I forgot to say thank to Michelle for also listening to me babble and giving me juice and pudding whenever I need it.
And I'm still accepting title ideas. The title "Searching" works mostly the K/K angle and not the S/K one. I'd like to remain even throughout the fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Weiß Kreuz... Crap. Wrong disclaimer. I know I had one around here somewhere...
~*~*~
"What? Sesshoumaru's leaving?" Startled, Kagura looked up as she slid that day's kimono on her shoulders. In the two weeks since she joined Sesshoumaru's group, he had stayed close. Quiet and coldly, but always close by.
"Every once in a while he goes away for a couple of days. It's no big thing." Rin shrugged and continued to wash up in the river. Rin didn't question it. She knew he'd always come back for her.
Kagura, though, had questions to ask and made it back to camp just as Sesshoumaru was leaving.
"Jaken." Sesshoumaru said, sternly and simply, to remind his servant of his orders, before turning his back and starting to walk away.
"Yes. I understand! Protect the women and stay here!" Jaken beamed and stood up a bit straighter, proud that he could serve his Sesshoumaru-sama.
"Hey! Wait a second!" Kagura said in outrage, stomping up to him, her questions of where he was going all forgotten. Sesshoumaru paused and turned to look back at the shorter female confronting him. "I'm not here to be 'protected'! I can go whenever I want and I can take care of myself!"
"You are free to leave. You can take care of yourself." Sesshoumaru nodded then surprised Kagura by taking a step forward into her personal space and then quietly asking "One might wonder what you are here for at all."
Kagura instinctively stepped back flustered and blushing, trying to think of something to say. But in the end she didn't need to, because a split second later, Sesshoumaru walked away without another word.
~*~*~
Kouga took a sip of the water in his palm, then splashed a couple handfuls on his face, then wiped it off. He was close. She must have been in this very site earlier that morning.
Kouga sat on the riverbank to catch his breath. It was soon time for his showdown with the wind youkai. Now, that he was so close, he found himself wondering what possessed him to go on this quest several weeks ago. It wasn't just vengeance like he told the boys. It was different. It was a confusing mixture of revenge, pride, and the need to prove he was indeed powerful against the one enemy that always got under his skin. He also felt a certain sense of anticipation, a tingling sense of excitement, he attributed firmly to the fact that he was about to start a fight.
But Kouga wasn't the type to sit and ponder endlessly on his feelings. (This ain't a shoujo comic!) He got up and continued to look for her.
Because he needed to see her again.
~*~*~
"Kanna." Kagura blinked. "Exactly, what are you saying?"
"They said they'll give me my own room." Kanna stated in her usual quiet monotone way, standing still not indicating the couple standing behind her. "I am very excited." Kagura raised an eyebrow. Kanna didn't look excited but then again she never did.
"We're moving into my family's house in my old village. It's quite large." Sango quickly reassured. "This might help Kohaku readjust."
She couldn't help but glance back at the young boy playing with the double tailed fire cat across the meadow. Even if Naraku was dead and Kohaku had his will and health back, he still didn't have his complete memory. It was going to be a long road of slow recovery for his mind to completely heal from his ordeal. "And she says she's got no where else to go. It can be very dangerous for a youkai to find a territory unoccupied by other youkai. There are few youkai near my village even with it being abandoned so long."
"Plus she'll be a great help when all the babies come!" The still near-giddy priest, Miroku, couldn't help but put in.
"What 'babies'?" Sango narrowed her eyes at the man by her side.
"Don't worry. I'll get work on them as soon as possible..." The ardent priest's old reflex acted up to reach over to the exterminator's posterior, thinking it was now condoned. Too bad, Sango's reflex to instantly slap him hadn't died since their relationship redefined itself.
"What are you asking for? My blessing?" Kagura scoffed. "Go ahead. Like my say has anything to do with it. She's the older sister. She can do whatever she wants." She turned her back on the new family and whipped out the feather from her hairtie.
"Farewell, Little Sister. Hope you find what you are looking for." Kanna quietly said as Kagura took off into the sky.
~*~*~
Kagura didn't know what Kanna meant then and in the months that followed and she still didn't. Was Kanna right that she was looking for something? If so, then what was it?
Of course, she had more pressing concerns. Such as her turn.
"It's a cart being led by an ox." Kagura said pointing to one cloud formation to the south.
"That one looks like a large sow." Jaken pointed at one to the east.
"Look! It's a decapitated oni being attacked by giant centipede!" Rin giggled, cheerfully as both Kagura and Jaken blinked, looked at her, and then exchanged looks.
Then they all went back to their game. Kagura laid back down on the grassy hill, replaying that morning's conversation with Sesshoumaru over and over in her mind. So far it had only triggered that odd memory from months before, which didn't answer anything.
The questions kept on multiplying though. What was she looking for? Why was she looking here in Sesshoumaru's little group? And was it her imagination that Sesshoumaru had used an odd inflection in what he said this morning?
Kagura sighed. None of the answers were coming... "Well except the 'Did Sesshoumaru have a hidden meaning in what he said?' question. I've been reading into everything too much today. Damned Paranoia. No one could get hidden emotion from Sesshoumaru. Or obvious emotion for that matter." Kagura bitterly thought to herself and cursed Sesshoumaru a couple times for good measure. Why did he have to be constantly on her mind?
Suddenly Kagura's session of analyzing that morning to death was killed, by the top of a funnel of dust visible in the distance, heading toward them.
"Jaken, take Rin out of the meadow." Kagura got to her feet and brushed a few errant blades of grass off her person.
"Kagura-sama?" Rin questioned. The habit of calling her "sama" kinda flattered Kagura at first yet now annoyed her now. Then again Rin seemed to call all youkai '-sama'. "What is it?"
"Just an old, "Kagura paused. She really couldn't classify Kouga. She didn't feel he was her enemy yet he evidently hadn't buried the hatchet. Still she didn't want the others involved. It was her business after all. "Irritant that keeps insisting on coming around. Jaken, just take her!" She pushed the girl toward the toad demon.
"Why should I?" Jaken folded his arms, suspicous. Just because he was the humble servant of the immaculate Lord Sesshoumaru, didn't mean he had to follow anyone else's orders. Until Jaken got an indication that Kagura's relationship was with his lord was special, Jaken would continue to veiw her as somewhat of an interlopper.
"Because Sesshoumaru ordered you to protect Rin and it's not safe here." Kagura barked, tired of explaining. Jaken, grudgingly, complied and led the human girl into the forest.
Kagura had straightened her appearance by the time Kouga made it to the meadow a couple minutes later. "So we meet again, Wolf Prince. You know, I would have thought you'd get a clue by now. But I guess I shouldn't hold my breath."
"Shut your trap, Kagura, before I shut it for you." Kouga growled menacingly as he surveyed the area around here. It was too open for his liking, with no trees or boulders to serve as cover if he needed it. However, the grasses were dry and the sandy soil loose, which gave Kouga an idea.
"Ooo! Such big words from the Big Bad Wolf." Kagura flared her fan open, snickering. "Especially since the Shikon no Tama was completed and is out of this realm of existence. I'd like to see you try backing your boast."
"Enough talk." Kouga smirked and crouched in preparation for the attack. It was finally time to wipe that smirk off her face for good. But first, he had to get her exactly where he wanted her.
Kagura had to laugh as Kouga went into his same tried and true attack 'run and punch your enemy into submission.' It probably was fine for kitsunes and maybe even the ferocious chipmunk-youkai but surely the boy already knew it was useless against her. Kagura found herself debating whether to give the masochist what he wanted. She almost felt sorry for him. He had been no match against her with the shards and he certainly wasn't without them.
Kagura swept a blunt version of her wind blade attack at Kouga, knocking him back, in a cloud of dust and debris.
"Pathetic," she sneered, watching the red faced Kouga spit out grass and dirt that had been blasted into his face.
He didn't respond, just launched himself into another attack that seemed even more ill-planned than the last. Kagura shook her head over the wasteful macho arrogance of it as she knocked him back yet again. She couldn't bring herself to actually slice the poor bastard to ribbons, but she was impatient enough to hit him harder.
Kagura sneered disdainfully as the handsome wolf-youkai went into yet another series of mundane attacks, without even the power of the shards to make them interesting. So much potential, wasted on revenge.
"Oh please. Just go back to-." Kagura's wind attack blasted through a wall of dust, only to find no enemy there. Her instincts were faster than her mind, her fan coming up before her mind had fully taken in the fact that he was behind her. Her attack was unsophisticated, just a blunt wall of wind that threw him backwards against a large, sturdy tree on the meadow's edge.
Kagura put her hand on the thumping pouch at her belt and tried to catch her breath. That had been too close. It was time to stop underestimating him and get serious.
Kouga slid down the tree trunk, whole but battered. He tried to shake off the dizziness from the having back of his head hit and the wind knocked out of him. Stubbornly, he wobbled to his feet, facing the middle Kagura of the three. "I'm not done-"
Kagura wouldn't let him finish that statement and let loose another blunt gust knocking Kouga back with enough force that the loud thud of the tree cracking reverberated through the valley.
Kouga could barely keep his eyes open. Kagura could tell he was barely conscious. She had blasted him back a bit more than she wanted. Kagura felt a sharp pang of guilt about it but Kouga needed to get the lesson. She couldn't afford her luck to run out. Of course, she wanted to have Kouga still believe it was her skills and not her luck that she was depending on. "Yes, you are done. Stay down! Hurting clueless jerk-offs like yourself is how Naraku got his jollies. Not me. I have nothing against you, Kouga, but I don't like to be attacked. Don't be a schmuck. Go home."
"Never." Kouga startled Kagura by managing to push himself to his feet, wheezing but unbowed. "Not until I get you." Unfortunately he got up too quickly and it was enough that consciousness slipped from him. Still Kagura was impressed.
"I've got to hand it to you. You are quite a passionate, tenacious, bastard." She mused out loud then added under her breath as she left, "And not as stupid as I thought. . . "
****
Pathetic Omake Theater:
"Shut your trap, Kagura, before I shut it for you." Kouga growled menacingly as he surveyed the area around here. It was too open for his liking, with no trees or boulders to serve as cover if he needed it. However, the grasses were dry and the sandy soil loose, which gave Kouga an idea.
"Ooo! Such big words from the Big Bad Wolf." Kagura flared her fan open, snickering. "Especially since the Shikon no Tama was completed and is out of this realm of existence. I'd like to see you try backing your boast."
"You'll see... From the other side of hell!"
"You stole that cheesy line from Ronin Warriors, didn't you!" Kagura laughed and pointed.
"No, I didn't!" Kouga pouted.
"DBZ, then? Sailor Moon?" Kagura mused, then slammed her fist into the palm of her hand. "I know! Ninja Turtles!"
"SHUT UP!"