Penetration

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In This Chapter: Language

Chapter Four

The aggressive sputtering he had expected had not come. Sesshomaru would privately admit to having been vaguely surprised. His little brother's bluster was familiar to him, and he was aware that even the slightest provocation would have the fool spouting off that foul vocabulary he seemed to take such pride in using. The fact that loud cursing hadn't announced Inuyasha's return to the surface was a small mystery.

However, mysterious as it was, Sesshomaru had not enough interest invested in the fool to ponder it for any great length of time. Two options came to Sesshomaru immediately before he dismissed the train of thought. The first was that perhaps, just perhaps, Inuyasha was more intelligent than he had thought and wasn't likely to shout his insults to the empty air when he believed he was alone. The thought, however, was so ludicrous that Sesshomaru discarded it the second he realised where it was going.

Aside from that, there was the possibility the hanyou was too exhausted to waste his energy on meaningless exertions - that, too, showed more brains than Sesshomaru generally tended to credit him with, but it bore more weight than the first. If it was the case, however, that intelligence evidently didn't stretch as far as refraining from insulting a more powerful youkai whilst in that state, and so it sat more easily with the daiyoukai even if he refused to rise to the fool's bait. Snapping at every slur was for more undignified creatures such as his younger brother.

Despite viewing allowing oneself to be baited thus as distasteful, Sesshomaru could admit, deep in the recesses of his mind, that he almost... enjoyed ruffling the hanyou's feathers. He came as close as he ever would to affection for the insufferable idiot when he saw his hackles raise and his golden eyes flash with anger. There was something about watching Inuyasha attempt to be threatening that approached endearing. It wasn't a feeling the daiyoukai could remember experiencing for any other being he'd encountered in his long life, but he wouldn't deny it. To do so would be to hide from his feelings in cowardice, and that was something Sesshomaru would never do. And so, to himself alone, Sesshomaru would admit that watching Inuyasha attempt to threaten him was akin to an adult dog's amusement over a growling pup.

That was all he was, in the end, after all, Sesshomaru mused. Though his body may have matured fully by the standards of his human blood, in youkai terms, he was barely out of his puphood. And his features would always retain a certain pup-like quality in the dayoukai's eyes, thanks to those absurd ears. Combining that with his strength that would never compare to Sesshomaru's, he truly was like a puppy trying to intimidate an older dog.

That was not to say that any of it would save Inuyasha from retribution once the debt was paid. His distaste far outweighed this... affection, if that was truly what it was, and Sesshomaru knew with crystal clarity that the hanyou would die by his sword one day. One day soon, if the half-breed kept challenging him to unnecessary battles, as soon as Sesshomaru found a way to make sure the death was on his terms and not his brother's. Though Inuyasha irked him to no end, aiding his brother in suicide, no matter that it may be a fond wish to see him dead, left a bad taste in Sesshomaru's mouth.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Inuyasha's head once again breaking the surface of the water - this time accompanied by the curses Sesshomaru had originally expected. They were low enough that even his sensitive hearing could not pick out all the words, but he caught enough to realise that Inuyasha wished the two large rocks the sword had wedged itself between to be taken backwards through a hole, though of course the hanyou used far more vulgar language. How the fool expected that to happen in reality baffled Sesshomaru, even as the predictability of his younger brother almost made him smile.

He watched the now thoroughly soaked and shivering Inuyasha wade to the bank with calm, cool eyes. Then, Inuyasha dropped Tetsusaiga - sheath and all - to the ground, and Sesshomaru's eyebrow rose ever so slightly. Before he could enquire as to what Inuyasha was doing, however, the mongrel dropped into a crouch and shook himself so much like a sodden dog that Sesshomaru could not stop his eyes widening for the briefest of moments.

That was, however, until a few droplets stained his cheek and haori, and his eyes narrowed into disdainful slits as his teeth bared themselves just slightly in a snarl. "Hanyou," he said, injecting as much disgust into the single word as possible. He didn't miss the way Inuyasha's body suddenly stiffened, and was satisfied enough to smooth his voice out. "Must you disgrace yourself even further by shaking yourself like a common dog?"

The daiyoukai watched as Inuyasha pushed himself stiffly upright, though he found himself unsure whether that more was from his sudden tensing or the aches he undoubtedly still felt. The hanyou seemed to need a moment or two to come up with a retort, and so Sesshomaru allowed it, vaguely curious as to what his defence would be. Finally, Inuyasha's face cracked a triumphant grin.

"I'm already a fucking disgrace in your books anyway, so why shouldn't I? My most humble apologies if it offends your delicate sensibilities, Lord Sesshomaru." He half-breed snorted. "Like it's any of your fucking business what I do, anyway. Jackass."

Inuyasha's comeback had been dripping with sarcasm, but Sesshomaru recognised bait when he heard it. No matter what the hanyou said, he would never rise to it. But if the fool wanted to bait him...

"Inuyasha, is your vocabulary so limited that you find it necessary to pad out your sentences with obscenities? I do believe you have managed ten since you first pulled yourself out of the water. This is not counting your colourful muttering, of course."

Inuyasha paused in wringing the remaining water out of his wild hair and his eyes flashed. "Fuck you, you arrogant bastard!" he shot out automatically, it seemed to Sesshomaru, then froze as he realised what he had done. Though his expression was schooled to calm indifference, Sesshomaru knew there was a glimmer of amusement in eyes the twin to Inuyasha's. And he noticed the moment Inuyasha caught that glimmer. He could just hear the grinding of the hanyou's teeth.

His voice cool and calm, Sesshomaru said, "I believe that makes twelve."

"Will you stop fuck -" Inuyasha's jaws audibly clicked together as he bit down on the rest of the word and glared at Sesshomaru with such lethal intent that it may have made a lesser demon quail - had Inuyasha the strength to back it up. "How the - how do you even remember how many times I've sworn, anyway? Have you been counting from the beginning? That's kinda sad, Sesshomaru."

He seemed so proud of himself for getting that out without cursing, Sesshomaru noted with a tingle of amusement. His eyes were positively glowing with triumph. Had Sesshomaru been a youkai of lesser control, he might have smiled. "It's called a memory, half-breed. Had you any intelligence to spare, yours might be as good as mine."

It was bait Inuyasha couldn't resist rising to, he knew. Sure enough, his hackles raised and he snarled. "Shut the fuck up, you asshole!" As soon as the insult had flown from his lips, those little triangles of fluff on top of the hanyou's head disappeared into his mane of damp, silvery hair.

Sesshomaru raised his eyebrow just a little. "I don't follow your commands, Inuyasha." He waited just long enough for the hanyou to pull himself together after his outburst and continue wringing water from his hair. "And that is fifteen."

"Argh!" Inuyasha threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of helpless rage, then whirled on Sesshomaru, mouth open to let forth what would no doubt be a torrent of filth, his face contorted in an expression of agitated fury. The daiyoukai was sure that, when Inuyasha's mouth worked silently and then snapped shut again, eyes dark and burning with anger, it was in response to the mocking expectation shining in his own.

"Not worth it," the hanyou muttered seemingly to himself, in an apparent attempt to convince himself of the fact. He then snatched up the Tetsusaiga and shoved it back into its usual place in rough, jerky movements and stomped away from Sesshomaru despite the obvious aches in his limbs and the fact that he was still soaked to the bone.

Fluidly, Sesshomaru rose from his perch on the boulder and followed his brother in silence. His debt would not permit otherwise. For him to repay Inuyasha's gesture in full, he had to be close by to wait for such an opportunity. If this had been a normal occurrence between comrades, their alliance and close living conditions would have made this a natural thing. However, insufferable as the hanyou always was, he'd made it difficult for Sesshomaru, forcing the proud daiyoukai to follow him wherever he went until such an opportunity to save his wretched life arose.

Then he'd be free to kill the little cretin whenever he chose.

Fully aware of how ridiculously contradictive that was, Sesshomaru's mood was only kept buoyant by the consolating thought that Inuyasha was such an irritating force of nature that almost everything he came into contact with inevitably developed the desire to kill him. Only his bizarre former pack of humans had been resistant... though their occasional outbursts at the wretch showed they hadn't been entirely immune.

Inuyasha was bound to annoy the wrong youki with his big mouth soon enough. Sesshomaru would step in when the hanyou inevitably got himself into trouble, and then he would smack the fool around as punishment for the grief Sesshomaru was now bound to suffer for him.

Until then, though...

Inuyasha had obviously noticed his youki and was aware he was following. The hanyou's shoulders were a stiff, tense line, and Sesshomaru allowed himself to be amused at the thought that Inuyasha was barely holding himself back from releasing a stream of curses. Deliberately, he lengthened his stride, bringing him closer to Inuyasha to allow his little brother to hear the ever so faint swish of his haori's silk as it rubbed against itself, and the even softer rustle of the leaves he disturbed with his passage.

"Stop fucking following me, you fucking asshole," Inuyasha muttered ahead of him. It was so quiet, the daiyoukai's ears almost missed it. Unfortunately for the hanyou, it wasn't quite quiet enough.

"Eighteen," Sesshomaru said simply, his tone as bland as though he were discussing the weather and not deliberately baiting his younger brother.

Inyuasha's response was an incoherent sound of rage and a display of unnecessary violence as he stomped through the undergrowth with nothing even resembling grace, kicking at anything that got in his way, be it a rock, a twig or an overgrown clump of grass.

Out of sight of the hanyou, Sesshomaru allowed the corners of his lips to curl up in a barely noticeable smile. Goading Inuyasha this way was... entertaining. It had been centuries since Sesshomaru had allowed himself to enjoy a bit of levity, but if he was going to be stuck shadowing Inuyasha until the fool almost got himself killed, the inuyoukai was going to make it as painful as possible for him short of trying to kill him himself.