Chapter 22
Authors Note: Read and Review
"Rin may I speak to you alone"
"Hai Sango-san" Rin said respectably slowly exiting the room.
"Rin…I've noticed that you've been watching my brother and I…"
"Sango-san please" Rin said politely smiling. "I've also noticed you've been watching me"
Sango smiled slowly blushing a bit by the child's awareness, not that Sango had thought she hid it.
"Hai Rin, you like my brother don't you? Then why did you…lie to him?" Sango's voice sounded a bit hurt.
"Kohaku is a pure child, even though he's a teenage Sango-san" Rin whispered her eyes sparkling a bit. "He's terribly soft and…I'm not pure like Kohaku is anymore. I don't deserve someone like Kohaku, I…I was raped Sango-san. By your companion none the less and I can't hate him. Kohaku doesn't deserve someone he can't even hate their own rapist. That's why."
Sango paused looking towards the girl, noticing the tears in her eyes. Sango knelt down to the 10 year old placing both hands on her shoulders. "Rin-chan, Kohaku…he's a gentle child. He'd love you no matter who you can or can't hate." Sango stared off for a few seconds smiling gently. "I don't know how you couldn't hate someone who took something so precious of yours. But I admire that in you, you're not like the others."
Rin smiled blushing a bit, "I suppose not Sango-san, Arigato."
Sango looked at the table towards Sesshomaru and Kikyou slowly. "Are they together?"
Rin paused blinking slowly, "I'm not sure, Sesshomaru-sama's never announced it officially to me…which is something he used to do whenever something was important" Rin stared smiling softly though. "I'd like them to get together though. I've grown very fond of Kikyou-sama and Sesshomaru-sama seems very happy with her."
Sango smiled longingly towards the two. "Yes…it would be nice if the two got together wouldn't it? Then they wouldn't have to be lonely anymore" Sango said thoughtfully.
"Do you have a special person Sango-san?"
Sango blushed slowly, shaking her head. "Oh no were not together or anything like that!"
"Is he the monk Sango-san?"
Sango blushed darker and sighing slowly. "Hai, Houshi-sama…I guess is my special someone"
"Houshi-sama…? Is that his name?"
"No…his name is Miroku"
"Miroku…sama?"
"Hai"
"Then why do you call him Houshi-sama?"
Sango paused; she had never once called the monk by his real name. "I suppose for the same reason he never asked me his famous question…well he did a while back…for the first time…sincerely."
"Is it forbidden love? Even though it's amongst humans?"
"I suppose so Rin, in a strange way it is" Sango said blushing, "But all love is almost forbidden. Kikyou's a miko and Sesshomaru's a youkai. That's unusual isn't it? And you and Kohaku…the age is 6 years different and Kohaku was under severe control. Then theirs Inuyasha and Kagome…Kagome's from an entire different world then ours."
"What about your Sango-san?"
"I'm a slayer, that's strange enough there is no girl like me. Not that I can think of..and Miroku's cursed, the only thing keeping us apart is Naraku."
"I don't think your that different Sango-san"
Sango smiled slowly. "The villagers did. But we loved each other…we were happy, Naraku tears that all away I suppose"
Rin nodded slowly as Kohaku rose to a stand feeling uncomfortable and walking towards Sango and Rin.
"Ugh…sorry I felt like I was intruding."
Rin stifled a giggle taking his hand leaving Sango to smile proudly as she returned to the youkai and the miko.
"If you don't mind Sesshomaru…sama, I'm going to use your bath house and leave you to alone"
Kikyou turned slightly red and nodded almost in answer for Sesshomaru. "Perhaps I'll join you shortly?" Kikyou said quietly, Sango blinking a few times in surprise and nodding. "Sure, I'm sure I'll be in there a while anyway"
XOXOX
"Sesshomaru…um they've been talking about…"
"Let them" Sesshomaru said blandly. "What they think of us is no concern of their's."
"But…what about…ours?" Kikyou said quietly. "What exactly are we?"
Sesshomaru stared briefly. "Well were not a lot of things." He spoke slowly as if mulling over what they actually were. "Were not enemies, and were not acquaintances. Were not mates and your not my mistress."
"Mistress?" Kikyou said confused, Sesshomaru sighing as he explained rather bluntly.
"A mistress is a demons whore"
"Oh" Kikyou said blushing slightly, 'That's a nice way to put it…nice and blunt'
"So I guess were friends"
Kikyou blinked a few times, wondering why she was feeling a sharp pain in her chest, wondering why just friends didn't seem like enough. "Oh…well that would make sense"
Sesshomaru looked to the side, "It doesn't feel like it though being just…friends" He chucked softly staring towards Kikyou. "Then again, I've never had a friend before so it's not just me."
"Never had a friend?"
"I prefer to call them acquaintances"
"And the difference is?"
"Acquaintances are someone I know and feel nothing towards. Friends are allies someone to confide in I suppose…"
"You confide in me?"
"I suppose"
Kikyou sighed turning to the side. "You're annoying"
"Oh how so?"
"I!" Kikyou said sharply. "Your just replaying feelings similar to the ones Inuyasha made me feel is all"
"What are you trying to say Kikyou" Sesshomaru said a bit suspiciously, perhaps a bit colder then he had intended. The mention of his half brother sent shreds of hate trail up his spine, the image of Rin helpless in a puddle of blood.
"I think I may like you" She said quietly a bit surprised with herself, rising to a stand. "I think I'm going to join Sango-chan in the bath now if you don't mind"
Sesshomaru blinked in surprise, confusion clouding his eyes as he grabbed her arm, pulling her towards his chest in a quick sweep. "What did you say"
"Your crushing my hand" She said dully as he pulled her up towards his chest.
His lips clamped down on hers roughly, his tongue gently pushing at her lower lip asking for entrance that he took before she could ever respond. Her eyes were wide, her hand against his chest where he had placed it. Sesshomaru's hand held her hand there. Kikyou's hand gently touched his left nub, where his arm should have been and would have been if it wasn't for ex lover. She allowed him to devour her mouth.
He pulled out allowing her to gather her breath. "You can think about that, I have my own things to sort out now" He said a bit slowly. "But I enjoyed that very much Kikyou-chan" Sesshomaru said turning slowly as he left the confused miko, carrying much of the same confusion himself.
XOXOX
Break away…
From who?
Break away…
From who?
Inuyasha
Kagome dreamt the words hazy in her mind, yet so clear. She was standing there her friends corpses surrounded her. Her arrow was drawn tears in her eyes as she pinned her beloved against the tree. He growled at her as the wings sprouted from her back. Her bandages ripped and tore and blood flew and spread across the ground. She whimpered as her wrings flapped and she flew. She flew away and it ended with a crash landing.
She woke with a start in Inuyasha arms, he was holding her as tight to him as he could, she was sure of it. "Inuyasha…to tight" His eyes snapped open as if he had been waiting for her voice. "I'm sorry" he whimpered slowly, slowly relaxing his grip but the pain had not ceased.
"Inuyasha" She wanted to tell him about her dreams, about killing him as Kikyou had, about her friend's death and that he had to been the one who had caused it. She wanted his reassurance that it would never happen that it would never come to that, that he couldn't do that even if he was being controlled.
"What…?" He said quietly, he didn't seem as arrogant as he used to be. Maybe all this manipulation was wearing him down. He had been fighting not to kill her, to return to himself despite Tetsusaiga.
"I've been having these dreams" She said slowly, she felt dumb. That you're a murder? What a horrible thing to say. "Is it possible for a priestess…to become an angel?" That was worse. Where had THAT question come from?
Inuyasha paused looking to the side. "When me and Kikyou were together…when we were both alive…she had told me that priestess's were more like angels then human beings." Inuyasha paused as to think of what else to say and then continued slowly. "Kikyou was never full of herself, so I was curious what she meant. She told me it was a priestess's ultimate attack. She said that when the release that much ki and that much power, they become a fallen angel and then they die."
Kagome paused wondering, 'I need to talk to Kikyou' She thought. "Inuyasha what else can you tell me about it?" She almost needed to go inside his memory. He needed to reenact the vision in his mind.
Inuyasha paused nodding slowly. "Okay"
Flash back+
"Hey Kikyou, why do you always say things about being careless" Inuyasha said from the tree, looking up to the blue side. The priestess sat underneath the tree where Inuyasha perched the bow at her side.
"That's a strange question coming from you" She said simply before pausing as if thinking of a reasonable answer. "A miko should never hesitate and since I've met you, my guards dropped drastically, feelings are a burden to a miko like me"
"What?" Inuyasha said snapping up angrily "Your saying you regret being with me?" His eyes looked hurt anger flickering in them and she rolled her eyes.
"Your so naïve Inuyasha" She said laughing "It's not that I was just saying my job would be easier"
Inuyasha smiled for some reason, he wasn't sure why but he took comfort in that. He didn't want her to think just of her job and if making it difficult was making her happier so be it.
"So Kikyou" Inuyasha tried again "What else can you do? I've seen all the arrow things you've taught Kaede, the sealing arrow, the simple arrows, what else can you do!"
"Thinking on stealing the jewel?" Kikyou said quirking a brow, "Aren't my arrows enough?"
Inuyasha nodded. "You pin me to the tree enough bitch" growling but only jokingly.
"There's a few things we can do but most of them our very energy draining. There more of a last resort kind of thing." Kikyou said slowly. "We can channel are ki to protect ourselves or another, it's very complicated to explain Inuyasha."
"So it's your ultimate attack?"
"No" Kikyou said immediately. "We priestess's are more like angels then anything else."
"Eh?" Inuyasha said blinking in surprise. "You've never been one to thing of yourself that positively" He noted being rather rude but he didn't notice and she wasn't paying any mind to it. She was used to Inuyasha by now, she loved Inuyasha by now.
"Are ultimate attack is when are hearts been worn down to the point we can't go on" Kikyou smiled, "We become desperate and the angel comes out of us, wings sprout from us Inuyasha, we truly become angels…fallen angels."
"Fallen…angels?"
"Yes…there called fallen angels because after whatever put us there is in its place…we fly away and we die. That's why it's are ultimate move because we are destined to die afterwards"
His eyes were wide in alarm, jumping down from the tree and landing beside her. "You're not going to ever die like that!"
"How do you know?" She said smiling tauntingly.
"I wouldn't let it! I'd never let you die like that! I'd die right along side with you if something like that happened!"
End Flashback+
"You know the scariest thing about it Kagome?" Inuyasha said smiling bitterly. "I didn't let her die like that, and I DID die right along side her"
"A fallen angel" Kagome said in bewilderment.
"Just like Kikyou was"
"Nani?"
XOXOX
"Oy! Sango-chan!" Kikyou said somewhat nervous, she needed a friend desperately now and she was seeking comfort in Sango.
Sango blinked a few times by the close formality "Hai? Kikyou…chan?"
Kikyou lowered herself into the water next towards the girl, Sango rising to a stand slightly turning her back towards Kikyou. Kikyou stared slightly almost in bewilderment. "On your back…Sango-chan?"
Sango smiled nervously. "Oh that! The scar's still there hun?"
"Did you get that…from exterminating a demon?"
"No…" Sango looked a bit sad now her eyes clouded and then unexpectedly giving off a laugh. "I wish it was…the one who gave me this scar…was Kohaku"
"Kohaku?" Kikyou said almost in disbelief as Sango lowered herself back towards Kikyou.
"When he was possessed…it was at Naraku's castle…that was when Kohaku died"
"I'm sorry" Kikyou said "I just never knew another girl to have scars other then myself"
Sango blinked almost in surprise. "You have scars to Kikyou-chan? Other then mentally of course, I mean! That came out wrong I just meant with Inuyasha and everything…." Sango said trailing off. 'Oh that so didn't come out right!'
Kikyou laughed nervously. "Yes…I suppose you to have heard the story; your not very fond of me are you Sango-chan?"
"It's not that! You saved my brother I couldn't be more grateful. It's just I'm Kagome's best friend; I have to support her relationship with Inuyasha. I don't know how either one of you put up with his two timing! It just makes me so mad!"
"it sounds like you love a pervert!" Kikyou said jokingly but stopped at Sango's red blush. So she did love a pervert, how ironic.
Kikyou rose to a stand lifting her black hair above her head slowly. She had two parallel scars starting from her shoulder blade to the end of her back.
"My god" Sango stared in awe "How did you…I'm so sorry Kikyou-chan…I just didn't realize"
Kikyou smiled, "Oh it's nothing, I'm a fallen angel of course so…"
"What?"
"It's a miko's ultimate attack" Kikyou said longingly almost as if the scars were more of a dream then an actual scar. "Your suppose to die immediately after releasing it. I guess you could say, I was the miko who lived." (Sorry guys that sounds like Harry potter, the boy who lived, but trust me the ideas are nothing the same)
"You didn't die…I heard of that…that move is invinsable so why didn't you die?" Sango said in surprise.
"My mother" She said slowly. "The demon killed my mother" Her voice turned bitter, "Kaede never met mama because of that filthy beast. I put him in his place…but before I went to die…before I went to lose it all, I found out the secret to the Fallen miko."
Flashback+
The thirteen year old girl stood, blood running down her back the black wings sweeping around her body. Her hair was tied back as it always had been and she looked tiredly to the disfigured body. He had suffered seven winters of hell and he was finally dead, and soon she would be too. The villagers stared in awe, tears in their eyes of hurt and confusion, the young girl who had protected them through war and strife was dying because of an undying hate for a youkai who had slain her mother during child birth.
"Miko-sama" The village women said holding the small child in her hands. "The child lives"
Kikyou stared tiredly towards them, walking the women almost looked afraid. Blood ran Kikyou's back in endless floods; the black feathers from the wings spiraling around her, her miko's uniform tattered at the ends. The women placed the baby in her hands and the anger in Kikyou's heart ceased to exsist as she held her dear sister's body in her hand.
"Kaede"
"Miko-sama…"
"The child will be called Kaede"
The little infant smiled and Kikyou kissed her forehead. The hatred was still not in her heart.
Kikyou suddenly fell then to her knees, holding Kaede close to her heart as the wings seemed to coil back into her back and the blood seemed to stop and the skin seemed to sow itself back together again.
End flashback+
"That's the secret"
"Kikyou-chan" Sango said in awe, it was such a sad feeling, Sango thought walking over and hugging her stiffly. True in the place and position it was terribly akward and Sango found herself blushing as she pulled backwards.
"You were brave as a teenager" Sango said smiling "I couldn't have done it"
"But you did didn't you? Were not really that different are we? We both fight to live, it's become who we are"
Sango laughed nervously. "I suppose your right Kikyou-chan, I suppose your right after all"
The two girls bathed in silence after that, and Kikyou wondered silently about Sesshomaru and wondered if she'd have to be a fallen angel once again, when it came to Naraku and she wondered if she would live a second time.
Authors Note: What you think? I liked it, lol, thoughts? Comments? Concerns? R&R