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Edge of Paradise	By : QueenoftheDream Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Sessh?maru/Kagome > Sessh?maru/Kagome Views: 5324 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor the characters from it. I made no money in writing this fiction.

Chapter List
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It was a long few days indeed. Kagome travelled through muck, mud, wretchedly tall grass, and sticky swarms of buzzing insects before she finally reached the outskirts of Edo. She looked at the small rice paddies before her and saw in the reflection of the water not the sunset but angry gray swirls telling of rain soon to begin. No sooner had she looked up from the shimmering pools, than a boy suddenly appeared to her left. Kagome reflexively jumped to the side, curling her right hand up inside her hakui to discreetly grab her tanto, until she saw the boy bowling low and looking, for all intents and purposes, quite harmless.
"Good evening, miko-sama." The boy straightened his back after the bow, the dark shock of hair tied behind his head bobbing at the abrupt change in posture. "Kaede-sama, the village's miko, is requesting your presence at once. Shall I escort you?" His big brown eyes made him look no older than a child, though he was clearly close to age fifteen. Kagome relaxed her hold upon her blade and nodded once, going to walk at the boy's side.
"My name is Kohaku, miko-sama. I do not live here, but I welcome you to Edo, though it must not seem like a very warm welcome…" he trailed off. They stopped walking at the crest of a hill next to the small rice paddies. Kagome could see in the rapidly fading light that there was not a soul to be seen in the village. Her stomach dropped for an instant, in sudden fear that she had come too late to stop the destruction of the settlement's population.
As if sensing her immediate trepidation, Kohaku commented, "The villagers have all returned to their huts, miko-sama. As soon as darkness begins to fall, the villagers clear the streets as quickly as possible for fear of the specter. I'm afraid I haven't been much help." Kagome slid her eyes sideways to look at the boy questioningly as they continued walking, reaching the edge of the village. She briefly noticed the wakizashi secured upon his right hip and took note of it.
"I am a demon exterminator, miko-sama. My sister and I were sent here to dispatch the demon, but-" he hesitated, looking at the ground bashfully. Kagome remained silent as they approached a hut near a huge oak tree. They stopped at the entrance, Kagome looking at the shy young man expectantly.
Kohaku averted his eyes with a sheepish smile and held open the door hanging for Kagome to enter the dwelling of the village priestess. "We, uh, we failed," he finished with a forlorn chuckle as the flap fell behind the priestess.
Kagome entered the hut to see an old miko with what appeared to be the village headman sitting to her left and a young woman in demon slayer garb to her right. The girl gave her a measuring look over her steaming cup of tea. With a formal bow, Kagome introduced herself. "Good evening. I am Kagome, the priestess you sent for a few days prior. I hope the duration of my journey has not inconvenienced you." The elder miko gestured for Kagome to take a seat, and she handed a freshly poured cup of green tea to the young priestess. She sat tight-lipped and sipping her tea politely as she took in the people and heavy atmosphere around her and reigned in the urge to demand answers from these people. The village headman seemed to be slightly clueless as he stared with a deadpan blankness at Kagome. She shifted her regard to the demon exterminator and saw that behind the rigid-backed woman sat a massive curved demon bone propped up against the wooden wall of the hut. The owner of the weapon met her gaze, brown orbs laced with golden flecks looking strikingly like two chips of Tiger's Eye, wild and unyielding to Kagome's perceptive scrutiny.
Upon finishing her tea, she turned to face the head miko of the village. Despite one eye being hidden behind a patch, the older woman seemed to watch her like a hawk. Outside, Kagome heard thunder rolling in the distance, and a light rain began falling. "I suspect ye know why ye be here, young Kagome?" The elder miko questioned her, the map of wrinkles around her eye lending softness to the sharp gaze. Kagome stared levelly at the woman, not trusting herself to speak calmly to her.
With a heaving sigh, the old woman began spinning her tale. "I am Kaede, this village's priestess. I have attempted to rid the area of a specter, but I have sorely failed. We called for specialized demon exterminators," she nodded in the direction of the young leather-clad woman to her right, "such as yon Sango and her brother Kohaku, but they have also failed." Sango kept her chin held high, but the set of her shoulders betrayed her shame at their failure.
Kagome nodded in understanding. "And may I ask what type of demon we will be dealing with, Kaede-sama?" She could hear the rain steadily increasing in volume as the wind rustled the trees outside.
"The evil spirit that has been plaguing our village is an extremely powerful demon. Normally, we would have been able to dispatch it, but I fear I am getting on in years and, though capable, the demon slayers are young and inexperienced." The old woman stared stonily into the fire with her good eye, and Kagome's irritation grew, though she dared not display it. The priestess was hedging around the issue, and Kagome could not understand why.
"I understand, Kaede-sama," Kagome began, "but I don't fully understand the prob-"
The demon slayer Sango interrupted with no remorse upon her face as she set her cup down none too gently. "The demon has already been slain."
Kagome arched a slender brow in questioning, and the young woman continued. "The demon was slain fifty years ago by the previous miko of this village. Its spirit, however, is resentful and refuses to rest. In retribution, the demon has been harassing the villagers, harshly so in the past few moons."
Kagome's brows furrowed in confusion. It seemed like a simple enough task to purify a vengeful spirit. She glanced at the village headman, who merely nodded his seemingly empty head in confirmation. "Might I enquire about the actions the demon has been taking against the people of this village?" The rain was pouring in fat, heavy droplets that pounded on the roof of the hut. She turned once more to look at Sango, the movement punctuated by a loud clap of thunder accompanied by a blinding flash of lightning that seemed to lend to Kagome, whose back faced the door, a supernatural glow.
"The demon," Sango continued, and Kagome could see her slightly clench her fists, "has been decapitating villagers and demons alike for-" She was cut off by a piercing shriek coming from just outside the hut, making Kagome jump to her feet and plunge headlong outside the door, completely forgetting her shoes in the process. Exiting the hut, her breath hitched and she felt as if her eyes would pop out of her head.
The tall form of a white-clad man stood outside in the pouring rain, seemingly shining like a beacon. The demon was dressed in an exquisite pearlescent kimono stamped with a crest of royalty at the shoulders. Upon the demon's shoulders, however, there was no head.
At the demon's feet lie Kohaku, who had been standing sentinel at the entrance to the hut when he was presumably attacked by the demon. Sango then burst out the door, hand white-knuckled upon the pommel of her wakizashi. Kohaku gave a gurgling moan while attempting to prop himself up onto one elbow, his free hand shakily hovering above a stream of blood flowing from a wound in his throat. Kagome heard the young woman beside her gasp, but she held out her hand, barring the slayer from doing anything rash. Her eyes briefly flitted over to look at Sango and found that she was standing rigid as a stone, wide eyes staring at the monster before them.
A sound similar to a snake's hiss caught Kagome's attention once more, and she turned her head just in time to see a whip of bright green flame snap through the air and slice the slayer boy's head off with a sizzle. A wide arc of blood illuminated by the eerie glow of the youki whip sailed through the air to land at her feet. Sango screamed and attempted to dart forward, but Kagome grabbed her shoulders with an iron grip and, without taking her eyes from the demon, pushed the frantic slayer behind her and back into the doorway of Kaede's hut.
The ghostly demon bent down slowly and picked up the head of the young boy, the heavy rainfall making quick work of the blood and sticky mud upon the right side of his face. With dawning horror, Kagome saw the demon lift the boy's head and place it upon his own shoulders. It then turned its gaze to her, Kohaku's dead eyes staring stonily and unblinking at her. However, with no provocation, she saw Kohaku's head begin to inexplicably melt. The skin of the young boy's face slowly started running like liquefied tallow, and the juncture where the skull met the creature's neck began to glow green and froth, spitting molten flesh that flecked the pristine kimono of the demon.
With one swift motion, the demon reached up and wrenched the head cleanly off of his neck and rolled it upon the ground until the remains of Kohaku's ponytail brushed the edge of Kagome's mud soaked tabi. The specter stood facing the stupefied miko, who then realized with utter dismay that she had left her bow and quiver inside of the hut. The demon, however, turned and, stepping over the headless corpse of the young demon slayer, walked slowly into the forest, disappearing into the mist.
Behind her, Kagome heard a slick slithering sound and quickly turned, muscles coiled and ready to spring, to see Sango slipping to the ground in a faint. The bewildered headman caught her and dragged her limp form inside before she landed in the mud.
Kagome turned back around and, seeing no trace of the demon's spectral glow, went forward to retrieve what was left of Kohaku's crumpled, mud-spattered figure.
*** Am I the only one that wonders why Edo Castle was never mentioned in the anime or manga? Considering the plot begins in 1497, 500 years before the "present" Tokyo of 1997, then Edo Castle would have been around for some forty years. I shall have to consider including it somewhere in the winding plot of this story, as I strive to weave as much historical fact into my fictions as possible. Hmmmm...
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Edge of Paradise