Look! I'm writing another fic that will get like three reviews since it doesn't have a main couple in it! Either I'm brave or I don't give a shit any more. I'll leave it to you to decide which it is.
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Something Is Real
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"Damn." Kagura sighed and rolled her eyes as she watched from high above the ground on the feather that kept her out of the battle far below. "How hard is it to kill one youkai…I swear, you'd think everyone around here has some sort of condition. Oh well, I suppose it's time for me to make a discreet exit before Naraku notices that I was just sitting here watching instead of helping him. Yeah, like I want to be his meat shield." Letting the wind sweep her away, she wondered vaguely if Kanna would get out of the castle in time for Naraku to obliterate it and leave the ruins in favor of some new lair. "If he thinks I'm flying her around, he's wrong. She creeps me out. Someone needs to teach her the wonders of conversation…" Kagura stopped talking to herself as a slimy feeling crept up her spine, alerting her of Naraku's proximity. Typical. He can't even give them a chance to get them while he's on the run. Disgusting cloud…soul…thing. My hair is going to smell bad now…
"Kagura, we need to find a new castle." His voice was somehow more frightening when it didn't seem to be coming from a mouth, but instead surrounding her and filling her head as though he was speaking directly into her mind. Perhaps he was, but she doubted it. If he was capable of reading her thoughts, she would have long ago rejoined the rest of Naraku as just one more spare part that was no good on it's own. After all, what use does he have for someone that can think for themselves? She thought bitterly, biting her lip to hold back some sort of snide comment. Weakened though he was by the attack that had occurred after she "accidentally" led the group of Inuyasha and his friends to the castle, he was still more than capable of dispatching her with little effort on his part.
"Yes, I know." She managed to make it sound as though she could possibly be mocking him, but was just as likely being as subservient as he hoped her to be. She had mastered that tone of voice over months and months of practice. It was almost how she always spoke to him now that she had perfected it. The small victories…those were really all she had. As obviously no one in this idiotic world will ever be able to kill him, so I can take that one off my list of possible ambitions.
"When we arrive, I'll be sending you out again." Naraku directed her as she scanned the ground far below them for a new place for Naraku to take over. "I have a job for you."
"I can hardly wait." She suspected that he caught the mocking in that comment, but he was used to her begrudging his control over her by then. He surely wouldn't punish her for being a smart ass.
"It occurs to me that the jewel is nearly complete." Naraku elaborated, just as naturally as though Kagura had not just reminded him of her bitter anger toward him. "I should hope to take care of some unfinished business. Two birds with one stone, as it were."
"How brilliant." She rolled her eyes. If he were in a bad mood, she would have already known. He was surprisingly allowing for having just barely escaped death yet again. He had an annoying habit of never quite dying. He was like that bloodstain on Kagura's kimono that was so utterly impossible to remove. At least it was near the hem, where no one bothered to look anyway. She suspected that Naraku wasn't giving her a new kimono simply because he liked to piss her off. She could tell that Naraku was waiting for her to ask what his brilliant plan was, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She was still in a bad mood about him not dying yet again, and she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of her curiosity. Instead, she glanced back in the direction of the old castle. "Is Kanna alright?"
"She's just ahead here. She found the new place for us as soon as I decided to leave that hanyou behind." Naraku told her. Kagura thought it was rather amusing the way he avoided saying he had run away, as that was in truth what had happened. She supposed it wasn't all that bad, after all. Naraku didn't suspect her treachery, and he had suffered quite a bit. At least she would be there to betray him once more. As many times as it takes. One of these days, I know you'll run out of tricks.
"Shall I just drop you off then? Or would you like me to pick out a room?" Kagura asked him in a biting tone. She knew the place he must mean was the secluded compound just ahead. He would never want to live in the middle of a village, though he might thoroughly enjoy torturing the inhabitants. So boring. I don't understand why he's so obsessed with people's emotions and pain. Can't he just live his own life?
"You'll need to take a couple of shards with you." Naraku told her, his voice as utterly malicious as it was when he was plotting something especially despicable. Why can't he just do the disgustingly evil stuff on his own? It's not like he doesn't like it.
"What for?" she decided that she might as well ask. He'd be upset if she just ran off with a couple shards and didn't do what he wanted since she had no idea what his orders were.
"You will find the wolf youkai." He told her. "Give them to him."
"Kouga?" Kagura felt uneasy for a moment. "He already has two shards."
"Yes, he will come for two more. You will trap him. The bait is something that will be irresistible to him." Naraku laughed, and Kagura felt as though she might be getting a slight headache. She began to descend toward the building where Kanna was apparently waiting for them.
"Two shards?" Kagura couldn't stop herself from snorting derisively. "You think all I have to do is put two shards in a cage and he'll run in blind? He's not that stupid, you know. Two shards wouldn't just be lying around by themselves for no reason."
"That is why you will be with the shards. He will come to the feel of the shards, and the smell of you. The combination will be too much for him to resist, and he will be easily captured. Do not worry, I will be the one to close the trap." Naraku assured her as they found the ground, and in a swirl of smoke, he was standing before her, looking a bit worse for the wear.
"With me in it?" Kagura raised her eyebrows. "With Kouga and two extra shards?"
"Is there a problem?" he asked as they walked inside, stepping over the already soulless bodies of the castle's former occupants. "Ah, I see that Kanna has been cleaning up for us. Here you are." He handed Kagura two shards, smiling at her in a way that made her feel even worse about the safety of this little errand. "There is a cave just west of here, near a waterfall. That is where you will go to wait for the wolf. He should be along shortly if I am correct."
"Alright." Kagura bit the syllables out, clutching the shards so tightly she nearly cut herself on their sharp edges before loosening her grip more reasonably and taking off in her enchanted feather. She knew that Naraku wasn't telling her everything, but she couldn't figure out exactly what was off about the whole situation except for the fact that it seemed like an awful lot of trouble just to lure the wolf in.
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Kagura eyed her fingernails critically as she stood in the dank cave, waiting as she had all day for Kouga to sense her presence and approach. "Maybe I should grow these out." She mused, imagining how her nails would look if they were a bit longer. Maybe pointed and dyed with berry juice like she'd seen some girls do in the last castle they'd stayed in. Actually, she'd only noticed the care they'd put into their hands while she was moving their bodies about, trying to clear the hallways, but all the same…
"Maybe they'll be long by the time wolf boy senses me. Then I can just dye them with his blood. That would be a nice shade of red…match my kimono." She sighed as she caught sight of the ever-irritating bloodstain near the hem. "Although…they'd dry brown. I hate that color…maybe I'll just find some of that lacquer the noblewomen use." Kagura started playing with her fan, snapping it open and closed with experimental twitches of her wrist as she tried to make the gesture look more impressive. "Yeah…this would definitely look better if I stained my nails." She mused, looking critically down at her hand while holding the fan open.
"You." The word was a hiss so malevolent that if it hadn't been for the voice, Kagura might have mistaken the speaker for Naraku. Feeling extremely stupid about being caught goofing off instead of paying attention to Kouga's approach, she decided to act as though she was simply standing ready to attack.
"So, you came after all." She whirled, smiling as her fan caught the wind and shot a few blasts at him, which he dodged easily enough. Of course, he wasn't quite in the cave yet. Not that she blamed him. It all seemed pretty suspicious, even if he did want to kill her and steal the shards. "I was beginning to think that nose on your face was just for show."
"You…lured me here?" Kouga's eyes narrowed, and he stepped toward her cautiously, stepping just inside the mouth of the cave.
"Of course. Do you think I spend a lot of time in nasty old caves?" Kagura arched an eyebrow.
"You might have been looking for a nice pet. Maybe a relative of yours." He indicated a millipede that was scurrying across the wall near him.
"Oh, very funny." She gave him a brief smirk wondering if it was her pleasant job to kill this asshole once he was locked in the cave with her. How can I even tell when we've been shut in? She hadn't thought of that. Kagura supposed the best way was to simply start fighting with him and assume that once she started to win, he'd try and run away, and then she'd know if the cave was blocked or not. Suddenly, she heard a loud buzzing which she knew at once must be Naraku's bees, but instead of coming to watch her or delivering some message, they hovered just outside the mouth of the cave, causing Kouga to eye them warily.
"What are those things—" he was cut off as a large rockslide closed off the mouth of the cave and Kagura felt the distinctive possibility that she knew which two birds Naraku was killing with his all-too-literal stone.
"Oh, well that's just perfect. I'm killing him if I ever get out of here." Kagura allowed herself a good brief pout, during which time Kouga figured out what was going on. Well, most of what was going on, anyway.
"We're trapped in here?" he asked her in surprised anger. Obviously, he was no more a fan of being tricked by Naraku than she was.
"It would appear that way. Although…" Kagura gave an experimental wave of her fan toward the place where the entrance had been, not bothering to tell Kouga to move out of the way. Of course, it wasn't really a problem, as nothing happened.
"What was that? You're still trying to kill me!" Kouga snarled angrily as he approached her with his fists clenched.
"Get over it. You could have dodged, and it was barely any wind anyway." Kagura eyed her fan with growing worry. So, he'd not only locked them in a cave together, he'd blocked their youki with some sort of barrier. Naraku and his damn barriers. "Hey, Kouga."
"What?" he was still mad about the so-called murder attempt.
"Try digging out." She pointed imperiously behind him at the cascade of rocks.
"Ha! I can kick my way out of this with one good…" he leapt into the air, flying at the wall with his shard strengthened legs, but even though they did cause some rocks to crumble and fall away, the kick was nowhere near as strong as it should have been. "What the hell?"
"That's what I thought." She sighed and closed her fan, replacing it in her obi and crossing her arms angrily. "He's blocking our youki. We have to get out of here the old fashioned way if we want out at all." Kagura suddenly remembered the shards he'd given her. "Although, I do think it would be a shame to let these go to waste…" she eyed the two glittering fragments speculatively, remembering when Naraku had created a fake shard to trick Kouga before. She refused to fall for something like that. "Hey, wolf boy."
"Kouga. My name is Kouga." He told her angrily.
"Whatever. Can you tell if these are fake?" she handed him the shards, despite serious misgivings about this plan. He looked at her questioningly before turning them over in his hand, sniffing both of them and finally licking one cautiously. "Well?"
"You can use those if you want." He handed them back. "But they're made of some strong ass poison, so I wouldn't recommend it."
"Look…" Kagura hesitated, her pride screaming objections to what she was about to say, but it couldn't be helped. "I know that we'd just as soon kill each other rather than become allies, but I think…we should probably call a truce until we get out of here."
"And how the hell will I know you aren't waiting until I trust you to stab me in the back?" he was immediately opposed to the idea.
"With what? The handle of my fan?" Kagura leveled a dry gaze at him. "Neither of us is really up for a fight right now anyway. Let's just get out of here, and then we can kill each other. Okay?"
"Well…you're trapped in here with me." Kouga noted. "Although I don't know why Naraku would try to kill you too. You're his servant, aren't you?"
"I'm not…the most loyal." Kagura told him after a pause. When he blinked at her, she elaborated. "Today, I tried for the umpteenth time to get him killed, but I think he must have figured it out, so he's done with me."
"You tried to kill him?" Kouga snorted. "Why?"
"Why do you want to kill him?" Kagura was not in the mood for stupid questions. "Everyone has their reasons, and I have mine as well. That's enough; let's get out of here. I'm pretty sure that Naraku assumed we'd just kill each other and then let the bees take your shards, so they'll be waiting when we break through." Kouga nodded and immediately began digging through the rubble to try and break back through the entrance while Kagura stood watching him. This went on for a few moments before Kouga stopped and looked over at her expectantly.
"Well?" he indicated the wall of rocks and dirt. "Aren't you helping?"
"You're doing a fine job." She waved a hand at him to indicate that he should continue. "I'd only get in the way. I'm not much for menial tasks." At first she thought that Kouga didn't understand something about what she'd said since he stood there staring at her and blinking in disbelief, but he spoke up after a few moments.
"If you want out, you're helping." He pointed at the wall again. "If you don't help, I'll beat the crap out of you right now."
"What for?" Kagura raised her eyebrows to show she felt that any attack was completely unwarranted.
"What for? Well, let's see." Kouga began to tick reasons off on his fingers. "First of all, I hate your fucking guts. Second, you're an annoying bitch. Third, I hate the way you reek like something that's dead. Fourth, I owe you for killing all those other wolves. Those were my kinsmen! Did you think I'd just let you off without a fucking second thought?"
"Okay, fine, fine." She rolled her eyes. "Are you done?"
"No, I got plenty more reasons I'd like to kill you." Kouga told her. "Wanna hear them?"
"Maybe later. Let's just get to digging." Kagura felt extremely put out as she moved to help and discovered that kimonos were obviously not designed for doing any sort of labor. "Ugh, this is hard. Can't you do it yourself?"
"Don't give me a reason, bitch." He cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"Kagura. My name's Kagura." She offered him a snide grin before hitching up her kimono, pulling the skirt up and back, tucking it into her obi on both sides before rolling up her sleeves and looking at the final effect dubiously. "My kimono is going to be wrinkled."
"Cry me a fucking river." Kouga tossed a rock he'd just moved at her, and she dodged it just in time. "Now get over here and do something useful."
"Wow, it's no surprise that the wolves put you in charge." Kagura snorted as she kneeled beside him and began digging at the debris blocking them in. "You're so charismatic."
"I'm going to kill you." He told her in a voice that was completely calm, as though he might have been telling her about the weather. "Now less talk, more digging."
"That's boring of you." Kagura snorted derisively. "Is that how you order your little lackeys around?"
"They're my tribe, not my lackeys." Kouga grumbled. "And besides that, the wolves don't pick a leader. You're born to it."
"Oh, well that explains it." Kagura nodded as she shoved aside a large pile of dirt. "Born to power, no need to develop any personality when everyone's forced to kiss your ass."
"You're one to talk about personality, ya fucking bitch." Kouga snarled and scooped a handful of dirt into her hair. Kagura's eyes went wide in angry indignation.
"My hair…gods…what is wrong with you! Don't you know not to screw around with a woman's hair?" Kagura snapped at him. "I mean, I feel that I've been pretty allowing so far. I'm down on my knees, getting dirty, probably ruining my kimono completely, and not to mention how disgustingly dirty my hands are getting! And did I complain about any of this?"
"Yeah. Yeah you did." Kouga reminded her. Kagura scowled slightly, still trying to get the dirt out of her hair without totally ruining the ponytail it was pulled back in. "Now get back to work or I'll dump some dirt down the back of your precious fucking kimono."
"I hate you so much right now." Kagura grumbled as she went back to her work. There was a long silence when the only sound was the shuffling motions of digging and the occasional collapse of a bit more of their barrier. "So then," Kagura spoke again after a long while. "What's it like, ruling over the wolves?"
"What do you care?" Kouga snorted, still in a high bad temper.
"I don't, I'm just trying to make conversation." Kagura told him primly. "I thought it would make the work go faster."
"Like I wanna talk to you." He grumbled, not feeling as though he wanted to be lured into any conversation with someone who tried to insult him every time she spoke.
"I'm sorry I'm not the most interesting person to talk to, but I'm not exactly used to small talk. I live with an evil sicko who doesn't want to talk about anything that doesn't involve excessive violence and suffering, and a creepy little girl who doesn't want to talk about anything period." Kagura told him bitterly. "It's not very conducive to social growth."
"You don't have to throw a fit." Kouga told her sullenly. "Calm down and concentrate on digging."
"You're such an exciting person." She told him bitingly. Again, the talking faded away and there was a tense silence between the two enemies as they continued on their mutual task.
"So…like, why'd you betray Naraku?" Kouga asked her after a while, his voice sounding more curious than anything else. Kagura sighed as she dug at her side of the little tunnel they were making, and for a while Kouga thought that his attempt at conversation was not appreciated and not about to be responded to.
"I hate him." She spoke finally, her tone serious and sad. Kouga paused to look at her. He'd never heard her sound sincere before, but when she said that she hated Naraku, he knew that it wasn't a lie.
"But…he made you." Kouga pressed. "How can you hate him?"
"Because of what he is. Because I hate how he acts, the things he does are just…disgusting sometimes. And he can't do anything for himself, he always sends out someone else. Someone expendable." Kagura gritted the words out angrily.
"Someone like you?" Kouga asked, but it was more of a statement.
"At first…when he created me, I didn't really…know much about what was going on in the world, you know? It was like…I could speak and think and all that, but I didn't really know more than most babies would." Kagura explained, busying herself with the dirt and rocks. "And then after my first mission…I thought…well, the whole thing was clever, yes, but it seemed mean to me. I mean, what could you have all done to deserve that? And then…he almost got me killed as a test…he didn't even care! And I was supposed to be on his side. I didn't want to stay, so I told him that I wouldn't be used as some guinea pig, that I'd just let him do his own fighting from now on. But that's when I found out that he had my heart."
"Your heart?" Kouga asked, digging while still listening with interest. He had no idea that Kagura had regrets about killing his wolves. Of course, she could just be saying that to get out of him killing her, but all the same, it was interesting.
"Yeah. He made me from himself, and he kept a link to me." She explained. "I don't really understand it that well, but basically, he can kill me with no trouble. Which makes me wonder why he wanted to go to all this trouble with the cave and everything…it's strange."
"He probably thought that even if I didn't kill you, he could kill you later. He probably planned on finishing off whoever escaped. And he gave you those fake shards so that if one of us was stupid enough to use them, we'd probably kill the other person and then die from the poison." Kouga told her.
"You know…I kind of thought you were stupid." Kagura told him after a few moments. "I mean, before. You have to admit, you aren't much of an intellectual in the middle of a battle."
"I'm not really a scholar or anything." Kouga shrugged, not really insulted by her comment. "I just understand battles, fighting and all that. And I know how to be a leader."
"Did your dad teach you all that?" Kagura asked. Kouga gave her an odd look before she elaborated. "I mean…because you said you were born to your position."
"My dad died before I was born." Kouga told her. "I learned everything from my grandfather."
"What about your mom?" Kagura wanted to know.
"She died when I was really little in a fight with an enemy youkai tribe." Kouga told her, his voice very gruff.
"Do you remember her at all?" Kagura asked.
"So what if I do? She's dead." Kouga's angry response let Kagura know that she had crossed the line between small talk and personal information. Obviously, Kouga was rather touchy on the subject of his mother.
"I was just asking." She mumbled, going back to her work. It seemed like they would never break through to the other side, but then, after what seemed like hours of digging, when the air was growing thin and stagnant, Kouga yelped in triumph as his claws went into the dirt and broke through to the air waiting on the other side.
"About fucking time." He growled, pulling away great handfuls of dirt as Kagura helped him widen the entry hole. They could clearly hear the buzz of Naraku's bees on the other side, but when Kouga moved further into the tunnel to make it wide enough for escape, he cried out in surprise at what else was waiting on the other side of the rocks. "Naraku! You're here, you bastard!"
"Naraku's here?" Kagura felt a sinking in her stomach. So she'd escaped just to have him kill her. What was the point of that?
"It took a while. I thought you had given up or perhaps suffocated." Naraku chuckled as Kouga backed up for Kagura to see him as well through the hole they'd made.
"Don't worry! We'll be out to kick your ass in a few seconds!" Kouga growled, obviously very upset about being tricked and forced to dig his way back out of the trap without any use of his youkai strength.
"Oh, I don't think you should leave the cave, now that you've made friends. I wouldn't want to spoil that by killing you both." Naraku taunted, and Kouga dove at the hole, breaking through and running forward only to hit an invisible wall that knocked him back to the ground, where he lay twitching in shocked weakness. "I think I'll take those, now that you're laying there so nice and still." Naraku gestured, and two of his bees moved through the barrier as though it wasn't there, extracting the shards from Kouga's legs before he could recover from the paralyzing reaction from hitting the barrier.
"You…bastard." Kouga managed to get up after the bees had left, glaring angrily as Naraku tossed the shards up and down easily in one hand. "What…kinda barrier is that?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Naraku sounded disappointed. "It was rather hard to come by, but I thought it would be worth it for such an amusing display. That barrier is formed using some ancient holy relics from a very powerful priest. It feeds on your youki, converting the energy that you naturally possess to keep you imprisoned, and while it won't kill you, it will render you as helpless as a human. However, if you touch it, I've noticed that there's a strong reaction. Enjoy yourselves!" Naraku leapt into the air, disappearing from view as Kouga called after him.
"Get back here! Let us out, you coward!" Kouga was in a rage. He couldn't believe he'd been so thoroughly tricked, and now his shards were gone. The day was going from bad to worse. After a while, he decided there was nothing to lose by trying to attack the barrier one more time, but of course, it landed him on his back, unable to move at all for almost a full minute.
"I wouldn't do that." Kagura was still inside the cave, widening the mouth further and trying to get it back to it's original size. "You might as well get comfortable."
"What do you mean? We have to get out! We'll starve in here." Kouga told her, pointing out the blatantly obvious.
"We could always eat the bugs." Kagura teased him. "But I wouldn't worry. I think he'll send us food."
"Why would he do that?" Kouga was utterly bewildered.
"Because. Naraku likes prisoners. He wouldn't just let us die when he can watch us." She pointed at the three bees that were buzzing just outside of the barrier, taking in every move by the two youkai.
"What is wrong with that guy?" Kouga finally sat down angrily, crossing his arms. Kagura was still busy fixing the mouth of the cave.
"That's what I've been wondering for as long as I've known him." She answered. "I don't think we'll ever know, but we'll have plenty of time to think about it here."
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The End (Of Part 1, That Is)