InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ For the Honour of My Family ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

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

“Why do I have to go see the healer?” came the quiet demand. “There's nothing wrong with me!”

Morning had dawned as it always had since he'd started bedding his brother. Sesshomaru awoke to his brother's warmth, gave him a chaste kiss and started to rise . . . only to lean in once more and kiss his brother again and again until he'd penetrated the boy and thrust in him to the point of his member had become more than sated. It had started to become a daily ritual between them, one that neither of them would have been able to stop, even if they'd wanted to.

This morning, however, was slightly different. This morning Sesshomaru had to tell Inuyasha about his current condition. He had to try and get Inuyasha to Shinsei so the healer could confirm what Sesshomaru already knew . . . not that he expected it to be easy. Inuyasha detested being fussed over for any reason whatsoever, something Sesshomaru attributed to decades of being on his own. Still, that didn't mean he wasn't about to give up trying. It was for Inuyasha's benefit, after all.

Then Sesshomaru opened his mouth to reply to Inuyasha's inquiry . . . and had to pause. Telling Inuyasha now of his pregnancy would be a sure-fire way to spark the boy's anger and have him retaliate. There was also the possibility that Inuyasha could also take off. The mere thought of his brother leaving frightened Sesshomaru in a way he never thought possible. Not only could he lose his mate but his pup, his heir, as well. He wasn't about to allow that.

“It is always prudent to have a healer check over you once in a while,” he stated smoothly. “Besides, you still have a bit of a limp from our couplings. It would best to make sure that there's nothing too terribly wrong.”

“I thought that's what the salve was for,” Inuyasha frowned.

“Hai,” Sesshomaru nodded. “It is. However, I still wish for you to go see Shinsei. He'll be able to do more for that particular . . . problem.”

“Keh,” the hanyou snorted, his eyes sparkling. “The only that can help that . . . problem is for you to stop shoving yourself up my ass.”

The daiyoukai raised an eyebrow at him before reaching over and cupping a smooth cheek with one hand. One finger idly caressed the flesh there as Sesshomaru whispered, “Is that what you truly wish, otouto?”

Inuyasha's breath hitched in his chest and his head leaned into the touch, giving Sesshomaru all the answer he truly needed. He didn't. For some reason, the boy liked sharing his bed with his brother, had not complained about it at all since the couplings had started. Why, Sesshomaru couldn't truly say but he did have a few ideas.

“We go see Shinsei before your lessons,” he murmured smoothly, lowering his hand. Inuyasha nodded numbly. Sesshomaru quickly turned and exited the room, the hanyou trailing right behind him.

As they walked towards the healer's home - their father had seen fit to give Shinsei one of the larger buildings - Sesshomaru couldn't help but wonder just exactly how Inuyasha would react to the news. He knew that the boy would be angry. There was simply no getting around it. It was how angry Inuyasha would be that Sesshomaru had trouble determining.

`Does not matter,' he finally decided, keeping his pace slow so that he didn't lose track of Inuyasha. `He's going to get angry. That's all there is to it.'

They walked on for a few more moments in a comfortable silence before they reached the healer's abode. The closer they got, however, the more Inuyasha slowed down. He was hesitant for some reason. Sesshomaru could sense it. He paused just outside the shoji and turned to face the younger youkai.

Inuyasha had stopped a short distance away, his eyes staring intently at the healer's door. There was a strange look on his face, a look that Sesshomaru couldn't quite identify. It was as if he was apprehensive about something or troubled . . . Sesshomaru couldn't decide which. Frowning, if only to himself, he took a step towards Inuyasha.

“Otouto?”

The boy blinked in that moment, the look gone, and the distance between them crossed. Just as he was about to say something, Inuyasha pushed the shoji open.

“Let's just get this over with, okay?”

Without another word, Inuyasha disappeared inside, leaving Sesshomaru to ponder the boy's strange behaviour. Then he quickly shook it off and entered the healer's abode. There was much to be done today and facing Inuyasha's wrath was going to be one of them. Of this, Sesshomaru was sure.

`It can't be helped,' he told himself as he followed Inuyasha to Shinsei. `I have done this to him and I shall take the responsibility for it.'

It was strange, really. The more he thought about his brother's condition, the more Sesshomaru found it to be rather . . . liberating. He found himself no longer worrying about the survival of their family bloodline. Sure, there were his uncles Kenmaru, Akira, and Hiroshi but, the last he had heard, none of them had taken on a mate and therefore hadn't sired any pups. He and his brother had sired a child and that child would be his heir. Sesshomaru would ensure that. The problem now was keeping his brother, his mate, safe.

As both of them approached, Shinsei glanced up from what he was doing, which, as far as Sesshomaru could tell, was the mixing of a potion. The healer, as soon as he saw the both of them, offered up a warm smile and rose to his feet.

“My Lords,” he murmured. “To what do I owe the honour of this visit?”

Next to him, Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably but neither of them answered. Sesshomaru knew what he had told Inuyasha, knew that the hanyou had believed that, but also knew the real reason as to why he had brought Inuyasha there. He was also quite certain that Shinsei knew why Inuyasha was there. Now that they were there . . .

`This is ridiculous!' he scolded himself. `I am the Lord of the Western Lands! This should not be that awkward!'

He opened his mouth to say something. It was, in his reasoning, best just to state to Shinsei what he had told Inuyasha before they'd left the boy's room. Inuyasha, it seemed, also had a similar idea.

“Sesshomaru felt that it would be a good idea for me to talk to you,” the boy stated. “Especially since I've been sore . . .”

“I see,” Shinsei murmured. “Very well then. Lord Inuyasha, please come this way . . .”

He gestured for the hanyou to step into a larger room, the room that Shinsei had told Sesshomaru that his arm was growing back at a rather phenomenal rate. Inuyasha quickly obliged him. Sesshomaru was about to follow when the healer stopped him, shaking his head.

“This is a very delicate matter, my Lord,” he murmured. “Please stay here. It is going to be . . . embarrassing enough for him without you there. Please. Just wait here for him. I'll let you know for sure if anything's wrong with him.”

Sesshomaru nodded as the healer slipped into the room behind his brother, closing the shoji. He then settled himself against the wall to wait. Behind the curtain, he heard his brother and the healer talking in hushed tones. He would have strained to listen to what they were saying but luck, however, was not on his side.

Within moments of Shinsei and Inuyasha disappearing behind the shoji, his brother's ningen friends had entered the healer's abode. The miko had a strong look of determination on her face and started to breeze right by him to where his brother was. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at her audacity.

“Where do you think you're going, little miko?”

Stormy grey eyes landed on him, a scowl marring the girl's features. Her aura fluctuated with her anger.

“I'm going in there to talk to Inuyasha,” she retorted. “Where do you think I'm going?”

“No,” he shook his head.

“No?” she blinked, surprise washing over her face. “And why not? You'll be right out here . . .”

“Because Inuyasha is discussing something of a delicate nature with the healer,” Sesshomaru replied. “To go in there now would be to embarrass him. Do you really wish to do that?”

For a moment, she hesitated, indecision crossing her features. Then she immediately banished it, her eyes narrowing.

“And why is Inuyasha discussing something with your healer?” the miko demanded, her hands landing on her hips. “What did you do? Hurt him?”

“I have done no such thing,” he intoned coolly, rising to his feet. “Again, little miko, you are forgetting your place in my home. You are not out in the wild where you can challenge me as freely as you please.”

He then folded his arms in front of him, noting with great delight how wide the ningens' eyes grew at seeing his newly regenerated arm. However, he was growing weary of the games the girl was trying to play in trying to get his brother alone. The miko's jaw dropped slightly at the sight of his right arm.

“H-h-how . . .” she sputtered.

“It is none of your concern as to how I regained my arm,” Sesshomaru stated, his tone laced with a hint of irritation. It was a sign that he was losing control over his emotions. “Just know that I will not tolerate your outbursts again after this.”

He then had to pause, as he had no doubts that Inuyasha had heard them. The last thing he wanted was for his brother to be upset, especially in his current condition. Sesshomaru leveled his gaze at the strange girl.

“I have promised Inuyasha that I would not harm you while you are here,” he murmured. “However, I may find myself `forgetting' that promise if you continue to show me disrespect, little miko.”

“So you've said before,” the taijiya replied. “But why should we believe you? You've gone out of your way to attack us every time you've come across us, especially Inuyasha.”

“That is in the past now, slayer. I have taken Inuyasha on as my responsibility and as my ward. I am ensuring that he will learn everything that he needs to know . . . it is what my father had wished for when it came to his children. Would you deny my father that right?”

The taijiya immediately looked chagrined at his rebuttal and turned her gaze elsewhere. Apparently, he'd struck a nerve with her. A quick glance at the monk and the miko indicated the same thing. It was a reaction he had more or less expected. Despite his opinion of most ningens, he knew that these were people of honour and understood. If they weren't, his brother wouldn't have put up with them for as long as he had.

`He wouldn't have anything to do with them period,' he told himself. `I know my brother better than they think I do.'

“I didn't think so,” Sesshomaru stated. “Now please, Shinsei . . .”

“My Lord! My Lord!”

Jaken's squawking interrupted anything further that he was going to say. Sesshomaru fought back a feral growl of frustration as the imp burst through the door, looking exhausted and breathless. Behind the imp were NatsuMaru and two other inuyoukai guards. Out of centuries of habit, Sesshomaru schooled his expression and cast a cold glare at the imp.

“What is it, Jaken?”

“Pardon the intrusion, my Lord,” the imp rasped, “but I thought you might like to know that Inuyasha's retainer, the flea Myouga, has been located and brought to the castle.”

“Myouga?!”

Sesshomaru ignored the cries of the ningens as he kept his gaze leveled on Jaken.

“And where is Myouga now?”

“In your study, my Lord,” the imp bowed.

“I see . . . I shall be there shortly, once Shinsei is done with Inuyasha.”

Jaken immediately bowed and scurried out of the room, the two guards following behind him. NatsuMaru gave him a questioning glance, to which he shook his head. Sesshomaru had an idea as to what the elite guard wanted to ask him but he wasn't about to talk about it. Not in front of a group of overly protective ningens.

The shoji slid open at that moment, bringing any further conversation to a halt. Sesshomaru turned his head to see his brother and Shinsei standing there, and felt his heart sink down to his toes. He knew beyond any doubt that Shinsei had told the boy of his current condition. It was there. In both of their eyes.

His brother wore a mask of absolute iciness but his eyes were alive with a variety of emotions. It wasn't the anger that he'd been expecting. He had been more than certain that Inuyasha would be angry, that the boy would try to attack him for what had happened. Instead, Inuyasha had not, and it frightened Sesshomaru, though he'd never admit it.

Inuyasha took one step beyond the shoji then glanced at everyone, saving Sesshomaru for last. When their eyes met, he spoke in a quiet yet trembling tone.

“I need to speak to my friends. Alone.”