Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Through The Well	By : TheKaytla Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 25850 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 9
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
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Eleven
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 15-Fifteen
- 16-Sixteen
- 17-Seventeen
- 9
- 10
- 11
Chapter Ten

Although this Koga was still pretty fast on his feet, he wasn't fast enough to lose Inuyasha. He kept the wolf in his sights as they raced through the trees back toward the village. Luckily, the brats were still out of sight when they hit the village, so Inuyasha had no problem racing straight through the middle of it without taking any unnecessary detours.

He dodged the villagers going about their daily business by leaping onto the roofs and running nimbly across them, hopping from one to the next and ignoring the people who pointed or called out to him. Almost as quickly as they'd entered the village, they'd come out the other side and headed back into the trees.

Instead of returning to ground level, the hanyou opted for running along the branches of the trees above Koga with a surefootedness borne of spending the formative years of his life escaping any youkai looking to make a meal out of a hapless child.

Those memories were old and easily ignored when he had something to focus on, like the vulnerable back of a certain wolf sprinting below him. He waited until Koga had broken through the undergrowth into a small clearing, and then launched himself from his current branch.

He hit his target dead center and the two of them went down in a rolling tangle of limbs. Inuyasha managed to keep his grip on Koga's back until he could pin the wolf flat on his stomach and rub his face deep into the mud and grass, grinning evilly the entire time. He didn't care what anyone said; revenge was sweet, he thought in satisfaction.

He only got to enjoy it for a few moments, however, before Koga managed to get the leverage to buck him off. He tumbled to the side, and a well-aimed kick to the shoulder knocked him properly off balance. While Koga swore under his breath and pulled bit of grass out of his mouth, Inuyasha righted himself and absently brushed the foot-shaped patch of dirt off his shoulder.

The blow hadn't hurt at all; it had glanced off him, if anything, but even then, it hadn't even been hard enough to bruise. The Koga he knew wouldn't have held back that much, and he wouldn't have thought anything of it. He gave as good as he got. But did this mean he was going to have to pull his punches now? Damn it, there were so many things different in this world.

"I don't know how I'm going to keep all this shit straight in my head," he muttered.

Koga looked up from where he sat across the clearing. "I can't be that different, can it?"

"You'd be surprised," the hanyou sighed. "Even this is a bit weird for me."

"What?"

"This." Inuyasha gestured between the two of them. "We're talking and there's no fighting. That sort of thing only happened when we were teamed up to fight Naraku back in my world. We didn't get along." Inuyasha paused. That gave him an entirely new thought. "Hey... how did you meet the other me?"

Koga blinked. "How we met?" The wolf scratched his chin. "Let's see... it's gotta be at least a hundred years ago by now. You expect me to remember that far back?"

"A hundred years?" Inuyasha gaped. "The other me put up with you for a hundred years?"

Koga picked up a small rock and threw it at him, which Inuyasha easily dodged. "That's what I should be saying," he mock-growled. "Now shut up and lemme remember... Oh, right, I guess it was after that big flock of Birds of Paradise came after me..."

Inuyasha watched as Koga's blue eyes became a little distant and hazy with memories as he started recounting the tale and, in spite of their usual antagonistic attitude toward each other that he hadn't yet gotten over, he found himself sitting quietly and listening as the story unfolded.
~*~
Hauling himself up onto the bank of the river, Koga panted heavily, the muscles in his arms and legs quivering in exhaustion as he clambered slowly out of the rushing water.

Ribbons of torn flesh snaked across his skin, leaving a faint pinkish tinge in the water behind him that disappeared into the currents as he collapsed in the mud and rolled onto his back. Every muscle hurt, and the cuts on his arms, legs, back and even face stung with the chilled, drying water and were aggravated by dirt and grit. His tail was a limp, sodden mass of fur.

"Damn those fucking buzzards," he muttered to himself, teeth gritted against the pain.

He'd been with a small hunting party when they'd been hit by surprise. Coming from downwind, no one had noticed the foul stench of the birds until it was too late and his first comrade screamed as he was lifted into the air.

It had been chaos then. The ookami tribe were well-trained, but they'd been outnumbered at least five to one. Koga didn't even know what had happened to the others by now. Chances were, they were dead. He only wasn't a pile of bones in some filthy nest because of a stroke of luck. When one of them had grabbed him and taken off with him, he'd managed to slice into the leg deep enough with his claws to force the bastard to drop him straight into the river that ran through the mountains from the waterfall near the wolf den.

Wounded and weakened, he'd been carried down river all the way to the base of the mountain before he'd finally managed to drag himself, stroke by painful stroke, to the riverbank.

He looked up at the peak, where regular birds circled lazily overhead. He had one hell of a climb to get home. Probably too much for him to make in this state. If those damn Birds of Paradise found him up there, where there was less natural cover, he'd be dead. It was better to wait a few days until he'd healed and built up his strength before he made the trek back up.

Not that it was much safer down here, he knew. Anything that smelt his blood might decide to try its luck making a snack out of him. He had to find somewhere sheltered to wait it out.

Fucking birds, he thought angrily, and glared up at the peak.

That was when he noticed the birds that had seemed to be circling were now flying in his direction. They were bigger than he expected but, while that made him suspicious, he didn't fully realise what he was dealing with until a sudden wind blew the foul stink of them his way.

"Fuck!" he shouted, as he struggled painfully to his feet. Where he was, there was only sparse cover by trees and shrubbery. They'd easily be able to break through the branches and grab him, and then he'd be bird food. If he could just make it into denser forestry, he stood a chance of getting out of this alive.

The only problem was that said dense forestry was twenty feet away, and Koga's legs felt almost numb with cold and blood loss. He could barely stand, but he had to run.

He made it maybe halfway before he fell. Cursing colourfully, he tried to shove himself to his feet again, but his shaking legs couldn't support the strain. Behind him, he could hear the screeching of the birds as they closed in.

Desperate, he looked toward the trees. About ten feet away. Could he make it if he crawled? Was there still time?

Oh, fuck that, he decided immediately after. If he was going to die, he wasn't going to spend his last moments crawling on his belly and trying to run from it. He'd face it head on like the warrior he was and take as many of the bastards with him as he could.

He pushed onto his back again and sat up, claws flexed and a grim smile on his face. "Come on, you fuckers," he said softly to himself. "I'll tear you to fucking shreds..."

As if in response to the challenge, the Birds of Paradise - three of them - bore down on him, big enough combined to block out almost his entire field of vision, rank enough to make his nose twitch in disgust and a growl bubble up in his throat. Koga's entire body tensed, preparing to take the impact as they swarmed him.

A ribbon of green light shot over his head, sailing straight toward the vaguely humanoid upper body of the first Bird of Paradise, punching a fist-sized hole through its blue-green chest. Between one blink and the next, the light - or whip, from the way it moved - slashed to the side and took the head clean off the second. The third strike slashed a gaping hole right across the grinning bird face of the remaining one's body, nearly slicing the thing in half diagonally.

It was over in a matter of seconds. All three birds fell to the ground in a neat pile mere feet away from a stunned Koga, dead. He stared for a moment before realising someone else must be nearby and swivelled around to look.

A tall, regal youkai stood behind him with flowing silver hair, skin pale as the moon and eyes bright as sunlight. One of his elegant hands was up at eye level, a bright green halo fading around two of his fingers. He seemed to be paying no mind to Koga, instead examining the dead Birds of Paradise dispassionately.

"Vermin," he simply said.

Koga raised an eyebrow. What was up with this guy?

"Right," he said. He was just going to agree for now. His mother always nagged at him to have proper manners, and he supposed saving his life demanded some gratitude. Besides that, he wasn't stupid enough to argue with someone who could kill three Birds of Paradise with one move and whose youki radiated off them in thick, powerful waves, now that he had the presence of mind to pay attention to it.

This was not a youkai to piss off.

"Thanks... for saving me. I'd probably be dead right now if you hadn't killed those fuckers."

Those gold eyes shifted to him, and Koga was suddenly struck by the feeling that he was being... measured in some way. He was left with the impression he passed... barely.

"Probably?" the youkai murmured then, with a heavy implication he thought otherwise. Koga gnashed his teeth. "You are ookami from the northern tribe, correct?"

Swallowing with difficulty the urge to do something stupid and yell, Koga nodded sullenly. "Yeah."

"Your name?"

"Koga." Done with being polite when he wasn't getting any of it back, he glared and said, "And who the hell are you?"

A thin eyebrow lifted ever so slightly at his tone. "Sesshomaru, of the Western Lands."

Koga's eyes went wide. Fuck! This guy wasn't just a youkai; he was a fucking daiyoukai! And he'd almost mouthed off to him! Almost reflexively, he dropped his eyes.

The daiyoukai walked closer to him. "You know your place, I see."

Koga bit the inside of his mouth, hard. Peace between the ookami tribe and the inuyoukai in the west had never been exactly easy. Relations between powerful canines tended to be strained where territory disputes were concerned. If he offended Sesshomaru, it could have serious repercussions; if the daiyoukai didn't kill him for it, his parents certainly would.

Sesshomaru stopped by Koga's feet. There was a moment of silence, then: "Can you stand?"

Koga looked up, surprised, then startled to see the daiyoukai's hand held out to help him up. He hesitated a moment, then gripped it. He was pulled upright effortlessly with no visible exertion on Sesshomaru's part, and hardly any involvement on his. He was quite certain then that Sesshomaru could lift him and snap him like a twig if he so chose.

"Thanks," he said uncertainly, reaching out to grab a low hanging branch to steady himself. It wouldn't do to collapse in front of the lord of a neighbouring territory.

Sesshomaru eyed him dubiously. "I have doubts that you can walk."

Koga set his mouth in a stubborn line. "I'll manage."

After a long moment of silently watching him, Sesshomaru nodded almost imperceptibly. "Then follow me." He turned without another word and began walking away.

The ookami blinked. Twice. "Wait, what?"

Sesshomaru kept walking. "Follow, if you can."

"Why?" Koga called after him, but took a step forward.

The daiyoukai looked over his shoulder. "In the interests of maintaining peace between the north and west, you can hardly be left here in such a state. However, I am not going to escort you up a mountain. Currently, I am taking shelter nearby; you may rest and recuperate there."

Watching as Sesshomaru began walking again, Koga weighed his options. But what it really boiled down to was a choice between relative safety and sleepless nights watching out for hungry youkai. He didn't exactly trust the daiyoukai, but had to assume if he wanted to eat him, he wouldn't go to all the trouble of luring him with false pretenses. It wasn't as though he could get away.

Taking a deep breath, he took another painful step after the retreating Lord of the West.

~*~

Koga paused, running a hand over his long black hair. Inuyasha managed to wait all of thirty seconds before his impatience burst forth.

"Idiot wolf, I asked how you met me, not Sesshomaru," he complained, kicking Koga in the shin.

Koga retaliated by flicking another rock at Inuyasha's head without missing a beat. "I know that! I'm getting there!"

"Well, then, hurry it up!" the hanyou shouted as he glared and rubbed his head where the pebble had bounced off, having caught him by surprise this time. "I don't have all damn day, you know."

Koga rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because you've got so much shit to do," he snorted. When Inuyasha's eyes flashed, he sighed. "Fine, fine, I'll hurry it up. Where was I?"

~*~

Koga woke up under a pile of furs to a loud voice echoing through the dim cave.

"...the hell, Sesshomaru? Did you go take a bath in your shifted form or something? Whole fucking cave smells like wet dog!"

A thud and a yelp quickly followed. "That would be the ookami, not me."

"Wolf?" said the unfamiliar voice. "You brought a wolf in here? Picking up more strays, are you? That fucking toad is bad enough..."

"Are you implying you are a stray, Inuyasha?" If Koga wasn't mistaken, the daiyoukai sounded amused, even though he was pretty much being insulted. Maybe he wasn't as uptight as the rumours said.

"The hell I am! I only hang around you because you wouldn't leave me alone." A pause. "I guess that makes you my stray, huh?"

There was a louder thud and a bigger yelp. "Off! Ow! Get off!"

"An interesting choice of words," Sesshomaru said casually, amusement rippling through his voice. "Perhaps an unconscious desire, Inuyasha?" A rustle of clothing, then a sharp intake of breath.

Under his furs, Koga twitched. They weren't... were they? Of all things, with someone injured nearby, they couldn't be doing that. Could they?

A quick, high gasp said yes, they were.

Fucking hell, the ookami thought. In his tribe, this would be fine; he and whoever else was nearby would listen for the fun of it, then mercilessly torment whoever had been caught screwing once they were done. But this was different. Way different.

What the fuck was he supposed to do about it? He could just pretend he was asleep and ignore it, but if the daiyoukai found out he'd listened to him having sex... He didn't even want to think about it. But if he interrupted, that might get him skewered, too. What the hell was he supposed to do?!

He had to let them know he was awake. Had to. How the hell was he going to stay quiet and ignore it? He wasn't particularly into pretty boys, but Sesshomaru was a knockout; it stood to reason whoever he was playing with was, too. Just imagining it was making him uncomfortable.

He threw off the furs and got to his feet, pleased to find he was feeling stronger, and stumbled toward the light around the corner. Then just stopped, staring.

Flat on his back was what looked like a hanyou in a plain, gaudy matching haori and hakama. The haori was currently open almost all the way to his waist, baring a smooth, toned chest of lightly tanned skin in great contrast to the pale, almost ethereal quality of Sesshomaru's.

There were similarities between them, too, Koga noticed. Both had silver hair, though with a difference in shade; their eyes, though, were the same. The hanyou - Inuyasha - had no markings on his face or anywhere else he could see, and he certainly wasn't as finely boned, but Koga decided he was attractive enough anyway.

Both inuyoukai (because if Sesshomaru and this Inuyasha didn't share blood, he'd eat his own tail) had turned to look at him; Inuyasha looked almost comically surprised, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, but the daiyoukai was as composed as ever. In fact, he somehow looked as regal sitting there on top of Inuyasha as if he'd been on a throne.

This moment of surprised observation lasted only a short while. Then, in a display of great perceptiveness, Sesshomaru rose gracefully from Inuyasha a matter of seconds before the hanyou seemed to convulse, yanking his haori closed again as he sprung to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at Koga.

"For fuck's sake, warn someone when you walk in unannounced!" he shouted, a becoming flush on his cheeks.

Koga only grinned. "Wouldn't a warning defeat the purpose of walking in unannounced? Idiot."

The hanyou flushed brighter. "Bastard wolf," he growled.

"Stupid mutt."

Inuyasha snatched a sword out of its sheath and levelled it at him. "You wanna go for it?"

Koga looked at the blade. It appeared rusty and chipped, and hardly threatening. A piece of crap like that probably wouldn't even bruise him. He was about to say so when Sesshomaru spoke up instead.

"Be silent, both of you." The daiyoukai looked between them. "Koga, go back and rest. Inuyasha and I will not be lingering long here and I can only assume you want to be able to travel by then." He then frowned at the hanyou. "Inuyasha, put the Tetsusaiga away. This is not the time for posturing."

While Inuyasha huffily put his little sword away, Koga stilled, suddenly remembering where he was and who he was with. He'd just insulted Sesshomaru's lover, right in front of him. The ookami felt lucky to have his head still attached.

"Right... I'll just go back and rest," he agreed, deciding it was best if he just went to lay down and try to sleep for the remainder of his stay with these two. Politely walking on eggshells wasn't his style, and he was bound to screw it up eventually. Best to avoid it altogether wherever possible.

He made his way back to the pile of furs and crawled under them, trying to get comfortable and rest for the night, but he was now too hyper aware of what the two inuyoukai might be doing to relax. He could hear them talking, but it was murmured and indistinct now that they were aware he could hear, and it was more annoying than insightful.

He laid there for over an hour, trying to block it out, before the sound of bare feet over stone brought with it the smell of cooked meat. He sat up expectantly, suddenly realising he was hungry, and found himself face to face with Inuyasha. Said meat was dropped unceremoniously into his lap by the disgruntled-looking hanyou.

"He insisted I bring you this, because gods forbid he ever bring anyone food himself. Arrogant bastard."

Koga raised an eyebrow and picked up the meat. It was a solid lump of boar's meat, pretty much exactly how he would have eaten it at home, but he doubted the hanyou knew that. Didn't manners dictate he at least be given something to rest it on instead of his legs?

"Thanks... I guess."

Inuyasha glared at him. "You don't like it, I can take it back. You can try to catch a bat instead."

"You would deprive an injured person of nourishment?" Koga asked casually, keeping his voice low. There was something about Inuyasha that just made it impossible not to ruffle his feathers.

Inuyasha grinned evily, and Koga felt a slither of alarm. "If you're injured, you should rest!" He punctuated this sentence with a fist to Koga's forehead, and the ookami knew no more.

---

It's back! I've missed writing this story, but after doing so many updates of it in a row, I just felt I needed to take a break from it and poke at some other stuff. Now that I have, maybe I'll squeeze out another couple chapters before my next break.

I've actually had the flashback here (which is split into two chapters) written for ages. I literally just wrote the part leading up to it today. If not for my need to take a break, this probably would have been finished a lot quicker. Ah, well. Better late than never, right?

On an aside note, this is now officially my first chapter fic to reach double figures. Yay! XD
- 9
- 10
- 11
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Through The Well