The Darkness that Surrounds Her by higan

Run!

Run!

Don't stop!

Don't think!

Just -

Run!

A heart pounded blood throughout the small form's body at a mile a minute, never skipping or lagging what it needed to survive. A steady amount of adrenaline began to hum in the ears from the pump of blood rushing to accommodate the taxed body. Small arms started pulling heart monitors and the remaining needles out of skin, some sticking to the skin and others pulling layers off. Blood soon followed the skin layers, a soft plop was heard in the ears as it hit the forest floor. The smell of dirt and blood covered nostrils as the running continued.

Never screaming from pain, not a tear came to the eyes and the small hands continued to free the body of tortures devices and painful memories of its life.

Being strapped to a bed. Something black being pumping into a vein.

Pain.

Unimaginable pain formed when the lights turned off. When the darkness came. No peace came in the darkness. Feedings. The blood fed off of anything, except for the host, while it was in dark.

Remembering being strapped down and the feeling of bleeding out, blood leaked out, only to be reabsorbed into the pores of the skin for the first time. It shuddered.

A painful torture, that no one should have to feel. Near death, foggy eyes. Pain! Only to repeat itself again and again in its darkened prison.

The small form made a conscious thought as it sat in the darkness for it only knew how long. A machine beeped as the thought came again and again. Matching the pain and the beat of the small being heart beat. One word popped on the screen. Than two, six, fifty. The machine screamed, the gears and mechanisms could not keep up with the one word.

Freedom.

A decision was made. Thinking. Thoughts about the core, in the small being, the light that was left inside, and letting it spread and consume the black. Consume the body it hosted. Not caring if it lived or died.

Freedom.

A feeling of...

Now running. Run is all the creature can think. All it knows.

Off in the distant dark, noise's were heard by the small body. A dog's barking echoed off the tree's, and some bright, ominous lights : separated and connected, separated and connected; were in the distance. Nothing seemed calm, in the late hours of the night.

No shoes or socks. No clothing to speak of. Untamed hair flowed in the breeze. It didn't even know it had hair, it was dark like the night sky. Appraisingly dark like the night. The small creature didn't even know what it was.

It felt small.

It felt scared and alone.

How did this happen?

The person looked back and gauged how far the threat was. To afraid for it to think beyond a safe place, shelter was not in its vocabulary. Looking left, nothing but tree's and dead foliage. Right was dark, no tree's could be seen, but taking chance and dashing right, with the head down to the chest and sprinted in its desired direction.

Numbers started to appear in the corner of it's vision, as it kept running than beeping started. Looking around, the creature felt confused.

Where was it coming from?

It stopped and looked around.

Louder and louder the beeping was in it's ears, ears started to throb from the growing noise it heard. Blood dripping more from the body. Stains followed, ears pounding, finally as if they had a mind of their own, fingers were shoved into ears trying to relieve the pain. Eyes pinched tightly closed, as it turned around and around. Than it saw a massive cliff side.

"Stop!" It screamed, in a gruff unused voice, to the feet of the body. "N-no m-o-re." The brain tried to keep going. Fight or flight was beyond in effect, for the creature. But the body was done. No more running. A shake of the head and it looked out the cliff to the long drop that was the only greeting for the being as it stared into the darkness and abyss. The noise, beeping, started to come back again. Though it was much softer, almost like a reminder.

Beep. Don't for get. Beep.

Gray eyes hardened with a glint of determination.

No more running.

The time to fight was now.

Turning back around the hand grabbed a stick with both hands and raised it high in the air. The brain knew a stick was not going to work, but the body refused to give up with out trying. Blood continued to soak into the dirt as it stood there, waiting. The beeping became normal, a thumping like the heart of the being.

Looking down the cliff once more, it saw a small structure across the abyss. It was being called to the house. The building. The light needed, no pounded, the being to start moving to the shelter. The house started to glow and eerie blue.

"Drop the stick and jump." The light stated in a commanding voice. "Go." The single word had the creature jumping down the cliff and sliding on the dirt. Instinct directed the small body towards its haven of choice, the light started to pulse. The blood started to pour and soak back into the pores giving another energy boost to start the climb back up. The numbers started to fraction smaller and smaller as it climbed up the other side of the gorge.

Other shelters were in the vision, but when it looked at them the numbers got bigger and the beeping grew louder. Finally, after checking to make sure the shelter was safe near some stairs on the far side of the property, it turned back towards the blue glowing building. Only to feel life and a different light from a huge tree. The small one glanced at the massive tree with reserve checking for the life and seeing none.

Strange.

The light was humming under the skin of the being as it walked slowly towards its destination with caution.

Minutes felt like seconds, time didn't matter to oddity. There was no danger for the creature so it hurrying to the glowing house. The creature paused to look for the opening, the gate way. A door that slides was the opening portal of choice for the building. The glow started to get brighter and brighter as the small thing started to get close and close to the well. Turning back around, it slid the door shut. Numbers willed them selves to get smaller, almost gone from the eyes as it scanned the well. Blood was leaving once foot print, only to be absorbed in the opposite calf. The body started to twitch as it stared at the wooden object.

The smell of aged time and dust filled the nose as it took a cautious sniff to the air, turning around in circles in the small dingy room. Than its eyes caught it. Timidly, it approach. A small hand gingerly touched the wood of the well and felt a feeling; nay, a thought from before.

Freedom.

It was right there, ready for the being to come.

Then it started to wonder why's, and how's. Never once did a who come in its mind. The creature started looking back towards the closed door once more, but then the light had enough, it screamed, "Jump!"

The blue light grabbed the body in midair and dragged it down the well. No noise was heard, no struggle. The small woman was ready. She closed her eyes, letting her body relax into the light sensation. Looking at her wounds, shock covered her face, that healed as the light roamed her naked body. Hopefully, it - she would know what was going on the next time the eyes opened or it saw something other than the darkness.

**

Why does he always check on him? More out of duty to family and honor, he reasoned with himself as he continued his walk.

It was like an odd tradition with himself once a week making sure his hated half brother wasn't eaten by wandering oni, or a demon that was a bit too tempted.

His lip curled up to reveal perfect white fangs hanging down where his canines should be, as he remembered his thought from last time. 'Hanyou on a stick.' He snickered.

Soft whispers of his silken white and red haori as he followed the deer path towards his brother tree. He sword rested on his black hakamas clad hips as he grabbed it in his own agitated state. It always seemed to have a calming effect on him, though his weekly visits were always aggravating.

"He did it to himself," mused the grumbling taiyoukai. "If anyone else knew of what happened," he paused in that thought. Not wanting to go further in that direction. Too bad he couldn't say the same for-

'Well, we already had one let down in the family.' His beast continued for him in his mind, as his thoughts returned to his charge.

Staying near that filthy miko, only to get sealed to a tree. He growled out loud for all to hear is anger. So far its been ten years since that faithful day. Disgusting. Shameful. Any other horrible word the demon lord thought he flung, mentally, towards his brother.

That same miko died from serious wounds to her person, the day after he was sealed. By then the demon lord found out. He could only hope his brother got some good hits in before he got taken out of the fight.

He sent for hundreds of miko's to try and fix the problem. None could match the power of that one, insignificant, miko power. Most died trying to fix it. It was as if there was some sort of evil resting inside of that shaft of the arrow. The miko's corpses were returned to him, drained of all fluids and their skin took on a blue tint. Their eye's sunken in and their hair was all gone. Their mouths in a permeant scream.

After a time, they stopped coming. Rumors started that the Great Sesshomaru started to eat their hearts and burned their bodies. So was his brother a lost memory of the boy stuck to a tree from some damn miko he was infatuated with.

A loud snort was heard throughout the clearing as he approached his hanging half brother, who was also was in deep slumber. An arrow fletching was seen through his layers of the red fire rat cloth. His clawed feet dangled and swayed in the air as a slight breeze graced the clearing with something other than hanyou stench.

This never would have happened if he would just have waited, he thought as he grabbed Tenseiga and rubbing the worn leather hilt with a worried hand. He would have gotten his sword if he would have just waited for me. Instead he goes galavanting off in the country side. He would have gotten his birthright, Tetsuiaga. They were so close.

He wasn't jealous that he got the wrong sword from his father. A sword that could not cut, but give life. Bah! He was all powerful, he didn't need life. Death, Tetsuiaga, was what he wanted. Killing a thousand demon with one swipe of the blade. That was power.

The stoic demon craved to be the best. Everything else was second. Family, friends, his homelands. All he needed was power, than everything else will come to him. Because of the power.

Then he felt it.

Raw, unimaginable power. He turned on his heels and started towards the power. The hanyou looked fine. He will check on him after he finds out what this, thing, is. His feet took him only a small ways away from his half brother to the Bone Eaters Well where he saw a crumpled, shivering figure in the dirt.

The figure in question was obvious a ningen female. His lips curled in disdain at the sight before him.

Taking a sniff he smelled, nothing.

Normally all ningen, even miko smell like themselves. Ningen, he thought with a sneer. She smelled like, nothing. It was as if there was no scent to her. After a closer observation of her person to her ivory skin that was covered in muck and grim. With no clothing to speak of on her body. Hair as dark and shiny as volcanic rock graced the crown of her head. She looked like any normal Japanese woman. Her breathing was erratic and labored, like she was running for miles on end.

She looks like a whore that bargained for too much and lost it all, he thought as he saw the blood drain from her body. Than he felt it.

He paused. The power was caressing her naked flesh. Soothing her. Its blue radiance glowed brightly, and at that moment, he knew what kind of power it was on her body. Holy power. She looked miko, but wasn't.

His eyebrow quirked at that thought. Queer.

Than he looked down and drew another eyebrow up in silent question. Her fluids were draining from her figure only to be returning or sucked back in to her body in at first was slow, but it became faster and faster till it matched her thunderous heart beat. Dark, rich blood was at one moment coating the dried grass than being sucked back into her body.

He watched as her body started to twitch and started to make odd little noises in the back of her throat, as she craned her neck from one side to the other trying to.. do something?

"Wake up." He spoke low to himself. Not even realizing that he talked out loud.

Sesshomaru was confused. That does not happen often.

This was no normal ningen he realized as he cautiously approached the still trembling body. Then out of all the times for it to happen, his worthless blade, Tenseiga started to glow and pulse a white fog started to leak from the hilt of the dull blade. His coppery eyes looked on in silent wonder, as a small tiny hand reached out towards his body. More specifically towards his oddly leaking sword.

Another moan sound came from the now crawling figure. The crimson drops fell into the dirt and were absorbed in a knee or a hand, but it went unnoticed to the bent head of the onna.

The demon lord let out a low warning growl to the ningen female an order to stop, but she persisted to get closer to his person. Than he heard, "I can't stop." In a gravely, over or perhaps under, used voice.

Than the blue light, that was connected to the well, pulsed around her body. Attempting to trap her inside the shield, or prison. "No! I wanna go home! Home!" She started to crawl faster pushing on the light, reaching out to his body with her tiny bloody hands. He started to noticed the blue light started to get bigger and tighter around her waist. Blood leaking from the strangling hold it had on her body, down to the dirt only to get sucked back into the lady's feet.

Her head tilted up and looked into his direction and he froze at the nominally he saw, gray eyes. No one has gray eyes, only foreigners. But she looks Japanese. He couldn't rack his brain around what was going on.

She got to her feet, shakily, and tried to pry the blue glowing light off of her waist. "I can feel him." Her eyes became huge as if only she knew what she was talking about. She looked on towards his brothers direction, in a daze, and started to walk. Her bloody foot prints lasted seconds before they were racing back to her body, into her calves. She went a few feet, but the light wouldn't let go its hold.

He heard a loud booming voice. "You must wait. Wait little one!"

Hanging her head low on her chest, falling to her knees in a crumpled heap she whispered out sadly at her direction of choice, "I'm sorry... Inuyasha." Bloody tears fell from her eyes only to get sucked back in her cheeks.

**

Back near the God Tree the wind continued to blow the prone body back and forth. On top of the hanyou's head sat puppy dog ears covered in the softest fur anyone has ever touched. Those ears twitched when he heard a morose declaration. "I'm sorry... Inuyasha."

It was as if his name being uttered from those lips tweaked the spell. Some how...

Some how he opened his eyes.

And waited.

**

That got the demon lord's attention really fast. Could she free his brother? Nodding his head in a silent agreement with himself he grabbed Tenseiga and raised it high in the air. Only to start its descent back down to the girl.

What happened next makes absolutely no sense to his already frazzled brain.

She screamed.

Loud.

From that scream he saw her eyes roll in the back of her head and the light, that at one time was a leash now was being funneled, or entered in to her body through her mouth shooting her backwards into the old well with such strong force it could do only one thing.

Destroying it.