Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Crown of Serpents	By : BaronVaun Category: InuYasha AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 1986 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make money from this story.

Chapter List
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- 3
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha nor do I make any money from this story.

Chapter One
Kouga Returns
When the sun rose over the bloodwood forests, the rural hillsides were painted gold over green, turquoise bluffs jutting out of the mist and toward higher haze. As gentle slopes moved from dense, hilly forest to red-rock mountain bluffs, the greenery followed the steep paths upward against the current. Waterfalls, deep pools of saffron, vermillion and aqua wound between low brush and settled between the boundary of hillside and forest.
"That's the one," Inuyasha leapt to his feet. "It ate Kagome's windripper seedlings!"
Miroku watched as the hanyou ran toward an old man with a sickly horse. Several miles from Sukima's exterior trading hub Ekido, the pair had been examining every traveler that passed out of the hub's gates.
"Inuyasha, slow down," the merchant called.
"Not before I get answers!"
In an instant, he had stopped the man's stride with his hand clenched around the reins of the animal.
"Where were you last night?" he asked in a growling tone.
"Hm?" the old man smiled pleasantly. His rags suggested that he was of the peasantry, and Inuyasha slid the horse's reins out his hand in one slow, deliberate motion.
"A little demon told me that this crotchety horse was uprooting sacred plants!"
The old man's face fell, his smile melting into a deep, serious frown.
As he opened his mouth to speak, Miroki cut over him: "I don't think this horse can carry any cargo. Why did you bring it?"
The wrinkled face grimaced, and the young monk recoiled slightly.
"I was hoping to get some money out of poor old Hyun-a's meat."
"You brought her out here to shoot her and sell her carcass?" The white haired demon threw his hands in the air. "That thing has to be older than me!"
"I've gotta eat."
"Why don't you eat your old horse, then? What butcher is going to take an ancient, mangled corpse?"
Unapologetically, the old man began to steer Hyun-a around them. His squinting eyes turned toward the marketplace jutting a quarter-mile up the dirt road.
"What kind of name is Hyun-a, anyway?"
"Inuyasha," Miroku said, watching them hobble away, "even if that was the horse, what is punishing this senile man going to do?"
In a show of supreme rationality, the demon made his way toward a swath of newly laid cobblestone. It marked the beginning of the pathway to Sukima.

Underneath the deep hues of the bloodwood trees, Kagome's black hair lay behind her on the grass like a silk blanket. The brilliant hakama saturated the grass, illuminating the white leaflets scattered around her. She had left her prayer beads underneath the branches of a withering thistle. The ground was littered with its rotten seeds.
"Kagome, there isn't time to exorcize plants," Sango called out to her from the garden's stone pathway.
The kneeling priestess began to collect her tools. "This plant unsettles me," she said quietly.
Sango's silken robes glinted in the sunlight as she softly glided over the cobblestones and knelt. She grabbed the miko's hand as she tucked the objects into a wooden box. A quick flutter of her fingers sealed it with a spell only she could unbind. Sango steered the woman to face her.
"Cheer up, Divine One. Inuyasha and Miroku will return soon." Her smile faded as her friend pushed away.
Kagome laid back. "It's not just that." She paused, saying softly, "I got a rushed parcel from the central region: the kidnappings are increasing."
Sango let her arms fall to her sides. She grimaced. "Have they found any connection between the victims?"
"Most of them are demons, but several priestesses both young and old have gone missing," Kagome said. She broke a leaf off of the brown thistle and crumbled it in her hand.
"I can't help but feel like this plant represents our hope of getting those people back alive."
"What could be happening to them?"
Kagome suddenly stood. "They took Kouga six weeks ago," she said slowly. "It took this long for news to reach past his tribe. They've been trying to cover it up until he returns, but I don't think he's coming back."
Sango bit her lip and shoved her palms deep inside the warm sleeves of her robes. The warmth made her feel safe. "Let's have some lavender tea for our nerves. Once Inuyasha returns, we can discuss this matter."
The miko let her face slacken at the gesture and picked her box up. She reached out a hand to help her friend.
She nodded as Sango lead her away from the dying plant.
"We must stop this," she said.

"Hanyou!" The gatekeeper pointed his sword at the half-demon. "You're late."
Inuyasha pinched the blade and moved it away from his yellow eye.
"We took a bit of a detour," Miroku mummbled.
"It more like a rest break."
The guard stepped to the left side and jeered at them, "I don't sleep well at night knowing that you two are partly responsible for the safety of the known world." He ushered them through Sukima's exterior gate. Like a palace, the central castle housed the jewel shard and lay separated from the untamed countryside by three walls.
"And hurry your asses," the gatekeeper called.
"Yes, sir!"
The finest architects had paved the stone pathway the ran directly through the heart of Sukima, and the walk to the middle gate took a vivid road that twisted over farmland and over the wandering rivers and creeks. They topped the bridge at a leisurely pace, and the second gatekeeper waved his axe-spear at them.
"You clowns," he called to them.
Inuyasha grabbed the monk by his shirt and took one giant leap to land in front of the guard.
"You're incredibly late."
"That seems to be the word around here," Miroku said, straightening his clothing. "Is there a sense of urgency to this?"
"Kagome has called a meeting, and you're the only thing delaying it." He swung the weapon in Inuyasha's direction.
The half-demon frowned and took off in bounds toward the castle. Left behind, Miroku could only shout at his back as he glided toward the dense rooftops near the inner city. The inner gatekeeper frowned as he flew overhead, and he landed in the courtyard near the entrance.
"I was expecting a friendlier greeting," he mumbled.
The staff was expecting him, and as if by magic, the heavy wooden doors of the castle shuttered open. He walked inside to find frowning attendants and unsavory priests. Sparsely placed in the shadows, he saw guards narrowing their eyes at him.
"What's with all of the gloom around here?"
Before any of them could speak, Sango spoke from the doorway: "Finally. Where is Miroku?"
"I left him behind to make it here so fast."
"It still seems like you were dragging ass."
His lip curled, and he scratched his head. Motioning to her, he asked, "Lead the way?"
With a slight bow, she floated away from the door and out of view. He followed her, even though he could have easily left her behind. She took him down the winding halls until the sun disappeared from view. Underneath the compound, she stopped in front of a gate.
He nodded and pushed through the iron and into a damp pathway lit by torches, and she trailed behind him. Her clothes shimmered.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome stood in the center of the dim room with his half-brother.
She moved to embrace Inuyasha, and the gesture was quick. The priestess tore away, saying quickly, "The others did not come."
"That can't be true."
"I'm afraid it is." Sesshoumaru's usual half-smile had been replaced with a deep frown.
"You always lag, but they're three days behind schedule," Sango said. "And the disappearances have increased."
"I leave you people for one minute and I return to chaos!" The half-demon clenched his fists.
"I had to ask Sesshoumaru to temporarily provide leadership and support to our military forces. He's also acting as a watchman," Kagome added.
His dog ears perked up. "You must be very worried."
Miroku finally bustled into the room.
"So the disappearances have increased? You received a letter then?"
Kagome nodded. "From the daimyo himself. After gathering reports, they've concluded that the targets are mostly demons, but a few gifted ningen have been taken."
Miroku's face twisted in thought. "The region's armies are spread thin after diverting soldiers to this area. It seems like this phenomena is growing."
"It is," Sesshoumaru said. "The disappearances have increased by three fold over the past month."
"I want to take some kind of action against this, but my duties are here in this fortress." Kagome's eyes softened as she looked at Inuyasha. "I need you to be my eyes and ears out there. I also want you to find at least one of these people. I need to know what is happening to them."
"Isn't my sword best spent here with you and the shard?" Inuyasha sighed.
Miroku nodded. "He has a point."
The priestess pulled a rotten seed out of the folds of her hakama. She twisted the black pod between her fingers, and the demon watched it spill brown, frothy liquid across her pale skin.
"Something just doesn't feel right," she said.

That night, Inuyasha and Miroku made plans to travel to northwest to coast.
The white-haired demon turned to face Kagome as the sunlight broke over the walls. At the gates of the fortress, they hugged.
"Be careful, Inuyasha." She pulled a satchel out of her hakama and presented it to him. "These serums and spells should help you on your journey."
"I won't let anything happen to him," Miroku said.
The hanyou took the packet and put it into the folds of his own red clothes, and she watched them disappear into the mists beyond the gate.
Inside her pocket, she fiddled with the thistle seeds, taking care not to break the outer shells. When the guards pulled the iron doors closed, she turned to take a random path. She found herself roaming the halls.
"Priestess," Sesshoumaru said slowly.
"It still freaks me out when you do that." She turned to face him and realized that they were in the castle's inner courtyard.
"What do you think Inuyasha and Miroku will find in Tama?"
She frowned and considered his question. "Hopefully they'll find someone who can tell us what's happening."
He watched her turn and head toward one of the tall, wooden gates that lead eventually to Kagome's own chambers.
"You haven't been yourself lately," he told her.
She stopped and set a pale hand on the gate. The priestess was softly smiling as she spoke: "I'm just worried."
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes at her, but she kept her expression still. "Fair," he said. "I have things to attend to, so if you'll excuse me—"
She nodded, and let the clicking of a closed door talk for her. When she finally entered her private study, the morning light had fully penetrated the room. Kagome moved swiftly between the bound scrolls and dusty texts to pull wooden box from its place high on one shelf. She took one silk pouch out and let the brittle leaves fall into her hand.
A gentle roar echoed through the walls as she dumped the dried herb into a mortar. She started the grind the leaves and added a bruised purple berry to the mixture. The paste slurped against the walls of the marble cup. Another large boom thundered through her core. Kagome stood, setting the mortar and pestle on a wooden desk behind her. She ran back to the courtyard and left her task half-completed.
"Kagome!" Sango held only the handle of a porcelain teapot as she jogged, and the sound of stone crumbling moved through the earth beneath them.
"Is this another attack by the Shikkoku no Daimyo?"
"Probably. An unknown demon is scaling the walls and destroying them. He's tearing through our front lines! Sesshoumaru has sent me to slow him down."
The priestess started tying the flared sleeves of her haori back. "I'm going to my post." She hurried to a stone circle set in the center of lush grass. As Sango let her pleated skirt fall behind her, Kagome muttered a spell and disappeared in thin mist. Instantaneously, she entered the tower, a doorless cylinder that rose above all other buildings in the city. One pristine, white bow hung under the panoramic shelter, and she grabbed it. Kagome pulled a red arrow from thin air and began scouting the entire city with her enchanted eyes.
Another crash turned her attention to the middle gate, and she watched a dark figure rise above the horizon. The priestess pulled her arrow back, but she noticed a familiar and far more malevolent smirk across the figure's face.
"Kouga," Kagome said to herself.
The arrow flew to pierce his feet, and as it skewered him, she watched Sango's boomerang knock him out of the air.

Author's Note: After a brief hiatus, I hope this chapter satisfies. I've also decided to rename this fic, as its title reminds me too much of "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Mr. Poe.
Dictionary of Relevance
hakama — the traditional red, divided trousers of a Japanese priestess
Ekido — a trading hub several miles outside of Sukima
haori — kimono jacket
ningen — "human"
Shikkoku no Daimyo — "Black Lord"
Sukima — also known as City of the Daimiko (Daimiko no Shitei) and The Fortress, the fortified stronghold of the Emperor's Miko
windripper — sacred, magical plant
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Crown of Serpents