Love beyond the Western Lands: Curse of the Black Gem

Chapter 10: Youkai Miko no Kokoro

A/N: Kokoro means heart or spirit. In this case, it means Demon Priestess Spirit. .

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Sara's ears twitched in such an Inuyasha-ish fashion. Shinidama Chu swooped over and about her. 'So… it has happened…" A light breeze swayed Sara's radiant auburn hair, disturbing the flow of the snow (Hey that rhymes! dodges knives and bullets while sending arrows back Ok, GOSH! O.o).

Sara once again, jumped off the snowy roof and sat on her main Shinidama Chu. She sighed. "To Sesshoumaru-dono (Dono is the honorific, stating one is a lord or lady)… don't enter, simply hover about his home," she stated curtly as the Shinidama Chu took lift.

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White lavender-tinted hair… white robes… solid purple eyes… the scent of death. Hakudoushi walked out silently out from the shadows, wearing his white boots and carrying the halberd he had torn off from the previous owner of the fire horse, Entei. Naraku narrowed his eyes. "Strange," he said curtly. "Doushite (Why), Naraku?" Hakudoushi asked, unfazed. Naraku narrowed his eyes even more. "You rarely wear shoes, let alone sandals."

Hakudoushi frowned fiercely. "How do you expect me to travel in this weather with no shoes?" Naraku chuckled lightly. "Whatever you say." "Kagura: Where is she?" "What do you need her for?" Hakudoushi grinned evilly. "Bait." Naraku pulled out something long and silvery and threw it at Hakudoushi like a throwing knife.

Hakudoushi caught it with his two fingers before it reached his right eye. "Open her shackles with that key," Naraku said, continuing looking out the window.

Hakudoushi tramped down to the deep, dank dungeon. Kagura was chained up on a wall. She looked up wearily at Hakudoushi. She narrowed her eyes slightly as Hakudoushi did so. "Hakudoushi," Kagura replied curtly, trying to sound strong. Hakudoushi smirked slightly. "Kagura."

They stared at each other hardly. "What do you want?" Kagura said abruptly. Hakudoushi narrowed his eyes sharply into slits. A pain zinged through Kagura as she grew pale with cold sweat. "Don't be rude, Kagura," Hakudoushi said coolly. The long slender key sped to the key hole, clicking as it turned with its invisible hands. "What's going on?" Kagura asked as the pain faded away and she fell to the floor, weakened. Hakudoushi made towards the exit, but Kagura's cold gaze continued. "Pull yourself together," Hakudoushi said, not looking at her. He threw a pair of sandals and thick split toed socks at her feet. "Put those on." Kagura did as she was told.

"Why is Naraku letting me go?" Hakudoushi said nothing. "Hey!" With that sharp word, Hakudoushi spun around, throwing a steel collar at her neck attached with a chain. "AGH!" Kagura exclaimed. Her attempts too remove the collar were futile. Smaller, lighter chains appeared around Kagura. Clamps appeared at her ankles and wrists. "WHAT IS THIS?" Kagura yelled. The chain which attached to the collar at Kagura's neck flew swiftly back to Hakudoushi's hand.

The chains around Kagura disappeared. She raised her arm with ease. "Know this, Kagura," Hakudoushi began. "Although your chains have disappeared, I can control your movements like a marionette."

Hakudoushi turned to leave, but in a flash, Kagura's fan popped out. When she raised it and made to attack, Hakudoushi spun around. He put his thumb and index finger together and pulled back, as if picking something out.

Suddenly, Kagura lurched forward. Hakudoushi sprinted at her, kneeing her stomach, Kagura groaned, falling in pain. Hakudoushi smiled cockily. "What did I say, Kagura? Never underestimate me." He began to walk, his white lavender tinted hair flowing. When Kagura did not move, Hakudoushi gave a sharp jerk of the chain, forcing her to move.

When they reached outside, it was already snowing heavily. The chain on the steel collar faded away but the collar remained intact. "Entei!" Hakudoushi commanded. A rough wind blew. A huge white horse with flames enveloping its feet and a mane of fire stood at Hakudoushi. Hakudoushi smiled and patted it side: Entei neighed appreciatively. Kagura scoffed.

Hakudoushi looked sideways at her. Suddenly, the collar TIGHTENED. Kagura's face paled. Her breath was cut off as she gasped for the precious oxygen. Hakudoushi narrowed his eyes: the collar grew tighter, making Kagura faint. "There we go…" Hakudoushi said softly, watching Entei pick Kagura up with his teeth and flinging her on his back. The collar loosened as Hakudoushi leapt on Entei's back. With a light tap with his feet, Entei leapt in the air, blowing out the snow from the bottom.

"Find Sesshoumaru," Hakudoushi said, Entei already speeding away. "Then we shall take their Shikon vessels," Hakudoushi thought.

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Kyoko's heart shook. What just happened? No, it was too soon for her to pass on to the other world. She dropped her branch of winter fresh and backed away from the light bubbling pot. Kyoko sighed. And she thought she would be able to save Kikyou… "Her body must have sustained heavy damage…" She sighed as tears pricked at the back of her eyes. She put the fire out for the antidote and walked back to her bed room.

"I lied to him, and then I was unable to help him…" Kyoko thought as she removed her skin tight Kuniochi outfit and slipped on a blood red kimono. She walked out to the cauldron of what was supposed to be, the incomplete antidote.

Kyoko pulled out a tube of blood, supposedly extracted from a youkai. "I knew this would come in handy someday," Kyoko thought.

-Flashback-
Family. Friends. Her lover. All laid in a bloody pile from the Gokumonki (hell's gate ogre). "Soichiro!" Kyoko cried. Tears streamed from her eyes as she pulled her bloody love into her arms. "Kyoko…" his voice was raspy and his breathing was labored. "I love you." "NO, SOICHIRO," Kyoko screamed into the night. She ran her hands through his long, dark green hair. A tear welled up in Soichiro's silver moon eyes. "Kyoko… go on with your life. Find someone new to love. Until then, I'll be waiting for you at the other side of the world." "No, Soichiro, no!" "Sayonara (For here, it means farewell), Kyoko-Chan…"

"No…" Kyoko thought. She laid Soichiro on the porch of her home ever so lightly as she sadly thought, "Why does everyone do this to me?" She drew her slender katana and faced the demon and darted. "What has unmei (destiny or fate –Pronounced: UUN-may-) done to me?"

Kyoko leapt in the air, slashing the Gokumonki's face. It howled in pain as it knocked Kyoko blindly with its clawed hand. Kyoko felt numb, cold. "This is the end of me…" she thought as she fell, bleeding. "Soichiro… I am coming."

As the Gokumonki once again raised its claws to finish her off, a flash of gold light went passed her eyes. "What?" Silver hair, snow white kimono, periwinkle crescent moon, purple stripes… At his fingertips appeared a gold whip. With a swift wave of his arm, the Gokumonki was split in half.

"Omae wa dareda (Omae is the disrespectful version of you. All together, it would mean 'Who the hell are you?' .)?" Kyoko asked harshly. The man walked over to her. Kyoko's heart skipped a beat. He was so handsome! "I am Sesshoumaru, lord of the western lands." "And I am Kyoko, head Kuniochi of my clan." Paying no heed that he heard her, he dropped a reasonably sized pouch. "It's salve. Put it on your wounds. It is good for it." With that, he left.

After Kyoko was done applying the salve. She placed it in her pouch and made to bury and pay tribute to her fallen kin. Tears fell from her eyes as she knelt down and bowed. "One day," she declared, "I will repay my debt to Sesshoumaru."

Pulling a slender tube out from her belt, she walked over to the split Gokumonki. On one side, blood drizzled down like a fountain. Holding the tube directly under the flowing blood, it filled quickly, and then she corked it.

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Tears flowed back to her eyes as she remembered her fallen lover. "I knew this would be handy," she thought. Kyoko poured the red substance into the cauldron. "Aoi no Ame, Akai no Botan, Moeru no Etowa-ru, Moeru ni jigoku, Gokumonki (Rain of blue, Blood of the Peony the burning Star, Burn in hell, Gate Ogre –As you know, Akai means red, but since I couldn't find the word for blood, I had to use Akai instead. Ni means two, but it can also mean to or in. –smiles sheepishly-)!" Kyoko chanted.

Soon, the liquid swirled. As the red blood mixing in the light periwinkle blue, turning it into a smooth royal purple. Taking another vial, Kyoko ladled the poison into the vial until it was half an inch from the rim then corked it. While pulling her katana into her belt, she leapt on to her snow-white horse and cantered away, looking for Sesshoumaru.

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Warm, silvery drops rolled down Sesshoumaru's smooth cheeks. In his arms, was a lifeless Kikyou. Sesshoumaru touched his cheeks. Tears… "Am I… crying?" he thought. He smiled sadly. Sesshoumaru's first tears. He held Kikyou tighter. She had already died once. A second experience of an eternal sleep.

The door slid open. Rin and Tomo ran towards their father and mother, tears welling up in there eyes. "Okaasan! Okaasan!" Tomo and Rin shook Kikyou, in attempt to wake her. But she didn't. Kikyou's black pools were locked away, through her soft eyelids. Tears streamed down Tomo and Rin's porcelain faces (I don't remember if I already told you but, Tomo is older than Rin because he has dragon blood. Rin also has an equally long life span…. somehow… XD). Sesshoumaru sighed. "Tomo, Rin," he began. "Go wake Enju. We are going to look for Sara."

Tomo and Rin nodded frantically as the jogged out of the room.

"The ritual must hurry. Tenseiga is no longer by my side and I cannot revive her."

-Flashback-

Sesshoumaru traipsed to his father's grave. He looked at the monument with great respect. "Chichi-ue (This is a VERY respectful term for father XD Otousan and Okaasan are used today XD Sorry! Only Chichi-ue and Haha-ue, which means mother, are no longer used today. .)…" Sesshoumaru whispered. Memories of him, playing with his father, eating with his father, sparring with his father and such flooded back to his mind. How he had to die over that ningen onna (Ningenhuman OnnaWoman), Izayoi.

He walked into his father's hollowed tomb. There were the swords: Tetsusaiga; soon to be Inuyasha's sword ("If he ever finds it," Sesshoumaru thought, smirking), So'unga, his father's sword, stabbed on three pedestals with their sheaths lying in front of the pedestal. All there was missing was Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru's sword. He pulled it out of his obi. It clicked as it hit Toukijin's unsheathed blade.

"This sword does nothing but give life." Sesshoumaru said aloud. He looked up, facing the large statue of his father behind the swords. "I have no need for it if it does not inflict pain and damage."

Sesshoumaru unsheathed Tenseiga and stabbed the blade in the right pedestal and laying the sheath before it. Giving it one last fleeting look, he left.

-End Flashback-

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Meanwhile, several leagues away…

Inuyasha's ears twitched. "What's wrong?" Sango asked. "Something's not right…" Inuyasha said. "I agree…" Miroku spoke up. "There appears to be… a dark jewel…" "What!" Kagome exclaimed. "I can feel it too!" A now older Shippou as well as a stronger one, piped up. Inuyasha nodded. "And something else as well: Kikyou's dead."

To be continued…

A/N: Ok, I spent a hell of a lot of time doing this chapter for you! Notice how LONG it is! –Smiles- I expect at least 2 reviews! –Sorry since I've been slow on updating. It's just some evil people i.e. Verizon, parents do not let me on the computer or give me a bad connection that does not allow me to update! –smiles evilly with weapons behind back-