Chapter Seven: The Myth of Freedom
Lixue let out a long breath, relaxing her muscles but remaining in her cross-legged position in the grass. Rin had insisted upon sitting in her lap and braiding her hair, where the girl had soon fallen asleep, breath heavy and warm as she snuggled deeper into the demon's awkward embrace.
"She seems to like you." Sesshomaru had returned, sitting down on the opposite side of the fire.
"I wouldn't know. I don't spend a lot of time with kids." Lixue would have shrugged, if not for the dead weight in her lap.
"You don't have any?" He almost sounded… surprised.
"Well, no. I haven't had time for a mate, let alone kittens. Too busy conquering and such."
"Your father should have arranged for a mate by now." He frowned slightly, as if disapproving of her sire's fathering skills.
"My father is dead."
Sesshomaru didn't respond immediately, the space between their conversation to be filled with the soft pop of settling embers and the cricketsong.
"My apologies." His voice was soft.
"It's okay… it was a long time ago." She closed her eyes, breathing in slowly. "He was always trying to make peace between the lords, demon or human. A human asked him to come to his castle in the Southeast to help with peace talks, and then turned on him with holy sutras as soon as they were alone." She let out a soft shuddering breath, her voice dropping to just above a whisper. "He was all I had left in the world, and he was taken away from me by human treachery."
She lifted her head, the fire reflecting hotly in her eyes. "I spent twelve years on the warpath, destroying and devouring everything in my path until I dismantled the bastard's home. I, and I alone, avenged my father and took control of the very lands of the human who killed him after eating his still-beating heart."
Rin shifted slightly, sighing in contentment in the warmth of the tigress' clothing. This minute movement seemed to startle the youkai, who had almost forgotten the girl's presence.
"You are not who I remember," Sesshomaru murmured. "You have changed."
"How so?" She nearly scoffed. "I am as I have always been."
Sesshomaru turned his head from her, choosing to peer up into the face of the moon. "How long will this binding last?"
Lixue couldn't believe her ears. "It's not like I've ever been bound before, Sesshomaru. In fact, I've only been bound for…" she silently counted in her head. "Three days, depending on if you count today or not. It's not like I'm an expert."
"Mind your tongue." Sesshomaru warned, the beads tightening.
She grumbled, but curbed remarks that she was sure would have been biting. "Fine. I haven't a clue. All I know is that I was bound to a dagger which melted into your body. Now I'm bound to you."
"Hnn. You will be Rin's protector." He stated imperiously.
Lixue bristled. "I will not be a babysitter," she hissed.
She had only the flare of his yokai energy as warning to dip her head and open her jaws before he was behind her, his hand mostly around her throat but a few fingertips caught in her teeth in defiance. He began to dig his claws into her skin, the beads biting further into her neck with tiny pulses of warning energy. She did not move beyond the grasping of his fingers in her fangs, a silent and immobile battle of wills between the two youkai. The sting of his venom soon began to enter her bloodstream as his patience began to wane further, when she wisely released him and forced herself to be still.
He gripped more tightly for a few more seconds to cement his point before relaxing his grip. Rin shifted once more, murmuring about flowers in her half-lucid state before falling into slumber once more as only children can. Her soft words, though not intentional, unwound the tension between the demons.
"You will be Rin's protector." He reiterated this a bit more forcefully, and when she did not respond, he took it as acquiescence to his demand. "I will be taking Jaken with me in the morning. You will accompany Rin wherever it pleases her to go. You will protect her and provide for her."
She grunted low in her throat, her pride bearing a fresh bruise. She would do as she was told, but she would be damned if she didn't find a way to get rid of this horrid binding one way or another.
oOxXxOo
Miroku thoughtfully placed his chin in his fist.
"Doesn't it look like her?" Shippou asked.
"Yeah, if she had a mustache," Kagome laughed.
"Look here, Kagome," Miroku pointed at the poster. "This ink for the mustache is thicker than the outline of the face, and the last letter of the name is very compressed, like someone tried to make it fit where no letters should be."
"I see it!" Kagome smiled, but then chased it with a frown. "Well if it is her, what's the poster for?"
"Apparently she's slaughtered and eaten humans beyond number to seize power in China." Miroku's voice was low and serious.
"Really? She didn't eat anybody when she was with us," Shippou murmured to himself. "Surely it's not really her."
Kagome hugged the kit closer to her body. "I hope it isn't. Look, let's find this monk Taizu and straighten this out. If it isn't her, great, but if it is… well, we should talk to him anyway."
"Good idea, Kagome. I'll go find Inuyasha and the others, see if you can't find out where Taizu is staying."
"Okay."
oOxXxOo
Monk Taizu took in a deep breath, the pale dust in the air peppering his nostrils. He called forth the memory of golden particles in the air, set afire from the steady sunlight bleeding into the room. Such precious memories seemed so ordinary before he had been blinded – now, they held such beauty for him, sharpened by the sudden darkness. He lifted a hand up to touch the bandages wound about his head, their coarse texture weaving within each other until he lost track of them with his fingers.
He dropped his hands to his sides, breathing in deeply once more. He must meditate and refresh his spiritual power to continue his search for the hated yaoguai. He cradled the deceptively delicate mirror in his lap, crossing his legs to hold its face upright while he assumed the position of the lotus.
He had been meditating for several hours when word came that he had visitors, a gentle knock on the door and a young female voice. Several sets of footsteps, some steady and unafraid, others a practiced lightness that had become second nature, soft tapping of a small animal's claws on the rough wooden floor.
"So," his graveled voice rose from the darkness of the room. "Lixue has made herself known."
"So it was her on the poster…" Shippou slumped over Kagome's shoulder.
"Yes, Monk Taizu. We wanted to know more about her." Sango's voice was gentle, as if pitying the blinded holy man.
"If it's information you want, I can oblige, provided that you have information to give to me also." Taizu gripped the mirror in his hands and funneled his spirit to bring it to life, its dull answering spark emerging and receding with fantastic speed. "What do you want to know?"
He directed the mirror toward the group, eliciting curses from Inuyasha, who leapt to the front with his hand resting on Tetsusaiga's hilt. The mirror did nothing, merely held in the lap of the rotund monk, who chuckled softly.
"Relax, boy. I am merely looking at you."
"With a mirror?!" Inuyasha snarled. "What's the matter, can't use your eyes?"
The monk remained silent, causing Kagome to nudge Inuyasha aside to peer into Taizu's face before whirling around to slap the bewildered hanyou.
"You jerk! He's wearing bandages on his head, of course he can't see!"
Taizu cleared his throat, silencing the two. "No harm done. I am able to use this mirror to see you, though at the sacrifice of depth perception and color." He then stood, opening the shutters from the window to allow light to perforate the darkness.
"What is that mirror made of? It doesn't feel entirely earthly." Miroku eyed the mirror with suspicion.
"Very astute, houshi. This sacred item is the Mirror of Yao-Shih, the god of healing and psychic powers. Now, did you have questions for me?" Taizu sat back down upon his futon with a grunt.
"What do you know of the demon Lixue?" Miroku queried.
"Ah, well that's quite an open question. Please, sit." Taizu gestured at the floor. "Now. Lixue is a very powerful tiger demon. In your language, I believe she would be a taiyoukai."
"No way," Inuyasha snorted. "She could barely transform, let alone be a taiyoukai."
"Ah, so you have seen her true form as well?" A smile played at the corners of the monk's mouth. "She is not at full strength. I have a goodly portion of her soul right here with me." Taizu patted the edge of the mirror fondly. "I'd estimate I have anywhere from a quarter to a third of her soul. The very fact that she can still change forms at will is indicative of her current power… however, the fact remains that she is as I have said.
"Several decades ago, her father was attempting to foster peace between several warring factions of eastern China and most of Japan. I was just a boy, but I remember my father summoning the tiger to our castle to act as a neutral party between himself and our neighboring province. When they had all assembled, the tiger turned on my father to give his lands over to our enemy, and my master Monk Wei was forced to slay him to protect my father. It was not long after that Lixue began her rise to power, fueled by rage at her father's death.
"My father sent entire platoons after her, his best warriors, and even my master – none could destroy her, only seeming to feed her fury. She spent twelve years ravaging the countryside, burning villages and devouring everything in her path as she grew closer. She starved us out, weakening us and breaking the men's spirits as they fought hunger without even the hope that their families were still alive. When she attacked the castle, we could not hold her at bay. My father instructed one of the servants to flee, placing me in her care. The last time I ever laid eyes on my father, Lixue had him on his back, kneeling over him with her hand reaching up from his stomach into his chest. She removed his beating heart from his body and devoured it." Monk Taizu's voice was flat, the listeners silent.
"She took the castle then, leaving none within its walls alive and proclaiming herself Empress of its lands. Slowly, people began to rebuild, but none within sight of that accursed castle. She was silent for a long time, and people began to hope that she had perished. However, it was too much to hope for, and she soon began gathering demon generals and armies to conquer the neighboring lands. I could not allow what had happened to me to happen to other children, but I was poorly schooled in monkhood and had little to no chance of defeating such a mighty opponent. It was at that time that I discovered the Mirror of Yao-Shih, sealed deep within a cave under the water.
"I do not know why it was sealed, but it spoke to me, promising me the power to destroy the vile demon if I released it. The mirror shaped and honed my spiritual power until I was able to use it against Lixue, disguised my aura and allowed me to slip into the castle undetected. She could not sense my aura nor see my shape, and I should have been able to end her there – however, she trusted her ears and nose above all else and discovered my infiltration. I was only able to draw a portion of her soul into the mirror before she blinded me with her claws, buying herself enough time to flee.
"I would surely have perished if not for the mirror. It became my eyes, guiding me toward the remainder of her soul – the signal was strongest in China, especially in the areas she had grown up in. However, once she departed for Japan, I lost her track in the middle of the ocean and haven't been able to pick it up since then. I suppose it was too much to ask that she had simply drowned… and then, here you are, with news that she is alive and has enough strength of spirit to change form at will."
The monk smiled bitterly. "Now that I have told you all that I know of the tigress, I would like to know where she is hiding."
"I can't believe she did all of those horrible things…" Shippou shook his head, trying to rid himself of any feelings of pity for the tigress, a sympathy born of having lost his father not so long ago.
The faces of those surrounding the monk were serious and drawn, the air oppressive and wound over their shoulders like a heavy woolen cloak.
"We can tell you where we last saw her, but perhaps it would be best if you came with us. It will be easier to take her down with each other's help." Kagome offered with a fire in her eyes. "We won't let her get away with killing all of those innocent people." Her friends nodded and added their words of support.
"You honor me with your offer, young woman. I accept." Taizu inclined his head in a bow. "Together, my father's soul can finally be put to rest."
A/N: Geez, Lixue. Way to be an antihero. Thanks for the reviews, my dear readers! I'm very happy so many of you liked it. Here's hoping that the plot doesn't thicken too much more, or it will become impossible to stir!
