InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Absolution's Pursuit ❯ Take Me Back ( Chapter 7 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lady Sianna 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama / Adventure | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 01.01.2010 | Updated On: 01.02.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 517 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama / Adventure | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 01.01.2010 | Updated On: 01.02.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 517 | Status: Work In Progress
Absolution’s Pursuit
Take Me Back
__________________________________________________________________ ______
“…When I finally found her again… her name was Izayoi.”
“Father, why are you…?”
“Because it is something you needed to understand. Perhaps I should have spoken with you regarding my past, our shared past before now, but at the time I did not see the benefit of doing so. I had not wished to bring upon you the shame I felt, not only because of what I truly am but also the circumstances under which my transformation occurred. Now I see that I was wrong. You became far more prideful than I ever imagined! Along with all the other youkai with whom I had aligned myself, you looked down upon the humans because of their mortality; because their inherent strength did not match our own. You, my own son believed I was a fool for taking a human mate; believed I was becoming weak for the care I showed her. But it never, for one moment dawned upon you that it was she that invoked my greatest powers.”
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. “And yet you would only die in the end. Perhaps it is true that she helped to strengthen your body, but she did nothing to fortify your mind.”
A low growl tore from DaiGin’s throat. “I do not regret the sacrifice I made to ensure her safety! She would have done nothing less for me! Everything I achieved after her first demise, my great power, the influence I came to hold, even the Tetsuaiga and the Tensega, none of those things would have been possible if not for her. Do you not see that? My entire existence was nothing more than a manifestation of the great love I held for her.” he said at last, his voice becoming softer toward the end.
“Your affection,” Sesshoumaru countered, his tone dripping with distaste, “was for the one called Misako, not Izayoi.”
“They were one in the same!” his father all but roared. “Perhaps it was foolishness on my part, a misguided attempt to make up for what happened in the past, but when I found her again, I decided at that very moment that her second life would not be so tragic as her first; that I would return one hundred fold the care and affection she showed to me, a lowly mortal dog! I will never regret that!”
A pregnant pause followed his heated words and DaiGin looked away from the boy, opting instead to stare glassily into the distance. Softly, the wind stirred around them, its gentle caress stirring the low grass and bringing with it the light, clean scent of rain.
Finally, DaiGin turned back to his son, noting how he too had taken to staring off into the distance. “I need to be going back soon.” the general spoke up softly. Sesshoumaru’s eyes focused then and he returned his father’s perusal. “I… need to find Inuyasha.”
At the mention of his brother‘s name, a strange sensation, something he could not identify shot through Sesshoumaru’s chest; reverberated over his breastbone and finally settled in his belly. He felt an unpleasant ache at the base of his throat. And then, because he felt his father should know the entire story he said, very softly, “The Tensega… it did not work.”
DaiGin nodded slowly, obviously unsurprised by the pup’s words. “In spite of my best efforts, the Tensega has its failings, just like everything on this plane of existence.” he sighed softly. “From the very beginning it seems, that fate had conspired against the boy.”
The wind picked up again, stronger this time and the first tiny drops of rain began to fall. Sesshoumaru felt a tiny bead of moisture land on the edge of his lashes. Ridding of it with a quick blink of his eyes, he remained as he was, waiting patiently to see what his father would say next.
“I suspect,” the general spoke up after a long pause, “That Inuyasha’s will to remain in this world had weakened considerably in the time that preceded his demise. I am not sure what happened, but… I feel that he may have lost something; something of great importance to him. When I find him, I shall certainly question him on the matter. However, even if his will to return to this world had been great, he still would not have been able to do so. There were two, very critical factors that saw to this. The first being that… the Tensega cannot retrieve a life more than once.”
Oddly, Sesshoumaru felt his heart skip a beat and his eyes shone with a strange intensity. “What… what do you mean?”
A drop of moisture landed on DaiGin’s iridescent cheek, the silvery moonlight making it shine. Slowly, it ran down the side of his face and to Sesshoumaru, it looked like a tear.
“Inuyasha died while his mother was giving birth to him. I used the Tensega to bring him back.”
The young inu lord felt as if he had just taken a blow to the stomach. During Inuyasha’s entire existence, he had always believed, always known… if something were to happen… he could use Tensega…
“I did not know...” Sesshoumaru confessed in a low whisper.
“No one did. Only Izayoi and myself.”
DaiGin’s eyes, which had momentarily lost focus lifted again, his golden gaze again locking with that of his last living son. “Your powers are weakening.” he said abruptly, quietly. “Have you noticed the change?”
The younger inu was on the brink of refuting his father’s words but then instantly reconsidered it. He thought back to his battle with Inuyasha, only then recalling that the hanyou had managed to injure him several times, in spite of his own lackluster performance. In fact, now that he was thinking of it, his injuries had taken slightly longer than normal to heal.
His damp hair hung heavily over his brow concealing the slight furrow that had formed there. “What… is happening to me?”
DaiGin looked away from him then. The rain was becoming slightly more heavy now. Normally, the rhythmic pattering of the light downpour would have been a comforting sound, but in this moment, it sounded almost ominous; like the footfalls of tiny feet. Like the pallbearers of the underworld.
“You are dying.” the former Inu no Taisho stated simply.
Unsure what to say to this, Sesshoumaru kept his silence, waiting for his father to explain.
“The gods have grown weary of youkai’s existence in this realm and are even now making preparations to be rid of them. Because of my good nature toward humanity as a whole, I had been granted immunity to all forms of purification. The trait was passed to you as well, but the gods have taken notice of your recent activities. The immunity you had gained through my blood began to weaken the moment you released your young charge.”
‘Rin…’
The girl’s image, delicate and intangible, solidified before his mind‘s eye. Her back was to him and a wreath of white flowers adorned her head. Her hands, soft, small and human, were clasped behind her back, and strangely, fleetingly, he found himself wishing that she would turn to him and smile. She didn’t though, and soon the image faded, leaving an unpleasant darkness in its place. Why would the gods punish him for releasing her? He had done so primarily because he had believed it to be in her own best interest and had even gone so far as to leave his most loyal vassal at her life-long employ.
“The very air is changing.” DaiGin spoke up, regaining the attention of the younger inu. “It is becoming inhospitable to our kind.” The general looked back to his son, and for the briefest of moments, his semi-transparent form wavered as if threatening to vanish. Sesshoumaru blinked, ignoring the cool droplets that fell from the edge of his jaw and when he opened his eyes, his father’s form appeared stable once again.
“I do not know the specifics of the gods’ plans, but I do know that those who are susceptible to purification, will not remain in this world for much longer. Now that you have taken the life of your brother, that includes you. Hanyou that he was, Inuyasha had fought in defense of the humans, the favored among the god’s creations and his acts of heroism had not gone unnoticed. When you killed him, you effectively sealed your own fate as well.”
He could see the question brimming in Sesshoumaru’s eyes and before it could be voiced he told him, “As of this day, you are no longer immune to the powers of purification.” he paused for a moment, noting that the rain was beginning to slacken, but the wind was becoming more fierce. “Within the next few lunar cycles, the weaker youkai will begin to die off. Next, those of moderate power will begin to weaken and die. Even the most powerful, including daiyoukai such as yourself, will not be spared. It will take longer for you, but each day, you will grow weaker, your flesh, if injured, will take longer to heal, and finally you will loose your demonic powers. You will not have much time after that.”
“Are you saying that I am becoming mortal?” Sesshoumaru asked, his voice sounding far away.
DaiGin seemed to consider this. “Essentially.” the general replied after a moment. “But,” he spoke up again, “There may be hope for you yet. I came here, not only to warn you, but also because in spite of your disposition, you are my beloved son and I do not desire such a wretched fate for you. Because of what you are, you will only be given this one and only chance at redemption. Only through absolution, can you regain your immunity to purification and thus avoid the impending extinction that awaits our kind.”
When his father finished speaking, a light haze fell over the younger inu’s eyes as he sank deep into his thoughts. It was unthinkable that such a fait awaited him, but the mere fact that his father had returned to this world to relay the message, gave more than a ring of truth to his words. As powerful as he was, not even he, Sesshoumaru could defy the will of the gods.
This… was not a situation in which he expected to find himself.
A drove of memories, mixed and faintly vexing, sailed through his mind as his lips thinned in a pensive frown. He considered the many humans he had dispatched without a thought. The youkai who had, in his youth looked upon him with pity or disgust because of his father’s affiliation with mortals. His mother, whom he had loved but who had left him for fear of invoking his father’s wrath. He remembered a hanyou pup and a little girl.
He had always looked down upon humans because they were fragile, weak and mortal. He could not help but marvel at the irony of his current situation. It was bitterly poetic that he was now doomed to the same fate that befell all those he had deemed beneath him.
In his mind, Sesshoumaru could practically see everything of which he was comprised. He could feel his persona twisting in the wind, splitting apart, breaking down into its basic components, each one having its own opinion regarding the matter at hand. The short-sighted, more volatile part of him balked at this entire situation. It argued that he, Sesshoumaru would not become weak and die; that he should proceed with his plans to procure more power and land. Even the gods could not impose their will upon one such as he, it intoned vehemently. The stubborn, more cynical portion of his mind declared that his father was wrong. In all his life he could not recall a time when the gods had deigned to intervene with the occurrences and beings that resided upon the earth. Why would that change now, it questioned doubtfully. Where had his father come across such erroneous information?
And there were a thousand other questions, declarations and wonderings. They flitted through his mind in a haze of whispered voices, haughty commands and doubting questions. He could feel a dull ache pooling at his temples and very briefly, he wondered what it would feel like to die.
Finally, a voice rose above the others; one that could only be his logic and reason. It reminded him that in spite of the decisions he’d made in the past, his father had never been anything less than honest, forthcoming and precise with any information he opted to disclose. It asked if he was willing to dare the potential consequences of disregarding his sire’s warning.
Very slowly, Sesshoumaru allowed his eyes to close. The darkness that followed, normally comforting was now faintly ominous and within seconds he would understand why.
In the darkness, he could see himself standing very still. He was all alone and his blank, glassy eyes were focused straight ahead of him. The darkness began to fade, but only to a dull, smoky grey that allowed him to see what lay at his feet. All around him and as far as the eye could see, lay an endless field of corpses. Human and youkai alike, the bodies blanketed the earth, cold and still and dead. Arms and legs were strewn, one over the other, and some were no longer attached to the body from which they’d come. Grey skin and blank eyes stared back at him, and bizarrely, the young daiyoukai found himself faintly horrified that he recognized some of these former beings. Many, no all of the ones that seemed familiar to him, were those he had dispatched himself.
Even now, he could practically smell the blood and decay, darkened with time and ripened with age. It was a pungent odor, one at which he’d never balked before, but one that now clung to his skin; saturated his hair; clogged his lungs; made it difficult to breathe.
An unpleasant chill raced down his spine and Sesshoumaru could see himself waver beneath a great, unseen weight. His eyes, familiar yet foreign began to glaze over in a way he’d never seen before. His heart stuttered in his chest and he could see the color draining from his skin. His lips parted to release a final breath as his eyes finally began to close.
He began to fall…
Sesshoumaru opened his eyes, unwilling to see the inevitable conclusion. He was faintly surprised to see his father still sitting there.
“What is there to consider?” DaiGin finally asked, his eyes dark and penetrating. “It is all very simple. Do you wish to live, or… do you wish to die?”
There was another short pause, and then, “What do I need to do?”
____________________________________________________________ ____________
Tightly clenched eyes shielded their host from the world that lay beyond. Somehow, it seemed foreign now, the angles too sharp, the scents too pungent, the sounds unpleasant and jarring. The very air seemed thick, oppressive and just wrong, wrong, wrong!
‘I wish… I want… please…!’
“Don’t… don’t block me out again…” a quiet voice whispered into the cool, damp air. “I need to go back! Why can’t you understand that?!”
Softly, the voice echoed back and a stream of moisture trailed down a soft cheek. It had been so long, yet the memories were still so fresh, the need to see them all again so very strong.
‘Why am I here again? What am I expecting to happen?’
The thoughts were discouraging, yet the hope, what little there was left, remained firm and sure.
Just try it, just this one last time…
A shuddering breath escaped. Yes, one more time. What could it hurt?
And then there was a burst of energy, up and over, followed by the sensation of falling. Momentary disappointment reigned supreme, and then the magic caught. There was a gasp and the rapid tempo of her beating heart. Ethereal swirls of blue, soft, welcoming and oh so familiar, wrapped themselves around her, caressing her skin and threading their long cool fingers through her hair.
The trip was longer than she remembered, but she savored every moment and allowed her anticipation to build. When at last the damp earth was beneath her, Kagome collapsed beneath her own weight. Relief, and a small twinge of apprehension washed over her in near blinding waves. She could hear the sound of her own breathing as it echoed off the stone walls.
“Thank you,” she whispered to no one in particular and then turned her head to the sky. Her eyes, still shimmering with moisture, landed on the square patch of sky visible beyond the lip of the well. It was bright compared to the darkness that surrounded her, yet the sun was hidden by a thin layer of clouds. The air was crisp and clean, free of the pollutants that were present in her own time. Shaky muscles finally heeded the commands of her brain and the young woman rose to her feet. Slowly, almost reverently, she reached for the familiar vines and began to pull herself from the well.
_________________________________________________________________ _______
Hope you all enjoyed this newest chapter. Thanks so much for reading and please review. ^_^
Oh and I did not do this before so I’ll do it now. I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to everyone who’s been reading and reviewing this story. I’m glad you are enjoying it and I love reading your comments! Also, a very special thanks to Kagome357, who, of her own volition decided to spread the word about this story!
Love ya Kags!
Oh, and Jeff, I did not realize I was spelling the names of the swords incorrectly, but now I’m too lazy to go back and change them. =3 And ThinkPink, please send me your email address, I would like to answer some of your questions.
Take Me Back
__________________________________________________________________ ______
“…When I finally found her again… her name was Izayoi.”
“Father, why are you…?”
“Because it is something you needed to understand. Perhaps I should have spoken with you regarding my past, our shared past before now, but at the time I did not see the benefit of doing so. I had not wished to bring upon you the shame I felt, not only because of what I truly am but also the circumstances under which my transformation occurred. Now I see that I was wrong. You became far more prideful than I ever imagined! Along with all the other youkai with whom I had aligned myself, you looked down upon the humans because of their mortality; because their inherent strength did not match our own. You, my own son believed I was a fool for taking a human mate; believed I was becoming weak for the care I showed her. But it never, for one moment dawned upon you that it was she that invoked my greatest powers.”
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. “And yet you would only die in the end. Perhaps it is true that she helped to strengthen your body, but she did nothing to fortify your mind.”
A low growl tore from DaiGin’s throat. “I do not regret the sacrifice I made to ensure her safety! She would have done nothing less for me! Everything I achieved after her first demise, my great power, the influence I came to hold, even the Tetsuaiga and the Tensega, none of those things would have been possible if not for her. Do you not see that? My entire existence was nothing more than a manifestation of the great love I held for her.” he said at last, his voice becoming softer toward the end.
“Your affection,” Sesshoumaru countered, his tone dripping with distaste, “was for the one called Misako, not Izayoi.”
“They were one in the same!” his father all but roared. “Perhaps it was foolishness on my part, a misguided attempt to make up for what happened in the past, but when I found her again, I decided at that very moment that her second life would not be so tragic as her first; that I would return one hundred fold the care and affection she showed to me, a lowly mortal dog! I will never regret that!”
A pregnant pause followed his heated words and DaiGin looked away from the boy, opting instead to stare glassily into the distance. Softly, the wind stirred around them, its gentle caress stirring the low grass and bringing with it the light, clean scent of rain.
Finally, DaiGin turned back to his son, noting how he too had taken to staring off into the distance. “I need to be going back soon.” the general spoke up softly. Sesshoumaru’s eyes focused then and he returned his father’s perusal. “I… need to find Inuyasha.”
At the mention of his brother‘s name, a strange sensation, something he could not identify shot through Sesshoumaru’s chest; reverberated over his breastbone and finally settled in his belly. He felt an unpleasant ache at the base of his throat. And then, because he felt his father should know the entire story he said, very softly, “The Tensega… it did not work.”
DaiGin nodded slowly, obviously unsurprised by the pup’s words. “In spite of my best efforts, the Tensega has its failings, just like everything on this plane of existence.” he sighed softly. “From the very beginning it seems, that fate had conspired against the boy.”
The wind picked up again, stronger this time and the first tiny drops of rain began to fall. Sesshoumaru felt a tiny bead of moisture land on the edge of his lashes. Ridding of it with a quick blink of his eyes, he remained as he was, waiting patiently to see what his father would say next.
“I suspect,” the general spoke up after a long pause, “That Inuyasha’s will to remain in this world had weakened considerably in the time that preceded his demise. I am not sure what happened, but… I feel that he may have lost something; something of great importance to him. When I find him, I shall certainly question him on the matter. However, even if his will to return to this world had been great, he still would not have been able to do so. There were two, very critical factors that saw to this. The first being that… the Tensega cannot retrieve a life more than once.”
Oddly, Sesshoumaru felt his heart skip a beat and his eyes shone with a strange intensity. “What… what do you mean?”
A drop of moisture landed on DaiGin’s iridescent cheek, the silvery moonlight making it shine. Slowly, it ran down the side of his face and to Sesshoumaru, it looked like a tear.
“Inuyasha died while his mother was giving birth to him. I used the Tensega to bring him back.”
The young inu lord felt as if he had just taken a blow to the stomach. During Inuyasha’s entire existence, he had always believed, always known… if something were to happen… he could use Tensega…
“I did not know...” Sesshoumaru confessed in a low whisper.
“No one did. Only Izayoi and myself.”
DaiGin’s eyes, which had momentarily lost focus lifted again, his golden gaze again locking with that of his last living son. “Your powers are weakening.” he said abruptly, quietly. “Have you noticed the change?”
The younger inu was on the brink of refuting his father’s words but then instantly reconsidered it. He thought back to his battle with Inuyasha, only then recalling that the hanyou had managed to injure him several times, in spite of his own lackluster performance. In fact, now that he was thinking of it, his injuries had taken slightly longer than normal to heal.
His damp hair hung heavily over his brow concealing the slight furrow that had formed there. “What… is happening to me?”
DaiGin looked away from him then. The rain was becoming slightly more heavy now. Normally, the rhythmic pattering of the light downpour would have been a comforting sound, but in this moment, it sounded almost ominous; like the footfalls of tiny feet. Like the pallbearers of the underworld.
“You are dying.” the former Inu no Taisho stated simply.
Unsure what to say to this, Sesshoumaru kept his silence, waiting for his father to explain.
“The gods have grown weary of youkai’s existence in this realm and are even now making preparations to be rid of them. Because of my good nature toward humanity as a whole, I had been granted immunity to all forms of purification. The trait was passed to you as well, but the gods have taken notice of your recent activities. The immunity you had gained through my blood began to weaken the moment you released your young charge.”
‘Rin…’
The girl’s image, delicate and intangible, solidified before his mind‘s eye. Her back was to him and a wreath of white flowers adorned her head. Her hands, soft, small and human, were clasped behind her back, and strangely, fleetingly, he found himself wishing that she would turn to him and smile. She didn’t though, and soon the image faded, leaving an unpleasant darkness in its place. Why would the gods punish him for releasing her? He had done so primarily because he had believed it to be in her own best interest and had even gone so far as to leave his most loyal vassal at her life-long employ.
“The very air is changing.” DaiGin spoke up, regaining the attention of the younger inu. “It is becoming inhospitable to our kind.” The general looked back to his son, and for the briefest of moments, his semi-transparent form wavered as if threatening to vanish. Sesshoumaru blinked, ignoring the cool droplets that fell from the edge of his jaw and when he opened his eyes, his father’s form appeared stable once again.
“I do not know the specifics of the gods’ plans, but I do know that those who are susceptible to purification, will not remain in this world for much longer. Now that you have taken the life of your brother, that includes you. Hanyou that he was, Inuyasha had fought in defense of the humans, the favored among the god’s creations and his acts of heroism had not gone unnoticed. When you killed him, you effectively sealed your own fate as well.”
He could see the question brimming in Sesshoumaru’s eyes and before it could be voiced he told him, “As of this day, you are no longer immune to the powers of purification.” he paused for a moment, noting that the rain was beginning to slacken, but the wind was becoming more fierce. “Within the next few lunar cycles, the weaker youkai will begin to die off. Next, those of moderate power will begin to weaken and die. Even the most powerful, including daiyoukai such as yourself, will not be spared. It will take longer for you, but each day, you will grow weaker, your flesh, if injured, will take longer to heal, and finally you will loose your demonic powers. You will not have much time after that.”
“Are you saying that I am becoming mortal?” Sesshoumaru asked, his voice sounding far away.
DaiGin seemed to consider this. “Essentially.” the general replied after a moment. “But,” he spoke up again, “There may be hope for you yet. I came here, not only to warn you, but also because in spite of your disposition, you are my beloved son and I do not desire such a wretched fate for you. Because of what you are, you will only be given this one and only chance at redemption. Only through absolution, can you regain your immunity to purification and thus avoid the impending extinction that awaits our kind.”
When his father finished speaking, a light haze fell over the younger inu’s eyes as he sank deep into his thoughts. It was unthinkable that such a fait awaited him, but the mere fact that his father had returned to this world to relay the message, gave more than a ring of truth to his words. As powerful as he was, not even he, Sesshoumaru could defy the will of the gods.
This… was not a situation in which he expected to find himself.
A drove of memories, mixed and faintly vexing, sailed through his mind as his lips thinned in a pensive frown. He considered the many humans he had dispatched without a thought. The youkai who had, in his youth looked upon him with pity or disgust because of his father’s affiliation with mortals. His mother, whom he had loved but who had left him for fear of invoking his father’s wrath. He remembered a hanyou pup and a little girl.
He had always looked down upon humans because they were fragile, weak and mortal. He could not help but marvel at the irony of his current situation. It was bitterly poetic that he was now doomed to the same fate that befell all those he had deemed beneath him.
In his mind, Sesshoumaru could practically see everything of which he was comprised. He could feel his persona twisting in the wind, splitting apart, breaking down into its basic components, each one having its own opinion regarding the matter at hand. The short-sighted, more volatile part of him balked at this entire situation. It argued that he, Sesshoumaru would not become weak and die; that he should proceed with his plans to procure more power and land. Even the gods could not impose their will upon one such as he, it intoned vehemently. The stubborn, more cynical portion of his mind declared that his father was wrong. In all his life he could not recall a time when the gods had deigned to intervene with the occurrences and beings that resided upon the earth. Why would that change now, it questioned doubtfully. Where had his father come across such erroneous information?
And there were a thousand other questions, declarations and wonderings. They flitted through his mind in a haze of whispered voices, haughty commands and doubting questions. He could feel a dull ache pooling at his temples and very briefly, he wondered what it would feel like to die.
Finally, a voice rose above the others; one that could only be his logic and reason. It reminded him that in spite of the decisions he’d made in the past, his father had never been anything less than honest, forthcoming and precise with any information he opted to disclose. It asked if he was willing to dare the potential consequences of disregarding his sire’s warning.
Very slowly, Sesshoumaru allowed his eyes to close. The darkness that followed, normally comforting was now faintly ominous and within seconds he would understand why.
In the darkness, he could see himself standing very still. He was all alone and his blank, glassy eyes were focused straight ahead of him. The darkness began to fade, but only to a dull, smoky grey that allowed him to see what lay at his feet. All around him and as far as the eye could see, lay an endless field of corpses. Human and youkai alike, the bodies blanketed the earth, cold and still and dead. Arms and legs were strewn, one over the other, and some were no longer attached to the body from which they’d come. Grey skin and blank eyes stared back at him, and bizarrely, the young daiyoukai found himself faintly horrified that he recognized some of these former beings. Many, no all of the ones that seemed familiar to him, were those he had dispatched himself.
Even now, he could practically smell the blood and decay, darkened with time and ripened with age. It was a pungent odor, one at which he’d never balked before, but one that now clung to his skin; saturated his hair; clogged his lungs; made it difficult to breathe.
An unpleasant chill raced down his spine and Sesshoumaru could see himself waver beneath a great, unseen weight. His eyes, familiar yet foreign began to glaze over in a way he’d never seen before. His heart stuttered in his chest and he could see the color draining from his skin. His lips parted to release a final breath as his eyes finally began to close.
He began to fall…
Sesshoumaru opened his eyes, unwilling to see the inevitable conclusion. He was faintly surprised to see his father still sitting there.
“What is there to consider?” DaiGin finally asked, his eyes dark and penetrating. “It is all very simple. Do you wish to live, or… do you wish to die?”
There was another short pause, and then, “What do I need to do?”
____________________________________________________________ ____________
Tightly clenched eyes shielded their host from the world that lay beyond. Somehow, it seemed foreign now, the angles too sharp, the scents too pungent, the sounds unpleasant and jarring. The very air seemed thick, oppressive and just wrong, wrong, wrong!
‘I wish… I want… please…!’
“Don’t… don’t block me out again…” a quiet voice whispered into the cool, damp air. “I need to go back! Why can’t you understand that?!”
Softly, the voice echoed back and a stream of moisture trailed down a soft cheek. It had been so long, yet the memories were still so fresh, the need to see them all again so very strong.
‘Why am I here again? What am I expecting to happen?’
The thoughts were discouraging, yet the hope, what little there was left, remained firm and sure.
Just try it, just this one last time…
A shuddering breath escaped. Yes, one more time. What could it hurt?
And then there was a burst of energy, up and over, followed by the sensation of falling. Momentary disappointment reigned supreme, and then the magic caught. There was a gasp and the rapid tempo of her beating heart. Ethereal swirls of blue, soft, welcoming and oh so familiar, wrapped themselves around her, caressing her skin and threading their long cool fingers through her hair.
The trip was longer than she remembered, but she savored every moment and allowed her anticipation to build. When at last the damp earth was beneath her, Kagome collapsed beneath her own weight. Relief, and a small twinge of apprehension washed over her in near blinding waves. She could hear the sound of her own breathing as it echoed off the stone walls.
“Thank you,” she whispered to no one in particular and then turned her head to the sky. Her eyes, still shimmering with moisture, landed on the square patch of sky visible beyond the lip of the well. It was bright compared to the darkness that surrounded her, yet the sun was hidden by a thin layer of clouds. The air was crisp and clean, free of the pollutants that were present in her own time. Shaky muscles finally heeded the commands of her brain and the young woman rose to her feet. Slowly, almost reverently, she reached for the familiar vines and began to pull herself from the well.
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Hope you all enjoyed this newest chapter. Thanks so much for reading and please review. ^_^
Oh and I did not do this before so I’ll do it now. I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to everyone who’s been reading and reviewing this story. I’m glad you are enjoying it and I love reading your comments! Also, a very special thanks to Kagome357, who, of her own volition decided to spread the word about this story!
Love ya Kags!
Oh, and Jeff, I did not realize I was spelling the names of the swords incorrectly, but now I’m too lazy to go back and change them. =3 And ThinkPink, please send me your email address, I would like to answer some of your questions.