a scar is what makes you whole
The water is like ice against her skin, but she knows that it will help with the swelling. Hopes that it will keep her wounds from festering. Kagome likes to talk about things called bacteria, about the importance of cleansing a wound, and while Sango has long known the benefits of it, she still takes the risk, submerges herself in the dark waters that lurk with things she cannot see.
The rats especially, Kagome says, youkai as they might have been, can still pose a danger larger than the trauma of the bites that criss cross her skin.
Sango is in no danger here; the forest is quiet, and Inuyasha has already done his duty, sniffing out any potential threats. The others huddle around a fire, not far, and if she were to scream they would surely come running. She relishes the cold, and the silence, the only sound the gentle bubble of the water across the rocks. She'd said she was just going to bathe, and despite her companion's complaints, worries over her injuries―and the unspoken concern for her mental state―she'd managed to convince them to let her go on her own.
Hiraikotsu sits within the bubble cast by her single candle sitting by the water's edge, within reach, the same as the rest of her things. If she were to be attacked now, injured as she is, she thinks that it might serve her right if she cannot defend herself on her own.
She holds herself beneath the water until her bones begin to ache from the cold. She grits her teeth and bears it, crouching in the water up to her shoulders.
A gust of wind across her damp skin sends her teeth chattering, and it is then that Sango decides she's had enough. She stands, water sloughing off her frame, but when she looks up there is a familiar crescent shaped shadow hovering in the sky.
Hiraikotsu's strap is familiar against the folds of her fingers and her scabs sting with the stretch of skin as she lets it fly. It sails through the air, and only misses its target by a hair―Because whether she'd known of Sango's presence before, or because of the disturbance in the wind, Kagura is quick to notice the weapon flying at her head.
All it takes is a subtle lean for her to dodge, the feather dips, and before the weapon can come back to her hand―Naraku's incarnation has landed on the river bank a little downstream of her. Sango catches Hiraikotsu as it comes flying back, she has to steady her weight amongst the mud to compensate for the force of it, and levels her interloper with a grimace and a glare.
Kagura taps her fan against her chin and cocks her head.
"You don't look like you're dressed for a fight."
Her voice cuts through the quiet and Sango flinches, not because of how loud it is, but because of how easily it melts into the sound of the bubbling river, the breeze whispering through the trees. It's an odd thing, it almost sets her on edge, given that she's so used to Kagura screaming, Kagura cackling, Kagura mocking, Kagura threatening her life.
But the youkai―the woman―staring at her now just looks intrigued.
"Aren't you cold?" she asks with a chuckle. And it's hard to tell in the darkness, but she's sure Kagura emphasizes her point with a long once over, and a tap of her fan against her thigh that brings a chilling breeze skittering over Sango's skin.
Heat rises to Sango's cheeks.
Her reflexes tell her to cover herself.
Her instincts tell her to throw her weapon again.
Sango does neither, a fact that seems to amuse the woman staring at her; because Kagura laughs again, and Sango wants to be insulted, indignant, but it doesn't carry the malice or the ridicule she'd been expecting.
"Well, go on," Kagura bites her lip, trying to stifle another chuckle, and she gestures at Sango's clothes with her fan, "I'm not a complete monster, you know."
Sango almost opens her mouth to argue that point, but bites her tongue. She's at a disadvantage, she could call for Inuyasha, but the fact that he hasn't already come running makes her uneasy. She glances over her shoulder. She can barely make out the glow of the fire beyond the trees, and when she looks back, Kagura is still staring at her, but she hasn't moved, just keeps watching her with an eyebrow raised, expectant. Another breeze ghosts across her skin, and Sango is forced to make her decision.
She keeps her eyes on Kagura, who just smiles back, and steps away from the water to lean Hiraikotsu up against a tree, still within reach if she changes her mind. She snatches up her kosode and turns her back on the youkai―stupid, because it's too late for such a sorry attempt at modesty―to slip it up over her arms and tug it snugly around her shoulders.
Sango turns back to face her, hugging her elbows tight to her ribs. Kagura hasn't moved, so she doesn't reach for her weapon right away. From what she knows, Kagura isn't the type to start fights. Finish them maybe, but recently she's been less of a threat than the rest of Naraku's minions, and while Sango won't go so far as to trust Kagura―not in any way that matters―by now she knows that she isn't likely to be cut down right away. Kagura has the capacity to hold back, a trait not all of her siblings share.
It's hard to tell, in the dark, but she thinks Kagura looks worried.
"What do you want, Kagura?"
Kagura blinks, shaken from her thoughts, and then looks around curiously.
"Where're your little friends?"
Presumably this means that the others are still sitting warmly around the fire. Ignorant.
"Where's Kohaku?"
Kagura tilts her head and smiles, maybe a little irritated, maybe amused, Sango can't tell in the dark. "Can't say I've seen him."
"Don't lie―"
"What reason do I have to lie?"
Sango bites her tongue. She can think of a lot of reasons. But Kagura has kept their secrets before, too.
"What happened to you?"
The question makes Sango pause, especially with the way it's said. Kagura sounds genuinely curious, casual, as if they haven't had blades at each other's throats before. Sango shakes it off, remembers who she is and who Kagura is and that they shouldn't be having this conversation in the first place.
"Go ask Hakudoushi," she spits.
"You think I go out of my way to talk to that brat?" Kagura grimaces and rolls her eyes. "'Sides, I ain't talking about whatever rash you've got."
Sango doesn't have it in her to feel embarrassed. That suspicion sneaks back up on her, that this isn't just some coincidence and that Kagura is here for a reason. She glances back through the trees, strains her ears for any odd sound… she can still make out the soft flickering light of the fire. The forest is still quiet, save for the sound of the river, and when she looks back Kagura is still staring at her.
"What do you mean?"
"That wound, on your back. Quite a nasty one, too." Kagura taps her fan against her chin, a cloud passes over the moon and it's hard to see her eyes. "Hard thing for a human to survive."
Sango stops breathing. It feels like something is suffocating her, squeezing her ribs too tight, like maybe her heart has suddenly stopped. Like something stabbing straight through her spine―
"Sheesh, I'd rather have you tryin' to take my head off than whatever the hell's got you making that face," Kagura scoffs and reaches for the feather in her hair, and despite her freezing limbs Sango manages to take a breath.
"...I didn't."
Well, not really.
She remembers. Waking up unable to breathe. Dirt clogging her nose and a weight on her chest. Digging herself out of a shallow grave. Only to be told that the rest of her family hadn't been lucky enough to manage the same.
Kagura stops, her hand hovering in mid air.
Maybe it's too much information for her enemy's minion. Maybe she's opened herself too much, but there isn't much left of her that Naraku hasn't already touched, defiled and corrupted. If this is Kagura's first time hearing of it, she doesn't think it makes a difference.
Kagura drops her hand and lowers her chin to look away, as if she's thinking. Or cowering. Sango wonders if it could be both, but assuming that Kagura has it in her to be ashamed of her words is laughable. Kagura isn't the type to get nervous, but she does turn away. In the dark and with her back turned, Sango might actually mistake her for human.
It feels as if her ears have popped, the way everything suddenly goes quiet. Feeling numb, blind, Sango dives for the candle and tries to light it as quickly as she can, striking her flint twice before the sparks flicker to life and she's swallowed by that bubble of warm light.
Kagura inclines her head, but doesn't turn back. Staring at her shoulders, Sango remembers that there is a mark there, too―spider legs burned across Kagura's spine just like a star shaped scar marks her own. Sango wonders if it ever aches―
"There are better ways to die than in a freezing river," Kagura says softly. "The drowned make for poor corpses."
Sango flinches. "I wasn't―"
"Hn," Kagura snorts, "close enough, isn't it?"
Had that been why she'd been watching? Sango opens her mouth to ask, but Kagura turns to look at her over her shoulder, and in the candlelight her eyes flicker, glowing the color of blood.
"The kid's fine," Kagura says, too loud in the silence she'd created, and lifts her hand to pluck a feather from her hair. It takes a moment for Sango to understand her meaning. "He's tough. I'm sure he learned that from you."
She's not surprised that when Kagura takes to the sky again, a gust of wind blows out her light. She only wonders why she's suddenly so cold.
…
A/N: Something a little different for a discord gift exchange. KaguSan is definitely something I'd like to explore more, but for now this will just have to be left as is. Enjoy!