I don't own these characters.
16: Mistakes
Naraku stared at two police officers who informed him that he was under arrest. He was not sure what it was all about, but he was not about to go with them as they requested, considering all of the crimes he had under his belt. As they moved to place special handcuffs on him because he was a half-demon, he shoved them aside, hard. The officers crashed into the opposite walls and Naraku made his escape out of the room. He did not make it far as Sesshomaru blocked his path.
"Going somewhere?" the nobleman inquired in his usual tone of voice.
"Out of my way, mutt," Naraku ordered with a powerful glare.
"I believe those gentlemen want you to go with them, worthless half-breed," Sesshomaru commented. This moment had been a long time coming as far as he was concerned. He would not let idiotic, weak police officers blow this.
Naraku snarled at the insult. He figured now was as good a time as any to rid himself of Sesshomaru. He had already tried to get the mutt fired, but it would seem Totosai did not have the nerve to fire someone who was so blatantly stealing from him as he made it seem the nobleman was. Clearly, he was just going to have to physically take the dog demon down a peg.
Tentacles sprouted from Naraku's back and rushed toward Sesshomaru. The platinum-haired male hardly blinked, looking as bored with this whole matter as he did with most other things in life. There was a flash of green light as he waved his hand and then Naraku's tentacles dropped to the floor, dispatched by Sesshomaru's energy whip.
"Are you done?" Sesshomaru asked in a detached tone. It was hard to be moved by any of this, especially since that attempt on his life was pathetic at best. Inuyasha put up more of a fight when he was pup than this wretched beast before him.
"Don't talk down to me," Naraku ordered as he flung his hand out and it expanded in size. His fingers turned into spikes. There were too many to dodge, taking up too much space, so Sesshomaru was caught. He forced Sesshomaru to the front of the office, knocking over plants and furniture in the waiting area. He pinned the dog demon against the wall. Sesshomaru let out a small grunt and Naraku smirked.
"You need to learn you place, mutt," Naraku said.
The whole office gasped or stared with slack jaws. They did not think there was a creature alive, save his father, that would best Sesshomaru and yet, there the nobleman was at the mercy of a hanyou. They hoped for Naraku's sake that he was in as much control of the situation as he seemed to be. If Sesshomaru got free, they were certain the police would be arresting a limbless corpse, if Naraku was lucky.
Naraku slowly advanced on the dog demon as he morphed his other hand into more sharp spikes. He smirked like the arrogant bastard he was and chuckled a bit. He put a spike to Sesshomaru's throat.
"You should learn to respect your betters, pup. First, you try to steal my account and then my Kikyo. I bet this thing with the police was even set up by you in someway. Whatever the charges, I'll beat them. I always do. Once I get out, I'm going to retrieve my pet and take her to that house in the country to train her properly, complete with a collar and leash. You'll never see her again," Naraku commented.
"Why should I care what you do with your human whore?" Sesshomaru inquired.
In reality, Sesshomaru had been trying his best not to think about Kikyo, but now that Naraku brought her up, she was back in his mind. He wondered what Naraku meant about retrieving his pet and training her properly. Where was Kikyo if not with Naraku? How would this uncouth bastard try to "train" his angel? He did not like the sound of it. It infuriated him to think this abhorrent freak would refer to his Kikyo as a pet and claim he would train her with a collar and leash. What did that sick bastard have in mind for Kikyo?
"That's right, Kikyo is just a little human whore," Naraku agreed with a smile. "She's such a proud, disloyal creature, but she'll learn better now, especially since she has nothing now."
"What are you planning to do to Kikyo?" Sesshomaru demanded, blood boiling, even though he should not care about Kikyo. His inner demon flared up, even though every piece of him wanted desperately to not care about her fate. Still, while his rational mind stung from thoughts of her using him, other parts of him were still loyal to the notion she was his angel, to the idea she was his. No one would harm something of his.
Naraku laughed again, deep in his throat. He looked around for no real reason. No one was close by, as no one wanted to get caught in the middle of the brawl. The police seemed to still be unconscious in his office. It was just him and the foolish dog.
"I'm only going to train her to be what I want. She'll never think to stray to a lesser being again. It'll just be her and me and she'll be more than happy to do anything I want. I've considered making her wear a collar with a tag that proclaims her as my property, but I'm sure I can get her to beg for something more visible than that once I have her right where I want her. I'll have it tattooed right on her breast and make her kneel by my side whenever she isn't catering to my every whim. I'll have her service me in front of others for everyone to know who she belongs to."
"She would never do anything like that."
"She will, soon enough. Soon, she'll only want to please me because I'll be the only thing she has left in this world. No mutt, no sisters, no family, just me, just like I've always wanted it, just like it was always meant to be. My Kikyo pleasing me in any manner I desire. My Kikyo looking at me like the adoring god I am," Naraku said with glee in his blood red eyes. It was clear he was proud and eager to get to breaking Kikyo.
Sesshomaru bristle at the idea of Kikyo being broken, being this thing's pet. "Where is she?"
"Well, maybe she's out with your brother."
Sesshomaru growled. "Don't toy with me, half-breed. Where is she?" he demanded once more. It was as if he could feel Naraku was lying to him. It was like he was incapable of the truth, but Sesshomaru would get it from him.
"Don't worry about her, mutt. I'll take the best care of her. I'd never leave her." Naraku smirked and then chuckled deep in his throat.
The dog demon snarled. He would not let such filth harm his angel. He would not allow the grimy half-breed go anywhere, except where he deserved. Naraku was going to jail or he was going to the morgue.
"You think you're so superior," Sesshomaru said. He could not understand why the hanyou thought so highly of himself, though. There was no evidence Naraku was superior to anyone, except the fact that he tricked an angel into marrying him and fooled people into liking him. Other than that, Naraku was below average as far as Sesshomaru was concerned.
"That's why Kikyo is still with me," Naraku replied.
"Only because she holds stock in those ridiculous wedding vows that she made to man she did not even know, a man who probably didn't exist. Had she known what you really are, she wouldn't even spit on you if you were on fire."
"Oh, but she would make such concessions for you? Face it, dog, she is with the superior one out of the two of us."
Sesshomaru was done with wasting his time arguing with such a waste of air. He reached up and grabbed onto the arm Naraku used to hold him. The hanyou continued to smirk.
"What are you doing now, dog?" Naraku's tone haughty, as was the glint in his eyes. He had Sesshomaru right where he wanted him and it was satisfying to watch the dog struggle, try to best him, when it was clear he was the best.
"You should never compare yourself to me. Kikyo is with you because that's where I left her. You only live because I don't want to take the time out of my day to destroy you. There are ants on this planet above you," Sesshomaru stated as the limb in his grip began to blacken.
Naraku noticed what was happening with his arm as it felt like hot daggers shredded his flesh from the inside. The hand holding Sesshomaru disintegrated while the charcoal coloring crept up Naraku's arm like slowly advancing insects, complete with the sensation of eating his limb. The hanyou could not believe his eyes or the agony of this. Sweat dotted his brow as his nerves burned like acid was poured on them.
"What did you do to me?" Naraku gritted his teeth, attempting to fight away the pain. He tried to pull away, but found it impossible. Even if he got away, the attack was done.
"Put you in your place," Sesshomaru replied. This was just the start of things.
"I can just regenerate it," the hanyou boasted, tilting his chin in the air.
Sesshomaru smirked, unable to wait when Naraku found out that was impossible. Naraku's face shifted from confident to confused to furious as he attempted to restore his dying limb and he found out that he could not. Whatever Sesshomaru had done to his arm prevented it from growing back. Flakes of his arm crumbled off of him, like ashes sprinkling to the floor, while it felt like venom collapsed every vein in the limb.
"You'll find my poison makes regeneration rather difficult. Not to mention painful if you keep trying. Would you like me to make the other arm match?" the dog demon inquired, holding up one hand and cracking his knuckles.
"I'll get you for this, mutt," Naraku vowed through gritted teeth as sweat dripped his forehead from the pain he almost could not bear. His knees threatened to buckle, but he managed to stay on his feet.
"I doubt it. You won't be seeing the light of day ever again," Sesshomaru stated as the two police officers charged out of Naraku's office and tackled the half-breed. There was a satisfying crunch as they bashed him onto the floor.
Sesshomaru stared down at the half-demon with nothing in his golden eyes as the officers cuffed the now one-armed hanyou. They ended up putting the other cuff through his belt loop since there was no way to attach the cuff to his deteriorating limb. The wince that escaped Naraku as the police made sure he was secure made Sesshomaru nod.
He watched and listened as the police read Naraku his rights and then dragged the worthless bastard out of the office with all of their coworkers looking on. Naraku hurled threats about what would happen when he beat these charges, some including Kikyo. Sesshomaru growled at the thought of that filth touching Kikyo ever again. He thought about everything he learned about the damned hanyou while trying to prove he had been framed in embezzling company money. The accusations, things that were probably true, but could not be proven, it sickened him to see what Naraku got to in his spare time. Psychotic did not even begin to cover it.
He thought of all of the lies that bastard had to have told Kikyo to trick her into marrying him. The Kikyo he knew would not have given the real Naraku a passing glance. He doubted Naraku would be able to touch Kikyo now, not with all of the charges he had pending.
In all of the digging he had done to clear his name, Sesshomaru had come across all kinds of things Naraku had in his past and he had it all looked into because he had that kind of power at his fingertips once again. He had not really apologized to his parents over his behavior, but it seemed to be a quiet understanding that he was wrong and he had access to things from his father's estate once again. There were also his own contacts and people willing to help him just because of his name. With everything he found on Naraku, he actually considered Kikyo might have something on her, too, since he had been so angry with her and he lumped her in with her bastard spouse. She had nothing, though. Nothing wrong anyway.
He had not found any evidence to back his claims of believing she was a whore. She had not even gone to her high school prom from what he could tell. He decided to stop thinking about it. She was out of his life and he was better for it. She was not his problem, even if Naraku went after her.
Naraku was also out of his life, so everything could go back to normal. He could not believe the boss had hired such a low life. Naraku had not only been stealing from their company, but from the last company he was involved in, too. He managed to steal from most of their clients as well, billing them for all sorts of services he did not provide. It seemed he had ties to organized crime in a number of different ways and he was even wrapped up drugs, seeking money and power in the darkest corners of the world. He was pretty much a dictionary of crime from what Sesshomaru could tell.
-8-8-8-8-
Kaede headed toward the subway station when something odd caught her eyes. She noticed a crossing guard helping small children across the street. Now, it was a common sight around elementary schools, but the strange thing was that the crossing guard appeared to be her sister.
There would be another train, she silently commented. She had to inspect the situation more carefully. She trotted over and saw it was her sister. Her heart leaped into her throat. It was good to see Kikyo, to know she was all right.
"Kikyo!" Kaede called, which caused her sister to turn.
"Kaede?" Kikyo said as she caught sight of her little sister.
"Wow, it is you," Kaede said, tugging at her book bag strap. She was not sure if she should smile or not. She missed her sister. It had been well over a month since she last heard from her and the last time that she saw Kikyo was when the middle sister and the eldest sister had their falling out. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
"Yes, it is," Kikyo replied. She wanted to embrace her little sister. She missed her so much, but she was so certain Kaede hated her now, just like Midoriko.
"How have you been?" the younger female asked awkwardly, eyes shifting around and she squirmed a bit.
"I can't talk right now, Kaede. I need to focus on this. I wouldn't want a child getting struck by a vehicle because of my inattentiveness," Kikyo explained. It was also a way to give her little sister an out. She did not want to make the girl any more uncomfortable than she clearly was.
"Right. Well, how long you gonna be here?" Kaede kicked at an imaginary rock. She wanted to see Kikyo, but she felt bad for it.
"For a while."
"I can wait for you at the pizza shop on the corner."
"If that is your desire," Kikyo replied, voice low with emotion. She was a bit stunned her sister wanted to be seen with her.
Kaede trotted off to the pizza shop, had a slice, and waited for Kikyo to show up. Kikyo did not disappoint her. Kikyo showed up and Kaede asked if she was going to get anything. Kikyo shook her head and so they exited the place. They started walking to no place in particular.
"So, how have you been?" Kaede asked, giving Kikyo a sidelong glance before looking at her feet.
"Fine. And yourself?" Kikyo countered, focusing ahead to avoid pressuring Kaede in any way.
"Fine, too," the preteen replied. She was not sure what to say. Part of her did not want to admit she missed Kikyo because of what she had seen and what Kikyo had done, but at the same time, she wanted to say that. She wanted her sister to know she was still wanted.
"School going well?" Kikyo asked. Small talk was murder, but it was better than nothing when it came to her sisters.
"Of course. I'm planning on entering the science fair, as soon as I can think of someway to blow the gym up. Kohaku offered to help," Kaede answered.
Kikyo smiled a bit to show her amusement. "That's good. How are you hamsters?"
Kaede shrugged. "Same as always. I got new hamster balls for them to run around the apartment."
"I'm sure they appreciate the exercise. Although, I'm sure Midoriko could live without their new toys."
"She's dealing with it. So, what've you been up lately and how come you're working as a crossing guard?" the younger female inquired.
"One must do something with her time," Kikyo answered, looking aloofly ahead of them.
"So, you're doing this?"
"One must do something," she repeated. There was something in her eyes, something different. Her entire demeanor seemed off, deflated.
Kaede nodded. Her sister seemed so melancholic to her suddenly. It was such a change from when she used to see Kikyo. She remembered how happy her sister seemed when she would meet up with them for lunch and how her eyes sparkled as she would tell them about things she did with Sesshomaru. Kaede frowned as she thought about the demon and what her sister did with him.
Kaede had only seen one of the pictures of Kikyo with Sesshomaru, but she could guess the ones that followed that one were just as bad, if not worse considering how angry Midoriko had been. The preteen actually tried to rationalize her anger about the picture, but she could not figure out why it pissed her off so much. She just knew for the split second she had saw that photo she had lost all respect she had for Kikyo, but she could not figure out why.
"How are things between you and Sesshomaru?" Kaede asked, even though she did not think it was appropriate. Maybe she would not be so upset if Kikyo reaffirmed she loved him, Kaede considered. It should be awesome that her sister and her best friend's brother were together, but it made her sick and she wanted that feeling to go away.
"It's not really any of your concern," Kikyo answered. It was not that she did not want her little sister to know the dog demon had promised to kill her if he saw her again, but she did not want to talk about it. She wanted to forget Sesshomaru. He was the past. She was looking forward to the future.
Kaede frowned a little, even though she knew from her sister's tone she was not trying to be hurtful. "You're still seeing him, aren't you?"
Kikyo's jaw twitched. "It's not really any of your concern."
"Aren't you going to tell me anything? I haven't heard from you in over a month. I haven't seen you longer than that. I thought something happened to you!" Kaede said, balling her hands into tight fists. With the husband that her sister had, she had entertained all sorts of thoughts of Kikyo being chopped up and thrown into a garbage bag.
"As you can see, I'm fine," Kikyo replied. She would be even more fine once she felt safe enough to get a hospital job and live her life. Saving some lives, healing people, and making them feel better would ease her torment of being alone and forgotten.
"Naraku didn't find out about the affair, did he?"
"It doesn't matter."
"What do you mean?" Kaede asked.
"I mean what I say. It doesn't matter," she repeated. He had known about the affair and had thankfully released her of her vows. Too bad she could not go to the arms of the man she loved since he now hated her, but she was free of Naraku, so it was still the better end of the situation.
"So, where are you headed now?" the younger sister inquired since she could tell she was not going to get any other information out of Kikyo.
"Nowhere," the elder woman replied. She had a second job, but she did not have to be there for another two hours.
Kaede continued to try to get information out of Kikyo, but she was not very forthcoming. Kikyo seemed tired to her little sister, as if she had been drained of everything that made her Kikyo. The elder female was exhausted. She was tired of every move she made turning out to be the wrong one.
-8-8-8-8-
Sesshomaru entered his father's home. He came to pick up Rin because she wanted to stay over at his house for the weekend. It was an impulsive decision, made about a half-hour ago. He did not mind having her over at the last moment and their parents did not mind either, especially since they knew he would force her to do the homework she was trying to avoid by going to his house.
Almost immediately when he stepped in, he noticed something was odd. There was an unfamiliar scent in the house. The scent would not have bothered him, but there was something strangely recognizable to it, even though he knew he had never smelled it before. He decided to find the source of the weird aroma.
His nose led him to the living room where Inuyasha was playing some video game. There was a girl with him on the sofa and Sesshomaru's eyes quickly mistook the raven-haired female for Kikyo, but his nose was telling him that was not who she was. Her blood smelled something like Kikyo's, though. Who was she?
"Inuyasha, who is your friend?" Sesshomaru demanded rather impolitely.
"My friend?" the hanyou echoed with a scrunched up face and then he realized who his older brother meant. "No one you need to know," he answered with a taunting smirk. He got a kick out of getting on his big brother's nerves.
"Girl, what is your name?" Sesshomaru inquired.
"Uh…" Kagome drew back a little and hesitated because of the full demon's tone. What was his problem?
"Don't tell him nothing," Inuyasha informed Kagome while keeping his eye on the game he was playing.
Sesshomaru sighed and realized he was not going to get any information acting as he was. "I only ask because you look like someone I know." He sniffed at the end, driving home his disinterest in her personally.
"I'm Kagome," she replied.
"Damn it, I told you not to say nothing. You don't fucking listen," Inuyasha complained, putting his hand over his face. He was hoping to bother Sesshomaru some more.
Sesshomaru nodded. He could not get over how much she looked like Kikyo and he began to wonder if maybe she was the one in the pictures walking with Inuyasha. The album photos had clearly been Kikyo, but the other shots had not been so obvious and Kagome looked eerily similar to Kikyo. Then there was the fact that Kagome was currently hanging out with Inuyasha.
Another thought entered his mind was that he could smell that Kagome spent a great deal of time with Inuyasha. His scent was all over her, but Sesshomaru had never smelled Inuyasha on Kikyo. Something was wrong and he never stopped to consider something deeper could have been going on.
"Do you happen to know a woman named Kikyo?" the full demon inquired, wanting to get to the bottom of things. It could be nothing, but it could be something.
"She's my cousin," Kagome answered with a shrug.
Sesshomaru nodded, hiding the fact that he was a bit taken aback by the information. Kikyo had a cousin who looked so much like her and that hung out with Inuyasha. It was… interesting.
"You look a lot like her," Sesshomaru managed to comment.
"Yeah, we all sort of look alike," Kagome replied with a small smile. Even her brother had the misfortune to look like all of them, but he was lucky in a way because it meant he was cute.
"Their mothers were identical twins, so they all came out like almost identical cousins," Inuyasha added. It kind of freaked him out sometimes because they all did look way too much alike. He was glad for his nose or he would have grabbed the wrong girl on way too many occasions. They probably would have all thought he was a pervert if it was not for his nose.
"Do you know Kikyo?" Kagome asked Sesshomaru, studying him a little.
"I met her in a museum once," the dog demon answered.
"Yeah, a museum, that's just her speed. Nice and boring," Inuyasha commented, shaking his head.
"Don't talk about Kikyo just because she likes doing something educational with her free time," Kagome defended her cousin.
"She's so boring," Inuyasha groaned as if Kikyo's hobbies hurt him.
"That's why she's always tugging on your ears when you see her because you talk about her so much," Kagome informed him.
"All of y'all do that dumb shit, even your mom," Inuyasha huffed. He hated how they rubbed his ears like he was some cute, lost puppy and they all knew he hated it, which was why they did it when he got annoying. And, boy, did he get annoying sometimes.
Sesshomaru could not believe this information. Kagome was Kikyo's cousin and it seemed that Inuyasha knew the whole family, not just Kikyo. He started having doubts on the things he had done and what he believed. But, he still clung to the idea that maybe, just maybe, Kikyo was exactly what he thought she was.
"Have you seen Kikyo recently?" Kagome asked Sesshomaru.
"No, why do you ask?" he countered.
"Crazy bitch is M.I.A from her whole family. They wanna make sure she's not dead in an alley," Inuyasha replied, pulling back on his game controller as if it would help him in the game.
"Hey!" Kagome huffed and hit the hanyou in the back of the head rather hard for calling her cousin a "crazy bitch." Inuyasha yelped and fell forward.
"Aw, damn it! Kagome, you made me lose!" the half-demon complained.
"Well, you should mind you manners!" she huffed, folding her arms across her chest.
"What? I didn't mean it as an insult!"
"How could 'crazy bitch' not be an insult?"
Sesshomaru got the feeling the pair would no longer be useful to him and left them to their arguing. He went by the stairs and waited for Rin to charge down. She did not make him wait long.
"Hey, big brother," Rin grinned as she charged down the stairs.
"Good evening, Rin," Sesshomaru replied.
"This is gonna be great. It's been such a long time since I got to spend the night at your house. We should watch monster movies all night," Rin suggested as she and her big brother started toward the door.
"Bye, Rin!" Kagome called from the living room.
"Bye, Kagome!" the preteen screamed in a jubilant tone, waving like a crazy person.
Sesshomaru could not believe how uncivil Rin could be. They went out to the car and Rin chucked her bag and skates, which she never went anywhere without, in the back of the car. She hopped in the front seat and fastened her seatbelt. They then took off.
"Rin, you know Inuyasha's human?" Sesshomaru asked.
"Yeah, that's his girlfriend. She's Kaede's cousin," Rin answered.
"That's odd."
"I guess. It's funny because Inuyasha used to like Kikyo, but he was way too young for her… well, not way too young, but enough for her to not bother with him. Still, he followed her around like a puppy, getting on her nerves like he always does. And then he met Kagome and kinda forgot he was attracted to Kikyo," Rin explained.
"He was attracted to Kikyo?"
"Yeah, he met her one time when he took me to the park and she took Kaede. It was a while ago when we were little."
"I see."
"Speaking of Kikyo… have you seen her, big brother?" Rin asked.
"No. Why?"
"Well, I was talking to Kaede the other day and she said she hasn't seen Kikyo in a long time. They're really close, but she hasn't heard from Kikyo and I know she's worried. I mean, I know how I would feel if I didn't hear from you or Inuyasha."
Sesshomaru nodded. "I haven't seen her. We're not really on speaking terms anymore." He wanted to keep things like that, even though he considered he might have acted hastily with her in regards to the pictures.
"No? I guess that's good since she's married. I thought it would've been cool if you two got together, though. Me and Kaede would be related and Kikyo's really nice." She shrugged and her face fell a little.
"Rin." He hated to disappoint her, but she needed to understand sometimes life did not go as planned. He gave her a stern glance.
"Sorry," she apologized. She knew he did not want her talking about the subject of Kikyo, but it bothered her. She really wanted them to work out, but she also was not happy Sesshomaru managed to get Kikyo to do the wrong thing.
They went to his apartment and he humored her by watching a couple of monster movies with her. Rin had a thing for zombie movies, but she could only watch then with someone else sitting next to her. He suspected she needed someone to listen to her talk about how corny everything was. Once she fell asleep, Sesshomaru went to his room.
The platinum-haired male went into the drawer by his nightstand and pulled out the photographs of Kikyo and Inuyasha. He looked at the crumbled up pictures of Inuyasha on the street with a female who looked so much like Kikyo. Was it Kagome in actuality? He had been so certain it was Kikyo, but seeing her cousin made him reconsider.
He studied the pictures. The person who seemed so much like Kikyo slowly began losing such aspects. She did not seem to be standing right. Her hair was not right. Even her clothes were not right. He quickly wondered how the hell he even thought that was Kikyo in the first place.
-8-8-8-8-
Kaede sat up in bed. She could not sleep. It was not uncommon for her to have insomnia lately. She thought it would go away when she finally saw that Kikyo was all right and she had finally gotten the chance to see Kikyo. But, she did not believe everything was all right.
She did not think her sister was doing as fine as she claimed as they spent two hours together earlier. Kikyo seemed so exhausted, as if she was dragging along. She had not shared much information, which did not help ease Kaede's mind. Kikyo was usually so open with her, only ever hiding her affair and even that she did not do a great job of as Kaede thought on it. After all, Kikyo spoke of her time with Sesshomaru often and openly, leaving out only romantic moments.
"Maybe she's in trouble. She might need our help and she doesn't want to ask for it," Kaede considered. It was entirely possible. Kikyo could get into her own share of trouble. After all, she was married to Naraku.
The preteen got out of bed and wandered to Midoriko's room. The elder female asleep until Kaede flopped down on the bed. Midoriko shot up, looking around in a dazed panic. Once she spotted the girl, she calmed down.
"Oh, Kaede, it's you. What's up?" Midoriko asked with a yawn as she focused her attention on her little sister.
"I couldn't sleep again," Kaede answered.
"You want some tea?"
Kaede ignored the question. "Don't you miss her? Worry about her? What if something happened to her? Imagine if something happened and we weren't there for her. It would be terrible." She sniffled at the idea. It was possible something could happen and they would never know, unless it made the news.
"This is what she has chosen. This is what she wanted. Don't let it bother you," Midoriko said to comfort her baby sister.
"What if she's in trouble?" the girl asked, holding back tears. She had not told Midoriko she saw Kikyo. She was not sure how the eldest would react and she did not think she would be able to deal with any negativity right now. She was so worried about Kikyo. The middle sister had seemed so out of it and down. It did not help matters Kaede did not know Kikyo was divorced since Kikyo never brought it up and Kagome failed to mention it to her cousins, more interested in letting them know Kikyo was out there, drifting from what they could all tell.
"This is what she's chosen," Midoriko repeated.
The eldest sister was concerned over Kikyo. She had no idea where her younger sister was to keep an eye on her, to protect her. Naraku could have done something to her. Sesshomaru could have done something to her. Anything could have happened to Kikyo and Midoriko felt helpless and useless for not being able to be there for her sister. All she had left in the world was her sisters and she had thrown one of them to the wind, left her to the elements. She was a horrible big sister.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: Midoriko and Sesshomaru meet for the first time.