InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ When there is a full moon ❯ The Help of a Miko ( Chapter 10 )

I DON'T OWN INUYASHA

The Help of a Miko

He changed his position against the old tree with barely contained annoyance. Turning his gaze to the full moon overhead, he allowed his mind to drift away from the miko. It was very annoying how she determinedly remained in his mind. He could no longer, despite all his efforts, deem her as an enemy, and this irked him to no end.

There was just something about the miko that he had never been able to ignore, but he could not fathom what it might be. Only recently had he recognized its existence; he had originally thought that it was his determination to kill her that kept her in his mind. But somehow, he could no longer think in such a manner. He had never taken such a grudge against any living being, except maybe his brother, to be constantly plotting a ploy in which he could take his revenge. He had never spent so many hours thinking on one person whether it was out of kinship or hatred. So why could he not stop thinking about her?

And then there was the matter of his straying mind, and that worried him the most. Sometimes, he would catch his mind drifting to thoughts of how her body would feel against his, and exactly how those lips of hers would taste were he to take them against his own mouth. It was these thoughts that disturbed Sesshoumaru the most. The little voice inside his head kept labelling his thoughts as that of physical attraction for the human girl. But, of course, Sesshoumaru dismissed the notion without hesitation. There was no way that he, the great lord of the Western Lands, should feel attracted to a human miko.

Yet, no matter what, he continued to think of her sans stop.

He heard the snap of a twig, and turned curious eyes towards the direction of the disturbance. He had been so lost in his own thoughts that he had missed the Taiyoukai of the Southern lands and his troop gathering around him. He cursed the miko and the distraction that she brought to his mind as he gracefully rose to his feet. The youkai lord across him gave a mockingly polite bow while withdrawing his sword, his troop following his lead. The sound of metal swords scraping across the smooth surfaces of their sheaths resounded in the forest, driving away all the animals and lower youkai in the vicinity.

Sesshoumaru allowed a cold smirk to grace his lips, readying himself against the odds of coming out of this cowardly act alive.

Without a second of hesitation, the two Taiyoukai leaped towards each other, hence commencing a bloody battle of one against over seventy youkai.

Kagome looked ahead curiously. Just in the centre of the town, a relatively large one for the war and states era, what seemed to be the whole town and a few extra people were gathered in a circle. There was an excited hush lolling the air. They hurried their steps to see what was going on.

"Look at the stupid thing," someone yelled from the crowd.

"It probably doesn't know what's happening to it, the dumb git," another voice called out from the opposite end of the circle.

By now, Kagome and her friends had reached the outer ring of the circle. Inuyasha seemed uneasy and had an uncertain look on his face. His eyes were darting around the town and the gathered people as his nose tested the air. In her arms, Shippo seemed uneasy as well, and Kirara jumped into Sango's arms where it tried to hide itself.

Kagome reached out and tapped a nearby woman on the shoulder. She turned around to look at her with a look of impatience on her young face.

"What do you want?" she barked out.

Clearing her throat and ignoring the woman's rudeness. "Sorry, I was just wondering what's going on. Do you think you could tell me?"

"We've caught a full demon and our miko's about to pure the devil."

"Oh," Kagome said, "thank you."

Without a reply, the woman turned on her heels, craning her neck to get a better look. Kagome turned back to look at her friends. Inuyasha was still looking around anxiously, heedless of what the woman had said. "What's wrong Inuyasha?"

Finally, Inuyasha turned his head to look at Kagome, his amber eyes alight with apprehension. "Sesshoumaru," was his curt answer.

Kagome frowned at him. "What about him?"

"He's close by, or at least someone who smells a lot like him." Again his eyes darted around the crowd of people. "But I can't spot him. And if I can smell him, then he can smell us too. If he has, then why isn't he here?"

Kagome nodded at him, her curiosity arisen. She, too, looked around the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of the demon lord. But it was futile. Despite the fact that she was taller than most women from this time, she was still too far back and there were too many people for her to see properly. "I'm gonna go to the centre," she told her friends. "I can see better from there."

She handed Shippo to Sango who, as Kagome turned to leave, said, "Be careful, Kagome-chan."

"Don't worry, Sango-san, I'll be fine." With a wave of her hand, Kagome pushed into the crowd where she disappeared from view. She pushed against the people, every once in a while one of them would cuss at her, but she ignored them, all the while looking for Sesshoumaru. But what the hell would he be doing in a crowd of humans? She still hadn't had a chance to thank him for saving her life, and she was determined to do so whether the demon wanted acknowledgement for his deed or not.

She made her way to the very centre of the crowd. They had circled around the captured demon and five mikos at the very center of the town. She looked around the inner circle of people. Her eyes caught white cloth, and she turned with excitement to the person. But to her disappointment it was another villager.

She turned her eyes to the five mikos. They were all dressed alike: white shirts, red pants, and long black hairs tied back with a white ribbon. The five of them stood across from each other, three on one side and two on the other side of the captured demon. It was then, as she looked at the demon for the first time, that she realized where Inuyasha's brother was. Her eyes widened to their full extent as his hate filled eyes bore into her.

His heart was beating rapidly against his ribs, his nose desperately trying to concentrate only on her relaxing scent. He had enough sense left to mask his eyes with a look of hatred, which was easy to do if he thought about the humans around him. But he watched her, carefully, looking for her reaction. She stared at him with wide-eyed surprise, her soft lips slightly apart in a gasp. Again, she was wearing yet another one of her odd kimonos. Almost without his control, his eyes ran up her body, from her exposed legs to her shocked face. Even though he had not seen her in a fairy long time, her image within his mind had been exactly correct.

Finally blinking out of her stupor, the miko turned to one of the villagers beside her. "How did you capture the demon?" she whispered in a voice that did not reach the other mikos.

Her neighbour looked at her quizzically, then reluctantly said, "He had been injured and unconscious when the mikos found him." The miko from the future frowned at this. "Ozona-sama had to put very strong subduing spells on him to keep him under control."

"Under what crime was he captured?"

The villager threw her a disparaging look as though she was crazy. "He's a demon, that's reason enough!"

The miko turned away from him angrily, locking eyes with Sesshoumaru once more. He found his blood rushing excitedly through his body at the determined look in her eyes.

"Good villagers," one of the mikos announced to the crowd of people. "We are gathered here today to bring justice to this lowly excuse of a living creature."

Sesshoumaru growled angrily, and to his surprise he could just hear the miko across from him do the same.

"Today," said another miko with a satisfied smirk, "we shall purify it as an example to all others who dare oppose us."

"Let's begin," said a third miko. At her words, the five mikos formed a perfect circle around Sesshoumaru, linking their hands together. He knew was his last chance to try and save himself, but he was made powerless with the spells that bound. He felt his hatred grow for the humans for what they were planning to do to him in their cowardly manner. They began a slow chant, one that made the hair that was on the back of Sesshoumaru's neck to stand on end.

"STOP!"

Sesshoumaru looked at her with confusion; and so did every one else. She stepped forward hesitantly, the people eyeing her clothes with suspicion.

"Why should we do that?" asked one of the mikos; they had let go of each others hands and had their neck's craned so they could glare at her.

The miko coughed nervously, and Sesshoumaru could have sworn he heard the echo of 'sit' in her cough. As if to confirm his belief, there was an audible crashing sound from the back of the crowd, not loud enough to be heard by the humans. But Sesshoumaru heard it and the cussing that followed it.

"Um…yes, I would like to know why we're purifying this demon. From what I've heard, he hasn't specifically done anything that you are punishing him for." Her voice sounded unsure and hesitant, but her eyes were resolute.

Is she trying to save my life? Sesshoumaru thought with incredulity. His eyes widened as she stepped even closer to the mikos so that she was face to face with the nearest of the five mikos. She was almost a head taller than the miko who had to look up in order to look her in the eye.

One of the mikos snorted and looked at the miko-girl with disdain. "Well, dear, we have a reason. I should have thought that would have been obvious enough." She spoke as though she were speaking to a child.

The miko, Kagome, glanced down at the ground then looked up with such a hard countenance that it took everyone who could see her face by surprise. She had the same exact look that Sesshoumaru had seen turned towards him just before she ruined another one of his plans. A small smirk reached his lips.

"Oh," she said with mock surprise. "Is that so? Well you'd have to excuse me, but I still can't see your reasoning. At least now I know you're not merely purifying him just because he's a demon. Only heartless bastards would do that, and you, obviously, are the countenance of purity, love, and forgiveness."

The oldest of the five had to be the angriest one among them. Her face was red, her lips pursed, her eyes burning. Seeing this seemed to only make the young miko smile. "Mind your tongue, girl. We are mikos, your superior."

She crossed her arms abstinently. "Firstly, I, too, am a miko. You are no better than me than you are taller than me! Secondly, I make it my business to be as rude as possible to idiots that are as arrogant and blind sighted as you! And third of all, you are mikos, supposedly. You're supposed to help all creatures of god. You're not supposed to discriminate against some because of what they were born as. You should be smart enough to judge people based on their doings, not their heritage. I for one, refuse to allow you to continue when you fail to provide evidence of his wrong doing!" Her words reached his ears, giving him the sense that she her words were not only directed towards the mikos.

The mikos were looking at her sceptically. They moved from their former positions around Sesshoumaru, and stood beside each other to discuss the matter at hand. While they spoke, the other miko turned her steely gaze back to Sesshoumaru. Immediately, her eyes filled with warmth and gratitude. Sesshoumaru refused to allow any of his emotions to show. She hesitantly walked up to him so that she was within arms length of him. He could have reached out and killed her from where she stood were his hands not tied back. He only silently thanked her for pushing aside the stench of the other humans.

"Keep your distance, girl!" one of the mikos warned.

The miko before him rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to free him; not until we have reached an agreement." The other miko turned back to her group.

Sesshoumaru watched as the girl who had been haunting him for weeks bent down to whisper a soft thank you in his ears. His skin tingled where her warm breath made contact with his skin. "For what, Miko?"

She looked at him with slight surprise, then smiled her beautiful smile just at him, making his heart beat ten times as fast as it normally did. "For saving my life from Mukotsu," she whispered again. Sesshoumaru was glad that the ropes and spells that bound him were there for they were the only thing that kept him in check.

"I was merely returning a favour. This Sesshoumaru does not like being in dept to a miko." His voice was hard and emotionless as usual.

She looked at him sadly for a moment, but smiled again. "Nevertheless, I would like to thank you, dept or no dept." She looked at him quizzically then. "But why do you always call me 'miko'? I have a name, you know. I use yours, why don't you use mine?"

He raised one eyebrow at her, his face still blank even as he fought to keep his lips off her very close face. "This Sesshoumaru do--,"

He was cut off by the voice of one of the five mikos. "Girl," she called, making the miko - Kagome - to rise to her feet, relieving Sesshoumaru from the task of holding back. "Do you know the demon then?"

She opened her mouth to answer, and her answer thoroughly shocked Sesshoumaru. "No."

The mikos exchanged furtive glances with each other. "You claim to be a miko," the eldest one said. "Can you prove that?"

"How would you like me to do that?"

Again, they exchanged glances. "Allow us to hear your tune."

Kagome's face faulted. "My tune?" she repeated. "Um…what's that?"

The mikos broke into triumphant smiles in unison, giving Sesshoumaru an ominous feeling as he looked on. "If you can't play your tune, then you are not a miko, which proves you're a liar!"

"Don't be daft," Kagome argued back. "I said I don't know what it is, I never said I can't do it. I was never trained as a miko. That doesn't mean I can't learn. Show me what to do, and I'll do it!"

The self-satisfied smirks were wiped from their faces. One of the mikos, the one with the longest hair, stepped forward, traced her name in the air, then blew on the glittering letters. The town was filled with the sound of a slow tune, ancient and sorrowful. When it ended, there was a loll.

"Kagome!" came Inuyasha's voice from the end of the crowd.

Kagome swallowed dryly. Without glancing towards where the sound came from, through a series of coughs she 'sat' Inuyasha again. Luckily for her, few people had even heard him since they were all so wrapped up in what was going on between the six mikos.

She looked resolutely at the mikos before her. She could see in their faces their certainty that she would fail. What was I thinking when I got involved in this? It would have been better just to let him be killed; I'd only be getting rid of another enemy. But he's not an enemy anymore. But it's not like I'm helping him, am I? But you're trying, just as you would if it was Inuyasha who was tied up here. But I don't even think I could do that song thing. Just try it, it won't hurt to try. She swallowed again, and this time coughed for real as she choked on her spit. She raised shaking hands to the air.

He watched as her trembling hands trace her name in the air in graceful arcs. K-A-G-O-M-E. He could almost taste her nervousness. The letters remained in the air, glittering a beautiful blue. She blew on them and that's when the song started.

It wasn't a slow, sorrowful tune. It did not even have a Japanese ring to it. Had he not visited the West, he would have never guessed the song's origins. Only it was different from the minstrel's tune from the lands of the Scottish. It had a beat to it that made Sesshoumaru think of her time.

The song had a quiet joy laced in and through it. Its enchanting melody almost made Sesshoumaru forget his situation, the insults that had been thrown his way by these arrogant humans.

It was only after the song had ended that Sesshoumaru realized something incredible. He turned unbelieving eyes onto her, but she had her eyes closed in a peaceful manner.

It soon turned out that he wasn't the only one that had noticed what the miko had just done for him.

"Miko," came the incredulous voice of the eldest miko. "You've returned the demon's arm!"

For five complete minutes, Kagome stared at the miko dumbfounded. Then, in a haze, she turned to look at the demon in question. There he sat, in the same position as before, his golden eyes, slightly wider than before with shock, locked onto his left arm. Only now, instead of just cloth after his elbow, there was also skin, bone, and muscles. There were even two crimson stripes around his wrist just as Kagome could remember. Kagome felt her jaw drop as she watched him flex his fingers.

As though taking their cue from his smallest movement, the five mikos jumped into action. Immediately they had chanted ten more subduing spells to keep him in check despite his angry growls. Then, in one, they turned accusing glares onto Kagome.

"You dare side with the demon?"

Rubbing her neck nervously, Kagome answered them. "Well, technically, I am on his side because I want you to free him. But I didn't give back his arm purposefully, I swear. I have very little control over my powers since I was never trained. It just must have happened on its own."

The other mikos looked among themselves sceptically. "I suppose that's possible," the miko with the longest hair said.

"And you have to be a miko to be able to perform the miko's tune," another one added in.

"Well," said the eldest of the five. "Perhaps, now you'll tell us why you think the demon should be freed. He's a demon and all demons are evil. They don't deserve your mercy."

Kagome frowned at her. "But that's not true. That's a simple minded assumption made based upon lack of knowledge."

"It is not an assumption, child," the old miko said. "It's a truth."

"It is an assumption," Kagome argued back. The crowd gathered looked at her sternly for keeping them from the purification.

"You know of the hanyou Naraku?" Kagome nodded. "He's only part demon, and he's positively evil. There's no arguing that."

"But you're using a bad example," Kagome said. She pointed to a basket of fruit that one of the villagers carried. "See those apples in there. Some of them might be rotten. Is that true or not?" the mikos nodded along with a few of the villagers. "Following your logic, I should be able to say, look, some of those apples are rotten. So all of the other apples must be bad too! But they're not, are they?" she asked rhetorically.

The old miko shook her head in disagreement. "Child, you're being blind. He's a demon; it's in their nature to be evil."

Kagome sighed, trying to keep her patience. "I'm not the one being blind. It's in nature's nature to rain, right? Well, do you see it raining every day? No. Each apple is different from the next apple, each day from the next, each person from the next, and each demon from the next. It makes no difference. Every creature is its own thing. If you judge them without knowing them, then you are being narrow-minded."

Again, the mikos exchanged glances. "Can you prove that this one isn't evil?"

Kagome hesitated, and the mikos smiled triumphantly. "If you can prove his innocence, we will free your demon," said the miko with the longest hair.

This caught Kagome's attention and she smiled hesitantly. She looked at Sesshoumaru, not sure how to get him to play along. He was still staring at his forearm. "And if I can't?"

"Then it is only fair that he should be purified without anymore hindrance."

His ears twitched as he heard footsteps approaching him. Slowly, he lifted his eyes from his new arm, focusing on the slowly approaching miko. He wanted to thank her, he wanted to hold her close, he wanted to run his new hand through the waves of her hair, and he wanted to kiss her. But he was incapable of doing any of it. He sat rigidly in place as she bent down before him, bringing her nervous face closer to his.

"Can I ask you your name, Sir?"

He looked at her with a hidden curiosity. What game is she playing now? "Sesshoumaru."

She smiled prettily, making his stomach flutter. "Sesshoumaru-sama, have you ever heard of the Shikon no Tama?" The crowd of humans and mikos looked on with rising curiosity.

His eyes almost ran down to her chest where he knew a few pieces of the jewel hung. He knew that his best chance of escape was through her since he was powerless with all the subduing spells that bound him. The problem was he didn't know what she wanted him to say. Taking a chance, he said, "It's the jewel of the four souls. It can grant demons and humans incredible power. It was recently shattered into many pieces."

"Good," she said just loud enough so that the mikos could hear her. "Now, do you know who I am?" she asked with a slight shake of her head.

You don't know how much I actually want to know… he thought sardonically. Taking his cue from her, he said, "A miko?"

The miko straightened. "Yes. I'm the miko responsible for the Shikon no Tama." Her voice was clear and held no doubt. As she said this, she reached into the collar of her shirt and pulled out the pieces that she had collected. There was a collective gasp from the humans. "You all know," she said looking at the mikos, "just how powerful this jewel is. With one shard of it, Sesshoumaru's power could be raised to such a high level that you will no longer be a match for him."

She turned back to him while drawing out a jewel shard. Reaching out, she placed the shard carefully in his left palm but did not let go. Again there was a disturbance from the back of the crowd; and again she coughed to subdue his brother. The mikos looked on in horror.

Looking at him with pleading eyes, Kagome continued. "Sesshoumaru-sama," her voice was soft and unsure. "Please don't take advantage of what I'm offering you and prove me wrong. I understand that you are very annoyed and angry at us humans for insulting you, and threatening your life. But please, please, don't absorb the jewel shard to take your rightful revenge. Show them you're better than that."

She lifted her hand, and the mikos made a mad dash towards him to snatch away the jewel shard. But the miko held them back with her icy glare. "You little fool!" screeched the old miko. With the help of three other mikos, she dragged her away from Sesshoumaru, throwing her hard against the ground. They raised their hands, as though about to cast a spell, and the crowd chanted with glee.

But the miko seemed unaware of all this. She had her eyes glued on to him, waiting to see his reaction. Not wanting to disappoint her, Sesshoumaru made his move.

"Old hags," came the deadly calm voice of Sesshoumaru, the demon lord of the Western Lands. Every one froze at the promise of death that rang in his voice. "You harm that miko, then I shall most definitely rip your sorry heads from your foul bodies."

Kagome smiled. He had done just what she had wanted him to do. The jewel shard sat in the palm of his hand, gleaming innocently in the orange light of the setting sun. His cold eyes would have made her freeze in her spot if the vehemence in them had been directed towards her.

The mikos looked from him to her in disbelief. Their eyes were almost round they were so wide. "I told you he wasn't evil," Kagome said happily from her place on the ground. "Now you have to let him go!"

Sesshoumaru kept completely still, his eyes full of hatred but without the intention of bringing harm to them. He seemed to be waiting for the mikos to lift the spells from him. Looking guilty and seriously close to fainting, the mikos lifted the enchantments.

The demon lord rose gracefully, completely ignoring all the humans carefully backing away. He walked straight towards her. "It seems I will always be in your dept, miko," he's voice was void of emotion, as though he was bored with the whole situation.

Rising to her feet hesitantly, Kagome bowed to him. "I was merely returning a favour for your saving my life. You're not indebted to me at all."

He seemed to be fighting a smirk and only half succeeded. "You, miko, are as stubborn a human as this Sesshoumaru has seen." He handed back the jewel shard.

She took it from his hand, feeling very confused by the lords acceptance of her. Then what he said sank in and she looked at him inquisitively. "Why do you still call me 'miko'? I've already asked you to call me by my name. It's Kagome."

There was no trace of a smirk on his face now. "Because, miko, despite all, you and I remain enemies." With that said, he turned and walked away.

"But Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome whispered under her breath, watching his retreating back. "I don't feel the same."