.:All of My Tomorrows:.
chapter eleven : distortion
Toukijin, Tetsusaiga's equal, was alive.
Like the Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga, it possessed a will of its own. Forged by Kaijinbou using the head of Goshinki, it was a sword destined to know the taste and feel of flesh, blood and bone. More importantly, it craved Inuyasha.
Sesshoumaru suspected this when he brought the head of Goshinki to Kaijinbou. He wanted a sword with such cravings. He wanted an equal to the Tetsusaiga. If Inuyasha was capable of defending himself and the Tetsusaiga from Sesshoumaru, then he deserved to keep his inheritance. If not...
If not, then the hanyou never deserved the sword to begin with.
However, Sesshoumaru despised the Toukijin. It served its purpose, but wielding the thing was a wholly abhorrent experience. Anyone who tried to wield the sword became possessed by it, just as Kaijinbou had been. Sesshoumaru was the only one powerful enough to resist its evil lure and because of that, it had chosen him as its master.
The moment Jaken saw the Toukijin oozing miasma a cold chill went down his spine. Such an omen did not bode well. Without hesitation, Jaken fled the dojo and went in search of his Lord, confident that he would know what to do. Yet, as the two of them made their way up the steps that led into the dojo and toward the wall where the Toukijin hung, it was Sesshoumaru who was taken aback.
Toukijin appeared to be bleeding.
The liquid seemed to spurt out with every pulse of the sword, creating a puddle of the vile liquid on the floor beneath it. It was not just miasma oozing freely from the sword, but human blood as well. The scent of the miasma was dominating, but Sesshoumaru could detect the blood clearly. It smelled like old, diseased blood from a human corpse.
Covering the lower half of his face with his sleeve in the effort to help buffer the scent, Sesshoumaru stood several yards from the Toukijin, studying it intently. There was a faint glow surrounding the sword that grew slightly brighter with each pulse.
The assumption that the sword was reacting to something was a mistake. It was not reacting at all. It was calling to him, tempting him.
With that realization, the sword glowed brighter and lifted itself from the wall of its own accord. It hovered in mid air for a brief moment before flying toward Sesshoumaru at high speed. Yelping in panic, Jaken hastily hid himself behind his Lord, "Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Sesshoumaru did not noticeably react as the sword came toward him. With a loud swoosh, it imbedded itself into the wooden floor directly in front of him, the blade vibrating from the impact.
Golden eyes examined the sword closely. It still bled. It still pulsed. Sesshoumaru knew without a doubt that the sword came to him because it wanted him to do something with it. It was poised in front of him as an invitation. It was begging him to wrap his hand around the hilt and wield it, use it. The longer Sesshoumaru peered at the sword, the more tempted he was to grasp it.
Not one to resist a temptation such as this, a clawed finger reached out toward it. His fingers hovered over the hilt, a hair's breath away from direct contact. Sesshoumaru felt a jolt pass through him as he placed one graceful fingertip to rest on the very top of the hilt.
An image of a beast youkai with a body covered in scales similar to that of a dragon and a face like a mortal filled his mind. It smiled at him and called him by name, whispering promises of immense power and vindication.
Jaken watched in fascinated horror as his master's hand slowly began to wrap around the hilt of the sword and lifted it up in front of him. His eyes no longer focused on Toukijin, but appeared distant and hazy as they slowly began to glow red. Sesshoumaru's entire body grew ridged as the air around him began to tingle and thrum with power.
He was beginning to transform.
"S-sesshoumaru-sama?" Jaken whispered in alarm.
Sesshoumaru was gathering massive amounts of energy to him causing Jaken to stumble backward in shock. He had never seen his Lord pull so much ki around him at one time when no visible enemy threatened him. The part of Jaken's mind that valued his survival urged him to run, and he did. Even as he turned his back to his Lord to scramble away from him, he knew he had fully transformed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jaken saw Kagome standing on the steps just outside of the dojo, her eyes fixed on Sesshoumaru.
"What are you doing here, wench?" Jaken spat, momentarily forgetting the reason why he was fleeing to begin with.
The woman-child did not acknowledge him as she continued to peer intently at Sesshoumaru. Her small hands clenched and unclenched at her sides, whispering her unspoken concern. Jaken, curious to know what was happening for himself, followed her line of vision.
In the center of the dojo stood a fully transformed Sesshoumaru, poison dripping from his mouth and dissolving the wooden floor beneath his feet. Under his massive front paw lay the Toukijin. His entire body was tense and alert, ready to spring into action at any moment yet he did not move.
From Kagome's visage, the Toukijin seemed to be speaking to the youkai lord. His ears twitched occasionally as he listened to sounds only he could hear radiating from the sword and Sesshoumaru seemed to be contemplating it intently, his tail slowly swaying to and fro.
After several minutes, Sesshoumaru suddenly bent down and grasped the end of the sword in his mouth, growling loudly and painfully as the miasma coated hilt made contact with his flesh. With a quick and powerful jerk of his head, Sesshoumaru tore the Toukijin in two. The sudden motion sent of end of the sword flying from his mouth, hurtling it through the far wall of the dojo with a thunderous crash.
The resulting damage to the Toukijin caused the remaining half of the sword to spray miasma with every pulse, coating everything around it with the vile liquid. Sesshoumaru growled menacingly at the remains of the sword before vomiting his most potent poison directly onto it, instantly filling the room with a noxious gas and slowly dissolving the dying remains of Toukijin.
The miasma was clinging to his flesh and fur, burning him. It was the most painful sensation he had ever experienced in his life. He dared not lick the miasma in an attempt to clean it off him as his mouth was already bleeding and felt painfully raw from just grasping the hilt between his teeth. His only option was to go to the river and bathe; he did not think he had the strength to transform. Resisting the offer just presented to him sapped his strength far more than he bargained for.
The intense taste and scent of the miasma was causing his senses to fail him as he moved toward the exit. His movements felt slow and clumsy with having only one front leg coated with the burning miasma. As he made his way toward the threshold of the dojo, the blurred sight of the woman-child standing in his direct path caused him to suddenly pause.
She was making a pathetic sound he recognized as sniffling. As he strained to get a better look at her, he realized with surprise that she was crying. He watched with muted wonder as she began to slowly approach him, an odd expression of concern in her eyes. He was in no mood to deal with the woman-child and he growled at her softly, warning her to keep her distance. Sesshoumaru felt exhausted and had no patience left to deal with a mortal as peculiar as she. His only desire was to rid his body of the burning miasma.
She paused for a moment when he growled and gazed at him carefully. She smiled slightly, "Let… Let me help you, Sesshoumaru. I think I can get some of that miasma off of you."
He turned his head to get a better look at her. Her voice sounded normal, but the concerned expression on her face troubled him still. Did he not already tell her that he did not want or need her help?
"Please, Sesshoumaru. Let me at least try," she said quietly, as she began to approach him once more.
It was then that he realized that she was completely inside the dojo, surrounded by his poison and seemingly unaffected by it. He watched her with curiosity-filled eyes as she came to stand right next to his paw, poison surrounding her on all sides. She tilted her head back to look up at him and gestured toward his paw, "May I?"
Not waiting for him to respond, she placed her tiny hands on his paw and began to pull gently at the miasma. He immediately felt soothing warmth push away the pain and watched as the miasma seemed to evaporate from her hands.
Once finished, she stepped back from his paw and reached both hands up toward his face. Without thinking, he lowered his head toward her outstretched arms. Within moments, all traces of miasma were gone from him and he felt his body begin to heal itself of its own accord. Kagome smiled at him faintly, happy to have been able to help him. His amber eyes watched her fastidiously, giving her the distinct impression that he was looking right through her. The sensation immediately chased away her moment of happiness and replaced it with a feeling of timidity.
She did not know why his gaze was bothering her so much, but she immediately wanted a distraction. Kagome forced a smile on her face and opened her mouth to ask him why he had not transformed when he growled at her low and menacingly, the deep sound causing her chest to vibrate.
She stumbled backward from him, suddenly thrown off guard by his behavior. He growled again, louder, and took a single step toward her, causing her to fall on her backside as she stumbled down the steps and fell out of the dojo. With an undignified protest, the look on her face changed from shock to anger and she glared at him.
"Hey! I just wanted to help you! You don't have to act like such a jerk!" She threw him another indignant look as she began to pick herself up off the ground.
Sesshoumaru could smell her blood and knew she had cut herself when she fell. Part of him regretted causing her to fall, while another part of him reprimanded him for caring to begin with.
"I can't believe how arrogant you are," Kagome muttered as she dusted herself off.
Jaken hit her on the back of the head with his staff with a loud crack. The force of the blow caused Kagome to stumble forward and fall to her knees. "Do not speak to Sesshoumaru-sama so disrespectfully," he hissed. "You are as foolish as you are ugly!"
Another low growl sounded from Sesshoumaru and Jaken realized to his dismay that the youkai lord was growling at him. "S-sesshoumaru-sama?"
Kagome stood quickly and swatted Jaken soundly on the top of his head while his attention was diverted, not hearing Sesshoumaru's growl or noticing the amusement that seemed to reflect in his golden eyes while watching the exchange. "You stay out of this, you little freak!"
"How dare you!" Jaken shrieked as he rubbed the lump forming on top of his head. "I should kill you for your disrespectful behavior!"
"Disrespectful!? To who? You!?"
"I am a loyal servant of Sesshoumaru-sama. Being disrespectful to me is equal to being disrespectful to him!"
Kagome rolled her eyes at the toad and sighed loudly. "Oh, please."
Feeling suddenly bold, the toad youkai pounded the end of his staff against the ground for emphasis as he leveled a hateful glare upon Kagome. "The only reason you are here, you filthy mortal bitch, is because of your miko powers. You should be dead and buried with that hanyou brat! It is a shame you did not kill yourself as well as your bastard --"
A vicious kick to Jaken's crotch silenced the toad from further remarks as he cried out in pain and curled up into a ball on the ground. Kagome tightly clenched her fists to her sides and squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry.
Jaken's words did not matter, she told herself, and Sesshoumaru's attitude should not upset her. They were not her friends and never would be. She should not let them get under her skin so easily.
Sesshoumaru was using her. She knew that.
Feeling herself beginning to lose her internal battle against her emotions, she quickly fled into the house and disappeared into her room.