Part Seven: Naraku/Kikyou


Kikyou laid eyes on him as the dust settled, spitting his name at his feet: "Naraku."

"Kikyou," he returned, taking the first step into their usual dance. "It's been awhile."

He grinned and bragged about his new body, and Kikyou glared, finding his cockiness to be absolutely unchanged. She narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing him: his body appeared stronger, covered in spiked armor, menacing to anyone who could not see the truth. Though he held his shoulders more confidently, poised like a proud king, she looked into the eye in his torso that swiveled wildly, giving away the squirming toil of the demons compounded within.

"You put up a barrier and hid within Mt. Hakurei. That's a lot of effort to put into a body that's just for show. What were you up to?" she growled, malice painted on her lips.

His smile grew wider. "You're very astute, Kikyou."

"Kagura left with something in her possession before the mountain fell." She drew her bow, comfortable in her safety. With her Sacred Arrow in hand, and love in his heart, she confidently stared him down, demanding answers. "What is your true aim?"

The glint of his smile drew in her gaze, his eyes boring through hers with tempered passion, and his poison tongue dripped words of cruel affection: "You came all this way just to ask that?" The pleasure coating his throat curdled her stomach. "Round and round goes the wheel of fate… Spinning and weaving a read thread."

She inhaled, wishing she could feel her lungs instead of a hardened silt cavity, and tightened her grip on the bow. Her mind swam as his words wound around her, explaining his scheme to lure her to his feet, and her stance almost faltered when those words colored blood red tied her up inside and out, holding her prisoner just as he'd intended.

"Humans call this 'fate,' or destiny…" his voice called to her, resonated within her, drawing out the incantation she'd woven into a personal commandment: "Once the threads of fate are tangled, they cannot be undone."

"Only the weak utter such nonsense…" If I am so weak, then why do you love me – "The truly powerful create destiny for themselves. But, you wish to know my aim? Then I'll tell you…" The way he paused kept her hopeful, kept her strong, how he wholly regarded her for that moment. "What it is I must do here." He lifted one arm, lengthening a spine attached to his bracer made of bone, slicing it through the air and decisively slicing her bow in half.

A sound of dismay, a sound she did not authorize fell through her teeth and she stumbled backwards. But you love me. Please tell me you love me.

She fell to her knees, looking down at the wound he inflicted – you're not supposed to be able to do this; not again – and realized it mirrored her fatality from all those years ago.

"You underestimated me, Kikyou," he spoke in a low voice, as if she were still his lover, as if he had not done this. "You came here thinking you were safe… That Onigumo's love would protect you, and that I would not touch you. Even now, I feel nothing."

Liar. She couldn't help the irrational, emotional thought from surfacing before she worked it out. His whole plan, what he sent Kagura away with. She looked up into his eyes, the same crimson color of the thread wrapping around them both. You feel pride. I hate the look in your eye, I hate that smile on your face, I hate the way that you've hurt me –

"The ravine is full of miasma. You will disintegrate and die," he said, a gentle grin playing across his face.

Please, just tell me… "This is your grave." Tell me you love me.

She saw it coming, the bow of their final dance; his grotesquely grown hand sped toward her; part of her wanted to run and part of her wanted to close her eyes and give up, but it was too fast and she made neither decision before his sharpened fingers speared through her skin and cracked it wide open, throwing her from the cliffside.

In a final moment before her descent, through the gargling of the pain she remembered more than felt, she caught his eyes.

I wish that you loved me.

.

You try to hit me just to hurt me,

So you leave me feeling dirty

'Cause you can't understand.

.