Miroku stared down at the crisp sheet of paper held loosely in his right hand. He was the only one in the office this early in the morning aside from the overnight cleaners. Someone was running a vacuum in an office down the hall and he could smell window cleaner and a hint of bleach. It had still been dark outside when he entered the building and it would probably still be dark when he left. Even inside, most of the lights were off and the hallways were dim, lending a clandestine air to his errand.
Holding his phone in his other hand, he took a picture of his letter of resignation before he placed it in the file holder on his soon-to-be former boss's door. With a heavy sigh, he turned and walked away. The vacuum shut off and he was left listening to the low buzz of the fluorescent lights and his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He kept a steady pace until he was outside again and he could see his car parked against the curb.
Sango sat in the passenger seat, her head turned to watch for him. Her shoulders relaxed when she spotted him and she sent him a reassuring smile. It was done; he no longer worked for Onigumo. She unlocked the doors for him as he made his way around to the driver's side of the car. He climbed in, bringing a burst of cold air with him, and immediately shut the door and hit the lock button.
"Now what?" Sango asked. She reached over and took his hand, her engagement ring gleaming under the roof light. They'd chosen the first day of Miroku's odd 'assignment' as the day he would turn in his letter of resignation. With everything seemingly escalating, they both thought it best to not be working under a potential madman with murder and kidnapping on his to-do list.
Miroku squeezed her hand and shrugged. "Now I start looking for another job. Though, this close to the new year, that may be a little difficult."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know." He sighed and slumped in his seat. "We could always flee the country, maybe try to take Kagome and Inuyasha with us."
Sango rolled her eyes. "Those two stubborn idiots arent going anywhere and we're not leaving them to face this alone."
"Well, I think the first thing we should do is go back to the shrine and go back to bed. Maybe we could even try getting some more sleep," he said, raising an eyebrow and smiling suggestively.
"Pervert." Sango smacked his shoulder but smile despite herself.
"No need to make up your mind now. We can just climb back into bed and see where the morning takes us."
"Or, hear me out," she said, "we could not do that."
"But Sango, think of the possibilities. Me, you, naked, in bed, nowhere to be."
"How are you thinking about sex right now? With everything going on and what you just did, how can you possibly still be horny?"
Miroku just smiled. "The secret, my dear, is that I'm always horny."
Sango groaned and rolled her eyes towards the sky. "I can't believe I'm marrying you."
"Hey, you knew what you signed up for."
She opened her mouth to retort but snapped it shut. An odd chill crept up her spine and her eyes darted around looking for the source of her unease. Miroku must have felt something similar because he followed her example, scanning his side of the car. There was nothing there, nothing out of place, but the feeling didn't abate. The festive lighting for the upcoming holidays did nothing to dispel the suddenly heavy atmosphere.
"I think it's time to go," Miroku said. His eyes continued to search their surroundings as he started the car and pulled away from the curb. They drove back towards Mushin's shrine and the safety of the barrier.
There were only a few other cars on the road and a few vans doing morning deliveries to various businesses. Two sets of eyes watched every passing pair of headlights with suspicion, waiting to see if any decided to follow behind them. They'd been told about the scare Kagome and Inuyasha had that first night they'd gone out together but the knowledge that it was Kōga's men following them that night didn't lessen their paranoia now.
Fortunately, they made it back to the shrine without incident. Nobody followed them and the odd feeling that had caught them both so off guard had slowly faded as they neared the barrier. They were both more relaxed as they let themselves in the front door. Mushin liked to sleep in most days so they crept to Miroku's bedroom and shut the door silently.
Despite his teasing in the car, Miroku made no move to do anything besides sleep as they changed and climbed back into bed. He wrapped his arms around Sango and pulled her close, both of them needing the comfort. Something was off; something in the air was wrong; something was-
"Something bad is going to happen," Sango said, completing his thought for him. "I can feel it."
"Let's get some sleep" Miroku suggested. "We're just tired and on edge because of my resignation, nothing more. Everything will be fine and we'll both feel better when we wake up." He was trying to reassure her, to bring her at least a small sense of security before they drifted off to sleep.
He didn't believe a word of what he said.
They drifted off to sleep and some unknown time later, Miroku's phone started vibrating loudly against his nightstand. He managed to get a hand on it and stop the sound before it could rouse Sango. Sunlight leaked into the room around his blackout curtains and he could hear Mushin plodding down the hallway outside his door.
Blinking away the sleep from his eyes, he glanced at his phone and wondered what the hell Kōga wanted.
"Please, stop fussing." Kikyo huffed and tried to hide the wince when her arm throbbed with pain.
"I'll stop fussing when you stop trying to use that arm." Shiori took the box from Kikyo that she was attempting to carry and set it on her desk. "It's only been a week, it's alright to take it easy after something like that."
"It's been a week and a half," Kikyo said and dropped back into her chair. She was determined not to let the attempt on her life interfere with her work and her research. Sure, her arm hurt and maybe she was pushing herself a bit more than she should but she needed to figure this out. Until they discovered who was after them and why, their lives were in constant danger. And even if they did manage to suss out the mastermind behind everything, they still had to find a way to deal with them.
"Have you talked to Kagome or Inuyasha in the last couple of days?" Shiori asked as she took a seat across from Kikyo.
Kikyo sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I spoke with Kagome yesterday. She is still resistant to the suggestion that she talk to someone about her experiences. The nightmares haven't stopped and, as much as he loves her, Inuyasha isn't equipped to deal with that level of trauma."
Shiroi hummed in agreement. "Is that why you haven't started training her yet?"
"Partially," Kikyo answered. "She needs to be able to clear her mind and heart otherwise she could harm herself with her own reiki. Also, it's difficult to train a miko when she has a possessive inu hanyō attached to her hip 24/7."
"He's very protective," Shiori agreed, smiling. "Poor, poor Kagome. How's a girl supposed to survive with such an attentive, protective, loving boyfriend?"
Shaking her head, Kikyo tried to hide her smile. Kagome and Inuyasha had certainly brought some long-missing color back into Kikyo's life. For as long as she could remember, her life had been work, sealing reiki, and researching. She didn't have a personal life; she'd cut off communication with her younger sister Kaede to keep her safe, and the closest she had to a friend was Shiori. While she didn't regret the direction she'd taken in her life, being around Kagome and seeing her live her life was a reminder of what Kikyo could have had. Perhaps if she had met someone like Inuyasha when she was a young woman, things would have turned out different.
But that was neither here nor there. The countless children and families she'd protected through her actions were worth every missed date, every holiday spent alone, and every potential friendship she'd let slip through the cracks. Maybe after all of this was finally over she could allow herself to relax. In the meantime, she needed to find a way to help Kagome and begin her training. "Perhaps she can help reinforce the barrier," she said to herself.
"The great and mighty Kikyo asking for help with something?" Shiori snorted. "What's the world coming to?"
Kikyo glared at her but didn't comment. Adding a second layer of spiritual power to each of her barrier's anchors would strengthen her defenses and provide good practice for the miko-in-training. It would also force Kagome to clear her mind to use her powers without the danger of hurting herself.
Shiori leaned forward and tapped on the desk. "You're no fun sometimes, you know that?"
"Only sometimes?" Kikyo cocked a brow and forced a frown, lips twitching the entire time. "I must be slipping." She stood, intending to check her anchors and do some preparations for adding Kagome's spiritual powers to the barrier. Before she could take a step, Shiori's phone rang.
"Huh, it's Kōga," Shiori said as she pulled out her phone. She slid her finger across the screen before the call could go to voicemail. "Hey, this better be important. I wasn't done giving Kikyo a hard time."
Kikyo scoffed and rolled her eyes. Kōga's muffled voice was barely audible since Shiori kept her volume as low as possible to protect her sensitive ears. From what she could tell, he was talking rather fast, almost frantically. She watched Shiori's face fall and her body tense.
"Right, we'll be careful. I'm assuming you've already talked to Inuyasha and Kagome." There was a pause as Kōga rattled something else off. "Good. I'll stay here with Kikyo until we know more. Thanks, Kōga."
"What was that about?" Kikyo asked.
Shiori locked her phone and looked at Kikyo. "We have a problem."
Spiders. There were so many spiders. They were all around her and on her, their hairy bodies dragging against her skin, spindly legs tangled in her hair. She could hear them as they skittered up her legs and arms to find their way under her clothes, her skin literally crawling.
Overwhelmed, she tried to brush them away but her hands wouldn't move. She tried to run from the feeling but her legs were paralyzed. She tried to call out for help but she couldn't make a sound and the spiders filled her open mouth.
She was choking, drowning in a sea of spiders. Somewhere, a voice whispered to her, "You deserve this. You killed my spiders and now they will consume you."
A thousand spiders bit into her skin and Kagome finally found her voice.
She thought she screamed when she woke up but she couldn't hear anything over the roar of blood rushing in her ears. Inuyasha jerked awake with her, both of them sitting up, and immediately had her wrapped in a tight embrace. He pulled her with him as he leaned his back against the wall and curled his body around hers, following an increasingly familiar routine. "Hey, it's alright. I'm right here," he whispered while running his hands over her back and through her hair.
Kagome's mind was having trouble processing that she was awake now and it was taking a lot of effort to bring herself under control. Her skin itched and her stomach churned, her body shuddering as she whimpered into Inuyasha's chest. She gripped his shirt on either side of her head and counted his heartbeats to bring herself back to reality.
He pressed a kiss to her temple and held her tighter against himself. His hands smoothed over her skin, chasing away the persistent itching sensation. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked, rocking her slightly.
She shook her head. "No...yes...I don't know anymore." She'd had a nightmare every night for the last week and a half. The first one was just a distorted play-by-play of her attack in the alley that ended when she killed the man with the spider tattoo. The second night was a horrific replay of that morning in Kikyo's living room that also ended with her killing one of their attackers. The next few nights were just encore performances of the first two nightmares.
"Take your time," Inuyasha encouraged, voice low and soft.
After a few deep breaths and some more soothing words from Inuyasha, she finally felt more composed. She pulled away slightly and worried gold eyes focused on her face, searching. "I'm alright," she assured him. "Well, mostly alright. It was just another really, really bad dream."
"I figured with the way you woke up yelling like that. Surprised you didn't wake up your mother," he said, running his claws along her scalp and through her hair. "What was it this time?"
"Have I ever told you how much I hate spiders?" she asked and Inuyasha shook his head. "Well, I hate them and I just dreamed that I was covered in them. Like, covered. And, oh god," she said, her body shuddering, "they were trying to get in my nose and ears and when I tried to yell for help they got in my mouth."
Inuyasha fought the urge to gag. He wasn't particularly bothered by spiders but having them crawling in your mouth? No thank you. "That sounds genuinely terrifying. I guess that's why you yelled yourself awake," he commented.
She shook her head. "No that wasn't-" she started but cut off.
"'No that wasn't' what?" he asked. "Was there something worse than mouth spiders?"
She hesitated. This was the first nightmare that she'd heard the voice and it unsettled her far more than even the mouth spiders. "There was a voice this time," she said and even she could hear the way her voice shook. "It was whispering to me. It said I killed their spiders so I...I deserved it. Then they...all the spiders they...they started biting me and it just felt so real! That's what woke me up," she said, her voice growing small as she finished.
Inuyasha pulled her back against his chest and kissed the top of her head. "It was just a nightmare," he whispered into her hair. "Just a fucking nightmare." There was a deep anger smoldering just beneath the surface of his words. Whether her nightmares were born from guilt or were somehow being caused by the sick bastard behind everything, it didn't matter. The guilt was eating away her conscious and now it sounded like the nightmares were trying to physically hurt her. Inuyasha's claws itched to tear apart anyone or anything responsible for her pain.
Kagome adjusted against his chest so she could lay her head on his shoulder. His hands continued to run up and down her back and arms soothingly. Her pulse was finally starting to return to normal under Inuyasha's careful ministrations but she was still tense. "This was the worst one so far," she said. "You must be getting tired of waking up every morning to your mess of a girlfriend."
Inuyasha sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders so he could hold her at arm's length. "Never. I love you and I would endure a thousand of these mornings if it meant I was still waking up next to you."
"You're so corny. I love you too."
He smirked and tweaked her nose playfully. "You do look like shit though."
Kagome's lips drew to a line then curved down in a frown. "Yeah, well, your hair looks like it could house a family of rats."
"Keh, like your hair is any better." He reached up to gently brush a few unruly strands away from her face but she swatted his hand away.
"Nuh-uh. You don't get to tell me I look like shit then be all cute."
"That's not what I meant and you know it," he grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away from her.
"Well what did you mean then?" she asked, mimicking his pose and narrowing her eyes.
He looked back at her and eyed her hair. "Nevermind, I did mean it. You look like shit and calling your hair a rat's nest would be an insult to rats."
She stuck her tongue out then smiled and leaned forward to give him a quick kiss, any lingering tension fading. "You know, one of these mornings, the bickering isn't going to work."
He grinned and uncrossed his arms to pull her into a hug. "Then I'll just have to find another way to brighten your mornings," he said as he rested his chin on the top of her head.
"Oh, is that what you're doing? Brightening my mornings?"
"Keh, of course."
"And what are you going to do when the bickering doesn't work anymore?"
"Don't know yet but I've got our entire lives to figure it out so I'm sure I'll think of something."
"That's a lot of mornings so you better start thinking," she said. "In fact, you should probably make a list or two to keep track because between your yōki and my reiki, we've got a lot of mornings to look forward to."
"You sure you can deal with me for that long? I can get pretty annoying." To demonstrate, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to her neck in a tender kiss. Then he puffed up his cheeks and blew.
Kagome groaned and fought down the urge to giggle. "You...are...the...worst," she said while trying in vain to struggle out of his iron grip.
Instead of letting her go, he pulled her closer and nuzzled her neck in apology. "Just making sure you know what you're getting yourself into," he said, ignoring her huff of annoyance. When she relaxed, he kissed her neck again. She tensed for a second but instead of another raspberry, he lightly trailed his lips up, leaving little kisses on her jaw, cheek, and temple before resting his chin on the top of her head.
After a few minutes of enjoying the moment, they broke apart to get ready for what was sure to be a long day. They were meeting with Sesshomaru and Kōga after lunch and it would be the first time the brothers ever actually met. There was history there that Inuyasha was only vaguely aware of but he knew his half-brother wasn't his biggest fan.
After a quick breakfast, Inuyasha headed outside to do some work in one of the storerooms while Kagome stuck around to clean up the kitchen. Her mother, who had been uncharacteristically quiet the last week, saw Sota off to school then joined her daughter in cleaning up.
They worked quietly, side by side. With everything going on and with her quickly developing relationship with Inuyasha, Kagome hadn't had a lot of time alone with her mother. When she was recovering, Inuyasha or Kikyo were always nearby and now that she was home she spent most of her time with Inuyasha. She stole looks at the older woman, noticing for the first time the stiffness to her shoulders and the worry lines creasing her face.
Guilt knotted her stomach as she realized what she'd been putting her mother through. "Mama," Kagome started, "I'm sorry if I've been worrying you."
Mrs. Higurashi closed the cupboard she'd been putting dishes away in and looked at her daughter. The lines across her forehead smoothed some but her attempt at a smile wouldn't fool anyone. "I'm your mother, dear. I'm always going to worry."
Kagome shook her head. "Not like this. I hadn't even thought…" Poorly suppressed emotions bubbled to the surface and her eyes burned with forming tears.
"Oh, Kagome." Her mother's arms wrapped around her and Kagome fell into the embrace, the dam finally breaking. "Shh, it's alright. No matter what happens, I'm here for you."
"I'm so sorry. Everything has just been such a mess," Kagome said, her voice low and thick with her tears. She sniffled, fighting to get control of her emotions. "And I've been so focused on Inuyasha, I've barely taken the time to talk to you and explain things. I know Kikyo told you everything but that should have been me."
"I know you would have told me when you were ready," her mother said, her hand smoothing Kagome's hair in a comforting gesture. "I do wish I would have known some things sooner but I trust you and I trust your judgment."
"I know and I do wish I had told you sooner. What if...what if something happened here? What if-"
"Hey, stop that." Her mother pulled back, her hands on Kagome's shoulders. "'What ifs' are dangerous so don't go down that road. You'll only end up feeling guilty for things that haven't happened and things that are out of your control."
Kagome nodded, sighing. "You're right. I've already got enough to worry about."
Mrs. Higurashi guided them over to sit at the kitchen table. She took her daughter's hands in her own, holding them lightly. "Let's talk about something else then," she said. "Something that would make you feel better."
There was something, or rather someone, she'd been meaning to talk to her mother about: Inuyasha. Despite their relationship growing and evolving right under her mother's nose, she hadn't really told her mother anything about her feelings for Inuyasha. And she had a lot of feelings when it came to her hanyō boyfriend. "There is something," she said and she couldn't stop the smile that was tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Go ahead," her mother encouraged.
"Well, it's about Inuyasha."
Her mother hummed knowingly. "I was wondering when you were gonna spill the beans and start gushing over him."
Kagome felt her face heat. "I wasn't going to gush," she mumbled. "I just...he's so...and I think we…" She huffed, frustrated at her inability to form a coherent sentence. It shouldn't be this hard to just tell her mother how she felt.
"Well, you two are clearly head over heels for each other," her mother supplied helpfully.
"I want to spend every day with him for...well, forever," Kagome said quietly. "It's crazy how much I...how much I love him after so short a time. I can't imagine my future without him in it."
"And he feels the same?" her mother asked. The smile she wore now looked genuine and Kagome allowed herself to relax.
Mirroring her mother's smile as she remembered her and Inuyasha's morning, she nodded. "Yes, yes he does."
"Good, you two are going to have to cutest children." Mrs. Higurashi beamed and made two triangles on the top of her head with her hands. "I hope they all have his ears!"
Kagome could feel her face heat, unable to stop the mental images that declaration conjured. She also hoped that her future children would have Inuyasha's ears but that didn't mean she was ready to say those thoughts out loud...and to her mother. "That's you're main concern? That our future children have his ears?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I want my grandchildren to have those adorable ears?"
"That is so, so far off in the future," Kagome said, shaking her head. "I don't know why everyone keeps bringing it up. We haven't even talked about marriage yet, let alone having kids."
"Oh, you'll get there," her mother said, waving off her concerns. "When you know, you know."
"Yeah well, we'll start worrying about that once Inuyasha's name is cleared and I'm not being targetted for my spiritual powers." If we both survive whatever we have to deal with next, but her mother didn't need to hear that spoken aloud, even if they all knew the danger anyway.
Mrs. Higurashi gave her daughter a solemn look, her smile turning sad. "Everything will be ok. As long as you and Inuyasha are there to watch out for each other and support each other, everything else will work out in the end."
Kagome wanted to believe her mother and wanted to tell herself that things would be fine. Somehow, she didn't think it would be that easy.
There were at least ten to twenty moderately painful things Inuyasha would rather be doing at the moment. For example, he would rather dislocate his shoulder again.
"You want me to help clear your name yet you show up dressed like a hoodlum."
A conversation with Kōga would grate on his nerves less than this bullshit.
"Who the fuck even says hoodlum?" Cutting off an ear was starting to sound like a good option if he could just stop listening to Sesshomaru be an asshole.
"Your manners are severely lacking. You should show respect when addressing your elder brother."
Hell, he would let Kagome punch him in the face several times before having to repeat the last few minutes. Though that may happen anyway if he didn't figure out how to hold a conversation with his stupid fucking brother.
"I've literally never met you before in my life. You avoided me like the plague since the day I was born and then what? You spent almost 50 years trying to find me so you could kill me? Bullshit. Fuck your respect."
This wasn't going well. Kagome was glaring daggers at him, possibly rightfully so. He needed his brother on his side to clear his name, gain access to his parents' home, and help figure out who was trying to kill or kidnap Kagome. But dammit, Sesshomaru was an asshole and that wasn't Inuyasha's fault.
The asshole narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, elbows resting on his stupidly fancy desk. "I thought that the wolf was the most irritating person I had to deal with regularly. I see that you are doing your best to unseat him from the top of the list."
Kagome made a loud frustrated noise and jumped up from her seat next to Inuyasha. "Will you two get a grip? You're worse than toddlers. There are more important things to deal with than your over-inflated egos!" Her glare, bouncing back and forth between the feuding brothers, was enough to get both of them to lean back and look away. Her tone left no room for argument and the pink spark of her reiki drove her point home. Seemingly satisfied at the reprieve, she sunk back into her chair but left her glare in place.
"Speaking of the wolf," Inuyasha grumbled, "where the hell is he? If I gotta deal with your shit then so does he."
"He claimed to have important matters to attend to. It is not my concern at the moment." Sesshomaru reached forward and opened one of the desk drawers. He pulled out a thick, pocketed folder and slid it across the desk. "That is yours," he said to Inuyasha.
Raising an eyebrow, Inuyasha picked up the folder and slowly unwound the string holding it closed. His hands were steady as he pulled a copy of his parents' last will and testament from between the folds. From another pocket, he pulled all of the legal paperwork that turned his father's estate over to Inuyasha. He laid both items neatly on the desk in front of him then reached into the folds one more time. The last pocket contained two envelopes, both thick with folded papers, both with his name written across them in his mother's neat script.
"The entirety of father's property in the mountains was left to you," Sesshomaru said with more than a hint of agitation. "You were also left a sizeable sum of money and the Tessaiga, which is already in your possession."
It was too much. "I'm still wanted so none of this matters. Until my name is cleared-"
"That is an ongoing process," his brother interjected.
Inuyasha gave him a flat look. "Obviously. My point is, what the fuck am I supposed to do with this until then?"
"That is up to you."
"Super helpful, asshole."
Kagome placed a hand on his arm to get his attention. "He's on your side," she said when he looked over at her. "We'll just take this one step at a time." She smiled and gave his arm a quick squeeze.
"Fine," he huffed. Sesshomaru was already taking care of the property in the mountains and had agreed to give him access whenever Inuyasha wanted to make the trek. That would have to be enough for now.
Inuyasha's phone vibrated against his leg, startling him. He pulled it out and growled when he saw Kōga's name. "The fuck does he want?" he mumbled before answering. "Hey, why the fuck aren't you here?"
"Cordial as usual, mutt."
"Who the fuck says cordial? Never mind, the hell do you want?"
"People with more than three brain cells say cordial, dipshit. Listen, the hanyō that broke the barrier escaped last night. You and Kagome need to get somewhere safe and watch your backs."
Inuyasha snarled and his hand flexed on the arm of his chair, his claws biting into the fabric. "Fucking how?" he asked.
"Don't know, working on finding out. You're with Sesshomaru, right?"
"Unfortunately. Why?"
"Good, I know he can hear me too. The body of the other hanyō is gone along with all the autopsy reports. Don't know exactly when it happened or who was on duty. I'll let you guys know when we find something out."
Inuyasha slammed a fist down on the desk. "Dammit. This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"
"Listen, just be careful. Don't let Kagome out of your sight, got it? Keep her safe."
"Yeah, yeah, that's always the plan," Inuyasha said, calming a little at the sincerity in Kōga's voice. "Thanks for the heads up."
"No problem. And tell Kagome I said hi."
"Go fuck yourself." Inuyasha hung up and looked at his brother. "I'm assuming you heard him."
Sesshomaru inclined his head slightly but Kagome waved a hand between them. "I didn't. Would one of you care to tell me what I missed?"
Inuyasha took in the worried look on her face and tried to decide how much to tell her. "The hanyō that can break barriers escaped and they don't know how or when."
Kagome tensed and her breath hitched. "Like we need any more problems," she said, her voice unsteady, hands clasped tightly in her lap.
Inuyasha placed his hand over both of hers. "There's more," he said, unable to hide anything from her. "The body of the other hanyō is also gone along with the autopsy reports. Again, they don't know how or when."
Her entire body sagged and Inuyasha was quick to slide their chairs closer so he could put an arm around her shoulders. He wanted to promise her that everything would be fine but he wasn't sure that was a promise he would be able to keep. As strong as he was, he knew he couldn't handle this on his own; none of them could. Reluctantly, he looked to his brother.
A dull ache started behind his eyes as he contemplated his next words carefully. Unable to come up with anything compelling, he swallowed his pride and kept it simple. "Alright asshole, I'm gonna need your help."
Naraku was a patient man. He'd spent years waiting, scheming, and building towards his goal. Setbacks happened and he dealt with them swiftly and brutally. Luck was usually on his side and he'd hit no major snags over the last hundred years. Even now, he would only consider his current problems moderate, nothing to panic over. That didn't mean he wasn't pissed at the woman who kept throwing wrenches into his well-oiled gears.
Kagome Higurashi, a miko whose power rivaled that of the mikos of legend, was almost more trouble than she was worth. He would have her. Kikyo had led him straight to her and he would have his prize.
His eyes had been trained on Kikyo since the day one of his men spied her sealing the weak reiki of a newborn. At first, it looked like a blessing, her actions slowly dwindling the pool of reiki users to oppose him. Then he realized, with no small amount of anger, that she was taking away his ability to make and acquire new tools. So he watched and waited for the day she would slip and he could take advantage. Then he would kill her for making his life more difficult than it needed to be.
The day Kagome was born was the first time Kikyo slipped. Anyone within a mile of the hospital with even an ounce of reiki or yōki felt it the moment Kagome drew her first breath outside the womb. Her power blossomed and spread out immediately, a vibrant wave of purity with a tiny newborn at its epicenter. Kikyo may have sealed her quick enough to hide her away from the unobservant but Naraku had eyes everywhere, his spiders ever diligent.
He bided his time knowing that the day would come when that wellspring of reiki would finally burst through its bonds. He waited for the day he could take Kagome and use her to grow his collection. When years passed with no sign of her seal weakening, he took action. Hoping tragedy would unlock the ocean of reiki within her, Naraku had her grandfather murdered; it didn't work.
Then, twenty years after Kikyo sealed the newborn miko, she slipped again. Kagome was unsealed bit by bit and Naraku began to stalk his prey. But, what should have been a simple abduction quickly grew out of hand and Kagome avoided his trap. She killed one of his tools and, in his rage, Naraku had killed another.
What was supposed to be a simple acquisition of a valuable resource had morphed into a plan for vengeance. His list of targets seemed to grow by the day as more people got involved with the two mikos.
But it didn't matter. They didn't matter.
Naraku always got what he wanted.
