Light at the End of the Tunnel

Disclaimer: If you've read even one inu fic you've read these all before, but for legal reasons I sadly admit I do not own Inuyasha...but if I did this wouldn't be a fic, this would be an episode...as would a few other of my favorite inu stories. Now on with the story!

This story is dedicated to the author Americanrose. Her tales inspired me to again take up the pen. Also to Emiri-chan, her story "Heal" is a true diamond in the rough.

Chapter One - It Begins

The crescent moon hung dully in the icy night's sky. It's usual haunting beauty lost on this particularly cold spring evening, replaced with an mournful dull look few could escape. For Sesshomaru, lord of the western lands, this night was the same in feel as every night for the last two weeks. The great demon sat silently in the canopy of an ancient tree staring thoughtfully into the tragic evening sky.

It began with a feeling in his belly, near two weeks ago. He had awoken in his room in the palace from which he ruled his lands when not out wondering his territory. He felt a heaviness that he knew not what to attribute to. The next day it was a lump in his throat. The day after that, the Tensiaga began to glow, its dark blue aura seemed to reach out to him.

He tried for five days and five nights to ignore the strange happenings. Then, on the sixth night the nightmares began. He saw Inuyasha laying in a pool of his own blood. He saw dozens of demons torturing him in ways that Sesshomaru wouldn't even do to his most hated enemies. And the dreams always ended the same way, his little brother begging someone, anyone for help, and then...darkness.

After that Sesshomaru had left Jaken in charge of his palace and Rin. He needed to get away from it all; clear his thoughts...center himself. The next night the dream returned, and his brother's pain worsened. Some of the tortures Sesshomaru saw in these nightmares made even the mighty demon lord cringe. Had he been in charge of a prisoner in the state he saw his brother in these dreams, he would have preformed a mercy killing. After the tenth night, Sesshomaru left for the tiny village of Edo.

'When I find you runt, I swear I will beat you senseless for giving me this much grief.'

Sesshomaru walked for two days, stopping for neither rest nor food. On the third day as he neared Edo, he leaned down at a stream for a brief drink...that's when he saw them.

Inuyasha's friends, the strange girl, the slayer, the monk, the kit, and the fire cat. Yet it wasn't the fact that he didn't see his brother with them that bothered him. Inuyasha had always had a habit of going into a tree for a better view of his surroundings, or scouting the nearby area whenever he and his cohort came to a rest. What bothered Sesshomaru was the condition the group was in.

The slayers left leg was in a simple splint and wrapped, under her arm she used a makeshift crutch to support her weight. The monk 's right arm was in a sling and he had an odd red hand print on his cheek. The fire cat was in it's true and vicious form, but the large wrap on it's side that stank of the felines blood told Sesshomaru that it was not much of a threat. The strange girl had a few small bandages here and there but nothing serious, and of course the child fox seemed only shaken up.

Sesshomaru gave the gods a quick thank you that he was down wind and that they hadn't noticed him due to the dense foliage around the haggard and defeated looking group.

'where is he? Half breed though he may be his sense of smell had always been uncanny, I know he should be able to smell me from this range, regardless of the winds...'

Sesshomaru felt something inside his heart he hadn't felt in over 70 years...fear

mentally slapping himself, he refocused his attention of the battered group. Mostly trying to hear their conversation. Their voices were hushed and lacked the usual optimism that seemed to almost always radiate from them. It was difficult at first, but Sesshomaru managed to catch their words.

"Lady Kagome," The monk said "I know how badly we all want to find him, but even if we do what chance is there?"

"What are you talking about Miroku?" Kagome exclaimed angrily,

"He's right Kagome," The slayer spoke up "we're barely able to travel much less take on that...thing that took Inuyasha"

"Sango..." Kagome looked both hurt and furious.

"Please Kagome," Miroku spoke up again "We'll be of absolutely no help to him dead. Kilala can't even fight with her wounds, and my arm is useless as well. Your bow was destroyed and we have virtually no chance against whatever that demon was."

Sesshomaru was liking this conversation less and less and it was all he could do to attack them and demand information on what had happened to his little brother. He didn't notice the Tensiaga begin to pulsate and twitch from it's position beneath the Tokijin. His attention was totally focused on what he saw tucked in the monks sash...his brothers blade, the Tetsusiaga.

Inuyasha never let the blade go, even when he slept or bathed it was always easily within his reach. The fact the monk now carried it only confirmed Sesshomaru's suspicions. His brother had been captured.

'But by what? How? Why?' Questions filled Sesshomaru's mind and all went unanswered.

Inuyasha coughed weakly. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in this much pain. He hadn't been given food or water once since his capture. His only solace came when he passed out from the wounds inflicted upon him almost constantly.

His ear twitched involuntarily as he heard the groan of metal in the distance, followed by footsteps slowly and rhythmically getting closer. A tear slide down his cheek as he knew what was coming.

'Please gods let him kill me...please'

Sesshomaru ran as fast as he could. Heading in the direction the group of friends Inuyasha kept with him were traveling before they returned to Edo.

'dammit, why am I feeling this way again! He's a worthless half breed! A taint in the family line!'

Sesshomaru ran faster and faster, his sliver hair whipping madly behind him. He would have run until his legs gave out had a rattling noise not stopped him. Skidding to a stop, not to mention nearly slamming into a tree in the process, Sesshomaru glanced at his left hip. His eyes widened at the sight. There was the Tenseiga, pulsating rapidly and shivering like a child in the snow.

Not many things agitated Sesshomaru. He'd seen so much in his long life that most of it was old news to him. Yet this he didn't like one bit. Slowly he reached for the sword the instant he touched it there was an explosion of raw magical energies. Life energies from the blade itself. The massive surge of life shattered the Tokijin blade into dust, it's malicious aura wiped from the earth. Sesshomaru screamed as he began to black out. the last thing he saw was the face of his father.