Silver Maiden

Chapter Three





Drip.



Clunk.



Drip



Clunk.



Drip.



‘Ugh… Make it stop… I can’t rightly do that.’



Drip.



Clunk.



Drip.



‘And why not? It’s so bothersome… I just want to sleep… We’re bound. Besides… You wouldn’t be able to stop it anyway.’



Drip.



Clunk.



Drip drip.



Plop.



‘W-why wouldn’t I be able to stop it? Open your eyes and find out.’



Black lashes fluttered as pale blue stained lids opened to reveal shimmering silver eyes. Silver met muted brown as she stared at his face. In the distant corners of her mind she realized how handsome this male was. He was an ohitsuji if the spiral horns on either side of his head were of any indication. Not that it truly mattered; what with his handsome head lying on a suspended platter three feet away from her face.



Her heart began to race as the dripping seemed to pulse in her ears. She tore her eyes away from the unblinking, accusing stare, to behold the cause of the dripping. The man’s body, suspended at the ankles by thick ropes, was hovering a few feet above and away from its decapitated head. The blood droplets left to fall on a long, narrow sheet of rusted red metal so that it could run down in a grotesque pattern, land on the once white hair of the severed head and then finally fall to the ground to join the ever growing pool.



Large neko ears flew back as her breath came out in shallow hisses. She tried to move her head but it would seem that she was in a similar state as the decaying corpse in front of her. There was a strap across her chin and forehead that kept her facing forward. Her arms tied and pulled behind her back and her spread legs dangled above the stained ground.



‘Why, in the name of all that is good and holy, did you tell me to open my eyes, Kemono-san!? I was curious, Kokoro, simply curious.'



She tried to look away; she really did. But her eyes couldn’t stop staring into those of the deceased male that the flickering torch lights gave the sick impression of life still being behind those dulled orbs. Something told her that his death was somehow her fault, and that thought alone made her shiver.



When she shivered a second time she realized just how cold she was. Too cold, like when you wake up one winter morning and realize that you kicked off the covers and were bare to the wo- ‘Oh God no…!’ Struggling, she looked down just long enough to see her nearly nude body.



Breathing just became a lot harder.



“O-okay, Kagome… Get a grip on yourself. Assess the situation. Yeah… Think about this logically.” Was it sad that her rambling voice brought a sense of comfort? “S-so I’m in a dungeon, I’m tied up like in some hardcore porno in only my panties, there is a dead corpse suspended in front of me, and I don’t know what’s going to happen to me but it’ll probably result in death.”



An insane giggle erupted from her lips as her eyes flew around wildly. “Yeah! That helped so much! Hahaha!” Tears of laughter turned into tears of hysteria. “OH KAMI-SAMA I’M GONNA DIE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” Screaming became a welcome option to her mind as she thrashed and howled in desperation.



~*~



“Sesshoumaru-Sama… Are you sure you want to do it this way? It seems a bit ostentatious. If things go wrong, I’m afraid you’ll lose your chance forever.”



Orbs made of pure gold glanced at the tall Hakuchoo within his study’s doorway. He opted to ignore the statements sent his way in lieu of studying his advisor and only trusted friend. It truly must be an honor to say that your friend was once the legendary “Imperial Death”. The emperor, from across the sea, gave the assassin as a gift to the House of the Crescent centuries ago.



When the male boarded the docks off to the west he was quickly issued the job of being his protector and, for lack of a better word, his caretaker. The relationship was certainly a bother for both parties involved. Until that, oh so fateful, day…



The assassin took his normal seat to the right of his lord, the stripes that marred his left cheek in full view. It came to mind, that funny day when he learned of his power. When his still adolescent body tackled the “despicable bird” and claws connected with cheek. Poison connected to flesh. Flesh melted away as the blood burst out in sporadic spurts, drenching his small body.



The assassin just laughed.



Even as he was rushed to the healers, he laughed. When they cut away burned flesh and part of his eye, he nearly giggled. “Finally, he’s ready.” were the only words he spoke as they bandaged his face that now held four bloody and melted scars. After he was released from the care of the healers, the assassin, now as a caretaker, took on the task of training the young Inu heir in all the dark arts and skills he knew.



The prodigy child and the scarred assassin.



Sesshoumaru smirked at the scarred man beside him, “Tell me, Hong. Why would it be so terrible if I simply utilize the rights given me?” The Hakuchoo bowed his head then smirked back at his Lord. “Ah… My dear friend, you are so right. Shall I be of assistance?”



The Lord all but grinned as he stared into amused black eyes, “Watch and observe. I should like your input after my fun.” The bird bowed low then stood with a grace that could only belong to his kind. “So be it, Sesshoumaru-san.” His deep bass voice held more amusement than his eyes as he winked conspiratorially at the Taiyoukai, before walking away in a sweep of robes. As the door closed behind him a request flittered past his feathered ears: “I’ll need a hand, Hong”



“As you wish…”



~*~



She squirmed at first, then whimpered for what felt like hours. Her arms and ankles were raw and her throat was hoarse. The deepest hollows of her mind knew that the screaming was useless, entirely useless, but that didn’t stop her.



“PLEASE! I NEED TO GET OUT! I DON’T BELONG HERE! I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING WRONG, I SWEAR! I’LL DO ANY-“



“Shut up, onna!”



Blood shot silver eyes, that she didn’t even remember closing, shot open and stared at the previously once dead corpse. “Oh Kami you’re alive?!” The answering scoff and squawk succeeded in making her feel inferior. “That baka has been dead for an hour now. The only way he’d be talking is if my Lord had revived him with his sword. Something I doubt would ever happen.”



She had to strain her eyes to look to the left and see the green kappa that sat in a small corner of the room, atop her kimono! Sanity temporarily forgotten, in lieu of violent anger, she screamed her indignation, “YOU! GET OFF MY CLOTHES AND UNTIE ME NOW, JAKEN!”



The kappa cackled as he wiggled and smudged his green ass against the fine silk. “You can’t order me around, onna, so I suggest you get comfortable. I’m sure you’ll get down eventually.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “When they pull down your corpse and throw it into the incinerator!” The cackling came back full force.



Jaken’s long, beak of a mouth opened again, no doubt ready to spew more slanderous comments to the shaking maiden, but a white orb flew into the back of his throat and quickly stopped any possible speech. The maiden watched the kappa choke and scream with a morbid pleasure, his already bulging yellow eyes looking like they were going to burst. She found herself truly enjoying his suffering. That is, until she saw the orb fly out of his esophagus and land on the platform next to the handsome Youkai’s crimson drenched head. It was a bloody eye with sapphire irises. That’s when she realized that the screams weren’t coming from the kappa but, more specifically, from behind her.



“Oh Kami-Sama…”



“Actually, this Sesshoumaru is no Kami and while I’m flattered that you think of me as such I had thought a Miko, especially a Miko of Youkai origin, would know the difference.” was the smooth baritone reply that brought shivers down her spine. It appeared that her fate had been sealed.



“What’s going on here, Sesshoumaru?! Let me down this instant!” She had a long rant ready but was stopped by the leather gag placed securely in her mouth. Her growl shocked even herself as she tried to bite through the coarse material.



The screams became dull whimpers as two sets of feet came around to stand in front of her. One belonged to the tall Taiyoukai, the other to a shackled woman with blood seeping down the right side of her face. Acting as if the bleeding woman beside him wasn’t there, Sesshoumaru stared critically at the woman from the tips of her toes, to the black and red boy shorts, the tips of her heaving breasts, and finally her flushed face.



“Eighty-nine correct?”



The maiden stopped her icy glare in exchange for one of curiosity and confusion, one large ear turning to the side and back as her tail swished beside her in testy arcs. Seeing the look for what it was, the male clarified, “You’re eighty-nine in the time line of your youkai heritage correct, Kurohyou?” The confusion deepened as her mind worked through not only the question but the math and, after a slight hesitation on her part, she nodded slowly.



The smile he gave her was like a stab of pure fear into her heart.



“Good. Then you will, of course, forgive this Sesshoumaru for missing the years you survived through. It is considered an insult in our society not to celebrate the growth of one’s…” again his eyes roamed over her body, disgust showing not only in his shining golden orbs but in his tone of voice, as he bit out with malice, “’Intended’.”



The emotion melted off his face and away from his eyes as he turned to the still quivering woman beside him. “So in my repentance… I’ll give you all of your gifts tonight, all eighty-nine of them.” He gestured with an elegant hand towards the suspended and decapitated corpse. “That was the first gift.” Then he gripped the woman and pressed her face against Kagome’s, both women screamed, sharing one another’s breath. “This is the second.”



The woman with the once beautiful sapphire eyes gave a gurgled gasp before, to Kagome’s horror, her head slid to the side before falling onto the ground below. A spurt of blood gushed up to splatter on the maiden’s face, before the body crumpled on top of its head. The maiden now stared into the hard gold eyes of her captor, as she started to scream around the gag.



This would be a long night.



The silver haired Shihaisha nodded at someone behind her, and she heard footsteps once again. Two guards walked in wearing, what appeared to be, simple Noh masks, one in red and one in blue. The red one picked up the bleeding body of the woman and put her in her own section of the large room. The blue one removed the dangling corpse of the ohitsuji and also placed him in his own section of the room.



‘Is that it maybe…?’, her inner voice seemed to crack as dread sunk in. ‘I doubt it. It would seem to me, that there are eighty seven more gifts, waiting for us.’



And so there were. The next “gift” that was brought out was a human with greasy hair and a sickly black mouth. He leered at Kagome as he was strapped to a long board. He screamed for Sesshoumaru as the lord sliced limb from joint.



The neko squeezed her eyes shut and her ears went mute, as the man’s fingertips were being expertly cut off one at a time. The smell of blood was heavy in her nose, until suddenly she smelled pine and freshly fallen snow. She opened one eye, followed by the other, allowing her to gaze upon the sadistic beauty that was and is the Shihaisha of the West. Their lips brushed against one another while he whispered to her, as if they were already lovers sharing sweet secrets, “If you close your eyes, dear and pitiful Miko, I’ll make sure that the rest of your gifts live for days in agony with your pretty little ears listening to their screams. On the other hand, if you watch… Gaze upon their demise, they’ll all die before sunrise.”



She gulped, seeing the fiery promise behind his gaze. Sharp teeth gnawed on the leather gag as she went through her options. ‘Either way they’re going to die, Kokoro. Why not simply watch and enjoy the show? Learn. That’s sick! Besides, what good would it do me to learn how to… if… if I die afterwards? Fine, then simply enjoy. Or is my little Kokoro more sadistic than I thought perhaps? Do you wish to listen to their screams for days on end? No… I don’t want someone to die because of me! Like I said, they’ll die either way. I know, Kemono-San… I know.’



She said nothing, for obvious reasons, but gave the barest of nods instead, which was returned by the silver haired Inu. So, she watched as the now whimpering male’s screaming began anew. His fingertips had already been removed, next came the rest of the digit, then the wrist, then the elbow was cut off, followed by a chop at the shoulder, and so on. Sesshoumaru’s cuts were clean through bone and sinew till the man was without arms and legs. The man’s begging was finally put to an end with a slice at the head, cutting it in half from ear to ear.



She didn’t know why but after the eighth “gift”, an apple red woman that was impaled through her ass till the long bamboo rod jutted from her open mouth, she started referring to them by number. Number twelve, a Suzume, had its wings torn off and the feathers were used to start a fire that burned him alive. Seventeen had his intestines and bladder cut out and, with his last moments of life, watched as they were used to strangle and gag his mother, eighteen. The poor boy looked to be a little over eight years old.



After every murder committed by the arrogant Inu, the red guard would move the mutilated body into one of three growing sections. The blue guard would bring out the next gift and prepare them for whatever death they were destined to receive.



Some gifts were given a choice as to how they want to die, like twenty-nine and thirty-eight.



Twenty-nine was suspended by the wrists to a metal bar, over a bubbling tub of Sesshoumaru’s collected poison; metal balls tied to every toe, ankle, knee, and to his waist. The choices were simple and blatant: Either he sliced the thick ropes holding him with his claws and melt within the poison below, or let the enchanted balls grow heavier and heavier until they ripped off toes, feet, legs and so on until he bled to death into the poison. The poor man didn’t get a real chance to choose though, not with his lower half already mixing with the acidic poison before he could scream correctly.



Thirty-eight would give the Maiden nightmares for weeks. The woman was an Ookami. ‘Maybe she’s related to Kouga? Her eyes were just like his…’ Sesshoumaru, the sadistic man he appeared to be, was almost gentle as he sliced her chest open and pulled out her heart just enough that it still beat as he placed the organ into the Ookami’s mouth. She was then strapped down onto a table, her head hanging over the edge, beating heart in her mouth, and sharp tipped potted bamboo pointed right at that same beating heart. Again, the choices were simple, end it all and bite her own heart or she could wait for the bamboo to grow just enough to puncture the throbbing mass.



‘I can’t believe she…she bit DOWN! Ate her…her heart! I wonder how it tasted…’



As if to give the killings more depth into her brain and on her senses, the Taiyoukai of the West found it prudent to cover her with a splash of every gift’s blood. Some amounts more copious that others. Sometimes, he’d go so far as to remove the gag and force feed a bit of the gift’s flesh down her throat. At first the actions themselves scared and disgusted her but after she willingly bit into and swallowed the fatty muscle of a Buta’s freshly charred hide she realized who was, or was becoming, the real monster.



Her blood lust had finally set in, and now she looked forward to every new gift. She watched hungrily as the newborn koushi was sliced up into tiny bits and placed into a boiling pot. The bubbling milk within it had been from the four torn off breasts of the calf’s mother, number fifty-nine. Deep down she felt terrible, but, to be honest, the main thought on her mind as she stared at the cooking soup was ‘That smells delicious…’



After hours of blood, urine, screams, and simple brutal agony they were finally down to the last ‘gift’. She had watched all eighty-eight deaths prior with forced indifference that, regrettably, became easier to fake. Her eyes, now glowing melted silver with blood rushing up to overtake the delicately menacing color, had begun to watch eagerly for the splatter and took no delight in the bloodless deaths. Her large, twitching ears caught every single begged plea for mercy and planted them away within the deepest confines of her mind. A slashing, whip-like tail spoke of her eagerness. Her dear kemono was in control.



Strangely it did not take much for her deeper conscious to take back control of her body and shove the kemono back into its cage. Not hard at all when the blue guard brought out the beautiful woman that was meant to be her sacrifice. She had olive green skin and deep green hair that shimmered purple in the firelight. Big eggplant colored eyes stared at the maiden curiously, as she thrashed against the strong guard. Kagome’s mind went blank for a while before sputtering back to life with one coherent thought.



Sesshoumaru moved to block the image of the woman tied up to the wall, with wrists overhead and ankles together. His clawed, bloody hand came up to pull off the leather gag. She really did have a whole long speech thought up before hand, filled with icy remarks and screaming in her righteous fury, but at the sight of the bound woman she was left nearly broken. As the leather left her lips she gave a tentative swipe of her tongue over her lips, ignoring the dried blood she tasted there, and whimpered.



“You-You can’t!”



Sesshoumaru gave a deep, dusty chuckle as he leaned close against her and whispered into her ear like before, “You had no problems earlier, dear Ka-Go-Me, as this Sesshoumaru presented you all of your other gifts. You even began to enjoy those criminal’s deaths! The feel of their blood on your virgin body and the taste of their flesh were all so appealing to you earlier.”



“Criminals?!” Her spark began its fight within her as she howled, “And what did they do, O Mighty Sesshoumaru-Sama? Did they dare to look you in the eyes? Did they not bow before you, perhaps? What did they possibly do to deserve this!?”



The temperature in the room suddenly became colder, either because of the Shihaisha’s face, hardened into solid marble, or the Neko’s ice laced aura. Ignoring the biting wind caused by her thrashing aura that lashed against his pale skin the golden eyed Inu turned and pointed to the three piles of mutilated bodies that had grown through the night. He gestured to one of them as he spoke in a harsh, clipped voice, “The left pile is composed of murderers of those under my rule and lesser lords on my land. The middle pile is the bodies of thieves that dared to steal from this Sesshoumaru and the Taiyoukai of these lands.” He began to caress one of her bound arms as he pressed his lips against the thin skin of her ear, further burying her nose against his neck. “The right pile, the one where that ohitsuji was placed…is full of the local rapists.”



That was the biggest pile.



She shuddered in disgust for once thinking the male so handsome. “In fact, that ohitsuji was one of my generals. This Sesshoumaru had suspected him of his nightly acts but had no proof before. My long travels gave time for the scent of stolen virginity to wash away, you see. So in order to confirm his transgressions I left him alone… with you. After he tied you up and began to defile your body...I thought that proof enough to get rid of him. Don’t you?”



Her answer was to vomit on her body and the blood soaked ground below. ‘He touched me…’



After she got her breathing back in order she looked to the tall Inu before her. Voice shaking and rough she trembled out, “But those children…!”



“Ah, yes, the children… warped maggots that went so far as to help kill those their own age it seems.” He was so unfazed as he said that. Now that she thought about it, hadn’t he spoken more this night than he had in the three years she’d known him?



‘Blood really gets him talkative I suppose… Shut up, Kemono-San, we’ll talk about your vampire tendencies later! I’m you, remember? So you just called yourself a vampire! Shut up ,shut up ,shut up! This is not the time for being a brat! You started it…’



Remembering the eggplant eyed woman, Kagome searched golden orbs pleadingly, “But what of the woman, Sesshoumaru!? She’s pregnant! She could give birth any moment now! You can’t kill her without killing the baby!”



She was struck by his hand and his glare, “Do not presume you can tell this Sesshoumaru what he can and cannot do, Onna!” She opted to stare at the rich blood on the floor rather than speak.



Seeing her silence for what it was, a blessing, Sesshoumaru moved back to the tied up woman with the bright eyes. He stroked her cheek lovingly, and it would be a lie to say that the woman didn’t lean into the touch of the god-like male or that the Maiden of the North turned green. Those same claws caressed over her breasts, down to the bulging stomach that held her babe. Those same claws sliced her open from naval to vagina in a single slash and pulled out her womb.



The two women and the tiny babe wailed for the night outside to listen and dance to.



“My baby!” the woman cried. “Give me my baby! Please! I just need my baby!”



“Sesshoumaru! You can’t kill her! It’s just a baby!” There were tears in her silver eyes, the first she’d shed all night. The Inu could see the damnably sweet heart of hers breaking. He placed the baby on a low table, covered with fresh and dried blood, and let the child squirm and cry for food and warmth. Turning to the silver and black haired woman he gave another hard stare, “This Sesshoumaru does not repeat himself on his reasoning and what he can or cannot do and you would do well to remember that. I will kill this child, lest she become like her mother.”



The Maiden glared darkly at him, “She’s just a baby, Sesshoumaru. You don’t know if she’ll become evil like her mother. Everyone should be given a chance at life”



The youkai let out a little tsk as he walked over to the woman with the sliced gash. He gripped her pale chin roughly as he stared into her deep purple eyes. “Do you think this woman cries for her child because she loves it, Miko no Youkai? Because the real reason she begs is simply because she’s going to die without it. She wants her baby’s heart.”



A chill ran down her spine as Kagome looked at the woman that was so lovely as she wailed for her child. “W-what…?”



“She is a special breed of Youkai female, that in order to stay alive must feast on a child’s heart every six months. In times of desperation they will impregnate themselves and eat their own child’s heart. If the child is female it will grow to be just like its despicable mother that tried to eat the heart of my ward.” By this point, the anger was so thick in the Inu’s voice that it didn’t take a second thought for him to crush the woman’s jaw and push his clawed hand through to her brain.



Kagome continued to cry as she watched the Youkai pick up the wiggling mass and move towards her. She couldn’t think. As she stared at the body that could so easily become a murder, she could barely move her chest to breathe. “Oh Kami-Sama…”



Choosing to ignore the Neko’s shuddered whisper, the Western ruler stared at her in a slow, calculating manner, as if oblivious to the cries of both baby and woman. “Kagome.” He waited for her eyes to slide up and meet his before continuing. “Tell me… Why did you come to this Sesshoumaru, desperate to mate a man that is and always will be a killer?”



She looked away once again and whimpered. She knew he’d ask it sooner or later. Isn’t that why they were here? In a dungeon, of all things, she would tell him why she was so eager to mate with someone like him. It wasn’t a very appealing thought, but she had to do it. She needed to.



“You are my intended, and it was my father’s dying wish that I mate you. Together we will become two powerful rulers of the-“



The loud sound of skin against skin echoed off the walls as the Silver Inu glared down at her. “Do not lie to me like I am some Hanyou with an ill developed sense of smell. You will tell me the truth now or die a liar.”



Her heart pounded and her lips moved in an inaudible whisper.



“Speak up, you foolish female!”



Straightening her spine she stared at him and screamed as loud as her lungs would allow.



“I LOVE YOU, YOU ARROGANT PRICK! Since that day in your father’s tomb I’ve wanted and adored you! Since that time you saved me from the Band of Seven’s Mukotsu I’ve wanted to get to know you! Since I first saw you with Rin I knew you weren’t the cold Youkai that everyone else saw and feared!” Her voice nearly croaked as she resisted the urge to sob, “I’ve loved you for so long…”



The silence between them stretched on for what seemed like hours. Not even the sound of the crying baby seemed to faze them as they stared into each other’s eyes. One set was cool and hard while the other streamed with tears.



“Prove it.” He said simply. “Prove to me of this love you claim to bear. Eat this child’s heart, Maiden of the North!”



Silver eyes bulged as he thrust the wiggling mass against her lips. She could feel the baby’s heart flutter beneath her lips. The small clawed hands scraped at her skin and pulled at her hair while the screaming made her ears throb. All of it went unnoticed to the inner turmoil that was her mind.



Could she do it? Take the life of this innocent child’s life just to prove her love for the dark demigod before her? Did she have it in her to let it live even? Let it live and eat the hearts of children like itself? Could she let it live if it meant losing everything she strived for?



“Keep in mind…that if you do not consume the baby’s heart I will let it live and allow it to feast on your Kitsune child’s heart. You, of course, would be allowed to watch.”



Thoughts swarmed in her mind’s eye of her son, her Shippou. The urge to protect her child flowed through her. She had adopted the little fur ball a year after her travels started. He’d just now finally gotten used to calling her “Momma”! She couldn’t, wouldn’t let anything happen to him if she could stop it!



Without a second thought she bit down on the little chest. The burst of blood into her mouth was strangely intoxicating. The bones of the babe’s ribcage broke under her teeth like toothpicks as her tongue searched for the beating morsel. She pulled it into her mouth, chewed and swallowed it whole, either resisting the urge to either gag or moan she wasn’t sure.



The limp body was dropped down to the floor like a used rag doll, as silver met gold. A maroon stripped hand moved to thread fingers into lush black and silver hair. Pale lips moved closer towards red plump ones, till they finally met and meshed.



The Maiden had spent weeks, months, years… Imagining what his lips would feel like against hers. Would their kisses be slow and gentle, simple caresses of flesh against flesh? Perhaps, their kisses would be fire and passion, a proverbial inferno of moving bodies that danced to their own music?



She wasn’t expecting ice; cold, unrelenting, frigid ice. She moved her lips slowly against his, desperate to make his lips come alive like her heart just did. She didn’t think it would work until a fire she couldn’t even dream of in her wildest fantasies consumed her. It consumed them. Blood was forgotten for now; in its place were the sweet pleasures of one another’s arms.





~*~*~*~*~*~



CSKitten: Comments are appreciated!