Change Of Plans
Anything
Chapter Four: Change of Plans
“Just keep going its fine! I’ll catch up in a moment,” Kagome called as she watched Sesshomaru give a small nod of his head before turning and leaving with a brief, ‘hurry up boy.’ Kagome almost squealed with happiness at finally being left for a time as she hopped down to the clear, bubbling spring she had spotted only minutes ago.
Sesshomaru and she had been traveling now for almost three days and despite her boyish attitude she could not stand the three days of grime that had started to accumulate on her skin. As she starred almost lovingly at the water she knew she had no where near enough time to bathe, so she leaned down and quickly splashed the cool water over her face. Careful to never get her borrowed kimono wet, she pulled up her sleeves and washed her arms of the small layer of dust there. Last she filled her only traveling container with the sweet water before hurrying back up the bank and following after Sesshomaru.
They always seemed to head in the same direction without aid of any real path so Kagome just picked up the way they had been traveling for the last three days and headed along through the brush of the forest surrounding her. Sesshomaru’s long stride seemed to have taken him further then she had thought and she was soon bounded down the unseen trail with a sense of unexpected desperation. Her sudden fear settled just as quickly as it had come as she spotted Sesshomaru standing still a few feet away. She slowed down her pace a bit, not wanting to look too stupid in front of her best friend, but it was all in vain as she felt her body falling swiftly forward as her legs became tangled in a wayward branch on the leaf littered ground.
“Shit,” was all she managed to mutter as went slamming forward into Sesshomaru’s back. At first it seemed as if he would stay upright until Kagome realized he had been standing on the edge of a large slope. The sound dirt gave way under their combined weight and with a cry of surprise Kagome found herself splayed across Sesshomaru’s broad back as they tumbled forward until the ground evened out once more.
Kagome hardly had time to breathe as she suddenly found herself slung painfully to the ground with Sesshomaru’s golden glare heating into her own startled gaze. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean too. . .” Kagome started but trailed off as his grip on her neck tightened.
Sesshomaru growled lowly in his throat, surprising Kagome by his show of emotion, before he opened his mouth slightly to reveal his deadly fangs. Though anything he was going to say to her was cut short as the ground beneath them once more shifted and their tangled bodies fell with a whoosh. The hidden cave seemed to go one forever before an unnatural light burned their eyes and a strange pulling sensation grabbed Kagome around her bellybutton and tugged her forward through the swirl of unusual lights. With a flash both Sesshomaru and Kagome disappeared with a pop even as the lights disappeared as if folding in on themselves.
Cold grey eyes starred impassively at the teenage students scattered about his room as they worked furiously away at the parchments before them. The steady sound of quills scratching over paper soothed his frayed nerves. He was a relatively tall man with a lithe frame hidden under his long black clothing and equally dark hair that brushed against his shoulders. His attention was carried from his students by the large book resting in his lap. He flipped slowly through the tomb before a gentle ding caused his gaze to shift towards the teenagers once more.
Placing the heavy book down on his desk, the teacher stood and practically growled as he snapped out,” Place your tests on my desk now, you are dismissed.” Papers shuffled loudly as the students rushed forward and placed their tests down before darting from the classroom like bats out of hell.
The teacher chuckled softly to himself at their reaction as he settled back into his chair and pulled the papers towards him to begin his marking. Before he could even manage to read the first question a sharp pain slammed into his forehead and he gasped at a sensation he had not felt in almost twenty years. He quickly shuffled through his desks and pulled out a small vile filled with a clear liquid that he downed in one quick gulp.
The moment he placed the small glass container down he heard his door click open and turned to glare at his unwanted intruder. “Sir, the headmaster wants to see us. It’s about the old crowd,” a voice mumbled with slight distaste.
“Fine then Mr. Potter,” he snapped as he stood and walked over to the door. “Oh and five points from Gryffindor for being rude and not knocking,” Professor Snape remarked with a smirk as he headed out the door, his robes billowing out behind him as the boy was left fuming in the wake of his swift strides.
Sesshomaru had always considered himself a calm and collected demon, determined not to show any outward weakness, but as his body landed against the hard, wet ground he was unable to stop the need to empty the contents of his stomach with one heavy heave. The sensation was odd for he had never experienced it before. The hydrochloric acid in his stomach burned all the way up his throat, and to his side he could hear Kai repeating the action.
Their tumble had left both warriors feeling oddly drained and disconcerted as if they had just been traveling on the ocean for months and were suddenly thrown on land. Sesshomaru was the first to stand and compose himself as he looked about curiously. He had expected to see the walls of a dark cave and would get out by simply flying, but what he saw made him pause. They were surrounded by and endless mass of forest with the ground filled with mazes of large knotty roots and a constant layer of fog appeared for miles.
Carefully, still wary of her spinning vision, Kagome sat up and stared around her with hardly veiled trepidation. She could not resist a sigh of relief at spotting Sesshomaru about three feet to her left. He looked much less out of it then she felt but something about his stiff posture and hardly noticeable clenching of his fist bothered her greatly. “Sesshomaru,” she called carefully as she followed his gaze into the darkness. The forest seemed to radiate evil and left her stomach clenching painfully with a sixth sense Kagome could not understand.
“What happened?”
For a moment it seemed like Sesshomaru was going to ignore her , but without ever looking at her his voice answered, “ I do not know what occurred but a scent of magic covers us both. I believe we wandered onto wild magic.”
Kagome blinked slowly as she thought back to her training. “You believe we fell into a patch of wild magic and it transported us here. Then we could be anywhere or anytime!” she gasped softly, her voice breaking the eerie silence of the woods.
Sesshomaru nodded before placing a finger over his mouth to silence her. The was something about the woods that was making his hackles stand on end, so instead of hanging about for trouble he started walking swiftly through the fog in the only direction in which he smelt fresh air. He did not have to look behind him to know Kai was following close behind.
They had almost reached the edge of the woods when Sesshomaru’s senses went into over drive. Close by, to close for comfort, he heard a faint rustling along the ground and above in the trees. He could also hear the hitching of Kai’s breath and knew he had sensed it while though he was not sure how. Any speculation on Sesshomaru’s part died a quick death as the rustling above became louder and he turned quickly and with a flick of his wrist disintegrated the attacker. Though the attack was far from over as he took his fighting stance just as he saw Kai draw his blade.
Mysterious hissing came from the fog as almost twenty large bodies appeared in the mist like apparitions. Kagome had to hold back a scream as the once shapeless masses crawled forth and revealed massive spiders with poison dripped fangs. Any fear on her part was quickly shoved to the back of her mind as her training kicked in and she brought her sword down with all the force she could muster. The first spider was practically cut in half.
Sesshomaru fought with all the grace and skill of the inuyoukai clan in the enclosed space, using his deadly claws and toxic whip. The twenty or so gigantic tarantulas were easily disposed of but the sickly yellow blood splattered across the ground was attracting more and more predators, none of which Sesshomaru wanted to deal with without first knowing where and when he was. With that in mind he pulled Kai to hi side and held him securely around his small waist before using his speed to remove them from the forest.
Kagome gasped in surprise as she was suddenly lifted from the ground. Her first reaction was to strike out at the one holding her until she recognized the familiar white and red sleeve attached to the arm. With a sigh she calmed her frayed nerves and watched as the land around her speed by. It only took seconds for them to break free of the forest and into the blinding sunlight. Kagome let out another gasp of surprise as she spotted a large castle in the distance.
***
Severus entered into the headmaster’s office with his normal scowl in place, Harry wandering in not far behind with a slight scowl of his own. The room was larger then normal and there was a rectangular table with Minerva, Pomfrey, and Albus sitting by it. Mad-eye Moody had taken a chair from the table and was sitting in the corner with his magic eye focused solely on Professor Snape. The entire Order of the Phoenix was not present meaning the meeting was not of vital importance.
Taking the seat in front of Albus, Severus studied his mentor while Harry took a seat to his right. With everyone settled Albus offered everyone a cup of tea and a lemon drop but his offer was declined politely. Albus ran his wrinkled hand along the edge of his beard in contemplation before he began to give his information. The old man had hardly even opened his mouth when suddenly Severus fell from his chair, his head held tightly between his hands. “Are you being summoned,” Albus asked, his normally glittering blue eyes clouded in worry as he stood quickly and kneeled beside Snape.
The black cloaked Professor bit his lips as he repressed his scream, surprising everyone in the room by the steady trickle of blood dribbling down his chin. “No,” he growled out lowly,” this is not from the dark lord this is something much more dangerous.” Slowly, Severus rose to his feet with a groan and looked at Albus’s shocked features. Surprising the old coot would have normally been a notable occasion but this time it was serious. “Albus,” Snape started after controlling his pounding headache,” you recall that I was born and raised for ten years in Japan before coming here to England. What you do not know, however, is that not only am I not a Snape, but that I am over four hundred years old.“ He ignored the gasps in the room as he began to run his deft hand slowly down his face. He could feel his glamour slip away layer by layer in rush of cool air that made his hair flutter in the new power he was emitting.
Harry was the first to notice the subtle differences as Snape’s hair became less greasy and more silky and almost every age line on his hands and face smoothed, leaving his once pasty skin looking like Greek marble. As his hand finally left his face it left a much younger looking man with some rather unusual markings. Upon his brow rested a golden six point star and two slim black stripes appeared on his neck, cheeks, and wrists. His eyes stayed almost the same but his pupils had silted to an almost cat like appearance and his ears now carried an elfin point.
In a flash Moody had his wand pointed at Serverus’s throat as he snapped,” I knew you couldn’t be trusted. You’re a demon!”
Snape fixed Moody with a glare that nearly made Harry shiver at the shear coldness behind it. There was no rage or anger just a stoic glare of warning that made him look like one of those aristocrats he had once seen in a book Hermione had forced him to read.
Serverus’s voice, however, had stayed in his normal silky tones though his tone seemed huskier somehow as he remarked,” Put your wand away Moody. Yes, I am a demon, a tiger youkai and the last heir of Japan’s eastern lands. I had thought that I was also the last of the taiyoukai, but there is an extremely powerful dog demon out by Hagrid’s hut. The likes of which I have not sensed since the Lord of the Western Lands disappeared with his mate before the bombing of Nagasaki.” As he spoke his star marking shinned with teal blue light before finally fading away. Snape sighed as he rubbed the marking where the skin around it was agitated and red like a burn. “The mark on my forehead is a sign of my clan and when another Taiyoukai is nearby and seeking an ally it burns until he either gives up or I go to him,” he answered softly to Albus’s curious and slightly worried stare.
Harry, who had stayed silent up until now, gapped slight before snapping,” Wait a second, are telling us that there is a demon close to Hogwarts and he is more to worry about then Voldemort?”
Severus growled lowly, the sound making Harry shiver,” That is exactly what I am saying Mr. Potter. The presence I feel can only be the legendary, Lord Sesshomaru.”
***
Sesshomaru looked at the castle with the same emotionless gaze as always, but internally his brain was twisting and turning around various scenarios. The castle before him was the likes of which he had never seen before, but that was no cause for worry. The gentle pulsing of golden light from the moon marking on his forehead, however, was serious cause to worry. The light could be only be coming from a nearby heir of the eastern lands, but with out any knowledge of where or when he was, things were a bit more complicated.
‘I came to see the Eastern Lord originally, I will not be a coward and not see him now,’ Sesshomaru thought with an inward growl as he took a step forward, then two, then three, until he was walking swiftly up the worn cobblestone path leading to the castle. He made no sound to order Kai to follow him, but Sesshomaru knew the boy’s personality well enough by now to know he was following closely behind, even without the use of his senses. ‘
As they neared the castle the scent of children was almost overwhelming along with the scent of both wild and controlled magic that wove itself around them in a welcoming embrace. Sesshomaru discreetly inhaled a deeper inhale of air as the wispy scent of tiger hit his senses.
Kagome watched with unveiled awe as they approached two impossible large entrance doors that just seemed to swing on there own to allow them entrance, but any forward movement was stopped by the people standing in the doorway. There was an extremely old man with a long, snow white beard who was dressed in obnoxious purple robes with a scattered pattern of twinkling stars. A surprisingly tall woman in more sober purple robes stood at his side with a pointed stick held firmly at her side. Though the two oddly dressed older people did not catch Kagome’s attention nearly as much as a green eyed boy about her age and a tall dark haired man dress entirely in black. Both men exuded amazingly powerful auras of almost the same color. She could feel something in her soul pulling her to them, but for the life of her she did not know why.
Sesshomaru looked at the odd group with his usually air of arrogance as he quickly appraised each for any sign of threat or familiarity. One man with shoulder length black hair and equally dark robes caught his attention instantly. It had been quite some time sense Sesshomaru had last saw him but he recognized what had once been a rather hyperactive youth with shining grey eyes and glittering gold star on his brow. The star was still there and his eyes where grey, but the man had certainly changed drastically over time, but there was no doubt. The white tiger lord of the eastern lands, Severus, was here.