&&&&&&&
Sango finished planting fresh flowers in the last of the graves of her family. She was satisfied that everything was as it should be, and that none of the graves had been disturbed. As Kilala was napping, she was effectively alone. Now that her duties were completed, she took a break before starting her dinner and sat in the hut with her legs folded beneath her. She took a deep breath and slowly allowed the facade of the fierce demon exterminator to fall, and she became again simply a young woman. She missed her father and the other members of her clan who had died so tragically. No one knew where Kohaku was. As a woman, those feelings of loss that she felt for her family and those of fear she felt for her brother's welfare came once again to the fore. She clutched her sides and rocked back and forth. The first tear fell. Then another and another.
She wept.
The grief came up from deep within her and seemingly took over her body, the sobs shaking her until her ribs hurt. Kilala woke and immediately went to console her mistress, curling around her legs and mewing painfully, but to no avail.
Many miles away, Miroku stopped working on the talisman he was preparing for a local lord and clutched his chest.
"What the..."
&&&&&&&
The soul stealers moved their mistress silently through the air, stopping about ten yards in front of the surprised hanyou. They set her down and she smoothed out her clothing, looking directly at him all the while. She shook her head, removing any tangles from her waist-length tresses, and started toward him. Inu-Yasha took a step back.
"What do you want, Kikyo?" He asked nervously. Kikyo stopped her advance.
"Why, Inu-Yasha, what is it that I have always wanted? For us to be together, forever. You know this."
He glanced quickly from side to side, wary of any subterfuge on her part. Seeing this, she laughed.
"Inu-Yasha. I do not need any assistance or trickery to achieve my goal. When the time is right, when Naraku has been destroyed by my hand, I will come for you and we shall spend our eternity together."
"Is that so? Then why are you here now?"
"Why, indeed." She paused and cocked her head slightly.
"Inu-Yasha, although I do not possess a living body, my soul still vibrates on this plane of existence. Because of the promises we made to one another fifty years ago, your vibrations match mine. Your soul is under duress for some reason. Whenever that happens, I can feel it. I will not allow harm to come to you before my goal is attained. Only then will you die, and I will be the one to take you."
She looked away wistfully for a moment.
"So you see, we are chained together, you and I, heart and soul. Now tell me, what is it that troubles you so much that your heart has called out to me?"
Inu-Yasha reached inside his haori to feel Kagome's clothing as he pondered Kikyo's words, his eyes downcast. Was she right? He kicked at some of the pieces of plastic that had scattered around the base of the tree when he dropped them. Looking up, he regarded Kikyo standing there, her hands clasped in front of her, raven hair billowing in the wind. This was certainly not the flesh and blood Kikyo that he had originally fallen in love with. This was more like a porcelain doll, animated by the souls of dead maidens. Even in this state, however, her beauty was unquestionable. And the piece of her soul that was still Kikyo continued to call out to him. He could do nothing to drown out that siren call. It was just as when he was almost taken down to hell with her that first time; something about her connected the two of them. Inu-Yasha was losing his resolve in her presence.
She took a step toward him.
"Kikyo."
He willed himself to get away from her, but his feet would not move. He tried to turn away from her gaze, but his eyes were locked onto hers. She took another step closer, her right hand raised to touch his cheek. She moved completely into his space; he could do nothing to stop her. She caressed his face.
"Inu-Yasha. Do you feel nothing at all for me? Nothing of what you once felt in your heart?"
The caress became an embrace.
"This cold body does not allow me to feel you as I once did when alive. I can, however, remember, and those memories are what sustain me. I died cursing you for what I thought you did, and that hatred still feeds on the energy that sustains this body. But if I use every ounce of will I possess, I can keep that anger at bay for a little while, as I am now." She stroked his silver mane as she spoke softly to him.
"Do you not remember, my love? Do you feel nothing at all?"
"Kik...Kikyo."
He DID love her completely, once. He could suppress those feelings, but he could not eradicate them. Kikyo knew. It was selfish, but she didn't care. She deserved to be selfish for what was taken from her. Of all the hopes and dreams she had carried with her when alive, the one that hurt the most, that scarred her most deeply, was the death of her dream of becoming one with him.
Once she knew unquestioningly that she loved him and that he wanted her as much, the thought of making love to him began to consume her thoughts more and more. On more than one occasion, often interrupting concentration on her day-to-day duties as a priestess, she found herself musing about what their first time together would be like. He would have been her first, her one and only. She had planned the meal they would eat and had even begun working on what she would wear when they consummated their love that first time. She had allowed herself a small dose of conceit that evening she posed for herself in the mirror. She recalled her blush matching the pink of the sheer silken inner garment he would discover when he undressed her that first time.
To feel herself in union with her mate, the one she loved more than anything in the world, was all she had wanted. And now it could never be. All she had done was her duty as a priestess to the best of her ability. Her heart faltered, and she fell in love. How cruel were the fates. But no matter. She would bend the fates to her will now. She lightly kissed Inu-Yasha's forehead. He muttered unintelligibly. She would...
"Get your hands off of him right now, Kikyo!"
Kikyo's smile turned into a grimace as she released a spellbound Inu-Yasha to turn and face the interloper. HOW DARE SHE! That girl who was the bane of her existence stood less than thirty feet away, an arrow tightly stretching the strings of her bow .
&&&&&&&
Sango finished planting fresh flowers in the last of the graves of her family. She was satisfied that everything was as it should be, and that none of the graves had been disturbed. As Kilala was napping, she was effectively alone. Now that her duties were completed, she took a break before starting her dinner and sat in the hut with her legs folded beneath her. She took a deep breath and slowly allowed the facade of the fierce demon exterminator to fall, and she became again simply a young woman. She missed her father and the other members of her clan who had died so tragically. No one knew where Kohaku was. As a woman, those feelings of loss that she felt for her family and those of fear she felt for her brother's welfare came once again to the fore. She clutched her sides and rocked back and forth. The first tear fell. Then another and another.
She wept.
The grief came up from deep within her and seemingly took over her body, the sobs shaking her until her ribs hurt. Kilala woke and immediately went to console her mistress, curling around her legs and mewing painfully, but to no avail.
Many miles away, Miroku stopped working on the talisman he was preparing for a local lord and clutched his chest.
"What the..."
&&&&&&&
The soul stealers moved their mistress silently through the air, stopping about ten yards in front of the surprised hanyou. They set her down and she smoothed out her clothing, looking directly at him all the while. She shook her head, removing any tangles from her waist-length tresses, and started toward him. Inu-Yasha took a step back.
"What do you want, Kikyo?" He asked nervously. Kikyo stopped her advance.
"Why, Inu-Yasha, what is it that I have always wanted? For us to be together, forever. You know this."
He glanced quickly from side to side, wary of any subterfuge on her part. Seeing this, she laughed.
"Inu-Yasha. I do not need any assistance or trickery to achieve my goal. When the time is right, when Naraku has been destroyed by my hand, I will come for you and we shall spend our eternity together."
"Is that so? Then why are you here now?"
"Why, indeed." She paused and cocked her head slightly.
"Inu-Yasha, although I do not possess a living body, my soul still vibrates on this plane of existence. Because of the promises we made to one another fifty years ago, your vibrations match mine. Your soul is under duress for some reason. Whenever that happens, I can feel it. I will not allow harm to come to you before my goal is attained. Only then will you die, and I will be the one to take you."
She looked away wistfully for a moment.
"So you see, we are chained together, you and I, heart and soul. Now tell me, what is it that troubles you so much that your heart has called out to me?"
Inu-Yasha reached inside his haori to feel Kagome's clothing as he pondered Kikyo's words, his eyes downcast. Was she right? He kicked at some of the pieces of plastic that had scattered around the base of the tree when he dropped them. Looking up, he regarded Kikyo standing there, her hands clasped in front of her, raven hair billowing in the wind. This was certainly not the flesh and blood Kikyo that he had originally fallen in love with. This was more like a porcelain doll, animated by the souls of dead maidens. Even in this state, however, her beauty was unquestionable. And the piece of her soul that was still Kikyo continued to call out to him. He could do nothing to drown out that siren call. It was just as when he was almost taken down to hell with her that first time; something about her connected the two of them. Inu-Yasha was losing his resolve in her presence.
She took a step toward him.
"Kikyo."
He willed himself to get away from her, but his feet would not move. He tried to turn away from her gaze, but his eyes were locked onto hers. She took another step closer, her right hand raised to touch his cheek. She moved completely into his space; he could do nothing to stop her. She caressed his face.
"Inu-Yasha. Do you feel nothing at all for me? Nothing of what you once felt in your heart?"
The caress became an embrace.
"This cold body does not allow me to feel you as I once did when alive. I can, however, remember, and those memories are what sustain me. I died cursing you for what I thought you did, and that hatred still feeds on the energy that sustains this body. But if I use every ounce of will I possess, I can keep that anger at bay for a little while, as I am now." She stroked his silver mane as she spoke softly to him.
"Do you not remember, my love? Do you feel nothing at all?"
"Kik...Kikyo."
He DID love her completely, once. He could suppress those feelings, but he could not eradicate them. Kikyo knew. It was selfish, but she didn't care. She deserved to be selfish for what was taken from her. Of all the hopes and dreams she had carried with her when alive, the one that hurt the most, that scarred her most deeply, was the death of her dream of becoming one with him.
Once she knew unquestioningly that she loved him and that he wanted her as much, the thought of making love to him began to consume her thoughts more and more. On more than one occasion, often interrupting concentration on her day-to-day duties as a priestess, she found herself musing about what their first time together would be like. He would have been her first, her one and only. She had planned the meal they would eat and had even begun working on what she would wear when they consummated their love that first time. She had allowed herself a small dose of conceit that evening she posed for herself in the mirror. She recalled her blush matching the pink of the sheer silken inner garment he would discover when he undressed her that first time.
To feel herself in union with her mate, the one she loved more than anything in the world, was all she had wanted. And now it could never be. All she had done was her duty as a priestess to the best of her ability. Her heart faltered, and she fell in love. How cruel were the fates. But no matter. She would bend the fates to her will now. She lightly kissed Inu-Yasha's forehead. He muttered unintelligibly. She would...
"Get your hands off of him right now, Kikyo!"
Kikyo's smile turned into a grimace as she released a spellbound Inu-Yasha to turn and face the interloper. HOW DARE SHE! That girl who was the bane of her existence stood less than thirty feet away, an arrow tightly stretching the strings of her bow .
&&&&&&&