Chapter 19: Show Down Avalon vs Sesshomaru
Sesshomaru decimates the army intent upon destroying Asano castle for no other reason because they are in his way. He is tired, his arm aches, his head is light from blood-loss. The pain radiates from the end of his bleeding stump, to the otherside of his chest, down into his stomach and makes him want to gag. He needs rest, he must rest.
Kagewaki and Avalon look on with Lord Asano at the demon destroying the army. Avalon walks out of the castle followed by Kagewaki. He stays far back to watch Avalon destroy Sesshomaru. Avalon summons Murasaki no Raikō and approaches as Sesshomaru finishes the last of the men. Avalon calls, "Sandāsutoraiku" Purple bolts swirl around her blade and she slashes down pushing the lightning out at Sesshomaru's turned back.
His senses warn him before he has a chance to turn. He reaches for Tenseiga, black envelopes him until the lightning strike is finished. He coughs, ducking and panting. Looking up, his eyes widen in shock. "Avalon?"
Avalon's eyes are dead as she continues to walk with her sword glowing. She calls once again, "Sandāsutoraiku!" She sends a wave of purple energy at him.
Kagewaki stands over looking with a wicked smile. 'She is perfect.'
Sesshomaru grips tenseiga again, dodging forward, then backwards, to the side, then twirls missing the strike. 'What's wrong with your eyes?' The silver streaks that had fascinated him before, in the green are pale, hollow. The color of dry grass. "Avalon, stop!" he commands her.
Another scent makes its way into his nose. He sees the demon standing at a distance. "I knew you would betray this Sesshomaru," he snarls sending his whip flying at her neck and rushing her with his right arm, ignoring the burning pain in the other. 'I'm too weak for this.'
Avalon raises her sword, stopping the whip from coming near raising a purple transparent sphere of reiki around herself, while calling forth her reiki to her limbs increasing her speed. Nisshoku had taught her well. She rushes to meet him, slashing at his neck.
"Dammit," he leaps backwards, removing tenseiga from its sheath. If only he had Tetsusaiga. This...he parries her blow to his neck, annoyed that he can't do more than block with this blade and he lacks another hand to strike back. "You knew this would happen!" he yells at her, twisting, elbowing her in the stomach as he spins. She crumples from the blow.
Avalon rolls on the ground swinging her sword in a circle around her. Purple reiki encircles her and rises up her body. She looks up and smiles cruely as she pushes her blade into the ground and forms her hands into a ball. The reiki takes a new form. She pushes it out in a large circle he cannot dodge. The wave rushes at him. She grabs her sword once again calling, "Sandāsutoraiku." The purple lightning circles and she moves her blade down again pushing the lightning out towards Sesshomaru.
He leaps backwards to give himself time to dodge, gripping Tenseiga to form the barrier again, but not before one of the strikes slashes into his already injured arm. More blood spills from the wound. He lands on his knees, breathing heavily. He gives himself no time to recover or staunch the pain he is in before he leaps at her again. He grabs her around the neck and slams her backfirst into a tree. "You reek of him." He tosses her body onto the forest floor.
Avalon gets up without a word and no sign of pain. She calls, "Sandāsutoraiku," and then charges at him, following her attack. She slashes with her sword, aiming to cut him from his left shoulder down to his right hip.
He catches her wrist, eyes shifting to red. "You knew this Sesshomaru would lose his arm, that I would be weakened now. Fool." 'If she knows this Sesshomaru so well...take the bait Avalon.' His eyes grow larger, pupils turning to blue as he summons the strength of his true power. He flings her against a tree, disturbed by her eyes and the one standing and watching.
Avalon gets up from being tossed as if nothing has happened. She coats her body with reiki creating a burning barrier around her whole body. She rushes at him with her sword.
"Sandāsutoraiku!" Purple light surrounds her sword and she pushes it into the ground. The ground rumbles as the energy builds till the ground shatters under Sesshomaru's feet and purple lightning shoots up at him.
"Fool," he boasts. "I knew you would take the bait." He ceases the transformation, flies over her head and sends his whip flying at her, circling around her, until it coils and then stabs through her left side. He recalls the whip, completely unsettled by the lack of emotion as a steady flow of blood drips from her side. "What did you do to her?!" he calls to the demon standing off to the side.
Kagewaki smiles. "You would be surprised at her resilience. I was. She was too rebellious. I had to change her. For the better, don't you agree?"
Avalon stands without an emotion, no show of pain. She grabs something from her sleeve charging the bo shuriken with her reiki and throws it, striking Sesshomaru in the back as he is speaking to Kagewaki.
He grunts at the impact as numbness leaks down his right side. He rips the bo shuriken out of his right shoulder and throws it at the demon who has been watching them, then turns in a fury on Avalon. He flies through the air and lifts her up by the neck, slamming her onto her back. He whispers, "was this your endgame? Find yourself a power and then stab this Sesshomaru in the back?" He coughs back the pain he is in.
Avalon takes the opportunity to stab her sword clean through Sesshomaru's stomach.
The pain flames through his belly as breathing suddenly becomes that much harder. His eyes widen in shock and he chokes on the blood bubbling in his throat. 'Where are you? Why can't you wake up?'
Avalon holds the blade still as his blood flows on her hand. Tears start streaming down her face. She pushes him off her with her free hand and straddles his bloodsoaked lap. She pulls the blade from his stomach and holds it against his throat. Crying trying with everything she has in her to not kill him. 'I can't let him die if he dies, who will kill Naraku?'
For a moment, the world blurs as he lays on his back, struggling to catch his breath. His body is covered in blood, it drips down his waist, his arm, his back. He reaches a hand out and gently wipes the tears from her eyes. "You're still in there aren't you?" He coughs up blood, rolling onto his side, it leaks from his mouth.
Avalon looks at him with the tears flowing from her eyes. 'Please Sesshomaru, I'm so sorry. I wish you could hear me. I'm so sorry.' Avalon's blood flows from her wound.
"Fight it Avalon." He cups her chin in his hand. "Listen to my voice. Fight it. Whatever he did to you." He chokes again, this time vomiting blood from his stomach. He forces himself up again and continues stroking her cheek. "I believe you." The world is going out again, he can't breathe.
Avalon watches as his eyes close and she finally breaks through Naraku's control. "Sesshomaru! Please, you can't die. Please don't die." Tears flow unbidden.
Kagewaki comes forward taunting, "It's only a matter of time now Avalon," he pronounces her name like a hissing snake. "He's injured, bleeding out, and you? That stomach wound looks nasty."
"Don't listen to him." Sesshomaru struggles to breath. He closes his eyes, letting his yoki rise to attempt to heal the wounds in his body, but he can feel the reiki stopping it. "Remove…" his eyes close again and he swallows the urge to purge himself again. "I can't heal." He hopes she knows what he is asking, he can barely see. Everything is so dark, but they cannot win if he loses consciousness now.
Avalon thinks for a moment. 'Remove? What should I remove?' Then it hits her. She pulls her reiki from his body, in droves of purple light as her hands hover over him. She hopes it isn't too late.
His father had once told him in a moment of desperation, he could force his wounds closed. He focuses his yoki to course through his veins, sealing the wounds in his stomach and back, leaving the one in his shoulder and grafting the skin in his missing arm. He rises off the pine nettles and leaves, wiping his mouth clean of the blood. "Stay behind me."
Kagewaki backs up. "You may live, but it is too late for Avalon. At least the Murasaki no Raikō Miko is no more!" he taunts as he forms a cloud of miasma around his body and takes to the sky and flies away.
Avalon coughs and holds her bleeding side. "I'm so sorry Sesshomaru."
He stumbles landing on his knees, moving slowly to her. He slices through the black haori she is wearing and the underlayer. He pulls them open exposing the wound from his whip. His fingers trace a snake-like scar that runs the length of her neck down to her abdomen, but there is no time for questions. He turns her over, yanking the haori off her back. "It goes straight through," he tells her gently. "Can you move?" The sliced into the side of her abdomen, cutting several inches in.
Avalon looks at him. "I'm not sure." Avalon tries to move and feels how her side is moving in two seperate directions. "I can move, but I shouldn't. I'll only bleed out sooner. Not that it matters, I am glad you are alive."
He gazes at her confused that she is reacting like this. He sniffs the air, to ensure that they are alone. "It's not safe here." Help is not something he is used to asking, "I need to make bandages. Do you have enough strength to ensure our safety?"
"Hand me my sword. I can make a barrier I am sure."
He sits up painfully on his knees, handing her the blade and removes his armor, tossing it to the side of them, then pulls his haori off, leaving on his underlayer. He slices it into strips to wrap around her waist. It's not as easy as he thought. He props her on an upraised knee, then bites down on a long end to create tension. "This is going to hurt, bare it." He pulls it tight to staunch the bleeding, making her scream in pain.
Avalon holds her sword through the pain. Even as she screams she keeps her barrier up. She takes a few deep breaths. "Sesshomaru this is pointless. Kami, it hurts so bad!" She curls her hand around the wound, shaking from the pain.
"Dramatic female," he rolls his eyes, then removes his inner layer. "Let me cover you." He lifts her up carefully to thread her arms inside the garment and folds it over her.
"You are not listening!" Her blood soaks through the bandages and soon starts coating the garment he wrapped her in. Her teeth start chattering, she feels so cold. "Sesshomaru just hold me please?' She shivers, her lips quiver. "Please? I'm so cold."
He cocks his head to the side, putting pressure on her stomach. 'Why isn't the bleeding stopping?' He touches one hand and then the other, feeling them losing their warmth. His eyes dilate, suddenly understanding that she is not recovering from this wound. Black specks cover his eyes. He shakes his head to clear them, then falls forward, catching himself on his arm. He lost too much of his own blood. Soon he would be asleep. "Avalon?"
Avalon reaches out a shaky hand for his face touching his cheek. Sesshomaru can feel how cold her hand is. It feels like death. "I'm here. I'm sorry I can't fight by your side anymore." She closes her eyes and tears start flowing. "Kami it hurts. I'm so cold. Please make the pain stop!"
He collapses next to her, dragging her to him with his good arm. He can hear her heart slowing, her skin paling. "Why aren't you healing?" She's covered in her own blood and without his other arm, he can't apply enough pressure.
In a shaky voice she replies in a whisper, "Because I'm ningen." Closing her eyes, her body convulses several times then stops moving.
"Avalon," he shakes her to get her to rouse. He lets her down on the forest floor, cursing the state of his body. He slaps her cheek. "Wake up!" He slaps it again. "Wake up…" He covers his eyes, refusing to admit that he is becoming desperate. 'This is my fault. If I had not left her, if I had not...' His fingers touch the soaked area of his underlayer. He knows now that she was telling the truth. The entire time and he was too arrogant to see it. She must live. He considers using Tenseiga, allowing her to die but then her voice and the look of the dead child reminds him, "it can only be used once," he mutters to himself. He cups her chin and rests his forehead against hers. "You will not die. Forgive me."
He opens the undergarment and slices through the bandages he made to expose the wound. He digs his claws into his own stomach, wincing at the pain, separating his skin to allow his blood to filter into her wound. He rests his head between her breast, listening to the faint thud of her heart, while his life-force mixes with hers. "Stay with me."
Avalon feels the pull of death, the comforting darkness, then a sudden stinging pain consumes her. She feels her body curl around the weight on top of her as the pain surges through her body. Her wounds start to close and her heart beats furiously. Her eyes snap open. She looks down and sees a head of silver hair between her breasts. In a hoarse whisper she says, "Sesshomaru?"
He pulls back, panting from the strain of healing her, from the beating his body took as blood gushes from the hole he cut in his middle. He says nothing before he collapses on top of her, unconscious.
Avalon watches with slight worry and she curls her arms around him in a hug. She pushes him off her gently and examines herself. Her abdomen is healed. She then looks at Sesshomaru and sees the wound on his stomach. It runs from one hip to the other and gushes with blood.
She rushes to cover the wound with her hand. She looks around to see if there is anything she can use to stanch the flow. Not seeing anything, she takes her sword and cuts one of the legs off her hakama and pushes the cloth into his wound. "Don't you dare die on me now!" Avalon growls as tears flow down her face.
Slowly the bleeding stops and she pulls the cloth back and watches with amazement that the wound is healing quickly. She smiles and breathes a sigh of relief. Avalon looks around as her own energy reserve drains away. The abyss of sleep calls her. The call is too strong she can't fight it much longer. She sets up a barrier of reiki before falling asleep next to Sesshomaru.
He groans as his eyes acclimatize to the early morning light. It casts a blazing glow on them. He swallows stiffly, finding a weight on his only arm and his fingers wrapped around a half bare waist. He knows the scent of hair against his nose and finds it smells delicious, more intoxicating than it did in the past. He leans his nose in deeper and begins nuzzling her hair, then tries to sit up, only to smack into her barrier and feel his scalp burn. He drops her from his body thinking to shake her awake only to dip his nose into her neck again. She hints of honeydew, cantaloupe and cream. He dips his nose against the skin of her shoulder completely taken by desire.
Avalon wakes slowly feeling something against her shoulder. She slowly opens her eyes and sees silver hair and moves her neck up to give him better access. She brushes her hands in his hair and finds herself in flamed with desire. She smells his scent of fresh rain. She brings his head up to look at her.
He holds himself slightly upright on his right arm, glancing in annoyance at the missing left. This would be awkward. An odd passion is burning within him. Whatever he had felt before, to satiate a primal act is raging within him. He presses his face into hers, daring to taste her lips, unable to hold her to him and hold himself upright at the same time. He pulls back too distracted by her near naked upper half and tries to sit up again. Once again he smacks his head into the barrier, and lands on top of her with a frustrated growl.
Avalon smiles but her body burns with desire. She wants to kiss him so much. His lips are so tempting. She rolls her body and his over while moving the barrier up so she can sit up and straddle his hips. She looks at his face and his eyes with a questioning expression. 'Would he allow her?' She leans over bringing her face close to his. Her lips are a hair's breadth away.
He threads his fingers through her hair and pulls her face down to his, embracing her mouth. His hand runs the length of her neck, attempting to pull the tattered underlayer from her shoulders.
Avalon kisses him and starts grinding herself against his hips and she tries to shrug out of the material that is still on her upper body.
He tugs on the back of the material freeing her of the top and rolls her onto her back, pinning her wrists above her head.
The change in position brings Avalon up short. 'What is this?' She tries clearing her foggy mind, shaking her head. She finally breaks through enough to think about what is happening. "SESSHOMARU? What is going on?"
He runs his nose over hers, down her lips and into her neck where the scent is the strongest. He clamps down on the skin softly, careful not to break her skin. Then sits up, slinking a hand down to her hikama, intent on taking them off her.
"Sesshomaru, stop. Answer me? What is this?" she demands as her heart rate starts to rise.
The change of scent to fear confuses him. "Why are you scared?" He dips his fingers into her hikama to tug them down.
"No! Stop! Get off of me!" She pushes at his chest trying to get him off her. "Please stop!"
"Avalon?" He kneels over her, cupping her chin. "You are scared of this Sesshomaru?"
"This Sesshomaru is acting like a crazed dog! Why are you acting like this?"
'Crazed dog?' he thinks quietly, but a fire is raging inside of him. His mind is fogged with need, but her fear of him is creeping through. She is beautiful, something he hadn't paid much attention to in the past. He cups her face and is about to kiss her when she smacks the sides of his head to make him stop. He grabs both her wrists, pinning them above her head. "You don't feel this?"
Avalon struggles to free her wrists. "I feel something. NOW, let my wrists go." Her reiki rises to the surface without her summoning it. It crackles under his hand
The heat hits the palm of his hand. He hisses releasing her, then it hits him, almost painfully that it was not just his blood that had healed her the day before but his yoki. He closes his eyes, regretfully. 'How much did I use?' The memories are foggy, but this ache...he was told of this need. He opens his mouth to speak, then closes it, suddenly trying to stand, only to smack into the barrier again. "Drop the barrier."
"No." Avalon keeps the barrier in place and cries in frustration. "What's going on?!" She still can feel the burning desire to join with him but she was too scared of her own wants
He reaches out touching it, testing its strength. She's scared, he can smell it. "Who was he? Naraku?"
"Stop, avoiding the question. What is going on with us? And stop touching it. You'll only hurt yourself."
"Pain is irrelevant." He attempts to force his hand through, his skin sizzles. "Did he violate you?"
"Every night," Avalon bitterly says, the tears flow and the pain pungent. "Tell me what is going on with us and stop trying to change the subject."
"You've grown in strength." He removes his hand, admiring the burn marks along his wrist. "Did he hurt you?"
"Kami Sesshomaru, why are you asking that? He hurt me. He raped me every day. He abused me mentally and would threaten Hikari's life to get me to comply," she sobs confessing the truth. "Two days after you left me with the monks he had me. Are you happy now?" she cries trying to hold back her anger. "Now will you tell me what is going on with us?"
He pivots back to Avalon and sits down next to her opening his arm out, inviting her to come closer.
Avalon looks at the offer and considers coming into his arm and gives into a childish desire for comfort and moves herself to be in his embrace.
He reaches behind her, handing her the tattered underlayer to garb herself. He rests his head against the top of hers, unsure how to tell her, the raging fire they both feel is the result of a bond that connects them and needs to be sealed with the one thing he knows she has never really had. "Get dressed. You're safe now. I will not allow him to take you again."
Avalon puts on the bloody tattered garment covering herself. "Will you leave me again?"
"I saw the pink light and the underworld." He refuses to admit that he was wrong to her. "Did you know I would not be able to wield the sword? And that this would happen?" He rolls his stump.
Avalon says just above a whisper, "Of course I did."
"Avalon," he says her name gently, losing sight of his annoyance, she had said he should give up the sword. "Is there a way to remove the barrier?"
"On Tetsusaiga? No. But if you truly wish to protect humans, you might be able to wield it. I'm not sure, but it's not meant to be yours Sesshomaru. You are meant to surpass the sword. But this is not what we need to talk about. You know what is going on with us but you are trying to change the subject."
"Do you trust me?"
"How can you ask me that?" Avalon thinks bitterly. 'You abused me, abandoned me and I was forced into Naraku's hands. And now you're acting like a crazed sex animal. I trust you about as far as I can throw you. I don't know why but part of me still wants to trust you.'
"You curl against this Sesshomaru like a frightened child. Do you trust me?"
'If that is what you need to hear from me.' "I trust you. Now tell me what is going on."
"You're not very good at lying," he sniffs her hair. "Your scent changes and the speed of your heart. Lower the barrier, then I will tell you." He isn't telling her he needs space or he may not be able to stop himself from taking her.
Avalon drops the barrier.
He stands again offering her his hand. "Walk with me. Men are coming." He can hear and smell them in the distance.
Avalon takes his hand without thinking about it. She allows him to lead her away.
He takes her through the trees, deeper into the forest to the sound of rushing water. The river runs quickly nearby. For a moment he leans over it, cupping water into his mouth. "This is not the same with one hand."
"I imagine not. Allow me?" She reaches in and cups water in her hands bringing it to his lips allowing him to drink. "You will adapt."
He holds her hands in his closing his eyes. It would have to be discussed. Just the feel of her fingers made him aroused. "You are mine now. The blood I used to heal you, was infused with my yoki, enough to create a bond between us. This feeling between us will not be sated until we are intimate."
"Excuse me? I'm yours? What does that mean exactly? We are intimate then what? You toss me aside?" Avalon can feel the sadness rising within herself. 'He thinks to use me just like Naraku.'
"You won't be able to deny yourself," he says smugly. "You are mine. That is all you need to understand."
Avalon's fury surfaces. "I won't be a sex toy again Sesshomaru." The tone promises death.
"Sex toy? What is a sex toy? Is this something from your land?"
"It was what Naraku used me as. I warmed his bed when he desired. I had no choice in the matter. I won't do that again. I won't be someone's possession, a toy." Avalon walks over to the cliff over the raging water tall grass brushes at her side as she looks down and sees the white caps of the water and can see jagged rocks below. Her sorrow surges, 'I can't do this.' She summons her sword to put up a barrier.
"What are you doing? Have you gone mad?" He attempts to approach her, before she plunges off the cliff.
A/N Thank you for reading and thank you for your reviews. I love hearing from my readers. If you have any questions please feel free to message me or write it in a review. I will answer most questions unless it will reveal too much of the story. I can't thank Elohiniar enough for her gracious help, she is my co-author and beta. I don't know what I would do without her. Please, please leave a review, they make me do happy dances.
Itzatakahashi- I am sorry that you have personal experience with endometriosis. Thank you for your review and we will see how this all turns out. I'm not giving anything away at this point.
ASJS- I totally understand I do the same thing glossing over details getting into a story but sometimes those small details especially in this story can be really important. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please continue to read and review. Thank you.