InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kikyo's lonely journey ❯ Preparations ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: Most of the characters in this story are the actual work of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own them in any way.

 

------------------------------------------

 

Chapter 12: Preparations

 

Kuro's figure started tossing in bed as images assaulted his jumbled mind. Flashes of memories long buried in the midst of time appeared in his head, turning his sleep into a nightmare.

 

"Do you want to live?"

 

"I don't want to die!"

 

"If we become one nobody can stop us... not even Kikyo!"

 

At that name, Kuro bolted awake, panting as the echoes of the dream resonated in his mind.

 

"Kikyo! How could I forget that name!" he mused while clenching his hand in remembered hatred.

 

"How ironic that the miko who managed to escape Masahiro's clutches was also named Kikyo," he chuckled darkly.

 

Looking outside his window, the youkai noticed that the eastern sky was slowly turning gray, indicating that dawn was fast approaching. Deciding that he had had enough sleep for now, Kuro put on his robes and headed down to the magical laboratories in the basement of the castle. Another batch of fuyouheki stones was due soon and he wanted to personally see that they were of top quality.

 

When he arrived, the place was mostly deserted, only a few minor assistants were there to ensure that nothing blew up and they bowed immediately when they saw him. There was one person however that Kuro was surprised to see down there.

 

"Masahiro?" asked black-clad youkai in confusion.

 

"Kuro-sama?" replied the other youkai, equally surprised to see his leader there.

 

"And what might you be doing here?" questioned Kuro.

 

"Something about the miko who ridiculed me was bothering me so I was doing some research to try and come up with some answers," explained Masahiro.

 

"Oh? And what makes you think you'd find them here?" continued Kuro, his curiosity awakening.

 

"Well, with six arrows lodged in her body, she was able to rise again and act completely normally. What's more, she was controlling some strange youkai which looked like long flying serpents," he explained.

 

At this description, Kuro's eyebrows shot up, though no one in the room could see it due to the long garb hiding his face. He then headed for the library and started to rummage through it in an almost furious manner. Finally finding the book he had been looking for, he flipped through it for a few seconds before coming to a stop on a particular page.

 

"Those youkai... did they look like this?" he asked in a strained voice.

 

Looking at the image presented, Masahiro jerked in recognition. "That's exactly it Kuro-sama, but..."

 

"That miko... what did she look like?" cut in Kuro before his subordinate could finish his sentence.

 

"Huh?" asked Masahiro, confused by the abrupt shift of mood.

 

"WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE?" roared the black-clad youkai.

 

Not daring to push his luck more than necessary, Masahiro fished out a parchment from one of his pockets and unrolled it. "This is the picture I've shown our spies so they'd know who to look for. It shows both the miko and the sensor we're after," he explained.

 

"That cannot be..." whispered Kuro in a haunted voice. "She's dead... I saw her body burn fifty years ago... How can she still be alive?"

 

"Kuro-sama?" asked Masahiro, concerned.

 

"I want her brought to me," ordered the said youkai in a strained voice. "I want that miko brought to me... YOU HEAR ME?"

 

"Y... Yes Kuro-sama. I shall see to it personally," answered Masahiro stiffly.

 

The black-clad youkai nodded once before stalking out of the lab, visibly enraged by something. Once the doors had closed, Masahiro turned to look at the image he had glimpsed earlier and his eyes fell on the title he had missed.

 

"Soul collectors?" he read incredulously before an evil smile spread on his lips. "I see..."

 

******

 

In another room far away from where Kuro had just awakened, someone else's mind was also assaulted by nightmares: Susune. Hers were vastly different however. In her dream, she was back in her village and wolves were attacking and slaughtering everybody around her. This time though, she was clad in the warrior's uniform that had been given to her a few days earlier and she had her sword in hand.

 

One wolf suddenly noticed her and charged. Raising her katana, she slashed at it as it got within range and blood flew as the head of her attacker was severed neatly in two. When she looked down though, she gasped in horror as the body of the wolf she had just killed transformed to reveal the human body of her father.

 

"Why did you kill me, Susune," croaked the head in a sickly dry voice.

 

"No... I didn't mean to," she whispered, her eyes wide with fright.

 

Averting her eyes from the terrible spectacle before her, she barely had time to notice another wolf charging at her. Raising her blade in a desperate block, the beast impaled itself on it and fell on her, dead. Once again blood spurt forth, staining both her blade and her uniform and once again the body turned human when life left it, turning this time into the body of her mother.

 

"Why?" said the dead body, this time with the voice of her mother.

 

"No... no... no... NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" she screamed before bolting up in bed, panting and shaking violently.

 

Almost immediately arms seized her shoulders firmly, but she hardly noticed anything in her state. The vividness of her dream was too great. That coupled with what she had done the previous day... it was just too much for her mind to take right now. She had sliced a youkai's arm apart, blood had splashed on her, she had taken part in killing someone. Sickening images kept dancing in her head. She could still see on her hands the blood that had covered her in her dream. Her insane musing was brought to a screeching halt when stars filled her vision and her head was jerked sharply to the side by the force of a slap.

 

"Susune! Look at me!" ordered a familiar voice.

 

"K... Kikyo-sama," she stuttered hesitantly.

 

Relief flooded the woman's face when she saw her eyes focus on her. "Good, you're still with us," she said quietly.

 

"I..." started the child before a wave of nausea washed over her.

 

She started to shudder violently as her stomach heaved in her chest. She hardly had time to throw herself to the side before whatever was left in her belly ended up in a mess on the floor. She remained bent over for quite some time, panting and trying desperately to regain control of the violent trembling that had kept agitating her entire being. But it wasn't working. Everything she had kept pent up inside since the attack on her village was using her lapse of control to explode to the surface.

 

Again she felt hands grab her shoulders and this time, she found herself being hoisted gently upright and then, the hands turned into arms that wrapped around her in a comforting embrace.

 

"It's all right now Susune," murmured Kikyo's soothing voice. "I'm here. Everything's going to be okay."

 

Unable to hold on anymore, the child buried herself in the woman's kimono and started to cry uncontrollably. Outside the door, Sango looked at the miko inquiringly and she merely shook her head negatively. The demon slayer nodded in acknowledgment before heading back outside.

 

"She's having a complete nervous breakdown," she said once she had rejoined her friends.

 

"Shit! Talk about bad timing!" exclaimed Inuyasha angrily.

 

"Indeed, this does not help our situation very much," agreed Miroku somberly.

 

"This isn't the time to lower our guard. The enemy's coming so we have to get ready!" said Kagome firmly.

 

And then, more quietly. "Let's also give as much support to Susune as we possibly can. She needs us now more than ever if she's to pull herself together."

 

"I shall consult with Kaede and see if there wouldn't be a way to setup a barrier around the village," said Miroku before walking away.

 

"I'll go and rally the people who can fight," added Sango before she too headed in her own direction.

 

"That leaves me to organize the defenses I suppose," muttered the hanyou.

 

Before he walked away though, he noticed the schoolgirl rubbing her forehead wearily. "You okay?" he asked, slightly concern.

 

Kagome merely smiled and nodded. "I'm fine, I just have a slight headache that's all. I'll go and check up on the village's medical supply," she answered before walking away herself.

 

Of course, she couldn't very well tell Inuyasha what had her like this. Besides, she didn't understand it herself. The strange dream about Kikyo having to burn letters from her family, and then, this morning, waking up to a strange buzzing sensation, as if someone else's thought were trying to enter her head. It was simply beyond her understanding. But now wasn't really the time to worry about something like this. She had a job to do and she would do it.

 

******

 

The next few days were a blur for Susune. After her breaking down in Kikyo's arms, she had completely shut out her surroundings. She was vaguely aware that important things were going on around her, yet she couldn't bring herself to care. For what seemed like the hundredth time, she dared a look at her side and noted that it was Sango this time that was keeping her company. She had done this a few times already and always, the person had been different. At a time, it had been Shippo, at another Kagome and at yet another it had been Kikyo. Her friends seemed to take great pain in trying to make her feel better. Everyone had tried to cheer her up in a way or another... except for Sango that is.

 

This new realization brought a tiny frown on her face. Everyone had tried something with her. Shippo had used his kitsune tricks, Kagome had talked to her, Kikyo had held her, but Sango... she simply sat there, polishing her hiraikotsu and sharpening her katana, but she didn't try to do or say anything.

 

"Why aren't you trying to cheer me up?" she eventually asked, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

 

"Do you want me to cheer you up?" answered the demon slayer with a knowing smile.

 

Susune lowered her head in answer. True, she was grateful for her friends' attention but quite frankly, the only thing it did was grate on her already fragile nerves.

 

"How do you do it?" she questioned again.

 

"How do I do what?" replied Sango, confused.

 

"How can you kill... and smile after. How can you... chase away the images... the feeling of your blade slicing through your opponent's flesh, the scent of his blood on your skin... how do you get rid of them?" she explained.

 

Sango shot an understanding smile at the child before coming to sit beside her. "You don't," she said simply.

 

"But..." said the girl.

 

"If you get rid of these images and forget how painful it is to kill... then you become nothing less than a cold-blooded murderer," explained the demon slayer.

 

"So I'm supposed to live with this on my conscience for the rest of my life?" continued the child almost plaintively.

 

Instead of answering, Sango instead grabbed Susune's katana and handed it to her. Confused, the girl took it in her hand and looked at the woman expectantly.

 

"Close your eyes Susune. Close your eyes and concentrate on your sword," ordered the demon slayer.

 

"Feel the weight of it in your arms. The smoothness of the scabbard. The scratchiness of the hilt. Feel the very soul of it permeate in your own."

 

Susune wasn't sure what was the whole point of this whole exercise, but right now, the only thing she really did feel was the weight of the sword in her arms, nothing else.

 

"I... don't feel a thing," she finally admitted after about a minute of this.

 

"Are you sure?" asked the demon slayer knowingly.

 

"Well I feel the... weight," answered Susune a bit sheepishly.

 

"That's right, it's the weight of your weapon... the weight of the lives it took. For every life taken, for every existence wiped out of existence, a weapon always becomes heavier," explained Sango.

 

"Really?" asked the girl somewhat dubiously. "But then, how come it's possible to keep wielding it. Shouldn't its weight become unbearable after a time?"

 

"You already know the answer to that Susune," answered the woman with a mysterious smile on her face.

 

"I... do?" repeated the child hesitantly.

 

"Yes, you do. You just haven't realized it yet," replied Sango.

 

Susune looked at her katana for a long time, as if expecting the weapon itself to give her the answer, but of course, nothing came to her. She came up totally empty and the more she searched, the more the answer seemed to escape her. Finally, in a bit of frustration, she let out a comical little hissing sound.

 

"Don't be so hard on yourself," chuckled the demon slayer when she saw the reaction. "The answer will come to you eventually. In the meantime, just take it easy okay?"

 

"Okay," muttered the girl somewhat contritely.

 

"Now then, what do you say we actually make ourselves something to eat. I'm starving," launched Sango in a light tone.

 

Susune looked at the woman like she had just sprouted a second head. The topic was so radically far from what they had just discussed that it took a moment for the question to actually register. But then again, now that she actually thought about it, she hadn't eaten very much in the last few days. The very mention of food had actually made her sick to the bottom of her stomach until now. However, this time... an embarrassingly loud gurgling sound emanated from her chest, causing her cheeks to turn bright red.

 

"I'll take that as a yes," smiled Sango in good humor.

 

******

 

"So they're preparing for our arrival. How interesting," snickered Masahiro as he looked at Kaede's village. "This should be quite amusing."

 

Then, fishing through the pockets of his blue kimono, he extracted a small round stone and handed it to one of his subordinates who looked at him with a baffled expression on his face.

 

"Masahiro-sama, if you leave the fuyouheki stone here then they'll sense your coming," argued the nameless soldier.

 

"That's the whole point," answered the youkai before he headed off. "Wait for me here. I won't be long." he added before walking off.

 

As he had predicted, when he reached the outskirt of the village, the entire welcoming committee was there. All of Inuyasha's friends stood, weapons drawn and waiting wearily for him to get closer.

 

"So it's you," said Kikyo when she recognized him.

 

"Indeed. I have to admit that you have proved to be quite the annoyance. Thanks to your intervention, we had to rethink all of our plans," he countered back.

 

"I'm really pained to hear it," answered the miko sarcastically. "But I suppose you did not come here for idle chatter."

 

"No indeed I did not. In fact, I came here to make a deal with you," said Masahiro.

 

"A deal?" repeated Kikyo disbelievingly.

 

"A deal," confirmed the youkai. "You see, our leader has taken quite an interest in you and has asked me to bring you to him. Now if you were to come quietly then I might consider sparing this village," he offered.

 

"I saw your handiwork in Susune's village. Everyone was butchered mercilessly. Do you honestly think I'll believe your word?" asked Kikyo angrily.

 

"Ah yes... well this was an imbecile's work. I much prefer a clean killing. Sever the head, it's neat and the victim doesn't suffer. Besides, I had planned on killing the thug we hired from the very start. You just ended up doing it for us," explained Masahiro.

 

"So it was cheap labor... just as I thought," muttered Kikyo angrily.

 

"So then, what will it be? Will you come with us quietly or do we have to come and get you the hard way?" questioned the youkai again.

 

"Hmpf! Considering how ruthless your organization seems to be, the moment I'm gone, you'll give the order to attack. Besides, we pose too much of a threat to your plan as it is. You can't afford to let us live. Quite frankly, I don't think you really came here to make such a stupid deal. I think you came here to confirm something," reasoned Kikyo, a dark and satisfied smile appearing on her feature.

 

"You're sharp miko, I'll give you that. But don't think that being already dead will save you in the coming battle. The same trick won't work twice on me," answered Masahiro.

 

"I'd be disappointed if it did," answered the miko, her eyes narrowing.

 

After about a minute of this staring contest, the youkai finally decided he had had enough of this and turned on his heels. "I am named Masahiro. Be sure to remember this name as it will be the last you'll ever hear," he launched before walking away.

 

"Inuyasha..." called Kikyo, not taking her eyes off the youkai's retreating form. "Warn everyone... they're coming."