Chapter 23;

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"FATHER!" Miyoiki howled again.

"Howl all you wish," Naraku said, "I have absorbed your master's body. Soon his bond to you will be one will my very soul, and you will be my weapon."

Then something began to happen. Naraku's body started to shrink. His demon parts started to shrivel and become weak. His eyes widened with shock. He growled as he said, "Hmmm, it seems absorbing human flesh as made me a bit weaker. No matter, it is worth it to own you."

Miyoiki smiled a wicked smile. Rage and grief filled her totally. The injuries that she received in the new binding sung with pain, and her fangs and nails grew to long, twisted, gruesome looking things. She whispered, "I will kill you before you own me."

Some how she knew. She knew she was going to die. She reached into herself and grabbed every ounce of her spiritual and demonic powers. Every cell in her body cried out in hellish torture. And yet… She smiled.

Naraku's eyes widened in recognition. He saw her demonic aura and spiritual power in a warring vortex around her. He sputtered out, "Fool! You'll kill yourself too!"

"So be it," She said extending a hand toward him, "I will DIE before I serve you!"

Naraku took off into the sky as she let out all of her power at once. The night air rang with the fore-shock of the blast, and then the all-consuming blue light flew out of her, leveling everything it touched. Naraku threw up his barrier and flew directly up into the sky. I'm not going to make it! The human blood has made me weak!

Out of self preservation, Naraku released the dead sorcerer from his flesh. The body fell and was incinerated by the blast. Naraku, now at full strength, retreated into the sky. Damn that woman! At least, she's dead. No one could have survived that.

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The closer Sesshomaru got to the center of the explosion, the worse the damage was. His castle was in complete ruin. Along the outer edges were blacken bits of scattered rubble, but when he stepped into the direct ring of the blast there was nothing but a scorched, empty crater. It was egg shaped, pointing in the direction where Naraku had been. From the tip of the egg shape to the butted end was a mile and a half, he gauged, and across its thickest width was half a mile. Such devastation… He thought. Miyoiki… His heart cried in despair.

He slid down the edge of the crater. His whole being was icing over. It was a protection mechanism that started with his mother. Every new emotion he had was shutting down. The new Sesshomaru was dieing inside, the old Sesshomaru was taking over. The old Sesshomaru looked for the remains of his investment, and planned the rebuilding of his castle. The new Sesshomaru was locked away, somewhere dark; somewhere that it could not touch his barren heart.

Something twitched, ever so lightly in the corner of his eye. He walked over and immediately recognized the smell of burnt flesh. He knelt down beside a blacken body.

Her arms were missing, and her legs bellow the knees were burnt down to the bone. Bits of cooked flesh had torn away from wet pieces of meat that were still sizzling as though they were being pan-fried. This half-baked, half-blacken pattern continued up her body to what remained of her face. It was black, sucked in against her skull, her silver hair had completely burned away, and pieces of her scalp were missing, leaving the grey-cooked bone of her skull visible.

The new Sesshomaru retreated completely into the back of his mind. The old Sesshomaru regarded her with scientific curiosity. He did not dare to revive her in this state. That would be too cruel. Everyone he had ever revived healed only enough to live. The only time the Tensaiga had ever worked to completely restore a person was when it was wielded by Miyoiki.

The metamorph…. A truly beautiful and strange creature that could inflict pain and healing upon themselves with mere emotion. They could wield the powers of demon and priestess alike. They were always female. Sesshomaru thought, that had something to do with the effect of emotions on their powers. The honorable thing, the only thing, he could do for her now was give her a proper burial. He would give her a burial with every fanfare, bell and whistle; a burial befitting the only creature to fully warm his cold heart.

The new him tried to surface momentarily as he reached out to her charred body, and he squashed it back down. Just as he thought he had control again the shaking started in his hands. The more he tried to suppress it, the more it built. It traveled into his arms, and he looked at them in wonder. Why couldn't he stop the shaking? He willed them to stop, but the shaking grew. He shook all over. The shaking wouldn't stop, and then it shook his heart. Every ounce of what made up the demon lord known as Sesshomaru shook… Shook with grief. His eyes stung mercilessly as tear ducts that had been dry for centuries filled with tears.

"Mi…" He started, "Miyoiki… Miyoiki… MIYOIKI!"

His roar of ultimate pain tore through the night sky. Jaken heard it and froze in terror, Rin heard it and wept. Rootousi heard it as well. Rootousi would not have doubted that the gods themselves heard it.

The old Sesshomaru could not contain it; the overwhelming feeling of loss that overfilled him with suffering the likes of which he had never known. It was like a part of him had been torn out by a dull, jagged instrument and left an infested hole in him. He roared, and pulled what remained of her into his arms. He crushed his face into her charred chest, ignoring the flecks of ash that covered him in the process, and only minorly noting that the smooth white stone was gone. He sobbed. He completely, utterly sobbed, and hiccupped her name between choked gasps.

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Jackie; stay tuned!