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Strangled Time
Chapter 55
He was just a brat at the time, six, maybe seven years old, when he watched the flames consume the castle at the top of the hill. It was a bright beacon from his doorstep—from everybody's doorstep. People should have been out there racing with buckets to fight the flames, but there was no one. Doors remained locked. Windows shuttered tight.
Not even the village warning bell dared to ring out across the night.
"Get back in here!" The lanky Ichiro hissed as he dragged his middlest brother back over the threshold. "Do you want the demon to eat you?!"
He didn't want that. But inside didn't feel much better than out.
Inside it was dark and smoky thanks to the snuffed cooking fire. The silence from his usually rambunctious siblings made the place feel small and cramped, which was only made worse by the shrill cries of the baby in the back room. Where outside it was dangerous, inside felt wrong and wobbly, like a vase teetering on the very edge of a high shelf.
Jiro, who was small for his age of eleven, pulled up a stool to peek out the window slats, but Ichiro enforced his power as eldest and yanked him down too with a hushed scolding.
"Is it over?" A girl asked. Saburo looked to where his sister was checking on Shiro, making sure he hadn't been woken. Thankfully the toddler was a heavy sleeper and didn't need much fussing over.
Shinobu was older than Saburo, but only by a couple months shy of a year. They'd been brought up almost as twins, and for as long as he remembered, they did everything together. They were nearly the same person, sharing both their thoughts and their disposition. Until recently. As they got older, people began to set them apart. Now when neighbors said he was as temperamental as an oak tree, with emotions that shifted quicker than the leaves of the seasons, they called her a cypress—evergreen, resilient, and able to thrive in even the harshest of environments. She was an old soul, they would say, tall and pleasant, even at such a young age.
He didn't quite know why they treated her different, but Saburo suspected it was because she was a girl. They saw in her the things they wanted her to be and over time she was becoming them. Tall and pleasant. She was given more responsibilities and expected to grow faster than he and the other boys, even though she was still secretly his same sister who like to sneak into the smithy, battle beetles, and race down by the stream.
Sometimes Saburo was afraid she'd forget—that she'd get too big and leave him behind.
"I think so." He replied. "The shouting stopped."
Shinobu gave a nod that was far too heavy for a seven year old before getting up to cross the room. "Help me get the stuff ready?"
He didn't have to ask what; Saburo quickly complied and collected the usual linens and a kettle of water that'd gone cold, happy to have something to do with his hands. Happy to be useful. He left the herbs and other smelly weird things to her. Even Ichiro wasn't supposed to touch those bits.
As much as their father was renowned for being a master blacksmith, their mother was nearly as well known for her talents as a healer. And after a fire like that, it wouldn't be long before the injured came knocking.
Once the main cot was dragged over to the dark fire pit and all of their gathered supplies were laid out beside it, Shinobu and Saburo settled themselves against the far wall beside their two older brothers. There they waited tensely for people to start arriving.
They waited.
And waited.
They waited so long that Goro's fussy cries in the other room had faded away to hollow air, finally soothed to sleep by the rocking of their mother. So long that the crackling woosh and pops of the fire outside had died down to a barely audible static.
That silence was so nervous that it had a ring to it.
It was so still that everyone heard Jiro when he whispered, "It's taking too long," Into his knees.
When Ichiro and Shinobu shared a grownup look, Saburo feared the worst in his gut.
Then suddenly, when they were least expecting it, a rap came at their door, loud and strong. All four kids jumped and straightened to attention. Their mother reacted quickly. She was a dark ghost, emerging through the curtain on soft feet. Her movements were fluid as she deposited a lumpy bundle of one year old brother into Saburo's outstretched arms and made for the door, already wiping her hands on her apron out of habit.
At the entry she hesitated; fearing demons and darkness she slid the door open barely a crack. But when she saw the human men standing beyond, she forced it wider. Urgency, hope. The wood pushed along its tread with a shudder, shedding the unnatural light of the moonless winter night into the room.
He was instantly recognizable, not by his bruised face or matted hair, but by his unique armor.
"Lord Takemaru!"
The red glow from the top of the hill shone like a bloody halo around the samurai in the threshold, casting him and the man supporting him nearly black in silhouette. His arm looked wrong. It'd been dismantled to a grisly stub. Saburo found himself staring at it, wondering how it could have just been gone like that.
Dread filled the blacksmith's son all the more.
"He has lost a lot of blood." The nameless soldier said and grunted when Takemaru's weight slumped against him.
"Bring him in, quickly." Their mother waved forward. "There is a bed over here. How many more follow behind you? I'll have more cots prepared before they get here."
The guard carried Lord Takemaru into the house. He shook his head, eyes dark. Grim. "My archers and I escaped unscathed. We… will not be needing treatment."
"And the others?"
He didn't respond, his tongue suspended by guilt.
"…I see." Her voice nearly caught, but she was quick to righten it. She didn't allow herself to stumble or dwell too long on the meaning behind that silence. There was work to be done and an image to maintain. Straightening her shoulders, the woman held tall and pleasant. Then she began dividing tasks among her children as if it were just another village accident. "Shinobu, you help me to remove his armor. Try best not to cut yourself. Jiro, please collect coals from the outer kiln to relight the th' fire. Ichiro, go look about to th' neighbors—there must be one with water still boiling. And Saburo…"
She paused when she turned to him, the other kids already bustling off to work like little bees. The young boy swallowed, holding the sleeping Goro closer.
"This may keep me for some time. I need you to watch over your baby brothers and keep them while I am busy. Can you do that?"
When he nodded, she gave him a sad smile that almost broke her matronly illusion of calm.
"Of course you can." She told him. "You are my Saburo—always willing to help, so much like your father. You'll take care of this for me and you will do just fine, I know it." Soothing down the wild locks of his lion main she continued in a whisper. "We all will. We are all going to be just fine."
He tried to take the reassurances to heart, but when his mother walked away to tend to her newest patient and Saburo turned to look out the open doorway, he couldn't help but feel unsettled. Ash coated the ground, painting the snow dirty and ugly. Up at the top of the hill, the castle had been reduced to smoking bones and barely breathing embers. It looked like the skeleton of a dragon, hot out of the forge. Vicious, and hungry. When the wind blew, it scattered sparks like angry fireflies of death.
At the time Saburo didn't know that fire was going to mark the sudden end of his childhood—that it was going to start a new chapter in their lives as a family and as a village. That it would incur new responsibilities.
All he knew right then was the burning remnants of a man-eating beast… and the human man who had managed to bring it to the ground and survive.
The sight was both terrible and awe inspiring.
Hatred for Togashimaru and his crimes would come later.
Failure and embarrassment would put an end to his ambitions in his early teens.
But at that moment, as a child staring up into the graveyards of hell, Saburo decided that what he wanted more than anything else... was to become a demon slaying, village saving samurai.
Just like Takemaru of Setsuna.
…
That prick!
Kagome lit aflame when she recognized him.
He was Takemaru of Setsuna!? Him!?
How!?
He hardly looked a thing like the guy she remembered fighting two years ago with Sou'unga!
...Granted, this version of the guy was still human, not resurrected to his prime by an evil sword and given crazy draconic upgrades. This man was older, more grizzled, with armor that was more than a little worse for wear—and back in the fox village he hadn't even been wearing his trademark red.
Anyone would have been hard pressed to recognize him under those circumstances.
Anyone who didn't have the inhuman ability to recognize a person by scent alone.
Which led to the more pressing question: how had he known about Toga!?
They'd been careful!
Kagome vaguely remembered talking to Saburo about the dog demon in the marketplace, but they hadn't said his name! Wasn't that the whole reason why they started the whole 'grandpa' thing? To avoid recognition? To not say his name where threats could overhear? She hadn't said it! Right?
Kagome clutched her head.
...Had she?
She... she couldn't recall.
Her memory of that day was all hazy from the fever—that stupid fever. If it wasn't for that fever—
Kagome's fingers slid down to her mouth as Takemaru neared closer, practically running in slow motion as her thoughts imploded.
She had.
She'd done it.
She'd been the one to slip up and say Toga's full name... just before Takemaru broke that vase.
She tipped him off.
And not just that.
She was the one who let Takemaru get such a big headstart to Chichibu.
She was the reason why they left the Kitsune village later than they originally planned. She was the one who kept lollygagging on their trek through the mountains. She was the one slowing Toga down with those silly sword lessons. She was the one who didn't punch the bastard when he was talking to Maki back at the Inn.
She was the reason why Izayoi was dead.
Metal whistled.
Clang!
Right on top of her the swords struck. Kagome snapped back to the fight.
Toga stood like a barricade, blade drawn and competing with Takemaru's for the space. The dog demon was close enough to touch. The muscles in his shoulders and back pulled fabric taut and for one dumb second Kagome thought that he probably could have gotten away with a larger haori.
She grabbed her bow.
"Did you honestly believe that she would be able to love you, after all that you had already done?"
"Love? This was not so trivial as a rivalry of love. It was about the honor of the duty I'd sworn to her—it was about protecting her soul!"
"No. It was about control." Toga hissed. "It was about maintaining a hand over the one woman who dared to deny you."
Arrows.
Where were all her arrows?!
They'd been scattered to the ground in their fall. Reeling back, Kagome reached down to swipe up as many as she could grab from the ground in one pass.
That wasn't many.
"You know nothing of it!"
"I know everything. Izayoi confided in me every last detail of your intimacy. You were once her closest friend, had she not done the same for you of me? Or had she known you well enough to fear the consequence of your insecurity!?"
Takemaru roared back and swung his sword for another hefty blow.
"Hey you! Over here!" Kagome screamed, notching an arrow and circling around to get a better shot. "Look at me and tell me that wasn't the only reason you killed her! Tell me you'd been planning it all along!"
Tell me it wasn't my fault!
But he didn't. He didn't even turn to acknowledge the small priestess.
Furious, she loosed her string. The arrow didn't shine with purity, but it flew true. Catching sight of it out of the corner of his eye, Takemaru reacted. He swiped upwards and dodged, giving Toga the opening to push him back. Hard. Displaying a strength that Kagome hadn't before seen, Togashimaru landed his fist and sent the samurai wheeling across the courtyard where he hit a foundation wall.
"Kagome." The demon addressed her before the dust settled. He picked his staff up from the ground to equip his other hand with both a crutch and a potential shield. "For now I've more than enough energy in my hide to hold him off. I may be weakened, but he is unpracticed and impaired. We are equally matched. You go forth and secure the boy. Ensure his safety. And when you have succeeded, please return to stand by my side."
The boy?
Inuyasha!
That's right! Inuyasha was kidnapped!
...Because of her.
Enough of this! The tiny voice from before called out angrily at the back of her mind before Kagome could spiral into a pit of guilt.
The snap of it made her start.
At first she'd figured it was just the sound of her own moral compass and conscience, steering her way in a voice like her mother's... but now she wasn't so sure about that.
You have no more control over Takemaru than a feeder stream has over a flooding riverbank. Certain actions may have been hastened and events ox-bowed, but the result has always been the same. Your blame is misplaced, for it was not you who plunged the knife. It was not you who festered in delusion.
But... I said Toga's name! The priestess tried to argue. I hit the first domino!
Indeed, you did. The voice countered. You said a name. A name of which you had every right to say. It cannot be denied that the things we say and do have the ability to shed a certain degree of influence over others, but it is false to believe that your actions have the power to supersede another being's autonomy. You spoke aloud a name, and Takemaru's response to that was not a thing you had any bearing over. Takemaru is the master of his own, and it is not for you to take accountability for the decisions he has made.
Kagome didn't know what to say to that. It made sense... but she still felt responsible somehow.
It takes time to forgive oneself, even for crimes you were not one to personally commit. Sometimes those shadows cling to our hearts and never let go. However, the time to dwell on such shadows is not now. Now you must focus on the present. Focus on what still must be done.
Inuyasha.
She still needed to find Inuyasha.
It was too late for them to save Izayoi, and Kagome could dissect that baggage later. But right now she needed to pool all of her energy and efforts on what she could fix. She needed to get her head out of her own ass and focus.
Clutching her bow for support, the young woman cleared the snow from her hair and thoughts from her buzzing mind. Then she solidified and turned back up to Toga. "Can you point me in the right direction?"
"In the main shrine house." The demon replied, keeping his eye on Takemaru. "But he is not alone."
"Are they dangerous?"
"I am unsure. The scent is... floral. It bears resemblance to one you carried once before."
Floral? Who had she run into before that was wearing perfume? The only people that jumped right out were...
Oh.
The pieces clicked into place and Kagome figured she could probably wager a guess.
"Got it. I shouldn't have a problem handling this." She turned to go off on her own but paused to look back at him. "You'll... be okay?"
The sword clicked in his hand when he readjusted his grip. His eyes never tore from the human man rising back to his feet. Still, he smiled. "Kagome. Go."
Trusting him, she nodded.
And then she went.
...
She crossed the grounds to the building. A clash of swords rang out again as her feet touched the first step, but she didn't turn back. Bow readied in hand, she focused on the darkness beyond the shrine's open awning. Paper talismans above shuttered with a breeze. There was a scuffle.
"I know you're in there." Kagome called out in warning. "And I know you've got the little boy. You don't have to do this, you know. We don't have to fight. He's just a kid—you don't want to hurt him. We can make this real easy if you just come out and let him go."
"Don't you presume to know what I want." A woman's spider silk voice wavered through the air.
Kagome was right, it was the same older lady from the gardens. The one who'd been so quick to throw Inuyasha under the bus. When she stepped forward and out of the shadows it was with a mask on her face and the limp form of a tiny child in her arms. This time though, instead of looking snide and arrogant, the noblewoman looked just the opposite.
Her shoulders were hunched. Her hold on Inuyasha far too tight. One hand held a knife, her fingers bloodless and shaking.
She looked absolutely panicked.
"Do not come any closer! I will not hesitate!" She threatened, pressing the blade closer to dimple the flesh of Inuyasha's small neck. Then her wide eyes found Toga over Kagome's shoulder, and she hesitated. Her words drifted out slow, one by one like petals dropping from a blossom past its prime. "He... He truly has returned. What have I done? All I wanted was for them to be gone, for the elder to see reason. They just needed scaring off. But now... Now Izayoi is dead. Now we are all doomed. We will all surely diebefore the night's end. Every last one of us."
It seemed she didn't seem to realize just how injured Toga really was. He wasn't strong enough to take down an entire army or village.
Not this time.
"It doesn't have to go that way." Kagome tried reasoning, keeping her tone calm. "If you just drop the knife and give me the boy. We can talk this out."
The woman shrieked. "Talk?! You naive girl! It is far too late for talking! Hell has already ripped open to take its revenge on me! Even should the demon be slain, the city has been woken! Should I be found unscathed, it will be assumed I aided the demon's plight! I risk execution one way or another!"
As the sounds of Toga and Takemaru's battle picked up around them, Kagome heard what the lady was talking about.
Someone screamed beyond the gate.
"A demon! There's a demon in the shrine grounds!"
No, not yet! They needed more time!
This fight, it seemed, wasn't going to be a very long one. Not if people were going to bring back reinforcements.
With Kagome taken off guard, the woman found an opening and bolted past. She ran down the shrine steps, still clutching Inuyasha in her panic and made to slip away.
"Stop!" Kagome yelled, bounding down the steps. The priestess raised her readied bow, pulled back its string, pressed her thumb to her cheek, aimed and—
Released.
With it came nothing. No bang. No flash of flame. Nothing. None of the fox fire the weapon was supposed to produce for intimidation. She hoped it would work that time for her, but no. It was just an arrow. A normal, mundane arrow. One that shot strong, fast, and—
Right into a tree.
Not close at all to her target.
The woman saw it, though, as it zipped past. She saw the threat of fetching and saw the grey light beginning to grow in the sky above her, and for them both she ran all the faster.
Fueled by fear.
Cursing, Kagome saw her getting away. She saw Inuyasha growing further and further beyond her reach. In the distance more shouts began. In the grounds Toga staved slash after slash against Takemaru in a dance lit by sparks.
Forced to choose between following after Inuyasha and staying to fight alongside Toga, Kagome grit her teeth.
Go, he had said.
And that was all she needed to make her decision.
With that one word still fresh, Kagome picked her poison and went.
...
Panic began to unfold around him as the rumors passed by from the center of town like the ripple of an earthquake.
"A beast." They started.
"A monster!"
"A demon!"
He tried to shut out the voices, tried to walk away from the buzz with his head hung low as they grew more anxious.
It was an impossible task.
A loud boom from a few blocks over drew his attention. A shout. Screams. People were running for their homes now, bumping him as they fled.
Then the men began to emerge, weapons in hand. Only they weren't all weapons—very few actually had swords. Most were tools: hoes, picks, shovels, anything they could get their hands on.
Village men ready to defend their city.
His feet came to a halt.
Eyes wide, he turned when a woman's voice rang out loud above the rest.
"Dangit." He cursed when his body began to move.
He was going to get himself killed.
…
The noblewoman wasn't dressed for a dash through the streets like a street rat.
She was a mess, her kimono askew and her wooden sandals clopping, and the child clung desperately in her arms wasn't helping her go any faster.
Kagome should have been able to catch up to her no problem, but the panicking crowds were making that impossible. When the people of the village saw the fineness of the lady's fabrics, saw the boy and the blood, they parted paths for them to pass. But Kagome was seen as just another of the frightened many. She was forced to shove her way through when the foot traffic grew dense and find more creative routes across closed vendor stalls.
Her shouts were lost in the commotion.
She didn't know why the woman chose to bring Inuyasha along with her as she fled. Perhaps she thought that having him as proof would change people's minds if anyone thought to connect her to Izayoi's murder. Maybe she thought having a bargaining chip with Toga would keep her alive just a little bit longer than the rest. Or maybe it was just a matter of reflex and she hadn't thought to let go.
Either way she was getting away and the sun was nearly about to rise.
How forgiving would that crowd be when they discovered that the boy was something other than fully human?
Her bow was useless in that dense brush—the threat of hitting Inuyasha was too much to risk.
"Hey!" She fruitlessly tried to scream out. "Stop! Someone stop her!"
Don't let her get away!
They were nearly out of view now. The priestess shoved her way through, chasing that tiny blip of red. And then her vision was nothing but chaos.
Chaos and a sudden slip of blue and black.
Light touched a cobblestone.
A shout rang out like a gong above all other noise, a crack, followed by several screams. Suddenly the people ahead were pushing back and away. Kagome fought against the shifting current. The shaft of her bow was a brace held out before her as strangers shoved and panicked. She held herself firm, forcing one foot in front of the other. Forward, not back.
Breaking through the wall was like stumbling out of a riptide and into empty, open water. Only it wasn't open water; it was an oil slick—a growing mass of hydrophobic space that people dared not enter. The hysterical mob was quickly cleared away from that spot, forced to go a new way around.
She found herself at the center of a crossroad, a small ray of hazy light touching her cheek. Before her were three figures. Two on the ground, large and small, and one looming huge overtop of them both.
"Ye-ouch!" That largest figure complained.
He was shaking out his hand when Kagome came upon them. Dried blood coated his knuckles.
"Saburo?" The priestess tested.
"I punched a lady." The blacksmith said, bewildered.
Kagome looked down to the woman at their feet. Her mask was shattered, revealing the handsome face of the cold noblewoman she'd met in the gardens of the elder's manor. A drop of red slid down her nose and one from her ear, the blood mingling with the dark flakes cast off from Saburo's hand.
"Yeah. Looks like you really got her good." She bend to check vitals.
"She was gonna get away. I didn't know what else to do and the crowd was goin' nuts. Ya gotta understand, Miss Kagome, I panicked. I don't go about hittin' ladies. But she had th' kid and I heard you, and—is she gonna be okay?"
"She'll have a bad headache and a lot of explaining to do when she wakes up, but I think she's fine." Knocked out cold, but fine. Breathing, at least. Maybe a ruptured eardrum.
Kagome was more concerned about the little white haired cinnamon bun of a boy who'd tumbled down to the ground beside her.
A couple scrapes and a cut along his left wrist. Nothing that wouldn't heal in a day or so.
His mental scars, though?
A jacket fluttered over the boy, hiding him from the prying views of the onlookers who'd been slower to run away. Kagome looked at Saburo. He was stiff, glaring out at those eyes, daring any one of them to come closer.
"These people… they're crazy." He told her. "They don't know a thing about either of 'em. Just heard the word 'demon' and now they're out fer fear and blood. It ain't right. There's no reasonin' with 'em."
"Yeah, you don't say." Kagome picked up Inuyasha and got to her feet. "Welcome to a day in the life. It's easier if you have a monk and a demon slayer in your party to offset the d-word."
Saburo hesitated.
"…Miss Kagome. About before… you outta know, I'm real—"
"Save it." She spun back to face him. At his hurt expression Kagome tried to soften her tone. He'd come back to help, she should be grateful for that. "Later, really. First, Saburo, do you think you can get this guy to safety before people start to realize what he is? Bring him back to camp?"
"Kagome—"
"I know, I'm coddling him. Just let me do it, okay? Reality's going to hit him hard and fast and he's not going to get a good night's sleep for the next two hundred years. One more day. Just let me give him that."
"No, Miss Kagome. I didn't mean that… I was askin'... Where's th' big guy?"
She flinched and cast a glance over her shoulder. "Fighting."
Giving her a nod of understanding, the human blacksmith reached and gathered the small bundle of the half demon boy into the fold of his large arms. Reluctantly, she let go. Readjusting the jacket, Saburo hesitated for just a moment when he caught his first glimpse of Inuyasha's soft triangular ears.
"Well shit, that's cute." He admitted under his breath before giving the priestess his attention once more. "Look, I may not be any good with a blade, but this is somethin' I got. I'll look after this little one. You get yerself back ta Togashimaru's side. Don't you let 'im fight out there alone. When yer done, we'll be back at camp waitin' fer ya."
Kagome choked up.
Those last words were so similar to what Toga had said.
Those guys…
They were there, waiting safely and patiently for her to return to their side.
They always, reliably were.
She didn't say anything back, didn't want to jinx it. So the young woman bit her lip and nodded her head.
Saburo returned that nod, turned, and then disappeared down the street into the thinning crowd, Inuyasha held secure and hidden in his arms.
The thousand pounds of weight lifting from her, Kagome spun on her heel to face the direction she'd come from and started back towards the shrine once more.
And the noblewoman?
She was left there right there, in the middle of the walk where she was starting to rouse; frightened, humiliated, and plenty punished for her role as Takemaru's pawn and snitch.
…
The run back was much easier. There was debris about, but the streets were empier. Those who wanted to flee had fled and those who wanted to hole up and hide were locked in their homes.
The rest—the arrogant, brave fools who wanted to fight—had collected themselves just out front the shrine's tori arches.
Armed but unmoving, they watched in horror as the demon racked havoc on the shrine grounds. They questioned the sanity of the single human man holding it off in kind.
They questioned whether or not their garden rakes would really hold up against the swing of that deadly pale sword.
Those men had every right to think twice. Demonic bursts of energy had leveled two outbuildings, a wall, and sliced deep gouges through the earth itself. They were paper dolls in comparison to the samurai barely keeping step beyond.
Kagome had felt those attacks from afar and they did nothing but worry her.
Toga didn't have that power to burn!
He was going to burn himself into a hole!
"All of you get back! Move out of the way!" She shouted and swung her bow when she got closer to the men.
"The priestess! The priestess from the other day!" One of the would-be heroes shouted in relief.
"She has been called upon to kill the demon! Let her pass!"
Yeah, sure thing buddy.
If it meant letting her through, they were free to think whatever fairytales they wanted.
The village men parted quickly to grant her passage. They were peasants and merchants, not a soldier among them. What, were there no other samurai in that town? Or had they all partied themselves into oblivion the night before? If they had, Kagome was grateful for it.
People out of their depth were much easier to keep out of the way than showboats who thought they had the world by the balls.
A quick and easy barrier across the arch would hold them off, no problem. She prepared it as she skipped steps and planted it with a slap against the red beam. But just as soon as her foot hit the top step of the landing, the young priestess realized that they might quickly be facing a waybigger problem than just a bunch of stab happy humans trying to protect their home town.
The shiver along her spine sent the uncomfortable feeling of a cat's sandpaper tongue licking across every hair on her arms, leg, and neck. The rise of power that followed was different than Togashimaru's, but far too familiar.
Kagome all but lost her shit.
"Toga?!" She called out to the demon exchanging quick blows with Takemaru across the scarred landscape. "You said he can't pass the border into the East, right?" Closer, the aura grew more pressing. "Right!?"
Flailing about his power like that, Toga was a radio beacon sending out a distress signal.
And, naturally, their friendly, unhinged, neighborhood Sesshoumaru had a police scanner.
Toga shoved his opponent back with a growl before retreating a leap away. Placing a crevice between them, he was finally able to catch a gasping breath. With Kagome back, he could lower his guard with relief and lean his weight on that walking stick. He favored his left side. Concern shown on his face as clearly as the sweat on his brow as he looked up to search the cloudy magenta sky.
Then as quickly as it came, that concern was erased away with a smirk.
"The boy will not cross the border, she will never allow such an offence."
"She?" Kagome jumped over a ridge in the cobblestone paveway that was nearly big enough to hold a brook. "She who!?"
As soon as she asked the question, the village men behind her called out cheers of victory and pointed up to the heavens.
"The goddess Tomboki!" They yelled. "We're saved!"
Tomboki?
She'd heard that name before.
Eyebrows drawn, Kagome, too, looked up.
First there was nothing. Then sure enough she saw it.
From behind a cloud, a gliding figure appeared. A snake, with four tucked legs and something like horns or tendrils flowing from its head. Its scales were rigid and matte—light green and smoky grey. A long mane ran down its back in iridescent shades of darker blues and purples. A tuft of hair tipped its tail.
It wasn't just any goddess.
It was a dragon.
A dragon that weirdly happened to have the same color scheme as her peacock kimono.
Or, better comparison, a dragonfly.
The pressure crackling around it was thundering.
"Please tell me that's on our side."
The tip of Toga's sword ticked against stone as he lowered it and Kagome turned back to see the amusement overpowering his strain. There was blood smearing his chin and cheek. The right leg of his white pants were stained with a long, wide streak of black, just below where his wound was. "Tomboki." He repeated the name. "The Lord of the East. She will put the boy in his place, should he dare step out of line."
"That dragon will not save you." Takemaru snapped and spit out his own mouthful of blood.
Kagome didn't like this.
They were both teetering on their last reserves.
The end was impending fast.
And soon…
"You are correct: she will not. There will be no need for her to do so, for I am not long for this world." Toga admitted solemnly. Then his voice was picked up by the wind. "But more than that, she will not have anything to save me from. Because it is your end that will come long before she has finished scolding my son!"
The demon general rushed forward in a snap, crossing the courtyard and reentering his battle with one final burst of strength. The bird staff clattered in his wake.
Screaming in anger, Takemaru blazed and ran to meet him. Blade held tight as a serpent, ready to strike.
Kagome quickly reached back for an arrow.
The quiver was empty.
Two collided.
One missed.
Blood sprayed.
"Toga! No!" She screamed. The bow was thrown. Useless. Her feet sprang forward towards them.
Hunching over Takemaru's shoulder, the demon coughed. Wet. The blade sticking out from behind him was coated in a heinous black ooze.
"At last. I have you." Rumbled the human rounin. He broke out into a deep, bellowing laugh. "Fifteen years. Fifteen years I have dreamed of this day! To have you fall to your death was a bittersweet end. Fitting as it was, it left me wanting, yearning for your blood to claim as my own. And now! To have finally run you through with my own sword!"
The hilt of the tachi dropped from Togashimaru's hand and it clattered to the ground at their feet. Kagome's chest couldn't hold enough air to propel her forward fast enough. Her face was red. The clouds of her steamy breath hindering her vision. And the tears—
"If it is my blood that you desire, then take it." Toga grasped at his assassin. His arms wrapped tight. Fingers found their way to the back of Takemaru's neck where he clutched on in a horrible mockery of an embrace.
He staggered around, pulling the man with him. Turning until he could see Kagome's face.
Their eyes met.
She was screaming, but her words had no sound.
Nothing had sound.
The entire world was placed on mute.
Until he spoke.
"Sometimes to conquer… means to make sacrifices."
The words were meant for her. Not that Takemaru would know that. She was close enough now to smell iron and the musk. Somewhere in the back of her mind another clash began, sending poisonous rage and demonic sparks out across the mountainside.
Kagome's heart stopped beating.
Her legs stopped moving.
She looked at Toga. At the severity and resolve in the gold of his expression.
Then she looked at the expanse of Takemaru's back. It was stained black with little handprints. Dead center.
Like a target.
...Oh.
Toga had positioned him just right.
Thin fingers found the handle of the sword at her side, then flinched away.
Everything ached.
She tried again but her hands, they wouldn't listen.
Eyes wide, she shook her head.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to raise the blade. Whether or not it was because Takemaru was human... she didn't know.
Toga's stare hardened, but he nodded. Even though that wasn't what he wanted, he understood her fear. He accepted her refusal. He didn't hold it against her.
Togashimaru lifted his chin, and then he smiled.
That pride, even when she couldn't follow through with what she'd promised…
That smile.
That smile was stolen from him a second later when Takemaru twisted his sword and ripped it from the demon's side.
Toga howled in pain.
Kagome gasped out a sob.
That smile had been just the encouragement she needed to finally be able to grab ahold of the hilt.
The curdle of the dog demon's agony was loud enough to fill the night, covering up the sound of the blade as it was pulled from its sheath. It hid the sound of her footsteps across the rubble and dirt and snow. And when it transformed into a feral snarl, it perfectly accompanied the scream that tore through her throat.
Then the scream that came from Takemaru.
Between the layered plates of his armor, in the center of his back marked by Inuyasha'd blood, Kagome planted her blade.
The movies made it easy, you know. Stabbing someone. Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Sango always made it look like slicing through butter.
…This wasn't like butter.
This was hard.
Getting past the ribs was like trying to shove a toothpick between two boulders stuck in a streambed. Kagome struggled to shove it harder, to push it though. Even if her eyes were open, her tears wouldn't have let her see what she was doing—she didn't want to see.
Then suddenly there was a large hand wrapping at her hilt and the priestess' eyes shot wide.
She saw everything.
Toga's hand over hers. The claws of his other piercing the samurai's neck, holding Takemaru in place. His teeth bared and bloody. The viscous liquid dripping down to her guard.
There was a physical pop when the sword pierced through the damaged armor of the man's front side.
And that should have been it. That should have been where the blade stopped.
Unfortunately, it did not.
Centimeter by centimeter the point kept pressing forward. When Kagome noticed, she panicked. She tried to pull back, to yank the sword from the stone, but it wouldn't budge. Her hands were pinned beneath his grip. Control was no longer hers.
"Toga!" She yelled. "Toga, stop! It's done!"
The demon had no intention to stop.
Instead, he leaned in close to purr into Takemaru's ear.
"By all means," He said. "Take this blood of mine, if it is what you so desire. I want for you to feel the pain it has caused me, as your last."
Then with one final jerk, the demon Lord plunged the Kagome's sword deeper until he pierced his own chest with the tip.
He looked utterly feral, so consumed with the task of destroying Takemaru of Setsuna before the sunrise lost its color. Goo, sickly purple to the point of blackness dripped thick from his newly inflicted wound. It slid down the sharp of the blade in the space between the men. When Toga released his grip, the force of Kagome's struggle sent her stumbling back. She pulled the sword and a spray of red along with her.
He released the samurai as well.
Takemaru gasped, clutching at the new hole in his chest. He staggered, then fell to his knees.
"What is...?" The human man struggled for breath. "Beast." He wheezed. "What have you done?"
Standing straight and large above him, Toga pressed his fingers to a spot just below his sternum. "I have given you precisely what you have been wishing for all of these years. My blood."
Oh god.
Kagome's sword clattered to stone and she watched the crazed rounin fold over himself in pain. He stared at his shaking palm as its pallor began to change. The reaction was rampant. It ran through every vein, artery, and capillary to stain his skin a putrid purple. The color crept up his neck like contrast dye until even his face was wrong.
If he was screaming, Kagome was too stunned to hear it.
It was poison.
That was the poison Toga had been battling all this time—the thing that had been slowly invading the dog demon's body all these weeks.
Ryukotsusei's poison.
It took over Takemaru's fragile human form in a matter of moments.
"No!" He managed to yell out, despite the skin sizzling at his mouth. "If I am to fall now to hell, I will be dragging you with me!"
In one final attempt to bring his rival down, Takemaru picked his sword up from the ground and lunged.
He didn't get far, though.
Because the demon Lord Togashimaru of the Western Lands, like the raging, pretentious idiot he was, didn't move.
Instead, he grabbed the sharp end of the blade from the air with his bare hand and stared as the crazed and agonized Takemaru of Setsuna crumpled to his death, right before his feet.
"Worry not, friend." Toga then told the corpse under his breath. "Because I shall be joining you there soon enough."
…
A ringing like a gnat drove through her eardrum in the space that followed those words. She stared down at the body of the man, broken and disfigured. Behind her thin barrier, upon the samurai's defeat, the village men began to flee. She didn't see them go. She only saw blood—thick and dark and everywhere.
It was the nagging itch of two superpowers clashing at the edge of her senses that brought Kagome back to reality. Somewhere not far off a lordling pup was facing against the might of a dragon and losing.
But that battle was the least of her concerns.
Leaving her tainted sword where it lay, Kagome took the tentative steps forward.
"Is it over?" She asked.
In response, Toga fell to his knees. "It is over." He breathed.
Rays of the dawn's new sun illuminated him, making his hair and eyes glow beneath the dark of blood that covered him like the igneous rock that cloaks a diamond. The purple of poison had reached his cheek, and Kagome could see the twist of it beginning to encroach over his wrists as well.
Somehow, despite all of the pain that he must have been in, the demon seemed more at ease than ever before.
"Her soul has been set free to rest. As has mine."
Kagome took care stepping around the body that had belonged to Takemaru. The corrosive poison was still eating away at his flesh in a bubbling tar. She tried not to look at it.
"You're soul's still here." Dropping before him, she placed her hands on Toga's knees. She wished she had a better way to soothe his wounds. "You made it through... We won the fight. Come on, let's get out of here and back to camp so I can patch you up."
He brushed a hand along her jaw to tuck away strands of her hair.
"Do not cry, Kagome. You did very well."
Was she crying? She couldn't feel it.
"Would it be selfish of me to ask one more request of you?"
Kagome shook her head, fat tears rolling like marbles.
"I'm not putting you down, Toga. So don't you dare even ask."
At that the dog grinned. "No, there is no need for that. I am capable of facing my own end… The hill." He said on the intake of a sharp breath before looking over to the shrine gates. "Will you take me to it?"
"The hill?"
He nodded and closed his eyes.
"Once, not so long ago, Izayoi confided in me her final wishes. She told me that, after her death, she desired to be planted upon a hillside, overlooking her city where she could continue to watch over those she loved."
He patted his chest, searching, unseeing, until finally reaching within the folds of his haori. With a shaking hand he retrieved the pin, bright and gold and untouched by time. When he looked down at it, he smiled. A finger so gently caressing the inlay of birds.
"That reach of her kindness never ceased to amaze me; she cared for all. Even those who wished ill upon her. She trusted goodness—almost to a childish fault—and even went so far as to defend this man, who twice brought about her end. That power to take such risks for the sake of trust made her braver than I could ever hope to become. Brave… like you." Toga paused before looking back at her. Ever so gently he reached out with the pin and secured it among the tangles of her ponytail. Then, with as much care as he had shown the hairpiece, he brushed away her tears and cupped her face.
"I need to see her, Kagome." He said gingerly. "Please take me to her. I need to see her one last time before we leave."
Pressing both of her hands to his, she held onto that touch to keep him real just a moment longer.
Kagome nodded.
"Yeah." Talking was hard beneath that concrete blanket of loss and sorrow. "I'll take you there. If we go along the river we should be able to slip past whatever rallies might still be out and about."
"Ah, yes." Toga said, finding humor as he always managed to do. "Humans with pitchforks. My greatest nemesis."
They shared a laugh, both sounding pitiful and wet. But that laughed helped Kagome to find the strength she needed to pull the dog demon to his feet.
After collecting their swords, her bow, and the remains of his walking staff, Kagome became his crutch. Abandoning the body of Takemaru, she carried him off and together they slipped away into the shadows of the morning.
Yes. She would take him up to the little cliffside where Izayoi had been laid to rest so that he could see her once more.
But she wasn't an idiot.
Kagome knew that, despite his words, they wouldn't be leaving together.
Not this time.
Chapter End