Draft: Gloaming, Chapter 1
Again, for Shadow. :3
SERIES: INUYASHA
TITLE: Gloaming
PAIRING: Sesshomaru / Higurashi Kagome
MUSIC: Bloodstained Lineage (Guilty Gear XX The Midnight Carnival OST)
We are hurtling toward our destinies, Raziel.
What you feel is the pull of history rushing to meet us.
This is where history and destiny collide.
(Kain, Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen)
“Sesshōmaru.”
The tall Demon Lord turned from the window, and inclined his head slightly in greeting. “Mother. This one had thought that you would be in the Central Citadel.”
Ōyuki shrugged elegantly as she stepped fully into the room, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the austerity of the furnishings. “Is a mother not allowed to visit her only son every once in a while?”
Sesshōmaru raised a disbelieving eyebrow but did not comment at his mother’s outrageous statement. Instead, he gestured towards one of the seats as he leaned against the massive table. “What brings you here, Mother?”
“Izayoi wanted to come here, and of course this one had to come,” Ōyuki replied carelessly as she sat down. “She wanted to see your younger brother.”
The High Demon frowned. “Half-brother, Mother.”
“Yes, yes.” Ōyuki brushed her son’s comment away, easily moving onto the subject of her choice. “Speaking of that brat, when are you going to Choose? I cannot believe that Izayoi’s son Chose earlier than you, I would’ve thought - “
“This Sesshōmaru has no need of those, Mother.” The yōkai interrupted harshly, rising up to his full height. “Choosing is for the weak, and this one is anything but weak. Let that hanyō walk that path, and I shall walk mine.”
“Preposterous. You cannot aim to stand alone.” The regal Empress frowned as she stood up, unfazed by her son’s intimidating stance. “Even your esteemed Father was unable to last without a Chosen for long, with the Corruption is as rampant as it is.”
Sesshōmaru’s eyes were cold, unyielding. “I am not Father, nor am I as weak as he.”
In a sudden, violent movement, Ōyuki slapped her son, not even flinching as her claws drew blood upon one chiseled cheek. “You shall not speak ill of your own father, pup!”
“He abandoned us, Mother.”
“And you are a fool if you believe lies and deceit uttered by those driven by jealousy .” Ōyuki stepped back, every inch the Terrible Mistress of Hell, the Empress of the Great Yōkai Community. “You shall do as you are told, pup, or you will be stripped of your authority as lord of this land. You may be my son, but this Ōyuki will not see the Western Fortress fall.”
“This Sesshōmaru - “
“Yuki! What have you done with Sesshōmaru?” came Izayoi’s outraged cry, interrupting the two demons. Footsteps light, the princess went to the tall male, frowning in concern as blood continued to trickle down one cheek. “Really, Yuki! This might leave a scar!”
“Pah, Izayoi, that disobedient pup deserved it,” Ōyuki muttered, gathering her coat and fan and preparing to leave. “To disobey this Ōyuki, his own mother!”
“Surely there was no need to strike down your own son,” Izayoi chided her Partner as she studied the wound. “I can heal it for you, Sesshōmaru.”
“There is no need, Izayoi-Mother.” The yōkai stiffly answered, uncomfortable as slender fingers probed the gash. “It shall heal on its own well enough.”
Izayoi shook her head, already beckoning the male to bend down. “No, no, that won’t do. You know as well as I do that it will take several days to heal from Yuki’s poison.”
“Very well.” Sesshōmaru sighed and bent his head slightly, just enough for motherly fingers to ghost across his cheek, leaving healing energy in its wake. As soon as the woman finished, the demon straightened and stepped back. “My thanks.”
“No need.” Izayoi smiled at the demon, stepping back as well. She glanced at her Partner. “Yuki, are we going already?”
“Yes. It would seem the western air does not agree with this Ōyuki.” The female yōkai started towards the door, her Chosen following. Almost as an afterthought, the Empress turned back after letting Izayoi slip through. “Sesshōmaru. That order stands. You will find your Pair and Choose, or lose your authority. This Ōyuki will send the banns in two days, so prepare yourself, pup.”
Sesshōmaru’s eyes narrowed and he walked swiftly forward, intent on catching them. But when he opened the door, the Pair was already gone, and the verdict cast.
His future was now sealed.
---
“Really, Yuki, must you be so harsh on him?” Izayoi asked inside their carriage, concern wrought all over her face. “You know that it is not because he does not want to Chose, rather, there is no one he can Chose. There are currently none that can match him, Inu no Taishō’s heir.”
Ōyuki sighed, and tapped a delicate claw on the window sill. “If I did not do that, that idiot son of mine will forever walk through the war and die without Choosing, and that possibility absolutely cannot happen. This way, he’ll search for his Chosen himself, rather than waiting for his Chosen to find him. Inuyasha was lucky that his Own was right under his nose, but you and I both know that Sesshōmaru’s road is less than ideal, nor is it smooth. “
“Sesshōmaru is stubborn, but I am sure there will come a time when he will Choose, Yuki.”
“Let us hope that he will, Izayoi.” the High Demoness murmured as she looked out, not really seeing the clouds as their carriage traversed the skies. “If my stubborn idiot of a son does not, then he has no chance of seeing this war ending.”
---
With a frustrated breath, Sesshōmaru pushed away from his desk, his mother’s words ringing in his head. Turning to the windows, the High Demon watched as Pairs - always a demon and a human - walked about the courtyard, some readying to go to the Blighted lands, some arriving from the accursed lands.
It had taken him a hundred years to get used to a demon pairing with a human - a hundred years of arguing with his esteemed Father. In the end, he, heir to the leadership of the Great Yōkai Community, had to swallow his pride when he felt the faint stirrings of his own Chosen.
The Pair System was developed by his Father and the then head of the Human Community; it was created to combat the corruption that so easily calls out to the darker, baser desires of their yōkai heart. By bonding with their Chosen human, Children of Heaven, they, Spirits of Earth, can resist the corruption that ails their world.
It was due to this that the human chosen will always be monk and miko-borne, their spirit doubly blessed by the gods residing in the heavens, able to withstand the pressure a Choosing would cause. The stronger the Demon, the stronger the Human counter-part must be.
And the one that had touched his spirit ever so faintly was one of power - the strongest and the purest Sesshōmaru had encountered. Not even his Father’s Chosen, Midoriko, could compare. In spite of himself, the dog demon was intrigued. Intrigued enough that the Inu had sought the human out, intent on knowing the one that affected his spirit so.
Perhaps, the Demon mused as he looked out, that some may say it was destiny that on the very day he felt the soft stirrings of Choosing was the day that his Father decided to introduce him to the ruling family of the Human Community. But Sesshōmaru never did believe in fate, or in destiny.
The moment the inu had seen the human family, Sesshōmaru knew with certainty that his Chosen was here. And the moment the youngest daughter had lifted brown eyes alight with innocence, the High Demon fell, his spirit now bound with hers.
The inu had never known such completeness - never known that such a bond can lift his spirit to the heavens, young and untested their ties may be. Perhaps it was because he never expected that there could be someone to match his own spirit that he was affected so greatly. Perhaps, that was also the reason why he rejected the union and fled - the first and the last time Sesshōmaru had done such action.
He never knew what happened to the child -only that he woke up in great, unbearable pain a fortnight later. The dog demon felt as though he was being torn asunder, his spirit being torn into shreds - it was only in the morning after that Sesshōmaru was told of the tragic massacre of the Higurashi House , the family where his Chosen belonged to. The Human Community was in uproar - for even Midoriko’s successor, the youngest child of the family, was not spared.
And it was then that the inuyōkai knew what had caused the terrible pain he had been subjected to - it was because the bond had been torn forcibly, his Chosen’s death the catalyst for the union’s destruction.
It had been 250 years then, ever since the death of the only one the inuyōkai had Chosen, and 200 years ever since his Father and his Pair had disappeared without any trace - leaving the Great Yōkai community in chaos. His Mother had been forced to step to the throne and call order, forging forward even in the midst of controversy - that the famed Inu no Taishō had been broken, and Corrupted. Became weak, and Tainted. That his own Pair had failed him, had failed to support him.
Gold eyes gone hard, Sesshōmaru turned away from the window, intending to go outside in subconscious defiance of his mother. No, there was no need to Choose. No one to match his own strength, but that child who had since been long gone from this world.
No, he will never Chose again. If death finds him, he will welcome it without regret - because it meant he died with respect and honor, depending on his own power alone, and nobody else’s.
---
Inuyasha watched with boredom as he saw his older brother launch into the sky, grinning slightly to himself when he saw the green imp waving madly from the ground below, stumpy legs working furiously to catch up. “So Aniki ditched work, eh? ‘Bout damn time!”
“I’d say your older brother deserves it, not unlike others I can name,” came a prim voice, tones awash with disapproval. “Inuyasha, you were supposed to come to the training hall with me. What are you doing, napping on top of the roof?”
The hanyō jerked upright, almost falling off the roof in the process. “K-Kikyō! Wha - what do you mean, training hall?”
“You idiot, don’t tell me you forgot?”
“No, no of course not!” Suppressing a whine with his ears flat against his head, the half demon carefully stood up and offered a hand. “Keh, I’m just standing guard! Yeah, that’s what I was doing! Can’t slack off, you know!”
The High Priestess rolled her eyes at her Pair’s antics. “So where is your older brother going? I am quite sure he is not scheduled for patrol today. I’d have known.”
“Keh, why ask me? I’m not my brother’s keeper!” Inuyasha sniffed grumpily, but answered anyway.”My mother and his mother visited earlier - although why he’d go out without a Grounder escapes me.”
“Wait - Sesshōmaru-sama went without a Ground?” Paling, Kikyō tugged on her Pair’s crimson sleeve urgently. “We have to go! We can’t just leave your brother alone in the Blighted Lands without someone to bar the Taint from his spirit! He’ll go mad!”
---
“Are you ready, child?”
“Yes, Ōbā.”
“Then we go to the mountains. It is time for you to call down a god.” The elderly woman garbed in robes stood up, her young apprentice following. Her eyes were old, wise - and unseeing. Blind. And yet her footsteps were sure, certain of her path. “Are you scared, little one?”
“Y-Yes, Ōbā.”
“Good. There is folly in overconfidence. Know this, my young apprentice: the god you call will not always be merciful, or kind. Know that you are merely a vessel for the gods that dwell in the heavens above.” The old woman paused in her walk, and bent down to take a pail, and a small ceremonial drum. “For days you shall fast, and for days you shall call upon the gods unceasingly. There will be no respite, nor will there be any comfort, until the god descends and unites with you. Knowing this, will you still continue?”
Faded sapphire eyes stared blankly ahead, equally as blind as her master - yet determination filled its depths, a fire that cannot be quelled. Lips rouged scarlet red stood out vividly in a sea of white, the apprentice garbed as though she was a bride. “Yes, Ōbā. I am aware of the risks, and I will still take this step forward. I will not fail.”
---
Sesshōmaru growled under his breath as he lashed out, whips of poison green snapping through the air as he fought. Already he was expending more and more of his control to rein in his baser side - the call of the Taint vibrating wickedly in his ears even as he twisted and moved.
Unrelenting snow and wind whipped around his form as he battled, swarms of Corrupted appearing as soon as the High Demon landed on one of the mountains in the north. They were easy prey, mindless and straightforward in their attack - however, their sheer amount of number more than makes up for their lack of intelligence, and with the Tainted’s Trill resonating in the air, it transforms them to a deadly force.
However, he will not succumb. Not today.
In one swift movement, the TaiYōkai had unsheathed his sword, Tenseiga gleaming unnaturally in the dull sun. As soon as Sesshōmaru plunged the Blade of Heavens into the ground, light burst and exploded - encircling the pale demon in a towering pillar of light no Corrupted can breach.
And then suddenly, a second pillar of light exploded in nearby mountain peak, as though in answer to his call.
SERIES: INUYASHA
TITLE: Gloaming
PAIRING: Sesshomaru / Higurashi Kagome
MUSIC: Bloodstained Lineage (Guilty Gear XX The Midnight Carnival OST)
We are hurtling toward our destinies, Raziel.
What you feel is the pull of history rushing to meet us.
This is where history and destiny collide.
(Kain, Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen)
“Sesshōmaru.”
The tall Demon Lord turned from the window, and inclined his head slightly in greeting. “Mother. This one had thought that you would be in the Central Citadel.”
Ōyuki shrugged elegantly as she stepped fully into the room, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the austerity of the furnishings. “Is a mother not allowed to visit her only son every once in a while?”
Sesshōmaru raised a disbelieving eyebrow but did not comment at his mother’s outrageous statement. Instead, he gestured towards one of the seats as he leaned against the massive table. “What brings you here, Mother?”
“Izayoi wanted to come here, and of course this one had to come,” Ōyuki replied carelessly as she sat down. “She wanted to see your younger brother.”
The High Demon frowned. “Half-brother, Mother.”
“Yes, yes.” Ōyuki brushed her son’s comment away, easily moving onto the subject of her choice. “Speaking of that brat, when are you going to Choose? I cannot believe that Izayoi’s son Chose earlier than you, I would’ve thought - “
“This Sesshōmaru has no need of those, Mother.” The yōkai interrupted harshly, rising up to his full height. “Choosing is for the weak, and this one is anything but weak. Let that hanyō walk that path, and I shall walk mine.”
“Preposterous. You cannot aim to stand alone.” The regal Empress frowned as she stood up, unfazed by her son’s intimidating stance. “Even your esteemed Father was unable to last without a Chosen for long, with the Corruption is as rampant as it is.”
Sesshōmaru’s eyes were cold, unyielding. “I am not Father, nor am I as weak as he.”
In a sudden, violent movement, Ōyuki slapped her son, not even flinching as her claws drew blood upon one chiseled cheek. “You shall not speak ill of your own father, pup!”
“He abandoned us, Mother.”
“And you are a fool if you believe lies and deceit uttered by those driven by jealousy .” Ōyuki stepped back, every inch the Terrible Mistress of Hell, the Empress of the Great Yōkai Community. “You shall do as you are told, pup, or you will be stripped of your authority as lord of this land. You may be my son, but this Ōyuki will not see the Western Fortress fall.”
“This Sesshōmaru - “
“Yuki! What have you done with Sesshōmaru?” came Izayoi’s outraged cry, interrupting the two demons. Footsteps light, the princess went to the tall male, frowning in concern as blood continued to trickle down one cheek. “Really, Yuki! This might leave a scar!”
“Pah, Izayoi, that disobedient pup deserved it,” Ōyuki muttered, gathering her coat and fan and preparing to leave. “To disobey this Ōyuki, his own mother!”
“Surely there was no need to strike down your own son,” Izayoi chided her Partner as she studied the wound. “I can heal it for you, Sesshōmaru.”
“There is no need, Izayoi-Mother.” The yōkai stiffly answered, uncomfortable as slender fingers probed the gash. “It shall heal on its own well enough.”
Izayoi shook her head, already beckoning the male to bend down. “No, no, that won’t do. You know as well as I do that it will take several days to heal from Yuki’s poison.”
“Very well.” Sesshōmaru sighed and bent his head slightly, just enough for motherly fingers to ghost across his cheek, leaving healing energy in its wake. As soon as the woman finished, the demon straightened and stepped back. “My thanks.”
“No need.” Izayoi smiled at the demon, stepping back as well. She glanced at her Partner. “Yuki, are we going already?”
“Yes. It would seem the western air does not agree with this Ōyuki.” The female yōkai started towards the door, her Chosen following. Almost as an afterthought, the Empress turned back after letting Izayoi slip through. “Sesshōmaru. That order stands. You will find your Pair and Choose, or lose your authority. This Ōyuki will send the banns in two days, so prepare yourself, pup.”
Sesshōmaru’s eyes narrowed and he walked swiftly forward, intent on catching them. But when he opened the door, the Pair was already gone, and the verdict cast.
His future was now sealed.
---
“Really, Yuki, must you be so harsh on him?” Izayoi asked inside their carriage, concern wrought all over her face. “You know that it is not because he does not want to Chose, rather, there is no one he can Chose. There are currently none that can match him, Inu no Taishō’s heir.”
Ōyuki sighed, and tapped a delicate claw on the window sill. “If I did not do that, that idiot son of mine will forever walk through the war and die without Choosing, and that possibility absolutely cannot happen. This way, he’ll search for his Chosen himself, rather than waiting for his Chosen to find him. Inuyasha was lucky that his Own was right under his nose, but you and I both know that Sesshōmaru’s road is less than ideal, nor is it smooth. “
“Sesshōmaru is stubborn, but I am sure there will come a time when he will Choose, Yuki.”
“Let us hope that he will, Izayoi.” the High Demoness murmured as she looked out, not really seeing the clouds as their carriage traversed the skies. “If my stubborn idiot of a son does not, then he has no chance of seeing this war ending.”
---
With a frustrated breath, Sesshōmaru pushed away from his desk, his mother’s words ringing in his head. Turning to the windows, the High Demon watched as Pairs - always a demon and a human - walked about the courtyard, some readying to go to the Blighted lands, some arriving from the accursed lands.
It had taken him a hundred years to get used to a demon pairing with a human - a hundred years of arguing with his esteemed Father. In the end, he, heir to the leadership of the Great Yōkai Community, had to swallow his pride when he felt the faint stirrings of his own Chosen.
The Pair System was developed by his Father and the then head of the Human Community; it was created to combat the corruption that so easily calls out to the darker, baser desires of their yōkai heart. By bonding with their Chosen human, Children of Heaven, they, Spirits of Earth, can resist the corruption that ails their world.
It was due to this that the human chosen will always be monk and miko-borne, their spirit doubly blessed by the gods residing in the heavens, able to withstand the pressure a Choosing would cause. The stronger the Demon, the stronger the Human counter-part must be.
And the one that had touched his spirit ever so faintly was one of power - the strongest and the purest Sesshōmaru had encountered. Not even his Father’s Chosen, Midoriko, could compare. In spite of himself, the dog demon was intrigued. Intrigued enough that the Inu had sought the human out, intent on knowing the one that affected his spirit so.
Perhaps, the Demon mused as he looked out, that some may say it was destiny that on the very day he felt the soft stirrings of Choosing was the day that his Father decided to introduce him to the ruling family of the Human Community. But Sesshōmaru never did believe in fate, or in destiny.
The moment the inu had seen the human family, Sesshōmaru knew with certainty that his Chosen was here. And the moment the youngest daughter had lifted brown eyes alight with innocence, the High Demon fell, his spirit now bound with hers.
The inu had never known such completeness - never known that such a bond can lift his spirit to the heavens, young and untested their ties may be. Perhaps it was because he never expected that there could be someone to match his own spirit that he was affected so greatly. Perhaps, that was also the reason why he rejected the union and fled - the first and the last time Sesshōmaru had done such action.
He never knew what happened to the child -only that he woke up in great, unbearable pain a fortnight later. The dog demon felt as though he was being torn asunder, his spirit being torn into shreds - it was only in the morning after that Sesshōmaru was told of the tragic massacre of the Higurashi House , the family where his Chosen belonged to. The Human Community was in uproar - for even Midoriko’s successor, the youngest child of the family, was not spared.
And it was then that the inuyōkai knew what had caused the terrible pain he had been subjected to - it was because the bond had been torn forcibly, his Chosen’s death the catalyst for the union’s destruction.
It had been 250 years then, ever since the death of the only one the inuyōkai had Chosen, and 200 years ever since his Father and his Pair had disappeared without any trace - leaving the Great Yōkai community in chaos. His Mother had been forced to step to the throne and call order, forging forward even in the midst of controversy - that the famed Inu no Taishō had been broken, and Corrupted. Became weak, and Tainted. That his own Pair had failed him, had failed to support him.
Gold eyes gone hard, Sesshōmaru turned away from the window, intending to go outside in subconscious defiance of his mother. No, there was no need to Choose. No one to match his own strength, but that child who had since been long gone from this world.
No, he will never Chose again. If death finds him, he will welcome it without regret - because it meant he died with respect and honor, depending on his own power alone, and nobody else’s.
---
Inuyasha watched with boredom as he saw his older brother launch into the sky, grinning slightly to himself when he saw the green imp waving madly from the ground below, stumpy legs working furiously to catch up. “So Aniki ditched work, eh? ‘Bout damn time!”
“I’d say your older brother deserves it, not unlike others I can name,” came a prim voice, tones awash with disapproval. “Inuyasha, you were supposed to come to the training hall with me. What are you doing, napping on top of the roof?”
The hanyō jerked upright, almost falling off the roof in the process. “K-Kikyō! Wha - what do you mean, training hall?”
“You idiot, don’t tell me you forgot?”
“No, no of course not!” Suppressing a whine with his ears flat against his head, the half demon carefully stood up and offered a hand. “Keh, I’m just standing guard! Yeah, that’s what I was doing! Can’t slack off, you know!”
The High Priestess rolled her eyes at her Pair’s antics. “So where is your older brother going? I am quite sure he is not scheduled for patrol today. I’d have known.”
“Keh, why ask me? I’m not my brother’s keeper!” Inuyasha sniffed grumpily, but answered anyway.”My mother and his mother visited earlier - although why he’d go out without a Grounder escapes me.”
“Wait - Sesshōmaru-sama went without a Ground?” Paling, Kikyō tugged on her Pair’s crimson sleeve urgently. “We have to go! We can’t just leave your brother alone in the Blighted Lands without someone to bar the Taint from his spirit! He’ll go mad!”
---
“Are you ready, child?”
“Yes, Ōbā.”
“Then we go to the mountains. It is time for you to call down a god.” The elderly woman garbed in robes stood up, her young apprentice following. Her eyes were old, wise - and unseeing. Blind. And yet her footsteps were sure, certain of her path. “Are you scared, little one?”
“Y-Yes, Ōbā.”
“Good. There is folly in overconfidence. Know this, my young apprentice: the god you call will not always be merciful, or kind. Know that you are merely a vessel for the gods that dwell in the heavens above.” The old woman paused in her walk, and bent down to take a pail, and a small ceremonial drum. “For days you shall fast, and for days you shall call upon the gods unceasingly. There will be no respite, nor will there be any comfort, until the god descends and unites with you. Knowing this, will you still continue?”
Faded sapphire eyes stared blankly ahead, equally as blind as her master - yet determination filled its depths, a fire that cannot be quelled. Lips rouged scarlet red stood out vividly in a sea of white, the apprentice garbed as though she was a bride. “Yes, Ōbā. I am aware of the risks, and I will still take this step forward. I will not fail.”
---
Sesshōmaru growled under his breath as he lashed out, whips of poison green snapping through the air as he fought. Already he was expending more and more of his control to rein in his baser side - the call of the Taint vibrating wickedly in his ears even as he twisted and moved.
Unrelenting snow and wind whipped around his form as he battled, swarms of Corrupted appearing as soon as the High Demon landed on one of the mountains in the north. They were easy prey, mindless and straightforward in their attack - however, their sheer amount of number more than makes up for their lack of intelligence, and with the Tainted’s Trill resonating in the air, it transforms them to a deadly force.
However, he will not succumb. Not today.
In one swift movement, the TaiYōkai had unsheathed his sword, Tenseiga gleaming unnaturally in the dull sun. As soon as Sesshōmaru plunged the Blade of Heavens into the ground, light burst and exploded - encircling the pale demon in a towering pillar of light no Corrupted can breach.
And then suddenly, a second pillar of light exploded in nearby mountain peak, as though in answer to his call.