A/N: Hello all! First, thank you everyone who reviewed last chapter! Even if I can't respond to all of them, I do read every review I receive and I appreciate each one. Love you guys!
Next, I'd like to respond to a few questions I've received. First, for my "first French reader of this fiction", although I'm not entirely sure yet how long this story will be, presently it is leaning towards epic :P Second, for the few of you who have asked why I named the Inu no Taisho Katashi instead of Touga, all it really comes down to is the fact that Touga, according to my research, is not his real name and it reminds me of a Greek college party XD I don't care much for it, so I decided to go with something different. I hope that doesn't bother anyone too much.
Also, it's my birthday today so this is my gift to all of you! Thanks for sticking with me!
Now, please enjoy this new chapter!
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Kaka Kara No Bourei
Part Eight:
Antipathy
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Pathetic fool.
Kagura watched with malicious amusement as Naraku reclined in a faded window seat. He sat with his right arm resting over a raised knee, looking for the entire world as he normally did while he peered out over the miasma-filled grounds of his dark castle.
But Kagura knew better.
She was sure no one else would have noticed, but the wind witch prided herself on recognizing the few little tells Naraku possessed. When his pupils dilated, he was feeling particularly wicked. When his left eyebrow quirked ever so slightly, he was either amused or annoyed―the two usually went hand in hand. And when his lower lip twitched, Kagura knew to act every bit the loyal servant and keep her sharp tongue behind her teeth.
Today, however, it was the curl of his hands that gave him away.
Naraku was in pain. Intense pain.
His meeting with Bakayasha's father had not gone well, she knew, and he had the marks to show for it. Whatever the dog demon had done to him, Naraku was still struggling to piece himself back together from it. On her part, Kagura fervently hoped the spider bastard would die, but she realized that was hoping for too much. If she knew Naraku like she thought she did then chances were he already had a new plan forming in his twisted, cruel mess of a mind. He wouldn't have called her if he didn't.
"Kagura . . ."
The demoness glanced up from where she knelt on the floor and suppressed a sudden shiver. Cold ruby eyes assessed her closely, carefully, perhaps looking for signs of her usual unwilling and obstinate nature. He cocked his head to the side, inky long hair falling across his beautiful, blank face. She gasped inaudibly when she saw his pupils expand.
"Let's spin another web, shall we?"
Kagura fought not to look away from her creator as she inquired, "What would you have me do?"
An uncomfortable moment of silence passed before Naraku unfurled long fingers to reveal the blackened, corrupted portion of the Shikon settled in his palm. As his mouth stretched into a malevolent imitation of a grin, Kagura saw his lower lip twitch.
"I need you to find something for me."
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The silence was deafening.
Kagome found herself pressing closer to Katashi as they flew high above Kakuremichi. Craning her head back, she saw Sango and Miroku looking as uncomfortable as she felt. They were flying extremely close to Katashi on his left, clutching their weapons tightly, and Kagome couldn't really blame them. This was not the welcome she had been expecting.
She'd prepared herself for several different scenarios, but this . . . this was just eerie.
The city itself was beyond beautiful. Stunningly bright light filtered down from the internal peak of the mountain, illuminating the vast civilization settled within its depths. Contrary to what Kagome had assumed upon arrival, Kakuremichi stretched along the entirety of the mountain range. Rolling green hills and fields went as far as she could see in either direction, and pretty modest homes decorated the landscape. The heady smell of earth and fresh water wrapped around her senses, and Kagome thought she might have actually looked forward to spending time here . . .
. . . If it weren't for the people.
The priestess chanced a look down and immediately wished she hadn't. Her fingers dug further into Katashi's skin as she met his eyes with hers. "Um, is this normal?" she asked hesitantly. "Maybe you should have come without us . . ."
"It's not you," Katashi said reassuringly, "or your friends, though I'm sure that only adds to the mystery." His full lips tilted into a grin. "It's me."
"You?" Kagome repeated dubiously. "But why―"
"Patience," the daiyoukai interrupted gently. "For now, we have far more pressing matters to contend with."
Frowning, Kagome cast another wary look at the city below and, more importantly, its occupants. "Matters more pressing than thousands of demon zombies?"
She missed Katashi's curious glance. "Zom . . . bies?" he repeated uncertainly.
"M-hmm," she murmured distractedly, still staring at the town passing beneath them. "Reanimated corpses."
His answering laugh jolted her. "I can assure you they are not corpses," he said when she peered up at him. "They are only trying to determine who I am."
Kagome lifted an incredulous brow. "You mean that isn't obvious?"
"I have been dead for two-hundred years, Kagome," he reminded with a chuckle. "Would you not be suspicious if you didn't know any better?"
Ah. "Good point," she replied, "but it doesn't explain why they have to stare at us like that."
"Natural instincts." One elegantly clawed hand gestured to the many citizens of Kakuremichi littering the streets. "Perhaps you should look again."
Warily, Kagome did as he suggested. She brushed her dark hair impatiently away when it fell across her vision and looked once more at the many demons watching them pass.
Except . . . they weren't watching them pass. Kagome's brow furrowed in confusion, and she turned in Katashi's embrace and proceeded to almost climb him like a tree for a better viewing angle. She glanced back the way they had come and felt her bewilderment triple. "Are they all bowing?"
Katashi's shaking shoulders were all the confirmation she needed. Well, Kagome thought wryly as he continued to laugh, looks like they decided he's the real deal. She was reminded vaguely of dominoes falling as they flew towards what she assumed to be the center of the city. This is somewhat ridiculous.
Suddenly, the earth began to tremble violently, and an absolutely ear-shattering roar resounded through the mountain range. Katashi went impossibly rigid, and then Kagome found herself sprawled across his chest as he held her so tightly she knew she would bruise. "Wha―"
"Remember those pressing matters I mentioned?" Katashi called above the din. "They're headed this way!"
Kagome tried to twist in his embrace, to no avail, so she settled for yelling, "Should we be worried?!"
They dropped abruptly through the air then, and Kagome swallowed back her scream as a massive paw passed over their heads. "No," Katashi bellowed. "She's always been rather dramatic."
She? Kagome swiped at her watery eyes as the wind rushed past them and felt her mouth drop open when she saw a huge white dog sprinting along in their wake. But . . . that looks like . . .
Her thoughts were cut short when claws the size of minivans began to glow a vivid, toxic green, and a horrible flashback of Sesshoumaru's dokkasu enveloping her in a deadly cloud of poison after she'd freed Tetsusaiga flashed through her mind. Panic surged through her body, and Kagome reacted before she could stop herself.
Blindingly white light erupted from her fingertips, and Katashi hardly had time to fold his larger body around hers before the force of her purity sent them hurtling backwards into the unforgiving inner wall of the mountain. The collision reverberated like thunder through the city, but it was nothing compared to the sound of the huge inuyoukai smashing completely through the mountain wall and tumbling toward the ground in a heap of dirt and rubble.
The quiet that followed seemed almost― impossibly ―louder.
Kagome blinked open one blue eye and, when she realized she was indeed still in one piece, slowly the other. Heat encompassed her small frame, and it took her muddled brain a moment to figure out where exactly it what was coming from.
And when it did, she was sure all the blood in her body rushed to her face.
The scent emanating from his skin hit her so hard she unwittingly took a shuddering breath. His arms gripped her tighter in response and her heart stuttered. God, why does he smell so wonderful?
"Are you alright?" Katashi asked gently. His cheek rested next to her temple and she felt his lips move against her hair as he spoke. "That was a nasty knock we took."
She tried to calm her still-racing heart. "I'm fine," she mumbled, her voice muffled by his chest. "What about you?" she asked. He had taken the brunt of the impact, but she was sure that, to him, it had probably felt like laying back on a bed of down pillows. "You're okay?"
He raised his head, those damnable lips brushing her ear as he did. "Perfectly."
Tingles shot along her spine and her mouth suddenly felt dry. "Good," she answered lamely. "I'm glad I didn't accidentally fry you."
He laughed warmly at her little joke and it did nothing but fan the flames of her admiration. "I am as well. I must say that was rather unexpected."
Kagome flushed with embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Katashi. I don't know what came over me. This is exactly what you were trying to avoid―"
"No need for apologies, Kagome," he interrupted as his youki cloud descended to the grass below them. "You were only defending yourself."
"B-But . . . I attacked someone―"
"After she attacked us," he interjected. "And believe me when I tell you that Kamiko should know better."
"But I still shouldn't have done it," Kagome insisted, "and now―" her hands flailed uselessly for a moment before she settled on pointing to the colossal hole the youkai had been blasted through "―I broke the mountain because I couldn't control myself!"
"It can be easily repaired," he replied with an amused smirk, seeming totally unconcerned. "There is no need to worry."
She gaped at him in utter disbelief. "Katashi, I almost purified a demon while in a demon city. Surely I'm not just going to be able to get away with that?"
Katashi shook his head. "It would be different if she had not just attempted to kill us for seemingly no reason. But, seeing as she did, Kamiko is the one in the wrong. I'm rather surprised at her behavior, especially as Sesshoumaru is here. She is usually far more well-mannered."
The priestess eyed her companion curiously. "Why do I get the feeling that she's someone really important?"
Katashi scoffed as they landed in what appeared to be a courtyard. "According to whom?" he asked scathingly. "Were it not for my son she would be no better than the dirt beneath our feet."
Kagome reared back in shock. Whoa. Bitter much? She had never heard Katashi sound so . . . unfriendly before. Granted, she didn't know him well but, aside from his short talk with Inuyasha, she'd had him pegged for a carefree, polite sort of guy. To hear him speak so callously about someone was, if she were honest, mildly disturbing."So I'm guessing you don't particularly like her, then?"
"There is nothing to like," he answered shortly.
The miko, thankfully, was saved from trying to respond by the arrival of her friends. Kirara set lightly down on her feet in front of them and Sango, Miroku, and Shippou wasted no time slipping off her back. "Kagome!" Sango exclaimed as she hurried forward. "Are you both okay? What in the world was that?!"
"We're fine," she promised. "I kind of freaked out and overreacted when I saw that youkai coming at us. Are you guys alright?"
They all nodded. "We were much more concerned for you and Katashi-san," Miroku said. "Though, after that display, it now seems our worries were unfounded," he added with a sly grin.
Kagome blushed and chuckled nervously. "I really don't know where that came from," she insisted. "I've never done anything like it before―"
"Perhaps we can discuss this later," Katashi suddenly intoned. Without warning, he gripped Kagome by the arm and quickly swept her into his side just as a sphere of light went careening past them. The daiyoukai observed it with undisguised loathing. "Now is not quite the time."
In the blink of an eye the orb rematerialized into the form of a woman, and it only took one look at her for Kagome to realize who she was― and why Katashi seemed to despise her so.
Cool amber eyes regarded the group with a distinct air of indifference. Adorning her brow was a clearly recognizable crescent moon, and a slender clawed hand came up and tossed familiar silvery hair over a shoulder when her gaze finally landed on Katashi. Deep red lips curved into a travesty of a smile, and Kagome briefly thought how beautiful she would have been had she not appeared so cold.
The priestess supposed she was rather like her son in that respect.
"So you are alive," the demoness murmured, her voice pretty and soft despite its biting frigidness. "Pity."
Her less than warm welcome didn't affect Katashi in the slightest. "Kamiko," he greeted in return. "And here I was hoping someone in the last two hundred years would've managed to end your miserable life."
Kamiko's eyes narrowed infinitesimally, and if looks could've killed Katashi would've spontaneously combusted into flames several times over. "It seems death has done nothing to improve your attitude," she stated imperiously. Flicking her claws, the inuyoukai once again passed her assessing gaze over each of them before fixing Kagome― who was still embarrassingly plastered to Katashi's side ―with an indefinable look. "Or your poor taste in companions," she added distastefully.
The thinly-veiled venom in those words had the miko fervently wishing Katashi would release her. She didn't particularly like what Kamiko was implying and the last thing Kagome wanted or needed at the moment was to be caught between the daiyoukai and his ex. It was painfully apparent the pair had unresolved issues and she was not about to let herself be thrown into the mix.
But again, Katashi paid the acerbic woman hardly any mind. Instead, to Kagome's dismay (and perhaps a little tiny bit of delight), he pulled the miko even closer, clasping his hand securely around the curve of her hip. And then, looking at her as if she were something unpleasant he'd stepped in, he brushed past Kamiko and turned to the rest of their group. "Come along," he called. "We've only a short ways left to go."
They followed hesitantly, being careful to give Sesshoumaru's mother, who was practically breathing fire, a wide berth as they passed. Kagome wondered briefly if it was wise to turn their backs on her, but didn't consider it for long. If Katashi's thorough dismissal of her was any indication, he didn't regard Kamiko as any sort of threat. In fact, he seemed more amused by her than anything, like she was a kitten flexing her claws. Kagome took some comfort from this, but at the same time she found herself slightly unsettled― if he could so easily write her, a demoness of apparently noble blood and no small amount of power, off, what exactly did that say about Katashi?
Well, she thought dryly, at least he's on our side.
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Kagome blinked, and then blinked again.
It was still there.
Resisting the urge to gawk in total amazement, Kagome kept pace alongside Katashi (who was finally letting her walk on her own) and stole quick glances when she thought no one was looking. But, internally, she was utterly awestruck.
How she had not noticed this the moment they arrived was beyond her. She supposed it might've had something to do with being temporarily blinded by the enormous crystals that hung like stalactites and served as lighting along the stretch of mountain, or it could've been she was too preoccupied with keeping Kamiko from melting her into a pile of priestess goo, but either way, she still wondered how in the world she had missed something so . . . unique.
"Do you like it?" Katashi suddenly asked, and Kagome started when she realized he was speaking to her. Blushing at her delayed response, the miko nodded and hoped she hadn't been gaping like an idiot.
"I've never seen anything like it," she said, and it was the honest-to-goodness truth. Despite all her time in the Feudal Era and all the wonders and horrors she'd witnessed, she really hadn't ever seen anything like the home of the Western Lord.
Shaped from the inner rock of the mountain in which it was housed, the Western shiro was probably large enough to comfortably accommodate Sesshoumaru's true form. However, it was the outside of the place that was truly impressive. It almost looked as if it served as a support beam―the whole mountain would have to come down before the shiro did.
But how everything had actually been constructed stumped Kagome. To her untrained eyes, it seemed as if something had heated the rock to its melting point and then molded it however it deemed fit. The surface of the stone wasn't smooth, but it was glossy in a way that could only be achieved through extremely high temperatures.
It was remarkable, and she chose to say so.
Katashi seemed ridiculously pleased by this. "My grandfather built it," he started to explain. "He―"
"What in the name of the kami?"
Startled to a stop, Kagome turned to see a stout little demon hobbling towards them, his cheeks as red as Inuyasha's kimono as he huffed and puffed his way down the wide staircase leading inside the palace. White tufts of hair stuck out around his old wizened head like he'd been electrocuted, and his abnormally large elfin ears sagged to the point they rested on his shoulders. A gnarled old walking stick tapped against the stone as the elderly youkai teetered dangerously down the steps, but he wasn't deterred in the slightest. In fact, he almost looked like he welcomed the challenge as he furiously made his way towards them.
Wary and a smidgen concerned, Kagome completely missed the absolutely savage smile that crossed Katashi's face.
It didn't bode well.
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A/N: Guys . . . I'm sorry. I'm sorry for how long it took for me to finish this chapter. I'm sorry it's not more interesting. To be totally honest, I hate this chapter, like I really do. My muse was just not working with me for some reason. It was an incredible struggle to even write as much as I did. I know you all must be kind of disappointed, but I'm hoping to do better next time. I really am sorry :(