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That Which Feeds the Inner Flames

Chapter One

By: Luna

...

Yukimura hummed slightly as he walked through his homes garden. Seven years had gone by... seven long years and not once had he seen neither hide nor hair of the people who had made such an impact on his life. Benitora, with his idiocy. Okuni, with her sly arrogance. Kyoshiro with his deceptiveness and betrayal. Kyo, with his gruff shyness and his ideas of subjecting others to masochism with his superiority. And... Yuya. Young, temperamental, beautiful Yuya.

He had never truly forgotten her. She had been a spirited young woman with a heart of gold and the only one who had the strength to stay by Kyo's side throughout every hardship the crew went through. She had a temper, that was for sure, and wasn't afraid to let any and all know it. Her hair had been long then, but he had no doubt that she had let it grow out to a length that would rival Okuni's. He also had no doubt that her slim curves had matured to an all out valley of lusciousness that would feed the imagination of many, and her jade eyes would steal the hearts of the many hundreds that happened to catch even a small glimpse of her inner self.

He had a small... infatuation, he admitted. He always had. She held the same spirit that had drawn many to Lady Sakuya; only Yuya was by far more spirited and refreshing. He had never before let himself think too much of them or... her, but yesterday he had sworn he saw...

No. It was nothing but a figment of his imagination, nothing but a glimpse of what only his heart had wanted to see. All he saw was a flash of blinding gold as silken hair was picked up by a fierce, sudden wind. All he heard was an echo of what her laughter had once sounded like, only now older and cultured. All he felt was a stirring of a dark aura that had vanished the moment Yukimura felt it, an aura that he had thought he wouldn't have recognized after so many years. But no, even if it had been her, and even if it had been him, there was no way of truly knowing.

But if it had been her, he wished to hell that it hadn't been him that was with her.


Yuya smiled as she lowered her self in a steaming hot spring, sighing in pure bliss as her body relaxed in the hot water. It was so nice just to relax after a long day's journey. Throughout the seven years since the separation, she had been wandering Japan, collecting bounties and healing as many people as she was capable of doing so. She had long since abandoned Kyoshiro's medicine box, buying one of her own and engraving a symbol on it that could only be recognized by one man. But she hadn't seen Kyo for a while, and she wondered if he would even bother to read the inscription.

My only. She had mixed the characters of Chinese with the characters of Japanese, a past time she and Kyo once did when he had deemed it fit to indulge her. But that had been so long ago... before he had left, and she wondered, if he ever saw it fit to return, if he would indulge her once more. She had loved it when he shared those precious moments with her, for they were the only times when he let himself drop his guard and be loving. Well, as loving as Kyo could get. But again, those moments were things of the past, and were not the things that made her happy, rather made her more depressed.

After deciding that she didn't want to turn shriveled like a prune, she reluctantly pulled herself up and wrapped up in a towel before drying off and quickly dressing in a forest green short kimono and tying a gold sash around her waist. She had kept the long length of her hair up in a towel, and she now pulled the heavy weight of it from her head and let the full length of it fall down her backside to the back of her knees, then tied half of it up with a blood red ribbon. It went against the color pattern of her clothes, butshe didn't care. It had been the one physical gift ever given to her by Kyo, and it was the only one she ever wore.

Sighing, she put on her sandals and started her way towards the town that was about five miles away from the spring. By the time she would get there it would be dark, and she wanted to stay the night in a warm and comfy inn. Plus, it was a lot safer than spending a night alone with just her gun. The most bandits she handled at the time had been fourteen, and nowadays she didn't doubt that they traveled in larger groups, and she wasn't positive she could take them all.

By the time she arrived, it was indeed darkening, and only night vendors and people making their ways home were outside. She picked an inn, and then settled in for the night with the memory of Kyo, and the time so long ago when she had once shared her bed with him.

"Yuya."

Yuya stopped abruptly, turning on her heel when a familiar voice called her name. Her eyes widened as a delighted smile spread across her face. "My God, is that you Sasuke?"

No longer a boy, the eighteen year old Sasuke smirked at her while he clacked together his ever present toy, a hand in the pocket of his ninja outfit. "As bright as day. It's been a long time Nee-san."

Yuya smiled. "It sure has." She paused. "If you're here... then that means Yukimura is with you, too!"

Yukimura. She gave a small laugh, thinking about the strange man. It had been years upon years since they all last seen each other; seven to be exact. She wondered if he had changed, or if he was still the vague leader of the Sanada clan, planning to usurp the Tokugawa Shogunate. Probably. She heard about a few battles going on between the Sanada's and the new Hidetada Tokugawa. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite remember where she heard the name Hidetada before.

She watched as Sasuke shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Yes... he's here. Though I don't think it would be a good idea if you seen him now."

As she wondered what he meant, she took in his stance, the way his eyes wouldn't meet hers, and the slight blush on his face. What on earth was wrong with him? He was acting as if he saw a cute girl... oh. Oh! Her face took on a tint of pink, but that could be because of the sun. Everyone had kept on telling her that she had grown to be the most beautiful lady most had ever seen, but she had never really believed it until Kyo once muttered it while they were in the throes of... better not go there.

"Please, Sasuke, walk with me. I'd like to talk to an old friend of mine, if you don't mind. It's been so long! You've grown up so much, why, I'm surprised I even recognized you! But then, it wouldbe hard to forget such a cute kid like you." Yuya laughed, linking an arm through Sasuke's and dragging him to a nearby bench, then hailed a tea man over to heat some tea up.

"So, how has these seven years been to you, Nee-san? What have you been up to all this time?" Sasuke was watching the man heat some tea up with a pot full of hot coals. Man, but Yuya sure changed. More defined, and much more elegant. There was something different about her, though. Something in her eyes that he couldn't quite read.

She sighed. "Nothing much, really. Catching bounties, getting rich, acting as a yojimbo now and again, but that's pretty much it. I even have a house near Edo up in the mountains. I had stayed there awhile with my husband, selling medicine and basically living peacefully. But that life grew a bit boring, and we both started traveling wherever we felt like it. But then he left a while ago, and I'm still wandering from town to town, looking for excitement." Looking for him.

His eyes widened, and he jerked his head in her direction so fast she was surprised it didn't snap off. "You're married! When did this happen? Who is it? Why did the bastard leave you?" Yukimura is going to be sad.

Yuya laughed at his surprise, leaning back on the bench and supporting herself with her arms. "Yes, I'm married. It happened about three years after everyone split. Who it is, well, I'm gonna leave you guessing because it's so fun to tease you. And he left because..." Because I drove him away. I said things I shouldn't have said, made him so furious at me that for a moment I thought he'd draw his sword. Because I made him hate me. "He had something to do, and I would have just gotten in the way. He'll be back, after he's finished."

I hope, Yuya thought, willing the telltale signs of tears from her eyes. When he's decided to forgive me, he'll come back. They were married, after all, and though, even besides the fact that she is obligated and bound by law not to sleep around—even though she never would—he could sleep with any girl he chose. She hoped that wasn't the case.

"Yuya?" Sasuke was looking at her strangely, so she put on a cheerful smile and thanked the man for the tea, counting out her money and putting a little bit extra in the vendor's palm.

Sighing,she settled back with her tea. "I'm fine. So tell me Mr. Sarutobe Sasuke, how has life been treating you?"

The teenager shrugged, filing in the back of his mind her odd behavior. "Nothing much." Then, his expression darkened, his eyes becoming a stormy gold. "Houtaru's dead."

Yuya choked on her last bit of tea, hurriedly placing the tea cup in the waiting vendor's hands as she turned to Sasuke with shock. "What? How? When? How could he die?"

He shook as if he was shaking off some unpleasant memory, his lips curling in either hatred, anger, or derisiveness, she couldn't tell. "Disease. Can you believe that? Some freaking disease crept into his system and he died."

She couldn't believe it. How could someone so quietly powerful succumb to such a thing? She put her arm around the younger man, trying her best to console him, and knowing she was failing miserably. Her mind spun with questions, but this wasn't the right person to ask them to, because she didn't want to drag up any unwanted memories for the man—boy really. "Sasuke... there wasn't anything you or he could havedone. Disease is something everyone fights against."

He shook her arm off him, standing and turning to her defiantly. "No! You don't understand! He over-dosed on opium. The stupid bastard couldn't get enough of it! How could he have changed so much? How could he let himself get addicted to such a thing! I'll never forgive him for dying! Never!"

"Well, I certainly hope that you aren't talking about me."

"Yukimura!" Yuya turned to him with a radiant smile, her hair falling over her shoulder in a beautiful show of gold silk, her gem-like eyes sparkled like sun reflecting off water. Yukimura was transfixed. He was right about her, on all aspects. For a moment he thought that no one should be that beautiful, but he was still glad that she was.

"Yuya-san! Why, I haven't seen you in nearly a decade! What are you, twenty-two? Twenty-three? Somewhere in the middle?" He teased her, his voice soft with warm welcoming. He was happy when he heard her laugh, already loving the sound of it.

"A lady never tells her age, sir!" She stood, absently brushing the locks of her thick hair over her shoulder. Yukimura followed the movement before smiling at her, offering his arm in the way he saw foreigners do with their ladies. She looked confused for a minute before linking their arms together, letting Yukimura lead her towards wherever he had it in mind to go, smiling as she listened to his non-stop chatter. It was nice to be by people she cared about. It's been a long time since she has been able to laugh and smile like this with somebody.

They arrived at a luscious inn, and both he and Sasuke walked her to a back room where they planned to eat, drink, and be merry as they caught up on old times. Yukimura was blissfully drunk when Yuya left for her own room, and that was when Sasuke approached him. Yukimura knew that Sasuke knew about his little infatuation. How could he not? He wondered what the younger boy thought of it.

"She's married, Yukimura."

Yukimura waved the words away, not believing them because he didn't want to believe them. "I'm sure many men fancied themselves married to her many times in dreams. Sasuke, please, I don't appreciate being lied to, especially by you." His voice, even drunk, was easy going, but his words left no doubt in Sasuke's mind that his Lord was offering him both a reprimand and a threat.

But Sasuke shook his head. "I'm not lying, Yukimura! She told me herself!"

What was he, grasping straws? Yukimura realized, ashamedly, that he had changed a lot during the past seven years, to be so put down at the thought of the woman that has entertained his thoughts many a night on several occasions. "Then tell me, Sasuke, who is he? No man in his right mind would leave such a treasure like Yuya alone. If she is married and this supposed husband obviously left her, the man must be blind and a complete idiot."

Sasuke shook his head again, a frown crossing his boyishly handsome face. "She didn't say."

Again, Yukimura waved him away. "Whatever you say, Sasuke."

With a frown still firmly attached to his face, Sasuke melted into the shadows.


Yuya hummed a tune as she walked through the gardens in the back of the inn, too wound up to go to sleep. It had been such an eventful day! First, she sees her dear friend Sasuke, and then she meets up with Yukimura again! She was... happy, she realized. She almost didn't recognize the emotion, having it been so long since she felt it. Too long, in fact. As she looked up at the moon, she thought of Kyo, her thoughts saddening ever so slowly and the hum of happiness she felt at seeing Yukimura again dimmed.

"Why are you being like this? Are you so stupid and pigheaded you can't see what's right in front of you! You promised Kyo! You promised you'd try to never kill again, and you slaughtered those men right before my eyes!" She yelled, hurt and horrified all in one. But he promised, dammit! He never lied or broke a promise to her before! Why would he start now?

He growled, standing up and looking intimidating, his hair long once more and tied at the base of his neck with her old white ribbon. His black and white robe was loosely tied. She wasn't intimidated though. She was firm in her belief of him never hurting her. Physically, at least. "Watch you're tongue, bitch. I'm not a coward that refuses a challenge."

"But you promised me! How could break something like that? And why can't you resist a challenge? You knew those men were weaker than you, Kyo. You knew it! You're such a freaking bastard! I can't believe I've put up with you all these years! First, you STILL order me around like I'm your servant – when in all actually I'm your WIFE! Then you disappear for days on end, not telling me where you're going or what you're doing or who you're with, and when I ask you, you don't even give me astraight answer!"

His red eyes darkened to near burgundy, his teeth clenched, and she felt his murderous aura rolling off him in waves. "You doubt my fidelity, is that it?" His lips curled. "Well, if you're as pathetically lonely as you say, maybe I should be the one doubting your faithfulness."

Yuya gasped, outraged. "How dare you!" She hissed, clenching her fists together and glaring at him with all she was worth. "I would never be faithless to you! How can you be angry at me for feeling this way if you're never around? You don't tell me anything, and when you do, it's not the answer to the question I asked! Though, with your so-called heritage, I guess I can understand your need to hide things!"

She knew that was a mistake even before the words completely left her lips. She didn't mean to speak such hurtful words to him, but she herself was hurt and angry and confused as to why, after five years of being together, he would still act so cold and aloof and pretend most of the time that she didn't even exist. She watched with dread as he closed his eyes in his effort to control his rage, her eyes widening in horror when she saw him lift his sword.

"K-kyo...?" her voice wavered as she whispered his name. It took effort, but he eventually lowered his weapon and leaned it against the wall. Then he went inside the bedroom they had shared. She sagged against the wall as what she said repeated itself in her mind. How could she say something like that? True, she was hurt, and she was lonely, and she was desperate for her husbands love, but that was no excuse to take her pain and strike him with it. If he was comfortable with this isolated arrangement, she shouldn't argue.

She loved the man, after all, and she wanted to stay by his side forever. He must feel love for her, otherwise he wouldn't have shown those small acts of love, never mind their infrequency, and she should have accepted it. But did he really expect her to live through this sudden withdrawal? One day he was loving – or as loving as he gets – and the next he's avoiding her and acting like he had all those many years ago, when she first laid her sixteen-year-old eyes on the man she would eventually fall in love with.

Did he really expect her not to suspect? He disappeared for days, even weeks at a time, without telling her what he was doing or anything, and when she asked he wouldn't give her an answer. She hurt him with her words, yes, but he was killing her with his actions. Could she even remember the last time he voluntarily touched her? No. She couldn't even remember the last time they kissed, hugged, or even spoke a sincere word to one another. She couldn't live like this. She just couldn't! Either Kyo was in love with somebody else or he just plain didn't love her anymore, but she just couldn't stand to live like this.

She looked up, defeated, when Kyo came back out. He paused, only for a moment, when he saw her, but then he reached for his sword and that was when she saw his wrapped package. She jerked upright. Was he leaving? Panic streaked through her, and she rushed to the bedroom. "Are you leaving? Let me come with you! I'll be ready in a moment!"

"Don't you dare pack your things." His dangerous voice stopped her cold.

"So – so you're leaving then? When will you be back? Where are you going?" She was grasping here, reaching for something to hold on to but failing miserably.

"I need to get away from here. Don't follow me." Her heart broke.

She stood stock still as she watched his back as he walked away. Away from her, away from her love, away from all the years they spent together. "FINE THEN!" she screamed to his back. "Leave! I don't care anymore! I just—!" she chocked back a sob. "Go ahead and walk away, Kyo! But don't expect me to be here when you return! Do you hear me! I won't be here! If you want me back, you'll have to go andlook for me, because I'm sure as hell not going to look for you!"

He didn't even hesitate. He kept on walking, acting like he didn't hear her sobs, and didn't even look behind him when he crested the hill, disappearing from her sight. She sucked in a trembling breath through her teeth, her chest shaking with the effort to control her sobs, and thenrose to her feet.

The house was suddenly too stifling. All the memories in it too hurtful to remember. Blindly, for hours she packed up nearly everything of hers and Kyo's, leaving out only things she would take with her, and packing everything else in the shed the both of them had built together some years before.

She went into Edo then, found a trustworthy family that needed a place to stay, their payment forstaying in thehouse till she returned- if ever -only being to keep the shed and all its keepsakes safe. Then she packed up the few meager supplies she would need on the road, her medicine chest, and then she too, walked away from the only true home she had ever had, it being home for the soul reason that Kyo had been there with her. She made a point to herself when she set out in the opposite direction Kyo took, not once looking behind her.

What was he doing now? It's been two years since he left her. Two years since she spoke those hurtful words and was left so alone that for the first year by herself she swore she cried herself to sleep every night. Did he ever think of her? Did he ever wonder what she was doing, where she was going, if she stayed faithful to him, even after so long a separation? Probably not. Knowing him, he's most likely stewing over her words, building up a bile over it until he hated her almost as much as she knew he hated her then.

She probably did him a favor by not chasing after him. He's probably visited every brothel in whatever towns he's been to and living in the lap of luxury.

Tears pricked her eyes, and she hoped with all her heart that it wasn't so. Kyo loved her. Somewhere in his heart, he cared. He had to! She... she didn't think she could bare it if he didn't, or if she never saw him again. She had said that she wouldn't follow him. But if that was true, what was she doing looking for him? Any hint she could find, any word that was spoken about a red-eyed demon passing through, she soaked it all up like a sponge, desperate in her search.

"Miss Yuya? What are you still doing up?" Yukimura's voice startled her.

She looked up at him as he stopped beside her. "Nothing, really. Just thinking about the past." She looked away from him, back up to the lonely moon, and again thought of Kyo. "Thinking of all the things I regret, and all the things I wish I can change. Do you know what it's like, to regret something so much that you feel like it will take the rest of your life to make up? I feel that way."

He stared at her, for once his face unsmiling, and nodded his head. "Yes. I know how you feel. But you shouldn't think of things like that to the point where it burdens your heart. There was once a temperamental, free spirited young lady that I once knew. I wonder where she's gone?"

A bitter smile crossed her lips as she dropped her gaze from the moon. "Gone, obviously. Anyways, there used to be a man who never told anyone what he was really thinking. Where have you gone, sir?"

He laughed, and then chucked her under the chin in a show of affection that Yuya missed. "My dear, if you knew even an inkling of my thoughts right now, you would run home screaming to your mysterious husband." He probably shouldn't have added that last part, but there really was no point in taking them back now.

Yuya gaped at him for a moment before looking away. That sentence could be taken in so many different ways, and she didn't even want to think about the things that sprung up in her mind. She laughed. "Well, if my mysterious husband was home, which I know he isn't, I don't think he'd appreciate me running to him." Her face darkened. "Wouldn't want to appear weak, now do I?"

Yukimura stared down at her, shocked. So she was married. From what he was reading off her, it must not have been a very happy one. "I take it your dear husband didn't know how to treat a lady?"

She blinked. "Do you mean if I was unhappy?" At his nod, she shook her head. "No. With him just being around him made me happy. He didn't mind my tempter very much, and at night he always listened when we were together. He didn't smile very often, but in the five years that we were together, I'm proud to say that he smiled at me many times." She reached up to pull her red ribbon out of her hair, letting the top half fall down her back as she stared down at the worn ribbon, the man so gruff and shy when he gave it to her. "This was the first gift he gave me. I've taken such good care of it, too, just so it won't become ruined. I miss him. With every passing day, I miss him. He's someone I can't forget, even if I wanted to."

"But can you move on?" His voice was soft. "Can you move away from the memory of a man who left you?"

When she looked up, he was very close. The look in his eyesmade her stomach quiver. How long had it been since a man looked at her that way? Too long to remember. He took another step forward, but even as his beautiful eyes moved to her lips, Yuya found herself moving back and shaking her head.

A dark cloud appeared behind her, and she shivered at the frigid aura the man was practically oozing. But... she recognized this feeling! Her breath seized in her throat, her hands clenched together in front of her chest, and her eyes frozen to some spot just above Yukimura's shoulder.

Yukimura straightened, looking at the man behind her. "Why, hello there, Kyo-san."

A thickly muscled arm wrapped itself around her waist, and she let herself dazedly be pushed close to the mans chest. It was only then did she realize that the muramasa was at Yukimura's throat. "Stay away from my wife." His voice was dark, purring, and threatening. She shivered.

Then Yuya did something she thought she'd never do - something she had never done, and fainted dead away into the arms of her long lost husband.