Ann sat on the sandy beach next to Shinso Mizu village. The sun was near to setting behind her and was warming her back. The wave's rhythmic beat was mesmerizing. Ann pulled her knees up against her chest and rested her chin upon her knees. A shadow fell across her. She turned to see Ichiro; a bundle held in his arms tightly against his chest. She smiled at the sight of him but faltered when she really looked at him.
His eyes were clouded and sightless. There was a jagged cut across his throat, blood freely flowing from it, and parts of his body looked as if chunks had been torn from him. She scrambled to her feet and moved a step closer to him.
"Ichiro?" she whispered fearfully. "Ichiro, please speak to me." A gentle breeze blew across the beach and flicked the edge of the blanket aside wrapped around the bundle in his arms. A baby was revealed, its delicate skin was tinged purple with death. A sob caught in her throat.
"This is not real," she whispered and suddenly, the pain welling up inside her like an erupting volcano, screamed, "This is not real!" Her scream vibrated and echoed around her. The sound of cracking glass answered her cry and suddenly everything around her, including Ichiro and the baby, shattered into millions of pieces. She began to free fall into darkness. She flailed as her heart entered her throat.
"Ann. Ann, wake up. You're having a bad dream." A soft hand closed around her hand and gently shook her. The feeling of freefall immediately went away, and reality set in, which mainly consisted of her body in pain, mainly on her chest and between her legs. Slowly, she opened her eyes to find Kagome kneeling next to her. A grateful smile spread across her face.
"You're awake," she exclaimed. "We weren't sure if you'd ever wake up again."
"What happened?" Ann mumbled thickly. "Where am I?"
"Kaede's village," Kagome explained as she gently rubbed the back of Ann's shaky hand. Tentatively she continued, "Sesshomaru brought you here." Thickly, Ann tried to recall meeting the demon lord.
"That was real?" she asked unsure. "What happened? I remember seeing him, but I don't remember what happened between us. At least he didn't kill me." Kagome froze and her grip tightened. Ann glanced at her and was shocked to see her growing pale. An uncertainty leeched into her mind, and she remember the dream, which only made that feeling worse.
"Kagome, what happened?" Kagome visibly swallowed and said,
"Naraku hijacked your body and made you fight Sesshomaru." Memories became clearer. The helplessness of not being able to control her body, the fear of the strain of so much spirit energy being used and the effect that would have on her baby. Her hand flew to her stomach and found it flat. An ache rose up in her chest as she looked to Kagome, who already had tears streaking down her face.
"My baby?" she whispered; a sob caught in her throat.
"I'm so sorry," Kagome began weeping. "We couldn't save her." A girl. Her's and Ichiro's daughter, dead, and she'd never get to meet her. An anguished scream rose up her throat and devolved into racking sobs.
"They're all dead," Ann wailed, roughly pressing her nails into the skin of her face. "I am such a fucking fool! Why did I trust that monster?!" Vaguely she realized others were entering the hut she was in. An old woman with an eye patch filled her vision and waved a vial under her nose. Merciful darkness allowed Ann to sink down to unfeeling places.
The sound of a crackling fire woke her. Her heavy eyelids opened with difficulty and then it took her even longer to realize where she was. She quietly watched the dancing shadows cast on the wall by the fire as she began to piece back together what had happened. A few tears escaped out of the corner of her eyes, but she couldn't muster the energy to truly grieve.
Footsteps and voices from outside the hut caught her attention.
"Ye be back. What did ye find?"
"The village is destroyed." That was Inuyasha's voice. "Everybody is dead. Even their village priest."
"This be a great blow."
"It is," Miroku's voice. "Your village has lost powerful allies."
"Grave news this be, indeed. Will ye tell the young priestess?"
"I don't think we should tell her right now." Inuyasha bluntly stated. "We buried the villagers, or what was left of them. There's nothing else she needs to do right now but heal."
"It will take time. Between her miscarriage and her fight with ye brother, she has been through much."
"Speaking of my brother," Inuyasha grumbled. "Where is that jerk hiding out at?"
"My scouts inform me he is staying just to the north in the forest there."
"I don't know why he's hanging around," Inuyasha snapped. "In fact, why'd he bring Ann to us in the first place? They fight and then he saves her? It doesn't make sense."
"Do you think he might have an idea of who she is?" Miroku asked.
"Maybe," Inuyasha grumbled.
"We should go find Sango, Kagome and Shippo," Miroku said after a pause. "They'll want to know what we found."
"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed, and their footsteps began to move away. Ann listened to them go as a steady stream of tears flowed down her face. They were all dead, even the village priest.
"Ichiro. Uncle Yoshio," she whispered. "This can't be true." Slowly she sat up, all the sore parts of her body screaming in protest. Her hand went to her chest where she could usually run her fingers over the rippled skin of the burn from Naraku. Instead, she encountered a bandage. Carefully, she pulled it aside and found that the scar had been obliterated by Sesshomaru's claw marks. The flesh even still had a greenish tint from his poison. She put the bandage back in place and began the process of getting herself to her feet. It was slow work. Her abdomen was still sore, which made it hard to use the muscles there and her legs were wobbly like a newborn foal.
Making each footstep count so she wouldn't fall, she made her way to the door and moved the thatch mat aside just enough to see past. Seeing nobody around, she allowed the thatch mat to fall back into place and began to look around the hut.
"I have to go home," she thought. "I need to see what happened for myself." She quickly moved around gathering supplies into a small bag. As she made her way back to the door, she noticed a sturdy walking stick and grabbed it as well. She peaked past the door again and then exited, pointing herself in an eastern direction towards Shinso Mizu village.
The walk home was an effort, but Ann knew she couldn't slow down. She didn't want anybody from Kaede's village to catch up. When she did reach Shinso Mizu, it was unrecognizable. The dozens of huts that had dotted the hillside leading down to the beach were razed to the ground and the main house, where her uncle had lived, was only partially standing. As she approached, a wind gusted through off of the ocean, making the whole building groan. Ann retreated a few steps, reconsidering going in. If the building decided to collapse, she knew she couldn't move fast enough to get out.
She made her way towards the village center. This was where the graves were. Dozens of mounds were lined up in rows and each mound had a small cluster of flowers on top of it. Ann walked amongst them trying to decipher who might be buried where, but she couldn't. They were all identical. A feeling of complete helplessness rose up inside her and brought her to her knees. She looked out across the multitude of graves. First, she hadn't gotten to see her daughter and now she couldn't properly say good-bye to Ichiro. The feeling of helplessness began to morph and burn within her chest.
"Fucking, Naraku," she whispered venomously. She twisted the fabric of her clothing as her anger rose. "Someday I will face you and make you pay for this."
"How about today?" The little puffs of breath touched her ear causing Ann to spin around. Naraku's pale hand shot out, catching her around the throat, and lifting her off the ground. Fear twisted with the anger. She was in no shape to fight, but she wished she could. Her fiery gaze burned into him as she wheezed out,
"You bastard." He merely laughed.
"I knew your human heart wouldn't allow you to stay away. I guess I was just lucky that you were fool enough to come here in your current state." Ann ground her teeth in frustration. If only she knew how to use her powers like he'd wielded them in the fight against Sesshomaru. She might just have a chance.
He brought her close and smelled her deeply. He groaned appreciatively, making Ann cringe, and murmured,
"I can sense the power of the Shikon jewel. Soon it will be within my grasp." His hand around her neck loosened slightly as his other hand began to caress her. Fearful of what the next few minutes might bring her, she opted to stall.
"Why didn't you take me sooner?" she blurted. "Why did you let me stay here? It's obvious you could have taken me whenever you wanted." He chuckled as he leaned in and nipped her chin.
"Do you know how the Shikon jewel works?" he asked.
"No," Ann admitted.
"It is a very powerful item when kept pure, but when it is corrupted with anger, hate and fear, it gains new powers which makes it stronger than before. The soul of the Shikon is the same." He leaned forward to nuzzle her hair, his free hand gently grazing down her back.
"Meaning," Ann prompted. He paused and said,
"The soul of the Shikon is not a physical object that can be held by anybody. It can only be held by the females of your family. To corrupt it, I had to corrupt you. I allowed you to build a life, something that was fulfilling, right?" He smirked at her silence and the look of dawning horror on her face. "And then I stripped it away. To my delight, it has worked."
"You're wrong," Ann whispered. "I am not corrupted."
"You are, though. I have never felt you so dark. Vengence and self-loathing is written all over your heart." Ann knew he was right, although she had no intention of telling him. There was a tightness in her chest that burned like acid on the skin, but the problem was that she didn't want it to stop. The burning was keeping the pain of her losses at bay.
"I hate you," she whispered. "If there is a way for me to come back and kill you, I will find it."
"Yes," Naraku hissed. "Your aura is so beautiful." From the insides of his robes, he produced a small jewel and held it up close to her face. There was a jagged piece missing out of it, but it glowed a deep, dark purple. Ann recognized that dark aura. It was what she felt inside.
"Soon you will be complete," Naraku said, his blood red eyes glowing excitedly.
A quick movement from the trees caught both of their attentions and Naraku threw her away from him. She landed in a heap on the ground while he lept backwards several yards. Where they had been kneeled Sesshomaru, his hand glowing a noxious green color. Ann noticed that Naraku didn't seem pleased at this turn of events, although she couldn't say she was happy that the demon lord was here either.
"So, your intentions have been laid bare, Naraku," Sesshomaru said. Naraku's red eyes narrowed, but he didn't respond. "Because this girl is an important piece of fulfilling your plans, I will be taking her into my care. She is no longer yours to meddle with."
"You would lower yourself to care for a human just to spite me?" Naraku questoned. "I never thought a great demon lord, such as yourself, would be so petty as to hold a grudge for past dealings between us." Sesshomaru's continence shifted as he growled,
"You don't seem to realize who you are dealing with. You used me and almost got me killed. You also thought to use my ward against me. Your crimes are unforgivable and I refuse to forgive until you cease to exist in this world."
"That will never happen," Naraku spat. "I will always find a way to come back." In answer, Sesshomaru drew one of his swords from his waist and held it high over his head.
"Dragon Strike," he cried and brought the sword down in a quick sweep to the ground. An inferno of energy rushed forward and struck Naraku burning him away in an instant. For a moment, Ann was both elated and disappointed. Naraku seemed to be dead, but she had wanted to kill him. These feeling vanished when Sesshomaru muttered,
"Another puppet." He then turned to her, his cold gaze taking her in.
"You are coming with me."
"What?" Ann asked, confused. "Why would I do that? And what about Kagome and Inuyasha? I need to go back to them."
"Tsk. I informed that mutt that since he can not take care of his own properly, that I would look after you. Now, enough arguing. I'm leaving." Ann glared. Using the walking stick, she slowly got to her feet and took a step away from him.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you are not my boss. I will go where I want." She continued to glare. She still felt fear towards him, but it was minimal now beneath her boiling hate. "Besides, why would I go with you? You're the reason my baby is dead." Her hand went to the claw marks on her chest. They were deep and still painful.
Sesshomaru turned towards her, his golden eyes narrowing.
"You are the one that allowed Naraku to manipulate you."
"Yeah and it sounds like you've done so much better," Ann snapped sarcastically. His jaw visibly clenched, but Ann couldn't stop herself. She was feeliing a little self-destructive. "I was trying to protect my family. Which one of your buttons did Naraku push? Power? Vengence?"
"Enough." Sesshomaru said in a low voice.
"No," Ann shouted. The fire inside was burning. The fear was evaporating. This creature could kill her, and, in this moment, she didn't mind. "You have no idea what I just went though. I've lost everything. I have no reason to live. That monster just used me in the most abhorrent manner and now you seem to want to do the same. Fuck you!"
Like before, Sesshomaru had her by the collar of her kimono in the blink of an eye. He drew her close to him and growled,
"You are not the first to have been taken advantage of by that abomination and you will not be the last. Now, if you are done, follow me." Ann placed her hands gently on his wrists, causing him to stiffen. As quick as the fire had risen in her, it was now gone, and she was completely empty and exhausted.
"I'm begging you to just kill me," she whispered, as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I don't want this responsibility anymore. It hurts too much." Sesshomaru seemed to consider her, his eyes flicking to different aspects of her face. Finally, he responded,
"I refuse." Ann felt a bloom of disappointment.
"Why?" she whispered.
"He would win."
"I don't care," Ann grumbled, some of the venom returning at thoughts of Naraku. Sesshomaru surprised her when one corner of his mouth tilted up in a slight smile.
"I can tell you do." Gently, he released her kimono, gave her one more assessing look and then began to walk away. Ann watched him for a moment. Her attention turned back to the graves, alternating waves of grief and hate washing over her at the loss of life and, above all, her inability to say good-bye to her husband. She wanted, with all her heart, to lay down amongst them and just give up. Having the Soul of the Shikon was too hard and she was done with it, but then she looked back to Sesshomaru. He had made it to the tree line and was now watching her.
"With him, I might be able to get revenge," she thought. "Maybe everything wouldn't hurt so bad." She looked back towards the graves and placed her hands together in pray.
"Ichiro, I can't come to you yet. It wouldn't be right to leave Naraku alive. I know you would agree, although you're probably upset that I'm doing this without you. I'll be fine though. I have allies that want to see me live, at least for now anyways. Please take care of our daughter. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her, but I imagine you understand why I didn't. I can't wait to see you both, hopefully soon."
She turned her palms towards her face, kissed each of them and blew the kisses out across the graves. A couple more tears tried to escape her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away and turned to follow Sesshomaru.