The Relic by cakeiton

Chapter 5

I don’t own anything Inuyasha.

Hey, Shippers, it’s been a while.

…

Kagome paced the length of her cold, dim room. The chains that hung off her weak form dragged on the wood floors and set her teeth on edge, but remaining still only bothered her more. Sesshoumaru had returned a week ago, but he still had not said a word to her. The castle remained drafty and dark and Kagome started paying more attention to the way it made her feel throughout the day. If what Myoga said was true, and the building really did react to Sesshoumaru’s bloodline, then she was sure his silence was in her best interest.

She wanted to distract herself, to think about anything except the fall of youkai and the dark being that sat in wait inside her. But, the room was bare and her mind betrayed her.

She thought about fresh air and open skies. She thought about jewel shards and ramen. She closed her eyes and reached for memories of dusty roads and handsy monks, then tragic siblings and the wild scent of untamed forests. Her fingers would ghost under her chin and recall the small fox child that took solace there so many times.

She thought about Inuyasha.

They were all dead now.

Instinctually, her hands clutched over her heart, but she fought against falling to her knees. She had brought back the jewel, but was it her reticence about the truth of the future that caused such a hurtful outcome? There were many times she had argued the fact that inaction against evil was the same as creating it, but isn’t that exactly what she had done? According to Sesshoumaru, she had caused the end result? If what the taiyoukai said was true, was she truly the catalyst?

She could not stop her hot tears and lamented the purring sensation that swelled from her gut. So far he had remained mostly quiet, but Naraku was enjoying her torment.

Since Sesshoumaru had returned with the Meidou Hilt, Naraku had not resurfaced. But, he was nothing if not patient. He had always been egotistical, driven, and malicious, but no one could fault his ability to wait. At first Kagome was confused to why it made her uneasy that he did not appear. For a long week now he had remained deep in her spirit, untouchable and hiding. The threat was there, but the danger wasn’t present, and she knew it was because of the sword. Naraku was probably working on a plan in the safety of her soul right now.

It made sense why it made her nervous for him to hide; when he didn’t act, he was preparing something big.

Sometimes, late at night, when her uneasiness would refuse her sleep, Kagome would toss on her dusty futon and see Sesshoumaru silently regarding her. Any thought of his concern for her well-being never crossed her mind. In fact, she thought he was just waiting for an excuse to attack again. The first time she had tried calling out to him, but his golden gaze through the murky black of the unlit room disappeared. Kagome had two demon presences looming and neither were a comfort.

Myoga attended to most of her needs, though she was getting tired of simple broth and plain onigiri twice a day. It didn’t seem right to complain, however, because even though the old flea spoke kindly to her, his eyes never stayed on her long. It was the nail on the coffin of her guilt. She wanted to know more, but did not want to drive him away. Even his tentative company was better than no company at all. Once, she had asked if Sesshoumaru had come up with a plan to drive Naraku out. He had only looked at her expectantly. Until then, she did not know they were waiting for her to fight back, and Kagome never felt more alone then when she realized no one was coming to bail her out this time.

For days now as she paced Kagome tried accessing her spiritual energy. She could feel it, just beneath the surface, swirling and crashing against a wall she couldn’t break down. Naraku had to be suppressing it, and whenever she would mentally claw and attack his block, her stomach would turn. Kagome kept at it until she was too weak to put up a decent fight, but she never felt any progress.

“Kagome-sama?”                        

She spun and squinted to make out Myoga by the door. “Yes?”

“I do not mean to be rude, but what are you doing?”

Looking down at her shackled hands ruefully, Kagome sighed and resigned. “Nothing, apparently. I can’t get to my reiki.”

He tried to stop himself from taking a step back, but she had noticed his tension. “Why do you need it?”

“Well,” she paused. It seemed obvious, but perhaps it was too simplistic. It was still the only idea she had. “Naraku has blocked it, and if he doesn’t want me to have it, then that must mean I need it. I think he is afraid of it.”

She waited for him to reply, but he stood silent. It was a full minute before the small voice spoke again. “Kagome-sama, I must tell this to Sesshoumaru-sama. Please, wait here.”

It was rude, she knew, but Kagome could not stop the brow that lifted or the sarcastic tone in her voice. “Where else am I going to go?” She lifted her bound limbs for emphasis.

He had only nodded and disappeared down the hall. With a groan, her shoulders sagged and she resumed her aimless path around the room. The colors were muted with the low light, but still rich and deep. The blankets that Myoga had brought to her were old, but soft and clearly well made. The door to the bathroom was still in shatters next to the basin. She had seen Sesshoumaru angry plenty of times, but she had never seen him contain that anger. As cruel as he was, she started wondering why he was holding back, even if it was probably the only thing keeping her alive.

Her pacing stopped when she felt him approach. The heavy footfalls in the hallway were odd considering how graceful he could be, and her spine froze. When the door slid open his face was passive, but the castle around him brightened. Kagome looked at him, trying not to waver, and he reached across his body to grab the hilt of the bladeless katana.

Naraku struck out against her then. The recoiling pain that cramped every muscle in her body made it almost impossible for her to breathe. She didn’t know if the reaction was out of Naraku’s fear of the demon or of his own weapon, but Sesshoumaru was intrigued by the reaction. He took out Byakuya’s single-use sword and held it out towards the cringing priestess.

“You will show yourself to your enemy.”

Her muscles did not obey her wishes. They collected upon themselves, reducing her to a writhing wreck clinging to thin robes on the cold ground. “Sesshoumaru…” she begged through painful gasps of air. “Stop!”

He did not listen. “This blade brings you to this world. I will have pleasure in smiting you with it.”

Her body twisted in unnatural ways. She felt her joints ache and muscle tear as Naraku fought against the restraints. The screams that curled out of her were twisted with the evil hanyou’s own. No human could endure what Naraku encouraged and Sesshoumaru insisted.

Still, the taiyoukai did not yield.

“Do not delude yourself. You are no more safe in that priestess than you were in the first human you occupied, parasite.”

Kagome’s vision was blackening around the edges and she felt the deep voice resonate out from her own throat in a sinister chuckle. “You hold such little regard for your allies, Sesshoumaru.”

The inu responded coldly and the castle creaked as the lights were expunged. “All my allies are dead.”

He walked towards Kagome’s distorted body, the sword rose in preparation to strike, and then Naraku tried to lash out.

But both demons’ attacks were cut short when reiki abruptly enveloped her. Kagome felt the fang that grew from her jaw bite into her lip as Naraku snarled, but in the next moment he was hiding again and she could feel her muscles loosen.

Kagome lay on the floor, panting. She fought against the tears that streamed down her face and tried to think about anything other than the pain. Nothing worked. Slowly, she turned her head towards what she thought would be an empty space, but Sesshoumaru still stood over her with the audacity to look impatient.

“Miko, we will continue this until you banish Naraku.”

“Wha-“ she tried to argue, but her throat was so dry. She licked her lips, cringing at the metallic taste of blood, and tried again. “I don’t understand.”

“Your purity, can you access it now?”

Straining, she shook her head. “I can’t right now… I’m… I can’t even move.”

His brow lowered and he cursed her under his breath. Kagome could only make out the words ‘weak’ and ‘typical’.

“Sesshoumaru,” she began to reason, “there has to be a better way to draw it out. Some way that doesn’t involve Naraku almost killing me.”

He remained silent, staring down at her as if considering whether to step on a bug or not. Stifling a sob, she turned her head away again. God, she missed Inuyasha.

“Myoga,” Sesshoumaru ordered, but she wasn’t really paying attention to his words. “Tend to the miko.”

He must have walked out, leaving her there without any more regard. The flea began to fuss over her, begging her to attempt to get up and onto her bed, but she slipped into a troubled sleep instead and dreamt of the boring life she ignorantly disregarded only a short time ago.

.

Two mornings later, Sesshoumaru was kneeling at Kagome’s bedside, trying to ignore her strained grunts and breathless panting.

“You are not trying hard enough.”

She relaxed her body and seriously considered spitting in his face. “Of course I am,” she bit out through her teeth. “Maybe if I could move more…”

“No.” He didn’t even look at her when he crushed her spirit. “For this, it is better that you are fully restrained.”

Kagome’s shoulders ached against the chains that held her arms out to the side. Exasperated, her head laid against the futon, her body begging for a respite, but her youkai handler had other ideas.

“Again.”

She tried to growl, unimpressively, but she didn’t argue. Once more, Kagome concentrated and tried to break down the barrier Naraku had establish over her, desperately seeking out her reiki that seemed to be the key in evicting that cocky, body-jumping, son of a bitch. Her strains shifted into tense groans, then she curled up as much as the restraints would allow as she continued fighting. She was so close. She could feel her powers responding as they begged for her to succeed- to be stronger. Although it was all in her mind, Kagome felt like she could just reach out and touch it…

Then Naraku chuckled within her subconscious and she retreated, starved for energy.

She relaxed against the bed again and tried to catch her breath. Sesshoumaru snorted, unamused with her progress, and her eyes slid towards him. “This isn’t easy, you know.”

He shrugged. “The difficulty of the task means nothing to me, just the success.”

Yeah, spitting in his face would be extremely cathartic. “Why are you even here, Sesshoumaru? This is technically helping humans, you know.”

His glare that could level armies settled darkly on her. “I do not have to answer to you.”

“Then why am I here? Why are you doing this?”

“So I may destroy what possesses you. Regrettably, to kill you would not cause Naraku to perish, or I would have done so immediately.”

She believed him and her voice became meek. “Why do this at all? This is helping humans…”

The long stretched silence made her uneasy, but she was never one to back down easily. “What happened, Sesshoumaru?” She didn’t need to elaborate.

“YOU happened,” he finally responded. “And in your wake you left the deteriorating fate of my race.”

She didn’t want to believe it. “If I never came back to the feudal era, Naraku wouldn’t have been defeated.”

Sesshoumaru’s lip curled slightly. He was enjoying her anguish. “Oh, but he is still alive- in you. So do your duty and rid his soul from this world, priestess.” Her title was as sickly as the poison from his claws, and his tone seemed to burn at her as well. Again, he cursed at her under his breath as an afterthought. “Useless species.”

In her frustration, she defended herself, forgetting the fact that she didn’t have a defendable position in the argument at all. “It had to be this way! If humans didn’t thrive, then I wouldn’t have been born, then…”

“Then you would have never fallen through the well?” he interrupted, and victory lit up his gaze as he baited her more. “Then the Shikon no Tama would have never returned? I hear it was you who even shattered it, littering the malice and spreading your failures across all of Japan. You aided Naraku’s quest and rise to power, helped in the death of thousands, and destroyed the lives of countless others.” His smirk grew. “Do you really find your own existence to be worth genocide?”

“But… I…” Kagome was faltering. Is this how history remembered her? Shippo’s dad died because of the shards. If she never went through the well in the first place, would he ever have been orphaned? She gasped when she thought about Sango. The slayer’s family was torn apart and murdered by one of their own because of Naraku and the power of the shards he possessed. Kouga’s tribe was slain by Kagura. Could he have been spared losing so much if Kagome had remained in her own time? And poor Miroku…

Wait…

“No…” her retort started soft, but passionate resolution flared with each word she spoke. “If I never went back, then Inuyasha would have forever been sealed… “

Sesshoumaru’s arrogant demeanor loosened and Kagome continued. “Tetsuiaga would never have been found if I didn’t release him. Kikyou would have never found peace. Miroku’s line would have forever been cursed…” A thought hit her, and she gasped. “Rin!”

The taiyoukai growled threateningly, but she was too impassioned with the chance of redemption to notice. “If you never got in that fight with Inuyasha that Tensaiga protected you from, you would have never met Rin, then Tensaiga would have never been fully yours. You would have never excelled past your father!”

“Miko-“

“NO! The jewel would still exist, and there would be evil in this era anyway!”

“You will keep your tongue, woman,” he snarled. His eyes were red now, but it only heated Kagome more.

“I did my duty!” She might have brought the Shikon back, but she brought it back to when it needed to be. The aftermath was tragic, but the possibilities of what could have been were even worse. “You had all the tools you needed, what happened?”

He growled in warning and the castle hummed dangerously with him, but she did not falter, even when the chains burned at her skin when she tried to sit up.

 “The power and responsibility were not mine, they were yours!”

He stood over her, his claws extending. “I said-“

 “I didn’t fail, Sesshoumaru,” Kagome accused. “You did!”

…