SURVIVE

Thank you everyone. I am really, really happy that you enjoyed the last chapter. It was a challenge to right and I am glad it paid off.

Read, review and enjoy

Chapter 16 : The Seraphim

Jinenji and the healers worked around the clock after almost two whole days, they managed to stabilize both Commander Kagura and Manten – what was left of him.

Manten if he ever recovered, would be at least a foot shorter than what he had been. The healers had to fuse what remained of his backbone together. His face was untouched, but scars ran from his neck to his hips. Though the healers had stabilized him wether he would live and have a mind was questionable. That thing had been controlling the demon, and while the Demon's own pettiness had opened his mind to the Mass, the price he was now paying seemed high. Once Manten had stabilized sufficiently, Hiten with Lord Sesshoumaru's approval, moved Manten back to their family holding in the South east Demon lands. The Demon was still in a delicate state, if he did not make it, his family wanted him to die among those that loved him and if he ever awoke being in a safe location was critical.

Commander Kagura's situation was a little different. Demonic healing magic could recombine almost any part of a being as long as the part was there. A whole chunk of Kagura's right shoulder had been blown off, disintegrated by the mass, regeneration magic was required. Demonic magics was based mainly on the elements of earth, water, wind, fire and will, could not regenerate, Seraphic Magic was needed. Word had been sent to the Seraphim, informing them of their need. The reply had been almost immediate a delegation led by a Seraphim Prince was on its way. As the Seraphim could not open the Mirror portals, they were estimated to arrive four days from the attack. That made Sesshoumaru raise a suspicious brow, even winged they should have taken a week to get to the Demon Lands, what that meant was the nosy Prince had already been on his way to visit when they received the message.

Now what would bring that thorn in Lord Sesshoumaru's side to the Demon Lands? Sesshumaru glanced at his Hanyou sitting ramrod straight, on guard nearby Commander Kagura's bed in the sick bay. Nothing good he feared, nothing good at all.

Inuyasha, when he was not sleeping, or at the training rooms, was inevitably found in the healers bay. Not only was Jinenji there, Inuyasha had appointed himself temporary guard of the Commander and the healers. Sesshoumaru had encouraged that as next to his chambers, the healers bay was currently one of the most protected areas in the Palace. Jinenji and Jakotsu usually escorted Inuyasha around the Palace.

It worried Sesshoumaru a little, that even though he was free, Inuyasha never left a room he was in unless he was escorted or given explicit instructions on the time he was supposed to leave. Inuyasha stayed in what ever room he was put. He did not enter places he was not explicitly told he could enter, and never began a conversation. While it made keeping track of Inuyasha easier, Sesshoumaru was carefully monitoring the situation.

On the other hand his private relationship with his puppy-eared Hanyou was progressing, but at a frustratingly slow pace. Inuyasha was getting comfortable with the Demon Lord, touching his ears, hair and body, any chance his Alpha got into touching distance. Sesshoumaru kissed Inuyasha's hands and licked the wrist pulse point daily, but did no more than that. The changes were minute, but they were there. Inuyasha slowly began to lean towards Sesshoumaru's warmth almost waiting for his touch, and increasingly the Hanyou watched Sesshoumaru's lips.

The funniest thing to Sesshoumaru's twisted sense of humour, was that Inuyasha still did not seem to realize that he was sleeping on the Demon Lord's bed, while Sesshoumaru graced the couch. Sesshoumaru only stretched out after Inuyasha was sleeping, and he was always sitting when the Hanyou awoke. Since Moko-moko was his blanket and pillow, and Lord Sesshoumaru was always immaculate, it could be argued that there were no real physical clues provided. However, considering how acute Inuyasha's sense of scent and hearing seemed to be, it was unlikely that the Hanyou was fully unaware that he had company while he slept. It seemed to Sesshoumaru that Inuyasha did not want to consciously acknowledge he was not alone at night. The Demon Lord found that bit of denial on the Hanyou's part rather endearing and infinitely cute.

For exposing the darkness in their midst, Sesshoumaru had presented Inuyasha with the three items of clothing given to him as tithe from the human city. All three pieces of clothing were rich, well made and of a quality that made them equivalent to light armour. Inuyasha was to wear one of the outfits on the day the Seraphim arrived. The Hanyou had been truly flustered, no one would give him a clue as to which one he was supposed to wear. The choice was totally his, and as much as the idea pleased the Hanyou, he was a little terrified of making the wrong choice.

"Which item of clothing is Lord Sesshoumaru's favourite?" Inuyasha finally blurted out a few hours before the Seraphim were to arrive. Sesshoumaru hid his smile behind his napkin as he pretended to dab at the last bits of breakfast. Finally the Hanyou had initiated a conversation.

Sesshoumaru gracefully stood and walked to the three robes, pretending to scrutinize them. He watched as the Hanyou seemed to almost sigh in relief that Sesshoumaru was going to help him choose. Sesshoumaru waited for a count, and then turned and with shrugh of his shoulders and a falsely innocent smile said "I like them all!"

Inuyasha's jaw dropped. "But... but..."

"Choose the one you like best, Inuyasha. I look forward to seeing you dressed." As they were having guests that day, Sesshoumaru first licked Inuyasha's wrist, before leaning towards Inuyasha's face, his breathe caressed Inuyasha's lips as he exhaled.

Inuyasha's eyes opened wide at this turn of events, his dithering over the outfits forgotten. The Demon Lord was so close, he was so warm, the memory of the one kiss, came rushing back, and Inuyasha's lips parted. Sesshoumaru leaned further forward, and gently licked the tip of Inuyasha's nose. The he angled his head, and licked Inuyasha from jaw to ear; properly leaving his scent on his Hanyou; before releasing him and disappearing out of the room with a flourish.

The scent of the Demon Lord on him, was absolutely wonderful, but Inuyasha could not help the stab of disappointment that Sesshoumaru had once again ignored his lips.

A half hour later, Inuyasha sat in his sanctuary watching in bemusement, as Inu, Yahsa and Pup argued heatedly over which outfit he was to wear. Inuyasha had just decided to spin a bottle and wear which ever outfit the bottle pointed at. He was about to do just that, when the three aspects had combined and unceremoniously hauled their dominant aspect into the sanctuary. That he could not leaving choosing the right outfit to chance was the last thing the three had agreed upon. Each had a different favourite, and each wanted Inuyasha to choose that. When they started shouting at each other Inuyasha had begun to intervene. But, then had come the other thing the three had agreed upon, glaring at Inuyasha all three had unified and said "YOU stay out of this!" Inuyasha had immediately sat on his haunches and wisely stayed silent. The whole situation seemed rather surreal to him.

Pup, being Pup, seemed to be winning the argument, and Inuyasha was almost cringing with apprehension. Pup wanted them to wear the gold, red and green outfit, which had fine embroidery of trees and forests all along the boarder. It was beautiful, but by far, the gaudiest of the lot.

Yasha wanted a solid red outfit, which had gold and black rope decorations around it. And Inu wanted to wear something more like their normal outfits, the white outfit, with no obvious patterns, but rather had silver and gold threading running through out the cloth.

The most heated argument was between Pup and Yasha, they were enjoying their fight and it seemed that Pup would be the winner. Suddenly Inu gave a really, long and sad sigh. "Actually, I withdraw my choice," He said despondently, "The both of you have had a chance to actually meet and talk to Lord Sesshoumaru, I have not even seen him properly. He will probably hate my choice. So what ever to two of you decide is fine."

Yasha looked stricken, and Pup almost ready to burst into tears as they stared at their human aspect, crouched sadly on the ground, drawing circles in the sand. Suffice to say the argument ended there, with Inu's more sedate choice, suddenly becoming the unanimous favorite. Somehow Inuyasha was not surprised, Inu was the most mature of all of them. He like Inuyasha experienced the abuse, still he survived and managed to forgive and see the good in others.

All that taken into account, he was still Inuyasha that meant he liked to win. The satisfied half smile on Inu's lips said it all.

Inuyasha wore the white outfit, and walked with Jinenji out to the courtyard, where the group waited the arrival of the Seraphim. Sesshoumaru could not suppress his satisfied smile at the sight of his Hanyou. The outfit looked the simplest – when in fact it was probably the most costly of the three. The silver and gold strands caught the light just right. Inuyasha shimmered as he walked, his white shining hair now just touching his collar bone, seemed to call to the Demon Lord. How was Sesshoumaru to resist such a call?

As Inuyasha neared him, Sesshoumaru's hand reached out and sank into the slivery softness. His thumb caressed Inuyasha's temple and his eyes shining in approval, Sesshoumaru whispered, "Well done, my favorite is you Inuyasha, Demon, human or Hanyou, clothed or unclothed, my favorite is you."

Caught between embarrassment and pure pleasure, for the first time in over a decade, Inuyasha's cheeks flushed red. Unbidden he took a tiny step closer to Sesshoumaru.

Shadows crossed the sun. A pair of glider like contraptions, with feathers lining the sides, were flown in with two humanoid hanging on to each frame. That may in itself have been impressive if not for the three winged beings flying free, leading the entourage. The contraptions landed first, followed by the two females and finally the winged male snapped his wings and dropped easily to his feet.

Sharp blue eyes met Sesshoumaru's "Our healer Shri Suijin," he said gesturing politely to an extremely beautiful and almost ageless winged female Seprahim on his right, "She will see to Commander Kagura, immediately." the Prince was not one to dally in an emergency.

The healers immediately snapped into action, the Healer Suijin and two of the non-winged Seraphim were led by away by Jinenji. They were in deep discussion before they even left the courtyard. Inuyasha would have followed his hanyou brother, if not for the Demon Lord's hand on his shoulder, holding him in place.

Matters of urgency dealt with, the Demon Lord and the Seraphim Prince stared at each other, coldly. The silence and stillness, made everyone else squirm. Inuyasha was impassive, but inside he had been more than a little bit impressed by the winged beings before him.

Finally the Seraphic Prince, sighed and grinned a toothy grin, "I see time has not done much the melt the icicle up your ass, but it is good to see you Chilly Lord of the West."

"Hmn! Time has yet to instill manners into your graceless mouth, but grace requires intelligence and style, and that is probably asking for too much. However I am interested to know why you were on your way to my doorstep, when the message reached you?" Sesshoumaru asked coldly, he would return the smile once he knew the score.

The grin faded slightly, "We were on our way here because the Circle of the Wise sensed something that should not still exist in this world. It was but an echo of what it was, but it was something that awoke in human lands and very quickly was teleported here. The Circle asked me to check on the mater and advised I bring Sri Suijin and Shri Kaguya with me. They sensed the destruction of the echo just before we got your request for a healer. Am I mistaken to link the destruction of the echo with the good Commanders injury?" The Seraphim asked as he folded his wings, and they disappeared into his back, leaving two small nodules, on each shoulder blade.

"You are not mistaken. It seems we need to pool information, there is a great deal hidden here. Come, Commander Kagura needs to listen in to the discussion, we will continue this after the healing." Sesshoumaru steered Inuyasha out of the Courtyard, the location suddenly seeming too open a place for the discussion.

The Seraphim Prince finally noticed the being held securely by the Demon Lord, "How do we have here, a Mixed blood of the Highest Demon blood. Hah! How Inter..."

One of Sesshoumaru's claws lightly touched the Seraphim's neck. "No!" Sesshoumaru said his voice filled with deadly warning, "I am the only one allowed to find my Hanyou Inuyasha interesting. Understand Kouga?"

Prince Kouga of the Seraphim, had fought against and later beside Lord Sesshoumaru. They were friends, and Kouga knew his friend enough to see how deadly serious he was. This was not a matter to take lightly. Kouga nodded and said seriously, "Understood."

-tbc-

sorry the 4 aspects demanded some air time, I have no idea where that scene came from but it demanded to be written. Hope you enjoyed it.

44,000 words - Getting soooo tired – please review...