Chapter Sixteen- Prophecies
Kagome opened her eyes, coming face to face with two large brown eyes. Opening her mouth to scream, a hand quickly covered it. The scream was muffled as she ran her eyes up and down the body that stood above her, her gaze falling on Gakuto. His bright amber eyes dark with anger. Fear trembled through her as she thought of what she could have done to make her protector so mad.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" He asked deeply, his voice sending tremors through Kagome's body.
"What…what do you mean?" Kagome stuttered, trying to get from underneath her captor.
"Is this what you meant to do all along? Go off and try to kill Naraku by yourself? Are you stupid?" Gakuto growled, pushing her deeper into the bed. "He would kill you!"
Kagome pushed him off quickly and scrounged for something to say. Standing up her legs forcing her to move backwards into the wall where she stood panting. "What is it to you? What do you care about what I do with my life?" Kagome said bitterly.
Nothing in the world could have prepared her for the look on her friends face. He looked like he gained ten years of age in less than a minute. She stared into his face and he released her and backed up, walking out of the room without as much as a word. Anger took over Kagome as she thought about what she had asked him. She knew she was like a daughter to him, and that he would do anything to help her and keep her safe.
The door crept open as Kyouko looked into the room, settling his gaze on his lady.
"Milady the lord awaits you for breakfast." Kyouko said in a small voice. He could see his mistress and her stressed face. Part of him didn't want to know what happened, but most of him did. He had known his lady for almost three years now and he had never seen her this upset before. "Milady is something wrong?"
Kagome looked at her young friend and forced a smile. "I am fine Kyouko; I'm just thinking that's all."
Kyouko was about to push the matter when Kagome walked past him to the dining room. Kyouko followed her in silence, completely aware of her sour mood. What had happened to her that made her express her emotions. It never happened before, but something had caused her to be on edge.
The young boy hit something hard as Kagome stared down at him with soft pink eyes. "Kyouko, you are getting too relaxed around here." Kagome said softly to the boy she had raised for two years.
"If relaxed is what you call it lady Kagome." He said in a mused tone. Kagome only nodded then continued down the hall, Kyouko walking beside her. "Lady Kagome, are you ever going to tell me what is wrong?"
Kagome smiled at her close friend and straightened her back. "When the time comes, you will know what is wrong, Kyouko now stop asking questions we are almost at the dining room.
When Kagome entered the dining room she couldn't help but notice the royals staring at her intently. Kagome bowed her head then looked straight at her 'mate'. He should have warned her that they were to be here. Sesshoumaru looked at her apologetically as she continued to the table, her eyes nor posture giving away anything she felt. She sat on the right side of her mate, noticing that Inuyasha sat at his left. The nobles started to talk as they watched the demoness that now stood in the very same spot that Lady Kagome used to sit.
One demon, a wolf demon stared heatedly at the lord of the palace. She let out a small growl, capturing the attention of the room. When she was sure the whole room was looking at her she spoke in a hard voice. "You dogs sicken me with your ways. How could you go through one mate to the next, do you feel no emotions."
Some other royals nodded as Kagome stood, her mates eyes fell on her. "I suggest that you, Hinata of the north, be silent in the ways you are unsure of." Kagome was glad that her voice had not changed in the transformation as the royals gawked at her with recognition. "You know not of what has happened over the last few years and I will tell you all once, who Lord Sesshoumaru has as a mate does not concern you-…"
"But you are not lady Kagome. Lady Kagome was a priestess, a human." Kagome took offence to what was being said so she lifted her right hand and allowed her purification powers to flow through her, surprising the royals into silence.
"I can tell you that I am Lady Kagome, and I am stronger than I ever was." Kagome said, her eyes flaring. "And if anyone of you wants to dare insult Lord Sesshoumaru at his tables again, you do so with full warning that I will not hesitate to kill you as I did your friend Yuuichi." Sesshoumaru placed his hand upon Kagome's and urged her to sit down.
A female tiger demon wearing Yuuichi's markings spoke up. "Sorry, milady for our seeming disbelief, but it is unheard of that a miko turn into a demon."
Kagome only nodded, sighing underneath her breath. She was not used to facing the royals.
This time Sesshoumaru spoke up, ordering them all to eat their fill and that they would be seen to their rooms, he showed that he understood that they all had had a long journey here and believed they were quite tired.
Breakfast ended quickly and once all the demons dispersed Sesshoumaru expression turned cold. "Why did you talk to them like that? Let them believe what they think this Sesshoumaru has done, you have no right to interfere with what they were thinking."
Kagome seethed, "Even I could feel that it was bothering you. They had not right to just assume things. In my lands to assume is you make and ass of you and me, meaning that assuming things got us in trouble, and besides, I had a right to stick up for myself and my honour."
"Your honour? What did that have to do with your honour?" Sesshoumaru snapped, his anger getting the best of him.
He watched as Kagome's face flushed red and she turned away, noticing that they were fighting. "I think it best if I leave." Kagome said unsure of her. As she turned to leave Sesshoumaru made a grab for her, but quickly she avoided the action and bolted out of the room, leaving Sesshoumaru in the great room by himself.
Kagome ran into the garden then stopped, sinking to her knees she had stood up for him, to defend, not her honour but his. They didn't know him. They didn't understand the ways of the Inu demon and that in itself made her angry. They were always judging as she had done, but now it was different. Soon, Kyouko came looking for her, kneeling down beside her as he held her close. She never knew how lonely she had felt until then. She missed when it was just her and Kyouko but she knew that this was where she belonged right now, defending what she believed was hers.
For a long time Kyouko and Kagome remained quiet, not speaking, but basking in each other's presence. It had been so long since they had actually spent time together. She missed the training and the senseless talking that they used to do until the early morning. Slowly without warning Kyouko unsheathed his ken and Kagome quickly countered his movements with her own, dodging back and forth using only the speed that Kyouko was used to. They attacked back and forth for what seemed like hours before Kyouko got tired and Kagome was able to disarm him. He was panting and pouring with sweat, but he was still smiling at his defeat.
"I thought you could use a good spar, you were getting too relaxed." Kyouko mocked and Kagome threw him a playful punch.
"I wasn't the one that lost now was I little man." Kagome mused.
Kyouko sobered but didn't lose his smile. "Indeed you were not lady Kagome, but that does not surprise me. You are a wondrous fighter, for a demon."
At this Kagome laughed. "And you are a wondrous fighter, for a human." The two laughed, and for the first time she thought about how different they now were. They were not both human anymore and she wondered if this bothered Kyouko. Hesitantly she asked and he shook his head.
"It is much like living with Saito again, because as you know she was a inu demon as well, and on the inside I know that you are the same Lady Kagome that I trust with my life." At this response Kagome was put to ease, and felt that she was able to talk freely with her friend. They talked for what seemed live forever when Kyouko suddenly turned shy. "I seen Gakuto today, in the lake of mirrors." And this Kagome paused and thought about her friend that she had hurt. "You failed to mention that he was from the lake of mirrors. Does that mean Shinya can once again take shape as a human?"
Kagome frowned. It had been forever since the two of them talked about his lost brother. "I don't…I don't know Kyouko. I am not sure of the rules that bound them to that life."
Kyouko just nodded then looking into his mistress's eyes. "You two got in a fight didn't you?" He told rather then asked. Kagome looked at him in shock
"Why would you say that?" Kagome asking slightly angered at the digging Kyouko was doing.
Kyouko frowned slightly then continued. "Shinya told me, and then I asked to speak to Gakuto and I asked him. He was a little angry at Shinya for telling me, but he also told me that he was concerned about you. I admitted to knowing that you wanted to face Naraku by yourself." His eyes settled on Kagome's and he looked into them sadly. "Why didn't you tell him lady Kagome? He is your guardian like Shinya is mine. You should trust him. Gakuto really cares about you."
Kagome stood her face hard. "It is not a matter of caring or not Kyouko, it is a matter of respect for ones choices. You should be off now, go play with Rin. Go on." She said as he only nodded and went inside.
Slowly Kagome sat back down and stared at the distance, her inner vision settling on Naraku's face in the distance as she fingered her pure jewel shard. There was a warm air and Kagome knew that once again she wasn't alone. "Gakuto, I must apologies for my behavior this morning. I knew full well that you care about me, but I was shamed that I had not told you sooner, I-…" a finger was pressed against her lips as she remained quiet.
"I have something I've been meaning to show you. It's been a long while since I have seen this piece of writing," Gakuto handed her a small book with a marks page. Kagome turned to the page and read it out loud.
"In the darkest hour of the highest night, with the world's death so near, a weakened miko and a stronger demon will, with a white rock in her hand and a mirror in her heart, destroy the night with love." Kagome look at the page, reading it over and over memorizing the lines. "It doesn't make sense."
Gakuto shook his head. "Every thousand years it is said that one part of history never changes. Around one thousand years ago, there was a great peril in the earth's core and one miko, you know as Midoriko, saved the world from darkness. She had foreseen this moment, or the moment of the defeat of Naraku." Kagome nodded her head slowly in understanding. "Now turn the page."
Kagome turned the page and read that last part out loud. "One, the woman with the stone of light. Two, A fox without his name. Three, the boy with no mother, but a leader. Four, a demon with no past. One letter of four names spells the chosen one by the name he called her." She looked up at her friend and saw that he was looking at the sky. "And these to are connected?" Gakuto nodded "And this is how we will defeat Naraku, a woman ad a demon will defeat him." Again Gakuto nodded. "Do you know who these people are?"
Her friend looked at her in a steady gaze as he looked at her, for a split second she seen Sesshoumaru in his face but as soon as she blinked his face had returned to the demon she was used to looking at. His soft black hair and honey brown eyes, she watched as he looked away from her and sighed. "No Kagome, I have no idea who these people are, but you do. Deep down, you know everything that you need to solve this, but you will not shine for a few years, for it has not yet deep a thousand years and you do not want to break the cycle.
Before her eyes he vanished and once again Kagome was left alone in the gardens, her body shivering against the cold, her mind moving to the fight she had had with Sesshoumaru. He didn't understand how important it was to her that he was treated with the respect she never gave him.