InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 80

Pride (In the Name of Love) 80 / ??
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.
Archived at - inu.adultfanfiction.net, fanfiction.net, and mediaminer.org ::: Anywhere else, ask!
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// blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - Sometime after I finish re-watching / watching the rest of Inuyasha (now that I officially have all the dvds on my shelf =D ) I'll start the editing process. But my grammar still is not perfect so...if there is someone with a better grasp on it than myself that wishes to help me beta this beast, I'll be gratefully accepting of your help. Drop me an email.

If anything I say in this chapter flies in the face of Inuyasha canon?...I claim ignorance and creative license. This is how it happened in MY world. =P LOL
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Inuyasha stopped and stared at Miroku and Sairex. The two of them noted his presence and casually greeted him.

The hanyou had decided, after his scuffle with Kouga, to check up on them and make sure everything was alright. He wasn't sure what he had expected to see when he went down to the dungeons, but this probably wasn't it. Miroku and Sairex were sitting next to each other, leaning against the opposite side of the cell's bars. They were chatting casually as if nothing was amiss, even as they both sat there with long cuts in their palms and working on, apparently, allowing their blood to fill a bowl sitting between them.

"What in the fuck are you doing?"

Miroku blinked for a minute before noticing the direction of Inuyasha's gaze. "Bleeding, of course."

Inuyasha ground his teeth. "Miroku."

The monk chuckled. "I know, it looks strange. But if all I have to risk is a little blood to maybe deal with this hole in my hand, I'm willing to make the effort."

"So why didn't you just borrow one of those needle things Kagome brought for Sesshoumaru? Seems a lot less painful."

Miroku and Sairex exchanged a glance. Sairex closed his eyes and barely restrained from slapping himself in the forehead. "Kaa...I can't tink of everyting..."

"Eh, we're almost done anyway. I don't care if I have a cut to deal with."

Inuyasha shook his head slowly. "So how exactly is this supposed to help?"

"Long story, but we plan on attempting to partially trick the curse and move the wind tunnel off of me. Neither of us can defeat the curse, we haven't seen any sign of Naraku, an--"

"Er..." Sairex mumbled and gave Miroku a pained, guilty look.

"What?"

"I...zaw dis Naraku. Ve fought briefly, but he escaped."

Inuyasha was the first to respond. "Naraku was here?! In this castle?! And you let him get away?!"

"Hn. It vasn't like dat. I vas...dealing vith da other raven...and in her panic, zhe zummoned him to defend her. He looked rather zurprised to be zuddenly yanked troo a portal and expected to do mortal combat vith me. I attacked him but he's ztrong. He vas not up for a fight and fled. I could not catch him."

Miroku frowned, then a thought occurred to him. "Wait...what about the baby? You didn't..."

Sairex smiled slightly. "No, of course not. I vas in dere to deal vith da raven after da birth. Da baby is... vell. Beautiful. It's a girl."

Miroku grinned hugely. "Well, congratulations. I would congratulate you more properly, but these bars in our way do make such things so difficult."

"I'm still sittin' here, y'know..."

Sairex peered at Inuyasha. "Vhy is dat, exactly? You look like you're avoiding zometing."

Inuyasha flushed and poked at the ground, growling and mumbling to himself. "Stupid wolf..."

Miroku chuckled. "I've always wanted to ask you about that...and now that you seem to be intent on avoiding all and sundry, perhaps I shall. What HAS gone on with you and Kouga?"

Inuyasha looked as though he was seriously considering running off, but he ended up staying and letting out a huff. For all the years he'd spent with Miroku, he supposed he owed his friend an explanation. "Well...its kinda complicated."

"It always is. How can I explain my relationship with Sairex? Oh, we met while we were sharing a body and things went from there, and by the time we actually got to see each other in person it was a done deal!"

Sairex smirked. "Vell...zometing like dat."

Inuyasha sighed. "Well. Kouga and I always argued but...we...I dunno. Had a grudging respect of sorts for each other over time. We had a common bond with Kagome. We even kinda got to be friends. So when Kagome made the decision to go back home, I left for a while."

"I remember. You went to tell Kouga?"

"Yeah. He was kinda upset, actually. I think he had some sorta dim hope that things would have worked out for them. I felt kinda bad and decided to stick around to help him out. His tribe was in some sort of scuffle with another pack of invading demons and everything was tense and strained. I helped slash 'em up and things got a lot better for the wolves. They accepted me as one of their own. Especially those two clowns Ginta and Hakkaku." Inuyasha rolled his eyes but couldn't hide a slight grin.

"Anyway, Kouga was really grateful too cause it made his life as leader easier. That's when I learned he had this whole group of elders bitchin' at him. I guess Kouga's the ultimate authority as alpha and Prince, but the word of the elders carries a lot of weight and he can't really disregard them."

"What were they, er...so upset with him about?" Miroku asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess when they found out Kagome was gone they were all, 'I told you so!' at him. Kouga refused to take a mate because he had insisted that he would get Kagome in the end. The elders never thought it would happen, and they were feelin' pretty triumphant. They were demanding Kouga find himself a nice wolf girl and get to makin' the next generation, his 'duty' as their leader. Which I thought was kinda stupid...the wolves don't run things like my family does. Their rulership isn't hereditary, so what's it matter if Kouga has kids or not? But I guess they think it's his duty cause he's strong and his cubs would probably be strong too, an asset to the pack."

Miroku smiled inwardly. Actually, he was thrilled internally...hearing Inuyasha so casually refer to his 'family'. His hanyou friend had truly come home, then. // Ah, I'm so glad that some of the holes in your heart can start to be filled. You suffered far too long, Inuyasha. This is what you have deserved. A home, your blood kin...I know your father loves you despite your recent conflicts, and...well. Sesshoumaru's always been hard to read, but I get the idea he does too, in his own way. // "Such is the burden of most of those in the ruling family. You are spared it because Sesshoumaru is Heir, and thus all the...familial duties...fall on him. And even that is postponed considering your father has returned. And no one can deny that he has already fulfilled his duties in such regard."

Sairex bit his lip almost hard enough to make it bleed. Oh, it was entirely true that he loved Miroku...but he knew some part of him would always love the inu that had saved his very soul. No matter the truth of the monk's words, it didn't mean he liked to be reminded of one of the major reasons he had had to leave Toga behind. He barely bit back a sudden laugh, however, when he realized that he had inadvertently acquired his own Heir. // Hah. Irony... //

"Yeah, well, anyway...it was really eatin' at him. The stupid wolf is...well, I guess he's not such a bad guy at heart. Even if he is mangy and flea-bitten and wears a skirt. Anyway... he was pretty fuckin' depressed and stressed out so I found reasons to get him away from his pack to spar or do patrols or whatever so he wouldn't have to deal with them. And I gotta say, Ginta and Hakkaku aren't as stupid as they seem a lot of times. They always backed me up and deflected the elders so Kouga could make good on his escape."

"I see. And on one of your outings, you realized you were destined to be together, an--ow!"

Inuyasha sat back down after whapping the monk soundly upside the head. "Keh. We were just actin' normal and got in a fight when we were in a spring and were really rollin' around and stuff and...I don't know." Inuyasha had begun a slow burn and was almost as red as his favored haori. Despite having been provided a full new wardrobe, he still wore the Fire-Rat robes when he wasn't dealing with the public. "Anyway. We...er...both relieved some tension or something. Then I came back to see how things were going. Much to my surprise, I had a monk waiting for me."

Miroku sighed. "Yes. My turn, I take it... When Sango and I returned to her village we began to rebuild. She was very...driven... to restore things to their former glory. A few people from neighboring villages started coming and helping. Sango was going to train new demon slayers. The biggest problem with all of this is that she focused all of her energies on rebuilding her clan and her home and... well. She didn't have any time for me. Ever. In fact, it got to the point she was so distracted didn't even notice when I would leave for a few days at a time."

Inuyasha blinked. "Damn...I'm sorry...that's just not right."

Before Inuyasha could start a rant, Miroku held up his hand. "I do not fault her, Inuyasha. I never have. It is an admirable, daunting task that she took on. It is the most important thing in her life, and I can not blame anyone for following their heart and their dreams. We did not leave on poor terms. I will hold her dear to my heart and as a good friend for all my days. But we fell out of love...and I ultimately found I could not be content living in her village. I was too used to the lifestyle we had. Traveling, saving people, slaying demons...it is fulfilling."

"Yeah, I hear ya. But there's good things about havin' a place to come home to, too. And we still are helpin' people, just in different ways."

"And some things are worth changing one's life for..." Here Miroku's eyes shifted to give Sairex a meaningful look. The raven blushed but couldn't hide a smile.

"Hey, none of that in front of me..." Inuyasha scowled. "Kagome told me what you did in her living room."

Miroku burst out laughing and Sairex's blush burned a lot brighter all of a sudden.

"To vhat, exactly, does he refer, monk?"

"Ah, well...I rather...er...Kagome noticed us and I noticed her notice us but didn't feel the need to stop unless she said something. Besides, I think she's almost as perverted as she insists that I am, she just hides it better. It was a gift to her."

Sairex's eyes were huge. "E...Exactly vhen did you...notice her noticing?"

Miroku thought about it for a moment. "Hmm...I think right after I first kissed you on the couch." He nodded. Yes, that sounded about right.

Sairex looked about ready to faint. "Zh...zhe vatched da WHOLE TING?! And you KNEW?!"

"I can't blame her for looking, you're beautiful when-"

"Okay, totally have heard enough. I'm out of here." Inuyasha stood and made a hasty retreat.

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

Naraku scowled at the hoe in his hands. Tilling fields was SO not his style. He didn't really know what his style WAS, to be honest...and this seemed to be what all the OTHER village men were doing. He had assumed emulating the normal lives of other villagers may help him to remember what his own life had been like. But instead of wanting to use the hoe on the earth in front of him, he had the dark thought it would be much more satisfying to crack over a villager's head.

With a heavy sigh, he resumed working. Things would clear up eventually.

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

"The damn fool..." Jormandar hissed in agitation. "She wasn't even content to die alone, she had to drag that Naraku character with her. He had potential. I'm surprised she didn't take you too."

"I am not so easily bound, especially since she gave you my phylactery." Tsetsukosei rumbled.

"Are you at full capacity again, then?"

"Yes. There are two ways we can go about this, Jormandar. You can attempt to force me to serve you and you will succeed. Eventually I will rise against you in effort to reclaim my phylactery, end either way you lose. I will either kill you or you will destroy me and be out my assistance. The second route is to make a deal with me. Our goals are largely the same. You want to use me to get your revenge on Sesshoumaru. I wish to get my claws on Sesshoumaru regardless, and get my own revenge. So we make a deal. I will perform these tasks you have set before me. Then you will relinquish my phylactery to me. I will reclaim my castle and we will remain allies."

Jormandar scowled. "I will think on it. I did not believe your consciousness would be so fully restored. I intended to find a way to learn your magic. It is unique. I covet it. I shall make you a deal. Teach me and serve me in these tasks, and the phylactery is yours. I shall even let you keep Sesshoumaru, provided you promise me he suffers eternally."

"That is a promise I am happy to make. You have a deal."