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A Heat to Overcome	By : Sparrowhawk Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 31291 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the associated characters, nor do I make any profit from this fanfic. All other characters not associated with the original manga or anime, however, are mine.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Reviews!!

midnightsweet: Glad you liked it. Hope you like the next chapter and keep reading!

Vyperbites: Thanks for leaving your comments. He he, read on!

Warnings: a very anguished, out of character Sesshomaru, profanity (what a shocker!), a deliciously naked Sesshomaru and a panicking Inuyasha *drools, kissing and touching (sorry, no sex scene in this one).

Allrighty then. I apologize for the long wait, just started working a second job so I don't have as much time to write. Please forgive me for any future delays (: Now, please read and enjoy and review if you have the desire or the time ... or both!

Chapter Eleven

Irrational Fear

The scent of rose petals tickled Inuyasha's nose, attempted to trick him out of his nightmare-less sleep. He didn't want to wake up. He recalled those final moments before losing consciousness, Michio battering at his body with his poison whip as he frantically tried to protect the little demon child, Fuyuki. They had almost succeeded in escaping. But now ... now there was no hope. Michio would not give him the opportunity to escape a second time.

This time, he pleaded with whatever god might listen, this time don't let me wake up.

Something cold and wet touched his forehead, and he flinched. What new kind of 'game' had they come up with to torment him? He could already feel his manhood hardening in reaction to his heat, just as it had every other time the slavers had come for him.

"No ..." he begged even while knowing the words fell on deaf ears. He couldn't take it anymore! They would break him this time. "Please ... no more. No more!"

The cloth and hand withdrew. He whimpered and writhed in distress when his body began to burn with fever. His back stung where the cuts strewn across it came in contact with the material he was lying on.

"Inuyasha."

"No ..." he groaned. That voice. He knew that voice. He was hallucinating again. The fever had made him delusional.

"Ototo, wake up. Open your eyes."

He squeezed his eyes tighter shut. "It's a dream," he whispered, voice wild. "It's a dream. You're not here. Not last time or the time before that, and you're not here this time either. It's a dream. I won't be fooled again!"

"Inuyasha, little brother, please," that voice rose up to torment him again.

Something wet and warm swiped across his cheek. He recoiled, shivering in distress and revulsion for the dreaded touch of that tongue. "No more," he whimpered, uncaring of how weak and scared he sounded as he curled into a ball, arms raised in a futile attempt to protect himself. "I don't want to feel anymore. Please, I'm begging you ... just kill me!"

Hands and arms of iron seized him, crushed him. He could barely breathe for the fear that took hold of him when enraged youki surrounded him, touched him all over, came at him from all sides as if to consume him, body and soul. It made his hair stand on end.

"No!" he snarled, his own youki rising up to meet and fight against the demonic aura that sought to entrap him.

He lashed out at his attacker with demonic red eyes. He couldn't get at the demon with his claws, so instead, he used his fangs, biting down hard on the first bit of flesh he came across. Blood flooded his mouth. He wasn't going to let them put him through that torture and shame again. Never again! He'd die first!

Someone was talking to him, calling his name in that familiar--beloved, abhorrent--voice that sent lightning pain through his chest and shook his resolve. There was no retaliation to his attack beyond the tightening of the arms that encircled him. It wasn't right. Something ... something wasn't the way it should be. There was no answering pain. The demonic aura, though furious, was not being wielded as a means to hurt him. Rather, it felt ... protective.

"What has he done to you?" that beautiful voice, twisted in anguish and regret, asked softly. "What have I let him do to you? Come back to me, ototo. Didn't I tell you you're mine? You have no right to do this to me."

Confused, he let the bloodied flesh and cloth slip from his mouth. This was a dream, wasn't it? Sesshomaru had abandoned him. Sesshomaru wouldn't be saying these things. He was talking like ... like he had feelings for him ... like he wanted him. Sesshomaru hated him! Why would he be here, calling to him, touching him? He had to be just another figment of his imagination.

But ... that voice was his. The blood coating Inuyasha's mouth belonged to his sibling. Surely such a distinctive taste couldn't be replicated even in a dream.

"Se ... Sessho ... maru?" he called uncertainly, fearful of the reprisal should he be wrong. "Are you really ... Sesshomaru?"

"Yes," Sesshomaru responded, relieved beyond words to hear his younger brother's voice free of the influence of their sire's much too powerful youkai blood. "Yes, it's me, ototo. I'm here. You're safe."

"Safe?" Inuyasha repeated dumbly as he blinked open large, vulnerable eyes. The first thing he saw was a white that nearly blinded him after the darkness of his unconscious mind. When his eyes were able to focus better, he realized it was a spill of pristine white hair--Sesshomaru's hair.

Tears spilled down his cheeks as he buried his face in his aniki's neck and breathed in his scent. Sobs ripped in painful, shallow, panting breaths from his chest. He was safe. Sesshomaru had come for him after all. He clutched the daiyoukai's clothes in shaking fists, terrified that if he let go for even a moment Sesshomaru would disappear and he'd be alone again. It didn't matter how his brother would see him, didn't matter if he looked weak, he was safe.

"It's all right now," Sesshomaru murmured, pressing his lips to the top of his baby brother's head. "They can't hurt you anymore. I promise you, they will not lay their filthy hands on you a second time."

Filthy? That word struck Inuyasha like the bolt of a crossbow. Panic flooded through him when he recalled just where he was as well as the fact that he was completely naked and fully erect.

"Why would Lord Sesshomaru, the pure blood son of Inu no Taisho, want you now?" Michio's voice taunted him. "What interest could he possibly have in a hole that's been used by countless others? Even if you go back to him, you're nothing but a filthy slut. You'll only dirty him. You could never be worthy of a daiyoukai such as he."

"Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru called, concerned by his sudden lack of movement and sound. "What's wrong?"

"... nothing but a filthy slut ..."

Without warning the hanyou wrenched himself away from Sesshomaru's embrace. Wide eyed and clearly frightened, he scrambled backward till he reached the foot of the bed. "Ano ... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get all emotional on you. I know you hate that shit, so um ... yeah ... I'm fine now. Y-You can go ... uh, thanks for saving me and all that ..."

The scent of shame and terror swamped Sesshomaru's senses. The hanyou was trying to put on a brave face even as he sniffed back his tears and stared at Sesshomaru with a kind of lonely desolation in his eyes he imagined was in the pup's eyes the first time he left him to fend for himself. He wrinkled his nose. He was a predator by nature and reveled in the fear of those weaker than him. Yet on his baby brother it was somehow intolerable. It didn't belong there. He didn't want it there, nor did he like it there, not when it seemed a reaction to the demon lord's presence.

Slowly, he extended his hand. "Inuyasha, come. I will not hurt you. Let me help."

Inuyasha eyed the proffered hand as if it was a snake poised to strike. "I-I'm fine. I don't need your help. You can go."

Foolish boy, lying to him like that. He should realize it wouldn't do any good. The hanyou wasn't nearly devious enough to mask his deceitful scent. The pup should be punished for such insolence. Insolence out of fear was understandable, though. He didn't like it, it would have to be quashed in the future, but for now punishment would only do the half breed further harm, and he had no desire to harm him. Not anymore. Tamae had warned him against getting Inuyasha riled up, and he could see for himself that forcing the issue would only bring more fear, so he let it alone.

"Do you wish for me to send for your miko instead? Perhaps she can help in my place--"

"No!" Inuyasha shouted, frantically latching onto his aniki's arm with both hands when he moved to leave. "She can't see me like this! Please! Don't leave. I don't want to be alone. I ... I really don't want you to go."

A warm, almost tingly feeling swelled in his chest at the same time as confusion swelled in his head. Was the pup afraid of him, or wasn't he? "You ... wish for me to stay?" he clarified.

Ears meekly hidden in his hair, Inuyasha nodded.

Sighing for the concession--he didn't want to leave his ototo for someone else to take care of for even a moment--Sesshomaru retraced his steps and sat on the edge of the bed, angled partially toward his brother. "Your body requires release, ototo. It will begin to hurt if it is delayed."

Again his sibling recoiled from him. The scent of shame was far stronger than fear now, though that, too, remained.

"Are you afraid of me, Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru asked, edging closer even as Inuyasha moved back.

"No!" the hanyou immediately denied, his ears perking forward before laying back again in defeat, voice falling to a whisper, "... yes. I don't know. I'm ... dirty."

"Dirty?" Sesshomaru repeated skeptically. Why was the half breed suddenly worried about being dirty? It was true the sheets were ruined and would soon need replaced, but that was none of Inuyasha's concern. Did his ototo think he would be angry with him for that small matter? "You do, indeed, need a bath, little brother, but I do not understand why you should be so frightened of me over such a trivial concern. I have no intention of reprimanding you."

Head bowed and puppy ears drooping miserably, Inuyasha shook his head back and forth. "You shouldn't touch me. You'll get dirty."

Bewildered by the insistence in the younger inu's tone, Sesshomaru reanalyzed what had been said as well as Inuyasha's non-verbal reactions and the corresponding scents of his emotions. When he finally realized what it was his ototo had been attempting to convey he felt like a fool. It wasn't the first time, but certainly the first in a long time.

"You are not dirty, ototo," he reassured his distraught sibling, extending his hand once more. "What was done to you was sick and wrong, sordid acts committed by the most heinous of men, but their actions do not defile you in any way. Their filth cannot touch you."

"But they ... they made me ..."

"Shh," Sesshomaru urged, sensing Inuyasha was on the verge of tears again. "You don't need to talk about it now, little one." He frowned at himself, unused to offering any form of comfort to anyone. Even with Rin there were few words needed when she was plagued by nightmares; his presence was sufficient to tame her fears. Yet his youki demanded he quell the guilt and shame pouring off his sibling in torrents. "What happened to you, what they did to you, whatever you might have done while within their power doesn't matter. Your standing in my eyes has not fallen, nor will it."

"Standing?" Inuyasha half laughed, half sobbed. "What standing? A 'filthy half breed' our 'father's mistake?'"

Sesshomaru flinched at the demeaning words he had repeated time and again falling from his ototo's lips. "A strong and beautiful inu I am proud to call my brother."

"You're ... proud ... of me? After--Y-You can't mean that. You've never ... never looked at me twice in your life! Fuck your pity! I don't need it! I don't need you!" He was acutely aware of the stoic golden eyes that stared at him, but he was even more aware of the pathetic desperation in his own voice. Though he was aware of it, he could do nothing to stop it. "The only reason you saved me is because you couldn't stand the thought of someone else taking what you see as yours. Well, I'm not yours! I don't belong to anyone! Hanyou don't have anywhere to belong. Everyone knows it! Hanyou are filthy bastard sons of whores, their very existence is meaningless, with lives worth less than the dirt on the ground! There's no place in the world for half breeds!"

Once more Sesshomaru reached for him and, as before, Inuyasha recoiled. The hanyou wasn't making this easy.

Taking a deep breath, reminding himself it was necessary, the daiyoukai abruptly rose and began to strip.

"W-What are you doing?" Inuyasha yelped, unreasonably panicking. In his heart, he knew his elder brother had no intention of hurting him, but seeing his partial erection and smelling the masculine odor of an aroused male sent his youki spiraling into utter confusion, throwing his rational mind into chaos.

"If you're too afraid to allow me to touch you, then I have no other method with which to convince you." When he stood fully exposed to his sibling's incredulous and terrified gaze, he retrieved his obi from the floor and tossed it onto the bed in front of Inuyasha. "Your release cannot be put off much longer. It is already beginning to ache, is it not? Use the cloth to tie my hand to the bedpost, then you may use my body as you please."

"You're j-joking ... right?"

"This Sesshomaru does not joke, little brother." Throwing away the currently worthless pride that made him feel somehow inferior by giving up control, the inu youkai laid down on the bed, crossing his hand behind the bedpost. "Do it, Inuyasha, or I will be forced to call on another to do it for you. I would prefer it remain between the two of us, but have no doubt I have no qualms whatsoever in being seen like this by Sasaki or even your monk friend."

Feeling incredibly awkward and conflicted, Inuyasha took the obi in hand. He got up off the bed and cautiously made his way around to the head of the mattress, heart pounding in anxiety. With an encouraging gesture from Sesshomaru, hardly daring to breathe, he looped the strip of cloth tightly around his aniki's wrist a few times, and then tied it securely to the bedpost.

"Very good," Sesshomaru praised him, watching as Inuyasha circled back around to sit on the edge of the bed. "Remember this, ototo. Remember this and know I would not do this for anyone else. You are the only one, Inuyasha. A half breed. A hanyou. One born from the union of the great dog demon, Lord Inu no Taisho, and a ningen woman of noble blood. I do this with full knowledge of your mixed heritage, and I do it because I want you to belong here."

"But ... I'm dirty," Inuyasha protested weakly.

"Regardless, I still want you."

"I--"

"Dirty me, then. If you are convinced that that is what you are, I will become the same. Let it be a reminder of how much I am willing to sacrifice for your sake and never again leave my side."

Never again. Those two simple, complicated, beautifully possessive words echoed sweetly in Inuyasha's ears. Michio was wrong. Sesshomaru wasn't going to forsake him. He was wrong.

"Never again leave my side." The heat that had slowly trickled downwards became a raging river, pooling with increasing ferocity in Inuyasha's groin.

"Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru gently called, worried by his younger brother's sudden silence.

"... hai."

The corners of Sesshomaru's mouth twitched up into a brief smile at Inuyasha's agreement. "You have nothing to fear from me, little one."

Timid fingers brushed lightly across his arm; it felt much like when one might test the waters of a hot spring one has never been to before. Or, perhaps it was more accurate to say he was testing waters infested by flesh eating fish to see if they had a taste for inu hanyou.

"Sessh ..." Inuyasha panted, ears laid back tight against his skull, visibly trembling as moisture gathered in far too vulnerable golden eyes.

Sesshomaru shuddered hearing his name once again upon his ototo's lips, a breathy sigh that stirred his desires fiercely. It caused his youki to thrash against its restraints, threatening to completely unravel his self control. He itched to tear through the cloth binding him to the bed and fuck the other inu senseless, but he knew such behavior would only drive the frightened hanyou away from him. Regardless of Inuyasha's feelings, after the trauma of being raped too many times to count, trusting even in his closest friends would be beyond him at this point, or so Tamae warned him. He wouldn't admit himself a fool twice for not believing her. Having fought and attempted to kill the boy for most of his life--far worse than anything his friends could possibly have done to him--Sesshomaru knew it would take time and much more patience on his part to build Inuyasha's trust in him.

"Come, ototo. It is all right. Touch me in whatever way pleases you."

Inuyasha whined an apology as his mouth descended upon the daiyoukai's sternum. This was wrong. He knew it was wrong, forcing Sesshomaru to lower his pride in this manner. But he was scared. It was foolish and irrational. After all, his aniki was only trying to help him. Even now, that wonderfully strong youki raged around him, protected him, controlled in its fury by Sesshomaru. Yet, as stupid as it seemed, he was afraid of him.

He kissed and sucked the warm flesh of his elder brother's chest, his abs, his navel, and downward, the smell of his alpha's musk luring him on to what he feared and longed for most. His face was wet with tears as his anal orifice began to twitch, the muscles spasming greedily, the emptiness inside him becoming more than unbearable. He felt like a whore. Surely Sesshomaru would be disgusted by how slutty he had become, craving it so badly he felt as if he would lose his mind if he wasn't penetrated soon.

Shakily removing his hands and lips from his aniki's body, he sat back up. "I ... I can't. Sessh, I can't do this. I can't! Please," he babbled, head lowered, shoulders hunched as if he expected to be struck for the refusal. It would serve him right for rejecting the daiyoukai's kindness. But that part of his aniki that was all male, all alpha, made it hard to touch him. The smell reminded him too much of the dark dog demon, Michio. "I don't want to. I can't stand feeling like this! I don't want to feel like this. I hate it! Please don't make me!"

"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru began.

"Please!"

"I will not force you, Inuyasha."

Whining in short, punctuated breaths, Inuyasha clutched his head in his hands. "I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't! I can't I can't I can't I--"

Easily tearing through the cloth--demon cloth though it was--Sesshomaru reached out, barely touching the inu hanyou's forearm in a gesture of reassurance.

"NO!!" Inuyasha screamed, knocking his elder brother's hand away. "Don't touch me!" He shivered for how easily that simple contact stoked the fire within his lower belly and curled into a protective ball, rocking and trembling and murmuring words of comfort to himself on the corner of the bed farthest from Sesshomaru.

"Inuyasha ... ototo, you need to calm down," Sesshomaru said, cautiously approaching his sibling, though he didn't try to touch again.

Hearing a man's voice so close, Inuyasha leapt off the bed and practically slammed his back to the wall, claws scrabbling against the stone, pressing himself into it so hard it seemed he was trying to become one with it. "Don't ... touch ... me," he repeated, gasping between the words, chest heaving. He felt lightheaded, almost like he was floating.

Sesshomaru watched in ill concealed alarm as Inuyasha began to hyperventilate, his heart beating so fast and so loud in the silence of his chambers that it sounded very similar to the stampeding of horses. What was wrong with him? With everything Tamae had told him about what to expect, this was not something she had mentioned. He wasn't prepared for it, wasn't sure how to react. Should he call the healer to take a look at Inuyasha? But there was nothing wrong with him, nothing so critical that he should summon her--the worst of the danger had passed--aside from the fact that the hanyou seemed unable to calm himself and wouldn't allow Sesshomaru to touch him to relieve his heat.

Those thoughts passed through his head in mere seconds, but before he could come to any kind of decision, Inuaysha decided for him as his face paled and he collapsed onto his knees, one hand bracing him against the wall.

Sesshomaru immediately went into action, flinging his bedroom door wide. "Guards!" he bellowed, bringing them into the receiving room of his chambers at a run, both searching for whatever had attacked their Lord. Behind him, he swung the door mostly closed to prevent them seeing what was not theirs to see. It wouldn't do for them to witness their secondary ruler in that state. "Bring Tamae to me. Now."

The guards, confused, bowed and trotted back toward the door. Lord Sesshomaru never yelled for anything. When he had they thought that, at the very least, a dragon had attacked their Lord's bedchamber. And what's more, he was naked. An unusual, though not unheard of occurrence, for the Lord was as comfortable in his own skin as in clothes. Hell would freeze over before the son and heir of Inu no Taisho showed embarrassment because he was nude. Perhaps the Lord was sick? Though ... he didn't look it at all.

"Fools!" Sesshomaru snarled, sickly green whip forming at his fingertips to crack at their heels. "When I say now, I mean run as if your lives depend on it, for it may very well cost you them if you do not."

Faces frozen in fear, the guards hastily bowed and sprinted for all they were worth out the door and down the corridor to find Tamae.

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru returned to his bed chambers only to find his sibling gone. For a moment, a very brief moment, panic seized him. Then he heard the splashing of water coming from his private bathing chambers through a door on the far side of his bedroom. Sighing, he slipped into a silk sleeping yukata and sank onto his bed, head in his hands. He hadn't felt this stressed since his Lord Father passed away and he was expected to take on his duties.

Should he give the hanyou some space to come to grips with the situation? He was a little worried to leave him alone, though, even if he was only in the next room. Inuyasha had told him to stay ... did that mean in the same room, or just close by? Or was that request negated when his ototo rejected his help? The hanyou was so full of contradictions Sesshomaru didn't know which action would best help.

"My Lord?"

Sesshomaru looked up, surprised he hadn't heard the wind demoness' approach. "Tamae ...." He stopped, gathering his thoughts, not sure what he should say. When the pause drew on longer than was normal for him, Tamae raised a questioning eyebrow. He shrugged almost helplessly, gesturing toward the door to his bath chamber where he could still hear the telltale sounds of Inuyasha moving in the water. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. To be honest, he didn't really know how he thought their reunion would go, but this wasn't it. "He won't let me touch him."

She smiled sympathetically, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder--an action no lower servant would dare. Tamae and her kin were longtime servants and, therefore, granted more privileges than most. "Do not be too disheartened, my Lord. It's normal for what he's been through."

"He almost passed out from panic. I didn't think he'd be that fragile. Things were progressing well before ... before then."

"Well, I admit I had hoped he would respond better to you."

Sesshomaru looked up at that, his expression as close to indignant as she had ever seen. "He asked me to stay."

"Did he now? So, where is he then?"

The daiyoukai gestured vaguely toward his bath chamber door. "I was ... uncertain how to approach him, or if I should after what happened."

"You should. If he asked you to stay then you should."

"He rejected my help," Sesshomaru protested, giving her a mildly bewildered look. "He couldn't stand to be touched by me."

Tamae gently shook her head. "Not 'by you,' my Lord. It wasn't that he couldn't stand to be touched specifically by you. The fact that he wants you near him is proof that he would prefer your touch."

"Then--"

"He is afraid."

"I know that!" Sesshomaru snarled, running his hand angrily back through his hair. "I know what those fucking bastards did to him! I know he's afraid!"

Tamae raised an eyebrow at his unusual use of profanity. "Knowing is different from understanding," she patiently explained. "He probably doesn't even fully understand it himself. You must come to understand him, understand what makes him afraid, whether it's because you're male or because you're stronger than him or because you're an inu youkai--like Michio. There are a thousand different reasons he could have for being afraid of your touch. You must learn to understand that fear and overcome it, even if he doesn't yet know why he's afraid."

"You're telling me to do the impossible. I have never been able to understand him. He is the only man I have met who escapes my comprehension."

"Then perhaps now is the time to do the impossible, my Lord."

She looked at him so seriously he couldn't discern whether or not she was making a jest at his expense. Do the impossible? It was true he had said he could accomplish the improbable--he had done so before--but he had never boasted of being able to do the impossible. He wasn't that foolish. His pride, high as it might be, was based on facts and the reality of his own abilities. The world had a way of proving a person wrong if that person thought too highly of himself--as had been confirmed to him most regularly when battling Inuyasha. The hanyou's unpredictability had a way of doing that.

He wanted to ask how she expected him to accomplish such a feat, but another kind of pride restrained him.

"Go to him, my Lord," she urged, gesturing toward the door. "He needs you."

Nodding in acknowledgment of her advice, Sesshomaru stood and made his way to his private bath chamber. He was still unsure of what he was going to do, how to handle the puzzle his ototo presented, but he wasn't accomplishing anything by sitting on his bed thinking about it.

Cautiously, more to allow Inuyasha a chance to sense his presence than for his own benefit, he slid the door open and stepped inside. He hovered behind the sleek wood partition that separated the actual bath from the door where one could rinse off whatever filth had accumulated during the day before entering the clean, heated water of the sunken stone basin.

"Sessh?" Inuyasha's voice floated timidly from somewhere beyond the partition.

"I'm here."

"Is someone else out there?"

"Tamae, the royal healer. I would have her look at you, if you would allow it."

"Look at me?" Inuyasha responded nervously. "What do you mean? Why?"

"I am ... concerned for your wellbeing," he said carefully, recalling how upset the hanyou had become at his mention of finding him of value. "I wish to help in some way. May I come in?"

"I-I guess so."

Smiling at his ototo's acceptance, Sesshomaru began to quickly rub down his lower legs and feet with a damp cloth.

"Just ..."

He paused, cocking his ear to hear the hanyou more clearly. After a slightly awkward silence, he ventured, "Inuyasha?"

"Just don't let the ... the healer come in yet. I'm not ... I mean, I don't want--"

"I understand, little one," Sesshomaru interrupted, and he did. To some extend, at least.

It was hard to comprehend being afraid of someone like Tamae, whose power was so far below Inuyasha's strong youki. Yet, at the same time, he knew Inuyasha's experience with the demons who had taken him would have made him wary of even the weakest creatures imaginable. He had seen rape victims before--when he was heir apparent and his father still alive to rule. The court proceedings had bored him, but he remembered very clearly how terrified each victim was, some so much they collapsed, weeping and shaking whenever a stranger came too close. Would his ototo be that fragile?

"I will ask Tamae to wait outside for the time being." He almost had to hold his breath to hear the other inu's quite "arigatou." How small his ototo sounded. How vulnerable. He didn't like it.

Poking his head into his bed chambers, he spotted the wind demoness sitting above his desk chair, hovering effortlessly. "Tamae, wait here while I calm him down."

"Certainly, my Lord," she responded as she serenely pulled some colored thread, a needle, and a piece of half embroidered cloth out of a pocket in her medical bag. "I'll be here, ready and waiting, whenever you're finished."

Satisfied, Sesshomaru nodded and ducked back into his bath chamber, shutting the door behind him. She was a cheeky one, using that tone with him. This once, he'd let her get away with it. Her skills were legendary, after all.

"Ototo, I'm coming in," he warned. Smoothly, he stepped around the partition and into the main part of the room.

His eyes skimmed over every surface until finally they came to rest upon the top of his brother's head and those adorable puppy dog ears that twitched in his direction at the sound of his approaching footsteps. The silly pup was submerged in the water up to his chin, red in the face and whimpering slightly from the effect of the warm, almost hot, water on his sensitive skin.

"Didn't I warn you before that you'll overheat in this state, little one?" Sesshomaru chided in a gentle voice. "Come out of the water."

Inuyasha shook his head and sank deeper into the water, up to his nose.

"What are you afraid of?"

Flushing brighter, the hanyou looked away, eyes shining with unshed tears.

"I am not going to hurt you, little one."

Raising himself up out of the water enough to speak, Inuyasha mumbled, "I know that ..."

Sesshomaru arched an inquisitive eyebrow. "Do you?"

"Yes ... I'm not afraid of you." His ears flicked forward defensively when the daiyoukai didn't answer. "I'm not!" He ducked his head sheepishly at his outburst, his ears laying back again, and lowered his voice. "I'm not afraid that you'll hurt me. Y-Your youki is soothing. It makes me feel ... calm, I guess."

"Then why won't you come out of the water?"

"I'm ... scared."

"Of what?" Sesshomaru asked, keeping his exasperation in check for the round about way in which his ototo was answering. He needed to have patience. Slow was better than rushing ahead and bullying his ototo into feeling even more vulnerable, which would inevitably push him away.

"I don't want you to see what I've become. I don't want you to smell ... him ... on me. It's disgusting! I-I can't get it off. No matter what I do, his scent is still there!"

Listening as his sibling continued to bare his feelings, Sesshomaru allowed his sleeping yukata to slip from his shoulders to the floor and stepped fluidly into the water unnoticed by the hanyou.

"I can still feel him ... touching me ... all over ... all over ... like it will never stop ...!" Something warm pressed up against his back as strong yet gentle arms wrapped around him and lifted him to stand above the water at his full height. He tensed. "S-Sessh ... what are you doing?"

"Giving what I have long withheld from you unjustly," the daiyoukai replied as he guided them both to the edge of the large sunken basin. "You may push me away if you feel my touch is unacceptable. I will not be angry."

"W-What are you planning to do?" Inuyasha wondered as his elder brother took him by the waist and lifted him onto the smooth stone edge so only his calves downward were still submerged. He cursed the anxiety still present in his voice, the fear that felt as if it was choking him.

"Grooming," Sesshomaru purred, reaching to the side and slightly behind the other inu to a small basket containing wash cloths and sweet scented soaps. He pressed his hand to Inuyasha's chest when his baby brother tried to get back down into the water. "Relax. You'll like it. If you are uncomfortable at all with anything I am doing you may tell me to stop and I will. Do you understand? I will not force you into anything you do not want to do, little one."

Biting the inside of his cheek to keep the fear from becoming vocal, Inuyasha nodded.

Given permission to proceed, Sesshomaru favored his ototo with an approving smile. "I think ... the oakmoss blend will suit your natural scent best. It is mixed with rose to please the senses and ginger to soothe the mind." Carefully, so as to not startle his sibling, he lifted the hanyou's hand into his own. "Forgive me, I cannot hold your hand and wash it at the same time. Hold it here," he instructed, guiding the hand to where he wanted and then letting go. "Once I am finished with your hand you may place it upon my shoulder while I wash your arm."

"Sessh," Inuyasha protested. "This is embarrassing."

"This is normal for those of the inu race. Father used to do this for me. No matter how bad the day was it always brought peace to my soul. I do not know if I am as skilled at it as he as I've never tried grooming another, but I hope to do the same for you."

Dipping the cloth into the water to wet it, Sesshomaru then laid it out on the edge of the stone basin and rubbed the scented soap into it until it brought forth a good amount of lather. Then, taking care with his claws, he picked up the cloth and pressed it into his brother's palm, washing in gentle circles. From there he washed between thumb and first finger, up onto the back of his hand, and down between each of his fingers. Glancing up to gauge Inuyasha's reaction, Sesshomaru grasped his wrist and brought his hand to rest on the demon lord's bare shoulder opposite to the hand he was using to wash. The arm trembled slightly under his grasp, so he moved on to wash his baby brother's forearm, this time using long, firm strokes, wrapping around his elbow and running the cloth up to his shoulder. At the least, he didn't look frightened anymore, merely nervous.

Inuyasha felt his cheeks go hot when the daiyoukai's fingertip accidentally brushed against his skin. His cock twitched as if to draw the other inu's attention to it. He saw Sesshomaru glance at it, but his gaze didn't linger. Instead, he guided Inuyasha's hand back down to his side and took up the other one, repeating the routine he'd just finished.

After a time, Inuyasha began to relax. The touches, though intimate, were not sexual in nature. Just as Sesshomaru had said, they brought him peace, calming both himself and his youki. It felt right. Natural. A content rumbling started in his chest, echoed by his older brother as that warm cloth and that talented hand traveled from his shoulder to his back. He leaned back on his hands and let his eyelids drift closed. If only things could always be like this--that he could stay like this, safe, protected. Nothing ever remained the same, though, no matter how one might wish for it. Michio would come after him again. Or else, he'd come after Sesshomaru, but either way, he was coming.

Suddenly, there was warm breath on his neck, followed swiftly by a moist tongue. A thrill of fear passed through him while, at the same time, his youki flared in arousal. Before he could stop himself he had thrown his head back, a submissive whine escaping parted lips.

Shocked, Sesshomaru stepped back to put a little space between them as his baby brother's eyes went wide and he clapped his hands over his mouth. "My apologies, ototo," he said softly, berating himself mentally for the slip. "I saw the cuts that haven't yet healed on your neck and my instincts urged me to clean them. I did not mean to upset you."

"I hate this," Inuyasha muttered, voice bitter. "I hate f-feeling like ..." he glanced at his brother, then lowered his eyes as he gestured toward his erection, "like this." Like a whore, his mind supplied without bidding. He winced.

"It's not your fault, little one."

"Isn't it, though?"

"No," Sesshomaru responded firmly. "It won't last forever. A week or so more and it will be over. You won't have to feel so helpless again."

It was too much. The wait too long. Far more than he could take. In despair, he curled up on the stone floor and wept.

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Definition of Terms

Don't believe there are any this chapter, if there were, let me know and I'll correct it.

A/N: Woo can't believe how long that took to type up! Jeez. I really need to sleep. Sorry for any spelling errors, repeats, or other mistakes, I am waaaaaaaay tired. Hope ya'll liked it and please leave a review!! (: (:
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A Heat to Overcome