Good afternoon, and welcome back!
Hey there, great to have you back! As I'm sure you've heard, Chapter Twenty-five is here for you to enjoy. The chapter won't be much, but surely, it will hold you over until next weeks Chapter Twenty-six. Enjoy the read and be sure to review!
Please take great care, and I hope to see you again soon!
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Sesshoumaru arrived at The Western Castle with Kioko in his arms and upon entering through the castle entrance, had ordered for the demon healer that resided there to be sent to his chambers immediately. Rushing as quickly as he could through the halls, he held Kioko to him without fail, using his glares to make people move out of his way. Rin and Jaken, who had somehow been immediately aware of his arrival, had rushed to meet him while on his way to his bedchamber when they saw the injured priestess within his arms.
" Oh no, Kioko! " Rin yelled out and darted over to run by Sesshoumaru's side to keep up with his hurried stride. Her face expressing the deepest of worries and her eyes glistening with unshed tears at the amount of blood that smothered Kioko's body and her lord's clothing.
" Me Lord, what happened? " Jaken asked in panic at Kioko's condition but more so of Sesshoumaru's composure. He knew his lord better than anyone else, and he could tell Sesshoumaru was on the edge. His demonic aura was erratic, and his eyes were sharper and more threatening than their usual gaze.
" I don't have time to explain right now. Go elsewhere until I call for you. " Was Sesshoumaru's only response to the both of them. Jaken and Rin ceased in following Sesshoumaru, standing side by side in the hall as a demoness doctor ran past them to follow after their Lord, and their Lady that laid in his arms. The twins which had heard of Sesshoumaru's arrival had instantly gone to their post outside of his room as they were to always do whenever he was home. So when Sesshoumaru came to view with Kioko's bloodied form in his arms, they were more than shocked at the visual. Sesshoumaru quickly brushed past them both and made his way into the room as one of the twin's quickly opened the door for him, only for the door to be shut in their faces by the doctor who entered the room last. Sesshoumaru placed Kioko's body onto the bed attentively, not caring about the blood that would surely stain his high-end bedding. The healer rushed to the opposite side of the bed, to Kioko's left.
" My lord, if you could tell me the cause and area of critical injury I could tend to it immediately. " The elder demoness said as she began setting up her magnitude of tools by the bed.
" Her chest was pierced through with a demon's appendage. Before that, she had been contained within highly corrosive miasma that I believe has tainted her body. " He said as he saw Kioko breathing in labored pain. The doctor nodded and began shuffling through her things quicker than she was the moment before. Miasma again. She'd have thought after last time the stupid woman would have been more careful around the lethally potent stuff. Sesshoumaru looked Kioko over before noticing her eyes open and look over at him. No smile graced her beautiful face which caused Sesshoumaru's stomach to drop.
" S-Sesshoumaru. " Kioko called out with a feeble voice before reaching her right hand up to reach for him. Sesshoumaru instantly took it within his left in comfort as he leaned forward in order to show her further that he was there. Her trembling bloody lips had his chest to ache with a clenching sensation.
" I'm here. " Sesshoumaru said emotionlessly. He could practically hear the sigh of relief in her troubled breathing and her body to relax slightly more before her gaze shifted to look behind him at the room.
" We're... we're home? " She asked sincerely. The doctor winced at the question, finding it unnerving to hear the human ask such a question at a time like this. Looking at her lord, the elder noticed Sesshoumaru's eyes soften towards the human priestess in reaction to her question and then witnessed before her very eyes his right hand reach up to caress Kioko's left cheek. Kioko's eyes met his again to see his tender gaze looking back. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears in comfort of his beautiful eyes looking at her. A shot of pain throbbed through her head, making her feeling both light headed and dizzy.
" Yes. We're home. " Sesshoumaru said with as void tone as he did before except it was undertoned with something that proved he found the question endearing. Kioko almost smiled but when another striking pain shot through her head, her vision blurred before going black again. It was then that both Sesshoumaru and the doctor noticed Kioko pass out, most likely from pain which sent the demoness into overdrive. Standing up and gently placing Kioko's hand to her side before stepping back, Sesshoumaru watched as the doctor prepared to remove Kioko's shirt before looking to him.
" Please forgive me, but it would be best to treat her without you in the room. " She said as her dark blue gaze looked at the demon she served with urgency. Sesshoumaru's eyes turned to a chilling glare towards her, displeased with her subtly telling him to leave Kioko alone with her.
" I'll go nowhere. Heal her or I'll kill you and have someone else take your place. " Sesshoumaru said with a threatening tone in his cold voice. Taking that as her hint, she removed Kioko's shirt to look at the blood slowly oozing from the hole that had mostly healed in Kioko's chest.
" For a human, I'm surprised she's alive. I'm sure that's thanks to you, Lord Sesshoumaru. " The doctor praised as she started treating Kioko's lethal injury. Sesshoumaru watched with his emotionlessly gaze, despite his chest filling with anguish at the view of the wound. Hours had passed and by the time the doctor had finished healing Kioko as best she could, night had fallen. She was currently gathering her tools and ready to leave making her way over to Sesshoumaru who hadn't moved once since she began her work. Standing by his side to look at the priestess resting her mind filled with both confusion and curiosity. Her demon lord who had never liked humans before or shown invested interest in a woman previously in his life had become clearly attached to this woman who laid in his bed almost injured beyond repair. In all her years, she never thought she'd see the day Sesshoumaru would kneel to that of a human woman, just as his father did before he paid the price. " I've done what I could for the trauma to her chest. As I'm sure you've already suspected, it will scar, but it will no longer kill her. What has me wary is her body is tainted with significantly more miasma than she already contained the last time you had brought her here. "
" What can be done about it. " Sesshoumaru responded with a slightly disheartened tone that she hadn't expected to catch. However, she acted as if she didn't notice it and continued with her conclusion in a clinical-like tone.
" If it were me I'd recommend killing her. Her spiritual energy had taken a significant amount of damage, and it is eating away at her body from the inside. It will be massively painful for her if she ever wakes. However, I suspect that isn't something you would even consider, so I recommend finding a way to purify her body to the best you are able. Being a demon, that is not a service I can provide you, Lord Sesshoumaru. " His silence was all she was rewarded with. Finding nothing else for her to report, she turned to walk towards the door of the bedroom and as she reached for the door to leave she paused and looked back at Sesshoumaru whose back was now to her and was still unmoved, facing towards the sleeping beauty within his bed. " I must ask, my lord. What is your interest in this human? I must admit I can not fathom why you'd be so attached to such a short-lived mortal girl. " The doctor asked in her curiosity. Sesshoumaru looked over his left shoulder at her, his eyes glinting in danger at her prying but as he looked at the old demoness that was far older than even he, and even helped to birth him long ago, he decided to humor her with an answer.
" You would not understand because you have only met her while she lay unconscious. Perhaps if you were properly acquainted with her, you could comprehend it. Otherwise, I can not explain it to you. " Sesshoumaru replied in a detached tone. ' I don't care about someone's race; it makes absolutely no difference to me what you are. It's who you choose to be that defines you. ' Kioko's voice spoke in his mind. The demoness looked at him puzzled but suspected she knew the answer. Love. He loved her, and though he was right, she never met the human while she was awake, the old healer suspected the human loved her young lord in return and had to of been something spectacular to witness in order to gain the affections of the Lord she had known all his life.
" If you would, please answer me one last thing. How exactly did she sustain such a life-threatening injury? " She asked. Sesshoumaru looked forward again, towards the human that had earned his affections long before he realized. This surprised the old demoness. She had never known Sesshoumaru to look away while addressing someone.
" She took the attack meant for me to protect me from harm. " He said with a slightly quieter tone at the memory. The sight of her bleeding from her smiling lips and her eyes looking at him with happiness just from seeing him while also reflecting pain because of that disgusting limb of Naraku's protruding from her body flashed past his vision. His stomach clenched with uneasiness at the memory of it. The healer became aware his removed gaze before his response must have been from a sort of shame.
" So she saved you, at the cost of her own life? " The demoness asked in astonishment. A human priestess had thrown herself in front of danger to protect the life of such a powerful demon lord? What kind of mockery was that? Such a thing was unheard of. Maybe it would be good for her to meet this woman once she had awakened if she did at all that is. " Fair night, my lord. Try to rest. " Was all she said before then taking her leave out of the room and closing the door quietly behind her. Once the healer left the room, Sesshoumaru made his way over to the bed, sitting where he previously did by Kioko's side. She was breathing more peacefully paced despite her body smothered in a layer of sweat from her fighting off the miasma in her body that he could smell faintly coming off of her. Looking at her bandaged chest, the healing bruise and cut on her neck and the small kiss marks that were fading on her right shoulder, his gaze softened with a hint of rage.
It was going to scar. He hoped it wouldn't haunt her as much as the one on her back seemed to. He recalled asking her where and why she had gotten it and her response was filled with a voice that spoke with a mourn-filled tone. ' Because I exist. ' He heard her repeat in his mind, from their night in the hot springs, which ironically Naraku had ruined the memory of as well with his action also occurring in a hot spring as well. Sesshoumaru suspected what happened there given the smells left behind once Naraku had taken Kioko. Naraku's arousal practically drowned the air as much as the scent of Kioko's tears had done as if to rub his nose into what had possibly happened. ' I didn't allow it to get that far and I fought for as long as I- ' He recalled being the first thing she chose to tell him before he cut her off. He didn't need to hear her finish that sentence. He knew she wouldn't allow Naraku to victimize her or any man. Not even he would be tolerated. She was well guarded; she had made sure of it. To the point where even while sleeping a barrier shielded her from the touch of anyone, she deemed untrustworthy. Such a result he suspected to be the outcome of her family's treatment towards her while she was young. Leaning forward, Sesshoumaru's upper body hovered over Kioko, before using his left hand to gracefully move her bangs from her forehead and gently placing a kiss on it.
How many times would they relive her being injured like this? Hurt, also unconscious and leaving him to wait around for her to awaken? She must have been as tired of it as he was. It was time taken from them, and with her human lifespan, he already started off with more time without her than with. It was frustrating, but he'd have it no other way. He'd have her no other way. Who she was was why he... ' Do you know why I love you, Sesshoumaru? ' His jaw clenched at the memory of her confession and just as he leaned back to look at her sleeping face with a conflicted expression. He heard a knock at his door, which instantly agitated him.
" What is it? " Sesshoumaru asked in a detached tone of voice laced with annoyance while his eyes hardened and his left hand grazed down to Kioko's right cheek to brush his thumb against her skin with a gentle touch.
" Lord Sesshoumaru, Rin is here. " Sesshoumaru heard Taro announce through the closed door. Knowing Rin should be in bed by now, Sesshoumaru reluctantly stood from Kioko's side and walked towards the door before opening it to see the two guards looking at him with serious expressions. Looking around he hadn't seen Rin until he looked to the right side to see Rin there, sleeping against the wall with Jaken to the right of her sleeping on the floor none too gracefully. Rin was in the same position Kioko had been when he had found her the night before she left the castle. An image of Kioko in the same spot entered his mind as he stared at Rin for a minute. He couldn't help but find it amusingly accurate to say that Rin must have indeed been Kioko's child if the girl was unknowingly doing the precise same things as Kioko had done. He went over and picked Rin up carefully and stood there with his back to the twins just staring down at Rin with a cold gaze that held adoration for the small child. ' Let's go back. I want to see our daughter. ' Kioko's voice rang out. This would devastate her. To never see him or Rin again. Still, knowing that, she sacrificed her life for his without a second thought. She valued his life above her own and in doing so left someone to care for Rin as she would. Jaken had taken that moment to awaken and look up at his Lord groggily at first before then turning to a gaze of sadness.
Sesshoumaru took one step after another to take Rin back to her room, Jaken following behind him quietly only to wait outside the door once Sesshoumaru entered Rin's chamber. Once Sesshoumaru had tucked her in the girl turned to her side in her sleep. His eyes softened at the human child he had taken care of for longer than he knew Kioko. Yet, Kioko continued to care for Rin as much as he did. ' I adore her as if she were my own child. It's something I never thought I'd honestly have. ' He heard Kioko say to him. He never realized, until Kioko said those words to him the last time she was within these castle walls, that he had felt the exact same way, word for word. He never understood what he felt, and that didn't only go towards Rin but in a whole. Emotions baffled him. He just couldn't fathom which were which or why he would be feeling whichever one was occurring at the time. Even more so he never understood the actions of humans when they felt a certain way. Kioko, however, could see through him. Could look into his eyes and know what emotion was plaguing him and it wasn't long until he was able to recognize emotions that her gaze would look at him or others with himself. She had taught him as such without him realizing it. Taking a deep silent breath, Sesshoumaru left Rin's room and closed the door gently behind him as not to wake her. Jaken stood there looking up at him worriedly.
" Me Lord, is she fairing well? " Jaken asked with a slightly worried voice. That was something else that had caught Sesshoumaru by surprise. Jaken had been known to dote over Rin but to see him also worry for Kioko when the time arose to do so, confused him. Jaken was known to have a dislike for humans just as Sesshoumaru was known to despise them.
" No. " Was all Sesshoumaru told him. Despite popular belief, Jaken was someone Sesshoumaru found to be the closest thing to a friend he'd ever had. The small green imp knew his emotions, and why he felt them despite the fact, his composure never left it's detached and emotionless facade. Jaken understood him. Had even expressed Sesshoumaru's feelings and inner wishes on his behalf knowing Sesshoumaru was just not capable of doing so on his own. He simply wasn't raised that way. His father asked him once if he had someone to protect and the question was once ludicrous to him. He thought he needed no one for all others in the world were useless unless they were to act as a tool in service of him. He hated to admit it, but he would have to agree with his father that he was foolish to think as such. For now, he didn't have only one to protect, but three.
" What can I do my lord, simply tell me, and I shall do it! " Jaken said confidently in hopes of easing Sesshoumaru's obvious pain. For Sesshoumaru, the remark during his current train of thought had him wonder if for those three he wished to protect, did they wish to do the same for him? Not because he was their lord but because they sincerely care for him. For Kioko, the answer was already more than crystal clear.
" Find me the dead priestess. The one known as Kikyo. " Sesshoumaru requested. If he needed to purify Kioko's body, the best and most powerful person that he knew to do it, would be the undead priestess that Kioko was profoundly attached to.
" Yes, of course, me lord right away. " Jaken said in a sudden hurry before going to run down the hall to do as was asked of him. However, before he turned from the dog demon's sight, Jaken stopped and turned warily towards Sesshoumaru. His eyes held uncertainty, but eventually, he gathered the courage to say what he wanted to the demon he held in such high respects. " Do not fret me lord. She will get better. I will personally see to it that Kioko is returned to perfect health in no time. So please do not be so heavy hearted. " Jaken said with a serious but genuine tone of voice. His words caught Sesshoumaru off guard as the small green demon immediately ran out of sight to do as he was asked. Sesshoumaru stood there alone in the hall in silence. His jaw clenched at the ache in his chest from Jaken's words. Heavy hearted indeed.
Ten days have passed, and still, Jaken had not returned with Kikyo in tow. Sesshoumaru doubt she had killed him, given it was Kioko's life on the line, which left him to believe Jaken was having a desperately hard time locating her. Made sense given she was also in hiding of Naraku. Over these past ten days, Rin had been by every day to check and see if Kioko had woken up yet. However, to both he and Rin's dismay, she had not. Many times he had left Rin alone in the room, to quickly deal with matters he couldn't avoid, only to come back to see Rin always laying by Kioko's right side, between the woman's arm and her body. Sometimes she'd be crying others she wouldn't, and half of those moments he'd find the young girl simply sleeping. Obviously, Rin missed her greatly. Thankfully, the girl was currently eating lunch out in the dining hall and wasn't sulking in the room, leaving him able to do so instead. He was currently staring out the window within his chambers as the elder healer had just left after changing Kioko's bandages.
Sesshoumaru could feel himself wearing thin. Everywhere he went and everywhere he looked he thought of Kioko, or could hear Kioko responding in his ear as if she were there, even though, of course, she wasn't. ' Ever since we met, you have been all I could see. You were always within my sight, and when you were nowhere to be found, you were always on my mind or in my heart. Both overrun with thoughts of you and consumed with seeing you again. ' Her words echoed. To know she had felt the same way made him happy and at the same time was maddening. How was she able to tolerate it? He would give almost anything just to have her awake and able to talk to him, to look at him and smile as she always did. He never realized just how much she had affected his everyday life and now that she was betrothed to him he had grown exponentially attached to her presence in his life. He missed her.
Even more so he was sure she was devastated at her collar being removed. He wasn't blinded to just how much Kioko treasured the small family heirloom that he had given to her. To see her without it was disheartening when he came face to face with Kioko's bare body within that disgusting miasma prison Naraku confined her to. It was the day after he returned to the castle with Kioko that he had the collar repaired and now held it within his sleeve. He'd make sure to place it back on her after she awakens if she still desired it. All that's happened didn't change his mind on wanting to mate with her. If anything he felt the need to do so even more after all of this. It would keep Naraku from having her, and keep him from worrying about any other attempting to steal her from him again. She was his. She had accepted as such.
' ... Despite all I've heard about your past actions and your past beliefs regarding humans, you have never once let me down. ' His guilt struck him all over again. All this time spent waiting for her to wake up had left him to drown in his own thoughts. He still felt at fault for leaving her side, and then for not being strong enough to prevent her from having to protect him in battle. He should have discussed moving their mating up to a sooner time rather than walking away, but he knew had he done so Kioko would refuse. She wanted to wait until Naraku's demise as well and wanted that time spent in between to be spent getting to know one another. To make sure they would make each other happy because she didn't want either of them to regret the decision. Her with such a short lifespan and him with being mated for life. It was a major decision for the two of them to make together. She cared more about what she would feel was best for him even if it killed her, both literally and figuratively. He knew that in Kioko's mind, his happiness outranked hers. It was something about her that both annoyed him and melted him at the same time.
' You're such a good person at heart, and despite you hiding it so well, I still see it. I have always believed in you, and even now, I do. ' She shouldn't have. That belief ended with her being in this condition and though he knew it was her choice that got her here he still felt that he had failed her. He feared if she didn't wake soon he'd go berserk. His need for her in just about every possible way that existed was drowning him in misery. Her silence and unconscious state pained him immensely more than he'd allow it to show. She had told him she loved him at long last and it had to be her dying words before he brought her back to life. ' I realize this will be unreasonably self-centered of me, and I've considered taking what I have to say with me to the grave, but I can't bring myself to keep it from you. ' It was selfish indeed, almost cruel, but he'd forgive her. He'd forget her moment of selfishness if she'd finally just wake and allow him to witness for himself that she would be fine rather than hearing his healer tell him constantly that her eyes opening again was no guarantee.
' Say it again. My name. Please say it again. ' He heard her voice ask him as her last request. Something so trivial was all she asked for. Something he knew she loved to hear him say yet somehow he hardly ever did. Her smiling face while dancing with Rin in the garden the last time she had been in the castle filled his mind and a golden gaze filled with melted pain stared out the window at a scene only he could see. ' Those eyes of yours are too beautiful to have that look, Sesshoumaru. '
" Kioko. " He said absentmindedly in a soft tone while deep in his thoughts. His heart tightened at her name passing his lips, and he felt that overpowering sinking feeling in his stomach at the thought of never hearing her call his name out again in return. The thought of never feeling her overwhelming touch that could soothe him, set his body aflame in desire or even calm him from his anger in a matter of instants. Thoughts of what he'd never get to see, hear, or experience with her again filled his mind as thoughts filled with what he'll never get to have with her that he should have had in his future filled his heart. He wanted this to stop, this feeling of mourning as if she were dead even when she wasn't. He brought her back. He shouldn't feel this way. He wanted Kioko to make it stop. To help ease him. Suddenly, he froze as the room felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. His eyes went wide as his thoughts diminished to nothingness as a sound hit his ears like a blow to the head.
" Sesshoumaru. "