A/N: This chapter is dedicated to NekomataHanyou, for being such a loyal and enthusiastic reader. And also for getting me off my lazy butt and focused on writing this instead of reading manga.
They left without any fanfare. The inhabitants of the village, or at least the ones who knew what was what came out to watch them go. They kept farther back then they would have if Sesshomaru hadn't been present.
He was practically gleaming in the bright sunshine, what with all the white he was wearing. And he seemed to have acquired more armor. The bastard looked much too handsome, noble, samurai for my sensibilities. The fact that he looked so attractive did not help my current annoyance with him.
It was an extremely tense farewell, what with Kagome's pack acting all somber because there were going off to seal their fate for better or for worse and Sesshomaru and me not speaking to each other. The only one who seemed oblivious to the tension was Rin who happily skipped out and waved gaily to the departing warriors until they were out of sight. I wriggled my fingers halfheartedly when Rin nudged me.
We toddled back to Kaede's hut when she called us in for dinner (rice porridge of course) an passed the rest of the night slowly. It was obvious how much more alive Sesshomaru made us with him not there. I found it surprising since he hardly said two words whenever he was with us, but there it was. It was so much quieter! Even Rin wasn't chattering as much as usual.
I was kind of bored. Rin nibbled on her food while I pushed mine around my bowl. What was I going to do once this was all over? Once I and Sesshomaru were unbound I would most likely be sent back to my time. What then? Would I forget all of this happened? Think the dog-demon and all that came with him was a dream? Or would I remember? That would be torturous; going back to my old boring life after this?
What if Sesshomaru and I weren't separated? Did I want that? I wasn't so in denial as to believe I wasn't attracted to the Taiyoukai, even though he was prettier than me. I even liked him, despite how much of a bitch he acted (no pun intended) and despite how clean he always was. But if I were to stay mated to him…
He would hate me. There wasn't any question about that. Who wanted to be trapped like that? Bonded to someone they didn't even like? I wouldn't be able to bear loving- liking! liking him and having to bear his scorn. In the words of my generation: that would suck… phenomenally.
"That would stink like week old tube socks," I murmured.
Kaede looked at me queerly, "What?"
"Never mind."
Rin giggled. Kaede jerked, "Shush!"
I frowned, "We weren't trying to be rude-"
"Shush! There's something… There. Do you feel that?"
I cocked a brow, "Feel what? I hate to remind you, but I don't have mystical spidey senses like everyone else seems to have in this era."
"Something is coming. It feels like a demon."
I sighed, "Really? What's it wearing?"
Kaede opened to mouth to answer before looking at me with a scowl. I smiled innocently.
"This is not a time for jokes young lady. This feels like one of Naraku's."
I made to stand up and peek outside but Kaede beat me to it. She stuck her head out the flap after telling me and Rin to stay inside. I heard her mutter as she disappeared through the flap. The wind whistled through the walls. Rin looked at me beseechingly when Kaede remained gone for longer than expected. I patted her reassuringly as I stood to check on the miko.
I paused when a gust of wind rustled the door flap.
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Kagura looked down at the prone woman. The old miko had gotten no farther than raising her hands before she had been felled. She wasn't dead however, just unconscious.
She turned to the hut, sensing her primary target inside. She cast a soft wind, trying to discern if there was any threat from that quarter. It didn't feel like it. She sensed that Sesshomaru-sama's ward was present as well. Kagura had no orders concerning the child and shedidn't want to raise Sesshomaru-sama's ire any more than necessary, so she would leave the child alone.
As for his mate however… Kagura sensed no threat from her, demonic or otherwise. She was human through and through, save for the undertone of Sesshomaru's mating bond and the scent of the spell that made her immortal. But nothing that would constitute undue caution. Kagura pulled a feather from her hair, hearing movement from within the hut. She twirled the feather around her fingers and raised it to her lips. She cupped her hands and blew.
A blast of wind tore the roof off the hut and Kagura listened to the child scream and a stream of curses from the girl. She smiled; really, was that any way for the Lady of the West to behave?
"Who the hell? Oh, it's you," the girl (Kodi?) scowled up at her from where she crouched protectively over the child. "What do you want?"
Kagura lifted a brow, "I'm merely following orders human."
"Where's Kaede?"
"The miko? She's not dead if that makes this easier," Kagura tapped a tapered nail to her lower lip. "Although, someone should really stop the bleeding."
The girl shrieked in anger and made to scramble out of the hut, presumably in search of the miko. Kagura thrust another blast of wind, cutting her off. The child whimpered.
"Stop it! You're scaring Rin!" Kodi yelled, backtracking to the child. Kagura cut her off once again. She need the girl isolated.
"If you wish the child to remain safe, stay where you are."
"Kodi-san?" Rin cried piteously.
"Shh, Rin. It's Ok. Just stay there alright?" Kodi reassured the little girl as best she could.
"I could kill you now I suppose, although those weren't my exact orders."
"Then by all means, we'd better stick to the script!" Kodi retorted.
Kagura sighed, "If I bring you back right now it might distract Lord Naraku. He is in the middle of protecting his stronghold after all."
"Yes, that would make him kind of busy wouldn't it?" Kodi acknowledged with a slow nod of her head. "Are you standing on a feather?"
Kagura blinked, cast a glance down at her feet as if to confirm that yes, she was indeed standing on a feather, before shaking her head and glaring at the girl.
"Do not attempt to distract me human."
The girl shrugged.
Kagura sighed again, "I suppose so that it doesn't look like I didn't try…" She lifted her index and middle finger to her lips and aimed straight for the girl. This time the child wasn't the only one who screamed.
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I grunted as I felt myself land on the ground. Kagura must've tossed me as soon as we reached Naraku's land. It didn't really hurt. I was in too much pain already to notice anything more from being thrown from twenty feet in the air. I was bleeding something awful from the slash running across my chest.
I clenched my fists as I raised my head to see where we were, becoming distracting by the dingy fur in my grasp. Sesshomaru's fur? How did I… Oh right. After Kagura had blown me (blown me!) back into the jagged debris of the hut (no doubt to blame for the multitude of aches throbbing along my spine and ribs) I had landed nearly on top of the fur where I had thrown it in my fit of temper earlier. I had held on to it afterward in what must have been desperation for stability. After all, the stupid thing hadn't protected me any when Kagura had used a particulary sharp gust of wind to tear the skin of my torso open, not deeply, but enough to make me weak from blood loss, and dizzy from pain.
Rin's cries had faded behind the wind constantly whipping against me. I was sure I had only been partially conscious when Kagura had finally relented and lifted me toward Naraku.
Why did I have to wake up now?
Kagura had stopped in the middle of nowhere. I grunted again, this time in annoyance. Where the hell were we? This couldn't possibly by where Naraku- Oh. Well, would you look at that?
Kagura had stepped forward to what seemed like empty air and whistled through her fingers. The air in front of her rippled outward with hazy, purple smoke before receding back into nothingness. The seeming emptiness of the landscape before me faded away like a mirage, revealing the sprawling estate beneath the veil.
Kagura stepped past the hazy mist and was immediately met with the baboon.
I rolled my eyes. The eyes behind the baboon mask immediately shifted to me. They widened incredulously.
"The mate of Sesshomaru?!" The glee in his voice was unmistakable, and I found myself wondering if this was the real Naraku, or one of the puppets Sango told me about. Whoever it was, I was sure they were smiling being that snout.
Naraku reached me in a few quick strides and flipped me onto my back with a quick nudge of his boot. I muffled a yelp as all my injuries reacquainted themselves with my nerve endings.
"Your mate has been making a nuisance of himself little girl," Naraku sneered.
"Really? Yeah, he does that a lot," I mumbled as coherently as I was able.
The baboon laughed (like a maniac, for real) and stooped to grab me around the waist. I shouted as his rough handling jostled my wound. He shook me once more for good measure as he threw me over his shoulder (stomach wound down, the jerk!) before sprinting away through the grass. I very nearly threw up all over the back of his baboon pelt.
I was roughly tossed to the ground for the third time today when he came to a sudden stop. I groaned weakly. There seemed to be some commotion nearby. I raised my head and looked toward the noise.
Sesshomaru! They were all there! But what were they doing? Sesshomaru seemed to be standing behind Inuyasha and the rest looking bored. Inuyasha was swinging his sword at empty air and Kagome doing the same with her arrows. A waste of good arrows if you asked me.
Funny, I couldn't actually hear them. It felt like I should've been able to hear them, but the everything was silent and still where I was.
They seemed to be trying to attack something but I couldn't see anything there with them. I squinted; Inuyasha's sword seemed like it was hitting something. Every time he swung it, it seemed to bounce off the air, leaving behind the same purple haze that I had seen Kagura vanish earlier. Maybe it was some kind of shield? Or maybe a cloaking device?
Naraku dragged me to my feet, holding me up by the back of my collar to keep me standing. I pulled Sesshomaru's pelt up with me. It was hanging over one shoulder and tangled around my fists. Naraku mumbled something and suddenly the air was filled with the sounds the natural forest as well as those of Kagome and her pack.
Naraku laughed and tightened his grip on my collar. I whimpered.
Sesshomaru's head snapped up and he met my eyes. It seemed like he hadn't been able to sense me was obviously still a barrier between everyone else and us but now the noise barrier was gone. They could see us now as well apparently.
Sesshomaru's eyes didn't bleed red immediately. Instead he seemed disbelieving, running over my dangling form analytically. His eyes finally met mine and I realized that instead of the fiery, red rage I had expected to see his eyes glowed with icy, white flames.
I smiled weakly and waved.
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Sesshomaru stared. He was angry, he recognized that emotion, but this was different, like metal on fire as opposed to wood. He shook with fine, controlled tremors as he stared at the tableau presented to him.
"Naraku, what is this?" he asked softly, sure the Hanyou could hear him. His idiot half-brother's worthless attack on the barrier had stopped as well as his packs.
"Jesus!" the inu-hanyou muttered. "That kid gets kidnapped more than you Kagome!"
Kagome whipped around with a scowl on her face but the taiyoukai acted before she could utter a syllable. His whip cracked through the air smacking against the ground pointing toward Inubaka. Nothing happened for moment before a quiet rumble shook the ground and the earth parted with a groan of rock and soil. Inuyasha was forced to jump away as the fissure tore through the grass straight toward him.
"What the hell you stupid bastard!" Inuyasha yelped.
Sesshomaru's eyes never left the abomination before him. With the barrier gone Naraku's barren estate was revealed. Hardly any trees the landscape was filled with boulders and dry grass. It seemed Naraku's miasma didn't allow anything to grow in his home. Naraku remained silent and Sesshomaru's fury roared, "Answer me Naraku! What is this?!"
Naraku laughed, "Well, I'm not one to play fair am I?" He shook the girl for emphasis. She whimpered and Sesshomaru grew very, very still.
"Release my mate Naraku," Sesshomaru ordered.
Naraku cocked his head, "Really? Well alright." He lift the girl and with the ease of a child throwing away a rag doll tossed the girl away. He heard the beginnings of a muffled scream escape the girl before she collided with a boulder. With his sharp hearing he catalogued every crack and splinter of the collision with detached attention. It sounded like her ribs… It was something that would have to be attended to later, same as the slowly bleeding gash running from her chest to her waist. She slid to the ground in a boneless heap and between frighteningly damp sounding pants wheezed something that sounded suspiciously like "fourth time today!"
Sesshomaru twitched but otherwise remained still.
Naraku looked the girl over, "No. That isn't quite right." A tentacle shot out of the baboon hide and flew toward the girl. Sesshomaru lurched forward but was stopped by the barrier still in place. The tentacle wrapped itself around the girl's throat and jerked her upright, holding her back against the stone.
Kodi cried out and Sesshomaru snarled. He had heard the grinding noise of her ribs as she had been jerked. And he could smell new blood, either from her wound tearing further or new abrasions. There was too much blood to tell, although he was taking short, sharp breaths to scent as much as possible. He watched the girls hand shake around whatever it was that she held. Was that? His pelt! He stretched out his youkai with desperate hope and was relieved to come into contact with the fur. He moved it so it supported more of the girls weight instead of putting all the pressure on her neck where the tentacle grasped her.
He tried to be gentle as he urged the pelt around her waist but she still cried out and cringed as the fur tightened so near her wound and ribs.
Naraku cackled, "Isn't that sweet! But really My Lord, you can't think to protect her with that flimsy excuse for a fur can you?"
Naraku thrust another tentacle toward the girl, crunching into the rock inches from her face. He ran the narrow tip the length of her cheek, "Now, now, we mustn't cry little girl. We wouldn't want to look weak."
Sesshomaru's growled as he watched the girl sob. She hadn't been crying until now and the sound ripped a snarl from the taiyoukai as he drew his sword.
"Temper, temper," the hanyou murmured mildly. Sesshomaru snarled again and swung his sword to strike the barrier. The purple haze crackled and hissed as he battered hissed, "Fine. I had wanted more time to play with the girl, but if you're going to throw a temper tantrum I have no choice but to do away with her now."
Sesshomaru howled as Naraku raised another tentacle. Inuyasha and the miko stilled their attacks on the barrier as realization of the spider's intent settled. They had all seen this attack once before, when Naraku had pierced Inuyasha with likely that very same tentacle. Sango whispered a horrified denial from her seat on Kirara and Miroku tightened his grip around her waist. Sesshomaru renewed his assault on the barrier with a vengeance and the barrier was snapping and spitting with clashing youkai.
Kodi seemed to realize what was about to happen as well. Her tears stopped and she stared at the tentacle with frozen horror. Her eyes snapped once to Sesshomaru, once to the pelt she fisted againt her stomach and once more to the tentacle rearing back to strike.
"No," she breathed. Her fist jerked the pelt away from her and Sesshomaru jerked in sympathy as his youkai was pushed back in turn. He snapped his attention to the girl.
"No!" she repeated. The now pink fur was thrust away as the tentacle raced toward her. "I reject Sesshomaru as a mate!" The words had barely left her lips before Naraku's attack his home and her statement ended in a scream as the tentacle pierced her breast.
Naraku savagely twisted and Kodi's scream ended in a gurgle as she finally slumped in silence. He withdrew his tentacle and the girl fell to the grass and rubble.
He spun and a feral grin glinted in the shadows of the baboon face as he waited to see Sesshomaru fall as well.
Sesshomaru was frozen. He shuddered once and Naraku fairly cackled with glee. His anticipation faltered however when Sesshomaru shuddered again.
For the taiyoukai, everything was ice cold but for a burning flame in his chest. He shuddered again. The girl's words had ripped away the warmth he hadn't been aware had been cocooned within his aura until it vanished. She had actually managed to reject the bond completely just as the tentacle had spun the scent of death through her own fragrance.
Sesshomaru shuddered again, more violently. Naraku screamed in rage and the noise seemed to shake Sesshomaru from his rigidity. The ice in his veins shifted and raced to one focal point, one epicenter of rage, all centered on this worthless hanyou who thought he could take something that belonged to this Sesshomaru and not pay the price.
Sesshomaru didn't bother with his swords as he leapt at the barrier, straight toward the spider who stumbled back in surprise. The collision of Sesshomaru's youkai screamed against the barrier and the air was frozen for a few short moment as Sesshomaru vibrated in midair. The silence was likened to right before your ears pop, deafening for a fraction of a second before sound came rushing back in. The ground jumped and shivered as the barrier cracked and shattered with the noise of a thousand screams.
And Naraku's screams soon joined them.
No one noticed the little old man crouching next to the girl as Sesshomaru's rage melt into his eyes and he transformed. Or when the girl's form shimmered and began to fade beneath his wrinkled hands as Inuyasha shouted and his pack broke from their shock and joined the great white dog in his vengeance. Or when she disappeared completely as the miko stooped and clasped the fallen shikon jewel in her hand, the fragment glowing bright as they were purified and reformed. No one noticed anything until it was all over, and by then, there was nothing to notice but an empty patch of grass, sodden with Kodi's blood and Sesshomaru's wretched shout as he thrust the point of his healing sword through the dirt.
A/N Cont'd:
NekomataHanyou: Lol, by the way, don't worry, they WILL get another scene. I don't have the will to not finish them off… figuratively speaking. Haha.
WatterGoddessKasey: Yay! Thank you!
Angel of Randomosity: Your review made me laugh. Thank you for the encouragement!
On another note: Wouldn't it just be awful of me if this was the last chapter? Lol, don't worry, it's not over yet. I'll have the next up very soon.