InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 108

Pride (In the Name of Love) 108 / ??
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 - Whew. Finally got my editing done, as much as I'll ever have it done that is. Fancy new updated chapter heading, reworded a few difficult spots, fixed some of Sairex's things that no longer meshed properly...no major content changes throughout. But it's as pretty as my limited knowledge knows how to make it. Any further errors I've missed and will not catch...so you guys can point them out if ya find em. Now I have to spend the time reloading them on all my sites...so if y'all get spammed with update notices or somethin', there's only one new chapter a day. The rest is me fixing stuff.
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"Miroku, take down the damn barrier!"

Miroku frowned uneasily, looking between Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. The taiyoukai was sitting on the floor and rocking slightly, a blissful, enraptured look on his face as he clawed his arms open further. He seemed utterly fascinated and somewhat soothed by the sight of his own blood.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, was frantic with understandable worry as he watched his brother carving himself like a turkey.

"Inuyasha, I know you're worried about Sesshoumaru, but if I take down this barrier, who knows what will happen? Neither one of us...both of us together can't stop him if he flips out..."

"What the fuck does that matter if he bleeds to death?!"

"I know how cruel this is going to sound, but Inuyasha, I don't think he will. Do you think Tsetsukosei stopped him every time he cut himself open? Do you think this is the first time? Besides, what do you think he'll do to you if you get that close to him? He doesn't even believe you're real."

Inuyasha let out a low whine and slowly sat back down. Miroku was right, he knew...but that didn't make it easier for him to accept. He closed his eyes and flattened his ears back, trying to drown out the sound of Sesshoumaru's quiet conversation.

Miroku, on the other hand, edged slowly closer to the room, wondering what it was that the taiyoukai was saying and wondering if he would gain any insight by listening.

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

// I wonder when we will wake up. //

"I don't know. Possibly by morning."

// Perhaps we will not until we destroy all the illusions. This place can be no more real than any of the others. You know as well as I do that we're still in that cell. //

"I am tired, though. I feel...heavy."

// Well, we could rest, then...if you are too weak. //

"This Sesshoumaru is not too weak for anything!" The taiyoukai growled and hauled himself jerkily, unsteadily to his feet. His eyes rolled as he tried to focus on the room. His vision was dark around the edges and he felt lethargic from blood loss. He moved across the room and carefully shut the curtains. "I will not have her watching."

// Well, of course not. She might stop us or change the game. //

Sesshoumaru nodded. "I already thought of that, fool." The taiyoukai looked around the room and held out his fingers. His light whip flared into existence, although the power creating the lash was erratic and not properly focused. The discipline and control Sesshoumaru usually employed with the deadly whip was absent.

But that did not stop the force of its destruction. With a satisfied smirk, Sesshoumaru began laying waste to the room.

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

Miroku yelped and darted back from the doorway. Inuyasha jumped to his feet, his eyes wide. "Wh..What the fuck is he doing?"

"I don't know...he was talking to himself and then started just...well."

Inuyasha watched as Sesshoumaru rendered everything in the room into scrap, then even began lashing at the walls. Luckily, by that point, the taiyoukai's energy was drained and his whip slowly stuttered and then vanished. Sesshoumaru slid bonelessly to his knees amidst the destruction and didn't move for a long time, again murmuring to himself quietly.

Inuyasha's eyes widened when his brother's gaze shifted to stare intently at him. The taiyoukai grinned and nodded before tensing and leaping towards the doorway claws-first, intent on furthering the destruction of his 'illusions'.

Inuyasha scrambled backwards and winced when Sesshoumaru hit Miroku's barrier. Sesshoumaru bounced back in a shower of sizzling sparks. The taiyoukai howled and then tried again...and again.

Miroku whispered a fervent prayer as he poured his energy into maintaining the barrier, even though he could feel it breaking far faster than he could repair it.

Sesshoumaru stopped after a few more leaps, a rather blank look in his eyes. He staggered and made a few exhausted swipes at the barrier...and then fell over in an unconscious heap.

Miroku almost fell over himself. The ward had been strained to its utmost limit - even a weak demon could have destroyed it by this point. The monk was exhausted. He leaned heavily on his staff and offered a silent prayer of thanks that the shield had held long enough. "I hope he stays down, Inuyasha...I have nothing left."

The hanyou sighed and idly swiped the barrier open himself, kneeling next to Sesshoumaru with a frown. "I feel so helpless. What can I do? My brother is fucked up beyond repair."

Miroku sighed. "I wish I could tell you anything that'd help out...but I'm clueless. I've never dealt with anyone insane before. It doesn't help that he's so powerful. A crazy human is bad enough. A crazy taiyoukai of Sesshoumaru's caliber..."

"Yeah, I hear ya. It's a good thing we have my old man on our side."

Miroku's spine straightened and he frowned. "True...but it's been an awfully long time since Sairex went to go check up on him. I'm getting worried."

"They probably just got talking or something. The only threat was Sessh here...even if he did somethin' to my father, your raven would still be fine."

"Still...I'm going to go check up on them. It's been too long."

Inuyasha nodded, knowing that there was nothing else Miroku could do here anyways. The monk was utterly exhausted and it was probably better to keep him out of Sesshoumaru's way, should the inu wake. "Alright. I'm...I'm going to go try and get him cleaned up some. I might not be able to fix what's wrong with him, but I don't have to look at him like this."

With a nod, the two parted ways.

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

It took Miroku a lot longer than normal to feel the spiritual energy swirling in the hallway ahead. // Hrm. Wonder what Sairex is up to?... //

His heart almost stopped when he turned the corner and took in the sight before him. His staff clattered to the floor as his fingers went slack and numb.

Toga was sprawled in a veritable sea of blood, his stomach torn wide open. Even from the end of the hall Miroku could tell that he was dead - the unfocused stare of blank golden eyes left little doubt. Even now, the pain he had been in was clear. Sairex had fallen back against him, his sword still protruding from his chest. His expression was far more peaceful, however.

Miroku couldn't make sense of what he was seeing...nor could he understand why the raven had erected a barrier or why it was still standing if his mate was dead. The monk took a few hesitant steps forward before breaking into a run. "Sairex! Toga! Oh, gods, no...!"

The barrier held and the monk was too drained to break through it. He slid to his knees, tears streaking down his cheeks. // Sairex, why? Why would you...I know he meant a lot to you, but didn't I mean enough? He dies and you have to follow him?...I don't understand...can't believe you would kill yourself. What about me, what about Ali? And why the barrier? I don't understand! //

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

Inuyasha winced as he finally cut the last of the hopelessly tangled mess that was Sesshoumaru's hair free of his head. He stalwartly attempted to ignore how damned weird his brother looked without it and reminded himself it'd grow back within a couple days.

That done, he settled in to finish the cleaning-up process. It was a bit of a feat to wash Sesshoumaru's unconscious body and keep him from submerging in the tub at the same time, but Inuyasha knew that his brother needed a lot more of a scrubbing than he could be given with a simple cloth and basin of water.

Eventually he was satisfied with his work. He wrapped some fresh bandages around Sesshoumaru's arms and slowly wrestled him into some clean white sleeping pants. // Damn, they hardly fit...you lost a lot of weight. I can count your ribs. Its not like you carry enough extra weight at any time that you can afford to ever starve yourself... //

Inuyasha sighed and scooped Sesshoumaru up, wondering where he should put him. As badly as he wanted to take him to his bedroom and leave him there...he didn't trust his brother's reactions when he woke.

A thought occurred to him. The dungeon room Toga had furnished when Sairex had suffered his own bout of insanity was still set up like a bedroom. That would have to do for now. The hanyou slowly picked his way down the stairs to settle his brother in, but he didn't leave him there alone. He settled down in a chair to wait and watch over him.

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

"Damn it..." Sairex hissed suddenly.

"What?" Toga's voice drifted back as the inu continued to lope along at a ground-devouring pace.

"Miroku found me. Vell. More zpecifically, us."

"It was bound to happen eventually." Toga winced inwardly. He felt fine now, but what a painful way to die. He had heard stomach wounds were one of the worst ways to go and now he understood why. Nothing he'd suffered previously, not even his first death, had fully prepared him for it. "I take it you...died...near me?"

"Kaa. I probably fell on you."

"I still say you're crazy, raven. You never should have."

"Toga..." Sairex sighed. // Don't make me say it. Please. I can't...I don't know what to do about all this, I just...I can't lose you again. I'm not doing this JUST for Sesshoumaru. //

Toga's voice was surprisingly soft, given that he was in his true form. "Had I the ability to do the same for you and our situations were reversed, I can't say I wouldn't have done the same."

"You're complicating dis whole ting, you know.""What, by growing weary of denying the fact that I'm still in love with you? It's been all I could do not to act on it. It'd be different...it never would have happened if I hadn't been with you before. I'm not one to cheat on a mate, the thought doesn't even register with me...but...hells. I don't know. I'm as confused as you are. I don't know what's right any more. What I do know is that I cannot ever thank you enough for what you're doing for me now. Let's worry about this when our more immediate problem is solved, though."

Sairex swallowed thickly before mumbling an agreement. He didn't bother to deny his urge to bury his face in the thick ruff of fur at Toga's neck, his eyes closing as he silently prayed Miroku wouldn't disrupt the spell, just as he prayed that some answer for his dilemma would present itself. His heart ached and he didn't know what to do. He desperately loved Miroku and would never want to hurt him...but he couldn't live in denial either.

"Is that the river?"Sairex shook himself to the present and nodded. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of the empty boat parked at the docks. Saris was there, as she said she'd be, chatting with the demon listkeeper a good distance away, surely far enough that they could get the boat out of reach before he could reach them. // Thank you, Saris...and I hope your sentence goes smoothly. Don't know what we would have done without you. //

The boatwoman noticed them and wanted to wave, but she knew her part was done. She looked just as shocked as her companion when the large white dog came sailing out of nowhere and leaped onto the ferry. She managed to spare Sairex a wink when the other demon wasn't paying attention even as she scrambled to make it look like she was at least attempting to get her boat back.

Sairex snagged the guide-pole up and propelled them out into the River Styx, smiling as the fog swirled around them and left them in the middle of the dark water, shrouded from view on either shore. "Remember, next time we do die...we owe her."

Toga slid back into his humanoid form and sat down. "Of course. So...we're free of the barrier, then. Now what?"

"Not zure. I have to find a vay to bring you back vith me and hope dat I can tend your vound enough dat you don't die again...but I zuppose we'll cross dat bridge vhen ve get dere. I just have to get us back before Miroku breaks my tether or ve're both in trouble."