Sesshomaru flew over the forest. He had left Rin's house earlier that day, and wanted nothing more than to stay longer, but he had the western lands to tend to. So many demons were always challenging him for the throne. Such impotence. They were so self confident, and believed that they could bring down the great Sesshomaru. None were ever successful, and only a few got away alive. Those were the ones that simply weren't worth the trouble.
Sesshomaru sensed a demon quickly approaching from about half a mile away. He pretended not to notice. He could smell the demon's excitement as it got closer. When it was three feet away from him, he slashed out with his claws and sliced at the demon's heart. He could sense its surprise as its life escaped it. Sesshomaru looked at the specimen, pulling it to the ground with him. It was a woman. There was a very faint scent on her. A scent Sesshomaru could barely sense, but would never forget.
"Naraku," he hissed distastefully. He was not surprised. Sesshomaru was never surprised. But he did wonder just how Naraku had made an incarnation in death. He turned over the feminine figure. He gasped. It was Kagura.
"You died," he whispered, "You died right in front of me." Sesshomaru hated to admit it, but there had always been something special about this specific demon. Something like charm. Somehow she had come back to life. And now he had killed her again. Sesshomaru did not cry. This was another thing that Sesshomaru never did. But he felt something inside him crack.
He knew that Kagura had not come to challenge him. She had come to see him. Sesshomaru did not know if he loved Kagura, but one thing he did know was that she loved him. He wished that he still had Tenseiga. Then he could bring Kagura back. He bent over Kagura. He had to see her eyes, to know if it really was her. They were closed, so he carefully pulled them open. It was her. Her red eyes stared blankly at him. He hated to see Kagura, of all people, without life. She was always so full of life.
Suddenly a tiny flicker of light reappeared in her eyes.
"Sesshomaru," she groaned, "There are more. They are coming." Then the light disappeared. Sesshomaru cracked all over again. Then rage boiled through him. Whoever was coming was going to get it. Sesshomaru was rarely angry. And when he was, he released his anger. And he released it on demons.
Finally, Sesshomaru spotted two figures heading straight towards him. He threw Bakusaiga to the ground. This, he was going to do with his own bare hands.
Two large demon men walked up to Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru knew these demons. They were rivals of his. One was very large, and the other very small. The large one had power, but was not very clever. The small one had little strength, but was very cunning.
"Dai, Hitoshi, we meet again," hissed Sesshomaru angrily.
"Angry at us for killing Kagura?" mocked Hitoshi, the smaller of the two demons.
"You are the vile creatures who did this to her," hissed the enraged Sesshomaru.
"She isn't dead you know. We have her heart. We are the ones that took her heart from the wind. We used a spell to conjure her body. It wasn't easy, but we managed. If you get her heart, you can make her live again. But you won't be able to get it," said Hitoshi smugly. Sesshomaru growled deeply. How dare they mock the ruler of the western lands?
"You will pay for that!" shouted Sesshomaru as he slashed at Hitoshi. He knew that once Hitoshi was down, Dai would be like an empty puppet. Hitoshi leaped out of the way. Sesshomaru's claws headed straight toward Dai. Dai stood dumbly as Sesshomaru's claws sank into his flesh. As soon as Dai felt the pain of the claws, he reached out to grab Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru easily dodged the blow. He growled and slashed out again. This time, it hit Hitoshi full on the face. Sesshomaru smiled. He had won. He turned around and started to walk away.
"Not so fast," said Hitoshi. Sesshomaru turned back to face him. He gasped. Hitoshi's face had healed instantaneously. There was not a trace of a scar where it had been. Hitoshi laughed.
"You see, I have Kagura's heart, in case you have forgotten. I can transfer any injuries of mine to her. So, I will allow you to hurt me. I will let you hurt me until Kagura has no chance of survival," said Hitoshi smugly.
"You will pay dearly for tricking me into hurting Kagura," growled Sesshomaru. Hitoshi smiled.
"We'll see about that," he said. Sesshomaru was about to strike out at him, when he remembered that Kagura would take the blow. Instead, he struck out at Dai with full force. He slashed off Dai's right arm in one smooth movement. Dai screamed in pain. Taking advantage of the moment, Sesshomaru beheaded the demon. The life left his eyes in an instant.
"How dare you?" screamed Hitoshi in anguish. He charged at Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru dodged the blow, and many more. He wanted to strike out at Hitoshi, but couldn't, because he would really be striking at Kagura. His only hope was to get the heart away from Hitoshi. He saw a package hanging from Hitoshi's belt. He reached out and grabbed it away from Hitoshi. He opened it, to see a pulsing red shape. Kagura's heart.
Hitoshi hadn't noticed yet. Sesshomaru took advantage of this, as Hitoshi would not expect Sesshomaru to hit him. Sesshomaru slashed out with his claws and beheaded Hitoshi. Hitoshi's head fell to the ground.
Sesshomaru turned back to Kagura. She had a gash on the side of her cheek from where Sesshomaru had cut Hitoshi. It wasn't nearly as bad as Sesshomaru had expected, nothing serious, but he still regretted the fact that the mark had come from him. He removed the heart was warm and surprisingly smooth and soft. He held it for a second, and then pressed it to Kagura's chest. A blinding light flashed from her chest as the heart sank into her flesh. Kagura screamed. He couldn't bear to see her scream like that. When the heart had finally dissolved into her body, the light disappeared and the screaming stopped.
"Se-sho-ma-ru," she panted. She sat up, then fainted on his lap.
Sesshomaru realized that he wanted nothing more than to not be the ruler of the western lands, to simply lave his empire to someone else, for Rin to be happy, to go off to a faraway place in the mountains, and live away from trouble. And he wanted Kagura to go with him.