InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Primal ❯ Vanished ( Chapter 3 )

Edited by thyme_cat

 

A/N: I know that this chapter has been a long time in coming - I told you I hadn't abandoned it! Thank to everyone who reviewed and reminded me to continue it.

 

Disclaimer: I do not own any character created by Rumiko Takahashi.

 

Chapter 3 - Vanished

 

“Kagome, I'm coming!”

 

The yell was much louder and rang with desperation and anger. It struck a chord deep within her, resonating throughout her entire body until it thrummed at her center. It unnerved her and a large part of her didn't like it. The other part wanted to sob in relief.

 

Growling, she flashed her fangs at the direction in which the voice was coming to show that it did not frighten her and let her body release its form. The colors and sounds of the world began to fade when the insistent, nagging voice shouted in her head, `No, he's coming! He said to wait for him!'

 

Solidity hit her like a punch in the chest and she staggered a moment to catch her balance on the uneven bank of the stream. Annoyed, she pushed the voice away and tried to dissolve again, only to be hit broadside by a heavy, sweaty body. Once again knocked into her corporeal form, she snarled into the face of her male, who looked dispassionately down at her as he trapped her facedown between his wounded torso and the muddy bank.

 

Tearing free of her mental stranglehold since her concentration had been broken, the voice in her head screamed, `No! Inuyasha! Help me!'

 

“Who?” she growled back in exasperation, surprising the demon lord who was trying to catch the writhing, muddy female's mouth with his hand before she could dissolve or poison him.

 

He had not heard her speak until this moment, and he could only assume that she was not speaking to him, as he had not said anything. Was she answering his half-brother? A jagged rip of jealousy tore through him and his mask cracked to show a glint of anger. His rational side may not have been sure if he wanted to keep her, but instincts told him that she was his, damn it! She had chosen him over the half-breed and he was not going to let her go back to him.

 

She slithered against him enticingly as she struggled and his body reacted accordingly. Try as he might to ignore it and despite the fact that he had just mounted her, he was hard and ready for another go. It wasn't a bad idea at that; the hanyou would not be able to refute his claim if he reinforced it in front of him.

 

Unfortunately, the female (Kagome, he now knew) was not cooperating. Growling and squirming, she seemed inordinately distracted to the point that she had not tried to paralyze him or even do much damage.

 

Glancing up as a sapling on the opposite bank shuddered violently, then toppled over the stream, Sesshomaru watched Inuyasha crash out of the forest and into view with all the grace and delicacy of a stampede of elephants. The hanyou's eyes widened as he made sense of the entwined, muddy, naked figures on the other side of the stream, and Sesshomaru had time for a mental sigh before…

 

“KAGOME!” his shout tore vocal chords and pounded against three sets of youkai eardrums.

 

Underneath him, Kagome screamed and bucked, dislodging him enough that she could lunge forward and out of his grasp. Fixing Inuyasha with a furious, violet glare, she hissed and Sesshomaru leapt back out of spraying range. Roaring inarticulately, Inuyasha dashed toward the girl and was hit with a face-full of sweetly scented vapor. He dropped like a stone at her feet.

 

She stood very still for a long moment, staring at the unconscious hanyou, face neutral though her eyes shone brightly with confusion, and then glanced up at Sesshomaru. In an instant, she was gone; her body a rapidly dispersing cloud that vanished into the stream.

 

Leaping to his feet, Sesshomaru lunged toward her fading form, cursing the second he had taken to gloat when she had brought down his half-brother. It had been the pinnacle of foolishness to assume she wouldn't have made good on her chance to escape.

 

Irritated almost beyond the point of reasonable thinking, he drew in deep breaths, trying to catch the direction in which she was moving. Her cloying fragrance was rapidly dissipating in the breeze and quickly becoming stale. Of a fresh trail, he could detect no sign. It was as if she had dissolved into the water. So, to search upstream or downstream?

 

His preoccupation was so consuming that he completely missed the approaching human scents until they were almost upon him.

 

“Whoa! I see that we might have come at an awkward time!” Miroku stopped dead in his tracks, skidding ruts into the soft riverbank as the momentum from his sprint carried him forward. Sesshomaru rose from the stream and out of his crouch, fixing him with rouged golden eyes. Water streamed down his skin in muddy rivulets and Miroku couldn't help but take a look…ah. So that's why human women would dally with youkai males. He felt a little inadequate in comparison.

 

Sango halted much more gracefully, then backpedaled several steps.

 

“Ah!” she flushed hotly and turned her back on the youkai, the thick member between his thighs burning a polarized image into her brain. Of all the sights she had wanted to see, a semi-erect Sesshomaru had not been on the list. Ever. Even thinking about Miroku like that…”Gah!”

 

No one noticed the hanyou until he stirred and groaned on the opposite bank of the stream.

 

Watching the humans splash across the stream with disinterested eyes, Sesshomaru noted that the human female's face was an alarming shade of red and that she absolutely refused to look at him, even to the point of stumbling on the slick rocks when watching her feet would have put him in her peripheral vision. Idly, he wondered on it as he let his keen nose shift through the scents for a hint of his female's direction and disregarded the sounds of the half-breed and his pack's reunion.

 

As always, his brother would only be ignored for so long. A shout and the ring of a sword being drawn from a scabbard warned Sesshomaru that his half-brother was no longer worse for the wear. Having lost his swords after his first encounter with the female, he lashed out with his energy whip, knocking Tetsusaiga from his useless brother's grasp. No further action was necessary on his part when the monk slapped an ofuda to the back of his head. Again, the hanyou was forced to the ground; the monk perched on his back and panting slightly.

 

“This is not the time for that, Inuyasha!” Miroku scolded him, desperately hoping that his ofuda would help counteract the rising of his black blood until Tetsusaiga could be returned to him. So far, so good. “He will best be able to tell us what has become of Kagome!”

 

Inuyasha raked the earth with his claws, digging deep grooves in the forest floor as he growled and cursed. However, the spell held him in place and his temper eventually cooled to somewhere around boiling point. Finally, he fixed his brother with a furious, golden glower. “Put your fucking pants on, bastard!”

 

Sesshomaru leveled a cool stare at the hanyou from the corner of his eyes. As irritating as the demand was, it did explain the human female's bizarre reaction to his presence. Humans were modest. He, an inuyoukai whose alternate form was that of a giant dog, donned clothes as a convenience. It was difficult to hang a sword from a bare hip.

 

“Please return our friend to us, Lord Sesshomaru,” Miroku pleaded respectfully once the taiyoukai had donned his hakama.

 

“You are mistaken, human. She is not your friend. And I do not have her.”

 

“Liar!” Inuyasha bellowed, red-faced and puffing as he renewed his struggle against Miroku's ofuda. “You already had her! And I'm gonna make sure you never-“

 

“So I did,” Sesshomaru confirmed, staring down his straight nose at the hanyou, whose eyes were twitching spasmodically.

 

“Inuyasha, you're not helping!” hefting Hiraikotsu reflexively, Sango was hard pressed not to vent her worry and fear by clobbering the hanyou. She didn't want to be reminded of the clearing where they had first discovered that Kagome was with Sesshomaru, nor the shocking state in which they'd found the taiyoukai.

 

“I believe it would be more beneficial to Kagome if we resume our search, rather than argue about matters best left in private,” Miroku said in that pious manner he adopted during crises as he bopped the hanyou's head with his fist.

 

“I can't fucking search with this stupid spell on me, now can I?” the hanyou ground between clenched teeth. Miroku sighed in exasperation.

 

“This Sesshomaru has no need for the help of mere humans to find his female.”

 

Inuyasha let loose a strangled yell and Miroku hurriedly slapped another ofuda to his broad, red back.

 

Sango chose to ignore the youkai's last statement to clarify a much more disturbing comment he'd made earlier. “Lord Sesshomaru,” she began as politely as could be expected in the circumstances. She still couldn't look at him and it was all she could do to speak to him. “What did you mean by, `she isn't your friend'?”

 

He turned toward her and took a step forward, enjoying her discomfort, though she held her position. “My swords?” he asked instead of answering her question, figuring that since they had been tracking them, they had probably found them.

 

“They are under a barrier where you left them, my lord,” Miroku supplied. “But Kagome?”

 

Sesshomaru blinked, his expression schooled into careful boredom to disguise his own lack of knowledge. Truly, what did he know? She was no longer human; she had chosen him to mate…or breed. She seemed to have very little sense of her previous self. He could have simply ignored the question, as he had so many others. Perhaps it was the tiny capillary of compassion that had prompted him to save Rin that now spoke through him. “She is not Kagome.”

 

XxxxxxxX

 

She who was and was not Kagome traveled upstream, her incorporeal form merging and sliding through the water. It was soothing and mesmerizing, allowing her brain a blissful moment of quiet away from the clamoring of the voice that seemed so concerned with names. It was so much simpler to be.

 

She had no concept of speed or time in this form. Direction was of no consequence. Sleek, silver fish that darted through her body were absorbed and left as empty husks; their once iridescent scales becoming dull and lifeless as their clouded orbs. The silt and sand below the water was pushed aside by jagged rocks, then the rocks became smooth pebbles, slick with algae, then was buried under sand, gritty against the tendrils of her body. Further and further she flowed, away from Inuyashas and Sesshomarus and Kagomes.

 

It couldn't always be like this, she knew. Eventually, she would need her male. She might have chosen too well, in his case, but she had the most important thing. Ultimately, if she never caught him again, he had still served his purpose. There were many other males out there who could help her later. Still, she liked that one. He had tasted good and he had pleased her.

 

The feel of the water changed, no longer exposed to the open air and rushing freely over sand, but surrounded by hard rock and being forced through a channel. She didn't mind, though it gave her more resistance. Up she flowed.

 

Finally, the drag of the water against her body was too much for even her to oppose, and she pushed out of the liquid and into the tiny fissures in the rock, following the cracks as her body stretched to its thinnest, mere particles traveling one after the other in a steady stream. It felt delightful, as if every part of her was getting a good scratch. She'd have to remember this.

 

Occasionally, she would slide through a drop of water, the cool wetness so delicate in contrast to the harshness of the rock. It tasted of green and brown and dark places. If she'd had skin, she would have shuddered in pleasure.

 

And then there was no rock, no water, only buffeting wind and the flavor of open air. She let it take her where it would, up high into clouds of vapor or through sharp needles of pine trees that fingered her amorphous shape, or brushing against the tops of long, supple blades of grass. Small youkai birds met abrupt ends, drained of their life force as they flew to fall into soft piles of dust, hidden in the grass. She would surge forward momentarily, relishing the tingle of new power as it melded with her essence, then drift with the wind.

 

A new presence entered her awareness unlike anything else she had encountered: a long, delicate youkai that swam through the air as graceful as a fish through water. Surrounded by its cool, silky youki was another entity; a sphere that radiated sadness and loss as a soft blue light that somehow pierced through the sightlessness that was her world. Her ethereal body overtook it like the gentle washing of waves on a shore, gathering the youki into itself and releasing the creature's hold on the softly pulsing orb. Like a helium balloon with its string cut, the little ball of light rose into the sky, shedding its sadness as it disappeared.

 

Quietly elated, sharing in the entity's joy at being free, she stretched herself to find more of these strange youkai, knowing in the depths of her mind that where there was one, there would be more. Soon, she had absorbed several of the wraith-like youkai, following their collective trail to what she assumed was their source.

 

A white-hot spear of pain shot through her, momentarily robbing her of her senses. Shrinking the amorphous cloud that was her body, she solidified to face this threat that had caused such agony that she fell to her knees once her legs had taken shape.

 

Staring down at her with hard, dark eyes was a female clothed in white and red, an arrow nocked to her bow and pointed directly at her. The woman's eyes soften with confusion as she stared down at her, the tip of the arrow lowering slightly as she opened her mouth to speak, “…can it be?”

 

“Is my soul so doomed that even my reincarnation must walk the earth as youkai?”

 

Kagome's eyes narrowed as she rose to stand straight. She resented this woman deep in the marrow of her bones. The reason was not forthcoming and it didn't bother her in the least. In the tumult of familiar faces and conflicting emotions and desires, this was something about which she felt no uncertainty. Faster than the woman could release her arrow, Kagome had dissolved and reformed behind her, expelling a cloud of saccharine, toxic venom. The woman whirled in place, swinging her bow to strike the creature behind her but the blow never connected. She crumpled to the ground as the miasma invaded through the pores in her clay body. Before she hit the ground, Kagome drove her claws into her neck, smashing through brittle clay and dry bone. The woman's head fell to the earth separate from her body, her eyes frozen wide in surprise before her head shattered into jagged brown shards. Strands of black hair vanished into wisps of oily, dark smoke. Brightly glowing spheres escaped from her hollow neck, darting for the heavens in a brilliant rush of blue light as her body cracked beneath the garments, then broke apart completely.

 

Kagome stared at the empty clothes with a grim kind of satisfaction. True, a very small part of her mourned, but it seemed to be sad not for this woman but for another, and it was so faint and distant that it hardly registered. More importantly, she had left her clothes and Kagome was feeling the lack of her own.

 

Shaking bits of dry clay and dust from the white kimono and red hakama, she frowned as a small pink shard fell out of the kimono and into the pile of clay. It was important; she knew this. After shrugging into the kimono and tying the hakama around her waist, she picked up the piece of jewel between her thumb and forefinger, studying it closely. However, she could discern nothing more than it was powerful and significant to her, one of many that she had been collecting. Why? She didn't know.

 

Shrugging, she dropped it into the little bottle that hung around her neck and loosened her form to glide upon the wind.

 

XxxxxxX

 

“Inuyasha, I want to find her as much as you do, but it's been a month and we haven't seen a single hair of her!” Miroku exclaimed to Inuyasha, who crossed his arms over his chest and glared out the door of Kaede's hut and into the night.

 

“Are you saying I should give up, monk? Feh, never.” It wasn't an option: he would find Kagome eventually, if he had to turn all of Japan inside out. Failure had never stopped him before. Giving up his search would mean accepting that she may never come back.

 

Miroku had known that this was going to be a difficult conversation, but something had to give. After Kagome had disappeared at the stream, they had followed the water as it flowed downstream to a giant waterfall. Sesshomaru had traveled upstream and had met with the same lack of success. With no scent to follow or trail to track, they had collected Shippo and Kirara and then scoured the woods blindly for weeks, strangely enough, teamed with Sesshomaru and his little group. They had finally stopped only two days before the new moon, despairingly traveling back to Kaede's village to replenish their supplies and maybe gain some insight from the old priestess regarding their friend's change. It was then that they had parted ways with Sesshomaru, who had no interest in listening to a “blathering old human”.

 

The fact that the taiyoukai would willingly help them find the girl, and that Inuyasha had, by and large, resisted the temptation to fight with his brother, was nothing short of a miracle. Miroku didn't understand it, and could only come to the conclusion that Sesshomaru had his own purpose for finding the girl and that Inuyasha was desperate enough to get Kagome back that he would accept help from any source. The taiyoukai's interest in Kagome was not discussed, nor was his relations with the girl before she had disappeared. Miroku didn't know the details but could guess well enough; as for Inuyasha, he had simply devolved into a state of denial.

 

“No, I'm not saying that you should give up. I am saying that we must continue with our quest to complete the jewel and destroy Naraku.”

 

“I'm not fucking-“

 

“Inuyasha! She is obviously nowhere near where we last saw her! We are just as likely to find Kagome during our travels as we are circling that river!”

 

Inuyasha was silent, turning his options over in his head as his silver ears flickered to the sounds in the village. He knew that they should continue with their quest; they had already delayed too long and it was anybody's guess what Naraku was up to now. However, he couldn't believe that they would simply bump into Kagome as they hunted the foul hanyou. Life wasn't that kind him, not to mention that his bastard brother was still searching for her. If Sesshomaru were to find her first…no, he couldn't allow that to happen. Naraku and the jewel be damned, he had to find Kagome and bring her home before that bastard could put his claws on her. The only reason he had agreed to come back to the village (“agreed” wasn't quite the right word - he had been immobilized with ofudas and slung onto Kirara's back) was because he didn't want his brother to know about his night of weakness. When Kagome was safe and sound, he owed the taiyoukai a serious ass kicking for touching her. Then, he would erase from her body and mind every lingering trace of his brother until he was satisfied that Kagome once again belonged to him.

 

Finally, Inuyasha snapped, “Idiot, who's gonna find the jewels for you without Kagome?”

 

“Perhaps the Lady Kikyou would consider-“

 

“Keh. I ain't seen her in ages.”

 

Miroku sighed; he had expected resistance but had held out hope that Inuyasha would see sense. With a heavy heart, he spoke quietly, “Sango and I are leaving in the morning. We wish you would come with us; it will be much more difficult without your help, my friend.”

 

Still not meeting the monk's eyes, Inuyasha snorted rudely. Without another word, Miroku left the hut.