Cherry Blossoms of White Death
Author's Note : I'm very annoyed at myself for not posting this chapter sooner. I had planned on having it written and up before the end of February, but as seen it did not turn out that way. However, at long last here it is! This chapter is more violent then the others, so if can't handle it don't read! To clear up a few things, incase you don't understand it: Sesshoumaru is seeing past events that happened in the place and when Inuyasha touches him; Inuyasha can see them as well. Yes, this chapter is almost exact to the way it is in the game. Basically, I had to start playing the game and write down almost all parts of it. I have a short term memory, so this is a must if I wanted to make it close to the game. Also, notice this chapter was written with a different style then the others before it. This is because, after I began writing my new story "Old, Faded Photographs" I realized how much I adore the style! Plus, I find much of the dialogue between the two brothers very funny. Ahem, anyway, this chapter is dedicated to all my lovely reviewers. I hope you all enjoy it, and continue to review this story!

Inuyasha: Yeah, your reviewers aren't half bad.

Hamona: (nods) Now, if I can only get Sesshomaru to say something nice.

Inuyasha: Feh! Are you kidding? That guy is totally hopeless!

Hamona: He's not hopeless. He's just as capable of being nice as you are, Inuyasha. (thinks about it) Right, Sesshoumaru?

Sesshoumaru: You should think otherwise.

Hamona: Aw, come on, you can't be that mean! Come to think about it, what's so mean about a man that travels around the countryside with a little girl and a over grown toad?

Sesshoumaru: Are you trying to bid your time before your tragic demise? Or are you merely going out of your way to be bothersome?

Hamona: (gulps) You wouldn't kill me for speaking the truth, would you?

Sesshoumaru: (rests hand on Tokijin) We shall very much see.


Chapter Eight - Prying Eyes

" Why didn't you come back? "


Our faint footsteps echo inside the dark room; the sound becomes so surreal in my ears. I feel like I've been spinning around in circles for hours on end. I watch as the world slowly tilts to a stop; everything around me becomes cheap and choppy, always filled with static like the way the VCR looks on rewind. Only I'm not staring at the TV, the world in front of me is real. Then, I inhale having to remind myself of where I am. I taste the musty air; it's so foul tasting in my mouth, and then I rub my eyes knowing I'm not home anymore.

The room is old, very old, left lying in forgotten ruins. The rope supporting the shelf has broken, and its fallen onto the fireplace; that has now sunken into the wooden flooring. That's only the center. The old boards are rotten underneath, broken in bits in pieces; some places worse then others. There's an upstairs, a door on the far left, a door on the right, and there's a hall straight ahead. The old, faded decorations that litter the room are of ancient Japanese design.

Sesshoumaru and I are still standing a bit past the entrance, two lit candles flickering dangerously on either side of the door. The ground is made of dirt, all the way down the hall, the rest is wooden flooring. I want to speak up, but I must have lost my voice when he opened that damn door. Screw it, I got to stop being scared and say something! Who knows maybe someone is here, although that doesn't seem possible. "Is anyone here?" I call out, nervously crossing my arms over my chest. I take two steps ahead, but as I look down at my feet, even they seem far away. 'What the hell is wrong with this place?'

I turn back around, to make sure Sesshoumaru hasn't wondered off on me. He hasn't but like before he seems terrified, only this time it seems much worse; he's shaking. "Sesshoumaru?" I cry out, taking a few steps toward him. He's looking at me, but it's almost like he's looking right past me, as if I'm invisible. No, I shake my head and take another step toward him. 'Don't get worked up over this, he's only trying to scare you, that's all!'

"Sesshoumaru, stop being stupid! It was your idea to come here in the first place!" He still doesn't respond, so I reach out to touch his shoulder. "Sesshoumaru?" I manage to say his name again, but something strange happens this time. I can't feel myself touching him, I can't feel the cloth of his shirt, and his image is beginning to disappear. "Sesshoumaru!" As the words come out of my mouth, he is completely gone and his form is replaced with a ...woman?

The woman in the picture!

She walks past me, her medium length, black hair flying out as she turns back toward the entrace door. "Masumi?" She calls out, then she turns back around and starts going down the hall. "Masumi, where are you?"

The Lost Village...

"Masumi?"

I follow her as she goes down the hall, as we are about to make a turn around the corner; a flash of twin girls hanging from the hallway ceiling halts my attention. They sway back in fourth by their necks always swaying in a steady pattern. I watch as the rope dances along with their bodies, and I feel sick to my stomach.

I don't want to kill anymore...

I stumble back, falling away from the scene, and all of the sudden I'm back to where I was, back with my twin brother. He turns toward me, a distant look on his face. Slowly, he withdraws his arm out toward me, almost like he's in a trace. Then, his hand makes contact with my shoulder, and the sickness comes along with it. My throat knots up with dread as a new image enters my mind. 'What the hell is this?'

The door at the end of the hall, the door I didn't reach. There's a man with a white shirt on, his back is turned. "Where did you go?" Comes a muffled voice that sounds like dead, cracking leaves. "Why?"

The Lost Village...

In a blink of an eye, his image is gone and there is a large pit as black as a starless, night sky. Then, it shows the man again. He's on the ground with his hands closed around the woman's neck. He's choking her, draining the life out of her! I watch with horror as she continues to look up at him, her brown eyes wet and red from crying wasted tears. Her hands try to tear away at his, try to rip his grip from her neck. I squint my eyes to better see his face through the darkness, but the room casts more obscure shadows over his form. The only part of him that is visible are his outstretched arms and his white shirt. The image of them disappears along with the rest and once again a new flash comes fourth.

A woman in a bloody kimono, her head arches back in enternal laughter. There's a rope hanging from her neck, and underneath her are countless bodies. Dead bodies that are sliced to shreds, and blood is soaked into every inch of the room.

After that everything goes black, and I find myself standing beside Sesshoumaru again. "Wh-what was that?" I ask, after I'm sure I won't be having anymore flashbacks. My heart beat starts to slow down, and I can breath smoothly again. Sesshoumaru looks over at me for a second, his unreadable expression going back up like always. "I don't know." He answers, calmly. Only he could act as if nothing strange is happening around us. He acts like everything is fine, but it's so far from it! I want to yell at him for acting this way!

I look away, looking down at my feet. 'Something bad happened here, and whatever it was.. we both saw the visions. But no matter what we saw, we can't just leave, not without finding Masumi first.

...And what really happened to the woman in the picture? Did she really die here, in one of the rooms?'

Time to forget how scared I am; time to swallow the lump of dread in my throat. I look up from my feet, and turn my attention to Sesshoumaru, so he can see what I'm going to say. I take a deep breath and speak the words that increase the weighing dread. "Let's hurry up and find Masumi, and get the hell out of here!" Good thing he's deaf, otherwise he would have began laughing awfully hard at my attempt to sound determined. My voice had come out sounding so scared, so small; but I really was. I couldn't pretend I wasn't.

Sesshoumaru continues to study me, continues to say nothing. Watching me with his calm, golden eyes staying silent with the room. I take another deep breath of the foul air, making a sour face that I quickly remove. "Well, aren't you going to say something?" I ask, rolling my eyes at him. "What is there to be said, little brother?" He questions back, his eyes narrowing and his expression darkening. I sigh, looking at him angrily. Was it really that hard for him to be around me? Was I really that unbearable that he couldn't, AT LEAST, tell me what he was thinking? "Look." I say, firmly. All traces of fear no longer present in my voice, so I let a smug look fall on my face, as I speak to him. "We should split up, it'll buy us more time."

He's even quicker to respond this time around.

"Unwise, Inuyasha. Most unwise. Yet, why must I burden myself with telling you?" He replys, his speech comes out sounding stranger then usual. I raise an eyebrow at this, then it hits me; he's scarred! My smirk widens into more of a smile, then I come to realize something else; his fear makes me concur my own. So, I can't help but say what I'm thinking. "Hah, I get it now! You're scared and you need me to hold your hand!"

This time I actually get an rise out of him, his blank face molds into an angry scowl. So, I decide to further piss him off because he's such an uptight asshole. "Well, that ain't going to be happening, so your better just get over it!" I exclaim, folding my arms over my chest again. His expression turns back to its usual look of composure. "Think what you will." He responds, pushing past me, and beginning to step onto the wooden flooring. The boards creak under the sudden weight, but they hold him up. Hell, what I wouldn't give to watch them give way and have him land on his ass. But I knew that if anything like that was to happen, it would happen to me.

I turn and start to go up the three, wooden steps before stepping onto the musty, wooden flooring. I watch as Sesshoumaru disappears into the room on the far left, so I decide I won't follow him, but I will stay in this room.

I will wait for him to come back...

I bend down near the sunken fireplace looking at the enormous mess before a glimpse of off-white coloring catches my eye. I pick up the little, slip of paper and in small print it reads...

( Slip of paper : )

I've heard rumors about the lost village before. Long ago, a massacre

occured on the day of a ceremony, and the village was wiped from the

map. Twin Deities Statues in the forest lead lost people to the village

entrance. Once you passed the gate however, you cannot go back.


The village eternally relives that night of death. The insane laughter

of a woman is said to echo throughout the village. The only survivor

of the massacre at the village was a lone woman.


'So, what Sesshoumaru told me wasn't a lie, after all. He really had heard of this place before, but no matter what; the rumors are a load of crap! Feh, they must be pretty stupid if they think anyone would actually believe something dumb like that.'
I look up from the piece of paper I'm still holding, and toss it to the ground. I start to turn around when I feel a hand rest on my shoulder. "Sesshoumaru, that's not funny." I say absent minded, not bothering to look back at him. "Are you leaving me again?" I hear a voice next to my ear whisper. I feel the fear rush over my body, as I hear the voice repeat in my head, over and over again; like a broken record. It's so hoarse sounding, so dry and lifeless; I know it's not Sesshoumaru, but I don't want to turn around and see no one. I don't want to believe it was a ghost because the idea itself is a stupid one! But I know I can't stand here forever, so I give in, spin around and see... I look up from the piece of paper I'm still holding, and toss it to the ground. I start to turn around when I feel a hand rest on my shoulder. "Sesshoumaru, that's not funny." I say absent minded, not bothering to look back at him. I hear a voice next to my ear whisper. I feel the fear rush over my body, as I hear the voice repeat in my head, over and over again; like a broken record. It's so hoarse sounding, so dry and lifeless; I know it's not Sesshoumaru, but I don't want to turn around and see no one. I don't want to believe it was a ghost because the idea itself is a stupid one! But I know I can't stand here forever, so I give in, spin around and see...

NO ONE.

Then, the fear increases, and I feel the incredible drive to run, so without thinking I do it. The rapid rush is stopped abruptly, as I've reached the door Sesshoumaru is in. It slides open rather slowly, so I shove it to the right, almost ripping it off, but I'm too scared to care. Too scared to think.

"Sesshoumaru!" I yell out, as loud as possible, and I grab onto his shoulder, forcefully turning him around to face me and boy does he look angry. "You idiot!" Sesshoumaru yells at me, shoving me back with so much force, I fall back and knock over the stained partition screen. As I fall back with the screen, the lit candle that was once standing beside the door is knocked off, and it hits the floor immediately starting a small fire. "Look what you did!" I shout at my twin, getting up from the ground, and shoving him back. "This is of your doing, fool." He growls, before yanking me by my shirt, walking past me, and stomping out the fire; before it can spread any further. "My fault? You pushed me!"

"I care not who pushed who, it was your carelessness that started the fire."

I knew if I didn't end it now, it would go on forever, and I did not want to stay here any longer. So, I did what I would have never of done before. "I suppose there's no sense in aruging about it." Sesshoumaru looked at me for a moment, studing me with mild interest but he remained quiet. "I found a letter." I tell him, looking the other way. He doesn't reply, so I don't waste anymore effort trying to talk to him. I turn around and see what Sesshoumaru was obviously reading before I came in. A slip of white paper.

( Slip of paper 2 : )

Sometimes I sense someone passing by the window. He carries a torch

and mutter things. He seems to be searching for somebody, but it is not

Masumi.


In the distance, I can hear some kind of sad ceremonial song being sung.

They say that this village vanished on the day of a ceremony, and that day

is repeated over and over again.


"This is who came looking for Masumi. Do you think maybe they already left?" I ask, after rapidly scanning over the note. "I should think it would be obvious." He says quietly, looking down to avoid my curious eyes. "Obvious? What do you mean, obvious!"

"All I'm saying is that I know they didn't leave."

"How would you know that?" I demand, looking at him annoyed. He looks up at me, finally. His amber orbs narrow at me harshly at first, but it quickly washes away when he speaks, "Asking me of these things will only prove trival and a waste of time. Now, get moving."

Then, all of the sudden I feel like he knows more about what happened here then I do; as if he has some sort of connection with it all. Something I don't have. I don't understand it, and I don't like the way it makes me feel inside. If he knows something more, why won't he just come out with it? He's always kept secrets from me, even when we were young, but this is something much more then a secret. I don't know what it is, but I intend to be the one to find out. Yet, how come I know this all of the sudden? It's like it just came to me when we looked at each other; when he let his guard down, I could see right through him. It's like he wants to tell me, but instead of telling me; he just looks at me, and I can feel it through his eyes. Because in his eyes; his secrets are alive, and they say so much to me.

No longer are they buried away from prying eyes.

He knows that, that's why he always looks away. That's why he always acts so emotionless, he doesn't like to be open like a book. He doesn't like to be read like the way I allow myself to be. That's where we are different, so different.

I watch as he leaves the room, I can tell as he walks away he is annoyed. He's leaving himself open right now, to where I can read him. If only, I could dig deeper...

I shake the flood of thoughts away and start to follow him, he stops in front of the sunken fireplace. His back is turned to me, and I can't see through him anymore. "You go in there." He orders of me, pointing straight ahead. "I'll go down the hall." Sesshoumaru finishes and without waiting for my reaction he starts off toward the hallway. "You're joking right? You don't actually expect me to go in there, do you?"

He keeps walking and I know he won't turn around because he doesn't want to see what I have to say; because he doesn't care about me. I sigh and look at the door that seems like miles away from me, the dread of being alone by myself hits me and I start feeling sick to my stomach. "Hey, who said you could boss me around, anyway!" I yell loudly, knowing how pointless it is, but right now that's the only way I can keep myself from flipping out with total fear. I sigh again but this time I start to walk to the door. The door is bigger and wider then the other ones. There are two doors put together. I quickly note and go to open it but it doesn't budge. 'Gee, should've expected that, well too bad looks like I'll have to go elsewhere.'

I look back around, my eyes falling on the staircase to the left of me. 'This is stupid, there is no chance in hell, I'm going to go up there!' I think to myself and start going down the hallway. The flashes of what happened in my mind are still fresh as I walk, and I realize how the hallway looks exactly the way I saw it. This is too weird. I sigh, and continue walking; trying to block out everything.

About halfway down the hallway, almost the same place where I saw the hanging twins, I feel a chill dance about the air; with the chill comes that voice again. The voice that whispered in my ear; the voice that I heard in my head. I hear it now, once again it has no face... because I don't see anyone.

"I kept searching for you."


(A/N:)
Ended with somewhat of a cliffy, sorry but I gotta keep it interesting! Or try to, at least! Please remember to review because it means so much! I don't care if you put something like, "I like spoons!" Just as long as you take notice to doing it! Also, if you like this style of writing, please tell me and I will continue like this; if not tell me! Your reviews tell me a lot, so please be sure to do it. (bows)