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Any Way The Wind Blows	By : Jinxy Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Sessh?maru/Kagura > Sessh?maru/Kagura Views: 3609 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha (obviously). No profit is sought, nor made, from my misadventures in fanfiction, just so ya know.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
A/N: Last editededed 4/24/10. :)
Chapter 6
It was blood. More blood, as if enough had not been shed, Sesshoumaru silently cursing himself for not realizing it sooner. No, realize was the wrong word. Acknowledge was more like it. And it was more than just the rich brown matter staining her sleeve, Kagura waking that morning to him pulling at it, something else he would have recognized sooner beyond the mere scent of blood—no discernable source, so much of it—had some inexplicable fear not prevented him from examining her further. It mattered not when Rin returned or how the medicine she'd obtained from Jinenji and his mother was dosed. It was already too late.
But bring the medicine she did that afternoon, relief brought if only for a day or two to the more minor of her symptoms, her coughing and congestion. But they soon returned, worse than before, the persistently itchy spot on Kagura's chest revealing a surprise of its own the week following.
If only it had been a surprise.
What bug, youkai or otherwise, was crafty enough to leave such a puncture? Deep but narrow—all too precise. A certain annoying spider came to mind, his specter gaining solidity when the wound, barely a pinprick on the surface, began to ooze a clear, pinkish fluid and, finally, bleed bright scarlet, the source of all her suffering confirming her suspicions of that day on the riverbank. Naraku had done this to her… but why?
And, yet, even during these three weeks of declining health and weakening resolve, he failed to materialize. Then again, he was nothing if not patient. And if all he wanted was her death, he would not have to wait long.
Their child continued to grow, perhaps in spite of all this despair and agony and her eventual loss of appetite, the swell beneath her pretty layers expanding seemingly by the day, stripping her willowy frame of what resources it had left. She spent her miserable days shivering by the fire under the watch and care of her companions, a look of desolation on her pretty face, hand absently stroking her last hope, the child moving within her womb.
Her skin was pallid, her now mauve-colored eyes encircled in dark puffy rings. Even her hair, now regularly worn up but loose, Kagura lacking the energy to wind it into a bun, had lost its luster. A sort of confused smile curved her closed lips, likely just as pale if not for the rouge her youkai markings had given them, lids heavy over staring eyes, transfixed by the fire at which she was ever-present. Sesshoumaru stared at her for a while, trying to decipher the things going on inside him, standing long behind her upon his return from perimeter inspection before tapping her shoulder with the roots Rin had given him. Kagura turned slowly back, the considerable effort such a simple action visibly took bringing clarity to those unnamed emotions stirring within him, sorrow being one. He told himself as she peered up at him this was nothing to be sorry for, that the transformation from youkai to mortal was incomplete and would likely not be a pleasant one while still in progress. Who was he fooling? She was dying and he knew it. She knew it.
"Here." He held the edible roots out between them. "Eat."
She shook her head slowly, coughing into her hand, a light spray of vermilion left on her palm. "I can't," she croaked weakly, "I'm not hungry."
He forced the roots at her, shaking them mere inches from her face. "Eat."
She looked at him sourly, attempting to push his hand away, soon realizing, even with normal strength, it was a sheer impossibility, dropping her hand to her lap with a rasping sigh of defeat. He fought to douse the fire burning in his gold eyes. He was not angry with her; it was not her fault the hope of honoring his silent promise grew dimmer by the day. What did that damnable spider want? Would he see his anger doused by tears? What?
For the first time, he was helpless; helpless to stop her from being attacked, helpless to thwart the unseen enemy destroying her from inside the hole Naraku opened in her chest, helpless to save her—to save their unborn child.
But their story wasn't over yet. He could still fight—she could still fight, if there was any fight left in her. He watched the way she stroked her stomach. Perhaps she had nothing left but, the child-
"Kagura." He bent close, the roots strangled in his hand. "I understand you hurt, but remember the child. He may be strong, but he still needs nourishment from his mother. You must eat and take in more water." He pleaded with her if with nothing but his eyes, the flames of his frustration still licking from behind them, drawing back only when she at last took the roots. She lifted a small piece to her mouth, chewing slowly, Sesshoumaru watching every arduous movement of her jaw, the unsavory bite swallowed with some difficulty, washed down with water from the pouch Rin had left by her side.
"Thank you." She set the pouch down, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I don't mean to be difficult. Seems my sickness is taking a toll on my mind as well as my body."
The touch of his hand on her shoulder lifted those glazed, mauve-colored eyes, that sadness returning as he sat beside her. "You understand of course what is at stake? I cannot protect you if you will not heed me," he told her, eyes drifting down, to her stomach. "Either of you."
Her own eyes swelled, growing more puffy as tears spilled down her cheeks, Kagura falling against him. "I'm sorry," she choked as his arm closed around her, weeping dimly against his armor. He patted her gently on the back, her head buried deep in the fluff of the mokomoko. Mere moments passed when she fell limp, all sound and movement hushed, nothing but birdsong and wind as she flopped loosely back in the crook of his arm. He had to stop himself from crying her name, from shaking her lifeless body like some bereaved lover, lifting her just enough to listen for her heart. Thankfully, it was still there, the faint thud strong enough among the rattling and wheezing in her lungs. He clasped her clammy hand and thought of Tenseiga. No, he would not be reduced to having to revive her with that sword. Not yet, not so young and with his child inside her. There was no promise it would bring them back, anyway. Not both.
Jaken and Rin padded softly to where he sat, coming around slowly when they saw Kagura lying in his lap. He could not bear to see the looks on their faces; even Jaken was upset, whether more to see his lord in such a state or out of sorrow for Kagura it was hard to tell.
"Lord Sesshoumaru?" he muttered, froggy eyes wide.
"Jaken."
"Is she alive?"
He looked down at the woman in his lap, hand laid on her stomach as hers was before. "Barely."
Rin knelt before him, her hand slipping beneath his. "What can we do?"
He lifted his hand from atop hers, brushing his lady's fringe from her face. How beautiful she still was, even pale and emaciated. And how it hurt his once cold heart, shattered the ice from around it and his illusions his blood was not warm within, to see her that way. "I must leave here," he said softly. "There is no more we can do. She requires the aid of the young woman who travels with InuYasha. You and Jaken must stay here while I retrieve her."
"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru," the child nodded, lifting her head with an expression older than her years. "Whatever you need."
"You're going for the girl—InuYasha's wench?" Jaken shook his head in disbelief. "But what can she do, milord?"
"She often tends to the wounds of he and his other human companions with items brought from her world."
"But… even with such otherworldly magic, how would she differ from the keepers of the herb garden?"
"She also has in her possession something we may find useful."
Jaken sighed, looking up into the ashen sky. "What of Tenseiga?"
Sesshoumaru too raised his eyes to the gathering clouds, allowing them to fall again to his wilted flower.
If I collect the girl, I won't have to.
Kagura tore at her chest in a scratching fit, a spot of blood soaking through her layers as Sesshoumaru knocked her hand away. She fought him but for a moment, moaning faintly, her eyes still closed, slipping unconscious once again. He opened her kimono, pulling the sullied silk back from her right breast. What started as a small puncture was now a gaping wound.
We are running out of time. "Make sure she stays warm and-" He could smell the infection, closing her kimono over the weeping abscess. "Comfortable."
"Here." Rin ran and gathered her bedroll from Ah-Un's back, spreading it out beside the fire. "She should be comfortable on my bed, my lord."
He lifted his face to her, staring long into her earthy brown eyes. "Thank you, Rin." He laid his lady gently on the patchwork bed. "If she declines further, if she-"
"I will ride Ah-Un and find you at once. But that's not going to happen." She turned toward the imp. "Is it, Master Jaken?"
He stared at her, bewildered. "Of course not!" He swung a tiny fist at the air in front of him, large yellow eyes fastening on his lord with determination. "We will watch over her, milord. You can count on us!"
Sesshoumaru looked between his fellow travelers, and then to his lady. He let his hand glide down her body, from her shoulder to her hip, settling over the place the product of their union yet grew, the electricity of its life force and movement still strong beneath his fingers. "I will keep my promise," he whispered close, his own breath warm against his hand. And then, he was gone, the mokomoko trailing long behind him, his silhouette dim against the clouds as they crossed the sun, the world growing suddenly dim.
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Any Way The Wind Blows