Eeks, sorry 4 not updating 4 such a looong time. I swear I'll update lots during march break. Thx 4 ur patience:P
"You…Kagura…come to me…" Naraku's voice echoed in the deepest chambers of Kagura's mind. "Come… Must I be left with nothing? Your mother…" An image of a slaughtered young woman flashed before her eyes. "Your sister…" Another image, this time of a little girl with cold, void eyes. "Come…Join us all in the pits of hell…"
Kagura ran. She ran as fast as her tired legs would take her. Screaming for help, for anyone to come and save her. But Naraku still came. She could see and feel his shadow descending upon her. She was covered in his cold shadow, and all light grew fainter.
Naraku was standing in front of her now, blocking her way to the light, which was fading ever so quickly. "Get away from me! You're dead. YOU'RE DEAD!"
Sesshomaru was walking quietly in the hallway, prepared to go to bed after a very long day of work. The eerie silence comforted him. All that could be heard were his footsteps against the marble floor. Click. Click. Click.
Suddenly the silence was shattered. Sesshomaru's head snapped up as he stared at the door to his left. Kagura's room. She was screaming. He pushed open the door and walked in.
"Dead…you're dead…" Kagura chanted over and over again. She was tossing and turning all over the place, tears also running down her face.
Sesshomaru stared at her for a second, not doing anything, just watching her sob and scream. "It's not real." He finally told her. "Wake up." His strong, demanding voice snapped Kagura out of her nightmares. She sat up quickly, sweating profusely. "You were having a nightmare." Sesshomaru said just as Kagura realized it. She sat there for a full minute, not saying anything. Then suddenly, the silence was broken again by her sobs. Her shoulders started shaking just a little at first, then her entire frame was shaken as her cries grew louder.
Sesshomaru sat down on the chair beside her bed and waited for her to stop. It seemed like an eternity, but Kagura's tears finally dried.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm just so sorry."
Sesshomaru didn't say anything. He just got up and walked straight out the door.
The next day, Kagura walked shyly into Sesshomaru's study. He was staring into a mass of papers. "Sesshomaru?" She asked quietly.
He looked up at her blankly. "What is it?"
"I just wanted-" It seemed quite foolish now, to say that she had come to talk about her nightmares. "About last night, I-"
Sesshomaru looked back at his paperwork and Kagura decided that she had better leave. But then he looked back at her and his chair made a loud scraping noise as he got up. "Let's go for a walk in my gardens." Kagura stared at him, slightly dumbfounded. After a second, she followed him outside.
"Thank you for…for just waking me up yesterday, I guess." Kagura said. It was the same as before, Sesshomaru strolling in front of her and her walking just a little bit behind him.
"Was it him? Naraku?" Sesshomaru asked. He watched as a flock of pretty white birds flew overtop of them. Sesshomaru looked over his shoulder at Kagura, waiting for her response.
"Yeah, I…I dreamed that he had come to take me with him. To drag me into the Underworld. And I dreamed that he said…that he said my mother and sister were waiting there for me." The last part came out as a bare whisper, and Sesshomaru's ears twitched and strained to hear them. After hearing them, he didn't say anything, just continued walking in front of her.
"The thing with my family is…" Sesshomaru stopped and sat down in a big gazebo, motioning for her to sit opposite him. Kagura did so and continued. "Well, you probably know that my father wasn't a very good person. He…gambled a lot and drank and smoked. But he wasn't always like that." She stared into the sky and Sesshomaru stared at her, waiting for her to say more. "When I was little and it was just me, mother, and father, we were all really happy. Naraku, he was a good person. He loved my mother a lot." Her hands wrapped around a beautiful ruby ring that Naraku had bought for her mother when they had gotten married. The same one that her mother had held on to when she died. The same one that her mother had entrusted her with, using the last breath in her.
"But things started going wrong when Kanna was born." Kagura looked at Sesshomaru. "Kanna was my little sister." Sesshomaru tried to be as patient as possible, to not tell her that he already knew all that stuff. "My parents started arguing and fighting. Then-"
Flashback
"Daddy, what's wrong? Why are you so mad?" A very young Kagura asked curiously. Her father's face was livid. He was staring at these photos that were clenched so tightly in his fist that they started to crumple. Not answering his daughter, he flung them to the ground and Kagura scrambled to get a look at them.
"No." Naraku picked them up and threw them into a drawer and locked it with a golden key. He bent down and stared into Kagura's eyes. Kagura had never seen such anger and fierceness. "No, Kagura." He grabbed her hand and dragged her all the way into their car. Naraku started driving before Kagura could react. They drove for about thirty minutes and then he got out. Kagura followed him. They had parked in front of a beautiful mansion where a couple were staring lovingly into the eyes of a toddler. Looking closer, Kagura saw.
"Mommy? Kanna?" Her eyes teared up. Naraku picked her up and ran towards his wife.
"Kikyou." His voice was quiet and calm but Kagura could feel his anger because her father was holding her so tightly she could feel the bruises start to form. Her mother's bewildered eyes flashed back and stared at them.
"N-Naraku…I can explain!"
"No you can't. I have pictures, Kikyou. I know!" Naraku stared at her mother angrily. "You- you lied to me. You- all this time, Kikyou." He stared into Kanna's eyes. "She's not mine. She's the bastard daughter of you and this- this-" He pointed to the man she was with, a handsome young man who was staring straight back at Naraku with the same fierceness in his eyes.
"She chose me and not you. Get over you, you jackass." Naraku's eyes burned and he punched the man in the face. Kagura could read the fright in her mother's eyes.
"Mommy?"
"You chose him over me, I can live with it. What about Kagura? She's so little, how would I ever explain this to her? How do I tell my daughter that her mother's a filthy, low-life, slut?" Kikyou stared back at her husband with resolve. She helped the man she was with and answered with cold precision.
"Tell her I chose to follow my heart. I love him, Naraku, and that's all there is." Her mother looked at Kagura apologetically. "I'm sorry, Kagura." Kagura wasn't even looking at her anymore. Her eyes were too blurred with tears. But she could see the couple walking away with Kanna in their arms.
"You-" Naraku seethed. "You SLUT!" With that last word, he pulled out his gun and fired two shots. Kagura watched in horror as her mother went down and her boyfriend as well. She could see a mass of blood in front of her eyes but blocked it all out, running to her mother and her sister.
"Mommy?"
"Kagura, I'm sorry…" Her mother whispered. The blood was starting to flow out from her mouth and even Kagura could see the bullet wound where she had been shot. Her mother was not going to live. "Take- take this. I- I love you…" Kagura grasped onto the ruby ring and watched her mother die slowly in front of her, not being able to do anything about it.
She turned at the loud wailing noises beside her. It was her little sister. "Shh…" Kagura coaxed, just the way her mother would. "It's all right. I'll take care of you." Her eyes drooped with sorrow but she forced a smile. "I promise."
End Flashback
"But in the end, she died too. My father choked her to death. You probably know about that already." Kagura turned away.
Sesshomaru didn't say anything, just got up and started walking again. What a sad life, he thought as he heard her starting after him. What a sad story. He truly and sincerely felt pity for this girl. She was most likely ten years younger than him, if not more, but she had suffered much more than he had. I can't let her get hurt anymore, Sesshomaru vowed. But still, he didn't say anything. And Kagura was silent as well. All that could be heard was their footsteps.
Click. Click. Click.
