InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Yokai No Kokoro (Heart of A Demon) ❯ Wherever You Will Go ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter 14: Wherever You Will Go

Kyoko raced down the hill and through the plain. Her heart pounded, but not from physical exertion-she was about to see Sesshoumaru again. Each step she took seemed to be a mile in length to her. [I can't wait… I've missed him… I… I have wanted to be with him all of this time… but… what if he left in order to be away from me? He… wouldn't have… would he?]

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Sesshoumaru hesitated as he stepped forward. [Kyoko's scent… it is much stronger now… Damned wind… it's pushing the scent away… I can't tell how close she is…] He looked around himself, but saw nothing more than the tall plain-grass blowing wildly in the wind-another reason the wind annoyed him-he could not tell if there was anything in the grass. He smiled, however, when he heard someone stand behind him. "It's not often that someone is able to sneak up on me like that, Kyoko."

"Only me then, huh?"

Sesshoumaru nodded lightly as he turned around. "You did not stay where I had left you."

Kyoko shifted her gaze away from Sesshoumaru, her eyes downcast. "Why did you leave without telling me anything?"

"I… I did not wish to disturb you while you were sleeping."

"You left me there to fight Inu Yasha."

Sesshoumaru looked down at Kyoko sharply, anger in his eyes. "Why does that matter? You spent a few weeks with him. You still smell like that hanyou bastard."

Ignoring Sesshoumaru's comments, Kyoko looked back to him, smiling. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

For a moment, Sesshoumaru was taken aback. [Who does she think I am? I am not so weak that I'd be injured so much by that worthless hanyou… Then again… when she met me, I was drenched in my own blood because of that hanyou bastard… No wonder she figured that I'd be injured… She's so… so caring… She's almost everything that I hate. She likes humans, she seems to get along with Inu Yasha, she's so blindly caring of other people… she's so innocent and naïve… But… even so… I cannot bring myself to so much as dislike-much less hate-her. She reminds me of Naoko…]

Kyoko took Sesshoumaru's hand into hers and then dropped it as she threw hers arms around his shoulders. "Sesshoumaru-sama… I missed you so… I thought that perhaps something had happened to you… But, everything's okay now-you're just fine…"

"Of course I am."

Kyoko smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "Promise me that you won't leave me like that anymore…"

"You make it sound as though we have commitment to one another."

"Trust is commitment. Not a marital type of commitment, but a commitment to always be true to that person. I trust you, but, do you trust me as well?"

"Why… of course I'd trust you, Kyoko…" Sesshoumaru stammered as he ran his hand over her hair. [Why am I doing this? The last time… the last time, I was betrayed… Naoko… Perhaps it is that I feel as though I may have wronged Kyoko by not waking her…]

Kyoko slowly pulled away from Sesshoumaru. Her hands lingered over his shoulders, and then she slowly ran her left hand over his right arm and to his hand. She held his hand in hers a few moments-an action that bewildered Sesshoumaru. Finally, she pulled herself completely away from him and smiled as she looked once again into his golden stare. "Shall we go then?"

"Go where?" Sesshoumaru inquired, not quite off of 'Cloud 9' yet.

"To where you had told me that we were going to go before you left-somewhere to the west of where we were."

"Oh, yes… that…" Sesshoumaru looked away for a moment. "We can be there in three days travel. However, on the second day, I will travel ahead, so you will have to stay and wait for a little while."

"I see." Kyoko smiled as they began walking, heading for their destination. Unbeknownst to her, there were other people headed in that same direction…

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The group of samurai sharpened and honed their weapons as they listened to their elder.

"Satoru was brutally murdered by the yokai that he agreed to make a truce with. His death cannot go unavenged!! What will you all do to right this wrong that had been done to your fallen comrade?"

"Kill the yokai!" The group shouted, thrusting their weapons and/or fists into the air. Their anger would fuel their attack. Since Satoru's death, they had been thirsty for the blood of this yokai. For the past week, they had spent all of their time tracking it, marching on, nonstop. Each man sharpened and honed his weapon in hopes of being able to be the one to kill this most vile being. They each wished to have the honor of holding the head of this cursed creature. Never before had any creature had such hatred directed to it as this one. No man loathed anything so much as these men loathed the blue-haired yokai.

----Two days later----

Kyoko sighed as she watched Sesshoumaru walk slightly ahead of her. She had still been tired from the day-and-a-half run they made to the west.

Sesshoumaru glanced back at Kyoko, a thought nagging him since the day before yesterday. "Kyoko, why is it that you worry so-" Sesshoumaru, whom had not been paying attention, tripped over a rock that jutted out of the ground, and, as gravity would demand, he fell-flat on his face.

Kyoko burst into peals of laughter before she decided to help him to stand. She leaned forward and offered her hand to him. He took her hand into his begrudgingly and brushed the dust off of his kimono. "Are you-hahahaha-okay?"

"I'm fine." Sesshoumaru snarled as he continued brushed the now inconspicuous dust from his kimono.

"You took-hahahahahaha-a pretty nasty fall there."

"I said, I'm fine!"

Kyoko chuckled as Sesshoumaru glared at her; she knew he was not really mad, just annoyed at the moment. "I'm sorry I laughed, it was just sort of cute to see you fall like that-I couldn't help it."

"Cute??? What about vulnerability is 'cute' as you put it?" Sesshoumaru snarled as he began walking again. He sighed as he turned back around to face Kyoko. His gaze bore into her eyes with a sense of sorrow. "It's about time I go on. I'll be back tomorrow morning, maybe earlier. Stay here, okay?"

Kyoko nodded slowly. [Has it already been two days?] "I'll stay right here, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru's heart raced. He could not understand what he was feeling; his heart raced, he felt short of breath-not even Naoko had made him feel like that before. <Of course, he never really had to leave Naoko when he went anywhere, either. > His hand stretched out to Kyoko's as his expression softened. "Kyoko, I will be back, right here. All you have do to is to be here, waiting for me. I know we've already talked about this, but I should have told you where I was going when I left before."

Kyoko's eyes welled with tears-a stinging, burning reminder of reality for her. She blinked them away as she nodded-her expression seemingly emotionless-save the one tear that had rolled over her cheek. "I trust your word, Sesshoumaru-sama. I will be here, waiting for you to return-even if that means waiting for many years."

"Of course." Sesshoumaru nodded as he released Kyoko's hand and walked away. It was only a few seconds later that he dashed away, more quickly than most human eyes could follow.

[This is it. This is my choice. I will stay with Sesshoumaru-until I am no longer in this world. Even then, my soul will still linger until it can be with his.]