Scroll Nineteen

A/N: 1/1/2017

InuYasha had fallen asleep in the healing room with Sesshomaru. It was almost the most peaceful sleep he had gotten in a while when his instincts woke him with a start. InuYasha snapped his eyes open and found himself nose to nose with the now poisonous child Sesshomaru. His older brother's cold stare showed no emotion as they continued to glare into each other's eyes.

"Great. You're up." InuYasha managed to mumble.

"Where is my father?" The question was an icy one.

"Don't know." InuYasha muttered back. He slowly got up and towered over Sesshomaru. "Now that you're awake, I can leave."

"No. You're my servant; you will remain here until my father can serve me." Sesshomaru turned away and stood by his bed without a hint of emotion.

"Your servant?!" InuYasha snarled. "I am not your servant you filthy brat!" Sesshomaru did not respond to his outburst and instead continued to wait for his father. InuYasha snarled and was tempted to slam the boy back into his bed, but he thought better of it. He turned around, walked out the flap of the door, and eyed the soldiers who stood guard. "He's awake." InuYasha stared at them.

"We will let the Lord know." One of the guards replied.

"Fine, then I'm leaving." InuYasha started to walk away, when one of the guards gripped his shoulder tightly.

"If you have harmed the young Lord in any way I will deliver your mutilated body to the Lord and Lady myself." The guard hissed.

InuYasha hissed back and shook the hand off his shoulder. "I'm not the one who poisoned him!"

"Be gone." Was the only response InuYasha got. InuYasha quickly hastened his steps to get away from Sesshomaru and contemplated his next move. As he entered his room he closed his eyes and thought of the cold look on the child Sesshomaru's face. The eyes were slanted and narrow, no longer round with vigor and bratty emotion. His mouth had become a straight line, not even allowing a fang to poke through to show his annoyance. InuYasha knew what he was staring at now, his older, cold-hearted brother. The brother that hated him for being born, the one who hated his half-demon heritage, and the one who he knew was the true heir to the throne.

Sesshomaru was the Lord of the Western lands though. Was he just claiming a title he didn't have based on birth right? InuYasha actually gulped at the thought that he was the true heir to the Western Lands. Why the hell hadn't Sesshomaru killed him yet if that was the case? InuYasha actually shivered at the thought. Maybe no one but Sesshomaru knew about his existence and his relationship to their father.

InuYasha narrowed his eyes and thought about one of his previous thoughts, the one where he had thought that his father raped his mother. Now he wasn't so sure, it seemed like Sesshomaru may have never gotten the cure and therefore Lord Touga needed a new heir. But why would he do it with a human and not produce one with his current wife? Unless, he did fall in love with his mother and InuYasha felt a pull on his heart that made him feel less animosity towards his father.

Maybe it was because InuYasha didn't care about being a Demon Lord. Why should he? He never grew up in castle, or was raised with those standards, and most importantly of all he was a half-demon. What full-fledged demon would follow a half-demon into battle? Absolutely none. Sesshomaru must have thought of this and it may be what is preventing him from killing InuYasha, even when he was a child. Still, InuYasha actually mused, he was surprised by the lack of cold-heartiness of his brother, especially in the recent times he had adopted that human girl, Rin. Maybe the spell was eventually wearing off or was allowing him to make choices that allowed for the compassionate behavior a ruler should exhibit.

InuYasha shook his head and started to wonder why he was sent back here in the first place.

(-)_(-)

The rumors finally got the truth to them when the Lord's son had awoken from his coma. It had been confirmed that he showed no emotion and exhibit no remorse for the actions he took. Aisuru and the twins had become suspicious as to why InuYasha didn't seem surprised by the Young Lord's behavior.

The training had intensified and InuYasha was sitting on the training room floor covered in sweat. Almost all male dog demons who were eligible to fight were using up all their time preparing for battle. Even though the declaration of war had been given earlier, the urgency exhibited throughout the castle had finally begun.

InuYasha rarely saw Sesshomaru anymore. Sesshomaru's mother and four guards had taken over the duty of watching over the Young Lord. Sesshomaru would walk around the castle without much a word to anyone as the four guards surrounded him prevented anyone from speaking or taking action. Sesshomaru was lead back and forth to Aisuru's father, the healer, to try different remedies and spells to release the poisonous curse that had befallen him. None of them seemed to be working.

InuYasha grumbled as Takaishizuka helped him back on his two feet. Both twins had intensified their training as well as InuYasha's. InuYasha didn't want to train, but something had ignited inside of him that he couldn't quite put into words. He wanted to avenge his brother. It was definitely a first. For the first time InuYasha felt the urge to fight for his brother, to be the keeper of his legacy. With this in mind, InuYasha had stopped resisting the sword training and had begun to follow Takaishizuka's lead.

"You seem different somehow." Takaisubarashii said as he laid down his wooden sword and drank some water.

Takaishizuka looked at his brother and glanced back down at InuYasha. "I cannot deny what my brother is saying. Your fighter's spirit finally came out."

"Feh." InuYasha mumbled, it wasn't like he was going to tell them why.

"You wish to avenge the Young Lord." Takaisubarashii said.

"No, I just want to clear my name." InuYasha lied. "Everyone thinks it's my fault that Sesshomaru got cursed."

"Lord Sesshomaru." Takaishizuka corrected him.

"Whatever." InuYasha may have wanted to avenge the curse placed on Sesshomaru; that didn't mean he would suddenly give respect.

"Then are you ready to handle Tsueesenshi's weapons?" Takaishizuka asked.

"Sure, why not." InuYasha rolled his eyes as he got up from the floor. "If I'm going into battle, it sure isn't with these." InuYasha threw the wooden swords to the ground.

"Before you do, I must examine your wound." Aisuru's voice came from the entrance to the room. InuYasha turned around and inwardly groaned.

"Please do Aisuru." Takaisubarashii said. "His training will need the wound wrapped tightly."

"I know what needs to be done." Aisuru gave the twins a look. "Come with me. My father has laid out some supplies I shall use to ready you for the impending battle."

"Yeah, just what I need." InuYasha glared out to the woods. He followed Aisuru down the hallway as the twins started their sparring match with one another. InuYasha's thoughts once again came back to the poisonous dog specter he had tried to fight off. It was so eerily similar to Sesshomaru's true form it made InuYasha cringe.

Aisuru lead him into the room Sesshomaru had been when he was in his coma. Aisuru's father was not there, since he was likely trying to find a cure to Sesshomaru's ailment. He had left supplies nicely stacked in a corner where Aisuru began her work.

"Since the wound is on your side, it will be a hard to avoid using the muscles to brandish your weapons." Aisuru commented. "Please remove your clothes from the waist up so I can put this anointment on." InuYasha complied as he removed his clothing, but was still too deep in thought to give her attitude.

"What do these Children of God demons want?" InuYasha finally asked.

"I don't know." Aisuru answered. "I would think you would know more than me since you actually spoke to them and lived to tell the tale."

"She wants something from my fath-" InuYasha froze before he made a big mistake. "He wants something with the Lord, but I'm not sure what that is."

"What were you about so say just now?" Aisuru gave him a rather curious look.

"Nothing." InuYasha corrected himself. Aisuru continued to stare at him with curious eyes, but she continued her work. She began to put some cream on his wound, which stung like hell. "Ouch!" InuYasha hissed in pain.

"Have you ever taken up arms with fellow dog demons?" The question stumped InuYasha. He had no idea why she was asking.

"No. Why?" InuYasha gave her a peculiar look as he winced as her hands contoured to put the cream on his wound.

"You must fight as if they were your brothers." Aisuru stared at him as she dipped her hands in a bucket of water to wash the cream off. "Do not just look out for yourself, but your brother in arms as well.

"I've fought with friends." InuYasha growled in annoyance. "I watch their back all the time, especially since they're pathetic in battle."

"I see." Aisuru glared a she went for the next healing cream. "You will be fighting with equals as well as demons much stronger than yourself."

"I already got that memo." InuYasha grunted. Suddenly he felt his side tighten, although it wasn't painful it was extremely uncomfortable. "What the hell?"

"The cream is hardening." Aisuru calmly said and batted one his hands away as he tried to pull the hardening cream off. This will prevent your muscles from tearing it open easily when you use your weapons."

"It feels weird." InuYasha muttered.

"It's supposed too." Aisuru answered. "It's a reminder that you still have an injury, but it allows you to use as much strength is necessary when you're fighting."

"Look, when this fight is over, I'm leaving." InuYasha stated.

"Where will you go?"

"Back where I came from." InuYasha sighed. How he would do that was still boggling his mind, but he knew something would come up eventually. He somehow got here, didn't he? There was a way back; he just hadn't found it yet.

Aisuru became silent as she applied some cream around the edge of the wound, sealing the harden cream to his skin. InuYasha suddenly felt no pain. "It has numbed your nerves here and can last for days."

"When do we fight?"

"Soon, I believe." Aisuru answered.

"Good." InuYasha answered. The urge to fight had begun to gnaw at him slowly and now that he was going to, he was going to make sure nothing got in his way. He was so into thought he didn't notice Aisuru put her hand on his ear and began to gracefully rub it. "What are you doing?!" He snapped at her.

"Sorry." Aisuru quickly removed her hand and began to rub them with a cloth. InuYasha flicked his annoyed ear and rubbed his hand over it. "You need to practice with Tsueesenshi's weapons since your wound has been sealed."

"Fine with me." InuYasha stood up and began to put his clothes back on. As he headed for the doorway he felt Aisuru's hand entangle with his own. InuYasha swung around to glare at her when her lips barged against his and she pulled him into a kiss. InuYasha's mind became a bit cloudy for moment and his body overrode his mind as he felt himself kiss her back.

It didn't last long though. Commotion in the hallway and shouts from across the castle were heard and both InuYasha and Aisuru caught one thing: "The Young Lord Sesshomaru is missing!"