Deserted 25: Explanations

Warning: Coarse language.

Naraku watched silently, patiently. What had started as a plot to gain insurance money from the explosion of one of his older yachts, had turned into something far more dangerous, and he thrived on it. He could taste the fear in the air, could see Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's anxious glances as they rallied to guard their pitiful pack.

Oh, yes. He knew precisely who the vacationers had been the moment Bankotsu had called to tell him that a yacht had been requested for a graduation getaway. He'd been thrilled that he could finally cash in on his insurance policy. He needed the extra cash, but was even more pleased when Bankotsu faxed a copy of the guest list.

It was a bonus to end Sesshomaru's existence. Sesshomaru's business ventures had ended in the buyout of the company Naraku had worked for several years earlier, mere weeks before he'd planned to take over the business himself by way of seducing its owner.

Money was a strong motivator. It had taken a year to gain Nasumi's trust, a year longer to gain her heart. It would have worked, but Sesshomaru's company had reached a private deal with Nasumi in a buyout she'd told him nothing about.

Naraku was angry, seething in fact. The woman he'd spent years seducing, had sold the only real interest he'd had in her. But when she offered a vacation to Italy wrapped in marriage proposals and trust accounts, he'd jumped aboard, ending her life only months after their wedding in an 'accident' that left him as sole heir to her vast accounts.

With Nasumi's riches, Naraku bought the marina. What better way to smuggle drugs and weapons in and out of the country than on fast moving ships under the guise of vacationing customers? At first the money poured in; drug lords from all over the world enlisted his fleet in their trafficking endeavors. His operation grew by staggering proportions, money hitting his offshore accounts faster than he could count.

When the government began its crack down on the drugs and weapons hitting its shores, business slowed drastically as one by one his investors were arrested. Little by little his vast enterprise was depleted of the income it needed to sustain his extravagant tastes. But Naraku wasn't an idiot. He'd covered his tracks well, giving his investors the fake name of Muso Onigumo, and a fake company name as well. He kept his name off any documents pertaining to his illegal activities, leaving the authorities scurrying to find a nonexistent fugitive. Watching the government scurry like rats in a cheese maze had amused him for months.

With 'Muso' as the scape goat, Naraku was in the clear, free to find 'other' ways to boost his reduced income. He hired Bankotsu to manage the marina; Naraku remained in the background, keeping his ownership of the marina between them. He preferred his anonymity; it was easier to pull the strings from behind the curtain, and Bankotsu was more than happy to play the part of business owner.

With Bankotsu, Naraku devised a plan to defraud the insurance company out of millions. Had he known the interest Bankotsu held in the female on Inuyasha's arm, he may have assigned someone else to insure that their plan went off without a hitch. An oversight on his part, but one he planned to correct very soon.

Inuyasha's bitch looked familiar, though her identity escaped him. A trivial matter, considering the other matters competing for his attention.

Every stitch of his plan was unraveling, quicker than he could repair. Naraku was determined to correct the miscalculation and end the groups pitiable existence before word ever got out that they had survived the explosion. Narrowing his gaze on the man pacing alone on the island Sesshomaru had escorted him to, Naraku silently debated the best course of action to get said demon off the island without Sesshomaru and Inuyasha noticing. Too bad he didn't have any way to create a distraction without bringing attention to himself...

Yelling caught Naraku's attention and once again his gaze slid back to Sesshomaru's group, his eyes resting on the woman he recognized, but couldn't place. It seemed they were about to gift him with the distraction he needed.

"Don't touch me!"

Naraku narrowed his eyes on the two combatants on the beach. Trouble in paradise? Naraku smiled, his eyes sliding between Inuyasha and his bitch.

"Kagome... I'm sor-"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" the woman snarled. Naraku watched as she climbed unsteadily to her feet, never once removing her eyes from the hanyou. Inuyasha stood as well, his ears dropping into his hair - a sure sign of the emotional turmoil the wench was causing him. Inuyasha took a step forward and his bitch retreated two, her back slamming into the human male who was trying in vain to control the situation.

"Just let me-" The half-demon was cut off before he could finish the sentence. Naraku found it amusing that for all his power, the half-demon couldn't control one human female.

"No. NO! You've said more than enough already! When we get off this godforsaken island, I want a fucking divorce! I won't be married or mated to a man who thinks I am nothing more than a whore!"

A divorce, huh? Interesting. He was beginning to understand Bankotsu's emotional involvement, and it made sense now why the demon was in such a hurry to get the explosives set up. The female had been his, but had clearly up and married the half-demon instead.

It was good to know. It made manipulating Bankotsu that much easier.

"Kagome..."

"Do you think I enjoyed what Bankotsu did to me? Do you have any idea how horrifying it is to have something so disgusting - so defiling - ravaging your flesh with no one there to help you? Do you have any idea what it's like to have someone tearing at your clothes as they shove your face in the dirt?"

Bankotsu was capable of many things, but the near-rape of Inuyasha's bitch came as a surprise. Bankotsu had never wanted for female company. His looks were enough the garner the attention of more women than he could easily keep up with. So why Kagome? Why force himself on this female when there were literally hundreds waiting in the wings for one show of Bankotsu's interest?

Inuyasha snarled, stepped forward and reached to pull the woman toward him. The instant his hands closed over her shoulders, he jerked back, the demons surrounding them moving away while the humans of the group shifted forward.

Kagome's aura flared bright, her voice lowered with malicious undertones as she warned the hanyou away. "Don't you ever touch me again, Inuyasha. Never again!"

Naraku was salivating. There were few women who could sustain that amount of power, fewer still who, like Inuyasha's female, were stifling the power that raged through their very souls. Kagome, as the others referred to her, could have the world in the palm of her hand if she so desired it. And even if she didn't want that power, Naraku did.

Now the burns Bankotsu had suffered months prior made sense. The demon had walked away with his life, telling Naraku more about the woman who'd delivered the injury. She didn't kill for the pleasure of it, only using her power in defense of herself or others. But given the right motivation, Naraku knew he could use her too, as he had so many others.

The woman would be his, and he'd use everyone at his disposal to guarantee it. It was time to retrieve Bankotsu.

Shifting into miasma was easy. Withdrawing any signs of that miasma was harder still, though he was able to manage it. He kept his eyes angled toward the beach, his progress slow as he began to inch over the water toward the island that caged Bankotsu.

A tickle on his memory drew Naraku's eyes to Kagome once more. He'd tried once, years before, to convince a local shrine owner to part with his lovely granddaughter. But the worthless old man had denied his every attempt; the young woman left the shrine shortly after. Naraku had spent precious months searching in vain for her, but had given up in favor of taking over Nasumi's vast holdings.

Kagome looked like the young woman from the shrine. A bit older, yes, but the hair and eyes were the right coloring. Could she be the same young woman from the shrine?

He wondered if she'd remember him when the time for introductions came about.

Making his way to Bankotsu was a time-consuming process, but that didn't mean that Naraku continued without amusement. A great many enemies turned tail and ran when faced with his miasma, but it was even more amusing to find that sea life was just as frightened of him. Even sharks, predators of the ocean, scurried away from his presence like schools of fish might scurry away from them.

Naraku arrived at the island just before sunrise, scooping an unsuspecting Bankotsu into his clutches and rendering the unsuspecting demon unconscious within seconds. But the return trip to the opposite side of the island posed new dangers. Naraku found himself unable to control the surges in his miasma with Bankotsu's added weight.

With narrowed eyes, Naraku watched Inuyasha stir from his place at the water's edge, a gloriously naked Kagome draped over his chest. It seemed this female could forgive as fast as she could be angered, and Naraku smiled in anticipation.

With a surge of miasma, Naraku launched himself over the ocean, disappearing around the outer edge of the island just as the sun broke over the horizon.

But judging by the surge in youki he felt, Naraku was certain the pack congregating on the beach was far more aware of him than he'd initially given them credit for.

It took some time to find a location that offered both protection from the weather and a place to hide should Sesshomaru or the others come looking. A crevice in the cliff-face caught his attention and Naraku slid through the entrance.

Once settled, Naraku waited for Bankotsu to stir. A check through th demon's pockets produced a cell phone, powered up and broadcasting data, leaving Naraku snarling in anger. Didn't this idiot know that cell phones came equipped with a GPS locator, and by initiating a call, he had sent a signal to anyone looking? He may as well have called the police screaming, "Hey, here we are, come get us!"

Naraku studied the number Bankotsu had called and smiled gleefully when he realized that instead of calling the coast guard, Bankotsu had called his mercenary buddies to rescue him. While there could be others honing in on their GPS location, Bankotsu's friends still had a head start.

Now that more recruits were on their way, Naraku smashed the cell phone in his hand.

They'd wait for the others to arrive before attacking Sesshomaru's pack. While he was impatient, Naraku wasn't stupid. He and Bankotsu stood little chance alone against a pack as diversified as Sesshomaru's had become, especially now that there was a miko among them.

They'd wait, and meanwhile, he collect more information from Bankotsu, who was finally showing signs of life. When crimson clashed with ice blue, and Naraku could see recognition flash in the younger demon's eyes, he asked, "Hello, Bankotsu. I do believe there is something you've neglected to share with me? Something involving a miko?"

Darkness fell over them like the closing of a coffin - cold, dark, and eerily silent. The group had merged, seeking comfort in one another. The male demons of the entourage guarded the outer flanks, the women listless within the tight confines of their camp. Within the circle, Miroku worked with Kagome. Explaining the workings of the power she wielded had become top priority.

Within the first hour she had managed to harness her power, isolating and containing each controlled burst to her hands only. Inuyasha watched from the outskirts, as were the other demons that made up the pack, each wary of the power the small woman possessed.

In four hours' time, Kagome had managed to transfer her power to inanimate objects; rocks were her first accomplishment, followed by tree branches, and finally Miroku, who seemed at ease with being the conductor of her purification abilities.

She seemed a natural-born priestess, able to manipulate her powers, controlling small bursts so as not to harm her friends. She was especially good at tempering it, astounding even Miroku as he could barely pinpoint the power she'd caged so effortlessly.

"Now that we know you can cage it, do you think you can create a barrier?" Miroku questioned.

"That wouldn't be wise, Miroku." Sesshomaru said as he made his way closer, his gaze lifting to verify that Koga had shifted his guard to include the area he'd recently abandoned.

"It would be best to see how much Kagome can control. If she can form a barrier, it could help ease our guard so we can at least take turns to sleep," Miroku argued.

"Demon's need very little sleep, Miroku. We can make due with what we have. By having Kagome attempt a barrier, we may as well announce to those watching that we have a priestess within our ranks."

"You don't think they already know? Kagome's display of power last night with Inuyasha should have been enough to broadcast to anyone watching that she was a priestess with immense powers. It isn't many, Sesshomaru, who even have this ability. It's even fewer that can harness it as efficiently as Kagome has. We should be working with her to use this ability to aid in our survival, not cage her so she has to be dependent on all of us to do the fighting."

Sesshomaru tilted his head, eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of movement. Sensing nothing, Sesshomaru focused instead on the young woman his brother had taken as his mate. There were few, if any, miko remaining in this era. Any born with the ability were lost to time, unrecognized and untrained. These women simply faded into the past. And yet, how was it that Inuyasha had not only found one, but had mated her as well?

"You've had some training-" Not a question, nor a demand for information, Sesshomaru simply waited for Kagome's reply.

Kagome glanced down at her fingers, her heart dropping as she realized the implications of what Sesshomaru was asking. She had been trained - a long time ago when shrines still stood for something, and people still believed in the impossible.

Her grandfather was the first to recognize the power she'd been born with. He'd begun training her before she could talk. His lessons became part of her daily routine, often becoming more important than her schooling. She learned the history behind their shrine and as she grew, he began training her to to wield the power that burned so bright in her soul.

There had been numerous occasions when she'd been noticed by others for her position at the shrine, their interest spurned by her abilities alone. Both humans and demons alike were drawn to the power she possessed. But not all that interest was positive.

So many were power-hungry, propositioning her grandfather with marriage proposals and wealth well before her fifteenth birthday, all for the chance to lay claim to both her body and her abilities. Marriage to a shrine priestess would bring honor and prestige within their communities. But to most, the illusion of using her abilities to further their own private ambitions was a biggest motivator. So many were willing to pay for the blessings of a shrine priestess, and so many others were willing to to take advantage of her position to further their own wealth.

She'd been raised to nurture the faith and hope that their shrine stood for and had striven to be everything that was expected of her. But faith and hope had faded beneath the demand for power. It wasn't long before she realized that her power was both a blessing and a curse. Many were willing to kill for power, willing to use any method at their disposal to acquire what they either didn't naturally have, or didn't naturally have enough of.

So she'd left the shrine in favor of college. She buried her abilities so deep that there were a few years where she'd forgotten it completely. But that was the problem, wasn't it? She'd buried it so deeply that she'd forgotten how to use it, how to control it. It was why Bankotsu had been hurt so badly, and why Ayame had nearly lost her life to it as well.

She'd thought she was doing right by hiding it. And now that she needed it, after so many years of neglecting her gift, she wasn't sure she could access the control she'd once had.

"I have had training... a long time ago. I used to be able to control it." Kagome whispered, shame highlighting her skin.

It didn't take long to fill them in on her past. It was hard to share something so personal with everyone, but if she wanted them to trust her, to feel safe around her, then she reasoned it was best to clear the air.

So she started with her grandfather, the shrine, and the training she'd received. She told them of the reasons she'd abandoned that part of her life, ending with, "I'm not sure if I can remember all my training- you have to know that. I won't intentionally hurt you... any of you-" Kagome murmured, her gaze shifting over each member of the group, coming to rest on Inuyasha. "-but I'm willing to try if you are."

A/N: I seem to do this with every installment of this story, lol. But I am sorry about the wait.

This has been written and re-written so many times, and to be honest, I'm still not liking it.

*sigh*... oh well. I hope you all enjoy it, and I hope that I haven't lost anyone due to my lack of regular updates.

I have a good start on the next chapter, though (as always) I won't promise a post date.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas should I not get back before then.

I hope you and yours are well and happy, and that the holidays bring you everything your hearts desire.

*hugs*

I miss hearing from you all!

Neisha