Blood Of The Heart
By AriznGlori
A/N: Hello, all. This is the third installment of Blood of the Heart. I hoped you guys and gals liked the last chapter. It's going to be hard to write and update now that the school year is back, and I'm in a lot of Honors and GT classes. Oh well, at least I have year-round Art 1. Yay for art! On that note, yay for anime! Can I get an amen? How about a round of applause? , Will you do my homework? ," Ahem…('-,-')
Moonshine alcoholic beverages illegally imported by the citizens who were denied them.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Inuyasha franchise, I'd be really rich. And famous. And envied. Did I say rich? And famous? And envied?
Chapter 3: The Restless
The echo of the doors shocked everyone in the room, and Kagome jumped out of her seat. "We have to leave this place!" she cried. "There's no logical reason for staying in this accursed town!" Fearing the worst, she ran to Inuyasha, and he held her in her fear.
"No fear, Kagome. It's just Miroku," he said calmly. Sure enough, Miroku appeared in the open doorway.
"Sango!" he called. His voice was soft, depressed. Sango rushed to him.
"Miroku!" she cried. "Are you all right?" Miroku nodded in response. "Thank goodness! Where is Shippo? Is he all right? Did you find him?" Miroku gulped.
"I…I found him…" he said uneasily. "But he was gone from the world of the living. I saw him in an alley two streets down, crouched over a dead cat, drinking its blood." Sango put a hand over her mouth, and backed away, looking ready to vomit or faint, or both. "I ran to grasp him, to purify his body of the evil," Miroku continued softly, "but he leapt away lightly, and threw blue fire at me, screaming in Latin. I was unable to understand him… I couldn't get to his parents, either; their house is already being patrolled by the wolves…I'll have to tell them tomorrow."
"Oh my God…" Kagome shuddered in cold-blooded horror. Miroku had to break the bad news to the bartender and his wife. She had seen them and heard the man, Leon, talk about his child. We have a son, Shippo, somewhere around town. Runs wild with a group of friends, causing minor mischief and the like. He has a job as a mail deliverer, but so little we get in this town that he works mostly in the summer, handing out a newspaper. "What happened to the poor boy?"
"The vampire…it corrupted him," Miroku said gravely. "Over a long period of time, too. This night, I suspect, Shippo was finally baptized… with the vampire's own blood… What will become of him, none will know…" his voice trailed off.
"Oh my God…vampires…Oh my God…" Kagome started to hyperventilate. Her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief.
"Kagome, please Darling, just calm down, all right? Everything will be fine. We'll leave as soon as possible," Inuyasha said. Myoga was still gobbling down crumpets, only now in fear and not hunger.
Miroku turned to look at the visitors. His once bright purple eyes were now dulled with pain and grief. His demeanor was declining into depression, his strong body deteriorating with the work he was now doing. Whatever that was. His long black cloak was lightly dusted with snow, and a cross of silver hung from his belt.
"You cannot leave," he said emotionlessly. "I won't allow it, and neither will he." With that, the once happy, perverted young man turned from them and walked into the foyer, and up the sweeping staircase, his cloaking billowing behind him. Inuyasha, Kagome, and Myoga looked at Sango in utter shock at Miroku's strange behavior.
The poor woman in front of them seemed to collapse under all that happened to her; things unknown came pouring out of her like water, and she wept in disgrace and misery. Kagome then pulled herself together to help her best friend.
"Dearest Sango, it's all right," she murmured, holding her weeping friend in her arms. "Shhh… it's all going to be made right," she spoke, the confidence in those words surprising everyone. Sango continued to weep, shaking her head as her friend held her close.
"N-no, Kagome…it… won't… ever… be… all right…" she said between sobs. "Ever…"
"Why?" Kagome asked softly. "Why won't it be all right?" she ran her free hand through Sango's dark locks, surprisingly finding a few gray hairs.
"WE…CAN'T…LEAVE!"
"Why, Sango? Why?"
"B-because…" her voice trailed off.
"Because?"
"The snow… and… the magic, and…the…monsters! The… passes… don't …open till… summer…"she gasped.
"But we got in," Myoga pointed out. Kagome nodded in agreement with him. Inuyasha followed suit.
"That's just it!" Sango wailed. "We… can't leave… until summer. You can come… in winter, but not leave!"
"Barriers of magic, and monsters…" Inuyasha said in a creepily calm voice. "You can come in, but you just can't get out, no matter what you do… until summer… This place really is cursed…"
"There… are signs," Sango hiccupped. She sat up straight, and softly whispered a creepy poem that recounted a few signs they had noticed.
" 'The Snow shall not glitter,
The sun shall not shine,
You'll be locked here all winter,
And then you'll be mine.'
"He wrote that on every door in the town over twenty years ago, or so the villagers say… Ever since then… he has claimed the village as his own. He rules us unofficially… we cannot seek help, for he can lock us in this valley and freeze the river if he wants. He guards us with his minions, and keeps us imprisoned in our homes until summer comes. Then, and only then, his power is harder for him to use, harder for him to keep us in or out without drawing the attention of the Empire… But still we cannot speak of it, for his army of demons watch us and pursue us, no matter where we go…"
"Oh my dear Sango!" Kagome exclaimed. She hugged her friend tightly. "No wonder you are stressed! When summer comes, will you leave with us?"
"Yes," Sango said. "Miroku and I count the days until the snow melts. But we are never sure. Come. Let me try to keep your minds off of what lurks beyond our walls. Let's go to the kitchen and eat some more food. If I know Miroku, then he's already in the kitchen pigging out on our hickory-smoked roast ham."
"Ooh, that sounds so tasty," Inuyasha said, his mouth watering. Kagome looked at him like he was an idiot. She slapped him upside the head. "Ouch!"
"Did you hear anything she just said?! Don't you feel the least bit scared? For us if not yourself? Inuyasha, sometimes you are such a jerk!" she cried in fury, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring in the opposite direction.
"I am not!" the young man countered. "I am just listening to Sango and trying to keep my mind off of what lurks out there!" he pointed toward a tall, narrow glass window, beyond which glowing red eyes passed. Kagome just about had a heart attack at that point. "T-to t-the k-kitchen!" she cried, her sudden change not unexpected. Myoga took off ahead of them, and the rest followed him. The flea-like man, using his nose, found his way into the kitchen with no difficulty. He plopped himself down at the linen-covered kitchen table, and watched as Miroku, just as Sango predicted, began to cut the ham.
Unlike what Sango had said though, there were plates laid out for the guests, and Miroku began putting pieces on the plates. Wine glasses were laid out, and a bottle of White Zinfandel and a bottle of Beaujolais, exclusively from France, were set out next to a bowl of various colored grapes, apples, and raspberries. Also on the table were a wheel of provolone cheese from the Swiss Alps, and a large bowl of salad.
"What's the occasion for the moonshine?" Inuyasha asked.
"Our friends' safe arrival," Miroku replied with a smile. "Sorry about my behavior. I am under a little bit of stress."
"As am I," echoed Sango, who sat herself at Miroku's side. "Sorry we didn't tell you not to come, but we didn't know about the vampire until we came here, and we couldn't have a message sent out until next summer. So, we anticipated your arrival and prepared."
"That's very nice of you," Kagome said politely. "Inuyasha, come and sit." Inuyasha eagerly obeyed, plopping himself down across from Miroku, Kagome next to him. Myoga was on his other side. So the three visitors sat facing the hosts, waiting for what would come next; at least until Inuyasha just decided to dig in again. But before he could sink his fork into the juicy ham, Miroku lashed out with his own, whacking Inuyasha's hand, causing him to drop his fork. "SAY GRACE FIRST!" Miroku yelled, then immediately was calm again.
The outburst was so sudden that no one was sure it really happened. But just to be on the safe side, they all folded their hands. Miroku led them in prayer:
"Thank you O Lord, and lease Thy gifts which we are about to share through Thy bounty of Christ our Lord. Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly grateful. Guide us in Thy works, and help us to receive eternal life within You and protection from evil under Your wings. Amen." A round of amens, most from Sango, followed the strangely long prayer. They then quietly began to eat their dinner as the beasts that probed the streets of the night-enshrouded village gazed hatefully at them through the windows.
January 5, 1641
Dear Diary,
Sorry to interrupt you, but I had to update!
We arrived at the home of the Josifs not too long ago, and ate dinner. I learnt that the son of the bartender who couldn't give us bandages earlier today was found, undead, in an alleyway just after sunset. Yes, you heard what I said: undead! I am very scared, Diary. That is why I am updating. Miroku has become a monster, like a man left alone with his thoughts for too long. I know now that he helps people escape the dreaded demons that I now know patrol the streets at night. I saw one, Diary. It had red eyes, and stared at us through the windows. I didn't know if it was dead or not, but it reminded of the walking corpse-like man in my dream. His eyes were the same shade of red.
I am in one of the three occupied guest rooms right now, by myself on the large bed. It is cozy and soft, and if I don't keep writing, I fear I'll fall asleep. Miroku put crosses on the windows and the handles of the doors, saying they will keep the room demon-free. I tried to hide how scared I was by joking that Inuyasha will never be able to get in. But I am scared nonetheless. If not by the demons, then by that dream I had. After dinner, Sango tended to my hand, remedying it with herbs and bandages. She asked my how got burnt in such an unusual pattern, but I just said that I thought I got it in the crash, but I have a feeling that it was from my dream. Sango warned me not to open the windows no matter what, and to never invite a stranger into the house or anyone who hesitates at the door, for that matter. She says vampyres will not be able to come in unless you invite them. I hope don't take a familiar form.
Lovingly Yours,
Kagome Higurashi
Kagome closed her diary, put her writing supplies back, and finished unpacking all of her clothes and putting them into beautiful dressers and trunks. She rearranged parts of the room, feeling that since she would be in town for a while, she might as well be comfortable. She blew out all her candles except one, just for extra light, and tucked herself into the huge, soft bed.
But she did not sleep. Nor could she.
She stared around her room, at the silver crosses in frequent patterns everywhere, even on the door to the washroom her room shared with Inuyasha's. She looked from her bed out the window, which viewed north to the castle. She stared at the structure, sitting on the top of the mountainous hill, the arches of aqueducts gracing the deep velvet sky around it.
It was beautiful, with many fanciful towers and turrets, jagged against the sky. And, as she stared at it, she noticed something odd. In the highest room of the tallest tower, there appeared a small pinprick of light. Wait, she thought. The castle has been abandoned for many years, right? So, it makes no sense…Why would there be a light at the top of the tower?
"Hmmm…Moonlight reflecting off of a glass window, most likely. It can't be anything serious," she told herself, trying to relax, but growing all the more anxious just the same.
Admit it, you silly girl: you know there is someone…or something… up there…something that shouldn't be. There is someone there, in that big old castle… Someone who is poisonous and terrible, ruinous and ruined...
"The vampire," she breathed in sudden, petrified trepidation.
And someone else, too… Lost, but desperately sought after. Searched for endlessly…a lost mother… You know who it is…Think carefully, the vow you made… remember to search for…
Then it hit her.
"Kagura," she whispered. Yes, that's it! Kagura, wife of the brother of Inuyasha; it must be her! Then, as she watched, the light sputtered out, at the same time the last candle behind her did. It was just a reflection, she thought. But somehow, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was a light, as well. It was just… too… real…
She rolled over in her bed, facing the wall where the door to her room was. Light filtered through under it, but then was snuffed out as the sound of Sango's light footsteps echoed down the hall. She shivered in the darkness. No moonlight pierced the clouds outside; no star was visible in the elegant window.
She had the shivering thought that something out there was watching her; over period of long seconds, she convinced herself that a pair of red eyes were glaring at her from beyond the glass.
The eyes, once there, wouldn't go away. She stared at them, scared out of her wits, and they stared right back. Beady and small, their powerful glare held her enthralled, captivated in the darkness.
But then she saw one eye blink, and then the eyes were revealed to belong to a bat, hanging upside down from a tree branch outside of her window. She felt a surge of relief when the bat flew off, but then felt a sudden chill as the darkness returned.
She closed her eyes.
Believe it or not, but she saw more light with her eyes closed than open. She kept them closed, then opened them again. The darkness was there still, only now she saw a beam of light, hitting the center of her room.
But it wasn't her room anymore.
The furnishings were richer, more elegant, older and darker than the current style. A large crystal chandelier hung from the much higher domed ceiling, whichever a much larger bedroom, one round crystal diverting a beam of moonlight from the large pointed-arch window down to the form of a woman, weeping on the floor, which was an elegant woven rug. She had long, straight black hair, tied with a white ribbon. She wore a white dress, elegant and old-fashioned. She was facing the floor, and, as far as Kagome could tell, bent over a large red stain in the rug. Kagome knew with a chill certainty what that red stain was. Blood.
She got out of her bed, her silk nightgown shifting, and carefully walked up to the beautiful, weeping woman. She was behind the strange figure now, and couldn't see her face. "Excuse me miss," Kagome whispered. "Are you all right?"
She tapped the doubled-over figure of the woman, who rose, her hands covering her face. Her skin was smooth as silk, but white as marble. She turned around to face Kagome, revealing her front. Blood seeped through the weeping one's hands, down her white sleeves, soaking them with red blood. Her chest and dress front were also stained red, and she sobbed as Kagome reached out to hold her.
"Oh my goodness! What happened to you?" The woman cried harder.
"Here, let me help-"
Then, with speed not gifted to the living, the woman grabbed Kagome around the neck with one hand, pinning her to the wall. The woman scratched away at the girl with claws, shrieking as Kagome felt the talons rip through her thin nightgown and into her tender flesh. The pain blew her away as she felt blood flow down her dress, which was being shredded away into nothing. Kagome kicked off from the wall desperately, throwing herself at the woman in an attempt to knock her over and escape. But that was not to be. Tackling her to the floor, Kagome tried to escape, but the woman flipped their positions, pinning her on her back. The woman's hands were like claws, and Kagome, struggling for breath beneath the painful grasp of the sharp-nailed fingers, stared up into the woman's empty eye sockets, from which blood fell in awful torrents.
"Oh-my-god," she barely managed to say in her fear.
Horror filled the poor horrified girl, and she tried to claw at the woman's dead, yet beautiful face, struggling to escape from her strength, her malice. The woman roared at Kagome with a thundering ferocity that belonged to a lion, her rotten breath mixed with more blood beating Kagome's black hair into waving lengths along the carpet. Long sharp fangs growing from her fetid toothless gums, the woman bit the girl beneath her hard on the neck.
Kagome screamed.
"KAGOME!" The shout was a male's voice, coming from the direction of the washroom, or where the washroom was. "Kagome! What's wrong? Are you okay?! Kagome!"
She could see the voice's owner, Inuyasha, standing in the doorway that would normally be the way to the washroom, but was not there now. He looked like he was coming out of the paneled wall. But then he ran to her, and scooped her off of the floor, right through the dead woman, and back into the regular bedroom. She threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed into his chest.
"Oh, Inuyasha, thank you! I was so scared! Thank God you came!" He set her on her feet, and awkwardly patted her head while she held on to him, for dear life it seemed. He stared down at her, her body not in any way cut, but her nightgown --or the very little remains of it, which barely covered anything-- was soaked in blood. "Kagome, whose blood is that?" he asked, trying very hard not to stare at the girl's nearly exposed chest-- and failing miserably--, pressed against him, he in nothing but a black robe he hastily threw on. He tried to pry her from him, her grasp painful in her fear. "D-don't," Kagome whispered when he tried. "I-I is not decent."
"Kagome, I need to go get you a robe, okay?" he said, trying his very hardest to reason with the frightened creature. Kagome nodded, covered her chest, and went to sit on the edge of her bed. Inuyasha went to his room and came back with a large, man-sized black silk robe, the second pair of the type he had on. He wrapped it around Kagome and she tied the sash. Then, he sat in a chair against the wall, facing her as she sat back down on the bed, wrapped comfortably in the robe which, though several sizes to big, looked incredibly sexy on her.
(A/N: Am I allowed to write this? How old am I again?)
They just sat there for a while, in the dark, the only light being a lit candle in the washroom.
Kagome sighed, and lit a few of her own candles. The room was still silent. Inuyasha, growing more and more uncomfortable, started to speak.
"Kagome… what happened to you?" he asked, his voice uneasy, filled with concern. Kagome looked up at him, her eyes sad, tired, and frightened.
"I don't know," she whispered softly, closing her eyes. Instantly she saw the woman's deadly unseeing face, now rotted. She quickly opened her eyes immediately.
"Inuyasha…" she spoke softly. "I… I don't think I'll be able to sleep again."
"I don't think you should," Inuyasha said, incredibly concerned now. "Your dreams since the accident…only two, but…Kagome, what is happening to you?"
"I don't know!" Kagome replied, breaking up now. "I just can't sleep! I can't! Every time I hic close my eyes, I see them!" She began to hiccup wildly now. "I see the man with red eyes, and hic a woman with no eyes! She wept out all her blood and tried to hic steal mine! They want to hurt me, Inuyasha! They want me hic to be one of them!"
"Kagome, what are you talking about? What woman?" Inuyasha held her weeping form still now. He was at her side, down on one knee, gazing up into her eyes. His whole position in relation to hers made Kagome quiet enough to start.
"I saw, hic in my dream, a hic-man, weeping in the center of this old room. It seemed right hic out of a castle from the Dark Ages. I came up to her to hic see what was wrong, but she turned around… and attacked me! She had no hic eyes, and blood poured from the sockets all hic over me. Then you hic came, and saved me." She stared around the room. "I can still see her, Inuyasha." Her voice was a fast whisper, and her eyes were wide. "She is here, in the hic room; somehow… I can see her when I close my eyes, and I am afraid…hic…" She sniffled slightly. "That is why I can't hic sleep, Inuyasha."
"Kagome…" Inuyasha looked at her, his eyes half closed. He was thinking. "Maybe, well… I… could… sleep… with you…" He scratched the back of his head nervously, a sweat drop on his head. He put on an uneasy smile in the short silent period between them. "B-but then again, if you don't want me to…"
"NO!" She said immediately, beginning to squeeze him. But then she stopped herself, ran a hand through her bangs. "No… Inuyasha. That would be very kind of you… Thanks…"
"Um, err, okay… Who's room?" he asked nervously.
Kagome looked around the room, and at the window viewing the castle on the hill. "Does your room have a window that faces north?"
"No… it faces east…" Inuyasha replied.
"Your room," Kagome said with a smile, and walked with Inuyasha out of the bedroom and across the hall, slipping her hand into his.
End of Chapter Three
A/N: Getting' good, huh? Like the blind dead woman! That idea took me a while. So did the short fluff scene at the end. I'm working with this as it goes along, so bear with all my ideas, okay? I'm trying to jam all of the scariest possible situations into one plot, and I'm not doing too well. Ah well. If you don't like it, go to hell. Reviews please! New poll:
Which girl is cooler? (Be honest!) Sango or Kagome? Personally, (I'm a boy, don't judge me) they're both hot. Sango has curves… Kagome's cuter… Hmm…which one?