Chapter 12
The well had swallowed her bones.
Valerie stood in front of the shrine's offertory box in dazed silence. The bone-eater's well. A mysterious well famously known to swallow the bones of the dead whole. Nobody knew where the bones really disappeared to. Those were the words that Kagome had used to describe the solemn well with no water. She felt like she was watching an old movie with herself as the star. She was supposed to have died right when she fell into the well after Kagome. The combination of stress from her fencing practice and the sudden jolt from jumping so suddenly after Kagome had caused her heart to expire.
But as her soul attempted to find a means of escape, it was already too late. The bone-eater's well had already swallowed her body whole along with her soul trapped inside, throwing her ruthlessly into a different dimension. The frequent pains she had felt in her heart were a figment of her soul's psychology. Her soul was still trying to escape the heart that bound it to the realm of the living.
Every time that her body was weakened or fatigued, she was unlatching the door for her soul to escape the body like it was supposed to. The wracking pain was not her heart failing, but her soul's desperate attempt to flee. It was a miracle that her soul had not escaped with all of the stunts she pulled.
'It was never my heart that was weak. It was my soul.' Valerie clutched at her heart and smiled. 'I must have the luck of a cat.'
Valerie turned and made her way back to Sesshoumaru. Once she stepped back out of the portal back to the world of flowers, the twins released their small hold on the opening. Their hands joined together again almost immediatley.
"Did you see it?" The boy asked.
"Did you see?" The girl repeated.
"Yes. I see now."
"Was the truth all that you could ever hope for?"
"The truth is ugly." Valerie replied. She raised her eyes to meet the patient Sesshoumaru's. "But this world is beautiful. And I have so much more to see."
Valerie turned to bow in gratitude and respect at the twins before leaving. She followed closely beside the tall demon. There was a certain serenity that followed in the knowledge that there was no death chasing closely at her heels. Instead, she had been welcomed into the arms of death long ago and it didn't frighten her. It was not such a bad place to be if it still allowed her to experience the wonders of the living world. While she pondered, she felt an arm slip around her waist.
"W-what are you doing?" Valerie blushed.
"Leaving." Was all he answered with before Sesshoumaru lifted the both of them up into the air and out of the illusion.
As Sesshoumaru carried them up and back into the real world, Valerie caught a look at the sky. The moon was falling and the sun was just peeping over the mountain's horizon. She felt as though they were really flying towards the sun. It seemed almost as though the disappearing stars were just withing her grasp. She reached a hand up towards the sky.
"What are you doing?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"Nothing!" Valerie retracted her arm. "Sesshoumaru, thank you."
"Hn."
Valerie smiled at his reply. 'Ever the talker, I see.'
"Could I stay with you?"
Sesshoumaru shifted his only his eyes sideways to look at the woman in his arm. The question marginally surprised him. He was torn. Half of him wanted nothing to do with this frail creature and yet the other half was already so curiously interested in the young woman.
"Do what you wish."
"Thank you."
"You cannot return to your home?"
"Haha. I guess not. Looks like you're stuck with my soul for another while to come."
Soon, Sesshoumaru landed back upon the soil resting near the base of the mountain. He gently let Valerie down from his grasp. Before they began another long trek of walking, Sesshoumaru stopped Valerie. He could not bring himself to care about the mystery of the twins or the Time's Shrine or even what form of creature Valerie was if she was neither human nor demon. But there was one question that he couldn't seem to banish from his thoughts.
"Who is he?"
"Hm?"
"…"
"Who is who?"
"…"
Valerie tapped her foot. She hated when Sesshoumaru asked ambivalent questions and expected her to know exactly what he meant. But she knew how much he hated repeating himself. She knew exactly who he was referring to. Finally, she gave in.
She placed her hand over her heart out of habit. "Kuro was my father's son."
"Your brother."
"Yes. And no. He was not my mother's son. My parents union was a forced betrothal. My father was never in love with my mother, but was forced to bear a child to continue the line. Kuro was a boy born out of pure and complete love with a mistress. I was the one conceived out of misery and duty."
"…" Sesshoumaru kept his eyes on Valerie, gauging her sincerity.
"After my father died, Kuro promised to take care of me as his beloved little sister. Then when my heart failed… He was always there for me. And even now still."
"I see."
Sesshoumaru moved forward once again to return to his wards. However, Valerie skipped her step to catch up with him. She ran past him and stood right in front of the demon, not allowing him to move any further.
"My turn to question you. The twins showed illusions of one's darkest thought. You not only entered mine without permission, but now you know my secret as well."
"..." Sesshoumaru's stare egged her to continue with her point.
"What did the great lord Sesshoumaru's illusion consist of?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Fine. Let's just go."
Valerie dropped the subject and stepped out of the way to allow the both of them to continue their journey back to Rin and Jaken. She was not merely curious to know what Sesshoumaru's inner-most thoughts were, but she exceedingly craved to know his secret. Shaking her head, she tried to push the curiousity down and out of her mind. She respected his privacy. 'Perhaps one day he'll come to trust me.'
.
.
.
The leisurely walk was long and devastatingly quiet. After several attempts at starting some kind of conversation, Valerie had given up on any form of conversation with the silent demon. She sighed. The sky was darkening once again. Just when Valerie was wondering if Sesshoumaru would let her stop and rest for the night, her stomach let out a monstrous growl. Her hands flew to her stomach and she looked down in embarrassment.
"Um. I still haven't eaten much of anything since the mountain."
"Are you asking me to hunt for you?"
"No. I'm asking you to stop and let the lady rest."
"…"
"Please?"
"There's a river not too far from here. We will stop there."
Valerie mentally grumbled. Her feet were killing her and her stomach yearned for sustenance. "Fine."
By the time they reached the river, night was blanketing the sky and Valerie felt like she could eat an elephant. Her body was weary and she immediately took a seat on a tree trunk to gather her energy. It did not even take a blink of an eye before Valerie completely lost sight of the cold demon.
"Sesshoumaru?"
Valerie looked around. He was gone entirely with not a hint of his whereabouts. 'That jerk! He probably thought I was slowing him down and left me here.' She frowned, sincerely hoping that this was not the case. The crickets began chirping around her and she shuddered from the chill of the night.
It took her only a few moments to gather a good amount of firewood in the forest. She prepared the wood and reached into her bag for flint. Instead, she remembered that her bad of supplies were lost, along with food and any fire-making supplies.
'I need to survive the cold.' Valerie brought together dried twigs, leaves and grass to make a tinder nest. She tried all kinds of stones nearby, scraping them together to get a spark. She even tried using her wakizashi. 'I was never a girl scout for a reason… Or two.'
She sighed, standing from her seat and dusting off her hands. She cursed at Sesshoumaru for leaving while she stretched her arms far above her head. She headed to the river to wash the dirt and dust on her hands when she heard shifting behind her. In just a few short moments, a wave of heat washed over her. Turning around, she found that it was Sesshoumaru.
A fire was dancing on the sticks that she had gathered together earlier. A stick of fish fell to the ground from his hand with a plop. A small chuckle of relief left Valerie's lips. 'He's still here with me.' She shook her head. 'Of course he is.'
She felt guilty for not giving him the benefit of the doubt despite everything that he had done for her. But she had a hard time shaking off the hesitation she felt due to his cold demeanor and callous words. 'But that's the way he is. Cold on the outside and on the inside...'
"You're just like Erie." Valerie grinned.
Sesshoumaru didn't bother asking or even looking at Valerie for an answer to her sudden epiphany. And Valerie most certainly did not expect him to. Sesshoumaru's personality truly was like that of an elegant well-trained shiba inu. 'Or maybe a husky? Or a samoyed.' Valerie mused. 'Either way, he's just a big warm cuddly loyal puppy on the inside.' Valerie couldn't help but be reminded of the puppy that followed her around early in her adventure.
"I hope that white puppy's doing well with Momoru."
Valerie set up the fish to roast over the fire and took a seat on the opposite side of the fire from Sesshoumaru. She found herself staring at him once again. He was beautiful. No matter what the circumstances were, he would always be able to persevere with grace and serenity. On the other hand, Valerie was always in a mess. She always needed saving. She had been working so hard to overcome her fears and weaknesses, and yet she always found herself on her knees. Sesshoumaru was always there to swoop in and pick up after her mess. She wanted to be the one to save him one day.
Though his eyes were resting, Sesshoumaru could feel the young woman staring at him. He didn't mind. He wondered what it was about this girl that interested him so. The interest had kept him from letting her fall to her death (quite literally). But why? Was it because Rin would have been sad? Was it because he pitied her? Or was it simply because she was attractive? No. A human would never be attractive to Sesshoumaru.
She was a genuine girl- that he could tell. She was truthful, kind, and of the loyal type. Indeed, her words spoken under the cherry trees had inspired his own loyalty to the girl's life. She had gone out of her way to investigate a flower that didn't exist for his own health's benefit. She was the type of girl to risk her life standing up for what was right. She embodied the very definition of courage. But she lacked any form of physical strength to back it up. She could barely hold her own against a lesser demon.
The wakizashi that she carried around with her was a a good form of defense. But it did not suit her at all. Her fighting style conflicted with how the wakizashi was designed to be used. Sesshoumaru remembered back to the odd weapon that the the girl had created in her illusion. The hilt was elegantly intricate and the steel was slender and pointed. The way she held the weapon and the way that she leapt forward to sheath it into her opponent was natural.
He took a few moments to recall exactly what the weapon looked like before speaking.
"The fish will burn if you keep staring."
"Hm..? Ah!" Valerie dove for the stick of fish and blew out the small flame singing the dark fins. "I- I wasn't staring!"
Valerie averted her eyes nervously. She took one fish off of the stick for herself and offered the other to Sesshoumaru.
"Oh wait. You don't eat human food, do you?" She remembered to the dinner she had with him at the human village. She shuddered to think what demons actually ate.
"There is no such thing as human food."
"Huh? But didn't you say..."
A corner of Sesshoumaru's lips curled up. He opened his eyes and looked at Valerie.
"You were teasing me!" Valerie exclaimed.
"Anything that gives sustenance is food. Human or not."
"That makes sense. But why would you have told me that in the first place? All this time, I thought you feasted on dragons and goblins while you were off on your private little excursions."
The smirk on Sesshoumaru's face was much more prominent now. Valerie found herself staring at the incredible new expression.
"It was something I told Rin once."
Valerie stared. She wondered what circumstances Rin and Sesshoumaru had been in for him to tell her that. She had heard from Rin that Sesshoumaru was hurt the first time she met him. Jaken told her that Sesshoumaru did not like humans. Was it something he said merely to scare off what he thought was the lower species?
"Well, if you had intended to scare me off-"
"No. Not you."
Valerie stared at him questioningly. His eyes were closed again and even as he sat cross-legged on the ground, his form was perfect. She began to wonder if he cared for her at all. At least more than merely Rin's temporary caretaker. The way he had replied to her made her feel like something special. When she asked what he meant, Sesshoumaru gave no reply. Valerie didn't push it and offered the fish again, but Sesshoumaru shook his head stating that he was not hungry. She couldn't help but wonder if he was only saying that because he knew she hadn't eaten in days.
She was slowly learning more and more about his personality. His actions truly spoke a whole lot more than his words. After finishing dinner and washing her face, she found a spot next to the fire to lay. She glanced over at Sesshoumaru's perfect sitting form on the other side of the fire. He was so still. Like a statue.
"Are you even comfortable sitting like that?"
Her question rendered no response from the demon. She wondered if he was already asleep. Turning over to face away, she closed her eyes and left a thought with Sesshoumaru just before sleep overtook her.
"You look good when you smile."
Sesshoumaru's golden eyes cracked open in slight surprise.
He was puzzled. What had he just said? Every action that he took; every word that escaped his lips were carefully thought out and executed perfectly. But the words that escaped his lips in their last conversation disconcerned him. A mere two words that held special meaning within. 'Not you.' What had he meant by them? They were unusual words to have coupled together at that time, indeed. They were words that were directed specifically to Valerie, without question. Had he felt so calm in the woman's presence that he let his guard down to foolish words with ridiculous implications?
He had even smiled. A twisted smile, but it was a smile nonetheless- an extremely rare occurrence to befall his features. Looking over at Valerie, he thought back to her take on it. She actually liked his twisted expression.
The familiar spark of fear was there again. It baffled him. There was something about the woman that so intrigued him and at the same time drove him far away from her. It was a push-pull phenomenon. It was frustrating. He was the great demon lord of the West. What did he have to fear from such a weak human girl?
But then what was this feeling?
.
.
.
*Author's note:
"luck of a cat"- Valerie is referring to the superstition that cats have 9 lives. She has had a second chance with a heart transplant and the well had blessed her unintentionally with a third chance by trapping her soul in a body suspended in time.
"Courage" - As defined by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The exact definition is to stand up for what is truly right despite the difficulties (not what you believe is right).
