Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kurama, Sesshoumaru's General! ❯ Gladiator Match ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Gladiator Match

Kurama heard a gruff voice yell out, "COME ON YOU STINKING HUMANS!! IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO FACE YOUR DEATHS!" Listening carefully, Kurama heard the loud clanks of cell doors opening, and watched as scared and emotionless humans walked by his cell, weapons in hands.

When the gruff voice got to Kurama's cell, the bear demon roughly swung the metal-bar door open; a demon beside him held weapons of many sorts. To Kurama's relief, they got to pick their own weapons, but if they took too long (like the village women) one was stuffed into their hands and they had no say in it.

Again to Kurama's relief, they had a whip. The demons were slightly surprised when the took the whip, sharp barbs shooting out of the 11 inch `blade' on the tip. They, of course, made no comment, and shoved him in the direction of the other slaves-turned-gladiators. He followed the depressed humans, who had resigned themselves to their fates by now, and were determined to live as long as they could.

After a short while, they were let into the arena in the middle of the roofless stadium. The sun shone down on Kurama, its bright radiance a great contrast to the hopeless emotions he smelt radiating off the humans around him, creating a disgusting stench he couldn't stand. `And to believe that I, at one point, used to like the smell of terrified prey…' Kurama thought to himself in disgust. He resisted the incredible urge to plug his nose, and kept his face a mask of calm.

Using the time they had been given until the start of the slaughter, Kurama jogged over to the far side of the stadium to stay away from the battle as long as possible. Unfortunately, the villagers didn't realize this, and as soon as the command `begin' was yelled out, they were attacked ruthlessly by the mercenaries. To his surprise, after half the villagers had been killed, more slaves were let into the stadium! They poured in, led by a commanding mercenary that wore armor. Kurama's eyes widened when he realized that he was the closest target to them, seeing that they had been let out on the opposite end to the other slaves.

Dodging a mace that was swung his way, Kurama began to do the one thing he hadn't done in a very, very long time. Kill humans. He flicked his whip at the assailant's throat, and watched with calculating eyes as the red blood flowed down his neck like a crimson waterfall. Not stopping to despair at his first kill, Kurama killed another who had attacked him. The other gladiators stayed clear of him for a time, and soon all but a few were still left alive.

That was when Kurama heard a terrible screech that sounded eerily like nails raked down a chalkboard. Resisting the urge to hold his hands to his extremely sensitive ears, Kurama turned around to face the monster that had just been let loose. To his shock, it was large demon reptilian demon five times his size, red eyes glowing with bloodlust. Kurama watched with a calm expression as the demon took the mercenary he had killed and began to gnaw on his corpse. Hearing someone yell `redhead', Kurama turned around to see a handful of mercenaries staring at the demon with serious expressions.

"Come here, boy! Before it kills you!" a rugged man yelled.

Kurama ran, at human speed, toward the mercenaries that were standing together, acting like a team. Once Kurama was standing with them, the rugged man said quietly, "We work together from now on, and try to live as long as possible. I suggest you stick with me, youngin', or you'll die sooner than you might hope.

Nodding his head at the man, Kurama mused to himself, `If only they knew I could kill the demon with ease. Mustn't arouse suspicions, now, Kurama.'

"Alright fellow mercenaries! CHARGE!!" the rugged man yelled, brandishing his spear as he ran at the demon.

Kurama followed, keeping slightly behind the man. To his surprise, the mercenary managed to land a few blows before he was hit aside by a massive clawed limb, his body bouncing across the ground like a rag doll. Resigning himself to the job, Kurama took his whip and ran up the monster's arm. Managing to humanly keep his balance, Kurama flicked his whip across both the monster's eyes, blinding it as purple blood gushed out. It's scream ripped through Kurama's ears harshly, causing him to falter in his jump off the reptile. He hit the ground none too smoothly, causing pain to jolt through his knee. Scowling, Kurama jumped (with human strength) out of the way, barely escaping the flailing limbs of the monster.

The rest of the mercenaries finished off the demon, looking at Kurama with new respect in their eyes.

Kurama ignored them, and checked on his leg. It seemed to be okay… He rested his weight on it, and it throbbed slightly, but was workable all together.

"Well? You willing to be our new leader?" one of the mercenaries asked with a grim smile.

Kurama blinked at the mercenaries that were looking at him expectantly. "I will, if you wish it of me," he said softly.

All the mercenaries nodded their heads, and Kurama prepared himself for the worse battle to come. Next, they were faced with a horde of lesser demons. They successfully killed them all, but lost almost all of their men left.

~*~With Sesshoumaru~*~

"Sesshoumaru, why don't you send out Byaho, he will surely finish off the remainder until there is one left," Lord Nenki suggested, a dark smirk planted firmly on his features. His mate ignored them both, watching the arena closely, or rather, watching Kurama closely.

`Poor boy,' Sumi thought to herself with pity, `To have a fate as cruel as this… Destiny is not a kind thing…'

Sesshoumaru thought it over for a moment, then gave the signal to one of his servants to set free Byaho. "Hikume," Sesshoumaru began, "Once all but one is killed, kill Byaho and fight the last living human."

Hikume smirked, and answered, "Of course, Lord Sesshoumaru." With that said, he disappeared, reappearing at the edge of the arena.

Kurama spotted Hikume materialize on the edge of the arena out of the corner of his eye, but he pretended not to see him. Looking to the mercenaries that were left, he gathered his thoughts and spoke in a calm and quiet voice, "Our next enemy may be our last. Once all of use but one are killed, a general will kill the last remaining. To successfully kill the next demon, I ask that you obey my commands on what to do. This is all about tactic, at this point, and charging at the demon blindly will leave you a mangled corpse."

When Kurama finished, his audience had identical looks of shock on their faces.

"Let me get this straight, you want us to work together under your command?" one mercenary asked.

Kurama answered calmly, "You asked me to be your leader."

The mercenaries looked at eachother, and another said with a shrug, "I'll follow you."

Murmurs of agreement were heard, and soon Kurama had supporters standing beside him.

"What do we do?" one asked.

Kurama calmly watched the last remaining door that led onto the arena. "We wait. Once I see what we are up against, I shall tell you what we need to do to kill the demon," he said with a calm gaze.

A loud roar was heard from inside the door, and Kurama whipped his head around to see what they were up against. To his shock, the doors broke open to reveal a scaled blue dragon! Taking quick stock of what type it was, he began to formulate a plan in his head.

"All right," he began, turning back to the group of mercenaries, "This is a Lake Dragon. It isn't in its element, so it will be weaker than normal. Its weaknesses are its lower belly and eyes. Gouge the eyes first, and we will have a chance to kill it. After its eyes are useless, be careful, because it will thrash around a lot! Take care when you try to slice open its stomach. If you can, try to drag some guts out with you." His mouth set in a grim line, Kurama readied his whip and turned back to the dragon. "Spread out!" he called, running off to the right.

The other mercenaries quickly followed the orders, and tried to devise ways of gouging out its eyes. Seeing there was no easy way for them to do as the redhead had said, they looked at him and saw him running up the dragon's tail.

"Distract it!" one of the mercenaries yelled out to the others, who hurried to help.

Kurama's feet were almost jolted out from under him when the dragon tried to buck him off. To his relief, he saw the other mercenaries were helping him by distracting the dragon. Moving quickly in his green Chinese fighting uniform, he shot up the back of the dragon at human speeds. Slipping on a loose scale, his white pant leg caught on a spike on the monster's back. Frowning, Kurama quickly did a damage report and discovered that he wasn't cut, to his relief. Hurrying, he jumped onto the dragon's head and flicked his whip across its eyes. A roar of pain cut through the arena, and the dragon jerked, causing Kurama to go flying.

`Shit!!' Kurama thought as he stared at the ground beneath him. Judging it too large a distance for a human to land, he purposefully pretended that his knee buckled beneath him, causing him to hit the ground with a thump. Turning away from the ground to see the dragon, he watched as the mercenaries cut away at the dragon's stomach. Wincing slightly as he stood (for effect), Kurama pretended to test his leg. `Finding it workable', he walked toward the mercenaries. Grabbing the closest one by the arm, he whispered in his ear, "Aim for the lower right side of the dragon."

The mercenary nodded his head and ran at the dragon. He jammed his sword inside the lower right side of the dragon, eliciting a shrill scream from the creature. The dragon, in a rage, killed the remaining mercenaries and tried to smell out Kurama.

Kurama carefully remained downwind of the creature, and watched with cautious eyes as it screamed once more in pain, and collapsed. Sighing in relief, Kurama took a look around him. Seeing that he was the only one left alive, he became anxious. Would Sesshoumaru keep his word and give him Toukijin? His question was answered when a sword landed in the ground three feet away from him. He eyed the tainted aura of the sword with caution. `This sword… has a mind of its own… It isn't safe for me to touch it. It might try to bring out my demon form, or my demon power… I deal with that if it happens.' Decision made, Kurama reached over to the sword and pulled it from the ground. A bloodlust burst through his veins, and his demon side wanted to respond to it. Coming down on his demon side with an iron fist, Kurama focused his entire consciousness on controlling his demon, while the sword battled against Hikume.

Hikume was shocked when Toukijin landed by the human, and knew that Sesshoumaru had finally put up with him for long enough. Turning his eyes to Sesshoumaru, he saw the lord coolly gazing at the arena with no interest evident in his features. The other lords stared at the great dog demon in shock.

Not prepared for the sudden assault, Hikume gained a large gash in his side from the possessed redhead. His once green eyes were hidden by a demonic red as he attacked Hikume with speed the cocky fox demon didn't know a human could have, even WITH the help of a demonic sword. Clearly the sword was far more powerful than Hikume had first thought…

Kurama watched through red eyes as the sword controlled his human body. He focused on keeping the sword away from his demon side, so it could not access his body's full potential. This, keeping his entire attention up it, didn't allow Kurama to pay attention to what was happening. Before he knew it, Hikume's blood sprayed across the arena floor. The sword, however, was far from satiated, it wanted more blood. Kurama's mental eyes widened when his body jumped at Sesshoumaru, who had come to take back his sword. The sword slashed at Sesshoumaru, whose eyes had widened slightly.

Kurama, not wanting to hurt Sesshoumaru for some strange reason, brought his will down upon the sword, fighting for control of his body.

Sesshoumaru, seeing a flash of green eyes, jumped forward and hit Toukijin from the redhead's hand.

Sighing in relief when the sword's control over him vanished, Kurama sank to his knees and tried to gather his wits and energy about him. Not able to pull on his reserve of demonic energy in fear of the demons present finding out his true identity, Kurama breathed heavily and tried to stand. Managing somehow, he saw Sesshoumaru sheath his sword and turn to look at him.

Watching the redhead, Sesshoumaru noted that the human's eyes were glazed with fatigue. He stared the human in the eyes, waiting for the inevitable…

Kurama closed his eyes and let himself fall into blissful unconsciousness so his human body could recuperate without the help of his demonic energy.

Flop.

Sesshoumaru caught Kurama as he fell forward, and picked him up bridal style. He jumped with ease onto the balcony that the lords were seated upon. Landing gracefully, he looked Atakeru in the eye.

"This boy, Kurama, is now your general, Lord Sesshoumaru," Lord Atakeru of the Eastern Lands began, "What do you plan to do with him?" His face remained stoic, betraying no emotion.

Sesshoumaru said nothing for a moment before he looked down at the beautiful being in his arms. "He will remain my general, and I will teach him how to fight and how to strategically lead an army. Do any of the other lords of Japan object to my choice?" Sesshoumaru's voice became dangerously low as he said the last part, daring the other lords to say that he couldn't have a human as a general.

"Surely you do not plan on having a HUMAN for a general, Lord Sesshoumaru," Lord Nenki asked smoothly, disgust clear in his voice. Apparently, he was not smart enough to hear the belying threat in Sesshoumaru's voice.

Sesshoumaru's gaze became icily cold, and he said smoothly, "By our law, if a general is killed by one of any race, they replace the general without argument. Do you object to the law we formed 276 years ago?"

Lord Nenki finally noticed the threat in Sesshoumaru's voice and backed off. "Of course not, Lord Sesshoumaru," he said smoothly, walking away with his mate in tow.

Lady Sumi glanced back at the peaceful expression of the human boy in Sesshoumaru's arms. `I hope that his future will not harsher than a death that could have occurred today,' she thought to herself with worry.

Sesshoumaru looked to the other Lords, and seeing that they had no objections to voice, he also left the arena. Walking gracefully through the halls, Sesshoumaru took Kurama to his rooms. Once he arrived, he opened the door and slipped inside, closing it behind him.

Walking over to his bed, he lay Kurama's limp form upon it and began to remove the redhead's strange garments. Once he had removed the `cover', he pulled the shirt out of the redhead's pants and pulled it over his head. For some strange reason, he kept the clothing in tact instead of tearing it off, thinking that the boy might want to keep it, or have more clothing of the same style made from it. Once the shirt was clear of his head, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but stare at the creamy expanse of skin that flowed over slim and defined muscles like slightly tanned silk.

The redhead was rather slim, but looked very delectable to Sesshoumaru's eyes. He placed the shirt with the `cover' and pulled off the green slippers on the redhead's feet. Placing them with the rest of the uniform, he stared at the pants before him. Raising his hands, he reached for the hem. Gripping it, he slid the white pants down slowly, revealing the redhead's manhood bit by bit. Once Sesshoumaru had pulled them off all the way, he stared down at Kurama, his lower regions surging with heat as he eyed the perfect body that lay before him. Quickly searching for injuries, Sesshoumaru gently rolled Kurama onto his stomach, revealing a nicely shaped ass. He swallowed nervously, and tore his eyes away from Kurama's butt.

Looking upward, Sesshoumaru was shocked to see two long gashes running along the length of Kurama's back. They looked like whiplashes, and Sesshoumaru castigated himself for not noticing earlier. Reaching for his other sword, Sesshoumaru unsheathed Tenseiga. Raising it above his head, he slashed downward in a sure stroke, then sheathed his sword again. He watched with expressionless eyes as the whiplashes disappeared, leaving no scar.

Once he was done, Sesshoumaru stripped off his own cloths. Standing there in all his glory, Sesshoumaru picked up the pile of cloths that was Kurama's and placed it on his desk. Leaving his own cloths on the floor for the servants to deal with, Sesshoumaru placed his armor and swords beside Kurama's clothes and then returned to his bed. Lifting the redhead, Sesshoumaru relished in the feeling of Kurama's warm and silky soft skin. Pulling back the covers with one arm, Sesshoumaru climbed into bed. Placing the redhead on his left side, Sesshoumaru pulled Kurama into the dip of his body, fire burning where their skin touched. Sighing softly, Sesshoumaru buried his nose in Kurama's hair, smelling the enticing scent of roses. Completely relaxed, Sesshoumaru fell into a blissful sleep…