A/N: Story starts off in a cavern. o.o Once again...this is based off RPing sessions. Thus, the characters do not belong to me or the other RPer (whom I adore for the idea of this fic n.n). Credit to all the right places. Review, or no story! Kanna likes teh feeedback. -Heart.-

The cave was oddly quiet as the young girl leaned over Naraku's form, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Only one spell left...one more, and she would be done. Things would be back to normal...well, as normal as things ever were. In the dim lighting, provided by stolen souls placed randomly throughout the cavern and forced to glow, she sighed and bushed a lock of ivory hair from her face.

"Now, listen," Kanna said firmly, a quiet authority washing over her as she placed a hand upon his left arm. "You are going to lay down, and you are going to stay down, until your body has had more time to restore itself."

Focusing, she drew a symbol on his hand, the lines shimmering with a pale, green light. She kept a small thread of power connected to it, holding her concentration as she reached upwards and drew the same symbol at the base of his neck. She shifted the threads of power to both symbols, connecting them as she switched and did the same to his right side, forming a grid of energy across his chest. Kanna looked up, mentally etching a symbol onto the shield, and it flickered blue as the collected souls began to glow brighter.

"The reason I say this," she continued, placing her hand lightly in the middle of his chest, where the lines of power all met into a nexus, "is because this magic, zen'yu, will deplete most...if not all...of my energy."

The same green light of the symbols began to flow from her solar plexus, wrapping around her like emerald mist as it travelled to her arm and down into her hands, flowing through the power lines and outwards to the symbols.

Kanna watched, pushing the power forth until the power lines seemed to overflow, spreading out until they formed a pure sheild of green light across him. This would leave her tired, she knew...she could already feel her strength waning. But I can't...I can't leave him like this. Even if I couldn't sense his pain, I wouldn't be able to just let him suffer. I've grown weak...again, maybe more than I was before. Why couldn't I be like Kagura, and just not care?

But Kagura was dead. Kanna wasn't. Perhaps, ironically, this weakness...is not a weakness? I'll have to look into this...

Returning her mind back to the task at hand, she took a breath as a small, supernatural breeze ruffled her hair. The energy had reached it's peak, and all she had to do was say the proper words...but a sudden barrier blocked her way, in her mind and her powers.

Kanna frowned; she knew that this magic, though it would indeed heal his injuries without a doubt, would be intensely painful. And, at first, slow. Like an arrow, it needed momentum to work faster, which could take over five minutes. Not only would it hurt like the hells, it would also look like nothing was happening besides that...

"Naraku...do you trust me?" she asked suddenly, concerned not only for his wellbeing, but hers. What if he thought she was a traitor...? He could think that, and she was the danger in this magic now. I need to know...before I continue, I have to know if I have his trust.

Strange how such a small question could freeze her blood.

Naraku watched silently as Kanna did her work, his knowledge in these forms of power practically nonexistent. He was a demon of duplicity; his very nature was to take, to deceive, and to betray. The notion of giving anything except for the sake of furthering his own power... no, this was well beyond his grasp. She drew her symbols with care and diligence, shaping and attaching them to one another with a quiet determination he himself had only demanded of himself a handful of times. While he knew nothing of the energy and will that went into her symbols, he knew the signs of heavy fatigue coming when he saw it. Still, he only watched.

"Naraku... do you trust me?"

He considered momentarily what this could mean. Did he trust her with what? She had remained loyal to him even in his defeat, and restored his body and mind. At this point it was no longer a matter of trust, but a matter of acceptance. What would she possibly gain personally from his continued survival?

Power?

Perhaps. He was certain by now that she had acquired a part of herself that he had kept. He wasn't certain how much she had taken back... and for that matter, where had this new art of hers come from? There was still much he didn't understand about what had happened in the last two months. His only contact had been through her... what was going on in the outside world? His mind raced, rushing through everything he had been told. Two months... destroyed... Kanna... was this girl truly Kanna? How had it not hit him sooner? The Fyōheki stone still hung above his head, concealing the demonic energy within the room. Of course he couldn't sense this Kanna... he couldn't sense anything!

But the mirror? Yes, that was the mirror that he had used to create Kanna all that time ago. Yet... when had he seen her use it? He struggled with his memories of his time awake, trying to see a single time he had seen the mirror respond to her... something, anything... and nothing. He had absolutely no reason to believe this demon was Kanna beyond her word, and her word was suddenly feeling very, very weak.

Could it have been the wards? He could see the possibility; his mind was weak, and his emotions were laid clean out. It would have been easy for her to manipulate what he thought and felt had she so felt the need. It was even possible that night she had taken ill had been a ruse, a facade to draw him closer to her. He was Puppet Master! He was the Lord of the Castle that made those around him dance to his every command. How dare she...

Yet it was all grasping at straws. While his mind was able to piece together possible signs of her trickery, it still could not form any true proof. He felt as though she was Kanna, but he couldn't be certain that it wasn't a trap. Everything he felt he knew had collapsed, and he was left with a simple decision. There was a right answer, but at this moment he could not see it. And if he chose wrong... then soon it wouldn't matter. Still, a decision must be made...

"Yes. I do."

But do you really, though...? The look of doubt in his eyes made her wonder, and Kanna almost regretted asking. But she needed to know, and now that she did, it was one more thing she'd work on...all she could do now was prove herself. I hope...in time...I can earn his faith. Otherwise, this is going to be a very long, tedious existence.

"Then...I will begin," she muttered, taking a steadying breath as the air seemed to grow thick with energy, pulsing like a heartbeat. When she spoke again, her voice was clear and soft, yet commanding.

"Caosga, malpirgi, sobam ds ozongon. Iolcam a ialpvrg," she chanted, a language older than Japan itself flowing past her lips. "Othil!'

The energy gave a final, explosive pulse as the words of power were spoken, and her eyes closed as the energy raced into his body. As she controlled the acidic scourge in her mind, she could see it flow through his veins like a jade fire, buring away the injuries with a searing vehemence. Kanna could distantly feel it herself as every nerve was stricken, the potent electricity of the energy at once horrid and awesome. Hang in there...just a bit longer...

To her relief, she soon could sense the healing setting in. She could sense the body twisting, shifting and crashing back together...and though she could feel the healing begin, the heat and pain began to skyrocket. Kanna choked slightly, her breathing suddenly cut off as she entered the final stage. Finally, the energy exploded again, rising into an inferno before guttering into smouldering embers.

Kanna gasped for air, the energy vanishing and her throat released from the zen'yu's grip. She collapsed, her body leaning against the cavern wall and her eyes remaining closed.

"It is done," she whispered, remaining still...neither sleeping or awake, she simply lay, and awaited his judgement.