Dear All, this is a story co-authored by ajj7sunhawk and the absolutely amazing Sparkling Snowfall. We each wrote a particular character, care to guess who wrote whom? Presenting...

Two Lonesome Hearts

Chapter 1

Night in the Fuedal era. A lone Hanyou walked along the edge of a great lake. He huffed out a big breath. It was a nice night, lots of stars sparkling in the sky. Still, he was restless. There were no enemies to take down at the moment; all seemed quiet in the lands. Inuyasha was not sure what to do with himself. At this time he was neither happy nor sad, he was just... just... blah! It seemed as though he was waiting for something to happen... what that was he wasn't quite sure.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed on the hanyou. He hadn't had a good fight in quite some time. Boredom was making his fingers twitch with the desire for some reason to draw his sword. Though he had some time ago let go of his animosity toward Inuyasha, the hanyou was the only one who could ever give him a worthy battle. He placed one hand on the hilt of his sword. Decision made, he flared his youki and dove from the high bows of the tree within which he had been perched.

"Defend yourself, hanyou," he snarled, aware that calling his brother a half-breed always raised his brother's hackles.

"Gah!" Inuyasha lept out of the way and drew Tessaiga in one smooth move. The sounds of swords clashing rang out for miles. "WHAT The Fuck?" Inuyasha fumed, his face turning red. His thoughts raced. What was this? He believed he had settled all the animosity with his brother. Did Sesshoumaru start hating him again. Damn it, what had he done now? He didn't remember doing anything that could make his stupid ass brother angry, but then he never had to do anything to achieve that, he just had to be. Fine, if Sesshoumaru wanted to start up the fights again Inuyasha would oblige him.

"You sanctimonious, overgrown Chihuahua! What the hell are you attacking me for?"

"It appears that you have grown weak, hanyou. Pathetic," Sesshoumaru taunted as he swung his sword in a downward arch, gratified with the sparks flying from the meeting of fangs. "Those ears speak to the fact that you are the dog here."

The ridiculous dog reference couldn't have gone unanswered, even though it had no effect. Spouting insults was merely a part of the ritual. He couldn't wait to see what Inuyasha came up with next.

"WEAK! WEAK! Inuyasha rose to the bait. "I'll show you weak, I took your hand once and I'll do it again!" Inuyasha ground out, his ears flicking back. He swung at his brother.

"Father's providence aided you in a surprise attack. It will not happen again...hanyou," Sesshoumaru stated flatly and smirked, then met Inuyasha's attack, blocking the sword and adding a punch to Inuyasha's jaw to punctuate his superiority.

The blow glanced off the Hanyou, who rolled with the force easily enough. He returned the punch with a kick, and leaped out of the way, giving him space. "WindScar!" He released the attack directly at Sesshoumaru. As strange as the situation was, a part of him began to get excited. He knew Sesshoumaru would not be hurt by the attack, but he wondered how the DaiYoukai would avoid it. Heck, if they had to fight, Inuyasha intended to enjoy himself.

Sesshoumaru easily dodged the Wind Scar, taking to the air. Frustrated that his muscles wouldn't get a decent workout, he decided that he'd play along with Inuyasha's form. Lighting back on the ground, between flames of fire, he didn't wait for the attack to dissipate. Angling his sword horizontally, he powered it up with his own youki. Ozone crackled and soaked the entire area.

"Dragon Strike!" Lightening thundered toward his brother and he waited to see what his brother would do. Of course, he fully expected the Backlash Wave and prepared to endure the onslaught. It would take a good amount of youki to withstand it, but he was a DaiYoukai now, and the attack would do little damage.

Inuyasha silently cursed. His mind worked swiftly. Sesshoumaru knew him, knew his attacks. He could take this one with the Backlash Wave easily enough. But... but... Sesshoumaru's earlier words still burned. Oh, not the insults - that was part of fighting. That one statement "Father's providence aided you..." That burned. He could use the Backlash Wave, but he would be relying on the sword again. Inuyasha did not want to give Sesshoumaru an excuse to call him weak ever again.

There was only one way to show his pompous brother how strong he now was. Inuyasha let his guard down and braced himself. Shit, his fucking pride, he was gonna take the Dragon Strike head on. Hell, this was gonna hurt.

Lightening exploded around him.

When he realized that Inuyasha wasn't going to protect himself, Sesshoumaru's eyes widened.

"Foolish hanyou!" he shouted and rushed forward. What the hell was Inuyasha thinking! He'd be shredded by Tokijin's lightening fangs. Rushing through the wave of the Dragon Strike, Sesshoumaru reached out, hoping he reached his little brother in time. He didn't have time to check his brother's condition before throwing his full weight against Inuyasha, taking them both to the ground, protecting his brother with his own body.

"Hoi!" Inuyasha shouted as he shoved the weight off him. He sat up, blood dripping from his broken lip. He was a little bruised, but otherwise not damaged. "What the heck are you up to, Sesshoumaru! I can take your stupid attack without your help! I'm gonna show you once and for all I'm not WEAK! Let's do that again!" Inuyasha yelled recklessly.

Inuyasha glared at Sesshoumaru, then as the whole scenario repeated in his mind, his eyes clouded. His brows came together in a frown, his anger disappearing as quickly as it had emerged. "Ummm... why did you do that anyway? Weren't you trying to kill me?" Inuyasha asked in confusion.

"Damn you, Inuyasha!" Sesshoumaru spat as he straddled Inuyasha's thighs and grabbed the front of his suikan, drawing him up from the ground then unceremoniously slamming his brother back into the hard dirt. He was just as angry with himself as he was with Inuyasha. The thought that Inuyasha could survive the attack had never occurred to him. His pride insisted that he avoid that realization.

"I'm the only one allowed to kill you. It has never been your choice," he ground out.

Inuyasha's head rang from being slammed into the earth. "What the fuck are you? Kagome? Stop slamming me into the ground, I have had enough of that to last ten life times," Inuyasha growled out. "Keh! As if you could kill me."

The Hanyou rubbed the back of his head. He looked at Sesshoumaru who was sitting on him... ehhh... Sesshoumaru was sitting on him... what was wrong with this picture? "Umm.. Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha said rather carefully, "Well, if we are done with practice, GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Inuyasha's voice had a strange ring to it.

Sesshoumaru didn't know why, but he was thoroughly pissed. "I do as I please, hanyou!" he nearly shouted then slammed Inuyasha into the ground once again. "You overestimate your resilience and I refuse to allow your death at this time."

Speaking of Inuyasha's death, realizing how close he'd come to killing his brother, deflated some of his ire, and he found himself flustered by his current position, but he wasn't about to allow that to be reflected in his countenance. In rebellion against the awkward situation, he leaned down until their noses nearly touched.

"Have a care, Inuyasha. Your time in this world is not yet finished," he murmured as he intensely stared into his brother's eyes and barely prevented the blush from rising to his cheeks.

Inuyasha felt the blood rush to his face. Sesshoumaru was close, too close. It was... it was... well, actually, it was kindda nice. Sesshoumaru was his big brother. He had not had someone so close to him since the team had split up, each going their own way. How many years ago was that? No one had come close to the Hanyou, no one wanted to touch him. oh, they wanted his help, his strength, but they wanted it with as little contact to him as possible.

All the hugs he had received from the team, all the touches had just... vanished. And, Inuyasha had not admitted how much he had missed having someone touch him. He was used to being slammed around. Keh! Just like before, he would accept what ever it was that was offered.

"Keh! If you are gonna act like Kagome! Fine! I'll treat you like her!" So saying, fully expecting to be slammed hard into the earth, Inuyasha lunged upwards and caught Sesshoumaru in a fierce hug. He needed this, even if it was stolen. He needed the warm contact, even if it was only for a second.

An insult to Inuyasha's human was on the tip of his tongue when Inuyasha surprised Sesshoumaru with a hug. He froze at the sudden contact, unsure of what he should do. He hadn't had this type of physical contact since...since his childhood.

Inuyasha felt Sesshoumaru's shock. "You can slam me into the ground as much as you like, like she did. But you are still my fucking brother," Inuyasha blurted out, his heart in his voice, and the words racked with pain.

The constant mention of that worthless human caused Sesshoumaru's anger to spark. "Never mention that wench in my presence again," Sesshoumaru growled, momentarily forgetting their odd position.

Ehhh... he was still alive? Inuyasha pressed his head to Sesshoumaru's warmth for a split second more, before forcing himself to let go. He thunked back to the earth. The energy seemed to drain from him. Unconsciously, one hand caught and held one of Sesshoumaru's long sleeves. His eyes dulled as he looked at the distant sky. He waited for Sesshoumaru to get up and walk away like he always did. He waited for the DaiYoukai to leave him, lying there alone once again.

Sesshoumaru sat up, confused about his anger toward the human, as well as Inuyasha's constant repeat of her name, not to mention Inuyasha's odd behavior. Regardless, he wasn't going to leave his brother who was staring at the sky with such a desolate expression. He'd never seen such a look in his brother's eyes. Where had the fire gone? Was it the human who left him in such a state?

Unacceptable.

Though he hated the appearance of concern, this had to be made right. "What ails you, little brother?" he asked and sat back up to stare quizzically at Inuyasha's face.

Inuyasha paused for a long moment. "Nothing." he sighed finally.

He found his focus drawn to the sleeve he was touching. It was nice. His fingers first played with the sleeve, then absently, his brain not really contemplating what his hand was doing, he began to stroke the soft cloth. It never occurred to him that he was stroking the smooth muscular arm underneath the cloth. All he knew was that being able to touch someone gently like this felt extraordinarily good.

The surprising warmth stroking his arm surprised Sesshoumaru enough that his eyes slid to his arm. He frowned in thought. This was completely unlike Inuyasha. Something had happened to his brother and he needed...to fix it.

"You make a terrible liar, Inuyasha." His fingers tightly bunched the fabric of Inuyasha's suikan. The warmth of Inuyasha's body flowed into his hand. "Speak before I give you another lesson in the consequences of disobeying your elders."

"Keh, go ahead!" Inuyasha's voice was flat. "Its all I'm good for, after all, taking damage and killing Youkai. I got my hug, it was enough. Go ahead, work your frustrations out and leave me alone," Inuyasha's voice broke as he spat out the words, his tone bitter and resigned. His hand stopped stroking and he forced his fingers to let go. It suddenly dawned on him what he had been touching and his ears folded back. Damn, why was he so pathetic in front of Sesshoumaru.

"Keh, sorry about that. I guess I owe you for that as well."

Though he didn't understand why, Sesshoumaru's chest clenched at Inuyasha's words. Now he understood his brother's odd behavior. Inuyasha was lonely and once again at the mercy of the world, which had no place for those who were different. He unwound his fingers from Inuyasha's clothing and gently smoothed the fabric.

"Where is that little pack you travel with?" he asked quietly, ignoring Inuyasha's demand that he abuse him.

Hmmm, he was still alive. Inuyasha sighed, "Gone. Kagome left this era after Naraku was destroyed. Miroku and Sango are re-establishing the Youkai hunters village - and they don't need a Hanyou hanging around. 'Sides I really don't want to be there as they get old and die, like Kaede did. Shippo's gone to train with the Kitsunes, and Kilala went with him. Life goes on, I guess," Inuyasha said softly.

While he spoke, his unruly hand once again sought warmth. This time, it gently rested on the knee that was still straddling him, his fingers drawing absent circles on the cloth.

Inuyasha's willingness to answer his question, and without any vitriol, surprised Sesshoumaru. It seemed that his brother was full of surprises today. The boy had to be terribly lonely to seek comfort from him. Sesshoumaru had never given Inuyasha any reason to believe he had any interest in his brother's welfare. Not that he hadn't. He'd always kept track of the miscreant, despite his frustration with the exercise. It was necessary to assure himself of Inuyasha's survival and he could never refuse those instincts. Even now. If he left his brother in this condition, he knew that Inuyasha's fight for survival would be detrimentally crippled and he could not allow something so dangerous to continue.

Placing his hand over the fingers that were teasing his leg, Sesshoumaru squeezed them to reassure his brother that he was there. "You are not alone, little brother," he murmured.

-tbc-

Hope you like it. Feel free to guess. :)

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed it and hope to hear your opnions in a reviews.

Cheers Sparkling Snowfall and ajj7sunhawk