The Quest of Nyratar
Flying
"Yarhmmm!" Kagome yawned joyously—stretching her arms above her heard. Another uneventful day has passed on the walk towards the West. She was tired, yes—but she was also excited for the adventure to come. It felt like months since her group of friends traveled around Japan to kill Naraku and she was getting wearily of Inuyasha badgering her to mate with him. "Hmm…" She let out a soft hum. She was thinking about her beloved white-hair hanyou all morning; and it was leaving her a bit flustered. He had been leaving her bedside every morning only to return to her before their nightly meal. For the first few times she questioned him, he avoided her questions and made excuses to leave. She slyly accused him of cheating on her with Kikyou—but she was dead. Kagome let out a small laugh, 'He loves me. Inuyasha will never do that again…'
Sesshoumaru's ear twitched when he picked up her small laughter. 'What could she be thinking about?' he pondered. He had witnessed the miko's myriad of emotions within the short span of time since she awoken this morning. He half expected her to avoid him at all costs after the incident last night with his beast—yet she bid him a merry good morning and went about dusting herself off. When he didn't answer, she began to grumble inaudibly and began stomping away from him towards the West. And shortly before, she was laughing and humming. The prince let out an inaudible sigh; he would've left the miko to fend for herself if he didn't need her. 'We are behind on time—we must hurry,' he glanced up in the sky to determine the time. They were on his lands now; no one on his lands would dare attack him unless they are wishing for a painful death and they can hurry without further distractions.
"Miko," his voice broke Kagome's musing over a passing cloud. He flinched at her reply.
"Yes?" Her voice squeaked when she answered his call. It had been a while since she used her vocal cords and they were indeed slightly rusty. Kagome's face flushed a bright pink at the sound of her voice, 'Gosh… If I sound this horrible to my ears, I wonder what damage I did to Sesshoumaru's?' She peeked over his shoulders curiously to find his ears twitching slightly. 'I'm dead… I know it…' She grimaced at what she thought Sesshoumaru will do to kill her—not that she was afraid. Wild scenarios from gutting her to skinning her alive popped up into her head and she was growing slightly fearful. "Neh… Sesshoumaru-sama?" She was slightly relieved to know her voice sounded normal that time.
"Hn?" Sesshoumaru was still recovering from her high pitched squeal. 'At least she sounds better now,' he bitterly remarked.
"You're not going to skin me… are you?" Kagome piped in a soft whisper.
"Quit being childish Miko," he chided with his icy harsh tone. He heard her sigh with what seemed to be relief. "This one was trying to inform you that we've entered my land, and will reach the open sea shortly after midday begins. We will then travel by air."
"By air? But I can't fly!" Kagome exclaimed incredulously. 'Where did he get such an idea that I can fly?' She then briefly recalled the incident that happened early yesterday morning regarding 'joking around.' Kagome grimaced, 'Oh Kami… I hope he doesn't use that… oh please, oh please!' She clapped her hands together and silently prayed. She didn't want to be tossed around like a rag doll and be pinned to a tree again—it wasn't very pleasant.
"Then you'll have to swim," Sesshoumaru casually remarked. Unknowingly to Sesshoumaru a light smirk adorned his face, but of course Kagome didn't see it.
Kagome stopped in her tracks and stared at his back incredulously—"What?" she squeaked. "B-but! How far of a swim is that?" She dashed ahead to walk side by side with Sesshoumaru. "I don't know where we're going!"
"We're heading into the land of Nyratar," he simply stated.
"Nyratar? Where's that? It doesn't sound very Japanese," Kagome tested the odd words on her lips. "But that doesn't matter—I have no means of getting there!" She threw her arms in the air dramatically. "I'm certainly not going to swim!"
Sesshoumaru ignored her remarks and quickened his stride—if they were to get to Nyratar on schedule, she would certainly need to learn how to fly. "Hurry your pace Miko, we will miss our meeting hour if we delay any longer."
"Hold it! I am not taking another step until you tell me how exactly I'm going to reach Nyratar!" Kagome stomped to a stop and grounded the soles of her feet on the dirt. She watched with mild aggravation as Sesshoumaru came to a swift stop. "Well?" Kagome tapped her feet impatiently. She watched him turn around to face her with his signature mask—within a blink of an eye, she watched helplessly as Sesshoumaru charged at her with his inhuman speed. 'Oh Kami!' Kagome let out a shriek of fear thinking her life will end there because of her stubborn attitude. Her mind went blank as she felt the air escape her lungs when his body collided with hers.
"Quit your screeching Miko or I will silence you with force," Sesshoumaru hissed with mild frustration seeping through his collected demeanor.
Kagome's clenched eyes slowly pried apart to find his armor greeting vision. She felt odd—chilled wind caressed her body and her legs felt weak and unstable. "What in the world?" She looked over her shoulder to find herself staring at treetops from midair. The blood drained from her face and her vision swirled distortedly—her knees gave out from under her. The queasy feeling of falling hit her system and her body grew numb and unresponsive, "oh Kami" she whispered frightfully as her body began to tilt over. Before she leaned over any further, she felt a muscular arm hook around her waist and pull her towards the armor she saw only moments ago.
"Keep still," she heard Sesshoumaru order with his emotionless tone and held her body close to his. Kagome couldn't form words in her swimming mind much less than trying to articulate it. She numbly wrapped her arms around his hips and gripped onto the backside of his sash. Her body was tingling and she wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing and hid her face between his chest and shoulder. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly through her nose—it helped slightly and it regained her strength, but she was still scared to her core.
"So…" Kagome mumbled against the sleeves of the kimono. "I guess I'm flying now," she sheepishly joked. She felt the pressure of his chest changed briefly to what seem like a scoff. "It's not every day a human gets to fly without a plane, you know!"
"Plane?" Sesshoumaru tested another unfamiliar word on his lips. It was rare that there were words he didn't know about. And frankly, he doesn't like the unknown. "Why is it that you speak of such odd words, Miko?"
"Well, a plane is a giant metal bird that moves from a mixture of oil," Kagome relaxed against his body—she was slowly regaining her strength and adjusting to flying on his ki cloud now that she was no longer focused on the altitude. "It's from my time in the future. It's really something… it can go much higher than where we're at right now. I suppose you wouldn't see it for another few hundred years from now."
Sesshoumaru nodded and kept silent. He briefly recalled that she was a time traveler, but he didn't know too much about it—he would have to ask her later on in their travels. "Hn," it was getting close to midday, and they had hardly covered any of his land—he would need to quicken the pace. "This one suggests you to hold on, Miko."
Kagome looked up to question his command, "Wh-" she began, but once again the air was knocked out of her lungs when she collided into his body as he doubled the speed. "Just how many times are you going to do that today?" she hissed with mild annoyance.
"How many times are you going to be unaware of your surroundings, or situation Miko?" He retorted. "It is a wonder how you survived against Naraku."
Kagome furrowed her brows in anger and opened her mouth to speak, only to close her mouth in a sadden state. "Inuyasha and my friends did all the work… Kikyou too… I've only come so far because of them."
Sesshoumaru raised an elegant eyebrow at her comment, 'She still deems herself unworthy to claim the defeat of Naraku.' He remembered the death of Naraku, the fight that the group had to endure, and the disappearance of Kagome. When he spotted her return only recently, it intrigued him to see Kagome and Inuyasha together—after all, didn't Inuyasha love Kikyou as well? "You mention the dead miko with honor… why is that?"
"Because… she was the one who began changing Inuyasha… she was the one who saved Kohaku after the jewel shard was taken from him… because… she is what Inuyasha saw in me…" her voice faded to a soft whisper in the floating wind. "Without her, there wouldn't have been me."
"Without you, she would not have lived again," Sesshoumaru reminded. "If I do remember correctly Miko, she regained life after receiving a part of yours." He didn't know what it was about Kagome that fascinated him, but the close proximity between them—their body touching, that has thrown him off his usual indifferent attitude, but he wasn't going to let her know that.
"I suppose you're right Sesshoumaru. But I don't know," she whispered. She couldn't help but feel depressed over mentioning Kikyou. She was jealous—enough though Kikyou has passed for good.
-0-
"Inuyasha… will you come down to speak to me for a short while?" A feminine voice called from ground below where Inuyasha rested on a tree.
Inuyasha peered down with a cracked eye, "Yeah. Sure." He leaped down effortlessly to greet his friend—his lover. "What do you need Yumiko?" His voice was soft and apologetic—he never meant to deceive her. He really thought they might be an item after Kagome disappeared… he thought she was never going to return.
"Nothing, really. I just wanted to see you," Yumiko gave him a sheepish smile. Her long dark brown hair was neatly braided and hung over her shoulder. "I've… missed you," she whispered softly.
Inuyasha nodded, "Yeah… Listen, Yumiko. I don't think we should be seeing each other anymore… Kagome's returned." He hung his shoulders shamefully. He knew what he was saying was heartless and cruel to the sweet girl. "Yumiko, the one I love is Kik—Kagome, we should've never done what we did. I'm sorry." He watched with regret when her bright green eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
"I understand," Yumiko reached for Inuyasha's right hand and held it in hers. "I knew this would happen if Kagome-sama ever came home. I wouldn't dare to try to break your relationship with her," she whispered in an understanding tone. "I came to tell you that I'm travelling to a village north of here, maybe you'll stop by one day?"
"Of course," he reached out pulled Yumiko in his arms. "I'm so sorry things have turned out this way, Yumiko. Please take care of yourself," he planted a soft kiss on her forehead.
Yumiko nodded and stepped out of his embrace to head back to the village. She casted a longing stare at Inuyasha before finally convincing herself that it was best for the both of them. She sighed mournfully at her loss of her first love—maybe she deserved it for comforting Inuyasha in his time of despair. The soft gust of wind fluttered between the folds of her kimono and carried the scent back to Inuyasha.
"What?" Inuyasha's eyes widen at the trespassing scent. His golden eyes bore harshly at her back—something was not right.
-0-
The sun was setting, casting a blanket of gold and orange over the horizon. Sesshoumaru and Kagome had just finished taking their last break before they depart over the ocean, from there, it'll be impossible to rest until they reach their destination.
"Ready?" Sesshoumaru summoned his cloud effortlessly and hovered patiently over the sandy beach. "We will reach Nyratar tonight."
Kagome nodded, "Yeah… the Elf land? I wonder how different it will be from Japan."
Sesshoumaru kept silent. He hasn't visited Nyratar for over half a century now; it would be hard to describe the ever evolving society of Nyratar. He brought himself out of his musings as he watched Kagome clumsily climb on his cloud. She stumbled unsteadily until Sesshoumaru wrapped his arm around her once more. "Have your back face me," he spun her around and kept her steady without having her body pressed onto his—it was getting slight unpleasant for him.
"Why?" Kagome piped curiously as he began to ascend his cloud.
"You'll find out," he briefly stated before ignoring her questions once again and began to ascend into the sky and over the sea.
Kagome watched with great awe as the sun began to slowly creep down toiling waves of the sea. The rainbow hues of orange and yellow ray warmed her skin and the colors danced merrily on her eyes. "It is beautiful, Sesshoumaru-sama," she whispered breathlessly. From all the sunsets she's watched from the East, watching the sun set from the West was stunning. She subconsciously leaned back to press her back against his chest, "You know… I wish Inuyasha can see this."
"He has before," Sesshoumaru gritted through his teeth—he was suddenly very aware of her body pressing against his and the reason for it peeved him greatly. He hasn't been with a woman to satisfy his basic needs for at least a century, 'We would need to fix that in Nyratar…'
"He has? When?" Kagome eye's met his well-defined, slender jaw. 'He's… angry.' She saw the tension in his jaws and opted to remain silent for the rest of the trip. "Nevermind," she whispered and adverted her attention back to the setting sun. 'Never in my wildest dreams would I think of watching the sun set with Sesshoumaru…'
/
JR- Thank you Venita on Dokuga, and Loveinthebattlefield on Fanfiction for always reviewing my story! I know I'm a horrible updater, but I got through Finals week and have the entire summer off—except for working of course. To my readers, please review—it really does motivate me to write more!
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