InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What Matters the Most ❯ Content ( Chapter 44 )

A/N: Bleargh.

Watching an AMV and the movie got stuck on a picture of Inuyasha kissing Kikyo. BLEARGH! Somebody burn my eyes out please!

-Punishment of the Inu/Tryst - Lol, well then I certainly hope I’ve never said that... I’d hate to be made out a liar. ^_^ -- You’re hoping for him to have some semblance of peace?... Yeah, I have to agree with you. That’s probably not gonna happen. Not for a while yet anyway. ^_^ Still, it’s nice to know you haven’t given up on them! ^_^ Yeah, I really do hope this helps you pull out (although, I see that you did update for a Trysts sake), cause I can’t wait to see what happens in both fics! ^_^

-Crazy-Inuyasha-Girl - Lol, I think I’m one of the only people in the world sadistic enough to want to lean toward making them Naraku’s pups. Just for a little angst. ^_^ And we’re getting there... we’re getting there... in fact, only a few more chapters to go I think... Or something like that...

-FXL - Lol, and here I thought everybody would just be dancing for joy when he was raped. Lol, sorry, I’m in a very sarcastic mood at the moment. ^_^ I really shouldn’t take it out on you guys cause it really does seem like I’m insulting you every once in a while, don’t it? >_< Anyway... Well, I had kinda already selected the names I wanted, but I could still consider yours (the pups aren’t born yet, now are they?) but I’d need to know what they mean first... Sorry, it’s a little bit of a quirk I have-- I like to know the meanings of the names I give characters. ^_^ Especially considering that the names for the characters I don’t own seem to be somewhat significant toward them and their personalities... usually anyway. ^_^ -- Wow, 100? That’s just.... wow! ^_^

-Snowfall - Lol, well I don’t know when his night of weakness is coming around again (I might not get to it again till after the birth...) but hopefully this’ll satisfy your want to have Inu and Sess spend a little time together psychosis-free. Well, as free as they can be in this story anyway. ^_^

Well that’s about it.

This chapter was up a lot sooner than I expected it to be, but maybe that means I’m getting back on track, neh? ^_^

Oh, and this chapter was somewhat written because someone commented that they would like to see Inu comforting Sess at some point. While it’s not exactly comforting, Inu still seems to be watching over Sess a little bit at the end of the chapter... I don’t know, I’ll probably do it better later. ^_^   ~*~   Content

When Sesshomaru opened the door to their bedroom, he first thought that Inuyasha was not there.

Their bed was empty, and, considering that’s where Inuyasha spent most of his time as of late, that was very strange indeed.

However, his senses were telling him that Inuyasha was there, and so his eyes continued scanning the room until they finally fell on the window, where they finally landed and honed in on his mate, curled up on the wide, padded ledge that was made specifically for sitting on, the moon’s rays slipping through the translucent barrier to surround him in a silver halo.

Sesshomaru approached slowly, making his steps purposefully loud and watching Inuyasha’s ears flick toward him, though the boy himself did not turn and look.

It didn’t matter much.

Just so long as he knew he was here, and Sesshomaru wouldn’t get his head ripped off for “sneaking up on him.”

He stopped beside Inuyasha, waiting a moment for his mate to react in some way.

When he didn’t, Sesshomaru, clearly deciding his arm was no longer worth having around, reached up and gently placed it on Inuyasha’s stomach.

He was quite pleased when Inuyasha neither tensed, nor pulled away from him, and cautiously he began moving his hand, forcing his mate’s already parted haori open further so he could caress the flesh beneath, pleased at the occasional shove against the skin that indicated his pups were alive and, indeed, kicking. Something Inuyasha had taken to complaining about on a regular basis.

Sesshomaru had seen a few pregnant females in his time-- demon and human-- and had seen how large they sometimes got as their pups grew, but somehow, even though he was likely near the end of his pregnancy, Inuyasha was different.

The bulge in his flesh, while noticeable, was hardly what one would expect a pregnant person to look like, and, if the hanyou arranged his baggy haori and hakama in the right manner, it was fairly easy to conceal said bulge from everyone.

His hand came to rest on Inuyasha’s naval, which had, at some point, gone and flipped itself inside out, and there he paused, looking up at Inuyasha’s face.

The hanyou was staring out at the moon, his expression distant and almost... sad in a way.

‘What are you thinking?’ He asked softly, hoping against hope that this wasn’t a stupid question.

Lately a lot of his questions-- even the perfectly rational ones-- or just statements in general had apparently been incredibly stupid, and Inuyasha had done his best to make certain he knew he was asking a stupid question. Usually by screaming, throwing something, bursting into tears or storming from the room.

Sometimes, when he’d asked or done an especially stupid thing, he’d get a combination of all of those things, and that could be an incredibly scary situation to deal with.

However, due to the frequency of Inuyasha’s little bursts of emotion and irrationality, Sesshomaru had learned how to deal with them. Well, most of the time anyway.

This though... this quiet, impassive, almost sane seeming Inuyasha... he didn’t know how to deal with it.

Especially since it could disappear at any time.

And he hardly wanted to risk ruining this quiet moment where his mate was actually allowing him to be near him... to touch him...

Inuyasha shifted slightly on the sill, and then shrugged.

‘Naraku.’ He said after a moment, his voice low and soft, but cutting through Sesshomaru like a knife.

The Inuyoukai’s eyebrows rose in genuine surprise. Out of any and all the answers he had been expecting, that had not been one of them.

‘Why?’ He asked softly. What else could he ask? This was the first time he’d gotten this close to his mate in over a week, and here he was thinking about the bastard hanyou that had raped him...

‘Why not?’ Inuyasha countered, his eyes still distant as they reflected back in the window’s glass. It had been a little over two months since he had encountered Naraku, and the half-demon had been on his mind an awful lot lately.

‘After all,’ He murmured, continuing his previous statement as though he had never really stopped at all. ‘He is the man who raped me. And he could be the father of this child. And what then? Do you think he will leave me alone?’ His eyes met Sesshomaru’s in the window’s reflection. ‘Do you think he will just let this happen?’ He looked back at the sky. ‘I’ve just...’ His voice was very quiet, and almost confused in sound... ‘I think he’s planning something...’

‘How do you know?’ Sesshomaru asked, just as softly. Inuyasha shook his head.

‘I don’t know.’ He said. ‘I just... I have this feeling...’ He frowned. ‘It’s hard to explain... But I don’t want him coming for the pups... and I think he might...’

‘I will kill him if he does.’ Sesshomaru said, rubbing soothing circles on Inuyasha’s back and stomach, the latter of which was no longer moving at all, as though the pups could sense their carrier’s mood, and had decided it best to subdue their actions for a little while. ‘I will not let him harm my mate. Or my pups.’

‘And if they are not yours?’ Inuyasha asked softly, making Sesshomaru’s hands pause. ‘If they are Naraku’s, then you can’t exactly stop him from seeing them...’

Sesshomaru stared at his mate a moment, feeling the faint traces of hopelessness enter his aura, and he frowned ever-so-slightly, before moving to slip behind him on the ledge, pulling Inuyasha’s body firmly back against him.

Silence filled the room for long minutes as the two stared out the window, both of their gazes far away and contemplative...

‘He is not those pups’ father.’ Sesshomaru said after a minute, his voice ringing gently in Inuyasha’s ears.

The hanyou sighed.

‘Sesshomaru...’ He said softly, tiredly. They’d been over this before. No one, no one, even he knew if the pups were theirs or not. They could very well be Naraku’s and then--

His thoughts were cut off as Sesshomaru’s hand came up to touch his chin, tilting Inuyasha’s head back to rest on the elder’s shoulder so that their eyes could meet.

‘It takes more than semen and dominance to make a father, Inuyasha.’ Sesshomaru said simply, his words low but holding a strangely deadly and hard tone behind them that made Inuyasha’s youki shiver. ‘And it takes more than blood to make a family. Naraku can be the sire of your pups if that’s what the Gods had willed, but they will be born into our family. By my mate. They will not be his. And he will have nothing to do with them. He is not the father.’

Inuyasha gazed at him a moment, then looked back toward the window.

He considered what his brother had just said-- the unquestionable wisdom behind his words...

Naraku was the sire (maybe), just as Inuyasha was the bearer, but that didn’t necessarily mean that they were the pups’ father and... whatever.

It took more than that.

Just like Sesshomaru and him, while related by blood, had never truly been brother’s.

They’d been enemies, and then they’d been not-quite stable, and then they’d been mates... There was never a transition into brotherhood. Not that that really mattered.

And he suddenly realised how truly lucky he was to have Sesshomaru.

Most mates would abandon or kill another’s children. Hell, most mate’s would abandon or kill their mate if it was raped, because that could be considered a serious weakness or taint in some clans.

But Sesshomaru was determined to stay by him, make sure both he and the pups were safe and provided for.

Very few demons or humans would do that.

‘Sesshomaru--’ he began, tilting his head back, then stopping, his eyes widening slightly as they locked on his brother’s own... only instead of seeing a soft, cold yellow colour, he was met with pale, smooth skin.

Sesshomaru’s eyes were closed.

The demon had fallen asleep!

At first Inuyasha felt anger bubbling up and frothing within him, but, as usual, he could decipher the pregnancy emotions from the real ones, and this time he didn’t feel like giving into them. After all that had been happening lately, his brother must be tired... especially since Inuyasha kept forcing him away...

The pregnancy had made him irritable and unstable, he knew, but beneath all that he had very easily been able to feel his brother’s youki calling to him, just as he knew his own was to Sesshomaru, and it really did take a lot of energy to ignore said call.

So, instead of yelling or cry or whatever else his emotion-laden mind decided would be proper retribution, he gave his youki a little more reign, letting it suppress his other instincts as he snuggled back against his brother, practically purring in contentment at being in his embrace again after so long-- feeling the answering rumble of the same feeling Sesshomaru emitted in response.

He smiled softly at that.

He knew the last weeks had been hell on Sesshomaru, and he had been too weak and tired to make it up to or easier on him in any way.

Rolling slightly onto his side, he grabbed Sesshomaru’s fluffy whatever-the-hell-it-was and wrapped it around their bodies, encasing them in a cocoon of warmth and fur.

Sesshomaru let out another of those rumbles, and unconsciously tightened his grip around Inuyasha, burying his nose in his mate’s hair.

Inuyasha couldn’t help but slightly enjoy taking on the role of caretaker for once-- liked knowing that it wasn’t just him who needed to be helped and saved from things.

He let another smile spread across his lips as he leaned up and reciprocated the action to Sesshomaru’s neck, placing a small lick on the mating mark (making the clawed hand on his back clench instinctively), before burrowing his face against Sesshomaru’s chest, trying to get as close to his mate as he possibly could.

‘Thank-you, Sesshomaru.’ He murmured to the sleeping demon, before, his youki feeling safe and content for the first time in a long time, he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him and, not bothering to put anymore thought into their position or what they would do later, he allowed himself to follow his mate into the dark recesses of sleep. ~*~  

Glossary

Haori - The type of Japanese Jacket that Inuyasha wears all the time

Hanyou - Half-Demon

Hakama - The type of pants most of the men wear... they actually seem to be quite complicated to put together...

Inyoukai - Dog-Demon

Youki - A Youkai’s demonic energy... ~*~  

A/N: Okay, I think I actually repeated myself a couple of times in there, but hopefully nobody noticed too much... Next chapter should be up relatively soon I hope... Although right now I think I should probably put some more effort into “Void”...