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The Tale of the Demon Lord	By : Arianawray Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 56279 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
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XXII: Letting Go
Inuyasha looked over the wares of the three peddlers that Sesshomaru had summoned from the nearby town to the castle.
They were sellers of children's toys, offering a variety of items from windmill fans and colourful glass marbles to paper kites, simple wooden and cloth animal figurines, and elaborately dressed human and demon dolls with painted porcelain faces and moving parts.
The prince made his selection. He chose mostly the simpler toys, but he bought a large enough quantity of them to make all the sellers very happy. He paid them himself from the allowance he had just drawn from the treasury that morning.
Then he looked up at Sesshomaru and smiled, and the demon lord basked in his brother's pleasure, feeling that he had just been given a gift of great value.
~ - ~
Inuyasha had not dared to believe that Sesshomaru meant it when he told him last night that he would allow him to visit his friends in the village. But it was true, it was happening. He held his delight in as best he could, afraid that if he let all his joy out, the gods would envy his happiness and take it away from him.
They had seen Totosai off in the morning, then as the fire demon vanished into the clouds on his flying cow, Sesshomaru had turned to Inuyasha and asked him if he would like to purchase some toys for the children of the village. When he had answered eagerly that yes, he would like that very much, the demon lord sent at once for the operators of the three biggest children's toy stalls in the town two miles away, commanding them to come and display their wares at the castle gates.
It was primarily a demon town, but close enough to several human villages to do trade with them. A small number of the stallholders and peddlers in the town were human, and even a few of the demon businesses produced and sold goods that would also appeal to humans. Inuyasha thus had no difficulty finding toys that the village children would love.
He spent the rest of the day in quiet excitement, first surprising the chefs and other kitchen staff by showing up in person at their working area, then pleasing them greatly by asking politely if they could prepare a few boxes of sweets that human children could safely eat.
Natsumi's lover, Kazuki, delighted Inuyasha by promising that he would personally select safe ingredients like dates, cane sugar and the sweetest wolfberries that the dessert chef would be able to cook into caramelised sweets. They would deliver them to Inuyasha by the end of the day, properly wrapped and boxed.
Then he had gone back to his room, dragging Jaken along with him and barely paying attention to his already-attenuated lesson as he dug up a stack of colourful writing paper from a cabinet, a bunch of writing brushes and ink sticks from a drawer, and tried repeatedly to fold them all up nicely into a wrapping cloth to give to Kikyo and Kaede, for the priestesses conducted writing and reading lessons for the village children daily, and often ran out of stationery.
In the end, Jaken gave up trying to teach and joined his pupil instead in selecting the stationery that would be appropriate for giving away, and helping him to wrap it up presentably.
Later, Natsumi came by to help him separate the toys and stationery into various carefully wrapped bundles so that they would not be damaged on the way to the village.
Kazuki personally delivered the boxes of sweets in the evening, and Inuyasha's eyes widened as he opened one of the boxes to find rows and layers of beautifully golden, sticky sweets, the softly caramelised sugar holding generous quantities of diced dates, chopped walnuts, whole wolfberries and candied fruit. Each sweet was individually wrapped in a sheer sliver of muslin, then carefully laid beside its neighbours in stiff paper boxes covered with decorative cloth.
"You must taste them, Your Highness," Kazuki said. "I did, and they are delicious. There are more in the kitchen, if Your Highness requires a larger quantity. They've been carefully cooked and shaped, and will keep for a long time even if the weather is hot."
"This is already more than I expected!" Inuyasha said, amazed. "The children will be eating these for days!"
He unwrapped one of the sweets and popped it into his mouth, and Kazuki and Natsumi could tell from the way his eyes opened even wider that he was more than pleased with the dessert chef's skills.
~ - ~
The next morning, one day after Totosai's departure, it was Inuyasha's turn to leave. The prince stood before his brother in his red fire rat robe, which he had insisted on wearing because everything else he had in his wardrobe would be much too grand for the village, and he did not want his friends to think that he was putting on airs.
Sesshomaru had come to his bedroom after breakfast to see if he was all set to leave, and found that Inuyasha was more than ready.
"It's not like I have a lot of stuff to pack," the half-demon said, strapping Tetsusaiga to his sash. "I'm only going for two days, and Natsumi's already seen to it that all the toys, sweets and stationery are safely strapped to the dragons' saddlebags. I'm also taking along a bit of money that I can maybe slip to Kikyo in private, but that's all – I don't want it to look like I'm getting too grand for them or anything."
"Of course."
"It's only two days," Inuyasha repeated, knowing by instinct that he needed to console Sesshomaru without doing so too overtly, for the proud demon lord was striving not to show his reluctance to let him go, as he did not wish to dampen his brother's excitement at the prospect of seeing his friends again.
"You will be very well protected," Sesshomaru said, intending his words to reassure Inuyasha that he would be safe, but feeling after he had spoken it that the statement was really meant to reassure himself.
"I know. Thank you," Inuyasha replied.
The demon lord had assigned three of his best guards, and the messenger Yuno, to escort the prince to the village. They were to protect him from all danger on the way there, and also keep the entire village safe while he was staying in it. He had tasked Jaken with the role of chaperone, as it was not considered proper for a prince of Inuyasha's age to leave his home without an official guardian or chaperone accompanying him. It had been arranged that Sesshomaru himself would go to the village in two days' time to bring Inuyasha home safely.
Sesshomaru had explained the arrangement last night, when he had said to his brother: "I would very much like to go with you, but I have a full-day meeting with my ministers the day after tomorrow that cannot be put off. Besides, my presence would make your friends uncomfortable, so it is a good thing for me not to be there throughout your stay. However, I shall set off first thing in the morning after the meeting, so that I can bring you home myself, without having to impose myself on the villagers for long."
"I won't run away, you know," Inuyasha had answered quietly.
Pausing for a moment after hearing that statement from the half-demon, Sesshomaru had nodded thoughtfully to himself, but told his brother: "You have every reason to run away from me, after all the unhappiness I caused you. But I am not going to the village to stop you from doing that. You could easily leave at any time during your visit. I simply hope that you will choose not to run away – not because of my foolish threat against your friends – but, I hope, because you want to come back. I would miss you if you never came home again."
A certain note in Sesshomaru's voice had exposed the undercurrent of emotion racing beneath the calm words, and Inuyasha had felt awkwardly helpless, not knowing how to deal with this side of his brother that he had never imagined existed. At the time, he had just bowed and said "thank you" a little formally, and Sesshomaru had left him to rest for the night.
Now, as he stood before him again in the morning, Inuyasha felt the awkwardness return. The lingering traces of his years of resentment, and the fresh upset from learning of the secret passage, egged him to toy with the idea of never returning to the castle. He imagined running off while letting Sesshomaru know in no uncertain terms that he never wanted to see his face again. But in that tiny internal battle, his sympathy for Sesshomaru, and his gratitude to him for his recent kindness, overcame the traces of his old hostility. At the same time, that odd feeling of having some strange power over his brother touched his feelings of compassion more than those of his resentment.
So on a pure impulse, he stepped up to the demon lord, raised himself just a little on his toes – for at his age he was still a few inches shorter than his brother – and gave Sesshomaru a kiss on the cheek, discovering as he did so that Sesshomaru smelt unexpectedly appealing.
"Thank you for letting me visit my friends," he whispered into his ear, before coming down from tiptoe and slipping his arms around him so he could rest his head against his chest in the manner of a child giving his father a hug. "You will see me at the village in two days – it won't be any time at all."
Sesshomaru lowered his head, inhaled the scent of the half-demon deeply, and ran his hand down the length of Inuyasha's silver hair. Then he gathered up his resolve, and let him go.
The demon lord walked his brother out to the field where his escorts awaited him. Inuyasha was to ride behind Yuno on his dragon, and they were to fly behind another dragon that would be ridden by a guard and Jaken. The other two guards, on flying steeds, would bring up the rear. Another dragon-mounted messenger accompanied them – he was to stay in the village for one night, then return the next morning to report to Sesshomaru that the prince was safe and well.
They expected to reach the village by noon, for it was a clear day, and a tail wind would be blowing.
Inuyasha said goodbye to Natsumi, who had remained out in the field to bid him farewell. He jumped lightly onto the dragon behind Yuno and settled down on the great beast's back as Sesshomaru gave final instructions to the three guards. Inuyasha had to hide an embarrassed smile as his sharp ears picked up the demon lord's warning and implicit threat that if anything bad happened to the prince, they would no longer find their lives worth living. The devoted Jaken, and Yuno, Sesshomaru's most trusted messenger, needed no reminders.
In moments that passed too swiftly, they took their leave, their mounts took to the air, and Inuyasha was soon lost to Sesshomaru's sight.
~ - ~
That day was a long one for the demon lord. Although his routine meant that he usually saw little of Inuyasha between breakfast and dinner in any case, the passing hours felt different, heavy with the knowledge that the boy was not within the castle grounds.
As noon came and went, he knew that he must have reached the village, and would be greeting all his friends by this time, telling them what he could safely tell of his life in the castle without revealing too much that would upset them or embarrass him. He would undoubtedly be mobbed by the little ones the second he pulled the toys and goodies out, and perhaps the children would trample all over Jaken as they rushed towards Inuyasha.
Sesshomaru forced himself to sleep that night even though he did not require the rest, in order that the hours would pass more quickly for him. When he arose, he allowed his three room attendants to see to all his morning bathroom requirements and to dress him formally for the meeting with his ministers.
It was an important gathering, one that was held twice a year for Sesshomaru to hear the half-yearly reports and petitions from all quarters of his kingdom; ensure that his instructions from six months ago had been carried out or to find out why they could not be properly implemented; to learn by allowing the ministers themselves to debate current policies and laws with one another whether anything could be improved; and also to discover by listening to the subtle cross-questioning among the various parties if anyone was not doing their jobs as they should.
He held smaller meetings on a more regular basis with different ministers, or groups of ministers and generals, but this was one of the gatherings that saw all the key personnel in his kingdom in attendance. It was essential for maintaining the smooth running of his lands, to remind all his people that he was very much in power and control, and to nip problems in the bud. He would have liked to have Inuyasha sit in on this session, but decided that it was a little too early for the boy to attend these large gatherings. It was therefore a good time for him to see his friends and for Sesshomaru to learn not to hold him so tightly that it would only suffocate Inuyasha.
Nonetheless, there were polite and interested inquiries from various ministers about the prince, whose return to the castle they had all heard about, but whom they had not as yet seen.
"My lord, we are delighted to hear that His Highness has returned home, and we hope that we will have the privilege of meeting him at these gatherings in future," the Minister for War and the Maintenance of Peace said, joined by others. This Minister for War (and Peace), Atsushi, was an old dog demon who had been one of the few to tell Sesshomaru what he thought of his casually letting his brother and stepmother leave the castle to live with her human relations.
"My lord," he had said bravely one hundred and ninety years ago, when he had learnt that the boy and his mother were already gone. "This would break your father's heart were he still here to see it."
Sesshomaru had angrily banished him from the castle for many months, but eventually readmitted him when enough time had passed for his anger to wane, and for his practical good sense to remind him that Minister Atsushi had never been anything but loyal to his family, had fought courageously beside him when the castle was attacked by his father's enemies, and was one of the most efficient demon chieftains he had ever worked with.
"My brother has returned home," Sesshomaru said now, more specifically to the Minister of War than the others. "But he is paying a visit to some of his friends at present, chaperoned by his tutor. He is still little more than a child. However, I shall ask him to attend these and other meetings in time to come. I have no doubt that he will learn much from all of you."
They got down to business then, and the rest of the day passed in matters that would have largely been dull enough to put the king to sleep had he been inclined to doze off. But like his father, he had never been known to fall asleep in front of his ministers. Besides, dull reports and presentations were perhaps a good sign that all was well in his kingdom.
Only the border general from the south had an interesting report about how Naraku's lands to the southeast were crawling with demon bandits that the spider lord had recently permitted to move freely through his territories. The bandits apparently worked for him, and were a useful instrument for suppressing dissent among his own people. They targeted towns and villages that harboured thoughts of rebellion against the spider lord, and left alone those that did his bidding. The trouble now was that some of the bandit gangs had too few villages to plunder, and often tried to slip north into Sesshomaru's lands, or into the lands belonging to the demon birds, whose kingdom adjoined theirs.
Border scuffles between the demon birds and the spider bandits were frequent, while Sesshomaru's own borders had seen only three attempts by the bandits to cross them so far, possibly because their territories were more consistently patrolled. However, the signs were that these attempts would only grow in frequency over time.
"We have already increased patrols at the southern border, my lord," the general reported. "We wiped out the three groups that tried to attack our border guards and killed their leaders, but new bandits seem to appear weekly, and they seem increasingly desperate for food and money. They do not appear to have any difficulty wandering freely into the neutral wilderness between Your Majesty's lands and Lord Naraku's territory – Naraku's own border guards do not seem to be doing their jobs."
"Perhaps they are doing their jobs, in Naraku's opinion," the Minister for War suggested.
Sesshomaru asked the general for further details and considered the situation carefully before making his decision: "I authorise an increase in the number of troops guarding the southern border. We have no trouble with the bears in the north at present, and our defences there would be adequate even with fewer soldiers, since we have a natural warning system in the form of the herds of deer populating the neutral zone in the north. As those creatures take fright at everything, no movements from the bear armies will be possible without setting off a mass stampede. So take two hundred soldiers from the north and move them to the south for at least the next three months. In the meantime, I shall write to Naraku and remind him that if he does not keep his own lands under proper control, others will be only too happy to do it for him."
Sesshomaru was thinking mainly of Queen Abi of the demon birds, who among the rulers in this part of the world was the one who had never bothered to make any secret of her dislike for Naraku, or of her distrust of him, although she maintained polite relations with his princedom for the sake of keeping the peace between neighbours. If she ever had an opportunity to sink her fangs and talons into the spider lord, however, she would undoubtedly do so with the greatest satisfaction.
Sesshomaru had gathered that Queen Abi's deep hatred for Naraku stemmed from the fact that she believed the spider lord harboured something of the supposedly deceased Onigumo within his soul by means of his dark magic. She had never forgiven Onigumo for once trying to trick her mother into doing his dirty work for him. It was a dishonourable act, and Queen Abi hated dishonourable conduct. In contrast, she and Sesshomaru treated each other with mutual respect even though his father had killed her mother in the great battle, because she had accepted that it was her mother who had behaved dishonourably there by joining forces with others to attack a solitary demon who was trying to defend his mate and unborn child.
In the course of the meeting, the messenger who had accompanied Inuyasha to the village requested admission and reported quietly to Sesshomaru that all was well, the prince had spent a good day and a safe night among his friends, and was as happy as he could be. Sesshomaru's heart had both lightened to hear that his brother was safe, and grown just a shade heavier to learn that he was so happy away from him.
When the long event finally concluded in the evening, Sesshomaru invited all the ministers and their staff to a feast, as was his custom. The demon lord ate well, and conversed with those closest to him, as well as to a few he wanted to learn more about, before retiring.
The ministers whose homes were near the castle usually chose to return to their own abodes after dinner, while the border generals and others who were based further away normally accepted accommodation in the castle's spacious guest wing, or in the nearby homes of ministers they were on friendly terms with.
Sesshomaru waited until his own staff had shown the departing guests out, seen to the guests who were staying, and returned to report to him that everyone had settled down for the night. Only then did Sesshomaru allow his attendants to prepare his bath and help him out of his formal attire.
He lay back in his hot bath water and discovered that after a full day of discussions and formal entertainment, his muscles were tense. The flesh on his left arm had healed smoothly, but the soreness within remained. He said nothing, but the attentive Isshin noticed, and offered to call for the tiger demon who numbered among his bath attendants, and who knew best how to massage him. Sesshomaru nodded, but stated that he wanted to finish soaking in the bath first.
When he had relaxed his mind and body enough in the heat of the bath, the tiger demon was sent for. The lad arrived promptly, making a strikingly exotic sight with his blue eyes and his snow-white, softly grey-striped hair. Sesshomaru, however, was not interested in anything other than his hands tonight, even though this lad had pleasured him often enough during his baths.
The other attendants left, and Sesshomaru lay on the wide bench in the bathroom to let the tiger demon knead every kink out of his joints and every stiff spot out of his flesh and muscles. At the point where the young demon normally went on to please his lord in other ways besides helping him to relax, Sesshomaru caught his breath sharply to feel those skilled hands trailing seductively against his crotch as a precursor to what was to come, and for a second it seemed so easy to go with the familiar old pattern and let himself be fully ministered to.
But no. No more.
Sesshomaru's golden eyes opened and locked on to those blue eyes as his hand caught the tiger demon's wrist and stopped him. The demon lord shook his head and sat up.
"Thank you," he said, surprising the servant, who had never, as far as he recalled, been thanked for not doing what he thought of as his duty. "That will do for tonight."
He dismissed him, wrapped himself in a warm robe, and sat up on the bench in the bathroom for some time, appreciating the heat from the steam that rose off the surface of the water. He wondered how Inuyasha was getting on. The sharp pain that had needled his heart on the boy's first night back in the castle had not troubled him for a few days now, but it seemed to have been replaced by the ache of longing, for he missed his brother.
What was the meaning of this dull, aching pain? Was it the pull of physical desire? The growth of affection? The strain of holding back his old instincts which tugged against their new leash like untamed dragons? How much longer could he keep his hands off Inuyasha? Supposing he did succeed in winning the boy over, would that one boy ever be enough for him, or would he regress and make Inuyasha only the first and most important among many?
But the more immediate question he faced was that of what he would do if Inuyasha was not at the village when he went there to collect him.
Could he let him go?
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The Tale of the Demon Lord