InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ LOVE POISON ❯ Kikyou's New Body And the Souless Wind ( Chapter 20 )

DISCLAIMER: Don't sue don't own. Inuyasha-tachi belong to Rumiko Takahashi. If I owed `em, Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru and Kouga would appear shirtless a lot more often in the show. Um, just a suggestion…

 

AN: About this chapter: if you're confused about the manner Kagura has approached Sesshoumaru, or about Kikyou, and how the spell will work (that is yet to be completed anyway), if you feel like it, reread chapters 10 and 15. Gomen, I know it gets confusing if it's been too long since a fic's been updated (at least for me cause my memory sucks) If you have any questions just email me and I'll try to answer them. And don't forget to review!

 

Thanks to Cynbad146, Tammi, Lori, animegirl, Cutie Pie Hentai, drake220, penpaninu, and the fabulous Angelina Pierce.

Thanks so much for the lovely reviews everyone! Keep `em coming! Hope you enjoy this and it doesn't confuse you too much. I wanna thank the gorgeous wonderful adorable talented Trusuprise for her awesome beta skills and for just being herself, and my kawaii Argentinian friend Lizashu. This chapter is dedicated to my `adoptive' niece Kona and nephew Carlos! And to their beyond cool mommy of course! ^_^ I love you guys!

 

On to the chap! Sorry for the delay!

 

 

CHAPTER 20: KIKYOU'S NEW BODY AND THE SOULESS WIND

 

 

Where am I?

 

The Wind Sorceress tried to open her eyes only to discover that her body...

 

...what body?

 

...wouldn't obey her mind.

 

Ah, the enchanted chains, hugging her wrists in a death grip. Now this felt familiar. So was the damp, stale stench of the place, with a hint of poisoneous fumes to add to the `pleasant' experience of spending hours, and even days at times in these stinking dungeons.

 

What the hell were the chains for? She couldn't move anyway...

 

Where am I?

 

The dungeons? No...it had been the dungeons at first, but now she was seeing tall grass ahead of her. Above her, the night skies stretched into eternity, countless cowardly stars like blinking, unseeing eyes glaring down at the figure that walked at a steady pace.

 

She was walking, but where was she going? She looked down and saw sandaled feet. Miko's robes. The hands that she saw in front of her, parting the tall grass to pass through, were not her hands. The sandaled feet moved on, towards a dark cave, that awaited her like an open mouth, a gateway to Hell...

 

And then the vision paled and died away, like a dream half seen and half recalled. Yet it troubled her heart.

 

Heart? My heart...Who am I? That's not me. I'm not there. I'm the free wind. I'm...

 

The name came to her suddenly, in the form of a bodiless, deep masculine voice, one that her soul, the solitary soul that remained in her motionless body and was her own, recognized immediately and desperately clung to. He had spoken her name, a long time ago too, in her head. Or had it been yesterday? When had that happened?

 

Last night...yes, it had happened last night but it might as well have been a thousand years ago to her...and who was this man, anyway? In her mind's eye, she saw him.

 

No, no man, this one. Youkai. A powerful one, at that. Long, silvery white hair that reached his knees. Piercing golden eyes glowing in the whispering heart of the night. Frighteningly beautiful, this being.

 

Why had he spoken to her in her head? Did she know this youkai? Had she been dreaming perhaps? No. She had been laying on the grass, her voice had been that of the wind. She was one with the wind. She was...

 

...I'm the free wind...

 

...But what was her name, did she even have one? She heard it again, clearer this time, like the sound of an invisible needle through her temples. The youkai - the inu-youkai's voice, like a rough yet tender caress to her dulled senses.

 

`Kagura.'

 

Kagura. That's my name. I'm Kagura. I'm...the wind.

 

But all this was a memory. This powerful demon whispering her name in her head as the wind whipped his long hair, stroked his handsome face.

 

She saw him again. His face was glowing, he was beyond beautiful, his skin was pale, almost white, as if he had been sculpted in marble. And he was just as cold and hard. A dark blue half moon marking adorned his smooth forehead. Two magenta stripes on each high cheekbone. Long, thick eyelashes, delicate eyebrows, large golden eyes. His face was too perfect to be real. His expression was unreadable, emotionless. Yet he had spoken her name through the distance that had separated them.

 

Echo of a memory. Was she herself a memory?

No. She was alive. For some reason...she was still alive.

 

Oh, but this was worse than death. And she had feared death more than anything. She'd been a fool. Now she felt dead, locked in the flesh yet disconnected…

 

In a dizzy blur, she remembered. Her own name was all it took for her mind to return to the events that had concluded with her in chains, in the dungeons she so dreaded...

 

She was dead to the world. She was souless now. And her heart...her heart that had never belonged to her to begin with, was not in his power anymore.

 

Him. Naraku.

 

That name alone made her blood boil. She wanted to struggle against the chains that held her even though she knew it would be fruitless. The Gods knew she had done it before and it had never worked. She couldn't see but she knew this dungeon all too well. She'd been here before, many times. As punishment for her disobedience. She was a slave, of course.

 

A slave?

 

Yes. She was not real. She was a creation. A spawn of a despicable hanyou. Made only to fulfill his dark purposes. A puppet. The Wind Sorceress without a heart.

 

All she had ever wanted was to be free. She had to kill her master to do this. But the asshole had her heart. Kill or be killed, it was as simple as that. But nothing was ever simple, now was it? She had asked for help.

She had demanded it of the only being powerful enough to save her. The being who wouldn't save her. The same inu-youkai she had heard, the one she had seen in her mind, as beautiful as he was deadly. But she had not been afraid of him. What had she said to him? What had he said to her, years ago? She was sure it had been years ago. How many though, she did not know at the moment.

 

She knew she'd refused to ask him for help again. She would find a way to kill Naraku if he wouldn't do it for her. Or somebody else would. The inu-youkai's brother whose hopes and dreams had been crushed...or a wolf youkai seeking vengeance...a demon slayer whose friends and family he had murdered, or a monk he had cursed with an air rip in his right hand...it didn't matter to her.

 

But this creature wanted to kill the bastard. He would free her. On his own terms, of course. Not because of her. Naraku had offended the inu-youkai. A crime punishable by certain death that she had somehow been spared by the almighty taiyoukai.

 

Yes, he was a taiyoukai, wasn't he? And years ago, she had offered him the Shikon shards in exchange for her freedom, she had offered this to the only being in existance who didn't give a flying fuck about the Shikon no Tama. And that had been all she'd had to give him.

 

Farther away, this echo in her head, and one she had heard often afterwards too, when the temptation to ask for help again had been too strong and she'd had to resist it. Low, softly spoken, emotionless, these were the words she heard whenever she seeked within herself for strength...

 

`...take the Shikon shards and defeat him yourself...'

 

And his name came to her just as her own name had, she caught it immediately.

 

The Lord of the Western Lands. Sesshoumaru. Of course.

 

She tried to speak. She tried to clear her throat, to say his name, say anything. She wanted to at least vent her anger and impotence by cursing out loud.

 

No such luck. Yet she said it. She couldn't hear herself speak, but the remains of her soul within her pumped with the single, powerful word.

 

`Sesshoumaru.'

 

With his name and her own, the memories of the previous night hit her full force. Or was it the same night? Was it morning already? How long had it been? A day? A week?

 

Naraku...asshole had my heart...it was bleeding in his hand...I thought I was going to die, surely. This time, I thought I was done for. And the dead miko, that scary little witch...Kikyou...the jewel of the Four Souls...what happened then? I saw it, I was helpless to stop it. I think I screamed. I must have. A whirlwind of dirt...it surrounded her, she was floating in the air...her clay body had been empty, her soul snatching serpents unable to enter the castle...I lifted my arm to shield my eyes from the dirt. It touched me. Soiled, stale. Ancient, it seemed. But all I knew then was that it fucking stung...was it dirt from a grave? No...it was tainted dirt...from a tainted soul...

 

Souls? My souls...they're gone. I'm...the wind...and it's got no where to go...

 

Kagura could not open her eyes because they were already wide open, her crimson orbs vacant and staring ahead, but she was not aware of this, for she couldn't see at all.

 

All she could see was the past...how long had she been in the dungeons? She wished she knew at least that. Time seemed to have stopped for her. But she remembered everything. She wished she didn't. She had no choice, the memories kept pouring into her head and she couldn't stop them.

 

Her souls. She saw Naraku…he had been holding her beating heart, and she had felt her blood run cold. She had pushed away the sudden fear and covered it up with white hot fury. She'd yelled at him. Demanded to know what the hell was going on.

 

Naraku had been gone. She had been ordered to remain with the dead miko. Why her? Oh, she knew that now. Naraku had returned by nightfall...she recalled how the orange sun had sunk in the horizon.

 

The miko Kikyou had been motionless, souless, her large brown eyes piercing into her. Kagura had been more frightened than she had ever been in her entire life.

 

What life?

 

Now she tried to part her dried, cracked lips; she had never wanted to scream so much as she did now. But she couldn't move a muscle.

 

My souls...my heart...my body...shit!

 

Naraku...Kikyou...Kohaku, the undead boy, he had been holding a ceramic pot...what was in it? Dirt. From a cave. A cave where a bandit named Onigumo had once laid, as incapable of moving as Kagura was now. The same dirt that had surrounded Kikyou's body. But her body had not been motionless. Yet Kagura knew it had not been Kikyou who had willed it to move.

 

The Shikon no Tama. Glowing a poisonous black, in the dead miko's hands. Naraku, standing before Kagura. The void youkai, Kagura's sister, Kanna, also Naraku's creation. And Kanna's mirror. It was pointing towards Kagura.

 

“Kanna, don't! You little traitor, I'm your sister! He's using you, using you like he uses everyone!” Kagura had cried out, backing against a wall, her eyes frantically looking for a way out.

 

Naraku's laughter. Brief, blood curdling, knowing. Mocking. There was no escaping and they both knew it.

But Kikyou's silence was even worse. And the undead miko's previous words rang warning bells in Kagura's ears.

 

`You have a purpose, but you do not know it yet.'

 

Kanna's empty, ink black depths had fixed on Kagura. Kohaku's dead eyes saw nothing and no one.

“Don't! If I'm disposable so are you! Kanna, don't you see?” Kagura had tried to reason with her desperately.

 

Silence. Of course Kagura had not expected Kanna to respond. She had been ranting and raving. There had been no escaping it, no escaping him.

 

Kagura's bleeding, beating heart had been in Naraku's hand then. He had squeezed - hard. Kagura had screamed, she couldn't keep her knees from buckling, she had rolled her hand into a fist and pointlessly pressed it against her empty chest, her breathing laboured. The wind howled outside the castle. It screamed with her.

 

“You bastard...” She'd managed through clenched teeth. The pain was almost blinding. Her head was spinning.

 

“Now, now Kagura. Kikyou needs a new body...and for this a new heart, a heart that is alive, shall be required. You are mine, Kagura. And you have no choice. Do not concern yourself, though.” Naraku smirked nastily. “You will not die. As you can see, your services are required. Yet I must wonder...if your fate is not worse than death. For you...surely it will be.”

 

She had wanted to strike him. Wanted to destroy this abomination so badly she had managed to stand up shakily and charge towards him, only to be shoved backwards violently by his invisible power. She'd felt the heat coming from his body in waves when he'd struck her without lifting a finger, and Kagura was sent flying across the room. Her head slammed into the wall. She had cursed out loud. She'd seen the pain as her body went numb and she'd hit the floor.

 

It was a sheer miracle she hadn't passed out then. She'd lifted her head weakly and watched the scene unfolding before her.

 

It had begun. Naraku's spell. And it did involve her, like she supposed she had suspected all along. That feeling of dread that had settled over her...all this time...

 

Kikyou's empty body was rising slowly in the air, as the dirt from the pot the resurrected boy was holding began to rise with her. It had wrapped around her like a second skin, each particle blending and then splitting. For a moment, Kagura had thought she was seeing a ghost.

 

This had to be Naraku's doing. Kikyou couldn't have moved on her own. She was floating weightlessly, her long hair a black veil around her. The white light that had suddenly enveloped her body had been blinding as the dirt had gathered again, as if the light emanating from the miko's clay body had been a powerful magnet summoning it to her.

 

Kagura had blinked. The pain in her chest had been excruciating. She remembered thinking `Am I going to die? Is he finally going to kill me?'

 

Oh, no. It was going to be worse than that, wasn't it?

 

The white light, the culmination of the miko's powers, now tainted with the dirt, had been sucked back into the ceramic pot Kohaku had been holding. Kagura had heard the rapid hushing sound it had made as it dissapeared within the pot, not a single speck of light nor dirt had remained in the air.

 

Kikyou's arms had fallen limp at her sides and her hands had opened. The precious jewel she had still been holding had dropped to the floor and rolled towards Kagura as if in slow motion. She had gasped and tried to take it, crawling, in a desperate foolish attempt to save herself.

 

Stupid, that. Reckless. Suicidal.

Kagura's hand had reached out shakily, her ebony bangs covering her eyes. She couldn't breathe. Except... her heart wasn't in Naraku's hand anymore.

 

“Bastard...” Kagura had hissed weakly, the jewel forgotten for the time being. “You...” She'd spat...her eyes had swiftly moved to the black orb. So what if she could have taken it? What could she have done?

 

The Shikon no Tama had seemed to tease her with its promise of false freedom, like it had done all day as the dead miko and herself had been waiting for Naraku's return. It gleamed like an amputated, grotesque eye, oozing black blood.

 

But the pain had been subsiding. Kagura had lifted her face slowly. She'd seen Kikyou's chest glowing red as she'd slowly descended from the air, her eyes closed, her sandaled feet touching the floor again with a sigh. Kagura had known immediately what that meant.

 

Her heart.

Kikyou's heart was dead. Kagura's heart was beating. Not in Naraku's hand. She wasn't going to die. Not today. But her heart, her freedom...it was inside that despicable woman's body! As Kagura had watched in terror, Kikyou's deadly pale face had flushed with life.Yet it had not finished...

 

Naraku's hand had been stained with blood, she had noticed that, and shuddered. `My blood...' Kagura had thought angrily, helplessly.

She'd looked up and seen Kanna. How tall the small albino child had seemed! She had never before been afraid of her sister, but fear had gripped her phantom heart then. The heart that was now beating inside the undead miko's chest, pumping it with Kagura's own blood, youkai blood, running through that clay, fake body.

 

Kagura could just make out the veins in the miko's face, in her hands, almost as if her skin was transparent. But her body wasn't clay anymore...

 

And she'd understood. Kikyou needed to feed off Kagura's souls. Souls that would acknowledge the heart that beat within her. The heart that Naraku had stolen from Kagura and given to Kikyou. Why hadn't she seen it before? Kagura had been there. When Naraku had told Kikyou he would give her a body that could feel.

 

Kagura knew it would be temporary. So did the miko. Was Naraku going to kill them both? No...he couldn't touch Kikyou, could he? Then...why? He always had a motive. Always. Kikyou was his enemy, his only weakness…

 

And as she'd stared at her own pale, frightened face in Kanna's mirror before her souls were sucked by the looking glass, Kagura had felt it.

 

Kikyou's miko powers had vanished completely. She was alive now, certainly. She was a normal woman. And she was helpless.

 

The white light that had blinded Kagura as it mingled with the tainted dirt had been Kikyou's former powers. And now they were trapped in a pot full of dirt.

 

How ironic. Kagura would have laughed had she not been so terrified. The miko's powers were locked within a clay pot. Very much like they had been before. Her body had been nothing but clay and bones containing an enormous holy power.

 

Now she was just a woman, and her body was real...but her powers were held back in a vessel smaller, yet quite similar to the one she had been using until then.

 

The now former miko slowly opened her eyes, her chest rising and falling with her ragged breathing, the color gradually returning to her face.

 

Kagura's mind screamed now as it had screamed at that moment. She knew her mouth had opened in a horrified silent cry but she couldn't hear her own voice.

 

Her souls were hers no more. Kagura could even hear the dreadful gasp of her souls being sucked into Kanna's mirror, she could feel them abandoning her body.

 

She fought it with all her might, to no avail. Hopelessly, she'd tried to take the jewel again, her fingers had touched the incomplete orb for a moment only to have Naraku step on her hand.

 

Kagura had lost the ability to feel physical pain then. Naraku hadn't even moved as the Shikon no Tama had floated upwards and into his awaiting hand.

Kagura had heard Naraku's despicable voice, low, menacing, a hint of amusement in it as he'd addressed her sister:

 

“Now, now. Be careful, Kanna. Kikyou still needs the portion of Kagome's soul that she has always possessed. And do not steal all of Kagura's souls. Leave her with one. It would be no fun at all, were she not to be fully aware of what has happened to her. A punishment...worse than death, indeed. After all is said and done...will my rebellious little creation finally learn her place? This Naraku wonders. A spirit that is not so easily broken...let us see how long it will take for Kagura to come to her senses. Perhaps it is too much to expect that she will learn her place from this memorable experience...”

 

Kagura had seen Kanna slowly turning around to face Kikyou. And her souls had shot out from the rounded mirror, and entered Kikyou's body, one by one, they had been absorbed by her now soft flesh. Kagura was not dead, but she might as well have been, since her own souls had not fought the alien body of the undead miko, for Kagura's heart was currently beating within Kikyou's chest. The souls she had been robbed of had acknowledged this, and did not put up a fight.

 

Once the souls had been sucked into Kikyou's body, Kagura had heard the miko speak, her voice low, menacing, but her words had been like a foreign language to her. Kikyou had been upset, clearly. Something about her powers and shit...

 

Naraku had retorted that Kikyou had agreed to this, that no one had forced her, and that she herself had admitted the price for a body that could feel did not matter to her. So she was paying only half of the price, Naraku had informed the furious, now very much alive former priestess.

 

Hadn't she always longed to be an ordinary woman? Hadn't she always dreamed of being normal? But there was something else Naraku needed Kikyou to do for her to be able to keep this body. Did she not want it?

 

And Kagura had known no more. Until now. Blackness. She could feel her eyelids now but she could not move them.

 

What else had Naraku demanded of Kikyou to complete his spell? The undead miko already had what she wanted. But apparently, Naraku did not. And if Kikyou wanted to remain in a body that was not made of clay and bones, she was bound to do what Naraku had asked of her, whatever that was, whether she approved of it or not.

 

And what was this Kagura was seeing now? Not the dungeouns...it was the cave again, Onigumo's cave. She hated it here. It stank yet did not have a smell. The presence in this cave was evil, but there was more to it than that.

 

Kikyou had entered the cave where no vegetation would ever grow again. Was she seeing through the miko's eyes? The miko who had sacrificed her powers for a body that could feel? She did not know. She could not feel what the priestess was feeling, that she was certain of, although she had been sure she had been seeing through Kikyou's eyes when she had made her way towards this degraded, haunted place. And now Kagura felt as if she was witnessing the scene unfolding before her unseeing eyes, a helpless espectator.

 

Kagura knew it was night time. She had seen Kikyou walking towards her destination, the night sky, the frozen stars, and now she - they - had finally reached the cave.

 

Kikyou...what was she doing? Alive, she was alive, damn her! Kagura wanted to scream at the miko, `That's my heart, you dead bitch! Those are my fucking souls!' But she knew she wasn't there, not really there.

 

Currently she could not see Kikyou...but knew the now alive and former miko had undressed and was laying down on the same bare spot where Onigumo had lain fifty years ago, a crippled corrupted human soul that had lusted for the very same woman that now lay down on this soiled spot.

 

Naraku's human heart...it would not be silenced but at least it could be soothed...

 

Kagura realized now that this was not herself thinking, but Kikyou. This was what Naraku had asked of her. And she was going to do it. She was going to soothe Naraku's human side to remain in this body! She felt Kikyou's outrage and disgust, but without her miko powers, Kagura sensed no danger, only bitterness.

 

Kikyou had sworn revenge to Naraku. But the jealousy she felt for her reincarnation was stronger. Kagura could feel it, the inner turmoil, as Kikyou battled with her personal demons; blinding jealousy, contempt, wrath... impotence. And something else entirely...

 

Kikyou had spread her nether lips with shaking fingers, her naked sex gleaming with the same unfulfilled lust Onigumo had felt for her. Except this was no lust for the bandit. She gasped and arched her back as she explored her depths, pumping her fingers in and out of herself rapidly, her hips undulating, her body on fire.

 

She cried out. Fifty years she had waited. Fifty years Onigumo had waited. And when Kikyou's release came, she screamed Inuyasha's name, and her juices flowed slowly down her thighs and dripped on the ground where the bandit that was Naraku's human heart had lain motionless before her fifty years ago.

 

Lust and lust. Both unfulfilled. Kikyou's...and Onigumo's. Temporarily quieted. Though it seemed a strange ritual, it was a false sense of fulfillment for them both. What did this mean to Kagura?

 

`It means I'm screwed. That's what it means. She has her new body and it can bloody well feel. And Naraku...no, Onigumo...has been quieted - for a while. This means Naraku can hurt the little witch. Kill her, probably. She doesn't have her miko powers anymore. And the soil she used to shield herself from Naraku is probably useless now. Dammit, he's a bastard but he's one smart bastard. He could do it. He could do it now. And if he kills her, he'll kill me. Shit! Shit shit shit shit shit!'

 

Kagura's vision dimmed and she was back in the dungeons. Humid, stale darkness. Random youkai bits, some of them moving and twitching, that Naraku had disposed during those times when he dissapeared.

 

Too bad for Kagura that unlike other hanyou, the bastard chose the night when he would lose his demon blood. And took advantage of it. He molded his body, perfected his powers. The Shikon no Tama was invaluable aid to him then, surely. And the grotesque image of Naraku's head, his severed limbs pulsing and alive in these very same dungeons when she had witnessed this the night she'd gone to ask Sesshoumaru for help would never abandon her.

 

Sesshoumaru.

 

That was it. If only she could...if only she could reach him. She'd done it countless times. Never from the castle though, but she could damn well try it. She was the wind. And she had somewhere to go now.

 

Kagura focused. Well, at least she could control the wind surrounding Naraku's domains. So far, so good. But could she traspass the barrier?

 

Collecting her power, she sought to leave her body, to send her vision out of herself, to seek the taiyoukai like she had done so many times before. She felt the night breeze around her bodiless self, one with the wind, yes...farther, she was not locked in the flesh anymore, not bound by the enchanted chains…

 

Midnight. She was outside Naraku's domains. All she had to do now was go where she wanted to be. She concentrated harder. Searching, seeking...

 

`Where are you, dammit?!'

 

Villages, sleeping humans, children, men, women, animals, fires burning in huts, outside, youkai here and there like pinpricks, she could pick them up quickly among the weaker beings; the breeze swept past them swiftly, it overlooked hills, fields, rivers, mountains, forests, shrines - she manipulated the wind and picked up speed. Faster, farther, that's it, don't lose it...

 

`Where the hell are you?!'

 

She was growing irritated. Perhaps he believed she wouldn't seek him out after he had called her name out loud? Probably. She was losing it, and this might as well be her only chance. She had to find him. She called out his name and suddenly, she spotted him.

 

Deep in the woods, a small fire was burning in a clearing. The human child and the toad youkai were sound asleep. The two-headed dragon demon snoozed deeply nearby. The taiyoukai stood regally, facing the other way, and his long silvery white hair was violently and quite abruptly swept up from his back. The wind pushed him roughly.

 

Sesshoumaru turned around slowly, facing the wind, facing her, confusion crossing his golden eyes for a split second. Recognition flickered in his depths.

 

He had the rigid, glassy look he always wore when offended. It gradually melted into an almost lost expression, perhaps belonging to deep concentration. Immediately it became his usual, indifferent,

emotionless look.

And he spoke to her - again. Calmly. “You dare seek me out again, Wind Sorceress?”

 

`Shove it, asshole!' She pushed him again, not sure if he could hear her, not giving a damn right now.

 

Sesshoumaru laughed inwardly, yet his face was devoid of all emotion. That was until he felt her feeble youki. The inu-youkai frowned, his golden eyes narrowing.

 

Why was Kagura's youki so - weak? It was usually arrogant, cocky, untamed and quite impressive, he had to admit. Now it was faint, feeble…and possessed an urgency he had never sensed in her before.

 

Sesshoumaru pulled her youki towards his own, like he had done the night before, although that one time it had been half-unconscious on his part, of course. Very foolish, really. But...he had not wanted her to leave.

 

Now, he realized without any explanation that if she left, she might not come back from wherever her physical body was located. Something had happened to her. And whatever it was, it stank of disaster.

 

He recalled Bokuseno's words. A potentially dangerous spell. It involved the dead miko that had sealed his half-brother fifty years ago, and Inuyasha as well. Bokuseno had said nothing about Kagura...and still...

 

Rather than ask Kagura what in the seven Hells the abominable dark hanyou had done to her and expose his slight concern - which he told himself he most certainly did not feel towards the Wind Sorceress - Sesshoumaru chose to demand her current location.

 

If Kagura was trapped, Naraku would likely be there as well, making sure she would not get away. He would kill the abomination. That was, clearly, the only reason he itched to go where her physical body was. And so, the Lord of the Western Lands spoke once more.

 

“Where are you?” He asked of her.

 

`If you can hear me...don't let go!'

 

She was desperate, agitated, and the wind reflected her emotions. It howled loudly around him like a wounded animal. It was fierce and abandoned, making his long hair fly about his face, stinging his skin, making his eyes dry. Yet he did not even blink.

 

This behaviour did not shock him so much as it disturbed him. This was not usual. Her visits were more often than not comforting, intimate, sweetly harsh and powerfully overwhelming. The wind stroked him, caressed him, whispered to him. Sometimes she spoke softly to herself. Sesshoumaru heard her, of course, but never allowed it to show.

Other times, she spoke to him and foolishly thought he would not hear. More often than not, these encounters were rushed, and her visits were usually interrupted and always brief, and he hated himself for wanting her to remain there longer when her soothing yet daring and delightfully fierce presence abandoned him.

 

But more importantly, her visits were a secret. Their secret.

 

She had certainly never yelled at him during these secret, rather...intense visits...or shoved him before.

 

The taiyoukai remembered the Wind Sorceress' every word when she spoke to him, although he would never have admitted it out loud, and most of all, he recalled her first words, carried by the wind, caressing his sharpened senses with the intimacy and heated touch of a secret lover.

 

...I can touch your soul, I can do what no one has ever done…

 

Indeed, the clever wench could do just that...

 

'Secret lover.' Sesshoumaru thought now, frowning slightly at this unusual term he had begun to use recently, only to himself of course, to refer to the tricky, refreshing and somehow disturbing wind user, as well as her unexpected and welcomed visits, and the effect this particular female had on him puzzled the taiyoukai. And Sesshoumaru did not like being puzzled.

 

Why had he allowed this to continue for so long? He did not know. She intrigued him. Everything about her was intriguing. How far would she go? He had wondered. And why did he allow this? Why indeed, did he look forward to her visits?

 

It was all curiosity. She made him curious. But in reality, it was a different kind of feeling altogether.

He had never felt this...agitation…for anyone else before. He could not put a name to these - sensations. Or more precisely, he did not want to. He did not want to know why he welcomed this feeling without a name, why he welcomed her, or why his youki refused to release hers, when his mind ordered him he ignore her.

 

She was childish, careless, infuriating. Passionate, fiery, wild...and positively sinful. He absolutely loved to hate her brave little visits.

 

“Calm yourself, Kagura. This Sesshoumaru will not let go. Now tell me where you are. I will not ask again.” He said slowly.

 

His youki tightened around hers. He would not let go. It was too much for Kagura suddenly, too powerful for her weakened state. And she was so shocked by this response that she found she had collected herself as much as she could for the moment. The wind subsided to a breeze, but she felt more there than before.

 

Gods, his youki was incredible! She was drowning in him, he was overwhelming her completely...

 

`Don't...don't let go...' Kagura managed weakly.

 

Sesshoumaru did not reply, but he relaxed his grip on her youki, sensing her discomfort.

 

Silence. The wind stroked his hair, his face, the whisper of his silk clothes whipped by the breeze the only sounds in the night. It seemed minutes passed. But she was still there, and he was waiting. Finally, she spoke. A soft sigh, accompanied by a warm breeze lifting his silvery white bangs from his forehead.

 

`Fuck. You always knew, didn't you? Smart ass…'

 

The inu-youkai chuckled low in his throat. A sound that would most likely make Jaken pee his pants, surely.

“Is it my fault you always choose to express yourself so...bluntly?” He countered.

 

Kagura chose to respond to this with an irritated `Hmmph'. The silence that greeted this statement compelled her to say something else. `Don't you even want to know what happened?” She asked of him angrily.

 

“Whatever happens to you is not of my concern.” Sesshoumaru replied calmly.

 

`I'm not asking for your help, thank you very much!' Kagura snapped.

 

“Then why are you here, Wind Sorceress?” Was his answer, a hint of a smirk in his deep, usually emotionless voice.

 

Silence greeted his question, but the wind howled in frustration, it seemed. `I don't fucking need your help!' Kagura said harshly after a moment.

 

“Yet you are requesting it again. This Sesshoumaru has asked you a question. I said I would not repeat myself. Answer it.”

 

`I'm not here to ask for your help! I was just…passing through, okay?!' Kagura snapped.

 

Sesshoumaru's golden depths widened for a split second in amusement and a tiny smile played in the corners of his lips and vanished in the blink of an eye.

“You misunderstand me, Kagura. I was merely asking about your whereabouts.” The taiyoukai said placidly.

 

`Oh. That. The dungeons.' Kagura said hurriedly. Stupid, stupid! She thought to herself angrily.

 

Sesshoumaru scowled. “I assume you're referring to the dungeouns in Naraku's domains?”

 

`Where else would I be, genius? Shit! It stinks in here! Fuck, there are body parts everywhere! That's a fucking gigantic eye!'

 

“Kagura.” Her name was spoken like an order to silence her, which she completely ignored. He was not at all surprised by this.

 

`A fucking eye staring right at me! Freaky bastard left an eye here…and that hairy thing is crawling towards me! And I don't even want to know what the hell that slimy looking thing is...'

 

“Kagura. What has happened?” He cut her off calmly.

 

`I thought it wasn't of your concern.' Kagura replied mockingly, any slimy youkai body parts surrounding her physical body momentarily forgotten.

 

“It is not. I am merely curious.” Sesshoumaru replied, shrugging almost imperceptibly.

 

`Uh-huh. I can't move. Souless…bastard stole my souls. Left me with one so I would know.'

 

“So I see. And where, may I inquire, are these souls of yours?” Sesshoumaru asked non-chalantly.

 

`Gave them to the creepy little witch. My heart…he gave her my heart too…'

 

“A witch?”

 

`I can't breathe!'

 

Her youki was slipping away from him, but he held on tight. There was not much time left, she was getting weaker by the second.

 

`Dammit…' Kagura mumbled.

 

“I will ask you for the last time. Where is Naraku's fortress?”

 

`I can't…can't…'

 

She was losing it. Sesshoumaru tightened his youki around her weakened one, but she was slipping away. “Kagura. Guide me.”

 

`Can't…' Kagura's voice was faint now.

 

“Breathe.” He murmured, narrowing his golden eyes.

Kagura took a deep breath, and as the stale air of the dungeons filled her lungs, she heard Sesshoumaru's emotionless, cold voice, as if he was reciting an age old poem. His youki surrounded her and she felt it so strongly she almost choked.

“With every breath you take…you breathe me in…” He quoted her words from what seemed ages ago.

 

`Shit. I can't believe you heard that mushy crap. I didn't mean it, you know…'

 

Ah, she was still there. Good. Sesshoumaru arched his eyebrows questioningly but she said no more. “I am certain you did not mean it. For This Sesshoumaru to hear those words, that is.”

 

`Oh, shut the fuck up!'

 

Sesshoumaru lifted his face in the direction of the wind. Yes, so far so good, as long as Kagura was angry or frustrated, her youki grew slightly stronger. It was not much, but at least he was not losing her now. And angering the Wind Sorceress was quite an easy task.

 

“Is that an order, Kagura?” Sesshoumaru asked, arching an eyebrow.

 

`It's a suggestion, you arrogant bastard.'

 

He chuckled inwardly and walked against the wind. “Guide me.” He murmured.

 

`Huh?'

 

“Do you wish for me to find Naraku's fortress? I shall kill him as I have long ago sworn to do. Naraku has long been my prey. But I will require your assistance. I cannot trace his scent. His barrier protects him. I will need directions.”

 

`I don't know! It's…far! I passed a lot of villages…it's…north from where you are now. I think. I took many turns…but I'm pretty sure it's north…' The wind suddenly subsided and Kagura tried to cling desperately to Sesshoumaru's youki.

 

`Shit! You're letting go!' The wind gasped with her, as if it too, was in pain.

 

“Be quiet, Kagura.” The taiyoukai said in a commanding tone, scowling slightly.

 

`Is that an order, Sesshoumaru?' She echoed his words, managing to sound mocking in spite of her weaknened state.

 

Sesshoumaru almost smiled. “It is merely advice.” He replied. “You are wasting your energy. Your youki is not strong at the moment. And I shall need you to guide me. I will not let go, but you are fading away. I will need you to concentrate.”

 

`North! It's north! Will you kill him? Kill Naraku?'

 

“Naraku is my prey. This Sesshoumaru has told you that before. Does being souless affect your hearing?” Sesshoumaru replied icily.

 

`Fuck you, you insensitive asshole! Just…hurry the hell up! Head North. I'll fucking guide you!'

 

The wind blew harshly towards the North. Sesshoumaru looked back at the sleeping child and toad youkai and then turned towards the wind and started walking, following the wind Kagura was manipulating.

 

Rin and Jaken would be fine, it would not be the first time he'd left them to pursue Naraku or face a foe that would represent danger to his `pack'. He always returned and Rin never asked questions. Jaken of course, could not keep his beak shut and would ask him where he'd gone and what dangerous enemies he'd defeated, until the imp tired of his Lord's silence and sulked or muttered to himself, usually ending up being stepped on by Sesshoumaru.

 

Jaken and Ah-Un would take good care of his human until he returned.

 

`Follow me.' He heard Kagura's invisible voice in his head.

Sesshoumaru continued to walk with the wind. Yet quite suddenly, there was a defeaning silence and the wind stopped abruptly.

 

The taiyoukai attempted to grab and cling to Kagura's youki, to no avail. She was gone. He called her name, both out loud and in his mind, and received no answer from either the wind nor Kagura's silent voice.

 

He growled low in his throat and moved his head from right to left and finally ahead. North. Sesshoumaru felt the trail of Kagura's weakened youki. She was not there, yet he could still feel her presence, like a lingering whisper of an invisible heartbeat within his mind and soul.

 

The taiyoukai kept walking north. “Troublesome woman…” he muttered to himself as he followed the remains of her youki hanging in the night air.

 

 

_______________________

 

 

Kagura cried out silently when Sesshoumaru let her go.

 

She'd felt her youki weakening more and more with every passing second she'd been with him, and all she could do was slip away. She'd felt him grab for her and she could have sworn she heard him call her name, but she was far gone, and her mind was back in the dungeons, keeping her motionless body company again.

 

Well, at least she felt no pain. Not physical, anyway.

 

Kagura had tried to cling to his powerful youki with all her might, but she'd known she had worn herself out.

It was as if she had been bleeding profusely from an open wound and the blood had run out, the flow had stopped, and the a scab had begun to form where the imaginary wound had been.

 

Now she couldn't move like the wind. She couldn't feel him or see him. And she felt drained and dizzy, like she had indeed lost too much blood.

 

Perhaps all she needed was to rest…then she would try it again. Sesshoumaru was heading towards Naraku's castle. He would definetely find his way there.

 

At least now she knew where to look for him…he was heading towards her. No. Not towards her. She was not of his concern, after all. He was heading towards Naraku. He was of course, his prey…

 

Kagura heard, as if from another dimension, the rusty trapdoor open. Slow footsteps descended the wooden, creaky stairs.

 

She couldn't lift her face to meet their owner, but she suddenly came eye to eye with the red orbs of Naraku himself as his cold fingers lifted her chin up.

 

The dark hanyou's lips curved into an evil smirk.

 

 

TBC

AN: Hope I didn't confuse the hell out of you! I apologize again for the delay. My computer died on me, so I got a new one! Yay! It was my birthday recently too! Come on you guys you know the perfect gift for this YM: Reviews! Lots of them! Tell me what you think! Review review review!!! And please don't yell at me to update! Bear with me guys!

Until next chapter!

Love and ramen to all! And extra pocky! Happy Halloween, everyone!

YM