InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 136

Pride (In the Name of Love) 136 / ??
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.
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A/N - I missed getting all those lovely reviews so much... So like I said, I'm trying to keep up on this updating thing. We'll see how it goes. Thanks to all of ya, it was a very warm reception. I'll be bouncing back and forth between this and my other fic (a Rurouni Kenshin story) and trying to get the ball rolling on both. So please, bear with me. Life is rough and my muse is still being difficult. Love y'all!

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Miroku looked at the three prostrated men and then at Sairex. He kept his voice to a low murmur, leaning over to Sairex and trying to keep his smile while speaking through clenched teeth. "Sairex, what the hell is going on here?"

Sairex twitched. "I don't know. I don't know vhat dey are tinking, either."

One of the men hesitantly lifted his head, eyeing Sairex and Miroku. "A'a netjer, pen hem netjer-tepey-ek?"

Sairex kept his expression neutral and glanced at Miroku. "Do you have any idea vhat dey are zaying?"

Miroku shook his head a bit. "Not a clue." He smiled at the men and held up one hand to signal for them to wait a moment before walking off a short distance with Sairex. "What the HELL happened?"Sairex cringed. "Vhen I hit dat amulet I must have activated a zpell of zome zort. Dammit, I quit. Two fledgling miztakes in zo zhort a time? At least I can do zometing about da language barrier. Ztick out your tongue."

Miroku blinked curiously before obeying. Sairex performed a short chant and then quickly slashed one talon across Miroku's tongue. Before the monk could even yelp, however, the cut and the brief instant of pain vanished with a faint purple glow. "What did you just do?"

"Vell, vithout a mirror I can't draw a rune on my own tongue. It'll allow you to understand dese people and for dem to understand you."

"Oh, good. Time to get some answers, then."

The two walked back to the three men. Miroku flashed them a smile. "Er...hello."

The three men gasped and quickly bowed their heads again. Miroku frowned slightly. "You can get up..."

The effect was immediate as they leapt to their feet, still keeping their eyes averted. When they spoke again, however, it took Miroku a moment to puzzle out what he was hearing. While he knew they were still speaking their native tongue, at the same time, he heard their words in Japanese. "Thank you, High Priest." One of them hesitantly stepped forward.

"High Priest....to what do we owe this most high honor? Why does one of the great gods visit our humble village?"

Miroku almost choked. It took all his willpower to keep his expression neutral before answering. "That is for the god to know. I accompany him to express his wishes to you, should he deign me worthy to reveal them. Ordinary mortals cannot understand the language of the gods."

Three sets of eyes widened and they were bowing and offering fervent apologies, begging them not to take offense with their foolish mortal ways and questions.

Sairex squinted at his mate. "I really am vaiting to hear vhat's going on."

Miroku dropped back to speaking Japanese - it wasn't hard to work around this language spell once he got the hang of it. "They think you're a god and I'm your high priest. I told them you wouldn't talk to them because mortals can't understand the language of the gods."

"A god? Me? You have GOT to be kidding me."

"Better a live god than a cooked bird in the desert, eh?"

"Miroku, dis is a dangerous game."

"Look, if it comes to a fight, I can handle myself. They're just ordinary humans. I'm used to fighting demons. And you ARE a demon, a crafty and powerful one at that. They aren't going to take us out easily even if they DO rise against us." Miroku turned his attention back to the humans, switching to their tongue. "The great god wishes to rest. Take us to your finest structure."

The three men bobbed rapid bows before escorting them down the streets of the town. Two of them ducked off to the side to start spreading the word, and soon most of the village was following, staring in awe at Sairex. Miroku resisted the urge to chuckle - what an odd coincidence this was. Sairex's clothing was very similar in style to that of the natives. He too wore a waist-wrap, although his was silk and trimmed with gold while the natives wore linen. Some had colorful beaded collars that draped down over their shoulders and chests and Sairex only wore a band of gold at his throat, but still... overall, things were quite similar.

It took Miroku a long moment to compose himself and remember to keep walking when he realized most of the women in the village were topless. No one seemed to pay it any mind, however. His gawking earned him a cuff upside the head from Sairex. "Behave, monk."

"I didn't do anything!"

"Keep drooling dat much and you'll flood dis land."

Miroku chuckled. "Just because I look doesn't mean I intend to do anything further. I'm behaving."

Sairex gave him a skeptical look. "Right."

"The only one I want is you."

"But you ztill vant to touch. It's ingrained in you."

Miroku's spine stiffened, his expression the picture of wounded dignity. "I most certainly do not."

"Your hand is tvitching."

"I entirely fail to see the relevance."

Sairex just shook his head, but any retort he might have made was lost as their guide brought them into the local temple. It didn't take too long to figure out why the locals had assumed Sairex was some sort of god - various paintings and symbols on the wall depicted several gods, most of which appeared to be crosses between various animals and humans. All Sairex had to do was twitch his wings open the slightest bit and the awed masses dropped in worship.

Soon Sairex was situated in a room with all the creature comforts one could imagine. A pair of women were fanning him with giant palm leaves. Villagers were lined up outside the door to offer forth their words of prayer and offerings to their visiting deity. The raven did his level best to keep a serene, aloof expression throughout most of the villager's pleas, not understanding a word of it. Miroku eventually said the god desired a break and they were left alone for a few minutes. During this time, they worked out a series of simple cues Miroku could give Sairex so he knew how best to react to the villagers pleas.

Towards evening, the flow of villagers had begun to subside and eventually Miroku informed the guards that the god was done holding audience and that they wished to be left alone. As soon as the doors were shut, Sairex flopped back wearily.

"Miroku, I'm ZO not cut out for dis god ztuff."

The monk chuckled and leaned back next to him. "Oh, that's not true...you looked all imperial and superior and whatnot."

Sairex squinted at him. "Do you know how hard it is to act like I care about vhat dese people are zaying vhen I not only have NO idea vhat dey are zaying, but probably couldn't do a damn ting about it even if I did?"

"Do you think most of these people really expect anything to happen? Its like this, Sairex. No matter what happens for a while, its ALL going to be attributed to you. If they have good luck, its a blessing from the god. If something bad happens, they are being punished by the god. I'm not so sure they would ever believe you AREN'T a god...all the deities they seem to worship are part animal and part human, and wings seem to carry holy significance as well if these wall carvings and decorations are anything to judge by."

"Ve ztill do not know vhere ve are. Or...I hate to zay it, but...ve might have to ask da qvestion of VHEN ve are as vell. Dey zeem to have tools of bronze and even ztone. As you zay, dey ztill attribute everyting to da gods and are very zuperztitious. Everyting is very crude and foreign. I tink ve have gone a great deal back in da past, Miroku." The raven sighed heavily, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his head on them with a heavy sigh. "On da heels of one catastrophic miztake, I make another. I don't have any of my zupplies or my books..."

Miroku frowned and rubbed Sairex's back. "We all make mistakes, don't worry about it. It will all work out somehow in the end."

"You don't underztand. Dere is another reason I tink ve are very, very far in da past."

"Why is that?" The monk was curious and a little worried at Sairex's uncharacteristic despair.

"Da first ting I tried to do vas access da Circle. I can't. It's not dere."

"Not there?""Da only reason it vould not be dere is if it vas deztroyed, vhich is incredibly unlikely...or did not exist yet."

Miroku was taken aback, his expression revealing his surprise at that thought.

"I am over tree tousand years old, Miroku. Da Circle vas made vhen I vas a child just coming into my own."

"Over three thousand years in the past?" Miroku couldn't believe it. "Dear Buddha...are you....are you sure?"

"Of course I'm not zure. But its a logical guess. I don't have any zupplies or books and no vay to get to either. My memory only zerves me zo far. It is true I memorized da text of countless books, but...none of it dealt vith time traveling. And da amulet..." Sairex pulled the amulet out and held it out towards Miroku. "Da holy power in it is gone and da runes are zcratched. Its vorthless. Ve might be ztuck here."

Miroku looked down. The thought was very sobering. On the one hand, if he had to spend the rest of his life stranded in a foreign time and place, at least he would be doing it with the person he loved most. He would miss his friends...and living the life of a High Priest to a fake god grated against even Miroku's sense of religious duty. He wasn't the most holy of monks, but still.

Another thought hit him like a thunderbolt, squeezing his heart painfully. "Oh Buddha....Aliana...."

Sairex nodded. "Zhe is in good hands, of course, but dat's not da point. If I can't tink of a vay to fix dis, ve may never zee our daughter again."

"Without us, they can't get to the Circle or back, either...that's a very serious handicap."

"I know. But despite dat, da vorst of it for me vill be if I never again get to zee my girl just because I'm too ztupid not to go zlapping magic items around like a fledgling."

Miroku wrapped his arms around the raven and hugged him tightly. "Don't keep blaming yourself. We'll find a way through this. We will. Just have faith."Sairex cracked an eye open to look at the monk as he leaned against him. "Preaching religion to a demon, are ve?"

Miroku couldn't help but smile a bit. "I know I'm far from an ideal monk...but that doesn't mean I don't have faith. I AM still a monk. I believe with all my heart that my god will take care of those that really believe in the end. Things will work out somehow. Even if you don't have the same beliefs as I do...have some faith in me. Trust me. Everything will turn out alright in the end. The sun rises at the end of even the darkest night."

"Careful...zomeone might accuse you of being more holy dan you usually act."
Miroku smiled. "As my god commands...."Sairex rolled his eyes. "Yes, vell, your great god is zleepy now. Zo...zhut up and ve'll try and figure dis out in da morning. Ve'll zee how brightly da zun is villing to zhine on us."