Kaede pushed aside the cloth covering the entrance to her hut, peering out
at the busy village. The feeling from this morning was growing stronger.
The old miko toyed with her long gray ponytail absently as she stared up at the sky. It was clear today; the rain was gone, and that meant that the crops could be checked. A good rain had been needed. But something about that rain had felt...wrong.
An unhealthy darkness had accompanied the clouds, something different from the usual black and gray thunderheads that gave them storms. This was unnatural, an evil darkness. Kaede had known instantly it must have been a demon, but as of yet she was unsure if it was Naraku or just a nameless entity.
Kagome and her group had been gone for three weeks on their jewel hunt, and as of yet she had no word on how it was coming. Or how they were doing.
The miko had barely time to sigh before the first cry echoed throughout the village.
"Youkai! It's a youkai!"
"Lady Kaede, come quick!"
"Get the weapons--"
"Stay back!"
Kaede rushed from the doorway to see a group of men surrounding a tall, white haired demon. It was an unnecessary precaution, as it was clear this demon could barely walk. Her eyes snapped wide in recognition.
"It can't be... You?!"
~~~
"Rrrrr." Kilala pushed her head against Sango's hand, nudging her to look ahead of them. The clearing of the village was in sight now; they'd probably set down right next to the meadow. Inuyasha's moaning had long since ceased, and Kagome was beginning to wish he was screaming again.
At least that would mean he was alive.
"Miroku, how's it going back there?" Sango said, peering behind her.
"Not well. He's still not waking up and his chest is turning green," Miroku called back. "His whole front was hit, really hard. But the bruise is only half the problem; his breathing is what really concerns me."
Kagome cringed. "It isn't slowing, is it?"
"No, but the effort it's taking him to get a breath is enormous. He must have been crushed by something."
Kagome looked down at the sleeping half-demon in her lap. She had been fighting the oncoming hysteria rising in her breast since they had climbed the stairs back at the castle, and she didn't know how much control she had left. First Inuyasha, now Sesshoumaru... This just couldn't get any wor-- no, better not jinx it.
"NO!" Suddenly there was a cry from behind her and Miroku let out a loud yell.
Kagome looked back--only to see Miroku with his hand reaching down toward the ground. His eyes were wild as he caught his companions' gaze. "I--He--"
Sango eyes widened as she caught on. "Oh my God!"
"Sesshoumaru!"
The demon had awoken suddenly and leapt off of the giant cat, plunging at least three hundred feet to the ground and he was still falling. After a few seconds he was invisible in the mist, his long white mane trailing behind him. Kagome and Sango just couldn't believe it. Sesshoumaru had literally disappeared into thin air.
"I was holding onto him," Miroku said shakily. "His eyes opened and he broke my grip, then jumped off!"
"...Sesshou...nii chan..." Kagome looked down into Inuyasha's clouded eyes. "Kagome..." Kagome reached for his hand as he felt for her. His eyes cleared as much as was possible for a few moments. "Wh... where is...he?"
~~~
The first thing Sesshoumaru was aware of was wind; rushing by his face, battering his eyes, cooling his heated flesh. The sky was no longer visible.
I must have passed out, he realized--just before the trees took him.
"Ahh!" The demon lord's bare back was hit by hundreds of passing branches, scratches forming from the sharp leaves and sticks protruding off of limbs. A rush of green was all he could see before his back cracked against a branch and a explosion of pain overtook him, the world going momentarily black.
Seemingly seconds later, his eyes cleared and he registered that he was hanging suspended over a two story drop to the forest floor, bent in half on his back like hanging laundry.
I'm...going to get you for this, brother, he though woozily as he slid from the limb and fell hard onto his stomach.
WHAP!
"...Ouch."
The youkai let himself stay there for a while, regaining his grip on reality
while the ground spun beneath him. The pain in his chest was
overwhelming. He'd had his breath knocked out of him again and the cuts on
his back were oozing blood into his hair, throbbing. Slowly he reached out
with one hand and pulled the earth to a stop.
Alright. On three, get up--ahhh hell. Sesshoumaru pulled himself onto his
elbows and rolled into his back, which he immediately regretted. Yanking
his torso up into a semblance of dignity, the demon lord finally rose and
began making his way toward the village.
This did not prove to be an easy task.
The trees served as good crutches to a point, but there weren't that many in between the forest and the clearing to his destination. So it was quite a blow to his pride every time he fell on his face. The first four times it was tolerable, but the fifth proved his undoing.
"Aaaah! Curse it all!" he bellowed, punching the dirt. "How did I get into this?!" Oh well. Gotta get up; it'll be worse if they come looking for me...
A few minutes later Sesshoumaru was at the edge of the village. And, of course his appearance caused a panic among the villagers. As the demon slowly walked up the path to Kaede's hut the humans were screaming and skittering away like insects.
"Youkai! It's a youkai!"
"Lady Kaede, come quick!"
"Get the weapons--"
"Stay back!"
The demon's eye twitched in annoyance. Think of Rin... Think of Rin...
"It can't be... You?!" An elderly woman stepped forward from the crowd, pushing aside the useless peasants. She stared at him with her only eye, her gaze travelling over his missing arm, blackened chest and deep scars. "What are you doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" he growled, making a few people step back at the bite in his tone. "I came to find my brother." Wait, that didn't come out right--
"Ye don't seem to be in any condition to fight him right now," Kaede said skeptically. "And even if you were, he's been gone for over three weeks."
Sesshoumaru frowned. "You mean they aren't here yet?"
"No, they were supposed to be back a week and a half ago. But why do ye care? I didn't think you'd be disappointed at their absence." The priestess' expression was puzzled. She looked him up and down, taking a step closer.
"...What happened to ye, Sesshoumaru?"
"Kaede-san!" Heads turned at the voice behind them. People backed away left and right as Kagome, Sango, a full-sized Kilala and Miroku came into the village, and in Miroku's arms was a dirty, stained bundle that looked an awful lot like the demon lord's kimono. "Kaede-san, no! Don't hurt him!"
"Kagome! Why are ye so flustered? What has happened?"
"It's Inuyasha," she sobbed. "Naraku captured him; we were looking for him for a whole week. He--he's--" Kagome pointed at Miroku. The old miko caught sight of an arm hanging lifelessly from Miroku's bundle of cloth.
"Oh my." Kaede stepped forward and lifted the makeshift blanket from the half-demon's limp form. Her eyes narrowed as she dropped the cover. "Let's get him into the hut. Quickly!"
Sesshoumaru watched impassively as the group of people surrounding them left to follow the old priestess. Sango pulled lightly on the demon's shoulder. "Come on, you. We've got to get you onto a futon; you shouldn't even be up."
"Get away from me, woman," he said tiredly. "I don't...want..." Abruptly his statement was cut off as he fell onto one knee. Sango caught the demon lord halfway to the ground. His voice resonated from behind her arm. "...Is he going to be alright...?"
"He should be," she murmured, stroking his head. "It'll take time. But he'll be alright." Sesshoumaru's eyes fluttered closed, a small smile touching his lips before blessed sleep came to claim his weary mind.
~~~
Night came. The people of the village had resumed their duties and now
things were quieting down. Kaede was in a separate hut from
Sesshoumaru, tending the half-demon's wounds. Kagome, Miroku, Shippou
and Sango had all stayed with her to help for the past four hours.
"Kagome, can ye hand me that bandage there, and get some more hot water
on it," she ordered. "This wound will need cauterization. The antidote for
the poison isn't working yet, so we need to stop any more bleeding before
the night is out."
Kagome nodded brokenly, remembering the horrible sounds the burning water had made on his other deep cuts. The daggers had been removed, as well as the spikes, and his leg had been properly set.
Now the hardest part was approaching: they would have to remove the pike so tightly wedged in his chest, and they would have to do it without breaking his back. The weapon was right in between two ribs and his vertebrae; the only way to ensure no furhter damage to his chest was to pull the smooth handle all the way through.
"All right now, Sango, Kagome, I want you to press these cloths into the openings in his stomach and his back as I pull. There shouldn't be too much blood, but he can't afford to lose any more. Miroku," the old Miko said sternly, her lips forming a thin line, "I'll need you to hold him down." The monk looked completely unsure of this, but nodded resolutely. He moved to pin Inuyasha's arms while Kagome and Sango got in place with the bandages.
Kaede had both hands placed firmly on the weapon as the hanyou was propped up with a table to expose his wound on both sides, face turned to the mat. "I'll pull on three. Ready?"
Nods all around.
"One."
Inuyasha let out a small sound.
"Two."
His grip tightened on Miroku's wrist.
"Three--"
The miko yanked methodically-- and her ears burst.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH
H!!!"
The half-demon's scream of agony echoed out over the rooftops, heads turning inward from every direction at what sounded like the shrieking of a damned soul. Inside the hut Miroku was struggling to keep Inuyasha from moving as writhed and twisted on the tatami.
"Nn!" he hissed from between clenched teeth as sharp claws pierced his
arm to the bone. "Lady Kaede, I can't hold him!"
"Sango, get the other side--"
"Miroku--"
"Kagome! Kagome--Kagome!! No! No-- NO--"
"I've got the bandages, we have to make them hold!"
"Don't let him move his torso! Get his arm, now!"
"Kagome," he called, crying. "Kagome... It hurts--Kagome-- Kagome-- help me--"
Kagome buried her head in her arms... and sobbed.
~~~
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AHHH!!!"
Sesshoumaru's eyes snapped wide at the sudden blast of sound coming from the east. That was--
"Oh, God," he moaned. "Brother..." Please let it be over soon. Please, come
kill me, come feed me to the wolves, turn me into a human, anything, just
make it stop--
The demon lord put a hand to his aching forehead as the sounds died away.
He looked at his surroundings and saw that he had been placed on a futon
with a cool cloth on his head, facedown so as not to aggravate his wounds.
This, of course, was merely making his chest hurt.
"Nnn..." Everything was foggy. He couldn't quite remember where he was, or what he'd been doing earlier, but as he breathed slowly in and out the details returned. He knew of his sibling, and the fall, but the later events had taken a few minutes. The image of a white-haired child appeared before his eyes, carrying a ball.
Inuyasha, he clarified.
The child's eyes bore a hurt look.
A pang of guilt shot through the youkai's chest as another cry of pain rang from the walls. Inuyasha... Live for me... I need to sort everthing out. And I know I can't do it without you... I'm so confused, brother.
Those were his last thoughts that night as much-needed sleep clouded his senses and sent him into darkness.
_________________________________
_________________________________
Okay, now we're going to skip ahead to about two months later. I'm almost
(not quite, but almost) tired of the torture stuff. I think fluff and angst
are now needed. As well as resolution over a period of time. But hey, if you
want more, I can extend it... ^^(insert evil laugh here)
Once again, I neglected school for this. But you know what? I'm homeschooled, and I'm already so behind my schoolyear will extend into most if not all of summer.
So, just to let you know how good a procrastinator I am, I'll see how fast I can get the next chappie out for this AND a few other fics. Mwahahaaa...
Oookay, maybe not. But this is fun writing, so...
I was going to make the chapter longer, but I figured this had been going on long enough for more,a dn that was a good place to stop for a bit. Especially with such enthusiasm from readers! WOW!! Once again, over twenty reviews! For ONE chapter! I have never gotten so many responses...
...I'll bet it's 'cause a' the summary. Anything with torture needs to be checked out, ne?
Jaa, minna, you review, and I'll write!! ^_^X
Mata!