Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

A Heat to Overcome	By : Sparrowhawk Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > InuYasha/Sessh?maru > InuYasha/Sessh?maru Views: 31291 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the associated characters, nor do I make any profit from this fanfic. All other characters not associated with the original manga or anime, however, are mine.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
Woo! New chapter, new chapter!! Hope everyone's as excited as I am (: Now, on to reviews.
Vyperbites: Yeah *blush* I really wanted a scene like that in there, and the only way I could think to do it was to put it in Sesshomaru's dream. I really can't imagine it happening either. Hmm ... maybe if Inuyasha was drunk ... *evil grin* No guarantees about him being 'okay' but I promise he will be, especially after he's given some special, just for him, Sessh loving! Thanks, as always, for leaving what you thought.
higga: Glad you've enjoyed it! I don't plan on making Sesshomaru the submissive in this story. I prefer a dominant Sesshomaru, however, that doesn't mean he won't give in and be submissive once in a while. Thanks for leaving a review!
ardentes: *Whew* So glad Sesshomaru's action in that flashback was understood! It was extreme, I'll admit, but to him it was necessary. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! As for rape scenes, I do have something coming up. It's not precisely a rape scene, mainly Inuyasha thinking back to what happened to him. Appropriate warnings will mark the chapter it's in and I'll also mark the part in the chapter. And don't worry, you weren't rambling. This is another reason I like hearing the reader's views, so I can label the chapters accordingly and be sure all warnings are in place. Thanks for asking about it, I'm glad to provide what I can to make it the best reading experience as possible (: (: I'm not exactly sure how mild or strong you consider to be 'rape,' so I've marked a few small parts in this next chapter as well. You can look over it or skip it at your own discretion. Thanks again!
Warnings: Profanity, plotting going on right under Sesshomaru's nose that he knows about but that the plotters don't know he knows about, lol, nudity, implied torture, sexual coercion and harassment (not the playful stuff between Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, so those who are uncomfortable with that can skip it as have marked it with asterisks. Beg. ****** for where it begins, and End. ******
K, on to the chapter!!!

Chapter Eight
Untraceable
Miroku retired to the chambers provided for him and Shippo by Taree, quite exhausted from their long journey and the meeting. More than himself, though, he was worried about the demon lord. The off look he had noticed before the daiyoukai entered his chambers he had finally been able to identify as haggardness. It wasn't very pronounced, and he would have missed it if he had not come to be able to read the daiyoukai semi-well from their days of traveling together, but it was there. Perhaps it was just the residual effects left over from the parasite. Perhaps it was only fatigue. But Miroku had a sneaking suspicion the cause of the inu youkai's sudden need for rest was the absence of his younger brother, as ridiculous as it might sound.
Once he had put the fox kit to bed in the luxurious guest room, he set down his traveling pack, removed the items he felt he might need from it, and then left the room. Though tired, he didn't feel as if he'd be able to sleep very well if he were to try. With Inuyasha still missing, and probably in a far worse state than he was, he thought it would be unfair of him to delay working with Sasaki on a solution to finding the elusive slavers. He might act carefree and goofy still, but inside was another matter. The silliness he displayed was only a facade, both for himself and for those who saw him. It was unwise to allow his emotions control over him with Shippo watching. The kit hadn't given up hope of finding his surrogate father, and Miroku couldn't find it in himself to crush those hopes, so he had tried to behave as if Inuyasha were not, at that very moment, being raped and tortured.
Following the directions Sesshomaru had given them, he soon came to a door that supposedly led to Sasaki's study. He knocked politely and waited. Nothing. Again he knocked, more insistently, but there was still no answer. He reached for the doorknob, his hand hovering over it with indecision. It seemed terribly rude to go into someone else's work space unannounced. But ... offending Sesshomaru's servant seemed a small evil compared to leaving Inuyasha to suffer the few hours longer it might take for the wind youkai to return. With that in mind, he twisted the knob and swung the door inward, calling a soft greeting as he did--just in case.
His eyes widened. The room was covered from top to bottom in books. Towering stacks of volume after volume of books littered the floor, only leaving the smallest space between as a path to the desk at the far end of the room. Book shelves lined the walls, crowded with even more books, pictures, scrolls, jars of creatures and plants he'd never seen, and stacks of papers with scribbles all over them. He whistled to himself, carefully dodging the first tower of books and nearly knocking over another as his elbow brushed against it. The stack wobbled, but to his relief, did not topple. Once his heart had settled back into his chest, he bent down to get a look at some of the titles, only to realize they were written in languages he didn't know. Only a few were written in Japanese, and those were so old he hardly recognized any of the kanji used on the cover.
Eventually, he managed to get to the desk. It, too, was a mess of hastily put together stacks of papers, books, quills, spilled ink, ink jars that varied between empty and full, scrolls, crumpled parchment, and even a small box in which sat what appeared to be last week's lunch, for it was covered in a film of green mold.
"I apologize for the mess," a voice said from somewhere behind him.
He whirled, startled nearly out of his skin. This time the pile he bumped did begin to fall. Before it toppled, however, a tiny whirlwind of dust caught it and skillfully set it upright once more. The wind then condensed, colors whirling within it as it slowly solidified, and Sasaki was standing before him with an amused smile on his lips.
"Thank you for announcing your entrance. Many, when they see I am not here, will just barge in without a word. The wind carries your voice to me, you see, and without that I would not have been able to reach this tower before it fell. You can't imagine the time it takes to organize everything after the books domino into each other and scatter across the floor." He scowled, "Three and a half weeks, the last time it happened. The dust that went up from that disaster clouded the room for at least five hours after."
Miroku extended his hand when the wind youkai took a breath to continue. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sasaki. I am ..."
"Monk Miroku, yes," Sasaki muttered as he blew around the hoshi and settled into a seated position in the air behind the desk.
"Just Miroku, if you please," the monk replied with a congenial smile.
"Trouble resting? I happened to overhear your conversation with Lord Sesshomaru. I'm assuming since you're here you want to get started, however, right at this moment, it will not be possible."
Miroku blinked, startled. "What do you mean?"
"Your body has not rested properly. You're too tired to be of the kind of help that I'll need. The power you have is insufficient. In other words, you need to sleep for at least a few hours before trying to help. Please return to your room and rest."
Miroku's hands clenched into fists, not at all expecting the reprimand he was being handed. "Sleep is out of the question," he responded as amiably as he could. "Enough time as already been wasted as it is. Inuyasha is being ... tortured ... raped by those people! How am I supposed to sleep knowing that?"
Sasaki floated across the desk and laid an ephemeral hand on the monk's trembling shoulder. "You are a good friend, Miroku. A better friend I have yet to encounter. Yet you must realize you cannot help him if you are exhausted, nor will he thank you if he's brought back only to find you half dead. Please return to your quarters. Or ... if that is unacceptable, you may sleep here, and I will wake you when enough time has passed."
Miroku sighed, not wanting to give in, but recognizing the logic in the other's words. "I ... understand."
Smiling a little, the wind youkai went back to his place behind the desk and began to take out different bottles and powders from the desk drawers. As he spoke, he began to mix ingredients together in a small bowl. "I have already begun the necessary preparations for the job we are undertaking. It will still take some time and research to be able to perform the needed experiments without undo mishap, so I suggest in the meanwhile you sleep until dinner. After you eat we will begin in earnest."
"Very well," Miroku conceded, shoulders slumping it defeat.
"There is a room at my back, the door on your left, where you may take your rest," Sasaki continued as if Miroku hadn't spoken. He held out the small bowl filled to the brim with a golden colored liquid. "Drink this. It will bring sleep and aid in resting your mind. Nightmares will not disturb your slumber."
Shrugging to himself, Miroku took the bowl. The wind youkai was right about needing rest, after all. He then retreated into the room Sasaki had pointed out, finding a modest sized bedroom with sparse furnishings, yet a very comfortable mattress covered in real satin blankets and pillows. Still feeling somewhat guilty, though he was chagrined enough by his embarrassing behavior not to put up another fuss, he put the bowl to his lips and drank deeply, draining it in five gulps. The heaviness in his eyelids increased ten-fold and he was asleep before his head hit the pillows.
Sasaki sighed when he heard the monk's deeper breathing. He had meant what he said. Miroku was a good man, a loyal friend. His heart was in the right place, even if his head wasn't quite where it needed to be. Rest would clear that up quickly enough, though.
"Now then," he muttered as he whisked the junk off his desk and replaced it with the books and scrolls he needed for his research. He carefully set his mind in order, listening to the babble of voices that floated to him from every corner of the palace and filing them away to examine later.
It was a tricky business. When he was younger, before he had learned to control his gift, the voices had nearly driven him over the edge of sanity. Once he learned to listen for specific words and only pay attention to those conversations, blocking the rest, it became much easier. Although, once in a while, his concentration still slipped and he'd end up with a massive migraine until he could down one of Tamae's potions.
There were a few ways to track a youkai, but most involved having something of that youkai's to go off--scent, youki, blood, anything of that sort. Sesshomaru would, no doubt, eventually bring something of Inuyasha's for him and Miroku to work with, yet he doubted even the daiyoukai would be able to find anything connected to the slavers. It wasn't as if Sesshomaru hadn't asked him to do the impossible before, but unless they could track Inuyasha, which he highly doubted, what he was asking was bordering on the insane.
He sighed again.
"Tired?" a sultry voice questioned from the doorway.
Sasaki smiled at the green haired youkai. "Suzu, I thought you would be conducting interviews to choose bodyguards for Lord Inuyasha and his ward."
" ... believe he's taking in that despicable half breed."
Sasaki leaned back slightly on his cushion of air, one of the conversations within the palace catching his attention. It sounded like Saniiro, but who was he talking to?
Suzu smiled lazily back as he swayed into the room, somehow managing to look seductive even while avoiding the numerous towers of precariously stacked books. His movements were as fluid as ever, graceful and precise with the deadly silence of a highly trained assassin. "I have already chosen the pair for Lord Shippo. The guards for Lord Inuyasha will have to wait until I can meet him in person."
"He is our Lord's brother."
Roka. They were supposed to be putting together trackers to locate Lord Inuyasha.
Sasaki nodded in understanding, returning his attention to the notes he was taking. "That's true. Have you come for something then? I'm afraid if you're in need of more pain killing herbs my wife is away at the moment delivering a litter of tiger youkai."
"Half brother," Saniiro emphasized. "Born from a princess who, no doubt, whored herself out to anyone powerful enough for her to leech off. Fucking parasites, humans are."
It was the normal complaints, Sasaki realized as he bent back over his work, still listening, to both Saniiro's conversation and Suzu's reply as he wrote. Saniiro always had something negative to say about anything and everything. He swore, the raven couldn't say more than two words together without dissatisfaction coloring his tone.
"No ... no, that's not why I came."
The anxiety Sasaki detected in the bird youkai's normally relaxed voice had him looking up in concern. "Is something wrong?"
"That is unfair, Saniiro," Roka rebuked. "There are humans within our Lord's employ as well."
His voice was perfectly neutral, showing no deception. If the turtle youkai was planning on betraying Lord Sesshomaru, he wasn't taking chances on someone listening in. Perhaps he even knew of Sasaki's ability, which meant, in all likelihood, he also knew of Tamae's ability to read minds.
Suzu shook his head, but the anxiety remained both in his scent and on his face. "It's nothing, really. I just wanted to ... make sure you and Lord Sesshomaru are careful. MIchio isn't one to be trifled with. He's merciless. He'll do anything to get what he wants and kill anyone who gets in his way."
"Unfair?" Saniiro repeated with an edge of unmistakable anger. "What's unfair is almost losing my job because of some filthy blooded hanyou brat! I can't believe Lord Sesshomaru would remove me from my post for that ... that ..."
"That is quite enough, if you please. We have a job to do."
Noting the unnatural trembling in Suzu's hands, Sasaki set down his quill and floated around the desk, but the other youkai slid out of reach. "Suzu ... do you know something? If you do, you should report it to Lord Sesshomaru."
The former assassin attempted a brush off grin, but failed miserably. There was a strange kind of coldness in his brown eyes ... almost a darkness. Whatever it was, Sasaki didn't like the looks of it. He'd never seen the smaller man so out of sorts.
"I don't know anything, only what I've heard. But please ... pass on my warning to Lord Sesshomaru." Without waiting for a reply, Suzu glided silently out of the room again.
That was ... odd, to say the least. The former assassin was clearly hiding something. What that might be, though, Sasaki didn't know, nor did he care to guess. Lord Sesshomaru trusted him, and that was enough for him.
What concerned him more at the moment was the conversation his wind had brought him. It was highly suspicious. One would think just by listening Roka was defending Inuyasha, but he was doing no such thing. He was avoiding. It was only a snippet of conversation, not much to go on, but Sasaki had a feeling, just a tickling of a breeze in the back of his mind, that watching Roka was the right course of action. The youkai was smart. He wouldn't be caught out easily. But he was pitting himself up against the most powerful youkai of the west, possibly of all of Nihon. It was a tremendous risk. All Sasaki could do was to watch and listen, the rest had to be determined between Sesshomaru, the Western Lord, and Roka, the strategist and first general under the Western Lord.
Hearing a groan come from the other room, Sasaki went to check on the ningen monk. After all, ningen were a lot more susceptible to disease and viruses than youkai. Miroku was sleeping soundly, though. A slight wrinkle in his forehead was the only thing out of place and was most likely caused by an unforeseen side effect of the potion he gave him that was primarily used on youkai. It wouldn't be anything serious, perhaps a slight oddity in his dreams--though they certainly wouldn't be nightmares. The potion helped the body produce endorphins, which created a feeling of happiness and would induce good dreams, even if they were a bit strange.
That done, he returned to his research. There were many ancient spells, old magics, sorcery and such things that could supposedly find different objects, sometimes even people if one knew the person's name. Perhaps he would try one of those spells. The monk could help with that. After all, besides a youkai's inherent abilities and those gained through the development of their youki, they couldn't often acquire any other kind of power. Humans, on the other hand, were very diverse. A ningen monk like Miroku could also learn to use sorcery and various other forms of magic.
Hours passed as Sasaki poured over his work. It was only when he sensed the Western Lord's youki in the corridor a small distance up the hall from his study that he noticed it was dinner time. Setting down his quill and blotting the parchment he was currently writing on with sand, he got up and went out.
"My Lord?" he called, noting the demon lord was not headed in the direction of the dining hall. He frowned when Sesshomaru turned toward him. The Lord had gone to take a nap, hadn't he? If that was so ... why did he look as if he hadn't slept in weeks?
"What is it, Sasaki?"
"Where are you going?"
"I believe that should be quite obvious, to find Inuyasha."
"Without eating?"
"Do you have something to report to me, Sasaki, or are you deliberately wasting my time? Or perhaps, you have found a way to track Michio?"
"Nothing of that nature, my Lord," Sasaki replied with a negative shake of his head. "However ... I received a very interesting visit from Suzu."
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at that, turning more fully to face his advisor. "Explain."
"It appears to me, my Lord, that he knows, or once knew, the youkai called Michio. He came to warn me, and through me, your Lordship, to be careful when pursuing him. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I wouldn't have believed it possible, but Suzu looked ... afraid."
"Suzu ... afraid?" Sesshomaru repeated thoughtfully. "Of Michio, you say?"
Sasaki shrugged, "That's how it seemed. Do you want me to investigate?"
"If you feel it is necessary. If not, leave it be. Suzu has proven his loyalty to this Sesshomaru and the House of Inu no Taisho time and time again. He would not betray me."
"Of course not, my Lord. I was not suggesting he would, only that it might be prudent to see what he knows. It may not seem relevant to him, but you and I may see differently."
Sesshomaru turned his back and continued walking. "Do as you see fit. I leave it in your hands."
"Dinner, my Lord?"
"Perhaps another time."
Sasaki huffed exasperatedly as his Lord transformed, condensing his aura until he appeared as little more than a melon sized ball of light, and darted out an open window. It wasn't often the daiyoukai refused to care for himself properly. His little brother's disappearance must have affected him deeply, perhaps even deeper than he, himself, realized. Not that the demon lord needed to eat every meal. In fact, he could survive weeks without eating. It would take more than a month, perhaps longer, before he started suffering for it. Still, Sasaki took note of it. Wouldn't want his Lord falling ill, after all. It wasn't often a youkai of Sesshomaru's stature contracted a virus, but when it did happen, it was severe.
A small breeze brushed against his ear, bringing him the sound of the monk mumbling about needing to hurry and eat. Apparently it was time to get back to work.
*** ***
Soft leather boots landed silently at the base of a mountain range highlighted in colors of fire by the setting sun as Sesshomaru released his transformation. For several long moments he stared at the mouth of the den he and Inuyasha had shared for that single night. The monk had cast a concealing spell over it before they left, but Sesshomaru couldn't have forgotten where it was even if he desired to do so. He meticulously checked the scents lingering around the area. Nothing was out of place. The only prominent scents were those left by himself, Inuyasha, and his ototo's group. He could sense an ookami youkai lingering in the area, but it wasn't close and its aura was weak--not a threat.
In the relative silence of twilight he waited. He waited as the birds quieted and settled into their nests. He waited as the daytime bugs returned to their respective homes and their nightly cousins emerged. He waited as the sun continued to sink lower until it was just a very slim line of orange fire on the horizon. Even then, he didn't move. Shadows stretched farther and farther across the ground, melding together, deepening with every passing moment.
Then, when it was fully dark and he could hear and sense the movement of nighttime predators, he approached the smooth rock wall of the mountainside. Without slowing or hesitating, he walked straight into the rock face and through Miroku's concealing spell into the den he had carved specifically for Inuyasha's heat. Unable to withstand his powerful demonic aura, the spell crumbled.
The overpowering smell that was all Inuyasha hit him with enough force to cause him to take a stumbling step backward. A bewildering myriad of foreign emotions pummeled him with such strength it was almost a physical sensation. He clutched a hand to his aching chest. How it burned! What was this? Certainly he had never experienced such intense feelings, not since his Lord Father was slain. Then, as now, he didn't know what to do with them.
The stale scents of heat, sex, and blood filled the area, still as thick on the air as a pungent perfume. But it was the smell of blood that affected him most. Inuyasha's blood. It went against his inu nature, his pride, all that he was, that he had let harm come to one he had claimed.
He latched onto the only emotion he was familiar with within the swirl of confusion--rage. It rushed into him as a tidal wave. His youki, always so meticulously under control, lashed out at the rock walls, the ceiling, the floor, the furs, the very air. The violence in his aura cut away at the stone like so many claws and shredded the furs to pieces. It was only when he sensed his aura clashing with another that he stopped. His Lord Father's sword lay on its side near the back wall of the den, hissing with Inu no Taisho's and his ototo's combined energies in order to counteract his own destructive youki. He slowed his breathing, concentrated as he inhaled deeply, held it for a few seconds, and then exhaled. Gradually he was able to regain control over himself.
Without considering the consequences, he reached out for the Tessaiga, closing his hand around the sword's hilt. When he realized what he had done, he quickly released it lest the barrier injure his hand, but there was no crackle of negative energy, no pain. Frowning in confusion--a feeling he was quickly becoming accustomed to--Sesshomaru again took up Tessaiga. Nothing. The sword wasn't rejecting him? What did it mean?
For a moment, triumph filled him. The Tessaiga had accepted him! The Tessaiga that had chosen his filthy little half breed brother was now responding to him. Finally, it was his! With this no one would be able to stand against him, not Naraku, not Michio, no one. It had always hurt his pride that Inuyasha had been able to wield the Tessaiga, his Lord Father's sword, as he had not. If he showed this to Inuyasha ... what would he say?
"Damn it," he cursed quietly to himself, leaning the sword he had coveted for so long against the cave wall.
What did it matter now that he had obtained his Lord Father's fang? There was no merit to it unless his little brother was there, even now, when his feelings toward the hanyou were so muddled. He wasn't sure if he wanted to gloat, or simply show that he could protect his ototo with their father's fang. Either way, with Inuyasha gone there was no purpose behind gaining the ability to wield the Tessaiga. It didn't matter that he was now, indisputably, the most powerful youkai in the land. It just wasn't the same.
Reining in his unruly emotions once more, he put the sword's acceptance out of his mind. He would deal with that later. Right now, he needed to search for clues to his baby brother's whereabouts.
In his mind's eye he imagined a wide and deep river, slow moving, but steady. The riverbanks on each side were worn with age and the constant flow. The rocks below the water surface were smooth and round. He was that river--calm, collected, moving in harmony with the land, serenely flowing through valleys and canyons, flat lands, swamps, and rocky mountains, never wavering. It was only, he noted wryly, when Inuyasha was involved that he had to return to this exercise his Lord Father had taught him so very long ago in order to regain his composure.
First he scoured their den for Michio's scent, but the smell of Inuyasha's blood and heat was far too potent. Despite the seriousness of the situation, his body still responded to his little brother's heat scent. It was like a drug, driving his senses wild, bringing to mind the dream he'd had only hours before.
Shaking his head to clear it of the lust filled haze he'd drifted into, he took up his ototo's discarded garments--the fire rat haori and hakama--and then retrieved the Tessaiga from the den wall. When he found Inuyasha he would surely be wanting them.
With no other clues, he exited the den. He'd just have to search farther out.
He was about to condense his youki around himself in order to transform into his inu form, however, a slight noise and a new scent, a carnivorous one, stopped him. Golden eyes narrowed, he stretched out his hand, his whip lashing out toward the boulder behind which the intruder had the audacity to hide. The poisonous weapon sliced clean through the rock. Something darted out from behind it. Sesshomaru allowed himself a predatory smile as he leapt, transforming in midair, one paw landing atop the unfortunate creature.
"Wait! Please wait, Lord Sesshomaru!" the youkai yelped out in desperation.
Sesshomaru snarled, but even though he was intent on killing whoever dared approach the den that belonged entirely to himself and his ototo, the submissive whine from the other canine gave him pause. It was the ookami youkai he had sensed nearby. A young male, little more than a pup. The scent it gave off wasn't aggressive in the least. What was such a young wolf doing out away from his pack? If he wasn't mistaken, the pup was from the same pack as the wolf prince, Kouga.
Slowly, Sesshomaru lifted his paw. Seeing that the ookami didn't move from his position on the ground, he removed his paw the rest of the way. The pup had its head all the way back, neck bared in submission. A little annoyed that he hadn't torn the youkai to shreds, pup or not, the daiyoukai reversed his transformation and approached the prostrate wolf. "What business do you have in this Sesshomaru's territory, pup?"
"U-Um ... P-P-Prince Kouga ..."
Sesshomaru lifted an eyebrow, watching in covert amusement when the other youkai cringed. "What about Prince Kouga? If it is he who sends you then you have nothing to fear. The West and the wolves of the northern wolf pack are, after all, allies."
At that, the wolf visibly relaxed. He half sat up, but kept his tail tucked submissively between his legs. "Y-Yes, my Lord, thank you. Prince Kouga sent us to ... um, help you."
"He sends aid when it has not been requested? For what purpose?"
"To find Inu--y-your brother, my Lord. Prince Kouga has sent all his best trackers to hunt down the band of slave traders that took him."
"And why would Prince Kouga offer such aid to me?"
"Pack reasons," the young wolf replied.
That either meant the pack's territory had been threatened, or else, one of their pups had been hurt or killed by Michio's band. Since slave traders didn't usually have a permanent residence, and therefore, no need for territory, Sesshomaru suspected it was the latter of the two.
"None of our number has entered your den."
Sesshomaru inclined his head in thanks. It was generally a given that another canine wouldn't trespass within someone else's den, especially when in rut with a heat partner, but having that fact confirmed reassured his volatile youki. "Where are the rest of those who came?"
The pup shrugged. "Tracking, I suppose. Prince Kouga told us to spread out in a wide radius since it would be unlikely Michio would accidentally leave evidence pointing to where they went so near to your den. They've been tracking since mid-morning, but so far there hasn't been word of anything."
It rankled that he hadn't been the first out to search for his brother, but his pride was appeased by the fact that they hadn't yet found anything. "They left you here because ...?"
"I'm inexperienced," he answered offhandedly. "Plus, they wanted someone here that you ... um ... wouldn't kill on sight."
"Were you any less submissive within this Sesshomaru's territory and so close to the den, I would have, regardless of how young you are."
The pup nodded with an audible swallow. "I-I know."
"Do you now?"
"Prince Kouga warned us before we left that you would accept nothing less than absolute submission to even hesitate. Even allies means little to your Lordship if the House of Inu no Taisho, your person, or your little brother is affronted or your honor sullied."
Sesshomaru barely kept the smirk from his lips. So, the wolf knew how close he'd come to dying that day when he'd responded to the daiyoukai's call and then proceeded to insult Inuyasha. Good. That would make relations between them that much easier.
"Send word to your pack," he ordered brusquely as he strode away from the mountains toward the forest. "They are to stay out of this Sesshomaru's way. This night I hunt for blood."
*** ***
Sunset came and went and Sesshomaru returned to the castle, outwardly impassive, but inwardly discouraged and infuriated. For hours he and the wolves searched, yet even with their aid he had found no trace of either Inuyasha or the slavers. How could they have taken him without so much as a single strand of his white hair being left behind? Could they be using an ability he wasn't aware of? He, as a daiyoukai, possessed the ability to teleport, but he had never been able to do so with another being. Was it possible that Michio could not only teleport himself, but also those who traveled with him?
"Oh, Lord Sesshomaru, there you are!" Jaken exclaimed, running toward him with all the enthusiasm and grace of a ningen child. "Where have you been milord?"
Ignoring the toad's annoying chatter, Sesshomaru strode past him to where Outa, the bear youkai, waited for him.
"Lord Sesshomaru," Guardsman Outa greeted him in a more sedate manner with a polite bow outside the door of his little home of which he was privileged enough to have within the palace's outer wall. "If you'll follow me, Lady Rin fell asleep waiting for you."
"Ano ... milord?" Jaken called, wary of his Lord's bad mood.
With a pointed glance at the kappa to shut him up, Sesshomaru gestured for the kuma youkai to proceed. The man led him inside and to a small bedroom where Rin and the guardsman's daughter slept together. Careful not to wake the ningen child or her friend, the daiyoukai expertly lifted her into his arm, cradling her safely against his chest.
"Any word on your brother?" the kuma inquired softly as he followed his Lord back to the door, an anxiously meek Jaken trailing close behind.
"None," Sesshomaru responded curtly.
"Don't give up hope. He is a son of Inu no Taisho. You'll find him."
Somewhat startled by the novelty of having one of his soldiers offering him encouragement, the demon lord stared at the other male.
"What insolence!" Jaken exclaimed, outraged by the familiarity the other youkai was showing toward his Master. "How dare yo--"
"Jaken," Sesshomaru barked, not taking his eyes off the bear youkai.
"M-Milord?"
"Be quiet."
Obedient as always, Jaken bowed his head. At least his Master wasn't in as much of a bad mood anymore.
Belatedly realizing what he'd done and how it might look, Outa took an apologetic step back, flinching at the blank gaze his Lord continued to direct at him. "Gomennasai, Lord Sesshomaru. I didn't mean anything by that. It's just ... you seemed--"
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow, honestly curious to hear what the guardsman was going to say. "This Sesshomaru seemed ...?"
"Oh, um ..." Outa fidgeted, glancing away guiltily, not daring to fully meet his Lord's piercing golden eyes that were as disconcerting as they were beautiful.
"Never mind," the daiyoukai dismissed it, taking mercy on the kuma and his obvious discomfiture. He tilted his head slightly to the side, a habit he hadn't quite broken from when he was younger. "Your mate ... was your elder brother, correct?"
Outa looked down, sorrow in his dark eyes. "Hai ... he was a palace servant. A minor one serving in the kitchens, so I don't believe my Lord would remember him." The bear youkai smiled somewhat regretfully. "He was a gentle creature. Not like me. Miki hated fighting. I've never known a man as gentle or as noble as Miki. He died soon after we adopted Hoshina."
"You have my sympathies," Sesshomaru responded, for once actually feeling sincere in that regard. Contrary to what Outa believed, he did remember the huge bear youkai. He took pains to memorize the names and faces of all his servants. It wouldn't do for a Lord to be caught not knowing someone's name or job title in his own home. "There is something I'd like to ask. However, if it is too personal you may decline." Receiving his guardsman's consent, he went on, "If your brother was still alive ... if he was taken against his will by a hostile party ... what would your feelings be?"
"Are you asking this as only in regards to a brother or as in regards to a mate?"
"You loved your brother as a mate, did you not?"
Surprised, Outa nodded. "I did. Still do."
Sesshomaru inclined his head. "Then answer the question."
Outa frowned, eyes darkening with thought as he peered out past Sesshomaru at the blackness of night and the waning moon. "If that were to happen, my Lord ... I would be furious, both at those who took him and at myself for not being able to protect him. I'd feel sick at heart without him by my side." He glanced back into his house toward his daughter's bedroom door. "It is only my little Hoshina that keeps me going now. If she wasn't here I would have succumbed to my loneliness long ago."
"Is that so ...?" the daiyoukai mused, glancing down at the ningen child in his arm.
Mentally shaking himself, Sesshomaru thanked the bear youkai and walked back outside. His feelings for his brother weren't that deep--deeper than he'd realized, certainly, but not that deep. Outa's description sounded far too ... extreme. If that was so, then perhaps these feelings were only that of an older brother.
As much as he wished that were so, it didn't sound right. Older brothers didn't usually want to fuck their younger brothers, did they?
"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin's soft voice broke the heavy silence.
The demon lord looked down, his expression softening somewhat when he met the wide, brown eyes of his ward. "Rin."
"I'm sorry. I fell asleep before you came back," she apologized, hoping she hadn't caused her guardian too much trouble.
"It is all right, Rin."
"I can walk now, Sesshomaru-sama."
"Indeed." Ignoring the slightly startled look she and Jaken gave him, he continued walking. After all, it wasn't often he held her like this. It felt good and it helped to curb the hurt in his chest somewhat.
"Ano ... Sesshomaru-sama?"
"What is it, Rin?"
"You haven't found Inuyasha-sama yet?"
"Not yet."
"But you will, won't you?"
He rechecked her expression to make sure he was reading it correctly, something he hardly ever did since she never tried to hide her feelings. At least, she had never tried to hide them from him. But, yes, he was reading her expression accurately. She was anxious. It was rare to see her without her usual bright-as-the-sun smile. He had seen her frightened many a time, but had only seen her anxious on a couple occasions. The most memorable being after the traveling monks attempted to separate her from him and return her to the human world.
"Do not be anxious. He will not be lost for long." He stared straight ahead again, nodding to the guards as they passed into the palace. "I was not aware you harbored such feelings for my ototo, Rin."
Confusion stole across her face. "What do you mean, Sesshomaru-sama?"
"You are concerned about Inuyasha's safety, are you not?"
"Well ... yes," she responded slowly, still staring up at him in bewilderment. "Of course I am. He's your brother."
"You worry for him because he's my brother?" What a peculiar concept.
"Not just that," she protested, pouting adorably. "I want him to be safe because it hurts you when he's not."
He felt Jaken run into the back of his leg when he came to an abrupt halt. The toad began stuttering apologies the demon lord ignored. She, a ningen and a child, could see through him to that extent? Was he losing his touch? Perhaps that bit of memory loss had affected him more than he'd realized. "Rin."
"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?"
"You are to speak of this matter to no one, understand? Not even Shippo or Miroku." There was no need to remind Jaken. He knew well the consequences if he spoke too freely about such matters. Rin was a child, and wouldn't know talk that appeared to be trivial to her could very well put him in a compromising position.
As usual, she didn't ask questions, only flashed him one of her most brilliant smiles and nodded her head. "Hai!"
*** ***
"So ... Lord Sesshomaru has begun his search for you," Michio mused, licking his puppy's full demon blood from his lips. "What should we do, pet?"
Inuyasha snarled, launching himself at the dark dog demon, disregarding the chains that bit into his arms, legs, and neck, though they had already laid his wrists and ankles open down to the bone. Deep bruises and slowly healing cuts covered the entirety of his naked form. The organ between his legs stood stiffly erect, the heat plaguing his body preventing it from returning to its natural state even as the lack of stimulation prevented the necessary release of pressure. In his animalistic state the pain was negligible. All his youki knew was to keep fighting. If he kept fighting he would survive. To quit fighting was to resign oneself to death, and it was against his very nature to do that.
He cried out, not in pain, but in negation as one of Michio's hands grabbed his chains and pinned them down under his foot so he couldn't lift his arms or back away. The other hand closed tightly around his throat. It was an alpha's hand, radiating a dominance that could rival that of his elder sibling. But it was different. Too different. This hand was evil. It made his skin crawl and his blood boil. Sesshomaru's hand, though it had been used to hurt on countless occasions, had always shown him mercy, whether the daiyoukai realized it or not. The sinister feeling was so powerful he shook with it even in his full demon state.
The grip on his neck forced him backward against the wall. He fought to breathe, fought to escape, fought to get that filthy hand away!
Beg. ****** He gasped as a second hand, far more sinister than the first, closed around his straining sex. It began to move, provoking unwanted sensations throughout his body. End. ****** Somehow he managed to jerk one of the chains out from under Michio's foot, freeing his arm. Weakened as he was from constantly fighting and constantly being beaten, he still lashed out at the inu youkai, gouging deep, bloody furrows across the other inu's shoulder and chest.
Grimacing, Michio stumbled a few steps back. "Still have some fight in you, hm?"
Smiling spitefully when the hanyou immediately leapt at him, Michio grabbed Inuyasha's wrists in his claws, releasing poison into the weakened hanyou's system. Then, as the half demon turned full demon stiffened with temporary paralysis, Michio took hold of his shoulder and spun him around, slamming him into the stone wall of his prison.
"Come now, you want to be able to see your precious Lord Sesshomaru, don't you?" The smile on his face stretched wider when the inu hanyou paused to listen. "If you quit fighting, puppy, perhaps I'll take you to see him."
"Sessh ..." Inuyasha growled, crimson eyes filled with longing.
Beg. ****** "That's it," Michio purred, stroking the younger inu's hard member a little faster than before. End. ****** "Submit to me, puppy."
Submit? Inuyasha whimpered, confused. He had submitted. He was a submissive. The inu holding him down, touching him, relieving his heat was an alpha inu. Then ... why? Why did this feel so wrong?
No ... it wasn't just wrong. Wrong was too weak a word to describe what he felt. It was repulsive. Michio's youki was at odds with his own, not at all like Sesshomaru's soothing, powerful, all encompassing youki. The dark inu's youki was poisonous to him, it surrounded his youki, attempted to assimilate it into itself.
"Give in, puppy. You cannot fight me. I am an alpha inu, you are a submissive, naturally a weaker creature. It is impossible to protect yourself from me."
"Being a submissive doesn't make you weak, nor does it make you inferior."
Sesshomaru helped him. Sesshomaru protected him, perhaps not physically, but his explanation, his words had protected what little pride he had in himself.
I am not weak. A low rumble started in the depths of Inuyasha's chest as Michio's body pressed closer attempting to smother him.
"Being a submissive merely means sometimes you don't want to be in charge, and that's okay. It's not a bad thing to want to be taken care of. My wish is to take care of you. Do you think I'm looking down on you by wanting to do that?"
"I am not weak," Demon Inuyasha whispered, more to himself than Michio.
"Did you say something, puppy?"
Inuyasha's lip curled at the demeaning pet name. This man is not my alpha. My alpha takes care of me. This man only hurts me. He doesn't care about me. My alpha is not him.
"I am not weak. My alpha is not you. My alpha is ... Sesshomaru!" he howled, throwing his head back. He twisted. Metal whined in protest as the links of the chains that bound him bent under the strength of his rage. Michio backed away in alarm, but not fast enough. The chains snapped with a crack like a gunshot and the dark inu youkai was thrown across the room into the opposite wall. "There is only one who can be my alpha. I won't let anyone else dominate me!"
Chuckling darkly from where he had fallen to the floor, Michio slowly, almost lazily, got back to his feet. "You have more fight in you than I thought." He wiped the warm blood that dripped down across his eye from the cut made by the whiplash of the breaking chains on his arm, staring at it for a moment as if in contemplation. Then, with a shrug, he licked the crimson fluid away. "No matter. If your spirit will not submit to me, then I will just have to force your body to do so."
"Fuck you!"
Inuyasha flinched when Michio snatched up the chains binding his wrists, ankles, and throat once again, and yanked. The force spun him around and pulled him backward off balance. Cruel hands that further bruised his abused arms caught him. Beg. ****** He cried out when one of the chains came up between his legs, striking harshly against the semen laden sacs of his sex. End. ******
"You will scream for me, puppy, like it or not. I will dirty you over and over again until there is not a place on you left unsoiled. When I've finished with you, no one will want what's left. Especially Sesshomaru once he discovers what it is you've been doing, willingly or unwillingly. After all, his possessiveness won't allow room for another to touch what is his, and those that have been touched and soiled by another's hands are discarded. We are very alike, he and I. I will see you broken yet, my pathetic little excuse for an inu."
*****************************************************************************
Definition of Terms
I don't think there are any this time, so just for the one name that was added in here.
Miki - tree
A/N: Well, there you have it!! Hope you all like it. Hope the asterisks helped for anyone who prefers not to read the sexual coercion and harassment between Michio and Inuyasha. The chapter after this one is actually my favorite so far. Can't wait to post it for you guys. But ... it's late and I gotta go to bed, so see ya'll when I see ya! (: (:
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A Heat to Overcome