Chapter13: Where Is Kagome?
After all the demons were killed off it was late in the day and night would be setting soon, sesshomaru then began to walk towards the direction the necklace led him to, he was kinda surprised that he couldnt feel any emotions coming through the link, usually by now Kagome would be getting frustrated from the wait. The necklace pulsed so weakly, she had to have gone very far very quickly. He stooped walking, he was beginning to worry, he noticed that there seemed to be no emotions what so ever coming from Kagome ever since the anger, and hurt vanished. Then he remembered that the feeling had just stopped abruptly, to be replaced by nothing. That was never a good sign, no one could calm down That quickly.
"Miroku do you wish to still travel with me and Kagome."
"Of course, just because Kagome lives in the deepest oceans and far underwater means nothing, actually it explains..."
"Thats good to know, I fear that she has some how gotten herself into trouble and maybe unconscious... at the moment."
"miroku heard the pause in his voice after unconscious and knew that he just didnt want to say it, even though they both thought it, and he hoped to god it wasnt "or worse".
"Hold on, she has put a lot of distance in between us, we shall take to the air, I don not need you slowing me down."
miroku grabbed hold of sesshomaru's pelt as a cloud formed under their feet and they took to the air, they followed the river, but night was fast approaching. They stayed awake the whole night as they looked for their lost companion, but to no avail. The sun was quickly rising and there was no sign of Kagome anywhere. Afternoon was quickly approaching as they flew faster, that is until they came to a complete hault.
"What is it Sesshomaru-sama?"
Sesshomaru sniffed at the air it was faint and quickly being washed away but It was there. The smell of her blood.
"tell me monk, did Kagome sustain any injuries during the fight?"
"No, not that I know of."
"i didnt think so."
"do you smell her blood?"
sesshomaru then jumped to a rock that was jutting out from the water, and looked at the one next to it, he saw something light blue and red on it. He plucked it from the water and held it in his hand,mindful of his claws he flipped it over and found it to be fleshy and silky, the water beeding up on it and falling off, once all the water fell off the blue turned into a light peach and felt more like skin. It was some of kagome's flesh, she had to have been moving very fast to rip enough off where it would continue to drip blood even now, and such a decent sized piece on a dull rock, it wasnt like it was razor sharp, but then again he moved the flesh over in his hands getting some of her blood on him, it was as soft as silk, skin like hers would tear easily. He looked at the blood on his hand and frowned. After licking his hand clean and relishing in the taste of her blood, he could feel anger boil up with in him, how could she let herself get injured, and leave such a trail behind her so some predator could find her. He then used his acids to burn the piece of flesh, not knowing what else to do with it. She was still not close by , and he could hear a waterfall far off in the distance that would be another day of travel to reach it, how far did she go. He hoped with all her might that she was just hiding with the rush of the falls and didnt somehow go over it, but knowing how clumsy she is above the water didnt bring much hope for him.
Kagome awoke to see the sun shinning in the sky, it seemed to be a beautiful day, but her heart felt empty, she felt truly alone, a whole adventure gone wrong. She pulled her body up out of the water, her wounds were still bleeding and letting it drip into the water where it would be seen would not help her at all. She was weak and exhausted, she had used so much energy she doubted that she would be able to use her powers any time soon. Before she pulled completely out of the water she gave herself a once over. The tip of her tail seemed to be completely shredded and as her eyes traveled upward she could see many gashes and rips in her body, her upper body was littered with cuts, scratches, and bruises. She placed her hands in the water and watched as they glowed blue as she lifted them out a bubble of water that surrounded her hands came with, she then passed it over her body healing all the huge gaping wounds, once the big and medium sized ones were done the water on her hands started to become heavier and harder to bare, and soon it dropped from her hands like she had let it go, her powers were all used up, and then her stomach began to growl. She sighed and pulled herself out of the water, she watched as her tail melted away, leaving legs in their wake and the she used the rocks around her to help her stand. On shaky legs she began to climb upward, it took her sometime, but she eventually reached the top, and pulled herself over, it was now the afternoon as the sun made its way to the middle of the sky. The rocks were hot and they quickly dried her hair and body, she then stood and walked to the edge, it was a long fall to the bottom, with a couple rocks jutting out from the side, but really there was noway down. She got down on all fours and pushed one leg off the side and stuck the other over to she then lowered her body all the way down till only her hands gripped the side of the mountain, she could feel her hands slipping and she swung her leg over and tried to reach a small foot hole. She swung three times for the whole and missed but on the fourth she made it. She shimmied her hands over and then put her other foot on a root that was sticking out of the side that was a bit lower, she also let one hand fall to rock face and grabbed onto a indention, from the height she was at now even if she did make it to the small landing towards her left she would sustain some injuries. She looked around and saw a healthy branch jutting out of the rocks near the spot she wanted to land, if she could just jump and grab it she would be able to swing over and land on her targeted platform with ease, it was worth a try because there was nothing else she could grab nearby, and now she didnt have enough leverage to lift herself back up. She took three big breathes of air and then pushed off the mountainside falling head first as she stuck out her arms to catch the branch that hopefully wouldnt break under her weight. She grabbed onto it with much difficulty and had even almost slid off of it, but with lots of clawing she rapped her torso around it, she was going to shimmy down and try to swing off of it, that was until she heard the rather nasty sounding snap noise. She looked over to the base of the tree and saw it breaking. She then began to shimmy over to it as fast as she could and managed to grab a piece that wasnt breaking, she all so grabbed onto a small hole in the wall and placed both her feet on a tiny piece of rock that was sticking out towards her right. The tree stopped breaking, Kagome then grabbed onto the hanging tree branch and swung, during her swing it it seemed to rip and go down before stopping and completely breaking off. Kagome then landed harshly on her back as the rather large rock platform broke her fall. Her head hadnt hit the ground only her back as she rolled over she felt a large stabbing and burning sensation go through her back. She crawled to the edge and looked over, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way down and almost looked like a little staircase. She pressed herself against the rock and slowly moved from step to step till she was on the soft grass below. The forest was all around her now and barely any sun made it to where she sat, she felt it grow cold around her as she relaxed and the soft damp grass, she was getting thirsty and needed a drink of water. She sat against the rocks and pulled her hair around from her shoulders and placed it infront her body, blocking off some of the cold and unwittingly stopping the wandering eyes of an unwanted guest.
Sesshomaru was flying with the monk next to him as they made their way to the water fall, he couldnt pick up her scent, for it was hard to tell apart from the water, but the hint of sakura here and there led him to believe they were moving in the right direcion, it was sometime in the afternoon, and they were still only halfway to the falls, the pulsing had doubled was still faint and there was still no emotion coming from the jewel, sesshomaru was growing more and more apprehensive the further and closer they got to the jewel, he could tell that it had stopped moving yesterday and that it hadnt budged since then.
"how far do you think Kagome-chan has gone?"
"im pretty sure that she hasnt moved since yesterday, but by judging how far she got so far, she could travel vast distances in a matter of hours, much faster then I could run."
"is Kagome-chan that strong?"
"her tail is not something to ignore, but on land she is easier prey then any human being, even though she is able to walk around."
"We must find her soon then, I fear she will not be where we think she is."
"indeed."
sesshomaru increased his speed they would make it to the falls before sunset hopefully she would be there.
Kagome had fallen asleep, that is until she heard feet coming towards her and lots of them.
She opened her eyes and looked around but saw nothing but the trees infront of her. Fear then started to creep up on her as she heard laughter, she pulled her legs closer and stood, leaning slightly against the wall.
"I know you are there come, show yourselves." she called out in a calm voice, she touched another spot on the rock and found some moisture she then rubbed her eyes with it, to help her see.
The bandits saw her eyes glow a soft, crystal blue and as they looked upon her they thought here to be a celestial maiden, her body was breath taking and her hair glowed a soft black- blue even though there was no light. The leader stepped forward, out of the trees. Kagome watched him approach, hands open infront of him.
"Hello, I am called Akihiko, and one of my men found you earlier and said that he had seen a celestial maiden, climb down from the mountain side, he had said that she had jumped and landed on the out cropping, where he could no longer see you and then to reappear walking down the side. Was that you?"
"Yes." more or less.
"You are naked, we have brought clothes for you. Would you do us the honor.."
they were giving her clothes, only her in... Sesshomaru had done that for her. "Bring them forward."
the man then walked back into the trees and came back out with white and blue robes. He came up to her and draped them over her shoulders, Kagome put her arms through and pulled them closed, then pulled her long black-blue hair out from the color and let it come over her shoulders. Her hair had grown some, and using her powers also made her hair seem to grow faster, now it hung just above her knees tickling her thighs. It didnt feel heavy, just as light as water.
"Thank you, these shall do just fine." Kagome then snuggled into the warmth of her robes as he tied a white sash around the outer blue robe.
"Indeed they do look beautiful on you, would you do us the honor of traveling with us?"
"Yes, but for only a little while I have other things to do, and I believe that maybe one of my companions is looking for me." there wasn't much conviction in her voice, and Akihiko noticed this.
He whispered so that only she could hear him. "You are unsure, is this companion a male, by any chance."
She looked away as her eyes misted, she could feel the tear-less sobs coming but she repressed them, she thought back to when she was lying broken on the sand half in the water half out,she had cried then too, her eyes had misted over as she cried tear-lessly for a love that would never be. She knew when he had, had done those things to her, he still knew very little about her, if he did, would he have ever touched her. She sighed, she doubted she would find love, someone who truly loved her for her and not for who she was or what she was, she prayed for someone that wouldnt snub her because of who her family was, she felt slightly betrayed, how could he play with her emotions like he did and then throw her out. Her eyes hardened along with her heart, she doubted he would come for her, since he had told her so forcefully to get lost, but she wouldnt mope over him either. No she could not bring herself to hate or even dislike him in any way, for when ever she tried she could only remember all the good times and moments, which made her love him even more. It was her first time experiencing the things she did with him, and she would hold dear those beautiful memories.
She whispered a soft yes to the man that stood patiently beside her and when he took her hand and lead her away whispering about how she didnt have to go back to him and that he would happily take care of her and her needs, she found herself taking solace in his words and shaking her head in th affirmative as she reached to her collar bone for the necklace that wasnt there, the last thing that she had of her inu's was gone somewhere and she wouldnt be able to retrieve it. But somewhere in her heart she hoped he would somehow find her and take her back and that she could apologize for what ever wrong she had done. She was then lifted up on to a horse behind the leader and they rode off into the sunset and oncoming darkness, as one last thought cried out in her mind.
"Please find me."
Sesshomaru was just getting to the waterfall when the scent of her blood was so strong that it almost made him fall out of the air. He landed quickly jarring awake a very tired Miroku. Then he heard her, like a cry for help her voice was in his head. "Please find me." it was obviously hers, he could see the red in the water, clinging to the rocks, and further there was way more.
"Oh kami, is this hers Sesshomaru."
"Yes." her scent didnt leave the water and there was no other scent around, so she wasnt attacked, he then ran up to where the necklace began to hum softly and found it attached to a rock. He looked at the area closely and knew from past expereinces that she must have forced herself through these rocks at high speeds even though she didnt fit, which was why the necklace was ripped from her neck.
"she is not here could she be.."
"I ...don't know, but her scent carries on down the fall." they flew down the side of the fall and called her name as they walked the perimeter, but soon sesshomaru grew frustrated, if she was hurt that bad to leave such a trail and then to fall down here then she could possibly be unconscious down below. He then pulled off his armor and swords and top and pants and leapt into the water, miroku would have joined him but looking at it and it seemed deep, much to deep for him to dive, so he walked further down and came a cross a spot on reachable from the water because of the rocks that surrounded it were much to steep for him to climb, he then went and sat down near Sesshomaru's things and waited for him to resurface.
Sesshomaru quickly swam to the bottom near the fall and could see pieces of her tail on the rocks as they went further until there seemed to be a slight impression on the ground like something hit it and was forced into the ground. He saw a deeper impression of a hand and knew it to be hers, he looked at it and from the way the fingers dug into the ground she must have used it to push herself from under the falls, she was probably very weak from blood loss. He then came and saw the monk pointing to a group of rocks he quickly swam over. He then saw the impression of her tail as it was dragged into the shallows, her scent was heavy here. She must have stayed the night. Her scent then went up and over the rocks. Sesshomaru got back into the water to see the monk with his things near the rocks and swam over. He then took his clothes and put them over, he then grabbed the monk and jumped up and ontop of the rocks. Her scent was fresh she was just here. The monk stayed quite and went over to the edge and looked down.
"Sesshomaru you should come look at this."
Sesshomaru walked over to see finger prints in the dirt he followed them as they moved to the right and then let go, aways below he saw a broken tree branch coming from out of the rocks and then he spotted the other piece not below on the ground but further off to the right on a ledge, where the impression of a body hitting the ground was evident in the dirt and water spots, there was no more blood, which meant she somehow healed herself before she came up and went down the side of this mountain.
"it looks like she managed to get down on her own because she is not here, she must have left... Sesshomaru." he had started growling and Miroku looked over to see him staring off into the trees.
"Whats wrong." he didnt see anything.
"The scent of humans and lots of them all men are in the bushes her scent is with them, along with that of a horse." "Do you think a soldiers found her."
"no the village near by smells of death and fire, it was bandits. They came this way and took her with them, which means they have her, and if she is walking then she is naked."
"Oh, dont you think she kept the shirt."
"She wasnt wearing it when I told her to run, and her pants in the bag, I found them stuck to the a bush. And if she was wearing them they would have probably ripped apart considering that they would be in the way of her tail."
"oh I hope she is not further harmed."
"We should follow their stink it will be easy to follow the bandits."
well thats all for now please review tell me what you think you know I got have more reviews I just cant get enough, I think they get me high and enable me to write more. Lol
well till next time, what will happen to Kagome while in the care of the bandits, and what will Sesshomaru do when he finds her. And will Mirou ever get some sleep, we wont know till next time.
Ciao,
KAR.