Author's Note: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the source material for this story. All are owned by Rumiko Takahashi. This fic is labeled MA per standards for violence, sex, and language so be warned.
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Reconciliation
Chapter 37 – The Separation: Year 2: Winter: Part III
In Edo, that same night…
Kagome emerged at the bottom of the well… to a chorus of panicked male voices.
"Kagome! Are you all right?" "Kagome! We have to go!" "Thank the kami!" "Take my hand!"
Glowing green eyes, straight silver hair, and padded leather shoulders appeared over the edge of the well. "Ren?" Kagome's head whipped around when the familiar tinkle of a shakujou staff echoed in her ears. "Miroku?"
"Up here, my Lady. Please there is no time to waste!" "Kagome, you must return to the-"
"Stop, stop! Just… wait. Back up so I can climb out," Kagome commanded, exhaustion and frustration in her tone. Both males started in again but she barked at them as she climbed. "Zip it! Just. Wait." First, Kagome flared her pure reiki to cleanse the future youkai's scents from herself. Those were questions best left for another day.
Two stunned males backed up from the edge of the well as the miko continued to climb. Kikuko approached and watched from behind her fan. "Hmm…"
As Kagome hauled her body up over the side, she tossed her pack onto the grass and took a deep breath still perched on the lip of the well. She couldn't help but to first lock eyes with the younger version of Kikuko. "Hello, Kikuko-sama."
Surprise lit a dim amber glow in the inu's gaze just long enough for Kagome to catch it. "You greet me as if you expected my presence, human."
Kagome feigned ignorance for the time being. "I could sense your aura from the bottom of the well. It is… unique." The inu would not scent a lie and she watched with satisfaction as her future mother-in-law sniffed discreetly.
"That may be true but we will have time to discuss your knowledge as we journey back to the West, and you are coming to the West this very moment." Kikuko paused and waited for the outburst of childish anger she expected from the young woman. When it never came, the Lady Mother closed her fan and tested the air once more. Kagome was calmly sitting on the well, her eyes steeled, and the former Lady of the West noticed the young female was dressed for battle. There was much to discuss apparently… but suspicion rose in the demon's heart just as it had on the way here. "Did you anticipate this journey? How could you know of our quest?"
"Right now, what I know is much less important than where I need to be," Kagome evasively answered. "I need to grab my staff and bow from the house and then we can move out."
Without breaking eye contact with the miko, Kikuko barked an order. "Ren," and the young Captain jumped to attention, "fetch the miko's weapons, please." The inu frowned when Kagome snorted a quick laugh. "What is so humorous about ordering one's subordinate?"
Maybe it was the late night. Maybe it was the way Ren clamped his lips together to stop from smiling. Either way, Kagome needed to lighten her heart. "Not the first time he's 'fetched' a weapon for me, is it, Ren?" Her ocean eyes sparkled with mirth and mischief even as they shined with worry.
Despite the odd group and the desperate nature of the night, Ren barked a laugh and shook his head. "Indeed, my Lady," he chuckled as he began jogging away, "and I am also fairly sure this will not be the last." With a burst of youkai speed, Ren disappeared toward Kagome's house.
Miroku gathered his friend's bag from the ground with a sigh. "It would seem this visit is to be a short one, Kagome. The kami have apparently already willed you to know where you are needed most."
The miko accepted the bag and shrugged it on. "Something like that, Miroku," Kagome smiled, laying a hand on his arm. "Tell Sango I said I'm sorry I missed her, tell Kaede I'll be back as soon as I can, and keep an eye on my house for a while longer, okay?"
"Not coming back for a while?" the monk smiled sadly.
"I really have no idea," she chuckled apologetically. "Does that help?"
"It does not matter. We will always be here, Kagome." The monk opened his arms and Kagome stepped happily into him.
"And I love you all for that." She squeezed his ribs once and stepped away. "I promise to come back and deliver news as soon as I can."
Kikuko's aura swelled with agitation and Kagome watched Ren streak back into the clearing and clear his throat. "My Lady, we really should be going now." The inu Captain bowed and handed Kagome her steel-tipped quarterstaff, bow, and quiver.
Miroku smiled fondly first at the blossom-engraved weapon and then at his friend. "You chose your weapon wisely, I believe. Edo and the sacred tree go with you always when you wield it."
"You both stay with me when I look at it, too," the miko agreed. The great inu cleared her throat and gathered a cloud of tumultuous silver youki beneath her feet. Kagome understood and agreed with her impatience. "Ren's right. I need to go."
Miroku nodded and stepped back. "Be careful. Be cautious. Know your limits, Kagome."
"I promise." Kagome turned away from him and strapped her bow and staff to the pack. "I assume we aren't walking," she asked the two inu.
"No indeed," the Lady Mother snorted. "Ren will carry you to the West so I may inform you of your duty. Though how much I am left to prepare you for, we will determine in the air."
"Understood," Kagome nodded. "Ren, are you okay carrying all of this and me?"
"Not in this form," he grinned. The fanged smile darkened and a thrumming growl startled her as he transformed. Silver fur sprouted from his skin and enveloped his armor, his face stretched into a fierce muzzle of fangs and predatory green eyes, and his legs flexed into powerful paws that gripped the earth in feral excitement. Wolfish ears laid back against his head but flicked forward once the transformation was complete. His tail flicked up and down, betraying his impatience. His bestial form was just as she remembered it: smaller than the greater inu of the West but fearsome and wild as he should be.
"You sure?" A short, fanged growl answered her and the miko shrugged. "Stay there then." With a running start, Kagome planted a handspring next to the tall inu and landed mostly astride him. The gravity of her pack almost sent her back to the ground but she grabbed a fistful of fur to stop her momentum. Another frustrated growl. "Oops… sorry."
Kikuko said nothing but rocketed into the sky and set a pace Kagome was sure would have them to be the West within the hour. "Can you fly that fast, too?" Ren's glowing, verdant eyes narrowed back at her, his muscles bunched and she felt his energy gather at his feet. "Easy, Ren," she warned, tone darkening. "Don't you dare-"
He bolted into the air and the night wind stole Kagome's breath. A rumble of inu laughter vibrated against her legs before he flared his power and warmed the air around them just as Sesshoumaru had done in the future. 'Impetuous, impatient dogs…' Kagome affectionately tugged sharply at some of his fur and he laughed again. They settled into a gallop through the dark skies and Edo fell away into miles of dense forest, human villages, and calm rivers.
After half an hour, Kikuko still hovered above them and appeared to be ignoring both Kagome and the Captain.
"I thought she wanted to talk," Kagome wondered aloud. Ren huffed but kept a steady pace, gaining speed as the hour wore on. "Can you reach her up there?" Another huff and a shake of his massive head. "Ren, I need to talk to her. If she won't come to me, I need to go to her. I have to know what you both know. Please. I know Sesshoumaru is in trouble, I know that's why we're in a hurry, and I'll explain why later but take me up there. I need her." A long, deep sigh from Ren expanded beneath her and then they were climbing through the sky.
Kikuko didn't see them approach and was lost in thought. Her pale golden eyes shined in the night but were focused far away on the horizon. On the West, the young miko assumed. The great inu's regal brow was furrowed with concentration and frustration, and her youki echoed it. The soft, bilious clouds that had formed beneath her in Edo had become fog-like mists that trailed behind her like spectral snakes.
The miko and Ren shared a look and then Kagome cleared her throat. "Kikuko-sama?"
The inu visibly startled and bared her fangs. "What, human?"
"Sorry," Kagome said warily. Kikuko was obviously distracted with worry over Sesshoumaru. Maybe talking would help center them both. "You wanted us to talk as we traveled. I want that, too. How is he?"
The wind whipped between them as they flew but the night was clear and youkai hearing is sharp. Kagome knew from flying with Sesshoumaru that they could both hear her just fine even as the cold air roared around them at this breakneck pace. The ancient inu's golden eyes searched the miko for deception, betrayal, or ignorance and when she found none, her aura smoothed just a fraction and Kagome's gut unclenched with it.
"First, how did you know to expect This One's presence? Why were you in your battle raiment as if you knew what awaited you?"
"Because I did know," Kagome said honestly. "I was prepared for this… trial by a friend who relayed the situation in the West. Given the nature of the curse, I was warned that I was needed immediately. I thought it best to arm myself before coming back, saving us some time."
"What 'friend' has such intimate knowledge of the West? Most of our allies are still unaware of Sesshoumaru's… condition."
"A friend who wants Sesshoumaru healthy and the West's strength intact as much as we do, trust me."
"I do not trust you," Kikuko scowled, and Kagome finally understood exactly where Sesshoumaru's glower came from, "but since I have no choice but to employ you and your power, I will choose to believe your honesty until you prove This One otherwise."
"I do want Sesshoumaru to recover. I want to see him healthy and himself again. I don't want anyone else hurt while he suffers," Kagome narrowed her eyes at the Lady Mother, "and then I want to hunt down the perpetrator and bring them to justice."
The female inu snorted. "Good luck finding him. Haruna stole him away after he dishonorably ran a knife through my pup's back. A kitsune assassin," Kikuko spat. "She believes that villain is a cub of hers from a Mating that ended several centuries ago. She is delusional and desperate, afraid to face the truth that loss is final. A truth we must all face, no matter our power."
Kagome thought for a moment, processing the information and the insinuation Kikuko made. "I know better than most that sometimes it can be, but only when all hope is lost. It sounds as if Haruna-sama hasn't lost hope yet. Neither have I."
"Unimportant," Kikuko huffed and rolled her eyes. "Precisely how do you plan to help Sesshoumaru?"
"His youki and time are limited, I know. The only way to cure him is to purify the curse, which in theory I can do, but I need your help," Kagome said seriously.
"My help?" Kikuko eyed the miko suspiciously. "I cannot wield holy energy, girl."
"Yes, I know," Kagome continued patiently. "I can purify the curse but what I can't do is protect whatever is left of his natural energy while I do that. I need a way-"
"Done," Kikuko said desperately. "I can barricade what power he has left with my own while you purify the curse. Is that your plan?"
"Yes. I had some help drafting that plan, I admit, but it will work. What is he-" Kagome swallowed, "How's he doing?"
Ren whined and shook his head. Kikuko's mask of indifference slipped back into place and Kagome knew their momentary comradery was over. "He lives, miko, and he suffers. The sooner we stop this, the sooner he is free. Prepare yourself: the curse has warped him and when you face my son, it is not truly his eyes you will look into. Not until you purify the evil living within him."
Kagome remembered his true form and her hands grew clammy in Ren's fur. He was monstrous on a good day but what had the curse truly done to him? Anxiety and impatience gnawed at her stomach. "How much longer before we arrive?"
"A few hours yet but we can go faster if-"
"No," Kagome said quickly. "Sorry… Save your energy. We will need it, I'm sure. I haven't been to sleep yet tonight and I need at least a few hours of meditative sleep to max my energy. Ren," she bent down to meet his eye, "can you keep me from falling off? Can I trust you?" Ren began a high-pitched, offended growl but was cut off.
"Captain, I will relieve you of the miko while she rests," the Lady mother asserted. Kagome and Ren exchanged looks then the miko found herself lifted from the inu's back by wisps of oddly solid silver cloud. "This will ensure your rest better than the lollop of a pup. We need you uncompromised for the work ahead."
"Thank you, Kikuko-sama… Wow…" Without a backwards glance, the rear half of the great inu's cloud welled into a bed-like hollow while their traveling speed increased once more. The air around Kagome warmed yet again and she yawned widely, laying her pack down as a pillow in the odd cloud-bed she found herself in. "Please wake me before we get there so I have time to prepare?" Kikuko said nothing but Ren barked and nodded, and Kagome smiled back at him. "Thanks." Utter exhaustion quickly overwhelmed her nerves and misgivings about travel, and without another word, Kagome laid down and slept as the two inu continued their trek to the West. The Captain watched Kagome drift into sleep and then whined a question.
"No, Ren," Kikuko answered, "I do not know if this will work. Her logic is sound but she has not seen how weak Sesshoumaru is. My hope is that she has bonded with him enough to dredge up some remnant of his sanity. That may be his only hope." Ren yipped another question. "Perhaps. Somehow, I believe they are bonded more deeply than they realize."
Ren thought so, too. He'd been there when their letters were exchanged in the fall, he'd watched his Lord carry her and watch over her in the Palace, and the memory of Sesshoumaru's wrath over his return to the West made him shiver. 'No male gets that angry over a female he's bound to by duty alone,' Ren thought to himself.
…
The sunlight narrowed to a pinprick. Shadows filled the world. The air thinned. Time slowed.
Thorn-studded vines of shadow formed an impenetrable net that smothered and choked and crushed the once tall and virile growth.
New sprouts, offshoots, wedged desperately between gaps in the weed. Tender young tendrils of life grew quickly, looking for light, only to be brutally cut and sucked dry. The selfsame skeletons of hundreds of small branches penetrated the viral, thorny growth.
Evil had begotten more evil once again. One shift in the balance of power - the wizening of youkai - and the scales of Judgement tipped toward violence. The root of change was dying. The evil was winning.
In desperation, the only recourse left was hibernation. There was no more time for fighting. Without hope, without light, and with no path upward, the once vibrant bloom of change retreated deep within its roots and waited for a miracle… or death.
…
Hours passed as they flew towards the West. Kagome slept. Kikuko planned. Ren hurried. The first pale light of dawn stretched up behind them and Ren felt his muscles begin to tire. Running, even flying, with three legs still sapped his energy faster than before. With a shake of his magenta-streaked head, the Captain blinked the weariness from his glass-green eyes and saw the shadows of the Western mountains appear through the early morning mists.
Kikuko was already moving, lifting the miko within her cloud and rousing her gently. Ren watched without staring as the Lady mother let the frigid air cool around them both and Kagome shivered and began to stir, rubbing her eyes and blinking sleep away.
"'Ur we there yet," came her sleep-muddled question.
"Nearly," Kikuko said quickly. "What else must you do to prepare?"
"Arm myself," Kagome said solemnly. "Eat. Meditate."
"Do it now," the Lady said without looking back. "We will arrive in the West within the hour."
"Okay," the miko agreed quietly. "I'm going to use a small amount of my reiki. Don't toss me off, okay?"
"Hn. Do what you must."
Kagome strapped the bow and quiver to her back once more and then her staff. She would probably need it first. Digging through the nostalgic backpack, the miko found that her mother had packed a few bento for the trip. Kagome smiled and quickly ate one of the meals, chasing the comforting food with water from a bamboo canteen.
Next, she found the box she had been searching for containing the kotodama beads and pooled them in her hand, rolling them around in consideration. Sighing, the infusion chant formed in her mind and then on her lips. The tone of her voice came out even and quiet, and the beads responded with a gentle glow. She was halfway through the incantation when Kikuko saw what she was preparing.
"Do you intend to bind him, miko?" the Lady Mother accused, growling the word.
"Yes," Kagome said sadly, the beads' light dying away. "I don't want to… but I can't see another way to keep him still while I work. I'll release him as soon as he's not a danger to himself or others."
Kikuko gritted her teeth. "If you dishonor him one minute too long, human, I swear-"
"Death and disembowelment, I'm sure," Kagome growled back, emboldened by exhaustion. "Do you think I want this for him? Do you really think I would subdue him if there was any other way?"
"Would you not?" the inu seethed. "It would be simple to chain him and leave him at your mercy. He could be yours until death, miko. I know that as well as you. What human would scoff at so powerful a servant?"
"You don't know me, Kikuko," Kagome growled, "and I am not her!" Kikuko growled back, knowing who she meant. Izayoi. "I'm sorry but I don't have time for this today. Let me finish preparing. Please. If I don't need them, I won't use them but, for his sake, I want every tool at my disposal, with or without your approval."
Kagome finished her work in silence, stowing the charged beads back in their box for the moment, as the mountains loomed closer and closer. The young woman stood on her perch behind Kikuko and stretched her senses toward the West. Even from here, kilometers away, the echoes of a twisted power filtered through the air like ashes. Flashbacks to the horrid miasma Naraku favored made her shiver, deep fears rising to the surface too quickly. 'This is not the same. This is the West and Naraku is dead.' "Is anyone else still in the Fortress? Oh kami, is Rin still there?!"
"No," the Lady mother answered gruffly, "the Palace and Fortress have been evacuated, and the child was sent to a nearby village with the shika youkai, Tomomi."
"Thank the kami…"
There was no more time for talking as the two inu circled around the mountain to land in the still-dark Palace courtyard on the Western face of the mountain. In the darkness, the ivory sandstone pillars of the Palace entryway stood out against the tawny mountains, and the square patch of green just beyond was a welcome sight. As they neared however, Kagome could see jagged boulders and rubble spilling out over the rear half of the garden, piling higher near the Palace.
"What happened?" Kagome whispered, awed by the destruction.
They landed in the ruined courtyard, and Kagome withdrew her staff and laid a hand against the kotodama beads in her pack. Ren shifted back in a flurry of snowy hair and leather, and he quickly checked his sword and the straps of his armor.
"Sesshoumaru," Kikuko said solemnly. She effortlessly dispersed the mist that carried them here and faced the miko. "He destroyed the Palace as the curse overtook his mind." Her golden eyes scanned the damage and narrowed in Kagome's direction as the Lady straightened to her full height. "I brought you first to the Palace to give you a few minutes to prepare yourself. We must do this now. I agreed to employ you, Sesshoumaru's chosen future Mate, so that we may heal him. This house will aid you, provide whatever resources we can, but the outcome of the day will ultimately be up to you. I will ask you this once before we proceed-" Kikuko was cut off by a roar that shook the mountain, sending small rocks and dust down from the ruined upper Palace floors. Kagome's head was looking around wildly for the danger before she realized what- or rather who it was. "Only once, miko: Are you prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of the West?"
The unspoken questions were there: She had said "the West," not "Sesshoumaru." Will you do whatever it takes to heal him or, if you fail, to kill him? Kagome wondered what the Lord of the West would have wanted. The answer came to her instantly. The hard choices were his forte. When she had begged for his brother's life, Sesshoumaru had still done what was needed. The pain of remembering steeled her resolve. When the hard choice had to be made, Sesshoumaru chose to end Inuyasha's life rather than let the evil ruin the land and endanger others. Kikuko was asking Kagome to do the same. To honor his life, his choices, and his position, she would do the hard thing if it came to it because it's what Sesshoumaru would have done if their roles were reversed.
"Yes," Kagome's steel-blue eyes answered, "I am ready."
"Then come." Without another word, the trio sprinted towards the gate to the Fortress, past the flattened gardens, past the ruined Palace, past the guest wing that was partially crushed by the pieces of the upper floors, and into the dark tunnels beyond. Kikuko began explaining again as they hurried toward the Fortress. "Ryota has sealed him within a barrier in the Fortress but the General is weakening as well. We should-"
A furious, monstrous wail shook the bedrock, rattling pebbles and dust from the rafters bracing the tunnel, and Ren's eyes flew open in panic. "That's the General!"
"Oh no…" Kagome breathed, breaking into a run. "Save Ryota from me" had been Sesshoumaru's request. Her legs pushed harder, lungs expanded deeper, and power built beneath her skin. She remembered the regret and pain on the inu's face as he admitted killing the male he had called a brother. 'Don't let us be too late!' she prayed.
Kikuko watched the miko sprint faster and swatted the frozen soldier's face with her fan, stopping the look of panic there. "Go back to the Palace. Bring Kenshin and meet us at the Fortress. The General will have need of his skills," Kikuko commanded. When the younger inu froze in place again, she snarled at him. "Go! Now!" Ren jumped and sprinted away with a tortured backward glance at Kagome's shadowy form.
The miko and inudaiyoukai emerged from the tunnel in darkness and Kagome's human eyes had to adjust to the low light. "Where is he?" She stopped between the two massive pillars carved at the entrance to the training grounds. The sun wasn't yet risen above the horizon and a barely-brightening darkness still covered the training fields where Kagome took in an arena-sized barrier like the one in which she had trained with Ren. There was movement inside though… As she focused on the two shadowy forms outlined in mist, her lungs froze.
"Kami in heaven…" Kagome's voice broke.
The broader of the two once-ivory youkai was laying still, prone, his throat gaping and spilling onto the gravel. One gargantuan paw twitched in the air like a last cry for help. The other youkai was snarling while taking mouthfuls of the bleeding youkai's flesh and ripping it from his body. Bile rose into her throat.
"…Sesshoumaru?"
The great inu's bones were visible even through his patched and gore-streaked fur. She had once run her hands through thick and silken masses that covered healthy, lean muscle. This beast had ribs like jail bars and he swayed where he stood. His eyes were a bright turquoise when she had gazed into them last autumn but now, they were clouded and glowing crimson in the shadows of the mountain. Kagome cast her sense towards them but met a hard wall where the barrier began.
"I can't sense them at all," she gasped. "Can you?"
Kikuko shook her head. "Ryota's barrier blocks all. We discovered that the curse draws power from any blood he consumes. It is how this battle has lasted for so long. Sesshoumaru's mind shuttered him from his beast but the curse drives his body to feed endlessly. He has killed his own soldiers, sapped them, and Ryota is now his next victim it seems."
"So he's – or rather the curse is – siphoning Ryota's youki by bleeding him dry? Why?"
"To keep himself alive. Sesshoumaru will not forgive himself for this…" Kikuko was a proud youkai but spoke of her son's actions with a bereft sorrow. She was right. Five hundred years into the future, Sesshoumaru would still be blaming himself for this. Unless they acted now. Maybe Ryota could still be saved.
Rage fueled by hurt, frustration, and dishonesty built until her aura shimmered with the pink glow of a new dawn. Sesshoumaru had been suffering like this for days while she talked and laughed and bonded. Future Sesshoumaru had hell to answer for – again – but his mistakes would repeat themselves if she didn't get control of the situation.
Pushing her purifying aura outward, she met the barrier again and swore. Calling the power back to coat her skin, the awakened miko considered the path forward. No one could do anything until that barrier was torn down. The Sesshoumaru gorging himself inside paid her no mind. The beast before her whined and snarled, clawed and ripped and never showed a moment of intelligence. The inu that drooled foamy venom onto the fallen kumadaiyoukai was helpless in the throes of the curse. The great Lord of the West that hunched over the fallen General was starved, bleeding, filthy, and mindlessly ripping flesh only to spit it back out on the ground. Kagome felt ill as another shredded lump of General Ryota dropped with a wet sound against the gravel.
"General Ryota! No!" Ren's shout broke her focus as a silver streak shot past. The young inu was immediately pacing back and forth outside the barrier, banging his fist on the translucent surface. Kenshin jogged past them both and grabbed his brother, shaking him and whispering quiet words Kagome's couldn't hear.
"Ren," Kagome said more calmly than she felt, "I need you to-" But he wasn't listening. He couldn't hear her. "Ren," she tried again. The miko marched over, grabbed the Captain's shoulders from his brother, and shook him while staring into his panicked, pale green eyes. "REN. Can you get the barrier down? We have to take it down before we can help General Ryota. Do you hear me?"
"Ye- Yes. I- I have to destroy the crystals," Ren's brain slowly reconnected with the present, "but it can be done." He looked over at his brother and Kenshin nodded as well. They both leaped into a burst of youkai speed but Ren stopped, Kenshin skidding to a halt beside him, and scrubbed a hand down his face. "But Kagome-sama, if we remove it, there is no containing him. If we release Sesshoumaru-sama, he must be healed…" Ren's eyes flicked to the Lady mother, "or ended."
If Kikuko heard, she failed to react, still watching the mindless slaughter in the barrier as agitation swirled in her aura.
"I understand," the miko nodded. "The second the barrier is down, I can shield Ryota long enough for you to move him, and let's hope we can keep Sesshoumaru distracted until he's safely away."
Kenshin was tying his shoulder-length hair away from his face when he nodded. "It will be done, Kagome-sama," he lightly bowed and smiled wanly at her, "and we are glad you have finally come."
"Sorry it took me so long," she frowned as Kenshin turned on his heel and skirted the barrier in the opposite direction of his brother. Kagome turned to Kikuko. "Are you ready?"
"Worry about your task, human," Kikuko scoffed, brandishing her ebony fan with a snak.
Ren ripped his sword from its sheath as the wraith Sesshoumaru slowed his torture to test the air with ragged breaths. With one leap, the Captain left the ground and shattered a barrier crystal fifty feet in the air on the column closest to Kagome. Kenshin was nearing the farthest crystal. Kagome realized their intent to take the barrier down in two strokes. They were an efficient team. Kenshin ripped a small dagger from his belt and shattered the crystal before landing lightly on both feet. Ren joined Kenshin so the brothers stood just beyond Ryota's still body as the barrier flickered.
Kagome ripped the kotodama from her pocket and chanted once more. The glowing beads rose from her palm and circled together before her, forming a beaded chain which she snatched from air and wrapped around her wrist. Then she unbuckled the sacred tree quarterstaff and rolled her shoulders.
"Once the barrier is down, I want to see how he reacts to my reiki," she said to Kikuko. "While I do that, you begin to search and isolate his youki. Ren and Kenshin will grab the General. After that, we'll make it up as we go."
"And if he attacks?" Kikuko asked gruffly.
"Then I bind him. I see no other way. If I do, he can't hurt us or himself and we have a little more time to purify the curse."
"You are prepared for that?"
"No, but we've talked about it and he agreed this was best," Kagome said distractedly, watching the inu brothers transform as the barrier flickered.
"Who agreed-" Kikuko started to ask.
"Here we go!" Kagome's stance instantly shifted. Her shoulders squared, her legs tensed, and her aura exploded into the clearing. The young woman was gone, called away to yield to the warrior miko.
Kikuko watched her son's intended mate with new eyes. Perhaps the kami had a greater plan for the West than she realized…
The domed barrier flickered once more and then melted away. Everyone sprang into action, cutting off Kikuko's wonder about how who "he" was and the power erupting from such a demure mortal. Sesshoumaru stopped sniffing and rolled his sightless, crimson eyes to roar in their direction, the sunken lids widening with interest. Ryota remained motionless but Kenshin and Ren were already sprinting for him, creeping into Sesshoumaru's threat range but trying to stay out of the crazed inu's line of sight.
The smell that poured out of the training fields made Kagome's eyes water and she gagged. Kikuko flipped her fan open and sent a gust through the Fortress to clear the hovering fog of gore-ridden miasma. The flare of youki caught his attention and Sesshoumaru's head whipped around to focus on its source. Kikuko stared right back into her son's mad eyes.
Kagome circled Sesshoumaru in the opposite direction, laid her palms together, and flared her own aura toward the fallen General to produce a barrier a hundred feet away that would shield Ryota's body but Sesshoumaru's sightless vermilion eyes never wavered from Kikuko. Kagome exposed more of her power, her holy aura pulsing to taunt him, as Ryota's shield thickened between the two daiyoukai. The cursed inu took another shaking step toward his mother.
"She was right then. He's only interested in youki…" Kagome relented.
Sesshoumaru tried to stalk faster but the cursed weakness was winning. His legs wavered, and when he turned and Kagome saw the injury to his side, she felt tears sting her eyes. His right leg was bowed away from his body at an unnatural angle as gravity almost won over the nearly severed limb. The shoulder joint was visible through the dried blood and venom that coated the gash. Every step he took on his right leg looked like it was his last but he stayed upright, one slow, drunken step at a time towards the mother he no longer recognized.
"Do you sense any youki from him?" Kagome called.
Kikuko swallowed and then answered slowly. "No… or very little. So little…"
"Can you isolate it?" Kagome asked nervously. If she couldn't, what was next? She could subdue him to give them time but without what little energy he had left, he would succumb and die before the purification was complete.
Kikuko flared her aura for the first time Kagome could recall. It was frigid like the first morning of spring and the powerful waves of silver energy that washed over the miko stung her face and neck. Her own power flared to life and coated her skin as a shield. Kikuko waved her fan in a series of intricate motions, twisting tendrils of silver mist into a net and then casting it toward her staggered son.
"Yes!" Kagome cheered. "Can you sense him yet?"
"Patience, miko! There is- Yes! There is a small well of youki there," the inu flared her power near the source, right near Sesshoumaru's heart, "but it is waning. The curse is draining him faster now."
"Is it… adapting? Can it know we're here to purify it?"
"It is more likely that-"
Before Kikuko could finish, Ren growled low just once to summon a mesmerized inu-Kenshin to action but it was too much… and Ren was closer than Kikuko to the cursed daiyoukai. Sesshoumaru's eyes left his mother and his head swiveled slowly back over to the fallen General, and two much smaller but still youki-saturated prey.
Kagome paled when Sesshoumaru bared his teeth and turned around. "No! Kikuko-sama, can you draw him back this way?"
Without responding, the Lady Mother tried – expanding her power from a candle to an inferno – but her son ignored them completely. She cut the flow of youki off with a curse and matters got more complicated when Kenshin, or at least Kagome assumed that's who the energetic magenta-eyed inu was, bounded around the General's side and skidded to a stop near his brother. Low growls and barks echoed in the small space as the inu brothers switched places around Ryota, but before they got the General halfway to the barracks shelter and away from the field, they were being stalked. Sesshoumaru's head lowered and a gurgled growl erupted from his venom-drooling jaws.
"Shit." Kagome sprang into action, sprinting away from the tunnel and across the field. The closer she got to the lumbering Sesshoumaru, the more she forced herself not to react and not to look too closely. Her heart stuttered in pain for him but determination outshined her grief for the moment. Kikuko flicked her fan and clouded Sesshoumaru's head in thick mist. He snarled and clawed at his muzzle, trying to clear the blinding fog away.
Stopping just behind Sesshoumaru, Kagome planted her feet and flared the barrier around Ryota. It thickened and pulsed with power. "Faster! Get him out of here!" Ren and Kenshin finally looked up, muzzles coated with the General's blood, and realized what was happening. The brothers doubled their pace, snarling with the effort of moving a kumadaiyoukai three times their size.
Roaring his assault, Sesshoumaru ignored the mist and instead slammed his head blindly against the barrier. His legs wobbled and slipped in the gravel, and his ribs heaved with the effort of launching himself again and again. Long trails of venom pooled around the barrier as he repeatedly bashed his skull against the translucent reiki wall.
"Sesshoumaru, stop! Stop it!" Kagome cried, feeling tears prick her eyes. She turned to the Lady Mother. "Your fog isn't helping, he's just beating himself to death!"
Kikuko only snarled back. "He is occupied, miko! Purify the curse!"
"We have to stop him! He's going to kill himself!"
"Decide, girl! He will die either way if you do not act!"
Kagome startled and scrubbed the tears from her eyes. Nodded her head, the miko calmed herself. "Seize his youki again."
Kikuko abandoned the obscuring mist and wove the net of her youki again with intricate flicks of her fan. One final wave and she cast it wide. The smoke-like threads disappeared through Sesshoumaru but the fan snapped downward, tethered to two glowing silver threads. Sesshoumaru shuddered and roared, staggering in place. He stopped attacking the barrier and snarled in their direction. "I have his youki but…" she trailed off, despair pinching her proud face. "Miko, you must hurry!"
Kagome's stormy eyes bored into Sesshoumaru's, regretful but resolute. She unclasped the bow from her back and drew a specific arrow wrapped in a long sutra. "Ren! I have to drop the barrier to purify the curse," she shouted. "This will keep it up for a few more minutes but I can't do both! Be ready!"
Ren's eyes blew open. He remembered the burning, unnatural feeling of her purity and a short growl warned Kenshin not to overreact. His brother whuffed and continued muscling the General out of harm's way.
Kagome nocked her arrow, aiming for the ground near Sesshoumaru's front legs. If her aim was true, the new barrier would spring up to replace the one she was already losing control of, giving her the freedom to begin purifying Sesshoumaru. Loosing the heavy arrow was relief as the drain to maintain such a large shield was already taking its toll on her power reserves. The rattle of the arrow piercing the gravel was immediately followed by the hollow roar of her auxiliary reiki flaring to life. Kagome exhaled and shivered. It had worked. Now…
Sesshoumaru roared his frustration at another burning wall between he and his prey. He took a shaky step backward only to leap headfirst toward the smaller barrier. It flickered and the inu brothers panted and growled harder as they used their jaws and shoulders to haul Ryota's limp body further away.
Kikuko stood like an elegant statue, holding her net-tethered fan in an outstretched pale hand, as the mountain wind whipped her voluminous hair into a fury of snapping silver. Kagome approached and refitted her bow against her back. "Ready?" the miko asked resolutely. Kikuko nodded at the human and resumed watching Sesshoumaru trying to kill himself against the barrier.
With open and upturned palms, Kagome shuttered the healing and defense reiki that was always coating her like a second skin. Closing her steel blue eyes, she reached deeper for the innate power that the kami had gifted her. It flared to life at her call, rising like water from an underground spring, and Kagome gritted her teeth for iron control so Kikuko wouldn't be singed. Reiki wasn't youki. It didn't have an animalistic, feral will of its own but her aura would smother the youkai here and the full fury of it would purify everything in the Fortress if she wasn't careful.
Kagome sent one prayer up to the kami before beginning: Please – please – let him live.
…
Deep in Sesshoumaru's mind, where his true self was locked away, there was only darkness and the roar of deafening silence and emptiness.
His limbs were no longer his own, bound and barbed with pain. There was no breath in his lungs, only an eternal burning longing for air. His eyes were fogged with hazy images of tans and browns, crimsons and white, and there was never rest or sleep since his consciousness was split between his body and his mind. His brain slowed like wading through ever-deeper quicksand, every thought came slower and slower, until the memory of merely existing was slipping his grasp.
It would be easier to slip. Fall away into nothing. 'Nothing' must be more freeing than this darkness and pain. There had once been more to existing, had there not?
The apathetic invitation to death was interrupted by a blinding glare far away. A pinprick of brilliant light twirled with welcoming radiance, and his clouded eyes grew dry and sore as it flared brighter and brighter, pulsing with the beat of a heart. The light was warm… hopeful… Irrational feelings of wonder and calm flooded his mind but why?
Suddenly, the warm light shot forward and engulfed his legs. An inferno erupted everywhere the light touched his skin. It burned and twisted and ripped a roar of agony from his airless lungs. This was wrong! Wishing for death had been a mistake. This hell was far worse than simply letting go into nothingness! The burning clawed slowly from his feet up his spine, inch by inch, igniting every nerve ending in his seemingly numb lower half with raw agony. The thorny bindings on his legs wound tighter in response, holding him still and squeezing the life and feeling from already atrophied limbs. His mouth was locked open in a silent scream as the light grew brighter and more devastating.
The burning starlight was agony but then… as the sensation crept upward to his belly, his feet emerged in comforting warmth that neither stabbed nor burnt nor felt numb. What was happening? His small, isolated world was filled with silence, pain, and comfort in equal measures. He was being torn three ways: numbness, agony, and soothing warmth. But which way to lean?
A scent wafted through the vacuum of this empty space. A hint of a scent. It was familiar… Icy snow clouds mixed with fragrant pine and cinnamon… Mother. He had a mother. She was here. A sharp but careful tug in his chest shocked his muddled brain. There was power behind this scent - welcome and needed strength - but how to reach it?
The another: dusty sandstone and cypress trees, silk and incense, stone and earth… The West. Home! His den and refuge. He remembered! Then another scent drifted in and his brain clawed for answers like a wildcat on a cliff's edge.
Water… Rainwater warmed by the sun… and a forest blossom. A pale flower. He knew its name once. It was ripe and sweet, gentle and welcoming. The two scents wove together and his chest ached. His stomach flipped. His brain electrified and golden eyes flew open, ignited with recognition. Mine.
…
The rabid Sesshoumaru twisted and writhed with agony in the gravel. His alternating whines and roars of pain made Kagome sick. Deep pants thick with wet noises from his lungs punctuated his rage as her pure reiki slowly purified the curse from his body. It took immense concentration not to purify his flesh as she worked. Targeting only the slithering toxicity of the kitsune curse was hard but watching him struggle with such pain when he hadn't blinked at losing an arm…
"This isn't right," she gasped, eyes full of remorse for Sesshoumaru's pain. "He needs a break… I have to-"
"Do not stop, miko!" Kikuko barked. "The curse is rebelling against purification. This is not Sesshoumaru, not truly. The quicker you purify it, the sooner his agony ends!"
His roar of pain was cut off by a dramatic and wet gag of bile and black sludge. The convulsion forced him to rise from the dirt onto four shaky legs. When the seizure was over, a deep breath filled his lungs and he caught her scent. Kagome swallowed but maintained her power, sliding the purifying waves of reiki up nearly to his rib cage now. She had thought starting near his tail would give her more insight as she worked her way up his body and to his heart and brain. The wraith Sesshoumaru turned glowing vermilion eyes on her and took a single, snarling step in her direction. A low growl, and his sharp whine of an inhale, made her skin goosepimple as her power held against the curse.
"He's coming this way…" Kagome muttered toward Kikuko, expanding the cloak of reiki to engulf the lower half of Sesshoumaru's ribs. Halfway done.
"Do not stop, miko. I can hold him," Kikuko declared. With a flick of her fan, the net tethering Sesshoumaru's youki grew taut and the beast froze, slamming its eyes closed. "It cannot move if I separate what is left of Sesshoumaru's power from it."
The beast stopped moving and faltered, shivering in place. His whine was different than before. Not automatic but low and soft. His eyes pulsed with power from crimson to turquoise…
"Sesshoumaru!" Kagome yelled jubilantly, tears welling in her eyes. "He can hear us! He's in there!"
But they had all forgotten the youki the curse had literally torn from Ryota before he fell. Power around the staggered inu swelled in great black waves, darkening his eyes once more and electrifying the air. Sesshoumaru had been warning them. Kikuko's mind worked quickly to recognize the signature of Ryota's energy rising in Sesshoumaru's form. Damn.
"On your guard, miko! He is unleashing the stolen youki!"
This complicated matters. There was no way to siphon the foreign energy away from the curse-driven Sesshoumaru so there was nothing to do but suppress it or force him to expend it. With a shuddering but determined step, the great feral Sesshoumaru moved toward them. Kikuko growled but held the web of her youki tight. The Lady Mother resolved to let it use up its stolen power, then. But when the slow stagger evolved into a faster lope forward, Kagome balked. "He's coming straight for us! I can't fight him off!"
"Finish your task and I will keep him at bay." Kikuko made good on her word… for a time. Sending thick clouds of mist and buffeting blasts of air, she staggered Sesshoumaru's advance but he kept pushing forward with growls and grunts of effort. From the far edge of the training fields, Sesshoumaru had stomped all the way to the edge of the columns where the small party was gathered. It was maybe four or five more steps until he was close enough to attack. Kikuko grimaced, baring her teeth, but conceded. "The beads, priestess!"
Kagome's power shuddered but held as her ebony-hair swung behind her and blue eyes found the Lady Mother. "Are you sure?"
"If you cannot do both, then the decision is already made," she growled. "Quickly!"
Sesshoumaru was faster. Flaring the twisted youki, he leapt from the ground with one gory paw aimed at the open-armed miko radiating this painful and disrupting power. Kagome dropped her hands and sprinted to the side, reaching for the bow and arrow with a second prepared shield.
"Forget your weapons, girl, and stop him! His youki is dwindling. Quickly!"
Kagome growled in frustration but left the bow clasped on her back and ran for her life. Sesshoumaru had picked her out as the source of his pain, youki or not, and his steps ate up much more ground than her two human legs. He landed heavily on three legs, favoring the injured one but still staggering forward at a quick lope. After a misstep, his injuries and incoordination from being controlled by the curse brought him down heavily on his injured side and he roared in frustration and pain, slamming his head against the ground with gritted jaws.
"I'm so sorry…" she whispered, unclasping the beads from her arm and feeling the sting of tears. The chant built slowly but Kagome was mouthing the words faster and faster. The beads glowed with power, stringing together with the right intent to bind the huge inu-
"Kagome-sama!" Kenshin yelled from behind her. "Kagome-sama, the General lives and we are here to relieve you!"
Kagome gave her best growl of frustration and turned his way. "Distract Sesshoumaru! Keep him away from me!"
Kenshin skidded to a halt and cocked his head at the Lady Mother. "Do as she says, pup, and do not get in her way!"
"Understood," Kenshin nodded, lighting his hands with youki. His own wisps of magenta power flowed like tendrils through the air, condensing in small spirals here and there and gathering the wandering dust from the air. He brought his hands together and condensed the fine sands into small pockets. Aiming directly for Sesshoumaru's eyes, Kenshin pelted the inu's eyes and nose with the dusts, guilt rising in his chest. The great inu roared and pawed his face, leaving a gouge against his muzzle that bled fresh but tainted violet blood against the ground. "Forgive me, my Lord," he whispered solemnly.
A blood-spattered Ren appeared beside his brother and took in the scene. "What can I do?"
Kagome resumed the kotodama chant with her chin tucked to her chest and Kenshin was focused on keeping Sesshoumaru distracted so Kikuko answered, keeping the line of her youki net tight. "We must keep him in place so the miko can finish her work. She is binding him but he stole Ryota's youki when he fed and the curse can utilize his power. Be on your guard."
"Binding him?" Ren whispered to himself.
Kenshin's light and Kikuko's wind were slowing Sesshoumaru down but the rabid inu was still staggering in their direction, his eyes flashing between the cursed blood red and the fierce pale blue. Ren took one look at Sesshoumaru and realized Kagome's purification was beginning to free the real Lord of the West.
Despite this new hope, it meant nothing if Sesshoumaru broke through to attack Kagome. Shoving his guilt aside, Ren charged his youki and called forth a tidal wave of his wind-forged blades. Stacking them like bricks being laid, Ren guided each blade with his hand. In moments, an impenetrable wall of Kikuko's cloud, Kenshin's distracting dust, and Ren's ethereal swords now kept the cursed inudaiyoukai from moving forward.
Kagome's chant finished and the kotodama string around her left arm glowed with purifying reiki. Ripping the strand from her arm, Kagome cast the necklace into the air before her, chanting once more. Kikuko felt when her power broke loose, radiating from the small woman in waves that made even an ancient inudaiyoukai want to run. Kenshin and Ren were faring no better in the great waves of purity rolling from the miko, and their attacks faltered and lost strength.
…
They were succeeding. His small pack was working together to stall him without pain while his future Mate prepared to bind him. Sesshoumaru resolved that his shame would be complete but no others in the West would fall to this evil.
But it would not be enough. Sesshoumaru's split consciousness made him a witness to the gathering power of the curse. His own youki was secluded using his mother's power but the youki he had stolen from Ryota and others was more than enough to stop this assault. His residual strength was not enough to stop the blood curse's stolen power.
Teasing wisps of scent reached his nose once more and he latched onto the strength they gave him. His pack was fighting and so should he. Extending his limbs, Sesshoumaru brandished his strength and began tearing at the vines still caging his chest. There was little time left before the curse bound him tightly again but, in the meantime, he could distract the consciousness in control of his body.
…
Kagome watched and hoped. Sesshoumaru's body seemed to be fighting him. One step forward and then the inu would growl and thrash, pawing at his head and snarling. His eyes flickered from crimson to blue again and again but the massive jaws dripping with venom snapped in Kagome's direction and his malice was palpable. Whether the real Sesshoumaru could retain control or not, if he reached her, she had little doubt he would kill her.
She raised the necklace to her lips and whispered her own prayer. "Stop now, Sesshoumaru. Stop walking and I won't do this," she pleaded, wary blue eyes watching him stagger. When he gave no indication of stopping but flared more tainted youki and roared at her, Kagome wearily sighed. "Please forgive me when this is over…"
The brothers and Kikuko felt the wave reiki break over them like wave of needling, icy water. Only Kenshin stopped his retreat to watch her. Kagome stood like a pillar with her hands outstretched and her sakura-hued reiki haloed her body like a kami come to earth. The priestess unwound the beads from her arm and continued chanting. Kenshin watched in awe as the beads floated in the space just beyond her hands, spun and separated. Kagome's eyes fixed on Sesshoumaru's snarling face as she flicked her hands and cast the beads forward.
They looped his emaciated neck and closed in, preparing to bind him, but at the last second, the inu snarled and tossed his head, unleashing a shockwave of blood-tainted youki.
The beads fell and scattered in the dust.
"Damn!" Kagome swore. But her reiki was still infused in the kotodama. Like the arrows she had steered so many times, these were hers to command while they held her power. The warrior miko flared her purifying reiki again and one by one the beads rose from the dust and gathered into her hands again. "This has to end, Sesshoumaru. You have to stop!"
As if he'd heard her, the rabid inu whined and lowered himself to ground, his eyes flickering between red and pale blue while he snarled in rage. Cool turquoise eyes stared back at her for just a moment and Kagome took the gift for what it was. Tears gathered in her eyes. Sesshoumaru was still fighting in the only way he could.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry," she said brokenly.
Beginning the chant anew, the kotodama flared to life in her palms and gathered in the air. Not taking any more chances, Kagome poured her power into them and shot them forward with a punishing wave of reiki, knocking the inu to the ground as the beads surrounded his neck. With a clench of her fist, Kagome sealed the body of the great inu of the West. It was not enough yet. Sesshoumaru thrashed on the ground and patches of his fur smoldered with the purification energy coursing across his body. The beads pulsed around his neck and Kagome remembered the word she had chosen to bind him.
"Still," she commanded.
Kikuko watched as her son froze in place though his eyes, crimson once more, twitched with rage and the promise of death. Ren released his blades and fell to one knee, exhausted. Kenshin ran to him and hauled him up, slinging his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Now what?" the young Captain panted. A pulse of reiki answered.
"Now you get clear so I can finish this," Kagome said calmly from behind them.
"Come," Kikuko said to the brothers, indicating the tunnels leading to the Fortress. "Be careful, miko. He still retains much of the power he stole."
"Thank you," the miko said, flaring her aura in warning and stepping toward the struggling Sesshoumaru. Spreading her arms wide, Kagome gathered her reiki around his ribs and felt the purification sink into his body again. The kotodama's effects began to wear off as the desperation to be free of his pain overwhelmed the seal. "Still," Kagome said calmly.
As the miko worked to purify Sesshoumaru's body, Kikuko felt the fatigue of the last several days creep in. Finally, there was hope he would recover. He was still alive and Kagome's plan had worked. The long-term effects of the curse might mean Sesshoumaru was forever changed but he would be alive.
Kikuko watched and rested as the effects of the kotodama held Sesshoumaru to the ground and the blood-soaked mass of his body sagged to the ground. The purifying ring of pure reiki traced his neck, just past the beads, when Kikuko narrowed her eyes at the feeling of tainted youki gathering strength…
The beads' glow flickered and Sesshoumaru's cursed body started to twitch and rise again. Kagome was still chanting and flooding his body with reiki, her face twisted with effort, but did she not notice…?
A second later, Sesshoumaru surged upward and swiped a bloody paw at a prone Kagome. Like a ragdoll, she flew sideways and tumbled several meters in the dust and gravel. The beads dimmed almost completely but remained fastened to the matted fur around Seshoumaru's neck.
Kenshin was the first to move, releasing his brother and sprinting to her side. She was coughing and her face was soaked with tears and blossoming blood in a filthy scrape across one pale cheek. Kikuko was already in motion, seizing Sesshoumaru's youki once more while Ren remained slumped against the tunnel walls, his green eyes wide but body exhausted.
Kenshin skidded to a stop in dropped to the ground, running his healer's hands lightly over her arms and neck. "Kagome, what happened? Where are you injured?"
"He just- It's too much, Kenshin," she coughed, eyes welling with silver tears. "It's woven so deeply inside him. There's so much malice tangled in his youki, I don't know if I can-" She was cut off by a ragged cough and grabbed her ribs. Kenshin could hear the grating scrape of broken bone in her chest.
"Shh, I hear you. I have you." She hissed as he probed her thigh and he saw that her knee was bent at a wrong angle, turned too far inward from the force of Sesshoumaru's sloppy blow. "You have at least two broken ribs and your knee is likely severely sprained."
"Mmm hmm," she gritted her teeth, trying to move and then screaming in pain. "Fuck! Ah! No- I have to finish this!" A few more tears fell down her scraped cheeks and her blue eyes sparkled with more as she gazed helplessly at the blue sky.
"I will help you, Kagome-sama," the inu healer nodded resolutely. "We will do it together," he said firmly as the healer reached down to curl his arm around her back without pressing on the broken ribs. He rose slowly and shifted her higher and higher in his arms. Kenshin set Kagome's good leg against the ground and slipped his arms beneath her shoulders, bracing her back against his chest so her hands remained free. "Kikuko-sama, please hold him while Kagome-sama prepares again!"
"Be quick!" Kikuko flourished her fan once more and bared her teeth at the dark energy now rising quickly and dominating Sesshoumaru's aura. The energy was leeching away more quickly though, and the curse was losing ground against their combined powers now that Sesshoumaru was fighting back from within.
Kagome alternated flaring her power and losing strength as her breathing stuttered. The brilliant pale reiki washed over Sesshoumaru's throat and down the length of his emaciated legs. Soon, the wraith Sesshoumaru was weeping and gagging the same vile black sludge from before. Before Kagome could finish purifying his muzzle, drawing the last of the curse from his body, her power flickered and Kenshin looked down in his arms to see her eyes fluttering closed.
"No! No, Kagome, don't give in! So close and then you may rest… Please don't give up now," he whined, shifting her fully into his arms as her head lolled.
"So dark… so much… just- just-" she hiccupped, tears still trickling from her eyes back into her hair as she laid nearly limp in his arms.
Kenshin growled and sobbed frustration. His brother laid exhausted and dismembered against the mountain wall, Kikuko was holding her son against his will as a curse none of them truly understood ate away at his very life force and here the healer stood, helpless, as the home he'd hoped to begin his own family in crumbled before his eyes. 'Please. Please,' he thought, 'what should I do?'
From beneath his robes, a warm light answered his prayers. Kenshin reached behind Kagome and clawed his shirt open, thinking the curse was somehow to blame. In answer, the amber teardrop that hung over his heart flared brighter. Through the dust and debris, and the blood and scent of death, his mother's warm voice echoed in his ears.
"Let me… Let me go, my son, and I can help her. This is not your burden to bear but mine… and I should have ended this long ago."
"Let you go? You are not here! You- My mother died centuries ago!" he snarled. Deaf to his protests, the amulet pulsed like a heartbeat and Kenshin watched as each pulse of light sank into Kagome's chest. Soon her breaths rose and fell with the amulet's beat until her blue eyes opened and blinked up at him.
"Kenshin?" Her voice was raspy but not wet, and the inu healer listened for the sounds of grating bone but heard nothing. "How am I- What's- Where's Sesshoumaru?" Her eyes frantically began looking around to find the cursed inu still locked in place by the youki tethers Kikuko was straining to maintain for so long. "Put me down! I can finish this- Put me down!"
Kenshin obeyed, setting her good foot back down and bracing her against his chest. His eyes were locked on Sesshoumaru as Kagome flooded the field between them with reiki but his mind was being comforted by a presence he'd thought long dead. Sanayo's voice – his mother's voice – poured into his mind as her warmth poured into his chest. Kenshin turned to see the amber light seeping into Ren's still body as well and he twitched as she spoke again.
"Find our old home, Kenshin. I have little time left… Take your brother and find the answers you will need… I love you, my dear pups, and goodbye…" The warmth faded and the amulet dropped heavily against Kenshin's throbbing chest. Cold tear tracks on his cheeks gathered dust as he looked around at the aftermath. His dark magenta eyes met the open, effervescent green of his brother's and they stared, open-mouthed, at each other. The sound of cracking glass ruptured the moment and Kenshin looked down to see the once-glowing stone was split and its center was cold and dark.
In his arms, Kagome gasped and strained as the pendant's light waned and the vacuum of power it left staggered her. The last of her own power might not be able to penetrate the tightly woven curse around the last inexorable bastion of evil within him: Sesshoumaru's heart. His frustrated, ethereal howls shook the foundations of the Palace as the true inudaiyoukai battled for control. Bracing herself against Kanshin's trembling chest, Kagome screamed as she speared Sesshoumaru's heart with her power, dissipating most of the remaining curse, and Sesshoumaru's body collapsed in a billowy cloud of dust.
Kikuko gasped in victory as her own struggle against her son's cursed body was ended. Her relief was short lived as Kagome began to waver on her good foot. Kenshin looked back over his shoulder for help as her aura flickered weakly and the miko's consciousness began to fade. "Kikuko-sama, she is weakening!"
Kikuko set her jaw and closed the fan, tucking it into her belt. In a blink of power, she was at the miko's side, lifting her from the healer's arms and into her own. Kenshin gaped as the Lady Mother bent her head to nuzzle the woman in her arms. "You are not done here and you made a promise to This One, miko. Fight, priestess," she shook the woman gently, "for we are with you." Kagome's watery gaze blinked slowly up at the inu and Kikuko braced the miko higher. "Come now, let us finish this together," she said solemnly. Kagome's gaze never wavered from the inu's as she uttered "still" one last time and jostled her body into an upright position again. Bracing one quivering arm each, Kenshin and the inudaiyoukai walked slowly forward while Kagome alternatively coughed and tried to take deep breaths suspended between them.
Sesshoumaru's form was limp on the ground as Kagome approached him. The last writhing splinters of the curse throbbed like more festering wounds deep in his being but it was losing ground in a vessel that was all but exhausted. Lowering her gently to the dust, the two other inu stepped away but remained within reach.
Kenshin cast a worried look at the Lady Mother. "He is so weak… She is beyond exhausted. Will he not recover on his own now? They are-" He swallowed heavily. "They are both fading, Kikuko-sama. Kagome will kill herself trying to save him and he-" Kenshin hiccupped the words and cursed himself.
Laying her hands on the fallen Lord's body, she found even his muzzle soaked with blood and matted through with gore. Both of her small hands pulsed with pure reiki as she laid them over his nose, resting her forehead against him and listening to his shallow breathing. "This can't be the end, Sesshoumaru. You-" She lost her breath and waited for it return. "You can't leave me, too…"
The last of her power threaded through his body, finishing her work and cleansing what was left of the curse around his heart. The strange amber reiki had done its work and cleared the traces left throughout his extremities. His energy was nearly depleted and she was no better, pale eyes growing heavy with exhaustion and grief. Finally, inu and miko exhaled a final breath in unison before slipping into oblivion.
In the last seconds before she fell asleep, the world became unbearably bright and Kikuko gasped at the same time Kagome felt the cool touch of familiar silk against her cheek in place of ragged fur before the darkness stole her consciousness.
…