A bit of a side-note first: Just to get this stated, you'll see that Kagome is a bit...oh...'daring', shall we say, in this chappie towards Sesshoumaru. That is because this is an AU and well, she doesn't know him like you, me and the rest of the Inu-yasha crazed fans out there know him. So, she´ll be as perky and klutzy with him as with the rest...until he sets her right, that is (wink wink).
Oh and, by the way, to beg for your kind and always understanding forgiveness (you know, for having taken me like a month to bloody update ) I'll give ye all people...a bit of unconsensual nuzzling! Jeje...
So now, enjoy.
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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha.
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:Last Dream:
-an Inuyasha fanfiction-
by C.o.m.t.e.s.s.a
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"…." talking
(….) thinking
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:Chapter 7 :Ryou no me:
The room was well lighted and bereft of movement. The air was still, hot with perfumed cherry wood and the scent of sacred oils. Thin strands of fragrant smoke slithered from the oil-retainers in slow motion towards the ceiling like uncoiling snake spirits. Tatakai thought dismayed that the place looked more like the vigil of the dead than the High Priestess' sick rooms.
The child before him moaned and writhed like a caged bird inside the folds of her golden bedding. Black eyes gazed at her in suffered expectation as the Prime Minister´s thoughts darkened with each labored breath she took.
(Oh, milady...what is tormenting you...If I only knew, I could-)
Today he had had an audience with the Emperor's right hand, Mashimo Motosuke. It had been a long and suffocating affair, full of dark looks and shaking heads. Mashimo-sama, an elderly courtesan who had served the royal household all his life, had told him quite plainly what they all thought of his pathetic dealing with the situation.
The Rulers and Court members were not pleased.
Of course, Tatakai had explained the promise that both the guardian of the Shikon Pearl and demon huntress had made to him to return a.s.a.p. with a cure for the daisaiin. But he had made the same promise to solve the case for two weeks now and his desperate assurences were becoming quite insufficiently repetitive.
Through his memories seeped the outside hummed whispers of the prayers in the hallway. Above him, the groan of age old timbers and wood planks stretching under the glare of the midday sun.
Mashimo had finally told him that he would be given two more days. If the Holy Child wasn't brought back by the end of that deadline, Tatakai would be realeased from both the case and his privileged position as Tokyo's governor and Japan's ministery.
"We cannot waste more time and endanger the country's faith. If this isn't over soon, the Emperor will end it himself."
And Tatakai knew very well what that meant. Kajiura would be stripped off from her divine protection to allow a new Head Priestess to come forth...
She would be murdered by the sames whom had idolized her.
The high priestess would be let to die, her case closed and ended as the deviations of her unpredictable Goddess mother's whims. And Japan would move on unawares of the fresh stain of the dead child's blood that was never to be known for her real identity, she being another of the many secrets to remain locked behind the walls of the Emperor's temple. Just like her predecessors. Just like all those litle nameless, faceless girls that had been chosen to represent the Great Goddess on earth.
Tatakai sighed brokenly. It was law and tradition. What could one man do against it?
He knew it would eventually come to this. It was his fault, after all, that all these strange things had happened. His was the responsability for the guarding of the mikado's shrine and it's inhabitants; his the lack of foresight to predict a possible attack. It was in his city were it happened. How could he have not seen the danger? Why didn't he pay more attention!
Now it was too late.
The wood planks of the walls creacked. Light poured yellow from the opened screens, yet the corners of the room remained dark, the deep shadows emphasizing the stillness.
He groaned. What more did they want? He had hired the best people he knew, brought the most skilled doctors, monks and detectives from the farthest reaches of Japan to unravel this devil-devised puzzle...but it had all been for nothing. No one had been able to break through. Except for Higurashi.
Tatakai gave a wry smile. An odd one, that girl was, another puzzle to add to his colection. Even he, a simple man with no religious superstition or knowledge of spiritual power whatsoever, could clearly see that the young miko was strong. Beneath those stormy eyes and thin layers of too few and younger years resided a hidden well of powers like no one had ever seen before. Or at least that's the impression he got whenever he spoke to her.
And now she was the only hope that remained.
(If those two girls don't return tomorrow, I'll resign myself... It's the coward's way, I know, but there's nothing else I can do...) His eyes strayed from the child's quivering form to her glassy eyes, opened and unseeing. (How can I find a solution to a riddle that I don't understand the clues of? I know nothing of Gods and demons! It is useless to fight an invisible enemy... And she sufferes so much. Maybe-maybe it would be best for all of us if she were to find her end now...)
The girl gave a choked whimper and pleaded again quietly to the air. "Kill me...please..."
The man closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands. (...it is what she wants.)
Through the haze of his despair, there came the sound of the chamber's door opening. Quiet steps made their way towards them accompanied by the rythmic swish of long robes. "Ah, I see there is still no change in our Lady."
The voice was soft and clear, that of a grown man who had done much and regretted too little. Tatakai turned and stood up. He gave a small bow in aknowledgement of the new comer. The Priestess' right hand, Prime Delegate and President of the shrine's shoten. "Shikimura-san."
The other bowed too. "Prime minister. It is good to see you again."
"What brings you here? I thought you had been summoned to remain in Court until this whole business was over."
The man smiled. Tatakai could not read much in those cold grey eyes. "I have been given permission, do not worry. I wouldn't dare to go against our Lord Emperor's command." He moved swiftly past Tatakai and stood at the child´s side, head down, eyes on her. "I was worried for her, of course. I have been praying fervently ever since all this happened. She is my mistress, the little girl I raised like my own daughter. How can I not suffer when she is so distressed?" Shikimura sighed. "What a terrible tragedy this is..."
His tone was contrite, his saddened face seemed true enough. Tatakai just couldn´t buy them. (Then again, he was never a man of much feeling... I am being too prejudiced... Yes, he is her most trusted friend, after all. Who am I to judge him? I barely know him.)
"Yes, indeed. I don´t understand who would be so heartless to-to..." he made a vague hand gesture towards the daisaiin's lying form. With each passing day, he found more and more difficult to speak of such a crime aloud. (Are there even words to describe this?)
"I do not believe this is a matter of heart, or lack of it thereof."
Tatakai eyed him woodenly. "What do you mean?"
Shikimura Ryoei remained silent, choosing instead to kneel and bow before the presence of the Head Priestess. "Much is being rumored in Court of how all of this will end..." he made a pause to gesture a blessing over the girl's form with his hands. "I fear the Emperor will make some...rushed decission that might harm her."
The minister fidgeted slightly. Shikimura had just voiced his previous thoughts. For a moment, the idea that the other might know more than it appeared crossed his mind. (I must be careful, my chat with the Members must remain private...) "He would never do such a thing..." He tried but without real conviction, just for property's sake.
Shikimura turned to face him, gray eyes a notch darker. "Of course."
At that moment, the door opened again. The captain of the priestess' guards entered. He walked the length that separated them with long, sure strides and knelt on one knee a respectful twenty paces from them. "Shoten-sama, Kochii-san from the district police is looking for you."
"Ah," said Shikimura, standing up and dusting lightly his deep blue hakama and fixing the grey outer robe. "I see my coming here was not a secret after all." He passed the now standing captain and stunned prime minister. "Please, inform Kochii-san I'll be with him shortly."
"Yes, chigo-sama." And the guard left.
(So he is still being questioned for the incident. He was the one alleged to having heard her scream first; the first to arrive at the praying pagoda... the first to see her lying uncosnscious in a puddle of blood...
...yet he took quite a while in calling for help. Actually, he didn't cry for help at all, others that later came did...) Tatakai mentally pondered.
Silence permeated the room for an instant. The scent of sacred perfumes made the environment stuffed, unbereable. The hushed mutter of spoken prayers came from the hall through the thick wooden doors and walls like words whispered from another world. Shikimura approached the minister with a blank air that was awfully difficult to identify. Worry? Reserve? Cunning?... (He is not realiable, yet he wasn't found guilty of anything else beyond lack of rapid situation judgement... Which he countered by saying the terrible shock it was for him to see her thus. He hadn't been able to act, 'paralized' was the actual word he used, I think... Paralized...
(He doesn't seem someone to be so easily shocked, paralized or even saddened at all.)
"I would like to know...is it true the rumour that says the Shikon no Tama's guardian is trying to help our Lady after all? Have you contacted her, then?" Shikimura enquired of him blandly.
Tatakai blinked, coming to grips with sudden reality. He doubted for a moment how-what-to answer exactly. It had been Shikimura´s idea to contact the miko of the Higurashi shrine, despite all the astonished looks and horrified negations this idea had raised barely it had been given. Apparently, every priest and scholar of remotely basic studies knew perfectly well the legend of destruction that laid hidden in the nature of the fabled Pearl. For one of them, the Head Priestess' right hand no less, to even suggest the involvement of such a frightful object or any of its relations was an outrage. But Tatakai was a simple man, a politician whom believed in the gods and prayers as far as the organization of once-a-year religious festivals went, so Shikimura Ryoei's idea had snagged his attention wholy. Hope warred victory and caution was thrown to the winds.
But he did not venture to seek the girl right away. At the time he hadn't had the slightless clue of what the Shikon Pearl meant, or who exactly was its guardian. Nevertheless, Shikimura taught him well. Or so he had thought.
He had been so lost, so desperate to find a solution that he had hindered all councel and had plunged directly into the other's idea. Against the other priests orders, he had grasped the light that this new sage suggestion shedded like a last resource.
Yet now he doubted the intentions behind the shoten's advise, and his own wisdom in so blindly carrying it out. Shikimura was a man, Tatakai thought, who savored his suggestions being carried out promptly and with no questions asked above all else. That just didn´t give one much confidence.
"I have spoken to her, yes. She has promised to help," he halted, "with what is in her power to do."
Shikimura formed a quiet smile. His eyes were unreadable, half hidden under thick eyebrows and lashes. He didn´t ask what the other meant, didn't enquire about the Pearl at all. Merely stated, "Good. That is good news, indeed. She'll be a powerful ally in the solving of this...abominous act."
With that he gave a last, simple bow, turned and left.
The other's observation played uncomfortably at Tatakai's nerves, eroding away his former thought of easily-formed prejudices. (I don't think he is a person to trust so easily after all...there is something in him that just--that I can't place exactly.)
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Ten minutes, an hour, half the day...God only knew how much the battle was lasting. For Kagome, it was no easy fit to try pinpointing the time -or even to whom the winning odds were falling. She was huddled on all fours behind some wild bush formations at the base of a sand dune. Her eyes strayed constantly towards the combatants. Truthfully, she had no idea what was going on. She perceived nothing but the sharp clashes of youki, blurred colored shadows of body movement and the once-in-a-while roar or pained blare of the God Dragon´s voiced ire. (I can't see a damned thing! That white demon is so fast, but Ryou no Kami doesn't fall behind either...)
The only thing she was sure of was that Ryou-ue had a sort of barrier all around him. She'd caught a glimpse of it when the other had tried slashing it with naked claws and had bounced off instead. The barrier had shimmered green and blue, which meant its energy was surely, and as is usually wont to be, being derived from something external, probably under the depths of the sea, not the God itself -whose youki was a misty white. (But where? What is he drawing the energy from? If I could only know that, maybe-maybe I could stop it...then its defenses would be down and we might strike...)
She turned from the battle towards the sea. The waters were unnaturally still and deep blue, as if under the veil of a night storm that wasn't unfurling yet. Diligently, she scanned every inch of its extension. Nothing but painted waters and tall boulders. (It has to be something living! The only way to draw strength is of something similar in substance or-or nature to the thing that needs the energy and maybe even more powerful...
But what is stronger than the God of the Sea...?)
There was a huge explosion of sand and rock as the tail of the dragon hit Sesshoumaru straight on the back and he plummeted down. The fall made a deep hole like a small meteorite.
The dragon laughed , mismatched eyes glinting with adrenaline-infuced madness. "Not so arrogant now, milord dog?"
A second-long pause. Someone 'tsked' derisively behind it.
The dragon spun around, startled. Sesshoumaru was a hair's breath away, dirty yet still not fully disarrayed. "Shut up already. I've had enough of this."
"Wha-! But how-!"
The other jerked back and weaved a whip of poison out of thin air. Consecutive slashes over the dragon's head, but the barrier prevented any damage. The blows were still so strong that it obliged the God the move back or be weighed down by them.
Around, the earth shook and the dunes crumbled with the force of the blows over the God's still intact defenses. The wooden shrine in the near distance trembled precariously on its earthern platform, pieces of its wood-craft and masonry beginning to tumble down, rolling to the beach.
Kagome shivered and backed against the bushes. Tons of sand fell over her with each hit, slash or blow the demons exchanged. Something at the back of her mind began to take shape, eyes focused on the waters of the sea as they remained immobile.There was a quietness there, a strangeness not befitting an ocean when its master was so enraged.
(That's it!) She smacked a hand noisily over her forehead. (Of course, it's so obvious... 'What is stronger than the God of the Sea? What shares its nature! What gives a God substance!': The sea itself!) "I am such a baka! I don't forget my head at home because its attached to my neck..."
Not thinking, she scrambled from her hideout towards the shore. Big mistake... the battle was just in front of her.
"Oh, crap!" She dodged the dragon's on-coming swishing tail and rocky rubble, rolling like a mad woman on the sandShe flinched in disgust when she felt sand pouring inside her shorts, itching its way along her legs.
Another blast, the demon's green whip slashing like lightening through the air, centimetres over her head, making her hair blow in a dirty disarray. "Hey, watch it!" she yelled at him -or the place where he'd been, for he'd vanished once again to reappear hovering over a dune. Of course, he didn't pay her a minimun courtesy of attention.
The one that did pay her some rather unwanted attention after her rather silly yell was the dragon, who spun around and made a quick attempt at grabbing her.
Sometimes, she deeply resented her lack of fore-thought.
She ran, as fast as her tired body could, Ryou-ue hot on her heels.
Sesshoumaru felt a little incensed at having lost the other's battle focus. With a quick flying launch, he spun like silver thread on the air and kicked the dragon's head from the front, hard. "Don't turn your back on me."
"Do-g," the startled, angry God hissed. "Get away!" It opened massive jaws; power swelled and crackled inside it in a wave of blue light. Amassing, stronger and stronger, like a blue ball of--
Kagome's feet froze in fear, eyes gauging out of their sockets. (He's going to fire his youki! Its going to swallow us all!
Move move move!) She begged at her legs, which didn't obey her because they were probably off to some tropical paradise of their own next to her brain, heart and the rest of her terrified internal assets.
There was a moment's pause, the deep breath before the killing plunge. Then, the dragon fired.
She had a second-long vision of her body exploding like a hand granade in sparks of blue with fleshy bits of red in it, so she did the only thing that her unresponsive body allowed her. She ducked...
...then felt a strong tug at the back collar of her shirt, her body thriving in the weightlessness of being rushed up in the whipping wind. And once again she was dangling like a rag doll from the hand of a certain displeased white demon.
An instant later, a booming sound to the left and below them, the dragon's youki ball having exploded like a bomb and swallowed half the bay with it.
"Didn't I tell you to stay hidden?"
She looked up at his face, gawking in stunned bewilderment. "I- I...Hey, don't talk to me like that!" she quipped at him, grateful and simultameously annoyed at having him rescue her. Again. "I know what's keeping his barrier up. I was just moving to try to... disarm it or something then I can shoot an arrow to his eye and get the scale and this stupid fight can stop. It's dangerous and someone might get hurt if this keeps up..."
For a minute there, Sesshoumaru stared at the young miko as if she'd suddenly sprang a second head right in front of his eyes. Was this...this...girl implying that he needed her help or protection to fight a simple serpent? That he, son of a Dog General, couldn't dispose of a mere God without some silly human girl prancing about with her useless little shinny arrows to save the day!
His left eye twitched.
Kagome saw it twitch, and stopped talking with a hard swallow. "Ehrmm..."
And that's as far as she got because he tossed her to the side like an unwanted lead balloon. The problem was, she was several feet off the ground.
She knew the fall was going to hurt.
"Aiiieeeee..." her screaming figure plummeted down, legs and arms batting futily against gravity, her body falling with a painful 'thud' over a heap of bushes and removed sand.
For the whole span of two minutes she couldn't move, couldn't even properly breath. Her chest ached, her head throbbed and she was sure the rest of her was already dead and broken because it hummed like hammers hitting rock.
(That...
...bastard...) her mind formed in grunted tones. Even her inner voice was cracked.
Rolling slowly, she laid on her side, letting the waves of pained dizziness and haze recede.
Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru gloried in a recently reawakened feeling. He was feeling angry...seething, actually. How dare she? How dare she even suggest he couldn't fight a dragon on his own? That he might need her to figure a way to pierce that useless little excuse for a shield the other had conjured like the bloody coward that it was! It was--it was preposterous! Outrageous!
Phantom tendrils of ire slithered inside him. Starting from the pit of his stomach, they uncoiled and moved, ensnaring his lungs, heart, making his hands fist and head swim with that heady sensation he had come to know so well over the decades. The need to rip and kill.
But he would not loose his mind, he would not allow himself to fall pray so easily for the lust for slaughter. Taking a deep breath, he let rage wash through him like cleansing rain, alerting his senses and enhancing his powers. This is one the things he had come to miss so long ago, this crave for battle that spilled in his gut like warm honey mead.
He'd show her, alright. He'd show her how stupid her assumption had been. Now that the dragon had committed the idiocy of letting a strong power surge weaken his grip on the shield, as it was bound to happen with these things, he had the upper hand.
He had been fighting to achieve the dragon God's eye before. Now, he wanted its heart. His own power sizzled and hissed like cool fire, drawing out, underneath his skin and then-
-he sprang, slipping easily under the now low guard of the dragon, gliding the tip of his venomous claws into the quivering shield, just over its chest where the energy recquired to mantain the protection accumulated. He knew this because that's how it worked for him too, where he as coward on fights as to recquire protection. The dragon had used in one power blow too much youki; now he'd need some minutes to regain his previous control. Now it was the perfect time to destoy it.
Four perfect lines drew horizonatlly over its heart and in just one blink, the shield burst and fell to pieces like shards of a broken glass. Unnoticed, the sea returned to its previous raging self.
Yet a surprisingly rapid movement came from the outraged sea serpent. A giant paw was brought up and thrust in a fist down towards Sesshoumaru's head. He ducked but his shoulder was graced, the bristling scales cutting through fabric and skin as easily as sharp blades. He hissed, grinding his teeth but without missing a beat, spun around and thrashed his whip in a half arch, effectively wrapping it around the huge muzzle. With a mighty yank, the serpent toppled down, writhing in the sand.
He touched down over its neck, one foot firmly pushing the head down by stepping over the right cheek, the other constricting its esophagus. With both hands he firmly held the venomous whip, taut, its string slowly corroding the dragon's scales. Sesshoumaru smiled faintly, feeling the grumbled protests of his prey resonating under his feet and smelling the faint trace of his poison in the hot sea air. One blue scaled eye focused on him in a wince with what could only be described as extreme hatred. All around was a sort of heavy silence, and he momentarily revelled in it. The other's roars had been grating on his last nerve.
Then he heard a close shuffle, at the edge of his mind felt the presence of two approaching beings. Humans. Tilting his head slightly to the left, he saw through the corner of his eye the wobbly figures of two hunters scramblig towards them. He recognized them, of course, as the beat up woman and the silly, cowardly boy that accompanied the miko.
There was a sudden strong yank at the end of his whip, two sets of claws slashing towards him with his momentary distraction, but he avoided them by giving a quick somersault backwards in midair, pushing with him half the body of the serpent up...and then letting it plunge down, hard. The dragon's scalp gave a broken, massive 'thud' against the sand. Nevertheless, it surprisingly remained conscious. Obviously pained and not writhing around half as much, but conscious.
"Don't attempt that again or I'll behead you," Sesshoumaru warned, resuming his previous position on the dragon's upper neck, feet pressing down hard.
Dazed waves of ired sound resonating under him was the only answer he received.
Slowly, Sango made her way towards them slung heavily on her side over an unsteady walking Kohaku. He had wrapped some ripped pieces of his upper battle costume around her mid back, where the damage received had been the greatest, to stop the bleeding. But with every step she could still feel blood soak through, the wound burning, yet she tried mightily not noticing too much.
The dragon God was down. Now was the perfect opportunity for them to grab the scale and get the Hell away from here. It was awefully disconcerting the way things hadn't turned out the way she'd planned.
She didn't want to think too much on the other little problem. (How am I going to get past that demon...?) She'd seen what he had done to Kagome, and she was in no shape for another scuffle. (I might as well try tricking him out.)
"Kohaku, please...help me get as near as possible and ready your tantou. Put it in my back, inside the sash...and no fast movements. That'd give us away," Sango whispered, gripping her brother's arm and manuvering them both to approach the fallen God's head. "If something goes wrong, I want you to get as far away from here as possible. You know how to drive, take the van and Higurashi and get the Hell away, you hear?"
"What! No! I can't leave you behind!" the boy cried, paling visibly at the implication. His fingers worked unsteadily in the red braided thread that ornamented the short knife, hiding it in her back sash.
"Don't be silly, there's no other way!" she warned, hazel eyes stern. "When I tell you to, run."
Without another word, she raised her head and prepapred to address Sesshoumaru. She wasn't sure what she'll say to convice him to let her plunder his obvious prey, but she'll try. She had to...
...Only she ended up gaping in horrified astonishment as said demon bend down in one knee, right hand faintly retracting back and protruding a set of very acid looking claws, then unceremoniously smacking it with no more ado than a flash right into the dragon's eye socket. A gurgle sound, a gasp -from her brother-, a booming roar...and he held a blue eye in his now green bloodied hand. (O-k. Let's just forget conversation, then...Gods, that's-) she flinched, bile in her throat (-disgusting. Yuck!)
Sesshoumaru studied the squishy orb he held, left arm tightening on the leash he still had taut on the muzzle of the moaning, whimepring beast at his feet. It was the size of a kemari ball, soft and light turquoise in the iris, oozing copious amounts of water and blood from the severed veins that hung limply like dead vines. It was a rather disgusting sight alright, but he now possessed his end of the bargain safe and sound. Only he wasn't fully satisfied yet.
He still felt the need to prove to that silly slip of a girl that her assumptions had been ludicruous. He'd kill the God with his own bare hands.
"Demon! Let the dragon go," yelled Sango, as strongly as her sick stomach would allow. She had seen the flash in his golden eyes, recognizing it from personal experience.
Sesshoumaru eyed her blankly. "Why? I took it down, its life is now mine."
"No!" came a strangled cry from ahead of them. He turned his head and looked up. The miko was wobbily making her way towards them. She had one arm limp, the other wrapped around its shoulder to keep it from dangling too much. Her bow and stash of arrows hanging askew at her back. (She's twisted it, probably broke it. Humans are still as fragile as I remember them.)
Kagome staggered forward, pale and sweating. The heat of the blaring sun, the sand that covered her from head to foot, the many scratches and bumps on her body making her wish that she'd just black out and be done with consciousness. Still, while she remained awake she wouldn't allow a useless murder to be committed so lightly. "You promised to give us the eye. You have it, there's no sense in killing him now! He was just...I'm sure Ryou-oh-kami was just defending himself!" A lie, but with the little time she had to gather her damaged wits, it was all she could come up with.
Sesshoumaru scoffed, right foot pushing hard over the serpent's external breathing cavity. There was a long drawn moan, but beside that, nothing too much. Apparently, the God was on the brink of blacking out itself any minute now. Kagome thought distantly that some were so lucky. (Mainly those that are safely tucked at home, watching anime and having lunch...)
"Defending? Was it also defending itself when it chased you in search of the Pearl, girl?"
She stammered, blushing a faint pink. "Well no, but--Look! Why kill it anyway? What's in it for you?"
"You tell me. Weren't you the one that assumed I couldn't fend off for myself against it?"
"I did not say that! You twisted my words!" she cried, incensed. "I was just trying to help you so we wouldn't end up in this situation!"
"Worried for the safety of your God?" Sesshoumaru drawled, deprecating. "You priests idolize serpents that cannot even fight properly. How stupid of you."
She gaped at him then, exasperated. "And what gives you the right to judge me, anyway? If you kill it you're nothing more than a heartless, cold bloodied murderer!"
Sesshoumaru smirked in a 'Is that supposed to stop me?' kind of way. He raised his hand, claws once again at the ready, poison swelling at his fingertips, dripping and scalding the dragon's cheek. His eyes never left hers, either.
But he stopped. He saw her quick movement, heard the creak of wook, an arrow being retracted and taut on the bow in a matter of seconds. His eyes held fast unto those of Kagome, measuring.
"I warn you," she whispered loud enough for him to hear. "Let it go or I'll shoot."
He did let go...but only to reappear like a looming shadow over her, one hand wrapped around her throat. He lifted her up as if she were no more than an empty plastic bag, his eyes bearing holes on hers. "Do you dare point that useless toy at me?" he breathed the words to her face like ice chips. "Don't be so cocky, child, you don't know with whom you are messing."
Kagome choked, air tightly shut inside and outside of her, the passage in between that allowed normal, life-giving breath being completely shut. She couldn't draw breath, couldn't expell it, and already her eyes were watering and drifting shut, darkness consuming the edges of her mind.
She raised one quivering arm, sweaty palm covering his wrist in a loose grip. She frantically searched inside for what she knew was lying somewhere deep in her, the core of her power, the small spark of light that she housed in her soul. (There! I just need to...let it loose...I need to...) She was fainting, the pressure on her neck bruising and constricting. Desperately, she clung to the spark like a life saver -which in retrospective, it was. Her hand glowed pink and she heard through the daze of her head the sudden indrawn breath of the demon. "'Tis true. I don't--know you," she panted barely above a whisper. "But if you don't let go... I s--swear I'll purify your unknown ass...i--into oblivion."
She pushed her powers a little to mark her words, his wrist burning as if touched by fresh light. With a grunt he released her and she fell in a graceless, heavily panting heap at his feet.
Sango and Kohaku appeared at her side, the figures silent and still, yet she knew they were somehow assessing the situation to help her out if the demon tried anything again, or to make a hasty retreat with her if that anything involved another battle.
Nevertheless, Sesshoumaru's mind was lurking on quite a different path. He studied the three worn out figures at his feet with keen, gold eyes.
There was a pause, the silence only interrupted by Kagome's harsh breathing and the sound of the now tranquil waves eating at the shore.
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, as if he'd reached some inner conclusion. With a swift move, he tossed the severed eye at the wide-eyed huntress, his own golden ones never leaving Kagome's. Then he turned and regarded the dragon, his burnt hand falling to his side, the sleeve of his kimono sliding down to cover it from view.
Sango saw Kagome make an attempt at standing up, possibly to try to stop the other from comitting cold murder, but she couldn't move, couldn't react beyond gagging repeatedly in horror. She shivered in disgust. Having that thing on her hands, dripping blood and staring at her blindly -its turquoise iris up, fixed on her face- prevented her from acting.
Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru strolled towards the unconscious form of the serpent. His steps were measured, his pose almost blank. His part of the contract was submitted, now it was time to end this.
Behind him, Kagome hastened to shout. "Stop! Please! I- I'm sorry I said those things about you, but I just wanted to help!" She saw he wasn't bulging, wasn't even slowing down to aknowledge her words. She bit her lip, agitated. "I-I'm sorry I threatened to shoot you...Really, I wasn't going to! But please," she stood up, fell and scrambled on all fours towards him. "Please, don't do this!"
She saw him move near the God and shut her eyes, berating herself for being so useless when she was most needed.
Some noiseless seconds went by. After what she considered was an appropriate amount of time for a heartless blood shed-which she had always assumed would be rather noisy, actually...well, there went to the trash another of her assumptions-, she took a careful peek through scrounched eyes.
To her sudden wide-eyed bafflement, Sesshoumaru hadn't stopped at the dragon's out-cold form but had continued past it, towards the edge of the sea. Soft white-crested waves lapped at his booted feet as he continued walking in the water, then jumping up until he stood perched at the top of a minor boulder.
He was facing the oceanic horizon, eyes scrutinizing the calm surface wearily. The sea's master was wounded, yet none of his minions had made themselves present. Mmm...too casual and odd for his liking. He'd have to call for them then. What's the best way to bait serpent slaves to come out of the craddle?
As if on cue, there came a sudden sound like the rolling of thunder. But this one wasn't coming from above, but from beneath. It shook the ocean into stillness, made rolls of sandtopple down, stone boulders standing in the deep sea crumbling in heavy splashes.
In the distance, the far-off roaring grew, intensifying, and a wavering line of white was seen raising over the blue line of the ocean.
All four of them stared at the growing mass of water that approached the shore...a tidal wave racing.
Kagome gulped. Sango alternated between morbid fascination for the gooy eye and distressed fascination for the oncoming mass of water that would surely swallow them in a matter on minutes. Kohaku trembled, grabbing fistfuls of his sister's sash.
Sesshoumaru blinked.
The wave rose above them now, a wall of deep blue water that shadowed the whole bay. Figures could be seen riding it, fish-men in scaly armours.
(So the mongrels have come after all. Well, this will be easier then.) Without raising his voice below normal level, but somehow managing to be heard above the roar of the ocean, he addressed the army of the sea.
"Don't come nearer," he said, and to the other's awe, the wave stopped and crumbled. "Your master has been overpowered, but I won't take its life. Take him away if you must but don't attempt anything or I shall wipe you all off your nest."
One fish-man approached him, riding a shark like fish made of silver and green. He stood in front of Sesshoumaru, eyes glinting maliciously under a mat of weed like hair. "Who are you to command us, dog?" He looked beyond him to the fallen figure of his lord. "What have you done to our master?"
Sesshoumaru shrugged, eyes blank. "Your master decided to affront me. I merely took from him a repayment for his daring," he paused, arms crossing over his chest. "As for who I am, it is of no concern of yours...or your kin."
"You put on too much airs, dog. What you've done cannot go without punishment."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, the coldness of his youki notching up some degrees. "Will you try fighting me too, then?" He gestured lightly with his head to the dragon. "I defeated him unarmed, you'll be nothing more than fish food by the time I am done with you."
The fish-man growled but did not move. The others behind him writhed in their fish-mounts, some even submerged and dissappeared. There was fear in the air, suspicion. The demon was powerful, they could feel his aura swelling, smooth, cold and menacing. Trecherous. It leaked through their armours and skins...it froze them to their bones. He'd tumbled their master without much effort, that much was obvious; he didn´t even sport a scratch or injury to testify that the God of the Realm of the Sea had even put up a good strong fight. What, then, could they do against him?
After a moment, the fish-man bowed stiffly and motioned some of his companions to alight on shore. Half the army moved forward and quickly did up with the unconscious body of the dragon, dragging it to the depths.
"We will take him to heal. But mark this, our master does not easily forgive or forget, he will want his revenge. He'll come out to hunt you again."
At this Sesshoumaru smiled slightly. "Let him try." And without ado turned and stood on the sand again, measured steps moving him towards the humans.
The army drew down in the coming waves, silver and green scales shimmering for a moment and then vanishing into the sea.
The air calmed, hushed by the gentle hum of the pacified waves, once again scenting of salt and summer heat.
Kagome frowned at this. (What was that?) One minute they are all for the big plunge of their lives and the next...well, this! Very puzzling.
"How did you do that?" she asked unnecassarily.
He didn't answer her. Instead Sesshoumaru, standing by them, eyes downcast, focused on the upper sleeve of his ripped clothing. Blood oozed a little when he prodded the wound on his shoulder with slim fingers. He pushed a bit more deeply, more blood pouring out but it was clean of poison or salt, which meant it would soon heal nicely without leaving a scar.
"Ehmm...I asked you how did you do that?" Kagome repeated, furrowing her brow and approaching him with a slight limp. "What did you say to them to make them go away?"
Sesshoumaru still didn't aknowledge her. He let a little of his own poison to seep through his fingernails and wet the edges of the wound. His flesh sizzled, burning a soft yellow that congealed immediately, the bleeding stopping altogether.
"He-llo? Anyone up there?" Kagome waved a hand in front of his eyes.
Still, he didn't even look at her. Now that he thought on it, it had been a while since he'd received a battle wound; but, then again, it had been a while since he'd been doing anything, apparently. (So it is true...I've been asleep through the ages after all.) The idea didn't shock him so much. (I wonder how much time has passed?) A lot considering humans had wiped out the things he'd known for so long, not leaving a mere trace of them.
Kagome raised an eyebrow in annoyance. What was the matter with this guy? She turned around, seeking help from Sango only to see her still prodding the big, sightless eye of the now begone dragon. She was trying to put it in the cloth bag that hung from her sash, but it was futile...it being to big and slippery to control with only one hand. No help there, then.
It was quite fascinating, Sesshoumaru pondered, how during the countless and countless years he'd been roaming Yashima, nothing as significantly big or earth-changing as this sudden out sprout of human architectural creativity had occurred. Yet he is captured and sealed in a shabby little temple and the world decides to go up and have a complete make-over...
He blinked away his musing rapidly. Something distracting was happening to his left arm. His eyes lowered to said section encountering a mass of black hair -dissarrayed, dirty, twigs and leaves poking from between its strands- and under it, the body of the girl...poking him. It was repetitive, insistent, brisk. The kind of poke kids receive from their parents when they are being excessively hard-headed about playing some game or other and the adults want them to stop and focus.
The girl was poking him.
He was being poked at.
Kagome stopped when she felt eyes boring holes on her scalp. "Ehmm...sorry. But you weren't snapping out of it and I thought you might be in shock or something..."
He still stared at her, probably digesting the being poked at bit.
Kagome gulped, retreating a couple of steps from him. Suddenly, she was feeling very bad vibe from him.
Perhaps poking him hadn't been such a great idea after all. (Look at what he did to me just for trying to help him...) She winced, remembering her fall.
"Forget it." She bit her lip, suddenly insecure what to do now. He'd given them the eye and in exchange she would have to help him review a little world history. For what she'd understood from their previous conversation with the God, this guy had been sealed away or something yet he had somehow awoken. (He doesn't seem like a very modern type of demon. His clothes are old...Looking at him closely, he looks more like a prince of the Warring times right out of a fairytales book than a blood thirsty demon. Goodness, and look at that hair! It must be a real pain washing it.) As her eyes strayed to the tips of said hair a thought crashed her mind.
(I've seen that hair before...) Her eyes fixed on his face and she gasped. A flash of recognition went through her mind. She remembered visiting an old shrine in Tokyo when she was little, seeing a trapped demon behind 1000 charms...
"You!" she pointed her finger at him. "You're that stuffed puppet!" Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. Had he just been called a puppet?
She stuttered. "Ah...I mean...that is..." she blushed prufesely. (Damn my mouth and its own private brain! Gah!)
Good thing that at that precise moment, Sango hobbled towards them, her weight heavily falling on a pale and heaving Kohaku, the eye held on his right hand. "Higurashi, we must leave. Yiu-san must be waiting for us."
Kagome shook her head, dispeling embarrassing thoughts of her younger self bawling to have 'pretty hair like that', and turned towards her. "Ah, hai."
"You will give me the answers promised, miko," Sesshoumaru said, breaking his silence. Kagome jumped slightly, startled.
"Y-yes, I know. But I can't do it just now!" She looked around, desperate for an explanation. "We are in a bit of a hurry right now and...well, we are practically in the middle of nowhere! I-I'm going to need my books and I'll have to make a little previous research, you know... I don't even know who you are. I'll need some time..." she drifted. He wasn't looking at her directly but rather staring at some distant point over the top of her head. His face was blank, calculating.
Sango elbowed her and motioned with her head to the street where the van laid. She was quite flushed on the cheeks but the rest of her face was pale as a sheet. Her wound was truly stabbing her now. "We have to go!" she mouthed silently.
Kagome sweatdropped. "Uhmm... please, just give me a day and I'll help you however I can. But I will need a day...please." She tried telling him with as much of a hopeful tone as she could muster.
Sesshoumaru didn't answer -something that Kagome was increasingly becoming accostumed to by now, but which didn't exactly mean she was cordially accepting. She huffed, barely concealing her annoyance. But before she could start poking him again -it had worked the first time, after all-, he nodded to the horizon and said "Very well."
As he wasn't extending any further explanation to that sudden epiphany, Kagome frowned and asked. "Is there any way I can contact you? I don't suppose you'll have like...a phone number or an address, right?"
Sesshoumaru remained silently puzzled for the span of a minute, wondering what an address might be. He surmised, rather correctly, it might imply a place to locate him. At this idea, he huffed. "Don't be ridiculous, miko, you would never find me."
Kagome gaped. (Goodness, can you be more full of yourself or what? This guy is so going to burst with it!) but her inner rambles were cut short when he added mysteriously...
"I will find you."
She was momentarily speechless. When she regained her words, they burst out in disbelief. "Oh, yeah? And how will you do that? I haven't even given you my name."
"It's Higurashi," he stated blandly.
Kagome sputtered. "How did you-!" then she smacked her forehead. Sango had been yelling it ever since they had set foot on the beach, of course he would have heard it eventually.
"Right, yes. But that doesn't mean you know where I live or anything!"
"That is irrelevant."
How he'd managed what he did next, Kagome was sure she would never be able to vouch for. But one minute he was standing still some safe feet away, staring at her and the next she was being yanked forward to smash against smooth old silk and a lean body, a clawed hand gracing her good frozen arm, the twisted one hanging limp and forgotten...
...and the face of a demon lightly pressed to the side of her neck.
(What the-!) Kagome breathed in noisily, utterly stunned.
His nose faintly traced a spot in her skin, right behind the ear. He inhaled and when he exhaled, his breath brushed against the fine hairs on her neck and her suddenly gone too-cold skin.
Kagome gasped, body and mind now temporarily out of service. (What the-- Hell!)
In a spur, she jumped and pushed back instinctively, alarmed by his abrupt way-too-close-for-her-comfort current position. But he didn't flinch nor move a milimeter away, merely dipped his head a little lower, bodies pressing just a tad bit more together, his face slowly gliding up.
Kagome shivered, unnerved and downright scared. This was so...so...wrong! Not only because he was an utter stranger, and a big bad demon at that and that she had never been in this oh-too-close quarters with anyone before but because...well, because no honest, down-to-earth girl like her would allow something like this to continue!
She opened her mouth, intent on giving him a piece of her mind when felt his cheek and his nose graze the skin on her upper neck. Then a breath on her ear, the carress of words whispered "I know your scent now."
And with that she was released.
It couldn't have lasted more that a minute but Kagome was sure that at that precise moment, he had killed some ten years of her life-span.
She staggered back, dazed, blinking eyes and forrowed eyebrows, trembling hands moving to feel around the place in her neck were he'd...could that be called an unconsensual nuzzle? It had most certainly felt like that to her!
He was walking off the beach slowly, without any care or regard for what he had just done. His back straight flashed white from in and out of view, intermitently being covered by his long, swishing hair. Without stopping or turning he said "You have one day. Tomorrow at this time, I will come for you." And then he vanished.
Kagome knees gave out and she collapsed over her arse.
A soft breeze blew sticky black strands of her hair over her eyes which were still glued to the spot where he'd vanished. Sango came and stood in front of her, bending painfully and waving a hand in front of her eyes. "Hey, are you ok?"
(That was-and he was-he just--) Kagome choked.
"Fuck."
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Glossary of Japanese words:
Ryou no me: Dragon's eye.
Shoten-sama: milord priest.
Chigo-sama: milord assistant of the High Priestess.
Ryou no kami: Dragon God.
Ryou-ue: Higher Dragon.
Youki: demon power.
Tantou: short silver knife.
Kemari: a ball sport of old time, quite similar to soccer. It is the sport Inuyasha always remembers in the anime as being where, for the first time, he saw his mother cry.
Yashima: ancient name for Japan.
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C.o.m.t.e.s.s.a.