Strength

Strength needed more love again, so it got priority. Wow you all have great name suggestions. I went with a combination. Snowfall asked me are all Japanese names composite names – my response, Well, in my world among the Youkai – YES! :) Will keep the rest of the names for other pups. Special thanks to ardentes and Kinkou for this name ;) thanks for the hard work.

Have to go out now just wanted t o post before I left. Hugs and love you all.

Read Review and enjoy


Chapter 37 : Gathering Dusk

Never in his entire life had Sesshoumaru expelled as much blood in a short period of time as he had in the last few weeks. While Sesshoumaru had his arm cut off, in his entire 500 years never had he suffered as many broken bones as he had suffered over this short period. More than that, never had Sesshoumaru cared less about the damage to his royal person, than he did at this time. More then willingly he submitted to an almost daily round of abuse at the hands of his aggressor.

That his aggressor was in a state of frenzy may have contributed to the Demon Lord’s acceptance of the abuse. That the aggressor was his mate, explained everything else.

Inuyasha was not a calm, peaceful soul, and caught in a void of agony, Inuyasha tended to turn aggressively inward. In the past a hapless wall or his own flesh would bear the scars created by clenched agony, now his mate, took the agony instead.

Sesshoumaru came between Inuyasha’s claws and teeth, and anything that may be hurt or cause hurt to the writhing Hanyou.

Sesshoumaru’s fingers were smashed, when he stopped Inuyasha’s head from jerking backward and slamming against the wall; bones on his legs broken numerous times from unconscious jerking of the Hanyou’s legs. As the pain increased, Inuyasha would lash out, believing he was being attacked, and Sesshoumaru absorbed those blows as well. Never once did the DaiYoukai complain, and as with placing Inuyasha on his lap, this was another topic that was never spoken of between the mates.
Sesshoumaru healed even before the children came into their chambers, and Inuyasha was uncertain to breech the subject.

There was more to it of course. Sesshoumaru allowed- no- not allowed, welcomed the damage, because in some way it allowed him to share in his mate’s suffering, helped him feel closer to Inuyasha. And, the part of him that whispered that he deserved some pain for all Inuyasha went through, was actively ignored by the Demon Lord.

On Inuyasha’s part, he did not know what to say. The thing was, he felt guilty... for not feeling guilty.
He was hurting his mate and he SHOULD have felt guilty, but he was also hurting his bastard of a brother that had made his life hell, and he just DID NOT fell guilty. Not a bit, Sesshoumaru healed from the damage after all, and it was truly not deliberate. Also all Sesshoumaru had to do to avoid getting hurt, was leave Inuyasha alone to deal with the pain. But Sesshoumaru chose to stick his nose right into it. So he just could not and did not feel guilty. But because he did not feel guilty he now felt guilty.

Mostly, he was getting a headache from his conflicting emotions, and he came to the conclusion, that as long as Sesshoumaru suffered in silence, he would as well.

That decision made Inuyasha fell a whole lot better, and the puppy eared Hanyou focused on much more important matters such as... hmmm... breakfast, the weather.. ah the kids. Yes, he focused on the kids. The kids were extremely important, so no time to waste on non-essential matters. Satisfied that he had reached a higher level of self understanding, Inuyasha merrily went along with the parts of his days that were relatively pain free.

Relative was the key phase.

As the days had worn on, Inuyasha’s situation worsened. The morning agonies, were intense, and now the pain was not limiting itself, to the morning.

There was a constant and dull pain along Inuyasha’s spine. The scars on his body, burned intermittently and worse than that, he was weaker. Even supported by Sesshoumaru’s Youkai, Inuyasha’s own strength seemed to burn out extra-ordinarily fast. The pups within him were fine, but the times in the day when he felt tired, old and worn were increasing in frequency and intensity.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for Inuyasha to hide his state of health, to protect the children from the truth.

Five weeks before the pups were due to be born, it became impossible to hide Inuyasha’s state of health from anyone at all.

Late into the morning, Inuyasha was presiding over city issues. His ‘office’ was in a garden pergola, beside a beautifully designed bamboo garden and bubbling brook. Those who had a petition to the young Lord, had to first go though half a dozen of Inuyasha’s assistants, who’s offices led from the official entry to the Garden. Only if the assistants could not deal with the matter, was it brought to Inuyasha’s attention.

In the wait area beside the brook, at any one time two to three dozen individuals sat on wooden benches waiting for their turn. Guards were protectively stationed throughout the wait area. The pergola itself was very natural, solid growing trees actually used as two of support structures. Inuyasha’s chair and table was made of solid mahogany. Inuyasha had rejected pillows of any sort, deeming them as unnecessary and feminine. So Sesshoumaru had lined the floor and chair with the highest quality of rugs, imported to Japan from a country Inuyasha had never even heard of. The fur of an animal called an Alpaca had been used to make the rugs, and the feel of it was close enough to the feel of moko-moko that Inuyasha had found himself almost cuddling into the furniture.

With the amount Sesshoumaru spent obtaining those rugs from the Incan Empire, he could have built Inuyasha a new mansion, but it did not matter. Another shipment had already been ordered by the Daiyoukai. He intended that in the future all of Inuyasha’s personal furniture would be lined with this amazing fur. The cost of the rugs, had been deemed a state secret, and any who informed the Hanyou of the ridiculous amount his mate was spending to make him comfortable, would find themselves tasting the business end of Sesshoumaru’s whip.

Inuyasha dealt with official matters briskly and fairly. He had learnt a great deal about administration from Iroh in Awa and he put it all, to good use. That Inuyasha could smell a lie helped a great deal in ensuring his decisions were generally right. Inuyasha was no pushover, and as he had to settle many a dispute it was par for course that not everybody liked him. Inuyasha was surprisingly philosophical about that. He did act as a judge after all, and if he did not pick up any enemies in the process of dispensing justice – to him that would be a good indication that he was not doing his job well.

On this day Inuyasha was dealing with a minor dispute, that had all the trapping of turning into a major blood feud. An old Youkai had built a huge mansion for his family, intending for his progeny to all live there happily. The problem was the old fart had the discourtesy to die before he actually settled who owned which part of the almost completed mansion. Now the three stupid ass adult Youkai children were fighting with their own mother about the ownership of the mansion. Inuyasha was not impressed to say the least.

They had stood before him, arguing for the past half an hour, basically not getting anywhere. Inuyasha’s assistants had already informed him that they had been arguing in their offices for the past two weeks. Every resolution that one found would soon be undone by a new protest of demand.
His body beginning to ache rather aggressively, Inuyasha’s patience with the group ran out. “BE Silent!” Inuyasha snapped suddenly, the sound of his fist hitting the table had all of them jumping. “You will fucking shut your traps!”

The nobles looked affronted, they were going to protest Inuyasha’s choice of words, but Inuyasha decided to give them something they could really complain about. A huge ass transformed Tessaiga was suddenly at the throats of two of the most annoying speakers. Inuyasha found it rather sweet of them to stand so conveniently side by side. He said so, adding that it would be an effective solution, one stroke of his sword and there would be only one person left to inherit.

The silence in the whole garden area, was rather gratifying. Puppy ears, swiveled in pleasure.

Then the mother spoiled Inuyasha’s tiny fantasy by bursting into tears, saying that she did not want to lose her children.

“Keh! Here’s what I’m going to do, you all want it exactly fair, an exact sharing of the mansion?” Inuyasha asked, his tone was a little snide, but given that he was sheathing his sword, the four Youkai could be forgiven for missing it. They nodded.

“Excellent!” Inuyasha's grin was evil, he glanced at a new assistant Hawk Demon that Yuusha had recommended into his service, “Sora, here’s what I want you to do, go take and aerial view of the land involved. Divide it equally into four parts, then burn the mansion to the fucking ground and they can have the land.” Inuyasha growled out glaring at the four. The stunned silence was immediately followed by a sleuth of protests.

Tessaiga was drawn again, and silence prevailed. “Fine, the main bedroom and hall belong to your mother, the three of you have 24 hours to decide on what is your fair share of the home. If you cannot agree in 24 hours, the mansion will be burned and the land split, into what I consider fair, with your mother having the lion’s portion.” Inuyasha ordered calmly. “Further to facilitate your decision making process, Sora you will escort the Madam to the guest quarters, guards you will lock these three in the east horse barn. They will spend the night there... discussing. If there are any objections, I do believe we have a rather comfortable dungeon chamber you can all spend the night in instead.”

Suffice to say there were no objections as the smirking guards began to escort the three out. The mother of the demons looked suspiciously relived.

The next group were already lining up to see Inuyasha. The Hanyou stretched out, trying to loosen some of the tight muscles and ease the ache in his back. The group walking towards him suddenly stopped, a look of stunned surprise crossing their faces. Inuyasha opened his mouth to ask why, when liquid choked his throat. He coughed violently into his palms, blood and two of his teeth filled his hands.

Inuyasha stared stupefied at his blood filled hands, he looked up to reassure people, but, the world suddenly went very clear, bright and people seemed to be in slow motion around Inuyasha. Agony invaded his whole being, and everything faded from his sight.

Sora and the guards, all turned when they heard the gasps of the crowd. They had the dubious honor of witnessing Inuyasha cough out two of his teeth and a copious amount of blood. Before anyone could respond, Inuyasha’s eyes had gone blank, and the


Hanyou fell backwards, hitting the furniture on the way to the floor.

The screams that filled the air, had more than half the castle running to Inuyasha’s pergola.

Sesshoumaru had been having a long and trying day, when the first scream had hit his ears. Before the others in the court even heard the screams Sesshoumaru was orbing his way to his mate. He arrived in the Pergola to see guards moving to kneel beside his sprawled mate. Sesshoumaru's roar had all of them scrambling away. He knelt beside his mate, noting the bloody mouth. His hand reached out tentatively to touch the pale cheek. Inuyasha's Youki was frighteningly low, and without hesitation Sesshoumaru streamed energy into his mate.

“Inuyasha!” Sesshoumaru whispered, and the closed eyelids fluttered open. Dazed eyes gazed back at him.

Inuyasha frowned. “Eaaa Bas..bastard, d..d..did you come fer Tess..ga aaagain? Stu...fid. Fight... after.... nappp...” Inuyasha'a voice trailed off as his confused eyes closed. The healers came at a run, and quickly checked the Hanyou.

Other than the two missing teeth, Inuyasha was physically fine, the Alpaca rugs had cushioned his fall, protecting him from harsh contact. Sesshoumaru decided too import some of the live beasts to Japan, they were definitely worth their weight in gold. Even as the healers checked Inuyasha, his eyes opened again focused and normal.

“Hey stop that!” He yelled trying to swipe the healers aside and put his collar in order.

The Hanyou was rightly ignored and a preliminary check was done, right there in the pergola. There was nothing physically wrong with Inuyasha. The problem was that his Youki was unstable, and with the birthing getting closer he was beginning to fluctuate in terms of strength. His body was compensating by trying to align itself, and the loss of teeth had been a symptom of that. With the infusion of Youki the teeth new teeth were already pushing out of Inuyasha's gums, and he would be normal in a few hours. Overall Inuyasha after scaring the crap out of his assistants, guards and assorted courtiers felt fine. His assertions of good health were soundly ignored and an annoyed Inuyasha was carried to the suite.

A through health check was carried out on the now sulking Hanyou.

As a result of that check, it was found that there was nothing else wrong with the Hanyou, nothing new anyway. No medical intervention could do much, but Inuyasha's food needed to be changed, with a increase in raw meats, fish and blood in his diet, to care for his Youkai needs. The healers said that the human side of him was low on some kind of weird of acid in his body. Inuyasha thought that was strange because the acids he was used to usually ate through the body. Resulting from this he had to increase the amount of green food, and eggs that he ate, which was fine, but he also had to eat more peas and legumes which was disgusting. But seeing his mate's, focused absorption of every word the healers said, Inuyasha knew he had no chance of skipping any of the weird shit.

The worst part about the whole thing was that now everyone knew he was less than healthy. The pups had heard the commotion, and had not been allowed to leave the study areas, Ryoku-sensei, Hana, and Jaken sticking close to them. But word had traveled like wild fire around the court, and as soon as they heard the pups were worried and on the edge.

As soon as the healers left, the pups rushed into the room, almost afraid to touch their Papa, until Inuyasha simply picked them up. Mee-hcan was the first to cry and soon all the pups except for Yuusha was in tears. Their worry and fear apparent. The oldest while he was not crying was plastered next to his Papa's side as close as possible. Inuyasha had his hands full comforting them and Sesshoumaru, simply picked up all of them in Moko moko and placed them on the bed. The state of Yuusha distress was apparent when the pup did not even react to being picked up by his other father.

The toddler, officially and aptly named Naoyakaichou by Sesshoumaru (The one who will repair the balance/harmony) thankfully slept through the whole event. Sesshoumaru tucked his mate and the pups into his huge bed, went and collected the little god and and the two of them joined his family in bed. Inuyasha cuddled next to him, in a hope (vain one) that Sesshoumaru would not be too fussy over the last incident.

The family stayed in bed for a while, before they mutually decided it was time fore lunch. Sesshoumaru canceled all activities and the family had a picnic instead.

It was an idyllic day.

But as the day cooled and turned to dusk, Sesshoumaru realized that darknesses had already come to the palace. Fear for the Hanyou's health had taken firm root.

--tbc--

Yes Im mean and nasty, sniff sniff... review anyway. PLease. Somre really good suggestions for light hearted moments but really difficult to make it work with the story at the moment. Sorry :( Still will try and see if I can do it.