InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bindings of the Blood ❯ The Cursed Seal ( Chapter 17 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Shadow15 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.19.2006 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 429 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Adventure | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.19.2006 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.6K | Visits: 429 | Status: Completed
I don’t own any Inuyasha characters!
Chapter Seventeen
The Cursed Seal
Kagome’s eyes fluttered as she tried to bite back a gasp of pain. “Sesshou..” she buried her face into his hakama and sighed, her pain lessening a bit. His scent was soothing to her and he could see that as well. Wrapping his arms more securely around her, he stared at his own parents. “Do you know what that scum did to her?” he snarled. Both of them shook their heads. They may have been well knowledgeable, but they had no slightest clue what was wrong with their beloved godchild. “Iie Sess. We do not know.” Mira replied. Midoriko and Hiro came closer to them. “The only way that we will really know what we are dealing with is if we study the mark, and our libraries.” Hiro solemnly said. Kagome shivered as pain wracked her body again. “Sesshou…Help me…It hurts…so bad..” She gasped, and tears rolled down her face.
Midoriko’s heart constricted as she saw her daughter crying in pain in Sesshoumaru’s lap. “We must have her sleep for now. Sesshoumaru, you have to be near her as well because your presence calms her.” Sesshoumaru rose with Kagome in his arms. “Very well.” The swish of his hair and the clicking of his black boot clad feet, indicated that he was walking down the corridors to his own room. He knew that it would be easier to keep watch on her there anyway, and that scum of a hanyou wouldn’t be there.
Inuyasha protested grandly as soon as both of them left. “Why in the hell does Sesshoumaru have to be near Kagome? He’s just a fucking bastard anyway, wanting everything that I have…” He growled at the look that Mira was giving him. “What? It’s true! The fucking bastard has no friends, and he always goes after my Tetsusaiga…and if it’s not that, it’s my life.” Mira gasped. “He’s not like that Inuyasha, he’s only looking after you.” Inuyasha’s eyes took a serious tint to them. “Looking after me? He’ll look after me when hell freezes over and he knows it. He’s almost said the same thing himself.” Sango and Miroku grabbed Inuyasha’s sleeves. “Don’t worry Mira-san, Inuyasha didn’t mean it, his mouth always gets the better of him…And I think that bitter memories were the cause of it as well.” They drug him off into the castle to the gardens that were nearby their rooms.
“The bitter memories that the taijiya was talking about…They were when your former mate Izayoi was killed were they not?” Hiro asked softly. Inutaisho nodded dully. “Hai.” Midoriko grabbed her mate’s arm. Looking at Inutaisho and Mira, she gave them a small smile. “Let’s go inside.”
The four of them sat down at the large table in the library. “We should look for all the books on seals, it’s the best thing to do right now.” Hiro said as he looked at the rows and rows of books. All four of them nodded and Midoriko sighed. “I should go and check what exactly that we’re dealing with. I’ll be back.” closing the door tightly behind her, she walked swiftly to Sesshoumaru’s room, where she could sense both Sesshoumaru’s and Kagome’s aura’s.
Knocking on the door, she waited for the brief “Come in” and walked in quietly. “How is she?” Her eyes were trained on Kagome’s sleeping body that was cuddled up next to Sesshoumaru. “She’s in pain.” Kagome’s tail unfurled itself from Sesshoumaru’s waist, and tried to reach for Midoriko. “Kaasan…” It sounded like she was trying to hold tears back, and she was deathly tired as well. Midoriko sat down beside her daughter and grasped her hand. “I’m here Kagome. I’m here.” She was at a loss. Not knowing what to do for her pain, she simply brushed back her bangs and cooed softly to her.
This did a little to comfort her, and Midoriko lifted a hand to her chest. “Sesshoumaru, have you seen what this seal on her hip looks like? This is important.” Sesshoumaru’s cold stare was all the answer that she needed. “I see.” Thankfully for her, Kagome’s right hip was tilted towards her. Pulling down the bottom half of Kagome’s intricate kimono just enough to reveal milky white skin and an unusual seal that she hadn’t seen before, she took every detail in. It almost covered her whole right hip, and she placed her hands over it, not knowing if she would be thrown back in rejection.
Black sparks of Naraku’s youki mixed with his sickening aura emanated from the strange seal and burned her hands, causing Midoriko to gasp in pain. “I can’t get any closer to it.” She inspected the burns on her hands and scowled. “It’s just like Naraku to do this. Some of that seal has miasma fused within it. It’s causing Kagome extreme pain.”
Sesshoumaru let out a snarl and buried his nose in Kagome’s hair to calm himself. Looking at him with sympathetic eyes, knowing exactly what he was going through possibly even more, she sighed softly. “Now that I know what it actually looks like, and that Naraku’s miasma is fused within it, We can hopefully get somewhere. Take care of her.” The door closed quietly, and the room was half shrouded in darkness.
Gripping Sesshoumaru’s haori, Kagome’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him with exhaustion. “Sesshou? What happened?” His voice was slightly strained as he spoke of Naraku, knowing that if the scum of a hanyou dared to show his face here again, he wouldn’t come out of that fight alive. “The hanyou put some sort of seal on your right hip. We have no idea what kind, but what we do know is that it’s fused with his miasma and youki. Your mother thinks that’s what’s causing you pain.”
Hot, stinging tears rolled down her face. “I don’t think that’s all of this stupid thing! Sesshou, I can’t feel my miko powers anymore! I think that’s why it hurts so bad…” She cried out loudly as a wave of pain assaulted her body. “My miko powers kept my youkai powers at bay until I needed them. Without them, I don’t know what’ll happen!” Sesshoumaru brought his hand up and wiped her tears gently off of her cheeks. “We’ll find a way to fix it.” He told her in a low tone as his molten gold eyes stared deep into hers. Sniffling, she nodded, and bit her lip as she thought in her first pain free moments that she could enjoy. “What am I going to do?” She whispered softly as she buried her head into the pillow that they were resting on.
With both of their eyes closing slowly, they succumbed to a light sleep. The pain was still present within Kagome’s facial features, but when Sesshoumaru had wrapped his arms around her to bring her closer to him, that had soothed her immensely.
Inutaisho looked up as the door opened to show Midoriko’s figure. “How is she fairing? And did you get a good look at it?” Midoriko sat down wordlessly and closed her eyes. “That strange seal is fused with Naraku’s miasma. It’s causing Kagome immense pain. It also seems to reject anyone of a holy lineage. To keep her calm, Sesshoumaru is staying with her. I think that she finds comfort in his presence, she doesn’t want to be alone.” Inutaisho, Mira, and Hiro smiled at that.
“So my boy is finally showing some emotions towards his intended mate? This is splendid! But for the circumstances…” He paused as he took in the fact that Naraku was behind almost every horrible thing that happened to his goddaughter’s friend’s and her own life now. “The seal rejected you? If it rejected you, it must be doing something to Kagome’s miko powers…But what exactly? I know that she’s in pain, but we need more information on this.” Inutaisho said as he stared at Midoriko.
Mira nodded. “Yes, you’re right about that. But Taisho, If I remember correctly, her powers amazingly balance out, and they don’t attack each other. But if one was to run rampant…” Both Midoriko’s and Hiro’s eyes had widened considerably. “That bastard! That was his idea all along?! If one side of Kagome’s powers was to go rampant within her body, specifically her youkai, it would cause pain, her conscious side of herself would be launched to the back of her mind, and her bestial side would take over. But, having Sesshoumaru with her is helping her calm these effects. He is going to have to stay with her, or we’ll all have the angered bestial side of Kagome on our hands, one that wants Naraku dead.”
Mira’s soft voice floated through their ears. “We should search through these books for the correct information quickly then. I am not about to let my goddaughter to become lost within her own youki and her own beast.”
A drawing of the intricate seal was placed on the table before them by Midoriko. Now knowing what it actually looked like, they scoured the many books that were in the immense library. It seemed to be to no avail as they went through several shelves of books that were all on seals of different kinds. Several hours later, with many books stacked on the ground and on top of the long library table, Mira growled angrily. “There’s nothing on this particular seal and Naraku knows this. Sess has one of the most extensive libraries in all of the four lands.”
Hiro’s fists clenched in his anger. “We should check up on Kagome. Also, we should see if anything about this seal is in Youko’s library. He collects books on many exotic things, and the more practical things that are useful to him.” Inutaisho nodded. “Hai. We seem to be at a standstill with this right now. It seems to be the most logical thing to do right now.” All of them got up and walked out of the room. Swiftly walking to her son’s room, she smiled as she heard a slightly groggy but unmistakably “Come in hahaue” Quietly, she walked in and saw that Sesshoumaru was snuggled against Kagome, and he had his arms around her. Smiling a little, she sat down on a futon parallel to the bed that they were on.
“Sesshou, there’s nothing in your library about the seal on Kagome.” she stated softly. His eyes snapped to his mother. “I expected something of the sort.” Mira looked at him with surprise. “You did?” He nodded. “Yes. The strange aura that surrounds it and the details that possibly contains it…None of the books that I have could have any information on it. Its possible that Youko could have scant information on it, but I doubt that he has anything on it as well.”
Her eyes widened a bit. “Well that really puts what we were going to do to another level…” Sesshoumaru shot her a semi-confused look. Choosing to elaborate, she sighed and began to talk in a low voice. “We were going to have you stay here with Kagome until we found at least something on the seal, but with the information that you just gave us, it seems almost stupid to do it. Instead, we will do anything to keep her calm and her youki under wraps.”
Nuzzling Kagome’s neck, Sesshoumaru growled softly. The rumbling growl reverberated against her skin and Kagome settled down, nuzzling back against his neck. The waves of pain that were evident earlier were now slowly starting to fade, and they were now bringing a dull pain that both Mira and Sesshoumaru could feel.
The slight swish of Mira’s kimono had indicated that she had left the room. He had paid no heed to it, all his attention was focused on Kagome, and what could possible be done. Mate’s in pain…we need to comfort mate! He growled at his bestial side but he couldn’t help but agree more. She was in pain and she needed comfort now more than ever.
The scent of salt was heavy in the air. It wasn’t extremely recent, and Sesshoumaru was grateful for that. He hated when she cried, and he tried to prevent anything from making the strong woman cry. Starting to toss and turn fitfully, Kagome cried out in pain. Sesshoumaru’s eye’s glittered red as they opened and he whispered in soft tones as he spoke to her. “Hush koshii…Sleep now.”
Watching as she fell back into a slow, restful sleep, he closed his eyes and fell into a light slumber as well.
Naraku’s Castle
Akira cautiously made his way around the mysterious castle, and as he rounded around a bend, he stopped dead in his tracks. The white figure of Kanna was standing in front of him, her mirror gleaming, and as he foolishly glanced into it, he saw everything that was wrong in his soul. To him, he was aghast. He was almost as corrupt as Naraku in his eyes, but to others, it wouldn’t be that bad.
Kanna’s head turned and she whispered faintly. “Naraku.” Akira looked behind her and finally noticed the corrupt hanyou, who was smirking at him. “Akira, I have a job for you to do.”
He glanced at him with some confusion and waited for him to continue speaking. “You will go back to Sesshoumaru’s castle, make them trust you. Destroy them from the inside out.” He said, and finished it off with a devilish grin. Akira nodded and left in a hurry, glad that he could get out of that oppressing place. As he finally got into fresh air, he took a big gulp and coughed. “Damn…That hanyou is nothing but trouble.”
--------------------------
Akira didn’t look back when he rushed out of Naraku’s castle, all he knew was to head back to Sesshoumaru’s castle, to where he knew it would be somewhat safe. His eyes narrowed in annoyance as he ran from the southwest border of the northern lands straight into the western lands. “I won’t be there until dusk…” He muttered, a bit angry at himself.
Just as the sun was beginning to set, he could see the huge white walls of Sesshoumaru’s castle looming ahead of him. Slowing down his pace, he growled as he noticed that the gates were drawn. “Halt! Who goes there!” Spoke a snow leopard youkai. This made Akira extremely irritated. “Ryousuke, Let me In. It’s Akira.” He growled. Ryousuke raised an eyebrow and sighed. “Well, you sound enough like regent Akira. “Open the gates!” The gates opened and as he saw Ryousuke’s face, he sighed and walked inside.
As he ascended the stairs, Inutaisho turned around with surprise. “Akira? What are you doing here?”
Chapter Seventeen
The Cursed Seal
Kagome’s eyes fluttered as she tried to bite back a gasp of pain. “Sesshou..” she buried her face into his hakama and sighed, her pain lessening a bit. His scent was soothing to her and he could see that as well. Wrapping his arms more securely around her, he stared at his own parents. “Do you know what that scum did to her?” he snarled. Both of them shook their heads. They may have been well knowledgeable, but they had no slightest clue what was wrong with their beloved godchild. “Iie Sess. We do not know.” Mira replied. Midoriko and Hiro came closer to them. “The only way that we will really know what we are dealing with is if we study the mark, and our libraries.” Hiro solemnly said. Kagome shivered as pain wracked her body again. “Sesshou…Help me…It hurts…so bad..” She gasped, and tears rolled down her face.
Midoriko’s heart constricted as she saw her daughter crying in pain in Sesshoumaru’s lap. “We must have her sleep for now. Sesshoumaru, you have to be near her as well because your presence calms her.” Sesshoumaru rose with Kagome in his arms. “Very well.” The swish of his hair and the clicking of his black boot clad feet, indicated that he was walking down the corridors to his own room. He knew that it would be easier to keep watch on her there anyway, and that scum of a hanyou wouldn’t be there.
Inuyasha protested grandly as soon as both of them left. “Why in the hell does Sesshoumaru have to be near Kagome? He’s just a fucking bastard anyway, wanting everything that I have…” He growled at the look that Mira was giving him. “What? It’s true! The fucking bastard has no friends, and he always goes after my Tetsusaiga…and if it’s not that, it’s my life.” Mira gasped. “He’s not like that Inuyasha, he’s only looking after you.” Inuyasha’s eyes took a serious tint to them. “Looking after me? He’ll look after me when hell freezes over and he knows it. He’s almost said the same thing himself.” Sango and Miroku grabbed Inuyasha’s sleeves. “Don’t worry Mira-san, Inuyasha didn’t mean it, his mouth always gets the better of him…And I think that bitter memories were the cause of it as well.” They drug him off into the castle to the gardens that were nearby their rooms.
“The bitter memories that the taijiya was talking about…They were when your former mate Izayoi was killed were they not?” Hiro asked softly. Inutaisho nodded dully. “Hai.” Midoriko grabbed her mate’s arm. Looking at Inutaisho and Mira, she gave them a small smile. “Let’s go inside.”
The four of them sat down at the large table in the library. “We should look for all the books on seals, it’s the best thing to do right now.” Hiro said as he looked at the rows and rows of books. All four of them nodded and Midoriko sighed. “I should go and check what exactly that we’re dealing with. I’ll be back.” closing the door tightly behind her, she walked swiftly to Sesshoumaru’s room, where she could sense both Sesshoumaru’s and Kagome’s aura’s.
Knocking on the door, she waited for the brief “Come in” and walked in quietly. “How is she?” Her eyes were trained on Kagome’s sleeping body that was cuddled up next to Sesshoumaru. “She’s in pain.” Kagome’s tail unfurled itself from Sesshoumaru’s waist, and tried to reach for Midoriko. “Kaasan…” It sounded like she was trying to hold tears back, and she was deathly tired as well. Midoriko sat down beside her daughter and grasped her hand. “I’m here Kagome. I’m here.” She was at a loss. Not knowing what to do for her pain, she simply brushed back her bangs and cooed softly to her.
This did a little to comfort her, and Midoriko lifted a hand to her chest. “Sesshoumaru, have you seen what this seal on her hip looks like? This is important.” Sesshoumaru’s cold stare was all the answer that she needed. “I see.” Thankfully for her, Kagome’s right hip was tilted towards her. Pulling down the bottom half of Kagome’s intricate kimono just enough to reveal milky white skin and an unusual seal that she hadn’t seen before, she took every detail in. It almost covered her whole right hip, and she placed her hands over it, not knowing if she would be thrown back in rejection.
Black sparks of Naraku’s youki mixed with his sickening aura emanated from the strange seal and burned her hands, causing Midoriko to gasp in pain. “I can’t get any closer to it.” She inspected the burns on her hands and scowled. “It’s just like Naraku to do this. Some of that seal has miasma fused within it. It’s causing Kagome extreme pain.”
Sesshoumaru let out a snarl and buried his nose in Kagome’s hair to calm himself. Looking at him with sympathetic eyes, knowing exactly what he was going through possibly even more, she sighed softly. “Now that I know what it actually looks like, and that Naraku’s miasma is fused within it, We can hopefully get somewhere. Take care of her.” The door closed quietly, and the room was half shrouded in darkness.
Gripping Sesshoumaru’s haori, Kagome’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him with exhaustion. “Sesshou? What happened?” His voice was slightly strained as he spoke of Naraku, knowing that if the scum of a hanyou dared to show his face here again, he wouldn’t come out of that fight alive. “The hanyou put some sort of seal on your right hip. We have no idea what kind, but what we do know is that it’s fused with his miasma and youki. Your mother thinks that’s what’s causing you pain.”
Hot, stinging tears rolled down her face. “I don’t think that’s all of this stupid thing! Sesshou, I can’t feel my miko powers anymore! I think that’s why it hurts so bad…” She cried out loudly as a wave of pain assaulted her body. “My miko powers kept my youkai powers at bay until I needed them. Without them, I don’t know what’ll happen!” Sesshoumaru brought his hand up and wiped her tears gently off of her cheeks. “We’ll find a way to fix it.” He told her in a low tone as his molten gold eyes stared deep into hers. Sniffling, she nodded, and bit her lip as she thought in her first pain free moments that she could enjoy. “What am I going to do?” She whispered softly as she buried her head into the pillow that they were resting on.
With both of their eyes closing slowly, they succumbed to a light sleep. The pain was still present within Kagome’s facial features, but when Sesshoumaru had wrapped his arms around her to bring her closer to him, that had soothed her immensely.
Inutaisho looked up as the door opened to show Midoriko’s figure. “How is she fairing? And did you get a good look at it?” Midoriko sat down wordlessly and closed her eyes. “That strange seal is fused with Naraku’s miasma. It’s causing Kagome immense pain. It also seems to reject anyone of a holy lineage. To keep her calm, Sesshoumaru is staying with her. I think that she finds comfort in his presence, she doesn’t want to be alone.” Inutaisho, Mira, and Hiro smiled at that.
“So my boy is finally showing some emotions towards his intended mate? This is splendid! But for the circumstances…” He paused as he took in the fact that Naraku was behind almost every horrible thing that happened to his goddaughter’s friend’s and her own life now. “The seal rejected you? If it rejected you, it must be doing something to Kagome’s miko powers…But what exactly? I know that she’s in pain, but we need more information on this.” Inutaisho said as he stared at Midoriko.
Mira nodded. “Yes, you’re right about that. But Taisho, If I remember correctly, her powers amazingly balance out, and they don’t attack each other. But if one was to run rampant…” Both Midoriko’s and Hiro’s eyes had widened considerably. “That bastard! That was his idea all along?! If one side of Kagome’s powers was to go rampant within her body, specifically her youkai, it would cause pain, her conscious side of herself would be launched to the back of her mind, and her bestial side would take over. But, having Sesshoumaru with her is helping her calm these effects. He is going to have to stay with her, or we’ll all have the angered bestial side of Kagome on our hands, one that wants Naraku dead.”
Mira’s soft voice floated through their ears. “We should search through these books for the correct information quickly then. I am not about to let my goddaughter to become lost within her own youki and her own beast.”
A drawing of the intricate seal was placed on the table before them by Midoriko. Now knowing what it actually looked like, they scoured the many books that were in the immense library. It seemed to be to no avail as they went through several shelves of books that were all on seals of different kinds. Several hours later, with many books stacked on the ground and on top of the long library table, Mira growled angrily. “There’s nothing on this particular seal and Naraku knows this. Sess has one of the most extensive libraries in all of the four lands.”
Hiro’s fists clenched in his anger. “We should check up on Kagome. Also, we should see if anything about this seal is in Youko’s library. He collects books on many exotic things, and the more practical things that are useful to him.” Inutaisho nodded. “Hai. We seem to be at a standstill with this right now. It seems to be the most logical thing to do right now.” All of them got up and walked out of the room. Swiftly walking to her son’s room, she smiled as she heard a slightly groggy but unmistakably “Come in hahaue” Quietly, she walked in and saw that Sesshoumaru was snuggled against Kagome, and he had his arms around her. Smiling a little, she sat down on a futon parallel to the bed that they were on.
“Sesshou, there’s nothing in your library about the seal on Kagome.” she stated softly. His eyes snapped to his mother. “I expected something of the sort.” Mira looked at him with surprise. “You did?” He nodded. “Yes. The strange aura that surrounds it and the details that possibly contains it…None of the books that I have could have any information on it. Its possible that Youko could have scant information on it, but I doubt that he has anything on it as well.”
Her eyes widened a bit. “Well that really puts what we were going to do to another level…” Sesshoumaru shot her a semi-confused look. Choosing to elaborate, she sighed and began to talk in a low voice. “We were going to have you stay here with Kagome until we found at least something on the seal, but with the information that you just gave us, it seems almost stupid to do it. Instead, we will do anything to keep her calm and her youki under wraps.”
Nuzzling Kagome’s neck, Sesshoumaru growled softly. The rumbling growl reverberated against her skin and Kagome settled down, nuzzling back against his neck. The waves of pain that were evident earlier were now slowly starting to fade, and they were now bringing a dull pain that both Mira and Sesshoumaru could feel.
The slight swish of Mira’s kimono had indicated that she had left the room. He had paid no heed to it, all his attention was focused on Kagome, and what could possible be done. Mate’s in pain…we need to comfort mate! He growled at his bestial side but he couldn’t help but agree more. She was in pain and she needed comfort now more than ever.
The scent of salt was heavy in the air. It wasn’t extremely recent, and Sesshoumaru was grateful for that. He hated when she cried, and he tried to prevent anything from making the strong woman cry. Starting to toss and turn fitfully, Kagome cried out in pain. Sesshoumaru’s eye’s glittered red as they opened and he whispered in soft tones as he spoke to her. “Hush koshii…Sleep now.”
Watching as she fell back into a slow, restful sleep, he closed his eyes and fell into a light slumber as well.
Naraku’s Castle
Akira cautiously made his way around the mysterious castle, and as he rounded around a bend, he stopped dead in his tracks. The white figure of Kanna was standing in front of him, her mirror gleaming, and as he foolishly glanced into it, he saw everything that was wrong in his soul. To him, he was aghast. He was almost as corrupt as Naraku in his eyes, but to others, it wouldn’t be that bad.
Kanna’s head turned and she whispered faintly. “Naraku.” Akira looked behind her and finally noticed the corrupt hanyou, who was smirking at him. “Akira, I have a job for you to do.”
He glanced at him with some confusion and waited for him to continue speaking. “You will go back to Sesshoumaru’s castle, make them trust you. Destroy them from the inside out.” He said, and finished it off with a devilish grin. Akira nodded and left in a hurry, glad that he could get out of that oppressing place. As he finally got into fresh air, he took a big gulp and coughed. “Damn…That hanyou is nothing but trouble.”
--------------------------
Akira didn’t look back when he rushed out of Naraku’s castle, all he knew was to head back to Sesshoumaru’s castle, to where he knew it would be somewhat safe. His eyes narrowed in annoyance as he ran from the southwest border of the northern lands straight into the western lands. “I won’t be there until dusk…” He muttered, a bit angry at himself.
Just as the sun was beginning to set, he could see the huge white walls of Sesshoumaru’s castle looming ahead of him. Slowing down his pace, he growled as he noticed that the gates were drawn. “Halt! Who goes there!” Spoke a snow leopard youkai. This made Akira extremely irritated. “Ryousuke, Let me In. It’s Akira.” He growled. Ryousuke raised an eyebrow and sighed. “Well, you sound enough like regent Akira. “Open the gates!” The gates opened and as he saw Ryousuke’s face, he sighed and walked inside.
As he ascended the stairs, Inutaisho turned around with surprise. “Akira? What are you doing here?”