Disclaimer: I don't own or make profit off of InuYasha or Pompeii but I'm still wishing that I did.

Lost Souls

Pompeii | 62 AD

(Seventeen Years Earlier)

"Father, Father!" Sango's voice rang through the still air as she ran eagerly through the street to her house, where her father had come outside to wait for her. She held up her hands, palms open, so he could inspect the leaves she was holding, and he made a show of leaning in to inspect what she was showing him.

"And the function of these, Sango?"

Sango chewed her lip thoughtfully, and then recited, "The smoke created from burning leaves of a rhubarb plant can stop an attack when used against inu yokai, neko yokai, okami yokai, and kuma yokai, leaving them dizzy and without a sense of smell, and even can make them fall asleep."

"Can render them unconscious", her father corrected kindly, nodding his approval.

Sango frowned at the foreign word, "Unconscious."

"A fancy word for make them fall asleep."

"Oh!" Making sure she tucked that away in her memory, Sango tucked the leaves back into her pouch, and grinned up at her father. For generations, her family had kept the city safe from demon attacks, working closely with the Lord and Lady of the city to ensure everyone was kept safe inside the city walls. Though her mother seemed to think she was a little young to begin any formal training, her father had already started giving her bits and pieces of information here and there. Sango loved it; she wanted to learn everything that she possibly could, and as quickly as she possibly could.

It was her dream to grow up a great warrior, and carry on the family legacy.

"Now, what if you wanted to find the herb that would do more than merely render a demon unconscious?"

Sango ponder that for a moment, "Like a poison?"

Her father smiled at her, a knowing twinkle in his eye, and Sango beamed back, before turning on her heel and shouting over her shoulder, "I'll go get it!" She knew just the herb he was talking about.

Their home was on the city outskirts, close to the city's amphitheater and the villa that belonged to the Lord Takumi and his family. Sango loved living so close to the water and the wonderfully green meadow that surrounded the villa.

She had just made it through the streets to the city gates when the most curious thing happened. The earth shuddered, and then the ground began to shake. This happened from time to time, and they would attribute it to Mount Vesuvius speaking to them, or the Gods expressing either their pleasure or displeasure, so Sango paid no mind, at least not at first, and kept skipping forward.

So she kept going, until the shaking continued, becoming more and more aggressive in its force. Sango's legs were knocked out from under her, and she hit the hard ground with a shriek, instinctively curling her body into a ball and covering her head as best she could with her hands. Her heart was hammering in her chest; she had never been more terrified in her life.

The sounds were probably the worst part – it sounded like the world around her was falling apart, crumbling around her, like it was going to swallow her up whole. People were shrieking and yelling, and all she wanted was her parents. After a few seconds of the terror, she pulled her hands away from shielding her neck to cover her ears, but even that did nothing to block out the horrible sounds.

After what felt like hours, but in reality couldn't have been more than a few moments, the shaking stopped, and Sango lay still for a few moments, regaining her breath, wiping off her cheeks from the tears that had spilled over, and tried to calm her hammering heart.

When she finally opened her eyes and pulled herself to a sit, an audible gasp left her as she looked around.

The city around her was in ruins, some of the structures had held up better than others, but at least every other house had some sort of damage; some had even fallen in on themselves completely. Sango watched open mouthed with wide eyes as people throughout the street pulled themselves out of rubble, sat on the ground looking absolutely stunned, or cried out for loved ones.

Mama! Father! Kohaku!

Sango cried out, an unintelligible shriek of pain and scrambled to her feet, and began to run through the streets. It didn't take her long until she was back at her house, or at least, what used to be her house. It had completely collapsed in on itself, the structure not able to bear the force of the shaking Earth, though in her childish naivety, she had to be sure.

"Father! Mama!" She made to start wading through the rubble, unsure what exactly she was looking for and what it all meant, but someone caught her arm and pulled her back.

"Sango?"

She recognized that voice. It belonged to one of the guards at Lord Takumi's household, and when Sango turned around, he loosened his grip on her arm, and bent down so that he was level with her.

"I – I don't know what happened, one minute I was going to the meadow and then the ground started shaking and I thought I was going to fall right through the ground and then I came here and now my house is gone and I don't know where my mama is and I want my father!" Sango heard herself choking out, and before she knew it, she had thrown herself into the guards arms, crying uncontrollably.

He pat her back awkwardly, before pushing her away so he could stand up, offering out his hand. "We'll take you to the Lord; he'll know what to do."

The basic structure of the villa had been able to withstand most of the earth shaking, and though they had lost most of their ornaments and statues and decorative pieces, Takumi knew that was a small price to pay. His family was alive, none of their servants had been injured during the shake – if the Gods were trying to keep them humble, he was willing to take it.

The rest of the city, he was told from his guard, was in a state of ruin and distress, and he was not sure what the Gods plan was for doing that. The Lord had no idea how they were going to come back from this, though he knew he needed to come up with some plan of action soon, as the citizens of Pompeii would be looking to him and his wife for counsel, help, and guidance.

"My Lord", his best guard came into view, interrupting his reverie, and Takumi turned around to catch the low bow.

"The slayer family – I believe them to be wiped out. Their house was in ruins. All except for the girl."

That alarmed him, and not merely because the city had now lost its protection, but he had lost a friend and adviser as well.

Takumi nodded, "Very well. What of the young one?"

"I left her with one of the maids, my Lord. With your leave I'd like to go back and see if we can't recover the bodies."

Both of them knew there was very little chance of survival if their home had collapsed on them, but Takumi still nursed a sliver of hope, both for Sango's sake, and the city's sake.

Hours later, Takumi found himself delivering news he really did not want to deliver. Sango had been sent to stay with Kagome, and he had hopes that his daughter would do her best to be as accommodating as possible. His wife had been waiting anxiously for news; she had been devastated by the tremendous loss their subjects had faced, and even more so by news of the slayer family.

Finally alone with his wife after an incredibly long day, Takumi shook his head sadly and tried not to let his heart wrench as her eyes welled up with tears.

After a few long moments, Takumi found his voice. "They'll be laid to rest in a tomb outside the city walls, we'll bestow upon them the highest honors. Their family kept our city safe for a long time." He paused, wondering if he should tell Mai the next bit, or omit it. After a moment, he decided it was best not to keep anything from her. "They couldn't find the body of the boy."

Mai gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth. "So there's a chance he may-"

"There's a chance." However slim it was, seeing as the boy was no older than three. Neither of them voiced that thought aloud.

"And what of Sango?"

"She'll stay here, with us. She can work as one of Kagome's servants when the time comes."

His answer shocked himself as much as he could see the shock reflected on his wife's face, though there simply was no other option. The city owed too much to her family to let her go to the streets.

"Takumi – she's so young."

"So best we let her off to the streets? To be a beggar? Or worse? We owe her father more than that, she's no more than six, her demon slaying training hasn't even been started."

Mai nodded, looking down at her clasped hands. They were shaking.

"Of course. Of course. This is the best course of action; we simply couldn't induct her into the family…"

Takumi was not quite sure how he should respond to that, so he fell silent, striding across the room to sit at the table next to her. He needed wine.

They were silent for another long while, before Mai asked, "What are we going to do?"

"Rebuild the city. Recover what we lost. This is not the end of Pompeii."

Pompeii | 79 AD

(Present Day)

They had been walking for days by the time they finally got to Pompeii, during such time InuYasha had nothing to do but think of the strange woman who had offered her help. He wasn't used to receiving any kindness, and his immediate reaction was to think that she had been making fun of him. But her eyes had shone with something akin to sincerity, and it was confusing the seven hells out of him. Why would some fancy lady wish to be kind to a lowlife like him?

The Gladiators were herded in past the city walls, through the streets, and the half demon grimaced as he tried to avoid meeting anyone's eyes. It was humiliating enough to be dragged along, shackled to fifty other men, but it was another level entirely to be paraded through the streets. He could hear people muttering comments about him and the other men, and he flatted his ears against his head to try to block out the background noise. Idiots. Who cared about their opinion, anyway? They could keep it to their fucking selves.

By the time they were finally led to the amphitheater, all the way underground to the barred space where the slaves were kept, all InuYasha could think of was that he wanted to eat his gruel, and lay down in peace. He rarely did much sleeping, he couldn't remember having a good night's sleep since his mother was alive – some part of him always had to be alert, on guard. Just in case. He knew that he couldn't trust anyone; the only person watching his back, the only person he could trust was himself.

InuYasha had just received his bowl of food, and was sitting down at the table, far enough away from anyone else to signify that he didn't want to talk to anyone, didn't want any conversation, when someone came to sit beside him. He rolled his eyes – how much clearer could he make that he didn't wish to speak to anyone? Talking to the other men would mean getting attached, which would just make it harder to kill them in the long run, and InuYasha was not interested. Turning to give the man beside him a glare, he was just about to let him know how unwelcome he was when the man started laughing.

"This runt is the supposed pride of the fleet, eh?"

InuYasha turned to look at him – he looked like he were some type of wildcat demon. Lynx, maybe, or even cougar – whatever he was, it didn't matter. He wasn't looking for a fight.

But apparently, the demon was.

"And he's a halfer at that! Lookie here, gents." The demon paused, placing a hand over his heart in mock hurt, "What, you think you're too good to speak to the rest of us?"

Sighing, InuYasha let out a little, "Keh", under his breath. He was too smart to let this man bait him. Still, he tightened the grip on his utensil, trying not to snap it in his fist. Smart as he was, that didn't help him much when his temper decided to take over. And quite honestly, half the time, his temper had a mind of its own.

"They say that you're the best, dog boy. Why don't you show us what you've got?" The demon leaned over, and tugged on InuYasha's ear.

InuYasha snapped.

He stood up, knocking his bowl of food out of the way in the process, and reared around, but the demon was ready, already throwing a punch to InuYasha's jaw that made him blink stars out of his eyes. He didn't have the luxury of hesitating, however, and before he could even see threw his own punch and was glad when it made contact against flesh. The demon howled, and Inuyasha blinked rapidly until his vision came back, and threw another punch; this time with much more force behind it. It landed right on the demons nose, and InuYasha felt it break upon contact.

Their spectators seemed to have been frozen in time, if only for a moment, and as soon as they heard the demons nose break, they all jumped into action; hollering, yelling, jumping on one another. It wasn't so much that they did not see enough action in the pits, more so that when too much testosterone mixed with ego was all put into once place, the consequences could be disastrous.

InuYasha kept punching, working his frustrations and confusion out, receiving a few punches of his own, but he could barely feel them through the adrenaline working its way through his system.

He was completely caught off guard, however, when someone wrapped their hands around his neck from behind. Instinctively, InuYasha reached out to elbow whoever had him in a choke hold in the stomach, but they were too quick to move out of the way, and the next he knew, he was being held down face first in the water trough.

So this was it. This was how he was going to die. Without avenging his mother, without any sort of honor.

Fuck that. He wasn't about to die in a shithole with no one to witness besides a bunch of lowlifes. His mind was going fuzzy, he was running out of oxygen, but he had to do something. With all his might, he reached for one of the man's hand, brought it to his mouth, and grinding his teeth, bit two of the fingers clean off.

Even through the water, InuYasha could hear the man howl in pain; the grip around his neck immediately loosened, and he was able to lift his head out of the barrel, gasping for oxygen, the air nearly painful as he gulped in a couple of big breaths.

He had just caught his breath when he felt someone grab him from behind, turn him around, and slam him up against the bars that secluded the different cells where they would be kept for the night. InuYasha expected another Gladiator, and was getting ready to throw a punch when he realized that he was face to face with Master Jaken. They stared at each other for a moment; the frog demon looked so angry it was if his eyes were bulging out of his head.

"This is our second altercation, boy. I won't have it happen again, I don't care that you're the Masters prized possession, if you cause any more trouble I swear to the Gods that I'll-"

"You'll do what, Jaken?"

The Gladiators had all stopped to watch Jaken ream InuYasha out, but now all eyes were trained on the tall dog demon with long, silvery hair. As soon as he had stepped into the room, he demanded the attention of everyone in it with silent power. InuYasha gulped as the man stared him down. It was the same man he had seen at the last fight he had participated in, he must have been the owner of all the slaves.

"Lord – Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken released his hold on InuYasha, if only slightly, and InuYasha could hear him gulping. "I was merely trying to teach the whelp a lesson, you see, this isn't the first time he's stirred up trouble and I…"

Lord Sesshomaru held up his hand, and Jaken fell silent immediately. He strode through the room with a cool indifference as he surveyed the damage the Gladiators had inflicted upon one another.

After a few moments, he spoke again, "It is your duty to care for these men, is it not?"

Jaken stammered, "Well yes b-but I-"

Sesshomaru kicked at one of the Gladiators who was laying on the floor; he was missing two fingers, and sighed audibly. "And how, pray tell, do you call letting them bite chunks out of each other caring for them? Particularly when there is no audience to see it."

"My – my Lord, I-" Jaken stuttered.

"Silence. This Sesshomaru will not tolerant this again. The next time an incident like this happens, it will be at your expense."

Jaken could do nothing but release his hold on InuYasha and nod, while Sesshomaru sorted out the damage.

"This one is done. This one can be fixed. This one is done. The rest of you, back to the cells."

Sesshomaru brushed past InuYasha, and the two locked eyes for a short moment. InuYasha was almost certain a flicker of recognition washed across the Lord's face, but he blinked and was certain he imagined it.

As soon as Sesshomaru had appeared, he was gone.

InuYasha made to move back to his cell, but Jaken caught him by the upper arm, nails digging into his flesh. "I've got my eye on you, dog boy."

Gritting his teeth, InuYasha moved to the cell and sank down onto the floor, completely unaware that there was another presence in the room until he heard a low whistle, followed by a chuckle. Immediately, he leapt to his feet, holding out his arms defensively in warning.

"Hey now, hey now, there's no need to be so testy. That was quite a number you did on that lynx demon out there." The stranger whistled again, and then moved so that he was in the light.

InuYasha noted that he was a human man, and had a long, black braid that hit the small of his back. He was on the smaller side, as far as Gladiators went, but he had an arrogance to him that told InuYasha he had seen his fair share of fights.

"Pretty impressive out there, I can't wait to see what you do in the pit. The name's Bankotsu."

InuYasha grunted, and moved over to sit at the furthest side of the cell.

"What? You cost me two wine rations, the least you can do is tell me your name."

InuYasha scoffed. "Feh. What are you blabbering on about?"

"I bet two wine rations on the lynx demon." Bankotsu waved his hand in the air as if he were meant to take no offense. "Doesn't matter, foolish call on my part."

InuYasha sighed. He made a point never to tell anyone his name. Mostly because it was the only thing he really owned, the one thing that no one could ever take away from him, and the one thing that still kept him tied to his mother. It was the name she had chosen for him, and he didn't want to give it away so freely. "My name's my own. I don't care about yours, and you shouldn't care about mine."

Bankotsu held up his hands, though InuYasha could see a cheeky smirk had overtaken his features. "Alright, alright. Testy much."

Neither of them spoke again that night.

InuYasha didn't sleep a wink.

They had been riding for hours through the night. Though neither he, nor his men would have needed a break anyway, pure adrenaline was pushing him forward, keeping him riding on.

She had gotten away from him, but it hadn't been hard to track her down, to figure out where she had been planning on going.

No matter what, she wasn't going to get away with the information she had obtained. He was going to find her.

Even if it was the last thing he did.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading, and thanks to everyone for the lovely reviews! As always I'd love to hear your feedback.