Captured Soul

Untitled

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

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Chapter 9: Busted


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Sick. If a demon could get sick then this must be what it felt like:
crawling, twisting, nauseating.

Sesshomaru entered his room and closed the
door. The warmth from the blazing fire reached for
him as he neared the hearth. Silently, he thanked the female servant.
A large basin and a cloth had been set near the fire place.

Untying the belt to his robe, he let the garment slip to the floor.
Slowly, he lowered to his knees.


The cloth was soft and the water, warm.

With great care, he rubbed the wet cloth against his skin whhe
he
stared into the flames.

It had been his first time.

Witch.

He hated her.

She had taken what should have been his to give to his life mate.


His heated skin dried quickly before the flickering flames.

A hint of spice tickled his nose.

The water had been scented.

It helped.

But her stench lingered in his mind and her ghostly
touches whispered across his flesh.

His thoughts wandered; trying to escape this place, her smell, those ghosts.

While performing the simple motion of cleansing, he wished for the impossible:
for those damn, degrading sensations to wash away as well.

A faint knock sounded at the door.

So deep in the drifting evasion from reality, that his senses had
failed in detecting the presense.

Immediately, he assessed the identity of the individual.

The dog demon relaxed. It was only the servant.

Without getting up, he looked to the door and answered. "Yes."

Liana entered but as soon as her eyes fell on him, she looked away.

A pink hue tinted her young features.

With her gaze locked to the floor, she spoke hesitantly. "I did not.... mean to
...... interrupt.

He did not speak, but returned his gaze to the burning flames and continued cleaning
himself while staring into the fire.


Directly, he heard the young servant girl scurry about
the room. She opened the wardrobe and walked with quiet steps to his bed.

Before leaving the room, she spoke softly. "I will return in the morning to
wake you. Mistress wants you to be ready for traveling."

He barely noticed the clink of the latch when the door closed.
Sesshomaru laid the cloth by the basin of water and rose from the
kneeled postion.

Walking over to the futon, he noticed the girl had set out some clothes for
him. He dressed then sat upon his bed.

For a long time, he only starred out at nothing.

Gone, all of it:

his freedom.....stolen.

his power...lost

his title... stripped,

his dignity...ravaged,

and his pride....shattered.




His soul had been emptied of everything.

All that he was, he could feel slipping away into
a darkness he may never resurface from.

He was drowning.

His spirit was dying.


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Sesshomaru sat on the chair, gazing at the glowing embers amongst the ashes.


The sun had not risen yet and
he had awakened long before Lianna entered the room.

She carried a covered tray over to the small bedside table
and did not look at him. "I have come early. I made you some breakfast.
You may want to eat before you leave. Mistress does not need to eat.
She may not let you hunt while you travel."


With that, she bowed once and left the room.

He rose and inspected the meal, finding it quite close to his tastes.

After eating, the dog demon set about the task of readying himself for the
journey. He had dressed the night before; and now he attached his weapons to
his belt. The kimono was good for travel. But he refrained from wearing his
breast plate. If perchance they came upon a powerful rogue demon, he may have
the good fortune of being removed from this plane of existence, thus escaping
from this nightmare. And escaping from her.

Just as he had fininshed the preparations, his hackles rose.

He shuddered once then regained his composure before the door opened.

cloacloaked form stood in the doorway. The woman's sultry voice sounded
from beneath the hood. "Come, my youkai slave. I have much to do and
I wish for you to follow me. Let us depart."

He took one step forward but
stopped when she held her hand up. A s A sickenly sweet smile played on her rose red lips. "Oh, and another thing.
I want you to kneel before me from now on and I want you to call me Mistress,
preferrably over Master."

Swallowing hard, he did as instructed and fell on his knees before her,
keeping his eyes on the floor. "Mistress."

With a derisive laugh, she ran her fingers through his hair. "My, my, you are such a
good boy."

He could not help but grit his teeth as her long nails scraped his scalp.

She bent down and her hot breath prickled his ear.
"You learn well, we will have much fun, my pet."

With that, she raised up. "Rise. It is time we leave."

He stood up and fell in behind his new Mistress.


They left the stone, cottage like dwelling, and walked out into the early morning
air which hung heavy with daybreaking mist.

Onward theykkedkked:
through the thick trees, beyond oozing marshes and into a dark and
dreary forested land. Along the way, he stole quick glances at the sun
and surroundings, inwardly trying to determine what lands they tread upon.


Soon they came to another clearing. This one too, much the same as the others
had been. And in the center, rested an iron like cage.

They neared the trap and he heard scuffling as if someone raising to their
feet. He honed his sharp senses in order to find out just who or what
had been unwittingly trapped this time.

A faint odor of electrical youkai energy lingered in the air a little ways from their
location, leading up to the snare. He guessed the victim to be an elemental demon,
probably lightening. A rough voice boomed from the trap.
"Who dares to cage me! I will kill the wretched
piece of dung that has dared to ensnare one of the Thunder Brothers!"

They neared the bars. Yes, it was an elemental demon.
A grotesque creature which resembled a large fish like animal. And by the looks
of him he had been there awhile.
He could tell by the shallow, gaunt features his entrapment had lasted at least
one moons cycle.
His Mistress stopped several paces away from the front of the trap, close
to a fallen log.


The elemantal demon stretched one arm
through the bars and shouted. "Who are you?! Why not come closer so I can greet
you properly?! Perhaps you be the ones who think that they can hold me...Manten..
one of the Thunder Brothers and bringer of most painful deaths?!"

He patiently waited next to his Mistress as she produced the box which reaped
demon souls.

The thunder demon grabbed the bars and sneered. "What is this I see? A mutt
and a human?" His laughter boomed. "I will blast you into the next world for
this. Release me!"


It did not take long. The invading mist found it's prey and attacked.
Iron like walls fell and vanished. Only a husk remained. Just as they
turned to leave, the hollow shell began to crumble, scattering like dust
in the slight breeze.

As the days wore on, the same scene played itself over and over again.
Within three days: two wolf, six spider, one bear, ten crow, and one
swan youkai met their end.

Wiping the blood from his hand, he sighed. She had made him
kill the swan youkai. It's snow white feathered
beauty would never grace water ever again.

He looked up to the sky as they continued on. Dark clouds loomed in the
evening sky. As they approached a somewhat mountainous terrain, little
sprinkles began to fall.

Pointing to a rocky hillside, his Mistress gave him an order. "Carry
me to that cave. We will stay there tonight."

He did as ordered. After setting his Mistress on her feet, he waited.
The dark cavern smelled like old earth but at least it was dry.

She turned to him and removed her hood. With an amused smile, his Mistress
nudged his chest. "Sit down, my pet."

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Morning did not arrive quick enough and it found
him sitting on the cold earth, resting
his forehead on his knees.

It had rained some during the twilight, but he
had hardly noticed.

Memories of last night tormented him in dawns light.....making him
shiver with a fear he had not known existed.

In this cave......

she had made him.....do things.......and she had.......she had....
....twisted......what she did.......


His Mistress's voice, near the back of the cavern, whispered an order.
"Go to the stream nearby, clean up, hunt, find your nourishment, then return
before midday."


Sesshomaru rose on shaky legs then left the cave.

Finding the stream, he hurried to the grassy edge and fell to his
knees. Immediately, he cupped the cool water in his clawed hands.

But he did not drink at first. Several times, he filled his mouth
with water only to spit it out again. He
desperately needed to remove that disgusting, nauseating
taste from his tongue.

He gagged once as bile gurgled up into his throat. He vomited.
The yellowish spew floated downstream.

After purging, he began to drink freely to satiate the thirst which had
followed the vile retching.

The restraint gave a warning jolt. Quickly, he removed his clothes and
slid into the water. As the coldness swept over his skin, the inu youkai
waded for a while and looked up to the blue, cloudless sky.

He closed his eyes and let the water soothe
some of the sickness away. Not knowing how much time he had,
Sesshomaru cleaned up then climbed out of the flowing torent.

Shaking the wetness from his hair, he walked over to his garments.

He dressed.

For a moment, he stood still, listening to the wilderness around
him and sniffing the air for possible quarry.

Jumping up into a tree, he reached out with all senses.

Presently, the distant scent of a male stag whispered on the wind.

Without hesitation, he sprang from the large branch to begin
the hunt.

The kill had been clean, one slice to the throat.

Relishing in the rendering of flesh, Sesshomaru tore into his prey and ate till
satisfied.

Licking the blood from his lips and
claws, he left the half eaten carcass behind and
headed for the stream.

While running to the water, he looked up.


The sun had nearly risen to the apex of the sky.

He must return soon.

Crouching by the rippling water, he proceeded to clean the remaining
blood from his skin. Something rustled in the bushes on the other side of the stream.

He did not move.

It was a youkai.

A powerful one.

Silently, he stood and waited.

Directly, the undergrowth parted.

A demon emerged. Eyes alight with static fire glared at him. "Who may
you be?"

This was his chance. Sesshomaru growled at the male youkai.

With a flip of his long black braid, the demon laughed. "You wish to fight?"

He growled louder and flexed his claws.

An electric current flashed from the forked staff the elemental
demon carried. "Then you wish to die!"


Closing his eyes, the dog demon waited for his end; but it did not come.

Upon opening his eyes, he found the youkai hovering before
him in mid air.

The demon seemed bewildered, looking around as if he sensed something.

He sighed when he sensed the same thing. "Damn it."

His Mistress walked up behind him.

The youkai hovered backwards, away from them both.

In a soft, silky tone, she addressed the youkai. "May I ask, why you decided to
attack one of my servants?"

The thunder demon gave no reply and stared in confusion at his Mistress
who now stood beside him.

With a laugh, she raised her hand. "I think you had better leave now, youkai."

The puzzlement in the youkai's eyes turned into a spark of fear.

In a flash of light, the elemental demon vanished in retreat.


Without looking at him, she walked into the shadows of the forest. "Come."

The day wore on as they traveled through the dense wood.

Soon, they came to a large, open, green field.

His Mistress stopped at the edge of the great expanse of grass.

Faint laughter tinkled in the distance.


Tilting his head, he centered on the sound.
Straining to see, Sesshomaru gazed at the swaying reeds.

Directly, his sights fell on the sporadic movement beneath the
wavering weeds.

Not to far from them, a small youkai ran out from the tall grass.

The young tyke was giggling with merriment.

Sesshomaru blinked.

No.

He clenched his fists tight to stop the tremors.


No.

The child fox youkai stopped and turned his head in their direction.

No.

He tried to hide his rising panic.

The wind began to blow about them.


Please No.

His Mistress turned to him and smiled wickedly. "I wonder. Can you tell me
why that little fox youkai is still alive?"

The pounding of his heart coupled with his quickened breathing.
"I......."

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It seems Sess is in some big trouble!
Hope all who read were
entertained. Please review!






^_^.