"The First Meeting: Chapter 3"

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Sesshomaru carried Inuyasha away from the palace. Absolutely nothing was spoken between the two. After about an hour of walking in the rain, they came to a forest. The rain wasn't so bad here. Sesshomaru put the boy down. Inuyasha looked up at his big brother.

"Are you really my brother?" Inuyasha asked meekly.

Sesshomaru was a little surprised to hear the boy's voice. He looked down at the pair of eyes glaring up at him, waiting for an answer.

"Yes, I am your brother."

"Do people pick on you too?"

"No, I'm a full demon, not a half demon like you." Sesshomaru picked up on what he was asking. Inuyasha didn't quite understand that they were only half brothers.

"But, Mom is human."

"You and I have different mothers but we have the same father. We are half brothers."

Inuyasha was little confused at this but accepted it.

"I miss my mother," the boy whined. "What happened to her? Kotski said she died. What does that mean?"

Sesshomaru assumed he was talking about that dead woman that was in the room with Inuyasha and Kotski. "She went to sleep for a long time and isn't waking up."

Inuyasha began to cry again. Sesshomaru noticed that it was getting a little late and, since Inuyasha was with him, they should probably get some sleep. Sesshomaru walked over to a tree with a large trunk and sat down with his back leaned against it. Inuyasha was still crying, but he wasn't wailing or balling. Sesshomaru was getting annoyed at the tears but didn't want to snap at the boy because he knew what it was like to lose someone you cared dearly for; he'd lost so many already. So thinking of a good way to keep the boy quite he realized he still had some food in his kimono. He got out the small parcel and unwrapped it. It was a couple pieces of bread and some rice balls.

"Inuyasha, are you hungry?" Sesshomaru asked holding out the food.

Inuyasha's crying slowed as he took a look at the parcel. He came close enough to see it.

"If you're hungry, take some. All of it if you want," Sesshomaru said. Sesshomaru was about ready to offer Inuyasha some fresh meat if he didn't want the snack. He didn't care, just as long as the boy was quiet.

Inuyasha picked up one of the rice balls. Sesshomaru expected him to eat it right away like a human child would, without a second thought about poison or anything of the sort. To his surprise, Inuyasha held the rice ball in his hands and began turning it over as if he were examining it. Then, in order to further his examination, the boy sniffed the rice ball. He took a small bite. The bite was small enough that he could get a taste but if it was poisoned, it probably wouldn't kill him or at least give him more time to find an antidote. Inuyasha smiled when he decided the rice ball was okay and ate rest of it.

"I see you don't trust me," Sesshomaru observed.

Inuyasha looked up and then blushed in embarrassment. He hadn't meant to give his brother the wrong idea, it was just he did before he ate because he never knew what someone would put in his food.

"I wasn't expecting you to trust me," Sesshomaru said.

"What is your name?" Inuyasha asked.

Sesshomaru blinked. He wasn't expecting that question.

"I am known as Sesshomaru, the Lord of the Western Lands."

"Shseomaru," said Inuyasha as he tried to pronounce the name. "I can't say it."

Sesshomaru chuckled a little at how Inuyasha had just tried to say his name.

"Can you teach me to say it?" Inuyasha asked. "I should know how to say my brother's name."

Sesshomaru pondered a minute as to how to teach the half demon how to say his name. Then he remembered how his mother had taught him words he couldn't pronounce.

"Repeat after me," Sesshomaru told Inuyasha.

Inuyasha nodded eagerly.

"Se-"

"Se-"

"-sho-"

"-sho-"

"-ma-"

"-ma-"

"-ru."

"-ru. Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha said in triumph. He had a goofy grin on his face.

Sesshomaru smiled inwardly. He was amazed at how quickly the boy caught on and at his ingenious way of teaching the boy how to say his name. Sesshomaru was proud of both of them.

Inuyasha yawned and stretched his arms out above his head. He then tried to rub some of the sleep out of his eyes. He sat down and yawned again. Sesshomaru noticed that Inuyasha was trying very hard not to fall asleep.

"We better get some sleep. We'll be traveling a lot and we'll need our rest," Sesshomaru suggested.

Inuyasha's head was flopping forward and his eyes kept on closing but then he would snap them open. Sesshomaru observed the boy was shivering a bit. It wasn't freezing but it was getting cold and Inuyasha was not used to sleeping outside. Sesshomaru leaned forward and picked up Inuyasha under the armpits. The half demon was little surprised at the action but was too tried to actually do anything about it. Sesshomaru placed his little brother in his lap and wrap his fluffy tail around the both of them.

"Goodnight, Sesshomaru," mumbled a tired Inuyasha.

Inuyasha snuggled in Sesshomaru's warmth and fell fast asleep. The demon watched the boy sleep for a while. The child was crying still, even though he was asleep. Sesshomaru brushed away a few tears and smiled.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha," whispered Sesshomaru.

Maybe his brother wasn't as bad as he had imagined. Sesshomaru imagined that Inuyasha would act more human than he did. The boy definitely had some human traits that needed to be disposed of, but that could be fixed with training. But overall, Sesshomaru quite liked his little brother but he wasn't going to let him know that. Sesshomaru began to drift off and fell asleep too with the half demon in his lap.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed reposting it. I really hope this nine year old fic stood the test of time. Please read and review!