InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Snowstorms and annoying old women. ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

I'm actually having a good bit of fun with this. Again, the chapters are going to be short as this is only something I am playing with.

 

 

And a brief note on the old woman: She is old, very old. And as I'm sure everyone knows… once people get a certain age they don't always make a whole lot of sense. Talia isn't supposed to be completely rational. She is designed to be driven towards making what she wants to be true a reality.

 

 

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi.

 

--

 

 

Chapter 2:

 

 

Kagome fought to breathe, and fought harder against the new wave of tears that threatened to fall. Of all the stupid, inconsiderate, and overly silly things she had done in her life this one had to be by far the worst. Sesshoumaru was a youkai lord; not a fragile human who would have been killed by Kagura and Kohaku's combined attack. In fact, it was very likely that he would have deflected them both with ease. But she simply had to jump in and knock them both off a mountain, of which she wasn't even sure how far up they had been. And now here they were, in the middle of a valley, in the middle of the first winter's snow, and Sesshoumaru had no memory of who he was.

 

 

`Great going Kagome,' she silently berated herself. She'd only half paid attention to her psychology classes in school, but from what she'd remembered memory wasn't something very well known and amnesia patients often take a very long time to regain their memories. She suddenly felt very sick to her stomach, and the air in the room weighed heavily on her shoulders. She had to get out. She had to think.

 

 

As quickly as she was able to manage under tired and abused limbs she got to her feet, “I need some air,” she said quietly; never looking again in Sesshoumaru's direction, “Talia, I'm sure you will make sure Sesshoumaru eats something” It was a statement more than it was a question, and she did not wait for a response. She soon found herself outside; leaning the weight of her body on the outside of the home.

 

 

“I'm so sorry Rin,” she whispered towards the now darkening sky, “Now you're going to have to be alone even longer. And it's all my fault.” He had come to save Rin, and while he had managed to save her she would now have to survive the winter alone with only the slimy toad Jaken to care for her, and Kagome wasn't sure if he would even keep Rin around long if his lord did not return.

 

 

Her body suddenly felt heavy, and her right shoulder began throbbing painfully. Moving her left hand over the source of the pain she was startled to find it still wet. `But the rest of my clothing is dry,' she thought as she brought her hand back to inspect what it was that was wet.

 

 

Fresh blood was smeared on her previously clean hand, `I must have been injured during the fall as well,' she thought, `there was so much blood I guess I couldn't tell where Sesshoumaru's stopped and my own started.' The girl from the future let out a heavy sigh, “This is just what I needed to make my week so much better,” she whispered sarcastically as she shifted her weight on the wall from her right to her left side, and slid her body down until she was seated on the wet ground. `I think I'll just take a nap,' was her last thought before allowing herself to sleep.

 

--

 

 

“My name is Sesshoumaru then,” the demon lord said to no one in particular after watching the girl called Kagome leave the room. He didn't know why he was unable to remember his own name, how he came to be where he was, or why the girl had been found with him. In fact, as he thought on it he could not remember even farther back than that. He did not even know where he had come from, or remember any part of his past beyond waking up in his current state. It was frustrating to say the least.

 

The girl obviously retained her memories, and would most likely know more about him as well; if the look in her eyes when she realized he did not remember anything was any indication. Had it been pain that he had seen there? And if so, why would his lack of memory cause her pain? He would be sure to ask her these things when she returned.

 

 

“Do not fret child,” Talia's voice broke through the taiyoukai's thoughts, “Your mate will return soon enough. For now, eat.” She finished as she held a bowel of stew up to him in encouragement. But he did not take it. Instead he brought his eyes up to the old woman's in shock.

 

 

“My mate?” he questioned hesitantly. He was not sure what the term meant, but it caused an uncomfortable sensation in his gut that he did not recognize. Disgust? Or was it guilt? He did not know which. “I'm afraid old woman that I do not understand what you mean by this word `mate'” he said simply, and turned his gaze back to where the girl had disappeared only moments before.

 

 

Talia chuckled softly, and place the forgotten bowl of stew on the floor next to her. “Mates my child,” she began, “Now that is a complicated story.” The old woman suddenly felt thirty again, explaining the birds and the bees to her children. The thought was both amusing and heartwarming at the same time.

 

 

“I am listening.”

 

 

“Of course you are,” Talia said, and cleared her throat to begin her tale. “Mates are partners. A male and a female who have come to the mutual understanding that they cannot live without the other. They seek comfort in one another's embrace, and will fight to the death to protect the other. It is usually the male's duty to be the stronger of the two. To provide for his female, and eventually any offspring they may have.”

 

 

Talia paused for a moment to gauge the youkai's reaction, and when she only found him studying the doorway intently just as he had been before she decided to add a few of her own embellishments to the story, “Once chosen, there are no others for either the male or the female. The two are together for life, and often when one falls the other will soon follow from grief. Humans such as myself call this love, but I am not aware of what name youkai give it,” she finished.

 

 

While her last statement was true for some youkai; it was not true for all, and she was not aware of what kind of demon this man was. But he was demon all the same, and the girl was human. She didn't see anything wrong with helping the poor girl along in what Talia knew to be an already difficult journey in choosing a youkai as a life partner.

 

 

Sesshoumaru said nothing as he processed what the woman had just said. While he had not recognized the term when first spoken, he knew that he had known its meaning. Perhaps it was instinct, but he knew that the old woman was right. “And the girl informed you that I am her mate?” he asked simply.

 

 

Talia grinned, “Oh quite the contrary, when I mentioned it she outright denied it on the spot,” she said as she stood with the forgotten stew in hand and made her way to the window to dispose of the now cold contents.

 

 

“Then I do not understand, if the girl denied it why do you still insist that it is so?” Sesshoumaru inquired.

 

 

“That, is simple,” she replied confidently, “You are youkai. She is human.”

 

 

“And what does that have to do with anything?”

 

 

“Why everything child!” Talia insisted, “Youkai are naturally stronger and longer lived than humans. It only takes a glance at the two of you to see that you fell in battle, and she blames herself. She believes that had you been mated to a youkai female you would not have sustained such injuries, and thus denies any claim on you from her guilt” Talia said as she rested her tired body against the window. It had been many years since she had been involved in such excitement, and her old body was not holding up as well as she would have liked.

 

 

“You seem so very sure of yourself woman. Even though you have but only found the two of us in the forest, and have no prior knowledge of our lives.” The demon lord countered, “Your argument makes little sense. Had I chosen her as my mate then I would have accepted her for the strengths she already possessed, and her human heritage would not have mattered. She would have no reason to feel guilt over my own inability to protect my mate and my person.”

 

 

Talia folded her arms defiantly, “While you have a valid argument youkai, if I recall you were not conscious when I found the two of you lying in a bloodied mess in the snow. You did not hear her sobs of guilt, nor were you here to witness her unwavering devotion in caring for you,” she paused for a moment in triumph as she saw the evidence of the realization that she may be right swept over Sesshoumaru's features, “She would do nothing but stay by your side. She refused any offers to clean the blood from her own body, or fresh clothing. She would not even eat. Perhaps she was correct in saying that she was not your mate, but there is no mistaking that she is the very least your intended.”

 

 

Seeing that she had all but won the discussion Talia made her way to the door; her old bones popping and cracking as she did. “She has been gone a while now. I think I will go check on her,” she said and placed her hand on the screen to push it aside.

 

 

“And if she continues to deny me?” Sesshoumaru's deep voice came in a whisper from his pallet on the floor.

 

 

“Then you have all winter to prove to her that her thoughts are wrong,” Talia replied, “We are in the middle of a valley, surrounded by mountains. The snows have blocked all passage; even to a youkai such as you. You will have to wait until the snows melt in the spring to leave this place.” She finished before disappearing through the door and dropping the screen behind her, and leaving the demon lord to think on his situation.

 

 

To say he was confused would be putting it lightly. After all, he was sure that it was not every day that he awoke to the face of a tear stricken young woman covered in blood and an old woman, who was proving to be more annoying every time she spoke, with no memory of his past or who he was. One would say that Sesshoumaru was having a very bad day, and now he is left with the possibility that the woman called Kagome may or may not have been his mate or at the very least his intended.

 

 

 

The old woman was right. The pieces did fit. Kagome's appearance when he had first awoken was that of a grief stricken female that had neither eaten or bathed in fear of leaving his side, and the emotion that had passed through her large blue eyes when she realized he had no memory. It had not been identifiable at the time but now he was sure that it had been pain. Pain that someone dear to her did not remember who he was. Did not remember who she was.

 

 

If this was the case then the fault clearly fell on himself for being weaker than whatever it was that had attacked them, and he would simply have to prove to her that her own guilt held no merit. He would only have to hope that his memories returned to him before spring so that the two of them could return to wherever it was they were from healed and happy as he was sure they had once been.

 

 

 

“Oh my!” Talia's voice came from outside the home in a panic, “Oh my, oh my Kagome child what has happened!”

 

 

Sesshoumaru's chest tightened painfully. Fighting the pain in his head, and the swimming of his vision he brought himself to his feet and rushed quickly out to find what the source of the old woman's distress had been.

 

 

Outside the home he found the old woman bent over something resting against the wall. He smelled the thick coppery smell of fresh blood before he saw the evidence of it in a puddle at Talia's feet. Panic rushed through his body as he realized that the form the old woman was now attempting to move was that of Kagome, and the blood was hers. Before he realized it a low growl sounded in his chest and he rushed to the side of the fallen girl, nearly knocking Talia over as he did so.

 

 

“Sesshoumaru you must take her inside so that I may clean her and tend to her wounds,” Talia said as she ushered him back into the hut, “And you will go back to your pallet once you put her in my room over there on the left.” She insisted while hurrying to the back of the main room where she had placed the clean bandages after finishing with the demon's wounds earlier that day. Shuffling through the cabinets she quickly located the jars of medicinal herbs she would need as well as what she hoped was enough clean bandages and linens to clean up the mess that was the girl called Kagome.

 

Sesshoumaru however had not listened to the old woman's orders. He had immediately returned to the room that he had been occupying to the right of the main room rather than the old woman's room to the left.

 

 

Quickly, and as carefully as he could manage he began removing the tattered pieces of cloth that had once been her clothing. He had not realized before how little she wore, and wondered briefly if the cloth that should have been covering her legs had been torn during their battle, or if he normally made a habit of allowing her to show every other male with eyes portions of her body that only a mate should see.

 

 

“Sesshoumaru, this is not the room I told you to place her in!” Talia admonished as she hurried into the room with an armful of healing supplies. Placing them in a clean corner of the room she quickly spread clean linens in an open space on the floor that would act as a make shift futon while she dressed the girl's wounds, and then turned to Sesshoumaru to find that he had removed nearly all the girl's clothing; save for a small scrap of cloth that covered her lower regions and another that shielded her chest from view. “Bring her here, and then sit over there and turn around” the old woman ordered.

 

 

 

But her demand was met by a low snarl, and Sesshoumaru pulled the girl's body closer to his own, “I will be the one to care for her,” he growled, “If she is my mate as you say then it is my right.”

 

 

 

“And if she is only but your intended you have not yet gained the right to see her in this manner,” Talia retorted, “Youkai, I do not have time to argue with you while the poor girl's life is draining from her body,” the old woman hissed, “Would you rather risk her embarrassment and anger towards you for taking something you have not yet been given privy to just so that you may tend to wounds that I am more than able to care for?”

 

 

 

The old woman was right yet again, “You are an annoying human,” he growled lowly as he carefully placed Kagome on the futon the old woman had directed him towards, and then turned back to take his place with his back to the two of them on his own futon. At least she wasn't trying to send him outside. He would have to depend on his nose to make sure the girl did not take a turn for the worst while in the care of the annoying old hag.

 

 

 

“It looks as if a weapon of some sort pierced her right shoulder here, but it's not as bad as it looks.” Talia mumbled as she worked to clean the blood from Kagome's body and apply the proper herbs to the wound, “Once I have this bandaged up she will just need some rest and she will be fine.” She said.

 

 

 

The youkai only grunted in response from his place on the other side of the room. His head was beginning to throb again, and the tightening in his chest was beginning to subside with the woman's news that Kagome's life was not in danger. `If this is what it feels like when one's mate is in danger I am surprised I still live,' he thought to himself, `and if she is but only my intended I fear for what will become of me should we become mates.'

 

 

 

It was not long before Talia informed the demon lord that he was now permitted to turn around and see the girl that now lay peacefully on the futon. The old woman had dressed her in a simple winter yukata, and covered her with several blankets that had obviously been made from the fur of the local wildlife. Sesshoumaru found himself at Kagome's side staring down at her face. It was quite beautiful now that it was cleaned of blood and tears, and he could see how he had been drawn to take a human female as his own.

 

 

 

Carefully, he used his one arm to pick both her and the furs up and carry them into the corner of the room where he lowered himself to the floor. He positioned her in his lap so that her head rested on his good shoulder, and began a low growl deep within his chest. He couldn't bring the reason for it to the front of his mind, but he somehow knew that it was meant to comfort her in some way. Gently resting his chin on the crown of the girls head he allowed himself to drift into a dreamless sleep.

 

 

 

Talia spied on the pair from the doorway. They made such a beautiful pair, `It would be a shame if they allowed this ordeal to separate them,' she thought to herself, `It's a good thing I am here to help them overcome and find one another again.”