InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Facets of the Living Jewel ❯ Diabolus fecit, ut id facerem! ( Chapter 23 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters. Ms. Takahashi does. But I sure like the youkai side of Inuyasha more than she does!

 

Symbols for thoughts:

[Inuyoukai]

(Inuhuman)

`Inuyasha or Others'

 

Diabolus fecit, ut id facerem!

By Licentia poetica

 

Inuyasha made the transition through the well looking at Kagome's face, holding her tightly to his chest. Her eyes were closed and though her heart beat was stronger he could sense she was still out cold. `Damnit! I'll have to take her to Kaede and hope that the old woman can wake her up.' He shifted Kagome's limp form and pulled her closer as coruscations of light signaled the end of the time slip. `At least the Tessaiga can break through that damn energy! I can protect her if things go wrong…but I gotta find a way to follow her on those time paths before things go wrong.'

 

Growling softly, he arrived in the Sengoku Jidai and leaped up out of the well. The fresh aroma of the air and the sounds of animals and wind in the trees were welcome after the harsh smells and din of Tokyo. `Damn, it's good to be back. I don't have to worry about any lame-ass demons in Tokyo, but I can't stand the stench and the noise.'

 

Unconsciously assessing the scents in the air, he tensed to run towards Kaede's house and froze in position as one particular odor caused the hackles on the back of his neck to rise. `Fuck! Sesshoumaru was here…last night.' A deep growl of challenge rumbled in his chest. `What's the bastard doing around here? I'll fuckin' take his head off with the Tessaiga if he comes near my Pack.' Scenting carefully, he sifted through the layers of smells and relaxed slightly. `Kirara was here and tracked him…and she was in kitten form.' He began running to Kaede's hut, a brief grin ghosting across his face. `She'll make sure he's gone…and make sure she overlays his scent anywhere around here. My Pack'll be safe.' He growled again and pulled Kagome closer to his chest as a vision of Miroku's unconscious body flickered to the surface of his thoughts and the lingering odor left by demons fleeing from Sesshoumaru's youki reminded him of Shippo's terrified scent. `At least they're safe over on the other side of the well for now. I'll have to go back for them, but only after Kaede heals Kagome.' As he traversed the well-worn path to the village, being careful of his human burden, he gave a snort. `Shippo smelled scared, but he's tougher than he looks. Miroku…keh! His head's been hit so many times by Sango, that baka will survive.'

 

Kaede was outside her hut getting water from the stream. She looked up, startled, as Inuyasha ran up next to her.

 

“Oi, Kaede! Kagome's been hurt. Fix her!”

 

Kaede blinked in bemusement before giving a huff of good-natured exasperation. “Well, good morning, Inuyasha! So polite, as always.” She looked over her shoulder, frowning when she saw the motionless body he carried and the hanyou's worried face, which belied his gruff tone. Groaning, she straightened up from her stoop, leaving the pail next to the stream as she pressed her hand to the aching small of her back. “Fix Kagome? How did she get injured?” She turned to walk toward the hanyou and his limp burden, reaching out with her houriki and pausing as she encountered an unexpected shift in the auras surrounding the two. `What has happened? Why is Kagome so…distant, and what has happened to Inuyasha's youki?' She peered up into Inuyasha's face, noticing the faint traces of his youkai markings along his cheekbones. Her eyes narrowed as she asked, “Ye did not harm her as the youkai, Inuyasha?” with a hard, clipped voice, but she stepped back, suddenly afraid, as his golden eyes became copper and his lips drew back in a silent, fanged snarl in response.

 

“This Inuyasha will forgive your ignorance. Once.”

 

Two pairs of eyes, one brown and one golden, blinked simultaneously in astonishment.

 

`Oh fuck no. No, NO, NO! You will NOT make me sound like that bastard Sesshoumaru! What the hell are you doing!'

 

[I put the insolent old hag in her place! I would not harm Kagome!]

 

Inuyasha snarled aloud at himself and Kaede stepped back again.

 

(Calm down, you're scaring her!)

 

`Gods, just shut up, both of you!'

 

“Inuyasha?” Kaede queried, stepping forward and reaching out as she assessed his youki and the perplexed look in his eyes. `He is as confused as I am.' She lowered her hand almost immediately when his head snapped down in response to her movement and he snarled.

 

“I wouldn't hurt Kagome, you old hag! Something else did this to her.” As she watched him warily, he scowled and turned toward her home.

 

Kaede almost grinned as she watched him visibly try to control his temper before he asked over his shoulder “Are you going to fix her or not? She won't wake up.”

 

“I will see to the Lady Kagome, Inuyasha, but she does not seem injured. It would help if I knew why she was like this.”

 

“Keh! If I fucking knew why I wouldn't be here asking for your help, old woman.” He snarled again and strode into the hut.

 

`Perhaps his youkai is more pronounced because she is injured,' Kaede mused, patiently walking behind Inuyasha into her house. As he passed into the relative darkness inside, she paused again. `I can see changes in their auras!' Inuyasha's aura was normally a muddy brown with flashes of red and Kagome's aura tended to glow pure white in her houriki-enhanced vision. Now Inuyasha's was reddish orange with rays of yellow, whereas Kagome's aura was faintly tinged with indigo. `She is like the early dawn sky on a clear morning and he is the sun. Hhhhm…Inuyasha's chakras are awakening. Is his human side finally maturing?' Kaede frowned in concern as she became aware of a flaring purple pulsing where the two auras met. `But that does not explain either the emergence of his youkai or this interaction of their auras. What is happening here?' She shook her head and followed him into her home, patiently waiting for him to put Kagome down so that she could determine her injuries.

 

And waited.

 

And…waited.

 

Inuyasha was staring down into Kagome's still features, a tender, bemused expression on his face.

 

Kaede cleared her throat and he flinched at the sound. He looked up and snarled, “So, fix her!”

 

“Ye must put her down, Inuyasha. I cannot help her while ye are holding her so tightly.”

 

“Keh.” Inuyasha went over to Kaede's pallet and gently laid Kagome down on it. He flopped down next to her on the floor, crossing his arms and glaring up at Kaede.

 

Sighing, Kaede went to Kagome and did a quick inspection of her body before placing her hands on Kagome's head. `I can find no injuries to heal. Why does the child feel so…remote?' She concentrated her houriki and tried to reach Kagome's consciousness. `I can sense her ki…but...so distant. I cannot reach her.'

 

She settled back into the seiza position and placed her hands on her thighs, staring at the young woman's face in consternation. “Inuyasha, I do not know why Kagome will not awaken. I can find nothing wrong with her body, but her soul is far away.”

 

“Damnit, old hag! She has to wake up!”

 

Kaede shrugged and shook her head. “I do not know how to awaken her, Inuyasha. I do not have the power to find or call her.”

 

The hanyou and the old miko both stared down into Kagome's quiescent face.

 

[We should Call her. Use the Mate Call to find her.]

 

(Hold her in our arms. Maybe if we do both she'll come back.)

 

`Shit. Kaede's going to ask questions.'

 

[(Call her!)]

 

`Shit! I'm going to hear about this later. Snoopy old hag.' Inuyasha gently put his arm under Kagome's shoulders and settled her in his lap, supporting her head against his chest as he brought her close. He flicked a glance at Kaede, but the old miko merely raised her eyebrows at him and said nothing. Looking back at Kagome's face, he leaned down and began the Mate Call, his hair falling forward to conceal him from Kaede's frank stare. In the confines of the house, the deep, throbbing sound vibrated the walls and sent dust motes flying.

 

Kaede put her hands to her ears to try and minimize the sound, but the subsonic vibrations weren't diminished and she grimaced as her head began to ache with each throbbing rumble. “What are ye doing, Inuyasha?” He paused for a moment and she gave a sigh of relief at the cessation of sound. Then he turned to look at her. `Gods!' She suppressed her gasp as he glared ferally at her with copper-colored eyes and distinctive youkai markings lancing across his cheeks.

 

“This Inuyasha is Calling her. She will answer her Alpha.” His deep voice was powerfully resonant in the small building.

 

`Stop it, you bastard, or I'll never let you out again!'

 

`A Mate Call! I didn't expect—in my house?' Kaede shifted, preparing to leap up out of the seiza position if necessary, and said quickly “Perhaps ye should take her outside? I am afraid my house will collapse on us.” She kept her voice purposefully casual and made an effort to diminish her houriki as she felt his youki press against her powers. `If Inuyasha's youkai takes complete control, I want him to be outside where I have room to protect myself and Kagome. But…his aura is somehow…cleaner. I am not that frightened of him.'

 

He looked at her appraisingly before blurting “She is being pulled away from me. Into things she called “time threads.” She frowned at the contrast between his youki and the human appeal conveyed in his voice as he continued “Can you put a barrier around us while I Call her, to stop the threads from taking her?”

 

Kaede leaned back into her seiza position and regarded him thoughtfully. `What is happening here? The yellow color of his aura is increasing...he is gaining control, not losing it, yet the youkai in him is more apparent.' She gave a soft sigh, her shoulders slumping slightly. `I wish I had a powerful miko to consult…this is an interesting development.'

 

“I am indeed sorry, Inuyasha, but I do not know how to stop these…'time threads'. I will try to place a barrier that will repel magic for you, anyway, but let us go outside. My home will not survive your Call.”

 

Inuyasha gathered Kagome gently in his arms and stood up. Her eyes remained closed in spite of the movement though she had begun breathing more deeply. As they left the hut, Inuyasha hesitated for a moment. `Damnit. I don't know what to do…she didn't respond to the Mate Call.'

 

[She did respond. Her breathing is stronger and can't youfeel her hourikireacting to us? It is very faint, as if at a great distance.]

 

`How the hell am I supposed to reach her?'

 

(Take her to the Goshinboku. It's helped us reach across time before…maybe the magic of the tree?)

 

Inuyasha turned in the direction of the tree and tensed to leap forward, hesitating again as his human half chided, (Carry Kaede-baba, too. She is too old to move quickly and her joints are aching.)

 

`What am I, a pack horse? Shit. Well, if it gets us moving faster.' He turned and gestured to Kaede. “Get on my back, old woman. You're only going to slow me down.” He scowled as she stepped forward with a knowing and slightly amused look on her face, ignoring her raised eyebrows as he helped her climb on to his back with one arm. “Hang on, old woman! I'm in a hurry!”

 

He leaped toward the Goshinboku, suppressing a flare of fear when Kagome remained inert in spite of the jostling as he held her as carefully as he could with one arm. Kaede gave a screech of alarm, clamping around his neck with both arms. `Shit! The old bat has a grip!' He tried to breathe and choked slightly as her headlock shut off his air supply.

 

“What're you tryin' to do, old woman! Kill me? Let loose a little!”

 

“Slow down, Inuyasha! These old bones will not survive the trip, and then who will prepare the barrier that ye require?”

 

He slowed to half of his speed and Kaede's arms relaxed, allowing him to breathe again. He huffed in irritation, both to signal his disgust and to suppress the longing for Kagome that arose as his body flinched in response to the awkwardly shifting weight of the old woman on his back. `Kagome loves it when we go fast. She would have held on and just tightened her knees. We move together so easily now.' She always held his shoulders lightly, her knees tight around his waist as she rode on his back, agile and responsive to his movements so that he wasn't hindered by her slight weight. He growled as Kaede nearly slid off and he had to change trajectory in mid-leap, making his landing awkward and forcing him to pull the old miko closer to his body. `Shit! This is gonna give me nightmares!'

 

(At least we're getting there faster.)

 

[The Pack deserves protection, but perhaps the old one has reached the point of being too weak?]

 

(So you'd leave her behind, would you? I'd love to see her purify your ass…then you'd see how `weak' the old bat is.)

 

`Shut up! C'mon Kagome. Wake up so I can carry you again!'

 

He slowed as they reached the tree and crouched low to allow Kaede to slip off his back. She gave a sigh of relief as she got down. `Yeah, old hag, I'm glad too…I don't have your death grip on my neck any more.' Cradling Kagome in his arms, he walked away from the older miko and sat in a hollow between the roots of the great tree.

 

Kaede sat seiza on the grass, groaning as her old bones protested and trying not to show how flustered she felt. `Goodness, how does Kagome do that all the time? It's almost impossible to hang on to him and when he leaps or lands? Thank the Kami I survived!' She took a few deep breaths, composing herself with an effort, and glanced over at Inuyasha and Kagome.

 

Inuyasha was staring at Kagome with longing in his face, but as Kaede opened her mouth to speak his ears twitched and his head snapped up. “What are ya' waitin' for, old bat?”

 

Kaede snapped her mouth shut, glared at the rude hanyou, and composed herself for meditation.

 

As her eyes slid shut in concentration, Inuyasha turned again to look down into Kagome's motionless face. `Come back to me, Kagome.' He felt Kaede's barrier begin to pulse, surrounding the three of them and the base of the tree. `We're as protected as possible for now. Wake up, Kagome!' He began his Call again, looking down at Kagome's face. He could not see the markings on his face intensify and the changes in his aura as he Called with focused resolve.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

`I'm lost.'

 

The Tessaiga had shattered the vortex but the time threads had bucked in the backwash of power and Kagome had lost her connection to the pathways. `I don't know how to find the thread that will lead me back.' In the odd time distortion in which she found herself, she could see the Nexus stretching to infinity in front of her, but she was strangely disconnected from it, as if she was floating out of time. `I wonder if I'm dead.'

 

She tried to find her way back to her body and had almost given up in frustration when a deep voice called to her; an entreaty to her essence, to her soul. `Inuyasha!' She concentrated on the pull of that wordless Call, eagerly following the connection to a section of the Nexus, but despaired when the voice ceased too soon for her to find the right path. `Inuyasha! Don't give up on me! Try again!' There were several pathways that the Call could have come from, most of them darkening ominously as they snaked away into the time distortion. `Should I just…choose one? What if I choose and it's wrong?' She reached out, trying to touch the paths with her insubstantial hands. ` How do I even get back on to one?'

 

The Call came again, pulling at her soul at a subliminal level, and she gave a shout of triumph. `There! That one!' She followed the connection and tried to step in to the time path, but it slid past her as she moved forward. She stopped and scowled in frustration. `I can see it, but how do I get on it?' The Call pulled at her: powerful, insistent, and seductive. `Gods, Inuyasha! I want to be back with you!'

 

Suddenly she could see him on the time path. `What? Why is he like that?' As the pulsations of the call ebbed there were three Inuyashas; one stood slightly ahead of the others and looked the most like her hanyou, but before she could accurately visualize the other two the figures merged into one as the vibrations swelled in volume. With each throbbing growl his body rapidly reformed and split, transitioning from one to three in an unending cycle. She shook her head. `Maybe my vision got damaged in the explosion.' She rubbed the heels of her palms against her eyes and blinked, focusing on his fragmented figure as the Call diminished in volume. `I had better try to reach him when he's only one…I don't know what my powers will do, but maybe I can use that mind to mind connection I had with Papa. Geez, I wish I had some training!'

 

She waited through the transition and mentally reached for him as he was completely one, gasping in relief as she felt a mind meld form.

 

`Inuyasha!'

 

`Kagome! Come back!'

 

`I don't know how, Inuyasha! Keep Calling me! I'll find a way.'

 

Inuyasha reached for her with his Call and his mind. `Just…come to me, Kagome.'

 

She could feel the love and worry in his mental voice and the strength of his pull increased as his youki brushed against her houriki. Smiling, wanting to reassure him, she let her own love for him reach back across the mind meld.

 

Just that easily, the motionless rush of entering the time paths enveloped her and she was back in her body.

 

She opened her eyes to Inuyasha's worried, burnished-gold gaze. `Are his eyes…darker?' She smiled up at him as he pulled her closer, giving a soft sigh of relief.

 

“Gods, Kagome, you scared me.”

 

Her smile turned wry. “I scared myself! I couldn't get back to you.” She reached up tentatively, unsure how her touch would be received, to brush a strand of hair away from his forehead. Her hand froze in mid-gesture and she stared at his forehead in shock.

 

Blazing from the center of his forehead was the symbol of a yellow half moon.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Translations:

Diabolus fecit, ut id facerem! Latin: the youkai made me do it! (actually, the devil made me do it, but hey, poetic license)

 

Chakra: one of the seven centers of spiritual energy in the human body. The colors of the auras represent the chakras: red represents the sacral chakra (greater calmness, easier release of past issues, improved self-survival instincts). Orange is the abdominal chakra: greater initiative and creativity, improved relationships and emotional balance. Yellow is the power chakra: greater mental and emotional control. Indigo represents the sixth chakra; the development of psychic abilities, intuitive attunement, spiritual growth, and deeper understanding.

 

Seiza: a form of sitting used in formal occasions in traditional Japanese culture. The person sits on the heels of the feet with the dorsum of the feet flat on the ground, knees straight in front (a fist apart for men and close together for women) and back completely straight. Sitting this way takes practice, but provides both a stable base and greater ease of movement than sitting cross-legged. It is written with two characters: the character pronounced sei means "proper, right, true" and the character za means "sitting posture" thus it could be translated as “correct sitting”. The position helps to naturally align the body and spinal column.

Thank you, my lovely beta RPW the Hun!

 

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