What the Darkness Brings

What the Darkness Brings
By: I Agree

Disclaimer: I own nothing

PART I: The Consequence of Recovery

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Chapter 4: Diagnosis and Treatment

Traveling was slow with the hanyou holding him back. Not only was his human blood impeding his youkai side from running at the normal pace of a demon, but the boy had obviously not slept or eaten for a good few days. If he had been a less patient youkai he would have left the bastard already. It was because he was patient, however, that he kept with the speed of his younger sibling. That and he didn’t want to be harassed by any demon hating ignorant human in the village of Inu-Yasha. He would hate to have human entrails on his claws again. It was hell to get the stench out of his skin.

He scented the tears a few miles off, along with it he could nearly taste the despair and sadness painting the air so thickly. Upon further investigation, Sesshou-Maru was interested to find it was not the priestess who was crying, but the exterminator wench. The tears of the kit were there as well, but the demonic child always seemed to be crying for some reason or another so it was nothing new. The taijiya’s crying was strange to him, though, more interesting. And it was an incentive to hurry his fathers bastard son along. “The taijiya cries. Perhaps something has happened to the girl.”

The scent of panic which met his nose after his proclamation nearly made him smirk. His ruse worked and his hanyou sibling was off like a shot, adrenaline getting rid the exhaustion he may have been afflicted with. Sesshou-Maru quickened his pace as well, quite pleased he got his way. It was a wonderful change concerning Inu-Yasha.

It was also amusing to see the hanyou at his worst. ‘Fool. The stench of death is nowhere to be found.’

When they cleared the forest Inu-Yasha again sped up, having no obstacles in his way to slow him down. Sesshou-Maru matched his younger brothers pace in some surprise. How unusual. He’d never seen the boy move so quickly. Perhaps it was the desperation he had instilled in the boy. Worry could do so much to any creature.

Sesshou-Maru allowed for some distance to come between them, allowing his hanyou brother some time to check up on the miko and to assuage his fears. He bypassed a startled elderly priestess on her way back from an herb patch. Scenting one particular herb, Sesshou-Maru stopped dead before her. The one-eyed hag jumped in surprise, the basket of herbs falling from her grasp as she went to defend herself. He snatched a four leaved plant out from the air before it fell to the ground and continued on his way to the scent of illness. Without a word he passed the taijiya sobbing on the ground and pushed aside the tatami mat barring his entrance.

The scent that met his nose made him sneeze, involuntarily trying to get the disgusting odor from his airway. Annoyed with his mistaken action, Sesshou-Maru melted the doormat to the wall to keep the air in the hut circulating. Ignoring the five other occupants of the hut – his brother at the girls side, the miko herself, the kit, the monk, and the hanyou’s flea bitten flea retainer – he stalked to the small window and tore off the shade. He frowned as much of the acrid scent left, leaving behind one that didn’t seem to fit well… poison?

A light being suddenly jumped upon his shoulder and Sesshou-Maru just resisted the urge to brush off his sleeve. “L-lord Sesshou-Maru! You have come to aid the girl!”

“Everyone with the exception of the hanyou leave.”

Shock spread throughout the room, and every one of them – though the hanyou he could not account for – gazed at him as if he were insane. Before long they couldn’t stand the silence and it was the monk who spoke up. “I beg your pardon, Lord Sesshou-Maru?”

He snapped a cold gaze to the bold human. “You may beg, but do not expect any results in your favor.”

He took pleasure in the angry flush which spread across the mans cheeks but kept his gaze locked onto his in challenge. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the elderly miko and taijiya walk into the room. Before he could demand their removal as well, he was interrupted once again by the audacious human. “What is your reasoning for-”

“Get the hell out.”

Surprised eyes – including Sesshou-Maru’s – turned to look at the hanyou crouched low next to the miko. The taijiya was the first to gather her wits. “I-Inu-Yasha… what?”

Inu-Yasha stood away from the girl-miko and faced them all with a stern look on his face. “Sesshou-Maru has more to benefit from if Kagome is alive. He’s not going to hurt her. If he wants you out, then you leave.”

With that said, Inu-Yasha gave everyone a careful glare, daring his pack to deny his commands. Slowly and one by one, each of them left without a word, the taijiya leaving last with a threatening glare to both inu’s affecting neither in the least.

Once everyone was out (though they were hanging close by the open door) Sesshou-Maru went to his new patient. Gracefully he dropped down to his knees, studying the unconscious woman on her stomach. Her scent was close to the edge of death, but not there just yet. The muscles in her legs were twitching minutely with atrophy, and her back twitching heavily with the pain. He could scent a magic deep within her flesh. Curious, he pressed that spot and watched as the magic flared to life. At the same time the miko’s scent of pain strengthened to a level that, in reality if her back were truly so damaged, she would be long dead. The magic was making it feel worse than it was.

Interesting.

He backed off and turned to his brother, “Since I do not have my usual assistants with me, you will have to do.” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you think you will be able to stomach this brother? This surgery will not be anything usual by your standards.”

Sesshou-Maru noted the slight twitch of his brothers eye “Yeah, no sweat.”

“Go fill that cauldron of water and be quick about it.”

With a skeptic look at his brother, Inu-Yasha hauled up the basin and dashed out the door, leaving Sesshou-Maru to his own devices. Deftly, said youkai cut through the young mikos garments to properly see her back, frowning when he found the entire length of it covered in a yellowed bruise. Funny, he hadn’t scented that much displaced blood, old or new. Discarding the thought for another time, he pulled out the herb he’d acquired from the old hag and crushed it in his hand. A sap-like liquid seeped from between his fingers. Dripping a good amount of the malodorous ooze onto her back Sesshou-Maru tossed aside the remnants of the plant and began to massage it into her flesh.

As he expected the scent of pain ebbed away and her muscles relaxed under his care. What he didn’t expect was her eyelids fluttering open and her hazy gaze looking over her shoulder to him. His eyebrow rose at her scrutiny, wondering if she were either extremely tolerant to pain or if he had assessed the diagnosis wrong. Both were possible, though he would not admit the latter out loud. Trying to appear unfazed by her abrupt return to the conscious world (though for the most part he really was) he continued his massaging her back.

“S-sesshou-Maru?” Her voice was soft and wavering with pain, but clear enough to comprehend. “I-is that you or am I seeing things again?”

“The former,” wasn’t it obvious it was he kneeling next to her? Then again, he’d never been human before, he would not know how disorientating it was for her kind. Though perhaps she hallucinated often. If that was the case, then ‘again’? Why would she hallucinate about him? And what would she hallucinate about?

Her confusion was obvious in both scent and on her face. “Why are you here? Where is everyone?”

“Your pack is outside waiting for this Sesshou-Maru to finish his care. Inu-Yasha is at the river to bring back water.”

She frowned, “’Your care’? Why does Inu-Yasha need to bring back water.”

He very nearly rolled his eyes, “I am here to undo the damage done to your back, priestess.”

Surprise and hope overtook her emotions, “You can do that?”

Once again he nodded, praying it enough to satisfy her questions. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Perhaps it would have been best for the both of them that she remained unconscious. He preferred silence while he worked. Actually, he preferred silence to any form of conversation.

“How? And why would you help? You and Inu-Yasha aren’t on the greatest of terms. And to tell you the truth I kind of prefer Inu-Yasha to you.”

His tail twitched in aggravation, as if he didn’t already know that. He frowned down at her, “Why so many questions?”

“Because I’m curious and you’ve got the answers.”

Her immediate, unfazed answer had him blinking in incomprehension. He understood from Inu-Yasha that she wanted to die but did this girl have no fear? He was almost impressed… but only almost. “I have the knowledge of my ancestors in the medical fields and the whelp and I struck a deal.”

He noted her immediate turn into suspicion, “What kind of deal?”

“Your healing for either the return of my arm or the Tetsuseiga.”

She frowned, “What if I don’t want to give you back your arm?”

“I will get fathers fang.”

She glared at him darkly, but it did not faze him in the least. He had seen worse on his allies. “You have yourself a handy little deal there. You are such a jerk.”

That one had him going for a moment. “Why do you refer to this Sesshou-Maru as a twitch of the muscle?”

She looked ready to laugh and yell at him at the same time, “It means that you’re a mean and annoying person.”

“This Sesshou-Maru is not a ‘person’.”

The priestess huffed, “Whatever.” She remained blessedly silent for a whole two minutes. “So what are you going to do to fix me?”

“An excision.”

She looked wonderfully horrified. “Ex… ex.”

A sadistic smile touched his lips, making her horrified look all the more pleasing to him, “You can say it priestess… ‘excision’.”

At his taunting she was finally able to (unfortunately for his ears) shriek her protest. “You’re going to take something out!?”

He raised his hand after wiping the residual plant goo on the remnants of her yukata and rubbed his ear in an attempt to ease its pain. “There is magic within you which is making your ordeal much more painful than it truly is. If there were no magic, you would have about the same amount of pain as you are having now.”

She looked surprised, “R-really? So it would be just like cramps?”

He ignored that last part. “Not to say it would not eventually get worse if you were up and about. My suspicion is that you have pinched a nerve or cracked a vertebra. One of your stature would have healed it most of the way, but not completely. However, several other things might also be wrong.”

He hadn’t expected her to understand entirely what he had said and was highly surprised (and reluctantly impressed) when she did. “But if I damaged a nerve or… cracked a vertebra… wouldn’t that mean I won’t be able to walk anymore?”

“Are you able to feel your legs?”

One slender shoulder moved up in a shrug, as if it would answer his question. Thankfully she decided to elaborate. “Sensation fades in and out.”

He nodded, “Then most likely you will be able to walk again.”

She smiled at him brightly and tiredly, surprising him with the honesty in it. Was she always this open with creatures who were her enemies? How very interesting.

“There is one thing this Sesshou-Maru needs to know before he will be able to perform the surgery.” He continued when she nodded her consent. “Do you trust this Sesshou-Maru with your life?”

“No.”

The answer was immediate, surprising him. He canted his head at her in silent question. She smiled at him sheepishly, her cheeks flushing a dull red as she tried to find the energy to explain. “It doesn’t really matter to you if I live or die. Yeah it would be cool for you since you would have a good chance at getting your arm back. But if I die, you would get the Tetsuseiga. You have a win-win situation, so you wouldn’t care about my well being.”

It was reasonable, very reasonable in her point of view. It was, however, highly illogical. He was going to be cutting open her back and surgically altering a few things. She would trust him with that but not her life? How stupid.

Sesshou-Maru watched as she fell unconscious again, having been overexerted from trying to survive and quell the pain for so long. He was amazed she had even lasted this long. Humans were so… not demonic.

Not two moments after the girl passed out, Inu-Yasha burst through the open door, haphazardly carrying the requested water. Without turning to face him, Sesshou-Maru motioned for him to put it on the fire. When he heard that was completed, he reached into his hoari’s sleeve and pulled out a small violet flower and tossed it into the heating water.

“What was that for?” Amazingly, the hanyou seemed genuinely interested. Curious. Did the hanyou find something other than destroying or killing things.

“It will sterilize everything this Sesshou-Maru uses. The air will also be freed of infestations so I will not have to worry over frivolous things such as airborne viruses.” He glanced back to the wide curious eyes so like his own, “Are you able to stand extreme temperatures?” At his brothers careful nod, he continued, “When the water is at a boil, put your hands in it then come over here immediately.”

It took some time, but when the water was finally boiling Inu-Yasha had his paws sanitized and was over like a shot. “What do you need me to do?”

Sesshou-Maru pointed to the middle of the large bruise, “You must make a two inch incision here. She does not trust me so I cannot make the first cut, her instinct would force her powers to the surface.”

The horrified look on his younger brothers face was priceless, one that he was sure that he would remember and cherish for the rest of his long life. Right now though, it was a sign he was going to be a pain in the hind quarters. “Brother-“

“No.”

His amusement faded into annoyance. “You must.”

Inu-Yasha’s face was becoming more pale by the second, “I can’t harm her Sesshou-Maru!”

Sesshou-Maru bit back a sigh, “Are you such a fool brother? If harming her slightly now can save her life, what difference does it make?”

“It would mean that I hurt her!”

He nearly backhanded the fool, “You are ignorant. There is no possible way you can put her through any more pain than she is going through now.”

“But… but I…”

At the sight of his younger half-brothers weakening resolve, Sesshou-Maru softened his argument. “If you cannot make the cut, then I cannot fix her brother. Surely she will forgive you for aiding me in this endeavor.”

With that knowledge, Inu-Yasha cracked and with a hesitant hand, cut a deep line where Sesshou-Maru told him to. The elder brother nodded his thanks and reached forward to begin his part, “I will need you to clean off the blood as I work, it will only harden and infect her body if it is not cleaned away.”

“W-wait, aren’t you going to do that thing with the water too?”

Sesshou-Maru didn’t even glance back, “The poisons in this Sesshou-Maru’s claws keep his paws free from infectious things.”

Inu-Yasha nodded in understanding and picked up a cloth Sesshou-Maru had sanitized some time before and began his duty of cleaning up the spilt blood. Sesshou-Maru ignored him and focused on the task, using what he read about human anatomy and the experience he’d had with a human cadaver to tell him what he needed to do. Really it was very similar to a youkai’s composition, all he really needed to worry about was her bleeding out. That would kill her faster during a surgical treatment than anything he knew about. Aside from pulling out the heart… or taking a sword to her… and many other handy ways of killing.

Blinking away those stray thoughts, he began, using his claws to slice through pink muscle and tissue until he got to the white of her vertebrae. He frowned at the sight of a small crack in the bone and the bit of European black magic clinging to it. European magic was rare here; he’d only ever seen the type once in his life. How would Naraku get a hold of such a thing? He shook his head and set about removing the enchantment.

Pulling off the curse was easier than expected, most likely because the one who did it was dead. Knowing Naraku, he wouldn’t keep lackeys who failed for too long. Sesshou-Maru was surprised to see, however, the extent the magic worsened the pain and damage. As soon as the magic was removed the bruise on her back lost much of its dark color and reduced in size. It compacted from the entire expanse of her back to the size of his hand (it was truly amazing what the mystical realm could do). Once he was completely satisfied the curse was gone, Sesshou-Maru summoned a miniscule amount of his corrosive poison and touched it to the crack in her spine.

Inu-Yasha’s fist suddenly wrapped about his wrist, “H-hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing callin’ up your poison?!”

He sighed, “Melting the bone back together so she will be fully healed later.”

The grip around his wrist wavered, “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”

“I am not one to waste my time Inu-Yasha. And anyways, her holy energy would purify any poison which had ill intent.”

The hanyou still scented highly suspicious, but he let go of him anyway, letting Sesshou-Maru continue with the delicate procedure of melting the bone back together. A small spark of holy energy burnt the flesh of his finger, but he ignored the slight pain and continued with his ministrations. It would heal faster than she would, there was no need to worry about it.

When he couldn’t see any more of a crack, Sesshou-Maru set about ‘stitching’ back the fatty tissue, her muscle and her skin back together. At short intervals, he pinched together the tissues of each layer together and released poison to cauterize them.

Eyeing the blood surrounding the wound, Sesshou-Maru dropped a few bandages and a cloth into the boiling pot, only removing the cloth and squeezing out the excess water. He waited until it was cool enough for her human body to handle to gently clear away the rest of the blood, getting a better view of how bruised her flesh was. He was satisfied to find it wasn’t too dark. At least it wasn’t as dark as it had been earlier. He looked to his half brother. “The wound needs to be dressed, but the bandages must dry first.”

Without further encouragement Inu-Yasha was up, dipping his hand again into the boiling water and running his hand along a line above them. Sesshou-Maru nearly smirked, seeing some of his family’s intelligence within the hanyou. He eyed the younger as he hung up the long strips, would it be wise to teach him his families secrets? Stowing the thought away for later contemplation, Sesshou-Maru went back to cleaning off the miko’s back.

It took some time and patience, but when the bits of cloth were finally dry Inu-Yasha retrieved them and handed them over. Sesshou-Maru calmly took them, careful not to let them touch the floor. “I will need you to raise her up so I may wrap her wound.”

Inu-Yasha frowned, “You only have one arm.”

He raised an eyebrow, “I am aware.”

The hanyou shrugged and situated himself on the other side of the priestess, waiting for orders.

“One arm must be under the ribs, just below her breasts – are you blushing brother? – and the other under her hips. This way her spine will not bend too much.”

Slowly, Inu-Yasha did as directed, a rather juvenile blush on his cheeks as he did so. Once the priestess was up enough, Sesshou-Maru picked up a thick pad of cloth and placed it on the wound.

“Taijiya,” a squeak and a small thump from the peeping exterminator nearly made him smirk, “This Sesshou-Maru needs your assistance.”

The woman rushed in and knelt by him, needing to help her little sister in any way she could. Sesshou-Maru noted her cheeks were still stained and her eyes red with spent tears. Interesting. It really didn’t matter though, as long as it didn’t interfere with assisting him. “There is a wet cloth by the pot. Clean your hands with it.”

She did as directed, and was back within moments. Her eyes were on him, waiting for his instructions. “As I only have one arm, I cannot dress her wound. As a warrior, I am sure you have experience in such matters.”

Understanding dawned on her, and immediately she had a bandage in hand and began to wrap the miko’s up. Sesshou-Maru removed his hand from the pad on the girls back and watched the experienced movements of the taijiya. He took in the young woman’s scent subconsciously, and his eyes narrowed as the earlier scent of poison came from her. Almost immediately he knew why.

“The priestess asked you to kill her.”

The exterminator froze for a moment, but continued without making a sound.

“You very nearly did.”

At that, Inu-Yasha looked up in surprise, only his strong will keeping him from dropping his best friend. The taijiya, however, sobbed and nearly stumbled onto the wounded girl. Sesshou-Maru’s hand shot out and stabilized her. She continued her work, not offering an explanation for what she had tried to do, no one asking for a reason.

When she tied off the last of the bandages, she was out of the hut and away from them. Without a though to the woman, Sesshou-Maru directed Inu-Yasha to gently lie the girl back down. “I will be back in two weeks time to check up on her, then I will determine when I may begin therapy. I will send an assistant of mine to keep watch over her while I am away. He or she will most likely spend the rest of the miko’s life watching over her – do not protest it is for her own good. Use the leaf I used earlier to numb the pain.”

Inu-Yasha frowned, “The thick one with the purple veins?”

Sesshou-Maru nodded and stood to leave, “There is an aloe within it that both numbs and heals. Use it as often as it pleases, there are no repercussions.” He turned and began to leave.

“Thank you.”

He only paused for a moment, wondering whether he should acknowledge his brothers reluctant words and embarrass the whelp – and amuse himself – or just let it go…

“Tell your monk to find the taijiya before she kills herself out of regret.” Without a glance back, Sesshou-Maru exited the stuffy hut and began the journey home.

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Yay! I be back with another chapter! I like this one very much! It went smoothly. Mmm…. Hot Taiyoukai giving a massage…. Yum!

To My Reviewers:
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