Disclaimer: I don't own Howl's Moving Castle or Inuyasha. I also don't own the song 1000 Words. The only thing I own is the idea of this plot. If it is similar to any other story or fanfiction, I apologize. It was not my intention.
AN: Thank you all so much for the reviews, it's the highest number I've ever gotten on one chapter, and it's made me a little giddy. In all actuality, this fic was just an experiment. I hadn't planned on continuing it for a while, and had just posted the first chapter on a whim. (I had the first chapter written for about three months prior to the posting, but never started the next chapter) I figured that I might get hate mail if I didn't update some time soon, so, hope you enjoy the next chapter of...
As the Sky Falls
Chapter 2
firefox369
Your words were like a dream...
...But dreams could never fool me...
Not that easily...
A shadowed figure listened intently for any sign of life within the darkened forest as its covered feet silently padded against the ground. Crickets chirped loudly, bats squeaked as they released their sonar, an owl hooted far off in the trees, but these were not the things that he searched for. No. He was searching for a human, someone he had been hunting for over a year.
Suddenly, the figure stopped and stooped down to gaze intently at a bush. Slowly, he reached out his hand and pulled off the soft fabric that had snagged on a twig, having ripped from its former cloth. He carefully rubbed it between his thumb and pointer finger before glancing down and seeing a single footprint implanted in the earth. A hum of satisfaction escaped his lips when he followed it in the direction it led, a splotch of darkness accompanying it every few feet.
Blood.
Though dry, the crimson stains still had yet to disappear into the soil, or to be washed away by rain. The injured person could not have passed by more than a few hours ago.
Who the blood belonged to was unknown, but his prey would, without a doubt, be progressing much more slowly than before, and that was all that mattered to him. A sinister smirk curled the man's lips as he brought the cloth to his trained nose. Yes, the cloth was somehow connected to his prey, along with the blood, he could smell it. Excitement coursed through his veins as the full brunt of the realization struck. His chase was nearly at an end.
"Soon" he mused quietly to himself, "we'll meet each other again soon."
Many miles away, hiding within the cover of fog-covered knolls, a large machine continued it's steady, rhythmic creaking as it ambled across the country. Its destination was unknown, as it was nearly always on the move and almost never seemed to stop for any reason at all. Smoke billowed in large puffs from a tower protruding at an odd angle from the contraption, the pollution blending in sightlessly with the fog.
Within the metal structure, all was silent. Not even the noise it created was heard, yet not everything was still. The demon flame, Calcifer, still licked away at the wood he consumed earlier that evening, even in his slumber.
And then, there was the soft noise of cloth rubbing against skin as a black-haired girl draped a cloak over her small form. She was mindful of her injuries, careful not to overly stretch the wound and reopen it. Silently making her way to the door, Kagome fought back a wince as she reached over her shoulder for the hood. A hand suddenly grabbed hers and she gasped, stifling a scream as she whirled around to face her captor.
"Where do you think you're going, little lady?" the larger form mused softly, sliding his hand downwards to grasp her wrist.
"None of your business" Kagome retorted, sticking her chin in the air as her cerulean eyes narrowed. She was tempted to release an annoyed 'feh,' but she stomped that random urge to the very depths of her mind. It seemed that Inuyasha had a larger impact on her than she had imagined.
"Now, now, miss, I need to-"
"Kagome. Get it right" she interrupted and Howl sighed, nodding.
"Yes, yes, Kagome. I need to make sure that you aren't a spy of any sort. I trusted you before, but this little," Howl hesitated as he glanced at the door behind her, "almost escapade of yours is starting to make me regret that."
"I'm not a spy."
"Hard to believe that when you're about to run out the door at this ungodly hour" Howl commented and Kagome visibly deflated. There was silence between the two, and Howl was debating whether or not to release her when she spoke again.
"Look, you, I need to get out of here" she finally murmured.
"Why?"
Kagome mumbled something under her breath, but the only words that the magician could decipher were 'don't,' 'want,' and 'hurt.'
"If you're worried about your safety, I assure you that no harm can come to you here" Howl stated matter-of-factly and Kagome glared at him.
"It's not me that I'm worried about!" she hissed.
"Then what are you worried about?"
"You! You and Markle and Calcifer, all of you!" she shouted, flinging her unrestricted arm in her annoyance.
"Huh."
"Huh? All you've got to say is 'Huh'?" Kagome felt as if her head was going to explode at any moment.
"Why would you be worried about us?"
"They're after me! That's why!"
Howl's eyes lightened up and a wild grin brightened his features from confusion to glee. This shocked Kagome into silence. Her jaw dropped in surprise, eyes wide. She had just told him that she was being hunted, yet he smiled at her like he was some sort of maniac!
Oh noes. What if he was a maniac?
The young woman's shock turned into fear at the thought.
"Don't worry; they're after me, too!"
Kagome stumbled backwards into the door and shook her head. This was not happening to her, this could not be happening to her. She had been saved from dying in the woods by some crazed, magical, wanted man that had a freakishly shaped castle run by a demonic fireplace.
She shook her head in horror and slumped against the door, placing her full weight against it.
"No, no, don't lean back on that" Howl stated quickly as he tried to pull the raven-haired woman away from the exit. However, she didn't hear what he had said, and when he yanked on her arm she had automatically assumed the worst, leading to an extremely undesirable situation for the young magician. With a shout of fear, she slammed her hand against the doorknob and grabbed it as tightly as the appendage would allow.
"You're going to break the door!" Howl cried, tugging harder.
"Itai!" Kagome yelped and Howl immediately stopped, remembering too late about the injury he had bandaged earlier that day. A dark stain colored through the darkness of her cloak, and the blonde male felt a tinge of guilt at his actions. He hadn't meant to scare or hurt her!
"Quiet, would you? Some people are trying to sleep!" Calcifer snapped as he leaned precariously off the edge of a burning log. He waved a flaming fist at the two humans in his frustration, as he had been awakened from a particularly nice dream about forest fires and freedom.
"I apologize, Calcifer, we just need to clear up a few of these misunderstandings of ours and we'll go right back to bed."
The flame gazed tiredly at the man before grudgingly snuggling against the wood and ash within the fireplace. A small cloud of dust puffed up as he did so, floating in the air for a few moments before settling back down on whatever surface it happened upon.
"You're bleeding again" Howl mumbled quietly and Kagome bit her lip with annoyance. The man still had yet to release her arm.
"Of course I am, baka!" she shouted, fuming.
"Kagome, I just told Calcifer that we were going to let him slee-"
"I don't care! Let me out of this castle!"
"It's already night. What do you plan on doing, wandering around in the middle of nowhere with your guts spilling out all over the place to attract wild animals? Do you want to die?"
Kagome noticed, with grim amusement, that Howl's voice slowly began to rise in decibels throughout the entire argument. He was nearly shouting now.
"I thought I told you to keep it down!" Calcifer growled, cracking one, furious eye open to glare at the two standing by the doorway.
"I'm trying to get Kagome to do that right now" Howl informed as he turned to gaze coldly at the fire, his tone was hard and offered no room for argument. The demonic flame grumbled under his breath as it shut its eye again. Satisfied, the magician faced the priestess and began to speak to her slowly, calmly, trying to talk things out without the conversation turning into another full out shouting match.
"I know you're worried, annoyed, hurting-"
"You have no idea" Kagome chuckled humorlessly.
"-but you need to calm down. Nothing-"
"What's going on, Master Howl?" a voice yawned from the stairs on the opposite side of the room, and Howl waved his hand in a dismissal.
"Nothing, Markle, go back to bed."
"Is Kagome trying to leave?" the rust-haired child inquired, a hint of fear in his voice.
"I just wanted to go out on a little stroll but your master here isn't so willing" Kagome replied, spitting the word 'master' as if it were a curse.
"Why can't Kagome go out on a walk?" the boy asked innocently, leaning forward against the bars of the railing and poking his head through the cracks between the circular poles.
"It's simple really-" Howl started with a small wave of his hand.
"-this person right here-" Kagome continued, pointing at the man who still had yet to let go of her.
"-doesn't seem to-"
"-trust me" the two finished in unison. Everyone blinked owlishly at the exchange, even Calcifer, and the house finally had it's first few moments of silence since the moments Kagome tried to leave. The two young adults gazed at each other, silent, shocked, and utterly confused.
"What do you mean I don't trust you?" the male demanded and Kagome growled lowly, deep in her throat. It was a bestial sound, one that Howl had not expected to hear coming from a young lady such as herself. Despite the circumstance, he couldn't help but feel a little… awed by it.
"Oh, just let go of me already!" the miko bit out, ripping her arm free from his grasp. However, in her struggling, she had conveniently forgotten that her hand was still holding tightly onto the doorknob. As a result, with her jerky yank from Howl, she stumbled to the side and twisted the knob. The door, in turn swung open and the girl found herself heading for an extremely painful and ungraceful landing on the grassy hills speeding by beneath the castle.
In an attempt to stop her fall, Kagome reached out and grabbed the closest thing in reach, which just so happened to be the unfortunate sorcerer and magician known as Howl. Howl, who was not expecting the sudden tug from the girl, lost his balance and also tried to grab something to hold on to though, much to his horror, there was nothing within reach and his hand grasped empty air. Both ended up tumbling out of the moving building and landed roughly on the hardened earth anyway.
"I blame you for this, you cursed-" the magician began as he sat up, but abruptly stopped speaking when he saw the girl a few feet away from him. Wincing slightly when he stood, the blonde hobbled over to his injured companion and collapsed beside her with a huff.
She wasn't moving.
Scratch that. She was breathing, that counted as movement, he supposed.
"After all the work I went through to bandage you" he complained, dejectedly giving a poke to an uninjured portion of her side. "Stubborn."
His eyes suddenly narrowed as he gazed into the hazy fog. The loud screeches made from the metal joints of the castle could still be heard, but Howl swore that he had heard something else in the darkness, some sort of muttering, or chanting.
Chanting.
The fog grew darker, thicker, more ominous as the noise continued, and Howl scooted closer to Kagome, close enough to feel her dark locks through the cloth of his trousers.
Although he hated to admit it, he was a little nervous at the moment.
"Calcifer?" he called loudly, comforted slightly when the deafening creaks and groans became louder and louder. Whether or not the building would make it to them before the offender struck was still a question at hand, but he was happy to know that the demon had not abandoned him.
And then he sensed it, a high concentration of energy flying towards him at a high speed. Spinning to face the direction from where the energy came, he was not expecting to see a sword soaring straight at him. Worse yet, the sharp object was flying at such a speed that Howl would not be able to make anything resembling a wall in the allotted time.
The blade came closer and closer, and Howl had just prepared to meet his end, when he was suddenly scooped up into the doors of the moving castle and flung safely inside. Not a second later, an unconscious Kagome landed on top of him.
"What was that, Master Howl?" Markle questioned and Howl quickly stood up, gently placing Kagome on the floor before racing up the stairs and onto the balcony. The wind blew his hair wildly in all directions, but he could see something in the fog nonetheless. He squinted, trying to see what was in the darkness, when his blonde locks blew into his line of sight and blocked the silhouette from his view. By the time he had moved the stray locks from his gaze, the figure was gone.
In its place, at about the area where the head should have belonged, was a set of glowing, red eyes.
To Be Continued…