InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fifty Years ❯ Chapter 4

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

“Healer, are you certain?” Sesshomaru asked, wanting to be absolutely sure before he went on a rampage.
 
“Without a doubt, my Lord. Whatever poison they used was odorless so he wouldn't smell it in his food, but when he sweat it out, it gives off a distinctive odor of bitter plums. Not so different from his regular scent, but enough for me to know that someone poisoned him,” she informed him.
 
The demon lord turned on his heel, leaving the healer's quarters. Someone was about to die.
 
~*~
 
Sesshomaru tore through his castle, gathering everyone into his throne room. He would not take such insolence lightly. An attack on his mate was an attack on him, and he would see the guilty punished...by his own claws. The gathered demons all talked amongst themselves, not knowing why they were summoned. Sesshomaru shortly cleared up their confusion.
 
“You are all wondering why you are here. Let me inform you. Tonight, someone in this room made an attempt upon my mate's life. It was caught early on, but the perpetrator cannot go unpunished. None of you will leave this room until I've shown you the price of disobedience,” he told them. “Bring forth the servant.”
 
Two demon guards shoved a small slip of a demon forward. She was shaking badly, afraid of her Lord's wrath. She fell on her knees before Sesshomaru, her eyes fixed on the floor.
 
“Girl, you are the one who delivered the food to my mate, correct?” Sesshomaru asked.
 
“Yes, milord. I took the food to him from the kitchens. Cook told me to,” she said.
 
“Did you put anything in his food?” Sesshomaru demanded.
“No, milord. Nothing at all. I would never go against my Lord,” she pled, tears freely running down her face.
 
“Why should I believe you since you were the one to deliver the poison to my mate?” he asked, very agitated with this time spent away from his beloved.
 
“She's telling the truth,” a voice called out. The cook stepped forward from behind the throng of demons, and kneeled next to the servant girl. “I prepared the tray for Lord Inuyasha and left it on the counter for her to deliver. I couldn't watch over it because Lady Tori asked me to prepare some sweetened rice balls.”
 
All eyes turned to Lady Tori. She was an elegant eagle demon with blue hair and eyes. She had once wanted to become Sesshomaru's mate, and was quite upset when he spurned her advances in favor of his brother. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes as her, piercing through all of her bravado until he felt her unease. She was the one who tried to kill his mate.
 
“Lady Tori, what do you have to say for yourself?” he demanded, knowing she was going to lie.
 
“My Lord, he's not worthy of you. He's merely a half-breed. I could do so much more for you than—”she started, but was cut off by a backhand to the mouth.
 
“Silence, you traitorous bitch. You come into my home, partake of my hospitality and attempt to kill my mate? A week after he has given birth to yet another child of mine? You have no right to tell me what to do.
 
“I am Lord Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands and Ruler of Demons. I am the ultimate law in this land. I mated my brother because he was the only demon worthy of my station. He killed Naraku, a fiend who taunted most of you for years. He has born me three sons and a daughter in eight years, more than most demons have in a lifetime, and you trust to come into my home and tell me that he is not worthy of me?” he snarled at her, as his irises bled red.
 
All of the demons in the room cowered in the corner as far away from Sesshomaru's rage as possible. His demon was roaring on the inside, demanding he punish the one whom thought to take his mate from him. As the presence of his youki increased, his rationality decreased. Before anyone uttered another word, Lady Tori's head was on the floor, across the room from her body.
 
“This,” Sesshomaru coldly stated as he pointed at Lady Tori's body, “is what will happen to those who think to defy me.” He turned to depart, leaving shocked demons behind him. “Clean this filth immediately,” he commanded, then closed the door. No one moved for a few minutes, still unable to process the proceedings.
 
~*~
 
After dispatching Lady Tori, Sesshomaru headed back to his chambers where his mate slept fitfully. Sweat beaded on the hanyou's forehead, and his almost silent whimpers alerted Sesshomaru to his internal distress. Reaching over to the nightstand, he picked up a wet cloth and wrung it out, placing it on his mate's forehead. He then mixed some of the herbs with water as the healer told him and tried to get Inuyasha to drink. His body was so feverish, though, that he couldn't keep the liquid down. Sesshomaru was forced to give it to him via mouth-to-mouth. After giving his lover the medicine, Sesshomaru stripped down and laid next to him, hoping the skin to skin contact would aid his mate in his recovery.
 
Three days after the attempt on his life, Inuyasha's fever broke. The chills that wracked his body decreased, as well as the vomiting. He was still sleeping, but no longer had nightmares. It was touch-and-go for quite some time, what with Inuyasha not fully recovered from Kameko's birth, but his mate was by him the entire time. The children were worried, and justifiably so, as they hadn't seen their mother in days. Finally, at sunset on the fourth night, Inuyasha opened his eyes.
 
“Sess?” his voice crackled, his throat dry from days of fever.
 
“You are awake,” his mate replied, drawing his eyes to the right. Sesshomaru was dressed for bed, sitting on a chair next to the bed reading papers. Since he couldn't leave his mate, he had his work brought to him.
 
“What happened, Sess?” Inuyasha wondered, not really understanding why he felt so weak.
 
“You were poisoned. Someone thought to ally herself with me by getting rid of you. You have been unconscious for four days. You almost died,” Sesshomaru told him.
 
“That's why I feel so weak. Can I get some water, Sess?” he asked, too tired to process what he had just been told.
 
Sesshomaru immediately moved to get the water. As he crossed the room, Inuyasha paid close attention to his mate. He seemed tired, drained is more like it. He wondered if his mate had been with him the entire time. If so, he needed rest just as much as Inuyasha did. When Sesshomaru returned with the water, Inuyasha patted the bed next to him.
 
“Thanks Sess. Come join me?” he invited his mate. Sesshomaru had missed his mate terribly those days that he was ill, and was sorely tempted to take him up on his offer, but knew that he needed to attend to his brother's needs first.
 
“Not now, brother. First, you need to bathe to rid yourself of the stench of sickness, and then you must eat. You have not eaten anything and kept it down in over five days,” Sesshomaru told him. With that said, Sesshomaru swept him up in his arms and took him to the bathing room.
 
~*~
 
In the bathing room, Sesshomaru placed him on the floor near the spring. Removing his clothes first, Sesshomaru proceeded to disrobe Inuyasha and then get into the spring. Holding his lover in his lap, Sesshomaru bathed him with the utmost gentleness. Inuyasha melted into his mate's touches, secretly imagining that his mate was touching him with all the love he felt for him.
 
For Sesshomaru, touching his mate in this manner was an affirmation that he was still alive. He had watched as on day two his mate's fever spiked to an almost impossible heat, burning his body from the inside. His breathing became labored and the stench of death slowly starting creeping around his body. Sesshomaru was at his wit's end—he had Tenseiga but he did not want to take the chance that the sword wouldn't revive him. Not knowing what to do, Sesshomaru gathered his love in his arms and held him to his chest. Rubbing soothing circles on his back, the Demon Lord kept mumbling words of love and devotion in Inuyasha's ear. They lay like that for several hours until Inuyasha's temperature lowered and his breathing stabilized. Now, having his brother in his arms, holding him, was the best feeling in the world.
 
Realizing that the heat would not be good for Inuyasha for an extended period of time, Sesshomaru ended the bath, wrapped them up in robes, and returned to their chambers. There, servants had changed the bedding and prepared dinner. Lying Inuyasha on the bed, Sesshomaru brought the food to him. Carefully inspecting it, he started feeding his brother. Inuyasha was shocked at his behavior.
 
“Sesshomaru, what's going on? Why are you acting like this,” he asked, perplexed at his brother's attitude toward him.
 
“I am taking care of my ill mate. Is that a crime?” he retorted, hastily concealing his love with exasperation.
 
“Oh...” Inuyasha sounded disappointed, but allowed his mate to pamper him.
 
“How are the kids? How's Kameko been eating?” he asked, realizing that his children hadn't seen him in days.
 
“They are fine—worried about you. I sent for a wet nurse for Kameko because I did not want her near the poison and you were in no condition to feed her,” Sesshomaru told him as he slipped into bed beside him.
 
“I should see them tomorrow, so they don't worry. I'm so tired, Sess,” Inuyasha yawned, his fatigue catching up to him.
 
“I know love. Rest, you'll feel better in the morning,” Sesshomaru murmured in his ear, rubbing his hand on Inuyasha's stomach.
 
“Love you, Sess,” he mumbled in his sleep.
 
“I love you, too,” Sesshomaru replied, knowing that his mate wouldn't hear him.