InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Facets of the Living Jewel ❯ Communi consilio - Secundus ( Chapter 27 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the other characters. Ms. Takahashi does.

 

Fonts for thoughts:

[Inuyoukai]

(Inuhuman)

`Inuyasha or others'

 

Communi consilio - Secundus

By Licentia poetica

 

 

Yourei Taisei was nearly at Inuyasha's village when he heard the Mate Call. It was unmistakably an InuYoukai call and he shook his head, allowing himself a small smile at the passion of youth. `It will be even harder to train the young hanyou if he is not focused, yet it will be an opportunity to reach both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, if I can channel that energy in the right direction.' Continuing his walk, he came in sight of the village and stopped abruptly. `What is that miko doing? Has she lost her mind?'

 

The undead body of the miko that had persuaded him to train Inuyasha was striding purposefully toward the source of the Call. He followed her movements, frowning as he observed the conversation between Kikyou and Kaede with the keen vision of his kind. `It is unfortunate that I can only track one side of the conversation, but this is…interesting. The foolish undead who would disturb a mating male youkai is not Midoriko. She did say that she suppressed the other kon, but how has she lost control to this…unbalanced weakling? Consciously, he grew his three forward talons and dug them into the ground in counterpoint to a rhythmic mantling of his wings, a habit that had developed long ago as a student to help him focus his mind. `If what she has told me is true, it is vital to solve the problem of Naraku, but how much can I trust Midoriko to follow through on her end of the accord?'

 

He ceased musing and tensed as a soft sound of movement nearby, barely perceptible even to his predator senses, alerted him to the presence of a human. Suppressing his youki, he turned towards the sound. “Show yourself.”

 

In the brief pause that followed he withdrew his talons so that his feet appeared more human and less like his normal form. `This close to the village, it is most likely a simple peasant. If I am to stay for any length of time, I will need to minimize the fear that my appearance causes.'

 

He almost smiled as a gawky youth stepped out from the trees, holding a kusari-gama at ready stance in both hands. The boy gave him a cursory inspection, his gaze lingering on Yourei Taisei's daisho and taloned feet before finally turning a stoic gaze to Yourei Taisei's face and sketching a brief but respectful bow. The taiyoukai raised one eyebrow and suppressed the urge to test the youth's reflexes as he noted a few flaws in the youth's stance. `Not a peasant…a young taiji-ya with incomplete training. He is aware that I am taiyoukai in spite of the suppression of my youki, assesses my weapons first and seems to be at least marginally in control of the kusari-gama, though I would have to teach him a great deal before he could truly threaten me.'

 

Holding his hands out in a universal nonthreatening gesture, he stated calmly “You are young to have the look of a seasoned slayer, boy. Do not seek your death at my hands.” He flicked the fingers of one hand to the side in a gesture akin to extending his primary flight feathers. “It is fortunate for you that I come in peace; your stance is off.”

 

Kohaku inhaled sharply and shifted slightly so that his weight was balanced equally on the balls of both feet. `Damn, he sounds like father. I should have gone with Lady Midoriko when she met with Yourei Taisei. She said that it was too dangerous, but all she gave me was a description of his facial markings and overall appearance. I wish she had told me about those feet! Eight inch talons are fairly distinctive, even for a youkai!' He bowed again, lowering his kusari-gama's blade to his side and speaking to the ground. “Yourei Taisei-sama, I am honored. I am called Kohaku, Lord. I travel with Lady Midoriko, who told me about you.”

 

Yourei Taisei smiled. “For a fledgling human, you are courteous, young Kohaku. Come, walk with me. We must see to your Lady Midoriko, as I fear she is in danger.” Without waiting for the youth to rise from his bow, the taiyoukai turned and headed down the same path that Kikyou had recently followed. `The Mate Call ceased with no ensuing screams of pain. What prevented the InuYoukai from killing her for daring to interrupt? Perhaps I should be more cautious; this Kikyou may be quite powerful if she can overcome both Lady Midoriko and a mating male.' He smiled slightly as he heard the youth's footfalls fall into step the required three paces behind him. “Tell me, young Kohaku. Who is this Kikyou? She currently inhabits the body of the miko, Midoriko.”

 

Kohaku's eyebrows shot up and he hesitated for one instant, causing Yourei Taisei to repeat the flicking gesture of his fingers. `Damn. He's irritated at me again.' The young taiji-ya hurriedly matched his companion's pace and made sure to school his face into an expressionless mask. `When I first responded to Lady Midoriko's call there was a different person in the body at the source of it.' He inhaled sharply as the taiyoukai in front of him gave another flick of his fingers and the feathers on the giant wings seemed to ripple in irritation; he began to explain what he knew of Lady Kikyou as the two walked down towards the village.

 

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

 

Inuyasha and Kagome broke eye contact at a convulsive movement of Kikyou's body.

 

As Inuyasha's ears and eyes flicked momentarily to the body, Kagome suddenly shuddered and picked up the small bottle containing three shards suspended from her neck. The shards gave off a pulsing, irregular glow and her eyes became unfocused as if she was deep in thought. “Inuyasha, I can feel…Midoriko is calling me, through the shards.”

 

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed with distrust and he watched as she opened the bottle and dumped the shards into her hand. `What's going on? She looks like she's under some kind of spell.' He growled as her hand fisted around the shards. “Kagome, are you all right?” He moved closer to her when she ignored his words, reaching over Kikyou's inert form. “Kagome! Answer me!”

 

She gave a sudden start and shook her head, blinking her eyes rapidly before smiling at him. “It's…I'm all right, Inuyasha. I can just…I feel Midoriko calling to me in the shards. She needs help. She's trying to protect us and I need to help her.”

 

She sat seiza and placed the fist with the shards on the chest of Kikyou's body, opening her hand and holding the shards in place over the area where the heart should be. She placed her other hand at right angles to the first and closed her eyes, her face intense with concentration. Power began to pulsate around the two women, forcing Inuyasha back so that he had to stand or be bowled over onto his back. `Damnit!' He snarled in frustration and began to unsheathe the Tessaiga as the power surged, crackling through the air and giving off a faint scent of ozone. A final heartbeat of energy coupled with a violent blast of wind lifted Kagome's black hair in a nimbus around her face; she lurched back abruptly, arms flailing.

 

Inuyasha snarled again as he leaped forward to catch her. `The shards disappeared. What the fuck just happened?' He caught Kagome and pulled her to a standing position, keeping his body in between her and the body of Kikyou as it stirred.

 

(Who is in that body? And if it is Midoriko, what has she done to Kikyou?)

 

The eyes opened, wise with experience and old pain, and a soft, relieved smile spread across the body's face as she looked up at him. Inuyasha snarled. `That ain't Kikyou. The smell is different, the aura's different, and the eyes…Kikyou never looked that way. Who the hell is this?' A warning growl issued from his chest as he pulled Kagome away from the woman and held her tightly against the side farthest away from the threat, leaving his sword arm free.

 

Midoriko sat up weakly, rubbing a tired hand over her face. `That was too hard. But now… now I have some power.' Her hand moved down to her chest and she relished the aura emanating from the purified, fused fragments of the jewel just beneath the fabric and clay. 'I cannot access a time choice, but finally I have a refuge. My own energy, separated from the taint of Naraku and the battle in the Shikon no Tama. Kikyou will never be able to wrest control from me again and can begin healing.' She opened her thoughts, reconnecting to Kikyou's infuriated kon and projecting agape until the struggling spirit quieted beneath her calm. `We will work together, Kikyou. I will help you find the Path again. Rest now and return to your meditations.' Taking a deep breath to focus on the immediate task, she turned to the growling hanyou and the young woman who, in spite of his attempts to prevent her, kept peering around at Midoriko. “Thank you, Kagome.” Inuyasha's growl escalated in volume and she turned to him, folding her hands in front of her. Giving a low, seated bow, she hid an amused smile behind a cascade of hair and spoke to the ground. “I am sorry that this body ignored the Mate Call, Lord Inuyasha. I allowed Kikyou to interrupt you and it was inexcusably rude. Please forgive me, but I was not in control of the body until Lady Kagome assisted me.” She remained prone, almost bent in half as she waited for his response. `It will throw him off to appeal to his youkai.'

 

Inuyasha's growl abruptly cut off and he stared at the woman as she abased herself. `What the hell? Why is she calling me `Lord' and apologizing? My brother would laugh.'

 

[It is appropriate. We may forgive this one.]

 

(What has she done with Kikyou?)

 

“Who the hell are you? I can smell that you're different. What have you done with Kikyou? If you've hurt her, you'll answer to me, witch.”

 

Kagome smacked his hand, which was still possessively wrapped around her waist. “Inuyasha! This is Lady Midoriko! She wouldn't hurt Kikyou. Umm… right?” She peered around his side again as he tightened his hold.

 

Midoriko sat up. “Yes, I am Midoriko. I think you both know how I got here? I am being slowly driven from the Shikon no Tama as my soul follows the fragment that Kikyou stole. At this point in time it can't be helped, though I wish Kikyou had not handicapped me.” She sighed, noting that Inuyasha had not relaxed either his expression or his body. `I still have to convince him or he will never let me get anywhere near Kagome.' She stood up slowly, trying not to smile at the distrustful, protective growls coming from Inuyasha as he struggled to keep his body between her and his chosen mate. `Poor Inuyasha. She keeps trying to escape his hold.'

 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome gritted out the word between clenched teeth as she glared up at him.

 

As his ears went flat back Midoriko kept her gaze carefully to the side and hurried to placate the increasingly irritated hanyou. “I have not harmed Kikyou, Lord Inuyasha. Her kon resides in this shell with me, but you must understand that she is not whole. She is…remnants, fragments which have fused around a focus of revenge and hatred. She is a small soul, forcibly broken away from Kagome, and she cannot return now. Kagome would never accept her feelings of hatred towards you, Inuyasha, and would reject any joining. Kikyou cannot help herself at the moment; her memories guide her down the wrong paths. She is…small; like a new soul with no experience, yet her memories and power are those of an older, more experienced miko. She must be allowed to heal and to turn from tanha.”

 

Inuyasha stopped growling and his grip on Kagome eased slightly.

 

Midoriko took a deep breath and continued to speak as calmly as she could manage, still carefully keeping her gaze averted to the side. “I can help her. Lord Inuyasha, you must let Kikyou go. I have access to her memories, but she is no longer the person in those memories. I cannot allow Kikyou to take over this body again, so to fulfill your vow to her you must help Kagome. You must allow me to help her master her powers.”

 

Inuyasha stared at her, copper eyes glinting in the sunlight. `I still don't trust her, but Kikyou was going to kill Kagome, or kill me, or both.'

 

`He is not convinced. Perhaps if I appeal to Kagome?' Midoriko turned to the young Time Lord. “I am here to teach you how to use your powers, Kagome. I am not only a miko, I am also a Time Lord like your father.” Reaching out to both of them with open hands, she pleaded, “Will you let me teach you? Will you let me help to heal Kikyou? I cannot force you, but we must find a way to prevent Naraku from destroying all the youkai.” Her voice shook with the force of her plea as she glanced between the two before lowering her hands to her sides and taking a deep breath. `It is their decision, now. I have done all that I can.'

 

Inuyasha stared at her, years of conflicting emotions about Kikyou rising to the surface. Unable to cope with the tide of feelings, he turned his face from her, surreptitiously breathing in Kagome's calming, gentle scent as his jaw stroked the top of her head.

 

Kagome could feel the tension in his body and knew that it cost him to love both Kikyou and herself. She turned within his arms and slipped one arm around his waist. To soothe him, she reached up and caressed his face, murmuring softly “I love you, Inuyasha.”

 

He pulled her close, holding her head under his chin with one hand, but he addressed Midoriko. “Kikyou is…dead to us, then?”

 

“I cannot let her take control. She would try to kill Kagome and Kagome is our only way to form the Living Jewel.”

 

Inuyasha sighed irritably, trying to reconcile his anger at the thought of Midoriko caging Kikyou's spirit with his acknowledgement that she spoke the truth: the Kikyou inhabiting the clay before him was not the woman he had known before he was sealed. “I will trust you, Midoriko,” he growled. “Help Kikyou. Let her know that I am…that I did love her, but neither of us loved each other in the right way.” Pausing to breathe in Kagome's calming scent, he added, “I've learned the difference.”

 

Kagome smiled against his chest and hugged him. His arms tightened against her, reluctant to let her go as she turned to Midoriko and asked, “When do you want to start my lessons?”

 

Midoriko sighed with relief and smiled. “Right now! There isn't a moment to lose. Naraku is planning something; I can feel it through the jewel fragments. Come, let us go back to Kaede's house and find Miroku. He will need to train with you, so that you can begin to form the Living Jewel. His houriki and years of training will be invaluable as you learn to connect minds together.”

 

Kagome grimaced and answered tentatively “Miroku and Sango…they're…they are back…are forward…in my era.”

 

Midoriko's smile disappeared. “What? They did not travel here with you?”

 

Kagome took a breath to explain, but it turned into a gasp as Yourei Taisei walked into view. Her mouth stayed open in wonder as he strode directly up to the group, staring at her the entire time. Mesmerized by his piercing eyes, she was only dimly aware that Kohaku followed the taiyoukai and took up a protective position just behind Midoriko.

 

Inuyasha stiffened. `What the fuck?'

 

[(We have to keep Kagome safe. Get his attention.)]

 

“Oi! Yourei Taisei! You're here to teach me!”

 

Yourei Taisei's gaze never wavered from Kagome. `She is dressed in the most unusual garments I've ever seen. It is rude to stare, but…it is not just her clothing. Her aura is powerful and pure, the strongest I've ever encountered in a human. Her scent…her scent is…sunlight, and the joy of riding thermals in the early afternoon after a successful hunt, the elation of wheeling in acrobatic flight across the sky.' He found himself reaching for her without thinking. “So beautiful, so pure.”

 

Inuyasha stepped in front of Kagome so fast that the wind of his passage dried her eyes. He had the Tessaiga halfway out of its saya as he snarled, “Keep your hands off her, you bastard. You are here for me.”

 

 

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

Translation:

Communi consilio: Secundus. Latin. By common consent, second.

 

Agape: unconditional love, the nonjudgmental compassion for others that Buddhism teaches.

 

I have had some requests for other ways to access Tigressmoons's beautiful FanArt; apparently the original one I gave doesn't work for some of you. Try http//www.mediaminer.org/fanart/view.php/183494 (remove the spaces). You might also try http://fa.mediaminer.org/94/183494.jpg for it if that won't work. Yourei Taisei's markings (again, problems accessing the site) are also at http://www.chemsoc.org/timeline/pages/0400.html if the other link won't work for you. Remember, though, he just has the triangles, not the chemistry set!

 

Review thanks:

 

Rosedream, Yugiohgirl03, Photographing Poetry, yoyo person, ~ME, Miss Marilyn69, jade pendant, FieryFaerie, lunerfox, Sessy81, InuBaby369246, Ashra.

 

Thank you all for reading!