InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Divergence ❯ Chapter 6

 

Divergence

 

Canto VI

 

“New torment I behold, and the new tormented

Around me, whichsoever way I move,

And whichsoever way I turn and gaze.”

 

-The Inferno, Dante Alighieri, Canto VI, Lines 4-6

 

 

Inuyasha toyed with the air currents around him, causing a bit of a breeze. It was night and he was alone with nothing but his thoughts. It had been several weeks since he and Sesshoumaru had come across Hikaru and the three of them had relocated to a small demon community by the coast. It was a change of scenery, so the move was welcome to the elemental. Hikaru was surprisingly well liked here and so as his `student' Inuyasha was subject to the same amount of respect. It was odd and took getting used to. Sesshoumaru had stuck around for a few days then disappeared with the threat that if his lands were damaged any further he would come back and rip Inuyasha's guts out. Inuyasha had calmly given him the finger and waved him away. He would have loved to get his bastard brother out of his thoughts but the wind-soul was seemingly enamored with the dai-youkai. It stayed silent when Inuyasha was training or reading but as soon as the hanyou allowed himself to slow down for a few moments the soul would go on and on for as long as it was able about how strong a youkai Sesshoumaru was and how amusing the two youkai lords were together. After a few days of this Inuyasha couldn't take it anymore and went to Hikaru for help.

 

The fire-wielder had looked up from his tea and stared at Inuyasha as if he was just grown another head. This had made Inuyasha unbelievably embarrassed and he'd tried to take the question back. It hadn't worked and Hikaru had made Inuyasha explain what the soul was doing in detail. It had been strangely silent the whole time. When Inuyasha had finished explaining exactly what the wind-soul was putting him through. Hikaru had just sat back laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more. He hadn't gotten any explanation, just the promise that Sesshoumaru would have to come to the village soon to see Inuyasha's progress.

 

Inuyasha frowned sullenly and toyed with the air again. The property that Hikaru owned was surprising; he'd expected a hut or cottage of some kind. But no, Hikaru owned a large house on the edge of the village, facing the ocean. The hanyou stared out over the water, the sound of waves managing to reach him even from this distance. He yawned and turned from the window. It was too late (early?) for such thoughts. With an undignified grunt Inuyasha collapsed on his futon. As he fell asleep he wondered how the others were. Then he thought about Kagura and pondered if she was okay with Naraku. He vaguely thought that he would have to get her away from Naraku before he fell asleep.

 

 

Kagome released her arrow and notched another one, releasing that one as well. The small army of demons didn't pause as some of their party was purified into gooey mess and continued to charge towards that village. Miroku tensed next to her and readjusted his grip on the string of prayer beads around his hand. Kagome paused long enough to give him a mild glare.

 

“Don't even think about it,” she shouted over the sounds of battle.

 

Miroku blinked at her innocently. “I have no idea what you mean.”

 

Kagome's expression darkened but she had to turn back to approaching line of demons before her. The last few days had been hectic, chaotic and challenging to the point that left Kagome pondering the fact that everyone had survived. Naraku had gotten desperate and had begun attacking the villages surrounding Edo. No reinforcements from other provinces could help them, but the miko doubted that any human army could help them anyway. The siege on the village that she and the others called home had only been going on for a few hours but Kagome's arms were already straining. Kaede was firing off arrows next to her, as well as two other priestesses who had managed to get here when their villages had been attacked. Kouga's tribe as well as Sango and Kirara were among the army taking out as many as they could while the priestesses and the villagers defended the village closer to the large ditch that had been dug between the village and the forest, where the demons were emerging from. Next to her Miroku knocked away a demon that had managed to slip through the line of village men protecting the mikos. The monk spared a moment to give Kagome a piecing look before he returned his gaze to the battle.

 

“This would all be over rather quickly if you let me use the air-rip,” he shouted to her without looking at her.

 

Kagome said nothing as she stabbed a number of arrows into the ground next to her even as she fitted two of them into her bow.

 

“You would be over rather quickly if I let you use your air-rip,” she stated coolly as she aimed and fired, managing to purify a demon before it could descend upon one of the village men.

 

 

Hikaru looked up at Inuyasha with no small amount of amusement. The hanyou saw this and his expression merely darkened further. He crossed his arms. Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

 

“Seven weeks and you've mastered being an elemental? You're ready to leave me? Because when you leave don't expect to come back and find me here.”

 

Inuyasha's expression twisted for a moment before he managed to control it. He looked slightly nervous if not totally anxious. But Hirkaru knew that nothing would keep him here after he had found out about Naraku's all out attack on Japan. Not only that but the West seemed to be having trouble defending against a host of demons from the Mainland that Naraku had supposedly managed to get to join him in an effort to get rid of Sesshoumaru. Hikaru had known this for a while and it seemed that Inuyasha had finally became conscious of the air currents around him and how his element was able to understand what was going on around it and pass the information along. Hirkaru thought fleetingly that his job had been surprisingly easy. He'd managed to end up with a person who learned quickly. He remembered when the water elemental, Amaya, had become the eldest of them and had had to teach the newly awoken earth elemental, Katashi. Katashi had not been too bright and it had taken him a long time to fully tap into his powers. Hirkaru had been worried his student would turn out the same. His fears were unfounded. The fire elemental had no doubt that Inuyasha would be able to handle anything that came at him.

 

Hirkaru tilted his head to the side and appraised Inuyasha critically. The hanyou didn't bat an eyelash and allowed him to do so. Hirkaru smiled softly and reached out, placing a large hand on Inuyasha's forehead.

 

“You will be great Inuyasha. Your training is as complete as it will ever be. I have little left to teach you.”

 

Actually Hirkaru had done little teaching at all. He had merely prodded Inuyasha in the right direction and encouraged him to discover what he could do. It was overall a very pleasant long vacation. Inuyasha stared at him blankly for a few moments before he looked up at the hand on his forehead. He blinked once, twice before looking up again, obviously getting a bit uncomfortable at last.

 

“Thanks,” he said shortly. Hirkaru stepped back giving the hanyou a knowing look.

 

“Well,” he prompted, motioning towards the doorway.

 

Inuyasha blinked at him for a few more moments before nodding gravely and moving to walk away.

 

“Check your rooms before you leave. I believe that some new clothes are waiting in there for you. I don't think what your wearing right now would be appropriate for your brother's court.”

 

Inuyasha leveled Hirkaru with a narrowed eyed but still quite mild glare. “How'd you know I was going to the West?”

 

Hirkaru just gave Inuyasha another knowing smile. Inuyasha reeled in the urge to flip him off but made his way to his room anyway.

 

 

Sesshoumaru's expression was carefully moulded into one of blank impassiveness. It wasn't hard. His face spent most time twisted into this expression. It was just…he really wanted to go kill something and it was disturbing how hard it was at this moment to let anyone and everyone exactly what he thought of the current situation. His lands were just now recovering from Inuyasha's awakening (that stupid little bastard! Half of his forests were stripped bare!). And now he was being invaded. Him! The Inu no Tashio! Had the world gone mad? Supposedly, because the West was being invaded by the Mainland. The newly named Hyouga leading a host of Mainland demons against him, preaching about Sesshoumaru not having a chance because the weak poor excuse for a demon had Naraku on his side.

 

And really that's was it all came down to, Naraku.

 

“My Lord?”

 

Sesshoumaru blinked once and refocused on the commander of his army. The young looking, dark haired demon was lean and battle hardened. He was almost was old as Sesshoumaru. He blinked pale blue eyes at his lord, but didn't dare say anything to provoke him. The dai-youkai had been nothing short of volcanic with his temper lately. Daiki glanced at his captains, silently urging them to shut up. They both got his message fine and averted their eyes.

 

“What I was saying my Lord is that the Hyouga's forces seem to be taking a roundabout way here. I request a small scouting party to find out which path they are taking exactly so we can plan an offensive attack on them.”

 

Sesshoumaru wanted to ask Daiki why the hell he was wasting his time with such a stupid request and his expression must have slipped because Daiki flinched and was quick to placate his Lord.

 

“If you'll remember Lord Sesshoumaru, you commanded me to check with you before making any move against the Hyouga.”

 

Had he? What had he been thinking? It was no good now. If he took it back he would end up looking stupid. Not that he cared what his people thought of him. Instead he just nodded and dismissed his commander and the two captains with a wave of his hand. As soon as they left and he was left alone Sesshoumaru slouched and rubbed his temples tiredly. He never got headaches. They were an obviously a human thing. Sesshoumaru in a rare act of un-uptightness, let his head fall onto the desk in front of him with a soft bang. He left it rest there for a moment.

 

“My Lor-…Lord Sesshoumaru, are you okay?”

 

Sesshoumaru answered without looking up, knowing that it was only Rin. “What do you want?” he bit out softly.

 

Rin coughed into her fist for a moment trying to cover up her laughter. “My Lord you have a visitor.”

“Who is it?”

 

Rin paused and thought before she answered. If she told Lord Sesshoumaru the truth he would refuse to see his visitor and he had said that it was rather important that he talk to her Lord. Rin had never lied to her Lord before, but there was always a first for everything she supposed.

 

“He didn't leave a name my Lord.”

 

If Sesshoumaru had looked up he would have saw the grimace on Rin's young face and if he could hear over the pounding in his head he would have heard her shifting around uncomfortably. But he didn't and he couldn't so he waved his hand, silently telling Rin to bring whoever it was in. The inu-youkai looked up and masked his expression just as Rin was leading Inuyasha into the room. He gave a slow blink before looking to Rin who was still shuffling about, trying not to raise her eyes to his. If she did she would have been able to easily read his expression.

 

`Traitor'

 

Rin winced and ducked her head.

 

Inuyasha remained immune to the tension between his brother and the young woman who was his ward. He walked up to Sesshoumaru's desk and sat down on one of the chairs in front of it, bring Sesshoumaru's stern gaze to him. Sesshoumaru had to admit, Inuyasha didn't look like the beggar he usually looked like. The long black pants that flowed down to his ankles were made of decent material and the long over coat, which was also black, seemed to be made out of some sort of soft but durable fabric. Sesshoumaru couldn't tell what it was.

 

“Leather.”

 

Sesshoumaru's gaze snapped back up to Inuyasha's face. The hanyou's expression was open and a small smirk curled his lips.

 

“The coat's leather and the pants are cotton blended with satin so it hangs. If you were interested in knowing, my underwear are made of silk.”

 

“No hanyou, I was in no way interested in knowing what your tacky clothes are made out of.”

 

“Of course you didn't. You were only ogling me like a piece of meat.”

 

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and glared icily at his brother, who once again proved himself immune. When Inuyasha had walked into the large study, the first thing he noticed was how tired Sesshoumaru looked (actually the first thing that he had noticed was the wall of narrow windows cut into the stone wall of the castle. There was even glass in them). His brother looked crappy, but crappy in a way that wasn't crappy if you didn't know what to look for. It made Inuyasha feel a little sorry for the dai-youkai, which was why he was here.

 

“You're having trouble,” the hanyou stated bluntly.

 

Perhaps that wasn't the best course of action because Sesshoumaru's face hardened and his eyes seemed to glow with hate, annoyance and pride. Inuyasha just frowned at him. He didn't give a toss about Sesshoumaru's pride.

 

“I need a way to test my powers. A war is as good of a test as any.” Perhaps he did care.

 

“Your pathetic powers are not needed half-breed. See yourself out.”

 

Or not

 

Did he just call our powers pathetic?

 

I believe so, Inuyasha thought ruefully.

 

We suggest that you leave now. Your brother will be fine without you. The mortals need you more.

 

Inuyasha sighed to himself and tried to quell the sudden surge of guilt he felt. Of course he wanted to go save his friends from Naraku and it had been a very close call. He knew that they needed him and that Naraku was out of control. He'd been able to use the wind currents to do his spying for him. It turned out to work quite well, better than he thought it would. In this nearly one sided war almost a third of the human population had been wiped out of existence. Most of the demons had either fled or joined Naraku. Things looked bad. Inuyasha knew that his expression had darkened and made no effort to hide his thoughts from his bastard brother.

 

If he makes you angry leave, the soul suggested. Inuyasha could still sense the soul's disappointment in Sesshoumaru's lack of confidence in their abilities to fight. Inuyasha resigned to muse over this later. If not at least let me have control.

 

Inuyasha ignored this.

 

Blink

 

Focus

 

Sesshoumaru was staring at him blankly, but the fact that he hadn't said anything yet proved that he was unnerved. Inuyasha knew that when his thoughts turned inward he appeared to be staring unblinkingly in front of him. The Inuyasha acknowledged that his eyes were, for lack of a better word, creepy, modesty be damned. For a moment he mused on the idea of using that as an intimidation method.

 

Very wise.

 

Marvelous, the voice in his head agreed with him.

 

Blink

 

Focus

 

“I understand that all of your scouts are unable to get close enough to the Hyouga's forces without being uncovered.” Sesshoumaru's face remained impassive, but he wasn't ordering Inuyasha out of his castle so the hanyou took this as a good sign. “Hirkaru hinted at something and I think he might be right.”

 

“Hirkaru is the fire-wielder.” How Sesshoumaru managed to ask a question without asking a question was beyond Inuyasha.

 

The hanyou nodded. “Yes.”

 

“What has your pathetic half-breed brain come up with?”

 

Inuyasha began to get angry and wondered fleetingly what he was doing here. Sesshoumaru was a bastard. Never mind that he now had the power to destroy anything and everything in the dai-youkai's domain. Never mind that a few weeks ago he'd been possessed, abused and half brain dead, only to have his soul ripped apart and pieced back together with a strange presence out of no where. He'd had no time to slow down at all or rest. Everything had been thrown at him so quickly that he had barely been able to process it before something else was thrown. He really wanted to take a nap. But no, he was here, trying to save his late father's lands from invasion and in the end that's what it came down to. No matter what Inuyasha got, how stronger he became he was still his father's bastard, half-breed son to Sesshoumaru. It always hurt and confused him, but this time Inuyasha had had enough.

 

“You're going against the now second youngest elemental, Earth Katashi. Have fun bastard, you'll need it.”

 

With that Inuyasha got to his feet and swiftly left the study leaving a hollow feeling behind him. Sesshoumaru watched him go, a range of emotions rushing through him. He was against an elemental? Maybe he had baited Inuyasha too far. The youkai was broken out of his thoughts by Rin who had stayed behind. Smart girl. She felt his hard gaze on her and flinched before moving forward to stand in front of his desk. Before he could even begin to reprimand her she began speaking quickly.

 

“I'm sorry my Lord but one of your advisers told me it was important that Lord Inuyasha see you. She said that you had to know about the Earth elemental against you. I'm so sorry my Lord but I don't want you to get hurt because I didn't tell you something.”

 

Sesshoumaru found his anger slip away from him and cursed himself repeatedly. But Rin couldn't know this. Sesshoumaru's expression had remained the same.

 

“Leave me.”

 

She did and Sesshoumaru sighed when the doors closed behind her, feeling like he'd just done something stupid.

 

Around me, whichsoever way I move,

And whichsoever way I turn and gaze.