Chapter 22: Truth or Dare: The Truth Part 2
~Several Months Earlier, in the past...~
"Sesshomaru, have you been listening?"
The InuTaisho's voice was filled with exhaustion, and Sesshomaru turned to look at his parents with a scowl. His mother was frowning at him for his rude behavior, but he was not going to back down. What they were telling him was absolutely ridiculous and unfair.
"I am Otousan, but I still don't understand. Why I can not go to help you fight Hyoga, but some human woman can? Are you saying this Sesshomaru is weaker than some filthy mortal female?" he growled, temper getting the best of him at the insult.
The InuTaisho shook his head, a matching scowl forming on his own face.
"There is more to strength than simply being a youkai, Sesshomaru. While she is human, she will be of more value in this value than you would, and I can not risk my only son being in this battle. You are not weak, my son, but in this instance you would be a weakness if the enemy managed to capture you.
"I will not risk it," he stated, his tone indicating that the matter was closed.
Sesshomaru felt his rage growing, and he shouted, "I would not be a weakness, Otousan! I am already stronger than any in your army, and have yet to be over-powered by any other than you and Okaa-san! And one day I will be more powerful than either of you!"
"Sesshomaru! You will watch your tone when speaking to your Lord Father!" his mother snapped, her eyes burning with outrage at his behavior. His father rested a hand on her shoulder before calmly turning to look at his son. For a time he said nothing, only a calculating look in his eyes betraying the possibility of his thoughts. As the silence drew on, the young lordling began to hope that perhaps his father would change his mind.
"There is more to strength than power, my son. One day, you'll realize this, but for now, you will not join me in this battle."
With that one sentence, Sesshomaru felt his hopes crumble to pieces. Bitter anger licking through him, the inu prince bowed stiffly to his father before escaping from the throne room, from the shiro, and into the comforting presence of the forest covering their lands.
'I will show father my strength,' he thought, trees whipping past him in his haste. 'I am not a weakness!'
Their fight was a familiar one over the past month as preparations for war had been made. Sesshomaru had been involved in several minor skirmishes over the past 50 years and so had been looking forward to his first real taste of war. Yet, when he had asked to be included in the war councils, his father had told him in no uncertain terms that he would be staying here to protect the shiro while the InuTaisho went to war with the moth demon from the mainland.
At first, he had been put-out but accepting, knowing that there could be a sneak attack on the shiro while his father was away. However, when he had learned that his father had approached a human woman as an ally, the young inu had realized the truth. No matter how he put it, Sesshomaru knew that his father didn't think he was strong enough.
'But I will prove him wrong,' he vowed to himself as he raced towards southeastern border of the Western Lands. ' I will defeat that woman, and show him how much stronger I am than a weak human!'
He had never ventured this far from the shiro on his own, but knew the lands from patrolling with the InuTaisho. Before this last confrontation, Sesshomaru had decided that he would take matters into his own hands if his father refused him again. It had only taken him a matter of days to find out Midoriko's last known location, and with it he would track her down and challenge her to a fight.
'Then we will see who is a weakness to father,' he thought bitterly. He traveled for hours and into the night, not stopping for rest. He knew it would only be a matter of time before his father realized he had left the fortress and came after him. It would take the InuTaisho only an hour of two to locate and track him down, and so he had no time to spare.
It was as dawn crested the horizon that the young lordling scented the lone village on the farthest border of the Western Lands, and the last known location of Midoriko. Spreading his youki out to test for miko energy, he felt a thrill of excitement run through him when he found what he was looking for outside of the village and close to where he was. Making a sharp turn, he sped towards the pure, tingling energy that pressed warningly against his youki. In moments he came to the edge of a clearing and sited his prey.
Golden eyes narrowed, Sesshomaru stepped into the cool light of the small field, his face twisted with a scowl. Blank, ash-brown eyes met his glare, and the armor-clad miko nodded her head to him in acknowledgment, her long, black hair swirling around her at the slight movement.
"Greetings, Sesshomaru-sama," she murmured, her voice crisp and clear in the silence. It was only then that the young boy noticed his own labored breaths and trembling legs. Feeling angry at his own state of exhaustion, he lumped it with his still boiling frustration at his father and took it out on the woman in front of him.
"Prepare yourself for my claw, human," he snarled in warning, crouching into position.
Without further warning, he struck, lunging for her throat with a growl. A burst of energy slammed into him before he got close to her, and with a yelp he flew over her, landing hard on his back. Growling wordlessly, he quickly stood and attacked again. This time, Midoriko didn't even bother to use her power, and instead caught him in the middle with her foot.
Once more, he flew through the air, this time sliding into a wooden structure he hadn't noticed before. Breath knocked out of him, he was about to get back up when the feel of cold steel froze his movements. Looking up the length of the blade, he met the miko's amused stare.
"Well little lord-to-be, do tell why you attack an ally unprovoked?" she asked, never moving her blade from his throat.
"This Sesshomaru does not owe you anything, filthy human!" he shouted, unwilling to back down. As she had said, she was an ally, and despite his behavior she couldn't harm him without having to face the InuTaisho's wrath. She didn't seem perturbed by his outburst, however, shrugging but still not sheathing her blade.
"You should learn more respect for those with more strength than you, little lord-to-be," she chastised, tapping his cheek with the tip of the sword in a practiced manner. Growling at the demeaning gesture, he smack the blade away, heedless of how it sliced into his hand and stood up in rage.
"YOU ARE NOT STRONGER THAN ME!/b" he roared, eyes bleeding red as his youki flared around him. "I will show my father what real strength is by defeating you, Midoriko!"
He threw himself at her once more, aiming a kick at her armored chest that she easily dodged. Turning to swipe at her back, he felt burning bands of power coil around his body, and within seconds he was bound, held immobile by the miko's power. Opening his mouth to snarl at her in rage, he felt another band gag him, and helpless he glared daggers at the woman holding him captive.
In turn, she was looking at him with something akin to understanding and something he could only guess at. Disappointment filled her voice when she spoke t him, her words only filling him with more anger and a hint of worry.
"It would seem, little lord-to-be," she murmured, eyes never leaving his, "that you do not understand the meaning of true strength... or what it should be used for."
She paused, looking at him with wry calculation. "No doubt your father has tried to explain it to you but perhaps you need a more hands on lesson."
He continued to struggling against his binding without success, eyes never leaving the woman before him. She however, had turned, moving to place her hands against the wooden structure which he could now see was a well of some sort.
"The village near hear had called on me to find out why this well had suddenly run dry, and I had only just found the reason when you interrupted me," she called to him, hands glowing lightly with her power. "There seems to be a rift of power flowing through the wood, and whatever caused it changed the entire course of the ground water that fed the well. It will forever be dry, even if I seal the rift shut."
Sesshomaru felt his body being pulled towards the miko, and renewed his struggles as he realized exactly how precarious his predicament was. The closer he drew to the well and Midoriko, the more his instincts were screaming danger. Yet still her power completely bound his own, and in the end, he was helpless to stop what happened next.
Midoriko turned to him once more, her calloused fingers holding his chin lightly as she looked down on him. "I do not know how the rift came to be here... but I think I might know a good use for it right now."
Sesshomaru felt panic run through him as he was lifted into the air by her power. Desperation fueling his movements, he pushed at his bindings with his youki, and felt a spark of success as the tightly coiled power loosened ever so slightly. He was about to shove at it again, when it suddenly vanished and with it the only thing holding him up.
Down he plummeted into the darkness below him. His claws reached about him for some hand hold, but the walls of the well were too far from his grasp. Before he could hit the bottom, an alien power unlike any other he had felt before blossomed around him, cushioning him in a dense blue light that felt cool as silk against his body. The only sounds Sesshomaru could hear were the pounding of his heart and Midoriko's parting words that seemed to echo in the sparkling void cradling him.
"I hope when we meet again that you have learned what it means to be strong, little lord-to-be... and what that strength is for."
~o~o~o~o~
Slowly, Sesshomaru allowed his eyes to open to the darkness around him. The packed dirt beneath his cheek was cool, and it took him a moment to understand why he was laying on the ground and not in his bed. When the memories of his encounter with Midoriko came flooding back, he jerked up quickly, looking around him for danger. All that met his gaze was rotting wood and dark soil marred by random, protruding roots and stones. Looking up, he saw dust motes drifting through the sparse shafts of light piercing the darkness above. Standing, he took a moment to dust himself off before leaping to the top of the well. Landing gracefully on the lip of the structure, the young inu took a moment peer about him quickly, still wary of hidden dangers.
When nothing stirred in the shadows around him, Sesshomaru closed his eyes and concentrated on the scents filtering through his nose. There was a mustiness to the building hinting that no one had been in the place for some time. Old, faint traces of several different humans were scattered here and there, and scents from outside were coming from the same cracks that allowed the afternoon light to spill inside.
And finally, there was the scent of fading power, the same power that had enveloped him when the miko had released him into the well. Turning, Sesshomaru took only a moment to think about his next course of action before stepping back into the void. However, this time as he fell, nothing slowed his body, no blue light enveloped him part way down to carry hm back home.
'I have no way home.'
The realization stuck his heart cold, and for the first time in his life, the young prince felt afraid. He landed hard at the bottom of the well, tumbling to his hands and knees as disbelief and denial raged through him. Flashes of his mother and father and home raced through his mind; ones of them laughing and others of them fighting but mostly of them being together. How long would it take his father to realize what had happened? Would he find out what had happened?
Rocking back onto his heels, Sesshomaru grabbed both sides of his head, doing his best to calm his breathing as he fought a panic attack. What would happen if he never returned? The West had to have an heir: would his father attempt to have another son? Could he be replaced so easily? And while he knew his parents would miss him, at least for a time, would anyone else notice his absence?
'I don't have anyone to miss me,' he thought hollowly, his heart clenching painfully.
For a soul-shredding moment, Sesshomaru felt how completely and utterly alone he was.
And in the next, the sweet smell of honey and melon caught his attention, pulling his attention back to the light filtering though above him. Pulled by the gentle mixture, the young inu leaped back out of the well and briskly climbed the stairs leading to the door of the structure. Carefully sliding the door open a crack, he allowed his eyes a moment to adjust to the late afternoon light. He realized that he must have been out for some time, since his confrontation with Midoriko had been barely after dawn.
Blinking as the world began to come into focus, Sesshomaru quickly spotted the source of the delectable scent.
It was a young girl.
A young, human girl.
She was standing beneath a large tree on the far side of a courtyard, dressed in strange garments that didn't look familiar to him at all. Her eyes were closed, but there was a soft smile on her upturned face that made him wonder what had caused such a serene expression. When she moved to go into the large building at the other end of the courtyard, Sesshomaru came to a decision, and he with that he started after the ebony-haired human, intent on finding out where he was... and how he was going to get home.
~Back to present...~
Sesshomaru told her everything. He was not proud of his behavior against Midoriko any longer, but had only come to realize that fact the moment he was faced with revealing that part of the events to Kagome. He also realized it was why he had avoided telling her the story for so long.
"This Sesshomaru understands if you no longer wish to be friends with someone so dishonorable," he said softly, unable to look up and see her rejection.
In a way, he feared it more than he feared not being able to find a way back home. While he still desperately wanted to find a way back to his family and time, he had decided long ago he would be able to bear the separation as long as he had Kagome by his side. But now, he was about to lose her too, all because he had thrown a temper-tantrum.
When she didn't respond, he started to pull his hands from her limp ones, but was stopped by her fierce grip. Looking up at her, he saw the last thing he had expected to see: Kagome was smiling at him. Sapphire eyes bright with sincerity, she continued to grin at him without saying a word, and he couldn't stop the question from leaving his mouth.
"What part of this Sesshomaru's actions are you smiling about?" he snapped, his confusion and doubt making him lash out at the only person he wanted to understand him the most. Still, her smile remained, and to his further shock she even giggled at his outburst.
"The part where you trusted me enough to tell me the truth."
Sesshomaru once again felt his heart stop, but this time in disbelief... and hope. Seeming to understand his inner conflict, Kagome squeezed his hands tighter before continuing, her voice and words a gentle balm to his long-tormented conscience.
"What you did was wrong, but you already know that now. I'm just happy that, after all this time, you finally trust me enough as a friend to tell me what happened to you," she paused, giving him a playful wink. "It certainly took you long enough, Sessho-chan!"
Another moment passed before an answer smile spread his own lips, and all the tension that had been building within him for months seeped from him, leaving him feeling limp with relief. The only thing he could think was, 'Kagome is not going to leave me.'
'I'm not alone anymore.'
... in which Kagome and Sesshomau both have a list, and it's being check twice, but it's got nothing to do with naughty or nice XD This time, it's all about strength.
So now we know what happened to send Sesshomaru into the future... but we still don't know how he's going to get home! Well... I do, but that's neither here nor there XD
For those who are hated me for the cliffie, here's part two! This chapter got so long, I had to split it into two parts to make is manageable!
So this Two Part Chapter, along with the next 3 and the previous 2 chapters are part of see03's Superior Sense of Smell Challenge. Because that's how I roll. No worries, it didn't change the plot at all... just rearranged a few bits and got you some fluff moments MUCH sooner XD
This chapter is NOT beta'd because I'm a lazy troglodyte!
As always, feedback and comments are VERY appreciated
ENJOY!
All Characters Belong to Rumiko Takehashi
Plot Bunnies Belong to Me