InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Devil May Care ❯ Escape ( Chapter 10 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Author's Note: Johanna Constantine was created and belongs to Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman. All rights reserved. They are used without permission and for entertainment purposes only. No profit is being made by the author for writing this story. No infringement upon nor challenge to the rights of the copyright holders is intended; nor should any be inferred.


Ninta clung to Sesshomaru's arm as the wagon raced down the dusty road. He was afraid that he might fall off, and the people with his new master might leave him behind. Worse, he felt that the rickety wagon might fall apart beneath him.
Monty reached over to try and calm the boy, but he just shied away further as she touched him.
The woman who touched his arm was covered in blood, and half dressed. Ninta guessed that she had killed his former master, which did not worry him. The smell of the gore and her appearance did.
"I will not hurt you. None of will."
"Um hum."
Inuyasha grunted and groaned as wagon shook. "Kagome, please be more careful."
"I am trying, but this damned horse is hell to keep straight. I have never seen a stupider horse in my life."
"For once I agree with my brother. slow the horse down a little bit."
"She won't slow. She just tries to go faster when I reign her in."
Monty chuckled. "Perhaps the nag knows we are in haste to meet with John. Your wounds are not that bad, Inuyasha. We have had bumpier rides than this. Remember that ride from Deli to Meerkut?"
"Don't remind me."
"Don't worry, Ninta. I will make sure you are safe, no matter how weakened I am. My brother is more bark than bite. And, Adeline will not harm a child."
"Ninta? That is a strange name for a boy. " Monty tried to say softly. The bumps in the road made it difficult to get much out in the way that she wanted to speak.
"It is short for Nintashiro, Nintashiro Alexander Douglas. My former master did not like to say my full name. He said servants should not have such long names."
"Douglas. That was my mother's maiden name. Perhaps we are related then. Although, there are a lot of Douglas's."
"Uh huh."
"I see the bridge." Kagome shouted. "John is waving the lantern to signal us!"
"Not a moment too soon. " Inuyasha growled.


Johanna Constantine watched the wagon as it headed towards her. She knew any cart traveling that fast and kicking up that much dust had to be Monty's. She was dressed as a man. Any casual onlooker would not look twice to see that she was not.
As the cart drew closer, she signaled to the two men with her to aid the driver. The horse was clearly not completely in the driver's control.
Johanna did not recognize the driver of the cart, but she saw Monty jump from the back and try to help reign in the horse.
Monty Jumped from the cart to the back of the horse. As she did, rotten wood from the front of the cart splintered. The horse sped on ahead as the cart lurched to the side.
Inuyasha leapt across the bed of the cart to keep it from tumbling over.
Kagome flew from the driving seat and into the river.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha jumped from the cart.
One of the two men with Johanna rushed to the water and pulled Kagome out.
Johanna and the man with her rushed after Monty.
As soon as the horse was free of the cart, it slowed down. Monty was able to reign it in and turn it back to where Johanna had stopped.
"It is just like Celline to get the worst nag and cart he could find. Are you alright, Monty?"
"Fine, John. What about the rest?"
"A few bumps and bruises but they don't look too bad off."
"Even Kagome?"
"The girl is a very fine swimmer. Much better than Francis. It looks like she is rescuing him rather than the other way around."
Monty laughed as she watched Inuyasha and Kagome pull Francis out of the water.
"That gives me an idea, Monty. Why don't we unload what we need off of the cart and push it and that nag in the river. The horse can swim away."
"Right. We should also throw all of the se clothes in as well, to make the accident look complete. Ugh, as soon as I rest a bit. That stupid horse jarred me good."
"Well you should rest quickly, Monty. The port ant Nantes is closed off. Celline hightailed it on a ship headed for Spain. We will be meeting a ship off the coast of Brest, if the weather holds."


Sesshomaru reached for the box with his sword.
"Master, You should not move until your brother gets here to help."
"It is alright, Ninta. That is no ordinary sword. Help me open the box."
Ninta carefully broke apart the latches. Inside the box was a layer of sand surrounding another linen wrapped, wax covered box. Ninta pulled away the wax and linen. Inside the second box was a sheathed sword.
"That's it. Give it to me Ninta."
"But, sir? You cant even hold it up."
"Just put the pommel in my hand and pull on the sheath. "
Ninta did as Sesshomaru asked.
The sword seemed to grow blue from an internal light.
Sesshomaru grunted as his vitality slowly came back to him. "Much better." He stretches and hopped out of the wagon. "Can someone get me some decent clothes that fit?"
Ninta hopped from the cart and went to the carriage that waited for them. "The master wishes some decent clothes."
Johanna was rummaging through a worn trunk at the back of the coach. "I have clothing for Sesshomaru and for you as well. Here take them. Throw all of your old clothing back into the cart."
"Yes sir."
Inuyasha leaned against the cart and slowly undressed. He made a scowl as Ninta came back with clothing for Sesshomaru.
"Nintashiro, before you get dressed in your new set of clothes, can you fetch some for me from Lady John? I don't want to startle my wife by going myself.
"I have your clothes for you too, Ian."
"My real name is Inuyasha. Ugh."
"Master Inuyasha! You are bleeding badly!"
"It is nothing. The wrappings around my wound came loose when the horse broke from the cart. It is not bad. I just need it re-bandaged.
"I can do that for you. Let me help." Ninta looked at the cut on Inuyasha's arm and harrumphed. "This needs to be sewn before I bandage it again. Let me ask if there is a needle and thread."
"No need for that, Ninta." Sesshomaru pulled his sword and lay the flat of it against Inuyasha's wound. The sword glowed and the wound disappeared, as well as any fatigue Inuyasha was feeling. "I told you, Ninta, Tensaiga is a very special sword. I owed my brother a favor, for coming to save me."
"As Monty said, it was not our idea, we were commanded to do so."
Sesshomaru got an ashen look on his face as he straightened the lace around his neck. "She still hates me, then?"
"It is not my place to say. You will have to ask her."
Kagome came up and threw her s and Monty's clothing into the cart. She was dressed like a man in brown velvet jacket and breeches. She took a gasp as she looked at Nintashiro. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were equally surprised.
Ninta had taken the scarf off of his head. Closely cropped white curls hung perfectly around his brow, ears and nape. He smiled as he looked at the blue velvet clothes with the lace collar. "I don't remember ever wearing anything so fine! Thank you so much!"
"Come on, we have to get moving." Monty said. She also was dressed as a man. Her hands were on the hips of her olive green breeches and a scowl was on her face.
Sesshomaru looked into those searing eyed and nearly wilted. "Why does she do this to me? Why?" he thought to himself.


Sesshomaru watched Monty as she slept with her head against the side of the carriage.
Nintashiro sat between them, asleep, with his head resting on Sesshomaru's lap. Sesshomaru carefully patted the boy's head as he let out a frightened sigh in his sleep.
Kagome had fallen asleep on Inuyasha's lap.
Inuyasha was asleep as well, with his head leaned forward on one arm while the other hand was around Kagome's waist.
"I wonder how he can sleep like that. I wish I could sleep. I would even welcome a nightmare. Adeline, the woman who ruined my life." He thought as slowly sleep took him.


Sesshomaru's dream took him back nearly eleven years. Back to Venice.
He was sitting on a comfortable chair just staring at her sleeping form among the silk sheets. He loved the way her blonde hair curled around her sweet face as she slept.
It surprised him how wonderful she had been.
For many months they had planned to elope. The chance had come unexpectedly, with the help of her former fiancé, Cornelius.
All that was left to do before the wedding was wait for the dress he had ordered made to arrive. That was any day.
A knock came to the door to their hotel room.
Sesshomaru hurried to the door, thinking it was the maid bringing in the dress for Adeline.
His head swam as the person at the door hit him over the head and drug him off.
Sesshomaru woke some hours later in a hovel. Three men, hired by his mother, were there to force him to return to France. One put a piece of paper, a quill and an ink pot in front of him.
"Write the Pirate King's whore of a daughter a goodbye note." One had ordered him.
When Sesshomaru refused, the mercenary punched him in the jaw.
He was physically punished every time he refused to write the note.
Finally, he thought of a clever trick to tell his love that he had been kidnapped. He knew she liked puzzles. He would write the note, and include a cipher that she was sure to notice.
Three days later, the mercenaries loaded Sesshomaru on a ship headed for Marseille. As the ship left the port, Sesshomaru managed to escape his bonds, slip overboard and swim to shore.
He did not waste any time, but headed straight for his and Adeline's hotel room, only to find that she was gone.
He checked at the desk, but she had checked out of the hotel two days earlier.
Sesshomaru thought that perhaps she had chosen another hotel, in case his captors came back.
He searched desperately for days. He yelled for her whenever he saw a blonde lady cross the palazzo. He checked every church he could find to see if she had made wedding arrangements.
His heart fell into his stomach when he saw a black haired Italian girl, wearing Adeline's dress, walk outside a small church with her new husband.
He walked slowly to the docks, asking if she had booked passage on one of the ships.
She had left the same day she checked out of the hotel on a ship bound for London.
She left him. She took his heart and left.
Another set of mercenaries found him drunk in a pub near the docks. They beat him senseless and took him home.
The morning after he arrived back in Tours, he was married to his first wife, Louisa.
Sesshomaru was so bruised up by the mercenaries, that his face was covered with cosmetics to hide the black and blue marks on his face. He could barely stand from the pain of being repeatedly beaten on his lower back and legs.
He looked at his mother as she sat in the pew, fanning herself. He wanted to slap the smug smile off of her face.
He wished he were an orphan.
For a month, he slept beside Louisa, but never consummated their marriage. It was not for lack of trying. The wounds to his back made the act too painful.
Sesshomaru told her that she could have all the lovers she wanted, but he would not divorce her. Louisa seemed fine with the arrangement, as long as Sesshomaru kept his hands to himself.
Ten months into their marriage, Louisa went to visit friends. She brought home Rubella.
The disease spread quickly, infecting his father first.
"Find the treasure swords." His father had begged on his deathbed. Sesshomaru found the swords, but it was too late. His father was dead.
He sent his half brother and his father's mistress away. He did not want to take the chance of his brother dying from the disease.
His mother contracted the disease next, dying almost two months after his father had.
Sesshomaru was sad that his father was dead, but he could care less about his mother or his wife.
He tried to save as many of the household as he could with the Tensaiga.
When the doctors became brave enough to venture into the estate, Sesshomaru put Tensaiga into a box and wrapped it with cloth and wax. He gave it to one of his most trusted stewards to hide.
"I do not want those greedy doctors to get their hands on the treasure. It can too easily be misused."
He sent the Tetsusaiga to England, to be given to Inuyasha when he was old enough.
As soon as the quarantine was over, Sesshomaru rushed to Barstow Manor to beg Adeline to take him back.
At first, Both The Barron and Dhamendra chased him off at gunpoint.
He remembered the secret passages, and made his way into Adeline's room.
She was very sick, and Dhamendra was treating her. She opened her eyes and screamed horrible curses at him.
Sesshomaru was warned that if he ever set foot on any of the Barron's properties again, the Barron would not hesitate to have him shot.
The carriage lurched to a stop, bringing Sesshomaru out of his nightmare.


"Inuyasha, Kagome. Do you mind taking over up top? Dudley and I can hardly keep our eyes open. Francis lives near here, so he is leaving us for other duties."
Inuyasha stretched and yawned as he looked out at the dawning light outside the window. "I would prefer that. Kagome, wake up. I want to show you an absolutely gorgeous sunrise."
Sesshomaru wiped the sweat off his brow as Johanna and Dudley climbed into the carriage.
Nintashiro sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Monty yawned and stretched. She pulled aside the curtain to look outside. "We should be there soon, D'Anders."
"Why won't you use my name? Adeline?"
"Because I don't prefer to." Monty pulled a small book from her coat pocket and began to read.
"She's ignoring me. She still hates me. Why?"
"Do you have another book, Miss Monty. I really don't like traveling with nothing to do."
"Yes, Nintashiro, as a matter of fact, I do. I didn't know you could read."
"Yes. My mamma read to me every night before she died. She made me read back as much as I could. She and daddy got sick when I was four and a half. I was sent to an orphanage. Master Bankotsu took some papers to the house mother when I was six. He took me away from there. He told me it was important for a valet to know how to read, in more than one language."
"I see. I hope this book is not too hard for you."
"Doesn't matter. I will ponder on the words I don't know and ask about them later."
Monty could not help but smile at Nintashiro.
Sesshomaru pulled the curtain on his side to look at the countryside as it rolled by. Absentmindedly, he began to hum a tune, Scarlatti in D.
"Shut Up!" Monty yelled at him.
"Monty, can you please be quiet." Johanna tipped up her hat to scowl.
"What? Adeline? What was I doing?"
"You were humming, and it bothers me."
"I was? Oh well. I hum when I am bored."
"Well try to hum something else then!"
"You two please stop this bickering! We are trying to sleep!"
"I apologize for myself and for the Baroness Montague. We have not seen eye to eye in some time, Lady Johanna."
"Just keep the noise down."
"Miss Monty? Why don't you like that song? It is so pretty. My mamma used to sing it to me to put me to sleep."
"I am sorry. I am just not feeling well."
"Could it be that she still has the music box? Is there still hope?" Sesshomaru thought as he continued to look outside. He made a slight smile.


Inuyasha stopped at the ruins near Brest and unhitched the horses. They whinnied as they grazed on the lush grasses.
Nintashiro patted the horses on their noses and spoke to them words of thanks.
Sesshomaru pulled Monty aside as soon as she stepped down from the carriage. "You are going to talk to me!"
"We have absolutely nothing to talk about."
"Nothing? Nothing! You broke my heart and ruined my life and you say there is nothing to talk about!"
"Ruined your life? You were the one who was more interested in his title and fortune than he was in me!"
"That is a lie! I was kidnapped! You ran out on me before I could get back to you!"
"You married another woman!"
"You left me. What else was I supposed to do?"
"Get away from Monty, Sesshomaru before I call you out!"
"This is none of your business, Inuyasha."
"Haven't you done enough to her!"
"He's right, Inuyasha. This is between us. We do need to talk."
"You see, brother, the Baroness is sensible after all."
Inuyasha cursed and went to help Kagome set out the food to eat.
"Adeline, please look at me. Please use my name, not my title." Sesshomaru's face showed little emotion, except for his eyes. they were filled with pain.
Monty looked at him and her angry face softened. "You were kidnapped?"
"Yes. I wrote you a note. Didn't you get it?"
"Yes, I keep it here to remind me to never be a fool again." Monty pulled a scrap of worn paper from inside her shirt. She opened it and read it aloud.
"I see. You did not figure out the cipher."
"The cipher?"
"Let me look at the note." Sesshomaru looked at the note. He pointed to the irregular capital letters he scrawled on the page many years ago. "See, I tried to tell you. My captors beat me to force me to write a note to you."
Monty sat down on a large stone, next to Sesshomaru, and worked the cipher that he had penned.
"Stay there. I have been taken against my will. I will escape. I will be back for you. I love you."
"I was so distraught. I never thought to look for a secret message."
"I was too stupid to think that you might not look for one. It seems this note itself is what ruined our lives."
Monty took a deep breath and brought her hand to her mouth, to keep herself from crying.
Sesshomaru took her hand in his and placed it against his chest. He turned her head so that she met his gaze. "I still love you. I never stopped."
"But you married again."
"I practically raised Rin after her parents died in the Rubella epidemic. I grew to love her, but I never was in love with her. She knows that."
Sesshomaru took Monty into his arms and held her to him. "I waited until the last minute to marry her. I hoped you would change your mind. I waited four years, three months, two days, and six hours for you to change your mind. Even then, I secretly, and guiltily, hoped Rin would die in childbirth so that I could get one more chance."
"Sesshomaru I..."
He covered her mouth with his to keep her from finishing the sentence.
She ran her fingers through his white hair as they deepened the kiss.
His arms pulled her tighter to him. His head swam. the feeling was exactly the same as it had been eleven years earlier. He could feel her breasts harden and her body melt into his, despite the clothing separating them.
Monty felt happier than she had in years. She had turned and one of her legs fell between his. She could feel him grow hard for her. They were fully clothed and there was no fondling. No man had ever grown so hard for her, just because of a kiss.
They were both panting breathlessly when he broke the kiss. "Adeline, My Adeline. Do you forgive me? Do you still love me?"
"Yes. I never stopped. I have to tell you one more thing. Something very important. It may be why I took your note at face value."
"I remember you not feeling well. I should have thought of that when I penned the note."
"I was fine. I was with child. We had a son."
"What!" Sesshomaru gasped and his eyes grew wide. "Where? Where is our son! Please , I want to see him!"
Monty lowered her eyes and shook her head as tears flowed from her cheeks. "He was stillborn. It was a very difficult birth. I was so crazed with pain and anguish that I almost thought I heard him cry before they used chloroform on me. I can no longer have children. My father tried to marry me off to any who would forgive my former transgression, but none would marry a woman who could not give them heirs. When father died, I did get marriage proposals from several widowers, but I refused. My heart had already fled me, and I could not in good conscience marry anyone."
Sesshomaru took the handkerchief from his pocket and put it over his mouth and nose. He remembered her being ill off and on during the trip to Venice, and during their visit. He thought it was seasickness and culture shock. "I should have known! Adeline grew up sailing with her father. She could not have been merely seasick. That is why Cornelius relinquished her so easily, and sped us to Venice so quickly!" He thought to himself.
"Now, you are married and you have two fine children. I will take you to where I buried our son when we get back to the manor."
"Oh Adeline! How our lives were ruined so badly! It is all my fault!"
"No, it is only half your fault." Monty said as she threw her arms around him again and held him to her breast.
He needed to mourn for the son he never knew.


"That damn bastard!" Inuyasha growled as he watched Monty and Sesshomaru's heated kiss. He started to make his way towards them when Kagome put her hand on his arm.
"Leave them alone, Love. She is not pushing him away. She could if she wanted to. They need to heal. Let them."
"Fine, but I hope the damned skiff from the ship gets here soon. It nauseates me to see him do that. He ruined her life, and he is a married man."
"Not all are as fortunate as we are, Love. He married for necessity. Why else marry a girl who was fifteen, less than a month before he turned 25? Rin was his ward, no less."
"I suppose you are right." Inuyasha grumbled as he watched the shore.

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