Ancient Feelings

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A/N: Now you'll all know why I needed the three new characters. And now you probably have a clear vision of what Audrey looks like. I hope you like this new chapter.

"Are you trying to run away, little one?" Naraku's voice resounded in the wide room as Jane's knees began to tremble. She frantically looked around for a chance to escape, but there was nothing promising.

"H-how did you know?" she asked with a quivering voice. She couldn't say anything else. Her throat burned with unspoken questions. How did he know she was about to escape? Did they feel her presence when she first came behind the wall? Was this a setup?

"We have our ways," Tsubaki purred, getting a hold of the girl's elbow and nuzzling the side of her face. Jane felt disgusted, but she couldn't move. She realised she was under a spell that kept her immobilised.

The twosome proceeded to ignore her as they began discussing other problems.

"She is head over heels in love," Naraku told Tsubaki and Jane shivered, but not from cold.

Who was?

"So every blow would pretty much destroy her now?" Tsubaki asked, mildly interested.

Destroy who?

"Yes, pretty much so. You have to talk to her and assure her he is a great choice, then we shall send her to our dear Kikyou's."

Send who? Damn, it was too hard for poor Jane to follow.

"You are so evil," the witch whispered seductively, licking the side of his face.

"I am doing my best, darling," he smirked dangerously.

"Now that I mentioned it… what did Kikyou say exactly when you went to her house? Naraku asked with reborn curiosity. Tsubaki's lack of answer lit an anxious feeling inside his chest as he watched her face harden and all her features shine in the rather dim light. Her forehead was unusually smooth and her voice had a silky quality to it.

"She said to tell you she is happy where she is, and that she knows about our plan. She told me she doesn't care."

Naraku blanched and Tsubaki hid a small smile. She could feel his magic aura crackle around him. He said a few words in Japanese that Jane didn't understand then spoke loudly in English, "I think it is time to put my plan into practice. My weapon," he explained and Tsubaki held her breath – the weapon she'd been erratically looking for and couldn't find… she'd get to see it at last!

"Bring the girls," Naraku ordered.

"Why?' came Tsubaki's confused reply.

"We need an audience," he stated simply and Tsubaki obeyed without questioning him. The desire to see the weapon was too great for her to show any disobedience.

A few minutes of silence later, the three girls were rubbing their eyes, trying to adjust to the light in the room. They were trembling, Jane noticed, and as soon as they saw her their eyes widened ludicrously. Jane lowered her head, ashamed that she hadn't been able to escape.

Naraku walked slowly next to the window and punched a whole in it. All the women in the room were surprised at his strength and started at the abrupt sound.

He took a jar out of the wall and Tsubaki's eyes widened. So it was a heart! Or at least it looked like one. Okay... it was a heart...

So, what did this heart do?

What she didn't notice was the dazed look in Audrey's eyes as she saw the jar. Her chest started pounding rapidly, something that only sometimes happened. She was so used to not feeling any heartbeats inside her chest, that she often wondered if she had a heart at all.

But now... she had a sense of completion… of being full again. Without realising it, she walked towards the jar; the image of the beating heart floating in revolting fluids was the only thing she had in her mind. She didn't notice the startled gasps of her friends, didn't hear their pleas for her not to move.

When Naraku let her touch the jar, her whole body pulsed and a bright light enveloped her. Naraku entrusted her with the jar and she stared at it blankly.

When Tsubaki was going to say something against it, Naraku shut her up with a firm, raised hand.

"Can you feel it, my child?" he asked softly and Audrey's eyes filled with tears, before widening in utter surprise. She felt the wind... it was whirling, twirling, it was blowing more powerful than ever and her whole life seemed enveloped in it... it was the breeze she often felt… the strong one she'd always mention and Lady Caroline would always call her paranoid because of it. Shyly, she looked up at Naraku and he nodded, as if he understood everything about her. Opening the lid, she took the heart out and squeezed it lightly. It was so alive and connected to her... She felt as if it were hers.

"Keep it," he urged and Tsubaki gasped. What was going on?

"Is it… going to help?" she asked timidly.

"If you do not want it child… give it back," he stated simply and she clutched the heart to her chest, desperately shouting, "No! It's mine!"

As soon as the words left her lips, her eyes widened and Naraku stepped back as a blinding light shot across the room. The women were astonished as the heart that was pressed to Audrey's chest seemed to be blending with her. Slowly, it was sinking into the woman's chest as Audrey seemed to be in a trance. The shouts and screams were lost on her ears as the only thing she could hear was her new heartbeat pounding in her eardrums. It was what she'd been missing. It was her wind. Her nature. Her… heart. She smiled at Naraku lovingly and he smiled back, the unexpected gesture disgusting for her three friends.

She was tainted now. She wasn't their Audrey anymore, they realised.

"Why?" Lady Caroline squeaked, showing her weakness as she fell to her knees. "Why Audrey?" she asked helplessly as Naraku walked up to the new, reborn woman. She was their spirit. Audrey was the purest one of them. She was the one who could always keep them together. The funny one. The optimistic one. Well, not all of the time, but…

In the disgusting, gut-wrenching process, Audrey had been left naked and her flawless body was apparently dancing with the wind, only they couldn't feel it. Her hair suddenly twisted itself in a beautiful updo that left only a few strands of her hair fall around her cheeks. Her bangs were more pronounced, she was entirely more beautiful than before. The hairdo was held by a single, simple feather that seemed to be half-floating, too.

Suddenly, her body was wrapped in a simple kimono, which surprised the women, since Audrey had always sworn she'd never been outside England. She was clearly Asian, but she'd been raised in England. Seeing her in a traditional kimono clearly stated that she was best that way.

Her feet were bare and they noticed her soft skin.

"Because she is my child," Naraku finally replied, he himself engrossed in Audrey's transformation.

All he heard were gasps and he smirked. "She is a part of me. An incarnation. My child," he stated and the women were shocked. "Her name is…" he trailed off as Audrey raised an intricate closed fan in front of her lips with smooth, sensual movements.

"… Kagura," he declared as she opened her new, red eyes, flipping the fan open with a gentle flick of her lips and moving it from in front of her mouth to place it behind one of her long, pointed, elf ears. Her crimson, almost black lips glistened with malice as she smirked. "She shall do whatever I ask of her," he stated proudly, caressing her cheek with his hand, his eyes never leaving Tsubaki's terrified ones.

"Yes, Father," Audrey-turned-Kagura replied submissively, the devilish smirk still dancing on her sultry lips.

"It is who she has always been," Naraku explained, pointing towards his incarnation. I have been watching her since she was nothing but a piece of me. I entrusted her to you three," he said, and the three women's eyes widened. "I took her to you. I had you raise her and make her a woman before taking her back. You were nothing but mere pawns," he told them with a smug smirk.

"You liar," Lady Caroline hissed and Naraku chuckled.

"I do not lie, woman. Learn your place. She is my most precious possession; she has the power to kill anyone."

"And you don't?" Jane countered him angrily, proud that she'd been able to strike a chord.

"As you all know," he spoke loudly, "I am a wizard. A powerful one. But witchcraft is pretty much powerless in front of demons. I specialise in summoning spirits and making them possess others' bodies," he hissed dangerously and the three women's eyes bulged like onions. "If a demon is particularly vulnerable, I can make a controlled spirit possess his body. If not, I cannot really fight them, even though I am half demon myself. You know the story ladies," he told them flatly and they all nodded. They all knew Naraku had been a thief named Onigumo before making a pact with demons that possessed his body. And because he chose to be a wizard instead of keeping his powers as a half-demon, he lost everything that really made him part demon.

The four women couldn't believe their eyes… in front of them stood a very familiar woman that was also different from how they had known her. Audrey wasn't Audrey anymore… she was… Kagura.

Naraku turned towards the captive women and regarded them with a smug look.

"Ladies, I summoned you here so you could witness," he began but was rudely interrupted by Jane, who shouted at him that they didn't need to witness this, but he continued, "your death."

The room became painfully silent as the three women swallowed nervously.

They looked at Kagura, who seemed to be floating above the floor and became petrified. Would Naraku use their old friend to kill them? Then again, Kagura didn't seem to remember them. She pretty much looked like a killing machine.

"What is the matter, Caroline? Cat got your tongue this time?" Lady Caroline heard Kagura say and all her previous thoughts withered in her mind.

"I shall have my precious weapon kill you," Naraku said, waving a hand at Kagura who said something in Japanese before waving her fan at the three women. Lady Caroline and Jane died instantly, wide-eyed, but Kaede glowed with a bright miko barrier floating around her. It was obvious that Naraku had not foreseen this; it even looked like Kaede was surprised herself.

Kagome felt rather alone without the presence of Sango that she'd become accustomed to. She felt bad for her dear friend, and pitied her for having married that strange man. Miroku, Kagome thought, was surely mad. To come to Naraku's house and threaten to kill him… that was overly dramatic and too exaggerated for her taste.

Inuyasha, however, was a whole different matter. Every time her thoughts strayed towards him, she felt the tell-tale butterflies lining up in her stomach before taking a run and floating around. She could still feel their first kiss on her lips. Taste his lingering fragrance in her mouth…

He was driving her crazy, even if he wasn't there.

She didn't feel like a whore for wanting him; not anymore. It felt too right to be with him. She didn't care she had a husband… the man could be dead for all she knew. She doubted he would ever return, and was sure that even if he did she could never grow to love him.

These were all thoughts meant to convince her that he was, indeed, the thing she needed.

Sipping from her tea cup, she briefly thought a visit to Tsubaki's house was in order.

"Put this wench in the dungeon again! She shall feel the lingering effects of loneliness," Naraku hissed, looking Tsubaki in the eye, daring her to defy him. She lowered her gaze before nodding, a clear gesture of submission, before doing as told.

This left Naraku alone to his devices, as Kagura cleaned off the traces of her former friends she'd killed.

It was ironic, he thought, the way she had actually lost her heart when she finally had it back.

Pacing furiously, the wizard cursed the old woman for only now showing her miko powers. Had he been aware of them, he could have done something about it…

After a few minutes, when he realised Tsubaki wasn't heading back, he swiftly turned his head towards his new incarnation, harshly ordering her, "Stay here," before opening the closet and dressing into his favourite costume.

"Tsubaki," Kagome squealed, studying the woman that was descending the stairs. Her smile, however, fell from her lips when she noticed the weary look on her best friend's face. Kagome didn't know this person very well, but it was her only friend – her best friend, everyone said – and she would cling to that. Somewhere, in a deserted corner of her mind, she could clearly see Kikyou's face smiling back at her, but she decided to push the vision aside. Yes, Kikyou was her friend, too, but she needed to be reacquainted with her before actually calling her a friend. Kikyou hadn't come to visit her and see how she was; Tsubaki had.

"Is something wrong?" Kagome said as Tsubaki engulfed her in a crushing embrace, not letting her go for a while. Kagome patted her on the back, realising that maybe this time Tsubaki needed a friend to be there for her. She'd been selfish, Kagome realised. She'd seen Tsubaki exhausted and sad before, the few times she had visited here, but the woman tried to hide it in her presence, probably not to trouble her, and Kagome had not taken this into consideration.

"Tell me so we can fix it. Is it one of your meetings?"

When Tsubaki raised her head from the other's shoulder, Kagome noticed with great surprise that Tsubaki's eyes were full of tears. The slightly taller and usually stoic woman quickly wiped her face with the back of her hands, turning on her heels so Kagome wouldn't witness her weakness.

"This is stupid of me," Kagome hear her whisper desperately. "Showing weakness like this. I know better."

Kagome rushed to her friend, placing a tentative hand on her back and rubbing soothing circles.

"Life is difficult and things almost never turn out the way they should," Kagome said wisely, "but if you lose hope and faith things cannot come around."

Tsubaki stiffened and turned around, locking gazes with Kagome as if she had had a revelation. Kagome smiled up at her.

"What brings you here?" Tsubaki said between carefully hidden sobs.

"Not important. I wanted to speak to you about something, but now it seems like you need me."

"No, seriously. Talk to me. Is there something wrong?"

"That is exactly what I should ask."

"A meeting-gone-bad," Tsubaki rushed to explain. "It was… they called me… ugh, Kagome, you shouldn't even know the language they used. And all because I am a woman representing my House. It is unacceptable! But tell me…"

"Inuyasha," Kagome explained in a single word.

"Are you together?" Tsubaki asked, suddenly excited.

"Yes, we are. I have finally managed to get over the fact that I am still married." She looked at her golden wedding band and seemed to ponder something. "Actually, I," she said and took the ring off her finger. "I don't need this anymore," she said resolutely and Tsubaki smiled.

"Good."

"What do you think I should do?" Kagome asked timidly. She wanted to know the opinion of someone else. She wanted to know Tsubaki's opinion. The latter looked at her with suddenly serious eyes, holding her gaze with her own.

"It is quite obvious that you love him. I think you loved him from Day One. You should give yourself the chance at happiness, since it was taken from you. Be happy with him, Kagome," Tsubaki wished her and Kagome almost cried of joy when she hugged the hell out of the woman in front of her.

"You are the best," she whispered in Tsubaki's ear, swinging her back and forth in the embrace.

A/N: Isn't Tsubaki slick? Hmm... hope you liked it.