DOWNBURST
The castle was thrown into chaos. There was the din of frantic screaming, panic because of the broken barrier and the corpse swinging at anyone within reach. The pieces of the dead crow didn't stop thrashing until the fox rushed out and set the thing aflame while muttering something about it being tougher than before, because even charred it still twitched and crawled until someone finally smashed it to bits.
Sesshoumaru caught the flash of white in the sky as Kagura's feather bobbed before shooting off towards the coast, the scent of blood trailing behind and leaving an unsettling sensation in his gut.
He gave barely a cursory glance over the mayhem before he followed.
He raced after her, his gaze stuck on that smear of white in the sky, the feather swerving erratically as she flew a breakneck pace down the valley. What the hell was she thinking? If that little stunt had been some slight directed at him or his mother, a last ditch attempt to spite them, more retaliation for his earlier loss of control, then it was his responsibility to find out.
The world below passed in a blur, greys and whites illuminated by the moonlight as he flew. The ice wind that whipped his face did nothing for the scent of blood and the thick, heady scent of poison clouding his mind. He blinked to try to clear it, but it did little to ease the fog, only made it harder to keep track of the feather blending into the glimmering water as the sea broke the horizon. If Kagura had noticed his presence she hadn't acknowledged it, just kept on at her rapid pace; the feather swerving erratically and nearly grazing the tops of several naked treetops, bare twigs snagging on its barbs.
But then she was over the sea, the feather bucked, and the bat began to flap its wings, a child gripped in its claws as it frantically tried to make its way back to shore, screeching something when it saw him pass overhead, and―Kagura fell.
The feather slipped from beneath her, and she went down headfirst, skipping like a stone across the waves before finally sinking into the darkness below the surf.
There was a beat―the few seconds between her fall and when he reached the place she'd disappeared―where he held his breath, expecting her to resurface… but the water just continued its eternal beat against the shore, the roar of the waves nearly deafening as the sound of his own blood pounding in his ears.
One breath, then another, and still―nothing.
Once, he'd pulled her from a river, he hadn't cared then, he'd thought she was dead, hadn't had a reason to save her and Rin and Jaken were there, it had been Rin who went in for her―but the longer he hovered there with the sea foam spraying his boots, staring at the murky abyss of the sea the louder his heartbeat became―every beat another second he was idle―even his eyesight would do little beneath the waves; his sense of smell: useless―the scent of her blood was still stuck in his nose and there was still a soreness in his sternum from when she'd shoved him after he'd nearly put a fist through her face and there was still no sign―
There was a hiss, the tides changing direction, the water swirling a little further out to sea, a gaping whirlpool parting the waves as the wind rushed in to the vacuum it created, and for the briefest second he saw a flash of violet.
He dove.
The water might as well have been solid ice, the way the chill infected his bones when he thrust his arm into the water, palming blindly until his fist closed around cloth and Kagura's limp form emerged from the darkness. Like pulling a cork, the whirlpool collapsed, leaving Sesshoumaru little time to do anything but sling her over his arm as he darted back to shore, silently grateful for having use of two.
Waves hissed and spat at him as he landed on the shore, the sand closest to the waters edge hard and frozen, solid as rock, and it wasn't until he'd nearly made it to the treeline that it gave beneath his feet and he finally set her down on her back.
Unconscious, soaking wet with the ends of her hair already beginning to freeze against her scalp, the scent of blood growing thick again as her wounds were exposed to the air, her entire left side a mess of blood and viscera and poison clinging to her skin like tar, shallow cuts necklaced her throat, a gash following the length of her jaw, a bruise forming on her cheek, blood smearing her face, the claw marks running down her chest―She wasn't breathing.
His blood went cold. The last time, there'd been a hole in her chest, no lungs to fill with water and drown in, and no reason to worry for someone who should be dead, but now she was just silent and still. He placed a hand over her belly, and felt nothing but the twitch of a sluggish heartbeat.
So he went with the quickest option. He punched her in the stomach.
Her reaction was immediate and the wind answered in kind. She shot straight up before collapsing again, spitting water and heaving, her eyes wide and what looked like a scream trying to strangle her, she could only gasped, emptying her lungs of the stinging saltwater with shuddering breaths until she was reduced to convulsing, dry heaving with loud, hacking coughs into the sand and in between gasps, muttering:
"...N-no―shut up, shut up, I-I'm fine… no, d-don't―its f-f-fine..." Her voice trembled, her words hardly intelligible with her chattering teeth, ragged breathing, and the howl of the cyclone whipping around them. At her words the wind calmed somewhat, but she continued to shake her head frantically, the movement causing more blood to well up from the cuts on her throat, her eyes half-lidded, unfocused and flickering rapidly.
Unsettled and unthinking, he reached out and cupped her cheek, holding her still to stop her thrashing, and finally her eyes focused on him.
And went wide with fear.
Her hand snapped up, gripping his wrist hard enough for her nails to leave bloody half moons in his skin.
"Kagura."
She flinched, her grip trembled with the force of her shivering, her skin like ice against his, but she didn't relent her hold.
"W-what―the fuck… you―" She suddenly threw her head back, her eyes screwed shut and gritting her teeth as a convulsion struck her. If she gripped his wrist any harder, she might have broken it.
Sesshoumaru eyed the gash along her shoulder, ignoring the twisting in his belly. Her collarbone visible through the viscera and coated in the thick, black coagulated poison. The tengu were known for their magics, deceptions and tricks, but he knew of their other abilities. It would devour her youki, setting her body against itself until there was nothing left. Common spirits, those with little, would simply starve themselves without the energy they relied on so heavily; while those with power, their body would turn against themselves, devouring everything in its wake until there was nothing left but an empty husk. A cancer, nothing like the acid that lined his own claws, nothing like the wound she would have received had it been him to attack her.
"Calm yourself." She cracked an eye open at him, brimming with tears she wouldn't allow to fall. "If you don't your own youki will kill you."
Both eyes opened, violet in the moonlight and swimming with confusion.
"My―? But… I d-don't…"
She released his wrist slowly, her nails pulling on his skin from the divets she'd made. He hesitated before letting his hand drop, and she slipped her fingers inside her collar and over her breast. Still shivering, her jaw clenched, she shut her eyes without breaking his gaze.
Kagura took a deep, shuddering breath, and Sesshoumaru's hackles rose as a gust of wind surrounded them, heavy with an energy he didn't recognize, but the change was almost immediate. Her breathing slowed, the muscle of her jaw loosened, and the divet between her brows smoothed out until it was nothing more than a shallow line of concentration. The thick liquid covering her wound slowly evaporated, creating a noxious steam that burned his nose. The wind was quick to drag it away, the stink dissipating on a breeze that calmed along with its mistress.
With a soft exhale she opened her eyes to stare absently up at the sky. The silence between them stretched, interrupted only by the roar of the waves as she stared up at the stars before her gaze slid to him. She tried to sit up, to prop herself up on her one good arm, but the sand beneath her was too soft and she nearly lost her balance, her shivering coming back in full force.
"What the f-fuck are you doing here." Her chattering teeth made the words less than intimidating, but there was still violence in her eyes.
"You broke the barrier," he said, choosing to remain kneeling beside her, "and destroyed parts of the castle, you should be grateful I'm the one who came after you."
"Should I?" she hissed. "You waitin' for somethin'? Got a good shot to take my fuckin' head―should do it now 'fore I get back on my―my feet."
He thought of the rage that had consumed him when he'd confronted her, questioning his own intelligence and the mention of Rin getting the better of him. She hadn't been afraid then, angry and spiteful to be sure, but even with his claws inches from her skin she hadn't flinched, just turned his anger back on him and gone her way. But now there was hesitation, anxiety in the way she held herself up straight despite her injury, in her shivering and in the shuddering breaths she took.
If they'd truly fought, he'd have insured she found herself in a worse state, but the icy tingle in his palm, the ghostly memory of her freezing skin had frozen the rest of him.
Kagura glanced at his hands and something in his belly twisted sharply.
"...Kagura-sama?"
They both looked up, the bat and the moth girl stood within the shadows of the tree line, watching them carefully. For once the bat looked more worried than furious, ignoring him in favor of staring at Kagura. He wondered how long they'd been there without his notice.
"Are you alright?" she asked, hesitantly.
There was a pause, and Kagura scoffed. "Am I―are you f-f-fuckin' serious?" She sounded more like herself, a good sign. "I―fuck, Urue."
The bat hardly looked put off by the outburst, she just silently waddled closer, watching Kagura with apprehension, her gaze falling to her chest once she got closer.
"Don't fuckin' start," Kagura warned. Sesshoumaru didn't care to know what she meant by it, as the girl was only a few steps behind and staring at him in terror, her face pale and eyes wide. She looked halfway to tears. When she'd closed the distance to a few feet she suddenly dropped to her knees and bowed, pressing her face into the sand.
"Please accept our apology! Kagura-sama was only defending herself! Those men came and―"
"Tekari."
The girl snapped her mouth closed and shrank in on herself, looking apologetic. As for Kagura, she'd turned her eyes to the sand, for the first time since he'd pressed her against the wall in that room not glaring daggers at him. His gaze fell again to the marks around her throat, the gash marring her cheek, and the stain near her chin that he realized now wasn't blood―
His stomach twisted again.
Kagura turned her head but he stood and took a step back before their eyes could meet. Kagura sucked in a quick breath. He chose to ignore it, until the sound of heavy wingbeats reached his ears.
Two of the ko-tengu appeared over the treeline, only visibly by the barest sliver of moonlight shimmering over their wings. They squawked and squealed, announcing their approach with vigor. Their rancid stink came next, making Sesshoumaru's nose sting as they neared. There was the sound of shifting sand, and when he looked back over his shoulder Kagura had gotten to her feet, head held high and shoulders straight despite her trembling limbs and the pain evident in the lines of her face.
"Ah, Sesshoumaru-sama! Looks like you found her before us!" Their voices were as grating as their attitudes. They landed a few feet away, brandishing their naginata in their taloned fists. With their beaked mouths it was difficult to read their expression, though their posture was relaxed. Odd, given how easily she'd dispatched their counterparts.
"We would like to thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama, for finding her," the larger one said, and both bowed. "Our eyesight is quite good but our sense of smell cannot compare to yours. If you don't mind, we will gladly bring her back."
The shorter one ignored him in favor of leering at Kagura, he took a step forward, but Kagura only answered it with a cool stare.
"Come any closer and I'll leave you in worse shape than your master." Her voice held firm, and the air was suddenly a few degrees warmer.
"Stupid cunt!" he guffawed and he lunged forward, "I'd like to see you tr―"
And was blown back into the surf, spewing blood from the cuts criss crossing his front. Kagura had only swung her arm, her fan most likely lost to the sea, but the blow had been enough to disorient the crow and wound him severely enough to incapacitate him. But whatever energy she'd put into the attack took its toll, she swayed and nearly stumbled, an opportunity the second crow pounced on. He leapt forward, blade aimed at her throat, an attack that would have nearly succeeded if not for Sesshoumaru's claws.
The air left his lungs in a soft gasp as Sesshoumaru's hand punctured straight through his chest, leeching poison into the wound, the acid eating away at any tissue it touched as Sesshoumaru pulled his hand away, letting the body fall facedown in the sand. He flicked the blood off his claws as much as he could, but the stain would remain on his sleeve.
Kagura stared at him.
Sesshoumaru stared back.
The waves kept rolling as the injured crow tried to pull himself out of the water, stumbling every time another wave crashed over his head. Kagura glanced at him, then at the corpse on the ground, before she sighed and shut her eyes. Her body swayed, struggling to stay upright though she refused to stumble again.
"Return to the castle." Any longer spent there and she'd be a frozen statue come morning.
Kagura scoffed, her confusion quickly giving way to her earlier indignation. "Fuck you. Why would I do that?"
Fine. He didn't need to argue with her. If she wanted to die such an undignified death, then fine, that was her choice to make. He wouldn't be bothered trying to change her mind if she trusted him that little―a small voice reminding him that she had some reason not to―then she was more than welcome to a grave in the sand.
But something gave him pause, he didn't leave straight away. He watched as the bat worried over her wounds only to be shaken off, while the girl was having an internal battle with herself looking like she might scream or cry any second as she rolled her toe through the sand. The injured crow squawked something, and Sesshoumaru had half a mind to kill him, too, but watching him fumble in the water was its own sort of satisfaction, something to sooth the growing irritation he felt watching Kagura struggling to breath.
The sound of more wingbeats, though Kagura looked less anxious about these, and it wasn't until the scent reached his nose that he recognized it as the bird that traveled with her troupe. But not alone―
The other dai-tengu and another ko-tengu were following in their wake, and Sesshoumaru recognized the more humanoid crow as the younger brother, his face fuller and expression a little fearful as they crossed over the line between forest and beach, Achara going straight to Kagura while the other two took a moment longer to descend. Sesshoumaru debated simply tearing them out of the air, that it might be a nice way to use the furious energy coursing through him. But the crow must have noticed the vicious atmosphere, as his eyes went wide with fright.
"Stop! Wait!"
The wind grew hot again as they landed, the crow carrying something large with difficulty, but he was quick to go to his knees, ignoring Sesshoumaru entirely in favor of prostrating himself before Kagura, hands fisted over his thighs as he kept his gaze on the ground. The other crow went to his knees as well, head down in the sand while Achara took their place beside Kagura.
"My name is Sagamibou, I am Soujoubou's fourteenth son, I came to offer my sincerest apologies for my brother's behavior," the dai-tengu said, "there is little I can do to atone for what he's done, but I and my father will do our best to atone for his actions."
Kagura scoffed.
"Please, my brother made a mistake, I know that it's little consolation, but for now―" he laid the bundle he carried on the ground before her, "take these, an offering―"
The sound that left her lips was close to a snarl.
"I don't want any fucking offering from you, your brother should be lucky I only crippled him. If I ever see any of you again I'll drop you out of the fucking sky."
Her anger infected the air, and whatever he'd brought was soon torn to shreds, and it wasn't until bits of torn and bloodied feathers swirled in the air that Sesshoumaru recognized it for what it had been. Ryuuhoubou's wings meant as a war trophy. The crow watched in awe, his mouth hanging open and eyes wide and frightful.
"Get the fuck out of my face."
He nodded furiously, rallying his subordinates, the injured crow struggled to follow until Sagamibou snapped at him and the other came to his aid. The pitiful crew taking to the sky again without any sort of grace.
There was silence as they all watched the crows disappear beyond the valley, leaving their dead brethren behind in favor of escape. If they were smart they'd be gone by morning, and even smarter to hide in their nests until the month was out. He didn't doubt Kagura's ability to bear a grudge. Or his own.
Kagura sighed. "If I had known that was gonna' happen, I would've taken his balls instead."
There was an indignant hiss from the bat
"I've heard Tengu women have appetites just as voracious as their men, he may have mistaken it for foreplay."
Kagura blinked at him and then let out a laugh that she was quick to stifle with her fist, the outburst surprising the both of them. The motion must have pulled on her wound because she winced, her teeth grit in a grimace. For once she let herself sway and fell back to the ground, steadying herself with deep breaths.
"Your injury is severe."
She looked up at him, an irritated glint in her eye, but then she blinked and it was confusion coloring her face. And it was maybe only a little too late that he recognized what it might have that had given her pause. Her kneeling there on the ground, and he…
And then the moment was lost, interrupted by the bird stepping between them.
"Kagura, come on, let's go back."
She grimaced and shook her head. "No."
"Kagura."
Sesshoumaru watched curiously, that unsettling sensation bubbling in his stomach. Her shivering was irritating in a way he didn't care to question, and the smell of her blood was very close to giving him a headache. He contemplated simply leaving them behind, but if she returned without him it would be his mother greeting them at the gate.
"You intend to remain here and freeze?"
She snapped her head to glare at him. "You think I'd go back to get stuck inside that barrier again?!"
"You've already proven you can break it," he drawled, "what's the use in fearing it?"
"I'm not―" she shut her mouth and shook her head, most likely concluding that wasting her energy arguing with him would lead to nothing. A tremor wracked her frame, and she braced a hand against her wound with a wince.
"Kagura."
Achara leaned down and placed their hand on her shoulder. The two of them speaking in low tones:
"We should go back."
Kagura sighed. At least she seemed more inclined to listen to them. That or exhaustion was finally beginning to take its toll.
"...I'm not sure if I can, not with…"
"I can carry Tekari."
"Good."
"And you?"
"I―" Kagura must have noticed his staring because she glanced up at him for the briefest second. "I'll manage on my own."
A minuscule nod, but Sesshoumaru didn't bother to wait for them, she'd said she could handle herself, something he had no doubt of. He turned on his heel, leaving them behind on the beach; but it wasn't until he heard the sound of her feather expanding that he took to the sky.
…
Sess: "you're injured? Hm … Turns out i don't like that, but you are covered in someone else's blood and can literally control the dead so… thats pretty sexy of you"
Chapters are going to start coming later as I've pretty much caught up to what I've written, so pls be patient! Honestly I've only been getting so into updating because of everyone's enthusiasm and support, so thank you to everyone that's keeping up with this
Mayra Yanet: hiciste un dibujo?! No podría ver pero soy muy conmovido ;;_;;
No se si lo puedes pero casi podrias mandar a mi tumblr? Tengo un submit ahí, creo que lo pueden mandar fotos, pero no soy cierto, es .com
La verdad es yo planee un arco narrativo para la introducción de Achara en Born Free, pero todavía no le he escrito… mierda, ahora necesito hacer jajaja
