Author's Note: Inuvember "Sesshomaru Ships" prompt. An alternative look at Kagura's fate...
Originally posted on Tumblr: Nov. 22, 2018
Posted here: Sept. 17, 2020
Setting: Canon divergence
Characters: Sesshomaru, Kagura, Rin
Words: 426
Rated: K+
Genre: "Romance?" ;-)
Maybe
The pain in her chest started to alleviate. Her breathing evened out, her exhaustion faded into nothingness. Blinking, Kagura looked up, certain she was moments away from death.
Sesshomaru stood before her, sheathing one of his swords back into its scabbard. Strange. Why was he putting away his sword? Better yet, why was Naraku's miasma disappearing? How was she still alive? She scrambled to her feet, feeling dizzy with relief and confusion.
"I-I don't understand," she murmured, "I thought I was-"
"Lord Sesshomaru saved your life!" a young girl's voice squeaked. Kagura looked down; the little girl, Rin, that she once tried to abduct on Naraku's orders, was beaming at her from behind Sesshomaru's legs. "Just like he once saved mine!"
"I simply was following Tenseiga's desires," the dog demon said coldly, "otherwise it would have buzzed and rattled against me for who knows how long. It was convenient for me to bring you back."
"Bring me—I died?" Kagura breathed, feeling her chest, almost unable to believe she could feel her heart beating soundly and safely under her rib cage.
"That's okay! I did, too," Rin said cheerfully, as if dying and coming back was a perfectly common dilemma to undergo. "Now, you should join us, pretty lady!"
"Rin," Sesshomaru said quietly. The girl clapped her hands to her mouth.
Kagura gazed at the man she had been so certain she'd never see again. Then, she realized fully, for the first time: she was free! At last! Her heart skipped a beat, and she rejoiced at the feeling.
"I thank you, Lord Sesshomaru, for your generosity, however 'convenient' or not it was for you." Kagura plucked a feather from her hair, and launched herself into the air. She looked down and grinned cockily, calling out, "I shall come and visit you sometimes. Would that be all right?"
"Do as you wish," Sesshomaru said in his usual quiet, cool tone, but Kagura could have sworn his lips twitched slightly. Was that a smile?
She blushed. "But I won't come until after you defeat Naraku. For now, I shall go far away and be one with the wind and see the world."
"Is that a promise?"
Kagura blinked. Now she was certain that Sesshomaru was actually smiling, almost flirtatiously!
"I'll do as I wish, like you said," she said, with a wink.
And with that, her feather took off, flying far, far away toward the sea, where she'd see the Continent and other foreign places.
And someday, when all this had passed, she'd return. And be with him.
AN: #KAGURA_DESERVED_BETTER!
