Okay, I just want you all to know that Kanna…wow, she's really creepy. I claim no control over how creepy she is. That chick just kinda writes herself, much to my disconcertion. Yeah, anyway, I find her scary. So now we can concentrate on other things…like Kouga and Kagura! Oh, poor Kouga, being so cute and worried! You know, I was watching episode 64, and I was just like…man, Kagura, I don't really buy you being evil anymore. You should just save us the trouble and go have ten kids with Kouga! Yee! And okay, I don't mean to sound like I'm not worried about poor Inuyasha, but come on, who didn't feel just a tad bit of a smile inside them when they saw that he got the ears back? I know Agent Kodama got all excited and forgot all about his soul being stolen, so I guess that it worked for her at least. Hmm…raspberry hot chocolate is nummy…Okay, on with the story…
*****
Fate's Reversal
Part 5
*****
He wakes up to the sound
So scared that she's leaving
He wishes she were still asleep next to him
Hoping she will change
In my mind
Everything we did was right
Open your eyes, I'll still be by your side
How could I ever have been so blind?
You give me something to sleep to at night
You give me something to sleep to
And all I know is
You give me something to dream to
When I'm all alone and blue
Don't leave me now
Michelle Branch Something To Sleep To
"How is she handling everything?" Shippo whispered to the demon exterminator as she exited the room where Inuyasha was being kept by Kagome. It was late at night, and excepting Shippo and Sango, everyone else was off to bed.
"Well, her husband is a soulless shell, her first and only daughter is missing, and she thinks it's her fault that the twins ran off after her." Sango summed it up. "She's doing pretty well, considering the circumstances, I'd say."
"Sango…are you sure I shouldn't go after the boys?" Shippo asked, obviously restless and fed up with the idea of waiting here by himself.
"Sekatsu and Tsuyo have run off before, and you know they're perfectly capable of looking after themselves. And Miroku will probably spot them on his way back from the castle in the Western Woods." Sango shivered again at the idea of her husband leaving alone on Kirara to go entreat the help of Inuyasha's brother in this dire situation. "I need you here, Shippo. I can't watch after Kagome and Inuyasha as well as all of my children and theirs. That's why I don't want you to leave."
"I know, I know." Shippo sighed, his green eyes wandering to the door that hid Inuyasha and Kagome from view. "It's just that…you know those two attract trouble like nothing else."
"Yes, I know." Sango smiled as she thought fondly of her two oldest boys. "They love to scare the life out of their mother, don't they?"
"Sango," Shippo was suddenly serious. "Are you sure this will all work out? I mean, the plan to have Sesshoumaru fix Inuyasha? I don't think that the Tensusaiga works that way. I thought it was only good if the person was already dead."
"I know, but we have to do something, don't we?" Sango sighed, her eyes wandering to the closed door as well. "This whole thing…the wish being taken back…Haruka gone missing…and Inuyasha laying there…like that…it's killing her, Shippo. If we don't do something quickly, it will be too late for either of them."
"This is all…agh, I hate it!" Shippo hissed angrily. "I know it sounds stupid, but I always thought that after…after we took care of Naraku, life would be so much easier. But now it just seems like everything's worse than it ever was. Why can't we just live our lives in peace?"
"Because, my boy," an aged and wise voice reached their ears, and they both looked up at Kaede in surprise that she was up this late and that she had been listening unnoticed. "Because people like you were born to be heroes, and that is never an easy life."
"Kaede-baachan!" Shippo exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing up this late?"
"I came to make sure that everyone was still getting to bed as they should be." Kaede smiled down at them. "It's a good thing I came, now isn't it? You two won't be of any use to your friends and family if you exhaust yourselves with worries. And what of your children? Have any more of them wandered off?"
"No, all of them are well watched ever since Tsuyo and Sekatsu decided they needed to help the already terrible situation along." Sango sighed and pursed her lips as she thought of her disobedient boys.
"They do care a great deal for Haruka, though. You know it was all meant with the best intentions." Kaede smiled at the younger woman.
"Yes, but I wish these children weren't so intent on being heroes." Sango huffed.
"Earlier this evening, we caught Yoru and Mottomo trying to run off as well." Shippo explained.
"Goodness, that couldn't have turned out well. Think of how Kagome would react to know that she was missing all three of her children, and not just Haruka?" Kaede shook her head.
"Yes, she's not been doing well at all, poor woman." Sango stood and motioned for Shippo and Kaede to follow her to the door that hid Kagome and Inuyasha from view. "Who can blame her? She comes to visit her friends to celebrate the winter festival among those she cares most for, only to have those closest to her taken away." Sango put a finger to her lips, indicating that they should all be silent as she opened the door so that they could all see the couple inside. Inuyasha, his hair silver and his dog ears intact, was lying unconscious on a futon with Kagome huddled next to him in a tight ball. The sleeping woman was obviously tense even in repose, her hands clutching at Inuyasha's shirt tightly as though someone might take him from her. Sango shook her head before closing the door again and turning to her companions. "She cried all day long, it's terrible. And she won't let anyone come near him. She feeds him and gives him water to drink, looks after him and such, but she won't let anyone help her. She's going to kill herself, doing this."
"Too true, Sango." Kaede agreed. "And Miroku won't return for many days. Even if Sesshoumaru is the answer that we seek…who can know if it will come in time?"
"I hate seeing her like this." Shippo shook his head. "I just wish there was something more I could do."
"We all wish for such things, Shippo." Kaede smiled up at the tall youkai. "But sometimes the job of waiting and watching over our friends…though it seems simple, it is the hardest and most helpful thing we can do."
"Alright then. To bed, all of us." Sango ushered them forward. "Though I couldn't send you back out into the night, Kaede-sama. I believe if you give me a moment, I'll be able to make a futon for you."
"Thank you very much, Sango." Kaede smiled. "I hate to admit it, but it seems that I'm getting a bit old, ne?"
"You'll never be old, Kaede." Shippo assured her, patting her back gently. "Not really."
"Wishful thinking." Kaede laughed. "If only I could be foolish enough to believe you."
----------
"Come along then, Master, I shall show you the little ones." Kanna looped her arm through Naraku's, leading the recovering man down the hallway of his palace.
"Little ones? What is this surprise you have for me, Kanna?" Naraku asked, his lips lilting up in a malicious smile.
"Just a few things I thought you might find entertaining." Kanna told him, opening the door to a bedchamber that she had left the soulless children in. "If they do not please you, I'll dispose of them."
"Let me have a look at these pretties…" Naraku made his way over to the three unconscious figures on the bed, Kanna hovering behind him eagerly. "They look…very familiar, don't they?" he reached a hand forward to rest gently on the cheek of the silver haired girl. He stroked it softly making a soft, soothing noise under his breath. "This one…she is related to Inuyasha, is she not?"
"His first-born whelp." Kanna answered, and Naraku nodded, his smile widening. "From that miko."
"Kikyo?" Naraku's grin split into a crazed scowl, his fingers digging into the unconscious girl's skin, his fingernails drawing blood. "She and Inuyasha…together…"
"No, the other one." Kanna answered calmly, not at all alarmed by his behavior. "The strange one."
"Kagome, then?" Naraku laughed softly, his fingers loosening until his hand left Haruka's bloody cheek. "Weaklings, both of them. And what of the infamous Lady Kikyo?"
"Finally at rest." Kanna replied. "Inuyasha himself killed her."
"Kukukuku!" Naraku laughed heartily at this news. "That must have been something to see! What ever could have forced that one to kill the miko he longed after for so long?"
"She attacked his companions. He retaliated." Kanna replied, her fingers trailing to her mirror. "It is difficult…but I could show you the scene. My mirror does not like remembering the past, but if I force it—" Naraku cut her off by suddenly lunging at the elegant woman and covering her mouth with his. He bit into her lip, tasting the blood.
"Your blood, it's different from mine." He commented, pushing her away as though the discovery irritated him.
"But I am from you." Kanna insisted. "You created me from your own flesh."
"True…" he admitted, looking doubtfully at her.
"I apologize…I am not as perfect as you, Master." Kanna bowed her head. "I only wished that I might give all of myself to my Master, however impure my blood is."
"It isn't as sweet as my own blood." He sighed, looking very bored with the idea.
"Master…I realize I cannot be as pure as you." Kanna's eyes darted suddenly to the figures on the bed. "But…those other two…the pair…they are Kagura's blood, and are much less pure than me. See for yourself, Master. Taste of the tender morsels I bring to you in my unending obedience."
"Hmm…interesting." Naraku smiled at the twins, his hand brushing over the boy's face and then the girl's. "Young, too. They might prove interesting. Entertaining."
"Yes, Master." Kanna encouraged. "All this I do for you and you alone. Do you see how I follow your every command before it is even uttered? And look upon this, my Master." Kanna pulled her mirror up for him to see, flashing it to a scene of two dark haired boys wandering through a wooded area. "These two, they are the first born babes of the demon exterminator and the monk who my Master knew so well when he last lived. Do they please you? I could bring them to you."
"Hmm…" Naraku looked closely at the mirror, licking his lips softly. "Yes…bring them to me, Kanna. And wake these three. Put them down in the dungeons. Separate cells for each of them. I wouldn't want the twins gaining comfort from each other."
"Yes Master, right away." Kanna lowered in a deep curtsy as she pulled her mirror back to her hip.
"And Kanna," Naraku spoke again as she turned to leave. "Do it well, and I may be pleased."
"I live to please you, my Master." Kanna answered as she turned back to face him. Naraku grunted and leaned forward, kissing her roughly once more, his hand squeezing painfully on her buttocks, enough to leave bruises there. Kanna did not protest or pull away at the pain, though.
"So you do, Kanna." Naraku grinned, pushing her to be gone. "So you do."
----------
"Kagura, my heart." Kouga lay beside the unmoving woman, his head propped up on his elbow so he could watch her unmoving face. "I can feel the life inside you. Does our baby have a soul?" he asked, his hand moving back and forth over his mate's stomach. "You protected it, didn't you? Our baby…I can understand. I would give my life for any one of them." Suddenly, he collapsed against her, his head on her chest, his breath shuddering as he fought the sobs that threatened to overtake him.
"Any one of them…and for you…I would give everything…but when you needed me I was gone." Kouga cried into the chest of his mate, hugging her unresisting body close to him. "And I failed you! Amai and Nigai…our babies…they've been taken and I can't…I can't find them. And now…Yuki's run off too. Who knows if he'll be returned to us?" Kouga could only fully express his emotions in front of his mate, the one person that he trusted without fail, and the one person who returned all his trust and love so fully. She was his refuge in a world that was cruel and cold. And as he sobbed like a baby, his face buried in her chest, he did not feel ashamed at his display of emotion as he completely let go of all compunctions in her presence.
"Kaze-chan," he looked up and moved her hair aside with shaking fingers, his lip trembling even worse than his hands. "My dear, little wind. What happened? Why did everything have to change? I was so happy, here with you and all of our children, just living our lives. Was I asking for too much, wanting that to last forever?" Kouga sniffled and sobbed again at her complete lack of response.
"Is this a punishment? For the past? For the life I lived so long ago? How I killed recklessly and put no real value on the lives of others?" Kouga asked his unanswering mate. "Is this meant to show me that I was wrong? It isn't right! I already knew! I gave all that up…so long ago. And now…there's nothing I can do for you, nothing I can do to fix you." Kouga cried some more, his tears spilling down Kagura's own face.
"What do I do now, Kaze-chan?" Kouga kissed her forehead, pulling her limp body against his in a clinging embrace. "All this time, I've always turned to you for answers, and the time I need you the most, you can't tell me what to do." He chuckled at the irony, a sad, soft sound. "But in the end, all of the blame is on me, dearest. I left you here alone, and now you are broken. And I don't know where the other pieces are. I'm so sorry…I failed you. I failed my family." Kouga continued to sob into her hair, eventually crying himself to sleep as he held the woman who was his most prized possession in a possessive grip lest he lose what was left of her.
----------
"I knew this vacation would suck." Haruka grumbled, sitting against the wall of her dungeon cell and staring out the bars at the boy in the cell diagonally across from her who was talking and trying his best to reach his hand across the narrow hallway to the hand of the crying girl in the cell next to Haruka. During her hours after waking up in this strange and frightening place, Haruka had learned that the boy was a twelve year old youkai named Nigai, and the girl who Haruka couldn't see but could hear was his twin sister Amai. No wonder she was so upset that they were separated. Haruka had some idea that all three of them had been there for nearly the same amount of time, as they all remembered waking up at around the same time.
Haruka had panicked at first, beating at walls and pulling at bars without any success, screaming and yelling to be let out or for someone to help her. She had been the first to wake up, but shortly after, Nigai and Amai had come to as well. Amai had been reasonably calm at first, but Nigai had seemed very angry with the whole situation. As far as Haruka could gather, it seemed that he held himself responsible for not only the imprisonment of himself and his sister, but also of Haruka, who he'd never even seen before. When Haruka had expressed curiosity toward this idea, Nigai had grumbled something about how he was the man and he was now responsible for protecting both of them. Haruka had laughed out loud and told him he was still a boy, but he seemed very touchy about the subject, so she'd stopped asking after that.
About an hour ago, Amai had finally given in to the situation and the emotions it inspired. She had been crying for some time now, wanting the comfort of her brother, but no matter how they stretched, the two young youkai's fingers didn't even brush each others. Haruka felt sorry for them, but she also felt a reasonable amount of self pity.
"Nigai...I wanna go home!" Amai sobbed, her hand falling as she obviously collapsed in a heap of tears.
"I'm sorry we're stuck here, Amai." Nigai's voice was thick with shame and guilt. "I'll get us out somehow, I promise you."
"You're just a kid, you know." Haruka sighed deeply as she grew tired of watching the melodramatic scene. "You shouldn't blame yourself."
"I'm a man!" Nigai was immediately defensive, pulling his arm back in the cell to cross both of them over his chest.
"You aren't yet...you left right before the festival." Amai's voice was still a bit sobby, but it held a hint of admonition. Haruka had assumed that of the two, Nigai was the more responsible one, but that comment made her think the relationship over more carefully.
"Amai!" Nigai threw up his arms in defeat, obviously convinced that no one would side with him. At that moment, the door of the short hall that led to the four dungeon cells creaked open to admit a scarily pale and eerily familiar woman in a white kimono. She was using some sort of magic to make the bodies of two individuals float in behind her. Haruka, in the far cell, craned her neck to get a better look at both the women and the assumed new prisoners.
"Hey! You, you're the one! You brought us here! I remember seeing your face!" Nigai was in a rage, trying to look as threatening as possible and reaching out toward the woman, who simply glanced at him as though she didn't understand a word he was saying and whispered some raspy words, lifting her hand to cast a small barrier, which held Nigai well inside his cell where he couldn't reach her. Amai began sobbing more loudly than before, but Haruka gasped in shock, standing up and pressing against her own bars. Nigai had been correct, this face was the last thing she remembered before waking up down here. But she wasn't looking at the woman that had apparently been their captor. She had caught sight of the other two faces; identical boys with black hair and faces she couldn't forget if she tried.
"Sekatsu! Tsuyo!" Haruka, though she was usually angry with the two lecherous boys, was still their friend. And that woman...she'd captured them. Miroku and Sango must be worried to death. "You! Bitch, you let them go!"
"Oh, friends of yours?" Kanna laughed at Haruka's anger as she moved Tsuyo to the last empty cell and then eyed the cells of Amai and Nigai doubtfully. Nigai looked ready to tear her to pieces, but Amai was collapsed on the floor in tears. Nodding slightly, she opened Amai's cell and used the magic to throw Sekatsu in before closing it again. "Don't worry, now you won't have to be near them. Wouldn't want you to be comforted by them, would I? Why do you think I separated these two?" she indicated Nigai and Amai. "Look at what it does to them. Master is most pleased."
"Who the hell are you, you sick fuck?" Nigai growled at her. "Cause my dad will kill you when he finds us!"
"Oh, he won't find me, child. He's back at home with his woman, hoping that she won't die." Kanna gave the boy an eerie smile.
"Why would mom...what did you do to her!?" Nigai was rabid with anger, and for an instant, Haruka could almost believe that he was a man, and not a scared boy. "I'll kill you!" Nigai screamed at her.
"No, I don't think you will." Kanna told him. "My name is Kanna, a servant of the master you are here to please. Enjoy your stay." and with that, she left.
*****
The End (Of Part 5, That Is)