Dreamscape
When I became aware of myself I am uncertain, but somewhere between the rest of slumber and the capture of dreams I found myself in the dreamscape. It was a world of nothingness, a blank slate in need of touches of color. But there was no color, only the endless white of the nothingness surrounding me.
"Welcome to the dreamscape young one."
I turned towards the sound of the melodic voice and saw a beautiful young woman. Her golden hair shimmered as though it was reflecting a light not even seen within the vast reaches of the blank world, and it cascaded down her slim curves in rippling waves. She wore a pleasant, happy smile that was warm and welcoming. But her eyes, something shinning just beneath the surface of the beauty, something hidden behind the soft blue of her irises, gave me pause.
"Who are you?" My voice echoed hauntingly around me in the emptiness, eventually being swallowed up by the vastness of the place.
"Surely you still recognize me," the woman mused. "I am still as I was; the oracle who brought you here."
"You are the old woman?"
"Age is only something seen by the eyes," she replied. "In our dreams we are as we are seen by ourselves."
I took a moment to see what she was talking about. When I looked down at myself though, I looked exactly the same. The only exception was; instead of wearing Sesshomaru's shirt as I had been when I went to sleep, I was in my school uniform. I shrugged. The uniforms really are comfortable. At least I had a little something of home with me in this strange place.
"Why have you brought me here?" I asked her.
"I have not brought you. It is you who have come seeking me."
"- No more lies! -"
I heard the voice echoing around me. Those were my words when I had confronted Sesshomaru, and that was my voice calling out again; only now I was here in this dreamscape, and now it was the oracle hearing them.
"You wanted truth," She was speaking to me again, the soft tones of her voice eerie within the room of no walls. "Here there are no lies."
"Enough games old woman," The deep, silky voice which I knew could belong to no other than Sesshomaru sounded out from behind me and I turned to face him.
"You're here too?" I suppose I shouldn't have been very surprised, but when I had arrived in the place there was nothing around me but an endless white void. Now there was still and endless white void, but it was being occupied with me by two others.
"Perhaps you were thinking of a connection other than one of the mind?"
Ok now, cruel joke at my expense; totally uncalled for.
"It's not my fault you and your gorgeous body were all pressed up against me, and making me think improper thoughts."
I slapped my hand over my mouth. What the hell was that? I would never say something like that out loud! I quickly turned away from him to hide my incredible embarrassment and the hot blush staining my cheeks. But my embarrassment was soon turned to anger when I heard the chiming laughter of the oracle. I glared up at her.
"That was your doing, wasn't it?"
"Not me dearie," she sang to me, amusement clear in her laughing voice. "You came up with that one all on your own. Only here, the words that flow from your lips will always be truth."
"Well isn't that…shitty." Even sarcasm was lost in this place. I turned back to Sesshomaru, shoving aside my embarrassment to demand answers from him. "Why are we here?"
"To watch. To learn."
That was probably the least informative response he could have given aside from his trademark 'Hn'. I was about to tell him that too, but thankfully my newly loosened grip on my mouth was interrupted by a fierce growl erupting from the emptiness around us. I instantly jumped, and for some reason that is beyond me, I latched on to Sesshomaru's arm.
"What," I snapped when he looked down at me. "If you're going to follow me everywhere I go, you can at least be useful for something."
I felt like kicking myself. This dreamscape thing was such a bad idea. There are just some things you say and some things you don't. Even though I am known to slip on occasion, always speaking the truth of what is on your mind is a very dangerous thing; especially when you are with Sesshomaru.
"Oracle," Sesshomaru had turned away from me to face the old witch. "We begin."
"Of course Sesshomaru-sama."
The woman clapped her hands together and, for a breathtaking moment, the whiteness of the world around us became a vibrant, swirling mass of color. Before my eyes, the wisps of color started to transform themselves into images upon the white canvas. The images expanded around us, bringing the semblance of life to where there had been none in the vast emptiness. Soon I found myself standing in a field strewn with lush grasses, where a river wound its way through the meadow. I looked around to the trees of the forest in the background and realized that I knew this place. The forest was Inuyasha's forest, and the river is where I first tested the sex pheromone.
The thundering growl ripped through the air around us again, but this time I had a pretty good idea where it was coming from. Sure enough, before my eyes appeared the great youkai form of Sesshomaru. His fifty foot form was towering over a small being that looked insignificant in comparison to his size. I knew this scene; I knew who it was he was towering over. It was me. What we were seeing was a recreation of the events that had led us here. Our memories were being put on display for the witch, but we were along for the ride.
"You look awfully scared young one." The oracle was speaking to me. "Surely you didn't think he was there to hurt you."
"No," I replied, "I thought he was going to mate me. That's enough to scare anyone."
I was not pleased with the fact that I kept spouting things that were totally true and very likely to get me killed. I looked up at Sesshomaru, and seeing the look of displeasure that crossed his face thanks to my wonderful comment, was forced to do something about it.
"Hey, at least I wasn't the one wagging my tail!"
He rose and eyebrow. "I do not 'wag' my tail."
"Oh yeah," I challenged. "Then what would you call that?" I pointed towards the scene, and sure enough there he was; crouched down on his front paws, his back end in the air, and his tail swishing back and forth in what was most certainly a wag.
"I was displaying my appreciation for a female that would not be so foolish as to outright deny me, but still had strength enough to refuse my advance."
"So I didn't jump you, and I didn't try to run away. Apparently that is a good thing. But you were still wagging your tail. Why can't you just admit that?"
"Oh, don't mind him dearie," The oracle's laughing voice rang out. "He likes to think that he is not affected by the magic of this place. Don't worry though; even he can't avoid the truth forever."
The oracle sighed in a dreamy fashion as she watched the scene play out between us. Even I had to admit that the low purring noise being emitted by the great beast was very soothing, if of course you are not pinned under that beast while he is doing it. But then, suddenly the scene changed. When the images cleared again, I saw myself dangling in the air with Sesshomaru's hand clasping my neck.
"-You will tell me. Or you will die.-"
The coldness of his voice still caused me to shiver. Even though I wasn't experiencing his iron hold at this time, I could still feel the lingering sensations of his fingers wrapped around my throat.
"-I would rather die knowing my family is alive and well than live another day with the knowledge that I betrayed the ones I love. Kill me if you want Sesshomaru, but I will never tell you.-"
My words rung out for all to hear, but I felt as though I was hearing the meaning behind them for the first time. I watched him release me, and I realized what he had done.
"It was a test."
"Yes," he replied. "A test that proved you to be so loyal to those you love that you would sacrifice your own life to see that they are kept safe."
"Why?"
"Because at the time you saw me as an enemy."
"-If I have been wrong about all of these things, if everything I thought I knew about him was false; how can I then so readily call him a beast, how can I be so quick to say he is my enemy, how can I say as I had before that I would wish him pain, injury, or death?-"
They were my own words, spoken in private musings as I tried to come to terms with what Sesshomaru had done; but now echoing across the vast reaches of the dreamscape. I was right to question my views of him, and I was right to question his motives.
"-His whole life has been one struggle after another. He has been shunned and feared by humans, hated and hunted by demons, never given a chance to be anything but an outcast; and yet look how strong he has made himself in spite of all the trials. No, he doesn't deserve to be treated like that. Not by anyone.-"
The scene playing out had changed again. Now I was seeing myself tell Sesshomaru why I believed Inuyasha did not deserve Kikyo's treatment of him, or Sesshomaru's for that matter.
"Such compassion young one, and given to a hanyou no less." The oracle was speaking to me again. "It is no wonder that the Lord has taken such an interest in you."
Normally I would have told her that she was mistaken, and that my compassion for Inuyasha's situation had nothing to do with the fact that I had a stalker who had not let me be for the past four days; but I figured that anything I wanted to say would probably get all turned around on me in this place, so I wisely kept my mouth shut.
I watched as the scene played out. But it soon faded away to replaced by another. In the newest scene I found myself standing in the kitchen watching Souta measure out the baking soda ingredient for his experiment. Sesshomaru stood behind him looking curiously at the pot of vinegar on the stove. He turned to look at the bowls on the table that my brother was pouring the soda into, and a wicked smirk curled upon his lips.
"-Surely,-" he began in an amused tone that just screamed to me of trouble, "-The mountain you wish to perform this experiment in is much larger than those bowls.-"
Souta turned and looked at Sesshomaru.
"-But Kagome said we were only supposed to use a quarter cup.-"
"-She did,-" I just knew this would not go anywhere good, "-But she is not here now.-"
Souta's face lit up with just as much devious glee as I could see shining in the taiyoukai's eyes. He turned back to the bowls on the table and dumped the whole package of baking soda in. I cringed as I watched Sesshomaru pick the pot off of the stove and pour the contents into the bowl. Within seconds the bowl was overflowing with the green bubbles, and in no time they had taken over the whole kitchen, leaving two very green bodies standing in the middle of the mess.
"I knew that was all your fault!" I screeched at him. But he did nothing but look at me with amusement clearly written all over his face. "And stop laughing at me!"
"I am not laughing."
"Don't give me that crap! What happened to this place making everyone speak the truth? Why do you always have to be so concealed? Why can't you just admit that you are not the big bad piece of iceberg that you want everyone to believe you are?"
"What others think of me is their own problem."
"And what of what I think? Why did you bring me here if you weren't going to tell me the truth? What game are you playing now Sesshomaru?"
"-DEMON!-"
"-MONSTER!-"
"-RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!-"
I sighed when he didn't give me an answer and turned back to watch the next scene. I knew what was coming, and I figured that seeing that priceless sight again was better than trying to pry answers out of Mr. Stoic.
Sure enough, there he was in all his glory with a big, bright yellow ball clamped between his massive fangs, his tongue dangling out the side of his mouth, and giant globs of drool leaking down onto the floor. I snickered at the sight, but my amusement was not nearly as much as the me in the image who was laughing like a maniac.
"Whatever did you find so amusing young one?" the Oracle questioned.
I sighed, knowing that I could not avoid the truth of my answer.
"I was thinking of him chasing that big yellow ball around like a little puppy."
The oracle burst into laughter that rivaled that being given out by the image of me. She even sunk to her knees as I had due to her hysteria.
"What would make you think I would lower myself to 'chase' a ball?"
I shrugged at him and gave my answer. "Inuyasha chases sticks."
"Do I look like Inuyasha?" he questioned as he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." I sighed. This truth thing was getting on my nerves. "You are brothers after all."
"Half-brothers," He corrected.
"Whatever." I decided to change the topic. "So what's so important about this scene?"
"Your laughter."
I was totally lost. I knew very well that I was laughing, but I figured he would be mad about it not happy, or pleased, or whatever he was that really wasn't anger. He obviously saw my look of 'what the hell are you talking about' and continued.
"You would laugh at me even when I am in my most basic form. You would find joy in my presence instead of fear. You would even go so far as to imagine me being…playful instead of giving in to the realization that I could easily take your life."
"So you like my laughter?" I thought I could push on the magical truth thing to get some decent answers out of him about what he thought of me.
"It is not intolerable." Apparently I was wrong about the whole getting answers thing. He really is such a stiff.
I sighed and turned back to watching the dream images pulled from our memories. The oracle had finally reigned in her laughter and had changed the scene again. Now we were standing within the viewing room of the observatory with the fantastic images of the universe surrounding us.
-Beauty never known-
-A new universe revealed-
-Still just beyond reach-
-Stars in the heavens-
-Beautiful as they may be-
-Still they are alone-
"Me thinks," the oracle mused as she turned to look at the two of us suggestively, "That he was not talking about the stars, and that neither were you girl."
I shifted nervously. I knew it was entirely possible that I wasn't completely focused on the stars when I had recited that poetry, but it was a spur of the moment thing; I hadn't had time to think about all of the things which might be interpreted from the words. But it really wasn't my response that had made me so nervous; it was the implications of what the oracle had said regarding Sesshomaru's verse. We had been surrounded by the beautiful images of stars, galaxies, nebulas, and other wonders of the universe. I had not even thought that his meaning would have gone beyond that. Could the universe he was referring to be my time? Could the beauty he eluded to have been…
"-No more lies!-"
The shrill echoing of my voice pulled me away from my thoughts.
"-You will tell me Sesshomaru! I will not be forced to play your games any longer!-"
I watched as he issued me his order for me to submit, and as I bared my neck to him to do just that. But instead of the scene ending where my memory went dark, it continued to play out. I had lost consciousness, but before I fell to the ground he was there to catch me.
"-Kagome!-"
I heard Sango's voice in the distance. She and the monk were no doubt coming to check on me to make sure the experiment had not gotten out of control. But before they could reach the clearing, Sesshomaru had gathered me to himself and taken off in a white blur.
The image shifted again, this time to reveal the secluded hot spring he had brought me to in order to wash off the scents I had doused myself with during my last experiment. He set me down gently by the edge of the spring, but he did not release his hold on me. His eyes were burning the eerie crimson of the beast within, but his handling of me was still gentile.
"-No more lies,-" I heard him whisper to me. His voice was soft and meant only for my unconscious mind to hear. But I was hearing it now, in this place, as though he were speaking the words again. "-For you, Kagome, I will not hide the truth.-"
He pulled back from where he had been whispering in my ear. For a moment he merely studied my face, but then he leaned towards me again and…
"Enough!"
As though it had substance of its own, Sesshomaru's demanding voice ripped through the dreamscape and shattered the image. In an instant, the dreamscape vanished, and I found myself lying, once again, in the bed I fallen asleep in. I bolted upright and turned to face the man beside me.
"What did you just do!" I demanded.
"Woman." I didn't care if I sounded like a shrieking banshee, or if he would be mad for my yelling at him. I wanted to know, and his warning didn't stop me.
"You can't just end it there and expect me to be all Ok with it!"
"Miko." His voice was beginning to sound very strained, but I refused to relent.
"I have every right to know what you were doing with me just then! You can't tell me that…"
"Kagome." He had grabbed my shoulders, holding me still and quieting my voice. "There are some things that the old woman need not see."
I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but he beat me to it with an explanation that didn't require any words. He leaned into me and pressed his lips against my in a searing kiss which blew me away…literally.
When I managed to clear away the dizziness, I looked up from my new position on the floor across the room; only to find that he too had been thrown away by the blast.
"What just happened?" I asked him as I slowly pulled myself from the ground and began rubbing away the pain in my backside that resulted from landing so hard.
"I do not know," He replied as he too got up from the ground (Much more gracefully than me, of course. Sigh. Why must everything he does be so damn perfect?). "That is one of the reasons I have brought us here."
"The oracle?" Things were starting to make sense again. Well, besides the fact that Sesshomaru had just kissed me and that it obviously wasn't the first time he had done so, and that because he kissed me we were both thrown away from each other with incredible force. "But how will she know how to…ummm…well fix the…problem…if you didn't let her see?"
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow in my direction. I really hate it when he does that! Like I can decipher exactly what's on his mind just because he performs that little bit of movement. The scariest thing though, is that I actually think I can decipher what he was thinking by that little move. At that moment, he was laughing silently at my description of the situation.
Give me a break here! It's not every day that I get kissed! And when I do, it usually isn't by Taiyoukais who used to be my enemy, and it usually doesn't involve being thrown halfway across a room. I was still blushing from the actual experience; there was no way I would actually be able to talk about it out loud. We were no longer in the dreamscape, and that meant that my thoughts were once again being filtered by my brain so that I didn't speak aloud any truth which was floating around in my consciousness.
"She would be a very poor oracle, indeed, if she needed to see a problem to predict its solution."
With that said, he made his way to the door of the room. He paused when he reached the screen.
"The price has been paid. Now we shall have the answers."
He stepped out of the room, and without having any other options, I followed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sigh. That really was better as an idea than it was in words. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now cause I'm not going to change it :P
I haven't a clue where this story is going next. This whole scene was supposed to give me a few more chapters to work with, but instead it gave me a problem: I don't know how to fix the mess I created. It might take a couple of days for the next chapter to come out. I need a bit of time for my imagination to come up with a good enough plot.
Anyways, that's all for now
Chow
ShadowsWeaver1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters I am about to weave into my web of chaos. Any and all definitions have been taken directly from Wikipedia the online encyclopedia because I am far too lazy to do any further research to support my Inuyasha obsession.
