Protector
This chapter is dedicated to Box Queen.
Kono sayounara ga tabidachi naraba
(If this farewell is the beginning of a journey)
Boku no egao wo zenbu ageru yo
(I'll smile as much as I can for you.)
Deatta koto mo aruite machi mo
(As the fact that we met and walked the streets together)
Futari no mune de ikitsudzukeru no
(Will live on in our hearts.)
Zutto zutto wasurenai
(I'll never, ever forget)
Tobira ikutsu agete mo
(Even if I open countless doors)
Donna ni tooku hanarete mo
(No matter how far apart we are)
Tsunaida te to te hanare wa shinai
(Our locked hands will never break apart.).
-BoA, chorus and bridge from her new single 'EVERLASTING'
Chapter 17: A Mysterious Murder
"K-kouga?" Kagome repeated faintly. His wolfish grin widened. "The one and only." He answered, getting up and walking to her. "Kagome, my love, I hope you've remembered that you're my woman throughout all these years," he said possessively, grabbing her hands. A light blush broke across her cheeks. A soft clearing of Shouro's throat got their attention. "Well, for one, I hope that you two remember that we are all still here, touching though your reunion may be," the snake demon remarked, unhidden amusement dancing in his eyes. Kouga glared at him. "Mark my words, she's MINE," he pulled Kagome to her feet and snaked an arm around her waist. A tiny shock of purification power ran up his hand, and he jerked away. "Please don't do things like that, Kouga. You'll only end up hurt," she reprimanded sternly. Kouga stared at her, jaw dropping. Since when did his sweet little mate-to-be talk like that to him? Perhaps the hundred years had changed her more than it had him.
A knock on the door sounded, and Shiruka went to open it. A disheveled messenger boy with a tiny horn on his forehead ran in, panting for breath. "My lord has summoned my lady to the servant quarters. She is to come alone," he rattled off. Kagome nodded and prepared to take her leave. "Hey, you can't just take Kagome away like that. We're in the middle of something here!" Kouga protested. He hadn't seen her for a long, long time, and he didn't want to part from her so quickly. "It is my lord's orders, sir," the page shook his head. Kagome smiled at all of them, and swept from the room regally, Shiruka and the messenger behind her, leaving a sulking Kouga behind.
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"What's this?" Kagome stared down at the corpse on the roughly-hewn wooden floor. Sesshoumaru did not grace her with a reply, instead choosing to glare at her. If he knew, he wouldn't have called for her, would he? Obviously not. "I believe it may be the work of a vampire under Kariyu," he decided to say. Kagome's eyebrows dipped in a frown. "That means that you have a spy here. Besides, this corpse still retains most of its blood," she noticed, bending to inspect the neck. Sure enough, two fang marks dotted the skin there, blood oozing sluggishly from the tiny holes.
"There are vampires who do not live on blood, my lord, my lady. There are vampires who feed on innocent things like the smell of perfume or music, and there are more lethal ones who consume souls, blood, and life force," Shiruka volunteered the information, peering at the dead body from behind Kagome, who pursed her lips and focused on the corpse at her feet.
"Yeah, there's no trace of a soul at all," she confirmed, shaking her head slowly. "How would you know?" Sesshoumaru was so surprised that he asked. Kagome shot him an unreadable glance. "After Kikyou returned her half of the soul to me, I retained her ability to see spirits as glowing orbs within bodies. A person who has died of disease or wounds usually has a trace of soul left on it which only dissipates after weeks. This body has no soul residue," she answered after hesitating a beat.
"Well, I doubt Keegan will be missed," Shiruka commented. Kagome gave him a questioning look, and he willingly explained. "Keegan shirked his duties most of the time and whined the rest," he elaborated, sighing deeply.
"If the murderer is indeed a vampire, then he must have taken Kariyu's blood in order to emerge during the daylight hours," Kagome mused. Sesshoumaru nodded. Kirara paced over to sniff at Keegan's clothing, then sneezed delicately. "Is there a scent to track by, Kirara?" her mistress asked hopefully. The little cat shook her head before leaping to Shiruka's shoulder. "So, scent-covering, daylight emergence, and possibly illusion-making," Kagome said, mentally running through a list of possible abilities their enemy might have.
"We'll all have to be on our guard. Inform the servants, soldiers and nobles that no one is allowed to carry out their duties alone. Tell them to move in pairs," Sesshoumaru issued the order to Ikaru, who bowed and withdrew silently, brushing past the miko and her guard before running swiftly down the hallway.
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"Kagura, you have a sister, do you not?" Kariyu enquired. The crimson-eyed wind sorceress nodded a confirmation, kneeling gracefully. "Where is she?" the vampire pressed patiently. "She left to go to China, my lord," Kagura replied, head bowed. "China, huh… a bit too far. All right. I want you to send her a message telling her to come back here. Don't tell her why, just tell her to do it. Also, I want you to go to the location marked on this map. Attempt entrance into the cave. If you manage it, bring back the person you will find there. If you are repelled, try to get in. If not, return and report," Kariyu ordered, tossing her a rolled-up map. She rose, curtsied, and backed out of the room. "Oh, and have Jaken brought in," he called after her.
Jaken entered a few minutes later, visibly trembling. His new master was somewhat frightening and prone to fits of violence, especially towards him. A giant bruise ran across his back, given when he had unwittingly stood in the way of the master.
"Jaken, I have a task for you," Kariyu said, sitting beside the window and gazing out. It was just past nightfall, his favorite time of the day. The sky looked velvety; the stars resembled silver spangles against the dark backdrop. Candles in the four corners of the room gave off a ghostly, flickering golden light as Kariyu's dark orbs glinted.
Jaken knelt. "I am yours to command, my lord," he abased himself shamelessly. He would go to any lengths to remain uninjured for the most part today.
"I want you to journey to Sesshoumaru's castle. Reach there three days from today. Two of my spies will meet at you at midnight in the forest a mile from there. You will look for them at the tree which is half as wide as the others. Do not be late for the meeting. You will collect their verbal reports and remember them word for word. There is to be no failure. Do you understand?" Kariyu did not look at the toad creature, but stared at the wall across, as though Jaken was hard on his eyes, which in all likeliness was true. "Yes, master. I will make preparations and leave at once," Jaken scrambled out of the room backwards, crawling on hands and feet.
Kariyu smiled. Although the toad creature stank like a swamp, there were perks to having him around, the main one being that he got to see Jaken groveling like nobody's business.
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Kagura soared through the dark sky, feather white against the dark blue. Her hair streamed freely behind her. Within her cell in her own mind, she threw herself against the unyielding bars and screamed her throat hoarse, but it was no use. Her body continued traveling onward, refusing to obey her commands.
In a few hours, she reached her destination, a dark cave nestled in between two high mountains. It was chillingly cold there, and the icy wind rustled through her hair and clothes. Although it was her own element, her body shivered hard, and began to move faster.
As she reached out a hand to test the entrance, she found no resistance there, although she expected the shocking pain of a strong barrier. She advanced forward slowly, warily, noticing that no plants grew in the cave, not even moss. A blue glow lit the end, and she hurried towards it, her metal fan in hand.
Upon closer inspection, she realized that the blue light was being given off by a strong barrier. This barrier, although extremely strong, was also transparent, and she could see inside. A person lay on a raised shelf of rock, limbs unnaturally still. The only thing that proved he was still alive was the slow movement of his stomach, showing that he continued to breath. Silver hair spilled out around his face, having been left to grow unchecked. The person was dressed entirely in red, with a white undershirt. He was barefoot, and claws replaced nails on his fingers and toes. Kagura's eyes widened as she recognized the person lying there. Inuyasha.
As though he realized she was there, golden orbs slowly opened as he turned his head to look at her. "You are not welcome. Leave now." He said, in a voice rusty from disuse. He did not appear to remember her. Going back to his original position, his eyelids slid downwards again, shielding those incredible golden eyes.
Kagura backed away, then broke into a run as she raced for the cave entrance. The minute she was out, she plucked her feather from her hair and rose into the darkness, speeding away as quickly as she could. So that was where Inuyasha had ended up. Unaccepted, unloved, he had resorted to closing himself away into a barrier. What would Kagome say if she knew? Would Inuyasha even respond to her call? How could Kagura even send the message to her?
A tear dripped from her emotionless red eyes, sliding ever-so-slowly down her cheek.
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Kagome turned her head as she walked down the corridor with Shiruka at her side. She could've sworn she heard a desperate cry of her name. Dismissing it as her imagination, she hurried faster, eager to sink into restful slumber.
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A/N: Hi everyone! I know that this is late, and I apologize. However, please note that I may not be updating so regularly because I do have schoolwork, you know. Last year, I ignored all my homework and almost got killed by my teachers. I don't wish to have that happen again, so I will faithfully hand in everything on time. Please understand. I did quite badly last year, and I know I can do better. I want to use my potential to do something more, something better.
Anyway, kibou hope has not sent me an email yet. Please contact me so I know whether to send my chapters to you to be beta-read or not!
Mm. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Box Queen, who got 5 out of 6 for the question last chapter. She would have gotten full marks, but 1 point was deducted because of spelling mistakes. The answers are as follows –
Dance of the Wind Blades – Fujin no Mai
Dance of the Dead – Shikabane no Mai
Dance of the Dragon – Ryuuja no Mai
Yeah. This round's question is,
What are Inuyasha's attacks? Please note, this includes his claws and Tetsusaiga. Yeah.
I think I replied to everyone who reviewed, although I'm not too sure. I'm sorry if I missed you out, it wasn't intentional.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I know there were some who couldn't review, because I removed the A/N chapter, and the reviews were also pushed back one chapter. Thus, only those who didn't review for Chapter 15 could review for Chapter 16. Yeah.
Thanks to Yami396 for reviewing on my latest oneshot, Together Forever. I like that one, actually, although it didn't get too many reviews. /shrugs/ oh well, whatever.
Thanks to MaibuWolf who recommended me Serendipity by Technoelfie. It's a crossover between Naruto and Inuyasha. It's really good. KakashiKagome pairing. Lol, I loved the part where Kagome dragged Kakashi to go and shop. Guys really are allergic to shopping for more than ten minutes at a time, huh? Yeah. Thanks. I really love that story.
Anyone who likes ItachiSakura pairings from Naruto, read Loophole by Leafygirl. It's super excellent! If you have any other fanfictions to recommend me, I'll be glad to read them. I don't care about the pairings, I'm quite open minded. Yeah. The only Naruto pairing I don't like to read is NejiSasuke, because they're both… quite… angsty. Plus, they're both ice-cubes. Where's the fun in that? Yeah.
Okay, I gotta go now. Bye minna-san!
Kyasarinyume07 signing off. I have a test tomorrow. DOWN WITH SCHOOL!