EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 7: Conundrum

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"Just concentrate on me, Octavia-chan."

"I'm trying. It would be a lot easier without all these youkai around distracting me."

Kagome drew in her reiki and glared daggers at Inuyasha, who was practising with the Tessaiga at the opposite end of the field. Dark energy rippled from the blade with every swing. When Kagome's angry lour landed on him, he winced – probably having something to do with the string of beads around his neck – and stopped.

Satisfied, she turned back to Octavia and asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Because if you're not we can always—"

"I said I'm fine."

Kagome's eyebrows shot up and Octavia regretted snapping at her so quickly.

She bit her lip. "Sorry. Maybe I am feeling a little bit stressed. I just want to get it right."

The miko smiled, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. "That's okay. I would be too if I was in your position. It was hard for me when I was first getting a hand of my spiritual powers. Actually, I'm surprised you haven't burned down a couple of trees yet . . . Or maimed a few difficult Inugami."

Octavia's eyes gleamed.

"Who says I haven't?"

Kagome laughed and Inuyasha tensed up at the other side of the field. She summoned her reiki again and Octavia felt it being drawn towards her by a magnetic pull. In an effort to keep herself calm, she carried on talking as if things were normal.

"Why did you decide to stay here?" she asked. "Your family is on the other side, but you still chose this world."

"My family would love me no matter what," Kagome said, eyes softening. Octavia thought that was all she would say when she lowered her voice and added, "But a world without Inuyasha isn't one I could live in. You'd understand if you knew what we'd been through. If you knew what he means to me . . ."

Kagome's face was warm and full of love. Octavia smiled to herself because surely she must have known that simply lowering her voice wouldn't prevent Inuyasha from hearing her confession. Speaking of him, the little smile that grew on Inuyasha's face at her words made Octavia's wilted heart ache with longing. This was what she had wanted all her life. This was what the stories spoke about – the love you couldn't live without.

She wondered if she would ever know how that felt.

If she even had the capacity for such a feeling.

"Now remember," Kagome said, lifting her hands and tapping into her reiki again. "Focus entirely on me. Feel the power flowing out of my body. Feel it building. Latch onto it. Guide it into yourself. Make it your own."

Octavia could feel the lightness of Kagome's reiki spilling through the air, like an invisible breeze, and breathed it in. She closed her eyes and tried to call it towards her. She imagined scooping it up in the palms of her hands like water. It was a freakish feeling, but warm and fresh unlike the oppressive aura from the woodlouse and Inuyasha's sword. It was weightless. And it felt nice.

"Can you feel it?"

She smiled and released a soft breath. "Yeah. I do."

"Good. Now let it out. Let it go."

Her eyes flickered underneath her eyelids. She swayed on her feet and pressed her hands to her chest, which was pounding with the breakneck beat of her heart. In any other situation, she would have been alarmed by the lightning speed of it, but the soothing hands in her soul lulled her into a sense of solace and tranquillity.

"Octavia-chan?" Kagome called, though her voice seemed to be getting more and more distant. "You need to let it go now, okay? Let go."

Octavia smiled breathlessly, still blinded by the black of her eyelids.

She didn't want to.

Inuyasha zipped over and surveyed the scene. "What's goin' on!"

"She's holding my reiki inside of her," Kagome answered, "If she doesn't let go of it she'll be purified!"

"But she ain't a demon. What'll it do to her?"

"She might not be a demon, but I don't know how her power works. With the jewel, this wouldn't be a problem, but she's a person. She's not a miko so she won't be used to harnessing so much reiki all at once. Too much of it could kill her!"

"So what the hell do we do!"

The voices were there but Octavia couldn't hear them properly anymore. It felt too good, that amazing feeling. It felt like new pillows and hotel sheets; sitting next to a radiator on a cold winter morning. It was a comfort. A completion. Underneath it all, there was a distinct rush of burning, but she was numb to it. Her insides were cooking slowly – fried eggs in a pan – and flames were dancing in the hollow cavity of her ribcage.

Who knew burning could feel so good?

She was enveloped by light and heat, and then something else as well. Something bright but softer than the rays of the sun. She heard its voice and opened her eyes, finding Sesshoumaru standing above her, dazzling. The fog parted when she saw his gold eyes. His claws were drawn and ready to strike, but she paid them no attention. She smelled poison on the wind. She breathed it in deep. It tasted tart and bitter, like nail polish remover, and her face scrunched up with disrelish.

"Human," he hissed.

"It's cold without it."

Kagome and Inuyasha switched glances at the statement and Octavia touched a finger to her smoking chest.

"It's cold in here."

It had always been so very, very cold.

A tiny sphere of light appeared on the tip of her finger. It was the palest of purples and glittered like a star. The boiling of her insides stopped and she parted her lips in pleasant surprise, the orb expanding in the range of Kagome's reiki. Sesshoumaru didn't lower his defensive stance, obviously not wanting to be scorched a second time, and Octavia laughed.

She wiggled her finger, causing the little globe to sway like a droplet of water. Sesshoumaru seemed stunned by her feathery laughter and stood frozen.

From the look on his face, she might as well have struck him with her fist.

Her laughing subsided and she shot him a look of victory.

"I did it."

Kagome's eyes were wide with shock but she was smiling. "You did," she breathed, "Wow. I can't believe it actually worked!"

"Damn good thing it did," mumbled Inuyasha.

He'd probably been expecting to peel her off the ground afterwards.

Octavia turned to Sesshoumaru again, her eyes probing and insistent. She waited secretly for some words of praise, but of course, none came. He had yet to withdraw his poisonous claws and acid was dripping onto the grass, turning it brown and causing steam to rise up from where it fell.

"Can you let it go now?" Kagome asked.

She glanced down at the rippling orb and urged it to be free. She closed her eyes and focused on casting out the warmth, its absence crushing when she felt it leave her body. Come back, she almost whispered. It's cold again. Don't leave me here. She ignored the desperate thoughts and forced it out.

When she opened her eyes, it was completely gone.

Kagome beamed. "Great job, Octavia-chan! I was worried for a second there, but you pulled through. Are you okay?"

"I am. Yeah."

"You almost killed us," said Inuyasha, "But not bad for a first try. Just don't expect me to jump in and save your ass if you mess up again!"

"Don't worry, I won't."

She stole a glimpse at Sesshoumaru.

He still regarded her with hostility, but there was an ounce of something else in that stark, stony expression. He looked at her as if she were some great mystery, and what she didn't know was that Sesshoumaru hated mysteries. None went by without being solved by him. And if the mystery she presented was great enough, he would dig down and figure it out because he couldn't stand not knowing.

The Lord of the West was like his late father in many ways.

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Several days later, Sesshoumaru decided to take the human to see his warlock.

He was not entirely sure what had brought about the decision. He only knew that power like that spelt colossal misfortune for any who became involved with her. So, why was he doing this? She had somehow managed to deceive him and hide her magic from him. How? How had she accomplished such an endeavour?

Totosai believed such power could bring about the destruction of races, and as the Lord of the West, Sesshoumaru refused to let that happen.

He had only chosen to assist her as a last resort. She had been training with the miko from dawn until dusk each day yet there was no clear improvement. It was obvious that the miko did not know what she was doing. She was out of her depth and swaddled with anxiety. He couldn't blame her. The nature of the girl's power was alarming even to him, and he had not been imprisoned in the jewel's torture as the miko had.

The Shikon no Tama had not affected him as terribly as it had the others.

Because of that, he understood their distress to some extent.

Jaken had been displeased by his decision, despite being the one to suggest it, but he did not rebuke. It was the best plan of action. Rin was already annoyingly fond of the wench and would be unbearable if he tried to pry her away from her. She would be happy with the news for certain. As for him . . .

He would just be glad to get out of the revolting little village.

All that was left to do was inform the bane of the problem. He found her sitting alone on a hefty rock on the outskirts, trying to summon her magic. She had gotten better at that, having learned to draw from the nature around her, but she was no closer to understanding or mastering the extent of her abilities. The glittering mist around her fingers wobbled in the sunlight. It was not the same manner of reiki the miko possessed, but it was reiki all the same. Energy was energy.

Her power seemed to be drawn from other things, not created.

The light from her hands turned to a darker purple as he approached, and she lifted her head to meet his gaze. She looked permanently tired, with dark bruises under her eyes, and her sharp-edged cheekbones were harsh in contrast to the sunny smile she often wore. Her eyes were big and haunting. They didn't seem to fit her face properly. They were a balmy green and reminded him of a not quite ripened yuzu fruit. Not a very common colour among human females.

He wasn't sure why he noticed, but he would remember it.

She withdrew her magic and asked, "Can I help you?"

"We depart at sunset."

"Where are we going?"

"The castle."

Her eyes widened and she raised a brow. "Really? And after all that fuss about your reputation?"

"You require the wisdom of my warlock."

"You were so against it before, though. What changed your mind?"

What indeed?

He turned his nose up and looked down at her. The action seemed to vex her as her face soured, amusing him slightly. He was not well acquainted with her but he could tell she was a proud creature and didn't appreciate being belittled. That only made it all the more appealing.

"Why do you do that?" she asked, scowling.

His eyes narrowed in amusement. "Do what?"

"That. Look down at everyone like they're beneath you; like you're better than them."

"Because I am."

He was superior to all.

Her sour expression faded and she lifted her brows, before erupting into a fit of giggles. He frowned at the irritable sound but his disdain only served to fuel her merrymaking. Whilst she was laughing, however, something peculiar happened. The grass around the rock she was sitting on began to grow longer, and plants that would usually take all summer to sprout did so in seconds. Velvety moss slithered up the surface of the rock like spider webs, along with pink and blue flowers which opened up and were as big as his hands. She hadn't noticed – too busy laughing – and the rapid growth showed no signs of stopping soon.

He opened his mouth to alert to the spectacle, but a thick shoot snaked up his ankle stopped him. Its grip was remarkably strong. The waxy leaves wrapped around him like a serpent and squeezed. It used up its energy quickly, though, and wilted to a brown pulp immediately which then fell to the ground, motionless.

Life and Death.

Light and Darkness, balanced together in perfect harmony.

"Human."

She snapped out of it and looked at him questioningly. Finally, her gaze drifted downward, and she saw what she had done. The bottom halves of her legs were covered in flowers and ivy. Her aura flared with panic and he felt her invisible hands latch onto his youki. Instantly, the greenery around her shrivelled up and turned brown, then fell to the ground in a lifeless crumple. She brushed a few stray dead leaves off her knees and stood up.

"What happened?" she asked, staring at the damage.

"It would seem that your emotions are connected to your power."

"You think so?"

"When you were laughing you encouraged the plants to grow. Then your fear caused them all to die."

She looked down at the drooping weeds sadly. "That's kind of sad," she said, picking up a blackened flower. "Short-lived, don't you think?"

"Nothing lasts an eternity."

"I guess not. Not even you."

"I will never die."

"'Nothing lasts an eternity,'" she repeated his words, smiling dryly.

She was still holding the sagging flower. Her eyes sparkled with determination, then flashed purple momentarily. In response, the flower in her hands shimmered with fine white . . . and bloomed again. She smiled and stole a peek up at him. Her smile was full of pride. Her eyes were big and glowing in the sunlight, like emeralds.

"If you want it bad enough," she said, "Then anything can last forever."

Sesshoumaru grimaced.

She was pitifully scrawny and must have been cursed to always appear fatigued, but as much as he hated it, he could not deny how handsome those green eyes were.

She was certainly a conundrum of ages.

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The sun made its graceful descent behind the hills when Octavia bid goodbye to Kagome and the others. She was disappointed that she couldn't go back through the well to fill the Higurashi family in on what was happening, with the curious thing not cooperating anymore. Kagome and she had ventured out into the forest the day before – the miko's eyes practically shining with hope – only to find that the doorway would simply not open again. The shed was as empty and silent as it had been when Octavia had first entered it, unlike the version of it on the other side, five hundred years in the future.

She still hadn't completely adjusted to that little fact.

She hugged Kagome and Sango farewell, promising to come back soon, then followed Sesshoumaru's group into the trees towards the west. Rin walked beside her cheerily, happy to have her coming with them. It wouldn't be so bad if she had Rin with her, Octavia thought with a swell of optimism. Jaken was harmless – annoying, but harmless – but he really could talk someone's ear off.

Ah-Un tailed the party, keeping a careful watch from the rear, whilst Sesshoumaru was at the front.

Octavia was feeling considerably more comfortable this time around. She had acquired a pair of socks to wear with her boots and her nightie had been washed and fixed. She felt as clean as one could feel in the middle of Feudal Japan, but her hair really was a darn mess.

"How far is it to the castle?" Rin asked for the third time.

"I have told you millions of times!" Jaken snapped, "We shall get there when we get there!"

Octavia smirked. "Which is?"

"Oh, don't you start too!"

Her and Rin giggled and Ah-Un let off a soft rumbling sound from behind. Jaken tossed him a glare then folded his arms, huffing loudly.

The beating of wings caught Octavia's attention and she saw a large cicada resting on the trunk of a tree. Its wings were translucent and pale in the dimness, and the light from the moon painted them in a ghostly glow. Fascinated, she stared at its coal eyes and listened to the whirlwind sound of its clicking.

"Haven't you ever seen a cicada before?" Rin asked.

"Not this close. They usually fly away before you can get within a few feet."

"Cicadas aren't usually spooked by humans," commented Jaken, "It must be different where you come from."

"I guess increased exposure to people eventually scared them off."

"They're not that interesting anyway," Rin shrugged.

"Some of the kids I lived with when I was young told me that insects deal in secrets. They said you could ask one any question in the world and they would tell you the answer in exchange for a secret. I always liked that. Until I was about nine, I used to chase after flies trying to get them to answer my questions . . . I always had so many."

At some point, Sesshoumaru had stopped walking. He stood several feet ahead of the rest of them, watching from the corner of his eye. If Octavia had been looking at him instead of the secret-dealing cicada, she might have noticed the lack of malice in his eyes that once again had vanished under the cover of nightfall. As if he was seeing things in a new light, with a new conscience.

Like two sides of the moon.

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