XVII: Unfolding Secrets
Author: Nefertili
Fandom: Inuyasha
Rating: PG13
Pairing(s): Sesshoumaru/Kikyou
Genre(s): Romance, Angst, AU, Action
Warning(s): More battle scenes, some violence, fluff... What more can I say?
Disclaimer: None of the characters, except perhaps some, are mine. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
Summary: Two years after IMotC, Sess is challenged to surpass an enemy in recovering a mysterious relic left behind by his mother. But can he protect Kikyou, who now carries his child, at the same time?
A/N: I am writing (or more precisely, typing) as fast as I can! Only a few more days before classes start...oh my, I really need to finish this story by the end of the week...
...o0o...
A shard of the moon
O'er mist coming and going...
The mists came and went, and the previously barren surroundings began to show signs of plant life. Lush grasses played at Kikyou's feet as the purple-eyed shinidamachuu floated above her. They led the wondering maiden towards a great sphere of light in the distance, which steadily brightened as she came closer. The indescribable fragrance, too, began to intensify with every step she took.
Kikyou breathed in the wonderful air deeply, feeling as though with every intake of breath, she was flying past the moon on a shower of stardust. There, Sesshoumaru was waiting for her, and it was heaven to be taken in his strong arms, to feel his lips pressed against hers...
The gentle pull of the soul-catching demon on her wrist drove her abruptly from her reverie. She blinked, and realization changed the color of her mahogany eyes. In the utter peacefulness of her surroundings, the troubles which she knew sooner or later she must face seemed so far away...
Strange-looking trees began to emerge in the mist. Kikyou stopped for a while to run her hands through their smooth, slender trunks. They were rather short; the tallest were only twice the height of an average man. On a closer look, Kikyou found out that the main trunk of the tree nearest to her was made up of smaller trunks wound together in a twisting fashion. Its soft leaves were long and shaped like swords, gathered in many clusters resembling pom-poms.
Kikyou stood for a while beneath the canopy of the tree, the far-off light and the mist combining to make a strange yet mesmerizing interplay of shadows to fall on her face. Then she noticed the fine network of roots, the snakelike tendrils protruding out from halfway down the trunk. She was surprised to realize that although there was a great deal of space between one tree and the other, their roots interwove and were interconnected, forming an impression that they shared the same roots.
The actions and nudging of the shinidamachuu eventually got her moving again. Even if Kikyou was reluctant to walk on, she forced herself to find a pathway among the lacing roots. It was rather difficult, for in their very intricacy the roots resembled one vast spreading brocade swathed with mist.
"Can't you carry me?" Kikyou chidingly asked the shinidamachuu as they hovered about her patiently. But she was smiling as she asked her question, for she meant it as a half-jest. She was savoring every moment in this misty wonderland; she even found the haunting aura of this strange forest rather beautiful. Besides, what gave her the right to command these soul-catchers? They were, after all, not her pets; they were the Lady Hanazuki's.
The image of the beautiful silver-eyed Demon Lady, the mother of her mate, floated over Kikyou's memory. What is the Tsukisawa like? Of course, she had seen many views of Hanazuki's birthplace in the memories replayed by Mizutori, but it would be a very different experience to be in it herself. Had the Marsh of the Moon changed with the passing of its guardian?
The gracefully winding roots began to dwindle beneath her feet, and Kikyou knew that she was nearing the edge of the forest. Soon, the network of roots disappeared altogether and the trees grew farther and farther apart. Kikyou noticed that with the thinning of the trees, her flying escorts began to lag behind her until finally they refused to go any farther.
A tiny vestige of fright entered Kikyou's heart. She was in an unknown territory, but she had felt somehow secure as long as her mother-in-law's shinidamachuu were with her. They cannot abandon her! She needed their help!
"I don't know what to do," Kikyou pleaded to them, clasping her hands over her chest. "Please, I must find the Tsukisawa, and I cannot go alone. You understand me, don't you? I need you to come with me."
The shinidamachuu cocked their heads to the side, the pair of black spines on the side of their cheeks twitching slightly.
"I want to help Sesshoumaru, your mistress' only son," she continued. "But I cannot recover the Mitsuseki without your help." Many pairs of violet eyes looked back unflinchingly at her, and Kikyou felt herself growing desperate.
"Please, I want to go home as soon as possible! I miss him, but I cannot leave without the Mitsuseki. I need to go into the Marsh of the Moon..."
Kikyou broke off, glistening beads of tears forming at the corner of her mahogany eyes. To her astonishment, one shinidamachuu broke off from its group and flew close to her face, rubbing its crested head gently against her cheek. She was suddenly made aware of an invisible barrier woven among the mist. Then, as though the action served its purpose, Kikyou's eyes widened in realization.
The purple-eyed shinidamachuu would have accompanied her, but even they were restricted from the Tsukisawa upon the death of their mistress. The barrier of Hanazuki would only let in those who carried her Moon Elemental blood, and the glowing demons did not appear to be part of them. Hopefully, this barrier will accept her.
"Do you seriously believe I can do this?" she asked of the little soul-catcher, raising one of her hands to tickle its chin. The youkai appeared to regard her with trust, and after briefly touching the former miko's hands with its claws, it returned to its brethren who were weaving in and out among the unusual trees.
Kikyou watched it go, and she sighed. Sesshoumaru was in battle. If she wasn't able to retrieve the Mitsuseki, she doubted anyone else can. With a flip of her flowing raven locks, she turned and walked into the inviting mist, illuminated by the moonlight and by an even brighter glow from beyond.
...o0o...
A jewel of doom
O'er water still, unmoving...
Had she been running blindly, Kikyou would not have noticed the gaping cliff hidden in the mist and she would have fallen yet again. Her steps slow and sure, Kikyou walked to the edge of the cliff and let the fog clear itself before her very eyes. She had penetrated the barrier; now what?
The steady mist parted, and Kikyou momentarily forgot to breathe.
Like the beauty of the moon revealed when dark clouds are lifted from its enigmatic face, the Tsukisawa lay spread in front of Kikyou, the blue waters pristine and undisturbed. The mist had receded well enough to give her a clear view of the moon in the heavens, in its last crescent before it loses its light for a day. She had come in the nick of time; had she been late for a day, the Tsukisawa would have turned into poison and they would have to wait for a longer time before the Waters become sweet again.
But the region at the very heart of the vast lake was still shrouded in white mist, bright with some kind of unearthly aura. The Mitsuseki must be there...
Kikyou searched the cliffs for a possible path of descent, and she saw that the crag gradually fell into a gentle slope a few meters to her right. If she descended this slope, reaching the banks of the lake would be no problem. The former priestess set her jaw and began to walk on her appointed path, determined to fulfill her duty to the very end.
As she descended the overhang, she began to recognize the landmarks she saw in the Inu no Taishou's memory. Those mountains in the distance...the cliffs ringing the lake, the pale-colored rock faces giving off a purplish glow where they touched the water...they had all looked magnificent in the mere flashback, and they were even more so in real life. The Tsukisawa, it seems, had retained its legendary beauty even if Suien had died long ago.
"If Sesshoumaru is only here to see all this grandeur with me..." she said, her thoughts slipping without her knowledge.
No, her thoughts rephrased themselves on their own, once this war is over, we will come here and see this beauty anew. I know it will be wonderful, for I will see all these with him... This time, it will not be for an obligation to Okaa-san...it will be for us...
For us...
...o0o...
O'er depths endless, a-waiting...
Now that she had reached the grassy banks of the Tsukisawa, a new problem arose for Kikyou. She gazed at the delicate fringes of the floating hanazuki, wishing that they would lend her their ability to stay afloat on the water surface. How was she to get to the heart of the Marsh where she believed the Mitsuseki was?
The calm waters seemed to taunt her; they would not yield their secrets willingly. Should she swim? Even if Kikyou was the best swimmer in the whole world, she doubted if she would have managed to stay afloat that long. She squinted at the light at the heart of the Tsukisawa; it was too far away for her own swimming prowess to take her. Besides, being with child, to swim in the cold bottomless waters was close to suicide...
If to swim was out of the options, how about...to fly? But how can she fly? None of her miko powers granted her the power of prolonged levitation...she needed her shinidamachuu. But if Hanazuki's shinidamachuu couldn't enter this place, what more for her own soul-catching demons?
Perhaps, she should call out to the Mitsuseki? Would it come to her on its own? She didn't even know the nature of that jewel...it could even me more elusive than the Shikon no Tama...
Kikyou closed her eyes and she let her aura flow out of her body like smoke rising out of fire.
Listen to me... Come to me...
Kikyou can feel the mysterious presence at the center of the body of water reaching out to grasp hers. Her hope began to rise. Threads of essence began to unwind and connect. She can feel herself becoming lost in the mesmerizing rhythm...the intoxicating fragrance of the hanazuki... But after a few minutes, she made no progress in calling that aura to her.
Kikyou squeezed the cloth of her sleeves with worry. Had she reached a dead end now? She had managed to evade Karatake's minions in the Minorikawa; was she to be stopped by the unmoving depths of the Tsukisawa?
Think, Kikyou, think...
The essence of the Tsukisawa began to envelop her. Unseen hands wrapped themselves around her in the manner of a mother, inviting her to come closer. She hadn't known that her feet were already walking on their own until she felt the cold fingers of the Waters pouring through her socks. Kikyou stepped back hastily, and the invisible hands withdrew themselves from her in what looked like a disappointed reluctance.
It wants me to come to the heart, but how am I to do it? Kikyou thought anxiously. Her nervous fingers made contact with a hard, narrow object within her sleeves. She frowned slightly. Kikyou reached into the pocket of her sleeves, and she found herself holding Kikumo's hair stick.
"Thrust it into the soil, and it could make any plant grow, in almost any place..."
The departed Demon Princess' words reached her mind, and Kikyou wondered why she hadn't seen its worth earlier. Think of all the beautiful blossoms she could have brought out of barren soil, all the herbs she could have effortlessly grown... Perhaps, one of them could have been of use to Umegae...
Umegae! The thought of the young Queen made Kikyou panic slightly. Was she still alive? Or had she succumbed to the poison? Will Kikumo ever forgive Kikyou if her younger sister died...when the power to heal her had been in the former priestess' grasp? Similar lines of thoughts repeated themselves in Kikyou's head.
A bitter sigh.
A hand clutched itself tightly around the hair stick.
Well, she'd better put it to good use at least once. Hardly conscious of what she was doing, Kikyou crouched close to the water's edge and pushed the tip of the stick into the watery soil. She held it there for a few moments before she pulled it back, waiting for something to happen.
With the subtleties of a falling snowflake, the tiny leaves of a plant pushed itself out of the soil. Then, with fantastic speed, it grew a trunk and split off into branches before the maiden's amazed eyes. In no time at all, she had a bridge to the heart of the lake, the wide trunk of the plant bending over the pristine waters.
Wasting no time, Kikyou climbed up the unnamed plant as carefully as a pregnant woman can manage. She began to walk on a steady limb, and was soon enveloped in the mist rising from the heart of the Tsukisawa.
...o0o...
"I get to see you once again, my daughter..."
The flowing tones of a familiar voice made Kikyou look up. She was so intent on making sure that she wouldn't slip down the depths that she didn't notice the other beautiful face looking at her with a smile. Hanazuki, her form barely visible in the intense light, gazed back at the human maiden's mahogany eyes with her own silvery oculars.
"Mother!" Kikyou said breathlessly, the joy at having to meet her mother-in-law once again nearly overwhelming her. She temporarily forgot her sorrows, for the Demon Lady's presence was enough to inspire even her hardened spirit.
Hanazuki's eyes softened. It has been so long...so long since she heard anyone call her by that endearing term.
"Kikyou..." she said, and the light about her dimmed slightly.
Now that Kikyou can see her better, the former priestess can see that she was garbed differently since the last time she saw her in the forest. Gone were the blue robes; Hanazuki now wore a kind of battle armor over a white kimono and a dark red skirt. A silver headpiece adorned her long flowing locks, emphasizing the color of her flashing eyes. Her powerful energy made the water beneath her feet and the mist over her head ripple and swirl as she hovered with only the tips of her toes touching the Tsukisawa.
She looked beautiful and terrible indeed, befitting to her title as the Lady of the Tsukisawa. Kikyou found herself staring at her own plain miko's garments, and her eyes widened to see that their robes had more similarity than one admitted. The white blouse...the red hakama... Did Lady Suien intentionally garb herself in the manner of a miko?
"My duty as the guardian of the Tsukisawa and the Mitsuseki makes me a Priestess in my own way," she said softly, answering Kikyou's unasked question. "The way you were once bound by your mission to the Shikon no Tama, I am bound by my responsibility to the Mitsuseki."
Kikyou raised her eyes and met Hanazuki's in a respectful manner. She could not help but see, indeed, a stunning similarity between Midoriko, the miko who formed the Shikon no Tama, and Hanazuki...or Kikyou herself, for the matter. They had great power, but their lives were chained in the name of inanimate Jewels...
"Sesshoumaru is in the battlefield, fighting in your name," Kikyou said. "I chose to come here on my own, to receive the Mitsuseki if you allow me."
Hanazuki did not speak for a long time, but she did not look coldly upon her daughter-in-law. On the contrary, there was understanding and...a strange kind of sadness in her eyes.
"I know," she replied. "I could not be more proud of you, my daughter. You have done so much to help Sesshoumaru when I wasn't there to do so..." She broke off. In her mind, Kikyou had a fleeting image of a young boy who looked no more than eight years old running towards his mother in a windy field. It was a young Sesshoumaru...the way Hanazuki remembered him.
"It was never your fault, Okaa-sama," Kikyou said, trying to alleviate Hanazuki's pain. She knew, given the chance, Suien would have chosen not to die an early death. But would things have changed, then? "Sesshoumaru never blamed you for whatever is befalling us now."
"Does he?" Hanazuki said. "He has changed so much since I died, I can tell. Withdrawn into himself, abandoning companionship for coldness...the way I had centuries earlier. If you weren't there, Kikyou, I am sure he would have ended up a tyrant like the Inu no Taishou in his youth."
"Tyrant..." Kikyou repeated.
Hanazuki's eyes darkened. "I am afraid it's partly my fault as well. I unwittingly encouraged Sesshoumaru, telling him that he can succeed because we, his parents, had reached thus far. Without me knowing, I had imprisoned my own son within our shadow."
Kikyou understood, for Sesshoumaru had often told her that he felt as though he lived in the shadow of the Inu no Taishou, and now, his own mother as well.
"She was my inspiration as I walked my path," Sesshoumaru had once told Kikyou, referring to his mother and father, "but he became the standard for my future." A rather painful, if not impossible goal, isn't it? It was easy to be frustrated and disappointed to fail where one's parents had succeeded...
"But even then," Kikyou remarked, "would things have been different, Mother? I believe that it was rather natural for him to look up to you and Otou-san as his role models, and even if you didn't encourage him when he was younger...as your son, Sesshoumaru would have sought to live up to your standard."
Hanazuki looked at Kikyou, and she smiled at the wisdom of the young woman.
"I am pretty sure, indeed," Hanazuki said in agreement. "But...will he hate his own mother if he finds out that I specifically requested the forging of the Tenseiga?"
Kikyou didn't know what to say. Honestly, she didn't know the answer. She knew that Sesshoumaru had an increased respect for the Blade of Heaven after Kikumo died, but even then, a small part of him might still be hankering after Tessaiga... After all, old habits tend to die hard, and what are a few years to youkai?
"It was my last instruction to his father," Hanazuki continued, "to give him the Sword of Heaven when the time is right. We both had hoped that he would see the worth of the sword so in time, he will be ready for the Mitsuseki as well. But it seems we have a little problem..."
...o0o...
"What bothers you so, Hanazuki?" the Inu no Taishou asked of his gray-eyed mate, approaching behind her and embracing her on the shoulder. The day was beautiful in the Western Lands, the sun was just right and the wind blew at their flowing tresses. But Hanazuki had been silent throughout the day, and she had not her usual vigor when Sesshoumaru pulled at her hands to play.
"Do you care for our son, darling?" she muttered, closing her eyes to feel him rub his face against her soft purple-black hair.
"Of course I do, my beloved," he replied, wondering why she was asking that sort of thing...as if the answer wasn't evident already. "But you mean far more than the three worlds to me..."
Hanazuki leaned against her husband, resting her head against his neck. His arms went about her waist, and she lovingly held his hands as he hugged her close.
"I need to tell you something..." she whispered.
"I am here to listen," the silver-haired Demon Lord answered.
It took some time for Hanazuki to find the right words, but his gentle squeeze on her hand encouraged her to say what she had to say.
"I do not feel that it is too early to think about Sesshoumaru's future. Should I die, how will he be able to harness the power of what I will leave him?"
The Inu Taiyoukai knew what she was talking about. Ever since she became his mate, they had known everything about each other. She had told him about an elusive jewel that lay in her keeping, and that it must one day pass to Sesshoumaru. He saw nothing wrong in this, but to hear his own wife talking about her death this early...well, something must indeed be bothering her.
"I am sure he will be able to do it when the time is right, koi," Inutaishou said.
"I need you to do something, though..."
The utter pleading tone, which she hardly ever used on him, made the Inu no Taishou more confused than ever. He thought he knew Hanazuki, but there were times when he couldn't understand her withdrawn nature. She gently pried herself from his embrace and turned to face him in the eye. This is serious...this is really serious...
"Tell me what I must do, and I will do it," he said steadily, cupping her cheek tenderly.
Hanazuki looked deeply into his amber oculars, and she sighed.
"I need you to fashion a sword," she said. "A blade...that can bridge the gap between the Meidou and this world. I need you to embed this shard in it." She took out from her sash a folded piece of silk and gave it to him. Carefully, the Inu no Taishou opened it and he saw a tiny shard of a knife, a small triangle smaller than a fingernail, nestling in the white cloth.
"That's the tip of my knife, the tsuki no kakera," Hanazuki explained. "It carries a concentration of my essence. I am afraid Sesshoumaru's own power will not be enough to make the Mitsuseki answer to him, so I thought deeply on how I am going to prevent this from happening. In having a shard of my power within a sword that can call upon the Other Side, he will be able to bring that little bit of essence to life without having to summon me back from the dead. In doing that, the Jewel of the Tsukisawa will recognize the blood of the Moon Elementals that flows in his veins, and he will be able to harness the Mitsuseki just as I had before him."
She was silent for a while, then she looked once again up at her husband's face. "You understand me, don't you?"
A serious expression was on the Inu no Taishou's face, but he folded the cloth carefully over the knife shard and he answered, "I understand. I will search for a suitable smith tomorrow, at once. I won't stop until I find one." He took Hanazuki's hand and kissed it. "You also have my word that only Sesshoumaru shall inherit the Western Lands from me. Only the children of my beloved Suien shall have any claim over the West."
"You didn't have to promise me that..." Hanazuki muttered, but Inu no Taishou planted a tender kiss on her lips, preventing her from speaking any more. She kissed him back, and she pressed herself against him, thankful that he was with her for another day.
...o0o...
"You must realize," Hanazuki said gently, "that I cannot have the whole world knowing about the secret of the Sword of Heaven. If Karatake had even the slightest inkling about the true worth of the sword, I am sure he would have taken the right steps to render our efforts futile."
Kikyou's eyes blinked in surprise. Then, she saw Hanazuki's silver eyes, and the truth dawned upon her. The Tenseiga...the bridge to the Meidou and the world of the living...the sword that can bring to life the essence of the Lady of the Tsukisawa that lay sleeping in the blade...it all lay in the hands of Sesshoumaru. She found herself pulling the tsuki no kakera out of her sleeve.
"He had kept it all along," Hanazuki whispered, recognizing her knife. "It's a shame that the knife alone wasn't vital to help him with the Mitsuseki. It can repel my brother's minions, but otherwise, its power had faded since my death." A strange look passed over her gray oculars. "That was the reason why the Inu no Taishou wasn't there when Karatake killed me. He was away, searching for a smith to forge the Tenseiga."
Kikyou dared to ask a question which she had long been keeping to herself.
"Okaa-sama...do you despise him for taking on a human bride when you died?"
Hanazuki let out a chuckle. She had known that many youkai would have asked her the same question.
"Well, my darling, even I am not exempt from jealousy. But I had told him he is to let go of me should the worst happens, and that I should move on just in case he dies. No, I do not hate him, and nor do I hate Izayoi or her child. I know he was saddened over my death, for he delayed the forging of Tenseiga for a long time and nothing seemed to interest him in that long interval. But he didn't forget my request, did he? And he certainly left the Western Lands to Sesshoumaru."
"He never forgot you even if he took on a human mate."
"I miss him too, Kikyou. I have heard his soul calling out to me many times, telling me to follow him to the Other Side. Many times, I almost gave in to the temptation. But I told him I cannot go until Sesshoumaru gets the Mitsuseki."
"If I may ask...are you a spirit, Okaa-sama?" Kikyou whispered.
"A shade...a prevailing memory of someone who had long since died," Hanazuki replied. "I can reach out to the living if I wish to, but my time is running out. My ability to materialize beyond the Tsukisawa had gone."
Kikyou couldn't help but be saddened by this, although she had anticipated the answer all along. Of course, Hanazuki had died long ago, and she wasn't supposed to linger in this world. But for the love of her son, to make sure he attains the birthright she had left him...she had postponed her eternal rest for as long as she could. What was left for her to do once Sesshoumaru succeeds in defeating her brother to the Moon...but to go to the Meidou where her husband had gone ahead of her?
"Sesshoumaru would have wanted to see you again, Mother," Kikyou said.
At the mention of her only son, Hanazuki let out a sorrowful sigh.
"Sesshoumaru...he who I once held in my arms, he who now has to bear the burden of what I have left behind...I do wish to see him one last time, and see how much he had changed..." A thoughtful look, almost tearful, began to appear in her gray oculars. As a mother-to-be, Kikyou can understand her motherly instincts so well...
"He took so much after you, Mother," Kikyou said. "I am sure you must be proud of him."
Hanazuki smiled. "There is also much of Inu no Taishou that I see in Sesshoumaru. Be it in the fascination for 'evil' swords, or in that arrogant streak... I could not help but laugh! But the way he cares for you, and his determination to protect your unborn child... His father was very much the same."
Kikyou ran her hands over her belly. After a while of thinking, she said, "You can use my body to speak to him, Okaa-sama. I am sure you there are things that you want to tell him before you say goodbye."
"Kikyou..." Hanazuki floated forward and touched the former priestess' cheek, wearing a motherly gaze. "I am very proud to have you as my daughter-in-law. I am forever thankful to you for what you have done to my family, and you have my blessing. Take care of that little one inside you, my daughter, and carry on the legacy of the Moon Elementals."
"Mother..." Hanazuki then embraced her fully, and Kikyou was surprised to feel warmth envelop her...it was unlike anything she had experienced with other spirits. Suien, Lady of the Tsukisawa...the original guardian of the Mitsuseki...the flawless personification of the unseen side of the moon...
She withdrew her arms from Kikyou and she pulled out a fine, almost invisible silver chain from within the collars of her garments. A glowing blue light appeared on her hands, and Hanazuki held out the object to Kikyou. There in her hands, sparkling like a large teardrop of the clearest water, lay the Mitsuseki.
...o0o...
Yeah, chapter seventeen's done! ;P
Lady Fabmel: I will be swamped in flames if I killed Kikyou (not that I am already being flamed for being a SesshKik supporter, that is -.-)... Not that I would want to kill her. ;P The Kikumo-Yanagi connection will be formally revealed about two or three chapters from now, though there are some people who can already grasp something about it... /wink/
Aya.Chaos: The suspense kills, ne? ;P
The East Wind Melts the Ice: It's damn, damn close to a karmic connection! But no, that's still not it, hehe. Mizutori had tried to go into the Tsukisawa many times in the past, but she didn't succeed in finding it because of the barrier.
Gossamer Wind: As Umegae said, "It seems hanyou children have a good hold on their mothers." ;P
WingedChunsa: Kikyou is the superwoman of the series, yeah! Not even Naraku can kill her! (Oh well, the manga's going rather strangely nowadays...)
Azn kawaii kikyo the devil: Kiky is valiant in her own way. :D
Cold Kikyo: Hehehe. :D I do not want to kill off my protagonists. But I SURE want to get rid of Karatake! -.-
ninalee-chan: Thanks! Actually, Karatake had gone so far as to nearly rape her, but she fought back and took out his eye. O.o Man, I cannot wait to kill him!
