InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Double Vision ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 11 )

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

This author does not own Inuyasha or Blood+, or much of anything else, for that matter, other than my own imagination.

Kagome’s strength seemed to rallying for the moment, given the shared heat of Sesshomaru’s body and the ingestion of his demon blood. Sesshomaru used his soft, fluffy, and prehensile moko-moko to cradle her gently, while his hands caressed her face and body under the cover of Rin’s fur robe. It was driving Kohaku crazy to try to figure out what his lord was whispering and crooning into Kagome’s ear, his voice was so soft and low. Whatever Sesshomaru was going on about, it seemed to calm the agitated girl. From time to time Kohaku could see his lord’s hands as he stroked her hair, or ran a knuckle softly along her cheekbone. Those times were bad enough. It was worse when Kohaku could not see his hands.

Kohaku had known of his lord’s infatuation with Kagome for a long time now. Ever since Kohaku became aware of the world around him he had been brutally trained by his real father, the chief of the demon slayer village, to observe closely. The second step in becoming a demon slayer. The first step was simple survival. Kohaku still remembered his father forcing him to follow him from the village, walking for miles into the cold, dark woods, further and further and further from his warm hut, and the protection of his big sister, Sango. His father told him to wait, and left him there in the dark, with no fire, no food, no water, no blanket, no nothing. He waited for a long time, as the sky grew light, then dark again, and then light again. Then, slowly, by instinct, the tiny boy placed one foot in front of the other and made his way painfully back to the slayers’ village. The physical aspect of the test was bad. The mental aspect was devastating. Watching his adopted father with the woman he loved felt just as bad, if not worse. He wanted to kill his lord in the most brutal of ways, to hack those hands from his arms, decapitate him with the bone made from his own fang. His own fang singing through that flaxen hair, his head landing on the floor of the cave, thick hot blood pooling all around. Kagome would be grateful for his intervention. As Naraku’s captive, he had been unable to protect her from Naraku and his minions. It was her own blazing purity which prevented the vile half-breed from actually penetrating her, but Kohaku had been forced to watch as Naraku did everything else to the innocent maiden.

Kohaku was a resident of the village of Edo when Kagome returned from the well that last time. Edo was part of Inuyasha’s Forest, separate from the Western Lands of which Sesshomaru was Lord. That made Inuyasha Kohaku’s Lord, but Kohaku was still strongly tied by loyalty to Sesshomaru. Kagome was so happy, so relieved to be back in Inuyasha’s arms. Foolish girl. Sango had told him of all the times Inuyasha betrayed her for Kikyo. Kohaku would be the most vile of criminals if he were to slay his feudal master and steal his human wife. Were Kohaku a powerful demon, capable of achieving similar status, he could defeat either lord, and Kagome would be his by default. But Kohaku, in spite of his amazing abilities, was still a young human boy. There was nothing Kohaku could do or say to save her from that half-breed, or his full-demon master, any more than he could save her from Naraku. All Kohaku could do was to watch, and wait.

Kagome was conscious, and awake now, but still very weak. She heard every word whispered to her by Sesshomaru, words she had never thought to hear from his lips. She had known Sesshomaru first as a fierce and evil feudal warlord, the enemy of her beloved Inuyasha. Over time, she began to see him in a different light. He was harsh, but he was also capable of great compassion. He saved a little human girl from Hell. He tolerated the seemingly intolerable little toad, Jaken, and allowed the disgusting creature to follow him everywhere. He had saved the life of Kagome, herself, numerous times. He listened to her petition for Kohaku’s life, when the boy had attempted to kill Rin. He honored her pleas for the life of the river otter demon killed by Hakudoshi. He saved her from rape at the hands of Muikotsu, the hideous poison master of the Band of Seven. She had been in real peril that time. Her purity had been no help to her with Muikotsu, who was an undead human, not a demon.

Now Sesshomaru said that he loved her, that he had for the longest time. That he would protect her, and never abandon or betray her as his brother had done. That he would do anything for her, anything in the world, or in Heaven, or in Hell, that she asked of him. He begged her to renounce his brother. Told her that her brother had not claimed her properly, and that Inuyasha knew better, that a simple human ceremony could never bind one of such strong demon blood for life. He told her a secret that she dreaded to hear, that she had suspected in some tiny corner of her mind for a long time. He told her that Inuyasha had mated his first priestess, Kikyo, well over fifty years ago during her human life. This was why Inuyasha took Kagome as his wife, but never as his mate. He had already taken a mate, and it was not Kagome.

Kagome did not possess the power to speak, barely had that strength to whisper. But she raised her pale little hand as best she could, and ran her tiny fingers of the great lord’s soft, full lips. She tried to respond, but her vocal cords refused to work. His great golden eyes stared deeply into hers, and she moved her lips, giving him the answer he had longed to hear for a very long time.