The Unknown

Chapter 4: Life is a Demon

She wasn't sure how and when, but suddenly, she realized that she was engulfed by a shadowy emptiness. It was so strange… like being put into a state of gray nonexistence, pure nothingness. Her body floated in the eminent grayness—her body that somehow felt like no-body…

How did it feel then, she wondered trying to focus on perception of anything around her. She thought if "floating" was a right word to describe what she felt, and she wasn't sure. She could called it that, if this sensation was a real feeling, but since it reminded her more of "nothing" than of a feeling, she didn't dare to name her state of this specific "non-being." She wasn't even sure if she should risk analyzing her state, because since her current state was closer to nothingness than to existence, did she really exist?

Wait.

Was she dead then? A surprised with this new development, she considered her options. First, if she was alive, she should have a body. Nope, her thoughts were still frozen in gray nothingness, no body detected. Well, so what's next? Oh…the second option should be considered: the death…but if death proclaimed her body, why her thoughts were still alive?

So was she dead or alive?

Tricky.

She couldn't find the answer, so she decided to analyze the facts again. After all, is she was alive, she had to find her body and find the way out of the great nothingness. And if she was dead…well, she wasn't sure what then, rally. But now, she reminded her self as her thoughts dissociated from the main course, lets go back to facts.

ooOoo

"Kagome!" The dying girl slipped slowly from his arms.

"Sango!" Kagome's voice was high pitched and already filled with tears, "Sango, please, Sango…" the girl didn't now what she was begging for or whom, but she knew that nothing and none could help now. Inuyasha circled his fingers on Sango's wrist, not caring that every time he touched her, her blood stained his pristine-white hair and perfectly smooth skin. "Sango…" he whispered as he observed her cinnamon eyes turning pale and muddy. The last sparkles of light died in them with her last breath, her heart stopped in dead silence. And it was when the realization hit him:

Sango, the last tajiya of the West, was dead.

Inuyasha stood over the cold battered body of his friend, his face covered with his hear hidden form everyone. His thoughts, in spite of the shock of her death, were strongly similar to those he carried with him for years…the pictures of his mother's cold corpse, the reminder of the smell of her blood triggered by the stench of death that covered the whole clearing now.

How strange, that he never thought of how terrible it was to die, to feel the coldness of death overwhelming the body. He recalled like just a minute ago she tried to say something, to protect and warn them, like his mother died to save him…To depart this life being scarred about others. But what else did they have? What Sango has in life except worry? Did she even feel her own pain when she was dying, or was she scared, terrified?

He looked at her again, her face so cold now, almost unrecognizable, as if the most characteristic feature of the young woman was the sparkle of life, which she always carried with her, like her emblem or insignia of her survival.

He kept staring in her face, unaware of Kagome's head on his arm and her tears staining his old robe. Yet, he instinctively wrapped his arm around the girl, allowing her sorrow to add to his sadness. He offered her his support, even if his strength was so thin as the evening air. Don't cry, Kagome, don't cry…

He didn't even see Miroku crouching strangely next to Sango's pale body, the monk's face blank and almost dead. The young man stood up, his eyes closed, "I refuse, Sango. I refuse to accept your death…" he said quietly through his clenched teeth, and his expression changed into a wild frown. He took a step back, trying to stay away and distance himself from the corpse, no it was not his woman. No, she was no the one he loved, the one he adored was alive; this corpse was not his Sango.

Each of them, wrapped in their own thoughts stayed silent, focused on the pale face of the dead slayer, oblivious to the night that surrounded them now. Only the demon lord stayed away, disgusted but also strangely saddened by the situation. Humans…

The silver moon slowly appeared on the velvet of the sky.

And then, he felt it. A pulsation like a stroke of pure light went through his body, and Sesshomaru tensed. The energy pulled him closer to the grieving group, his sword emitting a blue light and drawing him towards the dead girl. The demon narrowed his eyes, What do you see, Tenseiga, why her? Her lifeless form, covered in moonlight, still carried the signs of her battle. Sesshomaru, moving her surprised friends aside, walked closer to the girl. Her face seemed so peaceful, so motionless, like one of those perfect depictions of gods on walls of human temples.

He stared at her, still fighting the power of the sword, even if he knew that his battle was already lost; he could not deny the will of Tenseiga.

He touched her face, fascinated as her dark blood coated his finger.

With her blood on his hands, he looked up and growled. Spirits of death. The light creatures of death were dancing around the slayer in a crazy celebration of her death, feeding on her soul.

With one fast move, he stood up, and with his bloody hand he draw Tenseiga form it's sheath.

Inuyasha looked at him, still lost in the situation, not understanding what his crazy brother is attempting. "You will not disgrace her body!" Inuyasha started, his hand back on his sword. "You sick bastard…" his words died in his throat, however, as the hanoyu took in the actions of the demon.

Sesshomaru, calling in all his youki, with his hair moving in waves on the wind of his strange powers, sliced thorough the air above the dead girl. The light from his sword illuminated the most strange and terrifying pictures; images of thin dark creatures that circled madly over Sango's corpse. Their black mouth, silent in the darkness of the night, were arranged in weird expressions, as if they were screaming or singing a death song for the girl. A little sparkles of energy glowed in their eyes as they run from the demon's sword. Escaping towards the darkness, they kept staring at Sesshomaru in a silent promise of revenge: "If not now, we will get her later…" they seemed to scream at him, mocking him with their grinning faces.

"Oh gods! Who are they?" Kagome whispered with her pale lips, trembling as she stared at the dark forest where the spirits of death disappeared. She looked at Miroku and at Inuyasha, then her eyes moved slowly towards the demon. She stared at him, waiting for his answer, but he chose to stay silent. The group, including the Inu lord, gazed upon the pale body at their feet. Kagome followed their eyes and froze in fear.

Sesshomaru's energy maneuvered it's way into Sango's body, overtaking her moves, like a magician pulling on strings of a lifeless doll's body.

The body moved. It slightly trembled, like in terrible pain, taken over by the energy of the demonic sword. It shook in the clenches of the forceful energy, which pulsated within her in the rhythm of the demon lord's youki. Kagome stood with her eyes wide open mesmerized by the strange show.

ooOoo

"Do you smell their blood, my friend?"

"I am not sure…" Myoga sniffed gently the night air and smiled, "Yes, I detect Inu's blood on the hanoyu and different, more human-smelling blood on our lord." He looked at Jaken, "I think we are ready. Each carries the blood of another on their hands," Jaken smiled madly, "I think that the blood will give us enough bond for the spell to work!" he hissed in excitement.

"Are you sure that this is enough?"

"Do you know any other bond stronger than blood of two siblings?" Jaken looked carefully at his friend, "Myoga, there is too late to go back now."

"Let's proceed." He whispered and reached for a small parchment. He tried to cover his fear with bossiness, but every fiber of his body, every single cell and nerve were trembling in dread. But he wouldn't step out from his role, not now. I will unite them, even if it will cost me my life. He looked at the flea demon and handed him the small parchment. He didn't have to look at it, he already knew the verses. By now, they were written n his heart..

ooOoo

It was a painful and truly cruel. But, Kagome couldn't deny, it was also strangely hypnotizing. She couldn't take her eyes off the demon and the corpse as they united in the dance of his demonic powers.

She didn't see anything else, she didn't notice anyone else.

And frankly, no one did; Not even the demons or the hanoyu saw two small figures that slowly approached the group. Staring at Sango's body, they did not see or hear two creatures, who chanted slowly their curses.

ooOoo

Sango wasn't sure if anything was real any more; she tried to focus on something, but she forgot on what…Her thoughts kept running away from her, and her mind seemed to float over the gray nothingness, unconcerned with the logic that kept escaping her. Slow echoes of her own conscious mind gently kept bringing different questions, but the subjects never seemed serious enough to stay with her for long. She knew that there was something that she was supposed be concerned about, something important happened, but what? Did it happen to me?

ooOoo

They chanted in whisper, coming closer to the small gathering. The darkness covered everything, and they were not sure why the small of group of demons and humans stood there. Myoga raised his eyebrows as he noticed that the group stared at something in the center of the clearing. What are they doing? But he did not out too much thought into the behavior of the group, the fact that nobody paid attention to them was actually their advantage. Myoga narrowed his brows and smiled.

"NOW" he yelled as he threw a handful of golden dust towards the group. Through the dust, he could see surprised eyes of the humans and demons looking at him and hear Jaken's monotone voice, "The power that exist between the two will be ruling their lives till they understand," his quiet voice stroke them with a hidden power as the small demon continued with the spell: "The power will unite the two, the power will strengthen the bond, the power will bond them till death or till bond will be created within them!" The green demon shouted the last words looking wildly at Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. The brothers, surprised and bewildered by the strange behavior of two demons, just stared at the old servants. "Whet the hell…" Inuyasha started trying to understand what the small demons were playing at, but something stopped him. "Sango?"

ooOoo

Everything was calm and easy, her train of thoughts escaped long ago, end everything what was left was that overwhelming calmness in the depth of foggy space. She didn't even know who she was and what was her name any more. And at the same time the importance of her name and identity disappeared as well, giving it's way to thin breath of death, into which she was slowly dissolving.

Suddenly, a pulsation, a painful burst of energy shot through her like a bolt of life. It hurt. And if she knew how, she would stop it, for every part of her slowly dissolving entity protested against the forceful energy that somehow obliged her thoughts and consciousness to come together, to form a thought and bring all the facts into a coherent conclusion, to realize that she was actually dying…She almost screamed, but she couldn't since she was strangely detached from her physical self. And a strange force, like a rape kept shaking her, forcing her to enter a painful dimension, to start feel again and smell and experience the limitation of her human body.

In one minute, her endless thoughts were pulled like a string back o her mind, her feelings attached back to something, what she realized, was her body. And she could finally scream, and she braced for a painful cry, but her chest allowed her only for a quiet moan. She opened her eyes and caught sparkles of blue light flying around her like blue fireflies. They vibrated around her strangely pulling towards a figure, which currently towered over her. She looked up, "No…" she whispered, oblivious of the spells and magical powders that were thrown in their direction, and which now covered her and the demon lord along with half of their friends.

"Sango?" she heard a voice next to her and looked in face of her dear friend "Inuyasha?" she let a sore whisper "What is going on? What happened?"

"Sango?" Kagome ignored a crazy couple of chanting demons and crouched next to her friend, "You are…" she brought her shaking hand to her mouth " You are…" she didn't dare to finish, it was impossible.

"She is alive." The cold voice reached them, and Sango brought her eyes up to meet golden stare of the demon lord.

"What?" Her voice came back and Sango pulled herself to a sit in the ground.

ooOoo

"Do you think it worked?" a beak of the green creature opened to whisper to his friend's ear.

"I don't know." Myoga's eyebrows narrowed, "But if it did work, he certainly will kill us. On the other side, if the spell didn't work, and they would learn what we attempted to do, he will kill us too…" The demon paused philosophically and looked at Jaken.

"In any turn of events, I say, let's run. We will let them to find out what happened and then they should take a few days to cool off, and then we can come back and explain them the details."

"And now?"

"And now, my friend, we better run, because if they will find out what we just did to them, we are dead..."

"Agreed" with this, the two demons slowly backed up from the clearing into the safety of the night.

ooOoo

A/N: Whoever reads and/or reviews my story, thank you. You make me write.