Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! -Dies- -Comes back as Zombie- School sucks the life outta me, ya know? n.n I meant to update like… seven weeks ago. Seriously, I have no excuse for waiting this long. I understand if people have stopped reading this by now, I would have. n.n –Nervous laugh- Also, I've been kind of worried about this chapter. –Breathes- Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing! Special thanks to MyLamb, Sammi, and Karina. (Sorry if I misspelled any names.)

Temptation (They told me in church to resist temptation, but screw 'dat. :D )

:----:

"Put him on the couch! The couch!" Remy ran a hand through her hair, eyeing the man Inuyasha had slung over his back wearily. "Be careful! Watch your muddy feet-"

Kagome floundered around the room, questioning and demanding answers, as Rin stood silent in the corner. Her stomach churned.

"Who is he? Why is he here?-"

"-I just washed that rug-"

"-Is there something you've not told me Inuyasha-"

"-And you're all so wet-"

"-Because without trust-"

"-So please be careful and I'll go make some tea-"

"-We simple can't get married!"

"-While you all… sort this out."

"Are you finished?" The hanyou snapped. He grit his teeth and tried a more pleasant tone. "Remy, I need you to go to the nearest store and buy some cranberry juice. It has to be room temperature."

"Why… ?"

"There's no time for questions! Hurry. And don't tell anyone about… him," Inuyasha gestured to his brother's limp form.

Remy bustled from the room. "I'll be back in a jiffy!"

"Why do we need cranberry juice?" Kagome frowned.

He closed his eyes. "Can you go back to that gas station we passed and find some duct tape? We'll need it."

His fiancée's eyes narrowed. "Now, you-"

"Please?" Inuyasha pleaded softly. She looked away with a muttered 'fine' and departed. The door slammed on her way out.

Rin bit the inside of her cheek. "Why do you-"

"I don't. I need to explain some things to you," the hanyou began to pace. "Apparently this bastard neglected to." As if he heard the insult, Sesshoumaru shifted.

Rin slid into the nearby armchair, and tried to sort herself out. She felt like a cat that had just been dropped into a cage of hungry dogs. The itching knowledge it was hopeless-

- Hopeless because she ignored all his warnings, ignored her own perceptions -

- And hopeless because in all these surreal happenings she had yet to find him even once.

Inuyasha moved uneasily to his brother's body, and lifted one of his eyelids. He pulled back with over-expressed displeasure. "It's all still red. You know the last time he ate?"

"Ate...?" The girl murmured, racking her brain for any snippet of memory she had of him eating anything. She trembled, and pulled at a lock of her hair.

"Never mind," the hanyou growled. "You really dug your own grave. Here you are pressing flesh with him and you know nothing about him."

"I have not and would not want to-"

"Well he sure as hell does," Inuyasha interrupted with a wry grin. His eyes found her, the warning in them clear.

Rin felt her cheeks burn, and bit the inside of her cheek. "Will you just get this 'explanation' over with?"

The half demon sighed. "Sesshoumaru's not human."

"Obviously," she said softly, "He's an inu youkai."

"I know!" Inuyasha spat testily. "You seem rather calm for someone who just experienced all that."

The young woman stiffened, wondering how he could be so wrong. "I was… taught to never overreact."

"So if some guy tried to rape you, you'd not do anything?"

"Actually," she breathed, "I'd scream my head off and kick his ass, but that's beside the point. I knew… Sesshoumaru wouldn't hurt me."

Inuyasha stared at her. "Yea, he was just trying to play patty cake with you." Ignoring her annoyed glare, he continued on. "What I mean is, he's a lot… different than we are. You and I eat hamburgers, salad, whatever. He feeds on… blood."

"Blood?" She repeated, raising a brow at the absurdity of it, while her stomach balked at the same moment. Somehow, it just didn't seem so… unbelievable?

"Keh. That's what I said."

"So you're telling me, Sesshoumaru's a vampire."

"If that's the term for it, yea."

She was silent a moment, digesting the information. "Does that make you half-vampire?" Rin finally asked, cracking a small smile. It felt like someone was pulling at her mind, tickling her sides. Hysterical.

"I'm not making it up!" Inuyasha sputtered, jabbing a finger in his half brother's direction. "He's a fucking blood sucker! Look, I understand you probably don't believe-"

"Prove your claim," The young woman cut him short with her own empty tone.

"What-"

"Prove to me, beyond reasonable doubt, Sesshoumaru is a vampire."

The hanyou seemed caught off guard by her demand. His left ear twitched, golden eyes fixating on the person in question. "Have you ever seen him eat?"

"No, but maybe he doesn't like to eat in front of others?"

"Don't you notice how everyone avoids him?"

"He's ominous looking, even I have to admit. This is a small, mainly human town. It's no surprise."

"How about how his eyes turned red out there?"

"It's common among youkai when they get overwhelmed, very angry, or are readying to transform into their true forms-"

"Yes," Inuyasha growled, "but none of those answers are right in his case."

Rin shifted in the chair. "So what are the right answers?"

"He doesn't eat 'human' food, because he feeds on humans! Humans avoid him, because they're following their instincts without knowing it. And his eyes turned red because he was hungry. Keh, probably starving. Waiting until he could make you his meal-"

She pulled her fingers into fists at her sides. "You can't prove any of-"

"Look! Just hear me out okay? Those two will be back soon."

"… Fine."

The silver-haired boy ran a clawed hand through his hair. The room seemed to settle around them, the dull ringing of silence interrupted only by the shallow breaths of his half brother. "Believe it or not – and I have a birth certificate to prove it – I was born about a hundred years ago… And by that time, Sesshoumaru was all ready around seventeen or so in human looks. We lived in Europe then, the old man liked to move around a lot…"

:---:

"Mom, Mom, look! Look, Mom! Mom!" The five-year-old tugged on his mother's sleeve, pointing with his other finger towards a distant formation of planes in the sky. He squinted, determined to see something important.

"It's just a few British planes, dear," Izayoi answered in a hushed voice.

The land around them was hills, earth swelling and falling like an ocean frozen mid-storm and painted green. Inuyasha tugged a wool cap down over his ears, the whistling wind too high-pitched for his liking. The bright, overhead sun wasn't helping his eyes much, either. "Are they in the fight?" He asked hesitantly.

The woman lifted her head to the wind. "I suppose. If we're lucky The War won't last long."

"I'm gonna kill all the Hun!" Inuyasha shouted, raising a small fist to the air.

"Really now, Half-breed?" A cold voice questioned, shattering the moment.

Izayoi stiffened. Her head snapped back, and the way her sweet scent darkened with anxiety made Inuyasha turn back too. "Sesshoumaru," She breathed uneasily, "It's nice to see you again. You disappeared just before Inuyasha was born. Where did you go…?"

The half demon was silent, eyeing the man before him wearily. He looks like Dad, Inuyasha noticed. But he also noticed the ice in the man's voice, and the menace burned into his eyes.

"Have you forgotten your own words, human?" the demon asked coolly, "Is it not true you forced Father to choose between yourself and this Sesshoumaru? Dare correct me if I am wrong."

The woman paled. "I was just worried about-" Will he kill my son and me now? Is this why he's returned… ?

"'Shomeru!" A small voice chirped, "I'm Inuyasha."

Cold eyes lingered on the young half demon only a moment before Sesshoumaru turned and began at a smooth pace towards his father's scent. Izayoi scooped her son into her arms, and hurried after him. He's heading towards our home?

The young mother followed him hesitantly, anxiously. Should she be there when this monster confronted her husband? Wouldn't it be better for her to run away, save herself from the likely wrath of her husband's first-born? The second option was without doubt the more appealing one. Still, her own mother had taught Izayoi that the longer you ran, the more you had to run from.

Inuyasha could feel the muscles drawn tense in his mother's arms, and as young as he was, knew from several experiences this meant she was worried – or afraid. And if this stranger was enough to scare her, it was definitely enough to frighten him, too.

The house was small, compared to what the family could afford. In fact, it really was too small. Izayoi found the four-roomed house's coating of green paint endearing at first, only to now notice it was a rather sick, pale shade. The wooden porch and hard walkway – flanked with flowers – seemed all together tacky at the moment. Izayoi could feel her heart slowing in her chest, realizing her home was nothing in the eyes of Sesshoumaru.

He would not walk into the kitchen and feel the warmth of watching Inuyasha's first steps, or step on to the porch and smile because one of the wooden boards was missing – the victim of a heavy-footed father. No, he would see only the crumbling remains of something that once made another family proud, and he would feel nothing. Then again, wasn't it likely he always felt nothing?

When Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the front door, Inuyasha felt his mother's hands grab a fistful of his hair. He cried out lightly, but she didn't seem to notice she was holding on to the sensitive locks at all. The hanyou twisted on her hip, not used to be held so long.

The door opened with a drawn out groan. The sound usually rang with an eager greeting. This time Izayoi could only hear its low protest, and couldn't help but agree.

Sesshoumaru seemed not to notice, and the young demon stepped into a dimly lit, blue-walled kitchen. He found who he was looking for immediately, empty eyes finding his old man the same moment Inu no Taishou's eyes found his son's. "Sesshoumaru… I almost thought maybe you were-"

"Dead," the stoic youkai finished darkly. "It appears I am not."

"I'm so relieved," the older demon breathed. Sesshoumaru chose not to comment; even he couldn't deny the relief flooding his father's scent. "It's been years…"

"Six is not much to youkai," he said blandly, as if commenting on the time of day.

Izayoi slipped from the room, cradling her son against her chest in a quick hug before lowering the boy to the floor of his bedroom. "Stay in here and play with that new toy?"

"Why?"

"I'll come and get you soon, right now you just need to stay in here."

The closed the door as softly as she could, nearly cringing when the floor squeaked beneath her light steps. Her breaths were shallow, and even quiet voices spoken in the house's kitchen carried.

"Why have you come back, Sesshoumaru?"

"Do you wish me to leave?"

The woman hovered in her hallway.

"Don't speak such nonsense!" Her husband's voice sounded tired, "You and I both know you wouldn't come back here without reason."

"Indeed." Sesshoumaru agreed immediately, "I have found the one who… turned me." He'd paused, wondering silently over the choice of words.

"And you want me to help you kill them?"

"Yes," The younger demon admitted coolly. Would his father reject him again?

Inu no Taishou's eyes flickered to the walkway, knowing his wife lingered there. He could hear her heart beat, and feel her worry. 'Will he join him?' She was thinking, 'Will he leave me and our son?' "Sesshoumaru, I understand how desperate you are – enough to come find me here. But, I can't just leave."

In his room, a wooden airplane clattered to the floor. Inuyasha cringed, ears flattening over his head. The empty scream in the air, he couldn't escape it. It reverberated in his head, and made him scream, too. The ghost of an echo breathed down his neck, and over the vacant wail he could hear the voice of his father rising in volume. "Stop, Sesshoumaru! He won't understand! Stop!"

Inuyasha heard his own frantic screams, begging the sound to stop. He pushed on the door, stumbling into his mother in the hall. He could see Sesshoumaru staring at his father, but neither was speaking. The wail became louder, clawing at him until he was sure he was bleeding. Because he could feel it in his head, in his fingers, in his stomach, but he could not hear it. Why did his mother seem to notice nothing?

"Get out." Inu no Tashou growled.

Sesshoumaru bowed his head, and disappeared out the door. Inuyasha grimaced, and fell.

There had been three murders that night. Each the same, all with two puncture wounds to the neck, and drained of their blood. "A sick joke of the Hun!" people hissed, touching their own necks as they spoke. "They're devils, how can they not be?"

"Sesshoumaru…" Inu no Taishou watched the sun sink beneath the hills, the dead pain in his chest eating him from the inside out. "What have you become?"

Inuyasha shuddered, and the air around him broke.

:----:

Notes: Wow. You'd think after such a long wait the chapter would at least be good. D: I couldn't wait for MyLamb to beta, so it's even worse that department. –Dies-

Sorry to everyone. I know this lacked… I dunno, it just really lacked something, ya know? I hope everyone wasn't TOO out of character, and that the flashback didn't bore you to tears.

Also, if you're not too familiar with history, that flashback took place during WWI. And the screaming thing, if that wasn't clear, was something only Inu no Taishou and Inuyasha could here, coming from Sesshoumaru. So, I guess… nothing happened in this chapter? -Sigh- I'll kick the next one out fast, I swear. Basketball won't stop me!

Thank you, again, to everyone who took the time to read and review this. It's your feedback that pushed me to not just give up on a story that seems at the moment, so dead in the water.

Extra notes: The sequel to Twilight is out! It's called 'New Moon' and is as good as the first. You will NOT REGRET READING IT! Stephanie Meyer is indeed, amazing.

And see my profile for a link to the Sess x Rin site! It has a forum, fanart, fanfics, doujinshi, everything! Not to mention beautiful layouts! And if you're familiar with the artist JadeT, then you'll enjoy it there even more!