Blood Blades

Old Ties, New Surprise

Karuma awoke sometime late into the night, her inner demon making her restless and edgy. She saw Rin sleeping on a pallet next to Kaede. Kagome was nowhere in sight. Again, the scents inside the hut closed in on her, forcing her into action.
She sat up and looked for her jeans, finding them folded next to her pallet. Unfurling them, she assessed the damage. Two rather long gashes ripped into the mid-thigh of the right pant leg. Shrugging, she bit and ripped off both pant legs. A bit high, but it would have to do. Good thing it was the warm season.
Rising, she slid on the cut off jeans, pulling her tail through the hole in the back. Then she silently stepped outside, breathing a sigh of relief. The cool night air felt amazing. She felt the extra boost of energy jump from her untamed demon. Might have to at least try a Serenade, the lack of the dragon crystal felt heavy tonight.
Karuma sniffed around a little, then followed a trail to water. She was thirsty, and wanted to douse her face. Maybe the cool water will clear her mind a little.
She quietly passed through the village and came to the river, heading upstream until she was well past all the huts. She heard the waterfall before she saw it. Cascading in the moonlight, the spray rose on display into a haloed night rainbow.
"Beautiful," she whispered, stopping to admire the spectacle.
She sat at the river's edge and took a long drink. Then she splashed some water on her face and arms, doing little to calm herself, but it felt good nonetheless.
Bad timing, Karuma thought. She sat down by the edge of the water and waited patiently. She was not alone, that aura and scent were hard to mistake. She didn't have long to wait.
She knew he was there, but irregardless, when Sesshomaru stepped out of the shadow of the trees Karuma's heart tripped over itself, the demon in her instantly on alert.
He was still an imposing figure. She could feel his power seething just below the surface. If anything, he had only gotten stronger since she had been gone.
"My Lord." Karuma said, inclining her head his way. She felt anything but the calm outward display she was portraying while she addressed him.
He walked over and stood next to her. His face was, as usual, unreadable. Then, to Karuma's amazement, he sat down beside her. Geez...with him this close, almost touching thigh to thigh, how was she supposed to think straight? His scent wrecked havoc on her insides, poking at her inner demon, making her want to growl in anticipation.
Must say something to break this spell...
"Thank you for helping me. I would be dead if not for you."
His voice sounded as smooth as honeyed whiskey on her frayed nerves. Calming and hypnotic, despite his words.
"You saved Rin. But perhaps death would have been preferable. Where is the dragon crystal Father obtained for you?"
Karuma braced herself...here we go...
"Due to circumstances beyond my control, for all purposes gone beyond my reach. I bit off more than I could chew apparently, my weakness exploited." She sighed, continuing. "I was thrown into a time where demons were almost non-existent and the crystal was taken upon my banishment." She hoped he could not hear her heart pounding erratically, or hear the quiver in her voice. His close proximity was unnerving.
Sesshomaru didn't berate her for losing the crystal, or ask who had taken it. Again, he surprised her.
"Are you well? Any loss of control?"
She swallowed. "To be honest, I haven't put it to the test yet...I do know that I can feel the demon stirring more and more since I returned. Almost a restlessness that is relentless. It was the driving force that pulled me back here." She didn't reveal to him what the demon's reaction was to him. And it was only getting stronger.
He sat quietly, unnerving her further. She wondered if he could feel her tension. A bowstring had nothing on her.
"Did you come back here hoping for help?" He asked finally.
She chuckled. "No. I would never want to endanger anyone. I came here because this is my home, and I wanted to reconnect with Inuyasha...I missed him dearly. I have been so alone, incomplete.
Not only the demon was pulling me, but my heart was as well. I may have been gone, but my soul remained here, walking these same roads." Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. She whispered quietly, "I have missed so much."
He looked at her and said something that threw her again. "Inuyasha will forgive you. Worry not."
Holy shit. Was Sesshomaru actually attempting to comfort her? Her damp blue eyes shot to his golden ones and locked there. It gave her a flash that shot down straight to her mid-section, tripping up her heart again. She swallowed hard.
"Thank you." She whispered. The tear finally escaped her right eye, sliding down over her demon mark.
"He will wish to help you, just as Father did," he reached up slowly and wiped her tear away, "Just as I am compelled to do as well."
Sesshomaru had never touched her before. The jolt of the contact sent shockwaves through her. She closed her eyes...just breathe.
He had to feel her reactions growing stronger. She felt his eyes on hers when she opened hers again. It had hit a higher level, the scent in the air slowly changed. Her eyes had a slight tinge of red around the edges.
"I did not ask for help. I will soon depart to tickle some dragons, but I don't fear them half as much as myself. I have nothing to tame the demon, and I fear it is only getting stronger. I could not live with myself if I hurt someone that I care for. I would have rather have been left for dead after the viper bite."
Sesshomaru brought his hand back up, placing a forefinger under her eye. He could see the change clearly now. "You cannot do this alone in your current condition, that is obvious. I am afraid you have no choice, Karuma."
The way he spoke her name, rolling it off his tongue, sounded like music. She had missed her name and he made her realize just how much. Something was going to break if he didn't back off soon. The demon inside knew what she wanted no matter how hard Karuma tried to fight it...breathe. Just breathe.
When Taisho was alive Karuma had little contact with Sesshomaru, preferring to keep a distance. Even being an ambassador and having to deal with all manner of demons, she knew not how to deal with him.
After Taisho had died, the buffer he provided went with him. Karuma had to deal with Sesshomaru directly, and he had let it be known, in no uncertain terms, that he despised half demons. Each encounter they shared after she left the castle was different, keeping her head full of questions. This encounter was the one that put the cherry on the proverbial cake.
"Why do you want to help me? I thought you despised half demons, and their weaknesses."
He brought his hand back down and was quiet for a few moments, then he said simply, "I was wrong."
To give Karuma credit, her jaw didn't hit the ground. Yup, this encounter takes the whole cake, cherry and all. The time he had dropped off an orphaned Inuyasha was now a close second. His words of "Here take this" as he held out a young Inuyasha by the back of his kimono, etched in Karuma's mind forever, making her chuckle.
"Not so wrong, my Lord." She trembled, her control slipping a bit more. The tips of her feathers darkened. "I know the dangers of my own weakness."
Her first heat cycle before Taisho died had proven that. Even with the dragon crystal, she hadn't been able to suppress the demon. It was the main reason why she tended to avoid Sesshomaru. Taisho never brought about any urges of that nature, but his son always seemed to throw off her balance in some way. She suspected Sesshomaru was the cause of her heat, as she had just spent more time in his company than ever before running off rogue wolf demons killing humans in Taisho's Northern Territory. Taisho had been busy to the south, so he had her and Sesshomaru go to route them.
Karuma had never gone into an actual heat before, despite her age. She honestly didn't know she could have one. Not wanting to bring the violence of a heat down on anyone in Taisho's territory, she had used her scent barrier and fled like a coward. She had almost been killed before her cycle was through and Taisho had died. Karuma blamed herself because she hadn't been at his side to help defend him. It ripped her insides apart, she felt she had killed her best friend...after all, it was her fault the dragons started acting up. It all came back to that damn crystal.
Now Sesshomaru, and most likely Inuyasha, wanted to get involved? He really was asking too much of her. If it hadn't been for Inuyasha, she would've given up. Karuma had known the boy's mother wouldn't be around forever. She knew he would need her.
To loose them both-even though she wasn't exactly close with Sesshomaru-Karuma felt she would be letting Taisho down. It would utterly destroy her. Her final connection to Taisho gone.
Now she had no crystal, nothing to light the darkness of the demon. What if she lost control, or went into another heat? Being around Sesshomaru, it was a distinct possibility. Her reaction to him was stronger than when she had possessed the crystal.
Her breathing became a bit ragged. Hard to focus...
The demon hadn't been a problem in the future. Maybe it was being in the presence of demons...or one particular demon, in this time period? Whatever the reason, the danger was real.