Nocturne - Chapter Thirty-Nine: Infalliable Cure
Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)
o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
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"I am not ashamed," responded, folding her arms.
Sesshomaru grabbed her and turned her back towards the mirror, stroking her hair and looking at their reflection. "I shall dispose of her yet. Her words have pushed you to doubt yourself," he told her, speaking of his mother. He only tolerated the woman being around at Kagome's discretion; otherwise, he would have put her out long ago.
Kagome tensed. She'd been found out. But she should have expected the woman to go running to her son. "So, she told you I would come here?"
He moved her hair from her shoulder, pulling it back to expose her neck, and placed a gentle kiss there. "No," he said softly. He planted more small kisses up her neck, stopping only at her jaw. "I must depart soon, so I intended to seek you out."
She had closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of his breath upon her flesh, but his words made her feel deflated. "You have only just returned. These days you are away more than you are here." Her voice had a ring of stark disappointment that she could not hide.
Sesshomaru kissed her neck one last time before fixing her hair and grabbing her by the shoulders. He still looked at her in the reflection of the mirror. "There are whispers of movement along the coast."
Kagome had heard enough. "There are always whispers and rumors. Can you not send someone else to check every little bit of gossip that passes our doorstep?"
They had had this battle many times before. Sesshomaru was very dedicated and thorough about his promise to protect Kagome and Setsuna. There had not been a hide nor tail of Fan Tsenpo or the DaiOzuko in years. It was not that Kagome doubted the severity of the threat Fan posed, but the amount of time that his lack of retribution took up from their lives. So, anytime strange things transgressed, Sesshomaru was diligent in his mission to hunt it down personally.
"We shall not discuss this again," he said with an air of finality. His grip on her shoulders tightened to demonstrate his distaste at her complaints on the topic. "You of all people know why this one must go. Would you risk yourself? Or our daughter?"
He knew just where to strike, and even his words were perfectly aimed to do the most damage with little exertion on his part. Kagome grit her teeth and turned, pulling out of his grip. She knew he could have held her had he wanted to, but he was always delicate with her. Kagome glared at him for good measure. "Don't patronize me! As if I don't understand what is at stake."
His eyes turned hard. "Then you know the importance of investigating each rumor. The first time one is overlooked will be the time that Fan slips through."
Kagome turned her head petulantly. This was not something she wanted to discuss, either. He was right, of course. She would only begrudgingly admit it to herself, though.
"My, my, a lover's spat?"
Kagome rolled her eyes once she recognized the voice. Why was she here? What other harsh words did she forget to share?
"What do you want?" Sesshomaru asked impatiently in response to his mother appearing in the room unannounced and unwanted.
The demoness gasped at his words. "The outrage! To know that my son is so contemptuous towards his loving mother."
"Say your piece and go. I have little patience for your games," he warned.
She shrugged and smiled, "Fine. I only came to apologize to your human woman. My words were not designed to inflict pain, though clearly, they have done that."
He sneered, "You knew exactly what you were doing. I shall warn you this now, one final time. Keep your nettlesome tongue to yourself. You are only here by the grace Kagome affords to you. It is only by her discretion that you are allowed to stay. Otherwise, I would not tolerate an insufferable supplicant such as yourself."
Kagome had enough. She stalked past the demoness to escape the madness and her rising disappointment. Any chance of her and Sesshomaru reconciling before he left had been dashed the moment that the demoness stalked into the room.
However, the demoness did something entirely unexpected. She grabbed Kagome by the arm as she walked by, holding her firm.
"Girl," she said with her mysterious smile, "I do apologize. I meant nothing untoward by my words. I just worry as any good mother would. For my son, my granddaughter, and for you."
Kagome had been living in close quarters with the demoness for some time now, and anytime they did share company, it was filled with subtle jabs at Kagome's expense. Had it not been for Setsuna, Kagome doubted they would see each other at all, and she certainly would not have stopped Sesshomaru from showing her the door. Kagome could not recall once that the demoness had ever touched her and quickly pulled from her mother-in-law's grasp.
Kagome winced as she was left with a nasty gash on her arm right through the fabric of her kosode from an errant claw. The demoness gasped, having the decency to look surprised, and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh, child, I am so sorry. I had forgotten how delicate a human's skin was. Please forgive me!" she urged.
Sesshomaru was at Kagome's side in an instant, sending hateful glares in his mother's direction. He gripped Kagome's arm and held it tight while blood began to soak through the white fabric. Kagome took in a sharp breath through her teeth. "It's fine," she reassured Sesshomaru. "It was an accident."
"You're bleeding," he said as if she had not noticed. Kagome pulled away from him to examine the wound.
"It's just a small cut. They bleed the most. It's nothing," she tried to sound confident, but her words shook. Pulling the sleeve up, she could see a long line down the side of her forearm, neatly sliced. The cut ran deeper than she had expected, but something curious began to happen before her eyes. The edges of the skin seemed to close on their own, and the throbbing that she had started to feel began to dull.
Kagome looked up in mild horror. Sesshomaru stood a step back, a look of concern showing on his face, but his mother sported a look of bemused triumph. She looked back down at the wound, watching as the red of her flesh turned to a bright pink and then a silver sheen and finally, the healthy glow of freshly washed skin. Taking a delicate finger, she prodded where the cut had been but a moment ago. Nothing. No cut, no pain, and no blood, but the drying stuff on her sleeve. "What-what's happened? What is this?" she raised her bare arm.
Sesshomaru said nothing.
The demoness smiled, "I knew it."
He shot a look at his mother that spoke volumes. Kagome gave him an accusatory look; he knew something. He did not seem surprised or disturbed by this.
"What's happening to me?!" Kagome demanded.
Sesshomaru stepped forward and tried to grab her uninjured arm, but she took a swift step away. "Explain!" She demanded again, keeping her healed arm up for all to see.
"Let us go somewhere private, and I shall unravel this," Sesshomaru began.
She was not going to let him commandeer the situation and cut him off. "No! Here. Now."
"Have you eaten anything strange lately, child?" The demoness questioned.
"What? No, nothing out of the ordinary. Why?"
The demoness shook her head, "It would not have necessarily been recent, girl. Think back."
"Silence, mother. Your meddling has done damage aplenty. You are dismissed."
The demoness stuck up her nose. "It is unseemly to lie to the girl to assuage your pride, my son. I would have taught you better than that." With that, she stalked from the room, finally dismissing herself after putting her clever ploy into motion.
Kagome felt on the verge of tears. "All of your words and promises to love me even after I became old...that was easy for you because you knew that would never come to pass."
His gaze softened, but he stood in place with his head held high. "I stand by my words, Kagome."
A couple of tears slid down her cheeks. "What was it? Tell me what you did to make this happen. Am I still human?"
At seeing her tears, he was compelled to comfort her, though only with his words. "Your humanity is what I love about you."
"That doesn't answer my question, Sesshomaru," she said in flat tones.
"Yes," he answered, guilt blooming with a crease in his brow.
Kagome spun around to face away from him. His guilty look was more than she could bear, and her anger did not need to be dampened. Her mind sifted through memories to finally land upon the evening of her arrival years ago. The night where Sesshomaru had promised her everything in return for her acceptance. But what had she accepted?
The strange meal came to mind. It had been prepared by his hand, he'd told her. Kagome could not recall another instance where he'd taken a direct role in cooking a meal for her again. "It was that night," she murmured, knowing he could hear her clearly.
"Indeed, it was."
She began to speculate on the possibilities. "Was it some kind of spell?"
"No, something much more potent than a frivolous spell. You consumed the flesh of a ningyo, beloved."
A ningyo? She ran the word through her mind. Where had she heard it before? And then it hit her. "You had me eat a mermaid? A yokai?"
"The consumption of a ningyo flesh may grant a mortal years untold."
She fumed. He used words of uncertainty and risk. "May grant? Not will grant? And what would have happened had that not been the case?"
"Nothing more than an exotic meal prepared by the hands of one who loves you."
"And my arm?"
"A pleasant yet unexpected side effect, beloved."
Part of her was overcome with glee, relief even, to know that she would live alongside Sesshomaru and Setsuna for countless years, but the other part was livid at being deceived.
Kagome decided that she would let Sesshomaru stew with her dismissive behavior. She said no more and walked out of the room as calm as she could muster herself to be.
She hadn't gotten far when she noticed she was being followed. He kept a healthy distance but did not try to stop her. When Kagome reached the garden moments later, she found Setsuna at play with her small blade that Sesshomaru had crafted for her.
The girl had straw dummies set up and practiced her amateur sword skills against the defenseless targets. Even though Setsuna was nearly six, she was growing tall, and her silver hair reached past her shoulders, where it was not swept up into a messy half ponytail.
"Setsuna," Kagome called, interrupting the girl mid-swing.
Setsuna finished her chopping motion, landing a fatal blow to the dummy's neck. "Did you see that, Mother?! I showed him! Just like Father!"
The girl dropped her sword and ran over to her mother, and squeezed her middle. Kagome ruffled Setsuna's hair, dislodging it even further from the hair tie. A disheveled child was one of Sesshomaru's pet peeves, she knew, and he would be rounding the corner on her tail any second.
Kagome smiled, always happy to share a word of encouragement to her child, no matter her internal struggle. "It was lovely. That target didn't stand a chance! But now I've decided to go and visit your aunts and uncles. You need to go and grab your things. We'll be leaving within the hour."
Setsuna did a little happy dance, bouncing on her toes. "Really? I haven't seen my cousins in forever, Mother! I can't wait to show them my new moves!"
"I don't believe it wise to travel," Sesshomaru warned as he approached.
Kagome did her best to keep a grimace to herself. Setsuna, with no idea of her parent's quarrel, bounded over to him and leaped into his arms, "Father! Did you see me? Did you? I eliminated the enemy. Just like you taught me."
Sesshomaru smiled and cast a covert glance at Kagome, who did not look amused. "Splendid, child, yet you must never throw your blade to the ground.
The girl wilted a little in her father's arms, dismayed at her father's chastisement. "We shall practice upon my return," he said.
"Are you coming with us to see uncle Inuyasha?" Setsuna asked. She'd all but forgotten her father's words in an instant.
He frowned and gave Kagome a disapproving look. "No, there are other matters that require my attention."
Setsuna looked disappointed for a brief second but put on a beaming smile. "Are you going to kill more of our enemies, Father? I want to see!"
Kagome moved in hastily and snagged the girl from Sesshomaru. "I'm afraid it will be a bit more boring than all that. Come, let's go pack."
She ushered the little girl back to the palace to pack some necessities for their trip, and this time Sesshomaru took a different path. Kagome knew that Sesshomaru would stew the entire time she was gone, and she intended to allow that to continue for as long as it took for him to feel sorry.
At this point, though, he didn't seem the least bit upset that he'd done it, only that she'd found out about it. The fact that he could not understand why this would upset her angered her all the more.
Time and space would help her to cool off and allow her the opportunity to catch up with her friends that she hadn't seen in months.
A/N: Sneaky, sneaky Sesshomaru. It's easy to promise forever when you know your significant other won't die.