Bloodborne Duties
An ancient curse was placed upon the Inuyoukai family: if the youngest born heir does not produce an heir-apparent before his 205th birthday, the Dogs will surrender to the Panthers. Inuyasha is the youngest heir and it is his duty to avoid the curse.
Inuyasha didn't slept for the three and a half hours that Kagome was knocked out for. His eyes were closed and he showed the image of being asleep, but his senses were wide awake in case he had to destroy any potential danger. Kagome was curled up into a tight ball and had managed to squeeze herself within Inuyasha's frame. His left hand was lazily looped around her waist and his right hand was behind his head so that the bark of the tree trunk didn't ruin his hair.
Feeling her stir, Inuyasha's grip tightened slightly; he didn't want her wiggling and falling out of the tree. She'd probably break her neck with the fall- they were
that high up. Extending her legs out and stretching her arms to ease her muscles, Kagome cracked up an eye and gave a jaw splitting yawn.
"Oh man," she murmured before relaxing her body back into Inuyasha's, "how long was I out for?"
"A few hours," he murmured as she slowly shifted to turn on the branch and face him. He kept a firm hold on her forearm as she wiggled to move closer to him. They were face to face now and, out of habit, Kagome sat extremely close to Inuyasha when they were up in the trees.
Just in case, was her rationale. Glancing down from the tree, Kagome noticed that the demon hadn't moved or woken up at all.
She frowned. "Is he still alive?"
Inuyasha's eyes were closed, but he nodded. "Yeah."
"Did you sleep?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Wench," Inuyasha cracked open an eye, "you ask too many questions."
Kagome rolled her eyes. She used her free hand to push some bangs away from her eyes. "I'm only trying to be nice. Remind me next time not to
care."
Inuyasha snorted. "I tell you
all the time: don't
care for somebody like me."
"Then don't protect somebody like
me!" Kagome retorted. "It'll be an even trade."
"Keep dreaming, wench—as long as I'm around, your ass is safe."
Kagome's features softened. "That's actually really sweet…"
"… Keh."
Just the response I was looking for. Kagome thought sarcastically. Looking down again, Kagome saw that the demon was beginning to stir. "Hey," she looked back at Inuyasha, "I think he's waking up."
Cracking his eyes open, Inuyasha looked down and indeed saw that the demon was, in fact, struggling to get up. Without word, he pulled Kagome to his chest and jumped off the tree. She didn't so much as make a sound, already knowing Inuyasha was famous for his unexpectedness when it came to jumping on and off of trees.
Besides, she loved the feel of his arms around her - so protective. As if she was the only one in
his world.
Inuyasha landed with ease and daintily placed Kagome down. Instantly, his hand on the hilt of tetsusaiga and gripped it tightly. Inuyasha took an unnerving step towards the stirring demon and Kagome sidestepped towards her bow and arrow,
just in case. She had a gut feeling that this demon wasn't as bad as Inuyasha believed him to be, especially since he bore Sesshomaru's insignia on his neck.
He's a royal warrior for the West.
Groaning, the demon sat up and blinked several times. He had pointy elfish ears, just as Sesshomaru did and a deep set of dark brown eyes. To stay true to his dog-demon nature (which Kagome presumed him to be by both his aura
and the fact that he was Sesshomaru, the Great Demon of the West's warrior), there were specks of ochre within his pools of brown. His nose twitched and he blinked twice more before scrambling to his feet and bowing down to Inuyasha. Kagome noticed the demon wince and took a step forward. "Are you hurt?" She asked softly.
The demon looked up. "Forgive me, Lord Inuyasha." He spoke. His voice was strained. "I hadn't intended on passing out on you. I actually wasn't even aware that it was your camp I had stumbled across. And yes," he looked at Kagome, "I, to my misfortune, participated in a small battle with no initial intention to while I was searching for Lord Inuyasha. Let's just say it didn't end up too well." He looked sadly down at his side; his clothing were stained with blood.
"Who are you?" Inuyasha roared. "Why the
fuck are you looking for me anyway?"
"Forgive me." He stood up. "I am Daiki, head warrior of the Western Army. Lord Sesshomaru has sent me to summon you to his castle."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and Kagome frowned. "Sesshomaru sent you here to summon Inuyasha?"
Daiki nodded. "Well… the
gist of what he said meant he wanted me to summon you. The words he spoke ah… cannot be repeated."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and Kagome decided to take initiative of the situation. She already knew that Inuyasha was the second in line to the throne, and should anything happen to Sesshomaru, Inuyasha would become heir apparent. She knew this from a
while ago—she hadn't been travelling with him for three years for nothing. She brought her hand up and gripped the vial that contained nine jewel shards, hung around her neck. "What purpose does Sesshomaru have with Inuyasha?"
Daiki glanced at Kagome. Lord Sesshomaru had informed him that his younger brother traveled with a human and that he would do anything to protect her, so Daiki was not to disrespect her in any way. That, and the fact that Sesshomaru had a strange respect for the woman—she had aided Rin on many occasions as a motherly figure, an area that Sesshomaru was not all that great at.
Nor did he want to be great at being a mother figure.
"To discuss duties that is kept merely between the Inu-Daiyoukai clan. I am not fully aware of the details but I do know that Lord Sesshomaru wants you at his castle promptly."
"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed. "Like
I'm going to go help my stupid half-brother." He lowered his sword. "Tell him that if he wants favours from others, he should show some form of respect. It's either respect me or try not to
kill me, understood?"
"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded. "Maybe this is serious! When was the last time your brother asked you to go to his castle personally? Usually he finds
us and tries to kill
us. This could
actually be serious."
Inuyasha's eyes flicked to Kagome before he looked dangerously at Daiki. "I don't trust that bastard, Kagome," he muttered, his eyes still fixed on the full demon in front of him. "When was the last time he did any
good for us?"
Kagome frowned. "I
know that, but it doesn't hurt to go see what he wants! He
is your brother after all."
"
Half-brother," the hanyou corrected. "And I'm not going."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome reprimanded once again. "He sent his warrior here to
find us! I honestly believe that Sesshomaru really needs our help."
"Wench!" Inuyasha bellowed, fully facing Kagome now, "Sesshomaru does
not need our help—he has to have some sort of
trick up his sleeve and I do not trust him
one bit."
Kagome's eyes darkened. "Well
I do trust him, and you know what? I think I'll go with Daiki to see what your
brother wants. So why don't you just
sit and think about your decision, hm? And maybe you should get nice and comfortable when you
sit down because you never know when you might want to
sit up from your
sitting position because you're getting annoyed at
sitting still for so
SITing LONG!" Kagome try to replaced the vulgar F word with a variation of her own:
SITing.
Inuyasha was already in a six foot deep crater and Daiki stood there bemused at the whole thing.
The human has some form of power over Lord Inuyasha. Peeling himself off of the ground, his golden orbs glowered at Kagome. "Wench," he snarled, "you will
pay for sitting me so much."
Kagome smiled innocently at him. "Shall we go?"
Inuyasha sheathed his sword. "Feh, whatever… But remember,
I'm not letting you off the hook."
Kagome didn't so much as look frightened as she turned to Daiki. "Lead the way, Daiki."
The demon warrior was dumbfounded at how the human had gotten the Lord to change his mind. Perhaps it had something to do with the glowing beads around his neck—it seemed to emit a strange power when she pronounced the word
sit to him. Nodding slightly, Daiki turned around.
"My wounds are still slightly there, but it is nothing I can't handle. We should arrive at Sesshomaru's castle by nightfall."
Kagome glanced at Inuyasha who was treading a few steps behind her. "How did you get injured?"
Daiki glanced up at the sky. "A Panther demon attacked me."
.xx.
Inuyasha and Kagome were silently walking side by side. Earlier on, Inuyasha and Daiki had run and Kagome was settled comfortably on Inuyasha's back. His mind was formulating many ways in how he could return the
favour that Kagome had so graciously bestowed upon him. Who
wouldn't want a personalized crater that was shaped for your body? The best idea he had thus far was to deprive Kagome of him during night-time. She had become too accustomed to sleeping in his arms, or beside his aura, that without him there it would cause her to become restless.
Keh, serves the wench right. My back still fucking hurts from all the damn sit commands. He still couldn't figure out why Kagome wanted to see Sesshomaru. He had to admit, it
was strange how Sesshomaru had summoned
his presence at the Western Castle and had sent his head warrior to find him, but still! He didn't trust Sesshomaru, he never did, and never will. The bastard had left Inuyasha to die as a child with no remorse for his sibling whatsoever. Sesshomaru did not care that Izayoi died, and definitely did not care that Inuyasha was kicked out of his village as the little orphan half-demon.
Good for nothing full-demon half-brother. Wish you died instead of father. Shaking his head at the irrelevant thoughts, Inuyasha crossed his arms in front of his chest and opened his mouth: "How much longer?"
"Almost there."
"Would it be faster to run the rest?"
"Yes."
Without a word to Kagome, Inuyasha picked her up, threw her onto his back and began running. The route that Daiki took him was unfamiliar to him, as he never took the inside roads to the castle. Inuyasha always took the main village routs whenever he approached Sesshomaru's castle (if ever, that is...)
"
Inuyasha! Please
warn me next time!"
Disregarding the woman's banshee-like shrieks, Inuyasha kept running with Daiki not too far behind. The sooner he got to his half-brother, the sooner he and Kagome could leave.
"Inuyasha," The tone in Kagome's voice drastically changed as she whispered his name - a tone that Inuyasha had come to recolonize to mean one thing and
one thing only.
"Where is it?" He stopped running and put Kagome down. Daiki was confused.
"Why did we stop...?"
Kagome raised her hand and pointed deep into the forest. "Over there," she murmured. "It's bright—there's only one, but it's close."
Nodding, Inuyasha unsheathed Tetsusaiga and began slowly walking in the direction Kagome pointed him towards. Daiki glanced between the Lord and his lady and decided to follow. Whatever the hell was going on, he still had his job to finish—and that was to deliver them to Lord Sesshomaru's castle, unharmed. Without warning, a massive boar demon lunged forward, foaming at the mouth and growling menacingly. Kagome shrieked and fell backwards. Daiki took the ready position.
"Ugh, useless pathetic demon.
KAZE NO KIZU!" Inuyasha slashed his sword and disintegrated the boar. The shard flung forward and Inuyasha caught it. His demon aura was beginning to taint the shard and he quickly took it over to Kagome to purify. Within a heartbeat, a pure white aura surrounded the jewel and Kagome dropped it into her vial.
Ten shards in total, now.
"How did you know…?" Daiki's eyes widened. He always thought that they were
rumours—that the girl who could sense the shards did not actually exist.
"
Keh," Inuyasha helped Kagome up and dropped to his knees. She climbed on. "Can we hurry the hell up?"
.xx.
Inuyasha and Kagome were standing in front of Sesshomaru. Daiki had announced their presence and bowed out of the room, leaving the two brothers and the human alone. Sesshomaru studied them both and Kagome stared him dead in the eyes. She wasn't afraid of him; if he wanted to kill them, he would've done it
many times before. Sesshomaru didn't really
hate them, at least she believed he didn't. He probably just didn't
like them.
Well, he probably didn't like Inuyasha. Sesshomaru, on more than one occasion, sought Kagome out to help out Rin.
Inuyasha's jaw twitched. "Did you fucking call us here to just stare at us?" he finally exploded. "We
have a mission and we don't have time for your shit."
"Have you ever heard of the
sōzoku-jin no noroi, half-breed?"
Inuyasha frowned. "The sōzoku what?"
Sesshomaru sighed impatiently. Kagome seemed to understand that what Sesshomaru had summoned them for had to be serious so she kept her mouth shut. She glanced over at Inuyasha who seemed to be internally battling his hatred for his brother and the potential seriousness of the situation. Kagome knew deep down inside that Sesshomaru
must've called them for an important reason, otherwise why would he? He was Sesshomaru, and he
disliked (not hated) them. (He
may have thrown out death threats every now and then but he never really carried them out. Kagome figured it was his twisted way of saying that he cared.)
"
Sōzoku-jin no noroi," Sesshomaru repeated. "It is the curse of heirs; a curse that has been placed on the grandfather of our very own grandfather."
Inuyasha growled. "No I don't know of this curse and I don't understand why I should even
know.
You are the Daiyoukai, not me. So deal with your family bullshit yourself, Sesshomaru." He turned to Kagome. "Let's go, wench…"
"
Fool," Sesshomaru blared. "The
sōzoku-jin no noroi affects you as much as it does me! It was bestowed upon our father's great grandfather and as much as I
really hate to admit it, you are blood."
Inuyasha stopped dead cold in his tracks. This had to be serious—his hated half-brother just referred to him as blood…
He glanced at Kagome and their eyes met. Her expression read the same as his:
This must be important. Inuyasha turned back to Sesshomaru. "Go on."
Sesshomaru's eyes flickered between his half-brother and his bitch. They had an unspoken connection right then and there and it made him angry. He was Lord Sesshomaru—he knew all. But when it came to half-brother, he seemed to be stupefied at the most innocent of things; like the relationship between two people. How could a priestess like herself ever find comfort and solace in the arms of a half-demon? Questions that Sesshomaru probably would never find answers to…
"The
sōzoku-jin no noroi is a curse that was placed on our great grandfather many generations ago." Sesshomaru started.
.xx.
"
Kurohyou, I told you to leave the lands of the West," a deep voice bellowed over the billowing wind. The sun was beginning to set and icy cold golden eyes glowered at the petite panther demon that stood before him. "You are not welcome here." "
Hurmph." The panther flicked her waist length black hair. "I am welcome wherever I wish to be welcomed." She sent a quick wink towards the demon before her. Her eyes, shimmering beetle black, held no signs of love or affection as it once did. She hated the man before her, she wanted to destroy the demon in front of her. "
Kurohyou," he said slowly again, "I am warning you." "
Or what?" Kurohyou's voice rose. "What will you do? Leave
me? Inuryōshu, you have done more damage to my heart than you can possibly imagine." Her eyes were deadly. "You already left me—you shattered my heart into a million pieces when you left me for Utsukushi…" Inuryōshu snarled, his eyes narrowing. His silver hair, although pinned at the top with a skull band, blew restlessly in the wind. "You were just an easy rut, Kurohyou." He smirked, his fangs hardly peeking out from behind his lips. "You wanted to spread your legs to any walking male. Utsukushi, however, is a youkai of class- a youkai I would want to mother my pups." Kurohyou's hands fisted, her own pelt billowing with the ominous current of air. "I am a what?" she hissed. "Ryōshu," she summoned him by the suffix to his name, and she knew he hated it. He was the great leader of the Western lands and he commanded great respect. Presently, she wasn't showing him any... "You are fully aware that I command powers that my pack does not?" Inuryōshu rolled his eyes, "Feh. Woman, so do I." "
I possess powers other demons dream
of." "
And as do I." "
I am warning you…" "
As am I." Kurohyou's hands emitted a dark grey aura and her eyes glazed over. "I warned you, Inuryōshu," she murmured, her voice almost mechanical. "You have angered the alpha female of the panther pack and now your bloodline will suffer the consequences." Inuryōshu's eyes widened as the aura began flying towards him. Pulling out his sword, he attempted to block it but it was too much. The aura surrounded him and he began to scream. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" "
You used me… You promised me love, you promised me happiness… you promised that I will be the woman to give birth to your heirs. But you fucked up, Inuryōshu." Kurohyou smirked. "You fucked up bad. From this moment on I will place your entire lineage
on the line for your mistakes. From this day forward, the youngest heir of your bloodline must produce an heir by his 205th birthday. If not, your entire clan will submit to the Panthers. And if you resist…" Inuryōshu's screams were drowned out by the whistling of the winds. "
If you resist, my love…" Kurohyou felt deep hatred for this man. He used her body, he touched her and caressed her in ways no man has ever done before… and he threw her away. He turned around with his tails between his legs and marked a bitch. A female dog… "
If you resist the curse or any of your descendants do, their innards will slowly begin to melt away, leaving them nothing but rotting corpses. They will either take a mate, forcefully and produce an heir, or become the eternal slaves of the Panthers to prevent utter oblivion. But, if they choose not to follow the first two options, then they will most definitely face unavoidable death." "
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS?" Inuryōshu roared. "WHAT DO YOU GET FROM CURSING MY BLOOD?" Kurohyou smirked. "I am using the last of my breath to curse you. I get the eternal satisfaction that your blood will always be forced
to take a mate - from duty alone, not because of the echos of their heart." Kurohyou laughed bitterly. "They will be forced
to produce heirs. They may never truly be happy, as you have not let me
be truly happy.
Live well, Ryōshu. Live knowing your blood will forever hate you." With the last of her breath, Kurohyou's body shone bright white and she exploded, her remnants floating away with the wind as her voice whispered one last echo… sōzoku-jin no noroi
. Inuryōshu fell to his knees... What the hell have I done?
.xx.
Inuyasha was twitching and Kagome's eyes were wide; the half-demon was beyond ticked. "So
we're in a shit pile of trouble because Grandfather Ryōshu was looking for a good rut and settled on a goddamned
panther? I
knew my bloodline was fucking ridiculous!"
Sesshomaru snarled. "I was coming of age before
you were born so the curse was shifted to you. And, if my calculations serve correctly, you are on your 203rd year—you have two more years."
"And what kinda dumb age is 205? Why the hell did she pick 205?"
Sesshomaru sighed. "Possibly because Grandfather was 205 when the curse was placed? How the hell should I
know, Inuyasha? It is my duty to inform you that unless you want every one of our clan members to melt from the inside out, go rut, make pups, and save us for another 205 years."
He snorted. "It isn't fair how all this shit is put onto
my head now. If father was alive, I'd tell him to rut and make another pup."
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Imagine my relief when I found out Izayoi had you."
"Yet you still treated me like shit. You ought to kiss the ground I walk on, asshole."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome finally shouted. "You should be
thankful your brother told you all this information. Otherwise in two years you all would've died and nobody would've known why."
"Or we could just submit to the panthers." Inuyasha shrugged. "Doesn't seem half bad…"
"Have some dignity, fool." Sesshomaru shot icily. "You are Prince of the West yet you so easily talk of submission?"
"I haven't had the life of a prince so why should that matter? A prince without a kingdom is no prince at all." Inuyasha sighed. The severity of the situation was weighing down on him and he looked up at his brother once more. "So we'd all die, huh?"
He knew that they would much rather die than submit to the low ranking panthers. The Dogs were always at a higher rank than them…
always.
Sesshomaru nodded. "Father was an only child and he was forced to produce heirs with my mother. You may not be aware of many factors Inuyasha, but the most I am willing to tell you is that father never loved my mother. He found her convenient to rut with to produce an heir. After that my mother died. Eventually father found
your mother, fell in love with her, and she gave birth to you."
"Damn father," Inuyasha muttered. "Can I have some time to think about this?"
Sesshomaru nodded. "You and your woman may have one night of rest here but you are to leave tomorrow morning. I do not
care for your decision Inuyasha, but I do know you have more sense than to lead our entire race into destruction. Daiki is outside; he will show you to your rooms."
And he dismissed them.
.xx.
Inuyasha and Kagome's room were side by side. Daiki left with a bow and Kagome decided to sit in Inuyasha's room to discuss the events of earlier. He was leaning up against the wall and Kagome was sitting on a futon.
"So what just happened?"
Inuyasha snarled. "I was
just informed that I have two years to produce an heir, that's what. Where the
hell do I even come into all this? I
must've done something in some previous life to piss off some God up there to put me in this fucking situation. Damn you, great grandfather!"
Kagome sighed. "Inuyasha, you can't just ignore the situation though. That's like ignoring Naraku."
"No," Inuyasha muttered, "it
isn't.
Naraku is a mission that all of us have been on since three years because he wants something that belongs to
you.
This however is forcing me to mate and have pups because of my great grandfather's insatiable desire to fuck other demon races."
Kagome wanted to giggle at Inuyasha's choice of words but knew that would not be the greatest of things to do. "So what's gonna happen?" Her own feelings were thrown up into the air. So she loved this demon more than anything and (if asked), she would jump at the opportunity to be his mate, but only given the fact that he returned her feelings.
But the thought of Inuyasha mating another woman boiled her blood. She knew him better than anybody else in the world, even better than Kikyo. Suddenly, the curse just seemed more complicated than she initially thought it would be.
"What are you gonna do?" she repeated her question.
"Sleep." Inuyasha finally said. "I have two years to figure this out. As of now, our main priority is Naraku. After that, we'll figure out what to do."
Kagome nodded. "I guess that makes some sense. What'll you tell Sesshomaru?"
Shrugging, the hanyou pulled off us haori. "To prepare burning from the inside out? I don't really care right now. I haven't slept properly since last night, I want to sleep."
Kagome nodded. She waited expectantly for him to grab her and snuggle with her. But it never came. Her heart panged with hurt, and she watched as Inuyasha climbed onto the futon. He glanced back at her and said, "Can you turn the lamp off before you go to sleep? Thanks."
Fighting back the tears, Kagome did as she was told and quietly stepped out of his room.
That'll teach the wench to sit me that many times. Keh…
.xx.
It was well into the early hours of the morning and Inuyasha hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. Growling, he knew why. It was because Kagome wasn't in his arms. There was still quite some time until sunrise but he couldn't wait that long—Kagome (and himself) had been punished for far too long. Pushing the comforters off of him, Inuyasha walked out of his room and quietly peeked into Kagome's.
She wasn't there.
His alarm bells begin going off immediately. "We-wench?" he called out. Taking a long sniff, he smelt her lingering scent and salt and right away began following it. He rounded a corner and the smell of salt began to get stronger. Finally, Inuyasha broke into a little balcony and found Kagome huddled in a little corner, fast asleep with the streaks of dry tears on her face.
Damn you, wench... His heart pined.
Leave it to you to scare me shitless while I'm tryna punish you. Gathering her in his arms, Inuyasha began a slow trot back to his bedroom. Her sleep only seemed to come comfortably if she was in his arms… as did his.
He smiled warmly down at her and his thoughts went back to what his half brother had told him.
An heir before my 205th birthday... He watched Kagome sleeping peacefully.
Pups... He could imagine how wonderful a mother Kagome would be.
Eliminating those thoughts from his head, he pushed opened the door to his room and placed Kagome on the futon. She frowned at the lack of his body warmth, but right away he joined her in his futon. Her aura relaxed.
I have two years to figure it out. Besides, he placed a tender kiss on her temple,
how can anyone as pure as Kagome love me…
.xx.
Sōzoku-jin no noroi – Curse of Heirs
Beta-edited: Sakura-Chan Master of the Clow
