Twisted
Written by Sarga
Posted May 24, 2008
Summary: A girl awakens to find that she is now living the life of Kagome, time travel and all. Inadvertently reshaping the world around her, Kagome begins to realize just how twisted her path is becoming. Cannon Universe...with a Twist.
Disclaimer: Don't own. Not making money. Don't sue.
Chapter 7: Brother
Mourning the loss of her pet songbird, the girl cried until her head hurt. It was the first loss she had experienced and the whole ordeal had left her aching in heart and mind.
Laying her weary body to rest, the girl gave way to peaceful slumber.
"It is you...Sesshoumaru!"
Inuyasha's yell propelled Kagome into action. Sprinting back to Kaede's hut, Kagome yelled a warning to the old woman inside before grabbing her bow and arrow.
Racing back to the fray, Kagome approached an eerily familiar site. In the hand of a monstrous demon, bound with chains, was the familiar visage of Inuyasha's deceased mother.
"...then you leave me no choice but to let your mother's suffering convince you," Sesshoumaru intoned from his demonic perch. With a flourish, he snapped his whip at the demon monstrosity, who in turn began to squeeze the life from the human woman in his grasp.
His claws cutting into his hand as he spoke, Inuyasha defiantly stood his ground.
"Nice try, jerk. My mother's been dead for years and we both know it!" Gaining confidence as he spoke, Inuyasha flashed a fanged sneer. "Like I'd really fall for some stupid trick like that."
"A trick is it?" Sesshoumaru knowingly responded.
"You're the one who's stupid!" mocked the green imp demon at Sesshoumaru's side. "Recalling spirits from the netherworld is a simple task if you are Lord Sesshoumaru."
Inuyasha was stunned to inaction as Kagome watched the eerily familiar events unfold.
"He was even kind enough to give her flesh, and yet her own son would deny her. How sad to be mother to one such as you." The mocking of the demon was punctuated by the pained wail of the captive woman and Inuyasha was still no more. Leaping at his mother's ensnared form, he let loose an Iron Reaver attack, severing the demon monster's hand from its body.
"Inuyasha, NO! That's just an un-mother meant to look like your mother!" Kagome tried to stop her companion's forward movement before he was entrapped by her deceit.
"Do you really want to risk it," Sesshoumaru demanded, eyes narrowing suspiciously at the mortal girl on the ground. Whipping the monstrosity once more, Sesshoumaru propelled the creature forward to the prone form of Inuyasha's mother and Inuyasha was compelled to save her.
Kagome was knocked unconscious in a radiant blast of light as the impostor mother saved Inuyasha from the demon's attack. As she regained consciousness, Kagome found herself immobilized and was forced to watch the events progress, unable to issue further warning or guidance for her protector-turned-motherless-child.
Inuyasha was entranced by the un-mother, allowing himself to be comforted by her gentle embrace. Kagome could only stare as she saw her friend enveloped by the demon as Sesshoumaru demanded answers Inuyasha could not give, no matter how compelling the inquisitor.
Struggling as if her life depended on it, Kagome was helplessly forced to watch as Inuyasha's body was absorbed deeper and deeper inside the un-mother. A sudden harsh prickling at her cheek released the girl from her restraints and she slapped the offending flea demon for his troubles.
"That hurt Myouga," Kagome grumbled as she shook herself completely free of her restraints.
Fully freed from her bonds, Kagome attempted to intervene, running straight through a shallow pond to get to her restrained friend. The illusion on the water's surface broken, the un-mother cried out in anguish and Inuyasha was freed from her deadly embrace. Kagome continued toward her friend only to find herself on the wrong end of a rather searing stream of fire. Fleeing in the only direction she could, Kagome ran headlong into the chest of a rather imposing dog demon. Unable to process that things were moving away from the known path, Kagome found herself awkwardly thrown over the shoulder of the Lord of the Western Lands. Finding her voice, a little too late it seemed, Kagome took a deep breath.
"INUYASHA!" Kagome screamed as she saw his startled face turn to her from below.
Unable to attack the image of his mother, even knowing it was a fake, Inuyasha gave chase. Swearing bloody vengeance, he headed to the only place he knew his brother would go...
"Consider your answer carefully, human," Sesshoumaru spoke deceptively calmly as he addressed the girl slung over his shoulder. "It will be a short journey. When we arrive you had better make clear how you have learned of my plans when I have spoke of this to no one. Mark my words human, it is not below me to see you suffer should your answer be determined false." Leaving no room for doubt Kagome was driven to a near panic as her captor soared higher and faster, drawing nearer to what she was certain would be her untimely demise.
"I'm going to die," Kagome gasped, tears forming unbidden.
"You are human, that is inevitable."
At his cold tone, Kagome was enraged. Tears quickly burning from her eyes, Kagome used her only available weapon on her captor. Pounding his back with as much ferocity as her human frame could muster, she demanded her own release.
"Let me go!"
An quirk of an eyebrow and a wry half-smile remained unseen as the Demon Lord responded.
"Surely even a witless human knows what would happen at this height were I to comply."
Eyes wide with realization, Kagome's hands clutched at the back of Sesshoumaru's garments just in case he decided to free her as she had so carelessly demanded.
The short journey was a blur as Kagome's mind raced with thoughts of joining the sites far far below her. As she saw the ground draw nearer and nearer, she finally relinquished her hold on the demon's clothing only to be promptly dropped to the ground.
Blood rushing from her head, Kagome was grateful that she did not burst out with anything else that might get her killed, knowing she was a hair's breadth away from that just by her proximity to the Demon Lord.
"Speak."
A simple command. Coming from a dog demon it could have been comical in another context. Too bad for Kagome she was unable to see the humour in the situation.
"I... that is..." Kagome panicked, not knowing how to begin.
Without warning, Kagome found herself pinned to a tree by the neck, her air supply very narrow.
"Do not test me human, you have but one chance." Releasing her neck, Sesshoumaru stood menacingly close as Kagome tried not to sob aloud.
"I know what you were going to do because you've done it before," she whispered, knowing it was true, but fearing she would be killed for the nonsensical nature of her declaration.
"Lies," Sesshoumaru stated simply, yet he did not move to decapitate her.
In a desperate bid to ensure her safety, Kagome began babbling. "I knew you were going to do that just like I know that you're looking for the Tetsusaiga held at your father's grave site. I know that the Tenseiga is useless to you because you don't want to protect humanity but it's power was given to you anyway by your father. I know you want to kill your brother but are unwilling to do so while the location of your father's grave is unknown..." Kagome again found herself suspended awkwardly by her neck.
"Interesting," Sesshoumaru commented through narrow eyes. "You have revealed more knowledge of myself than I have let any other know, and yet you still have not answered my question, human."
Blacking out from lack of oxygen, Kagome was hard pressed to focus on the voice's demand.
"You have told me some of what you know, but still not how you know it."
Her neck free once more, Kagome only gulped in choking breaths as she sat on the floor. Her neck decidedly bruised, she wept to herself at the prospect of her untimely death.
"Jaken," Sesshoumaru's voice drawled.
"Yes m'lord?" responded the green impish demon.
"Take the human to the interrogation room." Turning toward the sobbing girl to emphasize his point, he spoke his final words when he knew he had her undivided attention. "I will get the answers I seek."
Kagome scrambled to her feet in a mad attempt to flee only to find herself running headlong into the same flaming wall that had directed her path earlier. Rolling backward out of the way, Kagome lay sprawled gracelessly on the ground.
"Pathetic human, do you expect to escape?" The imp demon squawked at her prone form. "Move inside or I shall burn you where you lie!"
Tears flowing freely, Kagome shifted her weight so that she was able to stand. Taking a shaky breath to rid herself of her tears, Kagome straightened her posture and held her head high as she marched into the castle doors before her.
"Left," croaked the demon behind her. Kagome turned left.
"Left." Again she turned.
"Right." Kagome entered the doorway to her right only to come to a complete stop in the doorway. She had been expecting implements of torture. She had been expecting sharp metal and gnashing teeth. She had not been expecting a plain room furnished simply yet elegantly. Taking a stunned seat on one of the soft cushions, Kagome looked about the room in confusion.
Everything within appeared to be made for comfort, everything excepting the scowling green demon barring the entryway. At the appearance of his master the demon gave her one more scowl before promptly sealing the doors shut.
"Do not mistake this opulence for a chance at freedom, human. With all you know of me, surely you know that I could burn you from the inside out with a flick of my claws?"
Kagome did not answer the rhetorical question.
"How."
"I'm from the future," Kagome whispered, disheartened.
"Impossible."
Near tears, Kagome took a deep breath to calm herself. "Improbable, but not impossible." Confident that he would find it anyway on her corpse, Kagome reached a shaky hand to her neck and unclasped the necklace around her neck that held the jewel close to her.
"This," Kagome thrust the jewel towards her interrogator. "Allows me to travel between my time and this one through a...special portal." Kagome hoped he would not demand the location of this 'portal, she couldn't bare it if she were trapped here because he destroyed her only link to sanity. Sesshoumaru's continued stare without her death prompted her to continue.
"I know about you because your story is...chronicled in my time."
"Bring me these chronicles." Sesshoumaru's half smile warned Kagome of something, she just was not sure what.
"I can't," Kagome whispered, unable to break her eyes from that eerie half smile.
"Because you are not from the future and no such thing exists," Sesshoumaru spoke plainly, his half smile growing wider.
"No!" Kagome protested sharply. "Because they're in a format that would be useless to you in this time." No DVD players in feudal Japan, and no access to the mangas on the other side.
"You try my patience." The half smile waned.
"I'm telling the truth! Look!" Kagome pulled a small picture from her pocket, one she had taken of herself, Houjo and Yuka while she had been on the other side of the well. "This is a photograph, it's something like a painting only it's created instantly with technology from my time, I could show you myself if you hadn't taken me from my camera."
The half smile was once again growing and Kagome felt her heart beat speed up once more. "What?" she whispered, knowing she was not going to like the answer.
"Where's the Tetsusaiga?"
Kagome felt her blood rush cold.
"In...in your father's grave site, inside his bones, deep in his stomach.""
Gods, she was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Where is his grave site? Where are his bones?"
Kagome swallowed hard in an attempt to quell the bile from rising to her throat.
"Please, don't ask me that," she whispered softly, eyes cast away from that growing smile.
"Where is his grave site?" Sesshoumaru repeated, her growing discomfort appearing to please him greatly.
Visions of her disembowelment compelled her into answering.
"The right black pearl," her voice was so soft she could barely hear it herself.
That rang a bell and Sesshoumaru was no longer grinning.
"I see. It all makes sense now. Jaken." Kagome saw the door creep open and the head of the small imp demon poke into the room.
"Yes, m'lord?"
"We will return to my brother shortly. Guard the girl while I verify something, she will be coming with us when we leave."
"Please," Kagome begged, tears forming in her eyes as she thought of being forced to betray Inuyasha. "You can't even wield it the Tetsusaiga. It was given to your brother and can only be used in the protection of humans." Kagome's plea fell on deaf ears as the demon lord left her to her own devices not even sparing her a glance for her troubles.
Kagome had been left alone. Settling down a little at the thought that she was not dead and likely wouldn't be until she was no longer useful, Kagome scouted her position from where she sat. The door had been left ajar and it was the only entrance to the room, not even a window adorned the walls. From her position, she could see that the imp had not been diligent and had most likely followed his master rather than guarding her as instructed.
Standing on shaky legs, Kagome took a final steadying breath and inched open the door further, verifying that she was, indeed, completely alone. Pausing for a mere heartbeat, Kagome bolted.
'Left, left, right to get in...left, right, right to get out.'
Soon she was free of the castle its grounds devoid of guards or other possible deterrents to her escape. Running longer than she had thought humanly possible, Kagome made her way through the forest until the dwindling evening light had completely faded. Soon she was left with the mere hint of light from a starry sky adorned with a sliver of moon.
Knowing the Demon Lord could overtake her in a heartbeat, Kagome made her way toward the sound of running water. Coming perpendicular to a small stream, Kagome veered sharply to the right and began her way up through the shallow stream, hoping against hope that she would come across a settlement.
"Jaken," Sesshoumaru snapped at the yammering imp demon at his side.
"Yes, m'lord?" the demon in question nervously paused his tirade, peering upwards expectantly.
"Were you not told to guard the human woman?"
Jaken blinked twice in confusion.
"Yes, m'lord. But a human woman would not have the gall to attempt escape so soon after your depar..." Jaken's reply was cut short as Sesshoumaru's foot pressed him to the floor painfully.
"You will guard the human or your life will be forfeit." Absolutely no room for doubt, Jaken scurried from his prostrate position and back to the room. Door closed as he had left it, Jaken stood diligently for the hours it took for his master to complete his search and return to him.
"Jaken," Sesshoumaru scowled at his demon retainer as he approached the empty room under guard.
"M'lord?" the imp was unsure as to why his master was so angry. He had done as requested and the human girl had not even made so much as a whisper while he had guarded her.
"Where is the human?"
Again, Jaken blinked in confusion.
"In the room?" Jaken responded uncertainly.
Opening the door to an empty room, Sesshoumaru looked to the imp with a raised eyebrow.
"Find her and return."
Jaken scurried into action, following the hallway to the door. Through the grounds he could see no evidence of the girl's escape, even in the forest, it appeared as if she had breezed through without leaving much of a trail. As he came to the same river that she had encountered hours earlier, Jaken stuck his finger in his mouth and held it up to the wind.
"Such a wily human would have known to keep downwind of the great dog demon Lord Sesshoumaru," Jaken muttered as he turned left and downstream.
Luckily for Kagome, she had never thought to check the wind.
As the night progressed and her feet became almost entirely numb in the frigid mountain waters, Kagome trudged onward. The river began to widen and she found herself at an impasse. Land to the left and land to the right, she didn't know which direction would be better. Vying for the path that took her further from the castle, Kagome moved left and onto the bank of the shore.
Kagome paused a moment and perched on a rock as she wrung out her socks and tried to squeeze out any remaining water from her sneaker. Putting the slightly less soggy footwear back in place, Kagome continued to move in the direction of the stream but further into the sheltering trees. Hours passed and Kagome was beginning to feel the effects of no sleep and an adrenaline crash. Shaking her head to keep herself awake, Kagome was greeted by the first lights of dawn. Slowing her pace, Kagome could almost make out the sound of people laughing. With renewed vigor, Kagome dashed through the trees toward the sound of human voices only to find herself thoroughly startling a pair of travelers walking along the road.
"Whoa, are you okay, miss?" The younger traveler asked, grasping the shaken girl by her shoulders to steady her.
"Please, where is the nearest town? I'm trying...I've been running all night, I need to sleep."
Pity in his eyes, the traveler looked to his companion.
"We're on our way to Enaido, it's only a few hours walk from here. We broke camp at dawn on our way there."
Thankful for the companions, Kagome was nervous at the prospect of hostages if she were caught.
"I'm being followed and if he finds you with me he might harm you. Thank you for the information, I'll just go ahead if you don't mind."
"Here, take this," the traveler proffered a small coin bag. "It's not much but hopefully it will aid in protecting you."
Thanking her benefactors profusely and desperate to reach the protection of a human settlement, Kagome started jogging as fast as her weary body would allow.
'Just two more hours,' Kagome chanted for what seemed like an eternity but what was actually closer to an hour or so. When she reached the outskirts of what looked to be a sizable trading town Kagome nearly let out a loud whoop of delight, but instead opted to look for shelter. Thankful for the ability to purchase a safe room to sleep in, Kagome found herself a fairly reputable looking inn and paid for the use of a room for the day and night. Bringing a moderate basin of warm water with her, Kagome closed the door and stripped down, opting to wash her clothing before laying them near the small fire to dry.
Collapsing into a heap under the blankets, Kagome sighed contentedly. Her last thoughts before sleep overtook her were filled with poison-coated fangs and scarlet eyes.
Allowing the gentle night sounds to ease her into wakefulness, Kagome slowly became aware of the world around her. Fully conscious once more, she began wondering how she would get back home now that she was being hunted by a demon who's species was known for its keen tracking abilities. With a shiver, she sat bolt upright at the sound of growling behind her door. Panic set in, and she rushed for the door, daring to hope that she might escape her pursuer by sheer force of will.
As she neared the door, she barely stifled a startled yelp as it snapped open and she was met with angry yellow eyes and silver hair.
As their eyes met, Kagome nearly broke down into tears.
"Inuyasha," Kagome gasped, launching herself in a sobbing mass at his chest.
Hands glued to the door frame, a wide-eyed half demon squeaked from beneath her heartfelt sobs.
"Uh...Kagome," Inuyasha's voice, unusually high pitched, broke through her torrent of tears.
"Yeah," Kagome sniffed, looking up at him.
"Where are your clothes?"
Kagome went stiff before a shrill shriek had the half-demon flattening his ears to his head and diving out of the way of a projectile shoe. Sliding the door shut with lighting speed, the half demon felt the blood rush through his body in an uncomfortable manner, settling into his face as it became as red as his clothing. Arms in sleeves, Inuyasha sat ramrod straight as he waited for Kagome to dress.
Kagome emerged moments later, equally as red-faced and grumbling about bad timing. Yanking his arm, she felt her face grow even hotter as other patrons decided to peer from their rooms in curiosity only to see a young woman bodily grab a young man and pull him into her arms.
Muttering to herself, the ghost of a smile forming on her lips, an elderly lady observed the pair before closing her door once more.
"Ah, young love."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did!
Read and review!
Sarga
