InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Alternate Storyteller ❯ Close Encounter of the Cursed Kind ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The first sense that returned was sound. I could hear the wind as it passed through the trees. Voices murmuring. Footsteps padding softly on the floor. A shoji screen scraping in its tracks as it opened and the rustle of cloth following it. I became aware of a presence next to me and stirred, trying to open my eyes to see who my visitor was. I heard the rustle of cloth again and the shoji scraping as it moved. A voice murmured something and got a response. Rustling again, footsteps approaching, shoji moving. This time I managed to open my eyes, my body groaning as I tried to move my aching limbs.

I looked at my surroundings with blurry eyes. All I could really make out was the faint outlines of the screens against the bright sunlight and the dark wood of the ceiling. As I moved my head to the right, a gruff voice asked,

“What do you want with me?”

I tried to focus on the speaker, seeing only a red blob with a silver blob on top. It had gold pinpricks between the two. InuYasha. I squinted, trying to clear my fuzzy vision. Why was everything so hard to see?! I put the problem aside to answer his demand.

“Ka..go..me,” I managed to rasp out. I felt the atmosphere of the room change suddenly and the tension in the room thickened.

“What the fuck do you want with Kagome?!” InuYasha demanded.

“Help…me,” I rasped out, pleadingly this time, “Please.”

“’Fraid you’re outta luck, stranger,” he replied, bitterness underlining his words, “Kagome ain’t here.”

My heart sank. From his hard words, I figured he meant she wasn’t here, in this era. Something must have happened when the jewel was completed and locked Kagome out of the well in her time. Fan-‘f’ing-tastic. Well, my one hope was shot to hell and now I was stuck with the surly half-demon. I felt the stirrings of sympathy, though. I had a hard enough time being away from my family and friends, but to be separated from your heart‘s mate? I couldn’t imagine. I felt myself nodding off and finally gave in to sleep’s gentle beckoning, feeling sorrow for the lonely man beside me.

I woke up, shaking from a particularly vivid dream. I could still hear the screams of people and feel the pain coursing through my body. Just before I woke up, I remember being held in the arms of my faceless, colourless guardian. I relished in the feeling his arms gave me before taking in my surroundings again.

It was dark this time, and I was alone. As I moved, the pain didn’t show up anymore. I must have been unconscious for several days. There was a fire crackling in the fire pit, casting flickering shadows on the screens. I could hear very faint voices somewhere in the home. As I struggled to focus on them, one rose in volume, clearly angry.

“I don’t fucking care! She’s been asking for Kagome! Everyone knows what happened after the Jewel was completed, so why is she asking for her now?!” A murmured voice responded but got cut off.

“NO! I don’t fucking care what her story is! She smells strange, looks stranger, and she’s got that fucking bastard’s markings on her wrist. She’s related to him somehow and there’s no fucking way I’m gonna let her wander around if she‘s one of his allies!!!”

Oh shit! I looked at my hands. They were bare! Not only was my tattoo visible, but the concealment spell was off! Now he knew I was gaijin and thought I was Sesshoumaru‘s ally.

“In fact,” InuYasha continued, now bellowing, “I think I’ll go fucking get her and use my claws on her until she spills whatever fucking guts she‘s got left!”

Shouts rose up and the sounds of a struggle reached me. I looked around the room in a panic, then sighed in relief. My clothes and armour were on the left side of my bed, clean and repaired. Tomoshibi lay on top, seemingly composed and awaiting my orders, and my hand wrapping was with it as well. My small bag of belongings was thankfully intact. I wandered around as quietly as my tired, stiff body would let me and got dressed. Making sure the armour and spell were in place, I snuck outside onto the veranda. I searched for something to climb down, since I was one level above the ground, and out of the corner of my eye, found some old bedding lying in one corner of my room. I made quick work of my make-shift rope and secured it to the railing, scurrying to get over the edge as quietly as possible. I made it to the ground, checked for signs of possible interference, and made good on my escape.

I jogged through the forest with no idea about the direction. All I wanted was to put as much distance as possible between me and that bloody moron. The sky lightened to navy, then dark blue, as I stood atop a hill, looking for a specific destination. Fiery colours erupted from the horizon and spread as the sun peeked over the edge. As I watched the brilliant display, I finally decided to head north. The mountains looked intimidating. However, I doubted InuYasha would pursue me that far. I was surprised he hadn’t hunted me down already, but counted my blessings all the same. Heaving a sigh, I trudged down the hill and looked to the massive peaks of stone as my friends.

I spent the next several weeks labouring through the rough, steep valleys, steadily making my way north. Several times I had to deal with wild animals and lesser demons, which was unsurprising since this was, for all intents and purposes, uninhabited land. The pickings were slim, as I found out the first few days I was wandering through the bleak highlands, which would account for the attacks.

I originally planned on crossing the ranges to get to the west coast, but was thwarted by the unpredictable weather that high up in the passes. With fall approaching, I had to get somewhere to wait out the winter, but it wasn’t looking good. It had been several days since I left the last village. I had taken to sleeping in caves or under overhangs and was now eating roots and the few berries I could find. I finally gave up and descended into the river valley a few days later, following the rushing water north once again. I had no idea where the hell I was in relation to Musashi’s Domain or anything else, but ploughed on in the hopes of finding some answers.

Two days later, I reached a fairly large town sitting right next to the river. Relieved to be in civilization once again, I hunted out the nearest inn and promptly collapsed onto the sleeping mat. I didn’t wake up until the next morning, feeling better than I had in a long time. I took the first real bath I’d had in weeks and dressed in the first clean clothes I’d seen in months. At breakfast I stuffed my greedy gut and then headed out to amble around and enjoy the greenery.

I spent an enjoyable couple of hours just wandering around and returned to the inn, intent on finding my geographical position.

What I wouldn’t give for a GPS right about now, I thought as I searched for the innkeeper. Hell, a compass would be great!

I found the headman in the gardens, checking on the help as they prepared everything for the coming of winter. On seeing my approach, he greeted me and we exchanged pleasantries. I questioned him about the area and the town’s position.

“We are roughly six days’ travel from Sendai,” my host explained, “There is a second river that comes from the west on the other side of the town.”

Six days from Sendai. The only place I could think of that was in the mountains and that close to Sendai was Morioka. Well, at least I had an idea of my location. And the western river confirmed it. The only other town this far north with two major rivers was Hirosaki, which was close enough to the Sea of Japan that I would’ve known right away. The second river was a great find, since all I had to do was follow it through the mountains to get to the western coast.

With a plan forming in my mind, I thanked the innkeeper and went back to my room to wait for supper. I knelt on the floor and though hard.

Hmm. Since that problem’s solved, I should stock up on supplies and prepare to leave within the next couple of days, I mulled over my new information. I’ve lost InuYasha, otherwise he’d have been using me for target practice by now. InuYasha brought to mind the reason I had gone to see him in the first place. Despair flowed through me.

What am I supposed to do now? I thought bleakly, With Kagome gone, I lost my only chance of actually getting some sort of answer. I sighed. Guess I’ll wander around and hope I stumble on something. A new thought popped up and I mentally smacked my forehead, I bet I could’ve talked to Miroku and I forgot to try approaching Kaede! I shook my head at my own stupidity.

Looking at the screen, I noticed the sun had sunk lower, casting shadows on the floor, meaning it was almost time for dinner. I stood up and stretched, drooling from the smells wafting through the inn. I headed eagerly for the common room to stuff my greedy gut once more.

After the sumptuous meal of hot, grilled fish with warm rice and crunchy vegetables, I sat and listened to the conversation around me. Because of Morioka’s position, it was a hub of sorts for news from the rest of the lands, giving me a wealth of information ranging from politics to travel to religion. The wars were still on, but becoming less frequent, the weather was looking to be fierce for the coming winter (Hooray! Just what I need.), and some monks were on the move, hoping to make the South before the passes were closed. A group of men in particular caught my attention. They had come up from around Edo and were talking about a battle that had apparently taken place shortly after my escape.

“Indeed,” an older man with an eye patch told his audience, “There was a great battle between the lord of the realm and his brother. The land for several miles around the center of the battle was scored from their magical weapons.”

My heart leapt. Sesshoumaru must’ve found InuYasha when his brother was searching for me. Wish I could’ve seen the battle! I focused on the group once more.

“How do you know all this?” asked a young man bearing a rather large katana and armour that had seen better days.

“We were camped out on a hill the night it happened. The view was clear because of the full moon,” answered one of the storyteller’s companions, a hard-looking guy with a short beard and thick ponytail, “The strangest thing though,” he continued, “was the demon lord himself. He had hair as black as a moonless night, yet I know he was Lord InuYasha‘s brother.” The young man made a sound of disbelief.

“How is it possible they did not see you when the damage path was so wide? And how could you see those details when you were so far away?” he challenged.

“We do not ask the gods why they protected us,” the old man answered sternly, “we simply accept their decisions and be grateful. As for the details, I saw them as sure as you stand here now.” The younger man didn’t look convinced and retired for the night, disgruntled. The rest of the group left shortly afterwards, leaving me to ponder what I’d just heard.

What’s going on? I know this place is weird to begin with, but Sesshoumaru with black hair? He doesn’t have a human night! And it wasn’t the New Moon because InuYasha was still demonic. I was completely flabbergasted and puzzled. I kept drawing a blank, until the conversation all those weeks ago…

The curse. That’s the only thing that would explain it. What kind of curse, though? When I last saw him, he looked like he always does, but those guys saw him with dark hair. Well, they thought they did, but only Sesshoumaru could battle with InuYasha like that. I was drawn from my thoughts when a serving wench came to ask me if I needed anything else. I realized how late it was and sent her off, planning for my departure as I got ready for bed.

Day after tomorrow, as I drifted off.

The day of my departure saw me running around in a panic as I tried to find the last of my supplies. I mentally went over my checklist.

Armour, a change of underwear, food, weapons, I patted my body, sutras, clothing, concealment. Everything’s here. I picked up my bundle and headed for the front door, going over the advice of the headman again. Praying I got it right, I paid for my stay and walked into the early morning light. The sights in the street told me that its people had been up for some time, with the merchants setting up and children running errands for their parents. Once at the west river, I turned and faced the mountains I was supposed to somehow overcome. Heaving what must have been the millionth sigh in two days, I began my trek.

The first week was fine, since I was still in the valley and the hike was relatively easy. The second week took me deep into the mountains themselves, making it harder to find food, water, and a path that wouldn’t be my death warrant. Roughly twenty-two days into the journey, I was ready to go back and stay put, regardless of whether or not InuYasha tracked me down and beat me into the next millennium. The paths, if there were any, were narrow and very high. I almost met my Maker a few times.

So I sat for half a day and had a pity party for myself. I was so caught up in drowning in my own sorrow I didn’t notice the change in the weather. It had been intermittently partly sunny and fully clouded over for most of the trip, with a noticeable bite in the air. Now it was snowing.

Damn right “Woe is me”! as I looked at the sky with despair, What the hell am I supposed to do now?!?! I’m literally in the middle of nowhere with pretty much nothing to my name. Not only that, but I had had the feeling of being followed for the past couple of days. I lost I don’t know how much time just trying to evade and mask my presence. The last thing I needed was an ambush in the middle of the night.

I spent a few more minutes contemplating the turn my life had taken and then hauled my butt up to attempt to continue on before the dark came. I managed another half of a mile before giving up. By now, the snow was falling thick and fast, making it extremely dangerous to try trekking the high pass anymore today. I searched frantically for shelter before I lost my vision and found a small cave around the next bend. It sat sixty feet back from, and ten feet above the edge of a wide plateau that was populated by some scrubby bushes and a small and partially-frozen stream. I took a quick look inside, and after determining it was safe, hunted down a few scrawny twigs dry enough to use for the watchfire; for a watchfire it would be. There was no way I was going to sleep with my ring - and instincts - now blaring a warning about a demonic presence in the nearby area. I started the fire after ten minutes of swearing and cursing the twigs’ parentage. It still smoked more than heated, but it was better than nothing. I sat facing the cave mouth, next to the flickering tongues, and waited as the demon came closer. Just as my gut was going haywire and I stood to face the threat, a small figure burst up in front of my shelter, babbling something about “his lord needing help”.

Fuck me! It’s Jaken! What the hell is he doing here?! And what the hell is he screeching about? I grabbed him and smacked him across the face. Hard.

“Who do you think you are, striking me in such a manner, you filthy human?!” he screamed, brandishing his replacement phallus at me once again.

“Shut up and tell me why you’re here in the first place, Jaken!” I bellowed. He was still hopping around, so I grabbed his collar and shook him for good measure. He calmed down somewhat at my actions, and demanded that I put him down. I did so, and after he straightened his appearance, which left much to be desired, and gathered his wits, he faced me and began to explain with the hysterical note still in his voice.

“Sesshoumaru-sama was following you, against my good advice, when it happened,” he began, “and in his haste to find you, he lost track of the moon cycle, but continued on anyway when his Time came upon him.”

I was totally confused. What ’Time’? A mating cycle? A mind-melding need? He couldn’t possibly mean a time of vulnerability. That was InuYasha’s department, not his brother’s. I glared at the toad sternly.

“This had better not be a joke, toad, or you’ll be sorry you ever laid eyes on me!”

“No, no!” he cried, “’Tis not in jest that I sought you. The weather has made my lord gravely ill and he has need of your filthy human assistance!”

Sesshoumaru was sick? And needed human assistance? I was sick of his riddles and told him to bring Sesshoumaru here if he was so helpless. Jaken eagerly agreed and raced out of the cave as fast as his short little legs would carry him. After fifteen minutes of pacing and frequent glances into the darkness, Jaken came up the ledge with a large white…thing trailing behind. As they advanced into the paltry light of the fire, my jaw dropped.

Yes, the thing in white was Sesshoumaru, but he was totally human. And what a drop-dead gorgeous human he was. Black hair cascading in thick, silky waves to his calves, with dark, rich eyes and features as fine as when he was full demon. Basically, the same looks but with black hair, dark eyes, no markings and a black mokomoko-sama.

“What are you staring at, human?” he rasped. Rasped? I took a closer look at him. His hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, as his breath rattled in his lungs. His posture spoke of pain and exhaustion, something I wasn’t used to seeing in the usually-stoic and proud demon lord. His face was what caught my attention, though. He was flushed with a fever, and a good look at the brightness in his eyes confirmed it; he was sick with some kind of bug.

I sprung into action and quickly laid out my thin bedding between the back of the cave and the fire and told Jaken to get him on it. Sesshoumaru seemed to balk at the attention, claiming he wasn’t weak like me, but virtually collapsed onto the blankets all the same. I put some ice and snow on to melt and went over to check on my very ill charge. I checked his pulse at his wrist, while Jaken ran around getting things. I sighed, concerned about the weak beat I felt under my fingertips. I felt Sesshoumaru’s forehead as well, which was burning and sweaty. As I went to check on the water, he started shaking. I sighed once again and looked around for anything that could be used as a blanket.

“Hey, Jaken,” I called softly to the now-weeping retainer. He looked over at me. “Get his outer kimono off and use it as a blanket for him.” He looked terrified at the request, but struggled to do as I told him. I brought the water over and put it down next to Sesshoumaru while Jaken spread his lord’s red and white clothing over him. I knelt next to him and pulled my outer robe off. Jaken looked about to protest, but I silenced him with a Glare of Death. I spread the cloth over the demon lord’s lower body as a harsh cough racked his poor human body. I felt sorry for him, remembering what it was like to be that sick, and returned to my preparations.

“What ails him, human?” Jaken demanded after a moment of silence.

“I’m not sure,” I replied, “but whatever it is, it’s probably going to require a priestess to heal him.” Jaken looked horrified at the thought. Not that I blamed him. If we approached a miko, she’d purify Jaken on the spot and try to do the same to the figure on the bed as well, once she found out who he was. Sesshoumaru stirred at my words and stared in my general direction, unable to focus because of the fever.

“No,” he forced out, “This Sesshoumaru…will not…go to a human…witch…for assistance.”

“You’d have better luck with them than with me!” I retorted, “I can heal basic ailments, but not whatever it is you’re suffering from.”

“This…Sesshoumaru…refuses…to go…to a lowly human…for help,” he answered in turn. I gawked at him. What was I? The lowest scum on the scum of the earth?

“In case you haven’t noticed, I am a lowly human,” What the hell was he thinking? It must’ve been the fever addling his brain or something when he decided to show up. “So why did you come to me in the first place?”

“Circumstances…forced me…to reveal my…presence.” Score! An opening to the subject that brought him here in the first place.

“And what circumstances would those be?” I asked eagerly. That set Jaken off on a rant about ‘why should his lord answer a lowly human?’ The disdain in Sesshoumaru’s eyes was enough to make me realize he wasn’t going to answer me. At least, not yet. He turned his gaze away from me and drifted off to sleep.

I spent the next while pondering what I was going to do with my two ’guests’. My thoughts turned to the conversation I had overheard back in Morioka. “Circumstances“, eh? I didn’t know where to start with that if they weren’t going to give up any details and a glance out the cave opening showed a black pit with the occasional flash of white snow. Great. No way out, even if we could move. Sesshoumaru was no longer in any condition to move a foot, let alone make the trek to one of the villages on the other end of the river. And he was getting steadily worse. His fever was raging and he shook with the chills while his body was soaked in sweat from being overheated.

As the fever progressed, he began hallucinating as well. That frightened me, as he called out to his father and thrashed violently when he spoke of his brother. He mumbled gibberish in his restive dozing, and a few times, he even reached out for me while muttering some name I couldn‘t make out, searching desperately for a hand to grasp. I was sorely tempted to hold his, but I didn’t know what he was suffering from, so I denied myself the giddiness I’m sure it would have induced.

Jaken had finally drifted off after several hours of pacing and worrying to the point of my almost committing homicide. And I was scared. I had no idea what was wrong and my supply of herbs was almost too old to do any good. I simply kept bathing Sesshoumaru’s face and neck to keep his fever somewhat in check. All the while, I kept watch for anything threatening, hoping the storm was too fierce for anything to move in. At least the toad could offer some support if we were attacked, but I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

A few hours before dawn - at least, as far as I could tell - Sesshoumaru stopped muttering and thrashing and began having breathing problems. Jaken went into a full-blown panic and threatened to burn me to a crisp if I didn’t heal his lord that instant. I was too scared about the sudden turn of events to care about him, and rushed to boil some of the herbs that were supposed to help with breathing problems. As the herbs cooked and released their scent, I went over to the demon lord’s prone figure and put my ear to his chest. Every time he took a breath in, I could hear a crackling in his lungs that had a squishy, wet-sounding quality to it. When he exhaled, he moaned/groaned and the same crackling sound accompanied it.

Pneumonia.

I had no idea what to use for it. The only healing I had done had been for summer colds and the usual injuries that came with the nice weather. Pneumonia was something completely out of my range and as Sesshoumaru lay there, I freaked. I jumped up from my spot on the floor and made for the front of the cave. The snow had tapered to a light dusting over the last hour, so I took off into the early morning light.

I didn’t care where I went. I just wanted to get away from the impending death of a fellow being that would be my fault. I faintly heard Jaken screaming at me to come back and finish what I had started, but I took off down the slope to where I remember the path last was.

After running as best I could in the deep snow, I collapsed where I stopped, sobbing for my suck-tastic lot in life and the fact that Sesshoumaru was dying. Dying! And I couldn’t even help to ease his pain before he made for the Other Side. I frantically went over everything that Hoshi had taught me, but I couldn’t remember her saying anything about chronic breathing afflictions. Jaken’s shrieking reached my ears again. His lord was getting worse, struggling to breathe even more. With tears still streaming down my face, I trudged back down the path and clawed my way back up the incline. As soon as I reappeared at the mouth of the cave, Jaken, the stupid ass, tried to fry me.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” I screamed at him, “I can’t save him if I’m a pile of ashes on the floor!” He seemed beyond reason and fired at me again, coming dangerously close to slagging Sesshoumaru this time.

“Hey, dumb ass! Try that again and you’ll take Sesshoumaru-sama out as well!” I pointed out, still screaming. That knocked some sense into him finally. Once I was sure the retainer wasn’t going to do anything stupider than he already had, I pulled out every herb I had packed away for the trip.

I had some cooking herbs and a few miscellaneous plants I had picked up from my travels. The dried, flaky things at the bottom of my bag were out, so the cooking herbs and some funny-looking grayish-green plants were our only hope. The strange plant kind of reminded me of atheleas. I almost started giggling as I chucked the water and kept the soggy herbs, quickly turning them into a paste to spread onto Sesshoumaru’s chest. That done, I put some new water on to boil and anxiously waited and tended to my patient. The paste seemed to help his breathing somewhat, but he was still gasping for air. While water began steaming, I prayed that whatever this herb was, it would do the trick. As soon as the water began to boil, I threw the plant into the pot and waited. The scent that wafted up on the steam was familiar, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place it. And I’m getting sick of never remembering anything, I griped. Putting my curiosity and temper aside for the time being, I strained the herbs and kept the water, pouring some of it into my cup. After turning the plants into a thick and disgusting-looking paste, I carefully wiped the first goop off of him and applied the gross stuff instead. Jaken was fit to be tied that I was putting such a disturbing substance on his lord, but allowed me to proceed without attacking me.

I rubbed the paste around Sesshoumaru’s throat and nose, making him twitch with distaste. I rubbed it on his chest as well, stamping out the inappropriate desire to run my hands all over his bare, sculpted abs. With that done, I wrapped his torso and throat with some cloth and replaced the blanket and kimono. I reheated the tea, if I could call it that, and with a sadistic pleasure that should have been illegal, made him drink the whole damn cup in one swoop. The poor guy hacked and gagged when he swallowed, but I made him repeat the process until the pot was empty. He had a somewhat green tinge to his complexion when he was done and looked like he wanted to make for the ledge. When his face didn’t clear up after ten minutes, I started to wonder if I hadn’t just succeeded in poisoning the most powerful demon in Japan.

How ironic. Dying of poison at the hands of a human when you’re a poison demon currently cursed as a human. He probably wishes he had just taken his chances with the miko.

An hour had gone by when he finally started looking normal again. His breathing eased and he drifted in and out of slumber. Jaken looked like he was going to burst into tears from relief, while I was ready to collapse. I had been up all night looking after him and between that and being an emotional wreck for pretty much the whole time, I could barely keep upright. I gave Jaken the instructions for looking after Sesshoumaru, and after making him promise to keep watch for danger, I passed out as my head hit my makeshift pillow.