Blood Of The Heart
A/N: Hello, as always. Welcome to the sixth installment (yay! The sixth chapter means that the story is officially off the ground and worth reading) of Blood Of The Heart. From now on I will refer to it as BOTH. Ingenious, isn't it? Do you get it at all? Of course not…('-,-') ß KITTY! Now, as for the past chapter, yes, Naraku is making his eyes look different so Kagome won't recognize him. That was the scariest chapter, if you ask me, simply because I just had to have Inuyasha there naked to make things freakier. Of course, my mind has now been tainted with darkness, and I am praying to God to liberate me. If you haven't guessed, I am an active, very Christian person. Yay religion and the God who saves me! If you're atheist, then poop on you. Many religions to choose from, after all. On now to the disclaimer! I crave salmon for some odd reason!
Disclaimer: I avidly love Rumiko Takahashi and thank God she's on Earth to give us Kagome, Sango, and all the beautiful anime women (and men-retch!) to love and adore. So, I wouldn't dare steal credit from her. How's that, all you jealous one-minded stupid-heads?
Chapter 6: The Open Window
Kagome awoke, fear and relief mixing her mind into a clouded mess. She felt groggy, like she had been drinking, and her head ached horribly. She was loath to get up, but, for the first time, she saw that the sun was about to break through the clouds outside. She sat up in wonder, making her head sway, but she didn't mind, instead standing up and walking, slowly, unsteadily, toward the window that faced north.
Across the street, she saw scattered homes, more lie snow-covered farms, and in the distance the Austrian Alps loomed, Schloss Nachtigall obscured. But, just then, the sun broke free from its gray bonds, and soared openly in a blue sky. People already out and about in the street pointed in wonder.
Kagome felt her spirit lift, and almost felt her feet leave the floor. The sun broke through her window, and hit her full force, and she suddenly felt faint. Too much excitement, and too early in the morning, she thought as she slumped to the floor. It is so bright. Have I truly gotten such a lack of sun? She looked at her arms, and the faces of the people outside. They were all white as the snow, and those who weren't were getting there.
"Kagome, Darling!" Inuyasha's voice rang out. Kagome turned her head and stared at him, a swell of fear filling her heart. Remember what Naraku said…don't lose your head to Inuyasha's devilries. I must keep away from him until nightfall. She shuffled away from him as he approached her from the washroom. He was fully dressed already, and it was only… What? Nine in the morning? Dear me, I slept in, she thought with a mental kick-in-the-butt.
"Kagome, what's wrong? You look a little bit sick. A cold, perhaps?" His brown eyes were full of concern. Is he still pure? She found herself wondering.
"Kagome, you should go see Sango about that. But right now, I must talk to you." He sat down on the stool by her vanity. "Will you answer a few questions for me? To make me feel better?"
She nodded, and sat down on the bed, facing him. "What do you want to know?" she asked him rigidly, spine straight and hairs on end.
"Kagome, you look really tense right now. What are you worried about? Afraid I'll bight you or something?" He smiled, and it seemed to Kagome that his canines were slightly longer than usual. "I'm just joking. Goodness! You look like I'm going to kill you or something! Never mind, you're probably ill. Have you had any bad dreams this past night?"
Kagome stared at him, her mind launching into suspicion. Why does he want to know? What business is it of his? Why is he even bothering to ask? Will he try to manipulate me? "Yes… But after that one point it got better."
"Really? What was the bad part?" He leaned over closer to her, his brown eyes intent upon her blue ones. "Tell me, please? I'm your friend right? Why are you so silent?"
"Oh yes… you are my friend, aren't you?" She felt herself remembering, distantly. Then she realized that it was only in one night that everything seemed to change. Why am I letting one dream take me over? He still doesn't know, and he is just trying to help me. I must be honest, even if I hurt him. "Inuyasha, I had a dream about… a vampire. It wasn't the dead woman this time, for some reason."
"Really? What else happened?" He was open, honest, and she realized now how different he was from her. Good friends as they were, he was absolutely clued out to her terrors. He knew virtually nothing, except that they scared her senseless. Was she the only one with nightmares? Should she tell Sango?
"The vampire was you, Inuyasha." This statement made him pale, but other than that, he seemed unmoved.
"R-really? I- I was your nightmare?"
"Well… I'm sorry, but you were. I have no idea why. You were cute, too, until you nearly killed me."
"I was a cute vampire?" He tilted his head and eyed her quizzically, like a curious dog. He seemed to think it funny. "Imagine! Me, a cute vampire… What did I look like?"
"Well, aren't we a little vain?" she asked with a smile, feeling herself slip back into normalcy. "Honestly! Can't we focus a little more on me?"
"Maybe, once you tell me how cute I was."
"You just have to know, don't you?" She stuck her tongue out, and then told him what he looked like. "You were the same, but your eyes were gold, and sort of… cat-like. You had claws, really sharp ones, and your hair… it was silver. Your ears were like a dog's, you were very pale, and you had long fangs. Then you tore up my hand, and I nearly bled to death, but was saved by a strange man with amethyst eyes and long hair who called himself… called himself…" What was his name? Why couldn't she remember?
"Called himself…?" Inuyasha asked. What's happening, Kagome? You can usually remember anything… Wait… "Did he look like the man from the dream you had in the carriage crash a few days ago? The one with red eyes and black hair who called you… what was the name… Kikyo?"
"I can't remember…" Kagome whispered. "I can't even remember what he said to me… what he looked like… I only remember black hair and amethyst eyes…"
"I don't like the sound of this," Inuyasha said with a frown. "You seem sick and can't remember anything. Maybe… you should stay inside today. I'll stay with you, if you want. Right now I should see what Myoga is up to. I haven't seen him since we left the Fox Den last night. You need time to get washed up and cleaned, anyway."
"Do you think I smell bad?" Kagome batted her eyes innocently, "because if you do, I'll throw you out the window like a pair of old shoes."
"No you wouldn't. You love me too much for that kind of evil. Admit it!"
"I do not! At least I don't think I do…No…you are right. You're too good a friend to kill." She flashed him a cheesy grin. "I do love you too much." She watched him turn red and smiled.
"Likewise, I'm sure," Inuyasha said softly. "I got to go find Myoga now. See you in a little while." He stood up and slowly walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing down the hall. She heard him loudly exclaim "I found you, you big fat blood-sucker! Get up! I can't believe you slept in the kitchen!" Then there was a period of silence. "You ate EVERYTHING!!!! You knew he ate everything? What's for breakfast then? No breakfast…? NO!"
Inuyasha's footsteps echoed up the stairs, and he appeared in her doorway again. "I'm going to the market with Sango and Miroku now. They've been waiting for a while, apparently." He smiled, waved, and disappeared again. Kagome laughed at him, and got up, going to the washroom to clean herself up. She was careful not to look in the mirror above the porcelain wash-basin. She then went to look for a warm robe that she could run around the house in, exploring for the time since she came here. Unfortunately, she didn't bring one, and went to take Inuyasha's black robe, the same one she wore in his bed. Yay!
Robed and slippered, she prepared for her romp around the house. Some toe-touches, one pushup, two sit-ups…She was ready. Onward, going bravely in her black robe, she went down the stairs, through the grand entrance hall, and found the library on the left. She entered it, almost immediately slipping on the dusty floor. She went, skiing, along the dusty floor, and crashed into a large grand piano, black under its dusty gray covering.
"Why doesn't anyone dust this friggen' room?!" she yelled. No one answered. "Myoga, I've got a steak!" Still no answer. I must be alone, Kagome thought. She looked around quickly to make sure no one could see her. Then, she planted her butt on the stool of the piano, pulled up the wood that covered the keys, and began to play. Unfortunately for her and any rats or bugs listening, the piano was so off key that it sounded like a dying canary imitating a swansong. Not quite right.
"Dear me, why do they leave me alone in this house? I could hurt myself!"
And do Kagome spent her afternoon, bored to death, eventually resorting to pouring over books and staring out the window at the strangely blue sky. "Who knew I'd be shocked to see the normal?" She asked softly.
January 7th, 1641
Dear Diary,
Help me! I'm stuck here! This is even more boring than the carriage ride from Munich! I miss the city! Why did Miroku and Sango have to come here? There is no culture, no entertainment… Am I spoiled? Inuyasha is obsessed with me thinking he's cute as a vampire. I had a dream where he killed me, and then I was saved by a mysterious man with strange eyes. He was very handsome… But he was ominous. He told me that Inuyasha was evil. Should I believe him?
Yet Who Could Forget I'm Yours?
Kagome Higurashi
Hours later, near sunset, Sango, Inuyasha, and Miroku came back, a large horse-drawn cartful of bags loading them down. Inuyasha, Kagome, and Sango put everything away, and Miroku went out to patrol the streets.
"Sango, could you tell me something?" Kagome asked.
"Duh yes. What is it?" She looked at Kagome out of the corner of her eye, not stopping what she was doing. She waited for Kagome to speak, but she didn't speak. Instead, she stood there, sorting fruits and vegetables that were meager in size.
Should I ask her? Kagome thought. She might think I'm nuts, but maybe… she might have dreams too…She can't possibly be able to cope with the environment in this place, all the death and evil. How can she look so…satisfied? What is keeping her going? I should ask her that, more than anything else. "What keeps you going? How do you live here and survive?"
"My husband of course. He keeps me going. Remember how he was such a pervert before we got married?"
"Who could forget?" Kagome giggled a little. Nothing was funnier than Miroku and Sango before the wedding, and how much of a gentleman he turned into when he settled down.
"Well," Sango continued, "it turns he wasn't lying."
"About what? I thought he lied about everything, and that's what made your marriage such a treat."
"He's great in bed." (A/N: Bah, bum, BUM! Only I could put this in and make it work!) Sango continued what she was doing as though she said 'The weather was nice today.' Kagome just stared, the phrase 'too much information' racing through her head over and over again: TMI, TMI, TMI, TMI, TMI, TMI, TMI…
"Okay… When does Miroku usually come home?"
"Around ten at night. Why?" Sango looked at her oddly.
"Never mind. I just wonder…err…" Come Kagome! she thought. Change the subject! "Wonder… err…if you worry… yeah! If you worry!"
"Every agonizing second." Sango sighed, and began to start making dinner.
"Even now?" she asked softly, questioning her new subject.
Sango stopped, Inuyasha stopped, and Kagome and Inuyasha turned their heads, watching Sango. "I worry every long second, Kagome. My heart aches for him right this minute. I know he will not come back one of these times. I know he will die soon. Worry, Kagome. I worry because I am madly in love with him. The most I can do without putting him in more danger is to stay home and cook a meal for him, and keep it hot until he comes back. Almost every night a I life is saved, Kagome. I am so proud of him."
"Okay. I think I'll go to bed now."
"What?" Inuyasha looked at her like she was crazy. "We all had nothing to eat today except for the fat flea! He ate everything!"
"I know. I heard. I'm tired. I'm not hungry. Good night, my little vampire." Kagome walked into the entrance hall and up the stairs, head nodding already. Why do I feel this way? I hardly did anything all day! Defeated by exhaustion, she put the black robe back into Inuyasha's closet and walked into her room. She then remembered that, in her dream, the man with amethyst eyes said to open the window and hang a red cloth on it. So she did. Then, feeling quite tired, she went to bed.
10: 30 PM
Miroku walked in through the front doors, looking very tired. Sango was waiting in the kitchen, and when she heard the heavy double doors close, she went to him.
"Miroku!" she exclaimed happily. "Welcome home! Come with me! I've got dinner waiting for you! It's nice and hot, like always." She was truly happy to see him, and Inuyasha admired their loyalty to one another. But Miroku shook his head when Sango tried to lead him towards the kitchen. He was doubled over, out of breath, and dead tired.
"Sango… not tonight," he moaned. "We need to… barricade the doors… Victoria is coming…"
"She is?" Sango asked. "Why are we to barricade the doors? If she is coming, we should be prepared to receive her."
"Sango, she went to the darkness… last night… Leon told me from his door that she left… She is the most dangerous thing to walk the village streets… since I've been going out at night… I ran from the other… side of town… back here… She's coming… and she'll be here any minute…"
Inuyasha knew what he meant. Immediately, he took chairs from the dining room and jammed them under the front and back doors. He then tried to push as much large furniture in the way as possible in the limited time left.
Sango followed suit, pulling all the shutters shut, which, in this town, were in the inside and not the outside, for who would be able to go out and do that at night? Rosaries were wrapped around door handles and shutter handles, so no demons could touch them. But still, Sango knew that Victoria was no ordinary woman, so she'd be no ordinary demon.
I can still remember what that fortune-teller said a few months ago. It was when a band of gypsies came in their wagon along with a goat, two dogs, and a cow. They had stopped in to trade, but no one would; gypsies are known to rob. But out here, far from the cities, we were more prone to want to get news from them, and most of that came from trade.
Victoria and I, bored as we were in fall, before the passes closed and the magic barrier was raised, decided to go look at the items for sale; we were equipped with a small cartful of bartering items. She and I browsed the shops that were set up all along the square by the cathedral, and we found a purple and gold tent, patterned with blue stars. We had the cart watched by a neighbor when we went in. We found that the tent was a fortune-teller's.
She was an old hag, bound in flowing dark robes, a bandana over her dark hair and great golden chains suspended around her neck. She was sitting at an odd round table draped in a black cloth. In the center was a shallow silver basin, filled with unmoving water, and a glass ball sat in the middle of that, soaking in the water. We were asked to sit, one at a time, in a chair across from her. We traded her two gold coins for our fortunes. She read mine first.
"Water, blessed by God," she cried, "reveal through His might the future of this dark-haired woman, Sango Josif, wife to Miroku Josef, son of Lord Josif of the city of Auschwitz. In this divine water, we will see the visions You give to us! I, a poor Jewish woman, a gypsy trained in the mystic art of divination, shall scry for you, a Christian, a wife!" Then she breathed lightly on the water, and told me to close my eyes.
I heard her chant. I did not see anything, but I felt a strange lack of privacy, like I was being exposed. I could feel the gypsy's eyes peer into my soul, the essence of Christianity's rocky foundations looking through a building built over it, peering at every detail, trying to determine what exactly I was for. Then I felt a sharp pain in my head. I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
"Open your eyes…You are unfortunate, fair woman," she said after a while. "You will lose many you love, but on the other end, gain the greatest thing a soul can ever have. In you is bound the fate of your husband, your marriage, and both your rights to eternal life."
I had gotten up, shaken, but I thought nothing of it. Then Victoria spoke to me, saying "It was interesting to watch, but she seemed authentic. Many times I had gotten readings, but never have I seen someone use holy water or a plain glass ball, and never together. She is unique. Look into the ball when I get read. When you got read, I saw the water ripple with colors, but the images in the ball went by too fast."
Victoria had went and taken the seat. I watched the process of the woman crying out to God again. Did regular fortune-tellers do that? "Water, blessed by God, reveal through His might the future of this fair-haired woman, Victoria Orlandus, wife of Leon Orlandus, mother of Shippo Orlandus." It hit me then that we hadn't told her any of this. Did other people? "In this divine water, we will see the visions You give to us! I, a poor Jewish woman, a gypsy trained in the mystic art of divination, shall scry for you, a Christian, a wife, a mother!" I watched her breath on the water, watched it ripple, heard the woman tell Victoria to close her eyes. I saw the colors of the rainbow flow into the water from Victoria's side, like her future was being poured out. I saw the colors, liquid images of the future, flow towards the glass ball, crawling up into it, clouding it with white.
The colors separated, forming images. I saw them whirl though the ball, distorted by the roundness. The gypsy peered at them, some longer than others, but not long enough for me to make out. Then, she sighed, as if seeing a horrible tragedy. She lifted her hand, touched the ball, and Victoria moaned as if with headache. The colors retreated, flowing back to Victoria's side, and then the water was still, the glass dark.
"You are worse off then your friend," the gypsy spoke with a shudder. "You will lose he whom you love the most, and you will be faced with the bitter choice of going on alone or following him into the deepest of darkness."
At first I thought she spoke of Leon. But she wasn't finished yet. "Here you will need to be very strong. It will happen very soon, I deem. You will need Grace. Go and pray, often and long. Though business may be affected, it will save your soul from bitter torment. Do not let him go out, for it will be his doom. But this can only be delayed. As long as this will come to pass, which it will, you will need God's guidance. Do not put him before the Lord." Then Victoria got up, her face white, nodded, but the gypsy wouldn't have it.
"Sit down, Mrs. Orlandus! You and your friend must understand this: when this will come to pass, thing s already will have been set in motion which cannot be undone. The cathedral's presence alone will not save you, for in the end the Weeping Mother's doors will be broken by the battering ram of War, and demons and humans will fight for the freedom of their souls.
"For if you stray, the people of Heinrich will be cast into darkness as long as the New Wife is held in Schloss Nachtigall, and if her betrothed fails, then the darkness will spread with the army of shadows, and Vienna will fall, the woodlands of Austria will burn with darkness, consumed by the holocaust of the Devil's Subordinate."
Inuyasha went to talk with Miroku, who was recovering his strength with some herbal tea, sitting in a large wing-backed chair in the parlor in front of the warm fire. Inuyasha sat down on the chair next to Miroku's. Miroku looke at him tiredly, but managed a smile. "That's Sango's chair."
"Mine now," Inuyasha said shortly, making himself comfortable. "Miroku, I need to know something."
"Really?" Miroku asked.
"Yes," Inuyasha replied. "What the hell is going on?"
"Hmm?"
"You heard me." Inuyasha looked at Miroku with a piercing scowl. "All the time I've been here, I seem to be the most clued out. Kagome seems to know more than I do, and, no offense to her, but she's not quite... Perceptive of what goes on without being told bluntly she assumes too much. But she still is more adept to this place already than I am, and it's been less than one week!"
"All right then, Inuyasha," Miroku said, turning his chair to look at his friend. "What do you want to know first?"
"Perhaps what happened to this place," Inuyasha said. "Why is Heinrich like this?" He waited for an answer. Miroku stirred his tea, sipped it, patiently thinking about what to say.
"Well, Inuyasha, I suppose it began about fifty years ago."
"Fifty years?" Inuyasha looked at him as though he was nuts. "This all began fifty years ago? That long? Before we were all born?"
"Yes," Miroku said shortly, "fifty years ago. Now let me finish the story. Back then, Kagura's father, Onigumo, was the handsome new count of Heinrich; dwelling in Schloss Nachtigall back when it was still beautiful, untainted by the darkness. He took as a bride Kikyo Amelia, daughter of a wealthy man who owned a trading business on the river, not far from here. She went and dwelled with him, and they live happily for nine months.
"They were deeply in love, and Kikyo was about ready to give birth, having gotten pregnant on the night of their marriage. But, Onigumo went mad, for reasons unknown. When she was giving birth, he killed their son as he was coming out of her womb. Kikyo had nearly died to give birth to their son, but was saved by the doctors and priests who were tending to her.
"Onigumo slaughtered all of them when she was healing. They say that he tortured her, locking her in their bedroom for a month without food, and she was still weak from giving birth.
"Then, one night, he ripped out her eyes, and left her alone for another month. She wept even though she had no eyes to water, and, when he couldn't take her anymore, he hung her from a tree branch in the castle's gardens. She wasn't dead yet, though. Before he buried her alive, he filed her fingertips down to the bone, sharpening them to be like claws. Then he woke from his madness, and, seeing her tortured body, he put her in an elaborate crypt in the catacombs. She was still alive when she was sealed away."
Inuyasha stared at him, chilled to the bone. "What happened after that?"
Miroku sighed, closed his eyes, and bowed his head. "Onigumo died. He hung himself from the same tree, and was buried in a mausoleum under his wife's. The entrance was sealed up. But, apparently, he woke up, either because Hell wouldn't have him, and he came back, a new man, with an army of demons that came to him from all over Europe.
"He besieged Heinrich, and took another wife, and had Kagura. She lived with him throughout her early childhood, but her mother took her away when she was older, and they fled to Munich. Onigumo then became the vampire Naraku. He then manipulated the town, trying to rebuild the family he had before he went mad. He is looking for another Kikyo, promised to him by the Devil himself. Shippo is filling in the function of the dead newborn son. Victoria's function is unknown to me."
All night, Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku were awake, trying to keep the house safe. But as the hours passed, they wondered where Victoria was, in her new dark glory. Where would she go now that she had fallen into the demonic ruler's power? They were so worried that they forgot about Kagome, all alone in her room.
Kagome slept, uneasily, not dreaming. It was more like waiting, anxiously waiting, but for whom, she forgot, and so she was tossing and turning well into the night.
She was unaware of the fact that, when the moon escaped the clouds, a dark figure, clothed in shadow, stood in the frame of the large window, watching her, great wings gently billowing a breeze through white silk drapes. The figure watched her, waiting for her to see him, but she didn't, sleeping uneasily instead. Let me in, he whispered. Invite me inside; let me get to you in reality.
A forlorn figure he was, waiting on her windowsill, until, when the sun breached the darkness of the east, he was gone.
End of Chapter Six
A/N: That was long! Good, though. Satisfied? I am. This is a good launch pad for the rest of the story. Remember, if I can, I'm going to spread this story over many parts, which means many chapters! I'm so happy to get this far on BOTH! I'd bow, but as far as you know, I only exist on paper… err… computer screen. Damn this salmon craving! See you all in Chapter Seven!