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The Tale of the Demon Lord	By : Arianawray Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 56279 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Author�s Note:Thank you to everyone following this tale for spending time reading it, and making the effort to leave reviews and comments. It's always encouraging and interesting to write something and get responses to it! I normally PM my reviewers so as not to add excessive clutter to each chapter, but I do want to make a few public replies to some recent queries so that other readers can get the answers too:
- No Yumi-nachan, this will not be an m'preg story (I enjoy reading fics where one or both of the Inu brothers waddle about with pups in their bellies, but I can't bring myself to actually write one).
- Horseygurl, this story does not link up with my "Fit For Dogs/Just Ticking Along" short stories – this one is a fantasy-world tale, while the short stories are "real-world". However, if any readers wish to see "Fit For Dogs/Just Ticking Along" as a very far-into-the-future link with "And You, My Brother", feel free to do so!
- To Alex on AFF who wants to be messaged when I update: I can't do that as AFF has no PM features (unlike FFnet), and your e-mail is hidden. But I update this story approximately every six or seven days, so please check at those intervals. Thanks for reading this.
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XI: Words
The temptation to use the secret passage just to have a look at the boy was powerful. But Sesshomaru had made up his mind to behave honourably tonight, as a first step towards earning his brother's trust.
Damn that sense of honour, thought the demon lord. Although his behaviour in private had been far from ideal for a long time, he was essentially honourable in the depths of his character – the consequence of his proper upbringing by his father, and guidance from his godfathers.
Yes, his godfathers.
Long ago, Sesshomaru had had two demon godfathers: the artist-swordsmith who had painted the blue pattern above his bed, and who had become a trusted friend of his father's; and of course the old tree, Bokusen'o. In his childhood, he had sometimes slipped out to talk to Bokusen'o when he could not sleep, or had heard the gravelly voice of his artist godfather in his head soothing him into slumber as he studied the blue swirls on the ceiling.
But after the late demon lord's death, he had pushed away his godfathers by his bitter words against his sire, and by refusing to let them see his younger brother. Eventually, one stopped visiting, and the other stopped talking to him.
As he lay alone in his bed now, he realised that he no longer had recourse to the advice of the two wise old demons, when perhaps this was when he most needed their words of wisdom, to tell him if he was trying to win his brother's trust and affection in the right way.
By letting Inuyasha sleep alone, he hoped to demonstrate that he cared about his welfare and desired more than just his body. As a consequence, he was now spending the night staring up at the familiar blue design above his bed, trying to lose himself in its intricate swirls, but finding instead that every curve brought to mind a curve on Inuyasha's face or body – the shape of his lips, his curling lashes, the beautiful muscles on his thighs and calves, his firm little bottom… Once again, he felt sorely tempted to use the secret passage, but he resisted it with all his might.
At last, Sesshomaru turned over onto his front and slept for a while with his face half-pressed into his pillow before rising very early, long before the sun goddess deigned to show her face. As he was up, he decided on a whim to do a surprise inspection of every corner of his castle, including some of the gardens.
Although the castle followed a largely busy-by-day and quiet-by-night schedule for the sake of having a consistent routine that would be in step with the majority of the kingdom, many demons were in fact more active in the hours of darkness, and most did not require regular sleep. Therefore, at any time of the day or night, at least half the castle was sure to be up and about, doing work or getting in some training, exercise or relaxation, although there was an understanding that they would do so with less noise until the sun rose, in case others required rest.
By the time Sesshomaru was done with his inspection – during which he surprised three dog-demon sentries playing card games while on duty in the administration wing; two fox-demon servants engaged in a fumbling pre-sex act in the general laundry room; a dog-demon gardener rather mystifyingly entangled in a thorny bush; and a wolf-demon cook in agony in the general servants' kitchen after having accidentally put his hand into a pot of soup over the fire – the demon lord decided that things were getting slack around his private domain, and summoned all the officers and housekeeping heads for a morning lecture that was delivered in a speaking voice so calm and yet so laden with royal disapproval that some of them were left fearing for their jobs and their hides, and the lives of their subordinates.
In the end, no one was sacked, whipped or executed. The card-playing guards were fined a month's wages and punished with a sentence of a week's imprisonment in the cells beside the barracks; the fumbling fox demons were let off with a warning, and one of them reassigned to a job with different hours, when Sesshomaru learnt that they were mates who had not had the opportunity to be in bed with each other for two weeks as their off-duty hours never coincided; and the gardening and kitchen heads were told to review their respective departments' hiring and work processes and carry out all necessary retraining and changes.
~ - ~
Unlike Sesshomaru, Inuyasha had an excellent night's sleep. He awoke early, alert and chirpy, and cheerfully shifted the furniture away from the door when Natsumi tried to enter and found her way blocked.
When he made his way down to breakfast, he noticed that Sesshomaru looked less than well-rested, but he did not know why, and as he had little reason at present to feel any pity for his brother, he did not spare him much sympathy. Instead, as he ate heartily while the demon lord barely touched his tea, he even had a request to make: could he and Jaken have this morning's lesson out of doors, in the patch of forest under Bokusen'o?
Sesshomaru replied that he did not see why they shouldn't. Happily, Inuyasha excused himself from the table and sprinted to the library to drag his tutor across the fields to the forest patch, leaving the small kappa demon out of breath and complaining loudly to his charge that he was going too fast for him to keep up.
When at last they reached the old tree, Jaken was almost too breathless to conduct the lesson, but a sip of water and a short rest revived him.
"Well, this certainly is a nice and shady spot, Your Highness," Jaken said, looking about him. "I have passed through this patch of forest before, but I've never stopped to rest in it."
"So what are we going to learn today?" Inuyasha asked, leaning against Bokusen'o's trunk. A single leaf fell into his lap as he leaned back, and he noted that it was green, glossy and healthy, so he received it gratefully as a gift from the tree, and tucked it inside his clothing.
"As we are out here amongst all these splendidly ancient trees, perhaps you would like to learn a little about the mythology of our lands, or some history?" Jaken suggested.
"Sure. What about a story from myth, then? No one's told me a proper story in a long time!" the half-demon said enthusiastically, sounding very much like a child.
Jaken decided that he could indulge the prince once in a while. "Very well," he said, and began his narration. "Do you know the legend of the crystal jewel? Not much of it? Ah, then you must hear the whole tale. This is how it goes: It is said that a magical crystal jewel, which once belonged to the realms of the gods, had the power of both good and evil. The jewel was never meant to leave the place where the gods dwelt, for the gods knew that if it entered the world we live in, it might fall into evil hands and be used to do terrible things.
"According to the story, a time came when the imps from hell learnt about the jewel, and stole into the heavens to see it. They laid their hands on it when they thought the gods were not looking, and turned the jewel entirely to darkness. But the gods caught them in the act and rushed to recover the jewel from the imps. In their haste and panic, the imps dropped the jewel from the heavens, and it fell out of the sky like a stone.
"The jewel fell all the way down to this world and shattered into millions of pieces, and those shards of hellish darkness entered the hearts and bodies of demons and beasts and humans, and for long, long years that seemed to have no end, terrible things were done all over the earth. The few good souls that remained in the world prayed to the gods, who granted them a vision showing them what had happened to the jewel, and how to make things right again. To save everyone from darkness, the good souls learnt that they must gather the shards and make the jewel whole again, then purify it so that it might no longer do harm.
"A small band of brave demons, humans and beasts came together to search for the jewel shards, and after enduring much suffering and pain, they finally gathered every last dark shard and made the jewel whole once more. Then a powerful priestess who had travelled with the band drove out the darkness that the imps had put into the jewel. But she saw that while the millions of shards of darkness had penetrated all the world, the purified jewel was now only one piece, and could not do as much good as the dark shards had done harm, even if she made the most selfless wishes on it. And she could no longer return it to the heavens, for the gods cannot take back anything that has been sullied by this world."
"So what did she do?" Inuyasha asked anxiously, when Jaken paused in his telling of the tale.
"With the blessing of the gods, who feared that evil forces might once more control the entire crystal and make it dark, the priestess took a sacred arrow and shattered the jewel again into millions of tiny pieces, small enough to enter hearts and souls and eyes without our knowing it. But this time, the pieces were pure and full of light, and they scattered their purity throughout every realm. It is said that these purified shards of the crystal jewel still remain in this world, piercing hard hearts to teach them compassion and love, entering cruel eyes to make them see the world in a good way, and slipping into evil souls to make them repent."
"I guess it didn't splinter into enough pieces, as there's still so much evil in the world," Inuyasha murmured.
"Perhaps not – but you never know when a shard might be waiting to pierce your enemy's heart, and bad will become good."
"There are some creatures who will never be good, even if you stick a thousand shards into them as if they were giant pincushions!" Inuyasha scoffed.
"Then leave them to the imps of hell!" Jaken concluded tidily. "How about some history now? Tales of things that we know actually did happen?"
"Uhm… okay, but can you tell me that part of history which involves my father? Tell me again what happened when all the demon warlords turned against him – didn't he have any friends at all?"
"Your Highness, of course your father had friends. But some were not powerful enough to help him, and others he ordered to keep away from the battle, because he wanted them to live and help your brother develop into a good ruler. You see all the tribes and kingdoms that now pledge friendship or allegiance to Lord Sesshomaru? All their hostile old leaders who had gathered together against your father were slain by him or by Lord Sesshomaru, and their present rulers are the ones who took over after that, and decided that they wanted peace with the new demon lord.
"Let me tell you about some of the main leaders of the armies that gathered against your father, and about their successors. The dragons and other reptiles were led by Ryuukotsusei, the wolves by the Old Fang, the demon birds by the one they called their Great Mother, the cats by Master Moju, the bat demons by Taikoumori, the bear demons by Kumakuro, and the spider demons by Onigumo. The monkeys, racoons and foxes did not turn against your father, but the little tricksters were far too scattered and powerless to help him. The chiefs of my tribe, the kappas, determined that we were too small in number and far too physically small to do much – the chiefs offered their assistance, but your father declined, for our home bases are underwater, and your mother could not possibly have survived there for even a minute. The same was certainly true for the flea demons, even though your father had a faithful flea follower named Myoga – they were too small and insignificant to offer any practical help. Even Lord Sesshomaru's mother sent word that she was willing to help, despite her personal disagreements with her former mate – but your sire also refused to involve her, because her tiny kingdom holds a population of pure dog demons, and your father decided that if his kingdom fell, hers must continue intact and safe for the sake of their kind.
"As for the two largest and strongest guilds, they were run by corrupt leaders who lent their support to your father's enemies. The swordsmiths' guild was headed by a rascal named Kaijinbo, who had once been a disciple of the great Totosai, your father's closest friend, but who leapfrogged him in political power thanks to his ruthless ambition. Totosai was commanded by your sire to keep out of the battle, so that he could guide Lord Sesshomaru after your father's death. As for the jewellers' guild, Old Adamant was in charge in those days, and he was no ally of your family's, although one of his people, Hosenki, was your father's great friend, but was also ordered by your sire to keep away from the battle, because he was so old and frail by then."
"But all those hostile leaders were slain by my father and brother?" Inuyasha asked.
"Yes. And their successors, as you may have noticed, are much friendlier. Ryuukotsusei's daughter now rules the reptile tribes, and she has no interest in war; the wolves are led by Prince Koga, who has always been a good ally of your brother's – he was opposed to the war, but was much too young to influence what was then his grand-uncle's tribe; the demon birds are now controlled by Princess Abi, now Queen Abi, of course, who while warlike has never moved against Lord Sesshomaru; the cats follow Mistress Touran – she had spats with your brother before, but they later made peace; the bats turned to Taikoumori's sensible son; the bear demons obey Kumakuro's son now, and he is respectful enough towards your brother, although he threatens other lands; the swordsmiths' guild has been taken over by Totosai after all, although I understand that your brother has quarrelled with him; and the jewellers' guild by the old Hosenki's son, also called Hosenki. All the tribes and guilds see that their people are well-treated by your brother in his kingdom, and that he employs demons of almost all species and pays them fair wages as long as they are loyal to him and do good work for him. They keep the peace with him not only because of his immense power, but also for the sake of their kind who live in his lands."
"You haven't mentioned the spiders," Inuyasha prompted.
"Ah – the spiders. Now, that's a difficult tribe. When Onigumo was slain, it is said that by some dark magic that he had used in his lifetime, an evil human soul and a host of evil demon souls proceeded from him, and joined together to form their present half-demon leader, Naraku. Naraku is… dangerous. He behaves diplomatically, but his eyes are sly and Lord Sesshomaru does not trust him at all. No one trusts him. I can safely say that among all the tribes and lands that went against your father and later made peace with your brother, this is the only one that Lord Sesshomaru and his ministers see no significant promise in as far as alliances are concerned. The castle employs no spider demons. I understand that in your father's day, the castle employed only dog, fox and racoon demons; we now have all kinds of demons working here – but still no spiders – and I do not think that will change any time soon."
"How did you come to be employed by Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked.
"Lord Sesshomaru needed someone to oversee the replacement, collection and cataloguing of the castle's books and records – the documents and publications suffered enormous damage during the battle against your father's enemies – I believe one of the dragon armies set the library on fire. Lord Sesshomaru initially left the task to some of his existing staff, and they handled it as best they could for a long time, but they were ill-suited for it as they were not scholars. When I heard about a hundred years ago that he had need of someone who had learning and expertise with documents, I applied for the job, and thus far, I have not lost it! I have my own staff now, of course, and they are quite trained and competent, which is why I have time to be your tutor in the mornings. Now, we've had our stories, and our tales – it's time to move on to some proper military history – how about a discussion on whether the Northern Bear Revolt in the third year of King Kantaro's reign failed primarily because of poor strategy or the hostile weather?"
Inuyasha groaned and sought mental strength by rubbing his head against the bark of Bokuseno's trunk.
Don't be lazy, little one, he thought he heard the tree say, at the same time as the leaf within his garments seemed to grow comfortingly warm. You have much to learn.
So he applied himself, and did his best to receive what Jaken had to teach him that morning, while the tree that he did not realise had now appointed itself as his new godfather imparted strength and calmness and peace to him.
~ - ~
Sesshomaru was watching from a window when Inuyasha's morning lessons ended, and the half-demon, dressed by Natsumi in green and gold today, walked back towards the castle with his tutor trotting and panting in his wake.
He had missed having Inuyasha in his bed last night, and wished to spend a little time talking to him now, so he made his way downstairs, towards the particular entrance of the castle that Inuyasha looked to be heading for.
As he reached the landing of the staircase closest to that doorway, he caught the scent of his half-brother below, approaching the arched side-entrance beside the autumn-themed garden. A dog-demon servant from the housekeeping department was standing by the doorway, sweeping the floor, watching Inuyasha enter – Sesshomaru knew him as one of the children of the old castle servants who had grown up on these grounds and in time had come to be employed here too. Sesshomaru stepped down silently towards the ground floor, unnoticed by anyone below, for his scent was all over the castle, and his footfalls were soundless.
As his brother came through the door, the servant looked from where he was standing to be smirking, although from that angle, Sesshomaru could not fairly say that he wasn't simply smiling.
What was unmistakable to his sharp ears, however, was that as Inuyasha passed him, the servant said in a voice loud enough to reach Inuyasha, but not intended to be heard by other servants nearby: "Came back to be your brother's whore, did you?"
Sesshomaru saw Inuyasha stop, turn towards the servant, and glare at him in silence for several moments, before speaking: "So it's you – Mamoru – the dirty-faced runt who used to have to gather all your brothers together before you dared to so much as trip me up round corners. You're just a total piece of shit who's not worth my time."
Inuyasha walked away, but Mamoru sneered again: "Whore."
Before the half-demon could react, Sesshomaru, by now in a towering rage, stormed down the remaining stairs, to the horror of the servant, who had not realised he was there. Mamoru cowered before him and tried to fall to his knees, but Sesshomaru dealt him a brutal kick which had him flying backwards out of the arched doorway, to land heavily on the paved walkway that led from the autumn garden into the castle.
"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha shouted, running towards him as he bore down on the servant again. He could smell Mamoru's blood. By this time, servants from the nearby wings of the castle were hurrying towards them, wondering what the commotion was about, and were alarmed to discover that Lord Sesshomaru himself was meting out punishment.
The half-demon, not wishing even this most unsavoury of servants to lose his life because of him, leaped in front of his brother and tried to keep him away from Mamoru, saying: "It's not worth your time, Sesshomaru! Don't bother! He's just full of crap! That's the way he's always been!"
But Sesshomaru would not be pacified, especially after he had just reminded all his heads of staff to enforce greater discipline, and had been so lenient with all the offenders he had come across in the night and early morning. Firmly holding off Inuyasha with one arm, the demon lord reached Mamoru again and kicked him once more in the ribs, splitting the skin over his side and breaking his bones. Blood seeped through the servant's tunic.
"How dare you open your mouth to insult your prince and your lord?" Sesshomaru roared.
"Stop it!" Inuyasha yelled, wrenching free of Sesshomaru's grasp – which had kept him behind his brother – and placing himself once more between the demon lord and Mamoru. "Stop it – you'll kill him if you do that again – it's not worth a life!"
No one but Inuyasha would have dared to intervene. Although the servants were not slaves, they were still serving their king, and the king had the right to take his subjects' lives at any time if he considered their behaviour treasonous or sufficiently heinous. The look in Sesshomaru's eyes left no one in doubt that he considered Mamoru's conduct heinous.
"Stand aside," Sesshomaru ordered Inuyasha.
"No."
"I won't kick him again. Stand aside."
Hesitantly, Inuyasha allowed Sesshomaru through, but remained level with his brother and kept a sharp eye on his movements.
Speaking to the bloodied, battered servant grovelling on the ground before him, Sesshomaru growled in a low voice: "How dare you speak so offensively of what you know nothing about? Whore, you say? We shall see who the whore really is now."
- 10
- 11
- 12
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The Tale of the Demon Lord