Between Us
By: HalcyonMoments11
I know it will have to drown me before I can breathe easy,
And I've seen it in the flights of birds,
I've seen it in you,
In the entrails of the animals, the blood running through.
But in order to get to the heart of things
Sometimes you have to cut through.
- Florence + The Machine (Heartlines)
Chapter 24: Between Training and Battle
It is hours before dawn when he first senses the hoard of yōkai drawing near. He extends the reach of his yōki in warning, feels the way the forerunners of the hoard hesitate, then push on.
'Foolish.'He thinks, eyes lingering on the height of the crescent moon in the sky. At the pace the hoard approached it would arrive before the moon sets and the sun rises.
To his surprise, despite the exhaustion that frays the edges of the miko's recovering reiki, she stirs in response to the approaching hoard first, arms pulling the kit she sleeps beside her closer instinctively. Her blue hues flutter open seconds before his hanyō half-brother tilts his head to catch the scent of the hoard just making itself known in the stale humid air that night.
Inuyasha glances down from his perch in a tree near camp, catching his gaze, to which Sesshōmaru offers a slight nod of his head, an affirmation of the hanyō's unasked question. Amber hues turn to the miko as she pushes herself up on an elbow carefully, still trying not to disturb the kit beside her. A quiet, resigned sigh falls from her lips as she looks up at her hanyō companion, whose ears twitch to catch the faint sounds of the approaching hoard that are not yet audible to her human senses. After a moment, her azure hues turn to him. The daiyōkai feels her anxiety pulse down the bond between them as her fingers curl around the jar that holds the Shikon no Kakera still tucked carefully beneath the collar of her shirt.
He holds her gaze and considers the ways in which he is compelled to sooth the rough edges of her reiki that still thrum in discordance as it rebuilds itself after the strenuous training he had put the miko through the afternoon prior, the sense of calm with which he responds to the emotions that reach out to him across the connection between them, the way the tension in her shoulders diminishes slightly as he does.
The rest of the inu-tachi rise quickly afterwards, A-Un waking Jaken with a hot huff of breath in the imp's face, and the neko mewing as the taijiya and the hōshi she rests beside also wake. The children wake last and groggily, but it takes only minutes for everyone to shake themselves into awareness and readiness; the hoard of yōkai is close enough now that even the ningen can hear them coming.
"How many?" Miroku breaks the silence around them as he reaches for his shakujō.
"Not worth counting and nothin' we can't handle." Inuyasha replies, nose twitching as the scent of the hoard grows around them.
Kirara transforms with a growl as Sango shoulders her hiraikotsu and gracefully climbs onto the neko yōkai's back. "Shall we head them off?" There's an anticipatory edge to her voice as she glances at Miroku, who nods his agreement and takes her proffered hand to swing up behind her.
Inuyasha unsheathes Tessaiga with an unmistakable grind, drawing the eyes of the inu-tachi. It is an emboldened, flourish of an action that—with a glance of amber orbs in the direction of the miko—Sesshōmaru recognizes immediately as the hanyō's response to whatever quantity of the onna's anxiety he has also sensed across their bond.
Kagome seems to acknowledge this immediately, looking up as she pulls her bow and quiver over her shoulder to say, "Be careful, Inuyasha."
"Keh. Ain't gotta worry about me," he responds when she catches his gaze. After a moment, he looks away from her, catching his half-brother's eye momentarily, and then looks back at the miko. "Don't do anything stupid," he says, Tessaiga falling to a perch on his shoulder before he leaps away.
The taijiya and hōshi quickly follow after the hanyō on the back of the nekomata. Kagome's eyes follow them across the sky until they disappear within the canopy of the trees. As the sounds of their companions preliminary attacks echo through the trees toward them at the edge of the hillside they had made camp upon, Kagome draws Shippō and Rin to her side. A-Un, Jaken, and Sesshōmaru fortify the space around them.
The sound of Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu reaches them; a blast of air and small debris follows, closer than anticipated. Kagome notches an arrow and takes a step in front of the kitsune and the daiyōkai's ward. She stills when Sesshōmaru speaks, azure orbs turning up to catch the side profile of the inuyōkai when he says, "Stay close, Miko."
It is more than his voice the stills her; it is the echo of a familiar baritone that reverberates through her combined with the brief, yet vibrant sensation of a tug on the thread between them, an invisible gesture that steals her breath. It is a halting, a warning, like the shortening of a leash—invigorating, enthralling, and infuriating all in a single motion.
Before she can respond, the familiar acrid scent of his dokkasō reaches her; from his periphery, Sesshōmaru sees the way she flinches away from him, notes a fleeting scent of distress that he files away to ponder later as the first few yōkai break the forest's edge and—with a flick of his wrist—he dispatches them with his poison whip.
Moments later, the hillside is a flurry of activity as the hoard bursts from the darkness of the trees, circling out around them despite the barrage of attacks they rain upon them. Flashes of blue and green hues erupt from A-Un's unmasked maws, mixing with blasts of fire from Jaken's Nintōjō, the unrelenting strikes of Sesshōmaru's dokkasō laced whip of light, and occasional bursts of reiki and kitsune-bi from Kagome and Shippō. It's not long before Sango, Miroku, and Kirara reappear in the sky above them, circling back to cast ofuda and hiraikotsu in the defense of their companions on the ground. Flashes of Inuyasha's red Hinezumi robe are visible among the trees as he continues his attack on the extent of the force they cannot yet see.
They fall into a rhythm, a battle of force and practice of survival that has become far too familiar for some, and a continuation of a way of life for others within their pack. The daiyōkai is a striking flurry of movement, of graceful, awe inspiring and deadly precision despite the fact that he has not taken a step from the place he took at the miko's side and the defense of his ward. Kagome let's another arrow fly as a mixed group of yōkai somehow elude his lethal barrage, blue hues of her reiki twisting around the shaft as she beckons it forth despite the strain she feels seep into her muscles and bones as she does so. The proximity of Sesshōmaru's yōki—enhanced as it is by the crescent moon—spurs her onward as it shifts and folds around the erratic composure of her recovering reiki each time she calls it forth.
As exhaustion begins to set in, Kirara, Miroku, and Sango land nearby, the unmistakable howl of the kazāna indicating the shift in an offensive to the defensive. Inuyasha has fallen back to the hillside with the rest of the inu-tachi, still a flurry of movement and exasperated cursing as he explodes through the hoard around them. Kagome feels the pulse of a tainted Shikon no Kakera as light begins to filter into the eastern sky, goosebumps rising to her skin as her gaze turns instinctually to the tree line.
Sesshōmaru seems to sense the arrival as well, honey gold orbs turning in the same direction as Kagome mutters, "There," gesturing with an arrow she lets loose with a twang.
Its streaks through the dark until an oni, hulking and enraged bursts through the trees, a surge of jyaki deflecting Kagome's Hama no Ya.
The daiyōkai hears the way the miko's breath hitches as she catches sight of a large shard imbedded in the oni's neck. In the same moment, the ogre spots her, eyes widening as it senses the pull of her shards.
Sesshōmaru curses as the oni charges, taking out smaller yōkai of the hoard it has assembled without head. He takes out a swath of the hoard before him with an intense blast of his dokkasō from his palm and draws the imps attention with the simple utterance of his name, "Jaken."
Startled by the interruption in his focused efforts of combining his attacks with the two-headed dragon, the imp stutters, "Y-yes, Sesshōmaru-sama?"
"Get Rin and the kit out of here."
"O-of course!"
As Kagome turns to help Rin and Shippō onto A-Un's back—having shaken herself into action—Sesshōmaru dispatches any yōkai that dare approach while their defenses are minimalized. He hears the miko tell the kit and his ward, "Stay low," sees from his periphery how she presses their heads down as the taijiya's weapon clamors by, taking out a section of the hoard that the pause in the dragon and imp's attacks had allowed closer.
As Jaken scrambles onto A-Un's saddle the daiyōkai orders the dragon to take flight, almost dislodging the imp who only successfully stays on the two-headed dragon as he leaps into the air with the help of Rin and Shippō who grasp onto the flailing imp's clothes and pull him the rest of the way into the saddle. A burst of kitsune-bi and pyrotechnics from Nintōjō take out a couple of demons who leap after them and then they are out of reach, disappearing into the light of the rising sun.
The miko's relief that makes itself known across the bond is short lived as she catches sight of the oni once more. A portion of the hoard has amassed itself behind the ogre, and Inuyasha stands before them, Tessaiga brandished.
He feels the way she fumbles for the connection between them, plucking hurriedly at threads in a way that echoes how her fingers scramble over the earth for her bow and arrow. He knows that call is not meant for him, but he shifts to cover her position regardless, dispatches yōkai that strike for her as she seeks the amber orbs of his hanyō half-brother. Inuyasha's body angles in her direction, an instinctual response to the pull.
She pushes herself to her feet, bow in hand, and yells: "Inuyasha, there's a huge shard in its neck!"
Ears twitch in her direction as he braces himself before the oni. "Keh. I was wonderin' when the coward leader of this hoard would show its face," he taunts, hands clenching the hilt of Tessaiga tightly before leaping in for an attack.
The oni howls; the hoard behind it barrels in.
"Don't do anything stupid he says. That baka," Kagome curses under her breath, the frustrated mocking of his half-brother's earlier warning an emphasis to the subtle click of her nocked an arrow.
Sesshōmaru hears her take a step closer to him, then another. When he feels the captivating hum of her touch as her back presses against his—even through layers of clothing—honey gold orbs glance back at her over his shoulder, his hikari no muchi faltering momentarily.
"What are you doing, Miko?"
"My reiki is still a mess, so I can't use it to sense where you are and use my arrows at the same time," she explains, taking aim, beckoning a twist of her reiki in cool blue hues before letting it fly in Inuyasha's defense.
"Besides, you told me to stay close," she continues. There's a tug in his chest that would have stopped him in his tracks if he had sought to move; it is stunning, halting—of movement, of breath—, a retaliation for a power he hadn't quite realized that pull held, and it is almost… playful.
The daiyōkai ignores the urge to step away and has little time to ponder over the sensation as the hoard closes in once again. He feels each of her movements against him: the twist of her body as she surveys the hoard around them, each reach for her quiver, the certainty of the draw of her bow, the way she summons her reiki just before the release of her arrow. His body hums like the plucked strings of a kugo, each movement a pluck of a chord that is not unlike the pleasant whirr of his yōki coursing through him beneath the crescent moon, now quickly making its descent into the horizon.
They fall into an easy synchronicity, and he is surprised by how quickly she learns to fight beside him, by how simple is it to harmonize with her movements, the fluctuations of her power. He turns slightly, a flick of his wrist sending his light whip out in defense of the houshi, taijiya, and neko who have settled into their own rhythm of attack. As he does, the miko twists around him, arching around him at the hinge of her hip. She lets an arrow fly into the mass of yōkai before him that he has neglected in his pursuit to aid their companions, cool blue hues of her reiki striking out from the shaft like fine bolts of lightning, devouring.
"I'm almost out of arrows," she says, a strain in her voice. Her reiki reserves—limited as they were when this battle began—are faltering. Her body straightens against him slowly; she lets her head fall back to lean against him.
"But I have an idea; I'm going to need your help."
Golden orbs turn back over his shoulder, meet her blue as she tilts her head to look up at him—there is a vulnerability there, an openness in her gaze that she has offered him once before as she declared her certainty in a budding trust between them when he had put his claws to her throat beside the Hone Kui no Ido. He nods his consent before she has the opportunity to say a word of her plan, setting aside his own surprise at how quickly he is compelled to agree with just a glance.
Inuyasha digs Tessaiga into the dirt as he is thrust back by the oni once more, skidding to a stop. He has little time to catch his breath before he's leaping away from what is left of the hoard as some strike out once he is out of the ogre's reach.
"Damn," he half growls, half pants as he dodges another oncoming blow from a nearby yōkai that disappears in a burst of flame as one of Mikoru's ofuda latches on. The taijiya and houshi are back in the air with Kirara; a good sign for them.
He spares a glance in the direction of his half-brother and Kagome as he strikes down two demons that close in and is surprised by what he sees; the duo fighting closely together, back pressed to back, when the miko pauses, straightens, allows her head to fall back against Sesshomaru's body.
Something hot coils in the back of his throat, the pit of his stomach. It bursts from behind his teeth in a growl as he charges the oni once more. He unleashes his rage on the yōkai between him and the ogre, and is confused when, moments later, the oni howls and spins in another direction.
Amber orbs follow its progress and find Kagome immediately. She's running directly at it, bow clutched in one hand, no arrow to be seen. Sesshomaru remains behind where she has left him, hikari no muchi reaching out to strike at the yōkai closing in on her, clearing her path.
"What the hell?! Kagome! Don't be stupid!" Inuyasha yells, leaping out of the way of another demon's attack.
She either doesn't hear him or ignores him; she keeps running. The growl that escapes his lips then is one of frustration, desperation. He starts running, cutting down yōkai that bar his way.
The oni swings its club-like weapon as she closes in and she dodges by dropping onto one hip and sliding beneath it and right between the ogre's legs.
The size of the orge makes it slow, but its beady red eyes follow her decent, body twisting as it seeks the lure of the Shikon no Kakera around her neck. She doesn't get back up, her hands move across the ground as if she's lost something.
The oni lifts its weapon over its head, prepared to strike. Dread sinks in as Inuyasha recognizes he isn't going to make it in time. He feels the Shikon no Kakera pulse with the oni's deadly intent; knows she must feel it too. His breath hitches as he yells, "KAGOME!"
She looks up, bow with a nocked arrow at the ready. In that moment, the sun crests over the horizon of the trees and Inuyasha loses sight of her, blinded by the light.
There's another pulse from the Sacred Jewel shards; this one he knows is the miko, the air is singed with the scent of purity.
Her voice joins his in a chorus, but she is not calling out to him. "Now!"
Sesshomaru is there in a flash, Bakusaiga drawn, severing the offending weapon, arm frozen mid strike by the light of dawn, and the oni's head in a single strike, before he reappears behind Kagome as she lets the arrow she has pulled from the earth loose with a flurry of muddled blue and pink hues. It strikes the shards imbedded in what is left of the oni's neck, purifying them and the orge instantly. A strike from Bakusaiga takes out the yōkai that remain behind it in a single blow.
Even before his eyes fully adjust to the light now flooding the bloodied clearing, the hanyō knows the battle is over.
The next breath is one mixed with fatigue and calm as his grip on Tessaiga loosens. He hears Sango, Miroku, and Kirara land nearby, then the distinct clink of the shard dropping into the jar Kagome keeps around her neck and his eyes finally focus in on her. Relief settles in as he realizes she's okay, and he waits for her to seek out his gaze.
They turn up instead to meet the diayōkai's golden eyes, a wide smile tugging at the corners of her lips, full of warmth and bright as the sun.
"I hope that was worth the sacrifice of such a large shard of the Shikon no Tama, Tsukiko-sama?"
There is venom in Naraku's voice that contradicts the almost amused smirk on his lips as he looks up from the fading reflection in Kana's mirror. The woman standing beside him stares with into the mirror long after the image of the battle has faded; it takes several moments for her to glace up at him with vibrant violet eyes through the long teal strands of hair falling into her face.
"We learned exactly what I had hoped," she replied, voice quiet.
"And that is?"
The kuro miko turns away from him, walking toward the window in the small shiro they had overcome the day prior. She pulls the curtain aside, looks out in the early light of the morning before responding. "That the miko is responsive to the pull of the Shikon no Tama… meaning, she is vulnerable."
"Hm…" Naraku hums a response and leans back in his chair. "Then… the purpose of your next test is?"
"To learn who's susceptible to her."
A/N: While I've had this in the works for months, this drawing by istehlurvz inspired me to keep writing this chapter. So, thank you istehlurvz for your incredible artwork and thank you to everyone who has stayed with me and kept reading!
Speaking of inspiration, and because music constantly inspires me to return to these stories and my writing, I thought I'd share a little "playlist" that fueled this chapter as well: "Heartlines" by Florence + The Machine; "Steady Now" by nilu; "Chasing All the Stars" by Fleurie; "Start of Time" by Gabrielle Aplin; "Protector" by City Wolf; "Movement" by Hozier; "Your Ghost" by Marians Trench; "Lose Control" by Teddy Sims; "Heartbeat" by The Fray
Vocabluary: yōkai – demon; yōki – demonic aura; miko – priestess; reiki – spiritual power; hanyō – half demon; daiyōkai – demon lord; inuyōkai – dog demon; inu-tachi – dog pack; ningen – human(s); onna – woman; neko – cat; nekomata – two tailed cat; taijiya – demon slayer; hōshi – monk; hiraikotsu – Sango's boomerang; shakujō – Miroku's staff; kitsune – fox; Kaze no Kizu – Wind Scar; Shikon no Kakera – Sacred Jewel Shards; dokkasō – Sesshōmaru's poison claws; Nintōjō – Jaken's two-headed 'Human Head Staff'; ofuda – sutra; Hinezumi Robe – Fire Rat Robe; kazāna – Miroku's wind tunnel; oni – ogre-like demon creature with horns; jyaki – evil, demonic aura; Hama no Ya – sacred, purifying arrow; kitsune-bi – fox fire; kuro miko – dark priestess; kugo – an ancient harp; hikari no muchi – whip of light; Hone Kui no Ido – Bone Eater's Well