Chapter 18
She could feel the intensity of his gaze on the back of her neck, his unvoiced hatred towards her burnt the delicate skin of hers, as if his look alone would be enough to set her sins on a hungry inferno. She felt helpless and she could only hope that her son would have the heart to forgive her, for being the catalyst of this unfortunate chaos, it was something that can never be taken back. It was never her intention, but nevertheless, she had been the reason for things to have unfolded in this way.
Each step that the group took towards the dense forest was heavy and calculated, precise and harsh. The panic was thick, self-imposed and it coated them along with a sense of disparity. Inukimi could bear no more and a little choke, almost close to a sob escaped from her painted lips along with her breath, a wordless plea in a vain attempt to ease her pain in the chest.
"It's not your fault" Her mate pressed and his voice bore the guilt, the same guilt that had preyed on her soul. She wanted to believe his words, to seek at least an ounce of comfort from his statement, but her heart only wept more. The churn under the base of her ribs pulled her down and she was so close in succumbing to the sorrow. But she didn't, she knew she had to stay strong, fake an aura of power, if not, it will burden her son, he will lose the light of his life, lose his hope in finding her. And so, with a deep breath, she proceeded further along with her family.
Sesshomaru had his vision set straight, cold and piercing. The howl of the night did nothing to falter his steps towards the darkness of the forest, the shadows of the trees were bitter reminder of the tongue lashes that he had given to Kagome. His blood boiled all over again when he replayed the memories of her broken stare. How foolish he was to think otherwise? His palm fisted and his claws dug deep in to his skin, leaving a perfect dent in his otherwise scar-less hand.
He could not hate his mother, but it stung hard, her actions weren't intentional and he knew that, yet, it was enough to drain his hope, to bring him down in a shadow of coldness with nothing warm to wrap around him. He was the one to be blamed for, for being shallow enough, for not trusting his own instincts, for being weak enough to get played with. He was musing over what he had been reduced to, to grovel and to let down his pride and shed tears. The air around him rippled, tints of anger and sadness danced with a might. The fury inside his bones was beginning to stomach his bitter feelings, to turn all the hatred towards the one called Naraku, the one who had enough audacity to even lay his finger on her.
'Mine' His heart roared, bled and wept.
He didn't care anymore, what was he thinking? What was his sire thinking, organizing a ball for a human girl. Doesn't he know how harmful it was for a human to be with any demon, or did he so easily forget the pitiful sufferings met by Inuyasha's mother?
His line of vision dipped towards his left, on the human, the one who had been raised enough to be called as a companion, the one who was treated almost in par with the royal, the one who was faithful enough to be let in to all the family gatherings.
'Maybe he could keep her safe, love her, marry her, give her a child that she could love and cuddle' He thought bitterly. Miroku felt a cold gaze on him and he shifted uneasily, to hover next to Inuyasha. It wasn't just a saying that he was born with an alarming self-preservation. He didn't know why, but Miroku's skin crawled in and he felt as if he had been sentenced to death, and to think that everything was just felt from a cold piercing glare of certain ice prince was striking.
Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, cursed the actions of the tiny human who took in a cover next to an idiot and that was when he noticed the stupid grin on his half brother's face, his eyes fixated on the priestess, as if she held the center of his universe.
'Great, now isn't that wonderful? My little brother is smitten with the miko who almost looks like Kagome' The teenager thought with an audible huff.
"Miko, what else do you know?" Sesshomaru asked, his voice was devoid of any quiver and he was thankful for the years of practice that his father had put him to, the patience to analyze everything, the art of precision and the ability to draw out rational conclusions. It stuck him odd, the way the miko had dropped in out of nowhere after nearly half a decade. She looked the same, as if the brushes of age never touched her.
"I have told everything that I know of" She said, her voice was cold and equally calculative, guarded.
"Have you?" His Sire asked and it didn't take a sharp look to notice the falter in her path.
"Miko, do tell us. What exactly is going on?" Inukimi pressed. She had done enough, by tempting the fate and she wanted nothing but the truth, no more spinning of lies. She wanted her Kagome to be safe and sound.
"You know enough." The young miko in white said and continued down the narrow path.
"Miko" Sesshomaru hissed and Inuyasha frowned at the sudden change in his brother's demeanor. The twelve year old didn't like the way his brother addressed the lady, the one who had according to the hanyou, descended from the heaven itself, to help them.
There was a tangible sigh from the priestess and she closed her eyes, to finally tell them something that they shouldn't probably know.
"Earlier, I told you that I looked in to her horoscope. It was a lie" She began.
"I knew it. To look in to someone's horoscope, you need to know the exact time and date of the birth." Miroku said and earned a glare from Sesshomaru that promptly shut him up.
'That's two death stares in less than an hour. Someone above hates me to the core' Miroku's mind cursed.
"Yes, I spent a good amount of time, to unwrap the mystery behind my incarnation. Midoriko helped me to look in to things that were buried along the pages of time itself. Everything that happens is already inked, prophesied and it branches out with the decisions that we take," Kikiyo paused for a minute to let the information sink in.
"As I said, it is impossible for Kagome to belong to this time line when I am still alive and breathing. Her birth is for a cause and there was a mess up in the timeline, the mirrors in the universe was tampered with and so she is here, where she isn't supposed to be. The reason for her existence is thus unfulfilled, but Midoriko is convinced that everything happens for a reason and that maybe the timeline and the universe that she belongs to would have changed without her, adapted and survived."
"What do you mean by 'Universe that she belongs to'?" Miroku asked, his eyes shone with curiosity under the moon's light.
"There are many as ours, we call it the 'mirrors of universe', it has the same worlds, same gods, same humans and demons as this one does, with minor changes, subtle ones, the 'what if' scenarios plays out in these different universe. Kagome belongs to a different universe, because the Kagome of this world, hasn't born yet and would never be if there is someone with her soul already walking. Midoriko knows complicated spells and her vision is not limited like ours, it was she who made me look in to a world similar to ours, where things were rather different."
"How different?" Sesshomaru asked, the puzzle was still unsolved and he hates when a question hangs in the ether.
"Different in many ways. It's still a mystery on how exactly the mirrors works, but our actions are not just mere reflection of our counter parts in different continuum, it's much more, much deeper. In one such look out, things played differently, as in.." Kikiyo trailed out, her voice shivered and Inuyasha was by her side, almost like a pull, he took her palms in his, a gentle press was all it needed to comfort her.
"As in, I saw me, us, everyone that I know of in that universe, far too different. It wasn't exactly a close knit family as you have in this universe. Inutaisho dies protecting his human mate, Inuyasha grows up in a bitter environment, where he is hated for who he is, Sesshomaru grows to be a cold prince, he loses his arm in a fight with his brother, over a fang, tames a bit, takes in a ward and allies with his brother against a common enemy." Kikiyo summarizes, leaving the parts of her own heart break, her sufferings', her revival and her second death.
"And Kagome?" The sixteen year old presses more, he could feel the pout forming in his face, the one that was too uncharacteristic for him, but he was desperate for an answer, desperate to know whether 'the-not-his-Kagome' had an happy life.
"She travels back and forth. There too, she is a time traveller, but something of my past bounds her to the time line of yours and Inuyasha's. She was a miko too, the one with the kind heart, the one with the purest soul, the one more like the Kagome we know." Kikiyo spills out softly, the strain in her voice was subtle, but it wasn't missed by the demon family.
"I die?" Inutaisho asked with a huff.
"You were a great warrior who was revered" Kikiyo said, her head declined a bit, to offer the due respect. The visions of his grave from the alternate universe flooded her mind, the spells that Midoriko casted was vivid enough and everything felt almost tangible. She could still feel the warmth of the twelve year old by her side, the one who would probably grow up and claim her heart in the years to come by. A tiny hope fluttered in the corner of her chest that whispered that maybe in this timeline, in this universe, she may survive without a heart break.
She considered herself lucky, luckier than her counterpart at least. The responsibility of the gem was not hers in this universe, Midoriko held the power, the job to protect the gem. Even though Kikiyo was still puzzled over the fact on why she never gained a year in her age, she was content to know that fate has been a little kind.
"What about me?" Miroku asked, his face was etched in a perfect frown, the feeling of left out was well painted in the child's deep blue eyes.
"You bore a curse, a curse in your hand. But then, as the years passed by, you met Inuyasha, met a certain girl, had a new purpose and everything was solved" The miko said with a smile on her lips. She was curious to see how his life will turnout to be, to see whether the demon slayer will make an appearance in this timeline.
"Hn" Sesshomaru hummed. His eyes never once left the path in front of him. He could see that the miko had left out certain details, maybe those were the details that should not be known. From the looks of it, Sesshomaru felt as if Kagome had a life that she loved and cherished. He didn't care how things were in the timeline that sounded so foreign and distanced to him, he didn't care that he had fought his own brother and lost an arm, it didn't irk him. He felt the little flutter of warmth in the depth of his chest. He was glad that his sire didn't die, he was glad that his brother wasn't his arch rival, he was glad he wasn't the one that the miko described.
His thoughts traced back to the evening, where Kagome had found the little fox. A pang tugged his heart, he had abandon the little kitsune in the palace, just like he had lost Kagome against petty thoughts. He was ashamed and he hoped for the millionth time that his little human girl was safe. The teenage heir was distressed, frantic and he vowed that he would never rest until his arms were around her shoulders, around her little arms. He would never rest until he could pull her closer, closer to him, closer to his heart. And for that to happen, he swore on his royal lineage that he would be a better person and maybe then, fate would bring her back to him, someone that she deserves.
'And maybe I would be kind enough to give the role of my assistant to an imp' he thought with a smirk and moved on towards the direction his heart tugged in.
~.~.~
Silver.
It was the first thing that came to her mind when it swam away from the pool of cold blackness. She heard the chirps of birds, the birds that she knew that didn't belong to her home. Her head hurt and she couldn't address the point of ache, it was as if every fiber, every tissue of hers were burning. The luster of silver puller her back to a surface, to a shore.
Gold.
Her vision was dark and she knew her eyelids are yet to open, but her heart yearned for the warmth of gold among the coldness. The light grains of yellow filled her thoughts, it made her smile.
Violet.
Her palm reached out, as if on cue, to touch the stripes that framed his jaws, the feel of those velvet patches still lingered in the tips of her fingers and she smiled yet again.
"I am touched. Miko, for you to think am worthy enough to be graced by your fingertips" She heard a voice that jolted her from the blackness. Her lids flew open and she could see the hues of purple in his eyes, the one that spilled of glee and she knew that she was in a place that she didn't belong. Her heart drummed, her frame shivered, her fingers recoiled with disgust and her lips could utter only his name.
"Sesshomaru" She called out, but her voice was drowned among the laughs that the man in front of her let out.
"He will never come for you" He said and somehow those words hit her hard than any blows.
~.~.~
A/N : A very short update after a very long break. My apologies..
I hope the chapter isn't too confusing.
Leave a review : )
