DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, except parts of the plot...
SUMMARY: AU. Sesshoumaru/Kagome. Inspired by Inuyasha, the fanfic Yakuza, and various other stories.
Author's Notes: I know "prayee" isn't a word, but I can't seem to remember what the word is. If you know, do tell me please.
by Ethidda
Written 7/2/05 (4:16 AM, at Frankfurst airport)
Chapter Thirteen
Kagome watched in wide-eyed horror as Kanna sucked Souta's soul out. Before, the little white balls of soul-energy had merely drifted toward Kanna's mirror. Now, though, Kagome saw a stream of white light shoot toward the mirror from Souta. She could only understand this in one way:
Souta's soul was leaving his body quickly, and then he would probably die.
"Souta!" Kagome yelled again, even though she wasn't sure what she expected her fourteen year old brother to do to fight the demon. Even she and Sesshoumaru and Sango couldn't find a way to fight the demon.
As Souta stood immobile, though, Kagome decided she had to do something. Despite all the mischief Souta got himself in, Kagome knew that Souta was a kind child at heart. Besides, Souta was her family.
Kagome jumped in between Souta and the mirror, and an invisible shield not unlike Kanna's erected itself. The shield stayed visible, though, simply because now white balls of soul-energy were flying from the shield to Kanna's mirror.
"Kagome!" Sesshoumaru shouted as he realized that Kagome had ignored his orders, much to her own danger. Kagome was his, and Sesshoumaru didn't plan on giving her up anytime soon. However, Sesshoumaru wasn't about to engage in anything foolish before he figured out a fool-proof plan to defeat Kanna.
From where he collapsed on the ground, Souta pulled at Kagome's leg, the only part of her he seemed to have enough energy to reach. "Nee-chan," he rasped. His lung didn't seem to want to pull in very much air. "Don't..."
"What are you talking about?" Kagome sounded normal, but she knew that her strength was slowly leaking away. She could feel her knees trembling. "You're my brother."
As one minute stretched out into two, though, it seemed as if Kanna and Kagome were at an impasse. Both Sango and Sesshoumaru watched in amazement as Kagome's seemingly endless soul-energy was sucked away. Still, they knew that nobody's soul energy could last forever, but could do nothing but wait until Kagome was all drained away.
Kanna stood as still as a stone during these precious minutes. Her mirror grew fuller and fuller and it shone brighter and brighter. Kanna could feel the infusion of energy the strange girl's soul was giving her. Something didn't feel right to Kanna, though, because Kagome's soul gave Kanna so much energy that it seemed like she would burst with the euphoria.
Finally, it seemed as if Kagome's soul-energy was depleted. She fell unceremoniously unto the ground, next to the barely-conscious Souta.
A mere moment later, though, Kanna gave a strange yelp. Sesshoumaru and Sango turned their attention from the fallen Kagome to see a crack down the middle of Kanna's mirror. Instead of the white balls of soul-energy drifting toward the mirror, they were drifting out of the mirror.
Kanna made an inarticulate sound in the back of her throat, either out of surprise or despair, but the more cracks appeared in her mirror, until it fell to the ground in pieces.
Great streaks of white light flew out from where the mirror used to be. The clear blue summer sky was filled with streaks of white. One flew into Souta, and he promptly passed out. Another flew into Kagome.
Sango ran over to Kanna, now that her strange power was gone, but before she could get there, somebody else took Kanna away. It was a strange lady, with black hair, red eyes, and a strange looking fan.
"Kagura," Sango heard Sesshoumaru say under his breath.
Sesshoumaru was already by Kagome's side, but he had looked up and recognized the foolish demon who had tried to get his attention.
Sesshoumaru had realized with a shock, that he knew the female demon. He also realized that it could not be coincidence that Kagura appeared around him twice when something unfortunate was happening.
Later, Sesshoumaru vowed, he would find out Kagura's secret. Kagura was obviously in league with Kanna, and Kanna had hurt Kagome. Kagome was under Sesshoumaru's protection, and therefore Kanna had challenged Sesshoumaru.
Sesshoumaru almost never let those under his protection get hurt, and when he did, he made sure it never happened again.
This all would have to wait until after Kagome wakes up, though. Sesshoumaru needed to know just how long he should torture the impertinent Kagura before he killed her.
If there was a small hint of worry in Sesshoumaru's mind for a mere human, he was not too concerned about it.
Groggily, Miroku rubbed the back of his head as he woke up. His back and head hurt, and judging by the circumstances, it was because he had slept on a hard floor.
Miroku frowned. He wouldn't sleep on a hard floor. He hadn't had to since his father had passed away.
Taking a good look around the room, he realized that he was in a prayer room. He must have prayed in the recent past. Bits of paper were in the ceremonial burning vessel, and Miroku thought he must have prayed for a person.
Who? Miroku wondered.
Judging by the things that were left behind, Miroku thought he performed a rather elaborate ceremony, which would transfer all of the bad luck of the prayed for to the prayee.
Miroku stretched his sore limbs. Although something must have happened to him, Miroku thought it could have been a lot worse. True, he had passed out, but judging by the still-hot burning vessel, it hadn't been all that long ago.
Besides, he might not even have passed out from the bad luck. Miroku had learned a long time ago that channeling a lot of spiritual energy at once sometimes resulted in the mind blanking out, and whatever it was he did, it was an elaborate ceremony.
Still, Miroku felt uncomfortable not knowing the particulars of what had happened.
He had a vague sense of resisting fainting. Or something attacking him.
But he couldn't have, because he didn't feel a wound anywhere.
What worried Miroku most, though, was that he couldn't remember for whom he was praying for. Surely, if the person was important enough for him to go to such means to keep the person safe, he would remember the person.
The burnt photograph was no help, and Miroku doubted he had anything at home to remind him of this mystery person's identity. The whole point of the ceremony was that the prayee give the prayed for into the care of the benevolent spirits.
Still, Miroku could remember everything else. He silently recited his own phone number and several other people's. He knew his address. He knew what he had eaten for his breakfast today--or maybe it was yesterday, depending on far into the night it was.
Miroku wasn't the kind of person who dwelled too much on what could not be changed. So, he decided that he might as well get on with him life. Maybe one day, he would remember the person.
Or maybe he wouldn't.
Either case, Miroku didn't think it could matter all that much. It wasn't as if he had a loved one to forget or anything.
Sesshoumaru paced Kohaku's miniature bedroom. He made a mental note to ask Rin if she needed more money. Surely, nobody would willingly live in a house with a guest room that was only six paces wide. It might be eight or nine paces for Rin.
Theoretically, Kagome should have woken up by now. It was understandable that the draining and refilling of Kagome's soul would have sent her body into shock. An hour or two could be allotted to her body for it to readjust.
But it had already been four and a half hours.
The door opened to Rin standing with a tray. "Would you like to have some dinner now?" She asked. "I've re-heated it."
"No," Sesshoumaru answered sharply, still pacing.
Rin shrugged before leaving. She rarely ever saw Sesshoumaru so concerned about something that he actually showed his worry, but she knew that until whatever worried Sesshoumaru stopped worrying him, Sesshoumaru was not going to be very approachable.
A couple of minutes after Rin left the room, a groan came from a barely-conscious Kagome.
"Kagome." Sesshoumaru's voice was full of relief as he stopped pacing to sit next to Kagome. "You should know that your brother is fine."
"Uh," Kagome moaned. "I feel like something sucked out my soul and threw my corpse on the ground. Ooh... that hurts." She tried moving her head too quickly, and promptly gave in to lying still.
Sesshoumaru stood up regally. "You didn't listen to me," he accused, his voice emotionless again.
Kagome barely managed a shrug, while lying in bed.
Sesshoumaru turned to look down at Kagome, his face a mask of cold disapproval. "I instructed you not to use soul-energy, but you blatantly ignored my warning."
Kagome muttered, "Not blatantly."
"And this is the result," Sesshoumaru finished as if he didn't hear Kagome's interruption.
"So?" Kagome asked, beginning to be irritated. She wasn't feeling well. She just woke up. And now Sesshoumaru was going to chew her out? Kagome didn't think so. "I managed to save Souta, right?"
Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed ominous. His attitude only fueled Kagome's self-righteous anger. "It was reckless," Sesshoumaru criticized. "You are not to place yourself in a position of danger after I have given you my protection."
"Ooh," Kagome said. "It's all about your he-man pride, isn't it? But 'proclaimed' is right, because I never asked to be under your protection, did I?"
Sesshoumaru sent Kagome a glare that would send braver men trembling and wetting their pants.
Whether it was Kagome's natural audacity, or simply that she was not in the right state of mind, Kagome rolled her eyes at Sesshoumaru.
"Besides," she continued. "If I waited any longer, it would have been too long. I'm a lot better at defending myself than Souta is, apparently."
"If it wasn't for your priestess powers, you would have died."
"Oh, well." Kagome succeeded in sounding uncaring about her own fate. "Besides the fact that I don't have priestess powers, I would much rather that I died than Souta died. It's good neither of us died, though."
"Next time, don't sacrifice yourself foolishly," Sesshoumaru ordered. "There is nothing worth dying for."
"I thought it was worth it." Not only was Sesshoumaru being high-handed about her actions, he was starting to dictate Kagome's morals. "Dying for somebody I love is definitely worth it."
"Maybe," Sesshoumaru said dubiously. "If there was such a thing as 'love.' However, since love doesn't really exist, there is no purpose for you to sacrifice your life for anything or anybody."
"Well, obviously love isn't tangible," Kagome relented. In the years after her father's death, Kagome had thought a lot about the meaning of life and love and family. "But I know for a fact that I love Souta."
"How?" Sesshoumaru questioned.
Kagome shrugged. "I can feel it."
Sesshoumaru scoffed. "You're just being a sentimental female."
"Hey," Kagome managed to raise her voice a bit. "I resent that. But I think maybe you're right..."
"Of course," Sesshoumaru said blandly.
"But," Kagome continued. "I don't think it matters if it's tangible or not. I believe in love. I can feel it. And I think that's all that matters. I can love somebody because I believe I can love somebody."
Sesshoumaru looked into Kagome's dark blue eyes. This time, it was he who said, "Maybe."
I know, I know... short chappie... but just think of it as an add-on chappie for twelve. (It was supposed to be part of twelve.)