A tale from the past

by Kittymui

...a red one sprung from the corner of her mouth. At that moment, he finally realized what he had done. He held her lifeless body close to him and cried out his sorrow and regret. And then...he woke up. BanXKag.

6. Chapter V

A TALE FROM THE PAST

-by Kittymui-

CHAPTER V

-.- in the fortress of the lord of the Eastern Lands -.-

"Urgh..." Naraku grunted as he woke up from his slumber.

He scanned his surroundings and realized he was in his room back in his own fortress. It was a room not very different from the one of InuTaisho's fortress; the paintings on the panel walls were similar as well as the furniture that stood here and there.

An annoyed look could be seen on his face when he realized he wasn't lying on his futon but floating mid-air. And he was disgusted by the fact that a large part of his body was missing. In fact, the only things left of his body were his head and half of his chest.

"Cursed girl..." he muttered angrily, remembering the human child he met back in the forest. It was all her fault that he ended up like this.

But eventually, he put up a smirk again when he realized he was lucky enough to have escaped on time before he was completely purified. 'Just you wait girl...I will have my revenge...' he thought evilly.

At that moment, a green armored youkai entered Naraku's room and knelt down before the slightly transparent screen that was placed before his futon to prevent anyone from seeing his hideous form. "Milord," he greeted.

"What's the situation, have we won the war?" Naraku inquired.

"I'm sorry milord, but we are unable to enter the Western Lands," the minion reported submissively. "Our troops are being purified once we try to cross the borders. It's like there's a barrier protecting the territory."

"Nonsense!! It must be some priest or priestess' chanting or something, send out the best troops and find them!! I want the Western Lands conquered before the next sunrise!!" he growled.

"Yes milord!" the youkai acknowledged.

"And have all the strong youkai in the Eastern Lands summoned to the fortress," Naraku added. "Tell them that I have a great mission for them and that a big reward will be made available for those who qualify."

"Yes milord!" And the minion left the room.

Naraku began to laugh in himself after the sliding doors closed. 'A great mission indeed...' he thought as he imagined himself with a much stronger body. 'Their reward will be the honor to be part of the great lord of the Eastern Lands...'

-.- meanwhile, at the fortress of the Western Lands -.-

Kagome yawned as she opened her eyes. 'What happened...?' she thought as she rubbed her tired eyes with the back of her hand.

As she waited for her vision to sharpen, she couldn't help but think that her pillow was softer than usual and began to hug it more tightly.

'That's right...I was in the forest...and then that horrible man appeared...' she recalled. 'Sesshoumaru onii-sama was there too...'

And then she suddenly remembered what he yelled to her right before everything became black.

"Kagome!! Get out of here!! Now!!"

'He called me Kagome...' she realized. And while she was happy at the thought, she began to rub her face against the soft pillow.

Until she suddenly heard someone clearing his throat.

"Ahem..."

Kagome quickly lifted her face from the pillow and jumped to a sitting position. She widened her eyes when she saw Sesshoumaru sitting on the floor next to her futon and looking at her with a slightly annoyed expression. Apparently he was the one who cleared his throat to get her attention.

Her eyes traveled downwards to the 'soft pillow' she was hugging and rubbing her face against seconds ago, only to realize that it was actually Sesshoumaru's fluffy white tail.

"G-gomen nasai..." she apologized meekly with her face down.

Her apology was followed by a moment of silence, which seemed like an eternity.

But it was broken when the silver-haired demon spoke. "Do you want to see your mother?" he asked.

"Uhn," Kagome nodded.

She waited until Sesshoumaru stood up and opened the sliding doors before she followed behind in her white kimono.

-.-

Strangely enough, he wasn't angry with the girl for sleeping on his tail for the entire night and he found it rather cute to see her hugging it tight and rubbing her face against it.

It amused him even more when she apologized so honestly after realizing that it was his tail. But at the end, he was just relieved that she finally woke, as she had been sleeping for two days already.

As they entered the corridor, Sesshoumaru reasoned inside that she would be very sensitive to the bright sunlight and instinctively shielded her from it with his long sleeve.

Note: In case you're wondering. The outer corridors of the fortress are open at one side with a nice view on the garden around the fortress.

Not long after they left the room, they came across InuTaisho and Izayoi who were walking towards them.

"Mommy!!" the child cried happily and ran towards her mother.

Sesshoumaru felt a strange kind of disappointment when the girl left his side. It was an empty feeling that filled his heart.

He realized that both the mother and daughter had to leave the fortress if a title wasn't given to the mother soon, before she and her daughter's reputation were ruined.

The dog demon somehow didn't want the child to leave his side, nor did he want her reputation to be ruined. But that wasn't possible unless he accepted a certain condition. One he had tried to avoid until now.

His train of thought crashed when InuTaisho began to speak.

"I have decided to take Izayoi as my mate," he announced as he shifted his gaze from Izayoi to Kagome and ended up looking at Sesshoumaru. "Sesshoumaru, do you object to this?"

Kagome turned to look up to her mother. "What does it mean mommy?" she asked.

"It means that you and your mother can stay here forever and that I will protect the both of you from any harm," the demon lord explained with a smile.

The child responded with wide eyes. "Really??"

InuTaisho nodded.

Her eyes shifted to her mother, who also nodded, and then to Sesshoumaru.

They were expecting an answer from him. But somehow, he wasn't able to answer.

For the first time in his life, Sesshoumaru felt the need to say something but couldn't find the words for it. Uneasiness was beginning to show on his features and he quickly turned before they noticed.

"Sesshoumaru onii-sama?" Kagome suddenly said.

Which, of course, startled everyone including Sesshoumaru himself.

Until now, she had only called him that when they were alone (with the exception of Naraku), but now, his father and her mother were present as well.

He couldn't deny it was embarrassing when the girl referred to him that way in front of others, but her words did ultimately reflect the answer he had in his heart.

And naturally, InuTaisho and Izayoi knew what it meant when Sesshoumaru didn't become angry at being called that familiarly by a human child.

-.-

And so, the day of the wedding ceremony arrived. Everything was decorated beautifully and everyone was gathered inside a large room of the fortress.

Izayoi was wearing a traditional white wedding garment and InuTaisho, who was standing next to her, in a rich black haori and hakama. Behind the pair stood Kagome in cherry red and Sesshoumaru in black.

As the priest in front of the soon-to-be-bound couple gave the customary preach, the demon prince began to drown into his own thoughts and he stole a glance at the small girl standing next to him.

How did things end up like this? He didn't know and neither did he understand. First he had intended to ignore her for the rest of his life, and then he somehow worried about her safety and ended up saving her from Naraku. And bewilderingly enough, the girl unconditionally risked her life to save his afterwards. He doubted that it was because she didn't want to owe him anything since she was too young to understand something this complicated.

She had truly wanted to save and protect him.

That moment, the preaching stopped and he turned his attention to InuTaisho when he turned around and began to make an announcement.

"From this day on, Izayoi will be my mate and Kagome will be officially adopted as the princess of the Western Lands and sister to my son, the prince of the Western Lands," he stated as he shifted his gaze from Izayoi to Kagome and Sesshoumaru. "If there are any objections, please voice it now."

There was a brief silence but the loud cheering of the servants and soldiers standing at the back of the room soon followed it.

Sesshoumaru watched how his father embraced the woman named Izayoi and eventually ended up looking at Kagome.

From this day on, he will have to accept another woman as his mother and a human child as his sister, but strangely enough, he felt no anger or annoyance at the thought.

Fate had made him meet the mother and child to prove him how wrong he was to blame the humans for his mother's death. And he admitted his foolishness. The creation of his hatred towards the human kind was ultimately meant to prevent him from realizing the one thing he had been trying to deny all this time.

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes. 'I was the one who failed to protect mother...because I was weak...I-'

He snapped back into reality when he felt something warm touching his hand.

When he dropped his gaze, he realized that the source of the warmth was actually Kagome's hand, which was just big enough to hold onto three of his fingers.

She was looking at him with worry in her eyes.

Instinctively, Sesshoumaru freed his fingers from her grasp; only to capture her small hand in his clawed one. And almost immediately, the worried expression was replaced with a warm smile on her face, which sent a serene feeling through the dog demon's body. 'I guess...I just wanted to be forgiven...' he thought as the image of his mother appeared in his mind. 'Mother...you will forgive me...won't you...?'

-.-

InuTaisho was relieved when the ceremony ended well.

He knew his son resented the human kind because of his mother's death. Even now, he wasn't able to make him understand that the humans were not to be blamed. During the entire happening, the demon lord had really thought that his son would stand up to him and object to his decision. But at the end, he didn't, and he wondered why.

When he unlocked Izayoi from his embrace and turned to the children, he finally began to understand why.

Besides being surprised to see Sesshoumaru holding Kagome's hand, he also noticed something different in the way he looked at the human child.

InuTaisho expected to see grudge, but he found calmness in his son's eyes instead.

As he pondered about how the child was able to affect him that much, he felt relieved inside to know that accepting both humans to be part of their family was a good decision after all.

However, he had to admit that the decision to take Izayoi as his mate wasn't only made because he had strong feelings towards her.

FLASHBACK

"Tell me miko-sama, being an offspring of a powerful priest it is natural for the girl to have inherited great holy powers. But how is it that she had never showed it before until now?" he asked as he closed the sliding doors behind the priestess.

After leaving Kagome's room, they had made their way towards InuTaisho's study to discuss about the huge barrier that was protecting the Western Lands. The room was illuminated by candles, dimmed by paper lanterns and placed on top of four low wooden pillars that were standing at each corner.

"Normally, it would take years for someone to control such powers and use it according to his or her will. It is indeed strange for a child, who didn't know she had it in her, to use so much power," she explained as she walked deeper into the room. "But in this case, the child probably felt an intense need to protect someone and therefore released it beyond her knowledge and control."

'An intense need to protect someone...?' the demon lord thought as he recalled the image of his son carrying the unconscious human child in his arms. 'She released her powers to protect Sesshoumaru??'

No matter how strange it sounded, it did make sense when he remembered his son telling them about Naraku's presence.

"How long is this barrier going to last?" he finally asked. "Is there a way to control it?"

The priestess thought for a while but eventually shook her head. "I doubt that it can be controlled," she replied. "When I entered the room of the sleeping infant earlier, I felt no spiritual powers coming from her."

InuTaisho raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Mature priests and priestesses have the ability to hide their spiritual powers from others. But with her young age, she couldn't have been hiding her powers from me," she though aloud and turned to him. "What I'm trying to say is, the girl doesn't have a single drip of her power left in her anymore."

The demon lord widened his eyes in surprise. "But how is that possible?"

"As I said before, the child had released her powers before she even knew how to control it and as a result, she used all of her powers to create the barrier," the priestess reasoned. "As its creator, she should have been the one who could control it. But the irony is that you need spiritual power to control spiritual power and since she has no such power left, there is no way she can control it."

"Can you not control it?" InuTaisho asked.

She shook her head again. "Not even I possess the power to do so. The only person who should be able to control such great barrier is the girl's father, but unfortunately he is not here anymore."

There was a moment of silence as the demon lord digested what he had heard so far. He could not deny that he had considered a long peace for the people he ruled over. As long as the barrier existed, not a single youkai would be able to enter his territory and there would be no need for war.

But after being told that no one was able to control this barrier, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't disappear the next morning, week or month.

'I guess it's too good to be true...' he told himself inwardly.

He was pulled back into reality when the priestess suddenly broke the silence.

"As for your other question..." she began. "Although the barrier cannot be controlled, it doesn't mean that it will fade away over time."

"Please explain," InuTaisho demanded with a puzzled expression.

The priestess walked towards the light source standing at one of the corners of the room and removed the lantern from its pillar, revealing a burning candle. "Take this candle for example," she said while looking down at it. "Once a candle is lit, there's nothing the candle can do to control the fire, which is comparable to child's situation if you imagine her being the candle and the barrier the flame. And right now, the power that had created the flame is so strong that no one is able to blow out this candle."

"So in other words, this warm and calm candlelight will keep burning...until..." she said as she moved her hand towards the candle.

'Until...?' InuTaisho thought as he walked closer to the candle to see what she was doing.

He watched how a purplish light began to envelop the priestess' hand as she moved it closer to the wax.

-SNAP-

The demon lord was surprised when the candle snapped in two by mere spiritual powers but he also realized the important message that the priestess wanted to convey with this demonstration.

'Although the candle can't control the flame, it is still the element that keeps it burning,' he reasoned inwardly as he watched a thread of smoke rise from the extinguished core. 'If the sustainer is somehow destroyed, the flame will die.'

END FLASHBACK

'So if Kagome's life is taken...the barrier will cease to exist as well...' InuTaisho concluded inside as his eyes traveled to the child in front of him.

Kagome has unknowingly become the pillar of peace. As long as she lives, the barrier would remain and it would offer them protection against all intruding youkai. But there was something he mustn't forget.

Even though he hadn't told anyone yet and regardless of the priestess' loyalty, there was still one individual who probably already found out about this.

Naraku.

He doubted that the bastard had died, because if he did, the entire Eastern Lands would be in chaos and devastation right now. But the fact that everything remained silent was a solid prove for his existence.

By adopting Kagome as his daughter makes it a lot easier to protect her from any initiatives from the East aimed to end her life. But they still had to be cautious since there was no chance Naraku would give up.

-.- at Naraku's lair -.-

"How did it go?" he demanded impatiently when an armored minion entered his chamber.

"I'm terribly sorry milord, but our second attempt to enter the Western Lands had failed dramatically. All of our troops including our best army have been purified," the minion reported apologetically. "And we could not find a priest of priestess nearby who caused it."

"CURSES!!!" Naraku cried out in frustration and anger.

He gritted his teeth and scowled. "Just you wait fools of the Western Lands!! My revenge will be sweet when I have recovered this dreaded injury!!"

---

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sorry for taking another 9 days to update, but things were getting really busy a few days ago. The piles homework and 2 test have pushed away all of my inspiration so it took me some time to recover. But here it is finally, I really hope you have enjoyed reading it!

The next chapter will be delayed a little (i.e. it will take longer than the usual 10 days), because I have to write a year-end report for a simulation business game at school and after that there are 2 tests coming up...-sigh-, I'm terribly sorry for that!!

Greets,

Kittymui

-.-.-

Italic: thoughts
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.-: time gap
-CAPSLOCKED WORDS-: noises

-.-.-

Next chapter: Chapter VI

-.-

In the next chapter we make another jump in time again. Sesshoumaru and Kagome are expecting a new member in the family but suddenly InuTaisho decides that Kagome has to leave the castle. Why? Please look forward to the next chapter!!

-.-

Vocabulary:
youkai: demon
onii-sama: a very respectful way to refer to a big brother
gomen nasai: I'm sorry

-.-.-

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Posted: 18 January 2005
Last Edited: 18 January 2005
Spelling check: YES

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters of it. And I do not own whatever elements of this story that seem familiar and had already been used by other creative individuals before. But... I do own the idea of mixing all of these elements together into a new story!