InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Prophecy ❯ Healing the Inuhanyou ( Chapter 37 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: mshutts 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Psychological / Hentai | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 03.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 2.8K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Psychological / Hentai | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 03.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 2.8K | Status: Work In Progress
The Prophecy
By: mshutts
WARNING: incest
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any other characters here-in, except the healer
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Chapter 37: Healing the Inuhanyou
Sesshoumaru looked at his not even a day old mate lying on his futon. He was waiting for the healer to come. Hopefully, she would know what was wrong with his little brother. As it was, his youki was insisting that he should be helping his mate right now.
If he had known of some way to help his baby brother, he would, if only to appease his youki, but, as it was, he had no idea where to even begin. He was not even sure what had happened. It had been going well up until breakfast and he wondered if this was perhaps his doing. Although, thinking back over the meal, he could not see how.
As soon as they had entered the dining room, Sesshoumaru had watched his new mate move directly to the table and begin to eat the food lying there in shock. After a cursory sniff, he was shoving the food into his mouth, barely pausing long enough to chew before swallowing and picking up the next item. The way Inuyasha was acting, it was like he hadn’t seen food in weeks instead of a couple of days.
This was one of the most disgusting displays he had ever seen. If this is how his new mate always ate food, it would need to get trained out of him as soon as possible. Sesshoumaru could just imagine the reaction of other demon lords to his younger brother consuming food in such a manner. He mentally shuddered at the very idea.
He watched as Jaken ran up to his brother, insisting that he should not be eating this food or some other such nonsense and was about to step in and tell Jaken to mind his place when his baby brother did the job for him, stepping on the annoying imp, effectively silencing him.
He stepped into the room fully to the sound of his young ward laughing at his new mate. As he watched Inuyasha sit down across from Rin at the table, something clicked in his head. His little brother was not sitting where he was supposed to be sitting.
Determining that this would be the first lesson his new mate would learn, he went to stand behind his brother. He had been intending to simply direct Inuyasha to where he should be sitting until he heard the nature of the conversation his little brother was having with his charge.
He didn’t care if Inuyasha was his mate or not, no one talked about him that way. As such, he grabbed his younger brother by the back of the neck. It was not an overly violent reaction in his mind. After all, if he had wanted to, it would be a relatively simple thing to crush the delicate neck that was in his hand. He knew that his brother knew that as well.
He thought it was a rather tempered display of his displeasure. Apparently, his brother did not agree. Instead of accepting the reprimand in good grace, he decided to fight him on the issue. So, in retaliation, he dropped his baby brother into his spot rather than placing him there more gently. His new mate needed to learn the appropriate way to act, after all.
Then, just as he was about to start eating, his new mate made the most absurd observation. So his baby brother was upset about being in the feminine role in their relationship? His youki found that to be endlessly amusing. Of course his little brother was the female. He was the one who could bear pups, after all. Not only that, but he was obviously the beta in this relationship.
He had known that Inuyasha was a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but he had not thought his younger brother was that stupid. How was it that he could not know that, between the two of them, he was quite obviously the submissive? He hadn’t honestly expected him, Sesshoumaru, to take on the submissive role had he? What an utterly ridiculous idea.
As if in direct defiance of what was running through his mind, he watched his mate pointedly ignore him. He tried to pay no heed to it, really he did, but his youki was getting more ticked off by the minute. How dare his mate ignore him? He was the alpha mate, he should be the center of his little brother’s attention. It was just the way it should be, especially now, during mating season.
It made Sesshoumaru wonder what the hell his little brother’s youki was thinking. He knew that he, himself, wasn’t exactly acting like he normally did at the moment, but with the surge in power in his own youki what with it being mating season still and him having just gotten a new mate, it was impossible for him to ignore its urges. He was sure that his little brother must be feeling the same desires.
But, with this behavior, it was looking like his little brother was not even affected by his youki. Sesshoumaru was beginning to feel like Inuyasha felt he was not even worthy of his consideration. His little brother was showing more interest in his young charge than he was in him, his mate. This was unacceptable. He couldn’t stop the look of annoyance from coming over his features and he knew that Rin had seen it as well, for she stopped talking to his mate immediately.
However, even without the distraction of his young charge, his baby brother was still ignoring him. Not knowing what else to do and being caught somewhere between anger and annoyance, he told his little brother to grow up and get over this perceived slight of his. Sesshoumaru had not even realized that he had called Inuyasha his mate aloud until he heard Jaken’s stuttering, but he pushed the annoying imp out of his mind, he would have had to find out soon enough and it was not like he really cared what Jaken thought in any event.
But, when his mate stood from the table to leave, the anger in his youki came back full force. Not only was his beta not submitting like a good mate, he was still hungry. There was no way his little brother had actually finished eating, and he had meant what he had said previously about not allowing his mate to go hungry under his care. Even if he, himself, did not care, his youki did and would never allow him to let his new mate starve.
As such, Inuyasha had not taken two steps before Sesshoumaru had caught up with him using his supernatural speed. Grabbing his arm, he tried to impose his will on the hanyou and force him into submission through sheer force of determination. All of Sesshoumaru’s instincts were insisting that his baby brother should be submitting. He could not understand why his little brother was bothering to try to resist him. It was an impossible task, surely he realized that.
He had thought that he might have finally gotten through to his little brother when he felt the boy rip his arm out of his grasp and slash Sesshoumaru across the face with his claws. Ignoring the blood flowing from the new wounds, his youki became enraged. He was the alpha, he would be obeyed. If his mate could not understand that the easy way, he would have to do it the hard way.
Pushing rational thought out of his head, his youki took over, focused solely on teaching his mate his place. His youki didn’t care if he had to beat it into him, his younger brother was going to understand his station. There was no other way around it. Then, just as his youki was reestablishing its dominance over his little brother’s youki, Inuyasha did something totally unexpected.
He screamed. It wasn’t a normal scream either. Sesshoumaru had never heard a scream such as the one that his new mate had emitted. It sounded like Inuyasha was being tortured and he never wanted to hear that sound again. Then, to make matters worse, his little brother had gone unconscious immediately thereafter. He would have collapsed to the floor had it not been for his elder brother’s presence. As it was, Sesshoumaru had caught his limp mate effortlessly.
His youki had immediately ceased its anger and gone into panic mode as it tried to determine what had happened to his mate. A cursory sniff revealed nothing to the distressed demon lord and he realized he would have to get the healer quickly. Having ascertained this, he ordered Jaken to retrieve the healer and carried his ailing mate up to his room. The least he could do was make him comfortable.
And so he was back to where he had started. A sudden thought occurred to him, what if the food had been poisoned in some way? He dismissed it in the next thought, if it had been, Rin would have been affected as well, and she was not. Besides, he had watched his younger brother smell each item before placing it in his mouth. Even with his weaker hanyou nose, he would have still been able to smell the taint that would accompany poisoning.
But if it was not poisoning, what could it possibly be? Maybe his youki was weakening even more than he had thought. He sent out a cursory feeler to see the strength in his brother’s youki and found that, indeed, it was weaker than he had remembered it being even that morning.
He furrowed his brow at his sickly mate. There had to be something that could be done about this increasingly weakening youki. When he saw the boy moan and shift, he went to his side without thought. Reaching out to gently touch his younger brother’s head, he did not even hear the panel slide open behind him.
He was unaware of the healer’s presence until she was almost right on top of them asking if this was the patient. Tearing his gaze away from his brother, he looked up and told her, “Yes, see what you can do, healer.”
(Healer’s POV)
When she had first heard that Lord Sesshoumaru needed her, she had been surprised. He did not often have need of her services. Her main interactions dealt with keeping her lord’s servants alive.
She had occasionally been called upon to assist with the young girl that he had taken into his care recently, but her lord seemed to prefer finding a human healer to take care of the child. She supposed it was just as well, she knew very little about how to help a human. They had such frail bodies, after all.
So, when she had received the summons, she hurried as quickly as possible to her lord’s scent. Passing down hall after hall, she finally followed his scent to his personal sleeping room. With dread, she realized that the being in need of her assistance must be Lord Sesshoumaru himself. She could not bring herself to comprehend what could possibly bring down such a strong youkai, but all evidence seemed to pointing in that direction.
She lightly knocked on the panel for entrance, but received no response even though she was positive her lord was inside. She knew how jealously her lord guarded his privacy, but there was the matter of her needing to help the person who was in trouble.
Swallowing her apprehension, she slowly opened the panel, hoping that her often times violent lord would not mistakenly attack her for her impudence. Upon entering the room, she quietly slid the panel shut again and turned to take in the space.
She was shocked by the sight before her. Lord Sesshoumaru was not the one who was ill at all. He was kneeling beside his futon, gently touching a figure that was lying there. She caught a hint of silver hair on floor, but it was impossible to tell if it was her lord’s or her patient’s hair. Taking a cursory sniff of the room, she caught the scent of a female inuhanyou mixed in with her lord’s scent.
Could it be that Lord Sesshoumaru had finally found his mate? She felt a wave of happiness at the idea and smiled for a moment before carefully schooling her features once more. It would not do for her lord to think that she was not taking the care of his new mate seriously. He had been lonely for so long and, in her mind, it was high past time when he should have found a mate.
She found herself not wanting to disturb this rather touching scene that was playing out in front of her. She had never seen her lord show such tenderness to anyone, even the little girl he kept. But, she also knew that she had a job to do and she would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to her lord’s new mate because she had dallied.
As such, she walked up to Lord Sesshoumaru’s side and got her first good look at who she presumed was her patient. It was indeed an inuhanyou, but there was a definitely masculine look to the face which was in opposition with the smell that was being emitted. Putting that aside, she took in the pale skin and sweat-covered forehead.
This hanyou, barely more than a child really, was obviously in severe distress. Noting that Lord Sesshoumaru had yet to acknowledge her presence, she looked down at him, only to see him lost in contemplation. To pull him out of his thoughts, she gently asked him if this was her patient, even though it was obvious to her that it was.
Finally, he noticed she was there. She watched him pull his gaze away from his mate and ask her to help the child. She then observed him as he tried to get himself to rise and step back. Knowing that it would most likely be better for both her patient and her lord if he were to stay close to his mate, she said, “Please, Lord Sesshoumaru, remain where you are. I may need your assistance.”
She watched as the demon lord turned back to his mate and began to, once again, stroke the being on the futon in a rather soothing manner. She had never seen her lord act in such a way towards anyone. She was quite happy that she was given the opportunity to see such a rare sight, but wished it was under better circumstances. As it was, she could feel the concern coming off him in waves.
The healer knew she would have to be careful with her actions. She had dealt with mated inuyoukai before and knew that they had a tendency to be overprotective of their mates, even if she was trying to help said mate. She was unsure how her lord would deal with her examination, but decided she would have to cross that bridge when she got to it.
Partially to take his mind off his mate’s distress and partially to keep him from killing her while she examined his mate, she began to ask the youkai lord questions, “What is my patient’s name?”
“Inuyasha.”
“And what is wrong with Lady Inuyasha?” she continued to speak, all the while taking a visual survey of her patient.
“You will refer to him as Lord Inuyasha,” Lord Sesshoumaru said in some annoyance.
“Sorry, my lord. What is wrong with Lord Inuyasha?” she corrected quickly, not wanting to upset the rather volatile youkai in front of her. To say she was surprised to hear that her patient was a ‘him’ was putting it mildly. If this was indeed a male, why was she smelling such a strong, feminine scent coming off him? It didn’t make any sense. Although, it did serve to explain the rather masculine features.
Lord Sesshoumaru gave her a rather cross look. “If I knew what was wrong with him, I would have no need for you.”
“What I meant was, why did you send for me? What happened?” she asked, trying to appease him. She reminded herself that he was not being purposely disrespectful, he was just very distressed about his mate.
“We were eating breakfast and had a disagreement and then he screamed and collapsed.”
“Nothing touched him?”
“I touched him briefly before he collapsed.”
She furrowed her brow. Something was not adding up. “What was the argument about?”
“I fail to see how that is of any relevance to his illness.”
“Lord Sesshoumaru, please let me be the judge of that. Would you please tell me what the nature of your disagreement was?”
“He was not filling his role of beta mate appropriately.”
“I see,” she said, though she didn’t really. What could the child have possibly done that would constitute not filling his role properly? There was very little that a beta mate was expected to do, after all. Just about any behavior could be deemed appropriate for a beta mate so long as the alpha mate did not take issue with it. It was well known that mates had to strike a balance between them. There was always the give and take present, and in some situations, the alpha was not even the dominant one.
The concept that the beta mate was always supposed to be subservient to the alpha mate was more of an intellectual construct than a reality. Youkis were such that they picked good matches for each other. They would never place an overly controlling demon with a demoness who would not stand up for herself. It went against many of their basic desires.
Much of what a youki looked for in a mate was a being that had just as much if not more raw power than the interested youki. It was one of the reasons it had been so difficult for her lord to find a mate. Being the most powerful among the demon lords, his youki would have been unimpressed with any of the demonesses around even if there had been any available.
But, now it seemed that that was no longer a problem. He had found his mate and as soon as she figured out what was wrong with him, he could go back to being properly mated. She found a secret pleasure in knowing that his new mate would most likely be able to help change her lord for the better. For, if he was strong enough to be her lord’s mate, she knew he was strong enough to get through to Lord Sesshoumaru.
As a result of this balance of power in the youkis, there was also a balance of power in the relationship between the mates. Without this balance present, she had seen many difficulties arise between mates. Knowing that this was a new mating, however, she was not overly concerned as of yet. There had most likely not been enough time to establish the relationship hierarchy yet.
Because of this, she did not consider a possible power struggle between the two new mates a feasible reason for the difficulties Lord Inuyasha was facing presently. But, being the good healer she was, she put the idea in the back of her thoughts just in case. It was possible that the human blood in the younger mate was causing the mating bond problems, after all.
Having finished her visual examination without seeing anything amiss, she dispelled her musings from her mind as she closed her eyes and sent out her senses to check various things. The first thing that came to her attention was that Lord Inuyasha’s youki was as low as a regular demon’s. The healer was sure that had to be much lower than his normal levels, even though she had not previously met him, otherwise he would not have become Lord Sesshoumaru’s mate.
She wondered at why his youki was so weakened, when she noticed something bizarre. As Lord Sesshoumaru was kneeling next to his mate, streams of youki were ebbing right off of her lord and going into the hanyou on the futon. She wondered at this for a moment, being that she had never seen anything like it before, when a new idea occurred to her.
“Lord Sesshoumaru, have you completed the third claim with your mate?”
She watched him scoff at the idea, “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I have not.”
She had begun to sink back into her meditative state, still confused as to what was causing the ebb of youki when she heard, “What makes you ask such a question, healer?”
“I have merely noticed that your youki is feeding your mate’s youki, my lord.”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“No, Lord Sesshoumaru, there’s no problem with it. It is most likely what is keeping your mate’s youki from dropping to critical levels. It is just that it is unusual for mates who have not completed the third or sometimes even fourth claim to have this ability. That is all.”
“I do not understand, healer. It was my understanding that my youki has been supporting his youki for days now. Well before even the first claim was laid.”
If she had been surprised before, now, she was utterly shocked. While she had never heard of a couple who had only completed the first two levels of claiming having this ability, she had at least seen it as a possibility. However, knowing that he had been doing this before they had even begun the mating process? Nothing she had ever seen had led her to believe that was even possible.
It was all adding up to a very confusing picture and if there was one thing the healer did not like, it was confusion. In her line of work, confusion often led to deaths. Trying to work out what was really going on here, she continued to ask Lord Sesshoumaru questions. “Why was his youki weakened in the first place?”
“He was gaining the ability to bear pups.”
She blinked rapidly, surely she had heard that wrong. “I’m sorry, my lord. Could you please repeat that?”
She listened to Lord Sesshoumaru give a put-upon sigh and respond, “In the past few days, Inuyasha has gained the ability to bear pups. Evidently, this ability is created through the usage of youki.”
Now that she knew she had heard correctly, she realized that this was astounding. True, she had read of the wolf youkai having gained this ability during the war that was millennia ago, but this was the first case she had ever even heard hint of where it was a dog demon. Not only that, but a half-dog demon. She now knew why that feminine scent had been coming off the boy. She also knew that her job had just become that much harder.
Making a mental note to search for any information that might be around in reference to the ability to bear young in wolf demons, she went back to her perusal of the boy in front of her. With the exception of the weakened youki, she could not sense anything wrong with Lord Inuyasha.
She came back out of her trance with a sigh. Lord Sesshoumaru was not going to be happy with what she had to tell him. She had hoped that she could have been of more assistance to him, but it appeared that her lord was already doing all that could be done.
She just did not have enough information to go on at the moment. She needed to know more about the process through which the wolf demons had gained the ability to bear young. Maybe then she could be of more help. Until then, there was no more that she could do than her lord was already doing.
Looking to the youkai lord who had still not removed his gaze from his mate, she said, “The best thing you can do for your mate right now is stay by him, Lord Sesshoumaru. I will endeavor to locate more information on how to help Lord Inuyasha, but, at present, I am unable to suggest anything better than what you are already doing. Your mate needs to rest and you need to stay near him while he does so.”
The healer looked into the golden eyes of her lord, making sure he understood what she was saying. “It is very important you do not leave him alone or he may die. At present, it is only through the support of your youki that he is not in worse shape. I shall return later to check on Lord Inuyasha again.”
After receiving a sign of dismissal, she stood once again and walked out of the room. Once outside, she closed her eyes and brought her hand to her forehead. This was going to be one of the most difficult things that she had ever attempted to do. Steeling her resolve for the work that was to come, she began to walk back to her quarters, racking her brain for any wolf healers that might have been alive several thousand years ago.
(Sesshoumaru’s POV)
Sesshoumaru held his youki in check until the healer had left the room. It was enraged that she had not known of any other way to help his mate, but he knew that she was one of the best healers in the land and, as such, would be the most likely to assist after she had time to look into the problem. He had to remind himself that it was not her fault that she did not know how to deal with a hanyou who was gaining the ability to bear pups.
He looked down at his mate again with a sigh. So it was his youki that was causing the problem. That meant it was most likely still trying to compensate for being able to bear pups. He had thought that would have ended with the ending of the change. Apparently he had been wrong.
However, now that he knew the problem and had at least some way of helping, his youki was slightly less on edge than it had been previously. Gazing at his younger brother again, he did the only thing he could think of to try and help his new mate.
He closed his eyes and focused on his own youki. Once he was sure that his youki was focused, he concentrated on drawing it into one continuous stream and feeding it into his younger brother’s youki. He could feel his power being sapped from his body, but his own instincts would accept nothing less. It was his duty as the alpha mate to protect and assist his beta mate.
As more of his youki was flowing into the boy in front of him, he could feel his baby brother’s youki growing in strength slowly. Seeing that it was working, he became even more determined in his desire to bolster that power. He was so focused on this one task, he took no note of the hours passing or the day turning to night.
Indeed, for the two new mates, time did not seem to pass at all as they remained, one in a trance and the other unconscious, slowly regaining his strength.
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Thanks for reading and/or reviewing. They are both very much appreciated.
By: mshutts
WARNING: incest
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any other characters here-in, except the healer
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Chapter 37: Healing the Inuhanyou
Sesshoumaru looked at his not even a day old mate lying on his futon. He was waiting for the healer to come. Hopefully, she would know what was wrong with his little brother. As it was, his youki was insisting that he should be helping his mate right now.
If he had known of some way to help his baby brother, he would, if only to appease his youki, but, as it was, he had no idea where to even begin. He was not even sure what had happened. It had been going well up until breakfast and he wondered if this was perhaps his doing. Although, thinking back over the meal, he could not see how.
As soon as they had entered the dining room, Sesshoumaru had watched his new mate move directly to the table and begin to eat the food lying there in shock. After a cursory sniff, he was shoving the food into his mouth, barely pausing long enough to chew before swallowing and picking up the next item. The way Inuyasha was acting, it was like he hadn’t seen food in weeks instead of a couple of days.
This was one of the most disgusting displays he had ever seen. If this is how his new mate always ate food, it would need to get trained out of him as soon as possible. Sesshoumaru could just imagine the reaction of other demon lords to his younger brother consuming food in such a manner. He mentally shuddered at the very idea.
He watched as Jaken ran up to his brother, insisting that he should not be eating this food or some other such nonsense and was about to step in and tell Jaken to mind his place when his baby brother did the job for him, stepping on the annoying imp, effectively silencing him.
He stepped into the room fully to the sound of his young ward laughing at his new mate. As he watched Inuyasha sit down across from Rin at the table, something clicked in his head. His little brother was not sitting where he was supposed to be sitting.
Determining that this would be the first lesson his new mate would learn, he went to stand behind his brother. He had been intending to simply direct Inuyasha to where he should be sitting until he heard the nature of the conversation his little brother was having with his charge.
He didn’t care if Inuyasha was his mate or not, no one talked about him that way. As such, he grabbed his younger brother by the back of the neck. It was not an overly violent reaction in his mind. After all, if he had wanted to, it would be a relatively simple thing to crush the delicate neck that was in his hand. He knew that his brother knew that as well.
He thought it was a rather tempered display of his displeasure. Apparently, his brother did not agree. Instead of accepting the reprimand in good grace, he decided to fight him on the issue. So, in retaliation, he dropped his baby brother into his spot rather than placing him there more gently. His new mate needed to learn the appropriate way to act, after all.
Then, just as he was about to start eating, his new mate made the most absurd observation. So his baby brother was upset about being in the feminine role in their relationship? His youki found that to be endlessly amusing. Of course his little brother was the female. He was the one who could bear pups, after all. Not only that, but he was obviously the beta in this relationship.
He had known that Inuyasha was a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but he had not thought his younger brother was that stupid. How was it that he could not know that, between the two of them, he was quite obviously the submissive? He hadn’t honestly expected him, Sesshoumaru, to take on the submissive role had he? What an utterly ridiculous idea.
As if in direct defiance of what was running through his mind, he watched his mate pointedly ignore him. He tried to pay no heed to it, really he did, but his youki was getting more ticked off by the minute. How dare his mate ignore him? He was the alpha mate, he should be the center of his little brother’s attention. It was just the way it should be, especially now, during mating season.
It made Sesshoumaru wonder what the hell his little brother’s youki was thinking. He knew that he, himself, wasn’t exactly acting like he normally did at the moment, but with the surge in power in his own youki what with it being mating season still and him having just gotten a new mate, it was impossible for him to ignore its urges. He was sure that his little brother must be feeling the same desires.
But, with this behavior, it was looking like his little brother was not even affected by his youki. Sesshoumaru was beginning to feel like Inuyasha felt he was not even worthy of his consideration. His little brother was showing more interest in his young charge than he was in him, his mate. This was unacceptable. He couldn’t stop the look of annoyance from coming over his features and he knew that Rin had seen it as well, for she stopped talking to his mate immediately.
However, even without the distraction of his young charge, his baby brother was still ignoring him. Not knowing what else to do and being caught somewhere between anger and annoyance, he told his little brother to grow up and get over this perceived slight of his. Sesshoumaru had not even realized that he had called Inuyasha his mate aloud until he heard Jaken’s stuttering, but he pushed the annoying imp out of his mind, he would have had to find out soon enough and it was not like he really cared what Jaken thought in any event.
But, when his mate stood from the table to leave, the anger in his youki came back full force. Not only was his beta not submitting like a good mate, he was still hungry. There was no way his little brother had actually finished eating, and he had meant what he had said previously about not allowing his mate to go hungry under his care. Even if he, himself, did not care, his youki did and would never allow him to let his new mate starve.
As such, Inuyasha had not taken two steps before Sesshoumaru had caught up with him using his supernatural speed. Grabbing his arm, he tried to impose his will on the hanyou and force him into submission through sheer force of determination. All of Sesshoumaru’s instincts were insisting that his baby brother should be submitting. He could not understand why his little brother was bothering to try to resist him. It was an impossible task, surely he realized that.
He had thought that he might have finally gotten through to his little brother when he felt the boy rip his arm out of his grasp and slash Sesshoumaru across the face with his claws. Ignoring the blood flowing from the new wounds, his youki became enraged. He was the alpha, he would be obeyed. If his mate could not understand that the easy way, he would have to do it the hard way.
Pushing rational thought out of his head, his youki took over, focused solely on teaching his mate his place. His youki didn’t care if he had to beat it into him, his younger brother was going to understand his station. There was no other way around it. Then, just as his youki was reestablishing its dominance over his little brother’s youki, Inuyasha did something totally unexpected.
He screamed. It wasn’t a normal scream either. Sesshoumaru had never heard a scream such as the one that his new mate had emitted. It sounded like Inuyasha was being tortured and he never wanted to hear that sound again. Then, to make matters worse, his little brother had gone unconscious immediately thereafter. He would have collapsed to the floor had it not been for his elder brother’s presence. As it was, Sesshoumaru had caught his limp mate effortlessly.
His youki had immediately ceased its anger and gone into panic mode as it tried to determine what had happened to his mate. A cursory sniff revealed nothing to the distressed demon lord and he realized he would have to get the healer quickly. Having ascertained this, he ordered Jaken to retrieve the healer and carried his ailing mate up to his room. The least he could do was make him comfortable.
And so he was back to where he had started. A sudden thought occurred to him, what if the food had been poisoned in some way? He dismissed it in the next thought, if it had been, Rin would have been affected as well, and she was not. Besides, he had watched his younger brother smell each item before placing it in his mouth. Even with his weaker hanyou nose, he would have still been able to smell the taint that would accompany poisoning.
But if it was not poisoning, what could it possibly be? Maybe his youki was weakening even more than he had thought. He sent out a cursory feeler to see the strength in his brother’s youki and found that, indeed, it was weaker than he had remembered it being even that morning.
He furrowed his brow at his sickly mate. There had to be something that could be done about this increasingly weakening youki. When he saw the boy moan and shift, he went to his side without thought. Reaching out to gently touch his younger brother’s head, he did not even hear the panel slide open behind him.
He was unaware of the healer’s presence until she was almost right on top of them asking if this was the patient. Tearing his gaze away from his brother, he looked up and told her, “Yes, see what you can do, healer.”
(Healer’s POV)
When she had first heard that Lord Sesshoumaru needed her, she had been surprised. He did not often have need of her services. Her main interactions dealt with keeping her lord’s servants alive.
She had occasionally been called upon to assist with the young girl that he had taken into his care recently, but her lord seemed to prefer finding a human healer to take care of the child. She supposed it was just as well, she knew very little about how to help a human. They had such frail bodies, after all.
So, when she had received the summons, she hurried as quickly as possible to her lord’s scent. Passing down hall after hall, she finally followed his scent to his personal sleeping room. With dread, she realized that the being in need of her assistance must be Lord Sesshoumaru himself. She could not bring herself to comprehend what could possibly bring down such a strong youkai, but all evidence seemed to pointing in that direction.
She lightly knocked on the panel for entrance, but received no response even though she was positive her lord was inside. She knew how jealously her lord guarded his privacy, but there was the matter of her needing to help the person who was in trouble.
Swallowing her apprehension, she slowly opened the panel, hoping that her often times violent lord would not mistakenly attack her for her impudence. Upon entering the room, she quietly slid the panel shut again and turned to take in the space.
She was shocked by the sight before her. Lord Sesshoumaru was not the one who was ill at all. He was kneeling beside his futon, gently touching a figure that was lying there. She caught a hint of silver hair on floor, but it was impossible to tell if it was her lord’s or her patient’s hair. Taking a cursory sniff of the room, she caught the scent of a female inuhanyou mixed in with her lord’s scent.
Could it be that Lord Sesshoumaru had finally found his mate? She felt a wave of happiness at the idea and smiled for a moment before carefully schooling her features once more. It would not do for her lord to think that she was not taking the care of his new mate seriously. He had been lonely for so long and, in her mind, it was high past time when he should have found a mate.
She found herself not wanting to disturb this rather touching scene that was playing out in front of her. She had never seen her lord show such tenderness to anyone, even the little girl he kept. But, she also knew that she had a job to do and she would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to her lord’s new mate because she had dallied.
As such, she walked up to Lord Sesshoumaru’s side and got her first good look at who she presumed was her patient. It was indeed an inuhanyou, but there was a definitely masculine look to the face which was in opposition with the smell that was being emitted. Putting that aside, she took in the pale skin and sweat-covered forehead.
This hanyou, barely more than a child really, was obviously in severe distress. Noting that Lord Sesshoumaru had yet to acknowledge her presence, she looked down at him, only to see him lost in contemplation. To pull him out of his thoughts, she gently asked him if this was her patient, even though it was obvious to her that it was.
Finally, he noticed she was there. She watched him pull his gaze away from his mate and ask her to help the child. She then observed him as he tried to get himself to rise and step back. Knowing that it would most likely be better for both her patient and her lord if he were to stay close to his mate, she said, “Please, Lord Sesshoumaru, remain where you are. I may need your assistance.”
She watched as the demon lord turned back to his mate and began to, once again, stroke the being on the futon in a rather soothing manner. She had never seen her lord act in such a way towards anyone. She was quite happy that she was given the opportunity to see such a rare sight, but wished it was under better circumstances. As it was, she could feel the concern coming off him in waves.
The healer knew she would have to be careful with her actions. She had dealt with mated inuyoukai before and knew that they had a tendency to be overprotective of their mates, even if she was trying to help said mate. She was unsure how her lord would deal with her examination, but decided she would have to cross that bridge when she got to it.
Partially to take his mind off his mate’s distress and partially to keep him from killing her while she examined his mate, she began to ask the youkai lord questions, “What is my patient’s name?”
“Inuyasha.”
“And what is wrong with Lady Inuyasha?” she continued to speak, all the while taking a visual survey of her patient.
“You will refer to him as Lord Inuyasha,” Lord Sesshoumaru said in some annoyance.
“Sorry, my lord. What is wrong with Lord Inuyasha?” she corrected quickly, not wanting to upset the rather volatile youkai in front of her. To say she was surprised to hear that her patient was a ‘him’ was putting it mildly. If this was indeed a male, why was she smelling such a strong, feminine scent coming off him? It didn’t make any sense. Although, it did serve to explain the rather masculine features.
Lord Sesshoumaru gave her a rather cross look. “If I knew what was wrong with him, I would have no need for you.”
“What I meant was, why did you send for me? What happened?” she asked, trying to appease him. She reminded herself that he was not being purposely disrespectful, he was just very distressed about his mate.
“We were eating breakfast and had a disagreement and then he screamed and collapsed.”
“Nothing touched him?”
“I touched him briefly before he collapsed.”
She furrowed her brow. Something was not adding up. “What was the argument about?”
“I fail to see how that is of any relevance to his illness.”
“Lord Sesshoumaru, please let me be the judge of that. Would you please tell me what the nature of your disagreement was?”
“He was not filling his role of beta mate appropriately.”
“I see,” she said, though she didn’t really. What could the child have possibly done that would constitute not filling his role properly? There was very little that a beta mate was expected to do, after all. Just about any behavior could be deemed appropriate for a beta mate so long as the alpha mate did not take issue with it. It was well known that mates had to strike a balance between them. There was always the give and take present, and in some situations, the alpha was not even the dominant one.
The concept that the beta mate was always supposed to be subservient to the alpha mate was more of an intellectual construct than a reality. Youkis were such that they picked good matches for each other. They would never place an overly controlling demon with a demoness who would not stand up for herself. It went against many of their basic desires.
Much of what a youki looked for in a mate was a being that had just as much if not more raw power than the interested youki. It was one of the reasons it had been so difficult for her lord to find a mate. Being the most powerful among the demon lords, his youki would have been unimpressed with any of the demonesses around even if there had been any available.
But, now it seemed that that was no longer a problem. He had found his mate and as soon as she figured out what was wrong with him, he could go back to being properly mated. She found a secret pleasure in knowing that his new mate would most likely be able to help change her lord for the better. For, if he was strong enough to be her lord’s mate, she knew he was strong enough to get through to Lord Sesshoumaru.
As a result of this balance of power in the youkis, there was also a balance of power in the relationship between the mates. Without this balance present, she had seen many difficulties arise between mates. Knowing that this was a new mating, however, she was not overly concerned as of yet. There had most likely not been enough time to establish the relationship hierarchy yet.
Because of this, she did not consider a possible power struggle between the two new mates a feasible reason for the difficulties Lord Inuyasha was facing presently. But, being the good healer she was, she put the idea in the back of her thoughts just in case. It was possible that the human blood in the younger mate was causing the mating bond problems, after all.
Having finished her visual examination without seeing anything amiss, she dispelled her musings from her mind as she closed her eyes and sent out her senses to check various things. The first thing that came to her attention was that Lord Inuyasha’s youki was as low as a regular demon’s. The healer was sure that had to be much lower than his normal levels, even though she had not previously met him, otherwise he would not have become Lord Sesshoumaru’s mate.
She wondered at why his youki was so weakened, when she noticed something bizarre. As Lord Sesshoumaru was kneeling next to his mate, streams of youki were ebbing right off of her lord and going into the hanyou on the futon. She wondered at this for a moment, being that she had never seen anything like it before, when a new idea occurred to her.
“Lord Sesshoumaru, have you completed the third claim with your mate?”
She watched him scoff at the idea, “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I have not.”
She had begun to sink back into her meditative state, still confused as to what was causing the ebb of youki when she heard, “What makes you ask such a question, healer?”
“I have merely noticed that your youki is feeding your mate’s youki, my lord.”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“No, Lord Sesshoumaru, there’s no problem with it. It is most likely what is keeping your mate’s youki from dropping to critical levels. It is just that it is unusual for mates who have not completed the third or sometimes even fourth claim to have this ability. That is all.”
“I do not understand, healer. It was my understanding that my youki has been supporting his youki for days now. Well before even the first claim was laid.”
If she had been surprised before, now, she was utterly shocked. While she had never heard of a couple who had only completed the first two levels of claiming having this ability, she had at least seen it as a possibility. However, knowing that he had been doing this before they had even begun the mating process? Nothing she had ever seen had led her to believe that was even possible.
It was all adding up to a very confusing picture and if there was one thing the healer did not like, it was confusion. In her line of work, confusion often led to deaths. Trying to work out what was really going on here, she continued to ask Lord Sesshoumaru questions. “Why was his youki weakened in the first place?”
“He was gaining the ability to bear pups.”
She blinked rapidly, surely she had heard that wrong. “I’m sorry, my lord. Could you please repeat that?”
She listened to Lord Sesshoumaru give a put-upon sigh and respond, “In the past few days, Inuyasha has gained the ability to bear pups. Evidently, this ability is created through the usage of youki.”
Now that she knew she had heard correctly, she realized that this was astounding. True, she had read of the wolf youkai having gained this ability during the war that was millennia ago, but this was the first case she had ever even heard hint of where it was a dog demon. Not only that, but a half-dog demon. She now knew why that feminine scent had been coming off the boy. She also knew that her job had just become that much harder.
Making a mental note to search for any information that might be around in reference to the ability to bear young in wolf demons, she went back to her perusal of the boy in front of her. With the exception of the weakened youki, she could not sense anything wrong with Lord Inuyasha.
She came back out of her trance with a sigh. Lord Sesshoumaru was not going to be happy with what she had to tell him. She had hoped that she could have been of more assistance to him, but it appeared that her lord was already doing all that could be done.
She just did not have enough information to go on at the moment. She needed to know more about the process through which the wolf demons had gained the ability to bear young. Maybe then she could be of more help. Until then, there was no more that she could do than her lord was already doing.
Looking to the youkai lord who had still not removed his gaze from his mate, she said, “The best thing you can do for your mate right now is stay by him, Lord Sesshoumaru. I will endeavor to locate more information on how to help Lord Inuyasha, but, at present, I am unable to suggest anything better than what you are already doing. Your mate needs to rest and you need to stay near him while he does so.”
The healer looked into the golden eyes of her lord, making sure he understood what she was saying. “It is very important you do not leave him alone or he may die. At present, it is only through the support of your youki that he is not in worse shape. I shall return later to check on Lord Inuyasha again.”
After receiving a sign of dismissal, she stood once again and walked out of the room. Once outside, she closed her eyes and brought her hand to her forehead. This was going to be one of the most difficult things that she had ever attempted to do. Steeling her resolve for the work that was to come, she began to walk back to her quarters, racking her brain for any wolf healers that might have been alive several thousand years ago.
(Sesshoumaru’s POV)
Sesshoumaru held his youki in check until the healer had left the room. It was enraged that she had not known of any other way to help his mate, but he knew that she was one of the best healers in the land and, as such, would be the most likely to assist after she had time to look into the problem. He had to remind himself that it was not her fault that she did not know how to deal with a hanyou who was gaining the ability to bear pups.
He looked down at his mate again with a sigh. So it was his youki that was causing the problem. That meant it was most likely still trying to compensate for being able to bear pups. He had thought that would have ended with the ending of the change. Apparently he had been wrong.
However, now that he knew the problem and had at least some way of helping, his youki was slightly less on edge than it had been previously. Gazing at his younger brother again, he did the only thing he could think of to try and help his new mate.
He closed his eyes and focused on his own youki. Once he was sure that his youki was focused, he concentrated on drawing it into one continuous stream and feeding it into his younger brother’s youki. He could feel his power being sapped from his body, but his own instincts would accept nothing less. It was his duty as the alpha mate to protect and assist his beta mate.
As more of his youki was flowing into the boy in front of him, he could feel his baby brother’s youki growing in strength slowly. Seeing that it was working, he became even more determined in his desire to bolster that power. He was so focused on this one task, he took no note of the hours passing or the day turning to night.
Indeed, for the two new mates, time did not seem to pass at all as they remained, one in a trance and the other unconscious, slowly regaining his strength.
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