WAAAIIIIIIIIIIIII!! (snffle) I'm touched.
WARNING: Okay peoples of fanfiction.net, I'm tellin' ya up front. We get to Inuyasha this time. But you're not gonna like it. It's baaaad...
Well, okay, considering I know how a lot of us think, you're gonna love it.
Cuteness! Yes, cuteness has been achieved!
(I think) (lemme know if I'm right)
Please review! All reviews are appreciated.
Yes, I know Kilala's real name is Kirara, but I like Kilala better so I;m
using it. (I try to keep it in mostly English if I haven't seen the Japanese;
don't wanna ruin it by making up a personality.) Oh, and no, no yaoi or
shounen-ai.
(I found out people will eventually listen to you if you repeat yourself
enough) ^^ Enjoy!
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Chapter Three
...Wonder when I'll die.
He didn't know how much more he could take. The blood loss had been draining enough, but the stress of being held up like this was blurring his vision. The hanyou was slipping in and out of consciousness again, as he had been for the past week. He had no more strength left in him.
All he could do now was wait.
The wall in front of him stretched wide like a mouth, ready to swallow him whole. He couldn't see it anymore. He couldn't even smell it. All he could do was wait for the inevitable shrieking of the gate next morning and brace himself for what was next...
~~~
The door was relatively easy to open considering its size. Sesshoumaru pulled the handle of the towering gate towards him and slowly poked his head inside... Only to be struck at by a whiplike tail.
The new demon had a form similar to a scorpion, except for its head, which resembled a lizard's. The coloration was strange, like grey-shaded marble, and it hissed loudly.It must have been at least twenty feet tall.
This was a rock demon, a stone monster from the deeper caves of the underworld. How Naraku was able to get a hold of one of these Sesshoumaru had no idea.
The demon lord's musings were abruptly cut short as the monster shot at
least a dozen stone needles from its spine directly at him. He whirled
away in a front flip as they slammed into the wall and pierced all the way
through. Sesshoumaru could see the previous room from the puncture
holes. His lip curled in a snarl as he reasessed the demon before him.
If I'm not careful he'll hole my lungs, or my heart. Can't take chances with
this one...
With a single finger he signaled for the monster to come.
"HA!"
Sesshoumaru was only there for an instant but the instant was enough as the creature struck blank rock. With one slice of his whip he severed the demon's arms, pulling back at the clatter as they hit the ground.
"GrrrraaAAAEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" The monster was on the floor, writhing,
knocking stalagmites and stalactites left and right. With a violent hiss it
sprang up on hind legs and hit the high ceiling, clinging with razor-sharp
claws. Glowing red eyes stared balefully at the small creature that had
caused it so much pain.
Have to finish this quick. The others will try to come here soon. The demon
lord leapt upward and aimed a slashing strike for the beast's stomach,
cutting him in two--
"AAARGH!"
--FWAP--
--just as the creature aimed its excruciatingly heavy stone tail directly
at Sesshoumaru's chest.
WHAMM!
Even as it died the demon slammed his body into the far wall with its severed apendage, smashing him into the hard stone. There was a sharp crack! as his head hit the wall and he fell flat on his face from the stone. But he quickly discovered that wasn't the problem.
His chest just wouldn't work.
Minutes later he had just the presence of mind to try to rise. The youkai gasped slightly, nearly swooning when he accidentally brushed the bruised flesh of his chest. That had really hurt. It might take a while for this to heal, but he could still stand. With one hand on his aching collarbone he gathered himself and carefully walked past his separated enemy.
He made sure to spit on the body as he passed.
~~~
The grinding of the gate alerted him to his captor's presence. A chill of fear and apprehension ran involuntarily down his spine.
"Hello Inuyasha. Ready for today?"
The hanyou clenched his jaw, shut his eyes, but that didn't stop the pained
whimper from escaping his throat. The tears came in rivulets.
Aniki...Brother, help me...Kagome...Kagome--Kaa--
"AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAGGHHH!"
~~~
Sesshoumaru's heavy breathing echoed dully off the stone walls. At the
end of the hallway there was a spiral staircase leading up into the next
passageway. It was lit by torches, and a black substance that looked
uncannily like blood was dripping from the next story.
These must be the levels for the torture chambers, the youkai thought
grimly. I thought as much. I'll be lucky if I don't find a corpse.
Little did he know.
The stairs seemed to lead forever upward, was there a door at all to this place? A sudden pain shot through his chest and he had to lean against the sloping stone. "Ahhh..." The pain was growing. That creature must have smashed him harder than he'd originally thought...
Angrily he forced himself upright and pressed on, one foot in front of the other, step, step, step...
"AAAAAAAAHHH! NO! Noooo--" Sesshoumaru nearly leapt out of his
skin at the sudden scream. It was right next to him! Right there!
That was his voice...I think. But there's nothing here... Wait! The blood was
leaking from beneath the edge of the wall and the step.
Hope swelled in his breast.
"Inuyasha?!"
"Brother! Help me, please help me--"
The voice faded.
"I'm coming! Hold on--" With an infuriated roar of desperation and anger he slammed his shoulder against the heavy stone and took it clear out of the wall, skidding to a stop across the blood-red room.
What he saw before him brought an onslaught of different emotions.
Inuyasha was being torn apart.
The demons beating him were using anything and everything they could think of; whips, burning iron, claws, swords. A pile of weapons and instruments of torture was laid out over in a corner of the cell and the creatures would use anything and everything they could get their hands on. No faces were visible; they were black shadows.
Sesshoumaru could see his brother's eyes, and he knew he was fading.
The irises were a dull, sightless white-yellow, staring half-lidded at nothing. His head was bobbing, and he shivered unnaturally. The red protective cloth of his shirt had been removed, revealing a bare torso completely covered in blood, dirt, burns, sweat, and bruises.
His remaining clothing, the hakama, was ripped almost to shreds, swaying around him like a robe from the waist down.
A pike had been stuck all the way through his chest, protruding four inches long from his back, and his arms were broken. There were iron stakes pushed deep into his thigh and a dagger stuck in each arm.
Despite all this he was being forced to hold himself up, as his wrists were being pulled to the thirty foot tall ceiling in two different directions. His upper limbs were stretched across tightly, his legs unbound.
It was plain to see he was not standing on his own energy, though. His knees were bent, feet dragging on the floor whenever a monster would move or swing the heavy chains.
To Sesshoumaru, his injuries were indeed horrible.
But his face.
He was crying. He must have been crying for a long time; the tears formed white tracks in the tan of his cheeks, even where they were dry. The hanyou was white as a sheet, sweating cold, cut lip moving slightly, ears chipped, his hair in disarray down his back and shoulders, sticking to the wounds. The once pure white was caked with dried blood.
It was also plain to see that his brother had no presence of mind.
The demons leapt tauntingly around the hanyou in a circle, slashing him and hitting him again and again. He just closed his eyes tightly. They slapped his face, knocked his head, jeering. These creatures obviously enjoyed their job.
They were about to regret ever being born.
"YOU!!"
The shadows froze.
"Leave. Him. Alone."
The Lord of the Western Lands was now wearing an expression of pure bloody murder. His eyes were glowing like fiery suns, nearly blocking the view of his face.
Sesshoumaru had seen enough. All doubt about what he was doing had completely disappeared; he was going to make these bastards pay for what they'd done. A growl eminated form his tightened throat, his hand clenched so tightly the claws dug into his skin.
The cuts flowed an angry red from his palm.
The demon shadows were backing away slowly, trying to avoid the oncoming hurricane.
"NO!" bellowed Sesshoumaru. "You aren't going anywhere. DIE, you
bastards!"
With a scream like that of the Furies the youkai shot forward and ripped
the first shadow into pieces with his claws, growing into the giant beast
of his father's heritage with a howl. Tearing, agonizing claws tore through
demon after demon until nothing was left but pieces.
"Hunh...hunh... No one...hurts my brother," he panted, reverting to humanoid. Except me, a shred of guilt added mentally.
There was a moan from behind him.
"Inuyasha!" He whipped around just in time to see his head drop below his shoulders. Sesshoumaru ran to his little brother and stood trying to wake him.
"Inuyasha--?"
The hanyou's head lifted and he stared blankly at the wall in front of him.
"There..."
"What is it, what..." Sesshoumaru followed Inuyasha's line of sight to the wall--where he was greeted by weapons, weapons, and more weapons.
This wall was where they'd been getting the painful devices; the pile in the back seemed like nothing compared to this armory.
Then it hit him.
Inuyasha had had to watch this everyday.
Naraku had left the whole wall covered with torture implements so he could sit there and imagine what would be used on him the next day. And therein lay the true pain.
Anticipation.
"Nnngh-- Aahahh--AAAH!" Abruptly the hanyou pulled away and began to shriek again as his sibling touched him, memory and reality merging. "No, NOOO! No..." With one last convulsion his body went slack.
"Brother? Brother?!" he cried. Oh no, no, oh no, don't, don't-- It was all he could think, over and over. With a quick slash he cut Inuyasha's chains and slowly helped him to the floor with his remaining arm.
The beginnings of panic were setting into the youkai. "Please don't do this-- Brother!"
Inuyasha jumped violently at the bite of the solid ground. "AAH--"
Sesshoumaru saw that this would be harder than he'd first thought. It
would be painful; the metal pieces and the pike in Inuyasha's back were
more than he could handle with only one hand.
Oh Kami-sama, what do I do? What? "Inuyasha, come on, look at me.
You've got to stay awake. Please, brother." The demon lord took his sibling
into his lap, propping him up with his stump of an arm and using the
remaining appendage to hold his head.
"Inuyasha," he said coaxingly.
"Uhhn," Inuyasha moaned again. Sesshoumaru could almost feel the sharp pike touching his leg. He was in so much pain, and there was nothing he could do. It was almost more than the youkai could bear.
"Se--S--ss--Sessho--" The half demon was struggling with his words.
"Yes, that's right. Now please, brother, open your eyes," he half commanded, half-pleaded.
Inuyasha complied, and he could see it was taking his sibling a lot of will power simply to keep himself from passing out. "Good, good, that's it. Just keep it up."
"Wh--who--?"
Now Sesshoumaru was surprised. Inuyasha had just said his name; had he already forgotten it? Was the hanyou that out of it?
"W-want..."
"What? What is it you want, brother?" He held him closer to his head so he could hear.
"...Want... Ses...shou nii-chan..."
The youkai blinked in shock. Nii-chan? He hasn't said that for... "But I'm right here. Don't you see me?..." Suddenly it clicked. Sesshoumaru used his leg to keep the half-demon's head up while he freed his hand. He waved it in front of his little brother's face. "See there? It's me..." He stopped.
Inuyasha's eyes hadn't followed his movement.
His brother was blind.
Oh mother, I'm so sorry...
"S...Sessho..ou nii-chan......bro...ther...where...?"
"Shhhh, it's okay, I'm right here, little brother," he murmured, pulling him close with his hand again. "It's me, it's Sesshou-nii-chan, remember?" Yes, that was the way to go. "Remember all the things we used to do together? Remember Mama?"
"M...mama..."
"Yes, Mama. Remember," he went on as tears began to fill his eyes, "remember that river you fell in when you were chasing after your ball, and Mama made me go get you? And when I got you out you spat water in my face, and we both laughed?"
"...hh..heh...Wet...Nii-chan got...wet in the river..."
"Yes, that's right." He was forcing himself to smile through the streaming tears. "Nii-chan got all wet. Then I chased you, and you wanted to go see the sakura blossoms, and the snow, and hear stories about when Nii-chan was little. Then Mama would tell us that it was time to go to sleep, and you'd always get scared of the dark and hide under my pillow," he choked, "and we'd laugh, we'd laugh... Oh God I'm so sorry brother..."
Sesshoumaru bent and wept into his little brother's hair, wrapping him up in the only arm he had.
But oh, what he would have given for two.
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I think I like this chapter.
Next we got Kagome coming.
And of course, Fluffy-sama doesn't get off the hook either. ^_^X
I've got all sorts of recovery plans for him. He did get whacked none-too
lightly by that stone beast, sooo....
Heeheehee... I'm so evil...
But hey, angst is fun, right? I think that was kind of cute, personally. It
was very spontaneously written...
Ahem. Back to business.
Kagome and the guys have Inuyasha! But what's wrong with him?
(I'll tell ya what's wrong with him, he was tortured for a week; you'd be a
psycho too...) (kidding^^) And what's wrong with Sesshoumaru?
The rehab's half the fun! Lots of Sesshy angst, cuteness and other good brotherly(SESSH)/romantic(KAGOME) sap coming.
Tell me whatcha think!
Review if ya can! You have no IDEA how much feedback is appreciated. Tell
me whatcha wanna see more of, what needs to be changed, what should
stay the same, etc., etc...
See ya!
(Wish me luck, it may take a while with school. I only got this chapter out by sneaking away and disreguarding schoolwork. Now don't you feel special? Sigh, the things I do for my fans...)