Sheumaru stood outside the hut that housed both Miroku and Sango. She was waiting for Jinoku to return with Kirara and Shippo after they fetched some water. She heard a sniffle from Sango but she did not dare peek her head in, nor did her ears perk up at the sound of her whispering her worries to an incapacitated Miroku. Miroku was horribly bed ridden do to a fight with Narraku where he used his Wind Tunnel, only to badly injure himself because he sucked up Narraku's poisoness insects. Luckily, thanks to their visit with Jenenji, they had the cure, now all they had to do was wait for it to take effect.
She was just wondering where InuYasha and Kagome made off to when she saw Jinoku's head peek above the hill, and she smiled softly when he waved at her. Shippo made a beeline for the hut, just in time to see Miroku grabbing at Sango's backside. Jinoku smirked at the loud smack that was heard, then bent down to give Sheumaru a quick kiss.
"Ew." She heard as they broke apart, and looked down to see Shippo making a face at them.
"Say what you will now little fox demon but give it a couple seasons when you smell that sweet scent-" Jinoku began only for Sheumaru to elbow him, effectively stopping him from saying more.
"He's still too young to know the specifics Jinoku!" Shippo looked at her weirdly, shaking his head at what he deemed to be strange behavior something caught his eye.
"Look! It's Kagome and InuYasha!"
With the whole group together, and Miroku feeling better, according to Sango of course, they set off on their way to catch up with Narraku. Their hopes were high seeing as the only fought him two days prior, and no demon could go far in two days time, but then again Narraku was no ordinary demon.
They walked for quite a while, the only real chit chat between couples, never a whole group discussion, that was until Jinoku brought up a question that everyone wanted their opinion in on.
"So have you thought of any baby boy names?"
Instantly, Kagome was all over the question, listing off many boy names that were popular in her time, but none seemed to stick with Sheumaru. Shippo and Miroku were saying that the baby should be named after them, and Sango suggested a few warrior names that were important that would, in her words, "give the baby a good first impression to newcomers."
"I think you should name him after dad." InuYasha admitted, and the group fell silent. Sheumaru was especially surprised, seeing as when the question was asked he immediately rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Like Taisho maybe?" She considered.
InuYasha nodded.
"That does sound nice, what do you think Jinoku?"
"I think it is a splendid name."
"Alright then, Taisho has made the list." She stated happily. InuYasha smirked at her glee.
It was then that a boy came running up the path to them, over the rice fields of the nearby village.
"Please help! My grandpa is hurt!"
"Where is he?" InuYasha asked, already pouncing away to find the man.
The rest shortly followed him, only to find that the old man had sprained his ankle in an attempt to climb up the side of the river bank, InuYasha met up with them halfway, and with the help of the boy the group was able to find their way to the village. After some quick goodbyes and thanks, the group of misfit travelers left the village and were on their way yet again.
They hadn't made it far when all the dog demons' noses smelt smoke and burnt wood and blood. As they turned around, the boy was coming up to them, slowly this time, and with an arrow in his arm.
"Can you help us? Bandits... they raided my village."
"Kagome, Sango, Shippo you stay behind and help him, we'll go." InuYasha instructed, gesturing to the rest.
"Sheumaru you should stay behind to." Jinoku offered, but one glare from her and he decided to not argue any further.
"It's just bandits, I've handled my share against humans before. Besides there's likely a lot of them anyway, so there's no harm in me coming." She reasoned quietly.
They quickly raced off to the village, InuYasha in the lead as always, with Sheumaru to his right and Jinoku to his left, Miroku took up the rear but it was surprising to see that he was still keeping pace. When they got to the village it was indeed crawling with bandits, the women already huddled in a corner, men were dead or dying on the ground, the old man InuYasha saved just minutes before was among them. The scene made Sheumaru's blood boil with rage.
She rushed into the fray, Jinoku right beside her. She watched InuYasha and Miroku go the opposite direction, taking on the rest of the bandits. Her sword cut through the first cretinous human she came in contact with, he fell to the ground, his hand still gripping onto his sword, but his hand was feet away from his body. Jinoku watched his mate fight for the first time, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. She used the butt of her sword to crush a man's skull, the next blow she dealt was to a man's stomach, punching him so hard he hurled his breakfast.
With each step she was getting closer and closer to the defenseless women huddled together, holding onto each other tightly, and he began to do the same. He clawed up mens' sides, used his sword to cut men in half, his unlike Sheumaru's were death bound blows. He heard Miroku shout something about there being a demon among the bandits and to be careful.
Sheumaru heard InuYasha yowl with pain, leaving the women in Jinoku's care she ran to her brother's aid. She got there just in time to see the demon amongst the ranks reveal itself, and that he was getting ready to strike. In order to protect her brother and the monk she threw Miroku away from InuYasha, who was wounded on the cheek and had a cut through his stomach. Not even a split second later she and InuYasha were wrapped in a poisonous spider's web.
Luckily, because of her sword's ability she was able to create a barrier around them, but in doing so she couldn't heal her brother's wounds.
"No!" She heard her mate roar.
"Don't leave those women, Jinoku!" She yelled, but it wasn't like she needed to, if she had whispered it he would have still heard it.
"You shouldn't have done that!" InuYasha snarled.
"What and leave you to die of poison? Come on brother surely you can't believe I'd do that."
"If you get even a drop of this poison in your bloodstream, your baby will die."
"Well that's not going to happen, will it?" She tried to act cool, but she knew her barrier wasn't going to last long, and to make matters worse, Tetsusygia lay outside the cocoon, she just had to hope the others would come up with something.
Battle still wore on between Miroku and Jinoku and the bandits. She heard every cry of help from the women and children, she heard the wounded monad from the men, she heard her mate's sword clash with others, she heard the ringing sound of Miroku's staff as it shook.
Then her brother stiffened beneath her, his body began to pulse, she knew his demon was close to greeting her. And for a split second fear coursed through her veins at the idea of being killed by her own brother, because if he turned now he would not know friend from foe, he would only know fight. To get himself out of danger, no one else. But she blocked that thought out, he hasn't turned enough for him to loose a part of himself yet, he was just scared, as she was.
She heard Kirara and Sango crash into battle, but by the sounds of her struggling it seemed that even with their help, there were still too many men. Jinoku was struggling to, he was heaving heavy breaths, he was being attacked by too many men, and Miroku was not much use against human attackers, so he had replaced Jinoku in taking care of the women. It was when Kagome cried InuYasha's name that his eyes turned red, and his demon took over completely.
"Calm, calm, brother." She tried, but at the sound of her voice InuYasha turned toward her, she froze.
"You are saving me with this protection." He gestured to her fading sphere of protection from her sword.
"Yes." She nodded.
"Why?"
"Because you are my brother, because you are family and that means that I can not let you die." She was calmer now that she realized InuYasha wasn't completely gone, but she had a feeling the longer he was like this, he was going to slip away further.
He nodded and then, "hold still." She flinched when he brought up his clawed hand, she thought he was going to strike her, but he didn't, instead he started slashing away at the cocoon.
Once they were free it was clear InuYasha wasn't going to let the bandits get away. The group of friends backed off and took long strides away from InuYasha as blood spattered on the ground and stained his claws red. He chased after their horses as the men tried to escape, but they didn't get far, and he spared no man.
It was when he turned toward the group and started running after them that Sheumaru finally shook out of her daze, and stepped forward. She was right to assume that when he looked at her now there was not even a shadow of recognition towards her, not like when they were in the cocoon mere moments ago. He looked at her with the intent to harm, to kill, and he was looking to go right for her stomach when he did so.
She unsheathed her sword, and had it pointed right at his heart.
"Sheumaru what are you doing?!" Kagome wailed at the thought of InuYasha's life ending.
"Just watch!" Sheumaru warned.
She threw herself at him, and her sword grazed his arm, with that simple prick, he fell to the ground. In his demon form he wouldn't be able to handle the power of InuTaisho's fangs. She dropped Tetsusiga on his chest.
"He'll come to in a few moments, when he does he'll be back to normal." She told Kagome, who was calmer now that she realized Sheumaru wasn't going to kill InuYasha.
"You need to trust me Kagome, I would not kill my own brother, he's been through enough hardships, he doesn't need to be killed by one of his own family members."
"I know.. I just-"
"You were terrified for him, I know." Sheumaru looked over Kagome's shoulder at Jinoku. She was terrified she would never see him again.
At that moment InuYasha coughed, startling them.
"What happened?"
"You protected us, and killed the bandits." Kagome explained.
InuYasha looked at the carnage that was left over from the slaughter he had caused. "I did this?"
"Come on brother, you need rest." Sheumaru took him by the shoulder and turned him away from the scene and lead the group far away.
She wanted to throw up, she hadn't seen something like that since her village killing days, and she was not keen and remembering all those lives now.
When they made camp, InuYasha ran to the nearest watering hole and proceeded to wash his hands. He started to do it frantically when he realized the smell would never go away. Sheumaru startled him when she made herself known to him.
"The smell will never go away. The blood on my hands is over fifty years old and I still smell it daily."
"What do you want?" He snapped.
"I wanted to thank you for saving me and my child today, and to tell you that Kagome is looking for you."
"I didn't save you, and even if I did, I was planning on killing you not even ten minutes after saving you."
"That wasn't you InuYasha, that part of yourself will never be you, unless of course when the Shikon Jewel shards are complete, you wish to become a full demon."
"When I imagined myself as a demon, this wasn't it. A blood thirsty monster wasn't it." He looked down at his claws.
"Good."
There was a long pause between them, and then InuYasha huffed, passing her he muttered:
"I have to go find Kagome."
A: Hello! Sorry it's been almost two months but I hope you enjoyed this semi long chapter! As always please review I love reading them! Bye bye now, and be sure to stay inside and stay safe, coronavirus is not a joke!!
