Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

A Man's Worth	By : LordYouko Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 17587 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and make no money from the writing of this fic.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Chapter 3 – Payment and Payback

…You can take the rat through this life if you want

But you can't take the edge off a knife…
-limp bizkit lyrics

Inuyasha wasn't surprised that he wasn't able to sleep for the rest of the night after coming back to the village.
More to the point, after coming away from Sesshoumaru.
With whom he'd be mating.
He wasn't completely sure all of it wasn't a freaky disturbing dream.
Sesshoumaru had promised to…what? What exactly had he promised? That he would twist Kouga's ears for being mean to him?
Even in the dark, Inuyasha's mouth twisted in disgust. If he needed his big brother to come and save his ass whenever something like that happened, he really was pathetic.
But there was also the fact that there was nothing much he could really do to stop Sesshoumaru from doing whatever the hell he wanted to Kouga, short of killing him. That Inuyasha would not allow and he didn't think it was what Sesshoumaru planned to do anyway. Waiting a night to kill somebody wasn't the bastard's style. If he'd been that pissed at Kouga, he would have found him and killed him within the minute.
There was also the fact that there wasn't anything he really wanted to do about Sesshoumaru kicking Kouga's ass. Mostly because of his deep belief that Kouga deserved every ass-whooping he got but also because Sesshoumaru standing up for him made him feel disgustingly warm and gooey and it was a feeling he was coming to recognize within himself with increasing trepidation.
For the thousandth time, Inuyasha's eyes went to the horizon. It couldn't be long now before the sun came out. Soon, it would be morning. Sesshoumaru had promised to come for him in the morning.
Angrily, Inuyasha turned over on his stomach and shoved his face in his hands. Fuck, he was turning into such a girl.

Kouga, in the meantime, was also awake.
He couldn't tell what exactly had woken him but his senses were tingling, telling him there was danger close by.
He sniffed the air multiple times but couldn't smell any hostile youkai. He couldn't feel the presence of anything fishy either. But try as he might to reassure himself, he couldn't fall back to sleep. All his hair were standing on end and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was definitely wrong.

It turned out, Kouga's instincts weren't wrong.
Morning came, as it always does and when it did, there was a sudden flurry of activity in the camp of the wolf tribe.
They had an unexpected visitor.
Wolves, by nature, weren't the cleanest or the most elegant creatures and Kouga's wolves were even less so. Therefore, to have the Lord of the West walking leisurely in their midst wasn't something half-naked, still sleepy wolves were prepared for.
Stories of the white clad demon Lord who looked like Inuyasha and was stronger than Inuyasha had spread amongst the wolf clan of Kouga, courtesy of Ginta and Hakkaku who, in the words of one elderly wolf, gossiped like unwed girls.
There was no mistaking the silver hair and golden eyes and the pissed off aura of the Lord of the West.
One brave young wolfling had plucked up the courage to ask him what he wanted and subsequently, almost wet his fur loin cloth when those cold golden eyes focused on him.
"Tell Kouga I wish to speak with your council," the demon Lord had commanded and the whimpering boy, after gaping like a fish for a few seconds, had scurried off to deliver the message.
Ginta and Hakkaku recognized the telltale signs on their fearless leader's face which said that the young wolf as going to dig in his heels and possibly do something suicidal like refusing the Western lord's…request.
So they cajoled and coaxed the mighty wolf prince till Kouga relented and agreed to convene an emergency council.
So here they were, solemn and silent and uneasy, waiting for the demon Lord to explain the reason for his visit.
None of them could remember the last time the lord of the West had asked for an audience with their council. As their overlord, he could, of course demand to see them at any time but years of being left to their own devices made the wolves forget they weren't entirely their own masters.
But here they were, with Sesshoumaru and Kouga sitting opposite each other, each staring the other down. Well, it was actually Kouga glaring for all he was worth at a demon Lord who seemed quite uninterested in him.
This was the first time since Kouga, as their leader, had been called upon to perform any kind of diplomatic duty. The elder who had been their king before had been a good diplomat; it remained to be seen whether the same could be said of young, hot-headed Kouga.
"What can we do for you, Lord Sesshoumaru?" Kouga finally asked. He sounded as though he would rather be chewing on nails than being respectful towards the other.
Experienced golden eyes drifted slowly over elderly members of the council and the rest of the tribe members who had gathered to watch before he answered.
"A debt," he said finally, fixing his eyes back on Kouga. "I am here to settle a debt."
"A debt, Sesshoumaru-sama?" one of the elders spoke up.
Sesshoumaru turned to look at the elder. "Kouga owes me a life."
Gasps went through the crowd and soft murmuring broke out.
Kouga paled.
"What is the meaning of this?" one of the elders asked sternly, turning towards Kouga.
Kouga didn't answer. Images of a little girl with a pony tail and a smile that could light up the dark danced before his eyes. He remembered the same face contorted in pain, soaked in her own blood.
"That debt was paid," Kouga answered finally, meeting Sesshoumaru's eyes defiantly.
Sesshoumaru smiled. "If it was, you would not still be alive, Kouga."
One could hear the sound of hundreds of wolves breathing as all other sounds ceased.
"I saved her life," Kouga reminded him.
"After your pack finished with her, she did not have a life to be saved."
Kouga could feel all the elders' disapproving eyes on him. A leader who shirked responsibility wasn't welcome among them.
"Is this true?" one of the elders finally asked Kouga. "Did you take a life that belonged to Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"It didn't belong to him then," Kouga answered through clenched teeth.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "Would it have made a difference had you known it did?"
"Yes," Kouga ground out. "My wolves wouldn't have gone anywhere near her if we'd known."
"It was calculated murder then," Sesshoumaru said. "A defenseless child was killed and devoured by your pack because she was unprotected and your wolves are spineless mutts who dare not fight to obtain prey."
Kouga rolled his eyes. "She was just a fucking human brat when my boys decided to make a snack of her."
A shocked silence followed this announcement and it occurred to Kouga that he may have made a tactical error.
"A child?" the most elderly of the councilmen whispered, staring in horror at Kouga. "You killed a child?"
Kouga growled in frustration. "I didn't kill her!" Kouga shouted. "It was the others-"
"A good leader takes responsibility for the actions of his pack," Sesshoumaru said quietly. "It would seem you have yet to learn this, cub."
"I know that damn well," Kouga snarled. How dare this sonofabitch call him a cub. "When that bitch Kagura slaughtered my wolves, didn't I move heaven and earth to avenge them?"
Sesshoumaru smiled coldly. "Running after Naraku every time he sent his messengers to summon you like a mutt would hardly be considered moving heaven and earth."
If it had been Inuyasha who'd said this, Kouga would have punched him in the face, whether he was the prince of the land or not but something about Sesshoumaru screamed back off.
"I don't have to stand here to be insulted by you, Sesshoumaru," Kouga told him through gritted teeth.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "Do you forfeit your life then?"
Kouga looked over his wolves. Eyes that had so far been curious or wondering had now turned disapproving. This was not going well.
Kouga raised his chin and looked Sesshoumaru in the eyes. "If it's a fight you're looking for, I'll give you one."
Sesshoumaru laughed, low and dark. "If I wished to take your life, it would take no more effort than the murder of a child."
Kouga remembered; that day Sesshoumaru and he had passed by each other without a word, his gut had told him he'd had a very close call.
The demon Lord sounded amused, watching remembrance flash across Kouga's eyes. "It was not Rin's life that was spared that day."
Kouga turned red. "You didn't spare my life, you asshole," Kouga ground out, aware that every word he said was making his stock go down with the council. "Try and beat me in a fair fight if you dare. Or are you all bark and no bite?"
Sesshoumaru raised one striped hand elegantly. Kouga tensed, stance shifting minutely to one more appropriate for a fight. Sesshoumaru didn't move an inch; his eyes remained fixed on Kouga's and his poison whip snapped out for a millisecond.
Kouga blinked.
In the clearing, every wolf's headband, including Kouga's fell softly to the ground. Sweat dripped from more than one brow as they felt their unmarked foreheads with trembling fingers.
Unconsciously, Kouga swallowed hard.
"A debt that is owed must be paid, not taken," Sesshoumaru told him quietly, though everyone in the clearing heard him.
"W-what do you want?" Kouga asked, hating himself for the way his voice shook just a tiny little bit.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "Are you truly ignorant of protocol? Or have you lost the habit of getting on your knees since you usurped the position of chief?"
Kouga sputtered indignantly, face red with anger and humiliation. "How dare you-! I never knelt to anybody in my life, do you hear me? Not to anyone and least of all to the likes of you!"
Sesshoumaru very deliberately turned his eyes away from Kouga and looked at the elder council members.
"I do not wish for blood to be shed here today. However, if your…leader –" a contemptuous glance at Kouga – "…is a coward, the wolf demon tribe will end here."
Kouga could feel his team mates flinch at this statement and he strode forward, abandoning all pretext of appearing stately and diplomatic.
"You have a problem you take it up with me, asshole," Kouga shouted. "Leave them out of this. This has nothing to do with them."
And there was a gentle shift in tension as Kouga also implicitly acknowledged the fact that Sesshoumaru could indeed kill them if he chose.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "Weren't you just blaming your pack-mates for the death of Rin?"
Kouga didn't answer him, instead looking helplessly at the elders and his people.
"If you decide to take responsibility for your deeds and return the life that is owed, you will get on your knees and offer your head in payment."
Kouga flinched.
"You're outta your mind," he hissed.
Murmuring went up through the crowd again. Their leader was putting all of their lives in danger and all for a crime he'd committed.
"Shall I take the lives of your pack in payment, then?" Sesshoumaru asked, darting forward and grabbing hakkaku by the throat.
"No!" Kouga shouted, stumbling forward blindly.
Sesshoumaru smiled beautifically, holding the struggling hakkaku aloft effortlessly, deadly claws tightening around the wolf demon's defenseless throat. . "Make up your mind, Kouga. It will be one or the other."
Kouga stared at hakkau's face, red with the effort of trying to release the demon Lord's grasp.
It didn't feel real, all of this. One moment, life was going on as usual, and the next, Sesshoumaru had appeared in their lives and turned everything upside down. It didn't feel real that his pack could be annihilated at any moment, that hakkaku was struggling for his life in the demon Lord's hand.
That he was expected to give up his position and his life for a small mistake he'd committed so long ago.
"Well," Sesshoumaru said softly, looking over the gathered people. "It seems your leader chooses himself over all of you."
"I do not!" Kouga interrupted. "I told you, if you can kill me in a fair fight, come and do it. But I'm not – I'm not fucking getting on my knees and begging to be killed!"
Sesshoumaru was amused. "Any fight between you and me, Kouga, would be pathetically unfair for you."
Kouga whirled around and aimed a punch at his face for that. His fist was caught effortlessly.
Sesshoumaru met Kouga's eyes and smiled.
There was a sickening sound of bones crunching and Kouga howled in agony, cradling the remains of his crushed hand.
"I dislike having to repeat myself," Sesshoumaru said softly.
Sesshoumaru's claws twitched irritably and hakkaku cried out as they pierced his skin. Small rivulets of blood trickled down his throat and over Sesshoumaru's hand.
"My Lord," one of the elders from the council spoke, "Forgive his impudence; Kouga is young. He does not understand. We offer you our lives in his stead."
The thin, decimated old wolf stood up and stepped forward slowly. The other elders on the council followed suit. Their leader smiled.
"I knew my Lord's esteemed father," he said softly. "Lord Inu no Taisho once showed us mercy when we certainly did not deserve it. Had he done otherwise, the wolf-demon clan would have met its end long ago."
Kouga made a protesting sound but it choked in his throat. What was he talking about? He had not known the dog demon tribe had been anything but their enemies. He wanted to ask the elder what he was talking about but he seemed to have lost his voice.
He turned his head just in time to see him lower himself to his knees. The act was visibly painful but the man didn't allow any of his pain to show on his face.
"We are eternally in your esteemed father's debt and our lives are yours whenever you wish to call upon them. When our leader…died, the office of chief fell to Kouga before the elder had a chance to pass on the knowledge of the history of our tribe, our debts and duties."
The 6 elders, kneeling one beside the other, bowed their heads as one and Kouga watched, hypnotized, unable to move.
"If my Lord can find it in his heart to forgive a young boy for his ignorance and accept these lives that we offer you gratefully…"
Kouga's eyes snapped to Sesshoumaru as he slowly lowered Hakkaku to the ground and released his grip. The coughing, sputtering wolf hastily stepped back and tried to regain his breath.
"I was a child when Inu no Taisho concluded his treaty with the wolf-demon tribe. Father told me how honorably the leaders of this noble tribe conducted themselves and expiated the sins of a –" Sesshoumaru's eyes slid contemptuously to Kouga. "- of a stray. From what the wolves of this tribe have been guilty of, I had thought the honor and idealism my father had been witness to were long dead but you have shown me otherwise. Rise. I would not sully my father's memory by taking lives of those he held in respect."
The elders raised their head disbelievingly. "But my Lord, the debt…"
Sesshoumaru smiled coldly at Kouga. "It seems the esteemed leader of the wolf demon tribe is an ignorant boy…and a coward besides."
"Tell me, elder," he continued, eyes still fixed on Kouga. "How did your previous leader lose his life?"
The collective intake of breath and the spike of fear and shame in Kouga's scent gave Sesshoumaru his answer.
"I see," he said softly.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha's long wait for morning was also over but that didn't make him feel any better.
Dawn had broken long ago and Inuyasha had waited impatiently but Sesshoumaru was nowhere to be found. There were no signs of the bastard.
He couldn't help the panicked cold pouring into his heart. What if this had been no different than other times? What if Sesshoumaru had only been playing with him? What if this had all been nothing more than a sick twisted game to the arrogant asshole?
Was he an idiot for believing his brother like he had? Was he an idiot for thinking things were different after just 1 night?
Puppy ears flickered madly as Inuyasha tried to feel angry instead of how he actually felt – pathetic and abandoned.
Inuyasha reached out and let the palm of his hand rest against the bark of the sacred tree.
If Sesshoumaru had really done all of this just to pull one over on him, just to laugh at him, he swore by the goshinboku, the next time they met, he would run tessaiga through his heart.

In Kouga's camp, Bakusaiga pulsed, surprising both Sesshoumaru and Kouga. The latter thought it was some manifestation of he demon Lord's anger, and took a few hasty steps back from both, the sword and it's Master.
Sesshoumaru was amused. Kouga was turning out to be a regular wimp.
But that aside, Bakusaiga had never done that before. Sesshoumaru ignored the terrified wolf demon in favour of examining the dully glowing blade.
It was almost possible to reach out and touch Kouga's fear as Sesshoumaru slowly unsheathed his blade and held it upto eyelevel to examine it.
"Does it thirst for your blood, I wonder," Sesshoumaru mused, glancing at Kouga. "Is that what it is calling for?"
Kouga shook his head frantically, mouth set in a firm scowl.
The demon lord ran two fingers slowly over the length of the blade. Youki crackled and Sesshoumaru felt the unmistakable feel of Inuyasha's youki on his skin. It was Inuyasha. The blade was telling him to go to Inuyasha.
Sesshoumaru turned to Kouga with a humorless smile. "Well, more important business than your worthless life has come up so I will let you live a little longer."
"You bastard don't-" Kouga began heatedly, trying to ignore the relief welling up inside him but Sesshoumaru's eyes darkened and he took a step back.
"Since you murdered your leader before taking the time to learn your duties, it falls to me to explain them to you," Sesshoumaru said calmly, and Kouga involuntarily clutched his broken hand close.
"This tribe is under my rule. As my vassal, leader of the wolf demons, my authority is above yours and I hereby strip you of your title and position as chief of this tribe. Battles may be fought and won by idiots like you but the responsibility of leadership shall remain with these honorable men you are not fit to raise your head before."
Kouga flinched.
"The life that you took was worth far more than that of a filthy coward like you."
"More than-" Kouga began incredulously. Sesshoumaru cut him off.
"A man's worth," Sesshoumaru said speculatively, "A man is only worth as much as his principles and whether he can live by them. A man's worth is judged by how high he can stand without pulling others down and by doing what needs to be done, no matter the cost."
"And in all these, you-" A contemptuous glance at Kouga from head to toe. "You, wolf prince Kouga, are nothing."
Something wilted in Kouga's eyes and his tail went limp, tucking defensively between his legs.
"You will henceforth remain in this tribe as nothing more than a common soldier and if I hear of any…misfortune…befalling any of the elders, you will answer to me."

After Sesshoumaru left, Kouga had to sit down.
His legs seemed to have turned to mush, along with the rest of his life. The condemning glances of his pack-mates burned holes in his head as the gathered people left silently, without a word to him.
What the hell did Sesshoumaru think of himself anyway, Kouga seethed. He wouldn't – couldn't let this go. His pride – no, not just his. The pride of his entire tribe had been turned to dust by the demon Lord today. Just because he was blue-blooded didn't mean he wouldn't have any skeleton's in his family closet. He would just have to find them and-
Kouga sat up straight as a thought struck him.
I wonder what Sesshoumaru will have to say when he finds out how his half-brother behaved in a real fight…
He'd teased Inuyasha about telling the villagers how about that particular fight but he hadn't really done it. Come to think of it, Sesshoumaru wouldn't risk having his precious family's reputation tarnished by having it known what a girl Inuyasha was, breaking down like that against a common, low class demon. Hell, it was so weak, it hadn't even tried to come anywhere near Kouga. It probably sensed his power and decided to aim for easier bait, like Inuyasha, instead.
Sesshoumaru would definitely be willing to…renegotiate his position in the tribe in light of the information.

A/N: I'd planned to conclude the fic in this chapter but it grew too long. So at least one more chapter to go! Reviews are welcome and loved.
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Man's Worth