InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodlust: Purity ❯ We Begin Again ( Chapter 16 )

From the reedy bushes along Rin and Kinawai's new path into the trees, the rustle and the voice revealed themselves to be a human man, wearing samurai armor but in different color than the men Kinawai had killed. He stepped forward, holding his hands open, showing that he held no weapon, and reached out with words.

“You have been attacked, and so you do not trust us, Lord. I know this well; my people and I are among those who pay you the tax for protection, and because we would not break oath, we wander as you see us. Does that win your trust?”
Kinawai searched the brush with quick, probing eyes. This was not just a group of warriors; men, women, children all walked there - the old, the sick, and the lame, bound to each other by need. They were pressed back into the undergrowth, trying to be unobtrusive and smelling of fear and the forest.

“How long have you been watching?”

The smile that greeted him was surprising.

“Long enough to see your victory and be glad, Lord.”

Darkness filled in the smile.

“Those who hunt you hunt my people, since we still call you Lord. In this time, we are as one against them - oath breakers!”

“How long have you and your people been wandering?”

Kinawai cradled the air with his nose, testing the finer tendrils.

“You smell of blood. Were you attacked?”

The headman grinned at him, and lifted his spear, which was still darkly stained.

“Many times, lord, but it is not our blood you smell. One group of warriors which was sent to attack you found us first - in this way we learned that our lives are deemed forfeit, just as yours is.”

Kinawai settled back onto his haunches, and gestured for the man and his warriors to do the same. Behind them, there was a barely discernible rush of noise as the reeds parted and the other villagers let down their burdens.

“Tell me your story, and your name.”

The man kowtowed gratefully, and sank to the forest floor.

“My name is Hiramaki Toshiro, Lord, and I am headman of one lowly village that lives under your protection. In recent weeks, many more demons than usual have been active, and they wished only to spill human blood. My warriors and I are proud of our prowess, Lord, and we have often fought off oni who sought to destroy our village, but the worst attack of demons that I have ever seen or heard of was beyond our skill.

“A few of our men were killed in the fields, before the rest of us noticed and shouted warning, but there were hundreds of youkai, blotting out the sky. On the edge of the forest that comes down the mountain to border our field, a woman appeared, a miko with two apprentices, and with arrows and the holy light they drove away the demons.”

Toshiro paused.

“I will tell you, Lord, that I was grateful for those miko like I have never been grateful for anything in my life. When the demons were vanquished, and I approached to thank this miko for her help and the lives of my people, she was tall and cool and her clothes were like nothing I have seen miko wear before, despite the obvious power she wielded. She looked more like a high-placed concubine, or the wife of some noble - perhaps she is the servant of a wealthy shrine. My unease and my awe must have been visible; it was in her smile. She gave me a flower, and told me that if the demons returned, I was to give it to a pure child, who could summon her aid.”

Kinawai raised a hand, and the man fell silent, waiting.

“A flower, you said? A flower for summoning? I did not think that such things were in the powers of a miko.”

Toshiro shook his head.

“I would not know, lord. I am scholarly by nature, but my village is rustic and mostly unlearned, and the mysteries of the temple and shrine are not encompassed by my studies.”

Kinawai waved him on, staring down at the ground. His eyes flamed like two green gems, focusing on words and not what lay before them.

“Demons did again return, and the feeling of darkness and the evil that pressed down on us was so great that the untrained among us could feel it, as though we breathed air that had been turned to despair. I remembered the words of the miko, and called on her with the daughter of Tazura, a woman who had been widowed in the first attack of demons. I had thought to bring her honor, and the gratitude of the other villagers toward her and her daughter, but instead I am afraid I have done something horrible…”

He fell silent, and swallowed.

“This miko, Leiko…she is the source of our trouble, the one who sends warriors after your head. She destroys youkai with the holy light, as is a miko's charge, but something about her does not seem holy, something about her is other, is wrong…even while there is no sense of overwhelming evil. The girl…the girl who is the daughter of Tazura...she is no longer a girl, no longer a child. The miko infused her with the holy powers, but it is something more than that. It is as though Leiko possesses this child, has a hold on her beyond the gift of purifying power. When we left the village, the girl did not kick and scream, but she also would not leave. There was a barrier around her, and not even her own mother could enter and take her daughter away. Tazura is still there, waiting, but I think she waits in vain. She will starve and die before her daughter returns to the child she was.”

There was a murmur of agreement from Toshiro's guards, and Kinawai stood and paced to the edge of the clearing.

“Why does a miko concern herself with me, Hiramaki Toshiro?”

Though Kinawai could not see him, the man shook his head and a spear of anger sped across his eyes.

“I can only tell you what I know, Lord. In the days after the girl suffered her change, I waited for a sign that this miko would return, for I did not believe that she could so drastically alter our lives and then disappear. In this I was correct, for a mere three days passed before she returned, wishing only to speak with me. She spoke of the need for humans to band together for protection, and how it was the duty of a miko to see to the freedom and safety of all men, not only within the walls of the shrine but across the homes and fields of our great land.

`She arranged a meeting, which included the headmen of two other villages - if there are others, she met with them separately and I do not know what she has tasked them with. Those two headman have broken oath with you, and wield weapons sanctified with Leiko's blood. She said that thus imbued, they could not fail to kill you. There will be many men after your head, Lord, and they are all so armed. The room was full of weapons, a long row of deadly instruments, and all of them are blessed.”

Kinawai's low laughter swirled around them, and sent a shiver down the spine of every human that stood or knelt between the trees.

“Blessed or not, her weapons are not what she thinks. To look at me, one would not know that I had been in battle, but those men are dead all the same. Whether or not their blades would have cut, I do not know; they were too terrified to wield them.”

Toshiro kowtowed again, respectfully admitting his own lack of such prowess, and his admiration of the one who held it. When Kinawai turned back to face them, there was something gleeful in the back of his eyes, something that reached out to welcome the coming violence.

“How many more of these men are there?”

“There could be as many as two hundred, Lord, for they were told to send their strongest and best trained warriors against you. If you defeated a dozen of them so easily, I do not think they will stop to have words with you the next time, nor come in such a small group.”

Kinawai sat back beside the man, tapping his claws against his knee.

“I am not concerned about men, even men with blessed weapons. I wonder…about this girl, who was given powers. I wonder if there are others like her, and what they will do. I wonder if such a one might be the true danger, and the men only distractions. This Leiko obviously does not mean for me to learn the nature of my attackers, or the one who has sent them - or why bother trying to kill you?”

Toshiro's voice was low, rough.

“She believes that if I am killed, my village will turn and follow her. She believes they act without knowledge of all consequences, but this is not so. All of what I have told you, I told the elders, and they agreed with my decision. It is not honorable to break oath!”

His eyes were clear as he spoke, though his voice was still troubled, and Kinawai found himself grateful for the loyalty of this short, dark human, close to the earth and fragrantly mortal.

“Where are you headed, Hiramaki Toshiro?”

The man pointed south and east through the trees.

“I planned to follow the river south, and hide on the warm flanks of the mountain. There are caves, and if searchers come, we can hide. Perhaps we will take a few of those who hunt you to hell, Lord.”

Kinawai smiled without humor.

“I appreciate your offer, Hiramaki Toshiro, but you cannot seek vengeance with a village behind you. Travel north - continue to follow this river, and when you find that it flows towards you downhill, turn east. If you keep on a straight course, you will find my fortress. Your people will be safer there than in the mountains; do not fear my guards.”

Kinawai pulled at a bright green gem which hung around his throat on a leather thong. The cord broke, and he held it out to the headman.

“Show this to any who question you, but do not let them take it from you. It is an heirloom of my house - I entrust it to your care alone.”

Toshiro knelt and pressed his forehead against the earth.

“I thank you, Lord. I did not expect to receive such aid from you, mortal that I am.”

Kinawai lifted an eyebrow in his direction.

“The rewards of honor and loyalty are often greater than we expect. Do not let your people forget that, nor forget it yourself. I am grateful for the knowledge you have brought me.”

He stood, signaling the end of their conversation, and there was another great rustle as the villagers bent to pick up their burdens. An infant wailed, and was instantly silenced. Toshiro's guards moved back to the sides of the people, instructing them on the path they were to take. When only Toshiro was left, watching his people with one eye and Kinawai with the other, Rin crept forward from the trees where she had been hidden, listening.

“Get back in the line, girl - what are you doing?”

She looked up, and Toshiro's mouth moved wordlessly. Her face and figure did not belong in his village, and he had never seen a woman with a gaze so piercing.
”I do not belong with you. I travel with Kinawai.”

He caught his breath, hearing her address his lord by name, and turned to the youkai lord with wide eyes.

“Lord, if you wish it I will take this disrespectful woman off your hands. Surely you would travel with greater speed if she did not burden you?”

Kinawai's expression shifted from wan amusement to warning.

“This woman is mine, Hiramaki. You will not touch her.”

The first growl of their encounter began to whisper at the ends of Kinawai's words, but Toshiro was no fool. He bowed his head, and bowed to them both, and turned to follow his people into the forest with only a few parting words.

“I will not forget, Lord. I wish you…good hunting.”

As he walked away, Rin came to stand closer beside Kinawai, and he gave her a grin that was all teeth.

“That one knows a demon's heart - he leads his people well.”

Rin was not listening. Her eyes were distracted by the slow-moving line of people, the mass of humanity moving by her. The faces blurred, lined and unlined, eyes both ancient and infant, a few carried on litters, even a carefully shepherded group of pregnant women.

“So many people…”

Her voice was barely a whisper, a caress of breath that did not even move the leaves. The villagers moved slowly beyond her view, hidden by the press of vegetation, but her eyes stared after them, burning a hole through the trees.

“Rin.”

Caught by the tone of his voice, she looked up at Kinawai, and swallowed the strangeness that had wrapped around her like a willful net.

“We must continue on, and quickly. Climb onto my back.”

He crouched, leaning, and with only a moment for a blinking breath of surprise, she looped her arms around his neck and her legs around his middle. He laughed, the first bright sound of the day, and stood, holding her legs with his arms.

“You weigh nothing, Rin. I think I might go faster carrying you. How far are we from this village of your friends?”

She closed her eyes, getting her bearings.

“On my own feet, two days and a night west and south. On yours, not many hours, but the direction is the same.”

Kinawai dashed between the trees, and his thoughts sped faster still, rolling his new information through his thoughts, which spun silently on a single name that he had never before heard.

 

Leiko. A miko…named Leiko. But what does she want with me?

 

It was not difficult for Rin to believe in corrupt men, chasing them down with a miko in their midst. Sesshomaru had protected her; humans only destroyed, and did not even protect their own. Why were there so few honorable men, and so many honorable demons? Youkai was a word meant to invoke a fear of monsters and hell, but she had never understood. When she was a child, she had brought a fish that could not be eaten to a monster, and in return the monster had given back her life.

The inequality had gnawed at her until she was eleven, and then she had seen Sesshomaru laugh, and had known the other part of their exchange. She had almost forgotten that there had been time between them without Kagome, but he never would. There was a good chance that he would never forget anything. Rin had thoughts that were older, went farther back in her life; once, she had even spoken with Sesshomaru-sama's brother, in the days before many dark events.

He had never known it, but the hanyou's words had shaped her adoration for Sesshomaru-sama into a feeling that she was protected - into love. There was only one way he was not her father, and that was by blood, but in everything else he had never once failed her.

 

“Why does Sesshomaru let you stay with him, girl? He hates humans. He even hates me because I'm half human!”

 

She had stared back at him as though he were stupid. A grin formed on her face just thinking about it. Poor Inuyasha.

 

“I'm not humans. I'm Rin. Sesshomaru-sama says you are dirty and rude. He is right, you know.”

Inuyasha just huffed.

“Well, when he deserves some respect, I'll give it to him. You should be careful…he is not fit to take care of a child. He doesn't feel anything.”

There was some harsh memory in Inuyasha's voice when those words left him, and his smug posture deflated.

“Right before my mother died, I went to him. I was so small, it's hard to think about…smaller than you, I think. And maybe younger.”

He scowled.

“A long time ago, that. But when he saw me, and looked at me, do you know what he said?”

A long, dark shadow drew itself under Inuyasha's eyes.

“ Go away, he said. Leave.”

She patted his hand, and he seemed so surprised by the contact he forgot to draw away.

“Didn't he tell you to go away, girl?”

 

Had he been jealous? She had not thought of that until now. How cruel, to find out that your own brother would give his protection to someone else, and not to you. How cruel, to be a child and not understand. But maybe that was just Inuyasha, believing that Sesshomaru had no heart and making it so. She had seen the many days when her papa walked away from the raging half demon, so sure of his prowess, so obvious in his ferocious fear.

 

“No, he does not tell me to go away. Sesshomaru-sama protects me! Sesshomaru-sama has saved me many times!”

A wide snarl broke open on Inuyasha's face, and ran down like light to the revealed points of his fangs. She smiled, toothy, and squeezed two of his fingers with her hand.

“Don't worry, Inuyasha! I do not think Sesshomaru-sama will really kill you. I don't think he wants Tetsusaiga anymore…”

 

She could only imagine how wide and pleading her eyes had been, how much she had attempted to reassure him. In those days, appearances were not important, and she did not understand why the brothers were in conflict. She had wanted a brother for her own, to play with and share her secrets with. For a long time, until Shippou, there was only Sesshomaru.

He had been both father and mother, somehow more distant and yet closer than either of those relationships could be. He saved her life, and later she knew that she had saved his soul. She had saved him for Kagome.

 

 

 

While Sesshomaru and Kagome traveled by day, rumor reached their ears from every place they visited. Kagome's ears curled around promises and threats, sightings and deaths, and she felt a shiver of some hellish feeling akin to fear pass through her.

Sesshomaru listened, and nothing close to fear was in him. With a focused certainty that had no rational support, he knew, finally, who the enemy was.

Every rumor spoke of a miko, royally dressed. Sometimes she had no apprentice, or just one, but most had seen her with two young women who fired bright arrows.

 

So this is the enemy that has invaded my peace? A miko again. Does this one think that she will be much trouble after Kasuka?

 

Kagome gripped his hand tightly as they moved between villages, and Sesshomaru looked around briefly, seeking signs of life and finding only desertion. The gardens were beginning to look untended. Beautifully painted screens lay discarded; some were torn, or hanging off their tracks. There were no voices. This village was the most silent, the most frightening. Here, the only loud thing was the smell of death.

It troubled them both. There were no bodies, the scent unexplainable, but it brought a scowl to Sesshomaru's face.

“Too many things are not right here. Stay. Wait.”

Kagome nodded her acquiescence, but he could see that she was not pleased.

“If any living thing approaches, call for me. I am going to find the headman's house, and see what there is to be seen.”

He glided between the houses like a wraith, spectral in his speed. He passed in and out of houses quickly, looking for reasons, but there was nothing for him to find. Darkness filled every house, and thick quiet seeped across every threshold. Clothes lay on floors and strewn across beds; half eaten food still sat on plates, chopsticks left standing in bowls of rice.

A layer of dust had begun to collect on the surfaces of furniture and on small treasures, personal and filial. He found no one dead, no one alive, only frozen moments. Whoever had been responsible had moved so quickly through the village that they had all been taken unawares and brought down to silence.

“Sesshomaru!”

He was back by her side in a moment, nose turned into the wind to find what scent had disturbed her, seeking across the horizon line with eyes tuned to brightness. When there was nothing, he turned to her. Kagome knelt in the earth, fingers hovering over a faint puddle that looked to him like sparkling incense ash. To her eyes, each grain, each particle of dust glowed with a blue-violet light. He crouched beside her, waiting.

“This dust, Sess-chan…there are piles of it everywhere, aren't there?”

He nodded silently. Kagome swallowed through a tight throat, and stood.

“This is the dust that is left when a demon is purified, Sesshomaru. The power remains. Everyone…everyone in this village has been purified.”

Sesshomaru's eyes widened with sudden and deadly understanding.

“The miko has been here. The miko has killed my people!”

Anger thinned his features, pulling his lips back over his fangs, tightening his fists beneath the loose wildness of his growl. His eyes darted back and forth, lingering on the placement of houses and the nearness of river-smell, the long path of trees they had crossed from the north to get here.

“This was…an Inu village. I had kinsmen in this place. Before he was made lord of Eastland, Akira was headman here. Many of our family was closer to him than me. His eldest sons and daughters remained here, ruling.”

Kagome's face contracted. A shell of grief covered her.

“Sons and daughters? Your…family? All of them dead, now…”

Tears slashed angles across her eyes, hardening the glittering focus of her face. Akira was a friend, an ally, someone trusted. That his children could be sacrificed so cruelly, so meaninglessly, was horrifying.

“No miko could do this! No miko would do this! Life is the work of the miko, and death is only darkness!”

Sesshomaru's face was shadowed, his eyes invisible.

“Come with me. I need…your eyes.”