Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha!
The sun shone brightly, its light penetrating from the sidelines of the leaves. Sesshoumaru walked between the woods of the Southern Territories, his last destination. He could have flown through the clouds, but, besides carrying a conquest mission, he was also on a quest mission. Sesshoumaru is looking for a sacred object hidden by his father. And the thing he was looking for hidden somewhere in the South.
Sometime later, he could hear the faint murmur of a woman's voice and the sound of splashing water in the distance. Sesshoumaru doubted the sound he heard coming from a human being because, he is in the deepest forest, away from the human-inhabited areas.
The closer he walked to the water source the more he recognized the scent. While he suppressed his aura, he could hear the woman mumbling something. Sesshoumaru was not surprised to find his guess was true. His sense of smell is never wrong after all, the woman he sees now is the woman who killed Kuroichi, a hanyou who revived by Tenseiga. Still, very clear in his memory, a layer of blue light illuminated Tenseiga as he used it.
'She wasted no time, after Kuroichi, now she's targeting Takigawa, the Southern Lord,' thought Sesshoumaru.
.
Kagome was on her way as she passed a small hot spring. The pool was so beautiful, some big rocks surrounded it, a thin layer of smoke billowing on the surface, the pool was so clear that she could see the rocks at the bottom. The natural hot water seemed to call her to rest for a moment and relax her stiff muscles. Kagome's right foot was already stepping but then stopped, for a moment she stood in her place.
"Soaking in a hot spring won't make the sun rise from the West, will it?" She told herself.
Kagome approached the hot spring, she opened her blue kimono before dipping her foot into the water. She concentrated to check her surroundings for a moment, was there an aura of youkai or the smell of another human being around her? Once she's sure there were no dangers lurking then, she took off all her clothes, and then draped it on the nearest stone by the pool.
Kagome sat by the pool and dipped the tips of her toes slowly. She whimpered softly as she felt the warmth of the water massaging her slightly tired feet after running all day. Then she went into the water, walked into the middle of the pool and began to wash her body. She moaned as she moistened her now-loose hair. Finished cleaning the body, she shifted to the edge of the pool which water reaches only to the waist.
Kagome sits on the small rocks at the edge of the pond, now the water above her chest. She leaned her head back and looked up at the thick white clouds in the blue sky. Her arms outstretched, she kept drawing the circle on the surface of the water with the tips of her fingers. Kagome closed her eyes and enjoyed the very rare peace she got.
Sesshoumaru kept walking closer before stopping a few feet from the pool. He saw the woman's head resting on a rock, her long black hair created a beautiful halo around her face. Sesshoumaru's attention drawn to her peaceful face, her eyes closed, her skin looks so soft, and then his focus shifts to another beauty on her rising chest. The water and thin smoke cannot hide the other beauty of her body from the vision of a Dai youkai like Sesshoumaru.
What Sesshoumaru saw in the hanyou was a stark contrast to what he saw first; her face softened, her smile broadening, her blue eyes now shone with warmth, her cheeks flushed, her full lips now pink. Among the hot spring surrounded by green lawns, shady trees covered with soft sunlight, she was the culmination of the natural beauty that surrounds it. Her figure looks so weak, but beautiful nonetheless.
"Damn it!" Kagome gasped when she realizes that someone is nearby.
Kagome cursed herself for her carelessness and for not being able to smell the intruder's arrival. She wonders, is her sense of smell starting to dull? Or maybe she too carried away in a peaceful atmosphere so her vigilance loosened and could not detect his aura? Kagome takes a sniff, a moment later, she knows that the answer is the latter.
With a glance, Kagome could recognize the intruders. He is the youkai who had helped her, who was also her next target. One thing she noted, he managed to conceal his aura well. Not just well, but it's good, too good until it feels scary!
Kagome immerses herself in the water to hide her naked body with her arms crossed on top of her chest. However, she is a woman, and the youkai who is just a few steps away from her is the opposite sex.
Anyway, what is he doing here? And the main question is why the man did not go away when there is a naked woman in the pond! What he did was simply turn his gaze into the middle of the hot spring indifferently.
Kagome gives him a menacing look, but Sesshoumaru unaffected. Slowly he approached the hot spring. Kagome growled and jumped out of the pool. She hid behind a rock where her clothes draped. Unfortunately, the stone is only covering half of her body. With her back facing the intruder, she wore her kosode, kimono, and tied her obi quickly.
Sesshoumaru watched as the woman hurried out of the water and scooped up her clothes, and then jumped behind a stone that failed to cover her upper body. Although her face looks young, her body has the perfect curve of the adult woman that all males want.
Kagome's back was hot with his gaze, her face flushed, but she was trying to conceal her embarrassment. After she finished dressing, Kagome jumps closer to Sesshoumaru. Her chin lifted, "You, what are you doing here?" Instead of answering, the man looked away.
Her blushing cheeks did not escape from Sesshoumaru's eyes, the pink hue spread to her neck, and disappeared behind her kimono. The kimono she wore was incapable of covering her slim waist, and the length of the clothes was incapable of covering her beautiful thighs and legs.
Without responding, the man continued to approach the pond.
Shit! "You just ruined my most private time, seeing my body, and now you're ignoring me?" Her tone irritated. Kagome's face flushed with embarrassment and anger when the man she was talking to decide to leave. "Wait, I want to talk to you," Kagome said as she sped up the pace.
Sesshoumaru stopped right at the edge of the hot spring. He pulled Tenseiga which still in its holster, holding it right in the middle horizontally, and then stretched out his hand. After a few seconds passed without any reaction from the sword, he slipped the item back into his obi.
What he was looking for was not in that little hot spring. Sesshoumaru convinced that the sword was dwelling somewhere close to the water source. However, based on the leads that he holds, that pool is not included in the criteria: A place where the three waves meet. There is no kekkai that protects the place, the item was not hidden there.
This time, he did not think his actions through. What distracted him at the time? Is the woman's voice? Her body? Or, her smell? Indeed, without tainted by the smell of her opponent's blood the way it once was, her scents were so tempting.
Sesshoumaru took a deep breath silently, trying to shake off the thoughts he considered ludicrous. Without feeling the need to stare at the figure who became his interlocutor at the time, he orders, "Speak!"
Kagome stammered without knowing why, "I-I..." She cursed mentally.
"This Sesshoumaru did not need any gratitude from you," Sesshoumaru said before turning and leave her.
Kagome grunted with annoyance. She felt foolish for being nervous in front of that mysterious youkai, so she said, "I won't thank you!" With one leap, she stood in front of the silver haired man. "Saving me was your decision, not my request," she said firmly.
The Dai youkai's intonation was flat as he said, "I'm not saving you, but reviving you."
Sesshoumaru noticed how she looked at him sharply. A grin in one corner of the face reveals her fangs. The water dripping from the ends of her loose hair to her smooth crème skin. "What do you want, Hanyou?" For a second, Sesshoumaru's eyebrows slightly wrinkled before returning to his old-expressionless-face. "Do you want me to take back what I gave you?" He asked coldly.
Kagome chuckled before throwing a question in a mocking tone, "Do you think you're a God, huh?" She who underestimated now began to feel furious. "Pull your sword!" She challenged.
Sesshoumaru unaffected, he did not even look at her and his answer was, "I'm not interested." Then, he walked away.
Again, Kagome was blocking his way. "Do not underestimate me!"
While throwing a deadly stare, the youkai said, "Get out of my sights."
Stubbornly she refused, "I will not leave until you fight me!"
"I'm just fighting a formidable enemy." With that, Sesshoumaru passed her.
"You'll regret having belittled me!" Kagome smiled cynically, she flicked her claws.
Insult detected from his straight tone, "Even with a sword you will not be able to defeat me," he said.
"I'll prove my word to you." When the last word spoken, Kagome was already jumping to attack.
Sesshoumaru's hand grasped the hilt of Bakusaiga. "I do not have much patience for you, Hanyou."
Kagome noticed he drew one of his swords. Different from the one he had used to save her, the smells of various kinds of blood wafted out from that sword. The sword in the man's grip was a sword to fight!
"You must know your place, a hanyou like you is an aberration!"
Kagome laughed dryly. "Nothing I've never heard before."
Sesshoumaru's voice volume increased, "You're not supposed to be born."
"Can I choose to be born as something else if I'll reincarnate someday?" Kagome spouted the rhetorical question with a joking tone, but both corners of her eyebrows dropped down. Her face could not cover what she really felt. "Oh, I know, one thing is certain, reborn as whatever I'll be," she shrugs, "I don't want to be a pompous ass youkai like you!"
"You should perish!" Sesshoumaru brandished his sword, then, a blue energy explosion hit Kagome and threw her backward.
Without turning around, Sesshoumaru puts the sword back in its sheath and resumes the journey. His pace was steady as he pierced the woods, but his mind was far behind where he had just left. What was the reason she is hunting down the Lord of the region? The question has not answered. Why has he not just asked? The thought rejected by Sesshoumaru, his pride is too high to show his curiosity.
'The lowly creature like her did not deserve any attention.' Sesshoumaru kept repeating that one sentence in his mind. In the past, he did not have to convince himself like that, but now things are different. The woman had cultivated her curiosity.
However, no matter how hard he tried, Sesshoumaru could not deny himself at all times. Many times the woman's face flashed in his brain. Her peaceful face as she soaked in the pool, gazing up at the sky with a smile. Her blushing cheeks, plump lips. But, what bothered him the most is her gaze. Her grayish-blue iris, so deep with mystery. Although he would not admit it, like it or not, everything about her has tickled something inside of him. Something that even Sesshoumaru cannot name it.
Sesshoumaru's steps stopped, he closed his eyes for a moment to drove the unimportant thoughts out and focused on the leads that he had to find the object he was looking for: A powerful sword hidden by his father for reasons he did not know.
The clue he got from the blacksmith who had forged the sword consisted of only one word, 'Minami'.
Over the years he has spent time with half-understand, Minami mentioned is not 'Beautiful Waves, nor Love and Beauty'. Minami is also not a woman's name. Most likely, Minami in question is 'The three Waves', or South.
When the two meanings, combined, then, he gets a brighter clue than before. Minami could mean, 'Three waves in the South'. More likely, there the sword that said more powerful than the four legendary swords is hidden.
Unfortunately, of the four areas, the South is the largest. The hiding place can be anywhere. Though Tenseiga would react when he approached the sword's location, still, it did not guarantee that he would find it easily. He needs a great fortune to find the sword quickly.
His eyebrows puckered for a moment, he cannot believe why the old man did this to him. Is not it obvious that he is the only one who deserves to possess the object and to sustain the title of the Lord. He is the only one worthy.
Though he could not find the sword yet, the Western Lord is very convinced that this is the right time for him to bear the sword that inherited by his father and control the entire territory. Nothing could stop him, if Sesshoumaru had determined, he would have found the sword. Soon.
.
Kagome was lying on the ground, the impact of the attack had snatched her consciousness. In that state, she carried away into the past. The row of trees in front of her turned into the little hut where she lived with her mother. The memory is like dancing in her head.
One night a few years ago, she just woke up from her sleep. As she was about to close her eyes, she heard the sound of wood creaking, momentarily silent, before the same sound came back. Soon, she heard someone whispering. The triangle ears on top of her head twitched, Kagome put on a good hearing. Then she sniffed, no danger noticed, but vaguely, she caught the funny smell from her mother.
"I miss you," her mother whispered. Kagome got up and sat down, and then she heard her mother laugh quietly. Soon a man's voice muttered, "Hm."
Curiosity took over her. She stood up, then walked slowly, trying not to make the wooden floor creaks. Her heart beats faster each step she took. Her heart seemed to pause for a moment when she reached the doorway, from the small gap between the curtains, she could see the front room freely. The light from the furnace in the room already extinguished, but the gloom was more than enough for her eyesight.
She could see her mother lying on her back, besides an object like white fur, not a single thread wrapped around her body. Besides her mother, there was a man, as naked as her mother, who was lying on his side. But what drew Kagome's attention from him were the long purple-tinted lines on his arm. Unfortunately, the man's face covered with his silver strands. Considering what she saw was a dream, Kagome backed down and lay down on her futon.
Kagome opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a clear, cloudless summer sky. Now she remembered, the next morning, the smell of her mother changed a little. At that time, the typical smell of her mother slightly mixed with the smell of someone. What she saw was the reality, not a dream. And on the same day, with a smile, an angelic voice, and a soft caress on her head, her mother promised something she had never asked for, her father's return.
Her mother said, 'In a moment, we'll be together. After he finished the last important matter, we will live together. 'At that moment, there was a strong conviction in her mother's voice that made Kagome believe. After all, there is no reason for her not to believe in the woman who had given birth to her.
Since then, her mother never mentioned again about her father's arrival. Though the time went by, and the day changed, she was always waiting with a smile and hope. Her mother is a tough woman whose beliefs are too strong to shake by anything. And Kagome did not want to change that, but fate said otherwise. After a week of waiting, instead of getting together they parted ways forever.
From the moment she began to remember, until now, never once did she meet her father. Even so, the heroic story of her father is always told by her mother. Her mother also told her how they met, how her father helped her mother from danger, and how they loved each other. Her mother always tells how they're united by love, and then blessed with the greatest gift that they ever had, a daughter, that is herself.
Every day, during her mother's life, she keeps repeating the story.
Yet, her mother never told her why they had to live apart, she only explained that that was the best for her at the time. Her mother also told her that they would always love her. His father will always protect them, and all other explanations, that sometimes, are not easy to believe. Nevertheless, not once did her mother ever mention how forbidden their relationship as a miko and a youkai.
There is no happy ending in her mother's love story. There is only the destruction of faith that builds for years, torn by the cruelty of fate, trampled by misfortune until charred to dust. Her mother's fate has left the long dark shadow on the path she had to go through. As the lineage of a forbidden story, the black thread of destiny has awaited her.
Kagome still lying on the ground when she whispers the one word as if it was something taboo, "Otou-san?"
A drop of blood ran down on Kagome's cheek, with the back of the hand, the girl wiped the blood. With that, her mind of the past cut off. Kagome got up, patted her kimono, and walked back to the forest and continued her slightly delayed journey.
Kagome's focus point goes back to the figure she has just met. The attack she had received may have been just the tip of the nail of all the power that cold youkai possessed. She did not know the reason he refrained from attacking her with his full power. However, what she knows is the man is strong. Even so, she will not be afraid, she will not let go, 'surrender' will not come out of her mouth if someday they involved in a fight. She will make him regret having ruined her relaxed time, and made her kiss the ground after a good long bath.
She looked up and sniffed. The mysterious youkai's aura nor his smell, no longer detected. But Kagome was sure that one day they would meet again. And when that time comes, she would ask the same question she threw at each of her targets, 'Do you know a Miko named Kikyou?'
Thanks to all reader, especially to KyraTekak and Lara 5170.
Minna saiko arigato.