a/n: Well I'm going to up the rating on this story to M just to be safe. No lemons or stuff like that it's just that my battle scenes are kinda gory. ^~^ Oh ya, while I'm at it I might as well warn yall all that this chappie is kinda gory. ^.^ ON TO THE CHAPPY!!!

Chapter 12- The Blood Lust

Slowly Sango cracked her eyes open after a few moments of feeling no pain. Not understanding why the monk's staff hadn't impaled her, she lowered her arms from their position in front of her face to see a mass of silver hair. Horrified she looked down to see the usually pristine white kimono that her mate wore covered in crimson blood.

"Sesshomaru!" she yelled as she dropped her Hiraikotsu and moved to look at his face.

Upon moving in front of him she saw that Miroku's staff had run her mate through the side. Blood gushed from the wound and had already begun to form a puddle on the ground. Desperation washed over her as she tried to think of what to do. She looked up at Sesshomaru's face and was shocked beyond belief.

His usual calm countenance had taken on a feral air, the likes of which she had never seen before on his face. The purple stripes on his cheeks had become jagged hashed remains of the once smooth stripes. His eyes were completely blood red and not a trace of their normal gold remained. What truly frightened her was the way that his features seemed to be pushing to elongate and transform into their true dog demon form. Sesshomaru seemed to be fighting the transformation but the blood loss he was suffering due to the monk's staff.

"Sesshomaru?" she questioned as she stood directly in front of him.

His eyes were an unfocused red haze and she wasn't sure if he could even hear her. Her attention was so solely focused on her nearly transformed mate that she was unprepared for the monk to grab her from behind and slide a knife quickly against her throat. Her former question of whether or not her mate was conscious was promptly answered as his bloody eyes quickly focused on the monk that held her and a roar, so frightening that her own blood nearly froze, ripped forth from his throat.

She tried to free herself from the monk's hold but as soon as she began to twist her body Miroku pushed the knife so tight to her neck that she began to bleed slightly. Freezing, her eyes flew to Sesshomaru who'd moved forward slightly and let out another snarl.

She'd heard stories from her father about what happened when a demon that was nearly transformed smelt their mate's blood spilt. Her father had described an animal that no longer held any self-control or rational and solely sought the blood of their enemy. Their blood lust only appeased when the body of the enemy lay in bloody pieces scattered across the ground. She had seen her mate's anger and had witnessed him fight in his true form before, but the image that her father had painted scared her more than even Naraku had before he had finally been destroyed.

She was eyeing her mate fearfully until he suddenly disappeared from her sight. The monk's grip on her tightened and she cried out in pain as the knife dug deeper into her neck and drew enough blood for it to run down her neck in red rivulets. Without warning the monk's arm dropped, Miroku screamed loudly, and a spray of blood flew from the area his arm had previously resided and onto Sango's face. As soon as the knife was clear from her neck she threw her body forward to free herself from the monk's grasp. From her position on the ground she turned, with one hand pressed to her neck to stop the bleeding, to see the monk clutching at the bloody stump that Sesshomaru had just caused by slicing off his arm.

At some point Sesshomaru had yanked the monk's staff from his stomach and had thrown the blood covered weapon to the ground a short distance away from where the monk had held her in his grasp. Miroku tried to get to the discarded item but was unable to as Sesshomaru was attacking so rapidly he could only just dodge the random attacks. Sesshomaru was no longer attacking calculatingly and his movements had become animalistic and sloppy.

It pained her to see what her mate had been reduced to because of her. She pulled herself to her feet and stood just as Miroku was able to duck to avoid Sesshomaru's claws and roll to grab his staff. She swayed slightly, blood leaking from between her fingers as the battle raged on. Sesshomaru had received a few wounds from Miroku's staff and sutras after his transformation into the animalistic state, and the monk had lost an arm and had two or three places that Sesshomaru had sliced with his claws.

All in all both fighters had beaten each other to bloody pulps, neither looking like they cared who won any more; Miroku having realized that he would die here and wanting to take the demon who'd ended his life down with him, Sesshomaru being overcome by the animalistic nature of his inner demon and his rational thoughts no longer ruling his actions. Sango feared that the monk would be able to take her mate down in desperation while Sesshomaru was not himself.

The thought of her mate falling before the monk that had broken her heart drove Sango to action. With blood still running freely from her neck she pushed her body forward and ran towards the battle. She had sworn that she wouldn't enter the battle unless his life was in danger and now was that time. Drawing the small katana from her side she blocked a swing of Miroku's staff from hitting Sesshomaru's blind spot. Weakly pushing the staff away she stumbled into a protective position in front of Sesshomaru's bloody form.

"L..Leave him a..alone…" she said weakly as she raised her katana in front of her body.

Miroku eyed her wearily before shifting his eyes to the demon behind her. She hadn't been prepared for Sesshomaru to push her aside violently to get to the monk. She flew sideways a good distance due to the strength of Sesshomaru's shove before hitting her head on a rock on the ground with a loud crack. The last thing she saw before her vision blackened was Sesshomaru slicing through the monk's body with his elongated claws.

Kagome had just finished healing Inuyasha and had turned to watch the fight when Miroku had grabbed Sango and put a knife to her throat. She had grabbed her quiver and bow and was about to go help Sango when Inuyasha's hand grasped her wrist tightly.

"Don't Kagome," Inuyasha said weakly, "This is Sesshomaru's fight. Please stay by my side."

She had nodded and settled herself beside him to watch the rest of the battle. She had watched in amazement and horror as Sesshomaru's movements became wild and sloppy. She couldn't understand why until his face came into her view and she saw how feral his features had become. She gasped in shock; never before had she seen her brother-in-law look so terrifying.

She could only watch as Sango threw herself into the battle. Once again she tried to move forward to help but Inuyasha grabbed her arm once more.

"Inuyasha, I have to help them," Kagome said as she looked back at her injured mate.

"I know Kagome but you're not doing it alone," he said as he pulled himself up using her arm for support.

She wanted to tell him not to but she knew that he would anyway and that she would need his help to calm Sesshomaru down. Just finishing helping Inuyasha stand, she turned just in time to see Sesshomaru shove Sango violently to the side and slice through Miroku's chest with his claws. Her eyes, however, were locked on Sango's falling form and she saw her best friend bash her head on the rock that jutted out from the grass of the clearing floor.

"NO! SANGO!" she cried as she began running towards her friend.

Time seemed to slow as she neared Sango's fallen form; blood pooling around the rock from her neck as well as the newly formed head wound. Kagome fell to her friend's side yelling her name once again. She heard Inuyasha approach behind her and she yelled for him to help move Sango into flat position on the ground so that she could heal her injuries.

Inuyasha did so before turning back to his brother to see that he was about to slice into the fallen monk yet again. He didn't know what to do. Never before had he seen his brother in such an uncontrolled fury but he had to try something.

"Sesshomaru! What the hell are you doing? Snap out of it!" Inuyasha yelled causing his brother to halt mid-swing.

'Yes! I'm getting through to him,' Inuyasha thought.

He was discouraged to see Sesshomaru turn away from him and back towards the bloody corpse of the monk.

"Look! Look what you did to Sango! Look what you did to your mate Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha yelled in desperation.

'If that doesn't snap him out of it then I don't know what I'm going to do,' he thought, 'Come on Sesshomaru. Come back to us.'

Sesshomaru found himself in a very dark place. The fog that seemed to surround him had an eerie red tint to it. He tried to remember how he'd gotten into this place but the only thing he could remember was the monk's staff flying towards Sango and he moving as quickly as he could to intercept it.

'That must have been it, the monk's staff must have hit me in a vital spot and my inner demon took over. This is my inner demon's realm. That means that he has taken over,' Sesshomaru thought as he looked around wearily.

"How long have I been here?" he asked the murky darkness.

He received no reply and decided that he should wait for a few moments to regain his strength before trying to reclaim his body. He sat for a few moments before he head a voice cry out from somewhere beyond the darkness.

'NO! SANGO!'

That voice. It was the priestess Kagome. What was she screaming about?

'SANGO!'

'She's yelling Sango's name. What has happened? Where is she?' Sesshomaru thought fearfully as he tried to pinpoint where the priestess' voice had come from.

What was happening? What was his inner demon doing while he was trapped in this red fog covered world? Suddenly Inuyasha's voice cut through the darkness harshly.

'Sesshomaru! What the hell are you doing? Snap out of it!'

What? What was his body doing? He must know. Pushing against the restraints that held him within his own mind. An invisible shield thrust him back with an almost electric shock.

"Damn," he cursed, "I must find out what has happened."

He stood again but knew that he had not yet regained enough strength to overcome his demon's hold on his body.

'Look! Look what you did to Sango! Look what you did to your mate Sesshomaru!' Inuyasha's voice once again rang through his mind.

"WHAT?!" he roared "What have you done to MY Sango demon?!"

His anger at his own inner demon gave him power as he imagined what his out of control body could have done to his mate. He slammed his fist repeatedly against the barrier before his anger shattered it and he was able to regain control.

Looking around he saw that the monk lay in a bloody pile on the ground and that his own body and claws were caked with the monk's blood as well as his own. Turning, he saw his mate lying in a small pool of blood a few yards away. He was at her side in an instant, unheeding of his own wounds, and pulled her limp form into his arms.

'What have I done…' He thought in despair, 'What have I done?'

a/n: ^.^ hehe. Well there you go. Chappie 12. Nice and action packed. A little gorey but you know that Sesshomaru would readily and easily do that if someone threatened his mate that way :D

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