Author: Nefertili
Fandom: Inuyasha
Rating: PG13
Pairing(s): Sesshoumaru/Kikyou, Sesshoumaru/OC
Genre(s): Romance, Angst, Adventure, AU
Warning(s): Battle scenes, betrayal, over-anger (if there is such a word), fluff... What more can I say?
Disclaimer: None of the characters, except perhaps some, are mine. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
Summary: Kikyou, being saved from peril by Sesshoumaru, joins him in a quest against Naraku and one of his allies, who happened to share a past one-sided relationship with the Demon Lord. SesshKik!
A/N: Hmm, now that the koto master has been revealed, more questions are formed. Well, what else can I say? I am glad to have loyal reviewers, especially you, Motoko Aoyama! Words are not enough to thank you for supporting my story! ;)
...o0o...
Back in the camp, Rin was trying to name some of Kikyou's shinidamachuu so as to drive away her twinges of fear and to pass her time with the boring toad demon, who would constantly shift his feet and glance at the spot where they last saw their Lord and the Priestess. The eerie notes of the invisible koto had died out some time ago, but the atmosphere remained tight because the comforting sounds of the night insects chirping at the moon refused to return, as though driven away by the magic of the music.
"Would you mind if I call you Yuki?" the child asked of one shinidamachuu that alighted on her right hand and looked up at her with its scarlet orbs. "You're so white, like snow... Or are you Kishi? You and your brothers and sisters look so alike! I can hardly tell you from them..."
Suddenly, the little shinidamachuu's pupils seemed to dilate in alarm, and Rin withdrew her hand from the creature in surprise, more than fear. The identical companions of the little Soul-snatching Demon also expressed agitation, and they all focused their flaming eyes on the direction where Sesshoumaru-sama and Priestess Kikyou went.
"What's wrong, my friends?" Rin asked, standing up and clasping her hands together in a nervous manner as she tried to fathom what disturbed the white winged demons. Even in the cold of the night, she could feel sweat breaking out on her palms. Something was terribly wrong.
As one, the shinidamachuu darted off into the forest, abandoning their mistress' command that they stay with Rin and Jaken. Rin gasped in alarm and ran after their retreating pearly trails while screaming, "Wait for me! Don't leave me behind!"
Jaken also stood up upon seeing Rin run after the demons. "Hey, Lord Sesshoumaru told us to stay in the camp! Come back here!" he shouted after Rin, but she appeared not to hear her little guardian's words, and continued to run. Jaken gave another irritated grunt while scratching his bald head before he took off after the little girl as fast as his own stumpy legs could carry him. What a hardheaded girl...Sesshoumaru-sama will kill him with his bare hands if something happened to her while she's in his care...
"Can't you slow down?" he shouted again as he tripped over a raised tree root in an attempt to catch up with the energetic running figure of Rin.
...o0o...
Rin was out of breath before the shinidamachuu began to slow down as they neared a moonlit break among the trees. She had inflicted several bruises upon herself as she followed the darting shinidamachuu, but for some reason, her feet couldn't stop. Sesshoumaru-sama and Priestess Kikyou must be in trouble.
The little girl rested her weight against the mossy trunk of a tree to regain her lost breath. Her heart was pounding painfully against her rib cage, and the side of her neck was throbbing dully. About ten seconds elapsed before Rin took another step with her feet. Around her were numerous points of white light floating in the thick night air. She caught sight of the miko's pets gathering the little lamplights in their claws and entering the treeless spot before coming back to get another of the lights.
'What are these strange fireflies?' Rin asked herself, puzzled. Though the lights seemed harmless, she was wary under their presence as she walked around the large tree and out into the break of the trees. Her child's eyes widened to see the forms of Lord Sesshoumaru and Priestess Kikyou at its very heart.
The Demon Lord was kneeling beside a supine figure of the miko. Despite Sesshoumaru's seemingly concerned position, Rin saw from afar an expression devoid of all emotion in her Lord's eyes as the shinidamachuu deposited the points of light on Kikyou's motionless body. Whatever happened to Priestess Kikyou? And why were the pearly demons gathering the firefly-like lights and giving it to her body to absorb? What are those points of lights anyway?
Rin shook the questions from her head as she ran towards Sesshoumaru with the cry, "Sesshoumaru-sama!"
Hearing his name called, the taiyoukai's amber-golden eyes darted in her direction. One of his eyebrows rose as Rin hugged his waist and looked up at him with apprehension in her chocolate-brown eyes.
"Why are you here, Rin?" he asked seriously, obviously disappointed at her for having disobeyed him. "Did I not tell you to stay with Jaken?"
"Please forgive Rin, Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin muttered in apology, breaking away from her Lord and keeping her head facing the ground. "But Priestess Kikyou's little pets suddenly became frightened and flew here, and Rin followed them."
Sesshoumaru gently raised the child's head to look at her in the eye. Though his tone was calm, Rin could see that he was disciplining her.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said. "I forgive you this time for your curiosity, but don't disappoint me again, Rin."
"Rin won't disobey you again, Sesshoumaru-sama," Rin answered sincerely, placing both her hands over her heart to prove her promise.
Sesshoumaru nodded once before asking again. "And where is Jaken? I commanded him to watch over you."
As though to answer his question, a feeble croaky voice from behind the trees answered, "Jaken is here, Lord Sesshoumaru."
The lesser demon emerged from the trees, panting, his brow covered in sweat. He looked as though he had run a marathon, and he was clutching onto his beloved Staff of Heads for dear life.
"Forgive me, Lord Sesshoumaru," he pleaded in a small voice, bending his knees in Sesshoumaru's direction and touching the damp soil with his brow in a genuflect for apology. "I tried to stop Rin, but she didn't listen to me. I ran after her, but she was too fast for me..."
Just as Jaken broke off, Sesshoumaru's ears twitched upon hearing a moan emanating from Kikyou's throat. He diverted his attention from his retainer to focus on the miko's form stirring after a long while of being unmoving. The taiyoukai had to admit that Kikumo would make a dangerous foe for the beautiful Priestess. Not even the Red Shinidamachuu had succeeded to draw souls out of her clay body as quick as the Deer Demon, which was not surprising. He swiftly recalled that he once told the emerald-eyed demoness back in the Western Lands that she was a rival to his power, and his heart unconsciously clenched at the memory.
Kikyou's eyes mahogany eyes blinked open; sheer surprise came to her senses as she felt Rin throwing herself at her weary form. The child had forgotten her earlier questions about the points of light entering the miko's body, and all that she wished now was that the priestess be unhurt.
"Priestess Kikyou, Priestess Kikyou! Are you all right?" Rin's concerned words flooded her ears, and she weakly raised her right hand to cup the little girl's cheek. Her soul was touched seeing the worry in the younger human's eyes.
"I am fine, Rin," Kikyou said to appease Rin, though she felt as though her body weighed tons.
"I suggest that you sit up, miko," Sesshoumaru said coldly, seeing that she was awake. "I can't have you lying down there, and don't presume to think that I will oblige to carry you."
'I will rot in hell before I let you carry me, taiyoukai,' Kikyou's mind echoed angrily as she painfully sat up and gently hugged Rin, who was sitting on her lap. The miko's long raven hair was released from its loose ponytail, the dark locks spilling over her shoulders like water from a broken dam, and Rin buried her face in the cold strands. Such a nice child... so caring in comparison to her cold master...
She sought Sesshoumaru's eyes, but he hardened his amber orbs and she turned away quickly. So, Sesshoumaru had become cold again after lightening up with her for such a short glorious moment before that rotten Kikumo showed up? Kikyou flinched at remembering the gentle gaze the platinum-haired Demon Lord bestowed upon the other youkai. She sorrowed inwardly, for though she tried to deny it, she secretly envied the Demoness. What a favored person of heaven she must be, for Sesshoumaru will hardly ever spare such a docile look for anyone! Why did he do that, in the first place?
"What transpired here, Lord Sesshoumaru?" Jaken asked of his master, apparently noticing Kikyou's weakened state.
But Sesshoumaru was silent. Just then, Rin left her seat on Kikyou's lap when her curious eyes caught sight of a lone snow-white chrysanthemum in full bloom just behind the Demon Lord.
"Kikyou-sama," Rin called, pointing down at the blossom that was as large as the child's palm. "There's this strange flower in here."
Kikyou and Sesshoumaru glanced at the peculiar bloom as one. They both knew that the flower grew on the very spot where the beautiful Demoness sat earlier.
"A chrysanthemum..." Kikyou muttered, not making a concrete sense about the appearance of the blossom. Suddenly, Kikumo's name was repeated in her mind, and it made sense. "Kikumo...chrysanthemum field, as her name means..."
At the mention of the Demoness' name, Jaken suddenly trembled in fear, and it did not miss Kikyou's attention.
"What have you to know about the youkai Kikumo?" Kikyou demanded, her strength returning to her body and enabling her to move more easily.
Jaken, however, turned his nose away from the priestess in scorn. "And why should I tell you, after the insult you threw at my face a couple of moments ago?"
"Maybe I am not being clear, you little toad," Kikyou fiercely countered, getting hold of her discarded bow and an arrow. "It's either you speak or I draw that demon-soul of yours out of your useless body and send it to hell."
Jaken recoiled at hearing Kikyou's threat. He crawled towards Sesshoumaru, saying, "Please help me, Lord Sesshoumaru! She's threatening me!"
The lesser demon, however, felt more threatened when the taiyoukai's eyes pierced him with such a ferocious anger that he retraced his steps and knelt to give in to Kikyou's demands.
"Very well," Jaken said, his voice shaking. He then cleared his throat for effect as Rin made her way to Kikyou's lap once more to listen to whatever Sesshoumaru's retainer had to say. "This Kikumo you speak of is no other than the paragon of the Deer Clan. Recall that even though youkai can be conceived out of almost anything, there are major youkai tribes, or clans as they are sometimes called. Included in them are the Cat and Wolf tribe..." Rin abruptly clutched at Kikyou upon hearing the name of the Wolf Clan. The Priestess put an arm around her, for she knew that the child still held horrible memories about her death in the hands of the Wolves.
"...but of course, the most powerful of these is no other than Lord Sesshoumaru's own Dog Clan. Now, the Deer Clan is deemed as the most peaceful, yet at the same time the most withdrawn of all these tribes. They rarely venture out of their abodes to communicate with other youkai, therefore much of their whereabouts and their powers are unknown."
Jaken spared a fearful look at the contemplative figure of Sesshoumaru before he continued. He knew that his Lord was listening, and he will pay dearly if he mentioned something that offended the Demon Lord. "However, we do have concrete knowledge about the abilities of the Deer youkai. Their powers are based on earth and plant life. They can make things grow at their will, and they do know the virtues of every plant, be it healing abilities or poison. These demons would devote their existence into caring for the land and beautifying it. Never once had the Deer Clan caused unrest in the Western Lands."
'And he says Kikumo is the paragon of this clan?' Kikyou thought to herself, her thoughts breaking into laughter. 'It seems she is but the opposite of this toad's very description of her clan.'
"Now, Kikumo, as I said earlier, was the deemed as the shining example of the Deer Clan. She was the most powerful of them all, a master of the koto and the staple weapon of her tribe (such as there was), the naginata. Her name, which means chrysanthemum field, points to her extraordinary trait that she leaves behind chrysanthemum flowers to mark her passing. No doubt, that chrysanthemum in this place is yet another of her fabled marks."
Kikyou and Rin glanced at the blossom, which seemed to radiate a light of its own, glowing solitarily in the moonlight in a manner just like the shinidamachuu, which positioned themselves among the trees at Kikyou's bidding.
"Though the exact date of her birth is unknown, she had become a full-fledged youkai by the time the war between the Cat tribe and the Dog tribe, led by Lord Sesshoumaru's father Inutaisho was nearing its conclusion. The Deer tribe would have nothing to do with the war, but when it neared its end about fifty years ago, their lands were threatened by the invading Cat youkai that Kikumo's father, Hisano, allied himself with Inutaisho and it was one of the rare moments when the Deer Clan made use of their powers of defense, which were rather impressive."
Jaken paused to catch his breath. Rin, at once, questioned him, "What happened? What happened?"
"Patience, my girl," Jaken said. "This was the time when Lord Sesshoumaru and I took part in the war, and when a certain miko sealed my Lord's half-brother to a tree." Kikyou balked slightly at the mention of Inuyasha and her sealing him to the tree after Naraku tricked them into hating each other. "Hisano of the Deer Clan was dead by this time, but his daughter Kikumo fought in his stead, and she proved to be a youkai nearly as powerful as Lord Sesshoumaru, indeed. Her weapon, the naginata called Hiroko Kama, or Magnanimous Sickle, which was made out of the antlers of her father, almost shook the lands from its fundaments. Furthermore, it could transform into a koto that weaves a powerful web of music around the enemy. Ah, I still remember what a grace, ferocity and beauty she was that time!
The war ended with the victory being on the Dog clan's side. Kikumo, as the Princess of the Deer Clan, ought to have succeeded Hisano as their prime leader, but she broke away from her clan and vanished from the Western Lands, taking the legendary Hiroko Kama with her. No tidings were ever heard of her again, and she was presumed dead, but her present appearance is enough to change all that."
"Why did she break away from the Deer Clan and forsake her position?" Kikyou asked of Jaken, but it was Sesshoumaru instead who spoke, after a long while of silence.
"That's enough, Jaken," Sesshoumaru said coldly. "Miko, you have too many questions. What matters now is that we have to be more on guard for Kikumo. Her purposes are veiled in secrets, and you have just received a taste of what she can do. Bear in mind that it was but a fragment of her true might. Now, all of you, we have to get back to our camp." He stood up and made his way back to their camp.
Kikyou also stood up, gently pushing Rin aside from her lap. Her shinidamachuu left their posts among the trees and began to hover near her.
"Can't you let us inside what you so want to hide, Sesshoumaru?" Kikyou called out to the Demon Lord. Jaken gasped to hear her address Sesshoumaru as though she were his equal. "I can sense it; you know a lot more about this Demoness than what you are showing." Once more, the image of Sesshoumaru gazing at Kikumo floated in her mind, and it was enough to turn her eyes misty with jealousy.
Sesshoumaru halted in his tracks, but he did not look back at her. He closed his amber eyes as he answered simply, "That is none of your business, miko." Having put an end to their conversation, he resumed his stance and carried on.
Behind him, Kikyou's face was lined with an expression of deep grief as her left hand formed a fist over her heart. 'Alas, you don't wish to reveal your thoughts, taiyoukai? Well, I will get them out of you myself!'
...o0o...
Kikumo, her silken robes billowing behind her, hurried into the dark chamber at the very heart of Naraku's castle. She had achieved so much from her spying, and she was ready to make her report to the evil hanyou.
"Well, my dear, what have you got for me?" Naraku's hissing voice said. He had his back facing the Demoness, and Kikumo could not see his face.
"It shall be easier than what we think it shall be," Kikumo replied, tightening her hold on the Hiroko Kama, whose blade flashed in the flickering candlelight. "Your Priestess is in the company of the Dog Traitor."
"Is that so? It is too easy...Very well; I just have the right plan for them." Naraku's lips curved upwards. His fist closed around the Shikon shard as a new plan formed in his mind, and he laughed out his malice. "Brace yourself, my dear, for your powers of charisma will be tested in your new mission..."
...o0o...
Hmmm, what does Naraku mean by Kikumo's 'powers of charisma'? And what is Sesshoumaru hiding from Kikyou? Stay tuned for Chapter Five! ;)