InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Persistence ❯ Chapter 23 ( Chapter 23 )

Chapter 23

 

 

Sesshomaru stirred slightly, feeling a heavy throbbing from his head down to his chest. The weight of his swords tucked into his sash was missing. With effort he forced his eyes to open. Blackness met his sight and he blinked rapidly, clearing and focusing his vision. He pulled his left hand to his face but it stopped a few inches short of his ear. Shackles. His arms were shackled. This is stupid he told himself and he pulled his arms away from the walls to break the chains. They stopped a few inches from his ears. He shuffled his feet to find they were also shackled with only a few links of chain between the stone wall and the cuffs around his ankles. Aggravated, he yanked against the chains holding his arms but they did not budge. Growing more irritated he thrashed against his restraints.

 

“It's not going to work, dear cousin.” Sesshomaru looked up and spotted Takeshi standing in the shadows against the wall to his right. The dim torch cast dark shadows against his face causing the blue markings on his face to appear black. His facial expression was blank with an underlying tone of mischievous boredom.

 

“Release me,” Sesshomaru growled.

 

“No,” Takeshi answered icily. Growling low, Sesshomaru surveyed their location. The rock around them was a dull slate color and cool to the touch. His swords were propped against the wall behind Takeshi. His blood boiled at the thought of his wretched cousin touching his birth right. He would rather let Inuyasha pick his teeth with them than allow his bothersome cousin to do more than breathe on them. Takeshi noticed his heated gaze and smirked.

 

“Oh, don't worry,” he said, “I'll take good care of them.”

 

“You have no right,” Sesshomaru snarled, again pulling and struggling against the chains.

 

“As far as I can tell, until your heir is born, neither do you,” Takeshi answered tauntingly. “And don't bother struggling. While I was in China I discovered the strongest material known to man and, oddly enough, it is resistant to demon strength and poison. Tungsten and steel is not a cheap material to purchase but, in this case, I felt it was very much worth the pretty penny I would spend.”

 

“But let's not put a sour mood on this celebration,” he said as he lifted a wine skin from his obi.

 

“What celebration?” Sesshomaru ground out as he continued to struggle. The shackles were beginning to grate against his skin and cause red cuts that slowly bled.

 

Lifting the skin in a solute, Takeshi grinned wickedly. “To the beginning of the new reign of the Lord of the Western Lands - me.”

 

 

---000---

 

 

Kagome wished Sesshomaru wouldn't always steal the covers. Grabbing a fist full of blanket, she yanked on them to bring them up to her chin. Something hard and solid smacked against her hip. She muffled a yelp and sat up with a struggle. Knee me, will ya? I'll show him she grumbled to herself. Finally sitting up fully she glared at his side of the mat. Her expression softened with confusion when her eyes fell on empty blankets. Thinking that the darkness was fooling with her, she reached out and brushed her hand over the blankets. Hmmm, they're cold… then what hit me?

 

She pushed blankets out of the way to find a large rock sitting on the mat.

 

“What the hell?” she whispered to herself as she pushed the rock away from her and rubbed her hip gently. As the rock rolled across the blanket, she noted that there was a note attached to it. Using her hand she rolled the rock back to her and twisted it on the blankets until she could read the note.

 

`Come out to the Cyprus'

 

“Oh, really?” she whispered. She smiled as she struggled to stand up. Damn this belly of mine she cursed when she finally stood and wrapped her robe around her. Every once in a while Sesshomaru would send her on a short treasure hunt which often ended in a heated make out session or a foot and back massage. Kagome hoped for the latter tonight because her feet were aching like never before.

 

Quietly she slipped on fuzzy slippers and toddled outside. The spring air was crisp, wet, and cool against her exposed neck. This better be good she grumbled to herself. Though it was late April it was still a bit chilly outside, especially at night. Up ahead she could see the wide base of the ancient Cyprus. She and Sesshomaru had spent many afternoons and evenings sitting at its thick base; his arms wrapped around her while they listened to the birds and wind. It had been where they were when she took his hand and pressed it against her belly so that he could feel the baby kick for the first time. She smiled at the fond memory and walked around to the other side of the tree. When she didn't see him, she smirked and walked a little faster around the tree. He was playing with her! She huffed quietly. Two can play this game she thought before twirling around to walk as fast as she could the other way around. Before she could move a cold piece of very sticky something was pressed over her mouth. A rough hand covered her mouth while an arm wrapped around her upper arms across her chest.

 

“Don't move, miko,” a masculine voice growled in her ear. Her heart hammered in her chest when it registered that this was NOT Sesshomaru. She struggled against the person holding her, wishing her mouth wasn't covered so she could bite or scream or both. Something sharp poked her side and she froze. “If you want your kid to live you'd better knock it off, bitch. Are you going to behave?” She nodded her head, tears beginning to line her eyes. Her attacker stayed behind her and didn't allow her to see who he was. He was strong and had tied her hands behind her back, synching her wrists together tightly. She whimpered when the rough rope cut into her skin. Next came a cloth sack that was pulled roughly over her head.

 

A hand wrapped around her upper arm and jerked her forward. She stumbled slightly and gained her footing before following the forceful pull on her arm. The ground went from somewhat soft to gritty and hard as she stumbled and tried to keep up with the mad march that was set for her. Her mind whirled with questions; who was this? Why? Where was Sesshomaru?

 

 

---000---

 

Sesshomaru glared at Takeshi who leaned casually against the cave wall, sipping from the wine skin. His head throbbed with pain and when he scowled he could feel the tightness of the skin over his left eye where Takeshi had kicked him.

 

“C'mon,” a gruff voice growled in the distance. Sesshomaru squinted, trying to see who was coming into the cave. Shuffled noises echoed throughout the cave with masculine grunts and feminine squeaks and whimpers. His eyes widened in realization. Kagome. Something inside of him snapped and he began thrashing wildly, not caring that the cuffs were cutting deeply into his lower arms and ankles. Two dark figures made their way closer to the dim torch light, one stalking forward that appeared to be linked to the figure following that was slightly hunched and round. Sesshomaru knew right away that it was Kagome. They were dragging his heavily pregnant wife and mate through the countryside in nothing but pajamas, a robe, and slippers. His fists clenched and a vicious growl tore from his throat.

 

“Oh ho ho,” Takeshi chuckled, “I think you've made him angry.” Jirou pulled Kagome over to stand next to Takeshi and grunted for her to sit. She struggled but soon she was sitting with her legs off to the side. The sack was still over her head but she knew instinctively that Sesshomaru was also there, especially after the rumbled growl resounded off of the cave walls.

 

“She tried to fight me but she soon learned who's in control,” Jirou grumbled while wiping the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his haori.

 

“You will release her now,” Sesshomaru demanded. Takeshi sneered in his direction.

 

“Oh, I don't think you're in any position to be making demands, cousin. How about we show your lovely mate just what kind of condition you're in, hmmm?” He gripped the cloth that covered Kagome's head and yanked, pulling it and some of her hair. She whimpered quietly with her head down. Tears were already crawling down her cheeks. Shaking, she looked up. Her eyes widened at the sight of Sesshomaru chained against the wall. His pajama pants were tattered, ripped and stained red where he had strained against the braces holding his ankles. His t-shirt was stained with spots of wetness from sweating in the moist cave. Though he looked a bit weary, she could see in his eyes that he was nowhere near close to giving up.

 

“Kagome,” Sesshomaru whispered quietly.

 

“Mmmrrmmrroo,” she whimpered against the tape over her mouth. The growling from before picked up again, reverberating off of the cave walls. Takeshi lowered his hand to settle on the top of Kagome's head.

 

“I'd quiet down if I were you. We wouldn't want anything to happen to your heir's vessel, now, would we?” Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed. Takeshi was again trying to goad him and convince Kagome that he was just using her. She knew better than to believe any word he said to her. Over the past months Takeshi and Jirou had actively avoided both the taiyouki and his wife and Sesshomaru had done everything he could to make Kagome comfortable. The growling subsided to a low barely-there vibration after Sesshomaru's eyes settled on the sharp claws centimeters away from Kagome's temples.

 

“Of course, I could easily kill you, cousin, but look at the mess you've already made. An heir on the way; what a trivial circumstance to deal with. At first I was just going to torture you until you gave the lands to me but then I realized a different plan.” His claws drew through Kagome's hair, cutting through any knots he encountered. As his fingers trailed away, he flicked off any locks of hair that came from her head.

 

“You see, there are two ways I thought to do this. The first way is that I kill her and the baby, making it so that there is no heir and that you also lose the woman that you love. How bittersweet that would be, right cousin? To wait for a human woman for so long, to find and pup her and then… her life easily taken by the likes of me. Of course, I would demand that you be a captive audience throughout the whole event.” Takeshi ran a clawed finger down Kagome's cheek. She struggled away from him, turning her head to the side. Jirou watched hesitantly from the opposite wall of the cave.

 

“Hmph, such bad manners,” he sighed. “Or, perhaps, I should kill you first and make her watch and then kill her. Or,” he said with a malicious smile, “I might just rip the baby from her stomach and kill it while you both watch.” Jirou stiffened as his feet shuffled uneasily underneath him.

 

“Takeshi, what are you talking about? We spoke nothing of any of this business,” he rasped as he drew near to where Takeshi was standing by Kagome. “The plan was to force Sesshomaru into handing over the throne and then exile him and the woman from the Western Lands.” Takeshi's eyes slid from Sesshomaru to his father. In the dim lighting they were almost black and empty.

 

“That was your plan, Father, not mine. I will be Lord and I will make the decisions.”

 

Jirou growled. “That is NOT how we do things, Takeshi! I have worked too long and too hard for you to fuck this up now. We have no need for the girl,” he said as he stepped closer to her and crouched down, his hand extended, intent on severing the ropes that held her wrists. A shuffle of feet and the zing of metal scraping against rock later, Kagome caught the glint of a sword being held against Jirou's throat.

 

“Father, don't. I'm doing this for the both of us,” Takeshi spat. His dark bangs hung in front of his eyes, shielding Kagome's view of his face.

 

“You don't know anything anymore,” Jirou said. Kagome felt slight strain against the rope before one of the cords snapped; Jirou's claws were beginning to cut.

 

“Stop it,” Takeshi growled and pressed the sword harder against Jirou's throat, drawing deep rivulets of blood as it pierced the skin. More cords of the rope went slack around her wrists. Kagome could feel the swell of evil in the air and realized that the sword Takeshi was pressing against his father's throat was Tokijin.

 

Jirou stared up at Takeshi, feeling his claw cut through the last of the rope. “You are not my son. You're a disgrace.” Takeshi reared back and swung the sword forward in a sweeping motion. Kagome ducked to the floor as best she could while a wave of evil power gushed over and behind her. She heard the wild scream of Takeshi intermingled with the anguished cry of Jirou as Tokijin split him in two. Wet, dripping noise echoed through the cave and the scent of blood, burning flesh, and entrails wafted throughout the area. Kagome noticed Takeshi had fallen to his knees. His clothes were splattered with dark stains of red and bits of flesh were scattered around him.

 

Kagome took this chance to stumble onto her feet and run to Sesshomaru who had remained silent throughout the ordeal. She ripped the tape from her mouth and pressed herself against his body, wrapping her arms around his torso. She cried against his chest. Sesshomaru reflexively tried to wrap his arms around her but couldn't. He pulled and jerked against his shackles but felt no bending and no give from the chains. He knew she was scared but that she would be okay; no harm had come from her other than being tired.

 

Deep laughter resonated around them along with shuffling and scraping along the cave floor. Kagome grasped Sesshomaru's t-shirt before turning her head to look behind her. Sesshomaru's eyes were already locked on Takeshi who was struggling to regain his footing.

 

“One down,” he rasped as he struggled to catch his breath, “three to go.” Kagome whimpered but couldn't take her eyes off Takeshi. His eyes were black now with no light within them at all. The dark blue markings on his face seemed to sink in and become deep gouges in his flesh. Fear clouded her vision and the sight of Takeshi mingled with the image of Naraku for a mere second. Her heart exploded with fear. A muffled cry issued from Kagome's mouth as she turned around and looked at Sesshomaru with pleading eyes.

 

“Why don't you give your lovely mate one last kiss,” Takeshi said while taking a few steps closer. Sesshomaru looked at Kagome for a few more moments before leaning forward as far as he could. Kagome quickly covered the rest of the distance between them and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was bittersweet but full of passion. Her arms, once wrapped around his torso, moved up to curl around his neck, pulling her as fully against him as her large belly would allow. If she was never going to feel this again then she was going to get as close to him as she possibly could.

 

“I said kiss, not make out session,” Takeshi sneered. “Actually, while you're together like that I can kill all three with one swing. Ready to meet your worthless father?” Before either could react, Takeshi reared back with Tokijin and swung. Kagome's mind went blank as she screamed buried her face in his chest and clutched Sesshomaru's t-shirt. The scream drowned out all sound, sight, and smell until everything went white and silent. The blinding silence lasted about 15 seconds before it faded back to murky darkness and the echoes of her scream.

 

Her knuckles were white from clutching Sesshomaru's shirt and her throat was on fire. Her eyes, which had been clenched shut, fluttered open. She craned her head to the side, ready to see Takeshi still charging toward them. What she saw instead shocked her.

 

Takeshi was standing 10 feet away from them, slumped forward slightly. Pools of blood were quickly forming at his feet while more remnants of flesh and bone scattered the cave floor. His right arm had been torn from his body at the shoulder and laid a few feet away, the hand still gripping Tokijin. Rivers of blood soaked through his haori at a dangerous speed. Blood splattered from his mouth as he gasped and fell to his knees. He looked up at his captured audience.

 

“What… what did you do?” he gurgled as he fell forward and supported his body weakly with his left arm. Sesshomaru stared down at him.

 

“You just experienced a Miko's purifying power when threatened,” Sesshomaru explained calmly, “not to mention the drive of a mother to protect her own child. You should have stuck with just messing with me, Takeshi. She's something you've never seen before.” Sickening, wet burbled sounds slipped from Takeshi's lips as blood gushed from his mouth. He fell forward into the already large puddle of his own blood, gasping to bring air into his collapsed and blood-filled lungs.

 

“What happened?” Kagome whispered. She turned to look up at Sesshomaru who was already looking down at her.

 

“You happened. I saw a bright flash of light and when I opened my eyes again he had been injured. I suspect your powers came out to protect you,” Sesshomaru explained. His eyes were bright with pride and amazement. Kagome rolled the words around in her head until they fell into place.

 

“It must be like what happened when Mistress Centipede first grabbed me in the well,” she murmured.

 

“Kagome.”

 

“Hmm?” She looked up at Sesshomaru and he pulled gently on his arms, causing the chains to clink slightly against the shackles on his arms. “Oh!” She untangled herself from him and scanned the cave for something to help remove the shackles. Near one of the torches she spotted a wine skin that had a key hanging from the ties. The leather was rough and hard in the cold spring air so she took the skin along with the key to free Sesshomaru from his bonds.

 

Once unlocked and released, they slowly began their trek out of the cave. It seemed as if Takeshi had chosen a cave along the back western side of the grounds that had been used to store grain in the past centuries. The path was cold and the gravel loose at times but they slowly worked their way down the hillside and onto the edge of the garden.

 

In the distance they could hear voices. A faint light bounced through the garden with a similar light following close behind.

 

“Lady Kagome! Lord Sesshomaru! Where are you!? Lady Kagome?”

 

“Auntie Kagome! Uncle Sesshomaru! Mama says it's too late for hide and seek!”

 

As they neared closer to the castle they could make out Chimitsu and Suteki's voices calling out for them. Sesshomaru shouted into the darkness as they found the garden path and stumbled their way closer. As they rounded the bend and crossed in front of the Cyprus tree Chimitsu ran up to them.

 

“I felt a strange and strong demonic aura and then a very powerful wave of holy power waft over the area. It startled me awake and then I saw that neither of you were sleeping nor had been there for some time so I got worried,” Chimitsu explained as she offered Kagome support which she gladly accepted.

 

“Let's get into the castle then I need you to call Todaku-san,” Sesshomaru ordered while limping slightly. Small pieces of metal must have flaked off of the shackles and imbedded into the skin around his ankles. The wounds throbbed slightly where the skin had been cut open and bled.

 

Once in the den, Chimitsu helped Kagome sit back on a stuffed recliner while she picked up the phone to call Todaku. Sesshomaru left the room and returned with his cell phone to his ear as he told Shippo and Shiori to come over due to an emergency. He called Massao next, the head of the Western Court because, surely, he would need to know about what happened.

 

Twenty minutes later Todaku was hovering over Kagome, checking for tender spots and any pain she might be having but she mostly batted him away, saying that she was tired and to leave her alone. Shiori sat next to Kagome on the arm of the chair and laughed at Kagome's surly treatment of the old demon.

 

Sesshomaru took Massao and Shippo to the cave to assess the evening's events. He described how Takeshi lured him out alone and then stunned and beat him before dragging him to the cave and shackling him to the wall. With a deep growl he explained how Jirou tricked Kagome and forced her to the cave as well, binding her arms and putting a gag on her.

 

Shippo walked carefully around the immense puddles of blood and guts, taking hasty inventory of the two bodies that lay scattered the dank cave. He coughed softly as the putrid scent of decaying flesh invaded his lungs and saturated his clothing. I thought I was done with the killing and burying of dead demons, he sighed as he nudged an errant finger toward a body.

 

“So Jirou started to resist and Takeshi killed him, huh,” Shippo asked while eyeing Jirou's halved body slumped against the cave wall. Sesshomaru nodded solemnly. “But before he was killed he released Kagome from her ties and then she went to protect you. Takeshi turned on you and there was a blinding light and when you looked at him next he was missing his whole right arm and shoulder?”

 

Sesshomaru nodded again as he picked up Tokijin and Tenseiga before slipping them into his obi. It had to have been Kagome's miko powers coming to the forefront. In the past he had seen her shoot purifying arrows and watched her purify the shikon no tama but not since 500 years ago had she used her powers.

 

“Did you know she was this powerful?” Massao asked with a barely hidden smile on his face as he looked approvingly over the carnage around them. He was tapping his chin gently with three fingers, his eyes flitting here and there. He didn't have to ask to be honest; the young demon Lord would have to be blind and stupid to think otherwise.

 

“Yes,” Sesshomaru replied.

 

“Did she know she was this powerful?” he asked next, still feeling the tingle of her power in the air as it brushed against his skin.

 

“I don't believe she did. She was surprised and confused like she had no control over it,” Sesshomaru supplied.

 

“Some miko powers will manifest on their own to protect the wielder. My guess is that since you two did the aura meld that her power protected both of you and attacked the threat which, in this case, was Takeshi,” Massao said lightly.

 

“Why did you let them stay at the castle if you knew they were dangerous?” Shippo yelled, waving his arms around him. “We could have prevented this! Kagome is very pregnant anyway and we put her in danger by letting those two stay here!”

 

Massao looked at Shippo for a long moment before glancing at Sesshomaru and then down to the barely there footprints that Kagome had left on the loose dirt floor. “Some things just need to play out naturally, kit.”

 

 

---000---

 

 

An hour and a half later Massao bid the couple farewell and dragged Todaku out of the house with him before Kagome used her purifying powers on the annoying demon. Shippo and Shiori also left before Simon and Sachi realized they were gone. Yuui ran a bath for them and Sesshomaru, not wanting Kagome to fully submerge in a tub of hot and relaxing water in her highly pregnant state, demanded that she allow him to sponge bathe her.

 

She had to admit; it felt very good to let her husband's nimble fingers caress her skin. He would even wash her hair and sometimes spend hours drying it by running his fingers languidly through the damp tresses. His hands were slippery on her arms, moving the suds down to her fingertips and back up. As he moved to wash her back his hands slowed and stopped when they came to rest between her shoulder blades.

 

“Mmm, you stopped,” she mumbled. He cleared his throat and she turned her head to look at him. He was staring at her back with a vacant look upon his face. “What? What is it?”

 

“Hn,” he grunted while standing and walking over to the counter to retrieve a hand mirror. He rinsed her back and pulled her hair over her left shoulder. He guided her to stand and had her back facing the vanity mirror. He raised the mirror to eye level in front of her. “Look.”

 

Kagome's eyes focused on the mirror he held in front of her and looked at her back's reflection. There, emblazoned between her shoulder blades was a Prussian blue crescent with a fuchsia ring around it. Her eyes grew wide and she tried to reach around to touch it but couldn't reach.

 

“What is it?” she asked.

 

“I believe it is a mark from your miko powers. A battle scar if you will,” he said. “Massao believes that your miko powers came from your desire to protect me, the baby, and yourself. That is probably where the bright flash of light came from.”

 

She took the mirror from him and continued to stare at her back's reflection for a few moments before lowering it to her side. She turned to look at him with a smirk. “I don't care what you say, it doesn't count as my first tattoo,” she replied.

 

 

---000---

 

For the Cyprus tree referenced in this chapter you can find a pic on my blog http: gradualwisd0m.blogspot .com/ Apparently the tree in the picture is a 3000 year old Cyprus. I thought it was only fitting. Plus it's HUGE!

 

We're almost done, folks!