Thief of Hearts
Sakura's Note: Happy Thanksgiving! I wanted to save this chapter for some special occasion, because of its length, and wasn't letting me post all week long, so this is coming out a little late. ::sigh:: But, I hope everyone will forgive me because of this chapter's length.
Anyway, thank you to everyone who's been reviewing and for not harassing me about the lack of updates. I really wish I had more time to write, but for some reason, time isn't on my side right now. I'm working on it, though. I've taken advantage of this four day weekend to work on all three of my stories.
On another note, how was everyone's holiday? If anything crazy happened with you (like it did with me) then feel free to include it in your review. I love reading stuff like that.
Enjoy and R&R!
.-..-.
Chapter 8: Oh... The Tangled Webs We Weave
.-..-.
The storyteller, Urasue, cleared her throat and continued.
Inuyasha continued to look interested in the gypsy lore being recited to him and the other Jidai, but his ears were elsewhere. Off to his right Kagura, and the other two of the Trio, were readying themselves for their performance. Beyond them, however, was a group of Jidai, looking around for the village women and a pleasurable afternoon. Among them, were two very distanced characters.
It was no surprise to him, however, that they were with the more vulgar of the thieves. Naraku and Onigumo stood, looking for the most part casual. Other than the fact that they were standing a few feet away from the other men, it wouldn't have looked like they were conspiring something.
"...and the Princess watched as he rode off into the sunset, the sands whipping at his horse's hooves..."
Inuyasha scoffed. The old woman had to remind him of her, didn't she? Truth was, the annoying girl had only just flitted out of his mind a second ago. But, that had been progress. Every time he thought of her, he also thought of the jewel. She was the Jewel's protector... And she had a power... A weird one at that.
He hadn't ever believed in magic or mythical powers until he had met Kikyo. Yet the power of purification still fascinated him. When she had shot the arrows, it had somehow made the darkest of his thoughts change.
Something he didn't appreciate in the slightest.
Neither would he ever admit to anyone that for a split second flowers and angels had invaded his thoughts.
"Is the power in the arrows or the girl?" Inuyasha's eyebrows knitted together in thought. If the arrows were the problem, then it would be easy to render her helpless. But, if it resided inside of her...it posed a threat.
A great threat.
"...ever see him again...and she did. He came to her, erasing all first impressions..."
Inuyasha pushed his concerns about the two brothers out of his head for a moment, focusing his energy on obtaining the ultimate treasure.
The Shikon Jewel.
"...and they fell in love."
.-..-.
"No, you can't -- this isn't fair!" Miroku grabbed at her arm.
"Don't say 'can't', it's a discouraging word." The Shikonian stopped at Miroku's bedroom door, poking her head in. Then, upset that her belongings weren't there either, headed back to the main room.
"But, Sango!" Miroku jumped ahead of her, placing a hand on the wall, the other on her shoulder. Her eyes became narrow slits, but he was used to ignoring her blatant expectations for personal space. "How long have we known each other?"
He received a spirited glare, "A day."
Ah...so she was a literal type of girl.
"We've known each other longer than that, and you know it." Miroku looked into her eyes for a moment. "We've been running circles around each other for years. We just never... Introduced ourselves before."
He didn't seem like the type of guy that would hang around with a group of bandits... It angered her, deep down, that he did. Either way though, "That's a complete load of bull, Jidai."
With a practiced ease, Miroku pinned her to the wall, blocking her escapes with his arms. The only problem now was he was giving her full access to the most sensitive parts of his anatomy, and she was the type of girl to take advantage of that. "You can't deny it. Think back... How many times have you seen me before? How many times have we fought in the same battles, the same place, for the same things?"
"That doesn't matter." Sango crossed her arms and looked off to the side. "If what you are saying is true, then I could harbor feelings for any of the Jidai, seeing how I must have seen them hundreds of times before. Isn't that right?" Due to his lack of response, she looked up at him curiously. The look on his face caught her off guard.
He looked....playful.
"What is so funny?"
"I never said anything about you having to harbor feelings for me, Warrior Princess." The twinkle in his eye was almost blinding by now. "I was merely stating that we had known each other for a long time. That the least you could do would be to help me out..."
Sango cursed. She'd let something she didn't even know existed slip, and to the one man she couldn't stand, no less. She felt a blush rising to her cheeks, and quickly ducked her head. "Don't read so deep into my words that you find something that's not there, Jidai." Without waiting for his response, Sango moved his arm out of her way forcefully and headed into the great hall, ignoring his gasp.
With or without her belongings, she was leaving.
Her father had raised her to be self sufficient, and to always do what felt right in her heart. If father saw me now he would kill me... She had allowed herself to be captured by a Jidai, something disgraceful in itself... Then, not only had she started a conversation with him, but also she had fallen asleep in his arms and helped him. Her mind kept asking why, but the answer was too hard to grasp. Sango stopped at the exit, staring out at the beautiful dunes sweeping across the land. It was beautiful; untainted.
The Jidai would be coming after her in a moment, as soon as the pain in his arm died off. She looked back behind her, into the Grand Hall.
They were even now. She could have killed him, but instead saved his life. He had done the same for her. No one had to know of this little deal, she had a feeling he felt the same.
"It won't be that far back to Shikon..."
Sango started, turning to face the familiar voice.
"A day or two, at the most." He shrugged. Sango didn't miss the slight wince he gave when his arm moved. "Follow the sun set, not the sun rise." He handed her a burlap sack, filled with Shikonian Warrior necessities, and stepped back.
Numbly, she nodded.
.-..-.
Two lavender orbs watched the able-bodied woman disappear, blending with the sand until all evidence she had ever been there faded from the wind. He could still sense her presence, lingering throughout the great hall.
After exiting Ano Horaana, she had crossed through the never-changing dunes. After a while she'd pass through the Harpies domain, and--
Faster than the blink of an eye, Ano Horaana was once again empty and one horse short.
.-..-.
"He confuses me." Sango muttered to the wind. "Nothing he does...none of it! None of it makes sense." She stomped angrily through the desert, refusing to look back. If she did, then she might just find herself lost and even more confused.
Not like that would be anything new...
Follow the sunset, not the sunrise...
That had been the oddest request of everything the Jidai had said. Was it that simple to find her way home? Of course, she was missing her most prized and irreplaceable possession...but that was a small price to pay if she could get back to Shikon and away from such a confusing man.
"Wait..." She stopped trudging through the thick sand, a slow and devious smile forming on her lips. "It IS that simple...Follow the sun set home...follow the sun rise to..." Her eyes widened in realization.
She could stop the Sengoku Jidai and their reign of sin as soon as she reached Shikon. One word and the entire Royal Guard would be riding towards the most notorious lair of the Thieves. With her knowledge...the King of Thieves would be behind bars, along with all of his followers.
By the time she realized the strange emotion she felt was guilt, it was too late to stop the hand that covered her mouth and the hit to her head.
.-..-.
"How could I be so stupid?"
Kazaana didn't answer. Instead, the horse sped up, kicking sand up violently behind him.
"She is on foot. She is a beautiful woman. She doesn't have her main weapon...You're a fool, Miroku, a damnable fool." he shook his head. "How far could she have gotten?"
Something caught the light in the fading afternoon sun. Miroku winced, moving his hand to cover his face. "I hate when that happens. Some wandering salesman just goes around littering the desert..." He stopped, pulling back on Kazaana's reigns. "Or a wandering, fiery Warrior Princess...ho, ho, steady, Kazaana..."
Miroku slid off his horse, patting its side, and he lead it toward the partially-hidden object.
It was worth a try, at least...
He lost it a few times because of the blowing sand, but by moving around slightly to catch the sunlight, he soon stood right in front of it.
Kneeling down, Miroku brushed the sand away...and his heart stopped.
A feather.
Dipped in blood.
The Harpies' trademark.
Sango's blade looked undamaged, and if the feather had not been there, it would look as though she had just dropped something. But the feather that was so close by made something harden in the pit of his stomach.
Miroku grabbed Kazaana's reigns and stood. "I'll get her back to safety."
.-..-.
Musty air clogged her lungs, rotten water seeped into her hair and skin, and what was most likely a rat scurried across her bound feet. She tried to cough, but it only stirred up sand that scratched her throat and tickled her face.
Something cackled. "I think she's come to."
She jerked, her mind registering that her hands and feet were bound with thick, coarse rope.
"Oh really...wonderful...wonderful..." a deeper voice than the first.
Water was dropping from somewhere above her, dribbling down the side of her face, down her neck, and finally disappearing down her front.
Sango cracked open an eye enough to briefly take in her surroundings. The hot desert sand was gone, replaced by cold, damp darkness. Her clothes felt much looser on her than they should have, which made her mind go insane with questions. Where am I? Who's talking and what are they going to do with me?
"She's a woman, alright..." an excited voice. Then someone clapped. "You can tell easily with them clothes we got 'er in."
The Warrior anxiously looked down as far as she could, seeing flimsy, gauzy material covering her chest and waist...barely. Sango looked up and closed her eyes. What went wrong? I followed the Jidai's instruc-- He knew. That bastardly Jidai knew I'd get captured!
She felt betrayed and foolish. I believed him...I thought he was telling me the truth.
"Bring her out so I can look at her."
Somewhere to her left a door opened, and a faint light spread through the room. Two hulking figures loomed over her for a moment before bending down to hold her arms. "We're comin', boss."
"Get OFF me!" Sango swung her tied hands backward into one man's gut. She fell roughly to the floor, but ignored it. "Why am I here?" She whirled her head around to look at the door. "Answer me!"
"You are a fiery one...hard to find one like you." A tall, burlesque man made his way into the room, followed by another.
Sango growled, sending the two men frosty glares. "Release me."
"You were trespassing. Had you been a man, you'd be dead right now. But, seeing how you're in a bind...maybe we could work something out..." The men gave deep throated laughter at the largest man's insinuations.
They laughed harder when Sango spit on him. "You wish."
Behind her back, her fingers worked frantically on the rough ropes. Whether her fingers were dripping sweat or blood, she did not know. All that she cared about was escaping and returning to Shikon and getting away from the betrayal she could feel building up in her stomach.
.-..-.
Inuyasha leaned back, eyes glimmering like gold from the fire's intensity. His best friend's well being was plaguing his thoughts, making him wonder if he should be out looking for him. Miroku had gone missing before, but then turned up a day or two later. No one knew where he went, and he never told anyone he was leaving.
He just did it.
In some ways, Miroku was more mysterious than Inuyasha himself.
So, in cases such as this, Inuyasha was torn. The festivities were inviting, and none of his men asked him much of anything when they were at the gypsy camps. It was a good place to think. A good place to plan his strategy for obtaining the Jewel.
But, Miroku and him were closer to being brothers than he was with Sesshoumaru. He was the only other member in the whole Sengoku Jidai with enough of a human soul in him to make good conversation and not that of violence and women.
Well, a good conversation without violence.
Out of the corner of his eye, Inuyasha spotted Sesshoumaru enter the fire-lit area of the camp. He didn't acknowledge his brother at all, and his brother did not acknowledge his King. It had been a long running tradition of theirs to, for the most part, pretend the other wasn't even there.
While in the gypsy camp, however, Inuyasha sometimes entertained himself by watching his brother. Sesshoumaru and romance in the same sentence just seemed very comical to him, and when you added the word 'gypsy' to that sentence as well...
Let's just say that Inuyasha found himself in the middle of a good show.
Sesshoumaru settled for standing a little ways away from the campfire. His eyes were narrowed, as always, into an unapproachable glare.
"As the sun sets, the spirits rejoice in dance..." Urasue, the storyteller, clapped her hands once, twice, three times. The sand picked up, and the sounds of gypsy instruments filled the air. It started slowly, and then increased in energy. Two voices filled the air, singing an unfamiliar song.
One of the men played his violin from the corner expertly.
"Come with me in the twilight of a summer night for awhile
Tell me of a story never ever told in the past."
Kagura, dressed in a myriad of colors, shook her tambourine against her hip as she sang next to the second member of the Trio.
"Take me back to the land
Where my yearnings were born
The key to open the door is in your hand
Now fly me there."
Yura, the shorthaired woman next to her, joined in. She plucked at the fine hairs of her instrument, emitting a new type of rhythm to the song.
The two gypsy dancers continued to play their instruments as the third member danced around the fire hauntingly, dressed in white.
Kagura continued to shake her tambourine and began to dance around the fire with more fluid movements than her younger sister. A moment later, Yura followed.
As she neared the tall, stoic, Jidai, Kagura allowed a sultry smile to grace her features. The three dancers stopped as the next verses approached. Yura stood in front of Hiten, Kanna frozen in place by the fire, and Kagura in front of the most beautiful and infuriating man she knew.
They sang.
"Fanatics find their heaven in never ending storming wind
Auguries of destruction be a lullaby for rebirth.
Consolations, be there
In my dreamland to come
The key to open the door is in your hand
Now take me there."
The way Kagura whispered those four words made something in him freeze. His calm exterior showed no signs of it, but the feeling it gave worried him. Sesshoumaru covered any confusion his face revealed with a mask of annoyance. Kagura seemed to notice, her eyes dimming.
She swayed to the side, resuming the dance with Kanna and Yura.
Damn him... Kagura hit her hip with the tambourine a little harder than she had wanted, causing her to wince. He doesn't even care...surely Naraku saw that, as well... She darted her ruby eyes across the fire, chancing a look over where her two brothers stood. Sure enough, both carried scowls; Naraku caught her eyes.
Kagura lost her footing, tripping out of rhythm with the others. Silently cursing, she resumed her dance. She gave Yura a thankful smile when her friend deliberately tripped the same way she had, trying to work the motion into the dance. Luckily not everyone was against her.
"I believe in fantasies invisible to me
In the land of misery I'm searching for the sign
To the door of mystery and dignity
I'm wandering down, and searching down the secret sun."
As the Trio raised their heads to the sky, Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder. Naraku was nowhere in sight. I'm being too paranoid... He shook his head of silver locks and looked back over the fire at the dancers.
"Come with me in the twilight of a summer night for awhile
Tell me of a story never ever told in the past."
Kagura's fluid motions were becoming jerky, and her eyes seemed to be following the same path his had a few moments ago. She was looking for Naraku just like he'd done. Inuyasha searched out his brother, seeing him closer to the dancing than before, with his eyes lazily looking around the crowds.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one concerned with Naraku's disappearance.
"Take me back to the land
Where my yearnings were born
The key to open the door is in your hand
Now take me there
to the land of twilight."
As the music picked up pace and energy, Onigumo fidgeted with the bandages wrapped around his arm. Tonight, since the flames were the only light, the bandit had removed most of the unnecessary wrappings. Inuyasha never could figure out why he had the weird habit, and wasn't about to bother asking. In his opinion, both Onigumo and Naraku could drop dead here and now.
And that's just what Onigumo did.
.-..-.
Seventeen candles were placed on the table. Their aromas filled the room in gray streaks of smoke.
A silver basin sat in the center, empty.
Each of the women held a small onyx cup, carved for purposes such as these. Inside each were ten drops of water.
Eyes were brimmed with tears that would not fall.
The sun had disappeared beneath the horizon a while before, leaving the room shrouded in only the light of stars.
The North Star shined brightly, directly above the crowd.
Shikon was silent in silent respect.
Kagome stood by her mother, clothed in black. Sango...I'm so sorry it had to be this way. You shouldn't have had to sacrifice yourself for the city. Why did you have to die? Why did you have to be the hero?
The Sultana placed a strong hand on her daughter's shoulder before stepping forward in front of the altar. "Sango; daughter to my departed sister and brother, was a brave Warrior and brought our family great pride. She followed in my footsteps to become the first female leader in her position. Her spirit was strong, and she died a heroine for our city. One must question what Shikon would have been like without her in the time we had her." She paused, looking back at her daughter, "One must question what the future will bring without her."
Silently, the Sultana poured her cup into the basin and backed away from the altar.
Kagome stood there, without feeling in her legs, for a long moment. It was only when her mother whispered her name that she urged herself forward.
Unlike her mother, she would speak her words silently, pour her cup's contents into the basin, and finally return to her mother's side.
Sango, you taught me everything I know about the outside world... You lived life for the both of us, and I thank you. You weren't my cousin, you are my sister. Without you, Shikon will be a much dimmer place. I love you, sister, be happy in the afterlife.
Instead of standing by her mother, Kagome emptied her cup, and left the room.
.-..-.
A quick credit for Kajiura Yuki, the singer of Key of the Twilight which is the song used in this chapter. Since the lyrics seemed to fit the story, you will hear it again, but not in it's entirety. If you've heard it before, it's because this is a song for .hacksign.
Also, to avoid any confusion; When Kagome's mother said Sango was the daughter of her sister and brother, she meant her blood sister and brother-in-law. Back then, I don't believe they used the title of 'brother-in-law', so I figure the Sultana would just refer to him as her brother. It wasn't a sibling marriage.