Chapter 8: Picking up the Pieces
"Sesshomaru, I have to speak with you." Soledad said softly through the oak doors of his study. It had been three miserable and confusing days, and she couldn't believe that after a month and a half all this drama had occurred. She was always the type of person that would avoid this kind of thing, watching her friends and colleagues fall head over heels for eachother only to end up hurt, or have themselves fighting over a man when in the end, all the pursuers were to be left in the dust. How ironic it was that now she found herself in the same situation, when all her life, the first and second ones, she was now the epitome of what she wanted to avoid.
Sesshomaru opened the door and stared at her in his usual unemotional way. She simply made her way inside the room. It was the same as it has always been, where the walls were covered by dog demons doing various actions, and the books were filled with literature and information about almost every inch of the world, which is how he 'found her out' in a way. She sat down in the soft velvet seat and waited for him to make his way to his before entering.
"Sesshomaru, we need to talk." She said softly. She wasn't sure what she was going to say, how to say it, and what the outcome was going to be, simply thinking maybe she would find her way as the conversation between the two of them progressed. Sesshomaru cleared his throat before looking in her direction.
"It's about what had happened a few days ago, I presume, because we have been in the same room many of times since then, but have only spoken to each other in a cordial and indifferent way." He stated simply. She nodded, knowing it was true. It felt like they were back to square one again, when they had first reunited over a month ago. She started picking at the imaginary lint on her jet black kimono, trying to figure out what to say.
"Yea…" she mumbled, looking up at him awkwardly. "I still don't know what to say about that." She said, lightly laughing in the very tense situation between them. Sesshomaru lay back onto the chair and put his hand on his chin and sighed lightly.
"We both know why it happened."
"No, I don't know why." She responded quickly. "And I don't know why I even let it happen. You….you hurt me, Sesshomaru, and even though you may be one of the most arrogant and stubborn people in this world, you know what you said to me at that dinner table was wrong." She stopped once she felt herself getting emotional, waiting for a response. He looked at her with impatience in his eyes.
"What, you want me to give you an apology?" he said with a slight sarcastic tone. She started getting upset when she heard his response. "Fine, I'm sorry." He said to her.
"It won't kill you to give me a decent one, Sesshomaru. You're such an asshole when you're like this. Will giving me the apology for something you and I both know was totally out of hand kill you, Sesshomaru? And for you to say that you have and still do care for me, but can't swallow your pride to give me a damn apology is bull and you know it." She said, anger growing in every word. She didn't care what his response was to this.
"Do you know what it is like? For me to actually to realize when I see you it's not just lust, and once I have you you've slipped through my fingers by Naraku? And to be stuck with a woman I couldn't give a damn about just because you asked for it in your last breath? I did that for you, and now when I see you again…." He said to her "and I can't have you because you're with Shinto?" Soledad was taken aback by this. She knew he hated being with Kagura, and he probably hadn't touched her in years, but she didn't know he had built it inside for so long and actually how unhappy he was with seeing her with someone else. She realized she probably would've been just as upset in the same situation, but not nearly as disgusted as he seemed to see her with Shinto.
"There's nothing between us, and it's none of your business." She said softly. She now felt uncomfortable with what she had heard from him, and wanted to try to rebuild her guard. This improv style of going through this conversation obviously wasn't the best way to enter this conversation.
"You must know that I think of killing him when he looks at you." She looked up at him shocked.
"You can't say that truthfully, Sesshomaru." She stared into his eyes, and knew he was serious. "It's nothing serious, Sesshomaru. I don't love him the way he loves me and that's a fact I think pretty much anyone would be able to notice in minutes." She told him. "Yes, I must admit that I still truly love you, but I think it would definitely be best if you and I remained friends and nothing less. We can't let this go any further, and you know this." Soledad pushed her hair back, feeling mentally exhausted. She stood up, delicately touching his cheek. "So, this is my goodbye."
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"Mother, I must speak to you now." Sol said anxiously as she tried to catch up with her mother. Kagura was basically sprinting down the hall, trying to run away. She needed to get away from this, everything, and nothing really made sense anymore to her in these past few days.
"Sol, do not follow me." She said harshly.
"But I must tell you….."
"I know!" she barked at her daughter. Sol stepped back in surprise, taking a step back from her mother. "I know what's going on, and I have known for a while…." She said slowly, as if she fought to let the words out. "But don't follow me, Sol, for you may be as disappointed in me as you are with your father." Kagura flicked her fan and began flying off in her feather. Sol ran as quickly as she could in an attempt to catch the feather.
"Mother, please, whatever you are going to do, don't!!!" she yelled, but Kagura was gone in a flash. "I needed to tell you….that the wedding's off." She said slowly.
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She made it. After two long days, Kagura had finally made it to the gravesite she never thought she would ever visit, and yet here she was, in a dark cave filled with miasma. She could help but smile a little. Miasma seemed to always shroud him, even in death. She suspiciously and slowly as she crept towards the flickering light that was about a half a mile away from the entrance. As she slowly made her way there, she kept her fan tightly bound in her hand while she wondered who else could be here. She jumped, scaring herself half to death as a lowly worm demon brushed her left leg. She took a breath deeply in an attempt to calm herself down, and chuckled slightly at herself. She quickly made her way to the grave, in a way hoping she wouldn't be scared again.
As soon as she made her way to the grave, she realized what the flickering light was, and what the fate of that worm demon was. As hundreds of weak demons tried to get to the grave itself, they were instantly killed in a lightning like flash. Kagura warily put her hand into the invisible barrier, and as she expected a shock, she found her hand when through. She smirked. He was waiting for her to come.
She quickly made her way in as other demons made their futile attempts to gain some of the deceased's power, and she wondered why they even bothered trying, if they had just seen that the second before that the demon right in front of them was basically vaporized. She carefully laid down the three items in front of her, as if they would break and this opportunity would be gone forever if not done now. She took one of Soledad's kimonos from her closet, the clump of hair from the brush, and she also had a vial of Soledad' blood. It was surprisingly easy to get this, as Kagura simply cut Soledad's finger while she was sleeping. She truly was a deep sleeper, because Soledad didn't even flinch as she did it. Kagura took a deep breath as she followed the procedure that Naraku had told her a century ago. Kagura quickly made a cut on her wrist, and put the vial underneath the wrist as the crimson liquid oozed out and into the vial. She quickly took the vial and spilled the blood over the kimono, placing the clump of hair where the head would actually be if a body was placed in the kimono.
Minutes passed. Then an hour passed, and then two. She sighed heavily, staring at the blank stone hedge that was shrouded in miasma and felt tears of frustration coming, blurring the vision. "The one time where I beg for you to come," she said softly.
"Soledad's alive again, and she stole Sesshomaru from you, didn't she?" a deep voice whispered in Kagura's ear, as a cold hand touched her shoulder. "I can avenge you."
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"You were good.....very good." a husky voice whispered lustily as he got up from the bed to kiss the woman's neck. The woman, with violet eyes and porcelian skin, had her back towards the lizard demon. She tilted her neck over for him, slowly smirking as she slowly got up.
"Well, since we have already had our fun, would you like something to know something about me?" she whispered huskily as she looked over the demon before her. He smirked and scanned her up and down.
"Whether or not your coming back into this bed?" She chuckled.
"No." she quickly put a robe over her before finishing her sentence. "But this face is the last thing you'll ever see." Before the lizard demon could react, his blood was already splattered on the wall, and his hand fell limply on the side of the bed. The woman wiped the blood off of her mouth and quickly got her clothes on. As she exited the room, a servant was about to enter. The woman placed a finger on her lips. "He's very tired, and I doubt you would want to be the one to disturb him." she said in the young girl's ear. The servant quickly ran away as soon as she realized the risk.
"Now, how am I going to get out of this situation?"
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