A Feudal Fairytail Retold by Sugarlock
Chapter One
Disclaimer: I do own Inuyasha or any of its characters!
Chapter One:
The smell of blood and embers burned his nose and twisted his already tumultuous belly. He had to get there in time. He had to! He couldn’t let yet another of his kin be brought down by a human woman. He had warned the boy on multiple occasions about coexisting with the human- a miko at that! But the fool merely waved his warnings off. Powerful legs carried him as quickly as his muscles would take him. He was closing in fast, he could smell his brother’s mixed blood. The trees zipped past him in a blur as scarlet red and snow white came in to view.
The whelp was running from something; Sesshomaru could sense the power of the jewel that his brother carried clutched in his claws. He could also see the arrow trained on his younger brother’s fleeing form. Suddenly that damnable woman’s voice cut through the air, clear and filled with vicious fury, and malice.
“Die, Inuyasha!” The arrow was let loose. The hanyou froze at the sound of his name! The fool! With a final burst of youkai, Sesshomaru propelled himself forward, slamming his larger frame into his brother’s, throwing him out of the path of the flying arrow. But there was no time for him, he felt the sharp pain as the arrow pierced his chest, clean through his bone armor. He felt the tip tear through muscle and organ, grazing bone before exiting his back and embedding itself into the tree behind him with a jolt. The rough bark scraped his skin through his kimono. No! He could not be bested by a human, not like this! As he watched the miko wobble closer to him through blurry eyes, he tried to summon the last of his energy to slaughter the wretch once and for all. But it would not be. His energy was gone, sealed away by the magic slowly overtaking his body. Darkness was creeping in from the corners of his vision. There was nothing that he could do.
He would die here and there was nothing that he could do! His arm, that he had outstretched toward her, dropped heavily to his side as the darkness overtook him. The sounds around him slowly faded to muddled murmurs, then nothing…
Inuyasha watched in morbid terror as his older brother slowly lost consciousness and faded before his very eyes. Kikyo’s arrow had done that to a fully fledged youkai like Sesshomaru. He looked to the woman he had come to love as she limped over to him, still holding her bow. His throat felt like it had swollen shut, he could barely speak as she trained yet another arrow on him.
“Kikyo...You...I thought….” He wheezed out, his tongue felt like a stone in his mouth. The miko pulled the bowstring taut, her cold brown glare piercing his heart like a blade.
“Get out of here, Inuyasha. I never want to see filth like you ever again.” Her words dragged the blade in his heart down to his belly. He felt the jewel slip from his limp grasp before he began to back away from the scene; one step, then another, then another before he whirled around and broke into a sprint, running from the clearing as fast as his muscles would take him.
Kikyo stumbled to the fallen jewel, her bow dropping from her grasp as she gripped her wounded shoulder. She dropped to her knees in front of the cursed thing, grasping it in her pale hand.
“Sister Kikyo!” She looked up at the sound of her younger sister’s voice, “What happened to you?!”
The older miko could hardly muster a smile for the child through the haze of pain and blood loss. “Kaede….I’m not long for this world.” She drew in another shaky breath before continuing, “Here. Take the Shikon No Tama. Burn it with my body.” She gasped, death’s cold grasp clutching her weakened heart.
“It cannot get into the wrong hands…” She felt her body begin to fall, heard the shrill cry of her name as she was consumed by the darkness….
~~ Tokyo 1997- Sunset Shrine~~
“And so Kagome, we sell these replicas of the legendary Shikon No Tama. This jewel has been in our family for generations!” The girl in question, Kagome, could only listen as her grandfather retold the story for possibly the millionth time, holding up a small blue glass ball attached to a wooden label that read the jewel’s name.
She tilted her head as she eyed the bobble, “And we sell these little glass marbles?” she asked skeptically as she played with the family cat, Buyo. Kagome watched the obese feline reach and swat at the little blue bobble that she held as her grandfather began to speak yet again. She didn’t have the heart to tell the old man that she had heard the stories countless times since she was a child. She figured that she would let him have his day.
Speaking of which. She clapped her hands together suddenly, startling the cat and her grandfather, a wide smile spreading across her face. “Oh! That’s right. Do you remember what tomorrow is, Grandpa?” She tried to hold in a squeal when a sly smile cracked the older Higurashi’s wrinkled features.
“But of course I remembered my lovely granddaughter’s birthday!” he said, reaching behind him and pulling out a pink wrapped box. Kagome shrieked in delight, reaching for the proffered gift. She quickly snatched it from him and tore at the thin paper.
“I can’t wait to see what-” She stopped short when she saw a mummified reptilian foot resting in the tissue paper in the box. “What is this…?” She picked up the appendage, eyeing the leathery skin in horror.
Kagome watched as the sly grin on her grandfather’s grew wider as it always did when he was about to launch himself into another explanation. She caught a glimpse of Buyo eyeing the thing in her hand like it was the best dish he had ever seen in his life. The feline would be drooling if he could. Absently, she wondered if cats could, in fact, drool.
“That, Kagome, is the dried foot of a Kappa. It is thought to-” Kagome had heard enough. Decision made, she offered the Kappa foot to Buyo.
“Here, Buyo. Food.” She watched as the cat gingerly grabbed the appendage from her hand before waddling away. She heard her grandfather’s sharp intake of breath followed by a very over dramatic show of crying over her disregard for his gift to her. She sighed in an attempt to calm her rising temper.
“Geez, Jii-san. I’m fifteen years old now! A lizard foot isn’t exactly something to give to a girl!” With that she stood, smiling despite her ire. “Come on. I think Mama should be done with dinner.” She helped the old man up from his kneeling position on the floor before turning and walking out of the old storehouse.
'This is how it has always been for me.' she thought as she walked toward the house. Her entire childhood had been filled with stories passed down through many generations. The shrine itself had been a part of her family for as long as the stories existed, passed down to each generation of Houshi and Miko. Though like any oral telling of a history, the stories had to have been distorted one way or another. Kagome highly doubted that any demons or magical beings could have existed at any point in time.
She stopped in front of the sacred tree, looking up into the lush green foliage. But what if all of those stories that Gramps told were all true…. Maybe…. Kagome shook the thoughts from her head. It was too ridiculous of a notion to carry or even muse. Youkai, Magic. All of those things were just fairy tales.
The fifteen-year-old sighed, stretching her arms out over her head, satisfied when she felt a satisfactory pop along the vertebrae of her spine. There was no time for all of this nonsense! Adjusting the dark blue sweater that she wore, she walked into the house to help her mother in the kitchen.
It wasn’t very long before they were all seated at the table, listening to the old man begin to spout out the origins of the vegetables that they ate. She simply watched him as she nibbled her food. “Let me guess. They were donations from a shrine visitor.” She mused, taking another bite out of her bowl. She heard her mother giggle as her grandfather’s explanation fell short….
~The Next Day~
Kagome woke up the next morning, ready and raring to go. She quickly got dressed in her school uniform, a white and green sailor shirt with the matching green pleated short skirt, before running down the stairs to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. She all but inhaled her meal before standing and running for the door to put her shoes on.
“I’m off!” She called behind her as she ran toward the stairs of the shrine to be on her way to school. The ninth grader stopped short when she noticed the door to the old well house ajar, her little brother Sota standing in the threshold, holding the cat’s food bowl.
“You know you aren’t supposed to be playing here. What are you doing?” rolling her eyes when the third grader nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice, she approached him.
“It’s Buyo. I think he’s at the bottom….” Sota squeaked out, looking up at his older sister with pleading eyes. Kagome crouched next to him, looking down at the old sealed well.
“So? Be a man and go down and get him.” She chirped before looking at her brother with a sidelong glance. “What? Are you too scared?” His expression would have made her laugh on any other day had she not been on her way to school. A sudden scratching echoed from within the well house, prompting Sota to jump back a few feet, ready to bolt.
“There’s something down there!” Kagome rolled her eyes again before standing and and shooting her sibling a sidelong glare.
“Yeah. The cat.” That being said, she began walking down the old wooden steps “Fine. I’ll get him. You stay here, ya scaredy-cat.” She shot behind her as she descended the steps, stopping right in front of the well. Her brows drew close together when she realized something rather unsettling- the scratching was coming from within the well itself. But that couldn’t be...Could it? She took a tentative step closer to the dry well. The thing had been sealed for as long as she could remember. What on earth could have gotten trapped in there? A sudden brush against her ankle had her jumping back, a scream wrenching itself from her throat. She glared at the pudgy feline that looked up at her with a questioning tilt of his head.
Stupid cat! Picking him up and turning to her younger brother, who had jumped even further out of the well house, she presented the source of the scratching. It had stopped right before Buyo had brushed her leg. He had to have been the culprit.
“See, ya big baby?” She called up to Sota. “Nothing to worry about!” No sooner had the words left her lips, a sudden burst of energy surged from the well. Frozen in place, she heard the wood splinter and crack behind her before she felt hands grabbing her, pulling her into the depths of the dry well. She heard her brother’s cries for her, but she couldn’t answer. Her voice had utterly abandoned her. A sea of purple and lights surrounded her and she was suddenly very aware of the two willowy hands clasping her face and turning her to come face to face with possibly the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.
A woman? No. The thing that had her had the torso and face of a woman with six long, spidery arms and the long lower body of a centipede. She watched as flesh returned to bleached white bones. What was going on?! Kagome felt her skin crawl when the creature began to speak, her voice both feminine and raspy.
“Yeesssssss! The Jewel!” The creature hissed out, her eyes closing in pure ecstasy, “I can feel my strength returning!” Her cold, black eyes trained on Kagome.
“I can feel my power returning! Give it to me!” The creature ran her long inhuman tongue along Kagome’s cheek and the fifteen year old finally found the strength to speak.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She cried out, struggling against the monster’s vice-like hold on her. She managed to wiggle out of the hands grasping her, “Let me GO!” thrusting her hand into the woman’s face, she watched as a pink light erupted and burned the flesh on the beast. The creature let her go with an anguished wail.
“No! The jewel shall be mine!” She shrieked as she disappeared into the sea of purple. Kagome could feel the pull of gravity return to her limbs as she floated down to the very bottom, stumbling onto her hands and knees. Giving her lungs and heart time to level out, she began to survey her surroundings.
She was in the well.
Had it all been a dream? Maybe she hit her head on the way down. She silently mused all rational possibilities, clutching her arm, when her eyes fell on the dismembered arm beside her. Okay, definitely not a dream! She stood, brushing off her knees. First thing’s first: get out of the well. Taking a deep breath, she called up to her brother.
“Sota! Get jii-chan!” a few moments went by and she got no answer. Little twerp probably ran away! With a grimace, she called again. Still no answer. With yet another resigned sigh she grasped the thick vines along the walls of the well, hoisting herself up carefully foot by foot.
“Just wait until I get my hands on that little…” She trailed off as a white butterfly fluttered into her line of sight. She watched it for a few moments before she shook the thoughts from her head and continued to climb up. She let out a triumphant cry when she reached the top, hoisting herself over the lip of the well. Her victory, however, was short lived when she took in her surroundings. She was in a lush green clearing, no buildings around her, just vibrant green forests circling her.
“Where am I…?” She mused to herself, “I remember falling down the well at the shrine….But…” She had pulled herself up during her monologue, and was sitting on the well’s lip now, trying to soak in exactly what she was seeing. This could not be right. The shrine was gone! In its place was foliage and wildlife.
“Jii-chan! Mama!” She called out. No answer. “Jii-chan! Mama!” Still nothing. She looked around her for anything even remotely familiar. Her mother had always told her to do that in the event that she got lost. But this wasn’t Tokyo. It could not be. A relieved cry jumped from her throat when her gaze fell upon the towering form of the Goshinboku. Her legs began to move of their own accord, her feet carrying her through the thick foliage of the forest.
If the tree is here then that must mean I’m close to home! She burst through the clearing, pushing past the bushes, only to stop short when the tree came into sight. “A boy?” There wrapped in thick roots that jutted from the base of the tree itself was a boy, seemingly asleep, pinned to the tree by a weathered arrow. She took in the long flowing silver mane that floated gently in the light breeze, watched as it brushed against the alabaster skin on his face. Unable to smother her curiosity, she climbed up the thickest root to take a closer look at his face.
Are these tattoos…? Two magenta stripes graced each pale cheek, curving over the high cheekbones. Absently her hand reached up to brush her fingers along the violet crescent moon on the boy’s brow. The skin was slightly raised, the texture rough in contrast to the smooth texture of his unmarred skin. Heaving a heavy sigh, her arms dropped to her sides
“Glad I got that out of my system.” How utterly embarrassing! She was lost in Gods know where and here she was getting all handsy with a complete, unconscious, stranger! A rough voice suddenly wrenched her from her musings and all she could was turn around to get a look at the intruders before she froze in place.
“You there!” A gruff voice barked out, breaking the silence. What was going on!? Kagome didn’t have time to ponder exactly what was happening before arrows were flying toward her. She threw herself against the bound man’s chest, covering his flank and neck. Her eyes screwed shut as the arrows embedded themselves into the trunk around them……
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kagome struggled with the knots binding her wrists and ankles. Just what was going on!? No sooner had she gotten to this strange world had she found a strange man pinned to a tree and gotten captured by arrow wielding men wearing top knots and kimonos! She seemed to be in a village by the looks of all of the people currently surrounding her and ogling her like she was some sort of monster. Children cowered behind their mothers and the women whispered word of her being a witch or a kitsune.
Top knots. Her cerulean gaze swept over the crowd. Top knot. Top knot. Just where was she for everyone to be dressed like they were straight out of her history book? Her thoughts halted as the crowd parted way to allow an old woman dressed in traditional miko garments carrying a bowl of unknown contents to pass. Her eyes stayed on the short woman as she approached her.
Great. Another weirdo. Her thoughts were stalled when the woman suddenly reached into the bowl and threw what Kagome now knew as salt onto her.
“Demon begone!” The old miko wheezed out. Moments passed and all Kagome could do was glare up from her position.
“What’s the big idea?!” Her only answer was the old woman grabbing hold of her face, turning it to the right and then the left.
“Strange...Ye were not affected by the purifying salts, yet ye hold a striking resemblance to my late sister Kikyo…” The old miko mused as she examined Kagome’s face.
Why you! Kagome’s ire rose further as she was manhandled by withered but strong hands.
After a few moments the old miko backed away, her expression perplexed.
“Ye are human.”
~~~~
Some time later, now in the elder Miko’s hut, Kagome rubbed her sore wrists, watching as the old woman, who she now knew as Kaede, poured what appeared to be stew into a small clay bowl. Night had fallen some time ago in the midst of the chaos of everything. She had managed to lose track of time altogether, her mind spinning with the reality of her situation:
Here she sat with an elderly Miko eating stew in a village in Feudal Japan. She absently wondered about the cost of a good therapist that wouldn’t immediately throw her into a mental ward upon hearing her experience.
Yeah right! They’d institutionalize me for sure! She thought as she accepted the bowl from Kaede with a smile.
“It smells delicious! Thank you.” She said before taking a tentative sip. Her pallet welcomed the warm food and she was suddenly reminded of her mother’s cooking. She needed to find a way to get home, which reminded her...
“This wouldn’t happen to be Tokyo, would it?” Kaede merely tilted her head, very much confused by the question.
“To-Ky-O?” She tested the word on her tongue “Is that your homeland?”
Right. She was in the Feudal Era. It would make sense that Tokyo did not exist yet. “You could say that.” Kagome simply replied.
“I’d like to go home soon.” She said. Not that I know exactly how to. She added silently as an afterthought, taking a sip of her stew. Silence fell between them and she took the opportunity to look around the small dwelling. It was a quaint wooden structure with a straw curtain over the door way and one simple little window. The inside held a hearth in the very center of the floor and various pots and vases sat in the corners of the small dwelling. All in all it felt very warm and friendly to Kagome.
She was wrenched from her thoughts by a shrill cry from outside. Jumping to her feet she dashed outside to investigate. A shriek wrenched itself from her throat as several of the village men skidded across the dirt to come to a rest at her feet. She looked up, her blue eyes widening in terror when the same monster from before loomed over them all, a horse in her jaws. She began to take a cautious step back, painfully aware that she was being watched.
Kaede came out then, her good eye widening as well at the scene before her.
“Mistress Centipede! But I thought we dropped her into the well years ago!” The old Miko said, instantly getting Kagome’s attention. Her head whipped to the side to look at the older woman. So the monster was called Mistress centipede. It made sense, come to think of it.
“W-what?! That thing has a name?!” She stammered out. Kaede, still keeping her gaze on the monster, nodded:
“Aye.” She said, her hand slowly reaching toward her arrows. “She is a youkai sealed long ago within the Bone eater’s well.” As she spoke, she pulled an arrow out of the quiver at her side, notching it on her bow.
A youkai!? This was getting to be a bit much for Kagome.
“The jewel! Give me the Jewel!” Mistress Centipede cried, dropping the horse from her powerful jaws, letting it crash to the ground to loom over the two women.
So it’s me she wants! The fifteen year old felt a resolve come over her as she looked on at Kaede and the terrified villagers. Gods above, she was also scared, but she had to get Mistress Centipede away from the village. Still keeping an eye on the youkai in front of her, she begins to take careful steps back, distancing herself from Kaede a good few feet. She attempted to drown out the cries of the villagers surrounding her and to ignore the ice cold fear rushing through her veins, threatening to freeze her legs to the spot. She had to remind herself that she was doing this to keep everyone safe.
“No, child! What are ye doing?! Ye will surely be killed by the demon! We must get her to the well!” Kaede called to her over the bedlam, staggering when one of the villagers glances her shoulder in their attempt to escape the massive youkai. Kagome gasped, calling out to the old Miko, her resolve hardening at that. Her brow furrowed, she squared her shoulders and began looking around for the direction of the well. Her gaze lands on a bright pillar of light beaming up into the night sky, illuminating the area in it’s glow.
“Is the well in the direction of that light?” She calls over her shoulder. It’s gotta be! Without awaiting a response, she spun on her heel and bolted in the direction of the light. She cut through the paths along the rice fields, hoping - praying- that the Mistress Centipede wouldn’t catch her.
Terror drove her forward as she ran, her legs beginning to burn from her sprint. The light ahead was her beacon of hope in this wholesome nightmare. Her body was beginning to give way to lethargy, her arms and legs beginning to feel as though lead weights were strapped to them.
“I don’t know who’s up there!” She panted out, her voice dragging in her exhaustion, “But someone...Anyone! Help!” With the last bit of air in her lungs she screamed out for help, her voice echoing over the trees above them as she continued to run as fast as she could into the trees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the forest, her call echoed through the trees themselves, carrying over to the largest tree there where the youkai slumbered. A strong holy power accompanied the call, piercing through the veil of darkness that had clouded his mind. His heartbeat picked up and he could feel the sensations begin to return to his limbs as a familiar scent filled his nose, causing the blood to ice in his very veins.
“I can smell it…” Said a voice with so deep a bass that it rumbled from his chest, “The blood of the woman who killed me.” that same voice dripped with venom as he looked at the small clearing, examining the treeline as his senses began to return to him. Sesshomaru could hear an erratic heartbeat getting closer and closer to him, the scent of the abominable woman accompanied with it. His full lips spread in a smirk across his face; he would finally get his revenge. Reaching up with a pale, clawed hand he reached for the arrow, intent on pulling it out. No sooner did his fingertips touch the splintered wooden staff of the arrow, did the aborrant thing give off a surge of spiritual power, searing the skin on his fingers and palm. He withdrew his hand with a curse, examining the reddened skin with rising ire.
The trees rustled to his left and he looked up just in time to watch the miko, Kikyo, stumble through the trees, panting heavily and turning to watch the trees as she desperately scooted back. So she was being pursued. But by what? Sesshomaru got his answer when a familiar youkai to him, the Mistress Centipede, crashed through the trees into the clearing demanding the jewel. He watched as Kikyo stood and ran toward the tree, stopping short when her wide blue eyes fell on him. Something was not right about her: he did not recall her eyes being such a pronounced cerulean. As a matter of fact Kikyo’s eyes had been brown. Her face was nearly the same as he remembered save for that. Her clothing was different as well. The traditional miko garbs she once wore were replaced by a ridiculously short emerald green skirt and a haori that covered most of the skirt, it’s sleeves hugging her slender wrists. The shoes she wore were even different- instead of the tabi sandals that she frequented, the socks she wore went up a little over halfway to her knees, the shoes she wore closed-toed and made of a sturdier looking material. Was this not the Miko that sealed him to a tree?
“Why do you not simply purify the youkai as you did me, Kikyo?” He asked, his suspicion growing further as fear turned to anger on the girl’s face and she stomped up one of the large roots of the tree to stand nearly face to face with him.
“Kikyo. Kikyo. Kikyo. There goes that name again! Just who is she because I can tell you right now that she isn’t me!” She ranted on, her voice a higher octave than before, “I’m Kagome! Ka-go-me!” She finished off with a hand on her chest, the other planted on her hip as she glared up at him, Mistress Centipede all but forgotten in the background.
Sesshomaru quirked a brow down at her, rather amused by her fire. He had been right in his suspicions: the fiery girl in front of him was not the miko that had sealed him there. He gave a curious sniff, picking up the clean scent of soaps and the sweet scent of apples laced with the scent of tangerines from her anger, and the faint scent of cloves from the power that slept within her. She may not have been Kikyo, but this girl, Kagome, was definitely a powerful miko.
~~~
Kagome could not believe the audacity of the man in front of her. Just like Kaede before, he had the nerve to compare her likeness to the woman Kikyo that everyone would not shut up about. What exactly about her reminded them all so much of this woman anyway? She silently glared up at him, staring into bored molten gold eyes as he looked right back down at her, merely gracing her with a languid blink, long, thick silver lashes brushing porcelain cheeks as he craned his neck forward and gave her a sniff. She recoiled, taken aback by his actions, anger beginning to replace her shock.
Is this jerk trying to say that I smell or something?! She gave herself a tentative sniff, merely smelling the scent of her deodorant over the faint musk of sweat. Her ire rose further as her mind began to attempt to surmise exactly what he was trying to insinuate about her.
“Now listen here, mister!” She growled out, poking at his chest with a finger, “You trying to say that I stink or something?!” Her answer did not come from the man in front of her, but from the forgotten youkai behind them.
“I think you smell delectable! You’ll definitely taste as good when I devour you and the Shikon Jewel!” She whirled around, fear clenching her stomach as the Mistress Centipede reared up and dove toward them. Kagome turned, reaching for the man just as the Youkai grabbed her by her tiny waist. Desperate not to be eaten, she clutched the man’s kimono in one hand, a hand full of his long hair in the other, holding on for dear life as she’s tugged back.
“Release this Sesshomaru at once, woman!” The man, Sesshomaru growled out, trying to pull his hair from her tight grasp. Kagome let out a scream, clutching tighter.
“What do you mean let go?! You jerk, I don’t want to die!” She screamed, the words coming out in a rush as she clung for dear life. Just then she remembered what had happened in the well before. Without giving it a second thought, her actions driven by the terror engulfing her, she released Sesshomaru’s kimono,
“Let me go!” She screamed out as she thrust her hand into Mistress Centipede’s face as she did before in the well, her hand glowing with that same pink light as before. She opened her eyes, having shut them, when she felt those spidery fingers release her with a shrill shriek. Kagome also lost her grip on Sesshomaru’s hair and she felt weightless as she fell to the hard, damp ground beneath her. She landed with a sharp cry face down, slightly dazed.
“Kagome! Get up, child! Quickly!” She faintly heard Kaede through the rush of blood pounding in her ears from the adrenaline. She pushed herself up, looking to the old Miko, surprised to see them there, wondering when she had gotten there with several of the men from the village.
“Kaede! Quick! All of you get out of here!” She Pushes herself back up to her feet, just as Mistress Centipede swooped down on her once again.
“The jewel is miiiinnnnne!” The demon hissed out as she dove for Kagome, sinking her fangs deep into the girl’s flesh on her left side and lifting her into the air as she ripped something from her body. The teen did not scream or cry out, the whole thing happening far too fast for her raddled brain to register. She did not register the pain as she fell through the air, eyeing the pink ball falling beside her. She noticed vaguely that it resembled the keychains that her grandfather had wanted to sell at the shrine.
So that’s....The jewel…? Her mind finally caught up to her as she landed limply back on the ground with a bounce, the jewel landing a few feet in front of her. Sesshomaru’s voice cut through the shock induced haze clouding her mind, crystal clear amidst the murmurs of all the other voices.
“I suggest you grab the jewel before Mistress Centipede does, girl. Lest you all get eaten when she ingests it.” She turned her head up toward him as his words sunk in, replacing the haze with another rush of adrenaline and fear. She began to crawl toward the jewel, reaching desperately for it.
“You foolish human! I’ll just have to kill you both and gobble you right up!” She shrieked out as she began wrapping her massive body around the tree, dragging Kagome back up to it and against Sesshomaru’s form, her face smacking right into his bone armor and the sash around his waist. She could feel the rough bark of the roots digging into her flesh as she began to struggle underneath the crushing weight.
Kagome could only let out a gasp as the breath left her very lungs and her bones strained beneath the armored body, trying her best to duck and avoid the large, razor legs as they scuttled across the roots and trunk of the Goshinboku. This was it, wasn’t it? This was how she was going to die. She would never get to see her family, or her home ever again. She could feel hot tears beginning to fill her eyes and streak down her cheeks silently, her lungs unable to elicit the sobs wracking her body.
She did not notice Sesshomaru looking down at her, studying her facial expressions until he spoke, moving his gaze forward as he watched the men of the village flood the clearing behind the old miko, spears and various other weapons drawn and ready. He watched as she looked on in horror at the scene they presented before her.
“Kagome!” He heard her withered voice call out to the frightened girl, watched as Kagome did not respond through her struggles. Feeling a vein tick in his forehead, he clicked his tongue disdainfully and addressed the girl against him as calmly as he could.
“Listen to me, girl. If you wish to live and save your friends, you must listen to me.” He saw in his peripherals as she stopped her struggles and looked up at him, a hopeful glint in her fearful eyes.
“Anything to get us out of here!” She wheezed out, beginning her struggles once again as Mistress centipede tightened her hold on them. She let out a pitiful cry and he could hear the strain in her bones. She would not last much longer under the pressure.
“You must pull the arrow out and release me. Can you reach it?” Watching as Mistress Centipede stretched down to the ground near the jewel, he felt the Kagome begin to wiggle one of her arms free from the vice like grip.
“I- I think so!” He admired her determination as she reached up, stretching up as much as she could, her fingertips grazing the shaft of the arrow. His gaze shifted to the old miko, Kaede the little miko had called her, as she took a step forward, he watched her expression twist in frantic desperation, the sour scent of her fear filling his nostrils.
“No, Kagome! Ye mustn’t free him!” He growled, glaring at the woman's words.
“Foolish woman! Do you all want to die?!” He called out, just as Mistress Centipede stretched out her tongue, wrapping it around the jewel and swallowing it whole.
He looked down as he felt Kagome double her efforts. He admired her determination through what he was sure was crushing pain. He could feel his own adrenaline beginning to pump as her hand reaches further toward the arrow.
“I…” She wheezed out as her fingers began to close around the shaft of the arrow. “I want to…” Her fingers finally closed tightly around the arrow.
“...Live!” With that her holy power engulfed the arrow, the wood disintegrating in her clasp. Sesshomaru feels the rush as his youkai floods his system, the long dormant power giving him a headrush.
Kagome cried out her victory, the euphoria immediately being replaced by dread when a deep chuckle rumbles forth from Sesshomaru’s throat, and she feels a surge of power pulse from his body. She could only watch as he rose up a large clawed hand, a green glow accompanied by an acrid scent emanating from it. She watched as a thick green liquid seeped from his claws, dripping down onto the bark of the root biting into the flesh of her belly and chest. She felt her throat swell as the wood began to dissolve with each drop. So he was a youkai as well? Was he going to kill her too? She looked back as she felt Mistress Centipede’s body begin to vibrate and quiver against them. She looked over to see her very flesh rip from her body to reveal the dark red muscle beneath, her feminine face replaced by an animalistic face with large beady eyes and a large, wide mouth full of razor sharp teeth.
Could this get any worse?! She looked between the two demons, watching as Sesshomaru graced her with a deadpan expression, his eyes unreadable as he turned his gaze to the larger demon looming over them.
“You will release this Sesshomaru, you loathsome creature, or you will die by my claws” He said, addressing Mistress Centipede as he flexed his claws at his side. Kagome turned again when a truly demonic sound escaped the demons jaws as she laughed at Sesshomaru’s threat.
“I recognize you now. Even a demon lord such as yourself cannot defeat me while I hold the jewel in my posession, Lord Sesshomaru” She sounded confident as she mocked his title. Kagome’s head was reeling from it all. Sesshomaru was a lord?! Like a Shogun?! She looked back to said demon lord as another chuckle escaped his full lips.
“You underestimate the power of this Sesshomaru, wench!” With lightning fast movements, far too quick for Kagome’s eyes to follow, they were freed from their hold. Mistress Centipede’s body was cut into large chunks aside from her torso, the roots holding Sesshomaru to the tree all but annihilated. Kagome could only watch his face as they glide through the air, herself safely held in his arms as they touch down to the ground. She could not help but note just how beautiful he was. He helped her down to her feet beside Kaede and turned to walk toward the abomination once more.
“Are ye alright, child?” She gave an absent nod to the old miko’s concern as she watched in horror as the pieces of Mistress Centipede’s body lift off the ground and fly back to toward her floating torso like paper clips to a magnet. She steps back as the demon gives another shrill laugh, that same confidence from before still in her tone.
“She’s regenerating…?But how?!” She asked Kaede, who merely looks on as a long green glowing whip extends from Sesshomaru’s claws.
“Aye, it be the power of the shikon jewel” She tried to swallow down the lump in her own throat. Kagome looks on as Sesshomaru continued to step toward Mistress Centipede’s now whole form. She clenched the fabric in front of her shirt anxiously as they watched the demon lord jump high into the air effortlessly, cracking the whip down on mistress centipede, slicing through her insect body once more. The pieces merely joined their master once again and Sesshomaru let out a growl in his frustration.
“Aye ye must remove the jewel, Lord Sesshomaru! Tis’ the only way to defeat the Mistress Centipede!” Kaede called out to the demon lord. Kagome looked toward the said demon’s body, noticing the bright light shining in her belly.
“Sesshomaru! It’s in her stomach! You have to aim there!” She called, not noticing the older woman’s shocked expression directed toward her.
So she can see the jewel as well; just as sister Kikyo was able to. Kaede thought to herself before turning her gaze back to Sesshomaru. He nodded before launching himself back up into the air and used his claws to cleave straight through Mistress Centipede’s torso. She gave a high pitched, shrill scream as the jewel fell from her body and onto the blood soaked grass. Sesshomaru wasted no time in cleaving through her again, leaving her body in pieces. They watched as the upper half of her torso landed on the ground, writhing and coiling around as she tried to drag herself over to the jewel.
“NO! The jewel! It’s mine! Mine!” Her voice faded as the very flesh began to turn to dust and lift from the bones, her outstretched arm falling limp to the ground.
Kagome felt herself fall to the ground, the adrenaline leaving her system. The wound at her side stung like the blazes and her limbs felt heavy as stone. But it was finally over. The mistress Centipede was dead and they were safe. She watched as Sesshomaru walked over to the jewel and picked it up before turning and walking over to her, ignoring the terrified villagers’ whispers. He crouched down in front of her, reaching out his hand and offering the jewel over to her.
“This Sesshomaru is in your debt, Miko. I will protect you with my life.” Kagome merely blinked, accepting the offered jewel from his grasp, the dark purple instantly turning back to it’s pure pink in her hand.
Kaede nodded, cupping her chin in thought. “It is as I suspected.” The two look up at the old miko’s words, both tilting their heads in curiosity.
“What do you mean, Kaede?” Kagome asked. Kaede looked down at them, a grave expression on her face as she answers.
“Ye are the reincarnation of my late sister Kikyo.” Kagome could only blink and look to Sesshomaru, who gave her much the same expression as he looked to her. The reincarnation of a miko, stuck in the feudal era with a powerful demon lord as her protector. Her life just go much, much more interesting…
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Sorry for such a long Hiatus everyone! I updated this chapter and I am working on more as we speak! Enjoy and tell me all what you think! Feel free to offer any suggestions if you would like to as well!