InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon an Inuyoukai ❯ Coalescence ( Chapter 22 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Empatheia 
At last, no angst!
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Hentai / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.18.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 253 | Status: Work In Progress
At last, no angst!
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Hentai / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 04.18.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 253 | Status: Work In Progress
A/N: Happy Easter, beloveds!
Important announcement: This story has (!!!!) been nominated on Inuyasha Fanguild (IYFG) for this quarter's awards under two categories:
Best Action/Adventure
Best Romance Alternate Pairing
Seconding starts on the 23rd... I'm not hung up on placing, but I'd feel lots of warm fuzzies if someone seconded me. I'm honoured just to have been nominated (thank you, Vega Sailor! And patch_work_wings, whoever you are...) so more would just be icing on the cake.
That said... I hope you enjoy this chapter!
A million thanks to my wonderful beta reader, ALF. ::love::
OoooooooO
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight
-Barenaked Ladies, 'Lovers in a Dangerous Time'
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Chapter XXII: Coalescence
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"Damn," Ryuunomei rasped from his futon. Even the slight effort of moving his lungs sent clawing agony through his side, which was healing far more slowly than he'd expected. Inutaisho's poison, though not as terrible as his son's, was evidently a force to be reckoned with. The dragon family and the dog family had been enemies for a very long time, but Ryuunomei had always managed to avoid Inutaisho's blows... until this time.
However, that pain was a minor concern at the moment for the Dragon King. He had a serious problem, one that showed no signs of going away any time soon. It was a terrible problem, and he was feeling utterly miserable because of it.
Ryuunomei was developing a conscience.
Normally, the events of the past week would have had him screaming for vengeance and gathering his forces for a brutal counter-attack. Normally, he would have pushed his damaged body to the limit to achieve his retaliation. Normally, he would have wanted to disembowel those who dared to lay a finger on him.
He was forced to conclude that his mind had been damaged somehow by the blow to his side, because he felt barely even the slightest inclination to go after Izayoi and make her pay for his humiliation. It was extremely disturbing for him to realize this, for his lack of conscience had always been a point of pride for him. He had loved every minute of being a cold, ruthless killer and a sadistic predator. Being an abomination suited him. Thus, finding out that there was a part of him that was not so terrible was discomfiting and made him angry.
Why can't I get angry about this? Why don't I want to torture and kill them slowly? Why don't I want vengeance?
The light from the shoji dimmed. The sun had set on another day of inaction. He clenched his fist and hissed when the movement irritated his wound. He wished with all his heart for his old resolve and heartlessness to return, but it remained stubbornly absent.
"Nii-sama?"
Ryuunomei sighed. "What is it now?"
"It is time to change your dressings." Ryuukotsusei entered the room, followed by a dimunitive maid.
Without turning his head, Ryuunomei identified the servant as Tomiko, one of his favorites. She smelled of hazelnuts and walked like a mouse. She pleased him. "Very well, then. Hurry up."
The maid silently shuffled forwards with her bundle of white fabric and set to work. The pain was very bad.
"Nii-sama..."
"What?" Ryuunomei barked at his younger brother.
"Forgive me for asking, but..."
The Dragon King knew what was coming now. It was a predictable pattern, and one he was growing heartily tired of. His brother would ask him how he was feeling...
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Not particularly."
Then, he would ask when Ryuunomei suspected he would be well again...
"When do you think you'll be healed, nii-sama?"
"Whenever I'm finished healing."
And finally, the question Ryuunomei was absolutely sick of.
"When you are healed, what do you plan to do?"
Ryuunomei wished he was healed just so that he could get up and slaughter his brother. It was not a question he wanted to think about at all. If he was to remain in character, he would have to gather his forces, track down his attackers, and make them suffer for as long as possible before murdering them. The personality he'd painstakingly developed over the millennia of his life demanded immediate retaliation.
"Go away."
"Nii-sama! You cannot allow this to go unanswered!"
"Ite!" Ryuunomei shouted as the servant girl tightened the bandages. "That hurts, little whore!"
"I am sorry, Ryuunomei-sama. Please forgive me."
"Just...finish your job and leave," he growled in ill temper.
She did not seem to even notice his ire. "Yes, my lord."
"Nii-sama..."
"Little brother, if you ask me that question one more time, I swear I will eviscerate you." He narrowed his eyes and with great effort tilted his head to meet his brother's eyes, and added menacingly; "With an unpolished chopstick."
Ryuukotsusei froze for moment, then bowed stiffly. "As you wish. I will not ask again. However, please think on it."
"Fine, fine. Just leave me alone!"
"There are some matters that require your attention."
"I am going to kill you."
His brother was unfazed. "Very well. After you look at these."
It was a very long hour of poring over lengthy, pretentious reports on scrolls and trying to think of solutions to unsolvable and decidedly petty issues. When it was over, Ryuunomei was exhausted from the effort of pretending to care. Entire villages had been wiped out by Mount Fuji's eruption. There were refugees everywhere, and they were causing economic strain on the towns they were fleeing to. Nobody was equipped to deal with thousands of hungry, homeless people. Problems abounded, and Ryuunomei could not bring himself to give even an iota of concern to the matter.
"You know, nii-sama, if you would just answer the question, I would stop asking."
Ryuunomei clenched his knuckles and bit his lip until it bled. "When I am healed, we will begin to plan. There is no rush, so if you ever ask me that again, I will remove your fingers one by one, dip them in wasabi, and make you swallow them. Understood?"
"You're in a good mood today, nii-sama."
"No, I am not!"
"You never make jokes when you are in a bad mood."
Ryuunomei narrowed his eyes and whispered silkily "You're right... I don't. I am in a very bad mood. I don't joke when I'm in a bad mood. You may be slow, but I'm sure even you can figure out what that equates to."
Ryuukotsusei heaved a gusty, long-suffering sigh and furled the scroll of his report. "I see am not going to get anywhere with you today again. I will return tomorrow."
"Don't bother."
The shoji slid near-silently shut behind Ryuukotsusei's retreating back, and Ryuunomei exhaled slowly in relief. It was getting harder and harder to hedge his way around that question, and he wasn't ready to answer it yet.
The land was in shambles-- as lord of the kingdom, it was his first duty to rectify that. Thus, before he could mount any sort of retaliation attempt against the West, he would have to get his own land back on its feet. That would take a couple of months. By then, Ryuunomei hoped to be fully recovered and able to accompany the expedition himself. That is, if he ever found the motivation to mount an expedition in the first place.
No matter how long and hard he rationalized with himself, he could not seem to make himself want revenge. He had nearly died, and was suffering a great deal because of his enemy and that accursed woman. Inutaisho had dared to trespass, dared to wound him, dared to take his possession; any one of which would normally be enough to send the Dragon King berserk. And yet...
I'm tired. Tired of scheming, tired of conquering, tired of fighting. I'm tired of being hated. I'm tired of having to watch my back every moment of every day for assassins. I'm tired of having all this responsibility. I suppose... I'm just tired of being me. Maybe a good month's rest will cure me of this strange, uncomfortable equanimity. Or perhaps, maybe not. Either way... I don't believe I'm going to do anything strenuous for a little while.
He smiled slightly.
Enjoy this respite, Inutaisho, Izayoi. It won't last forever. Eventually, I'll return to my normal self and come after you. Then you will suffer, and die. So live every day to its fullest... count every second as precious. You have so few left.
VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV
Earlier
VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV
There was a story in the shadows of his hair, and Izayoi could not tear herself away. It billowed in the wind animatedly as they flew, his strong hands tight around her thighs and her arms clutching his chest though she did not fear falling anymore. It was cold where they were sailing, among the drifting clouds and stars, but he emanated heat and she was not chilled.
Her heart was strangely peaceful, high above the turmoil behind her. Had she been on the ground, she thought she might have been crying and confused, unsure of whether she'd done the right thing in leaving her beloved lord lying in a pool of his own blood. She thought she might have felt somewhat guilty for leaving him there alone, without guarantee of survival.
She felt neither.
What Izayoi felt was happy. Really, truly happy for the first time she could remember since her very early childhood. Up here, where the only voices were that of the winds, she had found a quiet place to rest in and allow herself to stop worrying for a while. Until they landed, there was nothing that could or would happen to her-- it was a sort of beautiful limbo that she would have happily stayed in for the rest of her life if Inutaisho could have flown forever for her.
He could not, and so after a while they began to descend towards the darkened earth, away from the moon. Neither of them had said a word during the entire flight. As they sank, a moment of vertigo had her eyes believing that they were not descending, but that the earth was rising up to swallow them. She tightened her arms around him, and felt his answering squeeze on her thighs. Izayoi smiled and pressed her face into his silver banner of hair.
She thought she had never been so thoroughly rescued in her life.
They touched down in the middle of a silent, sleeping campsite. Sleeping, except for Sesshoumaru, that was.
"Chichi-ue," the grim young youkai said. "I see you were successful."
Inutaisho only nodded, seemingly still unwilling to break the precious silence between him and the woman sliding off his back. When she felt steady on her feet, she stopped leaning on him, but did not move away. Though it was marginally warmer down on the ground, it was still early winter. The wind spoke of frost and ice when it blew from the north.
Katsuro, seasoned battle veteran that he was, bolted awake at the sound of Sesshoumaru's voice. "Who? What?" He squinted into the darkness beyond the firelight. "Who's there?"
Izayoi cleared her throat, moved far more than she thought she'd be by the sound of his voice and sight of his muzzy, confused face. "Katsuro...san," she managed to choke out.
In the blink of an eye, he went from sleep-fogged and whimsical to wide awake and serious. "Izayoi-hime?"
Her eyes burned and she laughed. "Don't call me that," she whispered, and dashed away the threatening tears.
"By all the gods!" he shouted joyously. "Everyone, get up! She's back!" He leaped out of his bedroll, pounded across the clearing, and enveloped her in a very warm, affectionate embrace.
The tears spilled over and she felt her limbs loosen bonelessly. She had forgotten what it was like to have real friends, friends that cared about her well-being and continued existence. There was no falsity in Katsuro's hug-- the affection and comradeship in his hug was real and unfeigned. She found herself suddenly unable to speak.
"Aneue!" called a tearful feminine voice from behind Katsuro's shoulder, followed a moment later by Sakenmaru's jovial shout of "Welcome back!"
Izayoi could not breathe through the emotions suffocating her. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed all of her new friends. How they'd grown so dear to her in such a short time when the 'friends' she'd had in the dragon castle that she'd spent years with had never even reached this level. However, she was not complaining at all. She had never been so happy in her entire life, childhood included. Encircled in a warm clutch of arms and tears, she felt safe and loved and strong. Naruka was behind her, arms tight around her waist and face buried in Izayoi's back while she wept. Sakenmaru was laughing and had his arms around the three of them, being big enough to hold them all.
They were a tight knot of flesh and joy and love and she never, ever wanted to move.
OoooooooooooO
Inutaisho stood aside in the shadows with his son, watching quietly.
"Tell me what happened," Sesshoumaru said.
Inutaisho had to remember how to speak, and coughed a few times before figuring it out. "I came," he replied, "I sliced Ryuunomei nearly in half, took Izayoi, and left."
"You did not kill him, did you?"
"No. I know we are not ready for the war yet. He moved, else he would not have been so grievously wounded."
"That would have been unfortunate. The army is assembled, but completely untrained. I still do not agree with this idea of yours, by the way. It seems more than a little insane to my eyes."
"Ah." Inutaisho's mind was ten feet away from his mouth with the huddled group of people. His back and hands still tingled from where their bodies had been touching. She was crying, swallowed and tiny within the shield of flesh her friends formed.
"Chichi-ue, is there something wrong?" Sesshoumaru asked warily. "You seem distant. Are you paying attention?"
"There is nothing wrong, Sesshoumaru," Inutaisho said quietly. "I have just recently had some revelations, and I am still trying to assimilate them. Forgive me."
"Revelations?"
Inutaisho did not answer, opting instead to continue watching the joyful reunion in the firelight. The happiness on Izayoi's face was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
On the silent return flight, he'd come to understand a few things about himself and about her, and about them. First and foremost, that there was a 'them.' No matter what happened next, he knew that he would eventually have to deal with the fact that he was bound to her, both willingly and helplessly. The more time he spent in her company, the more he wanted to spend as much time as possible with her in the future. The energy that poured off of her was intoxicating. Though he still could not quite lay a finger on exactly what it was, something about her made him willing to do anything to keep her smiling.
That was the second revelation. Somehow, somewhere, somewhen, he'd grown to love the fragile, broken woman before him, who had saved him and his people at her own risk. She was a paradox-- fragile, yes, but also strong: ugly and flawed in many ways, but beautiful in the whole. The warped and weakened parts of her soul only lent themselves to the grand design, which he finally thought he was beginning to grasp.
The third revelation was that he knew what the third sword to the celestial trilogy was for, at long last. Sou'unga he would try to hide or dispose of when he died-- it was far too dangerous to leave in the hands of future generations. Tenseiga he had already planned to leave with Sesshoumaru. The healing sword was half-sentient and had a habit of demanding to be used, on occasion, and Inutaisho wanted more than anything to have it teach Sesshoumaru the mercy he lacked. The sword of Hell and the sword of Heaven had their places already-- only the sword of Earth was left.
Totosai would be thrilled. He had been waiting to forge the last sword for decades, needing only its purpose to complete its design. Inutaisho now had that. Also, with its purpose had come its name. There was nothing left but to go to Totosai, give him a fang to work with, and let the magic swordsmith do his work. Inutaisho was relieved to finally be able to complete his great commission, and knew Totosai would be equally glad.
He looked over at the woman that the sword would be forged to protect, and smiled a deep, secret smile.
Sesshoumaru, who was watching, felt a vague sense of foreboding at the sight.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
A/N: So? So? He finally admitted it to himself! YES! OMG! FINALLY!
...Ahem.
Important announcement: This story has (!!!!) been nominated on Inuyasha Fanguild (IYFG) for this quarter's awards under two categories:
Best Action/Adventure
Best Romance Alternate Pairing
Seconding starts on the 23rd... I'm not hung up on placing, but I'd feel lots of warm fuzzies if someone seconded me. I'm honoured just to have been nominated (thank you, Vega Sailor! And patch_work_wings, whoever you are...) so more would just be icing on the cake.
That said... I hope you enjoy this chapter!
A million thanks to my wonderful beta reader, ALF. ::love::
OoooooooO
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight
-Barenaked Ladies, 'Lovers in a Dangerous Time'
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Chapter XXII: Coalescence
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"Damn," Ryuunomei rasped from his futon. Even the slight effort of moving his lungs sent clawing agony through his side, which was healing far more slowly than he'd expected. Inutaisho's poison, though not as terrible as his son's, was evidently a force to be reckoned with. The dragon family and the dog family had been enemies for a very long time, but Ryuunomei had always managed to avoid Inutaisho's blows... until this time.
However, that pain was a minor concern at the moment for the Dragon King. He had a serious problem, one that showed no signs of going away any time soon. It was a terrible problem, and he was feeling utterly miserable because of it.
Ryuunomei was developing a conscience.
Normally, the events of the past week would have had him screaming for vengeance and gathering his forces for a brutal counter-attack. Normally, he would have pushed his damaged body to the limit to achieve his retaliation. Normally, he would have wanted to disembowel those who dared to lay a finger on him.
He was forced to conclude that his mind had been damaged somehow by the blow to his side, because he felt barely even the slightest inclination to go after Izayoi and make her pay for his humiliation. It was extremely disturbing for him to realize this, for his lack of conscience had always been a point of pride for him. He had loved every minute of being a cold, ruthless killer and a sadistic predator. Being an abomination suited him. Thus, finding out that there was a part of him that was not so terrible was discomfiting and made him angry.
Why can't I get angry about this? Why don't I want to torture and kill them slowly? Why don't I want vengeance?
The light from the shoji dimmed. The sun had set on another day of inaction. He clenched his fist and hissed when the movement irritated his wound. He wished with all his heart for his old resolve and heartlessness to return, but it remained stubbornly absent.
"Nii-sama?"
Ryuunomei sighed. "What is it now?"
"It is time to change your dressings." Ryuukotsusei entered the room, followed by a dimunitive maid.
Without turning his head, Ryuunomei identified the servant as Tomiko, one of his favorites. She smelled of hazelnuts and walked like a mouse. She pleased him. "Very well, then. Hurry up."
The maid silently shuffled forwards with her bundle of white fabric and set to work. The pain was very bad.
"Nii-sama..."
"What?" Ryuunomei barked at his younger brother.
"Forgive me for asking, but..."
The Dragon King knew what was coming now. It was a predictable pattern, and one he was growing heartily tired of. His brother would ask him how he was feeling...
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Not particularly."
Then, he would ask when Ryuunomei suspected he would be well again...
"When do you think you'll be healed, nii-sama?"
"Whenever I'm finished healing."
And finally, the question Ryuunomei was absolutely sick of.
"When you are healed, what do you plan to do?"
Ryuunomei wished he was healed just so that he could get up and slaughter his brother. It was not a question he wanted to think about at all. If he was to remain in character, he would have to gather his forces, track down his attackers, and make them suffer for as long as possible before murdering them. The personality he'd painstakingly developed over the millennia of his life demanded immediate retaliation.
"Go away."
"Nii-sama! You cannot allow this to go unanswered!"
"Ite!" Ryuunomei shouted as the servant girl tightened the bandages. "That hurts, little whore!"
"I am sorry, Ryuunomei-sama. Please forgive me."
"Just...finish your job and leave," he growled in ill temper.
She did not seem to even notice his ire. "Yes, my lord."
"Nii-sama..."
"Little brother, if you ask me that question one more time, I swear I will eviscerate you." He narrowed his eyes and with great effort tilted his head to meet his brother's eyes, and added menacingly; "With an unpolished chopstick."
Ryuukotsusei froze for moment, then bowed stiffly. "As you wish. I will not ask again. However, please think on it."
"Fine, fine. Just leave me alone!"
"There are some matters that require your attention."
"I am going to kill you."
His brother was unfazed. "Very well. After you look at these."
It was a very long hour of poring over lengthy, pretentious reports on scrolls and trying to think of solutions to unsolvable and decidedly petty issues. When it was over, Ryuunomei was exhausted from the effort of pretending to care. Entire villages had been wiped out by Mount Fuji's eruption. There were refugees everywhere, and they were causing economic strain on the towns they were fleeing to. Nobody was equipped to deal with thousands of hungry, homeless people. Problems abounded, and Ryuunomei could not bring himself to give even an iota of concern to the matter.
"You know, nii-sama, if you would just answer the question, I would stop asking."
Ryuunomei clenched his knuckles and bit his lip until it bled. "When I am healed, we will begin to plan. There is no rush, so if you ever ask me that again, I will remove your fingers one by one, dip them in wasabi, and make you swallow them. Understood?"
"You're in a good mood today, nii-sama."
"No, I am not!"
"You never make jokes when you are in a bad mood."
Ryuunomei narrowed his eyes and whispered silkily "You're right... I don't. I am in a very bad mood. I don't joke when I'm in a bad mood. You may be slow, but I'm sure even you can figure out what that equates to."
Ryuukotsusei heaved a gusty, long-suffering sigh and furled the scroll of his report. "I see am not going to get anywhere with you today again. I will return tomorrow."
"Don't bother."
The shoji slid near-silently shut behind Ryuukotsusei's retreating back, and Ryuunomei exhaled slowly in relief. It was getting harder and harder to hedge his way around that question, and he wasn't ready to answer it yet.
The land was in shambles-- as lord of the kingdom, it was his first duty to rectify that. Thus, before he could mount any sort of retaliation attempt against the West, he would have to get his own land back on its feet. That would take a couple of months. By then, Ryuunomei hoped to be fully recovered and able to accompany the expedition himself. That is, if he ever found the motivation to mount an expedition in the first place.
No matter how long and hard he rationalized with himself, he could not seem to make himself want revenge. He had nearly died, and was suffering a great deal because of his enemy and that accursed woman. Inutaisho had dared to trespass, dared to wound him, dared to take his possession; any one of which would normally be enough to send the Dragon King berserk. And yet...
I'm tired. Tired of scheming, tired of conquering, tired of fighting. I'm tired of being hated. I'm tired of having to watch my back every moment of every day for assassins. I'm tired of having all this responsibility. I suppose... I'm just tired of being me. Maybe a good month's rest will cure me of this strange, uncomfortable equanimity. Or perhaps, maybe not. Either way... I don't believe I'm going to do anything strenuous for a little while.
He smiled slightly.
Enjoy this respite, Inutaisho, Izayoi. It won't last forever. Eventually, I'll return to my normal self and come after you. Then you will suffer, and die. So live every day to its fullest... count every second as precious. You have so few left.
VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV
Earlier
VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV
There was a story in the shadows of his hair, and Izayoi could not tear herself away. It billowed in the wind animatedly as they flew, his strong hands tight around her thighs and her arms clutching his chest though she did not fear falling anymore. It was cold where they were sailing, among the drifting clouds and stars, but he emanated heat and she was not chilled.
Her heart was strangely peaceful, high above the turmoil behind her. Had she been on the ground, she thought she might have been crying and confused, unsure of whether she'd done the right thing in leaving her beloved lord lying in a pool of his own blood. She thought she might have felt somewhat guilty for leaving him there alone, without guarantee of survival.
She felt neither.
What Izayoi felt was happy. Really, truly happy for the first time she could remember since her very early childhood. Up here, where the only voices were that of the winds, she had found a quiet place to rest in and allow herself to stop worrying for a while. Until they landed, there was nothing that could or would happen to her-- it was a sort of beautiful limbo that she would have happily stayed in for the rest of her life if Inutaisho could have flown forever for her.
He could not, and so after a while they began to descend towards the darkened earth, away from the moon. Neither of them had said a word during the entire flight. As they sank, a moment of vertigo had her eyes believing that they were not descending, but that the earth was rising up to swallow them. She tightened her arms around him, and felt his answering squeeze on her thighs. Izayoi smiled and pressed her face into his silver banner of hair.
She thought she had never been so thoroughly rescued in her life.
They touched down in the middle of a silent, sleeping campsite. Sleeping, except for Sesshoumaru, that was.
"Chichi-ue," the grim young youkai said. "I see you were successful."
Inutaisho only nodded, seemingly still unwilling to break the precious silence between him and the woman sliding off his back. When she felt steady on her feet, she stopped leaning on him, but did not move away. Though it was marginally warmer down on the ground, it was still early winter. The wind spoke of frost and ice when it blew from the north.
Katsuro, seasoned battle veteran that he was, bolted awake at the sound of Sesshoumaru's voice. "Who? What?" He squinted into the darkness beyond the firelight. "Who's there?"
Izayoi cleared her throat, moved far more than she thought she'd be by the sound of his voice and sight of his muzzy, confused face. "Katsuro...san," she managed to choke out.
In the blink of an eye, he went from sleep-fogged and whimsical to wide awake and serious. "Izayoi-hime?"
Her eyes burned and she laughed. "Don't call me that," she whispered, and dashed away the threatening tears.
"By all the gods!" he shouted joyously. "Everyone, get up! She's back!" He leaped out of his bedroll, pounded across the clearing, and enveloped her in a very warm, affectionate embrace.
The tears spilled over and she felt her limbs loosen bonelessly. She had forgotten what it was like to have real friends, friends that cared about her well-being and continued existence. There was no falsity in Katsuro's hug-- the affection and comradeship in his hug was real and unfeigned. She found herself suddenly unable to speak.
"Aneue!" called a tearful feminine voice from behind Katsuro's shoulder, followed a moment later by Sakenmaru's jovial shout of "Welcome back!"
Izayoi could not breathe through the emotions suffocating her. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed all of her new friends. How they'd grown so dear to her in such a short time when the 'friends' she'd had in the dragon castle that she'd spent years with had never even reached this level. However, she was not complaining at all. She had never been so happy in her entire life, childhood included. Encircled in a warm clutch of arms and tears, she felt safe and loved and strong. Naruka was behind her, arms tight around her waist and face buried in Izayoi's back while she wept. Sakenmaru was laughing and had his arms around the three of them, being big enough to hold them all.
They were a tight knot of flesh and joy and love and she never, ever wanted to move.
OoooooooooooO
Inutaisho stood aside in the shadows with his son, watching quietly.
"Tell me what happened," Sesshoumaru said.
Inutaisho had to remember how to speak, and coughed a few times before figuring it out. "I came," he replied, "I sliced Ryuunomei nearly in half, took Izayoi, and left."
"You did not kill him, did you?"
"No. I know we are not ready for the war yet. He moved, else he would not have been so grievously wounded."
"That would have been unfortunate. The army is assembled, but completely untrained. I still do not agree with this idea of yours, by the way. It seems more than a little insane to my eyes."
"Ah." Inutaisho's mind was ten feet away from his mouth with the huddled group of people. His back and hands still tingled from where their bodies had been touching. She was crying, swallowed and tiny within the shield of flesh her friends formed.
"Chichi-ue, is there something wrong?" Sesshoumaru asked warily. "You seem distant. Are you paying attention?"
"There is nothing wrong, Sesshoumaru," Inutaisho said quietly. "I have just recently had some revelations, and I am still trying to assimilate them. Forgive me."
"Revelations?"
Inutaisho did not answer, opting instead to continue watching the joyful reunion in the firelight. The happiness on Izayoi's face was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
On the silent return flight, he'd come to understand a few things about himself and about her, and about them. First and foremost, that there was a 'them.' No matter what happened next, he knew that he would eventually have to deal with the fact that he was bound to her, both willingly and helplessly. The more time he spent in her company, the more he wanted to spend as much time as possible with her in the future. The energy that poured off of her was intoxicating. Though he still could not quite lay a finger on exactly what it was, something about her made him willing to do anything to keep her smiling.
That was the second revelation. Somehow, somewhere, somewhen, he'd grown to love the fragile, broken woman before him, who had saved him and his people at her own risk. She was a paradox-- fragile, yes, but also strong: ugly and flawed in many ways, but beautiful in the whole. The warped and weakened parts of her soul only lent themselves to the grand design, which he finally thought he was beginning to grasp.
The third revelation was that he knew what the third sword to the celestial trilogy was for, at long last. Sou'unga he would try to hide or dispose of when he died-- it was far too dangerous to leave in the hands of future generations. Tenseiga he had already planned to leave with Sesshoumaru. The healing sword was half-sentient and had a habit of demanding to be used, on occasion, and Inutaisho wanted more than anything to have it teach Sesshoumaru the mercy he lacked. The sword of Hell and the sword of Heaven had their places already-- only the sword of Earth was left.
Totosai would be thrilled. He had been waiting to forge the last sword for decades, needing only its purpose to complete its design. Inutaisho now had that. Also, with its purpose had come its name. There was nothing left but to go to Totosai, give him a fang to work with, and let the magic swordsmith do his work. Inutaisho was relieved to finally be able to complete his great commission, and knew Totosai would be equally glad.
He looked over at the woman that the sword would be forged to protect, and smiled a deep, secret smile.
Sesshoumaru, who was watching, felt a vague sense of foreboding at the sight.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
A/N: So? So? He finally admitted it to himself! YES! OMG! FINALLY!
...Ahem.