Chapter 25
Last of the Wilds
An unexpected visitor.
Heat.
Immense, immeasurable heat.
Heat that flows like lava from an erupted volcano, swift and deadly, currently racing through veins, through limbs, snaking its blazing hot touch beneath skin. Heat of anger, crimson, malicious, blinding with fervent rage is still smouldering behind closed eyelids.
Heat from the sun overhead, rays of brilliance and mocking sunlight cast over the raging skin of the one laying upon the cool earth. Although detached, everything is heard clearly. The sounds of the trees dancing in the breeze, the leaves rattling in a myriad of nature-filled notes, each with its own personal octave. Maple; rich and masculine sweeping its tendrils of soft leaves against a more serene spruce. Birds singing in the branches, one note of their song sliding effortlessly into the next, crickets stringing their strings, an accompaniment to the splendour that is nature, that is the forest, that is home.
Some distance away, miles even, the sounds of a solid object dropping into a lake. Its dull thud followed by a cascading ting of water droplets falling from their disturbed state. Humans in the distance father than that of the lake, moving about their daily business, procreating and working the fields. The screaming of their children filling the silence, their racing hearts beating in their play, serving to make the heat worse, the anger more pronounced in the lava, in the veins, in the mind.
The sound of a heartbeat is approaching, in this state of mind and body, the one approaching serves to make the blood boil. As the overwhelming urge to protect oneself when injured is starting to take hold.
The shuffling of feet, bare skin scraping against the rocky ground, grass slipping between toes alerted senses, that a being was close enough to see him. His state of pain, of weakness, of when he was at his lowest point in hundreds of years. A heart beat fluttering near him, told him whoever it was, was merely a child, could a child have strayed from its human village, accidentally encroaching upon a wounded youkai. It would be the child's greatest mistake, for no-one not even another beast would dare approach a wounded Daiyoukai, it would only serve to be their ultimate death.
---
She sighed, walking alone amongst the trees did little to engage her mind anymore. Thoughts strayed constantly to what once was. Times when she was happy; when she lived. Centuries by the side of one male, she loved with all her heart and soul, she remembered every detail about him. His eyes, a deep obsidian that she could fall into without wanting to ever return to the light of loneliness again. His smile that always made her feel as though she were the most treasured female in the country. She remembered, that loving him so much, she gave him the ultimate treasure one could give their mate. A child.
She was afraid, courage in her life was not one of her gifts. She stared down at the vision in her arms, the child in which would know nothing but pain and suffering, in the wake of her mothers happiness was born. She knew that the moment she spotted the marking upon her flesh, the mark of the damned. She wanted to wrap the child in whatever protection she could, it was not meant to be. Her servants in the birthing room had been replaced that morning by ones that were not of their holding, thus were ordered should the pup be marked, it had to be killed.
She put up as much of a fight as possible, when one had just given birth to a pup. And although her mind roared to protect her, her body would not comply. She knew it had happened, the drug she was given in her water that afternoon taking full effect, numbing her body, so she wouldn't be able to fight to save her pup. She felt the ice cold steel of something incredibly sharp against her flesh, slipping between her ribs, and piercing her lung. The way it filled with her blood, hot, angry blood that screamed to be unleashed. She screamed for her mate, screamed for her pup. Though she knew nothing of what transpired as she slipped into the netherworld, screaming all the way, clawing at anything she possibly could. Wanting nothing more than to be back with her mate and pup.
For centuries she watched as her pup grew, shielded from the world, from society. Hidden by her mate, to protect her. She watched as she lived, without knowing much of her own mother other than the tales her father would tell, and some paintings of her that hung in his chambers. She felt regret almost every day as she watched her pup; she was brave, in every way; almost nothing frightened her, and if it did, she gritted her teeth and confronted it. She was more like her mate and her own Kitsune grandmother than holding any trait of hers, but then, she was dead. She didn't exist in her pup's life in anything more than a story.
Sighing, she shook her head to free these thoughts, thoughts that served her to think about where she was. She was searching for her now, searching for any trace that she was still amongst the living. For years she had simply disappeared, which frightened her immensely. There was no sign, no word, nothing. It was aas though she never existed. Tales of the one she 'served' continued on, spinning more and more wild as they passed from generation to generation. It almost made her sick. For her 'heroism' to pass in the manner it did, only meant that she was dead. The famous miko was dead, so what of her shirei? What of her daughter? This is what drove her to leave that village, to seek out the answers to her questions.
Her feet took it upon themselves to wander, anywhere she heard any rumours of the famous Shikon Miko, hoping to find anything of the 'woman' who would travel with her. However there was nothing. Not even a breadcrumb. This caused her heart to drop into her gut. Then as if by some grace of the kami's above, there was a tale of a young girl taking over the responsibility of the Shikon Miko.
It had to be her, had to be the one she sought. For fifty years there was absolutely nothing, now it seemed as though there was a possibility that she had come back from wherever she was hiding. Which is why she was walking back towards the small village of Edo. The village in which she met her, so very long ago.
She had passed a small brook long ago, allowing the icy cold waters to chill her overheated skin, soaking her hair to hold the coolness against her neck, the coolness that was associated with the touch of a light snow on a fresh spring morning. That thought caused her to sigh once more, before catching the scent of blood. It was warm, metallic and surging with power. The blood of a youkai had been spilt, and the owner was highly irritated with the fact. She wandered away from her path, her bare feet wandering further into the forest, until she saw him.
---
He opened his eyes, they were crimson, feral, lethal. They promised a slow excruciating death of the one who dared come any closer, dared to look upon his person. A low warning growl escaped his lips, vibrating through his chest as he gave one final warning to the child. He heard her inhale sharply, saw her outline, she was a small child, one that was too innocent to have seen any of the world. It would be a waste to kill something that wouldn't put up much of a fight, but his honour had to be upheld. He reached out to the child, as if to grab her. Only to be shocked, to find her approaching him.
She came within touching distance, dropping to her knees, placing her hands around his face, her eyes looking deep into his. She looked to see the beast, the animal within that bellowed to be unleashed, to attack the one who injured them. Then his mind suddenly stopped, his eyes shifting colour as the anger slowly started to ebb away. Until all he saw was a face.
Her face.
Heart shaped, with cheek bones raised enough to allow her smile to alight her eyes when she would. Skin that appeared so soft, silk would envy it. It was the colour of jasmine milk, with just enough rouge in the cheeks to be perfect. Her aura screamed demon, yet there was something holding her back. There was intense pain in her eyes, brown eyes that were false. hidden under those chocolate orbs were something far more beautiful, more identifiable. Midnight locks that tumbled down her back. Everything about her screamed as though he should know her the human that stood before him, was a human version of his Kagome.
It started to dawn on him, as the words spoken previously began to form in his mind.
"Living in the present, but from a time long ago, Deceased but never dead, living but not alive, two souls merged as one, two destinies linked, two natural enemies now one being. Two halves to make a whole know the truth. I hope you figure it out someday"
He thought about it carefully, pulling apart each clue as he calmed his beast down. The raging animal within him, assisting him in putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Kagome, Kagome was alive. She never died, but was being held against her will. That was her, standing there in his grandsire's tomb, pleading with him not to end his life. It was her, she was trapped inside that disgusting human body.
He made to move himself from the spot in which he lay, wanting to see the female that was trapped by his brother' side. The he idly wondered if Inuyasha knew of who was in his company, and why she was at all. Many thoughts were racing through his mind, but the first step was to see her. His eyes swept over the young child in front of him, she too radiated an aura of a youkai, yet hers was different, almost dead. Her body was a borrowed form, counterfeit, but moving as though it were alive.
"show yourself" He demanded, as his golden eyes looked upon the 'child'. she smiled serenely, her form shimmering into a vision that was an older version of his Kaya. There were many differences, but her jet black hair, and heart-shaped face were distinctly Kaya's. The deep black eyes, violet markings and older body were unfamiliar to him.
"who are you?"
"My name is Rin" she touched his shoulder, allowing her cold 'death-like' touch to soothe the fire in his muscles, cooling the rage that roared within him.
This one was just a chapter filler as we needed some Sesshy action, plus little Rin too!
FluffyandKagome - I was finally pleased to have Kagome and Kikyo separated, it was real fun to write!
Zenfluence - Oh yes, there will be a plot divergence from the Original. But there will still be Sango, Miroku, Kouga and Naraku.
Just-let-me-go - your reviews make me laugh so much!! And yay Sesshoumaru chapter - I know it was short and sweet, but I have a new plot line…from the original, though on occasion it will sneak into the original, but hey, I'm running with a new muse that's decided it wants to contribute to the story. So there's more to write than ever before! And there was another secret written into the chapter, can you guess what it is?
JammyDodger217 - Rin's in, And Kikyo well, she's not as much of a bitch as …. Is! Anyways thank you or your review, I think Kouga can hold off for a while. I'm running with a whole new idea that's gonna get worked into this storyline very soon.
ScarlettLove92 - They've met, but not the original meeting that was written by the wonderful Rumiko Takehashi…this is twisting in ways that is making me wonder what's coming next…But I have all my chapters in draft…just new ones are being added in-between and some are being scratched…Don't worry Kouga will grace the story soon.
Ncbeachbabe2004 - I humbly thank you for your review! She'll kick her miko ass - but she needs to take her time.
AUTHOR NOTE:
Now Kagome will be placed in a predicament, when she's Kikyo's Shirei, but Inuyasha's protector. Not to mention when Sesshoumaru arrives, she's his 'deceased' intended mate, Rin's tutor/sister…but there's also a twist with that part too….should be very interesting in the next chapter! Its gonna be a long one, so do bare with me……Thanks
Plus check out my deviant art profile, where images of my story are being posted as and when my imagery muse was to allow my writing muse some breathing space.
http:// gothic hostess . deviantart.
.com/art/Daughter-of-the-damned-100904344
More have been drawn, I'm in the process of uploading them.
~Gothic Jigoku Shoujo~