InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound by Blood ❯ Chapter3: Recurring Nightmares ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter3: Recurring Nightmares

Kagome's Dream…

Rain…. She heard it and she did not feel it. At this point she was totally numb. Yuriye flinched but she couldn't figure out why. Slowly her mind was alerted to the pain in her back and slowly she registered the crack of the whip. She heard the questions asked and the mournful sobs of Yuriye.

“Why did your alpha to attack?” Came the gravelly voice of the commander. Yuriye remained silent.

CRACK

The whip was once again shredding the skin on Kagome's back. She would not cry out knowing that's what they truly desired of her. They cared not for the answers to the questions asked;their only goal was to have them break. Once their will was shattered they would kill them.

“Who was helping you cross the border?” The voice spoke again and again he was met with silence.

CRACK

Each time the whip struck it was harder than the last and the amount of holy ki embedded within would increase. Her back was cut into strips of flesh;the fluid surrounding her was composed of more blood than rain. Her flesh was unable to mend as a result of the ki that slowly pumped its way into her system. Of course it was never enough to kill but just enough to torment and leave her on the brink of death.

Kagome saw the ache in Yuriye's eyes to just let her answer one question, it would stop the pain, if only for one night. She knew they would not dare attack Yuriye again;they did not want to take a chance on Kagome's retribution, especially if it was anything like what she did to three of their men. She didn't care what they did to her, they could punish and beat her to within an inch her life,and solong as they didn't lay one finger on Yuriye again, she was content. This was her penance for failing HER but she would not let it happen again, not while she breathed and had full use of her limbs. `This I vow, Yuriye will be safe.'

The rain continued to fall and with it so did her blood. Sometime throughout the beating she began to laugh. She cried inside. Unable to comprehend the reasoning whyshe felt this,but she somehow knew that this was just the beginning of their hell.

*****

Yuriye awoke to find herself surrounded by softness and warmth. Slowly her eyes came into focus in the darkened room. She glanced around taking in everything. She heard the pounding of the rain against the window as it cascaded down. She could smell Kagome's unique scent of lightning and fresh fallen snow heavily in the room. As she looked at her, she observed the rise and fall of her chest.

Wondering where they were because the last thing she remembered was Kagome standing protectively over her in the field. Slowly most of her senses were coming back. She could hear footsteps above them and below them; she also heard broken bits of conservations.

She could not make sense of anything she heard but didn't have much time to contemplate it the door opened and footsteps approached them. She instantly became nervous, it didn't look like Kagome would wake up anytime soon and she hadn't fully recovered so getting them both out would be really hard or next to impossible. She knew that Kagome had lost a lot more blood than she, from one glance alone Kagome looked very pale. Yuriye started to look around the room for her staff or some weapon she could use for defense but there was none to be had.

“Do not worry young one, no one here will harm you or your friend.” An elderly lady said while slowly approaching the young dog demon.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Yuriye growled out. Her hackles stood up as she could felt the holy ki coming from the elderly woman and knew not to underestimate her.

“Where are we?” She hissed out.

“My name is Kaede and as you may have already deduced I am a miko. You are safe within the barrier we found you fighting outside of. I do not mean you any harm and I do not want anything from you. We brought you back so that you may have a safe place to recover. You both have been unconscious for a week.” Kaede said in a soft reassuring voice, she knew that these females would not trust very easily. She saw the mistrust laced in the demon's eyes and written all over her face.

“Why would you help out two youkai? You are a miko; you are supposed to kill us? We have never come across any holy person willing to help us unless they wanted us to do something in return.” Yuriye could feel the pull of newly mended skin on her shoulder as she sat up. When she looked over herself she saw that she was wearing a white sleeveless yukata. She could see the light pink skin that had grown over the past week. She was sore but it was nothing that a quick workout couldn't resolve.

As she pushed back the soft cotton sheets she heard another set of footsteps approaching.

“Kaede do you need some help with changing Kagome's bandages,” came a mild feminine voice; it sounded as if she was trying to be quiet. A young girl around 19 came through the opened door. She was about 5'7” with beautiful chestnut colored hair that was in a high pony tail and ended about the midway mark of her back. She had beautiful round cocoa colored eyes that sat within a heart shaped face. She was wearing a green skirt with a light pink short sleeved shirt. On her shoulder was a tiny white and black neko youkai.

When the young lady fully entered the room she noticed that Kaede was talking to one of the dog youkai. She was surprise that she had awakened so soon. Kaede said it would be at least two weeks before either of them would become cognizant. Now that she was awake she could see the demon had beautifully colored emerald eyes.

“Hello there. My name is Sango,” she stated while the little neko meowed. “And this little one is Kirara,” she said as Kirara jumped down onto the floor.

“How are you feeling? You took a bit of a beating, there were some very nasty wounds and your shoulder took awhile to stop bleeding. Both of you guys were a bit of touch and go for a moment there.” Sango said with a small smile. She hadn't moved any farther into the room when she noticed the dog demon was awake. She knew that both demons would be confused and more prone to attack if there were any sudden movements.

Yuriye attention had been drawn to the new human that walked in, she had sensed no holy ki emitting from the girl. What interested Yuriye though was that Sango had not continued to walk into the room.

`So this young one has had training with demons,' Yuriye thought to herself, before the smell of tears reached her nose.

Actually, now that she noticed there was an overwhelming scent of salt in the air. Yuriye straight away looked to Kagome and noticed that tears were running down her face.

“Kagome,” the concern in Yuriye's voice made Kaede stand to approach her when Yuriye's growl stopped her in her tracks.

“How many times has this happened? How many times has she cried?” Yuriye asked in an eerily calm voice.

“This would be the third time to our knowledge. Please allow me to look over her injuries; she must be in more pain than we first thought.” Kaede asked as she continued her approach toward the bed.

“No, these are not tears from pain; they are tears from old memories...dreadful memories.” Yuriye stated as she reached Kagome's bed and began to nuzzle her chin. She whined and growled to let her alpha know she was near. She knew that there was nothing she could do; she knew the nightmares that haunted her were something she would fight alone. She had tried before to help but nothing she did would help her soothe her or get her to awaken. At least the small touches and growls would give her some level of comfort and let her know she had support.

She knew many of the horrors that Kagome relived. They both had lived through them though Kagome had taken most of the punishments on her behalf. Remembering the looks in Kagome's eyes, the pure acceptance in them and she remembered the solace she, herself, took in them on many occasions. Initially she didn't grasp what the looks meant but insight and knowing Kagome's character led her to the conclusion that Kagome would always take the pain in place of her, no matter how much Yuriye hated and fought Kagome on it she would do it. Yuriye trusted Kagome emphatically and she willingly placed her life in her hands.

“Is there anything at all that we can do to help her?” came the small voice of Sango. She still had not moved from the doorway, not knowing how the agitated dog demon would act.

“Why do you wish to help? What do you wish to gain from this?” Yuriye growled, ever suspicious of their motives, they had to be getting something out of this. No one would willingly help out two stray youkai. They may be pack but to others they were nothing but two unwanted strays. She couldn't figure out what these people were playing at.

“I just wish to help you out, I have no ulterior motives. Why would you ask?” Sango questioned confusion evident in her voice.

“Well… We are outsiders in this land. No one freely aids us. Especial those trained to kill youkai. We are not wanted in our home lands. Why is it different here?” Yuriye sneered; she knew that they couldn't be trusted until her alpha sanctioned it.

*****

Rain. She could hear its steady pounding against the metal and the ground. She could feel something running along her face. She could feel pain radiating on her right side of her body, she couldn't move her right arm or leg. Slowly Kagome opened her eyes. She made out the flashing lights but did not hear any sirens or voices. The rain continued to pound against the metal as her senses slowly reawakened to hear voices outside of the truck.

`What happened? Weren't we on our way home? Why can't I hear the music or the bass?' Kagome thought to herself. The last thing she could remember was driving home. It had been the perfect night. It washer and her boyfriend, Tj's third anniversary and he had proposed to her. Of course she had accepted for she was madly in love with him. They had double dated with her best friend Yuriye and her boyfriend, John.

After the proposal and dinner they decidedto go home to show her mother, Sota, her brother, and her jiichan.

Her best friend was in the car trailing them.

At the moment, she did not understand why the truck was upside down.

“Kagome… Kagome?!?!” Someone cried out her name but she was unable to locate where the voice came from.

Kagome slowly turned her head to her left and saw Tj. She gasped. Blood was running profusely from a gash on his head and she saw blood coming from his mouth. She reached out to try to wake him but he remained unconscious.

“Tj!? What is going on!? Tj!?” Kagome choked out while trying to shake his right arm. He didn't respond. “Tj wake up!” She prodded, tears of frustration racing down her face.

“Miss, you have to stop moving,” came a deep voice from her right.”“We are going to cut open the door to get you out.”

Kagome was having trouble staying awake now. She felt so tired but she wanted to hear Tj's voice first.

She heard the crunching of metal before she passed out.

*****

Kagome awoke with a start, sitting up fast, the skin on her stomach pulled and a muffled groan escaped her. She looked around her and found Yuriye staring at her from beside her bed. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the tears brimming her beautiful emerald eyes. Kagome knew that Yuriye saw the fresh tears trail that ran down her own face and she knew Yuriye discerned them to be from her nightmares. Kagome smiled reassuringly and traced Yuriye's face wiping away her tears then pushed her raven hair behind her pointed ear.

Kagome looked out the window at the rain falling. In the window she saw two foreign reflections and immediately turned toward the two figures and growled angrily.