InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forever Mine ❯ Confusion ( Chapter 15 )

I don't believe it, I am actually writing this again. Yeah, school is a bitch, work is hell, and all of my life conspires against me writing my fanfics. So here I go again!

P.S. I don't own inu or anyone I didn't create.

Youki = Demon energy/power

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Hours. Seconds. Minutes. Time was lost to Saraku as she laid on the white futon, slowly flexing and contracting the various muscles in her body. The only way Saraku was sure any time had passed was the constant sound of feet running past her room. Shiori's disappearance didn't take long to be noticed, and the loss of almost all the incense used to sedate her and Seto had sent the shrine into a frenzy. Shiori, it seemed, had tried to help in another way.

The sedative was lowered, giving Saraku more use of her body, though she still feigned sleep. Sora didn't completely believe in Saraku's act and placed two guards on their room at all times. There were a number of prayers that the doctor would arrive before they ran out of incense. To Saraku's annoyance, he did.

The doctor's arrival marked the last warning that she was running out of time. She had managed to obtain a fair amount of her strength back, but she was still primarily human. There was no telling what her strength in this form would be, and, with two miko guards waiting to purify her for even twitching wrong, she couldn't risk exposing herself early.

"It is good of you to come so quickly, Majeh-sensei." Definitely Sora's voice.

"It is odd for such a well-known healer to need my assistance. I have to say I am curious as to what you need help with, considering your reputation." The new voice sounded gruff and ragged despite his pleasant manner. He sounded very old to Saraku.

Sora was as passively arrogant as ever. "You give me too much credit, I merely help those who need me. This, however, is beyond my knowledge. The girl here is a hanyou. Her youki is gathering together in one of her eyes and I have been unable to properly purify her because of it. Do you believe you can safely remove her eye?"

"Isn't that why you called for me?" the man responded in mock humility.

Both laughed tight, thin cackles that grated in Saraku's human ears. She wanted to jump up and rip his windpipe from his throat just to stop the sound, but she remained still. She needed to focus on what they were doing. She had to know when to attack.

Footsteps…but, how many? Saraku's couldn't make out an exact number, it sounded like only two. Sora and Majeh? The miko guards? Wait. More sounds. The footsteps weren't going to her. Sheets slid over each other with a definite hiss. Seto! They were taking Seto away for the purification. She needed to get to him, but Sora was probably still there. Saraku couldn't risk revealing herself. Not yet.

More footsteps. Now what?

"Which eye do you wish me to remove?" Majeh said as he knelt beside her head.

"Her left one, it's gold. I will leave you to her, but there is one more thing I must do."

Saraku's eyes shot open as four pairs of hands grabbed each of he extremities and Sora placed her hands on the hanyou's chest. Holy energy seared through her body, attacking the muscles, veins, and bones. The pain twisted and raged over her skin, in her lungs . . . pulsing, beating, fighting with her heart, her mind. Sanity was overshadowed by agony and agony by the complete need for relief. Her arms yanked and legs jerked, but her oppressors kept a firm hold on her. She shrieked with what little air she could pull into her tormented body until she didn't even have the energy to cry out. Her legs went stiff and arms lax. The only motion left in her was the jagged rising and falling of her chest.

Sora stopped the attack and stood up. "The incense alone would not have kept her subdued. Hurry with the operation; that will last only so long."

Saraku saw Majeh nod but couldn't do anything more than watch. Her body wouldn't respond and the guards were still holding her down. Sora quickly exited the room and Majeh opened a small sack he removed from around his neck. Small precise blades and other instruments were removed, none of which Saraku liked.

He's really going to remove my eye. I can't move. I can't stop him. Seto is going to become human. They will make me human. All because I am too weak to move. Too weak. I can't even save myself from humans! I can't save Seto!

Blood rushed through her veins, hot with pain and rage. It boiled beneath her skin, burning her from the inside out. Majeh leaned over to examine her and with nothing left to defend herself with Saraku clamped her eyes shut.

"Someone hold her eye open for me."

Saraku felt the person holding the hand opposite Majeh release her and move near her head. Cold hands grasped her face and forced her gold eye to open again. Her breathing increased as anger, shame, hatred, and terror filled her. Saraku's body screamed at itself, tearing at her in a futile struggle to move. Majeh looked back to his instruments.

I don't want to become human! I can't lose myself to these people! I can't let them take the only part of Chichiue I have! I can't disgrace him!

Majeh returned to her face, a small flattened blade in his hand. He placed the thin tip against the side of her eye, gently severing it from the soft membrane. Saraku screamed as blood welled into her vision, sliding across her sight in waves of crimson fate.

I can't let this happen!

Majeh stopped and brought a small rag to soak up the blood falling down her temple.

I won't let this happen!

Her lungs were tight and constricted, making her pained breaths come out in high pitched whistles. Her aching body shook in contempt and defiance as she struggled with the burning sensations that flowed in her veins. Never before had she known any internal pain like the flames streaming in her blood. But this pain didn't stop her like the Sora's holy energy. This pain was purely hers, and it gave her strength.

"Majeh-sensei, what is that!" the young guard holding her face screamed, the girl's face barely visible through the bloody haze.

Scarlet veils swept over her vision as Saraku turned her injured eye to Majeh. With her wretched strength empowering her, Saraku threw her free hand up and grasped the doctor's throat.

Screams. Shrieks of pain and terror. Saraku reveled in the sounds. Her mind had given into the fire and she knew only one thing: Revenge.

A fog of screams and blood clouded her mind as she fought against her guards. Where were they? Where was she? Did she attack them? Had they fallen? Out . . . she needed out. She needed . . . Seto. He needed her. Where . . . where was he?

Saraku leaned against the frame of the doorway, and pushed herself into the hall. She left in the room four woman and one man dead on the ground, their bodies twisted and melted into themselves.

Seto. Seto, where are you? Don't give in yet. I'm coming.

Walls shifted and swayed as Saraku stumbled down the halls in search of her brother. The suffering that strengthened her body also threatened to consume it. Her chest swelled with a putrid air that tore and ravaged her lungs. The blood dripping down her cheek burned her flesh and she often fell against the sinking wall for support.

Saraku watched as people ran through the temple. Some just bolted past her, others began to approach but soon either fled or fell to the ground screaming. Saraku didn't know what was happening. She didn't care. She had only one goal: Find Seto.

A small boy and his mother ran down the hall followed by a young miko. Saraku forced herself over and grabbed the child by his collar as he passed. He screamed in her grip as both women stopped. The mother covered her mouth and tears ran down her face.

"Please give me my son!" she screamed, coughing profusely.

"Seto! Where is my brother?"

The miko collapsed to the ground and weakly pointed back the way they had come from. "Down the hall then turn right. It's the door at the end of that hall. Sora-sama and your brother are there. Please . . . give back . . ." The miko didn't finish her sentence before passing out. Saraku released the stilled boy and continued on.

Saraku reached the hall and slid around the corner, her breathing labored and harsh. Whatever this was in the air it sliced through her lungs like thousands of daggers spinning inside her, and the burning intensified with each spin.

Down the hall. To the screen door. Slide it open.

The cold, pure air of the isolated room washed over Saraku's charred body and let her breathe in complete ecstasy. She looked at the small room and found a makeshift bed in the center on which Seto laid. Saraku hurried to his side, tripping over her own feet and falling onto the bed's edge.

"Seto," she whispered. "Seto, wake up. Come on, we need to get out of here. Wake up."

Her shaking fingers slid over his forehead to brush back his back bangs. He didn't waken. He didn't move. He slept in quiet ignorance of the world around him, looking as human as he did on the day he changed.

"Seto . . . please, wake up."

Suddenly, Saraku was thrown to the floor, her feet struggling to stand again. Above her Sora stood holding a tall staff. She raised it and slammed it down hard onto Saraku's shoulder. Holy energy rippled through her body once again and she was swept into a torrent of exhilarating pain. Saraku wasn't sure why but Sora's attacked actually helped her to focus easier and ease the burning in her body.

"This is your fault!" Sora screamed, her pristine arrogance forfeited to complete hatred. "If you were not such a foul creature you would be allowed to live! But now, I see you cannot be saved. I will stop you monster!"

She swung the staff once more and Saraku was able to catch it in her right hand, letting the purification wash over her body and renew her strength. She smirked at Sora as she ripped the staff from the miko's grasp.

"Didn't I tell you I would kill you?"

"Stay back!"

Another smirk. Saraku always did love the look of pray that knew it was about to die. She swung the staff and struck a fleeing Sora in the side of the head. Blood flowed into the miko's hair as she struggled to turn onto her side. Saraku walked over and raised the staff straight into the air. In one smooth motion Saraku slammed the staff into Sora's abdomen, ripping through skin and organs to embed the staff bottom into the ground under her.

Saraku left the dying woman and shuffled back to her brother. Something was wrong inside of her; she could feel it more than ever. The strength that had killed Majeh and the others was now destroying her, but she didn't know what it was, or what was even happening to her. She pulled Seto from his place on the bed but was unable to support him, sending them both falling to the ground.

"Seto. I'm sorry. I can't get you out, but I will protect you . . . somehow."

The young woman pulled her brother tightly against her and slowly succumbed to the pain eating her.

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"Youki. A lot of youki, from a strong demon." The cat demon let a playful smirk cross over his face. "He might just prove a fun opponent."

The cat flicked the last of his previous hunt to the ground and headed for the source of the youki. He found himself at the edge of a large village resting below a tall hill on which stood a shrine. The shrine was the source of the youki.

"Looks like they made the wrong demon mad," he laughed to himself.

He leaped along the edge of the village as not to be seen and hurried up to the shrine. He stopped as he reached the top of the hill. The shrine was . . . melting. A thick green fog seeped out of the windows and doors of the disintegrating shrine. The cat slipped through the fallen entrance and searched for the origin of the poison. He passed many rooms, most empty, some with dead bodies almost completely stripped of their skin and muscles.

The poison was tolerable to him, though defiantly not comfortable. He knew he should leave but his curiosity got the better of him, what kind of demon could produce enough poison to destroy an entire shrine? He followed the path of the bodies till he came to the skeletons of two adults and a child; they were the last of the bodies. He didn't need anymore though, he could now clearly see where the poisoned mist was coming from. He followed the passage till it turned and there, at the end of the hall, was a completely melted doorframe, the door itself fallen into a sludge on the floor.

He entered the room and saw only three more bodies, one skeleton and a woman and boy, yet he knew the source of the poison had to be in the room. He stopped and looked back at the two bodies that still looked like bodies. All the ones he had passed before had either been skeletons or almost there, yet these two, in the highest part of the poison, were only beginning to suffer effects.

The woman was completely nude, her flesh burned and twisted, but still intact on her body. The boy had slight burns on his face and torso, but only severe wounds where the woman held him. The cat's eyes locked on the boy's chest. He was still breathing. How could that be? He was human. The demon looked back to the woman and held a hand to her mouth. A soft, barely felt puff of air hit his hand as her body exhaled. Both of them were still alive. But how could these two humans survive when the others couldn't.

Behind him the demon could hear the shrine collapsing into itself. He grabbed the two humans and bolted out of the destroyed building. As he ran the pain of the poison increased dramatically and he finally understood the answer to one mystery. The source of the poison had been in that room. But it left him with one far more confusing question: How could a human woman produce enough youki to make him believe she was a full demon?

Villagers were rushing towards the falling shrine as the cat leapt into the frozen treetops and hurried away. He stopped at a small clearing a short distance from the village. To the right of the clearing was a large brook, frozen over by the frigid winter temperatures. He laid the two bodies on the soft, snow-covered ground and took a moment to examine the arm that had been holding the woman.

His armor and clothing had been completely eaten through and his skin was now raw and burning. For anyone to be able to injure him was a rarity, but for a human woman to do it . . . something was not right, and he was determine to find out what.

He removed his outer haori and laid it atop the woman's body. "I'll be right back, so don't go and die."

The winter winds swept through his free auburn hair as he hastily ran back to the village. In this cold neither of the humans would survive without better clothing. He landed on a branch overlooking the village, his brown and red tail flicking down to curl around the cold wood. Most of the village was now at the shrine so stealing clothes would be simple. He dropped to the ground and slide in and out of homes grabbing what he needed and leaving with no trace he was ever there.

The cat laughed to himself as he made his way back to the two unconscious humans. He would have been surprised if the villagers even thought their things had been stolen, and not simply misplaced. Despite his youthful appearance the demon was centuries old and lived only to challenge himself. If this woman could provide such a challenge he wanted to know.

As he entered the clearing the demon stared at the woman's body in shock. His haori rested as gray and black tar in the scars of the woman's charred skin. The snow around her was melted and flowed over the deadened earth she rest atop. Now in the open air he could see the green poison rising from her body, destroying the woman in the process.

The demon lifted her body from its poisoned grave and ran over to the frozen brook. "You aren't going to like this, but if you don't get that poison away from you I won't get to find out what you are."

He kicked against the thin ice until his black boot created a large opening in the surface. He placed one hand over her nose and mouth and used the other to submerge her body into the icy water running downstream. The demon watched as the clear water turned green and the ice further down began collapsing into the water. He brought her head up periodically so she wouldn't suffocate but if the poison didn't end soon she would freeze to death in the water.

Slowly, the green tint of the waters lightened and finally disappeared. He lifted her frigid body out and hurried to dress and warm her. Her body was so frail he could hardly believe this woman could mistake his senses. This human woman created a youki poison strong enough to make him believe a very strong demon was nearby. He took one of the men's cloaks and wrapped it over her bald, burned head and neck. Whatever hair the woman may have had must have been burned off.

Once he was satisfied the woman would be all right for a while he hurried to clothe the freezing boy. The boy was not nearly as burned as the woman, only on his back and some of his chest where the woman had been holding him. Only a few patches of black hair remained on his head, though like the girl all of his clothes had been burned off. His body only had slight scorching, not the extreme charring of the woman. How is it either of them survived when others had been mere skeletons?

The demon was considering lighting a small fire when the boy began to stir. He quickly and silently leapt back into the treetops. He wanted to know more before showing himself to either human.

The boy cried out as he tried to sit up, the burns on his back probably more than excruciating. Once sitting he looked around the small clearing till his eyes locked on the young woman.

"Aneue!" he screamed, forgetting the pain in his body and crawling over to deformed body.

They're brother and sister. That might explain at least why both of them were the only ones to survive.

The boy's brown eyes filled with horror as he looked down at his sister. "Aneue, wake up! Aneue!" His screams continued until his focus changed from the woman's body to his own hand trying to wake her. "My . . . my claws are gone?

Claws?

The boy's hand shot to his mouth in search for something.

They're demons?

He yanked at the small pieces of hair he still had at stared in shock. "Why am I human now? I shouldn't change today."

Hanyous! They are both hanyous. That's why the woman was able to produce youki poison. But that means a hanyou was about to trick my senses into believing she was a full demon. What kind of hanyou is capable of that?

"Aneue!" the boy's scream brought the demon's attention back to the scene. The brother sat over his sister's face hand gently opening her eyes. "Brown . . . why are your eyes brown? Aneue, what happened to us? What happened to you?"

Voices. Both demon and boy turned as the noise echoed through the trees. Some of the villagers were coming it seemed.

"Don't worry, Aneue," the boy said, carefully standing and lifting his sister's body. "I'll get us out of here. I'll save you this time"

The demon watched as the boy positioned his sister onto his burned back and headed into the trees. Even with those wounds he is determined to get them away. These two just get more interesting.

He turned towards the voices and hurried back to stop the villagers. He wanted to see what happened to them, and wasn't going to let some ignorant humans kill them before he found out just who they were.

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Every step hurt Seto as his bare feet plodded through freezing snow. His back was on fire and even the smallest movement of Saraku's body sent waves of pain coursing through his system. Never had he ever been in as much pain as he was at that moment, but he refused to let it stop him. Saraku . . . Saraku looked dead. He felt the shallow rising of her chest against him, but it was little comfort. Her body looked as if it had been set on fire and begun melting in on itself. All her demon traits were gone, even her gold eye, which was now a hollow brown.

Seto headed north. The last he knew, InuYasha's village should have been to the north of them and without any other ideas he slowly drifted northward. He could no longer feel his toes or fingers. He doubted he would be able to move them from their interlaced position beneath Saraku.

He stared up at the sun as it made its final decent below the horizon. How long had he been walking? Was it even the right direction? Could he even make it to any village before Saraku died, or he did?

His numb feet pressed forward, but soon refused to support the combined weight of the siblings. Seto fell forward into the hard snow, Saraku tumbling out of his hold to lay beside him. He struggled to turn his head to look at her, but it wouldn't move. As his eyes closed he thought he saw someone's feet standing beside him, but he was unconscious before he could whisper for help.

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Oh My God! Can you believe it? I wrote again! I hope I still have people wanting to read this thing. That would be nice. Sorry about the length between chps. School and work are bitches. They hate me writing fan fics.

I'd love to know what you guys think has just happened. I know of course, but I wonder what you think. You learn everything in the next chp. Hope you liked it. REVIEW PLEASE! Bye bye.