** chapter revised 4/17/2010 **

~ Chapter Fourteen ~

SESSHOUMARU moved away from her as her words reached him. Softly said, they still sliced through his lustful demanding haze like a sword. His eyes narrowed as he now glared down at her from a short step away. He didn't trust himself to be within touching distance of her at the moment. As it was, his mokomoko-sama was hard enough to control. It wanted to knock the girl senseless of breath so he could take her back to where she escaped from. Of course that place wouldn't hold her any more. It wouldn't do. No, he would keep her by his side always. That seemed to be his only option where keeping the miko contained was concerned. Perhaps a collar and leash should be fetched? She was his bitch, after all. But for the moment he had other, more important, situations to deal with now. Such as understanding what exactly his future mate had just said to him. "What did you say, miko?"

Kagome's eyes widened as she looked over the change in Sesshoumaru. He was still wild, still crazed, but there was a coolness to him now that hadn't been there before. It was almost like the Sesshoumaru she knew was back, but not quite. He was still a little…off. "I...I need to go, Sesshoumaru. I can't help it."

His head cocked to the side momentarily as he studied her. She wasn't lying. "Whose blood is that, miko?"

Kagome glanced down towards her shoulder where the invisible knife had been plunged into her. "I don't know."

She was lying now and Sesshoumaru let out a low growl of warning. "You are lying."

"I'm not sure, okay?!"

"That is better, miko. Now lower your voice."

She complied immediately which only irritated him all the more. "Please, Sesshoumaru, I'm needed."

He wanted to fall into that voice. He wanted her to need him. Why had he fallen so hard, so fast? This had to be the rage he'd been feeling driving these things. He did not feel that way towards this woman. Did he? "Needed, miko?"

She did not like how flat his voice had become while his eyes remained red. She'd never seen him like this before. "Yes."

"This one needs you, miko. No one else. Just I."

"No. You don't understand."

She was pleading with him, begging for something from him. But it was for someone else. Inuyasha, his mind supplied and Sesshoumaru growled internally. He knew who the miko was thinking of. "I understand perfectly, miko. You are thinking of Inuyasha. I can tell."

"Yes. He needs me."

"I NEED YOU!" he found himself roaring back at her.

Shocked by his outburst, something he would never do, Sesshoumaru paused and looked down at the woman before him. Then he noticed it; a whisper thin invisible string that seemed to be looped around his miko's throat leading off into the forest behind her. He'd been so consumed by the emotions that had risen when he'd lost her that he hadn't noticed it before. Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed as he traced its path. Scenting the winds, he could smell humans off in the distance. There was also a faint trace of his half-brother and his pack members. He could smell no dangers, but something was blocking his senses. A barrier, perhaps?

Moving forward, he reached out to her throat, noticing her flinch but ignoring it. One clawed finger hooked around the invisible string as he used his youki to make it solid to his touch. Giving the string a slight pull, he heard the miko make a quiet gasp of pain. She was hurting? Good. His eyes followed the direction of the string once more. "Who has done this?" he asked aloud, not intending for a response.

"I...I don't know."

His eyes looked down at her, briefly, and then returned to the forest before him. "And yet you would run blindly to them? Without knowing if they mean you ill or not? How have you lived this long if you always rush forward so?"

Kagome knew Sesshoumaru was correct, but still. "It's Inuyasha!" she said in protestation.

He growled low in his throat. "Do not mention that name to me again, miko. I cannot promise I will not hurt you if it passes your lips one more time."

"Please, Sesshoumaru," she begged him again.

Tears were forming in her eyes as he pulled on the string once more. There was definitely a barrier. More than likely there were several layered one on top of another. This was not the work of a youkai. Holy men had a hand in this. His eyes narrowed as his mind listed off the priests he was aware of who had this type of ability. There were not many, but one or two of the lesser ones could have gained some manner of strength since last they'd met. So this was how Inuyasha planned to get his miko from him? Sesshoumaru would have laughed at the pathetic attempt if he wasn't so angered by it. Whoever had initiated this calling had not intended the miko to survive it judging by the placement of the calling string. His brother was as idiotic as he'd always thought. Inside his mind, Sesshoumaru smiled. He would use the hanyou's idiocy against him. "Miko," he said, trying to ease the harshness from his voice. "I believe an alliance is in order."

She looked stunned by his words. "An alliance?"

He fought against the need to comfort her. The miko did not deserve any "Yes. This one will aid you in saving the half-breed. In return you will go with me, willingly, and leave him behind. And you will never run from me again, miko."

"I can't do that. I can't just leave everything behind. I have a life! I have responsibilities! I have a family!"

"Then Inuyasha will die and you will remain with me all the same. Leashed to my side, if need be. Not that this one finds any guilt or pain where the hanyou is concerned. I was thinking only of sparing you such...emotions."

The miko hung her head; sadness hung about her so thick he could taste it. Finally she looked back up towards him. "Sesshoumaru?"

The way she said his name drew his eyes back to her face. "Miko."

"If I agree to go with you once all of this is over with, you'll let me go to Inu-- him?"

He raised a brow at her near slip, but commented not on it. He merely nodded his head and waited. He didn't have to wait long. She nodded her head with certainty. "Then you have my word."

Did his brother truly mean that much to her? She would sacrifice everything to tie herself to him, who she viewed as a monster, for his brother's sake? The thought nearly sickened him. "Very well, miko."

A flick of his fingers brought his mokomoko-sama back to its place on his shoulder. The miko stood there shivering in the cold of the evening air. She looked beautiful still and Sesshoumaru had to fight going back to her side. Then she took a step towards him. Wondering at her boldness, Sesshoumaru stayed where he was. This reminded him of another time she had approached him. Would she do the same as she had then? Would she touch him willingly? As much as he loathed feeling her touch right then, he also wanted it. Craved it, if he admit the truth of the matter.

She stopped in front of him, looking up at him. "Thank you, Lord Sesshoumaru," she said softly.

"Do not, miko. Do not."

Then her hands reached out and laid flat against his curiass, her fingertips barely touching the spiked pauldron above her hands. She pushed upwards onto her toes, reaching for him, but she was still too short. Still unsure of what she was about but more than willing to allow her access to his person, Sesshoumaru inclined slightly so that she could reach him and almost lost control again when she placed her soft, beautiful lips against his. She pulled away from their brief encounter before he could react, though. Her eyes looked sad. "I want to thank you and I want to apologize, as well."

"And what do you believe you have to apologize for, miko?" he asked, angered with himself as his voice lost its iciness and took on a more husky tone.

"This," she said simply.

Then he felt it. Her spiritual essence was rushing in to the hands she had placed against his chest. She let it out in a concentrated blast that threw him off his feet and sent him flying backwards into the very trees he had so recently demolished. His body landed with a loud thud that rang in his sensitive ears and his armor crumbled into pieces. Her purifying energies were crawling over his body, weakening him. Not even his mokomoko-sama could do more than twitch pitifully at his side. She was so much stronger than before. Still, she hadn't released enough to kill him. Just to contain him, however briefly.

Hearing her approaching footsteps and wondering if she was coming to finish what she'd started, he forced his eyes opened and glared up at her. She walked over as calmly as could be and sat down on her knees beside him. One of her hands came out and lay across his chest over his heart. "I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru, but I cannot have you involved in this. And I will keep my word. Once this is over and done with, I will go with you and never run again."

"Do not leave me again, Kagome," he managed to bite out before another wave of her energies washed over him and he knew nothing.

***

Kagome stayed sitting next to Sesshoumaru's unconscious form, her hand still on his chest. It was rising and falling smoothly and his heart was beating strongly underneath her palm. Closing her eyes, fighting back against a sudden need to cry, she opened them once more and moved even closer to him. Her other hand came up to lie gently across his face. In sleep he looked so different. It was almost endearing, the unguarded peace he showed, even if that peace had been forced by her hand. She moved up to brush his bangs away from his face. Never having truly touched his hair before, she was not surprised to find it silky soft against her flesh. "I'm sorry, Sesshoumaru," she whispered again.

Forcing herself to stand and move away from him, she closed her eyes once more and concentrated with all her being. When she opened her eyes again, a faint shimmering light had settled over the daiyoukai. It was a thin barrier, but strong with her own essence. She did not know how long he would be unconscious for, but she did not believe it would be for long. Sesshoumaru was a powerful daiyoukai, almost immune to true purification. He'd only been unseated in her attack because she'd managed to do the impossible and surprise him. When he came to he would be even more enraged than before, she knew, but that wouldn't stop her now. She'd come too far and was too close to Inuyasha to even think of retreating.

Turning away from the slumbering form laying before her, Kagome put her hand around her throat. When Sesshoumaru had touched her there she had felt as if he were pulling on something. That must be the invisible link Myoga had been speaking of when he said someone was calling her to Inuyasha's side. As thoughts of the hanyou filled her mind, the string gave another slight tug, causing her to stumble forward. Kagome gasped as Inuyasha's pain breached the barriers her mind had erected. He was dying. She could feel it.

Sprinting forward, she did not slow until the pressure of her connection with Inuyasha grew so strong it was nearly staggering. As she came to a stop, she had to lean against a tree for support. Even though she was stronger now with her complete soul, the two blasts of spiritual energy she'd had to release and the barrier she'd erected around Sesshoumaru had weakened her. And the farther she drew away from Sesshoumaru, the more she had to concentrate on keeping the barrier she'd placed around him intact. It would only be worse once he woke and started fighting against it.

Knowing time of was of the importance, Kagome looked over the area she was in. There was a mouth of a cave across the way but no signs of anyone being about. The grass near the cave's entrance was slightly trampled which indicated someone or some ones had been passing through there. The invisible string gave another tug and Kagome knew where she had to go.

Moving forward slowly, she let her senses spread out. They were faint, weakened, but still let her know no one was in the immediate area. She could tell there were youkai about, but something was familiar about them. Perhaps it was Kirara and Shippou? If it was them, why were they not in the cave? As if to answer her first question, she passed through a spiritual barrier. A barrier? Drawing her senses back within herself, Kagome straightened her back and continued forward. She passed through several more barriers before even reaching the mouth of the cave, each one stronger than the last, and she wondered how Inuyasha had been able to get through these. Was he in his human form?

A fierce growl sounded from the depths of the cave looming before her and Kagome flinched as she recognized the sound. Balling her hands into fists, she took one step and then another until she'd breached the entrance. There were stone steps carved into the rock that led downward and Kagome could make out a faint light within the darkness below. She moved soundlessly towards it and the closer she drew the louder Inuyasha's growls and snarls became. He was struggling against something or someone. Then, as she rounded the last bend, he whined as if in relief.

Kagome stepped out into the light, knowing there was no other way than a direct confrontation, and her eyes widened in surprise as she took in the scene before her. Inuyasha lay upon a stone altar, fully transformed and bleeding from numerous cuts into his arms. He was surrounded by priests chanting. They had erected what looked like a fiery cone around Inuyasha, but the fire held no heat—at least not to her. But she could see a fine layer of sweat covering her friend's body. Then one of the priests turned and looked at her, as if he expected to see her, and gave a slight bow. "Miko Kagome," the priest said.

He looked familiar and then Kagome remembered him. "Master Ungai?"

"You remember me, miko."

He took a step forward and Kagome took a step back, trying to keep some distance between them. "What is going on here?" she demanded to know.

"Your friends enlisted me to aid them in your recovery, miko."

Kagome's eyes looked around for the others, but they were not there. Why not? Why would they consent to leaving Inuyasha like this? "Where are they?" she asked warily.

"The monk and the youkai slayer are waiting elsewhere. As are the other two youkai companions you travel with, miko. Do not fear. You will see them again as soon as we have released you from the daiyoukai's hold."

"You can't release me, Master Ungai. There's no way."

"So you have sold your soul to the very devil?"

"What?" Kagome said in disbelief. Ungai raised the staff he'd been holding against his side and Kagome watched as his aura flared with purification energy. This energy wasn't like her own, though. It was tinged with blackness, like a corrupted shard. "No, Master Ungai. You don't understand what is going on," she said, hoping to reason with the man. She looked around for Inuyasha's sword, but saw it nowhere. "Please. Where is the Tessaiga?"

"The cursed sword that contains that foul creature's youkai blood? It is safely hidden away, miko."

Kagome flared her weakened powers out around her. Hers clashed with Ungai's and she could see how much stronger her own was. Even with Ungai's seemingly increased strength and she with her weakened ones, there was no way he could match her. "You have been tainted, Master Ungai," Kagome said with strength and power shining in her voice. She needed to end this quickly. A feeling deep within her told her that Inuyasha did not have much longer before his youkai blood fully took control of her friend. When that happened there would be no going back for Inuyasha. "You need to be cleansed."

"I am not the tainted one here, miko. Now where is the daiyoukai?"

"Lord Sesshoumaru is not coming," she said with a defiant tilt of her chin.

"Lord?" he repeated, his voice deceptively soft. Kagome did not miss the glint in his eyes. She'd seen that same light before in dozens of others. "You give that beast the respect of a title?"

Ungai's eyes narrowed, his look of menace nearly rivaling that of Sesshoumaru himself. Kagome stayed her ground, though. Ungai's acolytes, chanting around the altar, could not intervene without breaking their hold on Inuyasha. She could sense several human presences behind her, but they were making no movements to enter the cave. They were probably waiting on Sesshoumaru to arrive. "I give respect where it is due," Kagome said in reply. "Now unhand that staff so that I may destroy it."

In response to her demand, Ungai slammed the staff down in front of him, burying the end of it several inches into the hard rock ground. The ruby jewel encased within a golden circle at the tip glowed with inner lights Kagome recognized as trapped souls. What was this place? Her eyes darted around her quickly, taking in the paintings on the walls. There was nothing there that revealed this shrine's purpose, but Kagome had a vague feeling that she knew. The souls trapped within the ruby jewel were those of mikos, tormented and in pain. Their anguish was what Ungai's spiritual power was feeding off of and it was also what was tainting him. But had he willingly allowed this to happen? Kagome had to know so she would know how to proceed. If he had willingly embraced this fate, she would not hold back. However, if he had somehow been influenced by the staff to take possession of it, she would try her hardest to free him from its curse. "Master Ungai, do you know what you are about?" she asked as she allowed her aura to flare up even more and battle the spiritual pressure he was sending her way.

***

Golden eyes opened slowly. He found himself lying on the ground staring up at the dawning sky. A few clouds floated with ease above him and the birds were beginning their morning song. For a brief moment he wondered where he was and why he was where he was. Then the memories came crashing back.

Sesshoumaru fully expected himself to be pulled back into the black abyss of before, but then he felt the presence of the miko. Knowing she was not there, that she had left him again--for his half-brother--made him want to fall into the rage, but he couldn't. She was present in everything around him, acting as an anchor for his mind…as was the scent of her energy. Like before, she comforted him and made him feel complete.

His body ached like it never had before as he moved into a sitting position and looked around him. That was when he noticed the barrier that encased him. With a growl, he swiped out at it, striking against the fragile looking thing with his claws. His hand was forced back and sparks fluttered. The barrier wavered slightly and then solidified around him again. It might appear to be weak, but it was anything but. Just like his miko, he thought with a smirk.

Standing, he inspected every inch of the barrier around him with a push of his youki. It bent slightly to his power and then snapped his own youki back at him. Growling, Sesshoumaru was about to slash at the barrier again when the Tenseiga pulsed at his side. He looked down at the despised sword. It was pulsing and shaking softly. Normally this only happened when Inuyasha was near the Tessaiga. Clasping his hand around the sword, he withdrew it and held the blade up. An image flashed through his mind so fleeting it was almost unrecognizable, but Sesshoumaru did not need to see everything to know who the image was of.

Kagome.

His miko, who'd dared strike back at him but then cared enough to remain with him afterwards, who cared enough to try and protect him as she left him in a vulnerable state, was in danger and the sword wanted him to go to her. If the sword wants this one to go to her, he thought, then the sword had better let this one out of this barrier.

He pushed his youki through the blade, melding with it, and struck forward. The tip of the blade pierced the barrier and then was grasped. To Sesshoumaru it felt as if a hand had taken a hold of the blade and was physically restraining it. He withdrew it with surprising ease and struck again in the exact same spot. The blade slipped farther through before being taken a hold of again. Sesshoumaru smiled to himself with satisfaction and withdrew only to strike again. This time, though, as the blade pushed even farther through the miko's barrier he put even more of his youki into it and watched as his youki slipped through the sword and into the barrier, appearing as tiny black cracks that lengthened with each push he gave. The barrier did not weaken, but it did waver.

It will not be long now, miko, he thought.

***

In the back of her mind something was stabbing her. It wasn't painful, just uncomfortable. Not wanting to take her focus away from the situation she'd found herself in, Kagome ignored it until she felt as if Sesshoumaru had his hand in her head and was combing around. That was a bit more uncomfortable and she found herself cursing under her breath. Ungai looked at her, his face smug. "Something wrong, miko?" he asked, his voice dripping with false care.

She could tell what he was thinking. Ungai thought that she was being bothered by his spiritual presence. If only the old priest knew the truth, she thought with a laugh in her mind. His spiritual pressure was so slight, it compared to the weight of Myoga. The staff, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. "The only thing wrong is that you are still holding that cursed staff, Master Ungai. Do you not know that it contains tormented souls? That you are feeding off their pain? Can you not feel it?"

Ungai's other hand came up to grasp the staff, his fingers giving it a loving stroke. "This jewel has absorbed the souls of the damned for centuries. It takes their life force, which they used in an unclean manner, and funnels it into me so that I may fulfill the will of the Kamis."

Kagome did not really want to know, but she had to ask. "And what will would that be?"

"To rid the world of youkais and those who think to share their lives with them," he answered simply.

"You may think you have the souls of the damned in that jewel, Ungai, but it's not theirs. The souls of mikos reside inside there. I can see them."

"Yes, you are abnormally strong, but truth and righteousness are on my side. You have shared yourself with a youkai, miko, and therefore weakened yourself in the eyes of the Kamis."

Kagome gritted her teeth in frustration. She was not getting through to him! Why were men always so stubborn and why, why did they always try and live off their pride? "Youkai and those who chose to associate with them deserve as much a right to exist as everyone else!"

He sneered at her. "You sound so much like your slayer friend."

She gasped. Kagome had forgotten about them, so intent was she on what was in front of her and on helping Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru, who was still digging through her mind at that time, used her break in concentration to force more of his own youki into the barrier she'd constructed around him. It wouldn't be long before she wouldn't be able to hold it anymore and he would be free. "What have you done with my friends?"

"They are still alive, miko, but you really should worry more for yourself than for them."

Kagome wasn't a fighter. She wasn't like Inuyasha, Miroku, nor Sango when it came to such things. If she could have come to this age and been a hippie, spreading love and joy, she would have been alright with that. Unfortunately life wasn't that easy on her and she'd had to do things she'd never tell her mother about. Therefore, when Ungai suddenly struck out with his staff, she was more than ready for it. Kagome jumped backwards, out of the long reach of the staff. Then he spun at her again. This time four sharpened blades slid soundlessly out of the head of the staff. The blades were infused with spiritual energy. Kagome managed to throw up a weak barrier before her, barely stopping the blades from slicing into her. Their spiritual essences met, sending sparks flying. "You have made yourself weak, miko," Ungai snickered again. "This will be too easy."

Sesshoumaru's words raced through her mind right then. Why she would think of the daiyoukai at a time like this, she wasn't sure, but she didn't stop to ponder that. Sesshoumaru had once told her that she was stronger than she appeared. Once in a daiyoukai's life, there is a chance of finding the mate that is our equal. How could she possibly be Sesshoumaru's equal if she was weak? It wouldn't be possible. And how could she be his equal if she constantly held him away from her, ran from him? And why, when her life and the lives of her friends were in danger, was she thinking of that?!

Shaking her head mentally, Kagome focused back onto her original thought. If she were his equal, then she should reflect that. Sesshoumaru ran from nothing. He faced whatever came his way and defeated it. Squaring her shoulders, Kagome decided she would do the same.

Kagome pulled back in the energy she'd been using to contain Sesshoumaru. He was close to breaking through her barrier anyway. It was just a wasteful expenditure on her part and she needed all of herself here and now. And she did not need to be feeling his youki splintering its way through her brain anymore! Letting her aura flare out around her, she could now see exactly what Myoga had been talking about. Ringing her aura was a red tinge that she knew was Sesshoumaru's. Even when he was not with her, he was with her.

Taking the strength Sesshoumaru offered her, she powered up her energies even more. They whipped wildly about her, creating an unnatural wind. Dirt and pieces of loose stone on the ground were picked up and tossed away by the force of her strength. Some of the debris struck Ungai's acolytes as they chanted, but the priests were of a singular mind and none of them moved away from the danger she presented. Kagome looked at Master Ungai in his cold eyes, eyes that bore no fear and were set in a face filled with a smug expression. He'd yet to try his luck in attacking her as she was now, but he was too confident in himself to be scared of her 'little show'. It was strange how she knew this, but she did. Another gift of bonding with Sesshoumaru, perhaps? "I am not weak, Ungai," she hissed. "Come and find out exactly how strong I am."

***