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Ever Us -- The Blessing; Keiko	By : DaddysSpecialRequest Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 4015 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter List
- 21
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- 23
Chap 22
Day 30
“My Lords! We have to talk! Your advisors await you in the throne room.   I have information but it must be shared in a secure location.” Kenichi was the model soldier and leader but he appeared agitated currently.
“To the throne room then!” Sesshomaru commanded.
Their new revelation could wait temporarily. Both lords sniffed for any unusual odors but found everything at the castle to be normal. Inuyasha sniffed several times but shook his head.
Ordinarily upon entering the throne room they would put their swords in place on the wall. However, today they kept them on their hips and took their positions on the elevated tatami floor in front of their advisors. The advisors had stood when the lords entered and were now reseating themselves. Captain Kenichi remained standing.
“Lords, before I give the security report I would like to reintroduce our newest advisor—Akio, victor of the sumo contest!”   Polite applause was heard from the advisors and Jinenji. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha nodded their approval.
“Our golden eagle scout has returned from his mission to deliver the kits to their home.    He reported that on their way to the kits’ home they saw nothing of significance, however, on the way back to Castle town they flew a bit to the south and noted severe flooding around the river. My Lords, the beaver demon settlement has been washed out completely!”
A gasp was heard from the advisors.
“In addition he spied an arrow lodged in a tree top and after securing there was no current danger in the area, flew close to examine it.   He brought it back with him.   Here it is.” Captain Kenichi brought the arrow to the Lords for their closer scrutiny. “It’s got falcon blood on it, Lords.”
Inuyasha lifted the arrow to smell but because of his recent problems with a stuffed nose he was unable to pick up any details. He shrugged his shoulders and passed it to his brother.   Sesshomaru smelled the falcon guard immediately.
“It is as you fear.   Someone has shot at our falcon guard.   I smell no other scents though.   Perhaps the archer wore gloves.    What else did he have to report?” Sesshomaru took all the information in calmly.
“I have amassed a number of guards and they are prepared to go the beaver demon settlement on your orders to provide security and assist with aid.” Kenichi added.
“Jinenji, we may need a healer.   Can Nana cover for you or are your patients stable enough to leave?”
“I will need to talk to her.” Jinenji stared at Inuyasha. “Perhaps Lord Inuyasha would join me to talk with her.”
“I would accompany you,” Inuyasha replied. He turned to Sesshomaru and nodded.
“Very well.   Don’t be long. We will depart for the river within the hour.   Are there any other pressing issues, or can they wait until after we assess and assist our beaver friends?”
Akio spoke up. “Kyota, the sumo beaver, is still here in Castle town, my Lords. I am sure he would be a great assistance in the flood situation.”
“Great! Go find him and bring him to the court yard!”
The men left the throne room to get their tasks complete.
“Jinenji, go on ahead. I need to talk to Inuyasha briefly.” Sesshomaru remarked.
“Yes, Lord Sesshomaru,” Jinenji bowed as he bent his head to clear the doorway.
Jaken watched the healer bend through the doorway.
“I’ll just go talk to the carpenter about enlarging this doorway,” and he waddled off.
Sesshomaru and Inuyasha stared after the old imp until they were the only two in the room.
Inuyasha turned back to Sesshomaru.
“What’s up?”
“I would tell you that you should stay home---“
Inuyasha started to growl.
“But I know you would fight me.”
“Damn Right!” the inuhanyou barked.
“I would ask that you talk to Nana about what you are able to do now that you carry.   I know you don’t want to put our princess at risk, right my love?”
Inuyasha’s stance changed from defensive to contrite as the question sunk in.
The brothers stared at each other for several heart beats. Then Inuyasha spoke.
“If she says it’s ok, will you allow me to accompany you? I can’t stand the idea of being separated from you right now.” Inuyasha slid closer to his spouse, his tone of voice pleading.
“Yes, but only if she says yes.   I also need to have you in my sight. I know it is irrational but my instincts are telling me to keep you close.” The brothers rubbed noses. “Now go, Jinenji is waiting at the castle steps.”
The brothers arose and walked to the castle doorway. Inuyasha left with Jinenji and Sesshomaru went to the guard quarters to check over the platoon that would accompany them.
When Sesshomaru arrived at the guard quarters the men snapped to attention. Captain Kenichi had his back to the castle as he was talking to the golden eagle guard and did a sharp about face to salute his king.
“At ease, Captain. Are these the men who are assigned to this mission?”
“They are, Lord Sesshomaru. This is the golden eagle demon, Gōruden.”
The golden eagle stepped up to Lord Sesshomaru and genuflected. “Call me Go, please Lord.”
“Very well. Go, we are pleased with your report and sharp sight.   Tell me what is your vision anyway?”
“I am told I am able to see five times further than the average human, Milord.   I have never tested it.”
“We will need your keen sight. Are you rested up for the trip?”
“Yes, Milord. Captain Kenichi was just giving me orders.” The eagle stepped back to his captain’s side.
“Captain, Allow me one moment with your team,” Sesshomaru turned to face the men. It was a given that he would be granted all the time he desired, but he was a stickler for decorum and would follow it.
Kenichi bowed his acknowledgement. He has been in the Lords’ service for many decades and had long understood the nonverbal cues.
“Men,   Our mission is two–fold.   We will assess the situation of our beaver demon citizens before entering the scene.   Go and any of our other sharp sighted warriors will be key to this.   If there is an enemy to battle we will battle. Once the scene is secure we will begin rescue. Akio has gone in search of Ryota, the beaver sumo wrestler from our tournament.   He will be assisting in the rescue part of this mission.   Good Luck men!”
Sesshomaru stepped back as Captain Kenichi lined up the platoon and pointed out the key players.
Akio came running into the guard quarters with Ryota right behind. Akio had filled in Ryota with the news of the flood and he was ready to go to his home and help.   Ryota passed by Sesshomaru without a bow or acknowledgement of the king. Sesshomaru growled disapprovingly until Akio dashed to his side.
“Lord Sesshomaru, Ryota is very nearsighted. Forgive his lack of courtesy. I shall bring him to you. Please accept his apology.” Akio grabbed Ryota and brought him to Sesshomaru all the time whispering in his ear about his mistake in acknowledging the king.
The giant beaver fell flat on his face and groveled at the king’s feet. “I’m so sorry, Lord Sesshomaru. Forgive me. I don’t have my glasses and I really didn’t see you.”
Sesshomaru considered the apology and accepted it.   “Rise Ryota.   This Sesshomaru will accept your apology. Your poor vision will be a problem though.   Where are your glasses?”
The beaver rose slowly. “They broke in the tournament, sir.”   He reached into a pocket and pulled out two halves. The glasses had broken on the nose piece. The metal bridge had been sheared in half.
“Allow me.” Sesshomaru reached a hand for the glasses.
The beaver placed them carefully in the royal palm.   Akio and Captain Kenichi watched from their locations near the lord.
Sesshomaru examined the metal. He applied one drop of his poison to the end of one piece of the metal and then pushed the two ends together, welding it.
“Don’t put them on yet. The poison hasn’t dried.” He said nonchalantly as he passed the glasses back to the beaver.
The beaver demon’s mouth dropped open.   The king had fixed his glasses.   The KING had fixed his glasses.   Quickly he regained his tongue. Ryota began thanking the lord profusely. A wave of the hand was the only acknowledgement as Sesshomaru walked away to the courtyard.
Inuyasha and Jinenji were waiting for him there.
“Hnnn?” Sesshomaru posed to Inuyasha. The question “What did Nana say?” was not said out loud.
Inuyasha smiled a cocky smirk. “She says to listen to my body.   It’ll tell me what I can do.”
“Very well.” Sesshomaru gathered a ki cloud under his feet. Inuyasha stepped on to it and they rose slowly to a level where they could see Jinenji, Captain Kenichi and their soldiers, Akio and Ryota.
“May the Kami be with Us!”
The warriors replied with a fervent cry and all were off.
A-Un had not been put up yet when they heard the battle cry.   Both heads stretched to their fullest and they soared after the battle group, a hapless imp hanging on for dear life at the end of his leash.   In no time the two headed dragon was alongside Sesshomaru and Inuyasha.   Inuyasha smiled at his brother. “Seems we haven’t walked our dragon enough lately. Slide over and I’ll ride him.   Then you can rescue Uncle Jaken.” The hanyou smirked and quickly covered his mouth.   Sesshomaru had named Jaken, “Uncle” 200 plus years ago to assist in their courting process. But that action had been a gift that kept giving.   Being family came with elevated position; with familiarity and protection. The imp was still annoying to both inus but he had grown on the hanyou. And Inuyasha felt a debt of gratitude to the imp for his permission to being courted.   His mind drifted back to the past.
Sesshomaru had been so stuck on court decorum, would he have even courted Inuyasha without an elder’s permission.   The hanyou quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts.   ‘That’s 200 year old insecurity talking there.   Let it go.’
Sesshomaru placed Inuyasha gently on A-Un’s back and shifted to the end of the leash where his monokomo wrapped tightly around Jaken.    A muted sigh of relief was heard from the fluff. Sesshomaru returned to Inuyasha’s side and deposited Jaken next to Inuyasha. The dogs shared a loving glance and then returned to looking forward and scanning the area.
As they closed in on the flooded river and beaver settlement, a squad of eagle demons and birds of prey demons approached the head of the formation. The formation stopped while the scouts broke into a star formation and searched the area.   Kenichi and the other dog demons’ olfactory senses were limited. The moisture in the air as well as the river area dulled their abilities to smell.
Go pointed to the forest near the dam and Captain Kenichi released the fighters in the platoon. They hit the ground and the skirmish began. Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and Kenichi landed and watched from a far. The battle was quick and none of their soldiers were injured.   A couple of the enemies attempted to run away but they were caught and brought before the lords and the captain.
“Who is behind this?” Sesshomaru demanded.
“We won’t talk,” sassed back one enemy prisoner.
A thin green whip slashed through the air and the sassy prisoners head rolled in front of another enemy prisoner.   The blank eyes stared at the rat demon and he shrieked. “I’ll talk. I’ll talk. Don’t kill me.” But a millisecond later an arrow was lodged down his throat.
Sesshomaru threw his body over Inuyasha and dropped to the ground. Captain Kenichi yelled commands. Castle town’s warriors scoured the land searching for the archer.   When the area was again clear, Sesshomaru uncovered his mate and rose to assess the situation.   Captain Kenichi was already examining the arrow that was lodged in the rat prisoner’s mouth.
“It’s the same archer, Lord Sesshomaru.”
Inuyasha grunted as he got up off the ground. Dusting his clothes off, he straightened slowly and scanned the area. “Man, I don’t even recognize this area.” He was careful to keep his emotions under control.   He was peeved that Sesshomaru covered him but knew that was to be expected due to their stupid instincts. This discussion would have to wait. He compartmentalized it all for later. Right now they needed to start their rescue efforts.
Ryota approached the leaders.   “This is where I can be of use.   The water edge used to be 50 feet that way.” Ryota pointed.   He bent and drew a map on the ground.   The river was flowing over the town.    “If the river came too fast they wouldn’t have had time to get out of the settlement and they would have taken refuge in the big hall of the lodge.   I’ll dive down and see what I can.”
The beaver demon shed his clothes to his fundoshi and dived into the water.   A small cluster of bubbles appeared on the surface allowing the leaders to follow his progress.   Suddenly the bubbles stopped. Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Kenichi, Akio and Jinenji leaned forward to try and stare into the cloudy waters of the rushing river. They knew it was of no avail but they could not help themselves.
“Who else can swim underwater in this group?” Sesshomaru barked. But no sooner had he said something, than a log came flying through the air from the bottom of the river.   Then another and another and soon popped up multiple beaver demon heads floating in the rushing waters.
The ground forces yelled for the beaver demons to come to them. Some tossed ropes and others found twigs and before long there was a large group of beaver demons gathered on the shore.   However, Ryota was not among them. Jinenji went to work triaging the wounded and caring for the injured while Kenichi’s men interviewed the survivors.   Just as Captain Kenichi was getting the story from his troops, Ryota surfaced. The beaver demons cheered!   Ryota walked out of the water with a frail grandpa beaver in his arms.    He brought the demon to Jinenji. Jinenji stopped his other work and turned to the frail beaver.   The beaver was no longer breathing.   Jinenji opened his mouth and turned him to his side. He beat on his back and turned him back to rest on his back. He leaned forward and tried to listen for breaths.   Sensing no air movement Jinenji turned his head and looked to Lord Sesshomaru.
Lord Sesshomaru pulled Tenseiga from its sheath.   The imps of hell were securing the last chains. They looked up just in time to see the sword of heaven hit them in the head.
Sesshomaru was wiping the blade and securing it to his side when he heard the hacking and clearing of the old beaver’s lungs.   He reached out to his mate and drew him to his side as he turned to watch the beavers.
Jinenji had been staring at the old beaver but turned briefly to nod his thanks to Sesshomaru. When he turned back to the old man, the old man had rolled over and was clearing his lungs of the water he had inhaled.
“You will be fine, old timer,” Jinenji murmured comfortingly. “Our lord saved you.”

Kenichi was always amazed at the miracle of Tenseiga and filed it in the list of stories to tell Usagi. He turned to Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Inuyasha. “This is what we know so far.”
Both Lords turned their attention on the captain of the guard.
“No one saw what happened. Only that the dam broke and the water rushed over the settlement.   Witnesses say as many beavers as possible sought shelter in the great hall of the lodge. The great hall was designed to trap air so they could breathe and hide from predators.   This time though, once they were inside it they could not escape.”
“That’s because a large log fell on the exit and blocked it.    I had to remove the logs in order to free them.” Ryota insert himself into the dialog.
“We saw the flying logs,” Inuyasha commented.   “Gotta be impressed, Kyota.   You had a good toss on them.”
“I’d like to think that was what got me to the sumo seed,” the beaver demon commented snuggly.
“I guess I’m glad we didn’t face off,” Akio scratched his chin. “That was a pretty impressive toss.”
“We can do a rematch some time,” Ryota teased.
Nearby soldiers started making bets. A gruff, business growl caught everyone’s attention.
“Anyway,” Kenichi continued, “the survivors believe some of their kin were swept away by the river.   I need to send the birds of prey out to look for them.”   Kenichi nodded to Sesshomaru and walked to the nearby warriors.
“Let’s examine the dam.   Come with me Inuyasha, Ryota.   Akio, give Jinenji a hand.”
“Yes sir,” came the multiple replies.

The dam had been severely damaged. Only the foundation of the dam was left standing. Ryota dove to the base of the dam and examined the remains.   He surfaced and relayed his observations to the leaders who were standing in a semi-circle facing the river.
“What could have done that kind of damage?” Inuyasha verbalized out loud.
“We were all thinking the same thought, Little brother.”
“Well, it had to be strong.” Inuyasha shrugged.
Ryota was scratching his head.   “Maybe not, milord.”
The hanyou’s ears perked in attention.
“If a force was aimed directly at a weak point, the resulting forces could collapse the areas around it and cause a chain reaction.” Ryota bent to the ground and built a miniature dam and then illustrated his idea. “But the saboteur would have to have construction skills to know that.” Ryota rubbed his chin as he thought.
“Do you have any ideas?” the hanyou pressed.
Ryota looked at Inuyasha. “I’m not sure. Can we go talk to my pops?” Then he turned to Lord Sesshomaru. “Thank you for saving him, Lord Sesshomaru.   He’s my only family.”
The dog demons nodded their approval and thanks concurrently and the group returned to the beaver group.
A fire had been started by Akio and many beavers were warming themselves around it.   Akio had started a simple song with hand clapping and foot stomping which served several purposes. The moment increased blood flow and the simple song helped improved the mood of the survivors. Several of the women beavers had started work on a simple meal and the children were again playing a game of tag not far from the adults.
“Seems you have selected an excellent human advisor, my love,” Inuyasha pointed out to his brother.
“Blessed again,” was the only response.
Grandpa beaver was resting near the fire when the leaders returned.
“Pop,” Ryota began, “the damage to the dam--it was the same damage you described to me in the story about the wolverines when I was a babe.   I always thought that was a story but today it occurred to me that it was the truth.   Pop, I—We—need to know what happened back fifty years ago.”   Ryota made a sweeping move to point to the dog lords and the warriors and advisors that accompanied them.”
“I owe that for my life.” The old timer turned sad eyes toward the crowd. “It was fifty years ago at least. The wolverines were fighting with us over rights to the river.   They said our dam was changing the normal path of the river, but we declared it was supposed to be this way and we made that dam where it was, a bit downstream from here.   One of our beaver colleagues sided with the wolverines and sabotaged the dam. But he was swept away in the torrent.   I found his body myself.    I told his widow that he died a hero and that he had tried to stop it. But I saw him go to the dam that night.   I saw him sabotage the dam.”
The old timer stopped his tale while he cried.   “He was my friend. I couldn’t believe he would do anything like that.”
The others contemplated the story.   How did this story fit into the current situation?
Inuyasha bent down next to the old beaver. “Why’d ya tell Ryota the story then?”
“I couldn’t keep it inside me. It was a burden I couldn’t bear any longer, but I didn’t want my son to have it happen to him.”
Inuyasha glanced at Sesshomaru who nodded once that he heard.
Kenichi asked the next question, “Who else knows that story?”
Ryota looked up. “I know it. Pops told it to me.   I don’t know of anyone else.”
“Are any of the wolverines from that time left in the area?” Akio asked.
“I think they moved up stream but I don’t know,” the old beaver replied. We rebuilt the dam further upstream after that.
Sesshomaru was in deep thought. He should have been told of the situation 50 years ago.   They could have mediated the dispute.   The wolverines and the beaver demons were both citizens of his domain. The flood could have been from prevented.   They still didn’t have a causality report. How many needless deaths? There was still the archer who took out his falcon guard and the rat demon.   And where did Tsuneo go?   That style of fighting---he’d seen it before.   How did the bugs fit in? And who was the “she” that lied.
Sesshomaru looked around him.   All eyes were focused on him.
“Inuyasha, Jinenji, Akio, Kenichi, and I are returning to the castle tonight. Ryota, no dam will be rebuilt until we have a complete picture of what has happened here.   Move your people to safe ground. Captain Kenichi, leave some of your troops here to guard the beavers and scout the region.   I want a casualty report, and a damage report. Bring that arrow. Perhaps one of the castle town weapons salesmen can recognize who manufactures it. Jinenji, find someone here can carry on for you with healing.”
“Inuyasha, I need to speak with you. Come with me.”   The dog mates walked away from the group. Once they were out of hearing range, Sesshomaru turned his back to the group and pulled Inuyasha into him. “Rest now, brother.   I know you are tired.   I also know you want to give me an ear full but rest right now, please.”
Sesshomaru had barely finished his speech before he heard Inuyasha lightly snore on his chest. “Listen to your body. Ha. Use those gorgeous triangles, Lover.”

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Ever Us -- The Blessing; Keiko