Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of "InuYasha" by Rumiko Takahashi nor do I own the world as put in place by Saranne Dawson's Secret's of the Wolf.
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A/N: Sigh, another short addition. I would like to give a big hug to my reviewers from the previous chapter, elemental573, AllStar10836, 43InuAsha, SexyDemonGirl5000, kagfan5, sayuri-girl, llebreknit, LadySafire and Inuforlyf. Thanks again also to all my readers—you are really too much for me: flattery, constructive criticism, encouragement . . . I'm so happy!
Now, onto the real reason you all are putting up with my jabber, sentimentalism-- not to mention lateness: chapter twenty-four!
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« Behind Ancient Mists »
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Chapter Twenty-four
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The fire crackled in reminiscence of the tension between the two. Kagome may have sorted out her feelings to a degree, but she still did not expect to see him so soon. She had hoped for at least a week's time to run back to the village. Instead her opportunity had been stolen from her and with bated breaths she gazed into the eyes of Sesshoumaru with apprehension. There was something unnerving in his eyes— something more than usual.
"Wh—what are you doing here?" Her voice was unsteady and she unconsciously backed herself against the corner of the side table.
Sesshoumaru did not smile, but instead advanced upon her predatorily. "Quite a way to greet me after so long Kagome— and here I thought you cared."
Her eyes dilated in sudden fear so quickly that Kagome's mind had no rational before she sunk even further into the furniture. In a split second she had retrieved the very knife she had stolen from him out from her pocket. Her hand shook warningly with the weapon for a few seconds before the woman realized what she was implying. Didn't she care for Sesshoumaru— did she not just admit to herself that she did indeed? Why then would she attempt to threaten his life?
Sesshoumaru closed the distance between them until Kagome could feel his warm breaths on her face. "Do you still hate me Kagome? Am I that detestable to you now?"
She slipped the weapon back into its hidden position of her pocket and struggled, but achieved nonetheless, to escape the confines of Sesshoumaru. "N—no. Why would you think that?" Her fingers ran together disjointedly and her eyes sought any vacant spot but where he stood.
He smirked coyly. "You ran Kagome, what other explanation was I supposed to draw— that you love me?"
Kagome's throat closed tightly and pained. She had indeed desired to tell him of her feelings, but now it appeared they would have to wait. She imagined Sesshoumaru would not be as receptive to her feelings as she would have liked, speaking as scathingly as he was now.
"You— I found out you were not human. What did you think I would do? Run and embrace you, fur and all, then and there? I was frightened Sesshoumaru. Will you degrade me for that?"
His eyes twinkled. "I suppose not." He moved back to his previous sitting position, only choosing instead to sit facing her. "You have been well I trust?"
"I have." Kagome's stomach curled slowly into a relaxed position, but not completely. Something about how he was now would not allow her to relax. There was something troubling that had resulted in his visit— something involving her no doubt.
"Enjoying your renewed work at the diner ...with that boy?" Kagome tilted her head slowly at the question. She had known for some time that he had been following her, but did he speak with disdain just then?
"Just because I've allowed you to follow me around does not give you the right to get so easily jealous over me."
Kagome heard him scoff. "Allowed me? Kagome you of all people should know that I am no pup needing permission to guard it's property."
"Property!" Kagome shrieked. "You never would have even thought to demote me have such before— what has happened to you? You're different— there's something different about you now. I can tell."
In her anger Kagome missed the fleeting look of sadness that passed through him. "Rejection does things to people Kagome. Do not act surprised."
Kagome too shared her beat of disheartenment, but it was not missed. "Of course. I'm sorry— what is the reason for your visit? I—I don't believe that question was ever answered."
"Business as always I see… in that case I'll get right to the point. You are in danger Kagome and I am afraid I can no longer protect you here as I have done."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going back to the Dark Mountains… and you're coming with me."
Her eyes widened and her fists tightened at the prospective of being forced against her will. "Going with you! Do I have no choice in this matter?!"
Sesshoumaru's face remained calm. "There is no time for second guessing. The elders have already sent attackers after you and—"
Kagome's eyes widened with recollection. "It was you ...that night when Haru claimed he had seen a wild dog loose. What were you doing?"
"As I said, the elders had just sent their first set of patrollers to silence you. Instead it was they who were silenced."
"You— you killed them?" Kagome's eyes widened. "What could possible provoke them enough that they would need to be killed over me? My interference disappeared once I left did it not?"
Sesshoumaru shook his head wearingly. "You will of course remember the elder that attempted to take your life that night of the festival. They had been out to kill you then and since their work was left unfilled they now seek to finish the job. The elders are not easy to forget, nor are they easy to appease."
"I am afraid I still do not quite understand."
"They will not stop at your death Kagome. The attacks have already begun. Now come as we have already lost enough time."
Sesshoumaru latched onto her palm, expecting to pull the woman along after him without much trouble. What he least expected was resistance, especially after all he had just revealed. He turned around to witness a stone-faced Kagome who had put her foot down quite literally and noisily.
"I will not!"
"Woman— don't be unreasonable."
"I refuse to come with you until I am given some answers!"
Sesshoumaru's eyes flashed and he let out a held breath with much annoyance, but let her have her way in the issue. "What do you wish to know?" His voice turned stoic and let anger subside. The faster her her questions were answered the faster they could leave.
"My uncle, Jira, spent most of his life trying to discover the secrets of the world. There was something always enticing about discovery and when he first came to your land it was no different." She swallowed with difficulty before continuing. Sesshoumaru had already grown rigid having fear of what was about to be asked of him. "Did you have my uncle killed, Sesshoumaru? Are you the reason he never came back to me?"
She saw him tense and felt the very air between them become frail. She had feared since the day she left that she knew the truth, but she had needed the confirmation from Sesshoumaru to truly accept it. She believed in her acceptance as something she truly desired, but if it did not come with full knowledge it was only based on hope and not the full extent of the facts. Nonetheless of her desire to know, the comprehension fell into her like a cold, hard lump of ice.
"There are more complications than you could possibly aim to rectify this with. It was a mistake, Kagome."
"A mistake?" she repeated, her voice rising. "Whose mistake, Sesshoumaru—yours or the elder's?"
"Mine," he replied lowly, his eyes still on her.
"Are you saying that you killed him—or that you ordered him to be killed?" she asked, though it made little difference. He was dead and one way or another the man before her-- the man she might even love-- had been involved.
"To my undying shame… I killed him."
Kagome felt both cold and hot with rage at the same time. She moved behind the desk, as if it somehow protected herself from him. "Tell me why," she ordered. "He hadn't told anyone about his discovery. You knew that. You even attended his lecture."
"But he was coming back—and we knew that he intended to try to come to the mountains with others. Even if he did come alone, he would have told more people sooner or later."
Hot tears were stinging her eyes, making him only a blur. She wiped them away with her free hand. "Why didn't you just talk to him, Sesshoumaru? He would have kept your secret."
"The elders convinced me that he wouldn't. They were certain that he intended to show the others his discovery, and then bring them to the mountains."
It could have happened that way, she thought through a haze of pain and anger. She knew that Jira must have been greatly troubled by his failure to tell them about the room. If he'd lived, he might well have led them to it to see if they, too, experienced what he had.
"Our leaders have always done things they were not proud of, simply to prevent outsiders from coming into the Dark Mountains. We are sworn to protect our people, so we allow the elders to keep the wars going, century after century. Even through our history Jira has not the first to have died for this cause of secrecy."
"It's wrong, Sesshoumaru! You cannot buy your people's safety with the blood of others!"
To her considerable surprise, his eyes hardened and glazed over. "I have done the very same for you— bought your life with the blood of those worthless few sent to end your life. Would you have rather had me let them kill you when I could stop it? Still—" Sesshoumaru's eyes calmed then and he misdirected his gaze from her, "I know now that the life of your uncle was taken without merit. I was foolish and allowed myself to be overtaken by the elder's influence— I realized to late that something could be done. I realized to late once I had already found you."
Kagome remained quiet for a while, attempting to digest the information. It was strange how easily her anger had already subsided. The only reaction Kagome felt was the brief numbing of her palms as her fingernails bit into them and released. Perhaps it was due to her already instinctively knowing the truth that the final admittance to Sesshoumaru causing her uncle's held little sting. The pain was there, but its intensity had lessened; Kagome was moving on with her life. Her uncle, no doubt, would have wanted it that way.
Looking up and finding her gaze with that of Sesshoumaru's, Kagome opened her mouth to mumble silent words before finally uttering out loud. "You spoke to me once before that you did indeed come to the cabin that night you sent... sent me back to bed," she uttered slowly, still not quite used to the idea of supernatural powers, "but, you have not told me why it was you came. My uncle had already been dead at that point, so what did you have to gain by your coming back then?"
"What I had to gain was to stop you— or any others from following his footsteps back to our mountains." He spoke with conviction despite his voice remaining level. "Of course this plan failed, but as leader it is my duty to do all I can to protect my own.
"So, you came back only to further secure your people's secrets."
Sesshoumaru's eyes twinkled mischievously only for a moment and never had Kagome felt such fear behind such a look. "What you just spoke of is what the elders have led and hoped themselves into believing since the beginning. For generations they have been working upon the reversal of their servitude to us and came close to achieving with me, but it was my interaction with your uncle that first started changing all that."
Kagome gave a bemused expression and so he elaborated. "It has been as the elders always feared. I cannot deny it fully now, although it is a different retrospect then they believe. The elders have always feared my commuting between this world and my own— they feared it would weaken my ties as a leader and soften my ways in keeping with tradition. In other words, what the elders feared most of all was my full breaking away from their influence. Even now they have been banned from the village grounds and my people's negative outcries of them are slowly starting to surface now that the fear of their control is loosening. Still, I cannot pretend that they are not still a threat, perhaps even more so now that the amiable nature has been broken. As I have said, the elders have always been ruthless and they will continue to be so. I may have originally come to your home that night in search of your uncle's journal— to destroy it and all remaining evidence of our existence, but I left with something else although my hands lay empty. I left with what the elders feared most of all."
"What did you leave with?"
Sesshoumaru's eyes softened and unknown to Kagome his heart burst inside of him, but he silenced the warming. "That— however is a question still left to be answered for another time. War with the elders is upon us. Perhaps when we are finally free I will tell you. When the right time comes you shall know."
Kagome crossed her arms about her chest immaturely like a child denied a delightful treat, but she smiled nonetheless.
"Do you have any other questions?" His tone slowly slipped back into trite bitterness.
"Well…" Kagome's smile suddenly took a turn into playfulness and latching her arms behind her back, slowly began to stalk around Sesshoumaru much to the bristling of his temper. "... I could always ask you about your origins— being a dog and all."
"I am not a pet woman," he spat out when Kagome cooed at him as one would a trained pup.
"Of course not." She continued to smile. "Still, you are a canine of sorts and someone human such as I is understandably curious of your existence. Were you born an animal or a man? Do the women know of this change? Do the men change form as well?" Suddenly her overly excited voice calmed and turned almost solemn. "Shippou." Her eyes met up to his gaze and he saw the seriousness and need for understanding in them. "Shippou isn't like the rest of you is he?"
"No, he does not share in the transformation."
"Is that why he is outcasted— why he cannot join the others in the defense guard?" Kagome did not have to wait for an answer from him. "I see." The woman plucked her finger thoughtfully at her chin once and then twice before turning straight around and heading out the doorway from the library.
"Where are you going Kagome? I have abided by this portion of our deal— I have answered your questions and so now we must leave!"
"I'm aware of that."
"So then where are you—?"
"I'm going to pack some clothing and other necessities. I'm not very well leaving for who knows how long without some amusement of my own like last time. Just wait for me here and try not to be so dense. I won't take long."
Sesshoumaru grit his teeth as the woman disappeared and in a flourish of motion he cast the fire out. With beady eyes he watched the ash build up lightly in a mist before settling.
"Aggravating woman," he mumbled.
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::cowers:: So, I tried extremely hard not to leave all of you off on a cliffy and yet still keep to my goal of the chapter. I hope I was successful in that because you all can get quite scary when you want to be.
;o)
Alas, I wanted this chapter to be out on Monday… yet the Internet completely kicked out until today. I'm so very sorry for the wait, but if you are to blame anyone then blame the people that cut our cable wiring. Sigh.
Once again I thank all of you readers and reviewers alike. Enjoy your Thanksgivings (for those in the U.S.) —I'll be back the Monday after the holiday (26th
Truly yours,
Mickey-the-Mouse