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Fortification	By : TheKaytla Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 6107 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the series Inuyasha, nor its characters.They are property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-One
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 1
- 2
Expanded Summary: Following the recent death of his father, Sesshomaru has assumed control of the Western Lands. But his new rule is under constant threat from opposition who would take his territory - and his head - if given the chance, and the proud daiyoukai is starting to feel the strain. Is asking for Inuyasha's help the only way to save his kingdom and his very life? Will the brothers be able to work together and make it through to the other side alive?

Chapter One

Sesshomaru struck out with his poisonous claws and felt the impact vibrate up his arm to his shoulder, but he didn't pull back. His eyes bled red when the beast's own talons - easily as long as his forearm - sunk into his side, but still he kept moving forward. His fangs descended, his snout began to elongate into true canine fashion, in response to the pain, but he would not withdraw.

This was his only chance, he knew. To push forward unrelentingly until the acid weakened the youkai's tough skin and allowed him to break through and grip the heart. The only uncertainty that remained was whether it would be his enemy's body or his own that gave out first.

His arm began to shake as he continued his assault; he felt the bones bowing under the pressure, ready to break at any moment. He lost his breath as the claws digging into his side clenched, tearing through flesh and snapping a rib like a twig.

The sudden, intense pain stole his balance. His feet slipped in the puddle of blood and acid he was spilling onto the dusty ground and he lurched forward; ironically, the additional pressure of his bodyweight broke through the youkai's tough skin and his claws finally pierced its heart.

Dead almost instantaneously, the thing dropped to the ground, nearly taking Sesshomaru with it. Only his stubborn refusal to show that kind of weakness kept the daiyoukai from collapsing as he clutched his profusely bleeding wound, the crimson leeching from his eyes as his face returned to normal.

He had others injuries, but they were minor nuisances in comparison. Mere scrapes and scratches, most of which had stopped bleeding already by this point. Yet they were each a testament to how much this endless cycle of battles was draining his strength.

As his retainers spilled out of the castle gates to aid him, Sesshomaru stared down at the defeated youkai. Some sort of dragon, he decided, though it had stood upright like a man and taller than he. It had wings, but all that remained of them now were tatters; Sesshomaru had made them his first target, eliminating his opponenent's major advantage.

The youkai likely bore no personal grudge against him. It was just another in a long line of challengers, hoping to knock him off the seat of power in the Western Lands. It was true that some who came to fight him had some vendetta against his father and saw fit to seek retribution by killing his son and heir the way they couldn't kill the Inu no Taisho, but those were becoming fewer every month. And they were usually stronger, as well, strong enough that his father had chosen not to seek battle with them rashly.

Which left him to deal with them, he thought tiredly.

The lung his rib had punctured had begun the task of healing itself when his servants arrived at his side, and so his breathing was as close to normal as his self-imposed control could make it as he looked down at his faithful, if irritating retainer.

"My lord!" cried the kappa, Jaken, as he fretted over the gaping wound in Sesshomaru's side. "My lord, you're hurt!"

Sesshomaru gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to strike the oft times incompetent imp. Only Jaken's unwavering loyalty and willingness to do whatever Sesshomaru commanded, however distasteful, kept him in service - or even alive.

"How observant of you," he bit out instead, struggling to hold back the wince speaking caused. He took two slow, measured breaths, then continued. "I require a bath, Jaken."

"At once!" he declared, and leapt to action - only to pause after travelling less than two feet back toward the castle. "Uh, my lord?"

"What?" Sesshomaru snapped, in no mood to be peppered with questions.

"Forgive me, my lord, but I was wondering if you might now consider -"

"The bath, Jaken," Sesshomaru interrupted sharply, losing patience. He aimed a glare in Jaken's direction. "If it is not ready by the time I reach my rooms, I will have your head on a pike outside the castle walls."

The kappa squeaked in terror and ran with all possible haste, moving so quickly he had to hold onto his little brown hat to keep it from falling off. Sesshomaru had no doubt his bath would be ready to step into when he made it to the castle. Nothing motivated a servant like a death threat, he always thought.

He waved off the silent offers of aid and walked stubbornly stiff-backed toward the castle with the rest of his servants following behind. His battle with the dragon youkai hadn't taken place far from his home, but every step had his side lighting up in agony; had he been a lesser demon, he would have screamed or, more satisfyingly, cursed.

He walked slowly over the thick, oak bridge - wide enough for three horses to stand abreast - and glanced at his reflection in the moat that ringed the high walls. Blood smeared his cheek, his neck, his hair; his white silk clothes were stained with dark red.

He looked tired, he noted, just as a stray leaf landed on the moat's surface and distorted the image before swiftly dissolving. For the moat was not filled with water, but a lethal toxin bespelled with an illusion of sight and scent to make it appear as such. It could dissolve the toughest armour, weapons and flesh; his mother had made sure of that when she created it.

He remembered burning his own hand when the idiot hanyou pup had thought to take a swim in it and he'd been forced to grab him before he landed in the water. It had taken a full week for his hand to return to normal, and without his mother's special salves, her poison may well have continued to eat at his flesh until his hand became useless. The scolding Inuyasha had received hadn't seemed to measure up to his misery.

Once inside with the gate - forged with youkai bone and fortified with strong magicks - closed behind them, the servants, knowing their master's mood, dispersed quickly and quietly to their duties, leaving Sesshomaru to walk through the fragrant gardens and into the castle alone except for lingering thoughts of Inuyasha.

They were more common of late, even though he hadn't seen the hanyou for almost three years. It was Inuyasha Jaken wanted him to "consider". To send for Inuyasha and request his help to beat back the seemingly endless line of youkai challengers, for surely two sons of the great inuyoukai were better than one.

With one hand still pressed against his side and blood leaking sluggishly through his slender fingers, Sesshomaru mounted the stairs, mentally scoffing at his retainer's foolish logic. Son of the Inu no Taisho Inuyasha may be, but he was still a half-breed. Whatever strength he had and would later gain, if he lived long enough, it would never match that of a full inuyoukai.

Beyond that, he was barely more than a child. The hanyou had experienced little more than two decades of life. It might make him a man in ningen terms, but a full-blooded youkai of his age was still a child. Sesshomaru supposed a hanyou would fall somewhere inbetween.

The only merit to Inuyasha was... the Tetsusaiga, the sword forged from their father's fang. However, since the blade had only been bequeathed to him after the Inu no Taisho's death, the chances of him actually knowing how to call up its destructive powers were all but non-existent.

Sesshomaru entered his rooms as a familiar resentment bubbled up. As he'd done many times before, he thought his father had made the wrong choice. With the Tetsusaiga in his hand, no youkai would dare threaten the Western Lands for fear of his strength, and his dominion would have peace. Had his father truly not foreseen this?

Instead of a sword worthy of his power, he'd been given the Tenseiga, a blade that would not cut. How did his father expect him to rule in his stead with a sword that was not even a weapon?

But he could feel the resentment slipping away as fast as it came, too tired to hold onto it, to wonder again what his father had meant by the message he'd left with the old swordsmith, Totosai, that the sword had been entrusted to him for a reason.

Gingerly, able to hiss his pain now that he was alone as he pulled the silk of his clothes away from his wound, he undressed, letting the fabric fall to the floor carelessly. The entire left side of his body between his ribs and ankle was reddened with his blood and the wound itself now felt as though it was on fire.

Though he expected it to cause yet more pain, Sesshomaru steeled himself to bathe and stepped through another door and into his private bath house, where the empty room was filled with a light steam scented with the medicinal herbs poured into the water. He walked down the stone steps into the water itself and gently levered himself down to sit on the last step, clenching his teeth as the heat and herbs stung the open wound and the dried blood caking his skin began to dissipate in tiny pink swirls.

He found that the longer he sat still, the less the herbs hurt him. The wound was healing at a slower rate than usual, but he judged it would be fully closed within a day. He would not be at his best, but he'd be able to face the next challenger without significant handicap.

Sesshomaru sunk lower into the water and leaned his head back against the smooth stone rim, his eyes closing as he considered yet again the pros and cons of bringing Inuyasha to the castle until he fell asleep.

When his eyes opened again, he was staring at the canopy of his bed. He didn't have time to wonder how he got there when a flood of youki drowned his senses and powerful, unfamiliar scents all but clogged his nose. His eyes darted around, found them ringing his bed, all shapes and sizes, some resembling animals and some like beasts he'd never seen before. He could hear the sounds of clashing weapons, screams and running all throughout the castle.

He leapt into action then, darting through a gap between two youkai, but before he could do more than turn to face them, they were upon him. So many, in such close quarters and with him still weak from recent battle, and he could barely defend, let alone launch an attack of his own. Poison from his claws misted the air, but seemed to have little if any affect on his attackers.

It was a relentless assault, blows raining down so quickly he could barely register them as separate strikes, driving the proud daiyoukai to his knees until he finally had to give up all pretense of defence and brace his hands against the floor to prevent himself falling completely. The acid haze drifted away with the last of his strength.

His vision began to dim as he struggled to stay conscious. With injuries both internal and external, the pain was immense, too much to properly absorb; blood dripped steadily to the floor from tears in his flesh, and leaked into his body from ruptured organs. His right arm couldn't properly support his weight and every tremor it made shot fire from the break all the way up to his shoulder. For the first time since he was a pup clutching at his mother's sleeves, Sesshomaru felt truly helpless and vulnerable.

A rough hand fisted in his hair, claws scraping against his scalp, and jerked his head up. He saw a blurred shape pass in front of his face, but couldn't tell it was a sword until the cold metal pressed against his neck. Somewhere nearby, he could hear Jaken calling for him, panicked: "My lord! Answer me, Lord Sesshomaru!"

His eyes closed sluggishly and refused to open even as he tried to will his battered body into action, to resist this execution. The blade began to whisper across his throat and, in an act of pure desperation, Sesshomaru reared up...

His eyes snapped open with a violent splash of cold water as he bolted upright in the bath. His heart was hammering against his chest in what he vaguely recognised as fear, and his breaths came out in harsh pants. And Jaken was still calling for him.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" The imp sounded on the verge of hysterics, knocking on the door with his tiny fists. "Please speak to me, Lord Sesshomaru!"

"Jaken," Sesshomaru acknowledged.

"Oh, my lord!" The relief was evident in his voice. "Thank goodness! I had begun to worry something might have -"

"Jaken," Sesshomaru interrupted. "Why have you disturbed my bath?"

"Forgive me, my lord," Jaken squeaked, now sounding nervous. How the kappa handled his emotions shifting so rapidly, Sesshomaru would never understand. "Another youkai is outside, demanding a battle! He claims he's come to avenge his brother, whom you slew earlier."

In the now dark bathroom, Sesshomaru closed his eyes briefly. Another battle so soon would test his limits. Though it felt as though the wound in his side had all but closed, it still was not healed entirely. As he left the bath and wrapped a robe around himself, it throbbed with a dull fire and hindered quick movements. He gritted his teeth in irritation.

He exited the bathroom, ignoring Jaken's frantic squawking as he crossed to the other side of his bedroom and slipped behind the intricately pattered dividing screen. Not all of his servants were quite as incompetent as the kappa, he thought, as he eyed the dark silks laid out for him to change into. The deep blues and greens would do well to hide blood stains.

Not bothering to dry himself off, Sesshomaru changed as quickly as his wound would allow, his thoughts circling around Inuyasha and his dream.

Had it been a simple nightmare, brought on by stress, fatigue and concerns over the fate of his land and, yes, his own life? Or had it been a premonition, a warning of a potential future if he carried on along the same path?

Ordinarily, the rational Sesshomaru would have dismissed such an idea as ludicrous, but the intensity of the scents, sounds, pain were still too vivid now. He could almost feel the gouges in his skin from claws, the stench of the youkai in his nose. It felt more like a horridly fresh memory than a mere dream.

If it was a premonition, what did it mean? That he simply couldn't win this fight alone? Who, then, could he rely on but a half-breed whelp? There was no one he could trust to defend the land and not betray him but the hanyou, and even that was not absolute, given their less than amicable relationship. Inuyasha had attachments to their father only, not the land he'd once ruled.

And besides that, there was always his lack of combat skill and experience. If he truly was unable to awaken Tetsusaiga's awesome power, Inuyasha was left with only his claws. Sesshomaru had once seen him fight thus; he'd looked more like a feral dog than a noble inuyoukai as he leapt and slashed without grace or form, snarling all the while, as he hacked lesser youkai scum to shreds.

But he didn't have to stay so unrefined, Sesshomaru suddenly realised. He could be taught how to handle himself properly in battle, and perhaps even draw out his sword's power. Though he did not relish the thought of spending so much time with his little brother, for the sake of his land and his family's honour, Sesshomaru would endure it.

Dressed, he stepped out from behind the divider and walked to the door. With his claws curled loosely around the handle, he paused.

"Jaken." Instantly, the imp's worried muttering silenced. "Bring Inuyasha to the castle." Without a backward glance, in no mood to see Jaken celebrate his victory, he swept from the room to meet another challenger head on.
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A/N: I know what you're going to say. "Seriously? ANOTHER chapter fic?" Well, yeah. I've started this one - plus another one, ha >> - and I have four chapters combined at this very moment, working on others. Since I plan to release these on a weekly basis, that'll take about a month, so by then, I will have hopefully written more... of something, at least.
So sit tight, kiddies! Got a lot of balls in the air right now.
If you're wondering whose fault it is that I have started posting new stuff not related to the old stuff you really want me to finish, it's Demitria Miriam. Talking to her makes evil plot bunnies hatch in my brain and the result is me doing evil things myself... like posting this fic, and starting so many others, and just writing outlines of yet more, that it's insane. We do it to each other, it's not even funny. >>
So yeah. Blame her, ok? <3
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Fortification