InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When there is a full moon ❯ To Repay a Debt ( Chapter 9 )

I do not own Inuyasha.

To Repay a Debt

She coughed desperately, trying to empty her lungs of the toxic poison. Her numb legs crumpled beneath her weight and she sank to the ground. Her vision was blurry, but she could just make out Shippo's frightened face as he hovered anxiously about her. With the last of her remaining energy, she summoned a shield around Shippo urging him to run. She watched him disappear into the foggy night as her mind slipped from the conscious world.

The first thing she noticed was someone's raspy laugh from close to her ear. She had never heard it before and it was no less unusual than anyone else's laugh, but it chilled her to the bone, making her want to throw up. Her eyes fluttered open as soon as she felt a pair of cold, clammy hands clasp around her face. What she saw made her regret ever opening her eyes.

It was a short, stocky man, wearing white from head to toe. He even had a white kerchief wrapped over his mouth and nose so you could only see two bulging eyes. The chilling laugh was coming from him as his eyes bore into Kagome's. "Ah," he said. "Finally, my beautiful bride has awoken!"

His hands tightened on Kagome's face and she struggled to get away. It was then that she realized her whole body had been paralysed. Trying to push back full out panic, she settle for glaring at him. "What do you want?" she asked as rudely as she could.

He let out another fit of his laughter, his eyes absolutely dancing with joy. Just then, Kagome noticed something else about the man. She felt no live spirit within him as though he were dead. Perhaps that was why his hands were so cold. But she could also feel the presence of a jewel shard, its faint light coming from just below his Adam's apple. "Now that you're awake, we can finally start the ceremony!"

"What ceremony?" she did not like where this was going.

He lifted one dead hand from her face and brushed it through her hair. If her body was not frozen, Kagome would have shivered. "Our wedding, koi!"

Oh crap! Kagome's eyes widened noticeably, and her breath came in short, abrupt gasps. "W-w-wedding?!"

"Hai, koi," he said as he bent over her form and placed a kiss on her forehead through the cloth that covered his mouth. "Our wedding!"

Cold sweat broke out all over her, making her want to shiver, or retch from his touch. "Who are you?"

He let out another short laugh. "Mukotsu, koi, Mukotsu."

The wind was cool and refreshing, lifting through the trees and his hair. He paused in the path, breathing in the cool night air. His eyes travelled to the bright silvery sphere of the moon. Its brilliant light complemented his own silver hair and white attire. The night was quiet and peaceful; all seemed to be resting. Yet he had an unsettling feeling in the back of his mind. He had tried to ignore it, and had been successful. But his success was brought down when his Tensaiga had reacted to something. Even now it continued to pulse uneasily. It was giving warning, but Sesshoumaru knew that the threat was not towards him. He resumed his walk.

After a few minutes, the scent of toxins reached his sensitive nose. He paused and tried the air. Amidst the smell of poisons was the sweet scent of water lilies mixed with the charged smell of thunderstorms. He frowned as he recognized the person and again Tensaiga pulsed, only with more persistence. Then another smell reached him, the smell of a corpse. For an instant he thought it was the once-dead miko, but the air did not carry the putrid smell of dirt as well. Just the smell of a decaying body.

He turned back towards where he'd left Jaken and Rin, deciding to leave the miko to her own defences. This time Tensaiga pulsed yet again. He ignored the sword, but it pulsed with a clearer beat. Sesshoumaru turned annoyed eyes onto the sword.

"You want me to save the miko?" he asked it in an annoyed tone. The sword pulsed more gently in response. "Why?" Again the sword answered with a pulse. But its answer was not adequate enough. She's saved you. She's taken you to her home, and she's helped you get back to your rightful place. She needs help, and your brother will not reach her in time. Plus…you want to save her.

This time, Sesshoumaru, suddenly angry and uncomfortable, walked purposefully away from the direction from which the miko's scent came to him. He had taken no more than four steps when he was suddenly frozen in place. The sword pulsed almost madly at his hip. Save her, you owe her at least that much. I owe no one anything. You owe her more than your life. I have no obligations to help the woman. She would help you. I am not her. You ought to help her. I will not. You have no other choice. You are bound here unless you go to her and save her. She is above others you have met; don't underestimate her because of your blindness to your heart.

Almost sighing with exasperation, Sesshoumaru turned towards the girl's general direction and found that he could. The closer he got, the stronger the scent of the poisons became. He soon reached a small clearing with a shabby hut in one corner of it. Curls of smoke and toxins rose from its walls and roof. It was through the straw door of this hut that the smell of the miko came the strongest. He hesitated at the door, allowing the calming scent to override his senses with its strange power.

"Mukotsu?!" Kagome repeated, now fully panicking. "You're one of the Schininchitai!"

"You know of me?" Mukotsu asked. Again he caressed her cheek with a dead hand. "My, what a beautiful and smart bride I've found."

Don't give up! Not yet, you haven't survived this long to fall at this guy's hands! Help will come…right? Pushing the doubt out of her mind, Kagome tried her best to concentrate on surviving. She knew that the guy was practically a zombie, its life force the Shikon shard. Take that out, and you're good to go. The only problem was that she was still paralysed, perhaps not as much as before. She could move her fingers and even her whole hand if she concentrated hard enough.

She looked around the smoky hut, her eyes falling onto the fire creator. Against some old logs, just outside of the roaring fire, were two sharp needle like rods. They were her only hope of saving herself.

Just as she began to reach out, the two hands left her face to encircle her waist. She was lifted to her knees and her body was leaned against that of her enemy. She struggled hard not to let a desperate sob escape her lips. "Would you like to start the ceremony now, koi?" he whispered into her ear, making her shiver with pure fear.

Slowly bending in his grasp, Kagome reached for the twin rods. With a speed she thought she could not muster in her condition, she plunged them into her capture's throat, clasping them over the Shikon shard in his neck.

His eyes bulged even more, if that were possible. Breathing heavily, Kagome allowed herself a moment to catch her breath. That was her mistake. Quickly overcoming his shock, he pushed away her hands, shoving her ruthlessly to the ground. "You frigid BITCH!" he yelled with contempt. "You're just like the others, hating me for my face!"

"What are you talking about?" Kagome gasped, not bothering to get off the ground. "That was not the problem!"

"I'm going to kill you for that!" With that said, he lunged towards her, surprising her before she could get away. He shut his thick hands around her neck, choking the little breath she had left out of her body.

Once again, her world swayed dangerously, and her vision grew black. Just before she lost consciousness, she saw a flash of poisonous green. Then she fell limp as she gave into the black haze growing within her mind.

Without warning, the scent of her fear nearly tripled. He knew she was being attacked. The sword pulsed widely, repeatedly, urging him on. Finally, he ripped open the straw door and stepped into the toxin filled room.

A short, plump, would-be-dead man sat crouching before the miko. He was choking her, a pair of iron rods sticking out of his neck. The miko looked as though she was already dead or at least very close to it. Even though her very life was being chocked out of her, she did not struggle, and Sesshoumaru found that to be very odd. Normally, she would be meddlesome, and do her best to ruin your plan even though you might not have any intentions of killing her at the beginning. To find her so submissive was impossible, and Sesshoumaru knew she had been poisoned or drugged to keep her from moving. I should have tried that a long time ago, he thought sardonically.

He heard her choked cry, and his eyes rested on her half closed eyes, the very emblem of warmth and purity. They were glazed over as though she was close to unconsciousness. He made his move just as her eyes drooped shut.

His claws cut through the zombie like knife through warm butter. He immediately released his hold over the miko's neck as he slumped forward. Sesshoumaru kicked aside his limp form and crouched down beside the miko. He could see the beginnings of many bruises forming along her long and slender neck. He pushed aside dark strands of tousled hair from her face. His hand froze across one cheek. He tested the air tentatively with his nose. The plump man was still alive, or at least as alive as he could be.

Confidently, he rose to his feet, his cold eyes burning through the man desperately trying to get to his stocky feet. Mukotsu, almost trembling, dashed out of the room, not waiting to see whether the demon followed.

Outside of the miserable hut, he dashed to a small bush and was about to pull something out from its shadows when the cool voice of the demon cut through the air.

"You should have died when I put my hands through your disgusting body," he said unpleasantly. "Now I'll just have to kill you using my whip."

"Wait," Mukotsu protested in a pleading voice. He crouched in a feeble position with his back to the demon. "I didn't know the bitch was of interest to a demon. Please excuse my mistake, your greatness."

Sesshoumaru looked down at him coldly and without mercy. He could not explain why his blood was boiling so purposefully, but he knew that he would be calm again once this man was dead. Just then, the dead man swirled around on his feet, pulling out at the same time a large tube about the same size as himself. He aimed it at Sesshoumaru, letting out a cold and victorious laugh.

"Neither human nor demon is a match for this poison." With that said, blasts of thick and murky clouds of poison shot towards Sesshoumaru, covering the small opening in an ominous cloud.

Mukotsu stood triumphantly where he had been, laughing gleefully. He promptly walked towards his hut to get back to the girl and resumed what he had been trying to do before he had been interrupted.

Before he had time to acknowledge that which was happening, he was returned back into a skeleton as a striped hand swiftly pulled out the rods that were still in his throat, taking the jewel shard with them.

Sesshoumaru stood over the now truly dead man with hard eyes. "To think that you actually thought that this Sesshoumaru can be succumbed by the poisons of a mere human!"

When Kagome next opened her eyes, it took her a while to remember where she was. Her lungs burned with every breath that she took, and her body still refused to follow her will. She lay helplessly limp on the wooden floor, looking around for any sign of the Schininchitai member. She sighed with relief upon finding no proof of his presence.

The screen door to the hut had been flung off and lay in a heap at the entrance. Through the open gap of it, she could just see out of the hut. What she saw however, surprised her to such a degree that she thought she were hallucinating.

It was at exactly that precise moment that the demon clad in white from head to toe minus his black armour, fluidly pulled out the two rods that Kagome, herself, had thrust into the neck of the Schininchitai member. Her eyes widened impossibly when she heard his emotionless voice and could no longer announce her eyes unreliable.

She watched as Sesshoumaru looked distastefully at the heap of human bones at his feet. She watched as his cold eyes slowly turned towards the hut and to herself, still motionlessly lying on the ground. His feet brought him back inside the hut even though his eyes screamed his displeasure of being near a human such as her. But he still crouched down beside her, his golden eyes ablaze with an inner fire that seemed to reach out and scorch Kagome even from where she lay. Patiently, she awaited her death.

Then she realized that it was not hatred that she saw within the demon lords eyes, more like confusion and resentment. She opened her mouth to say something, but the gulp of air that she accidentally took in sent her into a coughing fit. Her vision wavered just as a single hand touched her forehead. Tantalizing warmth spread through her body from his touch, and her lungs stopped their assault. Her eyes drooped sleepily.

"My dept has been repaid; you no longer can haunt me and my thoughts now that we are even." His emotionless voice lulled her to sleep. She was unsure as to whether she had merely imagined the last part of what he had said, or if he had actually voiced those strange and haunting words.