InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Happy Place ❯ My Immortal Feelings ( Chapter 6 )

"I'm so tired of being here
suppressed by all of my childish fears
and if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
because your presence still lingers here
and it won't leave me alone.
These wounds won't seem to heal.
This pain is just too real.
There's so much that time cannot erase.
When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears.
When you screamed, I'd fight away all of your fears
And I've held your hand through all of these years
but you still have . . . all of me."
-- My Immortal, Evanescence

"Kirara, go!"

That was all Sesshomaru caught as he mounted Uhn and Ah's back and took off after the dragon that had captured his brother. He had no doubt that it was a dragon. Its claws, snout and wings gave it away. However, it didn't look like any dragon he had ever encountered nor did it behave like any dragon he had encountered.

'Dragons don't take prisoners and they don't leave anyone behind. They don't even attack unless they feel that their territory is being threatened. So what gives?'

He squinted to get a better look at the creature. Its wingspan nearly blotted out his view in front of it and its scales shimmered emerald, amethyst, and sapphire. Inuyasha remained grasped in one of its claws, its speed increasing.

Before too much longer, it disappeared from sight but their scents remained.

'I can follow that. And I can find out who the demon lord is.'

Sesshomaru frowned as he followed. He knew that Inuyasha's friends weren't that far behind him but that wasn't what was bothering him. This mysterious demon lord . . . He'd singled out Inuyasha but he couldn't fathom as to why. Inuyasha had always been something of a hothead ever since he'd been forced to defend himself but he'd never gone so far as to insult a demon lord. Just him.

'I just hope I can keep tracking them. The demon lord has much to answer for.'

* * *

'What the hell is going on?'

The wind rushed by him as he flew. What carried him, he didn't know but he did notice one thing. The darkness that had once shrouded him seemed to lift, if only a little. He even became aware of sound . . . though muffled. Something like wings flapping strongly ran through his mind.

'A bird . . . No . . . they almost sound . . . leathery . . . What it could be?'

Cold stone greeted him as did six familiar scents. His eyes widened at the one.

'It can't be. . .'

He pushed himself into a sitting position, his vision crystal clear in a moment. Before him stood the five women who had cast the spell on him and a silver-haired demon with a single jagged, purple stripe on each of his cheeks. He had a mournful expression on his face.

"You learned your lesson rather quickly," the golden-haired woman smiled. "I'm impressed. We didn't exactly think you would. Now there's just one more thing we need to do, at the request of our friend here."

A silver-white light came out of nowhere and enveloped him before he could move . . .

* * *

"What is that?" the demon exterminator breathed.

"It's a dragon," the miko answered, something Sesshomaru had already guessed. The creature in question had curled itself up in front of a large stone building, thrumming.

"It doesn't look like any dragon I've ever seen," the monk stated.

"Indeed," Sesshomaru agreed. "Where did it come from?"

"It looks . . . Western . . ."

"Western?"

"Yes," the dark-haired girl nodded. "Western. We usually use that term to refer to the lands west of our country, like Europe and America. This is how they usually envision dragons but I didn't think they actually existed like this. It's magnificent."

"And dangerous," Sesshomaru added, his eyes surveying the surrounding area and his nose taking in the scents. Inuyasha had been here. That much he could tell. But something bothered him. There were six other scents mingled with his brother's . . . and one of them should not have been.

"Is there something the matter, Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken squawked.

"Be careful . . . something isn't right . . ."

The sound of a child wailing reached their ears. Sesshomaru felt his ears prick up at the sound. He knew that sound, he knew that voice, that child's voice. He'd heard it so many times before when his father had been alive. And the sixth scent that he had picked up, the one that should not have been . . .

"Father . . ."

"What?" He felt several pairs of eyes falling on him.

"It's Father . . . He's been . . . brought back to life . . . somehow . . ."

He took off into the building. The whys and the hows . . . They seemed irrelevant now. He could see his father again, if only for a moment.

'He must be the demon lord the woman spoke of but why? Why would he do that to Inuyasha? I just don't understand.'

Sesshomaru came to a sudden halt as his father came into view, cuddling a small child with white dog ears on the top of his head. At least, he was trying to cuddle the child as best he could. The toddler had tears in his eyes and he had his father's lips locked together with his hands.

"Father . . ."

The silver-haired demon looked up, a slight twinkle in his eyes. A twinkle that said he knew better than to make scary faces in front of a small child yet had done it anyway. He adjusted the child in his arms then nodded to him.

"Sesshomaru . . ."

"But how? Why?"

"Why what, Sesshomaru?" His father raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why did you have that spell cast on Inuyasha? How is it that you're able to stand in front me when you died many years ago?"

His father regarded him for a moment before finding a place to sit, still cradling Inuyasha in his arms. Footsteps echoed behind him as his servants and Inuyasha's friends joined him.

"In a way, I am your father . . . but not the one that you knew. I guess you could say that I'm from another time and another place . . . where things had worked a little differently."

"You never battled Ryukotsusei?"

"Oh, I did and I defeated him. I survived and made it back to you boys and to Izayoi."

"You . . . survived?" Sesshomaru blinked. His father nodded again, adjusting the small child in his arms yet again. Inuyasha had always been a handful to his parents.

"I survived but just barely. It took me many weeks to recover."

"So what happened? Why did you have the spell cast on Inuyasha?"

"And you?" he added. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes, the spell was meant to affect you as well, Sesshomaru. As for why . . . well . . . I learned the hard way just how much having a family meant to me. I had always wanted you and your brother but then . . . I lost you both."

"Lost us? How? Father, you're not making sense . . ."

For a moment, his father didn't answer. His gaze had lowered to the hanyou child he held in his arms and Sesshomaru thought for certain he'd start crying judging by the look in his eyes.

"You were both so young . . . We never even knew what had happened . . . You were both outside, playing in the courtyard . . . The next thing I remember, you came crashing into the house, carrying your brother in your arms, your face panicked. Inuyasha . . . he didn't respond to anyone. Not you, me or his mother . . . He had gone limp and he convulsed. That's when the fever came . . ." Amber eyes raised to meet his. "Your brother burned with a fever throughout the night and the next day, didn't even move. The healer had said that the longer he held on to his life, the better chances he had to survive . . . He lied . . . He didn't know . . . Your brother never woke up again, Sesshomaru. He died in your arms, a small pup of three years."

His father sat down, now nuzzling his brother.

"You were never the same after that. Something inside you died that day as well, Sesshomaru. You hardly ate, hardly smiled . . . never left your brother's room once. For a while there, I feared for your mind, my son. I didn't know if you would curse humans from that day forth or curse demons for what had happened to your brother."

Sesshomaru found himself trying to breathe. He felt like someone had slammed him into a wall. His brother . . . had died? And it had affected him terribly?

'It would and you know it,' a little voice whispered. 'You loved your brother when he was that age and you would have done anything for him.'

"How did he turn out?" the young miko asked. He could smell the tears in her eyes as well as the exterminator's and kitsune's.

"I'll never know," his father admitted. "The fifth day after Inuyasha had died, we found Sesshomaru dead. He had curled himself up around a poisoned blade and took his own life in his brother's room."

Sesshomaru lowered his gaze to the small form now sleeping in his father's arms. He looked contented, peaceful, as if he had not a care in the world.

'In another time, another life . . . we die . . . our father lives but we die . . . Is Fate mocking us?'

Something being pressed into his good arm caught his attention and he blinked, seeing his father standing in front of him and pushing Inuyasha against him.

"I won't go into the rest of the story," he murmured. "It would take too long and the spell surrounding your brother will not last long. Just know that I love you both and I don't want to see you fighting the way that you have. That is why I had the spell cast. I don't want either of you to take for granted the precious gifts that you have found . . . or the fact that you are brothers. You always have been . . . and you always will be. Take care of him. He is the only one you'll ever have."

"Father . . ."

"Don't disappoint me, Sesshomaru. Please," came the plea. "I know from my own experiences as to how much you adored him and how he adored you. It's still there. It isn't too late."

He wrapped his arm around Inuyasha, who had taken it upon himself to snuggle and bury his face into his fur stole. His father took several steps away from him and had begun to smile.

"He won't remember much of this, Sesshomaru. It'll be just a nightmarish dream he had trouble waking up from. It's better this way."

"Won't he forget the lessons he learned?"

"No," the inuyoukai shook his head. "Those he will never forget for fear of the 'dream' becoming true. He may not admit it, of course, but it'll still be there. Take care of him. All of you and he will take care of you. And so will I."

Five women stepped out of the shadows at the moment and took their places next to his father. He immediately recognized the golden-haired woman from before. She gave him an impish wink as they slowly faded from their sight. Sesshomaru glanced at his brother. He had to admit his brother had been somewhat adorable when he'd been a small pup. Then he did something he hadn't done in a very long time. He nuzzled his younger brother.