A Conflict of Interest

—Remembering someone doing or "saying something."—

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Inuyasha scowled at the likeness of the youkai female, wondering why his brother had to make things so damned difficult. There was a pile of scrolls before the hanyou, all potential mothers for the child Sesshomaru would help create.

Too bad the sour youkai lord wouldn’t choose one.

“What’s wrong with this one?” the hanyou asked, eyes drilling into the youkai who sat behind a zataku scribbling on a scroll. The cold gold eyes flicked up and then back to his report.

“Hips are too small, no waist, and I would break her.”

“She’s youkai!” The hanyou exploded, slamming the scroll down in irritation. They’d been doing this for three days and the elder brother always had a disqualifying feature. It’d been amusing the first few times, but it got old. Fast. “She’ll heal!”

“Birthing hips are essential for giving birth, Inu-chan. Please, stop throwing tantrums.” The youkai blew on the ink to dry it, avoiding the fuming gaze of his younger brother. They’d made a powerful pair in creating the Western Empire.

It’d been a surprise, how much of an asset his brother turned into. It was a rocky enough start that they had to divide their forces to defend more land. The spats that erupted between the neighboring youkai had mostly been beaten down by the hanyou alone. He was invaluable with keeping peace with the humans. They were far more at ease with the hanyou than the intimidating youkai.

—“It’s these damn ears.” Inuyasha fingered the furry triangles with a look of mild agitation. “Humans are so damn fixated on them! If I let them touch ‘em, I got ‘em.”—

It’d taken them nearly eight years to be stable enough before the hanyou began to pester him about pups.

Again.

If it is not Mother, than it is Inuyasha. Mother still will have nothing to do with the hanyou, but her scrolls number enough to fill a room demanding I continue the line and keep the blood pure. Not to mention for me to stop wasting my time with Inuyasha. If only she knew that the hanyou she detested agreed with her whole-heartedly.

—“Mother.”

“Sesshomaru.”

His mother was still the cold, calculating youkai that he remembered. Their alikeness was striking, from the similar markings to their deceiving body build. Her snow-white hair fell in a thick, straight tail to the small of her back with bangs brushing her gently arched brows.

They knelt on the zubuton, sitting on their heels as they faced one another in heavy silence. The youkai mother wore an expression of detached amusement, hands neatly in the lap. The youkai son sat with a look of barely concealed impatience, a muscle in his hand twitching as one rested on each knee.

Meddling female drove him up the wall. He’d sensed her coming, easily bypassing the guards (for which Sesshomaru didn’t blame them…she was a formidable figure if one wasn’t used to her), and striding into his goten (court) as if she were invited. Jaken had followed in her wake, sputtering excuses and apologies to Sesshomaru in the same breath.

“To what do I owe this pleasure, Mother?” The youkai asked with a trace of irony. He knew why she’d come and wanted to throw her out on her tail. Sadly, his discomfort with the coming conversation was not enough to earn the enmity of his influential mother.

“I have come to confirm a rumor.” The older youkai answered, eyes glittering with challenge. “I have heard that you keep that hanyou as your mate.”

“His scent is clearly throughout the Gosho, I do not see how you would need more proof Mother.” ‘Confirm a rumor’, I am sure. You are here to just stir trouble and remind me that you will not stand by idly while I defy your wishes.

“Maybe she’s losing her sense of smell?” Inuyasha asked, slipping in through the fusuma to the mother and son’s right. He wore his trademark fire-rat hitoe and hakama, Tetsusaiga on his hip. He slid it shut with a click, long legs eating up the distance to the youkai lord and kneeling at his side to face the female. “Old age does nasty things, you know.”

“Surely you jest.” The youkai mother stated, voice containing a hint of laughter. She didn’t acknowledge the hanyou in any way, staying focused on her son. “Sesshomaru, you truly disappoint me. A hanyou, a male no less, cannot give you proper pups. Your father’s line must be continued.”

“I know my obligations, Mother.”

“Bitch’s got nerve.” Inuyasha pointed out, eyes narrowing to slits. “She seems to think she can tell you what to do, Sesshomaru-sama.”

Of course, the youkai female wasn’t going to take a hanyou speaking in such a way about her. She was across the short distance in a flash, but Inuyasha had provoked her on purpose. He was standing and drawing Tetsusaiga in a burst of movement, pressing the fang against her delicate throat as she prepared to rend him six ways to Sunday. She froze, her body a heartbeat from brushing against the frame barely a finger length taller than her own.

“Your funeral, bitch.” Inuyasha murmured; gold eyes watching the body for clues of movement instead of the too close scarlet eyes set in the twisted face. “You don’t have Tensaiga to protect you like Maru-nii did. Did you know that’s the reason I was only able to take off his arm? Wanna know the reason I was able to take his arm at all? He underestimated me.”

She backed off slowly, features falling into the cold beauty once more. The youkai mother adjusted her Mokomoko on thin shoulders with slender, steady hands before speaking. “Sesshomaru, never fear. I will not break your toy.”

The younger youkai stared down at the top of his mother’s head. He’d been a up a blink after she, prepared to rip her from his hanyou.—

I would be lying in saying I was not surprised to see him react so quickly to her attack. I barely saw her, so I wonder how he managed to predict her movements so well. Sesshomaru mused for a moment before assuming that the hanyou just got lucky.

“What about this one?”

Damn if that hanyou wasn’t persistent as hell.

“I do not care for red haired females.” The older brother replied after a quick glance. “Who knows what the pup’s fur will turn out.”

“The pup’s fur won’t be pink!” Inuyasha growled, sifting through the scrolls before grabbing another. “This one looks nice. Her hair’s different colors, but mostly white.”

“Her bust is sorely lacking. She will not be able to carry much milk.” How could his brother even consider sharing him with anyone, let alone a female? Sesshomaru wouldn’t let Inuyasha associate with any female if he thought the hanyou would listen. It made the youkai wonder at the ulterior motives to finding a youkai bitch. Is he only doing it so he can screw around with females again?

“FUCK! I’m starting to think you’re just making excuses now. Fine, I’ll choose the female and interview them my damn self!”

“Absolutely not. It is MY seed we are using and I refuse to allow a hanyou to pick the female I will have to mount.” Sesshomaru stated dryly, trying to keep his voice even. Jaken was just outside the room and the devil take it if he’d walk away with tales of ANOTHER lover’s spat.

The chilly silence caught the youkai prince’s attention and he looked up from the orders he was writing. Inuyasha had a blank look on his usually expressive face. His eyes were like gold glass and lips slightly parted. In spite of the vacant appearance, Sesshomaru could feel the outrage buffeted by hurt.

“Fine.” Inuyasha said quietly, head tilting forward till the gold orbs were hidden by his bangs, ears flat against his skull. “Fine.”

Sesshomaru flinched inwardly after running over his words again. He spoke brashly and now his brother would sulk. It used to be charming, but now it just got on the youkai’s nerves. It was always about having a pup. Inuyasha barely acted more than a pup enough for the youkai right now. “Inu-chan—“

“I’m gonna go make myself useful.” The younger brother interrupted, turning on a heel and striding to the fusuma and exiting quietly. The silence he left behind was accusatory and made the youkai feel guilt wash through his veins.

Sesshomaru ignored the itch to snap the blameless brush in his hand and leaned back with a soft curse. A headache brewed between pinching brows; he soothed at the flesh wearily as he listened to Inuyasha’s fading footsteps until the creaking announced him entering the uguisabari (Nightingale floor, manufactured to deliberately make noise when walked upon, like a nightingale's song, security feature).

Why does he insist on children so? The youkai opened his tired eyes, staring up at the gold decorated ceiling. I never made my parents happy, Mother never made a secret of that. There was always cold hostility between them. Father only visited to test me. Mother only worried about me learning the lessons and polishing my skills. I was more of a trophy to Mother then a son.

Even after Sesshomaru was a few centuries old and already left his mother, they’d never gotten back together. Then he’d heard of his father bedding a human and getting her pregnant. It’d been an insult to the youkai prince. He blamed humans in general for his lacking childhood. His father, according to his mother, always had a nasty weakness for the inferior beings. His father even died protecting the insect and her disgusting offspring.

Children seemed to be the root of all the undoing of their family.

Inuyasha had changed in the past few years. Sesshomaru couldn’t pinpoint exactly what or when it was. He just held himself differently, mannerisms becoming more restrained; a quieter air seemed to gather around the younger brother. In bed he just as defiant and hungry for the youkai’s attention, often needling. He still topped with a tender strength, coaxing and seducing surrender from the youkai.

In spite of the changes, he became more demanding about having children. He brooded and moped. He would stare out a window for hours in silence. Sesshomaru worried about what his little brother dwelled on, but would not ask. If Inuyasha wanted to share, then he would. Pestering wouldn’t bring it out any faster.

So the youkai lord tolerated the withdraws, pulling the hanyou back to earth in their bedroom.

It didn’t occur to the youkai then or now that Inuyasha may have been considering leaving him. It was beyond Sesshomaru’s comprehension. They seemed so perfect together most times. They complimented one another. Why would the hanyou leave him?

Besides, just over a year before, the youkai had discovered something that made his chest ache when he thought of the fuzzy eared hanyou. Emotions had been playing war within him, dousing him with one extreme and another. Sesshomaru had carefully pieced together the puzzling sentiments and had been shocked at the conclusion.

Joy, pleasure, desire, altruism, pride, comfort, patience, forgiveness and a strange sense of humility.


I love him. Sesshomaru thought miserably. I do not want to sleep with a woman and create the same monster my father did: a breed-happy bitch that will never give up her pup. Not many females agree to do such things, though it is not unusual with youkai. Nothing seems to happen as it should with this family

The fusuma slid open and the youkai lord glanced at the green, reptilian face that poked inside. Jaken slipped inside the opening and shut it once more, wringing his small hands together.

“What is it, Jaken?” Sesshomaru asked in a drained tone, closing his gold eyes once more. He just wanted to sleep for a bit. If he woke up with hanyou in his arms, he'd feel better about life. Maybe he would just grit his teeth and screw a damn youkai female and get it over with.

“Perhaps if Sesshomaru-sama explains to Inuyasha why you don’t want to have pups.” Jaken began slowly, large eyes flitting nervously around the sparsely decorated goten. He sensed his master’s attention and drove on. “All Inuyasha sees is you denying him his only wish. If you explained to him your reasons, I know that he will understand. Have faith in the hanyou, Sesshomaru-sama.”

The small youkai fidgeted in the pregnant silence that followed his little speech. The youkai raised his head and blinked at the green servant. The head bobbed slightly, seeing the lord thinking over the words. He bowed out of the room, pausing before he closed the door.

“I would hate to see Sesshomaru-sama lose his reason for contentment over such a thing.”

The fusuma clacked against the frame, leaving a speechless youkai in its wake.
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Here we go again! This one is going to be short, only five or six chapters at most. Way too long for an epilogue. Please leave a little bit of something for a review! That's part of my inspiration!

sweetsatincocoa - Thank you so much for the compliments about my picture! ^-^ I wish I had brought it with me in the move. Sadly, I haven't drawn in five years...