Something hard repeatedly smacked the top of Inuyasha's head, somehow shaking the entirety of his body as though the earth quaked beneath him. When he opened his eyes to the painfully blinding sunlight, he realized he was upside down and being raised off the ground by something constricting his midsection. Before he could register more of what was happening, his body sailed back down and his head struck the ground hard enough to dent it.
"The fuck," Inuyasha barely managed through a dry, raspy throat as he flailed what he could of his body. This display seemed to stop his offender from using his head to continue to beat the ground below him. Whatever held Inuyasha's waist shifted, turning the hanyou to face the upside down figure of—oh, of course.
Inuyasha groaned loudly, fixing a pained glare in the direction of the high and mighty Sesshomaru, lord of dicks and all who kissed his ass.
Sesshomaru's sadistic whip released him and he whirled around in the air to land in an upright crouching position. Inuyasha shook the hair out of his face, head splitting and nose aching so badly his eyes watered, and he stood, preparing to land a punch square in the youkai's jaw.
"The fuck do you think you're—" Inuyasha stopped short, looking Sesshomaru up and down. The youkai stood straight, his expression as unreadable as usual, but his clothes were wrinkled, torn, and stained with blood in various places. Dried blood also matted the ends of hair that fell over his shoulders. "Wow… You look like shit." Inuyasha almost laughed.
Such a remark from Inuyasha normally would have sent him flying at the very least, but Sesshomaru remained where he was. The venom beginning to waft from Sesshomaru could very well have singed off Inuyasha's eyebrows though.
"Hanyou cur," Sesshomaru finally spat, "you have no idea what you have done, do you?"
Inuyasha bristled at the familiar term of degradation. Then he frowned, wincing at the movement in his nose as he tried to recall what Sesshomaru could possibly be referring to.
Flashes of the village returned to Inuyasha's mind. He had sat atop a tall tree, gazing over the fields of crops and far-away huts and villagers moving in the distance like ants. Warm sake had slid down his throat almost as easily as water. He'd been drunk. Very drunk. His feet had carried him away from the village because he had needed to be away. Then… Something had found him, hoping him to be easy pickings. They'd fought...and that something had beaten him.
Looking down, Inuyasha realized he too was caked with blood. He could smell the creature that had gutted him. He knew his own blood had gone everywhere. And Sesshomaru's blood was definitely in the mix.
"It happened again, didn't it?" Inuyasha asked, referring to the emergence of his youkai half. He knew that had to be the case because he had lost time. He could not remember anything that had happened after his youkai had taken over.
"So my youkai took some shots at you?" Inuyasha allowed himself a smirk. "What, are you pissy that you can't take me anymore?"
Sesshomaru stepped a little closer, the scent of poison growing stronger, and the blankness in his face gave way to maddened ferocity.
"Whoa, wait," Inuyasha put his hands up and stepped back a bit in response. "I probably have brain damage and I'm pretty sure you broke my nose, so we're even now, right?"
Sesshomaru exhaled and, strangely, he did not argue. Instead, Sesshomaru reached his hand up, causing Inuyasha to flinch a little and prepare himself for the youkai's inevitable wrath. Sesshomaru's hand then lifted his hair away from the left side of his neck and turned his head for Inuyasha to see.
Still not sure this wasn't some kind of trick, Inuyasha glanced cautiously at Sesshomaru's neck. The area was pinkish and textured like a new scar. With closer inspection, Inuyasha realized the scar was in the shape of a bite mark. His brows rose as he searched for more information in Sesshomaru's exhausted-looking face—since when did Sesshomaru ever get tired, let alone allow it to show on his face?
"What the fuck is that and why is it still there?" asked Inuyasha. It took a hell of a lot to give that youkai a scar. A terrible feeling sat heavily in Inuyasha's stomach.
"You did this to me." Sesshomaru slashed him with his eyes, yet still he made no move.
Inuyasha swallowed. "Why am I still alive, then?"
"I am unable to kill the one who has marked me."
The blood drained from Inuyasha's face. "No. No fucking way." He was finding it harder and harder to draw air into his lungs. "You are a lying bastard. I knew you were sick, but this joke is a whole new level of twisted, Sesshomaru."
Sesshomaru backhanded him across the face and Inuyasha bit deeply into his tongue. Growling, Inuyasha launched himself at Sesshomaru, but Sesshomaru side-stepped and the hanyou caught only air and dirt in his claws.
"Do you honestly believe I would ever jest about this matter?" Sesshomaru thundered. "The mere concept of this is an abomination! We are mated—"
"Don't say that word!" Bile rose in Inuyasha's throat. This had to be a nightmare caused by a rotten batch of sake. He was on his knees now, his heated energy leaving him. "Did we actually have..?" He could not say it.
"No. There was no copulation."
Inuyasha released the breath he had been holding. Perhaps the gods had not completely forsaken him yet.
"How did this happen?"
"I do not know."
"How can you not know? You are the only one who remembers! This kind of thing can't just happen, right? It's not like god's damned pregnancy!"
Sesshomaru only stared blankly past Inuyasha. Why was he not saying anything? Why didn't he know? Sesshomaru was supposed to know these things, he was the pureblood!
"So my youkai bit you. So what? Why does that mean something? I didn't know what I was doing. And you would never accept something like that. So how the fuck did you let this happen?"
"You did something to me!" yelled Sesshomaru, affronted. "My will was no longer my own. Your youkai must have misinterpreted my bite."
"You bit me too?"
"I was defending myself against your savagery. I should have bitten through your windpipe and ended it."
Frantically, Inuyasha ran his fingers over his face, neck, and torso, quickly noticing the punctures in his haori. Shoving the fabric aside, Inuyasha gazed mournfully down at the teeth marks that branded his shoulder.
"The Tetsusaiga is gone, is it not? You have only your own weakness and carelessness to blame for what you have done."
Inuyasha closed his eyes, knowing full well that Sesshomaru was right. If he had not lost his sword, Tetsusaiga would have kept his youkai side at bay. Maybe he would have just died, thought Inuyasha, almost wishful. On top of that, Inuyasha had left the village without saying anything to anyone, even though he had promised not to do that. He was supposed to be a part of them now, living beside them as an equal, protecting them.
He was supposed to claim Kagome as his mate. At least, that was what he had decided for himself three years ago. Lately, though, Inuyasha knew things had become complicated and different. Kagome was consumed by her duties as their village priestess. The denial in Inuyasha's mind had used Kagome's work as an excuse for a while now. She no longer kissed him on the lips or looked at him in the same pining way she used to. He knew she still loved him, but it was not the same.
Kagome was growing up and she was leaving Inuyasha behind. Humans changed so much year to year. While they changed, Inuyasha stayed the way he always was. And his lack of change, he knew deep down, would not be enough for Kagome in the long run.
Perhaps that was why Sesshomaru had left Rin behind with the village, Inuyasha realized for the first time. Sesshomaru had understood that Rin would need other humans and even choose other humans over him down the line. If he had been any real brother to Inuyasha, maybe Sesshomaru would have warned him. Not that Inuyasha would have listened.
Inuyasha touched the mark on his shoulder with the pads of his fingers, feeling nothing but sickness. Never in his wild imagination had he pictured himself with one of these. Inuyasha had never held out much hope of mating at all, being a hanyou, but if he chose anyone at all, they would have been human. If he mated with a human, Inuyasha was not even certain that he would claim them with a mark. Inuyasha did not need to live as a youkai to be happy, and the idea of marking a mate with his teeth had never been particularly appealing to him.
The option was stolen from Inuyasha now. By the worst being imaginable.
"What happens now?" Inuyasha asked no one in particular. His own voice sounded distant to him.
"I will not allow this atrocity to go uncorrected, and we will not remain bound any longer than we must."
Inuyasha lifted his head, a small sense of hope returning to him. "You mean, this isn't permanent?" The look on Sesshomaru's face said, I would find a way to kill you if it were.
"An acquaintance of our bloodline should be able to provide a remedy."
Inuyasha nodded. No wonder he had no idea who to ask for help. Few allies to their bloodline would make their existence known to him.
"Just let me tell the others that I'll be going away for a while," Inuyasha said as he gathered his wits about him. "I owe them that much."
"No. We will go now."
"Fuck off. I have never taken orders from you and I'm not gonna start now."
Before Inuyasha made it five steps away, Sesshomaru said evenly, "And what will you say?" Inuyasha stopped, keeping his back to the youkai.
Sesshomaru continued, "They will want an explanation. Will you allow them to see you this way? Will you tell them what you have done? Can you truly face them?"
Each question cut deeply. Inuyasha had worked so painfully hard to find a place in this world where he fit. And this horrible lapse in his sanity could be the thing that brought it all crashing down.
Inuyasha's silence was accepted as his response.
"Within the day, you will meet me in Sagami Swamp. There is a hut in the center of it."
Then, Sesshomaru was gone, and Inuyasha was left to truly, deeply despise the pureblood youkai. And, even more-so, himself.