Chapter Two

Inside of the castle the air was dense, heavy, and thick with haze. The hallways and rooms were dark. The wood seemed to be wet, but there was no scent of moisture. It was crowded with an eerie silence, and with each step that Sesshomaru took, his boot echoed into the darkness.

His golden, cat-ish eyes peered about. He did not feel uneasy, but he knew that something that was familiar lurked within those walls. Sesshomaru stopped short. He caught the same sweet stench from earlier. Through the haze it had been hard for him to track, but now the acidic floral smell was filling his nose like water to a pot. He continued on into the structure, with every foot he travelled the smell got stronger.

At last he came to a room that housed nothing but a dark stairway that led into a basement, no doubt. There, Sesshomaru picked up an aura that was not only his own. He could sense that something was down there, and he had a good idea of what it was.

Sesshomaru walked down the steps without care, but his Whip of Light was at the ready. His mouth turned downward into a frown. This was just as he had expected.

Piled up together in heaps and some scattered about, hundreds or maybe even hundreds of thousands of demons stank up the room. The corpses released the haze from their rotting flesh similar to how a flower would release oxygen. They all seemed to have a calm expression on their faces, meaning that they weren't slaughtered in battle.

Suddenly, Sesshomaru whipped his head to the right. He heard movement. His eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room and he was able to see a silhouette of a man. He snarled. He knew this would happen.

The man he was seeing was surrounded by the corpses. He faced one and his tongue lashed out of his mouth, wrapping around the dead body and dragging it into his jaws. He devoured the beast at least thrice his size as though it was merely a spaghetti noodle. There was then the noise of something growing or mutating. Following that, a chuckle echoed through the basement.

"Sesshomaru. What an unlikely guest." The voice was smooth and eerie. It didn't seem to have a specific direction. The voice sounded like it was coming from all around you.

Sesshomaru tensed at the sound of his name being said by the voice. His fingertips glowed with a green light; his only remaining weapon.

"Naraku," was all the inuyoukai muttered in a tone smothered in hatred and disgust.

There was another sound of movement.

"Stop your hiding. You act like a child." Sesshomaru had known about Naraku's usual tactic of hiding in the shadows and striking without warning. He grew tired of that game. He was not deciding to give the demon a chance to face him fully, but rather he was allowing him to gaze upon his killer before death.

"Ku ku ku. Sesshomaru, do you think me so foolish? I know that if I were to appear before you, you would have the upper hand. As long as I remain hidden, you cannot touch me. Not as this haze is slowly draining your energy." Naraku sounded confident.

That made Sesshomary angry. "You have no chance either way." His Whip of Light glowed and he drew his remaining appendage back and attacked. There was the sound of a hit.

Another demon disappeared from the piles through the thick purple haze.

'So Naraku must have taken the hit. He is trying to heal himself. He thinks that he is safe in this fog, but this Sesshomaru will prove that theory to be wrong.' Sesshomaru attacked in multiple directions, sensing Naraku's constant movements.

"Do not think that I will attack you, Sesshomaru. There is another target here that I find much more interesting." Naraku's voice was chilling this time, making Sesshomaru shiver just a bit.

'Another target?' It took Sesshomaru a moment, but he too could sense another presence besides his own and Naraku's. It was behind him, hiding in the demon corpses. Sesshomaru lashed out, slicing many of the bodies in half. He had discovered the third guest.

Rin hopped out of the pile. She was coughing very badly and her clothes were being eaten away by the acidic demon blood that covered her now.

"Rin. You have disobeyed me." Sesshomaru was very angered, but he remained in his position. His glare was cold, and he could tell that it had an impact on the little girl.

"I'm sorry, Lord Sesshomaru! I didn't mean to disobey you, but...I missed you, so I came back. Please don't be angry with me!" she pleaded, coughing afterwards.

Sesshomaru quickly pulled her to his side and jumped out of the way as a tentacle shot out of the haze.

Sesshomaru went to catch his breath from the small shock he had received. He took notice of the strange smell that made his head feel clouded. He knew what it was immediately. He pushed Rin towards the door.

"Rin, GO!" he yelled to her, giving her a glare.

"But Lord Sesshomaru..." she protested.

"GO!"

Rin took a final look and ran up the stairs, this time leaving for real. She would find a village that would accept her and take care of her as she waited for her mater to come for her.

Sesshomaru covered his lower face with his sleeve, trying to block out the poison miasma that Naraku had released. He could still smell the scent from before seeping through his clothing, and so he tried to hold his breath in for as long as he could but without success. Sesshomaru's eyes became clouded over as the toxins from the scent along with the poisons of the miasma entered his body. He felt his limbs numbing. He couldn't move.

Naraku at last appeared before the pureblooded demon. His long, wavy black hair pooling down his back. His pale skin, red eyes, and blue eyeshadow seemed blurred.

"The miasma and my special scent are taking effect, it seems. How funny that you should be susceptible to it but your human girl was not," Naraku sneered. His face became close to Sesshomaru's.

"I will...kill you..." Sesshomaru felt weak. 'What is this?!'

"I think not. You are numb from your neck down, my friend. You will have no such pleasures today. You see, the toxins you are inhaling right now are something that only I can create. I am the source of the scent that brought you here. It seems that you are in heat, Sesshomaru, otherwise you would not have followed the trail to my lair." Naraku explained, smirking all the while.

"This Sesshomaru has no desire in the nine plains of hell to mate with something as disgusting as you, nor does he have any desire to mate at all." The inuyoukai had regained his consciousness, but he still found himself unable to move.

Naraku chuckled. "I must once again disagree. Had you no desire to mate with me you would not have been able to smell my scent. You would not have followed it either if you had not found it appealing. You lie to yourself, Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru glared directly into the red eyes of his nemesis. He had no fear. He guaranteed himself that the battle to come would be over quickly.

Naraku raised a hand, transforming it into a tenticle. He placed it on Sesshomaru's lower arm. The tenticle began to bury itself beneath the arm's skin. It touched the core muscle, poisoning it with miasma. The arm in a whole was now useless. At the same time, Naraku had another tenticle slither up the sleeve and caress the stump of the arm that Inuyasha severed.

"Stop your touching of me with your filthy hands," Sesshomaru hissed. His temper was rising, but he knew that with his arms useless he would have no chance of transforming.

"Hnn hnn hnn, I don't think you can talk, Sesshomaru. How do you propose that you can keep me from touching you?"

Sesshomaru hated to act like his 'idiotic' half brother, Inuyasha, but he had no choice in the current matter. His nemesis was putting his hands all over him, and Sesshomaru knew that something was going on that he didn't like. He bared his fangs at the evil entity before him.

"Acting to your true nature, are we? Heh, you resemble a stray mutt when you show me your pearly whites," Naraku cooed.

Sesshomaru had endured enough taunting. He lashed forward at a high speed so that his torso moved an extra foot. His fangs pierced the flesh on his captor's neck.

"Poison...fang..." the silver-haired man growled, his golden glare ablaze.

"Think again. You forget who you are dealing with in your rash attempts at freedom." Naraku's grin became even more unnerving as he flexed his neck muscles, sending a cloud of toxic gases spewing into Sesshomaru's eyes, nose, and down his throat.

Gagging, the inuyoukai was forced to release. He was so disappointed in himself for allowing himself to be captured by such a weak being. But little did he know, Naraku had used the Shikon no Tama for his own selfish gain and turned himself into a full-blooded demon. He had since been able to suppress his aura, giving him the vantage point he needed to lure Sesshomaru into his lair.

"What do you...want with me...? Why have you gone to so much to subdue me here...?" Sesshomaru gasped from the poisons now running through his veins.

"For the precise reason you followed the scent, Sesshomaru. You could smell it, and you were attracted. That signifies your attraction to me. You had a desire to mate, and I am fulfilling that hunger for you. Better me do it here than you having to hunt down 'the suitable youkai bitch'. I am a full youkai now. I've been suppressing my aura from you. How else would you have come here if you had known it was me? You would have come to kill me, but whether that was the case or not you would still be in the place that you're in now."

His head was spinning. Before he fell unconscious, Sesshomaru spoke once more. "What is this poison for? Do you only plan to mate with me after my body ceases to function?"

"Oh no. The toxins coarsing through your body are at my command. I can remove them whenever I choose. However, I will use them to keep you here until your heat is over."

Naraku's tentacle wrapped itself around the stump in the sleeve and began to writhe. They were creating something. At this, Sesshomaru yelled out loud. The pain in his arm was more than even he could bear. His kimono sleeve was burned away as he gazed exhaustedly at the new arm that Naraku had crafted for him. It was exactly the same as the arm that used to occupy the space before.

"What...is this?"

"I created a new arm for you. No tricks this time. I copied your cells with my demonic energy and replaced the muscles and bones that were missing. Think of it as a little...gift." His tone hid something that Sesshomaru caught.

"This Sesshomaru is not as foolish as you think him. What do you gain in return for this?" His eyes narrowed, his frown from before returning.

"I expect nothing in return except for you to remain in my castle with me."

"I will not become your pet. Remove the arm. I refuse your offer."

"Oh, Sesshomaru, it was not an offer. It is a fact. You are now linked to me. If you wander too far from my castle without my consent, you will feel the pain. I will allow you to visit your companions, but as long as you remain on the path straight to them and do not stray. Should you stray... Let's not go there."

"I refuse to become linked to your filth! I refuse everything. I will mate with another. Never in my last days would I ever--!"

Naraku's poisons began to eat away at Sesshomaru. He gasped for breath under the feeling. 'How can I feel all of this? Before, I knew nothing of pain. Now I am being held in chains by this worthless wretch. Something has become wrong with me.'

Naraku's breath could be felt hot on Sesshomaru's lips. "You have no choice in the matter," he muttered huskily. His eyes closed and he attacked the inuyoukai's mouth with force. His tongue elongated within, slithering down the captive's throat and making him gag.

Sesshomaru could feel his heat rising. He denied it, but he was indeed very much attracted to the noticeable power that radiated off of the darker man. He fought for dominance with his abductor, almost vomiting once again as the tongue tasted his innards. He bit the tasting organ with his fangs, tearing it off.

Naraku looked angered; his brow furrowed and his red eyes glowing.

Sesshomaru looked cold as he spat the bloody extension of flesh onto the ground where it wriggled, eventually turning to dust.

"You have made a very unwise choice," Naraku overshadowed Sesshomaru, preparing himself for what he had planned next.