Chapter 6

Yuri felt much better after she got over her confrontation with Sesshomaru. Okay so it wasn't smart of her to tell him not to bother protecting her. Even if she thought his reason for doing so was bogus, it was nice to have some protection from Kouga. But yelling at Sesshomaru had been like therapy. It had done wonders for a lot of the nervous energy she'd had since meeting Kouga. It had felt good to get her frustrations out on someone.

She realized that she really needed to talk to Ginta next. She'd gone over the conversation they'd had when they first started working together. She wasn't exactly sure where she stood with him. It was pretty clear he'd known and hated Kagura. But Yuri could remember him saying that he told himself, she wasn't Kagura, and that he had thought Kagura had eventually gotten worse that what was coming to her, which sort of made it sound like he'd actually forgiven the wind demon and didn't hold a grudge. What still bugged Yuri is: what he was doing outside Gordon hall yesterday? Was her bumping into him a coincidence or was he working with Kouga?

Luckily for Yuri, Ayumi, Ginta and her had a meeting that night. They'd run their experiment and divided up the write-up. Now they were meeting one final time to prepare how they were going to present it to their class. She found it hard to concentrate because she was dieing to interrogate Ginta. She noticed that he was very reluctant to make eye contact. Finally they finished. "Hey Ginta can I talk to you for a sec?" Yuri called to him as he walked away.

"Yeah," he asked still seeming reluctant to meet her eyes.

Yuri waited till Ayumi had passed then turned to him. "When you told about the person I remind you of, you meant Kagura, right?"

Ginta raised his head and made eye contact, "Yes."

"You think I'm her reincarnation don't you?"

"I know you are." Ginta frowned. "Let's go find somewhere to sit down and talk about this." He glanced out the window. "Somewhere public." It was too chilly and dark to sit outside so they headed to the campus coffee shop.

Once they were seated at a small table, Yuri asked him, "So when you said her hurt your friends…" She let the question trail.

"She killed most of my pack and eastern pack." He noticed her expression then clarified. "Wolf demon packs."

"So you're a…?"

"Yes," he said opening his mouth so she could see that like Kouga he had fangs.

Yuri swallowed and reminded herself not to lose her nerve. "So did you mean it when you said she got worse then what was coming to her?"

"Yes," Ginta sighed and turned to her. "Look Yuri I won't lie to you. Kagura was a miserable demon. She cared about nothing but herself. She enjoyed and laughed when she slaughtered us. On the other hand she lived her entire short wretched life a slave to a creature even worse then she was, denied the only thing in the whole word she cared about until she finally died a painful death. As far as I'm concerned Kagura got her punishment-what she deserved." He paused. "It never was Kagura's idea to kill us, she did the will of another her entire life. Not to say she had any moral complaints with what she was told to do. But if she had, she would have been made to do it regardless. Makes it hard to justify hating her for what she did." He gave a short laugh. "Hard but not impossible. If I had met you four hundred years ago, I probably would have killed you on the spot."

"What changed?" Yuri asked her hands going to the scarf that covered her neck where Kouga grabbed her.

"Time. I'm old more mature now and I'm able to look at things more objectively. It was a different time then. We were different. There was a time when we valued no life but our own packs. We fought the other demons aggressively and took their land. We slaughtered human villages for meat for our wolves and us. Before we met Kagome I never realized humans were more than just meat. The point is Yuri, we weren't blameless ourselves. In fact the whole reason we fell into the trap was because we were coming to a castle where we thought there were humans whom possessed something we wanted. Had it not been a trap then we would have killed the courtiers and taken their jewel shards."

"Who was Kagome," Yuri asked confused by the unfamiliar name.

Ginta waved away the question "Just somebody we learned so important things from, it's a long story. Would I still like to get my revenge of Kagura? Possibly. But it's a moot point because Kagura died and as far as I'm concerned she'd gone. At first around you I saw Kagura and that made me nervous but I've realized: you're Masuya Yuri. You're someone completely different."

Yuri felt relieved. "Thanks. I'm glad to know that in 500 years you've managed…" she broke off as something occurred to her. "Hey, wait if you're at least 500 years old, what the heck are you doing here studying undergraduate biology?"

He looked a little embarrassed. "Kouga asked me to. I've been keeping an eye on you for him." He admitted. "Last night I was the look out."

"I though you said you didn't blame me."

Was it her imagination or did he redden just the slightest bit. "I don't but Kouga is tribe leader and I do what he asks me." That was sort of disconcerting to learn that she could count on him to provide no protection from Kouga and even might kill her at Kouga's command. "Besides I had some doubts he'd be able to go through with it, last time…" He broke off abruptly. They sat in silence for a little bit. Yuri wondered if he would expand on his last thought, if he would rephrase it or if he stopped because he'd said more than he intended to. He stood up, "If that's all I have a term paper to write."

Yuri had one more thing. "About Kanna, she's the little demon in white right?"

"Yes."

"Is she another one of Kouga's spies, or is she spying for Sesshomaru? Cause I see her a lot and Kouga mentioned her."

Ginta looked thoughtful. "She doesn't work for us or for Sesshomaru. She was Naraku's first incarnation. He's gone so she wouldn't still be working for him. I don't know why she would be following you except, as Naraku's second incarnation Kagura was kind of like her younger sister. Maybe she just thinks of you as family."

After Ginta left Yuri sat at the table for a while thinking. Ginta was right she might be Kagura reincarnation but she wasn't Kagura. Who cares if Kagura was some kind of murder, the important thing is she wasn't. If only she could get Kouga to realize this. She mulled over how she could get Kouga to come to this realization. When she came up blank she pushed the problem to the back of her mind and pulled out her notebook to study for a test she had coming up.

Yuri was so engrossed in her studying that she didn't realize how much time had past. It wasn't until she lifted her head that she was shocked to discover dark it was. The walk to her dorm was would take at least ten minutes. The school prided themselves on how well lit and safe their campus was, but somehow she doubted streetlights would protect her from Kouga should he decide to ambush her. Suddenly she wished she hadn't told Sesshomaru not to protect her. There was nothing she could do about that now. If Yuri had really wanted to she could have found a friend to walk back with or had campus police escort her, but it seemed like to much of a bother. She decided to take the gamble that Kouga wouldn't bother her the night after their first confrontation.

Luckily Yuri was correct in her assumption. Standing just across the street from her building however, was Kanna. The little demon looked as she always did. In the light of the streetlights Kanna's white skin really did made her look like a ghost. A ghost of a little lost girl, Yuri decided as she stared at another member of Kagura's life. Kanna stood unmoving, unblinking with no expression of her face. Her eyes were large and empty. She was dressed in the old fashion white kimono probably looking like she had when Kagura was still alive. Like always when she was holding the mirror at the level of her stomach reflecting surface turned outward. Kanna looked no different then she had the last time she except this time she seemed to be inviting. Yuri had a feeling that if she crossed the street Kanna would not disappear like she had every other time Yuri approached.

Swallowing her nervousness and keeping her eyes on the girl Yuri crossed the street. She stood before the demon she once thought to be a mere apparition at a loss for words. The silence that hung in the air seemed so tangible as if it encompassed all. After of pause Yuri took a stab at breaking the silence. "You've been following me." She stated it not as an accusation, simply as a fact.

Kanna did not respond right away. When she finally spoke her voice came out as the faintest whisper, "little sister." Yuri was the oldest sibling and it was funny to be called little sister especially by someone who looked to be at least ten years younger than her. "Kagura," Kanna stated.

"I'm Yuri." The words sounded funny to Yuri's own ears, Kanna's presence was having an odd affect on her. What Yuri knew as reality seemed far away, a mere dream.

"I can feel souls." Kanna replied her whisper voice making the words sound even more eerie. "You have her soul. You are my sister." Yuri didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth to speak several times but closed it without making a sound. Kanna held her mirror out. "Look." At first Yuri saw her own reflection, but only for a moment. Then the mirror went opaque and then another face appeared. Yuri could see some similarities in the woman starring back her but they were not the same person. The woman's face was shaped a little differently, her nose a little smaller and her chin a little pointer. And the eyes, the woman in the mirror had red eyes. Her eyes had such passion and defiance. This is Kagura, Yuri thought to herself, this is the person whom Kouga, Ginta, and Sesshomaura have been talking about.

The face in the mirror changed again. The face shape shifted slightly till Yuri was looking back at her own reflection. The eyes had darkened but the same passion and fire was still in them staring back at her. Yuri could feel her heart beating under her blouse. For just a moment she could feel the passion and fire that was Kagura.. Then it faded and all she saw in the eyes was her own confusion.

"She is in you." Kanna's voice startled her out of her thoughts. "Take care of her." And then Kanna was gone. She simply disappeared. Yuri shivered involuntarily. She hurried to the safety of her own apartment.

Yuri managed to push all of the strangeness of the day to the back of her mind long enough to get through her studying. In all of the excitement she'd completely neglected the oral presentation and now she had less then twelve hours to finish preparing. Yuri managed to use her classes as a distraction and ran on autopilot to get through the next few days. Over the weekend she hung out with her friends and tried not to think about Kagura and what she'd learned.

It wasn't till Sunday night as she lay in bed unable sleep that Yuri allowed herself to think about Kouga. In spite of her angry words Sesshomaru was back at his usual table and apparently she was still under his protection. Yuri had ignored him but she had to admit it gave her small comfort to see her there. Still making Sesshomaru plan his schedule around protecting her wasn't going to work in the long run. Ginta had accepted that she wasn't Kagura, there had to be someway to make Kouga see. Why hadn't Ginta thought Kouga could go through with it-perhaps that was the key? He seemed to indicate Kouga had tried before. Why did she vaguely recognize Kouga when no one else from Kagura's life had triggered any kind of response? That night Yuri had an old nightmare she'd hadn't had for years. When she woke up, Yuri knew exactly where she knew Kouga from and it sure wasn't from 500 years ago. As she lay in bed waiting for dawn she formulated a plan.

AN: I realize that it was incredibly stupid of Yuri to walk alone at night considering she knows Kouga is after her, but I had to get her alone or Kanna wouldn't appear. Next up, the big showdown with Kouga (well sort of).