Chapter Twenty-Seven

Strangely, there was no moon to be seen when they emerged from the water. A trick of the mind, perhaps? Miho's head was beginning to get foggy with exhaustion, but a dull ache behind her right eye would soon lead her to believe that something more sinister was at work.

The sun began to set within a painting of all the colors imaginable by the time Miho and Sesshomaru reached the waters' edge. Distant clouds billowed and swirled due to the fading heat and dying rainstorms, changing from bright orange, to sharp and soft pinks, deep violets and finally the unmistakable midnight blue that produced a dusted canvas of twinkling stars. Far off into the horizon, lightning bolts danced until the winds of twilight carted them away to dampen other villages. Their fading presence left behind the scent of moist earth and watered down plants.

By the time Sesshomaru set Miho down onto her own two feet, she was beginning to notice the irrefutable ghost of a headache that the atmosphere was no doubt responsible for inflicting. As a conversation between the two male demons commenced from behind, the woman placed two fingers on either side of the bridge of her nose and massaged the area around her eyes as the dull ache transformed into something more sinister. Something is wrong…Miho thought, but she did not speak her suspicions aloud. The last thing that needed to happen was a panic, so she quickly removed her fingers and twisted her body around to face her companion. Sesshomaru had been so deeply engrossed in conversation with Tamotsu that he failed to notice Miho staring.

Tamotsu was the first realize that her attention was on them. He grinned brightly, flashing two rows of pearl white teeth. Miho would have assumed he stole them from a human mouth if she had not been privy to seeing Sesshomaru's own set of teeth. Very plainly visible on the top row, Tamotsu's canines glistened in the twinkling starlight. They were needle pointed sharp, almost identical to Sesshomaru's. For some odd reason, the sight of them made her heart flutter and the blood beneath the surface of her skin to heat and rise up, causing her fare skin to flush an unflattering shade of pink. "My Lady, I trust our trip through the waters was not too traumatizing for you?" Sesshomaru also turned to stare at her with one of his eyebrows raised in question upon seeing her blush. There was a hint of amusement in that little quirk.

Miho cleared her throat and shook her head. "Of course not. It was…fun." She didn't care that her lie was more than plainly obvious in the tremble of her voice. All she wanted at the moment was for Tamotsu to stop smiling so that she could focus on clearing her head of the pain that was threatening to take her over the edge of agony. Something was defiantly wrong. "Sesshomaru, I think we had better be on our way." She glanced in Tamotsu's direction. "Thank you for your assistance."

"You are most welcome, my Lady." Tamotsu bowed deeply at the waist before returning upright. "Are you well, Miho? Although your skin is now a lovely shade of pink, you seem to have gone pale."

Sesshomaru didn't hesitate. He turned completely around to take her entire form into his molten gaze. Miho blinked in surprise but quickly shook her head. "I am perfectly fine, gentlemen. No need to worry. Shall we go?" Her headache was starting to make her stomach dance in an unpleasant fashion.

Sesshomaru was no fool, but he played the situation as though he were completely ignorant. "Alright. Tamotsu, I will be sure to invite you to my home sometime soon. I'm sure that once Miho's health is restored, she will wish to see you again."

This time Miho dropped her forehead into her open palm, both from embarrassment and pain. "Of course, that would be most welcome indeed, my Lord." She plastered a strained smile that resembled more of a grimace on her lips when she lifted her face to look at the two male demons standing in front of her. "I will be looking forward to it." If I manage to be alive by then, she thought sadly. Now was not the time to dwell of whether or not she would live to see this handsome water demon again.

Sesshomaru nodded. "Time to leave."

Tamotsu managed to slip in final words before the two companions flew into the night. "Safe journey, my friends!"

…..

Her skull felt as though it wished to explode, just to relieve the pressure a fraction. Miho put her hand up against her forehead again, hoping to ease the pain with her chilled fingers, but nothing seemed capable of doing so. It didn't help that Sesshomaru's body heat was much higher than hers given his full demon status. Her fever mixed with his heat created a white hot pain that was so intense that it was blinding. Just one glance into the night sky with its glistening stars so bright, made her groan from the torture of it. The silver lining in this whole situation, however, was that the sun was nowhere to be found to cause her further agony.

Sesshomaru began to worry as they flew. Miho had begun to squirm every few seconds, making it impossible for him to not notice that she was becoming severely ill. In the last hour alone, her temperature had risen significantly, proving that death was drawing near. Her head appeared to be hurting her so badly that Miho didn't even take notice that she was shaking uncontrollably from the fever that was eating her alive from the inside out. There had been no attempt from Rin to break through this time. It appeared that both women, both souls were beginning to deteriorate and Sesshomaru could not get them to safety fast enough.

He knew she had taken a turn for the worst when her skin had flushed so deeply before they left Tamotsu's company. It wasn't just her embarrassment that made her skin react so harshly. The fever had already been present during their journey through the underwater cave, even before that. What alarmed him the most, however, was not that she had blushed so easily. It was that the skin that did not blush had been a sickly ghost white. Nothing could conceal her agony under Sesshomaru's watching gaze.

Miho felt the pain slipping down from the top of her skull, to the base and down farther still until it seized up the muscles within her neck and shoulders. There was no comfortable position to lie in while Sesshomaru cradled her sick form. The sensation of flying seemed only to exhaust her more than walking would have. Miho felt dizzy and light headed despite the overbearing weight of pressure taking over her senses. The back of her tongue seemed to take on the swelling pain from her neck, making it extremely difficult to breathe right unless she curved her neck back to open her airway. Fear followed her desperation to take back control of herself and she panicked by allowing tears to well up behind her tightly clenched eyelids. Rin? Rin?

Miho's thoughts took on a life of their own as they formed the name of the woman whose soul that her body had possessed throughout her entire life. Rin, answer me! Please…answer me! What is going on!

Sesshomaru accommodated Miho's movement by adjusting one of his arms to cradle the weight of her neck, hoping this would help her survive just a little longer. His own fear began to grip him so hard that he almost missed the view of his castle several miles off into the horizon.

…

Rin gasped so loudly that Kikyo blinked in surprise. 'What has happened? Rin, what's wrong?'

Rin shook her head trying to clear the pain that had taken hold of her without warning. Whatever pain this was, it was blinding and almost debilitating in nature. Before she could cry out, the pain vanished and was replaced by a shout. 'Rin, answer me! Please…answer me! What is going on?'

Rin's mouth dropped open. 'Miho?'

Kikyo waved to get her attention back. 'Rin, she is on the verge of death. If you wish to give her any chance, you must not catch her attention. She must be allowed to return to the world of the living.'

'Rin! Please! Help me!' Miho's voice echoed through the endless meadow like a drifting wind.

The breeze all but slapped Rin in the face. 'I have to help her, Kikyo!' Ignoring all warning to the contrary, Rin bolted toward the edge of the water once more. Instead of touching it, Rin took off running along its edge to reach the other side where Kikyo's form was disappearing faster with every step she took. Miho's voice was coming from the spot where Kikyo had been standing.

It didn't take long for her to figure out that no matter how long or far she ran, she was not getting closer to the source of Miho's cries. Try as she might, Rin could not reach Kikyo's destination. More out of frustration than anything, Rin turned back around and ran her way back to her previous location. Kikyo once again materialized, but she did not appear thrilled to see her.

'You cannot help her, Rin! She is unreachable! There is nothing you can do except leave her to fight her own battles.' Rin knew Kikyo was right, but it didn't make her any less ready to fight for her. Miho was her only chance to live again.

…..

Miho surfaced into the conscious world not on her own free will, but because Rin had not responded at all. For some reason, she had ignored Miho's cries for help…or perhaps she was already gone. Miho did not like the thought one bit, but there was no way to know. The weight of Rin's soul was still there attached to her own, but that didn't prove much other than she was still connected to something that was surely killing her with every passing second.

Breathing in deeply, she managed to center her thoughts through the pain enough to register that Sesshomaru was carrying her at a much lower altitude than he had been not long ago. She only had to open her eyes once to know that Sesshomaru's home was before them. Miho had seen it before inside of Rin's mind so there was no shock or awe in her reaction upon seeing the massive structure, this castle in the sky.

A silvery cloud of mist gathered about the building, providing an ominous welcome that left the young woman unsure if she wished to complete their journey. The fog somehow made Sesshomaru's home appear as though it were floating, but they both knew better. Soft ground cushioned their landing, proving that the castle was still indeed attached to the earth.

Miho freed herself from Sesshomaru's arms, hoping to look around where she had ended up before being carted off to an unknown destiny, but found her front side eagerly wishing to address the ground. But the ground beat her to it as it came up to meet her instead.

The only thing that she was able to see before the world went dark was the silhouette of a toad and two-headed dragon demon running toward her, illuminated by the lamp light of a dark haired girl that she had no memory of.

Author's Note: I have been fighting a migraine for the past week, so writing about it seemed like a good idea. I gave my pain to Miho to enhance what her suffering is really supposed to feel like.

OliviaAR