When Love Is Just A Lyric by Kisho

Help me help you?

When Love Is Just a Lyric

Chapter one : Help me help you?

A/N: I'm so rusty at writing and posting stories! Whip me back into shape :D

The Northern Lands have always been known for their mystery.

The inhabitants can withstand blows of almost anything, from temperature changes to sword blades, never flinching.

The strangest mystery of the Northern Lands remains. The Lord, is no Lord at all, but in fact, a Lady!

For years, the laws of trespassing have been slack, and the demons that obey the mystery are kind, but somehow, the newest Lady aches. She dreams for something different, she dreams to create a newer obscurity.

In the looking pool of the heavens, the Earth moves in line with Venus, and Pluto creates a right angle with the line.

"Magic and Love." The Lady whispers. "My second life shall now begin."

Aided by the Royal Wolf Demons, the Lady immerses herself in reading the future, and planning the Lords Ball, to be held in her grand palace, for the first time this century.

A tiny pebble falls into the looking pool, and modern day Japan appears. The Lady becomes visible, hovering over the pool at this new discovery.

"Earth..." A handful of dirt into the sacred pool does not muddy it, but changes the color to an unrefined orange. The light brown color of wood, the smile of a sunflower.

An attendant steps from the shadows with a jar of fog, collected from the Western Lands.

The face of Kagome fades into view, the earth tying her.

"She is Earth" The attendant mutters, opening the jar of fog.

"And he is Air." The Lady whispers. Her crystal blue eyes turn coal black, as the face of the Western Lord appears before her.

The names on her tongue, foreign, but the Lady pronounces them with ease. "Kagome... And Sesshoumaru... and it shall be done."

The moon reached it's peak and the light from above shone into the pool, clearing the images and colors for the Lady's next session with the heavens.

The dome in the ceiling was not covered in glass, but open air, allowing the oncoming snow storm to spill into the chamber. The Lady accepted the ice flakes with a smile, and turned to her attendant. "Let us hunt tonight, we must awaken our brothers."

Sesshoumaru heard a howl, faintly, from his study. In this discovery, he set down his current book, and stepped into the hallway of his castle.

He felt no threat, no demon presence he wasn't already aware of here, or approaching.

'Strange...'

Sesshoumaru trailed down the hallway at a leisurely pace, checking the moon at the next window to estimate the time. Tonight, he hadn't felt like sleeping. The planets, the air, the smell, it was all normal and horribly strange at the same time.

Another howl echoed through Sesshoumaru's mind. He examined the outside world through another window.

"The northern lights..."

Impossible! Sesshoumaru's eyes widened. The only northern lights were not found on the isle of Japan! He had seen them once when in his earlier youth; he sailed around the world, but here? In the Western Lands?

'Something is up in the north, Tetsuya is up to something.'

Out of four children, the eldest daughter was chosen to rule. The previous Lord and Lady of the time, were currently alive, which puzzled Sesshoumaru even more. None of the Lords ever questioned the things that happen or thrive in the Northern Lands. There is no war there, and they are never suffering.

'Over three perfectly healthy, amazingly tough males, they chose the mild Tetsuya.'

His father always warned him not to drabble in their doings, then again, his father mated with a human as well.

"Look!" Inuyasha announced, during one particularly quiet and uneventful night.

The small circle of friends collectively gasped.

"Are those..?" Kagome searched her mind for the name she had learned, but missing so many days of school tarnished a few too many connections.

"...The Northern Lights!" Miroku finished.

"Kouga's pack did seem a little distracted yesterday. I don't think he went after Kagome once!" Sango laughed to herself, remembering the shock on Inuyasha's when he showed little interest in Kagome becoming his mate.

"Weird things have been going on lately." Kagome stated.

Shippo stirred in his sleep, and Kagome's maternal instincts kicked in. She hurried over to check on the little fox. Even if it was nothing, she would feel much calmer knowing she got up for nothing, then to let Shippo suffer from a woe.

The three remaining around the fire grew silent as Kagome stopped responding to questions and comments from her friends. Inuyasha stood up and reached a hand out to Kagome, but she could still not feel his presence.

When Kagome bent down to move the blankets off her adopted son, she was greeted by a cold and wet blanket, with no fox pup. She gasped in surprise, and was greeted by a hand. Looking up, the face of the hand's owner was obscured by long bangs and an even longer mane of hair.

"Come with me, The Lady needs you..."

Inuyasha growled and stamped his foot towards presence he felt in the woods.

"There is something there!"

Sango and Miroku both stood up, warily reaching for their weapons incase this presence turned to a threat.

As Kagome's hand slipped into the enigmatic one offered, she vanished to the sound of a howl, and the Northern Lights flashed brighter then they had all night.

"Damnit" Inuyasha mumbled, as he fell to the ground, his claws picking up the loose dirt through the grass. "How did this happen?"

Shippo popped up from behind a log that had been turned into a makeshift chair, rather confused.

"Where did Kagome go?"

"Kouga"

The powerful demon that had invaded the wolf prince's tribe was growing annoyed. She did not have the commanding power the Lady had, but this was her first time away from the palace since the power has switched hands from the happy couple to the supernatural daughter. The son's had gone to hibernate through the North's 'century of darkness', leaving the newest Lady to her own demise, trapping her in the palace, searching the heaven's for her escape.

"Yeah yeah," Kouga brushed off the seemingly weak looking messenger. "The Royal family needs me? I'm Royalty too, don't you forget."

"You are not understanding me, it is not another petty tribe that requires your service, it is the royal family of the Northern Lands, Lady Tetsuya."

Kouga's eyes widened at the mention of her name. In exchange for a larger pledge of loyalty, Lady Tetsuya had protected the lesser, and greater tribes from fighting between themselves, and fighting between tribes from other lands. The lower rates of death has greatly strengthened the nation of the North, and Tetsuya's reputation.

No lone demon exists in the North, because of the conditions, but Northern tribes can exist elsewhere. Kouga's tribe, unsuited for the Northern climate, migrated South, but kept bounds to Tetsuya's rule.

"I... had no idea" Kouga whimpered. "Is the Royal family well?"

The messenger nodded and produced a letter from inside her robe.

"This is from the Lady, she hopes you can comply with her wishes to help aide her in the freedom of a curse."

Kouga meekly took the letter from her hands, feeling the surge of power through the paper from the messenger.

"One question before I even open this..." Kouga was a little nervous, having never learned his leader, other then her name and her preposition.

"Yes" The messenger said slyly. She already knew what he was going to ask, Tetsuya had prepared her for all questions Kouga might and would ask.

"Are you a Royal Wolf? Like my father was?"

"He fought well to defend the Royal heir, but unfortunately did not survive the battle. I am Tetsuya's cousin; I survived the battle alongside her brothers, parents, and varying other members of her court. Unfortunately, the battle suffered few causalities and a curse. Tetsuya was unable to join in the century of darkness like all royal family members must, and was then tied to the castle by a strange power from the heavens."

Kouga starred at the letter in his hands. 'My father, died protecting the Royal family... Maybe she will ask me to take his place!?'

A wave of excitement swept over Kouga as he ripped through the seal on the letter.

The messenger remembered the words of her lady and took her leave, calling over her shoulder 'send word of your response, I must go!'

Kouga's heart stopped, he dropped the letter and looked to the sky with an irritated and shocked expression.

"How did you know I was In love with her!"

Kouga's tribesmen looked at each other, and decided something on the other side of the tribe's lands was incredibly interesting, and they should all go there together before Kouga started on another love rant.

"Jaken, how hard is it to seek audience with Tetsuya?"

"You mean the Royal Lady of the North?" You mean the Lady who has refused to show herself for over a century? The demon that always does her dealings through her messengers?! I would only assume it would be impossible!"

"Good, let me know when you have made the arrangements. I'm going to go check on Rin."

Sesshoumaru was far too gone when Jaken suddenly remembered the time. "It's past Midnight! Rin is... asleep" The Western Lord was long gone.

As Sesshoumaru walked down the Main sleeping hall, where the Royal members of the Western family once resided, a laughing little girl in a kimono darted through the hallway.

Sesshoumaru smirked, allowing his stoic mask to slip for an instant.

Laughing Rin peak around the corner then darted into the hallway to face her Lord. She reached out for Sesshoumaru to follow her by taking her hand to lead him. Sesshoumaru was aware that this was a normal child's behavior and he would always comply. When in the safety of his castle, he would play the father role Rin needed.

When his clawed hand was about to clasp her small one, he felt a piece of paper being slipped into his hand.

Sesshoumaru's eyes widened and the little Rin dematerialized into a shower of snow flakes.

A meek voice called for Sesshoumaru's attention, and he turned to face the real Rin.

The small girl was on the verge of tears, scared from seeing herself and from the late of night she was awakened from.

Sesshoumaru offered one arm to Rin, and used the other to claw open the letter he received, immediately recognizing the seal as Tetsuya's.

Sesshoumaru noticed that Rin had fallen back asleep latched onto his arm, and thus was forced to carry her to bed.

Once inside her room, instantly the Lord of the West noticed something out of place.

'Rin has many drawings of the Northern Lights, although they have only appeared tonight...'

Sesshoumaru grabbed one of her drawings, a small one she would surely not miss, and laid Rin back down to sleep.

'Strange things have been happening lately, and I believe Rin might have been aware this was all coming....'

A Rin, identical to the one in the hallway was sitting in the real Rin's windowsill. She smiled at Sesshoumaru, before falling to the ground, shattering into the snowflakes that had created her.

"Who cursed you, great demon of the North?"

The glittering water droplets in the garden below reflected the light of the sky one last time, as the warm temperatures quickly returned them to the sky.

Tetsuya's voice fluttered once more, fading into the night as her only means of communication was defeated by the elements.

"Nara...ku."

"So Naraku knew about this before we even did, and made sure he would never be defeated....

My my, quite the situation we have gotten ourselves into Lady, such unfortunate circumstances." Sesshoumaru looked once more to the letter in his hands. The four lords were the only ones who could defeat Naraku, it didn't have to be them, but a relative, a descendant, anything relative to the Royal Blood.

The North's ability for foresight had alerted the others, but it was far too late. An unknown force attacked the castle that day, to try and destroy the adolescent Tetsuya.

Sesshoumaru remembered a saying Rin had once told him, during their many excursions into the world.

'I will follow you into the dark.'

As long as you lead.

"My Lady... Why did you not join your family in the Century of Darkness?" The messenger who had visited Kouga for Tetsuya, her cousin, asked while she sat with The Lady in the Room of Heavens.

"Michiko, you are my dearest cousin, I will tell you. Naraku has cursed our royal lineage. In exchange for the power we have received, the Northern Wolf tribe, known as the Sallow Wolves, must succumb to a hundred year hibernation in the sacred lands, where our family first received it's power." Tetsuya waved her hand over the pool that reflected the stars, and a deeply secluded and hidden castle revealed itself.

"Here... Where our palace once stood, lays the halls of rejuvenation. Our palace here also contains the same effect, to a smaller degree, without lasting effects. I am sustained as long as I remain within the walls of this palace. I challenged Naraku and he cursed me with insomnia. He was weak when this first occurred, so I assumed it to be nothing, but then I realized that he was the same one from the prophecy. This curse, along with the Royal lineage unable to fight, leaves me to believe that Naraku plans to attack, and soon." Tetsuya raised her hand to the opening in the roof, her eyes searching for the moon.

A drop of water, from seemingly nowhere rippled through the pool. Michiko watched as the castle where the Royal family lay sleeping erected a barrier, a secondary defense against the primary, impassable barrier.

"I have been told Naraku's plans have taken far too long to manifest, giving me time to hope for my family, but his true intention is to either lure me out and destroy me when I am powerless, or to complete the Sacred Jewel. I carry with me one shard to insure he cannot follow through." Tetsuya knew her cousin was horribly confused, but all the speaking she had put herself through left her weak, the power she received to sustain her life gave her little luxuries, her magic being the only thing she could use at a roughly complimentary rate.

"I cannot explain myself, but remember, everything has a limit Michiko. Plan for two visitors, one being the future girl I have sent for, and the second the Lord of the West. The latter will not arrive until tomorrow afternoon, and first shall be here momentarily. I must meditate now."

With her words still processing in her cousins mind, Tetsuya scattered her body into the snowflakes she was so fond of, searching the grounds for the most secluded place to rest for the night.

'I am tired, but only in death shall I find sleep.'

"Kagome will defeat you Naraku, my time is ending, but she will carry on, I will take my revenge on you!"

The blizzard picked up speed, the large snowflakes blocking the palace from view. Tetsuya allowed herself to be buried in the snowfall, hoping maybe this time she would find her sleep.