Chapter 26 – To Age
There was a humming noise haunting her mind.
It followed her through the day, fading into the background when she had to interact with the people around her, but never truly disappearing. It was a constant, and it was about to drive her insane.
She had tried to ignore it at first, hoping that it would simply go away after a while. When that failed, she tried to heal it, to use her reiki in order to block the noise but it didn't work either. Last but not least, when she was already pissed off, she tried to curse it away but it still refused to fade.
Now, as dawn approached, it seemed to get louder as each second passed by. As a last resort, she had also tried to understand it, to see where it came from, but the only thing she found out made her skin crawl.
She felt it, deep in her bones: the humming was a warning.
The louder it got, the more anxious she became. It was closer now, she wanted to warn all those around her but it wouldn't make sense, she didn't know where the danger came from or what it was. She just knew that it was there, lurking. Taking its time though it seemed to be done with that and ready to attack.
And so, as Kagome helped the slayer and the monk to mount the neko youkai with the provisions they had gotten, she told them to be careful, earning a confused look in response from those in the gardens.
''Is everything okay, Lady Kagome? You've been strangely quiet today.'' The monk asked, but how could she explain what was happening? What would happen, in fact? She couldn't, so she lied.
''I'm feeling a little under the weather, I think I may be getting sick.''
''Please do rest once we are gone,'' The slayer spoke, seeming concerned. ''I think our stay here exhausted you with all the fuss we created, be sure to take a long break after we leave to recharge your energies.''
''That may be true,'' Miroku sighed as he finished packing. ''Even I got tired from looking at InuYasha and the children, I can't even imagine what you went through having to deal directly with them.''
''Keh, as if she didn't have a great time watching me suffer in the hands of those little monsters.'' The hanyou, that had been quiet until now, spoke.
''You're talking like you didn't enjoy playing with them,'' The priestess on his side said as she rolled her eyes, her hands finishing tying the knot on her satchel to make sure none of her herbs fell down along the road. ''You adore kids, I saw you smiling whenever they weren't looking directly at you. And don't get me started on how you complained while helping the elders back in the village because you preferred to take care of the little ones.''
''There's no need to be shy, Inu-chan, I'll make sure to trick you whenever we meet since you like it so much!" The little kitsune grinned, enjoying the way his new friend got annoyed at the nickname he was given. Shippo had been quiet until now, unsure of how to act because of his mother's mood, but this was an opportunity he couldn't let go.
''Next time you try to trick me I'll kick you ass, kid.'' InuYasha huffed, turning around to face the trees so no one would see the smile he fought to hide. He had grown attached to the kitsune and he even admitted he came to like his brother's ward, which wasn't a surprise for him at all because kids had always been his soft spot. He would miss them, and deep down he wished his relationship with his father's older son wasn't that difficult so he could pass by the shiro more often.
He missed the place he grew up though the majority of his memories were painful, but most of it all he missed belonging somewhere besides the road. He enjoyed being free and traveling wherever he wanted to since he had no desire to fulfill lordish duties, but on some days he wished he had a place to call home, somewhere he felt safe and at peace.
''Sure you will,'' The disbelief in Kikyou's laughter made him huff, and as he grabbed the satchel from her hands and slung it over his shoulder, he felt something warm take over his chest when she smiled at him.
Maybe, he thought, he had already found his home.
''Whatever,'' He muttered, wanting to change the subject as he looked around and noticed that something was missing. Or someone, to say it properly. ''Where's my prick of a brother? We're ready to leave.''
He could've gone without saying farewell, but he knew Sesshoumaru didn't have the obligation of helping them and yet, he did. InuYasha could try to reason that it was because of the priestess request, but his brother had never been one to be swayed by the female's charms. He didn't fully understand what kind of relationship those two had, but he knew his brother very well to understand that he would never do anything he didn't want to. The choice of bringing them to the shiro had been entirely his, even if the idea of doing that came from someone else.
And so, InuYasha wanted to thank him. For the sake of his companions mostly, because deep down he knew that if Sesshoumaru hadn't lend a helping hand, Miroku wouldn't be standing there today.
''Have you seen him today, Kagome-chan? We'd like to thank him for his help.'' The question came out of Kikyou's mouth, bringing the miko back to reality.
In the second InuYasha mentioned the daiyoukai, Kagome's head hurt. The noise, that had faded slightly into the background as she listened to her friends conversation, seemed to come back at full force. It was painful to think, and she prayed for a miraculous healing as she breathed in deeply before speaking.
''From what I recall, Jaken said he would be discussing a few issues of his lands with some other Lords,'' She smiled weakly. ''I'll fetch him, he's probably done by now.''
Without waiting for an answer, Kagome spun around on her heels and walked away. Shippo, that laid quietly on his mother's shoulder, had to grab hold of her kimono once she distanced herself from the others and started to walk faster than normal.
''Is everything okay, mama?'' He asked, but the only answer he got was a distressed noise coming from her throat. He didn't understand her behavior, but it unsettled him enough to notice that something wasn't right.
Entering the shiro and moving through the hallways, the miko looked around and felt like running. She was late, and she didn't know exactly why. Her heart started beating painfully fast inside her chest as she moved around the rooms and met nothing, for some reason the longer she took to find Sesshoumaru, the worse her pain became.
Letting her reiki flow around her in waves, the miko searched for the signature burst of youki that announced where he was, but much to her dismay she couldn't find it. She expanded her reiki even more, wondering if he had left the shiro, but got no answer from him in return.
As her feet moved around the floor, she felt a strange kind of desperation take over her form. She couldn't feel him, and that was worrying because she always felt his presence around. He was always there, except now he wasn't. She needed to find him, if not for his own sake than for hers, because the humming noise in her mind got louder than before.
It was maddening. The sound and the despair she felt without knowing why seemed about to drive her insane, and she wondered how much longer could she stand like this before collapsing as she turned around another hall. Facing the section where the royal quarters stood, Kagome stopped walking suddenly when she saw the one she had been looking for there in front of her, leaning against a wall.
He stood still, but for some reason she couldn't feel relieved at all. There was an agony inside her heart that didn't seem to fade, and as she called him and got no answer in return, the feeling became worse.
Perhaps it was the fact that she couldn't see his face, or that he was using his arm to support his body against the wall, but Kagome knew that something was wrong the second she laid her eyes on Sesshoumaru. She then saw his form sway and his posture falter, and that was all it took for her to dash forward in his direction, her sudden move making the kitsune fall down from her shoulders.
''Mama, what's going on?'' Shippo's nervous voice echoed inside her mind, but seemed way too distant to her liking.
Somehow, her consciousness wanted to slip away, and that was the last thing she needed in that moment. As she put the daiyoukai's arm around her shoulder to support his weight, Kagome took a deep breath before ignoring the loud noise in her mind and deciding that she needed help.
''Get the others, Shippo, bring them all here to his room,'' She spoke, her hand trembling a little when it brushed across Sesshoumaru's bare skin and she noticed that he was cold, awfully cold for a living being. This fact sent alarms ringing through her head, and she knew that as much as she didn't want to say her next words, they were nothing but the truth. ''We're in danger, be fast.''
Shippo then ran, fear making his fur shudder as he heard the daiyoukai take a shaky breath. He sounded fragile, and only now he understood his mother's strange mood. Something bad was happening, and she had been feeling it all day long. Wanting to help her as much as he could, he dashed across the hallways, leaving the two of them behind as he hurried himself to find aid.
Breathing deeply as she thought about what to do, Kagome remembered that the daiyoukai's quarters were somewhere around the place they stood, and decided that it was best for everyone if no one saw their Lord suddenly passed out in the middle of the shiro.
''Help me just a little, Sesshoumaru,'' She spoke, trying to keep her head as clear as possible in order to figure out what was happening. ''We just need to get to your room, can you tell me where it is?''
It took a while for him to respond, that time being spend by Kagome ignoring the piercing noise she still heard inside her mind while also trying to calm herself down. As much as she tried to play it cool, she still felt scared for she had never seen Sesshoumaru like this, and the anguish she felt deep in her heart told her that this was no ordinary sickness as she wished it would be.
Almost imperceptibly, a finger pointed to the door on her right, snapping her out of her thoughts and shattering the false control she had been trying to portray. The indication of where his room stood became an almost irrelevant information as Kagome stared at the finger Sesshoumaru had raised. His hands, that once bore deadly claws capable of killing any living being that dared to stand in his way, now had ordinary nails.
Dull. Weak. Non-threatening nails.
Fear and confusion took over her mind but Kagome paid no attention to it, she knew now that she needed to get him to a safe place as fast as she could. Reaching to open the door, the miko used all of her strength to drag the daiyoukai inside before closing it shut.
The overall decoration of the room was completely ignored by Kagome, who focused solely on the large futon covered in pelts that stood in the middle of it. Quickly dragging the daiyoukai there because he weighed a lot more than what she could handle on her own, she dropped him on the mattress in a not so graceful gesture before kneeling down to lay him in a more comfortable position.
Ignoring whatever emotion she felt that would not help her in the situation she found herself in, Kagome used a rather large amount of fur to support the daiyoukai's head and make him more comfortable, only to feel her heart stop beating as she finally took a proper look at him.
She knew what she was seeing, but she didn't want to believe it. It had to be some sort of hallucination, she was sure. Perhaps she had eaten something that was harmful for humans during lunch and didn't know, and all this was nothing but a nightmare she fell in after passing out due to food poisoning. As much as she wanted to deny the facts in front of her though, she knew that what she saw was nothing but the reality, and that hurt her more than anything else.
Hands trembling because she couldn't find the strength inside her to pretend everything was fine anymore, Kagome brushed his hair out of his face and let out a distressed cry. This had to be some kind of sick joke, and she fought to keep her tears at bay. Touching the middle of Sesshoumaru's browns, where his family's crest once stood, the miko felt about to break down.
His markings were gone. All of them.
From the magenta stripes that adorned his cheeks to the crescent moon on his forehead, they had all disappeared.
A hand then weakly touched the side of her face, and Kagome snapped out of her despair to face regular, brown eyes looking at her. Her face felt wet in contrast to the cold fingers that touched her cheek, and she questioned when exactly had she started to cry.
''Why do you weep, miko?'' Sesshoumaru's voice sounded weak, his concern for her well-being making another tear fall down her cheeks, and she held his hand in hers as she tried to regain her control over her feelings.
''Don't worry about me right now,'' She said, a small smile appearing on her face as she dried her tears with the sleeve of her kimono. ''I need you to stay awake, can you do this?''
A nod was the only answer she got, and she decided that it was as good as it would get right now. His eyes stayed open, watching every move she made in an attempt to not fall asleep, and she bit her lip as she thought about what to do.
Nothing came to her mind though, it was as if her brain had stopped working, and her hands absentmindedly straightened the wrinkles on his clothes, brushing through his chest and feeling his heart beat weakly. It was then that she realized something, and her eyes widened as she ripped his haori open to find her protection charm breaking apart.
The flower, that once had a bright orange color, now was almost completely gray and rotten. She could barely feel the traces of her reiki there and realization dawned in, that was why she always felt the need to recharge his amulet when they were close. The knowledge that something was wrong had been within her all along, and she felt angered at herself for not noticing it sooner.
It was too late for that now though, and she would have time to chastise herself later once this was all fixed. As Sesshoumaru's eyes threatened to close, Kagome suddenly had an idea and breathed in deeply before acting.
''Look at me, Sesshoumaru.'' She ordered, and his tired eyes opened again to face her determined ones. ''Do not fight it.''
As she locked his gaze on hers, her hands moved to touch the rotten amulet and reiki flowed outside her body, surrounding his form. She let her energy flow free, gathering as much information as it could from his body and youki, only to realize then what the problem was.
There was no youki.
It was almost completely gone, and the lack of it to a daiyoukai meant death. To find Sesshoumaru in such conditions meant only one thing, a truth she found hard to swallow.
He had been cursed.
She didn't know by who or the reason why, but the diagnosis was crystal clear to her, and she searched inside her mind for any kind of information she had that could help right now.
The door of the room suddenly slid open, footsteps taking over the place as voices questioned what was going on but she didn't let her focus break, she needed to test a theory. Still staring into Sesshoumaru's brown eyes, Kagome pushed her reiki inside the amulet, only to see it absorb and distribute the energy around his body.
She had been right. The amulet was keeping him alive that way, conserving the maximum amount of his energy that it could so he wouldn't die. Die because his youki was gone, and the only thing slowing death from catching up had been his tie to her own powers.
''This Sesshoumaru feels tired.'' His exhausted voice broke through her thoughts and made her control waver, a single tear falling down her cheek without her noticing. Sesshoumaru's brown furrowed in confusion, and he raised his hand once again to wipe the tear away. ''Do not weep, this one merely needs to sleep.''
Kagome truly wanted to cry, this was too much for her. But as she spared a glance around the room and saw that no one knew what was happening or how to help, she realized that she needed to stay calm and take charge from now on. She would be strong, if not for her own sake then for his, for she couldn't fail him after everything he had done to help her. With her mind made up, Kagome held his hand and put it close to her heart, then spoke. ''Do you trust me, Sesshoumaru?''
Confusion seemed to pass through his gaze before his expression softened and he squeezed her hand, letting out the first smile she had seen him give ever since they met, and that broke her heart apart just a little bit more. ''Is the sky blue, little miko?''
Laughing at his typical answer, Kagome nodded before pressing a kiss to his forehead and caressing his hair delicately. ''So I ask you to trust me and rest now. I'll fix this, and when you wake up everything will be okay, I promise.''
''Hn.'' He seemed relieved to hear that, and his hand squeezed hers one last time before his eyes fell shut. His breathing slowed down, and Kagome let out a shaky breath of her own as she turned to face the confused crowd in the room.
Looking at the only one who would fully understand the weight of her words, Kagome spoke.
''Your brother is aging, InuYasha.''
