Insolent wench!" Naraku yelled throwing back his hand then smacking her across the face. She flew backward against his han-you strength. She let out a cry of pain hitting the wall it crumbling beneath the force of his blow. "Why I let you live I do not know!" he yelled trudging over to her picking her up by her neck and throwing her up against the wall. In the battle Inuyasha used the Kaze no Kize on her and nearly dissolved her kimono. He tore the tattered remains of her kimono from her laughing sadistically as tears leaked from her eyes.
She thrashed and kicked with the meager energy she still had. He had ordered her to bring Kagome to him. "The finder of the shards." Or so he called her. The glowing red orb that was her heart appeared in his hand. Kagura's eyes widened in shock and trembling fear. He squeezed on the small beating orb...hard. She gasped for breath. It felt like her chest was being crushed. "Fuck You." she whispered with a tight gasp of air.
"I shouldn't go to the effort to kill such a waste of my flesh as you!" He said taking her up by then neck again throwing her outside of his palace and to the ground. His guards watched as she struggled to get up. She covered her bare self from him in a degraded shame. She grabbed her only possession, her fan, and ran.
He smirked. "So weak…kill her." He said to his guards that surrounded him watching the topless women running away from him as fast as she could. She knew what he was going to do…so she ran as fast and hard as she could. The men raced after her spears and swords in hand. She stumbled over a tree root and hit the ground with a thud. "Ouch!" she whimpered as the blood began to flow from the cuts across her chest.
With one final desperate attack she lashed out her fan. "Dance of blades!" she yelled surprising he guards. They hadn't expected a fight…and now they were all slaughtered. She desperately crawled towards at the river about 4 yards away. She needed to wash her wounds. The wounds stung with the sensation of blood mixing with sweat…
She made it to the river exhausted from the chase and the earlier battle with Inuyasha and his friends. She washed her face and drank the icy cold water. She felt so dizzy… so weak. The cuts across her chest were dripping with blood and she was loosing too much. She fell forward into the river completely unconscious. She couldn't breath…the water filled her lungs throwing her underneath the water. Adrenaline kicked in and she managed to regain consciousness. What she saw terrified her…
She was heading straight for the falls. She tried to scream but her mouth was flooded with water as she was pulled bellow the surface once again…
"Lord Sesshomaru, I am afraid." Came a small girls voice. "Of what." He asked walking past a stream. "I see a dead woman." She said pulling his sleeve slightly. He stopped. "That woman is not dead…" he could not recognize her scent since she was floating in the water. "She's alive?" Rin asked running towards the stream, she grabbed the woman's arm and pulled with all her might. She managed to drag her half way to the shore.
"Lord Sesshomaru, may Rin ask that you help Rin help the woman?" she asked her lower lip threatening to curve under. He sighed a heavy sigh and pushed Rin out of the water lightly. He picked up the mud covered, water soaked woman in his arms bridal style. She groaned in pain, her cuts and bruises immense.
He set her down on a small clearing of grass. Rin grabbed and wet the handkerchief she carried in her pocket and wiped the blood and mud from her face. Jaken watched intently as Rin attempted to help the poor woman. "That's Kagura!" Jaken squawked in his loud squeaky voice. Sesshomaru's head snapped up from his train of thought. For some reason his heart tugged.
"Rin, this women needs to be tended." He said lacking any sign of emotion. "I will give you some money and you will go to the village and but bandages and salve." He said calmly. Rin had accepted the coins he had given her and trotted of towards the village trade. She came upon the "general store' or what was considered one in feudal Japan and trotted up to the woman at the counter.
"Excuse me madam, I need bandages and suave." The women looked at her strangely "do you mean salve?" the woman asked. "Mhm!" Rin said cheerily nodding her head. How many bandages do you need?" the woman asked. "Lots." She said. The woman nodded and walked towards a small bamboo shelf. The woman came back with a satchel of gauze, antiseptic, tape, and salve. "Is this enough?" the kind woman asked. Rin nodded furiously. "That will be ten coins." The women said handing her the bag. Rin handed her the coins and trotted out of the store.
Rin ran towards the clearing. Sesshomaru had bathed and covered Kagura. She had been completely naked when Rin had found her but he couldn't tell. She had been so caked with mud and her own blood. He removed his Haori and covered her with it as a makeshift blanket. He saw her shivering in the cold wind…
"I'm not being kind I just don't want Rin to cry if she were to die…it's so annoying." He lied to himself. Rin came running towards them a small bag in her hands. "I got the bandages you asked for Lord Sesshomaru." She said out of breath from running. "Good." He said sitting Kagura up. He cleaned and dressed the wounds rapping the gauze up around her stomach and chest. He brought it up over her shoulder and tied it off.
Jaken built a fire. Rin fetched the wood. Sesshomau laid Kagura down by the fire and covered her body with his haori. His heart clenched at her sad beaten appearance…
All but Sesshomaru lay down to sleep. He didn't need to yet about three days from now he would need to sleep. He held tokijin-keeping watch over the small camp. Kagura groaned. He looked up watching her stir. She blinked and coughed. She gagged some of the water still in her lungs. He stood and walked over to her. "What happened?" she sputtered.
"You tell me." He said kneeling beside her. "I don't remember much…Naraku beat me and sent his guards after me." She said with a sigh. "I was fighting Inuyasha and lost…so he beat me." She said propping herself up on her elbows. "The last thing I remember." She said pulling his haori tighter over her shoulders. "Was..the falls."
"He gave up his shirt to keep me warm?" she thought lying back down next to the fire. "He bandaged and tended me too." She thought looking at the white tape covering her entire torso. Her eyelids grew heavy…she stifled a yawn and fell asleep once again. …
The sun rose he next morning. She awoke to the sun shining in her eyes. She sat up her opaque red eyes adjusting to the new light. Rin came running back with a basket of berries. "Look Madam I brought you food." She said hopping up and down. Her mouth was stained red and was smiling wide.
Kagura ate a handful of the berries. She didn't want to disappoint the young girl but she wasn't that hungry either…
"Thank you Rin." She said lying back down on the soft grass. Jaken walked back towards them. "When did he leave?" Kagura wondered pulling Sesshomaru's haori tighter around herself. Jaken carried a small package of cloth. "Here Kagura, Lord Sesshomaru ordered that you no longer wear such indecent attire. She wanted to yell at him how it wasn't her fault that she had washed up on a shore naked.
But she bit her lip and gladly accepted the parcel. It was a comfortable looking kimono. It was red and black and it looked warm. It was a little big for her, but it was beautiful. It was mostly red with small black designs. It had two layers. The inner layer made of comfortable cotton and the outer layer made of satin.
She couldn't sit up very well, the battle with Inuyasha and his friends was raging and she had barely made it back to Naraku's castle. Then he beat her. And the chase had been painful. "Lady Kagura, Rin will help you dress if you wish." She sighed. She hated being dependant on others. Somehow Sesshomaru read her mind. "There is a difference between dependency and codependency." He said walking off towards the forest with Jaken. "She has been degraded enough for one day." He said quietly to Jaken.
Jaken's mind was reeling. "Why is Lord Sesshomaru being so kind to give the woman privacy, someone like her doesn't deserve that privilege from lord Sesshomaru!" he thought ranting to himself. Kagura complied to the girls wish to help her. Sesshomaru raised his nose to the air…"I smell my prey." He said a smirk passing onto his lips lightly.
He stalked silently after his prey, a deer youkai. The perfect amount of meat to split between the four of them. He leapt into the air after the un-expecting doe. The taste of blood on his lips exciting his inner beast. He immediately ate his share of meat the taste of the raw meat satisfying his hunger. Kagura smiled at the young girl then she lay back down on the ground pulling the "blanket" up to her chin and falling into a gentle sleep.
She awoke to the delicious smell of roasting meat. She sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was dark again. "How long was I out?" she asked from her spot by the fire. "About one hour." Came the cheerful voice of Rin. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked handing her a piece of meat skewered on a stick.
She ate most of it but left some of it. She still wasn't really that hungry but she needed to stay nourished if she wanted to get well and out of Sesshomaru's hair…his soft silky long silver hair. That whips gently in the wind, and shimmers in the moonlight…
Her head snapped up. "Where did those thoughts come from?" she thought shaking her head. She had been staring straight at Sesshomaru and their eyes had locked.
"Why was she staring at me?" he asked himself taking a bite of his raw venison. He wasn't much for cooked food. "And that strange look on her face?" he thought standing. "Rin, it's time that you let the woman rest." He said sitting back down. Kagura silently thanked him. Rin had been talking her ears off…
She realized she had still been using Sesshomaru's haori as a blanket even thought she didn't need it because of the warm kimono he had given her. She stood walking over to him with a limp. She handed him the folded haori. "Here, I didn't want you to get cold, I didn't bleed on it, and it's clean." She added quickly. He took it from her. "This Sesshomaru doesn't get cold." He replied leaning gently against a tree.
She walked slowly over towards the fire. "How can I be so dizzy from such a short walk?" she thought feeling her insides churn slightly. She felt sick inside. Her head spun. She dropped to her knees. She felt something hot bubbling in her throat. She vomited and clutched her stomach still feeling sick. "Lady Kagura, are you okay?" Came Rin's nervous little girl voice.
"Yes, I'm just feeling a little sick." Kagura said closing her eyes the scenery still spinning wildly. A pair of strong hands grabbed her under the arms and gently took her into his arms bridal style. "Just take the liberty to not vomit on me." Came Sesshomaru's cold voice. She nodded. "Why?" she asked taking a deep breath. "Seeing as you are unable to walk, I figured you would prefer to be moved back to your place by the fire instead of in the dirt." He said gently setting her down. "Thank you." She whispered curling up and lulling gently into a soft sleep…