Into the Night
...OOO...
Kagome slept peacefully inside the small lodge bathed in the soft tangerine hues of the setting sun. To her feet, Inuyasha sat staring out of the window, his eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration.
A strange mixture of emotions overwhelmed him as he reflected on the earlier events of that day. In truth he wasn't at all sure what had happened. He didn't understand it, and he didn't know how he was supposed to feel now- happy? Sad? Angry? Angry at whom? Her? Himself? Fate? They all flooded his mind in quiet confusion, but in the end it boiled down to one name-
"Kikyo..." he muttered softly to the empty air.
He was stupid to have thought she would have done anything else but what she did, but he couldn't deny that for a moment he had truly been afraid for Kagome's safety. Except, of course, Kikyo had returned the soul...
She had risen to her feet, the glowing orb cradled in her hands... then with a wave of her wrist she had released it, allowing one of her collector demons to catch it and deliver it to the unconscious Kagome in his arms. And without a word, without a second glance, she had simply walked past them to descend the mountain for the village bellow...
But she didn't talk to him afterwards either. Even when he approached her to tell her that he would be taking Kagome back to her era to recover, she had merely nodded in acquiescence- her eyes empty and unreadable.
He'd hurt her again, he knew he did. She knew he had doubted her, and he had hurt her.
"Dammit," he cursed himself angrily. Why did he always screw things up so badly between them?
By now, she and Sesshomaru must be long gone already...
'Sesshomaru,' he had beckoned his brother away. 'You're going with Kikyo, right?'
And of course he had replied in his usual high and mighty tone, 'What I do, Inuyasha, I do for myself- it has nothing to do with what you feel for the woman.'
'Yeah, whatever,' he had retorted, but inside he had been grateful that he had decided not to rub it in. 'Just keep her safe, ok?' he had entreated, hating himself for having to leave her with him. 'I promise to be back as soon as I can.'
It was a promise he swore he would not fail to keep.
...ooo...
As Inuyasha had guessed, by sundown Kikyo and Sesshomaru had left the small village on a path heading east as they tried to recover their original road- lost due to the day's distraction. Behind them, the dying sun threw long faded shadows at their feet, obscuring their countenance in a play of shade and highlight.
Slowing his pace slightly, he fell behind her, studying her. Her gait never faltered, never slowed nor quickened, her eyes staring straight out in front of her, unwavering. She was impassive and blank again, her expression betraying no hint of how she felt or what she thought. Even with his highly honed perception he could detect no difference in her whatsoever- no pulsations of sadness or anger, no change in her demeanor, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. But he knew this couldn't be true...
He had felt it- the palpable longing as she held the soul close to her body. Longing laced with bittersweet sorrow.
'Even in my hands,' she had smiled ruefully, 'it's still out of reach.'
Now however, he couldn't even pick up a trace of it, and it disturbed him.
She had been that way all day, even while she busied herself to care for the needs of the remaining villagers- binding their wounds and treating their illnesses, even constructing a simple boundary of barrier scrolls to ward off any leftover demons from the mountain. Sometimes she smiled politely at their words of thanks and praise, but her eyes remained void.
Such a senseless sacrifice, he scorned thinking about her refusal to take back what should have been rightfully hers in the first place. It was not as if he had not foreseen her action- he had never doubted for a second what she would do- but that didn't mean he understood it. If she had taken it, then all that she desired would have been hers- a life with Inuyasha. Instead she had willingly given it up to the girl who rivaled her in his affections.
Her and her unrelenting altruism. How can anyone such as her fall prey to such a worthless philosophy?
Human or not, he could not deny her power. So why was it she always allowed herself to be the victim?
Damn woman...
She bothered him, he thought with a barely discernable frown. Something about her had always bothered him- ever since the first time their paths crossed- something he could not quite recognize... Her mere presence had always unsettled him.
Up ahead of him, Kikyo paused as if divining his thoughts.
Throwing a casual glance at him over her shoulder she stated, "He would never have forgiven me if I had taken it."
He was dumbfounded at her sagacity, but he continued on, striding past her and replied, "That's because Inuyasha is as big a fool as you are."
Maybe it was because she had not expected such a reaction, or maybe it was because she did, but either way, she could not help but laugh, a small laugh hidden behind the wide sleeve of her haori, but he heard, and she had to wave it off with a shake of her head when he gave her a questioning look.
He wondered why she had found it humorous, but since he hadn't really meant it as a serious insult, he supposed it was alright. In any case he was glad for the diversion that seemed to break her from her self-inflicted isolation (which had in turn irritated him) and they traveled the rest of the early evening in easy placidity.
It dissolved however, as dusk fell.
For a while now the road they had followed had become little by little more overgrown- the well-thread path disappearing under tufts of grass and weeds. Eventually it led them to a dark foreboding forest that was more grey than it was green.
"Sesshomaru..." she glanced at him uneasily. Something inside her was telling her to turn around...
"If this is the way to the valley," he answered decisively, taking a comprehensive sweep of their surroundings, "then we shall go." The strange apprehensive chill emanating from the forest was not lost to him, but he refused to be turned away by such trivialities. Whatever it was, it would stand down.
And so they continued.
Night settled in, but neither tired and both wished to leave their somber environment as soon as possible, so they did not slow their progress. Above them the moon was waning, but it was in a cloudless sky and its light was enough to cast shadows, though in such a place it was increasingly difficult to tell what was shadow and what was not...
One fell on them- a large bird-like demon, tattered wings outspread diving right for Kikyo. Instantly Sesshomaru grabbed her by the waist, away from its talons, and taking temporary cover under a nearby tree.
"CAW!" it called and in answer a large cloud of its cohorts rose from the surrounding forest.
She aimed her arrow at the beast's heart consuming it with her spiritual energy, but the others came.
"They're after the jewel," she told him tensely as more came after them. Drawing Tokijen, he fought off as many as he could as she shot arrow after arrow, barely bothering to aim- there were so many of them she was bound to hit. But it was futile. They were fast and furious and too many in number.
"Come." Abandoning their vain fight, he took her by the waist again and sprinted off into the woods. The birds flew after them, but they were large and the trees were thick and growing thicker as Sesshomaru fled deeper and deeper, until they finally abated in their pursuit. All except one. It pitched its whole body head long through the intertwining branches of the canopy, to fall right in front of them, grasping for the priestess with it's long bony beak.
Because he held Kikyo in his one usable arm, he could do nothing but evade the attacker, so he bounded backwards as she drew out another arrow.
They never saw it hit its mark.
Unable to see his landing, Sesshomaru stumbled on a protruding root and they fell toppling down a deep ravine camouflaged earlier by the deep shadows.
Kikyo tumbled, but landed on her back, her eyes meeting the pitch black canopy, and for a second she could do nothing but wonder at it.
It's so dark, she thought oddly, the leaves are so compact, not even a sliver of moonlight penetrates it.
Out loud she asked, "Are you ok?" Not speaking in any particular direction.
"Fine," he muttered somewhere to her left, but she could not see him. Blindly she searched with her hands, trying to find her way to him.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he bellowed severely when he felt her hands grasping at him.
His golden eyes penetrated the almost solid darkness, and he saw her recoil in surprise.
"S-sorry," she stammered. "I can't see anything."
Sighing, he pulled out the Tenseiga and it glowed, illuminating the ravine around them with its cold blue light. Close by, a small spring bubbled, but mostly it was just hard rock spotted here and there by moss and lichen.
"Thank you," she expressed, sitting back, and for a second they did nothing but stare at one another, not sure what to say or do, the light of the sword enveloping them in its spherical glow- cutting them off from the rest of the darkness, as if they were in their own world...
Then she laughed.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "It's just..." and without bothering to explain she reached over, anticipating and intercepting his instinctive dodge to pluck out a small leaf that had entangled itself in his long silver hair.
He caught her hand on the way down, her sleeve falling away to reveal the streaks of dirt so gallingly apparent on her pallid skin.
"Are you hurt?" he asked almost inaudibly.
"No," she whispered just as softly, pulling back and looking away. Wandering over to the small well of water, she dipped her hands in, not feeling its icy sting, and began washing away her stained arms and the smudges on her face. For once she was thankful for having no heart which with its racing beat would have betrayed the sudden rise in her emotions.
What was it, she wondered, that made her so? Why was he able to do this to her...
It made her uneasy, and yet...
Silently, he stirred too and walked to one wall of the ravine to sit down on a large moss covered rock, plunging Tenseiga on the ground next to him. For a minute his eyes strayed first to the blade, then to her, then back to the blade.
He wondered...
But no, he knew it wasn't possible even if he had wanted to use Tenseiga. Her soul was already within another, and her body, too, wasn't real...
How ironic, he thought humorlessly. Here he was- the great and powerful Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands who held life and death over so many- thrown by circumstance with the one person he could not reach with either one. The one person who was beyond him.
She came back to stand beside him, one hand on the rocky surface of the ravine.
"Do you think we should try to escape now?" she asked, staring up into the blank sky.
"No. I believe those demons are nocturnal. There's no point in leaving this place unless you wish to spend the whole night fighting them. Either way, we will not be any closer to our destination by morning."
Sighing, she sank down unto the floor. "I suppose you're right." Then she added, "And thank you, once again. I believe you've saved my life a second time now..."
"Why did you let me?" he suddenly asked, and she glanced up at him in surprise- but he wasn't looking at her.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"That day it rained- that worm demon. Even without your weapon, we both know you could have purified it easily."
"Hm," was all she said, losing herself in thought. She supposed he was right, but looking back, in that moment she really had believed it was her end... Perhaps it was not because she had thought she couldn't defeat it, but maybe it was because she had not wanted to... The dismal realization dawned on her, and he caught the subtle change in her aura.
"It doesn't matter," he decided dismissively, once again wishing he had not brought up a topic with her. "It's no longer about that... speaking of which," he turned to see straight into her eyes, "perhaps you should sleep."
The suggestion shook her, and she could not speak.
He narrowed his eyes, "You fear him?"
But she shook her head angrily at the allegation.
"Not him," she insisted. "It's... something else. That night when he... spoke with me..."she paused trying to find the right words. "Naraku works best through manipulation," she finally explained. "That night, it was not him that frightened me- it was the darkness he unearthed from within my own mind. That is what I fear..."
He raised an eyebrow in question- the darkness within her? Somehow, he could not grasp the concept...
But all he asked was, "How do you suppose he is able to do it?"
"I do not know..." she hesitated before continuing, "but, Sesshomaru... perhaps I should have told you the full reason for my reluctance to enter this place..."
"Yes?"
"At first I was not completely sure, but now I realize... this place- the darkness in it... it carries the same energy- the same feeling."
Before she could go any further, a discord of 'caws' and breaking branches interrupted her as the bird-demons sought a way down to them, guided by the light of the sword.
Staring above him, he observed, "They are restless." And acting quickly, he slid down beside her and sheathed Tenseiga.
The darkness engulfed them.
"Sesshomaru?" her small voice was lost to it, but his shoulder brushing against hers as he moved reassured her and so she whispered resolutely, "I'll do it."
...OOO...