The Bone Eater's Well
Chapter Five
Kagome wasn't sure how to process the turn of events over the past month. It flew by in a whisk and she seemed to mourn the loss of her family and friends harder each day. It washed over her every day and the long hours by herself was sand barely trickling through the hourglass.
Solemnly, she would pray to the Goshinboku for guidance and direction. She prayed for support and a new turn of events. She wished she never made the choice to pass in the well. She would cry to the Sacred Tree and then become angry at the mocking silence. Then she'd trudge on to watch over the well in an attempt to coax it to life.
She oftentimes dreaded heading back to the Sacred Tree once nightfall began because it meant she was to finish out another night alone.
Kagome was drained emotionally and mentally.
This didn't discourage her though when the wildlife sprung to work in the morning and the sun gleamed high in the midsummer heat. She would wake with a pep in her step, happy to have another opportunity to head home, but it was beginning to drag.
Kagome nearly pleaded for the silver Inu youkai to visit.
"Stupid dog." She mumbled, plucking blades of grass from her worn skirt.
It had been a couple weeks since she had last seen the father son duo, and she felt slightly neglected. More so, she felt alone with no one to banter with. She looked forward to having an encounter with them, good, bad or in between.
Kagome sighed from under the Goshinboku. She shouldn't think like that.
The summer heat bared down on her and she stretched her neck to ease the tension in her shoulders.
"It'd be nice to see them again." Kagome rolled her shoulders from her perch.
A thick, heavy youki stirred the wildlife into a deadly silence. Cocking her head, she expanded her reiki to gauge the energy, probing it lightly with her own. The aura was pulsing, thrumming along the edges of her senses, and she briefly stood to grab the bow and arrows before sneaking through the undergrowth.
Her curiosity peaked, having never been drawn to such a strange flare of energy, and she cautiously studied the woods to ensure it wasn't a trap. The aura was like a thick layer of smoke and her insensitive human nose twitched at the alluring scent. I'm too far in now to turn back, she thought with a grumble.
It led her into the well clearing where she was surprised to find the Inu lord with his Captain. His clawed hand was depositing a third demon corpse into the well and she fought down the urge to gag. The stench was stronger this time than the other carcasses he had dropped in the well, and she held the back of her hand over her nose.
"You've come quick, miko." Inutaisho dramatically raised a thick eyebrow at her weary approach.
"I didn't know you were looking for me." Kagome peered over the lip of the well to see a small collection of demon entrails at the bottom of the well and she flinched at the mounting demon corpses.
"Did my summons not bring you to me?" He barked with a smirk.
Kagome turned her back to the well, her stomach churning in knots. Her face contorted and she visibly fought the need to vomit. "Well, you could have just come to me."
His amber gaze was heavy on her as he rumbled, "Would it not be immodest to catch you bathing for a second time?"
The Captain coughed awkwardly behind them and she blushed. Hiding her face behind her hand, she groaned unable to look at either demon in the eyes.
"While I enjoy playing with you, little miko, I have a serious inquiry of you."
His tone had taken a serious tenor and Kagome brought her full attention to him. She squared her shoulders and faced the dog demon entirely. Slinging the bow over her shoulder, she folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side.
Aware he had snagged her undivided audience, Inutaisho shuffled closer. His swords clinked together. The Tessaiga rattled in its sheath for a moment before his large clawed hand covered the hilt.
"You have proven to be quite interesting." He slowly began encircling her and she held perfectly still to avoid provoking the haunting demon. "You appear in strange attire and speak in an odd manner. Educated even though entirely too willed for court."
Kagome swallowed a bundle of nerves and brought her chin upwards. Too willed for court? She thought with an angry sniff. The heat of his body was radiating off him in waves and she could feel the pressure of his youki stirring at her backside as he continued to round her.
"You possess a vast amount of reiki, miko, for someone as untrained as you. And yet," Inutaisho was encircling her closer and closer until his breath stirred the hair at the crown of her head. Her head was swimming and her nerves broke out into jitters. "You came smelling of youkai. Inu and kitsune explicitly."
Kagome's hands clenched tightly at her side. This had not been the topic of discussion she had expected and apparently not one his Captain had either. She could see it in the Captain's eyes as the emeralds widened and then narrowed in on her. Inutaisho stopped his pacing around her to plant behind her, a solid wall of muscle and power.
His breastplate pressed into the curvature of her spine and his hot breath fanned her crown sending shivers down her spine.
"My travel companions' ethnicities are none of your business." She stammered, fist shaking on her bicep.
Kagome felt as though she were scrambling to come up with a valid excuse for her distinct body behavior. She was ready to hyperventilate and she froze like a deer in headlights. Her mind raced to try to cover as many possible viable solutions to her problem, but when she felt the rumbling purr in her back, Kagome gasped, mind completely blanking.
"Ah, but it does. You bring uncharted youkai into my territory, miko."
Kagome blanched. "B-but they haven't even come for me."
"Yet."
Yet, she thought. Knowing full well they weren't even alive yet in this era, Kagome couldn't release that tidbit of information without provoking another line of interrogation. However, the idea of having the demon lord threatened by her presence was unnerving in a whole separate manner.
"I doubt they will considering-" Kagome swelled with the sudden realization that her friends would never be able to rescue her. She paused.
He leaned impossibly closer to her, his body engulfing her backside. "Considering?"
"It's been several weeks. They won't come now." Kagome steeled herself and patted herself mentally for not caving. That was for later in the privacy of the Goshinboku.
"And here you still wait. Interesting, miko." Inutaisho was suddenly freeing her of his encompassing aura and with the release of his immediate presence upon her, Kagome whirled on him, chest pressing close to his breastplate in anger.
"What's so interesting about it, mister?" Her finger poked at his chest and she bared her blunt teeth. "You didn't seem to mind before."
His eyes were twinkling at her challenge and Kagome puffed up.
"You neutralized my blade, miko."
She snapped, "What?!"
His fangs flashed as he towered over her. "It was a demonic blade forged from my grandfather's small canine."
Kagome froze, brows pinching together and her mouth snapped closed. Warily studying him, she leaned back to better assess his sharp features. The demon lord was clearly curious, yet he seemed eerily calm. What is he trying to get at?
"If you are this strong, then your youkai companions are more concerning." Kagome broke her staring contest with the dog demon to glance at the Captain, Takeshi as he spoke.
Gauging his explanation, Kagome weighed the idea in her head.
She had known many demon packs composed themselves to have a hierarchy. She hated admitting it, but the youkai world was similar to its animalistic traits- the strong female omega with an even stronger male alpha. She had seen this in Kouga's pack and many others in her travels with her friends, but she never assumed that her companions had claimed her as part of a pack.
Did he think she was the omega in her makeshift pack then?
Was she or her friends that much of a threat to the Inu lord?
Kagome was pulled from her musings as the demon lord inched closer, his hakama brushing her naked legs. He was heated and she immediately was struck by how much of a dangerously handsome man he was. Her heart fluttered in her chest.
"My youkai companions are nothing in comparison to you." Kagome muttered distractedly as his claws danced in the sunlight as he raised his hands in a very familiar gesture, long silver strands billowing in the breeze. I guess I know where Sesshomaru gets his habits from.
She hadn't meant to stroke his ego, but it slipped out quickly in her distracted state. She flushed as he growled lowly. The sound vibrated in the small space between them.
"You flatter me, miko."
Captured in his burning gaze, she corrected him, "Kagome."
"Kagome."
It was a long moment. One which seemed to last an eternity and she could clearly see his intrigue and a dark intent. Kagome swallowed, unsure of what to do with the piece of information, and her hair stood on end when his eyes traced the movement with inhuman eyes.
"Inutaisho-sama," Takeshi addressed the demon lord, breaking the heated moment. "We must depart for the Southern border."
Kagome frowned, eyeing the change in the demeanor of the dog lord as he stepped away from her.
"I look forward to defeating your alpha when he comes." Inutaisho tossed over his shoulder causing her to huff indignantly. "Be safe, little miko."
"Wait!" Kagome squeaked as the demons flashed across the clearing. "Where are you going?"
Inutaisho didn't face her, but responded nonetheless. "You will do well to stay here in the safety of Western lands."
She glanced at the well, the scent filling her nostrils with a putrid odor. Was that why he keeps putting bodies in the well? To ward off any other demons? Her blue eyes flitted to their retreating backsides with a new train of thought. Is he protecting me?
They were gone in a flash, leaping to the trees in the farthest reaches of her eyesight and she sighed.
"I have such a headache." She groaned, rubbing a tired hand over her face.
Kagome wearily left the clearing as well to return to her makeshift camp and belongings. Her fingers ran along the curve of the bow and she absentmindedly thumbed the thrumming youki bow in practiced ease.
She hummed her disapproval in her throat at being left so abruptly with even more questions swimming in her head, but she trekked on hoping to digest the new information.
"Is that why there's no youkai here?" Kagome glanced around the forest idolly.
Was he using the corpses as a warning?
"But why?" She mused, ducking under a low branch, shoes scraping the dirt.
She pondered it bit by bit, chewing her lip distractedly. While she couldn't place exactly why he chose to visit her nor why he was protecting her, she appreciated it. Yet another thought passed through her, why is he so interested in me? She blanched.
What does that mean for the future?
Her inner ramblings continued well into the evening. The sky grew dark as she pressed into her sleeping bag. She closed her eyes letting her mind release the tension from the events of the day and she let herself drift into a fitful slumber.
When she awoke in the middle of the night, her body shook and the air was sucked out of her lungs in a whoosh.
She could feel it.
Waves upon waves of violent youki washed over like the tidal waves of the ocean. She could feel the pressure of the energy thick on her skin and she shuddered at the implications. It crashed into her own energy and her reiki rose. It bubbled beneath the surface of her skin to fight the suffocating energy.
Kagome jumped to life, searching the surrounding area as her hands fumbled to grab at the bow and arrows. She could hear in the distance the crackling of what seemed like thunder and the sky lit with golden streaks through the branches of the Goshinboku. Kagome's gut twisted.
Dread spread through her limbs and nausea fought its way up. Her stomach knotted tightly and her instincts were kicking to life.
"Where's it coming from?!" She murmured in amazement as the ground shook.
Kagome watched the campsite, the darkness of the evening blocking her vision in spots and covering her view. She rested her bare fingers on the soil, nails scraping to dig in slightly and she pressed her reiki into the ground to estimate how far the youki signatures were. Her reiki traveled far, pulled into one direction as if on instinct and she had felt another wave of youki, familiar to her own, firmly strike against hers while another's vibrated into a low rumble along the silky lines of her reiki.
"It's to the South," Kagome rose onto unsteady feet as she turned in the direction of the battling youki. "It's Inutaisho! Sesshomaru!"
Kagome broke into a sprint.
