"So, what are we going to do now?" Shihai asked, as he and Byaku were riding atop Kiara. Neither of them really had any idea of what their next move was. Kagome had told them that they key to defeating Naraku was in the wound of the wind; however, testusaiga, the sword capable of seeing it, was broken. Shihai simply refused to believe that a monster such as the wind could feel pain, and therefore it couldn't possibly have a wound.
"The first thing I want to is find that miko, Kikyo," she said. "She is an incredibly good person. She saved me, and I never properly thanked her. Hopefully, she'll know something about the wound of the wind."
Kikyo was currently in distress. She was lying against a deceased tree, as she waited for her demons to steal souls from the dead and deliver them to her. Since she did not have a stable soul herself, she had to use the souls of others as her life force. As of late, her condition had grown worse, forcing her to resort to desperate measures.
A small emotionless figure approached her, carrying a mirror with both her hands. She released souls from the mirror and allowed Kikyo to absorb them, then disappeared to collect more. Feeling a bit better, she was able to stand again, but she knew it wouldn't last long.
"Kukuku," Naraku's familiar laugh echoed. He appeared, holding an almost complete shikon no tama in his palm, with only one shard remaining. "Not satisfied with the souls of the dead Kikyo, so now you're stealing from the living? How shameful."
"It won't be long," she retorted. "Once you obtain that last shard, you will see the last of your life."
"As I recall, it was the very same shard that caused so much confusion the last time. I wonder, if some might not be willing to sacrifice his life."
"I'll take it myself if I have to."
"How cruel."
"I guess I'm not as kind as you thought I was."
Under Kikyo's orders, Kanna mercilessly took the souls from every living body in the village into her mirror. The setting became absolutely still and quiet, until the soulless bodies began to rise, and slowly float toward the fragile Kanna.
"I won't let you get away," Kagura said. "These bodies are upset, having lost their souls to you. Now you will pay for your own deed."
With her fan, she commanded them to attack, but was forced to jerk them to a halt when hiraikotsu propelled itself between the attackers and the fragile, precious child.
"A brat like you shouldn't be getting in my way," Kagura said to Byaku, as she caught the boomerang while riding on Kiara. "This is important business."
"What did you do to those villagers?" Byaku demanded. "And why are you attacking that child."
"You're too naive. That child is a youkai, a deadly one. She is nihility, so she feels nothing no matter how many lives she takes. That mirror of hers can absorb souls. But I plan to cause her power to backfire, since my fan can control not only the dead, but also the soulless."
"But if you attack her with so much force, the mirror will break and the souls will be lost forever!"
"That's a risk both Kohaku and I are willing to take. In order to complete the second stage, Naraku requires both the full shikon no tama and numerous souls. If I break the mirror, we can defeat Naraku."
"Kohaku? He wouldn't agree to something like that!"
Kohaku dressed himself for battle, equipping him with the strongest and most dangerous and most deadly of all the taijiya material. Today was the day when he defeated Naraku, he told himself, and prepared to end everything.
An arrow approached him, almost unnoticed. He just managed to dodge, as the arrow scraped his right knee, but he didn't feel any pain as he was a living dead supported by a shikon shard. The archer was Kikyo, making good her to claim to take the shard by herself if she had to. The next arrow caused a boulder to explode, knocking Kohaku from the top of a cliff. When he landed, he was surprised to see Rin running toward him.
She was extensively tired. She had been running through the entire night, in the storm. Her clothes were ripped and torn, she had numerous wounds and scratches, and her body ached. In her hand, she held the blade, tenseiga.
The sword began to glow, and act on its own will. Rin tried to settle it, but even with both hands she could not stop it. The sword drove through Kohaku's body, and pushed the shard from his flesh. She quickly pulled the sword free, and it instantly began to crack, then shatter.
She tried to check on him to see if he was really okay, but an arrow suddenly appeared and divided them. The impact caused Rin to fall away from Kohaku, and the shard landed behind her. Kikyo jumped from the top of the cliff and landed safely, and demanded the shard from Rin. Kohaku rose to defend her, but was suddenly suffering from the scrape on his right knee.
Kikyo strung an arrow, and it looked as though both Rin and Kohaku would be hit, but Sesshoumaru blocked the attack with his other sword, toukajin. Rin couldn't believe he had saved her. She had run away, stolen his sword, and broke his sword, but he still saved her. He saved her like he always did.
She tried to apologize, but Sesshoumaru silenced her, very focused on the fight. He ordered Kohaku, "boy," to protect her. He agreed, planning on taking her to a safe place, then rejoining the fight.
Sesshoumaru swung toukajin, but Kikyo was able to block it by using her arrow like a sword. She jumped away to gain distance, then launched it. He ran straight at it, and narrowly avoided it, then stabbed her; however, she did not blade. Before he could reclaim his sword, Kikyo's soul stealing demons appeared and bit into his flesh, carrying him into the air.
Kikyo pulled the sword from her flesh and tossed it aside. The wound healed itself. "You cannot defeat me," she informed him. "I already dead, but was revived by dark magic. Without the tenseiga, the sword that can cut the dead, you cannot cut me."
He ignored her, and freed himself from the demons. He was ready for another bout, but both fighters stopped when they became aware of Naraku's presence. He laughed evilly as one of his branches extended and gathered the final shard. It merged with its brothers, and once again became whole.
He chuckled, "Now, the second stage will be complete."
On cue, Kanna appeared quietly. She was followed by Kagura on her feather, and the other two riding on Kiara. Kagura and Byaku continued arguing over whether or not to destroy the mirror, and even before they could finish their quarrel, Kohaku returned, and destroyed it without hesitation. The mirror shattered into pieces, and its contents, the souls of that entire village, were lost forever.