Kiss me or Kill Me
Chapter 7: The Spell
Closing her eyes was definitely the optimal way in dealing with death. With all potential dangers dealt with and the last one effortlessly lifting her in the air, she felt strangely safe enough to rest her weary eyes. Her powers were completely spent and there was no way Sesshoumaru would allow himself to get stabbed again, not that she had anything sharp at her disposal anyways. This was simply the last moment of her life. Sadly, contrary to what the books painted in mystical detail, her life did not flash by in a series of images and memories. Her most agonizing regrets did not parade themselves in her head. Fear did not grip her body into a paralyzing stiffness. In the few anticipatory seconds before death, there was only the throbbing ache in her muscles and bones and the powerful clawed grip on her shirt. A minute ticked by and Kagome felt her patience wearing thin. She snapped her eyes open and glared at death, expecting a hearty glare back. Instead, death had his amber eyes furrowed in not anger, but with what Kagome dared to think was hesitation.
"Well? Get on with it!" She prodded him in a last attempt of bravery. His amber eyes narrowed in annoyance at her boldness and Kagome felt herself shrink even smaller in his hold, but she tucked her chin out in a last act of defiance. His lips pulled into a malicious line that hid a tugging smile at her childish gesture. Indeed, she is too amusing.
"You've been hunting me for days and now you have me. What are you waiting for?" She pointed out. "Unless you miraculously developed a shred of mercy?" She said, a touch of sarcasm in her tired voice.
Her honesty would be the death of her. He couldn't pinpoint why his hand was so slow when it usually dealt out death in mere seconds. Easy seconds. He thought with a huff. Something inside was gnawing at him to stay his hand. Before she came along, life had a steady pattern. No matter what fate threw his way, his power had always been enough to smooth his path once more. Perhaps he yearned to traverse on a rougher trail that would better test his power. Or maybe he just needed a distraction from the century long habit he had dubbed life. He peered into her eyes, wondering if the answer could be found in those dark depths. Her sarcasm from before had briefly fired up her spirit and he felt his own rising up in challenge. If she had been smarter, he suspected she would have lasted longer. Yet, she decided to waste her last moments of life on humans she had no obligation to. What was she? She had exposed incredible powers to save her life, yet she went so easily astray to save others. She had given a potentially fatal blow to this Sesshoumaru, but could have died easily to some lower class youkai? He felt almost... offended. Doubtless, she had the power to mow down armies of lower tiered youkai. His pride turned its nose at the thought of being a lesser opponent.
Her shrill voice that held an undertone of fear swept away any hesitation and his ears made the final decision. This human had been left to live far longer than his generosity allowed, if he had any generosity to begin with. Nobody had ever stood up to this Sesshoumaru and she would be the last of her kind. His claws, still raised, now began glowing with his personal brand of poison. He would think of her when he had his rare moments of indulging in the past. Good riddance...
A red blur sped into his line of vision and he dropped the human girl while catching his brother's sword with delicate fingertips. Inuyasha growled at him, his fangs peeking out from panting lips.
"Ya bastard! You couldn't have waited 2 seconds?" Inuyasha snarled as he struck another blow at his brother. Sesshoumaru coolly stepped off to the side and grabbed Kagome by her collar once more, this time aiming his razor sharp claws at her throat.
"I-Inuyasha?" Kagome sputtered. She had seen him die - all that blood spraying everywhere in a mix of rain and tears. Was she already dead and just seeing visions of ghosts? A snap of pain on her throat brought her back to her senses and reality. She turned her head up to Sesshoumaru who only looked calm and collected at the sight of his revived sibling. "But you killed him... You killed him." She said weakly. "I don't understand.."
"You couldn't have waited 2 more damned seconds to explain myself? I thought you said you would stop punching holes in my chest!"
"I said I would consider it. Seeing as how you failed the negotiations, it was the appropriate punishment to give." Sesshoumaru said. "One more move and I burn her head off."
"What's the point, you were going to kill me already." Kagome snapped, irritated that she was left out of the conversation. Things were moving way too fast for her and she was much too tired to keep up. "You didn't answer my question!"
"I see no reason to answer a question that was not asked." Sesshoumaru said, expressing his displeasure at her words by digging his claws a bit deeper. Kagome cried out and a flicker of her frail power slapped at Sesshoumaru's youki, causing him to flinch and that was all the time Inuyasha needed. He pulled something out from his sleeves and belted out a string of unfamiliar words. The air shrieked and lightning bolts of color flew towards the taiyoukai. Releasing Kagome, he leapt into the air to avoid the attack but the bolts hungrily followed his godlike speed. Kagome clutched her ears and looked up at the show of acrobatics with Sesshoumaru dodging the bolts of color with a chilling grace. An earth shattering bark cracked the sky and Sesshoumaru sent a blast of youki at Inuyasha who got knocked far away into a clump of bushes. A shimmery light began to gather at a point at Sesshoumaru's neck and he released a blast of fury and power just like when Kagome had lopped off his arm. As fast as the lights had appeared, they vanished, leaving a seemingly unharmed Sesshoumaru floating in the air. Kagome's hands fell from her ears and an uneasy silence fell over the forest.
"Kagome! Say a command!" Inuyasha yelled from the bushes he had crashed into.
"What?" She sputtered, trying to make sense of the chaotic situation. "Say a command to you?"
"No you idiot! Say a command of action! Tell him to do something!" Inuyasha cried impatiently as he ran to her. "Hurry up before he figures out what's going on!"
Sesshoumaru looked down at the primitive string of beads that had appeared at his neck and things quickly came together in his head. From his high vantage point in the sky, he honed in at the girl and took off at a breathtaking speed to stop something that would completely change his life.
Kagome felt herself getting flustered as Inuyasha kept telling her to hurry. It had been a long day and she had just been at death's door when Inuyasha had appeared, revived from the dead. Rather than a tearful reunion, he was yelling at her nonstop and she was getting a splitting headache from the combination of blood loss and general chaos. Command Sesshoumaru? The great lord of the West? The most powerful taiyoukai since his father and probably in all of history? "Yeah, sure, I'll command him to kiss me and bow at my feet." Kagome angrily poked Inuyasha in the chest. "You have no idea what I've been through these last few days becau-"
With a whoosh of air, Inuyasha was once more flying off to the side and Kagome's body was being wrapped around by a large, burning hot presence. Something hard crashed into hers lips, knocking painfully into her gums. She winced but the sound disappeared into the mouth that held hers. Time completely froze as Kagome's nerves processed the situation and slowly passed the message on to her brain, each particle as surprised as the next. Her arms finally reached up and pushed him away. She looked into his amber eyes which mirrored her own look of shock, and then proceeded to the next logical step.
She began to cry.
*Yes, I do know this is a super short chapter. But I figured you guys would need something to assure you that I am intent on continuing this story and that this is going somewhere. I'm very thankful of the readers who still remember this old story and are following it! Please review and cross your fingers that I can get another chapter out in the next month or so. I'm feeling the old excitement with this story. More details on the king and kikyo in the next chapter!