Her Light to His Darkness
Disclaimer: Not mine! Grr… Just had to rub it in had you…
Chapter Two: Prize
Kagome came bursting in like a ray of sunshine cutting through the stale layer of smoke that hung over the hall. The wild, sweet scent of the meadow clung to her hair, her skin, the handwoven yukata she wore. Her cheeks were touched with the flushed rose of exertion; her eyes were alight with exuberance.
She ran straight to her father, her words tumbling out faster than the apples dumped from the sack she clutched upside down.
"Oh, Otousan, I am ever so happy you've come home! Where did you have the stallion hidden? He is the most beautiful animal I ever saw. Did you truly find your elusive fortune this journey?"
Falling to her knees beside his chair, she pulled a crumpled bunch of heather from her pocket and dumped it in his lap without giving him time to reply.
"I brought your favorite flowers and Shippo has promised to cook apples on the coals. They will be hot and sweet and juicy, just as you like them. 'Twill be a hundred times better than any nasty old roasted hare. Oh, Otousan, you're home! We thought you were never coming back."
She threw her arms around his waist. The uninhibited gesture knocked the headscarf from her head to unleash a cascade of raven curls.
Hiro's arms did not move to encircle her. He sat stiffly in her embrace. She lifted her face, aware of a silence broken only by the thump of a log shifting on the fire. Her father did not meet her eyes, and for one disturbing moment, she thought she saw his lower lip tremble.
She followed his gaze. Her brothers stood lined up before the hearth in the most ordered manner she had ever seen them. Hojo beamed from the middle of the row.
Bathed in the light of the flickering fire, the stranger stepped out of the shadows. Kagome raised her eyes. From where she knelt, it was as if she was peering up from the bottom of a deep well to meet the eyes of the man who towered over her. His level gaze sent a bolt of raw fear through her, riveting her to the floor as if she stared into the face of death itself. A long moment passed before she could pull her eyes away.
"Otousan?" she breathed, patting his cool, trembling hand.
He stroked her hair, his eyes distant. "Kagome, I believe it would be fitting for you to step outside untill we have concluded our dealings."
"You made no mention of a daughter, Higurashi." The stranger's gaze travelled between father and child.
Otousan's arm curved around Kagome's shoulders like a shield. The stranger's mocking laughter echoed through the hall. Only Kagome heard Otousan's muttered curse as he realized what he had betrayed.
"Your interest is in my sons," Otousan hissed, a tiny vein in his temple beginning to throb.
"But your interest is not. That much is apparent."
The man advanced and Kagome rose, knowing instinctively that she did not want to be on her knees at this stranger's feet. She stood without flinching to face the wrought links of the silver armour that crossed the man's chest. From broad shoulders to booted feet, his garments were as cold as the eyes that regarded her with frank scrutiny. She returned his perusal with arms crossed in front of her.
A closer look revealed his eyes were not brown, but a deep, piercing golden. Their opacity rendered them inscrutable, but alive with intelligence. Arched brows added a mocking humour that gave Kagome the impression she was being laughed at, although his expression did not waver. His silver hair hung past his waist. His well-formed features were saved from prettiness by an edge of rugged masculinity within his demeanour. The thought flitted through Kagome's mind that he might be handsome if his face was not set in beautiful but ruthless lines.
He reached down and lifted a strand of her hair as if hypnotized by its brightness. The velvety tendril curled around his fingers at the caress.
Kagome's hand slipped into her yukata, but before she could bring the knife up to strike, her wrist was twisted in a fearful grip that sent the blade clattering to the stones. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. The youkai loosed her.
"She has more fire than the rest of you combined." The stranger strode back to the hearth. "I'll take her."
The hall exploded in enraged protest. Otousan sank back in the chair, his hand over his eyes.
"You cannot have my sister!" Shippo's childish tenor cut through his brothers' cries.
Smirking, the man leaned against the hearth. "Take heart, pup. It's not forever. She is only to serve me for a year."
Kagome looked at Otousan. His lips moved, but made no sound. Her brothers spewed forth dire and violent threats, although they remained in place as if rooted to the stone. She wondered if they had all taken leave of their senses. The stranger's sparkling eyes offered no comfort. They watched her as if delighting in the chaos he had provoked. The tiny lines around them crinkled as he gave her a wink made all the more threatening by its implied intimacy. A primitive thrill of fear shot through her, freezing her questions before they could leave her lips.
Otousan's whine carried just far enough to reach the man's ears. "We said sons, did we not?"
The man's booming voice silenced them all. "No, Higurashi. We said children. I was to have the use of one of your children for a year."
Kagome's knees went as slack as her jaw. Only the sheer effort of her will kept her standing.
"You cannot take a man's only daughter," said Otousan, unable to keep the pleading note from his voice. "Show me some mercy, won't you?"
The youkai snorted. "Mercy? What have you ever known of mercy, Higurashi? I've come to teach you of justice."
Otousan mustered his courage and banged with force on the arm of the chair. "I will not allow it."
The stranger's hand went to the hilt of the massive sword sheathed at his waist. The muscles in his arms rippled with the slight gesture. "You choose to fight?" he asked softly.
Higurashi Hiro hesitated the merest moment. "Kagome, you must accompany this nice youkai."
Kagome blinked stupidly, thrown off guard by her father's abrupt surrender.
Shippo charged forward, an iron pot wielded over his head like a sword. The youkai turned with sword drawn. Kagome lunged for his arm, but Otousan sailed past both of them and knocked the boy to the ground with a brutal uppercut. Shippo glared at his father, blood trickling from his mouth and nose.
"Don't be an idiot," Otousan spat. "He will only kill you and then he will kill me."
Still wielding his sword, the stranger faced the row of grumbling boys. "If anyone cares to challenge my right to their sister, I would be more than happy to defend it."
The broad blade gleamed in the firelight. Miroku returned the man's stare for a long moment, his callused hands clenched into fists before turning away to rest his forehead against the warm stones of the fireplace.
The stranger's eyes widened as Hojo stepped forward, trumpet still clutched in hand. Otousan took one step toward Hojo, who then plopped his ample bottom on the hearth and studied the trumpet as if seeing it for the first time. The youkai sheathed his sword.
"A wager is a wager." Otousan ran his thumbs along the worn gilt of his tattered hakama. "As you well know, I am an honourable man."
He sighed as if the burden of his honour was too much for him to bear. The short laugh uttered by the youkai was not a pleasant sound.
Otousan gently took Kagome's face between his moist palms. "Go with him, Kagome." He swallowed with difficulty. "He will not harm you."
The stranger watched the exchange in cryptic silence, his arms crossed over his chest.
Kagome searched her father's face, blindly hoping for a burst of laughter to explain away the youkai's intrusion as a cruel jest. The hope that flickered within her sputtered and died, smothered by the bleakness in the sea-blue eyes that were a pale, rheumy echo of her own.
"I shall go with him, Otousan, if you say I should."
The youkai moved forward, unlooping the rope at his waist. Otousan stepped back to keep a healthy sword's distance away from the imposing figure.
Kagome shoved her hands behind her back. "There is no need to bind me."
The man retrieved her hands. Kagome tried not to flinch as he bound her wrists in front of her none too gently.
Her soft tone belied her anger. "If Otousan says I am to go with you, then I will go."
The silver head remained bowed as he tightened the knot with a stiff jerk. Coiling the free end of the rope around his wrist, he led her to the door without a word. She slowed to scoop up her headscarf. Feeling the sudden tautness in the rope, the man tugged. Kagome dug her heels into the wood, resisting his pull. Their eyes met in a silent battle of wills. Without warning, he yanked the rope, causing Kagome to stumble. She straightened, her eyes shining with angry tears for an instant. Then their blue depths cleared and she purposefully followed him through the door, cap clutched in bound hands.
The boys shuffled after them like the undead in a grim processional. Otousan meandered behind. Shippo was gripped between two of his brothers, a fierce scowl darkening his fair brow.
Night had fallen. A full moon cast its beams through the scant trees, suffusing the muted landscape with the eerie glow of a bogus daylight. Miroku gave a low, admiring whistle as a two-headed dragon seemed to rise from the thin shroud of mist that cloaked the ground. The creature cocked both its heads at the sound of approaching footsteps.
Kagome's eyes were drawn to the golden bridle crowning the massive animal. Jewels of every hue encrusted its length. Why would a man of such wealth come all the way to the shrine to steal a poor man's child? The youkai's forbidding shoulders invited no questions as he mounted the dragon and slipped Kagome's tether over the leather pommel. The dragons's iron-shod hooves twitched, making her wonder how close she could follow without being pounded to a pulp.
Hojo stepped in front of the dragon as if accustomed to placing his bulk in the path of a steed mounted by a fully armed youkai. The youkai leaned back in the saddle with a sigh.
"Milord?" Hojo's voice was a mere squeak, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "Kind sir, I hasten to remind you that you are stealing away our only ray of light in a life of darkness. You pluck the single bloom in our garden of grim desolation. I speak for all of us."
Hojo's cousins looked at one another and scratched their heads. Kagome wished faintly that the youkai would run him through and end her embarrassment.
"You make an eloquent plea, human," the knight replied, surprising them all. "Maybe you should plead with her father to make his wagers with more care in the future."
From behind Miroku, Otousan dared to shoot the man a look of pure hatred.
"You will not relent?" asked Hojo.
"I will not."
"Then I pray the burden of chivalry rests heavily on your shoulders. I pray you will honour my sweet cousin with the same consideration you would grant to the rest of the fair and weaker sex."
Kagome itched to box his ears, remembering the uncountable times she had wrestled him to the ground and pinched him until he squealed for mercy.
The stranger again uttered that short, unpleasant laugh. "Do not fear, human. I will grant her the same consideration that I would grant to any wench as pretty as she. Now stand aside or be trampled."
Hojo tripped to the left as the knight kicked the dragon into movement. Kagome broke into a lope to avoid being jerked off her feet. She dared break her concentration only long enough for one last hungry look at her family. She heard the soft thud of fist pummeling flesh and a familiar cry as Shippo tackled Hojo in blind rage and frustration.
Then they were gone. She focused all of her attention on the rocky turf beneath her feet as her world narrowed to the task of putting one foot in front of the other without falling nose first into the drumming hooves.
Note: Well, our smexy Taiyoukai has finally appeared… I decided to make Ah-Un move on land rather than fly in this chapter so that Kagome can go through some torture as well as show how cruel Sess can be. Was Sess nasty/arrogant enough in this chapter? REVIEW!