Author's Corner
Hiya folks. I realised during a rewatch of the series that Rin has been using the wrong honorific for Kagome. The previous chapters have been re-edited to fix this, and Rin will now address Kagome with the suffix -sama instead of -onee. Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks as always for the kind words victoriarogue! Your insane word counts must be rubbing off on me because this is the longest chapter I've written to date. A huge thank you to all the people who have followed/favourited recently, too. I hope you all enjoy this next part! I apologise in advance for what happens in it...
Trigger warning: violence and death.
EIGHTH BLOOD
Chapter 109: Mercy
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With Sesshoumaru's blessing, Cyril left to find Rin whilst Octavia stayed behind to tidy up the enormous mess she'd made. Fortunately, she was something of a serial organiser, so it was less of a punishment and more of an exercise in cataloguing. Unlike the last time she had ransacked this room on her brother's behalf, her hunt had been neat and methodical. The absence of a time limit enabled her to sort as she searched, and sort she had. Every paper, scroll and object had been assigned to a specific pile—each of which was arranged around the room accordingly.
"How did you know this would be here?" Sesshoumaru asked, holding up the piece of parchment with the plans for the Tessaiga on it.
"I saw it when I was looking for the Prophecy-Breaker," she answered.
"Why did you not show it to me before?"
"I didn't think you'd be interested."
He scoffed. "There was a time when I would have killed to have that which I currently hold in my hand. Do you know how many years I wasted searching for information about the sword and my father's tomb? All I had to go on was a riddle. With this, I might have found its location much sooner."
"Maybe. But so what? You still wouldn't have been able to even touch the sword, never mind use it." Eager to steer the subject away from the Tessaiga, she scooped up a stack of papers and grinned. "These are my favourites."
Sesshoumaru came to stand beside her and peered down at the pages she was holding. The first was an ink painting of Mount Fuji, followed by a collection of various other beautiful landscapes.
"Your mother's, I believe," Octavia said as she flipped through them. "Or at least, I hope so."
Sesshoumaru's eyes widened as she showed him an immensely detailed painting of his father without any clothes on. She laughed when he averted his gaze and cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"I know, right? No wonder princesses were throwing themselves at him left and right. He was hung like a damned horse." She elbowed him in the arm. "It must run in the family."
"Disgusting," he hissed. "I shall never be able to look my mother in the eye again."
She laughed harder. "Don't be such a prude. Besides, I think she really captured his essence."
He grimaced.
For his sake, she moved the painting to the middle of the pile, then squirrelled it away in one of the desk's many deep drawers. "Sorry for subjecting you to that. I was just trying to cheer you up." She deliberately kept her back to him as she pushed the drawer shut. "You haven't been yourself these past few days. I could be way off the mark here, but is everything okay?"
He didn't respond right away. When she turned around, she saw him slumped in the large armchair with his eyes closed and two fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. Octavia stiffened. She had never seen him look so gaunt and weary. It frightened her.
"A fellow warlord is dead," he eventually replied. "The Eastern Stronghold lies in ruins, thousands of Susumu's subjects are either missing or deceased, and I have willingly placed both my mother and Nagisa in great peril. So, to answer your question – no, everything is not all right."
Octavia bit the inside of her cheek. "It wasn't your fault, you know."
"Wasn't it?"
"Of course not! There wasn't anything you could have done."
"I should have killed your wretched brother when I had the chance—"
"Stop it," she chastised sharply. "We would never have gotten away if we'd tried to fight him. If we hadn't jumped into the schism when we did, the gate would have collapsed and we would have been stuck there. You did what you had to do, Sesshoumaru."
"And now I have to live with the consequences of those choices. Susumu's blood is on my hands. His family's, too. I alone am to blame for what happened to them."
Octavia marched over to where he was sitting and trapped his face between her hands. She opened her mouth to give him a proper earful, but the grief in his eyes doused the flames in her chest, reducing them to burnt cinders.
Sighing, her thumbs traced the striped markings on his cheeks as she whispered, "I think you and I both need to stop blaming ourselves for things we can't control. Neither of us made my brother do what he did. If we're going to blame someone, it should be him, not us. As for your mother and Nagisa . . . They'll be fine. I know they will. They're both powerful demonesses who are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, so have a little faith in them, won't you?"
"I am not some soft-hearted fool in need of constant reassurance," he reprimanded, although there wasn't a shred of cruelty in his tone. "I do not want your comfort, Octavia, nor do I need it. So spare yourself the trouble, and save it for someone who actually deserves it."
I don't deserve your kindness. Or anyone else's, for that matter.
Smiling, she shook her head and said, "You're not the boss of me. You never were. And you never will be. I'll do whatever the hell I want, and nothing you say or do is gonna stop me."
His mouth remained a straight line, but his gold eyes shone with what she had come to recognise as affection. "Insufferable woman."
"Stubborn dog."
He chuckled.
Closing her eyes, she lowered her head and planted a soft kiss on his brow. "Maybe I should take a leaf out of your mother's book and draw you in the nude," she joked. "I never could get your eyes right, but who cares about those when you're sketching someone's junk—"
"Remind me of that deplorable painting one more time and you'll be putting this room back together by yourself," he warned.
She giggled against his widow's peak. "Sorry. Couldn't resist. It's your father's fault for having such a massive—"
He yanked her into his lap and dragged his fangs down the slope of her neck. "You're going to regret that," he rasped, using his free hand to untie her hakama fastenings. She was still laughing when he plunged his fingers into her core without warning, filling her with joyous heat.
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Asuka ripped her knife out of the corpse's head and wiped the blade clean with her sleeve. The southern lord's soldiers had put up a good fight, but they were no match for their superior weapons and technological advantages.
Footsteps pounded the ground behind her, followed closely by the metallic sound of a sword being freed from its sheath. Hand closing around the handle of her whip, Asuka spun to face her attacker. The demon roared and raised the blade above his head, spraying droplets of blood onto a nearby shoji screen. Asuka leapt out of the way before the sword could kiss her throat and cracked her whip, but the demon ignored her warning to stay back and swung at her again.
Her whip coiled around his blade, locking it in place as she aimed her knife at his chest. The fight was over. She had won. The knowledge sent a rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins.
Blood suddenly exploded from his stomach and he fell to his knees, dropping his crimson-stained sword in the process. Asuka watched him press a hand to the wound and grit his teeth together in order to muffle his pained cry.
Mei-Hua was standing on the other side of the room with her gun aimed at the demon's back. The barrel was still smoking from her previous shot. When the demon tried to stand, she fired a second bullet through his chest. Scowling, Asuka darted forwards before Mei-Hua decided to pull the trigger a third time and slashed the demon's throat with her knife. He choked on a mouthful of his own blood before falling face-first onto the cracked floorboards. The wood beneath him changed from brown to dark red as his blood seeped into the castle's foundations.
"You're not supposed to shoot them," Asuka chided, tossing the little girl a fierce glare. "We haven't figured out how to turn Shikonstone into bullets yet." She waved the knife around condescendingly. "That's why we have these, remember? The Commander was very specific—"
"Relax, Captain. I saved your life. You're welcome, by the way."
Asuka's temper flared. "You forget yourself, soldier. And you didn't, actually. I was seconds away from stabbing that foul beast in the heart."
Mei-Hua's eyes narrowed menacingly. For a girl of her size and stature, it really shouldn't have been so intimidating, but Asuka knew what she was capable of. "Watch yourself, Captain. The nest isn't empty yet. Don't let your guard down until we've flushed the place clean."
"I wasn't planning on it."
They parted ways at the bottom of a steep wall of stairs. Mei-Hua remained on the ground floor to root out any remaining survivors whilst Asuka began to climb.
The clashing of swords made her flinch into a crouch. She followed the sound to what she assumed had been a dining room, judging by the long rectangular table and rows of cushions on either side. She arrived just in time to see a boy no older than fourteen being decapitated by a demon. His head struck the wall behind where she was standing and left a dark red smear on the mural that was hanging there. Asuka held her breath as the head eventually rolled to a standstill atop the cushions, leaking blood all over the brightly coloured fabric.
The demon locked eyes with her and issued a warning growl. Asuka instantly recognised him as one of the princes. He had his father's fluorescent pink eyes, sun-kissed skin, and oil-black hair which he wore in a tightly woven braid. The network of black and white stripes covering his arms and neck screamed danger, as did his teeth and claws.
"Your father sired four sons," Asuka stated. "Which one are you?"
"I am Prince Toshiyuki of the Southern Lands," he answered coldly. "And you are an intruder in my home."
"A home that was stolen from us by your ancestors, you mean," she countered. "Your people are murderers. It's time you found out how it feels to be the hunted for a change."
He spat at her feet. "You know nothing of my people. Nothing at all. The only murderer here is you—"
Asuka lashed her whip, but the prince leapt out of its way effortlessly, making her crane her head to follow his jump. He landed on top of the oblong-shaped table and pointed his katana at her.
"Turn around and go back the way you came," he said. "If you do, I might just let you live."
"I have a better idea," she retorted. "Lay down your weapon and I'll make your death as quick and as painless as possible. What do you say, prince of beasts?"
He answered by swiping at her with his claws.
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It was over faster than she'd expected.
The prince had been a worthy opponent, but in the end, she had been the one to emerge victorious. He had been so focused on her whip that he'd failed to detect the knife sticking out of her clenched fist until it was buried between his ribs. He grunted in surprise as blood flowed down his side, staining his haori a deep red.
Asuka didn't wait for him to retaliate. She tore the knife free and thrust it into the side of his neck, puncturing his carotid artery and causing it to spurt blood like a drinking fountain. His eyes widened in bewilderment, before turning dull and lustreless. She barely registered the sound of his katana clattering to the floor as the Shikonstone extinguished his youki, leaving nothing but an empty husk. Moments later and he was falling too, hitting the ground with a loud thud that reverberated through the blood-soaked floorboards.
Neither she nor the prince moved for what felt like hours, but was probably no more than a few minutes. If anyone saw them like this, they might have mistaken them for statues or ice sculptures. The only difference between the two of them was that he was dead, and would never move again—not in this life or in the next.
"I told you I'd make it quick," she spat. "It wouldn't have hurt so much if you'd put down your sword like I asked you to, but no matter. It's all over now. Goodbye. And good riddance."
Striding over his corpse, Asuka slid her knife back into its sheath without bothering to wipe it clean. She advanced towards the sliding door at the opposite end of the room slowly, pulse racing as she pushed it open just enough to peer through the gap. She couldn't afford to be hasty. After all, Toshiyuki was one of four siblings fathered by the southern lord. She recalled seeing the eldest prince on the frontlines with his sire, but the other two could be anywhere. According to her sources, the younger siblings were just as dangerous as their older brothers. She needed to find and eliminate them before they discovered what she'd done to Toshiyuki and tried to kill her, too.
Swallowing, Asuka slid the door open a tad wider and stepped over the threshold cautiously. The room beyond the shoji screen was dark and cold, but she knew right away that something was wrong. The hairs on the back of her neck bristled in anticipation, and a chill scurried up her spine like a cluster of spiders.
She wasn't alone.
"I know you're there," she called out to whoever, or whatever, was hiding in the gloom. "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be. Come out and we'll settle things once and for all."
She was met with silence.
Her fingers tightened around the handle of her whip. "Last chance. If you don't come out within the next few seconds, I will find you, and when I do, I will show you no mercy."
After being ignored yet again, Asuka unsheathed her knife and crept deeper into the room. Cupping her ear, she tuned out her own frantic heartbeat and listened to her surroundings instead. She could hear the distant booming of war drums and the screams of the dying echoing from outside, but inside it was silent.
Well, almost silent.
She followed the unmistakable sound of breathing to a table on the far side of the room. The cloth covering swayed slightly, and a faint shuffling could be heard coming from underneath. Dropping to a crouch, Asuka stalked closer, then used the tip of her knife to slowly lift the cloth, revealing the source of the strange noises . . .
Her heart stopped. It wasn't a monster hiding under the table.
It was a child.
He was sitting with his knees pulled into his chest and his back tightly pressed against the wall, as if he were hoping to pass through it like a ghost. He was so small. And vulnerable. If it weren't for his sharp claws and pointed ears, Asuka might have mistaken him for a human.
She stared at the child in disbelief, unsure if what she was seeing was real or not. Until the realisation hit her like a sack full of bricks. The resemblance wasn't as obvious as it had been with Toshiyuki, but the pink eyes and braided hair could only mean one thing.
Asuka felt sick to her stomach. She withdrew her knife and let the cloth fall, concealing the young prince's trembling form. He's just a boy, she thought miserably, swallowing the bile in her throat.
Why hadn't anyone told her?
"Captain?" Mei-Hua's voice attacked her eardrums all the way from the other room. "The Commander is looking for you. Hello? Where are you?"
A wave of panic crashed through Asuka's chest like a tsunami. Her eyes flitted between the partially open shoji screen and the swaying tablecloth anxiously. What was she supposed to do now? The correct answer would be to drag the young prince out from under the table and pierce his throat as she had his brother's, but she was too much of a coward to go through with it.
The alternative was no better. Mei-Hua would know straight away that there was someone hiding under the table. She wouldn't care that he was just a child, because why would she? She was still a child herself, and what was mercy to a girl who had only ever known violence and fear?
"Captain? Can you hear me? What's going on?"
Exhaling through her nose, Asuka marched towards the shoji screen and came face-to-face with the barrel of a gun. She quickly raised a hand in surrender.
Mei-Hua blinked slowly before lowering her weapon and scowling. "What the hell?" she snapped. "You scared me. Why weren't you answering?"
"I was making sure there wasn't anything lurking back here," replied Asuka. "It's a good thing there wasn't, or I would have been dead meat the second that you opened your mouth."
The girl at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "Sorry. At least you'd already killed this one by the time I arrived." Her dark eyes flicked to Prince Toshiyuki's corpse, then back to Asuka. "I wasn't lying before. The Commander is looking for you. He sent me to find you."
"Why?"
Mei-Hua shrugged. "Beats me. I wouldn't keep him waiting, though. He isn't exactly known for his patience."
"No one enjoys waiting," Asuka said with a shrug. Especially those who had spent decades trapped underground, longing for the day they might finally be free. If she had been imprisoned in a dark cellar by a crazy immortal lady and her family, she'd be pretty impatient, too.
The first vessel defied her grandmother's wishes by deciding to help the Radiant One, Asuka remembered suddenly. Her mercy is the reason we're all here today. Even if no one else understands why I did what I did, surely she will?
She has to.
Asuka pulled the sliding door closed behind her and followed Mei-Hua out the way they came. All the while, she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from confessing to her crime. The young prince was alive because of her weak and naive heart. It was unlikely that he would make it out of the stronghold alive, but what difference did it make? She had broken every code she'd ever lived by, and for what? One less sin to carry? A means to ease the guilt she felt over all the other children she had failed to protect?
She really was a fool.
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Kohaku winced as the crystal inundating his arm shifted under the influence of Cyril's magic. It was imperative that he stayed completely still throughout the procedure to prevent the crystal from burrowing deeper into his skin as opposed to being lifted away by the 'transform' mark.
The Shikonstone had now fully fused to his flesh and was refusing to yield, despite Cyril's attempts to force its hand. It was still unclear if it could be extracted entirely by magic, or if they would require the assistance of a doctor in order to remove the afflicted layers of skin via surgery.
Rin watched silently from a wooden bench on the other side of the room, gripping her knees and worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. She wished there was something she could do to help, but alas, her powers were useless in that regard. Perhaps if she concentrated hard enough, it might trigger a vision that would reveal the answer to their current dilemma.
"Rin-chan?"
She lifted her head and met Kagome's warm yet worried gaze. How long had she been standing there? She hadn't even heard her come in.
"I thought I might find you here," Kagome said as she took a seat on the bench. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm feeling a lot better now," Rin lied. "Kohaku, on the other hand . . ."
The miko's eyes softened. She reached out to touch Rin's hand and whispered, "It's not your fault. I saw what happened. You didn't mean to. It was an accident."
"And? He might lose his arm because of me."
"He won't."
"You don't know that," Rin muttered under her breath. "He's lucky I didn't kill him."
Kagome stared at Kohaku's crystallised arm with narrowed eyes. "Any theories as to what might have caused it? Octavia-chan definitely thought of something, but she ran off before I could ask her about it. I haven't seen her since."
Rin's throat felt incredibly tight all of a sudden.
Cyril caught her eye from across the room, confirming her suspicion that he had been listening to their conversation all along. The look served not as a warning, but as a reminder of their discussion earlier. As much as she wanted to, Rin knew she couldn't tell Kagome the truth about her visions. Not if she wanted to risk putting hers and their friends' lives in danger.
"Can I ask you something?"
Kagome nodded. "Sure. What is it?"
Rin fisted the fabric of her kimono tightly. "Have you ever had a secret so big that you couldn't tell anyone? Not even the people you cared about the most?"
Kagome surprised her by laughing. "Sorry. It's just . . . As a teenager, I spent most of my time travelling through the well to fight demons," she said in answer to the confused look Rin gave her. "The only people who knew the truth on the other side of the well were my mom, my brother, and my grandpa. I couldn't tell my friends the real reason I was off school so much. It was too dangerous. They would never have believed me, anyway." Deep furrows appeared on her brow. "Why do you ask?"
Rin swallowed. "Before you started time travelling, did you know about your purification powers? Or were they a surprise, too?"
"Grandpa always wanted me to train as a miko so that I could eventually manage the shrine in his place, but nothing magical ever happened to me until the day Mistress Centipede dragged me into the well. I used to think the Shikon no Tama was just a story that my grandpa made up to sell overpriced charms to tourists. I had no idea that I was Kikyo's reincarnation, or that I was carrying the genuine article inside my body the whole time."
Rin averted her eyes. There is starlight in your veins, little one, Cyril had told her. Not a lot, but enough to make you one of us.
She had always wanted to be special like Lord Sesshoumaru and the others were, but not like this. She didn't want to have to hide who she was to avoid being hunted down by their enemies. Wasn't power supposed to set you free? And if so, why did she feel more trapped than ever before?
Kagome's frown deepened. "Are you sure you're okay, Rin-chan? If something's bothering you, you can talk to me about it."
Rin smiled. "Stop worrying about me so much, Kagome-sama. I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind right now."
Kagome nodded empathetically. "Okay. But if you ever need anything—"
"I know. If I feel like talking it out with someone, I'll come and find you. I promise."
That seemed to appease her because she returned the smile and gave Rin's hand an affectionate squeeze. "I'll be waiting."
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Asuka followed Mei-Hua to the heart of the Southern Stronghold. Her head throbbed painfully as she walked, and her palms felt slick with sweat. In spite of her best efforts, she couldn't stop thinking about the young prince. What would become of him now? The castle was surrounded. He would need a miracle in order to make it out alive, and miracles were reserved only for humans. The kindest cause of action would have been to put him out of his misery so that he wouldn't suffer, but kindness was a luxury that the Church could no longer afford.
"We're here," Mei-Hua said, gesturing to a large set of doors with the southern lord's crest carved into them. "Be careful, Captain. They say that Daiyoukai can read your thoughts. That's how they're always one step ahead of their opponents. Unfair, no?"
Asuka had heard that claim before, but she doubted its legitimacy. If Daiyoukai were mind-readers, how had she managed to kill so many of them without repercussion? With that logic, Toshiyuki would have foreseen the killing blow and avoided it. But he hadn't. He had lost and she had won, only she didn't feel like a winner this time. The more she thought about what had happened, the more she was filled with a sense of . . . wrongness.
What was the matter with her?
"Are you okay, Captain?" Mei-Hua asked with genuine concern in her voice. "You look like you're going to be sick."
Asuka glared at her. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure—"
"Say another word and I'll have you demoted within the hour," she hissed. "Do you really want to go back to folding clothes and counting livestock? Or maybe I'll have you sent back to that rundown old whorehouse with a note requesting a full refund?"
That shut her up. Asuka felt a pinch of guilt when she saw the angry tears welling up in Mei-Hua's eyes. She hadn't meant to be so harsh, but she hadn't gotten to where she was by being nice.
With her heart in her throat, she pushed open one of the heavy doors and slipped through the gap. The room on the other side was of a grandiose design, and although it looked partially destroyed, it was clear that this had once been the shining jewel of the Southern Stronghold.
Asuka walked towards the centre of the hall with her eyes fixed on the back of the Commander's head. A demoness lay dead at his feet—her many-layered kimono absorbing the blood seeping out of a long, horizontal cut in her throat. The stench was overpowering. Asuka could feel her nostrils burning as she tiptoed around the blood, not wishing to slip on it.
"Look at him," Augustus said quietly, prompting her to lift her head and follow his gaze to the dais across from where they were standing.
Clenching her jaw, Asuka locked eyes with the southern lord, who was standing completely still atop the raised platform. The faint purple glow around his body confirmed that it wasn't a natural stillness. His hands were slack by his sides, and his expression was eerily vacant. For a moment, Asuka thought she saw tear tracks on his cheeks, but that wasn't possible. Demons didn't have emotions. It was what set them apart from humans—the ability to feel and love and hate.
"What's wrong with him?" she whispered. "Why does he look so . . ."
"He's given up," replied Augustus. "A pity, really. You should have seen him half an hour ago. If I'd known he would react like this, I would have saved the wife for afterwards."
Asuka's eyes strayed down from her master's scarred face to Lady Konami's lifeless corpse. I killed your son, she thought bleakly, meeting the demoness's empty stare. I killed one and condemned another to an even worse fate. I should have killed him, too. I wish I had. I wish—
Her train of thought was derailed by the Commander's hand closing over her fist. Her pulse accelerated as he eased open her fingers and placed his sword in her hand. Its Shikonstone blade sparkled in the fading sunlight, disquieting her thoughts and filling her with unease.
"He's all yours," Augustus said huskily, melting her insides and making her shiver. He was so close that she could feel his hot breath wafting onto the shell of her ear. "I promised, didn't I?"
When she didn't move, he used his free hand to slowly tilt her face towards his. Her doubts shattered under the intense weight of his gaze and fell around them like a shower of broken glass. For one fleeting moment, she thought he might kiss her, but he didn't. And he never would.
As he released her chin, she found herself thinking about what the Dressmaker had said whilst they sailed down the Fuji River. Angels don't damn themselves for mortals. She was right, of course. As much as Asuka had loathed the creepy woman, she'd accepted that he was out of her reach years ago. After all, he was a miracle made flesh, whereas she was no one.
It still hurts, she thought, resisting the urge to lay a hand over her thundering heart. The pain was unlike anything she had ever felt. Not even time could heal it, and time healed almost everything.
"I'm not worthy," she breathed helplessly, wishing that they were back at the kasbah. What was the point of remaking this world when there were billions of others just waiting to be claimed by them? What was stopping them from turning their backs on this one and travelling through the schism without ever looking back? What was so special about this world, anyway?
She felt a stab of envy pierce her chest when she realised that the answer to that particular question wasn't a what, but rather a who.
Even after everything Octavia had done, he still loved her. She had betrayed him in every possible way, but there was no denying that he longed to see her again. Despite her sins, he simply couldn't bring himself to forget about her. Asuka couldn't tell if it was due to them being siblings or because the piece of Erem inside of him yearned to be whole again.
"You are if I say so," Augustus countered. "Now, do it. The Radiant One commands you."
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Asuka gripped the sword's handle a little tighter and marched towards the dais. The southern lord didn't react as she climbed the steps and stood before him with a feverish gleam in her eyes. She tried to envision the demon that had stolen her innocence standing in his place, but all she could see was a terrified boy hiding under a table.
Recoiling at the memory, Asuka thrust the blade into his chest all the way to the hilt. The image of the young prince blew away like smoke the instant that the southern lord's blood soaked her hands and dripped onto the floor in thick droplets. Trembling, Asuka watched as the tiny flickers of light in Taiki's eyes faded away, like fireflies fleeing from the rising dawn.
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