InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fire of the hearts ❯ Sentenced to the stake. ( Chapter 1 )

The guards lead the girl from the dark prison to the carriage that will bring her to the stake. She's in a terrible state and situation. Sentenced to the stake for being a witch and furthermore, being betrayed by her master, who has left her to die. They were both accused for witchcraft, he got free, and she didn't. However, her situation might be bad, her mental and physical state are even worse. She's covered in dirt, her long brown hair is greasy and full of knots, her strength is gone just like the fire in her eyes is gone. Her hair shirt is full of straw. “Get in!” one of the two guards says roughly and they push the girl into the carriage. She groans in pain. “Hah, hear the little witch whining. Let's go to the market place, people will be waiting for us,” the other guard says. The girl slowly gets up. She paralyzes when she sees the other prisoner, being brought away to the room where his belongings lie. He walks proud, completely fit and entirely clean. He's chained and followed by another guard, but technically speaking, he's free. He looks her direction and she flinches. “Lord… Sess……”

*Clap!*

“Shut up, witch. Come on, undertaker. The people are waiting for us,” the first guard commands. The undertaker, who rides the carriage, makes the horses depart and the carriage drives away. Tears roll over the girl's cheek.

Fire of the heart.
1. Sentenced to the stake.

The crowd cheers. The inquisition hadn't found a witch in ages, so this public execution of one caused a lot of uproar. They throw things at her -bricks, dirt, muck and rotten vegetables- and accuse her of crimes she never committed. Killing and eating children, making several young women unable to give birth, cursing the farmers and destroying the harvest. `They're good at aiming. They never hit that damned fake priest that stands behind me,' the girl thinks grinning. Despite her situation, she feels a strange peace inside herself, or maybe it's the emptiness for losing her most precious person. The carriage suddenly stops. She's thrown out of the carriage and dragged up on a platform with a giant stake in the middle of it. The girl smiles. The end of her pathetic life, finally. The guards bind her to the pale in the middle of the stake. The fat priest starts to read the list of crimes she has `committed'. The girl just enjoys the sunshine on her face, ignoring the priest completely. “If you wish to escape this tragic fate, you have to accept the terms and forswear your love to Satan and devote yourself to our Lord and live in a monastery for the rest of your life. What is your answer?” the fat priest asks.

“Bring on the stake…" the girl says. “Very well then. Executioner?” The giant executioner steps forward with a torch. He shows to torch to the crowd and they cheer like they're out of their mind. Then the executioner walks to the stake and throws the torch in the pile of fire branches.

“You're a lucky man, mister Sesshomaru,” the alderman of the city says, while Sesshomaru puts on his normal clothes and armour again. “What do you mean?” he asks.

“Don't you know? The girl, that was accused of witchcraft along sides you, has been found guilty. Her execution is today."

“I see."

“So, what are you going to do now, sir?" the alderman asks.

“I'm going back to Japan. My business in this country is done,",” Sesshomaru answers.

“I see. So, are you going to the execution of the witch?” the alderman asks.

“Witches don't exist, demon do,” Sesshomaru says with his normal stoic voice.

“What?” the alderman asks surprised and a little scared. “Nothing. Farewell.” Sesshomaru has dressed himself and is now proceeding to the exit. “Wait, you're forgetting some things,” the alderman says. Sesshomaru stops and looks to the alderman behind him. The human really starts to piss him off. He couldn't seem to shut up and now he'she's holding him back from leaving this disgusting place and to return to his castle in the lands of the West. “Like what?”

The alderman walks to Sesshomaru with a few things in his arms. Sesshomaru takes two of the three swords the man holds and leaves the other one, alongside the beautiful golden hair ornament and a leather lace with a fang hanging in it. His fang. “Won't you take the other things with you, sir?"

“Why would I. They're not mine."

“Are you sure? We were sure that this sword would belong to you. Anyhow, please take them,",” the alderman says.

“Why?"

“As a sign of our regret, lord of the Japanese western lands. We have been accusing you falsely of witchcraft and are very sorry for that. These things belonged to the witch we've caught soon after we imprisoned you."

“If you insist.".” Sesshomaru takes the remaining things from the alderman. '`They were hers,'' he thinks. "“Thank you. I'llI'll be off then.".” Sesshomaru turns around again and walks out of the town hall.

The fire is building up and licks the little pieces of firewood on the stake. The girls head is down, like she's asleep.

“Sir magistrate, the crowd is getting dissatisfied, because the girl is unconscious. Maybe we should wake her up. The crowd wants to hear her scream,” the captain of the guard says to the magistrate. “You are absolutely right. Wake her up,” the magistrate orders.

“Yes my lord. Soldier!” One of the soldiers walks to the stake and attempts to poke the girl with his spear, as suddenly…

`Where am I?' The girl slowly wakes up. She looks disorientated around, finally noticing that she's tied to a pale in the middle of a stake. She starts coughing from all the smoke that surround her. “Sess…*cough-cough-cough* Sessho…maru… lord Sesshomaru. *cough-cough*” she says painfully.

“She has woken up, sir magistrate.”

“I see.”

The crowd cheers again, out of their mind because the `witch' finally shows the response they've been waiting for.

Sesshomaru walks through the quiet streets. Everyone has gone to the execution, so he's all alone. Only the fading sound of the crowd that has gathered on the city's main square and the sound of his own footsteps is all he hears, as suddenly…

*KYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

A familiar voice rips through the air.
`It's her…' Sesshomaru stops for a second, but then continuous his walk without reacting to the voice.

*Chough-cough!*

“Lord Sesshomaru… … *cough* my lord *cough* where are you?” The fire is licking the edge of her hair shirt, making it smoulder. The girls head is still down, that last scream took a lot of the energy she had left in her body. She's at her end, if only she could tell him that she's sorry, then she would have no regrets leaving the world of the living. She raises her head to the sky, tears streaming over her face.

“Lord Sesshomaru *cough* where are you, milord! Please answer me!” the girl starts to scream towards the air, hoping her lord would hear her.

“What is she doing?”

“Sir magistrate, what should we do? The crowd is getting scared by her. They think the witch is trying to call Satan to this place to save her.”

“No worries. Our bishop will protect us. Furthermore, her master is gone.”

“What?”

“Please, I beg of you! Lord Sesshomaru! Please!”

Sesshomaru can hear her scream, hear her beg. But he pays no attention to it.

“Please, milord! *cough-cough* I'm sorry I disobeyed you! Please forgive me!”

He keeps walking on. It was too late now.

“What is it, milord?” the girl asks. They're sitting in a forest, eating the grilled boar meat he managed to catch. “You've been awfully quiet for a while now. Is something bothering you?”
“Little one…”
She frowns her forehead. She hated it when he called her like that.
“How do you feel…about me, I mean?”
The question hit her as a lighting bolt. How she…felt about him?
“What do you mean, milord?” she asks with a bright smile. But he could smell a slight strap of embarrassment through her scent.
“I've been thinking. You've followed me all over Japan, and to this strange continent, called Europe. That must have had a reason. You have a family, you don't have any reason to stick with me,” he reasoned.
“I can't…I don't know, milord.”
“Answer me.”
“I…I…”
“Answer me!” his voice was angry. She knew she had made him angry, but she didn't know why she always stayed with him. She honestly didn't know why.
She never had a chance to answer him, `cause seconds after his last outburst they came for them, taking them away to the prison. Accusing them both of witchcraft.

He could never forgive her.

Tears keep on streaming over her face. The fire is licking her toes and she lets out a whimper of pain. Her whimper transforms into pants from the heat and the exhaustion. `If only he could hear her, then she would…

»“How do you feel… about me, I mean?”«
»“Answer me!”«

A shock came down her spine. Not one of pain but one of realization…

“Milord! Please listen!”

She had started screaming for him again. But he couldn't care less.

“I was wrong, please forgive me!”

Nothing she said would bother him.

“Lord Sesshomaru! I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I didn't answer you right away! But …”

It didn't matter.

“I LOVE YOU, SESSHOMARU!”

Her words hit his brain and entire being. She loved him…

"“What is she babbling about?” the magistrate asks.

“I don't know, sir.”

*cough-cough* the girl is starting to cough harder, louder and harsher. She's at her limit. She faints.

“Now, it'll soon be over,” the magistrate says. This witch is giving him the creeps, as suddenly…

Tortured screams from the edge of the crowd tear the airs apart. A trail of bloody bodies is left behind while something is making its ways through the crowd. “What's…? Stop that devil!”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers try to protect the stage with the stake, but they're pierced on a sword and collapse. “Who dares?” says the magistrate.

Before him stands Sesshomaru with the Bakuseiga in one hand. “I'm here to take back what's mine,” he only says and jumps over the magistrate, landing in the middle of the stake. He cuts the ropes around the girl with his left claws. The girl falls forwards but he manages to catch her before she falls into the fire. He carefully lays her comfortable in his arms and jumps off with her, flying away from the stake.

He looks down at his young servant lying in his arms. `My precious Azami. I love you too, I love you very much.' He softly kisses her forehead, afraid to wake her.

“Let's go home, my mate.” He exposes the flesh of her left shoulder and licks it carefully. His eyes starts to bleed to red and he bites down in her soft flesh. She whimpers in pain for a moment, but doesn't wake up. He licks the puncture marks he made. Now everyone shall know she belongs to him. To him and only him.

The firstborn tiger demon princess, Azami of the East.