Somewhere to Belong

“What’s going on, Sesshomaru?” demanded Inuyasha with the Tetsusaiga already drawn ready to strike him down. Sesshomaru only glared at him pulling Suko closer to his body.

“What’s wrong?” Suko asked him warily, unaware that Inuyasha and the others were there to rescue her.

“Suko… get away from him!” shouted Inuyasha.

“Inu…yasha?” she asked weakly.

“Leave now, half breed!” Sesshomaru growled, pulling Suko even closer to him.

“Suko! Let go of her, you bastard!” Inuyasha yelled, enraged at his brother’s arrogance.

“She’s staying with me!” Sesshomaru snarled. How dare they march in here expecting to take his lover away. She was his! She always has been. And no filthy-blooded hanyou or his human bitch was going to take her away from him!

“Suko! You have to get away from him!” pleaded Kagome. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

They all (except for Sesshomaru) froze in shock as she gave them her reply…

“No. I wish to stay here with him,” she said weakly.

“What? You can’t be serious! Are you crazy?” Inuyasha asked her, outraged by her answer.

“Enough!” snapped Sesshomaru as he laid Suko down behind him and rose (rather nude) to his feet. His naked form (“When did he get his arm back?” they wondered) was a sight to behold. Especially for Sango and Kagome who had never really seen a fully naked man before. It caused even the men to blush as it told the tale of his and Suko’s passion that had taken place only mere hours before.

“Get out of here, Inuyasha!” Sesshomaru commanded.

“Not without Suko, asshole!” came Inuyasha’s reply.

With that, Sesshomaru’s eyes glowed a bright red with fury. He grabbed Tokijin, which lay on the cave floor next to (an equally naked) Suko.

“So, you want a fight, huh? Good. It’s a fight you’ll get!” yelled Inuyasha as he flew at his brother.

Sesshomaru, who had fought his idiot brother so many times before, anticipated this attack and, rather easily, stepped out of the way of his brother’s blow.

“What the- …” gasped Inuyasha as he stopped himself before he trampled on Suko who was laying on the ground. “ What in the hell did you do to her?” he asked in complete disgust as he got his first look of Suko’s horrible wound to her stomach.

All of a sudden, he was knocked to the ground, unconscious, as something struck the back of his head hard.

“Now, die!” Sesshomaru hissed as he stood over his brother ready to plunge Tokijin into his heart.

“STOP!!!” Suko cried out as she sat herself up. Sesshomaru and the others stared at her in horror as the wound on her stomach started to bleed, freely, again. She memorized the looks on their faces as she closed her eyes and fell, harshly, to the ground.

Sesshomaru (now with his pants back on) gathered up some more strips of cloth and got them wet in the waterfall. Kagome, who was tending to a still unconscious Inuyasha, watched Sesshomaru as he sat next to Suko wiping the blood away from her abdomen, ever so gently. Kagome was touched by this act of selflessness from the mighty Sesshomaru. Before now, she had always thought of him as a heartless, cold-blooded killer who cared nothing about anyone or anything… especially humans. Now she was completely mesmerized at how loving and gentle he was being with her newfound friend.

“Sesshomaru,” Kagome spoke, “I may have some things in my backpack that might help her.”

Sesshomaru gave no reply. He just went about his business tending to his fallen lover. The next thing he knew, Kagome was sitting next to him clutching a small, white box. He watched in bewilderment as she opened it and pulled out some little white balls (cotton balls, he later learned), a small bottle of liquid that looked like water, a small circle of some kind of sticky paper, and a couple of pieces of white cloth, which Kagome told him it was something called gauze. He watched, curiously, as she poured some of the liquid onto the cotton balls.

“This is called peroxide,” she told him when she noticed the worried look on his face. “It will clean out the wound so it doesn’t get infected.” Suko’s body shuddered as Kagome touched the cotton to her skin.

“What happened to her, Sesshomaru?” Kagome asked sounding worried.

“Kagura,” he answered, “Suko didn’t dodge her blades fast enough.” That put Kagome’s mind at ease. At least now she could tell the others (who were out, presently, looking for food) especially Inuyasha, what really had happened.

“Kagome…” Sesshomaru spoke quietly, “I must leave for a while. I am leaving Suko in your care until I return. I’ll be back before nightfall. If she is not here when I return, I will make it my personal mission to hunt you down.”

Kagome swallowed hard. She knew he wasn’t joking. “I give you my word,” she said as he turned and left the cave.

“Ses…shomaru,” Suko whispered opening her eyes only a little.

“It’s okay,” Kagome comforted her, taking her hand. “He’ll be back soon,” she told her as Suko, once again, closed her eyes and drifted off to her world of dreams.

It wasn’t too long after that that Inuyasha awoke. “That son of a bitch!” he groaned rubbing the lump at the back of his head. “Where is he?” he yelled. “I’ll tear him apart with my claws for taking a cheap shot like that!”

“Inuyasha, be quiet! Suko needs her rest.” Kagome snapped as he made his way over and sat down beside her. He looked at Suko with pity as she lay there in a cold sweat. Kagome mopped her brow with one of the cloths that Sesshomaru left.

“What in the hell did he do to her?” asked Inuyasha quietly.

“He didn’t do it, Inuyasha. It was from the battle with Kagura. Sesshomaru just brought her here to take care of her,” Kagome informed him.

“Yeah, right,” Inuyasha argued. “Well, whatever.I’m still going to chop his new arm off the next time I see him for taking that cheap shot like that.”

Sometime later, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo arrived back at the cave, their arms full of breads, melons, and dried fish.

“How’s she doing?” Sango asked approaching Kagome.

“No change. She wakes up for but a moment at a time looking for Sesshomaru and then falls back asleep.”

“Kagome, do you think we can wake her long enough to get her to eat?” asked Miroku.

“I don’t know. We can try.”

Miroku mashed up some of the melon in a bowl and handed it to Kagome.

“I’ll hold her head up and you try to get her to eat, okay?” Miroku asked.

“All right,” Kagome agreed. “Suko,” Kagome called, trying to awaken her. “You need some food.”

Suko opened her eyes and smiled, sweetly, at Kagome showing her that she understood. Miroku sat on his knees at her head gently lifting it so as not to cause her any more pain. He stroked her hair gently as he encouraged her to eat for Kagome, which, she did (as much as she could, anyway).

“Oh, this is lame,” complained Inuyasha who was pacing back and forth as he watched Kagome and Miroku try to nurse the girl back to health. “Are we going to be here much longer? Or have you all forgotten about Naraku and the Jewel shards?”

His questions were soon answered with looks of outrage and disgust from the others.

“Don’t be so cruel, Inuyasha. Suko’s in trouble and she needs our help. She’s our friend,” Kagome protested.

“Who cares?” Inuyasha replied coldly. “I told her from the beginning not to fall behind.”

“How cold-hearted can you be?” Kagome asked, raising her voice at him. “I always thought your brother was cold-hearted, but, right now, he pales in comparison to you!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, offended.

“Your brother has shown her more compassion and kindness than you are right now!” she answered.

“Whatever. I’m leaving! I can’t just sit on my ass in this cave doing nothing!” he shouted as he walked over to the mouth of the cave.

“Inuyasha, where are you going?” asked Shippo.

“Who in the hell cares?” Inuyasha answered roughly as he disappeared through the waterfall.

“What in the hell is his problem?” Sango asked, blankly.

“I think Inuyasha cares more than he’ll admit to,” replied Miroku. “He can’t just sit around here doing nothing while the ones who hurt Suko are still out there walking unpunished.”

“Everyone out!” came a cold voice from the entrance to the cave. They all looked and saw Sesshomaru standing there.

“I said, get out. I wish to be alone with Suko,” he replied, sounding annoyed.

“All right,” they all said. Who were they to refuse him? They filed out of the cave as they muttered, “ What’s his problem?” and, “The nerve of that guy!” as they left. Checking that they were all gone, he smiled as he looked at his prize sleeping on the floor.

He made his way over to her, a look of excitement on his face as he laid down next to her. He kissed her, tenderly, on her cheek as she opened her eyes, recognizing his touch.

“Sesshomaru…” she whispered.

He leaned down and kissed her roughly, taking her breath away. She clutched, weakly, at his shoulders as he kissed his way down her neck, igniting the spark that would set her body on fire. He wrapped his strong arms tightly around her as he sat her up causing her to cry out in pain. He caught her mouth in his to silence her cries. She tried to break free from his grip so she could lay back down, but, she was too weak and he was too powerful.

He kissed her on her chin making his way back down her neck. Holding onto her tightly, he traced the outline of her collar bone with his tongue stopping where the shoulder met it. Suko gave a terrible cry of pain as he bit down hard into her flesh sucking away the sweet blood that flowed over his lips.

“What do you think you are doing, Naraku?” asked a familiar voice.

“Ah, Lord Sesshomaru,” said the impostor, still clutching Suko in his arms, his hair now it’s normal brown. “Not a bad likeness, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked as he transformed back into Sesshomaru.

At that moment, Inuyasha, Kagome, and the others entered the cave, puzzled at the sight of … two Sesshomarus?

“Naraku! I thought I smelled your foul stench!” insulted Inuyasha.

“Stay out of this, Inuyasha!” commanded Sesshomaru, turning his gaze back to Naraku. “Get away from her!” he growled, eerily calm.

Naraku just laughed, which infuriated an already outraged Sesshomaru. He flexed his claws at Naraku, the poison dripping from them burning a hole in the floor of the cave as it hit. Claws outstretched, he flew at Naraku who was still holding onto Suko.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Naraku said to Sesshomaru, mockingly. “I have injected her with my poison creating a blood link between us. Believe me when I say that if you kill me, then she’ll die, as well.

This last sentence caused Sesshomaru to stop in his tracks.

“I’m glad to see we understand each other,” Naraku said, menacingly, as he transformed into a purple haze and flew away. Thankfully, he didn’t take Suko with him. She lay on the ground, face down coughing and gagging as if she were going to vomit, as Sesshomaru, Kagome, and Miroku rushed over to her. Sesshomaru rolled her onto her back and stared in dismay at the wound on her shoulder that Naraku had inflicted. It looked as if the flesh had been melted away. Then they noticed a white, foamy liquid oozing out of it.

“Naraku’s poison,” confirmed Miroku.

Sesshomaru grabbed a wet cloth and was going to wipe the poison away, when, to everyone’s disbelief, the wounds on her shoulder and abdomen began to heal by themselves! By the time they were both closed, it looked as if she had never been injured at all!

With a sudden burst of energy, Suko sat up, bright-eyed, and looked at her friends who were all staring at her as if she were a ghost.

“Are you…okay, Suko?” Miroku asked her.

“I’m fine, Miroku. Never better,” she replied sweetly. “What’s wrong with you guys?” she asked.

“Are you sure you have no idea what just happened here?” Miroku asked, looking very much perplexed.

“No, why? Did I miss something?” she asked. She stopped smiling when she saw the look of concern on Sesshomaru’s face. He handed her a kimono that he had brought back for her from his trip.

“Get dressed,” he instructed her. “I’m taking you to the old woman.”

“What old woman?” Suko asked as she tied the obi around her waist. “Do you mean Kaede?”

“I think that’s a great idea,” said Miroku. “Maybe she can give us some answers.”

“Answers to what?” Suko wondered, completely oblivious to what they were talking about.

Sesshomaru gathered her up in his arms as they left their cave of memories behind.