Joker's Dice

Author's Note: Okay before you lynch me for the late update, I have a legitimate excuse and it is as follows; we had a bit a family crisis this past week due to my dad collapsing after he came home from work last Monday. He went to the hospital and they kept him there for awhile.....only to be told that the guy was too stressed out and needed to take a mini vacation. I wanted to kill him. But I digress. Anyway I hope you guys can understand, posting this chapter had been the last thing on my mind with my Daddy not feeling well. Please forgive me...?

Warnings: YAOI, AU, INCEST(Sesshomaru/Inuyasha), SLIGHT OOC-NESS. Other warnings will be added in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha/the company/or the people who created this anime. I am not making money off of this, so therefore sueing me would just be a waste of your time.

'blah'-thoughts


Chapter 3 - All Bark And No Bite

Eternity stretched on in less than a minute and Inuyasha was beyond hope. His valiant attempts at shoving Sesshomaru off his pitifully beaten body had only served to weaken him further. He didn't even have the strength to scream and curse everything and anything he could think of at the unfairness of his predicament. But mainly he blamed Sesshomaru. The Lord of the Western Lands fucking sucked at playing the hero.

Inuyasha closed his eyes, welcoming the tingling sensation that swept throughout his body leaving him pleasantly numb. Death wasn't the miserable experience he had feared it would be. Instead of being carried away to the Netherworlds by pitch fork weilding imps.....he became more aware. He felt as if he'd been.....healed.

Not daring to believe it, Inuyasha raised his arms to his chest in search of the hole Naraku had graciously made before he bit the dust. A circle shaped scab about the size of his fist was all his trembling hands found.

A voice spoke from somewhere to his left and Inuyasha's heart ached at the familiarity of it.

"Do not mistake this for an act of kindness. I did not do this for you."

Inuyasha sat up, barely noticing as the still unconscious youkai slid off him and landed heavily on the ground. Steeling himself, he looked out of the corner of his eye to see a nightmare.

Kikyo's body of clay and ashes was dissintergrating. Cracks spidered across her flesh, some so large he could see inside what looked to be an ordinary human being.

Marrionette. That's what this woman was. An empty shell who housed a mere ghost.

A ghost that was more real to him than he would have liked to admit.

Kikyo made no move to stop him as he stumbled over and pulled her against his chest. Bits of flesh flaked off from the embrace.

"My body is at its limit. With the completion of the Shikon no Tama my reincarnated self is calling for its missing half." Kikyo lifted her head to stare Inuyasha in the eyes, and he saw malice glimmering in the dark depths. "I watched your battle against Naraku. You failed to complete the mission you vowed to fulfill."

Bitter realization slammed down on him like a ton of bricks.

He had failed to exact his revenge against Naraku for his devious actions of turning him and Kikyo against each other. Naraku's death had been dealt, not by his hands, but by Sesshomaru's. 'Sure, why not? Everything else has taken a trip down the crap shoot, why should this be any different? Damn it, I can't do anything right!' The arms wrapped around Kikyo's fragile form tightened to the point of nearly breaking her in half.

Crumbling hands danced across the hanyou's face, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I saved you for the sole purpose of watching you agonize over this moment. Nothing will stop the creeping despair from tearing you apart until you are nothing more that a broken soul fit only for the deepest pit of Hell."

A while ago those words would have been rang true. Maybe they still were and he was simply incapable of dealing with the added stress of having an epiphany.

But right at that particular point in time, Inuyasha could give a rat's ass.

Shaking his head, Inuyasha broke eye contact with her to regard Sesshomaru. "You placed him under a sleep spell, didn't you?"

Taken aback by the change in subject, Kikyo frowned. ".....Yes, he will awaken shortly."

Without a word, Inuyasha released his hold on Kikyo. Brushing himself off to rid his clothing of the powdery residue left from the dead miko's skin, he reached over and heaved Sesshomaru onto his shoulder.

This was the last thing she had expected. Where were the tears? Time and time again, Inuyasha had begged for forgiveness, yet now he was walking away from her like she was some broken doll he no longer wanted. "Do not ignore me Inuyasha! You owe me your life! I will not-"

Inuyasha whipped around, eyes flaring crimson momentarily. "Listen bitch, I owe you nothing! I don't understand why you hate me so much but Naraku is dead! What more could you want?! Let go of the past, Kikyo and move on already."

Ignoring the heated glare burning into his forehead, Inuyasha continued to walk away leaving Kikyo with something else to chew on before her soul returned to Kagome. "If there is one thing I regret more than not killing Naraku.....it would have to be that I fell in love with you."

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'Bold words little brother though you obviously don't take them to heart.'

Sesshomaru was no fool. He had long since felt the woman's presence before the battle with Naraku had even begun. Any other time he would have been inclined to be wary of the miko's presence, but further inspection made him dismiss such thoughts.

The human could hardly stand up let alone pose a potential threat.

Nonetheless, he kept a close watch on her during the fight with Naraku and found it intriguing that her gaze had firmly rested on Inuyasha. Of course he knew all about the connection between the two, ill-fated love and all. But he wanted to see first hand what it was that really went on behind closed doors so to speak.

Upon later reflection he wouldn't be able to decide what was more appalling. The fact that he had pretended to be asleep or Inuyasha's taste in lovers.

As it was Sesshomaru had had enough of being lugged around as if were a sack of potatoes.

"Put me down Inuyasha. Unless you wish for me to relieve you of the luxury of two working arms."

Inuyasha grumbled darkly, immediately dropping Sesshomaru to the ground. Gracefully landing on both his feet, Sesshomaru scowled at his less than dignified appearance.

Blood covered him from head to toe, staining his usually pale skin a dull burgundy. Much to his annoyance leaves and twigs were entwined in his long white hair and his kimono was shredded beyond repair.

On the other hand, Inuyasha looked ten times worse than he did and that was saying something.

The top part of the haori had been ripped in half so that it hung around his waist revealing the hanyou's slim torso. Inuyasha's amber eyes stared fixedly at the forest floor while triangular puppy dog ears were flattened against his head, looking for the world like a homeless beggar and it sickened Sesshomaru to no end.

Carefully evaluating the circumstances, Keade's hut was a good five day journey from their current position. Usually it would have been easy to cut that time in half however......

Inuyasha blinked in confusion when Sesshomaru started off in a new direction. "Hey, you're going the wrong way."

Sesshomaru didn't stop to reply. Growling about stuck-up bastards, Inuyasha folllowed the inu youkai. 'It's not as if I have anything better to do...'

To Be Continued..........

A/N: I'm so proud of myself. I actually wrote a long chapter(well long by my standards anyway). Also to explain what happened between Kikyo and Inuyasha.....I couldn't bring myself to stick with the anime when it came time for the two to talk. I couldn't make Inuyasha all weepy without atleast having the poor guy snap. I mean he can only take so much abuse am I right? And as for Kikyo...I just don't like her. But I had to include her in some way because like it or not she is one of the main characters and this will kick start the brothers' relationship. Her characterization was based more on how she was like after she was ressurected by the witch. *shrugs* Reviews are wonderful, and constructive critcism is greatly appreciated so long as it's polite! Flames will be ignored.

Review Corner:

Kiara: *laughs* Well, in that case I won't try and change the humour. Besides I've come to the conclusion that I can't write hardcore angst anyway. I tried to with this chapter but the results were less than awe-inspiring. But I'm really pleased to hear that you're enjoying yourself, I hope I can continue to make you laugh! And again I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, I hadn't meant to take so long.

I Love Twins!: I believe I owe you my sincerest and deepest apology. I made you wait over a whole week(well I made everyone wait a whole week) but I felt really bad after reading your review. *bows* Please forgive me, it won't happen again.

djl: Well as you can see in this chapter, Sesshomaru hadn't actually tripped because he was weak or anything like that, it was just an act to fool the others. And as for Inuyasha...you'll have to wait and see!

Rawben: *chuckles* Yeah that chapter was really short....but I had wanted to post something before the holidays and that was all I had typed up at the time so.... yeah. Don't worry chapters are most definitely getting longer!

anon: I know, but the reason behind that chpater being so short is like I said above: I had wanted to post SOMETHING before the holidays even if it was just a little snippet.

Go Elsewhere: *laughs* Gods, I'm going to be so big-headed if I keep getting reviews like this! Not that I mind by all means feed my ego! Just kidding, thank you for reviewing!!

Anon: I nearly shit my pants when I saw this review I don't think I've ever seen so many UPDATES. Anywayz......UPDATES ARE ON THE WAY!!!

Thank you all very very much for reviewing and even if you don't review and still read my story, you also have my gratitude!