InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis. ❯ Rebirth ( Chapter 41 )

~~Chapter 41~~

~Rebirth~

 

InuYasha tapped his foot impatiently as Kagome carefully selected candy for the two cellophane bags. “Do you think Shippou would like these?” she asked, pointing at the cinnamon sticks in one of the big glass jars. She giggled as she read the label on another one. “Look! Banana! Ichisaru will love these!”

 

Tugging on the hat she made him wear whenever he came with her into Tokyo, InuYasha snorted. “They inhale it, anyway. You think they bother to taste it?”

 

Kagome stuck out her tongue. “Baka . . . of course they do!”

 

He snorted. “I dunno . . . if you don't quit feeding them candy, they'll get fat.”

 

She laughed. “And you? You eat enough ramen to feed a third-world country, you know.”

 

“I work it off, wench,” he countered airily.

 

“Yeah, yeah, brag a little more, dog-boy,” Kagome told him.

 

“Keh.”

 

Kagome grabbed his hand and dragged him further into the rows of candies. “Look! Gummy puppies! You want some?”

 

“Keh. No, thanks,” he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he snorted at the candies.

 

She giggled. “Oh? How about these then? They're sour.”

 

He cocked an eyebrow. “Sour gummy puppies? I'll pass.”

 

She leaned up on her toes, bracing herself on his shoulder to kiss his cheek. Giggling at the redness that seeped into his cheeks, she continued dropping candies into the bags.

 

“Kagome! How are you?”

 

Kagome blinked and smiled as she glanced up to see Houjou rounding the corner of the aisle. With a wide smile and a small bag of candy, he waved at her and hurried forward. “Houjou! It's so nice to see you again.”

 

A low growl erupted behind her just as Kagome felt herself being jerked back against a solid chest. “I want I should shred him now.”

 

“No!” she hissed. “Stop that!”

 

His growl escalated. Kagome rolled her eyes.

 

Houjou reached out to shake Kagome's hand. InuYasha's shot out to push it away. “Keh. Think again, you little—”

 

“So how have you been, Houjou?” Kagome interrupted loudly, cutting off InuYasha's threat.

 

“Fine . . . fine . . . still working at the library and going to classes. You look good . . .”

 

InuYasha's growl became a snarl. “Why the hell are you looking at her?”

 

Houjou's eyebrows shot up as he backed away a step. Kagome groaned. “InuYasha . . .”

 

“I just meant, since she had the baby, and—”

 

“And if you look again, I'll—”

 

“Oh, well, look at the time!” Kagome practically yelled. “Nice seeing you again, Houjou! Come on or we'll be late!” she said, hoping that her tone was cheerful enough as she grasped InuYasha's hand and dragged him toward the front of the store.

 

“Oi, wench! I'm not a pup!” InuYasha complained since she had a surprisingly strong grasp on his hand.

 

“I didn't say you were,” she replied sweetly. “But you can't start a fight in a candy store, and you can't start a fight because Houjou said I look good.”

 

“The hell I can't,” he retorted but followed her to the counter to pay for the candy. “Anyway, just what the fuck did he mean by that? You always look good, damn it, so what did that mean? `Since you had the baby.' Keh! Little bastard, I—”

 

Kagome froze as her head slowly turned to stare at him, a strangely optimistic light in her gaze. “Do . . . do you really think that?”

 

Realizing too late what he had let slip, InuYasha screwed his face into `The Pout' and clamped his mouth closed. Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes. “Would it kill you to fess up to what you said?” she prodded.

 

The look he shot her told her plainly that he certainly believed it might. She pushed out of the store and onto the sidewalk as InuYasha fell in step beside her. She had a few more errands to take care of before they could go back. InuYasha had said he wanted to search for the butterfly youkai again, and she was trying to get as many supplies as she could carry since she hated running low on the things she needed. The only `supply' InuYasha ever wanted to bring along was ramen. She shook her head and stifled a sigh.

 

She glanced down quickly when she felt the warm hand close over hers. Daring a peek at InuYasha's face, she smiled. Staring straight ahead with his chin held defiantly high, he didn't even spare her a look as he kept walking. Kagome stared at her hand in his as a very pleasant warmth ebbed from his hand to hers and spread to the rest of her body, culminating in a complete contentment in her heart.

 

 

::0::0::000::0::0::

 

 

“Is it time?”

 

Hisadaicho smiled as she stared at the now-glowing cocoon. Pulsing, throbbing, the shell resonated with the beat of the heart within. “Yes . . . it is. Witness the birth . . . or should I say rebirth?”

 

Iwazawa stared at the cocoon with shadowed eyes.

 

The massive pulpy flesh at the base expanded and contracted like a human heart. The dreams had become clear, gained strength and intensity.

 

A vague memory . . . the damp darkness . . . she was afraid. Her koishii hushed her with his lazy smile, a cunning look. “Do this for me, my butterfly . . . and you will live forever.”

 

“What good is forever if it is not with you?” she pouted, her then-brown eyes pleading.

 

“If I am not here when you emerge, you know what you must do.”

 

Staring at him for long moments, she nodded slowly. “How long will this process take, my koishii?”

 

He stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “I do not know . . . months . . . years . . . but we shall have all the time in the world, will we not?”

 

Her eyes drifted closed as he pushed the thin pink kimono from her shoulders. “All the time . . . in the world . . .”

 

The soft rustle of fabric . . . she opened her eyes to watch him remove his clothing. “You will be reborn, and you shall call yourself Hisadaicho . . . my butterfly . . .”

 

She dropped to her knees before him, wrapped her hands around him. “Yes . . . for you, my koishii . . . for you . . .”

 

“Hisadaicho-sama . . . ?” Iwazawa interrupted, a note of awe in his voice.

 

Jarred out of her memories, Hisadaicho's smile widened as she watched the first hairline crack appear in the cocoon. “It is time.”

 

After the reanimation, it had taken days for Iwazawa and the others to regain the ability to speak. They did not remember the rebirth in the cave, the ignoble resurrection of the body, of the mind, of the soul. Hisadaicho did.

 

There was a certain fascination in the watching, an undeniable pleasure in observing her creation come into the light.

 

Another crack appeared as a large chunk of the hard casing fell away. Slowly, so painfully slowly, the being within began to move.

 

Her arms were at her sides, her breasts heaving as she began to breathe again. “Perfect,” Hisadaicho whispered. “She's lovely.”

 

As the last of the cocoon broke away, the woman opened her eyes. An oddly vacant expression gave way to a burning glow as life reanimated, rekindled. Stretching her limbs, turning her head as she gazed around the disparaging cell, the woman slowly stepped out of the cocoon and onto the fleshy mat.

 

“Where am I?” she asked, her voice caressing, husky.

 

Hisadaicho grinned. “You are in my home.”

 

“And who are you?”

 

“I am your mistress. You will serve me.”

 

A flicker of outrage in her eyes as the woman stared at her. “I serve no one.”

 

Hisadaicho smiled. “Ah, but you do . . . and you will.”

 

The woman returned the insincere smile. “Do you honestly believe that?”

 

 

::0::0::000::0::0::

 

 

InuYasha reached down into the well to catch Kagome's arms and pull her up. “Come on, wench. We ain't got all day.”

 

“Blame yourself! You're the one who took all day drooling over the different kinds of ramen.”

 

He wrinkled his nose. “If we hadn't had to buy candy for the twerps,” he challenged, “then we would've been back a lot sooner.”

 

“Right,” she remarked as she tweaked his ear. He flicked it. She giggled and tweaked again. “Are you sure we should leave so soon? I mean, we just got back from the last time . . .”

 

InuYasha shrugged. “I ain't giving up,” he informed her, “and you have to come with me, remember?”

 

She frowned. “InuYasha? Do you really think you can fight her? If . . . if she looks like me?”

 

He snorted. “Of course. I know you, wench. You think I don't?”

 

She made a face. “It isn't that . . .”

 

“Then what?”

 

“What if . . . what if you can't tell us apart?”

 

InuYasha hesitated for a moment before stubbornly shaking his head. “Keh. I'll know.”

 

“Well . . . if Kouga couldn't tell . . .”

 

“Kouga? That fucking piece of wolf-bastard don't know his head from a hole in the ground, Kagome. I'll know. I ain't that stupid.”

 

“That's the thing, InuYasha. It doesn't have anything to do with `stupid'. This youkai uses people's emotions. She's relying on that to keep herself safe, you know?”

 

He stopped and grasped Kagome's shoulders, forcing her to look at him. She blinked at the sudden show of fierce protectiveness in his gaze as he frowned at her. “Nothing threatens you and lives, Kagome. Nothing. You got that?”

 

She nodded.

 

The intensity in his expression didn't wane. “Good. Now stop worrying about it, all right?”

 

She nodded again.

 

He pulled her into a hug, his cheek resting against her temple. She threaded her arms under his, wrapping her hands over his shoulders. “I'll keep you safe. I promised.”

 

“Okay.” She leaned back, stared up at him. “But what if—?”

 

With a growl, InuYasha kissed her. Though she was certain that part of the reason was to silence her, she also knew that he really just wanted to do it. With a soft sigh, she relaxed against him, enjoying the feel of him, the clean scent of him, like the wind, like the trees . . .

 

Violent sensation triggered by the brush of fangs against her lips, Kagome shivered and clung to him as her mind reeled in him. The pulse of heat shot through her as he nibbled at her bottom lip, surged in her as he sucked the agitated flesh. Whether by accident or design, he goaded her with nothing more than his mouth. Delicious and heady, something decidedly too nice broke over her in a wave of absolute warmth. “InuYasha,” she whispered as her hands twisted around his haori. His answer was a shocking nip meant to silence her once more.

 

Her knees gave. He didn't notice. Cradled against him so tightly that she wasn't in danger of falling, he held her tight, supported her weight as his tongue flicked out against her lips, as a dangerous fire flared in her veins, as nerve endings shot off, one by one. The burn raged from her mouth to her brain and down her spine to center around the culminating ache deep inside her.

 

The breeze blew his hair into her face, tickling her with downy touches. Every part of her was listening to him, every bit of her waiting, wishing . . .

 

“That's why she smells like him,” a small voice said in a remarkably loud tone.

 

“Eww! What are they doing?”

 

Kagome gasped and jerked away from InuYasha only to come face to face with Shippou, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was tapping his foot impatiently, and Ichisaru, who looked duly aghast at what he had witnessed.

 

InuYasha's growl turned menacing as he faced the youkai children. “What the fuck do you mean, what are they doing? You live with a damn lecher and you haven't seen this before?” he bellowed.

 

“It's expected from him,” Shippou remarked airily. “I'm surprised to see you kiss anything . . .”

 

Shippou screamed and Ichisaru squealed as InuYasha lunged and caught them with a hand on their heads. “Shut up, Shippou! If you two go blabbing what you saw, I'll cut you up and feed you to Sesshoumaru's dragon!”

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome gasped, trying to intervene before serious bodily damage was dealt. “It's all right . . . they're just teasing . . .”

 

“I won't tell!” Shippou hollered quickly.

 

“I don't even know what I saw!” Ichisaru wailed.

 

InuYasha didn't look impressed. He pulled the children apart, intent clear. Before he could thump their heads together, Kagome hurriedly fished the candy bags out of her backpack and held them up. “Candy!” she yelled. “I'll give you this candy if you don't tell anyone anything!”

 

“All right!” two voices yelled.

 

“Come on, InuYasha . . . they won't tell . . .”

 

He didn't look like he wanted to cooperate but he finally let go and sat up. Shippou and Ichisaru nabbed the bags of candy and ran back toward the forest. “So . . . what were they doing?” Ichisaru asked Shippou.

 

“Kissing.”

 

“Oh . . . I thought they were just trading scents . . .”

 

“Something like that . . .”

 

InuYasha growled again.

 

Kagome groaned.

 

 

::0::0::000::0::0::

 

 

Sesshoumaru strode through the forest following the faintest scent, the lingering remnants of the vile creature. `Hisadaicho . . . where do you hide?'

 

Amber eyes narrowing, Sesshoumaru scanned the foliage. Her very presence remained in her wake. `She passed through here recently . . . What is her plan?'

 

He stepped from the trees into the clearing, staring in slow recognition at this place he knew. `This is where . . .'

 

Kagura sat in the field of flowers as she waited for the inevitable. Sadness mingled with a peace that Sesshoumaru hadn't understood at the time. Following the scent of Naraku's shouki, knowing that Kagura was the one he was trailing . . . and in the end, too late to do more than stay with her.

 

Tenseiga would not help her. Whether it was because she was born of the evil or because it simply chose not to, the sting of betrayal that the almighty Sword of the Fang had ignored Sesshoumaru's will . . .

 

And she said, her voice serene, “It's fine . . . In the end, I was with you.” With the last of her will, she gazed at him, her eyes saying all that she never had, her smile unjaded and pure. He watched as the miasma filled her body with the noxious toxins, helpless to offer her more than his presence as her flesh disintegrated in a fissure of light and wind, and he'd followed her feather in a vain hope.

 

Sesshoumaru blinked away the remnants of the memory. Pulling the feather from his armor, he rolled it between his fingertips, remembering another time and another place . . . a Sesshoumaru too inflexible, too unyielding to admit, even to himself, what it was he truly desired. `Kagura . . . if I had agreed to help you gain your freedom from Naraku . . . would you still be . . . with me?'

 

The wind escalated, a strange force that came from every direction or maybe none at all. Hair whipping around in a frenzy, the feather slipped from his fingers. Sesshoumaru lifted his gaze, the truth in the action cutting through him. `She was never meant to be . . . and I . . . I was never meant to have her.'

 

A familiar scent filled his nose, a familiar aura coming closer. Eyes widening as he stared, unable or unwilling to believe what it was he saw.

 

The feather had grown, become an airborne vehicle. Growing larger as it moved toward him, Sesshoumaru could only stare. Finally descending before she hopped down from it, the feather shrank as she caught it between her nimble fingers and stuck it into her hair. “Sesshoumaru . . . you waited for me.”

 

He shook his head, gaze narrowing as he took in everything that was her. She looked the same. She smelled the same. Even the glint in her magenta eyes was the same.

 

“. . . Kagura.”

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~ *~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

shouki: miasma-energy.

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Final Thought from Sesshoumaru:

Finally! This Sexxhoumaru gets some action … ?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Metamorphosis): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~