Captured and Trapped

Hi everyone !
Not much to say, so I hope you will enjoyed this new update !

For the reviews, thank you. Really, all your comments and words of support went directly in my heart. Thanks, truly.
Thank you to Pandora for her corrections as beta of this chapter again and thanks for the idea for the title of this chapter 22.


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Chapter 22 :
Honor What Is Right

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As his instincts were raging in his veins, Sesshomaru was waiting. He knew that struggling would not help him in getting to the Miko that his primal instincts were asking to protect, so he stayed unmoving; his ears strained to try to capture any sound that would indicate what was happening outside of the cell he was trapped in. He couldn't, however, stop a growl from escaping from time to time, showing his displeasure and anger.

Some time ago, the young Miko had stopped screaming and yet, they didn't bring her back to the cell as they usually do as soon as they are done with her. Questions were clashing against each other in his mind.
Usually, they would bring her back as soon as Naraku had finished trying to 'persuade' her to accept his ludicrous proposition. But now, the minutes were ticking by with, still no trace of the human. Did something happen?

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of the DaiYoukai's stomach. Maybe the dark hanyou went too far this time and the Miko was… Bile rose to his throat at the idea.

Effectively, for him, she was just a human but she had been the only one who had ever won some real respect in all the members of the species, beside Rin. Plus, he was, reluctantly, indebted to her; without her interference, it might have taken days or maybe weeks, but nonetheless the poison would have ended by taking his life, slowly and painfully. His youki been almost inexistent, it would not have kept him alive for long, he admitted grudging.


Yet unofficially and not acknowledged by the others, she was a member of his pack and she deserved a better death, like dying on a battlefield but not here. Even if she didn't really interest him personally, it would be a stain to his clan and family for her to end like that. It would not be one but two members of his family failing to protect a mere human at the same time, if she were to fall now.

He had always known that the female was stubborn, in fact a lot like his hanyou of a brother, but with some intelligence added to counter balance, something his brother was totally lacking. He was still impressed that she resisted this long. However, he was starting to see some signs that weren't announcing anything good.

Naraku has a lot of patience, but at any moment he could crack; Sesshomaru 'feared' that he finished by killing the Miko because she was still refusing him. The demon Lord had remarked that the woman was more and more savagely attacked after each day and one day the hanyou might go too far in blind anger. Even if he wished for the stronger Miko to pass her powers to him, it wasn't like that human was the only Miko around who could provide the dark hanyou with a child.


Sesshomaru's instincts, his bestial side, were screaming at him to make sure that the human was still alive. His pride asked that she lived and resisted. She had been made somehow part of his pack and the DaiYoukai would be bothered to have badly judged the woman by thinking her worthy of his time and help. He had bent so low as to take care of her injuries himself and the demon Lord would be angered to have done so for nothing.

Then there was another possibility: the human didn't die and instead cracked and accept the scandalous proposition of Naraku. After all, someone can only take so much before losing hope. He knew that if in her place, most members of his clan would have abandoned by now. However, that would mean that Sesshomaru had misjudged the human severely and the demon Lord hated being remotely wrong or to lose. It wasn't in his nature. It was because she had appeared superior in numerous traits than most of his subordinates, in her human way of course, that he had bother with her at all; that she had been worthy to protect, only because she was so different that the other pathetic humans. Most of the women of his clan, as most demoness in general, were whining and vicious creatures, interested in only money and jewelry, as were the human females. But she was different.


However, if she had accepted Naraku's proposal, then Sesshomaru will have no other choice than to kill her himself in a way of regaining part of her honor for having tainted it by not preferring death. He was ready to do just that but his more primal side was pretty sure of his choice and that she would not bend to the dark hanyou's will.

Of course, no one of his clan will ever hear about it. Never will he acknowledge publically to having found a human woman worthy enough in any shape or form to be made part of his clan. It was a private matter that he would not even voice and it will stay as such, only for the privacy of his mind.


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After maybe one hour, the door of the cell opened. It was a good thing because the DaiYoukai bestial side was driving the Inu nuts. Sesshomaru watched with an impassible, unreadable face when the two ugly reptilians youkais walked in, throwing what was left of the proud and outspoken female on the floor.

His eyes flashed between golden and red when the strong scents of blood and poison attacked his sensible nostrils. He didn't know why; but he had to stop himself and resist the urge to sigh in…relief, when he heard the faint sound of her beating heart.

Another oddity, this time, their captors didn't stop to taunt him. In fact, they didn't even glance towards him, as if he was not there at all, pinned to the wall. They stepped out without a backwards glance. One of the two walked back in just long enough to leave the tray with whatever was needed to take care of her injuries and left. Then the door was closed, leaving the DaiYoukai alone with the barely alive young Miko.

As soon as he was freed, Sesshomaru was at the woman's side. His cold heart almost stopped when he saw the damage that had been done. If he had not been able to hear her heart, he would have thought her dead.
Slowly, almost hesitating and with barely restrained anger, he moved what was left of her clothes out of the way. It wasn't like it was covering much anymore anyways. She was a total mess; not even a centimeter of her back was left unmarred by lacerations. Sesshomaru was use to gory sights but his instincts were screaming at him, clawing in the confine of his mind, unable to contain his rage. Even if he wasn't a happy Inu to be in this situation, he was supposed to protect her…and failed.


The demon Lord suddenly froze when he heard a soft 'click'. Sesshomaru's head snapped towards the door as the dormer was opening slowly.

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The adolescent boy was horrified at the sight that was awaiting him in the cell. There, in the middle of the room was the human woman, unconscious. Tears welled up in his eyes. It was horrible. She was suspended over a pool of her own blood. The rise and fall of her chest was the only indication that she was still alive.
The young Miko's body was almost entirely bare to the eye. He could only see her front and he did not particularly care to see her back, knowing what he would see.

He had heard the others talk about what was to be done to the human today and it had scared him. It was normally a type of torture reserved for youkai because of the effect of the strong poison. The knowledge had been a gift to their clan a hundred years ago by a dark sorceress. He had heard the story so often as he was a mere child. Sensing her end close, the woman had wished to pass her secret and she had chosen them. But there was a condition, a promise made… and they just broke it. The members of the clan present that day swore on their honor to never use this poison on a woman and to never let the secret escape the control of the clan. But they just betrayed their promise. Worst, they did it on a human female and a Miko. If they weren't cursed before they were now.


He couldn't believe that his family had a hand in that. He couldn't believe that his father was the one responsible for this carnage on the pale skin of the Miko. In any other situation, he would have blushed at seeing a young woman almost completely naked, but not in this gruesome situation. The young demon knew that he shouldn't be there but he felt himself rooted to the spot, unable to truly process what was in front of him. He wasn't even born when the previous Northern Lord had been on the throne and he had only heard rumors of what his clan and family was charged to do for that cruel Lord, but in the last couple of months, he had been able to witness it with his own eyes and for the first time, he felt ashamed of his origins. Not only was his family doing immoral things but they were taking pleasure in the act of torture, it was very evident.

After the death of the Lord, they could have changed their way of life; it was a second chance for that they had been given, however his clan had refused and almost everyone had been killed in the 'purifying' vendetta of the new Lord of the Northern Lands. His own mother had fallen not long ago and for what…for that! He thought vehemently. He couldn't bear it. His spine stiffed when he felt someone coming closer and closed the door back as it had been before.

The young youkai hid in one of the unused cells when he heard his Uncles come to take the girl away. Those two love to torture and break people but he could see their uneasiness when they had smelled the familiar poison floating in the air. That's when he decided that he should do something.

He was conscious that he couldn't do much but he had to do something for the young woman. She didn't deserve to be handled like that.

He had observed his Lord and he didn't like him. He was just a monster. Apparently, he wanted something from the young Miko and she was refusing.

Everything went directly to Hell since that dark male with ruby eyes had come to find them, the supposed extinct clan, all those months ago. They had to stay hidden to maintain the illusion that all the clan had been killed long ago and were living in the forest not far from here. His clan had decided to hide to protect themselves but they protected this cave too. They were bonded to it. He had always loved to be in the galleries, and even played here, underground, when he was younger. But now, he cannot go down there without shivering uncontrollably.

Now the cave, this prison had taken to his primary use: a place of pain where death was the only liberation. At the moment, there was the terrible Lord of the West and a young Miko in the cell, but not long ago, there were the screams of priests, monks and Mikos that the dark Lord had made them capture and torture.


The young reptilian youkai walked out of the cave as quick as he could, passing the enchanted entry, and went to seek something to help the human, not realizing that he had been observed…