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Destroyer
By : NihilEtNemo
Category: InuYasha > General > DarkFic
Views: 2863 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own or make money from Inuyasha.
Chapter List
- 1-Destroyer
- 2-Chapter 2
- 1
- 2
2.

Consciousness was his enemy.

It was more weakness on his part than he would ever have allowed himself to feel that way, yet he did. He should have struggled to keep it whenever he saw himself losing it - it was only pain, after all. Only unending, humiliating, sickening pain...

Instead he found himself not only allowing the unconsciousness, but welcoming it... and as time passed, actively seeking it and its escape from the ceaseless pain as a sick something roiled and grew inside him, from the fever and vomiting as his body tried to fight the invader, from the taste of blood as its growing form tore not only uncaringly but maliciously through his organs and hollowed out a place for itself inside him, consuming both his body and his youki to grow larger and stronger still...

Time had no meaning in eternal darkness; instead of counting the days since Naraku had mutilated him, he could only count periods of merciful nothing broken by cruel bouts of awareness, and after ten or so comings and goings of his own personal tide he had lost track even of that. That had been longer ago than he could remember.

And once again he found himself awake and horribly sane. He longed for the darkness, but he dared not dive down and embrace it again. He wanted to - oh how he wanted to! - but on a level deeper than the pain he realized that something was different this time.

"I said 'wake up', Sesshoumaru."

The effort of pulling his eyes open made his stomach roil and churn, and he panted in sharp, high-pitched breaths to stem the revolt. Those breaths reeked and tasted of Naraku, and of something else...

"Sesshoumaru-sama!"

The high voice, jagged with fear and anger and elation, stabbed his brain through his ears, and he lost the delicate balance that had almost saved a sliver of his dignity. He retched helplessly, somewhere finding the strength to twist partially onto his side and avoid his fur and his hair. He had not always been so fortunate. This time, however, the biting cocktail of blood and bile that forced its way up his throat pooled harmlessly on the floor while the creature within him twisted in malicious approval.

Naraku didn't even seem to notice. His bulky form invaded the sliver of darkness he could see before him, crouched down and looking him over with a cruel little smirk. "Still firmly here in the land of the living, I see."

He panted and declined to answer, looking up at him without lifting his head. Posturing and faking strength would be useless at this point.

"What have you done to Sesshoumaru-sama?" A small form twisted at Naraku's side, wrapped in a thick tentacle and held in the air. The elation had left his voice, replaced by anger... because he was too foolish to fear. "When my lord-"

"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said quietly. The little youkai's beak snapped shut with an audible click.

Naraku chuckled and continued to look at him. "So you do get tired of this thing after all. I was wondering if it got on your nerves as it has on mine over the past month."

"Month," he muttered, and his eyes slid sideways to Jaken. He hadn't realized he had them; he should have, but when he hadn't seen or heard of their fates he had assumed they had escaped somehow. Evidently, he had been wrong. Now that he knew... it was amazing Naraku had kept them alive this long.

Or at least one of them. What if he had already killed the humans?

"Rin?" he asked Jaken, surprised to hear his voice almost steady, almost normal. He dared not move, but if he stayed still he sounded himself. "Kohaku?"

"Alive, my lord, frightened like little humans. But what has happened to you, Sesshoumara-sa-" His voice was out off with a choke as another tentacle rose and gagged him. He twisted and struggled in futility, but Sesshoumaru's eyes were already back to Naraku.

"Satisfied?" the creature of darkness asked him, ignoring the kappa struggling in the air beside him. "I thought your motivation might bear wearing thin by now."

Pain robbed him of any patience he normally had; he couldn't even be bothered to try and follow Naraku's twisted reasoning to save any of his pride. "Meaning?" he asked flatly, letting the side of his face rest on the floor, holding himself up on his side with the remains of his right arm to keep his tender and distended, and occasionally writhing, stomach away from the ground. There was no way he could sit up - his missing arms and legs made maneuvering into and balancing in the position almost impossible. Even if it hadn't been, his neck was still held by a collar and tether made of the same stuff of the floor it held him to... and failing that, his consciousness would never survive the pain of putting that sort of pressure on the parasite within.

"Meaning," Naraku said slowly with a small smirk that acknowledged and reveled in the weakness the question admitted, "I thought that you should know that I have your little entourage, still alive - 'at my mercy' you might say - just in case you might feel like... giving up. You can understand how that might be bad for their health."

He only met Naraku's red gaze flatly, keeping still and panting quietly to keep the pain controlled. What was he expecting him to do? Beg him to put him out of his misery? Beg him not to hurt them?

Naraku considered him for longer than seemed necessary, never blinking or letting his eyes waver. There was something going on in the mind behind those eyes; even Jaken seemed to know it, and went still and unobtrusive. It was a thoughtful gaze... Not knowing what he was searching for, he did nothing but meet his eyes levelly.

It took a long moment for Naraku to speak again. "But you're not even thinking about giving up yet, are you?" he said finally. His head tilted slightly, and his eyes continued to search. "I'm surprised at you. Somehow, I thought you'd be too matter-of-fact to go on allowing yourself to be eaten alive when there wasn't any reason to."

The thing in his stomach gave a lurch of agreement, and he gagged again but only spit up a mouthful of blood this time. He decided that was enough answer; he didn't know what else he should have said anyway. Maybe Naraku should have been right, but the thought of trying to kill himself to end it had never crossed his mind during the bouts of torture that were consciousness. He could hardly claim credit for that - it didn't take much mental fortitude to resist an idea that never occurred to you.

Naraku chuckled darkly to himself. "It looks to me like you're just too stubborn to die."

Silently, Sesshoumaru agreed with him. Nor did he find anything particularly shameful in the idea.

Letting his laughter trail off, Naraku pushed himself back to his feet. As he moved, for the first time Sesshoumaru saw the faint glint of a sword at his side, and the faint presence called out to him. His head lifted and his shoulders tensed, but he had no claws to flex, and he could not lunge forward and tear Tenseiga away from him.

"So, the sword gets more reaction than the servant."

He glared upward, but Naraku only had a knowing look on his face. Jaken was struggling against the tentacles again, his half-hidden expression indignant, obviously bursting to come to his moral defense against the implications, but he could not get free and Naraku didn't seem inclined to put himself in a position to have to listen to it. Jaken stayed bound and gagged, and ignored.

"That is the cold-heartedness I'd expect of you," Naraku said with a small smirk. "And you should see how it obeys me now. It bows to the whim of its new master now."

"You may use Tenseiga," he said with all of the remaining coldness he could muster, "but you will never be its master."

"Won't I?" Naraku wondered, untroubled, and placed a foot on his shoulder to shove him onto his back.

Neither the stump of the Tetsusaiga-amputated arm nor the remains of his leg could slow the motion and he landed on his back with a jarring wave of pain that robbed him of his breath, made his lungs seize tight and refuse to obey. Yet that was almost the good part; he might have cried out of he'd been able. The thing inside him showed its displeasure with the movement by writhing where his intestines should have been.

He could hear it. The wet, slurping movements, the rhythmic beat of its foul heart and the slick ripping sounds of its destruction of him... His body shuddered in unvoiced pain and his mind with revulsion, and he sought the refuge of unconsciousness again.

It was denied him. The pain was too clear, too present, too urgent to be overtaken even by that.

"It's coming along nicely," Naraku mentioned, and he felt the heavy pressure of a booted foot leaning into his stomach. A high whine burst from his throat as he mindlessly struggled away from the blaze of agony.

Nor was he the only one disturbed by the pressure - the parasite squirmed inside of his body with renewed vigor. Naraku removed his foot but it helped absolutely nothing, and he hardly even noticed the change in the quality of the pain.

His stomach bulged and writhed obscenely, the pressure from within forcing his skin to its limits. There was a new sound from inside him, a watery tearing sound that was accompanied by searing agony. He could not control it, or ignore it, or endure it; he screamed as the beast forced his flesh still further, and fissures appeared in the pale skin, gouting and leaking blood. They stretched and grew as it moved, seeking an exit; the tearing sounds were visible from without as well as within now, and a bubbling growling noise.

With a wet snarl, the creature finally forced its own way free, ripping a gash across his stomach from within with a spray of blood that left droplets across his face. His second scream covered the rest of the sounds it made as it ripped and clawed its way out of him.

It was a relief when it was out of him. The pain didn't lessen but at least there was no more movement inside his body, and the snarling was only coming from outside of his skin. His muscles spasmed and quivered; his breaths came fast and shallow, and he could only stare upward into the darkness. His mind lay blank and empty - it was a poor second to unconsciousness, because he still had to feel, but at least he didn't have to realize it.

He noticed he might have been fading out of consciousness only when Naraku's face intruded in his line of sight and forced him to focus again. The quality of the snarling had changed, and he realized why when he saw Naraku hold a monster above him, something approximately the size and shape of a large weasel, covered in blood, but much more demonic than any natural creature. It struggled and writhed in his grasp, straining to reach Naraku's arm with oversized teeth, or get to Jaken, or drop down on top of him; it obviouslly mattered little what victim it found, it just wanted to kill.

"Beastial and hate-filled. I'm not surprised."

Sesshoumaru didn't answer, only watching him blankly. Jaken was still watching him, he saw without very much feeling, but his large eyes were wide, and he was still and silent. He would think so much more poorly of him now...

As though it mattered. He was already destroyed. If Naraku did that to him again, he didn't think he would survive it. In truth, whatever Naraku was going to do to him now, he doubted there was enough left of him to survive it. How much more could he lose?

Naraku studied him, petting the beast's bloody head with one finger while he gripped it tightly. "You seem to be giving up now," he mused.

Sesshoumaru watched him and said nothing. He didn't even know if he was; he only knew he was growing cold and numb and he welcomed it.

Without another word, Naraku pulled Jaken forward and removed the gagging tentacle from his mouth. The small youkai said nothing and simply stared at him as though seeing him in a new light. He looked back as impassively as he could manage.

"No," he said quietly to Naraku, gathering his strength for the word. It wasn't a real response to what he had said, but if that was what he wanted, perhaps he would accept it. If not...

There was truly nothing more he could do for Jaken.

Naraku watched him a moment more, and was apparently unsatisfied; the tentacles shifted around Jaken, four of them now grabbing his limbs. Now the small youkai squealed and began to struggle again.

"My lord... Sesshoumaru-sama!" he cried in pain and alarm as they began to pull on him, each in a clearly different direction. His squat body was already being stretched.

Somewhere, Sesshoumaru found the strength to move. He forced himself up, thinking vaguely that he needed to save Jaken from the torment, only to stop before he even reached the limit of his collar and fall forward onto his empty wrist, retching. The waves of pain were such that he didn't even feel the strain and pressure on his severed limbs; even contraction of the abused muscles made him retch again, and it fed itself. Only thin, watery blood could come up, however, and he wasn't surprised when a grotesque shifting sensation gave way to a new stretching pain. The remains of a clawed and gouged stomach slithered from the gaping wound through his abdomen and hung in the air, leaking blood and acid onto the floor beneath him. Of the organs the latter half of it was supposed to be attached to he saw no sign.

The sight made him feel cold again, but he forced the retching under control and raised his head to face Jaken helplessly. He had no legs to run with, no hands to claw with, not even enough youki to keep his blood in his body. Helpless. Useless.

"Sesshoumaru?" Jaken looked at him desperately. He too was beginning to realize the truth - he could not save him. Then he screamed in pain, writhing as the first popping sound of a dislocated joint was heard.

Sesshoumaru looked at Naraku again. "Stop this," he demanded - or asked. He was in no position to demand. What he was doing was agreeing that he would play whatever Naraku's game was by whatever rules he wanted. He must want something.

Naraku smirked a little secretive smirk and pulled Jaken closer to him so he could see the expression of agony on his beaked face as he screamed again. The shapeless clothes he wore disguised the restructuring taking place beneath his skin, but he could hear the popping of joints and the creaking of tendons as they were stretched to their limits - and beyond.

Something tore. The clothes couldn't absorb all of the blood that sprayed as first one limb and then another tore free, and it splattered across Sesshoumaru's face to mix with his own. He watched without flinching, making himself see since he could not stop it. Jaken's last agonized scream cut off into a bloody gurgle as the wrenching on his back finally broke something lethal. At least his misery was ended.

The tentacles ripped until all of his limbs came free, streaming thin blood, and his torso and head fell in an unnatural heap to the floor. One by one his arms and legs rained down on him, covering the frozen scream.

"Here," Naraku said, as he looked down at the body of the loyal servant he had failed so utterly. "You must be hungry."

Sesshoumaru looked up with a deep growl, but didn't dare move. Naraku only gave a knowing smirk and tossed the ferocious weasel-beast back toward him as he turned away.

~tbc~
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Destroyer	By : NihilEtNemo Category: InuYasha > General > DarkFic Views: 2863 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own or make money from Inuyasha.

Destroyer