Chapter Twenty-Five: Tarsong

A/N: Yay! Mostly on time! This chapter is best read to "My Home is Your Head" by Joseph Arthur and the website rainymood… google it… when the storm starts. I heard it on Pandora while I was writing the scene and it went fabulously. Even if you're not into the song, still use Rainy mood. Rainy mood goes with everything.

"Stop being so dramatic, Adisa. It's just one season. At least this time you'll know where I am," Lixue swung her legs casually as she sat in the tree above the irate hyena.

"I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. The fact that you're not under duress from a maniac with a mirror is all the more reason for you not to leave your lands unattended, not an excuse to traipse about the planet." He crossed his arms, glaring daggers at his mistress in a rare act of defiance.

"I'll do as I please, thank you very much." She plucked off a browning leaf and threw it at the demon below her. "Wasn't it you that told me to get out of the castle and stop being mopey? Well I'm out of the castle."

"You know perfectly well that I meant to get out of the castle and tend to your lands, not run off to Japan."

"I didn't 'run off' anywhere," she growled. "I was blackmailed into coming. I just don't want to leave yet. Besides, you're not my nursemaid. You're my retainer."

"Do you really think it's a good idea to stay here? Beyond Lord Sesshomaru, you have no allies, no army, and no resources. The nobility see you as unrefined and thanks to Naraku, you're not only that but also dirty! Impure! Do you think that would have happened if you had the good sense to stay where you'd be protected?!"

Adisa cut himself short and insolently stared at his mistress, who had gone completely still and fixed him with twin coals. His willpower flagged when he heard her growl, the sunlight reflecting off of the saliva on her fangs as she bared them.

When she spoke, her eyes bled the color of anger, and her stripes erupted into jagged lines on her face.

"Leave, Adisa. Go to China this instant." She slid from the tree, eyes fixed on his, effortless grace and carnivorous anger. "If you dare to speak to me that way again, I will strip your skin from your body and use it as a decorative rug." She toed up to him, the taller demon shrinking under her heat. "You will leave and you will remember your place. Am I understood?"

Adisa could only nod and bow, flinching as she brushed past him, shifting in her anger and leaping over the wall, clearing the massive defenses as though they were hills of pebbles and landing in a swirl of fire. The tigress stalked away, head slung low in anger and the sun reflecting from her silvered coat until she slipped into the trees and disappeared from view.

oOxXxOo

Sesshomaru stared into the darkness of the forest where her scent led, his thoughts his own. Adisa did not say why she had sent him away, only that he must leave immediately on her orders.

The sky was beginning to darken with the promise of a storm, lightning beginning to spark between the clouds. He wondered when she would return.

oOxXxOo

Lixue strode through the trees away from the setting sun. She could hear the thunder above her, and the slate tiger lifted her head to gaze between the leaves of the canopy into the swirling clouds overhead. She scented the air, tail curling up as she thought about returning to the castle. In the rain, he would lose her scent, and this did not seem to be the sort of storm to come or leave with a whimper.

Do you think that would have happened if you'd had the good sense to stay where you're protected?

She growled to herself. I don't need you, Adisa. I don't need Sesshomaru. I'm fine on my own.

She lowered her head and walked on.

oOxXxOo

The rain came quickly and viciously. She left the trees, desiring its bite and chill in her skin, needing its abuse to shake out her anger. She rumbled to the thunder and blinked hard against the lightning, the torrential downpour dampening and extinguishing her flame with hisses. The failing of her fire never hurt her, its absence casting her form into deeper shadow as she paced further into unfamiliar ground.

The mud formed quickly in the autumn rain, the tigress sloshing through the rain and coating her fur up to her chest. She felt the thick mixture running down her legs as she walked, shaken free by her motion and the gallons of water coursing over her body. She focused inward, caring not where she was going. She found herself following an overgrown mountain trail, too far from the castle to even see the tower despite her climbing height. The sun had disappeared beyond the clouds, but she knew that it had long set. The darkness didn't bother her.

Her shoulders brushed the limbs of the trees, shaking and bending their arms in her passing. She heard the chattering of teeth and stopped, gazing beside her at the side of the road. Water streamed between her feet toward lower ground, the easiest course being that of the path, and in the damp darkness a pair of humans huddled. Mates. They could not see her for the rain, trying in vain to get a patch of wet leaves to light for warmth against the chill and wet. She watched as they tried again and again, sheltering the leaves against more rain and leaning against each other to share their heat.

The woman began to cough, and the demoness scented blood despite the rain. Lixue felt a strange stirring in her heart as the man ushered her close, a twinge of longing as he held her tightly. It would do no good for the woman to be held, except for comfort. The tigress, close enough to touch, flared her fire to reveal herself to the humans in a swathe of blue light. They gasped, the woman beginning to cough again and the man clutching her possessively. Lixue bent forward, passing over their bodies with her head to breathe on the leaves. They dried within the space of a breath, and with a drip of her saliva, they burst into light. Life. She drew her head up away from the fire, holding it regally above her shoulders and her ghostly fire silently burning. The humans seemed unsure of what to make of the demon-eyed tiger who had helped them, staring between her and the fire she had given them.

It was so small, but to them, it seemed to be so much.

The demon turned and walked into the shadow, enveloping herself in darkness once again, the blue flame disappearing as though it had never been.

Higher the tigress climbed, the path becoming rockier and wild with every crescendo she made in the mountain's face. The storm showed no sign of stopping, and the creature did not either, pushed forward by an instinctive desire to be free. She found far on the pinnacle of the mountain the silhouette of what appeared to be a village, and mystified by its presence despite the path's years of neglect, she changed her heading into its direction.

A flash of light and a muted explosion in its border surprised the tigress into crouching, stalking forward with purpose and curiosity; the lightning had been innocent. Something else was at work and she intended to see what.

Circling around the back of the village to the cliff above, Lixue utilized the rain's cover to creep forward to peer over the edge of the cliff. Mud streamed from her body onto the rocky surface, her body blending into the gray shadows.

Oh Kami. Them again. Lixue let out a sigh of disappointment as she recognized the loud white and green outfit of the young miko Kagome, her shouts unintelligible in the rain. She clutched the kit to her chest, screaming something to Inuyasha, who didn't seem to be in immediate view. Miroku and Sango were nowhere to be found, either. She rested her head on her paws, watching nonchalantly as Kagome scurried to the other side of the village.

Lixue lifted her head in curiosity as she noted the deep shade of red staining the miko's arm. Kagome did not seem to be hurt, however. Was it the kit's blood on her sleeves? Another explosion in the village as a dilapidated hut burst into twigs, and Inuyasha burst forth, brandishing his father's fang in a rage she hadn't ever seen from him before. Lixue's claws emerged and gripped the stone as she recognized the dainty form of Kagura dancing out of the way of the Wind Scar, her sway over wind giving her a measure of immunity to it. Inuyasha screamed profanities at her, pouncing in every spot that she occupied and destroying it utterly. Kagome laid the kit on the ground, begging him to open his eyes. Shippou did not move.

Lixue began to creep forward, sliding gently down the slope toward her prey.

Kagome began to laugh while she cried, a sound of relief as Shippou began to stir. Inuyasha rushed to her side to see the kit, ready to tell him off for scaring them like that, when Kagome screamed and fell back from the boy. Kagome clutched her chest as Shippou snarled, his mouth bloody where he had bitten the girl, his neck gaping grossly to his shoulder. She began to weep and screamed when the fox lunged for her again, Inuyasha knocking him away with the back of his fist and demanding to know what had gotten into him and what the hell was going on.

"Don't you see?" Kagura appeared behind Shippou, unwittingly placing herself in the path of the tigress. "I'm using the Dance of the Dead." She flipped her fan open, her back to Lixue. "Too bad he's so useless." She lifted the fan and Shippou lunged for his companions, baring his fangs with a snarl too deep for his chest. Kagome screamed her sobs as she dove behind Inuyasha, who reluctantly sheathed Tessaiga and shoved the sheath into Shippou's fangs, stopping the smaller demon.

It was then that Lixue struck, leaping forward through the rain and igniting her fire. She bared her fangs and her claws, the wind sorceress given barely time to turn before the tiger was upon her. Shippou dropped as the fan did, his body going limp once more. Kagura screeched as the tigress crunched her shin, dragging her toward the waiting fangs. Lixue's focus centered entirely on the very alive prey she held in her grasp, her mouth gaping and streams of fiery saliva dripping down her chin onto the ground. She flipped Kagura onto her back with her claws, pinning her down and scissoring her teeth over the woman's leg; she pulled back carefully, stripping the bones of their muscle and meat into her mouth. Kagura screeched to curdle blood and dug her claws into the tigress' flesh, swiping and kicking and reaching for her fan with bloodied and grasping fingers. Lixue lowered her body into a relaxed position as she took her sweet time, half-ignored by the hanyou and the hysterical miko.

Having devoured the meat from her legs, Lixue gripped the woman's arms below the elbows and pulled, twisting this way and that until they popped and tore free from their sockets in Kagura's shoulder. The prey shook with fear and anger, giant heaves as the tigress stole more of the sorceress' body. She hooked a single fang into Kagura's stomach, catching her intestine and drawing it out slowly as the woman stopped struggling – still alive but eyes glassy as she stared into the night sky, no longer even blinking when the rain hit her face.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Kagome stood, hugging the body of her dead pseudo-son tightly to her chest. "You can't do that to her!"

Lixue blinked, looking up and licking her whiskers free of the blood that beaded on them. "Why can't I?"

"Because it's torture!"

Lixue smiled, a disturbing visage of teeth and bits of gore hanging between her fangs. "Do not apply your human moralities to me, Kagome." She gave a long, languid lick into the open stomach of her foe. "This woman was an incarnation of Naraku and has killed many more than you have witnessed. Inuyasha was having no luck destroying her, but I suppose that if he had, his kills are more justified than mine because they're quick." She scoffed. "He's part human but he's part demon too. Do human standards only apply to him halfway? Tell me, Inuyasha, which part of you is stronger?"

"Just stop it!" She cried. "I can't take any more of this."

"She feels nothing, Kagome. She has gone into shock." The tigress scraped her barbed tongue across the woman's cheek, roughly scraping away the skin and revealing the muscle below. Kagura's chest fell and rose, but she did not react. "If I leave her as she is, she will either regain feeling and die in pain, or she will be revived by Naraku."

Inuyasha strode forward, face unreadable, drawing his sword. Lixue waited in curiosity to see what he would do. He stared up into the demoness' face before bringing his sword down, severing Kagura's head from her body in a smooth stroke.

Lixue smiled again, keeping her fangs covered as she returned Inuyasha's hard stare. "You are proving to be a most interesting observation, Inuyasha." She twisted her head, picking up the demoness' body and swallowing it, ensuring that she also swallowed the head and crushed the fan between her teeth.

"I didn't do it for you." Inuyasha muttered, his ears drooping in the rain as he looked over his shoulder at Kagome, who wept bitterly. She splayed in the mud carelessly, stroking the child's cheek.

Lixue sat up when Kagome turned to her, expression desperate and eyes wide despite the steady streams of rain intermingling with the tears on her face. "You have to take him to Sesshomaru! He has Tenseiga, he has to help," she curled the boy close to her body and ran toward the tigress. "He won't listen to me or Inuyasha. Please, take us to him!"

"Kagome," Inuyasha held out a hand to Kagome, who shrugged it off.

"Kagome, I don't know that Sesshomaru will help you." Lixue said it as gently as she could, taking no pleasure in the heartbreak in the kind miko's eyes.

"Can't you make him?" Kagome fell to her knees, bowing deeply enough to coat her forehead with bloody mud. "I'm begging you, Lixue, just take us!"

"I…" The tigress took a moment and mentally placed Rin in the place of the kit, reaching a semblance of understanding at the near insane tone of the other woman's pleas. "I cannot guarantee he will help you, but I will take you there." She lowered herself to the ground. "If you prefer, I will take you on my back."

Kagome nodded, biting her lip and thanking the tigress profusely. Inuyasha aided Kagome onto Lixue's back, holding back his comment on her increased size and the new blue fire. He jumped onto the ground, preferring to run on his own in tandem with the tiger.

Lixue turned toward the castle, wondering at her strange predilection for finding things to annoy Sesshomaru with.

oOxXxOo

The great tiger leapt in controlled bursts down the mountain, the volatile surface sliding at the slightest provocation. Kagome's hands alternating between twisting themselves in the fur on Lixue's shoulders and reassuring the boy in her arms that he would be okay. Inuyasha's jumps brought him too close to the tiger's, often making her stop short or overextend. She said nothing, absorbing it as best she could. She ruminated, half-leading them to the castle in the dark and wet.

When they hit level ground, he no longer crossed her feet.

When the castle tower was in dark relief against the clouded moonlight, a shadow against lighter shadow, Lixue halted in surprise; there, soaked through and clearly waiting for her, stood Sesshomaru. He stopped as well, apparently only mildly irritated by the rain but far more irritated that Kagome had slid down from her perch on the tiger's back (no mean feat, as she still stood) had laid the body of a child before her and was kneeling in his path, bowing so far as to coat her forehead in mud and decaying leaves. Inuyasha stood by, agitation and worry marking his stiff movements. He was silent, watching his brother and his miko.

"Please, Lord Sesshomaru, please use Tenseiga to bring Shippou back," Kagome pleaded, her voice clear through the gradually lightening rainfall. "I'm begging you."

Sesshomaru glanced at his half-brother, who had approached Kagome's side, but said nothing. They stared between themselves, and when Sesshomaru continued to do nothing, the hanyou did the unthinkable. Inuyasha lowered himself slowly, painfully, to the ground, sacrificing his pride before his brother.

Kagome looked tearfully up into the taiyoukai's face. "Please."

"No."

"W…what?" Kagome's weak response crept out of her mouth and her eyes were wide with fear. Disbelief.

"What do ya mean, 'No'?!" Inuyasha slid to his feet, the ground slick with mud and deteriorating plant life. "You're the only one who can bring Shippou back, and you say no?"

"It is not my responsibility to bring back every creature that dies due to your incompetence, Inuyasha." He turned back toward the castle. "I suggest you protect the rest of your friends better if you do not wish them the same fate."

"Damn you, Sesshomaru," Inuyasha gripped the hilt of his Tessaiga, glaring at Lixue when she rumbled a warning. "I should have known you wouldn't help us."

"Please, Lixue, make him reconsider," Kagome clutched at the tigress' fur, desperation painting her.

"I had warned you that he may refuse," Lixue responded as softly as she knew how. "I cannot do anything more."

"You have to stop him!"

"I'm sorry, Kagome." Lixue felt the fists release from her fur as the girl cracked, her grief and sorrow tearing out of her throat. Kagome threw herself into Inuyasha's arms, needing his comfort and support, no longer able to stand on her own.

The tigress padded after the dog, glancing behind her at the disappearing caricature of irreparable disillusion.

oOxXxOo

Lixue followed Sesshomaru through the gate, their walk silent. She guessed that he had begun to seek her during the storm, but had no idea why. I'm capable of handling a little rain.

More importantly, perhaps, was the question why he refused to bring the kit back. Is he trying to teach Inuyasha a hard lesson? I suppose that beyond Kikyo, Inuyasha has never really lost anyone under his protection. In a way, he didn't lose her in the end. He travels with her reincarnation, and I think I remember them saying that there's also some sort of risen version of her wandering about. Well, now, wait. He was apparently too young to know when he lost his father, but he has a human mother. Is she still alive?

She shook her head vigorously. Humans don't live two hundred years. She probably died while he was young, of old age or something. At least Sesshomaru still has his mother. He also had the opportunity to grow up with his father's guidance. I wonder what he would have thought of Sesshomaru's lessons.

Sesshomaru came to a stop in the entryway, turning to see why the tigress had stopped. She stood in the rain, staring into the sky with a thoughtful expression. He waited only a few minutes more before going indoors, understanding that while her body had returned, her spirit still wandered.

The tigress stayed awake through the night, lying in the broken spears of grass and trying to pick out the image of the moon in the clouds.

oOxXxOo

The rain broke as the sunlight did, the demoness chilled through and frost spidering across her fur. She rested with her head on her paws, her eyes glassing in an unfocused stare as she remained in thought. She blinked and came back to herself as Sesshomaru stepped in her view.

"You are not meant to be covered in ice."

She attempted to speak, finding her mouth stiff and her voice raspy. She cleared her throat and tried again. "No, I suppose I'm not."

"You stayed out all night in the rain."

"I did."

He continued to look at her, and she realized he meant it more as a question than an observation. "I had a lot to think about, and I didn't want you to come find me again, if that's what you were doing last night."

"Thinking is just as easily done indoors as out."

"I like to wander. Does this bother you or something, me being out here all icy?"

"Yes."

"Oh." She did not expect him to be so forthcoming. "Well… oh. I could… go take a bath, I guess."

"Hnn."

Sesshomaru did not leave, shifting his weight almost imperceptibly as he seemed to have an inner dialogue. The tigress perked her ears, waiting patiently to see what it was he was going to say. Or do.

He opened his mouth, changed his mind, then left to go back into the main tower of the castle.

Well, I guess I won't know for a while yet.

oOxXxOo

Lixue sank into the luxurious heat of the bath, scratching her back against the edges of the stone and stretching. When she had first entered her quarters to get her change of clothes, she wondered at Adisa's absence before remembering his comment the day before. Her skin prickled in a ghost of raising hackles until she regained her composure. She knew he had meant well, pushing her into realizing what he meant, but the wounds were too fresh.

Now, in the languid steam that crept along the surface of the water, she breathed and fought the heaviness of her eyelids. I think I should be upset at Sesshomaru's refusal to help Kagome and Inuyasha, but I'm… okay with it. If I were him, I wouldn't just hand out resurrections either. Everyone would be coming around at all hours if they knew that I had the power to reverse death. That one thing that is permanent, forever, would then simply become a suspension of life. Someone would invariably decide they need it more than me and then you have more fighting, more dying, to be able to bring people back to life. I suppose in the hands of an army, it essentially doubles your size.

I can't help but feel that I should be upset about it. Even though I'm not. Just because it's his brother? He hates his brother. Or something. It's so hard to tell with them.

Lixue tried to puzzle out the relationship between the brothers but soon quit, finding it much too complicated for her tastes.