InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I Loved Him ❯ I Loved Him as a Mistake ( Chapter 5 )

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

LES: It is Sesshomaru’s turn in the fire! This one is hard. Really hard. But not hard like Kikyou’s was hard. I’ve written a lot of fanfiction for a lot of fandoms, but I think I’m right in saying that Sesshomaru is THE hardest character to understand. I usually pride myself in my ability to sniff out a character’s motivations, but Sesshomaru is just simply impossible! The guy defies all attempts to understand his actions. And he, at times, seems to go out of his way to be contradictory. His words say one thing, and his actions say another. Curse you, Sesshomaru!
Sesshomaru: This Sesshomaru sees no reason to explain his actions to a pathetic human author.
LES: … *sour face* Exactly. Just for that, this fanfiction will make you secretly care about your brother. What do you think about that?
Sesshomaru: The whims of a human wench have no effect on this Sesshomaru. Do what you want in your pathetic story. Just know that while you are writing, this Sesshomaru will be chocking the life out of that pathetic half-breed.
LES: Whatever you say, Sesshomaru. *thinks* Like we’ve never heard that before…

Chapter V: I Loved Him as a Mistake

Youkai Lords were not known for displays of emotion, but if there was one emotion that was completely foreign to the Inuyoukai Lord Sesshomaru, it was regret.

There was no doubt that it was a beautiful summer day in the land of Musashi. And yet the noble Youkai Lord passed through the landscape without leaving an imprint of his passing or allowing himself to take in the surroundings.

He was here, as crazy as it seemed, to chase a rumor. A rumor regarding his disgraceful half-brother, Inuyasha.

He could still remember the day, a decade and a half ago, when his father had informed him of his half-brother’s existence. Sesshomaru had, of course, known about his father’s dalliances with a mortal woman. He had not cared that his father was taken with a mortal woman. It was not unusual for a Youkai to take a human as a plaything. What had inspired Sesshomaru’s hatred was when the abominable hanyou child was conceived, his father refused to do the honorable thing in killing his lover and unborn hanyou child. Instead his father had as good as told him to treat the filthy hanyou as a brother, and to watch over him in the case that anything happened to the Youkai Lord.

When his father had died, Sesshomaru had taken his land and titles, and he fulfilled his father’s wishes in the absolute minimum capacity. He had protected the village where the hanyou and his whore mother lived from Youkai attack, but that was it. What care did Sesshomaru have for a hanyou child and his mother being bullied by humans? He did not care.

He’d had almost no contact with the child growing up. In fact, the closest he ever got to Inuyasha was the day that he’d been forced to visit the village in the interest of fulfilling his duties as the Lord of the Western Lands. He’d walked down the human’s street with several of his Inuyoukai retainers, when the hanyou had suddenly appeared in front of him.

To this day, Sesshomaru had no idea what had driven the hanyou into the street, but the evidence at the time suggested that he was trying to escape some human bullies. Sesshomaru had snorted. It was further proof of how inferior hanyous were to true Youkai. No Youkai would allow itself to be bullied by mere humans.

The child Inuyasha could not have been older than five or six and he froze when his eyes met his older half-brother. His Inuyoukai retainers instantly knew that he and the pitiful whelp shared the same father and laughed quietly to themselves.

Embarrassed. That was what Sesshomaru felt at the time, but he did not allow it to show on his face. Why must he suffer the shame of his father’s mistake?

However, all of Sesshomaru’s thoughts to keeping control of the situation ended when Inuyasha said a single word: “Brother?”

Without his expression changing in the slightest to give away the vast amount of rage he felt, Sesshomaru summoned his whip and lashed the defenseless hanyou. The whip caught him just below the chin and flayed open his neck. The hanyou’s dirty blood sprayed down on the ground as the pitiful whelp cried out in pain and shock.

But Sesshomaru’s heart was utterly unmoved by the child’s pain. A Youkai could heal from a wound like that in a few days. For a hanyou, it would take a week, but it would heal. The humans who witnessed began to laugh at the weak hanyou and his misfortune.

“Never address this Sesshomaru thus again, hanyou.” Sesshomaru told his half-brother coldly. “This Sesshomaru is a Youkai Lord and you are nothing but our father’s mistake. You are a hanyou, lower than the dirt beneath a true Youkai’s feet. Never forget that.” Then the hanyou’s whore of a mother pushed her way through the crowd and gathered her trembling son up, ignoring the jeers she got from the crowd.

Sesshomaru had to admit that she was beautiful for a human, and he could see why his father took interest in her. But why did he keep her? How could the life of a human wench and a filthy hanyou ever be equal to that of an Inuyoukai Lord? “Woman. You will see to it that your son receives the proper discipline. The hanyou must come to understand the manner in which he must address his betters.”

Inuyasha had curled into his mother’s bosom, but she met his eyes without a trace of fear. She knew that her mate had tasked his son with their protection, and even his intense hatred would not make him back out on his word. She bowed, turned, and left without a word.

That was many years ago now, and that was the closest that Sesshomaru had ever come to Inuyasha. The Youkai Lord did keep tabs on his brother over the years, a little shocked every time he received the report that his half-brother was still alive, but roaming the country as a wild thing.

That had changed in the last few months. Inuyasha had no longer roamed, but had seemed content to stay within range of an insignificant human village. And, soon, the Youkai of the area began to spread the rumor that a temple miko had fallen in love with an Inuhanyou.

But it was the rumor that came next that compelled Sesshomaru to leave the comfort of his castle and mate and take a journey to the land of Musashi. It was just outside the boundary of his lands, but it was not within any Youkai Lord’s territory.

The rumors were that the love between the miko and the hanyou had soured and ended in a brutal fashion. Sesshomaru had come to see the truth for himself.

The human village seemed almost dead. It lacked the activity that Sesshomaru normally associated with human villages. It was a village in mourning for a beloved member of the community. But Sesshomaru had no interest in them. Instead, he made his way to the forest, and from there, to the tallest tree in the forest.

As soon as he saw the trunk of the tree, he knew the rumors were true. His half-brother, Inuyasha, had been bewitched by his miko lover and affixed to the tree with an arrow through his heart. Sesshomaru stepped closer, examining the spell on the arrow. He was no expert in miko magic, but what he saw caused even him to feel a small amount of sympathy for the hanyou.

His miko lover must have truly hated him in the end. Sesshomaru thought to himself. She hated the hanyou so much that she even denied him peace in death. If she is dead as the rumors say, then he will remain in this state for eternity for only the miko who cast the spell can break it.

Sesshomaru shuttered at the thought. An eternity spent in darkness. He would never open his eyes or move from this spot again.

Sesshomaru took a step closer, putting his talon under Inuyasha’s chin and tilting his head up. This was now the closest that Sesshomaru had ever come to Inuyasha and the first time he had seen the hanyou with his own eyes since he was a child.

It struck Sesshomaru how much Inuyasha resembled their father. Sesshomaru himself took much more after his mother than he did his father. But Inuyasha definitely had their father’s looks.

Sesshomaru’s claws were resting against Inuyasha’s throat, and the hanyou was still trapped by the spell anchored by the miko’s arrow embedded in his chest. It would be such a simple thing, to kill the hanyou that had caused him such embarrassment. There was nothing that Inuyasha could do to stop him from tightening his grip and ceasing the flow of air to his lungs, or to tear his throat open like he did as a child. With his Youki sealed, such a wound would most certainly be fatal this time.

But Sesshomaru did no such thing. There was only one thing in this world that Sesshomaru truly wanted, and that was to fight the strongest opponents he could. Inuyasha, sealed in this manner, certainly did not count. He was helpless. Worse than helpless. Even humans, as pitiful as they were, could put up more resistance. Just the thought of killing Inuyasha like this rubbed him the wrong way.

So the Youkai Lord released Inuyasha’s throat and took a step back. Leaving him in this state was a fate far crueler than death anyway.

“Pray, hanyou, that you never awake from that slumber.” Sesshomaru told his half-brother. “For if you do, this Sesshomaru will dispatch you himself.”

And then the Youkai Lord left the land of Musashi, and would not be seen in those lands again for over fifty years.

LES: Geez, I wish Sesshomaru was a little easier to write. Why must you be so difficult?!?
Sesshomaru: This Sesshomaru has no care for your problems.
LES: *storms away*