InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 56

Pride (In the Name of Love) 56 / ??
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 - Sigh...sometimes I wish I wasn't so evil. But then, you wouldn't have much of a plot. Oh well. =D
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"I ztill vish you vould not have come."

"Sairex," Miroku chided gently, "You still have a lot of recovering to do. I won't let you run off by yourself."

"Kaa. Vell, if you inzist on coming vith me, I can at least make good on a promise I made you a long vhile ago."

Miroku arched an eyebrow, watching as the raven sat down on a rock and began plucking a few things from his satchel - Sairex always seemed to have a bag of some sort filled with fascinating things on his person - and placing them in the center of a small square of black leather. He then reached back to his wing and plucked out two feathers - one mid-size one and one tiny downy one. The small one he added to the little pile on the leather and the other he set aside.

When he was finished murmuring a few soft words, he glanced at Miroku. "Give me a piece of your hair." The monk complied, watching as it was added to the bundle. Sairex made a few more rapid gestures and then tied the whole thing up with a long leather thong. "Here ve go. Put dis around your neck."

Miroku did, eyeing the small bundle curiously. "What is it for?""Vell...I told you once I vould zhow you how to fly. And I tink, vhere ve need to go, being able to fly vould be a good ting. I'm not zure I'm ztrong or fast enough to protect you. My powers are ztill half dormant."

Miroku eyed the talisman skeptically. "And this little thing is going to let me fly?""Kaa, no...its zimply da focus for my zpell. I vill loan you my vings." Smiling, Sairex picked up the larger feather he had set aside earlier. He spread his wings out, closed his eyes, and blew gently on the feather.

Miroku stared as the spell took effect. The feathers on Sairex's wings were detaching, vanishing into thin air as they blew from his wings like dead leaves off a tree in autumn. Miroku saw bare bones dissolving as well, but then his entire perspective seemed to warp and change. Everything suddenly seemed to be getting bigger...his robe yawned up to swallow him, his staff hit the ground and his hands stopped working...

In surprised near-panic, the monk thrashed around. He blinked rapidly when the thick and heavy cloth was pulled from his head, ruffling his feathers indignantly and letting out a squawk.

That set him back even further. Miroku scrambled backwards a few steps and almost fell. He tilted his head to look at himself, shocked. He had been turned into a raven.

Sairex was kneeling in front of him, amusement dancing across his impish features. "Trust me, my dear Miroku, it is much easier to fly as a true bird dan as a vinged humanoid. You vould have no tail to help balance and your body vould be built oddly."

Miroku found, after a couple false attempts, that he could talk. "This isn't permanent, I hope." He walked forward a bit, wings trailing out to either side as he tried not to stumble. "And you look odd without wings. I'm too used to it."

Sairex chuckled and abruptly scooped Miroku up as he stood. "No, it's not permanent. Much as I love you, I don't really vant to give up my raven form to you. But I vill let you borrow it. Flying is zometing everyone zhould experience, in my opinion."

Miroku nodded and gathered his feet under him. It was strange, having legs that bent backwards! "Well, I best get to flying, then..." Miroku leapt forward and beat his wings frantically. Sairex barely caught him before he hit the ground.
"Careful, careful...you may have da body of a bird but you ztill have da knowledge and inztincts of a human. You are trying entirely too hard. Here..." Sairex set Miroku down and then carefully showed him how to spread his wings and feathers properly and how turning them would alter how he rode wind currents.

After Sairex's flight tutorial, Miroku was ready to try again. He clambered up on the rock and flexed his wings before getting a small running start and hopping off. This time he caught a breeze and was far more successful. Soon the monk-turned-raven was flying in circles around the area, absolutely delighted. Sairex chuckled to himself in amusement as he sat down and began mixing a few other things, leaning back against the rock as he set the blood-red mixture next to him and settled in to wait. He winced when Miroku, attempting some sort of barrel roll, almost crashed into a tree. "Hey, be careful! I need dat body back vhen you're done vith it, you know!"

Eventually Miroku decided he needed a rest and flew earthward. He abruptly remembered they hadn't discussed landing techniques and so he developed one of his own - flap frantically to slow down your speed as you crash into Sairex's chest. Sairex caught him, barely.

"That was...amazing. Thank you, Sairex...""Don't mention it. I tink it best if you ztay like dat until I finish vith my errands.""Is it really going to be that dangerous?" Miroku perched on Sairex's knee and carefully folded up his wings.

"Yes. Vell...it has da potential to be, anyvay."

"Alright...what is that god-awful looking stuff in the bowl there?""Mm. Demon bait."
Miroku blinked. "Demon..bait?""Zpecifically, it zmells of da blood of vounded humans."

"Why... are you trying to attract a human-hungry demon, Sairex?" Miroku was confused and uneasy by the revelation. Sairex sighed.

"Miroku...I need to remind you. I am a demon. I am not all flowers and zunshine and happy-love. I am involved, not entirely by choice, in zome very bad tings. Right now, I intend to go to da Circle. Vhen I get dere, I vill pick up zome tings and use a zcrying pool I know of in an effort to find da one dat attacked me and carries my child. I vill not move against her now, but I vill zoon."

Miroku nodded. "Alright, fair enough. But that doesn't explain to me why you need to lure in a demon."

Sairex snorted. "Vell, if I'm correct, it vill zave our lives. If I'm not, den I rid da vorld of a human-hungry demon anyvays. Da vay I zee it, not much to lose."

"Sounds fine to me." Miroku couldn't help but jump a bit as a loud rumble followed by a crash echoed through the underbrush nearby. "Well. Looks like you found one." A thought occurred to the transformed monk just then and he flapped his wings anxiously. "Wait a second, how are you going to...you aren't armed or anything! Change me back so I can use my ofuda and help you...please..."

Sairex's voice was soft. "I am always armed. And I do not vant you damaging its body vith your ofuda...nor do I vish to mess vith holy zeals. I am ztill a demon and dey vould give me trouble."

A massive bear youkai burst from the undergrowth then, roaring and standing up on its hind legs as it noticed Sairex standing before it. Miroku winced as the beast charged madly towards them. Sairex had made no move yet.

Sairex slowly shifted his stance as if bracing himself, yellow eyes suddenly flaring intently. The bear's charge slowed and then stopped altogether. A look of confusion splayed itself on the twisted creature's face and its muscles trembled. Miroku watched, stunned, as the bear jerkily lifted one massive paw off the ground. It growled defiantly at Sairex...and then tore out its own throat, crumpling in a heap.

The raven walked away from the bear and buried the contents of his bait-bowl, not bothering to speak. Miroku was silent, his eyes never leaving the dead beast. It bothered him not at all that the world was one less bear demon short. But it had never, ever occurred to him that Sairex's mental domination could do something so drastic. The raven had taken over his body before, too...what could he have made him do? A shudder ran through the monk at the thought., even though he knew Sairex would never hurt him.

"I vould love to reassure you dat I am not a greatly evil beast, Miroku, but ve do not have da time. Ve have to get back to da castle for da ball." "I don't think you're evil. I'm just a bit...stunned. Surprised is all. I've never seen anything like that. So...how is this going to help us?"

"I vill zend it into my portal first. Dere is likely going to be a trap zet to my zpecific magical zignature. Rather dan trigger it ourselves..."

"Er...how will you send it if its dead?"Sairex chuckled and set Miroku on his shoulders. "My clan vere necromancers, by and large. And vhile I vas alvays poor at manipulating da dead...I'm not entirely incapable. Once I finish da zpell, ve vill go into da Circle."

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

The potion was bubbling, a deep angry red. It smelled vaguely like cinnamon and roses. Shippo couldn't have been happier with it and kept sniffing at it eagerly, wondering how it would taste.

"Do you think it's done yet?"

"Rin doesn't know, she never made potions before. But it does smell pretty tasty."

"It's been bubbling for a while. I think it must be done." Shippo nodded sagely and scooped out a bowlful, setting it aside to cool. "I wonder what it will do!"

"How will we know if it is a happiness potion?" Rin eyed the bowl of red liquid suspiciously.

"Well, I'm going to drink it. And we'll see how I feel when I'm done." Shippo grinned.

"What if it is not something good?" Rin asked with a frown.

"Come on, do you think anything that smells that good can be bad?"

Rin frowned, uneasy. She hadn't really thought this was a good idea from the start. What would Lord Sesshoumaru say? Oh, he would probably be quite angry...will be angry when she admitted what she did. Rin knew already that she felt too guilty to NOT tattle on herself.

Shippo distracted her from her thoughts as he snatched up the bowl. "Well, here goes!"

"Wait! Don't!"

Rin was too late - Shippo downed the contents of the bowl in one long, quick swallow.

Nothing happened.

The kitsune set down the bowl and licked his lips, grinning. "Mm...that was pretty good..."

"Do you feel...happy?" Rin asked hesitantly. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all...

"Well, no more than I did before I drank it, really...Huh. I don't think it did anyth--" Shippo's body jerked abruptly, his teeth clacking together and cutting off his speech abruptly.

"Shippo?" Rin asked hesitantly, eyeing the suddenly silent fox. Her eyes widened as he began to change. Shippo's back bowed until he was forced onto all fours. His bones were making the most horrible cracking noises as they realigned themselves. Thick, rust-colored fur burst from his skin. His clothing exploded into shreds as his body grew too large to contain it.

The girl stepped backwards slowly as the transformation finished. Shippo had fully become a fox, and his shoulders were nearly the height of her own. But the transformation hadn't stopped there. His teeth elongated and curved, no longer fitting neatly inside his jaws. Claws several inches long and dagger-sharp jutted from his paws. A line of bony, jagged spikes burst from his spine and much of his luxurious fox-fur began to fall out, revealing dark, discolored skin stretched over taut muscles. His eyes had turned to a deep crimson the color of blood.

With slavering jaws the mutated fox turned his head towards Rin. Rin found her throat too dry to scream and she dove for the nearest exit - a tall window leading out into one of the gardens.

She never made it. A ball of blue-green flame shot from the fox-beast's jaws and impacted with the wall where she had just been. The entire wall exploded in a shower of debris and Rin lost consciousness as a shower of stone and mortar pummeled her to the ground.

Shippo snarled angrily, his prey buried under a mound of rubble. His mind could not comprehend a way to dig it away from her. But the pair of wolves that had just loped around the corner....

With a snarl, the fox leapt at the startled guards. Powerful jaws crunched through the spine of the first, shattering it and leaving the yelping beast helpless on the ground. Bloody eyes turned to the next and he lunged again, the sweet taste of blood only serving to fuel his sudden rage.