Inuyasha Series © Rumiko Takahashi

2.1. And then she...

This was pathetic…

The only consolation he got was Sesshoumaru fortunately rejected him, else he wouldn't know how to face his sibling with what had happened, still happening now, going to happen all over again, and it already felt like never-ending to him. How could he possibly want this? No, he wanted this, but not like this, not with this demon!

The familiar tongue lapped at an old wound on his cheek and all he could do was biting his lip to keep himself from moaning at the pleasure sensation the disgusting moth had been forcing his body undergo.

"Submit to me, beloved Inuyasha," Continuous sweet-nothings whispered in his ears, again that same tongue trailed the outline of his lobe before swirling inside as far as it could go, and his body kept singing wantonly, begging for more. This had never been right.

"He didn't come. He hasn't come. He will not come for you." Hisui repeated those magic words he had been using. They both knew it would be the matter of time before he was completely broken the closer the truth drew near if it hadn't already been proven at this point. "He does not want you."

Inuyasha shut his eyes tightly. That was the only thing he allowed himself to believe, backing up by his own proof. It didn't matter before, but Sesshoumaru certainly wouldn't want him now. Even he wouldn't want something truly filthy like himself now. Fangs nipping at his bruised lips, trying to pry them open. Vines tightened around his wrists and ankles the more he tried breaking free. But as he felt the distinct sensation of penetration from his long-abused entrance, his whole body went lax, light left his eyes. His mind retreated to the deepest part of his soul in the form of his child self, curling in Sesshoumaru's protective arms that his imagination had conjured up as the loving apparition of his brother hushed his frightened whimpers and licked his desperate tears dry, telling him Hisui could never reach them here, that he was safe in this world, the world of themselves, only two of them.

The damn moth could take his body all it wanted; but his mind and his heart, they only belonged to Sesshoumaru.

.

.

.

She turned to one side, immediately covered her mouth with her sleeves just as he opened his eyes. Sesshoumaru sat up abruptly only to be forced back down by the sharp spike of pain, starting from his abdomen and spread through his body, too much that he failed to hide a hiss in agitation. Before he could focus on his abnormal injury however, his attention was on her when he heard a violent cough followed right after with the scent of her blood. He gritted his fangs, bit through his body's protest to lift himself from her lap, albeit carefully this time, and asserted her well-being.

Neither of them sustained any blow fatal enough to possibly be the cause of this heavy damages they were experiencing.

Exerted more effort than he normally required, Sesshoumaru drew her to him, curled his Mokomoko around her frame protectively before he looked up, gathering demonic aura to his feet in preparation to reach her castle in one leap. He needed to get them in a safe area first, the rest could wait.

"Get us far enough for a descent, Sesshoumaru. I won't be able to hold it up in the next two days." She murmured to him, wrapped an arm around the back of his shoulder at his slight nod, her other hand moved to his stomach where all his pain was apparently coming from. Realizing what she was about to do, Sesshoumaru put his hand over hers and placed it over his shoulder too.

At her quiet inquiring gaze, he only shook his head, "Keep your strength. I can bear it."

She looked at him in silent contemplation before linking her hands around his neck. "I'm releasing it." She warned, cast a fleeting glance in the direction of his entourage right below her castle.

Sesshoumaru smirked, "If they get caught in something trivial like this, then they will not be of much use in the future."

"My, how cold of you." She chuckled, closing her eyes.

"Okay, now my survival instinct is going off." Kouga scratched the back of his head, "Not from below, but up there." He pointed his index finger upward as two shadows passed above his head, Ah-Un and Kirara.

"Hachi! Move away from the castle!" Kohaku yelled at the wide eyes Raccoon demon, who also caught on what was going to happen seeing the castle suddenly zoom over them.

"R—roger that!" But in his panic, Hachiemon did a flip in the air instead of turning his long body around before hightailing out of death door. Unprepared for the turn of event, the yelping Miroku was saved by Kirara and Sango during his freefall while Shippo turned into a pink balloon to get Kagome, who was screaming bloody murder. As for Kouga, he did a backflip and land perfectly on the same spot he had been sitting on the Raccoon demon's back.

They watched in awe as the castle crashed into the hole in place the Tree of Ages used to be and somehow fitted perfectly where it was.

"Hmm. This is the first time in my life I get to see the whole castle from above." Myoga stated on Kohaku's shoulder.

Miroku slapped a palm on his face, groaning aloud, "He didn't even alert us!"

"What do you mean, Myoga-sama?" Rin asked over her shoulder. Instead of staring at the castle like the rest, she looked around in hope of catching a glimpse of her Lord, patting the left dragon head gently, "Ah-Un, let's come down, I can't see him from here." The dragon growled in agreement and did as he was told.

"The Lady has been upholding a barrier to protect the castle from outside world. My Lord told me only the females of their clan possesses that ability. That's why it's a Lord's supreme honor to protect his Lady. Since the Inu no Taisho passed away, it's Sesshoumaru-sama's duty now. But—" Myoga cut himself off, eyes widened in realization, "Oh my God…!"

"What is it, Myoga?! Don't stop when you are in the middle of talking about something important!" Jaken squeaked angrily, waving his Nintojo around which was intimidating no one.

"It's not my place to talk about it." Myoga crossed his arms and grunted, "Anyhow, we need to find Sesshoumaru-sama if we are to get inside. Even when the barrier has vanished, there is still a number of the unknowns can happen to intruders."

"I found him!" Rin pointed at the staircases led to the castle entrance. Sesshoumaru, carefully carried the female demon in his arms, stood in the center of the steps and looked in their direction with disinterest.

Ah-Un growled and sped up to his master with the others followed after him.

"I guess they passed. How unfortunate." Sesshoumaru muttered under his breath but she heard him nonetheless and chuckled softly with her eyes still closed in repose.

.

.

.

The wounds he had received when she subdued him were all healed within half an hour but, Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at his hands. He was holding the child Inuyasha in that dream. He had said something to the hanyou, but he couldn't hear what. All he knew was it calmed Inuyasha down efficiently. The sensation was so real he could still feel the small weight in his arms and the damp on his attire where it had absorbed Inuyasha's tears… He ghosted his hand over his stomach, the phantom pain was still very prominent where no wound was…

"You were calling his name."

Sesshoumaru looked to his left where she was lying beside him.

She smiled at his confused face and lifted her hand to caress his cheek, "When all you know is the being you can't live without, your souls call out to each other. I anticipated your protectiveness but still got surprised by your possessiveness of him. As soon as I successfully linked your consciousness with him, you immediately repelled me."

His eyes widened in horror disbelief, "I…!" This finally made sense. She was not resting because of physical injuries he had caused. Her demonic resistance was harmed because somehow, he had hurt her by mentally rejected her presence in his mind. His hands curled into fists until his knuckles turned white. What have I done!

Before he instinctively recoiled, she shook her head and clasped his hands with hers, "Stay calm, Sesshoumaru."

"Mother, I…" Sesshoumaru exhaled in agitation and hugged her tightly, hiding his face and shame in her loosened silver hair (since her hair accessories had been destroyed earlier in the moment thing got ugly enough). Apology was insufficient. He didn't even know what would happen the next time she did it again. What could he do…

"Sesshoumaru, at this rate," She gripped his shoulders and looked at him through shimmering lashes, "Even Tenseiga and Meidou Stone will not be enough."

He was unable to look at her like this. She had been strong when his Father left her for Izayoi. She had been strong when her own son left her for two centuries. But now, now she was at the verge of breaking down for the offspring came from the betrayal of her mate. Sesshoumaru bowed his head, eyes shadowed by his bangs. "No," He told her coldly, hardened his hold around her, "We have had enough of this. You are to rest and recuperate. As soon as you are fine, we will leave. Back to the West. If that hanyou is going to die, then this is it for him." His voice came out strong and steady despite how they sliced at his heart with each syllable escape his lips. "Besides," A dark smirk appeared on his previously emotionless face, "What good can he be when he was not even born with the ability to bear my heir for all the messes he had single-handedly caused? I have no ne—"

She put her finger on his lips to cut him off. When she was certain he wouldn't start ranting anymore, her hand moved to his cheek. "Your heart is in pieces." Her thumb wiped the lone droplet hanging heavily on his eyelash at the end of her statement, further proving her doubt of his acidic words.

"I am happy that I can finally get rid of him." He denied, held her to his chest and kept his chin above her head, where she would be unable to look at his face which was fairly betrayed him already.

"No. These are the tears of loss." She persisted, listened to his heartbeat by her ears, which was the second thing that was betraying him unless he was about to rip that out too.

"I always have you." He stated, ignored her previous observant.

"I am not enough." She admitted.

"I only need you!" He tried to convince her and they both heard how hollow it sounded in their ears.

"You can love him the way you always want," She whispered, angled her eyes to look directly into his, mindless of his silent tears as they pattered on her cheek, "You can love him now, Sesshoumaru."

"I don't love him!" He snarled threateningly, jerked his face from her soothing touch in his frustration at her insistence, demanding angrily, "You are not supposed to get involved in this matter concerning him. You are not supposed to appear at this time and place. You are not supposed to be injured at all! Why have you come? What are you doing here!"

"I know this is the right thing to do." She replied, hesitantly pulled her hand back but before she could, he caught her wrist. She looked at her captive hand and back to him, but he had turned away, not meeting her gaze. "Sesshoumaru, what do you want to do?"

He closed his eyes with a long sighed, "To get you out of here, away from mortal's affair. To somewhere nothing can harm you."

"What about your promise with the young human child?" She inquired, covered his grip on her wrist with her other hand, silently asking him to look at her.

The crease between his brows deepened but he gave no response.

"Sesshoumaru…"

"I will not choose between you and Inuyasha. I can't lose you too." Sesshoumaru said finally.

"You have yet to lose him. You said it not long ago, have you forgotten?" She reminded him gently. He shook his head, but what was he denying, she wondered.

"The circumstance has changed. I can see clearly what needs to be done now that you are involved," He told her.

"How about what you want to do?" She pressed.

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to answer, "To keep you safe—"

"I am safe now and you can continue doing what you want to do, what you have been doing before my arrival."

"No, the fact that thing of his was with you…" He closed his eyes with a tired sigh.

"You can't give up on him, Sesshoumaru. Only you can't." She emphasized.

"Why," Sesshoumaru started, "You lot come to me whenever Inuyasha is concerned," He accused, letting loose a small portion of his irritation.

"Is it not because he is yours to begin with?" She tilted her head, looking at him as if it was the obvious thing to point out to him.

"He is—!" Not? Was it what he had been trying to deny? "I will kill him with my own hands," He corrected himself, repeated the only thing that always came out of his mouth automatically.

"Have you been hearing yourself, Sesshoumaru?" She patronized, "Have you heard it in your voice the stake you placed on him for as long as you said those familiar words to him and everything else you relatively view as threat to that claim of yours?"

Sesshoumaru only tightened his hold on her in warning. "You clearly have no idea about it."

She resumed caressing his cheek, her tone still very much reprimanded as it was consoling him at the same time, "I have enough sense to understand your language, Sesshoumaru. Because we are so alike, I look at you and am reminded of my younger self it could have been comical under other circumstance."

"What kind of fool would let you go," Sesshoumaru could have sneered if he found it in himself to do so. The reason he didn't was his awareness to the fact he was still feeling bitter that his Father had left the female in his arms for a woman, a human at that.

"I believe it's mine and his problem, not yours, to put it bluntly. You merely use your position as our son to express your disdain to that fact, the fact that it was none of your business." She stated, noticed the way his eyes widened at being seen through, "You hate it when things get out of your control, you hate it when something stirs and changes the normalcy you are so used to, you hate losing."

He had nothing to even start denying. So the way he turned his head to the side and not meeting her in the eyes was the nearest he had ever come to sulking.

"If you want to abandon him, Sesshoumaru, I will not stop you, neither will I be happy or disappointed with your decision. Because this is between you and him, why would my opinion matter in anyway?" She told him, "In the end, I can only do what I want to do, as your Mother."

She removed herself from him and placed a distance between them until they sat facing each other. He was confused and it showed in his expression that prompted her to smile softly. "Starting now, I renounce you as my son, therefore strip of your position as my late Great General's son and heir. From here on you are no longer the Lord of Western Lands."

From the corner of her eyes, she spared the gaping onlookers by the entrance way, a group of mismatching demons and humans, a calculate glance and back to the demon used to be called her son moment ago, who, must be for the first time in his life, looked like he was speechless, disbelief, dread, and lost all at the same time.

TBC.

A/N: When my hobbies consist of writing and gaming (equally time-consuming), I can't do both beside having a life. Recently I'm taking a break from gaming to get back to writing so here you have it. I promise nothing about the speed of my update on any of my stories and which fandom I'll place on high priority (because there is none).

As for this chapter, I'd like to say this is an... unexpected development on my part. The later event that resulted in cliffy originally never happened but I guess I have become dramatic somewhere along the way as far as gaming goes (and why is that?)

So in this chapter we have:

Inuyasha: and then, instead of just finish me off for killing his brother, he decided to rape me. What the hell in this making any sense?

Sesshoumaru: shut up, I got disowned by my mother here.

Sesshoumaru's Mother: the antagonistic spotlight suddenly descended on me.

The rest: it's very easy to remember our script lines when there's not much to do.