InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chained ❯ Brothers ( Chapter 42 )

A\N:Alright, nobody killed me for the last chapter!

Lets hope I can keep that up with this one...

Also, Sess and Inu have been described as being cute/mildly OOC/ noticeably OOC but not in a bad way/not OOC and gay. Lol, but I think the last chapter caused a bit of worry amongst some people, so I guess I’ll remind people-- This isn’t a yaoi. Never planned it to be that way, and it’s not going to be that way. Sess and Inu are just brothers alright? Nothing more...

Okay, are we all clear on that? Good! ^_^

Oh, and we get a bit of a look into what Naraku did to Inu while he was captured... not a very detailed look, but a look nonetheless. ^_^

-dancin4inu - Well isn’t “always” a little harsh? I’m sure that I’ve used it correctly. Once. Or twice. At some point during my life. Lol, still it’s good to know you have a purpose. Someone put up some fact about celery sometime... I have absolutely no idea why though... Anyway, sorry bout my little spelling mistake, I’ll try and avoid it in the future. But I doubt I’ll be very succesful. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I don’t edit these chapters before I post them, so they’re probably full of little mistakes all over the place ^_^. Lol. So the OOC isn’t so bad you say? Hm. Well I suppose that’s a good thing... hope this chapter doesn’t change your mind about that... ^_^

-Lady Orange - Lol, I’m glad I could help, although I have absolutely no idea what I said. ^_^ And I would never write in web-speak. Except if I talk to someone on IM. This is a story not a fucking text-message. I know the english language, why wouldn’t I use it? ^_^ Lol, sorry, I agree with you completely about web-speak-- use it in the chatroom or the IM, not in the stories people! ^_^

-Elena Cala - Ah, well I kinda suspected, but you never can be too sure now can you? ^_^ Lol, I’m glad you don’t think/mind the OOC. Some people have said they stopped liking the anime/manga because of the fact that the characters have had almost no personality growth despite all the time that’s passed. I’ve seen some mild growth, but nothing too extreme. I like the characters-- that’s what makes them likeable! Or something... Hold, on I’ve lost my train of thought... And it doesn’t seem to be coming back... Well, I’m sure I’ll get it back soon... until then here’s your next fix... ^_^

  ~*~   Brothers

As their training progressed throughout the week, Sesshomaru worked hard to find Inuyasha’s weaknesses and exploit them as much as he could, forcing his younger brother to learn to protect and hide them. In return, Inuyasha was honing in on Sesshomaru and fighting with a vigour he had never known his younger brother possessed.

Kohaku still wouldn’t talk, but that was okay because Rin was thrilled with the fact that she now had a human and a “doggy” (as she liked to refer to Inuyasha) companion. Inuyasha didn’t like the nickname, and was slowly teaching her to refer to him as Inuyasha, getting more frustrated when the girl would stubbornly call him “Lord Inuyasha”, which seemed to insult or embarrass the hanyou to no end.

Jaken was less than pleased with their hanyou and ningen guest (though he really treated Kohaku much the same as he did Rin) but, after seeing how well the two managed to distract Rin from her constant pestering of him, he began to slowly accept their presences in the castle.

And Rin was more than fine with this.

Kohaku kept much to himself, and, in the moment when Inuyasha wasn’t training or with Rin, he would often go and sit with the boy, neither speaking, just sharing a silent understanding. It made sense, Sesshomaru supposed: Both had lost everything, and now were working very hard to regain it in very strange circumstances.

It was a scene such as this that he was currently witnessing: Kohaku and Inuyasha, sitting on the lush grass just outside the edge of the forest that bordered the castle, neither speaking, just sitting, staring...

And then Rin came bounding up behind them, throwing two flowery wreaths upon their heads, laughing when both started, Inuyasha’s hand instantly flying to the hilt of Tetsusaiga, lowering slowly when he realised it was only Rin.

They relaxed again, though a strange tension filled the air now that their strange peaceful aura had been broken, and Sesshomaru had not failed to see the fear that had entered both their eyes when the wreaths had landed on their heads.

His eyes narrowed slightly and he strode purposefully toward the small group, causing them all to look up at him, Rin instantly straightening and bowing to him. ‘Hello my lord!’ She said cheerfully, and Sesshomaru let his hand brush the top of her head in passing as he moved to stand beside Inuyasha.

‘Kohaku, please go with Rin somewhere while I talk to Inuyasha.’ The boy started slightly at his name, still clearly uncertain that Sesshomaru was not planning on killing him, then nodded and mutely turned to move with Rin back toward the castle.

Inuyasha stared up at him with questioning eyes, but he did not say anything as he sat himself down next to Inuyasha, unconsciously trying to re-enact the strange understanding and peacefulness that had floated between the hanyou and ningen before. He failed miserably, and the tension that had come with Rin only seemed to increase now that the two ningens were gone.

Sesshomaru stared angrily at the dark trees in front of him, wondering what connection the two had between them that allowed them to so act around one another when they barely spoke two words to one another on any given day.

He didn’t even realise he had drawn his brother’s gaze until Inuyasha’s voice caused him to look over and meet the hanyou’s eyes staring at him. ‘Did you actually want to talk about something, or did you just come here to brood and glare at the trees?’

Sesshomaru gave a low warning growl, but it was half-hearted at best, and quickly died away into nothing. He stared at his half-brother for a moment, his eyes taking in the scars on his face and neck that were healing all too slowly.

A sharp wind blew, strong enough to blow the wreath of flowers off of Inuyasha’s head, and send both demons hair streaming out in front of them, and Sesshomaru’s eyes widened, then narrowed viciously as he got a full view of the markings on his brother’s neck.

Two deeply cut and very raw rings that had clearly bled a lot signified the edges of something strong and large-- like a manacle -- having been wrapped around his brother’s throat, and, judging by just how deep the cuts were, it had apparently been there for a long time.

But those wounds were not even the foremost in Sesshomaru’s mind.

What was catching his attention was the wound at the nape of Inuyasha’s neck.

A large hole, black, and with lines creeping several inches from it under the skin-- like veins carrying a black poison of some kind. And he could feel the remains of something very and powerful that had clearly once existed there. But what got him the most was the fact that he had seen a wound like that before. In Kohaku’s back. In the human arm that Naraku had given him (though that one had been very weak, hardly perceptible). It was the mark left behind where a tainted jewel shard had been imbedded.

‘What did he do to you?’ Sesshomaru asked softly, and Inuyasha glanced up at him, noticed his stare, and moved his hand to cover the wound, but Sesshomaru caught his wrist, yanking it away and causing Inuyasha to flinch as his own fingers moved to brush over the wound. His eyes narrowed, and he glared at his brother.

‘What did he do to you?’

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably under his brother’s hard and unrelenting gaze as the fingers hovered over the wound of the jewel. He half expected Sesshomaru to jab his nails into the wound, which would undoubtedly cause the hanyou a great deal of pain. He remembered Naraku doing that. On many occasions. That was why he had reacted so violently to his brother’s simple touch.

However, Sesshomaru’s fingers were belying his eyes, and were not touching the wound except for the gentlest of brushings. He searched his brother’s face, not sure what he was looking for, but, after several minutes, he seemed to find it, and Inuyasha decided to let his guard down and reveal to Sesshomaru all that Naraku had done to him.

He told him of the dark prisons with walls covered in objects that reeked of other demon’s blood... that later reeked of his blood. The stench of fear and death that surrounded the halls, and the many methods Naraku used to break him.

Sesshomaru was silent throughout most of this, only interrupting once to ask a question that surprised Inuyasha to no end: Did he violate you?

Inuyasha wracked through his still slightly fuzzy mind, but came up with no evidence to say he had, and so shook his head, both brother’s silently releasing the breaths they had not been aware they were holding.

When he got to the part about the metal collar Naraku had placed around his neck, as a final way of binding and breaking him, Sesshomaru had stiffened, his eyes flashing and bleeding over slightly with red.

‘He collared you?’ Sesshomaru demanded, his voice harsher then he had meant, and managing to effectively frighten his younger, uncertain sibling. The small nod Inuyasha gave only served to further feed his fury.

The fact that his brother had been chained and collared like some worthless common mutt was enough to send Sesshomaru’s youkai into a fit of rage, though he kept it in check. Barely. That would explain the abrasion marks on his neck, then.

Once Sesshomaru had gotten a reasonable rein on his anger, he nodded at his brother to continue, certain that, if he opened his mouth again, even he would not be able to refrain from shouting again, and he did not want to see that fear fill his brother’s eyes. Not now. Not ever again.

Making certain that his brother was not going to take out his sudden flare of anger on him, he proceeded to explain about the jewel shards, how they had made him forget, made him do things he hadn’t wanted-- even when he thought of Naraku as his master, there were some things he had not been able or had not wished to do (like induce the same tortures used on him on that of nameless ningens and demons), and Naraku had used to jewels to force him.

When he was done, Sesshomaru was silent, his hand falling away from his brother’s neck. Inuyasha felt strangely weak and pathetic next to his elegant and powerful elder brother, and he lowered his eyes in a submissive gesture, often practiced with Naraku, flattening his ears and mumbling sorry, though what he was sorry for was beyond him. Being weak, maybe? Being unworthy of his brother and everyone he had ever known? Being the worthless hanyou everyone had always thought him to be?

A low growl came from his brother, and his chin was grabbed and yanked roughly up as he was forced to meet flashing golden eyes.

‘You are not weak, Inuyasha.’ His brother said, as though able to read his thoughts. ‘None of this was your fault. Don’t ever think otherwise. You are the son of Inu no Taisho, and you are not the slave or subordinate of anyone.’

Sesshomaru’s words and outburst surprised both brother’s, but he had said them, knew Inuyasha needed to hear them, knew that he meant them, and he was not going to take them back now.

Slowly a small, timid smile worked it’s way across Inuyasha’s face, one of those rare ones that he secretly looked forward to seeing and had unconsciously been trying to coax out more of. ‘Thank-you, Sesshomaru.’ Inuyasha said quietly, and Sesshomaru blinked, growled, then roughly shoved Inuyasha’s chin away from him.

Inuyasha fell back, and he glared at his brother half-heartedly, then grinned again before yawning widely, not bothering to stifle it with his hand. It was getting late and he was feeling surprisingly tired, even though the training session today had been supremely lax.

Not pausing to think (something he never did and really shouldn’t start doing now), Sesshomaru reached over and gathered his brother up, resting his back against a tree before pulling the startled Inuyasha against him, resting his head against his chest.

‘Sesshomaru?’ Inuyasha asked quietly, his voice timid as he turned his confused gaze up toward his brother.

‘Shh.’ Sesshomaru said, pressing a finger against his sibling’s lips. ‘Do not ruin the evening with more of your pointless barking.’ He said gently, voice devoid of anything but a gentleness Inuyasha had never heard before. ‘You are tired, Inuyasha. Sleep.’ His brother said, and Inuyasha, after lying tense a moment more against his brother, risked listening to his brother’s advice, relaxing against his firm chest and letting his eyes drift closed.

They snapped open again when he felt a hand stroking his hair, and he tensed, memories of Naraku flitting into his mind. The hand stopped and he could feel Sesshomaru’s eyes upon him.

Slowly, he evened out his breathing, forcing himself to relax as the hand resumed it’s gentle stroking up to the point where he actually began to find the motion soothing.

Letting his eyes drift closed again, he unconsciously sighed and snuggled closer into the warmth of his brother’s chest as sleep took him, startling Sesshomaru slightly.

He wasn’t sure what had caused him to grab Inuyasha like this, other than the sudden strong urge to protect and comfort that he was used to feeling only for Rin-- and even then not as strongly as he felt it now.

He wrapped his arm around his brother and held him closer, wondering what trick of fate had led them down this road-- going from hating and trying to kill to teaching and trying to protect in less than a week.

He shifted slightly as the sun began to set slowly, painting the clouds orange, and Inuyasha groaned in quiet protest, immediately stilling his brother.

Sesshomaru stared down at Inuyasha, not sure what he was currently feeling for the boy.

He didn’t love his brother, not even in a brotherly manner, of this he was certain. Inuyasha was here temporarily, and once this whole thing was over, things might not go back to normal, but there would definitely be the return of some of the older hostility that had existed before, and when that happened, it would be harder to destroy his brother if he came to care about him-- even harder if he ever came to admit it to himself.

So he held the sleeping Inuyasha-- who had been through so much more, and had laid it out before him to plainly see on the grass with no trace of self-pity evident in him, just a strange sense of remorse and humiliation and weakness-- closer against his chest, keenly aware of anything that so much as dared to breathe and silently warning it to stay away as he continued to follow that strange instinct to protect and comfort, allowing himself to be, for the moment, Inuyasha’s brother.

END ~*~  

Glossary

Hanyou - Half-Demon

Ningen - Human

Youkai - Demon

Inu no Taisho - This would be Inuyasha and Sesshomaru’s father. That’s not his actual name, it’s more of a title, but since I don’t think anyone knows what his actual name is at the moment... It means either Lord of the Dogs, or Dog general, I’m not certain which.

A\N: Well that was a long one, and I think I got a bit more OOC there, but it’s starting to play out a bit I think...

Anyway, there was WAFFs all around, so I need to go have a shower and wash my mouth out to see if I can’t get rid of them. Till then! ^_^