The Once and Future Taiyoukai By RosieB. (Inuyasha FanFic)

Chapter 18: The Witch

ALL RIGHTS TO ROSIE B ON FANFICTION.NET Rosie B [https://www.fanfiction.net/u/38149/RosieB]

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Chapter 18: The Witch

The Once and Future Taiyoukai

Chapter 18: The Witch

Sesshoumaru didn't move. "I will wait here," he said, selecting a flat rock and sitting down. Akemi jumped down and sat at his feet.

Kagome and Midoriko frowned. "What are you talking about?" asked the younger miko. "You came all this way with us and now you're not going to talk to her?"

"Precisely," he replied. "The witch will have nothing to say to me. I have done my part and brought you here. The rest is for you, Kagome."

"I still don't..."

"He is correct," spoke up Ami from her place beside the water. "The witch will not speak with him. We are pleased with his assistance and glad that he survived, but he would not be allowed to enter at all."

Kagome shook her head. "He came all this way though." She turned to look at the demon. "What if something happens in there?" she whispered.

"It will not," he said. He nodded towards the falling water. "This waterfall, as you guessed, is not natural. There are many enchantments woven into to prevent a demon like me from entering. That place is holy. I have no business there. Do not worry."

"Exactly what do you mean by a demon like you?"

Sesshoumaru's eyes flickered towards Ami for a moment and shrugged. Kagome frowned again, realizing that this was something that only a demon could know. She felt entirely left out, but chose not to question it.

She stepped close to him and reached out, her fingertips an inch from his shoulder before she thought better of it and let her arm fall to her side. "You'll still be here when we get out, right?"

He let out a soft breath that almost sounded like laughter. "Of course. I would not abandon you now, Kagome."

She smiled a tight smile that did not completely reach her eyes. "Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can," she said.

Reluctantly, she turned away and followed Midoriko and Ami. They walked straight through the sheet of water and, because she was already sopping wet from her first trip into the waterfall, she readily followed. The water pounded down on her head, forcing her to close her eyes for a few moments. When she opened them again, she was through and completely dry.

"Wow," murmured the young woman. She turned to look at the white falls behind her, still roaring. "Neat trick."

"It is tiresome to constantly get drenched throughout the day," Ami said. "This way."

The girl began to lead them down a tunnel that winded down into the mountain. It was brightly lit, not by torches which would have been extinguished by the dripping ceiling, but by a green phosphorescence. Kagome reached out to feel it and found that it was a soft moss, springy to the touch. It glowed so fiercely that even its green hue refused to make them look sickly.

"You aren't really a little girl, are you?" she asked as their journey wended ever deeper into the rock.

Ami shook her head.

Kagome waited a moment and then laughed. "Well, then, what are you? If I can ask?"

"She's a half-demon, Kagome," Midoriko replied, before Ami was able. "Do you not sense it?"

"Lady Kagome does not sense it because she is blind to such things," Ami said, throwing a kind smile over her shoulder.

The priestess mused over this for a moment. "I stopped consciously sensing Inuyasha a long time ago. Unless I want to find him," she said. "Is that what you mean, Ami?"