InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Double Vision ❯ Chapter 19 ( Chapter 18 )

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

Sango had suffered a blackout. She knew what it was, because she had had them before, when she had been exhausted from fighting too long, weak from blood loss, or badly concussed. She found herself walking alone along an unfamiliar road. She was dressed in her demon slayer outfit. She checked her gear. She had her bone, and her sword, the blades she kept hidden in her forearms, her poison mask, her throwing stars, her throwing knives which also doubled as daggers, and even the long, black whip which Miroku had given her as a funny present, but which she had practiced with assiduously until it became one of her favorite, if not most deadly, weapons. The road led through a dark, thick pine forest, and seemed to be heading east. The sky was very gray and there was a fine, driving snow falling. She should have a cloak, she mused. She didn’t know where she was, so she didn’t know if she could purchase one in a nearby town. She jangled her money pouch, which felt reassuringly heavy with coin. She felt surprisingly warm, and not tired at all. She actually felt better than she had in a decade or more. Raising her children and serving as a one-woman army had worn her down and left her perpetually fatigued. It felt good to be on the road again, striding purposefully one step at a time into the unknown. The snow got thicker as the day grew darker. She concluded that night would be falling soon. She should be looking for a place to bed down, to maintain her body heat and conserve her energy, but she continued to feel comfortably warm and was not tiring.

Walking felt great. The outdoor air was brisk and bracing. Though she had no idea where she was or how she got there, she felt drawn down the dark road, into the driving snow. Her mission was very urgent and very simple, find Kagome. She had no logical idea where to look, but she felt the need to head east.

It was very quiet in the forest. The snow muffled any sounds. She couldn’t really make out the road anymore. As the snow grew thicker and the sky grew darker, the dark green pines that lined the road were her only touchstone with the physical world. A few times, she found herself veering off course, almost smashing into a great rough tree trunk, only to stagger back on track once again. The snow and the darkness reminded her of when she was a child. Her mother was still living, and it was she who took Sango out into the wilderness and left her there. For some reason, the woman had decided to do this in the middle of the winter in the middle of a snowstorm. Harsh as the demon slayer culture was, such an action was unprecedented. Sango’s mother was hailed for years thereafter as the best mother in the village, to have such confidence in her child, a mere daughter at that. Sango’s amazing prowess in years to follow was largely credited to her mother. Mother died bearing Kohaku, apparently not proving as resilient as her young daughter.

It was now completely dark, but somehow Sango remained able to make her way onward. After hour upon hour of walking, she sensed a demonic aura. Sango possessed no spiritual abilities at all, so whatever it was had to be very powerful. It could be Sesshomaru, Sango speculated. He had the most overwhelming demonic aura she had ever encountered. She began to think she could make out something whiter within the field of white snow. Presently she became sure to she could see a figure taking shape, a big and very white figure. It was Sesshomaru! She reasoned that she had nothing to fear from him, so she merely readied her whip, just in case. She practiced the deep-breathing meditation exercise Miroku had taught her. One of the very few worthwhile things the lecherous monk had ever taught her, she reflected out loud.

A deep, rumbling voice boomed out in the pine forest. “If your husband was that reprobate of a monk, I’m sure he taught you a lot more than meditation exercises.”

This was so not Sesshomaru.