Will the tachi be able to come to Kouga's rescue? How will they feel when they learn that they're also rescuing Kagura? Will Inuyasha find a way to use his sword on the barrier without losing it's all-important youki? Or will it be up to the rest of the tachi to puzzle it out? Will Ayame smack Ginta down for being mean to her? Wasn't she kinda asking for his attitude? Will Kouga and Kagura learn to get along in the Naraku Doom Cave, as I have come to call it, or will they just kill each other, fulfilling Naraku's dearest hopes? And will Kagura ever get her oft-coveted red nail polish? Maybe one of the pretty youkai men can hook her up. Makeup like that may be artificial, but…
*****
Something Is Real
Part 4
*****
"So I guess he's just gonna starve us, huh?" Kouga was making a game out of tossing rocks at the barrier after rubbing them between his hands. It was interesting to watch the lights that sparked when the small amount of youki on the rock hit the barrier, and it was certainly more interesting than cleaning fingernails, which was what certain other cave occupants had been doing for the past hour.
"Who knows. Maybe he wants to see if we'll eat each other if we get hungry enough." Kagura mused, but Kouga gave her a light glare.
"If it came to that, I'd eat you before you could get me." He told her certainly. "We can barely use our youki, so you wouldn't even be able to do anything but physical attacks, so I'd win."
"Oh really?" Kagura looked up from her nails, reaching for her fan to idly play with the folded device. "But you're forgetting that if I really thought you were hungry enough to eat me, I could just wait until you weren't looking and smash a rock over your head. Then you wouldn't get a chance to fight back."
"Like a rock to the head could kill me." Kouga sounded thoroughly insulted. "There's no way, I'm telling ya right now. Wouldn't even phase me."
"Oh…I suppose I forgot to take into account that you're exceptionally stupid, so you wouldn't really be injured through a skull so thick." Kagura mused.
"Would you shut up?" Kouga grumbled, obviously not pleased with the thread of conversation they were continuing on. "We need to think here. Hakkaku and Ginta said they'd get some help, but we can't just expect that to work."
"Well, if someone would feed us, it wouldn't be such an issue." Kagura rolled her eyes. "I'd love some fresh hot dumplings right now, and maybe a nice pot of tea."
"That's helping." Kouga gave her a dry look. "Let's talk about all the things we can't have…hey, isn't that stuff all…human food?"
"Well…yes." Kagura twiddled with her fan for a bit before giving Kouga a conspiratorial grin. "See, the thing is…I'm not sure what it is, but the rumor says that he was once a human, so now Naraku just eats…human food. I don't think he likes youkai food very much. Young girls and all that, it somehow doesn't strike his fancy. And so Kanna's got kitchen duty."
"Kanna?" Kouga thought for a few moments. "That…other one? The creepy one all in white?"
"Okay, admittedly she's not the master of charisma, but Kanna's not too bad." Kagura defended lightly. "A lot better than Naraku. And anyway, she's like…my sister. Sort of. And she does make really good tea."
"Why don't you have 'kitchen duty?'" Kouga wanted to know.
"I didn't want to. So when Naraku sent me to learn how, I basically destroyed the kitchen while making it look like I simply had no clue what was going on and then acting very sad about the whole thing. He kicked me out, and since then Kanna's head cook." Kagura explained. "It's kinda fun to watch her cook. She sets her mirror down for once, so that's nice. It makes her easier to talk to without feeling like she's just recording the conversation to show to Naraku later."
"You guys don't get along?" Kouga asked.
"Well…she seems to like Naraku pretty well, though I don't know why. Actually, I think it's just that she's really afraid of him or something. Who knows." Kagura speculated. "But if one of us had a really good chance to escape, it would be her. She doesn't have any aura, you know. Practically impossible to track her."
"Does she…not have a soul?" Kouga seemed confused.
"I didn't use to think so…after I was first born, you know. But once you get to know her…" Kagura seemed to be searching for the right words. "It's like she's just really shy, you know?"
"A shy youkai?" Kouga raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"It happens, I'm sure. And anyway, Kagura's not like most youkai." Kagura cut her explanation off as she heard nearby movement and stood to see if someone was coming.
"Who is it?" Kouga asked. "I can't smell anything but…"
"Food!" Kagura actually squealed in pleasure, causing Kouga to nearly keel over in shock at the display. "Kanna, did Naraku send you to feed us?" Kagura waved to her sister, who was slowly making her way up the path. The little girl blinked at the other youkai before shaking her head slightly. "He didn't?" Kagura lost her look of pleasure and began pouting slightly. "Then that's not for us?" she indicated the steaming bundled that Kanna seemed to be carrying on her mirror. As an answer, the diminutive youkai stepped straight through the barrier as if it didn't exist and lifted her arms to offer the food to her younger sister.
"Hey…is it really food?" Kouga stepped up to Kagura's side, sniffing cautiously. "Maybe he's trying to poison us."
"I would have thought he'd much prefer to watch us eat each other." Kagura opined, taking the bundle and handing it to the confused wolf prince before lowering herself to her already dirty knees so that she could talk to her sister. "Kanna, why are you here?"
"You were hungry." Kanna had her mirror back in front of her chest, as usual. "I could see."
"So you brought food?" Kagura asked, and the little girl nodded. "But…if Naraku finds out…"
"I will be in trouble." Kanna finished in her soft, breathy voice. "I know."
"Then…why?" Kagura was flabbergasted. Kanna had never gone against Naraku before.
"You are my sister. I do not want you to die." Kanna explained after blinking as though she did not understand the question.
"Sister…yes, that's right." Kagura bit her lip, feeling a bit foolish that the sentiment was making her feel like hugging the little girl right in front of Kouga. Of course, that would be a foolish thing to do, and it would likely feel strange. Kagura had never hugged a person before, so she couldn't be sure if she'd do it right. Instead, she settled for reaching over and taking one of the girl's hands in hers, squeezing it tight and bowing her head slightly. "Thanks, Kanna."
"I will go." Kanna indicated the path after Kagura had released her hand, and even though she couldn't be sure, she thought that her sister looked almost pleased with herself. She turned to leave, pausing once after she stepped through the barrier and looking back at Kagura and Kouga. "Good…luck." It seemed as though she wasn't quite sure of the words, as if she couldn't be sure they communicated her meaning, but the brilliant smile on Kagura's face seemed to satisfy her, and she left. Kouga was still blinking down at the bundle when Kagura turned to him, still beaming, and exhaling happily.
"You look…normal." He commented. "When you smile like that. Just like a normal person, you know."
"What do I usually look like?" Kagura wanted to know.
"Like you hate the world." Kouga decided. "So…that was your sister."
"I told you she was a good girl, when it came down to it." Kagura smiled smugly and took the bundle from Kouga. "Come on, now you'll see what I'm talking about. She's a very good cook, I'll tell you right now." The wind youkai took the bundle into the cave and set it on a relatively flat patch, untying the cloth that held together the little dishes inside.
"What did she bring?" Kouga wanted to know, and he sat down across from Kagura eagerly. The smell of the food caused his stomach to growl loudly, and she laughed lightly as she opened the little pots, indicating the contents of each.
"Look! Tea, and here, she brought dumplings! She knows they're my favorite…I had no idea she paid that much attention. And two bowls of rice…even a little of her special chicken." Kagura immediately helped herself to one of the dumplings while Kouga looked at the food doubtfully. Finally, he settled on a dumpling, which he crammed into his mouth whole.
"Shit!" he hissed as he spit the dumpling back into his hands, his tongue wagging pitifully as he tried to banish the burning sensation. "It fucking burned me!"
"You take bites, idiot." Kagura told him. "And then it doesn't happen that way. Honestly, haven't you ever learned how to eat like humans do?"
"Uh…well, I can get food in my mouth." Kouga scratched his head with one hand as he waited for his half-chewed dumpling to cool. "Isn't that all you need?"
"Ridiculous. Okay, just eat the dumpling and I'll show you how to use chopsticks on the rice and chicken." Kagura offered, blowing on her own dumpling before taking a dainty bite while making sure she was sitting up straight, as though to show how much better her table manners were.
"Chopsticks?" Kouga took a large bite out of the dumpling, and when it burned, he swallowed it quickly to avoid being teased further.
"Yeah, these." Kagura lifted one of the two pairs easily, clicking them together to indicate how they worked. "They're like long fingers to pick up hot food without getting burned. And that way you don't get food on your hands."
"But the dumpling's on your hand." Kouga pointed to the remains of her dumpling, which she had just taken another bite from.
"That's because you're supposed to eat dumplings like this, idiot. Gods, you're stupid." Kagura rolled her eyes as though it was all too much for her to handle. "But I suppose…you were raised by wolves, so that's what happens."
"Don't get all high and mighty on me!" Kouga had to swallow quickly to yell at her, and he almost choked. "You keep saying I'm so stupid, well you're the one who sat in this trap without even suspecting anything and got us both captured!"
"Like you knew it was a trap." Kagura rolled her eyes. "You just barreled right in her without a care in the world."
"I thought it might be." Kouga shot back. "That's why I left Ginta and Hakkaku. They'd be no good to me if they got trapped too. Now they might get us out. So who's the stupid one?"
"Well my sister's feeding us." Kagura came back after a moment. "So it's even. Now come on, I'll show you how to use chopsticks."
"Can't I just use my hands?" Kouga asked, sounding hesitant about picking up the eating implements.
"No."
----------
Kouga had only just fallen asleep after a long and arduous lesson in the proper use of chopsticks, which had ended with him snapping his pair in half and cursing angrily while trying to storm out of the cave and actually running straight into the barrier. Kagura had been kind enough to drag him back into the cave and clean up, not once teasing him about his table etiquette failings as she gathered up the used dishes and poured them both some of the still warm tea. Kouga had seemed to think the tea was a lot better than the chopsticks, but he had still complained that it tasted like it was made of boiled tree bark and mud water. Kagura had suggested that he might need a little sugar, and he'd given her a mystified look that clearly told her he'd never heard of such a thing. She determined at that moment to get her hands on some honey or at least some sweet flower nectar so that he could taste it. She wondered what he would think of it, but at the same time, she wondered when she'd ever get a chance to wander out of the cave again.
Maybe I could get Kanna to bring me some. Kagura mused as she stepped out of the now quiet cave to try and get a glimpse at the night sky through the canopy of trees that blocked her view. After the tea, Kouga had gone to sleep almost immediately, likely exhausted from the effort of eating, but Kagura was still surprised that he had simply dropped off like that. For the past few days, she always fell asleep before him, even if she attempted to stay up. He just didn't trust her, and she couldn't really blame him. But now he's sleeping like a baby. Almost like he trusts me…Kagura shook her head at that. Probably he was exhausted and didn't really thing she could kill him. He was probably ready to wake up at the slightest noise, but it was nice to think that maybe they weren't about to kill each other. It made the cave seem a lot less foreboding, that was for sure. She didn't like being on edge all the time, and knowing how Kouga felt about her for her past transgressions made it clear that she couldn't really trust him. But at the same time, he had told her that while they were stuck there, he wouldn't hurt her. He had promised, and she believed him.
But why should I believe him? He has no reason to tell me the truth. We've always been enemies. Kagura considered. And yet…I think he was sincere. He wouldn't lie, not even to me. He cares too deeply for his honor. It's funny…he's a lot better person than I am, isn't he? He doesn't compromise, no matter what. My whole life is a compromise.
Sighing, Kagura bent down to retrieve a pebble from the ground, rubbing it in her palms and throwing it at the barrier. She watched the sparks of her youki dance over the barrier before becoming absorbed, and the after-image of the bright light burned into her eyes. Is it that much different from his? We're both youkai, but my strength comes from compromise. His comes from the power of his will. Now that he doesn't have his shards…I know I would be stronger than him in a fight…but could I ever be as strong as him in my heart?
You are my sister.
Dark eyes, a sad, pale face that looks too young for the knowledge hidden in those onyx depths. And a voice like a whisper, afraid of being heard.
I do not want you to die.
Kagura gasped as she felt wetness on her cheek and reached up to touch it. She blinked at the glittering damp spot on her finger and looked into the sky as though awaiting the rest of the rain. But none came. "What…is this?" she reached up to her face and found more of the wet substance, touching it to her lips lightly to taste what it might be. "Salty…this is…tears?" Kagura had heard of such a thing, but she hadn't ever cried herself. She remembered seeing others cry, moments from death, suffering, worried for their loved ones, begging for mercy. Her heart…it felt so heavy. "What is this thing I'm feeling?"
Regret.
I'm sorry.
The words sprung to her mind immediately, and she turned to look into the cave, where she could still see the dim lump of Kouga's form, sleeping on regardless of her epiphany.
I'm…sorry.
*****
The End (Of Part 4, That Is)