InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Vengeance ❯ Chapter Thirty-One: Choice ( Chapter 32 )

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha...sigh...lucky Rumiko...

A/N: Again, some of the words from the anime (American version) have been twisted into this chapter.

WARNING: DARK IMAGERY!

Chapter Thirty-One (Choice)

The Lord stood, his arrogant face still and devoid of emotion as his golden eyes flashed over the scene of destruction around him. His acute senses told him that blood, youkai and human, covered the demolished forest floor. Huge swaths of ground had been churned up in battle, trees uprooted and knocked aside by hurling bodies. The enormous bulk of a dead youkai was sprawled some feet away on one side, other various pieces of him strewn across the wide expanse of devastated woodland.

One enormous hand, three-clawed and bloody in the light provided by his own glowing aura, was curled on its side atop a pile of ningen bones. The skulls grinned maniacally at him, but his gaze traveled over them with indifference. Another claw, clutching a smaller body, was lying in churned mud on the other side, the arm lengthening until it was abruptly cut off by the once-attached shoulder. A pale face, ghostly white in his aura of light, was bent backwards between two clenching claws, the black top-knot and blue ribbon showing evidence of ningen origin, while the brown eyes stared sightlessly at him.

As SesshouMaru's eyes fell on the boy's upturned face, the blade at his side pulsed once, sending an urgent call through him.

*You desire a healing, Tenseiga?*

By narrowing and focusing his golden gaze, he could make out the faint outline of gremlins that covered the boy, their claws digging and tugging at the trapped body...

Tenseiga pulsed once more, and his attention was diverted to the far side of the field. There was a faint pulse from the broken weapon that lay seperated into two pieces. With a slight widening of golden eyes his only physical reaction to surprise, the Taiyoukai mouthed the name of the blade twined to his.

"Tetsusaiga."

Something snarled.

He was up and away, easily avoiding the powerful swing of outstretched claws. With a faint growl over his own inattention, SesshouMaru regarded the youkai who had dared to attack him.

His breath caught, and he regarded the transformed youkai with a lifted silver brow.

"InuYasha."

It was, and was not, his despised half-brother. The hanyou, the scent of human-tainted youkai blood, was gone, and in its place...

Was the inu.

The demon barred its fangs at him, the red eyes like glowing coals of hate. His brother's body had not transformed like a true youkai's would have, but the hanyou-demon was strengthened---the wide breadth of his shoulders muscled, the white ears that gave away his father's heritage were sharpened to higher points and seemed more mobile. The inu demon's fangs were lengthened into deadly points, and the white claws that he shared with the Taiyoukai were extended into razored daggers. The aura that surrounded his hanyou brother was seething with the red rage of bloodlust.

"You have changed." He said dispassionately, even as his own golden eyes bled faintly pink in answer to the inu demon's snarling defiance.

"Inu." The blood demon did not know his full-blooded brother, but he recognized the Taiyoukai on some level. What awareness the Lord glimpsed was buried under the blood-lust that consumed the transformed hanyou.

SesshouMaru's lips curled with disgust. "You have lost control, brother, over your inu youkai blood."

Lightening flashed, highlighting the madness in InuYasha's eyes.

With a roar, the inu demon was jumping up at him, his hate and rage finding focus as his sharpened claws reached for the Lord.

The inu in his own blood snarled in reaction, even as SesshouMaru easily side-stepped the demon's flashing claws. His own hand came up, the claws lengthening, and he casually back-handed his brother across the side. Blood splashed from the wound, mingling with the blood that covered the inu demon already, darkening the weakening fire rat robes that should have protected him.

"You are not more than a murderous youkai." SesshouMaru said in contempt as the demon whirled to face him in mid-air, his own wounds forgotten in the rage of his inu blood.

"DIE!" The demon roared, leaping at him. SesshouMaru easily evaded the first claws---his brother was so predictably direct in his attacks---but then roared his anger as the demon's other hand came up to shred across his own back, leaving deep wounds. The Lord's roar turned into a snarl of outrage as his eyes reddened and his own youkai nature seethed through him, breaking through his diminished control.

Gift of the girl, Kagome, his once-tight control over his raging inu blood had been weakened.

And now it was shattered by the girl's hanyou lover.

Both brothers swept back, away from each other, eyes bled with fury as they snarled their fury. SesshouMaru bared his fangs, elongated with his bloodlust, and his claws glinted in the faint glow of his light that was slowly dying as his inu blood sucked the aura back into him, to focus the rage solely on ripping this paltry inu to shreds.

*Blood...*

Thunder crashed, and the winds swept in as the protective glow of his light dissipated, swirling through rain-soaked white locks as the two inu brothers snarled their wrath at each other. Blood seeped from wounds both had dealt the other, and their raging blood, gift of their father, surged through them, clouding their minds with bloodlust and hate.

SesshouMaru crouched, ready to spring at the pathetic youkai who dared to cross his lands. His mind was gone in rage, the inu taking control, and he did not recognize anything but the threat that faced him. ::Outsider!::

Blood...

Fingers cracked with meaningful menace, and the volume of the growling inu increased, the matching blood-red eyes glowing certain extinction at each other.

Reduced to the inu youkai, the Taiyoukai snarled in that primitive speech. ::Trespass! Outsider! Submit or die!::

The inu demon growled in return, the defiant fury deepening his voice. ::No! Challenge! I, alpha! You die!::

::ALPHA, I!:: The Taiyoukai roared, the threat to his position as head of the pack stirring his inu instincts to raging life. He was Lord of the lands he claimed as his own, he would defend his domain to the death!

::MINE!::

Jagged teeth gleaming in a raging snarl, the Taiyoukai leapt for the attack, even as the other inu hurtled towards him, claws outstretched with intended death on their razor edges.

Something spun between them.

Both youkai snarled at the intrusion, jumping back as the massive weapon landed with a powerful thud of impact as it lodged in the churned earth between them. The demon-boned boomerang quivered with arrested force, and then stilled.

Eyes glowing red death, the Taiyoukai snarled at the interruption, his attention caught by the woman who had thrown the weapon at them.

::Female!:: The howl came from the other inu, his brother.

The Taiyoukai barred his teeth in answer, the promise of a quick end for both.

::PACK.:: The inu demon claimed her, jumping at the black-armored woman, his claws stretched out. The woman tried to deflect him, but she was no match for an inu youkai with his full blood released. Blood-streaked white claws grabbed her shoulders, and the inu demon swept her against him, his fury directed on the Taiyoukai as he claimed the woman as one of his.

"InuYasha!" The woman cried against him, her hands coming up to push away his unmoving claws. The inu demon merely tightened his hold, growling a warning at the female of his pack. She was not his alpha mate, and she must submit to him. The red eyes glowed more fiercely as he tightened his hold on the woman, snarling his defiance at the Taiyoukai.

Thunder crashed, and lightening flared, highlighting the woman's desperate face. Her dark eyes were on the Taiyoukai, and her voice called to him.

"SesshouMaru! Please! He doesn't know himself!"

Something stirred in the Taiyoukai's mind---a faint flicker of recognition at the name.

It was HIS name...

The inu in him snarled even as a powerful jerk at his side throbbed through his soul, calling forth the inherent demand of awareness.

White claws swept across his rain-swept body, seeking the hilt of the fang at his side.

*Tenseiga...*

As his hand clasped over the braided hilt, the sword pulsed once more, calling him.

Gold flashed once through the reddened eyes.

*TENSEIGA!*

The sword pulsed in answer, and his single hand burned on the hilt as his claws tightened. Ignoring the pain that ran through his screaming blood, he pulled the sword free, the lightly green glow brightening to white fire and then dying to silvered steel as he held the sword aloft. The fang's fire poured through him, calling forth his soul to take control of the inu.

*I am...SESSHOUMARU!*

His soul snarled at the raging blood, and he battled for control and supremacy as the world shrunk to the internal fight between WHO he was and WHAT he was.

The inu howled as his soul surged, the sword pulsing once more in a flash of green and white light that dazzled his vision with its intensity. Pain flared through him as his inu youkai blood tried to reclaim command once more in a final attempt at primacy, endeavoring to transform his body into its true youkai form. He could feel his eyes widening, his nose extending as his jaws opened. His ears were lengthening and moving, and he could feel the inu blood surge in him, willing him to drop the sword from his claws and fall to the ground as the inu fought for dominance.

His soul answered with flaring brilliance, refusing to submit. He fought the transformation, fought for calmness and control and awareness. His claws tightened on the glowing blade, and he felt his body screaming as the two natures, the demon and the soul, fought over him. Slowly, ever so slowly, for time seemed to have stopped outside of his inner battle, he could feel his ears shortening, his features snapping back into the semblance of youkai, not inu...

His body tensed as the fire flared through him, the gift of his father's fang pulsing with inner strength and aid. Snarling his defiance, he roared to the rain-swept heavens above him, his eyes glowing with molten light as his soul embraced the demon, pulling it toward the heart of WHO he was, and tightening its control around the rage.

"SESSHOUMARU!"

His voice rang out across the storm-wracked forest, as his soul claimed his nature. Golden eyes glowing, the long silver blade of Tenseiga pulsed once, matching that cry. Green fire glowed around him, the white brilliance on the edges moving inward to highlight his braced body. Roaring his triumph, he raised both arms---one whole and tightened upon the sword, the other a shortened copy ended at the upper arm---to embrace the earth around him.

The green glow, his true power, flared once, lighting the forest like the flash of lightening, and then died.

The wind howled, and rain fell heavier against his soaked body, dragging the ends of his silver-white hair and adding weight to the long kimono that slithered over him like a second skin.

Control swept through him, and mild golden eyes narrowed with sudden focus at the low growl of his hanyou brother. Sheathing the now-silent Tenseiga, he turned to face the demon.

*InuYasha.*

His brother had kept one clawed hand on the girl he guarded, the other arm, clad in the water and blood-soaked haori, was stretched protectively across his face as his red eyes glowed in hate and bloodlust. He crouched to one side, his body covering the woman.

"InuYasha!" The girl cried at him, struggling for release when she saw the return of calm distance that suffused the Taiyoukai. The inu demon snarled, and let her go as his attention fixated on the Lord.

::BLOOD.::

The raging blood had taken over so much control that his brother could not even form the speech of ningen or youkai. He spoke only in the inu language, a primitive speech known instinctively at birth.

Bloodlust heated the half-demon, and would not be denied.

Roaring his challenge, the blood demon who was his brother launched himself at the Taiyoukai.

SesshouMaru easily side-stepped the swipe of daggered claws, and continued to maneuver from side to side as his half-brother swung, left and right, left and right, pressing him back. The Lord allowed his brother to keep up the advance, his gaze cold and contemplative as he watched the mindless, raging inu that attacked him with maddened fury.

InuYasha's soul was still buried under the rage of his blood, and SesshouMaru's eyes narrowed on him, the gold glowing with understanding.

"InuYasha." Dodge.

"You feel no fear." Snarl.

"You know no pain." Swipe.

"The demon blood coursing through your veins---" Sidestep.

"---is taking over your soul." Swipe.

"You don't even know who you are." Roar of rage.

"And you will continue fighting---" Swipe.

"---until you die."

Thud.

SesshouMaru pulled back his own curled fist as his brother was knocked flying across the field. The red light died out as the eyelids sunk close, and the hanyou's body crumpled into the ground, unconscious.

"InuYasha!"

His attention was drawn from the unmoving hanyou to the ningen girl who raced across the mud, her feet sliding across the rain-swept ground as she ran to InuYasha's side. A flicker of recognition crossed his mind, and put name to the girl who knelt over the hanyou, her white hands pulling at the hanyou's red haori, feeling for a pulse on the exposed neck.

*Taijiya.*

He watched as the slayer snarled in anger as she pulled at the wet ties on his brother's blood-covered haori, the rain thundering down on them turning the ties into slippery knots. Arching a single brow, the Lord made a slight gesture with his hand, and suddenly the entire battlefield was covered in his white, glowing aura. The crash of furious thunder was cut off abruptly, and the radiant shield of light kept the descending rain at bay.

He could hear the sharp intake of breath from the taijiya in the sudden silence. She shot him a brown-eyed look, and then turned her back, her wet fingers struggling on the knots. He watched her with faint amusement as, with a growl of impatience, she jerked a thin dirk from one black-clad ankle. The dagger gleamed silver in the brilliant white light, and she used it to cut the ties off of his brother's fire rat robes.

Blood soaked through the white kimono beneath, and the Lord watched dispassionately as the slayer shivered in reaction to the numerous wounds that covered the hanyou's torso and chest.

"InuYasha..." The word was soft, and almost despairing.

Her head turned sharply as the Lord's foot crunched intentionally on upturned rocks littering the ravaged ground. She watched him with a fierce expression, one hand going to white-knuckle the katana at her side in automatic warning.

A smile hinted at the cold expression as the Taiyoukai walked slowly, deliberately, to stand beside them.

"Why?" She grit out, her weak ningen teeth barred at him in a slightly-amusing attempt at a youkai growl.

He ignored her question.

"He has finally been brought down. If you wish him to stop, use the Tetsusaiga to reverse the transformation. Otherwise, he will continue to fight when he awakens."

He turned his back, but stiffened as he heard her abrupt movement, standing up behind him.

"Tetsusaiga is broken."

He did not turn to look at her.

"There is a Jewel shard. By the boy."

There was a gasp behind him.

"Kohaku!"

He could smell the tears that stung her eyes, could hear the rustle of her lashes as she blinked them back. Her words were hoarse, as if her heart was breaking inside. "I...I need the Jewel shard for my brother. He cannot live without it! Naraku---"

A faint growl emanated from him at that name, but he cut it off.

Her eyes bore holes in his back.

"The boy is dead." He said coldly.

Tenseiga pulsed at his hip, and he could feel the girl's attention on it.

"The Sword of Healing." Her gasping whisper filled the silence, hope gnawing at its edges.

Closing his golden eyes, SesshouMaru directed his thoughts at the blade. *Tenseiga. Do you wish me to save this boy?*

The sword pulsed once more.

White claws touched the hilt, and with a sharp jerk, he pulled the sword free. His face was arrogantly stoic as he stalked over to the purple-tinged claws that trapped the dead body of the taijiya's brother. He knew that the girl followed him, her steps light against the churned mud and leaf-litter that covered the forest floor. He could hear the wild staccato of her heartbeat, could sense the hopeful anticipation.

Ningen emotions were so easily read.

He stilled, a few feet away from the boy's upturned face. He was young, and there was pain etched in the white flesh. The boy had not died easily, and there was more than physical distress that deepened the lines around the wide, blank brown eyes.

By narrowing his gaze, he could see the gremlins that hovered over the boy, their yellow eyes much like his servant Jaken's, their claws clutching at the body, seeking the spirit.

Raising the sword, he swept it in a downstroke...

Only to have it stop in mid-swing, inches above the ghostly-pale face.

Tenseiga pulsed, flared with a greenish mist, and then died.

A silver brow raised as he regarded the silent sword.

"Why isn't he breathing?" There was a hitch in the urgent whisper behind him. SesshouMaru turned his head, his golden eyes focused on the pale girl behind him. The black tangles of her bangs edged around her white cheeks in dampened curls, and her eyes were dark holes of desperation.

"Tenseiga will not heal him." Was all he said, sheathing the silent blade.

"But..." A trembling breath eased out of the taijiya, and she closed her eyes tight against the threat of tears that he could smell on her. Her steeled resolve seemed to crumple, and she fell to her knees in the mud, one hand going out to touch the dead boy's pale cheek, the other digging into the bloodied soil beside her. She bent her head, and trembled.

Something flashed fiery pink and fuchsia not a foot from the girl, and the Taiyoukai's eyes narrowed on it.

"Taijiya."

Her body jerked, and her head lifted, the tears falling unheeded down her white cheeks.

"The Shikon shard is there." He nodded once, his voice distant and cold.

She gasped, and her hand snaked out to grasp the glowing crystal. The Jewel was bathed in a deeply rose color, fuchsia streaks running through the lighter pink. It swirled with malevolent power, and the Lord could feel the foul touch of the dark hanyou, Naraku, on its aura.

She cupped the small diamond-shaped piece of the Shikon no Tama in her dirty hands, her head bowed, her heart racing.

Tenseiga pulsed once more at his hip, and he could feel the call of the broken Tetsusaiga across the trampled field. There was a faint, harsh moan from the unconscious hanyou that lay wounded between them and the broken sword.

The girl stiffened.

"He awakens." SesshouMaru said indifferently.

"But..."

"You must choose." The gold in his eyes intensified as he stared at the taijiya.

*She is ningen. Would she choose to save her brother or mine?*

For InuYasha would die if he were to awaken in the blood rage's clasp. He, as Taiyoukai, could not let the mindless, blood-maddened inu that had taken control of his half-brother live.

"Choose..." She closed her eyes, and a harsh breath tore through her. He was amazed at her control---he could sense the raging emotions that battled inside of her. Fear and heartbreak, loss and guilt. She was torn in two, between heart-loyalty and blood-loyalty. Only a faint whisper of her emotions showed through the tight rein she kept over them.

The ningen taijiya was surprising.

The malevolent shard in her hands flared suddenly with a pure, pinkish-white light. Her hands curled over the Jewel, and she bent her head a moment, a tear sliding down her cheek.

*She has chosen.*

She stood up, her eyes dark and unreadable, and she turned away from the boy who was trapped in youkai claws. Her steps were slow, as if it was the Jewel who was leading her, and not her own awareness.

A throbbing heart-beat shuddered through the limp form of his hanyou brother. White claws, darkened with blood down to the wrist, curled for a moment. SesshouMaru watched dispassionately, his eyes distant.

Awareness was returning to the inu.

The taijiya, her head bowed, the long black tail of her hair hanging plastered in wet strands down her armored back, paused before the awakening hanyou.

A slow growl emanated from his half-brother, and the girl fell to her knees once again in the churned earth beside him.

The inu demon was quick to react, his eyes flashing red as he jumped back away from her, crouching in defense. His clawed toes dug into the soaked ground, and he bared his fangs, his eyes and awareness focused only on the girl in front of him. His white hair, filthy and matted with blood and dirt, hung down his back in wet tangles, and his bloodied claws curled as a low snarl hissed out of him.

::Female.::

SesshouMaru watched them impassively, the unemotional mask of his face giving nothing away as he listened to the inu growls of his transformed half-brother.

Muscles flexed under the blood-splattered kimono, and the inu demon snarled a command at the woman whom he considered a pack female.

::Submit!::

The girl could not understand what the dog demon was snarling at her, but her unconscious actions served their purpose. She bent her head, and tears burned under her closed eyes. Her head turned slightly to the side, as if she would look once back at her dead brother, but she did not turn fully.

The gesture exposed her neck, her head to the side.

A sign of submission.

The inu demon grinned his triumph, his red eyes glowing, fangs glinting.

The taijiya's hands uncurled from around the glowing Jewel shard, and she extended it toward him.

The dog demon froze.

The Lord watched silently as the Shikon shard flashed once, bathing the pair of them in pink and white fire. The fire flared once in life, and then expired.

The crouching hanyou tensed, his ears flattening against his skull. Confused amber eyes blinked rapidly, as if seeking awareness.

"Sango?"

The Taiyoukai turned away, calling the extension of his glowing white light closer to him. The light, as luminous as lightening, dissolved from around the devastated forest, intensifying as it folded in around him once more. Raising his golden eyes up to the dying storms, SesshouMaru felt the aura tightening so that only he now rested in the protective white globe. With a flicker of thought, he was up and away from them.

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A/N: Hee-hee! Bet you weren't expecting THOSE twists! (Does the twisty-dance...ow! banged my knee on the desk!) Sorry about the long chapter, but I wanted to get it out. I was going to break it up into three or four, but I might have gotten killed (dodges Wicca and various murderous vampire bunnies and walking Barney corpse...ack! a boyfriend for Kikyo?). A couple of notes: Athena, again you have inspired! Amy, the pics alone have gotten my hentai juice going again...more :P in the wind! Fyyrrose...LOL...nice to meet the 3 Amigos, and I wonder if you were a subject study of Freud's in a past life? Anyway, I am glad to make the acquaintance of Eris, Raven, and Keaira. And revenge is a "witch"...I might have to indulge in that Sango chappie! CrystalJade, aff.net is adultfanfiction.net, and the NC17 version is posted there under "YoukaiFate", as well as on A Single Spark under "Fate". Alaina: I'll take the money for GB surgery after all those cookies. Jazngurl: Thank you for your offer of translation assistance, and wait for my future attack! I need some Japanese name advising, for minor OC and (perhaps) future babies...but y'all might be surprised at who might get pregnant...Kagome wasn't the only one exercising her lateral libido... O.O

Next chappie coming out, and Inu should be meeting up with Kag's soon! = D

Thanks for all the continued support and reviews!!!