InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles ❯ Brothers of the Fang ( Chapter 98 )

~~Chapter 98~~

~Brothers of the Fang~

 

“This ends now,” InuYasha said, his voice even, calm . . . cold. “For Kagome . . . for Mother . . . and for Sesshoumaru.”

 

“You'll avenge the brother you despise?” Norimitsu challenged.

 

“I'll avenge my family!” he snarled as he lunged at the youkai once more. Miroku gasped as Kagome glanced up, wiping her eyes as she stared, too. InuYasha was a blur of movement, claws tearing through the air with a vengeance that she had never seen before. His extended hand glowed with a greenish light, as if he had another power surging through him.

 

The crack of breaking bone as Norimitsu shrieked in outraged pain, trying to spin away from the hanyou . . . Kagome winced as the youkai's arm fell away, as InuYasha landed on his feet and leaped again for another strike. Norimitsu managed to avoid the attack. InuYasha landed on his feet and whirled around to face him again.

 

Norimitsu snarled savagely, rushing toward InuYasha with his claws extended. InuYasha reached out with his hand outstretched, punching a gaping hole through Norimitsu's stomach. Ears flattening against the tormented scream, InuYasha balled up his fist and shoved with his free hand as he jerked his fist free and send Norimitsu careening back.

 

Shaking the youkai's blood off his hand, InuYasha slowly, deliberately dragged Tetsusaiga out of the scabbard, raising it up only to bring it down level with Norimitsu's chest. “Should have left it alone when you had a chance, bastard. For what you did to Kagome five hundred years ago . . . for what you did to my mother before that . . . for what you've done to Sesshoumaru now . . . .” Drawing the sword back, InuYasha willed all of his strength, his power, into this final blow as Norimitsu stared at him in dumbfounded shock. “Mamorikoi!” he bellowed as he swung the blade.

 

The wave of blue energy flashed in the trail of the swinging weapon. Shooting over the room in an energy wave, Norimitsu's screech was deafening. The surge cut through him, flowing outward from the point of impact, shattering windows with the force of the heavy explosion. The building swayed precariously as the curtains were left in shreds, as Norimitsu's body dissolved in a flash of gray ash only to be carried out the windows by the last reverberations of Tetsusaiga's devastating technique.

 

With a deep breath, InuYasha dropped the sword into the scabbard once more. He'd barely let go of the hilt when Kagome threw herself into his arms, against his chest, sobbing as she mumbled things that made no sense. For the moment, he hugged her back as relief washed over him, the inner understanding that everything would be just fine, so long as Kagome was in his arms. Pushing her hair out of her face to kiss her forehead as she wept, InuYasha held her tight, cheek against her temple, as his gaze lit on his fallen brother.

 

“Sesshoumaru . . . you stupid bastard,” he rasped out, pulling away from Kagome to stagger over to his brother's body. “Damn it, I thought you told me not to be so fucking careless!”

 

If he thought that Sesshoumaru would suddenly sit up and mock him, he wasn't sure. Hot anger welled up inside, thick and heavy, choking him. A myriad of feelings broke in a moment, thundered through his veins as he struggled to come to some sort of understanding.

 

“We should . . . get him out of here,” Miroku said after clearing his throat. “Take him home.”

 

“Why didn't Tenseiga protect him? It did before . . .” Kagome demanded.

 

Miroku sighed. “I think that was some sort of connection between the swords. Since they were both forged from their father's fang, Tetsusaiga cannot levy a killing blow to Sesshoumaru so long as he held Tenseiga . . . but it didn't apply to anything else.”

 

“Father! Kami . . . no!” Nibori didn't stop running as he burst into the room. “How . . . ? What . . . ?”

 

“He saved Kagome,” InuYasha explained, his scowl bright, intense. If the other saw the tears gathering in his glower, they didn't comment as InuYasha blinked furiously. “He was shot.”

 

Nibori shook his head slowly. “Father . . . .”

 

Kagome buried her face against InuYasha's chest. He winced slightly as the salt in her tears stung his torn skin.

 

“Tenseiga,” Miroku hissed as the sword suddenly pulsed. Still strapped to Sesshoumaru's hip, the sword made its presence known in the stillness of the room.

 

“You do it,” InuYasha mumbled to Nibori as he turned away. “He's your old man.”

 

He could hear the blade shaking as Nibori drew it out. Scraping in a stilted cadence as Tenseiga was pulled free, Nibori's anxiety was a physical thing. InuYasha closed his eyes, unable to watch and wait, hoping that the sword would work . . .

 

Nibori choked a little. “It won't . . . Tenseiga rejected me . . . .”

 

“What?” InuYasha growled as he turned back. True enough, Tenseiga didn't react at all to Nibori's youki.

 

Nibori nodded slowly and held the sword out to InuYasha. “I think . . . it wants you.”

 

“Keh!” InuYasha snorted, arms crossed over his chest. “He'd rather stay dead than to know I brought him back.”

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome gasped, having read his lips since she was still having trouble hearing. “Oh, kami! Just do it, will you?”

 

Glowering at the sword—the other Sword of the Fang—InuYasha forced himself to reach for it. `Don't reject me . . . . If it rejects me . . . .' Hand closing around Tenseiga's hilt, InuYasha nearly dropped it when it pulsed in his hand. Kagome stifled a sharp cry with the back of her hand as InuYasha adjusted his hold on the weapon of healing.

 

And he understood. The Swords of the Fang. The Brothers of the Fang. He was as responsible to make sure that Sesshoumaru was safe as Sesshoumaru was to do the same for him. A quiet awe, a surge of unrepressed respect as InuYasha lifted the blade, rested it against his forehead. Staring at his brother's body, he saw the bearers coming to take Sesshoumaru's soul. Narrowing his golden gaze, InuYasha drew his arm back, sliced through the fiendish imps as they dissipated with their outraged shrieks.

 

Sesshoumaru gasped and winced then opened his eyes, gaze clouded as he blinked back his disorientation. Slowly glancing around at the faces staring down at him, he frowned as he slowly got to his feet. Clothing as clean and fresh as if he had just put them on, there wasn't a single trace on him to prove that he had been dead only minutes before. “What is the meaning of this?” he asked, deliberately staring at the sword in InuYasha's hand.

 

InuYasha turned Tenseiga point-down and tossed it lightly, catching it by the blade. Tilting the hilt toward Sesshoumaru, he nodded once. “There, bastard. Now we're even.”

 

Sesshoumaru reached out slowly, took the sword from InuYasha's hand. “Baka . . . you'll never change.” Turning to gaze at his son, the tai-youkai lifted his eyebrows. “Katosan?”

 

Nibori grinned, eyes suspiciously bright. “He's waiting for us. He's called the specialist team.”

 

Sesshoumaru nodded. “Then we'd best leave before they get here.”

 

“Specialist team?” Miroku echoed.

 

“They're the ones who come in and clean up any loose ends. They'll clean up the leftovers and come up with a feasible explanation about what went on here . . . other than the truth, of course,” Nibori supplied as InuYasha picked up Kagome. She didn't complain as she settled her cheek against his shoulder. “I imagine they'll have their work cut out for them this time,” Nibori continued as he stared at the broken out windows. “Kami, Uncle . . . Father wasn't over-exaggerating about how much you enjoy breaking things, was he?”

 

“Kagome needs to go to the hospital,” InuYasha interrupted as he pushed past the others and strode toward the door. She kept rubbing her ear, and the singed mark on her cheek worried him.

 

“Perhaps you ought to let me take her,” Sesshoumaru remarked. “You look like hell.”

 

InuYasha shook his head stubbornly. “She's my—”

 

“Brother's mate,” Sesshoumaru finished quietly, nodding in acknowledgement; an unspoken promise to protect Kagome with his life.

 

“Sesshoumaru's right, InuYasha. He doesn't have a mark on him, and he doesn't look like he took a bath in acid, either,” Miroku spoke up. “You know she's safe with him.”

 

He didn't answer right away. Staring down at her, he frowned but rubbed his cheek against her forehead. She leaned away enough to look at him, reading his lips as he spoke. “Kagome? If he tries anything, you purify his ass, all right?”

 

She smiled but nodded. InuYasha kissed her forehead before allowing Sesshoumaru to take her from him. The tai-youkai wrinkled his nose as he eyed InuYasha. “You absolutely reek, InuYasha. Best do something about that.”

 

“Yeah . . . you'd reek, too, if you youkai guts all over you.”

 

Sesshoumaru allowed a half-smile before he turned toward the door. “I trust you'll be there as soon as you find a fire hydrant to bathe in?”

 

“Keh! Glad to see you dying didn't affect your ability to be a complete bastard.”

 

“You're wasting time, baka,” Sesshoumaru called back from the stairwell.

 

“ . . . Damn it.”

 

 

:::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8:::

 

 

A soft knock on the door drew InuYasha out of his slouch. In the chair beside the hospital bed where he'd been sitting for the last three hours while Kagome slept, he'd been trying not to think too much about everything that had happened. It was still too raw, too close . . . .

 

“How is she?” Sango asked as she slipped into the room with a fussing Inuakamori and Shippou. InuYasha reached for him. The pup calmed down instantly, chewing on InuYasha's index finger. The kitsune climbed onto the bed and lay down by Kagome's feet.

 

“She'll be fine. The doctor said that the gun being fired next to her head temporarily hurt her ears. He said she should be fine in a week or two . . . .” Staring at his son, InuYasha finally started to feel as though things might actually be all right. Inuakamori's eyes stared solemnly at him, and he smiled. “Thanks, Sango . . . I don't like him being left alone.”

 

Sango nodded. “I understand . . . Sesshoumaru is in the waiting room. I think he wants to see you.”

 

InuYasha nodded. Sango kissed Kagome's cheek and squeezed InuYasha's arm before she left the family alone. “You'll never be alone, pup,” InuYasha whispered as he lifted his son against his shoulder as he sat back down. “Oi, runt . . . get off your mama's bed, will you?”

 

Shippou sighed and sat up, ready to protest since it was nearly midnight. Staring at InuYasha for a minute, noting the brightness of the hanyou's gaze, the slightly gruffer-than-normal tone he used, the kitsune suddenly grinned and hopped over onto InuYasha's lap. “Oof, Shippou! No more pocky for you,” InuYasha complained as he adjusted Shippou with his free arm, pulling him closer against his chest.

 

“Ugh, it's a dog pile,” Sesshoumaru remarked as he swept into the room and closed the door behind himself.

 

“Shut up, will you? They're all sleeping, if you didn't notice.”

 

“I'm not—” Shippou began.

 

“Shut up,” InuYasha growled at him.

 

Sesshoumaru's gaze shifted to Kagome in the bed. “So you've done it. You've changed your destiny.”

 

“Keh.”

 

“Your miko will be fine?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Will you tell her about your past?”

 

InuYasha shrugged. “Not if I don't have to. She doesn't need to know, does she?”

 

Sesshoumaru turned toward the window, staring out at the twinkling lights of Tokyo. “I wouldn't tell Leikizu, either, had it been me.”

 

InuYasha frowned as he stared at his brother's profile. Strange how things changed over time . . . strange how someone's reasons for doing something often contradicted everything they professed. The memory of the sudden surge of power, of the glowing green fang came to him. InuYasha frowned. “What'd you do to my fang?”

 

“Why do you believe I did anything to your worthless fang?”

 

“Cut the crap. After you . . . well, after that . . . my claws turned greenish, and I felt this power . . . and I know you did something to that necklace.”

 

“So I did. Nibori and I imbued it with the power of the inu-youkai—with the barrier against the poison so you would not weaken, and with the strength to see your task through.”

 

“Keh,” InuYasha snorted but grinned. “Sneaky bastard.”

 

“Resorting to name-calling again, half-breed baka?”

 

“If the shoe fits . . . .”

 

“It shouldn't happen, but just in case . . . if the investigators ask to speak with you about what happened in Norimitsu's tower . . . tell them nothing, and let me know. The specialist team should have taken care of it. I believe their cover story was a gas leak that caused the explosion.”

 

“Won't anyone figure out that he's missing?”

 

Sesshoumaru shrugged. “He had no one. No mate, no offspring . . . It's easy to alter the future as well as the past, so long as there are no children involved. Eventually there will probably be a formal investigation into his sudden disappearance. There is nothing linking us with the likes of him. If it came down to it, though, there are a few youkai in the higher echelons of the police as well as Tokyo government. Nothing will ever come of it.”

 

“You never struck me as being so underhanded.”

 

“Hardly underhanded. Would you rather spend the next hundred years or so in prison for murder?”

 

“Murder?” InuYasha echoed incredulously.

 

“That's what they call it now, when you cut someone down with a sword.”

 

“Keh! That son of a bitch deserved it.”

 

“He did. You call it underhanded, I call it expedient. Norimitsu caused enough grief in his lifetime to earn his comeuppance, even if it did come from a pathetic half-breed like you.”

 

“I knew I should have left you dead, bastard.”

 

“Perhaps.”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes. “How's Katosan?”

 

“Almost healed. He'll be perfectly fine by morning. One thing about those pathetic guns: most of them leave a clean enough wound that it heals quickly . . . .”

 

“Yeah, unless you're stupid enough to be shot in the heart,” InuYasha couldn't help adding.

 

Sesshoumaru chuckled. “As much as I'd love to stay and trade insults for awhile longer, I've a family of my own that requires my attention. Call me the next time you're in over your head, baka.”

 

“Keh! Fat fucking chance, bastard.”

 

InuYasha smiled as Sesshoumaru strode out of the room again.

 

“InuYasha?”

 

Blinking as he started out of his reverie, InuYasha glanced down at Shippou. “What happened to `Papa', runt?”

 

“Sorry,” Shippou yawned. “I forgot . . . .”

 

“Keh.”

 

“You don't really hate Sesshoumaru anymore, do you?”

 

Had he ever really hated him? InuYasha made a face. True enough, he hadn't really liked Sesshoumaru before . . . but he couldn't say he really ever truly hated him, either. “I guess not,” he allowed grudgingly.

 

Shippou yawned again. “Is that how brothers are s'pposed to act? Like I'm supposed to try to kill Inuakamori later on?”

 

“Not unless you both want slapped silly,” he warned.

 

“I was joking,” Shippou remarked.

 

“Go to sleep, will you?”

 

“Night . . . .”

 

It was hard to believe it was over. Norimitsu was gone. He'd never threaten anyone, ever again.

 

“InuYasha?”

 

Sitting up and disturbing the sleeping children, InuYasha leaned forward at the sound of Kagome's voice. “You're supposed to be sleeping,” he grumbled.

 

Her eyes weren't focused completely as she blinked to clear her vision. “I want to go home,” she murmured.

 

“In the morning.”

 

“Inuakamori . . . Shippou . . . .”

 

With a sigh, InuYasha maneuvered the pup and kit as he stood and laid them on the bed with Kagome. She hugged them as tears filled her eyes.

 

InuYasha sat down on the edge of the bed and hugged her as she sobbed tears of relief that everyone was safe. Drawing her close, the feeling of well-being washed over him, and he pulled her against him, sang his lullaby to her, to their children, until she calmed down, content to be held in his arms. She fell asleep like that, her cheek pressed against his heart, their boys snuggled between them.

 

InuYasha grinned then made a face. He'd do something to make sure that Kagome was always safe, even if he did have to dig that moat . . . .

 

 

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A/N:

 

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Final Thought from InuYasha:

… … … Did I have to save the rotten bastard . . . ?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Chronicles): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~