InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Second Chance At Love ❯ The Attack of Noridomo ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah... I don't own Inuyasha.

Recommendation: The Red Hunger by xanthos. This is a great story... its not finished, but if you haven't read it I think you should try it! S/K pairing.

Chapter 8: The Attack of Noridomo

Kagome woke to a hand patting her lightly on the cheek.

"Umm"

"It is time Kagome."

Kagome's eyes flew open at the sound of his voice. `Sesshoumaru'. Kagome rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she tried to remember where she was and why she was waking up with Sesshoumaru. Not just with him, Kagome realized and froze, but sitting on him.

`Why had she been sleeping on Sesshoumaru?' Kagome asked herself frantically. Then the memories came flooding back. She remembered it all; the kiss, his words, her words, the hurt, the anger... and the tears. She didn't think she'd ever forget last night... `or this morning' she thought with a frown.

Kagome knew why she'd been so angry with him. After Sesshoumaru had left her and she'd stop crying, she had a lot of time to think. She thought of all the feelings she had for Inuyasha and what she was discovering she had for Sesshoumaru. The feelings were very similar, but what she felt for Sesshoumaru was much more intense. He made her feel special; important. Without even knowing it, he'd shown her what it felt like to have someone she knew would always be there for her. She began loving that feeling... she ended loving him.

Deep down, Kagome knew what was happening to her. He'd made her laugh, smile and angry, at a time when she thought she'd never feel those feelings again or at least, not for a long time. She'd hoped he was feeling it too, than he told her he was only there because he owed her. That hurt more then anything Inuyasha had ever and could ever have done.

She'd wanted to hurt him back. She'd wanted him to hurt like she was, and had been surprised when she'd realized she'd succeeded. She didn't actually think she could hurt him, but when she saw it in his eyes it didn't make her feel better. It made her feel worse. Her hurting him had gave her more pain then him hurting her had. She knew why too... because hers had been deliberate. She'd ended up crying herself to sleep... sortof. She'd woken up when she felt him settle her in his lap and all she could do was be happy that he'd come back.

Kagome sighed at the memory and snuggled closer to his chest. It was still a little chilly and she only wanted to steal a little of his heat. `I don't want to move away from him,' she admitted to herself as she looked around her.

Kagome tilted her head back and looked at the dark sky. It was still night out.. She wondered why he had woken her up so early.

Sesshoumaru watched her every movement. He figured she was no longer angry with him since she seemed to be trying to get closer to him. He was still upset with her though. He could still hear her words in his head.

`Baka! If I'd have known, I wouldn't have done it!'

Her words had hurt. He may not know or understand the feelings she was evoking in him, but he knew and understood pain and hurt. He knew those all to well... he just hadn't experienced it recently. But he would never forget. What bothered him is why she had the power to make him feel it. He needed to think about this and figure out why it was. He absent-mindedly wrapped his tail and arm around her more snuggly as he tilted his head to look at her more fully when she turned her chocolate gaze from the sky and to his face.

Their faces came together simultaneously; eyes to eyes, nose-to-nose, mouth-to-mouth. There was only about an inch of space separating them as they starred at one another.

"Why did you wake me?" she asked softly; mesmerized.

Sesshoumaru leaned forward and rubbed his lips against hers and felt her sigh of pleasure. He pulled back slightly to speak.

"The sun will rise soon. We must be on our way if you are to do what you came to do."

"We?" Kagome questioned with a blink.

Sesshoumaru starred at her for a moment. `Did she actually imagine I would let her go alone' he wondered in annoyance. He decided she wasn't a morning person if she could entertain such a thought. He was not letting her out of his sight. He knew he cared about her, but he would not let it go further than that. He knew she only cared for that halfling brother of his.

"We."

With that Kagome sighed and got to her feet to gather her things and get ready. Sesshoumaru watched her move about gracefully. He did not like this; what she was about to do. He knew it was going to leave her weak for at least a few days.

They stopped off at the campsite where the rest of the gang was still sleeping for her to put her things in her bag. Kagome decided to leave her bag behind with her sleeping friends. She figured it was best to travel light and only took her bow and a quiver of arrows with her. Just in case. Sesshoumaru said they should let the rest sleep since there was nothing they could do anyway and Kagome agreed. She figured, if Kagura and Kanna were going to attack right after she was finished they'd need the rest... since she would most likely be useless.

Kagome sighed and fell into step beside Sesshoumaru as they headed for the village. She looked at the dark blue sky and noticed there weren't any more stars. Kagome guessed she had about a half an hour before the sun would begin to make its appearance.

***************************************

When they reached the large oak tree they had fifteen minutes to spare.

Kagome looked towards the east and began to fidget. Yesterday she was fine, after she'd made up her mind to help the village. She was a little scared because she'd never done anything of this magnitude and there was so much room for her to make a mistake, but she'd been fine. She was also fine when she woke up not too long ago... now she was nervous. She was also afraid.

Sesshoumaru sensed her nervousness and could smell her fear. He turned his head to look at her, but she was looking at the tree directly in front of them, and was only able to see her profile. He saw her slight tremble and frowned. He knew if she focused on her fear she would not succeed.

Sesshoumaru reached out his hand and gently grabbed her chin; turning her face to his.

"What?"

Kagome blinked as she looked up at him. `He really didn't use a lot of words much, did he?' she thought to herself with a resigned sigh.

"I know what I have to do... I... just don't know how?" she replied honestly with a heavy sigh then added in a whisper, "I'm afraid what will happen if I get it wrong."

Sesshoumaru starred at her quietly for a moment before he spoke.

"Are you a great miko?"

"I... uh... guess so."

"No." Sesshoumaru watched her eyes widen at the hardness in his voice and sensed her nervousness grow. "There can be no guessing. You must know."

She saw the conviction in his eyes and drew strength from that.

"I am a great miko," she stated with a nod of her head. She saw the approval in his eyes and gave him a tiny smile.

Kagome turned back to face the tree. She took a deep breath, let it go and walked closer to the tree. When she was in touching distance she reached her hand out and placed it, palm down, upon the thick tree trunk.

In a moment Kagome's hand began to glow a bright blue. Kagome's eye's widened again in shock.

"Kami... sama!" she breathed in awe.

She could feel Sesshoumaru close behind her. She didn't hear him move, but she knew he had come closer. She turned to look at him over her shoulder, but did not remove her hand from the tree. She smiled brightly.

"I got it!!" she exclaimed and rushed on enthusiastically, "Its the tree! Its a conduit."

Sesshoumaru gave her a blank look. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he guessed it was a good thing.

Kagome saw his look and decided to explain.

"The tree is the power source," she said as she turned back to the tree. "I was afraid because I knew a spell of this magnitude had to have a power source to have lasted for such a long period of time without the miko or Naraku to sustain it."

"What do you mean?" he asked still a bit confused.

"This is not a spell of good or evil. It was made out of good intentions, but turned out to be not so good, but it is not an evil spell. It has nothing to... well, feed off of. For example a spell done to stop hatred would need that hatred to keep it going. Once, that hatred was gone for good so would the spell. You see?" Kagome watched him nod then continued, "Here the purpose for the spell, Onigumo's mother, died along time ago, yet the spell is still here. Which means there had to be another power source."

"The tree."

"Yes! It's a conduit. A object used to hold power. I can use it to break the spell."

Kagome turned to face him. She was very scared, but she was glad he was with her. She wasn't sure she could do it alone. Kagome had to make sure he would stay.

"Sesshoumaru?" she whispered; her eyes vulnerable.

Sesshoumaru saw the look in her eyes and was worried. He wondered why she was looking so nervous all of a sudden.

"You must hurry and begin. The sun is beginning to rise."

Kagome looked to the east once more and saw the pinkish light coming from the horizon proving his words. She nodded at this and turned back to him.

"I don't know how to ask you this so I'm just going to say it."

He starred at her and waited.

Kagoome took a deep breath than blurted out her question, "Will you stay with me?"

He watched her face go red, but her eyes did not stray from his. He knew that that was difficult for her, but he saw it was important to her that he stayed. He wondered why that was. He decided he'd ask her later and nodded in agreement to her.

Sesshoumaru watched her sigh in relief and smile at him before she turned back to the tree. He had not even planned on leaving anyway. Jaken was watching over Rin and knew where to find him if there was trouble. He saw no reason in telling her that though.

Kagome placed both her hands upon the tree and took a deep breath. `It was now or never,' she thought to herself. She took one last look over her shoulder to reassure herself that Sesshoumaru was indeed still there, then shut her eyes and calmed her thoughts like Kaede had taught her. She summoned her miko powers just as the sun was beginning to show its face.

Sesshoumaru watched in fascination as Kagome's body began to glow with a bright fuscia color. He noticed the tree was also glowing... but its power was a bright blue. He could feel the emotions surging through the young miko. He noticed she had let go of her fear as she became more comfortable. He was amazed at the extent of her power. He would not have guessed that she held so much if he was not seeing it for himself.

Sesshoumaru could feel her fighting. He could sense the struggle going on between her and the power within the huge oak tree. It was as if the tree was hurting, but did not know how to let the power go. `No.' he thought to himself. `Not know how... the tree was afraid to let the power go', he realized in shock.

Sesshoumaru didn't know how he knew all this. He figured that Kagome's connection with the tree was giving him access to the tree's turmoil because he could sense what she was going through. Then Sesshoumaru went completely still as he sensed the girl's temperature rise. `Pain,' he thought to himself. `She is in pain,' he said and took a step closer to her... and froze in surprise.

"NO!!"

This time, Sesshoumaru almost felt the lance of pain that shot through her body and made her scream out. He watched her knees buckle sending her crashing to the ground, but she did not remove her hands from the tree. She was still fighting; he realized and couldn't help feeling proud of her even as he admitted to himself his worry.

"You are strong Kagoome."

When Kagome had connected with the tree, she'd opened her eyes and found herself someplace else. A dense fog surrounded her and it was very dark. `Where am I?', she wondered aloud. Kagome lifted her hands up and saw her miko powers outlining them. She looked down at her legs and feet and saw the same glow there too, and realized the light was outlining her entire body. She noticed she was glowing the same color as the shikon jewel would glow with and wondered at that. She'd always figured her powers were that color because of the jewel being in her possession, but she didn't have the jewel anymore. Kagome began to walk forward when she noticed a sharp blue light in the distance. `What is that?'

When Kagome made it to the light her eyes widened in shock. There in front of her was a huge object that looked like a blue sun... and in the middle of that sun stood a silhouette of the oak tree. She could feel the power coming from the flaming tree. Kagome realized then what she was looking at: it was the power source.

Kagome could feel the pain the tree was in. The power that had kept the village contained had eaten away at the tree's spirit. The tree did not know how to survive without the power so it was fighting her. Kagome knew she had cried out in pain at the last attack from the tree, but she refused to give up. She was going to save these people and the tree if it was the last thing she did.

In a flash Kagome was knocked backwards onto her backside by a bolt of power from the tree. Kagome leaned up on her elbows and shock her head. She had not expected the attack. Kagome got to her feet and starred at the tree.

For a moment, Kagome thought it very well would be the last thing she did... then she heard Sesshoumaru's voice. She didn't know how she was able to hear him, because usually when she was in a power trance she could not see or hear anything going on around her. She still could not see him, but she'd heard him very clearly and drew strength from his presence. She was very grateful he stayed like he promised. She did not want to be alone... more importantly she wanted him with her.

Kagome could feel his worry for her. She could also feel his anger as well as some other emotion she did not recognize, but it was there just below the surface. She guessed it was unrecognizable because Sesshoumaru himself did not know what it was. `Whatever it is, there's a lot of it,' Kagome thought to herself. Also, whatever it was, it was giving her strength because it was the reason he was both angry and worried.

Kagome felt the tree try to fight her again, but this time she was ready and sent a shard of power right back at it. Kagome realized that if she wanted to beat this she could not be nice, she had to show the tree that it had to let go. There was no other option.

Digging down deep within her, Kagome gathered her power and fired a huge bolt of power back at the tree. Much larger than the one the tree had fired at her. The power source was trying to shield itself from her attack... and was winning. Kagome closed her eyes and focused more power at the source; she was not going to let it win. Kagome narrowed her eyes at the tree and pushed more power out at the source.

Sesshoumaru knew she was fighting the source. He watched the power around her body glow brighter and get bigger. Now the power looked like a huge fire around her. He knew the rest of the group was there. He felt them arrive a while ago... as well as the villagers. They were all watching the miko fight for the village, though they did not understand. He could see the vagueness in there eyes.

She knew the only way to get through was to make her power stronger then the source's. `Dammit I am!' she exclaimed aloud and with her yell she shoved everything she had at the source. Kagome heard a crashing sound and saw her power break through the blue barrier.

Kagome closed the distance between her and the silhouette and placed her hand on it. She went still when she discovered the shadow was the tree's spirit. It was the heart of the tree. She could feel the life in it and smiled. She did not want to kill the tree, but was prepared to do so if she had to... she was glad it did not come to that.

Kagome felt the glow leave her body and felt her head begin to spend. Kagome's knees collapsed from under her from her weaken condition. She tried to fight the darkness pulling at her, but could not do it. One thing went through her head before she consumed to the darkness.

"Sesshoumaru..."

Sesshoumaru watched the fire around her body die down and knew the struggle was over. `Did she win?' he asked himself looking down on her where she sat or fell at the base of the tree. He saw her head fall backwards causing her hair to cascade freely to the ground. It had come unbound during her struggle. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened when her body collapsed backwards. He heard her whisper his name when he moved to gather her up.

He wrapped his tail around the bend of her knees and placed his arm at the small of her back as his hand came around to rest on the side of her waist. He felt her body's movement with her breathing and was relieved that she was not dead. He wondered at his reaction. He didn't know why, but he did not want her to die.

"You better not die," he whispered in irritation to the unconscious miko in his arm.

When he turned to face her friends he saw the fear and worry in there eyes. He did not like what they were thinking and immediately got angry.

Sango and Mirouku's eyes widened when they saw the glow in the taiyoukai's eyes. `Why was he so angry?' they wondered as they exchanged glances with each other. They noticed Inuyasha was uncharacteristically quiet. They watched as the Taiyoukai cradled their friend in his arm and wondered at his gentleness with her. They could tell by his actions, if not his face; which was still very calm except for his eyes; that he cared for the miko. They wondered if he realized it himself. They knew Inuyasha could see it and worried about that.

"Kagome-chan?" Shippou hoped up into the girl's lap as she was lying in the Taiyoukai's arm. He was worried for his friend. She was like an okaasan to him. Shippou began to cry as he patted her cheek. He wondered why she didn't wake up.

"Kitsune."

Shippou looked up at the Taiyoukai when he heard his voice. His eyes were streaming with unshed tears.

"She will not die."

Shippou starred at the Taiyoukai. He wondered how Sesshoumaru-sama could know whether Kagome would live or not, but decided it would not be good to question him. He noticed the Taiyoukai believed it for whatever reason so he decided he would too, and nodded his head in understanding before laying his head down on the girl's chest.

Sesshoumaru didn't know why he reassured the kitsune; he just did not want to see the kitsune cry. It was irritating and he did not think the kitsune would stop if he had only told him to. He wanted to tell the kitsune to get off the girl, but refrained from doing it. Sesshoumaru started to walk out of the village with both the miko and kitsune in his arms.

"Where are you going?" asked Inuyasha in a quietly dejected voice. He could not get over the image of Kagome in his brother's arms. It hurt.

"He speaks." Sesshoumaru spoke as he continued to walk. "We must leave. They will be here soon."

"Who?" asked a confused Sango. She'd forgotten all about the threat to them when she watched her friend fight with the tree.

"Kagura," answered Mirouku.

They all followed the Taiyoukai. All of them worried about their friend more than the coming battle.

~*~

As they left the village they noticed the inhabitants still standing around as if in a trance. They could see the people were coming out of the spell and they knew that they would have a difficult time adjusting. They would have liked to have been able to help in some way, but the only help they could give them was to leave as quickly as possible. They comforted themselves with the fact that the village had Taki to help them learn to live in the world.

They had to move fast to follow the Taiyoukai back to the forest they had come from. He was moving very fast; they knew there was no time to waist. There was a heavy silence in the forest that was eerie because it was so out of place. A forest should not be this quiet.

Sesshoumaru continued to move at a fast pace. He noticed the quietness as well and knew they did not have much time. There was also a heavy scent in the air; it was familiar. Though he could not place it at the moment he had a feeling that it should not be there. Sesshoumaru came to a stop at the same tree he and the miko had slumbered beneath... well she slumbered while he waited, and starred down at the girl's face. He saw her color was beginning to return to her. He did not want to let her go and leave her, but he could not protect her while holding her.

Sesshoumaru sighed inwardly, he could not continue to deny he cared for the ningen, but the thought annoyed him. How could he, Sesshoumaru Lord of the Westernlands, care for a ningen? Even, a ningen as different from the rest as she appeared to be, he wondered.

Inuyasha watched Sesshoumaru as he stood there holding Kagome and Shippou. He wondered why he was just standing there. Inuyasha saw the way he was starring at Kagome's face and wondered whether his brother cared for her. He could not imagine his brother caring for anyone, much less a human. His brother did not hate ningens, he just found them useless and a waist of time. So why did he care for Kagome, Inuyasha wondered with a frown. He did not like it. Kagome was his!!

When Sesshoumaru heard a discreet noise in the brush to left of where they were standing, he immediately placed Kagome on the ground next to the tree.

"They are here," he said to the group at large.

Just then the rest of them also began to hear the sounds coming from near by them. Inuyasha pulled out Tetsusaiga and got ready. Sango unhooked Hiraikotsu as Kirara transformed into her larger self in preparation. Mirouku had his staff at the ready.

They waited for the oncoming attack. All of them were anxious and on there guard, whiled Sesshoumaru stood at the front with the sleeping miko at his back. His face was icy calm, but his eyes were bright with anger as he watched the forest beside them.

Just then a huge demon came out of the brush. They all jumped back at the size of him. They recognized he was a gorilla demon. They watched as he looked around at each one of them and then he nodded his head as if he was deciding he was at the right spot.

"Who are you?" asked Sesshoumaru in a deathly calm voice.

The huge demon starred down at the Taiyoukai and felt a moment of fear as he looked into his amber eyes. He saw death there... his own. He did not like the demon lord's confidence and became angry. He was much larger and therefore much stronger, he thought and sneered at the demon in white.

"I am Noridomo." The demon sneered somemore and looked around at the rest of them. "She told me I was to kill the miko so she will die. Step back, if you do not wish the same fate."

They watched his eyes glow with a piercing green light just as Inuyasha jumped in the air at the demons head in attack mode. Tetsusaiga slung back over his shoulder, was transformed.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!!"

And the battle began....