Big thanks to Writer Chica and Empatheia for their help in working out this chapter, without which it might not be as good as it is.
Go check out Empatheia's story "Once Upon and Inuyoukai", it's a really good Izayoi/InuTaisho fic.
And
Go check outFate Bringer (aka Writer Chica)'sstory "When the Bough Breaks" and "Life's Pearls".
Disclaimer: Please refer to chapter 1.
The Royal FamilyChapter 5: In the Dragon's Wake
"Commander! Lord Inu no Taisho is returning!" One of the soldiers shouted from one of the look-out towers.
Kotaru, commander of the cavalry forces of Inu no Taisho, quickly climbed one of the look-out towers on the wall. The wall protected the palace from enemy troops, which had been on the decline since the time of InuMaru, as well as from lesser youkai, who were the greater threat. In fact if the cavalry had not shown up when it did, they would have quickly overrun the palace through the opening in the north-western wall, and with all of the palace guards dead there would have been no one to stop them.
Kotaru the umayoukai, or horse demon, narrowed his eyes to focus on the giant silver-white form that was swiftly approaching them.
"Thank the gods," Kotaru sighed, reminding himself to reward Atari for his swiftness at delivering the message. If the lord had returned in less than a day, the message must have reached him with truly admirable expediency.
Had it only been a day? So many things had happened, it seemed too much for a mere twenty-four hours to contain.
The cavalry had been gathered on the training fields miles away, as they did twice every month during peace time, when they had seen the explosion. Immediately Kotaru had sent off Atari to deliver a message to Inu no Taisho, informing him that the palace might be under attack, and sent another messenger to put general Morimoro on alert.
When they had finally arrived at the palace, the enemy was just taking his leave.
Kotaru absently touched the bruises on his neck, remembering how fast the enemy had thrown him off his mount, shoved him up against a wall, and wrapped a clawed hand around his throat, dangerously close to the jugular veins. Even in memory the dragon's scent filled his nose with the stench of sulfur, ash, and blood, making his stomach turn over.
"Tell Lord Inu no Taisho, that I Ryuukotsusei of the South have done this. And that he may come to take his vengeance on me anytime he wishes," the dragon-memory hissed, then let Kotaru go with a rough shove, leaped into the sky transforming into his true form and flew away.
Some of his soldiers had made as if to pursue the enemy, but Kotaru had motioned for them to stop as they were now needed to protect the palace from other intruders. Once they had setup a makeshift defense in place of the opening in the wall, and set sentries at the look out spots, they went to survey the damage the dragon had done.
What they found, of course, was the queen lying dead, and the heir to Inu no Taisho barely alive.
Kotaru made his way slowly to the Northern gate where the Dog Lord was headed, thinking about just how he was going to tell his sovereign that his wife was dead, and his son and heir was only steps away from it.
"My Lord." Kotaru said formally as the gate opened to reveal a giant white dog closely followed by an equally enormous leopard.
The dog transformed, once again taking the face of Inu no Taisho. The leopard swiftly followed suit to become InuTaisho's friend and protector, Draba.
"What has happened?" InuTaisho said firmly, though he was panting from running nearly nonstop for half a day.
"My Lord, come with me." Kotaru motioned and began walking toward the grove of cherry trees, close to expiring of anxiety. "We saw the explosion that damaged the northwestern wall from our training ground. We got here as soon as we could, but when we did the enemy was already leaving. A dragon from the South. He---"
"Nevermind that! What of my son and my wife?" InuTaisho demanded.
Kotaru took a deep breath as they reached the part he had been dreading. "By the time we got to her, the queen was…"
The cavalry commander felt the words catch in his throat, as he saw InuTaisho's mask of authority begin to crack and melt into one of disbelief, with deep sorrow beginning to build up behind it.
"And my son?" The lord asked slowly, looking as if he really did not want to know the answer.
"Still alive, but his blood is running out with alarming speed," Kotaru said gravely.
"Take me to him. Now!" Despite the tone there was no anger in the lord's voice, just urgency and worry.
"This way!" Kotaru now began to run in the direction of the cherry trees, with InuTaisho and Draba right behind. "The dragon pinned the young prince there with one of his claws. We've been unable remove or break the claw, but no doubt Tetsusaiga can."
"My Lord! Commander Kotaru!" One of Kotaru's soldiers came toward them as they approached the cherry tree where the cavalry had found Sesshoumaru. The soldier looked very distressed. "Sire, the prince…..we tried…but his blood was lost too quickly…"
The medics surrounding Sesshoumaru backed away as InuTaisho approached. The sight that presented itself to InuTaisho made the Western Lord's heart stop. There was his precious son, blood stained and broken lying still and silent against the tree. The lord felt a lump rise in his throat as the scent of death entered his nose.
InuTaisho gulped and felt as if he was swallowing Tetsusaiga. He kneeled down next to Sesshoumaru's body, and very gently pushed his son's torso forward, revealing a section of the spike between where it was embedded in the tree and Sesshoumaru's shoulder. The dog lord felt his stomach turn over at the feel of his pup's lifeless form under his hands.
InuTaisho steeled himself with a deep breath and pulled out Tetsusaiga. Aiming carefully, he brought the giant sword down and with a few sparks flying severed the claw that was anchoring Sesshoumaru to the tree. Once freed, InuTaisho pulled the rest of the spike from his son's shoulder, then carefully lifted the pup into his arms and began walking toward the palace. After a few steps, he stopped and turned to Draba and Kotaru.
"Kotaru, send a messenger to Morimoro and tell him what has happened. This may be an isolated incident, but if it's not I want him to be ready." InuTaisho said solemnly, but resolutely.
"Already done, my lord."
"Good. Draba, I want you to begin research on this monster who dared attack my family." InuTaisho's solemn tone turned into a snarl halfway through.
"It will be done!" Draba nodded firmly.
"I want to know everything, everything about this dragon, this ---"
"Ryuukotsusei." Kotaru interjected gravely.
"You know him?"
"He and I had an "encounter" just as he was leaving." The horse demon spat.
"Come with me, I want you to tell me about this." InuTaisho turned and continued toward the palace, with Kotaru following him.
When InuTaisho entered the palace, he headed straight toward Sesshoumaru's room. The servants who had fled at the enemy assault had apparently returned after the cavalry had arrived, and were bustling about. Some looked anxious, some frightened, and some were sobbing as they moved about.
"Nanami."
The aforementioned servant skidded to a halt when the lord addressed her, and bowed.
"What has been done with the queen?"
"We took her to her room. Her body has been cleaned and tended to, and we are awaiting your next direction," Nanami answered quickly, though her voice sounded choked and strained, clearly on the verge of tears.
"Good. Be prepared to tend to the prince when I am finished." InuTaisho said solemnly.
"Yes, sire." Her voice quavered even more.
InuTaisho nodded and walked past the grieving servant.
When he reached Sesshoumaru's room he carefully laid his son down on the bed and stood quietly for a moment. Kotaru watched silently from the doorway.
"Close the door Kotaru." InuTaisho murmured, not taking his eyes away from his son. He drew out his most powerful sword, Tensaiga.
It was tragic, in a way, that Tensaiga was so often over shadowed by its brother, the mighty Tetsusaiga. Though the mighty fang of destruction was, in his hands, used only to protect land and family, it did not change the fact of what it was. A weapon of death.
But Tensaiga was different, it had the power to kill death and bring life, defying the balance of nature. Because of this power he and Totousai, the creator of the brother swords, decided it was best not to parade Tensaiga's abilities in front of everyone. So far only a few people knew the true power of Tensaiga.
Draba and Sesshoulara were among the trusted few. Draba had been the first person InuTaisho had used Tensaiga's power on, and Sesshoulara, while she carried Sesshoumaru, had been able to use Tensaiga to resurrect InuTaisho, after the first battle in the southern lands.
"Please Tensaiga," InuTaisho whispered, praying Tensaiga would see fit to allow the lord to save his son's soul from the grips of the netherworld.
Relief washed over him when Tensaiga pulsed and glowed bright like a star. He waited for moment, and then he saw them, the messengers from the otherside, come to claim his son's soul.
So enthralled was InuTaisho with Tensaiga, he failed to notice that Kotaru had misinterpreted his order of "close the door." Instead of stepping outside of the room and closing the door, when the order was given, he stepped inside the room and quietly closed the door behind him, going with what InuTaisho had said earlier about telling him of what the dragon had said.
Kotaru furrowed his brow in confusion as his lord unsheathed the sword that was always at his side, but that Kotaru had never seen him use. The horse youkai's confusion grew as InuTaisho pointed his sword at the pup. Then, without warning, the lord of the west swung the sword around, hitting nothing but air.
The cavalry commander looked from InuTaisho to Sesshoumaru then back to InuTaisho, who was now sheathing the sword, wondering if this was some inuyoukai death ritual he was witnessing. Then his ears caught a sound he never expected to hear. A heart beat that was neither InuTaisho's or his own.
Kotaru turned all of his senses to the supposedly dead pup. Sure enough, the new heart beat was coming from him. The umayoukai's jaw dropped as he watched air enter the pup's lungs, moving his chest up and down. The breath of life was unmistakable. Kotaru's own heart began to race as he came to realize he had just witnessed the greatest miracle of all.
InuTaisho let out a sigh of relief as he watched the life flow back into his son's body, and sensed the sickening scent of death begin to dissipate.
"Of all the wonders I have seen, none are so miraculous as this."
InuTaisho's head snapped around to see Kotaru pressed up against the door, both awestruck and frightened at the same time. The dog lord mentally kicked himself for not checking to make sure Kotaru had stepped out of the room before closing the door. Then again, he counted himself lucky that it had only been Kotaru who had witnessed this. Kotaru could be trusted with the secret.
"Kotaru." InuTaisho addressed the commander, for the moment suppressing his joy that his son lived once more, speaking in most serious and firm voice. "What you have seen here you must never speak of to anyone, ever. Sink the memory into silence in the depths of your mind."
"Yes, yes, I understand." Kotaru still looked overcome, but he was perfectly coherent. "This is a wonder that the world is not ready for. It shall never pass my lips."
"Good."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Kotaru looked at the door then back at the lord, silently asking if he should open it. InuTaisho nodded.
Kotaru slid the shoji open to reveal Nanami with a group of servants, come to tend to the prince's body as InuTaisho had directed earlier.
"A mistake has been made." InuTaisho addressed the servants firmly. "My heir is not dead. But he is in need of cleaning and dressing. Do take care of it."
Shocked looks crossed the faces of the servants, but the no less hurried in to tend to the still unconscious prince. As the servants took care of Sesshoumaru, InuTaisho and Kotaru stepped out the room.
"So tell me about this dragon." InuTaisho said sliding the door to Sesshoumaru's room closed behind them.
"I know only what he told me and what I could feel when he attacked me." Kotaru said gravely. "His youki was extremely powerful, comparable to yours, and he moved faster than any other demon I have seen. Honestly, I am only alive now because he chose to spare me, to deliver this message." He imparted the dragon's parting words quietly, face grave. "And then he let me go."
"So it was a personal attack," InuTaisho hissed, rage building again at the thought that anyone would attack his loved ones out of a personal vandetta against him.
"He did not tell me of his exact location. I---"
"Because he wants me to hunt him, so he can choose the battle ground," InuTaisho spat.
"Perhaps you could wait him out and make him come to you," Kotaru suggested carefully.
"And give him a chance to finish the job with Sesshoumaru? I think not!" InuTaisho rounded on the cavalry commander
"I think if he had wanted to kill the prince he would have done it.".
"But he did!"
"The prince was still alive when we found him. The spike that was in his shoulder could have easily been in his heart," Kotaru pointed out quietly.
InuTaisho growled and turned away, not happy at all about the thought of his son being at the complete mercy of his enemy.
Kotaru thought for a moment, then spoke again. "I only tried to speak words of comfort, that Sesshoumaru might not be the enemy's target anymore."
InuTaisho turned around opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could the door to Sesshoumaru's door opened and Nanami came out.
"Sire, the prince is beginning to wake."
"Nanami, you and your crew prepare a room for commander Kotaru, I wish to be with my son alone. Kotaru, tell Morimoro and Masuyo when they arrive that I will speak to you all in the morning," InuTaisho said somberly, and entered Sesshoumaru's room as the other servants filed out.
When the last servant had exited, InuTaisho slid the door shut and walked over to Sesshoumaru's bedside, where his son lay now clean of the blood that had been left after Tensaiga had closed the wounds. He had been redressed in a clean sleeping kimono.
Sesshoumaru sat up, groggily rubbing his eyes.
"Sesshoumaru?" InuTaisho asked quietly as he sat down next to his son.
"Unnnggghhh. ...Father?" Sesshoumaru groaned, blinking several times to clear his vision.
"Son…" InuTaisho said gently pulling Sesshoumaru into a hug. "Are you all right?"
"I'm all right. Where's mother?" Sesshoumaru asked tiredly, pulling back a little from his father's embrace.
InuTaisho swallowed hard, not sure how to tell him this. "I'm… I'm afraid she's gone, Maru-chan."
There was a long silence as the impact of what had just been said began to settle in and Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in horror and disbelief.
"She is not dead. I will not allow it to be so!"
InuTaisho closed his eyes, his own heart aching for her loss. "I'm... I'm afraid she is, Maru-chan…"
"I don't believe you. Mother always told me that nothing is impossible." Sesshoumaru insisted frantically, searching for hope. "There must be a way. I will find it!"
"Stop! Your... your mother is gone, Sesshoumaru. Her soul has already been taken to the otherside. Not even the Tensaiga can bring her back now." InuTaisho held his son closer, the full weight of grief beginning to bear down upon him.
At these last words Sesshoumaru fully realized that the likelihood of saving his mother had gone from slim to none. Suddenly, he tore away from his father's embrace and stood, snarling in rage and sorrow.
"Damn you! Where were you when mother died? If you were here you could have saved her!" Sesshoumaru screamed at his father at the top of his lungs.
"Sesshoumaru!" That was all InuTaisho could say at that moment, so taken aback was he by his son's accusation.
"You should have protected us!" the volume of Sesshoumaru's voice had quieted, but the rage in it had not.
"You know I was in the north, ensuring they were still our allies. I had no knowledge of this until one of Kotaru's men delivered the message that the palace was under attack. I raced back here as fast I could!" InuTaisho protested desperately, still partly in shock of Sesshoumaru's accusations.
"Don't give me excuses." Sesshoumaru picked up a china vase full of cherry tree branches, and threw it against the wall, barely missing InuTaisho's head as it made its flight. "Mother is dead and you could have prevented it. Someone else could easily have made the journey! You should have been here with us!"
"Do you think I wanted this!" InuTaisho stood up and shouted back.
"I didn't say that. I only said you failed!" Sesshoumaru spat coldly.
It was too much. InuTaisho turned away from his son, already grieving from the loss of his wife, it too much to bear his beloved son torturing him with his failure.
"If there was anything I could undo, it would be this," InuTaisho said helplessly.
"Must I repeat myself? It would not have happened in the first place if you had been here." Though they were the same words as before, the voice that said them was different. Instead of harsh and accusing, it wavered and cracked like the bough of a cherry tree about to break under the weight of anguish.
InuTaisho turned around to face his son again. Sesshoumaru's eyes, a moment ago so cruel and cold, were now beginning to overflow with helpless tears. The belligerence that had contorted the pup's face was quickly fading.
"Why did you leave us? Will you leave again?" Sesshoumaru whimpered, his voice barely above a whisper.
At that moment all of the harsh words that had been said were pushed away, all of the ruthless looks forgotten, as InuTaisho placed his hands on Sesshoumaru's shoulders.
"Never. I will never willingly leave you again. This I promise. Even when I travel, you will be at my side if you wish to be." InuTaisho whispered, not taking his eyes away from his son's.
Sesshoumaru nodded, then threw himself at his father. "I want mother!" he wailed, now revealed as what he was: simply a lost child longing for his mother.
InuTaisho wrapped his arms around his son and held him tight, a single tear running down his own cheek. "I know… I know…so do I."
0000
Poor Sesshy and InuTaisho. Here we start to see some of the viciousness we've come to be familiar with in Sesshy's personality. Of course he was freaked out and being irrational, but anybody would be freaked out and irrational if they were 13 years old and just had gone through an experience like that. But then later on we'll be seeing how the viciousness becomes a more permanent part of his personality.
How do you like my OC Kotaru? He's going to be popping up every now and then. More often then not if you like.
Please Review! I really would like to know if I portrayed the characters right in here.
Well next chapter, InuT receives a letter, from Sesshoulara's brother, demanding that her body returned to her homeland in India.
Till Next Time,
Vega Sailor
