InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cursed ❯ To Find and to Know ( Chapter 40 )

AN: BTW, I only had one reviewer that guessed right about Sura being a spy for the bad guys. That honor goes to junyortrakr on fanfiction. I applaud you. Also, just a head's up, I'll be traveling to DC for the next week and a half, so don't expect any updates to my stories. I plan on taking a vacation from everything and sorry but that includes this little past time as well. Till we meet again...but here's a chapter to tide you over until then. Tata

 

Chapter 40 - To Find and to Know

 

 

Takana groaned and tried to raise her head but found, to her worry, that she couldn't move a muscle. She couldn't even open her eyes or think straight. All she did know was that her head absolutely pounded within the confines of her skull, her throat burned with each attempt at swallowing and her mouth tasted worse than anything she had ever known.

 

It took her a long time, or what she imagined was a long time, to realize that there were sounds all around her though she could neither discern their source nor their cause. She didn't know if they were voices or the clapping of thunder. The only constant she could derive was that whatever it was, only served to intensify the ache behind her still closed eyes.

 

“You gave her too much.” Sarath stated as the human's head did little more than lull from side to side as her mouth occasionally let slip a pained little moan.

 

“I didn't know what it would take to knock a human out.” A small voice responded. “Apparently not too much, the dosage she was given wouldn't even calm a newborn youkai. These creatures are so fragile.” The spider youkai stated as it tiptoed in front of the mostly unconscious human and tried to gauge her progress.

 

“Will she survive?” He asked impatiently. She was of little use to him dead. He needed her alive in order to prove the parentage of the babe in her womb. Only then would Loki have the necessary leverage to gain support from enough lords to force a revolt. Sarath still couldn't fathom that the moron actually believed him when he'd offered him aid in destroying the opposition. All Sarath ever wanted was for the Lord of the West to be deposed of his title and position and for a civil war to break out. Only then did the North stand a chance of finally ridding this island nation of the West's centuries old domination.

 

“It will not harm her or the young one; only cause her to sleep longer than expected.” She answered.

 

“Good, inform me when she is lucid enough to speak and not a moment later. Timing is everything now.” And with that, he left the tower room to attend to other important matters.

 

 

Sesshoumaru sprinted through the dark, winding corridor, his sense of dread mounting with each passing moment. They had not been in his rooms or the gardens. He'd even checked the damn kitchen but found nothing but old scents. He knew they had used the corridor out of the castle the moment he'd stepped inside it. The scent concealing potion was gone, obviously used by Yuti as they'd fled but they why the hell hadn't they been at the outpost. For a moment, he allowed himself to hope that maybe they'd been slow in their journey and just hadn't arrived before Tomo and he had. He knew it was unlikely but, at the moment, it was all he had.

 

Tomo raced along behind his lord, not allowing himself the luxury of Sesshoumaru's wishful thinking. He knew something terrible had happened, he just didn't know what and the uncertainty was killing him. Halfway through the corridor, he had finally placed the third scent that accompanied his mate's and the human's. It was the cook. Why she too would have been escaping just didn't make any sense and it left him with an unpleasant, sinking feeling.

 

Finally, the two men reached the end of the corridor but even before Sesshoumaru opened the heavy old door, they both smelled the scent of blood. Tomo uncharacteristically forgot his place and pushed past his lord when he saw her still body, lying face down on the forest floor.

 

“Yuti!” He yelled, praying to hear any kind of response from his mate. There was so much blood. He crashed to his knees and gingerly rolled her cool body into his lap, being careful of the still embedded dagger. He smoothed her silver hair out of her face and ran the backs of his fingers down a dirty cheek.

 

“My love,” he whispered fearfully, “I'm here now, everything will be alright. I swear it.”

 

Sesshoumaru watched for a long moment, frozen in place. He hadn't felt this helpless or impotent since long before he'd ever been human. Not since he was young all those years ago and had stood over the graves of his brothers had he felt like this. It had been that day, oh so long ago; that he had made a promise to himself to never...never be weak again so that he could protect what was important to him. Over the years, he'd forgotten just what that was. In his quest for strength, he had pushed aside everything else until he'd almost forgotten. Only recently had he begun to remember after a little human orphan began to follow him and something he'd only fully remembered after a human woman saved his life. But now that he'd finally remembered why he had worked so hard to become so strong, he once again felt weak and unable to protect what mattered to him.

 

Sesshoumaru was finally spurred into action when his sister coughed.

 

“Oh thank the gods!” Tomo groaned.

 

“Get her to the infirmary. I'll find out what I can here.” While his voice remained calm and measured, inside he was seething.

 

Tomo didn't argue and immediately set off with his severely injured mate.

 

Even before his general was out of earshot, Sesshoumaru knew that this was a dead end. The one that had carried out this plan knew exactly what they were doing because outside of the immediate area, there were absolutely no scent trails to follow. With that, he turned back to the fortress. He would not waste precious time blindly searching the forest for a trail that may or may not exist. Instead, he would begin looking internally, where one traitor existed, there were others. Conspiracies didn't consist of just one and he was sure as hell going to find the rest of the bastards.

 

 

Sarath walked back into the tower room after having been informed of his captive's return to consciousness. It was time to get things moving before any more time was wasted. By now, the dog lord had certainly found that his prized little human was missing and that his last remaining kin was dead. When the little assassin had reported to him of her demise, his first reaction had been one of anger. How dare the little minx disobey his orders? He had half a mind to put her right back into the sex slave market where he'd found her all those years ago. However, when he'd looked at the situation with a more rational eye, he decided that the turn of events might not be all that bad.

 

She was one of Sesshoumaru's top generals despite being a woman. She had also been mated to the lead general of all the West's armies. By taking her out, she also dealt a solid blow to both the General Tomo and Lord Sesshoumaru. Perhaps it would work out for the best. It had better or it would be Sura's head if it didn't.

 

“I take it that the little human finally decided to wake up?” He announced as he walked through the door.

 

“Yes my lord.” The spider youkai bowed with surprising grace considering all of her many legs.

 

“Excellent, you may leave us.” The spider bowed a second time before hastily making her exit. She only specialized in the creation and use of potions. While she was pleased that her concoction had worked mostly according to plan, she had no desire to stick around to witness the repercussions of its use. She left such matters to those with the stomach for such things.

 

Takana heard the hideous youkai leave the room and steeled herself for her new visitor. It seemed to her now that the spider was not the one directly responsible for her current predicament as she'd first thought upon waking. Surprisingly, she wasn't terrified over what was happening to her, a little afraid perhaps but, for the most part, she was incredibly angry, angry for being brought here but mostly because of what had happened to Yuti, her friend. She hadn't had many in her life and to have seen what happened to her...she couldn't even think straight about it. What was it all for? What was so damn important that people had to be hurt because of it? But mostly, what could be so damn important about her? She'd never been important before but no matter what she did, people would not leave her alone. Right now she didn't care what happened to her; she just hoped that Yuti was alright. In fact, all that she could think about was Yuti's well being.

 

That all changed when she saw him.

 

“No...” She breathed out, her voice quavering. There, standing before her was the youkai that had killed her brother. This was the youkai that had destroyed her life all those years ago. She would never forget those red slits for eyes.

 

 

Angelsfalltearfully: I'm glad it came as a surprise, it was supposed to. Someone on fanfiction figured out that Sura was a spy a long time ago but besides that person, you are right along with most other reviewers. Here's moooooooooooore but it's the last for a little while, so stock up.

Cricket42: lol, I'm glad that you held back on your sister's account. After all, what are big sisters for? Yeah, Sura sure wasn't too nice, was she. I did kinda hint at her being bad but I tried to make it seem like it was just Loki all of the time. I little red herring, you might say.

Nikkie23534: Thank you very much and give Mikkie my best for her new bundle of joy!

Mrskcgoodman: Nope, sorrry but this is not my farce fic so I'm not kidding. Wench is a good word for her but I think Cricket42 would use something else. Well, happy reading!