Chapter One – Inu Rite Of Passage.

Inuyasha was dreaming again, he didn't care though. He happily let the fantasy play out in his subconscious.

He was blindfolded with a soft material and his wrists were bound behind his back. Warm breath and a hot tongue played along his ear, while sharp claws scraped down his chest and stomach. He moaned and shivered from the sensation. His hips thrust against a wonderful friction that was rubbing over the front of his hakama. Teeth found the column of his neck, nipping along the flesh and soft lips followed, soothing the sting. Heat coiled tightly in the pit of his stomach and burned for release. He whined pleadingly, desperate for more of that teasing friction.

"Pathetic hanyou." A deep voice, smooth as silk whispered into his ear.

The dream came crashing to a halt, his eyes shot open and he sat straight up from sleep.

Inuyasha groaned in frustration, 'nug … his voice again.'

He stretched out lazily on his branch trying to go back to sleep and not think about the implications of that dream. However, sighed in defeat looking down at the erection, tenting the material of his hakama.

"That's just fucking great." Inuyasha grumbled.

He certainly wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep with that thing in the condition it was and taking care of the problem in broad daylight was out of the question. So he resigned himself to ignoring it, leaped from his perch in the sacred tree and set out to Kaede's for the day.

Two months had passed since Naraku's death and things were slowly getting back to some semblance of normal.

Kaede was busy helping Rin learn more about her new home in the small human village. Shippo left now and then for kitsune training school. Kohaku was traveling as a taijiya to try and atone for all the horrible things he had done under Naraku's control. Sango and Miroku for the most part were settling down in Kaede's village. Though they still paid respects in the taijiya village once in a while.

It had become routine for the group of friends to meet at Kaede's hut every week or so for lunch and to catch up with each other. They would talk and tease and laugh. Rin and Shippo would run around and play. Inuyasha would be his usual irritable self; smashing Shippo over the head whenever he became the victim of the young kit's new fox magic. Sango would slap Miroku for molesting her in public. Yep it was like old times again.

It was during one of these lunches that Sesshomaru and Myoga appeared one day. At first everyone tensed, reaching for a weapon before they realized it was Sesshomaru and then they were caught between wanting to feel at ease and not knowing if that was really a smart thing to do. Everyone fully relaxed though when Rin squealed with joy shouting.

"Lord Sesshomaru, Lord Sesshomaru!"

She ran gleefully up to greet the demon Lord. Any other child running up to greet a beloved parent figure would have clung to them or tried to leap into their arms. Rin simply stood before the imposing demon bubbling with happiness, chattering about how she had missed him and what she had been doing. Then the young girl caught sight of Jaken and ran over to hug the nasty little toad, spouting declarations of, "I missed you too master Jaken!" She crushed him in an emasculating embrace and swung him around in a circle by the neck.

"Stupid girl it's improper to handle your superiors like this!" Jaken protested flailing wildly.

It slightly warmed Sesshomaru's heart to see the little reunion. Of course the emotion never reached his face or even his eyes but it was there all the same. He looked up from the tender moment to meet Inuyasha's curious gaze with his usual cold indifferent eyes.

"Sesshomaru … What are you doing here?" Inuyasha cautiously asked.

"I have come to inform you of my decision to acknowledge your completion of the rite of passage. Should you choose, you and your pack will accompany me to fathers palace for the ceremony of acceptance."

Inuyasha cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Has your pathetic excuse for a retainer taught you nothing of your culture?"

Myoga used this moment to make his usual appearance. The little flee demon attached himself to Inuyasha's neck and removed a generous amount of blood before the hanyou swatted him completely flat.

"Damn it Myoga, I'm not your personal frickin snack bar!" Inuyasha griped.

"Forgive me my Lord." Myoga wheezed as he fell from Inuyasha's neck.

"That parasite will educate you. In the meantime, Rin you may join me for the remainder of the day if you wish." Sesshomaru calmly offered.

"Oh yes Sesshomaru-sama, I would like that very much. Thank you my Lord." Rin exclaimed.

"I will return her to your care, priestess, at dawn. I expect any accompanying my departure to be prepared to leave when I arrive." After that Sesshomaru turned, leading Rin and Jaken away from the village.

"Ok spill it Myoga, what's that big baka talking about?" Inuyasha impatiently demanded.

"He is talking about the inu rite of passage my Lord. It's a tradition, dating all the way back to your ancient inu ancestors. The rite of passage is a trial used to determine the next heir of the royal bloodline. Traditionally the ruling alpha would force their pup out of the pack and abandon it to the wild. The first part of the trial was simply for the pup to survive on their own or parish." Myoga explained.

"That's awfully cruel." Sango commented. "It's almost unheard of that a demon would abandon its young. As a taijiya I was always taught that a demon would be more hostile to defend its young."

"Indeed that is true for most demon, however the royal families operate differently. And that I am afraid is not the end of the cruelty. If the pup does manage to survive, the alpha will return for the second part of the trial and attack him. If the alpha determines the pup to be worthy he will leave before killing it, if the alpha feels the pup is too weak, he will destroy it. That is the inu way. After that the alpha will periodically return to test the pup's skills until he or she has proven themselves a worthy heir. Then the pup is allowed to return to the pack where a ceremony of acceptance is held to mark the newest heir of the royal bloodline and honor their great accomplishment." Myoga spoke all this in his usual factual and informative tone.

"Then Lord Sesshomaru has endured this rite of passage as well?" Miroku inquired.

"Yes, of course. He would not have inherited Inu-No-Taisho's kingdom if it were otherwise." Myoga answered.

"So let me get this straight, your telling me all those times jack ass tried to kill me, it was just part of some stupid royal test?" Inuyasha demanded.

"No, Lord Inuyasha not just a test, if you had been weak he truly would have killed you. There is no question about that. Think of this as Lord Sesshomaru acknowledging that you have proven yourself an equal heir of the bloodline. Traditionally that means after the ceremony he would properly start training you to be an inu worrier." Myoga proudly announced.

"Keh, I'm already a worrier, I don't need any stupid training." Inuyasha scoffed.

"You might be a worrier but your sword skills are severely lacking and you have barely begun to unlock your demonic abilities." Myoga scolded.

"Hey you little bastard, my skills are not lacking!" Inuyasha irritably defended, while squeezing Myoga between his fingers.

"Inuyasha you should at least consider this." Miroku urged. "I know I would leap at the chance to be trained by someone of Lord Sesshomaru's skill."

Inuyasha let go of Myoga and turned his attention to the monk. "And who ever said I wasn't considering it? I just don't need Lord asshole to think he's doing me some kind of special favor." Inuyasha sneered.

"I don't think you understand Lord Inuyasha." Myoga calmly informed, after recovering from being squished. "For Lord Sesshomaru to have accepted your passage, it means that he has gained respect for you. He wouldn't see training you, as doing you a favor."

"Ya well, excuse me if I won't believe that until I see it." Inuyasha grumbled.

"Perhaps ye should think on it before ye make a decision." Kaede wisely suggested, sensing the hanyou's anxiety.

"Ya I guess I should." Inuyasha replied thoughtfully, while scratching the back of his head. "I'll catch you guys later."

Then the hanyou turned and started leaping off toward his favorite resting place in the sacred tree.

"I still don't get it, what is Inuyasha going to think about?" Shippo asked.

"Well child, if Inuyasha leaves with Lord Sesshomaru it may be a long time before he would return. He may find it difficult to part with this place he has come to think of as his home." Kaede explained.

"Ohhhhh." Shippo nodded in agreement, while watching Inuyasha disappear from view.

"I think this would be really good for him," Sango optimistically commented. "It would give him something to take his mind off of missing Kagome."

"I agree, after everything that happened this could really be what's best for him. It might give him some direction and help him get back to his old self again." Miroku concurred.

Inuyasha was back in the spot where he had started the day. He sighed, leaning back against the sacred tree thinking to himself.

'What am I supposed to do now? …... I want to go with him, of course I do. I've always wanted to go with him ... But should I? I mean should I want to up and leave the village? This place has kinda become my home and Sesshomaru is always such an asshole ... I shouldn't want to go with someone like that ... should I? …... But I do... Maybe I want to go with him a little too much and maybe not in a traveling kind of way ... I have no idea what he would do to me if he ever found that out ... He'd really disown me if he knew half the things that go through my head when we fight … I guess it's kinda like playing with fire. I know there's a good chance I'm gonna get burned, but I do it anyway just to get that rush...Who am I kidding, this is Sesshomaru I am talking about here. I'm going to end up going with him. I just don't know what I am gonna tell the others... I wonder if they'll be mad at me for leaving... I wonder if they'll want to go with me. Would Sesshomaru really let them? He has changed a whole lot since we first met.'

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest, Sesshomaru sat comfortably on a moss covered bolder watching Rin play.

"Jaken, build a fire and help Rin catch some fish."

"Y-yes mi Lord." Jaken scurried off leaving the demon Lord alone to his mental musings.

Sesshomaru never imagined he would be taking Inuyasha home with him, but even he had to admit that maybe their father had been right about the hanyou. It was possible that he could be a legitimate heir to the western lands.

'I somehow doubt I truly grasp the magnitude of the decision I have made, however the pup lacks proper training and without it he will only continue to disgrace our noble bloodline. If he is going to be of the bloodline he will very well start behaving as such. If I have to force the lessons down his throat then so be it.' Sesshomaru gently massaged the bridge of his nose in anticipation of the many headaches to come. 'Why do I get the distinct impression that taming the western lands after father's death was an easier task than the undertaking that lies before me.'