InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Crescent Moon On The Brow Of The Sky ❯ The Sword ( Chapter 8 )

HELLOS EVERYONE! HOW WAS YOUR MONTH? MINE SUCKED! HEHEHE!

Sorry about the delay of like, 100 days in between.

Aw well. Back with another chapter! (Smile). Wow, the last chapter got a lot of response to it, and nothing much happened in it. Kinda disappointing, if you think about it, and how much I update... Ha!

Oh, I posted some pictures on Mediaminer! Yay! Not the best I can do. And no, I didn't get a scanner. I scanner-bummed off of a friend. Thanks, L!

Ah, yes! Reviews! I got SO MANY! Love ya all!

froggiesrcool&Trisak Aminawn : Yah, i love funny weird signs! Thanks for going to my profile, not a lot do... Yur great! Thanks for reading my story, guys! Aw, now I'm hyper!

TrisakAminawn: You reviewed twice! He he he, thanks! And thankyou for liking my style of writing! (And that weird conversation was just me being hyper and ranting about sess/kag cliches. Since i take it you don't read much sess/kag, I am going to tell you they always follow a basic plotline that irritates me. Grr! Don't worry, I'm not mental-hospital nuts. I'm just nuts.) Yah, I am misleading about the sess/kag thing, and I'm sorry to disappoint you but they are going to get together, but not in the classic sense of the word. They are not going to do some weird cliche “I love you” thing. I can't imagine Sess saying that, sorry. But I do love sess/kag. Not that I have anything against Inu/kag. That's why my story's a mixture of the two. Yah, I am sorry, I suppose I am being misleading on purpose. And as for the floating creepy Casper-like Inu Yasha that's completely OOC, he's...er...well, I can't explain much without giving anything away. He didn't write that before he died, and if he did he was using his brain for once. And I think his wallowing in self kinda died when he killed Kagome. Ya know, that thing called guilt. I will make sure Kag doesn't forget him like all the other cliches do. Whoa, long answer to your review. Well, thanks for reviewing, and a really cool goodbye! ( I certainly can't match that cool one you gave me, “May you fare well wherever you fare, and eyrie receive you at journey's end.”)Damn, I love people who leave large reviews!

weird-little-neko-princess: YEAH! RAMMSTEIN RULES! Thanks for liking my story, and your English isn't that bad. I think I like you, too! Huggles!

KaNaGi: Don't worry, I'll try to update! Thanks for reviewing!

KiNaGi: Er... is that you again or is this a different person? Giggles. Thanks for liking my story! You are the BEST!

Aqua Miko: My story's beautiful? Aw, thanks! That's very high praise! Thanks for liking my writing! It took a lot of years to build up the skill! I can certainly type fast now! (grin)

Lady Kagewaki: Fantastic? Moi? Aw, thanks! Huggles! Please read my story again!

Ray: Don't worry, I will! And thanks for wishing me luck on exams! I got my marks back and I PASSED! Whew!

 

Mediaminer replies:

Mystic Hanyou: yeah, they ARE taking forever! I just wanted to stretch it out a bit, you know... don't worry, its gonna get more exciting soon, I hope! Its my second try at a BATTLE SCENE! BOO YEAH! I suck at those. Thanks for reviewing! Huggles!

Kayashi: Thanks for liking the way I write! I would LOVE to see the picture you say you sketched...I am an art enthusiast! Unless you don't have a scanner; that's okay! I don't either! Lets mourn our scannerless lives together!

DarklessVasion: This is one of the best damn reviews I have ever gotten! You summed up my story for me; it really helped. Yep. Sesshoumaru is a meanie right now. Here's a tidbit: didn't he seem a little jealous when he stated (quite simply) that Kagome loved Inu Yasha? Hmm...Puzzle...^_^! Kagome did get a confidence boost when Kikyou died, I'm glad you noticed. I'm surprised myself that Sesshoumaru didn't cut her down with a sword and then get Jaken to burn her remains.O.O Hmm...puzzle #2... Sess! That damn hypocrite! Bad-mouthing humans and treating Rin very kindly! Well, in this fic some global warming is gonna ensue that will thaw this walking glacier! LOL. Glacier Sess WILL thaw. Not as much to flood the world, but enough to bury some islands. Don't worry, Sango and Miroku haven't quite lost their minds... yet. MUHAHAHAHA! Cough. These characters are a blast to torture! Review again! You are the BEST!

 

Disclaimer: Nope! Don't own a thing, so don't sue me! Please!

 

The Sword

 

The moon overhead, a crumbling smirk in the sky, gleamed upon snow that was silver-edged like the blade of a knife. Kagome crouched, shivering in the drift of snow that surrounded her like a blanket of feathers, untouched save for the stumbling tracks that led her there.

She walked with a limp now, the wound she had gained from her clumsiness far more painful with every breath she took.

 

She was hiding; she was clinging to the hope that Sesshoumaru would think she was dead and leave. Her breathing, even to her own ears, was loud, casting silver fog into the sky with the plea she breathed. She clasped her hands together, feeling the numbness in them, and lost herself in thought.

 

Home. Home was where her heart lay, beating and painful in dreams of deep comfort and memory. Kagome knew this as much as she knew herself- that she would die if she remained any longer, lived any longer in the pain that encased her heart. A fleeting thought passed through her mind- of leaving Sesshoumaru, whose eyes held nothing but hatred for her, and finding her way back to the place that had begun, and would eventually end, her journey.

 

Fear of Sesshoumaru stilled her heart. She had seen what he could do to those that crossed him, be it his path or his ire. She felt as if every moment would bring his claws to her throat. Would he enjoy the feel of her blood darkening his hands? Would he smile at her, relishing the sounds of her heart standing forever still? His beauty, then, would be reflected a million times in the light of the moon.

 

A sob escaped her lips when she saw him, far away and high upon the hill she had slid down to get to her hiding place, a shadow against the waning face of the moon. Her tracks were so blazingly evident in the blanket of the snow, and she realized her fight was futile- he would find her, he would always find her. And when that moment occurred, there would be no room for thought as his claws buried themselves in her pulse.

 

A cloud covered the moon, and all became dark and blue. The snow lost its gleam and became a landscape of dark and light. There was nothing in this world now save for fear, shadows and sky. She crawled away from the figure upon the hill, snow dusting her features and her clothes, bleaching her skin with frostbite. She closed her eyes, feeling tears roll down her cheeks.

 

He was coming closer to her, ever closer through a swirling world of shade and moonlight. Kagome crawled ever further away from him, though the cold made her stumble and cry out. She crawled into the dark bars of the forest, and looked up to see a dark canopy framing a firmament brightened by stars. And there, staring up at the sky, she stumbled upon the man she loved.

 

Kagome fell to her knees, shock spreading like a stain across her face. Even in his death, some of the old familiarity remained in his rotting features. Wind stirred across his frozen face, half-buried in newly fallen snow, and revealed the hilt of the Tetsusaiga that was in his arms.

 

Seeing him, Kagome felt winded and strange, and pangs of fear and love stabbed their hot warnings through her heart, afterwards leaving her empty and cold. “Inu Yasha...” she murmured, the name attempting to coerce tears from her. Her heart wrenched, so hard she clutched at her chest with frost-bitten fingers, digging crescent moons into her flesh through the meager fabric of her peasant's kimono. My heart...hurts...

 

Pain. Pain of losing him again and again and again. Her tears, like the opening of a stormy summer sky, fell warm down her icy cheeks, leaving scorching marks. Please. She begged herself, clutching at her heart with both hands. Please don't cry. I don't want to cry anymore.

 

She could feel Sesshoumaru approaching, knowing that her scent was strong and laced with fear and tears. She dragged her wrist across her eyes, anger filling her. He knew. He knew why she cried so pitifully, while snow chilled her to her marrow. She knew that next year, or the year after that, or the year after that, she would still be crying. She would be crying until the earth rose up to claim her again.

 

She was angry at him for chasing her through miles of twisting snow, knowing she would eventually falter, knowing that eventually she would come across him. Why was she living, if Sesshoumaru wished her death?Why had he brought her back, if he hated her, the very sight of her sickening him?

 

She could feel his presence in this clearing, very close, even though his breathing was very quiet and betrayed nothing. She faltered for only a moment, gathering up her final walls of strength that were weakened by her discovery, weakened by her sorrow. Then, she leapt forward upon stumbling legs, her fingers closing upon the hilt of the Tetsusaiga, jerking it forth from the arms of her love. The thumb of her other hand awkwardly knocked the rusted blade out from its sheath and into her hand.

 

Kagome turned towards him with all intention to stab him through to his cold and empty heart. Yet, when she saw him there so close to her, beautiful and silvered by the snow, eyes flat and feral in the darkness where she wished to hide, the intention died away in her. She stood, waiting, wishing he would act, would reach out and strike her so she could have a reason for stabbing him. Even though he lifted his hand towards her ever so slightly, the strike never came.

 

“Ningen,” he said coldly, no emotion betraying him. “You have ran from me.”

 

She whispered a word of assent, lowering her eyes and reddening at his closeness, at his presence mixing with hers. Something made her want sorely to fall to her knees, to beg forgiveness, to do anything to force his eyes away. She clutched the Tetsusaiga to her chest where her heart burned with lingering pain, feeling like it was formed out of sand.

 

Her fingers coiled and stiffened around the Tetsusaiga, the only betrayal to the realization that uncoiled like a snake inside. The reason she was alive now, having once been so dead- he needed her to carry this, to carry this thing in her hands. This thing which commanded all of his discreet attention, even now.

 

She did not understand why Sesshoumaru loved it so, like she did not understand Inu Yasha's love for it. It was power, yes- but it was a thirsty thing, fed by slaughter and dying screams. She suddenly knew that Sesshoumaru must not have it, ever. She was the first one ever able to carry it; it was fitting that the one who died carrying it would be her.

 

“You can't have it, Sesshoumaru” she said, her voice trembling through a throat clenched in hate as she drew it shakily from its sheath. “You won't have it, Sesshoumaru.”

 

She could see the moon reflected upon its old, blunt surface, wishing for it to change but knowing it would not, it could not. A tiny whimper of despair leapt past her resolve as she bit down upon her

bottom lip, letting the rage of a miko bleed into her eyes. She knew she was not as frail of heart, as fearful, as he thought she was.

 

“I am going to die tonight,” she whispered, and was unafraid. She was meant to die, was supposed to die- he had no right to disturb her sleep.

 

A dead hanyou's eyes watched Kagome as she ran, limping, towards the waiting claws of a youkai who hated her. And then, before her weapon could drag her to a promised death she wavered, feeling auras tease her inner vision. She stiffened, her eyes widening, the Tetsusaiga dipping towards the ground, bowing like a vassal. The taiyoukai observed her closely, his lack of emotion a carapace around his face.

 

Two figures slowly emerged from the bars of the trees around, on either side of her as she froze in apprehension. One shadow swung black hair out of its eyes, covering a beautiful crescent smile with a demon hand, drawing a sword out from among loose black clothes. The other hung back, face dripping with a smirk, his loose white clothes shifting as a blade was pulled from them. Kagome froze, a deer about to die.

 

“Oh almighty Taiyoukai of the West,” said the one in black, a voice of smooth honey from his throat. “It seems your miko has fallen into a trap.”

 

Kagome, through a haze of dread, saw Sesshoumaru's hard eyes become like steel.

 

The one in white twisted the blade in his hands, parting lips to continue the righteous speech. “Your Ka-go-me has pulled the sword out from a hanyou's hand, as you could not do, as your Rin could not do. It is just as we wrote in the snow,” an identical, thirsty grin broadened upon their twin faces, two sides of a whole. “ONLY KAGOME CAN.”

 

Sesshoumaru felt the power of rage rise in him, making him stiffen his features invisibly. Treachery...

 

“She belongs to our father now,” said the one in black, raising his blade so it glinted in the glow of the moon. The smile widened even further, the smile echoed upon his twin's face, his eyes falling upon Kagome. “She belongs to us now.”

 

“Ningen,” said the taiyoukai coolly, catching her eye, a collision of his stoic rage and her open fear. “You may leave.”

 

Kagome felt guilt flood her, and shook her head feircely, knowing that if he died, or was hurt, it would be her fault. It was strange how, just a moment before, she wanted to slide his life in two with a rusted sword. Still shaking her head, she held the heavy blade out in front of her, pointed towards the two pretty shadows with the wolfish smiles.

 

Hitsumaru. Tsusimaru. She remembered them, remembered how the one in black had pierced his claws into her throat, how one of them had plunged his fist through the hanyou she loved. One of them had killed the hanyou she loved. One of them had killed Inu Yasha.

 

In a haze of unbearable rage and anguish, she barely noticed that the Taiyoukai had pulled the Toukijin out from his belt, until the broad, evil blade knocked the wind from her with its presence, clouding her senses, making her dizzy with fright.

 

In her haze of unbearable rage and anguish, she noticed Sesshoumaru step ever so slowly in front of her, though not to protect her- he only wanted to deal the first blow.

 

“Ningen,” he murmured coolly once more, his fist clenching around the evil sword. “You may leave.”

 

She found herself shaking her head, her legs tensing, unwilling to move. “No,” she said it clearly, so he would understand. She could not leave him, not when the reason they were here was her fault. High above, she could see a floating feather, a shadow against the moon.

 

The taiyoukai's shoulders stiffened, preparing for the strain of battle, silver moonlight and deep shadow bathing in his beauty. “Kagome,“ he stated simply, her name flowing off of his lips like water, stunning her with how much she liked the sound. “Go.”

 

The twins approached him, slowly, maddeningly so. Then, the one in black rushed forward with a laugh upon his lips, his blade swinging towards where Sesshoumaru stood, full of grace and without fear.

 

The taiyoukai dodged the blow, too fast for her eyes to catch, the swinging of his long silver hair the only testament to his movement. “How foolish of you,” he said, coldly, far more coldly then he had ever spoke to her. The Toukijin's aura pulsed, eager for blood. With a twist of his single hand, Sesshoumaru fed his sword, grazing and biting his enemy's shoulder.

 

The one in black grunted ever so slightly, a pout melting his smile away, only to be reborn again as his twin leapt into battle, a cry of anger bursting forth from his mouth. Sesshoumaru's carapace never melted, only aloof rage piercing his cool eyes.

 

Kagome fell to her knees, weakness falling upon her as she watched Sesshoumaru fight as though it was a dance. The two youkai fighting him seemed to be clumsy in comparison, their speed no match for his. Their sanguine blood flicked drops across the snow as the Toukijin cut them again and again, snow swirling and twisting around them madly, white and blue. A drop hit her face, and she did not bother to wipe it away, even though it burned. Sweat glinted across the twin's faces.

 

“You will perish,” said Sesshoumaru, lifting his sword above his head, a blue flashing light erupting as he brought it, swinging, down, “FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!”

 

The blue light felled down the one in white, who cried out as red blood bloomed upon his clothes, which tore in places as the light engulfed him. His twin only barely got out of the way as a tree, creaking, was torn from its roots and burned away.

 

“HITSUMARU!” The one in black cried, his eyes burning with rage. “If he is dead, Kagome will DIE!”

 

Kagome found herself caught up in the fray, brought to her feet as the one in white rose, limping and tattered, to his feet. Sesshoumaru let forth from his sword another light, which turned the world to black and white as the one called Hitsumaru fell into his twin's arms, clinging to his black clothing as he jumped out of the path of destruction.

 

The one in black opened his mouth and called out with all the power in his lungs, “KAGURA! GET HER! GET HER!”

 

Before Kagome could even think she was in the air, in the arms of a smirking woman whose green earings flashed against her cheeks with the upstart of wind. The world was dark, snow-covered underneath them, spinning and sick.

 

“You will go to Naraku, you impertinent wench,” the wind witch stated simply, her voice dripping with venom as her nails dug into her deeply and painfully.

 

Before Kagome could think, she was calling a name, opening her mouth wide, a breathy scream of fear. She could feel the presence of the Toukijin still slamming into her, disorienting her, making her wild with terror. She fought the wind witch, kicking out, biting her, hitting her with the flat of the Tetsusaiga. Kagura cursed her, trying to keep a hold upon her as she writhed, and failing.

 

“As you wish, Kagome,” she said softly, almost sadly. “You choose death, so you will die tonight.”

 

A wild gust of wind sent her over the soft edge of the feather, making her plunge like a stone to the depths below, clutching Inu Yasha's sword against her heart. She screamed, the sound wrenching forth from her lips, bright and full of horror, full of need. She clenched her hands to her chest, feeling her heart burn again with pain. If she had nothing to live for except for Inu Yasha, why was she so full of sorrow?

 

The ground was rising, coming closer, hoping to crush her with its weight, to shatter her like glass. She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow- the blow that never came.

 

She found herself surrounded by silver, pressed close against a body flecked with blood that was not his own. She could hear him breathing, a breath that was even and sure, never wavering. He dropped onto his feet, safely upon the snowy ground, placing her gently upon her own.

 

She still clutched the Tetsusaiga close to her chest, so she let her hands fall to her sides. “Why...?”

 

Sesshoumaru turned away, but not before she caught the look upon his face, or missed the words from his lips. Was there truly relief lying in his features, before the curtain was once again drawn in front of his eyes? Had he truly said he came because she had called?