InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shivering Sands ❯ Flame ( Chapter 20 )

“Blood.”

 

Even from the distance, he could smell the distinct scent of her. It permeated his senses completely.

 

As the trio rapidly approached the castle, the thickness and strength of the scent alarmed him in its intensity, as it hinted that she had suffered a severe wound.

 

His ears were filled with the harsh sobs of Sana as he entered the castle and began striding up the stairs, his body numb at the thought of what he may see once he crested the final step. Mai glanced at Ronin worriedly as they hurriedly followed.

 

They entered the master bedroom to find Sana weeping in the doorway, as the sickening smell of blood and vomit filled the room, engulfing their heightened senses completely.

 

Before her, his sword lay on the floor with trails of blood dripping from it into the deeper pool of blood and waste. Spatter even adorned the walls.

 

“I just went to the store,” Sana said brokenly. “She's gone.” Her eyes trailed to the sword on the floor. “I came back to…this.”

 

As her voice trailed off, Sesshomaru's gaze hardened and Sana was taken aback as she looked into the eyes that had darkened to a violent crimson color. She glanced, mesmerized by his dark blue pupils before she looked to the walls once again.

 

“There's so much blood. It everywhere,” she whispered, her terror threatening to engulf her, as she considered the possibilities. Defeatedly, Sana put her head in her hands.

 

Sesshomaru quickly turned and began following the scent of Kagome's blood with Ronin close behind.

 

Mai spoke to Sana gently as she dropped a hand to Sana's shaking shoulders. “We'll find her,” she said, before she too departed.

 

~

 

In her state of unawareness, Kagome could comprehend only her searing pain for some time; it consumed her completely. In her struggle to regain consciousness, she managed to surmise that she was surrounded by a chilling, biting cold. Her body trembled violently as the wind whipped her thin night garment.

 

Abruptly, her body was enveloped by a dark covering, providing her with some warmth. This provided some warmth but her body continued shaking from the piercing air.

 

Dully, she opened her eyes and saw nothing but the blue of sky and water; her eyes were unable to focus. She gave one last effort at regaining her senses before slipping back into nothingness.

 

~

 

Sesshomaru landed in the forests just north of Sapporo, pausing to be certain that he captured the scent of her. Ronin and Mai followed in quick succession, their faces pensive. “We're pretty far north,” Mai said slowly. “Her scent is everywhere though. It's strange.”

 

“Which makes it harder to find her. I have no doubt that it is intentional.” Ronin turned in a slow circle as he sniffed the wind. “Its stronger in this direction,” he said, pointing further northeast.

 

He turned as he noticed Sesshomaru picking up a scrap of bloodstained cloth, lying upon the snow.

 

“Hers?” Mai asked quietly, and Sesshomaru nodded curtly.

 

“That's what was done, her clothing was torn to spread her scent everywhere,” Ronin surmised.

 

“She's bleeding heavily… in her condition,” Mai said worriedly.

 

Ronin glanced toward Sesshomaru. “From the looks of that room, she must have struggled with him violently,” he said slowly.

 

Sesshomaru closed the scrap tightly in his hands before he began heading further north. Once again, they resumed their former pace.

 

In short order, they reached the drift ice that surrounded the Abishiri city region. Beyond the snow-capped coast, sheets of floating ice abounded. It was difficult to tell where the land ended and the ocean began.

 

Ronin exhaled, the sound swallowed in the noise of snow, wind and sea. “I don't scent her any longer,” he said, his voice tinged with perplexity. “Neither can I,” said Mai.

 

Ronin's eyes trailed to the snow at his feet as he gazed to the floor lost in thought. “Both the barriers were broken. It is expected of the one surrounding your lands considering the size of it. A demon of moderate power could break it. But the one surrounding the castle itself, that would be extremely difficult.”

 

Mai nodded. She looked at Sesshomaru. “Do you have any idea who it could be?”

 

Sesshomaru gazed up to the sky and was silent for sometime before he voiced the thoughts that had stood in his mind the past few hours. “If I hadn't had a role in destroying him myself, I would say Naraku.”

 

Mai raised her brow. “Your enemy from long ago,” she said after a long pause. “But he's dead.”

 

Sesshomaru's eyes met hers. “Of the greater demons left, no one else has the strength or the motive, or the nerve. Or his ability to mimic Ashur as he did.”

 

“But how,” Mai wondered. “You and your younger brother and Kagome went through great lengths to kill him. You both sent him to hell.”

 

Sesshomaru mused aloud. “Considering Kagome's own ability to bypass time, his death isn't a certainty.”

 

Ronin paused in mid-stride. “You're thinking he acquired Kagome's ability to time travel?”

 

Sesshomaru's eyes followed the frozen ice drifts. “Because of the many times she escaped death in the Feudal Era, sometimes even impossibily, I became interested in the question of space-time.”

 

“It's believed if something ever existed in the future, it could not be destroyed in the past. If he ever knew of that, he'd be unable to help himself,” he said tonelessly.

 

Mai brushed the billowing snow from her face. “Damn. Where could he have taken her from here? There's nothing from this point. And we would have sensed his presence by now if he were near. ”

 

Sesshomaru closed his eyes for a memory nebulously edged into his consciousness.

 

Ronin cast his eyes about. “He brought her near this vicinity though. The remains of her clothing are not too far from here.”

 

Mai stared at the ice. “Beyond this, there are only the ice drifts. And he would hardly take her there, there is no where to go and no where to hide.”

 

His eyes flickered in realization. “Yes there is,” he said grimly before he leapt in the air and began racing across the water.

 

~

 

As she began to stir from unconsciousness, Kagome felt engulfed by an intense heat that enveloped her body. Her side ached with the pain of lying upon a hard, craggy surface. Her eyes flew open as she recalled what happened with alarm.

 

`No,” she thought numbly; her hands instinctively moved to her stomach. Her body was cramping slightly and she cradled herself in fear of what the kick had done to her son.

 

Kagome brushed her hair from her damp face as she sweat profusely. An intense pang in her chest characterized her every move.

 

Gazing upward from her position on the hard ground, she noticed the red clay dirt that surrounded her. The entire area had a reddish cast to it. Her eyes darted quickly as she realized she was underground cavern surrounded by lava flowing in underground rivers.

 

The air was inundated with steam. She shrieked at the sound of scalding as lava droplets combined with water to create steam somewhere near.

 

“So you're awake,” said the velvety voice. There he was, just as she remembered him from long ago. Long black hair, a decidedly handsome appearance that he had mimicked from a young prince from long ago; vivid red eyes still characterized his outside form, as well as his dark kimono and robes.

 

She said nothing, but breathed sharply as she tried to move from her position on the floor. “I hope I didn't hurt you too badly. I need you alive for now.”

 

She struggled to speak through her pain. “Naraku,” she said slowly, “Why?” He tilted his head slightly. “I can't believe you ask. There are old scores to settle here.” Her breathing quickened slightly as another cramp wracked her small frame, and she desperately strove to hide this from him.

 

“How are you here,” she continued huskily, “I saw you die?”

 

He came closer a gleam in his eyes. “Yes you did. However, I realized that you were there by some strange twist of fate, and had in fact traveled back in time. How can I myself not take advantage,” he said, a slow grin spreading across his face.

 

She was taken aback. “You? How? No one but InuYasha and me…” she trailed. “Oh,” she said numbly. “The sacred jewel.”

 

“Useful thing isn't it,” he said smugly. “Still, how are you here,” she said weakly as her vision blurred slightly. “You died, I saw you.”

 

“Its quite simple really, “ he said stepping even closer toward her as she closed her eyes, determined not to cringe away from him, not to show her fear. “I dispatched part of myself to the future. As I've often made and regenerated myself, it was enough. Since my time here, I've picked off demons, one by one to regain my former strength.”

 

A wave of pain so intense she felt nauseous welled and her eyes rolled slightly in her head, but she pressed on. “Why did you pretend to be Jin,” she said slowly between breaths.

 

His eyes lowered slightly. “It amused me to be so near you,” he fenced, advancing closer. She drew back as much as she could without aggregating her injury but he continued. “I found it to be great fun.”

 

He bent down and lifted her chin, forcing her to look in his eyes. “And now, I'm not going to stop all that is left of that dog is a whisper. I've already taken care of the younger brother.”

 

“Oh yes,” he said, raising his eyes in mock surprise as the color went out of her face, and a deep pang hit her chest, crippling her breathing. He bent down and touched her cheek in a strangely soft caress. “But,” he said slowly. “I may have to keep you around. ”

 

“You killed him…” she whispered in a voice so soft it was barely audible.

 

“He was becoming elderly anyway. He was only a half demon after all. InuYasha didn't have near the life span of his older brother, so you were fortunate in that regard. But,” his brow furrowed musingly, “he was waiting for you. He would have died happily if he could have just seen you. And that…puzzles me.”

 

He turned her face until her eyes met his. “What is it about you where demons can't stay away from you? That made two brothers find you irresistible?” She said nothing. “Its interest though,” he continued, “that he didn't mark you.”

 

“Oh,” he said at her eyes widening in confusion, “he didn't tell you. Sesshomaru has yet to claim you in the demon way. I guess you don't mean much to him after all,” he said casually. “Just like his father. A demon mate with a human concubine.”

 

Biting her lip to stem the pain, she reared back and slapped him as hard as she could, not even caring about the white-hot flash of pain the arced through her body; Naraku barely even flinched. `InuYasha,' she thought choking back her tears. .

“Yes,” he said, stroking her chin, as he held it firmly in his hands, stemming her attempts to free herself. “I may just keep you for myself. It will be a lot more fun that way.” With the barest touch, he pressed his lips ever so slightly against hers.

 

She swallowed heavily, her mouth full of the metallic taste of blood. “He's going to kill you,” she said her voice fading.

 

He laughed heartily and stood, turning his head curiously. She bit her lip as a stronger cramp hit her body; she refused to give him the satisfaction to know she was feeling pains that were frighteningly like childbirth. He smirked laughingly at her pain and walked away.

 

She moaned softly, as the pain from her injury mingled with that of the ever-growing pains in her belly.

 

`Sesshomaru' she sobbed to herself, the tears beginning to run down her cheeks, `where are you?'

 

~

 

Sesshomaru sped along the sky above the fast moving ice drifts, Ronin and Mai in hot pursuit. He was silent as his thoughts encompassed only one thought, reaching Kagome before it was too late.

 

His eyes narrowed as he considered the violence that had been committed against her. `It is time that I end his life, permanently.'

 

“Rishiri Island,” Mai said breathlessly. “It makes sense. It is isolated; it's one of the last undisturbed demon strongholds. I wish we could have known,” she worried. “It's getting late.”

 

“We couldn't have known,” Ronin said briskly. “We had nothing to go on.”

 

The late afternoon sun attempted fruitlessly to appear among the dense clouds. Soon it would be night.

 

~

 

Kagome struggled to contain the small sob that burst from her lips. Her pain had intensified throughout the hours, and she could visibly see the tremors racking her frame.

 

Her hair was damp from the unbearable heat; tiny wisps clung to her face that beaded with sweat. She dared not move, not only because she didn't wish to alert Naraku that she possibly in childbirth, but because of her internal injuries.

 

Blood continued to well up in her mouth and she was beginning to suspect that her ribs were broken. She breathed in quick shallow breaths, fearing that one of her shattered bones had punctured a lung. Her breath could only come in brief gasps. She was in agony from the relentless, unending pain.

 

`I'm going to die,' she thought fearfully.

 

Her lip trembled at the thought, with the realization that her situation was extremely precarious.” Her blood loss and injuries with the impending threat of childbirth portended disaster.

 

`I know it. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.'

 

Tears came to her eyes as she thought of the baby. She had felt no movement from the child for hours. She had frown so used to his constant movements that she felt an acute sense of loss now that the movement had stopped.

 

The child had moved vigorously up until the moment of her savage beating. Her mind wandered then to Naraku's earlier words about InuYasha, and her heart broke over him all over again.

 

`He's really gone.'

 

The ache, familiar to her those years since she left the him permeated her senses.

 

The realization that he was truly gone ripped the wound open afresh.

 

“I knew it.”

 

The tears filled her eyes until she couldn't see before her.

 

The deepest recess of her being cried out with the love she still felt for him.

 

She closed her eyes, and Sesshomaru rose before her, strong and relentless, and she felt a flutter ever so gentle in her chest.

 

“No,” she whispered. “I have to hold on. He will find us.”

 

She settled and lay very still and tried to will herself into unconsciousness; it was the only way she could deal with the pain that permeated even her dreams.

 

~

 

Naraku gazed out from his viewing tower within the mountain walls. He could sense that his nemesis would soon be near. “The trap is set then. And the die is cast,” he murmured.

 

His thoughts trailed to the satisfaction he would feel once Sesshomaru was utterly destroyed. His face contorted with his loathing for the briefest moment before calm returned.

 

As he passed through the winding interiors of the mount, he considered his captive. `It's a shame she's injured so,' he thought absently, somehow completely absolving himself of culpability for her present condition.

 

`Having her around could be...' He stopped where he stood. The memory of the feelings he had a long time ago for another welled forth. He shook his head and violently dug his claws into his hands. `Try as I might, I can't escape her. And she is her all over again.”

 

He turned his face into a sneer of disgust at himself. “I'll exorcise myself of this problem once and for all,” he said calmly.

 

~

 

As Kagome lay, shivering despite the intense heat, Naraku's face rose before her among the steam. He turned his head slightly. “Comfortable,” he asked wryly, reaching out to touch her cheek.

 

She made an attempt of turning her face away from him before she whimpered as another contraction struck and the pain in her chest asserted itself with full force. This time, she felt a warm flush of fluid sliding down her legs.

 

Naraku stared at the pool of liquid for a few moments and then smiled. “Interesting. Very interesting. Well,” he said after he thought for a moment, standing and staring down into Kagome's wide eyes. “Now the fun begins.”

 

~

 

Rishiri Island loomed before the trio, the dormant volcano at the center completely covered by the harsh snows of the north. A swirling spiral of clouds floated near the volcano's tip.

 

As they floated on a fast-moving sheet of ice toward the island to lessen the chance of discover, Ronin turned to Sesshomaru. “What made you think of this place?”

 

Sesshomaru was silent for some moments before he spoke. “Its similar to something he tried long ago.”

 

He looked over his shoulder toward the couple. “Naraku's forte is deceit. I doubt she's anywhere near the base of the island. If anything, he has her held near the top, perhaps even in the interior.”

 

Mai closed her eyes. “There's a barrier,” she said “And there's a terrible aura here.” A number of small demons lay limply upon the shore, weakly dragging themselves as far away from the aura as possible.

 

She noticed a small sable lying crumpled in the snow. She put her hand to its chest and felt its feeble heartbeat. “I can't believe I hadn't noticed it sooner.”

 

She gently pushed a small amount of ground up powder into the little creature's mouth. It appeared to stir and scampered away, rejuvenated enough to rush .

 

“Damn,” Ronin said frowning and rotating his neck, “Even I feel it.”

 

“Miasma, along with something purifying the mountain. He is not at all original,” Sesshomaru said, his eyes focused on the top of the mountain as he unsheathed Tensaiga.

 

He leapt forward in a fluid motion and swiped at the barrier, disintegrating it in seconds.

 

He returned to the ground and his eyes met theirs. “Once inside, we'll assess what to do.“

 

“See you all back at the ranch,” Mai said, unsheathing her weapon.

 

Ronin nodded and placed a lingering kiss to her forehead.. “Watch your back,” he warned.

 

~

 

“It seems your hero has arrived,” Naraku said airily, striding to where Kagome lay, collapsed in a small heap upon the hard, reddish rocks.

 

She made no response; in fact, she was unnaturally still.

 

Slightly alarmed, he bent down and checked her. She was breathing, but unconscious.

 

He reached out and lifted her with both hands and she murmured in protest. He gazed down at her tortured yet still beautiful face, her cheeks damp from the heat, her sweat and her tears.

 

`She looks exactly like Kikyo,' he considered, “yet, there is something about her herself.”

 

His eyes narrowed as he gazed at her prone. `She still has that hold on me,' he surmised, snorting in exasperation.

 

But suddenly to his surprise, he did not care. “Yes,” he said softly, “I will keep you for myself. After…” He gazed at her taut stomach lingeringly, his thoughts swirling. He continued walking deeper into the increasingly dark, steamy cavern until he neared a sloping slate wall with manacles.

 

“I knew these would be useful.”

 

Beneath the wall, an unusual formation of razor-sharp stalagmites arose from the ground. Rivers of hot, steamy magma blazed in between the crevices, the source of the mountains intense heat.

 

Lifting a slender arm, he attached one side of the manacles to her wrist, cuffing her to the wall some feet from the ground. The tips of her toes barely touched the ground.

 

She cried out in agony at his action, the pain bringing her back to tearful awareness. Her eyes flying to his face as he locked her other arm within it together. Another contraction struck and she writhed in the throes of her pain; she could no longer hide it.

 

He was smiling.

 

And suddenly with a sickening, horrifying sensation within the pit of her stomach, she realized just what he was planning to do.