Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Inuyasha, or really any other property. Thank you.
Being Alive
Chapter XVII: Echoes of the Past
Inuyasha:
Great, this Naraku guy wasn't anywhere. That was what he was figuring out now. They'd found places where he'd been, but they'd not found him. They'd not even found more of his incarnations since they'd fought the two in the village with Miroku. Every clue they overturned seemed to just point them in another direction, and it was getting more than a little frustrating. But if that were their only problem, maybe things would be easier.
There was a tension around things since Sesshoumaru had let Naraku's incarnation go as well.
What was more disturbing though, was the fact they were actively being tracked by his other brother. The human, Miroku, still wasn't aware of it, but Inuyasha knew, and if he knew, Sesshoumaru knew. Really, they should have doubled back and turned on them over a week ago. He was guessing what Sesshoumaru, well, the other Sesshoumaru, was doing. He was waiting for the right time to strike at them, probably during the end of the lunar cycle. Why was a bit up in the air, but he was guessing, oh revenge? Maybe that, considering Inuyasha knew that his older brother? Damn it that was getting weird. Well, the other one of him, had bested him the last time they fought.
"Look, up ahead," Miroku sounded. "This is where the auras lead us, what about your sense?"
The question fell on the two of them, and Inuyasha sniffed at the air several times.
"Village," he confirmed. "I'd be surprised if Naraku was here."
"Abandoned village," Sesshoumaru pointed out. "The scents here are all old. And there is death hidden behind it."
Great. Just what we need, to walk into a corpse-covered village, that has Naraku's scent and aura nearby.
They'd been to a fort already, with dead soldiers in it, but really? Villages now? What the Hell was going on?
Supposedly this Naraku guy preferred hiding, but he was working so clearly out in the open, every demon from here to the coast would have known whatever this thing was doing. Even the humans were on high alert, looking for demons and evil spirits. Which of course, made their own lives more complicated come to think of it…
"Think he's here? Or one of his incarnations?" Inuyasha asked.
"I doubt it," Miroku confirmed. "If there is anything here that he left behind, it's most probably a trap."
When the town came into view, it was more than awkward, but Inuyasha had to bridge the subject somehow. Those last two incarnations of Naraku they fought were more thank powerful enough to kill him or Miroku. In fact, if they'd played things smarter, they might have killed Sesshoumaru even, given he was fighting with one hand behind his back. So, what the Hell did you say? He needed to be tactful in how he made the remark. It was more of a favour, right? If Sesshoumaru couldn't swing the blade, or stab the claw in this instance, well, nothing was stopping him.
"If. If that crazy Wind Sorceress is here," Inuyasha warned. "You don't need to worry about dealing with her, I'll kill her before she can get any of those spells off."
There was a silence that permeated their triumvirate as soon as he spoke. Well, it didn't seem too badly received…
"Inuyasha, you're such an idiot," Miroku sighed.
"What? We talked about this the other day, remember? Her being a huge threat and my brother here letting her go? She's going to try and kill us again. I understand there is some history there, I get it-"
"Remember the part where I told you that your brother was also not likely to appreciate the idea?"
"Well if you have any better ideas, Miroku, I'm all ears, but I'm telling you that the best plan of action is either you or I finish her off, while Sesshoumaru-"
"Inuyasha," Sesshoumaru's voice spoke up, his tone quiet and bordering on the dangerous. The two of them stopped as he looked back at them, specifically, at him. The set of golden eyes were more than annoyed.
I probably should have found a better way to phrase that.
Miroku immediately stepped away from him, leaving to Inuyasha giving him a sideways look.
"Yea, thanks," he muttered.
"I'm merely getting distance for your own safety," Miroku was quick to say, looking nervous.
"My own safety?"
"Monk," Sesshoumaru said bluntly. "It would be wise if you scouted ahead."
The familiar jingle of Miroku's staff danced through the air as their counterpart began to walk forward, looking back at the pair for a split second before continuing on his way forward. It'd not really been anything he expected, as he was expecting for his brother to punch him again, or demand he leave. Instead, there was again silence. He was guessing he was thinking of what the best course of action was, but still, it was unnerving.
"The monk and your person have a misunderstanding of what took place with Kagura," Sesshoumaru said coldly. "I am also not the arbiter of her fate."
"Oh yea, sure, that's why your spared her, multiple times, right? I saw the battle at the village," Inuyasha scoffed, folding his arms and turning his head up arrogantly. "Look, just admit that you have a weak spot, and I'll take care of it. It's that easy."
It took Inuyasha only a second to realize Sesshoumaru's claws were glowing. He took an uneasy step back. Even if he visibly wasn't enraged at the moment, Inuyasha was guessing that there was a great deal of anger stemming from the other demon. He probably should have kept his mouth shut.
I've gotta calm things down, but he really can't expect us to just stand back and let her try and kill us. Especially if there are other demons out there.
"This is a subject you're not prepared for the answers for, but your assessment is wrong," the other demon said, his tone beginning to rise with a tinge of anger on its fringes. "But I decide what we're doing. And I will take care of that problem should it arise. Why you would think you could harm any of Naraku's incarnations on your own, without a greater means of power, is even more foolish."
Oh, so now he was just flatly ordering him around too? Well Sesshoumaru had another thing coming. It would be one thing to deflect any of this, it was enough to tell him he was a weakling.
"It's a we thing now? I thought I was just going in the same direction," Inuyasha shot back, clearly irritated. "You must really think I'm stupid. I was trying to do you a favour, because I know you're not going to be able to kill her. I saw it, Sesshoumaru. We both did, you sat by her while she was half-dead all night. Whatever she was to you, I'd forget it. Where ever you came from, this place is different. That's what you told me, remember?"
He was angry right now, because despite this guy being better than his own Sesshoumaru, he was-
Inuyasha felt himself hoisted into the air, claws burning at the edges around his neck before his back thumped into a tree.
"You do not know what you're talking about," Sesshoumaru's response came. "My decisions are not impacted by what you're saying."
Inuyasha managed to give a small grimace of a smile as he was held aloft, though his own hands were around Sesshoumaru's wrist, pulling at it trying to give himself enough leverage to keep himself from choking.
"It's why you came to save me," he managed, making an educated guess. "But we can't take chances, you've got your other you coming after you. You've got Naraku coming after all of us. We can't find him. You've got to start making tough choices. I'm not following you around so you can mope and then die."
The grip only tightened when he spoke, now feeling choked. It was odd, he was offering to kill her not just for himself, but really for him. Whatever bonds he'd had with these other people, none of them shared them with him anymore. That woman was a stone-cold killer, he'd seen it for himself. Was that why they were a thing? The only problem was, what happened when you outgrew that?
Slowly, a look of disdain started to form on his counterpart's face.
"Perhaps I should not have intervened to pull you away from that sword," Sesshoumaru said coldly. "Your arrogance is unchanging. Believing you can involve yourself in affairs which are not your concern."
"Not my concern? She nearly killed Miroku and tried to kill you. Her friend nearly got me, and all on behalf of Naraku. And you're ignoring it because you've got some past with someone who was that person. You're the one who told me not to ask about your past," Inuyasha struggled now. "You told me not to ask about my fate because it didn't matter. Well I am telling you to ignore your past too."
"My past has nothing to do with this."
"I know about the fan."
The grip hardened once more, but he saw something, a look of surprise on his brother's face. It was the chink in the armour, he could tell. It took a few reflexive seconds before her felt the grip loosen, before he felt his back slide down the tree. Immediately, instinctively, Inuyasha rubbed his neck, feeling the burns near the sides. The poison hadn't been intense enough to do serious damage, but it could have been if he'd wanted.
Looking up as soon as he could, he almost wanted to fire back, but instead he guessed he should second guess what a good idea that was. The last idea had him pinned against a tree struggling to breathe.
"I know that It was her fan from where ever you came from, and I know you gave it to her," he said, confirming the details he understood. "If you've been carrying that thing around with you for that long, it had to be important."
"A friend asked me to carry it," he responded. "But I will decide what the best course of action is, Inuyasha."
"Look, I'm the last guy to tell you what to do, which was why I was saying what I thought I should do," Inuyasha tried. "If that fan was that important, then I'm guessing so was she. Look, I don't know how well I'd handle having to fight Kikyo-"
"You are presumptive," Sesshoumaru cut in. "Kagura did not ask me to hold onto the fan. It was someone else close to her. One of Naraku's human puppets was given the opportunity to live, from her. They became very close to someone I knew, they felt I should hold onto the fan."
It was strange, hearing him actually tell him something about himself. The question was how much of it was objective? It didn't matter, either way, he knew killing the Sorceress was probably a bad idea, at least for his own ability to live. He'd already killed the other one, so it was clear Sesshoumaru didn't want to protect these incarnations of Naraku as a whole. It was that one, the one armed with the fan he'd given her.
"They tell you why?" Inuyasha responded. "Because it sounds like they should have held onto the fan, if they liked this demon so much."
The other demon stood there, before looking towards where they were headed. Inuyasha's head turned as well, seeing Miroku in the distance looking back at them, clearly waiting.
"They said it was what she would have wanted," Sesshoumaru responded, beginning to walk down the path they'd set out on. "I will kill Kagura, if I feel it is necessary. Do not concern yourself with it. This discussion is over."
Yea, great.
Pulling himself up, Inuyasha started to follow after, feeling more annoyed with every step.
"Yea, great, we'll just have to deal with her trying to murder us again any day now."
Something crossed Sesshoumaru's face, even if it was only for a split second, but he wasn't sure what it was. Disappointment? Great, he was disappointed in him? Why did he ca-
"Kagura will die by Naraku's hands," Sesshoumaru spoke out, letting the mask slip enough to answer his concern. "Her nature is incompatible with her service to him. She will find a way to die on her own. We don't need to help her on that journey. Let her walk her path."
There was something sad about how he said it, despite the monotonous tone of how the statement was delivered, but all the same Inuyasha believed him. If he really believed that himself, then it was probably all the more tragic. Not that he himself had any great love for Kagura, she was a crazy monster who his brother seemed to save with little reason up until he saw him give her the fan to replace her broken one. Hell, that was one reason he was offering to kill her, just thinking that Sesshoumaru didn't have it in him to finish her off alone, rather than seeing the complicated bundle the problem was. He thought he'd had some kind of relationship with the woman, but in reality, it was how she tied into things. The people he spoke about, he clearly cared about. Maybe they asked him to carry it, because it was something Sesshoumaru would never do on his own.
But that brief slip left Inuyasha with a sense of sympathy he didn't think he was capable of having for his brother.
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Kagura:
Favourable winds, she'd not found, as her feather glided above rocky mountainous terrain, her eyes spying for the alcove which the demon had created for itself. Several human crafted rope and wooden bridges had been erected for travel, but these paths were rarely traversed. In the middle of the day it was hard to traverse such huge landscapes, extending out her journey. It was still liberating to feel the wind beneath her, carrying her on her own current. If she were free, would this be what life was? She imagined it would be.
Still, it was better to keep her mind on the task at hand.
When her feather picked up again as she rose to the next level of incline, she finally spotted what she thought had been in the images of what Naraku had gifted her on their last talk together. There were objects left standing in the open, and she could sense the ground ashes, bones, and graveyard earth inside of them. Each one was under the control of a being outside of her range, but she could disrupt that control with a concentrated effort, if needed.
The air whooshed around her before her feet planted into the ground in front of the humble looking accommodations. Her eyes went to the strange caskets, but they didn't seem to respond to her at all, nor did the… pseudo corpses inside of them. Red eyes peered over the landscape before she started to walk forward carefully, her feet pressing against the ground as she gradually made her way forward, before heading the tip of wood pressing against the ground firmly.
Turning her attention to her left, Kagura eyed the old woman's figure as she emerged.
"Isn't this interesting, you didn't even set off my alarms. A demon? Yes, a demon… but no true demon…" the woman spoke as her eyes burrowed into Kagura, who glared back at her. "I can sense the aura… three auras… but no soul."
Narrowing her eyes dangerously, Kagura snapped open her fan. Calling her soulless was a step beyond what she was willing to accept. Though as soon as she did, the demon smiled back at her… or rather… smiled back at her fan?
"My mistake," she responded, before looking back at her.
"You are the demon Urasue?" Kagura asked, her expression already displaying her disgust for this old woman.
Whatever this creature was, she could tell she was vile in nature. Her own sense of smell wasn't that of a dog-demons, but she could smell the stench of corpses and graveyard soil all around them. Naraku had been right to describe her as necromancer.
"I am," she responded, her old lips parting into a smile. "And who do I greet to my humble home?"
"I am Kagura, incarnation of Naraku," she responded coolly. "Naraku wishes to grant you an audience."
The old woman seemed to think for a moment, her smile never leaving her features as she looked up and down, left and right, her finger on her chin as if she was in thought. She was mocking her, and already Kagura's patience was running thin.
"I've never heard the name Naraku, but I am guessing he is why you did not trigger my trap, incarnation?" she asked her, her tone confirming her mocking of her. "I really must find out how he keeps you animated as you are, whoever he is. The work that must have gone into crafting a being such as yourself is immeasurable."
Assessing her like she was an object was as far as Kagura wanted to hear anything from this old rotten thing.
"Naraku wishes for your services, and is willing to conduct negotiations which are favourable to you," Kagura spoke up, ignoring the remarks so far.
"I told you before, girl, I don't know who this Naraku is, or what he can offer me… but I am sure that you are a very interesting sight. What sorcery created such a soulless husk?"
"Call me soulless one more time, old woman," Kagura warned.
"There!" the old woman almost shrieked, pointing at her chest. "I can see it, even now, I can see it's hand in your chest, puppet. How brilliant, a puppet which believes it doesn't have strings. This Naraku must be a true artisan."
Her lip curled with anger at the repeated accusation before the old woman made several quick steps back, smiling as she did.
"I think it may be appropriate that we negotiate here, and now, do you not?" she asked. "I have no interest in working with this demon that you call a master. If he needs my aid, then what he needs from me is very narrow. I will not see him in person for I know as all demons would, he could betray me."
Fighting it is.
Beginning to step forward, Kagura smiled as she heard the clay coffins snapping, and breaking apart. The bodies made of soulless pottery remained totally still however, as their remnants simply stood there, motionless. Urasue seemed to look between all of them with a concerned expression. Kagura took another step forward, her fan looming at her side as the corpse-crafted creatures began to turn towards their master.
"I am afraid that I am not subject you the plans of an old hag," Kagura remarked as the hordes of soldiers began to hatch, each one coming under her command as she fused their will to her own.
"Very good," the old woman said, her lips parting into a wolfish grin, which was the only thing that even briefly gave Kagura pause. "But you have failed to appreciate your place, puppet. Did your creator truly believe a soulless lump of meat could come here and overtake me?"
Flicking her fan forward, a series of talons cut through the air, aiming to cut the creature to pieces. Her stick turned into a scythe however, slashing at the air two times, golden arcs of energy crashing into the wind as the two sets of attacks cancelled one another out. The edge of the scythe seemed to change colour a moment later, shifting from gold to blue, before it cut out against her several times. Throwing up her fan once more, blades carried through the air, intent on countering them once more in the same way. She was focusing her wind in the area into a storm, however, it all came to a sudden halt. Her blades cut clear through the incoming attacks, never touching them. She slashed in front of herself with her fan's edge. Trying to block the strike once more, but saw them pass through her. Her own Dance of Blades had missed, but now she felt herself
The old woman was grinning at her as Kagura took a step forward, irritated at what she saw as a diversion.
Her entire body pulsed however, as she felt the blood in her body freeze in place. Kagura's expression went from one of irritation and aggression, to shock as she felt her free hand come up, clutching at the heart that wasn't there, nor its effects.
"Poor thing," the woman remarked as Kagura felt her knees buckle under her as she tried desperately to breathe, feeling her motor skills beginning to fade, along with her consciousness. "I told you, nothing but a puppet. All it took was cutting your strings."
Cutting… My… My heart.
She felt terrified, before she felt herself simply fall to the side.
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Sesshoumaru the Elder:
"I see the two of you are done speaking?" Miroku asked, appearing as formal as he could be.
He decided not to answer the inquiry, instead, pressing forward until he saw the edge of the now very much abandoned village. Behind him, he heard silence, thankfully, from Inuyasha as well. The sound of the monk following his path however, came up alongside Inuyasha's.
The demonic auras that were once here still lingered in the air, but were very much the past tense. The stench of death filled his nostrils in a real way, even a human would have noticed it. Combined with the scent of Naraku, he knew something had transpired here. Wrecked homes and shattered buildings littered the landscape as they came closer. There were blood splatters on different pieces of wrecked structure, but all of it was human. Whoever was responsible for this, had strength and power in significant measures. It was likely a detachment, as Naraku himself rarely dirtied his hands.
Perhaps demons formed from his body in lesser form as well.
There were no bodies, but he could easily guess as to why. The bodies were needed for some other purpose. The bodies themselves were likely the reason for the attack itself.
"Wow," Inuyasha managed, looking over the destruction. "The entire village? Why?"
"A foul ritual may have required more bodies or souls," Miroku said, his voice strained. "So, the attack came, and stripped these people of their lives. This creature's evil knows no bounds."
"Its bounds exist," Sesshoumaru stated, almost without thinking. "But humans do not venture into such calculus."
"You've really gotta tell us more about Naraku," Inuyasha said bluntly. "Right now, we've got, evil guy, half-demon, wants to kill us, cursed Miroku, shape shifter, and dies in the future. Also, knew me and Kikyo, but I don't remember him."
As irritating as it was, his half-demon brother was right. Adjusting his head slightly to peer back at them, Sesshoumaru spoke.
"Naraku claims the full power of the Shikon Jewel for himself where I came from, and nearly killed the Monk, Miroku, as well as myself, yourself, and your future wives," he spoke out clearly. "He also is destroyed and purified by a priestess, after his body is destroyed. He creates many incarnations, some of which to even protect parts of his body, but all are destroyed before his end. They took on the form of children of varying ages, as well as men and women, and other times beasts of unknown origins, but all of them died at either Naraku's hands themselves, or at the hands of you and your friends, including Miroku. He also pits you and I against one another in several attempts for him to obtain his revenge against you, through myself."
"Naraku would create plots, resurrecting the dead from long ago, empowering ancient enemies of our father using the Shikon Jewel, or attempting any trap he possible could, in order to destroy anyone who got in his way," Sesshoumaru concluded. "Using the jewel at every turn to lure in those greedy and weak enough to believe he would share that power with him."
There was a long pause between the two figures near him.
"You mean, I know him?" Miroku asked, pointing at Inuyasha. "In the future, your future?"
"Yes," Sesshoumaru answered. "You are noted for your thieving and lechery, according to the others."
"Well, I'm glad not everything is different where you're from," Miroku said, sounding relieved. "And that explains how you knew about the Wind Tunnel."
"Hey, wait a second, my future wife?" Inuyasha said, sounding shocked. "Did you just say I got married?"
That's what you focus on? I thought the monk was the pervert.
"In telling you about the destruction of our enemy, the end of his incarnations, as well as his plans to have us kill one another, and the assortment of plots he may try to divulge, and your first question is to confirm to me that you married at a later date?" Sesshoumaru asked, narrowing his eyes on his half-brother.
Even the monk turned to face him, as the half-demon remained silent for several seconds, angrily crossing his arms.
"What? I listened to everything else," Inuyasha declared. "I just wanted to confirm that part."
"Inuyasha, name three other things Sesshoumaru said."
"Naraku gets the jewel, his incarnations all die… and…"
The passage of second drew on as Sesshoumaru felt increasingly foolish for having said anything.
"And I get married to some random woman in the future who Naraku nearly kills, along with me and everyone else," Inuyasha concluded.
"I said other things," Miroku sighed. "Thank you, Sesshoumaru, for sharing with us the information you have, even if its not in great detail, it can be helpful for us to plan our next move."
"Hey, did you mention he'd set traps and what not?" Inuyasha asked a moment later. "Because if you think about it, wouldn't this place be great for a trap?"
A dozen demons broke through the earth beyond them, ripping through the ground as hellish insects poured into the air, all of them diving towards them.
"See? You can listen," Miroku said.
Drawing his sword without a second thought, Sesshoumaru cut forward. A wave of green energy rolled forward like a rogue wave, cutting across the air and ground. The buildings, already destroyed, were vaporized in its direction. The demons howled for only a few moments before their bodies turned to little more than corroded embers.
As the attack settled, he sheathed his blade once more, turning his attention to the others.
"I mean, what chance does Naraku have against you?" Inuyasha said, sounding half amused, and half in wonder.
Before he could retort, Sesshoumaru felt something. Reaching into his kimono where he'd kept the fan for decades, he sensed something, as if it was lost. Searching the area in front of him, he felt his head lower for a moment before he withdrew his hand, turning and beginning to walk over the ruins he'd helped create.
It hadn't taken long, only a few weeks since their encounter with one another. Just as he'd told Inuyasha, Kagura would find a way to die on her own, without their assistance. As much as this world could have changed, it instead seemed to be on the path to stay the same. Perhaps that was for the best.
"Not in the mood to celebrate?"
"What's there to celebrate? That was pitiful," Sesshoumaru said in response. "Let's continue until dark. I don't want to waste time."
It was impossible to hide some of the resentment from his voice. He doubted very much, that this Kagura experienced anything close to freedom. How he knew she'd died, he'd not fully known, though he did understand how power could be put into an object. His blood had bled on the fan, and he'd carried it for decades, almost a century, even. It had perhaps become connected to him. When its user fell, he felt it, even if subtly. But he knew it was there.
A small part of him had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that Kagura would find a way to free herself. All hope was foolish, inevitably, but to have a second chance, with the pieces arranged differently, there might have been something close to it. Instead, it was cut short, even for his own time.
Bakusaiga was the last piece of his old life. It was forged from himself, and it was all that remained.
The wind picked up, if only gently, before he looked towards the mountains in the distance, as if sensing where the tether had been cut.
You deserved your freedom, Kagura.
Her passing gave him a moment of clarity. He would need to confront the other Sesshoumaru, before the end of the lunar cycle.
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Urasue:
How delicious.
A random demon sought her attention, but had instead fed her more information of sorcery and flesh-crafting. Whoever it was, had thought her a silly fool. She was no one to be lured in by promises of power. Her life had extended into the centuries through her willingness to not conform to others. Knowledge which she possessed, she'd stripped from others, dissecting and ripping from them everything she needed in order to improve her own craft.
Working with this Naraku was antithetical to all that she was. But seeing how his puppets were put together, that was more than fascinating to her.
She heaved the body of the Sorceress to one side. For a creature with no soul itself, it had been fully animated, it even had a personality. Perhaps, it was an aspect of the demon's personality? That would be fascinating. One piece of its mind and body, made into a new whole, to be a puppet, it's strings still attached at every turn.
How I look forward to seeing how this thing is run.
She reached down, grabbing it by its hair and pulling it up. The lifeless eyes of the corpse looked on in a peaceful, empty fashion. Its clothing was irrelevant, as were any items it had. Though she took note of the feathers she plucked from its head, sensing a mild infusion of power. Reaching down to the fan next, she grasped it, pulling, only to find the fingers still locked around it. It was the source of two of its own aura's. It likely still had power of its own, trying to keep itself fused to its operator. Demonic items such as these could prove very useful for her own plans in the future.
With her other hand, she pried the fingers off, one by one, before pulling it aside.
"How fascinating, I can sense the power here… it's old, at least older than the body that holds it," she remarked, looking over the object before tossing it towards the side, letting it lay upon the ground in her hut before disrobing the corpse next.
A marking on its back, like a spider, and other scars on its front and leg. It was a demon, which normally would have healed all but the most severe injuries. Through the spider she could sense where the spiritual connection had been. It was more than just a mark on the flex in the exterior. It was in every way the connection this body had. Within, she could see its heart was gone. Was its soul in the hands of another? Or was that simply just an item kept from the body for other reasons?
A demon without a heart would be very difficult to kill.
Propping the body up, she looked over its face once, before investigating the body. Its likeness was probably stolen from another, or was based on Naraku's appearance itself. Whoever this Naraku was, she would discover the extent to which he had mastered this craft.
"I will be opening that pretty body of yours for its secrets all too soon. I wonder if I could perfect such a creation myself? Then where would you master be, I wonder?" she asked aloud, her smile returning to her face.
How she would adore her own puppets.
Turning about, she moved to grab the blade she had prepared. She would need to take this thing apart, piece by piece, in order to see all of its parts and how they worked together, both physically and spiritually.
"You certainly were powerful," she commented again, bringing the blade up. "I can only imagine how powerful your master is. But I am no fool. I will take leave from this place after I have devoured all that I can from you. But for now… you must teach me a lesson…"
As she stepped forward, chuckled to herself, something felt off. It was like there was a cold wind coming through. Looking behind her to her door, she felt the draft coming through. Opening it, she was surprised to find the wind whistling across the mountain, some of her guards had already been knocked over, smashed, or pulled from their posts to fall from the mountain.
Damn. Where could have such a storm come from, so quickly?
She tired to sense if there was an aura, but it didn't have one. It felt off however.
Her master? No, I don't sense anything of that nature approaching. Nor of any other.
Turning about, she closed the hut's door behind her, ignoring the howls.
"Forgive the interruption," she jokingly told the body. "I just wanted to make sure we did not have guests."
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Kagura:
I just need to recover… from these wounds.
Kagura could hear the voice, it was her own. She could feel the foreign, alien sensation of her heart, beating in her chest. But there was pain. Pain filled every part of her chest, and her lungs barely were able to take in the air. The free air around her was filled with the scent of flowers… but it barely touched her lungs.
Where… where am I?
The last thing she'd remembered was seeing the demon Naraku had sent her to collect. When that wave hit her, she felt herself disconnected from her heart. That was the source of her passing out. Was she dying? Did she die? Was her heart back in her chest? Did Naraku set her free? She took only a few more steps before she could walk no longer.
It was beautiful out here.
The mountain had disappeared, leaving only a… a meadow. The trees bristled in the wind, as she felt herself smile at the sight of it all. Was she free?... was this what it was like to be free? To be able to go where ever she wanted? To see anything that she wanted to see? She wanted to climb into the heavens on a gust of wind and take off. She wanted to see all the things she'd missed, all of the thing's she'd never had before.
But she could barely walk. Nothing seemed to matter but going forward…
And she couldn't.
When she stepped, she felt herself crumble to her knees. Finally, she looked down, seeing the blood drenching down her kimono. It soaked into her clothes; it ran down her arm. It soaked into everything, even her fan. Briefly, she looked at the fan, feeling a connection.
The wind swirled around her, but it wasn't hers. It was just the wind itself… a gift from the world she… she knew she'd be leaving soon.
Footsteps came at her left as her eyes looked up and over to one side, seeing a pair of bare feet walking alongside her.
I'm… I'm going crazy.
There was a woman standing there, looking over her with a smug look on her face, but it was hardly unfamiliar. Was that her own?
"Look at you," she remarked. "You've only been free from Naraku's body for a few months and you're already finished."
She tried to speak, but her lips wouldn't even move.
"If he thought you could be saved, he'd be on his way here," she remarked. "He never admits he cares about anyone, but she remembered it, being where you are now. He came here to see me. She thought he might have even tried to save me."
There was a strange realization running through Kagura's mind as she looked back down at the bloodied fan in her hand, before looking back up at her mirrored image.
"You… you're me?" she managed.
"No," was the short answer. "Not really. That's not how it works. You died."
"These are but echoes of moments," another voice emerged. "Forever remembered in an object."
Next to her image, she could see… Sesshoumaru?
The fan. Power, moments, auras, they could be bound within objects. The old woman had even remarked she'd sensed multiple auras from her. She was in communion with this moment? Or with the blood bound within her fan? The echoes of spirits were talking with her? This was the echo of the Sesshoumaru she'd met, the one that gave her the fan.
This moment.
This was the moment she'd died. It was powerful enough that it was here, bound into it.
"Naraku returned the heart, and pierced the chest," her double spoke up. "He would fill her with poison, and with the desire of her feeling her death alone, hoping she would leave only a cursed memory."
"He came here, unsure as to why himself, but his true self knew he had to try and save her. The Sorceress who would be free at any risk, but the one who would fall short. He did not know for a great length of time, that her reaching out to him, was in desperation," Sesshoumaru's ghost spoke. "Even the sword of the heavens, could not save her."
"Where am I?" she managed.
"You are dying, your heart cut off from your body," he spoke.
"You will die shackled. This memory perhaps provides you with a moment of the freedom, you'll never have."
Looking between the two of them, she felt herself rile in anger. She tried to get up, but nothing would move.
"Can you help me?" she asked, her tone bordering on the desperate. "Please. I'll do anything."
"Even Tenseiga could not help her," the Sesshoumaru remarked.
"Even a heart could not go on."
"Stop it," she spat, feeling her eyes dart around the field around her. "Is there anything you can do? Beyond leaving me here?"
"He would have tried to save you," The ghosts both said, before they looked at one another, and then back to her.
Her double didn't speak, becoming placid, and stepping back, before the delusion of the other one stepped forward. Her looked down at her with pity, the same pity she'd noticed he'd given her before. That was perhaps worst of all. Knowing that he had pity for her. Knowing that she needed pity, or that she needed help at all.
"You can become a slave again," he said. "You can reach out and take hold of the spider's web, and restore yourself."
She knew what that meant. But for now, the heart beating in her chest was a lie anyway, a pleasant lie, given to her by a cursed object, with the memories of two sad people bound within it. She recognized that sadness though, seeing it for what it was. She didn't know this demon beyond seeing him for a few moments in the morning, and seeing him try to kill her the night before. She didn't have any great connection to him, but she could see the inverse.
Without knowing her, even here, even this ghost, was trying to save her. It was like it was trying to make up for some mistake it'd made in the past. That was the sad part of all of this.
"Will you help me do it?"
"… Yes."
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Kagura:
Blood.
Blood coursed through her veins once again as she felt sensations returning. Hearing came first, as a confused noise escaped the other demon.
"I don't understand, the body was unresponsive only moments earlier."
Kagura felt a wound, fresh and open, on her abdomen. Naraku's power flowing back into her body, despite her disdain for him, saw the wound close before she felt her eyes adjust and start functioning again. A bitter lip curled with pure hate as she looked at this ugly old witch. The ogre stepped back, reaching out to grab her scythe as Kagura opened her right hand, even while still laying on her back, like she was some meal to be prepared.
As soon as she did, she felt a pulse of energy draw her fan into her hand. It shot across the room before her fingers wrapped around it. Wind immediately picked up in the room as she felt her power restore itself, brimming past anything she'd ever felt before. The entire hut shattered around them as the Ogre stumbled back, looking around in complete confusion. Unleashing more, and more of the force, at a higher, and higher speed, Kagura sat up, her fan open as the whirlwind too hold around them.
"I am tired of people poking and prodding my body."
Fragments of the straw and wood making up the hut, along with whatever personal effects the woman had, went sweeping into the wind… Kagura's own discarded items not moving at all, seemingly immune to the sweeping movement around them. The pottery-soldiers outside immediately shattered, joining the whirlwind of destruction as the intensity picked up, rocks and stone ripping from the side of the mountain as Kagura felt her fingers burning with energy as the fan glowed under her fingertips.
Urasue's scythe swept back as she fought against the winds around them, her smile having disappeared seemingly permanently as she prepared to try and repeat her previous assault.
"Your body? You speak as if you have anything to say beyond what you were meant to," the hag scowled. "You even believe you have choice. How tragic. Every action you take has been crafted and designed towards your purpose. Even a belief that you are anything other than a doll."
Without as much of a second thought, Kagura felt the fan itself swing forward, almost without her commander. When her arm finished its swing, the entire storm around them intensified once more, only this time the very sun's light seemed caught in the wind itself, leaving them in the blended, bent light around them.
"Wind of Death," she whispered on the wind.
A swirl of toxic green energy joined the whirlwind, blasting through everything. With immediate effect, the flesh on Urasue's face started to melt as a long, horrified scream escaped her would-be killer. The scythe corroded and melted away into nothing, before her clothes melted off her flesh, her flesh following suit. Kagura herself stared on in almost shock as the body of the demon washed away, the remains of her flesh vanishing in the poison wind as her body degenerated into bones, which too started to melt before her.
The scream the ogre had emitted, the shriek, never stopped, even as its flesh and bone were worn away. There was nothing left to scream with, until Kagura's ruby eyes widened in shock as what she knew was Urasue's soul, was ripped from the body, being pulled into the winds themselves as she flailed in agony, pulling back against it as her body vanished beneath her.
"AHHH!"
Its howl didn't stop as Kagura turned her eyes to the fan, before they looked around her at the intensity of the winds around them, even now as they started to fade, they tore the spirit itself into them, pulling her away piece by piece.
"Wretched, soulless puppet!" the soul whaled. "I have seen what you are. Nothing more than flesh crafted into a vessel. A vessel with only an aura, and no soul! I will experience this death and be reborn! You will experience death only once, and then face the void!"
Even as it spoke, Urasue's soul itself withered away in the wind, before the final air current shredded all that remained, dispersing it into the mixed light around her.
When the light broke through the currents around her, Kagura was left standing there, the chill of the mountain's air against her skin as she looked at the void of anything around her. The entire structure, all the soldiers, the bridge, it'd all been consumed and scattered to the winds. She was completely alone, save for her possessions.
When she looked back down at the fan, it ceased pulsing as she felt the aura inside of it regress back. A mixture of fear, curiosity… and ambition took root while she stood there. Was this a key to her freedom? A piece to the puzzle that could allow her to break free from Naraku?
… I can do this… I just need to bide my time.
Snapping the fan closed, Kagura walked towards her discarded clothing as her ambitions grew, only to be reminded of one very important thing…
… I killed Urasue…
… … …
… Fuck.
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Author's Notes: