UnBound Memories

A/N: nette, glad you are still reviewing so faithfully. saturns_shimmer, here's your update. Glad you liked this. Yeah, I changed Sesshomaru's character, but like you said, there was a reason for the difference in his personality. I've only got a few chapters left before this is done, though. So I hope you enjoy.

Also, there was a request for a family tree, so here goes: Touga and Sess's mother (didn't give her a name) had Sesshomaru. Near Sesshomaru's age, but younger is his cousin several times removed Katsuro. Sesshomaru was raped by Jin, creating InuYasha. Sesshomaru mated Miroku and is currently pregnant with Manami, his first blood daughter. Those are the only children by blood they know of at this time, though later in the chapter Manami mentions that she has two younger siblings as well. Sesshomaru also adopted Rin as his daughter. InuYasha and Kagome mated and they know in a few years, they will have the twins, Takara and Yasashiku, and later Manami will mention a second son. Manami is mated to Shippo in the future, Takara to Kouga. Both have daughters. Yasashiku is currently pregnant to Gee in the future, but who specifically Gee is hasn't been revealed and won't this chapter.

Chapter 33

Resent her existence

Yasashiku walked through the compound, finding he’d become a hero to the hanyou slaves there, that or a master, he wasn’t sure. Though he’d freed them of their collars, they seemed to want to follow him just the same, largely because he’d tried to treat their wounds, shown them a little of the dignity they deserved. He had also disposed of every one of the demons and humans who’d been forcing themselves on the courtesans.

With the noise now stopped, replaced with pained but comforting crying. It was hard to resist the urge to hold each of those hanyous until their pain stopped, to ease their distress, but at the moment, the inu demi-god was more concerned with his grandfather. He’d heard his cries as well and felt he’d given the couple long enough to be alone with one another.

Entering the room where the monkey demon, who was nowhere in sight, had held the demon lord, Yasashiku saw the figures of the two inus, Miroku gently cradling a sobbing Sesshomaru. It shook Yasashiku’s very core to see his grandfather this way. Never in his lifetime had he seen the strong daiyoukai look so broken, so weak.

Against more logical judgment, probably driven on by his own hormones--which had taken control on more than one occasion lately--he knelt down beside Miroku and placed a hand on Sesshomaru’s back.

Recoiling from his touch, the golden eyes looked at him, and all Yasashiku could do was smile, something he really would have debated doing under normal circumstances. That smile, which he had inherited from his mother, was always such a give-away. It had allowed him to manipulate Miroku when they’d first met, but allowed others to trust him instantly, even when he was acting like a bit of a lecher or trying to calm a crowd upset by his twin sister’s blunt nature.

“You!” Despite how weak Yasashiku could still sense his grandfather was, he found himself being slammed into the nearby wall, a hand on his throat. “You are the one who kissed my mate. Or the one who will, I should say. I believe I will put an end to your life now, while I still have the chance.”

“Sesshomaru,” Miroku said, “he came through the well. He’s already done it.”

“Fine, then. I will kill him now, since his protective friend, Gee, I believe he was called, is not here.” Then, Yasashiku watched as the taller demon’s eyes darted to the shell behind his ear. “What is this? A fox-designed scent block?” The white-haired hanyou watched as Sesshomaru’s other hand reached up to his right ear, removing the shell, then waited for the scent to return. “How is this possible?” he asked, eyes narrowing.

“The well. I came through the well.” The gold eyes opposite Yasashiku’s brown looked down then met his again.

“How far along are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. How far progressed are you? Your scent says one thing while your body says another.”

Nervously, Yasashiku transformed, part of him enjoying the startled look on the demon lord’s face as the enormously round stomach became obvious, the clawed hand around the demi-god’s neck losing its grip. “Lord Sesshomaru, meet your great-grandson,” he said, placing Sesshomaru’s hand on his stomach.

********

InuYasha held Tessaiga tightly, trying to resist the urge to lop off Katsuro’s head the moment he saw him. He tried to remind himself that the bastard’s head was necessary to find out where InuYasha’s father was. With a smile, he mentally added that arms and legs were not. Manami slid open the door, revealing a rather ancient-looking demoness, whose age was overshadowing any traits of her origins. Before her knelt Katsuro, who held his head in his hands, as though trying to block out memories, looking so much like Sesshomaru at the moment that InuYasha wondered if he should attack.

“What’s wrong with him?” InuYasha asked, looking at the elder demoness for answers.

“He’s reliving a particularly traumatic moment in his life,” the demoness answered.

“I cannot help but feel sorry for him,” Manami said. Then, she nodded to the demoness. “Thank you, Obaasan.”

The elder brother looked at his sister then back to the demoness who was removing a leaf from her hair to reveal the figure InuYasha had encountered with his father and Miroku, his own grandmother.

“How--”

“I learned a few tricks about memories during my time as Ryuukotsei’s lover.” InuYasha could not prevent the stunned expression on his face. “It was my affair with him that led to your grandfather’s death, InuYasha, yes. I am responsible and a disgrace to the clan. That is why I am not permitted to attend any gatherings of the inu clan. But I wished to help, and when my future family came, I was more than willing to offer it.”

“But the old demoness…”

“Was nothing more than a husk of herself, forced to stay alive by elders from various clans insisting she enforce demon law. Her spirit has moved on as have those of the elders,” the inu demoness added with a smirk.

InuYasha looked down again at Katsuro, who seemed absolutely devastated by whatever events from his past he was being forced to relive.

“What is it that the asshole’s having to remember?” Kouga asked, sheathing his sword, apparently seeing no more need for it.

“The murder of his hanyou daughter, killed to uphold demonic law.” With that, the demoness patted her distant cousin on his head, not that the inu lord noticed at all. “That is why he works so hard to enforce it, to justify her death.” Then, InuYasha watched as his grandmother lifted her hand, creating a cloud much like Sesshomaru rode upon beneath Katsuro. “He has already told me the location of your father. We must go as quickly as possible.”

InuYasha nodded in time to see Kagome and Takara opening the door on the opposite side of the chamber. “Had to take the easy side, didn’t you?” Takara said, sheathing her sword. “So many damned demons I thought the little fox was going to end up ogre bait.”

“Takara, later, I want to talk to you about your poor choice in mates,” InuYasha said, hearing the wolf snigger behind him. “Laugh all you want, wolf breath, but she bites you first.” InuYasha looked down at the levitating inu lord. “But first, let’s haul this bastard out of here and find Oto-san.”

********

Manami stepped off of her own levitation cloud to arrive at the compound where Sesshomaru was being held. She watched as the former slaves and concubines fled the camp, at the center of the crowd, two hanyous supporting the demon lord. When she saw her father, Manami thought she might be sick. He looked so weak. For a moment, she thought to herself that the family never should have pushed her papa and oto-san together that night. That maybe, everything would have been better if they hadn’t mated that particular evening, if they hadn’t created her that night. Feet barely touching the ground, she ran at the daiyoukai, stopping just short of embracing him, trying to remember that they weren’t in the modern world, that there were rules of contact between parent and child, and that her father could very well resent her existence after what he’d been put through. So she bowed to him, not knowing what else to do.

She watched in anticipation as Sesshomaru moved his arm from Yasashiku to lift Manami’s face, to rub across the thin magenta lines on her cheeks, to look intently at her violet eyes. He willed Miroku to step forward, the hanyou looking at the tall demoness with as much intensity. Then, another step closer, and the demon lord was noticeably breathing in her scent, and finally, rubbing his cheek against her temple, his instincts recognizing her as his pup. He growled, softly and comfortingly to her, as she returned it, remembering how much she missed the demon instincts after all the years in human society.

But then the tears came. “I am so sorry,” she said. “This is all my fault.” She buried her head submissively beneath her father’s. “If not for me, you would not have suffered like this. We should never have interfered.”

“You are my pup,” Sesshomaru said. “Our pup.” Manami felt him running his cheek over the top of her head. “I did not just go through hell to have you think you are not wanted. She could feel Miroku’s hand on her back, gently rubbing it.

“It is over now,” the former monk said, “and he is fine.”

“But we manipulated you.”

Sesshomaru pushed Manami away just enough to be able to look down at her face. “How?”

“It started with Takara, Kouga, and their daughter in the park, giving you a break from the children so that you two could be alone, then my daughter and me,” she said, unable to look up at either of her fathers. “We walked down the street, my daughter saying that you looked like a woman.”

“My own granddaughter dared to--”

“She’s always wanted to say it, and we knew she could handle herself if you grew too furious.”

“And…”

“And then you went to the park where my youngest nephew from InuYasha, and my little brother fought in the martial arts demonstration. Even with less experience on your part, Papa, and more on his, otouto still cannot beat you in a battle with staffs.”

“I fought my own son?” Miroku asked.

“Yes. He really did try to beat you.” Despite herself, Manami found she was smiling. “When I left it was still bothering him that he could not defeat you. And in the crowd, I watched and cheered you on, and my sister and her mate and son did as well.”

“Then at the night club, it was the final push, to get me jealous, Yasashiku kissed Miroku,” Sesshomaru said.

“Yes… He… What?” Manami stammered.

“I’d sorta left that bit out when I told you,” Yasashiku said.

“EWWW!” came the cry of the elder twin, standing just behind Manami, a cry that was chorused by the twins’ father.

“You kissed him?” Manami asked, watching as heat rose to her eldest nephew’s cheeks.

“I had to do something… and I’d always wondered if he was a good kisser.”

“Aside from my hentai brother’s little kiss,” Takara said, “we planned it to ensure that Manami was conceived.”

“If we had let things run their course--” Manami was interrupted by her father.

“Then I would not have you to look forward to, something to make this worthwhile,” Sesshomaru said, with a grunt of surprise as Manami gave in to her urge to hug her oto-san, feeing Miroku embracing her, and her siblings, adopted and blood, joining round along with her niece and nephew.

“It looks to be a fine family you will have, my boy,” Manami heard her grandmother say from the distance. “But now, we must get you back to the palace. You have less than a whole day to prepare for the test and the vow.”

********

Back at his palace, Sesshomaru stood inside his bed chambers with just himself, Miroku, and Yasashiku. He watched the long-haired hanyou carefully. This man was his grandson, a fully adult, nearly his own age, grandson. And he was just as careless and headstrong as his father. He was also very, very pregnant, and letting down his disguise in the presence of the inu lord and his mate.

“Why did you come here?” Sesshomaru asked. “It was an incredible risk for someone as far along as you are.”

“First of all, no one in my family knows I am pregnant, and until the little one,” Yasashiku rubbed over the distended belly. “decides to make his appearance, I do not intend to tell them, so I couldn’t very well argue with them when they suggested I come. And secondly, I am the only member of the family who can properly imitate you in your full demon form, so it looks as though we have no choice.”

“But how can you transform without harming the pup?”

“Because I don’t drain my youkai when I do it. I use my demi-god powers that feed off of fear, and after the visit to the compound, cruel as it may seem, I’m more than powerful enough to imitate you and give birth at the same time… not that I really like that idea.”

Sesshomaru was guided to his bed by a hovering Miroku. “And the father,” he said, “I assume it is Gee?” There was a faint smile that came to Yasashiku’s lips. “I will take that as a yes. So if he is your mate, how can you treat him the way you did?”

The hanyou tugged at his collar, revealing a shoulder and neck clear of any mating marks. “He is not my mate.” Yasashiku leaned against the wall, apparently seeing Sesshomaru’s concerned face, the obvious worry on it that another generation had been forced to endure a rape. “Oh, Gee is about the most gentle person I’ve ever met, human, demon or otherwise. He could never do that to me. It’s just… He doesn’t think he’s worthy of me, he doesn’t believe I really want to be with him, which obviously,” Yasashiku said, again rubbing his stomach, “I do. But he has such low self-esteem. I want him to mate me because he wants to, because he knows I want to. Not because of our son. That is also why I haven’t told my family. They would force him to mate me, and I want it to be his choice.

“Unfortunately, since I’ve gotten pregnant, my own flirtatious nature is biting me in the ass. It’s gotten worse because my youkai is seeking a mate to care for the baby.”

“Would you at least do him the honor letting him know he will be a father when you return to your time?” Sesshomaru said.

“Hai.”

The disguise was put back on, and Yasashiku walked to Sesshomaru and nuzzled against his cheek, doing the same to Miroku, earning a growl from the daiyoukai. “He’s your mate now, I wouldn’t dare try anything.”

Sesshomaru watched his grandson leave as Miroku sat beside him on the bed, then curled up protectively beside him. “I thought I had lost you,” the former monk said, laying his head on Sesshomaru’s shoulder, the daiyoukai putting an arm around his mate’s back.

“From the sound of our daughter’s words, it does not seem that we are to be separated any time soon.” Sesshomaru ran his hand over his stomach, having difficulty thinking that the ethereal young woman he’d held in his arms was the very pup he was now carrying. “She mentioned a sister and a brother. Though she was vague as to which of us bore them.” Miroku’s hand clasped over Sesshomaru’s, though with his dark head tucked under his mate’s chin, the two ears atop it were beginning to tickle the daiyoukai’s neck.

“I am sorry that I have failed so miserably as your mate,” Miroku said. “I should have protected you.”

“You merely did as I asked.” Sesshomaru scratched his mate’s back lightly. “Had you done otherwise, you would have been the one needing protecting. From me.” He moved his hand from beneath Miroku’s, tracing over the former monk’s cheek. “You never explained how you managed to get injured.”

“It was a stupid accident. It will heal shortly.”

Miroku moved his head just a bit on Sesshomaru’s chest, his hand running circles on the daiyoukai’s stomach. Something was still weighing on his mate’s mind.

“Regardless of what happens,” Miroku said, “you know how much I care about you, and that I will always feel that way. I want to make certain of that.”

“Of course. And you know that I feel the same.” Sesshomaru could sense doubt from his mate. “Miroku, you must know that.”

“Hai,” Miroku said, moving up to place a quick kiss on Sesshomaru’s lips.

Sesshomaru raised a hand to the fluffy dark hair surrounding those pointed little ears. He ran his fingers into the soft hair and pulled his mate down for a proper kiss, one he hoped would shatter the hanyou’s doubts before the two of them curled into one another’s arms, falling sound asleep.