InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Day to Play ❯ The Games Brothers Play ( Chapter 1 )

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Chapter 1

 

The Games Brothers Play

 

 

 

EDITED AND IMPROVED

As a precaution, please note that this was originally posted under my alternate pen name Hanyou Slave long, long ago when I first started writing. This fic is not plagiarized. Please thank Jenny for ripping this and doing an initial beta job for me and please thank Hellfyrre for doing the very first beta that this fic has ever had. ^_^

“Damn it all to hell! I'm sick of this shit!”

Inuyasha turned, his silver hair swishing across the red kimono that was his signature attire. Puppy ears atop his head pinned themselves back in his exasperation. Kagome had just used her subduing spell to “sit” the shit out of him. It was a wonder he hadn't dug a hole to the other side of the planet! Kikyou…all over Kikyou. Both women were making him sick. He couldn't figure out Kikyou, wanted to be with her. But noooooooo! Kikyou would run at the first sign of Kagome. Kagome wasn't even his girlfriend, but she was jealous as hell.

`I don't even think I'm in love with Kikyou anymore, I'm just so sick of her attitude. When she's not trying to kill me, she's trying to take me to hell. Why can't she just stay here with me? Bitches, both of them.'

Inuyasha kicked up a stone then looked up to see a nice tall tree at the edge of a clearing he had inadvertently entered. Grinning, his golden eyes sparkled in anticipation and he hopped to the highest branch and settled in for a peaceful nap. At least, that's what he thought.

“Die,” came a familiar voice.

Inuyasha opened one eye.

“Fuck off, Sess. Go play with someone else.”

Inuyasha closed the one eye while Sesshoumaru froze at the obvious insolence in one about to die at his hands.

`Play?'

“You should know your station, half-breed,” the assassin coldly stated.

“Yeah, whatever. Why can't you be like a normal brother, asshole?”

“You are not even close to being my equal,” condescended the elegantly dressed aristocrat.

“Just because I'm half dog demon and half human and you're full blood dog demon doesn't make you any better than me. Now get lost!”

Inuyasha suddenly found himself face to face with his murderous brother, wrapped in that stupid, pink, fluffy whatever thing that seemed to protrude from Sesshoumaru's shoulder. He didn't care what it was. He only knew it was just as bad as the prayer beads wrapped around his neck. Kagome could “sit” him two feet under with the beads and Sesshoumaru could effectively slap his face into the dirt with that…thing that looked like a tail.

“Look, Fluff. You want the arm back that I sliced off? Take it. I don't need it. Take Tetsusaiga for all I care. I'm sick of all you sonsabitches. Just leave me the fuck alone!” He glared into the fiery golden eyes that met his own, hate for hate.

Instantly, they were on the ground with Sesshoumaru using his demon powers to draw the black pearl from Inuyasha's eye, the black pearl that held their father's tomb. He wanted the arm left behind after his battle with Inuyasha, and Inuyasha was just going to sit there and let him take it.

“First, I will have my arm, then your life. Jakken!”

Sesshoumaru dropped his half brother to the ground while a small toad demon scampered out from nowhere. The demon lord snatched the two-headed staff from the toad's hand and tossed the pearl to the ground. Upon stamping the pearl with the staff, a portal opened to the great tomb and Sesshoumaru disappeared, unmindful of his little half brother sitting on the ground.

“Fucking asshole,” Inuyasha sighed, rubbing the sore right eye.

He didn't know what kind of magic Sesshoumaru had used, but after only moments, Sesshoumaru returned with his left arm intact. Sesshoumaru stood tall and aloof, gazing down at his dirty half-breed brother. After lazily brushing a few straying strands of his long, silvery mane behind his left ear, he raised his left hand to study it. It had been sorely missed. Now, his arm pulsed with the warmth of his blood, and it felt good. He had what he had come for. It was time to deal with his half brother.

“Time to die, Inuyasha.” Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at the man-child sitting on the ground.

“Tell me something, Sess. Why is it that the Lord of the Western Lands has any reason to bother with a piece of dirt like me?” Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow as he leaned back onto his hands, one foot drawn up toward his torso and one leg crooked to the side.

“You are a disgrace to our family. It is you and your mother's fault that father was killed.”

“Oh, that again. The great Lord thinks to assuage his pain by trying for years to kill a child. How petty and low class,” spat Inuyasha while bringing himself to sit up straight. “If I'm so worthless, I shouldn't even be worth your time and energy. He was my father too, ya know.” Inuyasha mumbled the last sentence staring at the ground.

Sesshoumaru stood silent, gazing down without expression, obviously full of disdain for the uncouth brat. He had given Inuyasha the generous parting gift of an answer.

“Well?” Inuyasha turned his stare up at the regal face adorned with their father's crescent moon on his forehead and two purple stripes across both cheeks. “Take your best shot.” He raised a knee and rested his chin on it.

Sesshoumaru wrapped his long, clawed fingers around the hilt of Tokijin and paused, confused at his brother's attitude.

 

Inuyasha gazed into his brother's cold golden eyes, content to have that be the last thing he ever saw. He was tired of this world, tired of fighting, tired of all the hate and dissension. In his two hundred and fifty years, he'd seen more than he cared to think about. All he wanted was peace. Who better to give it to him than his own family?

There was something wrong here and Sesshoumaru always followed his instincts. This was not the Inuyasha he knew. He studied the hanyou. Inuyasha's ears drooped and his large, young, golden eyes seemed empty…no, not Inuyasha. He was too much of a fighter.

`I will not be the one to give him this,' thought Sesshoumaru, knowing exactly what it was that Inuyasha wanted.

Taking Inuyasha's own words, Sesshoumaru turned away, calmly stating,

“I do not believe that today is a day for `play', as you call it, Inuyasha.”

“You…” growled Inuyasha, leaping from the ground and running toward the figure that was mostly hidden by the same silvery hair as his own, but which flowed nearly to the ankles.

“As I said,” began Sesshoumaru, turning to his left, stretching his arm back, and baring his claws, “today is not a day to play.”

Before Inuyasha could slow his pace, his body wrapped itself around Sesshoumaru's claws. Sesshoumaru simply glanced back at him, withdrew his hand, and continued on his way. This is how it was, how it always was. If people weren't trying to kill him, they were walking away. He could feel it growing in his gut, the anger, the pain, the frustration. And most of all, the loneliness. A howl ripped through the clearing and surrounding woods.

Sesshoumaru knew that sound all too well. He had heard it the night his father died, only it had come from him. That was the last time he had ever allowed frailty to overcome him. Still, he was curious. How did it look on a person's face and body, especially Inuyasha's?

 

A smirk played across his lips as he turned to see Inuyasha sink to his knees, head bowed. Then the scent hit him. Demon mingled with salt. Inuyasha raised his head, eyes pink and quickly darkening to red, their father's lavender markings beginning to show themselves on stark cheeks while fangs extended from between his lips.

`Why is he transforming now? He is in no danger.'

Sesshoumaru's musings were interrupted as Inuyasha streaked forward.

“Imbecile!” growled Sesshoumaru, slapping Inuyasha away as though he were but an annoying flea.

He charged again. Sesshoumaru easily caught him by the throat, choking the life out of him while his feet left the ground.

“Mindless hanyou. Have you reconsidered? I have no patience for this stupidity!”

Sesshoumaru flung him to the ground where he lay panting. Red eyes faded to gold while Inuyasha's body stilled. He continued to lay unmoving, staring into the sky. Sesshoumaru frowned while he casually strolled to stand over the broken hanyou. The body didn't move, the eyes didn't shift, yet there was still breath in him. Curious, Sesshoumaru lowered himself to one knee and grasped Inuyasha's face turning it toward him.

 

The hanyou refused to make eye contact. Salt again. Thin trails of tears seeped from the corners of Inuyasha's eyes to run across Sesshoumaru's fingers.

“Do it, Sess. I won't let you walk away from me again, so get it over with,” Inuyasha spat and turned a steely gaze into the curious eyes of his brother.

`This is no challenge. There would be no honor,' thought Sesshoumaru as tears dripped across his fingers.

He studied the red tinged cheeks and swollen lips then pulled his hand away, lifting it to his nose and sniffing. Reaching back down, he brushed a finger across Inuyasha face to collect a sample for tasting. Sesshoumaru didn't bother to wonder why he would do such a thing. It was a spur of the moment act.

 

Inuyasha shuddered at what could have been a simple kindness had it been anyone other than his brother. That thought promptly fled his mind as he felt the blow of the backside of Sesshoumaru's hand.

“Weakling. As I said before, you are a disgrace to our family. Father would have never given up,” growled a disgusted Sesshoumaru as he rose.

There were too many emotions, too much hurt for Inuyasha's mind to form thoughts. He simply reacted, jumping up to return Sesshoumaru's backhand. To their surprise, the blow hit its mark.

 

Pleased, Sesshoumaru cocked a one-sided grin. Now this Inuyasha, he knew! Quicker than the eye could see, he had removed himself several yards from Inuyasha.

“Catch, brat!” he smirked as he threw Inuyasha the black pearl and unsheathed Tokijin. “Prepare to die!”

Inuyasha popped the pearl back into his eye, not that it would matter. He would not be its guardian for long. He stared at the tall, beautiful figure encircled by the orange glow of the setting sun. Tonight, it didn't matter who might see Inuyasha's human form emerge.

 

He gazed at Sesshoumaru, drinking in the sight of his brother's harsh elegance, the white finery decorated in colors of red and gold, the perfect pointed demon ears, the true markings of a royal demon. Sesshoumaru didn't need to worry about turning human once a month. He didn't need to worry about his safety. It was painfully obvious that he was a full-blooded prince of demons.

`Why couldn't I look like the prince I'm supposed to be? I just look like a pathetic mutant dog,' thought Inuyasha, twitching an offensive furry ear. `I have a human face and demon ears and claws.'

 

He remembered being a child and having been shunned by his father's people. Then the rejection of humans when his father died and his mother had to return to her people. He was alone, always alone.

Sesshoumaru rushed forward with a smirk, the fire of battle glinting in his eye. Inuyasha ran to meet him, unsheathing Tetsusaiga as the sun set behind the distant mountains, spraying the darkening sky with gold, orange and lavender streaks. He dropped the untransformed sword and accepted Tokijin into his body with outstretched arms while his hair and eyes mutated from opalescent white to ebony. His human form forced its way through his half-breed skin while, with the setting of the sun, he smiled knowingly at his elder brother.

 

“Damn it, Inuyasha! You used me,” exclaimed Sesshoumaru, drawing his sword from his brother's body so that Inuyasha fell to the unforgiving earth.

Standing over Inuyasha, confusion met Sesshoumaru on all sides. Somewhere in the far reaches of his mind, he always knew it would be near impossible to kill the hanyou. Battling him had been a relatively safe challenge. The half-breed usually gave as good as he got.

 

Perhaps Inuyasha was correct. Had he been play-fighting all these years? But a human could not safely `play' with the demons, and a human just had.

“You've really done a great job protecting your lands, Sess. Father would be proud,” Inuyasha rasped through coughs of blood, wincing at the sharp stabbing in his chest when he attempted to speak.

Sesshoumaru, startled by his brother's compliment, knelt in the pool of blood.

“Brother…I never…I mean…I never thought you could die,” stammered a very confused Sesshoumaru, for the first time at a loss for words.

 

He had never imagined Inuyasha as cold and lifeless, dead eyes staring at the sky. In his mind's eye, the only thing that he had ever truly seen was Inuyasha swinging his father's enchanted fang. Never this. Never so still, white and pale; death stealing the breath from Inuyasha's lungs, the life from his fiery heart.

 

Where were the flaming, brilliant, golden orbs that had always scorched Sesshoumaru's soul during battle? What had happened to bring this soulless creature to lie on the ground, eyes dulling into flat, lifeless, yellow orbs?

Inuyasha stared at his brother with wide, charcoal eyes, shocked at his brother's unusual display, then smiled.

“You're so full of shit, Sess,” he chuckled then hacked at the blood gurgling in his throat as it rushed out to run down his deathly pale jaw into the silky, raven tresses. “See ya `round,” he managed with his last breath.

The peace of darkness overtook Inuyasha while lack of oxygen smothered his body and eased his pain. Somewhere in the distance, he heard his name being called. It didn't matter anymore. He was at home in the restful arms of eternal slumber. Peace at last.

“Inuyasha?” Sesshoumaru stared as the ebony eyes, wide open and unseeing, faded and glazed over.

“You think you're pretty damn smart don't you, runt?” Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes in anger.

Grabbing the back of the human's clothing, Sesshoumaru dragged the lifeless body to the river. Large, dog demon fangs lifted the body into the river, allowing the water to wash it and the clothing free of blood. Why he was doing this, he hadn't much of a clue, but he would discern the answer once in the peace and quiet of his own palace.

 

Clutching Inuyasha between his massive jaws, Sesshoumaru, in his true dog demon form, bound across the countryside, a white blur of fur streaking through the sky.

 

~*~

From his position resting on the black fur rug in front of the large, rock-walled fireplace, large enough to roast two wild boars simultaneously, Sesshoumaru glanced over at the black satin sheets covering his mammoth bed. Tokijin, his killing sword, and Tensaiga, his healing sword, hung on their mounts above the fireplace.

 

Should he do it? Use Tensaiga on his brother? Had he been play-fighting all these years? If not, then why was Inuyasha in his bed? The circumspect Taiyoukai didn't like unanswered questions.

From his vantage point, comfortably laid out, hands behind his head, silver hair neatly braided and lying to the side, half-naked in front of a roaring fire, Sesshoumaru pondered. Curiosity lifted him to his feet. Of course, he blamed much of his actions on curiosity. Muscles rippled down his bare back when he reached and took Tensaiga from its resting place. Wrapping himself in his large, pink, fluffy pelt to keep out the cold, he strolled to the far, far side of the expansive room.

Inuyasha looked as though he was simply sleeping peacefully, but Sesshoumaru could see the demons waiting to possess Inuyasha's soul. For some reason, that angered him. They had no right.

“I shall choose when he dies. Inuyasha is MINE!” glared Sesshoumaru, swinging Tensaiga through the small beasts and watching them disappear into nothingness.

“Mine?” he whispered in surprise while looking down at the newly returned rise and fall of Inuyasha's small human chest, naked between the sheets.

For a moment, his mind seemed to go blank.

`Since when have I thought of Inuyasha as mine?'

Scenes of all the times he had warned others that Inuyasha was his to kill played through his mind while he sat down on the edge of the bed, gazing at the delicate human sleeping peacefully, cheeks now pink with the warmth of life. He reached up to caress the soft flesh then quickly withdrew, bewildered by his own behavior, but not before a small smile played across the lips of the sleeping man-child. Still feeling the warmth of the skin against the back of his fingers, he brought them to his lips and sniffed Inuyasha's scent.

“Mine?” he whispered again.

Sighing, he reluctantly slipped from the bed and made his way to the wine cabinet. The fire was pleasant, the wine warm and soothing as it went down.

 

Sesshoumaru strolled back over to the end of the bed, wine glass still in his hand, and watched as Inuyasha rolled to his side and curled up into a ball with a small sigh.

`Sheer and utter nonsense!'

He whirled around and with large strides, made his way back to the wine decanter, filling his glass, once again giving his little brother another annoyed glance before shifting his gaze to Tokijin.

 

 

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Thanks to All of My Wonderful Readers and Reviewers, Past and Present

 

 

AFF

 

ionay

Christine

ladykaa28

 

 

 

*Disclaimer*

 

Inuyasha and all associated characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz. I make no profit from this story, nor do I intend to. My only goal is to occupy my demented mind with delusions of actually owning a life-sized, anatomically correct Sesshoumaru.