InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Fall of the House of Taisho ❯ Part IV ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: kanna37 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Supernatural / Romance / Psychological / Horror / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.31.2010 | Pages: 3 | Words: 1.9K | Visits: 439 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Supernatural / Romance / Psychological / Horror / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.31.2010 | Pages: 3 | Words: 1.9K | Visits: 439 | Status: Completed
Part IV
Within the sudden chaos inside my mind, an odd thought forced itself into prominence, and begged an answer.
“Sesshoumaru?” I asked, voice oddly calm. “What of the servants?”
His voice, also calm, answered immediately. “They left this house the moment you arrived. They need not share our fate.”
I nodded, such a solemnity of spirit weighing upon me then that I almost felt as though my back was bowed beneath the weight of my sorrow.
My thoughts were interrupted when Sesshoumaru reached over and, almost hesitantly, took my hand. When I did not pull away, he met my gaze with a haunted, saddened one of his own, and then tugged me towards the beautiful rice paper covered door.
“Come, my Lady. It is incumbent upon us to meet our fate with dignity. Therefore, let us go forth to greet it, rather than await it here. I would not be seen cowering in fear,” he sighed. “Not even of death.”
I was not surprised at his words; Sesshoumaru had never feared anything in his life, that he refused to meet death in any way but head on was no shock at all. For myself, I was not sure if I could have done the same – at least, not without his presence to give me courage.
Inhaling deeply as I attempted to fortify my own heart, my mind began to take note of its surroundings, in an almost idle fashion, as my spirit sought to forget the doom I was headed for. The palace, which, up until this moment, had felt so cold, and decayed, as though it were more old mausoleum than home, was now warming.
But while one would think it would be a welcome difference, it was not, and as the Master of the house and I walked along, I frowned. The heat was hard, disturbingly noxious, as though the house were echoing the fires of hell itself. And the further down we went, the hotter it seemed to get.
“Sesshoumaru, where do we go?” I asked, starting at the distorted sound of my own voice. It seemed the atmosphere of the shiro was having an actual effect – it wasn't just inside my own mind.
He did not answer me at first, merely continuing along the hall we were in, then down a last set of stairs; we were well below the first floor of the palace, now, and as we came to the bottom of the steps, I looked around uneasily – the walls were all stone, and uncut - this was a natural cave system.
We were inside the earth, now.
For some reason, in that moment, my mind flashed back to the walk we had taken to arrive where we were, and I grasped onto my memories of it, hoping to find the way back out, back to freedom, back to life – in the instant that I understood where we were, my very soul cried out to run, to get away from the fate that the curse had in store for me.
I froze; the need my soul felt to escape suddenly at war with a strange apathy flooding my body and taking control of my flesh. All I could do was stare at the heavy iron door that we both stood before with dread, though inside, my heart was screaming.
It was clear that Sesshoumaru was in much the same state as I was, though he seemed to control his fear better than I.
“This place,” I gasped out, and he flicked a strangely colorless glance at me. He understood my question, and the fact that it wasn't really a question, but rather, a confirmation, that I wanted.
“The crypt of the Taisho family lies behind this door, miko. Your mate, as well as my own, lie here – as does every ancestor that this hated curse took. All lie here,” he murmured, “... as will we.”
We both stared at the door for several minutes. I knew not his thoughts, but my own were frightened; I felt as though my breath were being sucked from my lungs as a million tons of rock pressed down on me, and I longed for the outside world, longed to be away from this terrible place with everything that lay within me.
That something so fair at one time, as it was obvious this place had once been, had become so dark and tainted, so wicked, brought to mind a poem that I had read, once upon a time. It was so apropos of this situation I had found myself in, that I could almost believe it had been written by one of the aforementioned Taisho ancestors. My mind ran through it almost unwillingly...
In the greenest of our valleys, good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace– palace–reared its head. In the monarch Thought’s dominion– stood there! Never seraph spread a pinion fabric half so fair.
I shivered. “The Haunted Palace.”
“Hnn.” He said no more, instead seeming to be listening intently, and I became rather morbidly curious. He had led us here, and then... nothing. It was as if he were waiting, and though I didn't want to know what he was waiting for, conversely, I also did want to know.
“What is it you are listening for, Sesshoumaru?” I asked softly.
He turned to look at me then, his perfect face so beautiful; I knew that I would always remember him thus, no matter the fate that awaited us. After a few moments of looking into my frightened visage, his eyes softened, and he caressed my cheek with elegant clawed fingers and deep regret.
“I could only wish that you had never been dragged into this, Kagome,” he said, grief clear in his expression. “I had sworn so long ago to protect you, I promised my otouto after your mating, that should anything happen to him, I would do so. But this is something that I cannot save you from... nor did I ever think that it would be he that you needed saving from. I could never have foreseen the manner in which the curse would come for us...”
As soon as he finished speaking, and before I could even process the horror that his words evoked within me, there came a grating sound, one of iron scraping over stone...
And I watched in frozen terror as the door to the crypt began to open... from the inside. Slowly, so, so slowly, it inched its way open, and I swung frightened eyes to my lover, even as the torches that lined the walls flared up, setting the somber black silk hangings afire.
Regret still visible in his eyes, Sesshoumaru ran one finger across my lips for the last time, and then stepped back from me. As the fire began to race across the wooden stairs leading out, I knew our only escape was gone; we were trapped – forever doomed to remain here, our bodies scorched back into the dust that we came from.
I watched Sesshoumaru turn back to face the still opening crypt door, and frightened as I was, I still could not help but be struck by his unearthly beauty as the fire limned him in hellish brilliance. His voice was the last thing I heard before the roar of the flames took my hearing...
“From the moment that I saw you in my father's tomb, I loved you, Taisho Kagome, and though I will not see you again, I will still love you until the world ends and time is no more. Remember that always.” And then he was gone, sucked into the black void behind the now open door; as I looked up in shock and terror and endless, panic-stricken grief, I saw what awaited me beyond it...
My consciousness began to fade out as the fire screamed through the palace above me, and my mate's face was the last thing I saw before I was thrown into a bleak and lonely eternity without the one who I had come to love above any other.
-oOo-
A/N: And... done. No, no happy ending – Poe is not a happy ending author, and though I didn't follow his story exactly, as those who have read it will be aware, still – this was written in a Poe-esque style, and so could not end in a manner the great author would not himself have ended one of his tales.
At that, I am happy this one is over – I have a very hard time writing true dark, angsty stuff that doesn't have a happy ending. Especially with Sess/Kag – I just have too much of a crush on Sesshoumaru to like doing mean things to him.
At any rate, I hope ppl enjoyed it for the genre it was representing, and took it in the Halloween spirit. As for the poem contained within, it was an actual poem from the story The Fall of the House of Usher, and it is called The Haunted Palace. Since Poe wrote it, that means I do not own it.
Amber
Within the sudden chaos inside my mind, an odd thought forced itself into prominence, and begged an answer.
“Sesshoumaru?” I asked, voice oddly calm. “What of the servants?”
His voice, also calm, answered immediately. “They left this house the moment you arrived. They need not share our fate.”
I nodded, such a solemnity of spirit weighing upon me then that I almost felt as though my back was bowed beneath the weight of my sorrow.
My thoughts were interrupted when Sesshoumaru reached over and, almost hesitantly, took my hand. When I did not pull away, he met my gaze with a haunted, saddened one of his own, and then tugged me towards the beautiful rice paper covered door.
“Come, my Lady. It is incumbent upon us to meet our fate with dignity. Therefore, let us go forth to greet it, rather than await it here. I would not be seen cowering in fear,” he sighed. “Not even of death.”
I was not surprised at his words; Sesshoumaru had never feared anything in his life, that he refused to meet death in any way but head on was no shock at all. For myself, I was not sure if I could have done the same – at least, not without his presence to give me courage.
Inhaling deeply as I attempted to fortify my own heart, my mind began to take note of its surroundings, in an almost idle fashion, as my spirit sought to forget the doom I was headed for. The palace, which, up until this moment, had felt so cold, and decayed, as though it were more old mausoleum than home, was now warming.
But while one would think it would be a welcome difference, it was not, and as the Master of the house and I walked along, I frowned. The heat was hard, disturbingly noxious, as though the house were echoing the fires of hell itself. And the further down we went, the hotter it seemed to get.
“Sesshoumaru, where do we go?” I asked, starting at the distorted sound of my own voice. It seemed the atmosphere of the shiro was having an actual effect – it wasn't just inside my own mind.
He did not answer me at first, merely continuing along the hall we were in, then down a last set of stairs; we were well below the first floor of the palace, now, and as we came to the bottom of the steps, I looked around uneasily – the walls were all stone, and uncut - this was a natural cave system.
We were inside the earth, now.
For some reason, in that moment, my mind flashed back to the walk we had taken to arrive where we were, and I grasped onto my memories of it, hoping to find the way back out, back to freedom, back to life – in the instant that I understood where we were, my very soul cried out to run, to get away from the fate that the curse had in store for me.
I froze; the need my soul felt to escape suddenly at war with a strange apathy flooding my body and taking control of my flesh. All I could do was stare at the heavy iron door that we both stood before with dread, though inside, my heart was screaming.
It was clear that Sesshoumaru was in much the same state as I was, though he seemed to control his fear better than I.
“This place,” I gasped out, and he flicked a strangely colorless glance at me. He understood my question, and the fact that it wasn't really a question, but rather, a confirmation, that I wanted.
“The crypt of the Taisho family lies behind this door, miko. Your mate, as well as my own, lie here – as does every ancestor that this hated curse took. All lie here,” he murmured, “... as will we.”
We both stared at the door for several minutes. I knew not his thoughts, but my own were frightened; I felt as though my breath were being sucked from my lungs as a million tons of rock pressed down on me, and I longed for the outside world, longed to be away from this terrible place with everything that lay within me.
That something so fair at one time, as it was obvious this place had once been, had become so dark and tainted, so wicked, brought to mind a poem that I had read, once upon a time. It was so apropos of this situation I had found myself in, that I could almost believe it had been written by one of the aforementioned Taisho ancestors. My mind ran through it almost unwillingly...
In the greenest of our valleys, good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace– palace–reared its head. In the monarch Thought’s dominion– stood there! Never seraph spread a pinion fabric half so fair.
II
Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
its roof did float and flow;
(This–all this–was in the olden
long ago)
And every gentle air that dallied,
that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
wingèd odor went away.
III
Wanderers in that happy valley
two luminous windows saw
Spirits moving musically
a lute’s well-tunèd law,
Round about a throne, where sitting
In state his glory well befitting,
ruler of the realm was seen.
IV
And all with pearl and ruby glowing
the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing
sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty
but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
wit and wisdom of their king.
V
But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
the monarch’s high estate
(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
dawn upon him, desolate!);
And, round about his home, the glory
blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
the old time entombed.
VI
And travelers now within that valley,
the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
laugh–but smile no more.I didn't realize that I had spoken aloud until Sesshoumaru laughed; it was dark and cold, no speck of amusement in it. “How appropriate, miko. What is it called?”I shivered. “The Haunted Palace.”
“Hnn.” He said no more, instead seeming to be listening intently, and I became rather morbidly curious. He had led us here, and then... nothing. It was as if he were waiting, and though I didn't want to know what he was waiting for, conversely, I also did want to know.
“What is it you are listening for, Sesshoumaru?” I asked softly.
He turned to look at me then, his perfect face so beautiful; I knew that I would always remember him thus, no matter the fate that awaited us. After a few moments of looking into my frightened visage, his eyes softened, and he caressed my cheek with elegant clawed fingers and deep regret.
“I could only wish that you had never been dragged into this, Kagome,” he said, grief clear in his expression. “I had sworn so long ago to protect you, I promised my otouto after your mating, that should anything happen to him, I would do so. But this is something that I cannot save you from... nor did I ever think that it would be he that you needed saving from. I could never have foreseen the manner in which the curse would come for us...”
As soon as he finished speaking, and before I could even process the horror that his words evoked within me, there came a grating sound, one of iron scraping over stone...
And I watched in frozen terror as the door to the crypt began to open... from the inside. Slowly, so, so slowly, it inched its way open, and I swung frightened eyes to my lover, even as the torches that lined the walls flared up, setting the somber black silk hangings afire.
Regret still visible in his eyes, Sesshoumaru ran one finger across my lips for the last time, and then stepped back from me. As the fire began to race across the wooden stairs leading out, I knew our only escape was gone; we were trapped – forever doomed to remain here, our bodies scorched back into the dust that we came from.
I watched Sesshoumaru turn back to face the still opening crypt door, and frightened as I was, I still could not help but be struck by his unearthly beauty as the fire limned him in hellish brilliance. His voice was the last thing I heard before the roar of the flames took my hearing...
“From the moment that I saw you in my father's tomb, I loved you, Taisho Kagome, and though I will not see you again, I will still love you until the world ends and time is no more. Remember that always.” And then he was gone, sucked into the black void behind the now open door; as I looked up in shock and terror and endless, panic-stricken grief, I saw what awaited me beyond it...
My consciousness began to fade out as the fire screamed through the palace above me, and my mate's face was the last thing I saw before I was thrown into a bleak and lonely eternity without the one who I had come to love above any other.
-oOo-
A/N: And... done. No, no happy ending – Poe is not a happy ending author, and though I didn't follow his story exactly, as those who have read it will be aware, still – this was written in a Poe-esque style, and so could not end in a manner the great author would not himself have ended one of his tales.
At that, I am happy this one is over – I have a very hard time writing true dark, angsty stuff that doesn't have a happy ending. Especially with Sess/Kag – I just have too much of a crush on Sesshoumaru to like doing mean things to him.
At any rate, I hope ppl enjoyed it for the genre it was representing, and took it in the Halloween spirit. As for the poem contained within, it was an actual poem from the story The Fall of the House of Usher, and it is called The Haunted Palace. Since Poe wrote it, that means I do not own it.
Amber