Tourniquet
Chapter Two
Sesshoumaru wrinkled his nose in disgust as a familiar smell reached his nose. A faint trace of Inuyasha's scent was in the air, but it was stale, perhaps by a week or so. 'How is this possible. Inuyasha is dead. His smell cannot be this fresh.' Golden eyes sweeping the area, the dog demon used his nose to trace the scent. He walked down a street lined with trees, passing bike-riding children and adults as well. Not one noticed what he was--a demon. Only those who knew what he was would be able to see his youkai attributes. Everyone else just saw a very tall human male.
Placing one hand on the Tensaiga's hilt and his other hand on the Tetsusaiga, Sesshoumaru followed the smell to a shrine, where another, slightly familiar scent joined his half brother's. 'Blood. The wench's blood along with others.'
Demeanor calm, the inu youkai gracefully climbed the many steps to find the Goshinko tree--the god tree and the place where Inuyasha had once been pinned. 'What is going on? Why do I smell my brother? He has been dead for almost 500 years, and I shouldn't be able to smell the human girl. She had to have died many, many years ago; however, I cannot deny what my nose does detect.'
Frowning, Sesshoumaru used his keen sense of smell to locate where the fresh blood was coming from--the house. Judging by the strong smell, someone was either dead or dying. A person had to lose a lot of blood to make the blood scent that strong.
Without caring about manners, only about his curiosity, the dog demon barged right into the house, wondering at the fact that the door had not been locked. He didn't worry about that fact for long, though. His mind was soon occupied by other things. 'It is indeed the wench I smell, but how is that possible? How could she have survived for so many years? She was a human, not a demon. A miko cannot use her magic to increase her life span, so how did she do it? And why is she finally dead or dying now?'
His mind trying to come up with at least one idea, he walked up the stairs and straight to the bathroom. Standing outside the bathroom door, he could tell that the smell of blood was coming from the other side of the door. It was so thick that he had to breath out of his mouth. Years of not having to deal with the stench of the life substance had made his nose more sensitive to it.
Still curious, Sesshoumaru opened the door. His eyes quickly spotted a raven-haired girl sitting in a tub full of pink water. Ugly purple bruises and red scratch-marks and puncture wounds covered her body, clearly evident against her pale skin. Blue lips were parted; however, she had obviously stopped breathing. Wrists covered in fresh slashes rested at her sides, and a blood-covered razor sat at the edge of the tub.
'She committed suicide.' The inu youkai couldn't help but feel sorry for her. In a way, she reminded him of Rin when he had found the little girl dead. Rin had looked helpless and pathetic, just like the wench did at the moment.
Partly from curiosity about how she had survived and partly from pity, Sesshoumaru drew the Tensaiga. In one quick slash and flash of light, he killed the death minions that were taking away her soul.
The raven-haired girl took a gasping breath, her body fully healed. Brown eyes fluttered open to look down at her body, finding it in one piece. She no longer bore the marks of her abuse, both Inuyasha- and self-induced.
"Dear Kami," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "What happened?" She suddenly turned to see Sesshoumaru standing there; her eyes went wide, and she screamed for all she was worth.
The dog demon covered his ears, the sound grating on his nerves. "Stop that right now, woman!" he ordered, expecting her to obey him. "I did not bring you back to life merely to kill you again. If I wanted you dead, I would have left you that way."
The girl stopped screaming, easily seeing that the statement made perfect sense. "You... you brought me back to life? How? How is that even possible?"
"My father's sword," he answered simply. "Now, go dress yourself. Once you're decent, I want to know how you're still alive."
The girl nodded her head, her mind in a state of complete shock. 'It's Sesshoumaru, and he's not trying to kill me. Why?' Brown eyes not really focusing, she climbed out of the tub and wrapped a large towel around her body, stiffly walking to her room.
After Kagome closed her bedroom door, she sat down on her bed. Tears suddenly welled up in the girl's eyes. "Inuyasha..." she whispered as her whole body shook. Visions of everything that had happened flashing through her mind, she began to cry.
She hurt; she hurt so badly. 'Why couldn't he have just left me dead? I don't want to live anymore. I want to die!'
Curling up into the fetal position, she let her tears flow out of her turbulent brown eyes and down her face. "Kami... I hurt."
Sesshoumaru closed his eyes as he listened to her, his ear gently pressed to the door. He didn't trust the girl not to try to kill herself once again. She was obviously unstable, and his presence probably had not helped at all. 'Why does she hurt? Did the sword not fully heal her when I brought her back to life?'
Sounds of sobs reached his ears, making him sigh. He loathed the sound of a person crying. It always affected him for some reason, and he hated that.
After ten minutes of listening to her crying, he barged into the room, intent on making her stop.
"Go away," the girl whispered brokenly, but Sesshoumaru merely ignored her and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Just go away and let me die."
"No," he responded calmly. "You cannot die until you answer my questions, and they are becoming more numerous as you continue to delay. Thus, if you wish to die soon, then I suggest you dress yourself and tell me what I want to know."
Somehow, her mind acknowledged what he had said, so she set about pulling on clothes. She ended up putting on a blue sweater and a black skirt. "There." She curled back up in the fetal position on the floor.
"Your name?" The inu youkai patiently waited for an answer.
She began to rock back and forth, somehow finding the motion soothing. "Kagome."
"Why are you still alive? I know that you were with my half brother 500 years ago, before his demise."
Kagome sniffled, not caring if she gave away her most precious secret to one of the demons that had tried to kill her multiple times. She just didn't care about anything anymore. Everyone she cared about was dead and gone. "There's a well on this shrine. It's a link to the past. If you possess a shard of the shikon jewel, then you can use it to travel back 500 years into the past."
'Ahhh... that explains quite a bit.' Sesshoumaru accepted the explanation without question. "Did my half brother possess a shard?"
She shook her head, the movement slow and sad. She hated hearing about Inuyasha. "No."
The dog demon frowned. "Then why can I smell him? His scent is only a week old, if that."
"He could use the well without the shards. I don't know why." She shrugged.
'Well, now I know why this girl is alive and why I can smell my pathetic half brother,' he thought. "Now, why did you kill yourself?"
That had been the wrong question to ask, because Kagome began sobbing all over again. She buried her head in her knees, her black hair cascading about her, fully covering her face. Her fragile body shook with each despairing, gasping breath she took. She was like a small child--helpless.
'She reminds me of Rin when she was still mute. I cannot press this issue any further at this moment. It will have to wait.' Sesshoumaru stood and picked up Kagome, placing her on the bed. "We will talk later. I have more questions for you, so do not commit suicide again. I will only bring you back if you do."
Without giving her another glance, Sesshoumaru left the house, leaving the miko with his promise to return.
Emotional pain filling her body, Kagome wanted nothing more than to escape all the hurt for just a few hours. So, she curled up under the covers and fell asleep to dream of her rescuer.
CotA: Yea! I finally got around to writing more in this. *hugs Sess-chan* And you were such a big help. Thanks!
Sess-chan: You felt bad about this story, so I had to. You're next to impossible to live with when you're depressed.
CotA: Sorry, but at least I began to fix everything. Kagome is alive again, thanks to Sesshoumaru and his wonderful sword. *pauses* Sess-chan, why does Sesshoumaru have the Tetsusaiga? I thought that he couldn't touch it?
Sess-chan: *smiling* That's for me to know and for you to find out.
CotA: *pouting* Please, will you tell me?
Sess-chan: *shaking his head* No. Now, the review responses are below.
Amanda: Yeah, it was different, but I'm continuing it, so maybe it will become just slightly similiar.
Ashley: I'm not sure where I came up with this idea, but I know that this probably won't happen in the series, and I don't want it to. I want a happy ending.
GuiltyOne: I don't know how I wrote this either, but... *shrugs* I did. And I have written other stuff. All my other stories are romances.
mYjesTikgiRl: Yes, it was sad. I almost started crying when I reread it.
Hamaguri: Thanks for the recommendation.
Dragon hitokiri: See? I continued. I had to. This story was just so sad.
My-Name-is-Spoken: Yes, it was sad, and thanks for the compliment.
mkh2: I don't know what happened to Inuyasha. Sess-chan won't tell me anything yet.
Sayeesa: I understand lazyness. I'm kinda lazy myself.
Dragon Child2: I'm not a fan of character deaths either.
Sakura onto Hitomi: I like Inuyasha just fine. Actually, I think he's funny in the show. I just... wrote this for an obsure reason.
Jupiter's Light: Well, it's beginning to become all better.
Chronicles Bailey: I know that it wasn't fair for me to do that to Inuyasha, but I did it anyway. It was needed for the story.
Akuma Kodomo: I continued, see? I had planned on having Sesshoumaru save her from the start.
Raining Fire: Yes, scary.
PWA: I surprised myself. I'm not much of a depressing person, but I guess I was in a bad mood when I wrote this.
