InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ By The River of Shadowed Moments ❯ Sesshoumaru's Curse ( Chapter 7 )

AN: Disregard Movie 3 for this story in regards to the tale of Inuyasha's parents. Thanks to Risa for the beta job.

 

 

By the River of Shadowed Moments

 

“And if I'm wasting my time

then nothing could be better

then hanging on that line

and waiting for an honest word forever.”

 

“Wasting My Time” by the White Stripes

 

Chapter Seven: Sesshoumaru's Curse

 

The air was saturated with the scent of sweat and sex. Kagome twirled her fingers around Sesshoumaru's silver locks blanketing her as she leaned against his chest. She sighed, her thoughts stuck in time as she thought of all the secret meetings she'd had with Sesshoumaru since she'd gained back all of her friends' trust.

 

It had been at least five months since then, and Sesshoumaru was content enough to keep it as it was.

 

Kagome inwardly frowned, feeling a surge of anxiety in her nerves as she thought of Inuyasha. He had given her the cold shoulder since she had refused him in the cool stream that one particular night - and consequently, distanced himself from her just as she had wanted. It didn't mean she felt any better about it. She hated the fact that she was hurting him, and it was obvious he was waiting for her. He was waiting when she told him she needed time.

 

Kagome hated to think he'd wait for her forever, but she knew he would. The true bitterness of all of this was that she was probably not going to chose him - she couldn't when it was obvious she had fallen for Sesshoumaru.

 

She just didn't know how to tell Inuyasha. She felt she wasn't that brave after all.

 

And if by some small chance that Sesshoumaru was in love with her too, she felt it'd be much easier to come out into the open about their relationship; however, this was not the case.

 

Sure, Sesshoumaru was quite possessive of her - protective even - but he never said in words or inferred that he loved her.

 

Kagome wondered if he was capable of it.

 

“What has captured your thoughts, Kagome?” His voice was a smooth stroke against her ears.

 

She brought herself out of a daze and met his eyes, giving him a curious look. She knew it wasn't the right time to bring up `love' to Sesshoumaru - it never was. She wanted him to do it on his own. To demand it might make things worse and unattractive, and she certainly didn't want to seem like the whiny, clinging girl she was when she first started traveling with Inuyasha. She needed to act like a woman about this.

 

So she told him something else was bothering her. “I was wondering …” She paused and traced the stripe over his cheek. “I find it odd…no, impossible that any male on this earth can experience monthly heat.”

 

There. She had said it. The crazy nature of Sesshoumaru's condition since they initially met had boggled her brain that she couldn't shake it - even though she had been too afraid in the beginning to approach him about it.

 

Sesshoumaru pursed his lips and let out an exasperated sigh. “Of course it's not natural. If you must know…” He looked into her hungry eyes and began to feel inadequate. If anyone else had asked him such a question he would have throttled them, but Kagome was different. She was involved, and he began to think she should know - even if the ramifications of this curse were too unpleasant to be publicly known - especially for someone like him. “I was cursed with it. I made an enemy with a foe whose power I had underestimated.” He sighed again as Kagome seemed intrigued as well as shocked. He thought she must be shocked that he'd underestimate anyone. Then he finally said, “The person who cursed me was a witch.”

 

“A witch? Like the one that resurrected Kikyou?” she asked aloud, but she didn't quite know if Sesshoumaru knew the story behind that. She shook her head when he looked at her in puzzlement and then said, “The person who resurrected Kikyou used magic to mold clay for her body and a vat of potions to steal my soul.”

 

Sesshoumaru nodded in understanding, but the fire in his eyes suggested that he was not happy to know this about her - and the look indicated he wanted to find the very witch and destroy her. Kagome smirked at his reaction. “Anyway, she's dead now. Tell me about the witch that cursed you.” She gave him a warm smile and said soothingly, “I want to know.”

 

So, he told her everything.

 

----

 

During the time Naraku had escaped and there were little to no leads on him, Sesshoumaru and his traveling companions still continued to search for any sign. However, the lack of information made it harder to completely be vigilant about the mission, and he had to admit there was a lot of down time from the search.

 

On many days, there was a lot of relaxation. Jaken took care of Rin while Sesshoumaru searched the countryside, musing to himself and appearing to look for clues. There were many times he had left them alone no more than an afternoon, and then he was back.

 

In all honesty, without trace of Naraku, there was nothing else they really could do. Sesshoumaru was so bored - so subjected to idleness - that he had often thought of finding his brother and picking fights with him, just to keep them both on their toes.

 

His aversion to his brother's loud, vulgar mouth and the reminder of his heritage prevented Sesshoumaru from carrying out that plan into its entirety.

 

So there was nothing for him to do other than rest and sometimes train himself to keep his senses and abilities sharp. When he did this, he didn't want to be around anyone; therefore leaving Rin and Jaken by themselves again.

 

And in one eerie day that he had decided to leave to train, Jaken had failed to protect Rin from an unforeseen foe. This unexpected new enemy swooped down from her mountain and cast a spell on the children within the area - trying to gather them up to collect their innocent blood for her potions.

 

Rin just happened to be one of her many young victims.

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama!” Jaken squealed, running and tripping through the forest as he came to get his lord. He was badly beaten, mostly unable to do the running he was doing, but the poor toad was so terrified that he ran on pure adrenaline. Sesshoumaru's two headed dragon limped behind him, burnt terribly from mystical wounds.

 

When Jaken had found him training in the forest, he took a moment to catch his breath and prostrate himself in front of him. “My lord, the human girl has been kidnapped!”

 

And in a flash of lightning Sesshoumaru was off, searching the air for suspicious scents mixed with Rin's and then following the trail. By his instincts, this suspicious scent was more than it seemed, and Sesshoumaru had an odd feeling that he may know this witch. Haughtily, he did not think himself so weak that he would be taken over by some old devilish crone, but he hardly had any idea that the old crone knew of him - and she knew that Rin was his.

 

He could hear her cackling as children screamed from inside her lair. Residing within a secluded cave on the mountainside, Sesshoumaru found her dwelling behind a considerable amount of mystical barriers and secluded beneath an ominous bramble of bushes and trees.

 

The magical barriers seemed weak, so he didn't think it was necessary to prepare himself too much against her, and he had surmised that she must have been a rather weak opponent. Thusly, he would just grab Rin; snap the bitch's neck and go.

 

He couldn't have been more wrong.

 

“Ohohohoho, look children, we have a guest,” the old witch cackled, and his senses went on alert as she confidently stalked out of her cave. Mindless drones of children followed behind her with Rin by her side.

 

“Ah, it's the mighty Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands,” she said, giving him a malicious look. “I know you, I do, but I gather you don't know of me.”

 

“Old woman, return my ward at once and I may spare your life,” he spat, and he was so angry at this woman for being so cheeky with him that his hand began to jerk to lunge at her and clear her head right off.

 

“I cannot. Her blood is special,” she reached her wrinkly boney hand over to Rin and patted her on the head. Rin was caught under a numbing spell and could not react. Sesshoumaru growled at the old woman's violation. “You see, this poor child should be dead, but she was clearly revived by mystical means.” The old witch turned to him, her wrinkles setting deeper in her skin as she grinned. She looked to Sesshoumaru and then glanced at the sword at his hilt. “Yes, indeed, she is special. Her blood carries the energy of the underworld.”

 

Sesshoumaru said nothing. It was obvious the woman had some magical abilities to detect Rin's tie to his father's otherworldly sword. He assumed her speech would go into a tirade of games, and he was not so foolish to mind them. He let her continue to talk until he found the perfect opportunity to strike. But for now, he wanted to know how this old crone knew him.

 

“Old witch, how do you know this Sesshoumaru?” he inquired, pointing a ready sword at him. Toukijin surged with the anticipation of spilled blood and he subdued it, saving its energy for that one perfect time.

 

“I know of your father, the fool,” she spat, her confident expression turning to a sour frown. “That bastard father of yours cursed me and ruined my life! I will never forgive him, and I will never forgive his family!”

 

Well, upon hearing that, Sesshoumaru was sure she was sick in the head. He never knew of his father cursing anyone - especially in such a petty way. “You speak lies. My father would not bother with such a thing - he would not bother with you.”

 

And in return, the old witch glared at him and seemed thoroughly offended, and Sesshoumaru could sense her power surging at her finger tips. He readied his stance.

 

“You do not really know your father, boy!” she lashed at him, pointing a knobby finger. Her eyes seemed old and pained, hardening from revenge and tearing from a lost past. She let the tears drip down her cheeks. “You do not know … I ….” She became so emotional it was hard for her speak. Clearly, she had spent most of her lifetime caging her rage and regret, and now she was letting it burst from within her. “I … loved your father, but he chose my sister over me! My darling sister …” Her nose wrinkled in distaste as she became lost in her own unsettling memories. “My sister, the princess Izayoi, to save her kingdom she gave herself to a demon - to save her family she bargained herself in place of her sister who loved him - covering up the scandal by presenting herself to the demon instead.” She paused, and bitterness was sharp on the tip of her tongue. “Instead she ended up loving him in the end. Then, she took him away from me!”

 

At this point, Sesshoumaru was bored and did not care for her story. His father was a fool in the way of humans, this was true. However, because of his handsome features and power, human women were more the fools than he, and Sesshoumaru was tired of hearing the tales of humans falling for his father - and this old lady's story was no different.

 

He was intrigued that standing before him was Izayoi's sister, tainted over the years by the use of dark magic, and no doubt sustaining her life by a contract with some mediocre youkai. And although she claimed to be Izayoi's sister, he cared nothing for Izayoi and therefore in turn, cared nothing for her.

 

The only thing amusing about this situation was that Inuyasha's aunt was still alive, and he wondered if they should get together for a dysfunctional family reunion. He scoffed - boredom without trace of Naraku really was making him go stir crazy.

 

“I tire of this,” he finally said as the old woman finished her story and continued to glare at him. He lunged for her, trying to keep mind of Rin in order not to harm her. The old witch saw him lunge and pushed Rin to the ground far from her side. She, too, wanted to keep Rin out of harms way - only because she valued Rin's blood for her own selfish means.

 

She held a black worn staff made of beeswax and rusted metal, and she concentrated her power to surge into the coil. Sesshoumaru felt her power spike and then channel into her rod as she pointed it at him. He dodged an energy blast, and he heard her chanting spells as she fired each blast at him.

 

He deducted that the staff was a conduit to her power, that she could only conduct her spells through it audibly. In his defense, his interest would be to silence her and rid her of that staff. It wasn't going to be easy though, and as old as she was, the constant fire of blasts were bothersome to keep dodging as he tried to get closer to her.

 

Finally, he sheathed his sword and used his poison whip, finding an opening as she fired; he took her eyes and mouth out with the tip. She screamed in pain and dropped her staff, clutching her face as poison seeped into her skin. And just before the staff hit the ground, Sesshoumaru grabbed Toukijin in one swift motion and cut the staff in half - the onslaught of Toukijin's aura deteriorating it into dust in the wind.

 

Since the old witch was still a human despite her magic, she did not have the demon's ability to heal. Sesshoumaru's poison was strong, and it continuously melted through the layers of blood and tissue of her face. She shielded her face from him, but before she could, he saw an amused look on her face.

 

“You think you have defeated me?” the old woman cackled and Sesshoumaru thought she was completely mad. “You just wait, son of my enemy. My curse will find you soon enough.” And before the woman could blather anymore, Sesshoumaru lifted up his sword and in one swift motion lopped off her head. The air was silent without the woman's cackle.

 

Children began waking out of their daze and looking around their surroundings in puzzlement. All of the children seemed to be safe - all but Rin.

 

Sesshoumaru picked her up off the ground and held the girl in her arms. She still seemed to be under the witch's spell, and he found this odd since he had indeed destroyed the foe.

 

How could she still be in a spell when all the other children were coming out of it?

 

Then, Sesshoumaru realized that the witch must have done something else to her, for she did consider Rin special. It irritated him that he now had to find some way to snap her out of this, and he had no idea where to start.

 

As he was pondering ways to help Rin, Sesshoumaru noticed movement as she began to inch closer to him. With that slight bit of movement, Sesshoumaru became curious to her behavior and hoped that maybe she could eventually come out of the spell on her own.

 

“Rin?” he asked, and his eyes widened as the girl, still in a trance, inched closer to his face and then kissed his lips. Startled, he pushed her lightly away and looked up at her face. Rin's face contorted into a sour malicious grin.

 

She began cackling, channeling the spirit of the witch. Sesshoumaru stared at her, horrified and angered. Rin spoke in an echoing voice that belonged to the witch. “I told you that my curse would come. Now that your lovely child has given you the curse through her kiss, you are now doomed to never have a child - your bloodline ends here, Lord Sesshoumaru. And you will feel the pain every month for a woman - any woman - and you will never be free. The `beast' will control you - and no matter how much you are satisfied you will always be alone. Your family will die. This is my curse.”

 

The old woman laughed and then Rin slumped forward into a sound sleep as the spirit of the crone floated away into the afterlife. Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth to what she meant, but his life from that point on was terribly uneasy and would never be the same.

 

----

 

“So, the next month the curse began. No matter how many times it happens, I will never be fulfilled - my family line can never be extended.”

 

“That's awful!” Kagome replied, taking his hands into hers. She gave him a determined look. “There must be a way to reverse the spell!”

 

Sesshoumaru sighed and leaned against the tree looking away from her. ”It does not matter.” He turned to her and his face still remained so placid, so uncaring. Kagome couldn't believe that he was fine with this, and she was sure he was masking his emotions. “I never wanted to settle down with anyone anyway.”

 

Now, Kagome knew that couldn't be true! Sesshoumaru was so proud of his family, and he would surely want to continue the family blood - wouldn't he?

 

“But…”she stuttered, and she wanted to say something to console him, even when he appeared to be unbothered by the events. “Maybe…your family line can still go on with Inuyasha if you cannot find a way to reverse this curse.”

 

And as soon as she said his brother's name he had pushed her on her back to the ground. His face lit up with anger and he growled at her, jealousy teetering in his golden eyes. “And who will be the one to continue our family line with Inuyasha? Huh?” He leaned down and nipped on her ear. The motion made her heart jump and she swallowed with unease. Her rising fear tickled at Sesshoumaru's primal senses. He growled again, and then peered hard into her eyes saying, “Will it be you?”

 

Her answer would be the answer of all importance - it would be the breaking or settling point of his anger and nerves. She gave him a challenging glare and pursed her lips in defiance. “If I can't do it with you, it still certainly won't be with him.”

 

He knelt close to her ear and whispered in a dangerous tone. “You lie.”

 

“No!” she screamed, her voice scratching at his sensitive ears. She bucked into him, and her voice became husky and forceful. “You don't understand anything. I don't want a child.”

 

He met her bucking pelvis with his own, and he delighted in the face she made as he rubbed against her. “But you did want a child…with him.”

 

“No. I never thought -“ He tugged on her hair and she winced. “You don't understand.”

 

“And just what don't I understand? Hrmm?” Sesshoumaru became excited by her fortitude, but then his libido seemed to die when he looked into her forlorn face.

 

“You don't understand me. You don't understand how I feel, and I doubt that you could.” She fell rigid against him and looked away. How could he understand? She was in love with him, and she was sure he was not in love with her.

 

If anything, his story proved that Sesshoumaru's attachment to her was driven by the curse. If not for the encounter with the old witch and her curse, Kagome wondered if they'd even be in this position at all. She might be in Inuyasha's arms instead - her friends might have never judged her and she may have never had to hurt anyone at all. Her lips curled and she had a bad taste in her mouth.

 

Sesshoumaru stared at her and knew the mood had been killed. He decided to remain on top of her, studying her face and the sudden coldness to him.

 

“You don't understand anything...”

 

What didn't he understand? Was this a human thing? Kagome was clearly not telling him everything that was bothering her - and he knew there was something wrong.

 

He then dipped his head down and rested in the nook of her collarbone and whispered against her skin, “Show me what I need to understand.”

 

Then the tears came, and Kagome couldn't prevent herself from sniffling. She sighed and then finally said, “I don't know if you can ever understand.” He moved and looked in her eyes. She cupped his cheeks in her soft hands, and he felt subdued again by her affectionate smile. “It's time for me to go. The others will worry,” she added finally. “Don't worry about understanding, Sesshoumaru. I don't understand it myself sometimes.”

 

`I'll love you all on my own, it seems,' she thought to herself before leaving him. She just didn't have the courage to confess something like that to him. She still didn't think he was capable of understanding - of knowing what it's like to experience human love.

 

----

 

As Kagome sauntered back to the hot spring, she tried to concentrate on preparing herself to be free from Sesshoumaru's smell- upon returning to Inuyasha and the others. It had become a routine now.

 

She yawned and felt emotionally tired, and she ignored the ominous sounds of the forest as she headed away from Sesshoumaru on her own. Not too far away, her friends were sleeping and waiting for her to return from her bath of the day and she thought she might have taken too long this time. Shrugging, she shed her clothes quickly at the bed of the river and jumped in. She grabbed the special soap Sesshoumaru gave her to rid his scent off her skin, and she rubbed herself quickly clean to jump out of the stream again.

 

As she began drying herself off and putting back on her clothes, she became lost in thought and did not even sense the youkai energy coming near her.

 

Finally, she felt a prick on her neck and slapped off a familiar flea.

 

“Myouga, what are you doing here?” she said in exasperation. The little flea demon settled on her palm and looked up at her with a grave expression.

 

She noticed this and became concerned. “What is it?”

 

“Kagome-sama, I know about your secret.” Kagome tensed at his words and turned her gaze to the direction where Sesshoumaru was. Her expression was that of horror.

 

“You mean…”

 

Myouga interrupted her and shook his head. “You can't keep doing this. I wanted to warn you because I've known for a couple of months now. You can't do this to either of them.”

 

She became angry and suddenly her emotional defenses soared. She did not want to be lectured now of all times. “Don't you think I know that?” she lashed at him, and Myouga scuttled a couple of paces away to shield himself from her wrath. However, although it looked like she was going to get mad, she just slumped down at the side of the river bank in defeat with her head in her hands. She began to cry.

 

“I'm sorry, Myouga, I …I just don't know what to do…”

 

Myouga looked at her piteously and tried to imagine what she was going through. The poor girl was caught between the two brothers and stuck there, without any proper and safe way to get out.

 

“I love them both,” she said finally.

 

“But you can't…”

 

“I know,” she said soundly, wiping away her tears. She stood up and looked ahead to the direction of Inuyasha and the others. “I know that soon I'll have to tell him - I'll have to choose.”

 

But Kagome knew that such a choice was not going to be easy to make.

 

TBC…