InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unbridled, Unvoiced Passions ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

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

Forgive the formatting. I don't have the time for tags. Sorry!

Disclaimer: Sadly, no, I am not the great Takahashi-san. Sorry!

For all the wonderfully beautiful women in town, he could die in heaven for just one touch. But of course, there was one female that would beat him to a bloody pulp if he so much as looked at another woman that way.

With a heavy sigh, he set his mind to simpler thoughts and watched one of the many beauties of Japan that the woman of his heart wouldn’t mind him staring at…Lady Sunrise. In fact, she would probably kick him later for not waking her to enjoy it with him.

With all that had happened in the past few weeks, he was quite surprised that his own life had taken the turn it had. There were many reasons for which a monk could be proud to be recorded for historical purposes, but he doubted lechery was taken yet; that made his uniqueness all the better.

His soon to be wife, if she would accept, would quite possibly put him in the recordings as another first for a monk. He would need to ask Kagome to check her books when she returned before he got his hopes up too high on that one.

Wherever Kagome was, he hoped that she was alright. Sure, Sesshoumaru had gained a bit of his respect and trust, but not completely. Kagome left about twelve days ago, and he was sure that the demon would have found her by now, even if she went terribly off track and found herself somewhere in the wilds of Japan.

Of course, no one knows what Sesshoumaru would do to her once he found her wandering out in the open after such a horrible attack on her person, since it was obvious his intention towards her person was, in essential, protection. But then, Kagome’s temper isn’t really one to be tampered with either; Sesshoumaru had better watch his tongue if he wants to keep his remaining limbs.

“Monk, what are you thinking about?”

Surprised at the interruption, Miroku looked down to his side and smiled at the light haired beauty.

“My friends”

“You mean Kagome.”

He watched as his lover sat up and stretched, the muscles twisting lithely with the tight, soft skin that held the heart of the woman he absolutely could not get enough of. With a nod of his head, he answered her statement and turned back to the sunrise.

“She’s been gone quite a while; I just hope that she’s alright”

“Please Miroku, the boy wouldn’t hurt her. He would hurt anyone that even spoke ill of her. Come now”

She grabbed his hand as she stood and pulled to get him on his feet. Of course, being a few inches shorter than him meant a few inches less of muscle to work with, but he got the point.

“I’ll make you some breakfast”

He placed his arm around her waist and led them both down the hill to her home with a smile. Lucky was the only way to describe this particular monk, and that would do just fine for the history books.

“That sounds wonderful”

She smiled to him and grabbed his hand after swatting it away from her person and laughed a sweet melody that sang with the morning birds and carried on the breeze. Yes, he was definitely lucky.

For all of the stupid tricks she could come off with, this one was by far the worst in his book. Who in their right minds travels only hours after such an attack with little or no defense and barely a scrap of supplies?


A woman, that’s who…, a human woman. It’s a wonder the men of their race don’t fall prey to the hands of insanity more often with these women around.
Eight days, it had been eight horrid days of watching, waiting and hoping. He honestly hoped that she would get through this and go home. It wasn’t because he cared about her, but rather, he didn’t need to deal with his younger sibling going off again; that boy was more than a handful. Sesshoumaru couldn’t ever remember being that much of a pain, or so naïve.

A groan broke him from his musings, small and weak, but he could still hear it. A quick glance confirmed that she was finally waking. With a relieved sigh, Sesshoumaru gathered a few herbs and a small bowl of water from a nearby lake.

Just a few minutes after the broth had set, Kagome’s eyes slowly lifted. She could smell something close to sage; it was faint, but she could definitely smell it. With a bit of effort, she willed her eyes to open completely.

Ignoring the searing pain that shot through her head, causing her eyes to blur a bit, she sat up. An effort that seemed like an eternity to her had in all actuality only taken a few moments. Her equilibrium was off to the point that she was ready to purge her stomach of any contents it may have retained for however long it was she was out.

The idea hit her much faster than she could stand. Turning as quickly as possible, Kagome released a pool of hot liquid that seared and ripped at her throat.

It took her a few tries, but she eventually got the heaving to stop long enough to breathe, her eyes burning with the tears natural to pain and lack of oxygen. Not once during her episode did she notice the hand that had held her hair away from the vile expulsion.

As she wiped away the last few remnants of filth with her sleeve, she felt her hair fall into place and looked up to see her worst nightmare; or at least an angel seeing her at her worst, which became her worst nightmare.

How long had he been there?

“Hi”

The monosyllabic word was much more difficult than she had expected, as it came out breathy with a bit more rasp than she cared for. Not to mention, that one little word tore at her throat, reminding her that she was definitely ill.

“Lie back against that tree before you do that again”

Kagome blinked at the stern tone he had taken with her, but complied nonetheless, making sure to move a good distance away from the stomach acid she had just projected.

She was certain he wasn’t angry only with her wonderful little display…something else had to have been bothering him as well. She could elicit many strong emotions from Inuyasha, but not from Sesshoumaru; not like this at least.

It was strange, but his attitude now caused her more fear than their first meeting; and at that time she was positive he had killed her. His poison really did sting.

She looked up to see Sesshoumaru standing before her with a small bowl that reeked of medicine she just was not in the mood for. Still, she could not refuse the aid and so took the proffered broth. A quick sniff was all it took to confirm her theory; Sesshoumaru had created a medicinal broth that smelled worse than hell. She remembered what that place smelled like when the brothers were fighting Sou’unga.

Scrunching her nose in distaste, Kagome held her breath and began to consume the fiery liquid. It burned more than she had anticipated, causing her to choke a bit on the first few gulps.

Once she was able to finish the concoction, she set the bowl next to her lap and began studying the textures and designs of the wood with her eyes. It was a horrible attempt at avoiding the inevitable, but it was working for the moment and for that she was grateful.
She listened as he stood, trying to keep her slight glances of nervousness discrete and failing miserably.

Just as she thought he might be leaving, she noticed two pointed boots of black steel stop immediately within her sight of the ground. Whether she wanted him to stay or go was questionable, but it didn’t really matter since it seemed he was going to stay.

With a slow and painful effort, Kagome turned her head upwards and gave him a sheepish smile. She knew that he would be upset with her for leaving so soon after the battle with Hakudoushi, but she had expected to be well enough to at least speak with him.

Now that he had to take care of her for Gods only knows how long, she was certain that he was a little more than just upset; she had wasted his time.

She had already resigned herself to this confrontation, but now that it was here, she had no idea what she was supposed to say. Her role in this act of the play had either been lost somewhere along the road, or had never been written at all. Either way, she was at a sore loss as to what she was to do next.

Without warning, Sesshoumaru turned and began his trek out of the small campsite.

“Go home, Kagome”

Her mouth dropped open not at the demand, but rather the way he had said her name. There was something there, a pain that she had never noticed before today. Whatever was on his mind had a lot to do with her.

She shook her head to rid herself of the ridiculous thoughts. Sesshoumaru did not think about her; he merely used her as a means to find the half-breed, Naraku, by traveling with her friends.

With a little more effort than she would have liked to use, Kagome lifted herself from the ground and set about finding her effects and repacking. It was obvious that Sesshoumaru had used her things, but for some reason, she couldn’t find it in herself to be upset with him for perusing through her small list of items.

On her way to cleanse the bowl that had been used for medicine, which by the way tasted just as bad as it had smelled, Kagome’s foot hit something hard, but…not. She watched curiously as it rolled in a blur of black and yellow. When it came to a stop, the creature stood and gave her a hard glare for the mistreatment.

Realizing what, or rather whom, she had kicked; Kagome rushed over to the tired cat and lifted her into the air.

“Kirara, you’re alright!”

The small mew of agreement extracted a small laughter of relief from the woman. She had been so frightened for Kirara that Kagome was sure she had experienced a heart attack in her unconscious state.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again. Do you hear me?”

Kirara patted a paw at the girl and nuzzled her cheek before mewing to be let down. Kagome, hearing the message loud and clear, released her hold on the small demon and let her down from her arms. With a happy bounce in her dreary steps, she resumed her clean up of their little site.

She didn’t have many belongings with her, and the mess really wasn’t all that large; still, it took Kagome nearly an hour at best guess to finish her task. With a less than amiable grin, she deemed the forest floor clean of her belongings and turned to her companion.

“Ready to go back?”

For her part, Kirara was doing a wonderful impression of a lost puppy…which was saying a lot for a cat demon.

“I know. But he just…walked away.”

Kagome turned to stare off into the direction Sesshoumaru had gone and lost herself in thought for a bit. Why had he left so suddenly? For that matter, why had he come at all if he didn’t want to see her? Sure he was upset with her, that was a given, but couldn’t he have spared her a little time to speak?

A rush of fire and wind knocked her back on her rear end, causing her to gasp in surprise. As she scrambled to her feet, Kagome ran and screamed after the quickly fading cat.

“KIRARA, DON’T!”

Her voice settled on nothing but air.

Sesshoumaru stared over the hill, once more admiring the field of flowers surrounding his young ward. It had been a while since he had truly enjoyed the sight of his home. He lifted his face to the sun and breathed in the scents around him.

With a groan, Sesshoumaru allowed his head to drop slightly unruly. He was tired; for some reason, he just could not find the energy to put up with this stuff any more.

Not a second later, fire and wind whipped at his chest and licked his feet. He looked down to make sure the cat didn’t disturb his clothing and, after assuring himself that everything was in place, returned his sights to the demon before him.

A staring contest of sorts took place, and Kirara was getting tired of the tight air. With a low growl and small mew, she disclosed her case. Her answer was a sigh and a glare.

“Do not forget to whom you speak, cat.”

Kirara, doing her part as should be done, bowed low before leveling him once again with her gaze. She had come here for a specific purpose and so was determined to get an answer.

“I will not return. She should not have come here in the first place.”

Kirara answered with a light growl and a few mews that sounded oddly enough like a sentence.

“That is none of my concern. Besides, I did not leave her alone, but you did!”

Losing her patience with the irritable dog, Kirara slammed a paw to the ground, spraying Sesshoumaru with fire in the process. He needed to see things from her point of view. Her growl ripped from her throat again, this time followed by a few more.

Sesshoumaru, having had enough with the interruption, pulled his sword from its scabbard and began to inspect it.

“A very interesting weapon this is. Created by a dog, mastered by his clan, and yet it revives anyone of any age, size, or species. It can even return a cat from the depths of death.”

Kirara inspected him curiously as he returned the sword to its place at his hip. He seemed to hate her entire species with a passion, just as he did humans, and yet he has saved both Kagome and herself.

What exactly did he hope to accomplish by doing so?

“I suggest you return to your charge before something happens to her.”

Kirara, seeing that her protest would not be heard, bowed lightly and flew away. And here she thought Inuyasha was stubborn.

A pair of deep honey hued eyes watched silently from behind a tree. It seemed that the all mighty Prince of the Dog Clan was having a bit of trouble coming to terms with his feelings for someone.

‘Well’ she thought, ‘We’re just going to have to fix that, aren’t we?’ Careful not to catch his attention, she backed into the shadows and went on with her daily business; evidently that would now include a bit of investigation and matchmaking.

Kagome stared up at the canopy of leaves from her position on the ground and sighed for the umpteenth time. She wasn’t stupid; she knew that Kirara had taken off after Sesshoumaru.

The problem with that was the latter mentioned. He wasn’t exactly an easy bite to chew on his good days, and this definitely wasn’t one of those.

Kagome sat up when the wind picked up and turned her sights to the clearing in the trees. There, descending quickly was Kirara…without Sesshoumaru.

It’s not that she had expected him to come or anything like that, but rather she had hoped he might have had a little sense somehow knocked into his head; perhaps with the scabbard of his sword, or something along those lines. She climbed to her feet while musing over the imagery rolling across her mind.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the all too enjoyable images, Kagome turned to her now miniature sized friend and posed a smile. It was horribly unconvincing, but at least she tried. She clapped her hands in front of her and began rocking back and forth on her feet.

“So…I guess we had better get going. It’s going to be dark in just a few more hours. I would like to make as much progress as possible.”

Kirara resigned herself to agreeing with the logic and, being the considerate friend that she was, returned to her much larger form and bent her head in invitation.

As Kirara leapt into the air, Kagome realized what she had come to say, only to turn back to see the white and red of his silk hakama and wished that Sesshoumaru could hear her thoughts just this once.

Please come back!

He watched as they flew off, slightly relieved that Kagome didn’t have to walk the entire journey back to Inuyasha’s forest, before turning back towards his own home once more. He hoped desperately that there would be no more interruptions that kept him from his home.

Whatever had possessed him to follow the cat back to Kagome was beyond him. The short time spent tending to her needs was not physically exhausting, so much as it was mentally.

She had come seeking an audience with him, of that he was certain. When she turned back to see him standing there, he caught the faint look of despair gracing her features.
He knew what she wanted; just as he knew he would not give it to her. He could not return to her small group of traveling friends, if only for the reason that he simply could not afford to.

Whilst in her company, Sesshoumaru had found himself slipping down a road far too dangerous to continue. She was like a toxin he had yet to sample, and by all rights should not have been appealed to do so, but found himself daydreaming of the way she might taste. It was a precarious thought that took him many days to realize what had happened.

A vixen of sorts had come into his life for a short period and, though the entire ordeal was fabricated completely of his fascination with the mortal world…or more specifically, the females of the mortal world, he had allowed himself to become involved in the life of a certain female that was bordering her years as a child and a woman. No matter the species, that was a mix of age no male should allow himself to indulge.

Though, thankfully, he had not indulged to the point of regret; holding only his pandering safely within the confines of his mind. No one would ever know of this slip in his personality; no one would ever doubt his hatred for the human race.

Although, admittedly, that was far from the case, and someone out there just might suspect so; she had only but to think on their days spent together for a moment to know it. And of course, Kagome was a deep theorist at the most inopportune times; the possibility that she would discover his secret was very high indeed.

Still, regardless of the cost, no one would know that he had never truly held hatred for the humans of this world…no one.

“Inuyasha, slow down”

“What the hell are you complaining about now?”

Inuyasha turned to watch the little demon turned bean stock pause to sniff the air. Before he got a chance to do the same, the little monster took off ahead of him in a blur.

Inuyasha raced after him, but for some reason found him self lacking. Shaking the thoughts of old age from his head, Inuyasha yelled to the little monster.

“What the hell do you mean ‘slow down’? You slow down. I don’t think there’s any chocolate left at Kaede’s”

With no reply, Inuyasha grunted in annoyance and sped up.

“Shippou, you…”

Just as he was about to berate the kid on manners, he ran smack into his back and toppled over him.

He righted himself and dusted the dirt from his haori with a scowl. The scruff of Shippou’s shirt found its way into his claws and he took the chance to lift him up to eye level, which wasn’t very hard given his growth spurts.

“What the hell…”

“Inuyasha!”

Eyes widening in disbelief, Inuyasha dropped Shippou and turned his attention to the descending priestess and cat.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Kagome dismounted the cat and promptly placed her hands on her hips, which reminded Inuyasha of someone 500 years in the future.

“Well that’s some way to address your friend! Come here Shippou; at least someone here is happy to see me.”

Shippou took that chance to indulge in the love of his favorite human while showing her just how strong he was.

“Gee Shippou, lay off the free weights.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. You’re getting pretty strong, you know that?”

Inuyasha, being struck with an insult and no real attention, reeled back a bit and did what he did best when his pride or feelings were being shot at. He shot back.

“You look like your mother when you do that.”

Kagome’s eyes popped wide as her mouth dropped open in shock. How dare he say something like that?

“Pretty good impression of last night’s dinner!”

Stunned almost silent at his nearly abusive words, Kagome turned heal and opened her arms to Kirara. After gathering her belongings into her remaining hand, she began walking towards Kaede’s hut, fully intending to get a new set of clothes, find Sango, trek to the springs, and have a hearty man-bashing bath.

“Smooth one dog-shit”

Inuyasha popped Shippou on the head and scowled.

“Watch your mouth brat”

As he rubbed his head, Shippou moved a few feet away from Inuyasha and turned to face him. Regarding him carefully, he dropped into fighting stance and waited for Inuyasha to do the same.

“You know…one of these days I’m gonna kick your ass for all the shots you’ve taken to my head.”

Inuyasha raised a brow at the fox and smirked.

“Hmm, maybe I did hit you on the head one too many times. You’re getting delusional”

Just as expected, Shippou took the bait and charged. With a short bark of laughter, Inuyasha braced himself for impact and began the training all over again.

“Tell me Kikyou, why are you really doing this?”

“That is none of your business”

“A bit touchy, eh?”

The tall woman turned and glared at her temporary accomplice. By the Gods how she hated him!

Seeing him, the very incarnate of evil with his infuriatingly confident smirk, she had to wonder if it was really worth all of this. Was she truly meant to continue on in the manner she was? It would seem so, seeing as she had returned to this plane of existence more than just once after her initial death.

But her reincarnation existed within the same plane and time frame as her, which that itself made her entire existence seem seditious. She was once a feared and highly respected priestess among the humans and demons equally; likely, it was one of the only things the feuding races could agree on.

She had returned a third time to protect once more, which is honestly what she had wanted at the time. Yet now she was given a chance to live the childish dream of no responsibility she had yearned for so long ago. Her priestess lifestyle was once again a choice, not a duty; somehow that made the sacrifices worth the pain.

But was this really worth the pain? Was this truly the path she had to take to get what she wanted? Did she honestly need to sell herself to the proverbial devil to live a life of peaceful harmony?

Somehow that did not seem right.

Kikyou frowned and turned her attentions back to the window where she stood waiting for Kanna to return. She had doubted her own judgment again, and that was a great bother to her, since she had never before doubted herself so strongly.

Perhaps, then, she truly was not meant to be here.

Glaring at the white figure that appeared within the fog, Kikyou vowed to never hesitate on her own needs and decisions again. If she did, it may just be her undoing, and that was something she simply was not prepared to accept.

“Ah, Kanna, what have you found?”

Kikyou glared at the insatiable nature of Naraku. He still could not keep to himself, always bidding to supervise whatever misdeeds were occurring at the time. It was frustrating to no end not because he craved another power trip, but rather he thought her plan to be devious and deceptive; and that bothered her immensely.

“The river is stained”

Her eerie soft, child-like voice carried across the room and sent waves of chilling blood coursing through Kikyou’s veins. Kanna always had that impression on those she spoke to, Kikyou was no exception.

She turned from the pair and wondered just how well all of this was going to work. If Kagome were still ill from the poison, as planned, then she would have no real troubles at all. But then, if the girl had somehow found a way to stave off the illness, Kikyou was going to have one hell of a time bringing her down…literally.

From the corner of her eyes, Kikyou could see the small white mystery standing before her creator, holding her mirror for him to peer at whatever unfortunate soul he wanted to concentrate on at the time. The small, childlike creature was staring at nothing, needing nothing to sustain her attentions.

Gods, everything about that white shell was screaming blasphemy. And yet the girl herself had only to answer for never telling her master ‘no’; which would actually be a sort of stalemate, since disobeying her master would be an act of irreverence against him.

“It would seem that the Prince will not follow our little treasure.”

Kikyou turned fully to the two, raising a brow at the thought of Sesshoumaru not coming at Kagome’s call, and wondering just how it was that Naraku always seemed to answer her thoughts. It was eerie and unsettling, to say the least. In more ways than one, she felt truly violated just being in his presence.

“She’ll be alone this evening.”

Seeing his words as a sort of dismissal, and feeling rather miffed about being placed so low, Kikyou turned to leave. His next words, however, would have stopped the heavens themselves if they were standing in her place at that moment.

“Come to me when it is completed. We have yet to discuss your payment”

The way he purred the last of his words sent chills racing through her body once again, which caused her to duck a bit from his view. His pitiless laughter filled the room, no doubt at her action, bringing about a nasty scowl from her. She could not stand the idea of being indebted to one such as him.

Still, she forced herself to nod and quit the room. Her ability to withstand Naraku’s miasma came from her deaths, but her life was only sustained through other maidens’ souls and she was sorely in need of energy.

That aspect of her life was one of the sole reasons she was undergoing this endeavor; she had to find a way to survive without death. Kagome appeared to be the only answer. That girl was the answer to everything it would seem.

To be honest, Kikyou did not maintain any true ill will towards the girl. It was actually that Kagome was Kikyou’s only chance at salvation and something she had learned long ago was that if you want something for yourself, you have to get it yourself.

It was really that simple.

With determined steps, Kikyou left the boundaries of Naraku’s nest. She refused to turn back, to watch the fading barrier that he kept. She wondered if he realized that his protective shell was falling away from him.

In all honesty, Kikyou prayed that the pest would be killed before he could extract payments from her. She didn’t want to know what he was after.

Her soul stealers came to her, depositing souls and departing for more the second she was clear of Naraku’s barrier. With their diligence, Kikyou would be able to walk the rest of the day to Inuyasha’s forest and begin her plan.

Her footsteps paused a moment in realization. Tonight was it; this was the night she would betray everything and everyone she had been raised to respect, even the Gods themselves would not help her after this.

Tonight was the night that Kagome would die by her actions.

Alright. I had promised two chapters, but that’s not going to happen. After reading over them, I realized that they both need some smoothing. This one didn’t get much attention, but I received a lot of emails for this story…

Obviously, I couldn’t just leave you all wondering.

Well, I don’t know when the next update will be, but I don’t believe it will take as long as this one had!

I love you all, especially the ones that stuck by me through my hardships. I’m still experiencing the brunt of the problems, but I love you all so much that I had to give you something!

So no griping about the grammar, eh? Or the length…you don’t know how much it kills me to have anything less than 15 pages at least! And this is only 10.5, which hurts me like crazy, so I don’t want to hear it!

Mata

Melia