A/N - Ack! I wish I had checked my reviews sooner! I just realized my mistake by writing about the Tenseiga, but there was a reason for the inaccuracy. I've never seen the anime, I read the manga (but I did watch my first movie yesterday ) and my Japanese isn't exactly the greatest :sigh: so whenever I saw the word 'Toukijin' in Japanese I had no idea what it was so in my mind I would replace it with 'Tenseiga'. Woops. Now I realize my mistake and it shall be fixed in the future. Sorry for the mile long author's note. Read on:)
Haunted
Long lost words whisper slowly to me
Still can't find what keeps me here
When all this time I've been so hollow inside
I know you're still there
Watching me, wanting me
I can feel you pull me down
Fearing you loving you
I won't let you pull me down
Evanescence
She could feel something wrong. The way he moved, the way he acted…it wasn't the same. He had fooled everyone else, but he could not fool her.
Kagome sighed and shifted her weight on top of Kirara, feeling awful for having to be on the poor cat all the time. 'Her back is probably killing her…' she thought. Glancing ahead she saw Inuyasha walking in front of them, his eyes cast down to the ground, as if in thought. Whenever anyone asked what they were doing heading back to Sesshoumaru's palace, he would growl and his eyes would burn with a fighting glare.
Kagome knew. From the first night that he had told them that they would be returning, she knew. 'He's going to fight Sesshoumaru.' she didn't want to believe it. After looking at the defeat and determination in his eyes, she knew that one of them would not come out alive. Trouble was, she had no idea who she wanted the victor to be.
XoXoXoX
The chill morning air was comforting to him.
Sesshoumaru stood on the front steps of his palace, glancing out onto the grounds. Everywhere he looked was dead and rotten. The palace had once been a place of pure beauty, grandeur unmatched by any in the land, but now it was unkempt and sick with death. The horses had long since starved and the gardens were reduced to barren plots in the ground. The only thing still alive was the hedge maze. He never knew why he kept the maze alive, or why he had spent so many nights trying to figure it out. Once he had even tried to map it out as he traversed it, but the map was horribly inaccurate. To this day he had still not figured it out. Something was in the centre, he was sure.
The wind drifted across his face and with the downwind breeze he caught a scent that had his heart hammering and his palms sweating. 'Her…' He could smell Kagome, but mingled with that scent was the smell of Inuyasha and the stink of the humans that he travelled with.
"Jaken." he called, only raising his voice a little, he knew the toad was nearby.
"Yes, my Lord?" came his scaly voice. Sesshoumaru cast a sideways glance to him and then spoke again.
"Take Rin to the back garden for a while. We have guests." was all that he had to say. Jaken quickly understood and as soon as he went back inside Sesshoumaru could hear his frantic calling for the young girl.
Sesshoumaru stepped to the ground, Toukijin in his hand and his grip steady, and waited for his brother to appear.
XoXoXoX
"Almost there." came Inuyasha's voice. Kagome looked up and could see his nose working in the air, picking up a scent that her human body could not.
"What is it?" she asked him, already knowing the answer.
"Sesshoumaru." he replied, quickening his pace. Kirara went to catch up with him, every step her giant paws took giving Kagome a jolt of pain in her chest. She bit the inside of her cheek and struggled to not cry out.
Silence passed between all of them. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo had held back a little, not wanting to get too near to Inuyasha. He seemed a little more volatile than usual. Kagome could hear their soft voices as they chatted. It made the silence between her and Inuyasha all the more unbearable.
It was almost noon when they reached the palace. Looking up, Kagome let out an audible gasp.
Sesshoumaru was standing there by the stairs, his white hair gleaming in the sunlight. His kimono hung loose on his frame, as usual, but there was armour there now. Kagome looked down and grabbed her shirt, trying to rid her body and mind of all the feelings that her enemy had incited within her. There was emotion so strong that she was left breathless wanting to run to him and fling herself into his arms and just talk to him, but there was also a hate building within her too. She hated what he made her feel, hated the way he refused to look at her now, acting like none of it had ever happened. But most of all she hated herself for wanting Sesshoumaru to be the one to win.
"You've come back." his soft, velvety smooth voice called out to them. Kagome bit back her snappy retort and let Inuyasha handle it.
"I challenge you." Inuyasha said, low and deadly. Looking back over to Sesshoumaru, Kagome could swear she saw a smirk cross his face. And then his eyes turned to her. They were so deep, so full of loss that all of her anger was washed away.
"Sesshoumaru…" she said quietly, suddenly cold inside. She ignored Inuyasha's look of disgust and anger and just looked at the ground, suddenly at a loss of what to say.
The next sound she heard was the clanging of sword on sword. Looking up she saw that Inuyasha was swinging the Tetsusaiga frantically, blind in his rage to all of the techniques he had learned, and Sesshoumaru was dodging easily. Kagome turned around to look at Miroku and Sango.
"Help him!" she yelled, stunned that her friends weren't rushing into slay Sesshoumaru. Miroku shook his head.
"No. It was a challenge, issued from one brother to another. I refuse to intrude upon this sacred act." Miroku said.
"Besides, I doubt Inuyasha would let us. Think of his pride." Sango followed, trying to ease the hurt look off of Kagome's face.
"What good will his pride be when he's dead?" she yelled at them, sliding herself off of Kirara. She shot an angry look her friends, daring them to come closer and she limped off to the battle field.
Sesshoumaru had Inuyasha pinned against the wall of the palace. The younger brother was trying to hold him back, but Sesshoumaru seemed to have a height advantage on his side. He was stunned when he felt the hanyou's foot strike his armour, thrusting him backward. He caught himself before he fell to the ground, but the act of defence had only angered him.
Inuyasha looked around and noticed a glint in one of the trees. He hid a smirk and threw the Tetsusaiga to the ground beside him, still pressed against the wall.
"I give up." he said, looking Sesshoumaru straight in the eye. The disgust wasn't hidden on his brother's face.
"What a human thing to do." Sesshoumaru replied, getting ready to strike out and finish Inuyasha once and for all. His hand tensed on Toukijin as he poised to attack.
Mid-strike he realized that something was amiss. He quickly turned the blade and dug it into the wall, mere centimetres away from Inuyasha's head. He quickly saw what had seemed so wrong.
Kagome had flung herself in front of Inuyasha, doing her best to guard him. She was breathing heavily and the blood on her kimono indicated that her wound had opened.
"Kagome…" Sesshoumaru said; close enough to kiss her, and desperately wanting to.
"Don't hurt him." she said, almost pleading. Once again a silence fell over them, thick with confusion.
No one heard it coming and only realized what it was when it was over. Solid blades, circular in appearance, thrust forth from the forest. Kagome felt Inuyasha slide his hands around her waist, pulling her away. They both fell to the ground and Kagome felt something heavy fall onto her head. The wall of the palace exploded in one spot and smoke rose everywhere from the debris.
Inuyasha looked up and saw the shadowy figure of Kagura receding back into the trees. He began to call for her when Kagome's whimpering became evident. Looking down at her he saw that her head was dripping blood and she seemed to be staring off into space. He grabbed her arms and shook her, trying to get her to focus.
"Are you hurt?" he yelled at her, faintly hearing the fast footsteps of Miroku and the others approaching. She shook her head. He felt relief but it was short lived. As he stared into her eyes he saw a thin tear run down her now dirty face. It was then he realized that she wasn't just staring out into space. He turned and saw his brother, his body slowly sliding down the wall. Thick blood gushed out of his head, but worst of all was his chest wound. In the impact of the wind Sesshoumaru had been flung forward, impaling himself upon his own Toukijin which he shoved into the wall when Kagome appeared.
Inuyasha let go of her and went to inspect his brother. His nose wrinkled at the heavy scent of blood in the air. He touched the older demon, but the skin gave no response. He shook his head and glanced back over to Kagome, who was now sitting against Miroku.
Inuyasha tried to protest as she began to stand, but he was quickly stopped by a harsh glance from Sango. She looked at him with shock. She had realized what he had done.
Kagome walked foreword, past Inuyasha, and stood in front of Sesshoumaru while Inuyasha turned to walk to where the others were.
"Inuyasha, what have you done?" Sango asked him, her voice hardly above a whisper.
"What do you mean?" he asked angrily. Sango shook her head in disgust and nodded towards Kagome. Looking back he understood what had angered Sango so.
Kagome was leaning against Sesshoumaru, her hands wrapped around the sword that held him prisoner. They watched as she struggled to remove it, unsure of what they should say or do. The sword refused to come loose, and Kagome's hands had been sliced in the process. She sunk to the ground by Sesshoumaru's hanging feet and stared at the blood on her arms. It was gooey and beginning to get old, some of it stretching down her arm like molasses.
She wrapped her arms around herself and began to give silent sobs so great they racked her small body.
When she glanced back up at Inuyasha he didn't think he had ever seen so much hate in anyone's eyes before.
XoXoXoX
A/N - Ooh, a cliffy! Don't worry this isn't the end. But is Sesshoumaru still alive? What will Kagome do? Hmmm you'll have to wait to find out. And soon hopefully, for I have been CURED by my writer's block. Seems like a day at White Water really got the creativity flowing. Well, expect more updates, even though school is just around the corner, I will continue to update as often as I can. Hello Junior year! Lol. Review please. :)