InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome! Where are you?! ❯ how to create a creature of pure destruction ( Chapter 19 )

Kagome! Where are you?!

Chapter 19: How to Make a Creature of Pure Destruction.

Disturbing images in the chapter, you are warned.

Authors' note: Hmm. A reader has brought to my attention that the 3rd movie has some details about Inu-yasha & Sesshomaru's family/early life. So . . . the history scenes in this chapter and any other chapter of this story are NOT based on that info. It is based on my reading of history and the problems that occur when you have 2 heirs to 1 kingdom. (Especially when the 2 heirs have different mothers . . . )

I normally don't like to use Japanese terms but I will in this chapter and the next to emphasize the archaic nature of the Japanese in this story arc.

Tenno, BTW, is term for Emperor.

Corrected by Angelica Birmingham.

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Sessho maru, age 4, crawls out of a pit. In the pit is a bloody pile of dead cats. "I did it, Father!" he yells in excitement.

His father turns away from him, "Any dog demon could do that."

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A young, eight year-old, Sesshomaru is in a dojo, swinging a large and heavy sword.

"Faster! Faster!" a male dog demon yells in his ears. "You must be faster! You want your father to be proud of you!"

Sesshomaru grits his teeth and increases his speed . .

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Sesshomaru, age 10

"Mother, what can I do to make my father proud of me?"
"Don't worry, son. You are his heir and you will inherit his position. I'll make sure of that. Just do what I say."

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A young, early teenage, Sesshomaru is standing in front of his father. He is dressed in ceremonial armor. His build is similar to Sesshomaru's, perhaps a little bulkier. His tail is draped over his shoulder like a cape, not a boa like Sesshomaru's. His face is marked by a tattoo similar to Inu-yasha's demon form, not Sesshomaru's.

"So. You say that you are in love with this demoness." His father states as he points to a young demon girl, she is crying, curled up on the floor next to Sesshomaru. { Author's note: It is the same girl that was lying on Sesshomaru's stomach at the start of Ch 18}

Sesshomaru nods.

"Very well, you have a choice in front of you. No child of mine will marry that." Sesshomaru's father points to the girl. Her crying increases. He pulls out a dagger and flips it to Sesshomaru. He dodges it and it clangs harmlessly to the ground.

"You have two choices. If you are not my son, I will kill you both. If you are my son, you will take that dagger and kill her."

Sesshomaru's eyes grow wide.

"The lord of the western lands can't fall in love. Love weakens you."

A pause. "Choose now, boy. Be a man and kill her, or die like the child you are." Sesshomaru's father orders.

Sesshomaru thinks, 'I can't . . . I don't love her enough . . ' he picks up the dagger and approaches the girl . .

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Sesshomaru, age 14, is standing in the middle of a destroyed village. Nearby is a group of about a dozen or so, human females and children.

"Why are they still alive?" His father points to humans. "I ordered you to destroy this village. They poached from my lands."

"I thought it would be best if some of them got away to spread word of your punishment, father." he says as he cleans his sword.

He father backhands Sesshomaru, knocking him dozens of meters in the air. "I ordered you to destroy this village. I did not order you to allow survivors." He runs to his fallen son, grabs him and holds him up in front of him.

Sesshomaru, blood, falling from his torn lips, begs, "But father, I thought." His father backhands' him, again. Only this time, he holds onto his son, so Sesshomaru's head snaps back. Sesshomaru's nose is broken and bleeding. "Do not think. Obey." His father shakes him. He growls at Sesshomaru. "You have shown some promise. So. I will only punish you for disobeying me, not destroy you. And I will also explain why I didn't what any survivors. My heir will need to know this. You should have known it."

He throws Sesshomaru to the ground. "You thought that they would be afraid and spread word of what happened. And this would cause terror in the hearts of men. And this terror would cause them to leave this area alone."

"Yes, Father." Sesshomaru mumbles through bloody lips. "What about those times when you left sur . . . " Another backhand stops Sesshomaru from speaking.

"Those do not matter here. You are wrong." He pauses, to gather his thoughts.

"First, those humans will spread anger and revenge, not terror. They will remarry. Those new families will swear revenge. Those children will swear revenge. So, little Sesshomaru, in a human's generation instead of one dead village, there will be, oh, say, three living villages that will need to be destroyed because they have sworn revenge."

Sesshomaru's father picks up a piece of wood and throws it at one of the human females. She dies.

"Not that I'm concerned about that. Killing humans is nothing to be proud of. They are so easy to kill. But, those families will try to reoccupy this land and they will poach from my lands again. If only to prove that they are not afraid of me. I do not want any humans poaching on my land."

He kills another of the women.

"I don't want this land repopulated, so, you will kill all of them. This village will vanish, no survivors. The humans will not know what destroyed the village and they will fear that. The humans will declare this area haunted and do not enter. That is what I want."

"Kill them all. Sesshomaru."

Later .

"Your punishment is . . . " Sesshomaru father orders. "Turn around. Face away from me."

Sesshomaru turns around.

A slice . . . a cut . . an instant of pain.

"Your tail." His father hands Sesshomaru his tail that he just cut off. "That was for disobeying my orders."

His father stalks off, leaving Sesshomaru staring at his tail, laying in his hands. 'I will not cry. That is what he is looking for. Something to prove I'm not worthy.' His jaws work, and his teeth grind. 'One of these days, father . . . '

Later . .

"Your father went too far, my son." his mother says. "Drink this. It will re-grow your tail."

He does, and he can feel his tail re-grow . .

"Now, to find your father and remind him that you are his heir and I will not allow him to treat you like this." His mother stalks off.

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Sesshomaru, age 20, is standing in the middle of field of destruction. Bits and pieces of demonic bodies lay around him. He is licking his clawed fingers clean.

"Good, son. Very good." His father approaches and pats him on the back. "You killed the entire clan that had been encroaching on my land." he pauses. "I am proud of you, my boy. You will make a splendid Lord of the Western Lands."

"When we get back home, I've got some new pleasure slaves that I'll allow you to break in, as a reward for a job well done, my son."

Sesshomaru's father leaves the field.

Sesshomaru stays behind and watches him and thinks, 'Why? All my life I've wanted him to praise me. To say that he is proud of me. So why . . . why when he finally does, why do I feel nothing?'

He turns around looking at the death and destruction he caused. 'Why is is that all I feel is boredom? Not even the lust my father experiences when he kills, why I am empty inside?'

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"NO!" Kagome cries as she awakens. She sits up, and her sleeping bag slides down, revealing her nude breasts. "No." She whispers.

"Good. You are awake." Sesshomaru states in his bored voice.

She looks around. The room she is in looks similar to Kaede's hut, with bare wooden walls and a wooden floor. She is in her sleeping bag. It is laying onto top of a hemp cloth futon. It is nighttime, and the only lights are from clay oil lamps in a couple of corners. A small open clay jar is in one corner. She can hear water dripping outside. It is raining gently. She grabs her sleeping bag and covers her breasts. Sesshomaru raises his eyebrows. "Female modesty, now?"

"Yes." she snaps. She rubs her forehead with one hand as the other hold up the bag.

"This Sesshomaru desires an explanation, Higurashi Kagome."

She pauses, rubbing her neck. 'My neck hurts. I wonder what the chances are for a yes, if I asked for a neck rub.' she thinks.

Sesshomaru's hand twitches. 'No. I will not ask.'

"The explanation."

"Ok, ok. Give me a minute to think, please." She shakes her head. "Where are we anyway?"

"Japan. On a hill near the plain where the city of Nara will be founded."

"Will be?"

"The year is the fifth year of the reign of the Tenno Oho Yamatohiko Suki Tomona no Mikoto. It is the eleventh day of the month of Utzuki."

A pause while Kagome racks her memory. "Itoku. The fourth emperor of Japan," she whispers.

"Yes, I believe that is the name he was given upon his death, but human history is not something I've studied."

"April 11, somewhere around 500 Bc, I think" she says in a musing voice. "How long was I out?"

"You slept through most of our seventh day together," Sesshomaru says.

That comment causes her to glance sharply at him, and he returns the glance impassively.

Sesshomaru says, "This is one of his guestrooms. Now, my explanation."

"The guestroom of the emperor? How did you do that?"

"The peasants I found were smart enough to realize my natural power and directed me to their overlord. He directed me to the Tenno's encampment. It wasn't far. When I reached here, the Tenno also recognized that I was superior and he invited me and you to stay. We will have supper with him tomorrow."

She looks at him, "He wants us for some reason. Probably to ask if you would help him in a war."

In a very dull monotone, Sesshomaru says, "He was quite taken by your appearance."
A pause.

Kagome closes her eyes. "What did you tell him about the relationship between us?"

"That you are simply my companion. Not my wife, concubine or slave as he thought."

She sighs, 'Well, something for tomorrow.'

She says, "Ok . . . here is the explanation."

'I don't think I'll tell him about Jaa Kalpa. That I will save as a surprise for the next practice session, I think.' she thinks.

She tells him about the last few minutes of the aliens vs. predator fight, the crash of the starship and her emergency decision to use the cube. She simply says that it was her power that killed the aliens.

Sesshomaru, as she speaks, thinks, 'I underestimated those alien bugs. When I saw how easily they died under her attack, I misjudged the strength of her attack, she is stronger than I thought. And so, instead of killing those predators quickly, I played with them too long . . . next time, no playing with opponents.'

Sesshomaru, once she is finished, pulls out the cube from his robes, which have healed themselves while Kagome was asleep. He nods to her as she finishes.

"Here. You feel it." He tosses her the cube.

She pauses, "Oh, yes, it did not like our victory, did it. I can feel it's resentment." Her eyebrows furrow, "Did you change it?"

He nods. "While it was within my soul, I took some information from it. The setting I've placed it in is one that it did not want us to use."

"Hmmm . . . " she mummers, 'Since I was in you, did you look into me as well?' she thinks, but she says, "Do you know why?"

"No. I also plucked from it a couple of other thoughts. It will be sending us into as many conflicts as it can. It wants us dead and hopes that whoever kills us, it can control."

She nods. "Not surprising." A pause, she bites her lips, and asks gently, "Are you sure about going there, what if it's a trap?"

"It was too panicked, and there is no way that it misled me."

Kagome thinks, 'But . . . we know so little about it? Could he be wrong? Sigh . . . no way to tell and he could be right. It's better than just choosing at random, I suppose.'
A pause as both of them look at each other.

Kagome clears her throat. "I don't suppose there is a bathroom nearby, is there?"

Sesshomaru points to the chamber pot in one of the corners.

She closes her eyes. 'Lovely. Just lovely.'

Sesshomaru, as she closes her eyes, gets up and goes to the doorway. He looks out of the room. "You have been asleep for many hours. When you are finished, tell me."

She looks at him. 'No arguments? He has been basically polite, too? I wonder . . . what did he think about while I was asleep?' she thinks.

"I'm going to get dressed as well, Sesshomaru, sir."

"Very well."

'Good. I need some time to think about that nightmare I had. Obviously it was bits and pieces of his childhood . . . I need to think about what to do next . . . '

later . . .

Kagome has dressed and they are sitting together on the porch outside the room. It is still nighttime, but the rain has stopped.

"How long till dawn?"

"Soon. I would expect some of the servants to begin stirring at anytime."

"Hmmm. My mystic senses are showing me a lot of the small forest demons and spirits in the street. What are they doing here?" she asks.

"The magic of humans is still very weak and unformed at this time."

Kagome nods, and she bites her lips. 'I do not know a good way to say this, so . . . '

She says in a soft, gentle voice, "Lord Sesshomaru, I am sorry, but somehow I did get some of your memories."

"I suspected as much. I believe what you have are echoes of my thoughts, rather than my true memories. I can detect no noticeable break in my memories."

"Perhaps." She reaches out and grabs his hand. "This past week, Sesshomaru, I hope has caused a bond between us." She glances at his face, in the shadows of the light from the clay lamps, she cannot see any _expression.
She bites her lips. "When I first learned of the jewel and meet your brother, I made mistakes then. I thought this was all a dream, or that it would be over in a couple of days and I could forget about it."

She can feel a twitch in his hand at the mention of his brother, but he doesn't pull back. "One of the worst mistakes, as I think back, was when I sat your brother into submission when I wanted to go back home and he tried to stop me. I should have taken the time and explained to him, not made an Inu-yasha crater."

"And this pertains to this Sesshomaru in what way?"

"This time, I don't want to make mistakes, Sesshomaru. I don't want to have to fight you every single day over every single issue like I do your brother." She sighs and a small smile appears on her lips. "Not, that I don't, on occasion, like the fights, but, I'd like to have something different with you."

"And what would you like to have with this Sesshomaru?"

She smiles, "I'd like to be your friend. I want you to trust me." She looks into his eyes.

He gazes back, stonily.

"What?" she closes her eyes. "I just screwed up, didn't I?" she whispers.

No answer . . .

Her eyes snap open. "You grew up as heir to the Western Lands, as part of powerful family. People would have wanted to be close to you. To get some of your power. How many people told you that they are your friends, but were lying? How many people said trust them, and then betrayed you, to try to steal, at least, part of your inheritance? "

Sesshomaru's face does not change.

Kagome's face flushes, and in an angry voice, she says, "Sesshomaru, I'm not like that. You ought to know that by now. I'd never betray a friend that way. Hurting my friends is something I hate and try to avoid at all costs."

Still, there is no change in his _expression.

Kagome's voice catches, "What do I need to do to prove that to you?"

Tears begin to form in her eyes and she whispers, "I just thought that you'd like to know that you're not alone. I'll help you, anyway I can. To give you a shoulder to cry on, at least. "

She closes her eyes, releases Sesshomaru's hand and buries her head in her hands.
Sesshomaru's arm encircles her shoulders and he drags her against his body.

"You are correct, Higurashi Kagome, in believing that this past week has been unique in the experience of Sesshomaru." He says in a soft voice. "A bond, perhaps, has grown between us."

His mouth twitches, "Not the bond I'd have wanted, but a bond, nonetheless."

"What bond would you have wanted?"

"You obeying me without question, comes to mind," he says with just the hint of humor in his voice.

She stiffens. "I am nobody's servant." Her eyes narrow, 'Was that a joke, from Sesshomaru?' she thinks.

He nods. "Yes, now, this Sesshomaru understands that."

Kagome shivers from the cold of the spring morning. Sesshomaru's tail curls around her.

"I am sorry about your tail." she whispers.

A pause . . .

Sesshomaru is staring off at something only he can see in the distance as he says in a low, distracted voice. "To answer your questions. There have been, until now, only four people in my life that I considered my friend. Those four people, whom I considered friends, have all betrayed me." His mouth twitches, "One of the few things my father and mother ever agreed on was that I was very stupid about friendship, and that it took me far too long to understand that I can have no friends."

"I... I don't know what to say . . . "

"Where the phrase 'trust me' is concerned, I learned early on that when people say trust me, they really mean, don't trust me. I stopped counting people that said that and betrayed me at fifty. It is easier to remember the times when a person said trust me and has never betrayed me. At present, counting you, that number stands at one."

"Sesshomaru . . "

"Everything I've learned, everything I've experienced tells me to ignore your offer of friendship. Tells me to refuse your offer of friendship." Sesshomaru says in a cold voice.

A pause.

Kagome, even wrapped in his tail, shivers. 'His tail, why would he wrap me up, if?' she thinks.

"But . . . " his voice catches, with emotion, "but . . . This Sesshomaru will not refuse your offer. This Sesshomaru will not ignore your offer." he whispers.
They watch the sunrise, Kagome sitting beside Sesshomaru, wrapped in tail. She finds Sesshomaru's hand and holds it .

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The end chapter 19

A question to the readers about the relationship between Kagome and Sesshomaru. Am I going to fast? Am I going to slow?

author's note: Hmmm . . . the note at the end of my last chapter seems to have confused some readers. So . . .

Kagome! Where are you!? Will be continuing, ok. I am not stopping it. It's just that in a week or so, I will take a break from it. The break will last at least a week, probably two. (I will use this time to write a couple of other stories that I have promised the readers on those stories.) After that break, I will be returning to Kagome! Where are you!?

thank you for reading

jeff shelton