Don't Make an Enemy of Yourself (Mizu Kara Teki O Tsukuranai Koto)
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha
:OoO:
They were standing on the battle ground. Kagome gazed at the soiled battle field. Corpses that were brutally shred apart, bloody limbs that were still twitching from the sudden laceration, blood that covered the armor like sprayed scarlet coloration; the mass of it was such a great immensity in volume that it was unreal.
She felt suddenly a glare coming from a distance near her; she looked up slowly to find the blazing eyes of Sesshoumaru that was directed openly at her.
The other samurais snickered in satisfaction; they had all thought that she was unassailable and fearless in battle, but now she had proved to them that she was a coward, a failure of a soldier.
Sesshoumaru slowly stalked his way towards her, but a ninja, appearing from nowhere, made his appearance.
"Milord, the seventy samurais were taken captive; should we proceed with their execution?"
Sesshoumaru held up his hand; his gaze was still focusing on Kagome. "Not yet, bring them to my fortress."
"Milord?" The ninja looked up at him curiously.
"Did you not hear my order, retainer?" Sesshoumaru questioned him threateningly.
"Yes, milord. Forgive me for questioning your order." The ninja bowed and disappeared from the area.
"We're going back to the fortress." Sesshoumaru bellowed his order to his samurais.
:OoOoOoO:
Back in the fortress Kagome saw the seventy samurais that were tied collectively in the field. Their faces betrayed them not a single expression, and their eyes were empty.
And then a soft voice called out to her. Kagome's face almost crumbled with smile from her relief to see Fujita, but a warning growl that was coming from Sesshoumaru held her friend back from her action.
Kagome looked pleadingly at her, and Fujita started to go to her, but one glare from Sesshoumaru stopped Fujita from going to her and killed any protestation that came from the gentle youkai.
A high stool was placed on the far end of the field, and Sesshoumaru took his place calmly and authoritatively.
Sesshoumaru looked at Kagome acutely; his eyes narrowed in displeasure. For the first time the great Taiyoukai showed an expression, and that it was an expression of irritation frightened his soldiers more.
Kagome was trembling under his gaze. The act of cowardice in the battle would surely result a seppuku for her; he certainly would demand that she committed an act of suicide in front of the whole army. It was only fair. She was never prepared for the real battle; that she was supposed to terminate a life as a soldier never crossed her mind. She was taught to fight but never to kill. And now, now as a samurai she had shown a dishonorable conduct, disobeying her lord and left others to kill for her.
The act of seppuku never crossed Sesshoumaru's mind; he wanted to punish her, but punishment in the act of suicide wasn't exactly what's on his mind. She was too talented as a swordsman; her mind was too perceptive in tactics that she was too precious to obligate death upon herself. But the punishment that he had in mind for her was far worst than the act of suicide; it would be better if he was to demand her death.
"Behead them. The seventy samurais, I want you to be the executioner." That was his order, short and said with clipped, hard tone.
A violent murmur could be heard from his soldiers; some of them in displeasure that they would be betrayed of their bloodlust. But one voice rose in anger that Kagome should be punished like this. Fujita quickly stepped forward; as she was about to state her objection, Sesshoumaru sent her one of his deathliest glares.
Kagome stood in the field, numbed; her terror was so great that she began to tremble. She shook her head in negation.
Suddenly she felt that someone had struck her hard; the blow threw her against a tree, but she still shook her head in denial.
Sesshoumaru wasn't one to lose his temper, but when he saw that she was about to disobey him, he lost it. He never meant to strike her; he had never even struck one of his soldiers. If they disobeyed him, he would simply kill them, and that would be the end of it.
He walked slowly towards her. Kagome could feel the anger that radiated from his body. She was about to weep out in fear as Sesshoumaru pulled her up to him; his deathly voice hissed against her ear. "I would never take a coward to be my soldier; if you dare to disobey me, then I would grant you a life as a camp whore."
Kagome jerked back in fear; her hand went into the hilt of her sword, ready to perform his order.
Sesshoumaru went back to his seat; and one by one, soldiers were brought to him to be executed. He had never granted his captives their lives before; the trial was to cruelly taunt their hopes. In reining his land he might be just and generous for his standard, but in war he was ruthless.
"Samurai Hirai Sadamitsu, the second rank's soldier of the hojo clans, the son of-,"
"Behead him," Sesshoumaru ordered.
Kagome poised her sword for a second in the air; holding it with both hands, she swung it towards the junction that adjoined the neck and the body and drew a precise and clean cut of his head. It fell heavy on the ground. With one blow the head had been severed from the body; the blood was spurting in a fine line against her face and her hair, which was now loose.
"Samurai Urabe no Jutaro, the-,"
"Behead him."
Kagome could feel how her own sword was encouraging its master for each struck; its bloodlust was finally fed, but it could also feel its master's numbness, so the sword began to take over; it led her instead of her the sword.
But Sesshoumaru, the devil he was, could sense it. Each time she lost herself, he would strike her hard, bringing her back to reality; she would do this in full conscience, he decided.
Fujita could only watch in horror throughout the punishment; she would never thought that the Taiyoukai would be capable to act upon such cruelty. What was she thinking when her father told her that this man was worthy of their lands? Sesshoumaru's sense of justice was famous among the youkai ruler, and in this war they had decided to unite their lands under his leading; it had seemed to be the only way to win the war. He could hear once again Sesshoumaru's warning on the day her father offered him his service. "In the time of war, leaders act differently than in the time of peace. The principle to rein a land is humanity and justice, but to lead an army the military virtue is opportunity and flexibility." But was to be opportune meant one had to be evil? She now understood everything that had ever been coming from him was each a promise how much crueler he could become.
After the execution was over, Sesshoumaru sniffed the air to identify the sudden change of scent; he could smell the building of arousal coming from his blood lusted demon soldiers. They were watching acutely the beautiful samurai woman who was drenched in blood. Sesshoumaru could feel how his anger began to build again. This time he couldn't detect the source; when he could, then he would notice his own building arousal too.
Kagome stood still in the middle of the field; her sword was still raised above her head even though the execution was over. She stared numbly at the blood saturated ground underneath her; the bodies and the heads were taken away to be burn, but in her mind she could still see them altogether, offering her their napes.
She was startled to find herself alone in the field with her vicious leader. Sesshoumaru had telepathically dismissed his other soldiers, and now she found herself face to face with him.
Sesshoumaru gripped her chin and whispered softly. "You are now a true samurai; you have learned to kill, and now you are the best warrior under my leading."
He had hoped that his words would appease her despair and gain her prided satisfaction, but he received none of that.
He had played with her mental states; whatever reason for his sudden change of act against her, she would never cease to hate him.
Haunted eyes turned to him. Suddenly a struck of wind caught them unaware. Her long hair was blown in every direction of the wind; her face was open for him to see; even though it was marred with lines of dry blood, one couldn't deny her beauty, her dramatic heart-stopping beauty, but her eyes were vengeful and full with hatred. He felt a sudden shuddering chill not coming from the wind.
:OoOoOoO:
Kagome found herself back in her chamber; as she rested her head against the wooden wall, she felt a sudden crack on her face. A piece of dry blood fell over her clothing. She looked down to find more dry blood on her armor. She could smell the tangy earthly scent coming from them; blood that belonged to humans, sons in war that she had killed.
She made her way to the furo; she peeled off her clothing from her body and discarded the tainted material away.
She sat down on a low stool and began to scrub her skin hard; lathering her hair with water and soap, she rubbed her scalp forcefully, sometimes scooping a handful of hot water from the wooden bucket to splash against her skin. Every time she finished scrubbing her body, she would then start again. After the fifth times she had done this she stepped into the flowery fragranced hot water in the tub.
Who had put this scent in the water? As if someone had known that she would need this. She was probably the only one who had access for this furo ever since she was put in this wing of the palace.
After an hour of bathing, she stepped away from the water and began to dry herself. She slipped into her white night robe and caught her image on the water-surface in the bucket; she was once again a child with a pink face and white teeth, not blackened like most women in her age. She could see the adolescent gazing back at her from the water.
She made her way back to her chamber. Once inside she lay down on her back and pulled the padded silk-blanket all the way to her chin.
She stared fixedly at the ceiling above her; her vacant mind was trying to escape from the reality of her action.
After an hour she felt a presence behind the door. A solemn voice called out to her. "Kagome… Sesshoumaru-sama asked me to summon you to the victory-banquet… Kagome?"
Kagome remained silent; she was still staring fixedly at the ceiling.
"Kagome, you have to come; otherwise… otherwise he would come personally to your chamber and dragged you out to the banquet. Regardless if you're underdressed or not; please, Kagome…"
"I'm coming." Kagome answered her in a weak voice.
"I'll wait here until you're ready to come out of your room." Fujita rested her back against the wooden wall; her head was held down as she slowly sunk into the ground. She smiled sadly as she whispered inaudibly. "I told you so, didn't I?"
:OoOoOoO:
The banquet was held in the main hall of the palace. As Kagome entered the immense room, she was ushered to a place on the left side of the room.
The demons soldiers quieted down immediately; some of them hid their smirk behind their cup, but some also showed their displeasure over her appearance openly.
And then something inside Kagome began to war; she could take their behavior so much. She remembered then in the battlefield how they had torn out the limbs of her own race with relish. She had believed in comradeship and was presented nothing but discrimination and hatred. From her leader she had expected justice, but she received nothing but cruelty and false sidedness.
So she turned to speak to Sesshoumaru. Her head was held up proud; she no longer felt that she had to be submissive before her master.
He gazed back at her; his eyes were betraying nothing. She studied her arm quietly, and after a moment she lifted her gaze back up to meet his.
"I wonder if demons have veins too. Does blood run through your vein, Lord Sesshoumaru?" she held out her arm towards him and showed him the blue line of her vein.
"Do you see this? This is what's running through us humans; this is what kept us warm; this fed upon our emotions, sympathy. The rush and flowing of this line are what made us feel." She cut deep the skin of her arm, and blood flowed strongly from her limb. Everyone looked in aghast as they watched her sliced her own skin with the wakizashi.
"But to demons it was merely a vessel of liquids. Please explain this to me; if we are such filth in your eyes then why does the smell of our blood drive you mad with lust?" She gathered the flowing blood into her finger.
Suddenly she spattered the red liquid to a youkai retainer near her; her blood stained his surprised face, and then she began to laugh over his reaction. Her laughter grew louder until her eyes were teary.
She laughed and laughed; even as Sesshoumaru advanced towards her, she made no moves to escape him and continued to laugh in mirth. Sesshoumaru pressed his finger to the side of her neck, sending her into a sweet subliminal submission.
:OoOoOoO:
Kagome woke up in her chamber; her hand was carefully bandaged.
She closed her eyes once more; her face was pale from her loss of blood.
Suddenly Fujita recited a line,
"With refined beauty and the allure of innocence, such sweet soul dying sad so young"
"My mother," Kagome suddenly spoke.
"Kagome?" Fujita asked softly.
"The line was meant for my mother, 'dying sad so young'; the poet had arranged these words for her."
"These are the words of a Chinese verse; it's about a young and most-loved concubine of the emperor, and the line is already six hundred years old." Fujita contradicted her tenderly.
Kagome chuckled softly. "He even lied to me about that."
"Who had lied to you?"
"My father."
Fujita whispered into her ear. "Sesshoumaru-sama is here and he wanted to talk to you."
Kagome continued to close her eyes.
Fujita left the room and let Sesshoumaru step inside the chamber.
"Your father had lied to you?" She didn't answer him. He sighed heavily.
"My father never even cared to lie to me; if his honesty was brutal to my ears then he would cruelly prod further on the matter. All that I had learned from him was taunts and punishment."
Still she refused to answer him even after he had bared his heart before her. He began to feel angered over her tranquility.
"Must I explain to you the function of battle?" Sesshoumaru gripped her shoulder painfully; he shook her roughly, and suddenly his voice was weakened with desperation. "How could you not know this? Were you not experienced in war, that soldiers kill enemies?" He looked at her pleadingly.
She shook her head and started to helplessly exude in a fit of weeping.
Sesshoumaru gathered her in his arms and stroked her hair. "Oh god… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… how could I allow this to happen? Tell me, how could I not know?" He whispered against her hair; Kagome gagged her sobs in his clothing.
"Stupid, stupid child…" Sesshoumaru admonished her exasperatedly as he rocked her body to and fro.
:end of chapter:
AN:
Lithiumrose'sNeko: that was very sweet of you, and the fact that you like the title kizu delighted me. There comes a time when you question everything you did in life as I did recently in mine. Every little thing that might seem insignificant to me at first became greater in merit, and I realize that I only deemed them insignificant because they are in truth significant. What I'm trying to formulate is that when my story was truly weighed and noted and callously judged, I then too began to doubt its quality. And I ask myself why the hell I am doing this when I have enough works as it is. But you answered that question. That you enjoyed the story is the thread, to which I'm trying to hold on to continue writing. So thank you; from the bottom of my heart I thank you.
Countess De Eqlipse: One thing is for sure; you are fiery (in a very good way). I don't know how to express how much I thank you. Your words truly warmed my heart. Sometimes I don't understand the concept of OC, especially when one wrote in canon universe/original genre fanfiction how the story should flow or end in their opinion, creating situations where the character committed actions that weren't executed in the anime/manga; isn't that the base of OOC-ness? You see; I do like to rant as well. Thank you for standing up to me and for loving this story.
Missy: I do truly appreciate your faith in me. It's actually quite ironic to me when I wrote that; I was then in a time when I didn't have to prove anything, but now I must even defend my story of being my own. I can't understand sometimes why people criticize callously, and most of the criticizers are in fact authors as well; shouldn't they actually be more sensitive? Probably not. Anyway, I want to thank you for the nice compliment on my language skill and your encouragement. Thank you for everything.
emerelddreams: Thank you for your wonderful review and encouraging words. And for loving this story, you are loved in return.
Cathy: thank you for the wonderful review and for being so nice. And to your question, it's German.
I want to thank you all so much for reviewing.
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