Glossary:
Oishii - delicious
yokatta - thank goodness
dou desu ka - how is it?
ii desu ka - is it good?
iku - let's go
houshi - buddhist monk
Kami - God
demo - but
sou ja - yes... I see/you are right
masaka - could it be! (in this context)
nandemonai - nothing in particular
onsen - hot spring
katana - sword
daijoubu desu ka - are you alright?
ano - excuse me/erm
ee - equivalent to 'yes'
inu-koro - technically means black-dog, which is more of an insult that Kouga uses against Inuyasha everytime
ookami - wolf
nenju no kotodama - rosary beads that has the power to subdue Inuyasha for a while when Kagome says the appropriate chosen word naze - why
doushite - why
urusai - shut up/annoying/noisy
minna - everyone
honto - really?
otouto - younger brother
yamete kudasai - pls stop
onegai - please
yame ro - stop!
nani - what
okiru - wake up
samui - cold
"As I bid farewell my heart stops, in tenderness I feel,
My silent empty body begins to listen to what is real."
- Lyrics from "Always With Me", Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Rin blew gently on the barbequed river trout, holding onto the twig skewer gingerly before sinking her teeth onto the sweet-tasting flesh. She licked her lips, Kagome-neesan was so much a better cook than Jaken, who either undercooked or overcooked their food. Or her food, since she did not eat nor fancy lizards. They looked rather tough and dry to Rin.
"Oishii..." her hungry greedy eyes were closed in momentary satisfaction as she took a bigger bite of the fish. She had not tasted such delicious food for a long while, and it brought back sweet vague memories of her human mother; her cooking and the faint smells that she could detect a mile away from her old straw hut.
"Yokatta!" Kagome smiled and handed one fat trout to Sesshoumaru, whose stony gaze lingered on the fish for a while before holding the skewer in between his thumb and forefinger hesitantly. She could see his nose twitching a little, and thought to herself that it would be now or never, for her to discover whether he ate his food raw or cooked. Sesshoumaru ate so seldom that she wondered whether he was really immortal. Food did not seem to be a necessity to him at all.
He took care to sniff at the barbequed trout, delicately, not wishing to turn down her good intentions. The fish smelt too charred, he thought to himself. Still, he had to show his appreciation. He raised the fish to his lips slowly, and took a very small bite. The flesh was too stiff, too dry and too bland. He would prefer it to be more raw and chewy, softer and more juicy. Not that he really like to eat fish since he could never stand that fishy stench which seemed to linger in his nostrils even after a long while. That seemed to him Rin's favourite food, other than sweet potatoes and occasionally, wild flowers.
"Dou desu ka? Ii desu ka?" Kagome asked nervously.
Sesshoumaru hurriedly gulped down the bite, forcing it down his throat and replied calmly, "it is manageable."
Her eyebrow arched up at his answer; did he prefer raw fish then? Like sashimi? But she was no chef.
He hesitated for a while; did he really have to finish the whole fish? With the bones too? He supposed that he could somehow crunch them into smaller pieces and perhaps powder it if he mashed his teeth over it. Kagome really was bad at cooking, for youkai. He would have to teach her how to prepare food in the proper way, he mused to himself. And perhaps add a little sugar.
"Kagome-neesan, why does the lake freeze, but not the sea?" Rin asked with her mouth full.
"Hmm... it's because the lake is freshwater, and the seawater contains salt. Salt will not allow the water to freeze," Kagome hoped that her explanation was clear enough.
But Rin did not seem bothered and went on, "Kagome-neesan, what happened later then? Did Sophie save Hauru?"
He let out a silent relieved sigh when he heard Kagome rummaging through her bag for the damned book, and instantly flung the fish a good distance away. He would rather go hungry than to eat that.
"Ah... as I've said, Hauru moved his castle and everyone away to a place that he thought the witch could not find him. It turned out that the curse that bonded Hauru to Calcifer was actually based on a poem, and that he would die very soon if the curse was not broken. Dakara Sophie was very anxious and worried much about Hauru. She was not very bothered about her own curse and tried to find ways and means to understand the poem and to find a remedy for it.
But Hauru continue to slip away to find the pretty teacher in his own world and that made Sophie very, very upset. She was very angry, and threw her tantrums on Hauru everytime he returned. They also discovered that Sophie was somewhat a witch too, for she could give life to objects simply by talking to them. Hauru gave her a beautiful garden, and they sold flowers for a period.
Then one day, the pretty teacher suddenly turned up at Hauru's castle, saying that she wanted to look for him. Sophie was jealous and angry at the same time, but yet she did not dare to show it. Hauru was not at the castle and Sophie turned the teacher away politely when she wanted to come in and take a look, thinking that she was a being busybody."
Rin scowled and licked the remnants off her fingers, "I don't like the teacher."
Kagome smiled, "Sophie was really upset by then. She loves Hauru a lot, but he did not seem to know nor care. He was obsessed with the pretty teacher and constantly talked about her. Also, she felt that since she could not help him with his curse, nor did he seem to know the existence of her curse and herself in his castle, she decided to leave."
Rin's curious eyes widened. Jaken's dull eyes rolled.
Sesshoumaru blinked in irritation, he had to put a stop to this story. It was neither interesting nor captivating, and was equally as bad as the barbequed trout.
"Rin, iku."
"Hai!" Rin got to her two feet while Kagome tidied up and prepared to leave. But they had taken no more than five steps, before they heard a loud noisy gyrating sound that seemed to sound like a miniature tornado.
"Kouga!" Kagome shrieked.
"Miroku, do you think Byakuya will come after us again?" Shippou asked worriedly. It was by luck that he had managed to see the illusionist youkai, and he was not so sure whether they would be able to emerge unscathed or victorious the next time. It was hard when one could not see nor sense the enemy.
The houshi fingered his abdomen's wound and thanked Kami for the luck he had so far, "I do not know why he had not sought to kill us. It was like... like he was playing with us..." he said thoughtfully.
"Keh! That fucking bastard! I will kill him the next time I see him!" Inuyasha growled. He hated jokers; especially those who toyed with lives, other people's lives.
"Demo, it was also as if he was testing us... Come to think of it, I don't think he really wanted to kill us. Why the horses? Why the knives? Why go through so much effort?" Sango bit gently on her lower lip and frowned.
"Ah, maybe he was trying to put up a show. Perhaps he does not want to antagonize us yet," Miroku's violet irises wandered over the pebbles on the ground as they walked on.
"I hope Kagome is safe..." Shippou said out loud his thoughts, and instantly clapped his paw over his mouth when Miroku quickly flashed him a stern glance.
"Kagome-sama is at home, of course she will be safe," the houshi answered calmly with a languid smile.
"Shippou, you must be worrying too much and getting yourself ill... Kagome-chan will bring you more colour crayons when she returns for New Year!" Sango tried to smile despite having the same worry as the kitsune.
"Ah... sou ja... I think my head is a little hot..." Shippou put a paw to his head and put up his best ill look.
Inuyasha pretended that he never heard, and kept his arms folded as he walked on silently ahead of his combat mates. He would not doubt her, and would leave his questions till she was back. Kagome had never deceived him, ever. His trust in her would not be shaken by mere rumours or sayings, he told himself.
Sango and Shippou both let out a soft long sigh when Inuyasha did not respond. Miroku stared at the hanyou's red haori as his feet padded soundlessly on the stony path. It was unusual for Inuyasha not to react, especially when the matter revolved around Kagome. Something was also not quite right with the way he kept his back that straight and stiff, Miroku thought that Inuyasha looked a little... tense.
"Masaka!" his violet eyes widened and his lips parted.
There was no doubt about it, Inuyasha knew, and must have somehow overheard their conversation with Kaede since they had not talked about this matter anymore other than in absolute privacy. Miroku frowned hard. It would explain the hanyou's sudden consent to search for the kakkera without Kagome, his silence to Shippou's query, and why he had not lunged around nor peer forlornly into the Bone Eater's Well, as to what he had always did when he got frustrated of waiting for her return.
"Houshi-sama?" Sango noticed that Miroku had fell a little behind and was deep in thoughts. The look on his face worried her a little.
"Nandemonai," Miroku smiled and gave his Shakoju a shake. He thought she still looked pretty with the crease in her eyebrows.
Just a while more, and Kagome would be back. Till then, he would not think too much.
"Kagome!" Kouga stared at the shocked miko in front of him, who was trailing behind Sesshoumaru holding the hands of a young ningen girl who looked strangely, distantly familiar to him. He had gone past the onsen some time ago and caught a whiff of Kagome's blood. The scent was very old, and very faint, but the heavy wintry air helped him to identify who the blood belonged to.
He had taken much effort to trail the scent and almost lost it at Inuyasha's Woods, near an old dry well. Somehow he caught the whiff again and this time round, he could smell Kagome's sweet natural scent with it and knew that she was still alive. He had wanted to give Inuyasha a good scolding, for not protecting Kagome and letting her get hurt. But he had not expected to see her iwithout/i Inuyasha and her friends, let alone with Sesshoumaru and his entourage.
He had only met the taiyoukai several times, and even though they did not fight, he knew that he was an opponent to be reckoned with, unlike Inuyasha who had always won by sheer luck and his inherited youkai-katana. Strength, superiority and power practically exuded from Sesshoumaru's being, flooding the surroundings with it. Sesshoumaru was obviously altogether from another class of youkai different from themselves.
But, that still did not mean that Kagome should be with him. Worse still, she seemed particularly happy until he ran into them. The change in her facial expression was so blatant that he felt hurt. Kagome was his woman; no one could snatch her away.
"Kagome! Daijoubu desu ka!" the ookami-youkai rushed past the taiyoukai in a blur of brown to her front and held her hands tightly. Rin instantly scurried away and hid behind Sesshoumaru while Jaken glowered at Kouga.
A drop of perspiration slid down her face. Meeting Kouga was as bad as meeting Inuyasha, and perhaps worse. Inuyasha at least seemed to be able to counter some of Sesshoumaru's attacks, whereas Kouga... well, she had no idea other than he had never won against the hanyou. Truthfully, she had not thought of bumping into the ookami. But now that her hands were clasped in between his palms tightly, she really did not know what to say or react. He was looking at her intently with concern, and she knew that she had to give an answer.
"Ano... daijoubu desu... what are you-"
She was promptly cut off when Sesshoumaru spun around and called out, "Kagome."
"Eh?" she squeaked. All thoughts flew out from her mind like released caged birds. She could tell from his tone that he was neither happy nor pleased, and was a little edgy too.
"Iku," his piercing golden eyes seemed to stay on her face. Or perhaps it was because he could not see Kouga.
Before Kagome could say anything again, Kouga released her hands and pulled her to his side.
"Kagome, what are you doing here with him? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you? I followed your blood, what happened?"
Sesshoumaru felt as if there was a monster inside of him, suddenly awakened and clawing at his ribcage when he heard what the ookami said. He was obviously on close terms with her, cared immensely about her and even recognized the scent of her blood! He wondered who the ookami was, and why he sounded so worried and possessive.
"Iie! It's not Sesshoumaru... I met Kikyou and we... we fought," her voice trailed off, not certain that she wanted to continue or explain. Kouga might not understand too.
"Kikyou? Inuyasha's undead miko?" Kouga asked. He had remembered the eerie miko who had wanted the Shikon no kakkera embedded in his ankles. He was wary of her, and the young taijiya that hung around her like a parasite.
"Ee... Demo I'm fine now..." she smiled a little. "Kouga, I need to go..."
"Go where? Since that inu-koro is not with you, you shall come with me. I will protect you!" the confidence in his gruff voice was unmistakable as he flashed his sharp fangs in a well-intentioned grin.
"You pompous ookami! Who do you think you are? She is traveling with Sesshoumaru-sama!" Jaken yelled out as he waved Nintoujou angrily at Kouga. i"The ookami must be courting his death!"/i he flared his nostrils a little, trying to imitate his lord.
"And who are you?" Kouga sneered and looked down at the kappa-youkai, "Kagome is my woman! I am free to bring her wherever I want!"
Kagome gasped. No. She thought she could literally see Kouga being shredded to pieces by Sesshoumaru's long sharp claws, or the remnants of his dissolved body in a pool of vaporizing green slime.
"Your woman!" Jaken screamed. Rin was shivering in fear, whilst Sesshoumaru seemed unperturbed and calm.
"Aa aa! So don't stop me, not as if you can..." Kouga threw a disdainful look at Jaken and turned to her, "Kagome, let's go back to my cave! You still don't look well to me, and I can smell him all over you."
Her gaze flitted nervously from Kouga to Sesshoumaru, and then back to Kouga as she gave him an incredulous stare. Inuyasha had always kicked up a BIG hooha when Kouga held her hands or said that she was his woman. But Sesshoumaru was so quiet and cool and she wondered whether it was because he was not Inuyasha, or that it was the calm before the storm. It was quite alright to let Kouga say whatever he wanted in front of Inuyasha since she knew that Kouga would never win nor lose to Inuyasha. In any case, she could just yell out her command and the nenju no kotodama around Inuyasha's neck would bring a stop to everything.
With Sesshoumaru, she was not sure whether Kouga would escape uninjured if he ever struck. There was no rosary around the taiyoukai's neck and it was highly unlikely that he would listen to her, not that Inuyasha had ever did. All of them were stiff-necked, arrogant creatures who could not allow their ego to get crushed no matter what. She sighed to herself why she was surrounded by such males. She was so unlucky. Houjou seemed to be the only gentleman, and suddenly she found him very appealing and suitable as a potential boyfriend.
"Kouga... I wish to travel with Sesshoumaru..." she squirmed and tried to remove her hands from his, before they got cut off and presented as a gift to her.
"Naze? You belong to me, not him. You don't have to follow him," he said it as-a-matter-of-factly and his iron-like grasp did not relent at all.
"Kagome," Sesshoumaru quelled the hideous monster inside of him and stretched out his right arm. She had not acknowledged what the ookami had said and it was obvious to him that she felt uncomfortable with this Kouga. He would hold his temper like a dignified lord and well brought-up being, unless the ookami stepped over the boundaries. Kouga was obviously her friend too, and again this proved his theory that she not only attracts insects and pests, but also insignificant and weak youkai like Kouga.
She looked at the outstretched rigid arm forlornly. "Kouga... I really need to go..."
"Doushite? You are my woman, why are you following him?" he asked back, hurt blatant in his voice now.
"For the second time, she is NOT your woman you imprudent ookami!" Jaken stomped Nintoujou agitatedly into the ground and contemplated whether he should release a blast of fire at the ookami's head.
"Urusai! I have laid the claim to her a long time ago, what do you know of!" Kouga yelled back.
"Kouga-" her voice sounded frail and helpless. She was.
"You stupid ookami! Did she agree then!" Jaken's voice was reaching a very high note that sounded like chalk on blackboard, his eyes darting to his taiyoukai-lord for a moment to seek permission to continue. But Sesshoumaru's expression was unreadable, and Jaken's insides flinched a little at his fear of what was going on inside his mind.
"Jaken-" she was cut off again, and a small part of her brain mused to herself that perhaps she was no longer needed there.
"And what are you exactly? Toad? Frog?" Kouga released her hands and folded his arms, a look of conceit all over his smug face.
That was it. She had been interrupted so many times and not given a chance to explain herself clearly to anyone. Now that Kouga and Jaken were quarrelling over her, she had to put a stop to it and make clear her status and stand. Sesshoumaru was being so quiet that it both unnerved and worried her. She could only hope that no blood would be shed and that everyone would be on their way peacefully and in one piece.
"MINNA!" Kagome flung her arms out in utter frustration, stomped her feet and shouted as loudly as she could.
Jaken and Kouga instantly turned their stunned faces to her while their jaws dropped. Sesshoumaru's eyebrow arched up in genuine surprise while Rin's eyes widened considerably, her fear of Kouga for a moment displaced by Kagome's sudden outbreak of temper. She had never seen her so angry and agitated before.
"Kouga listen! I am NOT your woman! Yes you did tell me that a long time ago, but I never once agreed. Onegai, do not continue this anymore. I will not follow you, we are friends Kouga. Good friends," her wagging finger dropped to a pleading look in her deep brown eyes.
Jaken let out a 'see what I told you' look and noise, and folded his arms smugly and looked away. Rin's lips parted while Sesshoumaru's stoic mask never left his face. He felt some sort of relief when he heard what she had said. If Kagome really did belong to that ookami, he would have to fight and kill him, which was not something that he wanted to do in front of her eyes. He knew that killing was terrifying to a ningen, no matter how mess-free and clean he could do it. It was the notion of it, and the nightmares that followed. He did not wish to put Kagome through such circumstances, she was afterall the purest thing that he had ever known of.
Kouga's head hunched forward and his black bangs covered his eyes as he tried to swallow Kagome's words. Did she really mean what she said? Did she not love him at all? Her words seemed to pierce through his heart while he tried to take it all in. Kagome was always so nice and pleasant to him, never rejecting his claim that he thought that she was really waiting, for him to finish his clan's business and revenge before taking her away and claming her as his.
"Honto?" Kouga asked dejectedly. To hear this directly from her mouth was more than devastating. He had pinned the rest of his hopes on Kagome; something to look forward to once Naraku is destroyed. Perhaps he had not spent enough time with her to show that he truly loved and cared for her. He would be a better mate than Inuyasha; he was so sure of that.
Kagome diverted her eyes away to the ground, quite unable to look at his hurt face and nodded. She did not want to be so outright and direct for she knew Kouga would definitely be disappointed and upset. But this was getting nowhere, no, it was getting out of hand since Sesshoumaru was with her. She could not allow any shred of doubt going on in his head since she knew that the difference between both possessive inu-brothers was that Inuyasha would not kill Kouga, but Sesshoumaru would. He would not spare a thought for enemies, nor insolent youkai who crossed his paths. She could only hope that Kouga would leave as soon as possible before he lose his life for a silly cause like her.
He seemed to pause for a long while; he had indeed lost to Inuyasha. "Kagome, come with me. I will help you find Inuyasha."
Her head jerked up; while he balled his only fist at the mention of his otouto's name.
"Iie! I will return to Inuyasha later, I... I need to travel with Sesshoumaru for now," she replied nervously and gulped when she saw his narrowed golden eyes, squared jaw and the slight tensed look on his face, which seemed to lend a dangerous edge to his beautiful youkai markings.
"Oi! I'm bringing Kagome back to Inuyasha- wahhhhh!" Kouga leaped back when he suddenly saw a bright green whip hurling towards him. Had he hesitated for a second, not even the Shikon no kakkera in his legs would prevent his body being sliced into half.
"Temee... don't you think that I am afraid to fight with you, even if you are Inuyasha's brother!" Kouga yelled out as he bent forward a little on his knees, all ready for battle.
"Yamete kudasai!" Kagome cried out when Sesshoumaru dashed forward in a blur of white to the ookami. This was seriously getting out of her hands; she had to stop them before something happened. Something so terrible that she might not be able to reverse the consequences.
But the taiyoukai ignored her and using his senses to locate the ookami, he hurled his youki whip again at him. He had to move Kouga away from Kagome, before he could test out the powers of Toukijin lest he hurt her. Kouga could see the relentless whipping that Sesshoumaru was aiming at him and the bright green acid-youki broke the half-frozen surface of the lake into large floating pieces as it made angry sizzling noises. It seemed to him that Sesshoumaru was blind since his gaze was not on him but he could not understand why. Anyhow, this was getting dangerous and his common senses were urging him to leave. But he would not leave in the middle of a battle when it concerned Kagome. He had lost face in front of the taiyoukai and he did not want to concede defeat by slipping away quietly. Somehow he felt that he needed to prove himself before her after all that talk. He did not want Kagome to think him as a coward, not at all.
"You are blind, aren't you!" Kouga leaped into the air and tried to balance on one of the floating chunks of ice, while Kagome ran as fast as she could to Sesshoumaru and held onto his top like a crazy fan, "onegai, yame ro!"
"Whether I am blind or not does not increase your chances against me. You will never win this Sesshoumaru, ookami," he purposely placed extra emphasis on the last word and smirked. He was not going to let Kouga get away no matter what. He had compared him to Inuyasha, and had even caused Kagome distress. He would not remain silent about this matter and let the ookami think that he had gotten the better of him. Kouga was just an ookami-youkai, one who lived in the mountains with messily-bred clans while he was the eldest born of Inu no Taisho, and a taiyoukai to boot.
Kagome bit hard on her lower lip and frowned. Both males were inciting each other on, and both would not listen to her. There had to be something that she could do.
"Ho? Let's see!" Kouga leaped into the air and delivered a kick to his face. But Sesshoumaru ducked at the last minute and flung out his youki whip, hoping to catch hold of the ookami's legs. Kouga instantly flipped over and with another jump, landed safely on another floating chunk of frozen ice. But the retrieval of his youki whip had broken off the part of ice that Kagome was standing on and now the three of them were out in the middle of a lake, separate from each other. She let out a gasp of shock at her luck for not being sliced into half and tried to balance on the rocking ice like a clown standing on a ball.
"Kagome-neesan!" Rin yelled out, Kagome looked afraid. Although she knew that there was no need to since Sesshoumaru-sama was with her.
"So is this all you can show me?" Kouga sneered. Sesshoumaru said nothing but took out Toukijin and gave it a big wave as his arm moved from the left to the right. A bright burst of cackling blue energy emerged forth from the demonic blade, "Souryuuha!"
Kouga's eyes widened, Sesshoumaru's katana was as dangerous as Inuyasha's. Was that his inheritance too? He jumped high into the air and flipped forward to the blind taiyoukai. Before Sesshoumaru knew it, Kouga twirled in the air and managed to deliver a hard kick to the back of his head. Sesshoumaru flung Toukijin onto the ice and sat on his knees in order to prevent himself from tipping over into the lake.
"Sesshoumaru, daijoubu desu ka!" Kagome yelled out, she could see that he was in pain and the back of his silver hair was stained a little red. "He's bleeding!"
"Hah!" Kouga flipped back to the safe grounds of the shore and steadied himself as he put a hand to the ground. "I did not even take out my katana!" he continued on smugly, while Jaken and Rin retreated wisely to the far back with Ah-Un glaring at him.
Sesshoumaru placed a hand behind his head and frowned as he gritted his teeth hard, the ookami was too fast and he could not see. The excruciating pain was making his head dizzy and he could feel something sticky and warm on his hand; his own blood. He let out a rumbling growl; he knew that the ookami had no chances at all, not even touching him if he could see. He got to his feet, albeit a little shakily and tried to balance. The world seemed to spin at a wrong angle, rocking and swaying from side to side as his frown deepened while he tried to spread his senses and get a grip on the situation. He blinked thrice, giving his head a good shake while clasping his hand tightly to the back of his head all the while.
"Sesshoumaru! Answer me!" Kagome cried out, his dark red blood unnerved her. What if he sustained more head injuries? He already could not see! "Sesshoumaru! Daijoubu ka!"
"Kagome! Leave him!" Kouga folded his arms and shouted out in irritation. Had he not proven himself more capable of protecting her yet?
She spun around angrily and pointed her finger in the ookami's direction, "you! Did you want to- ahhhh!"
"Kagome!" Kouga yelled as she lost her balance and fell into the lake in a big splash.
"Kagome?" Sesshoumaru opened his eyes wide and instantly shut them. Light, strong bright white light flooded into his eyes and they hurt, so painful that he squeezed his eyes shut. The light was glaring, and he could see many small black dots circling round within his field of vision, making him feel dizzy and light-headed. It was as if he was being spun around like a wheel, in all directions at the same time.
"Help!" her head went into the water and she swallowed a big gulp of the icy water. Kagome kicked her legs hard and she resurfaced enough for her chin to go above the water level as she arched her neck up, "I cannot-" Down she went again, "swim!"
"NANI!" Kouga yelled again. He did not know how to swim either, and it was his biggest shame.
"Help..." air bubbled out from her opened mouth as the freezing temperature zapped away her strength and voice. She could only blame herself for not taking swimming lessons with Souta. She kicked her legs as hard as she could, but it seemed futile as the lake waters dragged her feet down. She cursed herself for her long hair, for the woollen sweater that she wore, and the suede shoes that made her as heavy as lead. She sank into the water fast, and she struggled desperately to keep her eyes open in the freezing waters. Kagome kept her mouth tightly sealed and tried to hold her breath for as long as possible. She never knew that the last thing she would see before her death was the fishes that swam lazily around her, and they did not even give two hoots to the sudden intruder into their waters. Pathetic, she tried to joke to herself.
But her lungs were dying for air, and she could no longer hold her breath even for one more second. She opened her mouth and drank more water in, but there was no air for her deprived lungs and brain. Kagome blinked dazedly, as her hands floated around weightlessly while she sank deeper into the bottom of the deep lake. She thought of Sesshoumaru, whether he was alright, whether he loved her or not, and whether she would die here in this lake alone.
Kagome kicked hard helplessly, it felt awful. She wanted air, nothing but air. It was as if she could feel water rushing down her throat, into her lungs, seeping into every single pore and gushing through every artery and vein of her body. No, she could not die here. She had yet to tell Sesshoumaru that she loves him again, she had not spent enough time with him, and neither had she hugged him enough yet. There was so much she wanted to do and say, so much. And the stars, she had promised him to watch the stars together.
"Sesshou... maru..." she could not hear anything at all; water seemed to fill her ears too, drowning out the sensation of everything other than the horrible painful need for air and the numbness of her limbs. She blinked, and thought that she saw something both bright and dark above her. It seemed like a pair of eyes, gleaming brightly at her amidst the casted dark shadow of his body from the surface, resembling vaguely like an elongated giant hybrid between octopus and shark. Kagome blinked again, and suddenly she saw a thousand spots of magical bright lights all around her, with weird irregular length sparkling spikes extending out of them.
Stars, her incoherent brain told her.
Light then went out in her mind like a switch.
The iciness stung his eyes, yet he gritted his teeth, held his breath and opened them as wide as possible to look for Kagome. He had no idea how she looked, but he was sure that she would be the only person he would see half-drowning in this lake. When he had sighted her, Kagome was looking at him dazedly, before her eyelids shut and her struggling ceased. He allowed himself a blink and hurled out his right arm, grasping her wrist tight and swam as fast as he could up to the surface before he lost her to the darkness of the waters. She had sunk deep into the lake and even he himself would be out of breath soon if he was not quick enough.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin squealed happily when she sighted her youkai lord's face emerging out from the lake. Sesshoumaru took a deep breath and heaved Kagome up from the lake surface, wrapping his waterlogged pelt over her neck and swam to the shores wearily. The back of his head still hurt, his eyes were stinging and the ends of his fingers were almost numb from the prolonged search for Kagome. When he had finally got himself and her onto the shores, he immediately laid Kagome on the ground and took a quick look at her.
It was the first time he had seen any being after he had regained his vision. And it was Kagome. But not the way he had expected it. Nothing went through his mind other than to save her, no matter how she looked. Her face was deathly white, and her half-parted lips were bluish-tinged. He could see her heavy dark wet eyelashes resting on her high pale cheekbones and he thought she looked scarily beautiful in a way too, with her raven hair splayed out messily underneath her fragile lithe body.
Sesshoumaru slapped her cheeks gently, "Kagome. Kagome."
She did not respond, and her cheeks felt horribly cold and clammy to his almost numbed fingers.
"Kagome..." Kouga knelt at the side and frowned. Before he could muster up enough guts to jump into the lake, Sesshoumaru had dived in without any hesitation. He was glad that she was brought up, and ashamed at the same time that his fear of the waters had stalled him from saving Kagome. Without a word, Sesshoumaru flung out his string of youki at the ookami and Kouga was forced to flip backwards and away.
"Leave us!" Jaken shouted out, with tears brimming at the edge of his yellow eyes.
"Kagome-neesan..." Rin called out sadly, she did not want her to die. Kagome-neesan had to live. The story of Hauru and Sophie was not finished yet. She would feel cold in that place, there was no warmth for her when she went there.
His golden eyes narrowed, and he placed his right palm over her left breast, he almost could not feel any of her heartbeats nor her miko aura. His eyebrows dipped to the center, and he flipped Kagome over his right thigh while he knelt on the ground, giving her back a hard whack. He had not saved a drowning person before, and it was all that he could do to try and force out the water from her lungs. He repeated the action several more times, but no water came out from her mouth other than their dripping hair. She was non-responsive, motionless, and terribly cold and heavy. Her hands hung down lifelessly and she made no noise even though Sesshoumaru continued to thump hard on her back. She was as heavy, and as dead as his waterlogged pelt.
His heart twisted around itself terribly, and he thought that he could not breathe too. He stared at her back, not knowing what to do. He had never felt so helpless before, and he knew that it was his fault that Kagome drowned. Why had he not shed his pelt before he dived in? He could have swum faster. Why did he lose his cool over that ookami and presumed that she would stay away from their fight? Did he not understand her well enough that she would undoubtedly interfere? And what was she thinking of before she closed her eyes, right in front of him? Was she afraid? Was she sad? Was she angry with him?
He wanted to tell her that he could now see, he could tell her all the colours of life around him, and that she would have to watch the stars with him one day. They would not wait for the meteor shower. He wanted to apologize to her, for his tardiness, for his lack of words, for his non-committal answers. He would always carry her on his back whenever she liked, always let her sleep with him no matter how his shoulders ached, and would shove every bit of food that she prepared for him into his mouth without any hesitations, silent grudges nor complaints.
But a lump rose in his throat, and even though his lips parted, no words came forth. He could see his own breath smoking out from his mouth, he could feel his claws digging a little into her icy dead shoulder, and he could feel something hot and wet sliding around his eye rims.
No, she could not die and leave him alone.
He swallowed, the horrible coil around his heart seemed to have grown into a python and the spikes were like little double-edged knives as they stabbed deeply into the pulsating organ. Tenseiga rustled beside his obi, and he could feel something calling out to him, like a pulse that seemed to shake him out from his trance.
No, he relaxed his grip over her shoulder, don't do this to me.
No, he moved his hand down to the place where her heart would rest, I will give you whatever you want.
No, he slapped his hand down, hard on her back, come back to me.
"Kagome, okiru," he slapped hard on her back.
"Don't play with me, this is not a game anymore," was he assuring himself? He shook that thought out from his mind, and gave another sharp slap. There was no time for any self-doubts now.
Then they heard a noise, and all let out a breath of relief as Kagome jerked, spasmed, choked and spurted out water. Sesshoumaru's watery eyes widened and he continued to slap hard until she could not spew out anymore lake water. He turned her around and brought her up to him, pressing her cold shaking body to his as he moved his right hand up and down on her back, trying to warm her up.
"Kagome-neesan!" Rin's happy tears flowed down while Jaken turned around and sniffed on his sleeves. Kouga smiled bitterly and walked away in silence. He now knew why Kagome had wanted to leave with the inu-taiyoukai. No, she loved neither Inuyasha nor him, it was Sesshoumaru who held her heart.
"Sa..sa.. sa-samui..." Kagome mumbled subconsciously as she shivered fiercely against him. He smiled despite her involuntary shaking and she latching onto his warm body so desperately. He pulled her away, and placed his lips firmly over her pale trembling lips that were not so bluish anymore, kissing her as hard and furiously as he could.
Jaken instantly clapped his webbed hands over Rin and closed his eyes, dragging the struggling, protesting little girl away. He knew that Sesshoumaru would not want them to see this scene, and it would be unwise to provoke his wrath now that he could see. But somehow, somewhat, he was glad. For both his lord and the miko.
Her deep brown shocked irises flew open when she felt someone kissing her. It was so hard and rough, so hot and needy that she stared at his nose and crescent moon for a while before it registered in her mind that 'someone' was Sesshoumaru. Before she could react, he pulled away and looked at her lips; they were no longer pale but pink and rosy again. He let out another smile and pulled Kagome to his chest again, rubbing his palm fiercely up and down her stiff back.
"You gave me a fright," he said out calmly, even though his heart was beating very fast. He did not understand why his vision was blurring.
She silently sneaked her icy hands inside his top, desperately stealing his warmth as she wrapped them around his back.
"Daijoubu, I am with you," he closed his eyes, the coil and the spikes had all vanished, miraculously. The tear-drop hung at the end of his lashes precariously, but did not fall.
She closed her eyes, and drifted heavily off to sleep on his warm chest, not understanding what had happened.
A/N: My eyes teared when I wrote the last part... Did you? And Sesshoumaru-sama finally regains his sight. Things will move faster from now on.
The title and idea was inspired when I was listening to the soundtracks of Howl's Moving Castle, which is also the little story that Kagome tells Rin. The next update would probably be slower, since I'm having what is commonly called 'writer's block'. I prefer to see it as... restricted flow of mental data from hyper-excitation and over-exertion of neurons. Which of course, is totally incorrect. (Spare me! Trouble in Shangri-La and Parsnip!)
Also, many distractions are coming up, some of which are insane addictions (or obssessions!) to Bleach (er, the manga, not chlorox) and my Japanese studies. I have a life you know. ;p
Some sweet readers have asked me for mailing updates, but I find it a little silly to create a yahoo group just for this; and a little embarrassing to email through the kagsess group constantly. Er, I will post an update in my LJ account once I update. Can?
Ja... see you at Chapter 22! Mata ne! (gives you a face-splitting smile and waves bye bye like Ichimaru Gin!)
green slime: When Howl throws tantrums in the novel, his body starts to transform and emits copious amount of green slime.
