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[thedarkheretic156]

Daddy? sorry. Daddy? sorry. Daddy-

[thedarkheretic156]

Wei 90% of the time.

This sem has been crazyyy, I have procrastinated on this account so lethargically it's embarrassing. I was on the plane back to the uk when i ended up sketching a morbidly exasperated Wei lmao. Kinda feeling the exact same atm

[thedarkheretic156]

VIII Eternal Flame VIII

The final moon before the feast dawns on the young demigod, and with it, it's threatening consequences.

Parts: ❧ I II III IV V VI VII ❧

Warnings: Fem Afab reader, she/her pronouns. Angst, mentions of death, violence, slight nsfw (if you squint).

Even as a child, I remembered how the fire dancers in the east would tell stories of the old. Their fires in hues I had never seen before. Deep crimsons and pale yellows with greens that rivalled rain forests. That was the first time I realised that every flame was different. 

The dancers moved and their long braids swished around them, their movements sharp and lithe, not missing a beat. Fire dancing was an old tradition, performed every year, one night before the feast of manana. It was called the ceremony of the Khar-moon, the incomplete moon.

It was less a form of entertainment and more of a ritual, a portrayal of faith towards the Goddess. They said that the performers practiced all year long just for those few minutes on stage. And it never failed to take my breath away, twirling on the stage, aglow with the torches behind them, the dancers looked like flames personified.

This year, I knew the story well. It was the same boring text my aunt had grated into my brain. She would even sit me down and make me recite it over and over, until the words clouded my thought the moment, I closed my eyes. So, it wasn’t surprising that I recognised it at once. They were telling the tale of ‘the hearth’. The beginning of all life. Or what we understood of it. 

The dancer dressed as the hearth was in silver and orange, their eyes lidded, a beacon of peace and tranquillity. The music fanned, low and rhythmic as the singer began the first song.  Their clear voice rang out, rippling through the crowd.

My palms sunk into the grass as I leaned forward eagerly. My aunt swatted my ankle, “sit properly!" but the swelling music drowned out her voice.

They sang of how every fire was born from the Hearth. Each eventually taking different forms. Dancers dressed in gold twirled around the Hearth. The fire of the stove, I recognised. Gold bangles glittered around their wrists as they moved, calling fire that looked like molten gold, its flames docile and controlled.

The music shifted suddenly, becoming faster, louder just as a dancer in scarlet jumped high from between them, red flames curling around their wrists. The flame that lights the torch for war.

All the flames gathered around the hearth and bowed deeply. Paying respect to the one that birthed them. And that’s the end of the story, I thought.

“Can we leave, father? -” I started and my aunt hissed me into silence. I furrowed my brow; was there more?

It was then that another dancer jumped up front, my heart jumped at the sudden action. Their clothes were blue, flowing around them like water, replicating the shades that flickered within my flames.

It was a harsh contrast to the others dressed in shades saffron. A stranger, an anomaly.

I remembered feeling a pit in my stomach, the curiosity I had for the play suddenly dissipating like someone had put out a candle.

My flames were blue.

And I wasn’t told this part of the story.

It did not bow to the hearth, the dancer flicked their blue robes arrogantly, the fabric rising like the audacious plume of a peacock. I gulped nervously as my aunt finally pulled me back on the seat. I heard her mutter sharply but my father shushed her down,

"Leave her be Hathor." He grumbled.

I felt my breath shallow. As the head clan, I sat with my family at the very front. Placed closest to the stage, second only to the Gods. It was the highest honour, something to wear with pride, yet I wanted to crawl away. I couldn’t help but curl my fist around my father’s robes in anticipation. While every eye was on the performer, I was the one who felt the burn of their gaze.

The blue flame was different. I was told I was born with divinity. But there was nothing divine about this flame Without a shred of warmth, something born in hell, far away from the fire of a hearth.

The flames that dance on a pyre.

An immortal bound in death.

Even now, years later, as I stared at the Khar-moon high in the sky I couldn’t help but remember the performance, the fire dancers, and the pit in my stomach.

One night before the feast of manana.

I tore my eyes away from the moon, no point in brooding over that now. I looked over at Sesshomaru and he was already halfway down the hill. Prideful steps, not even bothering to look over his shoulder. So, it had taken him about 4 seconds before he went back to his mutt like ways.

I shook my head, gathering the hem of my kimono so I wouldn’t trip and land on his head. Rin and Jaken could be anywhere down the mountain. And it was about time I greeted them.

❧ 

“It’s a human village.” I realised, “We’re staying here?” I asked, genuinely surprised. Sesshomaru and his disgust towards humans was more than apparent, why in the world would he set camp in a human village?

His eyes looked back as I trotted up to him. In the darkness of the night, it was hard to tell, but there something haunting about this place. I pulled my eyes towards the village again. There was a morbid silence that coveted the landscape. The small bamboo knit cottages looked empty, abandoned. Like a painting standing still before us, there was nothing alive in this village.

“It’s been deserted…” I stated. A strange nervousness settled in me,

“Humans.” He said, his voice basically a pained sigh, “cowardly creatures.” 

I started back at him in horror, what kind of a person thinks a deserted human village is a good resting spot? Even I knew that humans emptying out entire villages was bad news. And not just the ayakashi kind, the apocalyptic prophecy kind.

“It better not be plagued.” I tell him,

Sesshomaru just scoffed in response, “Try and keep up.” He replied, “I won’t come searching for you a second time.”

I gave him a sarcastic smile before starting to walk.

A singular fire burned in the still landscape, like a dying ember. Despite everything that had happened in this short period, I had always found myself back here. Maybe it was suiting that I spend my last night with them. The khar moon was already high in the sky, and I could feel the exhaustion of the travel weigh down on my shoulders. I dragged my feet down, trying to push unnecessary thoughts away. Spending your last night in a plagued town. I thought, how poetic.

❧ 

Jaken cried more than Rin. Which was surprising.

“W-what a r-relief.” Jaken sobbed out loudly, I looked over at the goblin grinning, “You did miss me how cute.”

Rin ran into an embrace, her wiry arms clutching onto my kimono like she was afraid to let go again. There wasn’t anything childlike in the way she cried, no angry tears, no broken sobs, just silent tears of relief. I stood frozen in my place, just…unsure. My arms felt like lead, and in that moment despite how glad I was to see the human child alive I couldn’t make myself show it.

Something tugged at my heart, but I pushed it aside at once.

Humans are delicate creatures. Death comes to them swiftly, whisking them away like they never existed. Befriend them and you live on with their ghosts.

I patted her head awkwardly, “Hey it’s okay.” I said. “I’m okay.”

The child pulled away reluctantly, she nodded wiping a runny nose with the back of her hand, “are you s-sure?” she sobbed out.

I stepped back so I could give her a turn, “All good, see?”

Rin gave me a skeptical look, “You don’t look very good.” She replied.

I threw back my head and laughed, my voice ringing out in the midnight sky. I looked down at the kimono I was wearing. It was one of Sango’s pink ones, and I had really put it through hell and back. “Do you have a spare?” I asked jokingly.

Rin peeked a smile watching me laugh, a sense of relief rushing to her face. “Follow me!” she chirped, the old self I knew slipping back. I grinned at the little skip in her step as she sprinting down towards the cottage. “It’s the one behind the big tree!” she said giddily, pointing towards a bamboo knit cottage. I grabbed the hem of my kimono, not realising the easy smile lacing my lips and ran after her.

❧ 

Jaken patted down his own tears, “I’m so glad you found her Lord Sesshomaru!” He said, “Rin must be so relieved now.”

Sesshomaru grunted in response, watching the human child skip towards the cottage and the woman clutching on to the all too big kimono to keep up with her. The two of them laughed, bare feet skidding on the dew-covered grass. A human world of their own.

It had been less than a month since the strange woman had appeared, Sesshomaru shook his head, he had saved her. He assured himself. Returned her safely, yet the daiyokai couldn’t seem to quiet his thoughts. The haunting stories of the infamous blood moon somehow sneaking up on him, ringing constantly at the back of his mind.

He tossed his hair over his shoulder, turning away. Once the wretched crimson moon had passed us, he thought, It’ll be quiet again.

❧ 

Rin grinned wide, stretching out her hands to show all the space we suddenly had. This cottage was way better than any we had come across before. With all the travelling and avoiding humans, there was hardly any liveable spaces to begin with. Much less an entire village. Rin dug into one the chests in the cottage pulling out spare clothes, they had even left clothes behind. 

This place… its like the humans had just randomly disappeared into thin air. They had left everything behind. Clothes, pots of grains and rice, children’s toys scattered on the grass like they had disappeared while playing.

I jumped as Jaken snored loudly in the background. This sound I had not missed.

Rin giggled at my expression, “Master Jaken couldn’t sleep at all, while you weren’t here.”

“That’s…” I started, “Surprising.” 

I took the new kimono Rin had offered me, finally pulled off Sango’s borrowed one I had on. Man I had really put these poor clothes through the apocalypse. Every time I got a new one, I’d just get attacked by something or the other.

Rin’s eyes pinned on the bandages, wide with worry,

She opened her mouth but the words seemed to hang in her throat.

“Someone very skilled helped me with it.” I assured her, although I didn’t know if kagome’s grass medicine could be categorized as very skilled, it had saved my life like it was ambrosia of the Gods. 

Naraku’s poison had quite literally charred through my skin, clumped out the flesh. Nothing I hadn’t seen before, but this mortal body didn’t heal the way my ayakashi one did.

“Does it still hurt?” she asked timidly.

“No.” I lied. 

Her thumbs fiddled with the hem of the checkered fabric, “Who was the woman that attacked us?”

“Does it matter?” I asked. “We run into ayakashi all the time.” I said, She was so young. I thought, at her age all I cared about was chasing fire birds and setting yokai on fire. She shouldn’t feel the need to carry that much.

“This one unfortunately was the bad kind, that’s all” I tried to convince her, the lesser she knew about all this mess the better.

Rin’s face fell regardless, 

What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I just thought…” Her voice wavered, lower lip quivering as she pulled on a brave façade, “I thought you got hurt.” She completed finally.

I turned on my side to look at her. Her eyes looked glassy from the tears, the runny nose and ears red from the cold, bony elbows sticking out of the blanket and a swelling mosquito bite on her cheek.

“No one would tell me what happened.” she said quietly. “Then Lord Sesshomaru left too, and I just had to wait here.” She completed.

Sudden anger flared in me, after everything she had witnessed, all he did was take off without a word? At least I was trying to make up lies.

“But it wasn’t just that.”  Rin replied, cheeks puffed from trying not to cry, “It was that other thing.”

I turned my head towards her, “What do you mean?”

Rin’s face paled, uncertainty flickering in her eyes, “I don’t know what it was.” She started,

And I felt my heart drop. “I-, I think I saw something when we met that woman in the forest.”

“It wasn’t her, it felt darker,” her voice quivered, “Meaner, like there was something more than just the lady before us.”

She gulped, eyes glazing as she tried to remember, “It was all around her looming over the forest, like a spider made of shadows,” she said softly. 

I felt myself holding my breath.

“It’s like I could feel how-” Tears welled up in her eyes again, “Wei, it wanted to hurt you so badly.” She croaked out.

Something bitter curled in my mouth,

Rin shook her head, her voice got very low, “I don’t even know if it was real, or I’m going crazy.”

She sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, “but I know what I felt. I know it, even though I couldn’t see” her brow knitted in frustration, “And even though master Jaken said it was in my head.” her eyes finally met mine, she shuddered, “Am I crazy?”

I stared at her, out of all the things I thought she would have to say…

“You’re not crazy.” I told her, knowing that I should probably just agree with Jaken and tell her she dreamed it. Keeping her away from all of this mess was the best mercy I could grant her. And yet I couldn’t make myself lie to her. At the end of it she deserved to know the danger before us, something we would soon be facing down whether I like it or not.

“The spider…” my voice trailed, how much of everything do I even tell her. “He exists.” I confirmed.

Just the memory made the scars on my chest sting, “and he did want to hurt me.”

I pulled my eyes to the shadows on the hay roof of the cottage, dancing in the dark like the curling legs of the spider. His strength had completely caught me off guard and the helplessness I had felt in his clutches still haunted me. I hated to admit it but the thought that I would probably be dead before I see him again was relieving.

“Why?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

I shook my head, “What matters is that he couldn’t.” But he will try again and again. If he wants hellfire then I’m his only link to it. I pursed my lips,

Rin’s silence rang of hesitation.

“Lord Sesshomaru can protect us from him.” She finally said, trying to sound dutiful.

“Yeah.” I mimed out absently. Honestly I’d like to think that too. Sesshomaru hadn’t ever shown me the extent of his powers, But if Inuyasha and the others don’t stop him from mining that ore, maybe even the daiyokai of the east won’t be able to stop him.

“Could you sense him too?” she asked hopefully, “The way I did?”

I shook my head, “Not really.”

Thinking back to the encounter, my reaction was purely instinctual, I hadn’t even noticed naraku’s powers until after I was already in his void. It wasn’t uncommon for humas to see demons. But it was nearly impossible for them to sense their magic. And Rin had seen naraku’s miasma even before he had shown up.

My heart felt heavy, now the coincidences were getting too cruel.

“But,” I started, my mouth felt like sandpaper, “There are some humans who can see and sense more than others.” I told her.

In the east we called it the gift of Manana, blessed by the moon with the power of premonition. Someone who could see terrible things before they actually happened. Wei, the real Wei, had the same powers.

I gave her a pained smile, “Just think of it as a gift.”

Rin looked horrified, “I don’t want it.” She croaked out. “I don’t ever want to see anything like that again.”

“It’s not all too bad.” I replied, “I knew someone who had a similar ability. She could sense things, before they actually happened.”

Not that it prevented her death, I thought bitterly.

“So, I can learn how to control it?” Rin asked.

Wei had learned to control it, I remembered. It was painted in my mind like an ink scroll painting.

Her eyes lidded as she sat before the fire, and her face crinkling as I broke her meditation. She would hiss out of frustration when I continued to egg her on, her leaf green eyes opening wide, “even the toddlers in the village know better, y/n, Toddlers!”

I averted my eyes painfully, “I guess you can.”

Rin flexed her fingers as if expecting the magic to show up on her palms, “How do I do that?”

“I don’t know.” I replied quickly, pushing away the torrent of emotions that often-accompanied Wei’s memories.

“Maybe you could ask your friend.”

“No.” I replied sharply.

I can’t ask her. Not anymore.

They would have gotten along. I had realised that the moment I had met Rin. wet tears slipped down my cheekbones sliding over the shell of my ears.

"Wei are you crying?" Rin's sleep heavy voice called out,

I felt my vision grow cloudy. 

"No." I sniffled.

Rin hand threw an arm over my torso, "it's okay" the child mumbled, "I missed you too."

“You say you wouldn’t do that for anyone.” She had sniggered, twirling the scared bells around before bonking it on my head,

I pushed her hand away angrily and she had laughed, “But I bet you’d do that for me.”

I sat up suddenly. 

“Where are you going?” Rin asked,

“Go to sleep.” I told her, I ran a hand along the nape of my neck, it was drenched in sweat. The cottage was too warm, and my mind was too heavy with the thoughts. I pulled my hair up in a knot. It was my last night before my death, and I didn’t want to spend it under a covered roof.

❧

The spring looked prettier than usual, but it didn’t help that the water in it was biting cold.

I groaned as I lowered myself in the spring slowly. With the full moon on the morrow, there was no scarcity of moonlight. A view like that would have enchanted anyone, mortal or not. I sank into the numbing cold water, my fingers trailing over my arm absently. This body the curse had put me in had only started to feel like mine. It was brittle and lanky, so weak I dared not test its limits. But I had surprised myself with everything it did withstand.

Maybe it wasn’t that easy to kill humans after all.

With everything I had survived, I wondered how exactly death would come for me under the moon tomorrow. I let my head roll back in thought. I didn’t even have the capacity to think how I was to die tomorrow. I took in a deep breath pulling myself under the surface.

It felt calm underwater, the water cancelled out the sounds of the forest. God, what would I give to fall asleep under the surface just like this. This would be a nice death, like you’re drifting away to sleep. It would be a sad death; they probably wont even sing of me in the east. I stayed under water until my lungs screamed for air, eventually bopping my head up over the surface.

“human.”

His sight just left me frozen,

What the actual fuck was he doing here now.

It was a little pathetic how much I ogled him as he lowered himself into the spring slowly.

His body was that of a warrior, honed over the years, stripped with scars, some fading some brazen. I couldn’t imagine how many stories he had to tell about just the scars on his arms.

I tried to keep my eyes on his torso, trying not to dip any lower than the magenta marks around his waist.

But while the chilly mist rising from the spring was thick, it was not opaque enough. His shamelessness in my presence was surprising, but then again, he probably thought of me like a bug. Who covers themselves in front of insects?

Even in the hot spring, he settled down like a king on a throne. His silver hair pooled around him like molten starlight. With the damp hair matted across his forehead, and the slitted amber eyes peeking through the bangs, he looked every bit the god they painted him in the folk tales.

I averted my eyes awkwardly, heat rushing to my face. My body remembering the time he had actually let his reatsu out after we had hunted the boar. The way it had crawled over my senses, overwhelming me until I could feel it in the back of my throat- stop it. I screamed at myself, pressing my thighs together.

“What are you doing here?!” I snapped at him. Even after being in a human body my demon instinct still persisted and I did not have the time to deal with how badly my ayakashi-self wanted to ride him.

“Your scars.” He stated casually,

I looked down finally realising that I was also naked before him. I gulped, “urm, yes.” I replied awkwardly. In the moonlight it looked even worse than it actually was.

“It’s still poisoned.” He stated. “I can still smell his miasma off of you.”

I winced as he said that, brushing my fingers over the wounds. I had been afraid of that being the case, even without my ayakashi senses, I could feel the poison in the wounds, keeping them from healing properly. Remanets of his disgusting magic that have permanently branded themselves on my body.

“It will only fade in his death.” I sighed, a miasma like that is connected to an ayakashi’s soul.  

“You won’t have to wait too long for that.” He replied.

I felt very cold, “What do you mean?” I whispered out.

His voice sent chills ran down my spine. “Isn’t it obvious?” he snarled out, “I am going to seek out the spider.”

My jaw slacked, “what do you mean seek him out?”

His eyes flicked towards me, already annoyed, “Do you think I’m a coward that sits back silently, Human?” he growled,

I shook my head, “You cannot defeat him.”

He snarled in reply, the sound making the hair on my arms stand.

“Not another word-” He growled out.

I felt a lump in my throat as his amber eyes narrowed, they were truly a beautiful colour, I forced myself to think clearly, “You don’t know what he’s capable of.” I told him.

Sesshomaru grunted, “How strong he seemed to a human like you is irrelevant.” He replied, “To so much so as look at someone under my protection was a death sentence.”

“He will pay for this insolence towards me. For even thinking of challenging me. For a spider like that to do this…” he growled out, “How humiliating.”

What stung my heart was how familiar it all was. His words, ego masquerading as nobility. How selfish the words truly sounded.

It sounded like me.

“To you?” I scoffed out, my voice low.

“I am standing here and I can fucking feel what he did to my body.” I told him, the scars, the phantom pain, the fear will never wash away. “And you have the audacity to talk about how he slighted you?”

My breathing was heavy and angry. “Because that’s what it is, isn’t it?” I said, “you’re just worried about what the world will think of you, the great daiyokai bested by a spider.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, “She used to tell me revenge is selfish, and I… I just couldn’t understand her.” I mumbled out.

My shoulders slumped; I am a fool.

All my fucking life, I had created an idea of myself. The great demigod, a ruthless warrior, and I had truly believed I was meant to live that life. But in the end, it had all been so meaningless. What had that gotten me? I had lived through my immortal life haunted by Wei’s voice, buried under the weight of her death. Tortured by just the thoughts of all that could have been. The whole truth shattered around me into a million pieces. 

I buried my face in my fingers, my legs going very weak.

“What I thought would give her peace, was truly just a step I took for myself. I should have pressed that ego down. I should have stayed with her, somewhere I knew it was what my heart wanted. But I was scared that the act would be called too cowardly.”

“I failed her.” I completed. “I failed her in every way.”

The taunting voices in my head were dead silent.

“Tell me Sesshomaru.” I asked him, “Do you wish to kill him because by attacking me he questioned your authority? That you felt emasculated that someone under your protection was taken from right under your nose. Or is it truly because you wish to bring someone justice?”

He stared at me silently as I continued.

“There’s a difference, you know. A difference I just realised existed.” I shook my head, giving out a dry laugh.

“One you do for your own ego, to put someone who has defied you in their place. To tell the world that you aren’t the coward. The second…” my voice trailed away. Why hadn’t I understood such a simple thing when she was alive?

“What of the second, human?” he hissed out.

I looked up at the daiyokai sadly, “The second you do out of love.”

He actually laughed, which I soon realised was a lot more horrifying than his poker face.

He turned his head away, “It’s this trait of you humans that I cannot understand. You worry too much about your fragile lives, it’s foolish, weak.” 

I frowned, my own anger bubbling up to the surface.

“Not only that, you begged me to abandon you to save her.” He continued.

His amber eyes slitted, the mountains around us seemed to shift, “you are fooled if you think you’re not weak.”

 He’s exactly like me.

Rein in your temper daughter of the hills, the voices sang,

But you can’t put out fires from hell.

"You talk of how I'm lesser for saving Rin, yet you came crawling to search for me remember?!" I said pointing a wrinkly finger at him,

Sesshomaru looked like I had just slapped him across his face. The water around me chilled. I knew the moment I should stop yapping, but my bitter temper just continued to pour out.

“You’re the one that’s weak and cowardly.” I snarled out. “Cowering away under the guise of arrogance when all you have is your empty honour. Even the measly humans you seem to hate show more chivalry.”

His growl rang in my ears as he charged. Within a second his fingers were curled around my throat, pinning me down.

His hair fell around me like a rain of starlight, his ragged breath fanning my face as his fangs slipped out. My heart hammered in my chest, as he spoke, “You have constantly, tested my patience human.” His grip tightened around me, nails digging into my skin.

“Do it.” I spat out. The anger in his eyes flickered, taken aback with something of the same ferocity staring back. After everything I had gone through, with my death facing me down tomorrow, did he think a tantrum would scare me?

 “You’re only angry because I’m right.” I gurgled out. “Wei tried telling me that.” I told him, watching his brow furrow with confusion. His grip loosened and I pushed him away.

,It may be that mortal lives are delicate, but they aren't like flowers that wilt away. Many like battle scars leave their mark. They are immortalised in memories, daughter of the hills. Even bound to death, they are worth living.

“Maybe my death will make you realise that.”

❧

I strode towards the camp angrily, in my rage I hadn’t even dried myself, just draped my kimono over my body, screamed at him and left. 

I cringed a little, such dramatics. Couldn’t have just dried myself before making such impactful exit. Now the clothing along with me was sopping wet, water dripping down at my feet making small puddles as I walked back.

Something rustled making me halt. As I stared, a strange figure seemed to loom around the opening of the groove.

I furrowed my brow, the silhouette looked like that of a child that was crouched over. Did Rin follow me all the way here? I craned my neck, about to call her out when the figure spoke up first.

“Does mortality fare you well? Daughter of the hills?”

The voice was light and girlish, unrecognizable. My heart went still,

It couldn’t be.

The figure stepped forward, striding into the moonlight so I could see her.

It was a child, yet it wasn’t. The alarm that rang in my bones wasn’t from fear, it was recognition. The more I looked at her, the more inhuman she looked. Markings adorned her body, inky lines running up her face and arms, whorls made of runes mapped like galaxies on her body.

It was the same creature, that 14 moon before had appeared before me differently. My breath shallowed as time slowed around me.

The crone.

I raged towards the crone, but it felt like someone had tied boulders to my feet. Illusion magic? The invisible weight slammed me into the ground. The impact knocking the breath out of me.

She pointed a chubby finger at my face, “Have you learned nothing?”

I looked up at her aghast, the girl was no bigger than Rin, barefoot with windswept hair like she had just casually wandered out of a nearby village. She tossed a flat- stone between her hands, giving me a grin that missed a front tooth. “By now you should know you can’t compete with me.”

I growled angrily at her words, my nails dug into palms so hard I drew blood, while, she just watched me a mocking smile.

I knew it was the unnerving eyes, the iris was completely white, blinded by a cloudy white haze, like the moon peeking from behind clouds. Her unyielding gaze was pinned on me. I knew in that moment it was nothing but her gaze that had pinned me to the ground.

Don’t fucking stay down this time.

I pushed through the invisible weight with everything I had. The more I struggled against it the worse it seemed to get, gripping down my bones until they broke. I screamed through the pain, the pressure sending a stream of blood down my nose. The first time I couldn’t face her, this time- I will not go down that easily. With spots dancing before my eyes, I managed to drag myself up to my knees. My smouldering gaze finally met her, “Give m-!”

Within a second the pressure doubled, it felt like someone had grabbed my shoulders and slammed me back into the ground with a thud.

“Mmph!”

She put a hand to her ear theatrically, “I’m sorry, what was that?” the cheeky tone of her voice really pissed me off. “Couldn’t hear you with your face planted in the dirt.”

I looked up at her painfully, spitting out grass. “Give me...” I growled out. “My powers back.”

The kid gave me a toothy grin, “Even if I did,” She said cheekily, “You know your current body won’t be able to contain it right? Your flames are so ruthless, they won’t even show their own master any mercy.” She giggled as if it was the funniest thing in the world, “They’ll roast you from the inside out!”

I looked at her morbidly, “I miss the crone.”

The girl laughed, “We’re not much different.” 

“Why are you here?” I asked. “What more could you possibly want?” I told her, “You have taken everything. Everything.”

My neck felt like it was going to snap from the pressure, “My powers, my body, everything that made me, myself. You stripped me of my very being” I cried out.

The creature sighed, “yes, how unfortunate.”

My anger surfaced again “You vile masochistic demon.” I snarled out, thrashing on the ground as the invisible force continued to pin me, “What did you gain by putting me through all of this?”

The child arched an eyebrow,

“So your mother levelling mountains because someone ticked her off is divine, but me cursing a sad demigod is vile?” She challenged, “Such double standards.” She said clicking her tongue, “I was right the first time, your ayakashi blood does make you stupid.”

My eyes widened, my mother?

I felt my mouth go very dry, I should have figure that the scorching light wasn’t just any spell, it was divine spirit energy. No ayakashi can put curses out like that. No, I realised bitterly, it wasn’t a curse at all, it was a prophecy.

A Goddess.

She could bend everything that the moonlight fell over. Bathed in divine light, the goddess of the crimson moon.

Just like the different phases of the moon she appears different each time.

Oh seven hells. Maybe I should apologise for calling her a masochist.

My jaw tightened, “You’re her.” I gasped out, goosebumps flooding my body, “You are Manana.”

A ghost of a smile played at her lips, the blind eyes crinkling at the sound of her name, “Well then,” she said, sounding very pleased. “Now that you know, we can actually begin.”

“What do you want?” I said, feeling the exhaustion in my bones. I had fought for this stupid human life for days, scrambling to keep myself alive. I hadn’t expected mortality to be so heavy.

“What I want?” She asked, giving out another laugh, “I thought you would be rubbing your nose at my feet begging me to spare your life tomorrow.” She completed. “Tell me daughter of the hills, do you not fear the fate tomorrow’s crimson moon will bring you?”

Considering how much it did scare me, I should have been begging her for life. For most demigods in the stories, begging for mercy to a Goddess worked out well.

“Unless..” She picked up on my thoughts, “That’s no longer what you wish for.”

I pulled myself to tell her what was truly ripping me from the inside, “If Naraku holds my dying heart, he’ll get his hands on hellfire.” I said,

“But my death will prevent that” I explained flatly, “There won’t be a beating heart to hold.” I told her bitterly. My eyes met her’s with a broken smile, “it’s not much, but I can accept a death like that.” It’s the best defence I can provide the others.

The ends of her mouth twitched, “Are you really naive enough to believe that something so mundane as death would stop him?” She replied, “There’s no stopping his ambition. He’ll find a way to attain your flames even if he has to carve out your corpse.”

 No. I mouthed.

“That’s not what was supposed to happen.” I whispered out, my throat going very dry, my death won’t matter. He will continue to hunt everyone I will leave behind.

I curled my fists, “You don’t understand, this isn’t just about me anymore.” I looked up at her, trying to gather any shred of sympathy. “If he gets his hands on my flames, I–“ I shook my head, “I don’t even know what all he would be capable of.” I looked up at sudden desperation closing up my throat, “No one else understands.”

“Not Sesshomaru not inuyasha and the others, they don’t fucking understand how powerful he is.” But I do.

I felt the brunt of his powers firsthand, the poison in his miasma and how his talons tried to carve out my heart. “They will not be able to stand up to him.”

“And?” she asked.

My words faltered, “And?” I cried out angrily, My voice cracked, “The death and destruction he will bring would be a thousand times worse than what I did.”

“Human lives obviously.” The Goddess said, “Naraku’s descent into power will spark a war bartered in lives, ayakashi and humans.” She flicked the flat-stone and it disappeared mid-air.

“But it’s a war that does not concern you.” She said, “It is something you won’t even have to deal with at all. What has changed so much, that it has you pleading, daughter of the hills?”

“That doesn’t…” I pursed my lips, no longer knowing what exactly to say. I will die tomorrow. And whatever fucked up shit naraku is brewing I won’t be a part of it. Wasn’t that the easiest way out of it?

“I can’t just leave now.” I said finally, my head dropped, No matter how much the fire clan sang about glorious deaths, and how much I thought I desired a gore-y end on a battlefield. I realized I wanted to live. Even as a sad, unattractive, mortal, mountain girl. I still wanted to live. Especially now. Especially now that I’m-

My voice quivered, “I’m leaving behind too much.” I rasped out. “With my hellfire, I can give them a chance.”

“What does it really matter which tyrant holds the flames?” She tilted her head, “Do you think he would use it any different than what you did?”

The world around me went very still. Hellfire isn’t something I deserved either.  

I begged her, “I know… I know I deserve my end.” I bowed to the divinity before, surrendering every sense of ego I had, “So please, Please” -

I thought of Rin and Kagome, and all those who had shown me so much kindness. They would all fall under his hand, hounded by my flames. The same flames I could have used to protect them. Even if I can’t change my destiny.

“I don’t have anything else to barter.” I replied, “You already have my life, so I can only beg this to you.”

“You can’t let Naraku get my flames.” I told her,

“I don’t care what you have to do to this body for that.” I continued, burned, eaten by animals, “Whatever brutal death I’m fated to tomorrow” I said, “Please, make sure it rids my entire existence, and I’ll pull my hellfire back into hell with me.”

There was a momentary silence, where I thought, she would start laughing again. But the Goddess just hummed curiously.

“Fine then, daughter of the hills.” She spoke, the voice ringing out hauntingly in the grove.

My eyes widened

“Tomorrow when death comes for you, I’ll allow you a chance.”

The Goddess beckoned her powers and magic shook the forest awake. I could feel the ancient, strange spirits of the forest peek over the shadows around us. Stirring from years of slumber to witness another prophecy.

Her white iris gleamed, “Just one.”

I stared at her in absolute silence. Just like the first time I had encountered her, the temperature around me dropped, making my ears ring painfully.

The tips of her lip curled, “I’ll give you one chance to change your destiny, where you can seize back your flames, return to a life of immortality.”

As I watched, the markings on her face began to glow, knowing what was coming I shielded my eyes from the blinding light. It still seemed to sear into my skin, like I had embraced a burning star.

“Daughter of the hills, death will come for you under the crimson moon.” Her voice boomed around me, “But as the blood moon rises for my feast, I shall grant you one final bargain. Take it, and you’ll find your flames again.”

When the light died, I was still on the ground, my kimono soiled from dirt and sweat. As I came to myself, I felt my heart hammer in my chest, a singular thought running in my mind.

Even if the earth splits open and the sky shatters around me, even if it was nearly impossible, even if I only had one chance, somehow, anyhow, I had to survive.

❧

“Wei!” Rin called out in the darkness and I jumped.

In the dark she looked like a little tent, sitting up on her knees the moment I walked back into the cottage.

“Didn’t I tell you to sleep?” I sighed,

The child looked at me expectantly, “I was thinking about what you said earlier.”

I shook my head, far too exhausted to think about this again, “Rin I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“Hear me out.” She persisted as I dropped down on the mattress beside her.

“Next time.” She told me, “When I see something, we can just run away together.”   

She said it with such sincerity I wheezed. That did seem like a simpler solution.

“Don’t laugh!” Rin said, her fingers tugged the sleeve of my kimono, “Promise me.” She said seriously, “Promise me that the next time we’re in danger you won’t stay back alone.” her sound was barely was a whisper, but it hung in the icy air like a sword over my neck.

“Promise me that we’ll run away together.” 

I stared back at her,

One chance.

I tried to give her a small smile. One

A fool’s bargain, yet a bargain nonetheless.

“I promise.”

❧

GUESS WHICH SLOTH JUST UPLOADED?????

[thedarkheretic156]

Eternal Flame

Sesshomaru x DemiGod! Reader

warnings: mild description of violence, eventual smut ^`^

Parts: Mortal ḯ̵̡̤̣̞̜͑ Death ḯ̵̡̤̣̞̜͑ Sing ḯ̵̡̤̣̞̜͑ Hunt

The old folklore of the east whispers of a terrible power. Wielded by a lone demigod, fated to walk through the eras the dark fires of hell dancing on her fingers. With no regard for human life, she was fated to be feared and worshipped. But fate is a bitch. Now cursed to be stripped of her powers and doomed to mortality she finds herself in the care of a sworn rival. The great Daiyoki of the west.

ḯ̵̡̤̣̞̜͑ Mortal ḯ̵̡̤̣̞̜͑

“You IGNORANT HUMAN HOW DARE YOU TALK BACK TO THE GREAT DAIYOKAI HIMSELF-“ the toad thing screamed so violently, that the little human girl jumped to her feet and scurried outside the hut. I shut my eyes close. The first thing I do when I get my powers back is to cook that fucking frog. I promised myself.

The wounds still hurt. Seven hells, do these human wounds ever heal? I groaned internally as I made the mistake of turning in a more comfortable position, more pain shot up my shoulder blade, flooding through my entire torso. I gritted my teeth as I tried to breathe through it. As the toad thing raged on in the background I shut my eyes tight hoping to wake up from whatever nightmare this was. My body had never felt so vulnerable… so pathetic before. I would willingly submit if the earth mother was to split open and swallow her stupid mortal body right now.

“You should be grateful that Lord Sesshomaru even considered helping a lowlife like yours!”

Yes. Him, the worst part of this whole horror extravaganza. Even with a human body, I should have been able to stand my ground and give that horse yokai a run for its money. But it had torn me apart in an unmatched battle. Just when I had thought it would be my shameful end, I was saved. By the likes of him. To watch his cold amber eyes scrutinize her vulnerable body and then take pity on her, was much worse than being eaten by a yokai. Anger burned in my gut. I had heard of him before, the mighty destroyer of towns, it was high praise for a demon to be sung about among demigods. I would toss my hair and scoff every time someone would talk of his valor. Unknowingly this mysterious daiyokai had become my sworn rival.

As I honed my body through training every day, I would boast how the great Sesshomaru would be wise to never step upon the western lands. I had dreamed of facing him down in brutal combat, what it would be like to claim bakusaiga for myself when I emerged victorious.

Well. Fate was a little piece of shit. Not in my wildest dreams had I imagined it to turn out like this. I hadn’t expected the fear as the demon lord approached me coldly, curling his fingers under my chin and making me wait in anticipation as he decided if I was worth saving. And although I hadn’t expected the awe from his beauty either, it was all swallowed up by bitter shame. The shame, the anger it was all fucking because of that crone. Cursing her on the eve of her age coming feast. A curse that had fated me to something worse than eternal labor. Mortality.

My nails dug into the soft earth as I suppressed a growl.

“It will all be alright now!”

I opened my eyes to see the little human child race inside again, balancing a bucked with her wiry arms. She blinked her big brown eyes at me as she sat down beside my body. “We should re-dress, your wounds again!” she chirped, sounding very excited for such a morbid situation.

I groaned as she helped me sit up, Rin? Was that her name? All humans smelled and looked the same to me. Regardless, it was this child that I truly owed my life to. She had begged and pleaded Sesshomaru to take her in, and to my great surprise, the daiyokai had complied. The child seemed ecstatic at me getting to travel with them. I couldn’t blame her; the frog was very annoying and I doubted if Sesshomaru was ever chatty.

She hummed softly as she peeled the bandages off my shoulders and chest. We were inside some makeshift hut? The roof was made entirely of dry straw, the walls and floors from dry mud. The shallow fire hearth made little to no difference, the wind outside was chilly and it pricked my skin like needles. Even with the wounds, it felt like something was wrong, I couldn’t stop feeling cold. Rin had called it a fever. At once she had scurried off on thin legs coming back with random herbs. I had only watched as she sat grinding them patiently, mixing them with water and whatnot. Even now, as she changed my bandages, her fingers were nimble yet experienced.

“where did you learn to do this?” I asked. For a second her chirpiness disappeared.

“I learned it myself.” She said.

I decided not to ask any more questions. The human girl went back to humming, as she dabbed the cloth in the water, this time I peered in too. What stared back at me made me gasp. Even in the distorted bucket of blood-water, it wasn’t my face staring back at all. Oh sky mother. I had known the curse had turned me human. But this… wasn’t my body at all. The girl who started back had a small mousey face, eyes set wide apart giving me a perpetually scared look. Wisps of thin coarse hair fell around my face. For a second I couldn’t breathe. I-was… s-so so plain. And plain before HIM.

This is it. If it wasn’t the horse yokai, it was this abomination of my face that would be the death of me. I wasn’t the demigod of the fire clan anymore, not the beauty born of the raging storm. Just a mountain girl, from some human village. No one would remember me if I did die in this body, woefully forgettable. Even Rin who hadn’t even reached womanhood surpassed me in beauty. My head swam suddenly feeling very faint.

“Does it hurt?’ Rin yelped out, at once helping me lie down. “I’ll let you rest.” She said glancing at her worriedly. Within seconds she grabbed the bucket and the toad and raced outside.

The darkness of the night weighed in on me. 14 more days I counted as I lidded my eyes. At least that’s what the crone had chanted. “Fated to be human until the blood moon rises for the feat of Manna.” My stomach churned as I remembered the final line, “You shall learn the power of human life, after losing your own. That is the only gift I can give you daughter of the hills. Your true self.”

Daughter of the hills. Daughter of an Ayakashi Prince and a mountain Goddess. A mother I had never seen before. But I had sworn her patronage and drawn my sword under her name.

Beside me, my katana gleamed sadly. The first time my father had placed the sword in my hands he had made me pledge. “She is the strongest companion you’ll ever find.” He had said, “The demon of the thousand petal blossom by your side. So, remember to reward her every day. Bathe her in blood every time you draw her, remember to let her feast and you’ll never know defeat.”

I had named the sword mrutunjai, triumph over death. And I had drawn her, day after day. Town after town. With her I truly was invincible. Until that damn crone. The memories of that fated night flooded through my mind. My dragon hide armor was slick with blood, I could still feel the pieces of yokai flesh between my teeth. But sweat-soaked and covered in blood the night wasn’t over yet.

The human woman clung to the last remaining yokai. Its eyes had rolled back into its head, one of its horns already broken, the only signs of life it showed was the faint twitch of its curling fingers.

“please” the woman had pleaded, covering the yokai with her body, its dark blood seeped into her kimono ike black oil. Tear-streaked face, yet such unyielding eyes. “You have killed everyone else.” She rasped out. “Spare my husband. Please I beg you on the name of our Goddess.”

“And it is for her that I am purging your village of these lesser demons. The yokai is already poisoned from miasma, I will put an end to its suffering quickly.” I said.

“T-Take me instead.” The woman cried, hugging the yokai closer. In my had Mrutunjai hummed with hunger. I had promised her the blood of 100 lesser demons. And that is what she would have.

“Don’t test my patience Human.” I sneered “If you wish to die I can just kill you with that yokai, my sword’s thirst will only subside with a yokai’s flesh.”

The human woman refused to move. I bared my fangs, eyes flashing with anger. “This village was under the patronage of the Mountain Goddess. To taint it with lesser demons is to challenge me directly. You fools should have anticipated this.”

The woman flinched, draping herself across the yokai’s body, “You don’t understand.” The woman’s voice quivered, but strange strength sparked within her, “Because of what you are… you cannot understand.”

My anger brimmed, flaring like the untamed wildfire. Mrutunjai sliced through them human and yokai blood splattering across the earth. Equally worthless. The humming of the blade finally subsided. I shut my eyes in prayer. “I have saved another of your village mother.”

“Killing in the name of our goddess, you truly are disgraceful.”

I whirled in anger, to face whatever thing had the fucking audacity, to hold such defiance. I hadn’t expected to see the hag. Against the dim moonlight, the human woman looked frail, her silhouette hunched, a long shroud covering her face.

“I have saved your village,” I replied, tempering the storm inside. “Protected your unimportant human lives from the yokai that would have raided houses and devoured children for leisure. You hag, should be falling at my feet.” I snarled

“Protected?” The crone contested; with absolute lack of fear. She raised her head and the shroud fell back, moonlight fell across her feature. She was completely blind, white irises staring right at me. Strange dark marks covered her face in whorls and spirals that replicated galaxies. “The Goddess of Mountains was a harbinger of life.” Her mouth opened and a gold studded tongue snaked out, “She is cruel but justly so.”

The air around us grew colder, I flashed my fangs.

“The ones you claimed for yourself today were innocent. Our village has harbored yokai and humans together for years. They were our own. Fathers, brothers, children. We lived together for generations and you have slaughtered every one of them. Every yokai and every human that stood against you”

“That’s enough” I growled out, Mrutunjai growling with me as I unsheathed the wicked blade. What is the blood of a 100 more? “Humans and lesser demons are better left in their own worlds. Human lives are replaceable, they hold no significance. If I cut down a few humans to withhold the purity of my mother’s patron village, I will. I must.”

I unsheathed Mrutynjai and the hellfire in my veins growled to be free, “Choose your last words carefully, your severed head will soon join the ones at my feet.”

“Maybe your Ayakashi blood has tainted your wisdom. What fear does an old woman like me have of death, you fool?” the crone laughed.

“You have worn my patience human,” I screamed, as I flung at her, all of a sudden powerful ancient magic flooded around us. A Colum of pure magic erupted around the crone. My eyes widened as the searing light encased me completely, blinding me as an unknown force ripped the sword from my hands. There was clang at it clattered to the ground. With a painful howl, I shielded my eyes from the burning light.

The crone’s voice boomed louder and louder like the clap of thunder.

“A child of divinity is to return home in glory after spilling the blood of countless innocents? A gift I bestow upon you, as terrible and unyielding as your own rage.”

The chanting grew louder and my legs buckled, what the fuck was happening?

“Your flames will leave you; your strength will fail you. Your own face will be taken from you. Tonight at the eve of your glory feast.”

“For 14 days from tonight, I fate you to a life of mortality, till the blood moon rises for the feast of manna. You will learn the power of human life after losing your own. That is the gift I give you daughter of the hills. Your true self.”

-------

^^thankyou for reading! ^^

[thedarkheretic156]

I'm going to give you a hot kiss on the mouth thank u sm for ur hardwork and talent bro I'm more in love with wei than sessh now LOL

AHAHAH I'll take all of them kisses (─‿‿─)♡ Thankyou so much for reading! I'm glad you like Wei<33333. I wanted both y/n and the real Wei to have fun personalities, looks like it worked!

[thedarkheretic156]

Did or did not the finale of Season 2 hint at a potential Tolya X Inej Ship????????? IDK ABOUT THAT HONESTLY. Not to mention now that king of scars will be a part of the storyline do we or do we not expect inej to be a part of the parem heist?

[thedarkheretic156]

I just read your sesshomaru series and omfg I love it. 💞💞 Can't wait to read more.💞

Thankyou for readingg <3333 i'm glad you liked it

[thedarkheretic156]

Your aizen post has 200 notes 🥰

I KNOWWW! its still insane to me that people are actually reading the stuff I write lmaoo

[thedarkheretic156]

I just binge-read your InuYasha fic and It's SO good!! TT,TT <3

Thankyouuuu so much for reading! I'm glad you liked it

[thedarkheretic156]

I think your masterlist isn't working? 🥺

So sorryy , why am I not surprised TT, i shall get it fixed right away

[thedarkheretic156]

VII_Eternal Flame_VII

Parts:❧ Mortals ❧ Death ❧ Sing ❧ Hunt ❧ Loss ❧Home

WOHOOO guess who just came back from the dead! Thankyou so much for waiting so patiently for this &lt;;33333

❧ The Narrows.

She pressed the scythe against my neck, the white-hot blade seared into my skin. I opened my mouth in a soundless scream as the smell of burning flesh choked down my throat. The light burned into my eyes, threatening to scorch them in my sockets. The chanting grew louder as I was completely blinded. I felt the hellfire recoil from it. Curling away from the light, receding so far within itself that even I couldn’t reach it. The darkness swallowing me whole. -

Something clattered to the ground with a clang! and my eyes flew open. My fingers reached for my sword instinctively, but there wasn’t anything resting beside me. The world around me was completely different than the darkness of the nightmare.

Warm sunlight filtered through the tree’s canopy. The clang was just Sango chasing Miroku over something, her annoyed voice ringing in the back with Miroku’s voice apologising profusely. I forced myself to take a deep breath, it came out ragged like my throat had closed up. Just a dream, I told myself.

“You alright?”

Inuyasha’s sudden voice made me jump. There was a red blur as he leaped down from the tree, silver hair falling around him. He looked back at me amber eyes flashing. “Looked like a bad dream.”

I shuddered, “Yeah.” I replied, sitting up against the bark of the tree. “But that’s all it was.”

I had pulled on one of Sango’s kimono’s, it was pink chequered and hemmed with green fabric. It sat loose around my frame, the fabric bunched around my waist oddly so one side kept sliding off my shoulder all the time. My chest was still bound with fresh bandages, soaked with herbs that smelled lightly of fresh rain and moist soil. Whatever herbs Kagome was grinding and feeding me was working surprisingly well. Even when I stretched my hands out, the pain was only a dull thud.

He grinned, small fangs peeking out as he smiled, “Good to know.” He said,

My smile faltered as finally, Finally, the realization hit me. I was fucking stupid, the resemblance, hell. I should have connected the dots long before. That’s what happens when you don’t pay attention to Jaken’s rambling.

“You’re his brother!” I cried out.

Inuyasha just looked very confused, “What?”

I shook my head, “You’re Toga’s son!” I exclaimed, suddenly feeling like I was meeting an old friend, “You’re Sesshomaru’s brother.”

Inuyasha’s face twisted in an offended scowl,

“Not a fan, I see.” I replied.

“That asshole’s not my brother.” He said, “Just because we share blood doesn’t make him my family.” Inuyasha’s gaze turned distant, something like hurt flickered in his amber eyes, “After all, he doesn’t even acknowledge-

He blinked stopping himself, “Wait a minute, how in the world do you know him?” he asked.

I smiled at him awkwardly, “About that-“ I started, “You might wanna sit down it’s a long story.”

Inuyasha dropped down on the grass beside me, surprisingly intent. I narrated the entire story of how Rin had found me, and the travels I had with her and Sesshomaru. Unlike his character, Inuyasha continued to listen without interrupting, his eyes never leaving my face. He only asked his question after I was finished.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” He asked.

I gave out a hollow laugh, “Because I just made the connection between you two a few minutes ago.”

Despite his reservations, he scratched his head, a dog-ear flicking, “He could be looking for you, you know?”

“He isn’t” I replied quickly, pressing down bitter thoughts. No matter how much I wanted to see Rin, I knew he wasn’t coming. I had always been just another burden to him, and now that he was finally rid of me, why would he ever come back? I felt my heart sink. It was better this way. I told myself.

Inuyasha stood up, “The more I try to understand that fool, the more confused I get.” He admitted. “Stoic and proud, I really don’t get him at all.”

“And still, even Sesshomaru can be surprising at times.” He completed. I arched my eyebrow at him, trying to make sense of his words. But even considering the thought of it being true, send hope rippling through my mind. I stopped that thought at once. The quicker I come to terms with the truth the better.

“Hey you two!” Kagome’s voice called out. I looked windward, towards her figure standing against the cliff.

“I think we have company.” Kagome announced.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

The two of us jogged over to the edge of the cliff where she was standing. Kagome pointed towards the sky, her dark hair flying in the wind.

“What is that?” Inuyasha asked out.

I looked towards where she was pointing, at what seemed like a black cloud. Moving a lot faster than a storm cloud should. It came with a distinct buzzing sound, erratic, like the flapping of a thousand wings, drowning out the noises of the mountains.

“um?!” I tried, “Are those bugs?” I asked, growing more disgusted by the moment.

Miroku gave me a wink, “Demon bugs.”

“Even better” I murmured trying to shake the grossness of their buzzing wings.

“Please tell me they’re not directly heading towards us?” Kagome groaned.

Inuyasha shrugged, “They’re looking for beating either way.”

Sango walked up beside us, already in her demon hunter outfit. Hiraikotsu by her side and another weapon I couldn’t help but eye.

"Any good with a sword?" She asked me. I couldn't help but grin at her. "So-so."

She tossed me a recently sharpened short-sword. The sword was much lighter than mrutyunjai, I switched the blade between my hands judging its weight. I would have to be light-footed and swifter with it, stretch my hand out wider to make up for the length.  I rolled my shoulder, steadying myself as the swarm got closer.

“Take care of you wounds” Kagome told me as she readied her bow. But the ache for war was taking over my senses again. Blood-lust rising as I saw the challenge near.  Although the feeling was nowhere close to when I had drawn mrutunjai. Just getting to wrap my fingers around the hilt of a sword sent blood roaring in my ears.

“Wait a minute.” Sango started, just as I saw it too.

I tried to make sense of the scene before me, was that a flying cow? I blinked furiously, sure enough an old yokai sat on the floating cow with three eyes. Ferociously waving a huge hammer as they navigated through the cloud of ayakashi bugs. The bugs funneled around them tirelessly, intent on getting to them some way or the other.

"Totosai?!" Inuyasha called out.

I sighed, no matter where I went weird characters kept showing up.

He unsheathed tetseiga, the sword growing twice its size atonce, before practically throwing himself off the cliff with a yell.

“Inuyasha! Wait!” Kagome’s worried voice called out after him. But he had already leapt straight into the swarm just as it enveloped us entirely. The morbid buzz was so loud now, that my ears popped. Their translucent wings barely kept their pigsty bodies afloat, some had snout shaped mouths spraying poisonous miasma, while others had stinger-shaped bottoms. The miasma made clouds of opaque poison, reducing our vison. I covered my nose and mouth with the sleeve of the kimono, my blade already slick with their greenish blood. The white-gold blade of tetseiga looked like lightning flashing through the murky purple miasma of the bugs.

Fortunately, the single attack sliced through most of the bugs. Very unfortunately for the rest of us, the bugs exploded spraying thick goop everywhere. I gaged in my mouth, so much for the new kimono.

“EWWW” Miroku moaned out somewhere in the background. I sliced through the bugs with the short-sword as they advanced, trying my best to avoid the goop, but I was already covered in green bug remains.

“I Just washed my hair!” Kagome screamed angrily, bombarding spirit arrows at the bugs. Sango and I ducked as the arrows sizzled past us, burning through their webbed wings and bloated bodies. They fell down with sad plops spilling out their mushy insides.

“Hiraikotsu!” With a big swoosh Sango’s boomerang cut through another wave of the bugs. The demon-bone weapon made a small opening in the miasma screen, pushing the poison away enough for us to gulp down fresh air. But within seconds the gap closed again, smothering us with the miasma again.

I retching as I stepped into one, the fucking smell. “There’s no fucking end to them!” I cried out, swinging the sword around. For every bug I sliced through, thrice more kept showing up. It was getting harder and harder to see, and my legs kept skidding over the dead bugs littered on the ground. All of a sudden with a very loud MOO, the cow dropped down on the ground, almost taking me with it. I screamed, rolling away from the yokai, very relieved that I wasn’t under it.

“Damn it, that’s it.” Miroku said finally. I watched him pull of the blue cloth pulled over his right palm, pulling away the prayer beads around it. The strange magic made itself known instantly. Something like anxiety curled in my stomach, Demon magic. Clearly that kind of magic shouldn’t be wielded by a human. The side-effects would be devastating.

It was like he had opened a portal to the underworld within his palm. The temperature around us dropped. The wind tunnel opened, causing a whirlwind of pure pressure to erupt around us. I yelped at the gust of wind sent my useless hair flying everywhere. The bugs tried to squirm away, but the pull of the wind tunnel was too strong, along with the miasma it continued to swallow the entirety of the bugs.

 We continued to slice through the remaining ones and within just a few minutes, most of the bugs were gone, the ones left were now buzzing away from us as fast as their wings could take them. My lungs heaved as the air cleared.

Miroku staggered as he covered his palm with his prayer beads again. Sango put a hand on his shoulders to steady him. How he was standing after absorbing all that miasma was beyond me.

“FLEE AWAY YOU LITTLE SHITS-“ Inuyasha continued to scream after them. The others were mostly ignoring him. I kicked away the bug remains around my feet, making my way towards the two yokai. Apart from being covered in bug-goo, everyone seemed unharmed.

Kagome picked off a bug from her hair. “Totosai, are you alright?” she asked, turning towards the cow and the old yokai that had almost crushed me. “Why were these bugs chasing you?”

Although the man himself looked alright, the long gash along the body of the three-eyed bull gave me the answer. The wound was quickly- healing, but it was ugly, like the touch of the blade had decomposed the skin around it. The gash on my chest throbbed painfully.

Naraku.

“That darn spider of course” Totosai mentioned, patting the snout of the cow, “How disgraceful for a warrior, to send lesser demons to do his dirty work, while he covers away in the shadows of the Kagewaki castle.”

“I don’t understand.” Sango said, “why did he send his minions after you?”  

Totosai looked grim, “Naraku has been trying to get to me for a while now.” He said. “Right since he started digging around in that place?”

Kagome and I exchanged a look.

“What place, Totosai-san?” Kagome asked hesitantly, not entirely sure she wanted to know at all.

His eyes narrowed, "In the narrows of Aselie. Nothing good comes from a place like that. I'm telling you,"

The world around me darkened. As if an invisible miasma had surrounded us just at the mention of the name of that place. 

“What is that place?” Kagome asked,

“It’s a trench” Miroku said, his face serious for the first time, “The monks called the closet thing to hell on earth.”

“The split in earth reaches far deep into the darkest parts of the underworld. It stretches across the mountain range separating the west from the eastern lands.” Sango explained. She shuddered, “My grandma used to say its cursed, the soil and the air itself. Anything that breathes that air, touches that earth becomes corrupted."

Inuyasha frowned, “Sounds exactly like the kind of place Naraku would love to go.” He said.

Kagome shook her head, “But why risk going there when his transformation isn’t complete yet? It must have something integral to offer him.”

Totosai clicked his tongue, “From what I could tell,” he replied, "They were mining for ores."

“Mining?” Kagome asked.

My mouth went dry, "He's trying to create a weapon."

Totosai nodded slowly, "Leave a metal ore under a valley like that to sit and hone over years, you're looking at a metal so concentrated with demonic energy, that it’s a being of its own. Something living and breathing."

I shuffled a laugh, "That's stuff out of myths and legends. "

“Just like the shikon jewel right?" Kagome said. I closed my mouth, "Good point."

“And he wants you to make this weapon for him?” Inuyasha scoffed, “The nerve of that asshole.”

Totosai took a ragged breath, "I told him I couldn’t. I have been a blacksmith for years, made thousands of powerful weapons. I know the craft like no other yokai. But there are limitations to even my skill. There are boundaries to welding that even I won’t cross.”

“The legends said that you cannot use ordinary fire to weld a metal like that. No matter how much I breathe down on it, or how long you leave it between flames. You can’t smelt an ore from the narrows with fire born on earth.” Totosai completed.

Cold fear crept up my spine, puzzles ticking in place. Well, fuck.  

"Fire on earth is alive, it lives and breathes. But Hellfire... that's something else. That thing crawls right out of hell, cold and bitter it drinks away everything, leaving behind only shadows." Totosai gave out a mocking laugh, “That’s what that fool wants.”

"Any blacksmith would just laugh at such stories, demonic rock, hellfire." Totosai continued.

"And even if he somehow finds a source for hellfire, there's no blacksmith insane enough to actually make one." He said, "And like hell, would I make one for that rat."

Miroku shook his head, "He'll find someone crazy enough or desperate enough to do it."

"Unless we crack his head before he gets to it." Inuyasha said, standing up at once.

"Sit back down." Totosai told him. "No ordinary blacksmith can create what he wants. That's why he tried to tail me down." he huffed out angrily.

“If Naraku gets his hand on the weapon he’s thinking of, it won’t matter what other defence we have against him.” Totosai warned, “It would increase his powers exponentially, there will be destruction like the eras have never seen. We cannot let it happen.”

“Don’t worry… trying to get the hellfire is impossible” I said. Hellfire was bestowed only to the fire clan of the east and there is no one here in the west who could use it, myself included. To go charging into the east for it… even naraku wouldn't be that stupid.

I pressed down my fear, forcing myself to take a breath. “Even if he gets the metal, he won’t be able to get hellfire. He can't.” I replied.

"The East Fire-demon clan has guarded it for eons. The hellfire is sacred to us, they have an oath to protect it with their lives. He'll end up starting a war just asking them for it." I said, reassuring myself with each word.

"Maybe he won't have to."

I looked at kagome and her face paled, a cold silence fell over.

“Wei.” She breathed out, “You said you were related to the fire clan of the east?”

I nodded, “Its a distant relation” I lied, “You can easily skip over it-“

“And the fire clan inherently can use hellfire?” She continued.

“Yes, All the Ayakashi born children.” I replied.

“Wei.” Kagome's tone was very grim, “Think very carefully, how did the warlords of the East get the hellfire originally?” she asked,

The answer came easy, I had heard the story thousands of times as a child, “The first fire wielder sought out the eternal beast, the primodal dragon.” I narrated out of memory, “He held the beating heart of the dragon after he slayed it and the magic flowed through him as the heart gave out.” I explained,

“That’s how power is believed to flow in east through death-.” my voice trailed away.

I gulped.

Kagome read my face, “I can tell you figured it out.”

Inuyasha looked at me deadpan, “Figured out what?”  

The next in line. The eldest, the dragon of the east. I felt bile rise in my stomach,

“He tried to pry me open once before, it must have been to rip out my heart.” I said.

Sango looked horrified, “Will it actually work? If he killed you like that? I mean you’re human and you don’t have those powers.”

I shrugged, “I don’t think he really cares.” Phantom pain erupted across my chest, right where he had dug his talons. You will learn the worth of human life after losing your own.

Let me rip out your heart demigod.

Maybe I really was fated to die.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

“Alright everybody, no need to panic.” Miroku said, walking back and forth before us.

The rest of us sat crossed legged on the grassy fields as Sango peeled us an apple. Kirara huddled up close to me, the small demon offering some comfort in the situation. Totosai and the cow had flown off soon after dooming us with the news.  

“So,” He began, “Naraku has found this weird super-powerful ore, that is in this very dangerous place, which we know he would use for mass-destruction and genocide. He has also found a source for hellfire.” he completed pointing towards me.

“To extract it by killing you is a crazy idea and no one knows if it will work, but because it is Naraku we gotta give him the benefit of doubt. All in all, what we really have to do is get to the core before him and make sure you don’t die.” He told me, I smiled at him painfully.

“Right.”

Sango stood up, “Although we don’t know why he wants that weapon, we can’t risk Naraku getting any stronger. Knowing him, he wont rest until he gets it.” 

“We know that Naraku wont risk going to the narrows himself, not when his transformation isn’t entirely complete.” Kagome added. “At most he would send Kagura or karen to overlook the mining.”

Inuyasha nodded, “That’s right, if we go there and wreck that ore before he gets to it, he won’t have anything to make the weapon from.”

I shook my head, “If the ore is as powerful as Totosai mentioned, it would be like facing down an actual higher demon.” I reminded him, “How can you be so sure you’ll be able to destroy it?”

“Even if Inuyasha can’t wreck it.” Kagome started, she pointed the tip of her scared arrow towards me, “I might just be able to purify it.”

Miroku snapped his fingers, “That’s right! Our job’s done if we can dilute the demonic energy of the ore. Even if we can’t destroy it entirely, we can still render it useless for Naraku.”

Kagome looked at the sky, “How far are the narrows from here?”

“Two days journey, just north of these mountains.” Miroku replied.

Inuyasha swung tetseiga, “We better start moving then.”

“Before that,” Sango started, she turned to look at me, a little guilty.

I knew that look, “I’m coming with you all.” I stated. “There’s no negotiation.”

“No. its too risky.” Sango said atonce, she put a hand on my shoulder. “I hate to say this Wei, but the narrows are no place for a human.”

I stared at her, “Literally three and a half of you are all human.”

Sango frowned, “I know, but the narrows are high with ayakashi. Its too risky with your wounds to take you along.”

I rolled my eyes, “Kagome, back me up here, of course I should come right?”

Kagome’s face faltered,

“Seriously?!”

Kagome opened her mouth to say something, the world around us shifted. Static electricity like aura erupting around us. A familiar thrill ran down my spine, the call of my sword. I felt my heart skip a beat. No way-

The sudden spike in the tension around us, made everyone spin on their heels. Like lightning in all its power that crashed right into us, sending curls of steam to rise off the grass. The kind of raw anger I had felt so many times before.

Seeing him again, I felt as if all the wind had been knocked out of me. He was here. He had come here, let mrutyunjai lead him to me. My chest tightened, but not with the kind of pain my wounds caused. His eyes swept past everyone else, molten- gold orbs pinning on my frame at once. “S-sesshomaru?” I spluttered out in disbelief.

“Sesshomaru!?” Inuyasha growled out. The daiyokai snarled back dismissively.

The tension spiked, growing thick in the air. Sesshomaru looked like a madman, his elegant gait slipping. I couldn’t tell what it really was that was getting to him this badly, but his marking grew darker, snarl curling into something I had never seen.

Inuyasha’s grip on tetseiga tightened. I watched Kagome slide the bow off her shoulder, “Now why are you here?” she said. From all the shock all I could really do was blink at the situation stupidly.

“Inuyasha” He said venomously, voice sending chills down my spine.

His eyes slitted, “Get away from her.”

Kagome at least spared a moment to look confused, but Inuyasha was already charging. With a growl Inuyasha leapt at Sesshomaru, teeth baring. The aura around Sesshomaru crackled, his markings extending, eyes glowing crimson. For fucks sake-

“No! Stop him!” I cried out.

Thankfully Kagome came to my rescue, “DOWN BOY!” she yelled.

With the command it was like some invisible force had yanked Inuyasha back, slamming him mid-air, face down on the ground with a sickening crunch. The momentum he had, making him fold over himself. Within seconds Inuyasha sprawled on the ground. I winced, “You gotta teach me how to do that.” I told her.

The fall looked so dramatic that even Sesshomaru halted mid-way, taking a step back. Either to laugh or wince as well, but it gave me enough time to step in between them.

“Stand down, both of you!” I told them, using the same tone I used to discipline my familiar back home. Inuyasha painfully lifted his face from the ground. Both of them looked at me with the same stunned expression. Brothers. For sure.

“Put your swords away.” I continued, “There’s no need for that right now.”

My eyes found Sesshomaru’s face, I felt that strange twinge in my chest again. “Why are you here?” I asked him, once and for all.

His brow furrowed, as if he didn’t exactly have an answer to that question either. The silence was heavy with anticipation as the others in the background kept glancing between us. It’s like trying to move a mountain. I thought. But I stood my ground, I knew I couldn’t go back until I knew this. “Well?” I probed him further.

Something weighed down between us, far too much left unspoken. Sesshomaru finally lifted his chin, eyes narrowing, gaze intense enough to burn into me. But there wasn’t a shred of anger in it, it was something else entirely. Something so unyielding that I couldn’t fathom either.

“To take you home.” He said finally.

I let his words sink in. He had spoken as if he was making a promise.

“Wei” Kagome started,

“It’s okay.” I explained. “I have been travelling with him for a while. He-… he saved my life.” I said, giving her a reassuring smile. The genuine shock on Kagome’s face told me it didn’t happen quite often.

She walked to my side, fingers digging into my shoulder, “We can fight him off.” She promised, I doubted it but her concern was heartfelt.

 “I’ll be fine.”

Still unconvinced, Kagome gave me quizzical look, “Are you sure?” Inuyasha pouted beside her, for someone who hated Sesshomaru he seemed to be surprisingly calm about the situation. I remembered his words from before, he had spoken as if he had anticipated this happening.

I thought of Rin’s face, and how much it would relieve me to just see her again. The answer came easy, “Yes.” I told her. But that would also meant I would be bringing the shadow of dangers closer to her.

“Be done with this chatter now,” Sesshomaru snarled out, his eyes flicked towards me, “Do you not grow weary of these fools?”

Kagome gave out an annoyed grunt. It surprised me when she tackled me in a hug. I stumbled backwards right into Sango. The older female put her hand on my hair, “Take care of your wounds.” She said, giving me a back hug as well.

“My turn?” Miroku asked hopefully, but Sango swatted his hands away.

"We’ll meet you when we are back from the Narrows.” I could tell she still felt as though she was abandoning me, “Once, we get rid of the metal, it’ll be over.”

Sango gave me a reassuring smile, “It won’t take longer than a week.”

I watched my 10th sun set behind them. Faces that were strangers to me a day ago, now felt so hard to leave behind. If the prophecy was right… I knew I wouldn’t even see the end of this week, “Yeah” I said, my voice breaking, “I’ll see you in a week.”

I turned towards Inuyasha but it seemed like I had finally worn Sesshomaru’s patience. Wordlessly, his arm wrapped around my waist, he pulled me against his chest before I could protest, "w-wait a second-" I started but he already kicked us off the ground.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

I screamed as we launched into the sky, my stomach jumping up my throat. My legs thrashed around helplessly and I scrambled for something to hold on to.

Sesshomaru growled in annoyance, as i dug into the fluff attached to his armour. Wrapping my legs around his waist. It would have been very embarrassing to be clinging to him but we were meters in the air.

I made the horrible mistake of looking down.

I screamed out again, holding him tighter. I was about to fucking die. In the middle of it I must have yanked on to his hair because he growled from the pain.

"Human-" he hissed out, "I'm not going to drop you."

"I don't trust you!" I screamed out, my heart hammering in my chest.

"Scream near my ear again and I will." He growled out.

But contrary to his words, he lowered us, we touched the ground and I leapt into the grass. It was cold like it had been drizzling recently. My body sunk into the smell of moist soil. The exhaustion of the previous days crashed into me. In the moment I had agreed to going back, but what was I doing?

I would be death no matter where I went. The pain, the anger, the fear all of it. My own disgust and hatred for myself burned inside me. I couldn't take it. I felt my shoulders heave, I was so tired.

“Human…” he started but I cut him off.

“Just leave.”

Sesshomaru stilled.

Why did you think you could have a home daughter of the hills?

I shook my head, “I can’t come with you, I can’t go back-“

Sesshomaru stared at the figure, for the first time a faint tremble ran through her body. A strange heaviness settled around him, “Do you not wish to come with me?”

I raised my head to look up at him, against the moonlight he looked unreal, his immortality glowing. So different, too different than me, "It’s not that I don’t want to. I told him bitterly, It’s that I can’t.”

I curled my fingers into fists, “That spider is going to tail me back there. It won’t matter where I go and who I’m with.”

I choked back a sob, “And the fucking truth of the matter is that I’m too weak.”

“I couldn’t do a thing.” I felt the long spider legs curl around my body again, “No matter what I did…” my voice trailed off, I was helpless. too helpless. I shook my head, finally letting the tears run down my face.

“Don’t you see?” I told him, “When he finds me again, I’m still going to be just that powerless against him." Hell rain suddenly pattered down, drenching the two of us, "And I can’t do that," my voice wavered, "I can’t do that to Rin! I won’t!”

“So please.” I told him, biting back every ounce of ego I had, “Just leave me here.”

I lidded my eyes, my heart stopped as he spoke.

"I am not leaving you." he completed. I was more expecting him to rage away, but his tone was that of a parent coaxing some child out of a tantrum.

“Why must you speak as if you hold the entire weight of the world alone?” He asked,

I watched as he crouched down. His fingers curled around my chin as he forced me to look at him, “He had already made an enemy of me.” He snarled out,

“If it is the spider you fear, then know this. To dare and threaten someone under my protection is to call upon an end worse than death.”

“After all, Naraku hasn’t faced you when you’re armed with your sword.” He added, “He should consider himself lucky.”

His fingers dug into my chin, as strange emotion glazed in his eyes,

“Or do you want other answers human?” He asked, his own breath ragged, “Answers for why this Sesshomaru continues to give a useless human like yourself such importance? For why have I not disposed of you already? Well aware of the annoying pests you will be bringing with you now?” He asked, his tone grew more erratic, more frustrated.  

“The truth is I myself do not understand why it is so. I do not understand why the thought of leaving you here seems to enrage me so much.” His eyes glowered, No answers to why the smell of Naraku’s miasma lingering on her body, makes him so angry he wants to shred that spider with his claws.  “So do not test my patience further.” Sesshomaru he said finally. “Is that understood, Wei?”

I nodded quietly. My heart still hammering in my chest. This was weird. This mortal form was making my heart race for no reason.

Maybe it was the exhaustion of it all, that I allowed him to touch me. His arms wrapped around my frame gently, cautious like I was made of glass.

I curled my fingers around one of the horns of his armor, putting my other hand over his shoulder. We leapt up into the sky again and I pinned my gaze on the stars.

❧

AHHHHHHHHHHH I'm finally done with this chapter, the next ones are gonna have some more angst get ready.

[thedarkheretic156]

Hi!

I just wanted to let you know that I just found your sesshomaru fic and I absolutely love it!!!!!!

I don't know how to put my thoughts for it into words, just that I'm already very excited for when you finish the next part and can't wait to read it!

Take your time with it and I hope you have a great night/day!

OMG THANKYOU FOR READING<33 I'm glad you liked it! Your message totally made my Diwali (Big festival here) the next part should be up by October end~

[thedarkheretic156]

VI_Eternal Flame_VI

PARTS ❧ Mortals ❧ Death ❧ Sing ❧ Hunt ❧ Loss ❧Home

warnings: none.

The old folklore of the east whispers of a terrible power. Wielded by a lone demigod, fated to walk through the eras the dark fires of hell dancing on her fingers. With no regard for human life, she was fated to be feared and worshipped. But fate is a bitch. Now cursed to be stripped of her powers and doomed to mortality she finds herself in the care of a sworn rival. The great Daiyoki of the west.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

❧ Home

Kagura's face twisted in a daunting smile, the beautiful fan fluttered, the wind rose and I pushed Rin out of the way.

The child wailed as the entire impact of the vortex slammed into me. I was thrown backwards,

Pulling tuffs of soft earth as i tried to dig my nails into the ground.

Fuck fuck fuck.

I pulled myself back on my feet, heart hammering. I looked up in time to see Kagura’s sneer deepen.  She sent another wave of wind towards me and it scaled, scaled the trees around me. I rolled away in the nick of time, getting away with only a cut on my cheek. On the brighter side she seemed to focus all her energy on me, forgetting Rin. I only hoped the child had the brains to start running.

She flicked her wrist and the fan gleamed morbidly; the impact hit me right in my stomach. I gagged as I was thrown backwards, painfully hard into a tree stump. I blinked stars out of my eyes as I braced myself for what could be the next blow, but something beat her to it. In retrospect, I would have preferred that wind lady over whatever the fuck happened next anytime.

There was a sudden shift in the sky, a cunning entity entirely hidden, now finally revealing itself.

Within moments, the world around me went black. And no, I did not pass out. It was as if I had been pulled inside the mouth of an ancient Deitya Beast. And I would know, because once I was stuck in there for a week- I forced my mind to focus. It wasn’t just some miasma clouding my sight. I was no longer in the forest.

The dark miasma flooded over my senses like a rolling tide. I jerked back, tripping over the hem of my kimono. My ears popped as I crouched lower, covering my ears. I had never felt energy like this, something so vile yet so all encompassing. Like I was facing a churning ocean in all her rage. I forced my eyes open, choking and gasping through the thick poison.

I had to see what abomination of nature held power like that.

“How curious.” The voice said, and my human blood ran cold. The voice had a strange hum, as velvety as a shroud. It came at me from all directions, I spun my head around, what the hell?

“Show yourself coward!” I screamed out.

The reply was a laugh from the pits of hell. Ancient, yet incomplete, a monster that hadn’t stepped into his power yet. I gritted my teeth, the miasma sending pain shooting through my body. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with it much longer.

“But I am right here.”

I froze. The thing sat crouched beside me, warm breath tickling the shell of my ear as he whispered. Panic rose in my chest, how the fuck had I not noticed? He hummed curiously, long fingers brushing against the small of my back. This little fuck-

But I couldn’t move. Not one bit. I opened my mouth, but only an estranged yelp came out. Finally, I felt the things that were holding me down. Long dwindling legs, sprawled along my body, like crawling black legs of a spider. Bile rose up by throat.

“Don’t struggle now demigod, in this body you can’t fight me.”

Demigod. My blood chilled as one of the legs wrapped around my throat tapping my cheek playfully.

“You see, I’m not as dense as the mutt.” He said lovingly, “Even in your human body… I can feel your hell fire.” He breathed out. The spider legs tightened around me, pulling me in an embrace, “I can free you.”

Liar.

My rage bubbled inside me. I will kill him; I will kill him slowly.

“Join me and I can return you to your former glory.” His hands slid up my torso, “Power like the one you hold, is rare, you would hold great power in my ranks.” 

I felt sick, I could hardly hear his words over the feeling of his crawling limbs across my body. His hand stopped on my chest, palm pressing against my hammering heart. “Submit to me child of hellfire.” For a heartbeat he paused. Panic like I had never felt before rang in my ears. “It was nice meeting you Y/n.”

His talons dug into my chest. The pain nearly blinded me, as his fingers continued to dig deeper charring through my skin. I tried to fight my very being to gain some sort of control, but I couldn’t fight back. He was just too powerful. He was about to carve me out. Blood gurgled as I spluttered out, I couldn’t do anything.

I closed my eyes in absolute defeat, scouring down within myself trying to grapple on to any shred of power I could conjure. But I couldn’t. There was nothing. Tears streamed down my face as a final broken sob tore out of my throat.

Empty, empty and empty. What a horrible end to a sad story. For the first time since I lost my powers, I stopped fighting.

And the magic exploded.

It wasn’t mine. It couldn’t have been. It was bright, blistering, like I had looked directly at the run. The beam shot through me, pulling a wall of pure sacred power between me and the thing. I was pushed forward, I stumbled on hard ground, falling face first into sand.

Naraku was taken aback by the pain, the light that threw him back was sacred magic, pure yet unyielding. It was impossible for the demigod to hold any magic energy in her human form. It sizzled through his limbs, he retracted them at once, more surprised than hurt. What in the world?

I was… I was smoking, curls of steam rising off my body. There was no way that was my fire, it was something else entirely. Before me Naraku’s eyes narrowed. For the first time I saw the thing that was holding me down. The dark hair, the sharp face and the crimson eyes. The miasma around us flickered again.

This time I actually saw it. A pure ray of white-hot light shooting across between us, putting enough space for me to scurry away as far as I could manage. My body still felt painfully heavy, I tripped over myself again, heels skidding on the soft muck underneath me. The darkness around me thinned and I fell with a sad thud.

“TESSAIGA!”

The attack cut through the wind, slicing through the remaining miasma. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the spider’s miasma disappeared. My chest heaved as I gulped down clear air again. As my eyes adjusted I realized I wasn't in the darkness anymore.

,"Are you alright?" A voice asked as a figure ran towards me helping me to my feet. I groaned in response, my head still ringing, my skin stung where the spider had wrapped it's talons. But the pain on my chest was unbearable. I tried to look at the young man holding me up by my arm, but more splintering pain erupted across my body. I collapsed on the ground again. Eyesight blurring.

"She's bleeding, be careful Miroku." A woman's voice said sharply. The girl set down her bow, as she crouched down beside me, the pain dulled and I tried to focus on her features.

"I'm fine." I mumbled out, pulling my arm free of the man's grip.

"Easy there love, that was a nasty miasma you were caught up in." The man said. I tried to stand up but my legs gave in, I groaned in defeat as the bow girl eased me on the ground.

“Her chest- God, Sango, hand me my bag now.”

“So it was Naraku.” The man said.

Naraku?

“I’d know his rotten scent anywhere.” The boy grumbled. He scratched the back of his head. I tried to look at him, white hair, amber eyes… were those ears on the top of his head?

“we’ll have to clean her wound right away Kagome.” Another voice said, “otherwise the poison from the miasma will infect it beyond help.”

The voices sounded underwater.

Don’t fight the fatigue Y/n.

For once I complied and closed my eyes.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

I jerked awake and someone beside me jumped violently.

“Seven hells!”

I had just snapped out of the most peaceful sleep I had gotten in days. I looked around a little bewildered and the girl sat up by my side at once.

“Its okay we won’t hurt you!” The young girl said, putting her hands up in assurance. I stared at her wide brown eyes, wasn’t she the one who bandaged me up? my heart twinged at the thought. Her aura, it reminded me of Wei.

“Try sitting up.” The older woman said gently. I shifted, sitting up. I was expecting blinding pain, but it never came. I was fine. I blinked up at her in surprise and the woman grinned, “Looks like your herbs worked Kagome! You’re getting really good at this.”

The upper part of my kimono was bloody and ripped. The top half fell open as I sat up, showing my chest wrapped securely in bandages. The guy in the monk style clothes pinned his eyes on my breasts and the other woman kicked him hard.

“You’ll be fine now,” she said softly. I could feel the bitter taste of herbs in my mouth. They must have fed me something too. Even after the awful encounter, my body felt well rested. The unbearable pain replaced with a dull throb. 

Why daughter of the hills, you keep getting lucky.

I put a hand on the bandages, feeling the soft thump of my petrified yet working heart. I had somehow survived.

“Thankyou.” I told her. More sincerely than I had ever talked to a human. “I owe you my life.”

The girl with the bow blushed, “It’s quite alright. Not a big deal.”

I stared at the quizzical faces before me,

“I know you must have questions,” I started.

The monk dude winked. “We could start with your name~”

“Wei.” I told them, ignoring him.

Lying to the ones who showed you such kindness. You really are a wicked thing.

“And what job does that Naraku have with a lady?” Miroku sang, he slipped his fingers through mine, gazing at me intently, “Tell me little dove, where did you come from?”

“I’m from…” my voice trailed off, I couldn’t risk telling them the truth, “I’m not from here.” I said.

The girl who did my bandages gave me a half smile, “It’s okay, I’m kinda far from home too.”

“My name is Kagome, that’s Sango, Miroku but you can ignore him and that-“ she pointed to the boy I had scared earlier, “Inuyasha! Why are you sulking all the way over there?” she snapped at him.

I scratched my neck. Inuyasha? Why does that name sound familiar now. The half demon looked at me skeptically, “She smells weird, its almost like… urgh forget it.” He said looking away.

“You’re being rude!” Kagome yelled back him. These two seemed to get along.

“Wei,” The other girl with pink makeup… Sango, asked. She sat down beside me, setting her huge weapon aside. “What did Naraku want from you?”

“I don’t know.” I said bitterly, “I don’t even know who he was, I had literally never even heard of him before.” I closed my eyes, head still throbbing.

"I was someplace else before - and then i was in that purple slushy thing- and now I'm… here." I explained. I looked around my surroundings for the first time. From the auburn sky I could tell it was already late evening.

We stood on a levelled hill top. The mountain range was huge, surrounding us in a circle. Against the evening sky they looked like deformed hunchbacks. There wasn’t any greenery on the mountains, just dark, unfertile sand. Everything about this place filled me with a sense of dread.

“Where is this place?” I asked, my voice hollow.

Sango handed me an apple. “The locals just call it Kuroi Yama, the black mountain.”

“It doesn’t have much human settlement, other than a few villages and a bunch of skeletal birds.” Miroku said, he gave me a cheeky smile, “The monks always had morbid stories of this place.”

“We were demon hunting in a nearby village.” Kagome explained. She turned to inuyasha scowling, “When this idiot just ran off mid fight because he smelled ‘something familiar.’”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, he snapped back at her, but my mind was too busy elsewhere.

I knew the place;

The black sand hills, the same place my great- grandfather burnt down the entire enemy fleet, charring the sands of the mountain a forever ashen grey. Such a strange coincidence, I thought. My clan rarely crossed the eastern sea. We didn’t have any history in the western lands. Nothing except maybe just this one place. I picked up a fistful of the dark sand, letting it fall through my fingers. And the spider had dragged me back here of all places.

How strange.

“Let’s set up camp here for the night.” Sango said. She looked up at the sky as some skeletal birds squawked distantly. “We have had enough of an adventure for the night.”

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

I curled up against the dried-up tree bark, the evening shadow of its branches eerily similar to the spider’s. Sango had kindly lent me one of her spare clothes. I had just pulled it over my previous kimono like a blanket.

I watched the campfire before me crackle. Behind me Inuyasha’s eyes were pinned on the horizon, as if he was making sense of something beyond him. I continued to stare at the flames, holding back every instinct to just put my fingers through it.

Fire is not your friend anymore Demigod. Play with it and it will sear through you.

“Careful not to burn yourself.”

I looked up. “Oh, Kagome.” I said as the young girl sat down beside me.

She brushed her dark hair over her shoulder, “How are you doing?”

I shuddered, “I… don’t know.” And I truly didn’t.

In my head I counted the remaining nights. 4 more moons. I was foolish to think I would die before the prophecy. The crone would not grant me that mercy, while I was fated to die, I had to die on her terms not the spider’s.

Kagome seemed to consider my answer.

“If Naraku was targeting you that means something.” Kagome said.

I pressed the fear down. Naraku had come after me because he knew I was the demigod. But why would he want me dead? It wasn’t that the FireLords didn’t have any enemies. Half of east would rejoice my death, but what did this spider want?

Inuyasha nodded as he walked over, “He doesn’t just go after small fry. He has minions to do that, the wind lady and that short white-haired kid an-

“The point is,” Kagome cut him off, “Even if you don’t know why, if Naraku wants you dead he will see it through. He’s dangerous.”

She pursed her lips, “Wei, we can’t help you, if you can’t tell us who you are.”

I closed my eyes considering my options. I had no fucking idea where I was. I had no fucking idea if Sesshomaru could even find me here. Or if he wanted to. For now, this odd group had shown me kindness, but I wondered how long that would last. If I told them my real identity, they for sure would forsake me. Who needs a cursed demigod doomed to meet death? But I couldn’t keep lying to them either.

“I’m from the east.” I said finally.

Inuyasha’s eyes widened, “Really?” he asked, “Never met anyone from there before.”

“Yeah.” I replied, “My father… he is related to the firelords of the East.”

“Although human!” I added quickly, “We’re both human, I mean.”

“As for how I got here is-“ I sighed morbidly, “It’s a long treacherous story I won’t bore you with. But right now, I can’t go home. Not like this. So I’m pretty much stuck in the west.”

Kagome put a hand on my shoulder, “What about your mother?”

I opened and closed my mouth.

“I never knew her.” I replied, no longer lying. I hugged my knees to my chest, no one had really asked me about her before. “I have no memories of her.”

Something like sympathy settled in Inuyasha’s eyes, he kicked a small pebble out of his way, “Parents are overrated anyways.” He grumbled out. “You just stick with us.”

I blinked at him, “What?”

There was a ferocity in his amber eyes, I knew in a different situation we would get along well. “Naraku is sure to come after you again, thankfully for you we’re already on his hitlist. What’s one more?”

Something like warmth tickled my insides. “I couldn’t bear to be a burden.”

Kagome’s eyes flickered, “You wouldn’t be.” She told me. “And yes, Inuyasha is right, most of us here don’t have the nicest idea of home, I think you’ll fit in.”

I couldn’t help but peek a smile. “Okay.” But my heart still weighed down. I couldn’t put the picture of Rin’s tear-soaked face as I had pushed her away, screaming at her to run. Maybe it was better for the child to think I was dead. The sinking feeling deepened. What if she didn’t make it back? What if Kagura caught up with her after the spider took me? What if-

Urgh, what was the matter with me? The situation I was in with Sesshomaru was temporary, neither of us wanted to be in it. The human child was bound to die in a couple of centuries any ways. Why should it matter to me so much? It shouldn’t, but it did.

I didn’t want to admit to myself but I was hoping to go back to Rin, quietly hoping that I somehow find my way back. How embarrassing.

I pushed that thought away, “Inuyasha you said that Naraku was after you too, why is that?”

Inuyasha shrugged, “It’s another long story, and it involves far too much fighting… even for me.”

Kagome rolled her eyes, “Do you know anything about the shikon jewel?” she asked me.

I dug into the apple, “you mean the pearl thing that can grant a yokai God like power?”

Inuyasha and Kagome exchanged a glance. “Naraku is hell bent on collecting all of its pieces. If he attacked you, there must be something that connects you to it.”

I stared at Kagome, “You mean to tell me the jewel is real?”

She shook her head, “Unfortunately.”

A heavy silence fell over. I had only ever heard of the jewel in casual talk. Something voyagers and guests from the east would chat about. For me it was an old wives’ tale. What could it possibly have to do with me.

“If what I heard about the jewel is correct… if that spider dude-

“Naraku” inuyasha corrected me under his breath.

“Well, if he gets his hands on it, he’ll-“ I gulped down the thought. The memory of his miasma choking me. It sent violent chills down my spine. He was already too powerful, with the jewel, I doubted if even I with my hellfire could defeat him.

“Which is why we can’t let it happen.” Inuyasha stated. I blinked at the young man before me. Now why did he looks so familiar?

“Dinner’s ready!” Sango’s voice called, the woman appeared with Miroku, each carrying a delicious smelling bowl.

“Here’s yours, Wei” She said, setting one in my hands, “Don’t be shy.”

I stared as the small fire demon ran to me and curled in my lap. Well. As with Ah-Un, fire demons really could sense that I was something more.

“Kirara!” Sango, exclaimed, “He doesn’t usually do that.”

I watched as the group huddled together by the fire. Sango chatted to Miroku animatedly just as Kagome said something and everyone laughed. Kirara purred in my lap. I realized this might be the closest I would be to home. I looked up at the sky sending a thought to the companions i had until now.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

Sesshomaru stared at what had become of the forest. Her sword in his hand trembled with rage. The miasma still hung in the air, charred remains of the portal had seared itself into the nearby trees. What in the actual fuck had happened here.

His lips twisted in a scowl as he noticed the blue scrap of her kimono stuck on one of the tree's charred remains. The sword in his hand grew white-hot. Humming with life like a heart outside of its body. With all of his being Sesshomaru just wanted to leave it at that. Throw away the sword and forget about this strange human here and now. He had let her overstay and Rin had gotten too attached.

But something pricked at his soul. The razor sharp grin, the sheer audacity of that wiry mountain girl before him. Like him being a daiyokai didn't faze her one bit. The first time he had seen her, she was half-dead, caked in yokai entrails, but Sesshomaru swore he saw violet-blue hellfire flash in her eyes. How does a human bring anger like that?

He felt himself bare his fangs as he whiffed out the sent of her blood. Human as she may have been she was still under his protection. He was about to tear through the heavens themselves if it meant getting her back.

His eyes shifted to the Yokai sword in his hands, "Lead me to her." he growled out, the ancient markings on the sheath gleamed, blazing so hot smoke curled off of them.

The Daiyokai took that as a yes and kicked off into the sky.

------------

Ay loves thankyou for reading!

[thedarkheretic156]

💣💘 💀 ♗💥 🐺☠

Welcome~

Please call me Ame.

𝓘'𝓶 22 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝔂 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓭'𝓼 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓿𝓮𝔂𝓪𝓻𝓭.

𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱

[thedarkheretic156]

V_Eternal Flame_V

PARTS ❧ Mortals ❧ Death ❧ Sing ❧ Hunt ❧ Loss❧ Home

warnings: none.

The old folklore of the east whispers of a terrible power. Wielded by a lone demigod, fated to walk through the eras the dark fires of hell dancing on her fingers. With no regard for human life, she was fated to be feared and worshipped. But fate is a bitch. Now cursed to be stripped of her powers and doomed to mortality she finds herself in the care of a sworn rival. The great Daiyoki of the west.

❧L̵̛͍̰̹̱̳͊̾̽̈́͝͝͝o̸̢͙̼̙͇̣̥̥͇̾̽̀̀̕s̴̼͉̕s̷̯̲̗̱͍̀ͅͅ❧

The next few days were awkward to say the least. Every time I saw him, my cheeks would heat up, my mind sending me back to the incident after the hunt.

One time, looking at my flushed face, Rin even asked me if I had a fever. It was all so pathetic. I was a Ayakashi princess for hells sake, for me to salivate over a mutt like him was just disgraceful.

I couldn't help but look at him now, resting against the bark of a tree. long limbs sprawled out leisurely. Although his amber eyes were lidded close, I wondered if he really ever slept. My eyes lingered on his arms, the sleeve of his kimono was pulled up, showing the magenta stripes adorning his fore arms. They look comfy, my brain thought at once.

I could have screamed. Pull- yourself- together-woman- I hissed at myself as I crammed the berries in the hand-woven basket angrily.

'You're squashing them.' Rin pointed out.

Just the thought of his aura sent goosebumps flooding my body. I didn't know if I wanted to force such a Daiyokai into submission, fuck him or both.

Seven hells. The late noon had started to bleed the sky a deep auburn. The humidity layering the inner lining of my kimono with perspiration. I was too hot and a little too close to him.

I needed a distraction; I threw the berry basket down.

“I’m going to the pond.’ I announced, to no one in particular. A cold bath might actually help cool down my nerves. And get my mind off him.

I tossed my braid over my shoulder, stomping down the camp site.

“Wait for me!” Rin cried out, putting her own basket down. She neatly wiped her berry strained hands on a rag-cloth and ran down towards me at full speed.

“Bye Lord Sesshomaru, Bye Master Jaken! We’ll be back soon~” the child cried out to them

“Do be careful” Jaken called back. “It would be horrible if you drowned.” He added sarcastically.

I knew he meant that last bit for me. I drew a breath, “At this point I wouldn’t mind that at all.”  

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

I peeled the kimono off my body, throwing it over a dry rock beside Rin’s neatly folded one.

A balmy steam seemed to have settled over the water. The evening cold, had made the water perfect. Among all the things going horribly wrong in my life, these sunset baths were my one salvation. Rin kicked around the pond, collecting lotus stems. She loved these baths; she would squeal on about how beautiful the night was and how nice the weather was.

The wounds on my back stung as the water lapped on them gently. Every time I stepped inside the water, I was reminded of how frail my body was. The blisters on my feet, the ache of my muscles, just the exhaustion of being human. I sighed into the water, eyelids growing heavy. Before I could stop myself, my mind pulled me into yet another cruel memory.

Don't show me that one, I pleaded with my mind.

Anything but that. I thought as i was pulled deeper into sleep.

I leaned against the mahogany door frame of the shrine. The smell of medicine was faint, swirling through the harrowing smell of blood and demon miasma. My eyes begrudgingly watched the local priest work over her body. She had gotten thinner, paler.

Wei’s face was etched in pain. Her cheeks sunken in, the rosy flush of life entirely gone. The priestess kept her eyes shut as the medic inspected what was left of her body.

One of her arms ended at the elbow, the stump bandaged in greying cloth straps. The state of her legs wasn’t much better either.

The sacred fire glowed amber from inside the percolated chamber. The pattern of stars fell across Wei’s figure in light and shadow. I watched quietly as the medic changed the water beside her mattress verily. He gave me a low bow, before scurrying away so fast he slipped on the hem of his longcloth.

“You are scaring people Y/n” Wei said as he exited. Her voice still soft and playful, she pulled one eye open looking at me chidingly, “Don’t stand there like that, you look constipated.”

I walked in rolling my eyes, with monsoon, the shrine felt damp and humid. Moss growing on its black-wood walls like the mountain was staring to swallow it back into herself.

Wei grinned watching me settle down beside her, almost unknowingly she reached for the water on her side, with an arm that no longer existed. Sudden pain flashed on her face and my heart almost leaped out. I shifted at once, picking it up for her. Blood oozed out dampening the grey straps, streams of tears raced down Wei’s face and my anger flared.

“What’s the point of crying of regret now Wei?” I said, knuckles turning white on Mrutyunjai’s hilt.

Wei pulled her tear-soaked face into one of her beautiful smiles, “The pain is so bad, I can’t help but tear up.” She said looking up to the celling. I felt as if someone was ripping me up from the inside.

“The yokai that did this is gone.” I found myself saying, “and all of its kind. I made sure none of them survived.”

“Is that why you are here Y/n? to tell me that?”

My eyes narrowed, “What do you mean? I wiped them out of existence Wei, everyone of them paid for what happened to you.”

Wei’s eyes looked more heartbroken than ever when she looked into mine.

“Do you want me to congratulate you, Y/n? Do you want me to fall at your feet and thank you for avenging me?” Wei said, there wasn’t a spark of anger in her, not one. Just exhaustion.

“Killing the yokai isn’t going to keep me from dying Y/n, killing it or hundreds of its kind isn’t going to relieve you of my death. All I wanted was you to stay here with me, to be by my side for whatever time I had left, but your anger drove you out. You had to hunt every one of them down, and tell me Y/N does that give you peace?”

I stood up angrily, “Then what the fuck am I supposed to do Wei?” the fire flared higher, “Do you just want me to sit around and watch you die? All of this, the stench of blood, the human child in the village, that fucking yokai it makes me feel-‘  just so fucking helpless.

A broken sob tore out of my throat, “Why did you do it Wei?” I asked her, “Why did you run out there?”

She had been foolish when it mattered the most. Jumping in to save some human child she didn’t even know, from an estranged yokai that had wandered into the village. By the time the hunters arrived, she had lost 3 limbs, the miasma poisoning her body beyond repair.

My fingers dug into my palms drawing blood. “When you knew how defenceless you would be.”

Wei’s gaze turned distant, as if she was considering things even, she couldn’t fathom.

“I don’t know.” She replied, rain thundered down outside. “In that moment… when I realised what would happen to the child, its like my body reacted on its own.”

The silence between her words seem to cut into my skin.

“I have no regrets,” she completed, the priestess turned her face to look at me again. Her forest- dark eyes held strange emotion. Her lips eased into one of her smiles again, “I’d do the same a hundred times over.”

The words hung in the air and the sacred fire crackled, the walls of the shrine and the wooden floor trembled slightly. The world around me hummed with the power of her words and everything they held, until it fell silent entirely.

“Wei!”

My eyes flew open. I had actually fallen asleep in the bath, the water now biting cold. It had bee many years since I had met Wei first. And it had been many more since she had succumbed to her injuries and died. Being immortal, memories had always been strange to me. They faded over the years, faces disappearing and bleeding into one another. But somehow, I still remembered the priestess at the mahogany shrine. Her face branded into my mind. The smile in her voice haunting even now.

“You fell asleep” Rin giggled, her laugh echoing around the grove. “You’ll get cold~.”

My shoulders felt heavy as I pulled myself out, arms trembling. I knew the chill wasn’t exactly from the water.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

Rin hopped over a shrub, swinging a random stick she had picked up from God knows where like a wand.

It had already gotten dark and the forest somehow seemed to close in on us. My chest tightened with anxiety, even under the open sky I felt my throat closing up.

“Let’s pick up the pace.” I told Rin.

 Although both Jaken and Sesshomaru just let us wander off anywhere after my little… outburst. There was just something about this stupid night that was sending harrowing chills down my spine.

I saw the small clearing between the trees, a few more minutes and we would reach close to the camp, just a little more. The air grew dense. My breath shallowed, there was something wrong. My fingers dug into Rin’s arm, stopping her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking up at me. It was like static had made all my hair stand up. Why the fuck was the forest this quiet?

It was a silence I knew well, the silence of the forest when a predator is on the prowl.

“I’m surprised you noticed.”

Rin jumped at the sudden voice. My grip on her arm tightened. You have got to be kidding me right now.

The woman was beautiful. Raven hair tied back, lips painted a red that rivalled fresh blood. Jade earrings hung from her ears, jingling softly in the breeze. She stood between the clearing smiling. But there was no warmth to her face, like she was carved from ice.

I frowned. There was something about this woman that was… off. Without my ayakashi instincts, I couldn’t tell much about her, but she was the one that the forest fell silent for, they should be running.  

My eyes narrowed; the inner lining of my kimono soaked in cold sweat. “What do you want?” I snapped at her.

Her arrogant smile was quickly replaced with a scowl, “watch you tone human.” She snarled out. Beside me Rin flinched, her small hand grabbing the fabric of my kimono. the wind round us spiked, growing blisteringly cold.

Yeah. Something was definitely up. I pulled Rin back swiftly, feeling her small frame tremble as she hugged on to my waist. 

"What are you here for?" I asked again, taking a step back. Of course I had left mrutyunjay back at camp. We were still far from the others, with this woman blocking our way back. Right now, other than the lotus stems Rin had collected, I didn't have anything. And I doubted throwing it at her would make her go away.

“We’ll just be on our way then.” I continued,

Her crimson eyes bore into mine, and in that second recognition flashed into them.

I felt my heart dropped. Fuck.

I knew she recognised me for what I was. Not the human, but the ayakashi. She knew what I was, what I truly was. She had come here with an intent.

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

THANKYOU FOR READING~

[thedarkheretic156]

IV_ Eternal Flame_IV

PARTS ❧ Mortals ❧ Death ❧ Sing ❧ Hunt ❧ Loss

TW: slight gore.

The old folklore of the east whispers of a terrible power. Wielded by a lone demigod, fated to walk through the eras the dark fires of hell dancing on her fingers. With no regard for human life, she was fated to be feared and worshipped. But fate is a bitch. Now cursed to be stripped of her powers and doomed to mortality she finds herself in the care of a sworn rival. The great Daiyoki of the west.

❧Hunt❧

I groaned into the grass. It was hot, unbelievably humid and I was bored out of my mind. The cicadas buzzed loudly around us as Rin and I sat making flower crowns from wildflowers. The act felt strange to me, I hadn't ever really stopped and bothered to look at flowers. Much less play with them. But the child seemed to have found curiosity in everything.

Rin sat among a patch of violet-blue flowers, thin fingers wrapping flower tendrils into delicate braids. She looked so content just doing that. I wondered what it would be to feel that at peace. I sighed, throwing a clump of grass in the air. "Rin?" I asked, "Do you want to go hunt?"

Rin's humming stopped, "Hunt?"

I shrugged, "or anything else really, I could teach you how to spar." "I don't like to fight," Rin replied meekly, setting the flower crown down. "I don't think I could hurt anyone." She said, shuddering as if repressing a bad memory.

I frowned. "Just because you can wield a sword doesn't mean you have to hurt people," I replied. "The choice remains with the master, not the weapon."

I arched my back, the laziness of the humid evening weighing down on me. "You're human. You're a woman. The world will be harder on you." even as I spoke, I wondered why I cared all of a sudden.

A small voice rang in my head, what does it matter? A human child, bound to death, what good could a blade bring to her life?

Rin shook her head, "I have lord Sesshomaru to keep me safe." She said smiling, I rolled my eyes.

"And master Jaken, and Ah-un." The child continued in a sing-song manner, "And now~" she added, "I have you too." My half-lidded eyes flew open, shocked more by the brazen coincidence of the words. Wei, the real Wei, had said the same thing. Grinning her beautiful smile, so bright it rivaled sacred fire burning behind her.

And what had happened to her?

I felt myself grimace at the old memory. And then, even after all that, I had just let her die.

10 more days. I counted down. 10 more suns before the feast of Manna, could I even stay near her after that? Can I see through the belief the human child had put in me? Something dark settled in me. Rin placed the finished flower crown on my head. "All done!" she announced, "You look so pretty!" she said clapping her hands.

Not this one. I thought, promising it to whatever wretched deity that was listening. I won't fail this one too. The dusk settled in, painting the sky a beautiful auburn, against the vast sky, Rin's frame gleamed with life. The soft scent of wildflowers clung to her palms. For the first time Y/n, felt peaceful. But she hadn't just realized it yet. Not quite yet.

You are going soft, daughter of the hills.

I jerked up, sitting around wallowing in thoughts was doing nothing.

"Rin," I said. I needed to do something about my boredom, "what do you think about having Pork for dinner?"

"This feels like a bad idea." Rin said sheepishly, "We could always just eat the fish lord Jaken got for us." She said shuffling hesitantly. I grunted, "take this as a small token of advice Rin, never settle for alms from someone, when you can get better things by yourself." I strapped Mrutunjai to Ah-un's saddle, patting the fire-demons snout. He huffed in response lowering one of his heads for a pat.

"But your wounds-" Rin continued, "I don't think you should hunt until they are completely healed, and its already dark, what I lord Sesshomaru finds out-"

I looked at the young girl and grinned. Rin felt a rush of warmth as the cockiest smile laced the older female's face. There was truly something different about her she couldn't fathom. At times like these when she smiled, Rin would feel as though the woman should have been born with razor-sharp fangs.

I pushed my long braid over my shoulder, "Let Onee-san handle this." Th further we walked into the forest the more nervous Rin grew. I knew all she could think about was how Sesshomaru wouldn't approve of their little exercise. But right now I couldn't care less, the Daiyokai and Jaken couldn't be seen since morning. These two would just wander away without any explanation, expecting us to stay put like good little humans and I was far over it.

Having to wait around for them to return to do anything was getting on my nerves. The frustration seeped into my steps as I angrily strode forward. Ah-un at my heels. The overhead canopy grew thicker and Ah-un grunted. He seemed to have spotted something. I narrowed my eyes, scanning the pitch darkness of the forest before us, there was a faint twitch and I grinned, "Good boy" I whispered to the fire demon.

I pulled on his reins and the fire demon stopped, Rin peeked out from his saddle, "What's wrong?" I motioned her to stay quiet and slipped Mrutyunjai off the saddle. I gave her a departing wink and patted one of Ah-uns heads. In an unspoken command, one fire demon to another, Ah-un understood perfectly, leaping gracefully into the midnight sky. Taking Rin away at a comfortable distance from the hunt site. I leaned against my sword, warming my human body for what was to come. An undeniable thrill went down my spine as I wrapped my fingers around the familiar hilt. Usually her blade would have roared to life, quivering with bloodlust. But right now it felt dead in my hands. I adjusted my stance. No time to mope over that now. I locked my eyes on the beast, hiding perfectly with the stripped brown trees around the undergrowth. Mud flies buzzed around, and the beast's ear flick was the only sign I needed to charge. The boar noticed, obviously. At the first crunch of the dry leaves under my foot, the monstrous beast burst out of its hiding place. Plowing chunks of earth with its upturned tusks on its snout. The bellow sent birds flying from all directions.

My speed was drastically low, the human body alien to any kind of fighting, I had lost so much strength, I needed both my hands to hold up my own sword. But my mind hadn't forgotten the eons of harsh training. The demon instinct honned over the years and just the pure thrill of drawing blood took over completely. The boar charged at me, I steadied the blade in my hand and waited, just a little closer now. I dropped to my kneed, wringing the wicked blade with me, slicing through the beast's front legs. The animal's scream rang through the forest, the crimson blood splattering everywhere. The wound tipped it off its balance, slamming head first into the trunk of a wide mahogany.

Good. I thought It was a clean cut through its legs not powerful to dismantle the limb but enough to send its balance for a toss. The splatter of blood had already covered one side of my face. Out of habit, I stuck my tongue out and tasted it. The metallic taste of blood sent shivers down my spine. More.

I needed more.

It charged again, and dashed towards me, its wounded legs buckling, the upturned tusks narrowly missed my torso as I slashed the sword across its eyes. If I still had my ayakashi body I would have just let the beast crash into me, it would have been a blow I could take easily. But now I had to dodge even the lightest attack, one mistake and it would smash me up against the bark of a tree. Well, it just made it that much more thrilling.

The beast now half blind squirmed before me in a panic frenzy. I pulled mrutyunjai up, my arms shaking with excitement and exhaustion. And charged again. It continued to scream in agony as I sliced through it, evading the tusks and curved hoofs. My blows were clean yet ruthless, chopping off the beast's hind legs, ears, and chunks of its snout before allowing it to die. I growled giving the final blow, sinking the blade hilt-deep into its heart. The beast spluttered out more blood before finally falling silent.

I drew the sword from the corpse and Ah-un and Rin descended down. I kneeled down beside the beast pressing my palm against its snout. "king of beasts, slain in sport, slain in hunger, I bow down for your sacrifice."  I whispered out in the old tongue, a prayer my clan spoke after every kill.

Rin's pale face popped out of the saddle again, "is-is it d-dead?" she whispered, there was a queasy look to her face like she was going to be sick. I tried to stand up, but my knees gave away. The little hunt seemed to have taken a massive toll on my human body. I doubled over, the world before me spinning. Rin squealed, running towards me at once, I felt her thin arms around me as she spoke, "are you okay? You're hurt aren't you?!" She wailed out, "I knew this would happen I knew -"

I opened my mouth to reassure her but a familiar croak beat me to it. "THERE THEY ARE!" Jaken's strained voice called out, "M-master Jaken-" Rin started, but the toad demon was fuming. Fuming.

I had no strength left to retaliate. Fuck I was worn. There was no breath left in me and my whole body shook from exhaustion. I dropped to the ground, pushing back blood-slick hair from my face.

"UNGRATEFUL HUMANS BOTH OF YOU" he screamed at us, "Going off alone at night, into the forest, without any courtesy of even ASKING your Master Lord Sesshomaru! you have no right!" he continued, "No right to wander off on your own, NO RIGHT- not when Lord Sesshomaru has so generously taken your useless self under his wing-" his gaze pinned on Rin, still smoldering with anger. And I wasn't going to take that.

"We went on a hunt." I explained simply, reigning in the tide of anger rolling in.

He pointed a green finger at me, "I knew it was a bad idea to take you in." He snarled. "There wasn't any use for another dead weight troublemaker here-

"Load the beast on the saddle," I told him softly. There was a long period of silence that followed before Jaken went red with rage, "Only Lord Sesshomaru can command me. He boomed shaking with anger, "you filthy, low-life, undignified-

"Rin." My voice was pure venom. I had just about enough of these insults, "How about we have frog legs for dinner as well?" I  asked murderously, The intent to kill seeped into my tone. For a moment I completely forgot who I was and who the goblin in front of me was. I just wanted to kill again. Draw blood. I felt the trance take over me. I flicked out my tongue tasting the thick, boar blood caking my face. More. Cut its throat. A death-like whisper spoke in my head.

Skin it alive. Another whispered.

More. They sang in unison. More.

I felt myself raising Mrutyunjay again-

"Jaken."

The cold voice snapped me back to reality. I blinked realizing what just had happened, the trance wore off as soon as it had appeared. The bloodthirsty voices faded out as if someone had flipped a switch. The thought that I would have struck Jaken down, right in front of Rin made me shudder.

Anger, daughter of the hills, if you don't leash your temper it'll run you over.

I looked up to see Sesshomaru toss the beast onto Ah-uns back. His amber eyes flashed towards me. Molten gold. My human blood quivered, making my teeth clatter. My mortality itself recoiled from pure daunt, as my survival instincts kicked in. I was standing in front of something so much more powerful than my human self. He called it back, tearing the cold unreadable eyes off my figure. I knew more than well what he was doing, a silent warning, using one's ayakashi aura to suppress the weaker species.

A reminder of who really the daiyokai here was. He turned away wordlessly, taking Jaken with him. His long silver hair faded into the canopy as Rin helped her on her feet.

"Lord Sesshomaru is just upset." She promised her weakly, "He won't let you go though, so you don't worry, I'll talk to him-" the child continued, giving me well-meaning yet rather empty words of reassurance.

It was clear he wanted me and Rin to return on our own with Ah-un. I pulled myself onto Ah-un's saddle weakly, before pulling Rin up as well.

Her heart and mind were still racing as they leaped into the night sky. The standoff with the daiyokai had sent her human body reeling with fear. But her ayakashi mind had felt it differently. The burn of his gaze, the way his aura had encased her threateningly, her ayakashi mind had felt it at its core. It had been just as powerful, yet not daunting. It was something else that has stunned her into silence, something else entirely. For her ayakashi mind, it was arousing.

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I can't wait to make it a smut already, but we need more plot. T8T

[thedarkheretic156]

III_Eternal Flame_ III

Parts: ❧Mortal ❧Death❧ Sing

❧Sing❧

“What is that?” Rin squealed, doe eyes wide with wonder. I struck the final string of the makeshift madhuranga and gave the human child a little wink, “Music~”

Sitting on the grassy hill was getting chilly, as the stars climbed, the human huddled near her. Jaken hung around near us, eyes lidding as the lazy night prolonged. They had taken another stop from chasing Sesshomaru’s half-brother. With my wounds healing excruciatingly slow, I could hardly keep up with the others. It was annoying. FAR too annoying. I tried to push away the dawning reality of what would actually happen to me on the 14th night as the crone prophesized. Whatever she had cursed me to, I wouldn’t be able to fight it off with my mortal body.

I picked a chord randomly, trying to drown out my own thoughts. That’s something to worry about when that 14th night arrives.

“Sing.” Rin breathed, small hands digging into my arm, “Please?”

I gave out a short laugh, “No.”

Rin’s figure shifted slightly, “The kids in the village all knew songs.” She said quietly. Against the star speckled sky, she seemed to age beyond her years. “I don’t know any.”

“I never had anyone sing to me before.”

The fire’s soft glow fell on her face innocently, the same way the sacred fire would set Wei’s face aglow. There was something so unyieldingly beautiful about them, I just couldn’t say no.

I sighed, “Fine.” Rin squealed and clapped her hands. “But just one!”

I picked at the traditional instrument again. It sounded like home, as a peculiar song came to my mind, I let myself go in the music.

It was an ancient song, sung in the old forgotten tongues of the East. A language of the ayakashi. My voice wasn’t as beautiful as the other women back home, but it was clear and strong. The song went on and the chords rose and fell with the wind. I strummed the final chord and fell silent. I grinned to myself pretty pleased with the performance and turned towards Rin. But instead of applauding, the child was curled up in a ball fast asleep, warm against the fire, with the most content smile on her face.

I chuckled, putting the instrument down.

‘Human.” Jaken’s voice was a ghost of a whisper. I looked up to see the toad eye’s hazed, bewitched. I gulped down my shock. “T-That song… I-“, he began, his words faltering as if he still couldn’t comprehend what he had just heard. I took this opportunity to gloat, “Overwhelmed with my glorious vocals Jaken?” I said grinning, “You are welcome.” The myraids that composed the song were said to have woven music into their songs. Maybe there was some of that magic that I could still summon, through that song. The music in itself was powerful enough.

Before I could put the Madhuranga down, a cold chill ran down my spine. A familiar feeling now. So he was listening to it after all.

“Sing again.”

It was a command. No negotiations. My fingers hurt from holding the strings of the instrument, but he was suddenly so close that my human survival instinct made my body hum with fear. Could hear the rustle of his clothes as he sat down beside me. Close enough to watch me play out every chord, yet far. Nothing but a faint presence. I hated the goosebumps that flooded my body everytime he got close. It made me feel weak.

I’ll comply nicely this one time, I said to myself. Just this once. I brushed the hair at the nape of my neck down and just as the demon lord had commanded, sang again.

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The Wind carried her voice, it twirled around the woman obediently. The voice echoed around the hills, like the melody of a siren. Beautiful yet haunting. A tamed beast to a master. Kagura’s full lips tweaked in a smile. The night blanketed around her frame flickered, like the darkness around her itself had approved of her thoughts. “So that’s where you were hiding firefly.”

“The fire from the pits of hell.” Another voice mused,

“Great power.” Kagura completed, “Enough to change the world.”

The wind fanned around her, and she balled her fists, “For the sake of a beautiful world firefly, it must be done. You must die.”

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