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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE FEEDBACK! *throws confetti* Here is another chapter! I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is still not mine.


EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 3: The burn

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The first time Octavia had known fear was when she was six years old and her foster parents at the time, Jack and Kerry Price, had taken her out for the day and she'd gotten lost.

Real fear, too. Not just the feeling you get when you're a little bit nervous that you mistake for fear.

Real fear is stabbing, brisk, and cold.

They'd been in a huge shopping centre in West Ealing and Octavia had been so excited to see the big bouncy castle that had been set up by the food court. She'd been too excited, and the shopping centre had been too big. One second, Jack and Kerry were on each side of her, smiling, and the next, they were gone. Vanished, she'd claimed, though it had been her who had run into the crowd towards the dancing animal mascots. There had been so many people. Her heart filled up with dread and it dawned on her for the first time that she was alone.

Completely and radically alone.

It was an earth-shattering feeling.

She remembered that she used to watch the other kids at school get picked up at the end of the day by their parents, whilst she was always waiting hours later for her social worker Jane Thomson to appear with another excuse and string of empty promises. She remembered wondering what it would have been like if someone showed up one day and said they were her mum or dad. She liked to pretend they were secret agents working to take down a criminal organisation in Greece, and that was why they left her in London for safekeeping. The details changed often. Sometimes they were shape-shifters. Sometimes they were the king and queen of a lost kingdom, and she was the missing princess.

It wasn't until she reached the age of ten that she finally considered they might have just abandoned her.

She was no lost princess.

She was a frightened orphan who cried when she got lost in that shopping centre and cried even harder when the dancing animal mascots tried to comfort her. The instant she spotted Jack and Kerry rushing through the crowd, she'd bounded over to them so fast and thrown her arms around their waists. And she'd wept. For everything she didn't have, and could never have. But this wasn't that time, and she wasn't a lonely little kid in the system anymore. She was a girl cast out into a world she'd thought was no more than a facet of her dreaming mind. Where monsters and magic roamed, and everything she'd once thought impossible was now the opposite.

And she was still alone.

But unlike before, she wouldn't cry.

Not this time.

"Where do you come from, Octavia-san?" Rin asked cheerily as they walked.

"Well, I was born in Greece, raised in England, and now I live in Wales. It's . . . complicated. But they're way across the sea from here."

Rin looked at her with fascination. "I've never heard of any of those places! Are they nice?"

"I think so. Parts, at least. There are pretty big differences in temperature, but they're all kind of beautiful in their own ways. Like everywhere, I suppose."

"Have you travelled a lot?"

"A little. Have you?"

Rin shook her head.

"And you haven't heard of those places at all?"

Another shake of her head.

Jaken joined in then, and honestly, Octavia was surprised he'd stayed quiet for the amount of time he did.

"If you paid any attention to my teachings you would know all about other lands like that!"

"Have you heard of them, Jaken-sama?" she asked curiously, and he stammered in embarrassment.

"Oh, well, of course, I have!"

Octavia glanced back at him and flashed a wry smile. "Oh?" she asked, "What've you heard, then?"

"I-I-Well, I-I mean it's-well . . . Er . . ."

"My, you certainly are knowledgeable."

The two-headed horse which was actually a dragon let off a low rumbling sound which sounded a lot like laughter. She seemed to recall that Rin had called it Ah-Un, whatever that meant. It was somewhat unnerving with the way it sometimes looked at her, but it didn't seem to want to eat her as she had initially worried. In fact, with the frequent chuckles she was managing to draw from it, it seemed more amused with her if anything.

She decided that was a good thing.

Better than being seen as dinner.

"What are you doing here?" Rin inquired, and Octavia tried to plan a response in her mind.

How was she meant to answer a question like that?

I think I fell down an enchanted well and somehow ended up in this weird place.

Either that, or it's one hell of a hyperrealistic dream.

"It was an accident," she said, "It's weird and complicated but really I'm just trying to . . ."

Trying to do what?

Go home?

Why?

This place was unfamiliar and arguably very dangerous, but it was also exciting. Even if it was only a dream, here, she had a chance to embark on a journey out of a storybook. It was new, fresh, and magical. It was everything she'd ever wanted. Why would she want to throw that away by going home to a life of working ridiculous hours just to be able to pay her rent?

Why would she go back to simply reading fairy tales when she had the time when instead she could be in one?

"I just want to know where I am. And why I'm here."

Rin's grin brightened quickly with excitement. "Then we should go see Kagome-neesan and Kaede-sama in their village! They'll know what to do!"

"Who?"

"They're kind and wise mikos who live in a village to the east by the Goshinboku and the Bone-Eater's Well."

Octavia stopped dead in her tracks and Jaken nearly ran into her from behind.

"What well?" she whispered.

"There's a dry well in the forest beside the village that has some kind of supernatural essence. It's not too far from where we were when you first found us. I don't know what it is exactly, but I think it has something to do with Kagome-neesan."

A dry well with supernatural magic.

Could it be the same one from the Higurashi shrine?

And not only that . . . Rin had said the name Kagome. Octavia had heard that name. It was the name of the Higurashi family's eldest daughter, who was conveniently missing. It was only a name. A common name, too, she reminded herself. It just could be a coincidence. But still, could it be . . . that this was where Kagome Higurashi had really gone? That she too had fallen down the mystical dry well and found herself here in this strange realm?

It may be impossible, but it was a shot.

A shot in the dark, maybe, but a shot was a shot.

"Show me the village," she said eagerly, "Take me to this Kagome."

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Getting ambushed on the way to the village by a mountain troll had not been part of the plan.

The group had been strolling along the overgrown path with spirits as high as they could be given the circumstances, and Octavia was finally starting to feel somewhat at ease, when a horned monster with red eyes and long teeth appeared on the path.

For some reason, Octavia was the only one in the group who reacted realistically.

Whilst she screamed hysterically and made to run for it, Rin only stared with a neutral expression. Jaken held up his wooden staff and Ah-Un readied itself to pounce. Apparently, this wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Sesshoumaru's band of ragtag companions. Luckily, she'd read about this youkai and was familiar with its lore. Oni were viscous ogre demons larger than houses who were famous for killing travellers and kidnapping maidens. Having that knowledge didn't make her feel particularly comforted. The rest of the group seemed confident, however, so she forced herself to breathe and took a step back to let them handle the situation. It was probably better to let the experts deal with it.

"Feel the rage of the Nintoujou!" screamed Jaken, slamming the foot of his staff into the ground.

Flames erupted from one of two heads, blasting in the direction of the oni. The embers scorched the creature's flesh, sizzling on contact, and turning said flesh charcoal black which cracked in several areas. It glared at him with glowing ruby eyes and flexed its iron claws.

Something rose inside Octavia when its gaze fell onto her, and she felt a sudden burst within her chest.

She moved her hands to press against a space beneath her clavicle and hissed in slight pain.

As the oni lunged forward, Ah-Un leapt forward and pounced onto the horrible thing, pinning it with its claws. With a flick of its scaled wrist, it plunged its claws into the eyes of the creature and tore out several tendrils of bloody flesh. Octavia felt her feet carrying her even further backwards, still gripping her burning chest tightly, but what she didn't see was the other giant oni waiting right behind her.

Before she could notice, it clamped its massive arms around her like a vice and she screamed in panic. She wriggled and squirmed but her actions did nothing to weaken its hold. The thing's body parts had to have been made of steel, thus her struggling only resulted in her injuring herself. Plus, the feeling in her chest only expanded, as if knives were growing inside her ribcage and trying to get out. What was it? Not heartburn, surely? It hurt like nothing she'd ever known. Whenever she thought it couldn't get more painful, the agony seemed to triple. It was as if something was clawing at her from inside and trying to get out.

She seethed.

This was ridiculous. She was trapped like a damsel in distress, waiting for a rescuer. Why couldn't she be one of those strong, warrior women who saved themselves?

Because heroines didn't have wilted roses for hearts.

The oni squeezed her harder and she howled in pain, air being withheld from her lungs. Rin cried out in panic but Jaken and Ah-Un were preoccupied with the other creature.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

No one was coming to save her. No knight in shining armour. No saviour.

Never for a girl who used to dream she was a long-lost princess.

"Ah!"

Rin's startled yet relieved cry drew Octavia's attention, prompting her to open her eyes and feel the weight on her chest begin to lift.

A rapid slice through the air slashed the oni holding her captive in two, causing it to fall to the ground dead.

Something had killed it.

Something had saved her.

Someone had saved her.

Now on the ground on her knees, swallowing starved breaths into her crushed throat, she lifted her head to see a trail of sparks and green light flowing behind a serene figure with a gathering of white fur slung across his shoulder in the shape of a single wing. Like an angel that wasn't quite worthy of true flight, but still possessed the potential. He landed on the ground and stepped off his peculiar cloud that rained stardust, and as he did, his hair fell against his back like a curtain of long shimmering silk. Or a drape of starlight on a dark night with no moon in sight. He turned around and flashed the crescent moon symbol on his brow. The god of the moon and stars himself.

He met her gaze, his eyes as sharp and penetrating as before. They seemed to have gotten even more golden. It was as if the riches of every land were stored in those alien irises of his, gleaming away to impress any who saw. And impressed, Octavia was. She couldn't lie about that. She thought that anyone would be impressed if they saw something like that.

A handful of moondust tossed down to earth in the form of a man.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken screeched joyously, rushing to his master's feet. "Thank goodness you came! If not for you, this useless human would be dead! The wench should be forever grateful to you, milord!"

"She should," was all he said, casting a haughty glance in her direction.

All trace of wonder disappeared from Octavia's system, and her eyes filled with a ferocity which could rival that of Sesshoumaru's. Something broke inside her then. Something snapped. A something she didn't even know was there, or what it was. But whatever it might have been, it shattered like a broken mirror and scattered out for miles around like a mystic jewel pierced by a flying arrow. And something was unleashed.

She pulled herself to her feet.

Who did these youkai think they were talking to?

Sesshoumaru seemed to notice the change in her because his brows quirked ever so slightly and the corners of his mouth twitched.

"Is there a problem, human?" he asked dangerously. Like he was challenging her. Testing her.

"Not at all," she said curtly, "Demon."

His eyes flickered.

She cocked her head to the side.

Rin stood between the two, head bobbing from one to the other hysterically, confusion smeared all over her face. She looked like she wanted to interrupt this . . . thing that was going on, but thought better than to throw gasoline onto an already burning fire.

The air was too tense to be sliced with a knife.

Sesshoumaru looked her up and down, brows furrowing, and Octavia definitely saw his nostrils flare at some point. He stepped forward then, much to her alarm and the others' puzzlement, until he stopped just in front of her. He had to be at least a head taller than her, she thought as towered over her. She tipped her head back to meet his stare and he looked down his nose at her. Snob. His nostrils flared again, with anger this time, and it was then that Octavia realised he was confused.

He was sniffing her.

Definitely a werewolf.

Not even his companions seemed to understand what he was doing, and Jaken exchanged disconcerted looks with Ah-Un.

"Your scent," he said as if that explained it. "It has changed."

"It's what?"

"I detect a vast amount of reiki in you."

"Isn't that a type of therapy?"

"It is spiritual energy."

"Is she a miko, milord?" Jaken piped up, "Like Inuyasha's wench? But how did we not notice?"

"Like Kagome and Kaede?" asked Octavia.

"A miko is a Shinto priestess," Rin answered "Yes, exactly like Kagome-neesan and Kaede-sama. Are you one too, Octavia-san?"

"Um, not that I know of?"

She was starting to feel really uncomfortable about Sesshoumaru continuing to sniff her so she took a step back.

"You are not a miko," Sesshoumaru said finally, and she almost groaned in disappointment.

She would have liked to be able to do magic.

"How can you tell?"

"Because there is a darkness in your aura, also."

She stilled at the chilling look in his inhuman eyes and swallowed.

Jaken's expression turned wary and Rin studied her curiously. The only member of the group who didn't seem fazed by the information was Ah-Un, who regarded her with that same quiet watchful nature it had from the first time their eyes had met across the campfire. Had it sensed whatever was inside her? Did it know something none of the others did?

". . . What does that mean?" she whispered.

"How did you hide it?" Sesshoumaru snarled.

"I didn't hide it! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Explain. Now."

"I don't know what to tell you," she laughed, "I'm just a normal human. I'm human . . . It's your fault for not sensing anything sooner!"

"Don't be so disrespectful to Lord Sesshoumaru!" bawled Jaken, "He has a right to put you down on the spot for such disobedience! Show a little gratitude to him for saving your life!"

"Oh, that's right. You did save my life. I'm afraid your arrogance and you acting like a total arsehole made me forget that."

Steam was rising from the little water imp's head, and he was jumping around on the spot rather comically. Octavia knew she should stop. She knew this was foolish, but she couldn't stop. She was burning inside. Something had splintered, and the broken shards were screaming as they rubbed together. Plus, this alleged hero was such a rude egoist, she honestly found it hard to feel any form of gratitude towards him. He had performed a good deed, with a terrible attitude.

He wasn't very heroic at all.

She glared and parted her lips to whisper in English because of Rin.

"You're a rotten bastard."

He reacted like lightning and wrapped his hand around her neck. His fingers tightened and his claws dug into her flesh, causing her and the others to gasp loudly. She looked up at him with wide startled eyes, like a spooked deer, and his dusky expression only intensified. Rin stepped forward but was stopped by Jaken, who shook his head and watched the scene unfold with an anxious expression. Whilst in the chokehold, Octavia considered her options. She could beg for mercy and apologise for her actions, but that would make her seem weak and cowardly, which were the very things Sesshoumaru seemed to hate the most about humans. She could try to run, but she doubted she'd get far without him cutting her down and truly ending her, so she crossed that off the list. She probably wouldn't even be able to twist out of his grip anyway. So, what was she to do?

Making quick decisions on the spot was a whole lot harder than characters in books made it look.

"You're not going to kill me," she hissed through gritted teeth, "I know how this works. You said it yourself. You want to know what I am, so what would killing me do to help that?"

He was beginning to resemble what she imagined a demon to look like now, with red bleeding into the whites of his eyes and his teeth budding to lengthy points that curled over his lips.

He snarled.

"It matters not. You have become a bother."

"So you're just going to get rid of me? Is that what you do? Every time something bothersome comes along, you get rid of it?"

His scarlet eyes flashed again. "I do."

"Then you're the pathetic one."

Jaken drew a sharp intake of breath at that, and even Ah-Un looked uneasy. Rin was ogling with massive panicked eyes and grabbed Jaken's hand.

Octavia no longer shared their worry.

She continued, "When a problem becomes too much effort, you just get rid of it. Can't that be classed as that giving up?"

"I do not surrender."

"Then what are you doing now? Do you think this is noble? If you do, you're a fool. An arrogant, stupid fool. And I think you know you are. That's why you hate it."

Cowards are always the ones who fight the hardest to prove they aren't.

"You're a damn coward, Sesshoumaru."

His eyes were wholly red now, and the once gold irises were now an eerie electric blue.

"Vermin," he said quietly, his fingers tightening around her neck.

A warm liquid trickled down onto her collarbones from where his claws had pierced. She knew then he intended to end her. He would not think twice about slitting her throat open and painting the grass with her blood. She brought a hand up swiftly and caught his wrist, and the momentary misperception that flickered across his features told her he hadn't been expecting her to do that. She pinched his wrist and stared at him unwaveringly. The confusion became even more obvious in his face, which was quickly replaced with alarm as her palm suddenly began to feel very hot against his skin.

He withdrew his hand from her neck and yanked it far out of her grasp.

Like she was fire, and he had been burned.

He stared at her with murderous eyes, fist balled and stained with her blood.

"S-Sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken stammered, "What's wrong? What did she do?"

Sesshoumaru's gaze down to his hand, and what he saw there was remarkably shocking indeed because marked upon his wrist, raw and angry . . . was a scorch mark.

In the shape of a hand.

Her hand.

Whatever it was, she had done that to him. And she hadn't even known she was doing it. She didn't even know what she'd done, or how she'd managed to do it. She could only stare, like everyone else, with a parted mouth and no explanation. No one dared speak, not that they could be blamed, because previously ordinary Octavia Petridis had managed to inflict a burn upon the all-powerful, fearsome, merciless Demon Lord of the West.

And nobody knew how.

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