-1A/N: The ideas I played with in this chapter have already been picked over and written about at least 1000 times over, but I liked them and wanted to include them in my story too. So here's my twist on some old favorite situations:
Chapter 5
"Master, why are we here? We've heard no rumors of Naraku dwelling in such an...undesirable place." Jaken was complaining once again. They had been traveling for three weeks straight, talking to the strangest demons, a tree, and even a few humans. Sesshomaru was searching for something, Jaken was sure of that.
Jaken nearly ran into the back of the dog demon as he stop in his tracks, listening to the night. They were in a swamp and it stank of decay. Jaken was covered in swamp mud and sludge up to him middle, Rin was clean and riding on Ah- Un, while Sesshomaru flew above the swamp using his demonic powers.
"Lord?" asked Jaken tentatively.
"Stay here and protect Rin," Sesshomaru's command was like ice.
"Yes, my Lord," Jaken bowed, only succeeding in getting his nose covered in swamp sludge as Sesshomaru had already flown off above the filth. "Oh, Master, why do you always leave me with this human girl?" Jaken spoke only to himself and the wind.
After Jaken, Ah-Un, and Rin were out of sight, a fire came into view. Sesshomaru couldn't tell if this was what he was searching for, as the swamp gases prevented him from picking up her scent.
He approached the flickering flames, conjured by some magic into the water itself. There was a...well, it was hard to classify what she was exactly. She had gray hair in muddy dreadlocks, heavy lidded eyes, a flat nose that ended right above her thin lips, and scaly black skin. Sesshomaru had the impression that she was some kind of eel demon and believed her to be the one he was searching for.
The woman was hissing in an unfamiliar language. She stopped abruptly and seemed to go into a trance, slightly rocking back and forth while staring into the flames as if she could read something by them. "I know what you seek, but you seek in vain," she said in a monotone hissing voice, not even turning to the approaching dog demon.
"And what is it I seek?" asked Sesshomaru.
"You seek the means to turn a human into a demon. Is that not true?"
"It is true. Why do I seek in vain?"
"You seek the only means to achieve your goal- the Drink of Anomede. The Drink of Anomede is made from the leaves of the tree of Emoceba Anomede. Yet to make this drink, you need 200 years for it to ferment. That is long beyond the life span of a human. That is why you have come in vain."
"Where can I find this tree?" asked Sesshomaru, not heeding the eel-soothsayer's advice.
"You shall seek it though it is in vain? Then I will tell you. You must travel to the top of Mount Efil-Denahetaed off the coast of the East shoreline. Travel by the Path of Niotami Erofstran up the side of the mountain. Along this path you shall be tested. I cannot say what the tests will be. They are different for each traveler. If you make it to the top, pluck 13 leaves from the tree, each one from a separate branch. That is all I can say of your journey."
"And how would I make the Drink of Anomede?"
"Boil the leaves in a kettle of water retrieved from the spot a spring first pours out water from the ground to form a river. Boil the leaves the entire night of a full moon. Let it cool the whole next day and, at sunset, add a drop of blood from the type of demon you desire the transformation to be into. Contain the liquid in a silver flask and bury it in the ground, three feet deep- one foot of soil for each part of a person's being- mind, body, and spirit. Let it stay under the ground for 200 years so that it shall ferment into the Drink of Anomede."
"And what would happen if the drink was underground for more than 200 years?"
The eel-demon woman contemplated this question for a while before answering, "The drink should become stronger, and the transformation would yield a stronger demon, though isn't 200 years too long a time to wait for a mere mortal human?"
Sesshomaru ignored the question. "How much does the human need to drink?"
"A mouthful is all that the human would need to swallow to achieve a full transformation. The transformation itself is gradual, taking seven days to reach full effect. Once the transformation begins, the effect is permanent."
Sesshomaru gave the woman a slight bow, which meant she had told him all he needed to know. He returned to his followers deep in thought only pausing to say, "Come," before making his way out of the swamp. Jaken, Rin, and Ah-Un followed the receding figure.
O0o.o0O
"Close you're eyes. Now, feel your power. Search your soul, find your power in your inmost being. Collect it and push it to your hands . Open your eyes and lay your hands on this man's wound, not only release, but push the power from your hands into his body. Imagine the wound closing, the skin re-knitting itself. Bring the leftover power back to your body and there! Good job Kagome! I think you have this healing thing mastered."
"Thank you so much for teaching me Priestess Relaeha!" exclaimed a cheerful Kagome and giving the village healer a hug over their patient- a man who was injured working in the fields by a tool. The group had finally reached a village with a priestess whom Kagome could learn from.
Relaeha returned the hug and told Kagome, "Just do your meditation every day to increase your power and soon you'll be able to heal every type of injury."
"Thank you again," said Kagome, waving goodbye to the healer and heading out the door of the infirmary to rejoin her traveling companions. It had been an awkward couple of weeks, after her and Inuyasha's "break-up." They wouldn't speak to each other, though when Inuyasha did try to apologize to her, she would give him the cold shoulder and he would give up anyway. The rest of the group pretended not to see them fighting, and treated them just the same as always, though Sango's smile seemed forced, thought Kagome.
Every time they set up a new camp for the night, Kagome would sense the woods around her, searching for Sesshomaru's aura. A week after Kagome had left the healer's instruction, she once again felt that familiar aura.
Kagome pretended to go to sleep with the rest of the group, but once they were all slumbering peacefully, their snores echoing in the darkness, Kagome got up from her sleeping bag, being careful not to wake Shippo up in the process. She walked a little ways from camp, not focusing on anything in particular, until she knew she was close enough to Sesshomaru for him to hear her.
"I see you keep your promises," she said softly, speaking of his parting answer last time they spoke to her question, 'Will I see you again?' It was a inferred promise at best. Sesshomaru came into her view. The moon was at it's quarter, so there was just enough light to dance off his silver hair.
"I have finished the business I had to attend to...for now. I was just passing through," said Sesshomaru. He seemed a little distant, but Kagome was used to this by now. She understood the Sesshomaru kept his emotions (if there really were any) locked deep down inside.
An awkward silence fell between the two, though neither made any notion as to wanting to leave. Kagome decided to break the silence. She had been training for weeks for this moment. "Uh...Sess...Sesshomaru? I have something for you."
Sesshomaru revealed nothing that he was thinking so Kagome took it as a sign to continue. She approached him and he didn't withdraw. Another good sign, for a human. That meant the dog demon wouldn't kill you...normally.
"May I see your arm?" she asked tentatively.
Sesshomaru hesitantly held out his right arm.
"No, your other arm. I need to see what's left of it," said Kagome, reaching up and sliding the left side of his kimono down below his arm. She didn't even think of the fact that she was practically undressing him. Sesshomaru did, and tensed his body, suspicious of her now.
Kagome put a hand to her mouth when she saw the stump of an arm he had left from that fateful encounter a long while ago with Inuyasha at their father's grave. Back then, Sesshomaru had tried to kill her. Now, she was standing next to him, a hair's breath away, and felt no fear from his presence at all. She looked into the dog demon's calm gold eyes that reflected only curiosity and a slight hint of suspicion. "This might hurt at first," she whispered, closing her eyes and finding her power within her like the Healer Relaeha had taught her too. She pulled almost everything she had from her inmost being, leaving only her soul to sustain herself. She pushed all of her other power to her hands. She opened her eyes and was astonished to find them glowing a light pink. She placed her glowing hands on what was left of Sesshomaru's arm and pushed the power out of herself , remembering everything from her school's anatomy class as she did so. She imagined the bones being formed and heard Sesshomaru growl as the new bones grew out of his arm. She was astonished that it had worked so far, but she didn't lighten up, still pushing the healing powers from herself into this demon. The two beings were engulfed in the pink light as Kagome imagined the muscles, tendons, veins, blood, and finally the skin of the missing arm forming, knitting itself together and connecting to the place it had been missing from for so long.
When the light faded, Sesshomaru looked down at his new left arm and experimentally moved and flexed it. It looked exactly like his right, from his clawed fingers to his demon markings. There wasn't even a scar. He stared at the nervous human woman standing before him.
Kagome stared back at him. He was giving her a look she had never seen before on his face. Was it appreciation maybe? Or caring? Or Love? She didn't know. She was too tired to think, she had used too much power to reform his arm. She felt her knees collapse and braced herself to hit the hard forest floor. Yet she never felt the ground. Sesshomaru had caught her and was holding her up with his new arm. He brought her into his embrace and softly kissed her lips. Kagome wasn't sure if that had happened at all, for as quickly as it had come, their lips parted and Kagome fell unconscious.
"Foolish girl, you used too much of your power." Yet the anger in his voice wasn't reflected in his eyes. Something was stirring within himself that he had kept suppressed since he was a child. This emotion...unfitting for a demon of his stature. Yet he knew his father had felt it too. It led his father to die for Inuyasha's mother, saving her from death. However, Sesshomaru wasn't ready to express this emotion, especially not to some human. He picked up the unconscious woman and carried her to her camp, silently placing her in her sleeping bag.
He walked off through the woods in anger- angry at himself for showing such emotion, no, for kissing that human girl. He had yet to locate the Tree of Emoceba Anomede, he was not sure yet that it even really existed. The eel demon said it did, yet he never took anyone's word. He looked at his new arm. Once she was a demon, he would have no problems taking her as his mate. Now, he continued on his way to the east shore to find Mount Efil-Denahetaed, leaving even his faithful followers behind to wait on him to return.
A/N: I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing, or too cliché. Oh, and you're probably thinking right now that Tiki Rane Gobell comes up with the weirdest names. Not even Japanese names. That's true. Most of the names I used were just words that described the objects or people backwards, sometimes with an extra 'i', 'e', or 'a' added so that it was possible to pronounce them. For example, the healer, Relaeha, is just 'A healer' spelled backwards, and the Tree of Emoceba Anomede, "Become a (extra a) demon (extra e)." Oh, and that Mount Efil-Denahetaed, 'Life and Death' with two 'e's added. Yeah, there were more in this chappie, and will probably be more later on.