Disclaimer: Kohana, Momo, Piaoliang Feng, Shen Yuan, Naraku, An Hua, Ayame and Ruri are my characters. The personalities and looks of the new seishi are mine.
Red Wings of Fate
Chapter 13: Betrayal of the Heart
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Memories~Conversations between twins~
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Momo stared at the two people in front of her. A young man and woman, both around her age, stood in front of her. Nakago introduced the gray-eyed man as Tomo and the violet-eyed girl as Miboshi. She greeted them politely then excused herself.
Miboshi followed her while Tomo talked with Amiboshi and Soi. She went to Momo's bedroom. "Lady Momo, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Her reply came muffled, as if she was either mumbling or had her face covered by something.
"You don't really seem fine…"
"It's nothing you could help with…" She sighed.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I just miss someone…that's all…"
"In your world?"
"No…here…" Momo opened her door. "Please…could you go? I'd like to be alone." She looked tired.
"My lady, it's our duty as your seishi to see to it that you're happy." She pushed a lock of forest green hair behind her ear.
"Well, nothing can be done about it until Suboshi is back here." She huffed and closed the door again.
Miboshi blinked. 'Wow…she really misses him…I wonder if I should tell her about Nakago's plans…'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kohana knocked on Suboshi's door. "Chiriko, you there?" She waited a few moments. "Chiriko?"
"Chiriko's in town." Tasuki and Chichiri were coming down the hall. "What's up?"
"Nothing…"
"You know, I'm beginning to wonder why you spend so much time with him." Chichiri looked her over. "You're not going to hurt his highness, are you?"
"No! There's nothing between me and Chiriko." She blushed.
"Then why are you spending so much time with him?" Tasuki raised an eye brow.
"Because she's been helping me make a decision." Suboshi suddenly appeared around a corner.
All three girls jumped. "She has?"
"I have?"
"Yeah…can you get the other seishi and meet me in the throne room?"
Kohana raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
A few minutes later, the seishi were all in the throne room. No one except for Kohana and Suboshi understood why they were there. He stood nervously in front of the Suzaku seishi.
"So what is it Chiriko?" Hotohori looked at him.
"I…I have to admit something…" He reached under his shirt and pulled off the bandages that covered his true seishi symbol. "I…I'm not Chiriko…"
Suddenly everyone's hands were at their weapons. "Then who are you?"
Suboshi reached under his shirt and pulled the bandages off his shoulder. A blue symbol glowed softly. "My name is Suboshi…I'm Seiryuu…"
Everyone froze. Tamahome was the first to react…badly. He lunged at Suboshi. "You little scum bag!"
"Tamahome, don't!" Kohana tried to hold Tamahome back. "Don't hurt him!"
He growled. "Why not? You on their side?" He glared at her and pushed her backwards.
"It's not that! But I'm not letting you hurt someone who hasn't done anything!" She stumbled backwards.
"Not done anything?! How can you say that?!"
"Because he hasn't! Tamahome stop it!" Hotohori put his sword in between Tamahome and Suboshi. "He wouldn't be telling us the truth if he meant any harm."
"How do we even know he's telling the truth? If he lied before…" Tamahome glared at him.
"I don't care if you don't believe me." Suboshi sighed.
Chichiri crossed her arms and looked him over. "I believe you are who you're telling us you are, but I don't understand why you're admitting who you are."
"I didn't come out here and lie to you of my own accord. Nakago sent me out here to mess up your summoning…but I don't want to…" He sighed. "You can do whatever you want with me. It doesn't matter…the only thing I'll regret is not seeing Momo again…"
"Could you be any more negative?" Tasuki rolled her eyes. "There's gotta be some good points to this."
"There are?" The other seishi looked at her.
"Well yeah. I mean think about it. We have Suboshi and Nakago doesn't know we know Suboshi. We have something over Nakago."
"Come up with that on your own?" Tamahome sneered.
Tasuki glared at him. "You're really askin' for it today, ya know that?"
"Oh am I?"
"Yeah, ya are." Tasuki pulled the tessen out. "Rekka Shin'en!"
The other seishi winced when Tamahome was engulfed in flames. He coughed up some smoke and glared at her. Then he stormed out of the room. Suboshi gave her an odd look. "I just don't get you people…"
"Probably never will…" Shen shrugged.
"Kohana…" Mitsukake started.
"Yeah?"
"Maybe I'm assuming too much…but you knew Suboshi wasn't Chiriko, didn't you?"
"Yeah…I did…" She shifted nervously.
"How could you know? You can't see the future, can you?"
"No…nothing like that…I well…you know how I told you that to get here from my world to here, I came through a book?" The nodded. "Well…when I was little, my older sister read the story to me…it was the story of the priestesses from like 50 years ago or whatever and Amiboshi was the one who impersonated Chiriko back then…I thought it might happen again so when Suboshi showed up, I figured I'd ask."
"You just asked?" Piao asked incredulously. She looked at Suboshi. "For real?"
He nodded. "Neither one of us could sleep one night and we were just talking."
"You found out this and you didn't say anything?" Piao arched an eyebrow.
"What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, this is Suboshi, one of the Seiryuu seishi; he's been lying to us?' Nakago has spies everywhere. She would have known and probably attacked or something. But Tasuki's right, right now we know something she doesn't. We can go search for the real Chiriko in secret."
Chichiri began to speak when Suboshi felt a twinge of pain in his arm. "Ow…" He pulled up his sleeve.
"What's wrong?" Hotohori looked at him.
"A message from my brother…he's back in Kutou…he sends me messages from Momo and Nakago…" He studied the words from Amiboshi. "Oh no…"
"What is it?"
"Nakago is coming here…to attack…tonight…"
"Are you sure?"
"My brother wouldn't tell me lies." He kept reading. "He wants me to stay out of it…"
"What do you want to do?" Chichiri read over his shoulder.
"I dunno…I'll do whatever you want me to do."
"What do you feel comfortable with?" Hotohori looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Suboshi looked confused.
"You can come with us and fight or you can stay away from the fight. We'd understand either way."
Suboshi was quiet for a moment. "I'll…I'll fight…No way I'm letting Nakago have her way. We can intercept her before she comes here."
"Then we should prepare for tonight. We'll have to be ready even on such short notice."
The other seishi nodded and left the room. Soon only Kohana and Hotohori were left.
"So you've had experience with our world before?"
She nodded. "Are you mad I didn't say anything before?"
"No. Just confused. You didn't have to hide it."
"I know…but it's even more complicated than just knowing the story…it's so hard to explain…" She sighed.
"Well, now that you've started, you should probably try to finish."
She offered him her hand. "Come on…it's a long story. I prefer to walk around when telling weird stories."
He smiled and took her hand. "I take it this will be an interesting story."
"Interesting…yeah…" She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Well…I guess it started with finding that book…this old lady at the library gave it to me and to me it could make wishes come true and hell…I was 6, I believed her…found out later that old lady was Tai Itsukun…" While they walked, Hime appeared at her feet. Kohana picked her up. "She gave me Hime too…"
"So that was why you knew her when we went up to her mountain…"
"Yeah…and ummm…turns out that she was serious…the wish I made at the time of my sister was reading me the story did come true…"
"What was your wish?"
"I wanted my sister and her best friend to be happy. They both sacrificed a lot for me…it was so hard to watch them be miserable…" She took a deep breath. "My wish came true in the form of seishi…"
"Seishi?"
"My older brothers…they were seishi…my wish brought them out of the book into my world…"
"Seishi…"
"My sister Ayame is married to Tasuki…her best friend Ruri is married to Amiboshi…"
"Suzaku…and Seiryuu?"
"Why not? Outside of this world, what god you worshiped doesn't really matter. They've been living pretty peacefully for the past 10 years. Well…I think the beginning was pretty rough between the two of 'em…"
"I can see why you weren't talking about this before…"
"Well…you should go get ready for tonight…I'm gonna go reflect on my life or something…" She shook her head. "Never thought about everything I've done very much…"
He nodded. "We'll win tonight."
"I'm not concerned with winning…I just don't want anyone to be hurt…" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left him alone.
Hotohori smiled. He suddenly felt someone watching him and turned around. His eyes scanned the area, but found nothing. Deciding there was nothing in the hall, he walked away.
"Doesn't want anyone hurt, huh?" Tamahome scoffed. "Fat chance of that…" He growled and stalked off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey Suboshi, you really sure you want to be out here?"
"I can defend myself. What about you?" He looked at Kohana.
"I'll be okay."
"If you say so."
Tasuki rapidly opened and closed her tessen. "Man, I have been itching for a fight for a long time now."
"Don't you fight with me often enough? Stupid pirate…" Tamahome muttered.
"I mean a real fight, you money grubbing bastard." Tasuki stuck her tongue out at him.
"That's enough out of you two. We've got enough to worry about with the Seiryuu seishi showing up. We really don't need you two to fight…more than usual anyway." Mitsukake sighed.
"They'll be here soon…I can feel them approaching." Chichiri looked out to the west.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Nakago! Why are we doing this?! Why can't we go back?" Momo pleaded with her.
"You just don't understand our situation."
"Maybe I don't but I don't understand how fighting them is going to help! Can't you work out some kind of peace with them? I mean, you're practically in charge of Kutou and the emperor of Konan is a seishi…"
"That isn't the point. Our countries have always been at war. It's the way things are."
"Why?" Momo got off her horse and stood in front of Nakago's. "Why are you at war? Do you even remember?!"
Nakago stared at the younger girl for a moment. She said nothing and moved her horse around the priestess.
"Hey! Don't turn away for me! I'm not done…" A hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"Don't, Momo…there's really no point." Amiboshi sighed and offered her the reigns of her horse.
She let out a surrendering sigh and remounted the horse. "I don't want to fight…" She mumbled to no one in particular.
"None of us really want to, but what choice do we have? We can't fight with Nakago." Tomo shook his head, letting pale blue strands of hair droop over his eyes.
"You act like she'd kill you. She can't do that, right?" The seishi accompanying her looked at each other. "Right?!"
"There are other ways of summoning Seiryuu…having all the seishi just happens to be the easiest. We are expendable if need be. You're the only one who's really safe." Soi frowned.
"No…no that can't be…" Momo shook her head violently. "No one is expendable…"
The rest of the way to Konan was spent in relative silence, a few words murmured between seishi, but nothing more.
When the Seiryuu seishi reached a large clearing dotted with a few trees, Nakago halted the group. "Someone is out here…more than just someone…there are many…"
"The Suzaku seishi!" Miboshi looked around.
"REKKA SHIN'EN!!!" The voice seemed to come from all directions but the fire came from behind. Soi barely had time to counter the fire with a large bolt of lightning. He dismounted his horse and went to go find the source of the fire.
Ashitare morphed to his lupine self and went into the surrounding forest to chase out some more seishi. Within seconds, he came out of the underbrush, wrestling with Nuriko.
Nakago whirled around and glared at Amiboshi. "You told your brother about the attack didn't you?"
"No." Amiboshi stared her right in the face.
"How else could they have known?"
"Mages have powers you couldn't begin to understand." Chichiri suddenly appeared in front of Nakago. "Peek-a-boo!" She fired off a few energy blasts and disappeared again.
"Amature!" Nakago scoffed and avoided the coming blasts.
Momo got off her horse as quickly as she could and ran into the forest. "Subo---mmmph!!!" As she yelled out for the seishi she loved dearly, someone wrestled her to the ground and covered her mouth with their hand.
"Don't draw so much attention to yourself, girl. You wanna see him or not?" Momo's eyes widened when she recognized Kohana's voice. "I'll let you go if you don't over react." She nodded. Kohana let go of the other girl.
"Kohana! I've never been so happy to see you!" Momo flung her arms around Kohana.
"I don't think you've ever been happy to see me." Kohana hugged back.
"Where is he? Is he alright?"
Kohana smiled. She didn't need Momo to tell her who she meant. She nodded to her left.
"Suboshi…" Momo was on the verge of tears when she ran to him.
"Momo…" He embraced her tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I want you back in Kutou." She kissed him, not caring that Kohana wasn't standing that far away, her gaze continually shifting from the Seiryuu couple to the fight in the clearing and back again.
"I want to be back." He ran his fingers through her hair. "But I can't…"
"I know…I know it can't happen now…"
"You understand that I want to help them?"
She nodded. "If it's what you think is right. I understand and agree with you." She relaxed her embrace on him and just held onto his hands.
He smiled and kissed her again. "Thank you Momo."
While Momo and Suboshi had their moment together, the battle still went on between the seishi groups.
"I expected something better from a student of the Oracle." Nakago blasted at Chichiri.
Chichiri formed a shield and the blast fizzled out harmlessly. "I expected something better period." She materialized her staff and swung it at Nakago. She heard a satisfying crack as Nakago stumbled to the side.
"Well…you can defend yourself and you're strong, I'll give you that…" She stared at her broken arm. "But can you defend your friends?" Nakago flung another chi blast at Nuriko and Ashitare.
"Now you're being cheap!" Chichiri managed to intercept the blast and save Nuriko and Ashitare at the same time.
"Am I? I don't think so." Nakago smirked. "This is cheap." Despite the cracked bone, she extended both arms and fired. One went for Hotohori and Tomo, the other for Tasuki and Soi.
"You bitch!" Chichiri knew she couldn't save both of them. Hotohori was closer so she ran to save him first.
Momo saw the panic in Suboshi's eyes. "Are you going to…?"
"I have to…" He let go of Momo's hands. "I love you." He ran towards Tasuki and Soi. For a moment he didn't feel like he was in control of his body. He saw himself push both seishi down and get hit by Nakago's attack.
Tasuki and Soi stared in disbelief. Momo let out a strangled cry and began to sob. Kohana held her friend as she sobbed. Time stopped for a moment. No one moved. Only Momo's sobs echoed in the area.
When the blast dissipated, Suboshi dropped to the ground. Blood ran down the side of his face and his arm. Tasuki moved first. "Suboshi!" She stared at the fallen boy and tried to wake him up. "Say something!"
Momo broke away from Kohana and made a mad dash for Suboshi. Nakago caught her first. "This battle is over for now. But there will be others." She looked at the other Seiryuu seishi. "Back to the palace."
"NO! What about Suboshi? He's hurt! You hurt him!" Momo clawed at Nakago's arm. Suboshi began to open his eyes. He stared at Nakago and Momo.
"He made his own decision. He's a traitor to Seiryuu." She gave Suboshi a cold glare. "If you ever show your face in Kutou again, you'll be executed on the spot."
"No! Nakago, that's not right! Don't!" Momo sobbed even harder.
Nakago dragged Momo to Soi. "You. Take her back to the palace."
Momo struggled against her new holdings. Soi was kinder than Nakago though. "Lady Momo," he whispered, "Don't fight now. You'll get to see him again one way or another. Everything will be okay." He whispered gently.
Momo looked up at him then back at Suboshi. "I don't see how…" She whispered the words 'I love you' to him before she let Soi take her away.
After the Seiryuu seishi left, Suboshi stared off into space. "Kill me now…" Tears mixed with the blood running down his face. The Suzaku seishi were gathered around him.
"Suboshi, don't talk like that." Kohana shook her head. "It won't help."
"And what good does living do?"
Tasuki suddenly let out a snort and smacked him in the face. "Shut up! Don't talk like that!" Everyone, including Suboshi was shocked by her actions. "Don't do that to your priestess. You just saved my life and survived the blast that was intended to kill me. You can't throw your life away now." Tasuki relaxed a bit. "Mitsukake, heal him?"
"Of course." Mitsukake tied a bandage around Nuriko's arm where Ashitare had gotten his teeth in deep and knelt next to Suboshi. "Just relax. You'll be fine. You got balls kid. That was quite a stunt."
Suboshi groaned in pain as Mitsukake healed his cuts and bruises. "Can we go back to the palace? I wanna sleep now…"
"That sounds like a good idea." Chichiri nodded and cast a teleportation spell around the group.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"How could you not let Suboshi come back?!" Momo screamed at Nakago. "He didn't do anything wrong!"
Nakago sat calmly at a small table. "He helped the enemy. He isn't one of us. He's with them now."
"Them, us, who cares?! In the end, does it really matter?"
"You haven't been here long enough to understand the wars between the gods."
"The gods? You think I care about the gods? They don't matter to me. Your gods don't exist in my world!" She screamed in Nakago's face.
"Neither does Suboshi." Nakago hissed back at her.
Momo backed off. "You're a cruel woman."
"I don't care what you think of me. And being nice gets you killed. Take your boy toy for example."
She glared at her seishi. "I feel sorry for you Nakago." The older woman glared back. "You think you have everything…but you've lost a lot…you let your heart disappear."
Nakago was ready to slap the young priestess, but stopped herself. "It didn't get me anywhere when I had it." She stood up and left the room. Momo watched her quietly.
Her cape silently billowed behind her as she headed to her own room. "That girl doesn't know what she's talking about. The nerve of her…she doesn't understand anything…" When she entered her room, she slammed the door so hard it didn't shut properly and opened backed up a few inches. "No one understands anything about me!" She screamed and swept her hand across her dresser sending a glass jewelry box flying into the wall shattering it into a million glittering shards.
The sound of the slamming door roused Soi from his room. Though he was tired, he was too curious to leave it alone. Wincing a bit from the burn on his arm he received from Tasuki, he got up and went down the hall. The sound of glass shattering made him move faster. Silently, he watched her stalk around her room.
"How could she act so high and mighty around me? She doesn't know anything about my life! How dare she presume to tell me about my life!"
"Imagine the nerve of some people." Soi leaned on her door way.
Nakago whirled around and glared at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"You make enough noise to wake the dead." He cast a glance at the pile of glass shards.
"Get out of my room." She pointed to the hall.
"Technically I'm not in your room." He smirked in her doorway.
"Whatever. Go away." She turned away from him.
"Then make me." He stepped into her room.
"Get out." She glared at him.
"Not until you tell me what's bothering you."
"Nothing." She hissed.
"You can hide from everyone else, but not me."
"What makes you so special? What makes you think you'd understand?" She jabbed him in the chest with her finger.
He grabbed her hand. "I don't pretend to understand fully. But I do understand more than anyone else." Much to her shock, he pulled up the sleeve, revealing the scars on her arm. She would have smacked him, but he had a good grip on her good arm and her other arm rested uselessly in a sling. "I understand how this happened."
"If you don't let me go…"
"I told you to make me get out of your room. You didn't."
"You think you understand…you don't." She pulled her arm away from him. "You don't know what I've been through…"
"Being taken away from the place you call home…no one ever caring about you…doing whatever it takes to survive…closing yourself off to the world."
"Don't preach to me about life. I don't want to hear it." She went to her window. "What I am has gotten me everything I have."
"I know. I'm not saying you have to change. I'm just saying it doesn't have to be that way anymore."
"Why are you saying this to me? You're not making any sense."
"That's usually what love does to a person."
"What?" She stared at him. "What did you just say?"
"I love you Nakago…"
She shook her head and walked away from him. "No…you couldn't…no one loves me…"
He approached her again. "Don't presume to tell me about my heart."
"Soi…you are a good person…you should save your heart for someone who has hers." She felt tears sting her eyes.
"You have a heart." He embraced her from behind. "Mine. I love you. I won't stop saying it until you believe me." Soi pushed her hair to one side and kissed her throat.
Pain coursed through her head and chest. Memories of her childhood flooded her mind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A young Nakago was curled up in a corner of a dark room, crying. She wasn't much older than ten or so. Her arms were covered in bruises and cuts. Some of the fresh cuts still bleed, leaving a dark stain of the ground. Every day since she was six had been like this.
The door suddenly swung open and light poured into the room. Nakago yelped in pain and tried to shield her eyes. She had a large bruise on the side of her face.
"Girl, get up. You're not done for today."
"But I'm tired…" Tears continued rolling down her face.
"Then you're more worthless than we thought. No wonder your mother gave you up." A tall, shadowed soldier walked towards her. "Stop crying and get up." He grabbed her arm and dragged her up.
She didn't have the energy to pull away; she only cried harder. "My mother loves me."
"Shut up!" He smacked the bruise. "You're weak. No one gives a damn about you. No one has a reason to. You're a tool. Power to be used by others. That's what you're being trained for. Never to be used for anything else but power."
As upset as she was, she didn't have any more tears. She stared at the soldier defiantly. "No! I'm not a tool! I'm human! I have a heart!"
The soldier dragged her into a training room and threw her to the floor. "And that's what makes you weak." There were other stone-faced soldiers in the room. "Having a heart, having emotions will get you killed. We have been charged with ridding you of those burdens."
Nakago closed her eyes when she heard a whip uncoil and fall to the floor. "I am not weak…" She hissed.
"What did you say?" The soldier sneered.
"I am not weak." She raised her head and stared at him. "I don't care if anyone gives a damn about me but I am not weak."
"Yes, you are." He laughed and raised the whip.
"Do your worst." She kept her chin high.
The whip came down hard, cutting her back through her tattered shirt. She fell forward but didn't cry out. "You're learning." He whipped her again. She moved less. Every time the whip came down on her, she became less and less fazed. After a few minutes, she wasn't moving at all.
"Oh I'm done learning. Time for you to learn." She turned to the captain.
"Excuse me? What can you teach me?" He sneered.
Her symbol flashed on her forehead. "I'm not weak. I am power. I will not be used by other people." A smirk flashed across her lips and she blasted her primary torturer. He was dead in an instant.
The other soldiers looked at Nakago, their fallen captain then each other. They bowed to her. She looked satisfied.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Seiryuu no…no one loves me…it's what they always said…" She shook her head.
"They?"
"My…trainers…" She stared at her arms. "The ones who made me."
"What else did they say?"
"That no one would ever love me…that I am a tool…that I am weak…having a heart makes you weak…" She repeated the lessons that had been drilled into her for the most of her life. She stared off into space.
"They were wrong."
"No…no they weren't…I would have died a long time ago if I hadn't learned." She broke away from him. "I don't need anyone…I purged myself of the emotions that made me weak." She clutched her chest. "They aren't there anymore…"
"I think they are. You just deny that they are."
She leaned against her wall. "So what if I deny it?" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I was fine the way I was! Why'd you have to go and change things?" She raked her fingers through her hair as she sunk to the floor against the wall. She buried her face in one hand and sighed.
"It's a habit." He knelt next to her.
She looked up at him through her fingers. "You know I can't return your feelings now."
"I understand."
"I may never."
"I know." He pulled her hand away from her face. "Love makes a person do stupid things."
She stared into his eyes and saw something she almost didn't recognize. Honesty. Sincerity. Kindness. "I don't understand you, Soi…why would you love me?"
"I'm not quite sure myself." He pulled her to her feet. "Something attracted me to you the moment I saw you. Kindred spirit perhaps…"
"Perhaps…" She sat on her bed. "This is too much for one night…"
"Then I'll leave now." He started for the door.
"No." She grabbed his arm. "You had your chance when I told you to get out before." A tiny semblance of a smile passed over her lips. "The window is gone now."
"Very well." Soi sat down with her. "I guess I'll have to deal with it." With his good arm, he pulled her close and kissed her. She didn't kiss back but neither did she push him away. She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment then they curled up into bed.
Momo walked past they open door a few minutes later. She saw Soi sleeping on his side resting his injured arm across Nakago who was lying on her back, using Soi's arm for a pillow. Momo sighed and quietly closed the door.
"'Bout time…" She muttered and kept walking. "Maybe she'll quit being so much of a bitch…"
"Hey Momo, are you okay?" Amiboshi met up with her in the hallway.
"Physically or otherwise?"
"Either…both…" He shrugged.
"Nakago might have bruised my arm, but it'll be fine. And I miss Suboshi. I want to know if he's okay…"
"He is. I was talking to him a little while ago. Mitsukake healed him."
"That's good." She managed a small smiled.
"I asked him what he was gonna do and he said the Suzaku seishi are going to let him stay there."
"At least he's safe."
"Yeah."
"I'll feel better when I'm with him though."
He patted her shoulder. "This can't go on much longer."
"I know…I'm going to go to bed."
"Good night."
Momo headed back down the hall to her room. "Please let something make the fighting stop…anything…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Naraku watched the Kutou palace with interest. She drummer her fingers on the arm of her black onyx throne. "I think I've been quiet too long…I'll create some mischief soon enough." She reached out into the darkness and withdrew a mirror. The surface of the mirror was smooth as undisturbed water and dark. The frame of the mirror was twisted, thorny vines.
She brushed the surface of the glass. Faint wisps of light traveled in the darkness. "Just a few more souls and I'll be able unlock the powers my accused sister took away from me." She smiled evilly. "Those priestesses will do nicely…I think I'll need their little boy friends too…and the soul of my little relative should complete my collection." She thought for a moment. "Then the world will be mine to play with. Finally! My time is here! No one can stand against me now!" She held up her necklace and kissed it. "No one will figure out how to stop me. Thank you Death!" Her laughter echoed throughout the darkness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~Shadow Hawk~*~