Notes: I've edited chapter three, adding a more satisfactory ending to it. Just a minor tweak, but hopefully it should make more sense. I hated the way it was before – just stopping like it had been chopped off by Tessaiga or some such.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within… I have about as much right to them as you do. (Assuming you're not THE Rumiko Takahashi, that is.) 'Shi - Kon' is 'Death - Soul' from the first OST.

Chapter IV: Shi - Kon.

There is a boy in a field… he is young, perhaps fifteen, and dressed in tattered red robes in a style a hundred years out of date… His hair is silvery, shining in the morning light as it cascades down his back. His fringe is unruly, blowing across his amber eyes. His ears sit atop his head, and swivel to follow sounds, two furred triangles attuned to every whisper. He stands in the field like a warrior facing his opponent, one foot forwards and his body turned sideways, hands on his sword and scabbard, as though preparing to draw. He has scented something on the spring winds, and he does not like it… trouble is brewing, and he knows that it brews for him…
"What are you doing this time… Naraku!" Inuyasha barks out to the air in frustration.
I looked across the packed earth floor or the castle's training room, and widened my stance the small amount my constricting robe would allow me. Stretching my right arm to the side, I opened my fan halfway, causing the wind to swirl in front of me in a defensive disk. "Alright, Nazuna. Lets see what you can do. Bring it on." I taunted, letting a cruel smile creep onto my lips, though truly I felt little malice for this girl in front of me.

"Only too happy, Kagura." She tossed back, starting to enjoy the anticipation herself. Drawing her Wakizashi shortsword, she slipped into a ready stance, before charging at me. There was little skill in the attack, I realised, though more than an untrained girl should have. Narrowing my eyes, I turned my fan a little, directing a gust of wind to buffet her from the side, throwing her off balance. She rolled, clumsily, and climbed back to her feet, before charging again. I repeated the maneuver, but this time she turned, bringing her Void-Whisper Edge onto the oncoming gust, and, to my surprise, slicing through it so that the gust dissipated. I felt my eyes widen as she did so, and mentally cursed myself for letting my reaction show. Completing a full circle, she ran at me again, and I realised that more drastic measures would have to be taken. That sword was sharp. Sharp enough to cut my wind, which was slightly unsettling.

I settled for an old favourite, sweeping my fan across my chest in the familiar motion, tilted at precisely the right off-horizontal angle.

"Fuujin no Mai!" I called, and the wind obliged, sending several crescents of cutting wind at my erstwhile sister. She looked stunned for a moment, before jumping back and raising her left hand, dropping her right, and the Hano, to her side. Holding her hand in a fist in front of her chest, she closed her eyes and concentrated, the gemstone set into the ring starting to glow. Her hair rose, as though she were calling her Youki, though I knew that she was human.

"Kino... Atashi o Mamete!" she said, strongly, and a shield of green energy flared into being in front of her, deflecting or absorbing all the Blades I'd thrown at her."Pretty good... but you're going to have to work on your battlcries, little sister." I responded to this defense, chuckling. She grinned back, before rushing me again without warning, the sword still held loosely in her hand at her side. Unsure of this form of attack, I called up a whirlwind to strengthen my shield. When she reached me, she kicked off with one foot, spinning around to bring the sword from the left in an attempt to catch me off gaurd. Well, none of that.. I sent another burst of wind at her arm, knowing that the sword would simply cut it, and threw her off balance. However, doing this, I realised with a pang - I needed to learn some physical combat techniques, or I'd never be able to survive on my own.

When Kagura hesitated, Nazuna saw her moment. Her initial attack foiled, she settled for sweeping kick, taking the sorceress' legs out from under her. With a look of satisfying surprise, the wind-user went down hard, falling on her side. Nazuna saw her moment, and went in for the kill, putting her Hano to her sister's neck. Kagura looked panic-stricken for a moment, though the human wasn't sure why, their eyes locked together. The moment passed, and Nazuna stepped off, helping Kagura up. They looked at each other for a moment, and both started laughing, inexplicably.
"Damn.. I thought you were gonna kill me back there, Nazu!" the sorceress said through her unstifled giggles. "Your eyes... they were like Naraku's." This image brought another set of giggles to Nazuna, who had just managed to calm down from the first bought.
"What does he look like..? Our father, I mean." She asked the Sorceress, and Kagura stopped laughing completely.
"Dangerous... I suppose. He has black hair... his eyes are strange, though. They shift and change.. one moment they're like mine, but with white pupils, full of hate and malice... that's how yours went... the next they're the most beautiful teal green. It's.. unnerving. I hope you never have to meet him in person.." and Kagura fell quiet again, the strange moment of innocence she'd had with the shared laugh banished by thoughts of her Master and captivity once more...
Kanna sat in the window, staring into her mirror. For once, she showed the slightest bit of emotion... her brow creased in thought. "Kagura... has never laughed before..." she spoke to herself, her voice a near-whisper.

"Perhaps there will be more problems with this plan than I had anticipated..." the slimy male voice spoke from the shadows. "The human may awaken to her true history sooner than anticipated should she continue to feel joyous thoughts... and Kagura may realise her own past, should she gain peace of mind with this servant." Naraku rarely spoke his thoughts aloud. It was not that he feared being overheard, no, but it was simpler to keep them within his head. However, this time he was rewarded by his first, and only trueborn, daughter's voice.

"She... will not realise... until it is too late..." Kanna's ghostly tones floated to him, and he decided that she knew her sisters' minds better than he ever could. She was his, the only child he claimed who's heart was her own... for she was him, and his will alone drove the mockery of life that was Kanna of the Void.

End C4