Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, except nameless incidentals. The song's title means "Seeking the Shikon no Tama, spirits of rivers and mountains."

Chapter II:Brooding Future (Song: Shikon no Tama wo Nerau-Chimimouryou)

There is a girl on a roof. The girl has black eyes, and black hair held back and fastened at the nape of her neck by an orange ribbon. Her ears are rounded, human. She is wearing a brown tunic and shin-sleeves, her feet protected by simple sandals. She sits on the gentle slope, and hugs her knees, midnight eyes fixed on an intangible point in the near distance.

Nazuna shivered in the cold air. She did not know why the woman had kidnapped her, nor why she had been brought to this... castle. The woman was Youkai, definitely, but what would a Youkai princess want with her? She had seemed so sad… though the woman had covered it up with brash words as soon as they'd been out of earshot of the house. She had introduced herself as Kagura, before leaving Nazuna to sit on the slanted rooftop and await the lord of the manor's pleasure. She wasn't completely dense… she had sensed the Youkai-woman's fear as palatably as her own. But what could scare a proud Youkai princess like this Kagura?
My fingers clutched my fan reflexively, the simple wood groaning, threatening to break if I applied any more pressure. Yet no matter how nervous I get, no matter how roughly I grip it, I never break my fan. It is nothing but wood and paper, yet somehow it symbolises my strength… just as the monster before me symbolises my weakness.
"Kagura. You are late, and without the girl. Explain yourself." Naraku reclined on his throne-cushion, fixing his contemptuous crimson eyes with their white pupils upon my own pure ones. Reigning back my hatred, I replied, stiffly:
"I was delayed. The girl's outside, waiting to be called." It was no lie, I'd left her on the roof so that the miasma wouldn't kill her before Naraku was finished with her. "I thought it'd be a good idea to say 'sorry I'm late' before showing her in."
"I suppose that is wise… to provide a united front to our troubles…" He mused.
"Why her?" I queried, treading on dangerous ground.
"She will be useful." Was the simple reply. "Bring her in." I bowed my head, backing from the throne room and fetching Nazuna from the roof. She told me that her name was Nazuna during the flight. The name suits her. It sounds… strong. 'She almost reminds me of me…' I brushed the thoughts away, and slid the door open once more, waving the human girl into the audience chamber. I made to leave, but Naraku's voice stops me.
"Kagura. Remain." Shrugging, I turned, closing the door behind me, and stood just inside it. Nazuna stood stock-still where I left her; watching Naraku like a mouse watches a cat. Her eyes met Naraku's – but they were not Naraku's cruel-crimson eyes, but Kagewaki Hitomi's eyes, teal and beautiful in their perfection. I realised that the girl Nazuna, for all her fighting spirit, was lost then. The spider in mortal form rose, unfolding his legs and seeming to glide up to a standing position, before moving slowly towards the girl and embracing her, stroking her hair as her arms hung uselessly beside her.
"My Nazuna… you will serve me, give your fighting spirit to me… won't you, my third daughter?" His hand slipped from her hair, tracing down the side of her face and neck, to rest over her heart. His four spider-legs moved forward, sliding cleanly out from his back, to embrace her closer… or to form a cage from which there is no escape.
That was when her elbow snapped up and hit him under the chin.

"Get off me you CREEP!" She shrieked at him. Her eyes blazed back into life, her spirit, so apparently crushed by Kagewaki's charisma driving her to escape. "Filthy… SPIDER!" As he reeled stunned, she punched him in the chest before turning and trying to force the demonic spider-legs apart to form a way through. The human was strong, and Naraku cursed, moving forward again to grab her firmly with the claws on the ends of his spider-legs, pinning her arms to her sides and lifting her off the floor so that her legs kicked worthlessly. The soft approach, having failed, was abandoned for a forcible transformation. If she would not willingly give him her heart, he would take it. Placing his hand on her chest again, he pushed inside, their flesh merging somehow to become one as she screamed in pain and anguish. Then she went limp, her curses and shrieks silenced suddenly as the fight left her. Naraku removed his hand, the somehow still pulsing, beating heart of the girl once called Nazuna held there.

Even as I watched, the heart… so reminiscent of my own… sank into his palm. It should not have been possible… for Naraku to claim my heart, he had created me from scratch and simply left it out. For him to claim that of another, existing being… it was simply a sign of the increased power he was gaining from the Shikon shards in his possession. "Kagura. When she awakes, you will teach her as Kanna taught you. Is this understood?" Naraku fixed his eyes – and they are his, this time, and not those of the human who's face he has stolen – on my own. I held them for as long as I could, before dropping my eyes respectfully.
"I get it." I turned to go, but again his voice interrupts.
"Take her to your room. You will be sharing it from now on." He finished.
"Tch." I muttered over my shoulder and flicked my fan open, lifting her on a cushion of wind, and walking out of the throne room.

When I reached my, no, our room, I laid the unconscious, or perhaps dead – it was hard to tell – body on my own mattress. The room wasn't small for two, but it wasn't a large room either. Muttering imprecations about Naraku's bloodline, I reached into a cupboard-wardrobe and pulled out another set of bedding, laying it out on the floor on the other side of the table in the room. The room had been guest lodgings, as far as I could tell, and was equipped with enough bedding for four or five if they were very friendly. The table also served as a Checkers or Shogi board, the pattern on top being arranged perfectly for either game. She didn't look like she was going to get up any time soon, so I left her, and went to the roof to think. Sitting in the same spot I placed her earlier, I realised with a start that the tiles were still warm. Frowning, I wondered why that affected me so much. 'Am I so craven that I need to feel something even from warm tiles a prisoner has sat on? No… I will not allow this change to affect me. This Nazuna will likely not survive her first encounter with the Ikkou, like our brother before her… I can only hope that she does not take me with her when she falls.' I sat and brooded on the roof, wondering what my new sister would be like when she awakened. I wondered what fighting skill or magic she has, but failed to display us now. I wondered if she will change and become a Youkai. I wondered… many things.

Strangest of all, I wondered… will she forgive me, if she remembers?

End C2