Nocturne - Chapter Eight: Golden
Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)
o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
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Kagome let out a soft gasp when she felt his firm chest against her cheek. The shock of the gesture caused her encroaching sadness to dissipate. Here stood a man, a yokai, who acted as if she were lower than low, and now here he was, holding her close. What was happening? This wasn't what she had expected. Not from him.
He had released the hold of her wrist and instead held her close to him with an arm wrapped tightly around her waist. His head tilted down to look upon her with a golden gaze. Once her faculties had returned to her, Kagome turned her head up to meet that gaze. She was instantly enveloped within those eyes; eyes that had beheld her with disdain, pity, scrutiny, and even indifference were now full of curious longing.
It was too much, given the circumstances, and Kagome mentally scolded herself. Somewhere deep down, she had wanted this. His behavior now was a complete 180 from just moments ago. 'Here I thought I had an emotional imbalance,' she thought.
"Wh-What are you doing?" she asked, her voice shaky.
There was a moment of silence as he considered his words. "I am comforting you. Is that not what mortals do when one cries?" Sesshomaru inquired in an incredulous tone.
She pushed away, her cheeks now blazing. "N-not when they are barely more than acquaintances!"
Sesshomaru allowed her to pull from his embrace, and she took several steps back, turning to face away from him. He made no move to follow her, and Kagome could not comprehend his actions.
"You make no sense! You can't come here and grab mortal women! Not like that," she berated.
Sesshomaru had likely never had a cross word spoken to him in his life. No one crossed a
daiyoukai and lived. Especially not an unnervingly silent one whose yoki could be felt rising by the second. This did not stop Kagome, who now had an overwhelming urge to release her pent-up frustrations.
She swiveled on her heel and took a step towards him, one finger in the air and her other hand clenched into a fist by her side, now shaking with indignation.
"First, you abandon me before the sun rises in a foreign location with nothing but scraps and a ridiculously fancy hakimono. Any number of things could have accosted me as scantily clad as I was!"
Taking a breath and wagging her finger, she continued, "Second, you pretend that nothing happened at all, never even once dropping by or checking on me. As if it would have been difficult for you to pop in or even have Rin ask after me."
She'd only listed two things but scowled and shook her head before stomping away, leaving her belongings behind. Sesshomaru was to be taken aback by the display, merely standing still with an eyebrow raised. He seemed to know Kagome was not done with her tirade, which irritated her all the more. She would not give him the satisfaction for which he longed.
'Damn yokai,' she thought to herself. 'I cannot believe he would come here and...and…' her thoughts trailed off.
Changing her mind, Kagome stopped mid stomp and turned, stalking back in a fury to add, "And how can I forget that I never see you at all until today…" she paused to drag in a breath, "BY CHANCE," she yelled, "Where I find that you plan on caroming off into the distance with a perfectly-perfect yokai bitch so she can spit out a couple of pure-blooded puppies, never to be seen again."
Kagome felt faint after practically screaming at the man, who just stood there with some form of bemused expression painted on his face. She placed a hand on her hip and began to grab her things from the ground, slinging her quiver over her shoulder and snatching up the bow, all the while shooting furious glances his way. Part of her wanted to stay and continue making practice shots, pretending they were certain yokai's heads. The other part did not want to pretend. It incised her to leave when he should be the one going, but she knew she needed to move her legs and march as far from him as possible.
A new wave of anger washed over her as she walked away, yelling over her shoulder, "Who comes and throat-grabs a pregnant woman, honestly?"
Perhaps she'd been foolish to think she could yell at Sesshomaru and walk away unscathed. It hadn't surprised her all that much when he stepped in front of her path, a smoldering look on his face.
"Haughty words to be spoken so callously by you to the likes of me. Does my brother also feel the sting of your barbed tongue?" he queried. It was his taciturn demeanor that threw her off every time — never knowing what was going through, his mind now pressed on her when, in the past, she had no more reason to care.
She stopped and sighed in exasperation, "Evidently, you both inherited your dense skulls from your father. I can't imagine two people to be so obtuse coming from two different gene pools."
"You insult me and expect to walk away unscathed, wench?" he asked dryly.
If there was anything else she could say to instigate her funeral, it might not have mattered. She had likely already succeeded. At this point, she did not care.
"You've 'scathed' me enough, Lord Sesshomaru," she said sullenly, seemingly deflated. Re-adjusting her quiver, she walked around him, and he let her pass, following her with his eyes.
"You speak as if you are the only party impacted," Sesshomaru called to her retreating figure.
She stopped but did not turn around. He continued, "Are you not my brother's woman? Am I to assume that you wish him dead?"
Kagome felt a lump form in her throat and tried to swallow it down. "No," she called out.
It was obvious what to what Sesshomaru alluded. If Inuyasha found out about this, he would, undoubtedly, attempt to kill his older brother, which may or may not result in one or both of the brother's deaths. Kagome knew that Inuyasha was capable of incredible feats, and his potential seemed to know no bounds, but hanyo against daiyokai… The odds seemed to be stacked insurmountably in Sesshomaru's favor.
Kagome was brought out of her reverie once she felt his yoki approach, stopping directly behind her. She could almost feel the warmth of his breath upon her neck; he was so close, nearly close enough for her to lean into him, but she quickly drowned that sentiment.
"You speak hypocritic words. Are you not as capable as I to seek this Sesshomaru out?" he urged.
'Damn,' she thought, her head jerking to the right subtly and her eyes narrowing.
His words held truth. Kagome could have sought him out, but perhaps she was afraid of rejection. It would have come at a cost, two-fold.
"I suppose it does not matter now," she all but whispered.
"Your confliction is understood. There is a thread that binds us. Placed upon ourselves by an incantation for reasons I have yet to ascertain," he told her.
A shudder ran through her when she felt his hand run lightly down her arm. She turned swiftly, looking up into his eyes again. She cursed herself, for they were so like his brother's but markedly different. Where one was unbridled, the other was reserved. Both held an unwavering ability to sweep her away from where she stood.
Sesshomaru's golden stare held her enraptured, and she saw something much more than cold, stoicism. Maybe he was just as intrigued as she was. Perhaps he felt the same pull that was too painful to go unheeded. There was no way she was alone in these feelings.
Kagome felt drawn to him, sure, but could that be the spell from months ago? That night she had felt hazy and immured deep within her subconscious, but much of the magic had been drawing her to that spot. Everything that happened after arriving at that cave occurred by her own volition. She likened it to mild inebriation where people made conscious, albeit uninhibited, decisions.
He raised a hand to her face in a caressing motion. Kagome could see the gesture from the corner of her eye even after he stopped himself with a tiny jerk, his arm falling away in surreptitious restraint.
This was all so strange, the way he was acting and all of a sudden. It was enough to make her stomach flutter with anticipation. The fluttering continued and was followed by a kick. The blood drained from her face, and her eyes widened in surprise. Something she'd never felt before that had come from within and a not so subtle reminder of a more great secret she carried.
"Oh!" she gasped.
Sesshomaru looked down to see her hands resting now on her belly, and his face turned sour. Any warmth that had settled within his eyes had been replaced by disdain again. Whatever it was that had him acting out of turn was gone, bringing him back to his former self.
Kagome chewed her bottom lip and felt hollow. The cold, sadness that had consumed her these past few months threatened to return in force. Her hands trembled as she brought them around herself, and she drew in a shaky breath.
"It would be prudent for me to exit post-haste and deal with this nuisance," he uttered as a snide remark, gesturing to her. He pushed past her, and she stood planted in place. He'd just referred to her as a nuisance!
Kagome opened her mouth to say something, but she realized that Sesshomaru had risen to the air and was well off into the distance once she turned around. 'Dammit!' she thought. She fumed with anger now, and that was the only thing that seemed to keep the hollow bitterness at bay.
With her belongings still in hand, she felt another prodding from within and placed a hand there; what a time to feel what had to be the first kick from her unborn child. As inconvenient as this entire situation seemed to be, Kagome was struck with an epiphany. The epiphany fueled her, spurring her to march to her home.
It only took a few moments to reach the dwelling, where she promptly pulled out a large rusuck back and began to pack it full of items: food, supplies, and other necessities for a trip. Without a second thought, she made her way towards the village.
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Kaede's hut looked just as she'd left it only hours earlier, unassuming and quiet. Once Kagome entered the house, she spotted the older woman snoozing next to the flames. A quick look around confirmed that Rin was not in attendance to the Miko, and Kagome sat her items down near the door before moving to rouse Kaede.
The older miko grumbled at having been woken from her nap. It was a struggle for the woman to move unassisted, which is likely why she napped while Rin was away. Or rather, Rin ran errands while Kaede napped, which was more frequent as the seasons pressed on. Kagome pulled Kaede into a sitting position and moved to sit near her.
"Kagome, child," the woman grunted. "Why have ye come? Is the matter urgent?" she asked, eyeing Kagome and the supplies near the door. "What is happening?"
Kagome placed a hand in Kaede's lap, gently wrapping her fingers around Kaede's gnarled ones, and looked into the older miko's eye. "Kaede, I have a boon to ask of you?"
"Aye, what is it?"
"There was a spell cast on me several months ago," Kagome began. Kaede nodded along, looking unsurprised.
She continued, "I need your help to find out who cast it and how I can break the spell."
Kaede closed her eye and brought up a hand to her face in a thoughtful gesture. "Hmmm," was the only sound she made as she considered.
"Are ye certain it was a spell?" she queried. "Would ye not see the spell now, child?"
Kagome fidgeted a little under Kaede's scrutinizing stare. "I don't know. I've seen spells before. Could this be like some curse?"
Her bony and misshapen fingers felt odd against Kagome's hand when the woman gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"I am not blessed with the powers of mine sister, Kikyo, child. I cannot assist thee as thee would have me," Kaede answered.
The crestfallen look that overtook Kagome's features must have caused the older woman to change her mind.
"Tell me about the spell," she sighed.
Remembering that night was something that Kagome did every day, reliving the passionate tryst, dissecting the moments, and glossing them over with rose-colored glass. Trying to describe the event without sounding like a love-sick, spurned fool was no simple task.
"It woke me from my dreams, calling out to follow. It was as if I had not fully awoken and had little control over my own body. There was this constant pull, and I could feel the slice of thorns and the cold, damp grass underfoot, but none of that made me coherent. When I remember the night, it was like looking through gauze. Hazy, but candescent," Kagome explained.
Kaede nodded as the tale was spun. She'd a look of recognition written on her features. "Twas a summoning spell, no more," she explained.
"That's it? There has to be more," Kagome urged. Kaede unknowingly made it sound as if that night was nothing more than a meeting of two people who held secret passions for one another.
"I cannot say for certain," Kaede shook her head.
Kagome was filled with incredulous fury. Nothing made any sense, and she had to figure out why this happened and make it right. "Who would do that? Why?" she asked aloud.
With a shrug, the older miko responded, "It sounds like a witch, and I only knoweth of one, though the lady should be dead by now."
This admonition sparked a light of hope. "Tell me about her. How can I find her?"
"If 't be true, the lady is still alive; thee wilt find that lady deep in the woods on the highest mountain in the west. Though why thee would seek her out is beyond me," Kaede supplied, eyeing Kagome suspiciously.
Kagome looked off into the glow of the hearth, saying absently, "Those are Lord Sesshomaru's lands."
"Aye. That is precise. The most wondrous witch Yamauba was that lady's name. It hath been said the lady was once a beautiful mistress who was spurned by a yokai lover and cast out by her family. Twas that lady's bitterness and rage that slowly turned her into the twisted creature she was. Any who crossed that lady by hapstance ended up in her large cooking pot," Kaede explained.
She explained that the stories were such that she had heard as a child but knew them to be accurate based on past experiences with her sister. Kaede told her that Kikyo was once also called by a similar spell but had not been so foolish as to allow herself to get caught up.
Kaede smiled to herself. "I had forgotten that until just now."
Kagome narrowed her eyes and expelled an annoyed breath. Of course, Kikyo would not be fool enough to allow a curse to be placed on her. She consoled herself with the fact that Kikyo had also allowed herself to be fooled by Naraku, believing her eyes over her own heart.
A nudge reminded Kagome of her urgency. "Thank you, Kaede. I am going to get to the bottom of this!"
"The bottom of what, child?" Kaede called out once Kagome all but jumped up and grabbed her things. "Do thee truly plan to journey out and find the witch? Even if 't be true, the lady was alive, thither is much we do not know about her nor what she is capable. Is it not best to leave well enough alone?"
A determined look crossed Kagome's face. She could not just sit around and let things happen to her. It was driving her crazy with melancholy. "I need to figure this out. I'll be back before you know it!"
"Kagome! It is not wise to go in your condition!" she could hear from the house as she hurried out.
A/N: *Sigh* I think that Sesshy is a bit denser than he'd let us believe. I mean, honestly people (in my Dr. Evil voice). Even I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out "the news." Hehe.
For those of you who've asked about Inu and if he can have kids. The answer is no, not in this fic...maybe. It's a bit sciencey, blah, blah, but if you are interested in my fic theory, take a look at 'hybrids.' I'm sure Inu will be okay, though. No promises. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I appreciate and love all the reviews! Keep em comin!