Anything
Chapter Ten: Glacialis and the Untamed Soul
I built a bridge across the stream of consciousness
That always seems to be a flowin'
But I don't know which way my brain is goin'
Oh the rhymin' and the timin'
Keeps the melodies inside of me
And they're climbin'
'Till I'm running out of air
Are you prepared to take a dive into the deep end of my head
Are you listening to a single word I've said?
'Kagome,' the wise voice was demanding her attention again, making Kagome retreat into her mind.
'Yes?' she asked curiously.
'Can you guess what I am now?' the childish voice asked.
'No,' was her reply.
'Come on silly can't you tell your own soul when you see it,' the child giggled, and in her lap jade orbs where glittering with hidden intelligence.
Shocked blue orbs slowly tilted down to gaze at the small black pup. 'My, my soul' Kagome's mind stuttered to a stop.
'Who else would you be talking to? Certainly not a demon,' the child giggled in her mind.
Kagome snorted at that particular reply but shrugged it off to turn and look at Sesshomaru again. The monotone pup was now sitting comfortably in his lap, its tail wagging lethargically. 'You can't possibly tell me THAT is Seisho-kun's soul?' she remarked.
'You would be surprised at how different an inner soul can be compared to outward appearances,' the elder answered softly, and Kagome had the distinctive feeling that her, well, that her soul was smiling.
'Sesshomaru's soul is a lazy puppy,' Kagome muttered to herself sarcastically. She knew Sesshomaru was quite different then how he generally acted but the pup was just a little weird.
'Well the small form of the pup is just for easy travel; it's the colors you have to look at. If you want to know the inner soul of a person then just look at there Animus colors,' Wisdom (as she decided to call it) commented.
'Animus?' Kagome pondered over the word.
'It means soul. You see I'm all white but Seishos animus is black and white. It doesn't mean he is half evil and half good or anything it just shows that he is not a pure innocent and has seen things to darken his soul. The stripe actually shows very good balance,' Wisdom answered.
'That means we're to innocent Kago,' Child (as she decided to call it) joked.
'Oh well I guess that makes sense. Um Do Animus have names?' Kagome asked, wondering what to call her multi-personal wolf pup.
'The names you have chosen for us individually are fine but our physical form is called Licens and Seishos soul goes by Conway,' Wisdom answered and Kagome once more got the feeling that it was smiling.
'Hmm interesting names,' Kagome remarked more to herself.
'Every name has a meaning to help identify the type of animus a person has,' Wisdom commented. 'Now get out of your mind and speak with our friend,' she ordered with a small chuckle of her own.
Kagome smiled as she dragged herself out of the depths of her mind and returned to the freezing alleyway where Sesshomaru was looking at her with a raised brow.
"Licens explained it to you," it was a statement not a question. Sesshomaru stood gracefully; his lithe form uncurling as he rose. Conway clamored from his spot on Sesshomaru's chest and up onto his shoulder.
"Um yeah," Kai muttered as she stood silently wondering how the animus knew each others names. Licens also shifted from her lap to her shoulder. "What are we going to do, we know about the animus now but we know nothing about where we are?" Kagome question, unconsciously she fingered the katana hilts at her waist.
Sesshomaru watched the movement as he answered," We will simply have to explore the area until another portal is found." 'Why do I always have to be watching this boy? Why is it that my chest tightened when I thought he was gone?' Sesshomaru questioned himself as he slowly looked Kai over for injuries, he saw none but he would have to be blind to miss the boy's body wracking shivers.
Without a word he removed his outer haori and placed the thick material over the boy's much smaller frame. Kai's smile reached his eyes as he pulled the jacket tightly around him and snuggled into the warmth it provided. The sight of him in the white and red haori could not stop the deep growl in Sesshomaru's mind that whispered, 'Mine!'
'Mine indeed, can you not admit when you have fallen in love? Are you scared?' Conway chuckled softly in his thoughts, making Sesshomaru growl. Why did his soul's voice have to be that of his father's?
'This Sesshomaru does not fall in love, and certainly not with a scrawny samurai,' he argued.
'A scrawny samurai with warm lips and a fiery temper, admit it you've fallen hard,' his soul teased.
Sesshomaru inwardly growled, but decided not to respond to the untrue (so in denial) comment. "Come," he ordered out loud as he strode off out of the alley way. He almost smirked as he heard Kai squeak before following after him.
The lower city was a mess. The concrete floor was littered with horrible smelling wastes and the oppressive cold seemed to surge down and take hold of their forms out in the open. Everything was bleak and bare with nothing but coils and wires lining the wall with occasional block of concrete or steel slab.
"Where is everybody?" Kagome asked as she looked around. The streets were bare of any sort of life except perhaps bacteria.
"Gone from this area," Sesshomaru surprised her with a reply as he stopped in the middle of the road. Slowly he looked in each direction in search of something only he could sense.
"Gone, like this is a plaque area or something?" Kagome asked, a bit freaked out.
"No, nothing of that sort," Sesshomaru answered once more, making Kagome wonder what was making him so chatty.
If he was good mood, Kagome decided, now would be a good time to apologize. "Hey Sesshomaru, I meant to tell you this earlier but um I'm sorry about tripping in your room and um," blushing an impossible shade of red Kagome could not bring herself to finish that statement.
With speed only a demon could possess, Sesshomaru spun around and was suddenly right in front of Kai. "You lie boy, if you had been sorry you would not have smelled of arousal when you ran. If it was just an accident you would not have even run in the first place," Sesshomaru challenged, though his facial expression never altered. 'What the hell am I doing,' he questioned himself as he leaned down closer, letting his hot breath caress Kai's shaking body.
'You're doing what you should have done a long time ago, now give the samurai a proper first kiss,' Conway emerged with excited whispers of encouragement.
Under normal circumstances such encouragement would have made Sesshomaru back off, but he could scent Kai's arousal again and in one rash act he moved down and pressed his lips to Kai's slightly colder ones.
'Oh, oh dear God, what have I done,' Kagome inwardly screamed as Sesshomaru pushed her back against a near by wall. 'Not good, not good at all, if he finds out who I really am he will be so mad at me,' Kagome panic despite her absolute enjoyment of the heated kiss and Sesshomaru's muscled body pressed against hers, but she knew she could not let Sesshomaru know the truth just yet.
"Come back here traitor," A voice roared through the streets right before Kagome could push the taiyoukai away.
Quickly, Sesshomaru grasped Kagome's arm and pulled her behind a pile of metal and coils in a dark alleyway and not a moment to soon as a man entered their line of vision.
'That was close, what was I doing I'm not even interested in men, why would I' Sesshomaru's thoughts trailed off as he paid attention to what was happening in front of him.
The newcomer was dressed in pitiful rags for such a cold climate, his shirt sleeveless and his pants torn. The shirt revealed a gigantic tattoo of a rising phoenix that covered his entire shoulder and disappeared down his back. The man was bounding down the hard roads at top speed, his wavy black hair flying wildly behind him. At his side was the strangest falcon Kagome had ever seen. It was almost pure white except for some spots of black over its wing span and the yellow of its claws and beak.
'That is an animus as well,' Kagome heard wisdom say before she was pushed aside by the man rushing into their hiding space. His rapid breathing slowed to nothing and his entire body stiffened as he crouched in the darkness beside them. Kagome half expected Sesshomaru to kick the man out but he did nothing, just watched as the white bird let out a wild cry and wheeled off into the sky.
From around the corner emerged a pack of things that Kagome could only describe as Lizard Youkai. Their skin was a pale grey that seemed to blend in with the very walls they were running by. Burned into their arms was a detailed insignia of a long fang with a red eyed gecko wrapping around it. They had thick tails that lashed behind them and a pair of large red eyes like a fly. A second set of humanish eyes rested on each temple, making Kagome shiver. They were clothed in nothing but a pale grey loin cloth around their waists.
A soft sigh escaped Kagome's lips as she watched them disappear but just as she was about to leave the cramped hideout she felt the man's hand as well as Sesshomaru's grasp her elbow.
"They aren't gone yet, wait about fifteen minutes," the wavy haired man whispered in her ear, and so they waited. It was exactly fifteen minutes later when the trio emerged from the tight space.
"What the hell was that about," Kagome growled softly as she turned towards the man.
He bowed briefly before straitening until he held a prideful stance that made him look oddly like Sesshomaru. "I am sorry for the trouble, I did not expect any one to be in that spot, but I tend to stay their when too many Novo are after me," he answered with a roguish sort of smile. "By the way my name is Sheridan," he commented.
"What is a Novo?" Kagome asked curiously while tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"What sort of a question is that? How do you not now what a Novo is?" Sheridan rebutted as he finally took a good look at the two before him. The moment his gaze lingered on Sesshomaru he jumped back and out of thin air a sword materialized in his hands. Its blade was such a faint silver that it almost appeared white neck to the ivory of its hilt. Two stones of icy blue created the hypnotic pummel and he was grasping the weapon like he knew how to use it. "Fiend of science, murderer of god, what would a dog Novo like you be doing here in the slums? Have you brought your human pet to infiltrate even deeper into our poor society?" Sheridan snarled, his dark blue eye alighting in fury.
"This Sesshomaru knows naught of what you speak," he answered as he place one clawed hand over the hilt of his sword.
"Liar! I would recognize those pointed ears, the tattoos, even the hair. You are an alter a Novo," Sheridan snapped before his body surged forward and he rose his sword to strike. Just as Sesshomaru drew his blade Sheridan stopped short of the strike, his weapon vibrating before it flashed white. The sword was replaced with his falcon Animus in a split second.
Kagome watched in awe, realizing for the first time that the weapon had in fact been Sheridan's animus, and judging by the look on his face they were holding a rather in depth conversation.
"You are a Youkai from a different world?" Sheridan remarked, sounding skeptical.
Sesshomaru nodded, but before he could reply, Conway leapt from his shoulder and padded up to Sheridan.
"I guess you are a demon, no Novo could ever possess an Animus," Sheridan commented as he ran his tempest orbs over the two toned pup. "Forgive me for jumping to conclusions," he gritted out between clenched teeth.
"So will you tell us what Novo are now?" Kagome asked as she unconsciously petted the Licens.
"Novo were once humans that turned themselves into heartless monsters by using biogenetic engineering, but it has been so long since the first novo was created that they have become their own race of superior beings that now parade around like Gods. Most humans now don't even know that the Novo were once human but just assume that they really are living gods," Sheridan explained with a heavy sigh. "Though the height of their cruelty comes in the form of these marks," he continued while pointing at the extensive phoenix tattoo on his arm.
"I have the soul of the bird so I'm marked by the Phoenix Novo as one of his followers and servants. The type of mark you receive depends on the type of Animus you are born with. Escape from the marks is also almost impossible do to the fact that they give the marks to newborns. Its horrible and no one bothers to do anything about it," Sheridan growled softly and the falcon on his shoulder nodded its mighty head in agreement.
"That is horrible, how could they," Kagome gasped, clenching at the fabric over her heart.
"Its easy really," Sheridan started, "No one ever does anything about it except for the dwindling numbers of rebels and the lizard Novo that steal away the children are heartless creatures. The higher, more powerful Novo, have turned around and turned the weaker alters into slave and workers as well. Of course any Novo will always have it better then any human."
A shiver racked Kagome's body as she reached for Licens and hugged the warm body to her chest. 'Poor babies,' she sobbed inwardly.
'It is the way of life for these people my dear, you are in an entirely different world. Do not worry for yourself or Sesshomaru, however, Aleron has already agreed to help us,' Wisdom cajoled gently.
'Aleron?' Kagome inwardly sniffled.
'The handsome gyrfalcon on Sheridan's shoulder, he possesses a very wise Animus,' came her answer.
Kagome looked over at the white bird and smile in its direction. Its icy orbs did appear to have a spark of wisdom hidden in their depths. 'If you can communicate with other animus why can't they communicate with me?' Kagome questioned.
She could feel Child shaking its ambiguous head wildly in her mind as a voice echoed loudly,' No, no, no an animus never ever invades the privacy of another human unless it is an absolute emergency and even then there must be a very strong connection between the two humans. '
She could think of no proper response to that reply and instead returned to the real world and what was happening in front of her. Nothing seemed to have been said, but Sesshomaru had a hidden look of disgust in his eyes and Sheridan was still clenching at the tattoo on his arm. For the first time, Kagome noticed that the marked seemed to be burning red. "What's wrong?" she questioned softly.
"Nothing, the Phoenix god doesn't seem to appreciate my flapping tongue," he muttered, sarcasm dripping from ever word.
A silent oh escaped Kagome's mouth and her eyes watered with unshed tears. This world was so sad.
"Don't cry boy, its nothing really," Sheridan remarked, looking a little disconcerted.
Sesshomaru glanced over at Kai but decided not to comment on the tears, the boy was just weird like that. "You will take us to the place of concentrated magic," Sesshomaru remarked to Sheridan.
A deadly glare was sent in his direction before Sheridan answered," I will try but the place of the most concentrated magic is Phoenix Temple." He tilted his head up and pointed a searching finger in the sky that finally landed on the temple in the sky spewing masses of blood red smoke. "That is Phoenix Temple," he remarked, letting his statement hang in the air.
"That will not be a problem," came Sesshomaru's swift, and Kagome could swear he sounded smug, reply. "And your assistance will not be required," Sesshomaru remarked with a narrowing of his eyes.
"If you insist, getting in should be easy since you look like a Novo, but keep your Animus hidden no matter what and don't let your friend get seen without a branding mark," Sheridan warned them with a shrug. He turned to Aleron for a brief conference but when he turned back to look at them he said nothing about Sesshomaru's statements.
"You said something earlier about Novo not having animus, why is that?" Kagome questioned curiously.
"The answer should be obvious," Sheridan answered as he turned and began walking away, "They don't have souls."
Sesshomaru stepped forward before Kai could yell out any more questions. "Come here," he ordered.
Kagome shifted uncomfortably before walking up to him. With a squeak, she was pulled into Sesshomaru's powerful arms and before she could protest pulled up into the sky. "What, what are you doing," Kagome yelled before burring her head in Sesshomaru's chest, she hated heights.
"We are going home," was all Sesshomaru could say. 'What is he doing,' he questioned inwardly as he watched Kai snuggly against him like some kitten.
'Getting comfortable and trusting you is what it looks like to me,' Conway piped up, sounding immensely pleased with himself.
'Oh just shut up,' Sesshomaru growled inwardly in annoyance. Conway didn't speak back up, he had the distinctive impression that someone was laughing at him. The rest of the journey upward was made in silence for the taiyoukai as he pushed his youki cloud up and up and up until the Phoenix Temple was right beside them. The structure seemed impenetrable but two perimeter flights later revealed a good sized door underneath the floating building.
"Stay close and keep quiet," Sesshomaru whispered dangerously close to Kai's ear before he approached the opening. There was nothing guarding it and he flew through with ease. The entrance wasn't even guarded. 'Something doesn't feel right,' he thought to himself with an inward growl.
The entrance was simple enough everything made of red brick, but unlike the streets the Temple was held a cozy warmth. A key code with numerous buttons rested to the right of the entrance. At five feet intervals along the walls hung a various large pictures of different birds of prey on majestic sceneries. Other then those few decorations, however, very little adorned the place.
Carefully, Sesshomaru made his way along the halls with Kai close behind him. With his sense on high he could tell the ultimate source of magic was in the upper center of the pyramid, but the deeper they traveled the more he realized how huge the place really was. Each hallway was exactly the same with no distinction between the other besides the change in pictures and every once in awhile one would repeat itself until Sesshomaru could no longer tell where they were going.
Abruptly he stopped and took deep gulps of air into his sense. Carefully, Sesshomaru began to catalogue everything that came to him. He caught old scents of what he assumed were novo and some slightly newer ones of humans. Blood and metal filled the air as well until the small hairs on the back of his neck began to prickle with warning. "Something is not right," he whispered out loud as his topaz orbs swam around wildly in search of something, anything that would give away the uneasy feeling the place was causing him.
When the answer came Sesshomaru was not prepared for what happened next. With a wild cry he heard Kai calling out to him. "Kai," he blurted as he turned just in time to watch his spirited pet get pulled into the very wall. "This Sesshomaru will not allow you to take what belongs to him," Sesshomaru growled as he attacked the wall with his caustic poison. With each strike a faint shimmer of red lit the wall before disappearing. 'A shield,' he growled, slamming his full body against the wall once then twice but with no response.
"Sesshomaru," Kagome cried as the wall closed around her, choking her as it forcefully pulled her into its darkness. It was almost ten minutes later when light welcomed her again. "Gah," she gasped as she clawed out of the goop the wall had become.
The light became a large room with white washed walls and linoleum floors that held a collection of stainless steel tables. The walls held massive tubes filled with a shimmering blue liquid and two of the containers also held an animalist shape of some sort, but she could not identify them.
'Careful now Kagome, those are Animus, but I'm not getting any readings from either of them. Watch out this place isn't right,' Wisdom screamed in her mind, sounding desperate and worried.
"Welcome unmarked human," a rich voice sounded to her right, making Kagome swing about to face the man. No, it wasn't a man at all it was a Novo. His tall frame was completely covered in a thick black trench coat with a large hood. The hood was down however and revealed his altered visage. His skin was deathly pale without the slightest bit of tone but his eyes were bleeding red with a diamond pupil. His ears were pointed like Sesshomaru's and three crimson feathers emerged from his hairline on each side of his head. His hair was a darker shade of red and hung down to his mid back with feathers appearing at odd intervals.
Slowly, his lips curved into a smile that revealed sharp fangs and a pointed tongue. "Hello little one my name is Phoenix and this is my Temple."
'Oh my god, I'm getting help right now,' Wisdom whispered in her mind as if the man's very presence was suppressing her soul's voice.
"Wha, what do you want with me," Kagome gulped trying to sound brave but failing. Desperately, she dug into her pockets in search of her wand, but instead of the cool wood in her grasp she felt something prick her finger. "OW," she whispered and quickly glanced down to see what it was. In her wand holster her beautiful little wand had been replaced with beautiful little arrow with a diamond arrowhead.
'Please hurry Licens, I don't like this,' Kagome cried inwardly for her little wolf pup. She did not like the aura of the man before her, it was just wrong.
With the speed famous of Inu taiyoukai, Sesshomaru sped down hallway after hallway of the stupid pyramid in search of his stolen samurai. 'Kami, why do I even care, I should just leave,' he tried to convince himself. He could feel Conway ready to speak up, the little pup had taken a sentiment form in the recesses of his mind but something cut it off.
'SEISHO-KUN,' a voice screamed in his mind, making him almost tumble to a stop.
"Who?" He growled, no one called him Seisho, no one but… The thought it self could not be completed. He would not think of her.
'She needs you Seisho-kun, she needs you now, I'll led you to her,' the voice started up again and this time he noticed the panting pup in front of him. No, that description was wrong. The creature before him was no pup. The wolf was huge, nearly five feet at the hunches with large wings and a pair of hypnotizing emerald eyes. It wasn't all wolf either its ears were longer with tuffs of for at the end and a much more angular face. The creature looked like a mixture between a wolf and a fox with wings and three fluffy tails.
'Licens?' he asked the creature.
'Of course,' it sighed back looking relieved.
'But Kai, you said,' Sesshomaru started but was cut off.
'I know what I said. Kagome needs you Seisho-kun, but you already knew that didn't,' Licens seemed to be smiling.
In a startling revelation Sesshomaru realized he did already know. 'Lead the way,' he growled softly but this time it wasn't just him it was his inner beast, Conway, and himself in complete and utter agreement. It was time to save Kagome, his best friend and maybe something more.
Okay weird chapter I know and totally pulled out of a hat. I don't plan squat and this was all impromptu, but I like. I think I will have to draw a picture of Conway and Licens sometime. I hope you enjoyed this chapter this was the big one. Sesshomaru figures out the truth and our favorite duo shares a good kiss, but what will happen next, hmm even I don't know.
Oh and as for the little italic words I have been putting at the beginning of my chapters. Well I should warn you I'm a music lyric maniac and I only have 23 songs to pull out lyrics from so most will probably not fit and just be a little close, but its about the only preplanning I do for any of my chapters. This one is from Jason Mraz's Wordplay.
Oh and for everyone who mentioned the books it was The Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass series. I'll use your character description when I think they will fit the best.
Names:
Aleron (Latin) – on the wing
Sheridan (Irish/Gaelic) - untamed
Licens (Latin) - unimpeded, free, unrestrained, unchecked
Conway (Celtic) - hound of the plain
Novo (Latin)-alter
Glacialis (Latin) - full of ice
Animus (Latin) – soul