InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Pride (In the Name of Love) ❯ Chapter 143 ( Chapter 143 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Pride (In the Name of Love) 143 / ??
Written by Jezz-Ra
Warnings - Not all warnings apply to all chapters.  Yaoi, Het, Rape, Lemon, Violence, Torture, Language, 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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// Blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - My muse is trying desperately to get me to work on a chapter for another story and I'm fighting because I'd really like to finish this monster first but I'm not so sure I'm going to be getting a say in the matter.   Ah, well.  At any rate, I'll plod along on this one regardless.  I may end up having to get the other plot bunny off my chest though.  Heh.  It deserves it, considering it helped fire me up to write again, ne?

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He felt something warm lightly brushing across his cheek.  It took a moment to connect the sensation with reality, and a soft sound of protest slipped from his throat.  The caress was infinitely gentle, but it served as a catalyst to draw him further from the heavy, blissful dark, forcing him into a world of impossible pain.  He dimly became aware of further sensations.  His senses felt a seeming net of magical strands binding his wings like a web, although he couldn't feel his actual wings.  Another sort of web was preventing him from moving his head more than the barest fraction in any direction.

Against his better judgment, Sairex slowly cracked his eyes open, tears stinging at the edges.  His whole body was awash with pain of varying degrees.  His vision swam, and it took almost more effort than he had to focus it.

Toga gave him a soft smile, lightly brushing a few more strands of hair back from the raven's face, still ashen and hot with fever, although he was much better than he had been.  "I was beginning to think I'd not see those pretty eyes of yours again, my dear little bird."

The corner of Sairex's lips twitched up in the barest of smiles despite his agony.  He didn't even want to think how crushing the pain would be without the help of the powerful pain suppressants that must be in his system.  He had taken note of the needle in one arm attached to a bag of some mystery substance from Kagome's world.

"Don't try to move too much.  The healers have been doing all they can, but you were damaged pretty severely.  They're exhausted and resting...but they've been in here non-stop.  You had so many broken bones, my friend.  Your wings are still something of a mess... but they say they should be able to fix everything given enough time.  Just try to stay still....some of the healing is still very fragile."

Sairex didn't even have to say anything, just slowly rolled his eyes over to give Toga a LOOK.

Toga chuckled softly.  "Right, right.... I suppose you probably aren't up to much in the way of acrobatics at the moment.  I'm sure this is another statement rife with stupidity, but...how are you feeling? "

Sairex swallowed and let his eyes slide shut again, his voice coming out barely above a breathy whisper.  "Hurts.  Everyting hurts."

Toga frowned in sympathy, wishing there was anything he could do to help his friend.  "Between the healers and things the Lady Kagome brought back from her world, we're doing all we can.  I was... certain I would lose you when I came home to see the state you were in...and that was after they had already been hard at work.  What on earth happened to you two?"

Sairex allowed his eyes to slit open again to regard the inu.  The room was lit only with an oil lamp and he was thankful for the dim atmosphere, although it wasn't difficult to pick out Toga's gleaming golden eyes, still so full of concern and a good measure of relief.  He intended to answer Toga's questions, but he had more important ones of his own first.  "Vhere is Miroku?  How is he?"

"He was here until a short while ago.  Inuyasha and Lady Kagome drug him off to force him to eat something.  He's hardly left your side.  One of his wrists and a leg are still damaged, but he's otherwise more or less patched back up.  He'll be back in as soon as they let him go, I'm sure."

Sairex let out a soft sigh of relief.  It was good to hear that his mate had not only survived but was well on the road to a full recovery.  Slowly his eyes slid back shut for a while, basking in the simple gratitude that they both would live to see another day, that they wouldn't be torn apart or broken beyond repair.  // Although from the sounds of things, I should have been beyond repair... //

The raven cudgeled his brain but the memories he had of his time in that dark gray nothingness were wisping away like smoke.  He recalled the barest snippets of conversation with some being of impossible power, but he couldn't remember what was said.  Perhaps it had been a dream, hadn't happened at all.  Perhaps the damage he had sustained, despite its severity, hadn't been QUITE as thoroughly fatal as he had assumed?...

"I can let you rest if you like.  I'm glad that you've finally come to, though.  We were so very worried."

"No."  Sairex let out a soft sigh.  "I don't know.... how much Miroku has already told you."

"He told us everything up until what happened when you started casting the spell to try and move you through time and bring you back home.  He says he lost consciousness fairly soon after it began."

"Zo did I, but not until I had gotten da whole ting cast.  It... I misjudged da powers I vas messing vith, Toga.  It svept me avay.  It vas all I could do to try and grab for a vay to get us back out of da place I put us in."  Sairex was silent for a long while, exhausted from the effort of so much talking.  Toga figured the raven had fallen asleep and was a bit surprised to see him continuing to speak.

"Vhen I came avake, ve vere out of da ztream of time...if dat's vhere ve vere.  But ve vere very, very far off of da ground.  I don't know how far ve had already fallen.  I couldn't zlow us down enough.  I'm not ztrong enough to carry another person vhen I fly and I never much bothered vith zpells zuch as levitation."

Toga nodded.  It was no surprise to him that Sairex couldn't carry someone.  He'd known already.  The raven demon's own physical makeup was specially adapted so he could fly in the first place.  It hit him then, and he closed his eyes in horror at the thoughts that must have been going through his friend's mind at that time.  No fall would be a problem to Sairex alone.  All he had to do was let go of Miroku and he would have easily walked away without a scratch.  The results made it very obvious what had happened.  He had risked his life, gambled on the long shot that he might be able to save the life of his mate, maybe even at the cost of his own.

"I zlowed us down as much as I could.  Miroku vas unconscious da whole time, and I'm glad for dat.  Ve ztill landed vay too hard.  I did vhat I could to try and protect him.""You saved his life, I'm sure.   Humans don't fare too well hitting the ground from heights."

"Neither do raven demons, apparently.  I haven't fallen from any height zince I vas zmall."  Sairex paused for a moment, thinking.  "How is Aliana?"

"She's been in to see you a couple of times.  She left you some flowers that her and Rin picked and this get well card."  Toga reached over to the endtable and plucked up a sheet of paper, holding it up for Sairex to see.  The raven couldn't help a weak chuckle.  He had no idea what the bright crayon drawing was actually supposed to depict,  but it warmed his heart anyway.

Sairex frowned a bit  when he found himself unable to lift his hand to take it.  His fingers twitched, but his arm felt heavy and dead, not wanting to respond to his command.  A moment later he felt Toga's hand gently holding his wrist down.

"You broke your neck when you fell and caved in the back of your skull to boot.  The damage is only just beginning to heal enough to start breaking you free of your paralysis.  Please, don't try to move."

Sairex managed to roll his eyes, his tone sliding into a more familiar, flippant range.  "Kaa, tell da paralyzed bird not to move around too much.  Very funny."

"I'm only following orders.  I'm scared of what Miroku and Aliana would do to me if they found out I wasn't taking what they deem proper care of you."

As if on cue, Miroku hobbled his way into the room, supported by a crutch on one side and Inuyasha on the other.  "Sairex!  You're awake!"

Toga stood up with a smile.  "I'll leave him in your care, then.  Make sure you both get enough rest.  I need my advisors whole, after all."  Toga leaned over and brushed a kiss to Sairex's forehead before heading out of the room.

Inuyasha helped Miroku into a chair, unable to help a grin as Miroku leaned forward to lightly take Sairex's hand.  "Keh, my old man was almost as worried about ya as Miroku was.  He's been in here more than not since he got back a couple days ago."

Sairex just smiled,  already exhausted from the efforts of speaking.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone.  It's great that you're awake, though.  Best news we've had in a while."  The hanyou slid out of the room with a slight wave, a bit of a bounce in his step.  He hadn't lied, of course - a dreadful, ominous weight had settled on the castle ever since the two of them had been found.  The healers had doubted Sairex would wake no matter their efforts - they were shocked that he survived, and even more surprised that their efforts were paying off as wholly as they were.  They'd been unsure if they could reverse the paralysis and had almost given his wings up as a lost cause.  Remarkably, everything went far better than they could ever have hoped.

Miroku gave Sairex a grin.  "If we were a little less banged up, I would kiss you until dawn and never let you go again.  You'll have to settle for a mental image and my good intentions, however."

"Vell, at least ve vouldn't have to vorry about your cursed hand dis vay.  It zeems to be da one dat's injured."

Miroku affected a  wounded look.  "My love, I don't know what you are possibly accusing me of.  You know very well that I would behave.  I am a man of the cloth, I would never take advantage of you."

"Only because of da extent of my injuries. I don't put anyting past you in regards to dat hand."

Miroku chuckled and did lean over to press a  - mostly  - chaste kiss to the raven's lips, his tone far more serious when he did speak.  "You can't know how much I love you."

Sairex did smile at that.  "I know."

Miroku smiled and then leaned back a bit in his chair, still holding one of Sairex's hands captive in his good one.  "Well, I suppose you might have an inkling."

Sairex regarded him for a moment before slowly cocking one eyebrow.  "Vhere did you get dat necklace?"

Miroku blinked before laughing.  Of course Sairex would notice the ankh.  He rarely missed details with those sharp eyes of his.  "Leave it to you to notice something shiny."

Sairex snorted.  "I don't remember zeeing it before...."

Miroku contemplated his answer for a moment.  He would never lie to Sairex, but he wasn't entirely eager to tell him the whole truth just yet either.  "I acquired it on our travels ."

Sairex's keen gaze locked on him for a long moment, and Miroku had a very real fear that he was going to be telling the whole story very soon.  Sairex simply let out a little sigh, however, and let his eyes slip shut.  His voice was a low murmur, dripping with exhaustion.  "I'll ask you about it later, den...vill you tell me?"Miroku nodded.  "I promise I'll tell you everything when you're better."

"Dat vill have to be good enough for me, den.  I need to zleep.  Vill you ztay vith me?"

Miroku smiled, lifting the raven's hand and pressing a soft kiss to it.  "Always, love.  I promise I will always stay with you."

The monk stayed awake for a long time, watching Sairex with a smile.    // I will stay with you for the rest of your life and watch you for the rest of mine.  No matter the price I had to pay for this...if my life ended this very moment, it would have been worth it just to touch you,  to have one last look at those beautiful eyes, one last taste of your smile.  You are worth everything to me.  I have no regrets. //

It didn't take long for Miroku to join Sairex in sleep.
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