InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Into the East ❯ Safety ( Chapter 26 )

Into the East

Chapter seventeen: Safety

Posted: 28 July 2009

Characters/Plot originally appearing in the anime/manga Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Everything else © me

 

A/N: I think I've done all the tweaking I can to this one. It was overly difficult to complete for some reason. Enjoy!!

 

The air is balmy as Vanessa surveys the crowd. Evidence of modern industry is everywhere from the factories to the high-rise office buildings lining the streets. Some men wear casual kimono as they go about their business, while others wear three-piece suits. They are old-fashioned to her eyes, but Western influence has taken its hold despite Japan's resistance to join the rest of the world. She catches the buzz of busy murmurs. The news has reported the attack on the American naval base was a success. Was. It happened months ago, and still nothing from the Americans. Japan has tamed the dragon!

 

She hears the jumble of voices and wonders how they can think they've won so easily. Is one surprise attack enough to cow an entire nation into submission or would it only wake the dragon? She knows the truth. The America she knows wouldn't sit idly by when her military bases fell under attack. An uneasy feeling settles in the pit of her stomach. Something isn't right.

 

Suddenly a man stands out from the rest. Her eye is drawn to him as if a spotlight showcased his presence. She stares. His hair is dark now, jet black like the people passing him on the street. His face is clear and unmarked, but somehow she knows. She can see it in his eyes. “Sesshoumaru,” she whispers, but he doesn't hear her. He can't hear her. It's a dream, she realizes, but the rules of the wakeful don't apply here. Vanessa watches Sesshoumaru, keeps pace with him as he walks down the road. She's in his head, too. She can see his thoughts as plainly as if they were pages in a book.

 

“Tell him,” a voice intrudes. Deep and masculine, it sounds familiar. “Save my son.”

 

Tell him? Save him from what? What could possibly be a threat so great that a ghost from the past would ask that she of all people save him?

 

Sesshoumaru's eyes turn to the sky. He hears what the humans around him cannot, though even to his ears the sound is a faint hum. Three lonely bombers lumber across the sky, so high that they are hardly worth noticing by people on the street. In her time, she thinks, aside from their obvious formation, they could have been any jetliner carrying hundreds of passengers - from a distance anyway. The unease grows in the pit of her belly.

 

Vanessa watches Sesshoumaru follow the aircraft through the sky with his eyes. He frowns. Unless his eyesight is failing him, those planes are not Japanese. A condescending snort escapes him. Naturally the Americans would retaliate after the devastating attack on her shipyard, but just three bombers? He scans the sky quickly, searching the space between the tails of those machines and the horizon, but sees no other aircraft. What could they do to match the handiwork of dozens of battleships carrying hundreds of fighter planes?

 

But hadn't Vanessa said that it was a fight with Japan that finally entered the United States in one of the great World Wars? Vanessa…

 

She watches his face as an old hurt briefly makes itself known, and wants to reach out and touch him. “I'm here,” she wants to say. “I'll always be here.”

 

He shakes off the memory and squints into the sky, swearing he just saw something drop from the belly of one of the huge flying machines, but they are so high up he can't be certain. Could it be that they are returning fire after all? Drop a few bombs in a show of sparks and fire as a prelude to the coming forces? Intriguing. It might be something he would do, but he got out of the business of battle ages ago. He isn't concerned, but makes a point to change his course and walk away from the coming fireworks. Anything they drop might be enough to ruffle his clothing, but he'd survive and play the part of the shell-shocked victim.

 

“No!” Vanessa cries suddenly realizing when and where she is, but it is useless. She can't watch. And yet she can't look away! Helplessly she sees the explosion billowing into the sky. “Run!” she screams desperately. “Run! Get out of here!”

 

Sesshoumaru turns and sees the effects of the blast wave speeding toward him harder and faster than he had anticipated. What had the Americans brought upon his land? He raises an arm to shield his face from the coming winds and sees a column rising high into the sky out of the initial explosion, blocking out the sun. From a greater distance, he would have see that it resembled a mushroom…

 

Screams woke her, and it took a moment to realize it wasn't the people in her dream. The image of Sesshoumaru's fleshless skeleton against the glare of the blast seared into her mind, blocking out anything else.

 

“Vanessa,” said a voice above her, breaking through the horror.

 

Sesshoumaru.

 

Vanessa gasped a breath and sat bolt upright, right into his chest. He hesitated only a moment before holding her tightly to his body as she clung to him. She shuddered and gulped air, unable to speak yet. “It's all right,” he murmured. “I am here. It was just a dream.”

 

She shook her head, tears blurring her vision. “It was real,” she whispered, her mouth dry. “I saw it.”

 

Sesshoumaru pulled back a bit and cupped her cheek, wiping away her tears with his thumb. His skin was rosy and warm in the dim, flickering light of the fire. It was alive. He was alive.

 

She closed her eyes and immediately regretted doing so as the gruesome images overwhelmed her. He'd just stood there as if nothing could happen to him while he died. It was an image she didn't think she'd ever forget. She wasn't supposed to apparently. Vanessa leaned forward again and hugged him fiercely.

 

“It is over now,” he said. “Think of something else. The dream will fade.”

 

She shook her head again. It wasn't over. It wouldn't be over for centuries. Didn't he understand? How could she make him see?

 

“Then tell me what you saw. Was it the bandits again?”

 

She trembled against him and again shook her head. She hadn't thought of them in days, and that encounter paled in comparison to her fear of this dream.

 

“Vanessa,” he said softly, stoking her hair as he held her. “Tell me what to do. I don't know how to help you.”

 

“I-I don't know. I just… It was…”

 

“All right. Be still.” His tone was gentle, comforting, and warm. “Whatever you saw, you are safe now.”

 

“No, you don't understand. You -”

 

“Hush now. Go back to sleep.”

 

That was the last thing she wanted to do. If she went back to sleep, she'd only see it again and again until she told him, and she wanted to think about what to say first. After this, she couldn't have him thinking it was just a paranoid nightmare.

 

“I can't go back to sleep,” she whispered. “Not yet. Would you just… just hold me for now?”

 

“Of course.”

 

He repositioned her a little, and as his voice trailed off, Vanessa felt something resonating through his chest, almost a hum, though she couldn't actually hear it. The tone, if it could be called that, was too low for the range of human hearing, but it sang to her. It was comforting and familiar, as though he'd spoken to her with this voice coloring his words all along.

 

“What is that?” she asked sleepily.

 

“What is what?”

 

“That… That…” she yawned. “Never mind.”

 

“Sleep, Vanessa,” he murmured. “I have you. No harm will come to you tonight. I will protect you.”

 

“But…” Vanessa started to say, but couldn't finish the thought. This wasn't something he could protect her from. She needed to protect him. In the light of day, when the image wasn't so vivid, and she could think clearly, she would tell him, warn him to stay away from Hiroshima. For the moment, it was enough to simply be in his warm embrace.

 

As dawn broke through the trees, Vanessa awoke stiff and cramped, and when she moved to stretch, Sesshoumaru growled and tightened his hold on her protectively, almost possessively.

 

Oh yeah.

 

She lay half in his lap, propped against his chest and shielded by his body. He was curled around her, shoulders hunched and head bowed as he slept. His eyes opened slowly, and at first he didn't see her. Vanessa watched him, watched his brow furrow before he finally woke with a start.

 

“Hey,” she said softly, reaching up to touch his cheek while he gained his bearings. His gaze found hers, and she saw in it the concern she had caused over a silly dream.

 

Not just a dream, she reminded herself. A warning. It could wait a few more hours.

 

He watched her silently with questioning eyes, but Vanessa put a hand in the middle of his chest and pushed gently. For a moment he resisted, but finally let himself fall back to the soft earth beneath them. Meanwhile, Vanessa untangled herself and lay down beside him, folding her arms between their bodies for warmth. Sesshoumaru looked at her then squinted up at the sun.

 

“A little longer,” he agreed and tucked his cloak around her then closed his eyes again. “Thank you,” he mumbled.

 

How late did she keep him up last night? Usually he was up before the dawn. How much of her fear could he feel? No point in disturbing his rest now. She inched closer and closed her own eyes, warm and secure with him.

 

VvVvVvVvVvV

 

Sesshoumaru awoke an hour later with aching neck and shoulders. He sat up and rolled his neck and each shoulder one at a time, feeling a few pops as things settled back into place. Vanessa's eyes were on him when he glanced down at her. She winced. “Sorry.”

 

He removed his cloak and draped it over her shoulders when she sat up beside him. “You were frightened. That is no reason to apologize.”

 

“It was a dream.”

 

“Nevertheless.”

 

He stood then, and went off to find something to eat. He'd witnessed her nightmares before. Not so long ago, in fact, after their encounter with the bandits. This one was different. This one wasn't fading. She tried to hide it, but he could still feel her fear. Not for the first time, he thought of their bond as a mixed blessing. He hadn't slept much better than she did.

 

When he returned and put the meat on the fire, Vanessa excused herself to change in relative privacy. He was watching the meat when he sensed her at his back so he wasn't completely surprised when she knelt behind him, though he did wonder what she was up to. He felt her hands touch his shoulders lightly.

 

“What are you - oh…” Sesshoumaru shuddered as her deceptively dainty hands worked absolute magic on the muscles in his neck and shoulder. She paused.

 

“Was that good or bad? Do you want me to stop?”

 

“Good,” he breathed. He thought he might give her just about anything if she would just continue what she started. Thankfully, he didn't have to. “Very good.”

 

Vanessa laughed. “I just felt bad that you got a stiff neck because of me.”

 

Why had she not demonstrated this particular talent before? He could get used to it. “Hm,” he answered intelligently.

 

“There is something I need to talk to you about, though.”

 

Now? Now she wanted to talk when she was doing such a good job of destroying his ability to maintain coherent thought? “M-hm.”

“It's about the future.”

 

Sesshoumaru's eyes drifted closed. “Go on.”

 

Her hands slowed briefly. “Sometimes I get the feeling your father brought me here.”

 

“Why…” He grunted when she found a knot and began working on it then continued, “Why would you say that?” He'd had similar notions - his father had all but told him that Vanessa was meant for him. Of course, that was impossible. Maybe.

 

“Well, for one thing, he's dead, but he keeps showing up to tell one or both of us what to do.”

 

She paused again, and he could feel… anger? Indignation? Rolling off of her in waves, but her hands were gentle as she began kneading his muscles again. “I don't like being manipulated, but… I can't honestly say that I regret coming here or any of the things that have happened since then. I don't blame him for any of that. I especially don't regret meeting you,” she said softly. Then she cleared her throat. “And he had a valid point this time.”

 

Sesshoumaru jerked and twisted to look at her. “This time?”

 

Vanessa nodded. “He was in my dream last night. Sort of.”

 

“Was he that frightening?” he asked dryly, and then frowned when she shuddered, fear and grief pouring off of her. Tears glistened and threatened to fall before she blinked them away.

 

He turned around to face her fully and took her hand. There was nothing he could do to guard her from dreams except to be a strong, comforting presence while she slept, and even that would be useless if someone thought there was something she needed to see.

 

“Tell me,” he said gently. “What did my father show you?”

 

“I saw you die,” she whispered.

 

That… was unexpected. Despite all of the battles and close calls, immortality tended to give him a sense of, well… immortality. For her to react this way, he assumed she didn't see him die of old age. “Is that all?” he asked evenly. “We all die someday.” He remembered a similar conversation with Rin before they left… He'd never talked about his own death so much at one time with any of his youkai acquaintances. It had never been an issue.

 

Vanessa shook her head. “Not like this. You can't die this way. I saw… I saw…” she took a deep breath and made an effort to calm herself. “Let me back up. Do you remember when I told you that one day my country and yours will be at war?”

 

He nodded. According to Vanessa, that war was centuries yet to come. Was she saying that she saw him alive in that time? It was a promising thought. And if he had to die young, there was no better way to go than in the glory of battle.

 

“Japan bombed one of my country's naval bases,” she continued, oblivious to his line of thought. “It was a surprise attack. No one could have expected it since all of our focus was on the war in Europe across the ocean to the east - that's where we are now. We weren't ready for war to hit our shores, but it didn't take long for a retaliatory strike against two of your cities.”

 

“That happens in war… Opposing sides trade attacks until one is defeated or gives up.”

 

Vanessa shook her head again. “Not like this!” She said, her frustration plain to see, though he couldn't quite yet understand why. “War changes between now and then. Weapons are different. Combat is different. You won't be fighting with swords, man-to-man on a defined battlefield… You… You can't fight.”

 

She sat up on her knees and gripped his shoulders with an almost crazed look in her eyes. “You won't get the chance,” she whispered. She was shaking again when Sesshoumaru gently took her elbow.

 

“Vanessa,” he said slowly. “Calm down. You don't have to tell me.”

 

She dropped her forehead to his shoulder and let out a deep breath. “There was a bomb,” she said into the space between them. “And that explosion… If people didn't die in the blast, they died later from radiation sickness. Either way, they died awful deaths.”

 

“And I die…” he prompted.

 

“In the explosion,” she said, looking up at him and meeting his eyes at last.

 

“I see.” He wasn't sure what to feel now that he knew the method of this death, if not the time. Then again, death in battle would be an honorable death right?

 

“I know what you're thinking,” Vanessa said, raising her hand to touch his cheek. “You want to die in battle.” She turned her eyes away from for moment to look at his cheek as she swept her thumb over his cheekbone. “But… you look much better with skin on your bones.”

 

It took a few minutes for him to really process what it was that she saw in her dream, but once he did, it took no time to understand her fear. He had to admit that burning to death, however quickly, would not be an ideal way to go.

 

“So…” he began after Vanessa sat back across from him. “When does this happen?”

 

“You believe me?”

 

He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “You have given me no reason not to. But… Why now? You have never tried to prevent specific events before.”

 

“I'm not -“ Suddenly she looked like she might be sick. “It's just… You can't die that way. Do me a favor, okay?” she said suddenly, looking at him intently.

 

“Anything.”

 

“Hundreds of years from now, in the middle of the twentieth century by the Western calendar - you'll know when the time comes - stay as far away from any big city as you can. This war will be what's known now as a `World War' and no city is really any better off than another, but I would feel better if you weren't in Japan at least.”

 

“You risk changing the history you know by telling me this.”

 

Vanessa laughed tightly. “I risk changing history just by being here. I'm not trying to stop what happened in that war. It has to happen.”

 

“So you would save me and leave the other thousands of humans to die.”

 

“I don't really have much choice.”

“But why me? Why not leave me to my natural death.”

 

Vanessa stared at her hands. “Isn't it obvious?” she asked him softly.

 

No. He could have his secret hopes, but nothing was ever obvious with this woman. She opened her mouth to speak. “I…” then cleared her throat and looked away. “Your father knew I could do something to help you. How could I refuse?”

 

“Of course. My father.” For some reason that explanation left him wanting and a little disappointed. She peered at him but said nothing else. “I will do my best to avoid this battle,” he assured her. “Perhaps now my father will leave you alone.”

 

“I don't mind that much. Even if he is a little invasive, at least he's helpful. His intentions are good.”

 

Sesshoumaru snorted. “Nevertheless, he is dead. He should not be plaguing your sleep this way.”

 

He sniffed and grimaced. “It would seem that your sleep wasn't the only thing disrupted, but also your breakfast. I will be right back,” he said, scooping the blackened remains of the meal out of the fire.

 

“Sesshoumaru, it's all right. I don't really have much appetite this morning.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

She nodded.

 

“Then… Shall we be on our way?”

 

Hours later, Sesshoumaru was leading the way down a narrow track. It was clearly not used by heavy carts or wagons, but it was clear enough for him not to have to concentrate on guiding Cracker Jack. It gave him time to think - a little about his father, but mostly about Vanessa. She was quiet as she rode behind him, probably lost in her own thoughts as well. She hadn't said much most of the morning since her warning, but her fear was gone. Mostly. Every now and then he would feel a little burst of something akin to revulsion, which he figured must have been moments when her dream came back to her. If he ever saw his father again, in this life or the next, he was going to have a few words for him.

 

The day was pleasant otherwise, warm with a hint of winter's chill on the breeze like any mid-autumn day at home would be. He was listening to the sounds the wind carried when he heard Vanessa take in a quick breath.

 

“Sessh…” she breathed.

 

Sesshoumaru turned to look over his shoulder at the sound of her voice and saw her slump and begin to slide out of her saddle. He almost didn't make it to her before she hit the ground, but he was able to catch her and cushion her fall somewhat.

 

“Vanessa?” he said, holding her gently and untangling her from her saddle. “Vanessa, what is wrong?”

 

No response.

 

Heart racing, he laid her on the ground and rolled his cloak to pillow her head. She had a pulse and was breathing, but whatever he tried, Sesshoumaru couldn't make her wake. He sat back on his heels and looked up and down the narrow road. What should he do? There was nothing for miles, not a house or farm, no humans who could help him if she didn't wake up. What could have happened?

 

He should get her off the road… Looking up and down the trail once more to be sure that no one and nothing was coming, Sesshoumaru rounded up the horses and tethered them a short distance away. When he returned for her, he held a sliver of hope that she had recovered from whatever it was that ailed her, but there was no change.

 

Sesshoumaru hefted her carefully over his shoulder and went to the shade tree where he had left the horses then sat and cradled her gingerly in his lap. What had me missed? What slipped past his defenses to strike her down this way? He should have paid more attention.

 

“Come back to me,” he whispered, holding her close to his chest and touching his lips lightly to her forehead. He was walking on dangerous ground now… He didn't dare show her so much affection if she were awake. Not with the end coming so soon, but he needed her. He was realizing it more and more. Was this how she felt when he was unconscious all those weeks? Nervous, and worried and anxious? Sesshoumaru wasn't used to feeling that way. The last time he felt anything like it… Rin had taken ill, but Inuyasha's woman was near enough to help. Here, he had no one.

 

It felt like an eternity, but it must have been only minutes before she opened her eyes with a gasp.

 

“I am here,” he soothed gently when she struggled weakly against his hold on her. “You are all right.”

 

“Sesshoumaru?” Vanessa stilled and stared up at him with wide eyes. “What… what happened?”

 

“What do you remember?” he asked softly, combing a few tendrils of her hair back from her face with his fingers.

 

She looked down briefly at her own fingers twisted in his clothes. “I was riding… And then I was here.”

 

“How do you feel?”

 

“All right, I guess. My head aches a little. What happened?” she asked again.

 

“I don't know. I saw you begin to fall - but I caught you,” he added quickly. “You were out for several minutes.”

 

“I was?”

 

He nodded. “I did not want to leave you by the road so I brought you here. I didn't know when you might wake.”

 

“Well… I'm awake now,” she said and tried to stand, but immediately plopped back into his lap again with a groan.

 

“Easy,” he said with a low chuckle. “Are you sure you are all right?”

 

“I think I'll just sit here for a minute. If you don't mind,” she added as an afterthought.

 

“As you wish.”

 

He didn't mind really. He just wished he knew what happened so he could prevent it in the future.

 

“Perhaps you should eat something,” he suggested. Could she be that exhausted? He shouldn't have let her skip breakfast.

 

“Sesshoumaru, really, I -“

 

“For me, Vanessa. I just want to know that I am taking proper care of you.”

 

“You are,” she said, raising her eyebrows at him in surprise. “But… well, I suppose… Is there any bread left?”

 

Vanessa insisted she was fine when they stopped for the night later that evening, but Sesshoumaru couldn't help thinking that she still looked pale. Her eyes had lost the wild look he'd seen that morning, but there was still something different about her when she looked at him.

 

As he meticulously prepared their meal, unwilling to waste the effort again, Vanessa puttered around the camp, laying out the bedrolls and sorting through their clothes. “Hey, Sesshoumaru?” she called while he poked at the meat.

 

“Yes?”

 

“What do you think the weather will be like tomorrow?”

 

“The weather?” He hadn't noticed any change in the wind. “Like today, I suppose. Why?”

 

She held out a pair of pants pinched between her thumb and forefinger, muddied from the last rain, and grimaced. They were his clothes, he noted, and regretted that he hadn't acquired more of the enchanted silk that made up his usual garb.

 

“Think we can take part of the day and do some laundry?”

 

“I don't see why not. I will find some water in the morning.”

 

“Great!”

 

She dropped the rest of the clothes in a heap and joined him at the fire where she sighed and leaned against him just a little.

 

“Are you all right?” he asked, wondering if she was having a relapse.

 

“I think so.” He caught her rubbing at her forehead, but before he could say anything, she turned worried eyes on him.

 

“What's wrong with me?” she whispered. Sesshoumaru had wondered himself what had suddenly gone wrong, but still, the question caught him off guard. He pulled the meat off the fire to cool while he thought of an appropriate answer. “I mean that wasn't the first time it happened. Not really.”

 

Sesshoumaru shot her a startled look. “It wasn't?”

 

“No, don't you remember? After…” She swallowed. “After Shizu left. On the road. I didn't think about it then, but it felt the same. All of a sudden I felt lightheaded and weak.”

 

She was right. He tried not to let his worry show, but he realized that whatever was happening, it was getting worse. He tried to think of any other times where she might have gotten weak suddenly, but nothing came to mind. He might not have recognized it.

 

“Should I be afraid?”

 

Sesshoumaru put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. “I don't know,” he murmured. “But whatever this is, whatever is happening, I will not let you come to harm.”

 

She slipped one arm around his waist and picked up a strip of roasted meat, blowing on it needlessly to cool it before she took a bite. “I know you will. I'll always be safe with you.”

 

He only hoped he could live up to that promise.

 

VvVvVvVvVvVv

 

Vanessa felt much better the next morning, and with their clothes washed and spread out to dry, she lay back on the bank of the stream Sesshoumaru had found and sighed contentedly. The water had been cold, but she still donned the swimsuit Kagome's mother had bought her and washed herself and their clothes. May as well do them all, she figured. After she had changed and Sesshoumaru saw that she wore only her swimsuit with her robe open over her shoulders, he raised an eyebrow at her bare legs, and she could have sworn she caught a hint of a blush coloring his cheeks. Interesting, she mused. But after that, he had made himself conspicuously scarce.

 

It wasn't the first time he had seen her swimsuit, and besides, there wouldn't be many more days she could enjoy the sun this way. Even as she thought it, a cool breeze made goose bumps crop up on her still-damp skin. Deciding not to push her luck, she wrapped up in her robe and let the dark fabric soak up the sun to warm her. A few minutes later, Sesshoumaru sat silently down beside her and dipped his bare feet in the slow-moving water. A hesitant smile touched his lips before he turned his face up to the sun.

 

He wasn't all he made himself out to be, Vanessa thought, not for the first time. There was more to him than the cold, calculating face he showed the world. She watched him enjoying the simple pleasure of a warm sun and cool water, and smiled.

 

It was still hours before either could muster the will to gather up their clothes and move on. They had barely spoken, but the silence was far from uncomfortable. Vanessa could think of very few people she could just sit in silence with, let alone people she'd only known a few months, and refused to let her thoughts drift to how much it would hurt if and when they parted ways.

 

Sesshoumaru glanced at her from Cracker Jack's back.

 

“What?” Vanessa asked, smiling when he didn't say anything.

 

“You enjoyed yourself today.”

 

“So did you.”

 

“I am glad,” he continued. “Especially after… ah… yesterday.”

 

“Me too. You know, if you ever want to do something just for fun, don't think that I would object to the delay. I mean… I don't want to take up more of your time than is necessary, but I want you to be able to enjoy yourself too.”

 

“Vanessa, it is no…”

 

His voice trailed off and he froze, letting Cracker Jack fall behind Peanut.

 

“Sesshoumaru?” Vanessa said, unable to keep the sudden worry from her voice. “What-”

 

He held up a hand for silence and inhaled deeply through his nose, standing up a little in his stirrups, and closing his eyes to focus just on his sense of smell. Then, with widened eyes, he gave her an intent look and launched himself into the sky, startling the horse beneath him. Vanessa shielded her eyes against the sun, and watched him fly higher and higher, until he was no more than a spec, and then she couldn't see him at all. How high could he go? More importantly, what made him suddenly need to fly so far from her?

 

With a soft thump, he landed and gathered up Cracker Jack's reins. “Well?” Vanessa probed. “What was that all about?”

 

“I caught a scent on the wind,” he replied, eyeing her over his shoulder while he tended to his horse. Emotions she couldn't pin down coursed through him, and though he had his back to her, it seemed like he was trying to collect himself. What happened??

 

“And? What was it?” she asked impatiently.

 

Sesshoumaru turned slowly toward her, frowning in thought, brow furrowed. Then he looked up at her, clearing from his face evidence of what he might be feeling.

 

“It is the sea.”