InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Winds ❯ Shadow Call ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 9

Shadow Call

 

From a great height, Kagura drifted on the currents of world-wind, jostled by clouds and sudden gusts that spun her off course. The swift stream of air had moved her much faster than the man she watched, but it would do no good to go down to him now. The various lynx tribes were all wary, all worriers, but none more than this one. Their lord, Dak - he was a strange one, always tangling himself in questions and logic.

She had been here once before, the emissary of Naraku. He had been so certain that her beauty and power would sway them, endear her to them. Instead, they smelled only evil, and sent her away with snarls and curses on frigid tongues. Rumor of the miasma had traveled far for them to recognize the story in her scent.

Kagura had not expected the Houshi to be so quickly and easily successful, but the scent of blood did not come to her on the swift moving wind, and the darting of her eyes between the clouds detected nothing untoward amid the wide spread of jungle trees. South and a little east, the jungle began to thin along the curve of the land to a slice of rocky beach, and then the wide, flat sea.

 

I wonder if they will grant him passage. I wonder if he will mention the sacred mountain, and what they will say. To them it would be anything but sacred.

 

If he was wise, he would not say too much too soon. If the Houshi was unfortunate in his questions, and caused them to fear his purpose, they would kill him without another thought. Sitting in the cold wind, waiting, her thoughts turned humorous. He was a strange one, that Houshi. Sometimes, he made a mockery of…of being! It was impossible. He could not be the opposite of himself.

Still, all these thoughts were useless as long as he traveled in the company of a lynx. Kagura dipped lower in her flight, watching the rustle of trees and bushes. These wild jungles were home to wild boars, fierce cousins of the domestic kept by human farmers. Many suspicious rattling sounds in the brush and the soft huffing snort of a small group of the animals passed beneath her feather. They stirred up rich scents of earth as they moved, and Kagura paused to watch them.

 

This is unusual. The hunting in these regions can be sparse. Why would so many animals gather in one place?

 

Behind the boars, the jungle foliage covered over their passage and wound back into an impenetrable knot. Who knew how the animals found the path through? A slow, suddenly pleased smile passed onto Kagura's face.

 

If the hunting is scarce, then those who hunt must take every opportunity they have…is that not so? The one who follows the Houshi is the leader of his tribe. To make sure they are fed is his responsibility.

 

Her face turned sideways for a moment, recognizing that her task would be lowly - scaring up game! But this plan was too easy not to try, and the Houshi needed more information than she had given him. A single mention of her name, a single memory, or the name of the sacred mountain…those things could be enough to destroy him. One Houshi, against an entire tribe of lynx?

She did not think he would kill them all to save his own life, even if the Kazaana gave him the strength.

 

He is too…sympathetic. Otherwise, would he even have listened to me?

 

Kagura swooped lower, and directed the wind-wave of her scent towards the ground over which the boars moved. Suddenly, the soft snuffling noises that had turned her thoughts became a shrieking series of squeals. The scent of Naraku was the scent of death. As though fire was chasing them, the animals charged through the undergrowth, shattering fallen logs and small bushes, tossing their heads in an explosion of green.

The stream of shining dark bodies wriggled beneath her. Males tossed their tusks, and cut those who moved alongside them, and blood scent struck the air, sharp and pungent. The squealing cries ricocheted through the jungle, and Kagura moved back up through the air, just below the clouds, once again waiting.

 

There is no hunter that can fail to hear this! The lynx will come, and the Houshi will be alone, for a while. Now, I must find him.

 

She dropped lower, scanning the treetops with piercing sight, and then landed in the only open area she could find. She sighed, and stared through the green shadows ahead of her. Walking was not her favorite way to travel, but there was no other way through the thick growth.

Despite her preferences, she moved quickly. Kagura did not run, but her feet were pointedly swift. Her senses were watchful, and when she came near the place where the beasts had last run, she waited. The jungle was silent, unusually tense. Coiled vines lay still in the dark shadows, and mingled with the fallen leaves of trees. She could see blinking amphibious eyes, bulbous with a flat sheen, and without her own movement the wind was motionless. Only insects hummed and droned, but not near her.

With an abruptness that spoke of the skill of the hunter, a death squeal sharpened the air. It was followed by others, more piercing still.

 

One…two…three…four. One cat, and four beasts? He will not be able to carry them all at once, but he must clean them all now. Now is the time to go…to find the Houshi.

 

 

Miroku waited in silence, alone in the dense dark of jungle twilight. Each fragment of sky he could see between the bristling leaves showed a different shade of purple or blue, deeper than the skies in the north that he remembered.

 

Is it really so long since I traveled south? Or is it the influence of some ominous aura…a great evil indeed, to spawn such a cloud.

 

The trees suddenly seemed darker, pressing, the leaves of bushes and vines furling against the coming dark. A cool wind passed over him, the first open breeze he had felt on the long run through the sweating green. His hair lifted off his forehead and neck; the black cotton of his inner robe rustled and filled with cool air. For a moment, he did not worry, enjoying the chill. He lifted his head from the pillow of his outer robe, and stretched his shoulders.

“It is nice to see that my presence no longer disturbs you, Miroku-Houshi.”

Miroku jumped, irreparably startled. He had been grateful for the breeze, and had not wondered at its cause. Nothing had alerted him to the presence of Kagura, or her approach.

 

Was I really that relaxed? How stupid!

 

“Kagura…”

It was also the first time she had addressed him that way - `Miroku-Houshi'. What did that mean; what did all the changes in her mean? He shook his head, and lay a hand on his staff as he stood.

 

I must be careful with her.

 

As though she had read his thoughts, Kagura smiled, and bowed. Her bow was mocking, her smile a taunt, but he only nodded, seeming to relax again.

“What are you here to tell me now, Kagura? Am I nearing my goal?”

Her eyebrows lifted.
”So quick! Did you expect this would be such an easy journey? You must pass through the territory of this lynx, and come to the shore. Then you will cross, to the island where you must hunt and make sacrifice, and then again to an island where you must purify yourself.”

Her eyes laughed at him, sparkling with pain.

“I will not go with you there.”

He still watched her, his eyes intense. Miroku wanted every slant of her eyes, every new curve in her lips, every line on her forehead. He was sure it would be of use to him later, to know him so well.

“And after, Kagura? Where do we go after these islands?”

The strangest curve yet touched her lips, a glittering smile. The light in her eyes was dangerous and smooth.

“We will speak of after if you come to after, Miroku-Houshi. You have work ahead of you, here. This lynx are in danger from the mountain you seek. The holiness of its aura has pushed many things north, which once lived on the mountain and the lands surrounding it.”

Her tongue darted out to wet dry lips. It was an anxious gesture; he had never known her to be anxious.

“These lynx know me and my scent - and they may know Naraku. He sent me as envoy here, sure that I could sway them to his cause.”

Her smile was gloating and haunted both.

“There were not in the least receptive to his desires.”

“That is…encouraging.”

He was not looking at her any more; his thoughts were distracted by the mention of the mountain.

“Kagura…is Naraku truly incapable of penetrating the spiritual aura of this place? Why would that be, when he has defied other spiritual powers?”

She shook her head.

“I do not know the way of all Naraku's weaknesses. If I did, I would have destroyed him myself, and taken back my own heart! Probably it is because there is no one to corrupt here. Only a few pilgrims journey to the mountain, and many do not even make it halfway.”

It was both more and less of an answer than he had expected. It seemed she was hiding nothing from him, but that was a dangerous assumption to make.

 

Still, it seems that I have no choice but to place my trust in her…for now.

 

It was Kagura's turn to watch him carefully, feeling the changes in his expression with her eyes.

“You are beginning to trust me, Miroku-Houshi, and I did not expect it of you! Do you realize now that my heart waits for the same freedom as yours?”

Her eyes glowed at him, reaching, and something suddenly shielded itself from his sight, hurrying to hide behind features that became smooth. The pebbles had been dropped, and the lake rippled, but now it was calm again, and the stones were far beneath the surface.

Kagura shook her head at her own silent thoughts, ignoring the Houshi's eyes on her. What irony, that suddenly she should feel so much without a heart. Perhaps this Houshi was not…good for her?

 

Good for me. As if that had anything to do with it.

 

She cast her eyes over him, searching, appraising.

“I lured your companion away with the promise of an easy hunt. The forest game is spare here, and I knew he would take advantage. It would not be wise to mention me. He is intelligent, but his own instincts will warn against looking well on one who consorts with…”

Her splayed fingers gestured elegantly at her own form. Slowly, she stepped close to him, leaned in closer. She engaged the dilation of his pupils and the quickening of his breath. She leaned back, amused by the maleness of him. Her laughter was throaty. For a moment, Miroku paused to think if he had ever heard it before, but came up empty. It was a rich sound.

“Kagura…when you are not doing Naraku's bidding, what do you do? How do you keep yourself?”

Real surprise captivated her features.

“When Naraku does not call for me, I am as free as I can be, now. I am allowed to travel the wind currents and seek new air, as long as I return when he desires it. I fly high, and far, and look on strange peoples and breathe strange airs, and then I must return.”

She sighed, and her eyes were distant, and pierced him with longing. She turned his question at him, slid it down the angle of her eyes.

“And what about you, Miroku? What do you do when you are not hunting Naraku?”

He gave her an easy smile.

“When I am not hunting him, I work to strengthen myself, and contemplate the possibility of my death. I try to find…peace with it. I also seek new breaths, Kagura.”

Was he mocking her? A pink flush of anger crept across her throat and into her cheeks. The stain brightened the red of her eyes. The gentleness of his humor was immaterial - was she not worthless enough already? Like a well used maid servant, to be left out in the cold when her work was done. Quietly, he spoke again.

“I am not mocking you, Kagura. The air we breathe is a gift, a curse, a treasure we seek. Without it I am nothing - and so are you. Didn't you see how grateful I was for the breeze you sent over me?”

She was shocked to stillness. Even Naraku could not read her, did not know the movement of her.

“It is lucky that Naraku cannot read me as well as you, Miroku.”

 

And now…when did she start using my name?

 

He stared in silence, doubly surprised.

“Naraku does not know my heart, though he holds it. My thoughts are dark to him, or I would not be here now.”

It was a strange admission. Kagura turned from him, and walked away, her steps steady and slow. Within a moment, she paused and turned back.

“I am going now.”

She did not usually say good bye. A smile touched the corners of Miroku's mouth, and he stayed where he was, watching her go.

 

 

Between the flat stretches of water that declared growing rice and the edge of trees, Kohaku ran down the green strip at the end of the forest. The dark splash of Naraku's miasma-infected shard had spread to a wide, gripping spider mark that clutched at his whole shoulder.

The trees and the air spoke to him and then ran away. A mark of evil was on him now, and only darkness was drawn to the search in his aura. He had grown used to the pulse that moved through his blood. His hands clenched behind the pressure of power that flowed from the corrupted shard in to his flesh. They wanted to rend and tear, his hands, and feel slick blood flow down and over them.

If he clenched his fist around his weapon, the desire intensified, his powers grown, and his eyes flashed red with battle lust. Still, he was disturbed, his thoughts uneasy, his steps sometimes broken. He was beginning to encounter flashes of places he remembered through the dark haze.

A particular tree, a fragrance of burned blossoms, the curve of sunlight gleaming like a broken - toothed smile behind the mountains. A face came into his thoughts, a woman laughing. The memory threatened to widen a hole inside him where light came through. For a moment he saw himself, also laughing, free of shadows.

His arm and shoulder were suddenly a black ache, throbbing the memory into silence. Behind him, buzzing along the path as they had the whole long journey, Saimyoshou droned on and on, pushing the insects of the region into silence.

“Why are you following me?”

His young voice was tight with agony. The lingering will of Naraku was as strong on them as it ever was; there came no audible answer. A shift in that pale hum, a momentary pause of noise where wings stilled and the drone drowned itself out.

“Follow you? You are behind me!”

There was a whisper in the air, the whisper of the name that was his task. The jishaku hanging on his belt pressed against his thigh, and capture his attention. A defiled will renewed its grip on him, turning him in the direction that the Saimyoshou indicated, pulling him along that road.

The deeper awareness of Kohaku that still lingered in broken fragments of memories and a desire to turn and run was being held back, squeezed in a fist without mercy. One hand wandered away from his side, and gripped the magnet. Souls called out to him, speaking of what it was to be trapped.

With a wide, wicked smile that did not belong on his face, he tightened his hand, feeling his nails dig against the impossibly smooth surface. It was blacker than the deep spaces between stars.

Even as his thoughts touched on it, the magnet gained a translucent glow, and then faded. He didn't know if that was what it was supposed to do. He began a pounding, heaving run, and let the magnet drop back against his side.

His master had spoken, directing him. The darkness of the magnet was for Kikyou; the darkness of the shard was for Kikyou. Naraku did not wait patiently. It was time. The hot wind of the short summer nights blew by his face. It carried the scent of water and clean earth; the rotted feeling that permeated all areas under Naraku's control did not carry yet to this distance. He knew he was getting close.

A face flashed into his thoughts, again, the same face, the same smile. A warm hand joined it, a soft laugh. He shook his head, tasting sourness at the back of his throat. The infrequent all of the darkened memories, the black pit of his own soul, could not now concern him. The deep control of the black shard was new and untarnished. The one thing he knew still was his own name. Naraku had not seen fit to give him a new one.

The scent and power of a demon reached him. He twisted, testing the wind. New heights had been given to his senses, and he could feel sleeping power. Now he understood why the aura of Naraku did not taint this place. This was the edge of Inuyasha's forest, and the village which lay beyond, that he protected.

He would be in danger of detection soon. Inuyasha's miko would sense both the shard and the jyaki of miasma, but Kikyou might still be at a distance which would prevent his discovery.

 

Yes. Kikyou. Where are you, Kikyou?

 

In his thoughts there was no curiosity, only obedience. At his belt the jishaku glowed brightly for another eye-stinging moment, and then dimmed again. It tugged at him, with threads more powerful that the influence of the Saimyoshou, pulling his consciousness in the direction he must go. How the object knew this, and could tell him, he had no idea.