Falling Rain

Chapter 12


Kagome slid down the wall and held herself against the cool stone, her burning body soaking desperately the feel of it, calming her raging blood. She lifted her hand to her heart and felt the way it beat against her ribs, fast, hard, steady.

Her lips tingled with memory, with pain, with pleasure; the reality of his kiss was an amazing sensation that rippled over her skin. He was like a drug, dark and perilous, cruel and relentless, beautiful and seductive; he was dangerously perfect and she was hooked.

She took in a breath, the cool air of winter sweeping in with the open window on her balcony, calling her attention to the chill of the coming evening. She would need to prepare her room for the snows that were bound to fall soon.

It took her more effort than she cared to admit to stand up and step away from the wall, the place that he held her against him, where he displayed his ability to mold her, command her; it was the only place where he bent for her.

There was a power in holding his attention that way, even if only for a few minutes at a time. It was incredibly sexy the way he held her, so forceful and yet so perfectly controlled. She wanted to make him lose that control, just once.

It made her shiver in anticipation.

The doors to her balcony slid shut easily, a lock sliding into place to hold it there. She reached up and pulled the heavy curtains down over the screen to help keep the cold at bay. This was going to be a very cold winter indeed.

She turned away from the window and made her way to the furnace, a fire sparking up from the stones she struck together. This was usually a servants' job, but with hers gone, run off from her in the dark of the early morning, Kagome was left to do it herself, not that she minded doing it much.

She stood up with a sigh, her eyes caught in the fire light as memories drummed against her mind, her senses lost to the recent past. Beads broke against her leg, fangs scraped at her, claws dug into her skin…

She closed her eyes and allowed herself to feel the truth of it all, the reality of what had happened, the fear she lived through, the pain of her downfall.

But it hadn't been the end.

There were other fangs, other claws, other sensations. Long, soft fingers ran over her hips, covering the places that were damaged and replacing the pain with pleasant chills. Lips, soft and moist drawn back over fangs that grazed against her, pulled at her breasts and traced her neck, replacing the fear with a sense of security. A tongue, rough and wet and skilled, drew out pleasure from the places she thought were too far damaged to know such things.

Kagome dropped her head back, her lips falling open with a breathy moan, a memory of such desire and ecstasy. Takara had been a good friend, was still a good friend; she had helped her to learn the ways that one could feel pleasure instead of pain, trust instead of fear, love instead of hate. She would miss her so much.

She took a deep breath and turned towards the door to the family wing's hallways. Takara was gone and it was okay; their engagements were always meant to be short lived, sweet and savory and finite. Now, however, she would be forced to open her eyes to the things she had tried to hide from herself, the reality of who she was now, what she needed now, what she wanted.

For now, she desperately needed to find some food and so left the confines of her room. Her thoughts swirled around the events of the day, the strange beginning with Sesshoumaru in her room, the new prisoner that was being held in the dungeons, the display of dominance in her bedroom not too long ago; all in all, it was a strange and yet productive day.

**FR**

Six days had passed by since Kagome had returned from the forest with Sesshoumaru after defeating Toukai. Six days of contemplation, of pacing, of meditation. But her time was apparently up now; Sesshoumaru had required her presence in the dungeons for the beginning of the sentencing. But first, there was somewhere else she needed to be.

She walked down the halls of the house, her eyes taking in the sights around her. After so many months, it was getting easier to move around on her own, but not truly easy per say. This, however, was one path she knew maybe a little too well.

She stood in front of two large wooden doors and inhaled deeply, steeling herself for whatever she might find on the other side before muscling her way in, a grunt dropping from her lips with the effort.

It took her a minute to acclimate to the scents in the room, her nose being slightly more sensitive lately, and turned to bow at the keeper. Her greeting was graceful, beset with gentle mocking sarcasm, a jibe with lighthearted nature inlaid for good measure.

"Daisuke, oh honorable and mysterious one, how are you today?"

"Lady Kagome, as always you are a mean one. Come in please. I heard about your outburst in the forest the other day. You seem to live still, so he didn't kill you. Did he tie you up somewhere instead? I haven't seen you in days"

Kagome laughed a bit nervously and offered the talented healer a smile.

She couldn't come up with a response to what her punishment had been, not without the embarrassment that followed. How was she to tell him of the things Sesshoumaru had done to her these past six days? There really wasn't much to tell, but he had this incredible way of demonstrating his dominance over her time and time again. It made her body ache to feel him, but he denied her over and over again.

What could she possibly tell Daisuke that wouldn't be run through the citadel's gossip chain?

"Sesshoumaru?! He didn't tie me up…there would be no point! He uh…wasn't…I um…"

"My, my, what did he do to you? And don't discount him tying you up one day…there are many reasons he might think to do so"

The waggle of his eyebrows caused a heat of embarrassment to skate over her pale skin.

"Oh, you old gossiper! How's my friend doing?"

Opting for a change of subject worked out much better for her this time.

"She seems to be stable, but she has yet to awaken. I'm not certain what ails her now"

Kagome stepped closer to the cot that Sango rested in, her hand reaching out to rub the fur on Kirara's neck out of habit. She seemed fine, and other than a few cuts and bruises there just wasn't much to go on as she tried to figure out what kept Sango in her deep sleep.

"Watch over her for me, okay?"

Kagome looked down to see Kirara nod before she turned away, not able to stomach the odors in the room much longer.

"Are you well Lady Kagome? You seem pale"

Kagome waved him off and opened the door, her head beginning to spin with the odors.

"The smells in here are uh…mm…pungent! They're making me noxious"

"Is that so?"

Kagome blinked and looked back at Daisuke, wondering at his tone just then. He waved her off though and she really didn't think she could handle sticking around to beat it out of him.

"You owe me My Lady…next time I won't let you change the subject like that"

Kagome laughed as she left the room, her head clearing almost immediately after the doors closed behind her, vision and thought filling with clarity. She blinked in wonder and turned around to stare at the door. What was it about that room that made her feel so ill?

With a shrug, Kagome spun on her heel and headed down another corridor, this one less familiar, but easily traceable. She could feel Sesshoumaru's impressive aura permeating the rooms ahead of her and followed it like a beacon in the dark, an answering song to the siren within; his aura was very easy to find these days.

She turned down several hallways and followed two flights of stairs down into the earthen keep beneath the citadel, a long but well lit hall leading her to her final destination.

Kagome lifted her hand when she arrived, a soft knock echoing around her as she waited for the large screech of metal against stone, her only indication that the keeper had granted her request. Once the door was opened, she walked inside and waited for the locks to latch once more.

She followed the trail of his energy to the last stall at the end of the room and turned to see Inuyasha chained to the floor by each ankle and to the ceiling by each wrist, a slightly mobile and uncomfortable hold. His binding was cruel and merciless, his body forced to stand of its own merit or pierce itself on the sharp shackles that held it there.

She pulled up a small wooden stool and took a seat next to Sesshoumaru, her blue eyes capturing his amber depths as she gave a small smile before turning her sights back to her once-friend.

"I am simply a witness to your sentencing now, Inuyasha. I've taken my vengeance out on your beast somewhat, so I can live with that. I won't interfere with whatever he chooses for your punishment; I just have to know what happens next."

She watched his eyes as she spoke, registering the pain, the hurt, the anguish, but no anger, no betrayal. At least it really was him this time.

She sat forward with her hands on her knees, listening as Sesshoumaru began naming all of the atrocities that they knew about; there were others they hadn't yet heard about, of that she was certain. It was difficult for her to focus though because just like the medical wing the dungeons had a strong and putrid odor that made her stomach turn.

She did her best to ignore the sensations, focusing instead on the solid base of Sesshoumaru's voice as he spoke. His voice was steady, a stream of strength and assuredness, but she noticed him hesitate and looked up to find him watching her.

He had said something about the well. She wasn't paying attention as closely as she should have been.

Kagome stood and closed the small distance between herself and Sesshoumaru, her eyes holding his, a question burning around her. What was he hesitating for?

"What are you going to do, priestess?"

Kagome turned to the voice, shock coloring her features. The rough and grating sound laced over smooth baritones caressed her ears, pulled her from her thoughts. Daring blue eyes met the darkened gold of Inuyasha, a wave of fear coursing through her with the realization, cold and demanding. The beast had more control than she had thought…to be free of his cage and yet retain the image of her friend; the implications were damning.

"Where will you go after you are done here? This citadel is not your home."

Her eyes burned with accusation, with anger, seethed with cold contempt.

"Shut up, beast. You have no power here"

His laughter was cold and dark, a sinister chime that rang around them in the hollow halls beneath the citadel's fortress.

"What difference does it make now? You are as trapped as I once was, caged like the little bird you are. Did you know?"

Her anger was rising, pulsing beneath her skin in waves of aggravation. Why was he toying with her?

"It rained that day, wood and rock and bone. You can build another if you like, but it won't take the bones away from here… or anyone else for that matter"

A breath left her lips, her body caving in on itself, weak and terrified as comprehension washed over her, hot fury pounded through her, cold fear drowned her. He destroyed the well.

"How dare you!"

Power radiated from her, blinding and righteous, sacred and terrifying, a wrath born from the depths of her fears and her most sacred and guarded secret. He took from her the only way home. Did he leave her family in peace? Did he take them from the world too?

Rage poured from her lips, a growl of unsated revenge ripping from the darkest depths of her breath. The world spun around her, the sounds muted to a deafening culmination of nothingness.

Kagome leapt forward, hands extended, fingers itching to grab, to harm, to damage, to kill. But her body folded in half, a band of steel and heat trapping her, keeping her from her enemy, the vile existence that reeked of mortal sin and malevolence.

Kagome looked down to her waist, soft white silk laid over unforgiving strength and solid muscle, a damning trap holding her from the one that deserved her wrath the most. She looked up to find icy amber eyes staring ahead of them, his focus pinched, drawn to something more interesting, more demanding.

She turned her head to see what had captured his interest so thoroughly, her body sagging against him at the sight before her, the truth of it draining her of her anger for the moment.

Power, raw and bright, was spinning and spiraling throughout the room, flooding the walls, the stone and rock floor, crackling through the chains that held the prisoner, coursing over and through him, his body writhing with maddening pain so deep that his cries were muted.

The arm that held her so tight finally loosened its grasp with her lack of counter pressure, but still it remained around her, holding her close, the heat of him an anchor to which her sanity was grasping. Words tumbled over her, mumbled in quiet awe and hinting at things to come, shaking her forcefully from her state of shock.

"How unexpectedly helpful"

Her eyes widened in surprise, the suggestion hidden within his words piercing her like hot knives, fiery with the promise of pain and death. She placed her hands on his arm and shoved it away from her, stepping out of his embrace and raising her hands in front of her chest. Her fingers dripped with energy, tears of unused power falling away and feeding the insanity around her.

She pulled on the power surrounding her, focused on the flow of it and commanded it to return to her, to obey her; but still a trickle of it remained, a small river flowing throughout the room. It had never occurred to her to call back her powers before, to recycle it in a way.

She stared down at her hands, turning them over and testing each finger, the agility of them, the strength of them, the possibility of it all.

"I am not a tool for your torturing pleasures, Sesshoumaru!"

She spun around to stare at him, willing him to hear her, to see her, to understand. Amber calculation stared back at her, a mask of cold indifference where curiosity had been not a moment earlier studied her with cool precision, an argument dancing on his lips.

Kagome turned away from him then, her focus returning to the prisoner, the one that pulled from her the worst of her terrifying abilities. His body sagged forward against the shackles of his imprisonment, no longer able to hold itself upright after the onslaught of holy powers.

Blood dripped in small rivers around him where the rigid metals of his shackles pierced and burned him, allowing her power to seep within, to steal from him his energy.

"How…fitting"

She cocked her head to the side in curiosity, a measure of awe gathering in the pit of her stomach at the beast's ability to fight for dominance even now.

"What are you talking about now? "

Frightening eyes flashing between gold and crimson hues stared up at her from the prone position, anger and resentment clear in both personalities. The reality of it cut deep into her soul, but Inuyasha had been the one that lost control, the one that made her lose control, her powers reacting much like a caged beast would. If he wanted to be angry with her then she didn't care; it was his own damn fault.

"You…are taking from me…my soul…but I…already took…yours!"

Kagome blinked, her mind not understanding what he was muttering on about, the capturing of souls, the theft of it. She hadn't done any of that; she had only lost control of her powers, the devastation of them wicked and strong, but her only intent had been to kill, not to capture, not to steal.

"What?"

Laughter, deep and dark, filled with blood and pain, spilled from him in broken measures, a calando of coughs and laughter.

She watched his body twitch, muted cries of pain buried behind sealed lips, breath so deep that it would hurt even when uninjured. His body slowly rose again, standing straight and tall, but shamed. She couldn't help but marvel at the dichotomy of it.

A voice, soft with regret, firm with conviction, and low with bass, clear of the grating quality that had indicated the beast's fore-presence.

"Your power is slowly stripping me of half my soul…my beast. Yours…it'll be almost gone by now. The blood, the way it was done…you're…different"

Fear trickled down her spine in icy rivulets, forcing her body into a crippling state of denial. It couldn't be true because it wasn't possible. Even after everything she'd seen, heard, felt, experienced here in the past filled with magic and demons and angels, one thing was certain, unchangeable. At least she hoped that was the case.

"But I'm still human, right? You can't change that…it isn't possible. Right?!"

Silence echoed around her, the world spinning to a single point, a flood of gold surrounding her, drenching her, drowning her.

"You know it's been done before, but not like this. I don't know what's going to happen"

"How can you not know? How do you not know?! You did this!"

He didn't flinch when she reached for him again, her hands burning with holy power, the back of her hand reaching him with speed and precision. The sound of skin against skin rang through the empty hallways, a repeating echo falling through her consciousness.

She didn't care that his body jerked against his chains. She couldn't care less that his wounds cut deeper, closer to the bone, a cry of pain wrenching from his lips. It didn't matter that his blood splattered against her silken kimono or pale skin.

It was too much; the expenditure of her energy, the weight of his implications, the way that it all made such perfect sense. Her body suddenly felt lighter, but so much heavier at the same time.

"You bastard!"

Her words were barely a whisper, vengeful and dark, and all she knew was darkness.

*FR*

Sesshoumaru reached out and caught her before her head fell to the disgusting ground, pulling her body into him, cradling her head in the crook of his arm. She was out cold, unshakeable and limp.

Her breathing seemed fine, but she would not rouse from her resting state.

He thought over the events prior to her blackout, the insinuations and possibilities rushing around him with glaring truths. He looked over to Inuyasha to find him in tears and wondered at the events that brought him so low. If he truly had found that ancient magic, had used that cursed ability, then Kagome's life would change but not all things would be so terrible.

If that is not what had happened, then he wasn't sure what to think just yet.

It didn't matter though, not just now anyway.

He lifted her into his arms and made his way out of the dungeons, his brother's whispered words haunting his steps.

"I tried to stop it…Kagome"

He reached the medical wing within seconds and rushed in, laying her body out on a cot next to her friend. When Daisuke came rushing over to him, he explained what happened and asked if he knew of the dark magic that Toukai had hinted at.

In this case, his friend knew very little but he did know who might have the answers he required.

His patience where she was concerned was always short and it was no different when he was inquiring on her health. He found himself tightening a fist at his side the longer it took for Daisuke to figure out the reason for her sudden collapse.

"She seems perfectly healthy. Her soul is at rest though…but it might not recover"

Sesshoumaru's eyes shot up, the implications behind the healer's words damningly clear. Kagome's curse from Toukai, Inuyasha's words as they left the dungeon…it all made sense now.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, time will be your ally now; patience. I will re-examine her once she wakes"

He nodded his head slightly and looked over to the door when a female nurse entered. He didn't want to be here for this and so left to find air, or something to kill.

*FR*

Over an hour later, the nurse came to retrieve him from the gardens. Her eyes told him what he already knew, but he followed her anyway.

Once he arrived, they spoke outside of the room and he wondered at that for a while.

"My Lord, Lady Kagome is awake and I have examined her. It is as I feared; her soul has been sealed away. Strange though, that it has not affected her holy powers; there seems to be a problem with the curse that the beast incurred. Perhaps she draws on her powers from another source? Or, more likely, she may have broken one of the seals on her soul already"

Sesshoumaru knew that there was more to this than just that. Inuyasha had said that he tried to stop it; whatever he did, it changed the curse. He nodded his understanding to Daisuke and turned to the doors, listening for any sounds from her.

"Does she know?"

"She does"

Sesshoumaru pushed through the doors and walked slowly inside the room to find her hunched over, tears streaming down her cheeks like endless waterfalls. In that moment he tried to remind himself that he didn't care, but all he could hear were her cries, her sorrows that she shed to the world.

He leaned over and gently picked her up, finding that he wanted her to himself at that moment. He left the medical wing and walked to her room, ignoring the incredulous stares of his staff and courtesans. Their opinions be damned, his pack-mate was hurting!

He laid her down on her bed and sat next to her, his fingers running gently through her hair. Her tears were soaking the side of his leg where she had curled into him, but he really did not care.

"I've been through so much already…my humanity…that was mine…it isn't fair"

He looked down to see her squeeze her eyes closed.

"Is it…am I horrible if I hoped that it would change me now?"

Shock pounded through him at her admission and he looked down again to see the terror inside her deep, blue eyes.

"Change?"

She sat up then, forcing his hand to return to his lap. He stayed still for her, watching, listening, waiting.

"I can't see my family, Sesshoumaru. I can't know that they're safe, that he didn't slaughter them like he did all those other people. If I can live…If I can just…maybe I could see them one day…"

He felt her hands grasp the back of his haori, her strength pulling her body against his own, her tears burning through him. She was one of the few that was proud to be a human for all the right reasons, and Toukai had stripped her of that. But now, as usual, she was finding ways to accept her fate, to harness her situation and mold it to her benefit.

"I don't want to die. I have to see them again…I have to know! Will you help me?"

Sesshoumaru took a deep breath and turned to face her, pulling her around to straddle his waist. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, whispering the best assurances he could without lying to her.

Because she asked it of him, he would give it.

"Even before this was discovered, it was not my intention to execute Inuyasha, but now I do believe that choice has been taken from me…again. If Toukai has indeed discovered the secrets to that dark magic, then his existence is necessary"

He stroked her hair and willed her to look at him, pulled on her until she complied. When her stormy eyes found his, he gave her the only options he could offer.

"I will extract the truth. Once it is known, you may remain here in this place with me, or you can find a new place, somewhere outside of the citadel, away from demon society and magic. I do not know if what Toukai did has the ability to extend your life, but if it does, I will teach you what I know so that you might survive"

His eyes searched hers as he spoke, watched her reaction to his words, but all he found was relief.

"Thank you Sesshoumaru"

He placed his chin on her head and let her stay with him for a while, a myriad of moments, circumstances, problems ran through his mind in a tornado of thoughts. If he was right, then her life was going to get very difficult very quickly.

"Sesshoumaru?"

"Hn"

"I'm sorry for being such a burden"

The urge to laugh was almost too much for him. He placed his lips against her head and murmured into her hair knowing full well that she would understand him.

"Ridiculous"


Authors Note: Right, so this twist is a bit common within the s/k fandom I've noticed. Flame if you must, but I'm not changing it. While I don't usually take this route, I couldn't very well pass up the opportunity to sneak it in there. Just ride it out with me; it won't be so bad, I promise.

Also, no questioning how Toukai has information and Inuyasha doesn't know about it, or vice versa. Author's secrets and all that jazz!

Oh, ooh, and FYI; it's come to my attention that some of you are looking forward to Inuyasha's death. Well, spoiler or not, I'll tell you this right now…he is not going to be killed off in this story! It's just not how I roll. ;)

Thanks kiddies! See you soon!