Chapter 16
The forest was still dark, not yet lightened by the oncoming dawn. Birds were only just rousing from their nests and the beasts of the trees would still slumber for some time. The grass was already laden with the pre-morning dew, but those drops remained invisible without the dawn's rays to reflect off of their translucent shells. And though the forest had yet to wake, something red streaked across the lightless sky and touched down in the clearing.
She had been expecting this, though, and so she waited patiently for the newcomer to arrive at the arranged meeting spot. It was far enough away from the shiro that they would have no need to worry about being spotted, but close enough so that she could steal back into her quarters before anyone noticed she was missing. As she waited for her true master to arrive, the spy shifted her weight from foot to foot impatiently. She had never had any qualms with the tasks required of her before; she had gone into this thing knowing that forming loyalties was a must, but knew that as long as she remained emotionally distant she would never go against the creature she spied for in the first place. She had been spying in the Western shiro for centuries, initially there for her master Ryukotsusei before he learned to siphon off bits of Lady Kuromiya's powers and became a daiyoukai worth fearing. In those days, she had been a spy impossible to uproot because she remembered her teachings well, and never got emotionally involved with any of the people with whom she was secretly betraying. Things that could lead to emotions were also not prohibited: sex, courtings, friends . . . all things that could further tie her down or further risk exposing the fraudulence of her claim to serve in that shiro.
After Toga had sealed her draconic master, the spy had continued her life of espionage in service of the dragon's second-in-power, Lady Kuromiya. Her ability to keep her emotions separate from her work had helped her here, too, and in the century and a half that had passed in service to her new master the spy had once again found herself dealing with her work with ease.
Then, Lord Sesshomaru had brought in the one thing she had never prepared for: a human child he treated as his own pup. So unexpected was this, and so charismatic was she, that Rin soon slipped past those emotionless walls she put up. She spent time frequently with the child, not of her own volition, but privately she enjoyed it. With time came the resignation that if this child could break even the iciest daiyoukai alive, then the superficial walls she had developed would never have stood a chance against Rin and her determination to make friends with youkai.
And it was her emotional attachment to Rin that had the spy anxious; she knew whose hand had been behind the things Rin currently suffered from, and she knew that whatever scheme her mistress was building certainly founded itself to some degree on the young human. The spy wished that it could have been anyone else; if it had, then she wouldn't feel like this. If her Lady had only just wanted to deal with Lord Sesshomaru, or Megumi Madarame, then she would have put all her heart behind her great efforts. She would have handed whatever Kuromiya-sama wanted to her on a gold platter embossed with kanji declaring her mistress to be superior to all else.
So, the fact that Rin would have to be used - even a little bit - did not sit well with the spy, but she was first and foremost loyal, and so she would do what she must.
Not long after she had resigned herself to her duty did the one she served step from the trees. The spy went through her greeting forms of subservience and honor, allowing herself only a brief moment to bask in the ruthless beauty that was Katsumi Kuromiya.
Many of Katsumi's more recent followers, ones that had not served Ryokotsusei first, believed her to be one of the kami. She was admittedly a sight to see: her wavy brown tresses, aristocratic features and harsh eyes of purest magma drew heads wherever she strode. She seemed to prefer to wear only warm colors on her exquisite kimonos, and chose to allow small doses of her power to slip occasionally so that they snapped off her in quite the same way that sparks do from flames. Yes, she was a magnificent creature, and the spy truly was proud to serve her, if not a little guilty for the look of heartbreak she knew Rin would sport once she figured out the truth.
"Kuromiya-sama," she greeted formally, bowing low. "You have asked to see me in person?"
The mistress' smirk grew delightedly malicious. "Yes, pet; I figured you ought to know that tonight we shall be moving forward with our plans." Katsumi paced closer, eyeing with distaste the wetness on the blades of grass. She was sort of like a cat youkai, if just a little, but of course to compare her benevolence to such a creature would make Katsumi very displeased, and would likely result in the speaker's demise.
Such thoughts were better kept to oneself; thoughts, for instance, like how much the traitor liked Rin.
"Tonight the Lord of the Western Lands should arrive at his destination with the woman. I have sent a preemptive measure to keep them occupied long enough at least for you to deliver what I want to me."
Though the spy knew the answer, she wished she didn't have to ask. "What is it you wish of me, my Lady?"
Katsumi sneered at her before turning to where she knew the sun would appear eventually. "Today Rin will go on a little walk, of her own volition. She'll pack herself a little bag filled with things for lunch, and she'll steal into that damned woman's chambers to steal the kimono of her Lord, because hey, why not?" Katsumi gave a nonchalant shrug as she grinned, pleased with herself. "She'll find herself walking all the way here, where I shall wait, and then she'll agree to be taken on an impromptu vacation back to my shiro with me." Here, those red eyes of hers flashed with delight. "Or perhaps, she won't agree. I quite like it when they fight back."
The spy held her tongue; at least her mistress seemed to want Rin alive. She was probably only using the child for bait.
Probably.
"Your hand in this," Katsumi continued, pivoting again in order to face her spy completely, "is to make sure the people of that foolish shiro suspect nothing. Make them believe she's taken that kimono and is pouting, hoping her dear Sesshomaru will come pay attention to her or some stupid shit a child would do; make them believe she's eloped with one of the suitors you say have yet to leave; anything so that those fucking idiots do not see the immediate necessity of recalling their Lord back home. Perhaps you can even convince Kimi to try and find Rin before she caves and calls upon her son," Katsumi finished, her expression completely betraying her inner thoughts: I'd like to see them try.
It was in that moment that the spy truly, for the first time, realized the difference in power between creatures like herself and ones like her master. People like her, she knew, were doomed to do only the sorts of underhanded work that required no real strength; people like her master - Sesshomaru, Kimi, Toga, Ryukotsusei - those were people who changed the world as they saw fit, out in the open for all to see instead of cowering in the shadows. And those people in the shadows were never meant to defy those in the light; they were too small and insignificant to truly make a difference. No amount of wishing she could do something to protect Rin would help the poor child, because she was a person born behind the scenes, forever doomed to obey those illuminated in front of her.
And so, she would do what was expected of her. "It will be as you decree," she promised her Lady, and watched as she nodded knowingly. There was no way for traitors to betray their true masters, after all.
"Good, good. And you've arranged for a scapegoat to take the fall should someone suspect this is the actions of an enemy to the West?"
Again, she was reminded of her position. And again, she embraced it. "Hai, Kuromiya-sama. My cousin spends nearly as much time in the young Lord's ward's good graces as I do. She has been noticed by others to be less-than pleasant with the guest, Megumi Madarame, because she privately cares for the human girl and wishes not for her charge to feel inferior to the newcomer. Such sentiments can easily be manipulated into motive. I have arranged it so that should anyone suspect a traitor, Hina Furuya is the first they shall turn against."
Katsumi Kuromiya listened to all of this with that delighted gleam in her eyes, and the spy knew why. There was a reason that she had been the main tap of information in this location for so long, and was allowed to go about things in her own way so long as she reaped sufficient results. Despite not having the superior nature of those destined for the spotlight, the spy could be equally ruthless, a trait that came from centuries of remorselessly watching framed traitors being made an example of to take the fall for herself. She knew that Katsumi liked working with her, because she was able to conjure up things void of morals in order to achieve the goals of those she served.
She didn't have to be a dog demon in order to be so completely and utterly whipped by her masters, after all.
Katsumi pondered a moment more, before grinning like a madwoman. Whatever came after tonight, the Lady was certain that she would enjoy it. "See that you carry out your orders flawlessly, my pet, and once I've reached the fruition of my revenge I promise that there will be a sufficient reward for you."
This startled the spy; it was not part of their usual exchange when it came to arranging the executions for these underhanded dealings. "Reward?" she echoed curiously. The answer was simultaneously the best and worst thing she wanted to hear; the best because it truly was the thing she coveted, and the worst because she knew it was to be at Rin's expense.
"If you do this for me, I will give you your freedom."
She already knew her decision.
And so did Katsumi.
"You've always been such a good servant, haven't you?"
The red eyes were retreating now, back into the tree line to wait for when her prey arrived. The last notes of her voice sounded like death ringing out in the space between them, and they hung around the spy's ears as she made her way back to the shiro of the Lord and Lady of the West.
"Don't think I didn't notice,
Chiharu Furuya."
Today, the sun did not carry as much heat as it normally did. There weren't many clouds in the sky and it certainly didn't look like it was going to rain. Really, it was a good day for a walk.
Rin just wished her body was doing it of her own volition.
The words that compelled her into motion still echoed around her mind, making her forehead burn white hot with each repetition.
"Rin," Katsumi's sickly sweet voice told her when she woke up, "go on a walk today. Your feet will show you the way. Pack yourself some food, and clothes too! Why don't you break into that sweet little bitch's room and steal Sesshomaru's kimono from the stand in there? She doesn't deserve it like you do, so make a statement! Hell, go fucking crazy! Trash the whole place if you want on your way out. I'll give you free will to decide whether or not you'll do that last one. Don't bother fighting the rest of it though."
Rin had known for some time now that this person who had shown up in that dark space with her was clearly the only one in control of everything she did. She hadn't understood why Kastumi had chosen to stay so idle all this time, but Rin guessed she knew why now. She must have been waiting until the perfect chance to steal Rin away from both the shiro and Sesshomaru. Rin wanted to be confident that someone, anyone, would realize that something was off with her today, but then again if Katsumi was moving now that meant all the other forces of hers were as well, right? What if she had backup? People to generate a cover story for Rin's uncharacteristic behavior in the wake of her disappearance?
As Rin's feet marched her on, that kimono that felt a thousand times heavier than it was carefully cradled in her hands, she came to realize that she would, indeed, be disappearing. Katsumi wouldn't do a thing like this just to hand Rin back to the shiro in a few hours, that was for sure. Rin's lingering guilt over the way stealing Sesshomaru's gift to Megumi had made her slightly-jealous heart happy was now quickly fading, replaced with raw fear. For a moment she even hated Megumi. If it weren't for that girl, her Lord wouldn't have left the castle. He would have been able to see right through this whole thing and would even have chained her unresponsive body down if that's what it took to keep Rin from running straight into Katsumi's clutches.
And yet, he wasn't here.
Rin knew that it wasn't because of Megumi; she knew they were trying a stab at the dark idea in hopes of helping Megumi regain strength enough so she in turn could help Rin. It was worse, she decided, because she couldn't blame either of them for not being there to help her now, because they were trying to help her wherever they currently were. Rin discovered a moment later that she still had control of her tear ducts.
And she walked on, a forced spring in her steps and honest tears streaking across her face even as it sculpted itself into an excited smile, away from the shiro and towards the forest.
Rin hated the nice day that felt like a betrayal to all the misery she felt.
Sesshomaru did not shift in his sleep. He was a respectable gentleman; capable of all forms of restraint. He had perfect control over all facets of his being and that meant when he laid in his futon and allowed himself a sleep light enough so that he would be awake and alert at the first notion of danger but deep enough to allow his body its natural rest, he would remain perfectly still.
He had figured that Megumi, a creature with walls and defenses somewhat similar to his own, would be the same. And so she had utterly baffled the daiyoukai when, in her sleep, she literally fucking sniffed him out and wriggled across the floor to sleep closer to him. Sesshomaru's instincts were telling him all sorts of things which destroyed all tenses of sleep for him. He cautiously opened his eyes and rolled onto his side, propping himself onto an elbow in order to get a better look at the woman who'd shifted clean out of her futon just for an increased proximity with himself.
She seemed peaceful as she slept; her feathery lashes dusting over her soft cheeks, and those pale lips of hers parted slightly as she breathed long, calm breaths, releasing the air in gentle puffs before pulling it back in again. Sesshomaru didn't even realize he'd been staring until in her sleep, she twitched, face flashing briefly into an expression of pain. What most people failed to realize about the mighty daiyoukai was that he had been a child once as well, and it was those few nights of terror he knew that allowed him to comprehend the current situation for what it was:
She was having a nightmare.
The faintest of whimpers slipped out of her mouth and the fragile sound drew his molten gold eyes to her lips. They fluttered quickly as she whispered a word, Toga, before returning to those little breaths of hers. The inu's eyes narrowed. Perhaps he had forgiven his father for many things, but the notion that even in death he continued to plague this delicate woman in such a way had him suddenly rather displeased with the Inu no Taisho.
Sesshomaru realized a moment later that he wasn't pleased with the sight of the woman struggling so, even in unconsciousness. And once that thought crossed him, another one hit him full on: he wanted to stop it. Wanted to help her.
Comfort her.
The Western Lord had caught himself growing overly sensitive to the feelings of this female of late; from switching things in the outfits she laid out so she wouldn't make a fool of herself unknowingly, to draping his fur over her to prevent her chills in the night, to even preparing fires prematurely so that when she returned from her bathing in the frigid water she could warm herself as quickly as possible. Sesshomaru hadn't thought much of it at first, because he'd more or less done the same thing when Rin used to travel around with him, but as he watched the sleeping figure next to him he contemplated if his reasons behind her care were the same as the ones behind Rin's.
Rin hadn't technically been his ward for several years now; she'd come of age before his very eyes, but for whatever reason insisted that she enjoyed being the one under his care. He'd kept the term, but he cared now for her as one of his pack, not exactly as a pup. But while Megumi certainly needed help here and there in her current state, she was far from childish. She could handle herself fairly well; whenever she became taxed mentally through their days travelling she would make a point to meditate before settling down for the night. Sesshomaru figured that the problem lied somewhere in his baser instincts; she had no pack, not really, and it made him wonder where she would fit in with him. In his eyes she was not a pup like Rin; she was not blood relation either, and yet he had a desire to integrate her to the pack regardless of being unsure of which niche he wished her to fill. To have her stick around, to have her under his care.
Megumi's face fluttered back into a brief frown.
"You confound me, Madarame," Sesshomaru admitted softly in a voice he knew wouldn't reach even her. But he'd already decided that he didn't want to see her like this any further. So he took what he already knew of her - she seemed comforted by his scent at least - and was careful to scoop her closer to him without waking her. He resettled the cover over the two of them, eyes never straying from her face, just to gauge her reaction. She sighed gently in the new pocket of warmth, squirming faintly until she settled in what he assumed must have been a comfortable position. He withdrew his hand from where he'd placed it in order to bring her closer, and as he returned it to his side he found several strands of her hair had grown caught between his fingers. The demon watched the way they slipped through his fingers, studied the way they felt against his skin as they did.
And in a moment of utter privacy, he gently took a small portion of her locks in his hand and raised it to his lips, pressing the fine strands there as he watched all traces of the nightmare vanish from her sleeping face.
"Rest well," he murmured to her, before returning the hair to her side of his futon and shifting onto his back, careful not to touch any part of her now. "Rest well," he repeated, "because I cannot."
The day's travel had been quick and painless. Sesshomaru's ability to guide her had improved in leaps and bounds since that first day they set out together, and their pace had profited from the consistent meals and rest. Megumi had once or twice tried to convince her companion to let her carry the supplies, but he'd remained firm in his decision to be designated bag holder, and eventually she'd given up. But the tiny weight was nothing for the daiyoukai and was certainly a welcome upgrade from the heavy cart she'd first walked in these parts with, so they ended up arriving at their destination in a much more timely manner than when she'd first gone the opposite direction with Daisuke and his motley crew.
Their conversation had also been pretty light. It seemed that the general mood between the two of them had gone up, and Megumi wasn't exactly sure why that was. On her part, she attributed it to the huge fucking weight he'd managed to lift off of her with those sweet words. You shouldn't fear being loved, he had told her, and she found herself trusting in it more and more with each passing second. On his part, though, she wondered if it had anything to do with the overly suspicious way she'd woken up on a different side of the room that definitely did not smell like her? If he had been acting weird, Megumi might have asked if she had done or said anything terrible in her sleep, but he seemed to be unusually relaxed today.
And Megumi would be damned if she was the kind of person to ruin such a nice mood with paranoia and prying questions.
So instead, the pair had lightly conversed about different things; topics that were one hundred percent sure not to bring the unexpectedly wonderful mood down were the only ones they ventured to discuss. Things like mating, parents, trust issues and rights of passage were off limits. Things like favorite bird calls, favorite animals to hunt, hidden talents and whatnot were perfectly safe. It was thanks to this that Megumi found herself learning lots of pleasant things about the inu that made her like him even more. She treasured the new depth she found in his character, once she'd learned he had as a child tried to smuggle a baby squirrel into the shiro as a pet, or that he knew a surprising amount of wildflowers by name and their properties because he'd been swift to learn Rin liked to pluck the blooms and drop them in the natural springs they encountered to bathe with them, and he didn't want her touching anything that could result in rashes or the like. It was also how Sesshomaru learned that Megumi had, during her younger pirate years, a horrible tendency to contract crushes like plagues for anyone she figured could best her in a fight.
Megumi's heart had nearly stopped when the great Killing Perfection had made a comment about being surprised she hadn't fallen for him yet, and it wasn't the actual comment that startled her so much as the fact that he had made. A. Joke.
Even icy daiyoukai had senses of humor, she learned that day, and she found that all bets against teasing were suddenly off now that she knew he could probably dish it back at her and just chose not to.
The day had taken a turn to dusk when she'd grown confident enough to walk more in the lead, instructing Sesshomaru every now and then on what they should be seeing as they progressed and when to make turns at certain landmarks or when he should stop so they could safely descend to the cliff face. It was also then, as they were growing rapidly closer to their destination, that by accident one of the potentially touchy subjects came up.
"If you could have been any kind of daiyoukai - excluding inu, for obvious reasons - what would you pick?" Sesshomaru was silent, which Megumi took as a sign that he was thinking.
"The tree with the knothole you described is just in front of us," he told her, and Megumi nodded in understanding.
"We'll turn left now. The next landmark is a pile of three smooth stones at the base of an irregularly large stone. Past that is the best path to the cliff base, but it's a bit slippery sometimes."
"Hn," he tossed idly to her as his hand shifted against her, guiding her in the new direction. He'd told her she picked out a midnight blue kimono with silvery details this time, with an extra layer of kimono and nagajuban that were in lighter shades the closer to her skin they got. "There are not many types of daiyoukai I feel are worth consideration," Sesshomaru finally answered once they'd started on their new course.
Megumi supposed he had a fair point; there really weren't many besides the mighty inu of the Western lands that tended to reach levels where even random human villages had heard of them. "Well, supposing your skills are independent from your nature and you would be as powerful as you are now, then what do you suppose you'd pick?"
Sesshomaru mulled this one over for a while as they made their way around the trees to the path Megumi mentioned. "If their name was not so sullied by the likes of Ryukotsusei, perhaps I might consider a more draconic nature."
Megumi laughed a little at that one. "Being a dragon isn't all that bad," she agreed, and it wasn't until Sesshomaru stopped dead that she realized what she'd said.
Shit.
"Megumi," Sesshomaru started slowly, "what are you, truly?"
Megumi could feel that lighthearted mood floating away from them faster than she could blink. Reality reminded her that things like that would be unobtainable as long as secrets like hers existed. Perhaps it was time to tell him a little bit more?
"I am human," she insisted, walking and forcing him to do the same since he was the one making sure she didn't do something stupid like fall on her face. "But there's something else in me that is decidedly not. It is the spirit of the Twin Dragon of Timidity, and it's nearly unknown because all the texts about it have yet to be translated into an understandable language." Megumi turned her head to Sesshomaru and opened her sightless eyes to him, knowing that he was likely to at least glance at her once before returning his gaze to the forest ahead. "Only those chosen to bear the Dragon's eyes can read it."
Sesshomaru stopped her to tell her that he'd spotted the stones she'd described, and then they'd returned to the current conversation. "There is a noticeable difference in your power and that of a draconic daiyoukai, Megumi."
Some of that tiny ego she carried in her flourished suddenly, and Megumi scoffed faintly. "The Twin Dragons are ancient creatures; dragon daiyoukai by comparison are relatively new. They're hardly the same thing. Think of youkai and hanyou, for instance: Timidity in this sense is the pureblood, and those things like Ryukotsusei are the half-assed rip offs."
"Although these . . . rip offs do not seem to need rituals and frequent periods of recovery to channel and restore their youki."
Megumi shot a half-hearted glare his way. It had been this way with all the people she'd tried to explain her nature to; they'd more or less asked questions like this. Megumi could hear the difference in sounds as her feet left the grasses of the forest in favor of the pebbles of the descending path. "Timidity's power is incredibly vast. I can do things far beyond what mikos, monks and daiyoukai can - in case you haven't noticed with Rin - but it takes time to be able to work with those powers and grow familiar with using them. I've told you the gift takes time to awaken in a child, and from there the more experience with it I gain the more I can do. The recharge times for specific usages grow shorter the greater my control and mastery, and so in the sense that daiyoukai can get stronger with age, so too will I." Course, Megumi wasn't going to go and tell him some of the more impressive things she was capable of; if she ever got the chance to spar wholeheartedly with him after the seal was dismissed she wanted the complete element of surprise.
Sesshomaru remained rather quiet for some time as he contemplated all she had told him. She had a feeling that he might have some new questions for her by tomorrow. She was frankly a bit surprised that he didn't ask anything about why Timidity's powers could be channeled via the moon, or any other questions related to their current situation. Instead he opted for carefully guiding her down the slope, until they reached the bottom of the cliff and Megumi got hit with that unmistakable tang of saltwater in the air; she was back by her pool, but for a moment she allowed herself to think she was back by the ocean instead.
The thought had her smiling before she could stop herself.
Greater demons were not the types of creatures to be caught moping. And Sesshomaru certainly was neither caught nor moping, not as he paced lightly in the space beyond the cave Megumi had disappeared into. She hadn't disclosed the whole of what she would be doing in that pool of hers for this ritual, but she had said that he wasn't allowed anywhere near it, where his highly intelligent eyes could catch the sight of her inside.
What kind of ritual required complete nudity, anyways?
And why did her slight jab of not wanting his "wandering eyes" catching sight of her manage to feel like such an insult to his honor? His reasons for wanting to remain nearby were purely to ensure that she would be protected; it stands to reason that moments of intimacy made her more vulnerable than those that did not, didn't it? So why was he all the way over here, where that cave was just far enough away that he couldn't see it?
"You've never seen me fight unrestrained," she'd countered evenly upon his insistence to remain near. "If this ritual goes right then I should be more than capable of handling whatever comes myself."
He hadn't commented on the uneasy way she'd said, If. Sesshomaru didn't like to leave things up to fate.
Nevertheless he respected her modesty enough to brush aside his own pride and instinctive desire to remain for the time being. This is exactly why he didn't give people his word for things; inus are intensely loyal and his baser nature was screaming at him, saying that what he did now was a betrayal of the way he'd promised to protect Megumi.
His instincts suddenly focused on a different thought altogether when Sesshomaru felt the tiniest flare of youki beyond him, further away from the cave. The well-seasoned daiyoukai turned all of his senses and thoughts towards evaluating the sensation, his body already thrumming with anticipation and his hand twitching where it rested near Bakusaiga. The moon was minutes away from its peak now; Megumi would be done shortly. And yet this tiny flare of youkai was making its way towards her . . .
Sesshomaru moved swiftly, feet hardly even coming in contact with the ground as he darted between trees and patches of moonlight towards where he'd felt the flare. It disappeared suddenly, but he pressed forward, determined to locate the creature and eliminate all potential threats. Sesshomaru's canines glinted in the night as he grinned; he may have felt frustrated earlier, but this was something he could deal with. This was something that could not escape its fate at the hands of the supreme Lord of the Western Lands.
The daiyoukai reached the spot he knew the youkai had come from, and instantly knew that something was amiss. There were no scents here; no disturbances on the forest floor or in the branches of all the nearby trees. It was as if there hadn't been anything there in the first place. Could he have imagined it? Sesshomaru inwardly chastised himself; if he had sensed it, then it had been there.
Sesshomaru's instincts did not lie.
So, this creature had not walked the ground. That much Sesshomaru could see was evident, so then - he looked up quickly, his hunter's eyes flitting across the heavenly canvas - the youkai must be traveling via flight. It was a full moon of a night, completely void of a single cloud, and yet even then Sesshomaru couldn't find anyone.
What the hell?
So, if they had not come over the ground, or above it . . .
Then it hit him.
The youkai had gone under it. And that conclusion quickly drew others to him: Megumi had told him the story of how she had come to be sealed around three days ago, and she'd mentioned sensing a seventh attacker not from behind her, but from under her. An earth youkai. The six usagi youkai had since been dealt with, but there had been no trace of the seventh since that time nearly a month ago. And now, there was an elemental youkai in the same place as one had been when she'd been attacked the first time, and it was far too much of a coincidence for the inu's liking.
He pivoted and ran as fast as his legs would carry him, headed directly for the cave's opening. He would take Megumi's wrath upon exposing her modesty; he would not take the thought that he had failed to properly protect her under his watch.
Then suddenly there was a large flare of youki, directly where he knew the cliff housing Megumi's pool was.
He was still too far away to see when he heard the great rumbling and shifting of rocks that had not moved in centuries; still too far away to hear anything but the way those great stones struck the earth as they fell. Sesshomaru snarled in fury and forced himself to go faster, farther, even as the sounds ceased.
Had she screamed?
Had she . . .
Sesshomaru's blood went icy cold where it sat underneath his skin. All traces of that bastard's youki were gone completely, and he knew it would have enough common sense not to retreat from this place in the same direction it had sent Sesshomaru.
Because that's what that earlier pulse of youki was - a calculated diversion, far enough away so that he wouldn't be able to return in time to do anything about the real attack. Whoever had plotted this didn't just know Megumi: they knew him as well, and well enough to know how fast he could push himself to run.
Sesshomaru yelled at himself to run even faster than that.
There were still clouds of dirt in the air when he arrived, stirred up by the sudden forceful relocating of the great height of the cliff. Sesshomaru was relieved, at least, by the fact that the entire length of the cliff hadn't collapsed on itself; that would have been a very, very swift end for anyone still directly in the cave itself. But it was clear that whatever entrance to the cave had once been was now sealed off completely by layers and layers of huge boulders.
It was hope, but it wasn't a lot of it.
Any pocket of the cave left wouldn't give Megumi enough air to be capable of digging herself out from her side.
Sesshomaru drew Bakusaiga, only to stop and sheathe it again. Any stroke of that blade risked injury to Megumi, and for all he knew, she was in no state to properly defend herself against Bakusaiga while he worked to carve a new opening into the rock face.
Was she even conscious still?
Was she injured, perhaps even mortally so?
Or . . .
Sesshomaru, in the greatest show of sheer will power he had ever found himself employing, forced himself to stop thinking. He would rip apart the entire fucking mountain. He would find her, take her out of the wreckage, and only then would he allow thoughts to flow back into his mind.
One way or another, he would carry her body out of this place he had so foolishly abandoned. One way or another, warm or cold, breathing or silent, he would find her.
He found himself very afraid for one of those two outcomes as he turned his rage onto the stone keeping him from her.
Author's Note: Here's Chapter 16, a.k.a. how many things can go wrong at once?
So now that Megumi has specifically come out and said that the Dragon's spirit is what's inside of her, I wanted to kind of try and make that whole thing a bit clearer. If you've seen Naruto, then think of Timidity and Temperament kind of like the Tailed Beasts. In that sense, Megumi would be the jinchuuriki (the person that the beast is trapped inside of), and then her powers are drawn from the 'beast's' chakra. Like Naruto, the older he gets and the better acquainted with his true nature he becomes, the more powerful moves and stuff he's able to unleash from those almost unfathomably huge reserves inside of him. I hope that sort of makes more sense?
Anyways, things are going to get only crazier from here, so buckle up! Thank you to all of you who have stuck with the story thus far and have given me lovely reviews; you guys are my favorites! I say with no shame that I can't wait to dedicate upcoming chapters to some of you . . .
That's all for now!
