InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 44

Pride (In the Name of Love) 44 / ??
Written by Jezz-Ra
Warnings - Not all warnings apply to all chapters. Yaoi, Het, Rape, Lemon, Violence, Language, Torture, Angst, Incest, Dark (at times). It's a massive story, folks, it's got a little bit of everything.
Disclaimer - I don't own Inuyasha, don't make money off it. Wish I did.

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// blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - I think I got carried away....oh well. ^^
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Toga glanced around before leaning against the wall, casually watching Sesshoumaru brushing out his hair. "How is Lady Rin?"

"She is resting. I convinced her that no wolves would be coming anywhere near her for the time being. It seems her ... reaction... drained her energy."

"Well, as far at the wolves go...there is but one at present."Sesshoumaru turned and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why are there any? And what do you mean, 'at present'?"

"My son, we are not at war with the various wolf tribes. In fact, we are strong allies with more than one of them...as you should well know. The Prince of the Northern Tribe is here at your brother's request."

Sesshoumaru frowned darkly. "It WOULD be the same tribe...""You will treat him with due respect. His pack will be joining him shortly. They are the new castle guard."

"What?!" Sesshoumaru leapt to his feet in disbelief. "What di...How?""It seems your brother and the wolf prince are friends. He hired them. As acting Lord, it is within his rights to do so."

Sesshoumaru growled softly, though he snapped it off abruptly at the warning look his father gave him.

"As they are sworn into our service, thus are they under the protection of our House, my Sesshoumaru. They will be treated accordingly and will act accordingly. Your ward is in no danger and has no cause to fear them."

Sesshoumaru bit back a bitter sigh. He knew he was being irrational. His father was right. The wolf tribes had been long-time allies of the West, and having them serving in the castle would increase their own power and standing significantly. It was a wonderful play by his brother in all ways, military and political...but he couldn't get over the tight knot of anger in his chest remembering that it was those same wolves that had killed his Rin.

"You will need to speak with their Prince soon so he understands that you will not be acting contrary to the interests of his continued survival."

Sesshoumaru nodded tightly. "I need to speak with my brother first." Toga nodded.

"As you will. I believe I will rest for a while...I am tired."

"Sleep well, my Lord Father." With a slight bow, Sesshoumaru slid out of the room.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Inuyasha and Miroku both jumped at Sesshoumaru's voice. His words were snapped out sharply, like the cracking of a whip.

"Inuyasha, this Sesshoumaru would speak to you."

"Er...I suppose I better get back to my room and see if Sairex needs anything. He isn't getting along very well with being blind." Miroku grinned, clapped Inuyasha on the shoulder, and beat a hasty retreat.

Inuyasha eyed his brother. Sesshoumaru looked....fairly angry. "Er...what is it?"

"I will first let you know I am most displeased by your involvement of these wolves without warning. You terrified my Rin."

Inuyasha frowned, looking somewhat guilty. "I'm sorry about that, Sessh...it happened so long ago and I saw so much of them since then that I forgot. But you don't have anything to worry about. Kouga can be an ass, but so can you. You should get along great."Sesshoumaru gave Inuyasha a dark glare, and the hanyou smirked.

"Well, what else do ya got for me?""You will..." Sesshoumaru paused and cleared his throat, starting over. He spoke slowly, as if it were somewhat difficult for him to force the words out. "Will you...advise this Sesshoumaru in a matter?"

Inuyasha almost fell over in shock. Sesshoumaru, coming to HIM for advice? Surely the world was ending! "You...you're coming to ME to...yeah, sure, Sessh. What's up? What do you need?"Sesshoumaru's voice dropped to a scathing, bitingly acidic tone. "Of course I'm coming to you, this mess is all your damn fault in the first place!"

"Um...what...mess in particular are we referring to here?"

Sesshoumaru's tone dropped back to neutral and he stared at a point on the wall. He was rather pleased that he was able to speak without blushing. "I believe my Lord Father is physically attracted to me and wishes to act on it."

Inuyasha paused. "Well, wh....Hey, wait a second! How in the FUCK is that MY fault?!" Inuyasha's ears flattened back and he glared at his brother.

Sesshoumaru glared right back at him. "You were the one that felt the need to make me feel things that were better left forgotten and now I can't just ignore it so this is all YOUR fault!"

Inuyasha blinked and then burst out laughing. "Oh, so you're sayin' that now that you've been forced to admit you have hormones, you've got the hots for the old man?" This struck the hanyou as terribly funny, although he had the good sense to drop THAT particular taunt at the very low and deadly response from Sesshoumaru.

"Whatever else you may or may not insinuate, Inuyasha, you will NOT disrespect our Lord Father in my presence."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Ok, I'll be serious here. I know how hard it must have been for you to ask me of all people for help, so I'll do what I can. Um. What made you think that...er...our father wants to pounce on you?"

"He said so."

"Oh. Er. Well. Guess that doesn't leave a lot of room for misinterpretation..." Inuyasha grinned slightly. // Not that, y'know, the kiss I stumbled onto the other day left a lot of room for doubt either... but he actually flat out said it? To the point. I see where Sessh gets it from. // "Well...um....how does that make you feel?"
Sesshoumaru growled in sheer frustration. "I...I do not know. I cannot understand...I...am confused."

Inuyasha smiled. "Well, that parts easy enough. You're dead sexy. And you were always close to him, you're both alone...what's wrong with taking comfort with one another and enjoying yourself?""Because....I...it...""We did."

"But that's different!"Inuyasha arched an eyebrow. "Oh? How so?" It was VERY difficult for him to keep a straight face. He wasn't used to seeing Sesshoumaru, always so calm and collected, stuttering and rather flustered.

"Because..." Sesshoumaru couldn't provide a reason, though he very much wanted to. "It just is."

"It's no different than you messing around with me. I'm pretty new to this demon culture thing, but they seem a bit more open minded than humans when it comes to...well, y'know."

"Incest?...hn. It is not so taboo but neither is it openly promoted. Especially for someone in our positions. As a Lord of the House, I am expected to ultimately mate with someone from another House to strengthen alliances. It is not such a terrible thing, there are many to choose from and chances are I might even like one of them."

"I'm not sure if I can see you so willingly picking Random Lord or Lady and mating with them as a political move. You despise almost all of them and couldn't stand to be around them. And c'mon, Sessh, you know you'd be kidding BOTH of us if you thought for even a split second our father gives a blue bloody fuck about what people think about who he chooses to mate with...and no one would EVER confront him about it."

Sesshoumaru muttered to himself. "Thanks for destroying my arguments. Now I no longer have any idea what to do or how to feel on the matter."

"Well, it's simple. Do whatever feels right at the time, its the only way to be true to yourself...and nothing is as important as that. Just be honest with yourself. If it feels good, let it feel good. You don't need to be guilty. You are who you are, its as simple as that. If people don't like it, fuck 'em, who cares what they think? You're the one that has to live with yourself."

"Eloquent as always, although I concede you have a valid point. Of course, your theory is flawed...just because it is enjoyable, one should not simply do whatever they please."

"Well, no shit. You have to apply a little common sense, but still...you know what I meant."

"Yes." Sesshoumaru paused, thinking for a moment. "Thank you."

"Eh, you're wel--mmrph!" Inuyasha was cut off with a muffled noise of surprise as Sesshoumaru pulled him into an almost brutal kiss. Nearly as soon as it had begun, however, the taiyoukai released him. Smirking, Sesshoumaru sauntered off down the hall, leaving a dazed Inuyasha staring off after him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kouga blinked at the sharp rap on his door but didn't think much of it. He opened it and almost yelped when Sesshoumaru strode into the room and stood directly in front of him, his features expressionless. The wolf swallowed hard and did his best to keep his own expression level, although he was waiting to be painfully destroyed at any moment.

"Wolf."

"Hello, Sesshoumaru..."

"Lord...Sesshoumaru."

Kouga bit back a scowl, his tail bristling. However, since he WAS serving the Inu no Taisho's House now... "Sorry. I'm not used to it."

"...I accept your service, but on the morrow, you will do a thing for me. It is not a request, it is a demand. Should you fail to comply, contract or no, I will at the least remove you forcibly from these walls, possibly kill you. Am I very clear?""What's this...thing?""In the morning you will come with this Sesshoumaru to speak to my ward, Rin, whom your wolves killed. You will personally apologize for that and assure her that it will not happen again. Indeed, you will assure her you and your wolves are here to protect her from any potential future harm...and you WILL mean it."Kouga was surprised. "Well...yeah, I can do that. No problem. You have my word."

"Good. I will be by at sunrise." With that, Sesshoumaru turned and strode off. Kouga sank back, relieved. If all it took to earn Sesshoumaru's acceptance was an apology and an oath of protection he was bound by already anyways...well...maybe luck was with him after all.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Sairex...what ARE you doing...?"

"Resting."

Miroku hiked his eyebrows. The raven was hopelessly tangled in the curtains, which had been torn from the windows, and was laying in a heap on the ground, largely incapacitated.

"It seems the curtains won.""Nah. I'm lulling dem into a false zense of zecurity, den I zhall make my move. I'm crafty like dat."

Miroku chuckled and crouched down next to Sairex. It took a bit of doing, but he eventually managed to free his lover from the long silken draperies. "Do I even want to know how this happened?""Vell...I VAS going to get zometing to eat. Tings vere going vell enough but my ving caught on da curtain...I vent to move it, da curtain vas clingy...er....zoon it vas an epic battle and I tink dey von."

"Aww...well, if its any consolation, Inuyasha is taking his friend Kouga tomorrow morning and they'll get you your dragon heart. Then we can get you fixed up."

Sairex smiled and then leaned over, finding Miroku by touch and knocking the monk flat on his back, pinning him with a triumphant grin. "You're too good to me."

Miroku smiled. "Anything for the one I love."Sairex paused, his expression serious for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was soft. "It is very dangerous to love me, Miroku..."

"You're worth any risk, and I am neither weak nor afraid."

The raven smiled, a slight blush tinging his cheeks. "Even if I vanted to deny it, I can't. I love you too."

Miroku grinned and pulled Sairex into a kiss. "Good. Then let me take care of you for now....there's no need for you to fight draperies. I'll go get lunch and then take you out to the garden to enjoy it, since it's a beautiful warm day...then we can go to the hot springs for a nice, relaxing bath...then I will bring you back here and give you a massage before thoroughly ravishing you for the rest of the night."

Sairex chuckled. "Hmm, you drive a hard bargain...da curtain VAS rather entertaining..."

Miroku smirked and trailed a finger over the arch of Sairex's wing as he leaned up to nibble gently at his ear. "You still owe me a week of serving my every whim...I won the bet...""It vas hardly fair, you von before we even began and ve both know it...but I'll be more dan pleased to....zee to your needs."

"Well, lets get you some lunch first...you'll need to keep your strength up." Miroku disentangled himself from his lover and stood up before escorting him from the room.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Toga found his youngest pup in the throne room, attempting to balance Tetsusaiga on one fingertip and looking horribly bored and lost in thought. When he noticed his father, he almost dropped the blade in his haste to put it away, flashing Toga a grin. "Hey!"

"Well hello. You look terribly excited."

"Meh...No problems, don't have anything to do until tomorrow morning. Though I DID just have a terribly...interesting...talk with my brother."

Toga's eyes immediately locked on Inuyasha's. "Oh...?"Inuyasha smirked slightly. "Mm. Yeah.."

"I'm assuming he mentioned me."

"Yeah. Although, interestingly enough, everything that does or does not happen between you is my fault."

Toga arched an eyebrow. "How?""Well, you see, since I forced him to recognize that he is not above feeling things like lust and desire and whatnot, instead of being able to completely ignore you he has to deal with the fact that you being all hot and bothered makes him all hot and bothered."

"I never said I was hot or bothered..." Toga mumbled. "I can keep control of myself." Inwardly, he was beginning to doubt that.

"God, you two are a pair. So worried about your self control and doing whats right."

"Well...its gotten me to where I am in life."

"And right now you're frustrated and needlessly guilty. If that's right, maybe you need to try a little wrong. Don't worry...whatever you see in Sessh? I've seen it too. Difference is, I acted on it." Inuyasha smirked. "I always act on my feelings. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, but....I live a full life because of it. Although...I might make you share him on occasion."

"This is a highly inappropriate conversation..." Toga mumbled, fighting the urge to blush, amazed at his pup's openness.

"Who is there that will dare say what you choose is wrong?" And for that, Toga had no answer.