InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When a door closes... ❯ The Oath-Part 2 ( Chapter 25 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 25- The Oath-part 2Nope, don’t own Inuyasha! Recap: Kouga's on his way, as yet unaware of the events of Fall and Winter, much less of Kagome's hanyou or pack status. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru have an appointment. Will he submit and swear allegiance to his elder brother? Can he? Can Sesshomaru not snap his neck if he does? Read on!
When Kagome and Sesshomaru came back to the lair, Kagome pulling him along without seeming to, they saw everyone was inside. She winced. This wasn't going to be easy...none of it. But it had to be.

“Um...” she began as her mate came back out, catching their shifting location by scent. He seemed to steel himself, and his brother gestured for him to come over, releasing Kagome's hand to do so.

“Myouga as well,” Sesshomaru directed, and nodded in clear dismissal to Kagome. The act made Inuyasha want to deck him, giving her orders! Damn him. Probably best...if she didn't see this though.

“My Lord?”

“Remain here, attend to the mortals,” her pack leader said with finality, and to her surprise-her mate nodded agreement as he approached.

“Go on, Kagome. We’ll...be back soon,” Inuyasha took her hand a moment, squeezed it, and she-watched them walk away, heart sinking with worry. She'd had no choice but to stay behind when Sesshomaru ordered it.

“Lady Kagome?” Rin poked her head out the lair as she called to her, and the hanyou reluctantly turned and went inside to see her friends.

Not two minutes later, there was a happy yelp as they told her of the marriage, and much hugging. For the moment, she was distracted.
***
Again, two brothers walked silently side by side, staring straight ahead. Finally, at the far end of the valley, Sesshomaru stopped and turned to look at his younger sibling with disapproval written all over him.

“She faced a Dokueki without a weapon because of your foolishness, did she not?” he said coldly. It wasn't a question, even if it was framed as one.

“I told her not to! If you know her, you know damn well she’s crazy when it comes to that stuff. What my mate does-”

“Is my concern. She is my kinswoman and packmate, under my protection.”

“Feh. Some protection! You sent her out after those things and who knows what else, Sesshomaru!” Inuyasha barked.

“She was my packsecond. She did her duty, in an exemplary fashion,” Sesshomaru informed him, and Inuyasha’s eyes widened slightly. He stepped back, eyes suspicious.

“Was? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Do not play the fool,” his brother replied.
Gripping the Tetsusaiga, the hanyou frowned, and Sesshomaru watched his half brother try to work it out. Dense. So very dense...what did Kagome see in this baka child...why had Father given him the Tetsusaiga? It should have been his, to protect the Clan, to become truly powerful...not the useless Tenseiga. He found his teeth were on edge with tension, the familiar combination of anger, annoyance...and emotions he really couldn't name when he faced his half brother. Sesshomaru was unsure of what they were.
“Kneel,” he ordered with no little satisfaction, deciding not to wait until he grasped the import of what he'd said.
Sesshomaru had no wish to wait the day he suspected it would require.
Inuyasha’s mouth went dry. Damn it! He thought he had days left! But he was here, had heard from the witness and seen the marks, let the surety go...it was time. Sesshomaru had upheld his part of the claim in every particular. It was his turn.
“Myouga. Witness,” his half brother ordered, studying him as the flea jumped clear and watched. Could he really do it? Could-either of them? Myouga trembled, wondering.
Sesshomaru refused to wait to complete the ritual now that his hand had been forced by Kagome. On some level he wasn’t sure he’d be able to bring himself to this point again, nor would he permit his packsister to be mate to a loner for a moment longer than necessary. Too dangerous. She was correct as well, they would undoubtedly engage in combat if they stayed near each other. The division of her loyalties should that happen would be an unnecessary cruelty. Inuyasha had already put her in danger once...more than once in the past, as had he...he could annul the mating...but she would never forgive him.


He’d given her the choice, and she had chosen. For all of them. All Sesshomaru could do was trust her. To play it out, as she'd said once. If his half brother could begin it in the first place, that is.
Inuyasha told his knees twice to bend. They still weren’t answering. Everything in him said no, never! Hanyou were never accepted by their youkai kin. Or the human. He knew it, had lived his life in defiance and loneliness because of it. Orphaned, there was no one who would accept him, he was an outsider. Unfit.


Never being on the inside...emotion warred with reason...Kagome was a hanyou now. Accepted, and adopted. Kagome was a packmember, hell, Lead Female, he’d pursued a force claim and known he would have to do this if she accepted him. That didn’t help him now, not at the moment of truth. If he knelt, there was no guarantee he’d ever rise again.


Sesshomaru watched the very visible struggle, curious. Just when he was sure his brother would completely balk...the youkai’s eyes widened.
Inuyasha-knelt.


Stiffly, slowly, resistance in every line of him, but he knelt before his elder brother. The soft thud of his knees hitting the dirt was too loud...even if it was almost inaudible. A slightly shaking hand pulled the sheathed Tetsusaiga free and set it slowly before him on the ground. All he could see was a pair of warm golden brown eyes, a loving smile...he was even starting to appreciate her ear thing now that he had hers to touch.


He could do this, would do this. For her. She’d taken him back, trusted him to be able to handle this. Like some baka hero, able to do anything. He looked up, and defiantly shook his hair back over his shoulders. Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha slowly lifted his chin, the cords of his neck stood out with tension, his heart pounded, his damned ears were quivering, he could feel it...as he-showed throat.
Sesshomaru was thunderstruck. It was...not as satisfying to see as he'd expected. It felt nothing like it should have. There was no satisfaction. No feeling of rightness. No sense of dominance. This was freely offered, not taken or forced. There was no victory here. At least-no victory of his.
Most unexpected. He hesitated...and forced himself to ask the ritual words instead of just snapping the offered throat as he‘d longed to more than once over the years. The clearest, cleanest, easiest solution. Several of those times he'd imagined Inuyasha dying at his hand had been in the last two days. Sesshomaru thought of a kind, sorrowful young hanyou female, his assistant, advisor...sister in all but blood. Rin’s aunt, as they called it. She protected him and his child. His Clan. Had been loyal over and over again, earned that mark pendant and her position at his side more than once on her own merit.

He’d given his word to her. She trusted him. She had promised she would not place her love for Inuyasha over her loyalty to him, given him reasons to accept this, reasons a youkai Lord could understand and present to himself as a victory, not a concession. Not a weakness. He...cared for her. Family. Pack.
What had been denied the hanyou kneeling before him by his brother...
“Do you, Inuyasha, of the family...” there was a pause. Hard amber gold eyes the same color as his own-as their Father’s-were staring up at him from under the same silver white hair and dark brows...Sesshomaru still had to force it out. The shame of it, the scandal. The coloring was Father's, but the features belonged to Izayoi. Her mortal taint was all over him, every time he saw Inuyasha, he saw the woman who'd ruined his pack and brought Father low...

“Inutaisho, offer yourself to my pack and my clan, to...serve both for the rest of your days?” There was no real confidence in the question, an undercurrent of curiosity, of dismay...this was for her. For Rin. For the Clan...the Dokueki and their probable allies...he had to...for Kagome...for himself. For their beloved Father.
Sesshomaru had worshipped their Lord Father. Until he showed himself to have frailties...weakness. Inuyasha dared call him ‘the old man’. Father would have been pleased by it, amused, but it was disrespectful. Sesshomaru looked more like their Father, yes...but Inuyasha had his personality. Even the fighting style was similar...not that the hanyou before him knew that.


In those things, Sesshomaru took after his late, beloved Mother. The mother Inutaisho had not loved enough to stay loyal to the memory of. Father had betrayed her and him to a mortal woman, a frail little mortal, helpless, not even a warrior. In just slightly less than two years after he met her-Father was gone. A youkai not much older than his younger brother was now had become a Clan Lord, when he’d never expected to be without finding a way to defeat his Father, without proving himself. To himself.
Inuyasha licked his lips as the silence stretched again.

“I...do.” For her. They both could almost hear it echo. There was something remarkable about Kagome. She had the most amazing talent when it came to drawing people to her, making them feel like they could do more than they ever would attempt alone. Without her, this day would have never come, and they both knew it. A little ex-mortal hanyou had managed something even Lord Inutaisho could not arrange.
A clawed hand grasped Inuyasha's throat tightly. Hands clenched into fists where they rested on his thighs as the hanyou’s eyes bored into the Lord's. Sesshomaru held the tense neck a moment, hand involuntarily tightening further...his little half brother. Inuyasha didn’t flinch, expecting this. Rejection. His beloved mate would grieve, but he’d tried, damn it! He’d had some small time with her at least. He wasn't dying alone and unloved. He'd had a mate, someone who truly loved him. His friends, their friends...his killer...would look after her.
Sesshomaru had to admire the courage he saw in Inuyasha at that moment. He accepted whatever would come. Had made this leap for his mate. Admirable. No signs of a dangerous youkai aspect rising...as though his whole self was committed to whatever course came. He didn't know Inuyasha had become a full youkai for an instant when he marked his mate, that part of him was why he could kneel now without changing. Because on a deep level, it was the only way to keep her and he knew it. The only way to have the pack and sense of belonging an Inu youkai-needed. As his humanity accepted this was the price for her to remain by his side always.
Youkai lived for mates, killed for mates...and died for them sometimes. Particularly a hanyou who'd never expected to find one as long as he was both human and youkai. Who'd never dreamed he could ever claim her once he'd met and fell for a silly young time-traveling miko...who'd loved him, and made him feel whole.
“I...find you worthy of a place in my pack, my clan. Let it be known, you are second son of Lord Inutaisho, brother and packmate of Sesshomaru, Lord of the Inu youkai and the Western Lands,” another pause, Inuyasha was staring so now...a gasp from one side from the flea... “Packsecond and Second Lord, heir of the Clan of the Western Inu, mate of Lady Kagome, Lead Female of my pack,” Sesshomaru looked bemused as Inuyasha’s eyes nearly popped out of his head and Myouga gaped in shock. What else could he have done, besides kill him or divorce them?
If one did something...one did so properly. If he was to have his half brother by his side, it would be as his brother. The Sons of Inutaisho, as disturbing as it was.
The titles he’d just bestowed were far from empty, and they both knew it. Inuyasha had never imagined this...Sesshomaru’s hand came off his neck and he found he wasn’t breathing, hadn't been for awhile. The hanyou forced air in and wanted to feel his neck to make sure he wasn’t having a bizarre dream in the split second it would take for his neck to be snapped or the slower death from having his windpipe crushed...
“I hold your life, and will use you wisely, long may you run with our pack,” his brother spoke as he released him, hand almost unable to do it in that moment, and with an awkward flip of fabric, drew a pendant from his empty sleeve.

“In token of this, you wear our mark, your mark,” and a chain dropped around the hanyou‘s neck. When his brother touched it almost as defiantly as Inuyasha had shown throat, it glowed, as did the crescent on his forehead, completing the bond. They both stared at each other still, a bit taken aback at what they'd done here. Brothers in truth. Packmates. The one thing no Inu youkai fucked with, as a foul mouthed, brokenhearted hanyou had put it not long ago, not far from here.
Where a female hanyou had just choked on the tea she was nervously sipping as she felt a change...
“Rise, Lord Inuyasha. It is time you took your proper place...little brother.” Sesshomaru said, slowly offering his hand. Little brother, it had always been used insultingly before, wasn't it? But...he’d just made him...oh, hell no!!

“I’m not your fucking packsecond, you son of a bitch!” Inuyasha roared, seizing his sword in one hand, the offered hand in the other and getting up. The words echoed across the valley, and several people started to grin in his lair. Kagome had been wiping up sputtered tea...she was so relieved she nearly fainted, a wide, joyful smile on her face, fangs flashing. Kagome was never prouder. Of both of them.
“You are my packsecond. You defeated my former one in honorable combat, did you not? I myself witnessed it. Thus the title is now yours,” Sesshomaru said blandly. Inuyasha felt strange. There was a comfort here, an odd-understanding...a weird sort of...bond...?

The packbond! Crap. It was...real. But...

“I’m not your fucking heir either,” Lord Inuyasha snarled.

“You are, until I should acquire a mate and produce offspring, and will begin to behave as one. Your language use, for example. Unacceptable,” Sesshomaru said gravely, looking just as-uncomfortable. “Clearly, the flea failed to instruct you in such matters.”

“Fuck that!”

“Our packsister, your mate, will be concerned. We shall go to her.” They walked back together slowly, stiffly, not looking at each other. They were almost, no, they were embarrassed, uncomfortable and feeling incredibly awkward. In their own way...they'd had a comfortably wary and distant relationship, based on dislike and distrust. On injured pride and mutual fury and bitterness. That was how it had been. Now, that all had to change. Neither of them were truly ready for that hurdle.
Inuyasha frowned, pausing, arms folded.
“Why?” he asked his Lord and brother, one hand coming free to hold the mark pendant around his neck. He-was in a pack. A real Inu pack. The premier, ruling pack. His Father's pack. A Clan member. He was hanyou. This...didn’t happen. But there it was in his hand, and he stared at it. Damn...
This, when the only mark he had needed was already around his neck. A golden heart...and now a silver moon. Now...he had it all. Friends. Mate. Pack. Rank. Acceptance. All because of his Kagome.
Getting everything you ever wanted, your deepest and most impossible wishes...was a truly terrifying thing.
“You are worthy, as the oath stated,” Sesshomaru didn’t turn, but he did stop.

“Screw that. Why? Her?” Inuyasha frowned.

“Not entirely,” Sesshomaru allowed, and there was a hesitation, Inuyasha could see his discomfort even under his mask of impassivity because of the packbond. The bad thing was...Sesshomaru could read him just as easily.

Wasn't it bad?

“Well?” Inuyasha pressed, voice harsh.

Lord Sesshomaru turned, and Inuyasha saw something he’d never seen in his brother’s face. Worry. Something had spooked him. Something bad enough to worry Sesshomaru-was nothing good.

“She-needs you. The...Clan will need you, and the Tetsusaiga. If I cannot prevent it, we will be at war with the Wolf Tribes, if we are not already. One I am...we are...uncertain we would win otherwise, without losing too many of our own people,” he answered, as bluntly as Sesshomaru could. Inuyasha gaped. A Clan war?! With the mangy wolves? They-needed him? What the fuck was going on?? He said as much.
Lord Sesshomaru told him. All of it. Yotogi's warning. The assaults, the losses...Kouga...and the Dokueki. Damn it! He should've killed that little shit years ago!

“Come. We have much to discuss,” Sesshomaru said, resuming his walk.

“No shit,” the new heir to the Clan growled.

Neither of them would discuss it...couldn't articulate it...at least not now. Not as they walked together to the people who cared for them, friends, allies, family...but a door had closed. They could feel it. A chapter of their lives, all of their lives, was over. Much was coming, a journey over dangerous new ground with untested, cautious bonds to rely on as guidance.
When a door closes...another opens. Always. By fate or by choice, as time moves on, and events...
To be continued in ‘Another Opens’.

Author’s notes-Yes! The end of the first part at last. I’m posting the first chapter of Another Opens along with this for the sake of readers. Originally, I placed a couple of chapters of what would become AO in this installment, then later split it here.

This chapter was an amazing one to write. Sometimes, events are so important, so complex, that they deserve special highlighting, and this was one of them, with it's companion chapter. I hope you found it as satisfying to read as I did creating it. Thanks for Reading!-Namiyo