Title Don't Back Down
Author landofthekwt
Rating K
Prompt Kowtow (iyff)
Word Count 575
Warning none
Summary Kikyou refuses to give up after Mt Haukerei
Kikyou had stirred into the face of the abyss. Her last thoughts before hitting the nuasma were of Inuyasha. Her life with Inuyasha had spun in front of her eye's moments as hurtled to her death.
Remembrance of those happy times with Inuyasha. Regrets that Naraku had cut them short by killing her and making her kill Inuyasha.
All that was behind her as she dragged herself onto the shore of a strange lake. This all had a feeling of deja vu. Falling off cliffs was becoming a habit. She survived this time only because the purity of her bones and graveyard soil prevented her from being dissolved by Naraku's miasma
She was just that just as before no one bothered finishing her off. The river of miasma eventually flowed into a lake of pure water. There was a reason the Shinto required all worshipers to wash their hands before praying. The water purified the worshipers and allowed them to stand before the Kami purified.
She knew now that she must hide. Naraku had laughed at her foolishly standing before him unafraid. She had tipped her hand when she told Naraku that he could not kill her while Onigumo's heart beat within her. Naraku took that information and created a new body which did not include Onigumo's heart.
He could have killed her, but he did not. She thanked the Kami for small favors. Instead, she was left crippled. The souls poured out of her body as fast as the shindamachuu brought them to her.
Whatever she did, she was not going to be able to do it herself. She soon would be unable to move.
She would have to create new allies. As much as she scoffed at Naraku's use of puppets and Tsubaki's use of shikgami, they had their usefulness. They could do things that you were unable to do. Go places that you were unable to go. Especially now when she was going to have exist at the bottom of a pool of pure water fed by a waterfall to keep from dissolving
There was only mission left for her. Purifying Naraku with the completed jewel. She would have to stay alive until that happened. She needed helpers. Taking paper dolls out of her sleeve, she chanted the words. Soon two children stood where the paper dolls previously stood. When she named Koucha and Asuka their eyes opened. Eager to please their mistress.
A third doll became a puppet. A person who would play her until she could recover from her wounds. Satisfied with her handiwork, she motioned the shindamachuu to take her to the mountain where she would stay. Her puppet would pretend to a "hijiri" The shikigami would be her helpers.
That ought to keep Naraku busy until she could recover. Naraku had tried to kill her again. She was not about to let him get away with it. He was just another youkai who could be purified by the jewel. She had lost because she had been overconfident. That was a mistake she would never make again
Still she was damned if she was going to kowtow to Naraku and let him get away with collecting the Jewel. If he did so and she did nothing to stop him, all the time that she served as Guardian of the Jewel would be in vain. If she were going to hell, she would make sure Naraku got there she did.