Conflicting Instinct

A/N: Hello all. This is my first foray into Inuyasha fiction. If you read the warnings you know this is yoai. This chapter is fairly clean, but I can't guarantee that for the rest of the story. Also there is m-preg as well. I've never done it before so I thought I'd give it a try. This would probably be considered AU, set about five years after the death of Naraku. I haven't seen the end of the series and have absolutely no idea what happens so this is all speculation. I welcome constructive critism and praise with open arms. Flamers will be either ignored or laughed at. Enjoy.

Chapter One: Almost Time

Disclaimer: I think you can tell by this that I do not own Inuyasha.

A gentle night breeze swept through the dark forest, carrying with it a myriad of scents. Sesshoumaru lifted his head and sniffed the air delicately, amber eyes narrowed as he sifted through them. Jaken’s chattering and Rin’s high-pitched, girlish laughter faded into the background as his sensitive ears searched out any unusual sounds. He found none, but he had more than enough reason to be cautious. It wouldn’t be long now.

The silver-haired youkai scanned the large clearing he stood in, deciding it would serve his purpose for the time being. Dense trees surrounded him on all sides save the one at his back, which was a high rock wall. It was the perfect place to defend himself against attack, should it come to that.

The wind changed, bringing with it a new scent that assaulted Sesshoumaru’s senses, clouding them for a moment. The inuyoukai’s body arched slightly, and a low inaudible growl left his parted lips as a dull burning ache started in the pit of his stomach. He was running out of time. He forced his muscles to relax, his iron clad self-control the only thing keeping him from trembling visibly.

“Jaken,” he called, pleased when his voice came out smooth and calm, conveying none of his inner turmoil.

“Yes, milord?” his servant responded, walking to his side.

Although Sesshoumaru didn’t turn around, he knew Rin was there as well. He heard her steps and could feel her watching him closely. It made him uneasy. He had to stop himself from snapping at her, angry and tense for reasons that were not her doing. He pushed the feelings back. He would not allow himself to lose that much of his control. He was not that far gone yet.

“Take Rin and go to Inuyasha. He is expecting you,” Sesshoumaru ordered smoothly, his voice still rock steady.

The daiyoukai didn’t miss the small offended sound that came from Jaken at the mention of his half-brother’s name. He and Inuyasha had come to a somewhat uneasy truce after the death of Naraku. After being forced to fight at his brother’s side to defeat the evil half-breed, Sesshoumaru had finally come to understand what his father had been trying to accomplish by giving them each the sword he had. He hadn’t liked it at all at the time, but once he realized how foolish they were being, he couldn’t bring himself to continue.

That battle had changed him in ways he could not truly understand. Watching Inuyasha mindlessly jump to defend him when Naraku had tried to absorb his power yet again, wielding Tenseiga to resurrect that strange human girl that Inuyasha was so fond of, fighting against a common foe as brothers, had changed him. Oh, his younger brother was still down right infuriating at the best of times, but the hatred was gone between them. This was why Sesshoumaru knew he could trust Inuyasha with Rin’s safety when he couldn’t trust himself with it. There was no guarantee the inuyoukai wouldn’t kill her if she were near him when he lost himself tonight.

Sesshoumaru felt Rin’s joy at the mention of visiting Inuyasha. The girl had developed quite a fondness for the half-breed, or more specifically, a fondness for tormenting the half-breed. Inuyasha had no skill in dealing with children. And it was extremely amusing to watch.

He sent the thirteen year old girl a side-long glance. “Behave yourself,” he said, knowing the point was moot because she wouldn’t listen to him anyway.

Rin grinned brightly at him, verifying his suspicion. “Of course, Lord Sesshoumaru.”

Jaken herded the girl onto Ah and Un and gave his lord a thinly veiled look of concern. “Be careful, my lord.”

Sesshoumaru didn’t turn to watch them leave. He dipped his head down and closed his eyes, letting the soft fall of his silvery hair curtain his face. He waited until he could no longer sense his servant and his charge before preparing for a very long three days.

He absolutely hated this time of year, when winter’s claws finally lost their grip on the land and spring blew its warm breath over everything, turning the trees green and perfuming the air with newly budded flowers. It was this season every ten years that he went into heat. Lost himself to the overwhelming need to mate for three unbearable, humiliating days.

It was the only thing he ever cursed his mother’s heritage for. His mother had been from an elite clan of breeder inuyoukai. Both males and females of her clan had the ability to go into heat, mate, and carry pups. Because of his mother’s blood he also had that ability, which made him very desirable among the few inuyoukai left.

His father’s one saving grace was that he had always respected Sesshoumaru’s decision not to mate, and would fight off any that sought to claim his oldest son when the young inuyoukai was unable to do it himself.

Over the years Sesshoumaru had learned to control his instincts to the point where he could defend himself against any suitors, but it was incredibly difficult because his heat weakened him considerably. His strong demonic aura would dissuade lesser demons from approaching him, but it would do the opposite for the stronger ones, the ones that knew he would be weakened and saw it as an opening. Those were the ones he had to watch for.

The daiyoukai removed his armor and swords, knowing they would be useless to him. He left them in the back of a small cave in the rock’s face, trusting the combined barrier of Tokijin and Tenseiga to keep them from falling into someone else’s hands should he be forced to leave this place.

A slightly stronger breeze blew past him, fanning his flushed face. It was an almost ethereal picture that Sesshoumaru made, his pale skin bathed in moonlight, the wind whipping the long sleeves of his white and red kimono around his arms, his long silver hair flowing around him like metallic silk. The heat that had slowly accumulated in his stomach swelled, spreading through his body like a wildfire with such intensity that he fell to his knees, panting heavily. He bit back a cry and closed his eyes, forcing his breathing to slow, centering himself.

When glowing amber eyes opened, they shone with a feral light, tinged in red. A low challenging growl issued into the still air of the clearing and Sesshoumaru sat tensely against the rocks, waiting for the first fool to come and try his strength.

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A powerful youkai with long, black and silver hair and narrow amber eyes very similar to that of Inutaishou’s two sons, stopped in the middle of pacing. He raised his head, black silver-tipped bangs brushing against his forehead as he sniffed the air. An alluring sweet smell assaulted his senses, causing him to let out a pleased growl. The eldest son of the great Inutaishou had always smelled like honey, and it was intoxicating. But the daiyoukai’s scent had changed. He sniffed again, and caught the bittersweet smell of heat and the underlying musk of challenge.

Slowly, a small, almost manic, grin spread out across the youkai’s face. The chance he had been waiting for had finally come. The father was no longer there to protect the son, and he was considerably stronger than he had been the first time he sought to claim the young lord.

His grin widened and he took off in the direction of the scent. Soon, very soon, Sesshoumaru, the Lord of the Western Lands, would be his.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Large mountain wolves ran along the edge of a large forest, their strong legs carrying them across the grass swift as the wind as they made their way back to their leader. They paced around him, brushing against his legs, panting, and occasionally letting out soft agitated whines.

The wind blew his long ebony ponytail out behind him and vivid azure eyes darted over the area as he attempted to discern what had upset his wolves. It wasn’t like them to be so jittery. He sensed a strong demonic aura and knew exactly who it was. This was the neutral border between the Northern and the Western lands, so Sesshoumaru’s presence beyond it was not unusual. But it was strange that the Lord of the Western lands would be so far north.

Kouga, Lord of the Northern Lands and leader of the Wolf Demon tribe, lifted his head and tried to catch the scent of the other demon. The inuyoukai’s normal faintly sweet smell had changed somewhat. Then he noticed a new aroma that had never been a part of Sesshoumaru’s scent before: the bittersweet, spicy tang of heat. That mixed with the daiyoukai’s powerful aura drew him like a siren song. All rational thought shut down as demon nature took over, and instinct drove him to follow the scent. His one and only goal was to possess the owner of that power, to claim the beautiful inuyoukai for his own. And Kouga did the only thing he could, he gave into it.

tbc
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Some translations:

youkai: demon
inuyoukai: dog demon
daiyoukai: great demon or demon lord

(I don't use fangirl japanese that much so if I screwed something up feel free to let me know)

Please, let me know what you think.