a mixture of boredom and mild disgust. Sesshoumaru would keep the sword safe. He felt that he owed that to his trusted weapon. It was one of the hardest decisions Inuyasha had had to make in his life.
“You are a fucking, sneaky bastard but ya know what? I’ll give it to you. But don't get me wrong, I still hate your guts”
Sesshoumaru’s response was a single lifted brow that betrayed his surprise at Inuyasha’s words. What had the bastard expected? He could not fight the demon lord as a human and he was very well aware of the fact that Sesshoumaru was more than capable to just steal the sword. There were not many options, really, and Inuyasha, for once, chose the least painful one.
Leaving his half-brother in the woods, Inuyasha returned to his hut where Kikyou immediately started asking questions. He promised he would explain later and made his way back to Sesshoumaru with the Tetsusaiga in his hand. With a defiant expression, he stood in front of the taiyoukai and thrust the sword at him.
“Here. Take it. Gotta still burn when ya touch it, right?”
Expressionless, golden eyes that did not hold any clue to Sesshoumaru’s feelings at that moment, flashed briefly to Inuyasha’s face and fixated then on the Fang. It was most ironic. After years of searching for the sword, after numerous attempts to steal it from Inuyasha and after he had finally let go of his obsession when he attained Bakusaiga, the Tetsusaiga was in his possession. However, as soon as the battered hilt touched the palm of Sesshoumaru’s hand, the all too familiar burning sensation told him that the sword still rejected him even though Inuyasha had given it up voluntarily.
Without showing any sign of pain, the taiyoukai unhurriedly slid the Tetsusaiga in his obi, opposite his own swords Tenseiga and Bakusaiga.
….
Life continued in an unhurried pace after that night. Inuyasha had been down for a while after losing his sword but Kikyou had applauded him for his wise decision of giving up on the demon sword. It had always made her uneasy. Kagome, on the other hand, was busy helping Kaede with her duties and when she was not learning about medicinal herbs and their handling or treating sick villagers, she was practicing her miko powers. After the episode with the frog demon, she had asked Kaede to help her and the old miko was happy to finally teach Kagome the proper usage of her considerable powers. They hadn’t given up on finding a way to send Kagome home, either. Especially Miroku travelled around the countryside trying to find some sage miko, monk or even demon who knew anything about the Bone Eater’s Well or who could tell what Kagome’s fate was and how she could fulfil it.
Almost a month after the well had closed, they had still no clues.
A/N: Coming up: some Rin and Kagome fluff and a pissed demon lord. Review, please, so that I know if I’m doing things right.
