I AM SO SORRY
I meant to do this chapter soo long ago but ….yeah I lied.
Don't kill me and continue reviewing! I swear I will update every week! Well okay I can't do that or else I would be breaking a promise…bad me….
But anyway you get my drift. I have an excuse though! Exams are coming up for us mortal high-schoolers (shiver) so there just loading on the homework. Yes this still applies to us of the homeschooled scholarship-thingy. That was for Katie 'because I can just see her now, reading this update, eyes twitching and screaming 'BUT YOUR HOMESCHOOLED!!!!!!! YOU DON'T GO TO SCHOOL YOU LAZY ASS!!!!!"
And another reason, I was supposed to have this up on Tuesday but I found a baby raccoon and I was preoccupied with that, but sadly it died two days afterword….poor Meeko (recognize the name?)
So anyway, on with the update!
--x--
Disclaimer: I don't own it…..if I did, Sesshoumaru would be mine, and no one else would have been created (But then I wouldn't be able to write this story would I?? Hmm….maybe I should change everything mentioning Kagome to 'Kerrison'….mwahahaha)
--x--
"Kagome-san…we were wondering…well we were listening when you spoke to the Lord this morning…and…"
Kagome sighed, frustration and anxiousness playing on her already frayed nerves.
"Just spit it out please?" Kagome asked as kindly as she could.
"Why is Naraku going to try and murder Sesshoumaru - sama?" they asked hurriedly.
Kagome turned around in her barrier to look at them.
"Because Naraku does not like fear. And Naraku is afraid of Sesshoumaru - dono's power and strength. Actually Sesshoumaru is the only one Naraku is afraid of, other than me that is."
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The dojo was beautiful.
But then again it was said that the art of death was a beautiful thing.
As Kagome walked forward slowly, she gazed around in concealed wonder, her chartreuse eyes widening with every step she took towards her captor.
The room was mammoth, even by Kagome's standards, and she had seen a lot of dojo's and castles and palaces in her lifetime. The ceiling was high, at least twenty to thirty feet. Rafters hung slightly below the ceiling, slashes in the strong oak wood from previous swordsmanship lessons. The walls were equally magnificent, painted with murals of fantastic battles from history, many containing a majestic white inu youkai in his true animalistic form.
Kagome's feet automatically followed the slayer though her eyes and mind wandered different paths.
Eyes alight with natural curiosity followed the murals around the room. They were beautiful; masterpieces of the artistic type, filled with details that words could never explain.
One particular depiction caught her eye as Kagome paused for a moment, looking at the image detailing a youkai with sharp triangular ears atop of his white shining hair. His hair was caught in a breeze, flowing freely across his darkened cheeks; he was handsome in a boyish way. He appeared to be standing next to a tree, until further inspection told Kagome that he was in fact held there by an arrow, pinning him to the tree.
But the face of the hanyou, his eyes and his expression is what stopped Kagome in her tracks. His face was filled with such an uncertain horror, an unspeakable heart brokenly sorrow. The lifeless eyes were bent with such an intense pain that Kagome had the irresistible urge to go and comfort him.
He's just a picture….
Kagome shook her head, peeling her eyes off of the picture, trying not to think how much alike she and that boy were.
That's what I look like…when I let my mask fall.
"Fujin, come here." The baritone voice of Sesshoumaru brought Kagome out of her reverie.
Slowly her legs became unlocked from there iron stance, resuming their march across the black walnut floor of the dojo.
"Sesshoumaru-dono." Kagome greeted with a bored indifference.
Sesshoumaru did not deem it necessary to reply, merely glanced at the brown haired slayer.
The slayer, Kagome now realized, was a woman in early woman hood, with a graceful stance and a pretty face framed by stray hairs from her upsweep ponytail. She was dressed in traditional slayers costume, tight fitting clothes in dark colors, in this case black, and armor attached to her shoulders knees and elbows in a bright pink.
The young woman, noticing Sesshoumaru's glance moved forward with a confused expression on her young dimpled face.
Sketching a low bow, the slayer spoke in a feminine voice, "Konnichiwa Lady, I am Sango, Taiiji of my village."
Kagome smiled in return, though her sharp wit quivered with unanswered questions and an apprehensive guess at what was happening here.
"No need for such formalities," Kagome said, looking furiously towards Sesshoumaru for answers, "after all I am just a prisoner, ne Sesshoumaru -dono?" Kagome asked, finding no answers in Sesshoumaru's cold golden eyes.
An awkward silence ensued, both females awaiting the orders of the taiyoukai. Finally after a few minutes of seemingly unnecessary hush, the Lord of the Western Lands spoke, shifting his weight unconcernedly.
"I need to reassess the powers of my enemies." Sesshoumaru said, pausing slightly before continuing, "And you are the closest thing I have to an enemy at this moment." He finished, his insult thickly veiled under his dry tone.
Kagome closed her eyes in a desperate plea to any god that still smiled upon her.
Not this again…
The taiiji still looked uncomprehendingly, a worried look in her eye before finally bursting out with her question.
"What is this Sesshoumaru-sama?" You called me out here saying you needed my assistance in exterminating a demon. I came here in good faith, now what is this?"
Sesshoumaru directed his answer to Kagome, completely ignoring the ningen.
"You will battle with this…slayer. Incompetent as she assuredly is, you should be well matched."
Kagome and Sango both growled unanimously at the insult, though Kagome made no move toward him, still confined by the shimmering green barrier of poison.
"What is the meaning of this? If we do as you so command, one of us will surely be killed!" Sango exclaimed, picking up a large bone in the shape of a boomerang from her feet, something Kagome had failed to notice before hand.
"That would be the point of this."
-x-
"What do you think will happen?" Shirou asked his brother in an awed whisper, the two of them with their exceptional youkai hearing had no choice but to eavesdrop on the threesome in the dojo.
"I - " Ryoku was cut off from giving his answer by a sudden malicious laughter erupting around them, accompanied by a dark purple aura enveloping them.
"Both taka leapt up and turned around in a synchronous motion, only to look upon the face of a raven haired man with crimson eyes and wearing the pelt of a baboon.
"Wh…who are you?" Ryoku asked, crouching down in a fighting crouch similar to the one his brother already held.
"Don't you know little ones?" the man cackled, moving forward slowly.
The twins lowered farther down to the ground, balancing on their toes, waiting and ready to spring against the expected attack.
The gumo youkai as their keen senses so told them, kept walking closer to them and the double oak doors to the dojo.
We must protect our Lord Sesshoumaru…and Kagome- chan.
Their hearts thudded in their throats as the man came closer…and closer…and closer still, making no move to attack them yet.
And then…
He passed them.
The younglings eyes widened in shock as they tried to move, to fight him, to stop him entering the dojo. But they couldn't. Eyes still in motion they gave horrified looks to each other, as a poison leaked through their systems, rendering them useless.
No…
Their eyes flickered to follow the dark form, the man stopping to watch through a crack between the doors.
"She won't fight her…you were always such a fool Ne-chan." The man whispered silkily,still making no move to enter.
Ne- chan Sisterbut that would make him…..Naraku….
Ryoku and Shirou looked at each other from their frozen positions with identical expressions of horror on their faces.
-x-
"Slayer, please remind me of your name." Kagome said, looking calmly through the green haze of her barrier.
Sesshoumaru had already backed slowly into a dark corner, waiting impatiently for the battle to initiate so he could release Kagome from her barrier. Normally he would have been closer but he could not allow wayward attacks from these incompetent imbeciles to damage his person.
"Sango…" the ningen answered hesitantly, standing ready for battle with her Boomerang Bone gripped tightly between both hands.
Kagome looked slowly away from her, towards where she sensed Sesshoumaru to be and gave a soft smile.
"Sango, I will not harm you." Kagome answered, her voice strong and as indifferent as if she had just said something completely casual, instead of the fact that she had just gone against orders from her subjugator.
Sango dropped her boomerang in shock. She had expected this demon to come at her with full force, fearing for her life. But instead she says she will not fight her? Will not even attempt to kill her as the ruthless Sesshoumaru had commanded?
Maybe this is a trick….
"Yes you will woman; else I will have you murdered." Sesshoumaru spoke from his shadow.
Kagome gave a small laugh at this.
"No you wont, you may pretend to be a ruthless killer but there are brains hidden underneath those harsh words." Kagome gave another small smile, flipping her long mane of hair with a casual flick of her neck, "You want to know more, about me, about Naraku…so don't pretend to be the idiotic psycho killer. It doesn't suit you."
Sesshoumaru stiffened at her ill-mannered speech and glowered, golden eyes glaring with a heated intensity. However he made no attempt to rebuke her…her words were partly true.
"Then I will have you tortured." Was his drawn out reply.
Kagome gave another sad smile, eyes glistening slightly, whether it was from the intensity of the dying sun's glare from outside the windows, or rather unshed tears.
"Then I will have to deal with that won't I?" Kagome answered forlornly, turning to look back at Sango. "But I will never kill a human, never again. I vowed that a long time ago and I will not break that promise to myself."
Sango was shocked.
Living in her village, demons were treated as monsters, the scum of the earth whose only purpose was to bring death and misery in a gaping trail behind them. So to have one who was willing to be tortured, to be put through unimaginable pain for her, a human this demon knew from nowhere was….mind boggling.
The intense rumbling growl of a certain taiyoukai filled the dojo.
Sesshoumaru stepped out of his shadowed cove, walking towards the slayer.
Stopping a few feet away from Sango, he looked between the two fujin, seeing the stone faced demon girl, and the rather disconcerted ningen.
Facing the Sango girl, Sesshoumaru called to his youki, his acid green whips forming as an elongated length of his two foremost fingers.
"Then you have no purpose to me." Raising his hand, he readied himself to decapitate the girl.
"No!" Kagome screamed hoarsely, running out of her barrier without so much as a second thought, barreling into Sesshoumaru and knocking him off of his feet."
Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in apparent shock. Looking rather un-lordly sitting on his bottom, a large dent in his armor from the impact from the wench.
Kagome was fairing just fine, even though she had just crossed a barrier made of the most potent poison that Sesshoumaru could summon, even though at the time he had thought it as a waste on such a weak and simple minded girl.
Kagome stood up quickly, eyeing the obvious rage that was building in the taiyoukai across the room from her.
Heading towards Sesshoumaru in a rather relaxed stroll, Kagome looked back to Sango for a moment.
"Run girl." Kagome ordered, something that Sango realized was required for her survival.
Turning back to Sesshoumaru, Kagome stood absolute, waiting for what she knew to be coming.
The anger that radiated off of Sesshoumaru was, strong, thick and filled with lust for her blood. The waves of fury rolled off him in thick sickening dregs of tinted aura.
And then she did the most unexpected thing, the most unconditionally idiotic, startling thing.
She laughed.
It was a clear tinkling laugh, her chin tilted up to the domed ceiling of his personal dojo.
How dare she…
Sesshoumaru's infuriation increased ten-fold when he heard her laugh. He could suffer many losses and many insults, but no one, no one dared laugh at him.
Growling audibly, his canines lengthened to jut out over his cheekbone, eyes streaking red as his animalistic half fought to gain control and annihilate this woman.
Kagome's raucous laughter slowed to a soft chuckle as she looked towards Sesshoumaru again. Her face still carried a certain amount of joy in it though, as she lowered down to a fighting stance, teeth elongating and eyes taking on an electric green hue.
Unexpectedly Sesshoumaru charged, taking Kagome by surprise as he leapt from above, her quick reflexes saved her from any major injuries though, having only a small gouge below her left breast.
Kneeling down on one knee Kagome smirked, one clawed hand pulling away from her wound with bloodied tips. Half smirking Kagome leapt up as Sesshoumaru tried another attack from behind, his whips whistling through empty air as she leapt up and clear from danger, onto the rafters above her.
Floating down as quickly as she had risen up to the rafters, Kagome streaked toward a wall hung with decorative, if deadly weapons. Grabbing an iron staff with an ornamental golden spear on one end, Kagome ran towards Sesshoumaru once more.
Sesshoumaru dodged her simple forward attack, only to be attacked from above as she ran up the wall, doing a back flip and coming at him feet first.
Avoiding her attack once more Sesshoumaru let her land before coming after her, aiming his whips for her feet to get her off balance.
Kagome jumped a few feet in the air, avoiding the whips again, landing swiftly only to run and charge at his side. Again he dodged and again he parried, using his whips and claws as weapons.
Their feet did an awkward dance, as they darted in and out of range, fluent movements filling the dojo space and the smell of sweat increased as the two clashed together.
Finally Sesshoumaru drew out his whips once more, their poisonous tang filling the air as the snapped, rushing to Kagome's defenseless back.
Kagome smiled as she saw the whips coming for her, as if in slow motion. Dropping her guard slightly, she turned around and awaited the whips to come to her.
Sesshoumaru had just a moment to ponder her calm appearance as the whips came to her, waiting to burn her flesh to the bone with their noxious poisons.
Reaching out with her hand, Kagome grabbed the whips.
Gripping them tightly she gave a small chuckle at the almost evident emotion of surprise on Sesshoumaru's face.
"Too slow." Kagome whispered mischievously.
Pulling on the whips with all her might, Sesshoumaru was dragged towards her and her waiting spear.
The one millisecond of surprise cost Sesshoumaru dearly - she had pulled him towards her, impaling him on the spear.
Sesshoumaru lay there a few minutes, hardly breathing hard, a small dangerous leer growing on his lips.
"Foolish girl." He said, getting up, pulling the golden tipped spear from his rib cage. Throwing it away carelessly Sesshoumaru closed his eyes momentarily, and opening his eyes to empty space.
Where has she gone…?
A crushing weight on his now horizontal frame told him a tad to late that she had been leaping overtop him.
"Sleep tight." Kagome whispered in his ear, breathing a muggy substance through her mouth. It smelled sickly sweet, cloistering and altogether…soothing.
He found he could no longer hold his eyes open, the force of the unknown substance wreaking havoc on his partially wounded body. And then he succumbed, falling into a dead coma at Kagome's feet.
Kagome brushed herself off, the blood was now caked onto her beige hakama, the movement of her previous battle causing the liquid to blotch oddly pattern-like patches of a deep maroon across her chest.
"Gomen Na, Sesshoumaru -dono, but I did what I had to do. Now hopefully you will abstain from hunting me." Kagome said to his sleeping form, knowing very well he couldn't hear her.
-x-
"Very well done nee-chan."
Kagome paused, her heart pounding an erratic rhythm through her body. Turning around slowly Kagome looked at her biggest fear.
Her brother.
Naraku.
"What do you want?" Kagome asked breathlessly, willing herself to calm down.
"You've been hiding from me. I haven't felt you in…far…to long." Naraku said, an evil chuckle resounding through the span of the room.
Kagome paused again, swallowing down the bile that threatened to rise.
"You…you can't use me like this…" Kagome whispered, backing up hesitantly.
Not here…not now.
"But nee-chan, you promised you would always help me…remember?"Naraku gave her a cold smile, walking forward with a predatory glint in his crimson eyes.
"Please…no." The once proud stance that Kagome had against Sesshoumaru was lost in a distant memory as she cowered under Naraku's shadow, trembling as she sank down on her knees,tears pouring out of her eyes as she tried not to scream.
"Although I really do not need to feed from you…" Naraku paused, grabbing Kagome's chin with his clawed hand, raising her head up to look him in the eye.
"However I cannot let you go…unpunished." Naraku sank down low to be on the same level as her. Leaning in closer he inhaled slightly, inhaling her scent in a lustful sigh. "You're mine nee-chan. Remember that next time. You can't run away from me…"
Kagome stiffened as her brother held her closer, desperately trying to pull away, her self perseverance finally winning against her family honor.
"No-o please…" Kagome plead, pulling away from Naraku's grip and trying shakily to stand up.
Naraku stood up and shook his head gravely, a familiar mocking glint in his expression.
Looking at her for a moment, Naraku smiled again, fangs glinting in the now risen moonlight, and then wordlessly he turned, walking away towards the wall opposite of Sesshoumaru.
Kagome sighed with relief, down to the ground as a breath finally escaped her lungs. Shoulders limp and head stretched to rest on her curled up knees, Kagome had the sudden strange impulsion to go to sleep.
And then she screamed.
Filled with the feeling of liquid fire running rampant through her veins, Kagome gave a blood curdling cry as the torture increased. Writhing in an unspeakable agony Kagome gave another hoarse cry. The feeling was so unimaginably horrific, like someone was eating away from her flesh from the inside. Burning sensations crept through her limbs, and nothing but primal self preservation filtered through her mind. Hands clawing at her skin she tried to get the imaginary demons our from under her skin. Clawing unsuccessfully at her wrists, she tried to slash through them, taking off strips of flesh from the underside of her arm.
Not this…not this again…
And then it stopped. Sobbing in relief Kagome slumped down to the ground, feeling the clammy wetness of her blood run down her arms. Taking a last glance around Kagome noticed the doors to the dojo opening…Naraku's puppet exploding into a pile of dust…Ryoku going to look at Sesshoumaru and Shirou coming to inspect her.
And then she let herself slip away into the black folds of her unconsciousness.
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Ahhh thank god I am done wipes away sweat anyway I'm tired so Ja Ne people of the FanFiction and Inuyasha Journey world, please review.
Oh also any comments to make my story better are always appreciated, and if I made and grammatical errors pleas tell me.
And another thing, did Sesshoumaru seem rather OOC in this character? I found him to be so…I also didn't like my fight scene but I am not very good at those, so practice makes perfect and all that.
Ja Ne Minna!