InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 100

Pride (In the Name of Love) 100 / ??
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!
Questions or Comments? - Email me at megami_no_remon@hotmail.com
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// blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - Chapter One Hundred. Damn. Never intended things to go this far, I really didn't...and there is no end in sight. It's been a hell of a journey thus far, and hopefully it will continue for a while yet. Hard to believe this story started on March 21st. I've only missed a very few days of updates in there. You reader sorts and your reviews have made it all worthwhile. Thank you, and I'll be looking forward to all the reviews of the future.

I'll again take ideas for sidestories to work on in my extra time, should anyone have one they wish to see.

As for my updates...they are unlikely to be regularly timed as they have been. My boss has seen fit to more or less switch me to day shift...which is good. Its a much better job than night shift is, even if I don't mind the overnight hours. But since most days I'll be going in fairly early in the morning, I probably won't get updates out until the evenings. I'll attempt to keep them daily, but I can no longer guarantee what time of day.

Anyhow, love y'all and enjoy a special double-length chapter 100.
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Toga sighed in blissful relief as he sat on the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea, watching the sun set. Another hour or so and his arm should be more or less repaired. It had finally gotten to the point where he was able to yank off the layer of dead stuff. While that had stung a good deal, it meant that his arm was healed save for the outer surface. The pain had been sharp but was fading rapidly. Toga knew from past experience that it would feel tight and stiff for a while, but that would fade.

So caught up in poking and prodding at his injury as he was, he didn't notice that he had been snuck up on until Sairex spoke. "That's disgusting."

Toga's spine stiffened and he refrained from jumping only out of sheer force of will. Sairex chuckled and sat down next to him. "I know, you hate vhen I do dat."

"I'll let it pass, just this once. I'm in a fairly good mood. What's disgusting, by the way?"

"You peeled yourzelf like a fruit. Ugh."

Toga chuckled. "It was necessary. Besides, it feels so much better without all that itchy dead skin and such." The inu patriarch glanced sidelong at the raven. "Mm. That look really does suit you a lot more than those shapeless things you've worn of late. You are a beautiful creature and it accents you perfectly."

Sairex blushed a bit. "Kaa...I'm ztill on da fence about it. I know da look vorks for me, it just...brings back memories."

Toga grinned a bit, eyes flicking towards the sandy beach below the cliff's edge. "Mm. So does this place."

The raven's cheeks burned brighter. "Da zignificance is not lost on me. But reminiscing about da beginning of our romance in da days of yore is not why I have come."

"Oh? Is something the matter?"

"You know dat I can zee glimpses of da future if I make da effort. Or possible futures, at any rate."

"Yes, of course."

"I don't know vhat is happening or how it vill happen, but ve only have a very zhort time. Its...curious. Da var I zaw coming before is not da var coming to you now. Da East and North both have vithdrawn. Da Zouth, if dey vere at all zmart, zhould have done zo as vell...but I fear dey march, vith Jormandar behind dem. Even zo...vith your own armies and da might of you and your zons and your allies...I do not tink dey have a chance to zucceed, logically. Zpeaking from da point of view of a tactician, all advantages are yours. Dis var vould hurt you but I do not tink dey can vin."

"It's good to hear you being optimistic. That bodes well, considering you are generally not..."

Sairex frowned uneasily. "Vell, I have da feeling zometing is going to go wrong. Dere is zome factor ve are overlooking. I don't tink ve ztand any chance of losing dis var...I'm not even certain ve vill lose a terrible amount of lives. But zometing is...not right."

"How long, do you think?"

Sairex shook his head. "I don't know. Just...be careful, and be on your guard."

"Of course. Something is bothering me, though..."

Sairex arched an eyebrow. "Vhat?"

"How do they consistently know so much about us? How do they know when to strike, where to strike...without fail. We have not intercepted them once, and even when the two of us went to go visit Jormandar, he did not seem overly shocked to see us. Mildly surprised, but not shocked."

Sairex nodded slowly, musing. "Noting new has breached your defenses...but perhaps...ve missed zometing dat vas dere before dey vere put up. I vill look into it."

"Thank you...you know, I have had reason to wonder why it is that this Tsetsukosei developed such a grudge against me in the first place. Surely he wouldn't harbor such a long-standing, expensive grudge solely because I denied a ridiculous request."

"Vell...I'm not really zure."

Toga sighed. "Ah, well." He lifted his arm and flexed it, pleased to find that it didn't pain him much at all. "At least this is better. Which is good, I needed this arm tonight."

Sairex quirked an eyebrow. "You do? For vhat?"

Toga smirked. "To prove a point. I was challenged."

Sairex shook his head and snickered. "I'm not going to ask...how are tings between you and Zezzhoumaru?"

"I marked him earlier this evening. I am finished deliberating with myself and worrying about the consequences."

"Ah, vell, dat explains vhy he vas grinning and in a daze for half of dinner. I don't tink he even realized it."

Toga chuckled. "Well, I AM pretty great, anyone would be lucky."

Sairex snorted. "Hmph, you're a dog. Dogs ZO aren't my ztyle."

"Eh, but you never had one quite like me."

"Feh. You can't even fl--...vell. Never mind, I guess you can fly. But not as vell as I can."

"Grasping for any thread of superiority?"

"I hardly need to. I could defeat you at any time I vish."

Toga arched an eyebrow and turned to face Sairex. "Oh really...I somehow doubt that."

The raven grinned wider. "It'd be fairly easy, actually. You vouldn't fight me whole-heartedly, and all I vould have to do to make you ztop entirely and thus give me da fight vould be, yknow..." Sairex suddenly pulled an anguished expression, tears welling up in wide yellow eyes as he dramatically collapsed. Even fully expecting something of the sort, Toga's eyes widened and he resisted the urge to make sure something wasn't actually wrong. The raven was, apparently, a rather good actor.

Sairex chuckled and propped himself up on an elbow. "Zee? Den you fall to pieces and I perform zome grand and powerful act of trickery...and you fall."

"Hn. As if a little bird like you could ever hope to fill my position."

"Luckily for you, dis bird has no desire to dethrone you. Vhat dis bird DOES need to do, however, is head back inside. I can't let da monk raise my baby by himzelf...even if he does zeem to love da task."

"She's adorable. You do have my congratulations."

Sairex smiled. "Kaa, tank you...vould you ever have thought, after all dese years and all dat happened, I'd ever end up vith a pure-blooded heir? It erases zo much of vhat I fought for."

"Your race is not evil by birth, you're proof of that."

"Heh, you're too kind. Ve both know I've done zome terrible tings in my life vithout batting an eyelash. I'm not zo pure-hearted. In fact, I really am zurprised dat Aziraphe didn't kill me vhen zhe had da chance."

"Well, if she had, believe me, there would have been hell to pay." Toga nodded grimly. Oh yes. And he would have collected on that debt personally.

"As I zaid, you're too kind." Sairex paused for a long moment after standing up. "Miroku zays you pinned him against a vall..."

Toga burst out laughing. "Ah. Yes, he really wasn't expecting that one. I just felt a need to...mm. One-up the hentai at his own game."

Sairex chuckled. "Indeed. I imagine da look on his face vas priceless."

"Never saw him stutter so much. He's usually fairly eloquent."

"Vell, enough talk. I'd end up out here all night vith you.""Like old times, eh?"

"Er...vell..."

"Minus the moaning and writhing on the beach?"

Sairex blushed at the rakish grin on Toga's face. "You really ARE a beast. You're already taken and zo am I, zo behave yourzelf..."

"I assure you, I am a saint and have no naughty intentions."

"Kaa. You. A zaint...pfft." Sairex smirked and then walked over, leaning down and pressing a kiss to Toga's forehead. "Goodnight."

Toga eyed him for a long moment before nodding. "Goodnight."

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

Toga, as it turned out, did make perfectly good on his answer to Sesshoumaru's challenge. Once he had secured his pup in the room for the night, he pulled him close with a devious grin. "Remember how I said I would keep you up all night and prove that I could not only keep up with you, but far surpass you? I hope you're well rested, I wouldn't want any excuses..."

Sesshoumaru soon learned that Toga wasn't at all kidding. He made love to him in so many different ways that Sesshoumaru rapidly lost count - although counting to three might have been a struggle with the way his brain began to melt. Toga finished him off with an almost agonizingly slow and impossibly long and gentle session that ended in an orgasm that Sesshoumaru had thought must surely kill him from intensity.

Sesshoumaru was left, in the end, barely able to so much as twitch a finger and in a complete daze. The only fact that registered on him, before he succumbed to sheer blissful exhaustion, was the tiny line of pale gray sky he could see through a crack in the curtains as dawn started to threaten. It really HAD been all night. // Damn... //

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

Tsetsukosei grinned ferally as his rapidly moving army finally was met with the black horde sweeping through the shadows, fading in and out of the Black Circle as they moved, almost invisible to the naked eye. It took a bit of convincing - Shimaku's generals were none too thrilled by the sight or stench of the dark and shadowy things moving with them, but the promise of treasure drove them onward. They would be in sight of their goal by nightfall. None questioned where their Lord had gotten this strange magic that allowed them to move so swiftly without exhausting themselves.

In truth, they WERE wearing down their bodies. But Tsetsukosei didn't care. The spell he and Jormandar had woven would assure that they didn't feel their fatigue. The strain would almost undoubtedly kill them, as their bodies desperately needed to rest despite how they felt - or didn't feel, as the caes may be...but neither of the Circle Lords cared how many of them died. They were as unimportant as the actual war. If they caused some damage to the West in the process of obtaining their ultimate goal, so be it.

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

Inuyasha was startled awake by a distant rumble. He opened his eyes and peered around, trying to figure out what the noise was. // Thunder? //

He realized he didn't hear it any longer and frowned, laying back down. Before he could re-snuggle Kouga, however, his ear picked up the sound again, through the ground. Something massive was moving. // I don't like the sounds of this. // He nudged Kouga with an elbow until the wolf woke up.

"Eh, what th...hey, what is that?"

"You hear it too?"

"Yeah. Hey, Naraku..." Kouga flipped a pebble at Naraku's face. The sleeping kumo had caught it and dissolved it in his grasp before he even fully awoke. "Get up, we have to move."

The three of them soon found the source of the noise. An army that defied counting was moving swiftly, almost at a run, in a dead line for the Western Castle. Inuyasha and Kouga both felt innumerable demonic auras and caught glimpses of dark things weaving in and out of reality.

"Oh...FUCK..."

Neither Kouga or Naraku bothered to disagree with that statement.

"Kouga, you're faster than I am. I'll stay with spider-boy and you get your scrawny ass home about all this. They...it looks like the Southern Lord's crest."

"I'm on it. Hurry home, we'll need you."

"I'll beat them there. Just...GO."

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

It was early in the afternoon when a rather exhausted Kouga came bursting through the doors. Everyone had just sat down for lunch. Well, most everyone. For Sesshoumaru and Toga it was more like breakfast, considering how late they had slept in.

Toga blinked at the sudden intrusion. "Kouga?"

Kouga fought to catch his breath and, as soon as he was able, relayed his report. All thoughts of lunch were promptly forgotten.

Toga cast Sairex a rueful glance. "Soon, you said..."

"Vell, if I had known it vas DIS zoon, I vould have varned you."

Toga turned his glance to Sesshoumaru, who was already heading for the door. "I will contact our allies and see how many of them can arrive before it is too late, my Lord Father."

"And I will muster our own forces. Sairex...""No vorries. I'll make sure the non-combatants vithin the castle valls are zafe, and prepare vhat defenses I can. Come, Miroku."

"Suppose that leaves me to round up my wolves..." Kouga hastened out the door to begin his preparations.

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

Inuyasha arrived home with Naraku in tow roughly an hour ahead of the approaching horde. He knew it was pointless to confine Naraku in a cell, since the slippery kumo could just slide through the bars. He instead brought him to a guest room, ordered room service, and asked him if he would PLEASE stay there. Naraku had debated for a moment, then agreed.

// Should this castle be taken...or at least have its defenses damaged...it will be far easier for me to make a move. Although I really don't know if I will. The hanyou seems nice. //

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

It was the proverbial calm before the storm. Toga always had kept his defenses ready to go at a moment's notice - in a time period as tumultuous as the one he lived in, and being the Lord of such a prime territory, it was only logical to stay on your toes.

Toga stood in front of the front gates silently. Sounga was braced in front of him, blade to the ground. Toga's hands were folded over the pommel. The inu patriarch stood stock still, eyes scanning the horizon as he sought a glimpse of their enemy. Sesshoumaru stood next to him, likewise in full battle armor, although he had not yet elected to draw a weapon. Neither of them said a word.

The only ones moving hastily about the castle, actually, were Miroku and Sairex. The two were putting the finishing touches on some of the magical defenses.

Both inu Lords turned as Inuyasha headed out to join them, standing on Toga's other side. A grim, fierce grin flickered onto his sire's face.

// Both my pups, dressed for war and fighting at my side...I'm not glad for the fight, but I am proud of them. //

Sairex flew up and turned, peering towards the horizon, before calling down to Toga. "Dey come. Just over dat hill."

Toga nodded and stretched before lifting his blade. "Well then, no sense in withholding our welcome." Without further ado, the Western Army marched to meet the invaders with the three inu at the lead.

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

Tsetsukosei blinked in surprise as he saw the dark line of the approaching army. // Oh-ho...they found out we were coming. No matter. // He turned towards his troops and held up a hand to stop them before speaking. "My friends, it seems the West is spoiling for war and has come out to meet us, with the foolish dogs spear-heading the way. Take them down first, should the opportunity present itself. The one to bring me the head of Toga or Inuyasha will have anything they desire for the rest of their days!"

A cheer went up amidst the bloodthirsty bandits. One of them peered at Tsetsukosei curiously. "Eh? Just those two? What about the third, Sesshoumaru?"

"I will take care of him personally." Tsetsukosei whirled as he crested the top of the hill, watching as the Western army continued their steady march towards them. He knew the living part of his army were already on their last legs from the impossibly long run, but they didn't matter. All that matters was that they bought him enough time, enough of a distraction. "CHARGE!"

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

Toga stared in surprise at the sight of Shimaku standing on the hill. He had been absolutely certain the serpent Lord was dead, killed in that meeting at Kanjiro's claws. And yet there he was, standing high as a tide of roaring youkai surged around him, all eager for blood. Toga exchanged a nod with his boys, and then lifted his own blade high. The West joined the fight, led by an impossibly bright explosion of energy as all three of the inu clan unleashed their blades' powers against the opposition.

The battle was joined.

The Western army lost several of the weaker youkai and humans amidst their ranks, but were in general decimating the opposition with far greater ease than they would have anticipated. Shimaku never budged from his rock.

The three inus were fighting in a rough triangle shape, wading through the throng with devastating force. It seemed as though the three of them could easily have destroyed the entire invading force on their own. Perhaps they could have.

The shadow-creatures of Jormandar's army joined in next, and things became far more complicated. They proved to be much tougher, faster targets. They were still no match for the frightful force of the inuyoukai, but they took their toll on the rank and file.

Sairex scowled and leapt airborne. Something was not right, he could feel it. // All these soldiers...at least the living ones...they've been ensorceled. They are beyond exhaustion, it is why they fall so easy...but why? Why would the Southern Lord push his army with such desperate haste? Surely he must have known they would be decimated. Even with Jormandar's army, we have the advantage. Losses will be heavier than I anticipated, but still...something is wrong. //

With a loud battle cry in his native tongue, the raven began raining down nastily enchanted darts on the approaching horde, moving through the air with a grace and speed that far eclipsed his ability to move when ground-bound.

Toga finally turned from scything his way through the mob and let out a challenging roar in Shimaku's direction. "SHIMAKU!"

Tsetsukosei smiled fiendishly as the inu lord began carving a path to him. // Perfect. You have waited too long. I am already prepared. Come for me... //

Toga led the charge, with Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru wreaking devastation amidst Shimaku's personal guard and the other heavier powered monsters surrounding the serpent lord.

"You were killed, Shimaku!"

"And you have been dead for over two hundred years, Toga. Do you think you are the only one with the means of resurrection?"

"Why do you attack?! You know this was not my fault, you were the first to fight Kanjiro!"

"I will not allow his death to go unanswered!"

Sesshoumaru kept tabs on the exchange between his father and the southern lord, although he was a bit more concerned with the rather nasty and resilient beast he was fighting. With a final grim slice, he brought the beast to its knees. His next slice severed its head.

Sesshoumaru began to turn towards his next target when the ground suddenly heaved beneath him. Stone and earth flew as something massive broke free. It was a bony, obsidian-black foot tipped with nasty claws, each claw easily as big as the taiyoukai's body.

Sesshoumaru grinned internally as he squared off. // The bigger the are, the harder they fall...and all that. //

Another taloned foot tore free, and the ground rumbled. A massive, spiked spinal colum tore free, followed by the long line of a neck and a skull-like head. Smoky crimson eyes flared to life in empty sockets.

The taiyoukai let out a strangled gasp as sudden recognition flared in his mind. Though bigger and with flesh and heavy black scales, he recognized the bony, undead fiend. Tsetsukosei.

Toga skidded to a stop in surprise as Shimaku's body ceased responding and fell before him, eyes vacant. The southern army that was near enough to see let out startled gasps and ran towards their fallen lord. All eyes turned, however, at the tremendous explosion of sound as the earth was shaken and the dracolich burst free.

Sesshoumaru screamed at his body to move, but his mind seemed frozen. This horrible thing was still alive?...How? HOW could it be?!

Tsetsukosei's wings flexed and he let out a tremendous roar. The entire battle had paused as everyone turned to gape at him, seeming caught under a fearful and breathless spell.

Toga was the first to move, lunging forward at full speed. He shoved Sounga into its sheath as he transformed. Powerful muscles flexed as he launched himself at Tsetsukosei with a frightful noise of his own. The dragon was larger than him at his fullest size, although not by much.

A barrier sizzled as Toga collided with it, and Tsetsukosei's eyes turned to Toga. The monster let out a hideous chuckle. Around them, the battle was resumed as both sides began trying to take advantage of the surprise of the other.

Sesshoumaru's eyes were wide and his breath was coming in short gasps. He felt faint and ... afraid. Nightmares flooded his brain, memories of the horrendous torture he had suffered at this very beast's claws.

Toga bristled angrily and again lunged at Tsetsukosei. The dracolich was surprised to find a fiercely grinning Inuyasha near his feet. Right before Toga impacted with the barrier, said barrier dissolved from the swing of Tetsusaiga. The dracolich eyed the crimson blade for a moment before he had to turn his full attention to the enraged, feral inu at his throat. Had he a need to breathe or have blood flow through his veins, death would have taken him. Toga's assault was powerful enough to bowl the dracolich over.

Sesshoumaru snapped out of his frozen paralysis and growled softly. There was NO WAY he was going to allow this thing any more power over him. None. Tsetsukosei was going to die, once and for all, here and now. He dropped Toukijin and drew Tenseiga.

Before he could strike, however, something snapped around his neck from behind. It was skeletal and whip-thin, with sharp nubs of bone that dug into his neck. It squeezed him viciously hard, choking the breath from him. More tendrils burst free of the ground and began to wrap around him, forcing him immobile. Black tinged the edges of his vision, and slowly his consciousness gave way even as the bony tendrils jerked him into one of the massive holes in the ground made by Tsetsukosei's appearance.

"SESSHOUMARU!" Inuyasha abruptly tore away from his rather futile hacking at Tsetsukosei. His panicked cry was more than enough to draw Toga's attention. The inu leapt free of the dragon, eyes casting about frantically. Tsetsukosei's laugh was grating and insidious.

"At last...enjoy the last of the south's fodder, I have no further use for them."

"WHERE IS MY SESSHOUMARU?!" Toga whirled with a roar that proved Tsetsukosei was not the only one that could shake the ground. He crashed into the laughing dracolich even as the dragon's body began to crumble, turning to dirt and ash even as the inu tore at it. As Tsetsukosei faded, so too did what was left of Jormandar's army. So, too, did the enchantment fade on the remaining southern warriors and almost all of them collapsed under the weight of exhaustion and overexertion.

Everything was horribly, horribly silent until Toga let loose a soul-rending howl. Sesshoumaru was gone.

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

It was a struggle to lift his head. Sesshoumaru's body was a rictus of pain, and he could feel the effects of dehydration and, moreover, viciously bloody beatings. He was bound in chains in a damp, black, familiar prison.

His eyes opened fully and he bit back the choking feeling of dejavu, even as he watched crimson eyes materialize across the room.

"Good afternoon, puppy..." Tsetsukosei rasped, a wicked grin on his shapeless features even as he molded them to his more usual reptilian youkai form with too many teeth.

Sesshoumaru's eyes blazed at him, a mixture of hatred and malice that would have made most creatures run for cover. "You are a fool. After what happened last time, you're stupid enough to think to try again? I will not break so easily. I am not as weak as I was then."The dracolich eyed him in amused surprise. Sesshoumaru felt something twist in his gut. Why would the beast have such an expression?

"Last time? What in the hells are you talking about? There was no 'last time'."

Sesshoumaru paused, unsure of how to respond. He stiffened his resolve, however, and glared defiantly at the beast. "My Lord Father will give you cause to wish you had never crawled back out of your grave."

Tsetsukosei let out a burst of laughter. "Your father? How will he do that, little puppy? He's been dead for over two hundred years."

Confusion sprang up in Sesshoumaru's mind. Surely this beast must be losing whatever mind it possessed. "You just fought with him in battle, this Sesshoumaru does not understand how you could so soon forget."

"Forget? I forget nothing. Nor have I been in any battles in a very long time."

"I will escape again, and I will make you regret this."

"Again?" Tsetsukosei drew closer to Sesshoumaru, chuckling as he slowly ran his tongue over the inu's cheek. "You have not escaped, pet...although I had wondered what it was that you could have been dreaming."

// Dreaming?....Not escaped...? // Sesshoumaru's mind was suddenly spiraling out of control, careening dangerously close to the brink of true insanity.

The dracolich chuckled as he grabbed Sesshoumaru's chin, claws digging into pale flesh and drawing thin lines of blood. "You have not, could not escape me. You gave me your life for the human girl, and I've no intention of releasing you. Who would come for YOU? You have no friends, and your only family is the half-brother hanyou you so despise. What, do you think HE would save you with how you've treated him?"

// Huh?... // Sesshoumaru couldn't formulate a more intelligible thought. "But..wh...my Lord Father..."

The dragon laughed louder. "Oh, yes...I heard the way you moaned of him...and you call ME a disgusting freak. The little puppy, lusting after his long-dead father...what a deliciously twisted creature you are. Your father cared for you while he lived, I have no doubt...but do you REALLY think the oh-so-honorable Inu no Taisho would dream of fucking his puppy? HAH! You're sick..."

Sesshoumaru lifted his chained hands, fingers trembling, and placed them near his throat. His father's mark...gone. It was a hammer-blow to the taiyoukai's confused, scattering mind.

He was still there. He had never escaped. The only mark at his throat was a horrible reddened scar from a demon-beast with far, far too many teeth. Tsetsukosei's laugh rang in his ears as the dracolich smiled like a shark with eyes like bloody knives.

He had never escaped...none of it had been real. // A...a dream?...but...what...no. My Lord father...my brother...Rin... //
He was still chained in this dungeon with no hope of escape. And of course, there was none...this beast was right. His father had been dead for so long. Sesshoumaru had never realized how deeply his feelings ran for his sire. His brother...why would Inuyasha, whom he had tried to kill so many times...why would he risk his life to come for him anyways?

All of it, all of it...had been just a dream?...

Something in Sesshoumaru's mind was laughing maniacally.

"You are mine. You have been since you took my contract. There is no salvation for you, Sesshoumaru...there never has been."

Sesshoumaru's mind twisted up and a burst of laughter tore itself free of him even as tears slid from crazed golden eyes. The frayed edges of the crystalline threads of Sesshoumaru's sanity resonated at a increasingly higher, dangerous pitch.
Shatter.

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And thus, after one hundred chapters....we come full circle.