Acclimated
Chapter 2
The air became thick and stifling. An oppressing aura roiled through the boscage like a miasmic fog, seeping through each hollow and crevice. Eyes shot open in frenetic awareness as the darkness pressed upon in suffocating waves, a feeling so apparent it almost physically manifested. It tinged at outlying senses sending her immediately on edge, cutting through the earlier drowsiness like a scorching knife. Not wanting to be caught off guard again, she braced herself to stand while leaning for added support. Slender fingers instinctually curled tightly around a solid bow.
Her waning energy was ever apparent as the presence drew nearer. The girl dryly gulped down her boiling dread. "Show yourself! I know you're out there!" she vocalized in feigned bravery.
She should have been hiding, perhaps tried to flee. It was fatuous to think of befalling a being so powerful in her current state. But it was too late to back-track such thoughtless decisions, and she briefly wondered why she chose now to be bold.
A whisper of silk. Soft footfalls upon plush moss. It sounded from her right.
"Perceptive," came a voice in low baritone as the reticent figure revealed from darkened shadows.
Azure eyes gazed upon the human-like form standing mere yards away. Glimmers of the waning moon illuminated outlines of long silver strands and sharpened points of a spiked armour. Lush ivory fur and unspoiled white sleeves bristled in the evening zephyr. It was ironically deceptive, how appearances can be. The girl swiftly took aim with her weaponry.
"I-I don't want any trouble." Striving to keep her voice firm and vigorous, she continued with purpose. "Please take your leave."
Burning amber orbs observed her forged valiant stature. The slight tremble in her arm. The rigidity of her stance. And the positioning of the longbow. All clear indications of a neophyte in archery.
"You dare to command me?" He intoned while beginning to pace.
The tip of her arrow traced every slow movement, sure to not waver from target this time. Perhaps it was exhaustion that's allowed such dauntless behaviour; too weary to keep hold of tactical forethought.
He soon had her encircled. Each step had been silent in its predatory precision, eliciting a sense of entrapment the closer he came. The light shifted then, casted shadows lifting to uncover a blue crescent beneath wispy bangs.
The girl gasped at the sight; a spark of recognition from past tales.
A terrorizing conqueror. A ruthless assassin. Youkai royalty.
Her stance did not falter as tangled thoughts raced. "I don't mean any disrespect, Sesshomaru-sama," she addressed with added formality. "I'm not sure what you're after, but I don't have anything to offer."
Keen intensity regarded her defensiveness. Frightened, yet acts against instinct. He paused to her left. Expectations were unequated. Sensing a surge of reiki, he had followed in search of the source. It was a power not seen in many years. And yet, to have felt such concentration of it so close to his lands, he had to admit it was intriguing. What he did not expect, was finding a lone mortal girl. A ruse, possibly? He needed to see. "Display your powers."
Brows furrowed in confusion, though not faltering from aim. Instead, confidence wavered knowing efforts would likely be futile. Never to have felt such a domineering aura before, she questioned her sanity if she really was standing before such an adversary. Tamping down rising nervousness, she replied. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have any powers."
She chooses deceit. Even now, he can smell the lingering mist of magic, sense it in expanded awareness. Eyeing the girl impassively, a flicker of a frown marred pale features before a stoic mask settled. If he was not going to receive answers, he would be done with this diversion. "Then you are of no consequence."
Flexing claws called forth a swell of visible youki, manifesting into glowing green whips that crepitated in lethal sparks. With a flick of a wrist, an attack was launched.
The bowstring thrummed as the arrow released.
Strands of black fell, strips of white fluttered. Washes of red.
His attack had been quick and she had barely escaped, dodging in time for it to only slice and not completely sever.
Numinous power had exuded steadily along her arrow's misguided path, electrifying the air and confirming his assumption. Irate of such a feeble purification attempt, he charged forth in one fluid motion. She was suddenly pinned by the neck.
Gasping, the girl desperately raked at the arm holding her immobile, each panicked movement inducing more blood to spill from her lacerated arm.
"S-Stop-…let go-" she pleaded, voice croaking as sharp claws tightened.
Glowing red peered upon his prey in heightening displeasure. First, she had ordered him; a cardinal lord, daiyoukai of the West. No one had ever dared to give him commands. Then, she had used deception to befit her advantage. This behaviour was unacceptable, and he was not lenient. Deadly fingers gradually tightened further upon her throat. Her hands were wrapped desperately around a striped wrist in vain attempt to disarm, dark orbs searching beseechingly into his for release. Shallow trickles of breath flowed through thinning airways, reverberating under his palm as a dwindling pulse echoed rhythmically in his ears.
Impartial to the sight before him, Sesshomaru decided then to end it. As his thumb began to press upon the breaking point, an erumpent jolt of sizzling energy burned, causing the release of his hold. Snapping back his hand, the girl fell to her knees while grasping a bruised collar at each laborious inhale.
Quizzical attention turned to the sensation at his wrist, though outwardly his demeanour remained unreadable. The initial burn had faded to a warming tingle. Turning his palm around to survey the other side, he found it ever peculiar. The sensation had not been unpleasant, lingering warmth encircling where her hands had been wrapped. He recalled his encounters with past monks and priestesses, but non he had known to be able to leverage reiki without a conveyor. How was it that this weak human girl able to conjure up such power through a bare touch? Had this been her plan all along, to get him close enough for direct touch? Irritation boiled as his youki flared. "You planned this," he snarled. A mendacious tactic.
"No!" she uttered hoarsely, finally catching a proper breath, "I..I didn't even know I can do that!"
She was honestly just as surprised herself. The sensation felt at her earlier encounter with the ogre had returned, this time dancing erratically beneath each fingertip. It wasn't until now that she recognized it for what it was, and some semblance of pride blossomed within. Though her father had come from a long line of priests, it was always believed that spirituality skipped her, aside from the ability to sense demonic auras. And even then, she was barely capable.
Sesshomaru contemplated her claim. Perhaps she speaks the truth. An untrained miko, he pondered. Her kind was a rarity even in days gone by. And rarer now, when humans were scarce. Regardless, his curiosity had been quelled. The source had been found.
He took an irrevocable step towards the girl as she guardedly started backing away.
His eyes narrowed a carnivorous gleam, and she started to run.
In an instant, the pursuit began.
It was inefficacious. Blood had trailed. The chase was brief. He has her cornered.
Tired legs gave out, body collapsing to the ground. Quivering palms dug into cooling dirt as buckling arms kept her upright. Unconsciousness began tugging at her enervated state, threatening to overcome. Attempts were made to call forth the discovered dormant power, but nothing came from such novice efforts. Not even a glint. She felt herself fading; fighting against fatigue, but losing. Blurring vision shaped Sesshomaru's unwavering approach.
Pristine silk on an aristocrat. An executioner. "Human, prepare to die."
The edge in his voice asserted her fate, and if this was to be her end, she refused to remain nameless. Bleary orbs gleamed in defiant resignation as darkness and exhaustion finally arrived. "Not human," came her frail, stubborn whisper. "Kagome."