Enchanted Orbs
Chapter 26 Startling Discovery
Aishi sprinted through forests and meadows, over hills and plains until he reached the border of the Western Lands.
It was a three day journey, but at his pace he made it in two. It was still an hour's journey to Sesshoumaru's former ancestral home.
Five days had elapsed since he and his comrades were pulled from the immense battle. His feelings were still mixed on the situation. He didn't want to die, and he knew he would have met his death that night.
But he was ready and willing to die fighting alongside his lord.
Aishi shuddered. He was a firecat, a warrior race among the youkai species. There were few left, and fewer still could match his strength. He wouldn't have fallen quickly, but with that many enemies, it was a great probability that he would have fallen eventually.
Many stories surrounded the firecat line. Some said they were indestructible, that they couldn't be killed. The remaining few could attest the falsity of that statement, but it was true that firecats were extremely hard to kill.
There were many myths about how to kill a firecat. Most were wrong, but there were a few that were, if not completely true, close enough to count.
The girl had saved them from death only to deliver them into a coward's reward, humiliation. His lord would never recover from the fact that he had retreated, and if word got out that a woman had tricked or deceived him into that fate, all the worse for him.
Aishi hated his treacherous thoughts. He should have hated her for the act of treason, but his mind silently thanked her for his continued life.
How would he act towards her now? She was powerful and had saved his life twice, but she also cast shame upon his line.
He didn't have to worry about that, yet. She hadn't awoken when he departed on his mission, and he wasn't sure she would be awake when he came back.
Thoughts spun around his mind, circling points but never making them clear enough for him to have a solid stand on any of them. But then a thought broke through above the rest.
'So tired. I can't afford to waste time resting, but I cannot show weakness to Lord Sesshoumaru. He would only look down upon Lord Dachi.'
Aishi stopped dead in his tracks. That was not one of his thoughts. 'Someone is close, and that someone does not know of my lord's misfortune. They must be a scout of Lord Dachi, but why would a scout from the lord of the Eastern Lands have such urgent business with Lord Sesshoumaru?'
He knew the scout was infinitely tired; their aura was faint, and their thoughts were erratic and hard to follow. He decided it would be best if the scout didn't know of his lord's recent downfall and turned to intercept the other youkai.
He approached slowly, until he saw her. She leaned against a tree for support, catching her breath for a short period of time. Aishi took a moment to observe her.
Red hair was pulled back into a bun that was now loose with flames of red falling messy around her face. Her clothing was obviously high quality, something belonging to wealth or a high rank of her lord, but it was dirty and torn in places. She had obviously been traveling for sometime or a great distance.
Aishi stepped into her view, and she tensed. She knew she was no match for him in her weary condition, so she didn't even bother to straighten herself to appear intimidating.
"What do you want?" She asked trying to feign indifference, but the desperate exhaustion slipped through to deny her attempt.
Aishi looked her over. "Simple. I want to know your business with Lord Sesshoumaru?"
Her face showed her curiosity. "How did you know..."
"You are in his lands are you not?" Aishi said without emotion.
"If they are still his lands" The woman retorted.
Aishi's eyes flickered red, and soon the scout was pinned by her neck to the tree she was resting against.
"You will answer my question, or I will not be kind enough to grant you a painless death." The threat was valid, and both knew it.
She struggled to breath. "I am a scout of Dachi, Lord of the Eastern Lands. My business is with Lord Sesshoumaru, and I will die before giving my message to any but him."
Aishi released his grip slightly. "Explain your earlier comment about his lands." He commanded force still in his voice.
"Lord Dachi and Lord Sesshoumaru are not allies, this in not my first stop. I went south first. There was a battle and the former lord's head is now a decoration piece for the traitors now in power. I'm beginning to see a pattern, and if I am correct, Lord Sesshoumaru was attacked five day ago." She stated with certainty that had previously been absent in her statements.
"And you assume he fell to others." Aishi said heatedly, offended that this female thought his lord could be defeated so easily.
"I did not assume anything. I was about to see with my own eyes until you interrupted. Now are you going to take me to Lord Sesshoumaru or are you going to kill me for knowing about you and your conspirators in the Eastern and Southern Lands?" The scout retorted with no trace of fear in her voice.
Aishi growled at her accusation, but he knew the information she had was urgent and valuable.
He looked at the setting sun. "Rest, get some sleep. We'll leave in a few hours. If you want to meet with Lord Sesshoumaru, you are going in the wrong direction."
"What do you mean? These are his lands; his fortress is just beyond the horizon. What are you trying to pull?" Suspicion was clearly present in her voice.
"My lord is not currently at his fortress. If you would like speak with him, I will take you to him, but I suggest you rest. It is a three day journey back to him, and we will make it in two." With that, Aishi walked into the trees surrounding them.
"Wait! Where are you going?" She cried with a bit of despondency.
"I will bring back food for when you awaken. Haste is needed."
Aishi was greatly disturbed by her words. 'You and your conspirators in the Eastern and Southern Lands were her exact words. So the Eastern Lands had been subject to invasion also.'
He doubted if he could get anymore information out of her. If she was a high ranking spy, then she had already told him far more than she should have. Her exhaustion must have loosened her tongue.
Something big had happened and all of the major lands were involved. True nothing had proven the Northern Land's role, but if they hadn't been attacked, then the ruler was probably behind it.
With a burst of speed and the precision of his claws, a deer fell to the ground. Hefting the carcass over his shoulder with the blood dripping freely to the ground without soiling his attire, he made his way to a nearby river.
These were his lord's lands, and he knew them without question. He prepared the meat and headed back to where the female lay sleeping.
He sneered in disgust at her sleeping form. She could be considered beautiful by some, but to him, she was weak. This youkai had not even attempted to defend herself from death.
She would have bowed her head and let her blood paint his claws; submissive, weak, she was a disgrace to her species.
He rested as well to recover his full strength which was sapped in the two day sprint.
Hours passed as he slipped away until the sparse sunlight of dawn caused his eyes to snap open and look around wildly.
He heard a feminine laugh. "You really should calm down."
The red head sat in front of the fire cooking the meat he had preserved. He glared at her. "I wanted to leave several hours ago." He informed her.
"Then you should have told me, and I would have waked you up. Here, this is ready." She tossed him some of the cooked meat and kept the rest for herself. "Eat quickly and we'll leave shortly."
"Who are you to tell me what to you, woman?" He glared viciously at her. She laughed in return.
"I am Mokuso, and it appears I am the only one coherent in the mornings. Did you not just tell me that you wanted to leave a while ago? So we will leave as soon as we replenish ourselves, that is, if you will stop complaining long enough to cooperate." She said with a calm voice, but there was a razor edge that underlied her dare to argue with her.
He growled at her. She was so different now. What happened to the weak excuse for a youkai that was leaning against the tree yesterday? She had vanished; now there was Mokuso who challenged his very being. But he would not be treated as such.
"Laugh while you can, girl. When you are complaining for a break, I will be the one amused." He said with contempt in his voice.
"As you wish." She replied calmly. "I am ready to leave when you are...I still do not know what to call you, which is rather rude. Do you not think so?"
"General Aishi." He said as he rose to his feet.
"Lord Sesshoumaru's first general? I am impressed. Maybe this will be challenging." She said more to herself than aloud, but he heard it.
"I assure you; I am more than a challenge to a weakling such as yourself."
"Weakling? Ah, I see, last night." A gentle smile crossed her lips. "You try to fight someone after you've sprinted for five days straight. I told you, I've come from the Eastern Lands with a stop in the Southern Lands. I had very little left when you found me. I guarantee that I am more of a match than you had last night, but there is no time for that now. We must get to Sesshoumaru."
Aishi nodded, and he began running at a high speed through the trees surrounding them. He looked back at the girl to see her keeping up with no problems, so he sped up.
She still remained close behind him. 'Maybe this trip won't be as slow as I thought last night.' He thought with some satisfaction.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Sensation returned first. A fuzzy feeling overwhelmed everything; the unbalanced feeling of having cotton stuffed in your ears kept her from moving.
Vaguely she felt the soft mattress under her; burning sunlight made her eyes see orange under the thin layer of protective skin.
Kagome turned her head to retreat from the invading light only to feel the pain of stabbing knives shoot through her neck and shoulders.
An involuntary groan escaped the confines of her throat.
A soft familiar voice reached her. "You have awakened. I will retrieve your mother."
"Wait." Her voice wasn't there, but the croak that escaped seemed to stop the person beside her.
Kagome turned her head toward where the voice had come from and tried to lift her lids. It didn't work so well. Eyes were exposed halfway before the muscles clamped the skin back down to its former position.
Even her eyelids burned with the sensation of pain. Finally, she managed to open them, and before her, Kikyou stood patiently. She reached over for something, and a glass of water appeared before Kagome's line of sight.
She tried to lift her arms, but that was another failure. A groan tore from her again, this time of frustration.
"You really outdid yourself, didn't you?" Kikyou said with a slight reprimand. "Here."
Kikyou set the glass down on the nightstand and reached around Kagome to help her sit up in bed.
Every time anything moved, Kagome felt stabbing pains, but her thirst squelched every other desire.
When she had accomplished her sitting goal, a glass of water was held to her lips, and she gulped the water down fiercely.
"Slow down, you might have an adverse affect." Kagome was reprimanded again.
She wasn't sure what 'adverse affect' might happen, but she realized quickly as her stomach jumped and cramped from the liquid.
Kagome winced and slowed down. It had obviously been quite a while since she had passed out if her stomach was so empty that water offended it.
"Thank you." She managed to say. It actually sounded like a word, and, as small as the accomplishment was, Kagome was proud of it.
"I will go get you mother and some broth. You need to eat something." Kagome watched her walk out of the room. Then it hit her.
'How is she here? I'm in the future.'
As if in answer, Inuyasha stepped into her room. "Lazy human. It took you long enough to wake up." His words were harsh, but Kagome could see how worried he was about her.
She smiled faintly; even her cheeks were burning with pain, but he didn't have to know that. "It is nice to see you, too, Inuyasha." Her voice was still weak and raspy, but it was rational.
"Feh!" He said in response, but his voice lost its edge. "What happened to you? And why do you have three demons waiting for you on the other side of the well?" He had been waiting for so long for the answers to his questions.
Trying to get Sesshoumaru to tell you something was like talking to a rock. A rock with sharp claws and homicidal tendencies.
His questions sparked questions in Kagome. 'They are waiting for me?' Joy spread and warmed her. 'Maybe Sesshoumaru doesn't hate me after all.' But the joy soon faded. 'Or maybe he's waiting for me to come back so he can kill me for his humiliation.'
"Kagome?" Inuyasha prompted.
"I'll explain everything, but can I eat and shower first? I'm really hungry, and I probably smell really bad."
He nodded and left her as her mother walked into the room. "How are you feeling, dear?"
"I think death would feel better because then I wouldn't feel anything." She managed weakly.
"Here, drink this and maybe you'll start to feel better. I'll draw you a hot bath." Her mother said while setting a tray across her lap. She ran her hands over her daughter's head and shoulders comfortingly. "Just call me if you need anything."
"Thanks, mom."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Sesshoumaru was restless. There were too many unknowns and he was slowly driving himself crazy with unanswerable questions.
'Was Kagome alive? Are the traitors looking for him? Do they know of his other fortress hidden away? Is they did, was Rin alright? What lie on the other side of the well which resided merely yards from him? What has Aishi discovered?
He hadn't even bothered to wonder about Inuyasha's sudden change in strength. That question was answered fairly easily, but with such a selfish wish, were was the jewel?
It didn't matter what he thought of, questions seemed to ambush him. Too many subjects, too little knowledge.
"My lord?" Shouron had been watching for some time, and he was more than worried about his commander.
Sesshoumaru acknowledged the general with a look.
"You need to eat, my lord. It was been several days, and we need to keep up our strength." Shouron knew he could die as punishment for telling his lord what to do, but it was risk that or watch Sesshoumaru wither away.
Sesshoumaru was unsettled. When had he let things get so out of hand that his generals had to act as a mother towards him? His eyes narrowed. This had to stop. He was driving himself mad.
"I will eat when it suits me. For now, I am going to take a walk. If anything arises, summon me." He walked towards the forest.
Shouron could only hope that he would hunt something for food. His strength would be waning by now from lack of consumption.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Shippo sat in Kaede's hut crying his eyes out. He knew that Kagome had returned, but she had not stopped to even inform him of that before she ran home.
It was like she didn't want to see him. 'Is she mad at me? What did I do? Does she not love me anymore?'
And on top of everything, Inuyasha had come back ranting and raving about Sesshoumaru and two other demons waiting for Kagome beside the well. When Shippo had worked up the courage to ask about Kagome, Inuyasha's face fell for a moment.
Kikyou had told everyone that they had found her unconscious inside the well house.
Shippo had not seen hide nor hair of either Inuyasha or Kikyou since then. Was Kagome alright? Was she going to die? Would he ever see her again?
Tears came faster now. With eyes blurry from the saline solution, he ran out of the hut as fast as he could.
He came to the clearing where the Bone Eater's Well stood. He had not come here yet. Shippo didn't want to confront the lethal Sesshoumaru if he could avoid it.
But he no longer cared. He wanted to know what was going on, and he wanted to know now.
Sesshoumaru was gone, but there was another present. Sunshine yellow hair attracted his eyes until bright blue eyes froze him to the spot. 'Kagome.' He thought forlornly when he noticed how similar her eyes were to this newcomer.
A deep voice broke through and stopped the new tears from falling. "Can I help you?" Shouron spoke to the tiny kitsune.
"Kagome," was the only thing Shippo could squeeze through his clenched throat.
Blue eyes widened a bit. "She is not well, little one, but she will be fine. Kagome is strong."
"But I miss her." He whispered in response.
"I'm sure she will be back shortly. She just needs to recover." The general informed him.
"Recover?" Shippo's wide bleary eyes pleaded with the youkai in front of him.
"Yes, recover. Would you like to know what happened?" Shouron offered. He didn't know what else to do to help the kit. As a general, he knew little about children and less about how to comfort them.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Aishi was surprised at the speed at which the female behind him could maintain.
She had not complained once, and they had been running for a solid day. She was fast; he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the true limit of her speed because she seemed to be skipping along beside him.
Trees blurred and branches became lethal at this speed, but she appeared immune to everything that would have unnerved anyone else.
Aishi was known for his strength and speed, but this girl matching his pace with ease.
It was true that he could go faster; he was only at seventy-five percent now, but he needed a prolonged journey not short battle jaunts.
Night had fallen around them, and she still showed no signs of slowing down. He expected some form of complaint, but they had not spoken to each other since they began their run.
Aishi had been running faster than before because he had someone to push him, to keep him at a fast pace. Sometimes he unconsciously slowed until he noticed and sped up again.
But with this other trailing him, his pace was steady. At this rate, they should reach his lord by morning if they traveled straight through the night without a break.
A three day journey in one, impressive indeed. He was anxious to see what Lord Dachi wanted of Sesshoumaru.
Was he even still alive? Had he survived the attack, or did Mokuso carry her lord's final wishes to Lord Sesshoumaru?
He would find out soon enough, but this could work out better than expected. If all the other lords had been overthrown or killed, Sesshoumaru's retreat would be small news in exchange for three new rulers.
And with rulers who were new to the role, capturing their lands would be a simple task as soon as Sesshoumaru gathered his loyal soldiers from throughout his lands.
Aishi smirked at the possibilities. 'Lord Sesshoumaru, ruler throughout Japan.'
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Another chapter. Yes, still a bit boring, but we have a little conspiracy on our hands now. I hope you liked it. Until next week! I really hate to complain about this you guys, but please understand that I update as often as I can. Its fine when you say "please update soon," and what not, but some of you are just rude and demanding. That really isn't necessary. I am taking very difficult classes this semester, and weekly is really hard as it is. Please don't demand more than I can give. I'm already stressed as it is, and writing is a way to relieve that stress for me. If it becomes another stressor, do you really think I'll update as often as I have? See ya'll next week.
Syrinx
