Sesshomaru seemed to be possessed by the need to sneeze, but -more importantly- he felt stalked. Every corner presented dangers that he could not see and it was making him jumpy.
"Maru-."
There was no dignified way to land, not when his attacker came up to his cheek and had an arm full of soil.
"Are you alright?"
He touched down a few feet away from her, trying to calm the heart that raged within his chest with reckless abandon. "Reason would say so."
Kimi shifted the soil, watching as he tipped his head back to sniff the air.
There was nothing there.
"You know, some people say that unexplained feelings of dread or frustration come from your mate." Which did fuck all of nothing for his anxiety. He took the bags from her arms, needing to do something with his hands before he went insane, and allowed her to lead him to the gardens.
Izayoi was there, elbows deep in upturned earth. Her wide smile usually put him at ease, but today everything seemed to be painted in a sinister glow.
"You'd think that your week of seclusion would have done wonders in destressing you." Despite her teasing tone, Izayoi climbed out of her hole and cleaned her dirty hands on her apron. She hesitated to touch him- correctly choosing to drop her hands to her side once she finished her inspection.
Panic was clawing at his heart and mind, making it impossible to stay completely calm. There was no way to explain that he didn't know where and he didn't know why. The need to protect and the need to escape crescendoed until everything -mercifully- went blank.
"Alright my Lord?" Miroku -the bothersome, human minstrel- was headed over, a plate in hand.
The words were stuck in his throat- as if he'd eaten old bread with no water, but he managed to force them out.
"Fine." He turned away from the concerned eyes that pinned him in place, trying to find some of his dormant indignation in an attempt to take him mind off of the panic attack that was shaking his core. Besides, he was still sour about their latest schemes against him.
Someone's hand tried to lead him into the grass, but he couldn't imagine sitting when his nerves were on fire.
And then he was struck by a thought. Or a clue. He wasn't sure. "Where is that mutated brother of mine?"
The sooner he ruled out the possibility of some stupid brotherly connection, the better.
Miroku shrugged, seemingly careful of his scent. "Not sure, I haven't seen him all day."
Sesshomaru reached over and fluffed the other man's top without a moment of hesitation. At this point he was being led by intuition alone.
"Then why do you reek of half breed?" Everything about him bore the faint scent of InuYasha, as if -for hours- they'd been shoulder to shoulder someplace warm.
His mother tried to wedge herself between the two -an action the filthy lecher likely enjoyed, but he wouldn't allow it.
"I'm rewearing this top. It's nothing major, detective,"
Nothing was making sense and he was out of control of himself. Miroku lying about being with InuYasha was only making things worse. An animal seemed to be driving him and it was feral.
Miroku was light as a feather and his sudden thrashing did nothing to change that.
"Where is he?"
Kimi was back to trying to intervene, tugging on his bicep, demanding that he set the human free while Izayoi called for Toga. The screaming was making everything so much fuzzier, but he couldn't seem to care anymore.
Instinct pushed him to interrogate. If he couldn't break Miroku, if he couldn't get the answers we required, he'd never be able to protect Her.
"He can't answer you if he can't breathe," his mother dug her claws into his flesh, trying to bring him back to whatever reality she was still apart of, "loosen your grip." She sounded frantic and so he complied.
By a bit.
"Left… into …" Sesshomaru only truly let him go when his eyes went rolling backwards. Today would not be the day he took a life… so long as the day didn't provoke him further.
"Into what?" He had no time for the spluttering. There would be plenty of time to breathe when Sesshomaru had the answers he craved.
"Into the city." Miroku pulled his hand from the crushed dessert, cowering when the smell of a sleeping herb wafted from within the treat. "He'll be back any minute now, I swear."
The city was a fine place for someone of his pedigree, but for InuYasha…
He could still remember the stench of burning hair when he was still so small. InuYasha had no been born yet the last time he witnessed the mass burning of half breeds.
Vaguely -oh so vaguely- he remembered his father telling him that it had been done to send a message.
He didn't know if that was still the case, but -judging by the way Izayoi and Kimi leapt into action he could assume it was.
Izayoi hopped onto his back without a moment's hesitation, locking her arms about his neck and her legs around his hips, "Kimi, find Toga and meet us there. We'll go ahead."
"Lord Toga is… asleep," Miroku's voice was so soft that it was nearly swallowed whole by the raging in Sesshomaru's chest. He didn't know if InuYasha was alright and he hated that worry for him and some mysterious being could drive him to such mutinous levels of worry. "We made these desserts with a sleeping herb mixed into the dough."
That time it was Kimi who hoisted Miroku off the ground by his neck, "you drugged my mate?" Fire raged behind her eyes, but Sesshomaru could wait no longer.
InuYasha likely left hours ago and there was no guarantee that he was still alive, but Sesshomaru was confident in his ability to sniff him out. He was never particularly stealthy, after all.
His chest burned with exertion as he surged through the forest, but -as he crested the hill and went skidding into the city- he could only dig his heels into the earth and pray that he'd stop before he slammed into a wall.
"My Lord, My Lady," a nearby guard trotted over, seemingly brimming with pride and Sesshomaru finally came to a graceless and stuttering stop. "Have you come to watch the execution?"
Izayoi was quick to ask the important question, "who is being executed," while Sesshomaru grappled uselessly within himself, trying to find a presence that was always nearby.
He'd never noticed it before, but now that it was gone he couldn't seem to think of anything else.
Some part of him was missing and the longer he waited the more impossible and uncrossable that cavern became.
"A skid mark on the kingdom's good name and his violent, human friend."
Sesshomaru didn't have time for games, he moved towards the screams without another thought determined to undo what may be irreversible.
"Let them down-," the one screaming seemed to be talking to a brick wall for all the good it did her, "if you kill my guard I will consider it an act of war- let her go you brainless, incompetent, hard hearted twits! Let her go. Let them both go!"
His brother was bound to a wooden post, flames climbing along the kindling and reflecting in terrified, golden eyes.
"Mother! Sesshomaru-," smoke stole away into his lungs and sent him into a fit.
"Lord Sesshomaru," the screaming woman from before shoved past the guards, brilliant lavender energy radiating around her like an aura. "You have to do something about this."
Obviously.
He left Izayoi in the strange human's care. "Surround her in that aura of yours." They'd be safe within it, for even he could not bear to be near her.
InuYasha would be fine for a few more moments, a fact that he confirmed when he choked, "get the girl first."
Already planning on it.
The ropes that bound her lifeless form to the post were easily torn apart and he hoisted her over his shoulder.
InuYasha was next. His eyes were less afraid now, more glassy and unseeing.
He didn't scream how he remembered, but he assumed that it was because the flames had yet to lick at his flesh.
Sesshomaru left the girl with the glowing woman, although he loathed leaving her behind, and floated up to free InuYasha. The chains were too thick to break and the smoke was rising, so he pulled back and sent his neon whip into the thick wood.
It snapped in the middle and Sesshomaru caught him before he could crash into the dirt like he so deserved.
With some village person putting out the fire and everyone relatively safe, Sesshomaru turned on his brother, a fire in his eyes as he realized just how foolish he'd been. "What exactly were you thinking?" He felt -in that moment- like their father. "Being a fucking moron is no excuse to put yourself and anyone else in danger."
"I didn't mean for this to happen!" He was possessed by a coughing fit that Sesshomaru found himself wishing would end him. "I told her to stand down and run away, but she wouldn't leave! I tried to explain and I tried to get them to find you."
Sesshomaru couldn't say he cared. "You know about the war on hanyou as well as I do. You left with no guards, no word to anyone of consequence?" He nearly felt like screaming. They weren't close in the way that siblings were, but Sesshomaru had always respected InuYasha's individuality.
Some large part of himself wondered why he hadn't been trusted with these plans. All of this could have been avoided if he'd been trustworthy and the knowledge that he wasn't was only making everything worse.
Whatever else he'd have said seemed to die on his lips. That empty feeling seemed to opened itself up and swallow him whole.
He could hear InuYasha called his name, could feel someone's petite hand snap against his cheek, but he was powerless. It was taking a step and missing a stair or dreaming that you were falling, but without the ability to wake up.
Every moment was worse than the last and he found himself being accosted by a high pitched keening noise.
InuYasha clamped his hand over his mouth, muffling the noise in an effort to preserve a bit of his brother's fading dignity.
For all of his efforts, he'd failed to save Her. Now he was nothing more than a shell -grieving and soulless and empty. So empty. There had never been a time when he'd felt grief so strong.
It blinded him and he found no solace in the fur that wound itself around his torso like a blanket.
"We have to get to father." InuYasha insisted. "If we can get to him then we can use tenseiga. Or maybe mother can use her meido stone." He was shaking his brother with all that he was, almost begging him to snap out of whatever stupor possessed him now.
"How can we get father if you drugged him."
Greying. Fading.
"We only need his sword, just -," InuYasha grabbed his wrists and rubbed him up, "trust me."
"The same way you trusted me with your whereabouts?" He really was airing his every thought.
What did it matter? He could feel his grip on reality slipping out from beneath him and even breathing became its own labor.
"You idiot," sudden pressure to his chest forced him to take in a sharp breath, "keep breathing." InuYasha never let go of his wrists as they made their way back towards the palace.
When a guard threw himself at Sesshomaru's feet, eyes bugging and neck oddly angled, he didn't bag an eye.
When he was asked to transform and carry however many people, he did.
When someone scratched behind his ear and told him he was doing great, he accepted it.
The only thing he seemed capable of caring for was the casing that held his spirit captive. She was limp in his mother's arms and he vaguely noted that the screaming woman from earlier was sobbing.
InuYasha was still apologizing.
When Sesshomaru felt he could go no further, the dragging never faltered.
The first solid memory Sesshomaru had was gazing upon her body and seeing a limp, frayed string tied about her pinkie.
Death never freaked him out before, but now-.
Hot, salty, liquidy. There was something rolling along his cheeks as his mother held a sword above the body that had captivated him so callously.
She swung at air and then they all held their breath, waiting for something, waiting for nothing. He wished they'd go away.
Why couldn't he hold her in peace.
He sank deeper into the fur that wrapped itself around him.
Then her lips twitched and he felt relief wash over him. With no regard for his reputation he leaned forwards -a dog eagerly awaiting his owners return.
He hoisted her up, careful not to get into her space, but desperate to be the first to see her eyes open. Her eyelids fluttered and then his world tipped back into place.
"You're alright." That sigh of relief was accompanied by a chorus of repose that was not inspired by Sango alone.
She struggled to wake and he encouraged her to sleep if she needed to.
"Gotta know if you're as pretty as InuYasha insists you are."
Her firsts words to him were dip dyed in sass and flirtation and he knew in that moment that she would become the pain in the ass he'd never cared to find.
"Don't be stupid." He stroked the curve of her face, absolutely shameless for the moment. "If you need more rest-."
Stubborn wench. She wasn't listening. Her eyes cracked open and he found himself faced with a color so warm- so distinctly and perfectly her- that he was rendered speechless once more
Her awe was as plain as his and he was certain that he'd marry her. "Imagine dying and waking up to a literal angel."
oOo
Decided to rewrite some chapters because I realized I couldn't give you InuKag realness with only Sesshomaru's POV. Also. Want to see a scene be drawn? Drop a review and I'll give it a go. :)