InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In the Dark ❯ Determination ( Chapter 16 )

Chapter 15

In The Dark

Determination

 

Starlight twinkled in the horizon as a figure moved rapidly against the darkness. Lightly grazing the modern stone roofs, his bare feet were inaudible. His body flexed, muscles extended to its near limitation, sweat beaded on the brow of the demon. Silver hair flowed against the wind sweeping through a slumbering Tokyo.

 

His fingers extend and spread out, bracing for the impact of the oncoming roof, they chip the cement in his haste. A low growl forms deep within his chest as he nears his destination, his reason for this late night excursion. For a moment, the deep fog that has numbed him for so long lifts as he catches a familiar scent in the air. He stops suddenly, sniffing the air deeper, closing his crimson eyes in concentration. For a moment, her taste enveloped his senses, lingering in his mouth, provoking long forgotten memories of another life, echoes stirring within shadows, longing to be remembered… to surface from the depths of his soul.

 

A voice calling his name, her scent enticing him… the flicker of her dark hair, eyes filled with passion… sadness… her extended arms reaching for him, welcoming him to her…

 

“Inu…” her mouth moves against his… the softness of her lips…

“Inuya…” gentle sounds weaved themselves in the wind… her voice he can feel tickle his ears… The memory hovers near, he hungers for her.

 

A gust of wind rises from below the streets and flickers along the houses, slamming shutters violently. Growling, the demon cracks his extended fingers at the noise in protest. His near awakening falls back into the deep abyss infused by the fabricated shikon shards imbedded in his skin. A melody vibrates near his ears in a implemented earphone, drowning out the sound of her recalled voice. His past sinks below the red haze of Naraku's magic. She is forgotten once again, he is once more just a killing machine, the perfect predator. The demon continues his silent chase of his prey, her scent caught he leaps into a tree, resting momentarily as he peeks through the leaves.

 

There, in the darkness laid his target, his reason for the rare freedom he tasted this night. The miko slept, protected and hidden from the likes of him by a barrier surrounding the home. A slow grin broke on his motionless face. Her secrets will be revealed to him, this was his entrusted mission by his master.

 

“Found you.”

 

* * *

 

The sun rose the next morning, Kagome looked up from beneath her blankets, feeling uneasy. She opened her blinds and peered out slowly at the sacred tree her shrine worshipped. It stood tall nearest to her home and could be clearly seen from where she stood. The story connected to the tree was one of her favorites. It defined the shrine and what lovers could overcome. A demon had fallen in love with the priestess of this shrine, she was the guardian of a jewel that could grant any wish but her task to purify it prevented her from being able to love him. A man, jealous of her affections for the demon had tricked them into thinking they had betrayed one another, the demon had destroyed her village, seeking the jewel and the miko had believed him responsible for fatally injuring her. Before she passed on, she killed him. Shooting an arrow at his heart and nailed him to the tree. Soon there after, the man's plot had been uncovered and the truth revealed. Grieving for the lovers, the tree was supposedly infused with a spell where it blooms only on the anniversary of the lover's deaths. Kagome sighed at the sadness of the story.

 

Amazingly, you could still see the notch of the arrow high in the trunk. An arrowhead lay deep within it and she could prove it by the scar on her index, having cut herself deeply on it as a child. “That reminds me” she thought out loud as she absently stroked the scar of her finger. “The celebration day should be soon.” She scanned the tree in search of budding flowers when something caught her attention, it was highly unusual. There, at the lowest level branch there were deep gashes on the bark. It was in plain sight and seemed like they were fresh.

 

A chill went down her spine. She opened her window and leaned out, wanting to make sure what she was seeing was correct.

 

“Kagome!” her mother shouted from below. She pulled her body back inside and shouted in response. “What?”

 

“Food is on the table, are you planning on gracing us with your presence today?”

 

She growled. She wasn't a morning person and her mother was only darkening her mood. She quickly wrapped herself in a robe and stepped away from the window, missing the silver strands flickering in the wind, dislodging themselves from the bark.

 

***

She stepped into the kitchen to see Shippo sitting casually at the table, his face revealed to her he was bored of the conversation and was more interested in what her mother was cooking then anything else. She smiled.Shippo had been a great distraction to her in the last month, allowing her to focus her attention on training her powers. He kept her focused, preventing her from falling back into the thoughts of what had happened to Inuyasha in that forsaken dungeon.

 

“Kagome! Good morning!” Her mother said softly, bringing her out of her thoughts. “Good morning mother.” She replied with a soft smile. Her brother and grandfather stopped their chatter and greeted her as she sat down at the table. Souta noted that she looked haggard. Suddenly her good mood had flown out the window as she shot him a dirty look. He grinned as their mother sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. She fixed their plates and laid them down for them to eat.

 

A few minutes of silence settled over the Higurashi table as the hungered family eagerly ate the food before them. Shippo held a serious look to his face as did her grandfather. Kagome put down her fork and prepared to ask what they had been speaking about before she entered the kitchen. Before she could say anything, her grandfather swallowed his food harshly with a gulp and caught her attention with a cough.

 

“Now Kagome.” He began, his fork moving about his plate in a disorganized fashion that annoyed her mother. “Yes?” she answered.

 

“Shippo has told us that he senses Naraku will be on the move soon.” His eyes closed on concentration and Kagome bit her lower lip in thought. “He feels Naraku will be ready to use Inuyasha in the way he had originally intended 450 years ago when he first captured him.” He added. Kagome's eyes widened at the thought. Shippo leaned in towards the table, placing his hands in front of him. His eyes looked towards Kagome, green glimmering in excitement or fear, she could not tell.

 

“Naraku has always had a fascination with power and the Shikon jewel.” Kagome nodded. That's what had caused Inuyasha to lose Kikyo all those years ago. “With the loss of the jewel when it shattered, he has been on a crusade to create synthetic jewels that have the same properties as the real one.” She gave him a confused look.

 

“What do you mean?” she asked. Shippo leaned back into the chair and searched an appropriate answer. “He wants the best Youkai around and most powerful to reach its top potential. The jewel allows for that to happen. The original jewel gives Youkai unimaginable strength and power. The only thing that is different from the original jewel is that Naraku's synthetic ones bring the Youkai under his control. To make it worst, Kagura has this ability to control Youkai blood and brings them into a state of berserk, leaving the individual with no control of his body.”

 

Kagome breathed in silently and closed her eyes as she soaked in all this information, was Naraku keeping Inuyasha in a permanent state of Youkai? “So what you are saying is that he has found a way to finally make Inuyasha do his bidding and keep him completely under his control?”

 

“Sort of, when I was last there he had almost complete control of him. He has become full youkai for sure but when you came to the castle, and when you purified the water, for the first time in months I heard silence from his cell. He felt at peace.” Kagome felt tears prickle her eyes fiercely. “Hope finally!” she thought. She blinked her tears back as she looked to Shippo and said “So there's still a chance he is still my Inuyasha?”

 

Shippo looked down to his plate of food and considered what she had asked. Inuyasha had been under the influence of the dark shikon shards for going on over a year and Kagura had nearly completed surfacing his demon blood permanently… and his last training session in the yard of the castle had created even fear in Naraku as Inuyasha destroyed and murdered all the youkai prisoners unfortunate enough to enter the arena.

 

“I'm not sure Kagome… it has been a long time since Inuyasha has been himself.” He said sombrely. Kagome nodded as fear gripped her heart slowly. Minutes seem to trickle by as Kagome became lost in thought over what he had said, she picked aimlessly at her food. Her grandfather sensing her incoming despair suddenly rose and raised a fist to the ceiling and with vigour shouted “Come now Kagome! Let us train with your bow and arrow today!”

 

Souta had let out a shriek in surprise and Shippo, frightened by the sudden burst of energy from the old man, fell out of his chair. In her surprise, her mother had choked on her mouthful of eggs. Hearing her mother call for water Kagome burst into laughter as her grandfather marched out of the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

“The chill will wake your senses Kagome, now stop complaining.” Her grandfather huffed as she pulled on her thin fall coat. The air had a crisp smell to it that she hated. She grumbled at him as he walked on to the shrine, she held her bow in one hand and practice arrows in the other. Her fingers were already soaking inthe coolness of the morning and she let out a grunt of complaint again.

 

A few months ago she had finally approached her grandfather about seriously learning to control her miko powers. She had a lot of it and she finally admitted to not being able to control it. Her episode with the dead in the moat had her convinced of that. She needed to control this, badly, if she wanted to have him back. Her thoughts wandered back to the time when she nearly killed Souta with her bursting energy and destroyed her home while she was unconscious. The day they picked up the bow and arrow, she found out that this was the weapon of choice for her. “The bow and arrow will help you focus your energy into a lethal weapon.” She had laughed. She hadn't taken him seriously.

 

Months of training had been followed by history lessons of the shrine protectors, priestesses. She had been surprised that the bow was always a weapon of choice. She rolled her eyes at the memory of the long speeches and unusual detail about the shrine warriors. That was horrid. She had begun to wear the traditional outfits the priestesses wore to honour their memories. She felt stupid in them. “You should wear it with pride Kagome” her grandfather, surrounded by the early light of the sun, his posture sagged with sadness as he chastised on her negative response to the outfit. She had paused in surprise and had realised her disrespect. She bowed deeply in apology and he had only smiled shaking his head lightly. That was the morning her senses hadsharpened, she had become aware of every sound and smell of her surroundings. Her powers had matured slowly since then.

 

A snort brought her rudely back to reality as Souta shook his head at her and rolled his eyes. “For someone who claims she wants to harness the powers of her “mikoness”, you sure complain a lot.” She growled at him, ready to throw a rock but a light cough made her think twice. Her grandfather motioned to her with his hand, wanting her to hurry. She trotted to him and bowed slightly “I'm sorry for keeping you waiting grandfather” she spoke out of breath. “Hmph, come now grand daughter, lets begin.” was all he said.

 

The crisp cold air settled on her exposed skin and she shivered at the feel of it kissing her exposed hands. She reached out to her grandfather's extended hand and walked to the targets in the back of the temple. “I apologise for the wait” she said quietly, he nodded and continued his path to the protected area of the shrine where Kagome practiced honing her powers.

 

* * *

 

 

A jingle echoed lightly across the garden inside the temple, Sango looked up from the bench to see Miroku walking towards her. New earrings hung from his ear, she smiled softly. He had nearly finished his studies to become a Buddhist monk; something he felt he needed to accomplish to help Kagome retrieve Inuyasha from the hell he had been captured into by Naraku. He approached with his eyes looking far off into a secret place. Sango was worried about him; something had changed him to the core since the incident where he had been exposed to the true nature of Inuyasha.

 

She reached out and touched his hand, bringing him back to her, he smiled, happy to see her. He placed his gold staff next to the bench and sat down next to her, bells jingled again softly in the peace.

 

“How long have you been here?” he asked her. “Since you started your prayers.” She replied, his eyebrows rose in surprise, he had been in prayer all morning. “I'm sorry Sango” he began; she smiled again, hushing him with her gentleness. He swallowed, the air felt thick.

 

“Why are we doing this?” her voice mused the question, unusual for her to sound doubtful. He looked at her, curious. “Why would you ask that?” he probed, thoughts questioning her reasoning. Sango seemed suddenly deep in thought.

 

“I'm curious to see, or even hear, your reasons to fight beside Kagome.” She paused, her hand stilled upon his, warming it. It seemed heavy; her question thickened the air around them. She looked ahead of her, breathing in the peacefulness of the garden. They had spent the last year creating and renovating this inside garden. “You...” she started, unsure of how this could be talked about. “You've been a ghost lately Miroku.” She sighed, squeezing his hand lightly.

 

“What do you mean?” he questioned softly. She continued to stare straight ahead of her aimlessly, she needed to know. “I need to know you're doing this for the right reasons Miroku. She continued, ignoring his lingering eyes. He frowned at her tone of voice, she sounded nervous.

 

“Your eyes Miroku, they're so distant lately. You seem empty. Her voice trailed off as she fell into thought. He sighed. Her eyes focused on his mouth, the pulse on his neck, her ears caught the gentle sound of the earrings he wore.

 

“The things I felt when I was merged in their past” he began “the pain they suffered, the sadness. The incredible madness he endured, the killings, the fear. The injustice of everything he was made to go under… Losing his lover to the fates and the cruelty on the absence of his grief for her. The unrelenting and unforgiving rage he suppressed.” He paused. Sango's eyes teared as he held back his own.

 

“I want him to return to Kagome and to finally be at rest with his past. To be free to love her as he should of 500 years ago.” He took in a breath, slowly. “At first I feared what I saw and my perception of my friend was polluted by fear. Kikyo's last thoughts consumed me. I wanted to forget, to die along with her. Her pain Sango, it was too much to bare. I don't know how Kagome pulled through it.”

 

She leaned her head against his shoulder, listening. “Seeing Kagome after, knowing her pain, experiencing it. It reinforced my resolve.” He nodded.

 

“That's why you finished your monk training.” She added. He nodded again. “She's not alone in this, at least now I have some tools to help her take him back, even if it's a tacky gold staff and some paper charms to protect us.” She smiled.

 

“Now,” he looked at her “why would you ask me such a serious question?” she shrugged. “I didn't want you to be on a suicide mission.” He was dumbstruck. “A suicide mission?”

 

“Yeah” she replied. “I wanted to make sure you intended on being alive at the end of this ordeal.” He watched her closely, he was in disbelief. Had he been that cryptic lately? Did he cause her to worry so much? Had she been quietly suffering his chaos, his struggle to try and bog down all the emotions of his friend's loss?

 

He reached for her, eyes stung with unshed tears, her fears fluttered away as she felt the warmth of his lips against hers. His fingers slipped against her skin, a tear slipped slowly down her cheek as his eyes struggled with his own. What would happen to them in this fight? Could they win? She pulled him in her arms, suddenly feeling alone, her lips met with his in a desperate kiss, her fingers eager to touch his skin, to know he was there and real, she needed to know in her heart that they would be ok, that they would still be together at the end of all this. Miroku responded with equal passion, his body aching with fears. He needed to forget for a simple moment that the world was about to be filled with chaos, that he was still just a simple man who could live as any other being in this world.

 

He laid her down amongst the high flowers of the garden, their kiss deepening, his hand slipped at the base of her neck, his lips nipping the exposed skin. Sango opened her mouth in a muffled moan; he slipped his tongue inside, tasting her. His arms pulled her closer and wrapped themselves around her. Clothing fell to the ground like unwanted skin, freeing their fears from their minds, loving each second embraced by the present. Her lips followed the pulse of his heart, pressing against his skin, leaving a wet trail of kisses upon his body she hears him groan as she nips his collar bone. Hungrily, she slips on top of him as she continues her assault upon him, her hips moving hard against his growing erection. She nips his chin as she rakes her finger nails down his torso. He sucked in his breath as her nails dug into his skin, heightening the sensation by grinding herself into him. A groan of pleasure escaped his mouth as her fingers met the button of his jeans. Miroku bucked his hips as she grinded again more forcefully against him, his own fingers slipping under her skirt, there he could feel the heat building between her legs, the smell of her was intoxicating. She reached for his hand and pressed it against her panties, encouraging him to pleasure her. She moaned as his fingers began to touch her, she could feel herself throbbing with want.

 

In a swift motion, Miroku ripped her panties from her body, his erection aching. He groaned as Sango continued to grind his imprisoned shaft. Her hands slowly helped him find her ache and he could hear her breathing increasing. He wanted inside of her. She moaned again as she felt his fingers slip inside of her for an instant. He bit back a moan at the feel of her wetness. She opened her eyes and looked below to see him flushed and lightly frustrated. The bulge in his pants screaming to be free made her smile. Her fingers worked out the buttons of his pants and she managed to somehow free him in the mists of his thrusting fingers and delicious sensations he was giving her with his other hand on her clit. She feverishly positioned herself over his erection and pushed his hands away.

 

Licking off her juices from his fingers he smiled at her devilishly and she grinned. She pressed the tip of his erection against her slick opening, feeling his hips pushing forward; she shakes her head as a slow smile appears on her face. He groans and bites his lip in need. She begins to slowly guide him inside herself; her slickness is almost too much for him as he resists the urge to buck. He feels her walls wrapping themselves around him and her long soft sigh of pleasure nearly sends him over the edge. She fits him all inside her, deep as he can go and she begins to ride him, his hands firmly pressed against her hips, he follows her movements. Her hands travel against his chest as their movements become rapid, she can feel herself building with anticipation as he tries to not lose control.

 

She looks into his eyes as he returns the same look, she licks her lips in want and whispers only for him to hear “Lose control my love, I want you to lose control” as though her words opened a dam, Miroku felt himself begin to break. Sweat poured from his brow as he felt Sango ride him hard, her walls began to tighten around his shaft, his voice breaking into moan. He felt his own orgasm begin to surface as he continued to grind against Sango. A long moan escaped his mouth as he felt himself release inside Sango, her own orgasm reaching its end.

 

Breathless, he feels her kiss him tenderly as he opened his eyes. God, he loves this woman. She lies down next to him, smiling; he kisses her lips tenderly as his hands playful tangle themselves in her hair. There was only him and Sango, here, in this moment. A man, a woman and the reassuring touch of a lover. Kissing her face he tastes salt, he looks at her face to see her quietly weeping. “Sango?” he feels her arms pull him close to her and she whispers a silent prayer “Please… please let us be together a little longer.” He licked her tears softly, tenderly kissing the trails they leave behind. “Come now Sango” he whispers in her ear, she smiles and looks at him. Her eyes narrow suddenly and he is bewildered at the look she shoots at him.

 

“I can't believe this!” she shouts. Miroku purses his lips in wonder at her sudden reaction. “What?”

 

“You fucked me in the god damned temple!” He laughed.

 

* * *