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Strangled Time

Chapter 17

Pathetic. Weak. Broken. Helpless.

Those were not words that Togashimaru had ever used to describe himself before; he was a very proud and capable demon who'd conquered armies and bested rivals of the strongest caliber. And yet there he was, quivering beneath the protection of a small human woman. Hiding from his own child.

Pride and code demanded he face the threat head on, despite his predicament, and die with honor. But the General found himself selfishly clinging to his life. He refused to be killed so easily without seeing his beloved Izayoi one last time. The cowardice of if should have had him reeling in shame. He wasn't, though. He felt no such disgrace. Instead, he was furious.

Furious not at the girl who had run off to face the danger on her own, leaving him safely behind, but at himself for not being able to protect her as he damn well should have.

He was useless.

She was not a mere maiden in need of defending, Togashimaru realized that. Kagome was more capable than most humans he'd ever happened across. But he felt like he owed her something. She'd done so much to keep him alive without him ever giving her a reason to do so. She was altruistic to a fault, and that kindness was going to be the death of her if she wasn't careful.

And that was just it; she wasn't being careful.

Power flared throughout the forest around him as she lured Sesshoumaru away. The dog demon didn't need to see the light to feel the overzealous spectacle she was putting on for the boy. That power of hers was as immense as it was intimidating and he was almost disturbed by how little he'd noticed it before. The fact that she was a priestess was never hidden to him—he could still sense and smell the electric purity of her energy when she was close, he wasn't completely impotent—but the sheer extent of her capabilities came as a shock.

His son might actually have a decent match in the girl, if she was willing to go all out against him. If she was willing to defend herself from someone that she knew in the future to be an ally.

If she was willing to harm someone she considered to be a friend.

Togashimaru failed to bite back a growl as he leveraged himself to his side. She hadn't even been able to let him—a strange and potentially bloodthirsty beast—alone to his own devises. How was he supposed to trust her judgment to act accordingly in the face of an actual menace?

That wasn't to say that he didn't love his son dearly. He simply knew better than to expect the boy to be anything less than malicious when it came to his territory.

Sesshoumaru's aura was too close for comfort then. He'd nearly crossed the mountain in three steps. The two were on top of each other. Kagome's strides were too small, too slow, too human.

Before he could let his imagination get away from him and fill in some blanks with bloody potentials, Togashimaru dragged the girl's bag closer, pulled it open, and scattered the contents to the ground. He rummaged, carelessly and carefully, through books and clothes. Utensils and implements. The cooking knife didn't take too long to unearth. He held it up, examining the thickness of the blade before discarding it. The chopsticks were the next option, but they too were tossed aside.

When he couldn't find a suitable tool, the large demon patted down his own clothing until, at last, he pulled the perfect thing from his sleeve. Twisting it between his fingers, Togashimaru appraised the antique hair pin. A thin metal shaft. A delicate point.

Satisfied with his weapon of choice, he pushed from the haven of the tree's trunk to press up against the thin barrier set between him and the ruthless outside world. It was oddly warm, as though Kagome's touch could still be felt on the other side, and it was as smooth as obsidian. There was no shock to it, as he had expected, just a pinkish glass wall.

Back against the barrier, Togashimaru took a deep breath. There wasn't enough time to make up a better plan. Holding his side together with one hand, his grip of the other tightened around Izayoi and Kagome's pin—a gift of his own making that belonged to both of the two human women who had altered his life so completely. One intentionally. One by absolute chance. He glared at his white knuckles to keep them from shaking.

Then he raised the fist, gathered as much of his energy as he could to the surface, and struck.

...

Togashimaru was right.

This Sesshoumaru, the dog demon prince and newly appointed Western Lord standing before her in his haughty puritan whites, was not a Sesshoumaru that she had ever met before.

While her time's Sesshoumaru was calm and deadly grace personified, this version had a mask that wasn't fully fitted. Ire and contempt leaked into an expression that he struggled to keep blank. Power flickered and crackled in the air around him, responding to her purity through some untamed instinct. He was both the raging lion and the lion tamer gone rogue. And he hadn't even unleashed his whip yet.

No, this Sesshoumaru was not her Sesshoumaru, nor was he an ally.

This Sesshoumaru was frightening and unpredictable, and so very young.

He really was a child.

Appearing barely fourteen, maybe fifteen in human years, the silver haired boy stood a measly four fingers taller than the priestess. He was thin and delicate, his hands not yet lanky with adolescence or firm with manhood, and somehow he looked even smaller at the end of her arrow.

The very tip of his claws began to glow that familiar toxic green, a warning like a dart frog, and Kagome realized that her grip on the bow was beginning to slacken. With a start and a click, she regained her nerve and fixed her aim. The waxed hemp string dug groves into her knuckles and eagle feathers pressed flat against her cheek. The muscle in her arm began to strain.

Neither of them said a word as they contested in a battle of stares. She forced her breath to be slow and even, but couldn't help the beat of her heart ticking like a bomb in her chest.

If she spoke, could she convince him to let her walk away without an altercation? If she brought any more attention to herself by trying to reason with him, would he remember her in the future? If he found Toga, would Sesshoumaru really kill him? Was her barrier strong enough? Would she have to actually fight him?

Would it be suicide to ask him for mercy?

Honestly? All things considered?

Probably.

"Human."

The word cut through Kagome's spinning mind with such hostility that it made her jump into action. She didn't let him carry the thought any further. Didn't allow any sort of communication to occur between them. If she wanted to survive, the best course of action was to remain voiceless. Nameless. Faceless.

Just another priestess to happen across his path.

Before he could open his mouth a second time, the young woman released her arrow. It blazed with blue purity, scattering leaves and snow flurries in its wake. True to her shot, it flew straight towards the empty air just between his neck and left shoulder. Close enough to graze, if he didn't dodge. Definitely close enough to singe if he didn't swat it away with his power. However, Sesshoumaru didn't do either.

Like a raging, pretentious idiot, he grabbed the glowing shaft when it came into range. With his bare hand.

That blunder of his arrogance bought her time. Kagome turned to run upstream. She didn't pause to look back when she heard a sharp hiss and a curse behind her, didn't wonder how far she could realistically get before he caught up with her. Putting on her school shoes while she was gathering Togashimaru and her things together had been the right decision. Geta sandals would have already broken during her escapade, and bare feet were no match against the rocks along the brook. With rubber soles, each step had purchase.

The stream wound and curved along a hilly terrain, and Kagome found herself losing ground as she ran against the slopes. She made it farther than she expected before the rustling started after her and Sesshoumaru gave chase. Faster than her feet, her head raced. Turning out into the forest there would bring her back around to the Well's clearing to the southwest, but she didn't have any more arrows to keep him at bay and she knew from experience that Sesshoumaru wasn't above shoving his claws in a girl's face. Veering away from the stream to continue southeast would put her in the village, which was a terrible idea. And crossing the water north meant charting into unfamiliar territory where the dog demon would have an even greater upper hand.

So, bow in hand, Kagome stuck to the water.

She made it pretty far before things started to feel off. Sesshoumaru was toying with her, she realized, otherwise he totally would have caught by then. That or he was studying her from a distance. Either way, it made her even more nervous than she already had been.

At the same time, it made her feel as though she had the ghost of a chance to actually get away.

That ghost evaporated into mist when she hit a wall.

Or, more specifically, she hit a waterfall. That was where the brook ended, unless she was feeling crazy enough to start up the cliff or go around to the mountain. From there, the only other road led straight into Edo.

She should have crossed when the water was shallow.

Kagome stared down at her longbow and empty quiver, and then she glanced over her shoulder to the dense forest where the pale demon had hidden himself. Energy flared in threat as he closed in once more. Before Kagome could change her mind or talk herself out of it, she pulled the leather quiver from her shoulder, stepped out of her shoes, and dropped everything to a heap on the ground. She backed up several paces and then ran forward, hurling herself into the deepest part of the reservoir.

The water hit her like a sheet of ice. She resisted the urge to gasp and fill her lungs with liquid as darkness and cold enveloped her. The thick fabric of her kimono was heavy and tried to drag her to the bottom, but one arm over the other she forced forward under the surface.

With a focus that belied her fear, Kagome pressed down her energy until it was a tiny little ball at the core of her being, easily hidden among the rapids. It was the closest to disguising her aura that she could manage, and it would have to do.

Lungs burned, starving for air by the time the priestess grabbed hold of a stone ledge. Up and forward she pulled herself, through the throws of water trying to wash her back down stream. Jagged rock tore fabric and flesh, but the time traveler didn't care.

Crossing the threshold, she surfaced, pulling herself further into the small cave with labored breathes. The cascading falls hid her from the outside world—and hopefully from the dog demon on her tail. If there was one thing that she had learned from traveling so many years with Inuyasha, it was that water had the ability to disrupt a scent trail. Running water rinsed away almost everything—the faster the better—so she didn't worry too much about the blood seeping from the growing welts on her knees and shins. The bleeding wouldn't last long in that cold.

Sesshoumaru's aura filled the area. Kagome's heart stopped. Her shivering gasps for air stopped. Cautiously she waded back to the front of the cave to spy between a gap in the falls. He was there on the water's edge, standing at the pile of goodies she'd left behind. Slowly, as if it were going to bite him like the arrow had, he reached down and picked up the long wooded bow. Kagome could see red on his palm and forearm, but couldn't tell if it was his blood, the burn, or if it was just a part of the shocking floral designs that decorated the ends of his sleeves like wallpaper.

That wound was his own damn fault and she wasn't going to apologize for it, even if he did confront her about this in the future.

Between his fingers, the bow snapped in half.

Kagome flinched.

Then he scanned the water. He became a smudge of whites and reds when the falling water curtain shifted and filled the gap. There was nothing she could hear over the roar of the falls, echoing in the cave, but she swore everything went silent but for the rustling of silk when the Western Lord took a step into the shallows. She could feel his presence in the water, his aura carried along the current like a conductor.

He was a live wire, wild and uncontrolled.

Holding her breath, Kagome dipped down to her ears. She begged him to turn around and forget all about her. Prayed that she was hidden well enough. With her energy so stifled, his unbridled power was overwhelming. Fear stiffened the icicles that her bones were becoming.

She closed her eyes tight.

The demon took another step, making ripples in her mind.

Then there was a spark. Something new. Sesshoumaru stopped. Kagome slipped.

Toga.

Splashing, Kagome scrambled to the back of the black cave where the rocks were less submerged. Her demon stalker didn't notice; he was too distracted by the burst of Togashimaru's energy that rose high in the air before splitting and shooting off in two different directions. She had to press her palms to her mouth to keep from screaming the father's name when the son turned to chase.

Togashimaru was going to die, she knew that.

But if he was going to die by doing something as stupid as distracting Sesshoumaru when he could barely even walk, she swore she was going to kill him herself. The moment she could feel her feet enough to get out of that cave and back to his side, he was dead. The moment she could catch her breath and get her blood to stop rushing in her ears, she was going to—! He was never going to hear the end of it!

...If he was still alive to hear her at all.

Chapter End