Dancing With Your Ghost by Reflection of a Broken Dream

The Beat of Her Heart

Chapter 1: The Beat of Her Heart

Note:

Rated MA for graphic character death and dark situations. Please forgive my frame of mind...but read to the end. Based on the song Dancing with Your Ghost by No Resolve.

I am in the process of completing this one, as well. ><; Maybe in small bites? I've had this on the backburner for years, and had started to revise and finish it...here's the first part!

TW: Major character death, minor character death, blood, grief, denial, mention of past abuse, murderous rage, gore?

This chapter will rip your heart out. If you're not prepared for pain, please don't read.

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I can't breathe-!

The single thought resounded in Kagome's head like a gunshot. 

Over the clanging of metal and war cries, she could hear Naraku cackling like a witch gone mad. She tried to speak, but only a strange gurgle came from her throat. She tried to move...but found she couldn't. Brows furrowed, hazy azure eyes found stunned gold from across the battlefield. Instantly, she knew something was seriously wrong...but what? Was she ensnared in some kind of trap..? Her body jerked suddenly, a trembling breath passing her lips. It was hard to breathe...but nothing really hurt. There was pressure...like something was constricting in her chest...but no physical pain. It would mean more if there was pain, right? Right? ...But, then...why did he look like...like he was breaking? 

I'm okay.

The words got stuck in her throat as she managed to fight past the heaviness and raised her hand towards Sesshoumaru. 

Sesshoumaru stood absolutely still.

Breathless.

Transfixed. 

Paralyzed.

His golden eyes were locked on his human bethrothed...that precious fiery miko across the field. Whatever little remained of his ice-encased heart crumbled away...

Crimson trickled from pink lips, Naraku's tentacle piercing her chest. She outstretched her hand to him, blue orbs filled with a haze of confusion.

Asking.

Wanting.

Dying.

A dull ring resounded in his ears, the caucophany noise of the battle falling away. Her chest heaved with every laborious breath, the drumming of her heart slowing its pace.

No... NO!

"KAGOME!!!" the fearsome daiyoukai roared, red bleeding into gold as his deadly youki rose, obliterating the weaker demons around him. The others around him skittered away as he flew to his beloved, severing the tentacle that bound her. He caught her with ease, with as much gentility as he could manage, lowering her to the ground and extracting the thick mass. The addictive sweet-spicy-tangy scent he usually appreciated was far too strong, her life blood coating him and the ground. The hole was large...too large. Still, he tore from his garments to try and staunch the bleeding. Her black hair looked like a halo beneath her head, and the imps of the underworld began to materialize...but it could not be. They could not have her! Not yet! Not now! 

"Miko...miko....can you hear me?" She smiled. Why? HOW could she smile through something like...this?

I'm fine!

She tried to reassure him, unaware that the words never quite passed her lips.

I can't feel any pain...I'm okay.

Her blood-painted lips moved, but nothing was uttered. 

That smile.

She wore THAT smile! The utterly damnable, beautiful, frustrating smile! Heat built in his eyes for the first time since he was a pup, when his mother beat him for being weak.

Daiyoukai do not cry!

Watery red dribbled from his face to hers, splotching her sun-tanned skin. "Hold on....I-....hold on." A whisper, harsh and full of emotion...a desperate plea. Never in his life had he wanted for anything as much as he wanted this right now. For her to live. He would give every inch of his being, his very soul if she would only live! "I am here. I will never leave you again...just...stay with me, Kagome! Breathe!"

Kagome blinked up at her frantic lover, straining for breath. It was getting harder and more cumbersome to draw them... Shock shot through her like a bolt of lightning when his first tear streaked down from his cheek to hers. Oddly, she couldn't feel it... But...he was...crying. 

For her.

Those little imps of death appeared around her, and the reality of the situation began to set in with the coldness that seeped into her digits. Heat gathered in her own eyes as he pled for her to hold on. It was heart-wrenching to see him like this. A prideful demon lord who begged for nothing...was begging for her to hold on and live. Kami did she want to! She wanted nothing more than to stay by his side until the very end of time... Why? Why now? Why like this?! Why hadn't she been more careful?! Sesshoumaru had already used the Tenseiga on her once. Maybe if she had been more careful before...or in this battle...this wouldn't have happened. She still didn't really understand what had happened...it didn't hurt. Still didn't. Shock, maybe? Whatever. It didn't matter. Kagome had found the one male who could love her back, unconditionally...and now...

I don't want to leave you.

Emotion swelled in her chest as it became even harder to breathe, the miko straining to lift her sticky red hand to his face. Her blood smeared across his cheek as she attempted to wipe a tear away. His pleading intensified as her breath caught, liquid coming up with a cough...more red splattering his face and clothes.

"I...lo....ve.....y....ou...," She managed to get out, heart thumping loudly in her ears. ...It was slowing... She was running out of time! His eyes widened as she put on one final, watery smile. "W....ill....wa....it.....for.....y-y......ou....."

The light died in his eyes the moment she sputtered, lungs wheezing...heart giving out.

Her hand fell from his cheek.

"Ka...," Sesshoumaru began to breathe out, unfinished, ears ringing even louder. As if to drown out the lack of drumming in her chest. She was...she was gone. Beyond his reach...

No....NO! I REFUSE to believe this! I will never let you go!

He snarled, youki whipping around him like a hurricane. "NO!!!" His growls rumbled like thunder, shaking the ground as he stood and drew Tenseiga. It didn't pulse. The minions continued their work, uninterrupted. Gathering her soul. Even as he swiped at them furiously. Damn them! Damn Inuyasha for not protecting her a year ago! Damn his father for only allowing one revival!! He roared as he struck them again and again and again. "OBEY ME!! Bring her BACK!!!" Neither the sword nor the imps listened. "USELESS BLADE!!!" He slung it aside with enough force for it to sink into the ground to the hilt.

Naraku's cackling rose above the ringing in his ears...along with the anguished screams and cries of his brother and his pack.

"How does it feel, Sesshoumaru? To have the one thing you want most...ripped away?" Naraku taunted, the rumbling snarl in the daiyoukai's chest morphing into a furious, mournful scream. All of his youki was unleashed at once in blue-maroon shockwaves, nearby demons dissolving away. His youki paused in its assault only when he felt a powerful reiki burst forth, enveloping the field in familiar pink-lavender fog.

"Kagome...," Sesshoumaru whirled around, rage on standby as his heart stuttered in his chest. Was she...? The fog was dense, little shocks sparking through the air. He couldn't see her...but he could feel her presence all around him...enveloping and draping over him. It was...comforting. Calming. His mind was beginning to whir with less animalistic thoughts, a bit of him satisfied with errant screams that echoed amid the storm that was his little mate to be. He could hear heartbeats...if only he could see...

It took a few minutes for the fog to begin to clear, blowing away amid the early winter breeze. Inuyasha still stood proudly across the way, ankle deep in demonic ash. His teeth were clenched in pain, fire rat robes drenched in his own blood as well as the blood of his enemies. The taijiya stood, half bowed and glancing around nervously. The monk limped from the thick fog, coughing. The kit peeked from within a hollow tree.

But the miko still lay there.

Unmoving.

Quiet.

Sesshoumaru returned to her side, falling to his knees. Lithe, calloused fingers stroked the cooling flesh of her cheek gingerly.

"Kagome....Kagome...," he whispered, a numbness spreading inside him as he tried to wake her.

"All of the demons were purified," the taijiya's mystified voice reached his ears.

"The Shikon no Tama- look! It's whole! And fully purified!" the monk cried out.

"Kagome...," Inuyasha murmured, drawing near. His stench was repulsive.

"Stay back," Sesshoumaru hissed, voice still gravelly and deep from his demonic rage. For once, the hanyou was smart enough to comply. With great care, the daiyoukai picked up his fallen miko and held her close. Crimson seeped into white, but he didn't care. He had his Kagome...nothing else mattered. Standing with his bloody parcel, he faced her pack. 

"Dear Kami, no," Sango whimpered, lips quivering and tears gathering in her mahogany eyes.

"Lady Kagome...," Miroku spoke, voice hushed. Barely above a whisper. 

"Ka...Ka...," the kit started, eyes flowing with tears.

Their scents were all painted with grief and salty tears. Why? She was right here. She was fine. They began to shuffle towards him, and a snarl ripped from Sesshoumaru's lips. No. They couldn't have her back! She was his! And he wasn't letting go!

"Sesshoumaru...," Inuyasha spoke firmly, taking a step forward. The daiyoukai bared his fangs with a fearsome growl, making the hanyou pause in step.

"MINE!" in a flurry of silk, Sesshoumaru set off with his beloved at top speed. They couldn't hope to follow at their meager paces...and he didn't want them to. He was taking his koiichi to their place. A spot of land with a cherry blossom tree next to a hotspring leading into a cave. Their cave. Sesshoumaru would venture to say that they had made happy memories there. Surely she would wake up there...surely.

- End Chapter 1 -

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- Hope you enjoyed?

- Kind reviews only, please!