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: This chapter's gonna have some real action, people. Also, thanks very much, Eruanne, for your beta reading! ;)
...o0o...
Kikumo's green eyes darted around her to check for any possible assault. But all was quiet.
Cursing silently to herself, the Deer Demoness walked into a forest with the ease of a fleeting shadow, bent on carrying out yet another of Naraku's instructions.
'The time has come for the Tama to be completed,' the evil hanyou's voice echoed in her mind. 'Go forth, therefore, and get the last of the remaining shards from the miko's reincarnation.'
Kikumo had calmly retorted that the task was close to impossible. Had Naraku gone blind? She was a full youkai, and demons could not sense where the shards are kept.
Naraku, however, had a ready reply. The saimyoushou shall tell her where to find it. Kikumo spared an annoyed look at the insects hovering around her, sent by Naraku to help and as well spy on her. He was particularly amused when he saw the Priestess and the Demon Lord in an intimate moment earlier, and had even questioned her thoroughly why she had not seen this.
Her eyes narrowing in growing suspicion, Kikumo carried on, trying very hard to discern the remnants of scent on the ground. However, her clan was not blessed with a sense of smell as keen as that of the Dog and Wolf tribe. Rather, it was their ears that guided them most among their senses, and could detect even the faintest rustle among the grasses.
'Curse you, Naraku,' she thought to herself. 'You dare to absorb Sesshoumaru without me knowing, eh? Just you try to kill him and I will unleash the true power of the Hiroko Kama on you...' She was more than alarmed when she uncovered the evil one's hidden motives. He wishes to make himself stronger by taking a more powerful youkai's power for his own? Kikumo knew only too well that she was nearly as powerful as Sesshoumaru, and Naraku had probably set his eyes on taking her powers as well. That should not happen. Ever.
A small sound from under some brush caught her ear, and Kikumo stilled her steps, the Hiroko Kama held out before her in an offensive stance. But as the moments passed, she discerned that the sound was that of a small animal whimpering in pain.
Emerald eyes, previously alert and fierce, softened and Kikumo silently approached the little bush, effortlessly swatting aside some saimyoushou as they tried to stop her from doing so. Gently parting the young branches, the Deer youkai beheld a young rabbit, one of its hind legs bleeding from a fresh wound, staining the few remnants of snow with crimson. It must have been attacked by a fox or a wolf; animals are bound to appear now that spring had come.
Gently, Kikumo held out her hand and soothingly ran her fingers over the gash. The young animal was understandably pained, and put up a severe struggle. Kikumo, however, transformed the Hiroko Kama back into its koto form and plucked a few strings. The rabbit's ears perked up for a moment, but soon relaxed in the Demoness' hold.
Now that the animal was calm, the Deer Demoness spat on her hand and gently rubbed it on the rabbit's wounded leg. At once, the wound began to close up and soon the rabbit was able to hop normally again.
"Go back to your family now," Kikumo said in a whisper as she plucked another series of notes on her koto. The rabbit, apparently understanding her words, hopped further into the forest, leaving behind its tracks on the melting snow. "Go back to your family, and do not follow my example."
She sighed, for though she had left the Western Lands partly in pursuit of the one who had hurt her in the past, the closeness she once felt with her clan was not to be driven away, and now that she had come to realize that her life as a restless wanderer had begun to weary her, she longed to go home. But was there a home to go back to? She had forsaken them; she had betrayed her lover and he had found another who loved him in return; she could not trust the one whom she had allied herself to... Her life had taken a miserable turn, and she only had got herself to blame.
Although she had changed much, deep inside, she retained the principles that the Deer clan valued: to care for the earth and beautify it. If she was not doing errands for that filthy Naraku, she would go out of his dark domain and tend the forests nearby. Kikumo hated Naraku's dark residences, for no plant could take root in its desecrated soil as long as the hanyou resided in it.
The saimyoushou's subtle buzzing in her ear drove Kikumo from her musings, and she looked up to see what they were trying to make her do. Her deep green eyes widened to see the dot of a fire some distance away, and as a gentle breeze made its way to her, she caught the scent of her victims suspended in the wind. There was no turning back now.
Her fingertips grazed the koto's ebony black surface, and it once more took on the form of a naginata. Clutching the weapon tightly in one hand, she let her other hand rest on the hilt of the Tenseiga as though by doing so she would regain her courage. But knowing that Sesshoumaru loves Kikyou, all that it gave her were more pangs of hurt and jealousy. She glanced at her arm that he had wounded earlier, and though she had managed to regain full use of her limb thanks to her medicinal plants' help, it served to her as a reminder that Sesshoumaru had indeed turned himself against her.
Pursing her lips in a determined way, she took a step forward and sought to finish Naraku's bidding as soon as she could. Taking off her hair stick, she plunged it into the still damp soil in several strategic areas to protect her when needed. Smirking to herself, she stood up and carried on, with her plants sprouting in her wake.
...o0o...
Sesshoumaru felt a familiar aura approaching them. Gently but urgently, he roused the sleeping figure of Kikyou. Her eyes fluttered open, and widened as she, too, felt Kikumo's powerful aura.
"She's coming," the Demon Prince whispered in the Priestess' ear. "Go and warn the others. I'll hold her off."
Nodding swiftly, she stood up gracefully and reached for her weapons strewn on the ground. Noticing that only two arrows remained in her quiver, the third one having been used to break the Tessaiga's transformation, she knew that she was in a perilous predicament. She could procure more souls with ease, but crafting more arrows by hand at such a tense time is out of the question.
Still, Kikyou armed herself and took off in their companions' direction after sparing a look of assurance for Sesshoumaru. No time must be wasted.
She had only run several feet when a large, thorny something swiped past her, leaving a stinging sensation to linger on her torso. Before she knew it, Kikyou let out a single cry of pain that did not go unnoticed. Sesshoumaru's sharp ears picked up the sound, and he did not hesitate. He pulled out his Toukijin and rushed towards the direction of the cry.
Struck by the same thorny entity, he staggered back a few feet. He brandished Toukijin defensively and his eyes darted to and fro searching for the mysterious item that had struck him.
His amber eyes narrowed as he identified a great snakelike vine of thorns creeping up from his right. He was distracted, however, by another piercing scream of pain from his beloved. He made out the form of Kikyou kneeling on the forest floor, the forbidding vine swinging back for another attack on her.
"Kikyou, behind you!" Sesshoumaru called out, trying to fight his way towards her. But another tendril of the vine was keeping him busy. He angrily hacked at the plant with his sword, only to have it regenerate itself in front of his eyes.
The miko dodged the vine as it swung towards her, narrowly missing a few inches. Painfully, she stood up, struggling to keep on her feet. Sesshoumaru had managed to leap towards her, concern evident in his action.
"I am all right; I am all right, Sesshoumaru," she gasped, but the repetition in her statement clearly indicated that she wasn't.
"Save your strength and your arrows," he replied, apparently noticing the depleted number of her arrows. Protectively, he stood against her back as the vine launched another attack at the pair. Kikyou dodged, pain searing through her abdomen as she did so. There was no wound, but the impact earlier rendered her a bruise.
The Demon Lord felt his heart clench to hear her pained gasp, and he swung the Toukijin at the plant's limb that threatened to strangle them to their deaths. But he knew that it only proved futile, as another stem grew to replace the one lost.
'What is this new handiwork of yours, Kikumo?' he thought as he hovered close to his beloved, bracing himself as numerous branches of the vine slithered about them and blocked out all the escape routes, completely encircling them in a cage of tangled thorns and leaves.
...o0o...
Kagome felt as though she had just lost the ability to breathe when she was wakened by the cold sharp metal pressed against her neck. Opening her frightened eyes, she beheld a willowy female figure blocking out the light of the fire. Wait a minute...those clothes, that hair, those eyes...is this Kikumo?
"Hand over the Shikon shards to me," Kikumo's alto voice demanded, pressing the blade of the Hiroko Kama further on the girl's neck. Kagome made out a swarm of saimyoushou hovering around them, and she knew that Naraku was once more behind this. She had the bottle of jewel shards in her pocket, but she was in no way giving it to the Deer youkai.
"Tell Naraku that if he wishes for the shards, he would have to get it himself," Kagome retorted, inching away from the Demoness, but the silvery blade followed her and soon her back met the rough trunk of a tree. She looked around frantically, searching for someone who might come to her help. But her other companions were not within her sight, and Inuyasha was probably somewhere in the forest. Kagome last saw him disappearing into the dark shadows a few hours earlier, possibly on a stroll to reflect on what they had just talked about before going to bed.
Kikumo's deep green eyes blazed with suppressed anger. "I am not a messenger, girl," she hissed. "Give me those damn shards or I shall make your head roll on the ground!" With those words, she swung the naginata at the hapless girl.
The newly opened leaves of the forest gave a shudder at the ear-piercing scream that echoed in the woods.
...o0o...
Miroku, Sango and Shippou were jolted awake by Kagome's scream.
"Kagome must be in trouble!" the young monk exclaimed, and they all dashed out of their blankets and went for the main camp.
"Why isn't Inuyasha protecting her?" Shippou asked, clinging on to Miroku's shoulder. "I thought they've already settled their dispute with Kikyou and his brother."
"We'll run over the events later, Shippou," Sango muttered, clutching on to the hiraikotsu so as to prepare herself from any attack. Soon, their surprised eyes viewed the figure of Kagome crawling frantically on the ground; Kikumo was looming over her with her weapon raised, ready to impale the young woman with the Hiroko Kama. "Leave Kagome alone, you demon!"
The wind screamed as the Flying Bone cut its way through the air. Kikumo, distracted, was forced to step back and dodge the large boomerang as it swung towards her, giving Kagome enough time to scramble to safety towards her companions. Kikumo, however, was extremely infuriated at this new challenge.
"Give me the shards before I send all of you to the other side!" she cried. They tumbled down on the hard ground as the earth shook under their feet, seemingly sharing the rage of the Deer Demoness. Miroku was about to uncover his Kazaana, but Sango alarmingly pointed at the swarm of Hell's Insects hovering around Kikumo. Angrily, he held out his monk's staff and Sango once more got hold of the hiraikotsu.
"Run, Kagome, run!" Sango shouted, and they blocked the way to let Kikyou's reincarnation dash into the forest. Kikumo, however, would not allow herself to be restrained, and several saimyoushou had broken off the swarm to follow Kagome as she sought to escape.
"That's very valiant of you to defend that girl," Kikumo muttered, the two arcs over her eyebrows beginning to glow a sinister red. "But your efforts will soon be wasted."
With a heated battle cry, the demon exterminator once more threw her boomerang at their female enemy, but this time, Kikumo was prepared.
"Child's play," Kikumo said in a whisper, smirking as she held a single chrysanthemum petal between her middle and index fingers. With a flick of her hand, the petal elongated and became a sharp arc. This arc collided with the hiraikotsu, sending the weapon out of its momentum and it fell on the ground at the Demoness' feet. Her deep green eyes then made its way to Miroku. "You are next, monk."
Miroku made Sango move behind him, and he made a holy energy in the form bright light shoot out of his staff. For a second, they were engulfed in a miasma of brightness, but Kikumo twirled the Hiroko Kama around and divided the light into ribbons which soon faded away. The Demoness then leaped up the air and swung the naginata at the monk, seeking to cleave him in half.
Miroku, by some instinct, held out his staff, and sparks of white and blue escaped as the blade met with the rod of the staff. This seemed to hold her out for a moment, but Miroku soon grew weary because of Kikumo's powerful youki and his staff was swatted away just like the hiraikotsu. The monk crumpled to his knees, out for the count.
Sango threw herself over Miroku's worn out form in a last-ditch attempt to protect him. Shippou leaped on top of them, determined to protect his friends, but when he met Kikumo's deep green eyes that have a scary crazed glow on them, the little fox demon lost control and all that all that he managed to do was transform into a pinkish blob that struggled to hide behind his companions.
A roar came out from behind Kikumo, and she barely had time to block out large paws as Kirara in fighting form leaped up at her. With a grunt, the youkai pushed the ebony handle of her weapon against the Cat demon's throat, sending it flying backwards. Sango tried to use this distraction to get away with Miroku, but his exhausted body weighed them down.
Deciding to end her business with this group, she took her hair stick and plunged it on the earth. From it grew a red-colored plant that was no more than a hand's height. Small it was, but its powerful sweet-smelling odor was a deadly drug in itself. Kikumo, before the plant's poison could also take hold of her, ran after Kagome with the saimyoushou trailing behind her.
Sango struggled to fight the weight of sleep on her eyelids, but the sweet scent soon assailed her senses, and she fell asleep in a heap on a ground just like Kirara and the rest.
...o0o...
"Kagome-sama, Kagome-sama!" Rin's young voice diverted Kagome's attention. The modern girl stopped running and she saw the youngest member of Sesshoumaru's company running towards her with the toady Jaken following. "Where are you going?"
"Rin," Kagome hurriedly said between deep intakes of breath after all that running. "Go and warn your Sesshoumaru-sama that Kikumo's here. She's after the Shikon shards!"
"Kikumo-san?" was all Rin could say before the iron grip got hold of her and Kagome's waists and lifted them several feet up in the air.
Kagome and Rin struggled and did their best to fight off the large ivy, but the plant's grip on them tightened, and soon they were suffocating. Rin screamed and called out to Jaken.
"Jaken-sama, help us!"
Before Jaken could do any further move, however, a blur of red shot out from the corner of his eye and a familiar voice which was higher than Lord Sesshoumaru's deep wont said, "Get out of the way, you useless toad!"
The Tessaiga cut through the limbs of the ivy holding captive the two humans, and Kagome, who had caught Rin in her arms before the little girl could fall and break her neck, soon found herself in Inuyasha's hold. The hanyou had been dozing off up a tree some distance from their camp when the screams of the women made his doggy ears twitch, and he had come hasting to their rescue.
"Inuyasha..." Kagome muttered in a half-surprised, half-loving tone, her dark eyes locking with Inuyasha's amber ones in a manner similar with Kikyou and Sesshoumaru. But before they could thank the half-demon, the plant, previously still, gave a shudder and new regenerated ivy arms shot out at the air and made for them.
Cursing under his breath, Inuyasha put Kagome and Rin down. With a shout, he slashed through the large leafy tangles, but they seemed to taunt him, regenerating its limbs as quickly as he cut them.
"Get away, Kagome!" he roared as he slashed at a leafy vine that tried to make its way to the humans. "Leave this plant to me!"
Kagome was about to protest, but an ivy limb that tried to get hold of one of her ankles told her that she should not question him. Still carrying Rin in her arms, the reincarnation ran deeper into the forest with Jaken desperately running behind, trying to escape the pursuer that was swiftly closing in on them.
...o0o...
Kagome, exhausted with her wounded arm throbbing dully, looked hopelessly at the direction where she just came from. The trees were beginning to tremble slightly, and soon that slight trembling intensified into violent shaking. Nature seemed to anticipate the coming of the paragon of the Deer clan.
She struggled to get on her feet again, but she was already winded after running incessantly. The trees would soon give way to the regal form of the Demoness, and Kagome braced herself for another fiery encounter.
...o0o...
Sesshoumaru's temper was beginning to get hold of him. He had slashed endlessly at the thorny hands that sought to get hold of them, but they showed no desire to give up the fight. Kikyou, who had gotten over the bruise that the plant had given earlier, was no less in action. Though she took to heart Sesshoumaru's suggestion that she shouldn't use the remnants of her arrows, she made use of her blue flame to handle their enemy.
"This plant has to have a weakness!" Kikyou said as she sent a ball of blue fire at a clump of thorns clubbing its way to her. Her mahogany eyes, becoming weary with each second, narrowed to see healthy plant organs grow over the burned stalks. Out of a sudden, she reeled down as a heavy plant tentacle got hold of her ankle and began to drag her across the ground.
The Priestess dug her fingers into the damp soil in an attempt to keep herself in place, but the plant had wrapped itself around her legs in a grip as strong as iron bands. More thorny tendrils wrapped themselves around her, and soon Kikyou found herself enveloped in a cocoon of flesh-piercing thorns and ropelike stalks. She felt as though she was slowly being crushed by the embodiment of Kikumo's wrath.
"Sesshoumaru!" Kikyou's voice calling out his name broke Sesshoumaru's concentration, and the plant tendril he was fighting lashed out at his wrist. The Toukijin went flying and it attached itself blade down on the ground quite a distance from him. Sesshoumaru was about to run and recover his sword, but numerous plants interwove and blocked his way.
"Sesshoumaru!" one more call, clearly more pained and distressed than the previous one, made the Demon Prince turn in his tracks. His keen sense of sight made out Kikyou's pale hand, fingers spread open and rigid, sticking out from a tangle of vines elevated above him. A whip like tendril lashed out at him, as though attempting to keep him from going to his beloved.
"Don't stand on my way!" Sesshoumaru shouted out loud, his anger vented out as he summoned up his Dokkasou from his fingers. As his poison whip collided with the plant's tendril, the green organs seemed to melt under the acidic quality of the whip, and it did not regenerate again.
Now seeing a breach in the plant's powers, Sesshoumaru leaped up in the air and cut the tendrils holding the vine cocoon aloft with his poison. Once the tangle of tendrils had fallen on the ground, he hurriedly cut open the intertwined vine locks, and soon, Kikyou's head with her raven hair in a disarray appeared from the tangle. Her beautiful eyes were closed, and Sesshoumaru quickened his pace at freeing her from the vines, hoping against hope that she was still all right.
Kikyou let out a gasp as she was able to breathe again, and she felt herself being drawn into a warm, possessive embrace as Sesshoumaru lifted her out of the vines with all the gentleness he could muster. The thorns had marred the perfect smoothness of Kikyou's skin, and she wrapped her arms around him as he whispered in her ear, "You gave me the fright of my life, beloved."
The Priestess dug her face against his neck, but her eyes once more widened in alarm to see a large plant stalk threatening to club them both. She flicked her fingers, and fire shot out of her hand at the plant. Sesshoumaru smelled the new stalk burning, and he let go of his grasp around Kikyou's waist to spray a dose of poison at the plant before it could regenerate again.
"I am getting us out of here," the taiyoukai muttered to her. "Get on my back."
"Pardon?" Kikyou, who by then had recovered her bow and slung it across her back, could hardly believe her ears. Does he have to humble himself to that extent for her?
"Time is crucial, Kikyou," Sesshoumaru pressed on. "We have to get out of this plant's grasp as quickly as we can, and I cannot deliver my Dokkasou if I am carrying you with my one arm."
Another vine whipped out at them, and Kikyou finally yielded to her beloved. She held on to his shoulders and wrapped her legs around his waist. It was only then that she noticed that he was totally missing all his swords.
"Where's the Toukijin, Sesshoumaru?"
"We're going to retrieve it now. Hold on to me tightly."
A soft cry left Kikyou's lips as Sesshoumaru swiftly leaped up in the air, and she tightened her hold on him as she ducked the few tendrils that threatened to entangle themselves in her raven hair. Sesshoumaru was lashing out with his poison whip, and the plants it touched did not grow again. His silvery strands mingled with Kikyou's dark hair and his furry pelt brushed against her in a comforting caress as she rested her chin on his left shoulder.
Her mahogany eyes made out the form of the Toukijin where it lay stuck on the ground. Numerous vines dashed up to intercept them, but Sesshoumaru effortlessly cut them to pieces with his Dokkasou. He touched down for a brief time on the ground, grabbed hold of the sword's hilt and returned it once more to his sash, careful not to cut Kikyou's leg in the process.
Now that his sword was with them, he leaped up once again and destroyed the vines that dared to come in his path. Kikyou, clinging on to his back, could not help but be amazed at his stamina.
"You seem to be flying, Sesshoumaru!" she said, admiration evident in her tone.
"Someday, I'll give you a taste on how it feels to really fly, Kikyou," Sesshoumaru replied, a grin spreading on his features as he slashed at a large vine tentacle, neatly splitting it in half. "And that day may come soon..."
...o0o...
"There are bees behind you, Jaken-sama!" Rin alerted Sesshoumaru's retainer. They had run deeper into the forest, and Rin clasped in her hands a bottle that had numerous glasslike shards in it. Kagome had given her the bottle of the Shikon shards in a last-ditch attempt to keep Naraku from obtaining the full Shikon no Tama.
Jaken looked from over his shoulder, and his round eyes widened to recognize the saimyoushou.
"These are no ordinary bees, Rin," he told the little girl. He boldly stood between Rin and the Hell's Insects with the Staff of Heads brandished before him. "They are Naraku's spies, and Kikumo will get us if we don't kill them."
Having said so, Jaken made fire come out one of the heads and it swiftly engulfed the swarm that had begun to hover around them. But a single saimyoushou that had hidden behind some leaves was spared from the burning and it quickly but silently flew to back to where the Deer Demoness was currently threatening Kagome.
...o0o...
"Hand over the shards NOW!" Kikumo said ominously.
"I won't!" Kagome stubbornly refused, weakly drawing back as the Demoness tried to strike her through the heart with the Hiroko Kama.
"You won't?" Kikumo craftily replied. "Then I have no reason to let you live." The Hiroko Kama's blade flashed as Kikumo held it above her head. She was about to smite Kagome in half when a single saimyoushou appeared from the forest and buzzed something in her ear. Kikumo's deep green eyes turned an angry shade of red at the news.
"So, you gave the shards to the little girl?" she said as Kagome further inched away from her. But Kikumo had had enough. Forming a fist with her left hand, the Deer youkai struck the girl clean on the head, knocking her out.
Once the deed was done, Kikumo sped deeper into the woods, leaving Kagome lying unconscious on the forest floor.
...o0o...
The haunting tunes of a koto reached the ears of Rin and Jaken, and they instantly knew that their pursuer was near.
"We must run, Jaken-sama! Jaken-sama...!" Rin hastily exclaimed, but the toady demon had collapsed, asleep, on the ground, as the magic of the music took hold of his senses. The little girl, herself, felt drowsiness taking control of her limbs as the tones bored their way into her skull.
In desperation, Rin covered her ears with her hands and ran, the task entrusted to her by Kagome ringing in her mind. She must not fail.
Gradually, the music of the koto began to fade from her ears, and Rin cautiously removed her hands from her ears and slowed her steps. She was tired, and looking up at the few splotches of sky visible among the leaves, the little girl saw that the dark inky night sky was already beginning to lighten into blue. Dawn was close to coming.
Looking around her and seeing no possible evil assault, Rin took out the bottle of Shikon shards from her kimono and looked at it closely. What could Kikumo probably want with those shards? They looked no more like broken glass to the little girl.
A swish of silken robes, and Rin's eyes widened for a moment in shock before closing. The human girl fell down, unconscious. The bottle rolled from her hands, and fell to a stop before sandaled feet. Kikumo stooped down and got hold of the little jar, the expression on her face numb. Her green eyes keenly observed the tinkling shards as they resided in the bottle. That was it. The shards of the Shikon no Tama.
Pulling her ochre shawl closer to her, a deer appeared where Kikumo stood earlier, and the youkai disappeared from the forest as though her presence there had never been.
...o0o...
Whoa, that was kinda long, wasn't it? Well, this story will certainly have lots of action before it ends! I don't wanna keep you too disappointed, ya know! ;)