Sanctuary
Author's Note: Hello everyone! *Lime warning* I needed to tell you guys that before you read it, because well… just cuz.
Disclaimer's Note: ARGH! NOT AGAIN!
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Sango and Miroku had been travelling for days now, trying hard to contain themselves from ridding the world of the clay miko. But being a certain hanyou's friend comes with certain boundaries you have to respect. It had been a while since they heard from Kagome or Shippou, but they were certain that they would meet up again. After all, Kagome had said that she would return with them to complete the Shikon.
Suddenly, her senses were bombarded with a combination of youkai auras. Her knees felt weak as she looked up to see a hoard of youkais going their way.
InuYasha stepped up and unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and motioned for them all to stay behind him, however, the Tetsusaiga would not transform. The sword remained, as it was, rusted and old.
'What is wrong with you?'
The usual pulse of its power was not present. InuYasha began to panic. He could use his claws, true… but how long until he would wear out? Why was the Tetsusaiga so inanimate?
All the questions in his head, combined with his hatred blinded him from the world. His normally golden eyes were tinted with a hue of red, and two streaks of red were slowly showing on his face. His claws grew longer and harder.
Sango noticed this and pulled on Miroku's sleeve.
"We have to find a safe spot from this… I don't think we can stop him!" she said.
Kirara had already noticed his change and transformed into her true form, allowing Sango and Miroku to climb on her.
"Go Kirara!"
Kikyou, not knowing about InuYasha's youkai blood had ignorantly stayed behind with a bored look on her face. She did not care about what would happen, so long as she still stayed on this earth.
'As long as Naraku keeps his end of the bargain, I will get the Shikon and I can wish myself back to life…' she thought cruelly.
As the hoard of youkais came, she felt a gust of wind and was surprised to see the Tetsusaiga in its rusted form on the grass. She looked up to see a full-blooded InuYasha mercilessly ridding the low- level youkais with his 'claws of blood' and 'claws of steel'.
Once they were all gone, she noticed that the two ningens who traveled with InuYasha were nowhere to be seen.
"InuYasha?"
She felt him stiffen as she hugged him from behind. Something was different about him… something… dangerous. She backed away as he turned around slowly, revealing his facial features.
His eyes were blood red. She could feel his thoughts. Kill. She continued backing away, but stopped as she remembered she had a leash on him.
He was closing in on her and she felt a lump in her throat.
" Stop." She said, but he kept going. 'What's going on?'
She looked at his neck and saw that the prayer beads were still on him. 'Could it be that he's stronger than I thought?' she wondered. She shook her head. No, those beads were stronger than life itself… only something with a stronger spell could break it.
"Kagome?" he asked.
She stiffened. 'So that's why…' she thought. Fear crept into her heart as she realized what was about to happen. 'I'm going to die…'
When InuYasha did not hear a response, he searched the miko's eyes and found nothing. With a snarl, he pounced on her. He bared his fangs and his eyes went from a light red hue to blood red in mere seconds.
"You are NOT Kagome!" he growled and ripped the clay miko until her body was nothing more than mere dirt.
He stood and sniffed the air and caught a familiar lavender scent. Trusting nothing but his blind instincts, he ran towards the scent.
Kagome
Sango and Miroku stood upwind from InuYasha, witnessing everything he had done. The prayer beads had fallen off of him as soon as the miko had crumbled into dust. Nothing held InuYasha back now. Now, he was more dangerous than ever.
"Where is he going?" she asked.
Miroku shrugged as a fallen sword caught his eye. " Kuso! The Tetsusaiga!"
Sango paled. Without it, his youkai blood would never be in check. She now knew where the currently full- blooded youkai was headed to.
"Kagome-chan"
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Kagome paced around. Her mental state was more trained and was more matured than the rest of her. She needed to train and she needed it bad. Yumemaru had started on her lessons and that was a good way to let off steam, but her youkai side was aching to be released.
Not to mention the fact that SesshouMaru had left with Rin and were probably in his lands right now, maybe even fighting with InuYasha…
'I wonder how InuYasha would view me now?' she thought bitterly.
She laughed inwardly at the thought. A few weeks ago, she had considered the world beneath the well was a place that haunted her and viewed her as a mere shadow of her former self. She viewed herself as nothing but an incarnate. But she was wrong.
She was Kagome. The daugther of the Lord of the North Western lands, and she was born four years prior to Kikyou's death. She was now unique. No longer labeled as a double, a replacement.
'But was it worth it?' she asked sadly.
The way back to Tokyo was gone. This was her home, the family that she never knew she had. But what of the family she had beyond the bone-eater's well? What would become of her little brother Souta? What's going to happen now that his oneesan is gone?
Kagome clasped her necklace and found it glowing in her hand. As she opened it, a green light closed around her and she fell.
As she opened her eyes, she found herself in a luxurious bedchamber. Somehow something about the scene told her she was dreaming. Maybe it was the fact that the moon, and the sun, was in the sky and half of the sky was filled with stars.
"What the-"
"Kagome…"
She tossed around and found herself gazing into a sea of gold. Blinking a few times, she realized she was still sprawled underneath the bed sheets. Not bothering to know whether she was dressed or not, she bolted up and stood beside the bed. She was breathing heavily as she gazed back at SesshouMaru.
SesshouMaru smiled softly at her, causing her to gasp audibly.
'He's… gorgeous.' She thought.
Suddenly, she smacked herself inwardly remembering Midoriko's words: " There is no such thing as a thought in the dreamscape"
" I am flattered you think so, my dear," he said as he gracefully walked up towards her. Kagome stiffened as he hugged her from behind and whispered in her ear. " What brings you to me?"
He started to nibble on her ear and kiss her neck as his hand found hers. An involuntary moan escaped Kagome's lips. She felt him smile as he kissed her. His hot breath tickled her neck as he started to sway to an unheard tune.
" SesshouMaru what are you doing?" she asked as she wriggled free of his grasp. " I know that I'm not in my dreamscape… so why am I here and Where is here?"
SesshouMaru looked around and smiled. " You are in my dreamscape… it appears that you called upon the gem and with it being linked to me… " he said no more.
Kagome put two and two together and glanced down at the necklace. She did not want to part with it. It bothered her that SesshouMaru was the boy that she had received it from, but she was thankful, for it was the only thing that kept her sane at times she thought she was losing it.
"oh"
SesshouMaru grinned as he watched her move towards his balcony. She leaned on her elbows, which were propped up against the railing. He wrapped both his arms around her and nuzzled the back of her neck.
"Will you please stop it?" Kagome breathed as she let go of him. " I…I can't do this…"
He frowned. He knew well that Kagome still harbored some feelings for his brother. 'That baka… I should tear him limb from limb…'
He saw Kagome's eyes widen with fear and he smacked himself on the head, mimicking her motions just a while back.
"You… hate him… that much?" Kagome asked softly. "What did he ever do to you?"
He was surprised to see Kagome staring into his eyes as if she needed the answers to her question.
" He was born"
Suddenly, Kagome started to fade. SesshouMaru panicked and embraced the girl until he was embracing nothing but air.
"Don't go… not yet…"
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"Chikuso…" Miroku swore underneath his breath.
Without the prayer beads that the undead miko had placed on him, InuYasha would be even harder to subdue, and he would be much harder to defeat. Without the Tetsusaiga, InuYasha's youkai blood would be that much harder to control.
"What will happen if InuYasha reaches Kagome-chan before we do?" Sango's soft voice asked.
Miroku wrapped his arms around the shaking woman before him. With lecherous thoughts gone from his mind, Sango knew that Miroku was just as scared as he was.
'Without the prayer beads that Kagome-sama had on him… she may very well be in danger'
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Mariko ran like the wind towards her 'oniisan's' chambers. She had intruded in his 'nap dream' and found him lying on the floor of his chambers sobbing. She had jerked herself awake and began to run as soon as she heard terrified groans from the chambers down the hall.
'Sesshou's got it bad…' she thought.
She reached his chambers and opened the door with haste. She knew that SesshouMaru did not get nightmares often and what SesshouMaru had just dreamt was no nightmare. Putting two and two together, she knew that he was suffering from emotional turmoil and if he didn't wake up soon, he would go insane trying to figure out his problems.
She saw a tossing and turning lump under the covers and found it hard not to close her ears from his constant swearing.
"Wake up, SesshouMaru-sama!"
SesshouMaru opened his eyes and grabbed the closest thing next to him, unfortunately for Mariko, she was the only thing close by.
"Kagome?" he asked groggily, his throat hoarse from growling.
Mariko was stunned. She looked into his golden eyes and gasped audibly at the raw emotions that flashed by. Pain, loneliness, sadness, longing, just to name a few. She knew how he felt, she had often dreamt of InuYasha the same way…
'How can I think of that baka at a time like this?! Oniisan needs my help!'
Mariko cradled the taiyoukai in her arms and tried to calm him down. SesshouMaru's vision began to clear and he found the Neko in his arms. He gently let her go and sighs.
" I… I don't know what to do anymore," he admitted as his head was bent in shame.
Mariko shook her head and made a clicking sound with her tongue. "Tsk tsk, why are you so ashamed for?" she asked. "Love is an emotion that gives you strength. You should be happy."
SesshouMaru nodded and stood up. Giving Mariko a slight hug, he left her to her thoughts. He needed to hunt, and he went off to find an unfortunate animal to kill.
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Mariko sighed and left SesshouMaru's chambers. It had been so long since she was in the castle. 'Too long' she thought bitterly. 'I thought I would be able to come back before InuYasha left…' she laughed bitterly. 'InuYasha'
Mariko and InuYasha were the best of friends. They had done everything together, they played pranks on each other constantly, but he always had his eyes on that Miko in the village in his forest.
'Kikyou' she thought bitterly. 'That selfish…'
She stopped. InuYasha's mother was just like Kikyou. Deadly, witty and conniving, nothing would get in the way of their goal.
As much as Mariko loved InuYasha, she hated InuYasha's mother. She was nice when Lord InuTaisho was around, but she lowered herself to nothing but a whore around everyone else. Including SesshouMaru.
'The nerve of that ningen trying to hit on my oniisan!' she thought.
She reached her room and sighed. She felt tears coming from her eyes. She had witnessed everything that had happened in SesshouMaru's dream. Every little detail. She now knew what Kagome looked like and it tore her apart.
The woman slightly resembled Kikyou and she hurt for it. Although she felt nothing wrong about her and liked her aura instantly, her physical appearance still sent knives in her heart.
Suddenly, she felt a sudden jolt of electricity, as if someone important was coming. Her eyes widened and she ran to find SesshouMaru.
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Kagome shivered slightly. Her meeting with SesshouMaru left her confused and consumed with loneliness. She could still feel his breath on her neck, his touch on her skin and his kisses.
She looked around her and admired the eloquent design of the formal dining room. Lady Yumemaru preferred to teach her there. It gave her a certain comfort, with the paintings and all.
"Kagome, do listen when I talk to you," said the kind woman as she snapped her fingers in front of Kagome's face.
" Gomen." Kagome said. " What were you saying?" she asked.
"I don't know whether to feel proud or useless for this bit of information I am to give you," Lady Yumemaru said " I have nothing left to teach you, my dear. Most of the things you've learned in the future is more than half of my lessons. All that's left is for you to learn of the history and the legends of the youkais, which I am sure that I can teach you in just three days…"
Kagome smiled slightly. She loved history, it gave her a certain feeling knowing her heritage. She loved it. And legends were one thing she had to live with. Seeing as her grandfather always told her of legends.
"Jii-chan"
Yumemaru frowned. 'Hm… It seems that she had been quite fond of her family beyond the well…' she thought.
She placed her hand on Kagome's shoulder.
" It is alright to cry once in a while you know," she said. " You must have been quite fond of them."
Kagome nodded. "I loved them very much."
Yumemaru smiled. " You will see them again. Youkais live practically forever."
Kagome nodded.
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Hatred. Worry. Pain. Confusion. So many emotions ran through the hanyou's mind. He had no idea what he was doing, he only knew he needed Kagome by his side. He had been foolish to turn her away and now that he had his sight back, he would ask her to take him back.
He cursed himself for not knowing it sooner. But its all in the past. All he needed to do was to find Kagome. Find her and make her his mate. They would live forever together.
"Kagome"
He did not care who was unfortunate to get in his way. He just ran through a straight course towards the North West.
He was so blinded by his own instincts, he did not realize that he was in his half-brother's territory. Then again, he didn't care.
" InuYasha"
he heard a soft feminine voice say. He stopped. 'Kagome? No…' he started to shake off his need to kill. '…Mariko…'
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Author's Note: Hey all! I hope you enjoyed that chapter! I just wanted to thank Essai for telling me of the whole SesshouMaru spying on Kagome episode. What I had intended to say that the only time that SesshouMaru saw Kagome face to face with him was when he was trying to kill her or get the Tetsusaiga, but whenever he spied on her, she was calm because she did not know of his presence.
