The Link by Dafne U.

Chapter 1

Vocabulary

Yokai – Demon

Shikon no Tama – Jewel of the Four Souls

Reiki – Holy energy used by priestesses and monks

Yoki – Dark energy used by Demons

Inu – Dog

Masane – Japanese name means Victorious. He is a general of the West but he´s is missing

Ningen – Human

Hoshi – Monk

Kazaana – Wind Tunnel attack

Miko – Priestess

Hanyou – Half-demon

Kitsune – Fox

Tanuki – Raccoon dog

Haori – Kimono Top

Hakama – Pants

Onna – Woman

Mokomoko – The furry thing Sesshoumaru has over his shoulder

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha

Chapter 1: Lost and Found

"Do you think we should do it" the hooded human asked the armored man in front of him.

"We have no choice. The council is pressuring our Lord for results. If we can't accomplish this project, our future plans will be in jeopardy. Also, we are in an uneasy truce with the Yokai Houses, it won't last much longer. I've heard of several attacks to some villages to the South and received a message from Lord Watanabe. It seems he is preparing the army for war. If it comes to it, which surely will, we'll need a powerful weapon that will help us prevail against any of the odds since the Holy People are unwilling to be involved in matters of state and war. Without their help we are nothing, and if it's an all-out war, we'll be the dead ones" said the man.

"So we have to kidnap and experiment on them like animals. How many have die, gone crazy or become monsters? How many more will we need to kidnap before they stop this madness? Nothing good will come from this one, I feel it" he said.

"Don't worry, everything will be ok. This new one is something. She is stronger than she seems. Besides, the tests were positive. We just hope the results will be as good" replied the general.

"How can you say that? Look around you! Look at all your compatible subjects. They are nothing but beasts. They are monsters Shin, they know nothing of helping, and they are a danger to us. She could be another one of them. And even if she is the one, what makes you think she will help us?" asked the man trailing behind.

"She has little choice. If she does not help us, we are not the only ones doomed to die in a losing war. I will make sure of it" he said knowing too well that all hope lay in her shoulders. If she was the one and they had to dispatch her, they would have to wait for the next one to be born, something they could not do. Their time was short, with a war waiting to break out at any minute. They simply couldn't wait for 'the next one'.

"You and I know better. If she joined the yokai in the upcoming war we'll all die…" reasoned the frail man.

"We'll all die if she is not the one, so why worry with the 'could be' and 'ifs'" he retorted.

"But she's different and you know it. Her aura is pure, untainted. You know what we are doing is wrong. It's always been" he pleaded once again.

"It is not our place to decide who is different and who is not. We are here to do what our Lord tells us to do and that's it" replied General Shin putting an end to the discussion. He knew very well what could happen if anything went wrong and until then nothing had gone smoothly. He certainly wasn't expecting it to be an easy task, but his pride wasn't going to let him admit what had already hit him in the face several times. He was not wrong and they were going ahead with the experiment. He didn't care if the world ended because of it as long as the yokai died as well.

~*~

After days of darkness the light of the torch blinded her making the persistent headache worse than it already was. In an effort to cover her eyes from the irritating glow, she tried to conceal them with her hand only to be remained that it was chained to the wall. She had been in a standing position for days, with hands and legs shackled to the wall of the small cell. Her back hurt and her ragged clothes were cold and smelled of mold most likely from the wall she used for support. More than once the same people had come to feed her but she had denied any source of food from the moment they captured her. She had expected to be tortured for any kind of information concerning the long lost Shikon no Tama but they had only come to take some blood samples. It didn't make her feel any better because she had no idea what they were going to do with it but until now they had done nothing to hurt her.

"She wakes" said a voice not far from her. "Move the torch, she'll need to see" the voice instructed in a hushed whisper.

As her eyes focused in the two hooded figures inspecting her, the smell of freshly baked bread reached her nostril making her wonder who in his right mind sent good food to a prisoner in his own dungeon. She actually didn't care and once again tried to break free using her reiki against the shackles. As before the chains remained as if nothing had happened and her headache only worsened with the attempt.

"What do you want from me? I hold nothing of worth. Release me" she said little above a whisper but the anger could be heard.

"My lady" said the hooded figure who she believed to be a female, "we cannot do as you request since you are to help us. We came to feed you. You'll need the strength for what it is to come" the woman closer to her said as she signaled the other person to come forward with bread and water.

"I'll ask once again. What makes me so valuable that I have to be fed?" the prisoner asked, her voice colder and with more strength.

"You'll find out soon enough. Now eat. Tomorrow will be harsh" ordered the person taking the bread from her partner and offering it to the chained woman but as before, the prisoner refused to take a bite out of the rich smelling bread placed in front of her nose. In an attempt to free herself, she used her remaining strength to fight the unbreakable fetters.

"Stop at once. Those chains are indestructible. No amount of reiki or yoki would break them" the voice said turning toward the door to leave. "Sara, come. She will not eat today and tomorrow will be too late. I doubt that such stubborn creature will survive through the ritual."

'Ritual' repeated her mind as she saw the women leave her cell. 'Am I to be offered to some god?' she wondered as her compartment once again was covered in darkness. However, even with her frantic thoughts about what was to come, the dehydration, hunger and gloom lulled her to an uncomfortable sleep for the rest of the day… Or was it night? She didn't know anymore.

~*~

Sesshoumaru had been following the scent for more than a week. It should have been gone a long time ago, but it was one of the abilities his missing general possessed and what confirmed that the yokai was still alive. It was a signal of sorts that only a certain species of Inu demon emitted. A gold haired inu’s scent could be left permanently until the owner died. But such trick only was used for emergencies. And Sesshoumaru deemed the disappearance of General Masane an urgent situation, and so did the missing yokai himself. It was hard to believe that such a strong demon had been captured by the enemy, but by the struggle that ensued the obliteration of half a forest, he assumed that it was a powerful enemy.

His first deduction, four month ago when he felt the fight, was that somebody had gotten on the bad side of his best man. But he soon found out that not to be the case since his general was not the one to start the confrontation but he sure tried to end it. The battle must have been ferocious with no apparent victor until the very end when his general was defeated. However, it seemed that the enemy didn’t just want a clean victory but also ransom. Or so they thought because the general never came back and it was assumed that Masane had died. Sesshoumaru gave the order to find the body for proper burial. However, his remains weren’t there and no one came up to ask for money in exchange for the General but an unusual scent permeated the air where the battle had raged. From there, the order was to find the general and search parties were dispatched through the land. Still, nobody knew anything. No information at all.

It was then that Sesshoumaru decided to participate in the search. It was he who recognized the strange scent and followed it through ningen villages leaving gaping people behind him only to end in the wretched forest where the stink of humans lingered. But there it ended. He ordered his men to search the forest and, again, nothing was found. However, Sesshoumaru wasn’t giving up. The scent was still there so there was hope.

~*~

When she woke up again she was being carried by four men. Her body was sore and she could hardly move so there was no room for fighting the tall and muscular males that took her to an unknown destination. This time her thoughts went to her beloved friend that awaited news of her and her husband who had gone missing three month ago. By then it could be four or more.

"Kagome!" she screamed waiving her had like crazy. "Thanks the Kami for bringing you here Kagome" she said hugging her hard.

Her friend belly had grown a lot since she had last seen her, and she was sure it had a little more growing to do before the baby was ready to know the world. But something else caught her attention. Her friend lacked sleep and the dark rings under eyes assed to that. Soon after, tears fell from her eyes and Kagome became more worried for her. It wouldn't be good for the mother to be under a lot of stress.

"What is it Sango-chan?" she said worried sick.

"It's Miroku" she said trying to talk, breathe and cry at the time. "He vanished almost three months ago and he hasn't comeback yet. I'm afraid something happened to him" she wailed.

"What makes you say that? You know how he is. He could be anywhere by now doing his 'exorcisms' and bringing money for you and the baby" said Kagome hoping to calm the wailing woman.

"You don't understand. He went to get water to the river and never came back. The villagers helped me look for him when I saw he didn't return but they only found his staff near the river with the bucket floating in the water. He never leaves his staff and you know it" said the hysteric Sango.

Kagome knew her friend was right. The hoshi never went anywhere without the staff since it was his only weapon after they had killed Naraku and his Kazaana had disappeared. What could have happened? A Yokai attack maybe? No, there would have been blood. Did he fell into the river? Kagome didn't think so. She was sure he knew how to swim and she also hoped he hadn't been stupid enough to fall in it. He was still a pervert after five year of their victory and four years of being married to Sango, but he was a wise pervert not a knuckled headed idiot like Inuyasha had been.

"Don't worry Sango-chan. I'll look for him. Where did he disappear?" asked Kagome readying herself to look for her friend.

At least she could do it now and not be afraid of being killed or raped by some yokai. After all, she had spent six years of her live training as a miko, which was one of the reasons Inuyasha left after they defeated the hanyou. He said she didn't need him if she could take care of herself. Another reason was that she had killed Kikyo and received her soul back when the clay bitch had tried once again to drag him to hell with her. He said something along the lines of 'you remind me too much of her.' That day she had been really sad. One reason, because he was still comparing her to Kikyo and because somewhere along their travels she had fallen out of love with him, but he was still a friend and it still hurt to see him in pain. The other reason was because the well had been destroyed, preventing her from returning to her time. She couldn't see her mother anymore, or Souta as annoying as he used to be, even her Gramps when he tried to exorcise people or with the dissected yokai parts he gave her for her birthday. She missed them all too much.

She told Shippou to stay with Sango. She knew her friend wasn’t strong enough at that moment she needed help and some company would do her good. Plus the assistance she would receive from the kitsune who was quite big. He looked like your average 10 years old but she knew he was older.

Saying good bye to them she made her way to the last place her perverted friend had taken. She passed the river and continued on, hoping that his captors had gone that way. However, she had no idea if this people who were talking about rituals had anything to do with her friend's disappearance. And she was wishing more than anything that whoever took him away was, at least, kind to him.

The moment she open her eyes and was able to see the place she was passing through she knew what was going to happen to her. In front of her, rows of cells small and dirty like the one she had been in extended for a mile. Inside, the growls of savage beasts were heard and grotesque shadows moved around the tiny spaces. She guessed they were wild creatures or even weak yokai with no human form that wanted out, but neither came close enough to describe what she felt when she knew that her assumption had been wrong.

She did see the red, feral eyes and the clash of teeth against the bars of their cells, but never expected to hear somebody let out such an agonizing howl that was somewhere between human and animal. Not much later, the figure of a man near the bars appeared in her vision. He was hunched in four legs with wolf's limbs and acid dripping fangs. His crazy eyes stared at her with recognition but when back to being those of a wild beast in an instant. He attacked her but was stopped immediately by the bars in front of him and continued to try to reach her with his wolfish hands through the bars.

She would have fallen over herself in she was not being carried instead of lead to her destination. And then she prayed that she didn't see Miroku among those things she had had but a small glimpse at. Sadly, she was not so lucky and eventually saw what she feared the most.

Among all those cells, a human hand was sticking out trying to reach something that it was obviously too far away from it. As she passed in front of the cells her eyes fell in the owner of said hand only to discover the friend she had set out to find. Half his face reminded as usual with purple eyes and his black hair was a mess. However, the other half of his face was furry with a circular small eye that changed from black to red, like a blinking light almost out of energy. The small ear popping out on that side of his head and the dark fur surrounding the eye reminded her of the pervert's friend, a tanuki yokai named Hachiemon. Miroku was still wearing his purple robe which stretched over the side in which the demon part was prominent. Somewhere behind him a tail with black rings danced while he watched the procession in front of him. She tried to reach him, barely being able to move from the dehydration and hunger, but it only made the monster in from of her attack her outstretched hand.

No sooner, she was too far away to see Miroku anymore and was only able to listen to one or more growls that escaped the horrendous place that shortly was to become her home.

The men took her into a wide a room with a huge rectangular rock table in the middle. The rock had the same type of chains that had held her to her cell's wall for days and dark spots could be seen on it under the light. Nearby the altar, a table with a bowl, a knife and a cup were placed, most likely for the ceremony. Candles lighted the whole place, the tallest ones were placed around the walls and four small one were in each corner of the table. She thought all of them were made of black wax, but wasn't sure. The smell of burned incense was overpowering and with a slight scan to the room she could see the smoke of the bases in two of the corners.

The males that carried her there placed her carefully on the altar and positioned her arms over her head, to each corner of the stone table. The cold metal of her new shackles sent a shiver down her spine and felt how the men spread her legs and also chained them to each corned. One of them came closer and began to open her dirty haori. She tries to pull away but her strength faltered and the man managed to rip the cloth off. He did the same with her red hakama before disappearing from her vision with her clothes. After they exited the room, four mysterious figures dressed in pristine white robes came into the room and each went to a corner and took the candles in their hands. They murmured something so low that she couldn't hear it but it became a hum as they sung it more rapidly. Some minutes passed in meditation until other four figures came in, this time they wore dark brown robes and they were pulling a yokai with them. The demon had long blond hair that fell over his back in a disorganized heap and beautiful yellow eyes that promised pain if he ever freed himself. His clothes were ripped and some small trails of blood could also be seen over them. The men put him in a kneeling position at her feet and this only made the already mad beast growl in outrage.

These men also began to pray as the others before him had until three more people came into the room. They were dressed with the robes of the previous ones too only varying in the colors they wore. Two of them wore white and brown and the third one, which she belief was the priest that would lead the ceremony, was wearing black. They stood in her left side and joined to pray with the others.

Minutes later, the main priest went to the small table and took the knife in his hands. Behind him, his assistants followed. The one dressed in white took the cup and the dressed in brown tool the bowl and followed the man toward the yokai that was found at her feet. The yokai tried to resist and almost bit one of the men but someone pulled his head back by the hair, leaving his neck exposed. Taking the cup from his assistant's hand, the priest slashed the yokai's throat and gathered the flowing blood into it. The demon growled in pain yet it couldn't do anything about. When the cup was full, the priest returned it to his assistant and took the bowl from the other. Using the knife once more, he plunged it near the heart, only missing it by mere inches. The powerful trust from the yokai pulled the men who were holding him but they managed to stop him. His growl became more furious and looked at his assailant with blood red eyes ready to strike him down but unable to. Moving the knife round the creature's heart, he cut the arteries holding it in place while the beast's struggle slowed down and eventually became a pained whimper that quieted down as its life ended at the hands of his despised captors. The priest, however, didn't seem to care about the yokai and took the still beating heart in his hand and placed it in bowl. The attendant picked the bowl up and followed the priest back to stand in Kagome's left side. The four priests that had been holding the yokai still stood there holding the dead creature whose blood filled the carvings that surrounded the altar.

Kagome hadn't seen what had been done to majestic creature but she heard the enraged cries towards his captors, His pained whimpers and inability to stop them. She certainly could relate to him. She was hungry and thirsty, about to be sacrificed to some Kami who also fed from yokai blood and chained down unable to escape. And to complicate matters, the priest was standing next to her with his bloody knife in hand. She cried a pitiful whimper of surrender and resignation that shook her very soul. She wanted to die before these crazed men did something worse to her while she lived. However, her luck had run out the moment they managed to capture her. She had been so stupid, she knew. But they were humans, how was she supposed to know they wanted to kill her slowly and painfully? They rendered her immobile so easily that it was pathetic and she wondered if Miroku had been caught in the same way. It didn't matter really, since her time was becoming extremely short.

Pain brought Kagome back from her questioning. First, it was in her right wrist. Sharp, uncomfortable and warm ache traveled through her whole arm. Then, her right leg, her left leg and later her left arm throbbed with consistency. Something wet, like a drop of rain propelled by other falling one, travelled down her arm. She mover her head to the side and saw the slow descent of the drop, but in the darkness it was hard to say was it was. However, she had a sinking feeling that it was her blood. They had cut her veins and were filling the altar with her blood. She whimpered feebly in her inability to do something while another tear escape her eye.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the dark figure come closer to her while holding the cup with the yokai's blood. She turned her face away but the man held her chin in place and opened her mouth to make her drink from the cup. She refused by throwing most of the blood out, but her own life was slipping away from her and it made her weak. Once again, the man tried to feed the red liquid to her, and succeeded with the help of his assistant who pressed her nose so she would be made to drink to the blood. Coughing as more of the liquid entered her mouth, she almost drowned since she couldn't breathe. However, they managed to feed the whole goblet to her with little blood seeping out. When it was done, the chanting from the monks became louder and she was feeling dizzy and her sight was blurring. It felt like she was drugged while the ceiling took the strangest colors ever seen and it changed shape in rapid succession.

Still, this strange drug didn't avoid the pain in her body but intensified it to a degree where she could almost be the pain itself. By consequence, when the knife plunged into her chest, her world changed to a black void with only a white light at the far away top. She felt as the knife cut through her ribs and made a round, slow movement inside her cutting away her own heart. She felt as the blade stopped and was pulled out, a hand pressed through the flesh in her chest and took out the beating heart that had been once hers to own.

By then, the white exit at the end of the void was descending fast. She was mesmerized as it flew toward her at top speed and, just as fast, came to an instant stop a breath away from her. She could hear the faint chanting which was actually becoming louder by the minute until it was more like a constant screech. Then, something thumped. It was loud in her ears. It thumped again, and again and again, in a rapid succession, every several seconds. Everything was quiet except for the continuous thump. It was a heart, she knew, but whose.

As the heart continued to thump, the white light ascended again, at first slow and then fast toward the ceiling and farther away until it shattered into billion pieces and disappeared with the dark void. Its brilliant fragments taking the dark form of the altar chamber in which she had been killed.

Her unfocused eyes made out the scene in front of her only to notice the priest over her once still form. She could see the crazy smile of success he had and notice his bloody hands. The man stepped back as the altar began to light while her heart thumped out of control sending powerful lashes of pain through her body. It hurt more than before and a scream escaped. It was a long and terrified cry that echoed through the chamber while gusts of energy created a tornado with her as its center. The energy pulled her away from the altar, destroying the shackles that had held her onto the stone. The excess blood that had framed the altar levitated towards her. At first it was her alone and the yokai's blood. Both intermingled and divided into six spheres that entered her body through each cut in her flesh, sealing them in the process. Her eyes turned red as the combined energy of her powers and the yokai became one to live inside her and her transformation began.

It took to much effort to control such power, so she just let it consume her. It was warm and welcoming as she let something else take control of her. It felt like rage, a deep hate toward the being that had harmed her and her friend. But even with such an emotion raking her body for release, she couldn't move as the feel of bones and tissue rearranging and remaking themselves. So, she just released the energy.

The priest and his assistants had begun to pull back. Their once triumphant smiles had left their faces to become worried frowns that were changing to terror as the girl continued to release the dark energy that kept her suspended in the air. That had never happened before, and even if it seem like they had succeeded, it sure didn't feel like. The consuming rage inside the new monsters they had created scared them, because this one was free to do them harm. However, they had no idea that the last person to fear was the one in the altar, at least not directly. The poor men were sitting ducks as the energy filled the room and exited with incredible speed in every possible direction. The kinetic energy opened every door at its path, releasing the tormented experiments that could smell the blood from miles away.

As the infinite scream came to halt, the monsters entered the chamber to find its tormentors petrified where they stood, looking at a small fur ball that descended into the altar. It was a puppy as dark as night with red blood eyes that snarled at them even when it could hardly stand. It trembled from the effort it took to growl, but it still tried to warn the stupid humans of the danger that stood behind them.

A new scream shook the priests out of their trance. Looking behind them, they saw the experiments, loose, attacking them with vengeance. They deserved it, they knew. But these monsters were thinking in anything but vengeance. They had been starved before and after their transition, an everyday tortured by the walking food in front of them, never being allowed a little bite. Today was another matter since dinner was at last served.

The japing pup saw how the ningen were killed. Ripped apart limb by limb, dried from any blood in their body and eaten while alive; Hearing their screams for help or mercy to some beast that knew nothing of it. It terrified the little puppy who perceived the blood driven yokai coming near her, the killing intention shown in their hungry filled gaze. Finding strength from where it was sure didn't have, it ran through the maze like prison, encountering one dead end after another, until it was pulling itself along only by pure will power.

~*~

Sesshoumaru felt the familiar power released not far from where he was searching at the moment. He was a little off track since the sent had disappeared several minutes before, but at least he wanted to find the corpse and bury it with the honor it deserved. With the energy surge, he thought that perhaps his general was still alive, so he went to investigate. However, he only found more trees around.

He investigated further into the forest finding nothing out of the ordinary but he still could feel the power there, exactly where he was standing. Was it possible it was under his feet? Until that moment there was no indication of a construction under the forest. However, the scent of many humans lingered there. No sound of wild life could be perceived and there only traces of yoki around where old. Even if the idea of ningen so far out of their settlement was a little far fetch, he was finding conclusive evidence that it was being done.

Looking into the sky, he noticed the black clouds gathering overhead. If he didn't hurry, their scent would be erased and he wouldn't be able to find anything else. However, he was out of time as lighting crashed near him in response to the energy nearby. Soon after, the heavens opened to let out it heavy weight, wetting Sesshoumaru in the process.

He didn't want to abandon his search when he had finally found something worth investigating. Although, he noticed, the energy had disappeared a while back. No sooner, his senses where in high alert as he felt something lurk behind him in the forest. He felt as the prey, but not for long. Disappearing from plain view, he appeared behind a disgusting creature, a combination of human and yokai with the tail and paws of a mountain lion and the body of a man. His normal ningen ears where hairy, red eyes looked at him with hunger and the creature's mouth showed a ridiculous amount of fangs that pointed in every possible direction. Before it could even think of attacking Sesshoumaru, the strange beast met with the acid whip, cutting in it in little pieces where it stood.

"Disgusting" was the word that flew out of the lord's perfect lips while thick drops of water rolled down his striped face.

As he was about to leave, the sound of tired steps reached his ears. Turning around looking for culprit, he saw tired red eyes walking toward him. The dark haired pup didn't stop in front of him but continued, even when it slipped in the muddy grown, barely stood up ready to move forward. Although Sesshoumaru knew it was miracle that it had walked that far. Too tired to take another step, the little female pup fell face first into a puddle of water, releasing a pained whine before her world turned black.

Hardly believing his eyes, the young lord saw the pup become a demoness, one that appeared to be almost two hundred years old. Her animal form shouldn't be that of a child unless her powers were underdeveloped. However, the onna seemed to be skilled. She must have known how to defend herself to survive one of those monsters that were wondering about, looking for easy prey.

Well, it was obvious he couldn't leave her there, even when he wanted too. But he was curious about her. Carefully picking her up from the dirt, he noticed the lack of marking in her and he tried to not look more than he was supposed to. The female was beautiful with her long black hair and cutely pointed ears. Her pouty red lips were a little open allowing for more air to enter her body and letting him see the sharp end of her fangs. Slender, he decided, but shapely so with good proportions. Her lean legs were long and ended in small feet with deadly talons, just as her delicate little hands. Seeing his eyes travel over her belly bottom and trying everything yokaily possible to not look further down, he moved them up. Then he perceived that it wasn't any better, for her perky breast moved up and down as she breathed. It was a hypnotizing motion that enthralled him, learning by memory the color of her hard nipples. 'Pink' echoed in his head. It went well together with her milky white skin.

Finally coming out of his daydream thanks to the movement of bushes behind him, he used his mokomoko to cover her before flying them out of the drenching forest.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

A/N

This is a story I’ve been working on for some time now, although i have really develop it much, but i wanted to see the response i got to it. I'm sure it would be really interesting as it develops but i think i will take some time with it.

Seleni