The Great Trial

 

XIII: Armor

 

The Western Palace is totally awesome. Like, more awesome than any human could even frickin’ believe.

Shippo’s neck cranes as he looks up and up and up at the towering rock before them. It’s take the army two days’ travel to reach the massive structure before them, and in that time, the kit had healed enough to insist walking on his own rather than be carried in a liter like some kind of baby. Sure his arm is still held up by cloth wrapped around his neck, but the healer guy was still impressed he could hoof it on his own. Not that he wouldn’t doubt it himself. He’d had worse ass-kickings at the Kitsune training school since the other guys didn’t like over-achievers or something.

Kouga, hanging right by the kid’s back (and still guilty he hadn’t watched out for the little shit), chuckles as he too glances up at the monumental structure painstaking carved out of solid rock. He’s sure the Inu no Taisho’s great-grandfather built such a palace for security as well as stability, but damned if he didn’t have a “holy shit” factor in mind, too.  As a cub, Kouga’d actually met the old Inu no Taisho, just once, when his father came to barter for more land for the wolf pack. He’d only been a squirt then, crazy impressed with the huge dog general in all that armor, and seeing the palace after living in a complex network of caverns all his life had been jaw dropping. Not a hundred years later...and the Taisho died. Sesshomaru stepped up to the title, and the word was that the newly-born pup had been exiled. Imagine his surprise two hundred years later when he happened to be wandering around a forest and came upon a dog nailed to a tree...still with the rankled scent of exile. He really hadn’t put two and two together until the Naraku shit when he actually saw Sesshomaru fighting beside the hanyou.

Kouga pulls himself out of the past and glances at the movement around them; the soldiers are glad to be home and hurrying to get inside after the massive gates open. Other humans and demons from the palace’s staff come out to welcome home the battle-weary soldiers and take the spoils of war.  The Prince’s nose twitches at the mouth-watering smell of lunch wafting from inside, and he glances down at Shippo again with a grin. They are about to get some good eatin’ for a while, at least until the Lord and the mutt get back. Not ‘cause he’s worried about the mangy dog or anything, but it’s just good manners to wait on the new lord and congratulate him on a war well-fought before leaving.

A loud ruckus, though, draws the wolf’s eye.

In their hurry to get inside, the guys guarding the prisoners resorted to being complete assholes. Not that the Kouga could really begrudge them a little unnecessary roughness or anything, these Mongolians did come with the intent to take over Japan and all, but one of the prisoners was a girl, and when she’d fallen out of exhaustion, one of the guards with Southern army armor brought out a wicked-looking whip to motivate her to stand.

The wolf’s jaw clenches at the display, and before he really knew what he was doing, he was already speeding across the plains to catch the shouting demon’s wrist before the whip came down on his intended victim.

The soldier spun on him with a curse already half-way outta his mug before he caught sight of who was standing there with pissed-off radiating off him.  Immediately, the soldier takes a knee.

“Lord Kouga...”

Nice, he was recognized on sight. Heh.  Meanwhile, another prisoner, a male, had thrown himself in front of the intended blow to shield the female from being beaten. Blue eyes dart to the two and return to the kneeling soldier. The others wrangling the prisoners likewise freeze and bow low at the waist, getting right with the program.

“So I’m not pissed at keeping these guys in line or anything,” the wolf prince begins with a thumb hitched in their direction, “’cause if the positions were reversed, they’d probably be beatin’ the shit outta us and whatever, but we are Japanese, and we’re honorable enough to strike when we are struck agains. There ain’t no honor in this. These prisoners are worn out and hungry, and that ain’t a good enough reason to go beatin’ ‘em down. At least, that’s what Lord InuYasha would probably say, right?”  Or Kagome...she wouldn’t have held a grudge.

At the mention of the new Lord of the West, the soldier’s eyes lower in shame. His hand hovers over his sword, like he might just draw it out and shove it in his gut. But, Kouga just holds up a hand, “I know you guys want revenge for our fallen, but these guys are just like you in a way, following orders. So we can give ‘em just a bit of dignity, if you know what I’m saying?” 

“Hai, Lord Kouga!”

“Good. Then I’m making it your job to make sure these guys are secure and don’t got nothing up their sleeves...but maybe you can even see if we can scrounge up something fer ‘em to eat, yeah?”

Now with a purpose, the guard’s hand falls away from his sword, and he bows low to the ground with an affirmative noise. Leaving him to do so, Kouga steps over to the two prisoners still on the ground, waiting for the soldier to get up and resume the beating.  The male’s eyes are hard with the things he’d seen in his life but resigned to whatever fate may be waiting for them inside the castle walls. He stares with wary attention to the wolf Prince that stands with arms crossed and straight-back.  That stare and those eyes remind him of someone

After the little staring contest, the wolf extends a hand to the Mongol soldier.

II

A nose wrinkles, flares. Ears twitch. Earth...smells just like Goshinboku. Then, there it is. The tangy electric scent like thunderstorms and metal. Sesshomaru. And water, water is somewhere close. Gotta get up or he’ll be on me with those poison claws. Hate that shit, takes days to heal...

 

He tries to open his eyes, to force himself to be alert and ready for the next attack, one is definitely coming if that bastard’s scent is so close—right on him!! He needs to get up, get Tetsuaiga, get ready!  His hand only twitched and won’t move to his hip. Why don’t I feel the hilt against my side? Why isn’t the sheath on my leg?

 

His attempts are useless; life is just too confusing with that...his body, the unnatural, unpredictable mound of blood, bone, and meat is being a royal pain in the left nut.  Nothing feels right, doesn’t move immediately at his commands, and apparently hasn’t healed or something because he’s sore all over—like, sore under his skin.  Why the fuck does his body always have to do some crazy shit to make life just that much more complicated? Keh. Skill.

 

Was there a fight or something that he’s not remembering right away? The fuck--? 

 

Some bits return in fuzzy pieces but who knows how much time has passed? He certainly couldn’t tell. Memory only comes in snatches—some are just straight up impressions of what was doing according to his nerve endings, and others are smells, sounds, sights; the rest is all the burning agony of pain, the attempt to keep that beast, the wildness trapped away so he doesn’t have fucked-up, blackout, berserker time. It was all so close, close enough that some of the demon spilled over—but how fucking much? Inanely, he had thought at one point that the beast might be a real downer to the whole brother-I’ll-save-your-ass mentality. Then again, maybe Sesshomaru already knew all the in’s and out’s before he signed up for hanyou daycare.

 

All the pieces still don’t make a whole lotta fucking sense yet. Why would that icy bastard want to save him? Why was he so close to losing control? Was his life in danger? Was he still? Is that why his body felt so heavy and fuzzy and buzzy all at the same time? Why is his youkai still burning inside his skin?! Usually his shit calmed down after a good brawl, but it feels like ants marching inside his nerve endings, all itchy and weird and powerful at the same time.

 

Well, just layin’ here ain’t gonna solve any mysteries.

 

Finally opening his eyes, the blurry darkness sharpens after a blink or two, and the hanyou shivers. He’s lying on his back with something warm and furry wrapped around his naked body. Furry? The thing he throws me around with? His senses, sharper than before, can pick up flies fucking on the wall and the single drip of water from somewhere down an echoing tunnel. The drip hurts his ears, and his arms can suddenly move fast enough to reflexively cover them.

 

Something’s not right. He feels like he just woke up from being trapped on Kikyo’s arrow, effectively nailed to Goshinboku. The second Kagome touched that arrow in his chest, his senses awakened before he did, working over-time; if that wench hadn’t smelled so close to Kikyo, he’d probably struck at her long before Mistress Centipede wrapped her coils around them.

 

He snuffles to clear his nose, body is sore and bare, and memory blurry as hell.

 

Is he really in some kind of danger here? Well, where the hell is ‘here’ anyhow?

 

“You are my only weakness...”

 

The abused body eeks in protest when he flings himself up, wide-eyed and surprised, ears straining—suddenly wide awake.  For some crazy reason, he’s holding the white, fluffy thing in tight fists against his chest while scanning the immediate area for Sesshomaru. The fragments come together with a click, and the ‘ah-ha’ moment crowns.  The hanyou allows a moment of indecision since the scent of his brother isn’t fresh. The demon lord isn’t in the underground sanctuary.  His normal brashness drops away like cherry blossoms in the fall. He slumps over himself, fists clenching hard enough to puncture his palms through moko-moko and soil its purity with crimson. He doesn’t notice the stain. The chain of events was pretty standard: fighting, running, saving Shippo, fighting again, blah blah. But damn, his brother and he...did it. Like, a bunch of times. It.

 

He takes a deep, shuddering breath, ears trembling with the effort to just calm the hell down and let it all roll off his back. Really, all things considering, he’d taken just about everything in stride from the moment he’d been picked up on his human night to now (well, except for pansying-out at the Elder’s island and pissing off Sesshomaru, which might just become his new favorite hobby: burned his eyebrows... damn, still funny). So, well shit, not even demons are completely unfeeling.   Jiji didn’t skip out on his education in the early years...just later on, not long before he’d heard of the Shikon Jewel and thought being a full demon might be the way to go.

 

For the royalty, it wasn’t uncommon to have concubines for Heat seasons without having to take a mate (or “to keep those morons from pupping a low-born bitch and fucking up the line of ascension” so he read). But other demons mated their first Heat, and some even kept that mate for life. Or so Jiji said. But he’d never scented, seen, or heard hide nor hair of a mate anywhere near his brother, so he didn’t think he’d have to worry about some crazy bitch stalking him or some shit, but...he’d kinda always assumed when it was his time, to y’know, do naked stuff, it would have been with a female he intended to stay with and watch over. The memories coming back to him of being so passive are not what he expected at all.

 

Ears twitching, his runs a hand through his hair, looking uncharacteristically solemn, and lifts his knees to rest his forearms.

 

After the hot springs, the demon him whines in a low tone, a moan in want. Sesshomaru was on him in a blink, their bodies pressed together in the ass-deep pool, and it was happening all over again—less painful this time. And did that bastard tease him with it, whispering dark things in his sensitive ears, making him shiver and strain with the want of completion.

 

Later, when the power again peaks, the animals come to the fore. Their coupling was more bloody and viscous, harder and faster with snarling moans, teeth and claws. He’d been so hot, so drunk on the new power flowing through his veins like fire; he and the demon became one...sight and smell, taste and touch. The pleasure reached them both, and during his final orgasm, he and the beast joined in mind, body, and heart. Just as Sesshomaru predicted.

 

Again. The world tumbles and he’s on top, filled with every inch; his brother’s hands and hips direct him to the rhythm of the ride. He leans back, bracing his hands behind him, and the power builds in his belly just as the pleasure coils tighter. Sesshomaru throws himself up, latching onto the hanyou’s ripe nubbin, growling low in his chest. Arching more sharply, he seats himself completely and the power sweeps through them both in a rush...

 

Energized, the moment of truth came a very short time ago; the demon lord held his sibling upright in his lap, keeping them joined while their mouth met in a tangle of wet tongues and sweet breath.

 

Time fuzzed out for a while, and he must have slept, deep in unconsciousness. A first in, well, ever.

 

Still, it was weird to wake up next to his brother each time the lapses ended; even stranger to see the demon lord passed the fuck out inches away from him. Eyes hidden, breathing evenly, face relaxed. It wasn’t hard, then, to image Sesshomaru as a young demon in exile, returning to the Western Palace kicking and fighting. As a matter of fact, InuYasha could picture it clearly as if he’d been there watching the show.

 

But not long and those eyes would open, youkai would flare, and the whole Heat started over again. His body was an enemy he couldn’t fight or claw, and Sesshomaru made him give in each time. Sure, the bastard may have been trying to be helpful and shit, but he had no clue how mortifying it was to have to depend on his stuck-up ass for survival. The ole’ man pride took a hit over this bullshit, and damned if he wasn’t, well, embarrassed now that he was somewhat back in his right mind. His bastard brother had, had done things, like, fucking crazy things to his body. Things that shocked him, made him shudder down to the bone now that he wasn’t bat-shit. That mouth and tongue had been all over him, licked him from base of the spine and up, had laved the indentations of his hips, had twirled and tasted the pale span of his thighs to the knee. He’d held the hanyou down so easily while this torture went on, making him helpless to the needs and weaknesses of his own body.

 

Hand over his eyes, InuYasha gave an annoyed huff.  How in the hell was he supposed to hang around Sesshomaru, well, look him in the eye, and not get embarrassed over the stuff they’d done here? Simple. He’d have to man-up and just not think about it!

 

Sure! What happened in the underground would damn well stay in the underground. Feh. End of it.

 

Nodding to himself, the hanyou decidedly flings off moko-moko to get away from that scent and stands tall. His robes are close; he pulls on the kimono, hitoe, and hakama, his clothes and the familiar ritual of dressing makes him calm somewhat now that he’s covered. Unconsciously, the familiar armor does lend him the feel of being protected even if he doesn’t (and never has) fully realized the effect. With the robes, he pulls on the attitude of a fierce fighter, a brash half-breed without a fuck to give unless he gets to kick a little bit of ass. The persona is complete with Tetsuaiga strapped around his lean waist. He stands for long moments, looking down at his hands, chewed up and calloused, opposed to Sesshomaru’s lean, graceful fingers...

 

It’s all good.

III

So, yeah... Five damn days. That was alotta fuckin’. In his usual manner, his ears perked when Sesshomaru told him how long they’d been literally underground, and he told his brother the same thing in not so many words. Of course, he had a mouth full of sweet meat, bloody and tender and just godsdammed awesome, at the time and the asshole had just given a brusque nod with a ‘Hn.’

 

Then, he went on summore about how it was normal for a Heat to last about a week and yadda, yadda, yadda. Since the scent and fever were gone, and even though his body felt decidedly different, the weakness in his joints and bleeding youkai were pretty easy to control again. He felt confident enough to think the shit was over and done with; other than his youkai feeling heavier and lighter at the same time (yea, weird but still the best way he had to explain the tingling numbness in his limbs along with the heaviness he suddenly fought while standing upright), he thought maybe it was time for some normalcy. Ya know, he’s all back to this ‘I-am-an-island’ attitude again. Keh.  More blabbering about heading back to the Western palace to make sure everything was all right (and he needed to check on Shippo and flea bag) while the meager fire smouldered between them, and the hanyou destroyed his half of the doe. Other half was already eaten, so maybe the guy been just as starved. Finally, as he was cleaning the blood off his claws with relish of a good meal, his brother quit flapping his gums abruptly, and the hanyou glanced over with tongue still wrapped around his finger.

 

He’d never seen Sesshomaru stare that intently unless they were fighting, but those eyes were glued to what his mouth was doing. Without even trying, the hanyou’s face heats, and he looked away fast enough to make a muscle in his neck spasm. Ears laid back, he let his hair and forelocks cover him while busying his hands with burying the bones and carcass. The two said nothing as the demon lord flowed to his feet like water. But, he stood up and oddly didn’t have to look so far up at his brother’s face.

 

Both inu’s blinked in surprise at the hanyou’s mini growth spurt, his forehead now reaching the demon lord’s nose and ears at eye level.

 

Looking down with his detached gazed, the demon lord studied his younger brother for a moment, “it seems you may need to eat more vegetables should you ever wish to reach this Sesshomaru’s stature, little brother.” And turned on his heels to leave the cavern.

 

For a moment, he was left speechless to digest those words before it clicked. “Oi! That was another joke, right? Damn, man, yer turning out to be a regular comedian here, ya know?” He gave a leap to follow.

 

Yeah...all good.

 

****

Really short, I know. Sorry. Next chapter will be a turning point for the inu brothers when InuYasha returns to the Western Palace! So any suggestions on what he needs to learn or if he’ll even stay long is in your hands ;)  Let me know what you think.

 

Red: You can get in touch with me on my ff.net page or my email, winter235@yahoo.com for the beta thing J Let me just say I’m glad no cats were harmed during the reading of my fan fiction.

C-Loke: Thanks for the support! You keep me going with awesome reviews.

My_perversities: Lol

Tenshi Youkai: I can absolutely see your point. Sometimes this third person narration is difficult for me to maintain, and I will eventually return to the last chapter to revise the beginning. Thanks for the critique.

Maytai_ the sorceress: I’m glad you like it! Thanks for the review.