Do not fear the darkness.
Fear what lurks within it
Something is always watching you.
Disclaimer: InuYasha is owned by Rumiko Takashi, I do NOT own InuYasha, I wrote this just for fun and because I ship these two pretty hard, Don't like it? Go read something else, No one is forcing you to read it. Rated M for a reason. (I will be removing and adding things to this as it goes along, It is 3 in the damn morning, I will be re-doing this a lot so please do not get attached to how it is now. )
Chapter One: And so it begins.
The wind howled across the green flourishing western lands, caressing each individual blade of grass as it deftly made its way toward a very aloof daiyoukai, he
stood tall overlooking the sea below, his back was turned but his ears were trained on what was happening behind him, a miserable Jaken was playing a game of tag with Rin, the little green imp was losing, which did not surprise him, Although his mind was set on crushing that half breed, he knew where to find the half wit but in order to get his father's fang he needed something, something that would make Inuyasha crazy, No he wanted his reject half brother to be blindly frantic, Sesshomaru was a smart demon and always looked at things from an angle he caught the details most tended to miss, He needed a bargaining chip, it would have to be something that they both could benefit from, Shards from the jewel would not cut it, Sesshomaru had no need nor interest in the jewel, He watched as the tide began to come in, the waves swayed and sloshed against the cliff he had perched himself upon, the Lord of the West was not the least bit concerned about what was going on below him, his mind searched its deepest recesses and then it or in this case she flitted into the forefront of
his mind, Why hadn't he thought about it before? He felt stupid for not even considering it until now, Ah but the real challenge would be plucking her from her little group. He smiled to no one but himself, Tonight was going to be the most entertaining one yet. What was her name? He could always remember a face and those deep blue eyes were something that not even he could forget, what did the monk call her? Mae? No that wasn't it..
''Ugh Master Jaken you're no fun to play with at all! I wish Lady Kagome were here, at least shes lots and lots of fun to play tag with!'' The girl hollered at the green imp who was very much seeing stars from how many countless times he had chased the girl around in one big circle, He groaned and said nothing.
That was it! That was what the monk had called her, Kagome that girl with the mouth and strange attire, she always had that bizarre metal contraption with her as well, whatever that metal thing was he would destroy it should the device hinder him in anyway, Without looking he spoke; ''Jaken go and find lodgings for tonight, If you are met with resistance kill everyone and leave no survivors, you have two hours.'' He leapt from the cliff and morphed into his crystal form,
Jaken was on his feet and dragged Rin along with him, Two hours was not long, there was a demon village nearby but he knew what the daiyoukai had meant he wanted to stay in a village that was out of sight, the imp knew of one place, Tossing Rin onto the back of a sleeping Ah-Un, the dragon youkai's eyes flew open and he roared as Jaken pulled back on the reins, the beast knew who had just climbed onto him, Shaking himself off the dragon allowed himself to be pulled Southeast and without another instruction from his passengers he took off into the mid afternoon skies.
x
Oh come on bell ring already! Kagome cried internally, for once she was caught up in all of her classes all of that studying and those sleepless nights finally paid off, now she was ready to go home and unwind, maybe she could even sneak in a nap, For weeks it had been quiet and no one had disturbed her, she even managed to practice firing arrows in her spare time, according to her grandfather she had improved by leaps and bounds, this encouraged her to practice
outside everyday after school for as long as she possibly could, The bell rung and Kagome was the first one out the door, she got her bike and sped home, Today she planned on firing a total of five hundred arrows that was her goal, Walking her bike up the stupidly abundant cement steps the seven teen year old girl tried her best to go as fast as she could but tripping and falling wasn't something Kagome wanted to do, After what felt like forever she brought her bike over to a nearby shed and leaned it up against the shed wall, practicing had always been something she looked forward to, This time she decided to invision Naraku's face he was after all her most dreaded enemy.
Setting up the homemade targets that both her grandfather and brother had built for her, Kagome took a breath and looked them over once she was satisfied that they were straight she walked away from and got onto the level porch, there she picked up her bow and arrows, shifting her weight onto her right foot she drew the arrow back with her right hand and aimed it with her left, Firing the arrow sailed through the air and hit the bullseye, this went on for forty five minutes, Feeling confident Kagome fetched the bigger bow and longer arrows, she had a clean shot and was about to take it when the image of Inuyasha entered her mind, he wasn't himself his demon nature had taken over, She shot the arrow and if the half demon had been actually been standing there she would've pierced his throat and killed him Where did that come from? Too many late nights. That was enough Kagome decided to call it quits, she put everything away and once she was finished marched into her house and like a robot she went upstairs and into the bathroom, maybe a hot bath was what she needed to
relax, Her goal could wait, but she was still confused as to why she pictured Inuyasha the way she had, Kagome would never hurt him she couldn't even imagine shooting him down by her own hand not even in practice, She knew that she needed to get better at hitting moving targets, no demon alive was going to just simply stand there and say; ''Hey I'm over here! Shoot me!'' Kagome soaked for a bit longer, she washed her hair and body, sitting up she drained the bathtub and stepped out, Careful as not to slip she grabbed a sun yellow towel and dried her person to the best of her ability, no one was home, her mother had gone away on a business trip and her grandfather and brother were away camping for one more day they had been gone for a week, it was just Kagome
and her very chubby cat who was somewhere around the house, Leaving the bathroom Kagome went into her room and changed into a warm pair of pajamas, she went downstairs and into the kitchen, she scooped up Buyo's food and water bowls, she cleaned them in the sink before setting them back down and fitting one with fresh clean water and the other with more food than the cat honestly needed.
Deciding to watch some TV Kagome found a channel that was hosting the sale of rare and extremely expensive rings, necklaces, earrings and what not, One of them caught her eye, it was navy blue but its color wasn't what had her gawking, it was the ironic shape, it was in the shape of a crescent moon much like the one...Sesshomaru had on his forehead, Wait why did he have those markings on his forehead and face? Kagome had always been curious about them but never dared to approach him about it, then again she never approached him at all, Inuyasha hadn't let her even try, Yes the daiyoukai had tried to kill her but
that was only because she got in his way but she wasn't just going to stand there and let him kill Inuyasha even though sometimes the half demon did deserve it, he still hadn't earned her forgiveness for snatching her jewel shards and forcibly sending her home that one time, In fact he hadn't said sorry once to her for all of the stupid and downright childish things he had done to her.
Sleeping was pointless so Kagome went into the kitchen with a pen and paper, she scrawled out a note for her grandfather since he and Sota were due back at six in the morning she stuck her note on the fridge and went upstairs, in her bedroom she looked at her banana yellow backpack, it was wearing out and it made her an easy target for pretty much anyone that spotted it, Opening her closet she rifled around in it until she found what she was looking for, A brand new travel tote, it was big enough to fit anything she couldn't go without, she packed two hair brushes one for everyday use and the other was a huge square
shaped one it got knots and other stuff out without pulling out hair or creating more problems, next she packed toiletries, lady stuff, a change of clothes and just in case she did run into Sesshomaru she packed a bunch of kids books that she had translated when she wasn't practicing with her arrows, If the Daiyoukai allowed it than she would give the girl the books and even if he didn't she would still hand the books over. Packing a few more things Kagome
changed out of her pajamas and into her spare school uniform, it looked like the one she always wore the only difference was that the top had short sleeves. Doing one more check of her packed items she went back downstairs slipped her shoes on and left into the shrine she had gone through a dozen times.
''Here goes.'' She said before jumping into the well, before she landed onto the lose packed earth below the vortex opened up and pulled her backward through time, seconds later and she was in the feudal era she tossed her bag up but didn't hear it land Hmm..maybe Inuyasha or Sango caught it She thought nothing of it and climbed out of the well, she spotted her bag and the all too familiar figure of Koga he was standing before her, holding her travel tote while
making a strange face, he looked liked he was confused and then it hit her, Giggling she spun around and asked; ''This is called a short sleeved shirt, Does it look weird?'' He was blushing now, and trying to look away but failed, lamely he nodded he feared that attempting to talk would only worsen his befuddled state, Before she asked he managed to form words and spoke; ''Inuyasha isn't here, the slayer and monk went off to do who knows what and the runt is with the old bat.''
''Then it's just us?'' She asked and he nodded, Inuyasha couldn't protect her forever and besides Koga was someone she had been meaning to talk with anyway, He knew that whatever time he got to spend with Kagome his woman was precious they did not meet very often plus he always had to fight for her attention with Inuyasha that guy was so lame, perhaps she might be better off with someone who does not have a pack to rule over and territory to guard
daily, yeah Kagome needed a mature demon with a good head on his neck. The wolf demon must have been staring off because the next thing that he knew, someone had snapped their fingers near his pointed ear. Jumping back he looked directly at Kagome and laughed.
Finally they sat down under a tree, Koga had held her closely to him something Kagome was used to by now she learned to accept it, they stayed like that for a while, unlike before Koga didn't swear to bring her Naraku's head he didn't do what he usually did Is Koga sick? Or maybe in a bad mood? Either way she didn't press him. The silence pressed on until the wolf demon spoke at last; ''Kagome I think tonight you should come with me back to the mountains, I don't like the idea of just leaving you out here completely alone, Mutt face isn't around and..it's just not right!'' He was trying to keep her safe by taking her home with him but truthfully he wished he could scoop her up and whisk her away to a place where danger and death did not exist but that was all just wishful thinking.
''Thank you Koga but I want to stay here in case Sango or Miroku comes back.'' She said with as much confidence as she could muster, next to her the wolf demon seemed to have relaxed, The sun had set and it was time for Koga to leave and return to his pack before they came looking for their leader and alpha, He stood up taking Kagome with him, he took her face into either of his hands and pressed his forehead against hers, breathing in her scent he leaned up and planted a soft kiss onto her hairline, making the girl blush, he promised to return too this spot in the morning and bring her a fresh boar.
After they parted Kagome decided to go and braid her hair near the river before bed, Koga had put her in a good mood and even cheered her up about the Inuyasha not being nowhere to be found, kneeling down by the waters edge Kagome ran her fingers through her hair and began braiding it into one big french braid, before she added the elastic a flurry of crickets began singing.
x
It had been bloody and did take a whole hour but the imp had cleared the old village of its lesser demon inhabitants they were mostly insect and vermin however they were all no more, he had burned them all to ashes with the staff of two heads, he got a sick thrill out of watching them perish, at least now he wouldn't have to (hopefully) be exposed to Lord Sesshomaru's angry wrath, he could be so violent whenever he got bored, and bored the dog demon had been lately, he had even gone so far as to tie a boulder around Jaken's tiny body and throw him into the sea, according to him it had been a 'flying lesson' but really he just enjoyed torturing the imp. Jaken and Rin made it their job to ready every room the largest mansion had to offer, and yes that meant cleaning it from top to bottom Judging by how he regarded me earlier he must have plans to bring another Harpy back with him, I just hope that he doesn't kill this one like he did the other, I mean yuck it was such a mess..Jaken wished to himself that his lord would find a woman of demon origin that could stand up to him without fear of being butchered on the spot...Jaken cursed himself for even thinking it but Lady Kagome if only she were born a demon she might've been scarier than Lord Sesshomaru in terms of having a temper that is.
Rin helped clean the bed chambers they were dirty and filled with old exoskeleton shed and a few severed legs belonging to a very large praying mantis, the girl remembered how to clean the way Lady Kagome had taught her to, it had worked, soon the floor wasn't making that awful sticky sound and all of the spider webs and creeping cobwebs had been removed, Jaken and Rin cleaned the entire mansion in record time before they left and went to a hut on the other side of the now empty village they had about twenty five minutes to clean and prepare the place before Lord Sesshomaru returned, that was plenty of time to tidy the place up.
x
Kagome had found a very pretty pearl lying next to the lakes shore, she had picked up and brought it with her to her selected sleeping area, it kind of looked like that crystal she had seen on the TV once it shone with the utmost beauty she had ever stumbled upon, She turned it over in her palm completely miffed by it for some reason she couldn't take her eyes off of it, since no one was around and it really was just her, Kagome rubbed it and spoke as if she were talking to a baby; ''Aww, come on little guy or girl, if you're in there I promise you're safe, Come out I wanna see your widdle facey wacey!'' Nothing happened which didn't surprise her she did after all just speak to a pearl Weird I thought pearls were only found on beaches or deep in the ocean..Nah she was probably just over thinking it, but still it had to have come from somewhere, Without giving it a second thought she placed the pearl near her stomach and laid down on the dirty ground, closing her eyes she allowed sleep to take her away into its abysmal nothingness, she was a heavy sleeper and once she was out that was it, her bag was tucked securely under her arm.
Sesshomaru knew what disgust was and this was just the surface of it, that woman that human woman had the gall to pick him up in his pearl form and then talk to him as if he were still a waddling pup! He had every intention of making her pay for disgracing him like she just had, transforming back to his human like form he stood over her silently his eyes glittering with malice and anger, he reached into his yukata he pulled out a clay jar and knelt down, removing the lid he
quickly placed it near the sleeping wench's face, the fumes were not dangerous to her life but they would keep her from waking up at least until he took her to where he intended to keep her, Adjusting his position he hauled the slumbering girl up and over his shoulder he took her bag and flew off with her, he soared
across the vast villages of Edo becoming a blur in motion, Knocking her out had been the easiest way of getting his clawed hands on her, he had witnessed the entire thing between her and the wolf demon, Did Inuyasha know? If not than he finally held something worthwhile over that impatient ignoramus' head and
for once the twit might fight him to the death, Transforming back into his pearl form he whisked the maiden away, following Rin's scent all the way back to the village she and Jaken had found, he was there in like five minutes, leaving Edo behind and taking her to the place Rin's scent was the strongest, He found himself inside of a mansion, it smelled like it had been freshly cleaned, Growing tired of having the girl slung over his shoulder he tossed her unkindly onto the futon near his feet, Humans, what had his father seen in them? From where he stood she looked like an average woman, Of course he knew that she wasn't
entirely human but she wasn't a demon either, That stench it was there, she smelled horribly of wolf, why had she allowed herself to be swayed by him anyway? He was a curious soul and wanted to know things, if he asked would she be forthcoming or maybe she would lie like all humans did. One thing he knew, Sesshomaru tied the girl up with a rope he kept with him in case he ever felt like giving Jaken another lesson about flight, he knew he needed to get away from her before his curious nature got him into heaps of trouble, Then again no one even knew that he had returned nor did his wards know whom he brought along with him, Against his better judgement he went over to the passed out Kagome and watched her, she was young that much was obvious, carefully he sat down and moved her braided raven locks away from her neck, he noticed right away that she was unclaimed Hn no wonder the wolf is all over her at any chance he gets Now that he was closer to her the scent of something stronger prickled his nostrils it smelled like perfume but it was wafting off of her hair, Why did she put perfume in her hair? This woman was a strange one indeed, still he had this nagging urge to keep touching her hair, it felt soft between his
fingers and did not get caught on his claws either, What would his mother think if she caught him shamelessly admiring the hair of a human? He didn't care what she might have to say about it, he knew that if his father were still alive he probably would have made up some dumb law which would've forced Kagome to remain at his side, Parents were the worst no wonder he never paid his mother any visits and nowadays he rarely chased the shadow of his father, did what he wanted whenever it appeased him, Sometimes he would hide in his pearl form to monitor his little brother he didn't want the welp getting to Naraku before he did and oh had he overheard some juicy things, for example Inuyasha had asked to only be friends with the miko whom he spent most of the evening following, and now whenever she..appeared out of the well she was either looking for shards of the jewel, gabbing with her human friends and playing games with the fox kit, she seemed almost broken from what had gone on between herself and his idiotic half brother reject, All of that time spent by each others sides and in the end he chose to flee into the arms of the dead one, that was his choice, perhaps keeping the girl prisoner would not be something he'd have to do after all, He should've left an hour ago, yes he had been fiddling around with her hair for one whole hour, he released her hair, stood and left Kagome asleep and tied up.
It was a good thing he had left when he did, Kagome began to stir from her unintended slumber, All she knew was that this wasn't her campsite Okay..Either I'm still asleep and dreaming or this is as bad as it seems...She tried to sit up and with much effort managed to sit on her rump, Looking around Kagome noticed that wherever this place was the interior appeared old and somewhat falling apart and cracking in places, squirming and wriggling her hands she succeeded in getting her tight binds off, standing up the girl found a way out and took it, It was midnight and freezing she could hardly see in front of her own face, quietly she bypassed the flimsy door and without so much as a second thought broke into a sprint, She needed to get away, no her survival instincts demanded that she create as much distance between herself and whoever had taken her; Ha this is what I get for not going with Koga in the first place. It was weird though usually bandits kept horses around or had guards everywhere but Kagome hadn't spotted any of the sort, Actually it was deathly silent and to her silence of this magnitude brought forth a sense of haunting dread, She ran and ran but the darkness of the night provided no reprieve. Where was the scared tree and shouldn't the Bone Eaters Well be around here? Something wasn't right she couldn't help but feel as though she had been running in one big circle but she just kept running.
He had seen the whole thing, the escape, and now the fleeing, wonderful now he had to capture her, he soundlessly left the run down mansion and bounded after her, If it was a chase she wanted then it was a chase she would get and a lesson as well. Watching her run brought on a sensation he hadn't felt since he was a pup it made all of his demonic senses tingle while it sent his blood pressure sky-high, There was only one word to describe it; Excitement Yes he Lord Sesshomaru felt excited for the first time in years, He bounded after her, keeping just enough distance between himself and her to keep this little game of cat and mouse fun, His eyes had gone from amused to positively predatory, the more he chased her the more his beast crudely cheered him on, a growl left his lips it wasn't one of malice but one of sheer demonic glee.
What was THAT!? Kagome had only ran a couple hundred feet but that gut wrenching sound erased any rational thought she might've had mere moments ago, all that made sense to her now was to get as far away from whatever abomination made that noise, it sounded like a monster you know the ones you read about in books yeah that type of ghoulish being, Afraid and frantic Kagome sped up now, running as if her life depended on it, What was chasing her and why? Tripping over what she assumed was a rock Kagome kept going but never looked behind her, it was a rule, When giving way to the prey side of ones mind, prey must never look back otherwise said prey will be swallowed whole by death itself, she kept going, what else could she do? Getting captured wasn't something she was about to do; I just need to throw whatever is chasing me off my trail, Ugh I knew I should've listened when Sota bragged about survival skills! Was it Naraku? had she escaped where he had kept her and was now coming to collect her? No..this felt more primal and so unlike Naraku he would never do his own dirty work, she really wanted to look behind her but knew better. Something came over her and Kagome yelled into the night air the words dripped from her lips like a lose valve; ''Give up you degenerate scum and go away!'' Kagome hadn't seen the slope up ahead and almost tumbled down it but somehow regained her footing and pressed on, by this point panic mixed with hysteria had begun to rear its ugly head, she began laughing and screaming all in the same breath, Fear and desperation were a powerful narcotic but it was all that kept her relatively sane, most importantly it is what kept her moving..for now.
Both he and his beast knew where she was headed and just the thought of her going to that place only spurred him on further, he couldn't help it he felt like a pup chasing a flightless bird and it gave him a thrill, he hardly remembered that the one he gave chase to was mortal in his mind she was something else entirely and he refused to let her get away, He charged headlong after his prize, no one was around for miles not a soul would hear her if she screamed or cried out for help, This all could've been avoided had she stayed put like a good girl should but she just had to try and get away, He could smell her despair and anguish but her fear and determination to evade him paled in comparison to her newly discovered hysterics that would prove to be her undoing, Sesshomaru was just about to let her gain some distance again but her poor choice in words had drawn out the end of the road for this highly addictive farce, that was it, He. Came. Unhinged.
She felt sick but fear of the unknown overrode everything else she had to keep running, her exhausted mortal body was beginning to give up the high speed chase her limbs simply couldn't keep up, shrine maiden or not that did not remedy nor make up for her lack of training, if she had taken up the lessons Kaede offered she would've been much better off, the funny part about all of this was that in her haste to leave home she had forgotten her bow and arrows, she hadn't learned how to use her powers as a miko, In a nutshell she was fucked royally there was no logical way out of this situation, Panting she jumped over an uprooted tree stump stumbling about her vision began to blur and yet she continued to flee despite how hard her lungs struggled to take in air or how much her legs and knees throbbed, the way her heart slammed against her ribs she was nearing the end of her rope so to speak.
Enough was enough, He vaulted above the treetops vanishing before diving down and tackling his prey, they skidded across the unforgiving grassy earth, coming to a full stop before a sapling pine tree, the female beneath him apparently was still high on hysterics, despite being face down she was laughing and writhing as if this was the funniest damn thing she had ever done, To be fair he wasn't any better off either, his lips were curled into a snide grin and his left eye twitched ever so slightly, It was over he had finally put an end to their little game of chase, so why was he still seeing red? The thrill continued to linger and it rippled throughout his whole body he kind of liked how that felt, shifting his weight on top of his trophy, carefully as to not break her completely he leaned in and rasped in a whispered mocking tone; ''Run little rabbit run..for This Sesshomaru will always catch you.'' He was laughing in a heathenish way now as he sat atop of a very defeated Kagome, of course he was still reeling from their early morning jaunt but at least he wasn't seeing red anymore, he had begun to sober up.
The sun had started to rise above their heads, lighting the scene around them, the air was still aside from the hysterical laughter seeping out from the raven haired girl, Had she perhaps taken leave of her senses? It was her fault she started it, although he didn't have to chase her, he just did, Apparently her head was still up her own ass and hearing his voice only made her laugh harder, all pain had abated just that lapse in judgement remained, No this not funny, nothing about her current situation was funny, she was either going to be killed or eaten, again she writhed and even tried to turn onto her side but couldn't due to being weighted down, well this certainly quite the pickle to be in, She was nearing the dangerous, black out hysterics she wasn't there yet but she was climbing that wall.
Was she ever going to stop laughing? His brain told him to laugh along side her but stubbornness had choked off any more laughing or thoughts of doing so, keeping her pinned came as easy as chopping the head off of a bee, Honestly she should be kicking and screaming but instead she decided to let herself be carried off into her impending madness, he was through with her mirthful laughter, in one deft motion he flipped her onto her back, evidence of his not so gentle take down of little miss chuckles showed on her face, bare arms and legs, she had cuts and bruises, open wounds that bled, her injuries were painful but not dangerous, after what felt like forever the girl seemed to be coming down from her natural high, the endorphins had run their course, At last.
Oh wow I goofed and look at me now..pfft hahahaha I'm gonna die, My dumb ass is so dead..Why is that so funny!? The rays of the newly risen sun tickled the back of her head and any other exposed skin she had, laying face down on the moist grass was the least of her concerns she was still trying to wriggle free of whatever held her beneath it, still oblivious to the gravity of it all, what did sink in was the pain and that odd warm wet sensation trickling down her forearms, Maybe she had gotten something sticky on her somehow? Before another thought crossed her mildly frazzled mind she was roughly rolled onto her back the first thing that came into her line of sight was long silver hair, upon seeing the familiar tresses she relaxed but soon regretted doing that, her eyes drifted upward and landed on a pair of eyes, golden embers, next her blue hues landed on his crescent moon and right away she tensed and went rigid, Words, no speech her own voice refused to work, He wasn't looking at her though he was looking at something else, and for that she was grateful..
(A/N I'm just going to go ahead and leave it here I need sleep, By the way if you were wandering why this is rated M, Now you know the bad language and future..stuff is why. I'm really trying to make this both enjoyable and entertaining, I know that the chase bit could've gone on longer but I'm sleepy and don't feel like extending it, after I have slept I'll drag it out, Oh and the pun was totally intended with the whole 'sink in' part, See ya until whenever!)