UnBound Memories

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Chapter 9

He Cannot Deny It

Miroku removed the purple portion of his robe and threw it at Hitomi. “Cover yourself up.” He walked to Sango, realizing that now, she must be thinking about her brother. After all, the adreneline was gone, the fight over, and she had all the time in the world to think about everything she had lost. He tried to put his arm around her, but she tensed and pulled away. “Sango,” he said, looking down at his intended, “I think you should know why Lord Sesshomaru took off.”

*******

InuYasha and Kouga were following Sesshomaru at their top speed, paying very little attention to the odor of death they were approaching or that it was a familiar scent. Finally, the two rivals came to a stop when the found Sesshomaru standing over the body of a teen, a blinding light emanating from Tenseiga as the sword and Shikon Jewel were becoming one.

Sesshomaru paid InuYasha and Kouga no attention as he brought his sword in a swipe over the body below.
“Sesshomaru, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” InuYasha asked as he ran at the older inu.

Sesshomaru had finished the arch over the teen as his hand and arm were grabbed by the two younger demons.
Another blinding flash of light followed, eventually throwing the three in separate directions. Sesshomaru flipped head over heels before landing once again on his feet. InuYasha was hurled backwards, against a nearby tree. Kouga skidded backwards, creating two deep ruts in the dirt as he did.

Sesshomaru looked down as he felt something heavy pulling on his left shoulder. It was his arm, hand, fingers. Almost mystified, he looked at the now attached limb. He flexed the fingers, touched his own face, a little surprised at the smoothness of the palm. The markings were all intact, the claws nearly as long as the right. Nearby, Kouga was running circles around the clearing, moving faster than he even had when the shards had once been embedded in his legs.

Sesshomaru then looked to the shifting body of the teen. “Kohaku,” he said tentatively.

Kohaku lifted himself to his elbows and looked up at the tall, white-haired youkai. “Lord Sesshomaru?”

Sesshomaru extended his left hand to the teen. “Your sister will want to see you. Naraku is dead and the jewel has helped Tenseiga to restore you your life.”

Attention was now turned to the lifeless body of Inuyasha, who laid in a mass under the tree he had collided with moments before. “Damn mutt can’t avoid trees, can he?” Kouga asked no one.

Sesshomaru, almost as though forgetting he could have teleported himself there, ran to Inuyasha, sheathing his sword. The demon used his new arm to lift InuYasha up as his right arm held the lolling white head. Sesshomaru could see new jagged purple markings on Inuyasha’s cheekbones and could detect the difference in scent. The taiyoukai couldn’t help but trace the markings with his thumb as the rest of his hand supported the head.

“What are you doing?” Kouga sniffed the air. “And why does he smell like a demon?”

“Open your eyes,” Sesshomaru said, looking intently at the smaller inu. “Open your eyes, InuYasha.” Almost on command, those eyes opened, still the color of honey, but with a twinge of red around the irises. “Hello,” he said, trying to fight a smile that had appeared centuries before at those same golden eyes.

“What happened?” InuYasha said, groggily.

“Tenseiga and the jewel of the four souls decided to make you stronger.”

InuYasha shifted, feeling the other arm around him. “Also gave you back what I took.”

Sesshomaru released Inuyasha and placed him on the ground. “I believe you are now 3/4 demon, if my nose is correct.”

Inuyasha’s hands went up to his hair and the triangular ears. “Damn. Still there.”

“’Course they are, dog breath. Can’t imagine you without ‘em.” Kouga folded his arms across his chest. “Otherwise, how would the world know you’re still a mutt?”

InuYasha glared at Kouga then looked up at Sesshomaru. “What does this mean for me?”

“Demon form and no more human nights,” Sesshomaru explained.

At that, a sudden shout came from the direction of the rest of the group. “Mutt, why did you leave my woman alone with that Naraku look-alike?” Kouga accused.

“You left her too, shit-for-brains.”

Sesshomaru had no time to tell the two that he knew what the shout was, and instead followed after them, throwing Kohaku on his back as he charged behind them, toward the rest of the group, eventually overtaking the two young demons.

When he arrived at the camp ahead of the other two, he found Hitomi securing purple fabric around himself as a makeshift covering, while Sango, Kagome, and Kirara seemed to be awaiting Sesshomaru’s return. As Sesshomaru released Kohaku, he could not help but smile at the warm reunion between brother and sister, as well as their pet neko. By the time InuYasha and Kouga had arrived, the siblings were already in a warm embrace with Kirara nuzzling against them.

“Who shouted?” Kouga asked.

“Miroku,” Kagome answered. “I think it was a shout of joy. He was testing out the wind tunnel." She came over to InuYasha and inspected the markings on his face, gently rubbing her hand along each purple marking.

“Miroku?” Sesshomaru’s mind ventured.

“Lord Sesshomaru, my wind tunnel is gone.”

“Try commanding it.”

With that, another shout rose from the distance, the same one the monk would cry before opening his kazaana. A familiar wind began to circulate from the same area, then was quickly halted.

“How did you know?”

“I suspected that such a powerful weapon would not be removed entirely,” Sesshomaru answered back. “Fate can be cruel, but I doubted it would be that unfair.”

********

The group had left the forest behind and was walking along the dirt road, with Sesshomaru at the lead.

“I suggest you come to my palace as guests. Kouga’s pack may stay in the nearby village at the inn, so long as they do not terrorize my vassals. The rest of you will stay in my palace, even you Prince Kouga, if you can promise you will be on your best possible behavior."

Rin was holding Sesshomaru’s left hand, swinging the arm a bit, seeming as surprised as he was for its appearance.

While most of the group discussed staying at InuYasha’s family home, Miroku could hear Sesshomaru, though a bit fainter than before.

“How much of my thoughts did you hear when we were in battle, Monk?”

“Enough to know you need to talk to InuYasha, and he won’t take this well.”

“Hai. I know.”

“You need to find a way he cannot deny it.”

“Thank you for this morning.”

“What for?”

“Believing me.”

“I could see your thoughts. I knew you weren’t lying.” There was a pause. “I did have a question, though. The dream…”

“What dream?”

“Um, you appeared in a dream, giving instructions to me.”

“I do not know what you are talking about. I was merely giving you instructions.” This time Sesshomaru paused. “Was the dream pleasant?”

“Um…yes.”

While Sesshomaru and Miroku were conversing inside of their heads, the group had opted to take Sesshomaru up on his offer.

“Jaken take Ah-Un and tell my servants to prepare rooms for my guests. Reserve rooms at the inn for the wolves and have the servants ensure Father’s room is ready for Prince InuYasha, but do not let them disturb much.”
Sesshomaru watched as Kagome slipped a loving arm around InuYasha. Kouga was observing from the distance and growled defeatedly. InuYasha scooped Kagome onto his back as they walked, insisting she not tire herself out. Sango and Kohaku walked beside Kirara, who remained transformed, carrying Hitomi on her back. Already, the group had managed to find clothing for him, though they would have preferred not having to fight off demons who mistook the former lord for Naraku in order to get it. Sesshomaru realized that for the rest of his life, Hitomi would likely be fighting off demons who mistakenly took him for the monster who had used his form for so many years, and the inuyoukai wondered whether someone who spent most of his former life as a sickly, pampered royal would really be capable of fighting them off.

He turned back at Miroku, curious if he had any idea how jealous he looked. The anger on his face was obvious, more so since he had been punched by Sango for groping her on the behind. Sesshomaru, still linked with the monk, knew this was not a normal reaction for the demon slayer, who usually responded with a satisfying slap to the face. In an almost childish way of showing his anger, Miroku refused to take back the purple fabric that he had lent to Hitomi, even after it had served its purpose. He told them all he didn’t want it back until it had been washed.

Sesshomaru watched the dark-haired man as the kitsune attempted to keep up with InuYasha and Kagome without interrupting their time together, as they were occassionally sharing a chaste kiss when they thought no one was watching. Miroku had apparently seen the fox’s struggles and scooped him up into his arms and onto his shoulders.

“No reason you have to walk,” Miroku said.

“I don’t need to be carried like a baby, Miroku,” Shippo argued.

“I can put you back on the ground, if you would prefer it.”

Sesshomaru smiled as he turned around and watched the kit shaking his head adamantly. “You already pulled me up here.”

*********

When they arrived at the western lord’s palace, Sesshomaru directed each to their rooms, beginning with Kouga, Sango and Hitomi, whose rooms were in the eastern guest wing of the house. He tried to keep his route through the palace as simple as possible, but their sense of direction was not what his was, and he was quite certain they would be lost the first time they ventured out on their own. Finally, when he reached his own family’s wing, the western portion of the palace, he showed Miroku to his grandfather’s room, Kagome to the one that was to have been InuYasha’s, and Rin to his own mother’s. He had waited until absolutely last to show InuYasha to Lord Touga’s room, asking that the others give him a moment alone with the younger inu.

“This room, this entire wing, was sealed with a scent barrier to protect any children Izayoi might bear from servants harboring ill will toward them. That same barrier protected any from knowing what had happened to me, and it has preserved the scent inside this room,” he said. “I want you to know that nothing in here has been changed or moved, so it looks just as it did when Father and Izayoi shared this chamber. My servants are very obedient and will not have disturbed anything. It is not much to offer you, but I hope you can at least know this was how they lived.”

InuYasha looked down at his feet. “Thank you.”

“Do not thank me. You should never have been a stranger to this place.” Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around a very startled InuYasha. “I am very sorry. Please know that. If I had been who I was before Father took my memory, I would have fought alongside him against Ryuukoutsei for your and Izayoi’s protection.”

Sesshomaru opened the door, allowing only InuYasha to step inside to take in the sights, the smells. InuYasha began walking around the room, touching each surface, obviously sniffing around in that animal-like way of his. Sesshomaru could see the young demon’s eyes tearing up, and it became more and more difficult to remain outside.

“Mother. I can… She…” Inuyasha drug his arm over his eyes. “I remember her smell, but Father’s… It isn’t here.”

“What do you mean, InuYasha? I told you nothing was touched.”

“Sesshomaru, it isn’t here. I’m glad that I can see all of his things, his belongings, but--”

“InuYasha, surely your nose is sensitive enough to detect a rather strong inu scent here.”

“But your servants…”

“Are not inus. Most of them are human or lesser demons.” Sesshomaru took a step over the threshold. “That inu scent is Lord Touga, my father.”

“Don’t you give me this shit about not being related. For Kami sake, you smell exactly like I remember father did.” InuYasha’s eyes widened as he realized what still remained unsaid. “No.” he began to back away, tears running down both cheeks. “No, no. No. No. NO.”

Sesshomaru could not stop his own tears as he neared InuYasha. Though the younger demon fought, Sesshomaru once again held him in an embrace, this one much tighter than the last.