InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unforeseen Obstacles ❯ All I feel is hollow and bruised ( Chapter 24 )

Disclaimer: I don't know Rumiko Takahashi, so I can't say I own any of this. Now the warning: YAOI. That's right, man lovin' man. If you don't like that, you don't have to read another word. If you don't like my pairing, you don't have to read it, but you'll be missing out! I'm constantly reading InuYasha fics with pairings I don't like just because I like the story. But if you don't like my story, please be polite when you tell me. And also, tell me why. Or if you do like it, review and write whatever you want, LOL.

 

Notes: Torture, darkness and an explanation.

 

Genre: Drama, romance…
Rating: R
Codes: Mir/Sess, Inu/Kag
Feedback: Reviews are something that give me a happy little thrill. They're also making my muse purr and chatter.

 

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Unforeseen Obstacles…Chapter 24

All I feel is hollow and bruised…

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Miroku froze in shock at the sight before him. Sesshomaru stood before him, his arms having the appearance of being enclosed in shiny red gloves. His usually immaculate hair was disheveled and matted, the ends and several locks stained with blood. His clothing was red all down the front and some blood and gore had spattered his face. There were pieces of youkai all around him, but none of it was recognizable.

 

He clutched Rin to his chest, glad that the girl couldn't see this. He turned from the sight, unable to look anymore and walked away. The raw pain in Sesshomaru's cry had ripped at his innards as though he had felt the loss he keened. He had even seen some of the slaughter while he walked to this place that he now left, but he had to show Sesshomaru that he was alive.

 

Sesshomaru caught up to him quickly and grabbed him, turning him around. Miroku flinched at the sight of the red handprint on his shoulder and swallowed hard, pushing down the bile that rose. There was so much blood he couldn't smell anything else. The scent of a chamber pot caught in his nose and he knew someone had been disemboweled. He was almost sick from the smell and he wanted to get away from it, but there was an urgency to Sesshomaru that Miroku had never seen before. He forced himself to breathe through his mouth, trying to avoid vomiting.

 

“How?” he asked, his voice hoarse from his scream moments ago.

 

“Please,” Miroku said. “I must get away from the smell of death. I fear I'm going to be ill otherwise.” Sesshomaru looked down at himself for the first time and a look of disgust crossed his features.

 

“Go back to camp. I will join you when I am clean.” Sesshomaru turned and walked away. Miroku gratefully obeyed. Honestly, he needed time away from Sesshomaru after what he had seen. Knowing the taiyoukai could cause such carnage was one thing, seeing it was almost unbearable. Before he made it very far, he ran into InuYasha, who came tearing through the trees like he was being chased by demons. InuYasha skidded to a halt, grabbing the hilt of tetsusaiga.

 

“What's wrong?” InuYasha asked, obviously distressed. “I heard Sesshomaru… I've never heard a sound like that from him. What happened?”

 

“Please, let us return to camp,” Miroku said, exhausted. Rin was small, but her weight seemed to double by the minute. He feared dropping her in his weakness and looked at InuYasha, realizing he could have help. “And can you please carry Rin?” InuYasha took the girl without comment and Miroku made it two steps before collapsing. He hit the ground hard, landing on his hands and knees. A jolt of pain ran through his hand where the youkai had sliced it open to spill his blood. He ached down to his bones and the impact made the world swim.

 

“Hey, where's your hair?” InuYasha asked. Miroku shook his head. He had taken a severe beating and suddenly felt every inch of it. He had been running on an adrenaline high and now it was gone. He felt every blow he had sustained under the `care' of the youkai pack. “Come here,” InuYasha growled, setting Rin on the ground. Miroku started to protest, then was tossed unceremoniously over InuYasha's shoulder. He could see Rin slung over the other, then they were moving. The repeated impact of InuYasha's shoulder into his stomach caused the very thing Miroku had been fighting and he threw up. Thankfully, they were running fast enough and Miroku lifted his head sufficiently that none landed on the hanyo. “If any of that got in my hair, I'm going to be pissed,” InuYasha shot back. Miroku would have apologized if he didn't think that opening his mouth would cause him to lose it again.

 

They made it back to camp safely and Miroku was very grateful to be on the ground again. He was also thankful for the water that Kagome held to his lips for him to sip before she tended to Rin. He wasn't as appreciative when Kagome returned and sprayed something that burned horribly onto his left palm.

 

“Oh, calm down,” Kagome chastised. “It's antiseptic. It will help your wound heal faster. Do you have any others?”

 

“That is the only cut,” Miroku lied.

 

“No, there's one on his head,” Sango said, touching the knot in his scalp gently. Miroku hissed in pain from the brief contact and ground his teeth when Kagome applied the antiseptic. His eyes widened when she tried to untie his robes.

 

“Kagome, if you would like to see me naked, I would be happy to oblige when I am healed, but would really prefer if you waited until I am in better shape,” Miroku joked weakly. Kagome blushed furiously.

 

“Pervert,” she muttered as she pushed the robes open. She was very careful only to expose his upper body and he tried to look down when he heard her exclamation. When she saw what he was trying to do, Sango put her hands behind Miroku's head and lifted carefully. He quickly looked away after seeing what had upset Kagome. His entire chest was purple on the left side and several spots of green had formed around his midsection. The bruises were bad, but he didn't think anything was broken and he told Kagome so. “Still,” she said. “I'm going to put this salve on to speed up the healing and I'm going to check to make sure none of your ribs are broken. It looks like someone kicked you over and over.”

 

“That is precisely what happened,” Miroku said. He gasped when she touched his ribs and clutched a patch of grass in his right hand, crushing it.

 

“I'm so sorry,” Kagome said. He squeezed his eyes shut so he didn't have to see her sympathy. He cried out involuntarily when she reached a place where the skin had split from impact. “I don't like the way that feels,” Kagome murmured as she pressed on the rib. The world swam before Miroku's eyes and he almost wasn't able to joke in response. But he knew if he said nothing, they would worry more.

 

“I don't particularly like it, either,” he said. Unfortunately, his voice wasn't as steady as he would have liked.

 

“Sango, help me lift him,” Kagome said. Sango nodded and lifted Miroku by his shoulders. Kagome pushed his robes completely off his torso and then wrapped a bandage around his ribs carefully. Miroku must have passed out, because one moment he was looking at Shippo, who was wincing in sympathy and he was back on the ground, fully clothed the next. Kagome was dabbing his forehead with a damp cloth. He thought about groping her, to remove the look of anxiety on her face, but he didn't have the strength. A few breaths later, everything went black.

…

 

Sesshomaru returned to the camp with slightly damp hair and clothes, but seemed unconcerned with both. InuYasha watched his brother sit down between Miroku and Rin and wondered, in frustration, what had happened. Sesshomaru had explained the smell in the air, although InuYasha already had the idea of it, then waited until InuYasha was alert before he left. It was almost dawn before that was the case and InuYasha told Sesshomaru to go after Miroku and Rin several times, but his brother wouldn't leave him. He didn't understand it. They had spent years hating each other, fighting, even trying to kill one another.

 

Something about his brother had changed and while InuYasha wasn't complaining, he was very confused. He smelled the residual traces of blood on his brother—a lot of blood. He knew Sesshomaru couldn't have been the one to injure Miroku. First, it wasn't his way; he was quick to kill, but except for Jaken, not one for maiming. Second, he had heard Sesshomaru's cry. Half of Japan had heard it, he was sure. It was a roar of anguish—it said he was certain someone he cared for was dead, the perpetrators of the crime were dead and he had nothing left to ease his grief.

 

That was the moment that InuYasha discovered that Sesshomaru could love. He had always considered him a heartless bastard whose only redeeming quality being his tendency to mind his own business. He didn't think it was Miroku that had changed him, though. Sesshomaru had been different for much longer than that. He had a suspicion that Rin had something to do with it, but something had to have made Sesshomaru take on Rin in the first place.

 

“InuYasha?” Kagome called from the ground below. He looked down at her, smiled and hopped down to her. She walked away from the others and he followed. “Do you think Miroku's going to be okay?” she asked. He had been wondering the same thing. The monk had been unconscious most of the day and so had the kid. He tried to decide if Kagome wanted reassurance or his honest opinion.

 

“Yeah, he'll be fine after he gets some rest,” InuYasha said, deciding on reassurance. He did believe Miroku would get better, but he wasn't sure about Rin. She hadn't shown any signs of waking up. He still smelled the sleeping poison on them and he figured they must have been exposed to more of it than the rest of the group. None of them had felt like going anywhere all day, except for InuYasha, but even he felt almost as weak as he was when in his human form.

 

“What about Rin?” Kagome asked quietly. InuYasha looked away. He didn't lie to her most of the time—he thought that was a reprehensible trait—but there were a few things he kept from her for her own sake. And sometimes for his own, living in fear of the omnipresent threat of `sit, boy.' He knew she had grown attached to the kid. Hell, so had he. She wasn't as pesky as Shippo; she was more what a kid should be, in his opinion: quiet, well mannered, playful and mostly self-sufficient. He didn't know if that was his brother's doing or if she came that way, but he liked having her around. Especially when she gave him embarrassing details about his brother. Taunting fodder was always a plus.

 

“I don't know. I'd be happier if she'd wake up,” he said.

 

“You would?” Kagome asked. InuYasha looked at her, surprised. What kind of person must she think he was to believe he wouldn't care if a kid died?

 

“Of course I would!” he replied angrily. How could she think something like that? He wasn't a monster!

 

“Calm down,” she said. “I only meant that I didn't know you liked Rin.”

 

“Hmph,” he replied, not appeased. “What's not to like about her? At least she doesn't spend all her time whining.”

 

“I don't whine!” Kagome protested. There, he thought, now she's starting to feel better. Better angry than depressed.

 

“You bitch about everything,” he teased. She didn't, really. She used to, but he had to admit, after seeing the way she was used to living, that she had adapted to his lifestyle rather well. She actually impressed him a lot of the time. Not that he would tell her that. Suddenly, she smiled. Nervous, he took a step back, worried that she had remembered she could end any argument with a single word. He was trying to get her to stop worrying, not make her mad at him. “What?” he asked.

 

“You're trying to distract me,” she said, her smile getting bigger.

 

“Feh. You think too much,” he said, looking away. He wanted to watch her smile, but he was still unsure around her. He was always anxious that she would decide she had made a mistake by choosing to stay with him. He was pleasantly surprised when he felt her arm wrap around his and he relaxed. Maybe there were better ways to distract her than making her angry, he decided.

 

He just wished he could figure out his brother's changes. He had no idea his brother had leaned towards men, that was a surprise to him. Choosing Miroku had made him suspicious and nervous. He couldn't chase his brother off, like he wanted to, because Kagome wouldn't let him. He tried to warn Miroku away, but that hadn't worked. Miroku had been the real shock for him. He knew the monk wasn't likely to maintain any vow of celibacy, but with a man? He hadn't seen that coming. Miroku was too obsessed with women for him to have ever suspected something like that.

 

InuYasha's thoughts were completely disrupted when Kagome slid around to the front of his body and hugged him. He closed his eyes and embraced her back, amazed that she put up with him, considering how hard he had tried to drive her off at times. He worried she would end up like his mother, so he pushed her away. But he was miserable without her, so he chased her down every time. He was glad he was done with such stupid games. He didn't even realize that she had sensed his own worry and done the same thing to him that he had done to her. He just forgot about everything else and lost himself in the moment.

…

 

Miroku finally awoke as dinner was being prepared. Rin had regained consciousness a while before and was nibbling on a candy Kagome had given her, propped up by Sesshomaru, and Miroku smiled at her, glad to finally see her awake. She had been out cold when he originally awoke from the poison-induced sleep and hadn't even roused when they cut her hair and sliced her arm. He had been worried because she bled for so long and such a tiny body shouldn't loose so much blood, but there had been nothing he could do.

 

“Hi,” Miroku whispered, his head pounding. Rin smiled faintly, looking as exhausted as he felt.

 

“Took you long enough to wake up,” InuYasha growled at him. Miroku smiled, and then flinched. His entire face felt sore and the skin felt tight; moving it didn't seem like the best idea.

 

“Here, take this,” Kagome said, handing him two strange brown pebbles.

 

“What is it?” he asked, looking at them. They were small, light and had some writing on their surface that he didn't recognize.

 

“It's medicine. It will help with the swelling and the pain,” she said, then handed him a bottle of water. He had to be helped to take it, but he did as he was told. One touched his tongue and he almost spit, it was so bitter, but the water quickly washed them down. It took a little while, but he did start feeling better. At the very least, his head stopped feeling like someone was beating a drum within it.

 

Eating helped, although he had been reluctant to do so, worrying about throwing up again. But Kagome had cooked her last packets of ramen, so it was actually very soothing to eat. Once he had finished, he sighed happily and relaxed.

 

“So what happened to you?” Shippo asked. Miroku glanced over at the boy, and was then drawn to the interested faces of all his friends. He felt better, so he didn't mind telling the story now.

 

“Well, the first thing I remember was waking up, surrounded by youkai,” he began. “There were around twenty of them and I felt very weak. I went to use my Wind Tunnel, but my hands were tied. I saw Rin lying on the ground, also tied up and out of reach. They were talking about Sesshomaru and I didn't catch most of what they said.” Miroku paused, taking a drink of water.

 

“They were under the impression that they had the right to choose my companions for me,” Sesshomaru clarified for him.

 

“That bear youkai from the other day was there,” Miroku admitted, embarrassed. That mistake had really come back to bite him in the ass. “He was the one who left the bruises on me.” Miroku decided not to go into detail about how the bear had kicked him, calling him trash and a whore, bashing his face against the ground and leaving the wound on his head with a rock. “One of the others said to stop playing with me and he left. Another—a wolf, I think—grabbed me by the hair and cut it, then sliced my hand open and put the hair in it, telling me to hold it. The bear came back and cut Rin's hair and arm,” Miroku said quickly. What he didn't tell them was that the bear had taunted him, asking if he cared for the girl, then grabbed her hair so hard Miroku had feared he would break her neck, then slapped the sleeping child before slicing her arm from wrist to elbow.

 

The final insult had been the bear asking him if he and Sesshomaru took turns with Rin.

 

He didn't tell them how much he wanted to kill the bear or how he hoped that Sesshomaru would come and rip out his innards. He didn't say how he had cursed at the bear, getting him to drop Rin and beat him again. The other youkai had laughed during the whole thing and he had prayed that Sesshomaru would come and kill them all. He didn't tell them that when he saw Sesshomaru massacring them, he had smiled. He certainly didn't mention that if it hadn't been for the smell of death and the child in his arms, he would have run to the taiyoukai and tasted the blood on his lips. The thoughts frightened him and he didn't want his friends to know what dark thoughts he harbored within.

 

“They told one of the others, a cat youkai, to take us, kill us and leave nothing behind. He dragged us away and pulled out a sword. He said he was going to cut us into little pieces and eat us,” Miroku said. “But I had been working on the ropes they tied me with and I slipped my hand out. I used my Wind Tunnel and sucked him in.” Miroku paused for a moment, remembering the way the cat had screamed and begged him for his life. Miroku had just lain there, holding Rin with his other arm so she wouldn't be pulled in and laughed at him. Why should he let this beast live who would have killed him? The cat's eyes widened and Miroku saw that moment in his eyes. The moment of realization that `this was really the end, I'm going to die.' Miroku had felt nothing as the cat let go of the ground and disappeared into his hand. Then he had felt only relief. Even now, he only felt bad that he didn't feel worse.

 

“That's when you picked up Rin and came looking for me,” Sesshomaru said. Miroku nodded.

 

“The rest, you know,” Miroku concluded, closing his eyes. He may have slept the entire day away, but all he wanted now was to sleep the night as well. He opened his eyes again and saw Sesshomaru watching him closely. He got the sense that Sesshomaru knew how much he had left out. Miroku decided he would tell him later, when they were alone. He knew that the youkai would not look down on him for the dark thoughts. Miroku fell asleep wondering if that was a good thing…

…

 

To be continued…

 

Thankfully, Rin slept through the whole thing so to her, it's like she went to sleep and woke up with a few bruises, a cut and less hair. Wish the same could be said for Miroku, but he had to save them. He's not some damsel in distress, no matter what the other youkai might have thought. And Sesshomaru was busy wreaking vengeance.