Falling Rain
Chapter 6
Bold = Beast
Kaede had been gathering herbs when she found it, the small strip of green and white cloth. She had slipped it into her pocket as there was something greatly familiar about it, but her old mind could not place where she had seen it before; not that is until now.
Inuyasha had returned from the forest several days ago to tell them that Kagome had removed his beads as a gift. She thought it strange that he wasn't happy about it, or sad, or even mad. He acted as though it didn't matter to him at all. But then he told them that Kagome had returned to her time to retrieve a forgotten item. At the time there had been no reason to think that anything was out of place.
But then the young girl did not return. After the first day passed without Inuyasha saying anything or even blinking in the direction of the well, Kaede let it go. But then the next day passed, and the next and Inuyasha still made no fuss at all.
The half-demon was acting anything but normal too; he was rough with the villagers, threatening them when they were in his path, snarling when they looked his way. She had noticed then that Inuyasha did not carry his sword.
Kaede had a bad feeling in her bones and had decided to make a new set of beads as a precaution of safety until Kagome returned. She had a feeling that the girl did not know what the beads truly did for him.
Kaede sat amongst the foliage in the forest; the herbs she had been searching for were finally within reach. She put her basket to the side and pulled the small strip of fabric from her pocket, stroking it between her fingers with dread.
"Kagome…"
"Ah Kaede, what'd you go and find that for?! You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't be in my forest neither."
She stiffened at his words, watching over her shoulder as he sniffed the air, his eyes glancing down at her and locking onto hers with ferocity. It is as she feared.
"Those herbs…Kaede… I just got rid of that damn necklace"
Kaede narrowed her eye at the half-demon and turned her body around, scooting back as she did so.
"Something is different about ye, Inuyasha"
"Something indeed! But I am not Inuyasha. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the nameless beast, nameless because that simpering fool didn't have the nerve to give me one. That fool is now locked up tight and won't be coming out any time soon…or ever really. And you…you are Kaede; head priestess of that pathetic little village…for now at least."
Kaede took a step back, the heat rising in her body as her heart rate sped up.
"What do ye intend to do?"
The beast grinned wickedly and flicked his claws out.
"That is not your concern old woman. Once I kill you and that little village, I will be free"
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and Kaede sent enough spiritual energy at him to distract the beast for a few moments. She turned and ran as fast as her old bones would move, which was slower than she would have hoped.
The beast howled somewhere behind her and she knew then that it would not be long before he caught up to her. Every bone and muscle in her body ached, her lungs straining for air, but she only pushed herself that much harder.
Some villagers called out as she ran past, but she could barely call out to them to move, to hide! She heard more calls in the distance after that and knew that the beast had made it to the village already.
Her breath escaped her when she reached her hut, a feeling of triumph and hope filling her. The world spun and she found herself on the ground, a burning sensation in her arm telling her that it was broken, as were her hopes. She couldn't focus on that though. The demon looming over her demanded her full attention and she was not so naïve as to look away.
His eyes, the color of freshly spilt blood gleamed down at her as the beast crossed his arms over his chest, the action very much a habit of his more placated half. A smirk came to his lips, his elongated fangs glistening in the sunlight peaking over his face.
"Thank you, old woman, for that unexpected chase. I do love a good chase and now I'm all excited, ready to kill, with a whole village at my…disposal. How convenient. Such a good way to work off some of this boredom at the very least"
The dark chuckle that seeped from him sent shivers down Kaede's spine, fear causing her to scoot back involuntarily even knowing that it would set off his instincts. She felt the fear escalate when his ears twitched at the sound of her scuffling along the ground; the silence when his chuckle stopped was thick.
"It seems you have outlived your ability to amuse me Kaede. Rest well"
As the words left his lips, his arm lifted in a frightening display with his long, sharp claws poised and tinged with the blood from her arm.
She closed her eye and sent a prayer to every deity she knew of that the villagers would not suffer. A rush of wind sailed over her head and she heard a distant cry of salvation.
"Hiraikotsu!"
*FR*
"Wait, so Inuyasha is…broken?"
As Sesshoumaru nodded his head in confirmation, Kagome shook hers in denial.
"I don't understand. Why now? Why so sudden? There were plenty of times before…plenty."
She watched with fascination as Sesshoumaru bit back a sigh, his features pinching with impatience.
"He removed Tetsusaiga"
Kagome scoffed at that. Of course he did…he always did.
"Yes, but he's done that many times before. Sometimes he would walk around without it for days."
"The power of the beads held him at those times. That trinket did not only give you control; it weakened his demonic energy so that he could be tamed. Such things are used by priestesses in times of dire need. Without the necklace, his demonic energy was returned full force"
Kagome felt her eyes widen in disbelief, her lips moving but the words that spilled out still shocked her.
"And with Tetsusaiga not at his hip, he had nothing to anchor his energy…to harness it to him with the overwhelming surge…"
"Yes. He has been overthrown by his own beast. You should not have attempted to remove the beads by yourself. Such an act was foolishness"
Kagome felt both rage and a sense of sickness overcome her.
"I believe I am done eating"
She stood from the table and stormed past her stunned companion in a typhoon of fabric. She didn't care if he found her rude or impetuous anymore. She hoped that he understood her actions, but figured he would not.
The door to the garden slammed closed behind her and though it felt good to slam his doors, it wasn't nearly satisfying enough.
She all but ran to her chambers, ignoring the looks of the servants and nobles as she passed them all, a sense of bitter wrath rising from the pit of her stomach, vile and metallic. When she reached her room, she threw open the door and ran inside, slamming it shut behind her before throwing herself on the freshly made bed. She wanted to cry, to scream her frustrations, but she did not have any tears left.
She simply curled up on top of the bed and let her mind wander, her eyes blank and her heart heavy with the weight of her own actions. Sesshoumaru's words rang in her ears, truth berating her childishness, her fantasy-laden mind, and all she could hear was that it was her fault, that she had done this. She was the one to blame for her undoing and possibly for the deaths of thousands of people.
The weight of it was too much, crushing and unmerciful in its relentless scream, and she felt the final snap inside her soul disconnecting her from all that she had been.
She really was foolish.
*FR*
Sesshoumaru stared at the door to his gardens for a while, lost in complete confusion at her outburst. It was unclear why she was so angry with him and for a moment he thought to demand her reasoning, confusion an unwelcome monster in his mind. But then he remembered who she was.
Her reasoning would not matter because her thoughts did not matter. But he would need to make it clear that she was not to mistreat his home during her stay here, her respect was long overdue.
Probably not the best time to discuss this with her.
While he agreed with his beast, he also did not want to be prisoner to the shrew in his own home, her anger and pain the stitching within the tapestry of his life. Such was unacceptable.
He walked briskly toward the towering stone building and leapt to his balcony, foregoing the questioning stares of the courtesans and servants. He did not want their opinions.
Once inside, he walked through his room and down the hall, pausing only for a moment to consider knocking. Instead he decided that he did not care. Her state of undress, if she were even changing, was not his concern; her acceptance or refusal of his entry into her chambers inconsequential. He had seen it all before anyway.
The door slid open easily, though he noticed a small crack in the wooden frame, his ire escalating at her mistreatment of his home.
He closed the door much more gently than she obviously had and stalked over to the bed, stopping to stand in front of her, towering and menacing, his chagrin a direct product of their melee. When he opened his mouth to berate her though, he paused, blinking in wonder as he looked down his nose at her. She hadn't so much as acknowledged his presence, the importance of it little to her; she was seemingly unaware that he was there even though she was staring straight at him from her place on her bed.
With curious eyes, Sesshoumaru reached out to grasp her shoulder but pulled back as though burned when her words bit out at him, hissed from places deep within, the darker corridors she hid from the world.
"Don't touch me. I'm tarnished, remember? Besides…"
He watched as she sat up, pushing herself with her arms until she could gather her legs underneath her body properly.
"…I might do something foolish again and cause your city to be destroyed"
Sesshoumaru stood by her bed, her words turning over in his mind, confusion as unwelcome as before, but no less present than before. He did not understand what she meant about destroying the city. How could she possibly manage such a feat?
"He's probably already killed them all by now and I can't even cry for them. I have no tears left"
He closed his eyes, the breath that he did not realize was held slipping from his grasp unintentionally. It made sense now, her anger at his words, her strange accusations. He did not agree with her though; she was not at fault for this, but he was uncertain how to make her see that.
Sesshoumaru sat down on the edge of the bed, his head turned to see her face but disappointed to find her eyes cast down, a distinct refusal, a denial . He reached out and pushed her face up to see him with a finger under her chin.
The stubborn woman kept her eyes closed though.
"Look at me!"
He watched with veiled satisfaction as her eyes slowly opened to reveal the troubled seas she guarded so closely.
"You are not at fault. Your actions were made in ignorance… your intentions, however, were not."
Sesshoumaru dropped his hand to the bed, a sigh tumbling away from him heavy with the burden of her truths. She needed to understand what was happening better so that she might stop blaming herself and start helping him to find a way to fix the problem.
"Inuyasha has led a difficult life. As a half-demon it was destined to be so. However, my father's blood is more potent than most. Any other would not have needed an anchor"
"But I released him…in more ways than one. This is my fault"
Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and acquiesced to her reasoning. She was not entirely incorrect.
"Perhaps, but that does not make you responsible…not this time"
"I don't understand"
"You, the girl from the future with no demons and no magic…how could you possibly understand this?"
He watched her recoil with his words, draw back and slip inside the shell of her creation, her own protection; the lack of emotion he fed into them was likely more damaging to her than if he had said those words in anger. But he would not because he was not angry. He was simply stating a fact, asking a question that needed no answer.
"Since you find it necessary to take responsibility for the consequences of your action and disregard the actions of my half-brother, then do so properly. Stop wallowing in your sorrows and repair what you have damaged"
He stood from her bed and watched as her eyes followed him, her silent pleas begging him to explain more; he would not do so until she asked it of him properly. He owed her nothing but would give her just about anything. Such was the damage his brother had done.
"Please…wait"
Sesshoumaru paused at the door, his hand on the frame ready to leave.
"I don't know what to do. I don't…"
Her sigh carried weariness but also frustration, a small measure of determination burying itself inside the ocean of her eyes beside the doubt. For now, that would be enough.
"Meet me at the dojo after the midday meal. Takara will find you suitable attire"
He did not wait for her response, did not care to hear it. She had asked for his help and would receive it as he saw fit to give it. She did not need to like the answers he had, she simply had to follow his directions.
Even she should be able to manage that much.
*FR*
Kagome stood in the middle of what she could only call a grand arena. It was magnificent and beautiful and nothing of what she had expected a dojo to look like.
For starters, it was outdoors. Why she had assumed it would be inside was beyond her, but thinking on it now made her realize how foolish an indoor dojo would be for a demon like Sesshoumaru. Still she couldn't help but marvel at the genius of it all, the natural and solid beauty that was captured in that single place on earth.
There were stones all around her that made a stairway high up into the forest canopy, the steps easily doubling as seating for any onlookers. The ground under her feet was pounded down by use but otherwise natural, rocky, uneven and more realistic than any flat wooden surface could ever hope to be.
The moss that grew around the stones and the trees that came up over the tops concealed the area such that she hadn't noticed it until she was inside, Takara having laughed at her for not realizing they had arrived. But the entrance had been just as enthralling.
She had thought that they had come up to another stone wall to pass through, the vines and moss on the stones, along with the trees surrounding it had hidden the entrance from her unknowing eyes.
When they passed under an arch half made of stone and half from an ancient tree curled over, she had stopped to marvel at the combination. It was a beautifully natural landmark that gave her the impression that this place had always existed and was merely being purposed for a dojo until such a time that it was no longer necessary.
"There are many places like this within the citadel. This is my personal dojo"
Kagome turned in shock at the sound of his voice, the tenor of it washing over her in calming waves.
"It's so… indescribable"
She noticed his smirk and glowered at his amusement, unimpressed with his display of haughtiness. There wasn't any other way to describe it so she wasn't going to try.
"What am I doing here anyway?"
She watched as his demeanor turned from amiable to cold, hard determination.
"You are going to learn. The problem with humans lies not in their weaknesses, but rather in their acceptance that they are weak"
Kagome blinked and unfolded her arms, her eyes blinking in confusion.
"You will be one of few to study under me. You will study until there is nothing more to learn. You will not be weak any longer"
She took in a slow breath, apprehension filling her, burning determination steeling her nerves.
"In the future there are scientists that study all sorts of strange things. They can tell you how much of your brain you're using, how much of your capacity is left unused."
Her words were casual, flippant, uttered with absolute lackluster as though meaningless. His undivided attention had been inevitable.
"Humans use less than 2 percent of their potential. There is room for growth but we do not know how to reach it"
She noticed the way his eyes lit up with a type of enthusiasm she'd not seen on him before, brazen and open, an uncharacteristic show of excitement.
"Then let's show you how"
*FR*
Sango grunted with the effort to hold herself upright, her boomerang pressed tightly against her, the crazed
half-demon pressing into it and slowly moving her back into a trap. The cliff behind her seemed innocent
enough from here, but she knew well the craggy death that awaited any who were unfortunate enough to fall
off the edge.
Inuyasha knew it too.
"Stop this madness!"
Sango turned her head up and watched as Miroku's staff came slamming down onto their friend's head.
"Please, you must stop this!"
Sango let out a breath as the pressure left her, the demon being distracted by the swing of Miroku's staff.
She looked to the side to find Shippou and Kirara safe in the sky, far away from the battle that should never have happened.
"You'll both regret this now. I was going to let you live…at least for a while."
Sango turned her sights back to the demon, horror drawing vicious lines through her awareness, memories burning into her retinas of claws slashing at her dear lover. A small sigh escaped her when she saw that his claws had missed.
"I have better things to do right now. Do me a favor and don't get too bored. I'll be right back"
Sango blinked in confusion, her eyes tracing the silhouette of where he had been, too fast to see and
sailing away with the wind. Realization struck a moment later and she called out to Kirara, begging her to
come down so that they could follow quicker.
She leapt up and mounted her faithful cat, pulling Miroku up when he reached out for her, urgency straining the muscles of her soul.
"What is going on?"
Sango shook her head and urged Kirara faster, terror muting the words she longed to utter. Fears restrained her voice, solidly stuck in her throat, terrified that their utterance might make it true.
They followed him for only a few moments before coming to land in an all-too familiar clearing.
Dread filled her as she watched his claws lift over his head.
"INYASHA NOOOOOO!"
The force of his blood attack was staggering, a whirl of deadly blades that uprooted trees, exploded rock and mortar. When the dust settled, Sango slipped from Kirara's back, weak and sick and unwanted denial dragging her to her knees, her heart crying out for her friend.
The earth shrieked in agony, a cascade of wood and bones showering the earth, fodder for the hole that had once held the secrets of magics long lost. The way home had been shattered, lost to time, stolen by the beast that wanted only to obliterate all that she knew to be good.
*FR*
Dun dun dun!
To SilverSoks, hope you like the new twist! ;)