InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Angel ❯ Arrival ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter Five:

Arrival

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The sun was just beginning to set over the Northern lands as Kagome checked on her last patient. She'd been able to save them all. Most of the injured had only a small but deadly amounts of poison in their systems, nowhere near as bad as the first male. Healing and recovery had come swiftly each taking less time and power to relieve the sufferer of the dark substance.

Thinking of the first soldier, Kagome walked over to the bed where he rested over in the corner of the infirmary.

Reaching out she placed a palm against his forehead to check for any sign of a fever. He seemed to have suffered the worst of the attacks. He was the only patient that had had the poison grip his major organs in an attempt to remain in the body.

Kagome was grateful that none of the others had suffered so.

She didn't like to see people suffering.

She was glad when she detected no fever ravaged his body, though he still looked a bit drawn and pale.

He woke every couple of hours and when he did so, he was too tired to say much or do anything other than eat the porridge fed to him and sip a little water. He seemed to be completely drained of energy; however, his body was slowly but surely beginning to heal its self and every hour he seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.

That was good news at least.

The last twelve hours had been busy and stressful. She'd barely slept for more than a few hours before anxiety brought her from a restless sleep. With all the lives she had been able to save, the lack of sleep had been well worth it.

She was the Lady of the Northern lands, it was her honor and duty to serve her people, to assist them in any way that she could.

As she left the infirmary she swayed a bit and leaned against the door frame.

Now that the adrenaline rush had left her body, she felt drained and tired.

Reaching up, she wiped at her eyes tiredly. She really needed to sit down.

Feeling a bit light headed, she headed towards her study. Her steps felt sluggish as if weights were tied to her ankles. The servants seemed to take notice of their Lady's tiredness, for more than one of them stopped to ask if she was alright and if she needed anything.

When Kagome smiled and shook her head no, the servants bowed, but watched her leave with concern in their eyes.

As she passed through the great hall another feeling of dread passed through her, something was going to happen, again, and soon. Stopping for a moment as the feeling overwhelmed her; Kagome leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

It felt as though the weight of the world rested upon her shoulders.

Would it never end?

She was growing extremely tired of this feeling of impending doom. Every time one crisis ended it seemed as though another one was just beginning and to tell the truth she was getting sick of it.

"My Lady, are you alright?"

Kagome opened her eyes at the sound of the voice to see one of the young serving maids standing across from her, eyeing her with worry. Straightening from the wall and throwing a bright smile on her face, Kagome nodded to the maid.

"Yes, I am quite alright, just a bit tired," Kagome assured the young woman.

The maid didn't look very convinced.

"Are you sure, my Lady? If you are not feeling well, I can go and retrieve General Rykotsu and-"

"No, no, that won't be necessary," Kagome said hastily to the woman, "There is no need to bother him. I'm just fine,"

As the maid reluctantly curtsied and left, Kagome turned and continued on her path to her study. If there was indeed another problem on the horizon, then there was really nothing she could do at the moment until she knew what the problem was and how it could be fixed.

Sighing she decided whatever happened she'd meet it full force.

Entering her study she was surprised to see Miroku and Rykotsu, waiting for her. Miroku sat on the edge of the desk while Rykotsu stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall near one of the many floor length windows in her study.

"My Lady," they said in unison as they both straightened and bowed to her in respect.

"Miroku, General, what brings you here?" she asked as she walked over to the large, overstuffed chair behind the mahogany desk.

She had to stifle a sigh of satisfaction and relief as she took a seat, her tired muscles relaxing and unwinding.

"My Lady, you've been able to heal those wounded, have you not?" Miroku asked.

"Yes, I've just finished caring for the last soldier."

"How it was that you were able to accomplish this? I had no idea you had such powers," Miroku questioned.

Smiling tiredly, Kagome explained, "To tell you the truth I'm not sure myself. My hands glowed red and my sight hazed, and I could actually see the disease as it traveled in the body."

"I believe what you saw was the Kurio Shi," Rykotsu said.

"Kurio Shi?"

"Aye, it is the poison created from the monsters or Ra Ku Youki or the poison from the Yurei, it is called Kurio Shi. The poison moves and behaves as though it has a mind of its own, which in a way, it does," Miroku explained, "We've been able to recover some scrolls with more information. It seems that these monsters can be summoned by any powerful being that can endure the ceremony."

"Any powerful being that can handle it?"

Oh this just got better and better didn't it?

There were many powerful beings; anyone could be behind these attacks.

Kagome folded her arms upon the table and laid her head down as the weight upon her shoulders began to get even heavier to carry. It was times like these that she questioned her role as the Northern Lady.

She wondered, what would her life would have been like if she wasn't Lady of the Northern lands, if she didn't have these visions, if she didn't have miko abilities?

Would she be happy, as a normal woman?

Free to have a family, children, a life in which she didn't have to sacrifice herself on a regular basis, where the only problems she would have was choosing which kimono brought out the golden flecks in her brown eyes or what she would cook for dinner.

As soon as those thoughts entered her head, she flushed with shame.

Who was she kidding?

If she had the choice between being a normal woman with a normal life or staying as she was now, she knew she could not, with a clean conscious, throw away the life she now lived. She was Lady here; she would do her people proud and be strong.

They were counting on her; she would not let them down.

Kagome straightened as the two males patted her hand and shoulder in comfort. Kagome smiled and thanked the two, taking comfort in their unending support. She knew, as long as she had those two at her side, she knew she would be alright.

"There has to be a way to narrow it down isn't there?" she asked, turning them back to the matter at hand.

There was a lengthy silence as the two males shared a look, clearly not wanting to divulge some very important and most likely unpleasant information with her.

Finally General Rykotsu spoke.

"We have a theory but I fear you will like it not any better than either of us."

Bracing herself she nodded for General Rykotsu to continue.

"As you know, the monsters can be summoned by a powerful being. There are many a powerful individual in the world, but any being able to summon such creatures would have to have the strength and power of a Lord."

Going still, Kagome sat stunned at his words. It couldn't be, please let him not say what was currently going through her head.

"What are you implying General Rykotsu?"

Clearing his throat he stood straighter and spoke the dreaded words.

"My Lady, we have to consider the possibility that one of the Lords of the Western, Eastern or Southern lands could be the master minds behind these creatures and attacks. I know that it is not a very…pleasant thought, but it is something we must consider. We cannot afford to rule any of them out without proof of their innocence,"

Sighing Kagome rested her head in her hands and massaged her temples. Gods, such an accusation could result in war. Surely any Lord would take offense to being implicated in the string of attacks being committed by these beasts.

She was already on thin ice with all three Lords, and was pretty sure they would not take well to being accused by an absentee Northern Lord.

Sending Miroku to inform them of the situation would only make things worse. Hell they might even think she'd orchestrated the whole thing considering they didn't know her from a hole in the wall.

What a disaster.

Seeing her stress, Miroku laid his hand on her shoulder, wincing at the tension he felt in her delicate form.

"Kagome, nothing is certain yet, it is only a theory."

She sighed, "I know"

"Why don't you rest, My Lady, we will speak on this matter at a later time," the General suggested.

Kagome looked over at her General who nodded and then back to Miroku who helped her stand.

"Alright, I'll rest; tomorrow we will speak more on this. Good night gentlemen."

As the two bowed to her, Kagome headed out the door and up to her bedroom. She needed a nice long soak to mull over all she had learned and what course she could take to put an easy and tidy end to this rapidly brewing problem.

~~~~~~~~~~

The tired group that entered the Northern Territory was bloody and bruised. The battle with the unknown beasts had taken them by surprise.

None of the three Lords could ever recall seeing so many of the creatures before, and the poison they left behind only deepened the mystery. It was the poison that had the group rushing towards the Northern castle. The injured soldiers seemed to be slowly dying from the inside out and no amount of treating them with their limited knowledge of healing seemed to help.

Nothing seemed to help.

The pain they experienced had to be excruciating judging by the screams and groans admitting from the fallen males. The only thing they could do now was hope that the Northern Lord was familiar with the poison and had a cure for it. The attacks had occurred on his lands; he surely had to have some knowledge of the beasts and their poisons.

The castle came into sight within a half hour.

"We've arrived," Yamiko huffed with relief.

His men had suffered the worst of the attacks and he was eager to get them into the castle's infirmary. He knew there was no chance his men would survive if the Northern Lord had no knowledge of how to cure the poison, and from what he had seen of his men, he couldn't imagine that anyone who had suffered this disease had ever come back from it.

It was too terrible, the poison spreading too quickly, the pain too intense.

Stamping down his useless fury, he hurried to the Northern castle and came upon gates that blocked the entrance to salvation. Atop the gates, guards stood looking down at the group, archers at their sides with arrows strung and waiting for the new comers to make the wrong move.

"Who are ye and what do ye here?" One of the guards bellowed down, his voice echoing.

Yamiko cursed silently under his breath. Their banners had been destroyed in the battle with the beasts. Had the banners been raised, he had no doubt that the guards would not have hesitated in opening the gates to them.

"Open the gates!" he bellowed out to the guards above.

The guards looked down upon him, suspicion apparent in their eyes.

"What business have ye here?" one guard asked.

Frustrated Yamiko's temper exploded, "I am Lord Yamiko of the Southern lands, and I demand that you allow me entrance at once! My men are injured and we seek refuge here!"

Both guards looked at each other in nervous uncertainty.

Having had more than enough of the back and forth argument, Sesshomaru made his move.

Sesshomaru stepped forward, moving so fast that the guards had only a fleeting glace of white silk before he glided up to the look out. Both guards placed their hands over their swords, but one look into the cold, soulless, amber eyes, and they removed their hands.

He'd kill them both before they even drew their blade. Turning, one of the guards shouted down to the guards on the other side of the gates.

"O-open the gates!"

The large gates swung open, allowing the newcomers entrance.

A stable boy watched as the soldiers slowly made their way towards the castle. He was no more than ten, and had been serving as a stable boy since the age of seven. His parents had died long before he reached the age of three, and he had been taken in by an old couple that served in the Northern castle.

He had no idea who the males were, as no one important ever visited the Northern lands, but he didn't think they were up to anything good.

The young boy did not like the look of those males, especially the tall male with long silver hair and cold golden eyes. He had to warn his Lady before it was too late. Those men looked like trouble.

Backing up slowly, the boy turned and ran towards the back entrance of the castle where the servants entered, up six flights of stairs, made his way through maze like hallways before finding Lady Kagome's study. Without missing a beat, he burst through the large double doors.

"Lady Kagome!"

A maid was dusting the room and turned in surprise as the doors banged against the walls. Seeing the little boy at the door, the maid placed her hands on her hips and scowled.

"What are ye doing in m'Lady's study?" the female scolded, waging a finger at him, "Ye should not be carrying on so,"

"Where is my Lady?" the boy asked hurriedly, "There are men here! They could be trouble!"

"Trouble you say?" the maid asked worriedly, "She is bathing. What-"

Shouting interrupted her question. Below, the sound of males and booted feet made its way up to their ears.

"What in the world?" the maid wondered.

"It's the men! They've come!" the boy said.

Both boy and maid hurried out the double doors and into the hall. They leaned over the rail to see what the noise was about. Down below, wounded soldiers were being carried in and lead to the infirmary. Three males in particular stood out among the chaos. The males were dressed in elaborate and expensive kimonos. One had green hair and yellow eyes and looked as handsome as a devil. He was very agitated and animated in his anger as he followed the soldiers to the infirmary.

Another had black hair and deep blue eyes. He seemed calm and collected; the opposite of the green haired male as he too followed the injured and dying soldiers.

It was the last male that drew her attention, the silver haired amber eyed male that sent a chill up her spine. He seemed to be cold and aloof, and yet completely in control of the chaos around him. He commanded with a simple look, without having to utter a single word. The intimidated servants of the Northern lands scrambled to do his bidding.

"I will warn, my Lady," the maid said before turning and hastily sprinting towards Lady Kagome's private chambers.

~~~~~~~~~

A young woman with black hair and glowing crimson eyes sat upon a stone watching as the male standing in the middle of the ceremonial ruins screamed and screamed as his body began to reform and heal from the strenuous task of resurrecting the monsters that terrorized the land.

A bright light blinded her for a moment.

She turned away, raising her arm to shade her eyes from the intensity of it. The light lasted only a moment, before it faded away. She still didn't understand what caused him to repeat this painful ritual time and time again.

Only a few days old, she did not seem to understand a lot of things. Though there was one thing she understood completely was pain.

It was a living breathing thing, this…pain.

And from her short time with Naraku, she knew she did not like this pain.

It hurt.

And to her great displeasure, there were different kinds of pain. There was pain caused by a knife or blade, there was pain caused by a fist, there was pain caused by words, there was pain caused by starvation and then there was the worst type of pain.

The pain he caused with that thing between his legs. That thing he shoved inside of her night after night, that horrible pain while he caused other pains at the same time. How she hated him.

But not as much as the male that created her.

She hated him even more.

For him, her hatred knew no bounds.

He had created her solely to be used and abused by his pet snake. Her hands clenched. Even though she was barely a week old, she had knowledge of certain things, obtained from her master, Vishious.

She knew why she had been created and that her creator was even crueler than the being she had been given to, and if she thought about it, she had actually gotten the lesser of two evils. But even that fact was not enough to stem her misery.

And she was miserable.

Even though she had never really experienced happiness to know that she was not happy, she knew that this life she was living was not one she enjoyed.

It was strange trying to match words with feelings.

She knew the word pain, and had experienced it. She knew the words happiness, contentment, joy and yet she knew not what those emotions felt like and knew she probably never would.

Kagura turned back to the male as he crumpled to the ground.

From his body, think dark mist arouse and moved a few feet away from the fallen male. Slowly, the mist began to take the shape of a tall rectangle. The sound of growls erupted and the air seemed to become intensified by energy, bringing heat and humidity. From within the misty rectangle, a clawed hand emerged, sinking its claws into the dirt. Kagura watched as another similar hand followed the action.

Slowly, a beast emerged from the mist, dragging itself from the dark fog, while another pair of hands made itself visible. Eyes wide, Kagura wondered, as she always did, where those beasts came from and what was behind that mist. It seemed to be a portal of some kind. A portal to where she could not even begin to imagine.

She was sure it was a portal to that place called Hell.

She knew that word as well and hoped she never had to match the location with the word. Hell did not sound like a good place to be and she certainly did not wish to see what resided in its depths.

Three beasts emerged and the mist faded away into nothing.

The three barely spared her a glance before they went stalking off to the forest and disappearing into the thick green trees and bushes.

Sighing, Kagura slid from the rock she sat upon and made her way over to the male still lying on the floor. The scent of his blood teased her nose, and despite herself, she scrunched her nose in distaste.

The sight of Naraku brought even more distaste.

His body was covered in blood, and deep lines pierced his skin. Pieces of his skin were missing, and some spots of skin seemed to have been burned away. His face was drained of color and bloody, his dark hair mussed and crinkling where it had been singed by heat.

He looked like shit warmed over twice.

The male was unconscious, but Kagura knew the drill. Pushing down her revulsion at having to touch him, she gathered him in her arms and yanked a feather from her hair.

Tossing it in the air, she focused her energy on the soft white object.

A gust of wind surrounded the two, lifting them from the ground. The feather grew in size and glided beneath the two as a gust of wind blew them upwards towards the sky. They traveled at a leisurely pace towards the small hut where the two of them resided. Within a moments they landed in front of the hut.

The feather returned to normal size with a poof and a gust of wind slowly lowered them to the soft green grass.

Detangling herself from him, she walked into the hut to make sure everything she needed was ready before walking back outside leaning down and scooping him up. A small grunt escaped his dry lips as she lifted him effortlessly and slugged him over her shoulder.

She grimaced as his blood dripped onto her kimono.

She could feel the warm, stickiness through the rough material of her kimono, and her stomach clenched in revulsion.

She hated his touch….she hated him.

If she could have her way, she would be perfectly happy to leave him upon the cold hard ground to rot or maybe leave him to the beasts and animals that roamed the land looking for easy prey. Surely, in his weakened condition he would not be able to fend off an attack.

But she knew she'd suffer more at the hands of her creator than at the hands of the unconscious snake.

A chill went up her spine as she thought of his wrath if she were to do such a thing. Vishious was a true monster in every way shape and form. She would rather endure abuse at the hands of Naraku than her 'father'.

Stepping through the thin covering of the doorway, she stepped inside and headed for the room that served as a bed chamber.

She laid him down upon the futon and set to work.

First, she removed his kimono and hakamas and tossed them into the hearth on the other side of the room, where a fire was burning cheerfully. The clothing burned quickly, making the fire burn even brighter. Turning back to Naraku, she pulled a bowl of warm water and cleaning cloth closer to her. Taking the cloth from the water, she rung it out and began to clean up the unconscious male.

Once cleaned, she carefully rubbed healing salve over the numerous cuts and gashes before she bandaged his wounds tightly. He remained blissfully asleep through the entire process, which was not unusual at all.

He usually did.

Finished with her handiwork, she stood and left the futon, walked over to the small trunk. She opened the trunk and took out a bathing cloth and soap before heading for the hot springs behind the hut to wash his putrid blood from her person.

Gods she hated that male.

Once at the springs, she disrobed and bathed quietly, scrubbing her skin bright red. When she felt sufficiently clean, she filled a pail over and over with water and rinsed off. When the last of the suds were gone, she walked into the warm water. The hot water pouring over her skin felt nice and she sighed in contentment as she leaned against the edge of the spring and closed her eyes.

She would take this time to relax before she had to attend that dreaded snake again.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome took a deep breath before she sank down into the hot water, letting it close over head. Eyes closed, Kagome held her breath as the heat of the water seemed to sink into her skin, into her very bones, loosening tense muscles.

It felt nice to be able to relax.

With everything that was going on, she knew there would be few chances for her to actually have a chance to breathe.

After a moment, Kagome broke to the surface of the water and took in a breath. Wading through the water, she moved towards the edge of the tub and picked up the liquid mix of massaging oil. Kagome opened the small brown jar and poured the light blue liquid into her hand, dipped it in the water and rubbed it together before rubbing the substance over her arms, neck and face.

As the smell of lilacs and jasmine filled her nose, she sighed, trying to keep the problems of the world at bay.

It didn't work.

She could not help but worry about the possibility that one of the other three Territory Lords were behind the attacks. The implications were staggering. If it turned out that it was true, and that one of them was behind the attack, all hell would break loose.

The Northern lands was strong, its military was second only to the Western military, but even she knew she could not stand against the combined force of the Western, Southern, and Eastern military, and there was no way in hell she would put her soldiers in a situation where they would needlessly be slaughtered.

If she was to accuse one or more of the Territory Lords, she would have to have solid proof, not theories.

Kagome took a deep breathe and ducked under the hot water. For long moments she allowed the silence to sooth her.

Coming up for air, Kagome folded her arms on the edge of the tub and laid her head down. Closing her eyes, she let her worries drift away for a while. She needed to relax for a little while…just for a little while…

"My Lady! My Lady!"

Kagome started at the loud pounding on her door, nearly drowning as she looked around, a bit dazed before she realized she was still in the tub. She'd dozed off for a bit in the relaxing water.

Kagome sat up, wiping the water from her eyes and face.

"What is it?" she called out to the servant at the other side of the door.

"Men have arrived, my Lady! They claim to be the Western, Southern and Eastern Lords, they've brought soldiers with them, many of which are injured."

Stunned at the news, Kagome shot up from the spring and dashed for her cloths. As she hurried into her clothing, her mind raced with this thought and that, not sure what to actually think.

Could it be true?

Could they really be here?

"I'll be there in but a moment!"

From all that had occurred in the last few weeks, she had to admit that it was indeed possible. Gods this must have been what the feeling of impending doom had been about! Things could not get any worse!

Heart pounding, Kagome dressed with trembling fingers.

What the fuck were they doing here?

~~~~~~~~~~~

The infirmary was packed once more with the injured. A servant had shown them to the medical building, and as everyone settled down Sesshomaru surveyed the room.

It was very large with rows and rows of beds, all freshly washed and made up; it didn't have the lingering scent of illness and death like his own infirmary, but rather smelled of fresh herbs instead. A young man he recognized as the proxy that the Northern Lord had sent only weeks before, and behind him a tall male in armor Sesshomaru assumed was the General entered into the infirmary.

He had yet to see the Northern Lord himself.

Wasting no time Sesshomaru got right to the point.

"Where is your healer?'' he demanded.

Before either male could respond, the sound of running feet reached their ears, and the scent of lilac tickled his nose.

The doors burst open. All eyes turned to the new comer. As brown eyes met with amber Sesshomaru felt his blood simmer, then turn into an all out boil.

The compulsion to take the female and claim her as his was so strong, stronger than he'd ever felt in his long, long life.

Who was this female that would soon belong to him?

She was so breathtaking that his mind actually went blank.

Her thick dark hair curled wetly around her face and body, her eyes big brown eyes wide and expressive, lush red lips slightly agape in surprise.

Her face was flawless, her lips like ripe red cherries he wanted to devour, white pearl skin that looked soft and delicate, generous breast heaving from exertion, making his hands itch to caress those bountiful tits, small slim waist flaring out into well rounded hips.

He could imagine grabbing those hips and pounding himself hard into that tight little body.

"What going on here?" she demanded.

He raised a silver brow.

'She would dare speak in such a manner in room full of powerful males?'

Judging from the authoritarian way she spoke, and the boldness with which she attempted to take control of the situation, this one would offer a bit of a challenge. He would enjoy breaking her, molding her, bending her to his will.

There was no doubt about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Revisions have been made. See ya!

Laters!

~Sessakag