Nocturne - Chapter Fourteen: The Edge of Light
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.
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The taijiya's words broke through Inuyasha's bloodlust. Both brothers pulled up and turned to see what had caused such distress to the warrior woman, enough for her to risk her life by interrupting a feud by two competent opponents.
She rested with her back upon a tree, one arm cradled around the still form of a mixed breed child, the other lay lifelessly by her side, was the blank-eyed woman. Her eyes, usually a dark vibrant blue were now a dull dark blue, stared towards them without seeing.
Sesshomaru, standing his ground, gripped Bakusaiga tightly. With the immediate threat gone, he quickly sheathed the weapon and watched as Inuyasha rushed over to her side, his quarrel forgotten. Sesshomaru watched as his brother shook her still form and urged her to look at him.
"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked gently, grabbing her arm and shaking.
She did not stir. All of her life had poured out of her and into the ground beneath her.
The taijiya sobbed openly and walked over to his brother. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her hands around his shoulders, weeping into his back.
"You idiot!" Inuyasha yelled. "Why didn't you tell me!" he screamed at her. He pulled her still form closer and groaned into her shoulder, "Dammit, Kagome!"
Without giving any thought to what he was doing, Sesshomaru strode over to her body, looking down upon them. It would be a lie to say the situation did not present a welcome reprieve to his current circumstances. But, somewhere inside, he could not help but feel...sadness? Regret? Or something else altogether.
Seeing his half-brother cling to her body filled him with resentment. A part of him longed to bat Inuyasha away like a child who was underfoot. But, she would not like that, he knew. And a queer part of him empathized with his brother's mourning.
As much as he fought with himself to deny it, he could not bring himself to feel nothing at all. Like a star, sparkling and bright in a clear night sky, the reminder of her was always present: A tiny sun that never dimmed though it may be overcast and out of sight that was always there.
Sesshomaru recalled a moment from years ago, a time when a similar situation played out. It was a moment that haunted him, much like the woman did. He had been too late to do anything back then. He would now allow that moment to play out again!
Tensaiga pulsed. He looked down at the sword in his hand, having drawn the blade the second the Bakusaiga was safely sheathed. His father's sword could sense what was in his heart, even if he tried to deny it.
He brandished the blade, ready to strike as the pallbearers danced around, touching her and the child. There were so many. They had all come to collect the souls.
He would not let him.
His brother, Inuyasha, still cradled her body, lamenting her loss. It only took a second for the hanyo to look up and see Sesshomaru standing above, looking down upon him. Inuyasha moved away, pulling the taijiya back with him.
"Please, Sesshomaru...bring her back," Inuyasha pleaded. He was on his knees, his hands clasped before him. "I-I beg of you. Don't let her go. I'll do anything!" he implored his elder brother.
Sesshomaru flicked the blade, Tensaiga, up, and Inuyasha moved back further. He turned his head to focus on the pallbearers. Even more, had come. They rejoiced over the souls they had come to collect, their scythes swinging back and forth in wild movements.
It was nothing to slice through them, like a blade through silk. Only one deft movement was required to dispatch the pallbearers back to hell. It pleased him to watch their bodies disintegrate into nothing, and he would not sheath Tensaiga before he had been satisfied they were all gone.
With the sword still out, he watched unmoving, unblinking, waiting for any sign of life. For but a second, he had cause to doubt the power of Tensaiga. It was with a shrill and breathy cry of a babe that allowed him to release a breath which he slowly exhaled through his nose.
No one moved as the cries grew louder and louder. They all watched and waited...for her.
Finally, that still hand, which had lain by her side, twitched and raised to console the child within her lap. Tears spilled down her face, and those once dead eyes brightened, finally able to see. She looked down, and her voice quivered while she let out breathy sobs.
"Kagome!" the taijiya moved to her side and touched her face. "You're okay!"
The woman merely nodded her head and brought the squalling infant to her chest, hugging it close. The infant quieted from the contact, knowing its mother was near. She drew in a shaky breath and took a moment to look around, and noted his presence. She seemed to know that he had brought her back. Perhaps it was the naked blade, hilt still in hand, that gave it away. He turned his head and returned it to his side in one quick motion.
A woman's haughty voice broke the silence, "Oh, ho ho! Is this a bride gift, beloved?"
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Sesshomaru turned quickly to find his intended, Tsering, approaching. Her golden coronet barely made a noise while she stepped forward, and she held a hand to her face in mock surprise. Her red robe followed her on the ground as she strode forward, and she shrugged her fur shrug up around her shoulders. Tsering looked every bit of the regal inu-yokai she was.
She looked around at the assembled group, reading the situation by the exhausted, drained, but joyous expressions before her. Her ageless golden eyes twinkled with delight, and a small smile lifted the corners of her mouth.
"What a fitting gift, beloved. My other hanyo perished on our journey, and I had hoped to replace him soon," Tsering commented. She stepped closer to try and peer down at the infant.
The miko turned reflexively, guarding her child against view and pulling the red suikan over its face. Her companions both shot up, their surprise forgotten and moved to step in front and block the pair.
"I don't know who the fuck you are, but back off, bitch!" Inuyasha warned threateningly. He tensed his claws in front of him and snarled. Inuyasha threw Sesshomaru a dark glare, throwing blame to the person he thought responsible for this mess. To say he was wrong would not be completely inaccurate.
The taijiya also brought her bone boomerang to the ready, adding, "Come any closer, demon-bitch, and I will show you how we treat hostile yokai!"
Sesshomaru flashed his dark look at his brother and urged his ilk not to rise before turning to address Tsering. She had a smug look on her face, amused from the rise she was getting out of the pair.
"How presumptuous of you," Tsering declared, her eyes flashing menacingly, "to speak to Tsering that way." Her head turned to look at Sesshomaru from the corner of her eyes, ensuring his eyes were on her as she admonished the pair. "It is fortunate for you that I am feeling in a generous mood; otherwise, I would punish you. I am not accustomed to mere mortals nor hanyo alike addressing me in such a manner. However, I shall forget this transgression the one time."
"Tsering Dawa, you have left the grounds of the palace unescorted?" Sesshomaru inquired mildly. His attempt to redirect the conversation had not gone undetected, and Tsering merely raised an eyebrow.
"I grew tired of the confinement. Keyuri is not much for company, lord," she lamented. She strode down an invisible line, taking short steps but not drawing any closer to her quarry. "One such as myself shan't be expected to sit idly while his lordship frolics with mortals, having all the fun," Tsering added.
"You ain't no god, bitch!" Inuyasha barked and received an irksome glance in response.
Tsering ran her hand up and down her fur shrug. "Is that so?" she replied condescendingly. "You are nothing but a puppy to me, hanyo, and your human 'friends,'" she sneered at the word, "are nothing more than prolific insects, not even worthy of licking the dirt off my boot." She lifted a dainty shoe off the ground, holding her foot out and cocking a smile.
Inuyasha snarled and took a half step, only to be stopped by the taijiya holding him back.
Enough of this folly. Sesshomaru stepped in front of Tsering, blocking her view, causing her to sulk playfully. "My Lord Sesshomaru is quite protective over the mortals and the hanyo infant," Tsering pouted.
She turned her back to Sesshomaru, incensing him, and added, "Odd. Never have I known half-breeds to...well...breed." She turned her head, addressing him over her shoulder, her eyes looking up at him from beneath heavy lashes, "Then again, never would we allow our slaves the freedom to rut. Even with lesser mortal women. Their lineage notwithstanding."
Tsering seemed to know, despite never laying eyes upon him, Inuyasha to be his kin. Sesshomaru had never thought their resemblances to be similar enough for a stranger to note any relation.
This woman was treading on dangerous ground. This was not the time nor place to broach this subject. Tsering posed too much of a threat. The treaty brokered by their pending coupling would be severed if this were not handled with tact. It would not be a woman scorned he would have the pleasure of handling, but the entirety of her clan. A clan whose numbers, while few were mighty and powerful, and did not take any perceived slight lightly.
"Come. Let us return with haste. The affairs of mortals and mixed breed scum are beneath our notice," he declared. He strode past Tsering, knowing she would follow even if not demurely.
The infant's cry picked up again, and Sesshomaru felt something swell within him, a strange feeling build within his chest. The urge to stop and turn around was nearly too great for him to suppress. He paused for but a moment and glanced back at the woman almost obstructed from view by her companions.
Her eyes shone with concern, but her mouth was turned down into a frown that seemed out of place on her features. Turning forward, he led his errant bride-to-be away from the mountainside. Sesshomaru was confident that Tsering had noticed the look, even as expressionless as he was, but she said nothing, possibly to bide her time for the future when the information would serve her best.
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Tsering followed Sesshomaru from the area quietly. It grated upon her to pretend meekness, but it was necessary given the tepidity of the situation.
How intriguing it had been to come upon the scene as it were. She had not immediately announced her arrival, which was all and well with the events that unfolded.
She watched as Sesshomaru battled with the hanyo male. That was the most intriguing of all, as she had never witnessed a hanyo bear enough power to take on a daiyokai as renowned as Sesshomaru. The tales of his father, Inu Taisho, had spread across the sea to the motherland and beyond. The power and virtue of the great lord Inu Taisho were even heard as far as the mountain peaks of Himalaya. So to watch a descendant of the Inu Taisho line battle against a hanyo was riveting.
Although Sesshomaru held back and did not once go on the offensive, it was apparent to her observations that Sesshomaru exerted himself in his defense. That meant one of two things: either the hanyo was remarkably strong, or Sesshomaru was feeble. Tsering settled on the former. She'd learned a great many things from her short time with Sesshomaru's lackey, the green imp.
It had given her untold joy to push her foot upon the little toad's throat and feel the air deflate from his chest until he coughed up the information she desired. She'd learned more of Sesshomaru's prowess and also of the half brother and his journey to strength and mastery of a great sword. Tsering supposed she could expect as much from Inu Taisho's progeny, even diluted as it were with human blood.
What was most interesting lay in the fact that Tsering had, in all of her years, never encountered such behavior from a half-breed, nor such capability. It caused her to reflect upon the many, many years she had used hanyos. Did they all have this strength? What were they truly capable of? She would have to give this much consideration.
As it were, things in Nippon did not seem to be quite as Tsering would have imagined. Gone were the meek, subservient people of the dwarf country she had heard tell of. They were, rather, warring and brutal.
Tsering had not immediately traveled to her betrothed's estate upon her arrival in Nippon. She had decided to tour the lands she had been banished to discreetly, sending her hanyo attendant, Sonam, out to survey the towns and people for her. It was during this time that her male hanyo was killed. On her behalf, he had gone out to beseech a local yokai that she had heard rumors of upon her arrival in Nippon. Tsering was inclined to make powerful connections to build her political subterfuge. Even sent out to this small, forsaken country, Tsering had plans to keep herself entertained and build upon her family's empire.
However, the yokai lord had killed poor Sonam before he had even approached, hunting him down for sport. Yokai in Nippon did not know the penalty for killing a hanyo belonging to one of the DaiŌzoku. The ignorant Nippon yokai's skewed view was to kill the subservient beings rather than utilize them. That pompous fool would learn soon enough of his transgression when his entire clan was wiped from the face of Nippon. She made a mental note to exterminate the idiot as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Perhaps she could claim the yokai had offended her somehow, without divulging her ulterior motive.
Tsering bristled with the memory of loss and her hindered plans. It was then that she saw the battle interrupted by a human woman masquerading as a warrior. The human drew their attention to the dead pair at the base of a tree. Tsering had smelled the dead as soon as she arrived and had even heard the human mother drag in one last ragged breath before succumbing to blood loss, as humans were want to do. Yet another reason humans were inconvenient; their nature to succumb to even minor wounds was annoying.
What was strange was the reaction from both the Inu Taisho siblings. Both stopped in their tracks, and the hanyo male rushed to the dead woman's side, embracing her in despair. He then begged Sesshomaru to bring the mother and child back. Tsering felt perplexed at the notion. Bring someone back from the dead? She watched silently as Sesshomaru did just that with a flourish of an unremarkable katana blade.
So, she thought, he has the power to raise the dead? That information would prove to be helpful in the future. Suddenly, Tsering heard the squall of a fresh-born human. The sound offended her ears. Yokai infants did not cry, and Tsering had no cause to be in mixed company of humans in her sheltered life.
'No,' she noted with mild shock — not a human at all, but a mixed breed. The smell of death had masked its unique scent, but now, with the infant revived, she could tell beyond a doubt.
She had been filled with glee. How opportune for a hanyo child to be born for her to train up and replace the loss of Sonam. This was also the time to announce her presence and lay claim on the child by suggesting it as a bride gift.
That notion had been slashed down by the peculiar hanyo and his human companion violently. Quite protective of the human mother and hanyo child they were. Even Sesshomaru had not demanded they obey her, his future bride. That, in of itself, was telling enough.
It was clear the child was blood-related, but that had never stopped the DaiŌzoku; Keyuri being a prime example. How strange the Nippon customs were, Tsering considered. She would need to give this peculiar turn of events great thought.
A/N: In true GOT style, the dead has been raised! I mean, seriously, we knew that Sesshomaru would let his woman and bebe stay dead. He does hold Tensaiga in hand!
For any who's wondered, there is no "mating" in this story. I genuinely like its idea, but I don't think that the original story supports the mating theory. This is also one of the reasons that Kagome was originally so upset with Inuyasha...she would die long before him, and with no prospect of children to carry on her legacy, she felt everything was fleeting.
I imagine that she will face the same complications if she were to pursue a relationship with Sesshomaru, him being a long-lived demon and all. Let's find out how things pan out for our good friend, Kagome.
As always, please be so kind as to leave me a review? Maybe? No?! :(