Brother My Brother

Everything looked hazy. As Inuyasha
opened his eyes, he found himself in a dark, dark place, his vision
blurred heavily. It made him nervous, the fact that he could not
visually make out what was around him. He listened and he smelled, but
it did not help. This strange hazy place, accented by a thick fog along
the floor, was suffocating his sharp senses. It confused him, and made
him feel helpless and misplaced. He was scared and frightened and
alone. He shivered as he stood in the middle of the fog, knee-deep in
the cold mist that surrounded him. The sky was dark, pitch-black
without the glow of the moon or stars. He looked above him-- A new
moon? No, the sky was no longer there. The moon and stars were simply
gone and he was surrounded by nothing-- Nothing but the cold fog that
was suffocating him. He took a deep breath, feeling his lungs ache for
a gulp of clean, fresh air. As he writhed for such, he suddenly
realized that someone was coming toward him. He stepped back and braced
himself, ready to fight if need be. But as the figure came into view,
he realized who it was and his heart skipped a beat.

“K--Kagome?” he called to her. She came forward, stopping just in front
of him.

“Inuyasha,” she said, her beautifully brilliant smile gracing him. “Did
you miss me?”

“Miss you? Miss you?” he replied. “Kagome, I--” he groped for the right
words. “I-- I thought you were gone forever! Of course I missed you!”

She giggled sweetly and he touched her, placing his hands on her
shoulders.

“Don’t ever leave me like that again!” he scolded, shaking her slightly
before seizing her lips in a powerful kiss. He felt his own lips set
afire by the essence of hers against his, and he held her close. He
melted into her, relishing in her taste, loving the softness of her
lips, the warmth of her body. He refused to let her go, licking her
lips and tasting her. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, feeling her
breath against him, her tongue meeting his in an exotic dance. Finally,
Inuyasha was no longer afraid. He was happy and joyful, finally at
peace with everything now that Kagome was with him again.

Kagome, I love you, he said without breaking the kiss. The unspoken
message circled around them, blowing through their hair and clothes,
bringing them closer, binding them together for all of eternity. He
closed his eyes, loving the feeling of Kagome against him, loving him
and longing for him. When he opened his eyes again, she was gone. He
snapped to attention, finding the fog had vanished and his surroundings
returned. His sense came with them, his nose invaded by a sour stench,
his ears picking up sight noises from outside the old, wooden walls
around him. He laid still, listening intently to the sounds outside.
Someone was approaching, though he could not pick up their scent
through the overpowering smell of the storehouse. He heard someone come
in behind him, and a familiar, soothing scent came to him.

“How dare you,” a voice demanded before he had a chance to turn to look
at the newcomer. “After what I have done for you these past few days,
you dare think of her?”

The hanyou sat up and turned to the figure in the doorway. “What’re you
talking about?”

Kikyo entered the storehouse and stood before him. “I heard you speak.
You were thinking of her.”

Inuyasha blinked. “Her?” His dream came flooding back to him all at
once, and he realized what had happened. “Kikyo… Was I talking in my
sleep?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Yes. Inuyasha, how could you?”

His heart thudded in his chest. “I-- I didn’t mean to…” he began. “I
just--- I didn’t know you were here…” Perhaps that was not the best
thing to say in the situation, but then Inuyasha had never been very
skilled in conversing with any woman.

Kikyo closed her eyes, looking defeated. “Inuyasha, you truly are
ignorant.”

“Ignorant?” he echoed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She came to him then, kneeling beside him and placing a hand on his
forehead. “Your fever has gone,” she reported. “And your eyes are no
longer blurred. You are feeling better.”

The hanyou nodded, flinching slightly at the coldness of her hand.
“Tell me-- What exactly happened? How’d I get here?”

Kikyo withdrew her hand, picking up a bowl of water nearby. “Drink
this,” she said, offering it to him. He took it and complied. “I know
not how you ended up here, but I felt your presence from nearby. What
exactly do you remember before you came to be here?”

Inuyasha wiped his chin with his sleeve. “Um, let’s see…” Everything
hit him li ton ton of bricks. Kagome… Shippo… Sango… Kirara… Miroku…
Koga, too… His breath caught in his throat and he choked against a lump
that had formed there.

“Inuyasha, what is the matter?” Kikyo inquired, her eyes narrowing
slightly.

“They’re-- Everyone-- They’re…” He drew back from her, hiding his eyes
under his white bangs. “Kikyo, I’m all alone.” A single tear ran down
his cheek.

“Alone.” Kikyo knew the taste of the word all too well. “Inuyasha, you
do not have to be alone.”

“But they’re gone,” Inuyasha said, his voice trembling. “They’re gone.”

Kikyo watched the hanyou before her.  His body was demon and yet,
his heart and his tears were human. Her own heart was gone, but she
still felt something ache in her chest. It hurt her to see the half
demon with such grief, and yet she also felt a glimmer of hope.

“Inuyasha,” she said again. “You do not have to be alone.”

He lifted his head to look at her, his eyes shimmering with his tears.
“Kikyo?”

She touched his cheek, coldness meeting warmth. The hanyou shivered.

“You can come with me, Inuyasha,” she told him. “Come with me into the
depths of hell.”

His golden eyes met her cold dark ones and embraced them as she longed
to be held by him.

“Will you come with me? You will never be alone. Come with me,
Inuyasha.”

You will never be alone… That was what he wanted. He could not stand
the thought of being alone. He was afraid-- deathly afraid of being
alogaingain. He would do anything to keep himself from being alone.
“Yes,” he said. “Kikyo, I will follow you wherever you go.”

“Then come Inuyasha,” Kikyo said, standing with her hands outstretched
to him. He took her soft hands in his and pulled himself to his feet.
“Come with me and you will never be alone.” She placed her arms around
him, bringing his body closer to hers. “I will not allow you to be
alone.”

Her scent infiltrated his senses. It was a scent he knew, a scent that
comforted him, a scent that he loved. He closed his eyes and rested his
head against hers. Her skin was cold, but her essence was there and it
comforted him. He nuzzled his face in her hair, that beautiful ebony
silk, feeling it move against his features, leaving behind it the
lovely after scent that was Kikyo. He held her close, his hands placed
on her back, bringing her body to his. He felt her hands on his own
back, her delicate fingers pressing into the fabric of his clothes. He
felt a strange wind below him, feeling it moving upwards against him,
his hair and hers dancing above them. The wind was cold, chilling his
body. He moved closer to Kikyo, hoping to draw out her warmth, but
there was none. The area around him was frigid, causing him to shiver
and tremble against her.

“You will never be alone,” Kikyo’s voice whispered. The words comforted
him, soothed him, brought him into a very calm and quiet state of mind.
He breathed into her ear, taking in her lovely scent, relishing in the
feeling of her body against his. He trembled slightly, and she moved
her arms upwards on his back. Her presence was so comforting that
suddenly he felt at peace, no longer afraid of the unknown that waited
for them. His lower body was chilled to the bone, being brought into
the cold depths below them. They began descending into the frigid
darkness, there together leaving a world that had been so cruel to them
both. It was all so perfect, until suddenly, Inuyasha felt something
grab the back of his collar. Sharp nails sliced through his skin as a
hand seized him and began pulling him upwards.

“Inuyasha?” Kikyo inquired, looking up at him. The hanyou refused to
let her go, keeping his arms tightly wrapped around her as he was
involuntarily brought out of his calm state of mind and the dark abyss
below them. Inuyasha glanced behind him to find the source of the
interruption and was quite surprised to find his brother standing there.

“What the hell’re you doing?” Inuyasha demanded as he and Kikyo were
lifted out of the pit and placed on the hard solid floor of the
storehouse.

“Did you think I would allow you to escape into hell without first
finishing what you started?” Sesshomaru replied, letting go of his
collar and at the same time pushing him forward.

Inuyasha stumbled and went backwards into Kikyo. “You bastard, watch
what you’re doing!” the half demon snarled.

“What is the meaning of this?” Kikyo inquired of Sesshomaru. “This does
not concern you. Be gone.”

“Your trip to hell will have to be postponed,” the elder brother stated
firmly. “Inuyasha, you cannot leave this world without first finishingat yat you were meant to do.”

The hanyou frowned. “What the hell’re you talking about?”

“Destroying Naraku of course, you insolent half breed,” Sesshomaru
replied. “I want him dead.”

“So do it yourself,” Inuyasha answered. “It’s not my problem anymore.”

In an instant the demon was upon him, and grabbed him by the front of
his kimono, ramming him against the nearby wall. “Listen half breed,”
Sesshomaru snarled, his claws ripping into the red fabric. “You know as
well as I do that Naraku cannot be stopped single-handedly. You and I,
we are strong enough to defeat him together.”

“Let go of me,” Inuyasha demanded, struggling against his brother’s
strong grasp.

Sesshomaru jerked him slightly. “Do you not want to take revenge on he
who murdered your friends?”

Inuyasha stopped struggling and fell silent. That was what he wanted.
That was what he had swore to Kagome when he held her in his arms for
the last time. That was what Miroku had wanted before he had passed on.
It was the right thing to do, was it not? He looked over his brother’s
shoulder at Kikyo standing behind him. Her eyes were empty and sad as
they always were. The creases in her forehead revealed her concern of
his decision. He knew that she wanted him to come with her, but there
were still thing he had to do in this world.

“I’m sorry, Kikyo,” he began. “I will go with you, but not yet. First,
Naraku must be stopped.”

Sesshomaru released his hold on Inuyasha’s kimono. “Good to see that
you’ve finally come to your senses,” he said. “Now ready yourself. I
want him dead as soon as possible.”

Inuyasha readjusted his kimono and sent a glance in Kikyo’s direction.
She was gone.

“I want him dead now,” the half demon growled, clenching his fists. “He
has to pay for what he did to them. All of them.”

“I will not go into battle alongside a half breed at half his
strength,” Sesshomaru stated. “You will rest and recover and then we
will seek out our enemy.”

Inuyasha began to protest, but Sesshomaru grabbed the front of his
kimono agand pnd pulled him down to the floor. The elder brother sat
cross-legged beside the younger as Inuyasha returned to the bed that
Kikyo had made for him. He laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling
and watching his brother out of the corner of his eye. Sesshomaru sat
unmoving and quiet, watching the door curtain sway slightly with the
outside breeze. But there was something solemn, something forlorn in
his brother’s eyes. Inuyasha slightly turned his head in curiosity.

“What happened to you?” he asked.

Sesshomaru’s gaze fell on his brother for a moment, then returned to
the curtain. “Naraku.,” he said quietly.

“I figured that,” the hanyou frowned. “But you seem particularly pissed
off at him right now. So what happened?”

Sesshomaru remained still. “He stole my swords.”

Inuyasha furrowed his eyebrows. “And…?”

The demon’s eyes narrowed. “He murdered Jaken.”

Inuyasha’s left ear twitched. “I didn’t know you cared about the little
imp.”

Sesshomaru glanced at him briefly, then returned his gaze to the door.
“There are many things you do not know about me.”

Silence followed his solemn statement. Inuyasha searched his brother’s
face, looking for some hint of meaning in his features. But as always,
Sesshomaru revealed nothing, no emotion, no thought. He simply sat and
stared, his face stoic and empty. Inuyasha shifted his weight, keeping
an eye on his older brother. He did not know what it was he was looking
for, but there was something he was yearning to see there on those
demonic features. Sesshomaru’s face seemed to be missing something--
Something important. It perplexed the hanyou and he did not realize how
intently he was staring at his brother until Sesshomaru finally turned
back to him. The brilliant gold of his eyes made Inuyasha visibly jump
and shy away.

“What is it?” Sesshomaru inquired. “Why are you looking at me in that
manner?”

“I--I don’t know,” Inuyasha responded, avoiding his gaze. “It’s just--
There’s something about you that I’ve never noticed before. Something--
Something that should be there but isn’t.”

Sesshomaru blinked and Inuyasha saw a glint of curiosity in those
golden orbs. “Such as?”

“I don’t know exactly,” the half demon replied. &#;It&;It’s just tha230;230; You
never have anything displayed on your face. The most emotion I’ve ever
seen on you is anger. It just seems like there should be something…
more.”

“More,” Sesshomaru echoed. “Such as?”

Inuyasha’s eyes met his brother’s. “Feeling. You’re so cold all the
time. I know you have to feel something at least once in a while. No
one can get through life without feeling something. But you never show
it. And without it you seem… incomplete.”

Sesshomaru closed his eyes and allowed himself to show a fraction of
amusement. “My dear brother, you truly are a fool. Do you not
understand even now? Emotion is weakness. To show such to your enemy is
to seal your fate.”

“That’s not true and you know it,” Inuyasha responded. “If I’ve learned
anything from Kagome and the others it’s that emotion makes you
stronger. You can’t fight for something if you don’t feel strongly
about it.”

Their eyes met again and something in Sesshomaru’s golden orbs made
Inuyasha shy away. He held his breath and lowered his eyes from his
brother’s intense gaze. The demon’s eyes were  glowing-- Not with
anger, but with something else Inuyasha had never seen there before.

“Indeed,” Sesshomaru said. “You may be right, Little Brother.”

“I know I’m right,” Inuyasha replied, shifting his body down on the
bed. “I know I’m right. Kagome showed me that. Before her, I didn’t
trust another living soul. But when she came along, when I first met
her, everything changed. She showed me how to trust. She showed me how
to care about someone with all my heart. She changed me, made me see
things differently. She stood beside me through everything that
happened. She trusted me, she cared about me. And I cared about her. It
was my feelings for her that allowed me to fight to my fullest. Without
her, I didn’t have a basis for my aggression. She was what I fought
for. When she was there by my side, I was motivated. I was determined
to take down any foe, any threat that came my way. I fought for her. I
fought to protect her and keep her safe.” He sighed, closing his eyes.
“Where did I go wrong? I should’ve been there for her. Why wasn’t I
there to protect her?” Two tears ran down either side of his face and
he fell silent. Sesshomaru watched him as he wept, sobbing softly with
his ears flattened on his skull. He looked so very young, so very
helpless and dependent, that something moved inside of the cold demon.

“You are hopeless, hanyou,” Sesshomaru sighed, placing a hand on his
brother’s head. His fingers moved through the soft white strands of
hair, his nails gently grazing his scalp. Inuyasha whimpered slightly,
pushing his head farther into Sesshomaru’s hand. The demon’s touch felt
so comforting to him, so warm and inviting. But it was not enough. He
wanted his brother to stay with him, to be with him for a s long as he
needed him to be. He reached up and touched Sesshomaru’s right arm,
pulling at his sleeve to make him lie down next to him. The elder
brother refused his advances, pulling his arm away from him, but
Inuyasha insisted, grabbing onto his left sleeve and pulling toward
him. A growl escaped Sesshomaru’s throat as he gave in, settling onto
his back next to his brother. Inuyasha immediately took hold of
Sesshomaru’s waist and pulled himself closer. The hanyou rested his
head os brs brother’s chest while holding onto his hip with one hand.
Sesshomaru growled again and began to push him away, but Inuyasha held
on tight and nuzzled into his brother’s chest in such a loving manner
that Sesshomaru finally gave up and let the hanyou have his way.
Inuyasha closed his eyes and settled into sleep there with his
brother’s warm body against him, his presence soothing and calming to
him. It was a peaceful sleep, the kind of which he had not had in
several days.