Once more. Just once more.
The darkness of the woods sheltered them; both from the eyes of outsiders and from each other.
It was a moonless night, and the sky was cloudy. There was no light at all.
Perhaps, in this darkness, when they could only feel each other, their sight lost, perhaps here they could forget who they were.
Perhaps here, he could forget that he had indulged his weakness, surrendered to what was left of the human within him.
Perhaps here, she could forget that she had now knowingly betrayed her once beloved, that she had betrayed her purpose, her everything.
Perhaps here, he could forget that she was nothing but a hollow shell filled with dead souls; not even alive.
Perhaps here, she could forget that she was in the arms of the man…the creature….who had killed her.
Perhaps, as long as it was only their bodies which met, and not their eyes, they might be able to pretend this was not against everything they believed themselves to be.
There was no love here. The feeling which Onigumo had once felt was far too intertwined now in Naraku to be called any sort of love. She had no feeling for him; only a chill determination to send him where he belonged.
There was nothing but lust here.
There was no emotion.
Just a cold, violent joining.
Perhaps there was one emotion. A sense of understanding. She understood him, strangely. And he was the only one who truly understood her.
Each was the other's weakness.
Each was the other's strength.
Each was inferior to the other.
At the end, she tied her hair ribbon deep in the dark mass of waves upon his head. Not a keepsake, not a momento of emotion.
A reminder of his weakness.
He fastened around her wrist a bracelet of red and black and purple; his hair woven with dark cloth strands. It fit like a shackle.
A reminder of her weakness.
As they went their separate ways, they knew that on dark nights when the world of living mortals slept, they would meet again.
Once more would never be enough.