Kazekage by Azuka

Ink

Disclaimer: I do not OWN Inuyasha and Co

Prompt: Ink

Source: Skyes Bi-Weekly Challenge

Word Count: 1k

Chapter Eighty Nine

Kagome struggled to push herself up, but she was bleeding profusely and the pain that paralyzed her body numbed her mind; all she could do was glare defiantly up at the Imperial suit of armor, her bicolored ashen eyes sparking with her desire to live.

It frozen suddenly and the walls began to bleed black, the stench of ink filling the hallway like animated smog. Kagome began to cough as she struggled to push herself away from the frozen suits of armor that clogged this pathway.

Did I take the wrong pill? Or did I just fall down another rabbit hole? This is NOT real, pull it together Kagome! You’re a Hero remember!

Her face fell and she whined as she pulled herself into a corner, cradling her wounded arm and beginning to cry, “…. Some…. Hero… I am…” She sobbed softly, hiccupping as she clutched her wound, trying to stop it from bleed as much through her fingers, as it was.

“Is this not why you accept my help, Priestess.” She gasped and looked up to see a very child-like Sesshomaru. He had pudgy cheeks and wore a lime green t shirt with the word ‘INU’ in big bold letter on the front, in a stark scarlet. His hair was long and kept back in a ponytail, but for some reason a band of metal with spikes crossed his left shoulder as if her mind couldn’t decide to keep him a child or an adult; and so settled for a… happy medium? She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, smearing blood from temple to temple.

Unaware she had applied her ‘war-paint’ was unaware completely of everything else as he vision swam with tears and her bottom lip began to quiver, “I don’t know what to do… I didn’t want this.”

“I can help you, you know.” The child said softly, his voice no longer hard and adult-like, but soft and comforting. Such a stark comparison to what she was used to, the boy seemed very upbeat for someone in a doomed hallway with a bleeding girl.  

She looked up at him confused as the walls around them continued to bleed black ink, revealing what looked to be the innards of a beast.

“Wh-where are we?” She asked softly, allowing her heart to latch onto the boy and pulling him to her chest. She cradled his head, keeping her lips near his ear as she looked around for danger. She realized in a moment stuck between life and insanity that if she didn’t choose one, she was going to die.

She could come back from it right? Her scope of reality wouldn’t be entirely lost…. Would it?

“How long… Sesshomaru?” She whispered, aware she was slipping further and further into the recesses of the illusion. The child in her hold, who had not moved a muscle since her embrace, suddenly embraced her back.

“Time passes differently here; seconds on  the other side become days here.”

She nodded and buried her face in the silky white hair of the boy, her knees coming up to encage him with her limbs. His small hand moved over her wounded shoulder, and though she flinched and drew back, she found the boy’s hand was glowing bright green.

She knew it should hurt; the smell and the sight alone ‘demanded’ pain, even if in sympathy, but she felt nothing as the skin was scalded closed. When the little boy drew back Kagome saw a faint green tinge limned the scar and when she rotated her shoulder it its socket she found her arm to be much more slender and defined than she last remembered. She flexed and gasped when she could see the muscles forming under her skin. When did I become to tone?

Four plus years in the Warring States era could do that to someone, but this… this was nice! She smiled and looked over to the child with gold eyes and white hair. He looked familiar and she tilted her head as she tried to pin it down.

“What is it?” The boy asked curiously, tilting his head with her. She giggled and stood up, “It’s nothing. We should get going, we’ve got a long way to go I suppose….”

“Aye.” The boy agreed with a hearty smile and took her hand in his, she looked down and the boy blushed with a big grin, “Y-you don’t mind do you?”

Kagome’s eyes widened and then she smiled brightly and gripped his hand reassuringly, “Of course not! Don’t worry, I will protect you, so don’t worry ok?”

His golden eyes widened but he smiled charmingly as if accepting her claim, “Ok.”

“This way… uh, what’s your name again?”

“What is your name?” Kagome paused, her fingers tightening on his. He looked down in mild surprise, “Um… well, now that you mention it…”

“I do not know mine either…” The boy confessed suddenly, “…my mother has not named me yet, perhaps yours has not either?” Kagome blinked and looked down at him in surprise.

“Named you?”

“Aye, I will not receive my name until I am old enough to bear it.”

“… That’s odd…. I’m sure I got mine the moment I was born, but why can I not remember it?”

The boy shrugged and tugged on her hand, “We should keep moving, he will be back soon.”

Kagome frowned and looked down at the boy, “What do you mean, ‘He’?” The little boy shook his head and tugged harder, “He comes, we must be quick!” He jerked Kagome what seemed to be through time and space, images whirled, colors blended and yet they only moved three feet and they were suddenly in an apartment complex, “He won’t find us here…. Not as long as we keep moving.” The boy closed the door behind them and Kagome numbly walked inside an apartment she was sure she should have recognized.

Her fingers danced along the wall where she knew pictures should be.

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