I haven't done this whole... 'tell about your story' thing in a while so you must forgive me. The story is basically started when Sesshomaru becomes ill. He seeks help from a family friend (though not his own mind you) and is thrust into a rather thick plot. I dont know if were still required to do this but I do not own Inuyasha, or any of its luscious characters. Please Review so I can know how to improve it to your likings.
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Chapter 1: 99 and 9 moons
Sesshomaru dipped his smooth hands tentatively into the small pond within the garden of his castle, secretly lavishing the way the water ran almost lovingly over his untouched skin. So long a time had it been that he had been allowed time to just rest within the little escape, relax within its peaceful paradise, that he had forgotten what it felt like to be completely and utterly at peace. Well, not completely but as close as a warring demon lord could ever possibly get to the surreal fantasy.
He sat and leant against the towering cherry tree, its enticing aroma wafting through the little pasture, mingled with the scent of the fresh water, crisp grass and the many playful flowers that had only just begun to poke their way out of the ground and meet the early spring sun. Altogether the scents made him ache, his spirit thrashing wildly within him. It was like some ungodly monster, a beast of pure animal had awoken within him. The inu-toukai withdrew his hand and grasped his face with it, his breathing unnatural and rough.
Never before had such illnesses plagued him, had he felt as though his heart was being ripped from his body, that his innards were being twisted and beaten by some malignant force. And yet as of late they had become often occurences, the steady drum of his thoughts, the only sure rhythm of his newly ravaged state.
Sesshomaru grabbed the edge of the shimmering marble bench to which he had seated himself, his long talons peircing the practically impenetrable stone, his golden eyes widened in horror, such emotion unknown to his usually stoic face. The pain was tearing up through the pit of his stomach to his heart, bundling in his chest. He could see the white light searing across his eyes, his beautiful pale complexion being tainted by the flush of thick blood swelling in his face and his soft hair clinging to his forehead as the beads of sweat made themselves prominent. The demon lord for the first time felt helpless against the enemy, revelling, despite the pain, in the fact that this enemy was himself. And than, just as quickly as it came, it left leaving him with a shocked relief and a deeply frustrated rage.
What was this sickness and where had it come from? He, Sesshomaru, lord of the Eastern lands, had never before been made victim by illness. To be sick was of the weak, and in no way was he weak. He was the strongest demon to roam the japanese lands and, surely, to roam the world. So how is it that this plague had him vulnerable? Able to strike at anytime and render him powerless to whatever he was facing. How was it that, although he could find and analyze any man, demon, creature in a matter of seconds that he was unable to identify this thing that had claimed his body as roost.
Standing suddenly, he walked swiftly away from the broken marble of his perch, slinking through the thick brush and tree covering of his secret garden, his eyes flying swiftly around for any being that had seen. Of course, to his irritation, there was none. Pity, a good kill may have been able to take his mind off things.
The castle was but a leap from the little garden and yet he walked, the steady beat of his footsteps coinciding with that of his thoughts. It was his thoughts that claimed him during the walk, explaining how Jakken was almost able to startle him, a feat no being had ever been able to accomplish, when he made it to the castle doors.
"Mi'lord! You have been gone almost the entire day, the little human was driving me insane with her worries! I told her, very simply, that the great lord Sesshomaru needs not the concern of an useless human, but did she listen to me? Noooo. She just kept going on, and on-" Jakken's loud, whiny voice peirced its way through his sensitive hearing and he walked past him, easily not acknowledging that the frog beast had even uttered a word to him. He continued his pace, brushing through the open doors while the frog, now going on about how unkind his lord is to him, trailed behind him. So much for his thinking time.
"Lord Sesshomaru! I was so worried about you," Rin's teary face darted into his vison as she scurried toward him her long, raven hair flying out behind her, her small fist clenched around some newly picked weeds that she had undoubtedly thought were beautiful and wanted for him. "Jakken-sama said that you had gone away because you hated what a snivelly human I was and that you were never coming back!" She stood infront of him now, her little form barely reaching up to his knees and her bright kimono dirtied slightly, most likely from rooting in the dirt for the weeds that she now held up to him. All in all it was a pitying sight for any creature to see. Even a careless one.
"Jakken was incorrect, Rin. I had personal matters to attend to and as for you being a snivelly human, that is not so. You are however a dirty one. Have yourself cleaned so that you shall be ready for your dinner" He glanced down at her face to see if this had sufficed her and not to his suprise she was grinning quite largely. If anything pleasing the child was simple. It mattered not what was said but rather that it was said directly to her. In all truth, her adoration was rather unnerving, so instead of looking at her glowing face he peered at the squirming toad out of the corner of his eye.
"And give the plants to Jakken. He will see to it that they are put in water and well taken care of personally. For everyone that dies so shall one of his toes."
Now comfortable that he had done enough of a job getting Rin off of his back and punishing Jakken for putting her there in the first place he ascended the cool, moonlit hallway, sliding the door open to his study and closing it behind him, the soft click allowing him to be completely absorbed in his own once again as neither of them would dare interrupt him within any of his private quarters.
Something was happening to him, he was as sure of it as he was sure he was demon. But for all the world he could not understand what it was. He tore through every book, scroll and peice of loose parchment he could find within the study's little library and yet nothing explained even the slightest of his symptoms. None of the readings or scriptures written out by the great demons before him were of used to him now, none of them had ever been of use to him. For a moment he had even considered looking into his fathers deceptive, illegible scrawlings that were sure to hold only remedies for humans and poetry on their beauty. He abandoned that idea rather quickly.
Obviously no amount of reading or mind-racking would solve his problem and much to his displeasure he accepted the fact that he would need to seek outside help. He thought of approaching that fool Totousai upon the topic but even in his pained state he could tell that was a bad idea. That demon was nothing more than a sword-maker and a slave to foolish beliefs on good and bad. He would know nothing on the mysterious plague.
All his other ideas came up in dead ends and dead comrades and with an irritated pang he decided upon his last resort, a tree demon his father had trusted as a sort of adviser. Despite the fact that he was sure the fool demon would be as stupid as his father, maybe worse since he was his adviser, he was desperate to be cured of his menace. So sighing inwardly, he stood and slid the door open, the halls completely still and soundless as both Rin and Jakken had long sinced retired and the servants were sure to be silent when this happened.
Out the heavy, polished wood doors and past the gaurded gardens of the front, the demon lord slid into the dark forests, manuevering his way silently and stealthily towards the goal demon, his cold amber gaze always looking for an unsuspecting creature on which he could vent his frustrations. If only he knew which frustrations needed venting.
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"HUMAN!" The sound of her demon captures loud, heavy voice barked viciously into her ear and wincing she rolled over, awakening herself from her uncomfortable, half-sleep with a defeated irritation. She quickly pulled her little cloth cover off of herself and tucked it around a fluffy, pillow looking-thing to the side, scurrying clumsily towards the edge of her cage.
She awaited the body behind the loud voice patiently, warily rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her early morning wake-up always included the melodious sound of the barking demon's voice, a completely and utterly degrating once over with his scanning eyes and a sharp jab in her ribs with a stick if she wasnt quick enough to answer any question. So this part where she could stand alone and examine the strange bone bars of her cage was by far her favorite part. Not that it didnt have so, so much competition, mind you.
"Human. Are you awake?" The great blundering monster trotted into the room, glaring at her cooly. She sighed inwardly, watching her last seconds of peace trickle away like water in her cupped hands.
"No, mi'lord. Im simply standing, speaking, and looking at you while I sleep. Its a gift, really." She spoke with a soft, respectful voice enjoying the way the demons beady eyes seemed to blur as he concentrated on sorting out the insult. Confusing him seemed to make her day a little better. Ontly a little.
Cutting in before his slowly operating mind figured it out, she lowered her head in practised submission, awaiting the moment when he opened the cage boredly.
"And what are we to do today, mi'lord? Am I to play the injured human or the... the other one?" She trailed off for a moment, secretly hoping for her first option, hating the both of them passionately even as she did this. The lock clicked.
"Today we move from camp. Word of your appearance has made itself prominent again so we have to lay low in another area for a while. You think after two years you'd have learned.. learned again that no others must see you." He sputtered for a moment yet his words rang clear and sharp as he watched her suspiciously, his large hand wrapped around her upper arm as he led her towards the others. She quickly pulled away from him, grabbing her covers and a few peices of clothing laying around the cage, holding it awkwardly in her arms as he held onto her again.
"Dont think I dont know what you are trying to do. The little hints, the clumsiness. Yet your attempts to find help will not succeed. You are clever for a human, but you must always remember that you can never be equal to a demon. You are filth. Now, wait there." He sat her down in the middle of a large gathering of the beasts, waiting momentarily to see what she would do. She smiled at him lightly, bowing her head again.
"Of course my lord. I would never forget that none could match the wit of yourself. It still fascinates and humbles me how well the plants manage to stay at your level." He stared at her blankly, obviously the whole speech washing over his head. He nodded.
"Good. As long as you understand that." He walked away and as she stared at his retreating back, hating him with every single ounce of human in her body, yet she couldnt help but feel smalled by him. Defeated by him. She sighed and rested her head in her hands, gazing boredly at the herd of demons.
Whether or not this demon was the stupidest creature ever known to her short memory, for the life of her she couldnt escape him. None of the people she found had ever been able to pull through all the way and release the binds this demon had on her, has had on her her entire life. No matter what upper hand, information on what they would be facing, she gave them they always seemed to fall flat and fail. She refused to believe that these demons were that powerful, so her only excuse was that she was targeting the wrong people as saviors. Making a mental note that whoever saved her from these monsters would receive her unfaltering alliance, she turned her attention over to Bakaru, her demon master and recipitent of all her ill-willed thoughts, examining him sickly.
She never knew what name of demon they were actually called so she sufficed with calling them Hairy Ass Youkai. After all, they were hairy, they must have been some kind of donkey with there pale, short-legged lower halves and they were demons. So the convenient wording was nothing more than an added bonus.
They had long stringy hair, the colors varying all the way from light gray to dark gray, with small beady eyes that were darker than the blacks of the night sky. Their faces were all hard, adding to the painfully looking sculpted muscle of their upper bodies and bulging arms. These were the reasons she quickly decided that she wouldnt try to escape alone. Pain didnt look good on her.
"Look at the pretty little human... sitting here all by herself." The thick, slimy voices of one of the Ass demons fell over her like a cloud of nausea and she realized, all to uncomfortably, that he was standing right behind her, so close that his wobbly donkey knees were touching her. She scooted away from him, disgust and fear coarsing through her now like blood. There were always times when one of these idiots decided they would get fresh with her, many times actually, but they were never any less scary. He rested one of his heavy hands low on her shoulder and bent in low so he was just about her ear.
"Are you afraid of the dark, my lo-"
"Hirosai, no." Another demon who had spotted the action, not a minute to soon, came trotting over his cold eyes not even acknowledging the girl but locked upon his friend. "Bakaru would murder you instantly."
"Awww, come on Nayoga... I wasnt gunna mark her or nothing..." The one called Hirosai whined.
"No. She has to be completely untouched. Besides, she's human... she'd make some disgusting half-breed. Lets get back to the others." Nayoga set a firm hand on Hirosai's back now, leading him strictly away from her and as her heart pounded a vicious thank you against her throat, she scowled after the pair, hating them as much as Bakaru.
The fact was that the idea of laying down with a demon was as disgusting to her as laying down with a human was to them. She saw them as filthy, vile, self-centered monsters. They were so closed minded, so arrogant. No matter what type of demon, no matter what manner they were surely all the same. No matter what.
"All right. Its time to go, people. Tonight's a new moon, so its perfect to move camp." Bakaru barked over the stir of hooves as the demons followed the trail leading into a large forest on the edge of the Eastern lands. He walked over and grabbed her arm, keeping her alongside him as he led his pack, his long nail, scraping her skin relentlessly and with a new surge of hatred towards him she agreed to herself that tonight she would escape with or without help. Bring on the pain.
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The smooth grass crunched softly under the pressure of his leather boots, his sharp, powerful ears catching everything from the slightest bend of the blades to the shuffle of awakening villagers miles away. Sesshomaru stared forward determinedly as he walked, ignoring all these things however, following his own mind compass. He had not come to listen to the tales of the forest or to paroll his lands. Right now, he had a destination. He quickly moved through the thick brush, sweeping the offending branches away easily, the limbs cracking under the careless might. Now, he stood in front of the beast to which he had come searching, looking up at it in mild interest.
Never before had he actually laid eyes on the tree and yet now that he did, he was a little dissapointed. The towering barken creature was indeed tall and did look considerably mighty, especially for a tree growing for 500 years... And yet it held no real regality. No mind boggling prescense. The great lord sneered as rough, earth-shattering laughter bit his silence.
"Do these old eyes deceive me? Has the time come for this weathered tree to question his sanity?" The old, mossen tree cracked and stretched at Sesshomaru's eye level, revealing the bark face of an old, crooked-nosed man. It smiled.
"Or is it possible... that this vision of beautiful chaos standing in front of me, this angel of the darkness... is truly the great lord Sesshomaru, master of the luscious Eastern lands. In which I so happily reside, of course." The demons smile broadened with each loud, overly-dramatic word, chuckling merrily at his last. It took every ounce of finely tuned muscle in the dog demons body to not turn him into a crumbling pile of fire wood. Instead he examined the area surrounding the tree, mildly disgusted to find it sat directly on the dividing line between his lands and the filthy half-breed's forest. An error to which he decided not to point out. No point in giving the shrub more reasons to speak.
"Well, mi'lord, to what fantastic consequence do I owe this visit? Or is it just that after all these years you missed me and decided to pay visit to a forgotten friend?"
"I miss no one or nothing and never have we been friends, old man." Sesshomaru said as cooly as he could muster, disgust laced thickly in every word. Yet the tree's smile ceased to waiver. "In truth I have come for you to fullfil your duties to my family and answer me my questions."
"Nothing but honor fills me my lord," The tree replied quite jollily and with controlled rage Sesshomaru noted his sarcasm. "Please. Tell me what answers you seek."
The great lord nodded, parting his smooth lips to bestow thickly upon the creature what plagued him. To lay him so deeply in this dwelling that, in his words, he may take from his chest the monstrocity and depart it onto the elder. As though sensing its hosts mutony the illness stirred within him, ferociously tearing from the very bottoms of his feet, through his legs, tightening an invisible cord around his navel and clawing at the inside of his chest.
It burnt his eyes and as he opened his mouth it strained and dried his throat, stopping any sound as it formed. He shuddered deeply, about to give in, to show weakness right in front of another demon and slump forward when it vanished, dissapearing from every wounded cell of his body without the slightest warning. He growled lightly and curled his claws thoughtlessly into his hands, peircing his soft skin. He looked up again at the wisened tree, the blood trickling from his punctured hand and onto the damp ground. Here was the first creature to ever witness an attack. Here was his weakness.
"Tree. Tell me what is wrong with me. You advised my father, surely you must know of this illness that plagues me so. Does this happen to all demons or am I an exception? I demand this information from you." Sesshomaru righted himself to his tallest stance, his quickly healing hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword impressively. The tree no longer smiled now, but looked at the great demon with an expression of sympathy and shock. If not for the fact Sesshomaru wanted sympathy from no one he wouldve been happy the damn tree had stopped looking at him with that joyous, know it all face.
"How long has this been happening to you mi'lord?"
"I am not certain. A few days before the new moon so about a month ago, I believe. Just tell me what this is, I dont care for the analysis."
The tree regarded him thoughtfully, it concerned face unnerving and far to calculating for the lord's liking. He tightened his hold on his sword the cut now completely healed. "What is this."
"Mi'lord. You have never put much emphasis on your years have you? Do you know your age?"
Sesshomaru scowled, his eyes locked upon the trees concerned face. What did his age have to do with anything? Nevertheless he pondered the question, finding that he had no answer for it.
"I do not know, my age is of little importance to me. How is this relevant?"
"Well, I do know your age mi'lord, having been the first one your father told when you were born," The great demon continued, ignoring Sesshomaru's inquisition, "You are 99 and nine moons to this day, humanly speaking of course." He smiled expectantly at the demon as though this knowledge would explain everything. Sesshomaru remained stoic, deeply irritated at his human reference.
"What importance is my age? I am still young, thats all I need to know."
"You mean to tell me... Mi'lord, you dont... Oh!" The tree laughed his great, rumbling laugh again apparently forgetting the seriousness of the situation at hand. The lord glared at him, enraged at the insolence of the tree. and the fact that he didnt understand what was funny.
"Foolish creature. I did not come to listen to happy exclamations. I came for a cure. If you do not have one that say so and I may be on my way. It may be a suprise to you, but, as I am a great lord, I am far too busy to listen to the rantings of a psychotic shrub."
"Very well," Tsubasa's voice changed now, a stiff serious tone claiming it. Yet despite himself Sesshomaru could sense an almost giddiness about his words. "Than I will tell you what I can."
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Please Remember to tell me what you Think 3
