Sesshoumaru stood in agitation before Bokensu, his fiery amber eyes glaring defiantly at the tree demon. "You knew the demi-God, Ocraseous?" He asked dangerously.
"He climbed these old branches, much like you once did." Sesshoumaru said nor did a thing, simply watched the old tree. "He was a bright, loving lad, until his mother was killed. Hanyou's are often so."
Sesshoumaru understood, after all, Inuyasha had also been such a child. Very smart, looking at the world bright eyed and lovingly, until the day Izayoi met her demise. "And what do you recall of him after his mother perished?" He'd come to Bokensu, expecting the old tree to have knowledge of Ocraseous, not to have known him personally. This was an unexpected turn, one that was more beneficial than anything, yet it still left a sourness to the demon lord. After all, Kagome had been taken by him, or rather, she left because she had to be selfless and overprotective.
"He was lost for some time as a child, in and out of villages, being beaten, almost killed, frightened until he came into his power. It was after he met Souren as a teen that his Godly attributes awakened."
Sesshoumaru's confusion did not show as he asked. "What woke them?"
Bokensu smiled. "He had never felt such an unrivalled purity, one that could destroy even the Great and Powerful Si-eshomaru." His father was also referred to as the Great and Powerful dog general… Would Sesshoumaru ever find such before his own name? "Once he found he could control storms to do his bidding, he delved further and further into himself, learning as much as he could, even weaseling advice from this old tree."
Fire grew in Sesshoumaru's eyes. "For what purpose?"
Bokensu smirked. "To make man pay for what they did to his mother."
"Then what reason did he have to destroy Souren and Si-eshomaru's relationship?" Sesshoumaru questioned.
"At some point, the boy fell madly in love with her, even before he knew her, per se. He'd learned an art, a very Godly art, that allowed him to see her whenever he so chose. He often told me of her pain, of her longing."
"Longing?" Sesshoumaru asked coolly.
Bokensu sighed. "This should be something asked of your father." Sesshoumaru raised his head defiantly, but Bokensu said no more on the subject of her longing, nor her pain. "He claimed to love her and she never replied, for your grandfather commenced in battling him. Thinking it had to do with the power the dog demon held, Ocraseous overtook lands, had many loyal warriors, to his power of course, and came for her once again. Many died that day and Ocraseous was sent to an unreachable plain." Then his eyes grew humored. "Until recently, of course. Tell me, Sesshoumaru, did you receive a scroll named Ugai?"
"You have heard of it?" He questioned.
"Osaya is a seedling from this old tree. Our connection is still strong." The branched creaked and the roots moved beneath the ground, as though the tree were stretching in place. "You are truly here, Sesshoumaru, to reach Ocraseous now, are you not?"
"Yes." He answered, retaining the growl that wished to clamber forth.
"Tell me, did he take something from you?" At the Inu youkai's narrowed eyes, the old tree demon laughed lightly. "Perhaps a priestess?"
"I did not come here to play games, old one." Sesshoumaru said dangerously, rage trembling beneath the surface of his calm. "Tell me how to retrieve the miko."
Bokensu's eyes mocked him. "I believe you are in no position to demand of me, Sesshoumaru." The dog demon glared heatedly into the dark eyes of the wise one. "So, tell me, what is the purpose in hunting after her, Sesshoumaru? What is the need of the priestess?"
"She is powerful and will defeat Naraku." He said knowingly.
"There are other ways to defeat the hanyou." Sesshoumaru's eyes widened, but Bokensu did not change the subject away from Kagome. "What do you need her for? Is she not merely human?"
"I have no need to discuss her worth with you." Sesshoumaru warned.
Bokensu smiled before his face became that of immobile tree bark once more, yet there was still one message left to be given. "Without an answer, you shall receive nothing from this old one, but, I have a riddle for you, Lord Sesshoumaru." The Inu youkai scowled inwardly. "Upon the northern peak rests an untouchable star, and the guardians are given the only gifts in order to reach it." And with that, the tree demon said no more.
North.
That was all he knew and so, knowing the tree would not mislead him, only make things more difficult, Sesshoumaru began the journey north. The path was treacherous and it would lead him into a domain he had no desire to visit.
Salvera and Arconen…
His eyes narrowed as he let his youki gather beneath him and he rose above the endless trees, moved across the sky for his destination.
Inuyasha brought down the barrier an old turtle youkai had set up about his massive lake, Tetsuiga reverting back to its haggard state. "Are you sure this old demon's gonna know somethin?" He growled at Tokaruman.
"Yes, if he does not know the way to Kagome, he will know of someone who does." Inuyasha scoffed, walking at Kikyo's side into the marshy land. Miroku, Sango and his group followed suit. Shippo remained on Sango's shoulder.
The driving force pushing them for the last week was their hopefulness that somehow they could rescue their friend before something terrible happened to her. And so long as they all walked the earth, they would never stop trying to find her. "There's something very powerful in the place." Sango whispered to Miroku.
"Yes." He agreed, blue eyes monitoring everything around them as they walked. "It's an old magic. And I think it more let its barrier fall than anything." Inuyasha scoffed and the monk almost smiled.
"In any case," Tokaruman said. "She knew we were coming."
Inuyasha turned his distrusting, amber eyes to the snake youkai. "How do you know that?" He asked.
Tokaruman regarded him coldly. "Her demonic aura speaks rather loudly."
Kikyo blinked, glancing at him. "The vibrations…"
Tokaruman smirked. "Someone is paying attention."
"Bastard." Inuyasha grumbled.
They continued on for some time when the ground began to quake beneath their feet. Inuyasha drew Tetsuiga in an automatic defensive, Sango and Miroku following suit with their own weapons while Kikyo and Tokaruman remained calm. The dramatic difference in the two made both the demon slayer and monk rethink their hasty motions and lowered their weapons, while Inuyasha remained poised and ready for a battle.
From the ground ahead, rose a gigantic rock it seemed, moss covering it and sand. "Is that-" Sango began to ask, her brown eyes wide.
"Her shell." Tokaruman nodded.
"It's almost like an island or something!" Shippo said, his green eyes wide and watching the slow movement.
There was a groaning of motion, perhaps movement that hadn't been made in hundreds of years, as the great tortoise demon rose her head from the water as well, a long, old withered neck reach across the expanse of ground so slowly it felt half and hour must have passed. She seemed so weak with her eyes closed, but Inuyasha could feel the swelling of a terrifying power. Naraku wouldn't ever want to mess with this big girl…
"To," she slowly opened her grey eyes. "Karuman." Her old voice finished. "It has been long."
"Abre'." He nodded to her, stepping forward. "I come seeking council."
"Council." She echoed. "Is not given to those I do not know."
Inuyasha barely held his temper in check. "I am aware." Tokaruman agreed. "Yet you know this youkai." He touched his chest.
"I knew you…" She agreed. "Before you became a demon of hell." She reminded.
He tensed, swallowing. "I was… lost, Abre'." His whispered admission carried to her ears and her sightless eyes did not reveal the tendril of understanding she felt.
"I recall." She agreed. "How do I know what you seek is not for evil?"
Kikyo put her hand on Inuyasha's chest to keep him silent. "I have no way to prove it is not for some dark purpose, only my word."
"Do you give so flimsy a thing for the irate hanyou as well?" And of course, that blew the cap off of Inuyasha's control.
"Listen here, ya old hag. I didn't come here to be kept waitin' or to be tested. I've got a friend who's been taken captive by a demi-God and I gotta get her back. So you either answer some questions, or I'll go look for another source of information." He snapped.
The old turtle reached her head, very slowly, a little farther, and more quickly than anyone thought she could, whacked Inuyasha with her pointed turtle beak. He yelped as she slowly drew her head back. "Insolent brat." She murmured. "All of youths are impatient. You must learn not to be so."
"Forgive us, Abre'." Miroku gestured. "We are, mostly, human and do not have the time you do, so we often do not understand what virtue comes from waiting patiently." Miroku threw Inuyasha a glare from his icy blue eyes. He understood that Inuyasha wanted to save Kagome, they all did, but if this was the only lead, they could not afford to burn such a bridge.
"A monk, a priestess, a hanyou and a snake Lord of hell… One must wonder what the other is." She said instead.
Shippo blinked at Sango. "Was she talking to you or-"
"I sense you, kit. No, I meant the other."
Sango flushed a little. "I'm a demon slayer." She admitted.
"Your weapon spoke that much." Abre' told her. "No, you are something else… Something more important than a demon slayer, than such a strong human…"
Everyone gave Sango a strange look and she blinked, almost shrugging. "I'm afraid," Miroku began. "That we don't understand."
"I must think." Abre' murmured. So she did, for quite some time. It left Inuyasha twitching in agitation because he was positive she'd fallen asleep or something. Just when he was going to shout at her, she made a noise. "Ah, yes… You are a woman."
"Uh…" Sango looked at Miroku and back at the turtle demon. "Yes…"
"What the hell are ya gettin at ya old-" She whacked him once more and Kikyo staved his rage.
"A woman, who is a mother." Cold shot down Sango's spine and she turned her eyes to Miroku, trembling.
"Wha-how do you know?" She asked, looking at the tortoise once more. Not even Sango knew.
"Energy." The turtle explained. "Beware, human. A curse has traveled through what should be a sacred bond." Miroku tensed from his joy into a sober, heart wrenching pain. "You can not pass on this journey you are seeking and you must remain afar from Naraku."
Her eyes widened and Inuyasha asked. "How do you know about Naraku?"
The tortoise smiled. "I know much, hanyou. Your disrespectful behavior has left me unwilling to assist you. However, for Tokaruman, I will say one intelligence." Tokaruman stood straighter. "What you seek, you need not ask me, for I know the way to the plain has been shut. However, should you travel north, you will find those who may reopen it for you."
And with that, the tortoise slowly sank back into the lake, ignoring Inuyasha's indignant shout. "So what the hell kind of shit was that?" He asked, looking from Sango to Tokaruman.
Tokaruman ignored him, turning. "North." Was all that he offered as he began to move away.
Kilala rubbed her head against Sango's forearm, making a gentle noise of comfort. "Miroku-" Sango began.
"We'll talk about where you should go during the fight with Naraku later." He whispered, holding her hand in his. "For now-"
Sango pulled her hand away. "It depends on how soon or far the fight is, Miroku. I will be fighting if I'm able." Her brown eyes were filled with fiery determination.
"At risk of our child?" He asked, pained.
She felt the stab, but countered him with another. "And if Naraku is not killed, our child will grow up without a father. Our child will also die as their father." She shook her head. "Naraku must be killed."
He couldn't argue anymore because she turned her back on him to follow after Tokaruman. He caught Inuyasha's glance and simply followed his wife. Kikyo took it upon herself to go to Sango and walked by her side, waiting for the demon slayer to eventually speak her troubled mind.
Kagome had officially had it. Yup, it was enough, enough, enough! "Stupid… Always in the way, stupid, stupid…" She grumbled as she worked before her mirror. She'd tried a hundred different ways to fix her hair, and to no avail. During training, it always got in her way. So she'd had enough. Standing before the mirror, a sharp dagger in hand, she brought her hair over her shoulder and sheered it. All of the weight fell into a heap on the floor.
"There." Kagome sighed, turning her head this way and that. "I bet that'll make things easier." With a nod, she straightened its length out slowly, to the best of her ability and, wearing the red, gold and black Ocraseous loved so much in similarity to miko garb. This was how they trained now for the past month.
And in the past month, Kagome woke, ate a light, fruit breakfast and trained with the demi-God. They had their dinner and more recently, began going out to the garden to talk. She learned a lot more about him. For example, lotus blossoms were his mothers favorite flower, and because Kagome's was cherry blossoms, suddenly, he sprung hundreds of the trees. And he was truly, genuinely, a good person once taught the right way to do things.
He had been forgiven for what he had done, and though she still missed everyone, Kagome understood that she had to… She had to live. So she was trying, and training made her feel alive.
Heading down through the corridors, she found herself at the open, dojo door, Ocraseous' back to her. "So, what will we work on today?" She asked, stepping inside the threshold.
"Sword technique." He said without turning to her, rather, he pulled a sword from the wall. "Maybe a double bladed sword technique."
Now that sounded interesting. "Well, teach away, sesnei Ocraseous." She made him sound rather important, making him laugh. Of course, that was until he turned and looked at her. Then the surprise in those red eyes gave her pause. "Oh… yeah. My hair was annoying me when we did this, so…" She shrugged. "I got rid of it."
Ocraseous just stared at her short hair, unable to come up with a coherent thought for a moment. Finally, after some many breaths, he brushed her hair with his finger tips. "I have never seen a woman with so short a hair."
Kagome laughed a little bit. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't have, huh?"
He blinked away the surprise and sighed. "You are still lovely."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Sure, now let's get started."
He showed her a variation of techniques, ones that were very Sesshoumaru-like and that left her aching. Sometimes, when practicing, he would notice her sadness rise, and would often call for a break. Today, however, he would do no such thing. "Who stands before you, Kagome?" He asked, a small amount of anger in his voice.
She blinked, confused. "You…"
"Correct, not an Inu youkai." Her body trembled at the reminder of Sesshoumaru. "I do not say this to hurt you, I am trying to make you aware that certain processes can not be halted to grieve." Kagome nodded, but barely. "So we must fight once again, and this day, I will not be so easy."
They battled back and forth and indeed, he picked up his speed and he added more strength to each attack. She was out of breath and her muscles were giving in an hour quicker than usual. Yet she had stood up to him. That much he could applaud her for.
"Animal." She grumbled in a huff as he helped her stand. There was smirk she was beginning to be used to from Ocraseous.
"I could have been much worse." He promised.
"Oh trust me, I know all too well." She wiped her hands on her knees. "I think I'm going to bath right now. I've never gotten so sweaty in all my life."
He chuckled. "I shall await you at dinner." He dipped his head to her as she made her way to the bath house. "Mother will bring you clean clothes." He promised.
"Thanks." She called, making it to the bath house, where in the silence and loneliness of it, Kagome allowed a few moments of complete overwhelming sadness to overtake her. Yes, she was getting accustomed to this place, but that did not mean she wanted to stay forever. She still longed for Sesshoumaru and even though she could carry no hate for Ocraseous anymore, she longed for a possibility that was now unattainable. So she had to learn, all over again, how to let the love she held for someone go…
And honestly, Kagome did not think she was capable of that. And if she didn't know any better, she just had this instinct Sesshoumaru wasn't either.
Okay, so, Kagome is getting along with Ocraseous pretty well, that's true. But for her, its felt like it's been super long that she's been around him and our poor girl can't hate anyone for eternity, except Naraku. So, she's at least making a friend while everyone works to find her.
