Pensively, Sesshoumaru regarded the headstone he had come to pause before. Strange. It stirred such mixed emotions within his heart, and yet he knew exactly what they meant. A mixture of love and hate, of respectable admiration and disgust. He gave his head a slight tilt and reached out to trace one claw over the faceless concrete; it had been crudely wedged into the ground, crooked of course.

     He looked at the battered sword hilt that stuck so innocently from the soil, almost like a flower. It had been thrust into the soil, through the grave, and consequently through the one buried beneath the soil. Sesshoumaru gave a rueful smirk. Fitting that the mutt was killed by his own weapon. Those who lived by the sword, as the saying went.

     With nothing better to do, Sesshoumaru lightly scraped the symbols, "Inuyasha," onto the stone, regarding his handiwork with some sort of pride. He had always had a flare for finery, and that extended to his handwriting as well. In fact, his fancies had always been somewhat more delicate and well thought out in comparison to his younger brother’s recklessness. Sesshoumaru found it humorous, and despite his many attempts to take his little brother’s life, he had never truly believed he would succeed. Not that he thought himself incompetent; that in essence was a ridiculous notion. How was it possible for he, Lord Sesshoumaru Nishi, to be incompetent? He had slaughtered those beastly little zombies that had come crawling from the earth many a time, hadn’t he? He gave a wry smile. He had saved the woman’s life then from that disgusting Mukotsu. Inuyasha had repaid her that debt.

     "It’s quite funny, really," a sly voice behind him remarked with little emotion behind his words. Sesshoumaru’s tapered ears pricked at the voice, and he chanced an incurious glance over his shoulder.

     Naraku was so subtly dangerous, Sesshoumaru almost took for granted the hellish existence that the man had forced him to live through. His slender eyes and lips watched him, bemused. Sesshoumaru returned the gaze. "I see nothing humorous here."

     "Oh?" Naraku was thoroughly surprised. His eyebrows reached his hairline in false astonishment. Then, he chuckled and said coolly, "Perhaps you’re just growing old."

     "I look twice as good at my age than you ever will," Sesshoumaru pointed out affably. There was no deceit in his tone, nothing to proclaim that Sesshoumaru was using his words as an insult in any form. He gave his veils of silver-white hair an elegant toss, adjusted his tail around his shoulders, and then quietly continued on his way through the forest. Soon, Naraku could not even hear the light foot falls of the ethereal demon, nor even smell his scent upon the wind.

     Naraku turned his gaze back to where Inuyasha’s headstone remained. He shifted away from the tree that he leaned against and crossed the foliage to crouch before it. He reached out and touched the stone.

     So harmless, the violent demon now seemed. Naraku chuckled wryly; if Inuyasha could see him now, the dog demon would likely rush him and deliver a swift end to his mediocre existence. However, Naraku found that it had been he himself who had been the one to extinguish the eternal flame within Inuyasha’s fiery heart.

     It had been quite simple really. Lure the woman away from the safety of Kaede’s village, into the forest, and then assault her. Not kill her, no. That would not be fitting of such a high-standing demon as Naraku. No, he needed the wench alive to beckon Inuyasha come hither. The demon had complied, in a fit of rage. From there, it had just been a point of positioning Inuyasha where he needed to be, and then skewering the worthless pup.

     "Pity." He spoke the word out loud, his voice so soft it could almost have been a whisper. He leaned in to press a light kiss against the tombstone. "You were so lovely and tantalizing in life; in death, you were such a disappointment."

     He shuffled back off of the mound lightly to peer at the hilt of Tetsusaiga. It protruded from the earth so innocently, as if beckoning one to come close enough to withdraw it. Tentatively, Naraku touched one finger to the weapon’s hilt. White-hot pain shot through his entire body and numbed him. In agony, Naraku ripped his hand away and stifled a brief curse by biting down on his lower lip.

     A pair of cool fingers slipped around his shoulders and along the curve of his pallid throat. He stilled, and a voice near his ear whispered almost lovingly, "Then I hope you will be a more ample student and dazzle with me with your imminent demise." Whereupon Sesshoumaru delicately kissed his cheek, and promptly snapped his neck. Naraku fell lifelessly backward into Sesshoumaru’s arms, a shocked and slight wince of pain creasing his eyebrows in death.

     Sesshoumaru smiled wryly as he lay Naraku down upon Inuyasha’s grave. He stood up and wiped his palms off on his trousers. "That," he told Naraku’s lifeless form quite pleasantly, "is for making Rin cry." He turned then and disappeared.

     Somewhere in the forest, a bird whistled its greeting to the bright sunrise casting its radiant shimmer across the tops of Inuyasha’s Forest.

~

Author's note: Written in a total of eight minutes. ^^ I counted. Pretty crappy, isn't it? And I had just finished reading a sappy Ron/Hermione fan fiction when I got around to writing it too. ;.; That's pretty scary. See what heterosexual Harry Potter fan fiction does to me? It makes me morbid as crap. Never let me read it again, Manda, or I'll kill you! *cough* Yeah, I rambled... sorry.... ;.;