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Fortification	By : TheKaytla Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 6107 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
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
- 5
- 6
Chapter Six

It was cowardly, but at the last moment, Inuyasha closed his eyes. He'd always hoped he'd stare his death straight in the face when it came, but he found it was harder than he ever thought it would be to watch it happen. With his mind panicking, he found himself latching onto random thoughts.

Does it hurt to die?

Will I see my parents again?

Did dad close his eyes at the end?

He heard the strike impact flesh, felt his body jerk, but the pain never came. The rational part of his mind assumed he was in shock and waited for the searing agony to start. It didn't.

Instead, he was lifted off his feet and began moving backwards. His startled eyes popped open just in time to see Tetsuhiro's claws leaving Sesshomaru's forearm, clenching and tearing the flesh, as the two of them sailed backwards.

Sesshomaru landed in a crouch, dropping Inuyasha on his ass. The hanyou looked up at him, for a moment unsure what to say. Sesshomaru's hair was dishevelled and windswept, and a light sheen of sweat glittered on his forehead. There was a smear of blood on his cheek running down to his neck from a graze on his face, and he was panting. His clothes were ripped and torn and the peeks of pale flesh beneath were stained red more often than not.

It was the first time Inuyasha had ever seen him actually look like he'd been in a fight. Even when his back got hurt, he'd come out of the rest of it fairly immaculate.

"Sesshomaru..." he began, not sure what he wanted to say but feeling like he should say something, but he was cut off.

"This is why I told you to leave," the daiyoukai snapped curtly without looking at him. He stood, and a trail of blood ran out from under his left sleeve to drip off his little finger. "If you're going to get yourself killed the moment my back is turned, I have no use for you."

Ears laying low in his hair, Inuyasha felt that like a physical blow. He hated to admit it, but Sesshomaru was right. If Sesshomaru had been having trouble, had he honestly thought he could somehow turn the tide? Half-youkai meant half the power, after all; it was that simple. He'd always known that. His claws could only take him so far.

As Sesshomaru headed back toward the fight, Inuyasha stood and turned away, for once willing to listen to what his older brother told him to do and get out of the way. He might not shed a tear if Sesshomaru died (well, he didn't really know about that, but...), but he wouldn't be responsible for it.

He still burned, though, with both anger and embarrassment. He clenched his fist around Tetsusaiga's hilt, still unsheathed in his hand, and glared down at the blade. Was it so beyond him to use this damn sword? All through that battle - if his "contribution" could be called that - he'd been trying his hardest to... to summon it or whatever he had to do to get it to work.

He'd been focusing everything he had on trying to find the strength, or get stronger. Couldn't he catch a break? Was it so much to ask to just have the strength to kill that bastard, Tetsuhiro?

As if the thought had been a cue, Tetsuhiro's laugh slowed Inuyasha's steps. "What's this I see?" the inuyoukai sneered. "The proud and mighty Lord Sesshomaru on his knees?"

Scarce able to believe it, Inuyasha spun on his heels, but there it was. Sesshomaru kneeling in the dirt, winded and bloodied. Tetsuhiro was also dishevelled and panting, but he was the one standing with his sword about to strike a killing blow. Though Sesshomaru was trying to stand, at this rate, he wasn't going to be able to get away quick enough.

Inuyasha acted on pure instinct. It seemed like one moment he was standing there, paralysed, and the next he was barrelling into Tetsuhiro at full tilt, knocking him away just as the sword swung down, narrowly missing the kneeling daiyoukai.

Knowing full well it might be as good as suicide, he backed off and planted himself in front of Sesshomaru, the thin blade of Tetsusaiga pointing straight at the other inuyoukai. Tetsuhiro steadied himself and turned to face them both fully, levelling his thicker and stronger sword straight at Inuyasha's chest.

"Well, well, isn't this touching?" he said. "The mongrel whelp willing to die for the brother who will never accept him. Fond of rejection, are you?" He laughed to himself. "Well, no matter. There isn't much you can do with that rusty toothpick. I'll just send you both to hell together!" His sword lifted high in the air, glinting in the sunlight.

"Inuyasha, move!" Sesshomaru shouted behind him. "Don't be a fool!"

"Shut up!" he growled back. "You think I can just stand there and watch you die?! I'm going to save your sorry ass even if it kills me!"

He swung the Tetsusaiga to meet Tetsuhiro's blow and was almost blinded by the bright yellow-gold light that erupted from it. It shot forward in three streaks that tore everything in their path, be it the ground or the enemy before them. Through the glare, Inuyasha saw it strike the inuyoukai full in the chest, heard his yell of pain and fury, before he lost all sight of him.

When the light faded, Inuyasha stared in shock at the devastation left behind. The gouges in the earth looked more like the claws of a mighty youkai than the work of a single sword, albeit one that looked much different than it had a moment ago. He hefted it in the air, testing its weight. He now understood why Sesshomaru sometimes referred to it as the fang.

"You managed it," he heard Sesshomaru say behind him, softly. "The Kaze no Kizu."

Inuyasha turned, ready to gloat, only to find Sesshomaru sitting on the dusty ground. His clothes and skin were smeared with dirt, and his hair clung to the perspiration on his face and neck. His shoulders drooped, making the mighty daiyoukai seem somehow small and almost fragile, and his eyes were shadowed with fatigue and pain.

And hanging by his side, limp and useless, was his left arm, sleeve stained with blood and his fingers painted an angry red-purple with poison.

"I had wondered if you would ever be able to," the daiyoukai continued. "You always manage to surprise me when I least expect it."

Inuyasha stared for a moment, jarred by the image of his brother looking so... so helpess, then suddenly started as the arm gave a jerk like a puppet with its strings tugged. It wasn't destroyed, he realised. There was still some hope. If they got help, Sesshomaru should be able to recover. But time was of the essence.

He dropped to a crouch beside Sesshomaru, holding out a hand to help him up. "Never mind that," he said impatiently. "We've gotta get you back to the castle. Come on, get up."

To his surprise, Sesshomaru shook his head and gripped his own arm rather than the outstretched hand. "No... there's no time." The daiyoukai closed his tired eyes, a dreadful resignation settling on his face. "Like this... as I am now... I can't fight it off. It has to come off or the poison will take my life."

The hanyou blinked, his ears flattening against his skull in worry. Never in his life had he ever heard Sesshomaru sound anything less than confident, but now... now, his voice was so quiet, so defeated.

Then the meaning behind what Sesshomaru was actually saying caught up with him and Inuyasha found himself pushing back and away from him, scooting backwards and shaking his head over and over. "I can't do that," he began faintly, his voice gradually gaining more strength as the enormity of the request sunk in until it ended with a shout: "I can't cut off your fucking arm!"

Sesshomaru opened his eyes again. They'd brightened again, shining with his grim determination. "You must." A faint smile curved his lips, but it lacked mirth. "Didn't you once swear you would be the one to kill me? Take the arm or Tetsuhiro will beat you to it."

Inuyasha jolted a little at the memory. He'd only been a child, and it had only been something shouted in a moment of fear and anger, but apparently it had stuck with Sesshomaru all these years.

While he hesitated, Sesshomaru fisted his hand in the cloth of his sleeve and pulled, tearing the sodden material away. What it revealed made Inuyasha's stomach clench as everything inside him rebelled at the sight.

From just above the elbow to the tips of the fingers, the arm was discoloured and swollen. The wound where Tetsuhiro's claws had slashed the flesh of his forearm was open almost down to the bone and leaking blood and pus, the edges dark and necrotic. The blackness was beginning to spread out at all sides, and Inuyasha knew then, with chilling certainty, there was no reversing the damage. The toxins were in too deep, the flesh too deteriorated.

As he stared at it, Sesshomaru lifted the arm until he had it level above the ground. It wavered in the air, and the daiyoukai's face showed his pain, but his eyes were clear and unwavering as they met Inuyasha's. "Do it," he said quietly. "Or leave me here to die in peace."

Something flew into Inuyasha's eyes and made them sting and water as he stood and lifted the Tetsusaiga above his head. The whistle as it rushed through the air seemed loud to the hanyou, and the sound of it slicing cleanly through flesh and bone made his gorge rise.

The arm fell free and hit the ground with a burst of blood, sickly sweet with the smell of poison and decay. Though he had clearly been bracing himself, the shock of it was evidently too much, and Sesshomaru cried out in pain, his hand instantly clutching the bleeding stump just below his shoulder.

The cry had Inuyasha dropping his sword as though it had burnt him, falling to his knees in front of his brother. His hands were shaking as he pushed Sesshomaru's hair out of his face, but he didn't care. "Sesshomaru! Talk to me!"

Despite the contortion of agony his face had become, Sesshomaru managed to open one eye gone hazy with the pain. "It's fine," he said through gritted teeth. "More shocking than I was anticipating, that's all." He looked down at his arm on the ground, the blood leaking through his fingers, and sucked in a shaky breath that hit Inuyasha right under the ribs. "The bleeding. It has to be stopped."

"R-right... We need..." Inuyasha trailed off and looked around, at a loss. Then he spotted the silk of Sesshomaru's torn sleeve discarded on the ground and quickly snatched it up, gently prying his brother's remaining hand - feeling a chill for thinking of it that way - away and pressing the fabric against the flow of blood. Sesshomaru hissed in renewed pain, and before he realised what he was doing, he found himself leaning their foreheads together, his free hand cradling the back of Sesshomaru's head.

He didn't know how long they stayed there, but to Iuyasha's surprise, Sesshomaru didn't push him away. It was actually him who ended the contact, pulling back and resting his hand on his brother's shoulder instead. "We still need to get back to the castle," he murmured. "You need help."

Sesshomaru opened his eyes once again and nodded. "Yes," was all he said. He seemed too tired and drained for much else.

Inuyasha quickly tied the silk cloth around the stump, wincing whenever Sesshomaru made a noise. It was a rough job, but would serve until they reached home. He then sheathed his sword and slid his shoulder under the daiyoukai's arm, helping him to stand, silently accepting more weight than Sesshomaru would ever have willingly surrendered.

The entire walk back passed in silence. He couldn't have said what was going on in Sesshomaru's mind, but Inuyasha was rapidly re-evaluating everything he'd been planning up to this point. He could no longer stand to be selfish about this.

He'd planned to come here and learn how to use the Tetsusaiga. Provided he could call its power up again, he had accomplised that. But now, instead of running away with the knowledge, he wanted to stay and use it.

He wanted to stay and protect his brother.

---

I felt really bad writing this chapter, for obvious reasons. >.> Poor puppies!

Don't worry, it'll (probably >>) get better in the next chapter. Can't remember off the top of my head what happens next, so no guarantees, but we'll see. xD
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Fortification