Strength

Hi all, really sorry for the wait, but its been a busy, stressful and throughly lousy 2 weeks. Mainly work related stuff... but things just seemed to keep coming to a head. Any way really sorry for not respondig to reviews one by one, but please know tat you are all wonderful people and I really really love the support, ideas and interest you have in this fic.

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Chapter 25 : Eclipse Ceremony

Inuyasha stared almost helplessly at Sesshoumaru, he wanted to.. he really wanted to.. punch Sesshoumaru right there on his smirking lips. Just one hard smack, to wipe that irritating smirk off. Oh he was tempted.. 8 years ago he would have, but now ...he wouldn't. He ground his teeth..Bloody Alpha!

Sesshoumaru not even trying to hide the amusement in his eyes turned to Jaken, "Take the pups to the children's celebrations." he ordered. Jaken quickly bowed, ordering some other Youkai around; they began gathering all the children in the hall to take them to the Eclipse party. The Shiro ceremony was not really something young ones would enjoy, more likely the children would cause disruptions during the ceremony; so a party complete with fireworks, games and food was organized for the children instead. All those considered children were escorted out of the hall, a few young adults who did not want to attend the formal function ducked out as well, leaving a certain Hanyou glaring balefully at them.

Unsurprising the Royal Triplets and adoptive pups, were the last to be escorted out. Kishi skipped off, chanting "Boom, boom, boom, BOOM!", more than happy to be out of the formalities, with dreams of fireworks dancing in his head; Mee-chan and Shiori bowed formally and gracefully left, Shippo followed casting a cheeky look back at Inuyasha, who glared at him as well. Traitorous Kit!

Yuusha stood ignoring Jaken's urging and pretending not to have heard Sesshoumaru, instead his gaze was locked on Inuyasha. Feeling Yuusha's glance, Inuyasha turned to his son, Immediately Inuytasha went serious. He looked solemnly at his oldest and simply nodded once. It was a small nod, and most of the audience did not even see it. Only after receiving that message; did Yuusha bow to his Papa, turn and regally walk off; leaving Jaken who was still trying to convince him to leave talking to thin air.

Sesshoumaru had not missed the small snub, done so elegantly that none of the audience even noticed. The audience were actually under the mis-impression that Yuusha was bowing at both of them, Sesshoumaru shared no such delusions. His eyes narrowed in annoyance. Inuyasha caught the look, and he had to admit; he felt damn proud of his son. Sesshoumaru could not outwardly reprimand Yuusha for his behavior because it had been so subtle; the Pup had made it seem that he was just waiting for the others to leave, before leaving himself. But Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru knew better, it was Yuusha's subtle point of showing his loyalty to his Papa, and that small show of unwavering support gave Inuyasha a great deal of comfort.

Then the children were out and the real ceremony began.

The skylight of the Hall opened, and the sun could be seen overhead. The 4 DaiYoukai led Inuyasha to the middle of the hall directly under the skylight. There was an elaborate painting of an intricate Mandala on the ground, that was about 12 square feet in area. At the centre where they made Inuyasha stand was a dark circle drawn inside a six pointed star, the stars points (at 3, 6, & 9 on a clock) touched the sides of the triangle. The triangle sat inside a circle with eight petals fanning out of the outer circumference of the circle, turning it into a flower. Another circle combined the tips of the petals, a square shape was drawn touching 4 points of the circle. The entire was framed within an 8 pointed star. Inuyasha had no idea what the shape meant. It was in fact a Mandala (pattern of power) that had been imported to Japan from Ancient India. This particular mandala was known as a Ganesh Yantra** and it was used to remove obstacles and help achieve success in any endeavour. More importantly the Yantra helped clear the blocks of spiritual and psychic energies, that may be impacting the one for whom the Yantra was created.

Each of the DaiYoukai took the 4 points of the 8-pointed star. The Phoenix to the South, the Dragon to the East, the Lion-Tortoise to the North and Sesshoumaru to the West.

Inuyasha stood straight and tall in the centre. He had an air of bravado around him that belied his inner nerves.

A huge shadow suddenly seemed to cross the room, everyone looked up. The Eclipse was beginning. Youki swirled in the air. Such was the level of demonic energy building in the room, that it became almost a living thing. No matter what their personal views the Youkai in the room were swept away by the gathering forces, putting all of them in a waking trace state. They all began to sway, their bodies unconsciously responding the to ebb and flow of power. Inuyasha in the middle of the Yantra was the only one exempted from the gathering of Youki, he however suddenly could not move, he was physically rooted in place, his own Youki contained in the centre, made him seem to glow.

Sesshoumaru and the DaiYoukai, the only ones not in a semi trance state, were finally able to 'see' the true state of Inuyasha's Youki. The three DaiYoukai did not truly understand what they were seeing, but Sesshoumaru's breath caught at the sight of his younger brother's true state. Inuyasha's Youki which he had seen when summoned by Tessaiga was powerful, bright and swirled with a magnificence of its own. Now the Youki around the Hanyou though undeniably strong was infused with strands and lines of dark energies, that blocked and hindered the once smooth flow. There were areas of black in the Youki where the energy seemed to be feeding on itself, like small black holes within Inuyasha's own aura. And even as Sesshoumaru watched the black holes seemed to greedily consume itself and grow. For the first time Sesshoumaru understood the lengths Inuyasha had taken, the sacrifices he had made to bring their children into the world and keep them safe. And the Daiyoukai knew that while this ceremony would help, it would not be enough to repair the damage and actually save Inuyasha's life. Putting the sudden surge of emotion aside Sesshoumaru focused on the task at hand.

The DaiYoukai in unison began chanting, as the Eclipse turned day to night, and the moon's power flowed free.

Youki expelled by the witnesses, began swirling in the air, it became like a tornado of power moving just above the heads of the audience. The energy split into four separate vortexes of power, the DaiYoukai all raised their left hands, and they all focused on a particular vortex. They continued the chant, their own Youki streamed out towards the Vortex, the two powers combined, and four huge balls of glowing swirling energy formed. Each energy ball was about the size of a room, with the colors reflecting the DaiYoukai whose Youki it had absorbed.

The DaiYoukai said a sharp command, and like an obedient child, the balls of energy floated to their upraised left hands. Red for the Phoenix, blue-green for the Dragon, onyx for the Lion-tortoise and white gold for Sesshoumaru. The Yantra glowed beneath their feet, energy lines spreading outward, bringing the pattern to life. The Yantra pulsed with power.

The moon blocked the sun completely, stars twinkled in the sky, the Eclipse was at its zenith. As one the DaiYoukai raised their right hands, pointing straight towards the wide eyed frozen Hanyou.

Inuyasha watched, he did a good job of hiding his nerves. The energy build up was intimidating. His skin even shielded by the Yantra prickled in reaction to the power in the hall. He found that he had to keep telling himself, that Sesshoumaru did not have to go though so much trouble just to kill him. His eyes widened as he saw the DaiYoukai summon the powers to them, he knew that they could only do it because of the ritual, but none the less, the powers that a DaiYoukai could potentially bring to bear was astounding. The Yantra began to pulse around him, and Inuyasha at its heart was surrounded by the lights. His Youki swirled, at first almost seeming the fight the energies around him, then his energy settled, still separate, it pulsed almost in tune with the energy of the Yantra.

Inuyasha felt his nerves stretch to their very limit as the DaiYoukai raised their right hands towards him. Energy ran through the Daiyoukai, channelled from the energy orbs, through their bodies to their right palms. Their hands glowed, the chanting reached a crescendo and 4 streams of energy cut across the Yantra and hit Inuyasha simultaneously.

The Hanyou's scream reverberated through the hall. His body hyper-extended and glowed with all the colours of the rainbow. The DaiYoukai did not let up, the energy continued to stream into the now silently screaming Hanyou. It seemed to Inuyasha that every cell in his body was being torn apart, the pain was all consuming. The Hanyou glowed and expanded, the energy forced most of the audinece to turn away and shut their eyes, Sesshoumaru's eyes were glued on Inuyasha, every twitch, every expression of pain rebuked the DaiYoukai he wanted to stop but he could not, more energy was poured into Inuyasha, and like a piece of crystal expanding in the heat, Inuyasha's body seemed to come apart at the seams.

Than, a soundless explosion rocked though the great hall. The invisible waves of force had the Youkai falling to the floor, even the DaiYoukai had to brace themselves as they were pushed back by the force of the explosion. The quiet that followed the force wave weighted heavily on the room. The demons all frozen in place, almost afraid to be the first to move.

Light slowly streamed down into the Hall, the full eclipse was over. The shadows slowly began to give way to light.

Sesshoumaru was one of the first to move, his attention captured y the heap of god and red in the middle of the now messed up Yantra. The heap did not move, and a feeling of dread swept through Sesshoumaru, from the corner of his eye he saw the wide eyed wolf demon move forward- a little shakily, immediately Sesshoumaru spurred into action. Before Kouga had taken a second step, Sesshoumaru was kneeling beside Inuyasha and gently lifting Inuyasha's torso to his chest.

Dazed golden eyes, blinked into his, and Sesshoumaru's lips unwillingly stretched into a smile. The power still hung in the air, and the Demon Lord as he focused could see the impact of the ceremony. A wave of relief flooded him and he hugged Inuyasha to his chest. The dark bands that had blocked Inuyasha's energy had been shattered by the explosion, his energy flowed around him freely. The relief however was tinged by sadness as Sesshoumaru noted the black holes of energy were still there, they seemed smaller, but they were there, slowly, silently and constantly devouring the young Hanyou. As the ability to see faded, and Inuyasha's self protective functions came forth, between one second and the next; the Hanyou seemed to draw his Youki into himself , mask the holes and seem perfectly fine.

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed at his brother's stubbornness.

Consciousness returned to Inuyasha's eyes, and in spite of his ordeal, his face went a bright red when he realized Sesshoumaru was cradling him in front of everyone.

"What the hell Sesshou, let me go!" Inuyasha whispered urgently.

Sesshoumaru tightened his hold, his face was an impassive mask "Never!" he said simply.

"Come on, people are staring! Its over, ne?" Inuyasha said as he tried to push away from his Alpha without being too obvious about it.

"No Inuyasha the Eclipse is not quite over yet." Three quarters of the sun had been uncovered, but the moon's power had not quite disseminated.

Golden eyes widened in panic, at the memory of the pain. He shook his head fiercely, "There's more.. no way.. enough already.. pl..." Inuyasha's voice was dry with stress, he was trying his best – but he honestly did not know if he could take more pain. Keh! Like that had ever stopped pain from coming his way. His jaw clenched as he bit back the last word, he lowered his head, stupid fucking coward of a Hanyou, he was Inuyasha he could – he fucking would take it, and he'd be damned before he begged. He inhaled sharply and raised his head, bracing himself for what ever shit Sesshoumaru had in mind.

Inuyasha was turned to face the solemnly watching audience. His back was flush against Sesshoumaru, who had one arm around Inuyasha's chest anchoring him in place. Clawed fingers firmly held Inuyasha's jaw, the hanyou though a warrior, powerful in his own right, was dwarfed by the DaiYoukai who Youki was flowing freely around him, making his white hair around in silvery waves as Moko-moko seemed to dance like a halo around the Lord of Silver ice.

The DaiYoukai looked at the watching audience, his tone never changed though his voice carried to the far ends of the hall. As the last of the Eclipse gave way to the light, Sesshoumaru said in a measured tone "This Sesshoumaru presents to you, the son of Inu Taisho and Princess Izayoi, the destroyer of the Shikon Jewel, defender of humans, demons and even gods, wielder of Tessaiga and Junnsaiga, Lord Inuyasha, Second in command of the Shiro Inus." he paused as he looked pointedly at some of the audience members and continued "Bearer of the heirs of the Shiro Inu's and above all others, this is Lord Inuyasha, beta and mate of this Sesshoumaru."

Before any could process the declaration, Sesshoumaru tilted Inuyasha's head and his fangs pierced the soft skin.

Inuyasha struggled for a second, then sensations flooded though him spreading from his neck to his whole being. It was weird, frightening, amazing and beyond sensual, Inuyasha unconsciously leaned back, audience forgotten, his body arched invitingly, his eyes closed and his lips parted, as his breathing got heavier. Liquid desire washed though his veins.

The audience watched mesmerized.

-tbc-

Sorry eyes closing – I kindda want to write more, but cant. Was the ceremony wah tyou expected? did you enjoy it? Please read and review – its been that kindda few weeks and the reviews really really help.
p.s. *Ganesha Yantra please google it and you will see the images of the pattern, it is a true Yantra that carries the meaning that I gave above. :)