InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unexpected Circumstances ❯ Frustrations ( Chapter 14 )

CHAPTER FOURTEEN-FRUSTRATIONS

 

 

Hello readers! I know it has been a LONG time since I've updated this story, but I've been in a dry spell with it. However, fear not, I believe I know where I want this story to go now! Thank you very much for all of you who reviewed and a special THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my beta KnockKnock313; you're awesome!

 

Now on to the story: Enjoy!

 

 

He had tried a few times to leave, but could not will his feet to go any further than the tree line. Out of everything that he would have expected; he did not expect to be battling with himself on whether or not to go. What was wrong with him?

 

For almost a week and a half Sesshoumaru had been watching Kagome from afar. He told her that he was to return in two weeks time and he would be damned if he showed up earlier than that. He had his pride to look out for. So instead, he waited in the forest; watching as she went through her training with the elder priestess, and watching as she finally asked someone to help her train in battle.

 

Many questions had been raised within him when he saw Kagome's choice of instructor. A farmer who seemed to be consistently nervous was her choice; perhaps he should not have left the task of finding a suitable trainer to her for obviously she was delusional.

 

The first week of her training was spent mainly on the conditioning of her body. They would go on long runs through the forest and do menial exercises to keep her in good shape, and Sesshoumaru had yet to see him teach her a single defensive or offensive battle maneuver. Did she not realize that time was of the essence?

 

Today he watched as Kagome and this man, Takahiro she called him, readied themselves for another run. He would watch them for today and then once more tomorrow. If there was no change, he would intervene, two weeks or not.

 

The two of them ran for what Kagome felt was an hour before they stopped to change exercises. She was breathing deeply and holding her hands over her head to try and catch her breath, and while Takahiro was a bit winded, he seemed none the worse for wear.

 

“Takahiro,” Kagome said, “do you think we could work on something different today; maybe something that has to do with fighting?”

 

Takahiro gave her a reluctant nod; he had been avoiding this moment, but apparently he could put it off no longer. When Kagome had first asked him to train her over a week ago, he could not even fathom how difficult it would be for him to do so. The bandits that had killed his wife were rogue samurai, though he never told anyone about that.

 

It was one of the main reasons that he never pursued a life as a warrior, even after his father had trained him to be so.

 

“All right Kagome, the first thing to know, I guess, is how to block an attack. You should stand so that you are not fully facing your enemy, that gives him too much of a target to work with. Instead, turn sideways a bit and put your left foot further out than your right,” Takahiro explained to her.

 

Kagome did as she was told and positioned her body in a defensive stance, trying to imitate Takahiro; with only a little bit of correction from him. They trained like this for well over two hours before he decided that they were done for the day.

 

“Listen Kagome, tonight the village is having a small festival and I need to go prepare for it. We'll pick up lessons tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah ok that sounds good,” she replied.

 

“Will we see you there tonight?” he asked just before he walked away.

 

Kagome thought about it and shrugged, “I'm not sure quite yet, we'll see.”

 

He nodded and then walked back towards the village. Kagome let out a long sigh and began her walk to her hut. Lately Takahiro had been really stand-offish, they had not even had dinner together in the week that they had been training and when they were training, he never said more than was needed to instruct her.

 

To Kagome, it felt as if she had lost her only friend in this small village.

 

“I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to train,” she told herself.

 

“Do you often talk to yourself miko?” Sesshoumaru said not being able to resist.

 

Kagome slumped her shoulders; it figured someone would catch her in the middle of a private conversation with herself, but why did it have to be Sesshoumaru? Why did it always have to be him to see her make a fool of herself. He was the person she was trying to get respect from and he had a knack for finding her in compromising positions.

 

“No, just when there's no one else around to hold intelligent conversation,” she wittily replied.

 

“Your training is lacking,” he told her as he circled around her, taking in her disheveled form.

 

Kagome forced her breath to come out evenly, but she could do nothing to keep her heartbeat from pounding faster as he came up close behind her.

 

She finally managed to speak again and said, “Yeah, well, not much I can do when my trainer is reluctant to teach me anything useful. He just seems so-I don't know-off.”

 

Sesshoumaru pondered this quickly. Since he had been watching he had noticed her trainer's lack of enthusiasm; perhaps he should make the training sessions supervised. It would certainly eliminate any discrepancies that he held and would also keep him from having to be the one to train her. He voiced his thoughts.

 

“Starting tomorrow I will be supervising your training. If he has a problem with this then you will find someone else,” Sesshoumaru told her.

 

He reached over and picked a small twig out of her hair and raised his eyebrow at her. Kagome had the decency to blush and Sesshoumaru could not help the stray thought that she looked quite enchanting when she did so.

 

Sesshoumaru slowly took a step back from Kagome and locked eyes with her before he allowed himself to give her a slow once over.

 

“Yeah good luck with that,” Kagome stated breathily, trying to break the spell that he was placing over her. “It was hard enough to talk him into training me, let alone anyone else in this village. If I talk to him, he'll probably be okay with that.” `I hope,' she added silently to herself.

 

“Very well. See to it that you do not waste time in doing so,” he added for good measure.

 

Kagome rolled her eyes and continued on her walk back to her hut. It figured he had to have the last word. How could someone so gorgeous ruin the effect by opening his mouth? Maybe it was just her, but she thought that they had just shared a moment earlier; and if she did not know any better, she could have sworn that his eyes lingered on her for longer than was necessary.

 

But perhaps she was imagining things? Wishful thinking perhaps? After all, it was not a bad thing to find him handsome was it? Kagome didn't think so. She was of a mature age and therefore it was perfectly normal to have less than clean thoughts about someone who, well, looked like Sesshoumaru did.

 

She had not spent a lot of time around the demon lord, but that did not mean that she did not appreciate a good-looking male when she saw one. And Sesshoumaru was definitely good looking. That hair of his looked incredibly soft and it was all that Kagome could do not to run her fingers through it when she was close enough to do so. And his eyes seemed to have an endless depth to them; anyone could get lost in those eyes.

 

His perfectly shaped face, the beautiful markings that adorned his cheeks and forehead, all added to his beauty. And his mouth…

 

Kagome stumbled on her priestess garb a bit at that thought and when she regained her composure she looked down at herself. Now that her inner musings had been interrupted, she took a moment to look over herself.

 

Her miko robes were covered in dirt and grass stains; and the kami only knew what else. She lifted her hands to her face and noticed the dirt on them as well, and the small calluses that were beginning to form on her fingertips. Her hair felt as if it had not been washed in a month, and oh how she longed for her scented soaps and shampoo.

 

Frowning a little at her outward appearance, Kagome wondered why she ever thought that Sesshoumaru would look at her with anything other than disgust. She was not a “proper” woman as the times called for. She was not clean all the time; how could she be? She never conveniently found hot springs just because she wanted one.

 

Kagome did not conduct herself like a lady of wealth, though she was not without manners. There was no possible way that anyone like Sesshoumaru would find her appealing; it simply was not her luck.

 

Kagome sighed out loud in self-defeat and dropped her hands back to her sides.

 

“Problem?” Sesshoumaru questioned from directly behind her.

 

Kagome jumped a little not expecting him to still be near her and then turned to glare at him.

 

“Why didn't you tell me I looked so dirty?” Kagome chided.

 

Sesshoumaru raised a brow at this. “I assumed that you no longer cared for personal cleanliness seeing as how your body is stained with dirt.”

 

Kagome's mouth dropped open at his comment. How rude!

 

“As a matter of fact I do care about being clean. You try training all day with a temperamental old priestess and an unenthusiastic trainer and see how well you do to find time to take a decent bath.”

 

Kagome could have sworn she heard a snort come from the demon lord, but brushed it off. She had more important things to think about; such as a bath and a fresh change of clothes before she headed to the town's festival tonight.

 

“Do not dawdle, I will be awaiting you in your hut later to discuss training,” Sesshoumaru said. He waited until Kagome acknowledged his demand and then departed for further into the woods. To do what was anyone's best guess.

 

“Jerk,” Kagome said under her breath as she continued on.

 

 

****

 

 

Takahiro left quickly after finishing his training session with Kagome. He hated training her; it was just not right for a woman such as she to have to learn how to fight. She needed a strong man to protect her and care for her so that she would not have to worry about that sort of thing.

 

When his wife had been alive, he had done everything in his power to keep her safe and provide the best that he could for her. She was his queen, his love, his everything. Not a day went by that he did not try and make her smile and laugh, if only once. She was his to protect and serve.

 

Takahiro sighed and closed his eyes after reaching his hut. What he wouldn't give to see her face again; to hear that beautiful laugh that brightened up his darkest days. The love that he had felt for his wife transpired through the days and still he could not gain closure over her death.

 

With one last sigh of remorse he walked into his hut. He stopped short when he noticed he was not alone in his usually empty house.

 

“Who are you?”

 

 

****

 

Deep within the mountains of the southern territory, Naraku sat within the dark confines of his room with an evil grin upon his face. He fingered his fragment of the sacred jewel with tenderness.

 

He chuckled a bit to himself when he thought of how easy it had been to locate the young priestess Kagome; and with her friends on their way towards him here, they would not be any hindrance to his plans.

 

Sure, it would be easy to simply swoop down on her and finish her life with one stab of his tentacles; but since when did he do anything simply? Naraku reveled in the complexities of strategic planning. It brought him no small amount of happiness when he could watch one of his plans go into fruition, and caused him even more glee when one would actually succeed.

 

To make his foes endure humiliation, sorrow, jealousy, and anguish was something he did not miss a chance to do. No, all of those fools who chose to stand against him would suffer to the fullest extent; beginning with that foul little priestess.

 

She almost made it too easy for him. He had been closely watching her for a week now and had even laughed aloud when he saw her doing, what he could only guess was supposed to be, training. It was a pitiful sight indeed.

 

But no, that was not what made him want to lose face and dance for joy. What made his laughter grow to an extreme was observing the man training her. He was such a marvelously tortured soul. Naraku could feel the hurt and remorse radiating from him in waves of pent up grief. He would be the one to help rid Naraku of the priestess Kagome.

 

No one was immune to the desires of the heart. It was only a matter of finding out what one wanted most. It had to be something that would shut out rational thinking and logic. It would not be hard; when he wanted to, he could be very persuasive.

 

Naraku grinned again and held out his hand to reveal a puppet he had been constructing for some time now. It held no odor, gave off no presence, and was virtually undetectable. It took on his usual baboon-clad form and was thus far all that he desired in a demon puppet.

 

He lifted it up into the air and watched impassively as one of his insects took hold of it before darting off, heading north towards the small, secluded village.

 

With a gleam in his eye, Naraku sat back and folded his hands around the sacred jewel.

 

“Let the games begin.”

 

 

****

 

 

“Who are you?” Takahiro once again asked the dark figure in his hut.

 

“I am someone who is here to help you,” the oily voice of the baboon-clad character replied.

 

“Help me? Help me with what?”

 

“Does it not get lonely in this village with no one to come home to after a long days work?”

 

“I don't see how that is any of your concern,” Takahiro replied shortly. “Tell me what you want or leave me.”

 

Naraku's puppet bowed its head in submission. “My apologies, I meant no ill will. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Naraku and I have heard tell of your misfortune regarding your dearly departed wife.”

 

Takahiro bristled at this; his wife was a sore subject for him and this man was not welcome to speak of her. However, his curiosity of how and why this man knew of him and his past had him urging Naraku forward.

 

“Alright,” Takahiro said resignedly, “you have my attention.”

 

“I am in need of assistance to help me eliminate a potential threat of mine,” Naraku said in his deep raspy voice.

 

“Go on.”

 

“This threat has been the cause of many injuries upon my person as well as some of my…friends. If you help me to rid of this threat, in return I shall grant you your deepest desire.”

 

“What do you know of my deepest desire?” Takahiro asked suspiciously.

 

“I know more than one would think. I know that you stay up late at night trying to escape the nightmares of hearing your beloved wife, who was taken from you at such an early stage of your relationship, scream in horror as the rogue warriors forced themselves upon her while you could do nothing but watch. How they mercilessly took her life and left you broken upon the blood drenched ground-”

 

“Stop it!” Takahiro yelled as he put his hands over his ears. “Why do you do this?!”

 

“Let me take away that pain,” Naraku threw out enticingly. “Let me show you what an alliance with me has to offer.”

 

Takahiro opened his tightly closed eyes and lifted his head to look at Naraku. Slowly, the figure of a woman started to take form and not a minute later did the body of his beloved wife, Atsuko, stand before him with a beautiful, but lonely smile upon her face.

 

“Atsuko…” Takahiro whispered.

 

“Takahiro darling, how I've missed you,” replied his wife.

 

Takahiro found will to move his legs again and rushed forward to embrace his wife in a crushing hug. His eyes held tears as he placed quick kisses over her face trying to take in every inch of her. She in turn held him closely and allowed silent tears to stream down her face. Takahiro pulled back a little from her and looked pleadingly into her eyes.

 

“Please Atsuko; please forgive me for not being able to protect you those years ago. I promise never to let anything like that happen to you again!”

 

Atsuko smiled tenderly at him before she replied. “I do not blame you for the transgressions that have been brought upon me. Naraku here has given us another chance dear; please, for our sake do what he asks so that we may again be together.”

 

“Of course love,” Takahiro agreed and then turned to Naraku. “What is it that you wish for me to do? I'll do anything to have my wife back.”

 

Naraku hid his smirk behind his mask and then answered.

 

“You have been training a young priestess in the art of combat, have you not?”

 

Takahiro showed his confusion outright. “Y-yes I have. What does that have to-”

 

“She is my threat,” Naraku plainly stated.

 

“I see. Well, then I will cease to train her so she is no longer a threat to you.”

 

Naraku chuckled a bit at this. “I am afraid my dear Takahiro, that it is not as simple as that. You see, the priestess, although never properly trained as a priestess, has been a thorn in my side since I've met her. This is where you come in.”

 

Takahiro nodded for Naraku to continue.

 

“What I need you to do for me is really quite simple. Gain her trust explicitly; then one day when you are training her you are going to have an “accident”. I don't care how you do it, but see that she dies,” Naraku said with barely veiled malice.

 

Takahiro opened his mouth to try and talk a few times, but found that his words died on his lips. Kill Kagome? Could he really do that?

 

“I-I-I don't think I can do what you ask of me. Kagome has been a friend of mine since she's been here,” Takahiro managed to say.

 

His wife beside him put a soothing hand upon his arm. “Darling, this girl could not possibly mean more to you than I do, could she? Do you not want us to be together again?”

 

She brought her hand to his face and gently brushed his cheek with the back of it. Takahiro leaned into her touch and closed his eyes; he never thought that he would be able to feel her smooth skin against his ever again. But could he kill someone for her?

 

Takahiro looked over at his wife that was once lost to him and closed his eyes in concentration. He could see the face of Kagome behind his closed eyes and tried desperately to find a reason that he should not sacrifice her for his wife; but in all accounts, he could not find one. It had been too long since he had felt the touch of his wife; too long since he had gazed upon her beautiful face, or held her in his arms. He would not let her go so easily this time.

 

“I'll do it,” Takahiro said firmly staring straight into the eyes of his once dead wife. “I would never be able to forgive myself if I had the chance to get you back and denied it.”

 

His wife granted him a beautiful smile then a soft kiss on his lips to seal the deal.

 

Naraku smirked devilishly and bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement.

 

“Perhaps it would be wise to introduce her to others as someone other than your dead wife. However, take heed Takahiro,” Naraku began raising his voice slightly to get his point across. “If you fail to dispose of the priestess I will have no choice but to take back my offer.”

 

“I understand,” said a slightly shaken Takahiro.

 

Naraku continued his threat. “I do not take failure lightly, and I will not have mercy when dealing with those who have betrayed me. Keep these things in mind when you are training our young priestess.”

 

Takahiro nodded and squeezed his wife's hand in assurance that she was still there and to show that he would not fail so that he could keep her with him.

 

“I will be watching closely, Takahiro,” Naraku's last words echoed in his ears before the puppet dissipated into the now evening sky.