Oh goodness. How long has it been since I've written an introduction of this nature? Too long, obviously. But um, I have an excuse! Let's get the drum roll going guys...Yes, you guessed it, SCHOOL! Isn't it just the greatest pain in the ass you ever had to suffer through? Uh-huh, well, it's back to haunt me, and I'll have all of you know that they had to drag me down kicking and screaming. I put up a fight till the very end by god! Yet now, while I attempt a fresh year of torture, I still could not reject my readers, so here I am. My sincerest apologies for the delay, I hate every minute that I'm not able to get farther with this stupid story. New chapter for you. Fresh.
Oh, hey, this chapter is dedicated to Myouga Jiji whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday Myouga Jiji! I encourage everyone to go out and read her story, Myouga Strikes Back, it's delightful and funny and I know she would love to have some lovely reviews as birthday gifts.
Disclaimer: Didn't I take care of it already? I think so. Don't bother me I have a headache.
***
Reflection
Chapter 13-I Need Help Like Nobody's Business
***
Tenshik went totally still, and then sank into a ragged appearance, suddenly growing worn before Kagome's very eyes. She watched the angelic figure as the light around her faded some, until she grew to resemble a broken china doll. "Kagome," she whispered, "Don't be difficult, please...I need you to cooperate."
Kagome hesitated where she stood, for a flickering moment actually considering what this woman was saying and taking in her appearance and her weary air, but it was a hesitant moment short lived, and her emotions snapped again. "C-cooperate?" Her eyebrows rose in mock-surprise. She ran her tongue along the tips of her front teeth as she carefully planned her next words. "Cooperate?" Her voice too was a whisper, but lower, more dangerous. She said it again, and this time her voice grew, "Cooperate?! How can you say that to me?!"
Tenshik did not respond, merely stared at her with hollow green eyes. Kagome trembled and her fists clenched unconsciously, "You...You're toying with me aren't you? With everyone!" She hissed.
"You don't understand..." Tenshik mumbled, voice cracking.
"What is there to understand?!" Kagome raged, "You've brought suffering on everyone! Not just me! What do you think it's doing to Sesshomaru to see 'alive' again?! It's breaking his heart! You're a monster!"
Tenshik closed her eyes, and tears spilled down her cheeks quietly and more quickly than before. Gradually, she curled in a bit, and her shoulders shuddered and heaved in great gasping sobs. Kagome just watched silently. "I c-couldn't help it, I was worried..."
"Oh yes..." She spat icily, "And what is your excuse for that? Why do you have to worry for him anyway? Why can't you just die and leave him in peace?!"
"I had to come back."
"You didn't."
"Yes I did! You don't understand."
"Look at me when you talk Tenshik!"
Slowly, she raised her head and willed herself to look at Kagome through a curtain of messy, tangled gold hair. "Kagome..."
"Tenshik, leave us alone. This is not your world." Her tone had become a great deal softer, but she held no less contempt for the shattered wisp of a spirit before her.
Tenshik shook her head numbly, "I can't."
Kagome was firm, "Yes you can. I will even help you."
"Kagome!" There was a roll of thunder, and suddenly everything grew dim and strong at the same time. Kagome reeled back in pain at the sudden explosion of energy that had just unleashed itself before her. Inky black clouds unfolded above her head; it was a storm in progress, the speed of it accelerated many times. An accompanying wind picked up and blew around her, setting her hair flying madly. There was more thunder, and lightening flashed brilliantly and quickly like sparks flying across the sky. She was terrified and also it set her body on fire with a raging strength.
In front of her, Tenshik was sitting on her legs on the ground; leaning forward slightly, mid-way to sitting up straight, so that her hands were pressed to the ground palms down. But her head was no longer hanging loosely, nor was she peering at her through a curtain of hair. It had been swept from her line of vision and cast on the same wind that was possessively flipping her own about. Her eyes were bright and determined, but still without light or definition. A fraction of her original light had been returned to her, but it was tinted black, like shadow.
"Kagome!" Her voice was clear and ringing. "Listen to me! You have an enemy yet to be faced! The way you are now you have no chance and everyone will die!"
"What are you talking about?!" She still had enough courage to shout above the storm's noise.
She closed her eyes for a second, and then opened them without a word. Tenshik sighed then and said, "I will show you."
Kagome had barely a moment to register her words or even her own surprise before everything before her was hurled out of vision. She was swept up into a rushing blackness, her mind was tossed over and over, and her body was beyond comprehension. All she knew was the wracking blackness that was rifling through her consciousness, pulling her up and over and forward and back like she was caught in swirling rapids. She didn't know words, she didn't know senses, she didn't know anything except that she was in this black sea that was tossing her without effort or her own protest.
And then it stopped.
It stopped without warning, and Kagome was allowed a single second of peace in which her thoughts were rushing to catch up with her.
But then she was met with a new onslaught more powerful than the last and by far more potent. Instead of having no thoughts, she had thousands, and all of them were new and strange. The names of people she had never met, events that she had never experienced. Memories that weren't hers, all of them, but she knew they had been there. These things, she had known of them her entire life, and now she was living them because they were part of her in some way.
Kagome found herself accepting it all and yearning for it. She wanted more, every moment she felt she wanted the next one instantly. She wanted it all, and once again she was brought to a shuddering halt.
***
Her body was smooth and new. For many hundreds of years she had envied creatures who were gifted with this freedom, and now she had it herself. She laughed, and relished how her voice sounded and how beautiful if felt to have it come from her lips; lips! Her lips! She had lips! That thought led her to run her tongue over the said flesh slowly, which was followed by an assortment of random actions and movements she had been repeating for hours now. She touched her arm with the tips of her fingers, she picked up a lock of hair and held it in front of her eyes, she bent down and gathered fistfuls of long green grass into her hands and on and on until she had laughed herself to the point that her sides were aching and she collapsed onto the plush ground.
There she lay, with her hair fanning out about her and her green eyes half-lidded in the early stages of sleep. It was all so precious and perfect, she could never have imagined the ecstacy of being alive as humans and demons were. To be able to move with limbs and not as a spirit weaving in and out of trees. To have a clear, defined shape and not an unconstrained energy that priests and other holy figures would point at and cower before, if not bow and worship. Perhaps that might still be the case sometimes, but she would be careful, she would be very careful and never let them see her unless she wanted them to.
She didn't understand why or how it had happened, but it had. She had gone from being a power of the earth to a living creature. The gods had gifted her, graced her with this wonderful opportunity. But...why? How had she been so special? She knew that there were countless other spirits out there; more powerful than the lesser gods and the demons, more allusive and unnoticed than the entities that the humans named and prayed before, and yet still less powerful than the gods that ruled above in the heavens, the gods that had given her her new body. They were a special class of the multiple different forces that inhabited the earth, and a very large one. Countless was countless, and again she asked herself, how had she been special?
She knew so little. To the gods she was just a servant...
Perhaps it had something to do with the radical change that had been sweeping over the lands so recently. Of course she had felt, no doubt everything with even the smallest bit of spiritual awareness had felt the rippling turn of the soil. Something was certainly affecting the earth somehow, but she did not know what. The gods knew...they had to.
But that was not definite. "That" being that she had been blessed with a body of her own because of the change. All she had known before it had happened was a warning, blaring signal; that what she had secretly desired for so long would happen. That signal had rapidly gone from a knowing to a sensation, and she had realized that she was thinking it, and not just feeling it as spirits perceived everything, she was having a thought, using her mind, and suddenly everything was turned over, and she discovered her new form.
So strange... She giggled again. But so wonderful!
She laughed and laughed once more until exhaustion set in and sleep took her, and she rested in the forest, in the tall grasses that kissed her bare skin.
***
Her thoughts raced again.
***
She danced because it brought forth so many feelings at once. There was the grass between her toes, and the way the air swam and parted for her arms and legs as she twirled. Or balance, she loved to test her balance, to see how far she could bend or twist in one way before she lost control. And there was the music that she had to respond to as well. It was all around her. It was the wind in the leaves and the nightly creatures, and the moonlight that dappled across her. She couldn't help but dance for it.
And so she did, swaying and moving gracefully. For the most part, she kept her eyes closed against everything so that she could employ select senses; touch, taste, smell, hearing.
Then, she felt herself fall forward in a bend. She had lost balance, and she was rushing towards the ground, her eyes snapped open and she recovered as her nose brushed against the tips of the grass. After the shock of the drop subsided, she prepared to close her eyes once more and ease back into the dance.
And so she spun again, and watched the trees for a moment. It was then that she saw him. He was standing in the shelter of the forest, out of the moon's shining light, watching her silently with haunting eyes.
His eyes were beautiful. Piercing, shimmering yellow-gold, the like of which she had never seen nor imagined. All that she had ever known since the beginning of her new existence were the dark shades and shadows of the deep forest, where she had resided. But this was entirely different. His eyes were passionate, shining, beaming with fire and battle and fierce emotion.
Slowly he stepped into the light, and his features grew more visible. She drank in the sight of him because she could not resist his presence there before her.
A mane of silver-white hair that flowed down around his shoulders and down his back elegantly, and reflected the moonlight he was now bathed in so that it adapted a radiant aura. His face was sharp and watchful. Not cold and bored, but piercing and observant. He took another step, and she took one back.
He took yet another step, but this time she was too mesmerized to counter it with a step of her own. Seeing that he had caught her, he advanced more so that he was standing right in front of her, scarcely a foot away.
A strong hand with fine milky-white claws came forth from the folds of a long sleeve, and it pulled off his outer shirt. His other hand reached out to her and came around her, sweeping away her hair in its path and pressing against her back. She shivered under his touch and was excited to feel an alien skin against her own. Gently, he pushed her towards him, and she relented as if she had been struck dumb, so that she leaned into his chest, relaxed, tense, fearful, and awed at the same time.
The shirt came around her shoulders and was wrapped about her. When it had been settled into place, he brought his other arm around her and didn't move.
She breathed softly, afraid to ruin the moment with obtrusive noise.
He spoke beside her ear in a hushed whisper, "Your name is Tenshik."
***
Once more, she was subjected to strange rushing thoughts.
***
Sesshomaru sat beside me not speaking, but fixing a hard glare on his father. Inu-Yasha was being ushered away by an attendant, an elderly mortal woman who had been an aid of Aiko for many years. She often watched the child when his mother couldn't.
Inu-Yasha looked like he wanted desperately to protest, but knew better than to even dare it. I followed him with my eyes. He looked at me, beaming, and I smiled at him. The woman said something soft and short to him and he scooted out the door.
My gaze was returned to the opposite pair in front of me. Aiko was seated just behind and to the side of Inutaisho, she looked weary and drawn, and also tragically sad. Her pretty face was in a grieved expression, eyes focused on the ground.
Inutaisho watched his son without any visible emotion. His hair was loose and spilling down his back similarly to Sesshomaru's. He sat straight, proud, and unquestionable. He narrowed his eyes to watch him with yellow slits. "This is your mate then Sesshomaru?"
I watched quietly without a move. I wouldn't blush or giggle, I had to be strong in the face of a strong enemy. That was how Sesshomaru had always taught me. Although I wished it didn't have to be that way this time...
"Yes." Sesshomaru replied firmly.
Inutaisho closed his eyes solemnly and sighed, "I will not allow it."
Aiko made an almost wincing noise and raised her eyes to me, they were pleading eyes asking for forgiveness. I watched her in sympathy for a moment that she had to feel pain for this, and then quickly turned to Sesshomaru. I didn't care what action I made in front of Inutaisho any longer.
Sesshomaru had narrowed his eyes also to match his father's. I believe he would have barred his fangs if he didn't have such a respect for Inutaisho yet. His voice was almost breaking with anger, "On what grounds do you make this decision father?"
Inutaisho looked vaguely surprised, but not nearly so much as he was angry, "Are you questioning me?" He asked.
There was a pause, and then, "Yes."
I jumped a bit. Why was he doing this? He shouldn't, couldn't protest his father! I didn't want him to do this, it was his father, his father...
"Very well..." He said in a growl, "I shall tell you then, though by this point I should have thought you would have seen it yourself." Another pause, "I will not allow this filth in our line!"
Aiko bit her lip and closed her eyes again, a tear slipped down her cheek, on the side that was facing away from Inutaisho, thank the gods. Poor, dear sweet Aiko, she shouldn't have to suffer... I didn't bat an eye, I had expected such a reaction from the Lord of the Western Lands.
Sesshomaru however, was positively bristling with rage. His next words surprised and distressed me more than his protest a moment ago, "How dare you name her filth... How can you even think it?!"
"Do not hiss at me!" Inutaisho cried. "She is poison to our blood! It is obvious! If you take her to mate she shall spoil our descendants!" He took a quivering breath, "She is a weakness..."
"A weakness?! She is practically a goddess!"
"A goddess?! She is a rogue spirit that you took a taking to, she is an abomination of this earth! How can a spirit adapt a body?! It is unholy, and for it she should be destroyed! And even more despicable, that you would even consider such a union between you!"
"And yet that is not what you fear! I can dismiss your lies as cowardice, but I shall say it again, that is not what you despise about Tenshik!"
Inutaisho seemed taken aback for an instant, in which he directed the briefest glance at Aiko, who did not see or return it, her eyes were directed at the ground again. But we both saw it.
"I see..." Sesshomaru said slowly. "You fear that I would wreck our pure blood...Because you took a human woman you know that I am your only hope left for a demon line..."
Aiko let the tears fall freely now in the face of her lord and mate. She was a brave soul.
Inutaisho didn't say a word.
"You need me to father demon children, because you ruined the chances for yourself!"
Still, he said no word.
"And that is why you protest our union, because you are so selfish as to find love for yourself and deny it to me..."
"You can find love elsewhere! There are plenty of females more worthy of your attention!"
"There is no one but Tenshik!" Sesshomaru raged.
"Don't be foolish! Can't you see what you will do to your family!"
"I will except no other father!" He insisted.
"You do not need to!"
Silence.
Aiko gasped. We all knew what that meant. Sesshomaru's eyes grew wide. "Father..." He whispered.
Inutaisho looked worn and his face was turned just a bit away from Sesshomaru. I was frozen in shock. "You do not need to deny her Sesshomaru..." He continued. "You do not need to spare your love to any other..."
"You!" Sesshomaru spat, jumping to his feet. "How could you!"
"I love Aiko...But I loved my own father as well, and I conformed with his wishes, because I saw the need of such things. I gave him a demon child, I continued the line as it should be continued. Now I ask you to do the same for me, Sesshomaru."
"What was my mother then?!" His eyes held the faintest tinge of red. "A tool for you and your father's petty desires?! Did you ever even hold respect for her?!"
Inutaisho wouldn't, or couldn't respond.
"Answer me!"
"No, I did not love her Sesshomaru..."
I was certain from the way that Aiko was weeping that she knew how Sesshomaru's mother had died. Even I knew, Sesshomaru had confessed it to me. The Lady Takashi had wasted away...died a slow and lonely death, because her mate, whom she dearly loved, had taken her son, the only person she loved more, and left her in a palace in the south of his lands, surrounded by bustling attendants, but never her own family. She had died out of worry for them as they crusaded across the lands, she had died because there was no one for her to love... And worse yet, she had died remembering the promise that Inutaisho had made as he left, a promise that said he would return to her with Sesshomaru some day. But she never saw either of them again before she died.
"You monster..." Sesshomaru whispered. I got to my feet and went to him, touching his arm softly. He didn't look at me, his eyes were fixed with disbelief upon Inutaisho. "I will not obey one who has so little humanity left in him. I will be in love with Tenshik, and I congratulate you on finding your own happiness with Aiko. Farewell Inutaisho."
He turned and stormed out of the door with his arm around my shoulders. I didn't put up any sort of fight, I was stunned.
As we left, we saw Inu-Yasha and his caretaker playing in a garden through a window. Inu-Yasha laughed and smiled at us. I returned his smile like I had before, Sesshomaru was watching him with what could only be described as hatred. Inu-Yasha was a child born of love, he was a child born of tradition and betrayal.
***
I walked in the garden contentedly. It had been the first time in a year that I had been able to relax and not be worried from the incident with Sesshomaru's father so long ago. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and their petals showered me. It resembled a scene out of a child's tale, perfect and pleasant in every way.
I sighed, it could hardly be considered a garden. It was really part of the forest, set deep inside of it. The forest that I had always loved and lived in since I had found my body, and even before that, to the days when I was a spirit of the earth.
Sesshomaru would be inside the palace now. It was a large castle, the one where he spent most of his time when he was not in battle. Though he hated his father and rarely had any contact with him at all, he still functioned as a warrior of the western lands. Despite everything including his anger, he still loved his father in some way, and he would still fight for his family.
The castle was fairly new. He had built it some years ago, after he had found me and named me. He enjoyed being near this place, he said, and he also knew that I was most comfortable here.
I approached the temple cautiously. I didn't really approve of the temple, it frightened me in a way. They way it stood there so strange and opposing. It was an odd intrusion in the happy setting. It had sweeping archways and stone carvings and an odd geometric style that was uncommon. Sesshomaru told me once that it had come out of nowhere, appearing roughly around the time that I had. I found that strange and began exploring it's depths during my walks through the forest. It didn't look new, it looked ancient and solemn, as if it shouldn't be touched because of sacred power, but I was compelled to go to it. So compelled that it almost became a daily thing that I would go to it and sit before it for hours at a time. After a long while, I finally decided on entering it, swallowing up my silly notions of it being too sacred for me to touch.
And it was sacred, it was the point between the heavens and the earth. There I learned my purpose, my mission. I found out that it wasn't just a wondrous miracle that I had a body to call my own, I had a divine task to fulfill.
It is an eerie feeling to speak with your creators. To realize that you're actually holding a conversation of sorts with the beings whose thoughts you are the offspring of. A feeling of immobility comes over you suddenly, and you are struck dumb; words come from your mouth, and they are not your own.
That day, the day that I entered the temple for the first time, I felt the power of the gods in my living flesh, and it frightened me. But they spoke to me, and comforted me, and told me not to be afraid. Then they taught me about my purpose. The gods told me that I had been gifted with a body and a power. I was special, I was unique. I had been selected because as a spirit I was able to animate a body, and as such a strong spirit with such love for the earth I was desired for the role. I had enough power of my own to maintain that which they would give me themselves, and I was of the earth, not above as they were. Otherwise they would have descended themselves and fought the battle on their own, but they could not, they were mighty and superior, they could not descend without shattering and destroying everything around them. So they chose me, their special messenger and warrior. I would fight the battle, for the earth that I so dearly loved.
At that point I had been more afraid and confused then ever before. I had wanted to run but I could not, I had wanted to scream and cry but I could not.
Again, the gods comforted me and tried to ease my confusion. They knew my question, and after a time, so that I could be calmed, they told me what I was fighting against. I was scared of what they would say, mainly because anything that would frighten the gods to the point that they had to call upon the inferior creatures of the earth for aid had to be terrifying. And they wanted me to defeat it.
Slowly they told me what it was that had driven them to this. They said that there had been an evil growing, a terrible evil that could destroy everything. It was the evil in the hearts of all men and beasts and demons. More specifically, it was one of their own.
In the beginning, when there was nothing but the gods, no stars or earth or moon or sun, just the gods, there had been a war. All of them against a single one, the god of darkness. It was the way things had to be... The Darkness would have had a world of suffering forever, the Light, the gods I worshiped, would have had a utopia. And so, the opposing forces went to war for the longest time. They fought and clashed and struck at each other for thousands of years, as it would have been recorded in human measurement. And at last, the light triumphed, they banded together and shattered the Dark God into many fragments, destroying him.
And so, the gods then used their mighty power to begin to create the world they had envisioned, and made the rivers with their tears, and raised the mountains from the soil. And when all was ready, they created humans and beasts, and lesser gods and spirits, like she had been, to thrive alongside them. Also, demons escaped from hell and crawled upon the land, infused with the new magic of the gods that had been breathed into their flesh. But unbeknownst to the gods, scattered like dust, the Dark God still had life in him yet, but he was weak, so weak that he was not superior any longer, he was an inferior creature, but he had the chance to rise to an earth-shattering level again.
He saw the gods, spirits, beasts, humans and demons and when the time was right, quietly took refuge in their hearts. For the heart is the place where all things pass, emotions and feelings and energies, there was strength there, and it was such a confused, soft space that the gods would never see him there, gathering his power again. There he waited, festering and decaying for thousands of years since the start of man's existence and now he is almost ready to make his chaos a possibility again. He is getting stronger, and soon he will unleash himself from the hearts of all beings and shall step out a god reborn. A god reborn, a superior creature once again, he will do just as he desires, and so as he steps out he shall destroy the earth with his very presence, as any true god would.
It was the change that had been felt. The change was him, he was getting ready to make his move.
At that point I had no doubt been pale, a single tear streaking down my cheek in utter horror; the gods' words were powerful in my soul, having just the desired affect.
Again, they told me, more firmly this time, to be strong. I had a deep power residing in me. I had a body and a worthy soul to drive it, I had to be grateful to my creators and fulfill my task. They had told me these things over and over again until my silent tears had ceased and I was ready to listen to them again.
And they told me about my abilities. I could move the mountains, I could move the earth itself, I could even move the stars. My power was great and beautiful. It was a power that was made not to destroy, but to purify, because as of this moment, death could not affect the Darkness, death was part of the Darkness. In order to be truly eliminated, he needed to be cleansed, ultimately erasing him forever. I had that gift, but it was so great that I could not tap into it now, I had to learn to use it. That was why the temple had also appeared with me.
The temple was the gateway to the heavens, the single place on earth where the gods and their children could truly be together directly. The very rock of which it had been molded was the stuff of the gods, the very same material they had used to shape their palaces and homes among the stars. To incorporate something so precious into my body would have made it impossible for me to live as I do now, I would have become blind and mute, and as a stone.
It was still unclear, however why the temple was needed. And so the gods then explained why it was necessary that they needed to be able to speak with me in just such a way. They told me that gradually, it would become easier to move as they spoke, which would inevitably prove to me how strong I actually was. By the mere act of being able to move when possessed by the very gods themselves, my will was as great, if not greater than theirs.
They continued. And they explained that my sacred gift was so strong and wild, that at this moment it was being contained by them. With training and time, I would be able to control it on my own. That was why they needed the temple, so that they would be able to teach me how to balance myself and excel in moving my flesh and living with it wear no other earthly being had ever excelled before. I would learn ultimate control, thus controlling the power that rested inside of me. For at that moment, if I unleashed it, it could be as damaging the very thing I was going to try and prevent. But such as it was needed, they had bestowed it upon me. If I could control it, I could use it, it was that simple. All I had to do was learn, they would teach me.
My foot was poised in mid-air over the first step of the temple. I cringed. The training was difficult, I feared it and shunned it. Every day I came closer to understanding things that I had never known in my life as a spirit: death, hurt, torture, despair. I despised the training, but I was reminded all ours of the day and night that the earth I loved was at terrible risk if I turned my back on this purpose. It took everything to create my body, the gods had made it clear that it was a task that could not be performed again in the brief period of time they now had.
Sighing, I set my foot down, and was immediately hit on all sides by the forceful power of my peers coming down at me. It was the same experience I had had for months now. I was just starting to adjust to it.
The most torturous aspect of my training however, is that I can't help but be tormented by thoughts of Sesshomaru, and what agonies our union might suffer with the arrival of my new power. I really do love him.
***
Kagome suddenly felt searing pain, her eyes focused and unfocused in terrible blackness...What was happening? Everything...it was horrible.
***
I was running, running as fast as I could. My lungs heaved and my legs burned, but I continued. I had to run, something was wrong... Lightening flashed overhead and I screwed my eyes tight as I crashed through the trees. I had just come from the temple, the gods had not spoken to me, I was worried and frightened...and then I felt it. Like a knives being pushed into my back, I was charged with a searing, twisted feeling of ultimate torture. It only lasted more than a few moments, but it left me panting.
At the second it left my body, my head shot up and I bolted from the sacred place, straight into the depths of the forest. I could feel it out there, still strong, and by a strange force I was drawn to find it again. My senses, all of them and those that I had acquired from my training were sharp and screaming at me to go forward, I did so without a fight.
The dark trees opened before me as I ran. By now, after hours of tense waiting for the presence of the gods in my mind againl, day had passed into night. Though night it was, the blackness all around me seemed more ominous than ever before. But I was too possessed with my need to find the source of the searing attack to register any type of fear.
My ankle caught on a fallen tree, I stumbled and kept going. Thorny branches leered at me from all sides, grasping at my hair and clothing and dragging sharp talons across my cheeks. I ignored them.
I tripped again and my chest exploded as my efforts in making my way through the forest suddenly caught up with me. I panted raspingly, dragging myself up a bit from where I had fallen forward. I propped myself up on my elbows and there was another burst of lightening. Slowly I groped forward in the dark and in time my fingers grasped around the tough bark of a decaying tree limb and I pulled myself forward over the hard earth.
Again, I felt outwards in front of me, trying to find a hold, and to my surprise I found nothing. My eyes, having been closed since the fall, opened slowly, and I looked out in total, abysmal shock.
The ground had been ripped to pieces, leaving smoking, charred remains. The blackened stumps of some few trees that had managed to survive to even that state could be seen in random places where the damage was not as bad. With much pain and effort, I wrenched myself up into a sitting position and clumsily got to my feet. I limped and stumbled into the new clearing, set in the midst of trees that were still standing as if nothing had happened at all. Some were singed, but for the most part, it seemed as if a wall had been brought up around the disaster area, preventing anything from getting at the rest of the forest.
I continued to wobble forward, inspecting the wreckage. It was clear to me now that this was the source of the evil energy that had come at me earlier. It was all around, hanging in the air stagnantly. It hovered around me, and emanated from everything in great waves. I swallowed my fear and uncertainty and continued to look around.
Once again, my feet faltered beneath me and I tripped into a bit of the ground that was more uneven then the rest of it. A trench of some sort. My hands came out before me to lessen the impact, and they hit the dirt painfully. My heart skipped a beat and then rang more loudly than ever before in my ears. I looked down hesitantly where my fingertips were shaking on the earth. The energy here was familiar...different from everything else. It was my own energy.
I scrambled backwards out of the trench in a crab-walk and sat beside it breathing hard. My eyes were wide as I looked up and down the length of the dip frantically. It was not a natural trench, it was part of whatever had caused the damage here...which at this moment, seemed to be me. For the trench was an after effect of what my power could do. I had tested it like that many times during my training. It was a type of attack that was made for physical abuse, should I ever need it. It did not purify, it did not attack mentally, it was a vortex of ripping, rending, pure energy in the form of electricity.
I trembled uncontrollably, I had not done this. I couldn't have, I hadn't been here, I had nothing to do with any of it! But then why, how had my unique energy been left in this spot? It couldn't be duplicated, it was part of me! How had this happened?!
My head turned slowly about. I still wasn't afraid, but I was burning with confusion, I was looking for something, anything that might give me a lead.
A dark object, beaten and blackened like everything else was lying on the ground a few yards away. Unable to make it to my feet this time because of the pain in my ankles, which were most certainly twisted, I crawled on my hands and knees towards the unknown something.
It occurred to me to get Sesshomaru at that moment, call for him and scream until I could scream no longer, but I could not find my voice.
Feet from it now, I reached out and carefully touched it before withdrawing my hand quickly like a frightened animal. Finding nothing dangerous that I could sense, I crawled forward again and closed the gap between myself and the foreign object. I bent over it, trying to see a bit. My fingers pawed it gently, it was...cloth? Or something like it...rough, burnt. My nose pinched some at a new smell, singed hair. I stopped suddenly when I felt something wet on my hand, raising it to my eyes, I discovered that my fingertips were bathed in a dark, thick, slippery substance.
Lightening blazed again and I gasped as it was all illuminated before me.
White hair falling over in a tumbled mess, liquid yellow eyes closed to the world forever. Body torn and ripped with numerous wounds, some still gushing and others closed over with the lull of the blood flow. He was caught in partial transformation to his true form, sharp dog ears pointed forward atop his head, and fangs that were larger beginning to show from beneath his upper lip.
The fear that had been mysteriously absent for so long suddenly found me. I was unable to move, and my voice was now totally lost beyond recall.
"You...are no goddess." A voice hissed dangerously, I recognized it instantly and my head sprang to the side. At that second, the rain that had been threatening overhead throughout the day came down.
He stood there like a force straight out of hell, eyes burning red rather than gold, waves of crackling energy held just in check as they fanned off of him. I still could not speak.
"You...Lied to me!" He roared.
My throat rasped and I called out, "Sesshomaru! Your father-"
"DO NOT SPEAK!"
I fell silent again.
"Get away from him..."
I wouldn't move, I took a deep breathe and gathered my courage. "S-Sesshomaru...I had nothing to do with this..."
"I said get away!"
I remained rooted to the spot. "Please...Listen to me..."
"SILENCE!"
The rain pelted harder.
"Sesshomaru listen! I don't know what happened here...your father...everything, I don't know!"
He began fiercely stalking towards me and the lifeless body of Inutaisho. I felt terrible, to see the fallen demon, and to know that at this moment I was not comforting Sesshomaru or weeping, I was trying to prove my own innocence. But he had to know...
"I will not say it again Tenshik, get away from my father."
I edged away and he took my place, kneeling beside him and touching his hand gently. I watched silently from just behind him.
His eyes cooled a bit and he shut them, bowing his head. Just as I was about to move in to wrap my arms around him, his head snapped to me, red orbs burning into my soul again. He snarled, teeth barred. "YOU SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN!"
"Sesshomaru!" I cried. "Don't do this! I didn't kill your father!"
"LIAR!" His hand shot out, claws poised to rip me apart. I was still and strong, head set firmly with my eyes, which had their own effect. The daggers stopped just inches from my nose, shaking with anger and fear and shame.
Slowly, he lowered his hand and slumped forward. "You expect me to believe...that when your energy and your scent reeks about this place, and I come upon you hovering over the slain body of my father, hands dripping with his blood...that you did not do this?!"
"I know it is hard to understand...But Sesshomaru...I did not kill him." I said as calmly as possible.
He looked ready to attack me again, and I'm sure he would have, but for a moment of doubt. Slowly he stood up, carefully easing his father into his arms. I watched from the ground. He turned away and then began to walk towards the castle. Just as he reached the edge of the smouldering clearing, he spoke menacingly.
"Leave this place Tenshik...and never return. Though I cannot kill you, I refuse to ever look at you again. You betrayed my love and my trust." With that, he continued walking, and disappeared into the darkness.
I snapped back to reality and began fighting to regain my footing. "Sesshomaru wait!" I called, tripping and fumbling as I ran-limped to where I had seen him walk into the trees. But I was too late. He was gone.
I sank to my knees despairingly, letting the rain soak into my clothes. I lowered my head and let the tears fall...My heart had been shattered.
***
You know, I hate to cut the chapter off like that. It was getting darn good too. But I don't think I'm even allowed to make it any longer. And so with that, I bid you farewell little noodles! Don't worry, a weekend is coming, I'll be able to get another chapter out soon I think.
Oh, hey, this chapter is dedicated to Myouga Jiji whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday Myouga Jiji! I encourage everyone to go out and read her story, Myouga Strikes Back, it's delightful and funny and I know she would love to have some lovely reviews as birthday gifts.
Disclaimer: Didn't I take care of it already? I think so. Don't bother me I have a headache.
***
Reflection
Chapter 13-I Need Help Like Nobody's Business
***
Tenshik went totally still, and then sank into a ragged appearance, suddenly growing worn before Kagome's very eyes. She watched the angelic figure as the light around her faded some, until she grew to resemble a broken china doll. "Kagome," she whispered, "Don't be difficult, please...I need you to cooperate."
Kagome hesitated where she stood, for a flickering moment actually considering what this woman was saying and taking in her appearance and her weary air, but it was a hesitant moment short lived, and her emotions snapped again. "C-cooperate?" Her eyebrows rose in mock-surprise. She ran her tongue along the tips of her front teeth as she carefully planned her next words. "Cooperate?" Her voice too was a whisper, but lower, more dangerous. She said it again, and this time her voice grew, "Cooperate?! How can you say that to me?!"
Tenshik did not respond, merely stared at her with hollow green eyes. Kagome trembled and her fists clenched unconsciously, "You...You're toying with me aren't you? With everyone!" She hissed.
"You don't understand..." Tenshik mumbled, voice cracking.
"What is there to understand?!" Kagome raged, "You've brought suffering on everyone! Not just me! What do you think it's doing to Sesshomaru to see 'alive' again?! It's breaking his heart! You're a monster!"
Tenshik closed her eyes, and tears spilled down her cheeks quietly and more quickly than before. Gradually, she curled in a bit, and her shoulders shuddered and heaved in great gasping sobs. Kagome just watched silently. "I c-couldn't help it, I was worried..."
"Oh yes..." She spat icily, "And what is your excuse for that? Why do you have to worry for him anyway? Why can't you just die and leave him in peace?!"
"I had to come back."
"You didn't."
"Yes I did! You don't understand."
"Look at me when you talk Tenshik!"
Slowly, she raised her head and willed herself to look at Kagome through a curtain of messy, tangled gold hair. "Kagome..."
"Tenshik, leave us alone. This is not your world." Her tone had become a great deal softer, but she held no less contempt for the shattered wisp of a spirit before her.
Tenshik shook her head numbly, "I can't."
Kagome was firm, "Yes you can. I will even help you."
"Kagome!" There was a roll of thunder, and suddenly everything grew dim and strong at the same time. Kagome reeled back in pain at the sudden explosion of energy that had just unleashed itself before her. Inky black clouds unfolded above her head; it was a storm in progress, the speed of it accelerated many times. An accompanying wind picked up and blew around her, setting her hair flying madly. There was more thunder, and lightening flashed brilliantly and quickly like sparks flying across the sky. She was terrified and also it set her body on fire with a raging strength.
In front of her, Tenshik was sitting on her legs on the ground; leaning forward slightly, mid-way to sitting up straight, so that her hands were pressed to the ground palms down. But her head was no longer hanging loosely, nor was she peering at her through a curtain of hair. It had been swept from her line of vision and cast on the same wind that was possessively flipping her own about. Her eyes were bright and determined, but still without light or definition. A fraction of her original light had been returned to her, but it was tinted black, like shadow.
"Kagome!" Her voice was clear and ringing. "Listen to me! You have an enemy yet to be faced! The way you are now you have no chance and everyone will die!"
"What are you talking about?!" She still had enough courage to shout above the storm's noise.
She closed her eyes for a second, and then opened them without a word. Tenshik sighed then and said, "I will show you."
Kagome had barely a moment to register her words or even her own surprise before everything before her was hurled out of vision. She was swept up into a rushing blackness, her mind was tossed over and over, and her body was beyond comprehension. All she knew was the wracking blackness that was rifling through her consciousness, pulling her up and over and forward and back like she was caught in swirling rapids. She didn't know words, she didn't know senses, she didn't know anything except that she was in this black sea that was tossing her without effort or her own protest.
And then it stopped.
It stopped without warning, and Kagome was allowed a single second of peace in which her thoughts were rushing to catch up with her.
But then she was met with a new onslaught more powerful than the last and by far more potent. Instead of having no thoughts, she had thousands, and all of them were new and strange. The names of people she had never met, events that she had never experienced. Memories that weren't hers, all of them, but she knew they had been there. These things, she had known of them her entire life, and now she was living them because they were part of her in some way.
Kagome found herself accepting it all and yearning for it. She wanted more, every moment she felt she wanted the next one instantly. She wanted it all, and once again she was brought to a shuddering halt.
***
Her body was smooth and new. For many hundreds of years she had envied creatures who were gifted with this freedom, and now she had it herself. She laughed, and relished how her voice sounded and how beautiful if felt to have it come from her lips; lips! Her lips! She had lips! That thought led her to run her tongue over the said flesh slowly, which was followed by an assortment of random actions and movements she had been repeating for hours now. She touched her arm with the tips of her fingers, she picked up a lock of hair and held it in front of her eyes, she bent down and gathered fistfuls of long green grass into her hands and on and on until she had laughed herself to the point that her sides were aching and she collapsed onto the plush ground.
There she lay, with her hair fanning out about her and her green eyes half-lidded in the early stages of sleep. It was all so precious and perfect, she could never have imagined the ecstacy of being alive as humans and demons were. To be able to move with limbs and not as a spirit weaving in and out of trees. To have a clear, defined shape and not an unconstrained energy that priests and other holy figures would point at and cower before, if not bow and worship. Perhaps that might still be the case sometimes, but she would be careful, she would be very careful and never let them see her unless she wanted them to.
She didn't understand why or how it had happened, but it had. She had gone from being a power of the earth to a living creature. The gods had gifted her, graced her with this wonderful opportunity. But...why? How had she been so special? She knew that there were countless other spirits out there; more powerful than the lesser gods and the demons, more allusive and unnoticed than the entities that the humans named and prayed before, and yet still less powerful than the gods that ruled above in the heavens, the gods that had given her her new body. They were a special class of the multiple different forces that inhabited the earth, and a very large one. Countless was countless, and again she asked herself, how had she been special?
She knew so little. To the gods she was just a servant...
Perhaps it had something to do with the radical change that had been sweeping over the lands so recently. Of course she had felt, no doubt everything with even the smallest bit of spiritual awareness had felt the rippling turn of the soil. Something was certainly affecting the earth somehow, but she did not know what. The gods knew...they had to.
But that was not definite. "That" being that she had been blessed with a body of her own because of the change. All she had known before it had happened was a warning, blaring signal; that what she had secretly desired for so long would happen. That signal had rapidly gone from a knowing to a sensation, and she had realized that she was thinking it, and not just feeling it as spirits perceived everything, she was having a thought, using her mind, and suddenly everything was turned over, and she discovered her new form.
So strange... She giggled again. But so wonderful!
She laughed and laughed once more until exhaustion set in and sleep took her, and she rested in the forest, in the tall grasses that kissed her bare skin.
***
Her thoughts raced again.
***
She danced because it brought forth so many feelings at once. There was the grass between her toes, and the way the air swam and parted for her arms and legs as she twirled. Or balance, she loved to test her balance, to see how far she could bend or twist in one way before she lost control. And there was the music that she had to respond to as well. It was all around her. It was the wind in the leaves and the nightly creatures, and the moonlight that dappled across her. She couldn't help but dance for it.
And so she did, swaying and moving gracefully. For the most part, she kept her eyes closed against everything so that she could employ select senses; touch, taste, smell, hearing.
Then, she felt herself fall forward in a bend. She had lost balance, and she was rushing towards the ground, her eyes snapped open and she recovered as her nose brushed against the tips of the grass. After the shock of the drop subsided, she prepared to close her eyes once more and ease back into the dance.
And so she spun again, and watched the trees for a moment. It was then that she saw him. He was standing in the shelter of the forest, out of the moon's shining light, watching her silently with haunting eyes.
His eyes were beautiful. Piercing, shimmering yellow-gold, the like of which she had never seen nor imagined. All that she had ever known since the beginning of her new existence were the dark shades and shadows of the deep forest, where she had resided. But this was entirely different. His eyes were passionate, shining, beaming with fire and battle and fierce emotion.
Slowly he stepped into the light, and his features grew more visible. She drank in the sight of him because she could not resist his presence there before her.
A mane of silver-white hair that flowed down around his shoulders and down his back elegantly, and reflected the moonlight he was now bathed in so that it adapted a radiant aura. His face was sharp and watchful. Not cold and bored, but piercing and observant. He took another step, and she took one back.
He took yet another step, but this time she was too mesmerized to counter it with a step of her own. Seeing that he had caught her, he advanced more so that he was standing right in front of her, scarcely a foot away.
A strong hand with fine milky-white claws came forth from the folds of a long sleeve, and it pulled off his outer shirt. His other hand reached out to her and came around her, sweeping away her hair in its path and pressing against her back. She shivered under his touch and was excited to feel an alien skin against her own. Gently, he pushed her towards him, and she relented as if she had been struck dumb, so that she leaned into his chest, relaxed, tense, fearful, and awed at the same time.
The shirt came around her shoulders and was wrapped about her. When it had been settled into place, he brought his other arm around her and didn't move.
She breathed softly, afraid to ruin the moment with obtrusive noise.
He spoke beside her ear in a hushed whisper, "Your name is Tenshik."
***
Once more, she was subjected to strange rushing thoughts.
***
Sesshomaru sat beside me not speaking, but fixing a hard glare on his father. Inu-Yasha was being ushered away by an attendant, an elderly mortal woman who had been an aid of Aiko for many years. She often watched the child when his mother couldn't.
Inu-Yasha looked like he wanted desperately to protest, but knew better than to even dare it. I followed him with my eyes. He looked at me, beaming, and I smiled at him. The woman said something soft and short to him and he scooted out the door.
My gaze was returned to the opposite pair in front of me. Aiko was seated just behind and to the side of Inutaisho, she looked weary and drawn, and also tragically sad. Her pretty face was in a grieved expression, eyes focused on the ground.
Inutaisho watched his son without any visible emotion. His hair was loose and spilling down his back similarly to Sesshomaru's. He sat straight, proud, and unquestionable. He narrowed his eyes to watch him with yellow slits. "This is your mate then Sesshomaru?"
I watched quietly without a move. I wouldn't blush or giggle, I had to be strong in the face of a strong enemy. That was how Sesshomaru had always taught me. Although I wished it didn't have to be that way this time...
"Yes." Sesshomaru replied firmly.
Inutaisho closed his eyes solemnly and sighed, "I will not allow it."
Aiko made an almost wincing noise and raised her eyes to me, they were pleading eyes asking for forgiveness. I watched her in sympathy for a moment that she had to feel pain for this, and then quickly turned to Sesshomaru. I didn't care what action I made in front of Inutaisho any longer.
Sesshomaru had narrowed his eyes also to match his father's. I believe he would have barred his fangs if he didn't have such a respect for Inutaisho yet. His voice was almost breaking with anger, "On what grounds do you make this decision father?"
Inutaisho looked vaguely surprised, but not nearly so much as he was angry, "Are you questioning me?" He asked.
There was a pause, and then, "Yes."
I jumped a bit. Why was he doing this? He shouldn't, couldn't protest his father! I didn't want him to do this, it was his father, his father...
"Very well..." He said in a growl, "I shall tell you then, though by this point I should have thought you would have seen it yourself." Another pause, "I will not allow this filth in our line!"
Aiko bit her lip and closed her eyes again, a tear slipped down her cheek, on the side that was facing away from Inutaisho, thank the gods. Poor, dear sweet Aiko, she shouldn't have to suffer... I didn't bat an eye, I had expected such a reaction from the Lord of the Western Lands.
Sesshomaru however, was positively bristling with rage. His next words surprised and distressed me more than his protest a moment ago, "How dare you name her filth... How can you even think it?!"
"Do not hiss at me!" Inutaisho cried. "She is poison to our blood! It is obvious! If you take her to mate she shall spoil our descendants!" He took a quivering breath, "She is a weakness..."
"A weakness?! She is practically a goddess!"
"A goddess?! She is a rogue spirit that you took a taking to, she is an abomination of this earth! How can a spirit adapt a body?! It is unholy, and for it she should be destroyed! And even more despicable, that you would even consider such a union between you!"
"And yet that is not what you fear! I can dismiss your lies as cowardice, but I shall say it again, that is not what you despise about Tenshik!"
Inutaisho seemed taken aback for an instant, in which he directed the briefest glance at Aiko, who did not see or return it, her eyes were directed at the ground again. But we both saw it.
"I see..." Sesshomaru said slowly. "You fear that I would wreck our pure blood...Because you took a human woman you know that I am your only hope left for a demon line..."
Aiko let the tears fall freely now in the face of her lord and mate. She was a brave soul.
Inutaisho didn't say a word.
"You need me to father demon children, because you ruined the chances for yourself!"
Still, he said no word.
"And that is why you protest our union, because you are so selfish as to find love for yourself and deny it to me..."
"You can find love elsewhere! There are plenty of females more worthy of your attention!"
"There is no one but Tenshik!" Sesshomaru raged.
"Don't be foolish! Can't you see what you will do to your family!"
"I will except no other father!" He insisted.
"You do not need to!"
Silence.
Aiko gasped. We all knew what that meant. Sesshomaru's eyes grew wide. "Father..." He whispered.
Inutaisho looked worn and his face was turned just a bit away from Sesshomaru. I was frozen in shock. "You do not need to deny her Sesshomaru..." He continued. "You do not need to spare your love to any other..."
"You!" Sesshomaru spat, jumping to his feet. "How could you!"
"I love Aiko...But I loved my own father as well, and I conformed with his wishes, because I saw the need of such things. I gave him a demon child, I continued the line as it should be continued. Now I ask you to do the same for me, Sesshomaru."
"What was my mother then?!" His eyes held the faintest tinge of red. "A tool for you and your father's petty desires?! Did you ever even hold respect for her?!"
Inutaisho wouldn't, or couldn't respond.
"Answer me!"
"No, I did not love her Sesshomaru..."
I was certain from the way that Aiko was weeping that she knew how Sesshomaru's mother had died. Even I knew, Sesshomaru had confessed it to me. The Lady Takashi had wasted away...died a slow and lonely death, because her mate, whom she dearly loved, had taken her son, the only person she loved more, and left her in a palace in the south of his lands, surrounded by bustling attendants, but never her own family. She had died out of worry for them as they crusaded across the lands, she had died because there was no one for her to love... And worse yet, she had died remembering the promise that Inutaisho had made as he left, a promise that said he would return to her with Sesshomaru some day. But she never saw either of them again before she died.
"You monster..." Sesshomaru whispered. I got to my feet and went to him, touching his arm softly. He didn't look at me, his eyes were fixed with disbelief upon Inutaisho. "I will not obey one who has so little humanity left in him. I will be in love with Tenshik, and I congratulate you on finding your own happiness with Aiko. Farewell Inutaisho."
He turned and stormed out of the door with his arm around my shoulders. I didn't put up any sort of fight, I was stunned.
As we left, we saw Inu-Yasha and his caretaker playing in a garden through a window. Inu-Yasha laughed and smiled at us. I returned his smile like I had before, Sesshomaru was watching him with what could only be described as hatred. Inu-Yasha was a child born of love, he was a child born of tradition and betrayal.
***
I walked in the garden contentedly. It had been the first time in a year that I had been able to relax and not be worried from the incident with Sesshomaru's father so long ago. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and their petals showered me. It resembled a scene out of a child's tale, perfect and pleasant in every way.
I sighed, it could hardly be considered a garden. It was really part of the forest, set deep inside of it. The forest that I had always loved and lived in since I had found my body, and even before that, to the days when I was a spirit of the earth.
Sesshomaru would be inside the palace now. It was a large castle, the one where he spent most of his time when he was not in battle. Though he hated his father and rarely had any contact with him at all, he still functioned as a warrior of the western lands. Despite everything including his anger, he still loved his father in some way, and he would still fight for his family.
The castle was fairly new. He had built it some years ago, after he had found me and named me. He enjoyed being near this place, he said, and he also knew that I was most comfortable here.
I approached the temple cautiously. I didn't really approve of the temple, it frightened me in a way. They way it stood there so strange and opposing. It was an odd intrusion in the happy setting. It had sweeping archways and stone carvings and an odd geometric style that was uncommon. Sesshomaru told me once that it had come out of nowhere, appearing roughly around the time that I had. I found that strange and began exploring it's depths during my walks through the forest. It didn't look new, it looked ancient and solemn, as if it shouldn't be touched because of sacred power, but I was compelled to go to it. So compelled that it almost became a daily thing that I would go to it and sit before it for hours at a time. After a long while, I finally decided on entering it, swallowing up my silly notions of it being too sacred for me to touch.
And it was sacred, it was the point between the heavens and the earth. There I learned my purpose, my mission. I found out that it wasn't just a wondrous miracle that I had a body to call my own, I had a divine task to fulfill.
It is an eerie feeling to speak with your creators. To realize that you're actually holding a conversation of sorts with the beings whose thoughts you are the offspring of. A feeling of immobility comes over you suddenly, and you are struck dumb; words come from your mouth, and they are not your own.
That day, the day that I entered the temple for the first time, I felt the power of the gods in my living flesh, and it frightened me. But they spoke to me, and comforted me, and told me not to be afraid. Then they taught me about my purpose. The gods told me that I had been gifted with a body and a power. I was special, I was unique. I had been selected because as a spirit I was able to animate a body, and as such a strong spirit with such love for the earth I was desired for the role. I had enough power of my own to maintain that which they would give me themselves, and I was of the earth, not above as they were. Otherwise they would have descended themselves and fought the battle on their own, but they could not, they were mighty and superior, they could not descend without shattering and destroying everything around them. So they chose me, their special messenger and warrior. I would fight the battle, for the earth that I so dearly loved.
At that point I had been more afraid and confused then ever before. I had wanted to run but I could not, I had wanted to scream and cry but I could not.
Again, the gods comforted me and tried to ease my confusion. They knew my question, and after a time, so that I could be calmed, they told me what I was fighting against. I was scared of what they would say, mainly because anything that would frighten the gods to the point that they had to call upon the inferior creatures of the earth for aid had to be terrifying. And they wanted me to defeat it.
Slowly they told me what it was that had driven them to this. They said that there had been an evil growing, a terrible evil that could destroy everything. It was the evil in the hearts of all men and beasts and demons. More specifically, it was one of their own.
In the beginning, when there was nothing but the gods, no stars or earth or moon or sun, just the gods, there had been a war. All of them against a single one, the god of darkness. It was the way things had to be... The Darkness would have had a world of suffering forever, the Light, the gods I worshiped, would have had a utopia. And so, the opposing forces went to war for the longest time. They fought and clashed and struck at each other for thousands of years, as it would have been recorded in human measurement. And at last, the light triumphed, they banded together and shattered the Dark God into many fragments, destroying him.
And so, the gods then used their mighty power to begin to create the world they had envisioned, and made the rivers with their tears, and raised the mountains from the soil. And when all was ready, they created humans and beasts, and lesser gods and spirits, like she had been, to thrive alongside them. Also, demons escaped from hell and crawled upon the land, infused with the new magic of the gods that had been breathed into their flesh. But unbeknownst to the gods, scattered like dust, the Dark God still had life in him yet, but he was weak, so weak that he was not superior any longer, he was an inferior creature, but he had the chance to rise to an earth-shattering level again.
He saw the gods, spirits, beasts, humans and demons and when the time was right, quietly took refuge in their hearts. For the heart is the place where all things pass, emotions and feelings and energies, there was strength there, and it was such a confused, soft space that the gods would never see him there, gathering his power again. There he waited, festering and decaying for thousands of years since the start of man's existence and now he is almost ready to make his chaos a possibility again. He is getting stronger, and soon he will unleash himself from the hearts of all beings and shall step out a god reborn. A god reborn, a superior creature once again, he will do just as he desires, and so as he steps out he shall destroy the earth with his very presence, as any true god would.
It was the change that had been felt. The change was him, he was getting ready to make his move.
At that point I had no doubt been pale, a single tear streaking down my cheek in utter horror; the gods' words were powerful in my soul, having just the desired affect.
Again, they told me, more firmly this time, to be strong. I had a deep power residing in me. I had a body and a worthy soul to drive it, I had to be grateful to my creators and fulfill my task. They had told me these things over and over again until my silent tears had ceased and I was ready to listen to them again.
And they told me about my abilities. I could move the mountains, I could move the earth itself, I could even move the stars. My power was great and beautiful. It was a power that was made not to destroy, but to purify, because as of this moment, death could not affect the Darkness, death was part of the Darkness. In order to be truly eliminated, he needed to be cleansed, ultimately erasing him forever. I had that gift, but it was so great that I could not tap into it now, I had to learn to use it. That was why the temple had also appeared with me.
The temple was the gateway to the heavens, the single place on earth where the gods and their children could truly be together directly. The very rock of which it had been molded was the stuff of the gods, the very same material they had used to shape their palaces and homes among the stars. To incorporate something so precious into my body would have made it impossible for me to live as I do now, I would have become blind and mute, and as a stone.
It was still unclear, however why the temple was needed. And so the gods then explained why it was necessary that they needed to be able to speak with me in just such a way. They told me that gradually, it would become easier to move as they spoke, which would inevitably prove to me how strong I actually was. By the mere act of being able to move when possessed by the very gods themselves, my will was as great, if not greater than theirs.
They continued. And they explained that my sacred gift was so strong and wild, that at this moment it was being contained by them. With training and time, I would be able to control it on my own. That was why they needed the temple, so that they would be able to teach me how to balance myself and excel in moving my flesh and living with it wear no other earthly being had ever excelled before. I would learn ultimate control, thus controlling the power that rested inside of me. For at that moment, if I unleashed it, it could be as damaging the very thing I was going to try and prevent. But such as it was needed, they had bestowed it upon me. If I could control it, I could use it, it was that simple. All I had to do was learn, they would teach me.
My foot was poised in mid-air over the first step of the temple. I cringed. The training was difficult, I feared it and shunned it. Every day I came closer to understanding things that I had never known in my life as a spirit: death, hurt, torture, despair. I despised the training, but I was reminded all ours of the day and night that the earth I loved was at terrible risk if I turned my back on this purpose. It took everything to create my body, the gods had made it clear that it was a task that could not be performed again in the brief period of time they now had.
Sighing, I set my foot down, and was immediately hit on all sides by the forceful power of my peers coming down at me. It was the same experience I had had for months now. I was just starting to adjust to it.
The most torturous aspect of my training however, is that I can't help but be tormented by thoughts of Sesshomaru, and what agonies our union might suffer with the arrival of my new power. I really do love him.
***
Kagome suddenly felt searing pain, her eyes focused and unfocused in terrible blackness...What was happening? Everything...it was horrible.
***
I was running, running as fast as I could. My lungs heaved and my legs burned, but I continued. I had to run, something was wrong... Lightening flashed overhead and I screwed my eyes tight as I crashed through the trees. I had just come from the temple, the gods had not spoken to me, I was worried and frightened...and then I felt it. Like a knives being pushed into my back, I was charged with a searing, twisted feeling of ultimate torture. It only lasted more than a few moments, but it left me panting.
At the second it left my body, my head shot up and I bolted from the sacred place, straight into the depths of the forest. I could feel it out there, still strong, and by a strange force I was drawn to find it again. My senses, all of them and those that I had acquired from my training were sharp and screaming at me to go forward, I did so without a fight.
The dark trees opened before me as I ran. By now, after hours of tense waiting for the presence of the gods in my mind againl, day had passed into night. Though night it was, the blackness all around me seemed more ominous than ever before. But I was too possessed with my need to find the source of the searing attack to register any type of fear.
My ankle caught on a fallen tree, I stumbled and kept going. Thorny branches leered at me from all sides, grasping at my hair and clothing and dragging sharp talons across my cheeks. I ignored them.
I tripped again and my chest exploded as my efforts in making my way through the forest suddenly caught up with me. I panted raspingly, dragging myself up a bit from where I had fallen forward. I propped myself up on my elbows and there was another burst of lightening. Slowly I groped forward in the dark and in time my fingers grasped around the tough bark of a decaying tree limb and I pulled myself forward over the hard earth.
Again, I felt outwards in front of me, trying to find a hold, and to my surprise I found nothing. My eyes, having been closed since the fall, opened slowly, and I looked out in total, abysmal shock.
The ground had been ripped to pieces, leaving smoking, charred remains. The blackened stumps of some few trees that had managed to survive to even that state could be seen in random places where the damage was not as bad. With much pain and effort, I wrenched myself up into a sitting position and clumsily got to my feet. I limped and stumbled into the new clearing, set in the midst of trees that were still standing as if nothing had happened at all. Some were singed, but for the most part, it seemed as if a wall had been brought up around the disaster area, preventing anything from getting at the rest of the forest.
I continued to wobble forward, inspecting the wreckage. It was clear to me now that this was the source of the evil energy that had come at me earlier. It was all around, hanging in the air stagnantly. It hovered around me, and emanated from everything in great waves. I swallowed my fear and uncertainty and continued to look around.
Once again, my feet faltered beneath me and I tripped into a bit of the ground that was more uneven then the rest of it. A trench of some sort. My hands came out before me to lessen the impact, and they hit the dirt painfully. My heart skipped a beat and then rang more loudly than ever before in my ears. I looked down hesitantly where my fingertips were shaking on the earth. The energy here was familiar...different from everything else. It was my own energy.
I scrambled backwards out of the trench in a crab-walk and sat beside it breathing hard. My eyes were wide as I looked up and down the length of the dip frantically. It was not a natural trench, it was part of whatever had caused the damage here...which at this moment, seemed to be me. For the trench was an after effect of what my power could do. I had tested it like that many times during my training. It was a type of attack that was made for physical abuse, should I ever need it. It did not purify, it did not attack mentally, it was a vortex of ripping, rending, pure energy in the form of electricity.
I trembled uncontrollably, I had not done this. I couldn't have, I hadn't been here, I had nothing to do with any of it! But then why, how had my unique energy been left in this spot? It couldn't be duplicated, it was part of me! How had this happened?!
My head turned slowly about. I still wasn't afraid, but I was burning with confusion, I was looking for something, anything that might give me a lead.
A dark object, beaten and blackened like everything else was lying on the ground a few yards away. Unable to make it to my feet this time because of the pain in my ankles, which were most certainly twisted, I crawled on my hands and knees towards the unknown something.
It occurred to me to get Sesshomaru at that moment, call for him and scream until I could scream no longer, but I could not find my voice.
Feet from it now, I reached out and carefully touched it before withdrawing my hand quickly like a frightened animal. Finding nothing dangerous that I could sense, I crawled forward again and closed the gap between myself and the foreign object. I bent over it, trying to see a bit. My fingers pawed it gently, it was...cloth? Or something like it...rough, burnt. My nose pinched some at a new smell, singed hair. I stopped suddenly when I felt something wet on my hand, raising it to my eyes, I discovered that my fingertips were bathed in a dark, thick, slippery substance.
Lightening blazed again and I gasped as it was all illuminated before me.
White hair falling over in a tumbled mess, liquid yellow eyes closed to the world forever. Body torn and ripped with numerous wounds, some still gushing and others closed over with the lull of the blood flow. He was caught in partial transformation to his true form, sharp dog ears pointed forward atop his head, and fangs that were larger beginning to show from beneath his upper lip.
The fear that had been mysteriously absent for so long suddenly found me. I was unable to move, and my voice was now totally lost beyond recall.
"You...are no goddess." A voice hissed dangerously, I recognized it instantly and my head sprang to the side. At that second, the rain that had been threatening overhead throughout the day came down.
He stood there like a force straight out of hell, eyes burning red rather than gold, waves of crackling energy held just in check as they fanned off of him. I still could not speak.
"You...Lied to me!" He roared.
My throat rasped and I called out, "Sesshomaru! Your father-"
"DO NOT SPEAK!"
I fell silent again.
"Get away from him..."
I wouldn't move, I took a deep breathe and gathered my courage. "S-Sesshomaru...I had nothing to do with this..."
"I said get away!"
I remained rooted to the spot. "Please...Listen to me..."
"SILENCE!"
The rain pelted harder.
"Sesshomaru listen! I don't know what happened here...your father...everything, I don't know!"
He began fiercely stalking towards me and the lifeless body of Inutaisho. I felt terrible, to see the fallen demon, and to know that at this moment I was not comforting Sesshomaru or weeping, I was trying to prove my own innocence. But he had to know...
"I will not say it again Tenshik, get away from my father."
I edged away and he took my place, kneeling beside him and touching his hand gently. I watched silently from just behind him.
His eyes cooled a bit and he shut them, bowing his head. Just as I was about to move in to wrap my arms around him, his head snapped to me, red orbs burning into my soul again. He snarled, teeth barred. "YOU SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN!"
"Sesshomaru!" I cried. "Don't do this! I didn't kill your father!"
"LIAR!" His hand shot out, claws poised to rip me apart. I was still and strong, head set firmly with my eyes, which had their own effect. The daggers stopped just inches from my nose, shaking with anger and fear and shame.
Slowly, he lowered his hand and slumped forward. "You expect me to believe...that when your energy and your scent reeks about this place, and I come upon you hovering over the slain body of my father, hands dripping with his blood...that you did not do this?!"
"I know it is hard to understand...But Sesshomaru...I did not kill him." I said as calmly as possible.
He looked ready to attack me again, and I'm sure he would have, but for a moment of doubt. Slowly he stood up, carefully easing his father into his arms. I watched from the ground. He turned away and then began to walk towards the castle. Just as he reached the edge of the smouldering clearing, he spoke menacingly.
"Leave this place Tenshik...and never return. Though I cannot kill you, I refuse to ever look at you again. You betrayed my love and my trust." With that, he continued walking, and disappeared into the darkness.
I snapped back to reality and began fighting to regain my footing. "Sesshomaru wait!" I called, tripping and fumbling as I ran-limped to where I had seen him walk into the trees. But I was too late. He was gone.
I sank to my knees despairingly, letting the rain soak into my clothes. I lowered my head and let the tears fall...My heart had been shattered.
***
You know, I hate to cut the chapter off like that. It was getting darn good too. But I don't think I'm even allowed to make it any longer. And so with that, I bid you farewell little noodles! Don't worry, a weekend is coming, I'll be able to get another chapter out soon I think.
