InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Dawn ❯ Shattered Crystal ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer:  I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime series.  Rumiko Takahashi does.  I do own all Original Characters in this story.

Warmth was the first thing to return.  It crept into every cell; it oozed around every molecule.  A heartbeat shattered the stillness of the mind.  He became aware but could neither move nor breathe.  His immortal heart beat a second time and the crystal loosened from his body.  The need to breathe was burning his lungs but still they could not move.  Shesshomaru opened his golden eyes to distorted sunlight.

He could see a shadow in front of him that was vaguely human shape, but dismissed it as another matter took precedence over his mind, air!  The first tendrils of fear began to worm their way into his oxygen starved brain and, with a great effort, he pushed against the crystal walls surrounding him.

On the verge of passing out Sesshomaru felt the crystal give, then it shattered and vanished with a thunderous explosion.  Water splashed against his body at the exact moment his chest expanded.  Sea water poured into lungs crying for air.  For the first time in his life, Sesshomaru panicked.

Vision darkening, he looked around.  The human-like being was swimming up and away from him.  Desperate he latched onto its fin.  The aquatic being lashed its leg and the fin popped off.  Horrified, the dog demon struggled to swim after it, but he was too weak.  Sesshomaru felt unconsciousness flood his mind as his vision went black.  He slowly sank back down into the crevice; this time he would die.

*****

Akata broke free as the crystal exploded, deafening her.  She didn't look back as she swam up and away.  A hand gripped her flipper, dragging her back down.  Kicking madly to break free, the captured flipper tore from her foot and she shot upward.  Clearing the crevice, she turned back to see if the demon was following her.  She saw him sinking back into the crevice; his expression was that of the drowned.  His hand was outstretched toward her and his eyes seemed to be focusing on her as he drifted toward the bottom.  His long white hair flowing above his face glittered in the sun.

The danger past, rationality returned; as did her conscience.  Demon or not, she could not let him die.  She swam down after him and gripped his wrist.  Pulling him toward her as they drifted downward, she yanked free her extra breath mask and stuck the mouth piece into his mouth.  She then fastened the strap around his head.  The two settled onto the sandy bottom next to her missing flipper.  Wrapping her arms around his chest, she held him and prayed that she had been in time.

His body suddenly convulsed and she saw bubbled begin to emerge from the mask.  'Demons are such a hardy breed,' she thought with irony.  Assured that he was alive, she reached over and grab her removed flipper.  She pushed her foot into it and then stood up.  The dead weight of the demon dragged at her shoulders.  Akata realized she wouldn't be able to rise above the crevice while trying to support the unconscious man.

'I'll have to lose some weight,' she thought.  'My diving belt will have to go of course, but I don't think that will be enough.'  She looked at the demon and eyed his armor, sword, and fur.  She sat down on the floor and pulled at the fur wrapped around his shoulder.  'It is a shame to loose it, but it is no doubt already ruined by the salt water.'  With a final yank it came free and she shoved it away.  The young woman then gripped the sword and felt it pulse in response.  Startled, she let go.  'Maybe, I won't have to get rid of it,' she thought after a moment and then turned her attention to the armor.  'Perhaps, this will be enough.'

A hand gripped her arm and she froze.  Raising her eyes slowly, she met the demon's golden eyes.

'Uh-oh!'

*****

The first thing Sesshomaru became aware of as he regained consciousness was the delicious taste of air on his tongue; second was of being held by someone.  He then felt a tug on his armor and gripped the offending arm as he opened his eyes.  He gazed straight into the eyes of that strange aquatic being he had spotted when he had escaped the crystal.  The being froze and lifted its head to look at him.  In the reflection of its broad black eyes he saw that he had on his face the same thing that was on the being's face.  He touched it and saw it was connected to a container strapped to the being's back.  It was where his air was coming from.

He looked back at the being and waited for it to give some sign as to its intentions.  'Why, exactly, are you helping me?'  The question burned in Sesshomaru's mind but the mask and ocean water made it impossible to speak.  A moment past then it pointed a finger up.  The dog demon glanced up and saw a sunlit blue surface above them.

Then a shadow crossed the opening.

Another aquatic being began to descend.  The one he was attached to looked up, but nothing betrayed alarm in its posture.  In fact, it seemed to recognize the other as a friend for it waved a blue hand it.  The descending being stopped just short of the two, stabilizing its position by holding on to the rocky outcrop, and then proceeded to trade gestures with its friend.  Sesshomaru could tell by the sharp gestures and the speed in which the two snapped them that the newcomer was not happy with his presence.  The newcomer wanted the other to abandon the dog demon and return with it to wherever they came from.  The other argued against that and requested the newcomer's help in taking him wherever it was it wanted to take him.

'Hopefully to open air,' thought Sesshomaru.  Even though he could breathe, being underwater for this long was beginning to affect him; his calm demeanor was cracking.  'Funny, I never knew the ocean could affect me like this.  Perhaps it simply because it is not the place I belong in.'  The thought gave little comfort to the demon.

He felt a tug on his arm and saw his helper was rising.  He stood up as the newcomer landed on the sand in front of them, disapproval radiating from every fiber of its being.  The dog demon then noted the human-like shape of the two.  The one that was helping him possessed a feminine shape while the newcomer looked male; as least its chest was flatter and it lacked the other's graceful curves.  The male aquatic glided closer, having apparently lost the argument, and took hold of his left arm, placing it over his shoulders.  The female had already done the same with his right arm.  While one arm held onto his the other wrapped around his waist.  Sesshomaru would have ordinarily rejected such intimate contact, but his desire to leave the aquatic environment dampened his resentment, as well as his suspicions.

The two dropped weighted belts and then they launched themselves upward.  The three rose above the crevice and as soon as they were clear the two began to swim parallel to the surface.  The dog demon looked over toward the one he was attached to.  Her eyes were focused forward and she didn't seem to notice his suspicion-filled glare.

'Where are they taking me?' he wondered as he looked about.  As far as he could see there was no land that rose to break the surface, only the colorful reef met his gaze.  'Where am I?  How did I get here?'  He then realized his breath rate had increased.  He tried to slow it down, but when he took his mind off of it the rate increased again.  He looked forward to see where they were going.  Slowly appearing out of the blue was the bottom of a boat.

'A boat?  But why would they need a boat?' he wondered.  He noticed the boat had two parallel bottoms.  His escort was aiming for the area in between and to one end.  As they closed in on the boat, the male let go and went ahead.  Sesshomaru saw the area he was heading toward and noted the ladder that was sticking just below the surface.  The male took hold of the ladder and began pulling himself up and out of the water.  He had vanished onto the boat by the time the demon and the female grabbed hold of the ladder.

The female grabbed at the mask on his head and loosened it.  It made sense to Sesshomaru.  They could only go up one-at-a-time and the attachment would only hinder his progress.  Sucking in a last breath, he then pulled it off his face and ascended.  He gasped as his head and shoulders broke the surface.  Pausing for a moment, he sucked in huge gulps of the air he thought he would never taste again.  He took another step up and cleared the edge; another step brought him onto the deck.  Hundreds of scents assaulted his liberated nose, most of them alien, some familiar, but one caused him to snap his attention forward.

'Humans!' his brain screamed.  A whispered whistle sounded followed instantly by a sharp blossoming of pain in the demon's neck.  He saw, for a second, a brown skinned human holding a cylindrical device in his hand before everything went black.

*****

The white haired demon had just hit the floor when Akata's head popped above the deck level.  She looked at the man then at her husband.  Leon refused to meet her gaze.  'Why am I surprised?' she wondered.  'Of course, he went ahead to warn them.  Of course, they would react like this.'  She pulled herself onto the boat and began removing her gear.

"I had to tell them," he said defensively.

"Did I say anything?  No," she replied as she yanked off a flipper.

"The SDF will, no doubt, want to speak with you about this incident," said their guide as he began steering the boat back to the docks.  "I think we're all curious to know more about this."  He gestured around and Akata could see the expecting faces around her.

'Well, might as well tell them why their trip was cut short,' she sighed.  "He was trapped inside a crystal in the reef.  My family has produced many priests and priestesses over the generations.  I accidentally broke the spell with those powers and, personally, I couldn't stand by and watch him drown."  She snapped this last bit over her shoulder before anyone could ask her the heartless question of why she hadn't just left him.

"Fair enough," said the guide as he reached for the radio mike.

"I hope they treat him decently," Akata muttered under her breath as she looked at the stunned demon, four small metal spikes protruded from his neck.  'Well, at least they didn't kill him,' she thought but then wondered if that would be seen as a blessing or a curse to both the demon and the world.

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A pinch of this a fist of that…

Sorry, but I feel that is what I'm doing with this story.  "Inuyasha" is the dominating backdrop, (more like dominating history *snicker*), of this story but I took ideas to build this world from Gasaraki, Wolf's Rain, and Dune.  (Dune is actually the primary theme of the story, but instead of having Paul, the messiah, we're having Sesshomaru.  And while Paul had some prep time to get ready for his "world shift" Sesshomaru wasn't so lucky.  I wonder how our favorite dog demon will cope.)

I have finals next week then I'll be out of touch with the cyberworld for four weeks afterward.  If I have the time/motivation/inspiration to add another chapter to any of my other works (including poetry) it will be done before the seventeenth of December then it is adios until mid-January.