Puppy Love

Most parents fear that moment above all.

It's full of big pleasepleaseplease eyes that make a father's knees go weak, not to mention all those carefully timed hugs and kisses that are equally weakening to mothers, especially so if it is their sons giving them. Fathers, however, are extremely weak to their daughters' wishes (especially when their eyes widen and go a little bit tearful and they mutter something like "Daddy pleeeeaase….").

That fearful moment is usually followed by a truckload of promises that no-one's going to keep longer than three days. After all this, it's nothing more than extra work for parents. It's work that they can't get rid of, because if they were stupid enough to try, more pleasepleaseplease eyes, promises and maybe some tears would follow and it's just really not worth the trouble. Parent's heart can only take so much.

We are talking about, of course, the inevitable subject of taking a puppy.

And Rin wanted a puppy.

Sesshoumaru did not. He thought it was weird.

As in extremely uncomfortable and no sense at all and whyamIeventhinkingaboutthis weird. That kind of weird.

Rin found it one day when she was playing near a river close to the mountains. It was trying to get to the water to drink, but the rocks were too high and rough and she almost fell in. Rin caught it just in time.

The puppy was light brown and fluffy and kind and completely adorable. Rin was a girl less than ten years old. Put these two together and it was a girlish love-overload that included a lot of squealing, jumping and giggling and of course barking, licking and panting from the other party of this ordeal.

Jaken was naturally annoyed. Mainly because of the noise. He had a thing about that. Silly little thing actually thought he could shut up a little girl with a puppy. Let's just say that it didn't end well for the poor green bastard. He yelled, jumped, waived around with his stick of doom with the faces and did a lot of other completely useless stuff as well, none of which helped at all, just provided more noise for Sesshoumaru's sensitive ears.

It didn't take long before Jaken was exhausted and Rin had formed a bond with the puppy, who by now was equally in love with the girl. This whole thing took about two hours in total.

All this made Sesshoumaru very nervous. And yes, I really do mean nervous. He was even aware of it himself, so I'm not joking when I tell you this, Lord Sesshoumaru was scared of the puppy.

Well okay, okay, not so much of the puppy but the situation he knew he was soon going to find himself in. It's not like Sesshoumaru had that much experience with small cute animals. Actually, he tended to avoid them as much as he could. He wasn't really the type to pine after cutesy things (though the thought of that is pretty hilarious, just imagine!).

The problem was(and yes, there really was a problem, for some reason he kept underlying that in his mind) that he knew Rin. This wasn't the first time the girl had completely fallen in love with something. Usually those things just weren't cute. In a way, Sesshoumaru felt like he ought to be grateful that this time the girl's affections weren't focused on something dangerous or otherwise just plain weird. This was just a puppy after all. But the thing is, when the girl tried to take care of something with horns, teeth and a vicious growl, it was much easier to say no, take the thing quickly as far away from her as possible before the thing ate her and, well, kill it. That's just what he did. Remove the danger. Killing was effective.

That right there was the problem with the puppy. He couldn't kill a puppy. Well he could but he really didn't want to. Just…no.

Sesshoumaru was the first to admit that he wasn't the nicest or the most considerate person out there. He had no problem with killing. Or pure brutality when needed. He rather enjoyed the smell of blood to be honest… Where was he again?

Oh right. Yes, he definitely drew the line at puppies. So how to get rid of it?

Great… The bloody thing was licking her face. He was doomed, and he hadn't even yet addressed the issue that made the situation so truly weird for him.

The puppy was a DOG.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin shouted at the top of her lungs, running towards him, the puppy tightly in her arms.

He fixed the steadiest gaze he could muster with such conflicting thoughts running through his head. The look was in fact very convincing as he soon noticed. Rin slowed down and looked a bit unsure. This made him remember that he never really had any problems with the whole aloof thing so he tried to soften his gaze a little. That did not work.

"What is it Rin?"

"Would you like to meet the puppy?" she asked, her demeanor quickly brightening up again.

Oh no. He made sure to stay cool. Calm. Be calm.

She put the puppy down.

The puppy was still small and its legs were still wobbly. It was a girl. Smelled like the river. (Nice way to say 'wet dog'. Sesshoumaru was not without gentlemanly qualities.)

The puppy looked at him with big brown eyes. He stared at it right back. Because of certain reasons, ahem, dogs were usually rather submissive around him. And then some… Ugh.

This one wasn't all that different but she wasn't really submissive either. Perhaps she was a bit thick. She just kept staring at him, eyes growing wider and wider. Then her tail started to swoosh around so quickly it was like she was about to take flight and she was on her feet and running towards Sesshoumaru.

The great demon almost panicked. It was coming. Damn it!

With great force of will he stayed still until the puppy was next to his leg, sniffing away excitedly letting out small barks and an occasional sneeze (as dogs do when they're really excited). She looked up to him with adoring eyes.

So that happened. Sesshoumaru stared back and tried to look menacing without Rin noticing he was doing it. Unfortunately this seemed to only excite the puppy even more. He sighed. Two minutes more and things would start to get really uncomfortable.

"Rin, take the puppy away, please."

"But Lord Sesshoumaru, she's all alone and – "

"I didn't say you have to leave her", Sesshoumaru quickly interrupted so he wouldn't have to see tears. "Just please get her away from my leg. Go play somewhere."

Rin was so happy to hear these words that her usually very Sesshoumaru-observant eyes failed to notice how extremely uncomfortable he was. The puppy was now adoringly rubbing herself on Sesshoumaru's leg with a look of complete satisfaction on her tiny fluffy face.

Sesshoumaru was absolutely horrified.

Rin carried the puppy away to the river and back to their games but he could still see the adoring glances from there. Most disturbing fact, however, was the way she had smelled him. Dogs put the most weight on their sense of smell, Sesshoumaru could relate, and she had obviously been very…pleased.

Weird. Too weird.

He could somehow handle ladies that flew on feathers and overly flirty murderous bastards but this was just… There was a reason he liked to avoid dogs.

He had to do something.

"Jaken!"

"Yes my lord!" The green blob screeched and ran towards him.

"Take care of Rin until I came back."

"Yes, my lord. Where are you going, my lord?"

"None of your business" he huffed and got up from the ground. He rose to his full height and looked down at the imp.

"But, Lord Sesshoumaru, aren't you going to do something about the puppy? I mean, it's a dog and I don't think it's wise to let the girl – "

"Jaken, shut up!" Sesshoumaru spat and kicked the annoying creature. He immediately felt better and therefore rose to the air and began the short journey to the people he really didn't want to see. When had his life become so complicated?

-:-0-:-0-:-0-:-0-:-0-:-

Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shipoo had just left a village where they had helped to get rid of a demon that was stealing the village's food supplies. They were now on their way back to Kaede's village, trying to ignore the very satisfied monk who had pretty much robbed the villagers as a reward for their efforts (that weren't on the grand scale of things even that great).

"Seriously Miroku, that's more food than we can ever eat. What's the point?" Inuyasha groaned exasperated. He thought it was all so embarrassing.

"Oh don't be like that", Miroku said not at all disturbed by the looks of his friends, "Besides I've seen how much you eat."

"Yeah but Miroku…" Kagome stared a bit unsurely (she, too, knew how much Inuyasha ate), "I'm not sure we should have taken so much. The whole point was to save the village's supplies for them to use."

"Don't be so morose. I never take more than they can afford to give. It was a wealthy village and I happen to know that the village leader had secret supply cellar that the others didn't know about. These are from there."

"How the hell did you find that out?" Inuyasha immediately questioned more than a little suspicious of his friend. He was right to be.

Miroku shot a nervous glance at Sango's direction but quickly flashed a bright smile. "Best not get too deep into that", he dismissed the whole thing. They didn't need to know about the old man's daughter…

The others stared at him dumbfounded. Inuyasha sighed. "You know Miroku, sometimes it's really hard to tell if you're just an asshole without any moral codes at all or if you do actually have some sense of decency in you."

Miroku just smiled and winked at Sango who tried very hard not to blush and show everyone how much she really liked these small flirtations the monk gave her. It was a good choice on her part. The idiot didn't need any more encouragements or his ego would just flare up.

Suddenly Inuyasha stopped, making Kagome walk right into him and hitting her nose. "Ouch, Inuyasha, watch it!"

"Can't we have any peace at all?" the half demon just muttered and looked up to the sky.

Sango grabbed the hilt of her sword and followed Inuyasha's gaze up to the clouds. "What is it? Is something going to attack?"

Inuyasha grimaced. "It's always a bit hard to tell. Especially when he's coming alone…"

Kagome was quick to follow. It wasn't hard to deduce what was the cause of such sour expression on Inuyasha's face. "Sesshoumaru's coming? Alone?"

"Yeah. Few minutes away. It's not like him to approach from upwind. It's like he wanted me to know he'll be here."

Miroku just shrugged. "To be honest Inuyasha, even though there's not much brotherly love between you two, I think the time you two started hacking away each other every time you meet is already over."

"I wouldn't bet on it…" Inuyasha muttered darkly ad clenched his fists.

Kagome punched him on the arm. "Inuyasha, don't go seeking trouble when we're not sure there is any. Let's just see what's going on. It must be important if he's come to see us. Especially so if you're right and he bothered to warn us about coming here. He's never done that before."

"We'll see…"

They waited for a short while until the always regal looking demon gracefully landed in front of them. Despite this, Kagome thought he looked a bit…ruffled. She couldn't be sure though. It was hard to tell with Sesshoumaru, but she liked to think that through the years she had gotten a little bit better at reading him. There might've been something a bit wild in his eyes just now…no, it was gone.

"Hello Sesshoumaru", she greeted and grabbed Inuyasha's arm just in case. "What brings you here? Is Rin alright?"

There was a short silence. Then Sesshoumaru opened his mouth and closed it again. "Hello", he finally said.

Inuyasha found that to be extremely irritating. "What's your problem, huh? You making fun of me? What're you doing here, you bastard!"

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at him. "Always so cordial, aren't you brother…"

Inuyasha was a bit startled. He turned to Kagome and whispered; "Did he just call me brother?"

"Yeah."

"Weird."

"Something tells me things are about to get weirder."

"Rin is fine", Sesshoumaru interrupted them, somewhat annoyed that he was being ignored.

"That's good to hear", Kagome said smiling and just to be sure, tightened her grip on Inuyasha's arm. She was probably right in doing so.

"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha spat out again before anyone else had the opportunity to phrase it any differently.

At this point Sesshoumaru decided that if he wished to get anywhere with his little problem he should probably just this once ignore most of his brother's stupidity and insolence and pay it all back later. Now was not the time.

"Speak up you bastard!"

It would be hard to do so. He could already feel his eye twitching. Why was it that Inuyasha was the only person that managed to really push his buttons? He was better than Jaken, who in all fairness had his occasional amusing moments.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome almost screeched. "I told you to behave!"

"I'm here to talk to you", Sesshoumaru finally managed to get out and waited for a reaction. He had to admit it was amusing. Inuyasha's mouth dropped, the woman was for once silent, and the monk and the other woman just stared at him and then each other. That little kitsune was still quivering behind Kagome's shoulder.

Suddenly Inuyasha relaxed and cocked his head a little. He was probably too confused to put up a fight. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Rin has made a new friend."

"Oh… You do realize that's more Kagome's thing. I don't give advice."

"She won't understand."

"What won't I understand?" Kagome was bit hurt that her great advice wasn't wanted. "I can help!"

"See?" Inuyasha said and pointed at Kagome. "She wants to help. I don't."

Kagome smiled understandingly. "Is it a boy? Did she meet someone you'd like to get rid of? You know, Sesshoumaru, she's not going to leave you just because she's friendly with a boy."

For a split second Sesshoumaru looked horrified and if you listened very closely there might have been a sliver of panic in his voice as he spoke. "Boy? There's no boy. She's not going anywhere. Especially with a boy", he spat out before he could control himself.

Kagome was a bit taken aback and Inuyasha was still confused.

"And even if I did want to get rid of some boy", he said the word like it was toxic; "I most certainly wouldn't need Inuyasha's help with it."

"Okay then. Who's the new friend? Is it someone dangerous?" Kagome quickly asked before Inuyasha could react to the insult and start a fight.

"It's a puppy."

This declaration was met with a stunned silence. It wasn't what they had expected, to say the least. Kagome was still deciding whether to take it seriously when she saw Inuyasha's face. He looked truly and utterly disturbed. "Why would you let her keep a puppy?" Inuyasha almost whispered.

"Trust me, it wasn't my idea. First there wasn't a puppy but then suddenly she's running around with that creature like it's the best thing in the world."

"That's just weird."

Sesshoumaru nodded gravely, secretly a little pleased that someone understood. "Weird."

Sango and Miroku started laughing. The idea of these two always fighting fierce brothers being so horrified by a puppy was hilarious. They never knew how close they were to being annihilated.

Kagome handled the situation a bit more delicately. "Sorry for asking, but what is it about this puppy that's so bad? I'm sure Rin can take care of it without it causing too much trouble for you."

"See. I told you she wouldn't understand", Sesshoumaru huffed.

Inuyasha felt very uncomfortable. "No, Kagome. Puppies they…uh…well…that is to say that dogs…" he looked at Sesshoumaru.

He wasn't helpful. "The worst thing is that the thing liked me."

Inuyasha grimaced. "That is just…too gross."

"How can you say that about a puppy!" Kagome gasped while their friends still enjoyed the comedy of the situation. Sesshoumaru was beginning to question their self-preservation instincts. It was not wise to laugh at him. Then he remembered Rin and realized he couldn't hurt people she considered to be her friends. His life really had become complicated.

"Obviously I have to do something about it but you know Rin."

"She already in love with it?"

"Naturally. I need to get rid of it somehow."

"Yeah, you really do."

Kagome was absolutely scandalized. "You can't be talking about killing a puppy! You just can't do that!"

The brothers stared at her. "I understand your predicament", Inuyasha mumbled and almost felt compassion for Sesshoumaru, who was now looking at Kagome with an expression that told everyone in no uncertain terms that that was exactly the kind of emotional reaction he was hoping to avoid.

"The puppy really needs to go", he stated very seriously.

"Inuyasha! You tell me this instant what's so wrong about this puppy!" Kagome said through her teeth as her fingers around Inuyasha's arm were beginning to feel like steely claws.

"Let me put it this way", Inuyasha began and tried to get the girl's fingers off him. "Have you ever seen me around dogs?"

Kagome's brow furrowed and the peanut gallery's ears perked up. Personal information coming. "Come to think of it no, not really…"

"That's because I don't like dogs."

"That's a bit… You do know that you are a dog demon, right?" Kagome asked, a bit worried that Inuyasha had hit his head at some point.

"Half demon", Sesshoumaru instantly corrected. "I don't like dogs either."

"You don't like anybody", Miroku pointed out, to which Sesshoumaru only shrugged.

"Dogs are worse."

"Yeah", Inuyasha agreed. "Dog demons don't really like to hang around dogs. The whole pack thing doesn't work."

"I don't understand… Koga has wolves with him all the time."

"Don't compare me to that mangy wolf! Wolves are totally different. They were made to be in packs. I don't like wolves but I can be around them, they're not so…uncomfortable."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "They smell bad but at least they don't look at you funny."

This comment made Sango almost choke and Kagome even more puzzled. "What is so uncomfortable about dogs?"

Inuyasha sighed. "Think about it Kagome. Wolves are wild animals, but as dogs are now, they're tame. They are loyal to their owners and loving and stupid. They are completely different from their demon counterparts."

"It wasn't always like that", Sesshoumaru added gravely. "One more reason to dislike humans. They ruined dogs."

"But dogs are great…" Kagome still tried and looked from one brother to other.

Inuyasha just shook his head. "Really think about it Kagome. Dogs still somewhere deep down recognize their original behavior and therefore notice when they're in the presence of an alpha. They like it."

"Alpha? You mean a leader?"

"If it were wolves it would be that simple but we're talking about tamed down dogs. They react more, I don't know how to put this, adoringly. Like a crazed fan club. Worst part is that we can understand what they're saying."

"I'm lucky this puppy is still so young that she isn't in heat yet…" Sesshoumaru muttered and curled his lips disapprovingly.

Stunned silence followed that was eventually destroyed by uncontrollable laughter. Only Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha failed to see the amusing part of such an uncomfortable situation.

"Why are they laughing?" Sesshoumaru sneered and cracked his knuckles. The laughter died down a little.

"They don't get it."

"Obviously."

Kagome managed to gather herself a little. "Are you two saying that you don't feel comfortable around dogs because they like you too much?"

"Yes!" Inuyasha almost screamed. "The amount of pheromones completely overwhelms your nose and they start acting all coy, and the males start following you like they're never going to leave your side. It's like hearing a bunch of love confessions over and over and overandoverandoverandoverandover again!"

"Yes", Sesshoumaru nodded again. "Most annoying."

"Uh, I see", Kagome said slowly, not really seeing anything. She had tears in her eyes for trying not to laugh. Inuyasha looked really cute when he was this close to panicking.

"I can't keep that puppy around. I have enough trouble as it is without having a puppy fawning all over me."

Kagome very carefully controlled her face so she wouldn't laugh at that. She knew Sesshoumaru was going against every instinct he had so he wouldn't kill them all for laughing in the first place.

"Listen, Sesshoumaru, you could just tell Rin that it's too dangerous for the puppy to go along with you. She could get hurt. Rin is a very smart girl. She would never deliberately put anyone at risk."

The demon lord considered this. "Would that really be sufficient?"

"I think so. If it isn't, you can bring it to us in Kaede's village and we'll figure something out then."

"Hell no! If this puppy is stupid enough to be all chummy with that bastard I don't want it anywhere near me!" Inuyasha exclaimed, crossing his arms defiantly.

"You don't need to worry Inuyasha", Sesshoumaru said, gathering his energy so he could take off. "This puppy seems to have better taste than that." And then he was off.

"I really hate him!" Inuyasha growled and glared after him.

Miroku scratched his head. "Do you think he made a joke just now?"

-:-0-:-0-:-0-:-0-:-

Sesshoumaru returned back to his group still feeling somewhat troubled. He honestly didn't think it would be that easy to get the girl to leave the puppy behind. She was so attached to it and once Rin got attached to something she wasn't likely to let go. He should know.

He landed on the grass and looked around. Rin had made a small fire and was now frying fish on it. Ah-Un was sleeping behind her and Jaken was doing something. He didn't really care what he was doing. He couldn't see the puppy.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Rin shouted happily. "You came back!"

"Yes", he said a bit distracted. "Where is the dog?"

Rin's eyes widened. "I took her back to the village."

Sesshoumaru stared at her. "What?"

"I figured she had run away from the village nearby so I took her back to the edge of it and left her near a house. I hid in a bush and saw a boy pick her up and take her home."

The great Lord Sesshoumaru was baffled. "I see…"

Rin looked worried now. "I'm sorry, lord Sesshoumaru, I didn't know you wanted to say goodbye. I can go get her back tomorrow."

"Nonono", he said a bit too quickly. "I was just surprised you didn't want to keep her. You seemed to like her."

Jaken muttered some very distasteful things under his breath. Sesshoumaru kicked him out of habit even though he hadn't paid any attention on what was being said.

Rin cocked her head to the side. "But you don't like dogs, lord Sesshoumaru. I couldn't possibly keep it."

This time Sesshoumaru really did have to control himself very carefully so he wouldn't look too surprised. He gave the girl a small nod and went sit a bit further away so he wouldn't have to smell the fish.

How the hell had the girl known all that? He wasn't that obvious, was he? No. No he wasn't, he was sure of it. The girl was just assuming. That was it.

So…

It really had been that easy. He didn't have to kill a puppy or worse yet, have a difficult conversation with anyone.

Except with Inuyasha.

Right. He had gone to see them and talked to them for nothing. And there had been laughter.

Fantastic…

-:-

-:-

A/N: I know, just, yeah... Puppies...

I had this image pop into my head where a bunch of dogs went all justinbieber fanclub crazy when they saw Sesshoumaru. God I wish I could draw... Anyway, that's how this story was born. I feel like it's one of the better ones, to be honest.

See you soon!

Val