InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Dawn ❯ A New Reality ( Chapter 4 )

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

Chapter Four: A New Reality

The hover car flew over the giant black stars as Kira rode through the night. The broken moon cast its eerie pale light the plants loved so much across the landscape. Night was not only the wisest time to travel; it was the best time to travel. The world didn't look dead or like wasteland at night. It was alive with creatures and plants that only came out after sundown. A flock of gingins ran through the foliage to her left. Their blue and silver feathers reflected the light causing flashes to peek through the mammoth leaves. No doubt they were seeking some Linda's Palm fruit to fill their bellies. Yes, night was the better time to travel.

She was determined to make it back to base with as few stops as possible. Kira hated working alone. Even though her phenotype was human, she was really a dog demon. Ah, the wonders of the gene pool. She often wondered what God, if He existed and she had her doubts, was thinking allowing her to be born human weak but demon branded. It was such thoughts as these that caused her to disbelieve there were any gods. After all, if gods exist why had they allowed the world to become like this?

Many of the black stars were in bloom and their huge, white trumpets seemed to glow in the moonlight. Bats came to sip nectar from the enormous flowers and Kira grinned. Bats were one of the few species that had been able to survive the destroyed world without genetic adjustment. The flying rodents would hear her approach and dart out of the way, so she didn't fret about hitting them as she traveled.

No, she had no intention of stopping at the wrecked cargo plane, not when the night was still young. However as she approached it, something caught her eye. Slowing down, she peered at the plane. For moment a woman stood at the entrance, strangely dressed and looking as if she had been waiting for her. Kira approached the plane and as she entered the clearing around it the woman vanished.

‘What?’ she thought as she stared at the place the woman had been standing. ‘Am I hallucinating?’ She maneuvered her vehicle closer to the entrance of the cargo plane and caught a glimpse of tracks vanishing under the powerful wind her hovering car was creating. ‘So she was here, she must have gone inside.’ She sniffed the air but caught no scent of humans. Pulling her gun out for caution's sake she drove the car into the plane. It was dark and she didn't see any sign of the woman. The craft landed and she shut it off, no attack occurred but she was far from relieved. Where was the woman?

She moved through the plane checking every nook and cranny with her handgun cocked and ready. Still there was no sign of anyone being here. Kira was about to chide herself for allowing a hallucination to prevent her from returning to her comrades in a timely manner when she spotted someone lying on the floor in the back. She sniffed the air and caught the scent of demon, a very strong scent of demon. She wondered what it was she didn't smell but put it aside as she approached the stranger.

He obviously wasn't the woman she was looking for; his white hair alone was enough to convince her it wasn't the figure she had seen outside. However, he needed help. Lowering her gun, she stalked forward.

“Sir, are you awake?” she called. No response, not even a twitch to acknowledge her words were heard. She stood next to him and kneeled. “Sir?” She nudged him and felt the heat radiating from his body, and then she noticed his skin was an unnatural shade of red. She rolled him onto his back as she put her gun back in its holster. Every exposed region was red and his bare feet where badly blistered. She pulled at his plain laboratory shirt and eased it over his head. Even the skin on his relatively protected chest felt dry and papery.

Running over to the hidden storage unit, she pulled out several canteens of water, a sleeping bag and the medical case, then returned to her patient. Opening the sleeping bag, she laid it flat on the ground. She then lifted the man and pulled him onto the down covering. Once he was settled, she began to treat his severe sunburns. She pulled out the aloe vera gel and slathered it over his red skin first. She was grateful the plant had been spared extinction and was grown in the biospheres. Kira worked steadily through the night.

******

Sesshomaru awoke slowly, his mind clouded. He struggled to remember the previous day but only the strange vision of Rin standing before him returned. The rest was a blur. Raising a hand to his forehead as he groaned he pushed himself up and realized he was shirtless.

‘Where did my kimono go and who took it?’ he wondered as he cast his gaze around the shelter. He saw it lying next to him near a strange container that appeared to be filled with water. Realizing he was thirsty, he reached for the bottle. It took him a moment to figure out how to open it, but once the cap was off he drank greedily from the vessel.

Then his nose told him he wasn't alone.

He smelled the mixed scent of a hanyou and quickly raised his guard. After the past weeks he wasn't sure what to expect or trust. He heard footsteps returning to him and the scent drew nearer. He felt a growl rise in his throat as the stranger moved closer and his eyes changed; red replaced the whites as turquoise replaced the golden irises.

“Now, now, none of that,” said a woman as she entered his sight. The dog demon gasped in surprise, the woman looked a great deal like Rin. “I'm glad to see you're finally awake. You were out for so long I was beginning to get worried.” His eyes converted back to their normal coloring, though, he remained wary. “Seems the rest has done you some good, though, you look like your back to normal. Well, as normal as I can tell, having never seen you before.”

“Who are you?” His eyes never leaving her.

She bowed from the waist and placed her right fist on her chest as her left fist went to the small of her back. “I am Kira,” she replied with a smile.

Some part of him wondered if she were mocking him but it was a very small part. ‘She answered that one without fuss...’ he thought as thousands more questions started to push against his skull. “Where am I?”

“Huh?”

He ignored her confusion and continued, his own pent up feelings flowing from him in an uncharacteristic flood, “What is this place? What is going on? Nothing makes sense. What has happened? Why are there black plants that vanish at the approach of day? Why are humans able to make this Sesshomaru cower in fear and beg for mercy? That is not right! They should fear me! I am the Lord of the Western Lands! ALL FEAR ME OR DIE BY MY HAND FOR THEIR INSOLENCE!" He was standing now, his words echoing through the shelter. His demonic energy swirled around him as he partially transformed. "WHY WERE THEY ABLE TO MAKE ME FEAR THEM? Why is nothing as it should be?” With his final words he fell to his knees all his anger drained, his demonic energy fading.

Kira whistled in awe of the display of power while baffled by his questions. “If you had shown them that face they would have shot you dead.”

Sesshomaru laughed, it sounded strand and half mad. “Such insolence! Petty mortals, I could crush them with the slightest effort. Vermin that crawl across the earth wallowing in mud, hardly worthy of my attention. So why are they able to cause such fear in me?”

Kira knelt down beside him and peered beneath his snowy bangs. “What are the ‘Western Lands’ you speak of? I always thought demons controlling humans to be fairy tales. Stories the humans used to explain their harsh treatment of us. Is there such a place where demons rule over humans? I don't see how it's possible. I don't see how such a place could ever exist in this world.”

“Fairy tales?” he repeated as he turned his face to look at her, his eyes wide in disbelief.

“One day I'll get out of this and then your head will be mine!” swore Sesshomaru; the crystal now up to his shoulders.

“The crystal is unbreakable; you're never getting out,” assured the demon.

‘It can't be,’ he thought. “How long was I sealed away? How long has it been since that bastard trapped me inside the crystal?”

“Sealed?” repeated Kira then her eyes widened and she stared at the dog demon in a mixture of reverence and terror. “You are a demon from the ancient times? From before the war?” she gasped.

“War? What war?” he asked.

“The war that brought the world to the state it is now. The war that was fought between humans and demons. The war that occurred over five thousand years ago.” She paused then whispered, “The war that no one won.”

Sesshomaru laid back and stared at the ceiling. ‘Five thousand years? That woman, Kagome, came from five hundred years in the future. Fifty-five hundred years at least have past since I was sealed.’

A single condemning word floated from his darkest dreams; from the abyss he had cast it. A word he had denied ever having any effect on him. It rose in his chest, formed in his throat and pushed out between his lips. “Alone. I'm alone.” With that the last columns of his foundation were knocked out from beneath him and he fell into the void.

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Oops! I had to update this chapter because I forgot the name Akima had been given to Priestess Higurashi so now my hanyou character here is Kira not Akima.