Chapter Three: A Taiyoukai's Patience
000
She had removed Tetsusaiga.
How was it possible? How was it possible that he could not remove it – could not even touch it – and yet she, somehow, could? How was it possible that a mere human could know so much about him and his brother and even his long dead father? How was it possible that she had known where to find his father's grave, that she had known the answer to the riddle with which he had struggled for so many long years? How was any of it possible?
He dodged out of the way of his brother's next clumsy attack, lashing out with a punch that landed squarely on his younger brother's gut. The hanyou soared through the air – not for the first time – crashing into the bone-strewn ground a few yards away. Sesshoumaru didn't spare him so much as a glance, striding quickly to where the strange miko stood over the blade, her fingers clutched convulsively around the hilt. Her hair veiled her face and she did not glance up upon his approach, though by the stiffening of her shoulders, he knew that she was aware of his presence.
"Give me the Tetsusaiga, girl," he hissed impatiently, his pride more than a little stricken by the fact that she had succeeded where he had failed. His fingers twitched, his claws longing to bury themselves deep in her flesh and tear her infuriating life to pieces. But who was to say what other pieces of useful knowledge she carried in that seemingly human head of hers? No, she was far too valuable a life to be wasted on mere impatience. He would keep her alive until her value had played itself out – then he would kill her.
"You cannot wield it," she whispered despairingly. "It can only be used by one who carries human blood in their veins…and even then, only in the defense of a human." He narrowed his eyes impatiently, his sharp hearing picking up the sound of his brother's movement behind them.
"Nonsense," he hissed, reaching out to grasp the blade. She did not move back, allowing his fingers to brush over the hilt. The moment skin touched old leather, the barrier flared to life once again, crackling in his veins. He jerked his hand back, lips pulled from teeth in another silent snarl.
So she was right. How? How did she know such things that even he did not know?
Her gaze lifted at last, brown eyes meeting his with a strange, unfathomable determination.
His thoughts were jerked rudely back to his current situation. He whirled around smoothly, grabbing his brother by the foot as the hanyou leapt to attack, once again tossing him carelessly away. The hanyou howled in angry frustration, twisting in the air and landing, for once, on his feet. The boy was proving to be more of a nuisance than entertainment – too weak to really put up a fight, but too strong to be completely ignored.
"Jaken!" he snapped impatiently. The little youkai stumbled forward, clattering noisily through the field of bones as he dashed towards his master. Sesshoumaru made a sharp motion with his hand, indicating his brother. He could feel red-hot anger boiling up in his chest – the situation was entirely impossible. Finally, finally, the Tetsusaiga was in his grasp…and yet he could not wield it!
"Get rid of him," he growled out the order. "Use the staff." It was time to end this pointless battle. It was time to settle down somewhere and sort out what had happened and what was going to happen. It was time to tear that wretched human's skull open and pick her brains until he knew exactly what was going and who she was.
"InuYasha!" the girl cried, stumbling forward. Sesshoumaru caught her by the waist as she attempted to slip by him, lifting her up effortlessly. The smaller youkai turned, slamming the bottom of the staff against the cluttered floor and directing the ugly, grizzled head towards the hunched figure of the hanyou. The taiyoukai watched, satisfied, as a breathtakingly large gout of flame shot forward from the old head's mouth, sizzling in the air.
"InuYasha!" the girl screamed, the stench of terror roiling off her body in thick waves. He tightened his grip around her waist, making another impatient motion towards the green youkai. It was time to be off.
He threw himself into the air, girl in arm, servant clutching the white tail that decorated his haori. She struggled against him, kicking and flailing and screaming, over and over and over again, his younger brother's name.
The terrified sorrow in her voice made him wonder if perhaps she was telling the truth – if perhaps she did know the hanyou from another, long past time.
000
It was the pain that dragged her back into cursed consciousness. It tingled up her spine, pumping in her veins and searing along her skin. Every inch of her body ached with emotional and physical stress to the point that she could barely move. Her head throbbed and pounded, scattering whatever incoherent thoughts remained in her mind. Not only that, but whatever she had been sleeping on was very hard and very cold.
A soft moan escaped her lips as she pushed herself up onto her elbows, squinting around at her dim surroundings. The ground was indeed hard and cold – packed, frozen earth littered with brittle sticks and small rocks that jabbed into her ribs and left ugly imprints on her skin. Whoever had settled her here hadn't bothered to clear away the rubble beneath. A small fire crackled not far away at the center of what appeared to be a small clearing. Dark trees loomed up from the frosted ground on all sides, their branches lacing together to form a quasi-barrier against the worst part of the snow. On the other side of the flickering flames, she could just barely make out the black outline of a small, squat figure carrying what appeared to be a walking stick much too large for him.
She jerked up suddenly as the memories came rushing back to her in a flood of distorted images – and let out a small yelp of pain as the abrupt movement seared like fire through her muscles. Images of InuYasha consumed in leaping flames burst orange in her mind, and though she knew he would not, could not, be harmed by them, she could not help the terror that welled up in her chest. Had he been injured? Where was he now? What was he doing? Not that there was anything she could do about it – the hanyou wanted to kill her just as much as he wanted to kill his taiyoukai brother, it seemed.
Speaking of…
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" she murmured softly, carefully keeping the honorific –sama added to the name, for safety's sake. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the light of the fire and the deep darkness that surrounded it, her gaze scanning her immediate area. She could not find the tell-tale glint of silky white hair, nor the golden flecks that marked the taiyoukai's eyes. The only creature keeping her company seemed to be the odd little green one, called Jaken. His eternally wide, orb-like eyes stared at her from across the flames.
"Sesshoumaru-sama is not back yet, human," the youkai remarked disdainfully. His expression appeared to be arrogant, though it was honestly hard to tell on his strangely inhuman features. She stared at him silently for a moment, massaging her shoulders in a vain attempt to get some of the ache out of them. And to think that just last night she had been so unappreciative of her warm bath and equally warm bed.
She inched forward towards the crackling flames before pausing, her gaze catching on something else. It looked like a stick at first, though upon squinting she could make out the smooth, straight lines of an old sword, its worn hilt glinting dully in the orange glow.
"Tetsusaiga," she breathed. Sheathed and decrepit, it looked just the same as she remembered from the future. How unusual it was to see it standing alone, propped against a tree rather than a shoulder. InuYasha had never let the sword out of his sight, very rarely relinquishing it to the care of another. Without him to carry it, it looked as average and unremarkable as any other ancient sword one might find in the region.
"It seems that Sesshoumaru-sama cannot wield the sword himself," the little youkai sniffed disdainfully. "That's why he has taken you – to carry it until such a time as he may carry it alone." The youkai did not seem happy about this in the least. He regarded her suspiciously, his beak-like mouth turned down in an irritated frown. She wondered if he blamed the barrier on the old blade upon her.
Her hand reached out slowly, her fingers running along the edge of the blade. It was hard to believe that this was the blade InuYasha had saved her life with so many times before. It was no longer his to carry now, it seemed. She wondered if it would ever be again.
I've got to get home, she thought desperately. Strange that home to her was no longer her home in Tokyo, but her 'home' in Sengoku Jidai. Her home among her friends, and with an InuYasha that knew her and cared about her, at least on some level.
"He'll never be able to wield it," she murmured at last, dragging herself back to the present moment and away from painful thoughts of her beloved hanyou. Her heart ached in her chest, throbbing against her ribs. It was the only thing familiar to her in this strange twist of events, that old pain.
She turned her gaze away from the blade, glancing around her surroundings again. The trees loomed as dark and silent as ever, and she could make out the thin gleam of starlight between their intertwined branches. She wondered where exactly she was – if the Bone Eater's Well was near, she might be able to escape back to her own time and try again. Perhaps it was a one-time mistake. If she went back to the future and then came back again, perhaps she would end up where she was supposed to be. The right place, the right time.
The right place and the right time isn't in the past at all, she thought wryly, her heart picking up its pace and her throbbing headache increasing in tempo. I shouldn't be anywhere in the Sengoku Jidai at all. The idea of going back to the future and staying there was growing increasingly more appealing with each passing moment.
Her ever-present thoughts of InuYasha crushed any desire to return and remain in the future – or perhaps the 'present' was a better term for it. There was no way that she could possibly return to her life there without knowing that InuYasha was safe and happy.
"Where are we?" she asked tiredly, cutting off whatever Jaken had been saying while she had lost herself to her thoughts. The youkai made another disdainful sniffing sound, shifting the apparent walking stick from one shoulder to the other.
"We are a ways away from the God Tree where InuYasha was bound, though still in the same forest," he responded sourly. "Now stop talking, human. You tire me!"
If she hadn't been so distressed with her situation, she might have found the whole thing absolutely hilarious. Here was the little green youkai that looked almost comically like a bed monster in some children's book berating her as if she were some lower being. He had been the same in the future, of course, looking down on humans in general despite the fact that he did little more than tag around at Sesshoumaru's heels and avoid battling as much as possible. Still, she had rarely been in contact with him then, and certainly never alone. This was something entirely new to her.
I could get up and leave now, she mused. She wasn't certain if the youkai would be able to harm her or not. On one hand, he had the staff – and she had seen just what that was capable of doing, and she had no robe like InuYasha's to protect her from the flames. On the other hand, however, she was needed to carry the Tetsusaiga. He wouldn't risk Sesshoumaru's ire by killing her during an escape attempt, would he? Of course, that could be solved easily enough by kidnapping another human from some nearby village. Any human would do when it came to carrying the sword.
But perhaps he does not know that, she mused. It would be best if she kept the little youkai and his master in the dark as much as she possibly could without getting herself killed. The less they knew, the greater her advantage was, and the greater her advantage, the safer she was. Yes, that seemed logical…
Then again, if I got them another human to carry the blade around, perhaps they would let me go and I could make my way back to the Bone Eater's well and… Her thoughts trailed off helplessly. She didn't know what to do – mostly because she didn't know what he would do. It was a difficult task, deciding how to act when she couldn't discern how the taiyoukai was likely to react.
But then it was too late.
She lifted her gaze as Sesshoumaru's elegant figure moved gracefully into the flickering glow of the fire, his fur draped over his shoulder and his haori in pristine condition. It seemed that no matter how many fights he delved into, he never looked even slightly ruffled. There were no tangles in his beautiful hair, no stains on his clothing and no blood or scars across his white skin. He was a perfect specimen of the youkai race – a lord over lords. A taiyoukai.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" squawked Jaken, scrambling to his feet and bending over in a clumsy bow. "Welcome back. I have prepared a fire for your return." The youkai lord ignored him. His gaze scanned over the clearing before coming to rest chillingly on her, and she met his gaze, wide-eyed. He said nothing, however, and after a moment he turned away, moving over to a tree illuminated just barely by the edge of the fire's flickering light, as far away from the two as he could get without stepping into the darkness altogether. He sat down smoothly, his back leaning up against the trunk, one leg stretched out on the ground and the other pulled close to his chest.
Kagome stared at the great youkai quietly for a long moment before once again inching closer to the fire, leaving the Tetsusaiga where it remained propped against its own tree. She pulled her shoes and then her socks off, wiggling her stiff toes as they absorbed the heat. She wasn't sure what else she could do – Sesshoumaru was not the type of demon one could easily start a conversation with, and Jaken didn't seem likely to help.
"Why am I here?" she asked after a long time of awkward silence. Not awkward for him, she was sure, but certainly for herself. She knew the answer to her question already, but it seemed a reasonable way to start something. Then again, perhaps it was smarter not to start anything at all.
Jaken opened his mouth to respond angrily, probably to remind her that he had already told her of her purpose. It was Sesshoumaru who answered first, however, silencing any remark the smaller youkai might have made.
"You are here because I will it," he answered. There was no hatred in his voice, no impatient, no anger. There wasn't much of anything at all. He was simply speaking, his voice cool and calm. "I cannot carry the Tetsusaiga myself, and so, for the time being, you will carry it for me."
"You will never be able to wield it," Kagome blurted out, repeating the words she had mumbled to Jaken only minutes before. Her head was still throbbing, though the ache in her limbs was beginning to alleviate as the heat of the fire seeped slowly into her flesh. Even the painful throbbing of her heart began to subside as she turned her thoughts from InuYasha and on to the present situation. She wondered again, briefly, if perhaps it was better to just keep her mouth shut.
"…because it can only be wielded for the protection of a mortal, am I correct?" he asked softly. She wasn't sure if he really required an answer, so she simply nodded her head numbly. The motion hurt.
"That does indeed pose something of a problem," he said pensively, his gaze directed at the crackling flames of the modest campfire. For some reason those words struck her as oddly funny, despite the fact that he seemed entirely serious in their utterance. Jaken's wide eyes flashed continually between the two of them, though he kept quiet.
"Tell me, girl," Sesshoumaru continued slowly after another long, awkward pause. His golden eyes shifted from the fire, settling on her with the force of a ten ton boulder. "Why do you emit so much power?"
She stared slightly, the question entirely unexpected. For a moment she hadn't a clue as to what he was talking about – she had never been considered a particularly strong miko, certainly not compared to Kikyo and certain other priestesses of legend and lore, and no youkai had ever before remarked on any sort of 'power' that she might emit. Her mouth opened as she struggled for something to say and then closed again.
The realization hit hard and fast.
She inwardly cursed herself for forgetting the immensely dangerous situation she was in. It wasn't so much that she had been kidnapped by a seemingly heartless taiyoukai, nor the fact that the man she had fallen in love with appeared to be out for her blood. No – the Shikon no Tama was buried in her flesh, and any youkai with something even resembling a brain would undoubtedly be drawn to it. Even if they weren't entirely certain what it was, it seemed.
The taiyoukai's gaze boring holes into her skull dragged her back to the present. She gulped, her gaze flicking around quickly as she struggled to come up with a quick lie. Certainly he'd find out eventually, but she was in no way ready to feel his claws digging in her flesh to tear it from her.
"I…that is…" she stuttered helplessly, her gaze turning back on Sesshoumaru. She suddenly, and rather stupidly, wished she had taken the Tetsusaiga with her to the side of the fire, though it certainly wouldn't be of any help.
He never showed any interest in the jewel any time in the future, she thought reassuringly. Though then again…who is to say what else might have changed this time around?
"It's because I am a miko," she blurted out abruptly, desperately grabbing to the first semi-plausible idea that popped into her mind. "Yes. Because I am a…very powerful miko." Her fingers clutched unconsciously at her side and she shuddered as Sesshoumaru's eyes slowly narrowed to molten-gold slits. She knew then that he was aware that she was lying. There was no way he would believe such a lame excuse as that. Thus she was startled when his gaze turned slowly back to the fire and he asked a different question instead.
"How do you know my foolish half-brother?" he asked. Kagome nearly heaved a sigh of relief, her hand slowly moving away from her side and going instead to rub at her throbbing temple. This was certainly far too much to deal with in one day. "Life shattering" seemed to be a good phrase for it. She was rather proud of herself for handling it all so well, excluding her pathetic attempt at lying.
"I…I have met him before, but I don't believe he remembers me," she murmured, lowering her eyes. It wasn't a lie – not really. She had met him before, certainly. 'Before' in the future. And he didn't really remember her either – he had mistaken her for Kikyo yet again.
"Unless I am mistaken, he has been pinned to that tree many more years than you have been alive," the answer came calmly. It was unnerving, just how calm he was – especially considering all the impatience and frustration he had shown in his father's grave.
"Do not lie to Sesshoumaru-sama, filthy human!" Jaken interrupted, his little hand clenching around his staff threateningly. Kagome glanced to him, hunching her shoulders slightly before flicking her gaze back to Sesshoumaru. His expression had not changed – in fact, he gave no sign of having heard Jaken at all.
"I'm not," she murmured, lowering her head and staring at the ground. The headache was getting worse, and her body still ached at least a little.
"Then how did you meet my lord's half-brother if he has been nearly dead all this time?" Jaken asked haughtily, his giant eyes narrowing again. The firelight played across his taunt, green skin in eerie ways. He was not a threatening figure in the least, but she could not help but cringe.
She was becoming desperate now. There were far too many questions that she wasn't certain how to answer. She could tell the truth, of course – the real truth – but then she would give away whatever advantage she held over the two youkai, and she was relatively certain that her ability to carry the Tetsusaiga wasn't the only thing keeping her alive.
"That is…I cannot say," she whispered, her voice breaking half way through the statement. Even if he would not kill her, there was no reason Sesshoumaru wouldn't at least hurt her, right?
You only need one arm to carry that sword, correct? She could already hear his cool voice threatening her mockingly in her head.
"What manner of clothing do you wear? Where does it come from?" Sesshoumaru interrupted before Jaken had a chance to protest. She was amazed – amazed that he had yet to threaten her, even though she was most definitely not adequately answering all of his questions. Or any of them, really. He only stared into the fire, however, a serene expression on his aristocratic features.
"My cloths?" she asked, glancing down at her body. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, as well as a light winter jacket. Her jacket was unbuttoned, revealing the tight black shirt beneath, decorated with what would be considered strange symbols to the two youkai.
"Ah. These are…these are from my home town," she answered. That wasn't really a lie either – though maybe there was a tag on the back that said 'made in China', or some such. Still, the spirit of the statement wasn't exactly a lie.
"Strange. I have never seen attire like yours before, and I have traveled long and far from these lands," Sesshoumaru pointed out coldly.
"My…my home is very far away. I doubt you would ever come across it in your troubles," she responded, attempting to keep her voice as calm and confident as possible. It was hard work.
Sesshoumaru did not respond, and neither did Jaken. The smaller youkai stared at her hatefully from across the fire while the larger gazed into the flickering flames in silence. She watched the two of them quietly for a long time, only the crackling of the fire and the occasional hoot of an owl interrupting the silence. Her body was beginning to feel as heavy as lead, her eyes having trouble staying open. She could feel the darkness around her pressing in, caressing her body into a state of blissful unawareness.
Perhaps when I wake up, this will all be just a dream… was her last thought before she finally gave in to the shadows and fell into a deep but troubled sleep.
000
"What do you think of her, Sesshoumaru-sama?" his youkai servant asked as the human eventually drifted off to sleep, her body curling into a ball, one hand clutched at her side. He ignored the question, turning his head away from the fire to gaze into the looming darkness that was, to his sharp eyes, not so dark at all.
"Get to sleep, Jaken. We will leave early in the morning tomorrow. My foolish half-brother is still in the area," he responded. The little youkai squeaked in acquiescence, fumbling around until he found an apparently comfortable position and closing his luminous eyes. He stayed awake for quite some time, however, and it was only until much later that Sesshoumaru heard the steadying of his breath and the soft snores that marked his sleep.
His gaze shifted over to the human then. Her face was contorted in sleep into an expression of deeply rooted worry and fear. That was not surprising in the least, of course, as she had just been kidnapped by a taiyoukai. But she was a miko, and that made everything a thousand times stranger. Why had she not attempted to purify him, though she claimed that she was so strong a miko? Any other miko put into such a situation, even one with half her strength, would have put up some sort of fight – and likely died in the process. And yet this girl – she who had removed the seal on InuYasha and even taken the Tetsusaiga itself – curled up helplessly on the cold ground and didn't bother putting up so much as a little squabble.
This made him almost nervous.
There were many strange things about the human that he could not even begin to comprehend. His nearly uncontrollable anger had worn off, his frustration over the unusable Tetsusaiga finally caving in to the voice of reason that remained always in the forefront of his mind. She was too valuable – there was a strange depth of knowledge that seemed unnatural to him stored in her mind. He had not smelled the scent of lies on her when she claimed she had met InuYasha before, either. And yet, she was far too young to have done so – certainly not while he was conscious, at least, and only a fool would claim to know an unconscious man. He hadn't smelled the scent of lies when she had told him about where her clothing came from as well.
She had lied when trying to explain the strange power emitted from her body, however, and he didn't need his nose to be able to tell that. That was another curiosity – exactly what was it that he sensed? It called to him, though more subtly now that he continued to resist its lure.
"Who exactly are you, girl?" he murmured to himself, listening to his two companions' quiet breathing. There was no answer forthcoming. The heavens were silent on this matter and the moon watched him from its lazy perch in the sky – the same crescent figure imprinted on his forehead. It didn't matter. He would keep her by him and find out all these answers and more – even if he had to rip them out of her. For the time being, she would carry the Tetsusaiga for him, until he found out the secret to wielding it for himself. The barrier his father had placed on it was still effective and, if the girl was right, it would not transform for him. Not ever, perhaps.
Using the Tetsusaiga to protect pathetic humans, he thought disdainfully, his eyes narrowing. That is something only you would do, father. I am not so foolish.
He flexed his hands, turning away from the fire so that his cheek rested against the soft fur pelt wrapped around his shoulder. He would have all his answers eventually, he knew. Now all he required was a bit of patience.
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Oh wow. Wow. It's been a long, long time. I feel rather bad for ditching everyone in the middle of the re-write, especially after claiming it wouldn't take any more than a week or so. Well uh... I was shuffling through the documents saved on my computer, and I found this story! So I thought that maybe, just maybe, I'd start writing again... and here it is! Majorly delayed, of course...but still!
((And in the spirit of olden days...I shall proceed to shamelessly beg. Please review! Your kind words power the electricity in my house and keep my computer running so that I may write more!))
