InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon an Inuyoukai ❯ Mist and Magic ( Chapter 13 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Empatheia 
Down with that barrier! 3 steps to selfless sacrifice.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Hentai / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.19.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 258 | Status: Work In Progress
Down with that barrier! 3 steps to selfless sacrifice.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Hentai / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 02.19.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 258 | Status: Work In Progress
I have now identified my Muses. There are five of them so far, each responsible for one story element: Laughter, Romance, Angst, Beauty, and Death. Perhaps next chapter I shall name them. ...No, I am not schizophrenic, I am insane. There is a difference. Schizophrenics have multiple personalities or facets of self. I hear voices. See? Totally different.
Music while writing this: Lord of the Rings, 'The Return of the King', OST. Howard Shore is a GOD.
Without further ado:
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Chapter XIII: Mist and Magic
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"Sire, I hate to interrupt," squawked Jaken, whom everyone had forgotten about, "but if I'm not mistaken, whoever's spell that was will have noticed its dissolution. Don't you think we should be getting out here now?" The four others turned from their conversations to look at him, a frisson of fear racing through the room as they realized he was right. Izayoi helped Naruka to her feet, and they were joined shortly thereafter by the taiyoukai.
The pathetic little circle stood and looked at eachother for a long, spiraling moment.
"I guess this is it then," Izayoi said softly. "The five of us against all of them." Two youkai lords, a priestess, a seer, and a toad. She giggled helplessly. "I bet our enemies are just quaking in their tabi."
Sakenmaru sidled over and gave her a one-arm hug, in a way that was probably meant to be serreptitious but just ended up looking shy and awkwardly sweet. She hugged him back. "We'll get through it, sweeting," he promised.
"We're not sure how yet, but where there's a will..." Naruka.. Somehow, there was no question that she would be staying with them. It went unspoken, as a thing just too obvious to say out loud.
"The important thing is what to do right now," Inutaisho interjected, reminding them of where their focus should be.
'"We need an army," Sakenmaru immediately replied.
"There is none available that I can think of." There was a long, uncomfortable silence where they all looked at eachother, searching for answers or inspiration of some sort. The silence stretched on.... and on... and on.... and on.... until finally, it broke to the sound of hope.
"I think we need to be a little unorthodox here," Izayoi said, fiddling with her fingers. The other three looked at her expectantly, desperately hopeful she had something. She flushed under their scrutiny. "Well... the armies you're thinking of are youkai, right?"
Inutaisho crinkled his brow. "Of course, what else would they be?" Another smaller silence while she waited for them to figure it out.
Naruka suddenly sucked in a breath, understanding at last where Izayoi was going. "Human," she breathed. "Izayoi, you're a genius." The taiyoukai stared at them, uncomprehending. The women looked at eachother and sighed ruefully in unison. "Go ahead, Iza, it was your idea."
Izayoi threw her heavy hair over her shoulder and took a nervous step forward. "There are what? A hundred thousand or so youkai in Japan?" They nodded, still blankfaced. She took a deep breath, feeling Naruka behind her, supporting her. "There are millions of humans," she said seriously, watching for their reaction.
It dawned on them at the same time, like lightning out of the clear blue sky. "You are mad," Inutaisho curtly snapped, eyes narrowed. She glared at him.
It was Sakenmaru to the rescue! "I am not so certain she is, old friend," he said thoughtfully a moment later. Izayoi shot him a grateful look. "What she says is true, there are very many of them, and if convinced the threat is great enough, they might indeed be convinced to fight. If they fight, and we plan wisely, it might just work. It's a very daring plan, my dear. I know if it was up to us, neither of us would have thought of it."
She blushed prettily, drawing Inutaisho's gaze. The others watched in fascination as he stared, obviously trying very hard not to. And failing miserably. Sakenmaru and Naruka moved to get a better view of the highly entertaining spectacle. Inutaisho and Izayoi's eyes met, and they gazed at eachother for a while, not speaking, the air between them fairly crackling.
"Unless you're going to kiss her, I suggest we leave now," Sakenmaru broke in wryly, making them both jump guiltily. Naruka grinned widely.
"Certainly, let us depart," Inutaisho said with all the dignity he could muster. Which wasn't much. Stifling laughter, they and the rather humilated inuyoukai and seer walked out of the castle into the masked sunlight.
Sobriety returned with a shock when the saw the purposefully aimless undead wandering about in a decisive confusion. Sakenmaru looked as though he were about to weep when he took in the sad state of decaying disrepair his ancestral home was in. The jungle was growing over it, inch by inch, and it was impossible to miss. "What do you want to do about this?" Inutaisho asked quietly.
"Burn it," Sakenmaru said, surprising himself with the coldness in his voice. "It is tainted. Burn it to the ground. When we have won, I will rebuild it." There was a lonesome fierceness to his voice like an eagle flying over a mountain ridge, fiercely crying its mastery despite its solitude. He was alone, but over this he still had power. Inutaisho nodded his understanding and fished the flint and tinder out of Ah-Un's pack.
Moments later, the nascent flames began to lick yellowly up the moss-grown wood-and-paper walls. Sakenmaru watched, stonefaced, as timbers soaked in his childhood memories turned slowly to ash and crumbled before his eyes. Before long, the place was a raging inferno, towering flames licking the sky, vomiting black smoke. The undead, eerily, continued their disjointed, jerky waltz through the grounds, undisturbed by their own bubbling skin and melting flesh. Izayoi shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself, trying not to see but riveted nonetheless.
Until Inutaisho quietly turned her head away from the carnage with a hand, forcing her to look into his eyes (horribly reflecting the flames) instead. She did not want to look there, so she buried her face in his shoulder. He stiffened but did not move away.
The conflagration hurled millions of short-lived sparks into the heavens like prayers, dying before they ever reached anyone interested in listening. The ancient timbers groaned and shattered like bones, collapsing into the glowing ashes. The night grew warm with smoke. Green vanished into the crimsongold vengeance that devoured it mercilessly. It was a prodigious fire, really, and the five of them and Ah-Un watched with eyes blinking frequently against flying ash.
They watched until there was nothing left but glowing coals and scarred, blackened remains. Where once had stood the great and beautiful compound of the Southern rulers now smoldered only an unsightly scar on the landscape, still emanating heat and floating white detritus. The sun had risen, unnoticed, while they stood and watched in fascination the end of an era. Somehow, Izayoi had moved to face it again, and was protectively coiled in the circle of Inutaisho's arms. Strangely, they were not uncomfortable, and instinctively they knew that something had changed between them during those flame-lit hours.
Sakenmaru was kneeling with the dried, saline trails of tears streaking his cheeks to the point where they disappeared into his beard. Naruka was sitting silently at Izayoi's feet, and Jaken was asleep, snoring loudly beneath Ah-Un's imperturbable belly.
It took them a long time to rouse themselves from the trance induced by flickering fire. When they finally roused themselves, it was midday and almost hot. They were hungry, and Sakenmaru articulately cursed himself for not preserving the viable supplies left in the castle. Izayoi shared what little they had left, and they planned and plotted while they ate.
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Sesshoumaru smiled in satisfaction. The maids bustled about occupied with their various tasks, courtiers were busy with paperwork, and everyone in between was at least looking busy if not genuinely on a valuable errand. Three days, and the compound was restored to acceptable order. He felt justified in feeling just a little proud. He was only a youngling, but they had quickly learned at the needlepoint tips of his venomous claws to obey without question. And now look- everything was running like clockwork. He allowed himself a rare smile.
Then he turned his mind to his disturbingly absent father. Where was he? Why had he left without a word of explanation, and who was the mysterious human woman with him? It was worrying to think of his father, whom he greatly respected, out alone in the wilderness for unexplained reasons. The lack of explanation spoke of secrets, and secrets spoke of danger to young Sesshoumaru.
There was a deferent tapping at the shoji, and at his permission a maidservant gracefully flowed into the room, bearing a tray with his midday meal. She set it down, made an obeisance, and left without a word. He liked maide like that, the chatter-filled ones drove him up the wall. As habit dictated, he picked up the hot cup of cha and sipped it first, thoughtfully. He wondered if they'd changed the supplier- it was good, but it tasted slightly different from usual.
Most of the cupful had found its way down his throat when it started. Where before the tea had been merely a warmth in his belly, now it was hot, almost scorching. Since tea did not tend to get hotter after drunk, this was worrisome. He placed a clawed, violet-striped hand on his flat midriff and furrowed his brow. It was beginning to hurt. Sesshoumaru did not like pain, unless he was causing it to someone else. Where was this coming from?
The tea. His eyes snapped to the innocent-looking cup. He might only be a hundred years old, but he could figure out what sudden gut pain after drinking something that tastes funny meant.
Poison.
There was a traitor in the castle. He understood now his father's reason for leaving so precipitously- he was worried for his life, and for the mysterious woman's. Instead of panicking and racing for the doctor, Sesshoumaru flexed his poisonous claws and smiled a black smile full of death.
Of all the possible methods of assassinating someone, the foolish traitor had chosen poison. How utterly stupid and ignorant of them. Being a poison-bearing creature himself, he had a very high natural resistance to poison. The fact that it gave him a stomachache at all was an indication of how nasty the chosen poison truly was- most commonplace substances passed right through him without notice. His body was adept at creating antidotes- without that ability, he would have accidentally poisoned himself to death as a child many times over.
He crossed his arms behind his head and sat back, waiting for his body to take care of it. It only took a few minutes. When the unpleasant internal heat was completely gone, he stood up, stretched, and bared his teeth in a humourless grin.
It was time to go traitor-hunting.
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The traitor paced the courtyard, blank faced but internally rejoicing. The young whelp had drunk the poison! Now all that was left was waiting for the death cry to ring sweetly out over the courtyard. It would only be a few minutes now. They wanted to scream their triumph to the skies, but knew that most of the castle was still loyal and that doing so would mean immediate, painful death for them.
So they celebrated in silence.
Minutes passed, and the castle went about its business. More minutes passed, and still the castle bustled about as if everything was normal. As if their prince was not dead. Where was the death cry? Why was no one creating a fuss? Where was the uproar that should have erupted by now?
The traitor began to feel nervous. Something was not right. Had the maid lied? She'd said very plainly that he'd drunk nearly the entire cup down. No one, not even a taiyoukai, could survive that.
And so it came as a heart-stopping shock to see the young lord, apparently unharmed, walk calmly out of the compound into the courtyard. His eyes were terrifying- blank and lethal, focused and simmering with roiling anger just below the surface. The traitor froze in place. Against all likelihood, the plan had failed and the prince was still alive, and out for vengeance. Now what to do? Running would be suspicious, staying riveted to the ground like an extremely terrified stone would be a dead giveaway. So they began to walk purposefully towards an open shoji. Going somewhere, going somewhere... they desperately projected.
The relief they felt when Sesshoumaru turned away and walked in the other direction nearly bowled them over. So close... breathe. He still does not suspect. Lie in wait, try again another day...
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They had spent a fine day walking through Sakenmaru's lands towards the very tip of the small peninsula that was all he owned of the mainland. That was where, according to both Izayoi and Naruka, the mana blockage was located. All around them, the trees blazed in autumnal glory. The sun was out. It truly was a beautiful day. But beneath its lovely surface, the increasingly powerful ocean of mana seethed and sought to break the barrier between it and the surface. As much as possible, they stuck to the higher slopes, above the seething leakage flowing through the valleys.
Now at last, they stood at the site of impending apocalypse, still in time to prevent it.
It did not look very impressive- merely a clearing in the woods, sunlit and innocuous but for the object in its exact center. Izayoi looked closer and gasped- it was an exact replica of the talisman she carried within her, only much larger, perhaps twice Inutaisho's height. It was oblong, driven into the ground on its end at a drunken angle. The entire obsidian surface was inscribed with ancient, complex kanji that glowed a deep red in the shadows. It was thoroughly evil looking, and the hairs on their arms raised as though they were cold, though the day was balmy and there was little wind.
Naruka looked as though she were about to be ill. Izayoi knew why- beneath them she could feel what the great black stone was doing. The physical component of it was minor and only a tiny fraction of the whole- spreading out from its sides in awesome, monolithic arcs were spiritual barriers, higher than the they can sense the top of and deeper dug into the earth than they could follow. The barriers swung out like terrible wings into the ocean on either side of the peninsula, sweeping southwards into the shape of a giant, upended arc. The sheer size of it was utterly awe-inspiring, and those who could sense it were silent and fought not to be overwhelmed.
So this is how it works, she thought, understanding now. The overflowing mana seeped over the edges of the great bowl and poured down into the drought north of them, causing a maelstrom where they met of clashing magics from the east and west. The bulk of the trapped mana by far was behind the shimmering arc, an inconceivably vast reservoir of pent up power.
"Kami," she heard Naruka whisper, and echoed her in her own mind. She felt as though she were standing in the valley at the base of an enormous dam, knowing the sheer force of water straining behind its stone walls and knowing how easily it could crush her. She felt like an insect, insignificant and below notice. They were dealing with more than men, more than demons here. This was the work of a god, or several.
They were going to lose, she realized.
Even with all the armies of the world, there was no way to fight against something with this kind of power- it would be analogous to a dormouse attempting to slay an elephant. Utterly, truly impossible. If she tried to remove the barrier now, all it would do would be to unleash the armageddon behind it just a little sooner. All their bright hope died in a sad, tarnished flicker. It was over. There was no defense, no possible path that would prevent this. The West was doomed. Probably a large part of the East, too- the flood was too immense to direct that precisely. The northern half of Shikoku was probably already ravaged by the overflowing mana.
Oh, kami, what do we do? she prayed, knowing full well it was futile. There was nothing.
And so she was very, very surprised to hear them answer. You know, they whispered. You know what to do. Be not afraid. This is your destiny.
"No," she breathed. "Oh, please, no."
"What is it?" Naruka asked, laying a gentle hand on her shaking shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Izayoi ignored her and turned wide, shimmering eyes on Inutaisho. He met her shaken gaze with his own. They held the contact for a moment, and then she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling hot tears roll down her cheeks. "I know what to do," she said, surrendering to her fate. Hope sputtered back to life in the eyes of her companions, and for that is was almost worth it.
Almost.
"I have to go through the barrier."
Uproar met her words, and they all demanded an explanation at once. Naruka embraced her as though to hold her there and prevent her from moving, Inutaisho narrowed his eyes, and Sakenmaru sorrowed in silence. She thought Inutaisho might already understand. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she pulled away to face them, head high. "I have the matching talisman in my belly. It works by drawing mana out of the surroundings and storing it. If I use it with my magical power, I should be able to increase its power so that it draws more mana, much more. Then I will walk into the maelstrom and it will draw the flood into itself, so that the barrier can be safely removed." She paused, knowing what they were about to suggest. "It will not come out, I have tried. So please don't say it." Their mouths closed with an audible snap.
It made perfect sense, and they knew it. But there was one, glaring flaw in this plan- there was no way she would ever survive it. There would be nothing left of her when it was finished. Beyond fear now, she turned to Naruka, addressing her directly. "When the mana goes down far enough, it will be your job to remove the barrier. Make sure you put up a shield to protect you and the others from what flow is left."
She turned next to Inutaisho. "Once the barrier is gone, get everyone airborne as soon as possible. You'll be safest in the sky."
There seemed to be nothing left to say. Taking a long, laden glance at everyone to blaze their faces in her memory, she turned and walked down into the clearing.
"Wait!" Naruka cried, heart in her voice. "Aneue, don't!" Izayoi froze, and cried harder. "There must be another way! Please, don't go!"
There was none, the spirit-gods had told her so. "This is the only way," she said, voice eerily flat. "This is my destiny." Echoing the words of gods. Who was she to argue with them? Nobody. Just a pawn, expendable and worth little. Her life would be given to save that of thousands- she should feel proud and honourable, according to the books. But she didn't. All she felt was small and worthless and afraid. Every word her sister spoke tore her to bleeding pieces.
The great obsidian statue was only feet away. She put her hand on it, feeling it thrum with incredible power. It is time. We shall be waiting for you on the other side. So she was to have a welcoming party, was she? It almost made her laugh.
Before she could think about it for another moment, she pulled her hand back and walked resolutely past the stone into the end of the world.
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He watched her go, wrestling with himself. He knew she would die if she went through with her plan, knew that he should not care. Knew also that he did care, for complicated reasons he did not have time to figure out.
She was beautiful, she was courageous, she was his ally, perhaps his friend, and she was about to die. No.
He saw her walk past the stone into the maelstrom, and saw the mana seize her, bending her backwards in wrenching agony. Her hair, her beautiful hair, stood on end, flying about her like live serpents. She shook as though she would fall apart.
No!
Not entirely sure what he was going to do, he launched himself out of his standing position towards her twisting, bent form. When he hit the mana, it was like being hit by an endless bolt of lightning, energy tearing through his body at incredible speed. He fought to remain conscious. She was just up ahead- three feet at the most. They were the hardest three feet he'd ever crossed in his life.
And then she was in his arms, writhing and insensate. At least she will not feel it, he thought thankfully, and plunged his claws deep into her soft belly. He tried to disturb as little as possible, and kept his poison carefully in check. Amidst all the hot, steaming innards, it was hard to find, but eventually he felt the hard lump through her stomach wall.
It was a long shot, he knew- chances were this half-evisceration would kill her as well. But with this, there was hope- the magics offered none. With a quick, squelching tug, he removed the talisman and threw it as far away as he could.
She collapsed, twitching and eyes rolled back into her head, into his arms. The stench of blood hung heavy on the air. With the last of his strength, he hurled them both back beyond the stone to safety.
Every nerve of his body overloaded, the moment he felt them pass the barrier, he fell into unconsciousness, not even feeling the impact with the ground.
They found eachother, beyond the walls of dreaming. You saved me, she said, drifting closer to him. Why?
I do not know, he answered, and it was almost true. But not quite. Because I wanted to?
Why?
Because you are my ally.
There is more. He wished she'd leave him alone to drift. He felt thin, stretched, like if someone touched him he would split like fabric winched too tightly.
Because you are my friend.
Is that all?
Yes! he cried, frustrated. She sighed around him like mist on the breeze, caressing his spirit with cool, soothing fingers.
I don't believe you. And then she was gone, risen into consciousness like a shining bubble to the surface of a dark lake. He was left alone with his thoughts.
That is all, he tried to convince himself. She is a friend and ally and I value her. So, I did not want to see her dead. What else would there be? Little voice just out of sight seemed to chuckle mockingly, and he became angry. There is nothing else. But still he felt as though he were lying to himself, an unpleasant sensation. That is all!
...Is it not?
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A/N- Good lord, this chapter took forever to write. Sorry for the long wait.
If you're can't picture the geography of the barrier in relation to Japan, I've drawn a very crude map to demonstrate it. If you want it, review and give me your email, I'll send it to you. The proportions and island coastlines aren't anywhere near right, but it's still fairly understandable what's going on. In any case, review please! Let me know what you want to read, and I'll do my best to write towards that.
Music while writing this: Lord of the Rings, 'The Return of the King', OST. Howard Shore is a GOD.
Without further ado:
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Chapter XIII: Mist and Magic
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"Sire, I hate to interrupt," squawked Jaken, whom everyone had forgotten about, "but if I'm not mistaken, whoever's spell that was will have noticed its dissolution. Don't you think we should be getting out here now?" The four others turned from their conversations to look at him, a frisson of fear racing through the room as they realized he was right. Izayoi helped Naruka to her feet, and they were joined shortly thereafter by the taiyoukai.
The pathetic little circle stood and looked at eachother for a long, spiraling moment.
"I guess this is it then," Izayoi said softly. "The five of us against all of them." Two youkai lords, a priestess, a seer, and a toad. She giggled helplessly. "I bet our enemies are just quaking in their tabi."
Sakenmaru sidled over and gave her a one-arm hug, in a way that was probably meant to be serreptitious but just ended up looking shy and awkwardly sweet. She hugged him back. "We'll get through it, sweeting," he promised.
"We're not sure how yet, but where there's a will..." Naruka.. Somehow, there was no question that she would be staying with them. It went unspoken, as a thing just too obvious to say out loud.
"The important thing is what to do right now," Inutaisho interjected, reminding them of where their focus should be.
'"We need an army," Sakenmaru immediately replied.
"There is none available that I can think of." There was a long, uncomfortable silence where they all looked at eachother, searching for answers or inspiration of some sort. The silence stretched on.... and on... and on.... and on.... until finally, it broke to the sound of hope.
"I think we need to be a little unorthodox here," Izayoi said, fiddling with her fingers. The other three looked at her expectantly, desperately hopeful she had something. She flushed under their scrutiny. "Well... the armies you're thinking of are youkai, right?"
Inutaisho crinkled his brow. "Of course, what else would they be?" Another smaller silence while she waited for them to figure it out.
Naruka suddenly sucked in a breath, understanding at last where Izayoi was going. "Human," she breathed. "Izayoi, you're a genius." The taiyoukai stared at them, uncomprehending. The women looked at eachother and sighed ruefully in unison. "Go ahead, Iza, it was your idea."
Izayoi threw her heavy hair over her shoulder and took a nervous step forward. "There are what? A hundred thousand or so youkai in Japan?" They nodded, still blankfaced. She took a deep breath, feeling Naruka behind her, supporting her. "There are millions of humans," she said seriously, watching for their reaction.
It dawned on them at the same time, like lightning out of the clear blue sky. "You are mad," Inutaisho curtly snapped, eyes narrowed. She glared at him.
It was Sakenmaru to the rescue! "I am not so certain she is, old friend," he said thoughtfully a moment later. Izayoi shot him a grateful look. "What she says is true, there are very many of them, and if convinced the threat is great enough, they might indeed be convinced to fight. If they fight, and we plan wisely, it might just work. It's a very daring plan, my dear. I know if it was up to us, neither of us would have thought of it."
She blushed prettily, drawing Inutaisho's gaze. The others watched in fascination as he stared, obviously trying very hard not to. And failing miserably. Sakenmaru and Naruka moved to get a better view of the highly entertaining spectacle. Inutaisho and Izayoi's eyes met, and they gazed at eachother for a while, not speaking, the air between them fairly crackling.
"Unless you're going to kiss her, I suggest we leave now," Sakenmaru broke in wryly, making them both jump guiltily. Naruka grinned widely.
"Certainly, let us depart," Inutaisho said with all the dignity he could muster. Which wasn't much. Stifling laughter, they and the rather humilated inuyoukai and seer walked out of the castle into the masked sunlight.
Sobriety returned with a shock when the saw the purposefully aimless undead wandering about in a decisive confusion. Sakenmaru looked as though he were about to weep when he took in the sad state of decaying disrepair his ancestral home was in. The jungle was growing over it, inch by inch, and it was impossible to miss. "What do you want to do about this?" Inutaisho asked quietly.
"Burn it," Sakenmaru said, surprising himself with the coldness in his voice. "It is tainted. Burn it to the ground. When we have won, I will rebuild it." There was a lonesome fierceness to his voice like an eagle flying over a mountain ridge, fiercely crying its mastery despite its solitude. He was alone, but over this he still had power. Inutaisho nodded his understanding and fished the flint and tinder out of Ah-Un's pack.
Moments later, the nascent flames began to lick yellowly up the moss-grown wood-and-paper walls. Sakenmaru watched, stonefaced, as timbers soaked in his childhood memories turned slowly to ash and crumbled before his eyes. Before long, the place was a raging inferno, towering flames licking the sky, vomiting black smoke. The undead, eerily, continued their disjointed, jerky waltz through the grounds, undisturbed by their own bubbling skin and melting flesh. Izayoi shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself, trying not to see but riveted nonetheless.
Until Inutaisho quietly turned her head away from the carnage with a hand, forcing her to look into his eyes (horribly reflecting the flames) instead. She did not want to look there, so she buried her face in his shoulder. He stiffened but did not move away.
The conflagration hurled millions of short-lived sparks into the heavens like prayers, dying before they ever reached anyone interested in listening. The ancient timbers groaned and shattered like bones, collapsing into the glowing ashes. The night grew warm with smoke. Green vanished into the crimsongold vengeance that devoured it mercilessly. It was a prodigious fire, really, and the five of them and Ah-Un watched with eyes blinking frequently against flying ash.
They watched until there was nothing left but glowing coals and scarred, blackened remains. Where once had stood the great and beautiful compound of the Southern rulers now smoldered only an unsightly scar on the landscape, still emanating heat and floating white detritus. The sun had risen, unnoticed, while they stood and watched in fascination the end of an era. Somehow, Izayoi had moved to face it again, and was protectively coiled in the circle of Inutaisho's arms. Strangely, they were not uncomfortable, and instinctively they knew that something had changed between them during those flame-lit hours.
Sakenmaru was kneeling with the dried, saline trails of tears streaking his cheeks to the point where they disappeared into his beard. Naruka was sitting silently at Izayoi's feet, and Jaken was asleep, snoring loudly beneath Ah-Un's imperturbable belly.
It took them a long time to rouse themselves from the trance induced by flickering fire. When they finally roused themselves, it was midday and almost hot. They were hungry, and Sakenmaru articulately cursed himself for not preserving the viable supplies left in the castle. Izayoi shared what little they had left, and they planned and plotted while they ate.
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Sesshoumaru smiled in satisfaction. The maids bustled about occupied with their various tasks, courtiers were busy with paperwork, and everyone in between was at least looking busy if not genuinely on a valuable errand. Three days, and the compound was restored to acceptable order. He felt justified in feeling just a little proud. He was only a youngling, but they had quickly learned at the needlepoint tips of his venomous claws to obey without question. And now look- everything was running like clockwork. He allowed himself a rare smile.
Then he turned his mind to his disturbingly absent father. Where was he? Why had he left without a word of explanation, and who was the mysterious human woman with him? It was worrying to think of his father, whom he greatly respected, out alone in the wilderness for unexplained reasons. The lack of explanation spoke of secrets, and secrets spoke of danger to young Sesshoumaru.
There was a deferent tapping at the shoji, and at his permission a maidservant gracefully flowed into the room, bearing a tray with his midday meal. She set it down, made an obeisance, and left without a word. He liked maide like that, the chatter-filled ones drove him up the wall. As habit dictated, he picked up the hot cup of cha and sipped it first, thoughtfully. He wondered if they'd changed the supplier- it was good, but it tasted slightly different from usual.
Most of the cupful had found its way down his throat when it started. Where before the tea had been merely a warmth in his belly, now it was hot, almost scorching. Since tea did not tend to get hotter after drunk, this was worrisome. He placed a clawed, violet-striped hand on his flat midriff and furrowed his brow. It was beginning to hurt. Sesshoumaru did not like pain, unless he was causing it to someone else. Where was this coming from?
The tea. His eyes snapped to the innocent-looking cup. He might only be a hundred years old, but he could figure out what sudden gut pain after drinking something that tastes funny meant.
Poison.
There was a traitor in the castle. He understood now his father's reason for leaving so precipitously- he was worried for his life, and for the mysterious woman's. Instead of panicking and racing for the doctor, Sesshoumaru flexed his poisonous claws and smiled a black smile full of death.
Of all the possible methods of assassinating someone, the foolish traitor had chosen poison. How utterly stupid and ignorant of them. Being a poison-bearing creature himself, he had a very high natural resistance to poison. The fact that it gave him a stomachache at all was an indication of how nasty the chosen poison truly was- most commonplace substances passed right through him without notice. His body was adept at creating antidotes- without that ability, he would have accidentally poisoned himself to death as a child many times over.
He crossed his arms behind his head and sat back, waiting for his body to take care of it. It only took a few minutes. When the unpleasant internal heat was completely gone, he stood up, stretched, and bared his teeth in a humourless grin.
It was time to go traitor-hunting.
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The traitor paced the courtyard, blank faced but internally rejoicing. The young whelp had drunk the poison! Now all that was left was waiting for the death cry to ring sweetly out over the courtyard. It would only be a few minutes now. They wanted to scream their triumph to the skies, but knew that most of the castle was still loyal and that doing so would mean immediate, painful death for them.
So they celebrated in silence.
Minutes passed, and the castle went about its business. More minutes passed, and still the castle bustled about as if everything was normal. As if their prince was not dead. Where was the death cry? Why was no one creating a fuss? Where was the uproar that should have erupted by now?
The traitor began to feel nervous. Something was not right. Had the maid lied? She'd said very plainly that he'd drunk nearly the entire cup down. No one, not even a taiyoukai, could survive that.
And so it came as a heart-stopping shock to see the young lord, apparently unharmed, walk calmly out of the compound into the courtyard. His eyes were terrifying- blank and lethal, focused and simmering with roiling anger just below the surface. The traitor froze in place. Against all likelihood, the plan had failed and the prince was still alive, and out for vengeance. Now what to do? Running would be suspicious, staying riveted to the ground like an extremely terrified stone would be a dead giveaway. So they began to walk purposefully towards an open shoji. Going somewhere, going somewhere... they desperately projected.
The relief they felt when Sesshoumaru turned away and walked in the other direction nearly bowled them over. So close... breathe. He still does not suspect. Lie in wait, try again another day...
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They had spent a fine day walking through Sakenmaru's lands towards the very tip of the small peninsula that was all he owned of the mainland. That was where, according to both Izayoi and Naruka, the mana blockage was located. All around them, the trees blazed in autumnal glory. The sun was out. It truly was a beautiful day. But beneath its lovely surface, the increasingly powerful ocean of mana seethed and sought to break the barrier between it and the surface. As much as possible, they stuck to the higher slopes, above the seething leakage flowing through the valleys.
Now at last, they stood at the site of impending apocalypse, still in time to prevent it.
It did not look very impressive- merely a clearing in the woods, sunlit and innocuous but for the object in its exact center. Izayoi looked closer and gasped- it was an exact replica of the talisman she carried within her, only much larger, perhaps twice Inutaisho's height. It was oblong, driven into the ground on its end at a drunken angle. The entire obsidian surface was inscribed with ancient, complex kanji that glowed a deep red in the shadows. It was thoroughly evil looking, and the hairs on their arms raised as though they were cold, though the day was balmy and there was little wind.
Naruka looked as though she were about to be ill. Izayoi knew why- beneath them she could feel what the great black stone was doing. The physical component of it was minor and only a tiny fraction of the whole- spreading out from its sides in awesome, monolithic arcs were spiritual barriers, higher than the they can sense the top of and deeper dug into the earth than they could follow. The barriers swung out like terrible wings into the ocean on either side of the peninsula, sweeping southwards into the shape of a giant, upended arc. The sheer size of it was utterly awe-inspiring, and those who could sense it were silent and fought not to be overwhelmed.
So this is how it works, she thought, understanding now. The overflowing mana seeped over the edges of the great bowl and poured down into the drought north of them, causing a maelstrom where they met of clashing magics from the east and west. The bulk of the trapped mana by far was behind the shimmering arc, an inconceivably vast reservoir of pent up power.
"Kami," she heard Naruka whisper, and echoed her in her own mind. She felt as though she were standing in the valley at the base of an enormous dam, knowing the sheer force of water straining behind its stone walls and knowing how easily it could crush her. She felt like an insect, insignificant and below notice. They were dealing with more than men, more than demons here. This was the work of a god, or several.
They were going to lose, she realized.
Even with all the armies of the world, there was no way to fight against something with this kind of power- it would be analogous to a dormouse attempting to slay an elephant. Utterly, truly impossible. If she tried to remove the barrier now, all it would do would be to unleash the armageddon behind it just a little sooner. All their bright hope died in a sad, tarnished flicker. It was over. There was no defense, no possible path that would prevent this. The West was doomed. Probably a large part of the East, too- the flood was too immense to direct that precisely. The northern half of Shikoku was probably already ravaged by the overflowing mana.
Oh, kami, what do we do? she prayed, knowing full well it was futile. There was nothing.
And so she was very, very surprised to hear them answer. You know, they whispered. You know what to do. Be not afraid. This is your destiny.
"No," she breathed. "Oh, please, no."
"What is it?" Naruka asked, laying a gentle hand on her shaking shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Izayoi ignored her and turned wide, shimmering eyes on Inutaisho. He met her shaken gaze with his own. They held the contact for a moment, and then she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling hot tears roll down her cheeks. "I know what to do," she said, surrendering to her fate. Hope sputtered back to life in the eyes of her companions, and for that is was almost worth it.
Almost.
"I have to go through the barrier."
Uproar met her words, and they all demanded an explanation at once. Naruka embraced her as though to hold her there and prevent her from moving, Inutaisho narrowed his eyes, and Sakenmaru sorrowed in silence. She thought Inutaisho might already understand. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she pulled away to face them, head high. "I have the matching talisman in my belly. It works by drawing mana out of the surroundings and storing it. If I use it with my magical power, I should be able to increase its power so that it draws more mana, much more. Then I will walk into the maelstrom and it will draw the flood into itself, so that the barrier can be safely removed." She paused, knowing what they were about to suggest. "It will not come out, I have tried. So please don't say it." Their mouths closed with an audible snap.
It made perfect sense, and they knew it. But there was one, glaring flaw in this plan- there was no way she would ever survive it. There would be nothing left of her when it was finished. Beyond fear now, she turned to Naruka, addressing her directly. "When the mana goes down far enough, it will be your job to remove the barrier. Make sure you put up a shield to protect you and the others from what flow is left."
She turned next to Inutaisho. "Once the barrier is gone, get everyone airborne as soon as possible. You'll be safest in the sky."
There seemed to be nothing left to say. Taking a long, laden glance at everyone to blaze their faces in her memory, she turned and walked down into the clearing.
"Wait!" Naruka cried, heart in her voice. "Aneue, don't!" Izayoi froze, and cried harder. "There must be another way! Please, don't go!"
There was none, the spirit-gods had told her so. "This is the only way," she said, voice eerily flat. "This is my destiny." Echoing the words of gods. Who was she to argue with them? Nobody. Just a pawn, expendable and worth little. Her life would be given to save that of thousands- she should feel proud and honourable, according to the books. But she didn't. All she felt was small and worthless and afraid. Every word her sister spoke tore her to bleeding pieces.
The great obsidian statue was only feet away. She put her hand on it, feeling it thrum with incredible power. It is time. We shall be waiting for you on the other side. So she was to have a welcoming party, was she? It almost made her laugh.
Before she could think about it for another moment, she pulled her hand back and walked resolutely past the stone into the end of the world.
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He watched her go, wrestling with himself. He knew she would die if she went through with her plan, knew that he should not care. Knew also that he did care, for complicated reasons he did not have time to figure out.
She was beautiful, she was courageous, she was his ally, perhaps his friend, and she was about to die. No.
He saw her walk past the stone into the maelstrom, and saw the mana seize her, bending her backwards in wrenching agony. Her hair, her beautiful hair, stood on end, flying about her like live serpents. She shook as though she would fall apart.
No!
Not entirely sure what he was going to do, he launched himself out of his standing position towards her twisting, bent form. When he hit the mana, it was like being hit by an endless bolt of lightning, energy tearing through his body at incredible speed. He fought to remain conscious. She was just up ahead- three feet at the most. They were the hardest three feet he'd ever crossed in his life.
And then she was in his arms, writhing and insensate. At least she will not feel it, he thought thankfully, and plunged his claws deep into her soft belly. He tried to disturb as little as possible, and kept his poison carefully in check. Amidst all the hot, steaming innards, it was hard to find, but eventually he felt the hard lump through her stomach wall.
It was a long shot, he knew- chances were this half-evisceration would kill her as well. But with this, there was hope- the magics offered none. With a quick, squelching tug, he removed the talisman and threw it as far away as he could.
She collapsed, twitching and eyes rolled back into her head, into his arms. The stench of blood hung heavy on the air. With the last of his strength, he hurled them both back beyond the stone to safety.
Every nerve of his body overloaded, the moment he felt them pass the barrier, he fell into unconsciousness, not even feeling the impact with the ground.
They found eachother, beyond the walls of dreaming. You saved me, she said, drifting closer to him. Why?
I do not know, he answered, and it was almost true. But not quite. Because I wanted to?
Why?
Because you are my ally.
There is more. He wished she'd leave him alone to drift. He felt thin, stretched, like if someone touched him he would split like fabric winched too tightly.
Because you are my friend.
Is that all?
Yes! he cried, frustrated. She sighed around him like mist on the breeze, caressing his spirit with cool, soothing fingers.
I don't believe you. And then she was gone, risen into consciousness like a shining bubble to the surface of a dark lake. He was left alone with his thoughts.
That is all, he tried to convince himself. She is a friend and ally and I value her. So, I did not want to see her dead. What else would there be? Little voice just out of sight seemed to chuckle mockingly, and he became angry. There is nothing else. But still he felt as though he were lying to himself, an unpleasant sensation. That is all!
...Is it not?
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A/N- Good lord, this chapter took forever to write. Sorry for the long wait.
If you're can't picture the geography of the barrier in relation to Japan, I've drawn a very crude map to demonstrate it. If you want it, review and give me your email, I'll send it to you. The proportions and island coastlines aren't anywhere near right, but it's still fairly understandable what's going on. In any case, review please! Let me know what you want to read, and I'll do my best to write towards that.