Falling Rain
Chapter 11
Muscles ached with familiar pains, burning with overuse from traipsing the countryside; the journey had been long and tedious. Tears welled in her eyes as she came across yet another demolished village, hot and damning in their trek down dirt stained cheeks, knowing full well that it was her friend that had caused such damage.
She had followed him for months now, fighting and retreating, begging and pleading. Nothing she did brought him back, not even his companion blade.
Her fingers ran over the smooth wooden hilt of Tetsusaiga, power thrumming beneath her touch in response to her worries, an anguished cry echoing in the grains. It was difficult to follow him with his heightened speed and agility, but worse still to think that there was something she had left behind that needed her.
Sango sighed, lassitude and desperation bleeding from her lips. Miroku had been too far injured to travel with her in her quest to bring down the beast of Inuyasha. She took him to a small cave outside of the village, deep within Inuyasha's forest and hid him there, secreted him away with herbs and fish and water to heal, to replenish his strength.
Every day she prayed that he was still alive, and every night she cried in fear that he had not made it. His wounds had not been small.
But there was so much more to grieve for. The village was lost, Kaede and all of the villagers that did not flee in time slaughtered at his claws, bloody corpses led by his deadly dance like cattle to the scythe. And Shippou, poor little Shippou...
She shook her head, agony and distress clamoring within for attention, disjointed figments of horrifying memories. The worst of everything was that she did not know where Kagome was. If she was here in this time, dead or alive, or at home safe with her mother was unknown. Sango realized that she might never know the answer to such a question.
Her eyes caught a flash of red beneath her in the thick forest below and she fought to see its direction, twisting and lilting on the back of her companion in an attempt to catch his position. Kirara pulled back in surprise, Sango nearly falling off with the sudden movement, when he rose up in front of them, shooting into the sky like a beacon of death.
Once righted, Sango looked up to find him floating along the currents, staring down at her with a malicious sort of glee, terrible and fearsome.
"You're certainly my favorite toy right now because you just keep playing along. It's so nice to see you again, San-go!"
Her name seeped between bloodied lips, frighteningly clear, a shudder racking her body in response. She pulled her weapon up and readied herself for another battle, another attempt to save him, save them, save her.
"Won't you stop even for a minute? I just need to talk to you…please!"
"HAH! You think I don't know what you carry? Keep that thing away from me bitch!"
She felt the air ripple around her, currents of oxygen moving and thick like water. She maneuvered Kirara closer to the ground in the hopes that he would at least bring the battle down there where she had less risk of falling to her death.
His blades of blood sliced over her head a moment after she had moved, a shuddering breath leaving her weak in the stomach. He was always out for blood.
When he got closer to her, she tried again to bring him down so that she could knock him out long enough to get the Tetsusaiga back into his possession. Gods how she wished Kagome were here…or even Sesshoumaru at this point. Those two were the only one's ever able to take him down when he had fallen to his beast.
She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up.
"HIRAIKOTSU!"
*FR*
Kagome stayed lying with her head on his lap for a while, though she wasn't sure how long, her breath fanning the hair he kept placing over her eyes. Their actions were meaningless and ridiculous but she loved it; it was comforting to her, an odd game that left her feeling otherworldly, out of character, at peace.
It was strange that he stayed with her, so very unlike him, but she wanted his attentions more than anything and so was not in any hurry to turn away such a gift.
A noise broke through her little game with him and she froze, noticing the way he had stiffened as well, alert and listening. She felt him tap lightly on her head, a swift warning to remove herself. She moved her hand up to push the hair from her face, sitting up as she did so.
The moment she was off his lap, he was at her window, throwing open the curtains and walking out onto her balcony. She followed in a flurry of cloth and stared off to the side of the citadel that was covered in the densest part of the forest canopy, dark and thick, but with a different sort of darkness permeating it now, more sinister, more malevolent.
Birds rose in alarm and she listened close for the call she knew she had heard.
"KIRARA!"
Okay not the same thing, but at least the same person.
She turned around and ran through her room ripping her clothes off and throwing open the door to her closet, careless of the damage she could do now. As she tore through her clothing to find something suitable for movement, she turned around to see Sesshoumaru staring at her, naked as the day she was born.
She raised a brow at him and motioned for him to turn around, slightly amused when he gave her a look that clearly told her it was pointless to make him look away. He did it anyhow.
Once she was dressed, she grabbed her bow, a quiver of arrows, and two daggers. She kept these items either on her person or in her room at all times, though admittedly the daggers were newer and she had no real battle experience with them. Still, she had learned quite a bit about speed, agility, and her own hidden abilities from her Alpha and she was eager to see what she could accomplish, what she could show him.
She ran to the balcony and grabbed on to the front of his armor as his arm slipped around her waist, a sense of familiarity with things that ought to have been unfamiliar washing over her. They were high in the air within a breath, which was admittedly frightening, but what was worse was the destruction being wrought at the northern wall, wildlife fleeing, tree and rock scattering, earth upending in disastrous waves of destruction.
She could see him down there, slashing and howling, working desperately to get inside the citadel. Did he know she was there? Or did he only want his brother?
She looked up to find Sesshoumaru watching her, a glare of contemplation overtaking his features.
"You will not interfere until he is properly subdued"
Kagome nodded in understanding, knowing that she would never leave him to die, but that she could not interfere as she had so many times in the past. Inuyasha would take her out in a split second if she got in the way.
They rocketed towards the earth, her excitement racing at the feeling, her dread growing at the reason they had to move so fast.
She saw the boomerang of her friend soar across the canopy and cut down, arcing with deadly intent at their mutual foe, a blur of muted bone and cloth. Unfortunately he seemed to be waiting for it and merely knocked it aside.
Kagome's eyes scanned the forest until she could see her friend, her hand pointing to the side to have Sesshoumaru take her there. He didn't hesitate and changed their direction, which gave her a pretty impressive view of the western military force that had followed behind them, ready and willing at a moment's notice to follow their Lord to wherever he might lead them; loyalty like no other, unfailing, unquestioning, a dagger of perfection in the west.
Kagome stepped away from him when he landed and turned to her friend, noting the tears and the blood all at once.
"Sango!"
She ran to catch her as her knees gave out from underneath her, but whether it was from blood loss, shock, or something else Kagome wasn't sure.
"Take her to the infirmary"
Kagome looked up to see two of the western guards approach her, swift and ready as expected.
"My Lady"
They both bowed and she turned to them more fully, offering Sango to their capable hands.
Kirara bound up next to her with a purr and she lifted her onto her mistresses limp form so that she could stay close in her time of need, her deft hands removing another article from her friend.
Once that was done, she turned to see Sesshoumaru staring into the thick trees ahead of them.
"Stay back"
The laughter that followed his statement was dark and sinister, but held an edge of playfulness to it.
"Ka-go-me, Ka-go-me…have you come to play?"
She turned to see the demon saunter towards her, his hand tapping lightly on his own shoulder in rhythm.
"Oh look, you're all whole again. I wonder who did that?"
She watched as his attention turned towards Sesshoumaru, a daring glint gleaming in his eyes, calamitous storms brewing behind blood red irises.
"Hello….alpha"
Sesshoumaru's answering growl shook her from the inside out. She took a step back and froze when the beast's eyes turned on her, her eyes widening in shock when he bowed low to her.
"Please…stay. You have something I need Ka-go-me"
She knew it was stupid; she knew not to feed into him and his words, but she couldn't help it, anger and injustice swirling with contempt trickling from her mouth on barely contained words.
"What more could you possibly take from me beast?"
"Tisk tisk, so testy. As if you didn't want it. I heard your cries at night, when he slept and the cage was weak, the way you whispered to him your wants, your wanton lust. He didn't want you though, did you know that? You and your harlot ways!"
"SHUT UP!"
Her hands rocketed towards him, sprays of holy energy corralling around his body like deadly halos, vicious and restless, an ache for vengeance. She felt a hand on her wrist and looked up to the angry amber eyes of Sesshoumaru, her focus on the demon broken, shattered like the damned jewel so long ago.
"That is enough"
She blinked and took a step back, falling into a bow at his command. She felt so stupid!
"Oh? What is this? You bow to him now? Traitorous bitch!"
"Intolerable puppy"
Her words were taunting and whispered beneath her breath, callous and cruel, but she knew that he heard her when he snarled in response. She smirked up at him and offered him a small mocking bow, stopping him in his tracks and distracting him further.
She knew the moment the military forces had surrounded him because he dropped into a crouch and began snarling like a caged animal, wicked and loud and so very dangerous.
"That my father's blood is too strong for you shames me. You have disgraced this line long enough"
Kagome's eyes widened at the implication of his words, fear gripping her in the wake of realization, panic forcing her mind into a submission to her own insanity. Sesshoumaru meant to kill him!
Inuyasha's beast leapt at him then, snarls and growls spewing from his throat, claws sharp and fangs bared. He clashed with Sesshoumaru in sparks of red and blue and Kagome had enough foresight to take a few steps backwards. She remembered well how explosive these spars could be, and this one was done with deadly intent.
She shivered at the thought that one of them might die today and shook her head, forcing herself to remain focused on her task. She could not fail. Not this time.
Wind raced past her, solid forms of white and red like blurs so close she could feel the air around them. Her feet stopped and she turned, watching as a cloud of dust settled in a newly formed clearing, trees obliterated, stumps uprooted, mud and grass strewn about like paper confetti. It was awe inspiring and frightening to watch the brothers fight.
Inuyasha stood to the side of the new clearing, his eyes blinking to adjust to the onslaught of sunlight, while Sesshoumaru merely narrowed his eyes and crouched lower, preparing for any possible attack from his younger sibling.
Kagome stood several meters from them and spread her legs apart, her feet digging into the earth below her. She felt the strength of her holy energy wrap around her body and sink inside of her like a river following through its natural path.
She moved it to and fro, commanding its submission to her will, her eyes focused on the scene in front of her, a picture of demobilization in her mind's eye, clear and perfect. .
Her hands lifted from her sides, rising slowly and bringing the terra near the brothers to rise with her. She pinched her fingers closer together the higher she reached and watched with satisfaction as the roots of the trees began to lift from the ground, their sturdy foundation giving way at her command, mother nature eager to stop this damaging battle.
The brothers sprinted again for each other and she took the moment of their distraction to feed her energy and slammed her hands together, her eyes shut tight, her form solid and unmovable. Rock and dust rushed up around them, trees aching and bending at her will, the earth a weapon at her command. It was the single greatest task she had given herself, to command that which she was a part of so perfectly.
As the dust settled again, she looked up from her place where she had fallen to her knees and found Inuyasha snarling in outrage, his lower half trapped by the dirt and stone and root that she had controlled. It wasn't quite what she was going for, but it would be enough for now, her ability not yet mastered.
Her breathing came out in deep, heavy waves, slow and deliberate and not nearly enough.
She found her footing again and stood, walking slowly to the eldest brother, the one whose battle she had just stolen and prepared herself for the lashing of a lifetime. She would not be disappointed.
She moved in front of him and quickly fell to her knees, submission and repentance radiating throughout her aura, her hands stretched out and her forehead touching the ground at his feet.
"Forgive me, but his death is not acceptable"
His voice snarled in her ear, her head aching where his hand held her hair and pulled her up, anger deep and real was felt more than heard, known more than felt. She dared not touch that place on her head even after he released her and took a step back, pacing in front of her in his ire. His eyes, she had noticed, were battling between crimson fury and amber understanding.
"His death is…"
"MINE TO DECIDE!"
She panted in anger, stood tall before him and dared to ask if he would defy her will. Inuyasha's beast owed him nothing, but he owed her EVERYTHING!
"He is mine! Your brother is trapped within and you can have him when I'm done. Your claim is Inuyasha's life…but the beast is mine!"
She watched as realization dawned, cold water washing through stiffened muscles, amber understanding ruling supreme once again. He turned to her with his head held high and glared hard down his nose at her, understanding and angry for it.
"You have earned your vengeance but his death is mine Priestess! You can have his life"
Kagome reached up and pulled her hair to the side, submission and acceptance and gratitude rolling in contented waves, bowing once more and baring her neck, a display, a merciful plea, an offering of complete submission to his will. She had never done anything like this before, but it was not something she thought about; her actions were done at the spur of the moment, purely instinctual.
"I ask for nothing more"
With a nod, he allowed her to stand again, and though his anger was fresh and raw, rubbing against her aura in sinister waves of fury, he stepped back to allow her to take her vengeance, a new respect blossoming inside her chest for him.
Kagome took several deep breaths and searched inside herself for the deep well of power, pulling it forward and sending it in a wave of mesmerizing arcs toward the demon she knew so well and not at all.
Her holy energy wrapped around him, stinging and biting, bending and molding him; swirls of pink and blue energy dancing in mesmerizing arcs round and round, breaking and bending and wearing him thin. She twirled her fingers, commanded her power, and bent his will until all he had left was his snarls and a glare. His body hung over awkwardly in the earth that she had trapped him with, his anger open and untamed.
She lifted her hands and tore away the earth, commanding the roots to return to their resting places.
Inuyasha's beast fell in a heap before her, too weak to move or even turn himself over.
"Turn him over"
Kagome turned to the side to see Sesshoumaru's soldiers rushing in to do his bidding, three in total turning and pinning the tired demon. She nodded her thanks to him and walked forward, a dagger bouncing next to her hip as she clenched and unclenched her fist around it.
She let the memory of her pain, the agony of her experience, the sorrow of her loneliness wash over and through her, caressing and cradling her soul like an infant in need of nurturing. Her seething soul required vengeance, penance for the damage, for the things he took and now she would have it. It would be partial, incomplete, a beginning to end this nightmare, but it would be enough…for now.
She stood between his spread legs, capturing his eyes with her own angry blue seas.
" .it?"
She tilted her head to the side and studied him for a while, curiosity flickering within the darkened blue depths of her eyes, wondering what he was asking.
"My name bitch! Give me my name!"
Kagome dropped her head back and laughed, realization clear, satisfaction at her forgotten power ringing out with her mirth. There was something she held over him, something no one else in this world knew, not even Inuyasha himself.
"Did you really think I would give that to you? That honor?"
Snarls ripped from him, a small measure of strength causing the soldiers to tighten their grips on him.
"I should do to you what you did to me."
She knelt down between his knees and leaned forward; crawling across his body and lying against him, letting him feel the heat and the weight of her. Her head was dangerously close to his sharpened fangs, but she was not afraid.
She held her dagger against his cheek and rolled her own against it, dangerous pleasure seeping through languid finger, cold metal cradled to his skin and words dangerous with promise whispered in his ear.
"I should take from you what you took from me. Shame you, the way you've shamed me"
She blinked and looked out of the corner of her eyes to find him staring at her, his eyes studying the wickedness that she created, broken and dangerous and whole.
"I won't though, be grateful beast for the half you wish to dispel so eagerly. His life means more to me than your death. You who I hate will live to see another day, but only because I have decided so. You who deserves nothing less than the torture of the hell hounds themselves, will live only if he sees fit after I am through with you"
She dragged the dagger down his face, a long, thin line dripping with blood in its wake. Her hand against his chest burned with the powers of her holy energy and she fed it into him, into his veins, and forced it to his heart, a scream ripping from his throat in his agony.
She lifted her body up higher, riding on top of him, ecstasy flowing in elegant delight, a slow and tantalizing wash of power breaking through barriers of magic and anger. Her eyes bore down on him, a body writhing in pain, in pleasure, in agonizing shrieks of realization, and she released her energy to give him time to breathe, her blade pressed against the soft tissue of his throat.
"Let him go beast"
He growled low at her, but otherwise made no move to do what she asked, her demands too high, her price too steep.
"My patience wears thin, Priestess"
Kagome smirked and lifted the blade from him, twirling it in her hand leisurely.
"You hear that? He's never very patient with me. It would seem that you are another exception to his legend of control. I cannot save you for much longer"
"Bullshit! You wouldn't let him die!"
Kagome blinked at the beast's outburst and tipped her head to the side.
"You don't think so? I don't want him to die, you're right about that. But you don't seem to get it, beast. Somewhere up here…"
She tapped the side of her head with a dainty finger and smiled down at him with ill intent, promises of darkness and devastation, a personal prison of pain.
"…you and he are one in the same. I cannot disconnect the two of you up here…so your death or his…really it wouldn't matter as much to me as you seem to think"
Kagome made to rise, accepting that he was not going to choose life over death. But as she stood and turned from him, he snarled back at her, an attempt to bargain, a plea for life. So she half turned back to him, her head pointed down and offering him her profile.
"My name in exchange for his freedom!"
Kagome blinked, thinking over the possibility of giving in to him. She wasn't sure what to do. His name held power, as all names do. But after this moment, his death would remove that power.
She dropped her chin to her chest and stared at the ground in front of her, a single word whispering on the breeze before she left his presence altogether.
"Toukai"
*FR*
Sesshoumaru watched as she walked away, clearly done with Toukai. He found the name fitting in many ways and almost wanted to laugh.
"Stand him up!"
He waited for the demon to be lifted up and walked to the back of him before placing Tetsusaiga against his back after having retrieved it from where she had left it for him. The screams of frustrated agony that howled through his forest brought a sadistically satisfied smile to his features.
He signaled for his soldiers to release the beast and watched as the power of his father was slowly sealed away again.
Inuyasha's body fell limp to the ground, no one daring to catch him for fear of their Lord's wrath.
"Bring him to the dungeons"
With that he turned away and followed the trail Kagome had left for him, anger coloring his steps, flavors of discord tarnishing his palate.
He could see her from a distance leaning against a tree with her head cast down, her hands feeding life into the forest. Her very nature seemed dualistic then, pure and dark, a riddle with no solution.
Sesshoumaru stalked her presence, melded with foliage and forest behind her, studied her from afar. The fall of her hair, silken ebony ribbons dancing around elated eyes, burning him with injustice.
He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her from the tree, dark words whispering across her skin, anger underlying the allurement of his whispers.
"Your form of torture was…seductive"
They soared through the skies, a flight in hurry, a hastened return to the citadel, landing gently on the balcony of her personal chambers. Her body burned him, melted through him, and he released his hold on her waist to let her fall away only to grab her wrist and pull her into her room, tossing her across her bed.
Anger writhed beneath cold amber eyes, burning and taunting. His armor was removed slowly, deliberately; his swords lay aside much the same way. His heated gaze caressed her shaking body, fear trickling into her scent and making his blood resonate with want, salting his taste for her.
He stalked her then, satisfaction rippling beneath slick skin as she scooted her body up higher on the bed. She would never go down without a fight and he loved that about her.
He reached for her, purchase found at her waist, and lifted her away from the soft cushions he provided for her. She took it all for granted, took and did not think to give back. Such luxuries he gave her and she treated them as though they were owed to her.
A true noble bitch!
Such ancient atrocities he could live with; it was more intriguing than upsetting. But her defiance, open and steady and on display for the entirety of the western military, his acquiescence solitary in option, lacking in choice, yielding to her demand, to her power… that he could not overlook!
He slammed her body against the wall, a measure of satisfaction stinging him with her gasp, her pained eyes dawning in realization of the gravity of her choice.
His body pressed against her, captivating her, holding her to his whims and lacking choice or option. Her arms stretched high above her head in his hand, his other hand pressing firmly against her stomach, left her open, bare, desirable, and he wanted to hate her for it.
"You dare defy me!"
She whimpered in response, her words quiet but firm, boldness racing along the winds of her breath.
"I couldn't let you kill him"
"Public defiance! You forced my hand!"
He pulled her top open, shredded it with his claws and bared her neck to him, offered it to him like sweet perfection, water to a dying man. Fangs gleamed along parted lips, elongated and aching to spill her blood, to taste, to take. His head buried into her neck, a growl echoing across her skin, raising her chest to him, fangs scraping against skin, welting, burning, and aching to finish it.
It was not enough. Forced submission would never be enough, not with her.
"I couldn't…"
"What is his life to you?"
"What?"
He heard her confusion and snarled his anger at her lack of concentration. It wasn't a very difficult question to answer.
"His life, what is it worth to you?"
"I can't…there's no way to measure a life"
His eyes darkened in anger, forcing her to look at him, to see him for who he was.
"I would kill my own brother for the atrocities he has committed against you…and you would have me save him. Why?"
"He used to be my best friend"
A snarl ripped from his throat, deep and guttural, angry and petulant. But logic was stronger, ire giving way to reason once more. Used to be. Past tense. She didn't care for him anymore.
He dropped his head to her shoulder and took a deep breath, filling him with her natural scent. She pulled on her hands, a light tug, a request to move, to touch, and he allowed it, his knee and his other hand still holding her in place, heating things that should not be.
He felt the flitter of her fingers as they weaved through his hair, the softness of her lips as she kissed his head. She was torturing him so very slowly.
He lifted his head from her shoulders, amber searching for the ocean, a myriad of emotions clashing against it, noting the worry and excitement captured in her eyes, but not fear, not now. The fear had left her already.
His lips collided with hers, needy and hastened, bruising them with his brutality. She pulled him closer anyway, her body begging for more, twisting to meet him, striving to complete herself with him, to convince him to bury himself inside her, a place of solace and anger and everything raw.
He pulled back and glared at her, his eyes willing her to understand the gravity of the situation, the truth of that moment, the weight of her treachery and his mercy.
"Do not defy me again"
"But…"
He raised a brow at her, wondering if her defiance would drive him further towards the brink of rage. Already he was seething with anger and needed to leave her presence before he did something he would later regret, solace a much better treat than the dungeons that his brother would be kept in.
"If this is my punishment…"
She was incorrigible, truly and utterly an insatiable witch. But then he smirked, a cruel smile to match her wicked thoughts.
He could hardly deny the truth of it any longer. Human or not, she was dragging him into her, saturating her being with his presence, his life, his purpose. But if he was to fall, if he would bend to the whims of the sirenic shrew, the tempting enchantress she had become… then she was going down with him!
"There are better ways Kagome"
He leaned down and dragged his fangs across her shoulder, his tongue darting across the small welts left behind, her body arching into him in shameless search of her pleasure, her completion, him. He could bend to her now, could slip inside her and drink from the springs of her passion, torrid and wet and fulfilling.
He wanted her to fall, to bend like him, to reap the frustration she has sown. He stepped away and exited the room, a shaft of air cooling between them, coaxing his heat slickened body to calm, to walk away victorious against her charms at least one more time.
She would learn eventually that her defiance was not the way to get what she so clearly wanted from him.
Authors Note: I do not, in general, keep a strict update schedule. However, I am working on this one staying steady at around one chapter per week. This way I don't get too ahead of myself and leave you all wondering for weeks at a time what is coming next when I get to the part that I haven't finished writing yet.
In any case, let me know your thoughts on the direction so far. We're going to be having some 'fun' with Inuyasha in the next chapter. :)
See you soon!