Sword of Supreme Conquest
- Chapter Seven –
They appeared amidst a glimmering flash of blue light and landed softly atop the damp earth. While the mystical glow faded into nothingness, and the magic along with it, the sounds and smells of the feudal era slowly made their way into the well.
The scents of grass and fresh air were strong in their noses, yet the atmosphere was not as vibrant or peaceful as they'd expected it to be; above their heads hung heavy, dark clouds that threatened rain. The forest had gone silent around them as well, meaning that the storm was imminent.
Never one to bow to the elements, or anything else that stood in his way, Inuyasha snorted and yanked the sword sheath from Kagome's pack.
"Isn't this piece of junk doing anything yet?"
He held the relic in front of them expectantly but it remained silent. Not even a glimmer of the spiritual power it'd held before flickered through it now. With a 'tsk' of disgust, he shoved it into Kagome's waiting hands.
Her dark eyes stared hard at the tattered leather and worn ebony as she gently placed it back into her bag. She began to question if she'd actually sensed any spiritual power emanating from it in her room.
Inuyasha made a point to climb directly behind her on their way out of the well, insisting that someone needed to be there to catch her in case she should slip or fall. While his chivalrous gesture was appreciated and endearing, it came with a price.
Patience was not one of Inuyasha's strong suits and after several loud, impatient sighs, a snide comment about how she'd let herself go (athletically of course), and numerous muttered comments to the effect of "If was still a hanyou we'd already be out of this damn well, done the mission and on the way home" she was ready to disembowel him.
First over the lip of the well, she took a moment to take in their surroundings. The clouds had looked dark from the bottom of the well, but now that she was standing in the middle of the field, she saw that they stretched for miles in every direction. Not even a hint of sunlight broke through the dark haze and she could already smell the rain on the air. Unless they wanted to get soaking wet, they'd have to find shelter soon.
"Well, those look promising," Inuyasha scoffed, coming to stand beside her.
"Do you think it worked?" she asked quietly, hesitant to voice the question aloud.
She glanced at him expectantly, despite knowing full well that he wouldn't have any answers for her. Shoving his hands into the sleeves of his red haori, he tilted his head in the direction of Kaede's village.
"Think old hag's still kickin' around?"
He didn't need to ask twice. They walked in tandem towards the village and it wasn't long before their feet crested the final rolling hill. At its peak they came to an abrupt halt. The village was gone. The wind picked up strength, tossing their hair around them in billowing curtains of ebony. In stunned silence two pairs of eyes, one chestnut the other mocha, stared at the empty landscape before them.
Kaede's village had long since been abandoned or destroyed. Weeds and too-tall grass choked what'd once been the main thoroughfare. The buildings had been reclaimed by the earth and were now one with the landscape. All that remained were the square and rectangular outlines in the ground of where they'd once been, a haunting reminder of the community that no longer existed.
Inuyasha took a few tentative steps forward. She watched him steadily, her eyes filled with sympathy. Neither of them had really considered the possibility that Kaede would be dead. She seemed so ancient that they'd somehow convinced themselves she would simply go on forever.
The squared set of Inuyasha's shoulders and his rigid stance told her exactly what was going on inside his head. No doubt he was fighting for control against a tumult of emotions. Kaede was the closest thing he had to family and her sudden disappearance couldn't have been easy to grasp.
"Inuyasha…I'm sorry," she whispered, her tone filled with sympathy.
For a long while he said nothing. When he was finally able to tear his gaze away from the dark remnants of the village below, he 'keh'ed and stuffed his hands into his sleeves.
"Whatever, it's not like it matters. No one's going to miss that old hag anyways. All she ever did was nag. Has that stupid sheath done anything yet?" he demanded, changing the subject to hide the tiny waver that'd crept into his voice.
Kagome shot him a worried look and lowered the pack off her shoulder. She removed the sheath and inspected it in the grey light. It looked the same – worn, dull, and useless.
"This is such a waste of time! What does that mutt expect us to do? There's no way I'm dragging my ass all over the countryside to do his dirty work for him! Let's go! We're going home."
"No! We can't go back yet! We have to stay!" Kagome implored, grabbing hold of his sleeve.
"Damn it, Kagome! Don't be such an idiot! We don't know where this sword is, you're in no condition to be running around and we still have no idea when in time we even are! I can't believe I even went along with this stupid plan to begin with! I'm taking you home!"
With a growl he grabbed hold of her arm and jerked her along the road towards the well.
"NO!" Kagome's shriek echoed across the empty valley and sent Inuyasha's eyebrows skyrocketing upwards.
"We're going to find the sword and we're going to destroy it because we have to. You can go home if you want but I don't have that luxury. I can't leave here until that sword's been destroyed! My life depends on it, or haven't you figured that out yet?"
Inuyasha gave her arm another rough tug. She stubbornly dug in her heels and refused to budge an inch.
"Don't be ridiculous!" he fumed. "Sesshomaru's life depends on you finding that sword, not yours."
He instantly regretted his words and released her arm, but the damage had already been done.
"Don't you get it?" Kagome screamed at him in frustration, "Sesshomaru is my life! This baby is my life now! If I don't do this I'll lose both of them."
Holding back tears, she turned heel and stormed off into the forest. Inuyasha watched her stomp away and let her get a good distance ahead before he decided to follow. She was stubborn and a complete pain in the ass, but she was still his Kagome. Sesshomaru may be her life but she was his and he had no intention of letting anything happen to her.
After a bit of searching he found her among the trees, not far from the forest's edge. The rain had begun to trickle through the foliage and the air was heavy with humidity. He wrinkled his nose as a particularly large drop landed atop it and trickled off the end. Drawing closer to her, he sensed instantly that something was amiss.
Her body was slumped heavily against a large maple tree and her back heaved with every breath. Placing his hands over her shoulders he called out her name as he gently turned her around. She immediately collapsed into his arms.
"Kagome! What is it? What's wrong?"
His voice wavered with anxiety and his eyes did a hasty scan for injuries. The tiny rivulet of blood making its way down her leg filled him with an overwhelming sense of foreboding.
Shit! Why NOW?
Kagome grabbed hold of the loose fabric of his haori and clung to it so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"Inuyasha… This can't be happening now!"
Her words slipped into a low moan and when she looked up into his dark eyes he could see tears brimming along their edges.
Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. Would it be safe for them to go back through the well? What if something happened to her or the child before they could get there? What if she died giving birth in this place with no one but him to help?
"Inuyasha," her voice came out small and faint. "I'm so scared."
He held her tighter and frantically weighed his options. The rain began to beat down hard on the canopy overhead, slapping loudly against the leaves in a steady rhythm. Taking hold of her arm, he wrapped his other around her waist for support and forced her to walk slowly by his side.
"Come on, let's go find some place dry," he suggested with as much authority as he could muster.
They moved ahead, one painful step at a time, until he managed to make out the outline of a dilapidated roof in the distance. Thanking the gods for their mercy, he guided her towards it. The hut, or what was left of it, was filthy inside and barely offered any protection from the elements but it was better than being outside and the best he could do under the circumstances.
Kagome cried out suddenly as another wave of pain tore mercilessly across her belly. Inuyasha's eyes grew wide and he eased her against the interior wall of the decrepit hut. He'd never seen a woman in labour before and needless to say, from what he'd seen so far, it wasn't something he wanted to remember.
Already his hands were shaking so badly he had to ball them into fists at his side to hide the tremors. What the hell was he going to do? He didn't know the first thing about helping a woman in this kind of condition and if anything were to happen…
As the contraction subsided, Kagome began to breathe a little easier. She grabbed hold of Inuyasha's haori and pulled him close, whispering the only thing that was pressing on her mind apart from the pain.
"Please…go find Sesshomaru. He can't miss this," she pleaded into his fear stricken eyes.
She could tell he was torn. He didn't want to abandon her, but he also knew how important it was for her to have Sesshomaru there. He finally acquiesced with a reluctant nod.
"Okay, I'll go, but try to keep quiet! There could be a ton of demons around here and you won't have me to protect you."
Kagome gave him a flat look and fought off another contraction.
"Thanks. I'll try to remember that."
He hesitated only a moment longer before depositing her knapsack containing the sword sheath, her bow and its quiver of arrows onto the floor next to her.
"If anything happens, use these. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Kagome nodded silently at his instructions, and breathed quickly in and out the way her Mom had shown her. Surprisingly it seemed to help, until the next contraction hit of course. She held onto her scream as long as possible, but once Inuyasha's red form disappeared from the doorway she let it out, collapsing exhausted onto her side.
Knowing she had to focus, she dug her nails into the rotting wooden floorboards and forced herself to count. She had to count to see how much time passed between each contraction. It was the only way she could figure out what stage of labour she was in.
One, two, three, breathe, four, five, six, breathe – the steady rhythm kept her going.
It felt as if Inuyasha had been gone for days but she knew from her counting that it'd barely been a half hour. She had to give him time. It would be hours before any baby arrived but she was terrified to go through it alone. With every contraction that racked her body she wished she hadn't sent him away but there was nothing that could be done about it now.
Seeing her bow at her side brought her small peace of mind. If the smell of her blood attracted a demon or wolf she could at least use it to defend herself. But what easy prey she would be for them in her current state – a body racked with pain, half conscious and barely able to move.
Could I even put up a decent fight? she wondered.
When the ground suddenly jolted and shook beneath her palms, she thought for an instant that perhaps she'd imagined it, or maybe that it was just an extra loud boom of thunder. As the sound drew closer, louder, and more frequent, she quickly realized it was something much more sinister.
Clenching her jaw shut tight against another scream, she reached for the bow and arrows at her side. Without taking her eyes off the door, she nocked an arrow in the bow and pulled it taut. The wood of the arrow's shaft clacked noisily against the wooden handle in response to her body's trembles of pain and fear.
Inuyasha…please be okay! she prayed, fervently wishing that whatever it was that was outside hadn't gotten hold of him first.
The large, blinking, yellow eye of a disgustingly hideous ogre demon suddenly appeared in the doorway. The stupid creature had actually gotten down on all fours to look inside. Ogre demons weren't exactly known for their intelligence. With a dark smile Kagome pulled her arrow back and aimed it directly at the giant yellow orb.
"Like what you see?" she snapped before releasing her arrow in a flash of brilliant pink light. The sounds of the demon's blood curdling howls filled the air, only to be quickly followed by a heavy silence. He'd been purified. She was safe for now.
One down…she deduced with a small amount of pride and set her bow on the floor.
Feeling something wet against her thighs she glanced down at the dark stain of blood steadily seeping into the wooden floorboards. Almost instantaneously her head felt light and dizzy.
Not now, she pleaded, Please, wait!
Despite her best attempts to fight it, her eyelids became heavier and she found it increasingly hard to keep them open, much less focused. Before succumbing to the blissful void her bleary eyes caught sight of a new figure standing boldly the doorway. Backlit by a large bolt of lightning she saw the dark silhouette of a body she knew nearly as well as her own. A weak smile broke across her lips.
"Sesshomaru! …I thought you wouldn't make it in time."
Her face fell as she narrowed her unfocused eyes at the sword he drew at his hip.
"What are you-?"
The rest of her words died on her lips. With a soft gasp her eyes slipped shut and her body slumped unconscious to the floor.
