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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
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- 2
- 3
Chapter Two

Dead for nearly a decade.

The words echoed around Inuyasha's mind as a new, chilling numbness swept in. There had to be a mistake. Sesshomaru never paid enough attention to remember the names of his friends; he'd hate himself for thinking it later, but maybe it was Sango he meant. Kagome couldn't be dead. He'd taken her back home himself.

But he couldn't really accept the idea of a mix-up. A decade. A decade ago, someone had died. How much fucking time had he lost and what the hell had happened?

No use looking at Sesshomaru for the answer. He hadn't changed since they'd first met nearly three hundred years ago. Not even his clothes, the formal trappings of the Lord of the West, had altered. Inuyasha himself was the same; for at least two centuries, his physical appearance hadn't differed. Like Sesshomaru, his outfit - his armour - never left him. Neither of them embraced change.

Except their eyes. Somehow, Sesshomaru's had become warm, open, when once they'd been only ice and mirrors, reflecting and giving nothing away, revealing nothing beneath that hard, chill outer layer. And Inuyasha no longer stared out at the world from behind his walls behind walls with unwavering distrust. All thanks to the same woman Sesshomaru had declared dead.

Could Kagome have come back somehow? Had the well regained its power while he'd drifted and brought her back? He wouldn't have been there for her. He wouldn't have been able to protect her if something came after her, and the thought made his stomach turn in thick, greasy knots.

He'd always thought fate was a cruel bitch, but could it really have been that capricious? So cruel that it deemed fit to bring Kagome back - something he'd ached for since the well had sucked him back in - and then kill her before they could reunite?

No, there had to be a mistake. But even as his head steadfastly refused to accept it, a fresh, aching pain bloomed in his heart as he stared, unblinking, at Sesshomaru. Those eyes, usually so unpenetrable, were open and filled with a sympathy and sorrow that made Inuyasha cold inside. Filled with a certainty that what he said was undeniable truth.

There had to be a mistake, he thought again. Repeated it like a mantra, as though by simple force of will he could make it undeniable truth instead. But there was doubt slithering through him, prickly with fear, and he couldn't shake it.

He told himself it was just from the sucker punch of hearing she was dead. The very idea shook him, that was all. He'd believed it in the past and she'd turned out to be all right. He'd held her, lifeless in his arms, when she'd supposedly succumbed to Mukotsu's poison and the smoke from the fire that bastard Renkotsu had started. But she'd woken, and she'd lived. He'd shed tears, felt his world go cold, but she'd come back to him, brought the warmth and the hope back into his life.

She'd come back again.

She had to.

"Little brother."

The hanyou only noticed that Sesshomaru had moved when he spoke. He blinked, surprised to see him so close, only dimly aware of the gentle pressure of the daiyoukai's hand on his arm. Again, a phrase that had once rolled off his brother's tongue with equal amounts distaste and derision now carried familiarity and warmth, but Inuyasha couldn't focus on confusion. Not when he had to find a way to prove Kagome was alive.

"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru continued when Inuyasha remained silent. "It pains me to bring you this news again. It tore you apart then as much as it does now."

For at least a minute, Inuyasha just stared blankly, riding a fresh wave of pain. Yeah, it fucking tore him to pieces; that was a fucking understatement to what he felt, and if he'd had the energy to be angry, he'd have shouted.

But on the heels of this pain, the wheels in his mind began turn, stuttering to a slow start, but a start nonetheless. Proof, that was what he needed.

He wasn't going to find it with someone who insisted Kagome was dead.

He shook Sesshomaru's hand off his arm and backed a few steps away. He was relieved when Sesshomaru didn't follow, but pointed a finger at him aggressively anyway.

"You're wrong about Kagome, you hear me? She's not dead. She can't be dead. I just saw her. She's not dead!" he shouted. "I'll prove it to you. I'll find her and show you she's not dead."

He began skirting around Sesshomaru, intent on heading back toward the village. The people there were their friends; he was sure one of them, at least, would be able to tell him the truth. Kaede would know what really happened. She could always be relied on to bring them back to sound physical and emotional health.

When Sesshomaru turned to watch him, even started to reach for him, Inuyasha once again branded his finger like a weapon, stopping the powerful daiyoukai in mid motion. The hanyou was too emotionally unsettled to marvel at the significance.

"Don't you follow me, you bastard," he said threateningly. "I don't wanna see your damn face anymore!"

Purposefully ignoring how Sesshomaru's eyes shadowed, Inuyasha turned away and sprinted into the trees, leaving a forlorn inuyoukai behind him.

_________________________________________________________

Sesshomaru watched his retreating brother's back until the very last flash of red vanished. Even then, he continued to stare in that direction, his eyes never leaving that one spot, his body as immovable as stone.

What... had gone wrong? Because something evidently had. Inuyasha's memories were seemingly mangled in a most distressing manner, erasing pleasantries from his former life and leaving him with a crippling hope that would likely destroy him all over again. Sesshomaru simply couldn't fathom why such a thing would come to be.

Or how.

He couldn't help but feel some malicious force was at work. Some force that seemed to wish for them both to suffer; for what other purpose would they return Inuyasha to this world in such a state? Though it distressed him to think it, he wondered if it would not have been better for his brother to not have been disturbed from his eternal rest if only suffering awaited him, despite how much he had yearned to see him again these past eight years.

Youki shot through the periphery of his senses, moving at high speeds toward him. A cloud of dust burst from the forest's edge mere moment later as Sesshomaru turned to meet it, merely narrowing his eyes to protect them as that wave of dust passed over him.

It settled quicky to reveal the ookami, Koga, looking around frantically.

"Where is he?" the wolf demanded. "I can smell him. Where is he?!"

"He seems to have headed in the direction of the village," Sesshomaru replied.

"And you let him go!?" Koga shouted. "What's wrong with you!? I'll drag him back here myself!"

He made to do just that, but Sesshomaru caught him by the back of his armour, easily halting the younger youkai and pulling him back. The ookami struggled, doing everything possible to get away without striking the daiyoukai who held him.

"What are you doing?! It's Inuyasha!"

"It's... not Inuyasha. Not as we know him," Sesshomaru said quietly, stilling Koga more effectively than a blow would have. He turned to face Sesshomaru, frowning.

"What do you mean?"

"His memories... they're gone, or altered. He recoiled from me, and spoke of Kagome. He believes..." Sesshomaru hesitated.

"He believes... what?" the ookami asked, barely louder than a whisper.

"He believes Kagome is still alive."

Sesshomaru saw the emotion flitter across Koga's face: the grief, the ever-burning anger, the sheer sorrow. The wolf swallowed with difficulty.

"Why? Why does he think that?"

"I do not know. But I plan to find out." Sesshomaru looked toward the village, his smooth face marred with a grim expression.

Koga followed his gaze, his tail twitching in agitation. "Well, what did he say about me?"

"He... he didn't mention you. With his memories altered thus, it may be that he simply does not remember you." Sesshomaru heard the faint growl rattling in the back of Koga's throat, and put a hand on his shoulder. "I am sorry, my friend. If we manage to keep him with us this time, you may be able to rebuild the closeness you once shared."

Koga looked at him. "What about you? You said he turned you away?"

"Yes. It seems that is something else he cannot remember." Out the corner of his eye, the daiyoukai could see Koga struggling with something to say. If the situation had not been so disheartening, he might have smiled; the ookami prince had never had a way with words... much like Inuyasha.

"It is my hope, too, that I can regain what was once between us. Perhaps we can even restore his memories completely. We cannot give up hope, Koga. We must exhaust every possibility."

Koga sighed, scratching his head just above his ponytail. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Damn mutt's still causing us trouble, huh?"

With his eyes still gazing toward the village - towards Inuyasha - as though they could pierce the very trees, Sesshomaru finally smiled, but it was a smile of forlorn hope edged with bitter sadness.

___________________

A/N: Dedicated to Demitria Miriam, not just because she - for some unknown reason - loves this fic, but because she also showed true friendship by bugging the shit out of me to finish it after seeing the unfinished draft. <3
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Through The Well