Blanket Disclaimer:
Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions
Mortal Bound
A Sesshoumaru tale.
Random Brain fart enjoy!
Chapter Four
…Fathers Words…
This chapter has been edited for various reasons and I apologise for any inconveniences that may occur!
A/N: hiya, my readers. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, and to Ladykaa28 for her long review, it is most appreciated and to Pineapple55 for both of his and I apologise for the gender muck up. And apologise for any and all mistakes I make, in spelling, grammar and alike! I'd also like to recommend my sisters, Tehrror, who also writes Yaoi and Tohrture who right hetro stories. And say hi to sonata hirano who betas Tehrror and my Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fictions. We love you sonata.
Here is the next chapter of Mortal Bound, enjoy and review please!
Recap: "Though humans are much more fragile than demons, you won't die of a headache or sore legs," he assured me, though his amusement was plain in his voice just as the little grin was on his face.
"Meh,"
"Tch,"
I watched as Kagome set up that little burner and put a metal water jug over the top, while Rin happily chatted away with Shippo, as Kohaku watched over the pair with hawk like eyes. Sango was currently smacking Miroku who had groped her buttocks.
InuYasha shook his head beside me, and muttered something along the lines of stupid monks that need to keep their hands to themselves. "Does he do that often?" I asked, as Jaken glared at InuYasha from his place on Ah-Un's back, as the dragon took a nap in the shadow of the large tree behind it.
"Huh? You mean cop a feel of the taijiya?" InuYasha asked, as Kirara jumped up onto my lap and purred loudly as I stroked her back absent mindedly, wishing there was a lake with cool water near by as I nodded.
"Yeah, every chance he gets," InuYasha explained as Sango shouted, "You're such a perv Miroku! Keep your hands to yourself!" Grinning stupidly Miroku laughed and said, "It's not my fault Sango, that my hands have mind of their own!" InuYasha and I blinked as she punched him hard enough to knock him into unconsciousness.
"Stupid monk," she gripped moving over to sit on my other side, squeezing in between Kohaku and I, as the boy looked up at her with worried eyes. "Don't even think of doing what he did, got it?" she said looking from him to me and we both blinked, exchanging a bewildered glance though his face showed it while mine was mostly blank.
"…Sango, Lord Sesshoumaru and I aren't like the monk," Kohaku said, and she looked at him with the look only an older sister seemed to give, that indulgent soft love that was close to a mothers' but not the love a mother has. "Also you happen to be my sister and that would be gross," Kohaku concluded and I frowned.
Humans thought it taboo when it comes to incest; this I knew and understood the reason behind, it thinned blood and made 'monsters' out of their children.
Demons had no such rule so I couldn't truly relate, only parental/child relationships where frowned upon, as it was seen as taking advantage of the child, and taking advantage of those meant to be in your protection is and will always be a big no-no in demonic society.
To love ones sibling was relatively normal and thought nothing off. Often in-family marriages where encouraged to strengthen blood and such pairings made stronger offspring as did having a stronger mate.
Strong offspring meant survival rates went up and that could save a species.
However, there are times when it would have repercussions if it happened too much, like infertility, though that could also come from parent/child relationships. Both of these had wiped out the silver dog demon race until only InuYasha and I stood, though some of our blood ran in the black and bronze dog demons so that occasionally a silver dog would pop up though often they had a dark child.
"What you thinking about?" InuYasha asked and I blinked back to reality, as Kagome passed me a bowl/cup thing that had steam rising from the top. "Family and the reason our clan has declined to two," I answered with a grimace. Another thing about being human I did not like was that when asked a question I had a tendency to answer now, especially if InuYasha was the one asking.
"Why is that?" he asked as he lifted up some of the soggy string into his mouth, though he continued to speak even though his mouth was other wise occupied, "Why are we the last of the dog demons?"
"InuYasha," I said, "Please, do not talk with your mouth full," I made a small gagging sound when he stuck out his food-covered tongue at me, and he snickered swallowing. "Fine, as long as you tell me," he said and I nodded, playing with the soggy string in the bowl I held.
It did not look appetising in the least.
"We are not the last dog demons, only the last silver dog demons. There are plenty of black and bronze dog demons left, they have thrived and the lord of the South is a Black dog, bronze dogs live in the north. And the reason is inbreeding, or more to the point too much inbreeding," I told him and Kagome screwed up her face.
"Your family was wiped out because of incest? Didn't they realise that that's like…wrong?" she asked, her tone carrying her disapproval and I realised with a shock that I had everyone's attention, though Rin looked bored. I had been teaching her informally while we travelled and she had a tutor back at the manor so she knew my family history.
"Incest is not wrong or taboo to demons," I said giving her a withering look as I spoke, "Unlike with you humans, it does not turn us into deformed 'monsters' nor does it cause retardation and the thinning of one's blood."
"You're human too," she pointed out, and I gave a small shrug that I doubted everyone but Kohaku, Rin and InuYasha, failed to notice.
"For now; but I am well over a thousand, little girl and my true form is that of a 50 foot dog so please keep your ill informed assumptions to yourself, for with demons it thickens the blood and makes us even more 'pure'," I said with irritation, "We are not beautiful without reason."
"You mean to say that the reason you and InuYasha are so…attractive is because inbreeding makes your guys more beautiful, unlike with us humans as it turns us…nightmarish?" Miroku asked having come around as I had spoken.
"Yes, though with this physical perfection came with a sacrifice and with the help of a large war when I was about 60 years of age we became as we are. Mated couples could only have one or two pups and at times the birth was very hard on the mother," I said before looking at InuYasha.
"My mother was our aunt," I said bluntly, and InuYasha stared at me as if I had grown a second head.
"Wha...?"
"My mother is our fathers elder sister, it was an arranged thing by their father who had lost his mate during fathers birth," I stated, "My mother and our father along with around eight other silver dogs not including myself survived the war. My mother died as she gave birth to a stillborn female child father said would be my mate. She now resides in an in-between realm and protects the realm of the dead," I said.
"The others died off slowly and the last died around one hundred years before father died, once father realized that we were the last he set out in secret to make another child. He met your mother and was rather shocked when he fell in love with her," I said and InuYasha blinked tilting his head before asking, "If it was in secret how'd you know?"
"Father had journals he always wrote in, immortalising his every thought and not long after his death did I find them,"
InuYasha POV
That is the most I have ever heard Sesshoumaru say in my whole life. It was like word vomit, it just kept coming, but I liked knowing father had loved my mother, my human mother. If Sesshoumaru said it then it had to be true because one; Sesshoumaru didn't lie, not outright anyway and two; well Sesshoumaru just never lied.
That night I stared at the fire as I sat in the tree above where Sesshoumaru slept against, and I thought about the family I had never been apart of, and the revelation that we were the bi-product of mass inbreeding. It was a little freaky when I thought about it; I mean my half-brother was also my cousin.
However, I liked knowing that there was a reason behind Sesshoumaru's god-like beauty. I didn't agree with the InuYasha-is-also-attractive thing.
If I was attractive why did people call me filth and act as if I had some disease, how could people act like that when they normally thought beauty-equalled goodness and purity?
"Stop thinking so hard little brother," Sesshoumaru murmured, and I glanced down to see the lord now standing at the base of the tree, looking up at me with those strange eyes.
"Keh," I muttered, rolling my eyes though I was a little weirded out at how quiet the guy could move, seeing as how humans were very loud and uncoordinated most of the time. Sesshoumaru had for the most part kept his grace though he often tripped over small roots and stones.
He waved me down and with a frown; I jumped, landing lightly at his side watching as he nodded over to his dragon. The frown stayed as we moved over to it, and I was shocked when he opened one of the side bags and removed a large leather bound book.
"This was father's last journal. I like to keep it with me, as many of the others have… painful memories in them. I have been meaning to give it to you for some time," he said, though the look on his face said he was unsure why he was doing this.
"Why do you want to give me this?" I asked, as he pressed it into my hands, "I knew father, and after we defeated Takemaru and Sounga I saw your reaction to father. I realized that while I had known father and knew him as only a son could you did not, you had never been given that chance, and until that moment had not even known what father had looked like," he replied softly.
"I know that this and his other journals are a poor substitute but…at least you will know, you will hear him and see his thoughts of your mother and yourself, and the love he felt that caused him to lose his life. The love that caused him, already wounded and near death to race to you and your mother's side," Sesshoumaru said as tears prickled my eyes.
"Thank you," I breathed my hands trembling around the leather bound volume, and then I smelt it, though faint and dull with age.
I could smell father.
--
I stared at the words as the others woke, and wished to the gods I could read the script that was my fathers writing but…my time with my mother had been short and we had had little time for such things. I knew the basics though, and I had made out mine, my mothers, Sesshoumaru's names, and other small words as I had flicked through.
It made my heart ache, as I read the first inscription of it in his journal, my name that is, only a few words away from my mothers and a few lines down was Sesshoumaru's. Not wanting the others to read my fathers words I wondered if Sesshoumaru would mind reading it for me, I'd bring it up later, yeah, later when Kagome was away, and we had time to be on our own without interruption.
I'm pretty sure he won't mind, and that he'll understand my desire to have this for myself and not my friends. "InuYasha, food!" Kagome called and I sighed, closing the book and jumping down beside Sesshoumaru who glanced at me and went back to playing with his ramen.
He didn't like it, and when I was finished with mine he would give it to me and I'd give him the fish I hated.
Oh, I would eat it and not bitch, but god I hated fish. I had lived off it for too long and now that I had a choice between fish and ramen or some other wild animal, I would go ramen or wild animal.
"Hey InuYasha what were you reading?" Sango asked and I glanced at the book I had placed between Sesshoumaru and I, it seemed to be the best place for it. "Fathers last journal," I said not adding the fact that I couldn't read much more than my own name and my mothers and Sesshoumaru's.
"Oh? Where did you get it from?" Kagome asked, her eyes lighting up as if she thought I'd let her read it. No fucking way was I going to let her touch it, one Sesshoumaru would probably pitch a fit and take it away, and two it was mine and I didn't want to share it with her. Just like how I would flat-out refuse to share my memories of my mother with her.
"Sesshoumaru," I answered, and then felt badly because she instantly looked to him and demanded to know where he'd been hiding it, "This Sesshoumaru sees no reason for you to have such knowledge," he said snobbishly, and I had to bite back a laugh.
"Jerk," she muttered low enough for him not to hear, though Shippo and I did and shared a look.
Sesshoumaru POV
I wondered briefly if InuYasha would be terribly upset with me if I killed her, then wondered why I had worried what InuYasha would feel, which caused me to ponder my feelings towards the oddly amusing little brother of mine. Feelings that had changed and I ended up giving myself another…what had InuYasha called it? A headache, yes I ended up giving myself another headache.
By the time we arrived at InuYasha's human village the throb in my temples was horrid, and I was stumbling along between a worried InuYasha and Kohaku, squinting against the glare of the sun.
"Kaede'll have something to take care of it Sesshoumaru," InuYasha murmured, as he cast a glare at the woman. She was being vindictive since I refused to tell her were I had stashed the book, and then refused to allow her to touch it, so she had lied saying she'd run out of headache tablets that InuYasha had asked for.
I grunted and closed my eyes, promptly tripping over my own feet and would have fallen had InuYasha not caught me with a curse, and then lifted my up bridal style with a huff of annoyance.
One hand came to the back of my head and pressed it into his throat while I growled, though it sounded off coming from my human throat and he whispered, "Put your head down, close your eyes and keep quiet. God you're such a baby," he grumbled and I did the only thing I could think of.
I nipped him, right over his pulse point in reprimand, for the dig at my behaviour, and he jerked and hissed at me, "Don't do that," his hands bitting into my side, I winced as another throb of pain hit me, causing a whimper to be pulled from my throat.
Soon enough we were inside a hut and InuYasha had propped himself against the wall with me in his lap, this done grudgingly as I refused to release him, my hand tangled in his hair and my face buried in his neck.
"What's wrong with ye friend InuYasha?" an old female voice came, and InuYasha spoke in a whisper, "Headache," as the rest of our mismatched group entered, their movements seeming louder than they were and I whimpered at the pain.
I was really beginning to contemplate seppuku, because I would not last long as a human, for one there were one too many people who wanted my death and two my own body seemed to hate me.
"Oh, I'll fix him up a potion," she said and I really wished someone would tell the others to shut up.
"Is Sesshoumaru alright InuYasha?" Shippo asked, and the vision of my hand ripping out his little voice box sent a shiver through my body.
"No," InuYasha said as he ran a hand down my hair, and the clatter the old human was making paused. "Did ye just call InuYasha's human friend Sesshoumaru?" she asked, and someone must have nodded for she came over and grabbed my jaw pulling my face away from my comfortable spot so she could get a good look at me.
I growled weakly and bared my teeth at the treatment, snarling, "Release this Sesshoumaru," as I looked at her withered face and the black eye patch.
"Ye looks much like InuYasha's demon brother, are ye he?" she demanded, and I glared at her unable to wrench myself free from her rather firm grip on my jaw.
"Yes he is, Sesshoumaru's been turned into a human though we have no idea how, and currently he has a migraine old woman, so fix it," InuYasha snapped, and she released me and I hid away in his throat again. I knew what I was doing was horribly out of character, and I tried to figure out why but the pain shoved logical thought out and I truly did not care at this point. I just wanted it to go away.
Moments later the old woman, Kaede once again dragged me from my chosen spot and forced me to drink the vilest thing ever to enter my mouth, the potion thick, salty, and disgusting. "It will ease the pain my lord," she said when she had handed it to me; though I think I might end up losing it and my fish before it has any effect.
(A/N: as a migraine suffer I know what I'm talking about so don't complain that headaches don't get that bad because they can get to the point where you are blinded by the pain and throwing up and completely useless) This note was originally put in the part they were walking but a friend and reader said it broke the flow...^_^ can't have that...