Question of Honor by Kristina

Chapter One

Sesshoumaru sat in the tree overlooking the scene below him. It was the night of the newmoon, when his little hanyou brother was human until sunrise. It was his habit to be nearby on these nights, like his father had done until his death scarcely a year after Inu-Yasha's birth. His great father had told him that it was his duty to see Inu- Yasha grow to be a strong, brave warrior...and to guard him on the night he was cursed by his human blood. He sighed. Had his father realized that he'd never live to see little Inu lift his first sword? Perhaps he had known and that was why he'd spent those nights before the birth telling his heir about the responsibility of being first born. And the duties of being head of the family.

'Why do I heed him even now?' He wondered to himself. And yet since his little brother had been unsealed from the God tree these nightly visits had been made more interesting. The girl who was constantly at his side seemed...different when Inuyasha was human. And if he were truthful his doltish brother treated her much better on these nights, sometimes he was actually gentle with her, rather than ruthlessly tormenting her when to him it was obvious she loved his brother, though personally he was at a lost to see why. It irked him that one of his blood should be so...cruel to a woman.

His father had instilled in him great repect for women, even the weak human ones he seemed to fancy. You either bedded them and treated them kindly or left them alone. It was a shame his father had not lived long enough to impart such wisdom on his idiot brother. He smiled at the image of his father laying into Inuyasha for his treatment of the woman-child Kagome.

He took the time now to study the girl. He supposed that, for a human, she was very beautiful. It was not a subject he had ever paid much attention tomind you, human beauty. And yet he remembered his father bringing lady Arwa to the ancient den. She had been much like this girl, fair of skin and with long raven black hair that seemed to glint in the moonlight like a black river. He'd resented the woman at first but slowly warmed to her, she'd tried to treat him as a son and after the tragic murder of his mother the attention was welcome.

His mother. He remembered so little about her, except for her death. He'd been only a pup, barely old enough to wander anywhere without mother or father there to protect him. The cats had come and attacked him. His mother had come running from the stream...long red hair like rubies in the sun. She fought like a living flame, burning and tearing the vicious beasts to shreds and then she had slumped down to her knees as if she'd suddenly just fallen deeply asleep.

Buried in her chest was a dagger and her eyes had turned to him where he hid in the grass. She'd reached for him and whispered his name 'Sesshouma...' and then everything had been silent. His father arrived seconds too late and tore the rest of the murderous catdemons to bits. But it was in vain...his mother was dead.

Sesshoumaru shook himself and huddled deeper in his clothes. No, Lady Arwa had not been his mother but she had cared for him, sang for him when he was in ill spirits. She'd grown from a girl into a beautiful woman. His father had often called her his beautiful star. She'd had deep brown eyes and white skin, hair hair had been long enough to brush the ground when it was loose and it always shone like a raven's wing. He remembered her scent was like the sea. She'd been pleasant...but she was human. As time passed and her belly grew with his father's child so did his disgust for what she represented. His father's weakness.

A noise from below shook him from the past. Inuyasha was cradling the sleeping girl in his arms and laying her on her bedroll. He watched his brother's human hand with its non-existant claws smooth the girl's dark hair from her forehead. 'What is she to you brother? A mate? A sister? A pleasing diversion until you can have your dead miko back?' The last thought chilled him through. The thought of his brother using the girl who was so loyal to him as nothing but a substitute. It was dishonorable. And he'd tolerated Inuyasha's lack of nobility long enough.

He jumped from the branch and landed soundlessly on the floor of the forest, somehow Inuyasha had sensed him.

"Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha moved between the sleeping girl and kitsune- cub and his brother.

"Inuyasha. It seems as though I've finally found out your precious secret." He sneered as if he'd happened upon them by accident.

"I can still fight like this." He snarled, afraid for the safety of his friends.

"You're not even worthy of my sword like this. I've come to talk with you...as brothers." His tone was clipped. "There is business that concerns the family." He said as if that explained everything.

"What do I care for the family." he looked away with a non-comittal noise.

"What do you care for the life of your little human-bitch and her kitsune cub? What do you care for anything but that insipidly weak miko who sealed your weak carcass to a tree." He baited his brother. "Nothing. They're a means to an end for you, and it is dishonorable for you to act this way."

"It is my business. She can see the shards of shikon and I want the gem."

Sesshoumaru sighed. "Even our father with his digusting lusts had more integrity. He married the human-bitch he chose to toy with, rather than dishonor himself with a bastard child, and her with being nothing more than a Youkai Lord's...bedwarmer."

"Leave my mother out of this!" He growled convincingly, even though in human form.

"No. That girl loves you, honor that love or tell her you want nothing from her. Do so on your own or I shall. I've let you away with too much little brother...it is time you upheald our family's honor and reputation. We are the great dog demons of teh Western land, princes. A prince does not toy with the emotions of a woman for his own gain. He takes and does not decieve them as to what they mean to him. Tell her that she means nothing to you or marry her. You have until the next new moon to reach your decision. I am your elder brother and the head of this family, you *will* obey me." His voice was cold and help all of the command of their father's.

"If you do not marry the girl and have still not told her the truth...you will not enjoy the consequences." Sesshoumaru turned and was gone before Inuyasa could respond. He wasn't sure what had motivated this move, but he knew it was the right one. Honor was all that mattered, all that could hold them together. He wouldn't allow Inuyasha to stain their family with his childish behavior. He would marry the girl or lose her.