"Loyalty is the holiest good."
Seneca
Sesshomaru wakes up naked in his bed on a warm pillow. He flips it over but it's useless. The hole in the roof is almost repaired but the sun beams down, heating his room. He sits up, slinging his covers aside. A viscous film lays on his eyes, blurring his vision. He rubs them with the palm of his hand—also useless.
"So I'm to wake up blind as well?" he grits his teeth.
When he gets up, he trips over the clothes he didn't bother to put away when he finally came home last night. He puts his hand on his hip to settle down, counting every time he blinks. Twenty… thirty… His sight finally returns.
He rifles through his clothing, turning each item right-side-out. Doing it with one hand is troublesome but it's his own fault, so he stops complaining to himself. Kikyo's ribbon slips out of his robe. He scrunches the fabric in his hand, sliding the silk back and forth under his nose.
Her scent is everywhere. In his hair. In his bed. It's what he smells whenever she's nearby without even needing to see her face. He opens his wardrobe, placing new clothes over his shoulder. He folds the ribbon and puts it away inside a small drawer. A flare of hunger pangs urges him to dress quickly, but nevertheless properly.
"No one likes slop, Sesshomaru." His mother had always been loud and clear.
The inside of the castle bustles with staff. Jaken walks the halls, engrossed in a scroll with his agenda for the day. He misses Sesshomaru passing by on the opposite side. The sky could be falling and Jaken wouldn't miss the opportunity to acknowledge Sesshomaru. Seeing his attention so utterly elsewhere makes Sesshomaru stop to observe him.
"Jaken," he finally says, crossing to the other side of the hall, "what is it?"
Jaken sighs, gripping his ink-brush in his hand. It's too early to be this mentally taxed. He reviews the scroll again before answering.
"Well, milord—" he taps the brush against his head, brainstorming out loud— "there remain many parts of the West we've yet to establish our presence in. The Wolf Demons' domain is not large enough to accommodate the Eastern Wolves should they choose to reside here."
"And humans occupy several of our unestablished territories. Those Eastern Wolves have a history of hostility towards them." He recalls Kikyo's question of how humans factor into his aspirations.
"Indeed," Jaken concurs. "So do we expand the wolves' domain, leaving the humans vulnerable, or expel the humans?"
The ronin come to mind, their presence proving more valuable than Sesshomaru initially believed.
"Along the coast, the humans and Bat Demons have no qualms with each other." Sesshomaru assesses, rubbing his chin as he thinks. "It would appear coexistence is the least cumbersome option."
Jaken's eyes pop at the absence of his usual contempt for humans, but then he smiles, thinking of the cohesion in Inuyasha's motley crew of humans and demons.
"Yes, milord," he rolls up the scroll, tucking his brush inside of it, "I believe coexistence would be most prudent. Shall we discuss it more over breakfast?"
"Gather the ronin." Sesshomaru heads for the dining hall, leaving Jaken with his marching orders.
When Sesshomaru reaches the dining hall, he marvels at the flooring, a puzzle of mats fits together to form his family's crest at the center. Seat cushions and trays outline the crest in a long rectangle.
The door leading outside is slightly pushed open, letting in the trickle of the fountain and the splashing of fish.
The head of the kitchens, a female boar demon who's fed him since the day he was born, looks him over. He's getting scrawny by her estimation but she'd never say it. Sesshomaru doesn't believe she needs to as it's written all over her face. She ushers him further into the room towards his seat.
"Chiyo," he says, hiding his wonder, "was Jaken in charge of this room's design?"
They stop at his seat, the cushions also detailed with the crest. The food tray shines, polished mahogany red maple.
"Why, of course, Master Sesshomaru. He'd have it no other way." Chiyo urges him to sit but he wanders off to the other side of the room to take in more details.
His desire to see other parts of the grounds grows as he makes out more unique details. With every nook of the castle, Jaken is proving to be quite the artist. A lurching in his stomach divides his attention between figuring out the scent of the incense burning and his forgotten food. Chiyo glares at him to eat. She stops to welcome Jaken and the ronin.
"You haven't even been here a full day and you're fighting already?" Jaken's on one of his tears again. Sesshomaru is almost shocked to see his ire directed at the seemingly-proper Souichi. Goichi and Tenichi look like permanent fixtures already. They swagger in like it's their childhood home.
"There's absolutely no honor among ninja—demon or otherwise—Jaken. I can't imagine how they are possibly of any service to someone like Lord Sesshomaru." Souichi's hair is pulled up in a knot, displaying his reddening ears.
"I could say the same for you three fools but my Lord's found some use for you." Jaken ignores Chiyo's unsubtle hand gestures, trying to alert him of Sesshomaru's presence.
"What's this about fighting?" Sesshomaru's even tone cuts in and Chiyo shakes her head at Jaken. He blames Sesshomaru for being so quiet all the time. How can he ever hope to watch his mouth?
The ronin sink down on one knee, hanging their heads. Jaken rolls his eyes, pointing at Souichi.
"This uptight buffoon picked a fight with the demon ninja." Jaken fumes. The shame of such backyard infantile behavior boils his blood afresh. "Fortunately, I arrived to quell the chaos."
Sesshomaru sits down to his meal, inclining his head for them all to follow. Jaken pokes out his lips, craving vindication.
"Sit down, Jaken." Sesshomaru lifts a cup. "It is my understanding that samurai despise the covert and shadowy ways of ninja."
Sesshomaru drinks his water, watching their faces at his words. Souichi cuts his eyes at Jaken, a victorious glint in them.
"That being said," Sesshomaru goes on, lethal intent seeping into his voice, "is fighting in someone else's home not also disgraceful?"
Jaken slams his hands on his tray, nearly spilling his food. His eyes burn into Souichi.
"I'd argue even more so, milord! Even more so!"
Goichi and Tenichi shift their bodies away from Souichi, recalling Sesshomaru's power to take or grant life at his leisure. The redness from Souichi's ears crawls over his face. Chiyo dismisses herself. Being around men too long makes her behind itch. She shuts the door, shaking her head at the staff listening on the other side.
Souichi rises from his place and walks over to Sesshomaru, pulling the others' attention to the catlike quietness in his steps. He bows. After training his entire life to become a samurai, the shame of losing his rank follows him throughout every day. It isn't easy having a voice inside whispering that you're a failure who's ruined his life.
Starting over is a strange novelty. It's a new world for some and the wild unknown for others, no forgiveness in its ambiguity.
"Pardon me, my Lord," he speaks, looking down at his right hand, bandaged in white cloth. His apology is affected by the tenderness of a man on his last thread of hope. "I shall endeavor to serve you without incident."
Sesshomaru eats with his eyes closed. Despite his lack of response, he believes Souichi. He would never apologize himself, but the graceful way Souichi does intrigues him. Jaken shifts on his cushion, stirred by Souichi's poetic contriteness and discomforted by being stirred. When Souichi returns to his seat, looking at him with the same remorse, he clears his throat.
"Lord Sesshomaru, I believe you wanted to discuss the Wolf Demons with us?" Jaken focuses on the waning crescent moon on Sesshomaru's forehead until Souichi stops looking at him.
Goichi, Tenichi and Souichi stiffen in their seats, tight-jawed. Their hearts begin to thunder in their chests which isn't lost on Sesshomaru.
"It appears the mention of wolves has disturbed you." Sesshomaru forgets his food to focus on the three of them undividedly. "Why?"
Jaken watches them search for their words, wondering how forthright they'll be. After a short silence, Souichi speaks.
"Our former lord's son was killed by wolves."
Sesshomaru sighs. Koga becomes more of a problem each time he's mentioned. There are times as a demon lord when he would prefer to do anything else and this is one of those times.
"Let me guess," Jaken says, sharing his frustration. "It was the Eastern Wolves led by Koga."
Their shoulders hike up at Koga's name. Jaken tosses his scroll in the air, shaking his head at Sesshomaru who closes his eyes again. Jaken sucks in a belly full of air before he explains the transition in power required amongst the wolves and Sesshomaru. An even longer silence ensues.
"Is it going to be a problem?" Sesshomaru's hunger fades. He sees why his father was hardly around. Conflicts never cease.
The men look at each other, conducting a silent conversation. Goichi's eyes gloss over as he recalls their service with Takeshi, and Kagewaki's grief over their bond torn apart by the wolves.
"No," Goichi answers, stunning Tenichi and Souichi. "The past must remain where it is. If it is your will that we work with Koga, that is what you shall have, my Lord."
"Excellent." Sesshomaru detaches himself from their weary expressions, knowing it's foolish to dwell on the inevitable side effects of the world they live in. "Then I want all of you to accompany Jaken to the East today and let Koga know that in three days, I expect him here."
They nod, but the tightness in their jaws remains.
"Also, do not refer to yourselves as ronin any longer." Sesshomaru softens the blow of his cruelty. "You serve me now which means that your rank as samurai is restored."
Jaken gasps. Suddenly a light shines in all of them and a clamor erupts. Sesshomaru swears to take it back if he sees any more tears and snot, but they simply thank him.
"Where will you be while we're away, Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken asks, fumbling for his scroll to see if he's scheduled anything for him.
"I have business with Inuyasha." Sesshomaru leaves it at that. "Now eat. You'll be leaving soon." The samurai glance at Jaken. Tenichi mouths, "Inu… yasha?" but Jaken ignores him.
Kikyo strides through the castle, Hitoshi at her side. The staff hunkers down on last-minute preparations for the return of Kagewaki's father. Servants scrub the floors on all fours and the smell of a feast is so thick, Kikyo feels like she's eaten the entire meal already. Hitoshi studies his agenda for the day, wincing at how closely scheduled everything is. Kikyo glances over at his scroll but she's unable to make out his tiny script.
Nagasaki Hitomi is a man still in charge. The solemn energy of the castle establishes itself in earnest despite Kagewaki's best efforts.
"What kind of man is Lord Kagewaki's father?" Kikyo asks, open to an answer that negates her growing prejudice. Her voice is hardly above a whisper for the sake of the staff working around them.
Hitoshi smoothes out his mustache, parting from his agenda. His brain brews up a response. When he begins to answer, he stops to look at Kikyo. Her eyes seek the truth in all things.
"He is a menace, my Lady." He rubs his neck, very much attached to the head that is connected to it. "The young master exhausts himself trying to keep him in retirement."
Kikyo hums, mulling over the impact of Nagasaki's presence on her goal.
"What are his views regarding Sesshomaru?" His name goes over Hitoshi like a bucket of cold water, but inside of Kikyo, a sensation of warmth is rekindled.
"He hates him," Hitoshi says plainly. "He wants the vastness of the West and its resources for himself. I believe Sesshomaru's demonic nature, and Master Takeshi's demise are secondary."
Kikyo likens Nagasaki's dynamic with Kagewaki to night and day. Despite the opposition between their logic and emotions, both roads converge on war against Sesshomaru. Changing a man's heart is a battle she is ready to fight but convincing him to discard greed is another matter. What can be done about a man like Nagasaki who's clearly never satisfied?
Kagewaki turns a corner and Hitoshi hiccups. He's swallowed his tongue, Kikyo thinks. But Kagewaki's face contorts out of anxiety and into a smile.
"It is so nice to see you two getting along." Kagewaki wedges himself in the space between them. "Lady Kikyo, would you mind tending to some of my injured men? They were attacked by wolves while searching for their den."
"My lord, I have no record of a reconnaissance mission." Hitoshi pores over his scroll for something he's missed.
"Of course not seeing as I never told you." Kagewaki begins walking and they follow him. Hitoshi sputters and Kagewaki raises a hand, cutting him off. "Vengeance is mine, Hitoshi. If I cannot dispatch a small pack of wolves to avenge my own brother, I have no hope of challenging Sesshomaru and saving the lives of many others."
Kikyo agrees but she is more surprised by his secrecy with Hitoshi.
"You plan to challenge Koga yourself?" Hitoshi drops his scroll. Kagewaki picks it up for him and opens it, stalling his response, but Hitoshi snatches it from him. "Do you not recall the reports of his inhuman swiftness? The fight would be over before it begins!"
Before Kagewaki can retort, Kikyo clears her throat, freezing him and Hitoshi.
"My Lord, despite all final decisions resting with you, Hitoshi acts as your advisor for a reason. I would hope you didn't bring me here only to ignore me in the end?" She flattens her lips in a thin line, turning Kagewaki pure white. "And you, Hitoshi, ought to have more faith in our Lord. We mustn't allow grief to cloud our judgment."
The fog of grief has only recently abated its oppressive force in her life. Rather than eradicate it completely, she knows there is a time and place for all things.
Kagewaki can't shake the abiding presence of his own grief. He questions whether it hangs like a cloud over him too, threatening to pour down and wash away all his good judgment. He and Hitoshi stare at their feet, neither budging. Kikyo moves on without them.
"The injured are waiting," she reminds them, turning towards the infirmary. They follow her, establishing a momentary truce.
The scent of blood and sweat permeates the air. Injured ninja lie on the floor, wincing from their wounds. The castle medical team turns to bow before Kagewaki. Kikyo spots a basin of clean water. Setting her bow and arrows down in a corner, she pushes up her sleeves to wash her hands. She whispers a healing mantra to herself. A white aura outlines her hands. The medical staff watch her, breathless.
She settles down next to one of the injured and wipes his forehead with a cool cloth. He goes still from the contact, his breath slowing down. Despite his bandaged wounds, the amount of blood seeping through alarms her. She examines the other men, noting the same thing.
"We've administered the strongest medicine we have, but the bleeding persists," a staff member explains, mourning prematurely.
"Do not fear." Kikyo rises up in a single fluid motion. "I shall go into the forest and gather herbs for an ointment that will help. My Lord," she turns to Kagewaki, "I require a horse."
Kagewaki and Hitoshi lead her to the stables, finding Sayo feeding the horses. She giggles at one gnawing on a carrot, then sticks out her tongue.
"I don't see how you eat carrots. I think they're horrible." She holds her stomach, doubling over dramatically.
She pats the horse on the head and skips over to Kikyo and the others, grinning at Kagewaki. Lacing her fingers behind her back, she lets him know she's been nothing but a perfectly good girl all day despite him leaving her to work.
"Then you deserve a reward," Kikyo tells her. Sayo bounces on her feet, agreeing wholeheartedly. "If your uncle approves, would you like to gather herbs with me in the forest? You can practice your horse riding."
Sayo's eyes go wide as a full moon and Kagewaki prepares himself for exactly one million "May I's?" He relents before Sayo has a chance to ask. She pulls Kikyo away to select their horses. They mount and set off, waving goodbye to Kagewaki and Hitoshi until they disappear out of sight.
The sun shines differently in her village. Everything it touches turns to gold. Sesshomaru considers this place where Kikyo is from, so different from his upbringing between two castles. The sun must have shone on her especially. He suppresses his demonic aura so as not to rile attention. Kaede's house comes into view. From a distance, he watches Inuyasha and Kagome, and he doesn't need his keen hearing to know that they're bickering.
Inuyasha is oblivious to Kagome's entire face turning red as he drones on about her lack of physical beauty. Sesshomaru almost regrets letting the streets raise him. Past her breaking point, Kagome screams at him to sit. His entire body flattens against the ground, his face deep in the dirt.
"Inuyasha." He comes up behind him. Kagome reddens again, ashamed of herself. Sesshomaru ignores her as Inuyasha scrapes himself off the ground, groaning every step of the way. "It's no surprise that this is how I find you."
"Shut the hell up!" Inuyasha rubs his face with the back of his hand. "Why didn't I sense you anyway?"
"It is time, Inuyasha." Sesshomaru also ignores his question, thinking he probably didn't smell him either with his face full of dirt. "Are you ready to return to our father's resting place?"
A wave of performance anxiety hits Inuyasha like being on the receiving end of the Wind Scar. The thought of losing control batters his heart. He looks at Kagome. Her eyes sparkle with reassurance. Sesshomaru has had a hard time understanding their relationship from the beginning, the way they easily flit between disrespect and affection. Kagome turns to Sesshomaru with a frown on her face.
"You had better bring him back in one piece, Sesshomaru."
The gall. Her unwavering gall stuns Sesshomaru once again, jumping on his paper-thin nerves. Kaede emerges from her home, interrupting his intrusive, homicidal visions. In some ways, Kaede shares Kikyo's scent.
"Sesshomaru," she calls him, "may I have a word with you?"
Inuyasha and Kagome make the same silly noise when he brushes past them to follow Kaede inside of her house. Kaede removes her eye patch, wiping away the sweat that collects from it constantly being on her face. The phantom pain left behind by Tessaiga returns when he notices the asymmetry created by her sunken, dead eye. Somehow the sensation fades when she puts the patch back on.
"Thank you for saving my sister," Kaede finally says. Her spiritual power is soft, but sturdy like shade from a tree. "I had not felt such fear since the day she died."
Fifty years is a generous lifetime for a human. The fact that Kaede is able to bookend her greatest fears with the beginning of that span and the present is no small feat. Even the strongest humans are weak because death pursues them quickly and without mercy, but a certain strength becomes her.
It baffles him, seeing humans endure in spite of their overwhelming limitations. But are demons any different? The weak ones cling to jewels and rely on numbers to make it in the world. He's just fortunate enough to have been born at the top of the food chain.
Despite his power to raise the dead, he appreciates the surrealism Kaede must experience each time she sees Kikyo. It's strange looking at Jaken now without the memory of him drawn in half filtering back into his mind. Kaede looks at the bowl Kikyo left behind.
"I know not where Kikyo has gone and I have no doubt Naraku will continue pursuing her, but I allow myself to hope that she finds peace in this new life." Kaede recalls Kikyo's peaceful expression when her hand slipped out of Inuyasha's, and the sky welcomed her up.
She's heard of nothing except Sesshomaru's evil and his cavernous void of a heart where only malice flows, so why did he save Kikyo? Why did he exert such an unnecessary amount of strength to slay the demon that threatened her?
If Sesshomaru could get a read on Naraku right now, he'd go and kill him. There's nothing strategic about his seclusion. It is the way of vermin to hide away, prolonging their inevitable trampling. More provoking than the mention of Naraku are Kikyo's unknown whereabouts.
"What do you mean you don't know where she is? Does she not reside here?" Sesshomaru glances at the door, realizing Inuyasha and Kagome didn't have the decency to leave.
"It's been days since she left. The first time I'd seen her was when she came back on the brink of death." Kaede also looks towards the door, speaking to it. "I believe it's difficult for her to be here."
"Undoubtedly." Sesshomaru flings the door open with violence, causing Inuyasha and Kagome to fall in. Kaede looks down at them, aging an additional fifty years from their antics. Sesshomaru steps over them and back outside. "Let's go, Inuyasha."
Jaken turns dodging questions about Sesshomaru into a sport. As much as he loves to regale anyone with tales of his lord, the arduous journey East demands his concentration. The demon horses they ride don't make the trip any better with their breakneck speed through the air. He can't tell if his stomach is in his feet or the back of his throat. Why hadn't he protested when Sesshomaru said he wanted them back by nightfall?
"Don't be a killjoy, Jaken. Tell us more about Lord Sesshomaru already." Tenichi yells at Jaken's back as they speed across the sky. He still wants to know who Inuyasha is.
A samurai's lifeblood is feeling connected to his master. And he's never served or known anyone like Sesshomaru. His curiosity also keeps the image of running Koga through with his sword in the back of his mind.
"Leave me alone, you insufferable human!" Jaken presses his tongue against the roof of his mouth, fighting his breakfast back down.
If the sun burns like this any longer, the earth will melt. Sesshomaru should have revived that old wolf with the Tenseiga and saved him this trouble.
"We've arrived," Souichi announces.
They land on the craggy cliffside belonging to the Wolf Demons. The ground beneath Jaken crumbles but the horse levitates, unaffected. Jaken watches the rocks and their bottomless spiral down. If Sesshomaru's reaction didn't chill him to the bone, he'd announce his retirement today. They trot up and down the cliffs but find no trace of wolves.
"They aren't here and they haven't been for quite a while," Jaken says. Not even a lingering scent remains. "Let's check the forest."
###
There are more herbs in the forest than Kikyo believed, the bounty far exceeding what she needs for the ointment. Sayo strolls alongside her, swinging a basket up and down. Every few seconds, she peers up at Kikyo, eyes large and darting in every direction like a gecko's.
Her mother hardly leaves the bed since her father died. The only other people she knows are men except for her teachers who only talk to her about her lessons and progress, progress, progress. There's not one child who doesn't shy away from her because of her family's status.
Life feels like a game with two rules that can never be broken—waking up, and filling her brain with knowledge she will never use because above all, she has to make someone a fine wife one day. But what is the point of being a wife if you'll just be a widow soon after?
"Are you married, Lady Kikyo?" She remembers stepping in an ant bed once so she watches her feet. "Can priestesses even get married?"
The question cuts despite Kikyo not wanting it to. Sometimes, she can't choose what's more tiresome; submitting her emotions or succumbing to them.
"I have no husband," Kikyo answers. "And I once believed that I couldn't." Sayo stops caring if she steps in ants, enchanted by the velvet lilt in Kikyo's voice.
"Do you want to be married?" Sayo decides if Kikyo's alright with it, it must not be so bad. After all, Kikyo plans to heal a room full of ninja, so that proves a woman can be more than only a wife.
Kikyo wants to be honest, especially with a child. But she knows she must be honest with herself first. She had once declared that she would never fall in love. Even now, she feels that conviction despite dying when her heart had never felt more full.
She considers Sayo's question beyond the expectations of others, of her duty, and of her body that only moves because young women die. An answer she's never dared to entertain in this new life reveals itself.
"Yes, Sayo. I want to be married someday." It takes actual strength to say it out loud. It's a truth she immediately wants to cover up because how can she pledge her life to anyone as she is now? It's easier to fly than to fall.
Sayo smiles, still unsure about marriage but certain that two things can be true. She makes a promise to herself to never stop riding horses even if she takes a husband one day.
They find a patch of yomogi to pick. Kikyo explains the process of creating a paste with it and applying it directly to wounds.
"In addition to pain, injuries cause incredible amounts of stress. This herb is also a natural stress reliever."
She holds a bunch of it to Sayo's nose. The spring scent makes her sigh.
"It's so refreshing!" Sayo loads their basket. Kikyo delights in watching her, memories of days like this with Kaede replaying in her mind.
###
Jaken wonders if his mind's playing tricks on him. No two trees are identical. If they're somehow lost in this maze of a forest, at least there's ground for a proper burial this time. He thinks being around Sesshomaru for so long has sharpened his awareness of death.
"Hold on, Jaken!" Souichi warns, making him freeze mid-step.
Ahead of them, three wolves approach. Their leader, a demon clad in fur with ocean-blue eyes, bares his fangs. It's the most self-satisfied smirk Jaken has ever seen. Definitely Koga, he thinks to himself.
"I told you coming down to the forest was a good idea," Koga speaks to the two accompanying him. "Look at the food."
Jaken reels back, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.
"I beg your pardon!" He's been a lot of things in his life but someone's lunch is out of the question.
The samurai move ahead to shield him. In the blink of an eye, the wolf underlings charge. Souichi unsheathes his sword, slashing one of them across his bare belly. The escalation makes Jaken irate. His voice rings out over the clashing.
"Don't kill them! Lord Sesshomaru will have our heads!"
The injured wolf falls back, grinning at the superficial cut.
"Calm down, Jaken!" Souichi keeps his eyes on the wolves. "I only grazed him. What was I supposed to do? Let him eat you?"
Jaken supposes not, but his brain sputters on a response. The horses take off in the frenzy and he shakes his fist at their retreating forms.
"Guess they didn't want to share your fate," Koga says, seeing Jaken and the samurai have no hope of a quick escape now. Even if they did, he'd catch them.
"Koga!" Jaken feels a pull in his throat from shouting. "We are here on behalf of Lord Sesshomaru. Cease these threats at once!"
"Sesshomaru?" Koga shrugs. "Never heard of him but I'll look him up when this is over."
Goichi and Tenichi free their blades. It's the disrespect for them. Thoughts of their own lives don't even register. The complete disrespect for their lords, past and present, colors Koga in the shade of death, a death they are far too happy to oblige. Jaken stares at their backs, thinking he will never understand humans and their brazen overestimation of what they can handle.
###
Every time Kikyo finds herself at ease, the reality of the world she lives in rears up. The demonic aura floating in reminds her of the massacred villages she's witnessed throughout her career. Men, women, and children ripped to shreds, unrecognizable and mostly consumed. Blood puddling like rain, deep enough to drench her up to the ankles. Also sensing the presence of the sacredjewel, she turns a sharp eye on Sayo.
"Sayo, I need you to go back to the castle now." The girl begins to protest but Kikyo shakes her head. "Right now."
Sayo drops the basket, running to her horse. Once Kikyo confirms her safety, she mounts her own horse, attaching her quiver to her back. With her bow in one hand and reins in the other, she rides into another conflict, thoughts of being an ordinary woman once again postponed for another day.
###
Every day of Jaken's life flashes before his eyes as he watches the samurai square off with Koga and his wolves. Two alarms blare inside of him. One saying run and the other telling him to fight. There's no question what Sesshomaru would do. Holding the staff straight, he points it at Koga's wolves.
"Get down!" he warns the samurai who obey without question.
An assault of fire emerges from the male head of the staff. Liquid dread runs down Koga's spine as he watches the fire hurling at his comrades. Faster than he's ever moved, he uses a tree as a springboard, careening towards them. His left shoulder pad catches a few sparks, but he lands them safely on the ground. The tree snaps and falls over and Jaken knows he's signed his death warrant again. The samurai can't defend him against what they're unable to catch.
Koga locks onto Jaken, his body transforming into a whirlwind with one kick of his foot. When he lifts off the ground, Jaken turns tail.
Kikyo arrives without a clue of what she's happened upon, but the terror that ensnares Jaken is all she needs to know. Pulling out two arrows, she fixes them on her bow and trains her eyes on the amethyst light shining through Koga's legs. She fires and her aim is true. The arrows split apart, honing in on his legs, slicing through them. The shards of the sacred jewel fly out of him, covered in his blood. His fall is meteoric, creating a crater in the ground. Betrayed by his speed, he sinks several feet into the earth. To Jaken, he looks dead and buried.
The other two wolves cry for their leader, hurrying to Koga's place in the ground and forgetting their prey. Jaken and the samurai turn their attention to Kikyo, postured on a horse, still holding her stance from firing her arrows.
"Sacred arrows?" Goichi looks back at the hole Koga's created with his mouth unhinged.
"None other!" Jaken confirms, running to Kikyo.
She dismounts, pulling more arrows on the leftover wolves. Jaken picks up his pace towards her, waving his hands. The samurai run after him and Kikyo targets them instead. Tenichi throws up his hands, protesting.
"My Lady, please stay your hand!" Jaken screeches, running out of breath from all the excitement whizzing in his body.
Kikyo closes the gap between them, crouching to be eye-level with him. When he reaches her, he wells up with big tears, plucking the strings in her heart as easily as she pulls them back on her bow. When Kaijinbo cut him down, all of the warmth in his body faded in the blink of an eye. A chill more severe than any winter he'd ever lived to see overcame him, pulling him down into death's nothingness.
He lets the fear run through him without any care of how his proud demon sobs appear in the company of these humans.
Kikyo places a hand on his shoulder, hushing him softly.
"Jaken, it is alright. You're fine now," she reassures him, turning her attention to the samurai. "Who are you three and what do you want with him?"
"We serve Lord Sesshomaru and he sent us here for a purpose with the wolf you brought down," Souichi explains, glancing at her horse.
Goichi recoils at her brown eyes, cold like frozen earth. Tenichi turns back to watch the wolves. A deep satisfaction settles in his heart at Koga's pitiful state. As carefully as they're able, his comrades unearth him.
"Humans? In Sesshomaru's service?" Kikyo struggles with this, with his delightful unpredictability.
"Yes, my Lady," Jaken pulls back, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "My Lord is nothing if not surprising."
The real surprise is hearing Jaken call her anything other than "wench." She smiles at his wet face, then her attention quickly shifts to the wolves, these wolves who no doubt are to blame for the death of Kagewaki's brother. She stands, heading towards them. It throws Jaken into disarray, but Souichi puts out a hand to stop him.
Kikyo finds the jewel shards, glittering despite Koga's blood, and retrieves them. Every bone in Koga's body rattles. He knows for a fact that the bones in his legs are shattered. Nevertheless, he sits up despite the instruction of his friends. A flawless loathing washes over him for Kikyo.
"If you value your life, woman, you'll return my jewel shards to me." His friends look at him like he's lost his mind, like the fall must have somehow broken his mind.
"Oh?" Kikyo tosses the shards in the air, snatching them back into her hand. "You presume to tell me, the keeper of the jewel, what to do with it?"
Jaken watches her, enraptured. He comes by her side.
"Koga," he clears his throat when his voice cracks from all the crying and hollering, "in three days, you are to meet with Lord Sesshomaru regarding the transfer of power of the Western Wolf Demons, following the death of their leader."
Koga's eyes turn a lighter shade of blue. He and his comrades look at each other, realization dawning on them at last.
"Is that what you were trying to tell us? Damn!" He places a hand behind his head, rubbing his neck. "Sorry about trying to eat you then."
Jaken rolls his eyes, totally up to here with idiots. Kikyo keeps a tight hold on the jewel shards, her venomous glare still on Koga.
"I will return these to you on one condition," she says. "Since you are terrorizing humans and using the power of the sacred jewel, it can only mean that your tribe lacks its own resources. No wonder you're lurking the forest rather than holed up in your den." She opens her hand, staring at the shards of the jewel.
Koga hangs his head, the truth in her words a far greater pain than his wounds. There is no doubt in her mind that he would find no mercy with Kagewaki, so she makes a decision.
"I advise you to fall in line with Sesshomaru and cease your assault on humans lest you hasten your death. I am sure you can agree there's been more than enough of that already."
Jaken concurs, nodding after every point she makes. Koga scrapes his claws against the ground, balling his fists. The East is his home, but he looks at his friends, seeing the way they've fought to get by in their diminished muscle mass.
"Fine," he relents and Kikyo tosses the shards back to him. "But why three days? Can't fit us into his schedule or something?"
Jaken bristles at his tone but before he can lay into him, one of the other wolves cuts in.
"Well, our tribe's customary mourning period is three days. Maybe that's it."
The revelation makes Jaken's face screw up. Had Sesshomaru really bothered to consider that? Kikyo smiles again. Their wayward horses trickle back in and Jaken cuts his eyes, shaking his staff at them.
"You lazy, pitiful excuses for demons! How dare you run out on us like that?"
As he grumbles at the horses, Koga puts the jewel shards back into his legs. His recuperation is rapid and he jumps up, stretching his body. The jewel being used in such a way defies her sense of rightness, but she remembers handing a nearly completed jewel over to Naraku herself. Everyone is playing a role like actors on a stage, all of them working towards a necessary finish.
"You tell Sesshomaru I'll see him in three days," Koga says, jogging in place. "And lady?" Kikyo focuses on his legs. "I don't ever want to see you again. Later!" He speeds off, leaving his friends chasing after the cloud of dust he leaves in his wake.
The samurai release a long, solitary breath, their vengeance gone in the wind. But it can't be helped. Goichi puts a hand on his chest. His heart only beats because Sesshomaru had willed it so. It's a debt he can never repay, but he promises to try.
Kikyo climbs onto her horse, thinking of the ninja back at the castle. Jaken stops her from taking off.
"My Lady," his eyes shine up at hers, "thank you for saving my life."
"You are very welcome," Kikyo says, making sure her bow is securely fixed on the horse's side. "Please let Sesshomaru know I said hello."
She tries to quell the part of her that had hoped to see Sesshomaru, but the feeling of his hand on her fights back. She shakes her head, retracing her path back to the herbs she left behind.
Jaken watches her ride away. The samurai mount their own horses. Eventually, he joins them.
"So," Tenichi asks, "who is that woman to Lord Sesshomaru?"
Jaken snorts, ignoring the panic in his gut as his horse lifts off.
"I dare you to ask him that yourself."