The courtyard was littered in the crimson, emerald, and yellow-orange hues of the leaf-cover. The leaves scattered among the crevices created by the large, river rocks placed as a walk way through the courtyard. A large fountain set within the walk way as it split to once again come together; forming a circle of river rocks around the water piece. The water piece was a sculpture of the Lord that owned the castle in which the courtyard was part of. The Lord, himself, was pictured as a mighty man holding that of twin drakes. The water poured from the twin drakes' mouths, having the water splash at the Lord's feet before, once more, disappearing into the base of the fountain. All seemed at peace within the courtyard until the wind, once calm in nature, started to pick up in volume.

A figure appeared as a large feather descended to land upon the river rock path. A young woman, dressed in a kimono, stepped from the feather. All at once a whirlwind of a vortex created itself. The woman outstretched her arm as a tiny feather was captured between her middle and ring finger of her left hand. Her eyes, harsh with hatred, gazed upon the fountain. A snarl formed upon her once perfect, crimson lips, creating a demonic appearance about her. She stepped lightly, gliding on the balls of her feet as she walked towards the fountain. Her eyes though harsh, still helped their charm. Though, as she moved closer to the fountain, and saw the Lord's face their charm gave way to a hostile nature.

For the man pictured within the water piece, was the very one that had taken her freedom. She placed a worn hand, covered in hidden blood, upon her chest where her heart beat should have been felt. Only in its place, she felt nothing. She was hollow on the inside, a black hole of raw hatred for the man portrayed within the sculpted fountain.

"You have given me a living hell," were the only words that passed from her lips as she walked passed the fountain. Her crimson orbs no longer able to look upon the man craved from stone.

Her feet carried her along the stoned path as she walked away from the wretched stoned version of the man towards the true, living one. As her bare feet touched the wooden steps of the wrap around walk way, she found herself thinking back to another Lord. The Lord she thought of was a man unlike any she'd ever known. He was hard through-and-through, but there was something there; what she didn't know? But she planned on finding out. That Lord was the one that could give her back her freedom, of that she was sure.

"Kagura, you're late," spoke a soft voice.

The woman, doved Kagura, turned her head to find a young child dressed in all white. White a color of purity by nature, but on the child it was wasted and defeated in its true calling.

Kagura gave the girl a harsh look as she spoke, "What Kanna?"

The young girl ignored the harsh tone and expression as she started to pull ahead of Kagura. She walked ahead as she knew that the grown woman would follow her. Kanna couldn't help but think that her Lord had chosen blindly when he decided to trust Kagura to do his dirty work; that way his hands were always clean, at least as clean as they could be.

"Kanna!"

Kanna turned her head towards the grown woman, "Kagura, Lord Naraku wants you. You have turned his guts enough."

"Who are you to tell me what I have or haven't done? Naraku has no power over me!"

In the instant that sentence had left her mouth, a sharp pain appeared within her chest cavity. The pain white hot in color, with the force of an earthquake dropped her to her knees. From her crimson lips passed a horrid gasp as she wrapped her arms around herself. Her crimson eyes gave way a look into her soul at the pain she felt. When they focused long enough to see in front of her, she saw her living nightmare.

A man dressed in an ebony and dark purple kimono stood in front of her. His hair passed over his shoulders and down to the middle of his back. His eyes, thoguh holding a crimson hue, were always colorless and held a demonic look at all hours of the day. At the moment, those demonic eyes looked into her pained orbs. A smirk appeared on his flat lips as he picked up her chin with his index and middle finger. She was forced to look upon the face of the man that had condemned her life for all eternity.

"Don't you ever forget Kagura, you are mine. You are my instrument, and you will play as I demand. Do I make myself clean? Or must I remind you of the price you paid to live again?"

Kagura felt her head being moved towards the left of Naraku's body. There her orbs laid upon the beating mass within the palm of his left hand. She knew, with a horror, what the mass was. It was the key to her life source, and the major trope card that Naraku held over her. She cursed herself silently as she shifted her eyes away from the beating mass towards the floor.

When Naraku saw her eyes gaze towards the floor, he knew he'd whipped her back into place. As he started to remove his two fingers, he whipped his hand back to have it make contact with the right side of Kagura's face. His demonic eyes watched with amusement as Kagura's body tumbled til it collided with the wall. He smiled as he moved to pat Kanna's ivory hair. She smiled as she watched with her white eyes at seeing Kagura picking her shaking body up.

"Come Kanna," spoke Naraku's voice as he placed his arm around the young girl's shoulders. They walked away from the pained Kagura.

She stayed down as she watched them out of the corner of her eye; waiting til their footsteps disappeared. Kagura forced a pained groan down as she forced herself to her feet. She steadied herself as she started to walk away and back outside to the courtyard.

There in the courtyard her eyes laid upon the stone, cold eyes of the stone Lord Naraku. A snarl appeared on her lips as she walked past the fountain. She froze as she felt a single tear run down her cheek. In that instant something snapped inside as she picked the small feather from her hair. She glanced around before she threw the feather within the air. A vortex was created as a whirlwind appeared. At the top, appeared the large feather with Kagura sitting within its base as she headed east. The direction in which she knew he would be.

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Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters found within the Anime/TV Show: InuYasha.
They all belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi.

This is a new story of mine that I started several months back. It's a love story between Sesshomaru and Kagura. I recently found this couple another adorable and decided to write a story about them.

Please read and review.
I'd love to see what everyone thinks of this story.

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