Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha
Beta and co-author: Tokahlia
"My Thanks":
Sin of the Fallen: hehehee, Sesshoumaru just have too much pride, but yes he really should get off his high-horses. I still think it's funny how he handled her questionings. For the review: my thanks *nod*
Tsuirakuangel: hm... I'm not sure if i should answer because that would take away the surprise. nah, you'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for reviewing. *peace*
Veraozao: Hello again my devoted reader! *hug* thanks for the review.
Inulover385: Yes this Haku was based off of Kohaku in spirited away. He's so awesome! And yes i'm working on the next chapter of Say My Name as well. *wave*
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
Chapter 9
An angry growl disturbed the serene forest atmosphere. It was just after sunset and Kikyou's clay golem body had rejected yet another soul. Something was going on with her reincarnation and Kikyou knew it. She was in need of more souls to replenish her reiki but was unable to absorb any new souls. What had happened to the girl that InuYasha kept from her?
Kikyou turned her hateful eyes to the unlucky soul within the gasp of her floating soul catcher and sneered. She reached out her hand and grabbed hold. Her spidery fingers tightened and she crushed the poor soul in her fist.
"What is wrong, Kikyou-chan?" The teasing voice came from above, but then, a pissed off Kikyou reasoned, it was the place she expected her to come from.
"What do you want," Kikyou aimed an arrow as the wind demoness drifted down from her feather and landed silently on the ground. "Kagura?"
Said demoness laughed at the threat Kikyou presented her. "An arrow? Dear Kikyou, I am the wind." When the miko released her arrow Kagura smirked, then with a wave of her fan, blew the arrow off course into the tree to her left. "See, I tell no lies."
"Says the woman who is against her creator." Kikyou had another arrow trained on the sorcerer, trying to keep up the strong front she was trying so hard to maintain. 'Dammit Kagome, have you changed?'
"Naraku isn't the nicest man to be around isn't he?" Kagura sighed, sending a slow blade of wind the reanimated woman's way. Kikyou, startled, relied on the soul collectors to pull her into safety. She missed the attack by mere seconds. Kagura raised her eyebrows as an arrow went dangerously close to her left cheek. She was forced to dodge the following three that came afterwards with little gusts of air to launch her into the sky.
"No, I suppose not," Kikyou admitted as Kagura floated softly to the ground yet again. "Then again, you have a taste for a more regal type of man don't you?" Kagura flinched. Kikyou, having only two arrows left in her quiver, continued in her psychological assault. "But, then again, unrequited love is always good stuff for a love story!" At the last word she let fly another arrow, this time Kagura brushed it away with a flick of her fan with a cold, calculative glare.
"What makes you think that he doesn't like me?" She yipped, sending another blast of wind at the weakening miko. "For all you know we could be lovers!" Kikyou, having barely dodged the first blade instead opted to dropping to one knee and putting up a barrier to protect herself from the youki that was driving the following blade forward. The wind was still strong, unbelievably so, but without the demon energy pushing it along it was merely the wind, not an edge.
"You are the incarnation of Naraku are you not? I'm pretty sure Sesshoumaru does not like males."
Kikyou was nearly knocked out by the wind that she purified that followed her comment. She telepathically told her army of soul eaters to bring all souls they were near to her. If she didn't hurry she would be forced to use some of the soul she had stolen off Kagome all those years ago, and that was something that could not be easily replenished.
"I AM A WOMAN!" Kagura screamed as the miko remained in her crouched position. Trying to regain control, Kagura, with shaky hands, brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "You do not call the daughter of a man a male, so what is the difference between that and me?"
Kikyou remained silent. She was focused on keeping her barrier making abilities at the ready, if she spoke the miko was afraid that when Kagura attacked that she would be unable to put up one quick enough to save her non-life.
"Fine then, do not answer me." Kagura sighed and hung her fan at her obi. "You're boring, I'll be taking my leave now." A tug of the wind, a flutter of clothing. Once Kikyou was sure Kagura was out of sight she collapsed to her side, all but mentally screaming for souls from her companions.
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
"Ku ku ku, so little windy has a crush on the icy dog? Ha ha ha!" Naraku smirked as his brain started numerous streams of schemes. He flicked his hair back and brought his tea cup up to his lips and sipped on the semi-hot liquid. He closed his eyes as the taste and warmth filled him.
"Kana," he turned his half-lidded eyes to the young void youkai. "Come have tea with me," he told her softly, though there was no emotion weaved in his words. His eyes were calculating as he stared at her face searching for anything, something. Kana, to her credit, did not leak any emotions on her face, the only sign that hinted her surprise was a slight flicker of her youki, which Naraku was not sure he caught. Still, the increasingly sane hanyou was amused as the Kana gingerly came and sat opposite him. He let a smirk appeared on his lips when her stoic eyes widen ever so slightly when he took the initiative to pour her tea and served her sweet mochi.
"Arigatou," The soft whisper of the word almost made Naraku smile softly. He was not sure what brought this on but he felt like another weight had lifted from his back. He relished in this as he took a new breath of air and smirked into his tea. 'I wonder... Am I chained to something?'A far away look entered his ruby orbs as he continue to sip his tea.
Kana was perplexed, well as perplexed as a void youkai could be; which is another food for thought. As a void youkai, she should not be able to feel any emotions so for her to be able to feel even this tiniest bit of perplexity and a moment before, shock, was the signs of something changing. 'Something changing in Naraku...'Just as she finished that thought, two more emotions greeted her, fear and anticipation. The hatred in Naraku's eyes had just softened when he looked at her for an ephemeral second but she was sure that it did happened before he blinked.
'Yes, a wind of change,' She thought as a soft breeze flew in from the opened shoji doors to the private garden. Kana took noticed to how the cool temperature from the breeze tingled her skin and fluttered her clothing and hair. 'Kagura,'
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
"Oui, au revoir, ma belle-mère. (Yes, goodbye mother-in-law)." Hinata gently placed the phone back into it's holder then returned to her place at the dinning table. She whispered a soft 'itadikimasu' with her hands clapped together and chopsticks held under her thumbs.
"What did she say?"
The sound of her father's voice made her look up from the saute vegetable that she aimed to picked up using her chopsticks. "Ah, mother-in-law will make her yearly visit a week earlier this year as she will be attending a recital in the area not long form now."
"Souka?(is that so?)"
She nodded as she began eating. Once she had finished her first mouthful Hinata, Kagome's mother, continued in her explanation. "She said she wants to see her grandchildren."
"Nee-chan is in the other era though, mama." Souta blurted out.
"I know," his mother sighed. "Hopefully Kagome will come back early; she said she'd try and make it back on time but if she does this year she'll miss her grandmother entirely."
Souta took a moment and silently chewed his food, savoring the flavors as he thought over the situation. "If only nee-chan's cell phone would work," he sighed. Beside him, Buyo the cat meowed.
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
Sesshoumaru was in his study, mentally sighing at the huge, unread stack of papers that still littered his desk. Instead of wanting to kill Naraku for Rin, as was his original plan, he found himself consumed by the rage to kill the hanyou for distracting Sesshoumaru from his work, thus making his stack of reports grow higher and higher. Sesshoumaru had unceremoniously shoved the old reports of a year ago to the side, instead focusing on problems arising because of Kagome's betrothed.
That word left a sour taste in his mouth and a scowl on his face. Yes, her fiancee, as she called him, was proving to be troublesome in the least. A river god was not someone Sesshoumaru found intimidating, but he found it annoying that one person would leave his lands to die because of a little poisoning. 'It wasn't that much poison. This one could have evaporated the water but, chose to show some degree of mercy.'
Whilst reading a report from farmers to the north a knock came onto the shouji doors secluding his office, making the inu lord look up. Once he focus was away from the scroll the scent of tea, the miko and her aura hit him like a stone wall. That caused his scowl to deepen. The only ones he allowed under his notice at all times were Ah-Un and Rin. How had this miko, who was very fickle in his mind, managed to gain his unconscious trust in such a matter?
"Sesshoumaru-sama," the miko bowed over the tea-tray she carried, Sesshoumaru couldn't help but notice that the black kimono with silver crescent moons and flowers made her look... breath-taking. "I've brought you tea."
The miko remained prostate for a few, awkward seconds as Sesshoumaru realised he hadn't responded. "Hn," was what he gave her and what he thought appropriate. She righted herself and walked with small steps towards his table.
Seeing the mountainous pile of papers Kagome first frowned then set the tray on the floor. Sesshoumaru pretended to finish reading the scroll, none of the words sticking in his mind, as the girl poured the tea she had made him two nights ago. Surely, it hadn't been such a short amount of time?
"Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome handed him a cup of tea with both hands, Sesshoumaru received it quickly, not in the mood for teasing. "I want to ask if I may return to my home." The moment she finished her sentence, he immediately wanted to destroy the imaginary words in his mind. He had too much to deal with already to allow her journey away from his home where he could not keep an eye on her.
"Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"If This one had something to say on the matter you would already know." A sense of disappointment and anger simmered inside Kagome. She was disappointed because she thought he was better then InuYasha when it came to things like this. Angered because who did he think he was to monitor her movements?
"Why?"
"Why what, Miko?" He spoke, though he did not look up from the report he was reading.
"Why can't I go?"
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at the miko. He thought of saying that he did not explain himself but that was chased out of his mind. 'No, she deserves to be told.'
"This one, though does not explain himself often, will try and make you see sense." Sesshoumaru leaned closer to the girl before counting off points with his fingers. "One, you will need to be escorted and I am needed here. Two," he cut her off, "as a member of This one's pack having you dissapear after joining will be shameful. Three, you have not gained This one's trust enough to convince him that when you tell him that you come back you will."
Kagome was silent, oddly so. Sesshoumaru briefly wondered if it would have been easier to not have explained himself in the first place. When she opened her mouth to retort he suddenly remembered why he didn't give such explanations.
"What has scarred you so much, Sesshoumaru, that you cannot trust me to leave and come back again on my own will? You don't own me and I should be free to do what I want!" Sesshoumaru let out a growl, ordering her to back down. Kagome ignored his warning. As he straightened his back she did as well.
"Back down." he ordered, staring into her eyes unblinking.
"No, I won't back down until you-" Kagome was cut short as she a clawed hand around her throat and a back against her wall. As Sesshoumaru glowered over her Kagome continued to stare into his eyes. His hand, which had been almost soft at first started to tighten.
They continued their staring contest for a few seconds, Kagome remaining dominant in a small show of rebellion until she had decided she had enough. She let her body go limp, looked down at the ground and slumped her shoulder, all in a burst of sudden instict. Almost immediately Sesshoumaru's hand lessened its steadily strengthening iron-grip. He removed his hand gently, making sure her feet were on the ground before briskly turning back to his desk, sitting down and drinking tea.
Kagome was livid, absolutely furious but, she decided that her neck hurt a bit too much and she'd rather prefer life over pride. Meekly but with a hint of rebellion she also returned to her seat.
"I thought that being part of the pack meant not hurting its members." she groused, sipping on the sweet tea.
"Yes, but when a pack member has the audacity to challenge the Alpha he must put them in their place." 'I was showing off. Also don't challenge me, it makes me look bad. I don't want to hurt you but, you know, I'm stubborn. And prideful. And a daikyoukai. So no.'
"I still want to go back." she murmured into her cup, feeling slightly foolish. Not for wanting to go back, she thought that his protectiveness of her was almost, endearing, if extremely, annoying and hindering. She felt foolish instead for not backing down and trying a subtle solution earlier. She probably just blew her chance of getting his permission to go, now she'd have to sneak out. And if there was one thing Kagome wasn't good at doing it was keeping secrets.
Sesshoumaru may not be watching her as he was busy reading; however his sensitive and superior inu-youkai senses picked up her mischievous, or should he say scheming, thoughts. He internally smirked. 'It has been a while since I had to discipline a foolish youth.'But her challenge had struck a chord close to home.
"Why are you still here, Miko?" he said in an almost bored tone.
"No particular reason." Sesshoumaru could almost hear her hidden words: 'Why do you care? I'm staying here to annoy you because you refused to let me leave.''
"Hn." Sesshoumaru had to raise his scroll higher to hide the smirk on his face at the spike of irritation in her scent.
He heard a distinctive sound of porcelain impacting wood and knew that she had set her cup down. He was preparing for her tongue-slashing when the enigmatic miko surprised him once again.
"Do you need help, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
Sesshoumaru turned his gaze to her too quickly and immediately scolded himself when he saw the light of satisfaction in her eyes and smelt the spice in her scent.
"If I'm going to gain your trust, as you put it, we should probably do more together than just argue." Her smile was sad, almost pitiful. It annoyed him.
"Hn," he nodded and handed her one of the older scrolls. Kagome blinked in surprise as he pushed an ink well, a brush and a sheet of untouched paper in front of her. "If you truly wish to help you can sum up what is being mentioned in these papers." The miko nodded and unrolled the report, a steady, focused expression on her face. It turned to one of surprise as she proceeded through the writing.
"Sesshoumaru, how old is this?" He shrugged, ignoring her momentary lapse of the suffix. "Sesshoumaru-sama, are you making me do all your overdue homework?"
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire
"Miroku! Use kazanna already!" InuYasha jumped back from the raging oni, tsking at the closeness of its strike. He tightened his grip around Tetsusaiga, trying to figure out where the shikon shard was. Miroku, in lieu of Kagome, had sensed the shard in the beast but, unlike the guardian of the jewel, he could not tell where it lay.
"InuYasha, Miroku is still suffering the saimyoushou's poison, he shouldn't be running about, never mind using his wind tunnel!" Sango protested, as she 'sloppily' swung Hiraikotsu, sending it dangerously close to the hanyou.
"Oi! Watch it!"
"I'm sorry InuYasha, maybe if we still had Kagome we could have defeated this brute earlier and I wouldn't be so tired!" Sango caught Hiraikotsu from Kirara's back, then swung it at the ogre's arm, cutting the appendage right off.
InuYasha, seeing an opportunity slashed at the foe, shouting "Adamant Barrage!" as loud as he could. Nothing happened.
"Wha..." Tetsusaiga turned back to its old-sword form, leaving InuYasha cursing at the sky.
"Crp! Miroku, Sango, we have to retreat!" InuYasha could feel his meagre supply of youki leaving him as his hair turned black and his eyes turned violet.
"Leaving so soon little ningens?" The oni laughed, its arm reattaching itself with ease. "I'll just have to put you out of your misery!" The demon stomped forward to Sango, which in turn caused Kirara to fly back which caused Sango to miss catching Hiraikotsu.
"No!" Miroku began to unwind the beads from his right arm as Sango and Kirara stood defenseless infront of the oni. InuYasha was preparing to through himself into battle, powers or not just as a purified arrow struck the ogre in its left eye. The oni screamed as it was purified along with the jewel shard, said object floating softly to the ground.
Miroku and Sango whipped around, expecting a time-traveller with a kitsune to be their saviour. Instead it was an undead miko, breathing heavily and limping as a hanyou-turned-human rushed to her side.
The scene of their reunion was heart warming, mainly because of the adoration and longing in InuYasha face. Sango watched in silence. She felt a needle of pain and guilt as dark thoughts zoomed across her mind. The goo of hatred bubbled up like molten lava in her gut at the sight of Kikyou. The undead miko was the reason for Kagome's departure and InuYasha's unfaithfulness.
However their reunion was cut short when Kikyou didn't respond. The clay woman fell to the ground in a thud, though to all the people there her fall was like a film played in slow motion. Weakened from both the battle and his human transformation InuYasha did not react in time to catch her. "Kikyou!"
InuYasha was at her side in a matter of seconds and held her in his arms. Kikyou turned her empty eyes to InuYasha purple irises. "Where is she?" Even in her weakened state, Kikyou managed to spit out the annotation for Kagome.
"Wha...? Are you talking about the wench?"
Sango growled. "What do you want with her? Is it not enough that you have him?" she pointed to InuYasha though her heated gaze still piercing at the clay-doll. Miroku laid a calming hand on her shoulder but she ignored him.
Kikyou gave the demon-slayer a quick glance before she returned her gaze to InuYasha. "Bring her to me."
"Wh-Why?" Sango couldn't believe what she was hearing. Kikyou wanted Kagome?
"She is changing." Was all the miko mumbled before she closed her eyes and promptly passed out.
"Kikyou!" InuYasha frantically shook her.
"InuYasha, you can't possibly do as shesays. You will only put Kagome in danger if you do." Sango's heated words stopped at the look in his eyes. "You wouldn't do that to Kagome... right?"
He did not answer.
A White Rose_A Kiss of Desire