InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 47

Pride (In the Name of Love) 47 / ??
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.

Sidestories can be found under my author profile at any of my archive sites.
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// blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - All I could think of as I wrote the last bit of the last chapter, with Sesshy on a sugar-high, was the movie Talladega Nights...."I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew!" I certainly was. XD

And more of the attack is revealed, as well as some motivations! Bwahahaha! AND...the question Kara asked of Jormandar is probably in here somewhere too.
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The hunt for the dragon had gone better than expected. Between the three of them they easily picked up and picked apart scent trails until they stumbled upon the lair of the beast. Toga chatted and joked with Inuyasha, and soon Kouga joined in.

However, the elder inu was crafty and soon got the two of them to admit to several details of their relationship. It seemed that they acted like rivals, but actually cared relatively deeply for one another and were on-again, off-again mates. The time they spent apart was probably the only thing that kept their relationship from evolving and becoming deeper.

Kouga was grateful for that in one way - as prince of the tribe and their chief Alpha, it was expected of him to produce offspring for the strength of the pack. Even though the leadership of the wolf pack was not hereditary, a strong alpha would produce strong offspring with a good mate, and Kouga could have had his pick of any of the females he desired.
The main problem with that, however, was that any time he attempted to court one of his pack's females, he found himself distracted with thoughts of silver hair and golden eyes, a rough but lightly teasing voice grumbling an insult at him that wasn't meant, a delightful fight for dominance that he lost more often than not... Inevitably, he would find fault with the wolf demoness and stalk off. It would be a long time before he'd make the effort again, until he talked himself into it...and longer still if somewhere in the interim he received any visits from a certain hanyou.

The tribe's elders were immensely pleased to hear of the pack's new position as guards for none other than the legendary Inu no Taisho. Many were skeptical and did not believe he was alive, as Toga had made certain none would know so he would have time to heal fully first...but even serving under the Great Dog General's offspring would provide a huge boost of status and personal clout to the wolf demons, so the elders remained on board with the idea.

Toga hadn't extracted the details about Kouga's reluctance to mate with a she-demon and get an heir, but he could easily enough guess at it from what the wolf-prince DIDN'T say. He had been in the political game for longer than he cared to think himself and understood the pressures that came with being part of the royal family. Inuyasha was not under any sort of unspoken social constraints to produce an heir - even if such an act would have been looked on as favorable - because he was not Toga's heir. Thus the hanyou would be largely free to do as he chose. The fact that he had more or less chosen to mate with the chief of an allied tribe would have been looked upon favorably - such an alliance would bind the two Houses as family rather than just allies. The trick would be getting the elders of Kouga's tribe to consider his cementing an alliance with the House of Inu no Taisho being worth more than producing strong wolf cubs for the pack's benefit.

Inuyasha didn't bother to speak of some aspects of his relationship with the wolf prince. Yes, they were only a step removed from being committed mates. Their relationship still was largely open-ended, however. Kouga had already heard that Inuyasha had been messing around with Sesshoumaru, and he didn't mind. Actually, he found it kind of amusing, especially when the snickering hanyou told him that Sesshoumaru blamed HIM for Toga's interests simply because he had found the 'on' switch for his brother's hormones.

All three of them were drawn from their good-natured jesting and chatter by the sight of the somewhat surprised dragon youkai crawling from its cave. The large beast was surprised that three demons...wait...two demons and a hanyou, why were demons traveling so openly with a filthy halfbreed?...would stumble upon his lair and get so close, idly chatting and alerting him to their presence. The three looked unflustered despite his presence, and that angered the beast.

"I do not usually have my lunch delivered," he rumbled, flexing powerful claws.

Toga snickered and nudged Inuyasha. "He thinks he's going to eat us."

Inuyasha and Kouga both chuckled at that. The dragon huffed and thrust his chest forward angrily, tail lashing. He did NOT like being taunted.

"Insolent curs! I will destroy you all!" The dragon lunged forward and ended up choking on a whirlwind of dirt. By the time the dust had cleared, all three of his intended victims were well out of sight. The youkai growled in frustration. His growl turned into a howl as Tetsusaiga was thrust through the end of his tail and deep into the ground.

The dragon really stood no chance. The three canine youkai taunted it and always stayed well out of its reach as they whittled down its impressive strength, then they attacked in unison, driving through the sluggish beast's thickly armored hide to deliver the killing blow. It actually was more difficult for the three powerful demons to figure out how to cut out the monster's heart - getting to it proved difficult and took almost as much time as finding the dragon was in the first place. It was nearly dark when the three started their trip home.

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

Sesshoumaru frowned darkly as Tenseiga pulsed again. He had felt this before, right before he'd use the blade to resurrect someone nearby. "Rin, stay here. Lock the door and let no one enter before me."

Rin nodded, her eyes widening. Sesshoumaru drew Toukijin and bounded out into the hallway. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened, a mere few doors from Rin's room.

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

Oh, something was wrong...so very wrong...Sairex struggled mentally to fight against the numbing, deadening of his mind. It was so DIFFICULT being cut off from his magic...but this was different. // Something else...what in all the hells has gone on? //

Slowly the raven struggled to regain consciousness, painfully aware that he had been drugged. But who? Why? For what purpose?

Sesshoumaru burst into the room and skidded to a stop, eyes widening. Sairex was chained down, naked, and unconscious, although he was starting to twitch slightly. Several long, bloody gashes - claw marks? were torn down his chest. Miroku...

The monk had been eviscerated, his insides torn out, his heart cut from his chest. The blood was still fresh - whomever had done this had only just finished. Tenseiga pulsed insistently at his side.

Sesshoumaru wondered if Tenseiga would heal the monk and leave a bunch of extra internal organs laying about or if he should put the monk back together before attempting to revive him. He sheathed Toukijin and drew Tenseiga. Almost immediately, he saw the little soul-harvesting demons working on the monk.

One quick swipe took care of them. Sesshoumaru noted that the mess stayed behind, even though Miroku's injuries closed. In an uncharacteristically generous move, he hurried forward as Miroku's chest suddenly heaved and the monk gasped in a breath, violet eyes snapping open. The taiyoukai plucked Miroku up and set him down in a nearby chair, then swept the bedding - and most of the gore - out from under Sairex, rapidly depositing the bundle in the hallway. He could do nothing about the blood, but at least the rest of it was taken care of.

Miroku was back by Sairex's side almost before Sesshoumaru could turn around, tears streaming down his face. "Oh, god..."

Sairex's eyelashes fluttered open, although it was more habit than anything. He still couldn't see. "Nnn...vhat..."

"Sairex!"

The raven blinked as he was suddenly half covered by sobbing monk. He tried to move his arms but found them stopped short almost immediately by the chains around his wrists. "Eh...? Vhat...is going on?""Y...you...don't....know?" Miroku asked, choked.

"Nnn...no....I tink I've been drugged...vhy can't I move? And vhy am I not vearing anyting?"

Sesshoumaru eyed the chains and gave them an experimental tug. They failed to break or open, and resisted his attempt to cut them with Toukijin. Shrugging, he simply sliced through the frame of the bed itself and unhooked the loops - they could deal with removing them later. "If you need me, I shall be in either Rin's room or my own."

Miroku looked down, waging a mental war. He didn't have any idea how to tell this to his lover. He knew Sairex would find out eventually, and it might be better to break the news to him now.

"We....we were attacked last night by a....a woman. She drugged us both. I was paralyzed and had to watch as she...she..." Miroku closed his eyes and held his raven close. "She forced herself on you."

Sairex made an odd, somewhat choked, surprised noise. "Vhat? Vhy vould...I don't understand."

"I don't know why either...but...but I can guess."

Sairex was silent for a long moment. "Alright, I'm vaiting..."

Miroku winced. "She was....she was like you. A raven. Yellow eyes, black wings, the whole works."

"...Impossible. I destroyed dem all. And even if I did zomehow miss one...I damaged myzelf. If her goal vas to bear my child, zhe vill find it quite impossible no matter vhat zhe did to me....but vait. Vhat did zhe do to YOU?"

The monk winced. "She...killed me. But Sesshoumaru resurrected me, so I'm fine now."

Sairex groaned. "I knew dis vould happen! I knew it! My problems follow me and become yours...""Do not blame yourself for this, Sairex! You couldn't have known and I told you already, it was a risk I was willing to take. But...we should....get out of this room for now. It....It's something of a mess.""A bath might be nice."

Miroku agreed wholeheartedly.

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

Sesshoumaru was met by the joyous return of the hunting party, although one look at his grim countenance was enough to make them all worry. Not to mention that he smelled of blood.

"What happened, my Sesshoumaru?" Toga asked with a frown.

"We were attacked. Again. The castle guard is light because most of them are leaving in light of the wolves arriving soon."

Toga ground his teeth. Inuyasha frowned. "What happened?""I am not wholly certain, but someone drugged the raven and eviscerated the monk."

"Eviscawhat?" Inuyasha's ears flattened back.

"Ripped out his heart and his internal organs." As Inuyasha almost ran off in a horrified panic, Sesshoumaru snagged him by the hair and stopped him short. "I have already revived him. I believe he and the raven have gone to clean up. They will be moving to a new room down the hall."

"I do not like that my home is so assailed of late," Toga growled angrily. "Measures will be taken to assure this sort of thing stops. And soon."

Kouga glanced at the large and rather messy bundle they had brought. "Eh, I think this will cheer up the monk and the raven, though..."

"Immensely. I shall let them know it has arrived," Toga nodded. "...Shortly. I will allow them their bath first. Is all well again, my Sesshoumaru?"Sesshoumaru nodded. "All signs of attack are past, I have repositioned the guard and commissioned servants to clean up the mess. After I clean myself up, I believe I shall retire for the evening. First I must inform Rin that it is safe, however."

Toga nodded. "Very good." He turned to Kouga and Inuyasha. "Despite the poor news on our homecoming, it was a pleasure hunting with you both and I wish to do it more in the future." He gave Inuyasha a hug and Kouga a grin. Both were returned.

"Yeah. But I think we all need to stick around here for a while and get up some kinda ward. We can't have people popping in to damage stuff and us every other day."

"Agreed. We shall work on it in the morning."

The four of them parted ways to take care of their remaining tasks before bed.

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

Karalichala smiled, still humming to herself as she set about her spellcasting. The massive mound of obsidian in front of her dwindled as dark scales appeared on the standing but inanimate dead dragon before her.

Of course, reconstructing the body was the easy part. She still had to recall the soul and bind it to a phylactery, and then of course make DAMNED sure that Jormandar could control it. It would not do to have Tsetsukosei running about freely again...although she rather did like the thought of taking the dracolich's power for her own. She was simply unsure if she could safely perform the ritual.

And there was no reason to be greedy. She was carrying Sairexannaras' child. If it was a girl, she would simply kill the babe and take its essence. It had been so very long since she had tasted the soul of one of her own clan! So little power was to be had from the youkai and human brats Jormandar brought her every week. But if the child was male...she had use for him. Of course, if it was a girl, she would have to assault Sairexannaras again...such a prospect made her queasy and stole some of her mirth.

Next time, it was unlikely he'd be in a mostly unguarded castle, blind, and mentally unable to strike her. He would have sensed her half a realm away. It was only through years of expending a disgusting amount of power that she had been able to remain hidden from him as long as she did. Jormandar had helped her significantly there. Karalichala's lip curled up in a sneer. What males would do for a little sexual pleasure, even if she wouldn't let him take her!

She thought again that perhaps she should have killed the Deathraven when she had the chance. But with a self-deprecating smirk, she shook her head. No, she knew what they said...and it was true. Too dangerous to live, too valuable to kill. Especially now.

She did wonder how it was Jormandar had known the answer to her question, that Tenseiga would completely heal all wounds inflicted on the one it was reviving. However, he had been correct. If he had been wrong, she never could have conceived Sairex's child.

Her theories had paid off. Now she simply had to find a way to remain hidden long enough to birth her child. She prayed it would not be a female child...but would spend the time trying to prepare for what she would have to do in case it was.

After all, a male child could sire future children for her. Perhaps, then, the Kinslayer would have less use...and while the knowledge he held was priceless, it may be better for her if he were destroyed.

Smiling and still content with herself, she resumed the tedious task of rebuilding Tsetsukosei's armored hide.

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A/ N - Yes, Karalichala is a raven of the same clan as Sairex. And yes, she has the same strange, tilted accent....but so as not to give away that particular aspect of her evilness, I carefully chose her words so they did not contain the visual clues that define Sairex's speech. W's to V's, S's to Z's, Th's often becoming D's...yeah. >>