A Heart's Will: An InuYasha Sequel to It Won't End Happily
The death of an innocent girl and the evil plot that will never cease.
Priest Hideyoshi P.O.V
While rummaging through the various herbs and medicinal concoctions to assist my cliental, a young man, around the age of twenty or so, entered my back room. He looked as if he were of a high social standing, sleek, black hair pulled tightly into a knot at the top of his head. His clothes led me to believe that he was a lord of some sort, elaborately embroidered haori and perfectly pleated hakama pants. But what really caught me about this particular man was his perfect and calm stature, not an air of anxiety reached his brown eyes, yet he smelled distinctly of blood. Dried blood.
"Is there something you need of me, sir?" I asked, moving stealthily around the cluttered mess. He waited patiently, a slight scowl stretched across his mouth as I continued to maneuver through the maze I had created.
"Yes," he said, paying more attention to the side wall then me. He positioned his hands behind his back, turning his gaze back to me once I arrived to his location. "There has been a terrible accident and a young girl was attacked."
"That truly is horrendous news," I said, placing my finger to my lips as the young Lord beseeched me again.
"Yes, and that is why I implore you, Priest Hideyoshi. I require your assistance to help me save this girl. She is in bad shape."
"Of course!" I declared, raising a hand to the air and balling it into a fist. "Direct me towards her. I'll do what I can."
"I have set her in the front room, but I warn you that there have been complications." He stretched his arm out before him, pulling back the curtain that separated this room from the next. He gave me a small smile as I was ambushed by a malodor, pungent and creeping up my nostrils.
There lay in front of me a form, completely covered by a white cloth that had been stained beyond recovery by blood. I analyzed the figure, calling upon my spiritual powers to sense what the 'complications' were. This was an odd case, though. I had never experienced such a sensation before. Not an inkling of life came from the still and rigid figure underneath the gauze. A shiver crawled up my spine when I understood the undisputed truth. This 'girl' the Lord had placed before me was dead. There was nothing that I could do, but inform him that it was hopeless to resurrect her. I had never fully mastered that, myself. For that trade was reserved for the darkest of spiritual guides. I would have no part in attempting such an act.
I turned to his sullen face, staring not at my reaction, but the singular woman, expecting her to sit up and converse with him. "I regret to inform you that this woman has long passed into the netherworld. There is no bringing her back," I said, trying to console the seemingly inconsolable confidence of this particular Lord.
"Yes," he said again, as if he knew my thought process before I divulged him further. "I am quite aware that she has passed to the world next, but I came here for a miracle. You see, I am willing to pay a hefty sum to the Priest that will resurrect her."
"I'm sure you can and will, but I will not sink so low as to call up the Black Arts to help a single and, don't take this the wrong way, insignificant girl." I offered him my sincerest apologies, awaiting him to keep calm as he had been, but his face twisted into that of pure infuriation.
"You will do as I say," he hissed, holding on to my sleeve and directed me towards the edge of the table. He pulled at the corner of the gauze sheet, tearing it off her form as I beheld her corpse for the first time. Dingy hair of brown tracing the end of the table as I scanned her face, lingering on the dull and faded green eyes that would have been radiant as a gem if it weren't for death's hold. He forced my face to look at her, still overpowering me in my old age. "One girl, yet clearly not as insignificant as you first surmised, my old man!" he roared, spinning me about to look at him, his eyes alive with a fiery temper. "Do we have a deal, then?"
"I will not be ordered by such..." then I sensed his aura, seeping through the protective carcass of the Lord that was standing before me. A demon had duped me into thinking I was helping a fellow human! "DEMON!" I cried, clasping his hand away from my arm.
"Very perceptive of you, priest! Now, as a holy man, I would assume that you are responsible for the village's many needs concerning health and protection?" he asked, clearly immune to my powers from beneath the stolen skin. "Am I correct?"
"What concern is it to you?"
"For this one girl," he stressed the word 'one' while lifting me off the ground, "you would compromise the surrounding village? Keep this in mind, old man. If anything were to happen to this ONE girl, then not only will this village be rubble, but the life of your fellows will cease to exist." He laughed a bit to himself and set me to my feet, towering over me as if he had powers I was not aware of.
I thought this through thoroughly. To help a demon would be going back on all I knew, but to not would certainly spell disaster for my village. The people that depended on me to keep away the evil spirits would fall to such malice. Could I risk the chance of this occurrence for the seemingly harmless request the demon had placed before me?
"It will not be an easy task," I confessed, glancing over the peaceful body of the girl. "Are you aware that disturbing a resting soul could be dangerous? Do you not feel remorse for what you ask?"
He gave me an emotionless shrug, walking over to the side of the girl he was willing to go to such lengths to revive. I watched him lower his head, looking as if he were going to press his lips to her cheek, but he started to lightly chuckle in her ear. I moved back, groping the wall for a solution to this heathen.
"Death is no escape from me, Lin-dear," he whispered, before he glowered over his shoulder at me as if suspecting my betrayal. "By the end of the week or you'll lament the day you deceived me." With that I fell unconscious only to wake up several hours later. The Demon Lord had disappeared and quickly recalling his words began preparing the girl for her awakening.
Sesshomaru's P.O.V
Where had he gone? Two days after the woods and the trail to Naraku had completely disappeared! Tensaiga was still restless, leading me towards another location, but there was no scent of Naraku there. No information that there had been a negative energy. I had sent Kumiko and Kiyoshi out to listen for any rumors about a demon of incomparable power, not that of mine.
The came walking up to me, heads hung low which could only mean that Naraku was still eluding me as carefully as he had before.
"Lord Sesshomaru," Kiyoshi said, bowing to me gracefully as Kumiko mirrored her brother. "There is not sign of the man that brutally slaughtered our Lady, but make no mistake! We will find him! He will not get away with what he did!" Kiyoshi firmly placed his foot forward, baring his teeth and tiny fangs in fury.
"There is not doubt, Kiyoshi. Continue to scour the forest for any indication of Naraku's whereabouts." Kiyoshi moved with cunning agility from whence he came, gliding effortlessly through the maze of trees. "Kumiko!" I directed as the little demon girl edged to my side. She looked up with me, eyes empty of emotion. She was no longer cheerful, no longer eccentric as she had once been. Her brother grew in independence as Kumiko shrank, doing as she was told. She had lost desire to do much of anything else.
"What do you ask of me, Milord?" she gave me a disdainful look from under her hair, oblivious that I could see her actions. She had blamed me for the death of Lin and chose now to show that she was merely there for Ji, fulfilling Lin's last wishes. She wanted her family together and Kumiko would see that Ji got just that.
"Look after Ji," I stated, directing her to where Jaken sat. He was leaning against a tree, glaring at the sleeping form of Ji as Rin napped next to him. His clear contempt emanated from him, but I was more preoccupied with the search for Naraku. He would reveal himself one of these days and once that happened, he would be mine. His life was in my hands and would only last as long as I could swing a sword. Seconds at the most.
Kumiko took her place, dismissing Jaken of his duty as he reunited with me at my side. "Lord Sesshomaru! I hardly see the worth in protecting this worthless infant. He is nothing but the whelp of the very Naraku you seek!"
I glared at Jaken from the corner of my eye, pushing passed him in the opposite direction from where Kiyoshi had exited. I had to find Naraku. The despicable excuse of a demon, the very one that had pierced her very heart with his caustic fluid, aiming to kill Rin. There was not land enough of this world to hide him from me. He would be found and, along with every dastardly plan, he would die slowly at my feet. He would suffer!
??? P.O.V
*Wake up.*
"Huh?"
*Do as I say...open your eyes*
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