Blood Of The Heart
By AriznGlori
A/N: Hola! Welcome to installation 8 of BOTH! This is goin' to be good (I hope!) Meep! I am getting more into the plot which means soon I'll need action sequences, and Oh dear things will have to die! Sob! Sob, sob! Anyhoo, enjoy this one, and send reviews! I love to here your feedback! I LOVE IT! ('-,-') Do it for Kitty! You know you love him! He is, after all, purrrfect! ; I'll stop now….
Disclaimer: I like the funny. Can't help it. So… I am sooo poor! Boohoo! If God gave me Inuyasha, Sango, Kagome, Shippo, and Miroku, I'd keep Kagome and Sango, give Miroku to a crowd of sex-deprived nuns, sell Inuyasha to the highest bidder, and give Shippo to Michael Jackson. I am so charitable, but Rumiko won't let me. TT
Chapter 8: Why We Must Listen
Sango did indeed have a great concoction of food, but it took her a while to find everything (Kagome's disaster). So, in the end, there was a tabletop full of plates of good food; Sango was a miracle of a housewife.
Right before everyone jumped into the sea of home cooking, Sango, who was seated at the head of the table, lead them in grace. "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Bless us, O Lord, and lease Thy gifts, which are about to share, from Thy Bounty, through Christ, our Lord, Amen."
In those simple words they all held the prayer that Myoga wouldn't show up, for, yet again, he was missing. They all then politely began to dig in.
"Miroku," Kagome said, looking over to him where he sat, next to Sango, "where is the blood-sucker?"
"Myoga?" Miroku raised his eyebrows a little. Why do you ask?"
"I haven't seen him," Kagome said softly. "I'm glad he's not here now -the food would be gone in a second- but I am worried. I haven't seen him for two days."
"Really?" Rin asked. "You mean the fat man with the pointy moustache?"
"Yes!" Kagome exclaimed. "Did you see him, Rin?"
"Yup! He was banging on the door of the Fox Den when we cam e into town. We saw him from the carriage, didn't we Lord Sesshomaru?"
His royal Icy Ass nodded. "He looked even paler than you, Kagome," he said with an undetectable smirk and a glance at Inuyasha's scowling face.
"Don't talk to women like that," he said, narrowing his brown eyes. In that moment, he looked almost identical to Sesshomaru, except for the hair and facial scars of the elder brother.
Kagome grinned a little. So he was chivalrous. "Thanks Inuyasha, that was very kind of you." She shot a glare at Sesshomaru, and said quite coldly, "The ice queen needed to be shut up."
"Ice queen! Ha ha! Auntie Kagome, you're funny!" Rin giggled maniacally. She shut up in an instant when Sesshomaru gave her that disapproving look only a father could give. She squirmed uneasily in her chair at the table.
"Pass the steak please." Kagome gave Rin a piece of the large steak, the largest piece of meat the girl had seen off the cow, anyway.
"So Kagome," Inuyasha asked softly, "do you remember the name of the dark-haired man in your dreams?"
"Yes I do!" Kagome exclaimed. "I finally remembered! He name is…. His name is…. Dear Lord, it's on the tip of my tongue…" This had to be the third time she forgot his name! She just spoke to him in the garden! Didn't she? "And now it fell back into my stomach. Darn it! It slipped through my mind," she said softly. "I am sorry Inuyasha. I just never seem to remember when you as me."
"I noticed," he said with a slanted gaze. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes, of course I'm okay!" Kagome answered loudly, starting to feel annoyed. "I look fine, right? Why does everyone keep asking me that?!"
"You're getting forgetful… And kind of jumpy," Inuyasha replied. "Are you sick? You're turning into a tomato right now, you know. Is that steam coming out of your ears?!"
"Now you sound like the ice queen!" Kagome yelled, her eyes on fire. She stood up and pointed at Inuyasha. "I refuse to be falsely accused by you, or anyone else for that matter!" Everyone at the table stopped and stared.
"Accused of what?!"
"I think I'll go feed Kirara now," Sango said softly, getting up and walking towards the cabinets.
"Stop, girly!" Kagome yelled, pointing at her. Sango froze.
"Is there a mouse?!" She lifted up her dress, and started prancing on her tiptoes. "Miroku, save me! I think there's a mouse! I seriously think it's going to get me! Ah! Something brushed my foot! Ah! A huge rat!"
"That's Kirara!" Miroku yelled as Sango prepared to kick away the poor little kitty in her fear. ('O,o')
Sesshomaru shook his head, stood up, and left. "This house is full of lunatics… Rin!"
"But I haven't finished my steak yet!" she wailed.
"Come! We are going upstairs to pack up and leave! Jaken! You come too!"
"So we came all this way for lunch, milord?" Jaken said, dumbfounded.
"So it seems! I thought we could try and find Kagura, but it appears we should stay at the Wolf's Den. Any tavern has spare rooms, of course, and with so few travelers coming into town…" Sesshomaru, Rin and Jaken the Toadman went into the foyer and up the stairs, probably for the last time during their visit.
Inuyasha sighed, stood up, and followed. "This is all your fault, Kagome," he said angrily. "I was going to help Sesshomaru too, you know. He's just mean because he lost his wife."
"And my father died in this stupid war!" Kagome roared. "I can barely remember him!"
"And my father and mother were hunted down by treasonous spies and butchered! Welcome to the club!" With that, Inuyasha turned on heel way from her and left. Sango and Miroku stared at Kagome, watching as she sighed, bowed her head, and left for the gardens.
"Kirara, time for din-din!" Sango said after they left, feeding the cat before Miroku picked her up, tossed her over shoulder, patted her butt, and took upstairs, where for two hours the house shook.
"Sesshomaru, are you really going to stay at the Wolf's Den?" Inuyasha asked when he started to help his brother pack up.
"Of course Inuyasha," Sesshomaru said, and looked at his little brother like he was dumb. "Where else would I go? The Fox Den is all boarded up and empty. The Wolf's Den is going to get big business without competition. Of course, that puts more strain on Miroku." Just then, they heard loud moaning, and then the house shuddered, silt falling from the ceiling.
"Yes…" Sesshomaru said sarcastically, "Dandruff for white hair. Absolutely perfect."
"Try it in black hair!" Inuyasha laughed. "I can't believe they're going at it so early, though."
"Well, Miroku does have to go on hero missions during the night," Sesshomaru answered. "The amount of children in this town doubled since I last was here. It's because he's out saving them every single night, even on the Sabbath."
"No rest for him," Inuyasha agreed. Louder moans now. "But he does get plenty of… exercise…"
"Yes. The best kind," Sesshomaru nodded. "But I'll bet you Kagura was better in bed than Sango."
"WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING?!" Inuyasha wailed. "TMI! TMI! TMI! TMI! TMI! TMI! TMI!"
"Well, she was!" Sesshomaru argued.
"And how do you know?" Inuyasha said vehemently. "Did you um…. Do…. Um… Sango? Were you and Kagura…? Swingers?"
"No, but Kagura moans better," Sesshomaru said.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This can't be in my mind! Polluted! Dirty images! Ah! Get them out!" He repeated banged his head on the wall.
"Inuyasha, calm yourself!"
"Calm myself? CALM MYSELF?! I should kill myself for hearing that!"
Kagome stood, once again before the fountain. Naraku was nowhere around. She sighed, and sat down on the bench once again. "I really need someone to talk to." She sighed again, and propped her head up on her elbows. She let her mind wander, staring at the fountain. It bubbled innocently, and soothed her. She watched it continue, and wondered why it didn't freeze. She stared at it, and realized suddenly, almost instantly, that the fountain wasn't full of water. She cupped some of the liquid in her hands, and took a sip. It shocked her so much that she swallowed it. Blood.
Coughing, and sputtering, she bent over double over the splash basin, until her nose nearly touched the crimson liquid. She was shocked her hair didn't fall in it. Then she heard it, the familiar sound now associated with nightmares: weeping. She could hear it, from the other side of the fountain, and she walked around the circular base, coming to the other side. She saw her, for the third time.
The bloody woman was leaning over the edge of the fountain, as if looking at her reflection, but she cried, cried as if she could see herself. Kagome stared, fascinated by her. The woman then looked up at her. Instead of a rotting corpse, Kagome saw a beautiful woman, thin and ragged, in her bloodstained dress that seemed several sizes to big.
Her hands were in the water, holding something down, bubbles coming to the surface. Then the woman spoke in a voice so similar to her own that Kagome had to make sure her mouth was closed. "It's alright little one, hush, hush… Daddy will come by later, and we have to be read for him. We must prepare."
Then, she lifted from the water an infant, a small boy, whose skin was covered in the bloody water. He began to wail loudly, and the woman dried him off. "There there, it's okay. Taking a bath isn't so bad now, is it?" She smiled at the infant, and the infant smiled back.
Suddenly the blood was gone, replaced by water and Kagome saw the woman's beautiful brown eyes, large and very expressive, but firmly backed, probably like the woman herself. "When Daddy comes back, we will go into town for the day! Doesn't that sound like fun?" The baby grinned. Kagome smiled. Was this a scene from the woman's life? Was she a mother?
"Now now, I seemed to have missed a spot. Here, we must bathe for a little longer." Then, suddenly, she thrust the baby into the clear water, held him down by the throat. Kagome stared in horror at the baby's twisted, wailing face. She glared at the woman whose eyes were now red, who pulled out a long, glittering dagger. She raised it high.
"In the name of the Dark One, Lord Of The Night, I sacrifice thee in the name of the Shadow, the eternal giver of pleasure, bringer of earthly gifts, in the name of Lucifer, the morning star, he who has fallen from a pedestal of lies into the harsh darkness of truth, that thy father shall rise again into the power of darkness. Do you accept your role?" She shook the child violently, so his head nodded. "Then it is done." She brought the dagger down.
"NO!" Kagome roared, throwing her body in the way of the dagger. She ripped the baby boy from the woman's hand, and held him protectively in her arms. "What you doing?! You're his mother!" Kagome yelled at the woman, who seemed to have lost her mind. "Why are you trying to sacrifice your son to the Devil?!"
The woman glared at Kagome. "How dare you meddle in my affairs!" She said furiously. "You, a mere copy of myself!" Suddenly, her eyes flickered back to normal. "You have to leave!"
"Huh?" Kagome blinked. Leave? "Why should I leave?" The woman now had a face of pity, and dropped her dagger on the ground. She sighed, and sat down on a bench. Kagome walked closer to her, wary, watchful, like a nervous cat.
"Kagome, you must know something," the woman said softly.
"You know my name?"
"Yes…" the woman said sorrowfully. "I need to warn you… He is coming…"
"Who? Who is coming?" Kagome leaned closer. The woman looked around, nervously, as if wondering if someone was watching.
"You know him already," the woman said softly. "He will try to hurt you. He-" Suddenly she stopped, and froze as if paralyzed. She started to fade, her skin mottling, her eyes rotting, her gums and teeth rotted. "KAGOME!" She roared, and jumped on the girl. Kagome screamed, fell of the bench and land painfully on her back. But when she looked up, the woman was gone.
"This happens to me way too much!" Kagome cried. "What makes me so special?! What do they all want?!" She was now absolutely fed up with this place. Sure, there was evil, but why did she feel so persecuted? In her frustration, she wept.
"Kagome!" Sango was out wandering the gardens, snatching up dead flowers and gathering them in bundles to her. "Kagome, I know you're out here." Sango wandered a while around the garden, and then entered the hedged courtyard. There, she found Kagome weeping on a bench, shoulders shuddering and an angry fist pounding on the stone.
"Kagome?" Sango asked quietly, approaching the girl. "Kagome, are you okay? You look sick…" Kagome turned her head up, blue eyes watering.
"Sango, I don't know what to do!" Kagome sobbed. Sango took her friend in her arms, and sat with her on the bench. "I keep having all of these horrible dreams! I see a dead woman with claws and no eyes, I see a handsome man who wants to save me for some reason, and I saw Inuyasha as a vampire! And he tried to kill me, and the dead woman also tried to kill me, but just now she tried to warn me that someone was coming after me! I'm so fed up, Sango! I can't take it anymore! In a few days, when we can, do you think I could go to the nuns and talk with them?"
Sango held her best friend, rocking her back and forth, stroking her hair. "Kagome, we can do it today if you want to," she whispered. "The Church is always open for those who need its comfort and guidance. But it cannot protect us, try as hard as we hope…"
"W-what is that s-supposed to mean?" Kagome asked, wiping her eyes.
"The Church, especially the Church of the Weeping Mother, is no holdout for good or evil. Churches have become battlegrounds, been burned down, destroyed, and may times full of praying citizens begging God for mercy. A church is comfort, Kagome. Religion is what eternal life teaches. The only protection a church offers is that graveyards are usually built around it, and heathens, like witches cannot set foot on the hallowed ground, or else be turned to stone. See?"
"Yes, I guess. But maybe God is punishing me… Did I do something wrong?"
"Not that I know of. Did you have sex before marriage?" Kagome flushed bright red.
"I-I'm still a virgin," she muttered. "I'm getting too old to not be married. I'll be a hag in the next five years. You watch."
"I don't think so, but just to be on the safe side, go flirt with Kouga."
"WHAT?! He's scary! I don't even like him."
"Marriage for love is stupid. But marriage for money is ingenious."
"If I wanted money, I could've married Inuyasha," Kagome muttered. "Plus, Inuyasha looks a whole lot better than Kouga."
"Well, I frankly don't care about either of them." Sango giggled lightly. "I got the hot theologian. And I love him, and he makes money! Could it get more perfect?"
"Whatever. Maybe if you lived in Italy."
"Maybe," Sango agreed. "Anywhere but here."
"Sango?" Kagome turned and peered intently into her friend's eyes. "Did you have any nightmares when you first came here?"
Sango sighed, and nodded. "Yes Kagome, I did. You see, when I first came here, it was fall, and the demon army starts patrolling in winter, usually, according to the townspeople. But I saw a demonic wolf dragging off a corpse during the carriage ride into town, and I pointed it out to Miroku.
"He shook his head and shrugged it off as a dead deer. But you see, I saw that a part of the corpse had human skin and I noticed that there was a fingered hand on one end. The wolf was walking off with someone's bloody arm. Over the next few weeks, I started to have violent dreams about being attacked by ravaging wolves, but then was saved by a dark-haired man with amethyst eyes."
"Same here!" Kagome said. "The man who saves me in my dreams looks like that too!"
"Really?" Sango queried. "Anyway, the man pulled me out of the pack of wolves that was on me, and told me to go to Miroku, my husband, and stay with him. I did, and over the next few days, the nightmares ran away, and I was filled with a sense of peace. Miroku was happy to see me so happy. I don't know, Kagome. I think it was Heinrich's own personal guardian angel looking out for me. Maybe… for happiness, at least here…that's why we should listen…"
"Oh…" Kagome whispered, a pang hitting here. If Sango was so happy and didn't have bad dreams anymore, then maybe… she would have to listen to this man. Even if it meant not being close to Inuyasha. It was only for the winter anyway. When the passes cleared, she would tell him everything, and then it would all go back the way it was before, and they could go back to Munich, and live happily for a long time. At that moment, Kagome made a vow to listen to the voice of the amethyst-eyed man. She suddenly felt a little bit happier.
"Thank you Sango," Kagome said, hugging her best friend, before getting up and going inside. She felt so much lighter, knowing she wasn't alone, and now, even in this hour, she knew she had to give Naraku more attention.
End of Chapter 8
A/N: Konnichiwa, mina-san (I always wanted to do that)! Who wants salmon? holds up a huge plate full of salmon I do! downs whole thing, including the plate Sorry, but all you get is BOTH. Oh! Guess what? I'm writing up another story for you all! Don't worry Inuyasha is a hanyou in this one, and Kikyo has a bigger, more annoying role, and Kagome is…ridiculous as always! Heroines can be funny, can't they? Not the drug, you idiots! whacks the stupid among you upside the head with a huge typewriter Promise to read it and review it? At the end of the first chapter, let me know what you think about it, okay? Now for a new question!
Do you actually read the author notes? Say YES all in caps before the review if you do, and if you don't, then I guess I'll be able to tell. Oh, and while I'm on a role, how about another one?
Do any of you read Chobits? Yes or No please! But if you don't you need to! It is a very funny, and very romantic manga. I admit Romance is a good genre…TT weeps and waves white flag, but if you're not into it, it doesn't matter, but Chobits still is funny!