InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Prophecy ❯ Sitting Issues ( Chapter 50 )
[ 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: 10.22.2006 | Updated On: 12.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 2.5K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Psychological / Hentai | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 10.22.2006 | Updated On: 12.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 2.5K | Status: Work In Progress
The Prophecy
By: mshutts
WARNING: incest
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any other characters here-in
* * * * *
Chapter 49: Sitting Issues
Sesshoumaru jerked awake as he felt his mate sit up at his side. He quickly tuned his senses into finding any possible danger that might have upset his younger brother and, finding none, turned his attention back to Inuyasha who was busy getting dressed as quickly as possible.
At first he was puzzled by his little brother’s movements until he realized that his young mate’s pack was here, at his castle. Instantly understanding that this is what was agitating Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru began to dress as well. He was not about to let his baby brother face his pack alone. Or go anywhere alone for quite some time in any event.
As it was, he quickly dressed as much as he was able, tying the simple ties on the lower layers with an ease that came from much practice with only having one hand available for use. However, there was no way he could tie the much more complicated knot in the obi with only one hand. He briefly considered not wearing it all, well aware that his mate would not have the patience to wait for a servant to come do it, but that would mean appearing before his younger brother’s pack partially undressed. He did not like that idea.
It was then that another possible option came to him. He could always ask his new mate to do it for him. But seeing as he had no idea if the pup even knew how to do it in the first place… Beyond frustrated, he put aside his pride momentarily and simply asked Inuyasha if he knew how to do it.
He knew he had made the right decision when he saw a light come on in his mate’s eyes. If all it took to please his baby brother was a slight admission of a relatively insignificant weakness every now and again, Sesshoumaru thought he might be able to force himself into doing it, if for no other reason, then to make his young mate happy.
When he had first come to the conclusion that he needed to somehow make up for the hell he had caused his mate in the past, he had thought it would be a daunting task, but he was slowly beginning to realize that his baby brother was actually fairly easy to please. All he seemed to want was a bit of positive attention from his elder brother. It made him wonder at just how little positive attention his mate had received in his life that he would be so contented with these tiny offerings Sesshoumaru was able to give him.
It was truly amazing to the inuyoukai that even in asking him to perform the task of a servant, his brother was more than happy to oblige. Sesshoumaru pulled himself from his mental musings and focused on his mate who was already at work tying the knot in his obi.
Watching Inuyasha tie his obi was one of the more amusing things he had ever seen. It was obvious to him that, while the hanyou knew quite well how it was supposed to work, he was insanely out of practice. His intense concentration on his task was evident in the furrow in his brow, the gnawing on his lower lip, and how his fingers kept stumbling over the moves. Sesshoumaru idly wondered if the last time he had done this was when his mother was still alive.
Despite that, he found himself quite pleased with the end result. It might not have been as perfectly proportioned or smoothed out as his servants made it, but it was obvious to him that it was the level best his mate could do at the moment. Normally, that would not have stopped him from sneering at his younger brother over where he had failed, but today he felt honored that his mate would try so hard to please him.
At least part of this attitude must have shown in his face, for the next thing he felt was his mate flinging himself at him. Out of sheer reflex, he stiffened against the sudden assault. When his common sense finally kicked in and he realized that there was no threat here, he allowed himself to relax. In fact, he would have been content to stay here for the rest of the day, seeing as he could not even recall the last time he had been held and his mate smelled so wonderful, but he then recalled why they had been getting dressed in the first place.
Unable to stop himself, he placed a gentle kiss on the top of his mate’s head, right between his ears before pulling away and reminding him of their previous engagement. Guiding his younger brother from the room, he took note of the daze the hanyou seemed to be in. If he had been the type, he would have smiled. It was obvious to him that mating season was still having quite the effect on his mate. Not that he, himself, was unaffected, but he was holding up much better against it than his younger partner.
However, that was not to say that he wasn’t planning exactly what he would do to his little brother as soon as this business was finished. Glancing over at his young mate who was still lost in his daze, Sesshoumaru mentally licked his lips. Oh, yes. He would have a marvelous time with his delicious baby brother when this affair was completed.
He watched in some amusement as Inuyasha finally forced himself out of his daze right as they reached the room his friends were in. He almost laughed when his baby brother shook his head forcefully and then righted his shoulders as if he was about to do battle. Seeing the determined look on his face, Sesshoumaru decided to just stay back and see what happened. He would not be too far away to help if need be, but the humans would not be overly concerned for his presence either.
As he watched the miko literally fling herself into his mate’s arms, it was all he could do not to rip her away from him. However, he was not able to stop the growl from coming to the surface. Thankfully, it was low enough that no one else in the room noticed it.
He then listened to his brother rant and rave at his pack for the stupidity that had been displayed in coming here in the first place. He wasn’t about to argue with the hanyou, he happened to completely agree with what was being said and was finding it refreshing to see that his younger brother did in fact have the ability to take charge of his pack if need be. He had been left wondering on that count several times in the past.
It was all going fine to Sesshoumaru’s mind up until the point when that girl used that blasted necklace on his mate. He mentally raved, ‘How dare she do such thing? Inuyasha had been making a perfectly valid point. If she hurt my mate or possible pup…’ He didn’t even pause for a moment to consider what to do before he was already across the room and had that miko of his brother’s hanging by her neck.
He heard the faint voice of his mate beg him not to kill her and it was all he could do to not snap her neck here and now. As it was, he was already squeezing her neck hard enough that she was beginning to change colors, not that he was paying attention to it at the moment. No, right now his attention was on his mate who had yet to rise from being thrown to the ground.
He put out his senses to determine how his mate’s youki levels were doing and, when he felt that they were lower than they were earlier, his hand unconsciously tightened around the neck of the miko who was the cause of the drain.
He was so caught up in his mate that he did not even notice another enter the room and walk over to him. It was not until his hand was being pried from the neck of the human girl that he even took note of the new presence. Sparing the briefest of glances, he noticed that it was in fact the witch who was trying to force him to release her.
He growled at her although it did not appear to make much difference as she merely looked at him and asked, “Do you not have more important things to do at this time than choke a human girl?” while looking meaningfully down at his mate.
He followed the gaze, immediately understanding her meaning, before looking her in the eye. “You will not allow her to escape,” he stated rather than asked.
“Of course not, Lord of the West. I shall keep an eye on her while you tend to your little brother.”
With a curt nod, he released the now limp girl into the waiting arms of the witch and dropped to the ground next to his mate. Pulling him out of the hole, he quickly thought back on everything he knew about what had just happened. The necklace had pulled youki out of his brother and Inuyasha would need to replenish it.
He spotted Jaken out of the corner of his eye and ordered, “Jaken, bring me a pair of rabbits,” before turning his attention once more onto his mate. Not willing to put his guard down enough to go into a trance around these treacherous humans, he fed as much youki as he could into his brother while still remaining alert.
Sturaki’s POV
Sturaki had been meditating in the room that had been given to her. The past few days had really been trying her patience. Between dealing with the mating problems that the dog brothers would have never had were it not for overbearing nonsense and dealing with Inuyasha’s pack and their constant questions, she was at her wit’s end to say nothing of the pounding headache she had found herself developing over the past week.
At least one of the problems was solved it seemed. She sighed in relief, some of her tension floating away. As soon as they had gotten enough rest, she had no doubt the newly mated couple would be good to go, at least for the moment. They certainly were getting along much better now than they had been earlier.
Her only concern was what would happen when they met up with Inuyasha’s pack. It could not be anything good. At the very least, they would be facing the opposition with a united front, and she supposed there was something to be said for that.
It was just after she thought that that she felt the floor shake through her trance. Her eyes snapped open and she was immediately alert once again. No matter what caused the shake, it was not a good thing. Running in the direction it came from; she saw a scene she had really been hoping to avoid.
Standing in the middle of the room was the towering figure of the youkai lord, one hand encircled around the delicate neck of the miko whose feet were no longer touching the ground. On the other side of the room were the rest of the members of Inuyasha’s pack, looking like they were trying to figure out how to save their friend without further angering the youkai. And in the ground at Sesshoumaru’s feet was Inuyasha.
Several curses ran through her head as she approached the enraged alpha in the middle of the room. She knew what he was after, revenge for hurting his mate. However, the fact that the girl in his hand was not dead yet was a definite indication that he did not intend to slay her just now. She presumed that it was Inuyasha’s influence at work for she could see no other reason why he would not have killed her yet.
Realizing that he was paying no attention to her whatsoever, she tried to come up with a way to draw his attention. The easiest thing to do would be to simply remove his hand from the girl. However, she was not going to be able to do that by herself. Looking over to the humans who were still just standing there, she quietly asked Miroku to come help her.
He looked from her to Sesshoumaru’s red eyes and back before she lost her patience and asked him if he wanted to help Kagome or not. That galvanized him into action. When he came up to her, she instructed him to raise her up to the youkai’s hand. Still looking skeptical, he did as she directed and she attempted to remove the hand before he accidentally managed to completely crush the young girl’s windpipe.
After she managed to convince the infuriated youkai that it would be much more important to look after the care of his mate than to worry about this girl and promised that she would not escape, he released Kagome into Sturaki’s waiting hands. This would have been ok, but for the fact that Kagome was much taller and heavier than her and she was being held up by someone else in the first place. As it was, as soon as the miko was in her hands, they all collapsed backwards like a line of dominoes and had a not-so-nice meeting with the floor.
Getting up, she instructed Miroku to move Kagome away from the dog brothers. When they were a safe distance away, she asked him to lay her down on the ground and took a better look at her. Some of the color was beginning to return to her face already, but she could clearly see the finger marks. They were already bruising up quite a bit.
She sighed. There was very little she could do for the girl where they were, but she could not exactly leave the newly mated couple either. As it was, she knew that receiving any type of assistance for the girl in this household would prove difficult. Without the aid of Sesshoumaru’s protection, they would not help her. In fact, there was some danger of them actually harming her once it was found out that she had hurt the Lord’s mate.
She was so concerned with the problems this could potentially cause that she did not notice the slayer and smaller demons move closer with a large, yellow bag. When the slayer knelt down next to her and began to get out medicinal herbs, Sturaki thanked her lucky stars. THIS was something she could work with.
As she set to work on putting together a poultice to speed the healing of the young miko’s throat, she listened to the whispered conversation happening between the slayer and the monk.
“What do you make of Sesshoumaru’s behavior, Sango?”
“I don’t know. It was almost like he was trying to protect Inuyasha.”
“Yes, that is how it seemed to me as well,” Miroku replied. “Do you believe Inuyasha is safe in his care?”
“He doesn’t seem to want to hurt him,” Sango stated with an assessing look at the demon lord.
“But what is he doing? He looks like he’s just sitting there, holding Inuyasha.”
“Maybe it’s a dog demon healing ritual of some sort. I’ve never heard of it, but he IS a royal dog demon, we don’t run into them very often.”
It was just then that Sesshoumaru’s small, green servant ran back into the room, carrying two squirming rabbits. “Are these what you wanted, my lord?” he asked, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to get to his lord.
“I wonder what the rabbits are for,” she heard Shippo whisper.
“I have no idea,” came the response from both Miroku and Sango at the same time.
Sturaki knew exactly what they were for of course and thought it was a good bit of foresight on the lord of the west’s part to have had his servant get them. Now they only had to see if it would work.
“Hold them there, Jaken,” Sesshoumaru ordered, not even looking at the small demon who was still struggling with holding onto his burden. And then, to his mate, he said, “Inuyasha, you must awaken, I have brought you rabbits.”
When there was no response, he became more commanding in his tone, “Inuyasha, awaken, you must eat.”
To the great surprise of the rest of Inuyasha’s pack, the hanyou groaned and slowly opened his eyes whispering, “What the hell do you want?”
“You need to eat,” he informed his mate before ordering, “Jaken, give him a rabbit.”
And, always willing to follow his lord’s commands, Jaken quickly gave one of the rabbits to Inuyasha who sniffed it. Immediately after he ascertained that it was, indeed, a rabbit, a wolfish smile crossed his face and, after snapping its neck, he began to devour it raw, while his mate watched on completely impassive and his pack members tried to fight down their nausea.
After finishing the first rabbit, he reached for the second rabbit from Jaken who gave it up rather quickly, especially under his master’s watchful eye and after having seen the ravenous gleam in the hanyou’s eye. Finishing off the second rabbit in a similar fashion to the first, Inuyasha then turned his attention to his mate.
“Are you full, little brother? Do you require more rabbits?”
“No, I’m ok.”
Sesshoumaru gave a curt nod, but when it did not appear that his little brother was going to go back to sleep, he asked, “Was there something else, Inuyasha?”
“Yeah. You didn’t kill Kagome did you?”
“That miko of yours?” At the nod of affirmation, he replied, “She is still alive.”
“Good.”
“Is that all?” the youkai lord asked, once again receiving a nod in response. “Then go back to sleep.”
They watched in shock as Inuyasha gave another little nod and then snuggled back into his elder brother, going right back to sleep.
Sturaki turned her eyes back down to her patient and shook her head. Those two were going to raise a lot of questions if they kept acting like this. On the one hand, she was quite pleased that they were finally acting like mates as they should be, on the other hand, she knew that the more they did it, the more they were confusing everyone around them.
In fact, as soon as the brothers ceased talking, the others began to whisper once again.
“Well, that was certainly unusual,” the monk noted.
“I have never seen Inuyasha act that way,” commented the slayer.
“What do you think might be wrong with him?”
“As I said before, it might be something specific to dog demons, but I have no idea what it is.”
As they tried to tease out any information they could from what they had just seen and what they thought they knew to be the case, Sturaki finished applying the poultice to Kagome. It was not until she was finished that she noticed the youngest member of their group had not only not joined in on their conversation, but appeared to almost be in tears.
Seeing that no one else was attending to the kit, she took it upon herself to do so. Walking over to the kitsune, she sat down beside him. “Shippo, what is the problem?”
Shippo looked at her in surprise, he had apparently not expected anyone to be paying any attention to him. He then promptly denied knowledge of anything. “Who me? I don’t have a problem,” he said in a way that she could easily see was meant to imitate Inuyasha’s mannerisms.
“If you do not have a problem, then why are you so sad?” she inquired gently.
She watched the kitsune quickly glance towards the brothers in the middle of the room before looking back at her. “I’m not sad,” he stated, although she didn’t buy it for a minute.
“You know your father is not going to abandon you, right?” she asked in a kind voice.
Seeing that she had hit the nail on the head by the expression in his eyes, she was not surprised when he immediately responded, “My father died a long time ago.”
“Not all parents are those by blood. Some of the strongest parents are those that are chosen.”
As she watched, the attempt at being tough faded away completely and there was once more a very insecure child sitting in front of her. She could barely make out the whisper, “But he doesn’t want me. He has a mate now. He’s going to have other pups. He won’t want anything more to do with me.”
“Just because he will have other pups does not mean you will not hold a special place in his heart all your own. You will always be his first pup even though he did not give birth to you.”
He looked like he was about to believe her when he suddenly pulled away, screaming, “You don’t know that! You don’t know anything! Leave me alone!” before running out of the room with tears streaming down his cheeks.
That shout had awoken the sleeping hanyou and he looked to his mate for an explanation. She could not hear the account, but she was fairly certain the youkai lord had heard exactly what they were saying despite them having been whispering. She was made sure of her supposition when Inuyasha immediately arose from his spot on his mate’s lap.
“Of all the stupid, idiotic…,” Inuyasha ranted under his breath, turning towards the door, undoubtedly intending to follow the kitsune.
“Inuyasha, where are you going?” asked Sango.
He barely spared her a glance and a, “Where do you think?” before turning around and walking out the door, Sesshoumaru following right behind. However, before Sesshoumaru stepped out the door, he looked back at her and said, “You will make sure she does not leave.”
Nodding her head, she responded, “I will not let her out of my sight.”
With one final look, he turned and followed his mate down the hall, presumably to find the kitsune. After they left, the remaining humans turned to her and began peppering her with questions about what had just happened.
She could already feel another headache coming on.
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As always, thanks for reading and/or reviewing.
P.S. Shirohane took the time to draw this really cute picture inspired by this story. If you want to see it, go to http:// s5.photobucket .com/albums/y175/hiirowing/IY_Prophecy.jpg (after taking out the 2 spaces)
By: mshutts
WARNING: incest
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any other characters here-in
* * * * *
Chapter 49: Sitting Issues
Sesshoumaru jerked awake as he felt his mate sit up at his side. He quickly tuned his senses into finding any possible danger that might have upset his younger brother and, finding none, turned his attention back to Inuyasha who was busy getting dressed as quickly as possible.
At first he was puzzled by his little brother’s movements until he realized that his young mate’s pack was here, at his castle. Instantly understanding that this is what was agitating Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru began to dress as well. He was not about to let his baby brother face his pack alone. Or go anywhere alone for quite some time in any event.
As it was, he quickly dressed as much as he was able, tying the simple ties on the lower layers with an ease that came from much practice with only having one hand available for use. However, there was no way he could tie the much more complicated knot in the obi with only one hand. He briefly considered not wearing it all, well aware that his mate would not have the patience to wait for a servant to come do it, but that would mean appearing before his younger brother’s pack partially undressed. He did not like that idea.
It was then that another possible option came to him. He could always ask his new mate to do it for him. But seeing as he had no idea if the pup even knew how to do it in the first place… Beyond frustrated, he put aside his pride momentarily and simply asked Inuyasha if he knew how to do it.
He knew he had made the right decision when he saw a light come on in his mate’s eyes. If all it took to please his baby brother was a slight admission of a relatively insignificant weakness every now and again, Sesshoumaru thought he might be able to force himself into doing it, if for no other reason, then to make his young mate happy.
When he had first come to the conclusion that he needed to somehow make up for the hell he had caused his mate in the past, he had thought it would be a daunting task, but he was slowly beginning to realize that his baby brother was actually fairly easy to please. All he seemed to want was a bit of positive attention from his elder brother. It made him wonder at just how little positive attention his mate had received in his life that he would be so contented with these tiny offerings Sesshoumaru was able to give him.
It was truly amazing to the inuyoukai that even in asking him to perform the task of a servant, his brother was more than happy to oblige. Sesshoumaru pulled himself from his mental musings and focused on his mate who was already at work tying the knot in his obi.
Watching Inuyasha tie his obi was one of the more amusing things he had ever seen. It was obvious to him that, while the hanyou knew quite well how it was supposed to work, he was insanely out of practice. His intense concentration on his task was evident in the furrow in his brow, the gnawing on his lower lip, and how his fingers kept stumbling over the moves. Sesshoumaru idly wondered if the last time he had done this was when his mother was still alive.
Despite that, he found himself quite pleased with the end result. It might not have been as perfectly proportioned or smoothed out as his servants made it, but it was obvious to him that it was the level best his mate could do at the moment. Normally, that would not have stopped him from sneering at his younger brother over where he had failed, but today he felt honored that his mate would try so hard to please him.
At least part of this attitude must have shown in his face, for the next thing he felt was his mate flinging himself at him. Out of sheer reflex, he stiffened against the sudden assault. When his common sense finally kicked in and he realized that there was no threat here, he allowed himself to relax. In fact, he would have been content to stay here for the rest of the day, seeing as he could not even recall the last time he had been held and his mate smelled so wonderful, but he then recalled why they had been getting dressed in the first place.
Unable to stop himself, he placed a gentle kiss on the top of his mate’s head, right between his ears before pulling away and reminding him of their previous engagement. Guiding his younger brother from the room, he took note of the daze the hanyou seemed to be in. If he had been the type, he would have smiled. It was obvious to him that mating season was still having quite the effect on his mate. Not that he, himself, was unaffected, but he was holding up much better against it than his younger partner.
However, that was not to say that he wasn’t planning exactly what he would do to his little brother as soon as this business was finished. Glancing over at his young mate who was still lost in his daze, Sesshoumaru mentally licked his lips. Oh, yes. He would have a marvelous time with his delicious baby brother when this affair was completed.
He watched in some amusement as Inuyasha finally forced himself out of his daze right as they reached the room his friends were in. He almost laughed when his baby brother shook his head forcefully and then righted his shoulders as if he was about to do battle. Seeing the determined look on his face, Sesshoumaru decided to just stay back and see what happened. He would not be too far away to help if need be, but the humans would not be overly concerned for his presence either.
As he watched the miko literally fling herself into his mate’s arms, it was all he could do not to rip her away from him. However, he was not able to stop the growl from coming to the surface. Thankfully, it was low enough that no one else in the room noticed it.
He then listened to his brother rant and rave at his pack for the stupidity that had been displayed in coming here in the first place. He wasn’t about to argue with the hanyou, he happened to completely agree with what was being said and was finding it refreshing to see that his younger brother did in fact have the ability to take charge of his pack if need be. He had been left wondering on that count several times in the past.
It was all going fine to Sesshoumaru’s mind up until the point when that girl used that blasted necklace on his mate. He mentally raved, ‘How dare she do such thing? Inuyasha had been making a perfectly valid point. If she hurt my mate or possible pup…’ He didn’t even pause for a moment to consider what to do before he was already across the room and had that miko of his brother’s hanging by her neck.
He heard the faint voice of his mate beg him not to kill her and it was all he could do to not snap her neck here and now. As it was, he was already squeezing her neck hard enough that she was beginning to change colors, not that he was paying attention to it at the moment. No, right now his attention was on his mate who had yet to rise from being thrown to the ground.
He put out his senses to determine how his mate’s youki levels were doing and, when he felt that they were lower than they were earlier, his hand unconsciously tightened around the neck of the miko who was the cause of the drain.
He was so caught up in his mate that he did not even notice another enter the room and walk over to him. It was not until his hand was being pried from the neck of the human girl that he even took note of the new presence. Sparing the briefest of glances, he noticed that it was in fact the witch who was trying to force him to release her.
He growled at her although it did not appear to make much difference as she merely looked at him and asked, “Do you not have more important things to do at this time than choke a human girl?” while looking meaningfully down at his mate.
He followed the gaze, immediately understanding her meaning, before looking her in the eye. “You will not allow her to escape,” he stated rather than asked.
“Of course not, Lord of the West. I shall keep an eye on her while you tend to your little brother.”
With a curt nod, he released the now limp girl into the waiting arms of the witch and dropped to the ground next to his mate. Pulling him out of the hole, he quickly thought back on everything he knew about what had just happened. The necklace had pulled youki out of his brother and Inuyasha would need to replenish it.
He spotted Jaken out of the corner of his eye and ordered, “Jaken, bring me a pair of rabbits,” before turning his attention once more onto his mate. Not willing to put his guard down enough to go into a trance around these treacherous humans, he fed as much youki as he could into his brother while still remaining alert.
Sturaki’s POV
Sturaki had been meditating in the room that had been given to her. The past few days had really been trying her patience. Between dealing with the mating problems that the dog brothers would have never had were it not for overbearing nonsense and dealing with Inuyasha’s pack and their constant questions, she was at her wit’s end to say nothing of the pounding headache she had found herself developing over the past week.
At least one of the problems was solved it seemed. She sighed in relief, some of her tension floating away. As soon as they had gotten enough rest, she had no doubt the newly mated couple would be good to go, at least for the moment. They certainly were getting along much better now than they had been earlier.
Her only concern was what would happen when they met up with Inuyasha’s pack. It could not be anything good. At the very least, they would be facing the opposition with a united front, and she supposed there was something to be said for that.
It was just after she thought that that she felt the floor shake through her trance. Her eyes snapped open and she was immediately alert once again. No matter what caused the shake, it was not a good thing. Running in the direction it came from; she saw a scene she had really been hoping to avoid.
Standing in the middle of the room was the towering figure of the youkai lord, one hand encircled around the delicate neck of the miko whose feet were no longer touching the ground. On the other side of the room were the rest of the members of Inuyasha’s pack, looking like they were trying to figure out how to save their friend without further angering the youkai. And in the ground at Sesshoumaru’s feet was Inuyasha.
Several curses ran through her head as she approached the enraged alpha in the middle of the room. She knew what he was after, revenge for hurting his mate. However, the fact that the girl in his hand was not dead yet was a definite indication that he did not intend to slay her just now. She presumed that it was Inuyasha’s influence at work for she could see no other reason why he would not have killed her yet.
Realizing that he was paying no attention to her whatsoever, she tried to come up with a way to draw his attention. The easiest thing to do would be to simply remove his hand from the girl. However, she was not going to be able to do that by herself. Looking over to the humans who were still just standing there, she quietly asked Miroku to come help her.
He looked from her to Sesshoumaru’s red eyes and back before she lost her patience and asked him if he wanted to help Kagome or not. That galvanized him into action. When he came up to her, she instructed him to raise her up to the youkai’s hand. Still looking skeptical, he did as she directed and she attempted to remove the hand before he accidentally managed to completely crush the young girl’s windpipe.
After she managed to convince the infuriated youkai that it would be much more important to look after the care of his mate than to worry about this girl and promised that she would not escape, he released Kagome into Sturaki’s waiting hands. This would have been ok, but for the fact that Kagome was much taller and heavier than her and she was being held up by someone else in the first place. As it was, as soon as the miko was in her hands, they all collapsed backwards like a line of dominoes and had a not-so-nice meeting with the floor.
Getting up, she instructed Miroku to move Kagome away from the dog brothers. When they were a safe distance away, she asked him to lay her down on the ground and took a better look at her. Some of the color was beginning to return to her face already, but she could clearly see the finger marks. They were already bruising up quite a bit.
She sighed. There was very little she could do for the girl where they were, but she could not exactly leave the newly mated couple either. As it was, she knew that receiving any type of assistance for the girl in this household would prove difficult. Without the aid of Sesshoumaru’s protection, they would not help her. In fact, there was some danger of them actually harming her once it was found out that she had hurt the Lord’s mate.
She was so concerned with the problems this could potentially cause that she did not notice the slayer and smaller demons move closer with a large, yellow bag. When the slayer knelt down next to her and began to get out medicinal herbs, Sturaki thanked her lucky stars. THIS was something she could work with.
As she set to work on putting together a poultice to speed the healing of the young miko’s throat, she listened to the whispered conversation happening between the slayer and the monk.
“What do you make of Sesshoumaru’s behavior, Sango?”
“I don’t know. It was almost like he was trying to protect Inuyasha.”
“Yes, that is how it seemed to me as well,” Miroku replied. “Do you believe Inuyasha is safe in his care?”
“He doesn’t seem to want to hurt him,” Sango stated with an assessing look at the demon lord.
“But what is he doing? He looks like he’s just sitting there, holding Inuyasha.”
“Maybe it’s a dog demon healing ritual of some sort. I’ve never heard of it, but he IS a royal dog demon, we don’t run into them very often.”
It was just then that Sesshoumaru’s small, green servant ran back into the room, carrying two squirming rabbits. “Are these what you wanted, my lord?” he asked, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to get to his lord.
“I wonder what the rabbits are for,” she heard Shippo whisper.
“I have no idea,” came the response from both Miroku and Sango at the same time.
Sturaki knew exactly what they were for of course and thought it was a good bit of foresight on the lord of the west’s part to have had his servant get them. Now they only had to see if it would work.
“Hold them there, Jaken,” Sesshoumaru ordered, not even looking at the small demon who was still struggling with holding onto his burden. And then, to his mate, he said, “Inuyasha, you must awaken, I have brought you rabbits.”
When there was no response, he became more commanding in his tone, “Inuyasha, awaken, you must eat.”
To the great surprise of the rest of Inuyasha’s pack, the hanyou groaned and slowly opened his eyes whispering, “What the hell do you want?”
“You need to eat,” he informed his mate before ordering, “Jaken, give him a rabbit.”
And, always willing to follow his lord’s commands, Jaken quickly gave one of the rabbits to Inuyasha who sniffed it. Immediately after he ascertained that it was, indeed, a rabbit, a wolfish smile crossed his face and, after snapping its neck, he began to devour it raw, while his mate watched on completely impassive and his pack members tried to fight down their nausea.
After finishing the first rabbit, he reached for the second rabbit from Jaken who gave it up rather quickly, especially under his master’s watchful eye and after having seen the ravenous gleam in the hanyou’s eye. Finishing off the second rabbit in a similar fashion to the first, Inuyasha then turned his attention to his mate.
“Are you full, little brother? Do you require more rabbits?”
“No, I’m ok.”
Sesshoumaru gave a curt nod, but when it did not appear that his little brother was going to go back to sleep, he asked, “Was there something else, Inuyasha?”
“Yeah. You didn’t kill Kagome did you?”
“That miko of yours?” At the nod of affirmation, he replied, “She is still alive.”
“Good.”
“Is that all?” the youkai lord asked, once again receiving a nod in response. “Then go back to sleep.”
They watched in shock as Inuyasha gave another little nod and then snuggled back into his elder brother, going right back to sleep.
Sturaki turned her eyes back down to her patient and shook her head. Those two were going to raise a lot of questions if they kept acting like this. On the one hand, she was quite pleased that they were finally acting like mates as they should be, on the other hand, she knew that the more they did it, the more they were confusing everyone around them.
In fact, as soon as the brothers ceased talking, the others began to whisper once again.
“Well, that was certainly unusual,” the monk noted.
“I have never seen Inuyasha act that way,” commented the slayer.
“What do you think might be wrong with him?”
“As I said before, it might be something specific to dog demons, but I have no idea what it is.”
As they tried to tease out any information they could from what they had just seen and what they thought they knew to be the case, Sturaki finished applying the poultice to Kagome. It was not until she was finished that she noticed the youngest member of their group had not only not joined in on their conversation, but appeared to almost be in tears.
Seeing that no one else was attending to the kit, she took it upon herself to do so. Walking over to the kitsune, she sat down beside him. “Shippo, what is the problem?”
Shippo looked at her in surprise, he had apparently not expected anyone to be paying any attention to him. He then promptly denied knowledge of anything. “Who me? I don’t have a problem,” he said in a way that she could easily see was meant to imitate Inuyasha’s mannerisms.
“If you do not have a problem, then why are you so sad?” she inquired gently.
She watched the kitsune quickly glance towards the brothers in the middle of the room before looking back at her. “I’m not sad,” he stated, although she didn’t buy it for a minute.
“You know your father is not going to abandon you, right?” she asked in a kind voice.
Seeing that she had hit the nail on the head by the expression in his eyes, she was not surprised when he immediately responded, “My father died a long time ago.”
“Not all parents are those by blood. Some of the strongest parents are those that are chosen.”
As she watched, the attempt at being tough faded away completely and there was once more a very insecure child sitting in front of her. She could barely make out the whisper, “But he doesn’t want me. He has a mate now. He’s going to have other pups. He won’t want anything more to do with me.”
“Just because he will have other pups does not mean you will not hold a special place in his heart all your own. You will always be his first pup even though he did not give birth to you.”
He looked like he was about to believe her when he suddenly pulled away, screaming, “You don’t know that! You don’t know anything! Leave me alone!” before running out of the room with tears streaming down his cheeks.
That shout had awoken the sleeping hanyou and he looked to his mate for an explanation. She could not hear the account, but she was fairly certain the youkai lord had heard exactly what they were saying despite them having been whispering. She was made sure of her supposition when Inuyasha immediately arose from his spot on his mate’s lap.
“Of all the stupid, idiotic…,” Inuyasha ranted under his breath, turning towards the door, undoubtedly intending to follow the kitsune.
“Inuyasha, where are you going?” asked Sango.
He barely spared her a glance and a, “Where do you think?” before turning around and walking out the door, Sesshoumaru following right behind. However, before Sesshoumaru stepped out the door, he looked back at her and said, “You will make sure she does not leave.”
Nodding her head, she responded, “I will not let her out of my sight.”
With one final look, he turned and followed his mate down the hall, presumably to find the kitsune. After they left, the remaining humans turned to her and began peppering her with questions about what had just happened.
She could already feel another headache coming on.
* * * * *
As always, thanks for reading and/or reviewing.
P.S. Shirohane took the time to draw this really cute picture inspired by this story. If you want to see it, go to http:// s5.photobucket .com/albums/y175/hiirowing/IY_Prophecy.jpg (after taking out the 2 spaces)