Bound by Corruption by BelovedStranger

Great Sorrow

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

For this prompt in Stella Mira's Proverbial Challenge I could not exceed 3,000 words. I hope you all enjoyed this new instalment. Reviews would be much appreciated ^^

Prompt: There is no death, only a change of worlds.

Word Count: 2,998

A few hours later of mostly silent travel, Kagome blinked out of her thoughts as she suddenly realized she was walking across one of the fields on the outskirts of her village the farm laborers spent the majority of their day working the land. Joy at returning to her home swept through Kagome as she unconsciously sped up her pace, soaking in the familiar sights around her.

At first she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary as she walked through the silent and abandoned fields with Sesshomaru in dog form trailing forgotten at her side, but when she saw an abandoned farm rake in her path, she paused. Confusion glazed her eyes before her mind recalled seeing a similar sight upon her return. Looking around her uncomprehendingly, she saw many more rakes and hoes, baskets and hats lying forgotten on the ground around her. 

Dawning apprehension caused her muscles to tense as dread settled in her chest. She hastened her step further, running towards the village. It was the middle of the morning. The men and a few women should be out in the fields, tending to their crops, yet no one was there. Farm equipment left in the dirt, abandoned. Something has happened, she thought in growing fear.

She didn’t even notice the large, white dog looping beside her as she ran through the deserted dirt paths of her village. Looking around with frantic eyes, seeing no human life in her desperate search, she ran for the hut she shared with her obaasan and elder sister. However, she caught movement from the corner of her vision. Almost stumbling from her quick stop, she then walked fast towards the old man leaning against the door jam to a small hut.

Recognizing him, Kagome called out to him, her voice laced with fear and worry, “Jinsei!” Rushing to him, she fell to her knees beside him, lifting a hand to rest on his frail shoulder. “Jinsei, what happened? Are you alright? Where is everyone?”

Jinsei lifted tired, cloudy brown eyes, a look of hopelessness and fear unable to miss as he met her worried gaze. “Kagome-miko. You’ve returned. I see you have failed us.”

His words pierced her heart, freezing her in place. “W-what do you mean, Jinsei?”

What was he talking about?

He looked away from her as if it pained him to lay eyes on her. The gesture hurt along with his condemning words. “You were supposed to pray for the Inu no Kami’s intervention to save us all. Yet here you are while everyone has fled. If only your sister had been here in your place. I’m sure the Inu no Kami would have listened to her prayers.”

Kagome couldn’t breathe. Everyone was gone?

Grabbing both of his shoulders, Kagome leaned forward as she asked, desperate for information, “What happened, Jinsei? Where is everyone? Tell me!”

But it was as if he didn’t hear her as he whispered, “We are doomed because of you.”

Kagome sucked in her breath as pain lanced her heart. Pulling away from him, trembling from her inner turmoil, she slowly rose to her feet, unaware of her companion’s silent, watchful stare.

Turning abruptly, she ran for her home, ignoring the few people she saw, the old and frail. She had to get to her obaasan, nothing else seemed to matter now. If she could just get to Kaede-obaasan, everything would be alright. It had to be!

Seeing the familiar hut, she cried out, “Obaasan!” as she ran inside. Still she did not notice Sesshomaru’s presence as he stayed outside, all her attention on finding her grandmother.

She was there, wrapping bandages and medicine in a basket, obviously preparing to depart soon. The older woman looked up at her with her one eye, obviously startled by her abrupt appearance. Kagome fell to her knees before her grandmother, her hands to the floor in front of her as she spoke. “Obaasan, what is going on?! I finally returned home, but no one is in the fields. Everything was laying abandoned, and the village is all but deserted. I found Jinsei and he...he said...”

Remembering his cryptic yet cruel words she stumbled on her words. Distraught, she fell silent, tears swelling in her eyes.

“Oh, my precious child,” Kaede whispered with sadness as she set aside her medicine basket to embrace her.

Like a child, Kagome tried to hide in her grandmother’s embrace as she had done countless times growing up when she was sad and upset.

“There, there, child,” Kaede told her, stroking her hair in a familiar, comforting gesture.

“Tell me what’s going on, Kaede-obaasan,” begged Kagome as she leaned back several minutes later.

Kaede let out a tired sigh. “Word has come from the neighboring village. The bandits have ransacked the town, killing and burning everything to the ground. A few were even taken captive. I fear the villagers have fled our small community, afraid that the same fate will befall us.”

“But I thought the villagers weren’t going to run...that they had agreed it was too late to get away. What if the bandits find them on the road and...” Kagome said fearfully, unable to complete her sentence.

“Fear is a powerful thing, child. Everyone able to get up and leave have done so. Only a few remain, those unable to travel.”

Kagome was silent. She couldn’t speak for long minutes. Even when Kaede picked up her basket and stood, Kagome was unable to say anything. She feared her grandmother was silently condemning her just as Jinsei had done, blaming her for her failure to obtain the Inu no Kami’s aid.

“I have errands to take care of. I will be back later, child.” Before she could leave, Kagome spun around on her knees and asked, “Wait, obaasan! What about Kikyo?! You said the neighboring village was destroyed. Kikyo was there! Where is she? Tell me she’s okay!”

Without turning around, Kaede answered, “I don’t know. No one who came with the news knows of her fate.” Then she was gone, leaving Kagome alone to her fears and despair.

Kagome couldn’t move as shocked disbelief held her immobile. Her sister was missing, possibly captured...or dead. No! Lifting her hands to press against the sides of her head, she clenched her eyes shut in bitter self-recrimination.

It was her fault, just as Jinsei had said, like her grandmother was probably silently blaming her for. If only she had been able to beg for the kami’s aid, the villagers would still be here and Kikyo would be safe.

Kikyo.

Kagome opened her eyes in realization. She hadn’t been good enough. That’s why the Inu no Kami refused to come to help them. If it had been her sister who had gone to the shrine to pray for divine intervention, none of this would have happened. Kagome just wasn’t good enough. How many times had that painful fact been proven to her time and again? Kikyo was stronger than her, more skilled, and knowledgeable. Everyone knew it, yet her pride had been too strong to acknowledge it.

It was her fault. Her pride had condemned them all.

Suddenly a wet, rough tongue licked her cheek. Recoiling in shocked surprise, Kagome gaped at the large, white dog before her.

“What are you doing?” she said without thinking, feeling the sticky saliva growing cold on her cheek before wiping it away with her sleeve.

You are crying.

Lifting a hand to her face, Kagome was surprised to feel it wet. She had been crying without realizing it. Her eyes settled on her companion when a new thought came to her. Instead of the Inu no Kami, he had appeared. Guilt assaulted her. What had she done? Instead of the Inu no Kami, she had summoned a demon.

No. It couldn’t be her fault.

Lowering her head, her bangs hiding her eyes, while she clenched her hands into her hakama, she whispered, “It wasn’t supposed to be you.” Lifting her gaze, she glared at him, her expression a mixture of sorrow and anger as she said louder, “It wasn’t supposed to be you!” Her emotions blinded her as she turned the blame on him, away from herself. Lashing out, she continued her tirade, “I was trying to ask the Inu no Kami for his aid, instead, you interfered. Why couldn’t you have left me alone? Because of you the villagers are gone, Kikyo is missing, and the bandits are-”

Suddenly, Sesshomaru transformed into his humanoid form, crouching over her with a hand placed on the floor by her right hip, while the other squeezed her face, causing her lips to pout. His grip was far from gentle, his sharp claws digging into her flesh yet not breaking the skin. There was no kindness in his expression as he stared down at her, his eyes cold.

Sesshomaru was less than pleased with her words as he said, his voice low but filled with menace, “You wish I had left you alone? Had I done that, those human filth would have captured and raped you, sharing you amongst dozens of men for hours as they beat and tortured you. You would have begged for death long before it was granted. Is that want you want?” He slightly shook her. “Your kami abandoned you, a miko who should be their favored amongst all others. And yet you believe he would have saved your pathetic village? Don’t be foolish.” His expression turned to a sneer. “This is why I despise humans. Pitiful creatures who do nothing but complain and feel discontent with their lives, accusing others for their misfortune and doing nothing to improve their lives. Instead of blaming me, I suggest you make better use of your time instead of wasting mine.”

He glared down at her, his displeasure impossible to miss. She was afraid. His actions and words scared her, made her remember that this was not a creature to take lightly or to trifle with. And yet she was drawn to him. Barely above a whisper, she spoke around his painful grip, “Why?”

Sesshomaru’s featured turned bland, expressionless, as he took in the change in hers. Her emotions changed so quickly, he was having difficulties keeping up. He loosened his grip on her face to allow her to speak easier.

“If you hate humans so much, then why did you save me? You could have ignored me, walked away or even watched as they tormented me. Instead, you saved me.”

His hand turned gentle as he caressed her cheek before moving behind her skull and again turning violent. He gripped her hair, forced her head back at a painful angle, his expression changing not a bit as she gasped in pain at his rough treatment. Her eyes closed for a second before she opened them again to meet his gaze.

“To open your eyes to the darkness within you.”

Not understanding his cryptic remark, she told him so. “I don’t understand.”

“You will in time.”

He was so close, his breath whispered across her face, she thought he was going to kiss her. She wanted to reject his touch, but another part of her wanted it, yearned to feel his lips on her own. Unconsciously, she licked her lips, her eyes settling on his as she waited expectantly. But he pulled back and let her go.

She couldn’t believe the level of disappointment she felt as he stood and moved away from her. When she became aware of his nakedness, she averted her gaze, but not before she caught a glimpse of his sex. That small glimpse had been too fast for her to see any real detail and she was compelled to take a longer look, but when she lifted her eyes, unable to help herself, he was evaporating into smoke.

“Do not leave the village,” she heard him say, before he was gone, leaving her alone.

That night as the moon was high in the sky, Kagome found herself gazing at her reflection in the river at the outskirt of her village near the cliffs, wearing only her white sleeping yukata. She had been unable to sleep as guilt assaulted her, as did Sesshomaru’s continual absence.

She had not only failed her village but unjustly accused Sesshomaru of wrong doing. He had saved her life, and she had repaid him with angry, ungrateful words. She yearned to apologize to him, but she wouldn’t blame him if he now wanted nothing to do with her, contract or not.

After a time, Kagome became aware of the growing smell of smoke. Looking over her shoulder, her breath caught as she saw orange and red flames reaching towards the night sky where her village should be. She stood and ran towards the fire, her fear escalating as her ears heard the sounds of men shouting, people screaming, and horses shrieking.

All around her, all was chaos. Huts were on fire, blood soaked the ground as body parts and corpses lay discarded in the dirt. Kagome gasped in horror as she saw an elderly woman cut down from behind before her eyes, blood spraying in a violent arc as her assailant laughed, as she fell lifeless to the ground.

Kagome ran. The bandits had come. She had to find Kaede and run.

Somehow she made it back to her grandmother’s hut without being attacked, but it was ablaze. Disregarding the danger, Kagome ran into the hut, shouting Kaede’s name only to choke on the black smoke which also caused her eyes to water. Heading further inside, Kagome could barely see for the thick smoke before she tripped and fell over a lump on the floor.

Her hands fell into something warm and sticky. Looking behind her, she saw Kaede, blood surrounding her unmoving form. Seconds later, fire caught on the older woman’s yukata, prompting Kagome to rise and try to move her obaasan to safety. However, an ominous creaking reached her ears before a wooden beam fell, crushing the old miko while sending fire and sparks at Kagome’s face. Stumbling back, Kagome cried out, watching in horror as the fire surrounded her, trapping her.

The thought of burning alive started to sink in as the heat became unbearable, but a load crash splintered the air above the roar of the flames. Strong arms scooped her up as Sesshomaru took her to safety outside the burning building. Fighting him, Kagome coughed out a weak protest, needing to save her obaasan only to be ignored.

“She’s dead, miko.”

Kagome shook her head in denial at his words, incapable of speech as she coughed up her lungs. Just then, a few bandits charged them, blood lust in their eyes as they came at them with swords drawn. A strange green light, like a whip, flashed out of Sesshomaru’s claws as he decapitated them before her grief stricken eyes.

Then Sesshomaru looked at her with an expression she could not name. “Do you want them all to pay for the life of your grandmother and the others? Shall I kill them for you as I did the ones at the shrine?”

She blinked at him in confusion as he knelt before her. Her mind refused to process his meaning. 

“Surely you are angry, filled with the need for vengeance for their actions. Embrace it, aijin,” he whispered almost seductively to her, a dark gleam in his golden, inhuman gaze. 

Kagome shook her head. How could she think about anything other than the crimson stains that painted the ground, hear anything other than the screams of the dying and laughter of their murderers? Reality fell from her grasp as her mind ceased to function in an attempt to protect her from further trauma.

Sesshomaru frowned as her brown orbs glazed over.

Guessing correctly that she had gone into shock, Sesshomaru picked her up and departed the destroyed village without a backwards glance. He took her to an old well a few miles from her village before he set her down. He thought she would wish for vengeance once she recovered, but for now, she cried, and he was at a loss at what to do.

Her voice hoarse from smoke inhalation, Kagome tried to make sense of her situation, fighting her minds attempts to shield her. “When I was a child, obaasan used to tell me after my mother passed away that there was no death, only a change of worlds. But how can I believe that when death can be so brutal? How can there be another life beyond this one when the body can so easily be ripped apart?” Sobbing, she turned tortured eyes to Sesshomaru, pleading for understanding. “How can another human being do such harm to another?”

His reply was not comforting as he replied without hesitation. “It is human nature.”

At once he knew his mistake. 

Instead of the anger and need for revenge he thought she would feel, he noticed her eyes only held sorrow and disbelief towards a world filled with evil men. She was a strange onna, one he fought to understand.

He wanted her to stop crying but instinctively knew he could say nothing to stop her tears, so he sat beside her and did the only thing he could think of. He pulled her into his arms and did what he had witnessed other humans doing when someone wept. He comforted her in a silent embrace. It went against his demonic nature, but if it would stop her blubbering quicker, he held her close, pressing her face against his chest as he stroked her soft, black tresses and thought she might be  more trouble than she was worth.