Title: Purgatorio
Part: 4 – Once a Student, Always a Student
Author: Shun'u
Series: Inuyasha: Sengoku O-Togi Zoushi
Genre: Supernatural/Suspense
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. Inuyasha, its characters, and original story, are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi; its products are © to Shonen Sunday, Avex Mode, Viz Communications, Bandai and all subsequent parties. "Purgatorio", an original fanfiction, and original characters Yuurei/Inari, Kyosuke, Naomi, Ayako, and Yuko are © Shun'u Hanashiro.
Posted: May 11, 2004…
P U R G A T O R I O
-----------------------------
▪ ▪ Sequel to Full Circle ▪ ▪
By: Shun'u
Part IV: Once a Student, Always a Student
It didn't work… the well isn't working!
Kagome sat. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kagome was aware that she was in shock. However, the part of her brain that recognized and diagnosed this condition was unable to mobilize any other part of her numb body into action.
So she sat. There, at the bottom of the dry Bone-Eater's Well on her family's ancestral land, she sat on tan dust and sharp shale until little by little her limbs began to move all on their own. For all the notice she gave, Kagome might as well have been a wooden puppet animated by puppeteer's strings.
"I can't believe this is happening," she mumbled.
With deftness born from habit, both hands grasped the sturdy rope that led out of the well. Kagome scaled up the side of the well until darkness receded and she could see glaring afternoon light spike through the spaces between the wooden slats of thin, non-insulated walls. Kagome squinted against it as she swung over the rim to touch solid ground. A strong hand steadied her.
"Thanks," Kagome said automatically.
Her voice trailed off along with her gratitude once she processed the image of translucent fingers wrapped around her forearm. She stared at the hand that so thoughtfully assisted her to stand. The semi-transparent digits were long and masculine, but it was the foremost aspect that made horror zing through her bloodstream. Blinking didn't change anything for the hand was still there when she opened her eyes. She could see raised goose bumps through it.
Whatever composure held her up to this point was lost and Kagome screamed. The blood curdling sound bounced from wall to wall inside the small building and caused the ghostly hand to hastily fall away.
"Please," a cultured tenor voice entreated, "do not be alarmed, miss."
Her ghost was a gentleman.
Don't be alarmed, he says! Hah!
Kagome edged away from the tall apparition. He was too close. Another centimeter and he would be invading her personal space, which was much too close for comfort. Her slate-blue eyes were glued to him and watched for any sign of impending violence. Ghost or no ghost, his hand had felt very solid and very real not a minute ago. And right now she could see that his curious gaze was not a pure forest green.
Kagome's shoulder blades itched and her neck was stiff with a funny, tight feeling. This close, she could see that the orbs were not simply green as she had assumed on the night of the séance, or even during her haunted dream; her ghost's irises were flecked with chips of gold that made dark irises light, a welcoming blend rather than an imposing one.
"Fascinating." He bent his tall frame to peer into the well's depths. Dark, red hair fell over his shoulder. "So you come from the future, miss? I wondered about the unusual garb."
The light chuckle accompanying this observation was enough to nullify much of her apprehension. Kagome's muscles relaxed.
"Even where I come from, women do not dare to reveal so much skin."
A discreet glance over his shoulder, from the corner of his slanted eye, at the bare legs beneath her short skirt was enough to show his appreciation. Her ghostly visitor somehow managed to pull off this feat without being insulting. Unaware of her natural reaction, Kagome relaxed even further.
Her ghost was saying, "And we are accounted as the most daring of all youkai races."
"Umm…" Kagome ventured, "Excuse me, but… who are you?"
He straightened and faced her fully. Kagome backed up an involuntary step, but she didn't expect what he did next. The kitsune bowed… he actually bowed a full, respectful forty-five degrees from his waist. When he rose from the formal greeting his hands clasped hers. Kagome was rendered momentarily immobile by the piercing woodland gaze underscored by a quick teasing grin.
"A young lady once called me 'Yuurei'."
Kagome's face burned. "I thought you were a ghost!"
"Ah, but I am! These shards are very useful," a negligent hand indicated his bejeweled earlobes. Another grin, accompanied by twinkling orbs, was twice as potent as the first. Kagome squirmed in place. "They allow me to take a more solid form with minimal effort," he explained congenially. "As for my name…"
He stopped and sniffed the air with a slightly upturned nose. The open, friendly face was briefly overshadowed by a feral expression but it disappeared so quickly that Kagome questioned her own eyes. Then she sensed it too. The newest arrival to her family home was a youkai. To be precise, a youkai lord. A very suspicious youkai lord with a temper equal to Inuyasha's nearly legendary one in every way… only his was a cold burning fury.
Acting purely on instinct, Kagome threw herself in front of the ghostly kitsune. She didn't know if he could get hurt or not, but she wasn't about to take any chances.
The point of Toukijin just barely missed the tip of her nose. Or did controlled hands stop the straight sword before stabbing through her to reach the heart of its intended victim?
"Miss!"
"Sesshoumaru!"
The youkai lord's empty stare was icy enough to have frozen the seven circles of hell.
"You…"
Sesshoumaru could have been speaking of the weather for all the intonation he gave the softly spoken word. Kagome swallowed the lump lodged in her throat. Luckily, the ghost at her back was not fazed. His voice, as a matter of fact, was downright cheerful and carefree. Admirable if not for one minor detail: Sesshoumaru had just raised Toukijin to a point above Kagome's head. Although she could not see, Kagome could hazard a guess that the sword-point was presently lodged at the junction of the kitsune's collarbones, in the hollow of his throat.
Over Kagome's head, 'Yuurei' smirked knowingly. He knew this youkai…
"Well, well." His laugh was light. An odd and unexpected affection laced the soothing sound. "If it isn't the little prince all grown up."
Sesshoumaru's grip involuntarily tightened around his sword handle. Toukijin pierced ghostly flesh and a drop of blood swelled from punctured skin. The sword was lifted just enough to hover once again at the ready. The kitsune raised his hand and brushed unhurried fingers across his throat. He came away with blood, rich and red. The feral look returned to his fine-boned countenance, amplified by the curl of his lip as he snarled silently from where Kagome could not witness the startling transformation from man to beast.
However, Kagome trembled when the youki surged around her from in front and from behind. Lids dropped to partially conceal her eyes as she prayed to whatever gods were watching that the Higurashi Shrine would not be decimated in a battle of wills between youkai.
"Now, really, little prince, is that any way to greet your elder? At sword point?" Green-gold and amber clashed. Neither of them lost focus of their prey. "And in front of a lady, no less. For shame! Inutaisho's son should show better breeding."
There was a warm undercurrent of warning beneath the pleasant inanities that the kitsune uttered. Kagome noticed and visibly stiffened. This 'Yuurei' was proving to be more than a wandering spirit if he knew Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father by name. She had never heard anyone threaten Sesshoumaru before… and to do so in such a calculated manner… as if he knew exactly which buttons to push.
"Dear friend." Not surprisingly, it was the kitsune who made the first peace-making gesture. "I am not here to harm the little miko."
Kagome waited for Sesshoumaru's response with a considerable amount of trepidation.
"You talk too much," the youkai lord said flatly as he abruptly removed Toukijin from its unwavering position and re-sheathed it with a clank of metal against metal. "As always." Sesshoumaru's right hand was unerring and the sword was safely tucked away without a single snag on pearl-white silk.
"And you're still the arrogant pup you always were." The smirk accompanying this observation was overlaid with a lethal charisma Kagome was coming to identify as an integral part of the kitsune's personality. "The years haven't changed you very much, Western Prince."
Sesshoumaru growled a warning. "Sensei…"
Eyes wide, Kagome parroted, "Sensei?"
The youkai lord only gave a curt nod, not once taking his eyes away from the kitsune spirit. 'Yuurei' proved to be more forthcoming with details.
"It's good to see that you remember me." He turned to Kagome who had stepped away from them. It had become glaringly clear to her that standing between the two males was not healthy while they traded unveiled verbal jabs.
"Once upon a time I was this young prince's teacher – although you wouldn't know it from how he turned out… 'Tis such a shame that my protégé should wind up to be such an anal-retentive prick." He gave a forlorn sigh and successfully ignored Sesshoumaru's twitching eyebrow and clenching jaw. Kagome wondered if Sesshoumaru's teeth would shatter from the force his jaw muscles were putting on them. The kitsune continued regardless of the youkai lord's ire.
"I tried so hard to break him out of his perfectionism. Unfortunately the boy inherited stubbornness from both sides of the family," he said forlornly.
It was at this point that Sesshoumaru finally grabbed Kagome's hand in an iron grip. She yelped and tugged but neither dissuaded the youkai lord from literally dragging her out of the well shrine. Digging her feet in only managed to kick up dust.
"Wa- wait, Sesshoumaru! I want to hear-"
"Ignore him."
"But–"
Out of the corner of her eye, Kagome saw the dual crimson stripes of Sesshoumaru's wrist flash from within his voluminous kimono sleeve. Out of instinct she tried to sidestep him, but his hand dropped hers and came to rest at her back before she could blink, propelling her forward with a slight nudge. Kagome had to double her steps to keep up with the momentum of his push.
"I said, ignore him, Kagome," he snarled and his claws pinched the skin of her lower back. Kagome winced and decided that it would be wise to follow his orders while he was in such a foul mood.
Behind them, the kitsune followed in morbid fascination. He had never seen Sesshoumaru interact with a female in such a way before. Quite the gentleman considering the fact that the little prince normally ignored the existence of all things inferior to him. That Sesshoumaru had even deigned to learn the girl's name was a wonder in and of itself.
"Ouch!" Kagome jerked away from the youkai lord's careless claws.
Sesshoumaru glanced down at her back to see that he had inadvertently pierced the ivory material of her clothing to graze skin with his claws. He expelled a deep, silent breath. Never slowing his quick pace, Sesshoumaru retracted his claws enough to allow the pads of his fingers to touch upon the little miko's back.
"Sesshoumaru?"
"What?" He glanced down briefly.
"I… umm… never mind."
Sesshoumaru's unblinking stare unnerved Kagome. It was like he was dissecting her mentally. She began to wring her hands and chew on the inside of her lower lip. She glanced over her shoulder at the kitsune trailing silently after them. His slanted woodland eyes were trained somewhere in the distance, seemingly lost in profound contemplation as sunlight reflected off of gold flecked green. She could almost see through him completely to the well shrine they had just departed. The questions returned to her.
Kagome leaned in closer to whisper, "Who is he, Sesshoumaru-san?"
The demon lord was silent until they reached the front steps of her neatly tended family home. There, he paused.
"He was my teacher."
Kagome blinked and tilted her head in curiosity. "Was?" she echoed, catching Sesshoumaru's slight emphasis the past tense.
Unwillingly, with a great sense that she would be seeing something that she did not want to witness or understand, Kagome's gaze was drawn downward to the ground, to where earth met the feet. Or what should have been feet… for there was nothing connecting the kitsune to the solid earth beneath them but empty hazy space before the faint outline of legs led upwards into the kitsune's body.
Kagome recalled one of her grandfather's teachings that she had brushed off so facilely in the past.
"Granddaughter, remember. Once you have become a full miko many will be drawn to you and the powers that you control. Humans will seek reassurance and security from your wisdom. However, there are others who will look human but who will seek your pure spirit for other reasons. Beware of the ones that are no longer bound to the earth. They are the ones that have already passed on. If Enma-Daiou has not chosen to return them to this realm, there may be a reason why."
Piecing together all of the fragments of the last couple of days, Kagome felt a faint tremble begin in her hands. She wrapped them around her arms and turned to face the kitsune who looked so much like how Shippou would look many years from now.
"He died almost two years ago," Sesshoumaru expounded. "He had been attacked by a pair of youkai brothers."
The kitsune heard Sesshoumaru's quietly spoken words. The shadow of a memory was quickly buried as he came level with them. He grimaced melodramatically, "Must we rehash old history, little prince?"
Sesshoumaru narrowed his amber eyes. Voice cold, he said, "Must you show such blatant disrespect for my station?"
Kagome wisely took a step away from the hair-raising youki. The palm of her left hand felt bare without a bow while her right hand almost itched to reach for an arrow.
"Ah…," the kitsune's deep and formal bow somehow translated into a mockery, "please let this humble one not step upon such privileged toes." The kitsune straightened slowly and looked directly into the youkai lord's eyes, the glint of challenge bright and unwavering. "However… once you have been my student, you will always be my student, no matter how high of a pedestal the rest of the world sets you upon."
Youkai = demon
Youki = demonic energy
Kitsune = fox spirit/demon (a type of youkai)
Miko = priestess