The Cobra's Touch
Chapter One: First Contact
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. This story is a response to a challenge from Gothik-Prince. Enjoy.
&:0:&
Time.
It passes slowly, taking its time meandering through the trees with the wind. I dream, the sweetness of unconsciousness consuming me. But sometimes, the past haunts me. Sometimes I hear her scream of betrayal in my ears, and because I do not wake, I cannot escape.
"That's not what happened." The words slur from my lips, only half-spoken, and if she does hear, she does not listen.
And even when there is peace, I am utterly empty. I can feel time take its toll on the things around me, things I can only sense and not see, but I remain unchanged. I feel it when something dies.
I am the one thing that can disrupt the flow of time, for it does not touch me.
I cling only to a small hope: Someday, someday, I shall be freed.
And then maybe someone will no longer see me as Kagome the Cursed, but as Kagome the Good.
&:0:&
"Dang it! Sesshomaru!" InuYasha yelled, golden eyes flashing with fury as he took in his older half-brother's possession that was currently in his way. "Did you have to polish them in the middle of the shrine?"
Sesshomaru's stoic voice replied quite simply: "Dear brother, that is only place one gets peace around here."
Grumbling fiercely (but unable to argue), white dog ears twitching on top of his head, InuYasha returned to glaring at the weapons lying there. "Don't know what he sees in these things…stupid old heirlooms, that's all."
"I can hear you, you know."
InuYasha lowered his voice even more. "Tenseiga…a healing sword? Give me a break! And Tetsusaiga…the Fang…honestly. Wouldn't even cut paper, much less a person." He reached down to pick them up and place them back onto the shelf in the old shrine where they belonged (not on top of the well; that was his place to sit and think, not a rack for those stupid swords).
His hands never quite made it to them. Suddenly, in a white blur, Sesshomaru had pushed him aside. "You are not worthy to touch them, half-breed. Leave them for someone of pure blood."
InuYasha growled, his fingers clenching, the claws topping them menacingly long. "You, you mean."
"Of course." The demon eyed him for a moment, amber orbs cold, before turning away and picking up both of the blades and putting them back in their sheathes and then on the highest shelf.
"You're no purer than me," his younger brother spat, still smarting from the 'half-breed' comment. It was true, youkai were accepted, but there was still pain and resentment between the race of humans and demons. InuYasha had the misfortune of sympathizing with both and being trapped in between.
"I am born of our noble father and a demon mother," Sesshomaru responded silkily. "Your mother was no more than a human."
InuYasha saw red. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. He knew he couldn't win; they had fought many times before, and he had always lost. Despite everything, the full demon was stronger.
He swung out the door, silver bangs tipped forward to hide his face. Sesshomaru knew better than to insult his mother – yet he did so, every time. And it hurt just like the first time.
"InuYasha." His brother's voice was gentler now. "Stop." Still commanding, though.
"What do you want, idiot?" he spat, facing him again, trembling with the effort it took to keep under control.
"I'm sorry."
"Sure, sure." InuYasha snorted. "Get out of my spot."
Sesshomaru cocked an eyebrow. "Why do you want to go into the shrine so badly?"
"Dear brother, that is the only place one gets peace around here," InuYasha mocked. "Move."
It was Sesshomaru's turn to be angry and control himself. You did hit below the belt, he reminded himself. That comment about his mother was unfair. He nodded once and slowly exited the shrine, leaving InuYasha to his peculiar place of comfort.
The hanyou sighed, brushing nonexistent dust off his black jeans. Can't he ever leave me alone? He lay back on the well cover, staring up at the old wooden ceiling, feet dangling off one edge, his arms behind his head as a pillow. The red t-shirt he wore was the brightest thing in the small building and that wasn't saying much. The place was dark…and peaceful.
He closed his amber eyes as though to block out the memories and pain. Maybe, if he was lucky, Sesshomaru would feel the slightest bit of guilt and let him sleep…
Creak.
Uh-oh.
InuYasha glanced around nervously. Man, I knew this thing was old…but…
That's when it hit him.
The creaking was coming from underneath him.
Crack.
"Crap," he muttered. "Sessho –"
The boards covering the well broke, and he went spiraling…into blue light.
"SESSHOMARU GET OVER – here?"
InuYasha blinked. Why could he see sunlight? Why were there vines lancing up the walls and erupting into far-too-much light?
Where the heck was he?
&:0:&
"SESSHOMAR –"
Silence.
Sesshomaru looked up, alarmed. His half-brother's voice had sounded considerably…desperate, and considering the hanyou hated asking for help, well, there was probably trouble.
"Only you could find trouble in a well-house, brother," he muttered, but got up to investigate all the same.
The well had fallen through.
And InuYasha wasn't there.
After eliminating all other possibilities as to where the foolish half-demon could have gone, the demon concluded his erratic sibling must be inside the well. And, with considerably more grace than InuYasha, he jumped in.
&:0:&
"Weird…" InuYasha muttered, launching himself out of the well easily.
"Brother." There was a slightly alarmed note to Sesshomaru's voice. The hanyou looked rather smug as he turned, smiling, to face his older sibling. "Where are we?"
"How would I know?" he snorted. "Come on – let's go find out." His long silver hair flew out behind him as he began running in what appeared to be a completely random direction.
Sesshomaru sighed in exasperation before following. He was never going to learn.
"Whoa." InuYasha stopped dead. "Sess…look…"
There was a girl.
Her eyes were closed and her head tilted to the side, exposing her pale neck.
Why was she so pale? She was fully immersed in sunlight, but her skin was the color of snow. It contrasted magnificently with her silken threads of black hair. Her lips were full and soft pink, but they were contorted up in some pain.
Though nothing seemed to touch her but the vines that bound her to the huge tree she was perched on, she was not at peace. There was pain in her expression, agony in the contours of her face.
Sesshomaru felt, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, a wave of pity, usually an emotion he chose not have. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her side, but never did more, as though the vines were shackles that would never be worn down by time.
And then he knew.
"She is a miko," he told InuYasha softly. "A guardian. It was not an easy life. She must have fallen prey to one of her many enemies."
InuYasha hardly heard him. He was entranced by her beauty and infuriated by her anguish. "Is…is there anyway we can…wake her up?" he stuttered, reaching forward as though to touch her cheek. Suddenly, he halted as though stopped by an invisible barrier. "A miko?"
"Yes."
"You mean a priestess?"
"Yes."
"But I thought there weren't any more of them left!" InuYasha exclaimed.
Sesshomaru refrained from rolling his eyes with difficulty. "I am aware of that – but InuYasha, think: We just jumped – or, in your case, fell – down a well and, I believe, through time. And you are surprised because you see a priestess? Really, InuYasha."
Too fascinated by the strange girl to be really angry, he just muttered something about a weird day and turned back to her.
"I want her to wake up, Sess," he murmured, voice trembling. "I don't know why, but I just do."
"I doubt you can," Sesshomaru answered simply, "if she herself, with all her power, could not break the curse."
InuYasha's hand paused again, in the same spot. "How do you know she was so powerful – or even know she was a miko for sure? Couldn't she just be another girl?"
He shook his head. "No, InuYasha. Youkai of the past slaughtered humans. They would not take the trouble to bind her unless they could not kill her."
"Then she must have been a threat to them…"
"And therefore a priestess," Sesshomaru finished. "And a danger to us."
InuYasha swirled around, quaking with anger. "She is not dangerous to us. She is not! I'm going to wake her up. I'm going to."
The demon leapt forward in concern, grabbing his younger brother's arm. "No! InuYasha! It's too risky – don't you see? She could purify us!"
"But she won't," he answered confidently. "I know she won't. Please, Sess. Let me try."
All the anger had drained away.
More out of shock than anything else, Sesshomaru nodded and released him.
InuYasha ran his hand slowly down her cheek. "Wake up." His voice was tender and coaxing. "Please, girl. Wake up."
His claws traced the vine that ran across her throat, and then the ones that ensnared her waist. "Please wake up."
There was a harsh sizzling sound and a flash of light and heat. The last thing InuYasha saw before being flung backwards was her eyes open.
&:0:&
How strange. I was free.
Wait a second.
I WAS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!
I blinked. My bindings were falling away in a writhing, burning mass. I trembled. The last fire I had witnessed had not been pretty, had had tragic consequences, and had sealed my fate for eternity.
Or so I had thought.
I shook my head slightly, trying to clear my thoughts and vision. For the first time, I could really, really feel the light of the sun. I closed my eyes and lifted my face to its glorious warmth. That, perhaps, had been the greatest punishment of all: Living in the cold and darkness for so many years.
"What's wrong with her?" I heard a voice say.
I frowned, indignant, but kept my eyelids shut. Didn't he know – whoever he was – that I was Kagome Higurashi, the priestess meant to be sealed to the tree forever, and that I had not seen light in what seemed forever?
Wait.
Despite his rudeness, he probably had been the one to rescue me, so I reluctantly opened my eye and turned to face him, smiling in gratitude.
And froze.
First off, what was he wearing? The bottom black pants just had to be uncomfortable. And those…shoes…how odd.
Secondly, he was drop-dead gorgeous and was standing next to another man who was also drop-dead gorgeous. They both had amazingly beatific silver locks of hair and golden eyes. The one who had spoken, though, had two little dog ears on top of his head. The taller one had two magenta strips on his cheeks and a cobalt crescent moon on his forehead.
My blood ran cold: Demons.
But the younger one was smiling cautiously at me. "Hey. Who are you, by the way?"
Shouldn't I be the one asking that?
"I am Kagome, the priestess," I answered softly, careful to discard my last name. If he didn't know the stories already…well, I wasn't going to be the one to inform him. I had suffered enough for my past. "Thank you for your rescue of me."
"Who did that to you? And why?" he inquired, holding out a clawed hand to help me up.
I accepted the hand, but dodged the question. "A miko, Hanyou, has many enemies. What is your name?"
He chuckled slightly, dropping my hand. "InuYasha. And this here is my idiot half-brother" – the 'idiot half-brother' glared at him and yanked his silver hair sharply – "Sesshomaru."
I smiled warmly. "Sesshomaru. InuYasha. Why, may I ask, did you release me? And where do you come from?"
The one called InuYasha snickered. "I don't know where we are, wench, and I ain't about to tell you where we came from."
Well! I had ignored his earlier manners – talking about me as if I wasn't even there – but that did it. My eyes narrowed, as they always do when I'm angry, and I glowered at him. "What did you just call me?" I bit my tongue to keep from retorting with 'half-breed'. I knew that could hurt, and he had released me, after all.
Oh, was he ever going to regret that!
"W-wench?" he stuttered.
Sesshomaru snickered.
"My name is Kagome," I spat, ignoring the tall demon. "Call me that again, and I will purify you."
"Uh-uh yeah! Of course! K-Kagome," he stuttered.
That's right; you better be scared. "Better," I approved, backing away.
I fell.
Apparently, I was still too weak to really hold myself up. There was no chance I'd be purifying any demons – even hanyous – anytime soon.
Not that I had really intended to carry out my threat. Harming demons was what had gotten me pinned to the tree in the first place, and it wasn't an experience I was anxious to repeat.
I sighed, resigned to hitting the ground, when a tan arm flashed out and wrapped itself around my waist. "Idiot," InuYasha proclaimed, sounding mildly amused. "Are you alright?"
No. I was not alright. I liked the feel of his arm far too much for my own good. "Yes," I answered calmly, pulling away. "I'm just fine, thank you."
Sesshomaru's eyes flashed with mirth. I glared at him.
"So do you know where you came from or not?" I demanded of InuYasha. "And how did you free me?"
"Well…we live in downtown Tokyo…and we fell through a well in the old shrine in the backyard," he explained.
None of which made any sense to me.
"Tokyo," I repeated, trying to commit the peculiar word to memory. "A well."
"Yeah – it's here in your world too," he added smartly.
I rolled my eyes. "I guessed that. How else would you have gotten here? Honestly, InuYasha, are you always this dense?"
"Yes," Sesshomaru muttered.
I jumped in before the hanyou could retort. "Is it east of here?"
InuYasha blinked. "Um."
"Yes," his brother confirmed. "Do you know it, miko?"
I flared. "If you didn't get the hint the first time, demon, my name is KAGOME!"
He merely looked bored.
"I…will…purify you," I warned, raising my hands.
"Without arrows?" Sesshomaru asked innocently.
I smiled evilly (unbecoming for a priestess, I know). "You really aren't from around here, are you?" And so saying, I discovered that a bit of my power still lingered, and I promptly held up a spiraling ball of pink light on the palm of my hand. "Who says I need arrows?"
Silence.
I pulled the energy back into me. "Okay, then, now that we've got that sorted out, did you come from the Bone-Eater's Well?"
"Yes," Sesshomaru answered, while InuYasha merely looked confused.
"Then I guess we better go check it out." I walked off in the direction I knew the dry old well was, maybe holding my head a little higher than necessary. There was a peculiar warm feeling welling deep within me. It felt good, but it also confused me.
Whoever these demons were, they had to return to their world. Change was what had killed me before, or the refusal to change. I hadn't quite worked it out yet, but I knew that, either way, strangers were dangerous.
Especially strangers that called me "wench" or "miko" and still could make me feel lightheaded.
They were not safe.
I was sure of that, even as InuYasha's burning gaze on my back made me lose my train of thought.
&:0:&
A/N: There! The first chapter is done! Gothik-Prince, I hope this is what you were looking for. Sorry if it wasn't! This is just a starting chapter, and I hope I did alright.
I beg of you, review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!
Until next time!