Chapter 317: Effluvium
n. a slight or invisible exhalation or vapor, especially one that is disagreeable or noxious.
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Kagome frowned in thought. She had been thinking of the way evil leaks into seals all day, ever since she had run into Gaara and she had seen the madness seeping into his eyes. The faint twirl of taint had spiraled through his aura, seeping from a miniscule pocket of dark Demonic energy embedded in the "Ai" tattoo etched into his forehead.
This hadn't been the first time Kagome had sensed the trace amounts of malevolence inside Gaara's tattoo, but it was the first time she'd seen the outpouring of tainted energy whirling inside his aura. It was probably what was twisting Gaara's mind, now that she thought about it.
The first time she'd sensed the darkness had been in the desert six months ago, when she had gently run sun blistered fingers over the delicate grooves of the engraved kanji. The pull of the pricks of dark energy being soothed by the dominating touches of pure childish innocence was hypnotizing to her. Most of the time Kagome had to fight her own inclination to trace the lines whenever she saw his marked forehead but she knew that it made him uncomfortable for her to be in his personal space.
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AN: Gosh I hate when I have to say this... So this will probably be the last update for a little while. I'm going back out to school today and I'll have to start focusing on that again. I will try to get out a random update when I can but if not you can expect me to start updating again around Christmas time. I just want to take the time to thank everyone that has kept a continual interest in this story throughout the few years that its been developing! I'm sort of a praise slut so I love to hear from you all!