Journey of the Heart: Chapter 6 - Dreams
DISCLAIMER: Inuyasha and his companions are not mine to own.
-ooo-oooooo-ooo-
Night had settled upon the strange, hollow world.
They had bedded down for the night. Kagome was snuggled under a blanket of soft grasses due to their lack of provisions while Kouga kept watch over the sleeping girl. He was fascinated by the systematic rise and fall of her chest and the way her skin glowed under the firelight.
'She looks more peaceful than I've seen her since, well, I guess I've never seen her look this peaceful. Exuberant, yes, embarrassed, yes, agitated, most definitely, but never this serene.
'I guess if I am going to be awake on watch out duty I could at least be trying to figure this place out. It should be easier than trying to figure her out at least.'
Finally looking away from her sleeping form, Kouga relaxed with his back against the base of a tree and reached out with his heightened demon senses, enhanced further by the shards embedded in each of his legs. He felt the bark make only a mild impact upon his skin while the night air brought only the vaguest scents to his olfactory senses. Even the fire that crackled and danced only a few paces away emitted only the barest measures of warmth and light.
As the demon prince studied a fallen leaf, trying to understand why the very colors of nature seemed strangely flat, he noticed something even more peculiar-the leaf took on the lustrous state of being he had grown to expect. Kouga blinked slowly, thinking he had only imagined the change, but sure enough, it was more vivid than it had been. Or had he been wrong earlier?
He decided he would try another experiment, so he concentrated on the fire. He pictured the intricate movements of the flickering tongues, roasting over the smoldering embers. He imagined the thick, hearty scent of the chalky smoke, and he carefully envisioned the way the fire would coat him in a blanket of warmth.
And just as it had with the leaf, the fire took on a more lively radiance, exhibiting all the properties Kouga had focused upon it.
"What the hell?" Kouga said, not realizing he had spoken aloud.
"What's wrong?" Kagome asked in a clear voice, free of any of the grogginess it should have had after waking up so abruptly.
"Hey, I thought you were sleeping."
"And I thought you weren't in the habit of talking to yourself. I guess we were both mistaken." She pulled herself out from under her forestry bedding and curled into a sitting position next to the fire. Dark strands of hair clung to her cheek until she tucked them behind her ears.
"You are just full of surprises." He said while admiring her innocent beauty.
"Such as?" She tilted her head and smiled at the demon regarding her.
"Well, you managed to trick a demon's senses into thinking you were asleep for one. And for another, you've been through a fight with a giant spider, sucked into a vortex, explored new surroundings, and been not quite sleeping without any bedding." His voice added extra sarcasm before evening out for a more serious finish, "But you are still beautiful."
Kagome blushed deeply and cast her gaze down to her toes. They were painted a light blue shade. It made Inuyasha uncomfortable when she used nail polish, so recently, she had been making sure her toenails were always covered. It was one of the ways she had tried to keep him from ignoring her, but as always, the only thing it got her was negative attention.
She struggled to remember every detail to take her mind off how warm she felt after Kouga's remark. The bottle had been shaped like a heart and bore the name Opalescent Azure in bright pink glittery letters. Her mind blanked so she just continued to watch her opalescent azure toes as they curled, uncurled, curled, uncurled, curled half way, uncurled.
"I made you uncomfortable." He said lowering his head to catch her attention.
Still attempting to be transfixed by the amazing curling toes she quickly said, "NO! No, not at all. I...I have just learned to breath rhythmically so Inuyasha doesn't yell at me for distracting him while he is on guard."
"I see."
Kagome bit her lip as she realized she had once again brought up the silver haired hanyou. 'Well, why shouldn't I talk about him? He is an important part of my life-was an important part. No,IS an important part. Maybe.' She sighed at her frustrated, contradictory thoughts. 'I guess it doesn't matter if we don't find a way out of here.'
She stilled her body and lifted her head, meeting his opalescent azure eyes. "Thank you."
"For what?"
She paused to think about why she had said it. She was just so grateful to have him with her. She was sure she would have fallen apart without his reassurance that everything would be alright. She was thankful that he was gentle with her where Inuyasha would be crass. She was glad he cared about her and genuinely tried to think about what she needed and wanted. But how could she put that into words without sounding foolish?
"Thank you for being sooo...Kouga," she finished simply.
Kouga leaned forward, so he was just within reach of Kagome. He stretched one hand out to move some newly fallen strands of hair out of her face. Her heart raced as his fingertips lightly brushed her face. "I guess it was the least I could do then," he said warmly while he moved to sit closer.
The light from the fire illuminated a sparkle in each of their eyes, but they failed to notice how no shadow stretched beyond their bodies.
-ooo-oooooo-ooo-
"You should get some rest." Sango cajoled the irritated hanyou as he fidgeted.
"I should be slitting that bastard, Naraku's throat, not lying on my back like some kind of invalid!" He tried to jerk himself into a sitting position, but only managed to inflame his injuries further.
Sango forced him back to the ground gently but firmly with the kind of strength only a tajiya possess. "You WILL lie still," she commanded with equal force.
"Keh!" he said by way of reluctantly agreeing to the situation, seeing as how he had no choice in the matter. His chest was just a mass of pain, and every movement just caused electric fire to sweep through the rest of his body, making it unlikely that he could wage a full assault against Naraku at the moment.
He stared up at the stars, mentally cursing his condition. He paid little attention to the fox cub who was already soundly asleep or to the monk who adoringly watched the demon exterminator when she wasn't facing him and lustfully watched her when she was. He did give some thought to Sango as she worked on covering their trail and preparing an area for sleep, if only to avoid another scolding. Something told the hanyou that getting into a fight with her would be far less advisable than those he so commonly had with Kagome.
He thought of their last fight. Her pained words resounded in his human ears. "Something has to change, and I guess it is going to be me," she had said. He never wanted her to change. She was perfect-too perfect. He was half human and half demon. Couldn't she see he wasn't whole-wasn't worthy? But no, that is part of what made her so wonderful. She didn't look at people and see flaws; she saw their positive traits and their potential.
Maybe if he could have seen himself the way she had things would have been different.
Inuyasha grew more restless. He didn't want to be pointing toward the stars anymore. The stars were too much like her-brilliant and untouchable. Inuyasha turned his head away from stars that mocked him. It was worth the stabbing sensation as his nerves rebuked the change in position to stare at the cold, hard ground instead.
It was unforgiving-like him.
-ooo-oooooo-ooo-
"So, why are you still awake?" Kouga asked breaking the silence at last.
"I could ask you the same thing," she said jokingly folding her arms in front of her in a serious manner.
"You could, but then you would be one of those people who answers a question with another question, and I've never really trusted those who do that."
"Oh, you are in trouble now. I'm going to be monitoring your every response, and when you slip up, I will nail you on it!"
"So, I have your undivided attention, and I may be punished?" he asked with a devilish grin. "I guess this is my lucky day."
Kagome blushed again, but this time she didn't look away. Instead, she chose to simply ignore his suggestive comment. "I'm just not tired. There is so much to think about, and I did have that impromptu nap earlier." She shot him a guilty little look.
"It was a well-deserved rest," he assured her. "You really should get more sleep though. We need to cover more ground tomorrow. And even though I'll be carrying you, I'll need your sharp senses to guide me."
Kagome's eyes opened as large as saucers. "My sharp senses?" she repeated questioningly.
"Of course. Your miko abilities are going to be invaluable in finding our way back," he affirmed.
She wasn't sure whether to be jubilant he had so much faith in her or scared out of her mind. Either way, the thought made her head spin, and suddenly, sleep sounded like a very good idea indeed.
-ooo-oooooo-ooo-
Kagura strutted through the corridors of Naraku's latest lair. This time it was a cavernous maze set deep into a mountain, but Kagura did not care if she was in a castle or a cave. It was just another prison to her-another place to be suffocated and confined within, instead of breathing the air of freedom.
There was little that made the passage of time more bearable for the wind witch. She did enjoy a good slaughter and the wolf demon pack had proven good at bleeding for her pleasure. She also liked to torture the mutt and his lackeys both physically and verbally. It was really too easy to get a rise out of Inuyasha though, so she tended to prefer the tajiya. She had a hard exterior, but mention her brother and the sparks would fly-or giant boomerang to be specific.
But the one past-time that really helped was her ritual of devising different and preferably horrifying ways of killing Naraku.
On Tuesday, it was beheading with his breakfast. Thursday brought drip torture with the daily report. And Friday, she came up with living burial during her lessons with the new demons recruited to aid in slowing Inuyasha down from reaching the inner sanctum before the time was right.
Yes, it calmed her considerably to know she would dispense of her unwanted master one day, but in the meantime, he held her heart in the palm of his misbegotten hanyou hand, and she would do his bidding-for now.
Today, that bidding took the form of playing nursemaid to an overgrown spider with a serious case of indigestion. He would pay double for such intolerable abuse of her forced loyalty.
'Releasing a swarm of starving beetles into his quarters.'
'Drowning him with the blood from his own severed limb.'
'Severing his-'
"Kagura!" a familiar, demanding voice cut off her thoughts.
'His death is not coming soon enough. Yesterday wasn't soon enough,' she thought as she approached the pale-skinned demon in rich, lush robes.
"What news do you have to report?" His voice was even, but there was a no nonsense air that clearly expressed he was not in the mood for Kagura's typical hostility and defiance.
"The spider is not well. Her legs should have regenerated by now, considering how many shards are inside her, but they remain little more than stubs. More disturbing are the intense abdominal pains, but I suppose that is to be expected." Kagura finished, holding back her usual barrage of curses and threats that so often peppered her debriefings.
"Indeed," was all the dark haired man said in response which only served to aggravate Kagura further. She decided to favor tact over recklessness for once.
"I can be more useful to you if you share your plans," she said judiciously. 'And the more I know, the sooner I can put one of my plans into action,' she thought while forcing back the wicked smile that threatened to appear.
Ignoring her statement completely, he continued to stare at her with bored, penetrating eyes until even Kagura had to admit to being uncomfortable. "Check our first line of defenses. Even with the red Tetsusaiga's barrier breaking abilities it is unlikely they will breach it until tomorrow night, but I want to make sure they are introduced to my pet when they do. See that he is adequately prepared for his guests."
She turned sharply on her heel before she was unable to suppress the venom she felt for the smug hanyou.
"Oh, and Kagura..." he said, waiting for her to return to her humbled position, kneeling before him, "You may leave now." His eyes sparkled at delivering yet another humiliation upon her proud shoulders.
'Making the bastard human again and forcing him to do MY bidding until his weak body gives out from exhaustion.' Pleased with her latest death scenario, Kagura went to look for Naraku's "pet."
-ooo-oooooo-ooo-
It surrounded her.
A thick, acidic syrup coated her entire body: hair, clothing, skin, everything. It numbed her into a frozen position-arms outstretched as if grasping for something or someone and legs captured in the midst of a run. But there was nowhere to run within the vile substance that clogged her air passages in its smothering embrace.
A pungent odor burned her lungs. It was very similar to the smell of rotting flesh. And this was not the first time she had been confronted with the foul stench. Since arriving in the distant past in a war-torn era, she had encountered her fair share of tragic scenes: soldiers cut down in the heat of battle, poverty-stricken towns lying in filthy ruins, and even children slaughtered in their own beds by demons.
No, Kagome was no stranger to death, but as she choked on the amber ooze, she frantically realized this death was her own. She wanted to struggle against it, she wanted to flee or to fight or to cry, but no one could hear her silent screams as she drowned in the sickly concoction.
-ooo-oooooo-ooo-
Screams pierced the silent night.
"Kagome," Kouga said in a soothing voice as he rushed to her aid.
The shrill cry continued to echo from the powerful lungs of the young miko, hampered only by the fearful sobs that shook her slumbering body.
"Kagome!" Kouga said again, this time louder while grasping her around the shoulders. However, the feeling of something pressing against her only made her struggle more fervently and soon her small fists were hammering against the exposed chest of the wolf prince.
"Kagome, please wake up!" he finally shouted in frustration.
With a loud gasp, Kagome's eyes flew open. She possessed a wild look at first. He wasn't sure if she was going to go back to screaming or continue attacking his abused chest. Luckily for him, she did neither.
Recognition took hold as she continued to look into his brilliant blue eyes. "Kou-ga?"
"I'm here, Kagome. And you are safe. I promise I would never let anything harm you."
"I couldn't breath and I-I..." She couldn't find the strength to say what had been so obvious only moments before. And then she felt her hands encased in his larger ones, giving her a gentle squeeze of support. "I was dying," she managed to finish to Kouga's surprise.
Her body felt weak and drained. Remaining upright was too much of an effort, and even with him holding her hands, she felt so utterly separate and alone. So she flung herself against him. It was bold and forward of her, but after feeling her body slowly dying around her, she desperately needed to be part of something alive.
-ooo-oooooo-ooo-
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to BelleDayNight who has been supportive of my writing all along and always allows me to use her as a sounding board. Also thanks to Fairia13 who has also been a good source of ideas and encouragement for this chapter. Make sure to check out their wonderful stories.
Also, I am very sorry there was such a long delay in updating this fic. On the plus side, I did complete my story, Crossing the Line. Check it out if you like Rurouni Kenshin!
FF Reviewers: becky (I'm glad you enjoyed), Angel6582 (I finally updated! Aren't you proud of me:) ), xInfernal (Sorry it took so long), Nichole Hibiki (Evidently you aren't the only one who wants to kill Naraku), Yoko-obssessor (thanks!), Black-rose23 (I hoped some people would like those lines. Things just keep unfolding, but they will probably raise more questions than answers for a bit), Thirteenth Dragon (I've been a fan of this pairing since he was introduced in the anime), SilverMoonsBlackWings (aww, thanks, you're awesome), Dakyu (I'm flattered, thanks), BelleDayNight (Props number two in this author's note for you, but you deserve it! Writing fanfics is just more fun when you are around to discuss them with), SailorKagome (When I got your review I copied and pasted it to all my friends who were online at the time. It definitely made my night. Being a deity is a big responsibility, so I hope you like this chapter!)
AFF Reviewers: kogasgirl1 (OK, soon didn't really work out, but I'm hoping to have the next one up sooner), KogasHentaiLuver (I am really honored and I promise there will be kissing!), Dragon Lady (That was lame on my part. I fixed it as soon as I read your review. Thank you for saying it in a nice way), Fairia13 (Thanks for your help with my thought process!), Jasmine Fields (He seems to becoming more suspicious, doesn't he?)
MM Reviewers: animephantom (Awesome, thanks!), Rinako (I am glad you like my use of "real" words. I aim to please. Seriously though, thanks!)
Kouga's Den Readers: Feel free to e-mail me reviews at wastedthoughts (remove spaces).