InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Simple Legacy III ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and its characters are created by Rumiko Takahashi, not me, but the new plots are mine. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

Title: A Simple Legacy III

Genre: Action/Romance (Note the romance, finally!)

Summary: The appearance of an enemy from the past brought Sesshoumaru and Kagome together once again. This time, will they realize their feeling for each other?

A Simple Legacy III by elle6778 - Chapter 1

The shoji screen slid shut, the scraping sound loud in the stillness of the night. In the middle of the room, the fire burned merrily in a raised rectangular box, illuminating the study with flickers of light.

Sesshoumaru stared down at the growing pile of scrolls on his low table. One of his messengers had just came and left, leaving him with more to do. Normally, it would not have taken him this long to reduce the pile down to nothing. But the last two months had been a departure from the norm.

He sighed in frustration. It was not as if he was oblivious to the cause of his distraction. What baffled him was why it had such an effect on him.

More than two cycles of the moon had passed since he had departed from the miko. To his consternation, that time had been filled with nothing but thoughts of her. His mind refused to let it rest. All he could think of was their shard hunt and all the inane things she had said and done in that short span of time. He found himself almost wishing for her presence, simply so that he could retain his focus on more important matters.

Perhaps this unnatural affliction of his was caused by the spell which had been placed on the miko since her birth. After all, the emotional connection between them had been forged by that very spell. However, as far as he knew, their connection only came into effect when they were within close proximity of each other. Considering that the miko was probably not anywhere near the Western Lands, it did not explain why he felt the need for her presence.

Furious at himself for thinking about the miko, and furious at the miko for daring to invade his mind yet again, Sesshoumaru thumped a clawed hand on the table.

A tentative knock reached his ears. Unreasonably irritated by the sound, he snarled, “Enter!”

The shoji screen slid open to reveal a flustered-looking Jaken. “Sesshoumaru-sama?”

“What is it, Jaken?” he bit out.

Jaken fidgeted nervously. “Should I return at a more convenient time, Sesshoumaru-sama?”

“Jaken.” His word carried a wealth of warning.

The toad youkai's eyes were large in his face as he gulped. “There are rumors that the villagers caught sight of a group of neko-youkais in the area.”

All thoughts of the miko fled from his mind at Jaken's revelation. Sesshoumaru frowned. Neko youkai could only mean that Ryokusen was involved. The last time he had encountered the scent of Ryokusen had been before he had even began the shard hunt with the miko.

Her smiling face suddenly flashed across his mind. Gritting his teeth, Sesshoumaru willed the image away and forced himself to focus on the possible threat Ryokusen might bring him.

“When did you hear of this?” he asked evenly.

“I was in the village, gathering some supplies for Rin when the rumors reached me. The cooks had heard the same thing too.”

“Hn.”

He frowned as he digested the information. The appearance of neko-youkais in the Western Lands could only mean that the Lord of the Northern Isles was up to something. Ryokusen's followers usually never ventured out of the Northern Isles. And certainly not to the Western Lands ever since Ryokusen's defeat at Inu-no-Taishou's hands many centuries ago. The closest Ryokusen had ventured was the border between the east and west. Perhaps those neko-youkais were simply strays.

“Verify the rumors and don't come back until you do. Instruct the guards to increase their vigilance.”

With a nod, Jaken replied, “Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama.” With a low bow, the toad youkai left the study.

Sesshoumaru stood up. It was late and he should rest. After all, there was not anything in his study that could not wait until tomorrow for his attention. Perhaps after some rest, he would find it easier to extinguish the thoughts of the miko from his mind.

...***…***…***…

Colorful butterflies fluttered back and forth between the new blooms of spring flowers, egged on by cheerful chirping of little birds. The carefully tended garden surrounding the taijiya village seemed alive, bringing a sense of peace to all who set eyes on it.

Kagome inhaled deeply as she stretched. The air was fresh with the sweet scent of spring and it invigorated her. Rebuilding a village was a tough job, but it was a nice change from what she had been doing for more than three years now.

A sad smile crossed her lips at the thought of the past few months.

After Naraku's defeat, all of them had followed Sango and Miroku back to the taijiya village. Miroku had been overjoyed at the absence of the wind tunnel in his hand, the very fact which confirmed Naraku's death. Shippou had joined them shortly afterwards, arriving on Ah-Un with her yellow backpack clutched in his arms.

Their joy at Naraku's demise had only been marred only by Sango's depression.

Although Kagome had not encountered Kohaku during the battle, Sango's little brother had been together with the group of Naraku's underlings that attacked Kaede's village. Sango had no choice but to stop him. And ever since then, her friend had been mourning the loss of her brother.

Kagome sighed. Although Naraku was gone, the repercussions of his actions remained.

Kikyo's death had been one of them. Although Kagome had felt the return of her soul, she could not help but remember the price it came at. However much she resented Kikyo, she would never wish for such a fate for her. She hoped that Kikyo now rested in peace, wherever she was.

The worst thing was the loss of the well. Kagome had not been able to make herself approach the rubble of the decimated time portal for the fear that she would just break down in front of everyone and cry. It was difficult to face the loss of her future, her home and her family all at once.

So she had simply carried on, hoping that in time, the pain would lessen.

Her lips quirked.

The pain lessened alright. But without the need to occupy herself with containing her pain, she found herself growing increasingly bored.

At first, her boredom had resulted in Inuyasha being dragged along with her on an impromptu shard hunt after a few weeks of helping Sango repair the taijiya village. Shippou, who had not left her side ever since he returned, had gone with them. Moriko had tagged along as well, the shy forest youkai growing increasingly outgoing ever since Naraku's demise.

It had been fine. At first.

Filled with the excitement and the anticipation of finding the last shard, she had set off in high spirits. It had taken less than a week before the futility of the hunt set in. They had found nothing and progress had been much slower than she ever remembered. Perhaps it had been due to the fact that she had gotten used to hunting shards with Sesshoumaru. Unlike the hunt with Sesshoumaru, the shard hunt with Inuyasha had been far from efficient.

Not to mention she had grown increasingly uncomfortable at the sight of the obvious attraction between Inuyasha and Moriko. Not because she had anything against it. In fact, she fully encouraged Moriko to go for it. But during the entire trip, she had felt as if she was a third wheel in the flourishing romance between those two. And the way Inuyasha had carried on in his usual blustery way made her feel like bashing his head against a tree. Fortunately, Moriko was much more patient than she had ever been.

After only two weeks of the supposed shard hunt, Kagome had finally decided to call it quits and they all returned to the taijiya village for the seemingly never-ending reconstruction work. She liked it there, but for some reason, she continued to feel restless. Everyone seemed to have something to occupy themselves with and she kept feeling as if she did not belong there.

Sitting down beside a pile of logs recently chopped down by Inuyasha, she gazed into the distance, remembering how easy things had been when she had been hunting for the shards with Sesshoumaru.

Somehow or other, her mind always to traveled in Sesshoumaru's direction.

She missed him.

Badly.

More than once, she was tempted to just go find him in the Western Lands. The only thing which stopped her was that she had yet to come up with something to say to him. She needed an excuse to visit him. Kagome rolled her eyes at herself. She knew that it was stupid of her to even think that way, but she could not help it.

Maybe she was just afraid of Sesshoumaru's reaction. Maybe she was just scared that he would brush her off. She did not think that she could handle that. Somewhere along the line, she had begun to care for him and she wanted to keep it that way. And if her senses had been right, he might also care for her a little bit.

She could not help but miss the little conversations she had with him as they were traveling. Those had been mainly one-sided, now that she thought about it. Her lips twitched. Not that it had mattered. Sesshoumaru had only spoken only when he needed to, and the rest of the time, she filled in the blanks. He had not minded anyway.

They had quite a good partnership going.

She sighed again.

She needed to stop thinking about him. Just because they had spent weeks glued to each other's side, it did not mean that she should expect it to continue that way. Sesshoumaru had responsibilities in the Western Lands and she could not expect him to be always around.

Taking a deep breath, she scolded herself silently. She would stop thinking about Sesshoumaru. If not, she would just have to work up the courage to turn up at his castle.

A rustling sound reached her, starling her out of her musings.

Then an irritated voice sounded. “Oi! What are you doing sitting there? Miroku is waiting for those logs!”

Smiling, Kagome turned around to face Inuyasha as she stood up. “I wanted to enjoy the spring a little.”

Inuyasha gave her an incredulous look. “What for?”

She let out a sigh of exasperation. “Never mind.”

Picking up an armful of logs, she straightened herself. She was no longer surprised by her own strength, she thought with a small smile. It had been proven more than once that her strength far exceeds those of a normal human being.

But she had also discovered that she did not have all of Sesshoumaru's strength. For one, she could not travel in the air like the taiyoukai. A few painful falls from a tall boulder had taught her that although she could jump very high, it did not mean that she could fly. Nor could she emit any poison from her blunt fingers, however hard she tried. And although her body was more resilient than before, her injuries still took longer to heal compared to Sesshoumaru.

Her lips quirked. Maybe the sorceress's strength had only been enough to complete part of the spell. In that case, she was lucky that Sesshoumaru had been the one close to her on her eighteenth birthday. As he was so strong, even a part of his strength was enough to boost hers by a huge amount.

“Oi! What's wrong with you?”

She jumped and almost dropped the logs. “Huh?”

Inuyasha frowned at her. “You keep drifting off. What are you thinking?”

Kagome suppressed the urge to groan. Yes, she was thinking about another Sesshoumaru-related matter. Would she never be free of that taiyoukai?

“Nothing,” she muttered as she quickened her steps.

She could feel Inuyasha's eyes digging into the side of her head as she made her way past the garden towards the entrance village. Sometimes, she wondered if Inuyasha knew what she often thought about. But he had never said anything and she was not about to bring up Sesshoumaru.

As she passed the gates, her steps slowed. Her eyes immediately went to Sango's small form bending over a relatively fresh mound of soil. The taijiya was putting some flowers on her brother's grave, her eyes dull with sorrow.

“It won't be always like that for her,” Inuyasha said gruffly as he shifted his own armful of logs into a more comfortable position.

Surprised at his unusual perceptiveness, Kagome simply gaped. Could it be that the exposure to Sesshoumaru had somehow influenced him? Sesshoumaru had always been cool and collected. Come to think of it, Inuyasha had been less prone to rashness nowadays.

She sighed in despair. There she was again, thinking about Sesshoumaru.

Just then, Sango looked up and gave them a smile.

Returning the smile, Kagome walked towards her friend. Glancing at the grave, she said, “Sango-chan, are you alright?”

Sango nodded. “I still can't believe he's really gone.”

Kagome smiled sympathetically.

Inuyasha reached out an arm for her logs. “I'll get these to Miroku,” he said gruffly. Taking the armful of longs, he marched off quickly, obviously uncomfortable at the turn of the conversation.

Wanting to cheer Sango up, Kagome offered, “Hey, let's go for a walk.”

“A walk?” Sango looked down at her dirt encrusted clothes and smiled ruefully. “I think I need a bath more than a walk.”

Kagome grinned. “The hotsprings it is, then.”

...***…***…***…

The steaming water had been soothing, Kagome thought with a sigh as she stepped out of the hotsprings. At least she had this, now that she could not go home. It was much better than a shower. She missed all the scented soaps and shampoos, though.

“It's hard to believe that I can't go home anymore,” she remarked softly as she toweled herself quickly. Picking up her clothes, she proceeded to put on the beige hakamashita and the green hakama.

Already dressed, Sango's eyes softened as she paused in drying her hair. “You must miss them.”

Kagome nodded. “But I guess it's a small price to pay for Naraku's destruction. Who knows what else he'd do if he carried on like that.”

Her expression hardening, Sango declared, “Naraku deserved to die. Even though I wanted to avenge my family, I'm glad you're the one who did it.”

Kagome blinked. “I'm not the only one, you know. Everyone played a huge part in taking him down.”

“I think what surprised me most was Sesshoumaru. He was the one who sped things up. I mean, we've taken three years and we barely make a dent on that bastard. It took Sesshoumaru how long? A month?”

A wistful smile crossed Kagome's face as she looked at Sango. “We hunted shards together for about a month, but he had been planning it even before then.”

Sango gave her an assessing look. “You miss him, don't you?”

Uncomfortable at the question, Kagome averted her gaze. She did not want to lie to Sango, but for some reason, she did not feel like confiding in her friend. “Maybe a little.”

“You know what I find strange?”

“What?” Kagome asked, not quite sure she wanted to hear whatever Sango was about to say.

“I thought Sesshoumaru hates humans. But I could almost swear that he really cares for you.”

A small smile crossed Kagome's lips. “He seems that way sometimes.”

Sango gave her a critical look, and then a slow grin spread across her face. “I think I know what's going on.” She paused, and then continued in a whisper, “You like him, don't you?”

Kagome's eyes widened. “WHAT? No! What are you talking about?”

Sango laughed.

Kagome was about to continue her protests when her senses suddenly tingled.

“Sango-chan, something is coming,” she whispered in warning.

“What?” her friend asked as she tied back her hair and picked up Hiraikotsu.

The sound of fluttering wings reached her ears.

Instantly alert, Kagome straightened and spun around. Her eyes went the figure which had just landed not far from them. Her eyes narrowed. The person who stood there could have been human if not for the strong youki she had sensed and the golden wings folded against his back. His handsome features were completely humanoid.

Although she could not sense any malice from him, Kagome took a wary step back. Beside her, Sango stood her ground.

To her surprise, the youkai simply ignored Sango and turned to incline his head at her politely. “Greetings, Miko. I'm Yoshi, the ruler of the Eastern Crane clan.”

Kagome's lips parted in surprise. “Uh…hi. I'm Kagome.”

Sango snorted. “There's no such thing as the Eastern Crane clan.”

The youkai's expression hardened as he turned briefly towards Sango. “I was not addressing you, human.”

Kagome's eyes widened as Sango bristled. What did the youkai think she was then? Another youkai? No, it was not possible because he had just addressed her as a miko. But why was he so polite to her and so rude to Sango?

The youkai launched off the ground to land closer to her. A smile flashed across his face as he picked one of her hands up. “I'm very pleased to meet you, Kagome.”

To her consternation, he continued to hold her hand, his brown eyes looking deep into hers. Surreptitiously, she tried to retract her hand without offending him. He was acting way too familiar for her liking. What was wrong with him anyway?

“The rumors did not do justice to your beauty,” he remarked, his expression taking on a dreamy quality.

What rumors? She let out an uncomfortable laugh as she finally retrieved her hand. “You've got to be kidding.”

His smile widened. “Humble as well. You are truly a gem,” he said as he stepped back from her, his wings fluttering slightly.

Then his chest puffed out and his wings expanded outwards. The tips of his wing feathers began to quiver rapidly.

Kagome's eyes bulged. What was he doing?

Her lips began to twitch at the sight. It was actually funny to see the youkai doing such a weird thing. His puffed chest and his wings made him look top heavy and she expected to see him fall at any moment. And the quivering made him look as if he was having a seizure as he began to prance around in some sort of dance. She bit her lips and forced the laughter down, not wanting to offend the youkai.

After a moment of the display, the youkai lowered his wings and gave her a disappointed look.

“You do not accept?” he asked dejectedly.

Accept what? Not daring to open her mouth lest she accidentally let out her bubbling laughter, Kagome simply shook her head mutely.

The youkai's shoulders slumped visibly before he turned away and launched into the sky.

Kagome waited a minute before she exploded in laughter. Clutching her arms against her stomach, she laughed until tears began to seep out of the corner of her eyes. She knew that she really should not make fun of that youkai, but he had looked so ridiculous a moment ago.

Sango gave her a worried look. “Um, Kagome?”

Choking back her laughter, Kagome sputtered, “What?”

The taijiya took a deep breath before she continued. “I think he was trying to court you.”

Kagome's laughter died an abrupt death.

...***…***…***…

It had been two days since Jaken had left the castle, but there was still no sign of the toad youkai. The sky was now dark, so perhaps Jaken had decided to rest before returning.

Sesshoumaru frowned as he looked away from the window. It was unusual for Jaken to take such a long time to gather information. Especially considering it was something as simple as confirming if the neko youkais had indeed been seen in the Western Lands. Perhaps he should instruct one of his guards to search for the toad. After all, if Jaken's information was correct, the toad youkai might have gotten himself into trouble.

Decision made, Sesshoumaru walked to the end of the room and slid the shoji screen open.

Then he froze.

The scent was faint at first, but there was no mistaking it. His entire body tensed, fully alert for battle.

“Rin,” he whispered.

As he set off rapidly in the direction of Rin's chamber, the stench became more pronounced. Then his eyes settled on a couple of his guards who were laying on the floor, confirming his suspicions.

Someone dared to release poisonous fumes in his home, Sesshoumaru seethed as his eyes landed on the prone bodies of his guards. Although he was immune to the effects of the poison, his guards were not. And from the stench of the poison, he deduced that it had been made specifically to target inuyoukais. Letting his senses sweep over them, he realized with a measure of relief that his guards and servants were not dead, but simply unconscious.

Quickening his steps, he continued to Rin's room. Any damage to his ward would be unacceptable. Whoever that was responsible for this cowardly attack would pay with their lives. Rin's condition would dictate if he killed them slowly or made sure they suffered most horribly before they died.

He made it to the east wing where Rin was housed a short while later. However, before he could reach her room, his senses flared at the sudden presence of neko-youkais. Their scent was tainted with something odd, something which had masked their presence up to now.

Neko-youkais could only mean that one being was responsible.

“Ryokusen,” Sesshoumaru growled, his tone full of revulsion. The Northern Lord would pay for this disrespect.

“SESSHOUMARU-SAMA!”

He zipped forward at the sound of Rin's frantic yell, only to stop dead in his tracks when his ward ran out of her room with several neko-youkais close behind her. Rin's eyes were large in fear as she tripped and stumbled on the floor.

Feeling his hackles rise, Sesshoumaru turned to find more neko-youkais pouring into the long hallway. Cursing Ryokusen under his breath, Sesshoumaru unsheathed Toukijin. He could not use it on the youkais at the north half of the hallway since Rin was in the way, but he would make sure that the ones at the southern end died a painful death.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted two of them heading towards Rin. Before he could do anything, his attention was distracted by the downward sweeps of two other youkai's weapon. Blocking swiftly with Toukijin, Sesshoumaru then flicked the katana and expelled a large burst of energy. His opponents were instantly thrown back, their eyes staring up lifelessly.

Sesshoumaru swiveled around as he heard the sound of laughter. His eyes narrowed menacingly when they landed on the neko youkai who was lifting Rin off the floor by the scruff of her neck. His young ward struggled, her eyes large with terror, but she did not scream.

“So, this is the little human you care so much about, Sesshoumaru,” the youkai sneered.

Sesshoumaru gave him a stony look. It was obvious that the youkai was attempting to unsettle him using Rin. “You think to best this Sesshoumaru by your pitiful taunts?” he growled icily.

The youkai's lips curled as he raised his claws to Rin's neck. “My words are not taunts. They are threats. Surrender yourself and I will spare your weak human.”

Sesshoumaru felt his blood boil. No one threatened what was his, nevermind trying to use them as leverage. He did not trust the neko-youkai. Even if he surrendered, they would not let Rin live. The thought of Rin's broken body sickened him, but he pushed down the feeling. He could not afford to be distracted.

His fists clenched as he heard the approach of several other youkais behind him. Knowing that he did not have the luxury of time to deliberate, he swung around and slashed Toukijin towards them. The demonic katana pulsed, taking down a substantial number of neko-youkais with it.

A piercing pain suddenly exploded in his shoulders. Snarling in fury, he reached back and yanked out a sharp dagger. Only cowards attacked from behind. And Ryokusen was nothing but a coward to send his troops without the even appearing himself. Unfortunately, from what he could see, Ryokusen's troops were not low level youkais. Instead, they were highly trained warriors.

And there were too many of them.

But he could not use Toukijin in the narrow hallway without risking Rin's life.

With a flick of his wrist, he extended his claws. Greed acid shot out straight his enemies, taking three youkais down all at once. Sesshoumaru pinned a murderous look at the one who had thrown the dagger before he shot a lump of his green acid into the youkai's stomach. It would kill him slowly, Sesshoumaru thought with satisfaction.

The two remaining ones held Rin in front of them. With a sneer, Sesshoumaru launched himself at them. Rin fell to the floor as they raised their weapons at him. His claws dug onto one's chest, the impact of his thrust resulting in thick viscous blood spurting around them.

As he withdrew his claws, Sesshoumaru felt another sharp pain pierce through him, this time in his left thigh. Outraged, he spun around. The one who had dared to wound his thigh found a swift death at the tip of a golden whip.

Sensing more neko-youkais heading in from the south end of the eastern wing, he knew that he needed to get Rin out of the way to fight effectively. Fanning out his senses, he realized that there was no sign of his enemies at the north end.

Without taking his eyes off the hallway, Sesshoumaru instructed, “Rin. Run to the North Wing. Find Ah-Un and leave.”

“Sesshoumaru-sama?” She sounded worried. “What about you?”

“NOW, Rin!”

He felt the brush of her small hand against his side before the decreasing sound of her footsteps told him that she had left the eastern wing. Her touch was strangely reassuring.

The stench of neko-youkais in his abode was almost overwhelming and Sesshoumaru growled in distaste. From the intensity of their scent, he could tell that there were more than a hundred of them in his castle.

When he turned to face the growing numbers of intruders, his eyes were glinting with barely repressed rage.

...***…***…***…

The trees sped past as she jogged along the dirt path with Shippou squealing in excitement on her shoulders. In front of her, Inuyasha was bouncing ahead with Moriko trailing him on a bunch of moving vines.

The taijiya medicinal herb garden had needed some fresh seeds, which had resulted in Kagome offering to go fetch some from Kaede's village. Shippou, as usual, had tagged along. Much to her exasperation, Inuyasha had refused to let her leave by herself and insisted on following. To no one's surprise, Moriko had also joined the little excursion.

As she continued to jog, Kagome's mind was filled with the odd encounter with the crane youkai.

She had figured that Sango was mistaken, but the taijiya had been adamant that the crane youkai was asking permission to court her in his own weird way. Kagome frowned. But why? Why would a strange youkai just come up to her asking to court her?

It did not make sense at all.

Perhaps she should ask Moriko. The forest youkai might be able to ask around to find out what was really happening.

Talk about courting, those two in front of her were definitely heading that way.

Kagome smiled as she glanced at Inuyasha and Moriko, who were now talking animatedly about something. Or rather, Moriko was talking and Inuyasha was replying in his gruff manner. They seemed so sweet together sometimes. It almost reminded her of the time she had her crush on Inuyasha. That particular episode of her life seemed so long ago.

Shippou tugged at her hair, drawing her attention to him.

“Inuyasha seems a lot calmer now. It's kind of scary,” he whispered into her ear.

Kagome grinned as she glanced at the kitsune on her shoulder. “At least he's not beating you up anymore.”

Shippou scowled. “Yeah. I swear that one day I'll pay him back.” He thumped a little fist into his palm.

“Shippou…” Kagome warned, and then stopped short.

A shadow was cast over her face for a split second before she looked up to find something large swooping down at her. Without registering its identity, Kagome squeaked and threw herself to the side. Shippou immediately let out a scream of protest.

A frantic wail pierced the air. “Kagome-neechan!”

Gasping, Kagome turned around at the familiar voice. “Rin?” she breathed out in surprise.

Scrambling off Ah-Un, Rin ran towards her, her little face scrunched up with an expression of desperation. Suddenly alarmed, Kagome quickly closed the gap between them.

“What happened, Rin? Are you okay?” She glanced around anxiously. Did something happen? Why else would Rin be here alone? “Where's Sesshoumaru? And Jaken?”

Her voice catching in her throat, Rin sobbed uncontrollably. “Sesshoumaru-sama saved Rin, but he's hurt. Jaken still haven't returned and the guards are all sleeping. Rin called, but they won't wake up.”

Kagome's eyes widened in horror. Rin could not possibly be telling them that everyone in the castle was dead, could she? “No…”

Moriko's voice sounded beside her. “Rin. Calm down. Are the guards still breathing?”

Rin nodded. “But they won't wake up,” she insisted with face twisted with anguish.

“We have to go to them,” Kagome said resolutely.

Inuyasha looked as if he was about to protest. Then he glanced at the distressed Rin and his eyes softened. “We'd better hurry,” he said gruffly.

Shippou grabbed Rin's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “Don't worry. We can help.”

...***…***…***…

Fuelled by adrenaline, the trip to the Western Lands had taken a shorter time than they had expected. Ah-Un carried Shippou, Moriko and Rin while she and Inuyasha ran the distance.

It took them half a day and the sun was almost setting by the time the castle came into view. Not wanting to alert anyone to their presence, they dropped off some distance away.

Inuyasha sniffed the air. “Blood,” he growled.

Kagome's eyes scanned the area frantically as she ran towards Sesshoumaru's castle. Panic welled up within when she saw the two dead inuyoukai guards at the entrance.

Not knowing what else to expect inside, she turned to Rin. “Stay here with Ah-Un, Rin. You too, Shippou.”

Rin's eyes widened as her hands tightened on Shippou's paw. “But Sesshoumaru-sama…” she whispered.

Kagome interjected firmly, “We'll find him. Stay here, okay?”

The little girl hesitated for a moment before she nodded reluctantly.

“I'll watch them,” Moriko offered, her light brown eyes looking sad. “I can pull up a barrier if something tries to attack us.”

With a quick nod, Kagome dashed past the prone bodies of the guards with Inuyasha right beside her. The moment she stepped into the courtyard, she froze and her eyes widened in horror. There were so many bodies lying about.

“No…” she breathed out in trepidation.

Inuyasha bent down to one of the inuyoukais and then he looked around. “They're not dead. Some of them are waking already.”

She barely heard him. “Sesshoumaru…” Her eyes scanned the courtyard again, looking for the telltale sign of white silk. Her desperation grew as she failed to see him.

Inuyasha stepped up beside her, looking uncharacteristically worried. “There's too much blood around for me to sniff him out. You need to do it with your senses.”

Chastising herself for not thinking about it sooner, Kagome called forth her powers and let it fan out. Please, let him be alive, she prayed fervently.

Then she felt it.

It was faint, but she sensed Sesshoumaru's familiar presence. That must mean that he was still alive. A feeling of relief washed over her. Without further delay, she rushed to the eastern wing of the sprawling abode. Inuyasha was close behind her. It was not long before they reached the wing which she knew Rin stayed in.

Her eyes widened at the carnage. Bodies upon bodies lay still along the hallway. To her disgust, she recognized their features as those belonging to the neko-youkai clan. Blood were spattered over the bamboo-lined walls and shoji screens, painting the once beautiful hallway a ghastly dark red.

As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she spotted a flash of silver in the distance. She immediately rushed forward, uncaring if she trampled on the dead bodies of the neko-youkais. They deserved more than just being trampled if they had attacked Sesshoumaru and Rin for no reason.

When Sesshoumaru's form came into view, Kagome's breath lodged in her throat. The taiyoukai was lying on his side, his body slightly curled. His usually pristine white clothing was torn and covered with blood.

Then she spotted the puddle of thick, red blood beside him. His silver hair was mostly matted down in the ever-increasing puddle of blood around him.

“No…” she choked out.

...***…***…***…

t.b.c.

A/N: Two months apart and they have to meet like this…(sighs). I hope you've enjoyed the chapter. As usual, I'll be eternally grateful if you could review and let me know what you think!