Drabble # 45 Wolf's Den
Title: The Voice of Houki
Author: marishaten
Prompt: Wolf’s Den
Word count: 500
Universe: Canon
Rating: T
Warning: Blood, torture
Summary: Kagome is being tortured by Houki.
A/N: Follows Solitary Pursuit.
Kagome looked up at her captor - white and cold as a ghost, yet not fully a ghost. She did not recall meeting the priestess ever before.
She was inside a dark cavern that stank like a wolf’s den. She had been abducted and bound by invisible chains.
Why?
She shook her head, trying to fight the dizziness that was coming over her. Desperately she tried to recall the events leading to her captivation, but could only remember vague details. A sunlit picnic, wisps of floating clouds, an argument over a spicy item of food...how long ago had it all happened?
‘Inuyasha…why didn’t you come for me?’
She searched with her mind but found no answer. Frustrated, she looked down. Her body stank of sweat mixed with the stench of herbs. Blood dripped from her many wounds, as uneven breaths racked her frame.
The priestess stretched out her fingertips, and lightly lifted up Kagome’s chin. Her skin was damp and cold.
“Why are you trying to escape, little girl?” her voice was thin, sardonic. “You know it’s quite impossible, you’ll simply go insane. Very soon you’ll become just a mindless husk and do my bidding.”
“….No….”
Kagome’s voice was the murmur of the wind through a forest of bamboo. Yet, it harboured a protest.
The priestess frowned. “No?”
A wave of pain lanced through Kagome’s head.
“You fool, better women than you have tried to escape my prison. You are just an amateur,” her crimson lips broke into a cheery smile, “But don’t worry, you won’t die. Because you are going to become my new body. Isn’t that nice?”
“No!” Kagome repeated, this time with more force.
The priestess looked at her with the eyes of a fox.
“Why do you want to preserve yourself, girl? Even if you are no more, no one will really be troubled.”
No one will be troubled…
With a voice as smooth as velvet, the priestess had struck at Kagome’s weakest point. No one would be troubled.
It was as she said.
There were many people who loved Kagome, who needed her even. But she was not irreplaceable to any of them. There wasn’t one person to whom she had meant the world.
Not even to Inuyasha.
He didn’t come after her the way he would go after Kikyou.
“Surrender your soul to me, and be blessed by oblivion. The life you were living was only a happy dream, it will never come true. Forget that life and be at ease. Let everything disappear - sadness, jealousy, even this terrible isolation.”
Teardrops rolled down Kagome’s cheeks.
Why did it hurt so much?
She had accepted her role in Inuyasha’s life. She had been happy just being able to be by his side, to heal his pain and live for his sake.
Despite this, why did the words of the priestess hurt so much? Weakened her heart more than her drugs and torture combined?
-Because that was the truth.
Kagome’s determination shattered, and began to flow away.