Authors note: sorry to keep you waiting, nasty chest cold made life hell for a while. Anyway, here it is so have fun:)
Chapter 4our: Sharing Pain
Kagome woke to darkness. The air was damp and cool, as was the stone beneath her. She was propped up against and equally chilly wall. Raising her hand to wipe the moister from her face, a soft rattling of metal on rock drew her attention to the chains that bound her wrists and ankles. Taking farther mental stock of herself, she found that she could move all of her limbs, only being bruised a little, and still possessed all of her clothing, though her weapon was, of course, gone. Stretching as far as her confines would let her, she tried to recall where she was. She had no memory beyond the strange man and Kanna grabbing her.
Well, she thought, can't find a way out just sittin here. Kagome braced one arm on the wall, struggling to stand on wobbly legs. She stilled as the stout wooden door crept open. A slight black haze seemed to swirl around the purple clad figure that appeared there, his red eyes glowing softly in the dim atmosphere.
"Naraku." She said quietly, wishing for once to have Kikyo's calm chill in the face of this man.
"It seems," he began walk into her cell, "that I set a trap for a bird and got a butterfly instead." His disturbing smile was calculating, "imagine all this time, you were the stronger." He came uncomfortably close.
Kagome said nothing, pressing herself into the wall, both to steady her legs and to put some distance between them. She could make out the darker red centers of his eyes as they swept over her. Even with all her will power, she could not hold back the shiver. Up close and personal with Naraku was a place she had hoped never to be.
He grinned. He could never pull a response from Kikyo, her cold clay body never showing any reaction to him. Inside, that horrid voice of Onigumo's would cry out every time he would try to rid himself of her once more. The first time had been easer, his human emotions subdued by the raging youkai he had taken within. That rage had calmed as the years passed, becoming an icy determination to turn everything to darkness and hatred. It was not the human desire to make every one like him, but the youkai want to conquer and taint everything in sight that drove him now, though he still liked his games. Gray tentacles slowly wormed their way toward her, thrilled with her trembling skin as they inched up her legs.
"Stop." She said, steeling her spine. Kagome knew the more fear she showed, the more he would want to treat her like prey, something to play with. That was the nature of some youkai and the spider seemed to be testing her.
"Why?" He asked, coming close enough his breath stirred her hair, "are you afraid, little girl?" Tentacles continued to wind their way up her waist.
Raising her chin, she glared back at him. "No, I'm disgusted." She declared proudly. His chuckle did nothing to sooth her rising anxiety. They went on until she was covered to the waist in the undulating mass of tentacles, two coiling around her upper arms, pinning her to the wall. "Now then, Kanna has told me that you are bound with Kikyo" he pulled a dagger from his robes and casually began to examine it. "You continue to surprise me, binding yourself to her, giving your enemy life. Now they will live together, their pathetic love strong once more while you," he gently stroked down her face with his left hand, "you are now mine."
"Yours?" She asked, half in defiance, half in fear, both emotions shinning in her blue eyes. Inuyasha and Kikyo would never leave her to the monster before her, not like he was trying to put into her head.
"Right now, my dear, you are a messenger." He grabbed her wrist and held her arm still against the wall, being sure only to use so much pressure, began to carve his note to Kikyo into her fore arm, ignoring the slight burn of her blood against his skin. It seemed this priestess was indeed pure of heart, her very body rebelling against him. How much he would enjoy corrupting her, never doubting his ability to do so.
Kagome bit her lip as the trails of blood flowed down the wall like the tear tracks down her face. She held in her whimper at the pain, doing her very best to stay strong. They would come for her, they would always come. She would stay strong and wait for them, knowing that Kikyo shared her pain, yet still would come steadily on.
Light filtered down from the trees, their many shaded leaves casting shadows on the forest floor. Footsteps barely disturbed the silence as the somber group passed through, not hearing the soft bird calls, or passing of animals, or the one spying wasp that watched from afar. They carried on, led by the priestess heading unerringly toward the other half of her soul.
Kikyo's stomach rolled with tension. She felt Kagome awaken, felt her trepidation, revulsion, and determination. Inuyasha and her traded worried glances, both terrified by what they could not change. She had been taken from them. Though Kikyo's connection to Kagome was soul deep, Inuyasha felt her absence just as painfully. Long had she been by his side, giving him strength, hope, and the belief that his life was worth having. He felt her lack as one did a missing limb, physically, excruciatingly gone.
Kikyo stopped suddenly, her sharp intake of breath seeming loud in the quiet surroundings. She gripped her left arm, trembling slightly. Dark red streaks soon reviled themselves against the white of her cloths. She waited for the pain to pass, feeling every agonizingly slow cut burning her skin. Part of her was afraid to look at the damage to her because it reflected Kagomes.
"Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked, coming to her side. "What is it?" His eyes burned like golden fire as she slowly raised her sleeve, reveling three bloody words.
She is mine could now be read on her arm, his taunting laughter filling her head despite her knowing he was nowhere close. He was still punishing her for causing him to feel. She could not help but think that Kagome's pain was all her fault. She had been the one to help the thief, she had been the one to ignore the warnings her sister gave, the one to believe his lies and strike out at the one she loved. She had been the one who asked Kagome to join her life to hers, selfishly wanting life at any cost. She nearly hated herself at that moment.
Sango began to bandage her arm as Inuyasha cursed and took his frustration out on a poor unsuspecting tree. She watched the emotions play across the woman's face and found herself moved to speak for her friend. Suffering or not, Kagome had her ways. "Stop it." She said firmly.
"What?" Kikyo asked, startled. The slayer had never spoken directly to her after that first day.
"Stop blaming yourself." She carefully secured the bandage. "Kagome would say the choices we make do not make us responsible for the things we do not see coming. Had you done everything different, it might not have changed this very moment in time. If you must place blame, put it on the one who is responsible, Naraku." Sango stood to leave.
"Thank you." Kikyo said quietly. "You sounded very like her just then."
"They were her words." Sango smiled slightly, "I would have taken my life after my revenge if not for light she showed me. Her and Inuyasha both."
"You are family now." Kikyo stated, picking up the bow she had dropped. She shared the woman's smile before getting Inuyasha's attention.
"How bad is it?" he asked, concerned.
"It is not. He just cut enough to bleed, more to torcher us than her." She began to walk again, a little faster than before. "I can sense her better now she is awake." The others picked up their pace as well, ready to rescue their friend and toast the kidnapping bastard that had her.
The samyosho climbed higher to keep them in sight. So intent upon them it never noticed the flash of white, nor the claws that ripped it in two. Golden eyes watched the group coolly. The half-blood was becoming more useful as time went on, leading him to where his enemy had hidden. One day, he might even be a purposeful member of the west, but that remained to be seen. Still it was not like the great lord to help his brother, so he would look on it as a favor to Rin, who liked the young priestess so well. She would be distraught if her friend was not recovered. He turned, going back to where she waited for him, annoying the whining Jaken in new and interesting ways.
Authors note: K, hope you enjoyed, going to bed cause the words are swimming and I haven't been drinkin tonight so I must be sleepy. Anyway, Laters!
