Title: In the Belly of the Beast

Author: landofthekwt

Rating: PG-13

Prompt: Under My Skin (Inuyasha Fan Fic #

Word Count: 755

Genre: The Blob

Warning: None

Summary: Sesshoumaru thinks about his absorption by Naraku

He had been soaking in the water for hours. Both Rin and Jaken had come to check on him. They both worried for him. They both had come closer to death than he had, but they had not experienced what he had.

He could remember every second that he had been encased in Naraku's body. The thought of it even now gave him shivers. Such an unclean thing touching his body. He did not know if he could ever bathe enough to rid him of the memory and the feeling.

It was that feeling that made him transform. That such a monster should touch him was unthinkable. That he had actually been absorbed into Naraku's body outraged him. He could see what Naraku saw. Feel what Naraku. It was if he one with Naraku.

He had always hated Inuyasha as an abomination. An unholy mixture of human and demon blood. The human blood which dirtied him and the demon blood which set his heart on fire. Such a feeble being.

Naraku was even worse. Part human. Demon parts just thrown on higglety pigglety. A trash heap of spare parts. Not a true demon. Just a mass of squirming tentacles. No true power. No honor. There was a spider at the heart, but it was a tiny beast not worthy of this Sesshoumaru. The face was just that of a lord which Naraku had killed.

All the time he was inside the beast, he could feel what Naraku felt. He was mildly surprised. Naraku seemed to view the whole encounter as a game. He had known that Sesshoumaru would come when he took the girl.

It had been his plan all along to absorb Sesshoumaru and steal his power. Sesshoumaru had seen it coming, but he simply could not believe that he could be absorbed into Naraku's body. It was unthinkable that such a creature could overcome him in such a manner.

Naraku had used his own power against him. Every time he cut off parts of Naraku, that part attached itself to him. Eventually, he was buried within the mass of parts. He could actually feel his power being siphoned off as he became part of the demon that was Naraku.

Tenseiga did protect him from being physically dissolved into Naraku, but it could not prevent Naraku from using him as a shield. It had been too close. A few more minutes and Naraku would have been able to use his power to function as a true demon.

He felt violated. It was if Naraku had raped him and taken a part of him. He had touched every part of his being. It had amused the filthy scum that he could so easily overwhelm a being with the power of daiyoukai. He could still hear the laughter in his mind. Naraku was laughing at him for standing there and allowing himself to be absorbed.

The manner of freeing was not any better. Naraku had used him to shield his own body from the Windscar. Without his aid, Naraku would have died. To be used in such a manner was dishonorable and unspeakable.

It was worse that Inuyasha had been the instrument of his salvation. Without him, his power would have absorbed and he would have become merely an appendage of Naraku. To owe his freedom to the dirty hanyou was almost as bad being a part of Naraku.

Inuyasha would never understand. He had stood between himself and his prey. Naraku was his to kill. The blood of ice had deserted him in his rage. When he started to transform he had felt nothing but the desire to kill. He was little more than the beast he had seen Inuyasha become.

The most humiliating aspect of the whole fiasco was that he had fallen into Naraku's trap. He had seen it for what it was. Even known what Naraku was doing. Yet it had happened because he simply refused to allow himself to belief that he could be beaten by such a lowly creature as Naraku.

All of these memories needed to forgotten. Naraku had never absorbed him. He had never been violated by the hanyou. Inuyasha had never saved him. He had simply gotten in the way. If he had not been there, he would have killed Naraku and gained his revenge.

Jaken walked timidly up to the onsen. "Have you recovered from your experience with Naraku, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

Lord Sesshoumaru walked briskly away from the fallen toad. "We shall not speak of that again."