Trap of Darkness

A/N: Hello everyone, I'm WAA, or as a friend of mine calls me, Kitty. Trap of Darkness is a joint story I made together with LADY SILVERFOX charita rai. We do not own the Inuyasha cast, but we do own the plotline and our OCs who won't be introduced in this chapter. Enjoy reading and don't forget to leave a review, it'll be most helpful. Thanks!

One

It was a normal day in the Taishō household. The servants bustled about the palace with numerous activities they had to fulfil by the end of the morning before moving onto their afternoon chores, which would be later followed by their nightly tasks. Such was the lifestyle of those serving beneath the current Lord of Japan, and Japan's most powerful and fearful yōkai lord, Tōga-o the inu no Taishō.

Speaking of which, Japan's fine ruler was elbow deep in paperwork despite the all-nighter he pulled. His thick black brows were drawn in the middle, golden eyes moving quickly across the words as he read silently to himself. Dismissing the pettiness of a lower yōkai lord, he dropped the letter in the bin beside him and opened another letter. That one was no better. Sighing through his nose, Tōga-ō tossed that letter into the bin with the other and continued through the mess.

I should have gotten another secretary, he thought to himself, his thoughts darkened and his mood soured. But I can't replace Izayoi that easily.

Idiot! He thought, mentally slapping himself. Having a secretary is not replacing Izayoi.

Am I still that hung up over her death?

A knock rapped on the door, disturbing his thoughts and the heavy silence that was as thick as the shadows that clung to where the lamplight didn't touch.

'Enter,' he said loud enough to be heard and turned his attention back to the documents laid out on his desk that painted the top white.

Definitely a secretary, he decided as his visitor entered, footsteps muffled by the thick carpet.

'Oyakata-sama, would you be joining your sons for breakfast?' the gentle voice of the maid asked.

'Yes,' he finally answered after a brief pause to decide. 'Are they both awake?'

'Sesshōmaru-sama's training out in the arena. Inuyasha-sama's still asleep,' she said while pulling back the curtains, allowing the rising light of the sun to spill into the dark crevices of the room.

'Still?' he asked in surprise, although he should have gotten used to Inuyasha's laziness by now.

That boy never wanted to do anything he was supposed to, let allow something he had no choice in the matter. His sheer stubbornness and relentlessness had gotten the both of them in trouble far too many times to count. He was never like this with his mother, Izayoi. Ever since she died of cancer, Inuyasha's done nothing but rebel like a child. In all honesty, he's been nothing but a pest, as Sesshōmaru puts it. Despite it all, Tōga-ō could not find it in his heart to blame the poor boy. Neither Inuyasha nor himself had quite gotten over Izayoi's death. Not even after an entire year of her absence.

'Would you like me to wake him, Oyakata-sama?'

'Have Sesshōmaru wake him,' he said on a sigh, tossing another idiotic letter in the bin.

'As you wish,' she said bowing low and padded silently out of the room with a soft click of the door.

Silence descended upon him once more. His thoughts involuntarily descended upon his late wife. A human of unfathomable beauty who had stolen his heart. He tried to ease the sadness that ate at his heart by convincing himself she was in a better place. Like many times before, his heart remained fractured. The phantom pains were mere reminders of the true pain he felt on the day he had lost her. He knew that she'd want him to move on, find another, but to never forget her. She'd want that with all her heart. But he could not bring himself to look upon another woman.

He was just not ready.

The song 'Beds are Burning' by Midnight Oil suddenly crackled on the speakers.

'Out where the river broke

The bloodwood and the desert oak

Holden wrecks and boiling diesels

Steam in forty-five degrees

The time has come

To say fair's fair

To pay the rent

To pay our share

The time has come

A fact's a fact

It belongs to them

Let's give it back.'

'If this is another of Inuyasha's jokes, it's getting ridiculous,' Tōga-ō said while glaring at the hidden speakers.

'And who the hell installed a surround sound in my office!' he yelled.

His brief moment of anger subsided as a timid knock echoed from the door. Taking a deep steady breath, Tōga-ō permitted the maid to enter. As she shakily stepped into the room, eyes wide with fright and shock at the music that filled the office, she bowed low.

'Is there anything I can do, Oyakata-sama?'

'Prepare a calming tea please, Iori,' he said pinching the bridge of his nose.

'Right away,' she said bowing and left the room.

'How can we dance when our earth is turning?

How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

How can we dance when our earth is turning?

How can we sleep while our beds are burning?'

At the word 'burning' the fire alarm blared to life, startling him enough to make him slightly jump from the suddenness. He then smacked his hands over his sensitive ears to try and block out the intensely high pitch wail that threatened to deafen him. He glared up at the red alarm fixed to his wall that continuously flashed red.

He had not been informed of a fire drill, so he knew that this was the real deal.

Why else would it go off?

Unless this was some sort of elaborate prank. If so, this was taking it a step too far. There was no use looking for the culprit. There was only one who'd dare play a prank on Japan's ruling family. Inuyasha. He was the only one that would enjoy mischief of this level.

But why would he do this? And could it really have been Inuyasha? Was even he smart enough to play a song that happened to involve fire just before the fire alarm went off?

Sesshōmaru certainly had the intelligence, but he did not have the mind to play mindless childish pranks. Inuyasha, though smart in his own way, wasn't a genius despite being Sesshōmaru's head of security. It was brute strength and skill with Tessaiga that landed him the position, not his brain. The lack of intellect was one thing that Sesshōmaru often goaded him for. Yet, underneath their stubborn exteriors the brothers were actually closer than they'd let on.

Tōga-ō loved his sons, but he was not letting Inuyasha get away with this stunt.

Enough was enough. It was time Inuyasha grew up. If he had to order the boy to spend every waking moment with his aniki in order to learn, then so be. It'll be both his punishment and his lesson.

Sesshōmaru was annoyed. No, he was seriously pissed off. Not that he was ever going to show or admit.

His routinely morning exercises had been disturbed because his father wanted him to wake his pathetic hanyō brother. The good for nothing half-human was a nuisance, positively aggravating and disgracefully weak. Yet, despite how Sesshōmaru kept telling himself this, he was unable to forget how quickly Inuyasha was adapting to sparring against him and defeating all their opposing enemies. He'd never acknowledge Inuyasha's strength, let alone his presence. The closest he'd ever come to doing so was to constantly test him. It was the only way.

But to be disturbed in the middle of training for something so trivial?!

He was certainly going to let Inuyasha know how much he hated being interrupted for something as stupid as to wake someone up.

Clad in nothing but a pair of ballooned, closed off at the ankles, hakama and his black ankle boots, he stormed to Inuyasha's room in the east wing of the palace.

Servants dispersed as soon as they saw him, death in his golden eyes. But that's how they naturally perceived him. A tall bishōnen with silky silver locks that sways gracefully with his elegant movements, and a pair of haunting golden eyes. The eyes of death, or so the servants whisper. Like they'd ever say such words in earshot. They'd be dead in a second. But what Sesshōmaru also did not know was the way the women all undressed him with their eyes, envisioning their bare skin against his own as they spend the night in carnal pleasure.

But maybe Sesshōmaru did know. After all, he wasn't stupid or oblivious.

He barged into his otouto's room. More like demolished the door as the splinters fell to the ground. But neither the sound nor swirl of his yōki had any effect on Inuyasha who continued to snore unbelievably loud in his nest of blankets and pillows. Narrowing his thin black brows at the scantily clad, muscular, male in his pit, Sesshōmaru felt his anger rage inside of him at Inuyasha's obliviousness to his mood. And the fact that he still slept soundly under such a piercingly dark glare only heightened Sesshōmaru's growing temper.

Instead of demanding in a cold voice for him to get up, Sesshōmaru moved over to Inuyasha's stash of matches and lighters he stored away in a draw. Grabbing a box of matches and slamming the draw shut with more force than necessary, he ignored the crack that had formed from his temper and strode back to Inuyasha who was still, miraculously, sleeping. Eyes narrowing, Sesshōmaru struck a match across the box just as the radio alarm clock flickered to life playing 'Beds are Burning' by Midnight Oil.

Resisting the temptation of lobbing it against the wall, he dropped the match on Inuyasha's bed. He waited as it flickered to life before striding uncaringly out of the room. A small spark of satisfaction bloomed in his chest, the song stuck in his head as he made his way back to his room in the west wing. It was only as he stepped into his private sanctuary that he realised the song hadn't been stuck in his head, but was blaring out of hidden speakers. Speakers which had banned from every part of the palace aside from the game room, an old unused room that had been converted since entering the twenty-first century.

Red-hot anger rushed through his system at the thought that someone had not only broken into the palace but into his room as well. But that wasn't the only thing. They had not only soiled his room with their presence, but they had installed a speaker system that Sesshōmaru had banned from his room and managed to leave not a trace of their presence behind. This told him one thing. If they had done it once, then they could do it again.

The fire alarm suddenly blared to life, forcing an angered growl from Sesshōmaru's throat. Rather than panicking, even though he knew it was no fire drill, he discarded his training clothes into the dirty laundry hamper and changed into a hakama and haori tied closed by his yellow and blue sash. He didn't care of the twenty-first century fashion. He was more comfortable in the feudal era style of clothing than those tight trousers the humans called jeans. Snatching his swords from their stands, he slipped them into the sash and headed for the courtyard when everyone else would be gathered.

Inuyasha screamed awake at the alarm blaring deafeningly in his ears. The momentum applied to sitting up had been overexerted and sent him reeling through the fire burning his bed sheets and onto the tatami matted floor. Bolting to his feet, he swatted the fire that clung to his body and then cursed the fire that was eating at his platform futon. Ruffling his hair with both hands, he felt at a loss of what to do.

'Inuyasha!' his father's voice bellowed with worry, before the man himself skidded into view and stepped into the room.

'Oyaji!' Inuyasha exclaimed surprised. 'What the hell's going on?'

Tōga-ō blinked in surprise. 'This isn't your doing?'

'What are you talking about?!' Inuyasha snapped. 'Why the hell would I set my own bed on fire with me in it? And what's with this stupid song?'

Tōga-ō slapped his own forehead. 'I should not have sent Sesshōmaru to wake you up.'

'Huh? Wait a minute! Are you saying that Sesshōmaru did this?!' he bellowed. 'That good for nothing bastard!'

'Calm down, Inuyasha,' his voice said in a calming voice. 'Let's go to the courtyard before we both burn to death.'

'It's not big enough to kill me,' he grumbled as he followed after his father.

As the pair made it to the courtyard, all the servants rushed into the palace carrying buckets of water pulled from the well in order to put out the fire.

Had the palace had plumbing, it would have made it a lot easier. But since the palace was an ancient piece of history, Tōga-ō had refused plumbing and electricity to be added. Instead, he had an onsen built on the south side of the palace with the modern uses. That, and he also found the modern era rather confusing. He was still unable to figure out the technology side of the world and had human employees for that purpose. Well, that was one reason for their employment.

Tōga-ō and Inuyasha made their way over to Sesshōmaru, who stood apart from the slightly spooked guards, with an infamously annoying green kappa at his side.

'Oi! Sesshōmaru!' Inuyasha exploded, balling his clawed hands into fists. 'You started that fire on my bed with me in it, didn't you?'

'How dare you!' the kappa exploded, waving his staff threateningly.

But both his words and presence went unnoticed.

'Stop complaining, Inuyasha. You're still alive aren't you.'

'You bastard,' he growled through clenched teeth.

'That's enough, the both of you,' Tōga-ō interrupted before Inuyasha could pounce. 'We need to discuss these silly pranks before they get out of hand, like today. Sesshōmaru, igniting Inuyasha's bed with your brother in it was very stupid and childish of you. Inuyasha, I know it's hard with your mother gone, but you can't install speakers all over the palace just for your amusement.'

'Huh? I never installed any speakers.'

'The complexity involved in installing the human's entertainment systems would be much too difficult for Inuyasha's tiny brain to comprehend,' Sesshōmaru mocked, while, strangely, coming to his brother's defence.

If that's what you could call it.

'Why you…' Inuyasha growled lowly.

'What are you saying, Sesshōmaru?' Tōga-ō interrupted before Inuyasha could say anything to start a fight.

'Inuyasha would not be brave enough, let alone stupid enough, to install hidden speakers in my room.'

'As if I'd want to go in that smelly room of yours,' Inuyasha said childishly as his crossed his arms over his bare chest.

'At least mine can be called a room compared to that junkyard of yours,' Sesshōmaru retorted.

'Stop squabbling like children or I'll treat you like one!' Tōga-ō said slightly raising his voice to be heard.

Inuyasha lowered his head and flattened his ears. Sesshōmaru merely looked unblinkingly at his father.

'What was you getting at Sesshōmaru?'

'We've been infiltrated. Someone with a high level of skill had managed to sneak passed security, infiltrate the palace, install carefully hidden speakers in every possible room for who knows what reason, and managed to sneak back out without leaving a single trace of their presence or scent. Either we have an unknown enemy, or our current enemies have hired someone skilled enough to leave their mark on our territory without leaving a single trace to be tracked.'

'That is most worrisome,' Tōga-ō said rubbing his chin. 'We'll have to double the guard and constantly be alert. Unless they've managed to memorise everything in one night, or they've been here on more than one occasion, we may have to suspect everyone who has access to the palace.'

'How are we going to catch them out?' Inuyasha asked.

'We'll have to set traps,' Tōga-ō answered.

Sesshōmaru nodded in agreement.

'Oyakata-sama,' Iori said in her soft-spoken voice.

'What is it?' Tōga-ō asked turning to the servant.

'Sesshōmaru-sama and Inuyasha-sama are late for school,' she announced.

'Crap,' he cursed. 'Sesshōmaru, Inuyasha, go to school. I'll take care of things here.'

'Are you serious?' Inuyasha demanded. 'The palace almost got burnt down because of someone's stupidity and you want us to go to school?'

'Now!' he ordered.

'Fine!' Inuyasha snapped and headed inside to change.

'Not a word, Sesshōmaru,' Tōga-ō said with a warning glint in his eyes. 'You're to blame for this mess. And no, you're not getting out of going to school. Rehabilitation for both yōkai and human is essential for those who have spent long periods isolated away from the other species. You've isolated yourself from humans too much. You must learn how to behave and act around them. Now go. We'll deal with the other matter later.'

Without a word, Sesshōmaru turned and strode away, leaving his father to stand watching his retreating back.

Tōga-ō sighed.

Why did I have to get two stubborn sons?

He shook that thought away.

No matter. I wouldn't change them for anything. Not even when they're not worth the aggravation.

Word meanings

Oyakata-sama – master

Heika – Majesty/Your Majesty

Aniki – older brother

Bishōnen – beautiful youth (boy)

Otouto – younger brother

Oyaji – father

Onsen – hot springs

Kappa - imp