The Last of Their Ind

Hours after the sun rose, Kagome and the others found Inuyasha lying unconscious under a tree, not far from where he and his brother had spent the night. He was obviously wounded, but his friends weren't sure who had hurt him. They loaded him onto Kirara's back and took him to Kaede's village. Though they asked him repeatedly who he'd fought, what had happened; but Inuyasha refused to say more than the encounter was a draw… Though he healed quickly, Kagome noticed him watching the moon with a strange look in his eyes, as if he was counting the days and waiting impatiently for something…

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Jaken was pouting by the river's edge, tossing pebbles into the sluggish water. Rin was chattering at AiAun as it drank an astonishing amount of water, while Sesshomaru-sama leaned against a tree, eyes distant and almost dreamy. This was unprecedented; Sesshomaru-sama not clear minded, or focused? As if sensing his glance, Sesshomaru's eyes snapped to focus on Jaken, who immediately stepped backwards and tumbled into the river with a squawk.

"Jaken-sama! Jaken-sama!" Rin cried and splashed towards him, but he was swept away too quickly. He was gratified to see Sesshomaru move quickly to his feet and then start towards him but he was swept around a bend and lost sight of his party. He splashed and flailed, gripping his staff desperately; if he lived but lost it, Sesshomaru-sama would kill him anyway. He got a glimpse of the shore rushing by and redoubled his efforts to get to a bank; the river had only looked slow! He was moving so fast, and he was getting cold too… the water was freezing. Youkai or not, he was too small to stave off hypothermia for long.

Suddenly a branch hit his back and he grabbed it, spluttering. The branch suddenly flung him into the air and he wailed as he flew, then felt something grab him midair. He saw silvery white and smelled a familiar scent, a scent that made him sniffle happily.

"Sesshomaru-sama, you saved me!" he cried, then realized he was not being carried by Sesshomaru, but was being carried by Inuyasha. He looked up at the hanyou and gaped; why would his master's shiftless brother help him unless… he meant to harm him or use him against his beloved master! Jaken would never work against Sesshomaru-sama!

"Get your paws off me you wretched cur!" he cried and thrashed his arms, waving his staff madly about.

"Damn you're ungrateful aren't you, you toad!" Inuyasha scowled. He couldn't believe his luck; he hadn't figured out how to get to Jaken without alerting his brother's keen nose that he was near. He was supposed to meet Sesshomaru that night, but first he needed Jaken's help, pathetic as it sounded even to him. He took it as a good omen that the imp came floating by this way. He leapt from treetop to treetop until he was a decent distance away from the river and his brother's senses and dropped to the ground.

"Ok baka. I need your help. How do I open that pearl in my eye?" he said imperiously. Jaken blinked and stared at him, jaw dropping. He couldn't believe his ears. Why would Inuyasha want to open the gate to his father's tomb?

"I don't know; Sesshomaru-sama did it, you dolt! He used the staff…" instantly Inuyasha snatched the Staff of Heads and pressed Jaken to the ground with his foot.

‘That's right, he tapped it and the guys head was making that creepy laugh and then the portal opened… But can I make it open or can only Sesshomaru do it?' He thought. Then there was the fact the damn pearl was inside his eye, and he didn't know how to get it out.

"Hey you… you, let me go! Sesshomaru-sama will punish you for this!" Jaken complained under his foot. Inuyasha looked down at the imp and then rapped him hard on the head, knocking him unconscious. Once the squawking was silent, he tied the tiny youkai to a tree branch and pondered his dilemma.

‘I am the caretaker of the tomb, sorta. Me and Myoga-jiji… so, I should be able to get to the thing right? Sesshomaru pulled the pearl from my eye with force; but maybe I can just tell it to come out, since it's in me?' he grimaced and squinted with his left eye closed and concentrated, feeling rather silly. "Come on out, pearl… I need to see my dad's bones real fast." he said gruffly.

Nothing happened.

He scowled and poked his eyelid. "Come on, get out of there!" he snapped. He opened his eye waited, cajoled and poked, blinked and some more, then clapped his hand over it; he would really hate to have to mutilate himself to get the damn thing out, but being hanyou, he knew he'd heal pretty fast… He steeled himself, not sure he could actually poke out his own eye just to get the damn pearl out but determined to try it as the last ditch effort…

Something felt wrong in his head. His vision went blurry and he dropped his hand blinking; and then gasped as the pearl popped free and into his palm. He squinted with his right eye closed now and grinned a toothy grin. "That's it! Ok then!" he dropped the thing and tapped it with the staff like his brother had all that time ago. The old man's face that hung on the staff opened its eyes and began to cackle, and then a large black portal opened. Inuyasha stared at Jaken and the green world around him for a moment before he jumped inside…

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Sesshomaru frowned slightly as he and Rin walked the bank of the river seeking Jaken to no avail. He couldn't scent the imp, and he was not responding to Rin's calls. There was no sign that the creature had gotten out of the river yet either; he eyed the swift water again, beginning to think his servant had succumbed to its cold embrace. He looked down at Rin's head as she walked beside him, calling with her little hopeful voice and sighed. He wondered if he shouldn't abandon his plans to wait for his brother; after all, he didn't really expect Inuyasha to come. He was sure the boy was probably feeling strange and unwilling to repeat his night of lustful incest.

The youkai shivered despite himself; he'd thought a great deal on that night, and the theory he had about it. He still felt that he was correct, but the frission that shook him when he thought about it was… alarming. That he'd desire his little brother so badly even after they had distance between them was surprising; he'd been certain distance would sever the connection that made them feel that lust. That he didn't care about the moral issue of touching his flesh and blood sexually was not so strange; he didn't have a humans view on incest. Sometimes youkai siblings had to breed in order to continue their race; it was a fact of life and it prevented him from feeling any real guilt over touching his brother that way. Still, he did acknowledge that his brother was part human, so the morality of it was not cut and dried… He grimaced as his flesh tingled yet again, distracting him from the task and thoughts at hand. Curse this damn reaction to his sibling; why was the allure of a being like himself so powerful that he couldn't even think clearly about it? He stopped walking and frowned.

He really shouldn't meet the hanyou. He should search for Jaken and stay away from Inuyasha, and regain his absolute control over mind and body. He should, he should, he should; but he wouldn't. He knew it and growled to himself. The only way to be free of his brother's allure was to kill him. And that was not possible. He actually cringed at the thought of it, where once he would have smiled; slaying his little brother, because of a chemical reaction neither could have predicted or controlled? To never again sense the smell of Inuyasha's skin, in, sweating with sexual tension, or hear the myriad of little sounds he made under and over and beside him…

"Sesshomaru-sama? You're bleeding!" Rin's voice cut through his thoughts. He looked down at her in confusion. Bleeding? The child timidly took his large hand in hers and turned it palm up, revealing four perfect punctures from his own claws, which were bleeding very nicely, bright red rivulets trailing over his hand and dripping to the ground below. He stared at them, shocked though his face showed nothing. Rin looked up at him with those huge worried eyes and he focused upon her face, forcing the lewd thoughts from his mind. He knelt slowly and nodded to her.

"Get some water from the stream to wash them, Rin. Hurry." he said gently. She scurried to gather a bowl from the pack on AiAun's saddle and obey, as he breathed slowly, forcing his body to obey him. When she got back the wounds had started closing, and the bleeding had stopped, but he let her care for them, more to keep her distracted from her fear for Jaken than because he needed her help; he didn't need her help, of course.

"Sesshomaru-sama? Where is Jaken-sama? Why haven't we found him?" Rin asked with timid curiosity. He didn't reply, pulling his cleaned hand away and standing.

"Rin, you are to stay here. The dragon will guard you." He said firmly. Rin nodded, assuming he was going to continue his search, and was leaving her because she slowed his progress. In fact, he assumed that the imp would find his way back to them, or else he'd feed the fish in the stream. At the moment he couldn't find it in him to worry anymore. He turned and headed for his rendezvous with a cold face and racing heart.

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Inuyasha was watching for his brother from the treetops. His belly was aflutter; what if the youkai didn't come after all? What if he came and things were back as they'd been before that day? He shook his head; Sesshomaru would come; and then he'd have to find a way to do it. He took a moment to wonder if he shouldn't have freed Jaken; Sesshomaru might be searching for him, and have chosen to save his servant before he came to the meeting place. "Dammit he'd better come anyway. Since when does he care that much about anything…" especially his little brother?

He heard a soft sound and looked down through the branches to see a flash of white ate and silver and sighed in relief. He watched as the youkai stopped and titled his head before reaching around to his left side and unlacing his armor. The plates hung and he tugged them free of the obi, then untied his haori, shrugging free of it as well. Inuyasha's eyes widened; Sesshomaru was stripping already? Was this an assumption that Inuyasha was coming and would be aroused or what? He snorted, but his eyes never left the form below, as more and more skin was revealed, until the youkai lord was wearing nothing but his ornately tied obi. Sesshomaru flicked his hair over his left side again, the barest hint of embarrassment in his eyes for a flash. Inuyasha jumped down and glared at him fiercely.

"You don't have to hide that you know." he said suddenly. Sesshomaru's eyebrow lifted in curious surprise at the words. He was far from pleased to be disfigured; was he supposed to proudly display his stump of an arm, the eternal symbol of his greatest failure? Inuyasha stepped up to him, eyes bright as he slid one arm around his brother's narrow waist.

"I know it's my fault. And, I am sorry Sesshomaru. I am sorry I chose to do this to you just to beat you. But, you don't have to hide it from me either." he said, voice softening until he was almost whispering, his face drawing closer as Sesshomaru's eyes turned away. The red haori and hakima were amazingly soft to the youkai's bare skin, not silken by any means, but nice anyway. Inuyasha's hand was pressed flat to the small of his back, warm and firm as he pulled on the taller youkai, snuggling their bodies together. The boys lips were also soft as he kissed the corner of his mouth then darted his tongue out to touch lightly, tasting his skin like a bird might. Sesshomaru couldn't help the tiny quiver that rose in response to the subtle, gentle approach his brother was making. Still, he flinched when Inuyasha lifted his hand and touched the shortened arm, inspecting the cleanly healed stump with his fingertips.

"Inuyasha… I'd rather you didn't… touch it." He shuddered with effort to not jerk away from the hanyou; he'd already said too much, revealed his weakness about regretting the loss of his limb. Inuyasha slid hand and up his back then cradled the youkai's chin and shook his head.

"It is my fault, my shame not yours. And it doesn't make you less beautiful in anyone's eyes, Sesshomaru. Surely you know that?" Inuyasha said very seriously; his hand stroked the end of the stump then withdrew. He knew what he needed to know now…

"Inuyasha; it embarrasses me to be seen thus. It embarrasses me that you even mention it. I have learned to live with it, to fight and be whole despite it. But I will never look upon my own reflection with anything other than scorn and shame." He said coolly. His eyes caught the boys and wouldn't let him look away. "Or do you wish to anger me into leaving; is that why you point my inadequacy out to me?"

"You are really dumb sometimes, Sesshomaru. Just so you know it." Inuyasha smirked with false bravado and then stepped back, removing his clothes quickly. He was as uncomfortable about hearing his brother's words as the youkai was to utter them. His brother looked down, eyes clouded and ignoring the insult. This wasn't want he'd envisioned for this evening… He blinked as he felt hands on his thighs and focused on the top of Inuyasha's head as he rubbed his face on the youkai's flanks above the silk obi, which draped carelessly off his hips now that the armor plate was gone. The hanyou's hands drifted to tease along his hips, his stripes, back down to trail claws over his sleeping manhood… then pressed on his hipbones and pushed the baffled youkai backwards until he was leaning against a tree. Their tree, actually; the bark was scarred by both brothers' claws as they'd gripped and ripped the tree in their more passionate moments; the gouges were a secret symbol of their claim on each other.

"I want to do this my way. So you better grab that branch and let me do what I want, understand?" Inuyasha growled threateningly as he looked up his brother's body and pointed at a sturdy branch by his head. Sesshomaru lifted a brow with curiosity but obeyed, his hand winding around the branch as ordered. The hanyou smirked and looked back down, his hands stroking the sleek thighs firmly. He leaned in again and ran his tongue along the crease of Sesshomaru's flank, right over the obi and up to where a rosy stripe traced from his back to the front, and then followed the dark and sensitive skin, dragging his upper fangs along the skin. The youkai shivered at the sensation, a tingle of pleasure shooting through him as his brother repeated the process on the other hip. His hands moved to the sides of his knees and thighs, claws digging in hard enough to leave welts even on Sesshomaru's skin.

The youkai's eyes had regained their shine as he watched his little brother tease his skin, and he slung his hips forward a bit, back slouched against the tree trunk as the hanyou's chin barely brushed the base of his shaft when he moved from one hip to another. Inuyasha traced his tongue down his groin and down beside his balls, before he slid a hand under them, lifting and massaging gently and lapping at the skin, liking how tight they were already. The soft moan his brother uttered was nice but too subdued. The hanyou nuzzled his shaft then slowly sucked it into his mouth, working to make it harden quickly. Sesshomaru hummed and let his eyes close, the warm mouth and soft tongue on his skin stimulating him nicely. He felt the hazy lust wake fully in his belly, stretching and flooding his veins like liquid fire. All other concerns, all thoughts of anything but his brother's mouth on his manhood, his claws on his skin were lost. All he cared for now was the sensation pouring over him in shuddering waves.

Inuyasha held his thighs and moved his head slowly as he suckled and moved his tongue over the sensitive skin, eyes closing as he concentrated on what he was doing, how to wring more sensation from his tongue and lips. Sesshomaru's legs tensed and his toes curled into the grass as his brother worked harder, his hand coming up to stroke as he moved his mouth over the now erect member, hooking his lips around the head. Sesshomaru made another louder sound that encouraged Inuyasha to slide his hand down his brother's right leg then sling it up and over his shoulder, the obi draped over his right hip now. The youkai simply shifted his weight to his left leg and rolled his head to the side. The familiar yet enjoyable shivers of sensation washing over him with each pull of Inuyasha's mouth on his shaft made his bones melt and his blood boil. Inuyasha pulled his mouth off and licked his fingers, then slid his lips back over the throbbing erection. As clawed fingers inched back behind his testicles, Sesshomaru made a tiny noise of protest; he was supposed to be dominant here, wasn't he? But he couldn't seem to move or even speak to stop his brothers invading fingers.

Inuyasha could almost read his brothers mind and actually felt odd about being so forceful, but he had reasons for taking control; besides he was enjoying this, he enjoyed pleasuring the deadly creature before him, making him moan and shudder desirously. It made him shudder with pleasure himself, even though he wasn't even touching his own body; his brother's pleasure was his own for the moment. He wormed his fingers against his brother's opening and then pressed inside, lustful instinct and his desire to please guiding him to unerringly find the spot Sesshomaru had so enthusiastically worked for him and his pleasure. Instantly he felt his shaft jump against the roof of his mouth, and tasted the salty drops announcing his brother was enjoying his actions despite his protests. He slowed his mouth and pressed more urgently on that little gland, feeling his brother's hips moving in time with him as his brother gasped and moaned beautifully in response. The youkai's skin was shivering with waves of hot and cold, his nipples hardening pleasantly from the resultant chills. Sesshomaru licked his lips and panted with growing excitement and moved his hips closer to his brother's mouth in gentle encouragement.

Inuyasha shivered with repressed hunger; but he had to wait, he had to hold onto his own control for once. He didn't look up when he heard the snap of the branch breaking in Sesshomaru's hand; he was too intent on pushing his sibling over the edge with his hands and his mouth. Sesshomaru's hand dove into Inuyasha's hair, his thumb and forefinger stroking a delicate, velvet soft ear and finding a strange gratification in how the hanyou purred in his throat at the caress. His eyes snapped open when he felt the warmth around him envelop him whole as Inuyasha swallowed the entire length. The youkai's fangs bared as he jerked his hips into the boy's mouth, eyes fading as his nerves flared with sheer pleasure, shuddering as the pressure in his belly erupted. Inuyasha swallowed and tightened his throat as he moved his fingers in a circular motion inside his brother's entrance, adding to the youkai's orgasm.

Sesshomaru's arm and legs trembled as he arched his back, driving his manhood back and forth in his brother's mouth, making gasping pleasure filled sounds as the moment snapped and ended pleasantly but far too soon. Sesshomaru's head rolled back as he gasped for air; he was surprisingly relaxed now, and his tension over the unpleasant talk before Inuyasha had attacked him so eagerly had vanished completely. He glanced down and lifted a brow as the hanyou licked his way back off the softening length in his mouth, lapping the white drops off of the blushing skin and soothing him into a glowing and limp state… he couldn't even stand upright now.

‘Yeah, rest up, Sesshomaru. Not sure why you'd be so damn tired but I'm not complaining… yet.' Inuyasha thought with a hentai's smirk as he pulled the pleasantly exhausted youkai down and lay with him, watching his brothers golden eyes close contentedly. When his chest was rising and falling with shallow evenness, the hanyou slipped away and crept off before running with all the speed he could force from his legs.