Here's the second chapter!
Enjoy... and remember to review if pôssible ;)
Next update, next friday... but remember that I am a chapter ahead on dokuga...
2 – Rolling Hills and Thunder Storms (Summer)
The Goshinboku's branches creaked under the warm, southern wind. The scorching sun of summer wasn't so aggressive under the tree shelter, so Kagome had taken to giving classes under its boughs.
Kaede had passed on ten years ago, and now she had taken the role of village miko, giving the position her own twist of course. She had taken it upon herself to teach the children how to write and count, telling them about plants and seasons, how to take care of Nature so that she could take care of them in return.
She gave her knowledge freely, healed the villagers, helped when women were giving birth, relieved the pain of dying people, whatever was asked of her, she did with a smile.
However, she was all too aware of the misgivings of the superstitious people around her. She knew too much, had too much power, made friends with everybody be they human, youkai or hanyou, and sometimes even conversed with trees and flowers. Her apprentice, now a young woman, wore fine silks and bore herself like a true Lady of nobility, even though she was just some common orphan.
Mistrust simmered in their hearts, begotten by their ignorance and the ways of the era they were born in. They forgot all too easily how Kagome had saved them when Naraku had wanted to devour them all, only seeing the brashness of her hanyou friend and the fact that she was the only one he ever listened to.
Not to mention when, once a season, the overwhelming power of the Great and Terrible daiyoukai of the West blanketed the region, frightening humans and cattle alike. He was only there to visit Rin, but sometimes would spar with his half brother, or stay to camp at the edge of the forest, and rumours talked of heated encounters between the wild creature and the supposedly pure miko.
Kagome had heard it all, and it had made her snort with ill-suppressed giggles. Sesshomaru would have kittens before he would sully his pristine self with her grubby, human presence; or so she said.
However, as time went on and her own kind avoided being too close to her, as if her friendship would curse them, she appreciated the solitude the God Tree provided. It was her haven, and nobody dared to disturb her peace when she went there to meditate or think.
Well, almost nobody.
When the moon was high in the summer sky and its light made Kagome's hair shine like crow wings, Sesshomaru would stroll through the stillness of the forest, stopping a few meters from her.
There were rarely any words exchanged between them, the simple act of stargazing enough to convey their mutual need of comfortable silence. They would look at the deep blue sky until it would be coloured by the crimson of dawn, birds singing happily at the birth of the new day, human and youkai parting ways to confront the vicissitudes of their respective lives.
Until one day, what was brewing in the depths of the villagers' hearts overflowed, birthing deep-seated hatred for the woman that had once saved them all.
She had overstepped her bounds, telling the kids that youkai were people, of all things. It was absurd, an abject lie, and commoners weren't supposed to know how to read anyway, that was reserved for daimyo and their families, notables of the government... never peasants...
They waited until she went away from the village for her daily bath (every day she bathed, another thing they couldn't understand...), and set fire to her small hut. Of course, she had been living on the outskirts of the village, so their homes were safe; Kohaku, Sango and Miroku had been living at the slayer village to rebuild it for a while, Inuyasha was more often with them than with Kagome lately, Shippo was at his kitsune school for exams... they had waited for this moment, when the only company she'd have would be her apprentice Rin.
Rin, who had been knocked unconscious while trying to protect their modest hut...
Rin, left alone and defenceless on the wooden floor of the burning house...
Kagome, sensing something was very wrong, had started to run home after her bath. The ominous grey snake of smoke she could see slithering past the trees separating her from the village made her reckless in her haste, jumping over roots, ducking under branches, her heart hammering in her throat like a caged bird.
And when she saw the orange tongues of fire swallowing the wooden structure hungrily, she couldn't keep a broken sob from escaping her dry lips...
Seeing the form of her friend lying on the floor...
Jumping into the hut, skin bubbling and crackling under the assault of the flames...
Holding her breath 'till white flashes invaded her bleary vision, and then coughing in the thick smoke...
Finding Rin, holding her body against her with charred limbs, and then get out, get out, get out...
Gritting her teeth against the white, hot, pain, running through the silent forest to find their salvation in fresh, running water...
And once their bodies were half submerged in the happy, burbling stream, bitter tears ran down Kagome's cheeks, making clear traces on her soot covered face. She cried for minutes, hours perhaps, for her folly, for her loneliness, and for the stupid, stupid humans that had harmed her innocent friend so.
She cried because she also realised that there would probably be no survivors, once Sesshomaru found out about their treachery. Inuyasha was not going to protect them this time either...
That's how he found them, Rin still unconscious, but alive and unharmed, and Kagome crying herself dry holding his ward with red, blistered, hands; both sitting in the brook.
Apart from a slight tightening at the corner of his mouth, Sesshomaru gave no outward sign of his fury. He collected both humans and flew them to his own fortress in the deepest corner of the western forest, left them to his healers with orders on how to care for them, and went out again.
He came back later during that night, the relaxed gait of a feline after its hunt, crusted blood covering his face and hands. Not human blood though, Kagome could see it in the way he looked at her, behind the furnace of his eyes. He hadn't taken revenge on her kind, and for that she felt deeply grateful. She took care of him that night, ridding him of the blood and grime, and he kept her and Rin safe with him from then on.
Dewa mata :D