Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.
Meidou Zangetsu Ha
Meidou: "path to the next world"
Zangetsu: "morning moon" (a moon visible in the morning)
ha: "destruction", like the "ha" in Bakuryuuha (Backlash Wave), and often used in "special moves"
Someone was crying. The sound was soft, but distinct and it had roused her from her restless sleep. It was still the dead of night, no songbirds had yet deemed morning was here.
Kagome put on a robe and made her way towards the noise, full of distress. With held breath, she realised that it was coming down the corridor leading to Rin's room. Her steps quickened and as she neared, Kagome heard an underlying murmur, its rumblings melodious and soothing beneath the quieting sobs. She paused just beyond the shaft of moonlight through the open door.
It was Sesshomaru. Wearing only a plain white hakama, he looked as if a Grecian statue come to life. His long silver hair pooling beside him onto the bed, Sesshomaru was resting at its edge gazing at Rin's sleeping form. She was having a nightmare.
"No wolves, Rin. Just me." His normal voice was shaded by a hint of emotion.
The little girl shifted again, as if to avoid something, until Sesshomaru laid a hand on her tumbled hair, murmuring again in reassurance.
He stayed with her into the night, Rin's breathing growing quiet and even. Her tight grip on his hair relaxed, Rin's palm now touching the strands on the bedcover. Kagome stayed with them, feeling as comforted as Rin must be by Sesshomaru's tenderness.
"You want me to get on that?"
"It is perfectly safe."
"It has two heads."
"Yes. And you have one."
"But it just looks so...uncomfortable."
"Enough."
And that was the end of that discussion. It was how she found herself sitting precariously on one possibly rabid double-headed dragon youkai named Ah-Un. Sesshomaru had picked up and deposited her side-saddle behind Rin, ignoring her undignified shrieking and Rim's infectious giggling.
"Ah! Shoo, shoo." One of the dragon's heads was taking a particular interest in her calf, slobbering over her kimono and nudging Rin with his brown, scaly forehead.
"Are you sure he's a herbivore, Rin?" Kagome asked for the hundredth time.
"Yes. And that's Un, not Ah. They don't like it when you get them mixed up." Rin said laughingly.
"Un, of course. And what possessed you to name them so inappropriately?"
"It suits them. Yes-yes is how they always answer me." She informed Kagome with a grin.
Smiling reluctantly at her carefree delight, Kagome was glad that someone was enjoying the journey. They were a large group and on top of the usual complications that accompanied travelling with so many people, Kagome had to deal with mediating between two inu-youkai brothers with big swords and even bigger complexes, one of whom was loud-mouthed, but no comparison to one toad youkai who had deemed that appropriate revenge for being dragged to a human village was to annoy fellow human travelling companions until said humans try to slice his head off with a large boomerang or suck him into a cursed hand.
At least they seemed to enjoy themselves too, Kagome sighed, shifting her weight uncomfortably on Ah-Un. They had left in the early morning. Well, they had tried to anyway. Between Sesshomaru glowering at "her state of undress" and forcing her to change out of her school uniform, then her subsequent refusal to ride the "tame, plant-eating" dragon youkai and Rin getting last minute parchment paper from Sesshomaru's study and Jaken begging, prostrate before the gates, for forgiveness for not keeping a better eye on Toukijin and "would Sesshomaru-sama please not punish him by sending him off with a half-breed and a bunch of ignorant ningens" and...
Sufficient to say that Sesshomaru had a good reason for keeping a fair amount of distance from the main group. Kagome was quite impressed with his level of composure, though she could swear that she saw his eyes twitching by the time they finally left his home.
Sesshomaru had decided to escort Rin and her new guardians to her temporary home in Kaede's village. A decision he no doubt was regretting now.
"Kagome-sama. Why do you not like riding Ah-Un?"
"Don't worry, Rin. I'm just more used to walking or being carried."
"Sesshomaru-sama can carry you!" Her eyes lighted up at finding the perfect solution.
"No, Rin! I meant by Inuyasha." Kagome said in a rush, futilely hoping Sesshomaru could not hear them.
"I'm sure Sesshomaru-sama can do it much better."
"I'm sure he could." She said, growing more nervous by the second and trying to stop Rin from talking by agreeing with her.
"You will not ride on Inuyasha." Too late. Sesshomaru's voice made her wince and slouch in defeat, then the ache from her abused posterior turned her annoyance into a full-blown tantrum.
"I would not need to if you would let me wear what I want."
"You are a Geisha, not a prostitute."
She stuck her tongue out above Rin's head, staring daggers into his back, secure in the knowledge that he could not see her.
"You are a Geisha, not a petulant child."
She withdrew her tongue quickly, watching him in suspicion. He couldn't have seen her, but remained silent for a whole 5 minutes.
"I can't do anything in these kimonos."
"You can be quiet."
"I'm just going to ruin it again. I don't know why you let me wear them."
"Neither do I."
By the time it was late afternoon, Inuyasha and her other companions had stopped attempting to support Kagome's whining and were instead feeling reluctantly sorry for Sesshomaru's plight. They had lagged behind to avoid hearing her complaints when they were fairly confident that Kagome was in no imminent danger of decapitation by claw. Although she could still sense Inuyasha nearby, he had been in a huff ever since Kagome had informed him yesterday that she was accompanying Sesshomaru to the north once again, and that his own agenda for her was null and void.
"I'm thirsty."
"I'm thirsty, too." Rin chirped in enthusiastically.
Sesshomaru kept on walking and seemed to pretend not to hear the two females. Then he veered off to the right, with Jaken leading Ah-Un after their lord.
"Where are we going?" Kagome asked him.
He did not answer and after a few minutes, they reached a tiny clearing with a brook.
Kagome looked at him abashedly, and clumsily made her way down the dragon youkai's side and then helped Rin off, who ran off excitedly towards the running water the second her feet touched the ground. Jaken followed her in exaggerated exasperation. Rin must be as glad as she was to have a break.
"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama." She said softly to the inu-youkai lord who leaned against a boulder.
They were alone for the first time that day, the hum of rushing water beneath a companionable silence.
"I'm sorry about Miyako. About letting her get away." She had been feeling guilty for losing Toukijin.
"It was not your responsibility."
"But I was there. I should have stopped her. Now she has Toukijin."
"It will make her easier to track."
Something about his last statement bothered her.
"How did she find Toukijin? You usually keep it with Tenseiga, don't you?"
Sesshomaru did not respond. But Kagome had gotten better at reading his body language and this was not indifference.
"Sesshomaru-sama. How am I suppose to help you if you don't tell me anything?"
After a long pause, Kagome thought that he might not answer her.
"Miyako is a spy. I need to know who sent her and why he wants Tenseiga."
"So you tricked her into taking Toukijin, knowing that it would possess her."
He nodded very slightly.
"You could have told me."
"There was no reason for you to know."
She opened her mouth to object when Rin came running toward them, a posy of wildflowers in her hand.
"Here, Sesshomaru-sama. You can give these to Kagome-sama."
Kagome blushed, and hoped that he didn't think that she had put Rin up to this antic.
He took the offering gently from the little girl's hand, and after a moment's hesitation, gave them to Kagome.
"They're lovely, Rin. Thank you." She looked at Sesshomaru in wonder, and could not believe how indulgent he was being.
They had set up camp, making good progress towards the village. Kagome had sat down with Rin and Shippou until both fell fast asleep, curled against her sides. She could not sleep herself, having gotten an overabundance of it at Sesshomaru's home.
It still felt strange to be nocturnal. The mood of the night fell into a different rhythm, like the darkness of a womb.
"Are you talking to me yet?" She whispered quietly to the hanyou above her, balanced on a tree limb.
"Keh."
"Good. I was wondering, have you thought of what you're going to do?"
"I have to take care of the little runt, that's what I have to do." He said with a pout in his voice.
"I don't mean that. I was thinking about after all this is over. The jewel being gone and," Kagome paused uncertainly, "There's Kikyou."
"Why do you care anyway?"
"Inuyasha. Just because I'm leaving with your brother doesn't mean I stop caring about you."
"If you really cared, you wouldn't leave." His voice now soft in the night.
Kagome sighed. Recently, their conversations seemed convoluted, like they had been repeating an argument time after time, the roles never changing and the dialogue always the same.
"Inuyasha. I've been thinking. Perhaps we can take Rin back to my era, through the well. If she can make it, then she would be safe with my family until Sesshomaru and I return."
He jumped down and landed lightly in front of her.
"You think she could go through?"
"There's no harm in trying."
"What about Sesshomaru?"
"I'll speak to him." Kagome straightened and carefully disentangled herself from the sleep-heavy children.
"Will you watch them, Inuyasha?" She did not wait for his answer and went to find Sesshomaru.
He was patrolling the vicinity and she found him standing on a small outcropping, looking out over the pitch-black nothingness of the land below. The clouds were low tonight, hiding the moon and the stars. His silver hair caught in the wind, a stray tendril brushing against her arm as she approached. There was something in the darkness of the night. It seemed a crime to break the spell it cast here, with him. Did Sesshomaru feel it as well?
He must have, because the pair stood silently together staring at the expanse of wilderness, forest and sky darkened and indistinguishable in the night. Their hair, one dark and one light, strands intermingling in the errant breeze and for the moment, both were content and Kagome had forgotten why she had come to find him in the first place.
Kaede's village was near. They had almost reached it when both inu-youkai smelled blood and massacre on the wind. It was thankfully coming from somewhere the north of their village.
"We should go check it out." Kagome said to Sesshomaru, who was the only one objecting to changing course.
"I will not take Rin there."
"Then stay here with her and wait until we return."
"No. Inuyasha will stay with Rin. I will come with you."
"Hey, I have an opinion too, you know." A disgruntled hanyou yelled from the sidelines.
"Fine. Let's hurry up and get this over with." Kagome said, annoyed with Sesshomaru's arrogance.
"I'll come with you, Kagome." Sango offered.
"As will I." Miroku started to follow the girls, but Inuyasha grabbed the lecherous monk instead.
"You're not going anywhere, Miroku. You think you can go have all the fun and leave me with the children and the toad?"
"Yes?" But he knew that it was a lost cause and resignedly watched Sesshomaru leave with the two beautiful women trailing him. Some people have all the luck.
Kagome could smell the blood now. From her time in this era, she had seen a lot of gruesome scenes, but this was beyond brutal. The village children had been ruthlessly slaughtered, along with their mothers. No one was spared.
Sango had not entered the village with them, frozen at the perimeter.
"Will you be okay, Sango?" Kagome had asked before leaving to check for survivors.
She had not answered, her ashen face blank in the morning light. Kagome could not imagine what kind of memories this scene was stirring up for her.
No one spoke. This was obviously the work of Toukijin. Miyako had come through here, evidently moving north. All the decaying bodies were pierced with minute puncture holes, consistent with Toukijin's needle-like energy attack. Kagome was numb, had stopped crouching to check for a pulse after the twentieth corpse or so. She had lost count. Sesshomaru walked behind her and his solid presence in the midst of so much death was oddly comforting.
She would have missed it, the sound of an exhaled breath, except that it was accompanied by a soft, gurgling sound.
Kagome whirled, trying to find the source, eyes frantically searching for life among the vacant eyes and gaping mouths.
Then she saw him, curled into himself and barely breathing. He was only a little boy, much younger than Rin. Kagome could not contain her sob as she rushed to his side, cradling his small head in her arms and gently placing him into her lap.
His lungs were punctured. It was the sound of bubbling blood from his chest that had caught her attention earlier. Kagome caressed the boy's cheek, trying to do something, anything for him. In her mind, she knew that he had no chance, that he would die a slow, torturous death as he drowned in his own blood. But her heart rebelled.
"It's okay, little one. It'll be over soon." She whispered.
The dark-haired boy exhaled and it seemed to take forever for him to take his next breath.
"Leave him, Kagome." His quiet voice seemed intrusive.
"No."
Kagome felt his hands on her ribs, lifting and moving her away from the dying little boy. With a sob, she threw herself against Sesshomaru's chest, pounding her fist into it in frustration. He stroked her back for a moment and then let go.
In a daze, she watched him pick the boy up in his arms. Then, in horrified disbelief, she saw him close his hand over the tiny face, covering his nose and mouth.
With an outraged cry, Kagome tried to push Sesshomaru away.
"You sick bastard! You're suffocating him!"
"Yes." He said calmly.
She was too late. The thin chest had stopped rising, unable to obtain much needed oxygen for the badly battered body.
Kagome backed away from Sesshomaru very slowly. Eyes wide in horror, she took her bow and arrow from her shoulders and aimed.
"Put. Him. Down." She said unwaveringly.
"Kagome."
He did as she asked, and placed the boy's limp body on the ground with care.
She stood still, unable to fully comprehend recent events. She tried to shoot him, to purify him for killing the little boy, but all she could see was Sesshomaru, radiant in the soft moonlight, soothing a little girl suffering from nightmares.
How can this be?
"Kagome?" Sango's anxious voice interrupted her internal agony.
She broke. Her arrow lowered and she almost collapsed.
"Watch him. Do not let him kill anyone else." Then Kagome fled.
Sango took a step to follow, and then Kagome's words hit her. She rounded back to the stoic inu-youkai lord, in full defence mode. The exterminator raised Hiraikotsu in warning.
"What exactly did you do?" She did not expect an answer.
He gave her none.
The youkai and the exterminator faced each other in silence until he drew Tenseiga, pulsing blue at his waist. Sango prepared for battle. She was almost disappointed in him, had almost believed his act. At least he revealed his true nature before Kagome left with him alone.
Sesshomaru seemed to hesitate, which was unlike the hardened warrior Sango knew him to be. Then he struck, slashing his sword downwards.
He was not attacking her, Sango realised with a start. The inu-youkai was not even paying attention to her, his gaze and movements entirely absorbed by the little boy at his feet.
Sesshomaru suddenly sheathed Tenseiga and walked away. Sango began to shout after him but stopped in shock. The dark-haired boy was sitting up on the ground.
"Who are you?" He was clearly confused.
Bewildered, Sango replied, "I'm Sango. Are you okay?" She eyed his shredded, blood-stained garment in wonder.
He nodded and looked up at her curiously.
"Where is my mommy?"
Kagome ran. She ran until she could no longer feel the breath in her lungs, could no longer feel the pulse of her heart, and could fool herself into thinking she did not feel pain and betrayal.
Then she thought hard. Rin could not stay with him. She would try to get her through the well and if it didn't work...Kagome would take care of her. And it was that simple. She would not think about how he had deceived her, how close she was to falling for him, for his web of lies. She should apologize to her companions, to Inuyasha for placing them in danger and not listening to their concerns. She was so foolish. He only wanted her power, to use her for his own means. Whether or not you are an Ancient. His voice echoed in her mind, driving her fury. If I was not an Ancient, you would have killed me as easily as you did the little boy, Kagome thought in anger. He did not care. He had planned for Miyako to escape with Toukijin and thereby released a monster that killed with no thought, no mercy. How many more would die because of him?
She had to find Inuyasha. Kagome tracked him to Kaede's village. It seemed that they had gotten tired of waiting. She saw Miroku first, playing with Shippou.
"Sango needs your help. The entire village was massacred. If you could bury them-" Her voice cracked with emotion.
"Of course." He left without another word and worried about Sango. This would be the second time she would participate in a mass burial.
"Kagome, are you okay?" Shippou asked in anxiety, hopping to her shoulder and peering into her tear-streaked face.
"I'll be fine, Shippou. Where are Inuyasha and Rin?"
"Rin and her toad are in Kaede's hut and Inuyasha is trying to hunt."
"Keh. Not trying, succeeding." The hanyou appeared from the edge of the forest, displaying one rabbit corpse in each clawed hand.
His self-congratulating smirk disappeared when he saw Kagome's face.
"What happened?"
Upon sight of his beloved face, Kagome crumbled. Inuyasha rushed to her, dropping his catch.
As silent tears ran down her face, the hanyou watched helplessly and tried to calm her, waiting patiently for an explanation.
"Sesshomaru. He-"
"I knew it! That bastard, what did he do?" Inuyasha cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
"We need to get Rin and send her through the well now. Before he returns."
"Okay, but what happened? Did he hurt you?" He sniffed her, trying to find injuries.
"No, I'm fine. There's no time, I'll explain later. Do you trust me?"
Inuyasha still ached for answers.
"I trust you." He said with conviction nevertheless.
They took Rin and led her to the Bone Eater's Well. As they neared it, Kagome looked at Rin's trusting face and felt a twinge of guilt. If this worked, she may never see her beloved Sesshomaru-sama again.
"Where are we going, Kagome-sama?"
"To my home, Rin. It's very nice there and it will be safe for you."
"No bad people?"
"No bad people." Kagome said, her resolve hardening.
"Where's Sesshomaru-sama?"
"I'm right here, Rin."
Kagome froze at his frigid voice, eyes closing in trepidation.
"Sesshomaru-sama! You're here!" Rin's happy voice echoed in the clearing.
"Go, Inuyasha. Take Rin." The hanyou had turned around to confront Sesshomaru, drawing Tessaiga in reflex. He looked at Kagome uncertainly and was understandably reluctant to leave her alone with the obviously enraged inu-youkai lord.
"You dare try to take her from me?"
"Go. Now." Kagome's voice low and urgent.
Inuyasha grabbed Rin from her, who struggled in his grasp, confused by the actions of the adults around her.
"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin cried out in distress as Inuyasha leapt to the edge of the well and prepared to plunge in.
The inu-youkai lord moved with unimaginable speed and ferocity towards Kagome, who blocked his path to his little girl. He snarled, claws glowing green with acid.
Kagome shattered as she watched him attack her, his beautiful golden eyes tainted red and purple markings becoming jagged.
Her barrier erupted before her, the acid merely inches from her face, coinciding with the sudden familiar rush of energy from behind her as Inuyasha and hopefully Rin were enveloped in the power of the well. Let them be safe in her time.
The clearing was eerily silent as Sesshomaru tried to force his way through her barrier, his pale, slender hand burning with her purifying energy. His youkai was so powerful and Kagome could feel her barrier fading under its persistent attack. With a cry of fear, she saw his hand break through, slightly smoking and burnt to the bone. Barely dodging his grasp, Kagome tried to flee, but was brought down by his poison whip, wound around her calf. She was sprawled on the soft fragrant grass and fully expected him to attack her again.
"I do not want to kill you." His voice was broken, seeming to fight for control.
Relishing the pain as the acid dripped down to her heel, Kagome tried to ignore her own anguish.
"Why not? You killed the boy easily enough." She could not look at him.
"I did not want to kill him." Kagome scoffed, and did not hear the strange, pleading tone of his voice.
"Let her go, you goddamn bastard!" Inuyasha. He had returned.
Kagome raised her head in fear. Had Rin made it? Her body sagged in relief at the sight of the hanyou alone, Tesseiga held before him.
Sesshomaru let her go and turned his furious attention upon his brother, drawing Tenseiga.
"You and your miko are quite the treacherous pair, half-breed. I applaud you for your elaborate deception."
"Keh. We're only trying to protect Rin, you idiot!" Probably from you, Inuyasha thought angrily.
Kagome watched their verbal sparring numbly, not knowing what to do if it escalated to true violence. The two brothers were capable of so much destruction and she could not bear to watch either of them in pain.
"Enough. Bring her to me now or die."
"That's up to Kagome. I ain't listening to you."
"Then you choose death, Inuyasha."
Sesshomaru began his attack, initially striking with startling speed with his whip, which was blocked with ease by the hanyou. Kagome noticed that the inu-youkai lord was favouring his right side, his left hand still healing from her purification. He was a distinct disadvantage. But Inuyasha was not fighting whole-heartedly, only on the defence with no intent to do Sesshomaru real harm.
There was a slight break in the combat as their blades struck, made contact, the brothers rebounding off of each other. Neither was breathing heavily.
"Done playing, Sesshomaru?" He yelled out tauntingly, but truly hoped that he was.
"It will be over soon."
Sesshomaru raised Tenseiga and prepared to strike. Kagome saw his youkai gather to channel the divine power of the fang. She had to warn Inuyasha.
"He's using Tenseiga's attack!"
Inuyasha did not need to be told, could sense the building power of the incoming attack.
"Meidou Zangetsu Ha!"
Kagome knew how it worked. She had watched it cleave the intended victim and open a fissure in his body, cutting open a boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead and sending it into the void. She believed that Inuyasha could block it. But her legs were already propelling her with amazing speed toward the hanyou, who had Tessaiga positioned in front to protect him from the blast. His face was set with determination until he saw her. Then it filled with fear as he watched helplessly as she came closer and closer to him, and to Sesshomaru's attack.
Kagome placed herself in front of Inuyasha and thought only of her love. For him. For Sesshomaru. She would not let them destroy each other. If her eyes were open, Kagome would have seen Sesshomaru's agonized expression, golden eyes wide with disbelief as he rushed towards her. If she had kept them open, she would have seen the reverently beautiful glow the swirling blue and pink energy that enveloped her body before widening to surround Inuyasha in its luminescence.
The attack struck her straight on and her barrier held strong, the divine energy of Tenseiga battling with her own. Her eyes flew open as she struggled with the static, pervading power trying to dominate her aura. How had it come to this? It was her last thought before there was only pain and darkness.
The murmur of quiet voices and a crackling fire greeted her when she woke with a start. Disoriented, Kagome surveyed her surroundings and relaxed when she realised that she was in Kaede's hut. Sango and Miroku sat staring at her in open concern and relief.
"You're awake. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, Sango." She still felt vague, disembodied as if in a dream and then sensed the movement of a body stir beside her. It was Inuyasha, heavily bandaged and twitching in discomfort with Shippou curled by his side.
"Oh, Inuyasha." Instinctively, she kneeled and leaned closer to offer him comfort. He'd been badly burnt. What the hell had happened to him?
"How long has he been unconscious? Is he all right?" Kagome demanded anxiously.
Miroku answered her.
"He hasn't woken since we found you by the well. He was lying on top of you and the entire back of hoari was burned off. You were both unconscious." He paused at Kagome's stricken face.
Inuyasha must have tried to protect her from the blast. The idiot. It was probably her purifying energy that had burned him, not Sesshomaru's attack.
"How could you have been so careless, Inuyasha? So stupid!" Kagome yelled at his unresponsive form, and began to sob, shoulders wracking in grief.
Sango hurried to her side and wrapped her in a hug.
"What happened, Kagome?" She asked when Kagome had finally quieted.
"I don't know. Everything. It's all my fault." Her voice seemed hollow even to her own ears.
"Don't cry." The unfamiliar voice broke through her shell shock and Kagome's eyes were drawn to a little, dark-haired boy crouching in the corner of the hut, smiling timidly at her.
"It can't be." Kagome whispered hoarsely.
"What did you say, Kagome?" Miroku asked.
Sango followed the direction of her intense gaze and stared at the boy in bewilderment, then back to her friend again.
"I found him in the village earlier today, right after you left. The sole survivor. He's very brave, and his name is Hideaki."
Kagome looked at him as despair and self-disgust threatened to choke her.
"Come meet Kagome, Hideaki." Sango encouraged him, her face softening as she looked at the orphan who reminded her so much of Kohaku.
The little boy stood up shyly and began to approach them, wholly healed and uninjured. Kagome reached out with her hand in defence, knowing that she was scaring him, but could not bear to be any closer to Hideaki. He was living proof of her horrendous mistake, her unforgivable betrayal.
"No." Sesshomaru.
La la la. Thanks so much for your reviews!
XkoriinaX: --blush-- I read your review and then I forced myself to sit down and write this chapter from beginning to end, no breaks. I hope I didn't disappoint and very much appreciated your kind words (which means I read it about a thousand times as I caressed my monitor in adoration :)