Nocturne - Chapter Eleven: Ravenous
Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)
o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
o - o - o - o - o
Kagome snatched her hand away. "Are you Yamauba or not? I have some questions for her."
The old woman considered the question for a moment, tilting her head back in fourth. "Hmm, yes?" she answered, not sounding very confident in her own identity.
"O-okay," Kagome replied shakily. The old woman was becoming more strange by the moment, which was saying something given the woman's current living situation.
Pushing the nagging feeling aside, she pressed on with her questions. "There was a spell cast upon me and another. Can you tell me anything about it?"
Yamauba reached up and grabbed Kagome's chin, turning it from left to right. Kagome exclaimed, "Hey!" pulling away from those prodding fingers.
"Ain't no spell upon ye, dearie," Yamauba responded dismissively.
"Yes, I know that, but someone did cast a spell on me several months ago. Can you help me? Is there anything you can tell me about it?" Kagome asked.
"Come, sit and let old Yamauba see ye," she said, gesturing to a tattered mat near the pot.
Kagome obliged and sat down. Yamauba stepped up to the pot, producing a long bone ladle from who knows where and began to stir its acrid contents, giggling as she did.
"A spell ye say?" Yamauba asked, still stirring. She peered into the pot as if watching something.
Kagome narrowed her eyes in annoyance. She had been saying that from the beginning! Yamauba did not seem to be all there. "Um, yes, a reliable source said it was just a summoning spell. I just need to know if there was more to it."
"Are ye hungry?" Yamauba asked, pulling the ladle up and looking directly at Kagome with hungry eyes.
Kagome looked at the pot, and her nose wrinkled in distaste. "N-no! No, thank you! I mean, I ate earlier."
Yamauba continued to stare at Kagome with a salivatory expression. Without breaking her stare, she dipped a finger into the boiling concoction and brought it out to her mouth, slurping the congealed liquid off her finger. Kagome's stomach turned at the sight, and a part of her wondered why the old woman looked at her as though she were edible.
"Well, I am starving!" Yamauba said. "It's been ages since I've had meat. Don't get many travelers that venture this far."
Kagome laughed nervously, "Well, I brought food - dried meat - with me. You are welcome to it."
Yamauba waved her offer away. "Thank ye child, but I was lucky to be treated with a visitor and a meal all in one day! How fortunate am I?" she cackled.
Kagome wondered what the meal could be but decided against it, instead opting to ask more questions with a gulp. "I need to know why the effects of the summoning spell still linger."
"No spell lingers upon ye. Mayhap unresolved feelings," she responded with a cackle. "Ye look for an excuse, but t'was no love spell cast upon ye. No such thing as a love spell, dearie! Trust Yamauba; she would know!"
Kagome considered this. Her first inclination was to disregard what the old woman said. She could not possibly have feelings for Sesshomaru, right? But, just maybe, that would explain the bizarre behavior…
"But he acts like I don't exist or as if I'm a nuisance at best. It does not make any sense," Kagome spoke her thoughts aloud.
"It sounds as though thy male is in denial! Kekekeke! Denial! One as pretty as thee! How could he not be smitten?" she asked, returning to her stirring. "I recall those days," she said absently. "Yes, every man longed for Yamauba..." she giggled at the memory.
"The spell was cast upon me, and an inu yokai-" Kagome offered, still not convinced that everything that had happened between Sesshomaru and herself was due to repressed feelings.
"Inu Yokai?!" the witch exclaimed, her frail body turning to face Kagome and her kindly face twisting into a snarl. "Where?" Her head darted back and forth, and she ran to the door to peer outside.
"No, I mean the spell...it affected an Inu yokai as well," Kagome corrected. It seemed the witch knew something judging from her reaction, and it made Kagome feel that nagging feeling all the more, her dread rising.
Turning to face Kagome, a wicked smile bloomed on Yamauba's face, "I finally got him!"
"Got who?" Kagome asked.
She had been suppressing the feeling that she needed to leave, and it finally began to overwhelm her, urging her to get up and run. The harmless-looking old lady started to change in appearance, taking on more haggard features.
"I've brought the great Inu Taisho low, Kuku Kuku," the witch babbled on. "He thinks he can reject ME and get away with it. I shall make him pay."
'Inu Taisho?' Kagome wondered. That was…she had no time to finish her thought before the witch had grabbed her about her shoulders, throttling her.
"Where is he? That damned dog!" Yamauba screamed.
Kagome pushed the witch away with as much strength as she could muster. Yamauba fell back against her black cauldron with a thud but was back on her feet in an instant. Her old face twisted into a hideous scowl.
"He'll come for ye, dearie. But he musn't have ye," the witch rambled.
Inu Taisho, the father of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, Kagome recalled just as the hag ran at her again. What the old witch thought she could accomplish with bouts of physical strength, Kagome had no idea.
"Inu Taisho is-is dead!" Kagome yelled at the witch.
The information did not sink in, and Yamauba grabbed Kagome's skirts, pulling at the fabric with her bony hands. "That bastard will pay!" the witch continued to scream.
Kagome pulled her hakama out of the woman's grasp, causing her to fall flat on her face. It was past time to leave! Kagome hurried out the door and down a step before stars exploded in her vision, and the world went black.
"It's been ages since I've had the soft flesh of fetus, Kuku Kuku," a sharp voice uttered.
o - o - o - o - o
Kaede shook her head over Rin's prone form. The child had been fighting a nasty cough for some time and had finally become bedridden.
Kagome brought a cool, damp cloth to Rin's sweat-drenched forehead. The young girl's body had been fighting a fever, but some infection had set in. Kagome could only pray, at this point, that the fever would break soon. She'd been apprehensive about bringing antibiotics back with her but knew that even an unassuming cold could turn into something malicious and deadly.
As soon as the cold went to Rin's chest, causing a whooping sound whenever she drew breath to cough more, Kagome knew a course of antibiotics would be necessary for Rin's survival.
After she had given the medicine to Rin, disguising it as an herbal remedy, the fever broke shortly afterward, giving the child the time her body needed to recuperate. Kagome left Rin in Kaede's hands and began on her way to her own home.
After exiting the house, Kagome nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice from the rooftop.
"Thank you, miko."
Kagome gasped and looked up to see Sesshomaru perched upon the roof of Kaede's house. He jumped down to land in front of her.
"Oh, Sesshomaru, you startled me!" she exclaimed softly. He must have been outside waiting for news of his young human charge. There was a small draw of concern in his eyes and the only tell visible on his otherwise blank face.
"Apologies," he replied.
Kagome had never once heard Sesshomaru apologize. He must be feeling quite appreciative to her. "I-it's okay," she stammered.
"You have saved Rin's life, and I, Sesshomaru, am grateful to you." He looked down on her with cool regard, waiting for a response, maybe waiting for her to ask a boon of him for doing something that meant much to him.
It was nearly unsettling under his gaze, and Kagome fought the urge to shiver. "There's no need to thank me. I love Rin, and I would do anything for her."
"As would I," he said and watched Kagome smile and walk around.
"Well, um, see you around," she called and waved before hurrying off to her house, leaving Sesshomaru to watch her departure.
o - o - o - o - o
Kagome could hear sounds, but everything was still black. It occurred to her that her eyes were closed, and that was the reason behind the darkness. Slowly she opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. Her head hurt something fierce, the back of her head particularly. She moved to touch the back of her head but realized, with the blood draining from her face, that she was paralyzed. Her eyes, being the only part of her body that could move, widened to their limits as realization sunk in.
The witch, Yamauba, hummed tunelessly and stared into her cauldron. Kagome watched in horror as the witch brought a hunk of flesh to her mouth and gnawed on the meat, which looked to be raw, with her nearly toothless gorge.
Kagome panicked, thinking that the witch was feasting on her unseen limbs but settled herself with the knowledge that she would feel the pain of missing flesh. What could the woman be eating then?
As if sensing Kagome's consciousness, Yamauba looked over and smiled. She waved the meat at Kagome. "Ye brought a delicious treat. It be gamey but filling!"
She wanted to scream and tried to open her mouth to do so unsuccessfully. Just beyond, in Kagome's line of sight, lay the mangled body of Bullet, the old mare that had brought Kagome to this forsaken place. Hunks of flesh were already missing, stripped from the mare's ribs that now exposed oozing internal organs.
Yamauba cackled and took another bite of the raw and bloody meat. She casually tossed the chunk into her pot and grabbed her bone ladle to stir in the new contents. "Kekeke," she laughed aloud. "Soon, mine pallet shall have a rare treat! Rare indeed, hehe."
Kagome looked around as well she could, her eyes straining to see anything that may help her. She did not want to stick around to see what the witch considered a treat. Closing her eyes, Kagome concentrated on escaping. It was vital to access her spiritual powers and break free from this hold.
At the beginning of her time in the Feudal Era, Kagome had no control over the powers, and they came only when Kagome had great need. Over time she had learned to focus and channel the power, making her a formidable opponent. Now she could not call upon the power, much to her frustration. Her eyes clenched tighter, and she looked for the bright spiritual light that lay beyond a veil of darkness.
A clammy hand fondling her abdomen made Kagome's eyes snap open. She had been rolled over onto her back and her midriff exposed. Her head filled with a voiceless scream as Yamauga brought her stricken face down to nuzzle upon her bare skin.
"Soon," Yamauba crooned, stroking her belly. Her head still resting upon Kagome's swollen belly, she looked up, "I've never had hanyo before. But it's too soon. Not enough to enjoy."
The old woman pouted and rose, stepping back towards her cauldron.
Kagome closed her eyes again and chanted in her mind, "Break free, break free, break free."
Her head was pushed up with a hand, and a smooth apparatus prodded at her pursed lips. Opening her eyes again, she looked over to strain and saw Yamauba holding her ladle to Kagome's mouth, forcing her lips open and pouring a concoction down her throat. Yamauba placed her hand over Kagome's mouth and rubbed her throat. Even if Kagome had wanted to, she would not have been able to spit. If she'd been lucky, the liquid would have spilled from her useless mouth, but Yamauba was prepared for that.
Had her gag reflex worked, she was sure she would have thrown the disgusting liquid up, but she felt it, nonetheless, run bitterly down her throat. Yamauba moved back over to Kagome's still exposed abdomen and began to chant over it.
"Shhh, child," Yamauba chided, even though Kagome had not uttered a word. "It will be over soon. Not much longer now. The potion shall make time pass here," she said, pointing at her mildly swollen belly, "more swiftly."
Kagome could feel a movement from within, her unborn child reacting to the potion she'd been forced to ingest. Suddenly she felt something nearly indescribable. At first mild pain could be felt, almost like menstrual cramps, until they intensified into something else altogether. Another strange sensation began, the feeling of her skin pulling taunt, and all the while, the kicks became stronger and more painful.
Shock was the likely culprit behind her consciousness slipping away the second time.
o - o - o - o - o
Kagome wiped sweat from her brow. A long day tending to Rin was draining on her. On her way home to rest, she had stopped at the river to fill up a small jug she had brought with her. The water supply usually began to run low at the end of the day, and she preferred to have and not need than need and not have.
She held the jug in the water and waited as the current pushed water inside. While she knelt, she could nearly feel eyes upon her and quickly set the jug down by the edge of the river only to misjudge the distance and for it to be picked up by the current and begin to float away. "Shoot!" she said aloud.
Looking around, nothing was about, and she felt silly for worrying needlessly. The jug was floating away, though, and in a mad dash, she launched forward to retrieve it before it got too far. She grabbed it successfully, letting out a triumphant call, but again misjudged the item's weight and lost her balance. She tettered for a second, nearly falling in, only to be pulled back by a strong arm around her waist.
"How such a clumsy woman can have such a gift for healing is beyond me," a deep voice said from behind.
Spinning around, she saw that it was none other than Sesshomaru, who had saved her from the water's cold grip.
"We meet again?" she asked rhetorically. "Thank you for saving me from the knee-deep water."
"There is no need to thank me," he said, repeating her words from earlier.
o - o - o - o - o
Even in the darkness, Kagome could always see the light. The light had been evading her for months, and she'd not even noticed. She needed only to touch the light, allow its warmth to envelope her, and she would be free.
Something finally clicked, and the veil keeping her from the light of her powers parted. She reached and grabbed for the light, rejoicing as the power flooded through her, bringing her the sustenance she needed.
Kagome gasped for breath as if she'd been submerged underwater for longer than she could stand and bolted upright. Yamauba's head swiveled, catching sight of her prey breaking free of her spell, and ran over with her bone ladle in hand.
Reaching a hand out, Kagome channeled her spiritual power out, blasting the decrepit hag far and away, knocking both her and her foul cauldron over. Yamauba screamed as she was blasted through a wall and out of the house.
Kagome stood on shaky legs, nearly toppling over from a new weight she carried. Panic gripped at her, but she pushed it down, determined to get as far away from this cursed place as possible.
She ran out as fast as she could, sprinting towards the gateway, marking the entrance of the hell-shrine, and began her descent down the stone stair slabs. It was tedious work, and she lost her footing once, falling to her rear and sending shooting pains up her spine. She groaned and pushed herself up and continued down the hill on her backside, opting to slide down the loamy earth-side rather than risk the slippery steps.
Once Kagome reached the bottom of the stairs, she risked a glance up, almost afraid to see the hag's hunched form peering down at her. Only darkness could be seen, but Kagome planned to put in as much distance she could between herself and the witch. She was not sure how far she would get with the growing pain she felt in her sides.
Real darkness had settled upon the forested mountainside, and Kagome could go no more. She was sure that she was near the fork that led had heralded her doom, but it was nowhere in sight. Moving off the path, she leaned up against a large tree and brought her hands to her belly. Where once soft flesh had only begun to swell with a growing child, now was a grotesquely veined mass of flesh stretched taut over the mound.
She could not wrap her mind around what had happened, not entirely, and not when pain gripped the entirety of her belly and pulled her to the ground. She moaned, perhaps softly, but more likely loud enough to cause the birds to fly from their night-time perches. A wet warmth pooled between her legs, soaking the fabric of her hakama, and she felt another pain that caused her to grip the grass and rip it up in handfuls.
"No!" she gasped. "Not now...it's too soon," she cried.
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this week's chapter. If you did enjoy it, drop me a line or two and let me know how I'm doing. I appreciate your reviews so much. They give me sustenance to carry on with the writing.
Stay tuned for next week!