InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Someone To Watch Over Me ❯ To Wish Upon A Star ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11

*~*~*~ To Wish Upon A Star~*~*~*~

Souta stood outside under the dark sky. There was no moon tonight, but his eyes still found the North Star shining brightly. A memory held so long ago that it felt almost forgotten flowed through his mind with intense clarity.

“Souta,” nine year old Kagome stood next to her little brother as they looked out his bedroom window. Pointing up at a bright star in the moonless night sky, the girl looked at her brother. “Souta, so you see that star up there?”

“Uh huh. It's always there, isn't it?” the four year old child asked.

“That's right Souta. You see, that's papa's star. He's always there keeping watch over us and making sure that we're safe. If you feel lonely or scared, you just look up at that star, at his star, and talk to him. He'll answer you.”

“How can he answer? Mama said that Papa died.”

“He did, Souta. But he will answer. You'll hear the answer in your heart.”

“I hope you're right, Kagome.” Souta said as he knelt down in the dew damp grass and stared up through the trees at the star. “I hope that is papa.”

Turning to the knapsack he'd brought with him, Souta removed the old piece of parchment encased in a protective plastic sheet cover as well as a large single red candle and a ceremonial steel dagger. Lighting the candle as he studied the ritual he already knew by heart, the teenage boy took a deep steadying breath. He didn't know if he would survive the ritual, there wasn't any information that he could find abut anyone having performed it before. He had prepared for this, for the ritual and whatever may come after, since his sister had runaway after Shiro's return. Now, readying himself and pinning an envelope with his mother's and sister's names on the front to the outside of his knapsack, he was ready.

“I hope I'm doing this right, the directions aren't very specific and I've never done anything like this before.” Looking up at the North Star, Papa's Star, he cut into his left wrist. “All this ritual says to do is to use my blood and speak from the heart to my ancestor from afar. It said that the blood must be from an heir, well that's me. I'm your son and I need you. It's gotten so crazy here. I'm scared, Papa. I never knew you, I never got the chance, but Kagome did. Kagome talks about you like you're her hero. She needs you again. Please, please help us. Help her!”

He wasn't sure when he'd started to cry, only realizing that he was when his vision became blurred by the tears. His wrist burned from the open cut, the sound of the hissing candle drawing his attention. His blood was dripping into the flame as the paper instructed, the fire fighting not to be extinguished. The candle was itself red, but now there was a curtain of his blood staining it darker. Looking up at the star once more, Souta cried out, feeling more desperate than before.

“I don't know what to do! He's hurting Kagome! He's hurting Mama! We need you! They need you! Please, Papa, come back!”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Sesshoumaru stood out on the balcony of the headmaster's house they were staring in, staring up into the night sky. The moon had a ring around it, blood on the moon, his mother used to call it. Danger was upon him and those he loved. He needed to get back to the castle to check in on Rin and make certain that she was alright, but caution stayed his course. Both Kagome and Sango were still being plagued by constant nightmares, their frequency and intensity seeming to grow worse with each passing night.

A cold breeze blew around him, strands of his silver mane dancing gracefully upon the wind. Ginta had left to join Kouga. Sesshoumaru had felt confident to let Kanaye handle the wolf tribe in their joined efforts to put an end to the threat made by the lion taiyoukai and the humans. If the matter grew worse than anticipated, he would join them, but for now Kanaye had his confidence. Turning to the room behind him, Sesshoumaru walked back inside and closed the shoji door against the cold wind.

His brother was sleeping in an exhausted slumber, the kitsune kit curled in his arms, Kagome oddly absent. He found the girl sitting by a low window, her attention gazing up at the stars, her cheeks dampened by silent tears. He was at her side within moments, looking down upon her both curious and worried by her ever growing silence. She had been withdrawing into herself more and more as the dreams grew worse. Offering his hand to her when she looked up at him, Sesshoumaru helped the miko to her feet and led her outside to stand with him on the balcony once more.

“Talk, miko.” The soft command in his voice was unmistakable.

Kagome shook her head, not refusing him, but not knowing where to begin. She was constantly exhausted, but terrified to sleep. “I feel…I feel like I'm being hollowed out.” Her voice a bare whisper in the wind. “These dreams, they don't feel like dreams. They're too real.”

“Why have you not talked of them?” he asked her curiously. “All you say, Kagome, is that you had a nightmare or that `it was just a dream' as though it doesn't matter.”

“Dreams aren't supposed to harm you. They're not supposed to be able to hurt or control you. They make me feel crazy and out of control. I don't want to go back to that place.”

“That is the fifth time that you have mentioned being sent away. Who sent you away? What is this place you wish not to return to?”

Her scent spiked with fear and Sesshoumaru looked around for a source of danger he could identify, before realizing the fear was due to her memories. Wrapping her in his arms and growling low to comfort her, Sesshoumaru gently combed his claws through her hair.

“Know that this Sesshoumaru, nor my dimwitted hanyou brother would send you away. You have our protection, you are safe. Now tell me, what is this place?”

Releasing a deep breath as she relaxed, Kagome felt her arms wrap around Sesshoumru's waist of their own accord. Allowing herself to take comfort in his embrace and promise of protection, the girl closed her eyes, talking about a memory she had done her best to bury.

“I was six when my father died…when Shiro killed him. I told my mother, I told her what I had seen… She didn't believe me, no one did, not even grandpa. Shiro convinced her that I was mad with grief.”

“What did you see, Miko?” the taiyoukai asked when her words grew silent.

“Shiro and Daddy were arguing. Shiro, he lifted his hand and there was a ball of this...sickly black light in his hand. He pushed it into Daddy's chest. Seconds later he was dead.” Her grip on the back of his haori tightening and Seshoumaru growled softly to abate the scent of fear once again coloring her scent. “I told mom this, she wouldn't listen. She sent me away to this place that she said was supposed to help me with my grief. People who would help me see the truth. I was locked away. I wasn't allowed to call my family nor have any visitors. I was given medications, potions,” she amended remembering that he didn't know as much about her world as the others, “to keep me quiet. I was asked each day what happened to my father. When I told the truth, I was given potions that made it hard for me to think, sometimes I couldn't even walk or form words. If I stayed quiet, if I said nothing than I would be denied food until I talked. My choices were to be drugged if I told the truth, denied food if I refused to speak, or if I lied and told them what they wanted to hear - told them what Shiro had said happened, than I would be allowed one visitor… Shiro.

He would come each week to `check on my progress' as he called it. I wanted out of there so badly that I tried to escape. I was caught just outside the front door and was put in restraints and locked away again. I don't know how long they left me like that. Tied up, no food, no contact with anyone. I remember feeling to weak to move when someone did finally come to me.”

Wrapping his arms around her tighter, Sesshoumaru stroked her hair, petting her black mane in long slow strokes. To be so young and to see a parent die, only to then be betrayed by the other? Shushing her when she shivered with her fear, reliving the memory from so long ago, Sesshoumaru could only hope his presence comforted her.

“Every time they brought me food, I felt weaker; more out of touch like the living dead.”

“They were poisoning your food,” he said when she remained silent.

“Yes,” Kagome affirmed her voice breaking. “For days they poisoned my food until I refused to eat. After three weeks of not eating, Shiro had no choice but to take me home. I didn't know who to trust anymore. I didn't know who was safe. I wouldn't eat food that anyone brought me, but I would sneak crackers away in my room where no one would find them. I didn't talk to anyone for weeks. What if I said the wrong thing? Would they send me back? Souta had just turned two years old when I was brought home. I had been gone for eight months. He was too young to understand any of what was going on. I had to protect him but I didn't know how. On the day Shiro finally left, he promised me that he wasn't finished. I didn't understand back then, but I do now. What I don't understand is why.”

Looking up toward the door, Sesshoumaru met his brother's golden gaze. He knew then that Inuyasha had been privy to their conversation. The set of the hanyou's jaw, the glint of danger in his eyes said it all and the brothers nodded to each other in silent agreement. Taking hold of Kagome's hand, Sesshoumaru brought her upturned palm between them, his eyes asking for her trust as he used a single claw to cut a small line in her delicate flesh. Her soft gasp was born more of surprise than of pain as she looked at him in confusion. Repeating the action on his own hand, Sesshoumru placed their hands together, blood to blood.

“I, Sesshumaru, inu no youkai of the Western Lands, take you Kagome, into my pack as my sister. Those who you protect, I will protect. Those you call pack, I shall treat as pack. Do you, Miko Kagome, accept this Sesshoumaru as your brother?”

Struck speechless by the formality and intimacy of his actions Kagome could only nod. “You gotta say it, Wench.” Inuyasha's soft gruff voice sounded from behind her and she turned her head toward the hanyou without taking her eyes from Sesshoumaru's..

“I, Kagome, accept you Sesshoumaru as my pack mate-”

“Brother.” Both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru correct simultaneously.

“Brother,” Kagome repeated. “Those who you protect, I will protect,” she repeated the taiyoukai's words. “Those you call pack, I shall treat as pack.”

“From this day forth, it shall be know that you are blood pack of the Inu no Youkai.” Sesshoumaru stated and released their joined hands.

“I don't understand,” Kagome said studying her palm.”You cut both my hand and yours, but there's no blood, not even a scratch.”

“It is as it should be. There would only be injury if you rejected the offer of blood pack.” Sesshoumaru informed her, watching as the girl fit easily against his brother, the hanyou wrapping his arms around her from behind.

“Why would I reject you?” the girl asked as though the idea were completely foreign to her.

“Few know of the ritual, even fewer would accept.”

Looking at the girl, Sesshoumaru was unable to hide the slight smirk of amusement. Somewhere between her question and his answer she had fallen asleep. Advising his brother to her unconscious state, he stepped inside waiting for the hanyou to enter before closing the door.

Author's Note: To those who have kept coming back time and again and encouraging for updates, thank you for being such good fans. Somewhere between my passion for this story in particular and my own book that I have been working on for a while now, life got in the way. I cannot promise when the next update will come, but know that this story is not finished, not by a long shot. I don't know if I will be updating any of my other stories, as this has been the one to keep an ever present vigil in my mind.