The Beast
Kagome stood beside Jareth, unsure of what they were to do next.
They were in the middle of what seemed to be a huge palace, though no servants were around and no master could be seen. The place was dark and damp, almost as if it had been abandoned many years ago, though the stench of blood was still very heavy in the air.
"This task is more difficult than the first," the voice called out to the two who stood side by side, looking straight ahead. "You must find the owner of this castle, and you must restore the owner and the castle to the way it was before."
"Before what?" Jareth asked curiously.
There was a pause, "Before it became the way it is now." He said, as if Jareth were stupid.
"Like Beauty and the Beast?" Kagome asked, more to herself than to either the voice or Jareth.
"Exactly," the voice replied, sounding pleased, "You are the Beauty. Now go."
Kagome thought a moment, then shook her head, "I guess we should start looking for a beast."
Inu-yasha and Sesshoumaru stopped before the tree.
"What are we waiting for?" the younger half-brother demanded and raised his arm and punched the tree. To his surprise he fell right through!
He looked about to find himself in a room of sorts, inside the tree. There were three stands in the center. Two had three scrolls upon them, one had only two. Each had a word written upon them, one in English, one in Japanese, and one in Chinese.
"Inevitability," he said to himself, "A friggin Scroll of Inevitability."
He looked at the Japanese word. Ai. Love. He looked at the English word. Wealth. He looked at the last word. Chinese, he had never known much Chinese, but this word he knew in any language. Death.
Death was inevitable.
He stepped to the Chinese one and looked down at the three scrolls.
One had much to say, one had little, and the third had nothing. He wished he could read Chinese.
But what was inevitable? What happened when one died? Being a half-demon he had never really thought about his human weakness.
"When one dies…there is nothing."
He plucked up the empty scroll and went to the walls and attempted to walk through.
Instead he fell back on his butt.
"The hell?" he growled, standing once more.
In anger, he pulled out his tetsaiga and swung at the tree.
The wood gave way, falling from him.
Light flooded the dark place, burning his eyes. But there was the opening that lead back to Sesshoumaru and the forest.
Sesshoumaru was watching him with one raised eyebrow, "Your friend has been waiting for you." He said, motioning behind Inu-Yasha.
Inu-Yasha turned to see a great ball of flashing light, with the man standing before him.
"Death, Inu-yasha, is inevitable. Wealth is irrelevant. And Love, Inu-yasha, is irreplaceable." The man said. "An you are insufficient."
"What the hell does that mean?" Inu-yasha demanded, bristling.
The man looked to the sky, a smile on his face, "You're slow. Kagome has already completed the second task."
Inu-yasha bristled, "What the hell are you jabbering about? Get back to us, look, we have your friggin scroll, now send us to the next task!"
The man turned and glared at Inu-yasha, "Why won't you just give up?" he demanded, his voice venomous.
Kagome stood before the beast, her heart pounding loudly in her chest.
He was tall, with long silver hair and golden eyes.
"Sesshoumaru, what happened to you?" she asked, her voice a soft thread of sound.
Jareth was against the wall, a gash on his chest flowing with blood. Sesshoumaru had attacked him, had attacked her really, but Jareth had taken the blow.
"Your dog stole my love from me, he took her, he killed her. I shall do the same!" Sesshoumaru spat as he shot towards Kagome, his poisonous claws extended.
"No!" Jareth shouted, once again leaping to her rescue, but this time Sesshoumaru just threw him against the wall and glared at Kagome, his face inches from hers, his claws in her abdomen, spreading the poison.
"You will die, little woman. You will die as she did."
Kagome couldn't help but feel the pain in her stomach, in her entire body, "Sesshoumaru, you loved Rin, didn't you?" she asked, her voice soft.
"More than you could ever know, pitiful human." He sneered angrily.
"Kagome," Jareth whispered, his eyes wide.
"Then kill me, Sesshoumaru." Kagome said.
Both men stared at her, one confused, one determined.
"Kill me and ease your pain. But don't do it before her."
Sesshoumaru blinked and turned to see Rin's pretty face, smiling down at him. He stared at the portrait, it was from the day that they were wed. He looked below the picture to the little brown haired girl with big gold eyes, clinging to her teddy bear.
"Suki," he said, his voice a mere thread of sound. He pulled his claws from Kagome's body and went to the little girl, his daughter, Rin's daughter.
She wrapped her small arms as far around his waist as they could go as he pulled her into his embrace. He looked up at Kagome with tear-filled eyes, tears that he would never shed before another being.
Kagome smiled, weakly leaning back against a wall, "It's all right Sesshoumaru, to grieve. But is it alright to hurt the only one that you have left?" she asked, one hand at her wound.
