Authors note: This story was written in an hour of boredom around two in the afternoon (which is the time when I usually am lacking creativity and any and all ability to write). It was written a few days ago, and I thought I might upload it to see what kind of reactions it got (and if it's really as bad as I originally suspect). Please note, this story has no link to my other story "Chained" (though I'm sure if you read it you'd get that) and I don't know if I'll be continuing that one or not. Okay, I've finished my rant, now you can go and read the story.

The weakness of hearts

"Neither one catches my fancy, so I don't care who wins."

She hears her own voice echo across her mind.

And she hear the lie behind it.

It's faint, but it's there nonetheless, because one of the two canine-youkai had caught her fancy. She just hadn't realised it at the time.

Yet as they continued to meet, continue to battle, and he continued to thwart her, she became more aware of the kindle of desire growing in her.

And now it had become nearly unbearable.

But still she kept it locked away, somewhere deep inside of her, not allowing even her own mind to access it, because she knew that if she dared to, it would be her downfall.

Naraku would sense it, would use it against her, forcing her further to bend to his will.

And so she simply watched from afar, forcing her desire to heat her passionate hate for the creature, to fuel her desire to destroy him.

After all, love was a weakness, and desire even more so.

A person in love was corrupted, distracted from their ability to survive and conquer, if only by one, and a person desiring someone was corrupted as well, though with a different, more basic need, that was somehow easier to defeat, for it was locked only on instincts of the body, whereas love was etched into a person's mind and soul.

Not that she loved him.

Her constant yearning for him was nothing more than some basic lust. A common need to sustain her libido. Nothing more.

At least, that's what she told herself as she soared over the earth on her feather, her ruby-red eyes glaring at the ground below, searching until they caught the flash of red not unlike their own.

She stayed high in the air, making sure not to alert him to her presence, taking a moment to stare at him, him and his cursed ningen friends, that damn miko arguing with him about something, before turning angrily away, yelling 'Sit!' at the top of her lungs.

Kagura watched in interest and heated rage as the hanyou, her hanyou, plummeted face first toward the ground.

Her grip instinctually tightened on her fan, but she refrained from attacking. After all, killing the useless wench would only serve to bring the hanyou's rage down upon her. And she didn't want that.

She felt a tug inside her chest, and her eyes narrowed as a small gasp of pain escaped her lips.

Naraku was calling her.

She peered down at the hanyou far below her on the ground, before grudgingly turning to go toward her master and creator, knowing only punishment and pain would await her if she did not.

She hated it.

If nothing else, she and Inuyasha shared the fate of forever being bound to someone, controlled, to be tortured and threatened mercilessly by them should they even step the smallest bit out of line.

Only Inuyasha was bound by that stupid rosary. She was bound by her heart.

And, as she soared over the lands below, the sky getting darker and thicker with miasma the further she went, she knew that was why she could never, ever admit that it was more than some basic desire.

Because love was a weakness, something her master would use against her to get to her hanyou. And she didn't want that to happen.

As she felt Naraku's grip tighten slightly upon her heart, making her chest convulse angrily in response, she grit her teeth and gripped the edges of her feather tighter, eyes narrowing.

She would not let her foul creator find out about it, or any of the other things she had learned of the hanyou while she had been observing, because she knew he would use them against Inuyasha and bring the hanyou to his death. And she didn't want that because she knew that somewhere in the deep recesses of her heart, even as that heart pulsed angrily in the hand of her master, that the hanyou would be the only one to stand a chance at defeating the vile demon she called "master".

And if Inuyasha did not defeat him, then Kagura could never be free. Free to desire, free to kill, free to wander where she wanted when she wanted and with whom... free to love.

And that was something she wanted.

Whether she could admit it or not.