Salvation

“Father!” Roko sounded frantic as he searched for his father and Jaken. Rayo appeared out of the bushes, panting and sweating.

“M...my...Prince...” he panted out, leaning on his staff. Roko looked at him and waited. His father, Jaken, and Ah-aun had been missing for nearly two days now with no word from them. Sesshomaru always left a note or something to let them know where to find him, but after a visit with Kaichi previously, he had returned and the camp was gone. Now he was looking everywhere for them. “My Prince...I....I spotted them...they’re about...two miles...that way...” he panted. Rayo lifted a bony finger to point in the direction of the woods which were Kaichi’s home.
Roko’s blood drained and he tore off, leaving the little toad demon to pant and collapse into the tall grass.
‘Kaichi,’ he thought to himself, ‘Don’t do hurt him father. Please don’t harm him.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile, with Sesshomaru, Jaken, and Ah-aun~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sesshomaru knew that by now Roko was fretting over where he was. His son had never not known where his father was, he knew that Roko was insecure without him. Sesshomaru pushed his son out of his thoughts and concentrated on the smell he was following. It was familiar, but yet it had a different tingle to it. He looked up to the sky’s and saw his faithful dragon with Jaken on his back, circling above him. Sesshomaru took another whiff of the air and tore off into the thicket of the trees where the smell was coming from.

He was close, judging from the intensity of the smell, very close. Then, he saw it. A little worthless, grungy camp in a small clearing. He slowed to a halt and stepped into the opening. A small fire was burning and the smell of sickness rippled through the camp like death. Sesshomaru started to breath through his mouth instead of his sensitive nose, the smell was too over powering.
Another smell invaded his nose, a smell that was all too familiar...and close. Sesshomaru looked up and gave Jaken instructions to head back to the palace. His brother’s scent was mixed with the repulsive sick smell that flowed around the camp. Immediately a though sank into his head.

‘Inuyasha, you are the sickness.’ His face showed no emotion, but his heart leapt once. ‘I have awaited your death for centuries, why now do I feel emotion unlike that of which I expected?’

Sesshomaru heard a noise off to his left. His head turned to look and see what it was and he was momentarily surprised. The boy smelled of Inuyasha and another partner. The boy looked up and he too, was surprised at the sight of another body in his camp.

“Um...” the boy was at a loss for words. The demon before him looked strikingly similar to Roko, perhaps this was a brother or his father. “Hello, c-can I help you with something, sir?” he asked modestly. The man looked down at him with cold eyes, but not harsh ones.
“Another demon resides in this camp,” he stated simply. The boy seemed mildly surprised that Sesshomaru knew this. “Where is he?”

Just then, Inuyasha emerged from the woods with a small load of fire wood in his arms. When the two brothers made eye contact, Inuyasha gasped and dropped all of the three logs that he was carrying. Sesshomaru’s eyes narrowed and, before Kaichi or Inuyasha could reacted, he had Inuyasha’s throat in his one great, clawed hand and had lifted him off of the ground with ease...perhaps too much ease.

Inuyasha gasped for air as his older brother choked him. Sesshomaru had obviously kept himself in great shape, go figure. His own feeble hands reached up and gripped the demon’s wrist lightly. Sesshomaru had a look in his eye unlike anything that Inuyasha had ever seen in them Was it disgust, disappointment, confusion,... sadness?

He looked over his brother’s shoulder and watched Kaichi dash towards the them. His breath caught in his throat, he knew that his son was no match against a powerful demon like his own uncle. His golden eyes darted back to his brother’s and he tried to choke something out to distract him.

Sesshomaru caught the look and as soon as Kaichi was within striking distance, he spun around and kicked the young demon so hard that it sent him flying over the fire and against a tree trunk. He was instantly knocked out. Sesshomaru turned his attention back to his little half demon brother. He tucked his own head down and leaned it forward to where they were almost touching noses. The older demon ignored his brother’s ragged gasps and he took a tiny sniff of his breath.

Inuyasha was surprised when his brother suddenly jerked away from their almost intimate touching. His brother now had a look of harshness on his face. He threw Inuyasha face down to the ground and stood looming over him. Inuyasha lay on the ground for a moment, having lost what little air he’d had, coughing furiously and trying to breath at the same time.

“Inuyasha,” said Sesshomaru. The quietness of his voice seemed to cut through all other sounds. Still struggling to regain his wind, Inuyasha looked up into the face of his death it seemed. Through his own silver locks that hung in front of his face, he could see that Sesshomaru was looking down at him. “You reek with disease. Where does it come from?”
“An old (cough) injury from...” he paused to get some air, laying his head down on some of his hair that had pooled around him on the ground. “...A battle with a spider demon. She...(cough cough gulp)...bit me before I... could finish her off. She bit me in...the back.” he managed to gasp out. Inuyasha felt the last of his energy seeping from him and his body convulsed violently as he coughed. “Her venom...it’s slowly killin’ me. Heh...just what you wanted ain’t it?” He felt some of his old self returning.

Sesshomaru watched Inuyasha give a faint laugh as he blacked out. He glared at the body and knelt on one knee.
‘No, whelp,’ he thought to himself. ‘I shall be the one to take your life, not some overgrown leech with legs.’ He reached out his hand, moved the metallic silver hair that was so like his own and tucked it over Inuyasha’s broad shoulders so it was out of the way. He then lifted up the old fire rat shirt. Indeed there were two very large puncture wounds, each open and oozing a green/yellowish pus. Sesshomaru studied his entire back briefly and found the whole area was discolored and swollen with infection. Clearly the wounds needed to be treated immediately.

Sesshomaru looked at his only fist and it began to glow green as he prepared to use his acid fist attack. He looked at his half brother’s form and then at his infected back. He bent over his neck and bit down on a small, uninfected patch of skin close to his back. He heard him moan in his sleep, though he wasn’t sure if it was from pain or pleasure. He knew that his brother had slept the monk before, and a few other demons, but he himself was more suited to females. Only once had he slept with a male, it had been a mistake and he would never allow it to happen again.

“Brother...”
Sesshomaru’s head snapped up and he glared at his brother’s sleeping form. His eyes narrowed and then he plunged his hand deep into the opening he had made. The Lord made his hand go in at an angle almost parallel to his little brothers back, so that his hand slipped under the sking. Inuyasha’s eyes flew open and he screamed. He tried to sit up but he was held down as Sesshomaru’s knee was press onto his rear and the hand pushed down. Inuyasha whimpered as he lay still, to exhausted to do anything. His small ears tucked themselves into his hair

“Be still,” he warned. His hand traveled further under the skin again causing his brother to gasp and tense. Sesshomaru slid his hand from side to side as he went deeper, disconnecting skin from muscle. Inuyasha felt as though he would pass out from the pain. He didn’t understand why the older Lord was doing this to him. He felt as though his whole body was going to split.

“Why are you doin’ this to me?” he nearly cried out. The younger demon turned his face to look up at his brother’s. There were tears in his eyes as he watched Sesshomaru’s face.
“This is to get the skin away from the infected muscle.” stated the harsh demon. “I will remove the sickest of the skin and the muscle in the worst condition. If you struggle, you will end up with either a hole in your back or a hole in your stomach.” There was a hint of danger in his voice as he said ‘you will’.

“Why can’t you just use the stupid sword, damn it?” he cried out. He felt his brother’s hand jut forward suddenly, he cried out softly and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Because that would take all the fun out of everything, little brother.” Sesshomaru said with a smile on his face. From that moment on, Inuyasha lay still and quiet except for the occasional cry of pain when he hit an extra sensitive or infected spot. He merely folded his arms beside his head to where he could see his claws and watch them dig into the dirt.
Sesshomaru finally stopped two hours later. The skin was finally parted from his back and was rolled up like a rug down at his waist. Only bare muscle was exposed, and none of it looked good. By using his acid fist he had burned the blood vessels closed and prevented any major bleeding.
“Are ya done?” came a soft question from the exhausted demon. “Or do you have another torture act ya wanna preform that I should know about?” He felt his older brother lean down and press the side of his head to his own. He heard him chuckle right next to his jaw and felt his throat vibrate as he did. He swallowed as he listened, that was never a good sound.
“No,” he said quietly. Inuyasha closed his eyes and sighed, he had been dreading that answer. “I must still remove the infected tissue. So don’t get too comfortable, whelp.”
“I didn’t plan to...”he said softly. Still softer, he added, “Knowing you.”

Sesshomaru pulled his head away from his brothers cheek and stared at him. His face expressed exhaustion and anxiousness. The Lord of the Western lands was hit with a feeling that he didn’t know how to take. His little brother lay before him, helpless as a newborn infant, and his skin on his back rolled up like a badly colored rug. He felt...guilt. He leaned down and rubbed his head against Inuyasha’s cheek briefly. He then pressed his lips to the top of Inuyasha’s head, by his little ear, in a dominant fashion..

“I shall be as quick as possible,” he murmured. “This will take less time than the skin removing.” Inuyasha was startled by this sudden show of caring and he lifted his head up to look at him. Sesshomaru caught this and his eyes hardened.
“That was a long time ago Inuyasha, things have changed.” his voice back to its’ original harshness. “ I was not in my right state of mind, so get that idea out of you small head.” The last words might as well have been yelled at him. His mind went back eighty years ago, back to a time as his life went to it’s own little Hell on earth...