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And You, My Brother	By : Arianawray Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 15027 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 17
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Chapter XVIII: When honour's at the stake
Be strong.
He heard Sesshomaru's voice in his head. I'm trying, he thought in response, gritting his teeth as he pressed up against the cage bars, stretching his right arm out as far as it would go. Believe me, I'm trying.
He had snapped out of his pessimism after that nap throughout which he had clutched Sesshomaru's undershirt for comfort. It had been the first sleep he had sunk naturally into in this cave without the assistance of magic, and it made him feel a lot better.
After donning the undershirt, pulling the outer layers back on over it and securing everything, he got down to the business of getting out of this kami-forsaken place.
That was how he had come to have spent what he estimated to be the last four hours with his entire right arm pushed out through the bars. The sorcerer had not been in the den at all during that time, and there was no sign of Kinrin. Those two were obviously in the very last stages of planning their revenge on the dragons.
Since Tatsuya had lowered the strength of the spells imbuing the cage bars and slabs, Inuyasha had felt stronger, and he wanted to try out a theory of his – that the magic extended mainly to the interior of the cage, and did not radiate outwards quite as much, especially after being toned down. Perhaps if he stuck an arm outside the cage for as long as possible, some of the spells' effects on that arm, or least the hand at the very end of it, would be reduced? It was a bit of a long shot, but he had to try.
Tetsusaiga was still in the corner of the den where it had rested when his clothes were dumped there as well; it now lay alone on the floor, still and silent. Inuyasha kept reaching out in its direction, willing it to respond to him. His hope that it would work was founded on that incident many moons ago, when Sesshomaru still wanted to kill him and take Tetsusaiga, and had successfully grasped its hilt by tacking on a human limb to the stump of his arm. As the sword had been fooled by a borrowed limb back then, perhaps Inuyasha could convince it to react to just one hand that was free of the cage spells, even if the rest of his half-demon strength was still blocked?
He heard footsteps. Damn. Tatsuya was back. As the door pushed open, Inuyasha pulled his arm back into the cage and pretended to be just lying down quietly. Tatsuya glanced at him, picked up something from his worktable, and left the den again.
At once, he threw his arm back out through the bars and extended his fingers towards where Tetsusaiga rested, across the cave. "Tetsusaiga," he murmured. "Come on, Tetsusaiga."
At long last, the sword twitched.
"That's it. Come on, I'm right here, Tetsusaiga!"
It twitched again, then began to turn its hilt towards Inuyasha.
"It's me, Tetsusaiga. Come to me!"
At that, the weapon forged from his father's fang and his own responded, unsheathing itself in a smooth motion and slicing through the air close to the ground to thrust its hilt into Inuyasha's waiting hand.
Better yet, it flared to life. It didn't grow to its full size, but that was just as well for now. Working quickly before the cage spells started to weaken the sword itself, Inuyasha pulled it inside, grasped both the hilt and the back of the blade, and drove it against the bars as hard as he could within that limited space. Tetsusaiga's strength flowed into him, and he felt the bars give as he attacked them. He was making an awful noise, and the sorcerer was sure to come running any second now – but it was working. The cage was cracking, the slab above coming loose.
One last push, a final crack, and that was it – he was out!
Inuysha shoved the slab aside and clambered free of the cage that had been his prison for days. He hurried across the room, snatched up Tetsusaiga's sheath, then positioned himself as far away from the cage and the holding area and anything else that seemed imbued with demon-suppressing magic as he could, giving himself a few seconds to catch his breath, find his legs, recover more strength, listen for footsteps and sniff the air for the scent of anyone approaching.
Tatsuya's human ears might not have picked up the din, but surely Kinrin wouldn't have missed the noise. Or maybe he was too preoccupied… ah, no, someone was coming, and it smelt like the sorcerer.
Inuyasha's limbs were still weak and stiff from having been cramped in that cage for so long, and he had not regained anything close to his normal powers, but the fever was gone, and his confidence was boosted by the fact that Tetsusaiga remained in its transformed state. That meant the strength was starting to return to his body. So he planted himself in the middle of the den, not bothering to hide.
Tatsuya rushed in, his eyes going first to the broken, empty cage, then to the red-clad hanyou standing tall in the den near the worktable, wielding his enormous sword. His eyes widened.
"You –" he began, before quickly determining that words were useless here, and he had to cast a spell before everything went south. He directed a blast of magic at the hanyou from the end of his staff, but Inuyasha dodged it, and charged at him. Another blast was parried away by the sword, which wavered a little from its contact with the demon-suppressing magic, but flared strongly back again.
As much as he detested Tatsuya and his dark sorcery, Inuyasha figured that directing any of Tetsusaiga's arsenal of mighty techniques at one single human being would be overkill, so as he raced up to the man, whose face was rapidly distorting with terror, he settled for bashing him over the head with the hilt of his sword and giving him a hard kick in the nuts just for the pleasure of it. Tatsuya fell to the ground, groaning.
"You pathetic… sicko… pimp…!" Inuyasha punctuated his words with kicks to the man's ribs. "Pandering… to that repulsive… freak…!"
Tatsuya was practically unconscious from the pain, but Inuyasha dealt him one last kick in the belly, before wondering if he should kill him on the spot, or leave him alive so he could hunt him down later and torture him for days. No, killing him when he's unconscious on the ground like this is way too cold-blooded even for me, he concluded. I'll get him later.
He pulled the den door open and started looking for a way out. What greeted his eyes was a network of routes and caverns, not the slightest hint of daylight anywhere. A single lighted torch sat in a holder beside the den door, and Inuyasha guessed it was what Tatsuya used for light to see by as he navigated the dark passageways.
He himself did not need it for illumination, but he had another use for it. He put out the flame in a puddle of liquid formed by water dripping from the roof of the space he stood in, and jammed the now-unlit torch through the outer handle of the door and across the rock face. As the door opened inwards, that would make it hard if not impossible for Tatsuya to get out of the den that way once he regained consciousness.
Using his nose, he tried to find a passageway that would lead him towards open air, and away from Kinrin, with whom he was not in any condition yet to do battle. The air smelt fresher to his left, so he followed the passages in that direction, keeping close to the walls.
A fork in the path gave him pause, as there was no discernible difference between the air quality of each route. His sense of smell wasn't at peak strength yet, so perhaps some detail was escaping him, but he couldn't sit around forever to wait for his nose to kick into full throttle. He chose one and ventured along its curving route.
Some way down it, he stopped to check his surroundings, holding Tetsusaiga before him, for he had a creepy feeling that he wasn't alone, although he could smell absolutely nothing other than stone, dirt, damp and himself.
He went cautiously round the next bend – but no amount of caution could save him from getting the fright of his life to suddenly come face-to-face with Kinrin, standing there in the passageway, arms folded, lips twisted in a smirk, green eyes glittering. He wasn't even armed. He wore a breastplate and haramaki over his gold-scaled torso, but had no sword; he evidently didn't think he needed one against Inuyasha.
"Did you think it would be that easy to escape me, my little one?" the reptile demon asked, his voice bubbling with condescension as the hanyou stepped backwards.
His mirthful tone made Inuyasha's hackles rise, and he stopped backing away. "I'm not your 'little one', freak!" he growled, leaping forward and swinging Tetsusaiga at him.
Kinrin clucked, shaking his head, dodging the attack easily. "Oh dear, who taught you how to wield a sword? He should be strapped to a boulder and whipped. I could teach you so much more if you stay with me and be very nice."
"Bullshit," Inuyasha muttered, swinging his sword and missing again, realising that he could barely smell Kinrin even now, probably because the demon was masking his scent with magic. He felt awkward and clumsy. His body was stiff from his imprisonment, but he knew that even at full strength, his unrefined moves would probably still make him look like a lumbering bull beside Kinrin's silky reptilian motions.
He was, however, nothing if not dogged. Remembering that Sesshomaru's far-superior swordplay and combat techniques had not saved him from serious injury at his hands in the past encouraged him to think that he could fend off Kinrin, if not succeed in doing some damage.
He lunged a few more times at the demon, observed the moves he made, and used that well-schooled reptile mindset against him. Feinting with his sword to Kinrin's left and seeing the demon glide complacently to his right, Inuyasha swung his left leg up and dealt him a massive kick in the jaw.
Kinrin staggered back, but the surprise written all over his face was quickly replaced by dangerous excitement. He clicked his jaw back into place and drawled: "So, you want to play dirty, do you? We can arrange to do that in a much more amusing way!"
The demon flowed towards him like a stream of golden air, slithering around him and seizing him from behind. One hand yanked his head backwards by his hair, close to the neck; the other seized his throat, and a sharp kick to the back of his legs forced him to his knees. But Inuyasha wasn't done yet. He turned Tetsusaiga back and drove it right through Kinrin's belly, despite the haramaki.
Kinrin, however, was made of scarier stuff than he'd thought, for when Inuyasha tried to force the Tetsusaiga upwards to slice his body in two, the sword remained jammed where it was. The demon did not flinch or weaken as he pushed himself even more deeply onto the blade of the massive fang, and bent his head to speak into Inuyasha's ear: "It will take more than getting hacked through with a sword to stop me, my little pet – I've been through far worse and made it back."
His grip tightened on Inuyasha's hair and throat, and the hanyou started to choke, stuck where he was, unable to drive the Tetsusaiga in any direction – unless it was to pull it back out.
"Ahh..." Kinrin murmured. "This sword is imparting some curious sensations to me. Oh – can it really be? I feel it now that it's in me – this is the sword that slew Ryukotsusei, isn't it? Is that who you are, my wild little thing? The hanyou we all heard rumours about, who killed the mighty Ryukotsusei – the half-demon son of the great Inu no Taisho? Ryukotsusei's death brought me to where I am now, so it's fate, my dear. It's fate that you are now in my hands – you set all this in motion, and now you're mine. What a prize you are...."
Inuyasha, gasping for air, spat out his reply: "I'm not yours, moron, and I never will be." He swiftly pulled Tetsusaiga out of Kinrin's belly and swung it back at him again, aiming for his head this time. Perhaps Kinrin's head was more vulnerable than his body, or he did not want to deal with too many serious injuries at the same time, but the move dislodged his hand from his throat, allowing Inuyasha to twist around and try to struggle back to his feet.
That was when he knew that he should have killed Tatsuya when he'd had the chance, for the sorcerer appeared before them in the corridor, probably having utilised one of his portal spells, and smashed the end of his staff into the side of Inuyasha's head. The hanyou, dazed, could not prevent the staff from then knocking Tetsusaiga out of his hands.
"My den – now!" Kinrin ordered, still gripping Inuyasha's hair. Tatsuya immediately sent all three of them through a portal into another cave, where he clapped a collar around Inuyasha's throat, pushed him to the ground, and secured him by a short length of chain to a metal ring embedded in the rock floor, beside a pile of furs and skins. The chain was so short that he could not even sit up.
More magic, Inuyasha told himself through the pain in his head. They've chained me up again with the same filthy magic. In what looks like Kinrin's bedroom. Shit.
He lay there knowing that he would not be able to break the chain and collar even if he tried, not without breaking his own neck, at any rate. But his fighting spirit was back, and he was determined not to go down without giving these bastards something to remember him by. He would just have to find the opportunity to inflict some damage.
"Leaving that sword in the same den as his cage was a stupid move," he heard Kinrin telling Tatsuya. The sorcerer looked resentful and still in considerable pain from the beating Inuyasha had given him. "Why didn't you lock it up?"
"I didn't think…"
"Exactly. You didn't think. You so often don't. Now go back to your workroom and get the potions ready for sending out. What are you using to distribute them?"
"I'll create some rudimentary shikigami and send them into dragon territory."
"Get going and get it done. I want to know that my enemies will soon be turning on each other in rage and madness, not knowing why they are tearing their own loved ones apart."
Dismissed, Tatsuya turned on his heel and left, his face as black as night, but not before giving Inuyasha a threatening look. I'll get you once you no longer amuse him, just you wait, that look seemed to say.
Inuyasha couldn't bring himself to be concerned about the sorcerer now, not when his immediate problem was a demon who had indicated by word and deed that he was set on violating him in every way imaginable.
"I had Tatsuya prepare that chain and collar for you yesterday," Kinrin said now, turning back towards him when they were alone. "I wanted them ready so that you could be secured here in my den once the potions I selected for specific dragon families were mixed to my precise requirements. They're mixed, and here you are. I'd thought of preparing more cuffs and chains to hold your legs and hands down as well, but that wouldn't be very challenging for me, would it? Taking you chained down to the ground, spreadeagled?"
"Come near me and I'll tear your guts out," Inuyasha snarled, a little more loudly than he had wanted to. He was afraid, he really was, but he'd be damned if he was going to show it.
"I don't think so," Kinrin said. "You can't fight the spells in that collar. They work better than those for the cage. As long as you wear that collar, no part of you will have its half-demon strength. And you can't overcome the magic keeping me stronger than I have ever been. Once I have destroyed those dragons, I'll rule the scaled youkai. Then I'll destroy all the other youkai lords from the rest of the tribes – including the one I smell on your clothes. I remember that scent now – it's been a long time since I encountered him, but I should have remembered it – your father's other son, Sesshomaru, is it not? When he and the others are all dead you'll appreciate me, won't you? You'll even crawl to me willingly for my favour because you'll have no one else to protect you then."
"Dream on, freak," the hanyou spat.
Kinrin laughed in answer to that, in the manner of one who believed he held the world in his hands and could afford to humour the impotent rantings of lesser creatures. "I'm just going to sit here and enjoy the sight of you sprawled on the ground, chained up beside my bed, while I get rid of all this blood – you've made such a mess of my haramaki and my flesh – I should really make you lick it all off, but I don't think you're tame enough for such duties yet."
He undid his breastplate and haramaki, examined the rent in his sleeveless vest made by the Tetsusaiga, and shook his head at the blood all over it. "What a mess." As he removed the armour, his youki and scent filled the den.
So that's how he escapes detection, Inuyasha thought. Through magic-drenched armour.
Kinrin peeled one of the furs off the pile beside Inuyasha, tossed it towards the far side of the den, and went over to plant himself on it, but not before picking up a few tiny jars from a chest in the corner of the den. Hanging on the wall above the chest was a demon blade, which Inuyasha could tell was as well-forged as any that Totosai might have made. The only light in the den came from a small flame in a lamp that looked to be of foreign origin. Kinrin did not need it to see by; Inuyasha could only guess that he must have prepared it so that his prisoner, when deprived of his half-demon powers, would be able to see him.
As he reclined on the fur in his blood-soaked clothes and uncorked one of the jars, Kinrin said: "This is made from the concentrated extracts of your despair. It revives me when I've been working too hard, or when my old injuries trouble me. There's nothing worse than dragon venom for flaring up over and over again after you think you've got it under control, but these potions really help. Tatsuya is a genius. I should treat him better, shouldn't I? Tell you what, I'll have you watch us the next time I let him into my bed – you'll see how he works to please me then. You might learn something."
"That's all you seem capable of spewing – filth and crap and more filth and crap," Inuyasha told him. "Bet that's what I'll find inside you when I rip your guts open – a sewer."
"You did just rip my guts open, and the wound is healing fine, thank you."
Kinrin drank from the uncorked vessel, and a change came over his face. Inuyasha had seen that look on the faces of humans who were addicted to one substance or another, after they got a fresh dose of what they craved. It sickened him to think that a demon strong enough to withstand being impaled by Tetsusaiga would resort to a crutch like drugs.
"Perfect," Kinrin murmured, inhaling the scent of the potion from the vessel between sips. "Do you want to know what it feels like to be exposed to this, if you aren't capable of ingesting it like I am? To me, it's a treat. To you, it would feel quite different. Here, let me give you a taste of your own medicine."
He poured out a few drops of the potion into his palm, walked over to Inuyasha, and sprinkled them into his face.
Inuyasha gasped, for the effect of those few drops was immediate. It felt as if a tsunami of misery and pain had smashed full into his body, spirit, mind and soul, and would wash him into the depths of hell. Every feeling of hope and belief that it would all somehow turn out right was swept out of him at once, and his body went limp as a sea of darkness poured into him.
"Nice, isn't it? That's the strength of these potions. You can imagine what entire jars of wrath and hatred and self-loathing will do to my enemies when Tatsuya's little spirits splash them all over their territories. I've only given you a tiny taster – don't fret, the effect will wear off in just a moment. But while you're still in its grip, let's get these cumbersome clothes off you – why cover up such a beautiful body?"
Inuyasha lay there, unresisting and drowning in despair, as Kinrin began to undo his robe.
** *** **
As Tatsuya conjured up simple shikigami to transport the potions into the territories of the ruling dragon clans, he swore under his breath. That accursed half-breed had brought even more trouble to him now, escaping and making Kinrin-sama blame him – his most loyal Tatsuya – for it. Not to mention almost kicking him to death – he was sure those ribs right there under his hand were broken. He would have to use so much energy later on healing them with his magic.
The night before, as Tatsuya had set up the collar and chain in Kinrin's den, he had suggested to the demon that there was no need to keep the hanyou for long, as he had collected enough emotions from him to last for ages, and if Kinrin-sama wanted to have his fun with him for a while, he should, then he ought to kill him and dispose of the body, or release him. For Tatsuya was concerned about what sort of friends the half-breed had. They were individuals or a group clever enough to trap his ghost child, and Kinrin had confirmed that the scent on the hanyou's clothing was that of a very powerful demon. He didn't want trouble from them.
But Kinrin had refused. He was going to keep him as long as he amused him, he'd said, and hoped that would be for a long time.
Tatsuya grumbled to himself, wondering how long he would have to wait for this latest infatuation with a cute young creature to wear off before Kinrin grew sweet to him again. He didn't have that many years of youth left, even counting in what his magic could do to preserve it, and he wondered how much longer Kinrin would find him even passably attractive.
He folded up his last shikigami paper, groaning as the pain from Inuyasha's assault on him shot through his sides and groin again, then completed the spell and transformed the folded sheets into simple spirits that he sealed specific instructions into, giving them the scents of their targets from items he and Kinrin had stolen from the ruling dragons by one means or another, giving them directions to the dragon territories, and placing in their hands large jars of potion meant for each individual or family.
He sent them on their way, and sat back to sulk over being sidelined once again by yet another plaything of Kinrin's, thinking: I hope Kinrin makes him scream for days. I'll enjoy hearing that.
** *** **
As Ah-Un and Kirara bore their riders swiftly towards the Black Mist Mountain, the potion-bearing shikigami flew out from a cave that opened into the towering natural structure of stone and springs and scattered vegetation growing patchily from what little soil had collected in its crevices.
"Shikigami!" Miroku called the others' attention to the nine spirits in the air. "They're carrying potions! But we used up all our barrier spells on the apparition – I have nothing left to immobilise them with."
"Can we take them down?" Sango asked.
"We can, but I'm afraid of what will happen if the vessels break on the ground below. Is this place inhabited?"
"It is," Sesshomaru said. "Don't risk it. Those potions must be meant for the dragons, considering Kinrin's history with them. This must have been what he was gathering so many ingredients for."
"Does that suit your purpose, Sesshomaru-sama?" Miroku asked. "The dragons are not your friends."
"They are not," Sesshomaru answered. "But a power vacuum does not suit my present purposes either. If the ruling dragons destroy themselves, the lesser clans will rush for power, and half the other youkai tribes will fight over their territories. That kind of chaos in the demon world spreading across so many lands, through so many tribes, will do no one any good."
Sesshomaru then said to the kappa behind him: "Jaken, take Ah-Un and go quickly to Ryuhi the swordsmith in the west. Tell him that Kinrin and a sorcerer have sent shikigami to poison the ruling dragons with potions. Ah-Un should be able to overtake these spirits, and Ryuhi himself can fly fast enough. Let him and his disciples deal with them with their own magic. Remain at Ryuhi's forge once you have delivered your message so that Ah-Un can rest. He will have done too much flying by then."
Sesshomaru jumped off the dragon's back, ordered Jaken and Ah-Un to hurry, and sped through the air towards the cave from which the shikigami had emerged.
** *** **
Tatsuya sank into another bout of resentment as he tidied his worktable. His biggest job was done. The plan he and Kinrin had worked on for so long had been executed, and he should have been celebrating with him. Instead, his master was having fun with the irksome half-breed.
This was most unsatisfactory, he reflected. He'd truly had no end of trouble since his ghost child had picked up that savage creature's emotions. He glared at the sword he had retrieved from the passageway in which Kinrin had tackled the hanyou, and wished he had locked it up in a chest. In fact, he would do that right now.
He got up, wincing at the pain in his side, and picked up the unsheathed weapon. But just as he headed towards a chest big enough to hold it, his day rapidly deteriorated.
For the den door slammed open, and a monk stood in the entrance. What's a monk doing here? was all he had time to ask himself before the man uttered a swift chant, covered the ground between them in a warrior's gliding move, and rendered the spell he was invoking useless with a rattling blow from his shakujou. Another blow, and his staff went flying across the room.
Tatsuya crumbled to the ground, more from shock than anything, although the shakujou had probably broken another two of his ribs. As he was thinking about hacking the monk's legs from under him with a swing of the demon blade he held, a terrifying figure, ghostly white splashed with blood-red, wearing more fur than forty snow foxes, swept into the den, flew at him, lifted him up by his throat and slammed him down onto his worktable, making him drop the sword.
"Where is my brother?" it snarled. "That is his sword. What have you done with him?"
"You won't find him – my magic has hidden him well," Tatsuya said defiantly, although the cruel golden eyes, the stripes over those regal cheekbones and the mark of the crescent moon on his forehead struck fear into his heart.
"He was here. His scent is in this cave –" The demon broke off as he sniffed the air, then with a sudden growl that rumbled with fury, picked Tatsuya up and hurled him against the far wall, from where he crashed like a stone onto the broken cage.
With a move so quick the sorcerer could not track it with his eyes, the demon flew over to him, closed the fingers of one hand round his neck, and demanded in an eerily calm voice filled with the threat of a slow and painful death: "Did you use your contemptible magic to keep my brother in this cage? Is that why this disgusting object is saturated with his scent? You will pay for that. Where is that bastard Kinrin?"
Tatsuya felt a bone in his neck crack, and he suddenly wondered why he was doing this, why he remained loyal to a demon who treated him like a stopgap for times when no one else amusing enough was around to warm his bed, why he should have spent so many years of his short life pandering to someone who didn't appreciate him. Why wasn't Kinrin here to protect him from these creatures? Where was he? Having fun with someone else, as always.
Another bone cracked, and that was the last straw. Tatsuya finally whispered: "Kinrin has him in his den. I chained him up in there just a while ago."
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And You, My Brother