InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dear brother ❯ Awakening and death ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

 

A/n: Yeah it's been a while. I've been slacking. What do you expect? Well I hope this chapter satisfies your cravings

 

Chapter 10~ Awakening and death:

 

Golden eyes snapped open then they quickly shifted to his demon dog's eyes of crimson and aqua; as he let out an ear-piercing howl of pain. His hand swung onto his chest, knocking away another object as it clutched his heart. He couldn't breath; his crimson and aqua eyes darted to the blurred images in the room in panic. Where was he? Was he still in his chambers? Did someone capture him; did InuYasha turn on him finally?

 

Sesshomaru's mind raced in its final frenzy. He didn't know what was going on other than knowing that he would die a painful death shortly.

 

“Guard!” a women's voice called to the guard nearby.

 

Quick foot steps entered the room Sesshomaru was in. “Hai?”

 

“Restrain Lord Sesshomaru before he harms anyone. That's all we need now, another person injured,” the female voice was directed to the male guard that was standing ever so close to him. “Jaken, take Rin into the other room, I don't wish for her to be in here. Nor do I want you in here.” The healer turned to Sesshomaru after seeing that Jaken was escorting Rin out of the room and out of any danger or of sights of her lord that would be disturbing to the child. “Lord Sesshomaru, calm down. It is I, the healer, and your brother InuYasha. Can you tell us what is wrong?”

 

Sesshomaru could feel the guard's arms pin his shoulders.

 

Now that Sesshomaru knew that he had not been taken by enemies he could slightly relax. Sesshomaru struggled to focus his vision and find his voice. “It's my heart! It's—”

 

“What is it, Sesshomaru?” asked InuYasha, suddenly feeling more panic rise.

 

“There are things on it!” Sesshomaru bit out as he found the breath and as well the words for it. Sesshomaru knew that his body was starting to shut down. This all had to be done quickly or he would die.

 

“What things?” InuYasha asked, puzzled.

 

Sesshomaru ignored his brother's skepticism. Using his claws, to everyone's utter horror he tore his chest open. The sharp claws tore through his chest wall with ease. His voice rang clearly throughout the castle. Sesshomaru knew that he needed to show them. Even if it was the death of him as he might bleed to death. To hell with pain killers. Nothing was comparing with the pain he had moments ago. Pain that he didn't wish to experience again, yet somehow he knew it would return shortly.

 

If he could, he'd end this misery and rip his heart out himself.

 

“Sesshomaru?! What the fuck do you think you're doing!?” InuYasha cried, alarmed at his brother's actions. He was going to say something more when he spotted the problem.

 

What InuYasha saw was the cause of his brother's pain. Pain that he had never thought his brother would show or have endured in all of his life. It was now tearing his brother apart. InuYasha couldn't have pictured this moment happening; that pain would drive his brother to rip open his own chest. Now he watched the infestation of Sesshomaru's heart. It was something he had never seen before.

 

By the looks of it neither had the healer.

 

“It hurts,” Sesshomaru rasped. “Get them out!”

 

InuYasha's pained eyes darted to the healer. “Do something!”

 

“I'll try; I just haven't ever dealt with this before. I've heard rumors before about this but this seems so different from those stories. These worms, or whatever they are, will probably need to be cut out. And there may be another problem, which is that I don't know how many there are and there could be an overwhelming amount,” the healer said, observing Sesshomaru's heart closely as Sesshomaru held open the flesh with his hand.

 

“If you don't do something soon, kill me or I'll do it myself!” Sesshomaru hissed.

 

InuYasha narrowed his eyes, “Don't speak like that, you damn bastard!”

 

Sesshomaru ignored the comment and focused his reddened eyes on the healer. His brow beaded up in sweat as he waited for her reply. He hoped something could be done. The Daiyoukai didn't wish to kill himself and leave InuYasha on his own. That was never his intention. Rather, it was another reason for him to live.

 

“I'm going to need to stop your heart. But I'm not sure if I can revive you,” she said finally after a moment's longer pause.

 

InuYasha sputtered for a moment before getting the words out, “You're going to do what!?”

 

“I have to if I'm going to cut open his heart and remove these parasites or worms, whatever you want to call them. There is no way to get in there otherwise,” she said.

 

The nurse refrained from saying if she even knew how to start to remove them. She knew from the looks of it, the heart might not be repairable and the damage was already done. Yet she knew that she had to try. After all, she was a healer, and she had a job to do. That job was to save her Lord while trying to prevent an angry and very upset hanyou from doing anything stupid, even in his weakened condition. How she would manage both at the same time was a mystery. In addition, she knew that the guard was also going to be preoccupied with holding off Sesshomaru's youkai while he was unconscious, as it could strike to protect anytime, so he couldn't help much. They would need another person soon.

 

If she failed and Sesshomaru died, InuYasha's youkai would react instantly— if not before -- and lash out, even with a broken body. The nurse didn't worry any further, knowing they'd figure something out when they came to that bridge.

 

“If you don't, I'm sure InuYasha can wield Tensaiga,” Sesshomaru said as his eyes glanced to the sword nearby. “You'll have to listen to the sword. It'll tell you what you want and guide you. And if you cannot, I will understand it completely. If worse comes to happen, I'll try something and force myself to start it again. After all I've done it before.” Sesshomaru gave his brother a reassuring, pained smile before glancing back to the healer.

 

“I'll work quickly. The longer your heart is stopped the harder it is to start you back up,” she said as she turned to the many herbs and powders that she had brought along. She quickly worked to gather the herbs and powders into a glass of water. As she mixed it with a wooden spoon it thickened into almost a paste. However it remained thin enough to drink down smoothly. Looking at the dark orange color she knew that it was ready. “Ready, Sesshomaru?”

 

“Yes,” Sesshomaru said. “One thing though.” He looked at InuYasha who watched worriedly. “I just want to tell you again how much I love you.”

 

“I know you do, Sesshomaru,” InuYasha said as he couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to repeat the words his brother spoke to him back to his brother.

 

Sesshomaru gave him a pained smile as he was given the liquid. It was a bitter sweet fluid and it tingled down his throat as it reached his stomach where it burned lightly. He could feel it seep into his stomach's walls as he heard the healer encouraging him to drink it all down.

 

The drink the healer gave him worked quickly. He was feeling quite sleepy. He knew he wanted to succumb to the darkness but he couldn't help but feel saddened. It was the fact that he might not wake again to see InuYasha's smile or hear him again that hurt the most. But he fought the darkness for a minute before he was pulled in and felt his heart stop and he felt nothing more.

 

 

 

 

Just outside the castle walls:

 

Kouga glanced up at the towering castle walls as he stood before them. He had arrived within hours in Sesshomaru's territory and it had taken him less then two hours to reach the castle's walls. There he was met by two fox demons who eyed him suspiciously as he approached in a slightly casual manor.

 

“What business do you have here, wolf? It is not common to see your kind out of your forests and mountains,” one of the guards asked. The guard had a reddish-orange hair with black fox ears perched on top of his head. The spring-green eyes surveyed him for any weapons that might pose a threat to him and the other guard, as he swished the matching reddish-orange hair on the fox tail which was tipped in black, exiting out of the armor on the first guard's lower back.

 

Like his partner, the other guard, who had a more fiery colored orange hair and had a more slightly brown tint to the fox ears which were dipped in splotches of brownish black ink and were perched on the long mass of lava hair, twitching in time with the fiery orange fox tail. The red-orange eyes of the second guard looked at Kouga with a slight distrust. It wasn't common to see a single wolf demon out on the loose without a pack. The fox demon knew that the wolf wasn't from the pack that resided in their lord's territory. After all, they never really took to their human form.

 

“I've come to seek out my friend. You may know him as InuYasha, son of the late InuTaisho. I am certain that you have seen him pass through these walls, or at least have heard of his passing through, ne? Now boys, if you don't mind me passing, I would like to see how he is doing,” Kouga replied, disgruntled at the mood this short passage was causing.

 

“Oh, I see,” the reddish-orange haired guard replied with a slight mischievous smirk. “I was not on duty at the time but yes, I have heard that InuYasha has passed through these walls.”

 

“Yes, now can I just pass now? I'm really busy. I'd like to see how he is doing. I am slightly worried about his wellbeing.”

 

The fire haired fox demon shifted his weight as he rested slightly on the javelin before speaking. “I have heard of him having some problems in the market area that caused quite an uproar earlier, now that I think about it…” the fox youkai paused in thought for a moment at the rumor that some of the other guards had been speaking of. “I heard that some boar demon attacked InuYasha. But I can't be so sure.”

 

Kouga felt a slight chill run down his spine. His premonitions that he had in his gut of something happening to InuYasha were true. Yet the guard said it was a rumor, and it might not be true. However, Kouga couldn't help but feel ill at the thought. And he knew that it was canine mating season which would make matters worse.

 

“If you are a true friend of InuYasha, how can we tell?” asked the other guard, who placed his free hand on his hips and stared unblinkingly with his spring green eyes into a pair of concerned aqua ones.

 

“Why would I travel hours out of my way just to come visit Saigoku when I can stay in my forests and fuck anyone I see, eat all that I see and kill anyone I see? It seems pretty pointless just to travel out of my way to see someone who I don't like. InuYasha is my friend and if you want to deal with him and his brother later about this issue of letting me in then take it to your big boss man, boys. Now if you will excuse me, I have a friend to see.”

 

The guards watched as the wolf demon slipped past them. They had the feeling the wolf demon was of good nature and truly going to see his friend and allowed him to pass. Sensing no lies in the wolf's words helped as well. And they knew that they didn't want to disturb their lord as he was busy with other matters and wouldn't appreciate being bothered over such little issues. And of course, if the wolf was truly an enemy, Sesshomaru was the Killer Perfection, and would be able to take him down with ease.

 

 

 

Kouga rushed through, past the guards and into the village, where he passed many of the villagers which glanced at the newcomer every so often. Knowing that InuYasha's scent was lost among the many others, Kouga followed his eyes to the long winding cobblestone path just down the dirt to which it connected. It wouldn't take him long to reach the path, maybe a few minutes walk from the looks of it.

 

The wolf demon was unsure of how his friend was faring or even if he had survived the attack. For all he knew, Sesshomaru could have killed his weakling brother. Well, it was a possibility.

 

He would surely find out soon once he approached the castle's edge where there would be more guards that would probably know what had happened and if InuYasha was even alive.

 

Kouga grunted at the silly thoughts running through his mind. “Ridiculous, InuYasha is too pig-headed to even allow himself to be killed.”

 

Pausing in-stride at a sudden idea, Kouga turned to the nearest villager. Surely they had to know something of any attack happening in the village. “Do you know what's happened to InuYasha and his brother Sesshomaru?”

 

The brown haired, mid-twenties female who he stopped glanced him over like most of the villagers had already done. “I heard from my friend that some boar demon attacked him two days before and Lord Sesshomaru came to his aid,” she said, adjusting the basket that was filled with vegetables in her arms. “He was so angry! He actually chopped off that demon's head along with the rest of him as well, long after he was already dead! Who knew that Lord Sesshomaru had such strong feelings for his brother; we all had thought that after the death of InuTaisho, InuYasha's mother and Sesshomaru's banning of his brother shortly afterwards, we would never see him again.”

 

“So do you know if he's okay?” Kouga asked, eagerly ignoring the minor review of InuYasha's banning.

 

“I don't know, it was said he was pretty banged up…”

 

“Thanks, that's all,” Kouga replied quickly as he rushed passed her and ran down the road and up the cobblestones to the front doors of the castle where only one guard was posted.

 

The guard halted him with a spear directed at Kouga's throat. “What do you want?” he said gruffly.

 

“I'm here for InuYasha. I'm his friend. I'd like to see him.” Kouga eyed the guard up and down.

 

The guard eyed him briefly before speaking, “I don't know if I should be letting you in at the moment.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Not to long ago, Rin, his adoptive child came down in need of help with something. Supposedly InuYasha had a bad situation going on in the master chambers and needed help. And since he was injured, he had Rin come down and help him.”

 

Kouga's aqua blue eyes widened, “You need to let me in!”

 

“InuYasha needs his rest Also; my partner went to help him so there is nothing to fret about. If they need anymore help they'll send for another.”

 

Growling at the guard, who returned the growl, Kouga spoke again, trying to work his way into the castle. “Well I'm sure its serious, maybe I can help him. The more help the merrier, right?”

 

The guard sighed.

 

“Remember anything Sesshomaru being angry about InuYasha being attacked?” The guard shrugged knowingly. “Well if he cares that much, I'm sure he wants his brother happy and would want me in right?”

 

“I suppose.”

 

“So let me in!”

 

“Alright, but I'm escorting you, wolf.” The guard looked down the road to the watch tower that Kouga had passed as he had reached the cobblestone road. Giving a sharp whistle which pained Kouga's sensitive ears momentarily, the guard waved and made a gesture for someone to take a post where he was. “Let's go.”

 

The guard opened the heavy wooden doors and held them open for Kouga to enter. The door opened up to the great hall which Kouga studied briefly, taking notice of the winding stairways to the left and right, two being on either side of the hall which led to other parts of the fine castle. The guard moved past him, glancing back over his shoulder briefly as he moved towards another corridor not to far down the hall and off to the right.

 

“Coming or not?” he said gruffly.

 

Kouga stiffened from gazing at the slightly dusty art on the walls, and nodded before quickly following behind the guard who led him up the stairs silently for several long moments before speaking again.

 

“Hn… I do actually recall something happen now that I think about it. And I don't get why it didn't come to mind; must be losing it…” he trailed before coming back to reality. “His adoptive daughter, Rin, also mentioned that something happened with Lord Sesshomaru, but it is after all canine mating season and things can get ugly between pairings. However other youkai often stay out of the way in fear of the semi's wrath.”

 

Kouga nodded knowingly.

 

“I'm really not sure if the child has even been with the lord that long, I've only been here a year and that was past mating season for canines and not to mention that Lord Sesshomaru has never taken up a mate before. So I really don't know what to think. This could be just a few shallow scratches for all we know.”

 

“Yeah, I've seen a few inus getting into mating fights; it gets ugly from what I have seen so far. And the word shallow can mean many things,” Kouga snorted.

 

“Yes and Rin only being 6 or so she could be exaggerating.”

 

Kouga observed the guard as he walked up the stairs, leading them to their destination as the guard occasionally glanced back. There was a long furry black tail that was painted in faint brown rosettes. The guard's ears were placed on top of a long mane of raven hair; the ears were rounded and black much like a panther's. Kouga's eyes followed the muscular back to a pair of nice round- tight muscular set of cheeks that Kouga couldn't help but eye with pleasure.

 

“If you care to know, wolf, I have a mate,” the guard said looking back at Kouga with a slight smirk; his yellow-green cat eyes that Kouga somehow failed to notice before, now sparkling with mischief and slight flattery back at him. “I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate you eyeing me like a piece of meat.”

 

“Sorry, I guess it's been a while,” Kouga smiled as he observed the guard turn his head forward again to watch where he was going. “And of course now is not the time for this.”

 

The guard hummed and went silent again for a few moments more. “Since it is canine mating season, doesn't that include you as well?”

 

It was true that the wolf was a canine and it did include him to an extent. “Yes, but the wolves won't feel the heat for another few weeks. Must be because the Inu youkais are more of a domesticated breed of the wolf,” Kouga replied they reached the next level of the castle.

 

“Well anyways, I don't need anymore horny demons going after me, other than my mate.” The guard rounded the corner to the right and then mounted the next stair case that led up. “I had—” the guard stopped speaking suddenly and tested the air. “Something's wrong.”

 

Kouga could smell it too. It was blood. Lots of blood.

 

“Its Sesshomaru's blood, and there's a lot of it,” the guard said quickly as he started to run up the flight of stairs. “He's on the third floor, let's hurry.”

 

Racing madly up the stairs and up to the next floor's stairway they made it to the third floor. Kouga panted lightly as he glanced back and forth as the guard paused ever so briefly, looking for anymore signs of where Sesshomaru might be before he instinctively headed for the master chambers. Noticing that the doors were ajar he immediately went in without bothering to ask for permission.

 

 

 

 

InuYasha watched in horror as his brother's body slackened and the remaining arm fell out of his chest. He couldn't believe that his brother was actually dead! It was quite unbelievable to his eyes. After all the years they have been fighting and wishing each other nothing but death through all their many fights, now InuYasha wasn't able to fathom the reality that it had happened.

 

Some part of him screamed in horror and another part of him laughed and was actually happy for his brother's downfall! That part of his spoke in hushed whispers in his ears, demanding him to dispose of the body and then just leave. But the other part spoke to him telling him to hold on and save him.

 

“Don't worry InuYasha, he'll be back,” the nurse said quickly before starting quickly working on Sesshomaru.

 

There was a sudden set of footsteps running their way before the owners barged into the room. The nurse heard InuYasha's gasp as she saw the guard from the front entrance and another demon. It was a wolf demon. “What in the world…?”

 

“Kouga! What are you doing here?!”

 

“Good lords!” the newly arrived guard gasped, spotting his lord on the floor bleeding and dead. “What have you done?!”

 

“Kouhei!” the guard called as he spotted his partner enter the room. “It's not what you think!”

 

“Daisuke, nurse, and hanyou, what's happened?” Kouhei asked as he swiftly moved to his fellow panther partner.

 

“He's sick. I've stopped his heart to try to fix him. Come over here and look. I'm going to need both you and Kouga's help,” the nurse answered.

 

Kouga gasped as he went over to look at Sesshomaru's chest. Kouga found his eyes focused on the infested heart. “Kami! I didn't think it was possible for demons to have such infestations.”

 

“Neither did I. A theory I have now is that something or someone got in and is weakening his system maybe and possibly planted it into him.” The nurse sharpened a razor as she spoke some more. “I need to cut him open further. So I will need one of your help while the other holds InuYasha. I don't want him moving and trying to kill me.”

 

Kouga looked over at InuYasha. His friend looked in horrible condition. Both of InuYasha's arms were broken, and alongside that, his friend's ankles were looking in rather poor condition to go along with two swollen eyes which were accompanied by bruises. From what Kouga could guess it had been from the attack that was mentioned earlier. And from the looks of it, InuYasha was in a state of confusion, anger and pain.

 

“I think I'll hold onto InuYasha, as he is my friend and I know him best. After all, I did come here to see him,” Kouga answered as he went over to sit next InuYasha.

 

Kouhei glanced down at Daisuke and the nurse. “Guess that this leaves me to do whatever you have for me to do.”

 

“I can use you to help me take out these parasites. I don't know if we can get all of them but we should try. Less is best. I don't want you using you hands, I think these might burrow themselves into your flesh and attack you as well,” she replied worriedly as she handed him a pair of tweezers before she set down the sharpened scalpel.

 

Kouhei's eyes widened slightly and noticed how his partner had moved his hands further from the flesh in fear of having worms burrow into his own flesh. He watched the healer pour a bowl of water and added some green liquid that clouded the water instantly.

 

“It's poison; it'll kill the worms, hopefully. If it makes you feel any better you both may dip your hands into it.”

 

They instantly complied into doing it with her.

 

Kouga took advantage while they washed their hands in poison. “InuYasha, I was worried about you.”

 

“Why are you here? I thought I had you watching the others,” InuYasha said his eyes not leaving Sesshomaru's lifeless body.

 

“I know. I couldn't get over the feeling of something happening. And something did. I'm glad I came. Don't worry either, the others are fine. I'm sure they can fend off demons for themselves.”

 

InuYasha knew he was right. They could do without him for a while. And he could certainly be away from the crazed Sitting bitch for a long while.

 

“Thanks…”

 

“No problem. Just make sure you get all better along with your brother.” Kouga lightly placed his arm around his friend's shoulder, carefully so as not to hurt him in anyway. He knew that if he did hurt him some how, Sesshomaru's youkai just might react on a subconscious level even though he was partly dead. “So what exactly happened?” Kouga asked, still curious to what had sent the great Daiyoukai to such condition when he seemed so very healthy before.

 

“I am not quite sure. It all really happened so fast,” InuYasha said quietly as he watched the nurse work with the guards. “I had given him a new trinket for his sword and he went to lope it on the handle. Then he began to show me some swinging techniques- that sort of thing. Then he just grabbed his chest and just collapsed.”

 

Kouga hummed and quickly glanced over to InuYasha's neck to look for any mating mark that was often there with mated couples. “Not yet?” Kouga asked as he glanced still at his neck. InuYasha saw his friend's eyes on his neck and shook his head sadly.

 

“No, not yet, I'm still deciding if I want this life.”

 

“What's not to want, InuYasha?” Kouga asked seriously. “Your brother wants to make up for all those times. You should get over it and move on. Do you want to spend the rest of your poor mutt faced life with a group of humans who will soon die off before you ever do? To watch them leave? A large window of opportunity has opened for you, take hold of it.”

 

InuYasha knew he was right; he might never have this opportunity again. If he rejected Sesshomaru, his brother may just reject him again and never want to see his face ever again. They might just go back to trying to slaughtering each other.

 

“Yes, but it's a thing that will last till the day we die.”

 

“Exactly, mutt face! Don't tell me that you're afraid of commitment?”

 

InuYasha, in a way was afraid. He was afraid of being brokenhearted again. Rejected like he was when he was a small pup. Sesshomaru had been so two-faced. One minute he was nice and allowing him to cuddle with him, the next he was threatening to slit his throat in his sleep. “How do I know this is real?” he answered softly finally after some long moments.

 

Kouga smiled lightly before replying, “I guess you just have to listen to your gut and heart.”

 

“Yeah I know… It's just that something in me wants one thing and another wants something else.”

 

Skeptical, Kouga asked, “Yeah? Like what?”

 

“Back when I was just downstairs on Rin's floor, part of me was whispering back at me to leave and just let him die, the other wanted me to save him.”

 

“It is obvious that you should be listening to your other side,” Kouga laughed lightly.

 

InuYasha shrugged and watched as the nurse looked up at them. “It's time, are you ready?” she asked.

 

“Let's get this over and done with,” InuYasha said. His gut gave a small heave of a jerk at the sight of the nurse about to cut into InuYasha's to-be mate.

 

“Let us hope that goes smoothly…” she said watching InuYasha's eyes fall on the sharp blade. Something inside the nurse told her to watch InuYasha more than Sesshomaru…

 

 

A/n: I think I'm loosing it guys. Well this is it for now. It's not much of a cliff but this will do. Happy holidays, hope you guys enjoyed the one shot Intensifiers.

 

I do admit to have been sloppy written on the last 2 or so pages. This chapter is just a bit boring for me. But I hope it satisfies you a bit. And sorry it's been so long on the updates! I think I'm catching up slightly.

And from her beta: My apologies. I misplaced this story and delayed it by two weeks. I'm sorry it's so late.