Sesshoumaru Wept

:::Prologue:::

Bastards, he thought with a half-smile on his face. Yes, he was injured and bleeding, but he'd live to fight another day. It was almost amusing how his retainer had turned traitor, led Ryuukotsusei directly to his family, then had the balls to beg for his life after the damned dragon god-he looked at the broken body and sneered-thing was destroyed by his hand. He snorted, as if to rid his delicate sinuses of the dragon-stench, tendrils of his breath curled out of his nose in the chilled air. He led the dragon far away from his first mate, his son and his second mate, who was in the process of birthing his second child even as he fought to protect them. When his instincts dictated he was a safe distance away, he turned and viciously attacked, taking his enemy completely by surprise. It was a long battle--longer than he would have liked--but he eventually came out victorious. He shook his head as if to clear the last hours from his mind. Enough. He had been away far too long. Ignoring the pain, he leapt into the sky with a mighty spring, his two mokomoko streaming behind.

He rode the air currents high in the night sky, so high up the sound of life far below was a mere whisper to his superior hearing. The stress of the evening fell from his shoulders revealing a very young man, the face of whom could be described as breath taking. Masculine, angular face with single Prussian blue stripes, softly pointed ears with silver rings in each and expressive topaz-colored eyes that missed nothing: the current Western Lord and Dog General was considered a god among the living. As he flew, the numerous cuts ceased dripping as they sealed themselves and the bruising changed color from black to blue to green and yellow, then disappeared altogether. He flexed his left arm and reveled in his body's superior healing abilities, watching as the muscle that was torn mere moments before flexed. He threw back his head and a deep, rumbling howl burst from his chest at how alive he felt in this moment. He put on a burst of speed, anxious to be beside his second mate while she brought another pup into his pack.

As he quickly approached the home his family was wintering in, his nose twitched, taking in the scent of burning wood. His sharp eyes scanned the horizon and found black smoke billowing into the sky. As the scenery flattened out beneath him, unspeakable horror seized his insides, but he caught himself before he vomited mid-air. The sprawling Japanese castle was aflame, and he could see nothing else due to the choking smoke. He landed quickly, snow on the ground fanning out from contact with his rage made physical, Tessaiga in hand. He jogged around the first of the buildings to see his family standing on what would be manicured lawns during the summer, his first mate's arms wrapped around the smaller frame of his second mate. His line of sight automatically sought out her belly and found with a measure of happiness and great fear, she was no longer pregnant. Sesshoumaru stood behind them, his own mokomoko wrapped tightly around himself, and he appeared to be hunched over. He slowed, his instincts telling him that all wasn't well, and he had learned too many difficult lessons to jump into the situation without a measure of caution. He was the patriarch, the alpha male of his pack, and they looked to him for safety, security. He walked with confidence toward them, throwing his aura around his family to comfort them even as he scanned the area for the threat.

Sesshoumaru was the first to turn attention to the approaching warlord, and Touga was shocked when his son crouched in a more defensive position, red eyes leveling a glare at his sire and growled at him. Touga could feel his eyes changing, his inner beast demanding he mount his adolescent pup in response to the challenge he issued, but struggled to maintain control of himself as the bigger threat to his pack had yet to pass. However, before he took another step toward the still-aggressive Sesshoumaru, the heat of a small human hand bled through his corset-like body armor, and he looked down into the pleading brown eyes of his second mate. She sank to her knees in front of him, still bleeding from giving birth, and her face was pale.

"My lord, please do not," Izayoi whispered. "He is protecting your son at my request."

Touga's eyes glanced at the elder brother, and at the look, Sesshoumaru wrapped his mokomoko even more tightly around himself, his lips curling in a snarl at the potential threat. Sayoko, Touga's first mate, approached Izayoi with her eyes lowered, knowing the situation warranted every show of submission. She wrapped her mokomoko around Izayoi in an attempt to keep the human female warm, only daring to look at Touga when his hand lifted her chin nuzzled her cheek. Knowing his two females were ok for the moment, Touga sheathed Tessaiga and held his hands up. He began walking slowly toward Sesshoumaru, expanding his aura around the young male. The pup stopped growling and lifted his head as he scented his sire's approach. His face went blank, and he cocked his head, watching Touga until they were close enough to touch. He knelt beside the crouching prince.

"Sesshoumaru," he said calmly. "I am home, and I am fine. You have fulfilled your responsibility to myself, to your brother and to your family most admirably. May I see the pup?"

It took several heartbeats for Sesshoumaru to respond. Awareness came back to him as his eyes cleared until opalescent amber gazed into his father's face. He released a soft puppyish whine.

"Papa," he whispered and threw himself into Touga's arms. He enfolded the pup in his exposed arms and stroked Sesshoumaru's hair soothingly.

"Yes, boy, I am home," he said against silver hair so similar to his own. When his child stopped shaking, he continued. "May I see your brother?"

"Of course, my lord father," he replied, slipping into the safety of their vertical relationship, his voice losing the childishness of his outburst.

Touga noticed how carefully he unwound his mokomoko, how gently he removed the squirming, silent bundle, and how reverently he offered up his little brother to greet their sire: he was inordinately pleased with his heir. With a smile, the lord took his youngest in hand and pulled the blanket away from the tiny face. Warm golden eyes met his and the pup made a small sound, blinking up at the one who now held him. Touga noted with a small amount of confused happiness the faint Prussian blue stripes on the baby's cheeks and the elegantly pointed demon ears. He leaned over the infant and ran his cheek over the soft, plump puppy skin of his newest child until the baby sounded like he giggled. He pulled back to stare at the strong aura radiating off of the tiny pup. Curious, he thought, this one will be as strong as his brother.

"He's... beautiful..." Touga said, his voice trailing off into a whisper as he felt a foreign (but not wholly unfamiliar) presence not too far behind him, heard the sound of light footsteps in the snow. He handed the baby back to Sesshoumaru, who immediately wrapped himself and the pup into his mokomoko and backed away.

"Why am I not surprised?" the Dog General asked flatly, pulling Tessaiga as he turned.
Before him was a being taller than himself, a feat in and of itself, he mused humorously. The being's eyes had the emptiness and blackness of death, and his raven-colored hair was in long rope-like braids, held together with carved bone beads, all pulled back into one large ponytail. He, too, had pointed ears and black markings, similar to a demon's own markings, curled around his cheeks. He wore a black Egyptian-style wrap tied around his waist that fell to his knees, along with two bands of gold on each arm, connected with chain and sheer black cloth. When he spoke, his voice was that of things long dead and souls forever damned; Touga felt Sayoko and Izayoi shrink from the mere sound generated.

~Touga,~ the breathy whisper came, even though the being did not open his mouth. ~You have stolen from me, not once but twice!~

"What have I taken that was not already mine, Anubis?" Touga growled back.

~You destroyed Ryuukotsusei, one of my guardians-~

"It attacked my family," he interrupted, sneering. "You know better than to send something after my family."

~There is also the matter of the sword,~ he said, pointing a long, slender finger at the second sword sheathed at the General's hip. ~Seiunga was to be a gift to my daughter, Kabechet, to aid her in ministering to the spirits of the dead. It holds my fang, dog! It was not given to you!~

Touga narrowed his eyes at the god. "You should have thought of that before you wagered it against my abilities, jackal."

After the lord's growl died, the silence was deafening. The flames licked at the sky as the wood from the house continued to crack and pop, and the near-panicked breathing of the human female seemed very loud in the night. Anubis regarded the dog patriarch with disdain, his pit-of-hell eyes revealing nothing.

~So be it.~

The words were spoken with such finality it gave Touga chills. Anubis turned to face Sesshoumaru and as Touga was about to intervene, a high-pitched, angry female voice cut through the words dying on his lips.

"Don't you dare touch those pups, you coward! You monster!" Izayoi hissed, stumbling the distance to stand in front of Sesshoumaru, her back to the pups. Anubis' eyes grew slightly wider, then slitted.

~You would dare call me a monster when you yourself are mated to a demon?~

"Touga is no monster that would attack children," she growled back. "I will count myself blessed if my son grows up to be half the man he is."

In a move which brought Touga both extreme pride and a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Izayoi struck the taller being. Anubis' head snapped back with the force of the connection and red droplets from the god joined the human blood covering the ground. Before Sayoko realized it, she was in motion, but even with her superior speed, she couldn't prevent Anubis from grabbing the brave human by her neck and shaking her violently. Touga, also, found himself moving toward the grisly scene until a faintly shining barrier appeared before him, and at almost full speed he ran into it, the impact stunning him. Unlike her mate, Sayoko heard the snapping of Izayoi's bones and it served to enrage her further to see the body carelessly thrown aside as waste.

As she leaped, she drew her two sai from where they were tucked at her hip and managed to drag the tip of one across his shoulder, down his collarbone before he batted her aside. Sayoko landed on her hands and feet, claws gouged out furrows in the ice and that brought her to a stop. Without pausing, she was running toward him once more and instead of engaging, she sidestepped him and flicked her claws at him, spraying his face with the caustic gel-like fluid her body produced. His mouth opened and an otherworldly scream erupted. She smiled-a cruel contortion of her face, her eyes the color of the ground around her. When she spoke, her voice was unrecognizable.

"That was for Izayoi. You will never be rid of the scars," she hissed, as she began shifting into her true form. Anubis surged forward and grabbed her by her trailing mokomoko. With a heave and a loud rip, she flew several yards away and landed hard. She attempted to get up once but fell back, took a shuddering breath and stopped moving.

The dog lord pulled Tessaiga and unleashed every technique he knew against the rippling curtain, shaking the very earth with the force of his assault. He fought against the thing preventing him from getting to either of his mates, either of his sons, and nary a scratch did the legendary sword make. He howled, frenzied and furious, and in desperation, began clawing at the barrier hard enough to fracture his fingers. When he strength began to fail, he sat back on his haunches, breathing heavily, to watch and wait for his chance to escape. He heard nothing as Anubis continued his approach, and he couldn't help the growls and snarls escaping him as the jackal-god stopped in front of Sesshoumaru. He held his breath, blood pounding in his veins, as his heir pulled the sword Tenseiga-his gift that very winter for beginning his advanced schooling. Touga grinned, impressed at his son's quick thinking.

As Sesshoumaru raised the sword over his head to land a blow, he seemed to suddenly freeze as Anubis' hand gestured. Touga whined as the feeling of helplessness almost overwhelmed him. It was a sound he hadn't made since he himself was a small pup, cradled in his own father's arms. Without any more obstructions, the tall being reached out and the infant inuyoukai rose from within the soft mass of Sesshoumaru's moko. Touga watched as his youngest glowed a sickly green and continued to hover in front of the jackal-man. He did not want to be a witness to whatever Anubis had planned but he was completely unable to look away, his tactical mind still struggling to formulate a plan. There was a flash of the same green light, and Sesshoumaru lunged forward as the pup fell from the formidable height he was suspended at. Touga hadn't realized he was holding his breath until it came rushing out as the elder caught the younger.
Anubis turned and made eye contact with Touga.

~It is done. Your youngest son's very soul is mine. An eye for an eye, as the humans say, dog.~

Anubis disappeared along with the barrier holding Touga captive. The scents and sounds were a barrage after being trapped in the soundproof bubble. Izayoi's blood, Sayoko's caustic venom, the distinct scent of Anubis... and Sesshoumaru's tears. Touga's heart skipped a few beats and his throat closed as one of his pups began to wail. The instinct to join his heir in mourning almost consumed him, but the two of them were not safe. Once again, he pushed aside the beast threatening to rise and forced his legs to move, one agonizing step at a time.

Sesshoumaru didn't grieve out loud for long. Instead, he stared at the tiny, unmoving body of the babe he had been entrusted to protect. He shifted uncomfortably and glanced at the broken, battered body of his lord father's second mate. She had believed in him, had entrusted him with their pack's most precious thing, and he had failed. And that failure was bile biting at the back of his throat. Something began to grow deep in the pit of his soul, roiling and twisting until his very being and his very body could no longer contain it. He stood suddenly and looked directly at his lord father. He lifted his chin, and the elder inu saw a new spark in the adolescent's eyes.

Without a word between them, Sesshoumaru attacked the imps covering Izayoi's body. In moments, her body had patched itself, and while a great deal of blood remained, her body was whole. She sat up, inhaling sharply and about to let loose with a scream when Touga put his hand on her shoulder.

"My lord," she said, looking around somewhat confused. She saw Sayoko's mangled body lying on the ground and quickly went to her side. With an efficiency Touga rarely had seen in his lifetime, Izayoi had assessed her sister-mate.

"Touga," she said, remaining fixed on what she was doing. She had his attention-she did not use his name unless it was important and she needed to save time. "She is alive, but I can do no more. I think she would benefit from your touch." He nodded his head once and lay down, curling around the deathly still form of the smaller inuyoukai, offering his heat.

"Sesshoumaru!" Izayoi yelled.

She bolted to his side but could only get so close. There was a pure white aura around the two pups, and the air was charged with tension. She grew silent, watching the interaction of Sesshoumaru's energy with the infant. Tenseiga lay seemingly unused at his side. When she finally made sense of what he was doing, she wanted to scream at him but dare not break his concentration. Izayoi felt the weight of the evening pressing in on her, and she bent forward and placed her forehead on the ground, keening quietly.

Touga smelled the distress on his second bitch and, convinced Sayoko would be fine for a moment, went and wrapped both moko around Izayoi.

"I have never been so thankful for Tenseiga as I have tonight, mate," he whispered in her ear as he picked her up. She flung her arms around his bare neck and sobbed, trying desperately to not draw Sesshoumaru's concentration away from his self-appointed task.

"He killed our son, didn't he?" she asked between great gasps of air.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. He took our pup's soul," he replied quietly.

"Is there anything that can be done?"

"I am... unsure. When we arrive home, I will be consulting Bokusenou immediately and researching it in our library. However, worrying about our children will do nothing for us right now," Touga said. "Come. Let us rest for now, until the pup finishes."

They lay together, wrapped around the slowly healing body of their beloved, both anxious for Sesshoumaru to join them. The pack needed physical affection after the traumatic events of the evening, no matter how it ended. Touga and Sayoko's warmth surrounded Izayoi, so even in the winter night she was comfortable.

It could have been minutes or hours later when the white light finally died around Sesshoumaru and the pup's body. Touga and Izayoi stared intently at the eldest as he wrapped the body in the blanket, cradling it to his chest and approached his family. He knelt in front of his sire.

"Father," he said, his voice breaking, "That thing k-killed him, a-and I have done what I could do."

He offered the squirming bundle to his astonished sire and lay down on the other side of his mother, weary to the bone. Touga hesitantly pulled the blanket from over the pup's face, exchanging a look with Izayoi before allowing a half-smile to grace his face. Under the blanket lay the pup, but where there were blazes of color at his birth, now were smooth, pink cheeks. Gone were the demon ears he had also been born with, and in their place were two fuzzy puppy ears perched atop the still-silver hair. The little amber eyes opened, and Touga breathed a sigh of relief when those eyes still recognized him still held the same consciousness, it seemed. Izayoi stared in awe at the alert infant, knowing Tenseiga could not revive that which has no soul.

"Sesshoumaru," she whispered, torn between being thankful for the baby's life and angry their eldest son put himself at such risk. At his name, his eyes opened, and a gentle hand stroked his cheek. Izayoi offered comfort to the prince until he blinked.

Izayoi gasped, but didn't retract her hand. From the corner of his eyes small beads of blood rolled down his porcelain-white face, leaving a stark crimson trail. Shortly after, another small bead rolled out of his nostril... and another out of his gently pointed ear. She touched the blood hesitantly, then cupped his face and looked into his glassy eyes.

"Oh my child," she said again, brows drawn in concern, "what have you done?"