InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Moon Behind Clouds ❯ Chapter 2

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter 2



“Perhaps you should make a fire”, Sesshomaru said. “Humans are very susceptible to the cold.”

Kikyo stood looking at the clearing they had chosen to stop at for the evening. They had traveled past sunset, almost into the night. The last light of dusk was fading when they had come to this spot, and decided they would not go any further until the morning.

“Even when I was still alive, I never was all that human”, Kikyo said, adjusting the knot that held back her hair. “And there is no fire that could possibly warm me now.”

“Suit yourself.”

Sesshomaru settled himself down under a tree. Normally, he did not care about traveling after dark, and would have kept on walking, but they were getting close to the place where the reports of the mysterious demon had come from, and he wanted to take a little rest. He drew his other sword, the Tokijin, out from his sash, and examined it. The sword his father left him, the Tenseiga, which had been forged from his father’s own fang, had mysterious powers, but it would only cut in the netherworld. For dispatching this world’s own, more mundane enemies, he carried the Tokijin.

Now the Tokijin was not like the Tenseiga. Instead of the Tenseiga’s gently curving, katana shape, the Tokijin’s blade was straight, like swords from the mainland, and it flared out, growing wider near the tip. It was very large, with a hilt that was meant for two hands, though Sesshomaru used it with only one, for he’d lost his other hand in a battle long ago. And what’s more, the Tokijin was cursed. Sesshomaru had commissioned the sword himself, from the smith Kaijinbo. It had been made from the teeth of an evil demon, and that same malevolence had passed on to the sword that had been forged from them. While he worked on it, the power overcame Kaijinbo, and possessed him -- though truth be told, Kaijinbo was an evil creature already. In the end, the sword killed him, and its lingering aura threatened to possess anyone who held it. But Sesshomaru was too strong to be controlled, and he bent the sword to his will.

Sesshomaru examined the Tokijin keenly. He expected it to see battle by nightfall tomorrow. Then he laid it on the ground beside him, where it would be within easy reach. The Tenseiga he kept in his belt. Though he berated the sword as worthless, it had many wonderful properties. Once, it had saved his life. For in addition to letting one see into the netherworld, the Tenseiga would not allow it’s wearer to perish. Instead, if it’s bearer’s life were in danger, the sword would magically transport him away. It had done this once, when Sesshomaru had been gravely wounded. And if he were attacked in the middle of the night, it would save him again. Sesshomaru drew the Tenseiga a little forward, across his body, so that he could rest more comfortably.

Kikyo made no sign of any kind of preparations for taking sleep. Instead she just stood there with her back to him, looking at a ruined castle on a hilltop in the distance. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was her, standing there, the long sleeves of her kimono, the folds of her hakama, and the long band of black hair that hung down her back all fluttering in the wind as the cooling night air sank down the foothills of the mountain. Then he closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

When he opened them again, to see the source of the snapping sound that had disturbed him, there was a fire crackling in the midst of the clearing, with a neat bundle of gathered wood piled beside it. Looking around, he could see nothing the matter, so he took his hand off of the Tokijin, and settled back against the tree. The fire was small, giving only enough light to illuminate the tiny clearing amid the trees, and that but dimly. But by its light Sesshomaru could see, on the other side of the blaze, the Lady Kikyo sitting with her back against a tree. One of her hands was on her bow, which lay beside her; the other rested on her quiver. Her hair was down, loose, and draped on either side of her shoulders. She had a sunken appearance to her, and to his eye, she looked the same as the collapsed fortress in the distance, whose towers had long ago fallen, and its walls caved in. But it was still majestic, even in ruin.

Kikyo’s chin had dropped down inside the collar of her outer kimono, and he looked to make sure that she was still alive, and had not been killed by some assassin in the dark who was waiting for him to fall back asleep before killing him, too. He strained in the dim firelight, until he could see that her breast rose and fell. She was breathing. He watched her as the light slowly crept down her face, then further still, as her white kimono turned to blue in the darkness. The fire dwindled, then settled to coals, and a chill so sudden and so deep came into the clearing it seemed to be alive, some wild thing that had been lurking out amid the trees, waiting for it’s moment to strike. Sesshomaru thought to himself for a moment, then leaned forward, and put several pieces from the pile onto the coals, jostling them for a moment, until they caught. There was a little smoke, then a crackle, and the light went up again. Lady Kikyo’s kimono went from blue to white again. The nails of her pale fingers upon her bow shimmered like pearls strewn amid the leaves. Sesshomaru looked at her for a moment longer, then settled again against the tree, and went back to sleep.

When Kikyo awoke the next morning, the tiny fire was still burning. It’s bed of coals had grown, and the pile of wood beside it was gone. Sesshomaru was on the other side of the clearing, carefully examining his swords.

“What do you know about this demon”, he asked, without looking at her.

“I do not know much, but what I have heard is troubling. His name is Yamahiko.”

Sesshomaru made a disdainful face.

“I have never heard of him.”

“He was sealed away long ago. Perhaps before you were even born.”

Sesshomaru scoffed. Kikyo went on.

“According to the story, Yamahiko wasn’t originally a demon. He was a human, a noble prince who guarded a pass in the mountains. His kingdom was very prosperous, until one day, in one of the mines, a door was discovered that led to the netherworld. There are different versions of the story. Some accounts say the villagers dug too far into the mountain, and made the door themselves. Others say the gate was already there, and the villagers stumbled onto it accidentally. Whatever the truth may be, somehow, it was opened, and all manner of demons and ghosts let loose into the world.

‘It took a great battle before the doorway was sealed again. Afterwards, Yamahiko and his sons became the guardians, not only of the mountain pass, but of the passage to the netherworld as well. It was a terrible burden upon his kingdom, for in addition to all of the evil spirits that had come through the gate before it closed, all manner of humans and monsters sought the door for their own ends. When the prince died, he had his tomb made inside the mountain. Even in death, he would guard the door from the other side, to make sure that it never opened again.”

“That sounds like the kind of silly story that human women tell their human children to scare them in the night”, was all Sesshomaru had to say.

“After the prince died, one of his sons ruled in his place. When he died, he too was buried under the mountain, in the tomb along with his father, and his own son ruled after him. This went on for generations. It was the only time the door under the mountain was allowed to be opened -- to bury one of the Yamahiko clan. Eventually, the line died out, and no one was left to guard the mountain.

‘To tell you the truth, I reacted much the same as you did -- even the monks and priests who keep such tales doubted there was any truth to the old story. But sadly, we were wrong. A short while ago, something started calling from under the mountain -- from the other side of the door. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but it seems the passage was at least partly opened, and a terrible demon emerged, and has been terrorizing the village at night. None of the holy men have been able to deal with him. That’s why I’m going to Yamamura, to deal with him myself.

When she had finished, the two of them remained standing there. All the forest had grown still around them, holding its breath. Even Kikyo’s hair, which usually caught any passing breeze, hung motionless. It almost seemed to float in the air. There was an impossible stillness about her, and a very deep sadness. Sesshomaru turned to look at the ruined castle in the distance, as if the story had been of no interest to him.

“I told you”, he said, “You aren’t going to be the one to deal with this demon. I will kill him myself.” And then he turned, and walked out of the clearing, back to the path that led to the village.