Spark

Chapter 13

Some Kind of Night Into Your Darkness


Breath coming in panicked gulps, Kagome pumped her legs, running as fast as she could. She wasn’t far from the well, but far enough that she was certain Sesshomaru would catch her.

All she could think was how she was never going to see her friends again. No matter what the outcome, she would never say goodbye, never see Sango’s second child, never yell at InuYasha again….

She growled through her teeth. I won’t cry. I won’t. I’m braver than that.

The well loomed before her. Her savior. The thing that had started it all. The thing that would end it. Kagome ran faster, arms swinging, sweat making her shirt cling to her body.

Just a few more steps….

She never heard him, never felt his youki. As Kagome leaped over the edge, a clawed hand wrapped around her ankle hauling her out of the familiar darkness into the unforgiving night.

Her scream was cut off as she slammed into the ground, the air forced from her body in a strangled whoosh. Kagome dug her nails into the soft earth, trying to pull herself forward, hearing nothing but the rushing of blood in her ears.

A swift sharp kick to her side made her roll over onto her back. She was crying, but not even aware of it. She was too terrified. Kagome held her trembling arms over her face.

A booted foot pressed into the center of her chest. Slowly, she lowered her arms, peeking over them with tear filled eyes. Would he kill her like this? Step on her like she was some lowly insect that far beneath his regard?

Her lips moved to form the word that would send him crashing to the ground. The word that might buy her a few precious seconds to escape.

“Say it, and I’ll take you down with me,” Sesshomaru snarled above her.

His eyes were the brightest she’d ever seen them. They glowed in the darkness, the rest of his face unnervingly obscured by shadow, making it look thinner and gaunt. His hair flowed around him, stirred by the wind of his power. His hand flared electric green.

With a sadistic twist of his lips, he pressed down on his heel. Kagome gave a cry of pain, her hands wrapping around his ankle.

“I could’ve let you die!” she gritted out. “But I couldn’t. I know it’s my fault, and I’m sorry!” she cried, trying to move him, but having no luck. He only pressed harder.

His eyes narrowed, eclipsing the gold fire. “Still you lie,” he said so softly she almost missed it.

“No!” she gasped.

“The spell remains,” he said. The green mist flowing from his fingers ebbed, the crushing pressure on her chest lightened.

“That can’t be! The witch said that if we consummated it, you would return to how you felt previously. Please…just let me go. Let me go home. You’ll never have to see me again, I swear.”

His upper lip curled into a sneer. “And that is what you wish?”

Kagome could only stare up at him. She didn’t understand. “I…I have to go home.”

The smirk dropped from his face, and he removed his foot from between her breasts. “But it is not what you wish.”

Kagome shook her head, raising up on her elbows trying to still her shaking. It was no good. She collapsed back down to the grass and covered her face with her hands, sobbing. She hated all of this. All she’d wanted was to find a little happiness. Was that so much to ask? Just a little. Just a nice ending to her story. Not this. I give my heart away too easily, she thought glumly. And this is the price I pay.

“I won’t kill you,” Sesshomaru said.

She should’ve felt relieved, but she didn’t. The terrible aching sinking pull in her heart remained. Kagome felt sick.

“Cease your weeping, miko.” This time he sounded tired. She looked up at him. He was kneeling beside her.

Without thinking, Kagome reached up to touch the rosary. She felt its power hum under her fingers. Closing her eyes, she willed it to break.

She heard the beads tinkle as they hit the ground.

“Sesshomaru…the spell is broken. You got your memories back. Just go.” It seemed right that she end whatever it was that they had. Which, upon reflection, was truly nothing. At least on his part. The seeds of something were buried deep in her heart, but she would starve them, keep them in the dark.


She startled when she felt his claws on her face.

“The spell remains,” he insisted.

“No, it does not. You got your memories back! You aren’t acting crazy anymore…well…not crazy for you anyway.” She kept her eyes tightly shut, not wanting to look at him, knowing he’d be as beautiful as he was terrifying.

His voice was black velvet wrapping itself around her throat, making it hard to breathe. “The madness may be gone…but other unpleasant side effects remain.”

Kagome pulled away from the tender caress of his fingers on her cheek, cutting herself on his claws. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she cried. “Just leave me alone!”
When she allowed herself to look at him, his face was twisted with an emotion she couldn’t read. He looked vaguely horrified. He was staring at the line of crimson that trailed down her cheek.

Kagome waved it off. “It’s just a tiny scratch.”

He leaned forward, and Kagome sucked a breath in between her teeth. “Does it hurt?” he asked her in a low rumble.

Biting her lip, Kagome shook her head.

“Isn’t that always the way of things, miko? A small scratch, an infinitesimal spark. That is how everything begins. How everything ends.” His tongue snaked out to capture the blood on her face. She couldn’t suppress her moan. “This Sesshomaru will not lie to himself,” he said, lips moving over her skin.

She desperately wanted to ask him what he meant, but she couldn’t find her voice. What would his answer have been anyway? However he felt, he didn’t seem to like it.

His knuckles brushed over the flesh of her throat. “And what will you do, little miko? Run back to my half-brother? Run away home?”

Kagome clenched her fists. “I don’t know!”

Sesshomaru moved his body over hers, pressing her flat on her back. His weight felt so good over her. Too good. It made her want to cry.

“You have given yourself to me,” he whispered hotly. “Your life is mine. Mine to keep. Mine to discard.”

“No. My life is my own.” She wished she could’ve sounded more convincing. She didn’t want to belong to him. To anyone. Did she?

His hand moved up her shirt, scratching her belly, leaving beads of ruby in its wake. She shuddered under his touch, wanting it and hating it.

“So you say,” he drawled. “But I say different.” His lips were so hot on her own. Sesshomaru’s kiss was no longer uncertain. Was he saying goodbye? Was he saying he’d never let her go? Kagome didn’t know. Both answers terrified her.


SSSS

InuYasha set Jaken down roughly on the large ledge. He sat in front of the imp, hands folded in his haori. He eyed the little youkai. “Well? Out with it!”

“Raiju was in love with Sesshomaru-sama’s honorable mother. Of course, since inu youkai are scarce, it was only natural that your great father and Sesshomaru-sama’s mother become mates. But Raiju,” Jaken shook his head slowly. “He couldn’t accept it.”

“Feh. What does that have to do with my mother?”

“Raiju knew your father well, knew how honorable he was. He kidnapped Izayoi who was known for her beauty and charm. He gave her a potion, likely similar to the one your wench poisoned Sesshomaru-sama with,” Jaken said, eyes narrowing in obvious disdain.

“Shut up! Kagome didn’t do it on purpose. Like she’d want that prick chasing after her.”

Jaken’s face darkened and he clenched his little hands in fury. “Sesshomaru-sama is not a prick, you insufferable cur!”

“Fine! Whatever! Just finish your damn story!”

For a moment, the imp only grumbled, then he continued, “He hunted your father and then left your mother with him. Because of the potion, she was bound to your father until he gave in and consummated the spell to free her.”

InuYasha sat as still as stone, his heart in his mouth. He’d thought his father and mother had been in love, not tricked by some stupid spell. His claws bit into the flesh of his palm.

Jaken sighed. “But even after the spell had worn off…Izayoi fell in love with your great father. I suppose he felt the same…how else could he leave Sesshomaru-sama’s mother?”

InuYasha smiled. That was better. All the same, Raiju couldn’t go around toying with peoples’ lives that way. The bastard had to go. It wasn’t enough to simply rescue little Rin now, he was going to kill that miserable weasel.

It was true that the hanyou was no great tactician, but a thought nagged at him. “Say…that potion Kagome had…you don’t think….”

Jaken scratched his chin. “Hmm. He has hated your brother for so long, I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

InuYasha stood, shaking the snow off his shoulders and out of his wild hair. He knew all about men who kept grudges. All about the little evils they harbored inside themselves.

Onigumo had been such a man. His love was corroded by jealousy until it twisted around his heart and smothered it. He’d bet that Raiju was such a man. After all, anyone who kidnapped little girls had to be some sort of sicko.

He stared up the face of the mountain. Through the swirling mists and billowing clouds, InuYasha could just make out the dark stone of Raiju’s fortress. “I’m going to kill him, Jaken.”

“Good,” the imp said as he scrambled up InuYasha’s pant leg to take up his position on the hanyou’s back.

SSSS

Raiju led Rin into his bedchamber schooling his face into a mask of indifference. It wouldn’t do for her to see his triumph now. He’d hate for her to get suspicious.

“He never appreciated you, I’m sure,” he said to the wide-eyed woman.

“I don’t want to talk about Sesshomaru-sama,” she said softly.

He nodded and stopped before a large mirror. Waving his hand over it, he said, “Look into the mirror, my lady.”

InuYasha and Sesshomaru’s retainer were scaling the mountain on their way to rescue her. Raiju smirked. “They’re trespassing.”

Her elegant hands went to her lips. “Are you…are you going to hurt them? Please don’t. Please.”

He sighed. “It seems unavoidable at this point. They’d resist capture. Violently, I’d wager.” He paused dramatically to tap his chin. “There might be a way….”

“What?” she asked, leaning towards him. Raiju resisted the urge to taste her flesh, to run his tongue down the long column of her throat. Her body might have been a woman’s, but her heart was still that of a child’s. Doing so would only frighten her. There would be time for that, just not now. Not until he had what he wanted from her.

“You could use your miko powers to help me trap them. That way, after I was sure they would not try to take you from here against your will, I could release them. I know this all seems very…uncivilized to you, but I am the Lord of the North. They have broken my laws simply by being here. What will happen when they reach my guards? My guards will only do as they’ve been commanded…and either they or the hanyou and Sesshomaru’s retainer will be killed. Really,” he said, “It is the only way to save lives.”

Her timid gaze flicked to the mirror once again, lingering on the imp. Raiju could tell she had some fondness for the retainer. He would use that as leverage later.

“I…I will try,” she said at last. “You promise you won’t hurt them?”

Raiju nodded. “You have my word that I will never lay a finger on them.”

Rin sighed. “All right. I’ll do it.”

SSSS

Before she could find her voice to tell him to stop so that she could think, Sesshomaru tugged her jeans off her legs as he continued to ravage her mouth with hungry kisses.

His deft fingers dipped inside her, stroking her. He drew back from her mouth. “You are mine.”

Kagome whimpered as he increased the pace. Through the thin cotton of her shirt, he latched onto a nipple, nipping at it with his fangs.

“Say it,” he said against her breast. “Say you are mine.”

Numbly, Kagome could only shake her head. Somehow, she knew that if she said it, it would carry more weight than just lovers’ talk.

Sesshomaru’s hand fumbled at his hakama until she felt his erection against her inner thigh. “Tell me.”

With each frenzied thrust, he whispered that command. Her legs shook around him. She was crying when he put his hand around her throat and squeezed, making sparks dance in her field of vision. It frightened her…it aroused her. Sesshomaru licked her tears away, a wolfish smile on his thin lips.

He squeezed harder, making all the blood rush to her face. She could feel her heartbeat hammer in her temples. She tried not to feel pleasure, tried to hate how he was manipulating her, tried to tell herself that this wasn’t love. That love was a tender, sweet thing. Love was more than rutting in the half-dark. More than a little kinky sex.

But when she looked up at his face, his snarling mouth, his crimson eyes…how fierce he looked. How beautiful. She made him this way. No one else had. No pale memory of a love fifty years lost. Just her. Just a plain girl who fell.

Gently, she wrapped her fingers around his and pulled his hand away from her throat. She’d known all along that he wouldn’t hurt her really. “I am yours,” she whispered.

Kagome wondered if he were too far gone in his lust to have heard her. Seeing his eyes so red…it was like InuYasha when his youkai had taken over. And InuYasha had been out of control.

But then he slowed his pace, taking care to hit all of the right spots inside her. He leaned over her face and ran his tongue over her slightly parted lips. At last, he whispered, “Good.”

A/N: Reviews! They are things of beauty. Thank you everyone. You warm the cockles of my little black heart. XOXOXOXOXO