IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! Chapter 21 guys! Wow, things are really getting dramatic now. I am so evil for the cliffy at the end of this one, but at least I did not make you wait. I have only had like five people tell me what pairing they want next, so I am leaning towards Inutaisho/Kag/Sess at the moment. As I said, this is based on the few five votes I have had. I will not post another story until this is completed, I will count up the votes at the end for each pairing. So what will it be reviewers Inutaisho/Kag, Sess/Kag, Sess/Kag/Inutaisho, Naraku/Kag or Sess/Souta. I really love my Sess/Souta story and I am surprised no one wants to read it. I will post it eventually no matter what, but I want people to want to read it too.
Chapter 21 – Blood red eyes
The door was half open and Kagome had but one foot when a hand landed on her shoulder, preventing her from moving forward any farther into his chaos that awaited her. She hesitantly turned around, her midnight blue eyes meeting sparkling green ones and pair of soft brown orbs, her two crushes of the era.
'Don't go in,' was the silent message portrayed in the look that they gave her. They had been ordered to stay outside for protection by the young Lord. They were relaying that message to her now, it was all because they cared about her and did not want to see her hurt by the inutaiyoukai, not again.
She managed to flash them a quick smile, it was small and contained no humour, and it was one of reassurance. "I have to try," she said quietly, softly, letting them know that they were not going to stop her; she was going in there no matter what. "I made a promise that I will do all that I can to try and help him."
Green eyes narrowed in silence response, but Hiro reiterated. "No Kagome, it is dangerous in there," he told her with a shake of his head. "Sesshoumaru, his son and heir is failing to calm him, what makes you think that you can you will fare any better?"
"Nothing," Kagome replied truthfully, "and I know it is dangerous, my whole life has been a fight to survive, and this is nothing new. Still, a promise is a promise, and I have promised to help him, I can do it, I know I can"
Unbidden, an image of a demon Inuyasha came to her, jagged stripes on his cheeks, fangs bared, snarling and unaware. When he was in that state he was frightening, and Kagome had never been frightened of her protector like that before. When he was like that, she felt pity for the hanyou, and her heart really went out to him.
When he came round he had no recollection of the things he had done. The pained look in his eyes told her all she needed to know. And when he said that it meant nothing to him, she threw her arms around him, because that was when he needed her comfort most. She really connected with him when that happened, she really felt his pain.
She didn't want Touga to go through that too, she knew how it felt. Her friends must have seen her eyes harden with determination and stubbornness because Yamazaki let go of her shoulder and gave his consent with an almost undetectable nod. Hiroki's eyes narrowed further, he still did not approve, but he accepted he could not stop her.
'Be careful.'
'Trust me.' She smiled at them again a small, shy smile. She opened the door fully and stepped inside, letting it slam shut behind her with an air of finality.
Nothing prepared her for the image that met her eyes. Chaos did not so the scene justice, it was something she expected from Dante or WWII. Only a possessed demon Lord with power such as Touga could cause such carnage.
The room was completely trashed, she thought Souta's bedroom was bad at times, well it was nothing compared to the sight that confronted her here. Clothes, bedding and towels were torn up to thin shredded ribbons and strewn all over the room carelessly. They were expensive white silk as well, it was a shame.
Broken glass from shattered window panes and shards from vases in the room covered the floor, making even that hazardous. Well it was hazardous to a human with not shoes on, it would not bother a demon, but it still made one hell of a mess. They crunched under her foot as she stepped into the room.
The wardrobe and the dresser had been smashed too, reduced to smithereens. The only reason she knew there had been one there at all and not a pile of splinters was because she had been in the room before and seen them. It seemed as if nothing in the bedroom had escaped the demon Lord, there was nothing left intact. The shelves were broken; all the possessions were shattered so there was nothing left.
In all fairness, it was a wonder that the floor and the walls were still intact and only marked and damaged. He really had not spared a single thing that entered his chamber, and to her dismay, she discovered firsthand that this meant the people who entered as well. That was the three wounded guards, the healers, his son, and her.
In the centre of the wreckage stood the Inu no Taisho himself in all of his glory. Despite the danger, Kagome had to admit he still looked regal and impressive, but all the more frightening even so. A breeze was blowing in through the space where the windows once were and caused his clothes to billow behind him.
Kagome stared in amazement as his white hakamas which were identical to Sesshoumaru's flowed behind him. His hair was the picture of action star. It created a silver sheen behind him, making him look majestic, every inch a Taiyoukai. He was not wearing top which meant that his perfect chiselled chest was bare.
Kagome could honestly say that she had never seen such a magnificent six pack, it was true and she had actually seen quite a few bare male chests in her time. She had taken up self defence in her time, and had excelled quickly. The boys usually shed their shirts ten minutes in, under the ruse of getting hot, but it was actually to show off to each other and the precious few girls who made it to that level in the class.
To be fair, they were humans, and demons were different. She had cried into enough demon chests while she was here, Hiro, Sesshoumaru and Yamazaki, she had even seen Kouga's, but none of those had been bare. Kagome reckoned Inuyasha could give his father a run for his money, but she knew she was biased there. She only found his chest (which she had seen bare on precious few occasions) more attractive because she actually had a bit of crush on that boy, and he was closer to her age and stuff like that.
Touga's idea of endearment was to kidnap her, sink his fangs into her neck and keep her imprisoned and shackled to his side. She did not know what the traditional ways to show affection to female demons were, but if it was what he had done to her, she could say it was not the best way to win a human girl's heart.
What made him all the more impressive was the fact that his chest was streaked with blood. It was not only his own blood either, in fact, practically none of it was. He was splattered with the blood of the people he had attacked in his beast form. Yes, as Jaken had told her, he was indeed in his humanoid form, but it was his beast that was in control.
His claws were long and sharper than usual; they were a beast's claws. They were not dripping poison as they and Sesshoumaru's claws could do, but they did not need the lethal substance to be deadly; they were dangerous and capable to kill, at least her, without that added extra. His fangs too were not dripping poison, but elongated and sharper than usual, and he was foaming at the mouth a little, a sign of madness.
Something else Kagome noted was that his eyes were wider than they should be and instead of swirling molten gold, they were bleeding blood red. That was the tell tale sign that his beast was in control, and by the looks of it, in agonizing turmoil and beyond reason. He was frightening, powerful, dangerous, a demon lord.
It was in that moment, looking at him standing among the carnage he had caused that Kagome saw the inutaiyoukai Touga, Lord of the Western Lands as he truly was. She saw what he was truly capable of and the reason why he was respected so much, she saw why he was paid so much glory, she saw why he was a legend.
Servant and guards cowered in the corners of the room, too afraid to work their muscles and move. This was because every time one of them so much as breathed too deeply, the Taiyoukai focused on the movement and sound with a snarl and advanced on them. They could not flee; none of the demons were fast enough to escape him while he was lost to his beast in his unexplainable anger, hate and agony.
If they all tried at once, a couple might be able to get away, but the servants stuck together, and they were loath to leave one of their comrades behind to face the Western Lord's wrath for no fault of their own. Besides, they were prey in Touga's eyes and the prey getting away would only anger him more, causing yet more destruction.
The only reason why not more of the innocents were hurt was courtesy of Sesshoumaru. He was the only strong demon in the room placating him. Yamazaki and Hiro could be there, but they would only be able to restrain him and end up getting hurt. Just as Jaken had told her, Sesshoumaru was the only one who stood a chance.
Kagome felt a great deal of respect for the young demon prince who was right in his father's face. He was obviously frightened of his father, more than he had ever been, and Kagome did not blame him. Yet there he was, playing the part of a warrior at the tender age of twelve or however many centuries that was, protecting his subjects – the others in the room, as he desperately tried to placate a deadly beast.
Kagome could see that just as Jaken had promised, Sesshoumaru was not in immediate grave danger. Touga's beast recognized him as immediate pack, his son and heir, his beta, and therefore an important member of his pack. Both had their shackled raised as they growled at each other in the language of the Inus. Kagome could see that though it did not look as though Sesshoumaru was going to be hurt, at least badly, one thing was clear to her, it was evident in those crimson eyes of Touga's, Sesshoumaru was failing to get through to him.
By remaining in his father's face, he effectively protected everyone else in the room. Whenever his father's attention was diverted, Sesshoumaru darted in front of them, shielding them from view to make sure they were protected, and he was the only one his father saw and consequently targeted – or failed to.
While Touga wanted to swat him aside like the others, his base instinct was preventing him from laying his hand on his pup. There was a standoff every time Sesshoumaru placed himself in front of the demon Lord, and after each time it resulted in another heated snarl and Touga would break smoothing or tear at the floor.
His teeth were bared in a snarl, and his fingers flexed. His whole body was tensed and he was just ready to pounce and rip something to shreds. Another roar rippled through his chest and tore from throat as he swiped at the last remaining window in the room and it was reduced to nothing but small shards of glass.
The glass shards flew all around the room, and Kagome raised her arms instinctively to shield her face from the sharp splinters. They scraped against her arms and her stomach, causing numerous but small cuts which stung terribly as they drew blood. She let out a small gasp of surprise and pain, it was that and the smell of her blood which made his eyes bleed a darker red as he turned with dramatic slowness to face her.
Oh Shit.