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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
- 11
- 12
- 13
Chapter Twelve

The silence lasted until they reached the outskirts of the village. For Sesshomaru, it was a welcome experience. It reminded him of the many times they had walked or simply sat with each other, needing no words to pass between them. He had once been so close with Inuyasha that all they had needed to feel content was to simply be in the other's company, passing away their ample time in comfort.

Of course, it had not always been that way, he recalled fondly. It had taken many decades for Inuyasha to accept and even enjoy such things. For much of Inuyasha's life, he had been far too energetic and impulsive to sit still for long periods of time. Sesshomaru remembered how fidgety he would get merely by being watched for a while, how he would try his best to ignore it, then finally burst in a flare of defensive insults to hide his self-consciousness.

It had started as an unconscious habit, but soon became one of his favourite methods of needling the hanyou and sparking that energy to life, for he had enjoyed both aspects of his brother's personality. Although he knew the Inuyasha who walked beside him now was not his, he couldn't help but feel like he had stepped into the past because of these similarities. How this hanyou was reminded him very keenly of how he'd known him to be when they first became intimate.

He would admit that, at times, it tested his judgement. A part of him simply wanted to spirit Inuyasha far away from the well that had become an ominous presence in his mind, to take time to show him what they'd had, to make him his again, but he resisted. He knew that was not what this Inuyasha wanted from him, and it would pain him deeply to sour their relationship when the hanyou had finally accepted him enough to talk plainly and easily with him.

Such thoughts constantly chased themselves in circles in his mind, but he didn't show it. He had far more control than that.

He did, however, allow it to distract him at times, such as now. He'd walked on a few feet further before he realised Inuyasha had stopped, and he turned to face him. The hanyou was staring straight at the shrine, and Sesshomaru cursed himself for a fool for not steering them clear of it. It wasn't something Inuyasha needed to see.

Before he could say anything, Inuyasha began walking toward it. Sesshomaru sighed softly under his breath and followed him silently. There was little point now in trying to prevent it; he'd already seen it, and leading him away now would be nothing but an insult. He could only watch while Inuyasha came to grips with the reality before him.

It was a long time before Inuyasha spoke, during which he simply stared, not moving a muscle. Then, he finally let out a long, shuddering breath.

"It really brings it home, doesn't it? I knew, of course... Kaede told me about it, but... to see it like this... Fuck, it's like I can't take it in, you know? It's this huge pressure on me, yet I can't really absorb it."

Sesshomaru, sensing that was largely rhetorical, remained quiet, his own gaze resting on the grave marker that bore the name Inuyasha. He was flanked on either side by the miko who had been such important parts of his life, with Kikyo on the left and Kagome on the right.

"I know it happened differently in my world, but... I hate seeing her name here. It shouldn't be there. It makes me feel... cold, I guess. And something hurts," he finished quietly.

"I cannot imagine how jarring it must have been for you to come here and be told she had passed," Sesshomaru offered, prompting him gently to let it all out. And let it out he did.

"You have no idea," Inuyasha agreed with feeling, looking away at last to meet his brother's gaze. His eyes appeared a bit wetter than normal, but the hanyou was holding his compsure very well otherwise. "I felt sick, or like someone had just ripped my guts out entirely. I was numb and in pain at the same time, and all I could hold onto was the stubborn belief that she was still alive. She was where I left her, in her own time." He paused and sucked in a breath.

"I was terrified I'd failed her. You know, after we finally destroyed the Shikon no Tama, the well took her back to her own time. I went with her. But it brought me back almost right away... it was like it was just giving me the chance to see her to safety, and that was the end of it. I really couldn't handle that, so I just..."

Inuyasha trailed off, and Sesshomaru, realising he needed a bit of nudging, said quietly: "You went back in after her."

"Yeah," the hanyou said on a sigh. "I needed to see her. To be able to say goodbye, at least. Closure, I guess. I wanted more than that, but I'd take what I could get. Anything more than what I was given. But here is where I ended up, and you told me she was dead, and I was so scared that I'd messed everything up. I thought she'd had the same idea as me and come back, but the well had taken me forward in time and I'd missed being able to save her. I can't even describe how that made me feel."

Again, Sesshomaru sensed that this wasn't something he was supposed to engage in. Inuyasha was simply taking advantage of the urge and opportunity to purge his feelings to someone who would listen. It pleased him to know that he was the one the hanyou chose to confide in. It may well have just been coincidence, just a simple matter of him happening to be here as opposed to Kaede or Koga, but he chose to view it as a step in the right direction. It may not end with them being as they once were, but he was grateful for any increasing closeness they could achieve. He didn't want any distance between them.

Inuyasha seemed to notice the change as well, for he suddenly huffed out a little breath that sounded something like a laugh. "It's strange."

"What is?" the daiyoukai again prompted, though he had a good idea already.

"This." Inuyasha turned to face him, looking composed again, and waved a hand back and forth between them. "If someone had told me a week ago that I'd be pouring my heart out to my brother, I'd've laughed in their face. It would be absolutely impossible with the Sesshomaru I know."

Sesshomaru found himself frowning slightly. "It's really that bad?"

Now Inuyasha did laugh. "You have no idea. It's a long story, so I'll tell you about it another time maybe."

While Sesshomaru was left to mull over the relationship this Inuyasha had had with his other self, Inuyasha turned to look back at the graves, but this time he was calmer about his study of them.

"So, this is really me," he finally said, pulling Sesshomaru out of his thoughts. "Even though I've been told the Inuyasha of this world is dead and I know this isn't really me, it's still... weird... to stand in front of your own grave, y'know? I'm right there. That's... that's strange."

Sesshomaru shook his head. "Inuyasha's body is not there."

Curious, Inuyasha looked back at him. "It's not?"

"No. That marker is a comfort for the ningen in the village only. I proposed, and they agreed, that our Inuyasha be laid to rest with our father in the Netherworld."

"You mean in that giant skeleton of his? That's... that's actually a really nice gesture."

Now it was Sesshomaru's turn to be curious. Inuyasha knew of their father's remains?

"You've been there?" he asked.

"To see our old man? Yeah. That's where I got Tetsusaiga."

"But only Tenseiga can open the path to the Netherworld. Did my other self assist you?"

Inuyasha barked out a laugh. "Him? Help me? Like hell he would. I did end up going there because of him, though. I didn't even know about the Tetsusaiga before that. But dad intended for it to go to me, I guess, since he left another gateway to the Netherworld in my eye. A black pearl. It's yet another long story, but to cut it short, you - the other you - were a jackass and tried to steal the Tetsusaiga for yourself by ripping the pearl out of my eye, travelling to the Netherworld, and attempting to steal Tetsusaiga, but it rejected you. You got really pissed, we fought, you turned into your true form, I cut your left arm off with Tetsusaiga. And all that was the first time I'd seen you in nearly a hundred years, too. Some reunion, huh?"

While Sesshomaru was reeling a little from all this cruetly done to Inuyasha by his other self, thinking that he deserved to lose more than just his arm, his brother proposed another question: "Hey, that's a point right there: there should be two Tetsusaiga's around now that I'm here. Do you have the other one?"

Grateful for the chance to think about something else, Sesshomaru shook his head. "No. It rests with Inuyasha in the Netherworld."

"Really? You didn't take it? Does the barrier reject you, too?" A pause that ended before Sesshomaru could respond. "No... it didn't before, did it?"

"I've never known Tetsusaiga to put up a barrier against me, but that was still no reason to take it. The blade was yours, no less so in death. Tenseiga and Bakusaiga are enough."

Inuyasha let out a breath and shook his head slowly. "So much is different here, I don't know if I'll ever wrap my head around all of it," he muttered.

"I am sure I'll feel the same the more I hear about the Sesshomaru you knew," the daiyoukai replied, somewhat unhappily. Inuyasha's fuzzy ears flicked as he picked up on the tone.

"Don't get down on yourself because of what he did. The Sesshomaru I knew was a first class asshole and he was homicidal to boot; I'd have rather had you as a brother, hands down."

Sesshomaru was flooded with pleasant surprise, but he wished it hadn't shown on his face, because moments later the hanyou's cheeks and even the tips of his ears flushed pink with embarrassment and he cleared his throat noisily.

"All right, shit, that's enough talking like fucking girls. Let's let everyone know we're back before Kaede organises a group to hunt me down or somethin' stupid."

With his arms behind his head, trying to act cool about it, Inuyasha stomped off further into the village, leaving Sesshomaru trail after him, both amused and touched. It was just like Inuyasha to say something unintentionally sweet or kind, then get embarrassed over his compassion and storm off. These similarities were going to be the death of him, but he would enjoy every minute of it until then.

---

Chapter twelve, yay! Some questions have hopefully been answered for some people by posting this. :D

I have to say, the reason this exists in a finished form is literally from reading comments posted by you guys. I've been thinking about continuing this for a while now since I know it's been a long time since I updated it, but I've been disheartened lately by some tragedies in the family and, on top of that, my old laptop dying and losing a lot of stuff I'd thought I'd had backed up, but hadn't. Progression on my many fics were some of the things lost that cannot be recovered, so all that combined hit my inspiration like a sledgehammer.

But while trying to get some inspiration to write something, at least, I re-read comments and reviews posted on many sites where this story is uploaded and it really... lit a fuse, one might say. I opened the document, looked at the half-written post there, and just knuckled down. I think it took, maybe... twenty minutes to write the rest and another five to polish it off? It just goes to show that every time you comment on my work, it really is helping. Thank you so much, all of you. There are some special people who comment on practically everything I write (SplendentGoddess, Snowfall, kmoaton to name a few) who deserve extra thanks and love from me, but everyone who takes the time to express how much they've liked my work has their own share and I love you all dearly.

I hope you all enjoy this. It's for you guys, after all.
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Through The Well