Inuyasha's Kin and the Son of Darkness
Author's Notes: This chapter promises to be creative and original (as far as I know), so prepare yourselves for a treat!
Broken SpiritMiroku took point before everyone else in case the older brother proved to be trouble. "Sesshoumaru!? What are you doing here?" The monk repeated.
"My brother has been taken captive, am I right?" The smallest of smirks touched his lips.
Sango gasped, but nodded. "Yes, Inuyasha and Kagome-chan both."
Growling in mounting anger, Shaoran slowly put Shiori down and flexed his claws. "So you're my dad's big brother, huh?" He got no response. "Father told me stories of you and how you helped him out once. Wait till I tell him you're nothing but a big fat coward!" Running forward, Shaoran tried slashing at Sesshoumaru, but as soon as he was at his target, the dog demon disappeared and reappeared behind him.
Before the hanyou could react, Sesshoumaru picked him up by his collar and lifted him into the air.
"Let me go, you lying sack of sh…"
"Shaoran!" Sango scolded in Kagome's place.
"No! He knew!" Shaoran was turned to face the golden-eyed demon. "You knew all along what would happen. I don't know how, but knowing that you could've done something! Anything!" He glared at his uncle. "You're just a big, ugly, white chicken!"
Narrowing his eyes, Sesshoumaru pulled back his hand and cracked his knuckles, when a girl came out of Inuyasha and Kagome's hut. "You were right, Sesshoumaru-sama! They did have lots of food!" When she noticed the confrontation, she gasped and immediately ran over to her master. "Sesshoumaru-sama, put him down!"
Casually looking down at her concerned face, Sesshoumaru scoffed and dropped Shaoran to the ground.
Batting his hand away, Shaoran jumped back a bit, but was ready for a fight is the dog demon tried anything again.
Smiling, the girl came forward. "Sorry about that. He can be moody sometimes." She held out a hand. "I'm Rin. You must be Inuyasha and Kagome's little boy, huh?"
Miroku's eyes widened upon hearing the girl's name. The last time he'd seen Rin, she was barely nine years old. Now after all this time, she had truly grown into a beautiful woman. Still favoring the light kimonos, she sported a light pink one with blue lilies on it.
Crossing his arms, Shaoran scoffed. "My name is Shaoran." His twin came timidly to his side and clutched onto his arm. "And this is Shiori, my twin sister."
"Twins!?" Rin squealed and grabbed a hold of the girl in a gentle hug. "She's so cute!"
"What brings you here, Sesshoumaru?" Miroku asked calmly.
Turning to the monk, Sesshoumaru ignored the chatting Rin and addressed the real problem at hand. "Maybe we should take this inside."
"No, we talk about this now." Shaoran interrupted. "Tell us why you decided to leave my dad in the dust, then have the guts to show your face here after everything happened."
Meeting eyes with his nephew, Sesshoumaru replied, "Because Yamatsu is now in possession of a weapon that could mean the end of everything."
Moaning, Inuyasha opened his eyes and looked around, trying to focus his vision. "W-where…?" He remembered Kagome carrying him and then nothing. "Kagome?" He kept looking around and finally saw her unconscious on a table in the middle of the room. "Kagome!" He ran forward and choked as he was immediately yanked back by a metal chain.
Putting his hands around the metal, he noticed that his wrist and ankles were latched onto by metal clasps as well. The chains gave him a good four feet of leeway, but when he tried to break free, the collar around his neck sent black electricity over his body in a short power jolt. He cried out and fell back down to the ground again.
Breathing heavily, he heard footsteps approach.
"I kept that on you as a precautionary measure. Try it again and the result will be the same." Yamatsu stepped into the light on the other side of Kagome.
"J-just what are you planning to do?" Inuyasha got into a sitting position. For now, if he couldn't get away, he figured he'd make himself comfortable.
Smirking, Yamatsu bent over Kagome and moved a piece of hair out of her face. "Beautiful creature. One of a kind really."
"Get away from her." Inuyasha threatened. If this guy even tried something against Kagome, Inuyasha swore he'd break his neck.
The evil lord's smile grew as he backed off. "Now don't get angry, you know what that does to you. She is my queen after all and what I wish to do with her is entirely up to me."
Gritting his teeth, Inuyasha glared at Yamatsu. "Touch her and I'll slash my claws straight into your black heart."
Digging into his pockets, Yamatsu pulled out his secret weapon. "With this, the entire world will bow to me."
"It's called the Dark Orb of Mikaboshi. And it has the ability to hold a hundred times more souls than Naraku's detachment ever did." Sesshoumaru began.
Eyes widening, Miroku thought back. "Kanna tried to take Kagome's soul once but it was too powerful for her mirror and she had to let it go."
"But even possessed, Kagome-chan has been able to fight off black magic before." Sango said.
"Perhaps, but this is no black magic." The dog demon explained. "Mikaboshi, the God of Evil, sent Yamatsu the crystal in order for him to gain control of the miko and begin his conquest."
Looking sadly at the twins, Rin added, "Sesshoumaru-sama was sent this vision by the goddess Amaterasu and because of her we know what Yamatsu will do next, where he will strike first."
"But couldn't all of this had been stopped if we had just saved my mom before?" Shaoran asked.
"Yamatsu has raised his army using defiled Shikon no Tamas and Inuyasha is now a victim as well. If we were to bring him here, Yamatsu would use him to strike you when we least expected it." Rin explained. She and Sesshoumaru had been up the entire night - the dog demon had the dream – in order to decipher what it truly meant.
"So you're saying there's no way for Inuyasha to be set free of it?" Miroku asked. "We've already been able to free one demon from it…"
"And where is he?" Sesshoumaru interrupted.
Stopping, the monk gasped. "He was vaporized the moment the collar was destroyed."
"No! Daddy!" Shiori exclaimed.
"It's not completely hopeless." Rin comforted the girl and pulled her into her lap. "Inuyasha will be able to break free of the collar, but that's not our problem."
"Then what is?"
"The priestess of course." Sesshoumaru said. "With her leading his force, all of your weaknesses will be exposed. She will be able to tell Yamatsu everything, therefore you are all in the gravest of danger."
"What about you?" Sango asked.
"She knows little about me and that is what will be key." Standing up, Sesshoumaru made ready to leave.
"Wait, where are you going?" Miroku stood up as well.
"It has already begun." He said without turning around. "The first village they will strike is three days travel from here, even with my speed. We leave now and we will make it before they do." Even though Sesshoumaru knew what was going to happen between his brother and the human, he would still try to save what had made his little brother so happy. After living with Rin so long, he knew the darkness that awaited Inuyasha should Sesshoumaru's vision come true. Inuyasha, for your sake, I hope the goddess is wrong…
Inuyasha tried to focus on what Yamatsu was saying about the crystal, but the pain in his head was unbearable. "Oh…my head…" He moaned.
"Oh? Well that would be the collar trying to bring out your true self, you're greater self. Listen to it…give in…" The Dark One coaxed.
Smirking, Inuyasha looked up. "Nice, but I'm not through yet." Even though Inuyasha had given up his ability to transform to save Kagome's life all those years ago, the inner battle was a tiring one and who knew what the results would be?
"Well, you wouldn't be Inuyasha if you did, now would you?" Holding out the dark crystal, Inuyasha saw a frightening black gleam in Yamatsu's hellish red eyes. "Now, to make my dreams a reality." The glow of the crystal began to envelop Kagome as well, turning her gentle pink aura into a deep magenta and then deep black.
"Hey, what are you doing!?" Inuyasha leapt forward, but the chains held him back and then the collar send more volts through his body. Falling to the ground, he glanced up at what was happening.
Gritting her teeth, Kagome tried to fight the force that was attempted to rip out her very soul.
"Stop it! Leave her alone!" Inuyasha shouted.
Kagome was lifted into the air as the crystals' glow grew. The pain in her body increased and she began to cry out in pain, but was unable to stop the separation.
"Yes, yes that's it! Give in and you will become mine!" His laughter was overshadowed by Kagome's screams of torture as her soul was visibly sucked into the crystal.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha exclaimed, getting up to his hands and knees.
Convulsing, the last of her inner being was trapped within the confines of the gem and Kagome was slowly lowered back down onto the table.
"It is done." Yamatsu clutched the crystal tightly. "My father had the right idea with Kanna's mirror, but with such a spirit as this – he needed something greater to capture its true beauty.
"Kagome…" Inuyasha looked and saw her lying there so quietly. Was she really without a soul now? Had she befallen the same fate as Kikyou?
"Come to me, my queen…" Yamatsu held out a hand.
Opening her eyes, Kagome sat up and slowly got off the table.
"K-Kagome!" Inuyasha called out to her, but she neither heard him, nor even acknowledged his existence. She simply walked over to Yamatsu and clasped his hand.
Turning her around, Yamatsu showed Inuyasha his new queen.
Gasping, Inuyasha saw her eyes held no gleam of their own, instead they were an empty void. Looking down at the ground in dismay, Inuyasha couldn't believe it. His Kagome was now a lifeless puppet in the hands of an ultimate evil.
"Kagome…"
FLASH!
"Do you have something you want to protect more than anything? Something you never want to go away?"
"Yeah…"
"Me too. So let's never say goodbye Inuyasha. Don't ever leave me. Promise?"
FLASH!
Goodbye? Inuyasha thought. Never…
FLASH!
"I won't leave you!"
"You…should go…Kagome…I'll be fine."
"No! It's both of us or nothing!"
FLASH!
"Both…" Inuyasha said in a drone-like tone. Closing his eyes, he slowly stopped fighting the darkness and gave in. When he opened his eyes once more, their golden radiance was now no more. They were a void, as lost and dull as the miko's before him.
Inuyasha, powerful hanyou extraordinaire…had been broken.
And it wasn't the whips that made his spirit collapse; or the fact that his capture seemed infinite. It was the blank expression upon his mate's face. The thought that she was alone in an eternal darkness that did not befit her. She was deserving of a better future than this and he was incapable of providing that for her. She had given her all to see him safe and he would do the same.
His spirit – merely a sliver of its former glory – would succumb to the tempting darkness and bow to the evil lord.
But one feeling would never disappear from the flow of his veins, and that was to make sure Kagome stayed safe, today and forever.
For he would always be: her protector.
Sesshoumaru stood alone at the top of a hill, guarding the sleeping companions of his younger brother. They had been traveling for two days straight and although he was not in the least bit tired, the humans of the group needed rest. Not only to replenish their bodies, but to prepare their minds for the battle that laid ahead.
It would begin at dust and although the dog demon didn't know the exact outcome, he knew it would be his only chance to save the miko that had so changed his brother's heart.
Scoffing, Sesshoumaru looked down at the valley below in disgust. Why his brother had been so foolish as to fall in love was beyond him. If he only had the sense Sesshoumaru himself had acquired years ago, to be even and uncaring about everything, then none of this would be happening.
"But even you had been wrapped by the bonds of love, Sesshoumaru-sama." A voice said to him.
Narrowing his eyes, he stared straight ahead threateningly. "Who's there?" His hand slowly went to Tokijin's hilt.
Materializing before him, was the form of a miko Sesshoumaru barely remembered, but knew none-the-less. "Both of us have something in common, Sesshoumaru-sama. We both swore we would never fall in love and yet failed."
"Kikyou, I heard you were dead." He addressed, his hand having yet to leave Tokijin's side.
Her transparent form floated before him. "Although it can be hard to see, the changes brought about by love effect every part of us."
"Hmph, the weakness of love has yet to pierce my heart. You know not of what you speak." But even saying this, the great dog demon looked away.
Tilting her head, Kikyou continued. "No, I think I'm correct in my assumption. Why else would you go out of your way in an affair that did not concern you?"
"Because as soon as the goddess sent me the dream, it became my business." He countered.
"Not true." Kikyou replied. "Even knowing the future did not mean you had any obligation to come and rescue Inuyasha from his trial. It's these kinds of changes that she has brought out in you."
"Is there a reason you came here, priestess, or have you merely come to get under my skin?" He eyed her.
"Tell me, Sesshoumaru-sama. Why have you allowed the human girl to stay with you for so long? You saved her life and as far as I understand, you didn't even have to do that." The miko smirked. "To fall in love with a human, despite what you believe, is not the weakness you hold."
"I am not in love. She is but a mere child."
"A child compared to your life, but not a child anymore. And protecting her and watching over her as much as you do shows your true feelings."
Finally pulling one of his swords from its sheath, Sesshoumaru held it to the miko's chest. "Speak another word, and this Tensaiga will make it so even the undead will die." He threatened.
"Very well." She backed off a bit. "But I must let you know that although you feel your father's love for Inuyasha's mother was a mistake, your true love cannot be ignored. Embrace it and finally find the happiness you so secretly desire."
Eyes flashing with anger, Sesshoumaru slashed a moment too late, for Kikyou's form disappeared completely, but his sensitive ears could've sworn they heard a feint laughter ringing in the air.
"Sesshoumaru-sama? Sesshoumaru-sama!?" Rin came running to the top of the hill.
Putting Tensaiga back in its sheath, the dog demon lord turned to face the girl. "What is it, Rin?"
Stopping to catch her breath, the girl looked up worriedly. "I saw you weren't with the rest of us and got worried." She admitted.
"I needed time to think." He replied coldly. "Is that all?"
She looked down at the ground sadly. "I'm sorry. It's just that I fear for you when I can't see you. I know I'm just a powerless human and even if you were to get hurt I wouldn't be able to save you, but I would still try – I would give up my life if it meant you would be okay, but since nothing's wrong, I'll just go back to camp – unless…"
"Rin."
She immediately stopped and looked up.
A child compared to your life, but not a child anymore. "Stay here with me awhile." He said, then turned back to looking at the stars.
Putting on the largest smile, Rin nodded happily. "Un!" Then moved to stand by her master's side. He could be cold sometimes, but he always held a warm spot for her. She couldn't hold back her blush at being so close to him for so long, and although it was no different the other times back at the castle, this time just felt more romantic.
But she would never say anything. She feared if she told Sesshoumaru how she felt, he would banish her from his side. He and Jaken, who thankfully had been forced to stay back at the castle, were all the family she had left and she wouldn't give it up for the world. As a shooting star passed by in the night's sky, Rin dared to make the one wish that pulsated within her heart.
May Sesshoumaru and I be together…forever.
Author's Note: Alright, not very Sesshoumaru/Rin but I've never done one before, so I'm doing it the way I'd want to see it. As for Inuyasha and Kagome: how was that breaking scene? Him succumbing to the darkness? I personally love it and it's one of my favorite passages. What do you all think? See you at the next chapter!