Faithful By: RecklessAbandon and OtakuSailorV
A slim, well-toned figure slipped gracefully between the trees, her sensitive ears twitching at any sound. Her hair was electric blue, which was the only thing noticeable against the darkened night that surrounded her.
The figures clothes made a ruffling noise in the wind as she sailed through the air from tree to tree, watching the forest floor below for any sign of movement. It had been a boring day, with nothing really exciting going on. But then again, she had not seen another soul in the area for some days now.
A sudden flash of white below her caught her attention. So, being the curious kind of girl, she wanted to check it out.
She immediately stopped at the first tree, and perked her tiny black ears forward, holding tightly to the tree limb, while leaning as far forward as she could to see. Her odd little nose twitched as she sniffed the air, her eyes wide with abundant curiosity.
A figure cloaked in a white baboon pelt was staring right at her. "Hello, Kitty." The baboon-man growled.
She smiled brightly at the baboon-man. Whatever creature he was, he sure looked funny in that strange outfit. Her nose twitched again as her curiosity of the strange creature grew.
"What do you want?" He snapped irritated. "I have places to go, people to kill...."
"You stopped for me?" She asked, swinging down from the tree gingerly. "Who said you had to stop for me?"
"My attention was caught by you, but you seem to be no threat, identify yourself witch."
"It is customary for the gentleman to state his name first." She said with a smile and a sweeping gesture with her hand. "That is, if you ARE a gentleman under that ugly pelt."
"So, you think you're quite funny?" The baboon-clothed one asked as the woman started to smirk. "Well, I see no ladies to state my name to in this forest."
A cool window blew, swishing spiky electric blue hair away from the smug, slate blue eyes of this unidentified woman giving the cloaked one so much trouble.
Her face had grown quite red, and the smirk had disappeared, her entire being spoke of instant, flaming anger.
"Oh, has this Naraku made the kitty-cat angry?" The baboon-cloaked man cooed mockingly.
A low hiss started in her throat, and her shoulders arched as her muscles stiffened in rage. Her aura crackled with energy that shot out and hit tiny stones and leaves around her, burning them to ash.
Naraku looked a little surprised. "...How...?" He started.
Her teeth barred as she let the growl escape her throat. A dangerous hiss, like that of an enraged mountain cat ushered forth and her hand flew to her sword.
Naraku didn't have time to react as he was cut through, only to reveal a Golem and a previously obtained Shikon Shard.
"That's what you get for messing with Kyoyume." She growled before sliding her sword back into it's sheath.
At Naraku's fortress, upon seeing a bright aura slash through his Golem, Naraku looked into Kanna's mirror to see Kyoyume toss a few loose strands of hair out of her face, and picking up his Shikon Shard and walking away. "That woman...." He growled, his fist clenched.
He had no idea why he was so angry. Usually, he was smug and would have smirked at her accomplishment. But lately the shards had become harder to find, and that meddling pup Inuyasha had a great deal of them. How dare THIS woman step in his way just when he was about to complete the Jewel?!
"Kagura." He called; the graceful figure of the crimson-eyed wind-mistress was seen against the Shouji doors before she slid in. "See that woman?" He asked, gesturing to the girl in the mirror. "Kill her."
Kagura narrowed her eyes and fiddled with her fan inside of her kimono as she stared at the girl in the mirror. She made a face, obviously thinking over the mission before leaving.
She gave a small gasp as the wind almost lifted up her dress. She started as the wind became harder and harder to withstand, and she became deftly aware that another demon was in the vacinity.
Kagura landed on her feather, putting it back into her hair, she glared at the cat-girl. "Not one for words? Well, I have better things to do, lets make this quick." She snapped pulling out her fan and flicking it open.
Kyoyume made a startled face and her shoulders arched almost immediately, her hair standing on end. She had the weirdest feeling that a malicious thought was directed her way.
Kagura sighed. With a swish of her wrist her wind blades were thrown at the cat-girl. "I'll be quick with your death." She told her smugly.
Kyoyume jumped out of the way as the blades came at her. She smirked as she sailed backward through the air. "Ha, you missed!" She smirked, but it soon vanished when a small trickle of blood ran down her cheek.
"Don't be so sure of yourself, Kyoyume." Kagura told her, an arrogant smirk in place on her face now.
Kyoyume's ears twitched in anger as she came back down gently on her hind- legs. She gave Kagura an annoyed look, her ears still twitching.
"Aww...look at the little kitty!" Kagura cooed, swishing her fan again, sending twice as many wind blades as before at the hanyou.
Narrowing her eyes, Kyoyume carefully tried to dodge every blade to show the wind mistress that she wasn't some wimp. But no matter how hard she tried, the blades still cut her, sometimes narrowly, sometimes-deep gashes. When the onslaught halted for the second time, she was out of breath and tired from the unsuccessful dodging.
Kagura snapped her fan closed and narrowed her eyes. "Naraku, how kind of you to join us...." She said with a smug grin as Naraku walked out of the shadows.
Kyoyume watched him; curiosity brimming in her big eyes, despite the fact that blood was leaking from every limb of her being. Her nose twitched in place of her ears, as she watched the new figure step out of the shadows.
He wasn't wearing his normal baboon cloak, which threw off Kyoyume when she tried to identify him. "Kagura, I told you to kill her, not entertain her."
"What is the kitty-cat doing here...?" Naraku cooed to Kyoyume.
Kyoyume growled at him. Was he going to attack? In the shape she was in, she wouldn't stand a chance.
Naraku smiled. "I don't feel like attacking, I just want the Jewel Shard you took from my puppet."
Kyoyume growled again before answering. "No." It was simple, but it was the only thing she could muster to say past the repeated growls that forced themselves out of her throat.
Naraku walked up to her. "Just give it back."
Kyoyume pulled away, narrowing her eyes. "I said no!"
"It's mine!"
"No, it's mine!"
"You two argue like children." Kagura said, putting in her two cents.
"Shut up!" Kyoyume growled, turning her head swiftly to glare at Kagura. "I'm not a child!"
"I know you're not." Kagura agreed. "Can't you come to an agreement with the girl, Naraku?"
Naraku glared at her angrily. "The Jewel shard is mine, I will not let some half-breed brat have it, Kagura." He growled icily.
Kagura nodded. "I have people to see." She grumbled, pulling out her feather and flying away.
Meanwhile, Kyoyume was watching all of this; her ears flopped to one side and her mouth slightly ajar, her eyes reading nothing but confusion. The demon witch was agreeing that she wasn't a child after their fight? This 'Naraku' was calling her a hanyou brat when he reeked of Human blood as well? Was she dreaming?
"Do you know why I want that jewel shard, brat?"
"...." Kyoyume couldn't think of anything to say in reply to his question.
"Never mind then."
"Whatever you say." Kyoyume said with a weird smile. Thinking this was the best time to leave, she quickly turned and fled through the forest as fast as her wounded body would allow her. 'Now, to just...get...away...'
"Strange girl...I guess I'll have to keep an eye on her...."Looking back over her shoulder, Kyoyume was surprised to see that the man was not giving chase. She blinked and scanned the area around her thoroughly. But she still saw no sign of the man. Utterly perplexed she took her place in the branches of a tall tree, and climbed to the very top. Her nails bit into the wood, but she paid no mind to the damage she was doing to the old thing, she only wanted to see where the stranger was going.
Naraku stood there for a minute then began the short walk back to his fortress.
Kyoyume watched his retreat, holding tightly to the Jewel Shard, her nose twitching in the wind.
He looked over his shoulder where the cat-girl was perched. Their eyes met briefly before he disappeared.
Wrinkling her nose in agitation, Kyoyume watched the patch of earth he had been on for some time before climbing down the tree again.
Naraku sank into the hot-spring right by his fortress; it was just too comfortable to resist.
Kyoyume walked down the long path. No wind, no clouds, no weather at all. "Not even a star." She said sighing.
"Maybe....the shard could be a star!" She smiled playfully and held it up against the velvet black sky. It twinkled faintly from what light, Kyoyume didn't know; but it sure looked pretty, that pink against the dark black reaches of the night.
Suddenly, Kyoyume tripped into water; warm water. "N-nani?" She muttered spitting some water out.
"Who put a hot spring right in the middle of....?!" Kyoyume stopped dead, her hands still fixed on wringing the water out of one black ear when she spotted it. A huge castle reared up from the other side of the reeds at the edge of the spring. Her mouth fell open; her whole being went limp before the sight. "Woah..." She muttered, her wet, soggy ear forgotten as her hand slipped back into the warm water.
"...Nice surprise." Naraku said, seeing the cat, drying her ears, three feet to his right.
'?' Kyoyume turned slowly; still dazed by the size of the castle. Why did that voice sound so familiar? Turning she felt her heart stop at the sight before her.
Naraku averted his eyes; the dripping wet clothes were sagging off the cat horribly.
"A......A...." Kyoyume's voice was caught in her throat, she felt like she was in shock. Her arms and legs wouldn't move, her lungs couldn't get air properly, her eyes were super-glued open, and her stomach was nothing but an endless pit in her middle. A small cat-like 'mew' finally forced it's way out and she dashed into the reeds as fast as she could.
Naraku laughed at the cat, getting out of the spring and redressing. He picked the cat up by her collar and carried her back to his fortress. "Now I have my own pet kitty." He mocked dropping her on the floor lightly.
Still in shock, Kyoyume didn't protest to being picked up by the nape of her neck. But when she landed on her butt on the hard floor, she began to growl in anger. "Now you see here, I have no intention of staying in this dump to be your.....your....your pet!" Kyoyume grimaced at the word. "I may be a hanyou, but you can't push me around like that, besides, you're a hanyou too! I can smell it in your blood, you reek of it!!" Her anger was flaring so fast that Kyoyume couldn't stop her quick tongue.
"I don't want you to be my pet. On the contrary, I want you to keep me company while these worthless servants are gone. Think of it as a favor for taking my Jewel Shard.... You won't have to be alone."
Kyoyume growled angrily, crossing her arms and mocking him under her breath. "Well, if I have to stay here because you 'let' me have the stinkin' shard, then you can have the stupid thing back!" She said, holding out her hand with the shard in it.
"But...then I'd have to kill you...what a shame it would be too...." He mocked twisting a strand of her hair in his fingers.
Kyoyume saw his aura rise up around him suddenly, the evil bastard really meant it! How had she gotten herself into such a mess? She started to recount what had happened so far to her, but quickly noticed that she should give him an answer before he killed her anyway. Her fingers recoiled on the shard and she stared angrily at the ground. "Why do you want me here?"
"I told you, I'm lonely." He said smirking.
"Yeah, I'll bet." Kyoyume snarled softly, letting him toy with her hair.
Kanna walked over holding her mirror up for Naraku to see. "So, Kagura's talking with Sesshomaru again, eh? Well...." He muttered to himself, still playing with the light blue hair.
Kyoyume took a sneak peek into the mirror and saw the tall, youkai from the back, his long white hair sweeping backward almost to his feet. Naraku pulled her hair rather hard, and Kyoyume winced, wanting to pull away from him as his hand lowered over the mirror.
"Who is that man?" She asked curiously.
Naraku didn't answer, he was concentrating on the images in the mirror, his fingers deftly pulling harder and harder on the blue hair as he watched the two converse. "Ow..." Kyoyume moaned, wanting desperately to pull away, but his aura was still raised and it frightened her to just have him touch her hair, she didn't dare pull away.
He let go of her hair. Then began stroking it gently. "Maybe, Kitty cat, tomorrow you can do me a favor?" He asked slyly.
Kyoyume shuttered, she didn't like him touching her at all, she wanted him to let go to let her leave. She wished desperately that she hadn't had her head in the clouds when she had killed that puppet, or when she had walked deliberately in the direction he had left in. Gulping back her fear, she inclined to let herself ask a question. "What?"
"Nevermind, I'll get Kagura to do it, you can just hang around here, maybe talk to Kanna or Kohaku, and of course, keep me company...."
"What's with you and always telling me, 'nevermind this' 'nevermind that'?" She asked rather angrily. She wanted to bite her tongue off as she noticed the angered look on his face.
"Don't think about that kitty-cat, go dry yourself off, find an empty room and find yourself some sleep." He growled. "I will have Lord Sesshomaru's head." He added more to himself than Kyoyume.
Kyoyume was glad that he had let go of her head, she had been frightened the whole time that he might crush her in his anger at this 'Lord Sesshoumaru'. Without a word, she tread as fast as she could away from him, hoping that maybe she could escape that night.
Naraku looked back at her. "Escape, and, I'll hunt you down and kill you."
"Yipe!" Kyoyume almost yelped like a dog when she heard how icy his voice was. Her entire form shook, and she quickened her pace for a room.
"Why do I hope she'll stay?" Naraku asked himself coldly, his anger rising upon seeing Kagura place a sly kiss on the demon Lords cheek before flying off on her feather.
The answer never came though. Not even the howling of the wind answered his futile question.
He grumbled and went off to his chamber, to sleep, only to find Kyoyume sleeping in his bed, curled up like a cat!
He growled angrily and pushed her out of his way. "Baka neko!"
She growled low and curled up at the foot of his bed, right by his feet. "Oyasumi."
Naraku raised his eyebrows at her. "Get lost, kuso neko!"
She growled again and crawled back up to the top of the bed right beside him, sneaky smirk in place.
He sighed angrily and got up, grabbing her by the nape of her neck again and carrying her to the door. Roughly, he opened the door and set her down again, slamming it behind her. He grumbled angrily to himself before returning to his own bed.
She sighed and walked to the room across from his, it had a similar bed in it. She curled up and fell back asleep.
In the morning she woke to find all the doors opened. She blinked once, not recognizing her surroundings initially. Then, it sank in that she truly WAS in some schizophrenic hanyou's castle, and that she WAS being held prisoner. With a sigh, she straightened her clothes and walked out of the room.
Standing there was Naraku. "Breakfast?"
"Not hungry." She said simply, walking past him drowsily.
"Naraku-sama." A small child-like voice from around Naraku's knee said monotonously. It was Kanna.
"Yes?" He asked; rather irritated that Kanna had interrupted him when he was about to make a very good and effective threat.
"Kohaku wants to know, if we're doing anything today." She muttered.
"I don't care, go.....kill somebody, just leave me." He growled.
She nodded and left, the shadowy figure of Kohaku following, Kagura followed the two smaller figures.
"Wait....," Naraku cooed after he saw Kagura. Feeling his demon energy rise, Kyoyume stopped in her tracks at the same time that Kagura did.
Kagura turned. "Hai, Naraku-sama?"
"In fact, I do have a mission for you." Naraku said with a smile. "Kill Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands."
Kagura trembled. "Why?"
"He has been quite troublesome, and he hasn't proved useful in defeating Inuyasha. All of you, kill him and his companions." Naraku ordered. Kyoyume shook, small tears forming at the corners of her eyes. The aura seemed to be grabbing her, choking and beating her with every word he spoke. She was terrified of it.
Kagura scoffed. "I'd rather not." She protested.
Kyoyume turned, wanting to see what Naraku would do to those that disobeyed his orders.
Naraku growled. "And why is that Kagura?" He snarled.
Kagura stumbled for words, trying to find a descent reason for why she refused to go to the Lord of the Western Lands.
"Well?"
"Hey, um, Naraku? About Breakfast...," Kyoyume started, unsure of why she had spoken up so suddenly. She just had the worst feeling in the pit of her stomach, something bad would have happened if Kagura had answered.
"Yes?" He asked, his mood switching quickly.
"Um, uh, well, let's go?" She asked, hooking her arm so that he could put his through.
He gave her a questioning look but locked arms with her. "You are one weird thing, Kitty-cat."
"Heh, heh." She said and looked back to see Kagura watching them with a raised eyebrow.
Naraku had a faintest tinge a pink of his cheeks at the moment as the cat dragged him to the kitchen-area.
"Um, should I make breakfast or....?"
"Sure...if you wanna."
Kyoyume stared at the kitchen around her. 'I'm regretting that already.' She thought with a small sweatdrop.
"What do you want?"
Kyoyume looked around sighing. "Nothing." She muttered.
Hopelessly, she concocted what she thought would be a breakfast, but what turned out to be something burnt and smelly.
Naraku laughed at her attempt to cook.
"Kuso neko, can't even cook." He said with a smirk.
"Shaddup." She sneered.
His eyes narrowed slightly at her comment.
"What?"
"You dare speak to me in that tone?" He said rather angrily.
"Yes."
He smirked at her nerve. She sure had a strange personality.
She trembled from the thick aura and sat down beside him.
She tasted the food herself, and found it to be quite delectable, if one's nose and taste buds were missing.
Naraku didn't eat. He studied the little cat-girl beside him.
After she was done with her first bitter bite of food, she turned to see him watching her closely. A shiver ran up her spine and her ears fell flat on either side of her head. "What?" She asked.
"...Nothing."
"Tch." Kyoyume scoffed before trying to take another bite.
"I don't think you should eat that." Naraku pointed out.
"If it kills me, will you cry?" She asked with a smirk.
"No."
"Then why do you care if I eat it or not?"
"Because rotting flesh smells rather nasty."
"Aw, I see." Kyoyume said, rolling her eyes. "Or is it because you just don't care what happens to me?"
"Whatever kitty cat..." He said, rolling his eyes and plotting for the next day.
{end of chapter}