The Ties that Bind Us
...OOO...
Sesshomaru looked out over his dominion from a high balcony, not seeing anything, his eyes lost in thought.
The setting sun lowering into the horizon bathed the land and sky in gold and crimson. Her face flashed before him, her melancholy eyes mirroring the dying sun.
Impulsively his hand went to his shoulder, now perfectly healed.
Kikyo- her name reverberated in his brain.
It had nearly been a month now, but still he found himself unable to completely forget her, despite his best endeavors. It was because he was still indebted to her, he had reasoned- and he never forgot a debt still to be paid, perhaps because rarely did he owe anyone such a favor. But the thought of her made him uneasy...
"Ehm, milord..." Jaken's timid voice broke his reverie. "You have a visitor."
Sesshomaru turned, half expecting it to be her, but it was another woman completely.
"Kagura," he greeted not unpleasantly. Though notions such as love and romance held no value with Sesshomaru, he had courted the possibility of taking the wind witch as a mate, if for no other reason than the simple continuation of his legacy.
"Sesshomaru," she returned in the same tone. "I was in the area and thought I'd stop by." It was always the same story.
Kagura's pride as a free spirit unbound to anything would not allow her to admit that she was very much interested in the cold but handsome demon lord, but nevertheless she always came by to see him every few months or so since receiving her freedom. Most of the time the visits were more or less for her pleasure, but this time however, she had come with a specific purpose.
For the past month now a strange apprehension had been nagging away at her until she could no longer just simply ignore it.
She voiced her concerns as soon as Jaken left.
"Tell me..." she began hesitantly, unsure of how to phrase her question, not knowing fully what it was she even wanted to know. "That night of Naraku's death... you saw him die, didn't you?"
The question threw him off- it was the last thing he had expected from her, but outwardly, he maintained his cool composure.
"With my own eyes," he answered. "Though it was that priestess Kikyo who delivered the death blow."
"Kikyo..." she ruminated on the name, murmuring to herself. "Yes...no...
she would never have allowed it... but she is only a mere human..." Then aloud she asked, "And his remains? What of his remains?"
"They were disintegrated by her spiritual energy. Inuyasha later on searched through the rubble, but nothing was found." Her questioning had piqued his interest, so he asked, "Why is it you are so curious about Naraku in death after hating him so bitterly in life?"
"It's nothing." She glanced away into the sinking sun, deliberating whether she should share her thoughts further and finally explaining, "It's just... a month ago a strange feeling descended on my body- like an angry cloud in an otherwise clear sky. The feeling itself was not fear, but that was what it inspired with it's familiarity. Since then one thought keeps repeating itself in my mind- the feeling was the same one I often felt anytime he was near... it's hard to explain." She fell into silence and for a while neither of them spoke.
'What if we were mistaken?'
Kikyo's voice floated into his mind and he remembered the night he had awoken to find her so shaken...
"Anyway, I'm sure it's nothing," Kagura concluded with forced conviction. "But I cannot stay long tonight- I was only passing through." With that she pulled out the white feather in her hair and threw it down. It grew into the size of a small boat, and hopping on, it spirited her away into the darkening sky in a powerful gust of wind.
Sesshomaru watched her go, his mind brooding over her revelations.
In the end all he could think was- It wasn't possible...was it?
...ooo...
Meanwhile deep in the forested mountains, Kikyo wandered, all thoughts of a certain demon lord abandoned and forgotten for the sake of another.
Naraku.
Since that night she parted with Sesshomaru, she had grown more and more certain of his continuing existence. She had no shred of physical evidence save that one night he had infiltrated her mind, but the feeling inside was too strong and her premonitions had never misled her, though she might have sometimes faltered at following them. This time however, she held no such reservations as a renewed purpose entered her life.
Somewhere, some way Naraku lived and so long as he lived she refused to die. Not until she brought him down with her would she return to the underworld.
And so she continued in hopes of finding just a trace of his aura- anything that might lead her to him.
...ooo...
High up on the night sky Kagura flew, a set determination apparent on her hard but attractive countenance. Sesshomaru's words had helped to reassure her, but she needed to know for certain and only one person in the world held that truth.
Kanna.
She alighted on the narrow grey mountain precipice, waiting... Though she could not sense the little void demon, she knew Kanna would sense her and come, her all-seeing mirror in her white hands.
And she did.
"Kagura."
She heard the static voice whisper her name, the voice that always reminded Kagura of the dry winter wind blowing through snow, the voice of emptiness. Involuntarily, she shivered.
"I know why you come," Kanna continued lifelessly, her vacant eyes staring up at her.
"Then tell me," Kagura replied suddenly fearful of the answer. But she had to know. "Is Naraku still alive?"
"Yes." The answer was clear and simple, unmistakable. "Naraku still lives."
"Where? Where has he hidden himself?" She barely stopped herself from grabbing the little wraith and shaking the answer out from her.
"Everywhere and nowhere."
The answer perplexed her and she had to take a step back as if it had literally struck her.
"He wished me to tell you- he is beyond our grasp, but we are easily within his... Watch yourself, Kagura," Kanna cautioned- one of the few times she showed any will of her own, but Kagura couldn't help but think that it had also doubled as a warning from Naraku.
Damn him, she seethed hatefully, watching Kanna disappear into the heavy mountain mist.
Though he no longer had control over her heart, still she feared him knowing that he would not hesitate to use her should it serve his purpose or destroy her if she didn't.
But not if I can help it, she resolved, rising back into the sky.
She was heading back to Sesshomaru's castle when a silver serpentine figure crossed her path, diving into the forest below, to the white figure that awaited it.
Kikyo...
The presence of the priestess intrigued Kagura and she swooped down to meet with her.
"I thought you were dead," she greeted though without surprise at finding the woman still alive- she never seemed to stay dead.
Kikyo did not respond but her grip tightened around her bow at the wind witch's arrival.
Sensing her tension, Kagura said, "You have nothing to fear from me- I am no longer bound to Naraku and that, so I've been told, is thanks to you."
"I did nothing for you," Kikyo replied impassively. "If you have benefitted from any of my actions, it was only due to mere coincidence."
Always so damn smug, Kagura thought heatedly. So like that bastard Naraku.
Naraku...
At the thought of his name the strange disquiet welled up within her again- the feeling that he was near. But strangest of all, the feeling did not emanate from her own heart, but came from Kikyo instead.
"You- you already know, don't you?" she stammered, staggering back a little. "That Naraku is alive?"
"Yes," she answered without emotion.
...ooo...
"Has the message been delivered?"
Naraku's grim face manifested itself in Kanna's mirror, smiling malevolently.
"Yes," she whispered in answer.
"Good. Now we must wait just a little longer to bring Inuyasha into play..."
...ooo...
It's funny, Kikyo thought gazing up at the myriad of stars shining down on her, slightly obscured by the trees, how her life seemed to be entwined with that of the one person she most despised...
And yet he was the only thing that gave her life any meaning.
He was the one for whom she continued to walk this lonely path.
The one for whom she continued to devour dead souls.
The one for whom she continued clinging on to a life that was not a life.
In fact it was Naraku which bound them all together- her, Inuyasha, and Kagome. The past, the present, and the future.
And not just them, but the others as well- Kagura, the demon slayer Sango, the monk Miroku... even Sesshomaru.
The thought of his name pulled Kikyo from one musing and into another.
Sesshomaru.
He had not crossed her mind since their parting- what reason had he to? But now, for the briefest of moments, she could not help but wonder at how he was faring and whether he too was gazing at the same bright star she beheld- a star of hope and promise, so clear to her eyes, and yet too far from her grasp.
Just like her tomorrow- the dream of a yesterday long dead.
Sighing softly, she locked away again her thoughts not so much of regret, but of lost hope... It was pointless to dwell on the unattainable.
Rather her mind once again turned to Naraku. At least with him she did hold some power and control.
Shouldering her quiver of arrows, she continued on with her journey.
The presence of her soul collectors were all that comforted her as they wound themselves around her body, lifting her up into the air. She found herself wishing that they would take her higher and higher, never stopping until she reached the stars...
She would not sleep tonight just as she had not slept for the whole of that month- not because she feared that he might come again into her consciousness, but that this time she would be alone when she awoke...
...ooo...
Three nights later Sesshomaru had also taken to the skies, sailing away in the opposite direction. His long silver hair trailed behind him, reflecting the bright full moon.
It had been three days since Kagura returned with news of Naraku. She had been unable to reveal much else, but she did mention her encounter with Kikyo before departing for the lands across the sea in order to put as much distance between herself and her former master.
Straightaway he too had left, not to hide but to seek. He had gone to the forest at the foot of the mountains, but by the time he arrived Kikyo's scent had been dispersed in the wind and he was unable to determine which way she had gone.
But he had to find her.
She had known with no one to tell her that Naraku still lived, just as he knew that whatever scheme the half-breed was plotting, Kikyo would hold the key to it all. It was vital that he got to her first, and so, having no other alternative he set out to visit the one person who might know of her whereabouts.
...OOO...