A Beginning by Strand
A Beginning
Author's Note: A first at a one-shot. I leave it open for anyone to begin, continue, or tweak. I love Sess/Kag, and this is a child born from the stories of those who also love this couple. Thus I write and give back to those who have the same passion, knowing these characters will forever belong to Rumiko Takahashi, the creator everyone here respects.
With a grunt, Kagome hit the ground. Panting, she wiped the blood dripping off her chin before struggling to get up.
“You shame me,” snarled her former teacher, Sara.
“I love him,” Kagome whispered.
Sara stormed up to Kagome’s wavering form. Grabbing a handful of the young priestess’ hair, Sara jerked, forcing Kagome’s head to a painful angle.
“I will beat this love from your tainted heart, and then I will kill your precious lover before he can taint your innocence.” Sara let go of Kagome’s hair before backhanding the young woman across the face.
Kagome fell hard to the ground. Blood dripped from another cut in her mouth.
Sesshoumaru shifted in his cell, pulling at the cuffs that chained him to the wall for the hundredth time. He sat, back against the wall, staring blankly at the reiki infused wooden wall. The subtle stinging on his person grated on his nerves. Ironic that such “innocent” beings could be so vindictive. He knew that any demon weaker than he would have been overcome and reduced to a whimpering pile from all of the reiki that surrounded the prison he sat in.
Leaning his head against the wall, his mind wandered to the little priestess that held his heart. He knew that he would be punished for their taboo. He was prepared. He would take the brunt of punishment for her. Priestess teachings enforced a law of forgiveness. Within their rites, priestesses who broke the rules were imprisoned in isolation until they broke down and reasserted their religion as the only purpose in their lives.
Hearing the door swing open, Sesshoumaru casually averted his gaze to the shadowed figure that stepped into his prison. He felt a spike in the surrounding reiki, and with a growl, felt waves of burning pain envelope his being that left him paralyzed.
With a glare at the figure stalking toward him with a small blade, his last thought before blinding pain contorted his figure was wishing Kagome was well through this ordeal.
Kagome slammed against the wall of the room before sliding down to land in a heap on the dirt floor. Coughing blood, her bleary eyes lifted to meet Sara’s wild eyes.
“Don’t worry, my sweet apprentice. You are not alone in your pain.” A shiver of pleasure traced up Sara’s spine at seeing the young priestess’ eyes widen in shock. Casually looking at her nails, Sara purred, “Oh yes. At this moment, I imagine your lover is hovering between life and death.”
Sara walked over to Kagome’s shocked form. Grabbing a handful of her hair, she forced the girl’s gaze to meet her own.
“But don’t worry.” Sara purred. “I’ll let you see your pathetic demon before we kill him.”
Tears streamed from Kagome’s eyes as her heart broke, both for her demon lover, and for the life that she had once believed whole heartedly.
Breathing in, Kagome steeled her heart against what she had decided to do.
Sesshoumaru gasped before falling into a puddle of his own blood. Red seeped into his once pristine silver hair. A shiver of pain coursed through his body as residual reiki ran through his blood before dissipating against his innate youki.
The priestess that tortured him was strong, but he was a daiyoukai. As such, the woman may have been strong within her coven, but fell far from being able to purify him.
The woman spit at the fallen demon, before smirking.
“You are an abomination, and everything you touch needs to be purified.” snarled the woman. She held up the blade and casually inspected the blood that dripped from it. “Don’t worry though. At this very moment, our honorable Sara is making sure that Kagome knows the error of her ways.”
So engulfed in her own diatribe, the woman missed the flashing of red that enveloped Sesshoumaru’s golden eyes.
“You are a disgrace, and your disgrace has tainted Kagome. As such, she will be cleansed in the only way that such blasphemy can be cleansed: with blood.” The woman turned her head at hearing the door open. “Ah. See. Only our purity would allow such a mercy: letting our dear sister see the demise of the source of her repugnant taint.” The woman smirked, still enchanted with her bloody blade.
Sesshoumaru listened as the sound of footsteps and something being dragged slowly got louder beyond the threshold of his prison. The scent of pure winter with undertones of metallic blood filled his senses. Dread filled his being before red overtook his eyes with all consuming anger.
Kagome coughed and lifted her form halfway up on unsteady arms from the ground. Sara grabbed her hair once again to draw Kagome’s face close to her own.
“Don’t worry. The time is now. I will let you see the death of your lover, but don’t worry, you won’t wait long before joining him.” Sara sneered into Kagome's dull tearful eyes. “Did you think I would ever let such a failure taint my reputation?”
Sara laughed before regaining her composure. “You pathetic fool.” Sara thrust Kagome away from her in disgust. “To think, the elders heralded you as the Shikon Miko. The only thing I see in you is tainted, blue eyes in the skull of a pathetic excuse of a “savior”.” Sara scoffed. She rapped on the door to the room, taking one last glance at Kagome’s defeated form. A shadowed figure opened the door, flooding Kagome‘s view with light and temporarily blinding her. “Drag her to her lover. This disgrace will end tonight.”
Sara walked ahead of the parade of priestesses. Pride lifted her chin as Kagome’s figure was dragged between two women as they approached the prison that held the demon. She counted her blessings as her nightmare and disgrace would end tonight. Swiftly cutting off the taint that was her apprentice from her village would ensure that no one would ever hear of it.
A demon and a priestess together?! How blasphemous. Such a discovery would ruin her. And how dare that little demon slut. When she, Sara, had been bestowed the “Shikon Miko” as an apprentice, all had praised her. All had looked upon her with honor and respect. She would die before such praise be ripped from her because of the foolishness of her student.
Sara scoffed. Such an idiot, that young apprentice. And such idiots those elders had been. There was no way that such a disgrace could ever be the Shikon Miko. Such power would never have been bestowed upon such a weak, and pathetically disdainful being.
Upon entering the doors of the reiki infused shack that held the demon, Sara grabbed a hold of Kagome’s robe collar and threw her into the room.
“Look upon your pathetic demon and realize your disgrace.”
Kagome’s bleary gaze fell upon Sesshoumaru’s form covered in blood. She met eyes infused in red before her own gaze was washed in a haze of pink.
Sarah took a step back as a wave of reiki exploded from her disgraced apprentice. Fear clenched at her heart before she shook her head. She was head of this village of priestesses. There was no way that she would fear a miniscule being. Calling forth her reiki, she attacked Kagome with all she had, prepared to show the young priestess her place.
Sara’s eyes widened as the young woman slowly stood and turned to her with blazing pink eyes.
Sara erected a barrier right before a wave of pink reiki enveloped her being. Behind her, she heard the screams of women right before all sound was cut off. Turning a circle in a panic, she watched as the waves of pink turned into waves of dark green and a heavy aura of youki pressed down upon her.
Sara panicked and looked around her as her barrier shattered like glass. She adjusted her gaze to the two forms that slowly walked toward her. One figure towered over the other, but she could feel the sense of security each of them held for the other.
Kagome and the demon Sesshoumaru walked past the haze of dark green to look upon Sara. Sara’s panicked gaze fell upon Kagome, whose cuts slowly sealed themselves in front of her eyes. Kagome sadly shook her head before lowering her gaze.
“You disappoint me.” Kagome’s calm voice overpowered Sara and forced her to her knees. “I am no longer your student. I am my own person.” Kagome turned loving eyes to the demon that hovered over her shoulder. “And I will not condone the travesty that you have wreaked upon me and my own.”
Sara trembled as Kagome’s depthless pink eyes centered upon her.
“I will not judge you.” Kagome sadly shook her head. “But I will send you to those with the authority to. I pray that you repent, my old teacher, for I am grateful for everything you have taught me.” Kagome turned her gaze to her demon lover again. “Even now,” She whispered.
Sara’s scream was enveloped in green flames as her body was engulfed in a mixture of radiant purity, and overbearing youki.
Sesshoumaru’s eyes turned gentle as he gazed upon his healed Kagome. He raised a claw and gently wiped the residual blood from her chin. “Love.” he gently muttered.
Kagome closed her eyes and basked in Sesshoumaru’s aura. Grasping his hand, she kissed his palm before cradling it against her cheek. “I love you, Sesshoumaru.” Kagome nuzzled his hand before imbuing her aura with soothing vibes. She felt his aura knit itself together until his youki overpowered her own.
Glaring at his cuffs, she cupped her hands around them and sighed as they shattered. The tinkling of metal was the only thing Kagome heard before she was engulfed in the scent of soothing lavender. A whoosh of air surrounded her and before she knew it, cold air buffeted her.
Looking up from her lover’s arms, Kagome vaguely noted the clear night skyline behind her beloved before her gaze was enveloped in molten gold.
“I am home,” Kagome whispered before nuzzling into Sesshoumaru’s chest.
She felt Sesshoumaru’s chest vibrate as he growled his agreement. With another whoosh of air, the duo was whisked away on Sesshoumaru’s cloud into the distance, far from the nightmare that had held them prisoner.