The Life After

8/16/07

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the characters of Inuyasha. I do not own Naraku, Inutaisho, Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Jakken, Rin, or Ah-Un. I also do not own Ayame, the Elder, or Kouga. Nor do I own the lunar rainbow promise. I do not own Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Kirara, or Shippo. I do not own Kohaku, Hachi, Kaede, Kikyo, or Urasue, or ANY of the characters or happenings from Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi is the wonderful creator and owner of said characters, manga, and show. I do not make money off of her characters or this story. Anything that is not owned by her is still owned by the people who own the Inuyasha show and movies. I give them credit for their work as well. I do not make money off of their ideas or episodes. This Disclaimer applies to this and all following chapters.

HOWEVER!!! Riki and Uki are MINE ALL MINE!!! *hugs them* And anyone who tries to steal them away will have Sesshoumaru's wrath upon them!!! XD

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long…it's been an awful month. I'm still kind of out of it so I make no promises that this is a great chapter. So sorry if it's not great, but I did my best, and I hope you all like it. Can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully soonish…

Thanks: No comments?! None at all?!!!! O.o *sigh* So it is with a heavy heart that I upload this chapter…I'm having much better luck with deviantart at this point! :(

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Ukiyomaru heard it first: the soft shuffle of tiny feet and the clunk of a wooden staff. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he could see the dim light from the sunrise lining Riki's gentle features. Uki smiled softly, the footsteps racing ever closer. Suddenly, Ukiyomaru let out a gasp, nearly falling out of the bed. Why on earth was he wrapped in Riki's embrace? If Riki were to wake up, the younger man shuddered, he couldn't begin to answer the frantic questions that were sure to follow. Without any of his usual grace, Uki gave a huge shove, pushing himself out of Riki's arms, only to find himself suddenly without any bed beneath him. With a half gasp, half scream, Sesshoumaru's son thudded to the floor. Riki jerked up instantly, “Wha-?! Huh?! Who's attacking?!” he waved his arms as if trying to fend off some vicious foe.

In the exact same instant as all this was going on, their door slid open and Jakken raced in, waving his staff and screaming, “Masters Ukiyomaru and Riki! Quick! I need your help!”

Ukiyomaru looked over at the small demon confusedly, but Riki still seemed to think they were under attack. Quickly he grabbed up one of their pillows and flung it at the frogish demon with such precision and force that poor Jakken was sent slamming into the wall behind him. “Riki!” Ukiyomaru gasped at the older hanyou's harsh treatment of the early messenger, but it was said in such a shocked tone that Riki took it as a cry for help. Still half asleep, Riki pounced off the bed, landing full force on top of Uki and shielding him with his body. “Riki, what in Kami's name are you doing?!” Ukiyomaru screamed at his cousin's face, which was inches from his own.

“The demons-- fighting-- attack?” Riki's words fell garbled from his lips.

“Would you?! Gerroff!!!” Ukiyomaru shoved his best friend off of him, racing over to pull Jakken to his feet. “Are you ok?”

“Masters! Quickly! The Lord is reviving Urasue!” Jakken's eyes still seemed to be spinning, as he was telling this to the doorway.

Uki guided the small demon by his shoulders til he was facing the boys again. Riki had sat up and was rubbing his head distractedly. He still had no idea what was going on. “Calm down, Jakken! Now tell me, SLOWLY, what is going on?”

“It's your father, Master Ukiyomaru! He has gone mad! He is determined to revive the terrible demon Urasue and have her bring Rin back to life!” Jakken had picked up his staff, having dropped it in the attack, and was waving it wildly.

Ukiyomaru's jaw dropped, but he did not say a word. His mind was whirling frantically around his last conversation with his father.

“A terrible demon?!” Riki finally seemed to understand the situation, and he jumped to his feet, “Then there is no time to waste! Come on, Uki! We have to stop Uncle!” the hanyou raced for the door, running his claws through his ponytail in an attempt to loosen the knots in it.

“No,” Uki said simply.

“What?!” both Riki and Jakken gasped, stopping from their rush out the door to stare at the younger man.

“I said 'no.' Just no,” he said again.

“How can you say no, Uki?! Uncle's going to revive a terrible demon all just to save Aunt Rin! She wouldn't want him to do that!” Riki had come back over to Ukiyomaru's side, trying to get his friend to meet his eyes.

Sesshoumaru's words still rang in Uki's ears: “…it's just so hard! When you've lost the one you care about most in this life.” The hanyou boy sighed, “Riki, who are we to say that what he's doing is wrong?!”

“How can you say that?!” the other hanyou countered angrily, “You know how Dad feels about reviving people! Look at Kikyo! It's just no life at all.”

“I'm sure Father has thought this through. He wouldn't do it if there was anything evil or wrong about it. And this demon, Urasue? She can't be as bad as all that, surely Father is a thousand times stronger than her. She is no threat to our people. Father would NEVER do anything to harm our domain; you know that! I just don't think we have any right to decide whether this is wrong or right,” finally Uki lifted his eyes from the floor to meet his cousin's, “Riki, what if it was me? What if I was dead? Would you bring me back if there was a way? No matter what it was?”

“Uki…,” he whispered back, his heart shattering at the thought of losing his best friend.

“I believe in Father, and I know that he will do the right thing. It is not our place to stop him,” Uki turned his gaze sharply to Jakken, “Right?”

“You…you will not help me, Master Ukiyomaru?” Jakken whimpered sadly.

“No.”

“Master Riki?” the tiny demon looked up hopefully at the other demon prince.

Riki pondered for a minute, then sighed, “No. Uki's right. This isn't our decision. It is Uncle's.”

Jakken sighed as well, “Fine. I guess you are right. I'll just go…deal with the servants…or something. Clearly Lord Sesshoumaru has no need for ME on this venture,” Jakken began to slump away, dragging his staff. Suddenly he paused, “By the way, Master Riki.” The boy looked up. “Inuyasha wishes you to visit when you get a chance. He is lonely.” Then Jakken was gone to find something to keep his mind off the lord who seemed to have no need for him at the moment, mumbling something about being far more loyal than any stupid mortal girl. However it was hard to miss the smile that played on his mouth at the thought of having Lady Rin returned to the castle.

Riki and Uki looked at each other for a moment, both rather flustered and confused. “Boy, what a morning!” Riki laughed suddenly, shaking his head.

“Idiot,” Uki hissed scooping up the pillow that still lay on the floor and beating Riki in the head with it.

“Hey!” Riki grabbed the other pillow. A playful fight ensued that knocked several candles out of their holders and completely destroyed the neatness of their bed.


Sesshoumaru slipped off of his cloud, landing silently on the ground. He did not wince or falter in his step, though the surrounding land was the inside of a volcano. The ground was cracked with lava and steam, but it was nothing to him. Even his silken boots did not catch aflame. Jakken would've been whimpering miserably and hopping from foot to foot, but the great dog demon lord hardly even felt it. He walked the ember landscape until he reached a strange little cave-like forge. He stopped suddenly and listened. Sure enough, a quiet whimper echoed out from the forge. “Totosai,” he said plainly, and the whimpering fell silent, “I am well aware you are in there. I suggest that you come out, and do NOT make me come in.”

A moment of silence, then a very old man crawled out of the cave. Standing upright, the old man locked his insanely large eyes with immensely small pupils on Sesshoumaru. “I've told you a thousand times, and I'll say it again: I will not forge you another sword. The Tenseiga is an amazing masterpiece, and you should learn to appreciate it!” his long gray mustache and scraggly beard wagged as he spoke. His voice was old and cracked, and he sounded wise and foolish all at the same time. The few long hairs that lined his balding head were pulled up into a poof of a ponytail high atop his head. He was dressed in a green, black striped kimono, and he held a very long mallet across his shoulders.

“You are correct, Totosai. I have come to greatly appreciate the Tenseiga. HOWEVER, I have heard it is capable of yet another trick that I need you to teach me,” Sesshoumaru sighed, he always hated dealing with this arrogant old man who was terrified of him.

“I will not forge you a sword! You ungrateful wh-… What?” Totosai blinked his large eyes, scratching his head, “You actually mean to say you appreciate the Tenseiga?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it's about time! Your father gave up a great fang for that sword! I'll have you know, and I spent years forging it! One of the three greatest swords I ever made,” the blacksmith prattled away angrily at Sesshoumaru's lack of previous appreciation in the Tenseiga.

With another sigh, the dog demon lord brought a clawed hand above his eyes to massage away his sudden urge to beat the man. “Silence!” he growled finally, to which Totosai stopped abruptly and whimpered, shielding his face with his mallet wielded in front of him. “Teach me how to cut away the years from a soul. Do it quickly, for I am losing my patience at all these side trips.”

Totosai's three-eyed cow, Momo, lowed softly; its moo echoing awkwardly between the demons. “I've already completely reforged the Tenseiga when you were unable to unlock the Meidou Zangetsuha yourself! Also you can revive people from the dead and greatly injure the undead or any from the Otherworld! Why would you ask anything more of this sword?! Already it is not being used to it's full potential. You can save a thousand lives in one swing with the Tenseiga, but have you ever?! No! Why should I teach you something else that you will greatly under use?” Totosai grumped.

“Did you miss the part where I said I have little patience?” Sesshoumaru gave the old man a death glare that sent him cowering back into the mouth of the cave.

“Go and save a thousand lives, and then I will consider teaching you!” the demon blacksmith called back at him.

Instantly Sesshoumaru was on his knees, so as not to hit his head on the low forge's ceiling, his glowing green claws wrapped around the old man's throat, “And there goes my patience. I do believe I heard you wrong. What was it you said to me?”

“I said, 'Of course I'll teach you right now whatever it is you wish to know,' are you deaf?” Totosai brought his mallet down on the dog demon's head, “Stupid pup.”

Ignoring the minor head wound, Sesshoumaru released the old man, “Forgive me, I guess I heard you wrong the first time.” Normally the taiyokai was not one to apologize, but he knew it was a battle of tempers between himself and the old demon. If he were ever to learn this new technique, he would have to at least let Totosai think he had won.

“So,” the old demon crossed his legs, reaching out a hand for the Tenseiga, which Sesshoumaru was now handing him, “You wish to learn the Katta-ukiyo technique?” He examined the Tenseiga closely and was actually impressed with how much better care the full demon took of his sword as compared to Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga.

“Katta… Ukiyo?” Sesshoumaru smirked softly to himself, looking over his shoulder as if actually seeing the far away castle where his son resided.

“Do not laugh at the Tenseiga's attacks!!!” followed by a mallet whap on the demon lord's head, “and pay attention!”

Sesshoumaru sighed, turning back to the blacksmith, “I was merely commenting that I could not think of a better name for the technique.”

“Oh, very good then,” Totosai smiled, quite pleased with himself, then he thrust the sword back into Sesshoumaru's hand, “and take better care of your sword! It's a wreck.”

The taiyokai raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Neither did Totosai.

Finally Sesshoumaru cleared his throat.

“What?!” the demon blacksmith grumped.

“Are you going to teach me this Katta-ukiyo or not?!”

“Oh… yes. I had forgotten.”

Sesshoumaru's eye twitched.

“The Katta-ukiyo is a VERY hard technique to master, Sesshoumaru, far harder than the Meidou or the healing Tenseiga. To do so, you will have to defeat--”

“Some great and powerful demon? How frightening…,” Sesshoumaru said stoically.

“I have no worry that you will be unharmed, however, I do not think you can defeat this demon, Sesshoumaru,” Totosai crossed his arms.

“Excuse me?” the younger demon glared.

“He is not of the undead nor from the Otherworld, and yet you must defeat him with the Tenseiga if you wish to unlock its true power.”

Sesshoumaru blinked, “But I cannot harm the living with this sword. I cut Jakken in half with it, and he was completely fine! How am I supposed to kill a live demon with a sword that can only harm the dead?!”

“That, young pup, is the trick. In figuring out how to defeat him, you will come to understand how to unleash the Katta-ukiyo,” the demon blacksmith nodded, his poofy topknot bobbing, “The only tip I will give you is this: You cannot kill any soul with Katta-ukiyo. That is not what the Tenseiga is meant for.”

“Very well, then. If this is what I must do to save Rin, then I shall. Inform me of the demon's whereabouts.” Sesshoumaru reappeared outside the forge, being far too dignified to crawl out as Totosai was forced to.

The old demon pulled at his beard, thinking quietly to himself, before finally responding, “Have you been to the Southern Lands much?”

“Not recently, but there was a time when I searched them completely,” the taiyokai knew the lands quite well now, having searched for Rin there when she had fled the castle.

“Searching for some demon I assume?”

“No, actually. A human.”

At this Totosai sputtered, “You went out of your way to kill some HUMAN?!”

“Of course not.” Totosai heaved a sigh of relief. “I was trying to save her.”

Which sent the old man sputtering again. It was highly unlike the great demon lord to go out of his way even just to kill a human, but to do so to SAVE one was unheard of.

“Demon?” Sesshoumaru prodded.

“Oh, yes. Yes… The demon you are looking for is named Enmei. I'm afraid I don't know much more about him than his name. It is said that he is as white as snow, but it is also rumored that he is as black as soot. No one knows for sure what he is or how he looks, but it is certain that he has lived far longer than any other demon, longer than me and your father combined. However I can tell you he resides near Hakuchou Lake.”

“Very well. Thank you,” Sesshoumaru turned and stalked away across the fiery landscape.

“Thank you?” Totosai rubbed his balding head, “Sesshoumaru! Wait!”

“Yes?” he stopped, but did not turn.

“Why is it you seek to unlock the Katta-ukiyo?”

“I have no need of bringing a thousand souls to life one time. Instead I wish only to bring just one soul to life a thousand times! I will definitely get back that sweet smiling face!” without another word, Sesshoumaru turned into a little ball of light and floated away from the volcano towards the Southern Lands.

“How strange… Sesshoumaru saving human lives and desiring the return of just one specific soul? He has certainly changed since he was a pup,” the demon blacksmith shrugged his old shoulders, turning back to his forge, “But as long as he's not threatening to kill me, I really don't care!”


Riki was shoveling down his breakfast, but Uki was sitting quietly, poking at his food. He was wondering where his father was at that exact moment, hoping he would find some way to save his mother, and fearing the sadness that would line his eyes if he failed. These were not the only thoughts that troubled the younger hanyou, however. He had also been thinking deeply about telling Riki of his newfound feelings. Of course that only lead to thoughts of how horribly wrong that conversation could go. Then again, Riki had promised he could talk to him about anything, but surely he wouldn't have considered that Ukiyomaru might have fallen in love with him and would want to talk about that. Poor Uki's mind was spinning with all his worry.

“Yo, Uki?!” Riki's big mouth cut through his thoughts. “You keep worrying like that and your pretty silver hair will fall out,” he snickered.

“Well, actually, I was hoping if I worried all the time, then YOUR hair would fall out,” the younger dog demon retorted.

The older boy let out a gasp as if he had been run through with a sword, “Uki!!! How could you even THINK such a terrible thing!!!”

Sesshoumaru's son smacked Riki's hand away from his plate so quickly that a human couldn't have even seen the motion. Riki pouted, but Uki simply swiped up his Hakuto jelly covered toast and munched on it calmly.

“It's not nice to be greedy,” Riki whimpered, glaring down at his cleaned plate.

“Oh, yes, Riki. I'm definitely the greedy one,” Uki rolled his eyes, taking another happy bite of his breakfast.

“Y'are,” the older boy crossed his arms and slouched in his seat, glaring out of the corner of his eye at his cousin.

Ukiyomaru smiled brightly, Riki having dissipated his worries, wondering what their second day as lords would bring.