InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Path You Follow ❯ The Possibilities ( Chapter 11 )

The Path You Follow

By: EvilNekoEatsYourSoul

Author's note: I'll admit, the last chapter wasn't that great and neither is this one, but they are necessary. I can't have everyone just suddenly popping up in the places they need to be. Also, there's not much romance or fluff, and there won't be any between Kagome and Sesshoumaru for a little while because they aren't even traveling together; they're going in opposite directions. I could add fluff between some others if that's what you crave or there could be a dream * shrugs * I'll ponder it. Enjoy the chapter and review!

Last time: "But it is happening," Chikako said. Had she control of her body, Yukiko would have cringed. She hated the calm, self-assured, all-knowing tone that Chikako had. Envy filled her and she wish that she could be more like anyone else in the world but herself, that she could be normal and stop running away from everything.

"To end your running you must simply stop moving your feet."

Ignoring the comment, Yukiko drew further away and pictured walls forming around her, encasing her from the two spirits who sought to speak to her.

Chapter 11: The Possibilities

~*~

His blood sang as the primal feeling of blood lust coursed through his body. He had not fought this way in over a year, with the intent of killing his opponent. It was a feeling he missed, a fight for the precious commodity of life. It was never like this when he fought with Inuyasha, that fight could never end in death.

Death had become somewhat of a foreign thing to him since the addition of Kagome into his life. For the single reason that the young miko detested violence, Sesshoumaru had stopped the art that he had perfected; the art of dealing out death to any and all who opposed and questioned him. For the first time in his life he had begun to let enemies escape with minor wounds and concussions rather then killing them.

But now, with her so far away, her sway on his actions had lessened greatly and he found the familiar need to kill invade his mind. At the moment he was beginning to remember what it felt like to be the cold emotionless killer, he recalled how his life was before emotion plagued him. He did not draw his sword; he enjoyed the warm sticky feeling of blood coating his claws. The demon in him relished violence and death and he embraced the rage and need for destruction. When he returned to Kagome there would be no more experiences like this and so he had to remember every slash of his claws, every drip of poison and swing of his fists as they connected with flesh.

The group of youkai that surrounded him did not ask questions, they had lunged forward with intent to kill and he had answered that challenge. Now five of them lay motionless on the ground, their unseeing eyes opened wide to the sky and world that no longer existed for them.

He had left two of them alive, just as an act of kindness and good will towards the Eastern lord. After all, they were his men.

Jaken stood at the base of his tree, having been told to stay out of the fighting. Now, he approached his lord, standing beside him.

"You are to inform Michio-sama that the great Sesshoumaru-sama of the Western lands requests an audience with him immediately," the smaller youkai croaked out.

Having discovered the identity of their opponent, both youkai bowed low from their kneeling positions. Though they tried their best to hide it, the smell of fear permeated through the air along with the smell of death.

Together, they stood and one of them, who sported a bleeding gash from shoulder to chest, spoke.

"Hai, we will inform our lord at once. If you will follow us to the castle, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru acknowledged the statement with a graceful, small nod of his head. One of his claws, still stained red and green with blood and poison, motioned forward to indicate that they should proceed.

Though they dreaded having to turn their backs to the deadly youkai, both began the small trek back to their lord's home.

~*~

He sat alone in his room, frowning at the wall as his unruly bronze hair fell like a curtain around his face. Through his closed door he could hear two or three of his brothers talking quietly as they walked through the castle's halls. Not being very familiar with their voices, he wouldn't be able to tell exactly which brothers they were until he saw them.

Thinking of his brothers he was brought back to what he had just been contemplating. Throughout his thirteen years of life, his father had never paid him much attention, not until almost a year ago. Not until he had been told that he was to wed a human girl under the care of the Western lord.

Finally, after a year of wondering what type of plot his father might be planning, the girl had been brought to their castle. But she was kept locked away, her and a small kistune youkai. There was a reason for this, and yet that reason eluded him. What on earth could his father possibly gain by bonding him to a ningen? Not to mention the fact that the ningen girl was young, very young.

There was a knock on the door that abruptly pulled the young youkai from his thoughts.

"Kisho! Get out here, father wishes to speak with you."

The door opened to reveal his second eldest brother, Torio. He had the straight golden hair of their father and also the Northern lord's deep amber eyes. Standing to greet his elder brother, Kisho realized how different he was from the rest of his siblings. While his other twelve brothers closely resembled their father with his golden hair and sharp features, he was the only one who looked like his mother.

Both of them began to walk towards their father's study in silence. In lord Choukichirou's family there was very little trust and because of that and his abundance of son's there was deception everywhere. Among the brother's factions had been formed. Torio, along with the other five eldest held the highest place in their father's eyes and were privy to all his schemes.

Kisho, being the youngest and the only child of his father's last wife belonged to no group and usually spent his time alone. Unlike his other brother's he had not been trained in the art of war and instead had spent his time studying more scholarly things with his mother until her death two years ago.

Having reached the study, his brother looked down at him and nodded before turning on his heel and leaving. It would seem that Kisho was to go alone. The thought made the younger youkai fidget nervously as he raised his hand to knock.

"Come in, Kisho."

Bowing his head, Kisho entered the study; already he could feel his father's hawk-like gaze upon him.

"How are things with the ningen girl?"

"Fine, Otousan."

"She is in good health, then?"

"Hai, except. . ." Kisho cut himself off, he hadn't the will to argue with his estranged father. He didn't even know why he had thought to tell him. `Probably because she looks so miserable,' he thought to himself.

"Except?" Choukichirou questioned.

"Well, you see. . ." he began nervously, "I bring her food everyday, personally and they- Well, the girl, she- she expresses a wish to be outside, in the sun."

Gathering his courage, the younger youkai glanced at his father. The older youkai's eyes were cold and suddenly Kisho wanted to shiver.

"We did not bring her here for her comfort Kisho. Are you so easily fooled by the ningen? She probably just wants you to take her outside so that they can try to escape. All ningens are deceitful, lowly creatures. You would do well to remember that."

His father turned away from him and Kisho realized, with relief that he was being excused from his otousan's presence. As the door shut behind him, he couldn't help but think, `lowly and deceitful sounds more like traits of my family rather then the girl.'

~*~

First green, then blue, brown and then gray; her eyes continually shifted colors that were dull and reflected no light. Try as they might, no one seemed able to rouse Yukiko from her dazed state. Kagome sat next to her stiff body, supporting the girl's back so that she was not lying on the dirt trail. Inuyasha had gone ahead of them to look for a river of stream so that they could restore their water supply. Sango and Miroku spoke in hushed tones across the path from where Kagome was seated.

Over the past week that they had been traveling, this was Yukiko's fourth fainting spell. In actuality, despite the peaceful quality in the air and the girl's dazed, unresponsive state there was a ware brewing within the frail body. Yukiko had told the group of travelers that, whenever she lost control or let her emotions dominate her thouths that the siter's escaped. When that happened there was a fight, a battle of will sand depending on what emotion she had been feeling, one of the sisters took over her body. Usually, the internal battle took no longer than an hour; but today a handful of hours had pssed and still the girl showed no signs of rousing.

During the week, Kagome had taken the time to speak to the sisters and had thus become acquainted with them. After all, there was not much to do as they walked through the forests and villages of the Sengoku Jida. But when she was not talking, when the group fell silent, her thoughts turned to Sesshoumaru and the well-being of their adopted children. The thoughts she had were both happy and sad.

In her heart Kagome held an infinite amount of love for her newly formed second family. She had yet to discover the boundaries for her love and hoped she never had to test it. There was always a slight ache in her chest these past few days; she missed Sesshoumaru. At night, when she lay alone in her sleeping bag, she became lonely and cold without the youkai's heat beside her and for that she was strangely happy. Missing the one she loved gave her hope, it renewed her belief that everything would work out between them. If she missed him than it would, in a way, force her to stay with him and work for a solution rather than taking the easy way out by going home.

Yet her mind argued, what kind of life could a mortal woman live with an ageless being? She often wondered if it wouldn't be wiser or kinder just to go back to her time and never look back; to forget about the Sengoku Jidai as anything but a past time in which her ancestor's lived. When that happened she would look around her, she would see Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha and even Yukiko and she would shake the thought from her head. She loved them, she loved Rin and Shippou and Sesshoumaru, she loved the fresh air and the abundance of trees, loved the adventure and magic, the clear dark night sky that was littered with stars that could be seen without the frame of skyscrapers and houses, and she found that she loved the power and respect she had as a miko, it gave her life more purpose. All of those things called to her, saying, "This is your home," and then she would wish that she were truly a part of the Sengoku Jidai because then she wouldn't have to choose between two times and two families; two completely different lives.

In her arms Yukiko's body stirred and Kagome was relieved to escape her stormy thoughts. The girl's eyes were a stormy gray and so Kagome greeted Chikako who stood and inclined her head in greeting. Before she even took a step the thin body bent over and began coughing. For a moment the body shook before falling to a knee and gripping her ribs.

Unable to stop the fit, Kagome just put a comforting arm around Chikako's shoulders. From beside her a clear blue bottle filled with water and Kagome took it.

"Arigato, Inuyasha."

The coughing no longer only affected Yukiko, it now plagued every soul that lingered in the weakened girl's body. Kagome uncapped the bottle and gave it to the girl whose steely eyes sent her a brief thankful glance.

Chikako was quick to recover and in a minute was once again standing although it didn't look like she should be doing much traveling. Wrinkled lines of weariness covered her face as they began to walk. They were making slow progress and Inuyasha's irritation was beginning to show.

"Feh, can we pick up the pace a little? At this rate by the time we get there I'll be an old man!"

Raising an eyebrow at the hanyou's words, Chikako smiled a bit.

"You don't have to ever worry about being an old man, Inuyasha. You are, after all, a hanyou and as such you do not age as ningens do."

Said hanyou shrugged, "Whatever."

Then a few minutes later he growled and spoke again.

"Oi, Sango! Tell Kirara to transform we need to get going, this is taking too damn long."

Without being told the fire cat transformed and Sango and Miroku climbed on her back. Kagome edged towards her two friends. She was making it a point to leave Inuyasha with the other girl. In fact, she had been making it a point to distance herself a bit from Inuyasha since their journey began. That's not to say that she did not value their friendship, but they were just too close for comfort at times and the last thing she needed or wanted at the moment was some strange love triangle between her, Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru.

"Ummm. . . I need to talk to Sango-chan, so I'll ride with them!" she called out, heading towards Kirara.

Inuyasha `feh-ed' and blushed. `So that leaves me with. . .' Stormy gray eyes were glaring at him when he turned around. His eyes traveled up and down her form, taking in her clothing. She was wearing a kimono, which meant he couldn't carry her on his back like he usually did with Kagome. Holding his arms out to her, he waited for her to catch on.

All Chikako did was frown more. While Yukiko may have feelings for the hanyou, the spirit was by no means competing for his attention. Before she could make any protest, she was scooped into his arms and the wind was blowing through her hair. Resigning herself to her fate, she remained stiffly in his arms.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha carried her bridal style and tried to keep her as far away from him as possible, which wasn't very easy considering she was in his arms. Of all the spirits lingering inside of the sickly girl, this one was the one he liked the least. At times Chikako reminded him of his brother, a nearly emotionless face that deemed themselves intellectually superior to everyone around them. It grated on his nerves.

Also, it had not gone unnoticed by Inuyasha that Kagome was beginning to distance herself from him. She would still talk to him, but it was somewhat strained as though she were slightly afraid. He understood, it was because of him and his brother and he honestly didn't want to make her feel like she had to choose between them. Inuyasha cared for her and he always would, but that only made things worse or so it seemed. Sesshoumaru was not the type to just let Kagome do as she pleased, he expected her in some respects to obey whatever rules he lay down. One of those rules was that while she could remain friends with Inuyasha, she wasn't allowed to have any other feelings for the hanyou. But sometimes he saw it in her eyes, just a fleeting thought. The same idea that always found its way into his mind. `What if. . .'

~*~

"Mmmmm. . . this miso soup is really good. You want some, Shippou?"

Shaking his head in a negative answer, the kitsune turned his wary gaze back towards the bronze-haired bird youkai. For the last six days the youkai had brought Rin her food and stayed for a while afterwards to talk to Rin. Shippou did not trust him at all, he was one of them, one of the people who was holding them captive.

It only further irritated him that Rin did not seem able to grasp that simple fact. Here they were being locked up in a room for over a week, being kept under constant surveillance and she was making friends with the enemy. The kitsune rolled his eyes when he heard Rin offering some of her food to their visitor.

The fact that the youkai never made any move to hurt them or taunt them didn't ease his mind at all. Even when Rin questioned him about why they were being held hostage he had claimed he didn't know.

So far, from listening to Rin's nonstop questioning, Shippou had gathered this information: (1) The youkai's name was Kisho (2) He was a bird youkai (3) He was 13 years old (4) They were being held at the castle of the Northern lord, Chou-something-or-other (Shippou couldn't recall the exact name) (5) He was the lord's 13th son (6) He didn't know his father's plans (7) His father didn't pay him much attention (8) He had heard of Sesshoumaru-sama of the Western lands (9) His favorite color was blue (10) His mother was dead (11) He had never picked flowers (12) He thought the name `Rin,' was a very good name (13) He didn't really get a long with his brothers (14) He didn't know if or when Sesshoumaru and Kagome were coming for them (15) He didn't know who Kagome was (16) He had never met a miko before (17) He didn't really like tails and did not think Shippou's was cute (18) He didn't know the name of a white flower with big petals that smelled pretty and (19) He didn't think that Rin talked too much (Shippou was pretty sure Kisho had lied about that one).

In other words, Shippou had learned that either Kisho was lying and wanted some information from them or he really didn't know anything about why they were here. After about their fourth day here Shippou started to worry about when his surrogate mother would be coming to rescue him and on the sixth day he had begun to worry that perhaps something awful had happened to her and prevented her from rescuing them. None of these thoughts were voiced to Rin; he didn't want to worry her.

Rin wasn't worried, not at all. Sesshoumaru-sama would come for her, she knew because he always had before. The first time, when Naraku had kidnapped her, she had worried that maybe he wouldn't come for her. But when he did come to fetch her, she knew she never had to worry about it ever again. Sesshoumaru-sama was the strongest and bravest and most. . . bestest youkai ever! Being convinced of this, Rin never worried about anything.

If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't go outside she might have enjoyed being there. It was an adventure and she had made a new friend. Although he was pretty quiet, Kisho did bring her food and answer her questions and so whenever he came she wasn't bored. The only thing that bothered her was that Shippou would become very quiet and grumpy whenever her new youkai friend would come and talk to her.

When Kisho stood to leave, Rin waved at him as the door closed and she saw that for a moment his eyes were sad. Then, shrugging it off, she went to sit beside the pouting Shippou. It was quiet for a few minutes and Rin yawned, resting her head atop Shippou's puffy hair. In another minute she fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Reviewer Responses:

Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Tessa3: ^_^ You know, sometimes I confuse myself with the fic. . . Heh, especially when I was working on `bliss' I had to keep rereading my chapters to get all my facts straight. * sighs * Sometimes I have such a horrid memory!

PeachesDani: Yes, it is sad to think that Sess will live while Kagome won't. I just really wanted to get into this problem though because too many times it's sugar coated and forgotten and I didn't want to make Kagome into a youkai or hanyou or anything because I can't really think of any new or innovative way to make that happen. Anyways, you'll just have to wait and see that happens mwahahaha.

Ptbear: Sorry to keep you waiting, but here's the update.

Aira^o^: I know how it can be with those computer hogs, bleh I have one that lives with me (my brother) and if he isn't on the computer then he's watching me and looking over my shoulder and making me nervous!

Japanese_angel12: Thank you ^_^ gwaa! I'm such a sucker for praise hehe. Glad you like the fic and doubly glad you like the lemons, I put a lot of work into those especially.

Riomi: ^_^ I'm glad you're liking the whole `kagome doesn't want to be immortal' drama, I also felt that it was time someone realize that while Kagome does love Sesshoumaru very much she can't just say `screw everyone else' and go off to become an immortal miko, youkai or hanyou it would be really sad for her. Not that I don't like those ideas because it makes the story happy but I try to be at least a tad realistic with my writing. Any who, thanks for welcoming me into the group, but is it out of commission? I heard that yahoo was getting rid of some of the groups and I haven't seen any activity.

JUSTWONDERING: I wouldn't go so far as to say chapter 11 was a time filler. I'm sorry if it was boring but you know it can't all be sex and fighting, some of it was filler but some of it was important to the story as well and mostly it served a purpose for my state of mind, it was sort of like a re-beginning for me so that I could change mind frames to continue the story now that the group has been separated somewhat. ^_^ Anyways, thanks for your input.