Dying to Live
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Inuyasha turned over for the tenth time on the rush mats his host had given him to place on the ground in order to sleep beside the fire. On the other side of the fire the old man was snoring again – loudly.
Uhhhh, Inuyasha sighed and flopped over again on his back to look up at the stars. It had only been a few weeks ago that he had visited Totosai before and slept under the brisk open night sky, but it felt like ages to the dog demon. It wasn't as though Inuyasha could not sleep because he no longer liked sleeping outdoors; in fact it was probably the opposite, a big part of him still preferred and missed it when he was home in Kagome's time. Still, he felt restless, even though the day had gone well. Listening to the disruptive sounds of Totosai, who sounded as if he was loudly sawing away at a tree, Inuyasha put his arms behind his head and remembered what had gone on earlier in the day, as he told himself to savor the glittering view overhead.
He had been lying in the grass in pretty much the same position under a tall evergreen tree that grew to the side of Totosai's workshop, enjoying the rays of sun that managed through the thick branches and cast a warm dappled pattern all around. He was glad for the sunny weather since he could see a thick layer of storm clouds on the horizon off to the East earlier in the day. Spring was on for the better part of the archipelago, so the air here was only just brisk and almost fair here in this slightly higher part of the valley where his late father's swordsmith made his home.
"Hey, Old Man, when are you gonna be done, huh? I go away and even leave on a honeymoon and, after almost two weeks, I come back and yer still not done?" Inuyasha chided.
"Mmm," Totosai rumbled from where he worked in the shade of the open-front workshop. "I had to make sure the final layer of lacquer had set properly and give it one last shine.
"It's been a while since I made a proper set of armor but not long enough for me to give up caring about the finished product, mind you!" the old swordsmith carried on, and Inuyasha could hear the mild straining in his voice, as he threw in some extra elbow grease on whatever he was polishing.
Bored, Inuyasha plucked a few blades of grass from the ground. "You'll polish it down to nothing, if you keep going like that, Old Man," he murmured to himself.
"I heard that," Totosai complained loudly, but then sighed in satisfaction and said: "Ii naaaa~ It's finished, and it might be better than your brother's- though don't repeat it."
Inuyasha snickered at the last comment, jumped to his feet and bounded up the gentle grassy slope to enter the workshop.
There it hung: his very own set of demonic armor. Totosai had actually really made it unique and the effect was... stunning.
Though he wouldn't admit it outright to the old smith, Inuyasha could hardly breathe, as he stepped up to inspect the pieces where they hung on a dummy shaped stand in the middle of the crowded shop. He reached out and ran his fingers over the single piece of smooth, curved chest plate. Shining with richly colored reddish-brown lacquer, on the surface, it looked and felt like wood beneath his fingertips, but he sensed that it had to be something much denser than that.
"What is it made of?" he asked simply, lost in admiration at what had been crafted for him; it reminded Inuyasha strongly of when the villagers presented him with the red silk hakama set he wore all the time now.
"Hand-sawed and steam-bent baleen of the great Whale Daiyokai, Tarozaemon – 'He who dominates the waves'. Let's just say that no common man nor demon could shape bones of this particular lineage of whale, as you observe here. More so, to even obtain these coveted parts of one of the most rare and revered beings of the Sea, I had to learn about it from an otherworldly informant..." Totosai boasted, trailing off. Though curious, Inuyasha sensed it was better not to ask who this mysterious source might be.
"I'm not one to give away compliments, but you have outdone yourself, smith," Inuyasha pronounced.
"Waaaah, is that genuine praise then?" Totosai asked sarcastically and carried on. "This armor is not only good to look at, of course, but it's also incredibly strong and light – when you wear it that is. It's only downside is that it's enchanted, and when you disrobe from it, the pieces will become incredibly heavy."
"Interesting... Is the enchantment made to only work for me?" Inusyaha asked.
"Hm, as far as I know? Yes," the older demon responded, though not too certainly. "However, it's made of the remains of a supernatural whale that had fantastic powers in life, so it may have a mind of it's own at times, who knows."
"As long as it doesn't change its 'mind' about protectin' me, I suppose that's fine," Inuyasha remarked casting the smith a very pointed sideways glance.
"Not likely," Totosai replied breezily. "Now let's see you put everything on."
Totosai took each piece one at a time and handed them to Inuyasha as he put them on. First was the chocolate brown dyed leather of demonic bear hide; hardened and water-proofed with with dull lacquer on the exterior, it was soft like suede on the inside against his skin where the shoulder straps came over to hold the front and back panels, which fell over his chest and back and flared from the top of his hips down to his knees leaving good space for extra mobility. Next Totosai ran a hand gently over the baleen chest plate, and momentarily Inuyasha swore the old demon even leaned in and whispered something to it, before he picked up the object with relative ease. As Inuyasha took it into his hands he was so shocked by how light it was he almost dropped the plating. Totosai, tutted and flashed Inuyasha a self-pleased toothy grin – he was obviously proud of the superior supernatural quality he had imbued the material with. Inuyasha lifted the baleen over his head, and Totosai helped secure it in place with the bear-hide body guard. Finally came the curved guard piece for his left shoulder, made with the same enchanted baleen and lacquered to match the chest plate. This too strapped in with the leather body guard and chest plate. From it, three curved spikes made of thick pieces of whale rib bone flared out, honed to sharp, delicate points of graduated lengths in shapes reminiscent of the crests of ocean waves. Like the edging of the chest plate and main body of the shoulder guard, the spikes were painted in dull gold coated in gleaming lacquer.
"I had a bit of fun with the shoulder spikes this time; the ones I made for your father and brother's plates have long since fallen out of fashion now anyway," Totosai commented as he watched Inuyasha quietly admiring the armor in the tarnished old mirror the smith stored in a less cluttered corner of the shop.
"Oh, almost forgot!" the old smith suddenly exclaimed, causing Inuyasha to start slightly. The younger demon watched as the old man pulled open a dusty drawer that certainly didn't look like it held anything of value. But lo' and behold, in his hands, he held out a small parcel that looked about the size of two bricks wrapped together, and indicating to Inuyasha said, "This is something special I saved – open it!"
Inuyasha hn'd at the old smith's antics, but wondering what the carefully saved item could be, he gently tugged the knot on the faded rough-spun fabric covering until it fell away. The contents almost slid to the ground just as Inuyasha snatched it back to keep it from falling on the workshop's dusty floor. In his hands he rubbed the smooth, gleaming black and gold, thickly-striped silk between his fingers.
"Made from strands of web from Netherachnids that reside Hell, this silk sash will never tear. Your father wore it in his younger years. Use it to cinch the leather body guard at your waist," Totosai explained.
Inuyasha tied the long piece of silk at his waist like he had seen Sesshomaru do with his own sash in the past. "Old man, this is really something else – doumo," Inuyasha finally replied, trying to keep most of the emotion out of his voice; however, still he wanted Totosai to know how much this meant to him.
"Years ago, I didn't believe it could be, but I think, even if you asked me for this armor as a half-demon today, I would be glad to give all this to you. You have earned it, Inuyasha, son of Touga," Totosai replied with an uncharacteristically solemn bow of his head.
Inuyasha looked back at his reflection in the mirror. He was still coming to terms with allowing himself this sense of satisfaction.
"Aiyahh," Totosai said scratching his bald pate as he turned to put away some of his tools that were scattered across his messy workbench. "I don't know that I could say the same for that wily brother of yours... I can say that I'm glad to have not run into him recently."
"Well there's a reason for that old man," Inuyasha replied as he finished adjusting the sheathed Tessaiga in place under his father's old sash and tying the scabbard's leather cord across his chest. "The big idiot's gotten himself in some pretty serious trouble."
"Oh?" Totosai questioned, trying to seem disinterested, as he motioned for Inuyasha to pile some tools he was looking to put away into his cradled arms.
Inuyasha stacked a few sets of pliers into the smith's arms before responding. "Seems that he nearly died from some sort of attack."
Totosai's deeply wrinkled brow furrowed. "What? How?" he asked. While it was well-known the smith feared Sesshomaru, he was clearly intrigued now. Even if he did not particularly like Sesshomaru, the youkai was still the child of his greatest patron and friend.
"Well, that part's not clear, but now the only way we could save him was by reviving him with mortal souls," Inuyasha explained, placing a heavy metal leather punch in Totosai's almost-full arms.
Totosai paused, processing the information. "Well, I mean, human souls... couldn't that, well, have some effect-"
"Like turn him human? Yes, Sesshomaru is human now," Inuyasha responded.
The old smith's enormous eyes practically bulged out of his head. "NANIIII?" he shouted, nearly dropping all the tools in his arms, if Inuyasha had not helped to steady the old youkai.
"HA! Hahahahaha!" the old craggy demon cackled uncontrollably, clearly overcome until he ran short of breath. When he could breathe again, he spoke, "Ha, whew – Sesshomaru must be furious."
"Yeah, he's pretty mad alright. Caused me a lot of trouble already," Inuyasha replied.
"Oh ho! He must know that you are full youkai now too, right?" Totosai asked, wearing a rather evil smile.
"No, not yet... We haven't seen much of each other since it happened to him," Inuyasha explained.
"Too bad," Totosai remarked, throwing all the tools he had been holding haphazardly in a drawer across the shop and swatting the dust from his sleeves. "I'm sure you'll enjoy that at some point and tell me about it next time you're out this way. In the meantime, I will have to tell Myoga when he returns from visiting his kin in the North."
"Sure," Inuyasha smirked at the remark and the thought of how the flea would take the news too. "But unfortunately, this thing with my brother, that was another reason I was lookin' forward to seeing you – I wondered if you might have heard about anything recently like what happened to Sesshomaru. He was in the West when my friend, the Buddhist monk found him – it was like someone or something had sucked out all his youki."
"No, no news of anything like that, though, if I do hear something, I can let you know," Totosai offered.
"Thanks... since we are trying to figure out what might help turn him back as well," Inuyasha added, the unfamiliar sense of unease returning to him whenever he thought about his brother's situation and how he had vowed to their father that he would help, if he found Sesshomaru in need.
"Mm, well good luck with that," the old smith grumbled, not bothering to suppress another chuckle.
Then, Inuyasha spent the rest of the day with the old smith, working on all the chores the old demon had saved up. It never failed that the youngest son of Touga always wound up doing Totosai's dirty work, but at least Inuyasha had learned to set aside time to complete these types of tasks. While sometimes tiring or possibly disgusting, like scrubbing out the old man's ancient bath tub - Inuyasha's skin still crawled from that memory - it was definitely never anything he couldn't handle with his relative youth and now-increased strength, and he had become closer with the smith because of it. This time, it had led to a helpful lead about an enclave of crustacean youkai that hid in caves on the beaches not much much further south of Totosai's shop. Totosai had heard rumors that these low level demons regularly stole away with young women and children from the nearby village in order to feast on them. Naturally, Inuyasha toyed increasingly with the thought of stopping that way the next day. Even Totosai had encouraged that Touga himself would have been drawn to try out new armor at the soonest possible chance - exterminating such vermin would make for an amusing test run.
The question was: did the Inu Daiyoukai have time to do that though?
Inuyasha sighed up at the stars.
Sesshomaru, Inuyasha thought, his thoughts returning to the present moment. It was fun to joke around about it, but he was going to have to face his brother again at some point. It really wasn't fair to leave Miroku and the others alone to deal with his brother's situation, even if the stupid monk had turned him human. Actually in all the rush, Inuyasha hadn't really thanked Miroku enough for saving Sesshomaru's life. And Inuyasha hadn't yet figured out how he was going to live up to that promise he had made in those few moments he had spent in the spirit realm with their father...
And it had him worried. There was a lot that could go wrong, and he hoped that his brother and Miroku were somewhere out of harm's way, at least for the moment. Selfishly, he wasn't quite ready to give up spending time with Kagome yet, and he realized that at first he had almost let things with Sesshomaru mess up their time as newlyweds. The fact that Miroku was willing to sacrifice his own time spent with Sango (though she was not exactly totally pleasant to be around in what Kagome explained was the end of the "second trimester" of pregnancy, which was apparently supposed to be better than the first- keh!) so that Inuyasha could be with Kagome, meant that he had really been able to enjoy their time away in Okinawa. Their retreat to the island, absolutely excluding their flights to and from which had terrified him, as he simply couldn't will himself to trust the damned metal tube wouldn't crash into the ocean, had been an absolute ideal culmination of all he had worked to acclimate to in her time period.
Spending time with Kagome on the beach, and the relaxed meals and drinks they had enjoyed together had given them time to talk and just be together like they hadn't had before. He felt even more certain he had been right to take the plunge and marry her. And then there was the sex... Having not dared touch a woman in centuries and then all the confusion with Kikyo, which of course led to his imprisonment, followed by the hunt for the Jewel, Inuyasha had totally forgotten what it was like... And being with Kagome, knowing she was totally his, well his hands were beginning to tingle right then and there at the thought of what it was like being able to touch her in ways he had only previously dreamt of.
He loved Kagome, and he knew it was going to hurt her that he was going to have to go back to the Feudal era to see this thing through with Sesshomaru, however long it took. She seemed disappointed that he had gone to see Totosai now, though they both knew that the armor would be needed to help control and augment Inuyasha's newly developing power. He was going to have to spend more time training too, if he hoped to be ready to defend his brother and possibly avenge him, if they could find the attacker. He was glad at least that for the moment, Kagome seemed interested in finding some kind of work in the modern time; he still wasn't sure he wanted his wife around his maniacal sibling.
Well there's not much more I can do about it for tonight, the dog demon sighed to himself and made to hunker down again on the rush mats. Totosai's snoring had mercifully subsided as well. However, just then from several paces away, in the direction of where Totosai kept MouMou the cow demon penned up, Inuyasha detected a low-pitched, wet sounding tone. What could that be? Inuyasha thought, when suddenly his keen nose detected a flatulent odor...
"Nooooo," the unfortunate demon whined into the darkness, and covered his face with his red silk sleeves.
Will I never get to sleep? he thought woefully, desperate to recall the floral scent of Kagome's shampooed hair against his nose.
:::
Notes: Wow! If you all can believe it, this chapter was probably written just under about a year ago, not long after I really started the engines going again on this fic. So while a few of you were saying that you were looking forward to a chapter about what Inuyasha was up to again, I was too! Although this isn't really a fic centered on Inuyasha as a character, I knew I wanted this event of him receiving this awesome armor from Totosai somewhere in there, because of what it meant to me for his character development in this story. I want to give that meaning, as we get glimpses of it. Anyway, thanks for your patience and anticipation guys!
Meanwhile, I wish that FF Net had a feature to converse with reviews like on AO3. As you probably recall, I've been on a project to cross-post this fic with AO3, but being a likely masochist, I am editing the work as I repost it there, occasionally cleaning up issues with the copy here on FF Net. Updates for the cross-post turn up on the origamikungfuwrites tumblr for those interested. I hope to finish this cross-posting in the coming year, which looks pretty doable right now; AO3 has been a nice place to repost because of certain features that site gives in particular, as I have I wanted to interact more with story ideas of my readers, like anime weabo! Honestly it's amazing to receive this kind of attention, dear reader!
However, I admit that D2L has really been an experiment in writing for me over the years, and so at this point though, I have a pretty clear vision of what is planned for the plot and am doing my best to see it through. That said, it's hard for me to even choose from the ideas I have what can go into the writing of the story and what cannot. Still [even though I shouldn't since I've already got my work cut out for me on this one fic and it's semi-neglected sibling, a side project I write for the Crimson Peak fandom, His Crimson Rose (also on FF Net)], I sometimes write spin off / side stories for D2L. I'm actually currently toying with posting one of these side stories – curious, is anyone interested in that? Anyway, that said, it's an undertaking to write what I do, and so while I appreciate and am so complimented to receive story ideas, I regret I cannot plan to write them all or target to work them into the story. I am open to story discussions though and love to see how my work is inspiring others because essentially that's how I got this work started in the first place – admiring the work of other fanfiction writers and the original works we share an adoration for.
Dear readers, I tell you that you are the best, and that's the truth. As your humble storyteller, I am definitely not perfect (farrrrrr from it), but I try my best to give you this story and to explain my thoughts when I can. I always thank you for taking it as it comes. We are on this adventure together.
That said, I love when I get to hear from you all in reviews, so please drop them when you can, as that feedback is precious and motivating, but your favs/follows/readership are also evident and appreciated. Thank you for your understanding and support through the years ...Woooh, guess I had a lot to say in the way of notes today, but writing to you all is always worth it, and I often wish I had more time for notes. Anyway, Happy Holidays and here's to another year together as 2022 approaches! – Hugs, Origamikungfu.