The Tale of the Demon Lord

"It is very good to see you looking so much better, Your Highness," Natsumi said, her eyes shining as she dressed Inuyasha on the first morning that he felt well enough to leave his room.

"It's good to feel better," Inuyasha replied, smiling at her reflection in the mirror. "Thanks for taking such good care of me while I lay there bleeding."

"I did nothing," she said softly. "I badly wanted to do so much more, you were in such pain, but I didn't know how to help…"

"You did great," he assured her. "Just having you there, and knowing that you cared, meant a lot."

"Jaken-sensei and Kazuki have been asking if they can see you. If you are well enough, perhaps I can bring them in?"

"Sure! I'd love to see them!" Inuyasha said, brightening.

Natsumi went out and led the kappa tutor and the assistant chef into the royal wing, where Jaken wept joyfully to see his student up and about, and Kazuki could only bow and say that he would be happy to personally cook anything that would help the prince feel stronger, at any time of the day or night, at a moment's notice.

Unlike Satoshi and Natsumi, who had had regular access to him, Jaken and Kazuki had been kept away to allow him to rest and recover. They had missed him, and he was delighted to see their friendly faces again, although he wished they wouldn't fuss over him like a delicate weakling, and Jaken wouldn't stare tearfully like that, as if he feared he would keel over any second now.

…

"I guess my best bet is to go to the village," Inuyasha said as he stood in the forest patch before breakfast that morning, looking up at Bokusen'o.

"It seems the best plan," Bokusen'o replied, gazing at him out of his wise old eyes. "I am sure I would be able to physically remove the shard from you by taking careful aim with the end of one of my roots, but I am also sure that the glass would sense interference from my demon aura as I attempt to do so, sharpen and grow inside you, and do you irreversible damage."

"You think Kikyo and Kaede will be able to do any better?" Inuyasha asked.

"I do not know, but perhaps they can purify the shard and reduce its viciousness."

Bokusen'o sounded sad and very tired.

"You've been worried about me, haven't you?" Inuyasha asked, putting his arms about the tree demon's trunk and pressing his forehead to the bark.

"I have. Once I sensed your distress, I ordered one of the guards near the wall to take one of my leaves, find your attendant, and have it put into your hand. The sensations I received through the leaf were terrible."

"Don't worry. I'm quite well now. I don't know what you've been doing with yourself to sound so weary, but for someone who just stands in the same place all the time, you sure seem exhausted!" he said with a grin.

"I'll have no cheek from you, little prince," Bokusen'o rumbled. "I am well. Perhaps I am just too old."

"Don't say that," Inuyasha murmured, upset at the thought that one day, this great old tree would be no more.

"I sense your brother approaching in search of you, filled with anxiety. You did not tell him you were coming out here, did you?"

"Nope. I kind of gave him the slip. He's been hovering over me like a fussy hen for days. He's hardly let me out of his sight except when he knows he can post, oh, about two hundred guards all around me."

Bokusen'o gave a low, soft chuckle as the demon lord swept into the forest patch, saying: "Inuyasha, why did you not tell me that you would be here? I thought something had happened when I found you gone from your room, and the guards said you had left no word as to where you were going."

"I'm fine," Inuyasha sighed. "Stop fussing. I can't mope around every minute of every day like I'm dying, right?"

"I was concerned for you."

Wordless prompting from Bokusen'o made Inuyasha realise that he had been thoughtless, and that he did appreciate knowing how much his brother cared.

"Sorry," he said, transferring his hug from the tree demon to Sesshomaru. "I didn't mean for you to worry. It's just that everyone's been tiptoeing around me like I'm already dead or something. Natsumi looks sad, Jaken keeps weeping, Kazuki seems terrified that if he talks too loudly I'll topple over from a gust of his breath… it's unnerving. I just wanted some fresh air and to talk to Bokusen'o."

"My mother doesn't tiptoe around you, and she will be entering the dining hall for breakfast at any moment, so we should be there as soon as possible if we do not want to be late."

They took their leave of Bokusen'o and walked to the dining hall, Inuyasha casting one backward glance at the tree demon, who seemed far more fragile and weary than he had ever imagined such a great creature could be.

It was the first time Lady Shirakumo had seen Inuyasha up, perfectly groomed from ears to toes and beautifully dressed by Natsumi in a white and russet robe.

"You clean up well," she remarked, casting an admiring glance over him that made him self-conscious.

Inuyasha walked up to her and bowed deeply. "Lady Shirakumo, I have not had the opportunity before this to thank you properly. I want to say that I am deeply grateful to you for saving my life."

"You are more than welcome," she replied, putting a finger under his chin and lifting his head to have a better look at his features. "I must say that you were a truly sorry sight when I first saw you, but I now see why my son is so besotted. Such a pretty thing – if you weren't already engaged to be mated, I would be quite interested myself – I did find my former mate very physically attractive, and you look so much like him, except for the ears."

Inuyasha did not know what to say, and he lost all his composure when, to his utter astonishment, Sesshomaru's mother stroked and pinched his bottom as she moved past him on her way to the breakfast table.

With a yelp, he swung about to face her, jaw slack and eyes wide.

"Mother…" Sesshomaru growled in warning.

"Oh, don't be so possessive," Lady Shirakumo sighed to her son. "It's good to learn how to share, my dear."

"Mother!"

"It's my fault that he ended up so selfish," Lady Shirakumo in a mock-confidential way to Inuyasha, who was still staring at her, mouth agape, finding it hard to recover from the shock of having his bottom fondled by the female who had once been his father's mate, and mother to his half-brother and mate-to-be. "He's never had to share anything in his life – although I understand that he has no qualms about sharing his body with females and males of all species and ages…"

"That is enough," Sesshomaru growled, giving her a murderous glare before casting Inuyasha a quick glance, not wanting his puppy to be reminded of his past promiscuous ways, or of his hurtful suggestion that he would have to share him with a female in the future.

"Speaking of selfishness, may your mother ask why you are still taking up space here, and why you have not whisked your little brother off to the priestesses?" Lady Shirakumo queried in a seemingly unconcerned manner as she spread honey over her bread roll. "I don't suppose you are planning to wait for him to turn critically ill before you act?"

Inuyasha's and Sesshomaru's eyes met. They had agreed in private that even when Inuyasha was well enough to get out of bed, they would not go to the village until after the night of the new moon. It would be too dangerous for him to be away from the castle at such a time, and Sesshomaru wanted to first make certain that his injuries would not do further harm to him in his human form.

The moonless night would come tomorrow.

"Inuyasha has only just recovered enough from his injuries to leave his bedroom," Sesshomaru said, seeing the boy to his usual seat at the dining table before taking his own. "I wish to wait a day or two more before I am willing to risk his health on a three-hour flight by dragon."

"I could carry him there in two hours in my full-dog form," Lady Shirakumo mused, looking brightly across the table at Inuyasha. "How pleasant it would be to have such a handsome creature on my back, muscular thighs pressed to my sides…"

"If you cannot be trusted around my intended mate, perhaps you should not be having breakfast with us," Sesshomaru scowled, taking a sip of his tea.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and wondered if it was always like this between mother and son – cold silence alternating with sniping which comprised flippant suggestiveness from one party tossed against disapproving snarls from the other.

"We set off for the village the day after tomorrow," Inuyasha said with surprising firmness for a young one in the presence of his elders. "I will have recovered fully by then. Where's Kagura, by the way? I haven't thanked her yet for giving us the pointer about the amulet."

"She has gone out with Totosai to comb the area for signs of the mirror demon."

"So have you worked out exactly what happened?" Inuyasha asked.

"More or less," Sesshomaru answered. "We believe that Naraku put a spell, and demon poison, on an animal centipede holding the nulling shard. The creature was possibly dropped outside the castle grounds as they arrived, and would have carried the shard in at a signal from him. We believe he timed his visit to coincide with so many of our soldiers and guards being away. It seems that Byakuya spent much time conversing in an ostensibly innocent way with various members of staff, and quickly discovered which ones were not at their usual posts. The spiders must have settled on the art galleries – which they knew they would tour the next day – as among the places with lower security levels, and set the centipede on the north-gallery custodian. It would have entered the gallery, and under magical control, pushed the shard into the base of a sculpture to conceal it. With the custodian ill, no one would have the trained eye to notice immediately a tiny item with no aura and no scent. When Kanna shattered her mirror in the gallery the next day, it must have been spelled to embed one shard close to the nulling shard, concealing its demon aura. Once all was still, the glass piece would have moved itself from its hiding place, absorbed the nulling shard, then made its way to another location where it could wait, undetectable, until it received its orders remotely from the main body of Kanna's mirror. That was when it transformed into the mirror demon. Naraku sent the gold amulet before that to protect you, in addition to the protection you would have received when Hakudoshi stole a strand of your hair to press into Kanna's mirror, to inform the assassin that you were not to be harmed. Unfortunately, you chose not to keep or wear the amulet."

"'Unfortunately'?" Inuyasha snapped. "I'm glad I didn't wear it! I don't care that I got hurt. I don't want anything of Naraku's."

"It makes no difference, my darling. I am sure that if you had chosen to wear it, my jealous, selfish son would have smashed the amulet into a shapeless lump of gold," Lady Shirakumo said casually, helping herself to a serving of porridge.

This time, Sesshomaru did not respond, probably because he knew that his mother was perfectly right.

Sesshomaru's concern and possessiveness were not improved by a request for an urgent visit by Ambassador Tsubasa of the demon birds. She was coming with only two attendants this time, she wrote, and would not be accompanied by a large group of bird beasts, so his people would not feel threatened. She would make a quick visit, and leave as soon as she had communicated her queen's message and received the demon lord's answer.

The ambassador arrived at noon, and was received in the throne room. Her dark, sparkling eyes immediately registered Lady Shirakumo's presence, and the figures of Totosai, Kagura and Inuyasha. She had heard of Lady Shirakumo and knew who she was. She had also met Kagura before, and knew of her history. Totosai was a curiosity, though otherwise of little interest to her. But it was the first time she had seen Inuyasha. She was intrigued by his bearing and beauty, and by the rumours she had heard of the courageous prince who had saved his brother's life at risk of his own.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Tsubasa addressed Sesshomaru, bowing. "I have come with an urgent request from Queen Abi regarding the security of the eastern coastline we share. Your Majesty will have heard of Lord Naraku's increased aggression towards the territory and inhabitants of my queen's lands. Many of his new raids on our people's dwellings are launched over the waters and beaches. My queen requests that Lord Sesshomaru close off his territorial waters and coastline to Naraku so that he will have less room to launch his attacks from there. While we have the right to pursue spider invaders from our territory into his, we can do nothing if they retreat all the way to yours. If they knew that your defences had been further stepped up, they would not dare to try that."

Sesshomaru had already implemented Inuyasha's plan, but he was not about to tell Tsubasa that they had anticipated the request, or that they believed it was to their own advantage to cooperate. So he remained silent for half a minute before replying: "Naraku already knows that my naval and coastal defences are such that his people had better steer clear of my territories there. However, I see no reason not to further enhance them, to pose a greater deterrent to him."

"My queen will be delighted and most grateful to hear this, Your Majesty," Tsubasa said. "It is because your naval and coastal defences are so much stronger than ours that we are obliged to ask for such support from you. We will not forget it. I beg the pardon of the Lady Kagura for speaking so openly in her presence of our hostility against her father."

"You may speak as you please, Ambassador Tsubasa," Kagura said. "My father has disowned me and tried to kill me, and I have disowned him. He is nothing to me now but a continual embarrassment."

"Give my regards to your queen and cousin," Sesshomaru said to the ambassador. "I trust that she is well, apart from the trouble that Naraku is causing?"

"Thank you for your concern, Lord Sesshomaru. My queen is very well. She is in fact seeking a suitable consort at this time. If not for the fact that I can see from the engagement cuff and ring His Highness is wearing that he is already betrothed, I would be bold enough to say that Her Majesty would be more than pleased to have a consort of such beauty and nobility – and courage, from what I hear."

Inuyasha's ears twitched from disbelief and embarrassment – he had never had so many suitors in his life. Sesshomaru, on the other hand, needed to summon a dose of willpower not to allow his facial expression to change as he replied: "Ambassador, you have a keen eye. But my brother is indeed engaged to be mated. Besides, I have a suspicion that you are overstating the interest your cousin might have in him – I know that Abi has no particular fondness for half-demons, and I am certain that Inuyasha, as a half-human, would not be happy in a land filled with bird beasts which feast on human blood. After all, we hear reports that eight-tenths of the human population in your territories has been wiped out by your beasts, and the remainder have literally gone underground to conceal themselves from the birds."

"Your Majesty," Tsubasa said, putting on a charming look of wide-eyed sincerity. "Whether full-demon or half-human, a consort of my queen's would be very well protected from all manner of harm. As for the queen's disdain for humans and half-demons, that stems from her old perception of them as weak and deformed. She has, however, changed her mind about half-demons, having recently met some strong and beautiful ones, including the daughter of the bat demon tribe leader – a very powerful and engaging half-demon girl-child. My queen has heard of Prince Inuyasha's strength, courage and beauty, and has expressed admiration for his qualities. If she could only see him, I am certain that she would be even more impressed."

Tsubasa bowed to Inuyasha to demonstrate that she was not merely talking about him as if he were not standing there.

"I thank Queen Abi for her generosity in expressing her admiration for me, based merely on reports," Inuyasha said, bowing in return. "I am, however, engaged to be mated, so it is impossible for me to think of anyone else."

He was not sure how he felt about Tsubasa, considering that she was the female he had smelt all over Sesshomaru the morning after the last new moon. But she appeared to be someone who could compartmentalise business and pleasure, and did not seem to have come here on this occasion with the aim of luring Sesshomaru into bed with her again.

"He is engaged to me," Sesshomaru declared. "I believe Queen Abi would not wish to challenge me for my intended mate?"

Tsubasa bowed again, with a smile on her face. "Lord Sesshomaru surely knows Queen Abi better than to think that she would do any such thing. Her Majesty will be disappointed to learn that His Highness is no longer available to her, but I can say for certain that she will be very happy for Your Majesty."

With business concluded, Sesshomaru invited Tsubasa to stay for lunch, but she declined, saying that there was much for her to do at home. She took her leave of them, sprang onto her mount, and flew off into the clouds.

Sesshomaru hoped that her departure represented an end to the discomfiting experience of having other individuals make advances to Inuyasha right under his nose – at least for the rest of this day.

He was aware that it bordered on the ridiculous to behave in this slightly paranoid way, especially because he had spent so many years cultivating his cold, detached persona. But loving Inuyasha, almost having to watch him die as he lay bleeding in his arms, knowing the threat of the glass shard poised next to his heart, and all the recent experiences of seeing other demons admire his puppy and try to seduce him were turning him into an anxious, overprotective creature.

Being aware of the absurdity of it, however, did not stop his paranoia from resurfacing when he returned to the royal wing after dinner to learn from Natsumi that Inuyasha had already changed out of his evening robes and gone off somewhere.

As his mother was in her bedroom near the far end of the corridor, Sesshomaru wondered if she had tempted him into her bed. But his nose told him otherwise – she was by herself.

So where was the boy?

The demon lord followed his nose and tracked him all the way to the ground floor, to the line of rooms and chambers between the royal wing and the administration wing – the healers' rooms. Following his nose further, he found, more specifically, that the boy was in Satoshi's room.

What was he doing there? If he needed treatment, he could have summoned the wolf demon to the royal wing. Was it necessary for him to go to the healer's room instead? And did they have to be meeting behind closed doors?

"Thanks for all you did for me," Sesshomaru could hear Inuyasha saying through the door. "I don't know how many hours you sat there going through magical-healing hell, but I want you to know that I really appreciate it."

"Do not give it another thought, Your Highness," Satoshi replied. "Whatever I went through was nothing compared with what you suffered. Besides, I was of little use to you, unlike the Lady Shirakumo. Old Yoshi was a great source of support to me, though."

"Yes, I know. I went to the main healing room to thank him, and learnt from him that you had already retired to your chamber, so I came looking for you."

"You needn't have done so. It was my pleasure to do what little I could for you. I only wish I could have done more."

"You did lots. You held those damned splinters in place until the lady came, didn't you?"

"I still wish I could have done better. How are your wounds? Would you like me to look at them?"

"They're okay – the deepest ones are still a bit sore, but the others are pretty much healed."

Sesshomaru listened jealously to the sound of Inuyasha's robes being untied and parted, although he detected no arousal or unbecoming personal interest on the part of either of the two males in the room.

"The flesh is healing well, and as quickly as can be expected for wounds of such a nature," Satoshi's voice came through.

"Well, let's see if the priestesses can do anything about the remaining piece of glass. I hate the stench of it – I get wafts of Naraku's scent coming off that shard now and again, and it makes me sick to my stomach."

Sesshomaru heard the rustling of dried leaves, then Satoshi saying: "Whenever it bothers you, sniff this mixture of leaves. Dried, torn up and mixed together in a clean linen pouch, these leaves make good scent neutralisers, and should minimise your discomfort, until someone can remove that shard from you."

"Thanks, Satoshi. Speaking of scent-neutralisers, I've been wanting to ask you for some time – do you know a way to disguise a human scent?"

"A human scent?" the wolf demon healer asked.

"Yeah. I can't really say why, but I need to know…"

"Your Highness, you need not tell me why. I suspect that I know, but I will not speak, as walls have ears."

Sesshomaru opened the door at this point and entered the healer's room. Satoshi bowed, and Inuyasha looked abashed to have been tracked down like this. He pulled his robes closed, as it occurred to him that the scene might not look innocent to his mate-to-be.

"Whatever you know or do not know," Sesshomaru said to Satoshi. "It is indeed not for you to speak of. In any case, Inuyasha does not need those particular scent-neutralising tricks so urgently, as I am the only protection he needs."

To Inuyasha's surprise, Satoshi disagreed, tempering his words with a deep and humble bow. "My lord," said the wolf demon. "I ask your pardon if I speak out of place, but as His Highness' personal healer, I am obliged to observe that whatever His Highness requires for his safety is always best if it can be provided by more than one source. Again, I ask your pardon for speaking what may sound offensive to your ears, but I must do my duty. Although Your Majesty's protection is more powerful by far than paltry magical tricks or medicinal herbs, these are dangerous times, and if Your Majesty should be absent from His Highness' side for any reason, then His Highness must have every other means at his disposal for keeping himself safe."

Inuyasha held his breath as Sesshomaru weighed the wolf demon's words, seemingly deciding between accepting his counsel grudgingly and ripping his head off for contradicting him. To his relief, Sesshomaru only said tersely: "Do what you must."

The demon lord took a seat in the simply furnished room and watched patiently as Satoshi first wrote down for and explained to Inuyasha the instructions for a reasonably straightforward magical spell that he would be able to use once he learnt the rudiments of magic and could manipulate the elements in the air around him. The wolf demon then turned from magical spells to medicinal formulae, giving the prince a recipe that could neutralise most human scents. Finally, he offered practical pointers that he said he had picked up from his fox-demon colleagues.

When he was done, Inuyasha thanked him with a grin before turning to Sesshomaru, who growled lightly to see that his robes were still partially undone – and that they had been so throughout his scent-hiding consultation with Satoshi.

To the prince's exasperation, and the wolf demon's more discreet amusement, Sesshomaru muttered to himself and secured Inuyasha's sash, casting the wolf demon a glance which seemed to say that if he had any amorous thoughts about the boy, he had better keep them entirely to himself.

Satoshi was wise enough to do nothing more than bow deeply and hold that bow until the demon lord and his intended mate were gone from his room and well out of sight.

<

The next evening, when the sun dropped below the horizon and there was no moon in the sky to take its place, Inuyasha changed his form.

The Sesshomaru of two months ago would never have believed that he could harbour so much affection for anyone in a mortal shape, but here he was now, holding his temporarily human half-brother securely in his arms while flaring his demon aura gently, hiding the boy's transformation from all in the castle.

They had closed the windows and pressed the fire rat robe to the base of the door so that the scents which seeped out through the gap at floor-level would be those of Inuyasha's half-demon self. The attendants had been dismissed early and told that they would not be needed in the royal wing until after sunrise.

Inuyasha squirmed slightly, still embarrassed to be seen in this form by his demon brother.

"Stop hiding your face from me," Sesshomaru whispered, kissing the jet-black hair. "Look at me."

Inuyasha raised his head and looked up at the demon lord, all wide violet-gray eyes and translucent skin, his eyesight adjusting to the flickering of the candles Sesshomaru had placed on the table and cabinet.

"See? Beautiful as ever," Sesshomaru assured him. "Now tell me if the shard is stirring inside you."

"No movement," Inuyasha said.

"Good. Now eat your dinner and drink your medicine. Mother hardly seemed to notice when I said I wanted a quiet meal with you in my room and that we did not want to be disturbed for the rest of the night, but I am certain that she is now trying to worm information out of Totosai in the dining hall."

"I guess it doesn't matter if she knows. She'll find out sooner or later."

"She has been known to eat humans in her full-dog form."

Inuyasha gulped. "Okay, maybe we'll wait until she's known me for ages and likes me lots more than she already does before we let her know."

"The fewer the people who know, the better. We do not want anyone using it against you."

"No one knew when I lived by myself in the wilds," Inuyasha said. "But it was frightening to be so weak once a month when I was usually so strong. Later, when Kikyo and Kaede learnt my secret, it felt scary too that someone else knew – but also better in a way, because they were my friends, and they were now looking out for me."

"I will always look out for you," Sesshomaru said, dishing seared meat and well-boiled vegetables onto Inuyasha's plate. "You don't need tricks and spells from some wolf demon healer."

If Inuyasha's puppy ears had been on then, they would have pricked up at the note of annoyance in his brother's voice. "Jealous, are we?" Inuyasha teased, knowing that he was playing with fire as he was in no shape to outrun or outfight Sesshomaru.

The demon lord growled at the beautiful human boy sitting across the small table from him. "Eat," was the only word he uttered in response to the tease.

"Hmm, you really are possessive, for someone who only a few days ago told me I would have to share," Inuyasha sang out his words playfully, with mock thoughtfulness. "Yet you won't let me near anyone else – why not, though? I'm the prince – I can sleep with anyone I want to in the castle – maybe I'll ask Natsumi if she wants to play… hmm, no, not her, it would upset Kazuki. So I guess it'll be Satoshi after all – he is kinda cute, huh?"

"I see that you have no interest in your dinner," Sesshomaru stated, getting to his feet. "In that case, I won't be depriving you too much by interrupting your meal?"

Before Inuyasha could react, Sesshomaru picked him up under one arm and carried him to the bed, kicking and struggling futilely. He sat on the edge of the bed and placed Inuyasha face-down over his lap.

"You really were asking for it," Sesshomaru told him.

"Wh-?" Inuyasha began, then found himself unable to complete the word as the flat of Sesshomaru's hand came down on his bottom.

"Ow!" Inuyasha yelled at the top of his voice. "That hurts, you bully!"

He wriggled and squirmed and tried to get free, but there was no chance of getting away from a demon on a moonless night.

Sesshomaru was using only a tiny fraction of his strength, as Inuyasha's human body was much more fragile than his half-demon one, and they still had concerns about the shard inside him. But the boy had provoked him enough, and by the gods, he was going to be spanked, shard or no shard.

His hand came down again, neither hard nor swiftly, but Inuyasha still yelled as if he had been stung.

If the windows had not been shuttered and the door locked, and the guards told not to disturb them under any circumstances, they would doubtless have come rushing in to see if another assassin had entered the royal wing.

"You big bully!" Inuyasha shouted. "Hitting me on a night when I can't defend myself!"

Once more Sesshomaru's hand came down.

"And I took a shard for you too!"

That worked. Sesshomaru's arm snaked around Inuyasha's waist and easily pulled him upright, seating him on his lap.

"I know you did," Sesshomaru whispered, kissing him. "That is why it hurts to imagine you with anyone else. To think you might love me that much, and yet be with another, is something I cannot bear."

"I was only teasing," Inuyasha replied soberly, putting his arms round Sesshomaru's neck and kissing him back. "Just because you don't like thinking about something and can't deal with it yourself doesn't mean you have to take it out on my behind."

"I hardly touched you."

"You hit me."

"It was practically a caress."

"Not when I'm human."

"All right, I'm sorry. Let's take a look at the terrible damage I've done."

Sesshomaru flipped Inuyasha across his lap again and pulled his trousers down to expose his bottom.

"Hey!" Inuyasha bellowed once more. "You were supposed to stop that shit!"

"I have. We are moving on to something else now," Sesshomaru murmured, caressing the tight little ass under his hand – it was sleek and muscular, but the skin was a shade smoother and more delicate than when the boy was half-demon.

"Like what? Molesting me while I lie here like a piece of meat?" Inuyasha scowled.

"Nonsense. I am appreciating all the variety and appeal that my future mate has to offer me," Sesshomaru said.

"I would appreciate it better if I could be upright and in a slightly more dignified position while being appreciated," Inuyasha said caustically.

"Very well," Sesshomaru sighed, relenting and righting his half-brother again, making him dizzy from being swung up and down like a rag doll.

"If we are going to be mates," Inuyasha growled, shaking his head to clear the giddiness, when he was once again sitting on his demon brother's lap. "You will have to learn to not treat me like a pet, even when I am human."

"All right."

They gazed in silence into each others' eyes for some time, gold meeting violet-gray, until Inuyasha said softly: "You really don't mind that I'm human sometimes, do you?"

"To say that I 'don't mind' implies that I would merely tolerate you on your human nights. That is inaccurate. I love you in all your forms, half-demon, insane full-demon, delectable human, and even animal, if we ever discover that you can take such a shape when you are older."

"You charmer, you."

Sesshomaru received a kiss, which he took as partial forgiveness from Inuyasha, so he tested the boundaries with a question: "Can I not treat you like a pet ever? Not even for our amusement?"

"Hmm… okay, maybe just for fun sometimes, but you have to get permission first."

"May I have your permission to treat you like my most-loved pet for a while tonight? It's hard to resist when you're so smooth and harmless and easy to move around…"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, but said at last: "Oh, fine – just for a while tonight, but don't push it too – aaaarrrrgh!"

And he was face-down over the demon lord's lap again, with his unclothed butt in the air.