InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Consciousness ❯ Confusion and Betrayal ( Chapter 23 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

22



Sesshomaru didn’t have long to wait.

He heard the roar of his brother and could feel the movement of them coming toward him. The unfortunate part of his actions had also tied him to his brother.

Carelessly draped over a bench made into a makeshift lounge, Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows as his brother burst in, still dripping water from the pair.

Inuyasha was shaking with fury as he confronted his brother, Kagome held tightly in his arms.

“What the fuck is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

“I’m sure I don’t know of which ‘this’ you are referring to, dear brother.” Sesshomaru stated, allowing his frame to shift forward, eyes narrowing. He had known there would be unpleasant side effects to his actions, he had not anticipated that it would actually crawl along his skin and bring the reaction to the surface.

“Set Kagome down, dear brother and we shall talk like civilized beings.” He stated standing up and towering over his brother.

“Please, Inuyasha?” Kagome asked, “Let me down and let us discuss this, I don’t know what has you so upset, in the first place.”

“Keh” Inuyasha allowed her form to slide to her feet, still holding her close.

Sesshomaru moved toward the table that had been set for the three of them and motioned for Kagome to follow him.

Settling on the pillows arranged around the table, he beckoned them to sit with him.

“Inuyasha, sit down, we will discuss this.” Sesshomaru said, his tone a warning.

Kagome slid comfortably, almost a boneless action, draping herself along the pillows, with her legs stretched toward her ‘now’ brother.

Watching her, Inuyasha realized, she held no reservations about his brother, no fear, she was trusting, comfortable with him. He realized at that moment, she had been, for a long time. Confused as to how she was as trusting with him as she was with her own family, maybe even more so.

Sinking down to his knees, he knelt beside her. Looking quizzically from one to the other as they stared at each other.

“She’s mine.” Inuyasha growled.

Kagome looked over at him surprised. What the hell was he talking about? That’s what their mating was about. Of course, she would be his, as long as either of them lived.

A primal side of Sesshomaru, he wasn’t expecting reared it’s head, he shifted his gaze from the Miko toward his brother, barring his fangs.

“She is ours.” he growled back.

“Would someone tell me what the fuck is going on here!” Kagome demanded. Eyes flashing in anger at the two brothers, who still could not communicate as they should.

Snarling at each other, they broke one another’s gaze to turn eyes toward her. Both growling low at the anger and frustration they noted on her face.

“What the hell!”

“Keh.” Inuyasha lowered his gaze and shifted closer to Kagome.

“He mixed his blood.” Inuyasha said, as realization dawned on him, of when and exactly how his brother had betrayed him.

“It was no betrayal, Inuyasha.” Sesshomaru growled, picking up the scent of his brother.

“The fuck it wasn’t!” he growled back.

“What do you mean? Mixed his blood?” Kagome asked, frustrated with the actions of the brothers.

“Just what he said, my dear Miko.” Sesshomaru’s voice had taken on it’s ice like edge again. “I mixed my blood. Your mark, on him. My blood was the first blood you received.”

“Why?” she looked at him confused.

“Because the fucker can’t stand for me to have anything that he doesn’t have some involvement in.”

“Hardly, Inuyasha. It is simple. She belongs to us. To our kind, our breed.”

“What do you mean, Sesshomaru?” Kagome asked quietly. Her experience with Sesshomaru, extending far beyond that, that either brother was currently aware of.

Looking toward Inuyasha, with a warning glance, meant to keep him silent as he talked, Sesshomaru shifted his weight, so that he leaned toward the Miko, his body shifting closer. “I could take no chances, now. You are the key to our future and the key to our survival. You belong as much to this race as you do your own now, Kagome. You are our salvation. When you marked Inuyasha, I allowed my own blood to be mixed with his, to ensure you carry my scent as well.”

“Of course I do, Sesshomaru. I’ve pledged myself to this pack.” Kagome said confused. She had questions, she knew that the bond of blood between males and females, lead to some unintended consequences.

“Should something happen to the half-breed, I can not risk that you would not survive.” He said quietly. “There is only one way to ensure that.”

Inuyasha looked at his brother. “You will not have her.”

Sesshomaru snorted as his brother. “You think me so weak, do you?”

“I will kill you before you lay your hands on her.”

“I will do what I must to ensure the survival of our people. It is my duty. Now it is her duty, as well.”

Inuyasha began snarling at his brother again.

“Would someone explain to me?” Kagome bellowed between the snarling brothers.

When no answer was forth coming and they continued to glare at one another, Kagome stood up, robes in hand, she swept out of the tent.

Heading for the one person, she hoped could answer her questions, she strode toward the village, intent on finding Sango. As she came to the edge of the village, she could hear the growling behind her and the rustle of leaves, telling her the brothers were trailing her and that they were angry.

“DON’T! Don’t either of you follow me!” she snarled back, without ever breaking stride.

Sweeping into the village and into Kaede’s hut, Kagome sighed, as she felt their presence halt at the edge of the little village.

“Sango!” Kagome called out, as she entered.

“Kagome!” Sango squealed, leaping toward her sister. “What are you doing here!” she grabber her hands, dragging her toward the fire.

Kagome growled, “I want to know what those two idiots are snarling about! I thought, you might be able to help me.”

Sango looked confused. “What do you mean? What happened?”

Relating to Sango, what she knew and what concerns she had, she waited, hoping her sister would have some insight for her.

Sango sat, pondering Kagome’s words. “Kagome?” when her sister looked up at her, “bare your shoulders again, please?”

Confused, Kagome allowed her robes to slip, showing her sister her shoulders. Sango leaned toward her, looking over her mark, looking over the mark of Inuyasha closely. There. Faintly. She could see it, the faint iridescent blue moon, behind the mark of Inuyasha. Had she not been looking for it, she would have mistaken it for a bruise.

Pulling back, she looked at Kagome, with a grave face.

“Have you ever allowed Sesshomaru to touch you?” She asked.

“Touch me? What do you mean?” Kagome was confused.

“Touch you. Touch you as a male would a female.”

Kagome giggled, her giggles erupting into laughter. “No. Why?”

“You bear his mark.”

“His mark?” Kagome’s felt a heavy pressure on her chest. “What do you mean mark? Like the mark of the Western Lord?”

“Yes.”

Trying to regain her senses, Kagome struggled to look down at her own shoulder. Unable to see anything, she searched the old hut desperate for a mirror of her own. Finding one, she pulled her hair back again, shifting the mirror one way then the other. A small gasp escaping her lips as she catches sight of what Sango had seen.

“It lays under the mark of Inuyasha.” Kagome gasped.

“Yes. It does.” Sango reached out tentative fingers, to touch the area. Feeling nothing but warmth from the mark.

“Why?” she asked, looking at Sango. “Does this mean I am bound to him, as I am Inuyasha?”

“I fear that it does, Kagome. I just don’t understand why.”

Comprehension dawned on Kagome. Sesshomaru’s words coming back to her. His fear that his brother would be unable to save her, his fear that something would happen to his brother, his fear for his people, his race, the decimation of the youkai race.

Turning toward Sango, she stood up, “I need your help.” reaching down and pulling Sango up with her.

“Anything, Kagome.”

“I must speak to Sesshomaru. Alone.”

“What? Why?”

“Just trust me. You have to convince Inuyasha that there is no harm in this. That it is only meant for my own good. Just trust me, please?” She begged of her sister.

“How do you know that, Kagome? How do you know that it isn’t some ploy by Sesshomaru?”

“I know it isn’t. It is to ensure that should something happen to Inuyasha, I will remain. That I will not die, if I am to loose him.”

Comprehension dawned on Sango as she looked into her sister’s face. She realized that her sister had not known it was going to happen and that she had never been with Sesshomaru in a way that would have made that mark.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Sango took a deep breath and reached for her weapon, intent on delaying the hanyou one way or another, to ensure she could make him listen.

Smiling at each other, they headed for the door and toward the edge of the village.

As they passed the edge of the village, they came face to face with the still growling brothers. Inuyasha reached for Kagome, the growling of his brother escalating as he pulled her close. Kagome closed her eyes for a moment, reveling in the feel of her new mate.

Stepping back, she looked at Sango, the invitation open and apparent for her sister. Sango stepped into her place, grabbing Inuyasha’s hands.

“Congratulations, my brother!” she said. Pulling him close to her, she watched her sister reach for Sesshomaru’s hand.

Pulling her brother down the path with her, Kagome made good her chance at escape.

“Oi! What the fuck!” she heard her mate bellow out, knowing that Sango had already began her intention to keep him busy and make him listen, forcibly if necessary.


Kagome continued her trek with her new ‘brother’ pulling him along, toward a shelter of trees, well past the well, intent on finding a place that her new mates hearing would not reach. Coming to a stop in a clearing, between a grove of trees, Kagome turned and motioned for him to sit with her.

Pulling her hair back, slipping the silver strands over her shoulder, she looked at Sesshomaru and waited, until he had settled and calmed.

She could feel the pull of tension in him.

“I carry your mark.” She said simply.

Closing his eyes momentarily, taking a deep breath, Sesshomaru attempted to center himself. He could feel the brush of her, as her hand dusted over the mark made by himself and his brother.

Golden eyes, slid open to slits, staring at her. “Don’t” he growled.

She stopped, one hand on her shoulder. Looking at him.

“Sesshomaru? What did you do?”

“What had to be done. You are our future.”

“I bear your mark. I bear the mark of the Western Lord.”

“Hai, that you do.”

“I was promised to our clan, to our pack, to our family.” She said softly. “I would not betray that.”

“No. You wouldn’t have.”

“So why? Why would you do this?” Kagome asked, still unsure of how this was to play out.

“His death, would surely have been yours.” Sesshomaru said. “Lifetimes bound together.”

“Yes. Bound.” she said. “His destiny, my destiny.”

“No. His destiny is his own. Your destiny is eternal.” Sesshomaru growled, his voice taking a husky quality as she began to stroke over the mark again, with her fingers.

Blanching, Kagome forgot he had asked her not to touch her mark. Fingers absently trailing over the mark made of two brothers, she shook her head and looked up toward him. “Eternal?”

“I’m practically immortal, Kagome” he said cynically. “Inuyasha is a half-breed. Destined to a path that may lead to his death.” he sighed, uncharacteristically.

Kagome wondered if that was the moment he had taken on sighing. She had seen this in him, centuries later. Looking up at her brother, she was struck with the realization that the mark was that of a mate. Making her his first chosen.

“Oh Sesshomaru!” She cried. Knowing that in their society, the way it was at this time, no other demoness would stand to be his second chosen.

Looking up at her, he smiled a bemused smile. “Do not worry for me, Miko. My choice is my own, my land, my pack, my responsibility, my kind is to come first.”

“But!” she cried “do you not wish for a mate and pups of your own?” her heart turning.

“Time, Miko. Time will bring me fortune and long life, in time, those things will be mine to claim as well.” he said. Arching a brow at her, his voice took on a teasing tone. “Should the half-breed fail or should he force me to take his life, it may be sooner than any had anticipated.” He shook with unvoiced laughter.

“Sesshomaru!” she scolded, “Don’t you dare! That’s not even funny!”

He just grinned at her. Realizing, for the first time in his life, true companionship.

“Do not fear Miko.” he grinned, “I have much greater self control than either of you, you will not be threatened by me, unless you continue to try my patience.”

Looking up at him, she gasped. Dropping her hand from her mark, she ceased stroking the skin.

He just quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Do you have one?” she asked quietly.

“Have one what?” he inquired, waiting to see if she would be able to ask.

“Have one.” she stumbled “One, of these?” looking at the amusement in his eyes, she growled at him. “A mark! Do you have one?”

“Would you like me to?” he snorted

Face flaming, she reached forward, punching him in the arm. “Damn you Sesshomaru!” she hollered, “That’s not funny! Just answer the damned question!”

“No. I do not.” he sighed. Still confused as to the response he was inclined to. His feelings floating to the surface and just as quickly whisked away.

Kagome caught them, fleetingly. Her time with him, helping her to better see his turmoil.

“Sesshomaru? You know how special you are to me, don’t you?” she asked softly. “You know that you will forever hold a part of me, don’t you?”

“Hai” he sighed. “I fear, though, any mark laid upon me, would cause undue stress and unrest in our pack.” he sighed again. “the half-breed, would not tolerate well. He is not full blooded and as such, does not have the feeling of complete pack and animal loyalty that those of us, of pure blood do.”

“What do you mean?”

“You fear for me, for my well being and my ability to mate.” he inquired.

“Yes.”

“Do not. You are our salvation. As such, you hold a place in our pack, that no other could. When the right mate comes along, she will respect that. She will respect you for that. My mark, ensures that no other female comes before you, to me, to him, to our pack. Just as he, bearing your mark, no other comes before him.”

“He doesn’t understand, does he?” she asked quietly

“No, he doesn’t.” Lowering his lids, until they were mere slits again. “You understand, for a reason, which I am still not privy to.” growling at her “you are aware of things, things yet to come.” he shifted forward toward her, leaning over her. “our pack, before any other, you will bow to me in this, you will not ever put any other before our pack.”

Kagome gasped as she felt the heat from his mark. She knew he was enforcing his dominance over her and he was using unfair means to do so. Growling she struggled to push against him. As she struggled against him, the mark began to throb. Choking softly on the fading pain, she slipped backwards, neck exposed.

His snarls turned to soft growls as he pulled away from her.

“Don’t! Don’t you ever use that to subject me again! You have my promise and my loyalty. You will not treat me as less than you!” She snarled back at him.

“Less? You fool yourself Miko. You are less than none. You hold the place of my first chosen mate and always will. You will forever be the female of this pack. Do not forget yourself, do not forget who this pack belongs to, though!” he growled at her. “Should you ever forget your responsibility, I shall remind you in ways that neither of us would ever be able to forget.”

He swiftly jerked back, as if he had been burned and moved away from her. Eyes narrowed, he glared at her, touches of red, sliding into his eyes.

“It’s painful, isn’t it?” She asked.

“It is nothing.”

“Is that why it is only given one way?”

“I am not weak. It is nothing for me to bear this.”

Hanging her head, it had become clear to her. Kagome walked toward him, slipping her arm around his waist, she began the trek back toward the village. She knew, now. He would suffer in silence, as was his perceived duty, to ensure her safety and that of their pack. She lead them back toward her mate and her sister. A part of her, given freely to him, a minor sacrifice compared to the one he would make daily for the rest of his existence.