InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodlust ❯ Mirrored Time ( Chapter 32 )

Sesshomaru felt her cry in the depths of his being, and the utter silence that followed in his heart would have made him think her dead if not for the frantic tug of her souls power on his life to protect her. His heart cried out against the need that had forced him from her side, and his own strength wrapped for protection around Kagome's power. The frightened spark that was her life took shelter with him, and his eyes blazed. Hot waves of angry youkai poured off him like a metallic summer, and he stalked with tight fury though milling soldiers. Akira, at the entrance to the castle gates with a pile of weaponry, turned in shock to watch Sesshomaru approach.

"My…Lord?"

"My mate is in danger. After the last battle, the dragon clans will desire some time to recuperate. They will not attack now, so I leave the army in your hands. I must find her…"

His words trailed into darkness, and the shades of red swirling in his eyes deepened with the passing moments. Akira stepped back respectfully and nodded.

"I will take care of things here. Find your mate, Lord Sesshomaru."

Youkai bright eyes burned deeply into Akira, and the Taiyoukai's fangs glinted in the flickering firelight.

"I will have blood."

He was gone in the next breeze, and Akira squared his shoulders, hefting new responsibility with careful intent.

Every tingle of Kagome's pain and fear rushed Sesshomaru to new heights of rage. He sped towards Kaede's village in trembling, growling fury. The scent of his anger washed waves of heat across the ground before him, sweeping the life of field and forest out of his path. He stopped in moonlight, panting, and the pale silver glow lent transparency to his skin. His limbs shuddered with weariness and the tension that was forced into his muscles by the necessity of keeping his youkai under control, but a lash of pain tore a soul shattering roar from his throat and his youkai rushed unchecked through his body. He transformed into the great white dog, and his muscles rippled in the wind of the change, flowed and lengthened into four-footed form; clawed paws that thudded a warning into the Earth at his feet. Completely red, his eyes glared around in furious delight, and his claws gouged deeply into the ground. The loping speed of his long legs propelled him towards the human village, visible to his quest for scent as if it stood shining under cloudless noon sunlight.

He arrived after midnight, in the hour of the wolf, and the youkai of his passage propelled the more wary of the villagers into wakeful alertness. Sango ran outside, fastening Hiraikotsu to her back as she went. A clatter of arrows swept over Sesshomaru's head as she skid to a stop, and only Sango's quick skills of observation halted the firing villagers in time to save their lives.

"Hold! It is the Lord Sesshomaru! He will not hurt Kagome's friends!"

A flash of yellow light that blinded the villagers washed around them, and Sesshomaru stood in place of the giant dog that was his true form. Sango heaved a private sigh of relief that she had not mistaken the youkai form of Kagome's mate, but the memory in her head of the Inu-youkai who had battled with Kouga in dog-form remained sharp despite Sesshomaru's present human appearance, and she bowed shortly.

"Lord Sesshomaru, it is good to see you well, but if you have come for Kagome, she is not here."

His eyes flashed redder, and he took three blindingly fast steps forward, and seized Sango by her throat. Her face flushed red against the pressure on her breathing, but she forced herself not to struggle in his grip as he lifted her bodily from the ground. The voice that ground itself free from Sesshomaru's mouth was not recognizable as his, and Sango heard snapping control and low vibrations that alerted her to how precariously he was balanced on the line of absolute stress before breaking.

"What have you done to my mate? Where is my mate?"

His words rocked with fury, and Sango shook limply at the end of his arm.

"Sesshomaru! Let go of my wife!"

Sesshomaru turned to where Miroku stood, staff in hand as he prepared for a doomed combat.

"Tell me what you have done to my mate, and the death of yours will be painless. Keep Kagome from me, and I will find my answer in the agony of her flesh!"

"Think, Sesshomaru! We are her friends, we would not hurt her. Kagome left with a messenger from the Lady of the Northern Lands two days ago!"

Sesshomaru's hand abruptly released Sango's throat, and he turned to face Miroku, his face falling into a chilled mask.

"You are certain it was the Lady of the Northern lands who sent this messenger?"

Miroku nodded shortly, still flushed with anger, and he moved to help Sango stand. Sesshomaru moved more swiftly, and lifted her lightly off the ground to look gravely down at her as she brushed dirt from her yukata and looked at him out of the corners of her eyes.

"Lady Sango, Houshi-Miroku, I must beg your pardon for my lack of control. It is inexcusable."

Sango rubbed her throat gingerly, and her eyes met Sesshomaru's with a moment of complete understanding.

"It is ultimately excusable. You fear only the pain of one who I hold as a sister, who has no family left. It is written indelibly in your eyes, despite masks of unfeeling. What has happened to Kagome?"

His eyes flashed red, and a low growl shook his throat.

"Our mating bond allows me to feel her stronger emotions, to sense her soul. I felt her in terrible pain, and then a silence that I would have taken for death except for a panic in her miko that cried for my protection. If she is with Kasuka, I fear for her life."

The end of his words was a near-silent whisper, and Miroku looked up sharply from his inspection of the bruises on Sango's neck.

"Kasuka? The messenger appeared male."

"No. The Lady of the North is called Kasuka, and she bears long hatred for my family. She has done Kagome harm, and I will deal her death."

His words wrapped around Kasuka's end with blood-lusting relish, and the wind blew chill around them, watching with magic on the swearing of an oath.

"Kagome was wise to leave the children here - Kasuka would have enjoyed their torture more than hers; with it would have come a loss of innocence."

Miroku nodded slowly.

"Kagome knew the danger, but she spoke of political necessity…if I had suspected this, I would have prevented her departure."

Sesshomaru shook his head.

"You could not prevent her, Houshi-Miroku. And she was right about necessity, though it be a trap. Kasuka is one to hold a grudge over the most minor offense, and to press it as a breach of courtesy could drive a wedge into my alliance with Kinawai. He is a good leader, but blinded by some magic to the faults of the bitch he mated."

His forehead tightened momentarily, an unwilling betrayal of emotion, and Sango caught it, feeling behind it the horrible pressure of pain, fatigue, and concern that struggled in the slim edges of his control. He met her eyes, and Sango finally saw the depth of love that had won the heart of her sister, before they closed off and became distant pools of ice-gold heat. The moment was still, until Sango shattered it with a whisper.

"I see her terror, Sesshomaru, I see her pain. Go to her!"

The Taiyoukai was gone in a flashing blur of white silk, and Sango moved to stand next to her husband, relaxing back into his arms and the strength of his hands around her waist.

"I would not want to be the woman who hurt Kagome, Roku-chan. There was death in his eyes every time he spoke her name."

Miroku stared into the darkness where Sesshomaru had disappeared, and his arms tightened around Sango's body.

"Yes…he is dangerous, very dangerous."

She shot him a quick glance and turned him gently towards their dwelling in the village, pulling him away from the darkness outside, and back towards the light and warm fire of human companionship.

"He did no hurt me, Roku-chan, and I don't think he ever will. He is only dangerous to his enemies - to anyone who would harm Kagome."

The gentleness of her voice and her pet name for him did more for the warmth of his heart than the firelight, and he pressed his lips against her temple and breathed the sweetness of her hair, thanking every god he knew that she was in no danger.

Two days later, Sesshomaru arrived outside the castle of the North and called for Kasuka. A line of guards appeared on the top of the castle walls, and Sesshomaru watched them carefully, noting a complete lack of scent and youkai that chilled his blood.

"I am Lord Sesshomaru, Lord of the West. I was told that my mate visits with your Lady at her request, and I have come for her. Announce me to your Lady."

He was met with silence, and the gates stayed shut. Slowly, a mocking, haunting laughter echoed into his ears and off the walls of the castle in front of him, but the silent staring guards appeared unbothered by it, or unaware. Without knowing exactly when it had stopped, the sound dissolved into the air, and a slow mist rose up from the ground around is feet, tingling across his skin. Magic brought waves of lust and desire across the skin of his face and fluttered up the sleeves of his haori. He felt a heat of cold, mist-soft fingers and claws drag up along his arms and across the flesh of his chest. His blood rose as it had to Kagome's heat, but a shock of miko power in a band across his arm shook him back to his thoughts, as the energy that had teased his senses recoiled in hissing pain. Sesshomaru shook his head to clear it, feeling his arm in the place that had been burned and feeling not skin but cloth, the piece of Kagome's obi that she had tied there for some strange custom of her time. The scent of her caressed him softly from the strip of fabric, and he bared his fangs in anger, glaring up at the height of the walls.

"Kasuka! Give me my mate!"

A lusty whisper curled around his ear, and the gates opened slowly.

"Find…her…"

Black mist occupied the courtyard garden that spread in front of the open gates, broken only by the gradual drifting of cold wind and snow. Bitter, frozen rage tugged at his heart, and Sesshomaru pushed his way into the enclosing darkness. The mist was biting, somehow clawing at his flesh while remaining insubstantial, providing no enemy with solid flesh to rend or tear. He growled low and hot poison gave a green glow to his clenched claws, and the dirt beneath his feet hissed and smoked in the wake of his passage, burned black by bittersweet dokkasou. Through the mist he saw the gleaming eyes of the guards who had stood on the wall, revealed in their true form as dragon youkai.

The twitching presence of unidentified miko energy drew him onwards past the laughter of his enemies, but the clenching of his hands around the hilt of his sword betrayed his desires. Blackness gave way to blinding light in the quiet garden where Kagome had met her betrayal. The softness of her scent still lingered in the unmoving air, protected from the cold winds of the outer gardens, but he felt through trained perceptions the dark fluctuation of black miko spells, and the moment of understanding was a collision in his brain. A cold smile spread across his features, and he strode more confidently through the obscuring fog.

"So Kasuka, the death of my mother was not enough for you - you attempt to aid these dragon youkai as well. Are you their true leader, or do you cower behind them? Was it you that found a kuromiko to aid them, who told them about my girl-child?"

Rippling laughter caressed his skin like acid, the opposite of the reaction he had expected, and the smile slipped out of his eyes.

"Fool. You say you are might, Lord Sesshomaru, but you have come deep into my trap like flies to honey. Your powers of deduction are sadly lacking - even your bitch knew more than you have come across in reasoning."

The reminder of Kagome unfocused his thoughts as Kasuka had intended, and Sesshomaru felt himself begin an uncontrollable descent into animal rage. His mind screamed for control, but his nature called louder, for him to visit destruction on anything that stood in his way. The laughter battered against his stoic defenses, and in one astounding leap he cleared the mist and landed on the castle wall amidst the dragon guardians. His claws were a whirlwind, a typhoon of death that left the battlements blood-slicked and sated his youkai with a fulfillment of battle rage and bloodlust.

Kasuka watched him wreak partial vengeance in a scry of blood soaked flower petals soaking in clear sake. From the death on the walls she charged her power, feeling a lust-like throb deep in her belly. She turned slightly at a motion from the other side of the room, and the scry darkened and blanked at her loss of concentration. The pale jewel at Kagome's throat glowed a startling pink, and Kasuka watched with smug disinterest as Kagome fought against the power of the spell that held her. Kagome's power swelled, aided by the shikon's power, and all traces of smugness left Kasuka's face. The tension of the spell that the kuromiko had wrought approached its breaking point, and she lifted a round mirror from the altar where the scry lay. She approached Kagome and displayed the mirror to her wide-open and rage struck eyes.

"You are fighting my spell, but that will not be enough. Even as we speak, your mate wanders these castle grounds in search of you, but he does not see the truth of what surrounds him - he will not find you."

She tapped the mirror.

"You have seen things like this before, I know. They float openly on the surface of your thoughts, beg me to pluck them for my own knowledge like a fading, petal falling rose. Know that this mirror has power which even the strength of the shikon no tama cannon break. It will lock you in illusion of my own devising, and while your strength is such that you may twist the appearance through the struggle of your soul, you cannot halt the spell. Bleed, Lady of the West, and seal the fate of your mate."

A pale dagger leapt into Kasuka's hand from the pale tie of her obi, and she reached for Kagome's kimono, pulling aside the collar of the smooth silk and drawing the cold blade swiftly across unresisting flesh. Kagome's eyes snapped fury, and the power of Kasuka's spell to hold her finally crashed in ruins, and she pushed against the cold surface she lay on, coiled pain-tense muscles to spring at her holder, but Kasuka shook with violent laughter and the hot red of Kagome's blood slid down the point of the dagger and dripped onto the surface of the mirror. The clear reflective surface shimmered and pulsed, absorbing the thickness of her blood with a hungry gleam, and Kagome shuddered, and felt the newly regained strength in her bones seem to melt free of her body. her youkai strained anew at the holding magic, exerting pressure, and it seemed that she saw the surface of the mirror pull in towards itself with eyes that panted and heaved against unbearable bonds. Another flashing drop of her blood pierced the shimmering glass, and it became pearl tinted, stretched until it held all of Kagome's awareness, and a brilliant flash of light pushed her forward into an oval of illusion, frozen in a moment of pained outcry and whispered spellwork.

"Forget…."

My wife Rae is right…this was a very long time between chapters, and it is my fault for being lazy….but more chapters are written and I type them with speed! Yay for the evil plotting in my mind…mwahahaha!