Author's Note:
To Hezaa-san -- You asked for the lemon(s) I had to take out but since you're not a member I cannot find your email or reply to you. Also, for some reason this website doesnt let you write your email in a message or anything. In any case, I would be glad to send the unedited lemon to you but you will have to send me a message entitled "FACE OF A MIRACLE" or similar to kaoru_ -- (I hope that is visible - seems to sulk when you write your email here lol).
To Horsechick -- although you're a member you dont have 'reply' or 'private message' enabled on your account so I cannot get your email either. Please email me with a message entitled "FACE OF A MIRACLE" to kaoru_ so I can send you them - thankies! x
I've finally plotted out whats gonna happen at the end, and its not gonna be long now, maybe 2-4 chapters left, which is sad, since I've really enjoyed writing for you guys, and loved your comments and CONSTANT support *hugs you all* neways, i'm not gone yet, so please and enjoy and review!
Sorry, didnt have time to proof-read this one XD
Enjoy and review please *chu*
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Blaze Of The Crimson Sun
Eighteen
Kagome was stumped. The little girl sleeping soundly, curled against her side would remain nameless for a while longer it seemed, and her son, who had yet to cease his crying since his sister bopped him hard on the nose wasn't much better off. The once-priestess had assumed she was expecting a boy, and hence had come up with a name for him, although now she'd seen him, she'd decided against it. And although Inuyasha indulged her in this 'name-game', Kagome could tell by his vacant expression that this wasn't the main crisis at hand…
Inuyasha sighed, dropping the small boy back into his mother's arms; he couldn't silence him, not when there was so much going on aside from this. His mother's death, the battle, and Katsura…they were all problems he needed to deal with, but right now, all he wanted to do is close his eyes and wait for it all to go away. Sesshomaru had confined Rin, Kagome and the pups to the cave for safety, and posted guards for their protection, however, with Lord Inu-no-Taishou still recovering from his wounds, Inuyasha couldn't stay in hiding much longer – he needed to be on the battlefield, without the Tetsusaiga at their side, his father and brother would be cut down.
"Inuyasha?" The half-demon snapped from his thoughts, turning to gaze upon his family. "Something is… What's the matter, something's happened, or is going to happen – something bad…" He looked away once more, not able to look at her when he spoke.
"Yeah…I…Listen, Kagome I…when you were taken, I went to find you but…when I got there…" He paused, claws biting into the bedding, urging his words to be untrue. "My…My mother was…dead…"
The words struck her, cutting into her. It was like death had shot towards her and smacked her across the face with that sudden statement. Izayoi couldn't be dead – she was part of her world, without it…it just wasn't the world anymore. Tears swelled in her eyes, cascading down her cheeks. "D-Dead…? S-She can't be dead…she…" The once-priestess lost her voice to the brewing misery, and Inuyasha leant over, capturing the hand that wasn't cradling their son between his.
"Oh gods I'm sorry, was I right to tell you?" She nodded, resting their finally sleeping baby down beside his sister, before leaping into Inuyasha's arms, crying into his chest.
"I…I just…" she sobbed against him, "she took care of me…she doted on me as if I was…" she trailed off, sensing that telltale silence in Inuyasha. Kagome ceased her cries, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand defiantly as she sat up, and sure enough when she met those eyes she loved so much, they held shameful, unshed tears, which never fell.
The half-demon smirked despite himself, petting her untidy hair affectionately, distracting his ashamed gaze from her eyes. "She did see you as a daughter," he assured her, finishing her sentence for her. "I suppose you were her daughter in a sense," he muttered, trying to sound casual, but failing miserably. He fell silent, as did Kagome – she didn't know what to say to him, and she felt all the more miserable for it. This was the man she loved and she couldn't find the words to comfort him when he lost the most treasured person in his life – for Inuyasha could say that Izayoi doted on her, but in all truth, it was Inuyasha that doted on his mother…
"…it would kill me if something happened to Inuyasha. He isn't just my son…because he was part human he didn't fit with demons, but because he was part demon he didn't fit with humans. He didn't fit anywhere because of his blood, and I didn't fit anywhere because I was Inu-no-Taishou's mate…so, we fit together…"
Kagome fought to keep her desperate tears from spilling once more, recalling Izayoi's words from that very dark time not so long ago. And she appreciated then, as she had never taken the time to before, how identical Inuyasha's emotions must be compared to Izayoi's. Except, to Inuyasha, this was a woman who had struggled all these years to offer him comfort in a world that wanted him dead, and even though he didn't necessarily need her protection or motherly idealistic assurances, it tore him to shreds to know that he could never have it again in this world that hated him so thoroughly. Kagome gnawed her lip, and here was Inuyasha, her Inuyasha, who had saved her in every possible way, needed saving, and she didn't know how to do it…
"I couldn't save her…" she muttered bleakly, avoiding her mate's eyes. Inuyasha's gaze snapped to her in shock at her guilty tone. "S-She…she died protecting us," the once-priestess cast a glance to the snoozing pups curled into her side, the girl's clawless thumb in her mouth. "And I just stood there…like a helpless idiot – like always, waiting for someone to protect me – to help me – to save me, and like always…" she muttered, a shuddering gasp interrupting her words as she tried desperately not to cry. "Someone died because of me…"
Inuyasha growled, seizing her shoulders roughly. "Again with this? It's the same guilt for your own parents isn't it? You aren't weak – you were in pre-labour, how could you have used your priestess powers-"
"-I couldn't have used them anyway," she interrupted, her voice almost silent, still not looking at him. Inuyasha stopped, eyes slightly wide, stunned.
"I…" he muttered, "I'm so…I should have told you my suspicions before I allowed you to go through with our mating ceremony, I-"
"Allow me? 'Allow me'?" she repeated, her voice louder this time. "You think I didn't know about the 'risks'? You think I would be a priestess at all without realising the things that 'could' take my powers away?"
Inuyasha seemed slightly shocked at her outburst, releasing his hold on her, staring, again, stunned.
"Y-You-"
"-I've been a priestess for 3 years," she interrupted once more, loud enough to distinguish the anger in her voice, quiet enough to not disturb the little ones. "And in training to be one a lot longer than that… I've been taught things that…" she grit her teeth, unable to make sense of what she was trying to say. "I can lose my powers if I lose my purity – why else do you think every priestess you encounter that goes by the book is a virgin?" Inuyasha's face remained impassive, but his next words were full of self-loathing.
"So…so it is my fault…"
"No!" she answered, inadvertently repeating the same words to Inuyasha as she did to Izayoi. "Losing my purity isn't the same as losing my virginity. The priests started rumours that to…sleep with a demon or part demon took those gifts away, but that wasn't true, it was a lie, a fraud to prevent…mixed breeding…" She cringed at the words, though found no other way to explain it.
"I can only lose my powers if I forsake them or if I…" Inuyasha frowned at her loathsome expression as her voice faded out, touching her hand skittishly.
"What?" he asked, "What is it?" She wet her lips apprehensively.
"If I…I feel impure…" Inuyasha frowned. "By feeling dirty after…sexual acts," she finished, blushing, and her mortified scent flaring in Inuyasha's nostrils.
"So…so I made you-"
"-Not you," Kagome cut him off quickly, "Katsura…"
It was then, that anger flared inside Inuyasha. These past months the couple had managed to suppress the evil demon and his acts against her, but now, it all effervesced to the surface, simmering and searing like some boiling concoction of fury inside them. And Inuyasha had to do something.
"Listen," he muttered, livid, though his voice unnaturally calm. Kagome frowned as he caught her by her shoulders once more, meeting her eyes. "Father is wounded and, Sesshōmaru is leading the assault against the revolutionaries." Kagome seized his hand on her shoulder, realising what he was about to say before he'd finished. "You, and the pups and Rin are safe here," he continued, his voice insisting, as she opened her mouth to answer, "I have to go to the frontline, if I don't, Sesshōmaru will fall, and so will my father's castle."
The tears brewed within her eyes again, though she fought against them. "I know…" she muttered, "I know it's selfish to want you to stay… but I… if you die… I don't know what I'll do…" His eyes widened, but no sooner had he gone to reply, than Kagome spoke again. "Our son and daughter will never meet their grandmother – don't make them lose their father as well…"
"Kagome-"
"-I know," his mate muttered softly, leaning forward to press her forehead against his, breathing him in heartily. "I know you have to go…"
"My mother is dead – if my brother, and my father, and the lands they love so much burn, I'll never forgive myself – I'm not going to let my pups grow up without their grandfather or uncle – or their father, okay?" she smiled sadly, butterfly kisses fluttering over his lips, before she drew back to soak him in carefully. "I want to give them the chance to grow up happily, and see the world to its full beautiful potential."
"I know…and I know you have to go…I know you'll save everyone…I have faith in you…" He offered her a final kiss, brushing the backs of his claws affectionately over his sleeping children, before departing slowly; casting glances back to his family occasionally.
"I'll be back for you!" he called back to her, before disappearing out of sight. She sighed softly, laying back and curling her body around her son and daughter, crystal tears streaming down her cheeks, falling to the blankets surrounding her and her children.
"I know…" she whispered, "I know you won't…"
***
The crimson sun flaring above the wasteland seemed to scream along with the cries of battle below. Fangs and claws tore into flesh, swords, arrows, blades met armour, slicing through the reflective, battle worn metal and into the bodies within. Demon met demon, and all in aid of what they believed was right, they slaughtered each other like animals.
Blood oozed from pale flesh, staining crisp silver hair, Sesshōmaru wincing in agony, though no cry escaping his lips. His back bowed under the blow to the back his head, and he dropped to his knees, the searing agony burning through his body. He glanced around through his suddenly hazy vision, he was glad his father couldn't see him now, brought to his knees by a mere days battle. The cold exterior he'd maintained almost all his life faltered under the pain, and he cried out at last, turning his agonised body at last, knocking the attacking demon's feet out from under him, tearing the life from him with poised claws.
A transformation into his true form was impossible with this many of his own soldiers surrounding him, he'd have to struggle on, and fumble for victory in this form, with the claws and fangs from his father, and the poison from his mother to seize it.
Agonised screams reached his slightly pointed ears, drawing his attention toward the centre of the battle, to where Katsura's triumphant gaze shone glaringly through blood as he tore through his enemies. And Sesshōmaru snarled, leaping towards the man that had torn his, his father's and his little brother's life upside down. People like Katsura, reminded the demon painfully of how bitter and twisted the world truly was, and when he finally reached him, Sesshomaru's claws flexed with the yearning, to bathe the earth with the traitor's blood, and with it show the world how it could be without all this…needless suffering…
"Lord Sesshōmaru," Katsura acknowledged him with an air of feigned politeness. Sesshōmaru sneered.
"Spare me the fake amiability you little fool," he growled, "I'll slay you like the worthless beast you are – take you apart piece by piece, and make you beg for death before I watch my poison eat away your stone heart for what you have done to those I care for." That sickeningly smug smirk was at Katsura's lips again.
"And for that little human whore of your father? Show you her any honour or revenge?" he goaded, "The woman you always hated, and yet swore to protect her son?" Sesshōmaru again sneered at him.
"Lady Izayoi was a noble woman – who was deserving of a hundred lifetimes, should she enrich the world with such caring that it scarcely sees."
Katsura let out a hearty laugh. "This? Lord Sesshōmaru offering such 'fuzzy', 'idealistic' images of a perfect world? You are becoming your father, boy." The demon remained impassive to the irritating laughter. "What has inspired such a revelation?"
"A result of years of battle, and that battle finally coming to an end – and the approach of peace…" The smirk returned.
"Confident, considering you can barely stand – My Lord…"
"This Sesshōmaru will not be brought down by a traitorous maggot such as yourself."
Katsura seemed not to register his words, eyes scanning the battlefield carefully, before turning his attention back to Inu-no-Taishou's heir.
"The Great Lord Inu-no-Taishou absent from battle I see," he noted, and Sesshōmaru tipped his head to the side slightly, face untouched by emotion or pain.
"He has gone to your master," he uttered simply, raising his claws in gesture for their battle to begin, poison hissing from their tips. Katsura sneered this time.
"He may be a formidable foe, but with those wounds he will perish easily under My lord's hand – and you," he added, advancing towards Sesshōmaru confidently, swinging his sword slightly with his right hand. "You will scream for mercy, as I cut you apart, piece by piece, and squealing like the dog you are when your dear brother watches you fall."
Sesshōmaru frowned, turning as Katsura gestured over his shoulder, golden eyes widening with a mix of relief and fear as he watched Inuyasha dart into the crowds of battle, not seeing him, though Tetsusaiga roaring to life in his hands. But as he turned to face his foe once more, Katsura thrust the blade in his hand through his flesh, floods of crimson staining them and the earth below their feet, and Sesshōmaru screamed. Inuyasha's gaze shot towards his brother in the battle, as if summoning him, and his eyes widened in horror. No…it can't… He leapt forwards, shoving those around him roughly from his path, regardless of whose side they were on. "NO!!! SESSHŌMARU!!!"
TBC
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A/N: DUM DUM DUM DUM! *DODGES FLYING FRUIT* Okay I'm dead after that cliffie aint I? *gulps* Sorry for the delay, and for the short chappie to boot, hopefully the next will be longer. Hope you enjoyed, please review nnicely *hugs you all* R&R *chu*
Shigure-san
x chuu x
