Title: Falling Stars
Author: Celyia (ladycelyia@aol.com)
Genre: Romance
Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi still owns all. :-)
Dedication: To all those who enjoy the journey.
Note: This is the end of the first part. Woo! I'll start the next chapter soon, but that should be up in a few days. Between work and school, I don't think I have the energy to really keep the same pace that I have for the last few days. :-) Let me know what you think of this, eh? Thanks so much!
-Cel.
Chapter 6
Her vision blurry with sleep even as she shot to her feet, Kagome looked warily towards the direction of the village. Evil was approaching and approaching fast.
"Inuyasha!" she screamed, knowing she had just mere seconds before all hell broke loose. "There's a shard coming!" One, she thought with a shiver as she looked uneasily away, reeking of a corruption that she was surprised to no one else could feel.
Cursing as only silence ensued, Kagome looked around at her options.
She very well couldn't run back to the village. If she didn't run straight into her would-be assailant, she would end up leading him back into a village full of sleeping people. She had no weapon to make a stand. She couldn't run away into the thick of a forest where trouble reigned, but she couldn't just stay here waiting for help that wouldn't come.
Why does all the bad stuff choose to happen on the new moon, she wondered as she took off in a sprint towards the Bone Eater's Well. Perhaps she could take refuge in her own time? Surely the youkai couldn't follow her there.
Cursing her thinly soled shoes as a sharp stick impaled the bottom of her foot, Kagome forced herself to continue running. Wincing as she leaped over a fallen log, the girl landed unsteadily on her feet.
With a high pierced shriek as her weakened foot twisted suddenly with the pressure, Kagome tripped gracelessly to the forest floor.
In a panic, she looked around, her blue eyes processing her environment.
Lost in concentration as she broke a particular sturdy and sharp branch and hefted it in her hand, Kagome slowly pushed herself up to her feet and watched.
"Inuyasha," she whispered, wishing with all her heart her friends would make a timely entrance. "Come ON and rescue me! I don't want to die here!"
"You won't," a sibilant voice suddenly lisped, its androgynous tones too close to her ears for comfort. "The price is merely the bauble you were around your neck."
Kagome laughed ironically as she wielded the branch in her hands, forcing back her wince as she realised that it was too heavy to hold up for long. "Yeah, uh huh. And I bet you have a bridge you want to sell me, too."
The creature slithered into the light, its myriad of appendages twitching with either amusement or convulsions as it bestowed its single eye upon her.
"I know of no such bridges. In what riddles do you speak, human?"
The girl sighed as she gauged the distance towards the Bone Eaters Well. Closing her eyes as she realised she'd never make it, Kagome turned her attention to the youkai who towered above her.
Normally, it wasn't too difficult to figure out what kind of spirit the youkai had derived its form from, but Kagome frowned as she examined the creature that stood before her. Perhaps a type of lizard youkai? she wondered as she raised the pointed end of the stick towards the single eye.
No. There was just something wrong with this creature, she decided as she examined it carefully. As if, Kagome thought as she watched its amusement at her admittedly poor defense, it wasn't real in some way.
"Never mind. Get away from me, " she muttered, moving back slowly. Wincing as she pinned herself against a tree, Kagome raised her chin defiantly as she waited for the creature to attack.
"I will NOT die here," she whispered vehemently, her anger flaring through her small body as she readied her impromptu spear. I will not! Kagome grimaced as she watched the youkai move closer, several of its arms waving almost mesmerizingly. I've faced down bigger and stronger creatures than this before, and I will NOT allow some dumb Godzilla reject to win now!
The next thing she knew, her stick had been knocked out of her precarious grip and two scaly hands were pinched at her throat while another two pinned her waist to the harsh bark of the tree.
Man, she thought as small, black spots began to mar her vision, I knew he was lying about letting me go. Dammit. Wincing more from knowing she would lose consciousness soon than from the pain she felt, Kagome looked the creature in his milky eye.
No. I will not let this happen!
Kagome glared defiantly as she brought her knee up hard into the creature's loin-clothed genitals, only to gasp for precious air as it let her go.
"Inuyasha, get over here NOW!" she screamed, taking a perverse delight in the youkai's pain.
"Human bitch," it stuttered, its voice trembling with anger even as it picked up the discarded branch easily. "For that, you will die."
She lifted her chin then, her eyes defiant as she stared him down.
"Are you always this tedious or did I just get lucky?" Kagome asked, not visibly flinching as the youkai aimed the makeshift weapon at her long, slender throat.
Unable to help herself, Kagome closed her eyes, feeling the cold rush of air as the creature jabbed the sharp point at her throat.
Mom. I'm so sorry. I didn't really think I'd die here.
Startled out of her regrets by a sudden, low grunt, Kagome opened an eye tentatively, only to scream piercingly as the silver hair penetrated her obscured vision. Shuddering as she felt the mad warmth of the strong, solid body pressed protectively against her own, Kagome tried to quell the sudden panic that threatened to overwhelm her very soul.
"Inuyasha," she whispered in horror as her blue eyes focused solely on the stick that protruded from his shoulder and the torrent of blood rushing from it.
Narrow and completely unamused golden eyes looked into her own.
"Must you insist on falling into hysteria? I, Sesshoumaru, might be willing to overlook your tendency, if, that is, you were the one who had been injured…" Sesshoumaru's voice grumbled wryly even as he plucked the branch from his body, as if it were nothing more than a toothpick.
"Naraku," the lesser youkai muttered, its face pasty as it took a step back. "I failed."
Naraku? What the hell?
"No! Don't kill it!" Kagome screamed, only to wince as the youkai lord ripped the creature's scaly body in half with merely his claws. Too late, she thought as the remains fell to the ground in pieces. Sighing, she scooped the blackened shard from the creature's chest, only to cringe as the body melted away into oblivion.
"Now we'll never know what Naraku is up to," the girl muttered, absently stuffing the shard into her pocket.
Suddenly remembering she wasn't alone, the girl turned wide eyes towards the silent man, only to be startled by his close proximity. Shaking her head as she tried to relieve the sudden fear she felt deep in her very bones, Kagome shrugged helplessly.
"Naraku," she offered, hoping the one word would be enough to explain her distraction.
The youkai lord stared unceasingly at her, his eyes narrowed in hostility even as the wound on his shoulder wept red tears. And then, it all hit her with the force of a speeding garbage truck.
Sesshoumaru injured himself to save me? she wondered in awe, her mouth pulling into despair as she noticed the blood rushing from the wound just below his right clavicle. The tears welled up in her eyes as the youkai nonchalantly pressed a white fist against the wound, his golden eyes, so like his brother's, watching her reaction carefully.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, hating the feeling of helplessness that washed over her even as she forced herself to step forward. Without thinking, Kagome pulled the red tie free from the front of her old school uniform and held it out to him. "Please. It's clean."
The youkai looked at her, his eyes piercing as they focused on her face.
"Please?" she repeated, stepping forward until her extended hand was nearly touching his shoulder. The silence, the stillness was killing her. Terrified, she closed her eyes for a single moment, wishing with all her heart that something would happen.
She opened her eyes reflexively as his bloody fingers brushed against hers as they usurped the ghastly coloured cloth into his own hand.
His blood on her hands.
Blinking, her eyes unable to look away from the sight of his long, slender thumb touching hers, his vivid red blood staining her fingertips, even as he tugged gently at the cloth clutched firmly between her fingers. Shaking her head suddenly as she realised she needed to let go, Kagome looked up at the youkai in embarrassment.
He had been watching her, though his clear eyes were disinterested as though she didn't exist. But still he watched her even as he raised the cloth soundlessly to his shoulder and pressed.
Quietly, she lifted her chin, unable to look away as the depth of his golden eyes stole her breath and even, it seemed, her will.
Have you ever looked into the sun? Knowing that you stared directly into the face of your own impending blindness, but yet, the brilliance… the magnificence of the flaring golds and oranges leaving you willing to accept the results happily if it meant that you could seize just one more second of its overwhelming beauty?
Caught in his eyes, she felt her breathing speed up even as he moved back. Suddenly, unthinkingly, she took a small step forward, lost in depths she had never even known existed before.
He turned away, the spell broken by her movement, but not before she saw the utterly blank look on his striking face.
"The debt has been repaid," Sesshoumaru announced suddenly, his voice echoing throughout the forest. Seemingly oblivious to the dark red blood that was just beginning to congeal at his shoulder, pooling blaringly through the white, ruined silk of his kimono, the Lord of the Western walked proudly into the deepening night.
"The next time we meet, I, Sesshoumaru, shall kill you."
Kagome dropped to her knees, her blue eyes wide as she watched the youkai disappear from view. Her heart pounding wildly in her ears, Kagome shivered as she looked at the remnants of his blood on her small, pale hands.
Response to reviews:
Vernal Equinox: *grin* Sesshoumaru is SUCH a stud, isn't he? *buys a flag off of you and waves it around herself* Thanks!
Ladyrissa: Aren't I evil? :-) Thanks! And you've inspired me. Kagome will DEFINITELY have to call him Sess-chan sometime. *innocent look* Can't wait to see how he responds to that.
Steph: Yeah. Poor Sess. He snoozed, he loooosed. :-) Or did he? Prolly not, considering this a romance and all and its usually considered bad form for the hero to kill the heroine. :-) Muahaha. Poor guy can't make up his mind, can he?
Voldersnort: You simply have to tell me what that name means. :-) I'm going nuts trying to figure it out! And thanks! *hides the stones from you anyway* You know, just taking away the temptation and all. :-)
Kimmy: Thanks! *grin* *bounces around happily*
Wiccachic: Coming from one of the premier writers of Sess/Ka, that means a lot. Thank you :-)
Alyson: Whew! *wipes the beads of sweat off her forehead* Just checking! :-) *grin* Thanks. And I'm really glad you liked that line. I didn't know whether or not to put it in, but at the end, I couldn't resist. :-)
Lightning: You got it! :-) With a review like that, it's impossible *not* to stay motivated. Thanks!
Sammy-chan: *GRIN* Agreed. Well, as long as he's not pissed at me. :-) Hope you like this chapter!
Okay, that concludes Part One. The first chapter of Part Two should be up in a couple days. Sorry about the wait, guys! Thanks!
Author: Celyia (ladycelyia@aol.com)
Genre: Romance
Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi still owns all. :-)
Dedication: To all those who enjoy the journey.
Note: This is the end of the first part. Woo! I'll start the next chapter soon, but that should be up in a few days. Between work and school, I don't think I have the energy to really keep the same pace that I have for the last few days. :-) Let me know what you think of this, eh? Thanks so much!
-Cel.
Chapter 6
Her vision blurry with sleep even as she shot to her feet, Kagome looked warily towards the direction of the village. Evil was approaching and approaching fast.
"Inuyasha!" she screamed, knowing she had just mere seconds before all hell broke loose. "There's a shard coming!" One, she thought with a shiver as she looked uneasily away, reeking of a corruption that she was surprised to no one else could feel.
Cursing as only silence ensued, Kagome looked around at her options.
She very well couldn't run back to the village. If she didn't run straight into her would-be assailant, she would end up leading him back into a village full of sleeping people. She had no weapon to make a stand. She couldn't run away into the thick of a forest where trouble reigned, but she couldn't just stay here waiting for help that wouldn't come.
Why does all the bad stuff choose to happen on the new moon, she wondered as she took off in a sprint towards the Bone Eater's Well. Perhaps she could take refuge in her own time? Surely the youkai couldn't follow her there.
Cursing her thinly soled shoes as a sharp stick impaled the bottom of her foot, Kagome forced herself to continue running. Wincing as she leaped over a fallen log, the girl landed unsteadily on her feet.
With a high pierced shriek as her weakened foot twisted suddenly with the pressure, Kagome tripped gracelessly to the forest floor.
In a panic, she looked around, her blue eyes processing her environment.
Lost in concentration as she broke a particular sturdy and sharp branch and hefted it in her hand, Kagome slowly pushed herself up to her feet and watched.
"Inuyasha," she whispered, wishing with all her heart her friends would make a timely entrance. "Come ON and rescue me! I don't want to die here!"
"You won't," a sibilant voice suddenly lisped, its androgynous tones too close to her ears for comfort. "The price is merely the bauble you were around your neck."
Kagome laughed ironically as she wielded the branch in her hands, forcing back her wince as she realised that it was too heavy to hold up for long. "Yeah, uh huh. And I bet you have a bridge you want to sell me, too."
The creature slithered into the light, its myriad of appendages twitching with either amusement or convulsions as it bestowed its single eye upon her.
"I know of no such bridges. In what riddles do you speak, human?"
The girl sighed as she gauged the distance towards the Bone Eaters Well. Closing her eyes as she realised she'd never make it, Kagome turned her attention to the youkai who towered above her.
Normally, it wasn't too difficult to figure out what kind of spirit the youkai had derived its form from, but Kagome frowned as she examined the creature that stood before her. Perhaps a type of lizard youkai? she wondered as she raised the pointed end of the stick towards the single eye.
No. There was just something wrong with this creature, she decided as she examined it carefully. As if, Kagome thought as she watched its amusement at her admittedly poor defense, it wasn't real in some way.
"Never mind. Get away from me, " she muttered, moving back slowly. Wincing as she pinned herself against a tree, Kagome raised her chin defiantly as she waited for the creature to attack.
"I will NOT die here," she whispered vehemently, her anger flaring through her small body as she readied her impromptu spear. I will not! Kagome grimaced as she watched the youkai move closer, several of its arms waving almost mesmerizingly. I've faced down bigger and stronger creatures than this before, and I will NOT allow some dumb Godzilla reject to win now!
The next thing she knew, her stick had been knocked out of her precarious grip and two scaly hands were pinched at her throat while another two pinned her waist to the harsh bark of the tree.
Man, she thought as small, black spots began to mar her vision, I knew he was lying about letting me go. Dammit. Wincing more from knowing she would lose consciousness soon than from the pain she felt, Kagome looked the creature in his milky eye.
No. I will not let this happen!
Kagome glared defiantly as she brought her knee up hard into the creature's loin-clothed genitals, only to gasp for precious air as it let her go.
"Inuyasha, get over here NOW!" she screamed, taking a perverse delight in the youkai's pain.
"Human bitch," it stuttered, its voice trembling with anger even as it picked up the discarded branch easily. "For that, you will die."
She lifted her chin then, her eyes defiant as she stared him down.
"Are you always this tedious or did I just get lucky?" Kagome asked, not visibly flinching as the youkai aimed the makeshift weapon at her long, slender throat.
Unable to help herself, Kagome closed her eyes, feeling the cold rush of air as the creature jabbed the sharp point at her throat.
Mom. I'm so sorry. I didn't really think I'd die here.
Startled out of her regrets by a sudden, low grunt, Kagome opened an eye tentatively, only to scream piercingly as the silver hair penetrated her obscured vision. Shuddering as she felt the mad warmth of the strong, solid body pressed protectively against her own, Kagome tried to quell the sudden panic that threatened to overwhelm her very soul.
"Inuyasha," she whispered in horror as her blue eyes focused solely on the stick that protruded from his shoulder and the torrent of blood rushing from it.
Narrow and completely unamused golden eyes looked into her own.
"Must you insist on falling into hysteria? I, Sesshoumaru, might be willing to overlook your tendency, if, that is, you were the one who had been injured…" Sesshoumaru's voice grumbled wryly even as he plucked the branch from his body, as if it were nothing more than a toothpick.
"Naraku," the lesser youkai muttered, its face pasty as it took a step back. "I failed."
Naraku? What the hell?
"No! Don't kill it!" Kagome screamed, only to wince as the youkai lord ripped the creature's scaly body in half with merely his claws. Too late, she thought as the remains fell to the ground in pieces. Sighing, she scooped the blackened shard from the creature's chest, only to cringe as the body melted away into oblivion.
"Now we'll never know what Naraku is up to," the girl muttered, absently stuffing the shard into her pocket.
Suddenly remembering she wasn't alone, the girl turned wide eyes towards the silent man, only to be startled by his close proximity. Shaking her head as she tried to relieve the sudden fear she felt deep in her very bones, Kagome shrugged helplessly.
"Naraku," she offered, hoping the one word would be enough to explain her distraction.
The youkai lord stared unceasingly at her, his eyes narrowed in hostility even as the wound on his shoulder wept red tears. And then, it all hit her with the force of a speeding garbage truck.
Sesshoumaru injured himself to save me? she wondered in awe, her mouth pulling into despair as she noticed the blood rushing from the wound just below his right clavicle. The tears welled up in her eyes as the youkai nonchalantly pressed a white fist against the wound, his golden eyes, so like his brother's, watching her reaction carefully.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, hating the feeling of helplessness that washed over her even as she forced herself to step forward. Without thinking, Kagome pulled the red tie free from the front of her old school uniform and held it out to him. "Please. It's clean."
The youkai looked at her, his eyes piercing as they focused on her face.
"Please?" she repeated, stepping forward until her extended hand was nearly touching his shoulder. The silence, the stillness was killing her. Terrified, she closed her eyes for a single moment, wishing with all her heart that something would happen.
She opened her eyes reflexively as his bloody fingers brushed against hers as they usurped the ghastly coloured cloth into his own hand.
His blood on her hands.
Blinking, her eyes unable to look away from the sight of his long, slender thumb touching hers, his vivid red blood staining her fingertips, even as he tugged gently at the cloth clutched firmly between her fingers. Shaking her head suddenly as she realised she needed to let go, Kagome looked up at the youkai in embarrassment.
He had been watching her, though his clear eyes were disinterested as though she didn't exist. But still he watched her even as he raised the cloth soundlessly to his shoulder and pressed.
Quietly, she lifted her chin, unable to look away as the depth of his golden eyes stole her breath and even, it seemed, her will.
Have you ever looked into the sun? Knowing that you stared directly into the face of your own impending blindness, but yet, the brilliance… the magnificence of the flaring golds and oranges leaving you willing to accept the results happily if it meant that you could seize just one more second of its overwhelming beauty?
Caught in his eyes, she felt her breathing speed up even as he moved back. Suddenly, unthinkingly, she took a small step forward, lost in depths she had never even known existed before.
He turned away, the spell broken by her movement, but not before she saw the utterly blank look on his striking face.
"The debt has been repaid," Sesshoumaru announced suddenly, his voice echoing throughout the forest. Seemingly oblivious to the dark red blood that was just beginning to congeal at his shoulder, pooling blaringly through the white, ruined silk of his kimono, the Lord of the Western walked proudly into the deepening night.
"The next time we meet, I, Sesshoumaru, shall kill you."
Kagome dropped to her knees, her blue eyes wide as she watched the youkai disappear from view. Her heart pounding wildly in her ears, Kagome shivered as she looked at the remnants of his blood on her small, pale hands.
Response to reviews:
Vernal Equinox: *grin* Sesshoumaru is SUCH a stud, isn't he? *buys a flag off of you and waves it around herself* Thanks!
Ladyrissa: Aren't I evil? :-) Thanks! And you've inspired me. Kagome will DEFINITELY have to call him Sess-chan sometime. *innocent look* Can't wait to see how he responds to that.
Steph: Yeah. Poor Sess. He snoozed, he loooosed. :-) Or did he? Prolly not, considering this a romance and all and its usually considered bad form for the hero to kill the heroine. :-) Muahaha. Poor guy can't make up his mind, can he?
Voldersnort: You simply have to tell me what that name means. :-) I'm going nuts trying to figure it out! And thanks! *hides the stones from you anyway* You know, just taking away the temptation and all. :-)
Kimmy: Thanks! *grin* *bounces around happily*
Wiccachic: Coming from one of the premier writers of Sess/Ka, that means a lot. Thank you :-)
Alyson: Whew! *wipes the beads of sweat off her forehead* Just checking! :-) *grin* Thanks. And I'm really glad you liked that line. I didn't know whether or not to put it in, but at the end, I couldn't resist. :-)
Lightning: You got it! :-) With a review like that, it's impossible *not* to stay motivated. Thanks!
Sammy-chan: *GRIN* Agreed. Well, as long as he's not pissed at me. :-) Hope you like this chapter!
Okay, that concludes Part One. The first chapter of Part Two should be up in a couple days. Sorry about the wait, guys! Thanks!