By: taiyoukai-kai
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Comments: Heyo! Sorry for the super long delay. I hate typing. HATE HATE HATE!! ^__^ So naturally, if I don't feel like typing...I won't. *ashamed* But I did it at least!! ^.~ Gomen. Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Love him or fear him, I don't own him. And fear his claws…Rowr.
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Chapter Two...:
Sesshoumaru put his glasses down and rubbed his eyes. Confound all these numbers. Before, when he was residing as Lord of the Western Lands, there was no need for numbers. Each subject under him knew their place and knew what they owed him. Now…no one cared unless there was hard proof. Hence the confounded numbers.
He threw down his pen in disgust. Why in the world was he doing it? Tomorrow, Jaken will. He smiled. And if there were mistakes? Well, stress would be then relieved. His, of course, not Jaken's.
He quickly got ready for bed. Suddenly he had this disturbing feeling that he was not alone. But his senses sensed nothing. Warily, he continued to prepare and eventually slip into his bed.
The instant his head hit the pillow, he sprang up, a long ivory sword extended into the shadows— its point unwavering in the darkness. "How dare you trespass."
A throaty chuckle resonated. "You are the first to catch me. I congratulate you. But I was, unfortunately, sloppy."
Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes, but still could not make out the figure just on the other side of his blade. "You are Kokuei."
Sesshoumaru could not believe it. "You are a female."
This time Kokuei snickered. "Please, my lord. The obvious cannot be made more so."
Sesshoumaru glared at the shadows. "Cease this game."
"Game? But my lord," Kokuei said innocently. "I put forth such an effort to see you. Can you not be a bit kinder?"
Sesshoumaru bit back a sharp retort. "You came to kill me."
"Come, come." Shadow said coaxingly. "Have I not said to cease repeating the obvious? But I did go through much trouble to arrive here. Can you not lower your sword?"
Sesshoumaru laughed. "So that you can do away with me?"
"Nay, nay. I wish to…talk, my lord."
Sesshuomaru didn't move. "Please excuse me, but I dare not."
Kokuei was silent. She sighed. "They always choose the hard way."
Sesshoumaru had a split second warning to leap away before a sliver of metal thudded into his bed.
"Oh! So fast." She taunted him.
Another sliver of metal thudded at his feet prompting him to back up. He felt the wall at his back and cursed silently for being a fool. Such an obvious trap, yet he fell for it.
An explosion of shrapnel exploded from the darkness, and he fought to keep them away, his sword barely blocking them.
"When will you tire, my lord?"
He grunted with effort. "When will you run out?" He sensed Kokuei smile.
"Never." But the onslaught stopped. Sesshoumaru raised a hand to wipe away blood.
"I have been commanded to kill you." Shadow shifted and disappeared again. "To disobey is to die."
Sesshoumaru searched the night for her figure. Suddenly he struck out with his sword. Satisfaction thrummed through him when he felt it hit something.
Kokuei hissed as she held a hand to her shoulder. Blood seeped through her fingers, dripping to the floor. "How did you know?"
Sesshoumaru slashed again and again, putting Kokuei on the defensive. She gasped as her knees hit the bed and she tumbled backwards. While she fought to regain her balance, he leaned over her, grabbing her hands and holding them above her head. His other hand held his blade to her throat. "Yield."
Kokuei only smiled. "Never."
He leapt away as she truck out with her hand, the knife she had thrown at the bed earlier in her fist.
"Foolish man." Kokuei hissed. "Why is it so hard to do as Naraku-sama says?"
Sesshoumaru didn't hesitate. He leapt forward, his sword up to knock her blade away. His free hand came up to grip her throat. He raised her up until her feel barely touched the ground. "I refuse to be anyone's lackey."
Kokuei gripped his arm, her mouth a thin line of effort. She smiled grimly. "Then you forfeit your life." Suddenly from her hands came sparks as she let loose some kind of spiritual aura.
His hand and arm burned as if electricity and fire had seared through them. Who was she? No one had this kind of power. Not since the mikos were destroyed in the Youkai Miko war. The mikos of present were nothing but pathetic fakes compared to their ancestors. So, how could she have such power?
He growled and let her go, his hand smoking form his injuries. He stared down at his arm. At least, it explained how she inflicted those wounds on her victims. She probably just let her weapon act as a conductor for her powers.
Sesshoumaru looked back up at Kokuei, who had not risen from her crouched position. He was finished playing the nice guy. He cracked his knuckles menacingly. It was time to eliminate her.
He rushed her, not giving her a chance to recover. His fingers, dripping their poison acid, wrapped around her neck again, this time slamming her up against the wall. Keeping his eyes on hers, he shoved his fingers through her stomach.
She gasped as shock paralyzed her, but she stopped there. Not even a whimper past her lips, even though her lips tightened and her eyes closed. Then she opened them again and as Sesshoumaru stared into them something hit him. Hard. Those eyes. That particular shade of grayish blue. It touched something off in him, as if he'd seen them somewhere before. He cursed the darkness. He couldn't make out any other features.
"Who are you?" he rasped, uncertainty plaguing him for the first time.
She smiled tightly, her lips stretched into a feral grin even as she tightened her jaw. But she didn't answer. A streak of blood escaped her mouth and leaked down her chin to drip onto his arm.
He quickly withdrew his hand, not streaked with blood. He let her go, her body crumbling to the floor.
Why did it feel as if he'd killed somebody special? Why did he feel as if he could not breathe?
Suddenly, something white flashed just on the edge of his peripheral vision. He whirled around, ready to make mince meat out of the intruder, except he couldn't. For, across the room, there was a little girl all in white. The problem was that she was in the mirror on his wall. He whirled back around to see if there was anybody behind him. But there wasn't. There also wasn't any Kokuei. Somehow, despite her wounds, she managed to escape.
When he looked back, the girl, too, was gone.
Kokuei managed to drag herself home. Her stomach felt horrible and her throat hurt. She didn't really feel up to looking at her belly just yet.
She dragged herself into her room and collapsed onto the floor.
"The master will not be happy."
Kokuei didn't move. Her breathing grew more ragged as each second passed.
"Was he very good?"
Kokuei finally stirred. "Heh. I've never had more fun." But she was still puzzled over his earlier hesitation. By rights, she was dead, but he hadn't followed through. Why?
"The master is going to be very angry."
Kokuei hissed in pain as she drew herself up with her hands. "Obviously. How could he not be."
The girl in the mirror pulled out a small, circular mirror and looked into it. "He is coming."
Kokuei groaned. "Damn, I'm not ready." She held out a hand to steady herself as she stood up, shakily. "But thanks, Kanna."
Kanna looked down at her mirror again. "I must leave."
"Go." Kokuei didn't watch as the little girl faded out. By that time the door had been brutally pushed open, and an angry Naraku took its place.
"You failed."
Kokuei winced as she shifted her weight. "I will try again."
Naraku snorted and narrowed his eyes. "He is onto you now. It is too dangerous to send you out again."
"I will be careful."
"If he get his hands on you…"
"I will not be caught."
Naraku cursed and ran a brisk hand through his jet black hair. "You don't know that. It isn't that I do not believe you." Kokuei knew he lied. "But you failed. How can you know you will not fail again?"
Kokuei wasn't prepared for the hurt that his doubt evoked. But she did fail. "I know."
Naraku scoffed at her confidence. "You haven't failed enough to know that you can never know."
"I know."
Naraku sighed, knowing that she wouldn't budge. "Go then. And do. Not. Fail."
Kokuei bowed and he walked back out. At the doorway, he hesitated and turned back.
"If you are caught…"
Kokuei felt herself die inside. He didn't believe in her. After all her loyalty and excellent service. He did not believe in her. "I will not be."
"But if you are, silence yourself. I cannot risk it. If you don't…"
He passed through the doorway. "I will."
She gave a short mocking bow. "Of course, master."
And then he was gone.
"He does not believe you can do it."
Kokuei cursed. "I know, Kanna. What is it about stating the obvious!"
Kanna didn't react. "Kagura will be happy if you are gone."
Kokuei gave up. She sighed wearily. "I know. She'll finally be the favorite again."
"Yes."
"Kanna?"
Kanna blinked but otherwise didn't change her expression. Her pale hair shone gently in the light. "Yes?"
"Have you," Kokuei hesitated. "Have you ever smiled?"
Kanna tilted her head slightly, seriously contemplating the question. "Smile? No. I do no believe so."
Kokuei smiled sadly. "That's alright." She sat down on the bed and proceeded to strip. She winced when the shirt ripped off the dried blood and her wound started bleeding sluggishly again. She brought the washbasin closer and dipped a rag in.
"Kanna?"
This time she didn't reply, waiting for her to continue.
"Kagura and you were here before I came, right?"
"Yes."
Kokuei hesitated again, unwilling to ask what she'd never asked before. She gently washed her wounds, and bandaged them up, leaving the serious one for last. She put down the bloody rag and looked off into the wall, her thoughts rushing into placed they dared not go before.
"I don't remember, Kanna. I don't remember how I got here. I don't remember anything from before. I feel lost, Kanna. I feel so lost."
"…" Kanna looked down at her mirror, at a loss at how to respond. "We all feel lost. I am imprisoned in mirrors, never to be free. Yet I do not know how I came into being either." She looked up again, her eyes despairing and sad. "Only Kagura knows. However, she is also the least perfect. Yet…" Kanna looked thoughtful. "Yet, she is the most free of us all."
Kokuei gave a bitter laugh. "How ironic."
"Yes."
Kokuei finally directed her attention to her stomach wound and silence settled onto the room. It was peaceful, a peace only interrupted by Kokuei's occasional grunt of pain. Then, Kanna spoke, the silence shattered.
"Your name was Kagome."
Kokuei froze and slowly raised her head to stare at Kanna.
"Naraku will be very upset when he hears I have told you."
Kokuei slowly shook her head in disbelief. "How did you know?"
"I watched as he unfroze you. He did know I was watching. He…said you name." She met Kokuei's eyes. "He was very happy."
"Unfroze? What? Do you know who I was?"
Kanna looked away, but Shadow doubted she did so out of shame. "I only knew your name. He will be very angry."
Kokuei/Kagome sighed heavily. "He will not know."
There was a silence again, before Kanna's soft voice came again, this time, her figure disappeared.
"Thank you."
Kokuei sat, alone, in her small room. She had a name now. Kagome. She let the words roll of her tongue, but felt so much frustration well up. It didn't trigger a thing. No recognition, no memories. Nothing. It was just a name. An empty name.
But, Kokuei thought, it was still a name.
Okay! ^.^ Finished the second chapter. Yay. Well, it turned out to be very fun to write, and the inspiration came in waves. I was so loaded down with ideas I had to create another notebook to dedicate to ideas. Entire segments of preplanned scenes…I've never done that before. So that was good.
Also…Kanna. I finally wrote Kanna into one of my stories. I don't know that much about her so she may seem a bit OOC, but I've always liked how she looked. Always solemn and sort of sad. She is going to be an integral character, so keep reading for more. While..Kagura is not going to be much. I don't particularly like her so…not much good stuff there…
That's it! Read and Review!
Over and Out.
Kai
