InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Across the Ages ❯ At the beginning ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

OneKagome was tired, so unbelievably tired. She was hot and dusty and she was sure if Inuyasha said one more word about her slow pace, she might beat him to a pulp. The half demon seemed to sense that and so he glared but wisely, for once, kept his mouth shut.Something was up and they didn't know really what it was. Naraku was hiding but there were rumors.. of an army massing in the east. It would only be logical that it was him. There was only one demon that had the power to challenge him completely, and who commanded an army. That was Sesshoumaru.Sesshoumaru had been acting strange of late himself. Inuyasha and his companions had paid him a visit a few days ago. They had found the lord busily preparing his troops. It seemed that he also had heard the rumor of the east. He had watched the half demon enter his gates with no expression. There seemed to be a silent understanding between them now, until Naraku was dead they'd not attack each other."Why have you come Inuyasha?" he demanded when the party paused at the great doors. Inuyasha glared at him, "We came to talk to you about Naraku, what else?" Sesshoumaru let his golden gaze rove over the motley band. Those eyes rested on Kagome for a moment and then he spoke, "Hello miko. You have fared well?" Kagome smiled softly, "I have. Thank you. How is Rin?"It was because of the child that his attitude had softened towards the two women in Inuyasha's care. They had saved her and even if he'd not admit it, that child meant the world to him. "Rin is well. She is at her lessons but she will wish to see you. You will not disappoint her." These final words were directed and his half brother. Kagome nodded and with that the Taiyoukai turned in a rustle of silks and led them inside."It is, perhaps, a good thing that you have come Inuyasha." he said finally. Inuyasha tore his gaze from the family portraits and glared at his brother's silver hair. "Yeah? Why's that?" he grunted. Sesshoumaru sighed, "The armies are massing in the east." he said then. The group shared a look and Kagome walked a bit faster to fall into step beside the tall demon, "Yes, we had heard that. It's Naraku, we think he is planning to challenge you for control of Japan." Her voice was concerned and the tall demon nearly smiled, "He would lose Kagome." he answered.She had no doubts of that, but how many would be lost. As if reading her thoughts Sesshoumaru spoke again, "Inuyasha, I must leave the palace for a short time. There is something I must collect before the battle." Inuyasha wondered why his brother bothered to tell him."And I care because?" he asked. Kagome glared at him for being beligerent.Sesshoumaru glanced over his shoulder, "Because brother, you will remain here and guard Rin until I return. If you argue I will ask the miko to sit you until your spine snaps." Inuyasha growled and glared at Kagome. She'd better not. It was a humiliating thing that she, a little human could plant his face painfully in the earth with a single word.When this was over and Naraku was dead, he'd make sure that she took those damn beads off. He refused to be mated to a woman who had that power over him. Of course Kagome didn't know that, she thought he was still in love with Kikyou. It was easier to let her think that. If the worse happened and he fell in battle, she'd not mourn the loss of her mate.Sesshoumaru was staRing at him expectantly, "Are you listening?" he snapped. Inuyasha's ears twitched and he frowned, "Yeah yeah. You could have asked you know." he folded his arms across his chest and stared at the far wall. Sesshoumaru chuckled slightly, "I do not ask anything of anyone, I command and they obey half demon." he goaded.Inuyasha threw a look at Kagome, "Now that is just it. I have to behave but he's the asshole!" he exclaimed. Kagome sighed and in a defeated and tired voice she said it, the word..."Sit." Marble, Inuyasha decided was far harder than earth. For once there was no crater around him, and he admitted that this was by far the most painful sit he'd ever earned. "Oww." he said quietly. Sango patted his head sympathetically as she walked past him. Miroku let out a low whistle that made the half demon want to growl, but he hurt to much at the moment. He felt a tug on his hand and looked up, that damn woman was trying to help him up now. "Why you.." he muttered. She smiled sweetly and he sighed, "come on Inuyasha. please try to make this a nice visit. Haven't you wondered what is so important that he has to have it now?"He thought about it. Kagome was right. "Oi! Sesshoumaru!" he called, rising to his feet, "What is this thing that you have to collect? Is it to beat Naraku?" Sesshoumaru opened the doors to his war room and walked inside, the little group trailing behind. He gave his brother a once over, "Yes, it is. I have need of one of my generals."One of his generals? Where was this general if not here, Kagome wondered. "Where is this general?" Kagome asked. He looked at her, "She is currently in your time Kagome." he replied. Just about every mouth fell open at his words. "She?" they asked in unison. He nodded. Kagome looked the most shocked, "My time?" she sputtered.The Taiyoukai nodded once more, "Yes that is where she last had residence. She has moved through the ages. Now I need her back here, to command the second of my armies." Inuyasha shook his head. "Just who the hell is this general of yours and why is she in Kagome's time?" he demanded.Sesshoumaru paused for a moment and then continued, "Because Inuyasha that is where my wife fled to after I obliterated her village." Kagome nearly fell over, Inuyasha not in much better shape. "Wife?" Inuyasha asked, "Since when do you have a mate?" Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes on the younger for a moment, "Since about a century before you were born." Inuyasha deflated, then perked up again, "Is that why you are always so uptight? You have a runaway wife?"Sesshoumaru lashed out, snapping his brother up in a harsh grip. Thanks to Kagome, he had both arms once more. He flung Inuyasha like a rag at the opposite wall. "I did not ask for your commentary on my life you half dog!" he snarled. Kagome bravely stepped between them and held her hands out to them both. "Sesshoumaru I am sorry but there are no demons in my time, at least not that I have seen. Come to think of it, do you even live there?" she asked. Sesshoumaru didn't want to go over the basics of demon time shifts with her at present. "I can live in your era Kagome, and I do have several residences there. I however reside in this era for many reasons."She nodded and he went on, "I don't suppose that you would know my wife. But she is not demon. My wife is human, a rather long lived human due to her relations with me, but human." His tone was soft and Kagome stared at him. "But I thought you hated humans?" He gave her a smile that held a tinge of bitterness, "I have learned many things from humans, including hate. But I do not condemn you all Kagome, you surely come to see that?"Yes, she had. She had stayed in this palace with the cold lord when Rin had been ill. She had supposed like so many others that servants saw to the child. She had supposed wrong, for Sesshoumaru took his parental duties very seriously. He taught her, tended her, and when she was bad, he punished her. But he also soothed her when the nightmares came, showing an infinite patience that Kagome had not thought he could possess.He loved that little girl, and she suspected that he loved his wife too. Very much. She had never known about her though, had never heard the servants speak of her, never seen any traces that he was anything but a brooding bachelor. Now to hear that he was mated and to a human that ran away!That was unheard of in this time. Why hadn't he forbid her to go and how had she gotten there? "When was the last time you saw her, if I can ask?" Kagome asked him in a soft voice. Sesshoumaru was a very private person and she didn't want to press too far.He stared at a map on the table top when he answered, "I find her about every thirty years. She has become quite adept at hiding from me. She alters her form with her various lifetimes. If I don't find her before the thirtieth year of her current life, she reverts to a mere mortal and can die." he told her, "That is the nature of the spell that was cast on us long ago. She is reborn again and again and I am destined to find her. Only when she agrees to return with me can we be free of it."Inuyasha stared at him, "You're cursed?" he asked softly. The eyes narrowed again, "Yes. I am." he replied, "So you see Inuyasha I have many reasons to hate you. You can have your woman beside you and you are too stupid to do anything about it. I have to hurry and get to your world Kagome. I am running out of time, the thirtieth year is almost on us."So that was why he was being so forthcoming with information, he was getting desperate. "How do you find her?" Kagome asked and at this Sesshoumaru smiled a genuine smile, it completely transformed his face and those around him were stunned, "She remains a leader of men. Her duty is to guard them from me." With that he turned and motioned them closer. His clawed hand fell on the map,"This is where my men have reported the most activity lately, in these mountains. The terrain is treacherous and the best way to reach it, is by air."Apparently, he was finished speaking of his wife. For over an hour they went over information, sifting through the bits and peices to fit the puzzle. When they were satisfied that everyone understood, Sesshoumaru beckoned a servant to show them to their rooms. The monk and slayer in one, Inuyasha and Kagome in a different, and the neko and kitsune in another.He was willing to force his brother's hand to keep his bloodline alive if he had to. He might not sire his own pups and that thought hurt him. He had to convince her to return with him this time. He had failed countless other times because of pride on both sides. He recalled the last time they met.*******The sand billowed around the woman who stood before him. She was alone this time, not surrounded by those things that she protected. "So you've come" she said softly but he heard her over the wind. "Why do you do this Ayeka?" he asked her, gesturing to the wind and sand and dirty living conditions. Her life here was hard. "You should be in the palace, safe and comfortable".She looked down at him, a considerable feat given that she was more than a foot shorter than him. "Why should I have comfort while you slaughter my people?" she asked, her voice hard and unforgiving. Fire flashed in her eyes and he had wanted her at that moment. He steeled himself against he emotion, "Why should they live?" he demanded.Ayeka, her hair blonde and cropped into short curls had stared at him in hurt anger. "You hate them all, yet you come to me?" He had felt the ache in his heart at her words. He had killed her village, everyone in it without hesitation and without remorse, but yes, he wanted her. She was his. She'd given herself to him and fled him hours later."You chose to wed me Ayeka" he reminded her grimly. She nodded, her eyes a soft blue softening for a moment." I did Sesshoumaru. I wed you because I love you" her voice a whisper of a caress and the demon wanted to close his eyes and lose himself in it. "And then you killed them". His reverie snapped, "I did"Ayeka, no matter what form she took was always beautiful to him. Her scent and her soul soothing to him even as they tormented him. She let her gaze harden and took a battle stance. "You would fight me Ayeka? Again? For them?" he asked. She nodded, "If not me, then who?" she'd countered. She lifted her hand towards him and he clutched at his side, but too late a shining blade flew from his sash and into her waiting hand.She smirked at him, "You had this blade forged for me and yet you hate it for obeying me" she pointed out. True the demon sword answered her call and only when the fight between them ended did it return to him. To wait another series of decades for it's mistress. "If only my wife was as obedient."She laughed then, a sweet peal of sound. "Come now my love, isn't that why you married me?" He nodded and drawing his own blade he lunged at her. She dodged and feinted, attacking viciously, had she a mind to she could possibly do damage but this battle was not about destruction it was about dominance and neither side would lose.He fought to posses her and she fought to save humans from him. Whether they always deserved it or not. "Ayeka, man will die out in time. It is the nature of things" he reasoned. She grunted staving off a hard blow from him. "Better that they should die by their own means than at your hands" she retorted."They are weak" SLASH"They are living things, they deserve the chance" CLANG"Why do you fight me? You cannot win" SCRAPE"I don't have to win, I just won't submit" He dodged a swift thrust."Clever girl, do you ever wonder if this battle will be the last one?""I do, every time""Would you kill me?""Absolutely""I don't think you can""Don't give me a reason Sesshoumaru""You are beautiful in battle""So are you""Lay down your arms and come to me, I will take you home and away from this""Will you give me their lives?""Ayeka..."He swung in an upward arch, and she leapt into the air to counter, slashing downward, slicing the silk of his haori even as he cut the rough cotton of her sleeve. No blood drawn. She landed in a graceful crouch, then straightened, "No Sesshoumaru, I cannot come with you"He growled, intent on making her, but he knew that wouldn't work. It never did. She tossed her sword back at him. "Do you think of me?" she asked. The demon lord caught the blade and sheathed it, their time was finished, "Every day" he responded in an instant, "Do you love me?" Ayeka reached out to cup his cheek gently, "Always. Good bye Sesshoumaru"She walked away from him, vanished into that desert hell, serving the men who treated her so poorly. Her spine straight, her human years renewed. She'd leave them soon, take a new form and grow up all over again. All the while knowing deep in her heart who she was. Ayeka, lady of the west.Sesshoumaru had retreated to his palace to sulk away another thirty years. He'd not slaughtered humans since the day of the village massacre. Oh he killed them to be sure, but they usually deserved it, and that was different. He was not the mad killer she thought him to be, but his pride would not tell her that. He was the male, the alpha, the lord... she would come to him. So he remained in the feudal era and the ice around his heart built, the ice that few looked past.So it went on. Every few decades he found her, no matter where she hid and he asked her to return. She denied him and when she asked for the lives of men, he denied her. So they battled, and each time it was a reaffirmation that the love remained as did the obstacles and the spell that held them. A reaffirmation that neither would slay the other.On rare occasions before swords were drawn she would come to his arms and he would love her, wishing that it would last, that she would conceive his child and return to the palace. The child never came and neither did her surrender. They were both so very proud and oh how they suffered for it.