Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha, Kagome, Sesshoumaru, Sango, Miroku, Rin, Shippou, Souta, Mrs. Higurashi, Kouga, Naraku, Kanna, or Kagura…. must I continue?

AN: Enjoy!

Sesshoumaru smiled, a slow smug curl of lips. He had found it. Here, among his father's dust covered journals, favored books, poems, and musings. Sesshoumaru's eyes glittered in the dark chamber that had been Lord Taisho's room. The smile on his face grew, a grotesque sneer that promised pain. For he had found it- the scroll, in Taisho's own hand, that would allow him to wield the Tetsaiga, and kill his weak-willed excuse for a sibling.

Sesshoumaru smirked at the newly discovered seal. So his dear father thought he could restrict knowledge from this Sesshoumaru? If he had been capable, Sesshoumaru might have laughed, a dark-humored bark of sound, almost a snort, a laugh meant to tell his father and the seal, "as if."

Sesshoumaru studied the scroll with a bored fascination. It was no wonder he hadn't taken notice of the parchment before. It had no unique markings, nothing special about it that would distinguish it from the dozens of other useless scrolls that cluttered the dark and dusty bedchamber. Though he harbored a festering anger for his father, Sesshoumaru respected the wise and powerful leader that had bequeathed to him the Western realm. It was very much like Lord Taisho, always hiding what Sesshoumaru sought most to find. First the black pearl in Inu Yasha's eye, and now the scroll that would give him the knowledge to wield the Tetsaiga without borrowed arms or tainted jewels. Sesshoumaru scowled, his eyes darkening with anger. Taisho had purposely placed the scroll here. Sesshoumaru found this place disgusting. The room where Taisho had bedded that human slut Inu Yasha's mother. To place the scroll here among love letters and the 'congratulations' letters Taisho had received when Inu Yasha was born- Sesshoumaru growled softly, locking the sound away in his throat and the anger with it. It didn't matter what Lord Taisho had done. In the end his father had failed, for Sesshoumaru had found what he was looking for.

Sesshoumaru's lips reformed their smug smile, he would claim the Tetsaiga, and kill Inu Yasha. Then, and only then, would Sesshoumaru complete the revenge he had designated his father's. Sesshoumaru's dark smile vanished and his lips took up their position in the cold mask. He would destroy his father's precious Inu Yasha, and strip from him the gifts their father had bestowed on him. He would see Taisho's soul suffer the way his mother's had when her love was cast aside. He would condemn his father's accomplishments, and with that defeat, he would destroy the respect that was forming for his father.

With cold eyes, Sesshoumaru slid sharpened nails beneath the sealing wax that held the parchment closed. Sesshoumaru paused, a feeling not unlike a shiver traveling down his spine. Sesshoumaru's lips lifted smugly once more. The after-effects of breaking his father's seal were pathetic at best. He uncurled the parchment slowly. A few seconds made no difference after a couple hundred years. Sesshoumaru's eyes greedily watched as his pale, slender fingers spread open the parchment.

The growl that ripped from Sesshoumaru's mouth shook the walls and raised the formerly dormant dust particles to dance in the air. Servants who had been in the hall scattered, masking their scents and hiding.

Sesshoumaru shuddered in rage, the blank parchment fisted in his hand. Another dead end, another false lead. Sesshoumaru's aura hummed fiercely as he recalled all the false leads and dead ends he had met searching for the black pearl. Once more Sesshoumaru sneered. He had found the black pearl, and he would master the Tetsaiga. The demon Lord's cold façade descended upon his features as he waited for his demon blood to cool.

And waited. And waited.

Sesshoumaru marveled at his lack of control. The growl that had been the parchments welcoming had come unbidden. Now, Sesshoumaru rotated his neck, feeling the strain of tense muscles all down his back, aching to change form. A snarl came to Sesshoumaru's mouth, and a shudder. Sesshoumaru almost awed at the red crimson glow sliding across his vision. Sesshoumaru's thoughts came slow. Recognition of his anger coupled with his frustration that the rage in his blood would not be quelled… Sesshoumaru allowed himself a rare moment of confusion. Where was his control? Then his eyes bled true, and he accepted his inner-demon's call. He would feed, and he would be satisfied.