Blood Of The Heart
By AriznGlori
A/N: Hello, all. The responses have been… well…interesting, to say the least. But who cares, really? Almost every anime girl is hot. Ah well…I will never live this down in front of my female peers… ('-,-') This will never be over, will it? My Internet sucks! My house is the problem, not the landlord. The stupid phone jacks won't work, and my dogs chewed up my cable line. Writing is all I do, and I post using my best friends' computers. I'm pathetic!
As for the unusual offer Inuyasha made Kagome, let's just say this: When Inuyasha is human, he tends to be much nicer to Kagome, and since he is human for most of this fan fiction story, he will be a nice guy for most of the time, at least until I figure out some good heroic anime dialog that doesn't use so many big words.
Wah! My eyes look like GE labels! Thanks to you all who have been so patient with me, even though you are at home banging a bat on my head, which is really your globe of the Earth, and cursing me for updating slowly. Trust me, if I could update faster, I would! I want you to like me! (Curses non-existent peer pressure)
BEDEUTEND! The German phrase with the "" means Save My Soul.
Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, I'd give him to the highest bidder and keep Kagome for myself. Since I can't do that, I must not own him. Common sense you copyright police!
Chapter 4: What We Bury
Kagome slept very well that night, not realizing that Inuyasha had stayed awake, nervous about sharing the same bed as his beautiful female friend.
Oh God, he thought, she is so beautiful all the time. But did he really mean it, or was it the proximity of her chest and his face? Either way, this poor guy was very tired when the sun finally lit the black sky, turning it a hollow gray. The room brightened steadily, and when Kagome woke up, she found tired brown eyes staring into her own blue ones.
"Good morning Inuyasha," she said happily, hugging him. "Thank you for letting me sleep with you."
"Err…No problem at all," he said with a yawn.
"I never had a single bad dream," she said softly. "I am so sorry about last night. I woke you up, and you had to give me one of your robes."
"Oh, don't worry," he responded with a smile. "I carried that extra robe for just such an occa-" he stopped speaking when he realized what he was saying, and blushed.
"Sorry," he murmured.
"Sorry? Why? I'm glad you brought that robe. It was kind of you to not make me sleep with you in nothing but my skin."
"Mm. Yes… really kind… Let's get up before Sango barges in and catches us this way. Who knows what she would think?" He quickly stood up, hauling Kagome to her feet, and walking her back to her room. She stumbled along after him, through the washroom and into her own room. Then, he whirled around and stormed back through the washroom, closing the door behind him. Kagome stared after him in a daze.
"What crawled up his butt and died?" She shrugged it off as a guy thing, and went to get dressed in the much less frightening room. "Amazing what a little sunlight can do."
And she really did mean little. The sky was as gray as lead, and the sun that came through was the same sickly sun as yesterday. Kagome dug through her dresser drawers, looking for the most boring dress she had. It turned out to be a large black long-sleeved dress that was now a faded gray. There was white detailing covering it in the form of ivy-like twisting lines.
"Why did I pack this again?" Why, for a funeral, of course! You never know with the war going on. Unfortunately, Kagome had the feeling that there were frequent funerals here… After a quick wash-up she began to brush her hair. She looked into her mirror, and instantly regretted it.
The face of the dead woman was there, and she was rotting, a nearly transparent white burial shroud draped over her. She appeared to be praying, her mouth moving too fast to make out the words, but her whispers filled Kagome's head. Kagome was too scared to look away. She stared into that mirror for who knows how long, watching the woman pray, and she shivered to see the room behind the woman: a decaying tomb, beautiful, yet horrid.
"W-what is happening to me?" Kagome cried, and slapped herself, trying to rid her mind of what she was seeing. She couldn't. So she slapped herself again and again until her face was raw, but still she saw that woman, and she dared not move, could not move for fear of something worse.
Blood still poured down the dead woman's face, and Kagome reached up in fear to touch her own face, and found it covered in warm, muggy liquid. When she pulled her hand away from her face in shock, she saw it covered in crimson. She looked up at the mirror, and found herself staring at gleaming silver doors, the reflection of her room at Sango and Miroku's house on one of the panels, and she herself staring back, only it wasn't her: it was her body. It smiled devilishly, revealing rows of pointed teeth, and it waved, a red glint in its eyes. It was the woman. They had changed places.
"No! You can't have me!" she cried, and dove desperately at the panel, and, somehow, she came hurtling through her mirror back into her bedroom with a crash.
She lay on the ground, glass shards scattered around her. She looked back, and saw that the mirror was broken, it wooden back revealed. "What just happened?" she murmured in terrified wonder, her voice shaking in her chest. Suddenly the sounds of quick footsteps came outside her door, and Sango came rushing in. "Kagome! You broke our mirror!"
"Oops… I'm sorry Sango! I didn't mean to-"
"Dear me! It looks like it fell on you or something. Are you okay, Kagome?"
"Yes, Sango, I am. Thanks for asking," Kagome lied as pushed herself up and brushed shards of glass off of her ugly dress.
"No you're not. You have seven years' bad luck now! Quick, let's find a ladder for you to walk under. We need to cancel out the first bad luck!"
"Okay… Sango, now you're scaring me…"
"Kagome, everything here is real; everything that scares you can hurt you."
"Oh, now that's comforting…"
"You've got to learn that if you want to live through the winter. Don't just stand there! Come with me! There's a ladder in the storage house out back. Come on." And so, after a quick ten-minute trod to the shed, Kagome was "curse-free." Sango had led her out back, through the snow-enshrouded gardens, and the bartender was right: it was in full bloom. A blooming weeping willow still held all of its blossoms, though they were buried in snow; a rose-bed was still strikingly red beneath its frosty coat.
"Sango, my friend!" Kagome said in awe as they walked back into the garden, preparing to go inside again. "How did you do this? How do you let flowers bloom in the dead of winter? In the Austrian Alps, no less?"
Sango smiled knowingly, and led Kagome to a small rotunda under the shade of three tall pine trees. In the center of the rotunda stood a great stone crucifix of Jesus Christ, and all around the cross Sango had laid the dead flowers of her garden. "For every flower that dies, I pray for one to take its place. You see, Kagome, vampires are attracted to bright colors like red, blue, yellow, and green, and everything in between. But that is only when that thing moves. Flowers move only in the wind, so I can safely have a beautiful garden."
"But what about you saying 'Even the house colors are dulled'? The house can't be safe with a garden near it, right? The flowers seem bright to me, anyway."
"They have to be. Look at the house. The wrap-around portico keeps the plants away from the house. The house itself is dull. The gardens are sort of like… a distraction, if you will. The dead prowl the gardens, and the living prowl the house."
"Smart. How'd you figure that out?"
"Some guy put a rose in the middle of the road a few months ago, and the dead crowded around it," Sango said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Incredibly smart. Why'd he do that?" Kagome asked. The idea seemed so simple. Why didn't other houses have such gardens?
"They were chasing him for carrying it. Everything else he wore was black."
"Was? Not so smart anymore, is he?" Kagome remarked, trying to lighten the mood.
"No, he didn't get away…" Sango sighed, and led Kagome back into the gardens, up on the patio.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Kagome said, biting her lip.
"Don't worry about it. We have a funeral to attend later anyway… Shippo's…"
Suddenly a horrible wail echoed over the air, a wail so horrible that all who heard trembled, a deep, deadly sadness falling in their hearts. It was followed by long silence, as cold and sad as the wail itself.
"Victoria," Sango said, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Miroku must have just told her…"
"D-does this happen every day?"
"About every day, yes… But I knew Shippo, Kagome. It wasn't like a stranger dying… I helped mentor him for the last few months… I was Victoria's friend… He reminded me… of Kohaku…" She wept hard, leaning on a featureless stone column.
"Sango… I am so sorry…" Kagome reached to hold her, but was reminded of her dream. She pulled her hand away quickly, as if her friend would turn around and bight it off. She stood and watched.
"Don't be…" Sango replied, her voice choked with tears. She pushed herself off of the column, and turned around to face her friend. "It's not your fault, Kagome. What I should be more concerned about is that his memory is buried… We must have a funeral, and right away."
"But without a body?" What were they to bury without a body?
"We don't bury bodies in this place, Kagome. What we bury is far more important than any body." Her voice was cold, low, dead. She was standing, unmoving, her face expressionless.
"What do you mean, Sango?" Kagome felt the hairs under her gray sleeves stand on end. "What do you bury?" This village was creeping her out. She knew there were monsters nightmares, and darkness, but what of the dead? Where do they sleep, if ever?
"Love, Kagome my friend. We bury our love."
Kagome stared at Sango like she was mad. "I'm going to go find Inuyasha now…"
"Why? He left already with Miroku. He told you, didn't he?"
"Left already? Where did he and Miroku go?"
"He must not have told you, then. To The Fox Den, of course! Kagome, you seem to be getting ditzy to me. Over it live Leon and Victoria! Shippo's parents! You stopped in there, right? Miroku had to go tell them the bad news, and Inuyasha went with him."
"I need to go to him, Sango." Sango gazed at her with knowing eyes and a reluctant smile. Kagome had the feeling that inside; Sango was grinning from ear to ear.
"Why, Kagome? In a sudden rush to see our loved ones, hmm?"
"Err…" Kagome felt her face burning red, vividly and as hot as the summer sun. "He forgot to say 'good morning' back to me?"
"I don't believe you, but let's go anyway. There is no point in waiting around here. What have we to do? Let's go then. A merry idea of yours, Kagome, even you are a ditz." Sango said as they walked through the house, entering from the back door.
"A DITZ?" Sango looked at Kagome. Was that steam coming out of her ears?
"I said that out loud? Oops…"
"Why you-"
"Don't attack a woman in mourning over the loss of a child, Kagome! Such things are better left unsaid! Let's go honor Shippo's memory before bearing our love for him away. Besides, if stay angry for so long, you'll steam your brain."
"Agreed…."
"About the brain or leaving? Hey, watch it! I need to be in one piece so I can cook!" They passed Myoga in the kitchen, where he was scouring the supplies for a morsel to eat.
"Myoga, we are going out to meet Miroku and Inuyasha! See you in a bit!" Kagome yelled. Myoga waved her off, his nose buried in the cupboard.
They headed down a hall, past the parlor, and through the great front doors. They ran down the tree-lined drive, over a wind-swept white lawn, and onto the gravelly road. They went down it, and Kagome noticed Sango's eyes always straying to the sky, and to the light part, the only hint of the sun. They came up to the large collection of buildings that made up the center of town, and the first building they saw was The Wolf's Den.
Standing outside, watching them rush by, was a handsome young man with long dark hair held up in a ponytail, and icy blue eyes. He grinned at them, revealing long canines.
"Good afternoon Sango!" he said. Sango came over to speak to him.
"Afternoon already, Koga?" she said, putting on an obviously fake smile that fooled Koga easily.
"Yes." His eyes strayed to Kagome, and locked on to her. "Well, look who we have here! A pretty girl, she is! Sango, may I know the name of this lovely individual?" He grabbed her hand and kissed it. Kagome was reminded of Inuyasha, and the thought that this boy was kissing her hand in the same way turned her stomach for some reason.
"It's Kagome," she said, pulling her hand from his grasp. "Kagome Higurashi."
"Well, it's a treat knowing you're… alive, Kagome Higurashi." He smiled again, revealing those long fangs. Kagome shuddered involuntarily.
"What is it, Kagome? Are you cold?" Sango asked.
"Y-yes. We should go find Inuyasha and Miroku now."
"Inuyasha?" Koga asked suspiciously. "Who is… 'Inuyasha'?"
"My fiancé," Kagome said automatically. Sango looked at her, eyebrows raised and smile now real.
"Oh Kagome!" she said joyfully. "I didn't know!"
"Shush!" Kagome hissed at her.
"Well, I'll see you girls later," Koga said. He turned around and went into The Wolf's Den.
"That was?"
"Koga Reinhardt, the son of the owners of The Wolf's Den. He's an eligible bachelor, and his business makes much money."
"Oh… I don't like him at all."
"I wouldn't either if he were hitting on me when I was ENGAGED!"
"Shush! You know it was just a lie!"
"Yes, I know. But I have to make it seem real. Let's go."
They wandered down the wide gravel street into the center of town, where the great black cathedral towered above all, dwarfing all the buildings. Despite its dark, gargoyle-dotted walls, it had a glowing quality to it, the light of the village. Near the cathedral they found The Fox Den, empty of guests. The door was open and lamps lit, so they went inside. They found Leon and Victoria sitting in chairs by a table near the vacant bar, each in each other's arms, staring vacantly across the table at Inuyasha and Miroku.
"I think we should have the funeral very soon," Miroku was saying. "The memories must be disposed of immediately, or you will suffer the symptoms of worrying…" He turned and looked at the two girls, and gestured them to come sit down. "Sango, I was just telling Leon and Victoria Orlandus to bury the love and memories of Shippo immediately. Could you go to the convent and request council with Mother Kaede?"
"Yes Miroku," Sango said, and left to do her job. Kagome got up and followed her. Together they walked across the street to the cathedral grounds, and entered a small, barren-looking building with the words Retten Mich die Seele carved into the stone above the heavy black cross-studded door that was the only entrance. Kagome shivered when she saw the words.
Sango knocked on the door with a heavy black-painted bronze doorknocker. A little viewing panel slid open in the door, revealing bright eyes set into a wrinkled surround. "Good afternoon, fine ladies. What can I do for you dears?"
"Miroku needs us to speak with someone, Sister," Sango said softly. She looked at the nun who answered intently. The nun looked back, smiled, and then opened the door. She beckoned them inside. Slowly and silently, she led them into the convent house and down a hall to an old, circular chamber.
Candles in dozens of stands filled the room, and praying in the center was an old, wrinkled woman, her broad, hunched back facing them, her nun robes as black as the night. The whispering voices of her prayers filled the room, made the flames flicker
playfully like flowers in a soft wind.
The little nun left, leaving the girls alone in the circular room with the praying woman. She bowed her head deeply, uttered a final Amen, crossed herself, and turned around to face them. The Mother Kaede, Head of the Sisters of the Weeping Mother, was so short that she seemed no bigger standing up than kneeling. Her one eye (the other was covered with a patch, so they naturally assumed it was gone) was a deep brown, and her wrinkled face was full of wisdom. She had a tired, but regal air around her, and she seemed much taller than she really was.
"Good afternoon Sango," she said in a wise old voice that bore the feel of aristocracy.
"Good afternoon Mother Kaede," Sango replied courteously. "Miroku sent me here to request audience with you, and now I have it. I bear terrible news, Mother. Shippo Orlandus has passed away into the realm of the Nightmare Atop The Mountain. The vampire holds him now. His memory must be buried immediately in the Graveyard of the Lost Ones. If not, the grief suffered will be unbearable, and his parents might submit to the power of the Nightmare. I might as well."
"Hmm. This is a terrible thing to witness in my lifetime," said Mother Kaede in her old voice. "All these long years, I have buried the dead of the Nightmare, and have gone to great lengths to save the lives of these villagers who dwell under the authority of Schloss Nachtigall. The sky grows darker with each passing day, and yet they do not flee, even in summer. For as long as memories of horror are buried and forgotten, what is there to fear?
"I knew Shippo well, Sango, longer than ye could hope to. It was I who was there to help Victoria in labor, it was I who helped to raise him and his friends. It was this convent over which I preside that gave them what education we could, that they would grow and wisely leave this place. Heinrich fell to the darkness fifty years ago, Sango, before ye were born or ye husband.
"Such is the power of Lamarr, the dread count atop the hill, in his mighty castle, the very stones of which have been painted with human blood, that he could hold the foundations of the mountains hostage, and torture the earth until it wept and submitted to him, that the snow which falls does not glitter in the sun, that the sun cannot look upon us for fear of him."
"But Mother, we ask that you let us bury his memory in the Graveyard!" Sango pleaded. "If his parents submit to the powers of darkness in their misery, then the Dread Count will be even more powerful, maybe so powerful that he could launch an assault upon Austria!"
"What gives ye the authority to undermine me? My decision is final. His memory cannot be buried. I cannot allow these people to live blissfully under the shadow of Castle Nightingale! If they know the pain they will suffer by staying here, then they will have to leave when the passes clear and the cold shield lifts.
"Do ye think I have not wit in my old age to think about the possibility that the demonic army might storm the streets of Vienna in the dead of night and turn all of Austria into a realm of eternal darkness? Do ye think that I have no knowledge of the war that conveniently cripples all of Europe for the Count?
"Nay say I to losing Shippo's memory. He is the first to die since your husband started chasing down villagers nutty enough to wander the streets at night. Even the convent-house isn't safe. The cathedral, however, is. Why was Miroku not patrolling the streets by then? Who was so important that he didn't bother to go save anyone until the sun disappeared? He should have been out by late afternoon, warning everyone to get inside.
"So I cannot allow Shippo to be buried. Such a popular boy being taken by the darkness… Everyone will feel the bitter anguish, even me, and realize that they have to leave Heinrich before the Count gets bored. Good day to you, Sango!" With that she angrily shoved past them into the hallway, and went into a different room, slamming shut the door behind her.
Kagome turned and looked at the stunned Sango. "Did I just here a nun yell at you to not bury the dead?"
Sango just stared at Kagome. "Do you know how bad this is?"
Kagome shook her head. "No, not really. But it seems pretty bad."
"Oh, it is so much worse than 'pretty bad.' Victoria loves her son more than anything. She might submit to the darkness just to find him. She got her palm read by a fortuneteller not too long ago. The fortune-teller said that she had one of the most potent spirits ever seen! Leon was normal, but Victoria's reading! Whichever power she submits to, good or evil, she will give that side great power."
"I have never been in such a place where good and evil are such huge factors," said Kagome, her head buzzing with all of the information. "It is hard to believe such a place is kept hidden!"
"Heinrich is in no way hidden," Sango said. "It is on every map; it is a listed dependent county of the Holy Roman Empire. The only way it is hidden is news of what goes on here."
Kagome shuddered as the two walked back down the hall toward the convent's front doors, preparing to leave the house. They strode through the doorway and into the white street, snow falling from the sky. The village seemed different from the door. It was quaint-looking, alluring, snow-covered like frosting. Children played during the last hours of sunlight, adults watching intently while carrying on good-natured talk. Light glowed in the windows of houses, and smoke rose from the cross-studded chimneys. It seemed quite peaceful. It was almost hard to remember what it was like at night.
"It is quite beautiful," Kagome said softly.
"I know, but remember: things are not what they appear," Sango warned. The two walked across the street to The Fox Den.
End of Chapter 4
A/N: I forgot my binder today! That is, I left it on the bus when I got home. I can't do my homework (Yay or boos? It's high school after all…)! So I typed up the final part of this chapter. Oh, by the way! My friend "korikitsue0" (I don't know if it's his author name or not, but oh well) is making a story similar (I hope, for his sake, not too similar) to BOTH called "Valley in the Mist." Terrifying title, no? Not really, but who cares? He's a good friend, so, when he finally gets it posted, be nice and read it! Please?