Chapter Twenty-One
The sound of rain drops pounding against the Castle windows echoed within the hallways.
Spring had arrived, and though it meant the budding of new life, it also called forth pouring rain.
It was the sound of raindrops that filled the silence in Sesshomaru's study room.
But, as the significant players for the upcoming battle against Neikan were too deep in thought, even the sound of rain was not heard.
Kagome furrowed her brow as she rummaged through her brain to think of the best battle tactics. Though she had read through piles of books on Battle Tactics from the study, she could not find anything useful. Kagome began pulling up the modern information on battle tactics she researched in her era.
Neikan was probably forming an army of hundreds if not thousands of manipulated demons. Kagome doubted that she could heal all of them with her power. So, this meant they would need to be brought down by becoming unconscious or, the last resort, death.
"I shall take the left, and Sesshomaru, you should take the right," Takashi said, breaking the tense silence within the study. Kagome watched as Takashi placed two black dots on the right and left of the army layout drawn on the map. The purple dot on the map represented the location Sesshomaru had found Neikan to be hiding in. It seemed like the plan was to march towards Neikan's location unknown and hours before reaching the clearing they had found, they would release their auras to alert Neikan. This would draw out Neikan to the clearing Sesshomaru planned to attack at. With Takashi and Sesshomaru placed on each side of the army that meant they planned to surround Neikan's soldiers.
"Then I will take center front position," Kagome voiced as she placed a pink dot in between the two black dots. She knew that she could heal a majority of Neikan's army and prevent more deaths if she was in the front.
"MY LORD!" Kagome jumped from the loud cry of a drenched soldier whom had just barged into the study.
The Western General growled at the rude soldier's behavior of barging in.
"F-forgive m-me! Bu-But i-it is urgent n-n-news!" the soldier explained in urgency.
"Speak," Sesshomaru voiced stoically.
Quickly bowing towards Sesshomaru, the soldier voiced desperately, "After my Lords instruction to remain and observe the enemy, I witnessed thousands of human soldiers marching towards the enemy's hideout. The skins on the human soldiers were all black, my Lord. I came rushing to report this to you soon after I witnessed this."
"Humans? Why would Neikan manipulate humans?" the Southern General taunted at what he thought was a foolish choice for Neikan to make.
Don't you think the battle field would look prettier when we are both at our full strength…miko?
Kagome remembered Neikan's words and cringed in disgust.
"More bloodshed," Kagome answered bitterly as she knew human's had a larger army of soldiers ready for battle compared to demon soldiers. Neikan truly planned to witness more innocent bloodshed in the upcoming battle. She noticed a clawed hand move her pink dot on the map to the far back of the army position. Looking up at the owner of the hand, she saw Sesshomaru's expression stone hard.
"What-" Kagome began to inquire his reasons for positioning her to the back of the army before getting cut off.
"You will remain in the back," Sesshomaru stated sharply.
"You can't do that!" Kagome retorted furiously.
"It is my decision," Sesshomaru voiced crisply. Had Kagome been a demoness, she knew her eyes would be glowing red at the moment. Hot blood burned through her body and reached her cheeks. She was furious at his choice; his choice that would cause more innocent bloodshed.
"It is my battle!" she voiced fiercely. This battle was happening because she made the mistake of wishing for the Shikon no Tama to disappear. It was her responsibility to destroy Neikan. Of course this was her battle. So, it didn't make sense for Sesshomaru to position her in the back!
She didn't want others to fight her battle.
She didn't want to be protected while others were risking their lives!
Ignoring Sesshomaru's glare, Kagome moved her pink dot back up to the front.
"Kagome," she heard Sesshomaru voiced in warning.
"The battle plan sounds good, but Neikan has not revealed his full powers yet. We will probably experience it during the battle against him. I hold the responsibility of destroying Neikan. So, I plan to seal Neikan with my soul if nothing works," Kagome informed. She had been considering this from the beginning, and knew that it would become a last resort choice. She could not allow thousands of soldiers to die for a cause she created by mistake.
A dangerous growl erupted within the study causing everyone but Kagome to shrink back in fear.
"You will not, and that is an order," Sesshomaru growled out ferociously as a flash of red appeared from his eyes.
"Sesshomaru!" Kagome pleaded, attempting to reason with him.
"No!" Sesshomaru roared, immediately shocking everyone in the room. Kagome stood frozen in shock at her first experience of seeing Sesshomaru show his anger.
Eyes switching from red to gold,
Lips revealing his fangs as he growled,
Green poison sinking into the desk,
Yes, Kagome had never seen him angry.
"Miko," Kagome heard his voice say dangerously, "That is an order." She knew the moment he called her 'Miko' that he was ordering her as her station. As Lord, she had to comply with his command. And he used her station to make her obey.
"Understood, my Lord," she gritted out each word bitterly. Kagome's clenched hand shook in rage as uncontrollable raw emotions seethed throughout her. Needing to get away from him, Kagome stiffly bowed and left the room.
"Leave," Sesshomaru voiced curtly right after Kagome left the study. Immediately, the two Generals bowed before rushing out of the room.
"Sesshomaru, you are being too overprotective of her. Why won't you just place her in the front? She is strong enough to handle her own fight!" Takashi voiced his frustrations at his cousin. He knew Kagome's nature was caring and protective of those she loved. Takashi knew more than ever that Kagome trained hard to defeat Neikan. Yet, to be placed in the back with the archers was like asking her to stay back and watch! It was cruel of Sesshomaru to place her in the back.
Sesshomaru didn't understand her at all.
Did he make a mistake to think that Sesshomaru would be better for Kagome?
"You don't deserve her," Takashi snarled out in anger.
Anger from Sesshomaru's foolish behavior.
Anger from knowing Kagome's feelings for Sesshomaru.
Anger from realizing Sesshomaru didn't deserve her feelings.
Noticing that his cousin was ignoring him, Takashi stormed out of the study. Hoping that fresh air would calm his anger, he walked towards the gardens.
"Brother!" Takashi turned to his sister with a scowl still on his face.
"What is wrong?" Kohana asked worriedly.
"Our cousin is being foolish! She wanted to be placed in the front of the army so that she can heal all the human soldiers before they are slaughtered! But our cousin immediately denied her of that! He doesn't understand her at all! She is strong enough to protect herself from demons, so of course she can handle humans! She's furious now because our cousin ordered her to obey!" Takashi ranted to his sister to get his own frustrations out.
"I assume you are referring to Kagome?" Kohana asked.
"Sister, I can't…I can't give her to him…" Takashi said with a hushed and pained voice to sister. Kohana watched with a heavy heart as her brother's face held confusion. She could tell that he was struggling with his choice of giving up on Kagome.
"Are you talking about Lord Sesshomaru?" asked a soft voice interrupted. Takashi finally noticed that there was another person beside his sister.
"Rin! I didn't know you were there. I apologize, this was not something a Lady should hear," Takashi said while slightly bowing towards Rin.
"Sesshomaru is just trying to protect Lady Kagome, Lord Takashi," Rin said ignoring Takashi's apology.
"Yes, yes, Rin. I know he is. But he is being too overprotective of her," Takashi responded with a frustrated sigh.
"Overprotective? How?" Rin asked innocently as she tilted her head to the side.
"He is preventing her from doing what she has prepared herself for, Rin. He is caging her from reaching her purpose and goal!" Takashi said heatedly as he felt his anger rise within him again.
He knew Kagome had made many promises for the upcoming battle.
And Sesshomaru had just destroyed her chance of keeping them.
Takashi knew this was tearing her apart.
"When Lady Kagome came to rescue me, I noticed that she relied on her barrier to defend and protect herself from the demons. But the moment the barrier broke, Lady Kagome was immediately wounded. If Lady Kagome were to be put in the front, she would be wounded easily because she cannot use her barrier against humans," Rin explained wisely.
Kohana watched painfully as her brothers expression was frozen.
"Yes, Lady Kagome has trained hard, but her strengths are not in face-to-face combat, especially when she relies on her barrier during those encounters. I'm sure Lord Sesshomaru knew of this and did what he had to do," Rin added.
Kohana winced inwardly at Rin's innocent comment.
Silence weighed heavily in the air.
As minutes passed by with no answer from her brother, Kohana turned to face her brother and noticed him shaking. Thinking that he was crying, she placed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. But, instead of tears falling down his face, Kohana saw a smile.
A chuckle sounded in the air.
Kohana looked to her brother with an "are-you-insane" expression. How could her brother be laughing in this situation? Her brother's chuckle only grew louder which soon turned into fits of laughter.
"You are right, Rin. It was wrong of me to say that Sesshomaru didn't understand her," Takashi finally said with a little chuckle as his laughter began to die down.
"I am the one who doesn't understand her at all," Takashi whispered as his chuckle immediately stopped.
Kohana observed her brother covering his eyes with a hand and knew he was hurting.
Her heart tightened at the sight of her brother's pain.
"Sesshomaru is the only one who deserves her after all," her brother voiced teasingly trying to cover up the piercing pain he felt behind his words.
In that moment, Takashi knew that Sesshomaru deserved her more, understood her more, cared for her more, and probably even loved her more.
More.
More than he could ever give her.
-The Study Room-
Though minutes passed by, Sesshomaru didn't notice that he had been rereading the same sentence for the past ten minutes.
He couldn't seem to concentrate on anything but her.
He knew she was furious at him; for what he had done.
But he wouldn't have it any other way.
The image of blood pouring down her body burned within his mind.
The memory of finding her wounded from rescuing Rin still sent his whole body into turmoil.
The inuyoukai was left alone in his study, thinking of her.
And though thoughts of her usually placed a smile on his face, this time he could not seem to smile.
The inuyoukai sat feeling torn in half.
Half of him was convinced he had done the right thing in order to protect her.
A gut wrenching pain tore through him at the thought of seeing her get hurt.
Yet, the other half mocked his selfishness of denying her plead.
Another pain pierced through him at the thought of her hating him.
I plan to seal Neikan with my soul if nothing works
Her words tormented the inuyoukai.
Clenching his hands, he knew he could not regret the choice he made.
He would rather have her live and hate him than lose her to death.
The thought of her presence gone from the face of the earth…
An anguished expression suddenly flashed across the inuyoukai's face.
Standing up from his seat, the inuyoukai walked out to the balcony.
Detecting the view of the Sakura Tree, a warm wind swept through carrying the scent of Sakura.
Inhaling the scent that was so similar to hers, the inuyoukai closed his eyes and tightened them shut.
"I made the right choice," the inuyoukai whispered into the wind.
Yet, the inuyoukai's words did not match the wistful expression painted upon his face as he stared at the Sakura Tree.
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