The Portal

Chapter 9 – A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Sesshomaru leaned against the dusty wall, far from where the miko was now sleeping. The blinding darkness, had no effect on his demonic eyesight. He could see perfectly in the night. Kagome had just turned over in her sleep, and was now lying on her side facing him. She looked so soft. So untouchable. Her innocence and purity were in such contrast to his own nature, a strategist, a ruler... killing perfection.

She was an oddity to Lord Sesshomaru. Something completely opposite from himself. Her spirit and strength, enhanced by her caring nature, was unlike any other female he had ever encountered. She was a spunky little vixen, this one. For the first time, since he became aware of the mortal woman traveling with Inuyasha, he began to see what it was that his half-brother was always making such a fuss over. Sesshomaru was becoming aware of why the boy risked life and limb to protect this human female.

She was different.

There was something about her that made one’s heart beat just a bit faster. She held an unknown ability to awaken emotions in those around her, simply by being there.

She must die.

Sesshomaru knew this was now his only option. Once they found their way back home, he would rid himself of her for good. Inuyasha need never know. There was enough bad blood between them as it was. He would take her life, quickly and painlessly, without anyone knowing that it was him who dealt the blow. Yes... she must go.

‘The effect that she is having on me is un-natural. A taiyoukai should not want a human, and I refuse to risk the chance that I will become weak, like father.’ Sesshomaru vowed. ‘It is the risk factor, nothing more.’

Movement caught his eye. Sesshomaru watched as Naraku roamed about the huge chamber, looking at the strange paintings and hieroglyphs. The hanyou seemed to find it all extremely fascinating. Then the taiyoukai noticed something. Naraku had taken a glance over his shoulder at the sleeping miko. Sesshomaru continued to observe the hanyou with suspicion. Something about his actions was somewhat disturbing.

‘There.’ Sesshomaru confirmed, as another glance from Naraku was thrown toward Kagome. ‘He’s watching her. What is his intention?’ The inuyoukai scowled at his thoughts. He refused to be reduced into babysitting his half-brother’s wench. Still... something made him feel uneasy about watching that dirty half-breed stalking the sleeping girl.

Naraku was now standing much closer to the dying campfire than before, and Sesshomaru was beginning to feel anger burning inside his chest.

‘That filth will not go near her!’ Sesshomaru snarled as he closed the distance between the hanyou and Kagome. After placing himself between the two, he let out a feral growl of warning, directed at the hanyou scum. There could be no mistake in his actions. It meant one thing... touch her and die.

“Kukuku. Why Lord Sesshomaru, one would think that you have developed some affections for this mortal girl.” Naraku chimed. His voice was soft and smooth, and so low that only the superior ears of the inuyoukai could hear him.

Sesshomaru bared his fangs at Naraku’s sly accusation. He would not honor the filth with a reply. He wanted only to make it clear that the miko was off limits. He followed with a low building growl, and reached for the hilt of Tokijin.

Naraku backed up a bit. “Now, now, Lord Sesshomaru, must I remind you that you may never return home to the Western Lands if you take my life?”

“I may be willing to risk it Naraku. Stay away from the girl, or you may soon find out.” Sesshomaru growled in warning.

Naraku decided quickly that it would be best to wait for another time. A time when the taiyoukai would be distracted, or away. Then he could make his move. He turned, and strolled away from the sleeping girl and the inuyoukai... as well as, the jewel shards.

Sesshomaru watched the hanyou depart, and then settled down near Kagome. He had a pretty good idea what Naraku was after, and there was no way he was going to allow the hanyou to gain more power than he already had. The jewel shards around the girls’ neck would stay there.

~~~
Daybreak came earlier than Kagome wished. The hard day before had taken a toll on her body and she felt as if she could have slept until noon. Unfortunately Tala had other ideas. She was slowly drawn out of sleep by her furry companions continuous sniffing. It started near her neck, then inch by inch he moved down until he was nearing her hips. Kagome was just peeling her eyes open with all intentions of diverting Tala from his obvious, and extremely humiliating goal, when she heard the creature let out a surprised yelp.

Sesshomaru stepped back into the entrance just in time to see that miserable beast sniffing Kagome’s curvaceous thigh. With a nice grip on the creatures’ neck, he removed it swiftly, and redirected it to the other side of the chamber, where it landed rather clumsily in a heap.

After Kagome witnessed the hurling of Tala, she threw her shocked gaze back to Sesshomaru, who only raised one of his beautiful eyebrows, as if to ask if she had some sort of issue with the way he handled the situation. She thought for a moment to argue the rough handling of Tala, but figured it would do no good in this case, so she just clamped her jaw shut, and said nothing at all. This seemed to satisfy Sesshomaru, who turned and walked away.

After Kagome ate the last piece of fruit, and an old granola bar, which she found at the bottom of her backpack, she gathered her things and pulled out her flashlight. She wanted to go deeper into the pyramid, and explore its hidden treasures.

Sesshomaru fell in behind her. He knew Naraku was lurking around, deeper in the pyramids many corridors, and he wanted to make sure the hanyou had no opportunity to make a grab for the jewel shards hanging from the miko’s neck. At least that’s what he kept telling himself.

In reality, he just felt uncomfortable letting her out of his sight. So the demon lord kept closely by as the miko perused the inner chambers of the huge ancient structure. He watched as she ran her slender fingers over the carvings. She was so intent on her studies that he figured that she had completely forgotten he was even there, until she suddenly squealed in delight. While she did the most feminine little dance of joy he had ever witnessed, she turned to him and waved for him to come see her discovery.

“Look Sesshomaru! I know this symbol! It’s Horus, the falcon headed god!” Kagome pointed excitedly.

Sesshomaru studied the picture for a moment. “It merely appears to be a falcon youkai to this Sesshomaru.”

“No. No, it’s Horus, I just know it!” Kagome repeated. “Maybe we are somewhere in Egypt?” Kagome busied herself moving on down the wall looking for any other familiar images that could give them a clue to their whereabouts, with Sesshomaru following.

Kagome turned the corner, and just as Sesshomaru reached for her arm, she came face to face with Naraku. “Eeek!” The sound of her scream echoed through the empty chambers. “Holy crap! Naraku, do you have to be so damn sneaky!”

Naraku smirked in amusement. He just loved the sound of a woman’s scream. “Miko, be assured that I meant no such thing. I merely wished to inform you that I have uncovered something that may be of importance.”

Kagome and Sesshomaru followed the hanyou deeper into the caverns. Sesshomaru kept a wary eye out for any signs of deceit. It would not be surprising if the hanyou had laid a trap for them somewhere ahead. He would be a fool to attempt such, but Naraku was untrustworthy and had ulterior motives.

It was a huge set of hieroglyphs spread over a whole wall. The picture depicted another image of Horus, and four females in ceremonial wedding garb. The largest of the pictures depicted a female falcon-headed being, standing beside Horus. Below that was a picture of Horus surrounded by three more females, each with features similar to a jackal or dog, a monkey, and the last appeared human.

“I don’t know exactly what this means,” Kagome said thoughtfully.

“It is simple, Sesshomaru interjected, this falcon youkai took four wives. The first wife was another youkai like himself, then he took three more wives. Obviously he took an inuyoukai, a monkey youkai, and for some reason, a human.”

Kagome shot him a hateful look at his snide remark concerning the human race, but then nodded in agreement. “Well, that makes sense. Having numerous wives was not uncommon in the past.”

“It is still quite common, my dear,” Sesshomaru replied.

Kagome chose not to argue, since technically in Sesshomaru’s time, it was still a common thing for a man to take more than one wife. She returned her attention back to the beautiful artwork. Further down the wall the pictures depicted the births of the firstborn, and after that was the really interesting part. It depicted many people working to build pyramids... four separate pyramids.

“So Horus had four separate pyramids built in honor of each of his firstborn?” Kagome pondered aloud.

“It appears so, miko,” Naraku said. “I believe that the one in which we stand belonged to the human heir.”

“What brings you to that conclusion?” Sesshomaru asked.

“Here.” Naraku said as he moved further down the wall.

Here the intricate carvings were different. They were not as finely done. They appeared created by an amateur, as if the artist lacked the skill to carry out the task.

“It was a war!” Kagome said in shock. There were images of demon’s overwhelming the human’s. Many dead bodies littered the grounds, and the youkai appeared to be celebrating the victory. Further down, the images depicted the taking of mass herds of human prisoner’s. The human slaves were shown working under the demon overlords. Then something confusing was shown. A group of human female slaves were shown next to each one of the youkai rulers, followed by the births of many children... hanyou children.

“What could this mean?” Kagome pondered.

“I can not say for sure, but one would think that the female slaves were bred to produce hanyou offspring, though I know not why these youkai would wish to flood their kingdom with such dirty blood.” Sesshomaru said in a huff of disapproval. His statement earned him a scowl from Kagome.

Naraku moved to stand before the downfall of the humans. “Here, it is shown that the falcon youkai met his death. I believe the war was brought on by his death.”

Kagome and Sesshomaru moved back and looked closely at the paintings. “Yes, Naraku, I believe you are right. There is Horus being attended to by Anubis, the god of the dead. So, when Horus died, the youkai attacked the humans and made them slaves?”

“Not really a bad idea.” Naraku and Sesshomaru said in unison, immediately huffing at their shared thought.

“Hey! I don’t appreciate that you two! Now give the human bashing a rest!” Kagome warned while shaking her finger in protest. “Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, so you believe that this was the home of the human heir because it is now abandoned?”

“Correct, miko. The only way to be sure is to make our way to the other pyramids,” Naraku answered.

“Come then, Sesshomaru instructed, we waste precious daylight. Let us be on our way.”

They all turned and made their way back through the maze of corridors and chambers. They had a great distance to cover before nightfall.