InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love's Smirking Revenge ❯ Epilogue ( Chapter 40 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Author’s Note: This epilogue’s just a bit of fun (I use that word a touch ironically) and NOT necessary to the rest of the story. It’s for anyone who might have found themselves wondering after the last chapter – but what happened to Kagura? This bit was an idea I had that just wouldn’t quiet till I wrote it down, so here it is. Hope you enjoy it!
A double knock sounded at the door. Kagura looked up from account book and waited expectantly. The door opened and a petite, mousy creature was ushered in. Kagura’s eyes roved over the girl’s dull red dress, plain black flats and poorly matched purse. Even her clothes were left wanting – whatever had Sesshomaru seen in such a pathetic creature? Her lips lifted into a self-important sneer and Kagura set down her pen.  
“He’s started sending you on errands, has he?”
Rin took a seat in front of her and set her bag on the floor. “He doesn’t know I’m here,” she answered calmly.
Her interest piqued, Kagura sat back in her chair. “He doesn’t tolerate disobedience, you know.”
The girl stared at her stone-faced and she found herself quickly losing interest. “Well if you aren’t his errand bitch, what are you doing here? Looking for a job perhaps? Such a shame about the café...”
She smiled cruelly, amused by her own joke.
“You and I have unfinished business,” the girl answered coldly.
Kagura rolled her eyes. “Listen, you made your choice. If you’re too stupid to understand the rules of our world, stay the hell out of it.”
“Oh, I think I understand them just fine,” she replied with a thin smile. “Sesshomaru punished you for your insolence, you punished him for washing his hands of you and you punished me for taking him from you. Have I left anything out?”
Though she took issue with that particular version of events, Kagura didn’t object to the assessment. She folded her hands under her chin and lifted an expectant brow. If the girl was trying to make her feel pity, she was doing a damn poor job of it.
The girl kept her eyes downcast and toyed with the hem of her glove. “So…”she said carefully, “That just leaves me.”
“You?” Kagura scoffed.  
The girl looked up and their eyes met. For a moment she was taken aback. She’d expected to find vulnerability or fear but saw only callous determination.
“Those are the rules, aren’t they?” she quipped, a cold smile touching her lips.
It was only then that she noticed the gun nestled in the girl’s lap. Where had it come from? How had she managed to sneak it past her security? Kagura felt the first fledgling shot of fear snake down her spine, but she had no intention of letting this tiny slip of a girl, Sesshomaru, or anyone else for that matter, make her vulnerable.
“What are you going to do? Shoot me?” she challenged, her tone maintaining its hard edge.
The girl sighed softly and cradled the gun in her hands. “Yes, actually.”
“You don’t have it in you,” she sneered. “It’s one thing to threaten and a whole other to pull the trigger.”
The gun discharged with an explosive bang and her body jerked backward, thrown into the chair. For a moment all she could focus on was ringing in her ears, and once it slowly began to fade she felt the first touch of fire against her skin. The bitch had actually shot her! Her hatred for the stupid creature sitting across from her reached new heights. She would not be outdone! She’d rip the little bitch’s head off and nail it to Sesshomaru’s door!
Kagura tried to stand but her body refused to move. Her legs and arms had become too heavy to lift and she found herself paralyzed as the girl calmly stood and walked around the desk towards her.
Where were her guards? Had no one else heard the shot?
The girl leaned against the edge of her desk and studied the blood that was blooming across the front of her dress.
“You’re right,” she confessed, “it is a whole other thing to pull the trigger. And just think, without your…,” she paused and chose her next word carefully, “interference this never would have been possible.”
“You’ll never make it out of here alive,” Kagura threatened, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Of course I will,” she answered frankly and calmly tucked the gun into her purse.  “There’s a lot of power hungry people willing to do just about anything to get rid of the competition. A little bribe was all it took.”
Kagura’s mind was racing, wondering which of her men had betrayed her. Ito? Deguchi? It could have been any one of them. She struggled to reply and found that her throat had gone dry. Only a strangled cry emerged that made her sound far more pathetic than she felt.
 “It’s terrifying, isn’t it? The realization that you will never have the chance to do all the things you wanted to do; knowing that not a single person in this ugly world will miss you…There’s a certain loneliness that creeps up on you when you realize that you will take your last breath still unwanted, unloved and unforgiven.”
Kagura narrowed her eyes and focused on the words coming out of the girl’s lips. It was becoming difficult to breathe, even keeping her eyes open took effort. The girl pushed off the desk and headed for the door. She stopped just long enough to cast a pitiless smile over her shoulder before closing it shut behind her.
In her absence, a deafening silence filled the room. It was then that she finally felt it, the fear the girl had spoken of. There were no kind words or a warm hand resting overtop of hers, no voice in her ear whispering pointless reassurances. At one time she’d convinced herself she had no need for those things, but now, in her final moments, she desired them more than she had anything in her life.
The loneliness crept in like the dark of night and stole away whatever shred of pride she’d been clinging to. Tears glistened in her dark eyes and her heart squeezed out its last sluggish beat. With her final breath Kagura whispered the name of the only man she’d ever loved because it was his absence she felt most of all. His perfect hands, strong jaw, cold amber eyes and infectious arrogance… She’d loved every part of him, so recklessly, so blindly... What a fool she’d been.
Author’s Note:  Thank you to my wonderful readers for following me and supporting me throughout this journey. I received so many kind messages after the last chapter went up – it truly blew me away. I will absolutely show my gratitude and respond to each one! It's been such a fun ride with these characters, so much so that I can hardly believe it's over. It feels like no time at all has passed but it's been five years. Amazing how time jumps like that without us even noticing. At the end of the day though, I couldn't have finished this without you and that's the truth. Thank you.
Until next time,
Langus