InuYasha Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Through your Heart ❯ Some truths are hard to tell ( Chapter 17 )

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Through your Heart

Chapter 17: Some truths are hard to tell

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Usagi had finished bathing and was now walking back to the campsite, looking at her entourage. It was about 4 o'clock, she concluded, because although the sun was still shining brightly the air was starting to get a little bit chilly. Or was it because she was still wet from her bath in the spring?

She shivered a little and adjusted her braid more tightly, water dripping down her back a little, making her yelp because it was cold. The blonde walked a little faster when her eagerness to see Sesshoumaru again resurfaced. It was still a little weird for her to be "dating" a demon, she who lived to destroy them in the first place. She never did forget about Mamoru, but Sesshoumaru evoked things in her she never thought she could feel.

She was almost there when a crowd of youkai caught her attention. They were forming a big circle around something and cheering loudly, forgetting what was going on around them. Usagi, being the curious little rabbit that she is, walked to them and tried to take a peek, yet she was too small to look over the crowd.

As she tried to take a closer look, a cat youkai glanced at her and his eyes widened slightly, recognizing her from earlier and he parted to make place for her to pass. She gazed at the youkai who looked uncomfortable and she understood he didn't want to face the Lord of the West's wrath.

Usagi put a hand briefly on his shoulder to keep him from backing away and flashed him a smile, making him relax and nod to her with a tentative smile of his own. Others parted as she walked towards the center until she arrived at the edge of the crowd and then, seeing as she wasn't going to order them around, closed in and started cheering again at the 2 fighting youkai in the middle.

'They're probably training or playing. They're not as ferocious as they should be.' She thought and cheered also when one landed a good hit. He looked like a dog youkai, not as majestic as Sesshoumaru but seeing his decorated armor he was surely a high general or something along those lines.

The other fighter, younger and less experienced looking, was probably a water demon because his attacks were fluid and he seemed to be able to control water to a certain extent. 'But still, it doesn't compare to Mercury or Neptune…' Her eyes lost their sparkle for a minute but when the Inu youkai pinned the water youkai down, she whooped as loudly as everyone else. How could she not? He was good and preferred to help his opponent get up rather than boast about his victory.

…………..

Katsura gazed at the youkai who were cheering him on and his ear twitched when, in all the commotion, he heard the distinctive voice of a woman. He glanced at her and his eyes widened slightly. 'That's…' He looked surprised for a moment but quickly covered it, motioning to her to approach him if she wanted.

Usagi thought it over and shrugged with a smile, walking up to him.

"Hello there young Lady! I never thought a woman such as yourself would willingly want to see a fight! My name is Katsura and I am an Inu demon." The Inu youkai bowed with a grin and Usagi giggled.

"I'm Usagi. And I've seen more dangerous battles than this. I fight myself and I must admit you're pretty good!"

Katsura blinked. "You fight? Sorry to say this but you look too fragile to be a warrior."

Usagi narrowed her eyes. 'Is he insulting me?!' "Is that so? Why don't we have a go so I prove to you that I know what I'm talking about? I would love to measure myself to you, and it would be a good practice for the war!" She blurted out, and Katsura had to admit the woman had some guts.

"I do not think we should. I do not wish to have Lord Sesshoumaru's wrath brought upon me."

Usagi shook her head and pressed the matter. "Sesshoumaru doesn't have a say in this. I'm the one who wants to fight, not him!"

Katsura finally relented, ready for another challenge. He would go easy on her anyway. But he had to get the idea of fighting out of her head first, so he walked cockily to the weapon table and retrieved 2 swords. He threw one to her and it landed, blade first, into the ground in front of her.

She eyes the thick soldier's sword guardedly, knowing Katsura's intention from the start. The other soldiers started to cheer again and some snickered when she took the sword a little clumsily.

"The thing too heavy for ya?" Katsura taunted good-naturedly. She shot him a glare and ignored as he started to manipulate his sword expertly.

Usagi, on her side, tried to get used to her weapon. She had previously used the sword of Artemis so she knew how to handle such a thing. AND the sword of Artemis clearly weighted heavier than this, but Katsura's swords were longer. She moved her arms a little, noticing the difference with her own Senshi sword.

"So, are you ready to forfeit now?" Katsura asked with a smirk, but it got wiped off his face when Usagi turned to him, sword at the ready and in a battle stance. The intensity in her eyes made Katsura doubt that she was just an ordinary human and this thought made him feel queasy. 'That's rare. I never thought that anyone else than lord Sesshoumaru could have those eyes…'

Katsura didn't dare boast again to taunt her and readied himself. They stood like this for what seemed like an eternity and the crowd suddenly stopped cheering, watching with rapt eyes what was going to happen.

Faster than what the human eyes can see, Katsura disappeared and reappeared in front of her, striking his sword down at the same time. He was thinking about stopping just an inch away from her nose when a clanging sound baffled everyone. She had countered his attack! And so easily, she was smirking back at him.

He jumped out of her striking range just in time as she swung her sword at him. "So, you're not as weak as you make people believe!" Katsura said with a cheeky grin. He was up to the challenge.

Usagi grinned back and leaned the sword on her shoulder. "I'll let you in on a little secret of mine; I have other specialties than hand-to-hand combat but I seldom use them."

This caught Katsura's attention but as he was about to ask her about it, she went back to her previous position, her eyes regaining their seriousness. He had no choice but to dodge as she took the initiative to attack him.

She was fast! 'Too fast for a human.' He thought suspiciously and started to counter-attack. Usagi blocked every strike with one of her own and the swords clattered with a loud 'CLANG!'

Katsura was well into the fight when his senses alerted him. Something was wrong! The crowd had suddenly stopped moving altogether and he almost dreaded to look behind him. He wished he didn't, though, when he spotted a rather angry looking Lord of the West. The other Lords and their friends were behind him and winced for Katsura.

The frozen Inu youkai quickly dropped his sword as if it had burned him and he jumped away from the blonde, who gave a confused look, but a happy one when she saw the Western Lord. "Sesshoumaru!" She recoiled a little when he didn't answer and growled at Katsura after giving her a look-over to check if she was okay.

"I thought I told everyone to stay away from her, and here you are fighting her. I would've expected something better from my highest ranked general, Katsura." Sesshoumaru said coldly and emotionlessly. He was back in Ice Prince Mode and the general bowed low to show his utter submission.

"Please forgive me, My Lord. It will not happen ever again." 'My Lord must really love her to use such a tone against me'.

Usually Katsura and Sesshoumaru were very good friends, but when dealing with a mate, or rather mate-to-be, it was a whole new matter.

"It most certainly will not. No one dares to threaten what is mine."

Katsura's eyes widened and he looked up stiffly as Sesshoumaru looked at him menacingly, getting his whip in the process. He couldn't help but take a step back. Maybe he was the most powerful general of the Western Lands, but Sesshoumaru was stronger than him in every point.

As the Lord was about to throw the whip to beat him, or end his life, his breath caught in his throat when the blonde woman threw her sword aside and ran in front of him in a protective manner.

Sesshoumaru stopped abruptly. "Move. I will kill all who threatens your safety."

Usagi shook her head stubbornly.

Kagome and the rest of the Inu-tachi were beginning to grow restless as Sesshoumaru's eyes started to grow pink.

"He didn't threaten me, Sesshoumaru! I asked him to fight me! It was just to prepare for the war, I swear! Don't kill him!" She tried to reason with him but he would hear none of it.

"That's it. As soon as I get rid of him I will bring you back to my castle. What made you think I would let you fight? I won't ever let my mate go off into battle. You will stay in the safety of my Lands and will wait for my return. This is not a request."

Usagi's mouth opened and closed. She gave him an infuriated look. "Look, I know you wish for my safety but there is no way I made it all this way to stay away from that war! I want to fight too!" As she was rambling to him, Sesshoumaru readied his whip again and launched it towards Katsura, who just stood there frozen on the spot.

Usagi watched as the whip neared the general with great speed and she acted without thinking. "NOOO! Sesshoumaru!" Katsura was so nice! He didn't deserve this kind of fate!

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!!!" She gripped the long glowing chain out of her subspace pocket so fast it was a surprise she didn't strain her wrist. The tip of the Venusian chain intercepted Sesshoumaru's whip by wrapping itself around it and diverted the whip on the side.

She held the chain with a strong grip to forbid Sesshoumaru to use his attack. She strained a little.

Sesshoumaru's eyes cleared and widened as Usagi took a glowing chain seemingly out of thin air and as she countered his attack without any difficulty. But she was in the way of his task and he tugged on his whip.

Usagi didn't let him get his weapon back and channeled some of her energy into the chain to accentuate Venus's power. The chain glowed even brighter and it started to melt Sesshoumaru's whip.

The Inu Lord let go of his weapon and it disappeared before it could melt in his hand. Usagi breathed a sigh of relief and let go of hers when she was sure he was completely under control and it vanished in a flurry of yellow sparkles.

Silence met her.

"I'm sorry if I disobeyed you Sesshoumaru, but you had no right to kill him when it was I who started this. I promised him I would not let you hurt him if you were to show up and I hold onto my promises." She looked guilty but she held her head up high to show she wasn't afraid of being punished.

Sesshoumaru didn't want to be angry at her, even if he didn't want her to fight. Not when she showed such a natural talent for leadership. So he did the first thing that came to his mind to ease his worries; he embraced her and kissed her feverishly, giving proof to all who still had doubts about whom owned her. She responded quite passionately herself and when he let her go, she was trying to hide into his kimono again, her cheeks red as a flame.

"Why do my legs feel all mushy every time you kiss me?" She mumbled mostly to herself, but Sesshoumaru heard it nonetheless and he gave a tiny smirk of approval.

He bent down and whispered in her ear so no one else would hear; "When I'm done with you there won't be a part of you that's not mushy, as you so call it."

Usagi squeaked and shivered. "Stop playing with me!" She swatted him on the shoulder and when she tried to walk to Kagome she found herself incapable of doing so; the Lord's tail was wrapped around her waist pretty tightly. She sighed but Sesshoumaru ignored it.

"From now on I am not letting you out of my sight. And I think you need to explain what happened earlier. No one has ever been able to par one of my attacks before. I have many questions."

The rabbit wanted to crawl under a rock to hide. 'Why did I ever act so carelessly?! Usagi no Baka.' She admonished herself silently, and she closed her eyes when InuYasha took a step towards her.

"A ton of questions indeed. I thought you were human but I've never seen a human use such a weapon, whatever it was."

Usagi snapped at him; "I'm human, InuYasha!"

Kagome quickly walked between them and held her hands up. "We just want to understand what's going on, Usagi-chan! You said you only used hand-to-hand combat and there we see you handling a sword with no difficulty and using an attack that melted Sesshoumaru-sama's whip! Don't you think we deserve at least a little explanation? You're the one who kept secrets, Usagi-chan." Kagome said gently to calm everyone.

Usagi's shoulders slumped in tiredness. "Okay, okay. But can we at least go somewhere more comfortable? I'm exhausted." To prove her point, her knees buckled slightly under her and she would have met the ground if it wasn't for Sesshoumaru's hold.

The Lord took her in his arm, his tail lifting her legs and she pressed her face into his clothes, comforted by the possessive embrace.

Kurama, Ryuu and Kouga dispersed the soldiers and when they entered the tent, Usagi was already seated in soft pillows, her head leaning on Sesshoumaru's tail and she was petting the tip of it absentmindedly, making Kurama and Ryuu's brow shot up in surprise.

Kouga just shrugged it off and seated himself near Ginta and Hakkaku who had joined him.

Kurama gazed at Ryuu and they shared a look with Sesshoumaru right after. The Inu Lord's gaze narrowed, daring them to say a word. Obviously Kouga didn't know, but a youkai's tail was considered an erogenous zone if you petted it gently, which Usagi was doing right now.

The Northern and Southern Lords smirked humouredly when they noticed that Sesshoumaru was holding in a purr of pleasure and they truly enjoyed watching him squirm for a change.

Usagi, oblivious to the Taiyoukai's stares, gazed at everyone around her as they watched her avidly. It unnerved Sesshoumaru and he sat nearer, but his curiosity stopped him from growling.

"Well, I guess I should start by telling you why I left the village where I was living…The villagers were under attack when I finally crossed the woods and I was unable to save them. I got rid of the youkai in the spurt of the moment and I went back to my house to burn it-"

Miroku interrupted swiftly. "Oh! So that was your village?! We were wondering what happened there!"

Usagi nodded guiltily.

"Why did you burn your house down?" Sesshoumaru asked softly. Usagi fidgeted a little until the Inu Lord caressed her hair to let her know he wasn't angry.

"Well, I must admit to Kagome that the shard I gave her once belonged to the youkai I killed. I didn't want his master after me so I erased all traces of my existence and started a journey of my own. I guess I want to fight Naraku to avenge the villagers. I learned from Kagome that Naraku had a spider mark on his back, so that's how I was able to later identify the youkai I defeated. By now you must know that I didn't defeat it with just kicks and punches." The rabbit said, and Sango nodded.

"I was curious about that. I don't know any kind of weapon that can create such a fatal wound." Of course Sango knew about youkai's attack tolerances, she wasn't a Taijiya for nothing!

"You're right, Sango-chan. I'm afraid I've hidden quite a lot of information from you. I also possess several abilities other than hand-to-hand combat but I didn't want people to take advantage of me because of it, so I kept quiet."

Kagome's mind was reeling. "So that's where you took the shard. I wasn't imagining things when I felt it for the first time. So, you used one of your secret weapons against Naraku's detachment?"

Usagi nodded slowly and got her Tiara from her subspace pocket for everyone to see. Shippou jumped up and down while some were awed at the foreign object. "Wow! A magic trick? How did you get that from thin air? It's so shiny! But how can it kill?" The little Kitsune asked energetically.

Sesshoumaru kept quiet and observed the thing in her hand while Ryuu nodded to Shippou's statement. "I must admit, it doesn't look very dangerous. It's just a golden Tiara in my eyes."

Usagi shook her head negatively and put her Tiara in her subspace pocket. "It may look ordinary now, but that's because it's not…how should I say this… 'charged' yet. I destroyed a lot of my own enemies with it." The rabbit said darkly, her eyes misting over.

The others gazed at one another as Usagi looked in some sort of dreamland, and Sesshoumaru had to suppress a growl at the thought that crossed his mind. He put a warm hand on her cheek and she snapped out of it, chuckling weakly. "Sorry, I kinda spaced out. My past is not something I like to dwell on, especially the bad memories."

"You have enemies other than the dirty half-breed." Sesshoumaru said emotionlessly.

InuYasha swallowed a bad retort as he knew Sesshoumaru wasn't talking especially about him but he still pouted, making Kagome pat him on the shoulder in pity.

The question that came out more like a statement than anything else hit Usagi like a ton of bricks and she had to stop herself from wincing. If the questions continued on like this, she would have to tell them about her true past and true identity, something she wasn't ready to do in front of so many people. "Yes Sesshoumaru. But I don't think they'll ever be able to reach me here, don't worry. They were called youma and there was a whole bunch of them too."

Kagome blinked. "Youma? But it's another word for demon isn't it?"

The youkai under the tent stiffened and looked at the rabbit warily and Usagi lifted her arms swiftly. "NO! I mean yes, but not *that* kind of demons. Youma are very different and have a whole new method of killing. They're more in search of energy than anything else and by feeding off of human energy; they will inadvertently kill the human at the same time. They don't have distinctive shapes or types like Sesshoumaru, for example. They're monsters more than anything else."

Shippou looked terrified and he hid in Kagome's hair after her explanation. Kouga was about to ask her something when a beat up soldier burst into the tent, panting like mad. "Lord-Kurama! We were-We were attacked!" He wheezed out, falling on his knees.

This caused a great commotion amongst the Lords and they ran out the tent, all previous ordeals forgotten. Before Sesshoumaru could move Usagi gripped his kimono sleeve, making him turn to her curiously although his stance didn't show it.

"Sesshoumaru, can we talk later? Alone?" The rabbit asked with a low voice, not daring to look up at him.

Sesshoumaru's eyes softened just for her and he lifted her chin up and kissed her with a fiery passion. When Usagi opened her eyes to regain her breath, he was already gone. "I take it was a yes." She deadpanned, and chuckled nervously under Miroku's lecherous and suggestive gaze, earning him a whacking on the back of his head, courtesy of Sango.

"Consider yourself lucky, Houshi! Next time it might be Sesshoumaru-sama who's going to punish you for this!"

Miroku only gulped and put his hands in his sleeve.

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It was now the middle of the night and Usagi had succeeded into getting out of the tent without anyone noticing. She walked calmly until all sounds stopped suddenly and she chuckled quietly. "Still the same tracking technique, I see. You didn't change a lot since the last time you tried to spy on me Sesshoumaru."

Next thing she knew, a soft thump alerted her of the familiar presence behind her and she was backed up into a hard chest by the fluffy white tail she liked to pet so much. The same red-stripped hand turned her head on the side where a mouth collided with hers in a lustful and longing kiss. She encouraged him by moaning softly and the hold tightened.

Sesshoumaru liked her lips hungrily and relaxed his hold. "How have I longed for this all day long. I am getting rather tired of this place. Luckily you are here to brighten my days." The Taiyoukai said huskily in her ear.

Usagi shivered and leaned into him, seeking his warmth. "What happened earlier?" she asked softly, not wanting to destroy the mood.

Sesshoumaru sighed tiredly. "It was Naraku. He discovered our spies." He didn't need to say more than this for Usagi to understand. "What did you want to talk about?"

Usagi stiffened a little and he licked her neck to calm her raging emotions. She de-tangled herself from him, to his great regret, but she looked at him so seriously he only wanted to know what was going on.

"Sesshoumaru, I've hidden much, much more of my past than you, or anybody else, realize. I want…" She seemed to gather her thoughts and he squeezed her hands in his to comfort her. "I want to tell you of my past."

Sesshoumaru's gaze softened. "I do not want you to feel forced. If it is too hard for you to talk about it I can wait for you to be ready. I can wait for an eternity if I have to."

A tear ran on her cheeks and she shook her head negatively, love written in her dark blue eyes. "No. That's exactly why I want to tell you. Sesshoumaru, you believe in me and we're in this together. If we are to spend the rest of our lives together, I want you to know who I am. But you're right on one point; it *is* hard for me tell this. Maybe I could show you instead?"

Sesshoumaru wondered what she meant by showing but he nodded dutifully, thrilled that she showed such a passion for him. He eyed her inquisitively when she closed her eyes and stifled a gasp when a small light formed on her forehead, transforming into a shining golden crescent moon.

He was about to ask her what was going on and why she had a marking that looked like his family's birth mark when they were suddenly engulfed into a glowing ball of light.

When he finally opened his eyes again, he found it hard to stay on his feet as he recalled the memories she showed him. He was speechless, and she was looking at him calmly, tears now falling freely down her cheeks.

Since his ability to talk had been stripped from him, he resorted to his primary urge; the one to protect and comfort his mate. He embraced her again and Usagi finally let her emotions go like a raging current, clinging to him while he kissed her neck.

He was tempted to mark her as his permanently right then and there, to make her forget about the horrible fights and make her think only of him, but what she showed him proved that she was destined to battle no matter what happened or where she was. He only held onto her for all he was worth while she cried on his shoulder.

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R&R!!!

Eternal Cosmos