Title: The Walking Wounded

Author: landofthekwt

Rating: PG-13

Prompt: Dark (Inuyasha Themes #15)

Characters: Kikyou and Kohaku

Word Count:745

CU

Warning: None

Summary: Kikyou contemplates Kohaku's death

They had been brought back to life by Urusuae and Naraku for evil purposes. Now they shared the goal of killing Naraku. They were fellow travelers. She required the souls of dead girls to allow her to move. His life depended upon the shard in his back. They were the walking dead.

By all rights they should both be dead. Naraku had killed them both. Kikyou had been cut down fifty years ago but not before she sealed Inuyasha for fifty years. Kohaku had killed his entire family and hit his sister in the back with his sickle chain before he had been left for dead.

It bothered her that Kohaku was unwilling to see his sister. While she knew that he had been involved with Naraku, he had never shared the full story with her. She suspected that it had something to do with his death. She had seen him fight against Sango, but he was free from Naraku now and still could not face her.

They were bonded by Midorko's soul. Kikyou had been forced to use the warrior-priestess soul to heal her wounds long enough to kill Naraku. Midorko had summoned Kohaku through his shard. Once he knew the plan to kill Naraku by purifying the Jewel, he joined her without hesitation even though it meant his own death.

It was Kikyou who was hesitating now. Kohaku was just the kind of person she would have healed when she was a miko. Instead, she was using him to kill Naraku. Everything she did for him now seemed so hypocritical. No matter how she eased his mind and purified his shard, they both knew that someday she would sacrifice him without hesitation.

It was better that she stayed far away from Inuyasaha and taijiya. She knew that they both were trying to prevent her from using Kohaku. Inuyasha had told her that she was not the kind of woman who could take Kohaku's life. She was not so sure. Once she would have agreed with him, but since her death she had done many things that a miko would never do. She could not afford to shrink now. Naraku and the Jewel must be purified before her body crumbled into dust.

The sister hated her with a passion. She had seen the taijiya risk death in order to save found the idea that Kikyou would use her brother's life as a means to kill Naraku unspeakable. Kikyou understood her feelings She had a sister. If someone had killed Kaede even for a noble purpose, she would have tried to stop them.

Yet she was trying to do just that In the end she would ask Kohaku to give up his life to kill Naraku. The fact that it did not bother him made it worse. His acceptance and trust in her made her want to save him instead. What must his life have been like after his revival that he preferred death to life.

She had already hesitated Despite what she told Inuyasha about his sword not being able to kill Naraku, she had actually tried to assist Inuyasha in killing Moryomaru. If Moromaryu were killed, Kohaku could be saved. She had assumed that Kohaku would be the weak link in the chain. Instead, it was her.

She looked at the boy by her side. She was becoming weak willed. Doubts about her mission were creeping into her mind. The boy was innocent and pure. Could she really take the life of an innocent? Had she become so callous that she was willing to kill others to achieve her goal. Maybe she was no better than Naraku.

Kohaku looked at her. He sensed her unease and touched her hand as if to tell her that everything would be alright. It was what he wanted after all. He could not live with what he had done. Atoning by dying was easier than facing his sister.

Kikyou nodded. His reassurance gave her strength to do what must be done. The sooner Naraku died the sooner they could both pass from this world. They were walking dead. There was no place for them in this world.

Better that they finish what needed to be done so that they could find peace in the afterlife. She could only hope that their souls could be saved before the end. They both had endured hell on earth. There was no need for them to suffer any more.