Masashi was an enigma. After he'd taken her to the healer, he'd stayed well out of her way until she was at full health again. At first she'd thought he had just left her there, his curiosity sated, but the healer disrupted those assumptions with commentary about the crane keeping lesser demons away. When she'd demanded to know why he hadn't escaped before she was well enough to decimate him, he'd only smiled that devastating smile and gone back to his humming.
She wanted desperately to hate his lullaby.
Though she knew everything about him was designed by nature to lure her in, she could not resist the lull of his voice. It was as if he had been built perfectly for her, a trap meant only for her own lonely, simmering soul. And so she couldn't help but to listen as he sang every night outside the healers hut, his voice a melody of a thousand stars that carried her off to sleep.
That was why she hated him. She hated everything he was of course, but his voice made her hate him with everything she could ever wish to be. The entirety of her short, burning life had been blood and death and apathy and his voice shuddered to life something softer she hadn't even known could exist.
And so when she was healthy and strong again, she led him away from the healers hut. She led him away to death and murder, to the point of the arrow that would burn away everything he was, everything he could ever wish to be.
Except he hadn't lifted a single hand to defend himself, hadn't uttered a single word to sway her mind. He'd simply stood there and watched her, eyes the color of green sea foam solemn and calm and full of some emotion she couldn't put into words. But he was a demon and she was a miko. They were everything that was diametrically opposed in their world in physical form, each swelling with ancient power begging to be unleashed. At least, that's what she told herself as she plucked an arrow from her quiver.
And he stood there as she leveled the bow. "You won't defend yourself, or flee?"
"It would be my great honor to be so destroyed by a being of your power," he said quietly, and offered that smile again.
"You think I won't kill you?" she demanded and pulled the string yet more taut, the vane tickling pale cheeks. But he only kept that smile on his perfect lips, his eyes on hers as he stood there defenseless, a lamb to the alter. "So be it."
She filled the arrow with power, watched that blue glow envelope the thin shaft. Suddenly she was furiousand purity exploded out around her so quickly she startled and loosed the arrow. Watching that arrow fly towards him was like remembering the worst memories of her life, the ones where fear held her paralyzed in sweating hands, the memories a band of terror across her chest that made it difficult to breathe.
And still he stood there, watching her as that arrow hurtled closer and closer.
His eyes reminded her of the home she'd watched burn to the ground. The green waves, the foam splashing against pale white sand. She remembered his lullaby when she'd been fighting off the poison, realized it was something she knew from her childhood—not from her own parents, but something she'd heard other children humming as they skipped and played in the surf.
And still he stood there, watching her as that arrow hurtled closer and closer.
She watched him, the bow held tight in her fist so her knuckles were white around the wood. Why wasn't he defending himself? Why did it bother her so much? She barely knew this demon, in fact knew only his name and his homeland. Why did hematter when no one else before had?
And it was only at the last second, when the arrow was only centimeters from his hidden but quivering heart, that Midoriko choked out the order, "Move!"
And he did, until he was suddenly standing directly in front of her with those flashing green eyes as her arrow exploded into the ground behind them. But the wind of her power was nothing to the barrier he placed around them. "Say my name," he murmured, "and I'll give you the world, my miko."
But her heart, quivering and filled with dread, shook itself from the thrall of his beauty and lure. "I hateyou," she whispered, and walked away from him.
And Masashi, to his credit, simply grinned and followed her.
o.O.o
Word Count - 781
A/N - Because Midoriko's story is as important to this plot as Kagome's is. Also note, until otherwise stated, chapters featuring Midoriko and Masashi do not follow the timeline of the actual story. We'll say her story started around the time Tōga adopted Izayoi into the story. I'll put a note on each of Midoriko's chapters as a reminder.