InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tales of Dementia ❯ Wind ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The sparse bed chamber was completely dark and almost cold; it was

winter and the dead of night in the land of Kaga after all. Although

her eyes were closed, Murakumo no Kaon laid fully awake on her side in

her bed. She did not face the door, but all her senses were trained on

it, as she waited, and waited, and waited, wondering if it was a good

thing that it remained unopened, undisturbed, untouched, as the minutes

rolled by in the night.

It was well past the twilight hour now.

Himiko would not be coming to Kaon's bed tonight if she hadn't done so

already.

Kaon felt a familiar dull ache in her heart but she told herself that

it was for the best. Another night without Himiko asleep by her side -

in her arms - against her body - was another night that the blonde miko

from the land of the sun remained healthy, safely away from the

intoxicating temptation of a True Embrace.

Gradually, Kaon let the tension and strength bleed from her body as she

began to lull herself into the meditative trance that will allow her

body to slowly regenerate its own mana.

It was a slow and trying process, much less efficient than regaining

strength through an Embrace. Kaon knew it would take at least a week's

worth of meditation (and only if she took care not to expend the mana

accumulated in that time unduly), for her to come back to full

strength.

On the other hand, she would only need to engage in three or four

Embraces, a chore of minutes, to regain the equivalent mana.

But replenishing her mana from the lips of one of the many girls in

Mika-sama's outer harem was no longer an option. It had not been, since

the day Kaon realized just what Himiko meant to her...

And then, just as Kaon reached the cusp of achieving meditative sleep,

she heard the soft knock on her chamber door.

Kaon's eyes snapped open.

Light from the hallway poured into the room for a few moments as the

door opened, and then shut again. The room returned into inky

blackness, but Kaon knew she was no longer alone.

She heard the soft clinking of chains as feet padded noiselessly across

the room to her bedside.

Oh... no...

If Himiko was in her chains, then it could only mean that she had

already been Full-Embraced by Mika-sama tonight.

Kaon's heart tied itself into unbreakable knots.

It was not the fact that another had claims to Himiko's body besides

herself that bothered her.

What tore up Kaon's heart up the most savagely, was knowing that when

Mika-sama extracted mana from her subjects, the Queen of Kaga was not

known to be... especially... humane...

Kaon prayed, though she doubted any God above would ever listen to her,

that Himiko would be able to heal quickly.

Just as Kaon pulled herself upright, a small body collapsed heavily

into her, knocking the wind out of her chest momentarily.

Himiko was as cold as death. Her breathing was laboured.

A lump developed in Kaon's throat.

Oh, gods... it was bad tonight...

"Himiko..."

Kaon's voice sounded heart-broken, even in her own ears, as she

hesitantly called the small woman she held.

Himiko did not answer. She only shivered uncontrollably.

Quickly, Kaon broke the shackles around Himiko's neck, wrists and

ankles - as an Absolute Angel, and Mika-sama's most trusted Sword, Kaon

was able to abolish the mana made chains. They glowed a dull green

momentarily before crumbling into nothingness in her hands.

Freed from her physical bonds, Himiko grew suddenly light as a

feather...

... as though she were made of nothing... as though she were not even

there...

Kaon scooped the small woman up and re-deposited her under the

blankets, peeling off the torn and ripped rags that once properly

clothed Himiko. It was a small miracle that the material came off of

Himiko's body smoothly. The tell-tale sticky evidence of drawn blood

was absent; Mika-sama had not bled Himiko tonight.

Quickly, Kaon removed her own sleeping yukata and wrapped her arms

around the small girl, holding Himiko tightly against herself,

desperately trying to warm that icy flesh with her own.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Kaon was rewarded for her efforts, and Himiko's

trembling body stilled, and gradually warmed.

An indeterminable time passed in that desperate darkness, until

finally, thankfully, Himiko stirred of her own accord; the small girl

reached up, and wrapped her own arms around Kaon's neck, snuggling her

face into Kaon's chest.

Kaon let out a breathe she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and felt

the terrible tension of worry and apprehension fade from her limbs.

For now anyway, the worst had passed.

"Himiko...?"

The small girl made no motion of acknowledgement.

Kaon realized her error. She brushed the hair tenderly out of the small

woman's face and tried again.

"Himeko."

Though she couldn't have had the energy to, the small blonde lifted her

head, and rewarded Kaon with a smile - a small, exhausted, but genuine

smile. "That's better, Chikane-chan."

Kaon smiled wanly back.

While Kaon herself didn't feel any particular attachment to her

previous identity, before she assumed the mantle of Absolute Angel

Murakumo, she knew how much Himi... Himeko treasured her childhood,

before she was forcibly ripped from her homeland, the Land of the Sun,

and taken into Mika-sama's outer harem. The irony was that Mika-sama

had taken inspiration in re-naming Himeko from the role that the girl

had been destined for, of which she would now never fulfill: Himiko -

Hi no miko - Priestess of the Sun.

"Himeko,” Kaon said as gently as she could, “I'm doing to turn on the

light now. I have to look at your injuries."

Kaon reached for her beside lamp, but Himeko stopped her with a gentle

touch on her arm.

"I'm alright," Himeko said softly, tugging Kaon's hand gently back to

return to its original position on the small of her back. "I wasn't

hurt. It wasn't so bad tonight. I wasn't the first. Mika-sama was

already mostly sated by the time she got to me." The blond miko smiled

apologetically and reached up to cup the side of Kaon's face tenderly.

"I'm sorry, I should have asked Mika-sama to remove the chains first

before she left her chambers. I didn't mean to make you worry."

Kaon sighed as she reached up and put her hand over Himeko's, nuzzling

against Himeko's palm. Closing her eyes, she kissed those thin,

delicate fingers.

Himeko sighed contently. She allowed Kaon to lavish loving attention

onto her fingers for a few more moments, before she slipped her hand

from Kaon's grasp.

Under the blankets, Kaon felt Himeko pull her bare body upright, until

she straddled Kaon's thighs. She slid her hands - lingering almost

teasingly so - over Kaon's breasts before draping her arms over Kaon's

shoulders.

Kaon opened her eyes, an apprehensive expression on her face.

"Himeko... what are you... doing...?"

Coyly, Himeko touched her fingers to Kaon's lips, silencing her with a

soft, "shh..." She leaned forward and kissed Kaon softly on the cheek,

and then on her ear, her neck, the soft spot where her jaw met her

throat...

Tension, though of an entirely different nature from before, flooded

though Kaon's body again as she tilted her head upwards instinctively

in pleasure, giving Himeko more flesh to claim. She became very keenly

aware of several things...

... how gloriously soft, tantalizingly near, and absolutely bared

Himeko's body was...

... how quickly their hearts were pounding, in union...

... how deeply, consummately, agonizingly, she, Himeko, they both

wanted each other...

... how perilous, how dangerous, the situation was.

Himeko reached up, and pulled Kaon's face towards her. She closed her

eyes, and dipped her head to kiss Kaon's lips...

Kaon's heart leapt up into her throat, as she watched those quavering

lips come closer, and closer, and...

... somehow, someway, she managed to turn her head to the side.

Himeko's lips pressed harmlessly against Kaon's cheek.

Reaching up, Kaon cupped the side of Himeko's face, and pushed her

back, so that she could regard her properly. For the first time that

night, Kaon could clearly see the truth in Himeko's large, shimmering,

amethyst eyes...

... and she realized that those comforting words that Himeko had given

her earlier - that tonight hadn't been bad, that she hadn't been hurt,

that she would be alright - were all lies... lies... lies...

Realizing that she'd been caught, and that it would not be so easy to

initiate the Embrace, but unwilling to just give up at this stage,

Himeko rolled her head out of Kaon's gentle grasp and went to nibble on

one of Kaon's ears, even as her hands slid downwards to brush

provocatively against more sensitive areas.

Kaon bit her lip and tried not to let Himeko drive her to madness.

"Himeko... stop... we can't..." Kaon begged, wishing _oh_ _so_ _much_

that they _could_, that it was unclear even to herself what she was

begging for. "We can't... you know we can't..."

But Himeko wouldn't stop her tantalizing torture.

Kaon could feel the roaring in her blood as Himeko continued to stoke

her arousal. "I... your mana..."

It was no good, Kaon realized. At the rate things were going...

Kaon bit her tongue, hard. The metallic taste of blood flooded into her

mouth and the sharp, sudden pain pulled her out of the intoxicating

haze Himeko was weaving. In that split second of pain derived clarity,

Kaon managed to wrestle control of her senses back from instinctual

urges. She grabbed Himeko's shoulders and pushed her back.

"Don't you understand?!" Kaon cried, her fingers almost digging into

Himeko's flesh. "I'd _kill_ you...!"

The force with which Kaon's spat her words stunned Himeko as though

she'd been slapped. Eyes wide with shock, Himeko stared unseeingly at

Kaon, before the blonde came back to herself, and bowed her head.

Kaon instantly regretted her actions as tears began to stream silently

down Himeko's cheeks. But even though it pained her to know that she'd

made Himeko cry, she knew she'd done the right thing - what she had to

do. Because, if she hadn't...

"Would that be so bad?" Himeko asked softly. "To die of a True

Embrace... to give everything I am, every drop of mana in my body and

soul to Chikane-chan... isn't that the most wonderful end that I could

ever hope for?"

Kaon stared at the other woman, not quite able to believe what she'd

just heard.

Was this... was this how Himeko actually felt...?

Kaon gently took Himeko's chin and raised the crying woman's face to

look at her in her eyes. The misery she found there was so intense,

Kaon thought her heart would shatter into a million shards by merely

gazing at it.

"Himeko... please... don't... don't make me live without you."

Himeko scrunched up her face as the tears began to flow more heavily.

She tried to shy away from Kaon's desperately earnest gaze, but the

Absolute Angel would not let her go.

"Please, Himeko. No matter how hard it gets, promise me you won't seek

death. Promise me!"

Himeko swallowed, squeezing her eyes tight, either unable or unwilling

to meet Kaon's eyes.

For a terrible, terrible second, Kaon thought the blonde would

refuse...

... but then, somehow, someway, Himeko managed to find that small shred

of hope not yet smothered into nothingness in her heart, and she

summoned the courage to nod meekly.

Kaon felt a small tremor of relief in her chest.

They were safe, for now; Himeko would not break her promises so

lightly.

Wordlessly, Kaon pulled Himeko gently back towards her, and laid them

both down in the bed. She kissed Himeko on the forehead once, softly,

chastely, although in truth, she still felt anything but, before she

quietly let the sobbing girl bury her face into her chest, and cry

herself into merciful exhaustion and dreamless sleep.

This wouldn't do, Kaon despaired. They couldn't go on like this.

But what could they do?