InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Whispers of Memories and Promises Forgotten ❯ Promises to Make, Promises to Keep ( Chapter 2 )

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Chapter Two

 

 

Promises to Make, Promises to Keep

 

 

(Please thank my wonderful beta, Periwinkle, for getting this thing finally beta'd so that I can repost it in much better condition. There has been a multitude of description added. Music: Vitas-Pocelui)

 

 

 

 

Sesshoumaru reluctantly broke the kiss, which he had subconsciously longed for over the seemingly endless drudgery of each passing day since his forced separation from Inuyasha. For a moment, before he closed his eyes to savor that which he had thought would never be returned to him, the warmth, scent, and taste of Inuyasha's breath and lips lingered on his own. Yet he wanted so much more! However, time had divided their paths and obstacles still loomed on the horizon. What he wanted was in his grasp. Still, because of the passage of time and of events, it could so easily be swept away. He couldn't allow that to happen. Inuyasha belonged to him, belonged with him.

 

This was all new to Inuyasha. He had never felt so loved, except by his mother. At the same time, it wasn't new. It was as though time had robbed him of something precious that would have made his life much more meaningful. There was a gaping hole in the fabric of his life and he didn't quite know how to accept that which was meant to fill it.

 

Sure, he had a life, but it was a tangled web of failure, torment, and emptiness. At this juncture in his life, he had finally become somewhat content with newfound friends. He had a mission and a purpose. Suddenly everything was jumbled and confusing. A severe headache was in his immediate future.

 

`Where is all this leading? What am I going to do now? Sure, it's all fine and good to find out that Sesshoumaru hadn't really hate me. But how is that going to change my life? Do I want it to change my life? Can we still have the relationship we once had? Do I really want that now? What does Sesshoumaru want? Why is he doing this? Is he lonely or just playing some kind of sick game with me? It's not like him, but it's never too late to change tactics.'

 

And finally, `I don't get headaches!' he protested.

 

His life up until now had been simple. Survive, protect the ones entrusted to his care, and conquer what enemies he encountered, one of which had been Sesshoumaru up until this surreal encounter. Perhaps he still was an enemy. This promised to be the worst of his many trials as he had so many other people to consider. It just wasn't fair that this was happening when everything had finally fallen into place.

 

No matter how hard he tried to do the right thing, he just couldn't catch a break. Kikyou, Kagome, now Sesshoumaru. Or was it the other way around? Sesshoumaru, Kikyou, Kagome. Kikyou, his first love, dead through deception, now haunted him in the frame of a body made of clay. Kagome wanted him now, just as he was, a hanyou rejected by society. However, he could never have her because one day she would be forced to return home, permanently.

 

Now…now, there is Sesshoumaru. What kind of havoc would he wreak on Inuyasha's battered heart? This could prove to be one long nightmare, the one to finally break him.

 

Inuyasha wasn't the brightest star in the sky, but he wasn't exactly stupid. Moreover, he had learned caution in his dealings with matters of the heart. Sesshoumaru had seen to that when he was very young. All of his other experiences had only served to reinforce that distrust.

 

At least, he could breathe now, so that's exactly what he did. He took one long deep breath and let it out in a slow shudder then gazed up at the one who was watching him with more longing, more need than he had ever before seen in anyone.

 

`Aaargh!' he growled to himself and covered his face. `Just once, just once, can't I have some sort of peace!?'

 

“Let me up, Sesshoumaru.” He hadn't meant to sound so harsh and he felt rather like scum when he saw Sesshoumaru's face blanch at his tone of voice.

 

“I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru. I didn't mean to…Ah, hell! Let me up, will ya.”

 

`So, we are back to `Sesshoumaru', not `Sessy'. Sesshoumaru frowned his disappointment while lifting himself to stand beside Inuyasha.

 

Inuyasha dug his elbows into the ground to push himself up, but his body was having none of it. It was just too weak.

 

“Damn it. Why am I so weak?” he asked no one in particular.

 

“You died and in my haste to revive you, I struck your heart with more force than your body could tolerate. It was necessary to use Tensaiga,” stated Sesshoumaru with no hint of any emotion. He was being careful once again.

 

“Would you mind helping me up?”

 

“Perhaps you should remain still.”

 

“No, I want up. I wanna talk to you and it feels kinda weird lying down here staring up at you, especially with you naked.” A light pink bloomed on Inuyasha's cheeks as he noticed that a particular part of Sesshoumaru's anatomy wasn't completely limp. Close, but not quite.

 

Inuyasha turned his face in the opposite direction while Sesshoumaru knelt at his left side and slid an arm under his shoulders, raising him up to a sitting position. A trickle of blood slid from the corner of Inuyasha's mouth. His long tongue swiped at it and brought his attention to the fact that his face was splattered with it.

 

“Um…I think I want to get this blood off me,” he said hesitantly, knowing that Sesshoumaru would need to help him.

 

“Can you hold onto my neck?” With only one arm, about the only option left to Sesshoumaru was to hoist Inuyasha over his shoulder, and in his current state of undress, that could be rather uncomfortable for Inuyasha.

 

“I think so.” It didn't hurt to try.

 

Sesshoumaru stooped down over Inuyasha, his chest and abdominal muscles rippling and their cheeks barely brushing one another. The scent of his half brother filled his nostrils, bringing an ache to Sesshoumaru's chest. He felt Inuyasha's hands glide over his shoulders and around his neck and couldn't help the involuntary shudder. Had Inuyasha noticed his reaction? Oh, how he wanted to reclaim his former lover.

 

“Hold on tight,” he whispered before sliding his arm down Inuyasha's back and cupping Inuyasha's thighs then bringing himself upright to a standing position. Though Inuyasha had become a man, his muscles thick and carved, he was hardly heavy for Sesshoumaru to lift.

 

Inuyasha was suddenly pressed up against Sesshoumaru's torso and feeling quite off balance, as well as a bit self-conscious of his predicament. He had to do something about his precarious position. Managing to swing his legs around Sesshoumaru's waist was a feat for the weakened hanyou. He was too embarrassed to talk or look at Sesshoumaru, so he buried his face into the nook between Sesshoumaru's neck and shoulder, holding on while he was carried to the stream.

 

`This feels so familiar, but still…I'm pressed right up against him! I haven't touched him like this in so long…and I remember how it felt back then. It feels weird now. Like it really isn't him and it really isn't me. We're strangers.'

 

Strangers with some vague knowledge of other.

 

Once the water reached just below Sesshoumaru's chest, he loosened his grip just enough to allow Inuyasha to slide down into the water. Much to his surprise, Inuyasha didn't budge. He wasn't certain if perhaps Inuyasha had passed out or simply wanted to hold him. He hoped with all his heart that it was the latter.

 

`I don't want to let go. It just feels so good, so…right,' thought Inuyasha, embarrassed and a bit unsure of how Sesshoumaru would react.

 

The sounds of the forest seemed to grow louder, the scenery too sharp in its detail. In their discomfort, everything seemed amplified, neither knowing what to do next or what to think. It was awkward at best.

 

In the silence, Inuyasha couldn't help but notice the pale contours of Sesshoumaru's shoulders and upper back. Sesshoumaru was nearly as pale as a marble statue and just as smooth and sleek. He marveled at the perfection in those dips and curves. Sesshoumaru's upper back was broad and powerfully muscled. The shape of his torso gracefully narrowed into a slim waist. Yet he remained muscular with a maturity to his physique that Inuyasha had yet to reach. The tight, well-toned globes of Sesshoumaru's bottom, creased at the side with his effort to hold Inuyasha. He had been so caught up in his study of Sesshoumaru that he hadn't immediately noticed the nose burrowing into his hair just behind his ear.

 

Sesshoumaru breathed in the scent, hair tickling his cheek as the warmth of Inuyasha's body encircled him. He remembered all the many times he had held Inuyasha exactly like this, all the many times he had teased Inuyasha's ears until he had heard the immensely pleasing cries of pleasure. His cheeks as well as his body warmed at the remembrance of times long lost. It was now possible that those times could be found again.

 

Sesshoumaru shivered and gasped, tears welling up in his eyes when he felt hands caressing his back and lips exploring the curve of his neck. A sigh of relief escaped his lungs and he tightened his grip on Inuyasha. It had been so long.

 

“Sesshoumaru?” Inuyasha murmured.

 

“Yes?” whispered Sesshoumaru as he savored the scent of his brother.

 

Despite Inuyasha's best attempts not to lose himself, time seemed to rewind. He couldn't force it to stop and, like the Pied Piper, emotions spurred by this journey urged him on.

 

“I don't know what to do, Sessy. I'm so damn confused,” Inuyasha muttered, taking a deep cleansing breath.

 

“Be here with me, Inuyasha. Take that step of discovery. Once you have experienced what we once had, what we can have again, you will no longer be confused…my beautiful one,” Sesshoumaru murmured as he drew back to gaze into the untamed golden eyes of his brother. He longed to see the brilliance that so long ago had penetrated the hardness of his heart.

 

Deepened by his keen desire, Sesshoumaru's sultry voice mesmerized the one held in his arms. Inuyasha was lost, the last spoken words barely heard when he gazed upon the beauty of Sesshoumaru. Still clinging with his left arm, he brought his right hand around to lightly trace the dark blue crescent moon on Sesshoumaru's forehead then the magenta stripes adorning his cheeks.

 

“I forgot…” Inuyasha whispered to himself while caressing the colored skin. “They are so smooth, but always felt like they have an almost invisible coat of velvet.”

 

A smile tugged at the corner of Sesshoumaru's mouth. “You are remembering well.”

 

Tightening his legs around Sesshoumaru's waist, Inuyasha used Sesshoumaru's hips to lift himself. He caressed the crescent moon with his more sensitive lips, trailing down the right side of Sesshoumaru's face to meet the stripes. Sesshoumaru trembled beneath Inuyasha's curiosity and it did not go unnoticed.

 

`Don't stop there.' And Inuyasha didn't. For a moment he hesitated at the corner of Sesshoumaru's mouth.

 

“Inuyasha,” whispered Sesshoumaru, his ability to breathe stifled by his need.

 

“Kiss, Sessy?” Inuyasha's breath feathered across Sesshoumaru's jaw and lips.

 

The question went answered as Sesshoumaru turned his head and their lips met in a light press of silken flesh. The small raised temperature Inuyasha had felt on his skin began a slow burn as he stilled. Breathing Sesshoumaru's breath, feeling those soft lips on his own, and becoming acutely aware of his skin pressed to Sesshoumaru's, Inuyasha's heart fluttered as though it wanted to climb up his throat and make its home inside the heat of Sesshoumaru's chest.

 

Suddenly, the gentlest of touches was not enough for Inuyasha. His body craved more. As though in an opiate induced haze, Inuyasha leaned in and skated his tongue along Sesshoumaru's lips, parting them slightly to taste the inner walls.

 

It was enough. Sesshoumaru moaned and opened his mouth to Inuyasha. Their tongues explored, tasted, danced and plundered. Suddenly the steadily rising heat roared to life, whipping through their bodies. Inuyasha writhed against Sesshoumaru in their age old rhythm, searing Sesshoumaru's belly as he felt the familiar form of Inuyasha's arousal. He was taken back to the last time they had been together. Sesshoumaru quickly swiped those memories away. This was a new time, not to be tainted by the memories of the past.

 

`If only I had both arms. But, we will find new ways.'

 

Something was poking against the right globe of Inuyasha's ass. He lifted himself away, skittish as the realization of what it was dawned on him. Sesshoumaru didn't appear to have noticed. It was Inuyasha's ears that had drawn all of Sesshoumaru's attention. Inuyasha drew a sharp breath as Sesshoumaru attempted to pull him downward. To Inuyasha's relief, Sesshoumaru shifted his hips so that his stiff member slid between them. Inuyasha's head fell back and he moaned with wanton desire as their arousals slid together. It had been so long. Yet, he still remembered those sensations as though it were only yesterday.

 

Sesshoumaru brought his hand up to Inuyasha's head and fisted his fingers in that thick white mane, so tightly that it was just this side of pain. He gently tipped Inuyasha's head back, exposing the long line of Inuyasha's neck. Inuyasha instinctively knew what was coming next. Without a thought, his eyes closed and his mouth parted.

 

This was the best part. Always. So intense it could take him over the edge if Sesshoumaru desired. Sesshoumaru had done just that on more than one occasion. Just the wait now was driving Inuyasha insane.

 

`What was Sesshoumaru doing? What was he waiting for?'

 

The long expanse of Inuyasha's thin neck drew Sesshoumaru's attention. His eyes followed the line of white hair up Inuyasha's throat until they met his ears. For the moment, once again, it all belonged to Sesshoumaru. As in the past, he wanted to tease Inuyasha, make him beg for more. So, instead of going right for the ears, he leaned his head forward and licked a long wet line up Inuyasha's neck before suckling his way back down.

 

“Please, stop teasing!”

 

Sesshoumaru growled and nipped Inuyasha under the chin, receiving a small surprised yelp in return. With some of his doubts being eased, he smiled to himself while his tongue skated along Inuyasha's collarbone. A barely audible moan reached his ears when he nipped his way down to Inuyasha's left hardened, pink nipple. For a moment, he merely stared at it, wondering if it would still feel, taste, and smell the same as it had so long ago.

 

Time had changed Inuyasha's body and time, strengthened his body and broadened his chest. Reveling in the solid feeling of added musculature, Sesshoumaru dipped his head, sucked that pink bud into his mouth and tasted Inuyasha's flesh, thrumming it with his tongue. Only the added bulk of Inuyasha's muscles were different from what he remembered. The taste and scent had remained the same. A short high whine muffled by Inuyasha's now clenched jaws did not go unheard and urged Sesshoumaru to turn his attention to the right nipple. He could feel the rapid rise and fall of Inuyasha's chest, the tightened grip around his legs.

 

Despite the new waves of heat spiking through Inuyasha's veins, goosebumps traveled the expanse of his skin. He was sure that he would burst, his flesh peeling away and a blinding white light of immense proportions overwhelming him the sensations as the sensations coursing his body expanded beyond comprehension. Yet, it wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot. He felt his entire torso pulled forward and his head bowed with the help of Sesshoumaru's hand. He whimpered in agonizing anticipation of remembered favorite activity.

 

There was nothing stopping Sesshoumaru. No sign that Inuyasha was having second thoughts. Once this step was taken, there would be no turning back for either of them. Those ears, those ever so sensitive ears, were perked and waiting, crying out for all that he could accomplish with them.

 

Oh, this was going to be sweet. By starlight, he gazed on the pink inner flaps of Inuyasha's ears, so tender, so tasty. The responses he would elicit from Inuyasha tonight would bring as much pleasure to him, as it would to Inuyasha.

 

“Inuyasha,” he breathed into the right ear, letting his breath tickle the fine, white hair while his lips barely caressed the edge of the sensitive appendage.

 

His heart leapt at the groan escaping Inuyasha's chest and at the trembling that seemed to radiate throughout Inuyasha's entire body. The familiar fire in his veins seared through his blood and he could wait no longer. Urgency swelled his chest and, with his tongue, he blazed a path along the outer edges of Inuyasha's right ear. A shudder. He flattened his tongue and licked up through the center, wetting it for the next pass. A moan. Another long torturous trail of wet warmth. A cry of pure wanton need.

 

It was everything that Sesshoumaru remembered…and more. To hold Inuyasha in his arms once again was divine.

 

Sesshoumaru took the entire ear into his mouth and suckled it while his tongue traced lazy elliptical patterns. Inuyasha's body went wild, almost causing him to lose his footing. This was not going to work, not with only one arm. Decades in the past, it was no feat to trap Inuyasha within the tight embrace of his arms. However, he now needed more solid ground.

 

The lines between past and present had blurred and there were no longer any thoughts in Inuyasha's head as his body approached the white oblivion of pure ecstasy. The passion lit within him, unappeased, had driven him to distraction. He could no longer control his body. It moved of its own accord, seeking to satisfy its craving for the blissful unity of mind, heart, body, and soul. It was near. Oh, so near.

 

Without warning, Inuyasha felt himself being dragged back into the cold hard world when Sesshoumaru glided from the water to lay him on the white fluffy pelt that Sesshoumaru always carried. There was a momentary flash of trepidation on Inuyasha's part. After all, his only experience with the pelt had been when it was crushing his body in the midst of battle. All hesitancy was wiped away when Sesshoumaru showered his face with feather-light, tender kisses.

 

Sesshoumaru allowed his weight to sink into Inuyasha's body, essentially trapping his younger sibling, thus leaving his one hand free to roam without the chance of risking some injury to them both. He didn't give Inuyasha a moment to breathe before taking Inuyasha's white, fuzzy left ear into his mouth and torturing it with more fervor than he had done with the right ear. Inuyasha squirmed and bucked beneath Sesshoumaru, his breaths coming in ragged pants. As before, the ears were ever so sensitive and he reveled in his brother's responses. The effects that this simple torture had on Inuyasha had always been enough to bring even him to climax.

 

“Sesshy, please, please,” Inuyasha pleaded, not even realizing that he had done so. Lost between worlds, he also had no idea that he was and, had been, freely using his childhood nickname for his older brother.

 

Sesshoumaru ground his hips into Inuyasha, momentarily satisfying both their need while not releasing the ear. He would finish what he started decades ago. Finally. Considering his earlier treatment of the delicate ear, h suckled it gently, not wishing to make it sore. In response, Inuyasha's body became more insistent, more wanton, lifting Sesshoumaru's body in a familiar and welcome rhythm that melded them into one writhing mass of flesh, flowing with waves of ravenous desire.

 

Sesshoumaru was forced to hold Inuyasha's head immobile in order to keep the thrashing young man from tearing his ear from Sesshoumaru's lips. After one long muffled whine, Sesshoumaru decided to pull back. What he saw was exquisite. Inuyasha's chest heaved as though he were starving for air. The white fluffy ears were trembling. Golden eyes were dilated and, even though a small portion of pupil was visible, it was obvious that Inuyasha was blinded by passion. Crimson stained, his cheeks, neck and lips were full with the heat of his blood.

 

It was this sight that brought Sesshoumaru to the cliff's edge, that place where his body was fell weightless into the bottomless chasm, his eyes blinded by the ecstasy release, his mind overpowered by ecstasy.

 

Inuyasha thought he heard cries, pleas of wanting and soon realized that they were his own. He couldn't help himself, couldn't control his reaction to Sesshoumaru, not that he truly wanted to. Flames rampaged through his body. He fought to keep them from burning him alive, but they would not be sated, not until he gave himself over as a sacrificial offering to his lover. He reached for that bonfire, yet hesitated, afraid of being consumed. Soon he would have no choice. Sesshoumaru wouldn't give him one.

 

“Finish it!” he cried out, unable to stand the intensity of his torment, but Sesshoumaru continued the slow delicious torture.

 

The inhumanly strong fingers holding his head frozen in place suddenly disappeared only to dig their talons down his side. He didn't have time to draw his ear from his brother's lips. His body gave way, his back bowing forward, bringing him cheek to cheek, groin to groin with Sesshoumaru as he finally surrendered in one furious jolt that forced the air from his lungs as he sprayed his essence on his chest and belly. His first sensuous encounter since that last fateful day was painful, but the pain could not eclipse the overwhelming pleasure while his body convulsed over and over again.

 

Only by gripping Sesshoumaru and digging his claws into Sesshoumaru's ribs could he hold onto his bodily form. He was oblivious to the fact that his leap into the flames had drawn Sesshoumaru, crying out, along with him. His eyes might or might not have been closed. It wouldn't have mattered. He could see nothing, hear nothing. Only feel his sore, aching body as aftershocks rocked him.

 

Inuyasha's grip on his body tore at Sesshoumaru's heart. He had wanted this so badly, longed for it without even realizing. How much of this longing contributed to his ill treatment of his brother? Hopefully, this would be the end of this period in their lives. It seemed as though he had succeeded in his attempts when Inuyasha cried out. That sound burst through his chest and he found himself drawn into that blazing spiral of ecstasy.

 

While the ebb and flow of their climax crashed through them in a never-ending riot of waves, perspiration provided the needed lubrication for their bodies to glide against one another; lifting, grinding, and rolling. In a full-body crushing embrace, they found their safe harbor in the eye of the storm and allowed the winds of passion to buffet their flesh.

 

It seemed an eternity before they drifted back into their own bodies, aware of the physical here and now, and with the ability to breathe without their lungs feeling as though they would explode.

 

Inuyasha's swimming head seemed to burn. Yes, he enjoyed every moment of it and was sated. However, now that it was done, he wasn't sure that it was the wisest thing to allow. He just didn't know. Things were just too confusing. His body recognized this union with his brother, but his mind could only remind him of the recent past.

 

Sesshoumaru had no need to study Inuyasha's face to know the young man was having second thoughts. He had suspected this would happen and once again, his fear of rejection was brought to the forefront of his mind.

 

“Come to the water, Inuyasha,” he murmured before rising and walking to the spring without looking back.

 

Sesshoumaru seemed to glide with ease whereas Inuyasha made his way on weak, wobbling legs. Inuyasha waded out to Sesshoumaru and began washing away the remnants of their release. Something occurred to him.

 

“Sesshoumaru?”

 

“Yes?”

 

Inuyasha stroked the semen from his belly as he attempted to put his question into words without being too embarrassed.

 

“I don't remember ever doing anything for you. I mean…” He trailed off unable to find the appropriate words or to dare say them.

 

“Your enjoyment is enough for me to gain my own pleasure,” Sesshoumaru gazed at him with the slightest grin.

 

“Why did your bite marks scar instead of going away like all of my other wounds? I mean, they're too small for anyone else to notice unless they know that the marks are there.”

 

“You do not know?” asked Sesshoumaru, raising his brow in disbelief.

 

Inuyasha shook his head.

 

“Amazing, still an innocent.” Sesshoumaru shook his head. He reached across the distance and caressed the small, nearly invisible pinpricks at the junction of Inuyasha's neck and shoulder. “It is my mark.”

 

Inuyasha furrowed his brow, still not understanding.

 

“It means, Inuyasha, that where ever I might be, I am bound to you. When you suffer, I feel it. When you have joy, I feel it.” Sesshoumaru paused.

 

“Do I feel what you feel?”

 

“No.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“You did not bind yourself to me.” There was no sadness or bitterness in Sesshoumaru's voice.

 

“Why did you do it?” It was beyond Inuyasha's comprehension that Sesshoumaru would want to do such a thing.

 

Sesshoumaru slid his arm around Inuyasha's waist and smiled down at him. “I knew you would be taken from me and could not abide the thought of being without you. If I could not be with you in the flesh, I would be with you in the spirit. You are and always have been `My beautiful one'.”

 

Inuyasha stared up at him in disbelief. “You felt it when I was pinned to the tree under Kikyou's spell?”

 

“I felt you die. I came, but could not touch the arrow, could not break the spell.”

 

“Why did we fight after Kagome freed me?”

 

Sesshoumaru laughed. “Would you have listened to me? Your memories were stolen from you. Or have you forgotten?”

 

“You don't give me enough credit,” growled Inuyasha.

 

“Would you have believed me? Would you have allowed this?” Sesshoumaru leaned down and placed his lips over Inuyasha's.

 

“No,” Inuyasha whispered. He didn't even need to think about the answer to that question.

 

“Then the only way to be near you was to continue to fulfill my role as your tormentor.”

 

“You felt it when you put your hand through my stomach?”

 

Sesshoumaru hesitated. “Yes.”

 

“You knew it would hurt you?”

 

“Yes,” Sesshoumaru sighed.

 

“Why did you do it!?”

 

“I was angry at father for giving you Tetsusaiga. It should have been mine.”

 

“Damn it, Sesshoumaru! You bastard.”

 

“I knew you would live. You didn't know of course.”

 

“That hurt!”

 

Sesshoumaru chuckled. “The wounds you suffered after didn't hurt as much compared to that, did they?”

 

“Not by far!”

 

“If nothing else, it made you stronger, though that was certainly not my intention.”

 

“I can't believe you did that.”

 

“It had been a long time for us. At the time, I did not believe you would ever be with me again. You had become the enemy, a cherished enemy. If you had died, I would have also and it wouldn't have mattered to me. You would have been lost to me.” Sesshoumaru had never really considered what would happen to him had Inuyasha died in truth. However, it was as he said, it mattered not.

 

Inuyasha was amazed and shocked to see the reflection of tears building in Sesshoumaru's eyes. He had not seen such a display of emotion since the day they parted.

 

“You would have died. You really would have and I never would have known.” Again Sesshoumaru had shocked Inuyasha.

 

Sesshoumaru cleared the lump in his throat. “It is of no consequence.”

 

“Had Kikyou's arrow been more than a spell, I would have died then. I was angry with you for putting yourself in such a position. It is another reason I fought you. Loving a human,” Sesshoumaru nearly sneered with bitterness. “Until that time, I could have cared less about humans. After that, I hated them with a passion, and I hated you. Do you understand now?”

 

“I didn't know.”

 

“Now you do and as I said, it is no longer of any consequence. No more talk.” The topic was disturbing and Sesshoumaru did not want to have anything interfere with this opportunity.

 

Sesshoumaru leaned down and kissed Inuyasha again. This time, it was not merely a touch of lips. It was filled with that longing ache that Sesshoumaru had so successfully quashed for so many centuries.

 

Inuyasha felt the wet warmth of Sesshoumaru's tongue exploring his lips. Without a second thought, he parted his lips, opening his mouth to that tender, gliding exploration. It was strange, his response to his brother. It seemed as though he lost all control. There was no fighting it. He couldn't stop himself, and perhaps, when his body and mind remembered the arms that once held him, he didn't really want to deny his craving for Sesshoumaru.

 

`He used to hold me in his arms. He had both of them then and I sliced one of them from his body. How can he love me after what I've done? Not that I regret defending myself. But still…'

 

Inuyasha pulled away from the kiss and gazed up into Sesshoumaru's golden eyes. “Could you take the black pearl from my eye, open the portal to father's tomb and re-attach your arm?”

 

“What!?” The sudden feeling that Inuyasha perceived him as inadequate threatened to bring up his beast, but he was not one to make judgments without reason.

 

“Your arm.”

 

“It has been so long that I have become accustomed to having only one arm, Inuyasha,” he said, frowning at his brother.

 

“So. I want you to have it back. Can you?”

 

Sesshoumaru stared at him. The thought hadn't occurred to him, at least not recently, that he would ever reclaim his arm. And he would need to find out just what Inuyasha's motivations were. Was his body not adequate? Did he disgust Inuyasha? The very thought tempted bitterness to rear its ugly head. After all, it was Inuyasha who had severed it from his body.

 

“Why?”

 

“Do you really have to ask?”

 

`Yes,' Sesshoumaru thought while unconsciously clenching his jaws.

 

“I can do it, but I don't know…”

 

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

 

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Gen50

Actually, the only thing that I have done is made corrections and perhaps added a line here and there. Very little was done. Actually, I hate sequels, so I am going to continue this one. And it isn't just in my brain. I wrote much of it awhile back. Call it a rough draft. I've also planned another chapter for A Day to Play. It's only in my head, but it's there. Since Torn was a challenge and I decided to try to learn how to do more introspection, it was very difficult and a lot of time was put into it. I'm glad that you enjoyed it. ^_^ Thanks for reviewing!

 

DemonGoddess061

Thanks for reviewing. This was one of the first stories that I put up and didn't know that I needed to set it to let readers review. Sucks, huh? Glad it's a favorite! Thanks for reviewing and for all of your help my fics.

 

Polka Dot

Thanks for reading again. Mostly, the fic was only beta'd with maybe a couple of sentences added. Due to past reader requests, I am going to continue this fic. I already have much of it written. It will be quite angsty. Hopefully, your first opinion of it being a long PWP (which I don't mind) will change. ^_^ BUT! It will have a happy ending. Real life is bad enough. I doubt that you will ever see a sad ending from me. Count on it. Thanks for reviewing.

 

HeartStar

All tens! Oooh. Thanks for reviewing. Sorry it took so long, but all of my fics are being beta'd. ^_^

 

Shigure-san

Squee! I was very much hoping that the story was believable! Thanks for commenting on that. It had me worried. As far as constant style, I was in an unusual zone and wrote it very quickly because I knew it wouldn't last. Glad you like Inu-no-Taisho. I figured that he was responsible for so many things and had to train Sesshoumaru to take over, so he had to be very circumspect. It is a burden for those in power and I wanted to show that it isn't all riches, irresponsibility, and games. I do have many more stories that are being reposted, many from my former Hanyou Slave profile. Thanks for commenting on an aspect that I was concerned about and for the high marks!. ^_^

 

 

CatHappy

At the time that this was originally written, I did not give reviewer responses. So here's yours. Thank you for such a wonderful review and I hope that you have enjoyed my newer fics and the stories from my former Hanyou Slave profile. Chills are awesome. ^_^

 

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*Disclaimer*

 

Inuyasha and all associated characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz. I make no profit from this story, nor do I intend to. My only goal is to occupy my demented mind with delusions of actually owning a life-sized, anatomically correct Sesshoumaru.