I did it! I managed to post this chapter at the end of the week!Plus, my birthday is today, so yay! So, I'm very excited about this chapter. While it doesn't have much action in it, you get to learn more about our favorite couple, see them interact more, and this chapter leads up to major events! That literally did not exist until two days ago . . . Anyway, some little notes about this chapter:
1. I don't know when the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter was written, but I threw it in there as a nod to the second movie. So don't complain out timing errors.
2. There will not always be a Kagome POV. Some chapters might have Kagome's perspective, others may not. It's just the way I'm writing it.
3. As always, read and review! And please help this story get the attention it deserves. I am very proud of it and am working very hard. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Assassin's Creed.
When I awoke the next morning, I began to chant the three main tenants and all the other rules I had come to know over the past fifty years with the Kyodai ai. I told myself that repeating them over and over would keep my actions in check. What disturbed me the most about what transpired between me and the Priestess was that, just by touching her wrist alone, I was able to lose a piece of my shit in under three seconds. No, forget disturbed; it fucking terrified me. I couldn't blame it on the fact I hadn't been with a woman in a while. Despite popular knowledge, demons don't fuck just to fuck; we weren't raging sex machines. Sure, sometimes we got in the mood for some adult activity, but most of the time we didn't sleep with someone unless we actually felt a real connection with them.
Or you were just a whore and want to fuck around but to each his own, I guess.
Anyway, back to my original tangent on which I was making a point. The point is that I loved a woman fifty years ago, Kikyo, and she left me because I abandoned my lavish, privileged life as the son of the Lord of the Western Lands to become an assassin. Obviously, true love didn't exist for her unless you had status and wealth. I thought I loved this woman deeply and truly; honestly, I was prepared to ask my father to marry her. But after she left me, I gave up on ever finding love again. Which worked out just fine since the Kyodai ai frowned upon having their assassins married and popping out kids. I never planned on having those after Kikyo, and the last I heard of her, she died the same year I joined the Kyodai ai.
Through the years, I've only had three or four lovers, to my knowledge. There was that one night where Miroku got me completely wasted, though, and I'm pretty sure I slept with this ogre demon named Yura . . . Kami, I really hope I didn't. She was freaky. Anyway, Miroku would never tell me if I did or not, which leaves me wondering to this day.
But the fact that I felt fire eat away at my belly from barely touching the Priestess really said something to the demon within me. Fighting the raging beast was damn hard for a couple days but with each day that I avoided psychical contact with her, my inner conflict settled from a hazardous tsunami to a trickling river.
Now, I had been stationed with the Priestess for almost two months. I didn't speak to her unless I had to. I wasn't in her presence more than I was needed. I didn't bother trying to stop seeing her completely, though; she was my assignment, after all. I had never failed the Kyodai ai before and I wasn't going to start now just because of a human wench who I barely knew anything about.
An assignment, I thought, I can do this. I leaned lazily against a tree as I let out a deep yawn that made me realize I hadn't slept well again last night. While in my awake mind I was able to view the Priestess as nothing but a decent-looking assignment, my sleeping mind still liked to imagine what she looked like naked and screaming under me.
Beautiful image, huh?
The Priestess was preparing to see a visitor. The visitor arrived at the temple earlier that day, asking to speak with her. This immediately raised my suspicion so I made sure I had Tetsusaiga with me as she received him in what we called the "Great Hall." It was basically a large room with countless traditional Japanese tables with tea always ready to be served and pillows for everyone to sit on. When she arrived, she was dressed in her usual miko garb with sandals on her small, delicate feet. The man, a young, dark-haired specimen, sat waiting for her with a cup of tea in front of that had yet to be touched. He looked like he would be sick at any moment.
The Priestess approached closer to the table, and with every step she took towards him, the tension in his body practically rolled off him. Her calming aura was beginning to spread around the room, making me lessen my grip on my sword.
The raven-haired miko slid off her sandals, even that small act was slow and sensual, and sat down in front of the man with a warm smile. "Hello," she greeted. "May I ask your name?"
The man swallowed nervously before answering. "My name is Kunio, Priestess."
She bowed to him respectfully; he returned the gesture. "It is nice to meet you, Kunio, Please, tell me, what can I do for you?"
"I . . . it's my wife, Priestess. She has fallen ill. The apothecary in our village has no medicine in his store than can cure, even though I told him I was willing to pay anything to make her better! But he said it was impossible; he could do nothing to help. I have heard tales of your powers, Priestess. Your good deeds have stretched even to that of my village. Please, I need you to cure my wife! You are my last hope!" Kunio's hands were bracing the table and he was so close to the Priestess he was almost in her face. His brown eyes were shining over with tears threatening to spill.
The Priestess remained calm, however, even when he got as close as the small table would allow. "Tell me about the symptoms and when they started," she demanded calmly.
"Well," he swallowed thickly, "our village is at a place where a lot of soldiers pass through from war. Sometimes, bodies drop in our fields from where they have died. Two weeks ago, my wife and I and some of the other villagers were cleaning up the dead bodies and their possessions. My wife touched one of the swords in order to move it and cut her hand. In a matter of days after that, she began to complain of pain in the muscles of her jaw and neck. Two days ago, she began to have trouble breathing. That's when I knew I had to come find you and bring you to her."
His breath hitched as he whimpered, "I'm afraid that she will soon . . . my wife . . ." Kunio collapsed back into a sitting position and began to sob.
The Priestess remained silent. She did nothing except reach across the table and cover his hand with her own soothingly. She closed her eyes, seemingly in concentration. I narrowed my eyes when his sobs began to taper off suddenly, unnaturally. Was she pushing more of her soothing aura onto his? It's common that priestesses are able to see auras, it's part of who you are as one, but being able to project your own to affect someone else's emotions? Well, that was just fucking unheard of!
When Kunio's crying stopped, he looked up at the Priestess in confusion. He must have realized she had done something to him.
The Priestess still kept the simple smile on her face. "Of course I will help you, Kunio. It would be my honor to do my upmost to cure your wife. We will begin the preparations to leave immediately."
Kunio began to bow and shower the young woman with expressions of gratitude and grateful tears. She stood silently and requested a young priestess-in-training and an elder priest to escort the sobbing man to the dining hall so that he may eat before we made the journey.
I strode across the room towards her. Realizing my hand was still resting on my sword nervously, I reluctantly withdrew it when I accepted there was no danger. When I came to stand beside her, the Priestess looked up at me with her azure orbs, waiting for me to say something,
"How long will the trip take us, Priestess?" I inquired.
"The High Priest told me that it should be about a two day ride there. But I don't know how long we will actually be at the village. It depends on how bad his wife's condition is and what I can do for her." She looked down, her long eyelashes casting shadows over her cheeks and shielding her eyes from me. "I'm afraid I won't be able to do much for her," she whispered.
This took me aback. The Priestess was usually confident in her spiritual and healing abilities; there was no hesitation in her when we went to the village each day, where she healed wounded men from battle and cured sick children of illnesses. Why was she suddenly afraid of failure now? Surely this was not as daunting a task as when I watched her set a broken rib, helping the bone heal with her power alone.
I didn't like the how small and fragile she looked. I put my large hands on her shoulders, being mindful of my claws, and turned her firmly but gently to face me. Her eyes shot up to meet mine in surprise and I could swear I saw a hot flash of annoyance pass through her face. Wow . . . if that is what she looks like annoyed, how attractive does she look angry, I pondered for a moment before quickly throwing that dangerous thought away.
"Listen to me," I barked. "I have seem you perform miracles in the daily lives of the wounded men who returned in battle. I have seen you bring back a woman from the brink of your death with your knowledge of herbs and your powers. You give the people in this village hope to carry on daily; every time they are around you, they talk of how you are their reason for living and continuing on with their lives!"
I took a deep breath and blushed at how much I was saying. "You . . . you're fucking amazing, okay?"
The Priestess' glorious smile returned to her face, her pink lips spreading wide. "Thank you, Inuyasha. I hope I can live up to your expectations."
I tried not to dwell on it, but I could have sworn that the Priestess hesitated for a moment before shrugging out of my grasp and sliding her sandals back on to go prepare to leave. As I watched her go, all I could think was:
I fucking touched her again.
I sighed happily as I stared out the window of the carriage. I loved days like this; warm and full of light. Spring had been in season for a while now and I was anxious to get to summer!
Inuyasha, however, could not be more displeased. Now that the flowers were officially in bloom and all the plants were beginning to come out of hibernation from the winter cold, Inuyasha could not seem to stop sneezing. With him being a dog demon, he was bound to have a hard time with the weather change. It was pitiful to see him go into a sneezing fit then watch him try to keep his tough-guy persona.
That did not make it any less hilarious, too.
We had been on the road for over a full day now and we were making excellent time. I had all the herbs I could bring in a basket and satchel and any sort of dressing I might would need for her wound. Most likely, the cut got infected from lack of sanitization and now she was suffering because of it. Things like that were easy to cure; so why was the apothecary in Kunio's village not able to cure a simple infection? Something was amiss in this situation. I could feel it.
I could also feel how restless Inuyasha was inside the carriage. This was the first time since he came to my temple that I had been on a days-worth journey with him. He remained his usual silent self. Only speaking to complain about the spring plant life under his breath or make small talk about senseless things with me. His silence didn't bother me much; I had grown used to it over the past two months, plus it gave me to time to read in my books. I was currently reading The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. It was one of my favorite books as a young girl; a young girl who dreamed of growing up to find her purposes in life along with her true love.
Well, that girl did grow up to find her destined purpose in life, but it wasn't one she chose for herself. Funny how life would do that sometimes.
Pulling myself out of my musings, I noticed Inuyasha was having a sneezing fit again. He was fidgety, as well. The confinement of the carriage was beginning to get to him. I could not have us stop completely again so he could stretch his legs or else we would be behind and prolong the travel. But it bothered me to see Inuyasha so distress; what could I do?
Suddenly, I had an idea. Opening the curtain, I called to the driver to stop the carriage. He slowly came to a halt and I could hear the horses snort in protest of the reigns.
Inuyasha gave me a look of confusion, his amber eyes filled with wonder. I simply smirked at him as I motioned for him to follow me outside. I walked to the front of the carriage and craned my head to look at the driver.
"Is there a problem, Priestess?" he fretted. "Are you unwell?"
"No, not at all," I reassured him. "I wanted to inform you to keep on the path with Kunio's carriage. Inuyasha and I will be travelling a different way. You will meet us at the village."
Before the driver could respond, Inuyasha cleared his throat to gain my attention.
He got it. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to say something while displaying my annoyance.
"Priestess," he said, "may I have a word?"
I nodded. We stepped off to the side of the road.
"What is it?" I asked.
"What the hell are you doing?" he bellowed. "Why are we not going to take the carriage?"
"Because you are getting restless inside there and quite frankly, I'm tired of hearing you complain," I responded bluntly.
"So you just decided to be a control freak and call the shots without asking me first?"
"I'm not being a control freak! I'm being considerate! And last time I checked, I don't need to consult with you!"
"What if something happens in the woods and I can't protect you? I'll be in deep shit!"
"You're a demon! It'll be fine!"
"A half-demon!"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
A pink blush spread across Inuyasha's cheeks as he tried to sputter for an answer. Finally, he settled on, "Nothing. Forget it."
I stared at him for a moment. Was he ashamed of being a half-demon? But what's so wrong with that? I sighed, deciding to let it go.
"Do you want to run or not?" I asked quietly.
The silver-haired man paused before answer, "Yes."
Nodding, I returned to the driver. "Tell Kunio that Inuyasha and I are travelling through the woods and should he need me, to stop the carriages. Inuyasha will hear and return me to you. As I said, just continue along the path."
"Yes, Priestess," the old man replied without hesitation. He drove the horses forward to walk.
Stalking back to Inuyasha, I stood in front of him. My head came to his chin level, I noticed.
He stared back at me in silence.
"Well?" I urged. "Aren't you going to carry me?"
Without saying anything Inuyasha picked me up and slung me over his back. His hands were supporting me under my thighs and my front was plastered to his back.
I tried so hard, I really did. I promise it to the Kamis above. But I couldn't help but noticed the heat from his large, strong hands spreading heat through the lower part of my body, making my stomach turn all tingly. I also noticed how I could feel the rippling muscles of his back through his fire-rat hakama. He had left his stark white Kyodai ai cloak at the temple since I was so hot; I did not blame him and I was enjoying the feel of his body underneath mine.
The first time Inuyasha had touched me, it was the first time a man ever had. A real man, not some priest at the temple. It made heat course through my body and my breath to quicken. After he left that night, I immediately had a bath drawn. Only to notice that when I disrobed, my nipples were slightly puckered and there was a pulsing between my thighs. I felt so ashamed but not for the reason I should have been. I was ashamed because it barely took him touching me to excite me; I was like a young girl just going through adolescence. I was ashamed because of my inexperience. Now, I could almost laugh at the thought.
However, the quickness in my breath as Inuyasha supported me, the heat in my belly, and my awareness of his muscles made me realize one thing. And Inuyasha taking off at a sudden speed through the forest was not my reason for hitch in breathing.
I craved more of his touch.