Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha...
And on we go, people! (edited)
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Closing the Back Door
Brothers
By Sakura-chan88
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Becoming conscious again was different for her this time. It started as a dull throb that felt as if it was detached from her completely. Slowly that feeling became a searing heat, leading up from her fingertips to her shoulder, fire raging in her arm. That wasn't right. Before she even had the ability of coherent thought, Kagome's eyes opened and her hands clenched over her heart. The pain seemed to come from it.
To have your heart broken on your own birthday...
The only thing she could remember was crying her eyes out in front of the well. Then a voice... a cold voice... a familiarly expressionless voice...
A ruffling of clothes and the sound of dirt being shuffled around caught her attention. Looking to her side, she gasped and flung herself backed against the well's wall. It was him!
"Sesshomaru!"
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A fog rolled over his senses, blinding his sight and making his thought hazy. He remembered moving in on that girl, that miko his brother traveled with, but his memory ended there. She had fallen and grabbed the sword's blade, uncaring of the fact that it had sliced through her skin and most likely to the bone. She was a fool...
And the fog that clouded everything around him was swept away.
Moving to stretch from the uncomfortable position he found himself in, Sesshomaru's nose filled with the vial scent of human blood mixed with fear. 'That girl...'
"Sesshomaru!" she exclaimed none too quietly. He held back a grunt as the sound of his name resounded in his head, worsening the headache that had formed in the past few seconds.
He opened his eyes, not bothering to check his surroundings, and sat up right. Kagome gasped, shrinking farther into the well's wall. "How...? How did you get through...?"
His eyes narrowed. 'What does she mean- how did I get through?' he wondered. What was she talking about?
"No one else is supposed to be able to get through the well! You should still be on the other side," she muttered, looking at the ground in confusion as if it would answer her questions. "This isn't supposed to happen! You weren't supposed to let him through..! Oh God! Sesshomaru, you have to go back! I can't let you destroy this world!"
"What are you saying? This world is a different world?" he asked, a slight tug lifting the side of his lips. He couldn't help it. She feared him to a point where it was rolling off her in waves, uncontrollably. Or maybe... she was scared for the world she sought to protect...
"You need to go back! Now," Kagome commanded.
"Are you making a command of me, human?" Sesshomaru inquired, rising to his full height.
"Yes," she squeaked, shrinking even smaller. She looked so fragile, like Rin had been when she was beaten... and the scent of blood seemed to grow stronger.
"No one speaks to me this way," he stated. "I could very easily kill you this very instant."
"I know... but... you have to leave! You can't stay here!" Kagome rose to her feet, resolve burning in her eyes. "And I'll send you back even if it kills me."
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She didn't know where the sudden burst of courage came from, but she didn't care, either. As long as the confidence lasted, she was fine with it. All she needed to know was that she had a family right outside this shelter and, if Sesshomaru had even the slightest inclination to destroy them, she was helpless to save them. If only she could bargain with him or show him how much it meant... What was she going to do?
"Inuyasha will be here shortly," Kagome stated. "Go back and wait for him on the other side of the well. Catch him off guard and Tetsusaiga will be yours. Just leave, okay?"
'What the...? Why did I tell him that? I can't possibly be mad enough at Inuyasha that I'd tell his brother...' Kagome pondered that thought for a moment, completely ignoring the youkai in front of her. 'And I thought myself to be shameful when I wished Kikyo would die again,' she thought, falling to her knees. It wasn't right!
"Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru mumbled. "He has witnessed this world as well?" Kagome merely nodded, tears flowing from her shut eyes as she bowed her head. "What is this world?"
"It doesn't matter, since you won't be staying here, Sesshomaru," Kagome stated. "This world can't handle youkai. Inuyasha was too much for the ones that he met... Go back."
"You don't care that you have just killed him?" Sesshomaru asked, somehow knowing she'd understand. She merely nodded. "And you don't care?"
"Why should I!" Kagome shouted in anger. The darkness encasing her heart scared her a little, but she couldn't wipe the image from her mind of him entwined with Kikyo. "He doesn't care about me! I could be dead for all he knows!"
"And you will be if you don't stop your yelling, wench!"
"Wench!" Kagome shrieked in disbelief. "Wench! Oh, wench... How so very Inuyasha like of you."
Kagome didn't know what hit her. On moment she was on her knees, staring in to cold, golden eyes and the next, she was being held in the air by a hand wrapped around her neck. The hold was tight, but restrained enough so that she could get the needed oxygen to stay conscious.
"I would hold my tongue if I were you, girl," Sesshomaru hissed. "Do not you ever, EVER, compare me with my mutt of a half-brother! Do. You. Understand?"
Kagome struggled feebly against the hand that held her. A few more tugs and she gave up. Looking down, her eyes met his and her anger grew.
"Oh yes. Very Inuyasha like," she wheezed and the grip tightened. After coughing lightly, she continued. "Trying to kill me... after our first meeting... I hope it ends sooner... though... I don't have much hope of becoming f... friends... with you..."
"Friends?" he laughed coldly. "A friend that leaves you for an old acquaintance? Some friend. Do not concern yourself with that. This will all be over s-"
"Kagome-neechan," a voice called from over head. "Are you back?"
"S-so...Souta... ru-un," Kagome gasped. "Run, Souta. It isn't s... safe here..."
"Oneechan? What's wrong?" The owner of the voice poked his head up, over the side of the well. Kagome prayed to God that it was too dark for him to see Sesshomaru, but knew that no matter how hard she prayed, Sesshomaru would- and could- see her brother. "Inu-no-neechan, is that you?"
"Please... don't," Kagome pleaded in a hushed voice. "Don't do it... Sesshomaru, please..." She kept her voice low. She wanted to yell for her brother to run, but her breath was shortening and her vision began to blur. "Ple... ease..."
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Sesshomaru felt the girl go limp and set her on the ground. What was he to do now? He didn't know anything about this world or how to get back to the old one... What was he supposed to do?
"Kagome-neechan?" the boy called again. Sesshomaru looked up to see her brother peering into the darkness, trying to make out the figures below him.
"Souta, is it?" Sesshomaru asked. The boy jumped back in surprise, then leaned farther over the well's edge.
"Who's asking?"
Sesshomaru swore to himself that once he was able to, he would bite out his own tongue after speaking his next words. "Inuyasha's older half-brother."
"REALLY!" the boy yelled in glee. Sesshomaru's hands flew to his ears, trying to block out the boy's squealing. He was a little too hyper for his liking. "Where's Inu-no-neechan? Is he coming? What are you doing here? Is oneechan hurt? What's your name?"
'Are all human pups this annoying?' Sesshomaru wondered. Souta's ranting reminded him of Rin. "Sesshomaru. And, yes, your sister has been harmed. She is unconscious. As for my half-brother's whereabouts, I have no idea."
"Oh..." The boy seemed downtrodden, but soon recovered. "Sesshomaru, huh? Funny name. I'm Souta, Kagome's brother."
Sesshomaru nodded, forgetting the boy couldn't see him. He picked the unconscious girl up before jumping out of the well and landing on just beside the staircase, gently. He looked at the boy who smiled at him innocently. Briefly, the thought of a painful death for the boy crossed his mind and he amused himself by tossing the idea around in his head. Souta would be such an easy kill...
"Welcome to the future," Souta exclaimed, sticking his hand out for a handshake. Sesshomaru looked at the hand uncertainly. "Here, put your hand out like this," the boy said. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, but complied. Placing his hand in Sesshomaru's and closing it, Souta shook his hand firmly then pulled away. "It's called a 'handshake'. It's like a greeting when you meet someone for the first time."
'A handshake...? Ah, a human touched me!' his mind shouted and he consciously wiped his hand on his pant leg, dislodging any potential infection from touching the boy. "Oh..." he muttered.
"So... How do you know my sister?" Souta wondered, leading him up the stairs and to the door.
"We are enemies," Sesshomaru stated. He vaguely became aware of the noises in the background. Something was strange about them. He didn't hear any birds or wild life. All he heard was clanging and rumbling... It perturbed him... That wasn't right...
"Right," her brother mumbled in an 'as if' tone of voice. "No one stays oneechan's enemy for long. She... she doesn't have any enemies, really. Not here at least."
"So, this is her world?"
"You could put it that way," Souta sighed. "But really, to you, this is the future and your world... Your world is this world's past."
They had exited the shrine house and Sesshomaru forcefully held himself back from turning tail and fleeing. The noises where overwhelming and so much seemed to be happening around them. He could see things fly by on the stone path some way away from their current location. They were mere blurs, though. Some were colored and others were white, but all of them seemed to be metallic. Strange sounds emitted from them. Whatever they were, Sesshomaru didn't want to deal with them. Even being as strong as he was, he knew that he couldn't destroy them all. They outnumbered him one-to-one million.
"Don't worry about those," Souta spoke, still walking. "I'll explain them later, but they won't hurt you so don't attack them."
Sesshomaru nodded and continued to walk, trying to drown the constant sound in the background. He looked overhead to see the sky, but found himself looking at another metallic youkai. A flying metallic youkai this time. Looking closer, Sesshomaru made a better analysis. It was a flying metallic youkai that had feasted on several humans that seemed to have had their souls sucked out of them.
"And she said that I was a danger to this world," he muttered to himself. The girl was delusional if she hadn't already noticed the flesh-eating youkai that swarmed the place. At least Sesshomaru wouldn't devour them!
"Come on, Sesshomaru! My mom will want to check oneechan's wounds." Souta stood in the doorway with an elderly lady next to him.
"Oh my! I hope it isn't too serious," the lady stated worriedly. "What happened?"
Sesshomaru shrugged and followed her into the house and up a set of stairs. Then, he proceeded to a room she indicated as she ran off to collect some supplies. Entering the room, Sesshomaru noted that it was Kagome's. Her scent filled it, as did the faint scent of his and her brothers'. Inuyasha's was old, Souta's was new.
"Sneaky little brat," he whispered, setting Kagome on the bouncy looking futon. 'What is that made of?'
His thoughts didn't stay on one place for long though. This room was filled with strange gizmos and gadgets and other thingamabobs. His mind was decided. He would stay here. He would learn about this world, just to spite Kagome. He would understand this world, just to annoy Inuyasha. He would stay in this world, just to defy fate. In this world, he should have died a long time ago.
He wasn't about to let fate stop him. And this girl was going to help him achieve his goal. The world would soon know his name once again.
Sesshomaru was back.
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Well, that's it for now! Sesshomaru has decided to stay and no one will tell him different! How will Kagome respond? What will happen with Inuyasha? Will Souta adopt a new role model? ...Is that good? Or bad? o.O;;
Stay tuned for the next chapter of Closing the Back Door! Hope you like it!
Later days!