Chapter Seventeen: Memories
Though the morning was bright, Naraku's castle remained dark. The sliding door that led to the room where Will and Jacklyn slept soundly was cracked open. A face looked in at the pure picture of a father and daughter huddled together. The dark eyes on the face were blurred ever so slightly. Pictures flashed by the eyes, of a village with many huts, each made of straw, twigs, or millstones. The scene changed to a single hut; it was small and made with golden strands of straw. Inside the hut was a family sitting together, eating rice. They seemed happy. Another image flashed before they eyes: the mother of the family had a fan, and it was positioned at a dark figures. Words collected in the mind of the person staring at Will and Jacklyn. They sorted themselves out and formed a conversation.
"I warn you: leave this village now and never come back, or you will not live to see another day," the mother threatened, her fan poised and ready.
"Such powerful words spoken by a powerful sorceress," the dark man said.
"I warn you."
"I will not leave until I get what I came for."
"What is it that you want?"
"You!" A single demon came out of the man and rushed into the body of the mother. She whirled around and landed on her knees, facing a father and daughter. The woman's eyes flashed red, and the last thing she saw was a man embracing a frightened little girl. No images followed as the face pulled away from the opening. Hands reached out and shut the door.
"Though I do not wish to continue this course, it is the only way to go back." The face belonged to a woman, and as she spoke, the glistening that was held in her eyes left.
"Kagura, did you check on Miss and Mr. Turner?" Naraku asked. He had just walked in the room.
"Yes," Kagura replied.
"Good. I have formulated a plan to bring Inuyasha to me."
"What is it?"
"Inuyasha will not come unless something dire happens. We know that the one girl whom we have tried to exterminate previously is in the company of Inuyasha. Were she to be taken from him, Inuyasha would not be able to see any of the remaining Jewel Shards. When I sent the one demon to attack and kill Kagome, it was killed, but the foolish woman did not notice that it was carrying two shards. One I had placed in its right leg and the other it had found on its own accord." Naraku unfolded his robe and pulled on the hilt of his dagger. He reached inside and pulled out a Shikon Jewel Shard. "This shard gives me a three Jewel advantage on Inuyasha. There are only four shards left to collect and once I have those, I will kill him if he is not dead already. My fault is that I cannot see the shards. Kagome can. This is where my plot comes into play. Instead of getting rid of this woman, why not capture her and force Inuyasha to come get her? While he runs to get his little shard seer, I can use Kagome's ability to my advantage. Then when the time is right, I will dispose of Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha and all the others."
"How will you draw Inuyasha so you may kidnap Kagome? Surely if you send a demon to Kaede's village, the plan will fail."
"I have thought about this. What is better to draw a dog-demon like Inuyasha than fresh blood?"