Chapter 7

Yuri could hear her heartbeat hammer in her ears. She checked her watch. It was almost time. She was standing in an empty third floor classroom. She would have liked to use the same one where she met Kouga the first time, but another student was already using it. Yuri was just glad that that this classroom had been unoccupied. Studying in classrooms was very popular with the students. Yuri had though that they would make an excellent place to meet Kouga again and if she hadn't been able to find an empty classroom she might have had to postpone her plan. She paced the room and glanced at her watch again. Just one minute left to kill.

Sesshomaru had agreed to leave her unguarded. They'd worked it out a precise time so she could be ready. He hadn't wanted to do it. But Yuri didn't think he really wanted to spend the rest of her life guarding her. And she certainly couldn't spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder for Kouga. She'd have to confront him eventually and sooner would be better for her nerves than later. Apologizing to Sesshomaru had been a pain and some of what she said had been a flat-out lie. She still though most of what she'd said had been deserved and it was down right big-headed of him that he didn't apologize to her since some of his actions were uncalled for, but the bottom line was-she needed his help if the plan was going to work.

Yuri took a deep breath silently wished herself luck and then struck her pose. She held her fan in front of her. It was the same one that Kouga had given her so he could knock out her hands. She'd had to claim it from lost and found but holding it in her hands helped her get in character. There appeared to be a whirlwind and then suddenly Kouga was standing in the doorway. The look on his face and the way he almost took a step back told her she had gotten the pose right. Heart hammering Yuri tried to keep her fear from showing. She greeted him with a simple "Yo" opening the fan with practiced ease.

"Kagura," Kouga greeted in a low growl. "You're Kagura." he sounded sort of surprised and she guessed he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Her only response was to sweep her fan to the side as she called out "Dance of blades."

He actually moved-ran quickly to the side as if dodging something. But nothing came. He realized this and stared at her. He was trying to figure her out, she realized. "Kagura," he repeated unsure. For all of his angry speeches, no matter how many times he called her Kagura, he hadn't really expected for her to become the wind demon. He was never planning on meeting his old adversary like this. In spite of the futility of her attack, she noticed that his legs were tense as if he was ready to dodge again.

Yuri closed the fan and tossed it away. It landed on the nearby desk just as useless as it had been in her hands. She relaxed, shifted her weight slightly and came out of her pose. "No, I told you before- I'm Yuri."

He digested this, frowned and announced, "That attack, you were Kagura. You are Kagura-you must remember."

"I don't remember anything. Sesshomaru helped me. He told me how to stand, what to say, and how I should hold the fan. It didn't come natural-I was just playing a part. I did it to prove a point. That's it's what you want. That's why you gave me a fan last time. You want a rematch, you want to beat Kagura." Yuri looked him straight in the eyes, "But that isn't going to happen."

Kouga laughed. "Oh really, do you honestly think you can beat me." He was mocking her. His eyes were searching hers for any sign of fear. "If Kagura didn't have her fucking fan and feathers she would have been easy prey. How much of chance do you think you stand? I beat you rather easily last time."

Yuri refused to let her voice waver even a little, "What about the time before that." There- there was some recognition in his eyes. She was on the right track. She let that subject drop for the moment and continued her original point. "I mean Kagura is gone. You can't get your revenge on her. You're certainly capable of beating me, but that isn't the same thing."

"You have her soul," he insisted. "I kill you she dies."

"And she'll probably be reincarnated again. Are you going to go on killing all her reincarnations, or will killing me give you the justice you think I owe you. Will that even up the karmic balance?" She paused for moment then continued with the speech she'd worked out ahead of time in her head. As she continued her voice became more forceful and even demanding. "Speaking of karma: it's been over four-hundred years since Kagura died. Don't you find it odd that it took that long for her be reincarnated human? Don't you think it's possible that whatever bad karma she had coming she received already. How do you know that our soul wasn't first reincarnated as a cockroach hasn't worked its way up the karmic ladder? You had a genuine case with Kagura but what gives you the right to judge me? I didn't kill your wolf clan. I don't have any knowledge or memory of it."

Kouga didn't say anything. He wasn't even looking at her. It was nice to know that like Ginta he was also capable of learning something in five-hundred years-just maybe a little more stubborn. Time to go in for the kill. "Why now? Why did you suddenly decide to approach me my senior year of college? It isn't like I'm any guiltier of killing your pack now than I was the first time we met."

"I just tracked you down. We've never met before." He lied. Yuri gave him a highly skeptical look. "Ginta," he muttered angrily under his breath.

"It's not his fault. I knew that something was up from the first time we met. You look vaguely familiar."

"That's because you're Kagura," he muttered.

"I thought that might be the reason after you explained everything to me-but it didn't make sense. I don't recognize Sesshomaru or Kanna and both had a larger impact on Kagura's life than you. No Ginta might have helped me trigger some memories but sooner or later I was going to figure out why I recognized you." Yuri took a deep breath and then said in an accusatory tone, "You kidnapped me when I was six." She paused for a moment and then told the story, reliving the memory in her mind. "Mom always thought I just wandered away from her, she lost me in the store and found me hours later hiding under a clothes rack, but that wasn't what really happed. The man lured me away. I didn't understand what was really going on at the time but for some reason I never told anyone the truth. It was you. I remember now. I used to have dreams about that day. I used to see your face in my nightmares."

Kouga didn't confirm her story, but he didn't deny it either. Instead he stared at a spot just behind her to avoid looking in her eyes. "You must have been planning to kill me then-to get your revenge. But you couldn't go through with it because I was just an innocent child. What's changed since then? I've grown up but I'm not anymore guilty." Kouga opened his mouth, probably to speak but whatever he was going to say died in his throat. She could tell by his actions that her words were having the intended affect. She was playing on all the doubts that had stopped him years ago and he was still wrestling with. She was taking advantage of the fight he'd had with whatever morals he'd developed over the years. Some part of him was ashamed at what he'd been planning to do, had been too ashamed to kill an innocent child. The proud warrior facing off against Kagura that she'd encountered from the other night was losing. She was making him see that the reasons he'd used to convince himself this time around were lies. She still wasn't Kagura, she'd never be Kagura.

"You want your revenge on Kagura. You want to end Kagura's life. Screw the fact that it was already ended centuries ago. Forget the fact I'm not her. Forget the fact what ever karma is on this soul is between God and I. You want it to end I'll let you end it. If you really believe it will bring you resolution go for it. I can't live my life looking over my shoulder for you so I'll let you do it. It won't really accomplish anything, but I refuse to live in fear. Don't worry about Sesshomaru I've asked him not to intervene. It's not fair to have him spend the next eighty years scheduling his life protecting me. One way or another, this ends tonight. I'll just close my eyes and just wish for better luck next time we get reincarnated. So if you really think you it will get you your long await revenge, do it." And in spite of the little voice telling her that she was being stupid she closed her eyes. She counted to five hundred in her head before she dared open her eyes. When she did the room was deserted. A triumphant smile on her face she retrieved her fan confident she could get on with her life.

AN: I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. The simple reason is although this chapter had been written for a long time, I hated the ending, it just didn't seem realistic. So I delayed in posting trying to think of some plausible way to resolve the conflict I'd created (that didn't involve Kouga killing Yuri, which, while probably the most realistic ending, is not how I wanted the story to end). I finally sat down attempted to rework the ending and came up with this. I'm not entirely happy with it, but at least it's an improvement on the original. If you can think of a suitable ending feel free to suggest it in your reviews.

The story had an epilogue, which I'll post in a few days along with an author's note with some random notes and explanations about the evolution of this fic (which no one probably cares about.) and thank you's to my reviewers.