InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Windows on the West ❯ A Welcome Curse ( Chapter 50 )

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

Disclaimer:  I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

“Inuyasha, you will wait here, guarding the children and we will return your mate to you,”  Sesshoumaru said firmly, ignoring his brother's ranting figure as he turned to Kagome and motioned her forward to mount Ah-Uhn.

“What the hell ya mean I'm gonna wait here?  Are you crazy?  That dark miko has my mate!”  the hanyou turned human ranted, his human form, however, not sounding nearly as intimidating as his hanyou form.

The dark miko had unfortunately struck at just the perfect time – Inuyasha was human, no moon hanging in the sky.  It was fortunate, for him, however, that Sesshoumaru's little pack had just arrived in the vicinity of the well after an extended time away in their travels.

Kimi would be saved... this time.

“It means, you baka, that you are going to stay here, and let me and Sesshoumaru take care of this problem for you.  It's not like you could do much against her, anyway – she's a dark miko.  She's my job to take care of, Inuyasha.  Now-”  she shot him a look,  “-stop arguing and wasting time – Kimi needs us to hurry.  Just take the children into your hut and stay there – we'll be back as soon as we can, okay?”  Without waiting for a reply, she turned and climbed aboard the dragon, and within moments, she and the daiyoukai were gone, leaving a frustrated and worried Inuyasha behind to grumble at Shippo and Rin.

“Well, come on, then,”  he groused, folding his arms in his sleeves and impatiently shrugging black strands of hair over his shoulders as they all trooped into his hut.

“There,”  Kagome said, pointing to a small shimmering barrier over a section of forest.  “That's her – I can feel her dark aura from here.”

Sesshoumaru also could though he said nothing, simply allowing her to lead without comment.

“How strong is she?”  he asked quietly.

Kagome didn't answer for a few moments, her eyes far away as she probed at the shield.  “Not very... but she doesn't really have to be – curses and the like take on their own power over time and don't really rely on their origins for strength.”

He nodded, and within moments, he was landing before a now shattered barrier, courtesy of a hama no ya from Kagome.  The strength behind and implicit within that arrow sent the dark miko scurrying out to meet them, attempting to keep them from her prize.

It didn't take but a moment for Kagome to figure out what the dark miko wanted from Kimi.

“You're dying – in order to have lived as long as you have, you've fed off the life force of the young, and Kimi's just your next victim, isn't she?”  she started indignantly.

The dark miko was angered when she realized that they knew the young woman she'd taken.

“Who is she to you?”  she spat, scowling petulantly.  

Sesshoumaru spoke up for the first time, then. “She is my half-brother's mate.  You will return her.”  His voice really didn't leave any room for negotiation.

It was clear the dark miko was not pleased with her blunder in taking someone with relatives that held power enough to defy her.

“Bring me a replacement, and I'll give her back to you,”  she tried to bargain, but Kagome was having none of it.

“Your life should have ended a long time ago,”  she shouted, suddenly angry.  “What right do you have to steal the lives of others to extend your own?”

“The right of power!”  she yelled back.  “The strong survive and the weak fall to those of power – and I am strong!”

Kagome drew an arrow from her quiver slowly and set it to her bow, then drew a bead on the miko and held herself there, with the ancient woman staring back at her defiantly.  “Not this time.  It's judgment day, and now it's time to pay the price for your evil magics.  I pray the kami have mercy on your soul.”

Without further ado, she fired, the arrow sparking with a bright pink aura as it left the bow and targeted the ancient woman dead on.  Bound by Sesshoumaru's youki, the arrow took her through the heart, and as it began to purify the festering evil within her, she created one last curse...

“Hear this, proud youkai!  For your part in my death, I curse you to be unable to bed one you do not love.  And I curse you to love only this wench!”  she writhed in pain, the purification taking longer than most due to her ancient status and very dark soul – one carrying the youki of several weak youkai.  

Sesshoumaru cocked a brow at her.  “And this would be a curse in what way?”  he asked dryly, his eyes meeting Kagome's as she flushed at the connotations of the woman's curse.

“She's human, you fool, and refuses to use her power to extend her life as I did... meaning once she passes, you will be condemned to eternity alone,”  she trailed off, finally dissipating, still defiant, in a shower of pretty pink and red sparkles.  It was obvious what Kagome's punishment was to be – dying and leaving her youkai behind in torment.

Too bad for that woman that her curse was empty to this particular couple.

It was silent for all of a few moments, and then Kagome blinked in shock – Sesshoumaru was laughing.   He was really laughing... she looked up wildly.  “The sky must be falling,”  she muttered, eyes still rounded with shock as she looked back down at him warily.  Absently shouldering her bow, she asked,   “Umm... what's so funny about that – well, except the part that she didn't know I wasn't going to die like a normal human?”

“This one has spent much time looking for just such a 'curse',”  he began, his laughter trailing off into a wry voice.  “I was not unaware, Kagome, of your worries that I would come to care for another and take a concubine, as my father did.  That was going to be my courting gift to you – a vow of exclusivity.  She named it curse, but I name it fortuitous.  Except that I must find something else to gift you as part of the courting – as I am now 'cursed' to remain faithful to you, in heart and in body, for eternity,”  he teased lightly, obviously very amused by the whole situation – and not at all disturbed.

Shaking her head disbelievingly, Kagome sighed and turned towards the small hut.  “I'm going to get Kimi so we can get her back to Inuyasha before he dismantles Kaede's village.  This night has just been too strange,”  she murmured, flicking a glance back at a still chuckling youkai Lord before entering the hut.

I have not laughed like that since I was a small pup, he thought ruefully, remembering back to the last time he'd laughed so freely.  He'd been a pup at the time, laughing over the antics of one of his father's retainers...Myoga, as it happened.

It feels good,  he decided.  To be so free as to be able to laugh when I choose to... I have missed much in pursuit of Supreme Conquest, but... Kagome reminds me. This is just one reason that I need her...

The woman in question stepped out of the hut followed by Kimi, and with nothing further to say, both women mounted Ah-Uhn and the dark miko's clearing soon stood empty...

But from that day forth, if you listened just right, you could hear the echoes of a male's laughter through the trees, lifting the somber atmosphere of that haunted place and replacing it with surprised happiness.

~oOo~

A/N:  Did you all really think I would make things so easy for Sesshoumaru with having to come up with something simple like a vow?  Nope.  He's still got to use that gorgeous head of his for something meaningful!

Amber

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