DISCLAIMER: As always, I don't own the original story of the Inuyasha series nor do I own the characters and I don't own the Chinese fairytale that I'm basing this story on. But as far as I'm concerned I do own the idea of mixing these two things together :).
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey everybody! Thanks for waiting! I hope you all haven't forgotten about this
story (yet). Anyhow, the tests and deadlines are finally over =jumps a hole
in the air=. I do hope I haven't made them very badly, but I guess I'll just
have to wait for the results huh?
But still, a bad news is coming up. Well, it's good news to me, but kind of bad for you readers. I'm off to Greece with friends in a couple of days and I won't be back before 16 July, so you can't expect me to update before that date. Sorry about that. But I will take pen and paper with me so as soon as I have returned from Greece; I will post the next chapter as soon as possible!
'...Italic...': thoughts
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.-.-: time gap
=capslocked words=: noises
-by Kittymui-
Unwanted existence
There are some readers who don't quite understand the history of my story at the moment, and that's why this first part of the new chapter will be dedicated to clear up some uncertainties :).
First of all, I mentioned this story would be an Alternate Universe, and it still is, despite the fact that there are some elements of the original storyline mixed within this story. Second of all, the future-girl called Kagome never existed. And yes, the 'undead woman' I mentioned in the previous chapter is in fact Kikyou. Then how come she has been revived, you must be wondering.
All right, let me explain things one by one. Before arrival of the future-Kagome, Onigumo became Naraku and made Inuyasha and Kikyou hate each other, this is something that won't even change when I take away the future-Kagome-element. Even without Kagome, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru still fought over the blade Tetsusaiga and the fight resulted in Inuyasha cutting off Sesshoumaru's left arm. Then one day, some miko dug up Kikyou's remainders and created an undead version of the woman. Now this is what I thought: if her soul never reincarnated, it should still be within her remainders (ashes). So basically Kikyou's soul has been revived in her new body that's made of earth and clay. Hence the 'undead woman' reference. But now there are two Kikyou's!! Hahaha well, two people having the same name is possible right? And yeah, they will be looking alike (which I'm going to make good use of hehe =evil grin=). But the one of the moon has a minor role compared to the one on Earth, plus their characters will be quite the opposite of each other so you will be able to distinguish between them :), don't worry.
About the Shikon no Tama, it remained intact (honestly, I don't think a jewel can be burned to ashes, but that's just my opinion hehehe) and was dug up together with Kikyou's remainders . But it still got broken into shards, only not by the future-Kagome, but by Kikyou when she and Naraku were fighting over it (pretty lame explanation but it's better than nothing haha).
The seal placed upon Inuyasha wore off eventually and he learned about the truth behind the betrayal of Kikyou. Eventually he met up with Kikyou and together they started their journey in search of the jewel shards.
Wolves killed the human girl called Rin and Sesshoumaru revived her again. That's about the entire history.
The present time of my story is about 15 years after Sesshoumaru revived Rin. Naraku has the almost-complete Shikon no Tama and the last remaining shards are the two in Kouga's legs, one in Inuyasha and Kikyou's possession and the last one in Sesshoumaru's possession. (SPOILER!) The whereabouts of the last shard in the manga was located in the youkai-graveyard, where the remainders of Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father were resting and this shard is the one in Sesshoumaru's possession right now. I better not reveal too much about the original storyline, if you want to know more, go to this site: www . wot-club.org.uk / Inuyasha / (without the spaces).
Sesshoumaru doesn't really care about the jewel, other than it can function as a bait to lure Naraku to his castle and spare him time of having to find him himself. Well this is about everything I can think of. I hope it has become a bit clearer now, if not, don't hesitate to ask okay? But before asking, you may also use your own imagination to fill in the gaps :). Enough of it! Let's begin with the content of the new and more exciting chapter!!
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
-.- By nightfall -.-
Sesshoumaru was about to reach his study when some faint noise caught his ears. When he turned to the origin, he realized it was coming from the wingless girl's chamber at the end of the hall.
'What is it this time...?' he thought annoyed.
For a moment, the demon lord pondered whether he should ignore it or not. But he knew it was impossible for him to read in silence with his keen sense of hearing.
And so, he started to walk into the direction of her chamber.
-.-
He slowly opened the door.
'Hm...she's having a nightmare again...' he concluded when he heard the heavy, short pants coming from the inside.
After entering, Sesshoumaru silently approached the bed, only to find the girl tossing and turning with the covers entangled around her body.
"Let...me...go..." he heard her mumble.
He watched her for several minutes and frowned when he realized she wasn't calming down. 'Her wounds will open again if she keeps rolling on her back like that.'
Much to his surprise, the girl suddenly froze when he reached the edge of the bed. He looked at her sleeping face, which was shimmering because of a thin layer of sweat on her skin.
'She's restless...' he thought, studying her frowning features. And he slowly reached out to free the girl from being strangled by the white, innocent cloth.
Just when his clawed hand got hold of the piece of fabric near her shoulder, her hand shot out and grabbed his sleeve.
The demon lord scowled. "Let go girl," he ordered with a low voice.
"P-please...help...me..." he heard her plead.
"It is only a dream," he tried again, but with no success as her grip on his sleeve only tightened.
After a short while, Sesshoumaru sighed and bowed lower to the girl's ear. "You are safe, now sleep," he whispered.
And miraculously, the girl relaxed again and released his sleeve.
Without hesitation, the demon lord quickly disentangled her from the covers and properly covered her body with it from her feet to her shoulders.
And without sparing her another look, he left the chamber again.
'Annoying little girl, I will definitely make good use of you when the time comes...' he thought to himself as he walked down the halls.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
[DREAM SEQUENCE]
Kagome was running through the forest again. Panting heavily as she looked over her shoulder at her pursuers.
It was the middle-aged man and his brother again and they were catching up on her.
'I can't let them catch me...' Kagome thought panicked and quickly stretched out her hands. She felt relieved when her wings sprouted the moment her hands touched her chest.
But at the same time she found herself unable to move her limbs and wings.
When she looked at her wrists and ankles, she realized they were being chained. She quickly looked at her wings and widened her eyes when she found them being held by one of the men.
"Let me go..." she gasped as she saw the shimmering blade landing upon her white feathery wings.
In a flash, she suddenly found herself lying on the floor.
'Where...am I...?' she wondered as she tried to get up. A sharp pain shot through her back and caused her to wince and fall back to the floor again.
Kagome felt awful, with her wet hair and garment plastered against her face and skin.
The sound of screeching filled the air and the next thing she knew she was being surrounded by ugly red bird-like creatures.
"Go...away..." she groaned, not sure whether it was the voice in her mind speaking or her own voice.
Much to her disgust and fear, the birds had started to fight each other over her body of flesh. Kagome had begun to lose all hope that moment.
Until suddenly, between all the screeching noises, she swore she could hear the footsteps of another presence.
With all her might, Kagome opened her dry mouth and pleaded for help. "P-please...help me..."
She couldn't see very clearly through her black locks, but not long after her pleading, she faintly saw a green whip-like object flash by over her body. And the next thing she knew she was looking at a lot of silver and a faint blurry mark that resembled a crescent moon.
The screeching of the birds sounded further away than before and Kagome felt the strands of hair being removed from her face. Although the strength was literally seeping out of her body, Kagome was still conscious to realize that something was touching her shoulder. And out of reflex, she stretched out her hand and grasped the fabric that caressed her skin.
'Don't go...don't...leave...me...' she thought desperately.
She knew the person was saying something to her but she couldn't hear the words as her sense of hearing was already becoming numb. But surprisingly enough, she could still distinguish a soft whisper near her ear.
"You are safe, now sleep..."
After hearing that, her body relaxed.
Not really sure why, she knew the voice wasn't lying to her and she let go of the piece of fabric.
And then, everything became black again.
[END DREAM SEQUENCE]
-.-.-.-.- next day -.-.-.-.-
Kagome slowly opened her eyes with the fresh scent of flowers drifting towards her nose. She rubbed her eyes and slowly pushed herself up from her pillow.
Even today, Kagome still hoped that she was just having a bad dream and that she would find herself in her own bedroom when she woke up again. But unfortunately the stinging pain coming from her back kept reminding her of the cruel reality.
She had to face it. Humans she had unconditionally trusted ripped off her wings and until someone of Celes finds her, there was no way she could go home.
Kagome pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. 'What if I could return to Celes...?' she thought sadly as she traced the bandage around her torso with her fingertips. 'These wounds will never grow wings again...and I'll be the only princess who was stupid enough to get her own wings torn off.' Tears welled up in her eyes. 'I'm a disgrace...' And she buried her head in her arms on her knees.
-.-
After sitting like that for a while, Kagome lifted her head up again. 'This scent is really nice...' she thought as she sniffed the air, which was filled with the scent of fresh picked flowers. 'I wonder where it's coming from...'
Mindlessly, she made her way to the edge of the bed and carefully climbed off.
'I can do this...' she bit her lips and forced herself on her trembling feet.
After getting used to the pressure on her feet, she took her first step into the direction of the door. Without the support of the wooden board at the end of the bed, she would surely have hit the floor badly. Her second attempt was better and so she managed to walk without support within a few minutes.
Barefooted and dressed thinly in her white nightdress, Kagome opened the door and entered the hall.
Although it was nothing compared to the grand halls of her castle in Celes, it was still something to look at.
A long red carpet decorated the floor and candleholders on the walls of stone softly illuminated the parts where there were no windows to let any sunlight enter.
'Where are all the guards and servants...?' Kagome mused as she walked over the red carpet.
After a while, she arrived at a small garden.
Kagome widened her eyes. 'A garden within a castle?!' she thought amazed.
It was a small square-shaped garden with pink flowers and purple bushes growing at each corner. A fountain could be seen at the center with some small stone seats around it. Above the garden, there was a square-shaped opening in the roof with the same size as the garden itself.
Kagome slowly walked closer to the garden and knelt down in front of a pink flower. 'So this is the flower that was sending such a pleasant scent into my chamber...' she concluded.
Just when she was about to stretch out a finger to touch a petal, a voice halted her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Kagome quickly turned to the voice, but before she could see the one who spoke, a hard object hit her across her face and sent her away from the garden to one of the walls.
"Ack!!" she cried out loud when her back made an impact with the hard wall.
She slowly pushed herself up from the floor and shivered when something warm started to flow out of her back and downwards her back. Her eyes traveled to her side and she realized the wound on her back was starting to bleed again.
"That'll teach you for entering placed that are off-limits!!" a croaky voice spat.
Kagome turned to the voice, only to find herself face to face with an ugly green creature holding a long wooden staff in its wrinkled hand and dressed in a mud-green robe.
"I...y-you..." she stuttered shocked.
"Don't address me that unmannered!" the green creature yelled angrily and swung its staff at her again.
Kagome closed her eyes and quickly shielded her face with one arm while the other remained on the floor on order to prevent the contact between her face and the cold floor.
When nothing came, she lowered her arm and opened her eyes again.
The wooden staff was about 5 inches above her face. When Kagome looked more carefully, she realized that a clawed hand was holding the staff and preventing it from hitting her.
Her eyes traveled from the hand to its owner and she forgot the pain in her back in an instant.
It was a tall man with long silver-white hair. He was wearing a white outfit that was red at his left shoulder and at the end of each sleeve. Over the outfit, he wore brown armor that was protecting his lower torso and around his waist, a long yellow sash could be seen with purple ends. A white fluffy thing covered his right shoulder and almost reached the stone floor. Two swords could be seen hanging around his waist, one sheathed and the other unsheathed. A dark-purple crescent moon-mark decorated his forehead as two pairs of dark stripes graced his cheeks right below his gold-amber colored eyes.
It was by far the most graceful person Kagome had ever seen. Even her father dressed in the grandest way couldn't match up with this man.
'Wait a minute...' she remembered. 'A dark crescent moon and a lot of silver...was he the one who saved me?'
Her thoughts were cut off when she felt his eyes on her. She followed his line of vision to her side, only to find a small pool of red water that was still extending its territory little by little.
All of a sudden, Kagome felt the strength inside her leaking out of her body. Her arms suddenly lost their will to support her upper body and the next thing she knew she was falling towards to the floor again.
But before that happened, a strong arm reached out and caught her shoulders.
'...Eh?' Kagome thought surprised as she slowly looked up, only meet two beautiful gold-amber orbs.
But she couldn't watch those eyes for long as consciousness started to leave her. And slowly, she fell into a deep slumber.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Sesshoumaru became alerted when the weight on his arm suddenly increased.
He immediately turned to Jaken and shot him a glare of death, causing the green servant to cringe. "Get Rin," he ordered with a low growl.
After the servant disappeared, he turned to the girl again. "Foolish girl, why did you leave you chamber?" he asked, expecting no reply since she had already lost consciousness.
He shoved his other arm beneath her knees and scooped her up bridal style before walking into the direction of her chamber.
-- Kagome's chamber --
Just when the demon lord had finished laying the girl on her stomach on the bed, Rin appeared in the open doorway with a basket in her hands, which was filled with bandages and bottles.
"Sesshoumaru-sama," she called, broken in pants.
Sesshoumaru turned to Rin. "Tend her wounds," were his only command before turning to leave.
"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama," she acknowledged and made her way to the bedside. Little did she know that the demon lord had turned over his shoulder to look at the bleeding girl on the bed one more time before he left.
-.-.-.-
Sesshoumaru scowled as he walked down the halls. 'If the girl dies, I think I'll have to remove a servant.' he thought angrily, not exactly knowing where the anger came from.
'If she dies within my lands, I'll be having a lot of trouble with those intruders...' he added inwardly as he remembered the winged women and their unmannered guards.
He frowned. 'Until then...I'll have to baby-sit her...? This Sesshoumaru...???' he thought annoyed as his eyes narrowed. 'I need to vent my anger...' he decided inwardly and started walking towards the servant-quarters.
-.-.-.-.-
"Nh..." Kagome groaned. She slowly opened her eyes and waited until her vision sharpened.
'I'm...still here...' she thought disappointed as she recognized the unfamiliar ceiling, which had a beautiful tint of yellow and red.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she curled herself up op the bed. 'Why hasn't father sent anyone to find me? And mother...? They're too busy with ruling Celes huh? And Kikyou onee-sama...with her wedding... They don't have time to search for a rebellious and disobedient child like me...' she wondered. 'Am I really that insignificant...? Why am I still alive then? Why was I saved...??'
Kagome carefully pushed herself up. 'Maybe I should ask him...' she thought, recalling that the silver-haired person should be the one who had saved her.
As she climbed out of bed, she realized that the wounds on her back weren't hurting that much anymore, and that her clothes and bandages were new. 'How long have I been sleeping since the incident?' she wondered, faintly remembering the girl named Rin changing her bandages and cleaning her body.
She raised her hand to her right cheek and touched the place she was hit by the ugly servant with his staff. "Ow..." she winced aloud when it stung at her touch. 'I guess it wasn't that long ago...' she thought to herself and slowly made her way to the long mirror in the room next to the cabinet.
'I've gotten thinner...' she concluded as she looked at her own reflection.
Kagome was dressed in a thin light-purple nightdress that reached her ankles. It had long sleeves and a shallow U-shaped neckline. But other than having a different outfit, Kagome knew there was something else about her that had changed.
'My hair got a little bit longer compared to the day I arrived here...' she thought as she looked at her raven-black locks that reached her middle-torso. 'But that's not it...'
And then her attention shifted to her right cheek, which was still a little bit brownish blue of color. 'I better avoid that toad from now on.'
Her eyes traveled downwards to her hands and she pulled up her sleeves a little. 'The chain marks are fading.' she thought slightly relieved, studying the faint red imprints around her wrists.
Without further thinking, Kagome combed her hair roughly with her fingers and made her way out of the chamber.
-.-.-
This time, she was more careful and made sure no one was there before entering places.
'This place is like a maze...' she groaned inwardly after entering several similar halls. 'I wonder where he could be right now.'
But her efforts weren't in vain as she eventually ended up arriving at a big courtyard.
Her eyes widened at the diversity of flowers and trees. There was even a small pond at the corner of the garden. From afar the flowers, which were in a wide variety of colors, seemed like stars that were floating above a fresh green carpet.
The beauty of the courtyard intrigued Kagome so much that she didn't notice someone was actually standing right behind her.
Suddenly she noticed the presence and slowly turned around. She gasped in shock when she saw the expressionless face of the silver-haired lord looking down at her.
"I-I'm sorry!! I...I just..." she stammered, trying to think of a good excuse for snooping around in his castle since she couldn't possible say she was actually looking for him.
Her train of thoughts crashed abruptly when the demon lord suddenly took hold of her chin and moved her face to the left.
Kagome watched how he nonchalantly studied the bruise on her right cheek and let go of her chin again.
Without saying anything, the demon lord turned around and started to walk away.
'He's not going to scold or punish me...?' Kagome thought puzzled. "Ses...Sesshoumaru...sama?" she hesitated before calling the name she thought him to be the owner of. She was relieved when she saw that the silver-haired lord had stopped walking upon hearing his name.
"Euhm...thank you...for saving me that day," she stuttered.
But she received not response and only realized that the demon lord had started to walk away again.
She quickly followed him without hesitation. Partly because she wanted to know why he had saved her but mostly because she had forgotten the way back to her own chamber.
-.-.-
After following a while, they had arrived at a door. The demon lord opened it and entered the room.
Not sure what she should do, Kagome stayed in the open doorway and peeked inside.
It appeared to be a study. The walls were white and the floor had a burgundy carpeting. Bookcases stood everywhere and a desk could be seen at the center of the space with a wooden chair behind it. Long oval-shaped windows in the wall from across her allowed sufficient light into the room, despite the fact that it was already dusk.
A faint and almost inaudible sigh caught her attention again and Kagome realized that the demon lord was standing next to the open door, giving her an expectant look. As if it was saying: "In or out?"
Without thinking, Kagome quickly entered the study.
She watched how the silver-haired demon named Sesshoumaru closed the door behind her, made his way to one of the windowsills and sat down with his eyes locked on something beyond the glass.
After a short moment, he turned away from the window and sat down behind his desk. He took out some paper documents from one of the shelves and started to read them.
"Euhm...Sesshoumaru-sama?" Kagome asked with a meek voice.
Much to her disappointment, the demon lord didn't respond or look up from the papers.
"Why did you...save me?" she asked after a short moment of silence.
This time, Kagome knew she had caught his attention since he looked up from the documents at her. He was giving her an annoyed look, which was almost saying "Why are you still here?".
Ignoring the uneasiness of being looked at like that, Kagome continued. "You could have let me die...back then...why did you save me??"
Without answering her question, the demon lord dropped his eyes to the papers again.
"Why?!?!" This time Kagome was the one becoming annoyed. But she instantly regretted it as she received an icy glare.
"Leave," Sesshoumaru commanded with an irritated voice without looking up.
But Kagome didn't move.
Sesshoumaru then looked up at her again and frowned. "Leave!!!" he repeated.
"I don't know the way back!!" Kagome argued.
"That is none of my concern, now leave," he replied coldly. "You are becoming a nuisance."
Kagome's face almost instantly dropped and reluctantly, she turned around to leave.
-.-.-.- later -.-.-.-
The moment Kagome closed the door of her chamber behind her it was already near dark.
She silently walked towards the long mirror and looked at her reflection.
The candles on the table next to the mirror slightly illuminated her face and features. Slowly she traced the outline of her face on the mirror with her fingertips. 'What am I doing...?' she asked herself inwardly. 'Why am I still here...alive...?'
-.-.-
Sesshoumaru slammed his documents on the desk. 'Who does she think she is? Talking to me and asking me questions like that!!' he growled inwardly.
At first he had to admit that he did not mind her presence. He was even surprised when the girl addressed him so formally and thanked him for saving her pitiful life.
'But she shouldn't have pushed her luck.' he thought with a frown.
"You could have let me die...back then...why did you save me??"
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. 'As if she didn't want to be saved at all! How ungrateful!!'
He stood up from his chair and walked to the door. 'Hm...maybe I should have let her die...and be those wretched vultures' dinner.'
With that thought, he opened the door to the hall and exited the study.
Just when he was about to turn into the direction of his own quarters, a sharp sound of shattering glass echoed faintly through the halls.
= SHATTER =
Sesshoumaru looked over his shoulder to where the sound came from. 'Stupid girl...venting her frustration on my property huh? I will make you regret it tomorrow...'
He turned away and started to walk.
Suddenly, a certain scent gushed out of the same chamber and filled the halls.
Sesshoumaru abruptly stopped walking and turned to the origin. 'The scent of blood...her blood!!' he thought alarmed and began to dash through the hall towards her chamber. 'And a lot of it...!!'
Oops, I didn't want to stop at a cliffhanger, since I won't be posting the next chapter before the 16th of July. Sorry!! But I still hope you liked the chapter! A bit angsty...but things are getting better and better :), trust me! Please look forward to the next chapter okay?
Lots of greets,
Kittymui
Next chapter: Swaying attitude
-.-.-.-.-
And the sound of blood hitting the floor echoed in the silent chamber.
=TAP TAP TAP=
"Let me go..."
"Don't move, you will quicken the bleeding,"
"Don't you understand? I'm a disgrace!! I've disobeyed my mother and lost
my wings! I don't deserve to be the seventh princess of Celes!! I'm a nuisance!!
I don't deserve to live!! I should have died back then!!"
-.-.-.-.-
Vocabulary:
miko: priestess
hai: yes
onee-sama: big sister
-.-.-
REPLIES ON REVIEWS:
bad-girl4: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like it!
Guardian-of-the-night: Thank you very much :).
weird0: =relieved= pfew, hahaha just kidding! Anyhow, thanks, I hope you liked this chapter!
demonswty: I'll try, but I'll have to disappoint you the coming two weeks.
PegasusRider: Thanks thanks!! I'm happy to hear you like it!
silverstargazing: Woops, there is indeed a 10-days limit, but I still want to go to Greece (where there will be not internet possibilities)...please forgive me!
boo: Thanks!
Fox Fire 6126: I'm sorry for the frustrations. I've explained several things at the beginning of this chapter, I hope you still understand the storyline after reading it :).
kagomesirene: Another nice review, thank you so much!
Shadow-Demon14: I'm glad you liked An Elves' Child. I was afraid readers would dislike it because of the OOC-ness of Sesshoumaru. And Rin isn't a maid, she just follows Sesshoumaru until she dies (I think hehe). Don't hesitate to ask when things aren't making sense, because I'll be happy to explain :).
fullmoon: Thanks!
PinkTigerLilly: I'm glad to hear that :).
Fire Kitsune Goddess: =shivers= oh my...you are sooooo evil...but I like it hahaha. It reminds me of the technique Kurama used to kill that ...euhm what was his name again... in Yu Yu Hakusho. Yeah, those guys will pay, but how...would still be a mystery hehehe.
robin's-hope: Sesshoumaru's arm already grew back before he met Kagome from the moon :). I hope I have made that clear at the beginning of this chapter hehe. If things don't make sense, please tell me okay? And don't worry for not reviewing sooner, because I'm the one who should feel guilty since I won't be updating before 16 July =sigh=.
hissori tenshi no benishi: Thanks for telling me :). I'll keep that in mind!
Posted: 2 July 2004
Last Edited: 2 July 2004
Spelling check: YES