It Is What It Is

By Danyealle

(MF/angst/fanfiction)

Chapter 6

Panic and Compromise

Within seconds of Sesshomaru’s vanishing act, the camp was thrown into a complete panic.  Inuyasha stood there and looked the direction his half-brother vanished, hand buried in his hair, fangs bared, and brain spinning out of control. Shippo had burst into terrified tears. Both Sango and Miroku were babbling like idiots, trying to figure out what in the seven hells was going on.

Finally, the slayer and monk were able to get Inuyasha’s attention. “Why did he take her, Inuyasha? Do you have any clue?” Though voice sounded calm and normal, Miroku’s overly large eyes told of the panicked state he was in.

Facing them, Inuyasha shook his head and then looked at the ground, sighing. “I don’t have any idea,” he confessed. The only reason he could think of was his brother entering his rutting season, which he had already dismissed. He would have been able to smell that and sense the gut wrenching feeling in his aura.

“Come it be that something’s wrong with Rin? That could have set him off.” Sango proffered up hopefully. She was trying to come up with something, anything, to counteract the horrible possibilities that were floating through her mind. 

“It’s possible, I suppose. But I very much doubt it.” Inuyasha replied gruffly, starting to pace back and forth. “She and the bastard have a good enough relationship that he would probably just come and say something to her if that was the problem.”

Both Miroku and Sango’s shoulders slumped. He was right of course; they had seen that from the taiyoukai before. More than once in the past few years the demon lord had shown up where they were camped and retrieved Kagome calmly because he needed her help with Rin; 99% of the time it was due to an illness or physical problem he was ill-equipped to deal with. But even during those times he had been his usual calm, unruffled self.

Unable to help himself from all kinds of horrible images, like Sesshomaru’s beast taking over and killing the miko, flashed through Inuyasha’s head. Never before had the hanyou been so totally panicked. This was worse than the time one of Naraku’s incarnations had gotten a hold of her.  At least they knew what the spider wanted from her. This time he was clueless and that made it infinitely worse. To compensate, his brain came up with the worse possible reasons it could imagine, bringing him on the brink of panicking. Once more, he was jerked back and forced to focus, probably the best thing for him.

“Is there any way to track him? Where did he go? Any ideas?” Sango asked, wringing her hands.  The only reason she was able to think rationally and stay somewhat calm and focused was because of her exterminator training. Though she wanted to completely lose it and break down, she knew it wouldn’t do them or Kagome any good.

Shaking his head again, Inuyasha sighed. “Traveling like that makes it all but impossible to track him. His scent trail ends where he lifted off the ground. If I thought it would do any good I would already have had Kirara in the air trying to catch his scent while we followed.

“His fortress isn’t the direction he headed either. He would know that would be the first place we would probably go. With the way he’s traveling he could easily be at the other end of Japan by now,” he explained with a resigned shrug.

“Do you know of any place that he might go?” Miroku asked in almost pleading tone in his voice.

Running his claws through his hair in an agitate way, Inuyasha shook his head. “No clue. If I did, we would be headed there right now.”

“We can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Sango shouted, her panic beginning to show.

“That’s probably the best thing we can do,” Miroku replied quietly.

“The monk’s right,” Inuyasha added in a firm voice.

“But we need to look for her, not sit around with our thumbs up our nose!” Sango yelled, tears in her eyes.

“We don’t know where to even begin looking. If we stay here she will know where to find us.”  Inuyasha explained. “It’s like the concept of being lost in the forest and sitting somewhere rather than trying to find a way out. It’s easier to be found if you stay still rather than keep moving.”

That’s when Sango burst into tears. Wrapping his arms around her, Miroku comforted her the best he could.

Leaving her in Miroku’s capable hands, Inuyasha took off to gather more firewood. No, they didn’t need it but it gave him something to do. Plus it got him away from the rest of the pack so he could second guess everything he had just said and decided alone. Though he knew what he said and decided was the right thing to do, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t second guess it. That’s exactly what he did. He also replayed everything over and over in minute detail then beat himself over the head for things he should have done differently. Mostly he beat himself over the head for not recognizing Sesshomaru’s scent and protecting Kagome better. Yet again he had failed her and broken his promise.

When he returned to camp Sango had already calmed down. Though they all knew they needed sleep it wasn’t going to come easily to any of them. After a couple hours they all bedded down again but the most any of them could do was doze in fits and starts. About an hour before dawn the humans and Shippo finally succumbed to Morpheus as exhaustion to precedence over agitation and worry. Even Inuyasha felt his eye lids grow heavy and burn as his own excessive exhaustion became hard to fight off. A few minutes later he could fight it no more and he slid into the realm of sleep slowly.

Just as the first pink of the new day began to lighten the horizon, Inuyasha was jerked awake by something. Unwilling to have a repeat of the night before, he immediately jumped out of the tree then draw the fang. Quickly, he scanned around to see if it was a real feeling or his overworked brain going haywire on him. 

For several minutes there was nothing. None of his acute senses could pick up anything out of the ordinary. After sheathing the katana he poked at the fire to stir it up then piled more wood on it.  After standing up and brushing off his hands his senses once again set off a warning flair.  Agitated, he realized this was a repeat performance of the night before so he shouted for everyone to wake their asses up. Snarling, he pulled the fang again before screamed, “Sesshomaru! You fucker! Show yourself!”

Seconds after Inuyasha’s shout the rest of the pack were on their feet and ready to fight. Tense, they looked around to see if they could determine where the demon lord was. 

Then, as though he were surrounded by a light, Sesshomaru’s pristine whites came into view, almost as though they glowed in the early dawn gloom. Stepping into the clearing, he seemed unconcerned by the pack’s show of force.

Though they were wary and on guard, they all lowered their weapons when they saw he was holding a sleeping Kagome, wrapped in furs, cradled gently in his arms. That’s also when they noticed something else different.  Although he was holding Kagome, he still made no move to even put a hand on his weapons. He was strong and could easily hold the little priestess with one arm but he made no move to do so. Also, he wasn’t wearing his armor. Instead it was just dangling off one shoulder.  Nor did he start to exchange the usual barrage of insults with Inuyasha. Instead, the demon lord just stepped into the clearing and stopped, not saying a word.

Confused, the pack members exchanged wary looks but seeing as he offered them no violence even Inuyasha made no move or lifted his weapon. But that didn’t mean the hanyou didn’t run his mouth. “What the hell have you done to Kagome, you fucker?”

Sesshomaru didn’t even glace at the foul-mouthed half-breed. Instead he focused on the kitsune who was slowly inching his way towards him, eyes bright, nose twitching. Knowing Kagome viewed the kit as her child, he felt the little kit should be the first to get an explanation. Plus the youngster was known to jump on her and that was a very bad idea at this point. Kagome, as he well knew, would never forgive herself if she hurt the kit, even if it was something she couldn’t help.

Crouching down, holding Kagome closely, he called Shippo over using the voice he employed with Rin when she was nervous or upset.

Glancing around, wide-eyed, he looked first at Sango and Miroku then to Inuyasha before glancing back at the demon lord.

“Go on Shippo, he won’t hurt you,” Inuyasha said quietly, eyes still locked on his half brother.

Gulping, Shipp nodded then slowly moved closer to the taiyoukai.

Staying crouched down, Sesshomaru quietly, so no one but the kit and Inuyasha could hear, explained what was going on.

Though the two humans couldn’t hear what was being said they could read Shippo’s body language. The kit was nervous at first but appeared to completely relax as the taiyoukai talked.  Once glance at Inuyasha though, told a whole different story. First, he went pale then started shaking. Finally he looked as though he had been kicked in the stomach, ears flattening against his head, then his whole body seemed to slump. No, he didn’t seem to be angry or upset, just dejected.

When Sesshomaru finished talking to the kit, Shippo bound back over then hopped into Sango’s arms. Inuyasha waited until Shippo was in Sango’s arms then walked over to his hated half-brother. He had sheathed tetsusaiga and tucked his hands in his sleeves to show he wasn’t going to do anything foolish. “I want to see it,” he demanded quietly.

The taiyoukai looked at him warily. After he judged it wasn’t an aggressive demand that would lead to violence, he cradled her gently in one arm then pulled her shirt off her right shoulder to expose his mating mark.

After staring at it for a couple minutes with a dejected, hurt look in his eyes, he recovered and stepped back. Glaring at the demon lord he snarled, “You will treat her right or we will fight!”  He spat out in his normal tone of voice.

“I will treat my mate with the respect and reverence that she has earned and deserves.”  Sesshomaru responded in his usual emotionless voice, glaring at the hanyou.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to take her to the fortress.” Inuyasha spat out.

“Of course I am. She will be comfortable and well cared for there.” Sesshomaru retorted.

“Like hell she will!” Inuyasha hollered. “I lived there; I know what it’s like. No way in hell will she be left alone with you liked she needs. You’ll be called out for all kinds of crap and won’t be able to be with her all the time like you are supposed to be. Your staff will have to look after her while she changes. Then because she isn’t youkai, they’re going to treat her like shit before she’s going to end up attacking one of them. Being the way she is, she’ll also blame herself for it.

Looking at the brothers, Miroku had a bewildered expression, not understanding what they were talking about. Sensing that, Sango leaned over and quietly explained what they were talking about.

“It’s the best option there is, half-breed. If you have a better idea, I would like to hear it.” Sesshomaru sneered.

“Yeah, I do,” Inuyasha shot back. “I’m sure you have somewhere you can go to that’s comfortable. Go there and we’ll come along. We’re her family and won’t pull stupid shit like your staff would. Plus, we can take care of all the things that need done so you can be with her all the time like you’re supposed to. On top of that, we can fight if the situation dictates it. Though we might not be up to your level in your eyes but we’re still damn good and know what we’re doing.” When the hanyou finished, he crossed his arms and glared at the demon lord.

Glaring back at the whelp, Sesshomaru contemplated what he said. The half-breed was right, he was well aware that there would be problems at the fortress. Kagome wasn’t only a ningen but a miko as well, something that was going to be a problem with many at the fortress. Despite needing to be with her all the time, if he was at the fortress there would be things that would require his attention thus leaving Kagome in the care of servants while she was vulnerable. 

The hanyou’s offer made a great deal of sense and seemed to be a better alternative. Members of the pack were a cohesive unit and very much a family. Not only wouldn’t he have to worry about her being hurt, but they would take care of her and defend her with their very lives if the situation called for it.  Plus, there was the added bonus that they knew her and her habits well.

If those reasons weren’t enough, it would give him a chance to observe the pack in action so he could get used to the individual members of it. Once Kagome’s change was finished he wasn’t going to force her to leave and give up the task she wanted to complete, instead he would joining her. No, Sesshomaru had no interest in the jewel but he indeed wanted Naraku gone. Since the pack wanted that as well, their goals were similar enough that they would mesh well.

Though there was bound to be problems, mainly the personal conflict between himself and the hanyou, it did seem to be the better proposition.

Looking at Inuyasha, he nodded, “Very well, we’ll try it.”