In His Arms

All previous disclaimers apply.

Something was off. He knew it before he even attempted to open his eyes. His body tensed as he listened carefully to all that was happening around him. For a battle, it was too quiet. In fact, he could hear nothing at all. The startling realization forced his eyes open though the lids were heavy and all he really wanted to do was stay where he was, prone on the ground, resting if not sleeping. It was the battlefield he saw as he opened his eyes. Yet, something was wrong about the way it looked. The colors, the red of the blood, the green of the tree just above him, they were all muted and the edges were soft as if a fine mist had settled in a thin layer over everything. He stood cautiously, keeping his eye on the tree, mentally checking his body for injuries as he rose. As far as he could tell, he was not harmed. His movements felt slow, as if he was being forced to make them in water, but nothing hurt and nothing pulled as he carefully tested each of his muscle groups. It was a strange sensation, he thought, not to be able to feel the ground under his feet while he still felt his own body. But, he did not allow himself to dwell on it long. The curiosity as to what was happening soon overwhelmed him and he stopped his self-examination. Satisfied, he turned around, and felt his heart stop.

His mate was still fighting the Foul Hanyou. She looked beautiful as her power focused into blasts of color and heat that were disintegrating whatever they touched. He could not help the smile as he realized that she no longer needed her bow to focus her energy. Truly his mate was the most powerful human woman who had ever been born. He roared with fury and tried to rush to her side when a tentacle that had come out of nowhere pierced her shoulder and she was driven to her knees before she reached back, grabbed hold of the tentacle, and purified it completely. When he fell to his knees beside her he reached out to take her in his arms and roared again in anger when his hand went right through her.

“What trick is this?” He screamed to the sky. What had Naraku done now that was keeping him away from his injured and fighting mate?

“No trick,” a voice he knew well chuckled darkly from behind him and he whirled around to see Inuyasha, his clothing and eyes bright against the muted colors that surrounded him, “Come on, Sesshomaru, think it through.”

Though Inuyasha’s voice was gentle and his eyes seemed kind and calm Sesshomaru felt the customary anger rise in his chest. How could Inuyasha, who had attacked his mate, was standing there doing nothing to help her. Sesshomaru began his attack on his brother and was stopped short when he realized that his body was at Inuyasha’s feet, muted, pale, and unmoving. He fell to his knees beside it, tried to touch, and moaned in realization when he found that his hand went through as surely as it had when he had tried to touch Kagome. He looked up to see Inuyasha looking down on him, for once a truly open, unguarded expression on his face.

“Understand now?” Inuyasha asked quietly, “It took me a minute, too, to realize what was happening.”

Sesshomaru felt a despair unlike anything he had ever known sweep over him, leaving him feeling weak. He moaned again, “I swore to protect her.”

“And you did,” Inuyasha assured him, offering a hand to help his brother up. Sesshomaru took it, for the first time feeling no animosity toward his brother at all. They were dead. What was the point now? “I watched you die for her, Sesshomaru. You protected her with your life. Now all we can do is wait.”

“But, for what?” Sesshomaru asked quietly, even as they began watching Kagome in her single handed battle against Naraku once more. Where had the others gone? He wondered if they were perhaps dead as well. But, then, wouldn’t they have been with Inuyasha and himself? He growled deep in his chest as he watched Kagome narrowly dodge a tentacle aimed for her stomach. It was a mistake on Naraku’s part, he knew, to do anything that might harm the pups his mate carried inside of herself. It would only make her angry, and when she was angry she was a truly magnificent fighter, especially if she had something to fight for. Inuyasha knew it to be true as well and watched with attentive eyes, mumbling under his breath unintelligibly as they watched Kagome. Sesshomaru knew that he was mumbling battle advice because he was thinking the same exact things, though there wasn’t much either of them would change about the way she was fighting.

She was perfection, each movement graceful and deadly as she used her anger to forward her cause. As more and more of Naraku’s body was purified away from him the tentacles attacks became harsher, no longer refined. Naraku had progressed beyond trying to kill her gracefully and was just trying to kill her now. She still looked like a creature of pure deadly grace. Perhaps she could win.

“She cannot win, my sons.” A voice that Sesshomaru remembered well and Inuyasha had never heard had them both turning. Sesshomaru did not let the tears that flooded his eyes fall as Inuyasha was doing, but he could understand why Inuyasha would cry. It was the first time he had seen his father just as it was the first time Sesshomaru had seen him since he had become almost exactly like him. He had felt guilty over the things that had been said prior to his father’s death and had been wishing for months that he had had a chance to apologize. He wondered if he would still be able to allow himself to do it with Inuyasha present.

Inutaisho approached his sons slowly out of the mist that made things fade into the background, just as bright and alive as he had been the last time Sesshomaru had seen him. Both Inuyasha and himself kept their hands to themselves even as their father stopped feet away from both of them. Sesshomaru could see the effort it was costing Inuyasha not to reach for him and knew it was difficult for himself as well, not to reach out and touch his father’s armor so well remembered just to see if he was really there. His mind instead caught on what his father had said.

“What do you mean she cannot win? She is the most powerful being who has ever existed.” He hissed in his father’s face, choosing to get defensive rather than emotional.

“Agreed,” his father merely smiled, taking all of the anger away with that one expression, “You chose well for your mate, my son. But, she cannot win because she protects the growing pups within her, as any mother should. The Hanyou will use this to his advantage and she will die, along with the pups, unless something is done.”

“What the hell can we do when we’re dead?” Inuyasha screamed, frustrated, the joy at seeing his father breaking under the fact that Kagome would die unless someone was there to help her.

“Peace, my son,” Inutaisho held up a hand to silence both of his fuming children, “Even in the land of the dead we are not unaware of what happens in the world of the living. When the need is great enough, the very rules of life and death themselves can be broken. It has been decided that the Hanyou must die. He has taken life and death into his own hands and taken lives that were not yet meant to be ended. And so, unto him, we have decided to send the both of you once more.”

“What are you saying?” Inuyasha muttered.

“You are both to be given a second chance at life. Take it, defeat the Hanyou, and live well until your true time comes.” He lifted his hands and set them to his son’s chests, “I am proud of both of you, my sons. And so are your mothers. Until we meet again.”

“Father,” Sesshomaru looked his father in the eye as the light began to grow. His father just smiled gently and nodded in acknowledgement, understanding. Inuyasha mimicked his brother and set a hand on his father’s wrist, connecting them all as the light grew too bright for them to keep their eyes open.

He could feel the light as it faded against his lids and heard the sounds of the fight just behind him, his mate grunting with effort, tentacles rushing by, cutting the air. With a cough he did not expect, he took in a gasping breath and sat up. He could see, just to his left, Inuyasha doing the same. He turned to look at his brother and nodded when Inuyasha grinned and jerked his head in the direction of the half destroyed Naraku.

“Why won’t you just die, bitch?” Naraku no longer cared that he had lost his cool exterior, so carefully honed over the years. He wanted the Dog Lord’s Bitch dead! He had planned so carefully to break her, giving him ultimate power. It had all been going so perfectly. She had been exactly where he had wanted her. He would have come for her in the next day or two, but then Sesshomaru had shown up and taken her the one place he never would have attacked himself. He was not stupid enough to have anyone but himself go to fetch her, knowing that she would have killed whoever he had sent. And he never would have attacked Nishi himself. One did not go to the enemy, one made sure that the enemy came to you. He knew he would get her out if he let the kit go, so he had done so, but he had never expected in all his years that she would have mated the dog or that they would have gathered all of the lords to rise against him. What should have been the most simple move of all had cost him all of his generals, all of his slaves, and all of his army. As it was, he was going to have to rebuild himself and his forces even after she was dead. Or he could just use, the jewel, he expected. The voice that had whispered in his ear ever since he had taken the jewel shards had assured him of wonders to be had as long as he held the completed, unpurified jewel. He had no doubt, especially with Sesshomaru and Inuyasha dead, that he would kill the annoying priestess. It was just that it was taking so damn long! He was so concentrated on her dodging him, pleased with the way her blood was spilling down her shoulder from the wound he had given her, that he never even noticed Inuyasha until his torso had been grabbed and held from behind.

He twisted his head and gasped, “I watched Sesshomaru kill you!”

“Didn’t take,” Inuyasha grunted.

“It will this time!” He grunted when, with a burst of pain, the tentacles he had been aiming for Inuyasha’s back were destroyed. He turned to see Sesshomaru grinning, an expression he had never seen on the dog Lord, as he nodded to Inuyasha. He didn’t even realize what was happening until Inuyasha’s hand was through his chest, the jewel clenched in a closed fist.

Kagome wasn’t quite sure that she believed what she was seeing as Inuyasha punched his hand through Naraku’s chest and tossed the jewel to her. Perhaps Naraku had mortally wounded her and she was lying on the ground, her mind creating a world for her where she could finish what she had started. She might as well, she knew, then maybe her soul could be at peace and she could join her mate. Perhaps in the next world she could still have her babies. She smiled, at peace, seeing her mate appear at Naraku’s shoulder. She cocked her head and brought the pieces of the jewel she had been keeping out of the little jar, pushing all of them together and fusing them with her power. Just as the jewel cleared she watched, satisfied as her mate used his claws to decapitate the one who had killed them all. With a smile she made the wish she had always planned to make.

“Let the evil of Naraku be no more.”

“Good work, child,” Midoriko’s voice whispered in her ear even as another screamed in agony.

She looked down at the jewel, now just a pretty piece of glass, and allowed herself to slip to her knees, exhausted. She wished her body would just die already. She was ready to see her mate. As if her thoughts had been heard, Sesshomaru appeared at her side, taking her in his arms and allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.

“Amazing,” she murmured, setting a hand to his face, “You’re even more beautiful in death.”

“Death?” Sesshomaru smiled. She was wounded, she was exhausted, and she was a little bit more than a little bit confused. He kissed her gently, “Sleep, my mate. You deserve it. All will be well when you waken.” He watched as she fell into a peaceful sleep and turned to walk back to the camp. He didn’t even blink as Inuyasha fell into step beside him.

“I cannot hate you any longer, brother,” Sesshomaru said quietly as they walked, “Not when I will be the sire of hanyou children myself. But, there is too much bad blood and I am afraid that I will always be resentful that you had my mate before I did.”

Inuyasha’s voice was calm as he answered, “I’m not asking to be your best friend, Sesshomaru. I never could be. That bad blood and all. But, she is important to me. I’ll always carry the regret that she is your mate and not mine, even if I take a mate someday, but I can’t just abandon her. She’s yours, I understand. But, she’s my best friend. Please do not ban me from her.”

“Would you listen if I did?”

“I…” Inuyasha looked away, “I would try.”

“What?”

“I’m trying to respect you, Sesshomaru, as the lord of the Western lands and my older brother. For her.”
Sesshomaru looked at him, shocked. Inuyasha just grinned and shrugged.

“But, can we still pound on each other when we get on each other’s nerves?”

Sesshomaru just grunted. No, he would never be friends with his brother. But, perhaps they could learn to tolerate each other. For the woman he held in his arm. He looked at Inuysha again. Only for her.

Author’s Note: I have one more chapter planned. I’ve been thinking of an epilogue containing the birth of the pups, but I’m not sure if I’ll do it or not. Please let me know if there’s interest in it. If there’s enough, I’ll make sure to add it! Final chapter should be up late tomorrow! Thanks so much for sticking with this story!