InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodlust ❯ Evil's Birth ( Chapter 38 )

As night approached morning, Kagome awoke with a thick bitterness in her mouth, and a struggling unease in her soul. She was a moment remembering, and then a dark-skinned face with glacial eyes flashed into her mind. Then came the rush of darker memories, the deep pain of a sword thrust from a beloved hand, and the brief taste of salt that had lingered on her lips when she had awoken, alone with a stranger and in pain. Somehow that bit of information seemed more significant than the others.

*Salt…? Tears! …Sess-chan…to cry for me?*

Her heart harbored no bitterness toward him, knowing he had struck at illusion and not at her. But the whisper of Kasuka's falseness still trembled in the back of her mind, and it was with great grief that she tried in lonely silence to contemplate the one truth that her pain had given her - InuYasha had not betrayed her. With the hands of her pain-wracked soul, she flailed at her heart with a whip of guilt, that she had not trusted InuYasha enough to see that he would never say and do those things…that she had become, in the end, as blind as Kikyou had been fifty years before. She was angry, that she had not listened to the her heart then, that she had not loved him enough to see through Kikyou's spell, had not had the strength or the courage to stand against him and seek out the cause for his sudden and useless change of feeling. It would have been easier for him to keep up a pretense as her friend - if only it had been pretense - and get the jewel from willing hands - InuYasha was never stupid, only rash.

The yellow-rose beginning of dawn lurched sweetly over the horizon, the first hopes of Spring barely peeking with the sun at what seemed to be the winter's last gasping breath of storm. Words reached Kagome out of the almost-light, and she turned glittering bright eyes toward their source.

"He bade you forgive him, but love his brother. Would you make all his effort for naught?"

Kagome's eyes flickered back to the blank spot on the wall where she had been staring, and her voice was vague and empty.

"How do you know what thoughts are in my mind, what words were spoken to me by the dead?"

Eldest smiled into the darkness.

"If ever you come to know the length of my years, you will see what is hidden as well as I do - better, for I feel your power may be greater. But a real answer to your question requires more explanation to that, and more time."

Kagome met the ice of her stare with a dull gaze.

"You said you would tell me the story of your life, and I have time, it seems. Will you tell me, Eldest?"

"You may not like all you hear."

"Does it matter as long as you speak the truth?"

Eldest's smile widened, her teeth a crescent gleam of white in the dimness.

"Perhaps not. But first I think I will clear up a mystery for you, young Kagome. Do you know your origins? Do you know how you came to be what you are?"

Kagome shook her head, interest quickening her thoughts despite her desire to continue the castigation of her soul.

"I know only that my family has tended the shrine for generations - but my mother shows no youkai traits, and neither do my brother or grandfather."

"They have not been in close contact with youkai, as you have, nor have they been forced intro contact with their blood match, as you have. You and I are related, young Kagome, though distantly - you are the pup you carry are the last remaining descendents in my sister's line."

Kagome blinked in near-shock, and looked across at the still face of the youkai woman, feeling a rising tension in her silence.

"What are you keeping from me, Eldest?"

The other youkai sighed deeply.

"What I have kept from everyone. But you…you have a right to know that others do not. Listen carefully, Kagome, and I will tell you of my great shame. In my nine hundredth summer, pleased with my long life, I decided finally to take a mate, having achieved something of worth. IT was not based on love so much as ….mutual desire for the others' talents, and twenty summers into our match I fell into my heat, and later bore twin children, male and female."

Kagome heard the dry tightness of tears in her voice, the first display of such emotion that she had seen any youkai but herself.

"You must promise me, Kagome, many times Sister-Daughter, that what I show you now will not close your ears to the words that you must hear and know the truth of."

Kagome nodded, uncertain, and an instant flash of bright light cascaded through the small dwelling from Eldest's position in the corner. When the light faded and vision returned to Kagome's eyes, she saw the same youkai - ink black, blue eyes, hair unbound to show glistening poison - green locks, laying in long smooth strands. But Kagome's eyes were caught on the texture of her skin, and the appearance of large and carefully folded wings. Then it came to her with a waterfall wash of terror, and her thoughts reeled, stunned.

"You…you…the dragon clans! Why?"

The words reflected the scattered bits of Kagome's thoughts, and Eldest nodded slowly.

"I am of the dragon clans, as are all of my line at birth - the magic of miko mixed with youkai blood allows me to hide my true shape when it would be less than beneficial. But that is not all, Sister-Daughter. Tell me what resemblance you see?"

Kagome stared past revealed scales and twitching wings, and the shape of bones, the set of features and the look behind the youkai woman's eyes rocked her core. Denial was a whisper that turned into a scream.

"No! No, no, no!"

Eldest let the tears in her voice drip silently from her eyes, and it looked as though the ice was melting.

"Yes, Kagome. I am Kasuka's mother, and if you wish you may claim my life for vengeance sake."

Kagome ran into understanding full on, and turned the eyes that had won Sesshomaru's heart to comfort this Eldest of all youkai.

"Tell me how it happened, Eldest. Tell me everything."

Her eyes misted with the distance of memory and the beginning of her words were nearly whispers.

"After they were born, my mate and I had only eighteen years of peace. You will see when your pup is born how quickly youkai children grow awareness of the world around them. My mate's clan was in control at that time, both of the other clans of dragon youkai and of the land upon which the Castle of the West now stands, and it was Sesshomaru's ancestor who claimed the Western Lands - by challenging my mate to single combat and defeating him. With the little ones by my side, I watched my mate cut down, and it was no great grief for me beyond the pull of the mating bond as he went to his rest. No details are kept from youkai children, Sister-Daughter; the presence of my children at the death of their father was as natural for us as breathing.

"Lord Murai, the ancestor of your mate, was kind to us, in youkai fashion - he allowed us to continue living on the lands that were not rightfully his. IT is then, I think, that I lost my daughters heart. She swore to me then that one day she would have vengeance for her father's death - and I swore to myself that she was only young and full of bluster, that it would be foolish to take her seriously. Ah, wisdom, if ever I have had you, you deserted me then!"

She sighed deeply and raised her eyes to look at Kagome, who stared across at her intently.

"Tell me about Kasuka, Eldest. It is she who concerns me."

The old youkai shook her head, awareness of deep grief flooding Kagome's senses when she began to speak again.

"After the death of my son's first mate he took his daughter and moved with her to a small quiet village that my sister had founded, in which the unmated miko-youkai of our clan, and some few pairs with their children had made their home. It was just at this time that the War of Four Lands began - and it was a long and brutal war. It is my belief that Kasuka saw in the war-torn lands a chance to make good on her promise of vengeance, and so she turned from the life-arts of the miko to the death-arts of the kuromiko. When one has evil intent, such changes are simpler than they might appear.

"When rumor first reached me that a kuromiko had offered her services to the Lord of the South, I became suspicious. Even human miko, dedicated to saving life, did not dare interfere in the course of this war. So where was a kuromiko to be found with such boldness? When information reached me later that the kuromiko in question was being pressed into service for the Lord of the South, I nearly laughed. NO miko, light or dark, will allow a youkai to press her into service - it is in the nature of any miko to use her purification magic to eliminate those threats. But it was in this manner that kuromiko enchanted some of the allied soldiers of the Lord of the South, and though they could be detected by no sense, magic or natural, she mad e it so that the touch of a weapon of war would destroy them. When the Lord who had `hired' this kuromiko found the deception, there was a flurry of attempts to end her life, and they were thought to have succeeded, but it was when the kuromiko came to the village of my sister that I knew she was indeed my daughter.

"When my sister discovered the truth behind the rumors, she should have cast Kasuka from her village, given her to the hunters that still sought the taste of her blood. But my sister's mind was full of the obligation she felt towards a member of her close family, and her thoughts were concerned with the decision she and our clan were bound to make - the decision that made them and all their heirs human miko to the eyes of any outsider. Do you know how the spells of blood and fire are cast, Kagome?"

Kagome started at the question, absorbed in Eldest's tale, and shook her head.

"No, I do not."

Eldest nodded slowly to the time of her words.

"They are called the spells of blood and ire because of what they do. The first forces the submission of youkai blood, the second dampens the fire of the youkai spirit. Once the spells are cast, every youkai related to the caster feels their power - only those with great personal power can resist the pull of the spells and retain their youkai form. So it was that in all our clan, only myself and Kasuka retained youkai with miko."

Eldest bowed her head so low it nearly touched her ankles, where she sat cross legged on the floor opposite Kagome. She seemed to be hugging herself as close to herself as she could physically manage, seeking some solace that had been lost to her for long ages.

"Even my son did not escape - he never had the great power, and could not fight the spell. It was when Kasuka discovered this that she performed her second great evil, and caused the greatest pain I have ever felt. When she discovered what had be wrought, she went from house to house in the village that had given her sanctuary, and killed them, every last man, woman and child. She stole the power from their dying souls, added it to her own, and then fled into the darkness. Only one life was uncounted for, that of my sister's daughter, and she ran in fear for her life to the home of my son, who sent her to me for protection, fearful that Kasuka would seek her out and knowing that he did not have the strength to protect her.

"Kasuka came, oh yes she came, but when she did not find the girl she took her brother's life. In human form, he held out against her only briefly, and each blow from my daughter to my son I felt in my own body, and so I rushed with great speed to the gates of his house, and saw the death blow fall, helpless to prevent it. Kasuka knew my rage and fled, and I….I made a decision that tore my life.

"It is possible for a miko of great strength to return a newly dead soul to the body it has deserted, if she has also the strength to heal whatever it was that caused the death. I pulled the soul of my son from otherworld, healed the wounds of his body - but I did not know and could not heal the wounds that battling with his sister had inflicted on his soul. My son saw in me the source of the pain inflicted by his sister, mad with the pressure of otherworld on his mind, and attacked me."

Eldest's eyes filled with tears and anguish, and the wave of agony that flowed from her was a physical impact that shook Kagome's miko and made her feel her companion's pain as her own. The unborn pup that had lain so long quiescent in her womb came to life with a flashing kick, and Eldest's voice was a cry of ripping despair.

"I had to kill my son! I gave back his life, and then I took it away! I had to kill my son!"

Kagome stood on trembling legs and made her way slowly to Eldest's side, and there she put aside hatred for her kind and held the other youkai as she keened her terrible grief. Gradually she quieted, and returned to her words between choking sobs.

"Afterwards….I was not myself, I…came back here and did not venture outside this place again, for nearly three hundred summers. I learned of the formation of the youkai council, and that they had wished me to preside over it, and that they had sent many messengers - but none may navigate the Dreaming Woods unless I desire it, or they have great strength of will….and those they sent had neither.

"Because the Grandsire of your mate survived the War, Kasuka's vengeance was not complete. It was then that she began a new campaign, and hanged her form to attempt it.. To those outside our kind the…features of a dragon youkai are not attractive, and Kasuka had settled on a path of seduction. She does not yet have the mastery of such magic that I have - a thousand years makes a difference, and she did not see her new form until the time in which she attempted to seduce Lord InuTaisho….but he mated Nyaki, Sesshomaru's mother, and even when Kasuka had killed her, InuTaisho would take no other mate and sought instead to comfort his body with a human woman, the mother of the hanyou InuYasha.

"Know that when the foolish woman sought to destroy her mate, it was Kasuka who convinced the dragon clan leaders to give her the poison when it became clear that he was badly injured. But after InuTaisho was dead there still was your mate, and the Lord Sesshomaru rejected her more thoroughly than his father, and let no one close to him - but you know how well she took her chance when he adopted the girl, and you provide an even greater opportunity. I have spent the time since your mate brought you to me trying to make another difficult decision about the life of one of my children."

Deep blue eyes were full of new and sudden sorrow, and Eldest leaned even farther forward, until her body was folded in half and her face was pressed against her legs.

"Kasuka must die, Kagome, and I will teach you how she may be overcome."