InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 122

Pride (In the Name of Love) 122 / ??
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 - I still might be on again / off again for the next few days as I'm still working on getting back into my room...but hopefully it'll be real soon and then I can get on a more regular update basis again.

For anyone that wants a little extra reading...I've broken down to my urges and started a Rurouni Kenshin fic ("The Sharpest Lives") as well. Pride here will still take priority, but...I'll be playing with that in my spare time. It'll be yaoi and...and...well. I don't know. I'm wingin' it...just like I did with Pride, here. LOL...hopefully it won't end up QUITE so long, however.
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Sesshoumaru scowled out the window, distrustful of the moonless sky as he stalked down the hallway towards his brother's room. // Just lovely. How can I keep the hanyou from doing something foolish that will risk my Lord Father's life? I wish I could get him out of this castle entirely. He'd be more help free of this place than stuck in the same sort of bond that I am....but the guards would surely never let him leave the grounds. //

Without bothering to knock, Sesshoumaru shoved Inuyasha's door open. Inuyasha whirled around and gaped. "What the hell are you thinkin', just bustin' in here like that, you ass?"

Sesshoumaru opened his mouth and then shut it before letting out a helpless little laugh, thanking the gods for small favors. "Your human night...!"

Inuyasha frowned darkly and brushed a few black strands of hair back irritably. "Yeah, what of it? You should damn well know I stay in my room when this happens."

"We must act quickly. Tell me, does anyone other than your former pack members or mine know of your human night?"

"No. It's not something I feel exactly comfortable spreading around."

"Good. We have to get you out of here as quickly as possible."

"Eh? What?"

"I don't have time to explain, and I cannot be gone too long. I will contact you when I am able. Dress as a servant, grab your wolf cub...and the monk, priestess, and the monk's daughter if possible...and get as far from this castle as you can as quickly as you can. Do not question me."

"What, finally getting sick of us humans and our--"

Sesshoumaru hissed and grabbed Inuyasha, hugging him tightly before giving him a fierce kiss that left the hanyou's mind reeling. "I never thought I would say this to any but my Lord Father, and I would not expect to hear it again. There is a very real chance I may not live very long, and therefore my tongue will be loose momentarily because I do not wish you to leave under a misconception, especially if this is our final parting, and have no time to mince words. This Sesshoumaru has come to...love you, little brother. Now, for your own damn good and mine, get OUT of here. If you cannot help with this mess from the outside, at least your hanyou blessing or curse, whichever it is, might allow you to be spared. The guards may not recognize you like this and you and your pack may escape. Do NOT ask me any more questions, just GO, and quickly!"

Inuyasha was left gaping like a landed fish as Sesshoumaru turned, hastily heading out of the room.

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

Toga growled softly to himself as he sat down cross-legged. He had already paced the limits of his confinement. In the distance...in any give direction, it seemed...he could see a faint point of crimson light. He had traveled towards it and found it led simply to the circled pentagram in which he now sat. His prison was tiny and, it seemed, circular. There was no depth or variance to the blackness...it simply loomed in all directions. Oddly, it did not seem dark - perhaps this circle of binding gave off more light than he had otherwise assumed? He could see himself as clearly as if he was in a well lit room, although he cast no shadows.

More frustrating than a prison he could not change or even beat on, however, was the fact that he could hear Kimi's voice. She in turn could hear him, he knew, although she usually chose to ignore him. // Either that, or she can tune me out entirely. Hn. //

Toga had raged and ranted for a long while when he was first captured, especially when Kimi began talking to Sesshoumaru. When she had mentioned Tsetsukosei, however, his rage had melted into anguished pleading. Kimi was not interested, however, in anything he had to offer her it seemed.

// Curse her, she has me helpless and can TAKE anything she wants...and she intends to hurt my Sesshoumaru solely to hurt ME... showing her mercy in the past was obviously a mistake. //

"Having fun, Toga? You've been silent for some time now..." Kimi's voice drifted in to him, disembodied and seeming to come from all directions.

"What's the point of speaking if you are not interested?"

"Oh, but I was rather interested. I enjoyed hearing you suffer. You're much less fun this way."

"Ungrateful bitch...not only did I spare your life despite all you did and said in the past, I provided you with enough wealth to live very comfortably for the rest of your potentially eternal life...and all you can think to do is seek vengeance because you lost your title...?"

"What good is wealth without power? Some of us are not born so lucky as you. No matter how I strive or how hard I train, my power simply would never be on par with yours. My maximum potential is nothing in comparison to a mere fragment of what you are capable of. Therefore, I had to seek power through...alternate means."

"And so you played me for a fool."

"Well, if the shoe fits...You made it too easy. Who would have thought the impeccable, invincible Lord Toga had emotions that ran so deeply? What sort of demon falls prey to such obvious weakness? To your credit, you hide it fairly well in most matters. No one would suspect the mighty Inu no Taisho was really a big, cuddly puppy dog."

"It is no weakness. In fact, I would claim it to be the opposite. Rather than deny the truth, I embrace it. It has given me strength that others will never dream of. I fight with the full force of my passions behind me, and I am indomitable. When fighting to protect something that you love, your power is much greater."

"Hn. You're a sentimental fool. The power of protecting the ones you love? Don't make me laugh. You're simply powerful, that is all...don't try to make it seem as if you have some secret key."

"How can you deny it outright?"

"Toga, you have no evidence."

Toga smirked with fierce pride. "Do I not? Hm. Kimi, you can not deny my Sesshoumaru's power, can you?"

"I will concede your point as it only proves my own. He IS strong, and he also firmly agreed with my point of view as far as I know. Emotions are weakness."

"Ah, but that's just it. My Sesshoumaru is strong...in fact, I think with equal years and enough desire, he may even have power that bests my own...and yet my hanyou son has defeated him in equal combat more than once."

Kimi snorted. "What is your point?"

"Inuyasha gained no demonic power from the blood of his human mother. It was solely from me, whereas my Sesshoumaru gained power from the both of us. Thus, my Sesshoumaru should surely outstrip Inuyasha in all combat situations...and yet he does not. Inuyasha fights with the full force of his emotions behind every swing of his blade and every lash of his claws. He has fought to protect that which he loves."

Kimi scowled at Toga's logic, unable to deny it. Everything he had said was true - Sesshoumaru SHOULD have been able to wipe the floor with Inuyasha without contest every time...and yet, this was not the case. "I will grudgingly concede this point to you, but I still say one case cannot prove your theory to be truth. Perhaps your blood runs stronger in the hanyou than your true son."

"I will not deny that my blood runs thick in Inuyasha." // Entirely too thick, in fact, the poor boy. At least the Tetsusaiga can keep it under some semblance of control. I never foresaw something like that happening else perhaps I may have refrained from allowing Izayoi to get pupped in the first place... // "I will not deny it, but it runs just as strong in my Sesshoumaru...and he picked up several of the powers of YOUR House as well."

Kimi smirked. "I've noticed...there hasn't been a pup born to my House with venom of his caliber in...I don't know how many generations. My own is entirely negligible, as were my parents and their parents before them. He also seems to have inherited a bit more of our grace to compliment your raw strength."

Toga couldn't help a prideful smile, although it wavered and he was left with a deeply uneasy feeling. // She sounds...proud of him, even though she always claimed to want no part of him. And...how strange that this conversation has ceased to be angry and unpleasant. I'm not sure I'm alright with that. But perhaps seven hundred years is enough to change even someone like her... ah, hell. Why does EVERYTHING I get involved in...ESPECIALLY when it comes to those I choose to mate with...end up so HORRIBLY complicated...? //

Kimi seemed to realize the spin their conversation had taken as well and abruptly scowled. "I have....things to do. You just sit tight there and I'll deal with you later." Feeling somewhat shaken, she abruptly cut her communication with Toga off and stalked out of the room, wondering what it was that was keeping Tsetsukosei.

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

Sairex let out a pained noise as he smacked into the wall, but didn't let the agony screaming up his shattered arm prevent him from lurching out of the way of Tsetsukosei's lashing tail.

"Sit still, you wretched bird!" the dracolich roared in rage, jaws snapping forward and narrowly missing the raven.

Sairex wheezed and clutched his arm, breathing coming with some difficulty. // Damn, he might have got a couple ribs...my chest hurts...hope he didn't puncture a lung. That's all I need... // "Kaa...go boil your tail. You could have dealt vith me peacefully, you know."

The dracolich growled and tried for the hundredth time to wrench his claws free of the stone encasing them. The floor had risen around his feet, liquid-like, and then immediately solidified thanks to one of the raven's spells catching him off guard. "What sort of bloody fool ARE you, Sairexannaras, to think I'd care to make any sort of deal with you? After all the problems you have caused me... I still don't know what it is you were hoping to gain here."

// That makes two of us... // the raven moaned to himself. // I have nothing you want that I would be willing to part with...I just needed to distract you enough to get the kumo out of here with the sword and that damned fluff...but you're making it so damned DIFFICULT...// It took all of Sairex's considerable willpower to remain on his feet. // Kaa, Miroku is going to have my hide when I get back. I promised not to get involved. //

Tsetsukosei growled and crouched before lunging forward with a mighty roar. There was a loud wrenching noise. Three of the dracolich's feet tore free of the stone, and the foreleg that remained stuck was torn from his body. The undead fiend felt no pain, however, and simply dove at Sairex with startling speed.

Sairex's eyes widened and he cursed mentally. // Oh, how badly I misjudged this...Miroku...Aliana...Toga...my friends, my family...I'm sorry that I won't be able to see you again. To end like this after so long... // The raven only had time to let his yellow eyes slip shut before the dragon's teeth clamped around his midsection with enough force to bite him in half.

Or at least, they should have. Tsetsukosei let out a shocked growl as his fangs sank into something fleshy, but it surely wasn't tasty bird-demon flesh. Something vile-tasting, viscous and purple flooded into his jaws instead of the familiar tang of Sairex's blood. A thick, vine-like mass of flesh had surrounded the raven, intercepting Tsetsukosei's jaws. The dracolich jerked his head back in angry surprise, trying to shake the foul stuff out of his mouth.

Naraku narrowed his eyes at the dracolich before smirking. Tsetsukosei's jaws were forced open impossibly wide as the kumo caused the appendage sticking in the dracolich's teeth to grow. There was a splintering, thunderous crack as the demon-beast's jaws snapped apart.

Tsetsukosei reared back with a startled curse that came out as nothing more than a sluggish burst of dark, thick black blood. He hadn't even noticed when Naraku had appeared, let alone expected an attack like THIS!

Sairex shakily backed up a few steps, as surprised as Tsetsukosei was at the sudden rescue. Naraku was eyeing Tsetsukosei thoughtfully and eventually spoke, his tone light and conversational.

"For all the tricks and power you have...it seems you ARE just a demon after all, aren't you?"

Tsetsukosei found speaking with a broken jaw to be impossible, and he reacted with extreme violence as fleshy tendrils started sprouting from Naraku's body and snaking over his own. Naraku smiled almost sweetly, and Sairex's eyes widened to almost comic proportions as he realized what was going on.

"I've been told I'm made up of a mass of demons. I have also learned I can absorb new demons, make them part of my body. Allow me to give you a ... demonstration."