InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Remnants of the Spider ❯ The Caves Pt. 3 ( Chapter 41 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lady Sianna 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.11.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 269 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.11.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 269 | Status: Work In Progress
Remnants of the Spider
The Caves Pt. 3.
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His voice teetering on the edge of panic, Inuyasha called to Kagome again and again. Visibility was poor in the dark chamber, but he could see well enough to know that large pieces of rock were crashing to the ground. The impact shook the floor on which they stood while anxiety quickened his heart rate and overwhelmed him with a sense of helplessness.
The last time he had seen Kagome was just seconds ago when Sesshoumaru had grabbed her and dove into a small cavity. With that single act the demon had more than displayed his willingness to protect her, but having been the one to do so for so long, the hanyou at found himself in a difficult situation. At the very least he wanted to see her!! He wanted to see with his own eyes whether or not she was truly okay.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” Inuyasha breathed hoarsely, his eyes focusing on the shimmering barrier before him.
“Does this hurt?” Miroku asked Sango gently as he carefully prodded her ribs. He could scarcely hear the hanyou and at the moment was more concerned about assessing the injuries of his wife.
“No…” she panted through gritted teeth. “It’s my back…” taking a deep breath she continued, “I… I don’t think anything’s broken though.”
“Can you stand up?” Inuyasha asked as he turned to face his companions, his concern shifting to the slayer for the moment.
Bravely, Sango attempted to lift herself up but the pained expression that presented with her movements drove Miroku to place a yielding hand on her shoulder. “Don’t try and get up on your own.” he instructed worriedly. With great care, he repositioned her so that she was lying on her side. Once he was satisfied that she wasn’t in an excessive amount of pain, the monk lovingly brushed the stray hairs away from her face and tucked them carefully behind her ear. “Just relax for now, Sango. We need to figure what we should do.”
“The first thing we need to do is take down this barrier!” Inuyasha blurted out, his clawed finger aimed at the shimmering wall of which he spoke.
The monk stared at the barrier for some time before finally sharing his thoughts. “We can’t…” he stated simply. “This barrier is far too powerful. Besides,” he added before Inuyasha could interrupt, “Even if we could get through, not only would we have to deal with the bats again, but there’s no way we would be able to dig Kagome and Sesshoumaru out.”
“Keh!” Inuyasha snorted haughtily, “Speak for yourself monk! I can dig em’ out with no problem!”
“That may well be, but you could hardly do so while being attacked by bats. Sango is injured and I, even with Kirara’s help would not be able to cover you effectively while also ensuring her safety. We barely managed to escape in the first place.”
“Well then what do you suggest?!” the hanyou snapped impatiently.
Miroku stared through the barrier for a long tense moment before he finally turned in the opposite direction. “It appears,” he began slowly knowing Inuyasha was not going to like what he was about to say, “that we will have to remain separated for the moment.”
“What?!” the half-demon roared predictably. “We can’t just…”
“We don’t have another option, Inuyasha. Lord Sesshoumaru is with Kagome and I am certain that he will ensure her safety. Before we set out, he mentioned that the caves were interconnected so perhaps if we follow this tunnel, we can meet up with them again.”
Scowling, Inuyasha reluctantly absorbed the truth of his words. “In the mean time,” Miroku continued, “we need to see to Sango‘s injuries.”
Kneeling, he carefully scooped her into his arms. Trying not to jostle her too much, he placed her on Kirara’s back. To avoid exacerbating her injuries, Sango leaned into the cat’s thick mane sighing quietly and attempting to keep signs of pain from showing on her face. Her back still throbbed unpleasantly but her discomfort was not as severe now as it had been initially. Closing her eyes, she felt her husbands warm hand as it slid down her back. She drew in a sharp breath when his fingers brushed across a particularly painful spot.
“May I use your flash-light please, Inuyasha?” the monk asked as he strained to see the area he was touching.
Inuyasha retrieved the device and handed it off quickly before turning away. Apparently, the injury was very low on Sango’s back so he turned his attention elsewhere while Miroku continued with his inspection. The light allowed him to see an area approximately the size of his palm which was bright red and already beginning to swell.
“It appears to be nothing more serious than a large bruise,” the monk announced with mild relief. “However, it will not get better unless we find a way to bring the swelling down.”
“We’d better get going then,” Inuyasha spoke up, the tone of his voice suggesting a level of resignation, “I can smell water around here somewhere. We should be able to use it to make a cold compress.”
The monk nodded appreciatively before giving the huntress a reassuring smile. “I will take good care of you.” he assured, his brows waggling suggestively. Sango smiled and blushed prettily but before she could respond, a certain hanyou took the opportunity to voice his annoyance.
“Oh give it a rest and lets get out of here!” With that, Inuyasha snatched the flashlight back from Miroku and stomped away from them.
The couple exchanged another smile before the fire-cat began to follow his lead and the trio trailed after him.
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Her hands clenched tightly against the silken overcoat and soft pelt of Sesshoumaru’s elaborate attire, Kagome lay tensely beneath the demon lord and waited out the sounds of falling rocks. The cool metal of his armor pressed lightly against her chest just beneath her collarbone while the rest of him felt exceptionally warm.
Time seemed to draw out and though she was completely confident in Sesshoumaru’s abilities, she was beginning to worry how they would manage to escape. Before the entrance was blocked off she had seen that the chamber they were in was small, and the stillness of the air around them seemed to suggest that this wasn’t a tunnel like the one Miroku had found. Daiyoukai with near limitless power not withstanding, it was still really unnerving to be inside such a small dark place with no discernable way out.
There was no way to tell how much time had passed before the sound of crashing rocks began to taper off. When Kagome finally heard what sounded like the last stone rolling into place, a small relieved sigh escaped her lips. Several more seconds ticked by in which nothing seemed to happen at all. Now that there was a thick rock wall between this chamber and the one from which they had come, it was so quiet that the only thing she could hear was the soft tempo of their combined breathing. Even the deafening sound of screeching bats could no longer reach them.
Gradually, the miko’s ability to ignore the male who still hovered above her began to wane. It had somehow escaped her notice before, but now she was acutely aware of the light movement of his chest as he breathed warm puffs of air across the exposed skin of her neck. Swallowing dryly, Kagome realized that she was becoming increasingly warm and slightly… tingly.
“Umm…” she began softly as if afraid to break the silence. “I think… I think you can let me up now.” she managed all the while wondering if he could see the nervous look that surely graced her face at the moment. How well could dog demons see in the dark anyway?
For a time no answer was forthcoming and Kagome noted that the warm and tingly sensation was only becoming more pronounced as the demon lord maintained his place above her.
‘Is he even aware of the suggestiveness of our position right now?’ she wondered as color bled into her cheeks. Now that the immediate danger had passed, she was feeling a strange mixture of giddy bashfulness. They were alone together in the dark and he was lying right on top of her! It was embarrassing to admit, even to herself, but she was beginning to register a delicious but guilty sort of pleasure having him so close like this.
The miko chanced a small smile with the assumption that he couldn’t see her in the dark. ‘Stupid teenage hormones!’ she laughed mentally. Wait… she was nineteen so… yeah, that still counted! She was still a teenager, (just barely) but the suffix -teen meant that she could blame any tantalizingly inappropriate thoughts completely on her hormones!! ‘No blame for me!!’ she thought as repressed giggles teased the back of her throat. ‘That’s gonna solve so many problems!!’
Suddenly, she felt Sesshoumaru shift above her and her mind went completely blank while she waited to see what he would do. Only now did she realize that her head was still cradled in his hand and her heart began to race as the unimaginably soft skin of his cheek brushed against the right side of her face.
“You are injured,” he breathed quietly into her ear.
Something about the timbre of his voice, the warm breath that passed from his lips to brush so teasingly across her now hyper sensitive skin sent goose pimples rippling across the entire right side of her body. Before she could think to stop it, a tiny whimper escaped her lips. ‘Hormones…’ she repeated in the privacy of her mind. She felt Sesshoumaru shift again and the weight of his body gradually lifted from her. With its loss she felt cold and far more disappointed than she had expected.
“Where are you hurt?” the miko heard him ask softly, though his voice sounded a bit grainier than usual.
“Oh,” she answered breathlessly as she allowed him to pull her into a sitting position. A rock had hit her on the back near her left shoulder blade. She had forgotten all about it but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she could scarcely feel the pain returning. “My back,” she announced and attempted to reach the injury with her right hand.
“Where is your torch?” he asked, somehow managing to catch her fingers before they could find the torn flesh.
“Torch?” she asked sounding small, breathless and slightly bewildered. “Oh, you mean my flashlight!” she realized after a brief pause. Without giving it much thought, the miko retracted her hand and searched her person until she found the flashlight in the depths of her haori. She gave the device a good shake before switching it on. Though they had been in the dark for only a few moments, the light was almost blinding in the tiny space. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust and when they did, a light gasp escaped her when she saw how close Sesshoumaru still was.
With the light shining between them, the two stared at one another, each attempting to decipher the thoughts of the other. To Kagome, it seemed as if Sesshoumaru wanted to say something to her. His eyes captured and held hers for a long time before he finally took the flashlight from her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Turn around.” he instructed evenly.
Finally realizing what he intended to do the miko became slightly flustered. “Oh! You don’t need to check it. It’ll be fine!” she said quickly. “I think we should focus on getting out of here. Besides it won’t take long to heal just like the last time. Remember…?”
“Let me see,” he said as if she hadn’t spoken at all.
“Umm…” she hesitated as nerves and possibly something else began to pool heavily into the pit of her stomach. Knowing him, he wouldn’t relent until she cooperated. However, in order to show him…
The miko bit her lower lip as she considered how she could uncover the wound without removing her haori. He was still staring at her and even though his expression had hardly changed she was beginning to sense that he was growing tired of waiting.
“Uh… okay,” she finally relented as she turned her back to him. Resisting the urge to peep guardedly over her shoulder at him Kagome loosened her haori just enough so that it could be pulled down her shoulder and expose the wound.
‘Don’t say anything about my bra-strap, don’t say anything about my bra-strap, don‘t say anything about my bra-strap!!!’ she chanted mentally as she ran a shaky hand through her hair. Just a few moments ago she had been fending off naughty thoughts but now her deeply ingrained sense of modesty was getting the better of her again.
Taking a deep breath, she placed both hands in her lap and stared at the floor. She soon felt Sesshoumaru’s hand touch her lightly as he swept her hair over her right shoulder. In response her own hands curled into tight fists. “H-how bad is the wound?” she asked hoping to distract herself from the swiftly reemerging bad-girl thoughts. Feeling unnaturally warm, the miko had become hyperaware of the wayward opportunity this unexpected privacy awarded them.
“It is… fairly shallow, but it already appears to be healing.”
“Oh good…!” she said, her voice a bit louder than necessary. Before she could pull her haori back up she felt the tips of his clawed fingers trail across her skin again. ‘Oh dear Kami…!’ she thought as she felt herself shudder. ‘If he touches me like that just one more time I don’t know what I’m going to do!’
The daiyoukai’s hands retreated, and Kagome took the opportunity to order her thoughts. What was wrong with her anyway?! Sure she had had the occasional girlish fantasy like anyone else, but what she was feeling now was something entirely new. There was something very… sensual about being alone with him like this. It stirred in her a sense of exhilaration, yet it was extremely terrifying at the same time.
What had changed between them? Why was she feeling this way, why now? Even when they had slept in the same bed together she hadn’t felt like this! Maybe it was the fact that this wasn’t a fantasy. They were really here and really alone, and he had REALLY been lying on top of her just a few minutes ago! Daringly, she wondered what would happen if she turned around and kissed him.
Before she could give this much thought, the sound of a zipper being undone caught her attention and Kagome immediately turned to see what he was doing. “M-my bag, where… how… what are you doing with it?”
He spared her a quick glance before answering, “The wound needs to be cleaned.”
“Oh, um… but…” she trailed off as her mind was overwhelmed with too many thoughts to be deciphered. Finally she settled on, “Where did you find it… my bag I mean.” It was rather strange that she hadn’t noticed its absence before.
“You dropped it.” he stated simply as he retrieved her first aid kit.
“…Oh.” she answered blankly before mechanically taking the small white box from him. Retrieving a square of gauze, she moistened it with a generous amount of peroxide before handing it to him. The demon lord carefully cleaned the wound before using a small amount of poison to destroy the gauze. If there were other demons here, they might be attracted to the scent of blood so it was best not to leave a sample behind for them to track.
Chancing a glance back at him, Kagome saw that he was closing the first aid kit so she pulled her haori back into place. “Thanks.” she said as she straitened her clothes as best she could. The strange feelings that had so thoroughly ensnared her just moments ago were now beginning to fade. Vaguely, she wondered if it was just her. Sesshoumaru seemed completely unaffected. Maybe he didn’t indulge in such fantasies; or maybe… he didn’t think of her in that way. She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by that thought, but something about it didn’t seem quite right. He had kissed her after all.
“We need to find a way out of this chamber.” the daiyoukai spoke up seizing Kagome from her thoughts.
“How?” she wondered aloud.
Sesshoumaru swept the flashlight around the chamber and as they each suspected, they were surrounded by stone walls on all sides. “We will have to locate a weak spot.” he answered after a brief pause. Kagome’s brow furrowed in mild confusion but her unvoiced question was soon answered when she saw him turn from her to knock on the nearest wall. The inu lord listened carefully before selecting another spot and repeating the exercise. The miko watched as he knocked on more than a dozen spots on the wall before he finally tried the floor. Several moments later he seemed to find what he was looking for and extended a hand to her.
Kagome accepted the proffered appendage without question and was pulled against his kneeling form, her back against his chest. Blushing yet again, she sat quietly in front of him and waited to see what he would do. The demon lord wrapped an arm around her waist before handing her traveling pack and her flashlight back to her. Curious eyes trailed his every movement but the young priestess held her tongue. Before long the demon lord bent slightly at the waist and issued a single warning. “Stay down.”
With that said Sesshoumaru drew back his right fist and smashed a gaping hole into the floor. Too shocked to scream, Kagome could only gasp as the floor crumbled away beneath them. The renewed sound of crashing rocks and the feeling of weightlessness were as much terrifying as they were instantaneous, yet she somehow remembered not to drop the bag or the flashlight. As they began to fall, the priestess felt Sesshoumaru’s arm tighten around her and in no time at all, the two had descended into a spacious channel.
His demonic cloud having already formed beneath them, the demon lord quickly took them deep into the passageway to avoid the falling rocks that now made up a portion of the ceiling. When he reached a more stable area, Sesshoumaru landed releasing Kagome seconds later.
“Wow that was… exciting.” the miko observed breathlessly. “Umm… What should we do now? We need to find the others and we also need to look for the key, but I don‘t want to stay in these caves any longer than necessary.”
Sesshoumaru looked away to stare down the darkened channel that lay ahead of them. “This is your mission, Kagome. It is up to you to decide what is more pressing at the moment.”
Her expression contemplative, the miko stared up at him for several seconds. “I know!” she announced gleefully, “We can do both!”
“Are you suggesting we separate?” the inu lord asked and Kagome was left with the impression that he did not consider this an option.
“No, no,” she waved him off before reaching deep into an oversized sleeve. Smiling, she retrieved a small paper doll. Sesshoumaru’s expression turned mildly dubious as the priestess then plucked one of the shorter hairs from her messy bangs. Kneeling, she coiled the hair around the paper doll before placing it on the floor just in front of her. The daiyoukai heard her chanting quietly before a soft glow began to spread out around the combined hair and paper. Apparently satisfied, she stood back and watched as the glow grew brighter and larger.
Soon the light began to fade and in the place of the small paper doll stood what appeared to be a human child approximately seven years of age. The girl was an exact replica of what Kagome must have looked like at that age an aside from the more childlike features was her double in every way, even down to the clothes they wore. Most of the light faded away within seconds but the child’s skin continued to hold a phantomlike glow.
A small smile softening her already cherubic face, the girl executed a low bow to the one who created her. “My Lady,” she began in a voice reminiscent of Kagome’s own feminine tone, “How may I be of service to you?”
Barely holding back a delighted squeal the miko smiled up at him. “Isn’t she adorable?!” she asked rhetorically.
Though he did not answer, Sesshoumaru was finding it difficult to refute her assessment. The child was indeed a sight to behold. He watched her with interest and barely suppressed a surprised gasp when a trick of the light cause a faint stripe to appear on each of her pale cheeks. They vanished just as quickly as they had appeared when the girl looked up to him and smiled.
Something about this small being who looked so much like Kagome stirred something in him that would have been unthinkable just a few short lunar cycles ago.
He had befriended the human miko who stood so innocuously at his side; and as of late he had even become aware of more erotic feelings toward her. But as he looked at this artificial child who bore Kagome’s likeness and for the briefest of moments had also displayed the fictitiously conjured markings of his heritage, Sesshoumaru wondered…
What did his future hold; what did hers? Curiously, he could no longer imagine his own future existence devoid of Kagome’s presence. Now, seeing the face of this child he could not help but to wonder: Would he be willing to father a child with this human priestess?
Though the very idea seemed ridiculously out of place, it did not offend him the way he would have expected. It should have stirred something dark and unpleasant inside him, but strangely it did not. Instead, it merely piqued his curiosity.
His eyes instinctively drawing to the sudden movement beside him, the demon lord relinquished his train of thought as he turned to watch Kagome interact with the little girl. The miko kneeled before the child before removing the ever-present string of beads from her right wrist. “I need you to go and find Inuyasha for me.” Kagome instructed the girl before handing her the beads. “Can you feel the energy these beads are giving off?” she asked gently. When the girl nodded her response Kagome patiently continued. “Inuyasha is wearing a string of beads just like this one. If you focus on the energy given off by this portion of the rosary, it should lead you back to the one he is still wearing.”
Smiling the girl executed another low bow. “I will find him my Lady. I won’t let you down!”
Kagome stood and the child spun on her heel before breaking into a light jog. The channel in which they were currently standing branched off several yards in and the girl took the chamber to the left.
Together they watched as the girl and her pale glow disappeared into the dark. Curious in spite of himself Sesshoumaru asked, “How will she find her way back to you once she has located the others?”
Kagome smiled up at him and answered simply, “She’s a part of me, she’ll find her way back.” Then, turning to look down what appeared to be an endless tunnel, she added, “We should get going. Hopefully we can find the key before she comes back and we can all find a way out of here."
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Guided by an intangible but strengthening impulse, Kagome led them deep into the caves. They traveled mostly in silence, each having retreated to their own thoughts.
Moisture weighted the cooling air as they traveled deeper underground and each instinctively realized that they were approaching a body of water. It had been perhaps half an hour after Kagome sent her Shikigami off to find Inuyasha before she and Sesshoumaru literally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
Excited that they would soon have the first key, the miko quickened her pace and the pair soon found themselves in another large chamber. Hoping not to find more bats on the ceiling, the miko cautiously looked up and was relieved to see that this chamber was absent of any visible signs of life aside from herself and the silent inu lord next to her.
As she began to look around the dimly lit chamber she quickly found where the light was coming from. To their far right, beams of fading sunlight seeped through a hole high in the ceiling. A small smile tilted the edges of her lips and she switched her flashlight off. “The key is in this chamber.” she announced resolutely. “I’m not sure exactly where, but I know it’s here!”
Instinctively walking toward the light, the miko noticed how the scent of water grew more and more pronounced. Their combined footfalls echoing softly across the sloping floor, they soon came to a set of declining natural shelves. Crooked and uneven, the shelves scarcely resembled a damaged staircase.
Just as the miko began to consider how she would negotiate the unstable-looking slabs of stone, a powerful arm snaked its way around her waist. A surprised noise escaped her as Sesshoumaru launched them off the ground. They landed on a large stone platform almost directly beneath the delicate streams of sunlight.
When he released her, Kagome cautiously moved forward to see the expansive pool of water before them. “It’s… glowing.” she breathed astonished. She looked back to Sesshoumaru and saw in his eyes that he did not see what she did. To her miko’s eye, the water emitted a pale blue shimmer which did not appear at all natural against the pale yellow streams of diluted sunlight.
“It’s in there…” she exhaled softly, “The key is in the water.”
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The Caves Pt. 3.
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His voice teetering on the edge of panic, Inuyasha called to Kagome again and again. Visibility was poor in the dark chamber, but he could see well enough to know that large pieces of rock were crashing to the ground. The impact shook the floor on which they stood while anxiety quickened his heart rate and overwhelmed him with a sense of helplessness.
The last time he had seen Kagome was just seconds ago when Sesshoumaru had grabbed her and dove into a small cavity. With that single act the demon had more than displayed his willingness to protect her, but having been the one to do so for so long, the hanyou at found himself in a difficult situation. At the very least he wanted to see her!! He wanted to see with his own eyes whether or not she was truly okay.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” Inuyasha breathed hoarsely, his eyes focusing on the shimmering barrier before him.
“Does this hurt?” Miroku asked Sango gently as he carefully prodded her ribs. He could scarcely hear the hanyou and at the moment was more concerned about assessing the injuries of his wife.
“No…” she panted through gritted teeth. “It’s my back…” taking a deep breath she continued, “I… I don’t think anything’s broken though.”
“Can you stand up?” Inuyasha asked as he turned to face his companions, his concern shifting to the slayer for the moment.
Bravely, Sango attempted to lift herself up but the pained expression that presented with her movements drove Miroku to place a yielding hand on her shoulder. “Don’t try and get up on your own.” he instructed worriedly. With great care, he repositioned her so that she was lying on her side. Once he was satisfied that she wasn’t in an excessive amount of pain, the monk lovingly brushed the stray hairs away from her face and tucked them carefully behind her ear. “Just relax for now, Sango. We need to figure what we should do.”
“The first thing we need to do is take down this barrier!” Inuyasha blurted out, his clawed finger aimed at the shimmering wall of which he spoke.
The monk stared at the barrier for some time before finally sharing his thoughts. “We can’t…” he stated simply. “This barrier is far too powerful. Besides,” he added before Inuyasha could interrupt, “Even if we could get through, not only would we have to deal with the bats again, but there’s no way we would be able to dig Kagome and Sesshoumaru out.”
“Keh!” Inuyasha snorted haughtily, “Speak for yourself monk! I can dig em’ out with no problem!”
“That may well be, but you could hardly do so while being attacked by bats. Sango is injured and I, even with Kirara’s help would not be able to cover you effectively while also ensuring her safety. We barely managed to escape in the first place.”
“Well then what do you suggest?!” the hanyou snapped impatiently.
Miroku stared through the barrier for a long tense moment before he finally turned in the opposite direction. “It appears,” he began slowly knowing Inuyasha was not going to like what he was about to say, “that we will have to remain separated for the moment.”
“What?!” the half-demon roared predictably. “We can’t just…”
“We don’t have another option, Inuyasha. Lord Sesshoumaru is with Kagome and I am certain that he will ensure her safety. Before we set out, he mentioned that the caves were interconnected so perhaps if we follow this tunnel, we can meet up with them again.”
Scowling, Inuyasha reluctantly absorbed the truth of his words. “In the mean time,” Miroku continued, “we need to see to Sango‘s injuries.”
Kneeling, he carefully scooped her into his arms. Trying not to jostle her too much, he placed her on Kirara’s back. To avoid exacerbating her injuries, Sango leaned into the cat’s thick mane sighing quietly and attempting to keep signs of pain from showing on her face. Her back still throbbed unpleasantly but her discomfort was not as severe now as it had been initially. Closing her eyes, she felt her husbands warm hand as it slid down her back. She drew in a sharp breath when his fingers brushed across a particularly painful spot.
“May I use your flash-light please, Inuyasha?” the monk asked as he strained to see the area he was touching.
Inuyasha retrieved the device and handed it off quickly before turning away. Apparently, the injury was very low on Sango’s back so he turned his attention elsewhere while Miroku continued with his inspection. The light allowed him to see an area approximately the size of his palm which was bright red and already beginning to swell.
“It appears to be nothing more serious than a large bruise,” the monk announced with mild relief. “However, it will not get better unless we find a way to bring the swelling down.”
“We’d better get going then,” Inuyasha spoke up, the tone of his voice suggesting a level of resignation, “I can smell water around here somewhere. We should be able to use it to make a cold compress.”
The monk nodded appreciatively before giving the huntress a reassuring smile. “I will take good care of you.” he assured, his brows waggling suggestively. Sango smiled and blushed prettily but before she could respond, a certain hanyou took the opportunity to voice his annoyance.
“Oh give it a rest and lets get out of here!” With that, Inuyasha snatched the flashlight back from Miroku and stomped away from them.
The couple exchanged another smile before the fire-cat began to follow his lead and the trio trailed after him.
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Her hands clenched tightly against the silken overcoat and soft pelt of Sesshoumaru’s elaborate attire, Kagome lay tensely beneath the demon lord and waited out the sounds of falling rocks. The cool metal of his armor pressed lightly against her chest just beneath her collarbone while the rest of him felt exceptionally warm.
Time seemed to draw out and though she was completely confident in Sesshoumaru’s abilities, she was beginning to worry how they would manage to escape. Before the entrance was blocked off she had seen that the chamber they were in was small, and the stillness of the air around them seemed to suggest that this wasn’t a tunnel like the one Miroku had found. Daiyoukai with near limitless power not withstanding, it was still really unnerving to be inside such a small dark place with no discernable way out.
There was no way to tell how much time had passed before the sound of crashing rocks began to taper off. When Kagome finally heard what sounded like the last stone rolling into place, a small relieved sigh escaped her lips. Several more seconds ticked by in which nothing seemed to happen at all. Now that there was a thick rock wall between this chamber and the one from which they had come, it was so quiet that the only thing she could hear was the soft tempo of their combined breathing. Even the deafening sound of screeching bats could no longer reach them.
Gradually, the miko’s ability to ignore the male who still hovered above her began to wane. It had somehow escaped her notice before, but now she was acutely aware of the light movement of his chest as he breathed warm puffs of air across the exposed skin of her neck. Swallowing dryly, Kagome realized that she was becoming increasingly warm and slightly… tingly.
“Umm…” she began softly as if afraid to break the silence. “I think… I think you can let me up now.” she managed all the while wondering if he could see the nervous look that surely graced her face at the moment. How well could dog demons see in the dark anyway?
For a time no answer was forthcoming and Kagome noted that the warm and tingly sensation was only becoming more pronounced as the demon lord maintained his place above her.
‘Is he even aware of the suggestiveness of our position right now?’ she wondered as color bled into her cheeks. Now that the immediate danger had passed, she was feeling a strange mixture of giddy bashfulness. They were alone together in the dark and he was lying right on top of her! It was embarrassing to admit, even to herself, but she was beginning to register a delicious but guilty sort of pleasure having him so close like this.
The miko chanced a small smile with the assumption that he couldn’t see her in the dark. ‘Stupid teenage hormones!’ she laughed mentally. Wait… she was nineteen so… yeah, that still counted! She was still a teenager, (just barely) but the suffix -teen meant that she could blame any tantalizingly inappropriate thoughts completely on her hormones!! ‘No blame for me!!’ she thought as repressed giggles teased the back of her throat. ‘That’s gonna solve so many problems!!’
Suddenly, she felt Sesshoumaru shift above her and her mind went completely blank while she waited to see what he would do. Only now did she realize that her head was still cradled in his hand and her heart began to race as the unimaginably soft skin of his cheek brushed against the right side of her face.
“You are injured,” he breathed quietly into her ear.
Something about the timbre of his voice, the warm breath that passed from his lips to brush so teasingly across her now hyper sensitive skin sent goose pimples rippling across the entire right side of her body. Before she could think to stop it, a tiny whimper escaped her lips. ‘Hormones…’ she repeated in the privacy of her mind. She felt Sesshoumaru shift again and the weight of his body gradually lifted from her. With its loss she felt cold and far more disappointed than she had expected.
“Where are you hurt?” the miko heard him ask softly, though his voice sounded a bit grainier than usual.
“Oh,” she answered breathlessly as she allowed him to pull her into a sitting position. A rock had hit her on the back near her left shoulder blade. She had forgotten all about it but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she could scarcely feel the pain returning. “My back,” she announced and attempted to reach the injury with her right hand.
“Where is your torch?” he asked, somehow managing to catch her fingers before they could find the torn flesh.
“Torch?” she asked sounding small, breathless and slightly bewildered. “Oh, you mean my flashlight!” she realized after a brief pause. Without giving it much thought, the miko retracted her hand and searched her person until she found the flashlight in the depths of her haori. She gave the device a good shake before switching it on. Though they had been in the dark for only a few moments, the light was almost blinding in the tiny space. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust and when they did, a light gasp escaped her when she saw how close Sesshoumaru still was.
With the light shining between them, the two stared at one another, each attempting to decipher the thoughts of the other. To Kagome, it seemed as if Sesshoumaru wanted to say something to her. His eyes captured and held hers for a long time before he finally took the flashlight from her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Turn around.” he instructed evenly.
Finally realizing what he intended to do the miko became slightly flustered. “Oh! You don’t need to check it. It’ll be fine!” she said quickly. “I think we should focus on getting out of here. Besides it won’t take long to heal just like the last time. Remember…?”
“Let me see,” he said as if she hadn’t spoken at all.
“Umm…” she hesitated as nerves and possibly something else began to pool heavily into the pit of her stomach. Knowing him, he wouldn’t relent until she cooperated. However, in order to show him…
The miko bit her lower lip as she considered how she could uncover the wound without removing her haori. He was still staring at her and even though his expression had hardly changed she was beginning to sense that he was growing tired of waiting.
“Uh… okay,” she finally relented as she turned her back to him. Resisting the urge to peep guardedly over her shoulder at him Kagome loosened her haori just enough so that it could be pulled down her shoulder and expose the wound.
‘Don’t say anything about my bra-strap, don’t say anything about my bra-strap, don‘t say anything about my bra-strap!!!’ she chanted mentally as she ran a shaky hand through her hair. Just a few moments ago she had been fending off naughty thoughts but now her deeply ingrained sense of modesty was getting the better of her again.
Taking a deep breath, she placed both hands in her lap and stared at the floor. She soon felt Sesshoumaru’s hand touch her lightly as he swept her hair over her right shoulder. In response her own hands curled into tight fists. “H-how bad is the wound?” she asked hoping to distract herself from the swiftly reemerging bad-girl thoughts. Feeling unnaturally warm, the miko had become hyperaware of the wayward opportunity this unexpected privacy awarded them.
“It is… fairly shallow, but it already appears to be healing.”
“Oh good…!” she said, her voice a bit louder than necessary. Before she could pull her haori back up she felt the tips of his clawed fingers trail across her skin again. ‘Oh dear Kami…!’ she thought as she felt herself shudder. ‘If he touches me like that just one more time I don’t know what I’m going to do!’
The daiyoukai’s hands retreated, and Kagome took the opportunity to order her thoughts. What was wrong with her anyway?! Sure she had had the occasional girlish fantasy like anyone else, but what she was feeling now was something entirely new. There was something very… sensual about being alone with him like this. It stirred in her a sense of exhilaration, yet it was extremely terrifying at the same time.
What had changed between them? Why was she feeling this way, why now? Even when they had slept in the same bed together she hadn’t felt like this! Maybe it was the fact that this wasn’t a fantasy. They were really here and really alone, and he had REALLY been lying on top of her just a few minutes ago! Daringly, she wondered what would happen if she turned around and kissed him.
Before she could give this much thought, the sound of a zipper being undone caught her attention and Kagome immediately turned to see what he was doing. “M-my bag, where… how… what are you doing with it?”
He spared her a quick glance before answering, “The wound needs to be cleaned.”
“Oh, um… but…” she trailed off as her mind was overwhelmed with too many thoughts to be deciphered. Finally she settled on, “Where did you find it… my bag I mean.” It was rather strange that she hadn’t noticed its absence before.
“You dropped it.” he stated simply as he retrieved her first aid kit.
“…Oh.” she answered blankly before mechanically taking the small white box from him. Retrieving a square of gauze, she moistened it with a generous amount of peroxide before handing it to him. The demon lord carefully cleaned the wound before using a small amount of poison to destroy the gauze. If there were other demons here, they might be attracted to the scent of blood so it was best not to leave a sample behind for them to track.
Chancing a glance back at him, Kagome saw that he was closing the first aid kit so she pulled her haori back into place. “Thanks.” she said as she straitened her clothes as best she could. The strange feelings that had so thoroughly ensnared her just moments ago were now beginning to fade. Vaguely, she wondered if it was just her. Sesshoumaru seemed completely unaffected. Maybe he didn’t indulge in such fantasies; or maybe… he didn’t think of her in that way. She couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by that thought, but something about it didn’t seem quite right. He had kissed her after all.
“We need to find a way out of this chamber.” the daiyoukai spoke up seizing Kagome from her thoughts.
“How?” she wondered aloud.
Sesshoumaru swept the flashlight around the chamber and as they each suspected, they were surrounded by stone walls on all sides. “We will have to locate a weak spot.” he answered after a brief pause. Kagome’s brow furrowed in mild confusion but her unvoiced question was soon answered when she saw him turn from her to knock on the nearest wall. The inu lord listened carefully before selecting another spot and repeating the exercise. The miko watched as he knocked on more than a dozen spots on the wall before he finally tried the floor. Several moments later he seemed to find what he was looking for and extended a hand to her.
Kagome accepted the proffered appendage without question and was pulled against his kneeling form, her back against his chest. Blushing yet again, she sat quietly in front of him and waited to see what he would do. The demon lord wrapped an arm around her waist before handing her traveling pack and her flashlight back to her. Curious eyes trailed his every movement but the young priestess held her tongue. Before long the demon lord bent slightly at the waist and issued a single warning. “Stay down.”
With that said Sesshoumaru drew back his right fist and smashed a gaping hole into the floor. Too shocked to scream, Kagome could only gasp as the floor crumbled away beneath them. The renewed sound of crashing rocks and the feeling of weightlessness were as much terrifying as they were instantaneous, yet she somehow remembered not to drop the bag or the flashlight. As they began to fall, the priestess felt Sesshoumaru’s arm tighten around her and in no time at all, the two had descended into a spacious channel.
His demonic cloud having already formed beneath them, the demon lord quickly took them deep into the passageway to avoid the falling rocks that now made up a portion of the ceiling. When he reached a more stable area, Sesshoumaru landed releasing Kagome seconds later.
“Wow that was… exciting.” the miko observed breathlessly. “Umm… What should we do now? We need to find the others and we also need to look for the key, but I don‘t want to stay in these caves any longer than necessary.”
Sesshoumaru looked away to stare down the darkened channel that lay ahead of them. “This is your mission, Kagome. It is up to you to decide what is more pressing at the moment.”
Her expression contemplative, the miko stared up at him for several seconds. “I know!” she announced gleefully, “We can do both!”
“Are you suggesting we separate?” the inu lord asked and Kagome was left with the impression that he did not consider this an option.
“No, no,” she waved him off before reaching deep into an oversized sleeve. Smiling, she retrieved a small paper doll. Sesshoumaru’s expression turned mildly dubious as the priestess then plucked one of the shorter hairs from her messy bangs. Kneeling, she coiled the hair around the paper doll before placing it on the floor just in front of her. The daiyoukai heard her chanting quietly before a soft glow began to spread out around the combined hair and paper. Apparently satisfied, she stood back and watched as the glow grew brighter and larger.
Soon the light began to fade and in the place of the small paper doll stood what appeared to be a human child approximately seven years of age. The girl was an exact replica of what Kagome must have looked like at that age an aside from the more childlike features was her double in every way, even down to the clothes they wore. Most of the light faded away within seconds but the child’s skin continued to hold a phantomlike glow.
A small smile softening her already cherubic face, the girl executed a low bow to the one who created her. “My Lady,” she began in a voice reminiscent of Kagome’s own feminine tone, “How may I be of service to you?”
Barely holding back a delighted squeal the miko smiled up at him. “Isn’t she adorable?!” she asked rhetorically.
Though he did not answer, Sesshoumaru was finding it difficult to refute her assessment. The child was indeed a sight to behold. He watched her with interest and barely suppressed a surprised gasp when a trick of the light cause a faint stripe to appear on each of her pale cheeks. They vanished just as quickly as they had appeared when the girl looked up to him and smiled.
Something about this small being who looked so much like Kagome stirred something in him that would have been unthinkable just a few short lunar cycles ago.
He had befriended the human miko who stood so innocuously at his side; and as of late he had even become aware of more erotic feelings toward her. But as he looked at this artificial child who bore Kagome’s likeness and for the briefest of moments had also displayed the fictitiously conjured markings of his heritage, Sesshoumaru wondered…
What did his future hold; what did hers? Curiously, he could no longer imagine his own future existence devoid of Kagome’s presence. Now, seeing the face of this child he could not help but to wonder: Would he be willing to father a child with this human priestess?
Though the very idea seemed ridiculously out of place, it did not offend him the way he would have expected. It should have stirred something dark and unpleasant inside him, but strangely it did not. Instead, it merely piqued his curiosity.
His eyes instinctively drawing to the sudden movement beside him, the demon lord relinquished his train of thought as he turned to watch Kagome interact with the little girl. The miko kneeled before the child before removing the ever-present string of beads from her right wrist. “I need you to go and find Inuyasha for me.” Kagome instructed the girl before handing her the beads. “Can you feel the energy these beads are giving off?” she asked gently. When the girl nodded her response Kagome patiently continued. “Inuyasha is wearing a string of beads just like this one. If you focus on the energy given off by this portion of the rosary, it should lead you back to the one he is still wearing.”
Smiling the girl executed another low bow. “I will find him my Lady. I won’t let you down!”
Kagome stood and the child spun on her heel before breaking into a light jog. The channel in which they were currently standing branched off several yards in and the girl took the chamber to the left.
Together they watched as the girl and her pale glow disappeared into the dark. Curious in spite of himself Sesshoumaru asked, “How will she find her way back to you once she has located the others?”
Kagome smiled up at him and answered simply, “She’s a part of me, she’ll find her way back.” Then, turning to look down what appeared to be an endless tunnel, she added, “We should get going. Hopefully we can find the key before she comes back and we can all find a way out of here."
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Guided by an intangible but strengthening impulse, Kagome led them deep into the caves. They traveled mostly in silence, each having retreated to their own thoughts.
Moisture weighted the cooling air as they traveled deeper underground and each instinctively realized that they were approaching a body of water. It had been perhaps half an hour after Kagome sent her Shikigami off to find Inuyasha before she and Sesshoumaru literally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
Excited that they would soon have the first key, the miko quickened her pace and the pair soon found themselves in another large chamber. Hoping not to find more bats on the ceiling, the miko cautiously looked up and was relieved to see that this chamber was absent of any visible signs of life aside from herself and the silent inu lord next to her.
As she began to look around the dimly lit chamber she quickly found where the light was coming from. To their far right, beams of fading sunlight seeped through a hole high in the ceiling. A small smile tilted the edges of her lips and she switched her flashlight off. “The key is in this chamber.” she announced resolutely. “I’m not sure exactly where, but I know it’s here!”
Instinctively walking toward the light, the miko noticed how the scent of water grew more and more pronounced. Their combined footfalls echoing softly across the sloping floor, they soon came to a set of declining natural shelves. Crooked and uneven, the shelves scarcely resembled a damaged staircase.
Just as the miko began to consider how she would negotiate the unstable-looking slabs of stone, a powerful arm snaked its way around her waist. A surprised noise escaped her as Sesshoumaru launched them off the ground. They landed on a large stone platform almost directly beneath the delicate streams of sunlight.
When he released her, Kagome cautiously moved forward to see the expansive pool of water before them. “It’s… glowing.” she breathed astonished. She looked back to Sesshoumaru and saw in his eyes that he did not see what she did. To her miko’s eye, the water emitted a pale blue shimmer which did not appear at all natural against the pale yellow streams of diluted sunlight.
“It’s in there…” she exhaled softly, “The key is in the water.”
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