The Concealed Form of the Inu Daiyoukai

Chapter 12: Angst Causing Conversation

A/N: Hi everyone I completely apologize for the long wait. Oh and I know that I said that they will be picking up Ah-Un and heading to Sesshoumaru’s mothers castle this chapter, but this chapter was longer then I thought. That will take place during the next chapter. Thanks for sticking with this fan fiction so far. Enjoy!!!

A powerful daiyoukai of royal decent was trained to demand from the day they learn how to articulate, Sesshoumaru was no exception to this fact. However, many individuals did not take well to being dominated and Inuyasha was indeed one of those persons. So after the female daiyoukai commanded her brother to ‘speak’ as expected, Inuyasha frowned at her authoritative tone and the need to rebel against her controlling demeanor rose up. However, if Inuyasha revolted against his elder sibling, he would not get the answers he so desired. Therefore he stomped the urge to do the complete opposite of what she said down and forced himself to obey ‘Lord Sesshoumaru’.

Not caring in the least that Inuyasha was offended by the clipped command, Sesshoumaru sat in front of the fire waiting patiently for the ear twitching, scowling puppy to commence their parley.

Inuyasha told himself several moments ago to obey ‘Lord Sesshoumaru’ command but he was having a hard time convincing himself to begin their conversation. The younger sibling scowled deepen as he contemplated:

‘Male or female, Sesshoumaru still is a bossy bastard! But I have to let it slid for now, I need to find out if she’s going to be alright so we can save Kouga’s pack, get rid of those Elder assholes, and go home. That’s if I can get the nonchalant bitch to talk…maybe the bastard or bastards who fucked with her is the one of the main reasons why she was such a cold bastard when I first met him…ummm, her. Man it still so fucking hard to keep her gender straight!’ Inuyasha thought in frustration as he glared at the older female Inu.

Inuyasha no longer thought Sesshoumaru was as cold blooded as she was when Inuyasha met the male version of Sesshoumaru. The deadly outburst with Kouga showed that the female daiyoukai had many deep negative emotions. But she also had positive sentiments, the way she treats little Rin is proof of that. And the way she was all over Kouga like a starving Inu on a rare steak proved she had a lustful side as well. Mentally shaking the last thought of his horny sibling and the equally randy wolf out of his skull with a disturbed shudder, he concluded that she was no longer an unfeeling bastard. Nevertheless Inuyasha believed that Sesshoumaru had been out of touch with her feelings for so long that, the female daiyoukai did not understand her emotions as a male or female, despite her vast intelligence.


As Inuyasha continued to glare at her he was reminded why he was still having a hard time grasping the fact that she was a female in a male body all along. Forced to say that way as a child due to the peril her life was in for merely being born as the first and female pup in her royal family. The way she looked and carried herself did not help matters either. She looked almost the same as before, wore the same bellowing white and red garments, had the same voice and had many personality traits males tend to have. Be that as it may, Inuyasha just figured that since she was raised as a male it is not surprising that masculine behavior was engraved in her character.

Inuyasha wanted all of them to make it back in one piece. He had a pack to look after and the newest member of said pack would be arriving in at least five months. If he were a full Inu youkai it would have been three, however since he is half Inu daiyoukai and half human, the pup’s arrival into the word was approximately five months time. There was another reason he wanted ALL of them to make it back in one piece. He refused to admit it directly but Inuyasha cared tremendously for all of them. Yes even the wimpy wolf, said wolf pack and his ‘bossy bitch’ of a sister. Hence why he wanted to have an audience with his sister, he wanted them all to be safe even if it meant bringing up some of his siblings hurtful memories. He hoped his mate the miko was right about ‘getting it all out in the open’.

Growling in annoyance to let his infuriating elder sister know that he did not appreciate being spoken to like the family pet and growling at the entire situation; Inuyasha finally obeyed her curt words and begin in his usual blunt matter.

“Alright, exactly what the fuck happened to you that pissed you of so badly that you were about to rip Kouga’s apart. I get he was getting on your fucking nerves with all the flirting and shit, but I never seen you lose your control over something so minor. Something else had to trigger it and I want to know what it is.” Inuyasha said in a serious tone as his expressive eyes tried and failed to hide genuine concern he had for Sesshoumaru’s well being:

Sesshoumaru stared at him intently for a few moments wanting with all her being to avoid the question. She wanted to claim that what happened in her past was ‘none of his concern’ but she knew that was not the truth.

Every since she changed back to her true gender, she found herself overcome with emotions. She was pledged with memories of the horrors she suffered as a female in the past. Recently those memories caused her to completely lose control and unleash havoc on the beings around her. If it was not for the interference of her pup and her younger sibling she may have run amok and killed humans and youkai alike for a crime they were innocent of. The daiyoukai saw her lack of composure as a moment of weakness. She believed attacking Kouga in such a way was dishonorable; she made a deal to work with the wolf not to maim and/or kill him. Just because he refused to heed her warnings did not give her the right to attack him so viciously for something that was not his doing. She even assaulted Kouga in a lustful matter when he was vulnerable. Although he absolutely with out a doubt loved it, as did she, she only did anything remotely similar with her quarry whom deserved it. Like a female praying mantis, her bed partners always died in the act at her hands. She only ‘rutted’ with those that deserved her wrath, the wolf though not totally innocent, did not. It was a possibility that she could have lost control and killed him outright. She unintentionally placed the individuals under her protection in danger by her own hands due to her inability to control her emotions. Which she had very little difficulty doing until recently. The only emotions she did not willingly imprison were anger and loathing. These emotions were the only ones she used to deem as acceptable; now however she feels plenty of other emotions and though she manages to keep most of them within, lately particularly a few hours ago with Kouga, they managed to break free. Needless to say the daiyoukai did not like this one bit! After gazing at his now anxiously shifting form of her brother for what seems like an eternity; with an indifferent expression Sesshoumaru was finding harder to pull of lately she said:

“Your eyes tell this Sesshoumaru that you already know what occurred do you not.” She stated not questioned as she stared into his large golden orbs; her indifferent façade hiding the true turmoil she felt inside.

Sesshoumaru was young for an Inu daiyoukai, but had lived the life of an old one and had seen many things in her time. She observed the look Inuyasha gave her on the face of another with a painfully similar countenance when she was taken against her will. It was the same look their father gave her when he saw her laying on the cave floor of the Ryuu in a pool of her own blood…

Inuyasha was the first to break eye contact with his elder sibling. He felt like shit for bringing this up, but he felt he had to get her to release all of the concealed emotions off her chest. Inuyasha found out that was one of his sister major malfunctions, she kept everything emotional inside sealed away, locked up until she was ready to explode. Since she reverted back to what she truly was, she had become more volatile. Not wanted his sister to have another eruption of rage, he pushed himself to continue less gruffly:

“I have an idea, but I want you to tell me at least some of what happen, ya know. Get the shit of your chest.”

With her face still possessing a blank expression, she closed her eyes for a moment revealing the beautiful magenta color eyelids and long silver lashes. She did not want anyone to know of what she felt was her prevalent shame and failure to protect herself, her pack and her fathers’ lands while he was off battling the elders. Dense as her younger sibling could be at times, she knew he figured out mostly what happen to her. What he did not know was who committed the heinous act and under what circumstances. In the past she would have mutilated and killed him merely for inquiring such information, that how deep her abhorrence ran for him. Nevertheless through many hard lessons from her father, mother and life itself, she learned that he was not the one to blame for her many unfortunate experiences. Inuyasha had proven himself worthy of their fathers’ sword and though she once pursued the blade to carry out her vengeance upon the Ryuu, it was not to occur. Faulting him for their father’s decision to bequeath the Tessaiga to Inuyasha and blaming him for giving his life to save his second mate and her offspring solved nothing.

As wise as Sesshoumaru was her tenacious temperament sometimes blocked her logic. Being set in her ways it took many tragedies for her to release the error and her ways; for her to see that emotions were always a strength not a weakness. Having someone precious in her life, her adopted pup Rin and her deceased ally and companion Kagura help increase her understanding of her fathers’ actions. He desired safety and security for all of his pack. Their father gave her the Tensaiga to protect her from her enemies, including Inuyasha at one time and to help her find the correct path. Their father knew that only when Sesshoumaru found the correct path by understanding the strength of emotions, follow her natural Inu instinct to protect, become independent no longer seeking her fathers’ blades and releasing her hatred for her younger sibling; only then would she be able to tap into her genuine power and become a true daiyoukai. Which is exactly what eventually took place. Inu no Taishou gave Inuyasha the Tessaiga to protect younger Inu from himself, his enemies including Sesshoumaru once upon a time and to give his younger persecuted and somewhat weaker pup a fighting chance to survive and thrive in such a harsh cruel world. A world were most would fear and/or scorn him for being born an Inu hanyou.

Sesshoumaru no longer loathed her brother; in fact she actually became quite fond of him. Of course she would never admit it through words only with actions. Hence, killing him for asking her such personal questions was not an option. She did not feel like maiming him either. So not being one to run away from an awkward situation she once again activated her apathetic poker face, looked right in his expressive eyes and said in a bored tone:

“Do you truly desire to know what tragedy befallen this Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha?” She said the word ‘tragedy’ in a lower treacherous tone as if she dared him to show an sympathy for her.

She was still the proud Lord of the West; she needed sympathy for no one. She would make sure Inuyasha remembered that, even if she has to remind him in her own way. If she has to tell him outright again that she needed no ones pity, she would tattoo Inuyasha body with bruises from her fist, she was irritated enough as it was; she did not know how long she could repress herself from beating the hell out of something or some one. And Inuyasha was in close proximity. The daiyoukai did so hate to repeat herself and with the wolf cub and her Inu pup of a brother, she found herself doing that a lot lately. How bothersome.

Inuyasha frowned at her low pitched tone. Getting the hint and trying not to sound like he felt sorry for her difficult past, he said in his usual rough tone:

“Yeah, that what I said so spill it already I ain’t got all day!” Inuyasha figured if he used his regular tone he would not sound as if he was concerned for her. He knew he failed miserably when her expression or lack of one increase. With her heighten senses she detected the smell of sadness, the sound of his increased heart rate indicating his attempt to deceive her by sounding as if he did not care and the sight of his shifting vivid golden eyes. All these signs were dead give aways…Inuyasha certainly did have empathy for her.

From what Inuyasha knew about Sesshoumaru that really bored expression told him she was getting defensive. The fact that she just tilted her chin up was another clue that the daiyoukai was indeed getting heated. He figured that in mere moments ‘heated’ would turn into ‘seriously gnashing her teeth pissed’, golden cat like eyes would morph into red bloody pools with blue slits for pupils, then claws, fist and acid may come flying in his direction. Not wanting to deal with any more angry females that could flip out and beat the hell out of him or worse he sighed and said in a irritated tone:

“Look, I just want to get home to my mate and pup, none of us might not make it back if you lose it again. If you spill it, maybe ya won’t go berserk on us again. The burden of your secret might not be so heavy anymore.” Inuyasha said the last part with accidental sincerity. Berating himself for letting his concern slip out yet again he still sat in his dog like position and waited for the elder sibling response.

Still sitting hit her legs crossed and her palms on each of her knees she looked at him with her jaded expression she said in a flat tone:

“This Sesshoumaru was rendered weak for a short time and brutally raped.” Inuyasha looked at her with wide eyes as he heard her confession.

Assuming she was violated from her earlier actions was one thing, actually hearing the daiyoukai admitted was something else. What disturbed him the most was the way she referred to the horrible incident. She acted as if she was taking about the fucking weather! Yet a few hours ago during the storm she went completely wild on Kouga! Inuyasha was no psychologist or psychiatrist, but he did not believe a person should be able to shut their emotions on and off like a light switch, especially when they were talking about something as life changing and devastating as rape. Inuyasha did not know what was worst; her nearly transforming and destroying everything in her path because of her livid emotions or her attempting to contain all of the anguish and anger he knew she must be feeling as if what happened was not a big deal. Either way was not healthy.

Inuyasha looked at her with those glowing gold wide eyes as he thought:

‘How can she admit something like that out loud and sound as if she didn’t give a fuck!? I know she can be frosty bitch at times, but this…this is just wrong and crazy and…and wrong! How the hell did she, the toughest bitch I know become anyone’s victim?! How did they make her weak enough so they could have their way with her?! What nasty bastard did this to her?!’ Feeling his anger on her behalf boil his blood his eyes narrowed, he growled and voiced his last thought through clenched teeth:

“What filthy bastard did it, was it one of the elders!?”

Having to try harder to keep her neutral expression, her wise and cold golden orbs narrowed a fraction as she said in a flat tone with a hint of venom:

“A former friend of our father, Ryukotsusei.”

“What…” Was all Inuyasha could whisper, his golden orbs wide with shock again then they narrowed with fury again he said with anger in his tone:

“Why would he do this to you, why betray father…What happened?!” Inuyasha could not believe it! One of the main creatures responsible for his fathers death and most likely one of the main reasons his sibling was so cold was because the Ryuu who was suppose to be loyal to their father stabbed them in the back! What a fucking traitor!!!

Her indifferent mask crumbled more as she glared right into the fire as if she was staring at the object of her revulsion. The blaze turned her cold golden orbs into a heated bonfire. The campfire on the outside was nothing compared to the inferno burning within her. An inferno that has been there for centuries, but was well hidden until recently…

Not normally being one to explain herself to anyone, it was odd that for some reason she desired to relay her story to Inuyasha. Could it be that she had grown to trust the one before her, an individual who was once one of the main target of her contempt and odium? She concluded yet again that she has changed immensely from the cold heartless creature she was a few years ago.

Continuing to glower at her past memories using the fire as a window, her eyes narrowed a fraction more and there flames increased with intensity. Then she begins to tell the tragic tale in a low tone full of seething suppressed anger:

“That Ryuu was secretly a supporter of the elders’ ridiculous decrees. He desired fathers’ kingdom for his own. Somehow he discovered that our fathers’ only heir at that time was truly a female in disguise.”

She chuckled, her chortle was dark and humorlessly as she continued:

“Obviously the Ryuu did not take to kindly to a female ruling any kingdom; he made sure this Sesshoumaru found that out first hand.”

Inuyasha sat quietly while he hung on to every word that emerged from the daiyoukai lips. His emotions intensified as she continued to speak about her past. After the sinister laugh quieted completely, her eyes narrowed further and a scowl reached her full lips. Her eyes flashed red for a second before she continued in a low voice full of venom:

“While father was off battling the elders, that Ryuu used that mask of his to place everyone in fathers’ castle in a trance. Using the distraction to his advantage and he stole this Sesshoumaru away. The night he took this one away was stormy one. He wanted to make it difficult for anyone to track us down; as you know it is most taxing for any Inu or wolf to detect a scent in the rain. The reptile took this one to a cave located inside of a mountain. He ripped the stone that morphed this Sesshoumaru into a male from my person, changing this one back into her female form. Physically this one remained in a paralyzed trance while my mind was completely coherent. With this one body immobile I was force to watch that bastard dress this one up as if I was one of his concubine slaves, hear his insolent words and feel that vile bastards’ on my skin as he had his way with me.

Sesshoumaru spat the last part as if it left a foul taste in her mouth. Inuyasha sensed the fury and pain coming off her in waves, her indifferent mask was temporarily broken. The younger sibling could feel the crushing tension in the air. A tension so thick that the Tessaiga could cleave it in two. Inuyasha even noticed that her usual speech pattern changed with her face. Instead of saying ‘this Sesshoumaru, I Sesshoumaru or this one’ she said ‘I, my and me.’ This revelation only served to increase the younger Inu concern for his elder sister.

Sesshoumaru tighten her outstretched palms into fist as she continued her story while staring into the fire that was just an hot as she was:

“Despite the thunderstorm father somehow managed to unearth us. I heard our father bellow his fury before this one fell unconscious. When I woke Father was already occupying the dank cave with a grave injury to his abdomen. While I slumbered father neglected himself, choosing to clean and dress my wounds…which meant he saw this body before you naked; a shameful weak bloody heap on the cave grounds. Father place the stone within me once again so when this one regained conscious she was in her male form wearing the male garments that magically regenerated from the shreds the Ryuu turned them into.”

As Sesshoumaru spoke her fists clenched tighter to the point were they were an extremely pale white. Her eyes flashed red randomly and she said certain words and sentences with more emotion (anger, guilt and even shame) then she did the rest. Sesshoumaru stop communicating for a few moments and glared into the fire in an effort to regain some of her calm indifferent composure.

Inuyasha saw that this was pissing her off to no end; however it seemed as if the more she spoke, the more her mask dropped. Inuyasha believed that this in turned caused her desire to talk about her past…well at lease to him. To vent if you will. For once in his long life, Inuyasha did not desire to trigger the daiyoukai rage for entertainment or an attempted to hurt the daiyoukai back the way she harmed him in the past. He did not want to anger her at all. Nevertheless it was either incur her rage now in a cave where no enemies were present and let her release at least some of her ferocity so she may be more level headed later in battle(s) or let it fester within her and risk another explosion of fury during their battle(s) with the elders. An explosion that could possibly get them all killed and place everyone in the land in peril. Attempting to hold back the guilt of bringing this conversation up in the first place, he continued to give his elder sibling his undivided attention.
Taking a break from her terrible tale did nothing to cool her internal flame, so with a low growl that caused Inuyasha to tremble a minuscule bit she continued:

“After emerging from the cave, this Sesshoumaru saw the Ryuu sealed to the side of the mountain. The thunderstorm turned into a winter storm, covering the area with snow. Shortly after we left the dragon to his fate we headed towards your mothers village. Father informed this Sesshoumaru of your mother and his second offspring plight. Apparently while he was away, every member of his pack became endangered in one form or another, this was the Ryuu doing. That bastard was the one who told Takemaru of fathers’ relationship with your mother, placing you both in peril. He hoped to cause him more pain and suffering as punishment for keeping my true identity concealed. He wished to break father by destroying everything that was precious to him and steal his kingdom.”

Sesshoumaru’s claws elongated, piercing her now ghostly white palm. Her voice became lower, deeper and full of toxin that sounded just as deadly as her toxic flower claw attack truly was:

“Despite his injuries he raced to rescue his Second mate and his true son. Believing that in spite of his wounds he would have no trouble saving his the new members of his pack and obeying my fathers’ commands to say behind, I did not accompany him. Before he departed my company he asked if this one ‘had someone to protect?’ Of course not! How could I have anyone under my protection when I failed so miserably hours before to protect the pack and this Sesshoumaru?! That is what I presumed our father wanted me to release; that this one efforts to protect were a was a waste of time. Father saw that this Sesshoumaru failed to protect his lands and his pack while he was away, he did not wish for this Sesshoumaru to dishonor the pack yet again. I presumed you would be my replacement; I was no longer of any use to him. With my newly refined cold view of the world, loathing for you and your mother for appearing in his life surfaced; for replacing this one mother and her. This Sesshoumaru blamed you both for his death believing he would have survived had he not saved you. This Sesshoumaru hatred for you only increased when she discovered you were bequeath the Tessaiga, the blade I sought to release and destroy the Ryuu with. In the hope that destroying the lizard that betrayed our pack with our fathers’ fang would regain our pack honor.”

Then she chuckled humorlessly again as she silently sighed and continued:

“It took this one centuries to release what Fathers’ words and actions truly meant.” After that last sentence the grim smirk her face disappeared, she closed her eyelids that possessed birthmarks and became silent.

The last part of her story was said with such anger that it sent full blown shivers down Inuyasha spine and made his ears fold back onto his head. Only the recent sentence sounded a bit softer. Inuyasha wondered if that bitterness from before was directed towards a few people or everyone involved? Was it also directed towards Sesshoumaru herself? Did she still blame him and his mother their her fathers’ death? Was that one of the reasons why his father left his heirlooms blades the way he did? Did he know how much spite Sesshoumaru would hold in her heart towards Inuyasha, towards the world? Inuyasha thought to himself:

‘No wonder was so cold towards everyone…no wonder she flipped out…wait, did she just actually admit in a round about way that she was mistaken for her hatred towards mother and I…well this is about as close to any apology that I’m going to get, so I ain’t going to gloat about it…’

Inuyasha was amazed at how much she had spoken to him of all people. He didn’t think Sesshoumaru spoke that much in her entire long lifetime. But then again she was around centuries before he was born, who knows what her personality was like back then?

Then he sighed sadly as he pondered:

‘Damn, Sesshoumaru’s been through more shit then I thought, she didn’t deserve to go through that hell nor did Father…’

Inuyasha sniffed and smelled the sweet scent of Sesshoumaru’s blood. When he looked at her large yet elegant hands he saw her claws imbedded in her palms and blood oozing from her pale hands. Sesshoumaru on the another hand smelled the scent of salt and water. The daiyoukai turned her gaze from the flames within. Opening her eyes and looking up, she saw bright golden enraged eyes that contain something in them that shocked and angered her; she saw tears threaten to fall down his cheeks.

Not caring about the consequences at the moment, Inuyasha reached out to grab her hands and stop her from hurting herself. Sesshoumaru hands unraveled and gripped each of Inuyashas’ wrist in a firm yet not bone crushing hold. Once again cold golden orbs met with blazing teary golden eyes. Looking him dead in his eyes Sesshoumaru said in an cold voice:

“Your tears are useless. You desired to know what occurred and this Sesshoumaru told you. What done is done, let it be, move on. Do not waste your tears on a cruel being who has done nothing but inflicted pain upon you.” She spoke in a low icy tone as she applied more pressure to his wrist causing him to wince in pain. However he did not fight back, her words and actions only served to make Inuyasha look at her with sadness in his eyes.

Instead of the younger hanyou telling her to ‘take her own advice because trying to lock up her emotions once again ain’t going to work’ he said:

“I get why you were pissed at me, you thought the old man left you and your mom out in the cold for us. You felt that I took your only chance of revenge away from you by inheriting the Tessaiga and killing that bastard Ryuu with it. But I know you don’t blame me anymore. You may not be ‘Miss Perfect Sunshine’ but you ain’t been cruel to me for a long time. You treat the kid like a pup of your own and you felt like shit for nearly killing Kouga. The ‘old you’ wouldn’t gave a flying fuck about any of us but the ‘new you does. So quit giving yourself so much credit, ya not a total cold bloodied heartless bastard all the time, just a mean moody bitch with a superiority complex.” Inuyasha said with smirk that was a complete contrast to the tears that finally fell down his cheeks.”

Sesshoumaru displayed a smirk of her own, only hers was malevolent as her grip tighten again and she said:

“Little brother, you only received a mere glimpse of the horrors this Sesshoumaru has committed, do not think for a moment that you know this one so thoroughly.”

Inuyasha looked up at her defiantly with tears still in his eyes as he said soften tone:

“Keh, your right, there is a whole lot of shit I don’t know about ya. You may do some fucked up shit to others and did some fucked up shit to me, but even when you hated my guts and wanted to splatter them all over the forest floor, ya never did finish me off. Ya had plenty of chances, but something always stopped you. You revived Rin and allowed her to follow you; eventually you got attached to her, a human, a species you claimed were insects compared to you. You saved my pack ass more then once even when you where offended by the very thought of my existence. I also know that you usually don’t attack anyone, human or youkai without being provoked. So maybe I was wrong earlier when I said this was the ‘new you’. You did say that day with the Ryuu changed you, I bet you were an alright daiyoukai before that snake bastard touched you. Now you are becoming a decent being again, the real you. You don’t like it and don’t know how to accept it.”

Inuyasha could not believe the words that were coming out of his mouth, but after years of thinking about it and hearing his other pack members’ opinion on the matter, Sesshoumaru did have some decent qualities…

She finally released his wrist from her death grip. His wrist and her now healed hands were soaked in her blood. She was somewhat shocked by the sincerity in his gruff words. After all the hell she put him through he no longer saw her as cruel and evil.

Standing up quickly and gracefully she scowled as she watched Inuyasha scrub the tears from his eyes using his fire rat robe. Then he wiped his wrists with a cloth that was inside his large right sleeve, cringing at the discoloration of both of them. Yup, both wrist were going to be bruised for the rest of the night.

Inuyasha stood up to stretch his legs looking up into his sisters eyes as she studied him he said in a mocking tone:

“What, upset that you realized that I’m right about ya…OUCH, SHIT see the evil ‘you’ would have tried to strangle me to death not pull my ear. Let. Go. Dammit!” Inuyasha shouted refusing to take back what he said earlier.

She shook him to silence him as her right hand continued to grip his left ear. Only the tip of his toes was touching the ground when Sesshoumaru whispered:

“Keep the audience we had in this cave from slipping off your tongue, understand.” Her voice spoke volumes of what may happen if he did not do as she commanded.

Inuyasha winced again as he said:

“Yeah I’ll keep it to myself, but if you and Kouga are going to have a relationship, ya going to have to tell him ya know.” He said and cried out when she shook him again with more force.

Narrowing her golden orbs she said flatly:

“That is none of your concern.”

“Yeah alright fine, just let go already, give a guy a break!” Inuyasha shouted and rubbed his ear gently when she did release him. Quickly donning her armor, she turned to walk out the cave when Inuyasha asked out of the blue:

“Hey Sesshoumaru, what’s your real name.”

She stopped in her tracks tilted her head over her right shoulder and said:

“Tsukiouhi is my birth name; Shanjoufu is another one of my names. However do not address me as such, this one earned the right to be called Sesshoumaru, you will continue to do so. Now come, this Sesshoumaru wishes for everyone to bath before we depart.” She said as she continued to walk and exited the cave. She detected the scent of the others approaching a while ago and headed outside to met them.

‘They are pretty… those names fits her now.’ Inuyasha thought. She wasn’t just ‘Sesshoumaru’ killing perfections to him anymore she lived up to all of her names and then some.

With that Inuyasha put out the camp fire, trailed behind her and greeted Kouga with his usual rudeness. Kouga returned the uncouth behavior. Rin presented the ‘Japanese Four O’clock’ flowers she picked for everyone to Sesshoumaru. The pup showed off the red flower Kouga had tucked in his reformed armor, then she gave Inuyasha a purple one. Kouga took the flower to show Sesshoumaru that he was attempting to bond with her pup. Hopefully that will help win the complicated female over. Inuyasha reluctantly accepted his purple flower and tucked it in his sleeve after receiving a glare from the ‘Queen of Dirty Looks’. Just because she was not evil incarnated anymore did not mean Sesshoumaru wouldn’t grab his sensitive ears again if he didn’t accept the pup gift. Inuyasha was determined to get her back for the abuse of his ears and the flying boulders to his skull one day...one day soon! Rin gave Sesshoumaru a bouquet of flowers. Sesshoumaru nodded her appreciation and told the pup to hold on to the flowers for her. The daiyoukai put forth effort to ignore the ever flattering wolf cub as she contemplated his annoying yet cajole persistence.

Then the females and males bathed in different hot springs and streams before gathering all of their supplies and taking off once again for Sesshoumaru’s mothers’ castle…


TBC

A/N: I hope you like it! Reviews as always are adored and appreciated!!!