InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chained ❯ Waking the Dead ( Chapter 37 )

A\N: Not entirely satisfied with this chapter. I don’t think I was very accurate with Sesshomaru’s description, but then again I can’t remember very much of any of his encounters with Kohaku before. I think I made him too internally emotional. Bleagh. Well, I’ll have to work on that-- I know I can get a better version of him out there, I’ll just have to work on it.

Anyway, I should get back to Inuyasha in the next chapter (hopefully) but I don’t know when I’ll get back to Kagome. She’s not exactly vital in my plot at this moment. Inuyasha, on the other hand, is having more difficulties than I think I’ve made obvious, so I’ll have to work on that as well next chapter. ^_^   ~*~   Waking the Dead

Sesshomaru stared down at the boy that Amaya had dropped at his feet.

This was the one she wanted revived...this?

His face was a mask of calm, cold indifference, as always, but inside he was seething. This was the boy who had gone after Rin, who was so covered with the stench of Naraku, he could have well passed for another of the demon’s incarnations. And she wanted him to revive him.

He felt the air move as the sorceress shifted in impatience, and he curse ningen weakness, his own foolishness for being bribed for the price of an arm.

The ningen woman let out an irritated sigh, and Sesshomaru lifted his gaze to her, taking in the obvious annoyance and impatience in her eyes, smelling the irritation radiating off her in waves. Stupid baka human. How she had ever served as a servant of any kind to Naraku was beyond him-- she seemed to have no control whatsoever over her emotions.

‘Well?’ She snapped when he had stared at her a moment, silent, and he raised an eyebrow, knowing it would agitate the human to no end. She glared at his silent inquiry, and huffed in annoyance. ‘Are you going to hold up your end of the bargain not?’ She demanded, and Sesshomaru stared coldly, consideringly at her for a moment.

Really he should just kill the wench and leave them for the crows to feast upon, but, despite his absolute loathing of the boy before him, he was not without honour, and a bargain was a bargain, whether he liked holding up his end or not.

At his side, Tenseiga pulsed, the sword silently urging him to use it. His hand moved slowly, gripping the hilt and unsheathing the sword, which glowed blue and vibrated in a manner imperceptible to any who weren’t touching it.

He pointed it at the boy, waiting as the sword began to reveal him the ugly demons of the underworld that crawled along the his body.

Swiftly, he raised the sword and slashed through the air, severing the demons and breaking their connections with the boy.

Tenseiga quivered happily as he slowly lowered it back to his side, and the hand that held it twitched ever so slightly in disgust at the sword’s obvious delight at saving this boy’s life.

He watched as Amaya knelt slowly next to Kohaku, lifting his head into her lap, and staring with sharp narrowed eyes down at his face, which was still surprisingly blank. His eyes were, however, shining with a faint and very dim light that no corpse could possess, and he knew that, even if the sorceress couldn’t perceive it, Kohaku was alive.

So why did he still look so dead?

The colour was slowly returning the boy’s cheeks, making him look incredibly pale, but alive nonetheless, and Amaya relaxed ever so slightly-- anything not youkai and not watching with as much intentness as Sesshomaru would not have been able to perceive it.

‘Kohaku.’ She said quietly, and the boy blinked slowly, his eyes clearing of the lingering fog of death as he slowly focused them on her face.

‘Kohaku, do you remember anything?’ She asked, and for a moment the boy did not answer. Then, slowly, he nodded, his eyes gaining a faint and very lost and broken look to them. Sesshomaru’s lip almost curled in disgust at the sight, but he managed to reign the action, and instead stared on coolly a moment more, before turning to leave.

‘Sesshomaru, I suggest you wait or Kohaku will never be able to catch up.’ Amaya’s voice reached his ears, and he stopped, taking a moment to let the ningen’s words sink in.

‘You are mistaken, ningen.’ He said, not looking back at her. ‘I have revived him, which is all I had agreed to do. We hold no further ties to one another.’

‘That may be so.’ Amaya said, and Sesshomaru heard clothing moving and dirt shifting, revealing to him that the woman was now standing. ‘However, if you do not take him, then he shall have to remain in the forest. Alone. I cannot drag him around with me everywhere I go, and I haven’t the time to deal with him at the moment anyway. You, on the other hand, already drag a human and two youkai wherever you go, he shall be no more trouble to you-- he is a good fighter and can defend himself, and he will be a good companion to your ningen. Surely she could use some company from her own kind.’

Sesshomaru stiffened imperceptibly at the woman’s mention of Rin, wanting to cut the ningen’s tongue out for daring to speak of the girl. Yet again he managed to keep his face, and slowly turned just enough to view her out of the corner of his eye.

‘If he can defend himself as well as you say, then he has no need of my protection.’ He said, turning away again, and Amaya glared.

‘I suppose not, but if something should happen to him, and we cannot find the body for you to revive again, then I would hate to have had all this been for a waste. He is a vital part of this plan, and without him the whole thing may go to waste.’

Sesshomaru froze again, hating that he was allowing a ningen to manipulate him. Yet he knew that, for all her faults, she had a keen sense into the workings of Naraku’s mind and castle, and any plan she could come up with would likely be the best one available.

Plus, she had a very valid point-- if the boy’s body was dragged off, even he could not revive them.

He began walking again, not looking back, but he heard the sorceress sigh, heard the humour in her voice as she whispered ‘You shall have to run to keep up with him.’ To the boy, and the moments silence, before unsure footsteps came rushing in human-swiftness to follow after him.

Not once did he bother to look back at the boy as they travelled, silently cursing his existence, while even after several minutes of silence and a good deal of distance put between them, he could hear the sorceress’ laughter echoing about the hollow trees.

And again he cursed his weakness at allowing himself to be manipulated-- all for the price of an arm.

But in his heart he knew that there was so much more than his arm at stake here.

And he had just made a deal with an angel from hell, or a demon from heaven (he was still undecided exactly which she was), the fate of which the entire world may well rest in the hands of.

END ~*~

Glossary

Ningen - Human

Baka - Fool, Idiot, moron, etc

Youkai - Demon