CHAPTER 3 Kindred Spirits He said her name. Granted, the dog demon had said nothing since then, but still� He'd acknowledged her as more than a lesser being. What did that mean? It was so easy to hate him. To say he was evil, through and through. It made things simple. Kept her feelings guarded. But that look in his eyes, when he counseled her to keep going�was it empathy? Was the heartless youkai capable of feeling something so selfless? Gah. Focus, girl. Focus. Sango shook herself, and did a routine scan of the mountain path they were walking. They'd left the sanctuary some time ago, and after being in its well-lit confines, she was twice as aware of how utterly dark most of the realm was. It made her wonder how she could see at all. Hn, she thought as she squinted painstakingly at the nearest fold of shadows, if we ever get out of here, my eyes will never be right again. Not far from her, Sesshoumaru came to a bend up ahead, and paused, his eyes widening marginally. Sango caught up to him and followed his stare. Through the roiling fogs and black jags, a faint yellow haze could be seen against the darkness. "Another light territory," she said under hushed tones. "Hm." He studied the terrain they'd have to cross to get there. "It's not likely that we'll reach it without incident." She heard the underlying caution of his words. Be on your guard. Sango glanced up at him and nodded. He made to continue on, and then stopped abruptly, frowning at the clearing. "Sango," he breathed, "that...power...you tapped into when you flew at Naraku� Have you ever done that before?" He was nervous. Anxious. The signs were subtle; a single crease in his brow, parted lips, livened eyes� But she could read them by now. "No," she answered. "Hn." He pursed his lips and he met her worried stare. "Do you think you could do it again?" "I don't know," she said and peered with worried apprehension out at the clearing. "What do you sense?" As though in answer, the ground began to rumble. Sango hissed and bent her knees for leverage as Sesshoumaru unsheathed Tensaiga. It felt like an earthquake, though Sango suspected something much worse. Jagged rock formations began to topple around them as the sound got louder. The crust of the valley cracked. Bubbled up. And outright erupted. Boulders and debris shot at them and Sango dove behind the nearest rock, while Sesshoumaru weathered the assault with nothing more than an arm braced in front of his ever-composed face. A thunderous sound exploded from the clearing, somewhere between a roar and a strangled scream. Sango felt her blood run cold, and she jerked her head around the rock to see� Oh�shit� A swarm of writhing tentacles, an oily festering, bulbous body� No eyes or ears or any other orifice aside from a gaping, cavernous mouth. Just like the one that had swallowed her earlier, with one exception� This one was the size of a mountain. Literally. She looked desperately to the glowing sanctuary that wasn't far beyond it, and turned to a visibly stressed Sesshoumaru. "Hey! I don't want to fight it. Do you?" He flicked an anxious glance back at her, and she pointed with her chin to the light territory. Following her train of thought, he sheathed his sword. "We'll circle around opposite sides," he confirmed, and lunged right as the first tentacle lanced out and struck where he'd been standing. "Go!" Sango didn't need to be told twice. Letting her adrenaline fuel her movements, she bolted to the left. An attack immediately followed. Thick, black limbs struck at her in rapid fire, crunching the ground where they'd missed. Sango barely managed to stay one step ahead of them, leaping, ducking, out-maneuvering� She shouldn't have been able to dodge so many. In her usual dimension, she was almost certain she wouldn't have. But for some reason, she felt stronger. Faster. And could only hope that the dog demon was faring just as well, because, quite frankly, there was no room for error. With her heart thumping in her ears, and a hundred angry limbs behind her, she reached the light territory amazingly fast, welcoming the electric cleansing sensation of the barrier as she touched on through. A dual-toned scream followed, making her knees buckle. Within the safety of the sanctuary, she turned to see the realm beast's appendages crackle against the barrier and pull back hastily. Alright, she thought, trying to catch her breath. Where is he�? The light territory had a smattering of sandstone boulders, and the usual fair green foliage, but no Sesshoumaru. "Dammit," she swore and turned her gaze to search the darkness for the familiar billowing of white hair. No sooner did she find him, than Hiraikotsu was flung out through the barrier in a giant arc, lancing through a dozen monstrous limbs that had somehow managed to trap their target. Freed from their gripping encasement, Sesshoumaru bolted, a streak of light against the dark. He burst through the barrier not long after Hiraikotsu returned, composing himself almost immediately and turned to glare at the towering realm beast that screamed in frustration at its lost prey. After a moment, it gave up, and buried itself again underground. Sango tossed her weapon to the ground, and plunked down, resting her elbows on her knees in bewildered exhaustion. "Do you think it'll wait for us to come back out?" Sesshoumaru folded his arms across his chest without taking his eyes off the gaping hole that the beast had left in its wake. "It may." "Hn," she paused contemplatively. "Pity your weapon can't work against it. Being the sister sword to Tetsusaiga, I imagine-" "Tensaiga works against the undead," he said sharply. "It is the nature of the blade." "I see," she said quietly, making a mental note to stay clear of the sword topic. "Well, I've never seen a monster that massive," she said, wondering why she wasn't more traumatized over the encounter. This realm was doing strange things to her, indeed. "Truth be told, I shouldn't have been able to get past it." "I told you," he reaffirmed in that deceptively melodious voice, "your physical prowess is a direct reflection of your spiritual strength, here." "Ah," she mused, recalling his earlier words. Then something alarming occurred to her. Sesshoumaru, who was ten times her superior in speed and strength, had been slow enough to get caught. Could it mean that...? "Your expression betrays you," he said suddenly, his eyes narrowing to slits. Apparently, her thoughts had been written all over her face, and it seemed she'd just hit a sore point, dead on. Oops� She felt the blood rush to her face. "I--" "Do not doubt my abilities, human. There's too much you don't understand." The tension was thick between them again, which was a shame. The last trek was almost comfortable. He kept his angry eyes on her, maybe out of habit, since most would cower under his intimidating gaze. But she held it. He said there was much she didn't understand, and she couldn't stop herself from searching his face for enlightenment. What could possibly make such a disciplined mind weak? Misinterpreting her intrigue for insolence, he dropped down, suddenly inches away from her face. "You think this is a game?" he asked with unmasked threat. "I've slaughtered entire armies for lesser offenses. Are you so quick to forget who I am?" She flinched at his abrupt proximity, feeling the quick puffs of his breath on her face. Tilting her head to the side, she felt her brow furrow. "How can I forget who you are, when I never knew to begin with?" she asked quietly, feeling neither fear, nor anger. His face froze, but a score of different emotions flickered in his eyes. She didn't bother deciphering them. Sango was on the thread to some great insight. "You're certainly more complex than I thought, Sesshoumaru," she said, trying out his name for the first time and deciding that she liked it. "You also made it inside a barrier that rejects malevolence, which can only mean that your core is inherently good." His lips parted mutely, and he blinked, clearly unaccustomed to being analyzed like this�. He inched slowly back, and it struck Sango as interesting that he didn't have a well-practiced retort for her. His thoughts were so unguarded, that his stupefied expression, this close, reminded her of a certain hanyou. "My word," she breathed, wondering how it was that she never caught it before. "You and your brother have the same glittering, golden eyes." She chewed her bottom lip in between her teeth as she studied his face. Except that yours are so sad, Sesshoumaru, she mused silently, feeling her face soften with pity. Oh, he was going to regret getting this close to her. It enabled her a pebble view of his ever-guarded soul. Three expressions battled violently for control of his face right then - denial, belligerence, and honest surprise. He rocked back on his heels, animosity winning out. "Never compare me to him," he said heatedly, and stood to his feet with his arms crossed. "We are nothing alike." Sango watched him with a new, but dim understanding as he spun his back to her and started to walk away. His wounds ran deep, whatever they were. In that split second, she'd seen enough inner conflict, and bitterness in his eyes to make her own heart ache. He lingered at the edge of the sanctuary, and it didn't take a wise man to know that he wanted to leave. Tension radiated off him like the eastern winds, and after a drawn out moment of strained, unbearable silence, Sango stood to her feet. She knew she should have allowed him his privacy, as he was obviously more comfortable alone. But be it compassion, curiosity, or the desperate need to find a kindred spirit - she was driven to know what ailed him. Inhaling deeply, she walked over to stand alongside him, and stare absently out at the darkness. She imagined the only reason he didn't flee her presence was to demonstrate that she didn't get to him, even though it was clearly obvious that she did. "Do you know how close we are to the rim?" she asked quietly. Innocently. A pause. "It can't be that much father," he said without looking at her. "The clashing winds of the two dimensions� I can hear them, howling in the distance." "Hm." She folded her arms across her chest and bowed her head to stare randomly at the grass. "It seems the closer we get, the more dangerous the realm beasts are." He didn't disagree with her, so she took his silence as an affirmative. "I'm not afraid of the tangible creatures," she said, having been well-trained to fight such things. "But those ghouls�the mind readers�" she pursed her lips and swallowed before continuing. "They�worry me." In her peripheral vision, she could see a slight inclination of his head. A very subtle nod. She intended to suggest that they somehow work up a resistance to such invasions�a method to make them more self-aware so that the next time a familiar face showed up to oppose them, Sango would do more than just freeze. It's what she intended to say, anyhow. What came out was something entirely different, a question no doubt burning in her subconscious mind. "Is the hanyou your only living kin, Sesshoumaru?" She turned to see his eyes widen, and he glared at her, as though searching for ulterior motives. With great reservations, he finally answered. "Yes." Sango shook her head, recalling the fierce love and devotion she had for her own little brother. She couldn't even begin to comprehend how he could loathe Inuyasha so much. "Then why do you seek his death?" His lip twitched. "Because it is my destiny." "But-" "Enough, Sango," he cut her off abruptly, clearly aggravated. "My history, my motives, my goals� None of them are your concern." "But they could be," she said heatedly, and squared her shoulders. "We're trapped in a realm of mind games, demon. We'll be better-equipped against the ghoul attacks if we've already faced the ghosts of our pasts." It sounded objective. Rational. She even believed it now that she said it. "Besides, if you don't let me see what's going on inside your head, then they will." He turned his back to her, before she could see his facial expression. "My thoughts are my own. Sharing them is a weak form of human dependency." "Ah. And how many times did you have to tell yourself that before you actually believed it?" He fidgeted, and looking at his angry mane of white hair, Sango didn't doubt that he would have wasted little time killing her had the circumstance of their entrapment been any different. Spinning on his heel, he made towards the barrier without meeting her eyes. "This is pointless," he said darkly. "We're leaving." Sango sighed. She'd never met anyone with so many emotional barriers in her life. What was he so afraid of? "No. We're not." He stiffened, and quirked an incredulous brow at her. Two seconds later, she found herself flung heavily over his shoulder with her thighs bracketed against his chest. She huffed and thumped his back with her fists. "You're running away, don't you see that!?" she yelled, spitting out strands of his hair that had caught in her mouth. She'd never been so grossly disregarded before. Even by her enemies. His grip only tightened, and she growled frustration. "Gah! You impulsive, emotionally retarded, self-important-" She gasped as the electric barrier washed over them. He wasn't bluffing. The bloody youkai had walked them right out into the darkness. Just as Sango was about to go berserk, he went rigid. A moment later she knew why. The rumbling vibration of shifting gravel filled her ears. It was followed by a groan, and a whizzing sound. With a grunt, Sesshoumaru leapt back into the confines of the sanctuary just as a thick, gnarly appendage crackled against its barrier. He rolled her off his shoulder and dropped her on the grass. "Shit!" he hissed before storming off, the cloth of his attire ruffling loudly. It was the first time she'd heard him swear, which was surprising considering that he shared the same blood as Inuyasha. Instead of getting up to march after him, she stayed on her rear to watch the realm beast disappear reluctantly back into the ground. With great effort, Sango quelled her frustrations. She had no place being so interested in his story to begin with, no? To hell with communicating, since he seemed to have such an aversion to it. It probably wouldn't have improved their odds much, anyhow. Her thoughts continued along in this pattern for some time. Not once did she turn around to see what he was doing, or which angle of the barrier he was at. They'd either make it out, or die trying. But one thing was certain. The anticipation was going to drive her mad before the ghouls ever got a chance if they didn't figure out a way to get out of this sanctuary without the beast following. Sango stood to her feet and stretched habitually, clasping her fingers over her head and cracking her knuckles. She gazed lazily beyond the barrier in the direction they were headed, and blinked. A tall, spiraling rock formation loomed in the murky distance, its top a flattened head. Not big, but big enough. Surely it'd be isolated from the ground-dwelling beasts, and would provide enough respite for Sesshoumaru to recover after transforming. In his demon form, he could get them up there quickly, and at least they'd gain enough leverage to map out their next course. Sango exhaled the remainder of her tension, and found him standing at the far end of the light territory. He was stoic�statuesque, but there was something about his posture that made her melancholy. Perhaps it was the way his head was bowed, or how tightly his arms were folded in front. Or maybe it was nothing more than the fact that he wouldn't face her. She approached him reluctantly, one hand fidgeting with the hilt of her blade. She stopped just feet away, and spoke to his back. "Listen. I think I figured out a way-" "It was his fault." Sango blinked surprise at his rigid form, questioning whether or not she was hearing things. "I'm sorry?" "You asked why I seek Inuyasha's death," he said more strongly. "It's because it was his fault that my tribe was destroyed." Her breath caught. He's opening up� Sango took a few seconds to get over the shock. She had the odd sensation of stumbling upon a rare bird, needing to tread cautiously to avoid frightening it. "How?" she breathed. "We were attacked," the words whispered over his shoulder like a wayward moth, "By those who we thought were allies. Friends," he spat the word out like it was something vile. "They coveted our lands, and knew my father was away. It was over quickly." His words were despondent, but she heard the pain in them as though they were her own. She held her breath, urging him to continue with her silence. "I was too�small to protect them. My mother. My sisters�" Bitter familiarity. She could almost see the carnage of his family's death through her own memories. It was horrible. Something she wouldn't have wished on her worst enemy. And he'd just been a child, no less. "They spared me to act as a messenger," his voice had dropped to a trembling whisper. "So half-crazed and covered in my kin's blood, I tracked my father down. When I found him, he was with his human whore, and their half-breed offspring. It was the child's first birthday." Inuyasha� She had so much to express�such strong feelings had been evoked, but the only two words that made it out were laughable in their inadequacy. "I see�" He turned his head barely enough so she could see his facial profile. "My sire destroyed them...the ones who had slaughtered his tribe, his daughters, his mate..." Sango swallowed past the growing lump in her throat. A parent's infidelity was damaging enough to a child, and to have such a terrible consequence as a result... No wonder he hated humans so much. He came full circle and faced her with his usual reticent mask in place, save for those heavy amber eyes...shadowed by equally heavy bangs. "He stole my revenge, and fate took him before I could pay him back for that. So I am left with Inuyasha, who is nothing more to me than the insolent embodiment of my father's betrayal. That, Sango, is why I loathe him." She was rendered speechless. Sesshoumaru's confession was like a spiked gift - too fragile to drop, yet too painful to hold. Every word of his story told of betrayal - by his friends, his father...a betrayal that ended in carnage, and terrible, terrible loss. She barely noticed how her eyes stung, or how the ache in her chest had tightened to the point of discomfort. She couldn't help but to wonder if Sesshoumaru had been able to find a place he called home since then�or if he was ever able to trust after that. Somehow, she doubted it. "Are you done with your inquiries, huntress?" His voice was quiet...weary... She swallowed and looked down, suddenly ashamed for making him relive such a horrible past. One so tainted with the ugliness of treachery. "Yes�" "Then tell me what you came to say."
Chapter 4 >>>
Chap. 1
Chap. 2
Chap. 3
Chap. 4
Chap. 5
Chap. 6
Chap. 7
Chap. 8
Chap. 9
