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Gossamer Dreams
Part 21
"Miroku, I must speak with you." Kikyo told him as a silent meal filled with tension drew to a close. Inuyasha, who looked as though he could not wait to be away, positively fled the room back to stay in wait in the small bedroom he had slept in the night before. He clearly had no idea as to what was causing such a strained atmosphere between the two siblings, but he wrote it off as the perfectly understandable growing apart two souls might do when separated for such a very great time. Knowing how deeply Kikyo had cared for her brother before, Inuyasha had no doubt that relations would smooth themselves out presently. However, if Kikyo was in a foul mood, he wanted nothing to do with it.
"I take it that you have been occupied by our earlier conversation." Miroku folded his napkin as though it were a rather involving chore, devoting his entire gaze and seemingly the bulk of his attention to this one important thing.
"Of course. And I have reached a decision on the matter." Kikyo stood and paced slightly, flexing her fingers against each other, a nervous habit she had retained from her childhood, and one that very few people ever had the privilege of witnessing. "You were present at my birth, and you knew my mother."
"Only briefly." Miroku interjected. "She was a kind woman."
"Still, you knew her better than I did, and does that make me less her daughter?" Kikyo asked, not pausing to wait for an answer. "You know more of my life than I did a day ago, and while you were not related to me by birth, you have always cared for me. Even when I turn up on your doorstep in the dead of night, you do not question what fate brought me there or turn me aside, you welcome me with open arms. In my opinion, that is what a family is. Kaede was not my mother, nor my auntie or any of the rest, but she was still my family. And you, Miroku, will always be my brother. I love you and know you much better than I do my true sibling, and so…how could I deny you?" she smiled slightly at him then, but he could see that she was not done with her exposition.
"And you will always be my sister, dearest Kikyo." He assured her.
"As per the other bit of it…the business of my sister." Kikyo bit her lip and looked at him, her purple eyes swirling with calculations and emotions too numerous to grasp. "I must admit that I disliked the spoiled noblewoman I met last night from the moment Inuyasha brought her to me. But now…knowing the true nature of things, I have to wonder. Do you think that it is not our own innate goodness that makes us into the people we present to the world, but instead a mixture of our own thoughts heavily influenced by our environments and situations? I have come to think that perhaps, if I had been raised in her stead, I might not have turned out so very different from Kagome ka'Neko."
"That is a very wise supposition, Kikyo." Miroku nodded his head slightly. "Do you think that you would like to meet her again? Perhaps to attempt to find the bit of her that makes you sisters?"
"I would like that." Kikyo admitted. "But at the same time, it makes me wonder. Imagine that inside, Kagome and I are made of the very same stuff. We begin from the same spot. I am sure it is not so simple as all that, but please, indulge me. In this case, one would say that Inuyasha, who loves me, should also be able to love Kagome rather easily. However, one would think that when made to choose, he would turn to the easier option, the accepted noblewoman, the high marriage, the noble children they might produce together. Instead, he chose to run off with an outcast. Why do you think this is?"
"I think you have answered your own question, Kikyo." Miroku told her thoughtfully. "It is not as simple as all that. Love never is."
"Brother, you speak as though you know much of love." Kikyo smiled suddenly, her fears about all of this apparently allayed. "Tell me, then. Have there been any affairs you've indulged in since I've been gone? What, with the house so empty, it must be an unbearable temptation."
"Oh, I am constantly surrounded in admirers." Miroku's grin was much larger than Kikyo's, and just as wonderful as she remembered, though a bit more tired and a bit sadder than the last time she saw it. "As you might guess, with my position as the most eligible professor at the University, the young women think I'm quite a catch. Of course, I cannot help but disappoint them time and time again."
"Why is that? Have you only one great love? When might I meet her?" Kikyo watched as her brother's smile faded and became a sad satire of the expression he had shown her only a moment ago.
"No, rather, I have decided to keep my love to myself." He told her, his voice soft. "Think of it, Kikyo. My mother died, my father left me, Kaede also died, Kagome was taken away, you were taken, as was Rin. Everyone I have ever loved has been taken from me. I think that is the true tragedy of our fate. Being Gifted in Fukumaden, it is as if the very spirits surrounding us are angry at our existence. They begrudge our every tiny happiness. I hope the best to you and your prince, Kikyo, but as for me…I've given up on being heartbroken."
"Miroku, that is a horrible thing to say!" Kikyo sounded utterly aghast. "Of course it sounds like some universal curse if you put it like that, but there was happiness, for both of us, and for many others like us, despite our fate. Besides all that, did I not return to you? Did I not tell you that Rin is happy and in love? Does that not arouse doubt against your grand theory?"
"Kikyo, you are very young still." Miroku told her in a tone that made it clear that this was the end of that conversation, crumpling his napkin and standing, pushing his chair in and walking toward the door. "I must go out for a bit. Will you be quite alright by yourself?"
"I am not so much younger than you, Miroku." She told him while busying herself helping him into his cloak. "Be careful."
"Of you?" he asked with a slight smile, and she had to laugh then, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Off with you now." She mock shoved him toward the door. "And I will see you when you return."
"I might be late." He warned. "Could you clear the dishes?"
"I will do one better. They will all be clean and dry when you return. Now don't worry for me, I am not about to be swept up again like a child. I have my wits quite about me." She assured him, already moving to clear the remains of the meal from the table. "And I have Inuyasha here with me. We'll be just fine."
"Until later, then." He waved and opened the door, stepping out as she turned to be sure he was leaving. She continued clearing the dishes until, as she had silently predicted, Inuyasha crept down the hallway and entered the main room, looking rather unsure of himself.
"Well then, come and help me if you like, or you can just go back to the room." She told him with a slight smile. This was really the first moment of solitude she had shared with Inuyasha since they had reached Miroku's door. She felt unsure of what to do, so she had babbled rather than sounded anything approaching assured.
"I do not know how that's done." He nodded to where she was scrubbing a plate as if by second nature. "Can I just sit out here with you?"
"Yes." She answered after a moment. "That would be lovely."
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"What are we waiting for? The target is alone." A young boy in an armored bodysuit whispered to his older companion, who was clearly a young woman, even though most of her face was covered by an armored mask which matched his. "Shouldn't we strike now?"
"You forget, we are supposed to eliminate the girl as well." The young woman told her companion, patting his back slightly in a warm gesture which seemed disconnected from the situation, both of them perched in a cherry tree, silently watching a tiny house and its three inhabitants, the woman fingering the handle of a sword strapped to her waist, her companion clutching a chain and sickle with a grim determination one would never expect from someone so clearly too young to be suspected of violent capabilities. "We need for the Healer to leave. He isn't a part of this, and I'd rather not make a mess of things killing spares."
"But they're fugitives and he's housing them!" the boy hissed. "That's his own fault if he drags himself into something like this. Healers aren't supposed to grant sanctuary to those that are out of bounds."
"We're hardly law officials, Kohaku." She spoke in a tone that was clearly a bit annoyed. "Our job is to complete the contract. Outsiders are not our concern."
"Then his safety doesn't matter." Kohaku countered.
"We are assassins, not killers." She told him sharply. "There's a difference."
"Sorry, Sango." He seemed rather chastised, and fell silent as they continued watching the scene below them unfold. "Do you think we'll get a bonus for finding them so quickly?"
"They weren't as clever as us, that's all there is to it." Sango shrugged slightly. "This city has eyes, you just have to know which ones are honest, and which ones need persuading."
"When I grow up, do you think I'll be as good as you, Sango?" he asked her after another pause.
"Not if you can't be quiet." She told him. "That is part of our job, as well."
"Right, sorry." And he fell silent again, not even speaking when one of the house's occupants left, only turning bright maroon eyes to his companion in anticipation of her order. She did not speak until the remaining young man in the house joined the woman in the kitchen. Then she nodded and turned to him.
"I'll take the girl, then." She told him, knowing he still had difficulty killing women, but kind enough to make it sound as though she were giving him the more difficult target. "Unless you're afraid of the puppy prince?"
"Hardly." He shifted his sickle so he could prepare to leap. "I'll take that window there, come in from behind."
"Good, I'll swing through the front and drop a smoke bomb. They won't know what's hit them until it's too late." She reached out and squeezed the boy's shoulder. "Ready?"
"Ready."
"Go."
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"There isn't any sort of trouble, is there?" Inuyasha spoke up as Kikyo worked on the last pot, washing it in no particular hurry.
"How do you mean?" she asked, looking up and pausing in her task.
"I was wondering if your brother is as pleased to see you as you expected." Inuyasha shrugged slightly. "We will be searched for, you realize."
"I do." She smiled at him then, serenely. "And no, there is no trouble. We were just in the middle of a discussion. One we should have had a long time ago."
"Everything is fine, then?" he asked, but before any answer could be given, there was the sound of two windows shattering, followed by a hiss and a rush of air as a thick, noxious smoke filled the room. It was as if the peaceful moment had been shattered as messily and quickly as the windows that had just been smashed in. That scream had to be Kikyo, but Inuyasha could not possibly see to reach her. He was trapped, somehow, something had wrapped itself around his arms, which wanted nothing more than to thrash and escape and push past the restraint so that he could reach her. And there was yelling, thuds, a woman crying out. Was that Kikyo? Had someone struck her? And for some unexplicable reason, the room was suddenly not only filled with smoke, but completely dark, as if all the lamps had gone out at once.
"Kikyo!" That was certainly not his own voice. "Are you alright?"
"Inuyasha?" the voice was recognizable as Kikyo's own, and while she sounded frightened, she did not sound as though she was dying or horribly hurt. "Who is holding me!"
"I am here to protect you, my lady, please." A strained voice spoke up. "Do stop kicking me."
"Kick him, Kikyo!" The voice was finally recognizable as Miroku, and Inuyasha wondered when he had come back. "I heard you out there, you know. You aren't as silent as you could have hoped."
"Miroku?" Kikyo's voice spoke up again. "Where's Inuyasha?"
"I'm here." He spoke up. "Someone's holding me."
"Hold still, then." The voice of his captor sounded so young Inuyasha felt insulted that he was having such trouble escaping. "I've got the prince."
"Kill him then." A woman's voice that Inuyasha did not recognize spoke up.
"Do it, and I will be forced to kill your partner." Miroku's voice was utterly calm.
"Sango?!" his captor suddenly sounded much less sure of himself. "Are you alright?"
"Just do it, Kohaku. This Healer wouldn't hurt me." The woman sounded a bit more scared than her words would lead one to believe. "Don't you remember him? He once healed me, after my very first mission with father. I remember his face."
"That Healer? The one that killed Shinju?" a blade was suddenly firmly placed against Inuyasha's throat, and he felt himself wishing he knew what was going on.
"Sango?" Miroku's voice was genuinely surprised. "You've…grown up a bit."
"Do not touch that!" Sango's voice was full of rage. "Kohaku, kill the boy. I'm fine."
"Shouldn't we kill the Healer too?" Kohaku asked, sounding rather innocent for someone asking such a horrible question.
"He didn't kill Shinju, let it go, Kohaku." Sango sounded utterly exasperated.
"Kohaku's here too, then? Old enough for missions by now, I suppose." Miroku seemed to be having a casual conversation with old friends.
"What is going on here?" Kikyo spoke Inuyasha's thoughts perfectly. "Is this an assassination or a tea party?"
"Bit dark for a tea party, my lady." The young man who had trapped Kikyo spoke up again.
"And who are you?" she went on. "Who sent you?"
"Sesshoumaru." Was the answer. "I am the Illusionist."
"What kind of name is that?" Kikyo wanted to know.
"You!" Apparently it meant something to Inuyasha. "Kikyo, it's alright, you can trust him. He's a friend."
"Are you sure?" she sounded rather hesitant about the whole thing, but her captor was already loosening his grip a bit.
"Yes, I know him myself." Inuyasha spoke, and Kikyo finally relaxed enough that the young man let go of her.
"Now, for a little light." He spoke dramatically, and then muttered something, causing the whole room to light up with an eerie bluish light coming from what looked like a ball of fire in his hand, illuminating a slightly apologetic face. "I put it out in the first place, anyway. Sorry about that."
"Who are you?" Sango, who was now clearly visible in the blue light, struggling slightly in Miroku's firm hold repeated Kikyo's question. "The Emperor sent you, did he?"
"I was sent to protect the prince and his lady." The young man answered, walking over to the fireplace and lowering his blue flame, which somehow caught the wood and soon illuminated the room in utterly ordinary firelight as he moved to relight the lamps. "I am Shippo ka'Kitsune, lord of the ka'Kitsune house, most trusted servant of the great Emperor Sesshoumaru, and you two are my prisoners." He pointed rather casually from Sango to Kohaku, who still seemed to be deciding whether he should kill the prince he was holding or not. "First of all, put that down. It's rather sharp." He tossed something small at Kohaku's head and it burst with heat and light, knocking the boy out before he knew what was happening. He crumpled into a heap, and Inuyasha got his first good look at the boy. The prince scowled in such disgust at being trapped by someone who was clearly more than a foot shorter than him that he looked as though he might never forgive himself for the incident.
"Kohaku!" Sango now did something like a flip, pulling herself out of Miroku's grip and slamming him to the ground while landing her near the fallen boy just before Shippo released another of his little projectiles and laid her flat as well.
"They will be fine." He swept out his cape as though it had been crumpled irreparably by this ordeal, and then turned to Miroku. "This is your house then? I thank you for taking in the prince and his lady." He accompanied this statement with a grand bow, featuring several complicated flourishes of his cape, which Kikyo was deciding was utterly silly.
"Of…course." Miroku looked down at the two Taijiya on his kitchen floor in slight concern. "They broke my windows. Do you think there's glass right where they are laying?"
"We can move them right now, of course." Shippo made another slight bow before scooping up Sango smoothly, leaving Kohaku to Miroku. "You will have to keep them here, I fear, until I can find a more suitable place to keep them."
"Keep them?" Miroku almost dropped Kohaku as they moved them to a bare area in front of the fireplace and laid them on the ground. "A pair of Taijiya assassins?"
"If they leave, they will come back with stronger forces. It is unavoidable." Shippo shrugged lightly. "Although…it would be best to separate them…I think I could sneak one of them out to my estate tonight, if you could watch the other for…a week or so. Then I could come back and take the other."
"I will keep Sango, then." Miroku spoke after a moment.
"I must protest, the woman is clearly the stronger fighter. You would be in great danger with her." Shippo shook his head. "I will take her with me, and return for the boy."
"I restrained her well enough tonight. I can do it again, I assure you." Miroku stood firm, and after a moment, Shippo shrugged.
"If that is as you wish, Healer. I have no time to argue, as I must escort these two to a secure location tonight, and the dawn approaches swiftly." He told the other man. "I was only concerned for your safety."
"Where are we going?" Inuyasha wanted to know.
"It is better that I do not say just yet. There might be listeners…" Shippo drifted off, dramatically tilting his head to one side as though trying to hear anyone else that might be nearby. "Just know that you will be safe while I am with you, and once we arrive, the area should be secure."
"Lord ka'Kitsune, please take care of these people. Their welfare is of great consequence to me." Miroku spoke seriously to the young man, who was now picking up Kohaku and preparing to leave. Somehow, even with his burden, he managed another bow before he waved a beckoning hand at Inuyasha and Kikyo.
"Now is the time for farewell, as we must be off." He advised them, leaving the house to stand just outside waiting for them to join him.
"That was rather a shorter stay than I had hoped for." Kikyo smiled nervously at Miroku, who laughed roughly and gave her a tight hug.
"I am just glad you were not hurt, Kikyo." He told her, his voice harsh with emotion. "I hope I will see you again soon. I shall be lonely here without you to keep me company."
"We will be together soon, I am sure." Miroku assured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Take care of your prince."
"I will." She assured him before rushing into the back room to recover the bundles Inuyasha and her had still not opened since they arrived.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Prince Inuyasha." Miroku gave the young man a slight bow, and when he rose, Inuyasha stuck out his hand to shake with the Healer.
"Please, just call me Inuyasha." He insisted. "Thank you for keeping us safe. I was glad to meet you as well."
"We will be seeing each other soon, I believe." The Healer smiled warmly at the prince. "I look forward to it."
"As do I." Inuyasha turned to leave, hooking his arm through both bundles despite Kikyo's protestations, and they were off with another flourish of Shippo's cape.
"And so." Miroku sighed, looking down at the woman on his floor. "It is just the two of us, then."
The End (Of Part 21, That Is)