InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodlust ❯ Dreaming Control ( Chapter 25 )

Sesshomaru paused in his dash across the western lands, and felt a pressure build at the base of his spine, moving through his awareness.

*Kagome…*

He recognized the warning of her miko, and reached through their strained link, catching from her a flush of danger, and the sense of some evil throbbing in the air became more prominent with the addition of her wariness. The grass moved silent under his feet, and he traced out a scent in the air, saturated with blood-heat, and followed after it, seeking its source. Above him, silent wings beat behind the cloud hidden form of a dragon youkai, hiding downwind.

The pressure of warning grew stronger in Sesshomaru's thoughts, and hesitantly he pulled away from his side tracked journey, returning to his path towards the castle. Two miles east of the place he had stopped, the army of the dragon clans massed for attack, and the watcher in the clouds was doused in anger. It would have been so much easier to destroy him alone. Kagome sat back on her hands in quiet reflection, letting a careful, undiluted calm wash both miko and youkai out of her system in slow waves. The tension that had followed her warning released itself from her muscles, and she slipped into a shallow trance, leaving her senses aware enough to keep watch on Rin.

Sesshomaru made his way to the easternmost village in his lands, and his presence caused an instant stir of activity. A tall, stocky InuYoukai carrying the same image on his armor as was emblazoned across the castle gates ran out of a large house and came to a panting stop in front of Sesshomaru.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Please forgive our lack of preparation, we received no word that you would be arriving among us."

Sesshomaru cut off further words with a gesture, and motioned for the youkai to follow behind him.

"The council has met and declared war on the dragon clans, due to their refusal of council judgment. Levies must be raised from all those under my rule. Every male capable of bearing arms, and every female who is past her first heat and without young is to come to the castle in three days time. That will allow for the distance from the boundary garrisons."

The youkai nodded once and bowed shortly.

"It will be as you have ordered, Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru looked the youkai over, noting the crest on his armor and the brilliant blue-black of his hair.

"You are Akira, the leader of this village?"

"Yes, my Lord."

Sesshomaru made up his mind quickly.

"You have both combat and leadership experience, and you are closer in kinship to my family than any of the others who I might choose. You will act now as Commander of the West. I will relay my orders to you, and you will be responsible for making sure that they are followed by the others. The organization of the army I leave to you, for the moment. Know this, however. The leader of the dragon clans, the greatest of their lords - his life is mine. Any who choose to disobey this order will die on my claws."

Akira stumbled along beside the violently charged Taiyoukai, fumbling with the unexpected promotion.

"I will relay your orders to the youkai under my control. At dawn's light, we march."

Sesshomaru nodded and caught the tremor of nervousness in his new commander, and he pushed down a surge of impatience.

"I will not be here to march with you in the morning. The call will go out through the land to summon the others to the castle. I go at once to send the summons. You will inform any of those whom you meet of your position, and instruct them to join your force. You will not engage the dragon clans unless absolutely necessary. The paths to the castle should remain clear for the next few days - if not, you may clear the way, but do not pursue."
Akira nodded shortly, settling closely into the youkai driven course of war leader.

"Lord Sesshomaru, news reached us that you have taken a mate. Should I send a detachment as guard?"

Sesshomaru looked at him sharply and shook his head, a thin smile crossing his face at what the consequences would be of a youkai garrison descending on the old miko's village.

"No. She has been taken to a place where she is safe, and she will stay there."

The newly appointed commander took the information in stride, and saw in the village around them a gradually rising level of tension.

"If I may be dismissed, Lord Sesshomaru, I will inform the village and begin making preparations."

Sesshomaru nodded, and the other youkai ran swiftly into the center of the village to make his announcements. The Taiyoukai left silently, ignoring the clamor of youkai noise in the village behind him. The surrounding forest leapt up in fervent greens to caress the sunlight, tall touching branches preventing the warm rays from penetrating to the forest floor. Briefly he stopped at the appearance of a human scent, but disregarded it as unimportant in light of his current mission, and one human family was spared the wrath of the Lord of the West for their trespass that day. The open plain in front of the castle was wide and empty, and he stared hard at the glaringly blank space, seeing already in his mind the parade of forces that would be assembled there in three days time. He found his way inside the castle and stripped unceremoniously, sinking casually into the hot water of the spring in solemn preparation for the ceremony of summoning.

The castle was silent and dark without Kagome's presence, and he missed the heat of her skin beside him in the heat of the water. The lack of life in the stone-walled building was obvious and Sesshomaru wondered how he had lived in the silence before he had found his Kagome. He shook of the sudden desire to forget about the war and spirit her away, resigning himself to the responsibilities of his position. The hot water sloughed off his skin in smooth droplets, and he dressed slowly in black silk that had been placed on a ledge along the edge of the room. The servants always knew what was required, and provided it. Occasionally he wondered how it was managed, but he did not trouble himself overmuch, as long as what was required was done as needed. The thin black silk felt odd against his skin in the place of his usual haori, even the color contrasting sharply with what he normally chose to wear.

The thought brought him back to the obscenely short clothing Kagome had always worn, and he shook his thoughts of her from his head once more. He followed the central stairs down instead of up, deep into the darkness at the base of the castle, and felt the insistent tug of bound youkai energy pull on his own power, seeking release. Down the long hall at the base of the castle foundation several doors were set back into the wall, and he passed them by until he came to the very end of the hallway, stopping in front of the last door, that appeared no different than all the others but managed somehow still to throb and glimmer with caged power. He spoke low, intense, his voice seeming to burn into the door with the unsubtle focus of his eyes. It opened, he entered, and it slammed shut behind him.

The room he stood in was full of light, and yet somehow managed to remain dark, as though cloaked in glimmering blue shadows. A deep and perhaps endless abyss was open in the floor, shuddering and making itself known as the source for the energy that cascaded down the walls in violent sparks, challenging Sesshomaru's authority with their sheer physical presence. He knelt in front of the outpouring well, his eyes lit by the strangeness of the power he sough to master. He sliced his arm open with his claws, and the energy in the room wrapped around his spilled blood.

"Obey."

His voice was little more than a whisper, but the power rose slightly in the room, and he did it again, letting the heat of his blood pour directly into the hold in the ground, and the tumult of youkai in the air around him grew exponentially.

"Summon the Army of the West to the place of its power, summon the protection of the Western Lands."

The energy in the room coiled itself into a single cohesive whirlwind and plunged back through its own source and outward through the Earth itself. The rush of power leaving the chamber took his strength with it, and Sesshomaru pressed his palms against his temples, panting heavily. He swayed on his knees, attempting to steady the surge of his youkai after the power in the room. A gentle caress of something outside himself stroked its way past the barrier of his aura and wrapped around his own lack. He lay silent on the floor, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, focused on the solid connection the exchange of power gave with his Kagome. The scent of crushed berries surrounded him slowly, impossible but true, and it lulled him swiftly into a dead sleep. The call went ot from the castle through the entire land with a speed that would have shocked any observer, and all across the Western Lands went the ring of armor and cold steel in the night.

Kagome had returned to her place in the branches of the Goshinboku after a silent meal. Rin lay sleeping on her lap, exhausted from a day spent running around with Shippou and the village children. She had wanted so badly to play with them that Kagome could not deny her, despite how she knew Sesshomaru felt about humans. When the sun dipped below the horizon she felt the sudden drain of energy from Sesshomaru, but no danger, and she let a wave of herself possess him. She took his weariness into herself, was overwhelmed by it, and seemed to sleep with her back against the solid trunk of the tree.

Beneath their closed lids, her eyes moved rapidly, dreaming. She could see in her thoughts a well of energy, vibrant, dangerous, rampant in discord around Sesshomaru, prostrate and dressed in black on the floor. She was half-aware that she dreamt, uncertain as to whether she saw fiction or some odd reality, and it was with careful gentleness that she reached for him, until her arms passed through his body. She saw that he slept and lay beside him, letting the mist of her unself merge with the apparent solidity of his sleeping body.

On the ground beneath the Goshinboku, Miroku and Sango looked up at Kagome, and Shippou moved from between them to clamber up the tree by Kagome's side. At first glance she looked like she was sleeping as deeply as the girl on her lap, but an odd laxness in her expression and a distance in her fading scent gave him a feeling of concern.

"Miroku! Sango! She looks like she's sleeping, but her scent is funny, almost like its fading away."

Miroku looked up through the screen of branches, testing Kagome's aura. His probes rebounded from a protective barrier that seemed to surround her soul, preventing his examination.

"I cannot get through, there is a barrier around her. She feels as one whose soul travels outside their body, leaving only enough to keep the body from danger."
Shippou jumped down by Miroku's side, and pawed frantically at his leg.

"'Kaasan is still alive, she'll be fine, right Miroku?"

"Yes Shippou, I think she will be fine, but I am not even sure there is anything wrong. She is miko, and there are spells that would allow her soul to leave her body this way, though I did not know she knew them."

Kagome heard the worried conversation as if from a distance, and it echoed oddly, distorted before it reached her ears.

*Soul from my body…but I'm only asleep…*

The thought was unsettled in her mind, and the awareness of what she was doing pulled her back into herself, away from Sesshomaru, still sleeping in the room that throbbed with power.

*Sess-chan…*

Her voice would make no sounds, but she flung her love over him like a net, glad to see him smile before she lost sight of his face. She came to herself in the branches of the sacred tree where she thought she had fallen asleep. The girl on her lap squirmed slightly when she moved, and Kagome stroked her hair gently, making sure she did not wake. The scent of her friends reached her from the ground, and she looked down at them between her feet.

"Miroku? Sango? Why are you two standing out here? You're getting married in the morning, I would sleep if I were you."

Miroku shook his head, smiling.

"I'll be just fine - it is barely even past sunset. Shippou was worried about you. Where did you go, Kagome?"

A distant look filled her eyes, and she looked down at them and through them.

"I was with Sess-chan, in the oddest sort of room. There was power, and he had used his own to control it. I gave him sleep, but I could not touch him, my body was not flesh."

She touched her arm with her hand, as if to prove that now she was real, but Miroku only nodded.

"You were with him, Kagome, but not in flesh. Because you are miko there are spells you can use that will allow your soul to travel out of your body for a short while. I am not sure how you managed to accomplish this without knowing the spells - but your miko power has always responded more to your will than to more traditional methods."

Kagome sighed deeply and shook her head.

"Sesshomaru has been teaching me to fight with both miko and youkai, but everything that I have done with my miko has been instinct, almost like an accident. I can give my claws my miko the same way I can infuse my arrows with it…but other than that it is my emotions that control my power."

She jumped down next to the monk, careful of the girl, and he looked at her intently.

"Lord Sesshomaru is a master of combat skills, but he does not necessarily know much about training miko. If you must stay here with us, perhaps you should speak to Kaede about training. There is much she can teach you about your power; I may be able to help as well."

Kagome smiled her first real smile since she had come to them, and walked carefully back to Kaede's home. Sango watched her careful motion with the sleeping girl and laughed.

"I don't think you have to worry about waking her, Kagome…that girl sleeps sounder than any child I've ever known.

"I think it comes from traveling with Sesshomaru for so long. She was with him for several years before I came along - her life has not been that of a normal human child."

She lay Rin on a futon by the fire, and looked across at Sango and Miroku, settling themselves in for sleep as well, and she smiled at them.

"I think I will sleep outside tonight, the air is warm still, and there are not many warm nights left."

She went at once out the door, and Shippou made a motion as if to follow her, but Sango put out an arm to restrain him.

"I think your `Kaasan needs to be alone tonight, Shippou. It isn't going to be easy for her to stay here without him."

Shippou curled up with Kirara next to the heat of the fire, and the small group fell asleep almost instantly, but Kagome was joined outside by a still wakeful Kaede.

"Ye have been here a day and a night, and silent for of that time. Tell me your troubles, child."

Kagome sighed and sat against the trunk of the nearest tree, hugging her knees.

"I am afraid, Kaede, and I promised myself I would never be afraid again. Was I stupid to think I could do that?"

Kaede shook her head.

"Not stupid, only perhaps a little misguided. As long as ye love, ye will be afraid, and it is not worth losing love to extinguish fear. Ye are afraid ye will lose your demon lord, are ye not?"

Kagome nodded.

"And I heard that Miroku found you with your soul outside of your skin. Have you thought about what he said?"

"I would like for you to train me, Kaede, if you would have me…but I do not see how that will keep me from being afraid."

The old miko smiled.
"Once you have learned to control your power, you will be able to watch over him from here, even to lend him power."

Kagome smiled at the thought.

"I know…I have done so."

Kaede looked at her in surprise, and reevaluated her estimate of the girls power.

"Ye did this without the spells and without knowing how? Your powers have always been something of a mystery, but perhaps it is time we investigated them more thoroughly. For now, ye must trust in Lord Sesshomaru's strength to protect himself and his lands."

Kagome took a calming breath, and let the truth in the older miko's words wash through her.

"How did you become so wise, Kaede?"

She smiled.
"I have often been afraid, and often felt love - I have learned through the years that they are bound tightly together and that one does not come without the other. It is not really wisdom, only the benefit of living."

Kagome shook her head in silent humor, and Kaede stood slowly and hobbled back towards her house.

"Tomorrow the wedding, Kagome, and the next day we begin work on your control of your miko."

Kagome returned to the comfortable branch of the sacred tree, and she stared into the brilliant circle of the moon for long hours before she fell into a dreamless sleep.