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Edge of Paradise	By : QueenoftheDream Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > Sessh?maru/Kagome > Sessh?maru/Kagome Views: 5325 -:- 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
- 6
- 7
- 8
Sesshomaru came upon a quiet village after passing through the last town. Again, there were no survivors to attest to his brute strength and rage.
He knew in the back of his mind that he was being irrational, but decades of pent-up frustration and energy had almost completely taken over his conscience, making him immune to the moans of the elderly, the wailing of the women and terrified screaming of the children, all who succumbed to his deadly touch. Still, he walked from door to door in this noiseless new village, searching for lives to end.
Kagome swiftly traversed the long and muddy road toward the capital of the Kai Province. Her provisions were very light, and so she walked, jogged, and ran for as long as she could while reserving a small amount of strength to fend off any potential attackers. Just before departing from Edo to search for Sesshomaru, she had received an urgent message telling of a tragic plague in the capital of the Kai Province just to the west of Edo. Despite the internal conflict of accepting one mission over the other, Kagome had no choice but to reply to the desperate cry for aid. Along the road, however, she had heard people of tiny villages or vagrants telling of a rampaging demon's bloody path of devastation arcing out from the small village of Hachioji. The capital was encompassed in this arc of potential destruction, so she decided to be wary and keep a sharp eye on the lookout. Despite her stinging shoulder and aching muscles, she charged on, bound and determined to carry out her duties as a priestess.
By midday, she had reached the hillside outside of the capital. Looking down upon the town, she saw very little of note- suspiciously little. The village was unsettlingly quiet, and the roads and byways were completely empty of human activity. As she navigated down the mossy embankment, she entered the village. A forceful gust of wind answered the questions lingering in the back of her mind. It was as if a wall of rot and decaying illness plowed into her face, and she almost reeled from the sudden impact. The fetid reek of human waste coupled with vomit in the humid heat funneled into her nostrils and lingered, making her stagger and gag. Grasping her longbow and steeling her nerves, she approached the first little hut before her.
It wasn't until she entered the structure that she fully grasped the situation. Human waste was smeared upon the floor, and the tremendously loud buzzing of flies was the only sound in her ears. A few rats, disturbed from their meal of the putrefying flesh of the deceased, scurried into the shadowy corners. The stench of the discolored, bloated corpses decomposing on the ground before her forced the contents out of her stomach, and she retched outside of the door, tears streaming down her face from the force of her reaction. Wiping her mouth with a shaking hand, she walked from hut to hut, finding nothing but death and decay.
After entering and exiting seven huts and finding no survivors, Kagome was prepared to leave the decimated town until she felt an enormous pulse of youki extremely close by. The burst of raw power nearly made her stagger, and she sprinted toward the source of it with a renewed vigor.
Arriving at the entrance to another corpse-occupied hut, Kagome had an arrow nocked and carefully stepped inside. Upon seeing a cascade of long silver hair, she deftly ducked back outside, her heart pounding in her chest and fingers tightening painfully around her bow.
"I can hear you, miko," rumbled a low, monotonous voice from within that made Kagome's hackles rise. She flattened her back against the wall of the structure.
She thought she heard a small sigh. "I can sense your reiki, miko." If she didn't know any better, she would think he sounded bored.
"Come out, Sesshomaru. I request an audience," Kagome said, mentally applauding the hard determination in her voice that masked her trembling fear.
"I am not in the habit of obeying lowly humans. I give you fair warning: leave now and you may have your life. You will also address me with my proper title, or else I may recant my offer."
Kagome's eyes widened as she realized that the demon was allowing her to escape with her life. She had returned his to him, and he was allowing her the same favor. An inkling of annoyance wormed its way into her thoughts. Who was he to be giving demands, this has-been lord?
Before she could barge into the structure, Sesshomaru exited, and her breath hitched in her chest. His entire anterior was covered in dried blood, the silk stiff and discolored a dark rusty brown. However, where she expected to see the enraged face of a blood-crazed madman, she instead caught a glimpse of the face of a man who is lamentably lost. His golden eyes narrowed and stared back at her like hard chips of topaz, but Kagome saw past the façade to look upon the dignified man who was too proud to ask for a helping hand. She felt her heart break for him; this demon that tried to drown his woes in blood. She dropped to her knees and bowed low to the ground at his feet.
"I deeply apologize for my actions, Sesshomaru-sama. If I had known of this drifter's life that I inadvertently gave you, I would have found some other way to relieve you of this curse. Please forgive me." Her knees and legs sank in the mud, and she could smell the fouled stagnant water standing in tiny puddles around her.
Fully expecting to be struck down, she was surprised to see Sesshomaru's boots walking out her field of vision. She scrambled to her feet with some difficulty and began running after him. "Please, Sesshomaru-sama, please wait! I cannot help you if you won't talk to me!"
He abruptly stopped, causing Kagome to skid to a halt to prevent crashing into him and earning her a mud-soaked posterior. She had to crane her neck to properly look into his hard face. His lips pursed, and his evaluating gaze raked over her form, one eyebrow quirked skeptically at the clumsy young woman. "In your current state, you cannot even help yourself, and yet you claim to be able to aid me? And if I remember correctly, you were the one to put me into this situation. Offering 'help' would imply that you are not the one responsible for my condition."
She was floored by his unexpected change of mood, but promptly regained her composure. "Please, my lord. I cannot help you if you are unwilling. I would like to return to my home, for the miko there are very wise; much more so than I am."
Sesshomaru swiftly replied, "It seems that would not be difficult to accomplish." His arms came up to fold across his chest, and he looked down his nose at her with an air of arrogance.
Shoulders sagging in defeat, she mumbled incoherently and started trudging through the mud and out of the village. From behind her, she heard a haughty voice state imperiously, "And let it be known, miko, that I am not accepting your so-called 'help." I am in search of a cure. If anything, you need my help to rectify this situation." Flabbergasted at his brazenness, she stopped in her tracks, and the tall demon walked right past her.
"By all means, lead the way," Kagome muttered sarcastically, falling in step behind him.
The two had reached the western outskirts of the village when Kagome heard a faint high-pitched whimpering. Surely Sesshomaru had detected it with his preternatural hearing… She strode in the direction of a particularly dilapidated hut from when the cries were drifting.
When she stepped inside, she saw two adult corpses huddled near a futon. Between the two rotting forms, however, Kagome espied a small child quivering. She dashed forward and snatched the child up before rushing out of the run-down house.
Sesshomaru was standing near the entrance when Kagome sprinted out, carrying something large and foul-smelling. He turned up his nose at the offending odor until he saw that the object in question was a wide-eyed child. Deep chestnut irises stared expressionlessly at him as Kagome grabbed a nearby bucket and dashed to the stream running behind what was presumably the child's home.
He stood uncaring and motionless, watching its frightened gaze dart around before settling back upon his face. Dirty, round cheeks were streaked with tears and the child's threadbare clothing was unspeakably stained and torn. He watched in growing uneasiness as the child- a girl, he assumed, considering the long hair and eyelashes- rose to its feet and tottered in his direction. Small grubby hands stretched out, and a shy grin split her mouth as his scowl grew. He resisted the urge to step backward away from the little urchin.
Just before the little girl reached him, he heard Kagome sloshing up the bank of the stream, calling out for the child. When she saw the young girl's eager face staring at the imposing demon's surly one, she increased her pace and placed the bucket at the child's feet, wash cloth in hand.
"You cannot keep her miko. The road is no place for a child and will only slow our progression."
Kagome smiled as she began dipping the cloth in the fresh water and gently dabbing at the dirt and grime encrusting the child. Keeping a smile on her face so as not to frighten the girl, she sweetly ordered, "Sesshomaru-sama, check for survivors in the village."
The demon scoffed, clearly offended. "I warned you, woman. I do not take orders from ningen. The child stays," he growled in a monotone, attempting to retain his self-control as she continued bathing the girl.
The miko's eyebrows dropped dangerously low over her cold eyes, and a pulse of reiki escaped her grasp, making Sesshomaru's lips purse at the perceived threat. "Search. For. Survivors… Now," she ground out, each word punctuated by a slight fluctuation in the invisible reiki that danced around them.
Turning on his heel with a venomous glare, Sesshomaru marched ahead on the road with no intention of following the miko's ridiculous command.
Kagome's eyes followed the demon who gave the air of being offended, but the set of his shoulders told him that he was troubled. Shaking her head, she fixed her features into a semblance of tenderness and returned her gaze to the small pliant girl before her.
"I'm Kagome. What's your name?"
The little girl mumbled softly and averted her eyes. Kagome tilted her chin up to look into her shining brown eyes. A bright smile crinkled her face, and she was rewarded with a shy and demure grin from the child. The little girl leaned forward to whisper in Kagome's ear.
After she pulled away, Kagome nodded understandingly as she set the rag next to the bucket. "Well, Rin-chan, shall we catch up with Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin slipped into Kagome's arms, burying her cheek in the priestess's left shoulder and fisting her hands in the clean white hakui.
Kagome grabbed her bow and stood, propping the child up on her hip, and strode with trouble down the muddy road, hoping to find the uneasy demon. She walked over the crest of a hill and found Sesshomaru waiting at the bottom, leaning with his back against a shady tree next to the road. The relaxed position and the macabre state of his clothing together created an image that burned into Kagome's mind.
As she approached, the demon opened his right eye and straightened upon seeing the miko.
"Miko, the child must stay," he stated gravely. He watched Kagome shake her head as she came closer. An eyebrow twitched, betraying his wish to petulantly roll his eyes at the impertinent woman, and he tossed a parcel toward the approaching female, who caught it awkwardly with her free hand.
She looked down, and then gazed at him with a confused expression etched upon her features. In her hand was a folded child-sized yukata, undoubtedly lifted from one of the abandoned textile stalls in the ghost town.
"She is filthy," he stated sharply before turning on his heel, chin held high.
Kagome's face stretched into a puckish grin as she guided Rin to a nearby sheltered thicket where she could change her clothes.
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Edge of Paradise