A.N. Aside from a few reasons that will be made obvious later, the title of this chapter is also the name of a band that a friend of mine is in. (That is unless theey've completely broken up by now… ^_^;;)
Chapter 38: Soulless ActionsKouga watched the stars in the night sky as he heard Inu Yasha, Miroku, Sango, Ginta, and Hakkaku laughing behind him. He sighed as his thought wandered back and forth, from several years past to the present. [If it were to come down to it… who would I choose—Kyoko or Kagome? I guess that I would choose—]
Kyoko yawned as she finally stirred awake. She sat up and smiled at Kouga, who had been staring into the distance, lost in thought. She stretched, carefully though, as not to move her broken left arm, as she stood and then walked over towards the campfire that Inu Yasha had set up for them. She felt uneasy, though, as she sat down and felt the need to watch her surroundings more closely than usual. [It's too quiet… something's not right…]
Kouga noted Kyoko's uneasiness as he sat next her. He was unsure of what it was that caused her to be as she was, but he also knew that she had a strange way of feeling when something was about to happen. He had always known her to be the one to first notice when something was about to go wrong or when there was an enemy lurking about. Initially, she had agreed to help the okami tribe watch over their territory during the night in exchange that she and the two humans she lived with would be left unharmed, but Kouga eventually allowed her to go as she pleased. It was in those years that she honed her fighting skills, but she had not ever been known to carry a weapon—the sword on her belt intrigued Kouga for this reason.
Kyoko stood when she saw a flash of light reflected from something in the forest. She did not stare into the forest directly; she wanted to catch whatever it was in the act of its attack.
Inu Yasha paused eating as he watched Kyoko watching for something. "What's the matter, Kyoko?"
Kyoko's concentration broke, but just for a moment as she responded, "Nothing, Inu Yasha, everything's just fine." She scowled, though, when she realized that she had lost track of what she had been watching.
Inu Yasha nodded, but stood and looked around, knowing that Kyoko had actually sensed something. When he turned completely around, he saw a small child, walking through the grass. Before he was able to say anything to the child, she raised a circular mirror she was holding, so that Inu Yasha could begin to see his reflection.
Instinctively, Kyoko pushed Inu Yasha out of the way, making sure that the small creature could not harm him—it was this small child that she had seen in the forest, this was why she had been so uptight. Kyoko looked at the small girl and noticed that she was holding a mirror. Kyoko subconsciously glanced at her own reflection in the mirror, and, in the same instant lost consciousness.
Inu Yasha reached for his Tetsusaiga as he realized exactly who and what the little girl was—Kanna, Naraku's offspring. She was the one whom had previously taken over the souls of an entire village, and even tried to take Kagome's soul from her.
It was only seconds later that Kyoko stood from where she had fallen, moving somewhat mechanically at first, but then slowly she began to move as she regularly would. Her eyes were glazed over as though she was asleep and her face was without emotion. "Inu Yasha, it seems as though you had a woman protect you yet again." It was Kyoko's voice that spoke, but Inu Yasha knew that it was not Kyoko who was actually speaking. "You had been the target… but I suppose that this woman shall work for Naraku's purposes."
"Kagura! Let her be!"
Kyoko's face twisted into a villainous grin and her voice seemed maniacal when Kagura spoke through her yet again, "I'm sorry. It's just… not in my job description."
Inu Yasha nervously looked between Kyoko and the forest behind her. "Kouga, you deal with Kyoko, I'll go to find Kagura!"
Kouga nodded as he stepped between Inu Yasha and Kyoko, allowing Inu Yasha to leave to search for Kagura. It was only a moment that he had taken his eyes off of Kyoko that she lunged at him, leaving deep cuts in his right arm. Kagura spoke through Kyoko once more, taunting Kouga, "What's the matter, Kouga-kun? Can't attack me?"
Kouga dodged the series of attacks that followed as he contemplated how to stop Kyoko.
~
Miroku watched on in horror as he realized that both Inu Yasha and Kouga had forgotten how it was that Kyoko was being controlled in the first place: her soul had been stolen by Kanna. It was in Kanna's mirror that Kyoko's soul was being held, and, unless someone broke it free, Kyoko would remain soulless forever. He reached into his robe as he pulled out several spirit wards and began running in the direction that he had last seen Kanna. "Sango-chan, find Kanna and destroy her mirror!"
Sango nodded as she too, began looking for the small yokai.
~
Kouga continued to dodge Kyoko's attacks as he began to formulate a bit of a plan to regain Kyoko's mind. He slowly began to lead her away from where everyone else happened to be. Kyoko's eyes followed Kouga's every move, as though she was calculating a plan as well.
~
Inu Yasha burst into the forest, following his nose to find where Kagura lay hiding. He had caught her scent briefly, but lost it when the wind changed direction and moved the scent away. Inu Yasha knew that Kagura did this to throw his senses off, but he still managed to slowly track her scent by following where she had walked.
~
Miroku panted as he caught up to Kanna. He looked around himself in the dim starlight and realized that he had followed her as far as the Honekui well. He caught his breath as he prepared to throw one of his spirit binding wards at the small yokai. He aimed carefully and pitched the small piece of paper at the small white yokai. He gasped, though, when he saw that she easily dodged the attack. He began to follow her, ready to attack again when he first heard sound from behind himself. He ignored the rustling, though and continued after Kanna, only shortly behind her.
~
Kouga grinned as he turned around and lunged for Kyoko. [All I have to do is knock her out…]
Kyoko reached out as Kouga was nearly upon her and caught him by the neck. Her grip tightened as he struggled to get away. Her claws slowly began to dig into the skin on the struggling okami's neck as Kagura urged her to finish the work. {Kill him!}
Kouga gasped what he was sure was his last breath when he felt Kyoko's grip begin to loosen. He was shocked when he saw that tears were forming in her eyes—she was beginning to try to take back her own body. Her lips quivered as she fought to speak.
[I can't… I can't bring harm to any of my comrades… I'd sooner die…] Finally, she managed to whisper a few words, "No… I can't… hurt… Kouga-kun…"
~
Kanna slowly turned around as she saw the pale starlight had left enough light for someone to see into the mirror. She reflected Miroku's image to him just before he was able to throw yet another spirit ward at her.
Kanna instinctively dropped the mirror, though, when she heard the sound of a bow releasing its arrow. She was barely able to dodge the purifying arrow as it flew into the mirror. She watched without emotion as the mirror began to shake. After only a few seconds time, a soul burst out of the mirror and flew back to its owner—Kyoko.
Kagome drew back another arrow as she pulled herself the rest of the way out of the well. [I'll finish this business about Naraku sending this thing to watch us and steal souls… I'll destroy her!]
~
Kyoko dropped Kouga as she regained her soul; she was no longer under Kagura's control. She panted as she fell to her knees, crying. "Kouga-kun… I'm… so sorry…"
Kouga knelt next to Kyoko as he helped her to stand again. "It's okay, Kyoko, that wasn't your fault." Kouga, overcome with emotions, pulled Kyoko nearer to himself in a warm embrace.
~
Inu Yasha growled as he saw Kagura fly away on one of her feathers, disappearing into the night sky. He headed back to the light of the campfire in the distance as he saw Kyoko and Kouga, together in the dim light from the stars, hugging. [It's over…Kyoko's back to normal… but, she's hugging Kouga… does that mean that she's not going to wait for Sesshoumaru or… what does that mean?]
Inu Yasha watched on as he heard Kyoko whisper to Kouga.
"No, Kouga-kun… I know what you've been thinking, but I'm waiting for Sesshoumaru. It would be wrong if I did this now… I can't… I'm sorry…"
Kouga slowly pushed Kyoko away from himself. He seemed crestfallen at first, but then he smiled. "If that's the case, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that he doesn't hurt you like Satoru did."
Kyoko nodded slowly, she had suspected for some time that Kouga had felt a little more than friendship towards her. "Kouga-kun, I hope you can understand… I've been gone for the last seven weeks, I can't ask that Sesshoumaru wait that long if I could not maintain his trust for a few days…"
Kouga nodded as he headed back towards the campfire. "I understand…"
Kyoko followed shortly behind, but she paused long enough to motion for Inu Yasha to come along as well—she had known that he was in the forest watching.
~
Kagome growled in frustration as a horde of Naraku's poisonous bees blocked her way of seeing Kanna. She heard over the noise of the bees that Kagura landed and picked up Kanna. [Oh well… I suppose that I should go to help Miroku…] Kagome set her bow down as she threw her backpack over her shoulder. She picked the bow back up as she walked over to Miroku and helped him to stand. She flipped on her flashlight as she turned around and headed towards where he told her that they had set up camp with Kouga.