"We all have had suffering in our lands from this spider half-daemon running around," Ryze spoke.
"Hn." Sesshomaru was sitting at his desk with the lords and norther representatives as was custom to share a drink after the gathering itself ended.
"How is it that one half-daemon has caused so much damage to Japan?" Dimitri frowned.
"He once was a human that let a host of daemons feed on him in exchange to become a daemon. He controls Saimyosho that has a lethal poison which no daemon are immune to and is able to make incarnations whenever he pleases, each being full daemon with different abilities," Sesshomaru muttered. "The half-daemon that shares blood of this one's sire has been the one to hunt him as the miko who travels with him is the Shikon Miko."
"I heard that she is the one to break the Shikon jewel," Kishi scoffed, his face still crimson.
"In miscalculation. As she can see the shards and feel them, that group is most equipped and has had the most success in fighting back..." The sound of glass shattering above them stopped Sesshomaru before the study door jerked open and Khendon entered. "Nova?"
"Feline attacks my mistress!" Khendon barked before dashing back out of the room.
Sesshomaru opened the glass doors to his study and stepped into the balcony. Nova's veil fluttered down and landed on his head. He pulled it off before something warm hit his cheek and looked up. He had never paid attention to the fact that his rooms sat above the study until that moment as he saw Nova, half-upside down and bent backwards over the railing, glass sticking out of her back everywhere and blood rolled down her arms that were extended past her head. She wasn't moving as a few strands of hair that had escaped fluttered in the breeze.
He summoned his cloud and jumped up to her, cradling her shoulders carefully and lifted her up to sit up in the railing as he landed on the balcony. Her breaths were quick and shallow as her head fell forward, her body limp in her unconsciousness. He looked down and saw a dead body that had pinned her legs to the railing, the only reason she had not fallen from the railing. He kicked the body off Nova and saw Cayto, his glossed eyes wide and mouth slack as a large shard of glass stuck out of the side of his neck.
He pulled Nova into his arms, careful to not disturb the glass as he did not know how deep they went as the doors to his room slammed open. Everyone from the study, Khendon, and half a dozen guards entered but stopped when they saw him come in from the balcony with Nova. He glanced around the room and furniture knocked over and shelves broken. Books that had been some of his personal favorites on the ground under pieces of broken wood.
"Take Kishi to the dungeons," Sesshomaru snarled, feeling the sting of his eyes as they bled red.
"I had no part of this!" Kishi snapped as he tried to fight the soldiers that quickly restrained him.
"Until she wakes, you will be restrained. She dies, you die!" He growled as the soldiers wrestled Kishi out.
Going into the corridor, he saw every one of Nova's guards beheaded and collapsed where they had been posted. Snarling further, he quickened his pace down to the Healer's wing. He could feel Nova's blood slowly soaking into his clothing as he slammed the doors open. Tsumi was waiting, having felt the anger and urgency in his energy. He carefully laid Nova on her stomach on the table as his distant cousin, Kaya, entered with her appearance somewhat disheveled from sleep.
"Quickly Kaya," Tsumi spoke. "There is no time to delay. There already had been much blood loss. My lord, we cannot work efficiently while you hover with the possible threat of you shifting. Please wait outside."
"Come Sesshomaru," Dimitri spoke and put his hand on his shoulder and pushed him towards the courtyard in the healers wing. "You too, Khendon."
He heard a whine from the pup as he obeyed. As soon as he was outside, he let his beast take over and transformed before laying down, his eyes focused inside the healer's wing to watch as they worked. In this form, he could easily monitor Nova's heartbeat and breaths.
"Khendon, what happened?" Dimitri frowned as he sat against a tree and Sesshomaru glanced down at the pup as he laid down near his large paw.
"She was intoxicated," Khendon whined. "She had just returned to the room and laid down. We didn't hear anything until the doors had opened. She had asked if he was lost, to which he replied no and attacked. I could smell alcohol on him and he didn't not sense me so I kept silent, hoping to get out to get help. She had managed to get off the bed, but I know she struggled in her state. She had managed to get her weapons and get to the main room and open the door but he caught her and threw her into the glass doors as I made my escape. He had wanted to take her before killing her, but her attempt to fight had him decide to just kill her."
"I can say that I hate those silencing seals right now," Dimitri muttered.
"She killed him. The seal will fade and her daemon will awaken."
"So she was part daemon?" Sesshomaru inquired, trying to calm his mind.
"Half as her mother truly was human according to the female feline."
"She needs blood!" Kaya called from where she stood with Tsumi over Nova.
Sesshomaru shifted back to his humanoid form and was beside them in seconds. They had cut way all of her clothing, exposing bleeding wounds from her shoulders to her waist and several along her legs. He sliced his wrist and let the blood pour into her wounds. Kaya sliced his wrist once more as the wound healed.
"The seal is already starting to fade," Dimitri spoke as he came in and parted her hair to reveal the mass of scars there that were bleeding. "She is half-daemon, so watch for those changes."
"Yes, Lord Dimitri," Tsumi spoke as they started to bandage her wounds.
"Is the feline who placed this seal here?" Dimitri asked, and Sesshomaru caught the double meaning.
"She was unable to come due to matters in her tribe," he answered before feeling the slightest of pulses from Tensaiga. He walked to the corridor where a dozen soldiers had been placed. "Bring me the dead feline."
"Yes, my lord," one bowed before disappearing.
"You won't get answers from the dead."
"This Sesshomaru will merely bring him back before killing him myself," he growled as he drew Tensaiga as its pulsing steadily became stronger before the soldier returned with the feline, his limbs already tightly bound and tossed him to the ground. Seeing the sports of the netherworld, he sliced through them before sheathing the blade and drew Bakusaiga as Cayto woke. "You dare harm my mate, you worthless cat?"
"I was protecting daemons," Cayto scoffed. "She has you both under some spell and I saw it starting to sink into Ryze! She will not spell my brother, nor will I let Japan fall to some human from the mainland!"
"She is not human, nor did she place some spell," Dimitri hissed, kicking him. "You dared to touch the mate-to-be of another lord? The daughter of one of the more powerful Inu bloodlines of India, the Fire Inus?"
"Obviously it wasn't that big of a deal, seeing how I am alive," he smirked.
"You are only alive because this Sesshomaru brought you back to kill you myself!" He snarled. The doors to the healing wing slammed open and he looked up to see Kagome and Inuyasha, who was in his human form as it was the new moon. Tessaiga was drawn, not transformed due to his current state. "What?!"
"I sensed a tainted jewel... Nova...?" Kagome gasped and dashed over to the unconscious female. "What happened?"
"Kagome, the shard!" Inuyasha snapped.
"Right..." she whispered and looked direct at Cayto. "His left arm."
Sesshomaru sliced off the appendage, making Cayto scream, and kicked it to her where she knelt down and plucked a purple shard from it, the shard immediately changing to a brilliant pink. Turning back to the feline, he beheaded him and the soldier immediately collected the body and left. He cleaned his blade and sheathed it before returning to Nova, her wounds completely bandaged and Kaya was working on removing the jewels from her hair so she could wash the blood away.
"Why would Naraku give him a shard?" Inuyasha frowned as he sheathed his sword.
"To get to this Sesshomaru, most likely," he muttered as the red finally faded from his eyes.
"Is she going to be okay?" Kagome asked.
"Her daemon is already starting to stir and heal her," Dimitri spoke as he placed a hand on the miko's shoulder.
"Wha... she's not... how...?" Kagome frowned confused.
"A feline seal put her daemon to sleep with her memories."
"She had a seal prior as well that started to fade after she was attacked at something she called graduation," Sesshomaru frowned. "That feline had been responsible."
"Wait... he's the reason she was so messed up? And kept coming after her?" Kagome frowned and he nodded. "How does this affect her past now?"
"This one knows not. It is uncertain if it will change anything or start an alternate path for another version of herself."
"If it does change, the memories will still be there, though the events may still happen under different circumstances or not at all. The different realities could merge and memories could fade into simply dreams or nightmares. If so, the versions you know in the future could get flashes of memories as things change from the way they know," Dimitri spoke.
"Sudden flashbacks that cause them to collapse at the intensity?" Khendon barked.
"Have you witnessed such event?" Sesshomaru asked the pup and he nodded.
"Then who knows how her past can change," Dimitri frowned.
"I'm going back to bed," Inuyasha snorted before walking out of the room.
"A servant will update you with any changes, miko," Sesshomaru spoke and the human nodded before following. "Bring the southern lord here."
"Yes my lord," another soldier nodded and disappeared.
"The effects of this Naraku seems too severe that he has lasted this long without being killed yet," Dimitri spoke and Sesshomaru nodded as Tsumi and Kaya moved Nova to a bed and pulled a blanket up to her shoulders.
"Even with myself hunting him, he has been elusive," Sesshomaru spoke as he sat on a seat beside Nova.
"Do we tell her about the merging of the two timelines she knows?"
"Is there really any point in doing so?"
"Guess not," he shrugged as he sat on the other side of the bed.
"Sesshomaru, have you learned something?" Kishi asked, his tone neutral.
"The miko found a corrupted shikon shard within your brother," Sesshomaru spoke as Kishi came to stand at the foot of the bed that Nova laid on. "This one brought him back to question him. He was under the impression that she had put everyone under some spell."
"And end up being under one himself," Kishi sighed. "My apologies for this situation. If I had taken his hatred for her more seriously, I would have controlled Cayto better. Sensing energy coming from her, she had been under a seal, had she not?"
"Yes," Dimitri spoke collectedly.
"Then I wish her a speedy recover. Do I have your permission to take my brother and leave? Despite his forced betrayal, there are rituals to be done to cleanse his body."
"Hn." Kishi bowed before leaving silently.
"This has definitely been a sobering experience," Dimitri muttered.