Reconstruction

Night had fallen mere hours ago but already the world had been drenched in a thick darkness. Sesshomaru stood on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a pristine lake. The cool breeze gliding across the water wafted up to brush against his skin, causing the youkai to let out a tiny sigh. His golden eyes moved to watch the glassy surface, muscles aching for the water’s cool embrace.

He had been traveling for a very long time now, and even a youkai lord desires rest after a while. As the wind picked up slightly, Sesshomaru shut his eyes and breathed in the chilly night air, taking in his surroundings.

Various odors flooded his senses and he examined each of them individually; the smell of the trees and the earth, of the clean, running water, the smell of the night air. A family of rodents to the east, ningen to the north, a fire, Inuyasha…

His eyes snapped open, head turning toward the direction that his brother’s scent was coming from. Not only was something off about his smell, but it was almost overpowered by the scent—the reek—of blood. Of Inuyasha’s blood. A moment passed before Sesshomaru heaved a small sigh, turning on his heel and taking off in the direction of the stench.

It’d been months since Sesshomaru had seen his brother, since the day his brother had sought him out to save the miko. Sesshomaru had been in the area near the village—not looking for the hanyou, of course, just in the area. Inuyasha hadn’t been there in quite some time; his scent was stale.

The demon slayer had spotted him, anger in her eyes, and told him that Inuyasha had only returned for a moment after his fight with Sesshomaru. That the hanyou had been angry at her and the monk. Sesshomaru hadn’t cared, he hadn’t even been [I]looking[/I] for Inuyasha, really.

Nevertheless, it was interesting information. His brother, who had always been strangely attached to this ningen village… gone from its forests? Very interesting, indeed. And now Sesshomaru smelled him, miles from the safety of the hanyou’s forest and bleeding. Curious.

As Sesshomaru neared the scent of his brother, he also noted the scent of a lesser, weaker demon. A snake demon? Yes, and a young one at that. So why was there so much blood from the hanyou?

Sesshomaru slowed down once he could hear what sounded like a battle. Something wasn’t right; something was different. Something was making Sesshomaru’s skin crawl. He quietly made his way towards the sounds of the fight; a body hitting a tree, a pain-filled grunt, a hissing laugh.

“Thissss… is the Great Inuyasha…?” Sesshomaru could see the figure of the snake through the trees. The creature wasn’t very big, only about twice the size of Ah-Uhn. So why was Inuyasha having such a problem?

Sesshomaru crept in closer, seeking a better vantage of the clearing. Inuyasha was lying on the ground, curled up at the base of a tree. Or at least… Sesshomaru thought it was Inuyasha. The scent was the same, almost. Clothing was the same… the smell…

Sesshomaru’s eyes widened slightly. Of course… that’s what was different. Inuyasha’s hair was as black as night, his eyes a dark violet, blunt nails clawing at the tough bark of the tree as he tried to stand. His smell reeked of ningen. His brother had lost all hints of the youkai in his veins. Sesshomaru had heard of this before, a night when hanyous reverted to their weaker half.

But why wouldn’t Inuyasha be hiding? Wouldn’t that be… what his instincts would tell him to do? Sesshomaru watched as the hanyou’s hand slid from the tree and he landed on all fours, head bowed and blood-matted hair falling in his face. The snake laughed again, slithering towards Inuyasha.

“Not even putting up a fight. No sssssssurprise when you’re such a powerlesssss ningen now. A detail no one hassss to know. All they’ll have to know is I defeated the Inuyassssssha!”

Sesshomaru’s feet moved before he could even consider his actions. He skidded across the ground, golden eyes meeting the shocked look on the snake demon’s face.

“You are not worthy to spill his blood.” Sesshomaru growled, claws glowing a dangerous green. The snake hissed, fangs bared.

“Out of the way, dog! I have bussssiness to finish.” Sesshomaru gritted his fangs and snapped his wrist, a deadly whip wrapping tightly around the snake and squeezing, dissolving the snake into two wriggling sections of gore. With a disgusted scowl, Sesshomaru turned away from the carnage to approach his kneeling brother. Inuyasha looked up at him, eyes wide and angry.

“Why did you do that? Why the fuck did you do that?!” He shouted, blood running down his chin. Sesshomaru blinked in surprise, a scowl pulling at his features.

“Why did I do what? Save your ungrateful life?”

“You ruined everything! It was finally going to get better! It was finally going to be fucking over!” Sesshomaru stood, rooted in place, shocked. His mind reeled, piecing together what Inuyasha had just said.

“Are you… are you implying that you wished to let that worthless snake take your life? That this was your intention?” It couldn’t be. Inuyasha was as proud as he was stubborn, something Sesshomaru knew quite well from experience. He wouldn’t have let a weakling like this young snake youkai be his end; he would never allow it, even in his human form. Yet from everything the hanyou had said, it seemed as if this was exactly what his younger brother had wanted. Inuyasha was breathing hard, his fingers digging into the dirt. He met Sesshomaru’s questioning gaze, but after a moment, looked back down towards the blood-soaked ground.

“You have no idea what it’s like to lose everything that means something to you. You don’t know what it’s like to lose everyone who ever treated you with kindness, like you weren’t some kind of monster. To lose the only people who ever loved you. So yeah, I didn’t seem much of a point in fighting for my life.”

Sesshomaru watched Inuyasha carefully, something tugging deep inside his chest. The words Inuyasha spoke awaking something inside him that ached, sometime from a long time ago…

A child left alone, screaming for someone over and over and over again. Blood drenched-stone, frozen beneath his claws. Lifeless blue eyes gazing back, answerless…

The youkai shook his head, trying to banish the feeling. He looked over Inuyasha once more, at the blood in his hair and over his clothes, at his heavy breathing and sagging shoulders. He had to do something about the grief-stricken hanyou in front of him. The pain from losing the miko, the backlash from her death was far worse than Sesshomaru would have expected. Then again, he thought, there was quite a bit about Inuyasha he didn’t know.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a weak yelp as Inuyasha fell forward onto his face; his right arm was torn up worse than Sesshomaru had originally thought. As a ningen, the blood loss was much more sever to Inuyasha’s body, wounds that wouldn’t have been a problem in his true form were life threatening now.

Sesshomaru nodded to himself, taking very little time to decide what to do with his brother. Wrapping his arms around Inuyasha’s middle, he hauled him over his shoulder, taking off towards his kingdom.


Inuyasha woke up to something he never expected, even in his wildest dreams. He was laying in a large bed, covered in thick furs and quilts, soft pillows behind his head. He felt hands on his arm, a light stroking motion soothing a dull, throbbing pain. His head hurt, his chest hurt, his eyes hurt. Nevertheless, he wanted to know what the fuck was going on.

With a grunt, he forced his eyes open, blinking a few times to try to clear his blurry vision. His eyes first focused on the far wall, covered in rich-looking tapestries. The shoji screens had pictures painted delicately over their surface. Large windows showed trees surrounding whatever place he was in, letting in the smell of dense forests and rich soil.

He eyes moved to watch the movement over his arm. Pale, clawed hands drew a soft, wet cloth over his tattered arm. At first, he was shocked by the state of his arm. How the fuck had that happened? The hands rung out the cloth before drying off his arm with another soft, white cloth, and then began rubbing a nice smelling ointment over the deep cuts, some of which looked to be stitched up.

Slowly, the hands began wrapping his arm in a bandage, the hands gently covering the injury. The hands looked familiar but it took Inuyasha’s brain a moment to place them. Perhaps it was the fact that the deadly, clawed hands weren’t wrapped around his throat or running through his stomach, but Inuyasha immediately second-guessed himself when he thought it was Sesshomaru.

It can’t be…Where am I?!