Naraku had seen it all, everything Kikyo had done that night, all that she had said, had given him an idea on defeating Inuyasha and his group. For the past three weeks, he had observed them and their interactions with her, with the help of Kanna's mirror, finding it amusing that the monk and demon slayer went on as if she didn't even exist, shunning her despite her being with them now. She had been revived in a way, alive once more, yet Naraku could see it clearly, she was growing weak and he began to wonder how amusing it would be if her past came back to haunt her. His idea was simple, but it required the use of Kagome's body, which he knew last, to be in Inuyasha's forest. By now her body should have deteriorated, but until a week ago, he had seen her body was still intact. He could see it now, the look of horror on Kikyo's face as her betrayal to Inuyasha would be revealed. This time she'd die and by the hands of the man she loved and sought revenge against, with nary an interference on his part except for showing the group, her vile little secret. "Ha, Kikyo...you've made this all too easy for me...who'd have thought you'd be so clever and deceitful, removing Kagome out of my way only for me to use her against you and bring forth your own demise. With no priestess aiding him, Inuyasha will be mine and so will the rest of the shards of the Shikon Jewel," he chuckled.
His plan, retrieve Kagome's body, but he trusted no one else with this task except himself. Even his own incarnations turned against him and to avoid his plans being ruined, he'd have to see to getting her, himself. With that thought in mind, he stood and pulled on the baboon pelt that served to mask his real identity. "Kanna, summon Kagura to the castle, I will not tolerate her failure this time, be sure she is aware of that, I shall return soon," he ordered before vanishing into the darkness.
Kanna nodded and turned around, walking out of the half demon's room and down the halls until she exited the castle in search of her sister.
The group had chosen a campsite for the night, needing to rest as they typically did. It had been weeks since most of them, namely Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara were saddened by Kagome's departure, especially the fact that she left without a word and could no longer return due to the jewel not being in her possession. Throughout their travels, they didn't encounter a single demon and had been even further from finding Naraku than ever before.
And as for Kikyo, tonight was different for her. The past three weeks since she rid herself of Kagome had been pure heaven, although the entire group had ignored her except for Inuyasha, she wasn't fazed by their shunning her. She merely carried on with a smile on her face, happy to be alive again, able to feel, touch, breath. She was allowed to enjoy life once more and yet despite her happiness, she was growing weak as each day progressed. It had been this way for a week now and she did her best to hide her predicament from Inuyasha. She had no idea what was happening to her but figured that perhaps she simply needed to rest more. After all, she had gone for days, weeks without sleeping when she was dead and being alive again, her body needed to rest every night, she was unable to keep pushing forward without taking some time to recover.
So tonight she promised to do just that, to give herself a break and to relax, allowing time for her body to adjust to being alive.. As a form of relaxation she had volunteered to cook for the group and proceeded to start the fire. As she placed more firewood to keep it going, she accidentally burned herself but felt no pain from the slight burn. Confused by this, she raised her hand to take a look at her finger but what she saw terrified her. Fear radiated from her body, but realizing Inuyasha could smell her scent of fear, she quickly calmed herself and placed a mask of indifference to cover her features.
The half demon who was sitting up in a tree had indeed sensed the slight scent of fear but as he glanced down at Kikyo he saw that she appeared to be alright and so closed his eyes once more, relaxing within the tree. "I'm sorry, I can't cook dinner after all, I have some business to take care of, Inuyasha, I shall return soon," she stated. And before he could protest she gathered her bow and arrows and retreated from the campsite. Once out of his line of vision, she quickly made her way towards a nearby hot spring and summoned her soul collectors who, despite her new found life, still followed her as faithful servants.
Sitting down on a nearby rock she placed her bow and arrows down and examined her finger further. A light touch to the tip where she got burned and she could see sand falling away from her appendage. She was in a state of shock at seeing this happen, terror evident in her features, 'I don't understand...I'm alive...I can feel my blood flowing through my veins, my heart is beating within me and yet...my body hasn't been restored? I was certain I was...how am I made of dirt once more?' she thought to herself, despair filling her to the core. She was supposed to live again, she was supposed to have her moment to live once more alongside her beloved and to help him kill the vile half demon who tore their lives apart in the first place. But here she was, a pitiful pile of dirt and bones, instead of how she should have been. Then it dawned on her, 'my body was burned...I have my soul and the sacred jewel as before but not my body...I see...then I must complete this for good,' she turned to her soul collectors, "go bring her body to me, I will need it to complete this spell...don't let Inuyasha see you and hurry back," she ordered and watched as they took off through the night in the direction Kagome's body had last been in.
He stood there hovering over the spot where the priestess's body had once been and immediately knew he'd have some trouble going through with his plans. The demon lord's scent covered this area of Inuyasha's forest, fading but still evident. Naraku now had to wonder if Kagome was alive again and if so, he'd no longer be able to use her unless he repeated Kikyo's act of murder. As he pondered over the possibility of her being restored without a soul, he caught the scent of the demons that followed Kikyo around, this raised an interest to him and he quickly hid within the nearby trees.
The soul collectors flew down from the sky, hovering over the area where Kagome's body once was and for a moment they began to float around the area, in search of possibly finding her body elsewhere but still within the forest. This was to no luck and in truth they too had picked up on the scent of Lord Sesshomaru. Looking at each other the two soul collectors nodded and flew off again in the direction Kikyo was, to deliver their message. Naraku watched and chuckled as he disappeared once more into thin air. He had easily figured she wanted Kagome's body, for there was no other reason she'd have sent them to this area. All he had to do was find a way to work everything according to his plan and he'd succeed in obtaining the sacred jewel, the trick now was to get Kagome, dead or alive, whichever she was, from Sesshomaru. As he arrived back at his castle, he dismissed Kagura, not needing her at the moment and decided to use Kanna's mirror once more, this time to spy on a certain demon lord.
By this time, morning had arrived and Kikyo had just awakened from her sleep beneath the tree Inuyasha was in. She had received the news hours ago before retreating back to the campsite. She had tried her best to contain herself of all the different emotions that swarmed through her hearing the news. Anger, despair, how foolish she was to just toss the woman's body aside and leave it there in the first place. Her current state was probably her own fault because without a proper body, she should have realized she wouldn't last long like this and now the girl's body was in someone else's hands. She was certain though that Kagome wasn't alive, or else she'd need to absorb souls again, so she knew the female wasn't a threat. But she didn't quite know how to get the body from the demon lord, after all, she was able to purify demons but Sesshomaru wasn't the kind of demon a person messed with. There had to be a way to get Kagome's body and yet Kikyo wasn't finding the answer as easily as she had hoped.
Sesshomaru had remained at his castle for a week, waking early each day as always and each day at the castle had gone by quickly with not so much as a change from the priestess. Today was the seventh day he was still at his home and he sat in his study, the doll of her in a seat close by him so as to keep an eye on her. All the while he shifted through pages of book after book in search of a spell that could help bring her back to a state of temporary life, at least until he could retrieve her soul, but he came up with nothing. He had even sent out servants to retrieve any books with ancient spells that they could find, but none of them turned up a solution.
Growling in frustration he tossed the current book he had to the ground and stood, looking at the human girl, he ordered her to rise and follow him. He wasn't going to be able to tolerate this constant babysitting much longer. The woman had to be monitored at all times and due to her purifying his previous staff, he had to be the one to watch her. He had attempted for a second time since they were here, in leaving her to be watched by a few maids, but it ended in tragedy when one of them thought to be a spoiled brat and tried to make the priestess obey her to stay still. It was rather strange but he was the only one who could control her and thus he needed now more than ever for her soul to be back within her body. Lifeless as she was, she was of no use to him in this condition anyway. As he entered his bed chamber, he hadn't realized it but it was already dark outside, he had spent the entire day in search of a spell and now the day had been a waste.
Now he was certain, he was left with no other option but to go after the dead priestess, or...living priestess, whichever it was at this time. He knew of no other way but to let his brother see the horrid truth and retrieve the girl's soul. This was a rather troublesome task but he'd do it and the strange girl would have to owe him her life, which he'd be certain to collect payment from her once she was fully revived.
Sighing he led her to her room and watched her as she automatically lay down on the bed, as if she knew what he was going to say before he even said it and with that he left to his room, leaving the door opened as he did every night. He sat down on the end of his bed, rubbing his temples for a moment to suppress an incoming migraine. For now he'd sleep and in the morning he'd leave to find his idiotic brother and put an end to this girl's situation once and for all. Standing he changed out of his kimono and pulled on his sleeping pants, laying down in bed he closed his eyes to get some rest.
It was there in his dreams he encountered the girl again as he had every night since at his castle.
Sesshomaru stood on the balcony of his room, looking out into the night, the cresent moon high in the sky was a representation of himself, calm and quiet, nothing to faze the moon or himself. His sensitive hearing picked up on the female walking around close by.
Kagome walked from the room her body was in and into Sesshomaru's room, moving towards him she stepped out on the balcony and looked over to him. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.
"Did we not go over this? I cannot give you an answer. Rest priestess and I will return with your soul," he stated.
"Why not take me with you?"
"I will handle the dead one alone, away from Inuyasha. If you were brought with me, he'd find you and prevent me from retrieving your soul," he explained.
Kagome still didn't see how it made any sense at all to not have her there, how could he ensure that her soul would remain with him long enough for him to bring it back? How could she even trust this demon who had tried to kill her countless times in the past? This was all too confusing and complicated and she wanted to find a way out of this without having any consequences. Glancing at him once more, she gave in, "I hope you're right...please...I know you hate humans and probably hate me most of all but, my friends don't know I'm dead...just don't tell them anything..." she begged.
Of course the demon lord already had a feeling that they didn't know, for if they did, he knew they wouldn't careless leave her body there and not give her a proper burial. Nodding he turned to her, "now sleep priestess, I shall return soon with what belongs to you."
She was about to leave but a thought came to mind, turning to the demon she placed her hands on his left shoulder, feeling the need to show her gratitude before he'd even bring her soul back. This was her personal thank you to him for even trying to save her. Despite him being cold and heartless, she felt as though she owed him for having to babysit, especially with all the trouble of her purifying his servants. But the task she was attempting, she was unsure if it would work, for she was merely a spirit in the dream world, no soul or body to aid her. Still she felt she had to try.
Her hands that was placed on his shoulder soon began to glow, emitting a soft pink light that soon surrounded her body and his shoulder as well as the empty sleeve of his kimono.
Sesshomaru stared in confusion and wonder, "what are you..." but stopped himself from finishing his sentence as he observed her. The pink light that glowed a part of his body didn't hurt, then again he was dreaming so he figured it wouldn't, still he wondered what she was attempting. It wasn't until after the light dissipated that he realized what she had done.
Kagome stepped back and looked at her work, surprised to see his arm restored. But did she manage to do it in reality? He too was surprised, finding that he once more had his left arm, lifting it and studying the appendage, it looked as if he had never lost it to begin with. Just as he was about to turn and speak to her, a bright white light surrounded Kagome and she screamed in pain, he arched an eyebrow and reached out for her only to be jolted out of his sleep.
The early rays of sunlight entered into his room from the balcony, the doors to it were opened as if he had actually been out there. Moving from the bed to stand, he froze as he saw the female's body standing there beside the bed for a moment before she suddenly collapsed. Quickly he caught her and glanced at his left shoulder to find he was holding her with his left arm. He was shocked to say the least, that the priestess had accomplished this within a mere dream, her body clearly had arose to do her bidding. She was much stronger than he perceived her to be but from what last happened in his dream, he was now concerned over her spirit.
Gently he placed her on the bed behind him and stood, something was different from the body this time, her eyes were closed and she felt even colder, the condition of her body showed signs as if her energy had been drained, her skin more pale that before. This wasn't good at all. He needed now more than ever to get her soul back. He just hoped she didn't make a mistake in restoring his arm.
An hour later the demon lord was dressed and ready, leaving Jaken to watch over Rin and over the priestess's body while he headed out to locate his brother and his group.
Author's Note: Well it took a bit longer than expected, I didn't want it to seem so lame in comparison to the great fanfics I've read recently, so I worked at it to keep it flowing smoothly and interesting. I'm trying to get into the habit of updating sooner than the time I've been taking, with any luck the next chapter won't take as long.