Part 5
"Inutaisho....I....don't accept."
Inutaisho took a slow step forward. "I don't think that it is your choice to decide, Kagome. It seems that this 'game' of yours is tipped in my favor."
Sesshomaru felt suspicious about Kagome's actions. Weren't these people her comrades? Wouldn't she give her life to save them? Inuyasha had a slight expression of horror as did Miroku. "Are you so heartless and ruthless that you would risk others to save your own?," Inutaisho inquired.
"Of course not. Why not kill them, then see who's favor this game is in," Kagome stated, a smirk playing acrossher shadowed features.
Inutaisho smirked just the same. With a flick of his wrist the guard immediately slit Sango's throat. Blood poured out as she let out a piercing scream. Kagome flinched ever so slightly. The metallic scent filled the room. Sesshomaru was nearly engulfed by it. "What do you say now?," he questioned again.
"....No," was her cold, unfeeling answer.
One by one their cries filled the room. The blood soaking the floor. The spray nearly dying the air red. The smell greater than ever. Until, it was down to the last person. Rin.
"Do you still refuse?," Inutaisho asked, becoming a little nervous of his dwindling position.
"Yes," she hissed in reply, venom seeping from her words.
Inutaisho closed his eyes in resignation. He was about to flick his wrist when he found that it was held back. "Please, Lord. I beg you! Stop it! I can't stand this anymore! I just can't!," cried his wife, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Inutaisho looked down at his wife, sympathy in his eyes. "Taiyo....I must do this. We must continue with my plan. We must get Kagome on our side before that monster does something we all will hate. You know we must and as I see it this is the only way," he answered her plea, with such resolve that Taiyo could not bring herself to beg even more. With him, her last words were, before she completely concluded herself to his way, "So, we must kill others to save ourselves.May the Lord forgive us."
Inutaisho looked at his wife, proud for her to be at his side, but hurt to see that she must decide such a horrible fate. The "sympathy moment" broke as Kagome began to laugh. Not menacingly, not hysterically, not loud, just....laugh. It was a soft, secretive laugh. Sesshomaru moved to silence her, but Inutaisho held out an arm. Instead, Sesshomaru settled on, "What is so funny, Kagome?" In these circumstances, he felt it favoring if he used her name, although he added as much poison as he could muster into ever word.
"You people act so serious when death is involved. Tell me, why do you act this way?," she asked as if she were a child asking an innocent question.
"Because death is not a toy to be meddled with. Doesn't the passing of a mortal not bother you? Doesn't it make you sad....alone? Do you feel no remorse? No sympathy?," Inutaisho asked.
Why is she asking such strange things? Does death not affect her so much? Why doesn't it? His endless thoughts plagued him as Sesshomaru listened to Kagome laugh. For once in his life, Sesshomaru seemed to see her as his equal, if only for a short while. He was surprised such a realization and an....emotion existed within him.
Her laughter died away as an innocent smile replaced her shadowed features. "Death. It is only just a word that you....'mortals' use to describe what you can't understand, yet is inevitable. Death is a legend on its own. Where people 'go,' so to speak, is beyond our comprehension. Wether we have souls or not is knowledge that we don't seem to have. So, tell me. Why be afraid of something one cannot understand? Why is death such a bad thing?"
Inutaisho's eyes widened. The entire room was filled with the feeling of realization. Sesshomaru was a little surprised at her answer. Was she really more than she seemed to be? Was her normality in this world just a wall hiding her true knowledge? Taiyo was the first to speak. "For one such as young looking for yourself, you are wizened beyond your years. But....still, don't you feel some sort of sadness for you friends? Weren't they so close to you that you shared some sort of bond?"
Kagome's smile only grew wider. "Don't worry about that." She snapped her fingers and Rin disappeared. Wait....She disappeared?! Inutaisho quickly ran towards the confused guard. Then, he noticed that the floor that he treaded on became desert dry. He looked up at Sesshomaru questioningly, who seemed to not understand what was going on, his eyes squinted in calculating reason.
Inuyasha seemed to notice that the scent of blood was always weakening. He lookedat Kagome in confusion, when he seemed to notice that something seemed to lift. To clear away. Like a veil of mist melted away to something, strangely, more real. "Sesshomaru....do you feel that?," he asked.
Sesshomaru looked at his brother, eyes narrowed. But, for once, he let his menace drop and turned back to the on looking Kagome. He kept searching and searching his senses, trying to understand what Inuyasha was saying, when he found it. He also felt the strange feeling that he had been in a dream world and had finally woken up. Then, he thought of something that hit his memory. He had remembered his old teacher telling him about illusion spells.
"Spells of illusion are complex spells that hide reality from us. Casting an illusion spell takes a longer-than-average incantation, but is worth while. An exceptionally powerful magical being may only take a matter of thirty seconds to cast it, but usually, when in battle, they wouldn't really bother because it is time consuming. It takes about a minute for an average magical being to cast it and is power consuming. So, instead, if there were an existing one, they would use the existing one against their opponent. That counter-spell would be easiest to do....if the one with the spell cast upon them can realize that they were only existing in an illusion.
A way to tell when an illusion is lifted is when you spot something that seemed different around you. Something that seemed insignificant, but still had caught your eye...."
Sesshomaru scanned the room, mentally listing the objects he had found earlier, in the accused "illusion," that he was not seeing now. The shelves are in place. The figurines are in order. Inuyasha has his sword....What am I missing? The guards are still here. The window is open. The door is closed. The–Wait! The door is closed?
His gaze rested on the door, studying its every detail. He had remembered that his father used to measure them as they grew taller and he would carve little marks into the wooden frame of the door. His sharp eye sight "zoomed" into the left frame of the door. The marks were there! The door was not an illusion any longer. Then, he didn't remember Kagome ever closing the door when she had charged into the room.
"It was all an illusion. It was an Illusion spell," Sesshomaru replied, hiding his amazement in his conclusion as much as possible. Inuyasha looked at his brother, shocked. His brother had actually answered his question. Maybe Sesshomaru isn't really that cold at all....
Kagome began to giggle again. "Very observant, Sesshomaru. I'd have never thought you and your stuck-up royal family would know such knowledge."
Sesshomaru flexed his fingers in anger, poison beginning to seep off in waves. "Do not insult me. Do not shame my family, wench." He slashed at Kagome, but she easily dodged.
Kagome giggled all the while as she dodged every slash. Right. Left. Head....duck! The doors flew open behind her as more guards stepped in. They were....holding something. People. Kagome saw a flash of orange and red in the corner of her eye. Rin!
Sesshomaru's temper began to rise. With every attack she easily dodges. Is she really so strong? No. Can't be. He swiped at her again, and this time, he felt his poisonous claws swipe flesh. Blood dripped from his newly stained claws as he looked at his victim.
Kagome clutched her stomach in pain. The poison was already seeping into her system. Flowing through her blood. She didn't know how long she was going to last. She looked on as Sesshomaru's anger vanished, once again replaced by that cold stare. She had finally been caught.
She couldn't help but wonder the expression on Rin's face. She knew if she moved to much it would only circulate the poisoned blood faster. Sesshomaru began to walk toward her. She noticed that he nearly glided on the smooth marbled floors, not a sound. He lifted her face to his with his bloody hand and warned, "Don't ever insult my family again. If you do, I will kill you on the spot."
She stared into those cold eyes and caught a flash of a tinge of red before it slowly faded. She felt her chin released as he walked out of the room, brushing past the guards. Kagome meant to watch him go, but felt the poison at its utmost peak. Her eyes widened in pain as it seemed to pulse through her veins. She immediately covered her mouth as she began to spit out blood.
Her head....her head was spinning too fast. The room.... Kagome watched as Inutaisho, Inuyasha, Taiyo, and some other figures rushed to her side. She heard a....scream. The sound around her faded. Was it getting darker? Oh, I'm so tired....just....a....little....rest....
X
Why? Why did she take that attack? She so easily dodged the others, so why that one? Sesshomaru walked to his room, still trying to understand the puzzling girl. He opened his door to a moonlit room. His large bed with its silken sheets made, his dresser neatly organized, his weaponry polished to shine.
He walked to his balcony door and opened it. Walking outside, he gazed at that bright orb in the sky. Why did it remind me of her? Why that Kagome girl? He wondered and wondered, but he was interrupted as soon as his bedroom doors flew open. He whipped around at the intruder, quickly covering the distance between them and placing a blade to the intruder's throat. Oh, it was Inuyasha.
He backed away, sheathing Toukijin, his powerful sword. "What do you want, Inuyasha?," he asked coldly.
"It's Kagome! That stupid attack that you did hurt her real bad. The doctor said she is capable of dying. What the hell was that?! What did you do to her? I know you, Sesshomaru. Your attacks aren't usually capable of killing something quickly....well, not this quick and to this effect anyway," Inuyasha replied.
Sesshomaru's eyes widened ever so slightly. What?! It was not usually an instantaneous death. The poison should have taken some time. He quickly whipped past Inuyasha, heading to the infirmary. He slid the shoji door open and stepped in. His father, step-mother, and the rest of Kagome's comrades surrounded her bed. He stepped as close as they were, all eyes on him. He could feel that girl....Sango staring at him angrily. He paid it no mind.
He looked down at Kagome. She flinched periodically as if she were having some sort of nightmare. The heat from her fever rose in waves as the cool cloth on her forehead did nothing. Why did he feel like he was the one to blame for her condition? What was this feeling?
"It's not you fault, Sesshomaru," Matsuru said, breaking the silence.
Sesshomaru looked at him with cold, uncaring eyes. "What do you mean?," Sango asked angrily. "He did this to Kagome. It is his fault!" She pointed an accusing finger at Sesshomaru, tears welling in her eyes.
Matsuru placed an understanding hand on her shoulder. "Sango....it's not. It's....Kagome."
Sango lowered her hand and looked up at Matsuru, confused. "What do you mean 'it's Kagome?'," Rei questioned. Sesshomaru looked at Matsuru, his interest piqued. "Kagome is....different. She has a sort of condition that most don't know about. When she was young, she had been hit by the plague–"
"But no one survived that. Not one single human was living after that," Inuyasha said calmly from behind the group, closing the door quietly.
"Exactly. She had been hit by it, but for some reason she survived. Has she told any of you yet? Well, I would suspect not, but....Kagome is half dragon."
Inutaisho gaped, Taiyo's eyes widened as well as Miroku's and Inuyasha's. Sango lowered her head, not ashamed but feeling....revealed. Sesshomaru was the first to speak. "She had told me before, but I did not believe her. Is there actually such a thing as a half-dragon? To me, that is not plausible."
Matsuru smiled. "'To you' it may not be, but....I know better. It is possible because she has shown me her capabilities. She is no mere human, that much I am sure of. I had sort of taken her in when she was young, although her main house was with Sango and the others. At the age of six she was walking on walls. At the age of seven she had learned to speak dragon within a few months. At the age of eight she mastered all the spells there was to know. Her fighting skills are excellent. Her mind un-tangle able.
She had accomplished so much in such a short amount of time that would take even a demon twenty years to master. Then, one night....something happened that was unexplainable. It was as if she had been a fallen angel. She had grown wings the size of this room at the age of nine. Covering them up was a breeze for her, though. She could retract them with ease.
I would never have imagined that a girl as sweet as her could have such secrets. After that, she had nearly cried her heart out to me. She was half of something that everyone feared. Everyone feared it only because they didn't understand it. At first I had felt a little nervous around her, I confess, but....it sort of....grows on you.
Anyway, the plague had hit. Most of the village had been wiped out. Sango and the others were lucky enough to have just scraped by it, but Kagome hadn't–"
"Yeah....," Sango added in sadly. "We really thought that we were gonna loose her that time. She had been sick for over two weeks. In the middle of the third, her fever was finally going down. She stopped clawing at her self after that."
Inutaisho widened his eyes.Shiru continued. "When she had the fever it felt like it was burning her inside out. Well, that's what she said anyway. When it rose she would whimper and start to scratch at herself. Her sheets would be bloody in the morning. But, she had survived it. But....Matsuru, poison doesn't usually affect her this much. What's going on?"
"It's....her waking hour. Every once a month she....hunts. Youand the rest hadn't known because she had been resting at my hut those nights.She drinks fresh blood in order to survive. It's what the dragon inside her does," Matsuru grimly informed them.
Inutaisho had been silent until this moment. "Like a....vampire?, "he whispered. Matsuru nodded. "I had finally learned why dragons would attack people for no reason. Dragon's needed blood to live. That's why they destroyed villages. If a human-sized person like Kagome needed twelve rabbits to quench her thirst, just think of a dragon. It didn't help that her father had been the most terrible of them all...."
"Masturu," Sango warned. "Sorry, it was not my place. Well, if she doesn't get blood into her in her waking hour, her immune system goes down. Her body can't handle that kind of urge. As you can see, it has such an effect."
Sesshomaru looked down at Kagome. He felt a tinge of sympathy for her. She had her life sewn up around the fact that if her secret were to be revealed she would be put to death. So, instead, she built her own reality. Where life is just a game to her. Where she's always that happy-go-lucky girl. "Is that why her eyes seem so odd?," he heard himself ask.
"Yes," Matsuru answered.
"Uncle Matsuru," came a small voice. Matsuru looked down and found Rin tugging on his pants. "Will Kagome-chan....die?"
The question seemed so innocent, but they knew better. They all knew. There was too much of her within some part of them already, wether it be just an acquaintance or a long term run. Kagome had that sort of "I-like-you-already" affect on people that most couldn't resist but be her friend instantly.
The question left a thick veil in the air. All eyes were on Matsuru, even Sesshomaru's. "I honestly....don't know...."