Nocturne - An Inuyasha Fanfic

Chapter Forty-One: Fated Encounter

Nocturne - Chapter Forty-One: Fated Encounter

Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)

o - o - o - o - o : Indicates scene or POV change

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

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Sango's earlier smug appearance switched to a confused one as she watched Kagome get up and rummage through utensils until she gave a satisfied sound and drew up a small knife. "What are you doing with that?" Sango asked with concern.

Kagome held out her left palm to Sango and then casually took the blade and drew it against her flesh. Sango gasped when she saw the blood run freely from the fresh wound. Kagome winced at the pain but held her palm out to her friend.

"Are you crazy?!" Sango hissed. She jumped up and swatted the knife from Kagome's hand. It rattled to the floor, and Sango snatched up Kagome's left wrist to examine the wound on her palm. "You idiot, you've severed your tendon!"

Kagome tried to close her palm but was unable to do so. She'd pulled the knife down too hard and injured herself more than she'd intended. Admittedly, injuring one's self wasn't as simple as she'd thought and had overdone it. Oh well, she thought. It shouldn't matter.

Sango drug Kagome by the wrist to find something to clean the wound. "I can't believe you would injure yourself! And to prove what?! Your descent into madness? Just because you live among demons does not mean you will gain immunity to mortality by association!" She chided while wetting a cloth with one hand.

Kagome could already feel the pain ease up and let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, she worried she had gone crazy, and her experience from hours earlier was a fluke.

With more angry mutterings, Sango took the wet cloth and began to clean the wound. She carefully blotted around the edges to clean away the blood. As she did, her brow drew together in disbelief.

"What in Kami's name?" Sango questioned aloud and took the cloth straight to the wound, rubbing away now dried blood. There was nothing there: no wound or even an indication of injury on Kagome's palm.

Kagome pulled her wrist from Sango's grasp. "Now, you see why I am angry!" She said.

"What?" Sango replied in confusion. "You just healed. How?"

"I was given ningyo. Without my knowledge!" Kagome retorted. "Because apparently, I'm too human for certain daiyokai."

Sango's mouth was slightly agape, but she quickly found words to fill the void. "Kagome...ningyo? Are you certain? That particular yokai...if its flesh is consumed...it is rumored that if one dares to do so, they will be granted eternal life." She continued to look at Kagome, almost in awe.

"Please don't look at me like that," she told Sango. The woman quickly cleared her throat and looked away at anything else in the room. Kagome felt like a sideshow freak as if she'd spouted an extra arm, but she knew she didn't look any different than before.

"Sorry," Sango responded. "I-I didn't realize that the flesh of a ningyo would also grant someone the ability to heal, either." Sango chanced a look at her friend. "I think it's best if you didn't tell anyone else about this," she cautioned.

Kagome pursed her lips. "Why's that?"

"Well, the reason more people aren't out hunting ningyo, looking for an extended lease on life, is because of the curse that surrounds it. You seem to have bypassed that somehow, or rather Sesshomaru did on your behalf, but others are not so fortunate. If people learn that you are now...," she paused as she searched for an appropriate word, "...blessed with eternal life and a healing factor akin to a yokai's...?"