74. Even
Prompt: Blade, protect, trust
Universe: Post Canon
Genre: Action, Drama
1,901 Words
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For SessKag Week 2018 - Day 5
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Kagome had been gone for a long time.
When she’d left Edo all those years ago, heartbroken and cheated out of her happily ever after, she hadn’t been sure she’d ever come back.
But rumours had reached her ears all the way up north in Hokkaido; alarming rumours of youkai amassing in the east, plundering villages, wreaking havoc.
And ever since hearing about it, she hadn’t stopped thinking about Edo and her friends.
How were Sango and Miroku doing? How strong had Shippou grown? Was Kaede still a force to be reckoned with? What would little Rin be like all grown up?
And most importantly, why hadn’t any of them managed to stop this horde of youkai so infamous that whispers of their deeds had travelled across hundreds of miles?
The worry had finally become too much to bear, and since the cracks in Kagome’s heart had been scarred over with time, she’d packed her things and resolved to make the long trek across Honshuu to Edo.
She had made good time.
The scenery through which she was walking now was familiar. She should reach the village in a few more days.
The bout of homesickness that twisted her gut took her completely by surprise.
Kagome had expected to feel nervous. She’d expected to feel conflicted. She’d expected the old rage she’d felt the day she’d left Edo behind to resurface.
Instead, she felt at peace.
She was so taken aback by that sudden realisation she almost missed the youki.
Almost.
It was faint and flickering and Kagome immediately turned towards it, started to make a beeline to it.
The dark sluggish pulses lead her towards a small cave.
Those pulses worried Kagome; they were too alike to a heartbeat.
And if that was what the youki was mimicking, the heartbeat was weak.
Kagome peeked into the cave.
Even knowing what she was going to find inside, the sight wrenched a sharp gasp from her, made her heart ache.
Resolved, Kagome grabbed her sword.
She pulled it out of the scabbard in a practised move and plunged it down into the rocky ground.
A barrier flared up instantly, strong and bright.
Kagome had to stoop down to enter the cave.
He must have crawled in, on his last fading strength.
He had managed to crawl all the way to the end. That was where he lay now, in a bloodied heap, his clothes and armour in tatters.
And yet, even unconscious, he was still clutching his sword.
Kagome smiled.
She would’ve expected nothing less of him.
His body was trying to heal itself, but there was too much damage and too little youki left.
Kagome knelt beside him, brushed the matted hair – tainted rusty red from his blood – from his forehead.
“Consider this a payback,” she murmured to his unhearing ears, “for the time you protected me.”
She closed her eyes, called forth her reiki and began to heal.
* * * * *
Sesshoumaru woke up weak and exhausted – which was no wonder, given how little youki he had left. He blinked into the gloom, wondering why he was in a cramped cave.
For a few more seconds he remained blissfully oblivious; then the memories flooded in.
Of the horde of youkai, the attack, of fighting for his life.
Sesshoumaru glanced down at Bakusaiga, clenched his hand around its hilt.
At first he figured he’d win easily. But these were no mindless lesser youkai – after they’d witness the sheer devastation Bakusaiga was capable of, they’d quickly spread out enough so Bakusaiga’s destructive powers couldn’t pass on from one to the next.
It had not gone well for him after that.
A growl rumbled in Sesshoumaru’s throat, and he instantly became aware of three things – the cold bite of reiki brushing against the weak remnants of his youki, the sweet and familiar scent lingering in the air and the sounds of fighting from outside.
Sesshoumaru scrambled up so fast he hit his head in the low ceiling of the cave.
He was fully healed, but without his youki, not yet fit to fight.
Still, he rushed out of the cave, sword at the ready – and came to a complete stop.
It wasn’t the full horde, although these demons were similar. But it wasn’t the sight of the youkai that had shocked him.
It was the miko.
She dodged an attack and turned aside in one smooth move, neatly cleaving through the youkai. Another one lunged at her back and disintegrated the moment he made contact. The miko was cloaked in reiki, wearing it like and armour. She stepped and slashed, parried and stabbed. The bodies were piling at her feet.
Had Sesshoumaru had lesser control of himself, he would have gaped.
The miko had vanished a long time ago. Sesshoumaru had heard from Rin what had happened and didn’t blame her one bit for leaving.
He thought he’d never see her again, yet here she was.
Changed.
When had she acquired a sword forged from youkai remains and infused in reiki? And when had she become so proficient in using it? When had she learned such mastery over her reiki? When had she cut her hair, got that scar on her neck?
With the last youkai shrieking and falling to the ground dead, the miko flicked blood off her sword and turned.
She smiled when she saw him, but even that was different.
Older, dimmer and little tight around the edges.
Yet when she spoke it was as if they had parted only yesterday.
“It’s good to see you’re up. You had me worried, Sesshoumaru.”
His gaze bore into her bold blue eyes.
“You healed me. Thank you.”
She shrugged and wiped her blade clean before sheathing it. “You protected me when we fought against Naraku, so now we’re even.”
That one word pierced his chest, though his face remained impassive.
Even. Indeed.
She was looking at him, more rueful than he remembered her to be. “I’m guessing the rumours are true, then?”
“If by rumours you mean the horde, yes.”
“Well.” She tilted her head, the corners of her lips curving upward. “What are we going to do about it?”
The question startled him.
Sesshoumaru had admired the miko’s strength – grudgingly – before. Before she had disappeared, before she had changed.
But after seeing how well she had fought the youkai and how confident and ready she was to take care of the problem… The time for admiration was past.
Now, the miko might actually be the first person Sesshoumaru would trust to stand alongside him.