InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 74

Pride (In the Name of Love) 74 / ??
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 - For some reason, I had a terrible time focusing this morning and this chapter just didn't want to go. Ah, well. It happens once in a while.
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Inuyasha squinted at the massive pile of equipment sitting next to the well. He was rather surprised - for it to be here, Kagome had to have been on their side of the well. A moment later he caught her scent, and then another piece of equipment was hoisted over the edge, followed by the very priestess in question. "Kagome? You're here?"

The woman grinned slightly. "Well...I figured no one else would know what to do with half of this stuff and it'd take too long to explain, so I'm going to stick around for a bit."

Inuyasha grinned and gave her a quick hug. His expression darkened a bit after a moment. "Well, just be careful...my father is...I don't know if he'll like the thought of this stuff being near Sessh right now. It smells funny, looks weird..."

"And you're going to help me to convince him to stay back and let me poke Sesshoumaru full of tubes and needles for his own good."

Inuyasha swallowed thickly. "Yeah...he was goin' to kill Sairex just for being in the same room...and I'm pretty sure he doesn't trust me at all right now. Even if he didn't flat out say it I'm pretty sure he thinks it was me that hurt my brother so bad."

"Why would he think that?" Kagome asked with a blink.

"Because it REALLY looked that way...I can't blame him for thinking it. And it was a wind scar that ripped him up...so I don't blame him, but that doesn't mean I want to be near him. Miroku saved my ass last time but...""You're welcome," came Miroku's voice from the well as he crawled over the side. Sairex hopped up a moment later. The two of them had been busy securing some ropes around the generator so they could haul it up. They hadn't expected Inuyasha to be right there or they wouldn't have bothered.

"Hey, guys. What IS all this shit for?" Inuyasha poked curiously at a vital sign monitor.

"In my time, we can keep people alive solely on the merit of machines and artificial means. I'm not a doctor, but...I think with the help of this we might be able to keep Sesshoumaru alive enough for his demon rejuvenation to kick back in and heal him."

"If you say so...this is going to be a bitch to haul back to the castle..."

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

Sairex heaved a heavy sigh. "I don't know vhy you are making ME be da one to talk to him..."

"Because he likes you and you can survive a hit?" Miroku asked cheerily.

"Hurry up, Sairex...the longer we wait, the more time Sesshoumaru loses," Kagome scolded. "Toga will understand."

Sairex sighed and rapped sharply on the door. "Toga? May I come in? It is urgent. Ve think ve can help Zezzhoumaru."

There was silence from the room for a long moment before Toga's reluctant growl answered. "Enter."

Sairex opened the door and walked in, motioning for the others to hold off for a moment. "Toga...Miroku and I have gone to da future, to the Priestess Kagome's time. Vhile ve vere dere, ve got zome... tings. Dese tings are ztrange looking, but zhe zays dey can keep Zezzhoumaru alive until he can heal on his own. Medicines and machines...vill you let dem come in and try to help?"

Toga growled softly, his protective hackles rising. "These things...will work?"

"Kaa, I vould tink zo, but I know noting of dem. Dat is vhy da priestess herzelf came vith us."

"...Fine. Bring them in." Toga very reluctantly got to his feet, although he didn't stray out of touching distance of Sesshoumaru. Sairex poked his head out the door and bid the others to come in.

Kagome, to her credit, kept her reaction in check. Although most of Sesshoumaru was covered with bandages, it was obvious that he was missing large chunks of his body and was badly burned. His breathing had a liquid, rattling sound to it and his skin was flushed. She set the boys to bringing in all the equipment. Toga eyed it suspiciously, as if expecting some of it to attack.

Kagome squared herself up in front of him. "I'm going to tell you now that some of the things I'm going to have to do are going to look like I'm trying to torture him, but that isn't the case. I have to run several needles. Some will be for some IV fluids so he doesn't die of dehydration. And I'll need to put a tube down his throat so we can get some food in him. I also brought some medications to try to help fight fever and infection. There are also monitors to make sure his vital signs are normal, as well as some other things like oxygen and such. The more strain I can take off his body, the better his chance of healing."

Toga nodded stiffly, although it was clear from his posture that he wasn't too thrilled about it.

"I will, of course, need your help to care for him," Kagome said. Toga suddenly seemed much more intrigued - the thought that he could, perhaps, do something to help Sesshoumaru was one that pleased him. He had felt horribly useless and pained doing what amounted to laying there and watching his pup die.

"You shall...have to explain what these things are to me..." he said slowly as he eyed the equipment that had been drug into his room. His gaze suddenly snapped almost audibly across the room. "Inuyasha. You will come with me."

Inuyasha blinked and then slowly set down the machine he had been carrying. "Yeah, ok."

Toga led him out of the room onto his personal balcony and shut the door. When he turned to look at his younger pup, Inuyasha fought back the urge to gulp. "Tell me you did not do this to my Sesshoumaru, pup, or I will kill you where you stand."

"You really think I would do that to him?""You cut off his arm before, have used my fang on him before innumerable times..."

"He put his fucking hand through my chest but that doesn't matter?!"

"I did not say that. Sesshoumaru was in the wrong several times in your tumultuous relationship. However, the two of you seemed to have made up and been getting along fairly well."

"We were. We were just walkin' down the hall and ... hell, teasing each other for the most part. All in good fun. He walked into the room, froze, and it was like...he abruptly returned to complete-asshole mode, as bad as he was at his worst. He chased me down, took out a wall. We get outside, he grabbed Tetsusaiga - ""The barrier I placed on my blade was to make sure he would not try to wield it."

"Yeah, well, ya can't really tell cause he got really fucked up, but the sword burned his hand. Really bad. But he ignored it, threw a Wind Scar, dropped the Tetsusaiga at my feet and teleported himself into the middle of the blast."

Toga was silent for a moment. "Hm. Sesshoumaru was suicidal..." Toga paused, the admission paining him even as he said it. The word was hard to get out. "...But I don't think he would have chosen that as his method. He doesn't feel the need for complex games and tricks, and I don't think he would have framed you of his own accord. That means...we were attacked. Again. DAMN it..."

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

"So you failed."

Naraku let out a rather annoyed huff. "No, I did not FAIL. Your captive is simply beginning to get a bit too restless and is displaying a remarkable ability to do things in a place where he should not be able to do anything."

"This is not my doing."Karalichala glared at Naraku. "It is not a place dat vas designed for long-term captivity. Generally a zpirit-cage zuch as dat one vill only be needed a zhort while. Den da zhadow-beast vill take da zoul vhen da body dies. Apparently, zomeone failed to deliver much of a killing blow." Here, a pair of pale yellow eyes flicked accusingly to Jormandar. The puppetmaster glared back at her for a moment, and Naraku chuckled.

"Look at us, arguing amongst ourselves. That seems a grand way to defeat our enemies."

"Zilence, Naraku. Zoon I vill be rid of da burden of carrying dis child and den I vill be able to be of more assistance."

"Indeed. Mm, I wonder if the monk has realized the truth of his curse yet..." A wicked smile curved Naraku's lips. "If he hasn't, he shall soon enough."

"Is it not the same curse you placed on his family long ago?" Jormandar asked.

"Same curse, but it works faster. The void will consume him in a less than a year if he does not use it at all...but he WILL use it. He always tried to use it to his advantage against me. This time, to do so will be the death of him."

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

Sairex set down the things he had gotten from Kagome on his desk. He then rummaged around through his things, aware of Miroku's curious look.

"What are those things for, and why did you handle that pendant like it could explode at any time?"

"Kaa. It's blessed by your priestess friend." Sairex finally found what he was looking for. "And I'm a demon."

"I see. What...are you going to do with that?"

Sairex smiled ever so slightly. "Defy da vill of da gods and existence itzelf."

Miroku frowned slightly and sat down on the edge of the bed. "In what fashion?"

The raven debated before answering. "I intend to remove you from da timeztream. Den, you vill not age and vill not die. I am...unvilling to give you up to zuch tings. Although perhaps I zhould be focusing on your vind tunnel first."

"Remove me...from the timestream? You know how to do something like that?"

Sairex scowled slightly. "No, but I intend to find a vay."

Miroku sat back, a slight frown drifting across his face. The thought of living forever wasn't one that he had ever dwelled on. He had accepted that his demon friends would but never really given it much thought of his own. Nor, he realized, had he ever given the thought of growing to old age consideration either. He had simply always known he would die a young man. Even when he had been freed from his wind tunnel, it really hadn't occurred to him that things would be different.

"I am human, Sairex...I am not meant to live forever."

Sairex's spine stiffened and he slowly turned to look at Miroku. He said nothing.

Miroku sighed. "It is tempting, though. I have a stipulation, however."

"Vhat?"

"I will...if you find a way to do this that is...allow you to remove me from the timestream and such. But only if you promise me that you can drop me back in it if ever I tell you I wish it, and that you will not argue with me. Humans are not meant to live forever and there may be reasons."

Sairex nodded after a moment. "Very vell. I can agree to dat. Now...about dis vind tunnel of yours. Da easiest vay vill of course be to kill dis Naraku character, but if he remains hidden ve may run out of time. Ve need to find another way."

"Well, we have a while at least. I lived with this thing all my life, save for the last few years. I know about how much it grows each year."

Sairex frowned, fiddling with something on his desk. Miroku caught the look and arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"You don't....you don't have years, Miroku."

Miroku felt as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water down his spine. "What do you mean?"

"You know I'm a zeer...and I've been trying to figure out vhat to do in regards to you. But right now, if ve leave it alone... you don't have years." The raven's voice was deeply pained and it was a real feat for him to keep it from quivering.

Miroku hated to ask, but he needed to know. "How long do we have, then?..."

Sairex fidgeted, not wanting to answer.

"Sairex..."

"The longest timeframe I vas able to zee gave you not quite two cycles of da moon."

Miroku was glad he was sitting down already; otherwise, he feared, he would have surely fallen. Less than two months left to live before being consumed by his wind tunnel, before the nightmare that had plagued him for so long came to pass? "I...think I need to lie down. I suddenly do not feel very well."