Dance with the Devil by Mujitsu
Part I
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. That honor belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I do, however, own the plot of this story.
Notes: This is inspired by the song “Dance with the Devil” by Breaking Benjamin. I was rocking out in my car last night, and this plot just came to me. This is a ONE-SHOT, guys, but it’s going to be broken up into two or three parts…so would that technically make it a chapter story? Hmmmm. There is a playlist at the end of this part that shows what music I listened to while writing this. I feel the songs definitely helped me channel the emotions. This is in the AU universe, just to let you know.
Beta: Wiccan.
Dance with the Devil
Part I
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It was cold.
Far too cold to be wandering around the festival clad only in a thin shirt and jumper to protect small arms and legs from the almost soul-numbing chill. Being only seven, though, Kagome Higurashi could not see over the swarm of adult bodies to try to find her mother, who had her jacket. She danced from foot to foot to try to bring some of the warmth in her body back, but also in indecision. Where should she look first? Her mommy had wanted to try to find a good spot to view the fireworks, and their hands were locked firmly together as they navigated the crowd. However, her younger brother, Souta, just over a year old, had started squirming in her mommy’s arms and she’d had to let go of Kagome’s hand to make sure he was okay. It was only for a moment, but Kagome had seen something in the crowd and her attention was diverted from her family. She pouted to herself as she remembered what had her distracted. It was a man, a tall man, clad only in white. His flawless kimono, contrasted with the cheerier blues, oranges, pinks, and yellows of the festival had shone like a beacon to Kagome, and her eyes couldn’t help but follow his form.
She couldn’t see his face, but she saw a waterfall of thick, silvery hair, and her fingers itched to run her hands through the pretty hair, much as she would do to one of her dolls at home. Thinking about playing with his hair is what made her let go of her mommy’s hand; now she had lost her in the crowd, and the man with the pretty hair was gone too. Kagome pouted, but couldn’t hold her lips together for a long time because her teeth had started to chatter.
Loud laughter sounded close by her small body, causing her to jump a bit. What had been pretty lights and colorful, noisy game booths in the beginning were becoming overwhelmingly too bright and loud. It was starting to scare her and, instinctively, she edged toward the outskirts of the crowd to escape the auditory and sensory input.
She sighed in relief as she reached the outskirts of the crowd and blended in with the shadows clinging to the happy scene. Kagome, unlike most little girls, loved the dark and did not fear being alone. The quieter atmosphere soothed her even as she shivered in the cool night. Maybe her mommy went to the meadow just outside where the festival was held to watch the fireworks. Kagome could cut around the now annoying din of people and games if she followed the slightly woodier paths and could meet her mother there. Then, finally, she could get her jacket and stop shivering.
Nodding her head faintly in agreement with her plan, she left the well-populated festival area for the more deserted paths which could take her where she needed to go.
Perhaps she should have heeded her mother’s warning about wandering around in the dark alone, but Kagome never paid attention to those warnings. The darkness enveloped her, bringing her a strange sort of peace and solitude that, even at her young age, she could appreciate. Crickets chirped and leaves rustled in the trees, providing a soothing melody for her journey and, being the light-hearted child that she was, she began to hum a little song in contentment. She would soon find her mommy and be warm again. She always looked forward to the fireworks show, even if she did find them to be a bit loud and overpowering. Maybe she could convince her mommy to get her some of the candy she saw at one booth a while back. She couldn’t share it with Souta yet because he was still too young for it, but Grandpa was waiting for them back home and he would like it if she brought some to him.
She skipped along, lights from the festival fading in and out as she passed like a waif through the trees, enjoying as her eyes adjusted to the natural moonlight to bring the wooded area to life. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. Something white had filtered in the edge of her vision, and she looked around curiously.
There!
To the right of her, deeper into the large trees and natural openings of the land, she saw another streak of white. It was the man from before, walking calmly through the forest as the moonlight reflected off of his pretty hair. Indecisively, she chewed on her lip. She really wanted to follow the man and ask if she could touch his hair. Her mother would probably say that asking someone a question like that was rude but… well, her mother wasn’t here, now was she? But he was almost out of her sight now, heading towards the darker, deeper parts of the forest, and Kagome was still cold and wanted her jacket. The wind picked up just then, sending the man’s hair gently swaying in its caress, and her mind was made up. She had to go after him.
He was out of her sight now, but she quickly walked to where she saw him last, stumbling a bit over some roots and weeds that were growing thicker the deeper she went into the forest. Frantically, she squinted to see if she could catch a glimpse of the man again, her breath shuddering in and out of her tiny chest as she saw him through another cropping of trees ahead of her. Grimly, she pressed her lips together and followed. She was going to touch his hair tonight and see if it felt as soft as it looked.
Her little legs carried her as fast as they could through the trees, until she reached the edge of a small clearing, gasping quietly for breath. She caught it abruptly as she saw the man about twenty feet in front of her with his back facing her way, but she saw he was not alone.
Instinctively, she crouched into the cover of some bushes as her eyes rested on the pretty haired man’s companion. He didn’t look as nice as the man with pretty hair at all, and her heart began beating faster.
Inky hair whipped in the small breeze, matching the dark kimono that he wore, but it was his face that made her start to feel slightly afraid. It was… off. Glittering eyes the same color as his hair rested on the silver haired man, but his expression wasn’t friendly. His lips were twisted into an imitation of a smile, but really looked like a baring of teeth that Kagome had seen dangerous animals give to one another. It looked like he wanted to hurt the silver-haired man.
Kagome wanted to leave that place, quickly. The man with the dark eyes was scaring her and she wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. She couldn’t hold in the faint gasp that escaped her as clouds covered the light of the moon and she could have sworn his eyes flashed red. The clouds moved on as quickly as they had come, and the stranger’s eyes were black once more, but she knew what she had seen. He was not normal.
She held her breath, afraid that the scary man had heard her involuntary response. However, it was the silver-haired man that moved first, slowly circling the other man until it was only him in her line of view. She could no longer see the scary man, but she was also sure that the scary man couldn’t see her. She could only see the broad, white clad back of the silver man in front of her. Had the silver man heard her and made it so that she couldn’t be discovered? At that moment, she didn’t really care; all she wanted was to get out of there. Before she could move, however, the scary man spoke.
“Sesshoumaru-sama. What a strange twist of fate seeing you here tonight. I never knew that you would willingly spend your time mingling among the humans. The rumor of the Shikon Jewel’s presence in this small town must have reached you as well.”
Shikon Jewel? Kagome paused as her little brow knit up in concentration. She had heard of the jewel before, from her grandfather. He described a pretty pink stone no larger than a marble, but could grant wishes to whoever had it. It had seemed like something out of the fairy-tales that Kagome loved, but she knew it didn’t really exist. But the strange, scary man said that it was here?
“Naraku,” her eyes jerked to the silver haired man as he spoke for the first time, a deep, dark tone that strangely went well with his otherworldly appearance. Kagome found herself listening eagerly to hear it again. “I figured you would hear about the jewel’s whereabouts and cause a senseless commotion again. Regardless of my feelings for the humans, negative or positive, you know the rules of our society.”
The scary man scowled darkly, making Kagome shiver. “Yes, yes, of course, the rules,” he replied scathingly. “That useless, idiotic decree that you father made about never revealing our nature to the humans is starting to wear thin. We are the dominant species.” He paused as a sinister smirk crossed his cruel lips. “It would be a small matter for either of us to go to that pleasant little festival that is being held by the little cretins and make the ground run with their blood. We should be ruling this world and instead we are confined to live in its shadows like mindless beasts cowering in fear from their masters.”
“We are beasts,” the pretty man… Sesshoumaru-sama… said, piquing Kagome’s interest. “We merely create the façade of humanity, but I can see the monster inside of you. The humans cannot.”
“You fail to include yourself, Sesshoumaru-sama. You should know intimately of the monster within yourself, just as I do mine.”
The pretty haired man didn’t reply.
“I will find the Shikon no Tama soon, Sesshoumaru-sama,” the scary man, Naraku, said, his voice turning hard. “And that absurd decree your father made centuries ago will no longer stand.”
“Are you challenging the will of your betters?” The pretty haired man’s voice was very cool and quiet, and it made Kagome give a little shiver. Her mother’s quiet voice was scary when Kagome did something she was not supposed to do, but this man made her voice seem soft and nice in comparison. She wouldn’t want to be in trouble with him.
“Betters? You rule our world because of your status as a TaiYoukai and your pure blood. Once I have the Shikon no Tama, you will be no better to me than that child hiding in the bushes behind you.”
Kagome gasped, realizing that the scary man had known she was there all along. She abruptly stood up and broke into a sprint away from the scary man; her only goal was the get away. Instinctively, she knew that if she stayed, she would be hurt. A dull buzzing filled her ears steadily getting louder, and she fell to the ground when something hit against her shoulder. Scrambling quickly to her knees, she almost screamed as she saw a huge wasp-like creature hovering over her with its stinger pointed directly at her heart.
She heard the dark-haired man laugh, but couldn’t take her eyes off of the tip of that stinger that was slowly heading for her body. “How pathetic. We need to hide our true nature so creatures like her can continue to live in peace. Alas, she has already seen too much, don’t you agree, Sesshoumaru-sama? In keeping with your father’s code of silence, this girl must be eliminated. We would not want for her to go to the other weaklings with stories to tell, hmm?”
Kagome watched in horror as the giant bee moved closer, mere inches from her chest, and she felt something shift within her. She didn’t want to die! She felt a power build inside of her, waiting to be released and her skin fairly crawled with the need to release it. The monster in front of her, seeming to sense her intentions, suddenly jerked forwards to plunge its stinger home, and Kagome could not move fast enough. She could only scream.
A bright flash cut her off abruptly, and the creature fell in pieces around her. Wide eyed, she looked towards the silver haired man, who was calmly retracting a whip from what looked like his fingertips. Kagome finally received her first true glance at his face and could not seem to find her breath. Glittering eyes the color of her mother’s gold jewelry stared impassively at her, and even at her age, Kagome could recognize the beauty of his face. Magenta stripes marked each side of his cheeks like claw marks, but it was the faint blue crescent moon in the middle of his forehead, right above those incredible eyes, that held her captivated. Those eyes turned away from her and glared at the dark man who had tried to kill her.
An evil chuckle reached her ears. “What’s this? Sesshoumaru-sama protecting a human child? You would disregard your father’s own decree for her life?”
Sesshoumaru made no reply, but the whip from his fingertips twitched at his sides.
“Ah, don’t be too hasty, Sesshoumaru,” the monster said, and a dark cloud emerged from around his body. “Miasma could kill her just as quickly as my bees. Save her quickly, if you so desire. We can continue our conversation later, after the Shikon no Tama is in my grasp.”
Kagome fought the urge to scream as the dark mist reached for her, and she started coughing violently. Her lungs were burning, and her vision was becoming cloudy from the effects of whatever kind of poison was entering her. Slowly, she slumped to the side as her consciousness faded away, seeing the silver man’s whip flash once more but miss as the scary man was carried away by multiple bees that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The last thing she heard was his evil chuckle, and then she surrendered to the darkness…
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Sesshoumaru glared at the space Naraku had occupied moments before, clenching his claws in repressed rage. Stupid fool. The disgusting hanyou had been a thorn in his side since he made his presence known in the demon world, and this was just another complication. Naraku’s obsession with the Shikon jewel was going to be his downfall one day, but Sesshoumaru knew the lengths the hanyou was willing to go to possess the trinket, easily destroying the frail peace that existed between the human world and the demon world.
Tonight was just another example of the crafty hanyou’s work. Sesshoumaru knew that, if not for his presence at the festival tonight, Naraku would have massacred the humans there in his quest for the mysterious jewel that could grant wishes. Sesshoumaru snorted inwardly. The Shikon no Tama existed all right, but not in any place that Naraku would be able to find.
Sighing softly, one of the only outward signs of his fatigue and frustration, his eyes turned to the girl who had really sparked the entire incident. Waving a clawed hand, he called on his control as a poison master to dissipate the remaining miasma in the area as well as what had collected in the lungs of the human girl.
Kagome Higurashi.
The bearer of the Shikon no Tama, and unaware Miko.
Also… his future mate, even though she did not realize it.
He frowned to himself, even as he gathered up her small, frail form in his arms. He had not really meant to get her involved tonight; she was supposed to be enjoying this time with her family, not frolicking through the woods after him. He had of course scented her following him, the smell of her purity and innocence affecting him the same way it had since her birth, distracting and tantalizing. And he did not intend to reveal her location to Naraku, but the hanyou had caught on regardless.
She had been born with the Shikon no Tama in her small body, thus sealing her fate to him. He had kept track of her since her birth to a normal family, and would continue to watch her from the shadows until she reached full maturity. However, her status as the Shikon Miko as well as his destined mate was sure to give her a shock, and he wanted her to have as many years of normalcy as possible before he revealed his identity.
But the little idiot never seemed to follow the plans he laid out for her. Her kind and loving nature had ensured that she gave her trust willingly to basically any person that came along. While he would gratefully cherish that loving nature when it came time to reveal his relationship to her, it was exasperating to see in the meantime. It also meant a full-time job when it came to protecting her. He had eyes on her at all times, even when he was not able to be near her. Thankfully, however, he had been available tonight to watch over her. What was supposed to be a fun festival for her and her family had turned into a battle and a close call.
He couldn’t help but smile wryly down on the innocent face bathed in moonlight that had caused this whole fiasco. A stoic being by nature, Sesshoumaru was disinclined to show any amount of emotion in front of other creatures, humans and demons alike, but for her, he could be as he truly was.
He picked his way through the woods and the trees, planning to leave her in the meadow close to her mother where she would hopefully write tonight off as a strange hallucination. But that did not mean he did not relish what little contact he had with her. Much too young for him to feel any sexual attraction to, he nonetheless felt warmer in her presence than he had in a long time. He only ever got to watch her from a distance, or command others to watch her. This was his first physical encounter with her in her lifetime, and he knew he would jealously guard these few precious moments in his heart until it was time to let her go and remember them in the frustratingly empty moments he would return to once he had left her.
The faint breeze picked up again, blowing locks of his unbound hair softly into her face. Fascinated, he watched as she unconsciously grasped a few strands and smiled softly.
“Silver…soft,” she whispered, and he smirked. When she was older, she could play with his hair all she liked, he thought. But for now, as the noises from the festival grew louder and louder, it was time to let her go.
“Until next time…Kagome,” he whispered.
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“Kagome! Kagome!!”
Kagome frowned, still floating in a dark haze as a faint voice disturbed her sleep. She had been… somewhere. She had been following someone.
And then something bad happened.
“Kagome!”
She whimpered quietly, drawing her knees closer to her chest as faint glimpses of red eyes, dark mist, and buzzing filled her thoughts.
“Kagome, wake up! I’ve been worried sick!”
She jerked awake and blinked; gasping as she quickly joined the land of the living. Her mother’s face filled her vision, concerned eyes looking over her as if assessing her for damage.
“Mama?” she whispered.
“For goodness sakes, Kagome, you should know better than to wander off,” her mother began to scold, seeing that her daughter was all right. “I had almost half of the festival looking for you when I realized you were missing, but none of us could find you. We reached the meadow only to find you sound asleep.” Her voice was sharp, but only because of residual worry. “Don’t ever wander away like that again.”
Kagome frowned as she looked around. A small circle of people had gathered above her, and she realized she was lying on the grass of the same meadow she had been trying to reach all along. But then, what about the images she still saw in her mind?
Had it all been a dream?
She shook her head to try and will away the fuzziness, but nothing became clear.
A loud boom filled the air, causing her to jump in fright. Looking up, she saw that the fireworks show had started.
“You’ll receive your punishment when we get home, young lady,” her mother said sternly. “But for now, enjoy the fireworks. I know how much you like them.”
Nodding absently, Kagome tried to focus on the lights and sounds filling the air from the colorful fireworks.
She couldn’t really remember anything between getting lost and ending up in the meadow. Just vague images and sounds of a sinister being.
But the one thing she could bring to mind with perfect clarity was a set of glittering gold eyes, staring down on her before going blank.
It wasn’t an image that was likely to leave her mind soon.
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(End of part one. I am writing part two as we speak, and it should be up soon. If you enjoyed, please review!)
Playlist:
Dance with the Devil- Breaking Benjamin
Salvation- The Devil Wears Prada
Stolen- Dashboard Confessional
You Found Me- The Fray
Iris- Goo Goo Dolls
Collide- Howie Day
If It Kills Me- Jason Mraz
Anywhere But Here- Safetysuit
Bonds- Toshiro Masuda (Naruto Soundtrack)
Sold My Soul- The Used
Until next time, kiddies,
Mujitsu