Another chapter that has taken forever… ugh I hate real life. Hopefully things will calm down when school starts…

OH MY GOD school is starting! (Cries) no… my freedom…

Well anyway, here is your chapter. Review!

Chapter 35: Fractions of Memories

"Hanako! Get back here now! Don't be such a fool and fall for that!" Jaken yelled at her.

Hanako glared back at him, her eyes flashing. "I thought I wasn't worthy of you, Master Jaken. Were you not speaking of selling me anyway?"

Jaken fell silent. Those were his words, and he could not argue.

Sesshomaru did not know what to say to her. He had had no idea that she was still so unhappy with her life. He had no idea that she could ever have the desire to leave him, and everything.

"You have made the right choice, Hanako," Naraku cackled. It had been easier than he had ever thought to get her on his side. What she did not know is that she had just ensured Sesshomaru's doom.

And now you doubt him… so if your power is activated again, he will not be saved… and neither will Inuyasha…

Kagura watched Hanako pathetically fall for Naraku's lies, believing every little thing that came out of his mouth. Was she that naïve to think that Naraku would be so kind as to grant her wishes, even after he tried to kill her once before?

Naraku continued to grin at her. She looked up at him, and then looked back again to Sesshomaru. He stared back. They exchanged glances for long moments, until Hanako looked away. She had to leave him. She had to know about her past. She knew she would never forgive herself if she did not. She would see him again anyway, right?

Naraku spoke to her, his voice becoming less friendly and inviting with each word he spoke. "Now… are you sure you do not remember anything? Nothing? Nothing at all? No strange dreams?"

She blinked, remembering how she had had a strange memory come to her before, but was not sure if it was just some dream. She looked up at Naraku, and he stared down at her. Her trust wavered slightly, but she ignored it.

"Once… I think I saw a dark room covered in vines. A tall man was talking to me with-" she examined his outer features, "Long… dark hair… just… like yours."

He cackled again. "So you recall that? That was I, yes it was." He smiled at her. "You remember me. I am flattered."

Sesshomaru glared at him, his anger becoming harder and harder to control. Naraku had been in on everything this whole time. He had been watching them. He narrowed his eyes.

Hanako gasped. "You were there… the day I lost my memory?"

He cackled again. "Lost your memory? I wouldn't call it that…"

She cocked her head to one side. What was that supposed to mean?

He looked deeper into her big eyes, staring up at him with deepest trust. "Anything else?"

She lowered her head. "Once… I saw visions of fire… and water… and a man."

Naraku's grin grew wider across his face. She had seen the time she was killed.

"Hanako!" Sesshomaru shouted to her, "Stop telling him these things!"

She did not respond. He could not reach her.

Naraku came closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. Her entire body stiffened to his touch. She began to sense that something was not right.

"You saw a man? What did he look like?"

She narrowed her eyes; searching back into the images lodged deep within her mind.

"He had a kind face… soft and warm… and he looked happy to see me…"

Naraku nodded. She had remembered Riyu: the whole reason she had gone on that rampage so long ago. His passing had been so much for her to handle that she lost her mind. He knew that even his name would most likely get a reaction out of her… perhaps she would repeat that rampage again… which is what he wanted.

"Do you know his name?" Naraku asked, trying his hardest to make his voice sound kind again.

"No, I can't remember…" She could feel the information there. She felt as if she could reach out and grab it, but she was not tall enough to reach it. But she wanted it. She wanted to touch these memorizes of fire and water and the man with the warm face.

"Well…" Naraku said coldly, having completely given up on trying to be kind, "Do you want to know his name?"

Hanako's entire expression brightened. "Yes! Yes I do."

Naraku smirked. Now was the time. The time was now. He shifted his gaze to Sesshomaru for a few moments, looking at him alive for the last moments that he would be. Once Hanako heard this name now, she would lose everything that she knew of him.

Sesshomaru glared at Naraku one more, noticing the smirk that continued to spread across his face. He could tell. It was as plain as day. Hanako had been trapped.

"Hanako," he said, raising his voice, "Walk outside that barrier this instant or else I truly shall sell you!"

Hanako could not hear him.

Naraku continued to press the bead that held her inside of it. He enabled the barrier to block out sounds from outside of it.

"Please," she said, noticing the sudden dead silence, "I would like to know the name of this man."

He smirked again.

"His name is…Riyu."

Her eyes widened. The name had some sort of an edge to it; so familiar, so comforting, but at the same time painful. It seemed to echo through her mind. Heat rose up inside of her; the similar heat that she had felt when she had been "activated".

"Say it," Naraku said, placing his other hand on her shoulder. "Say his name."

She looked closer at him. His eyes had suddenly became deadly.

"…No… I don't want to…"

Naraku stopped. The friendliness completely left his face. "Hanako," he said, "Don't you want to know about your past?"

She tried to back away, but he held her in place. She became nervous. "…Yes…"

"Then say his name. You will find out soon enough if you do."

The word sounded so strange. It would not come off of her tongue. An instinct inside of her kept it from turning to words. "I can't…"

"Say it Hanako…" he said, lightly shaking her.

"I… just can't..."

He glared at her, his face twisting into an evil inhuman anger.

"SAY IT NOW!"

"I CAN'T!" she cried.

Sesshomaru nearly slammed against the barrier, but remembered it hurt her, so stopped. "HANAKO!" he yelled. It was no use. His voice would not reach her. It ate away at him to see Naraku playing around with her mind. He hated it. His mind struggled with ways that he could possibly get into that barrier and retrieve Hanako from Naraku's grasp. There had to be a way.

He went closer into her face. The only sight she saw now were his hateful eyes. She struggled to get away from him again, but his grip was strong and all tried were futile.

"Hanako," he said, calming himself, "I want you to say his name. What could be so bad about a name?"

She closed her eyes so she could not see him anymore. "I… just can't…"

"Say it: Riyu."

She said nothing.

"If you say it, then I will let you go back to Lord Sesshomaru in peace after I have told you everything," he lied. He had to make up something good to get her to say it.

She opened her eyes again. His face showed no trace of lying, but could she trust him? She tried to say it, if only to know whom she was, if only to have a past, if only to be someone…

"…Ri…"

Naraku grinned again. "Good."

"…yu…?"

"Now say it all together."

"…Riyu?"

The barrier around them suddenly pulsed. The name echoed in her head. Riyu…

All of a sudden she realized it wasn't an echo. Another voice was inside of her, saying the name over and over. Who… who is there?

The voice stopped. Her head was spinning and her body was so hot. She began to sweat. She felt another presence around her, no, inside of her. She felt another being using her eyes to see. She felt someone else thinking inside of her. She clung to the little sanity she had left…

Sesshomaru watched Hanako. He could tell something was wrong.

"Who's there?" she said aloud to herself, "Who is speaking? Who is thinking these horrible things…?" The visions of people burning in fire stuck to her head. Someone else was imagining them inside of her. She could never dream up something so horrible.

Jaken gaped at her. "She's talking to herself?"

She ripped at the hair on her head. "…Stop it…!"

Naraku watched with an amused look. She was coming in contact with her former self.

Her body ceased to be under her control. Her eyes closed and her hands fell to her side. She was still awake inside of herself. It terrified her that she could not move. Someone was thinking for her. Someone was moving her body.

Light began to surround her body, and her hair whirled around hr in a sudden wind that seemed to come from nowhere. Her eyes opened to reveal a blank stare.