UnBound Memories

A/N: Thank you to my reviewers, I'm sorry it took so long for this. I'm in a play (Chicago) at the moment and it's eating up half of my life for the moment.

luvsjazz, I've tried to make Katsuro somewhat sympathetic. fuuha, this chapter will clear up that question. nette, I tried to make it a good twist.

Chapter 32

Safe

Sesshomaru tried to argue with the female hanyou not to go get the filthy flesh-peddler, but apparently, she had been given strict orders to retrieve the little monkey demon if anything at all went wrong with the inu lord. Sesshomaru fought the powers of the collar, and though his own body seemed certain to win, he could feel a tightening in his abdomen, a sensation that if he couldn’t at least push the thoughts of destroying the filthy vermin who ran this brothel to the back of his mind, the child he carried would certainly be lost.

The demon lord had managed all of his life to guard his emotions, and now, now the daiyoukai wanted to cry. Feeling the hot tears on his cheeks, he realized he already was. He had finally been given the chance by fate to have some bit of happiness, and it was being taken away. And if he couldn’t manage to keep his anger in check, to at least cool his desire to rip the little monkey into tiny pieces, the pup he could feel weakening inside of him would be dead.

He focused all of his thoughts on stopping the tears, stopping the fear, trying to withdraw into himself as he had done before. He put his concerns only on keeping the pup safe, seeing Miroku again, embracing his son again. He didn’t even care that such a thought would have earned a self-chastising for crossing his mind, as he was still loathe to admit that despite his efforts to show otherwise, he felt something other than fatherly toward his son, frequently more motherly. But now, that didn’t matter. He had a family, even those he might call friends to return to.

“So, you realized some of the consequences of naughty thoughts,” Sesshomaru heard Saruwatari said from the entranceway. “That collar forces you into obedience. What part of obedience do you not understand? Or is it that as a lord, you’ve never had to learn it?”

Sesshomaru, on his knees, one hand at his stomach, the other bracing him on the ground, growled at the retched little creature.

“Lord Katsuro will be pleased if he should return to find you in such a position. It is nearly certain proof that you are pregnant, Lord Sesshomaru. You know, you might as well allow the pup to die. It will happen either way.”

Sesshomaru dug his claws into the floor before leaping up at the filthy vermin, claws extended. Midway through his attack, he found himself once again on the floor, fighting back stinging tears as he gripped once again onto his midsection, feeling his youkai draining from himself in incredible amounts to supply his pup.

“I see that even the threat posed to your own flesh and blood is not enough to calm you, Lord Sesshomaru,” Saruwatari said, starting to leave. “Perhaps I can find another method.”

The little demon, hardly one that would be worth Sesshomaru’s time in any other situation, walked out, barking orders about removing barriers. Within seconds, sounds of torment rocked through the compound, screams of men and women being taken against their will, noises that Sesshomaru, himself, had not been able to make, but had resounded, echoing in his head all the same so many years before. He fought off a nervous sweat that threatened to chill him to the bone, tried to keep his dread from showing on his face, fighting off memories he had thought had become nothing but the occasional haunting nightmare.

“Lord Sesshomaru,” the male hanyou said, kneeling beside the daiyoukai. “I had… I had no idea…”

Sesshomaru looked over to the female, who was in the corner, slowly losing control of herself.

“He does this to you? Daily?”

“Until we break,” the male said. “Then, you just go numb, try to take your mind somewhere else, trying to never enjoy this. Once you enjoy it…” The hanyou closed his eyes. “Well, once you willfully submit, you get one of these.” He gestured to the collar. “But that still doesn’t mean you may ever enjoy it again.”

“So you… at one point found… pleasure in this?” Sesshomaru asked, eyebrows raised.

The half ookami shook his head, though his eyes held evidence when the truth was otherwise. “A disgraced beta, like your mate.” Bitterly, he added, “Saruwatari has a sick pleasure in us. And so do some of the clients. It is not a fate I wish on anyone… except perhaps Saruwatari.” With that, the ookami winced in pain, but seemed to gain control of his thoughts quickly enough.

For the daiyoukai, the painful memories were blocking out all other, vicious thought, and Sesshomaru was able to remove his arms from his abdomen and move his hands to his ears, trying to block out the sound.

********

InuYasha stalked through the fortified compound, his newfound little sister at his side, Kouga grumbling behind them. Outside the compound, Sango and Hitomi waited with Rin, Jaken, and the other two wolves, all doing their best to patrol the surrounding area for signs of someone escaping. At the western end of the compound, opposite InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo--who had refused to be left behind, and their grown daughter were fighting their own way through.

Saying that InuYasha felt a bit dazed from the recent revelations was an understatement, though Kouga’s grumblings that he wanted to be in the group with Kagome and Takara did keep him grounded in reality.

Manami, who InuYasha felt ridiculous for not noticing before as his father’s daughter, stood by his side, easily sealing the doors with incredibly powerful ofuda. Even when they had to fight a demon, it was usually very weak, and it nearly made the effort of fighting them worthless.

Wanting to know more about his family and his future self, InuYasha talked to the taller demoness, trying to hide his nervousness at what revelations might come from this information.

“So,” he said, quickly hacking through a pathetic demon trying to attack the three, “you’re my sister and Takara is my daughter…”

Manami smiled warmly before using her energy whip on another horned creature attacking them. “Yes.”

“And Yasashiku, then, he’s…”

“Your son, dog-breath,” Kouga said behind them, obviously irritated. “How dense are you?”

“Shut up, you dumb wolf.”

“Bite me, mutt.” Kouga ripped apart another demon with his claws, InuYasha merely turning to glare at him.

“Was I,” InuYasha said, a little unsure of himself, “was I a good brother to you?”

“You still are.” Manami rubbed InuYasha’s shoulder before tossing another ofuda on a door to block a new barrage of demons. “Though you were more like an uncle. I grew up with Takara and Yasashiku like siblings. They’re only five years younger than me.”

“But, I was never cruel to you, or treated you badly, did I?”

“No.” Manami looked down at him, her now violet eyes so like Miroku’s it was frightening. “Though I hated Tessaiga.” InuYasha looked at her strangely. “When I was about Shippo’s age, I ran to hug you and accidentally got Tessaiga in the process. Since I’m not part of your direct line, it rejected me. And it hurt.” InuYasha looked down at his sword. “But you just learned to take it off before you saw me, and I learned to avoid it.”

With a graceful flick of her wrist, InuYasha’s sister sliced through more demons with the bright green whip. “That sword,” she said, “it has been the bane of my existence for a long time. Because you essentially adopt Shippo, he can touch Tessaiga, even though he has no ability whatsoever to use it. Which means my daughter can use it, but I still can’t go near the thing.”

InuYasha’s eyebrows met as he looked up at the demoness, hearing Kouga destroying two more demons behind them. “So I’m an uncle?” The demoness nodded, her long white hair swinging behind her. “How exactly does it work out that because Shippo can use my sword, so can your daughter?” Manami cleared her throat, then pulled at the collar of her kimono, revealing a bite mark, somewhat smaller than that made by an inu.

“You’re mated to the kitsune?” Kouga said in shock.

“I love him and he makes me laugh.”

“Is that why he didn’t seem to leave you alone?” InuYasha said. Manami nodded. “Then that would mean…” He turned around and growled at Kouga, who had stopped walking and suddenly had a very smug look on his face.

********

“I’m your mother?” Kagome asked Takara.

“Yeah, but I take after Oto-san. It’s Yasashiku who’s more your child.” Takara pulled her own sword out of its sheath and swiped at a few demons. These demons were fairly difficult to fight and took a few swipes of her sword to dispatch with them. She was concerned for her aunt’s mate, since he was still only a tiny kit, wondering if it might have been better to have been on the eastern end of the compound where the other three were, where the demonic presence was not so strong. “And, strangely enough, he seems to be a bit of Miroku, too. I don’t know how, but my brother managed to inherit a bit of lechery from our adopted grandfather.”

“You look more like InuYasha. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before,” Kagome said.

“A block,” Takara answered. “Designed by him.” She pointed to the red-headed kitsune on Kagome’s shoulder. “He’s a regular genius with disguises. He’s also a pretty good artist, too.”

“I draw with crayons, mostly,” Shippo said.

“Yeah, well, it will pay off. You are the head artist on about several animes on the o-jii-san’s network. Bet you watched a couple of ‘em while you were in Tokyo for okaa-san and oto-san’s wedding.”

“Really?” Shippo said, his eyes lighting up.

“Yep. You actually draw my daughter’s favorite anime.”

“Daughter? You mean, I’m a, a grandmother?” Kagome said.

Takara rolled her large golden eyes. “Well, I’d hope that at nearly five hundred I managed to have at least one child.” Reaching into the leather guards on her forearms, Takara pulled out a picture of her daughter. “Thought you might want to see this.” She handed the photo to Kagome, attacking yet another demon while her mother traced over the picture of the girl, who appeared to be about twelve, despite being nearly one hundred years old. Takara ripped through the demon, thinking that she was fighting more like her father, and would likely get reprimanded by her grandfather for a lack of grace. She couldn’t help it. Hacking and slicing was more her style. Grace was Manami’s area.

“She is beautiful. And those blue eyes…” Takara took the photo back from her mother, replacing it beneath the leather. “So, you have a mate. What is he like?”

“Stubborn, most of the time. But he loves me. He doesn’t get along well with Oto-san, but then again, my father can be a bit much to take.” Kagome nodded, firing an arrow that went through three demons, dropping them to the ground, dead. “Drives him nuts, though, that the things he likes best about me physically are my ears and my eyes. Not to mention that I think he takes pleasure out of our fights. After I joked that he should have just mated Oto-san, I thought he was going to enter therapy.”

“But is he good to you?”

“I’d knock the shit out of the wolf if he didn’t.” Takara whipped around, thrusting her blade, made with one of InuYasha’s fangs, through yet another demon. Realizing what she’d said, she stopped and nearly kicked herself. “Son of a bitch!”

“Takara!” Kagome said, sounding so motherly, her daughter wondered if she had caught the tone in her voice.

“I inherited my vocabulary from Oto-san as well.”

********

“No,” InuYasha said, turning his back on about four demons in front of him to go after Kouga. Manami rolled her eyes, realizing how little was different in her older brother, even at so young an age. “No, you will not mate my daughter. I will kill you now before I see it happen.”

“Nii-san, please…” Manami said, killing off the demons one by one. She hadn’t meant to let it slip that she was mated to Shippo, and she certainly hadn’t intended to let it known that Kouga was with Takara. They’d been mated for three hundred years in Manami’s time, and there were still moments that InuYasha wanted to kill the wolf.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t want to break your little girl’s heart,” Kouga said as they neared the center of the compound.

“I am going to kill you.” InuYasha said, readying Tessaiga.

“InuYasha, stop it. They’re mated, but she bit him first.” Manami watched as the Tessaiga lowered itself and Kouga looked at her in shock.

“So… so Kouga’s her beta?” Then, quietly a chuckle began, eventually roaring so loudly that it surely echoed through the central chamber surrounding the final room, where Katsuro’s scent was strongest.

“I ain’t nobody’s beta dog-breath.”

“But you are,” InuYasha said. “When she yelled at you, you backed away from her, tail tucked between your legs.”

“Actually, you’re true mates, just like Shippo and I are. So there is no beta.” Manami led the two former rivals to the sliding door of the central room. “But when you don’t listen to her, she only has to bark at you like she did earlier to get you to listen. That’s the wolf in you. So obsessed with alpha and beta. If you were an inu or even kitsune, you wouldn‘t care about those kinds of things.” She placed her hand on the door. “Now, are you two quite done?”

They nodded as Manami opened the door.

********

Kirara landed outside of the compound, which laid inside of a powerfully strong barrier. Miroku immediately leapt off of the neko’s back, hearing the sounds of screaming coming from inside.

Using every spiritual incantation and power he knew, the former monk attempted to shatter the glowing obstruction. He even attempted to use the wind tunnel, but nothing worked. Desperately, he turned back to the strange hanyou, hoping that Yasashiku had some kind of answer, finding that his companion had transformed, taking a nearly god-like form, and seeming to grow more powerful with each terrified and pained scream.

“Move, Miroku,” he said, eyes glowing red, bow and arrow drawn tightly, aimed at the glowing dome over the brothel.

Miroku moved back as quickly as he could, watching as Yasashiku fired at the barrier with the skill of an expert archer. Almost instantly, the barrier shattered.

“Go find your mate. I plan to take care of some other business here.” The half-demon’s eyes glowed red, still, his aura growing more powerful by the second as he glided in amidst the huts, finding the source of the first of the screams.

Miroku ran as quickly as he could in the direction of Sesshomaru’s scent and the pull of their bond. The former monk realized what the cries coming from throughout the compound were for, and he was rather pleased as he heard the white-haired creature he’d arrived with disposing of those who were causing them. Finally, the dark hanyou found the hut housing his mate, feeling Sesshomaru’s fear and emotional pain so intensely, it nearly paralyzed him as much as he could tell it was his mate.

Pulling aside the curtain, Miroku found two hanyous, one in the corner blocking out the sound, the other standing protectively over Sesshomaru, who sat, back against the wall, hands over his ears. The expression on his face was one Miroku had hoped he’d be able to prevent from ever seeing again, the one he’d seen the night Sesshomaru had awoken after realizing the extent of what had laid hidden in his memories. When Miroku, who now regretted such actions, had used Sesshomaru’s fear to intimidate him to protect his friends.

Slowly, cautiously, the former monk approached his mate, seeing the ookami hanyou watch him warily, growling in warning.

“Sesshomaru,” Miroku said, kneeling in front of the daiyoukai. “Sesshomaru, I am here.” There was only a growl, the demon lord too caught up in the memories and the sounds from the compound to hear.

Miroku saw the red collar around Sesshomaru’s neck, and gathering all of his spiritual powers, the hanyou reached for it, forcing the clasp open.

At the release from the collar, Sesshomaru looked up, obviously feeling stronger, feeling his youkai returning.
“Miroku,” Sesshomaru said, looking up, gold eyes red from crying, or at least trying not to.

The hanyou grabbed hold of his mate, wrapping his arms around Sesshomaru’s shoulders and pulling the larger demon to him, running a clawed hand through the long, white hair to comfort him. And, much as the demon lord had been fighting it, he finally broke, crying into Miroku’s shoulder.

“The pup,” Sesshomaru said, quietly, ensuring only his mate would hear. “I thought I would lose it. I thought I would lose you. The screams, Saruwatari wanted to do this to you.”

“I am here, now. The pup is fine.” He kissed Sesshomaru’s ear, all he could reach at this angle, and for a moment, he simply held onto the demon, reassuring him with how much he loved him and that now he was safe.