It had been a miserable flight. Kagura had somehow navigated her way through the sky with a hole in her chest. She almost hadn't made it, and fell into the river below before she was saved by the man she sought. It was pathetic, really.
Still, Sesshomaru was a pretty sight as always. And utterly unflappable. She had handed off the crystal that would help him locate Naraku's heart, and then grant her freedom. It was simple. A natural evolution from where their relationship had started however many moons ago. A dance that would continue on like this until Sesshomaru killed Naraku once and for all.
And then the demon lord uttered a few words, and shattered Kagura's delusions.
"If what you say is true, then Naraku must already know that you're after his heart. He's smart enough to figure out that much."
Kagura's breath caught. A hundred miles away, her heart stopped. Maybe he was wrong—no. No. Sesshomaru was right, as usual. Naraku always had an uncanny bead on her. Her latest treachery was undoubtedly known.
But then why was she still alive? Naraku would normally kill someone for thinking about backstabbing him. If her betrayal had been noticed, she would already be dead and gone. Did she still have a chance of winning, then?
Sesshomaru continued, breaking Kagura from her thoughts. "That means it's useless for you to take any further action."
She tried to compose herself. "What about you Sesshomaru? Why don't you get him?"
"Kagura. Are you planning to use me to kill him for you?" He said it like he hadn't known that since the moment they met.
Still, it wasn't like she was above it all. "Naraku can't possibly be killed except by someone of your caliber. No one else surpasses you in terms of your skill or demonic power." She hadn't even lied. Even with only one arm, Sesshomaru was the strongest demon in the land. He was the clear frontrunner for executioner.
Still, he had never been one for flattery. And Kagura had a lot to think about now…"Thanks for everything today. I'll be going now."
"Already?" Rin asked. "Didn't you come to ask Lord Sesshomaru for help?"
"No. Nothing of the sort. I just…" Kagura paused. In the corner of her eye, she spotted her reflection in the river, and the scar. Even after her chest had been obliterated and healed, the spider still remained. To remind her that she would never be rid of it. That she would never be rid of him.
Her lip curled in disgust.
Though if nothing else, she could draw some black humor out of it. Naraku was also cursed to bear the same brand, if that one time he sliced off his back was still true. If her death came before he reassembled the jewel, she could at least take that bitter laugh to the grave.
This was the end, then. Kagura could not escape her fate. She was destined to die as nothing more than a stepping stone wishing to stub a toe. Even if Sesshomaru was inclined to save her, Naraku would kill her out of spite before letting her live free. It was just a matter of time until Naraku was finished playing whatever game he had planned for her, and then he would crush her heart in his fingers.
It was fate's cruel joke. Try as she might, death would come. There was no escape. No hope of avoiding that pale shadow…
…But then, why did she need to run? Wasn't there another way, standing right behind her?
Kagura pulled her robes back up and covered her chest. She turned, trying her best to look presentable. "...Now that your ward mentioned it..."
Sesshomaru continued to study her. As usual, his face betrayed no emotion. His servant continued to hide behind his staff, unsure of how loud he would have to squawk. And the girl stared on, blissfully unaware of the gravity of the situation. Kagura supposed she was too, in her own way.
"...Can you kill me?"
The three all stared at her in various levels of confusion. Jaken began to sputter his usual babble, while Rin looked up in concern. And just for a second, Sesshomaru's aloofness failed him as his eyebrows rose and narrowed. Kagura counted it as a small victory.
It was short lived, and the demon lord's expression once again smoothed into detached disinterest. "Have you given up already?" He asked, causing Jaken to shut up. "I did not expect you to surrender to despair this easily."
"You don't understand." Kagura took a step forward. "I'm asking you to kill me, and then raise me from the dead." Her eyes fell to the swords at his hip. "I've heard your Tenseiga is capable of miracles." Naraku had mentioned the blade in passing, once. Something he would barter or discard for more power once he had consumed the dog demon's flesh.
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, but he didn't rebuff her. Kagura continued. "Naraku has my heart. If I die, so should it. Naraku will throw it away once he realizes I'm no longer in his employ. Then you bring me back. Then I'm finally free of him." She took another step forward. "And all it would cost you is two sword-strokes."
"...This is brazen. There are a thousand things that can go awry in your plan." Sesshomaru said. "Do you not fear death?"
Yes. So very much. "I'll manage."
"Now see here!" Jaken shouted angrily. "What reason does Lord Sesshomaru have to go along with this madness? And what could you possibly offer my master for this indulgence?"
Kagura bit her cheek. She couldn't tell if the dog demon was going for it. "A chance to spit in Naraku's face, for one." She had his undivided attention, at least. "And after that…I would owe you my life." Her nails dug into her palm. "And I would happily repay that debt, however you wish."
Sesshomaru seemed to be considering something. Kagura hoped it was her proposition and not her sanity.
Jaken and Rin were silent, glancing between Kagura and their lord. Around them, the very woods seemed to respect the demon's silence, as the babbling of the river was the only sound to be heard.
Kagura remained stone-faced. This was starting to feel like her last chance to escape. Naraku would likely reabsorb her once he killed her, snuffing out any chance of Sesshomaru stumbling onto her corpse and reviving her in a spontaneous act of kindness. Not that he owed her anything, as he always made clear whenever they met.
Still, Kagura had to hold out hope for something. If what Sesshomaru had told her was true, Naraku would kill her at a moment's notice. And it wasn't like she had any chance of bumping into another demon lord with the power to save her. Any god she begged to would just laugh in her face. No priest was powerful enough to overcome her master's power. And Inuyasha's band of idiots had spent months accomplishing nothing but putting her through hell while Naraku watched on in amusement.
Her fate rested entirely in Sesshomaru's hands. Either he went with her mad scheme that she had just thought up on the spot, and she somehow came out alive on the other side, or she would die. Perhaps today. Perhaps tomorrow. But there would be no escape.
The silence stretched on. Kagura could feel he wasn't going to go for it. Maybe he didn't like her grovelling. Maybe kidnapping Rin had been too much, and now he was taking his revenge. Or perhaps he just as much of a sadist as the rumors made him out to be, and—
"No."
Kagura blinked. "...What?" Sesshomaru's expression did not change, nor did he repeat himself.
She felt her knees grow weak. This wasn't supposed to happen. Kagura knew she had just thought that he wouldn't go for it, but he wasn't supposed to come out and say it. She was the pretty woman being held captive by a monster, and he was the handsome lord. He should be happy to save her. Despair consumed Kagura.
And then, anger washed over her like a red-hot tidal wave. "That's it? No?" She hissed. "I'm going to die, but you're too proud to save me?" Kagura felt her teeth grind as trembled with rage. "Is it your massive, stupid ego? Have I not stroked it enough for you to do this one, simple thing? Do you want me to beg? To get on my knees, recite a fucking haiku for you, before I lean in and—"
"Kagura." Sesshomaru said quickly. To the side, Jaken was trying to cover Rin's ears. "It is not a matter of will on my part. What you ask is impossible, even with Tenseiga's power."
He said it so cooly, so matter-of-factly. Like he was commenting on the weather. It made her blood boil. "But…it can resurrect the dead…" Kagura managed.
"It also requires a corpse." Sesshomaru explained. "When you fell into the river, your wound was fatal. Few demons could hope to survive such an injury. But within seconds, it closed. And here you stand, healed and unharmed." He tilted his head. "It stands to reason that if I were to kill you, I would have to destroy you utterly. A state from which even my father's blade would be unable to save you."
Kagura waited for a turn. For Sesshomaru to add on to his pronunciation. To offer some glimmer of hope after he had taken everything away from her. But it never came.
She trembled. A short, quivering breath escaped her.
Sesshomaru watched her, pitiless. Because of course, emotion was beneath him.
Faintly, Kagura became aware of someone pulling on her arm. "—Lady Kagura, don't be sad." It was the girl, Rin. "I know Lord Sesshomaru seems cruel, but he doesn't mean—"
"Shut up, brat!" Kagura snapped. "Shut up! Just—shut up!"
The girl shrank back, cradling her hand as though it had been struck. Odd. Kagura's fingers felt like they had just delivered a blow. Hitting children wasn't like her.
When her eyes met Rin's, she realized that she had just smacked the child's hand. It wasn't like her at all.
Jaken was shouting something again. Kagura stared down at her hand, confused.
The scars on her back were starting to ache.
She looked up. Sesshomaru was looming over her. The one emotion he allowed himself to express, anger, was seeping into his frown. "You overstep, woman."
She supposed she had. The girl didn't ask for this. Kagura didn't need to drag anyone else down with her. She'd made an ass of herself. It was time for her to leave.
…Until another thought sprung out of her head.
Kagura locked eyes with the demon lord. Challenging him. Daring him. "And what are you going to do about it?"
Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed as his hand reached for his sword-hilt.
"And to think you were so against killing me a minute ago." She laughed.
He was unmoved. "And a minute ago, I might have used my other blade afterward."
Kagura glanced back down at the sword. "I don't suppose I'll have any bones left over, once you're done?" She said wistfully. "At least enough to make a knife? Perhaps a ring, to protect your skin while you beat Naraku to death."
An expression that could almost be called confusion spread across Sesshomaru's face. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I'm saying that you should just kill me." Kagura took a step forward. "Use whatever survives to craft another weapon. Make sure it delivers the killing blow." They both glanced down at Tokijin. The blade that had once been Naraku's third incarnation. "You know a guy, right?"
Sesshomaru's fingers slowly fell off the hilt. His stare bore down on Kagura.
She indulged his need to play mute. "All I've ever been is a tool. An instrument." She toyed with her fan as she spoke. "And now I know that I'll soon be thrown out." She took another step forward. "You can't save me. So I want to make the only decision I can. I'll choose who wields me." She was so close now. "Is that too much to ask?"
The demon lord's expression was usually difficult to read, as he never allowed much of anything to affect him. But now, a new, alien expression graced the young lord's features: a subtle, unnerved frown. Furrows in his aristocratic brow. A stare directed at nothing.
It was not a good fit. "...Are you truly so desperate?"
Perhaps she was. It would explain her sudden bout of suicidal thoughts. If that was what she was trying to accomplish. It was difficult for her to say.
"What else am I supposed to do?" Kagura laughed bitterly. "Try asking your brother?"
It looked like Sesshomaru was searching for something. He wasn't finding it.
Kagura wish she knew what to show him. But with the hangman's noose hanging so close to her neck, she wasn't even sure if that was a card in her deck anymore.
"I did not wish to kill you the first time you asked." Sesshomaru finally said. His knuckles were white as he gripped Tenseiga. "And I still do not. So I shall not."
Kagura studied the man in front of her. He had regained some level of composure, but his expression was still uncomfortable. Pensive.
She wanted to yell at him. Scream. Slap him across the face. That he do the impossible. That he set her free. For giving her such a useless, pathetic answer.
But that was pointless. Futile. Kagura could not control Sesshomaru. Not with jewel shards, not with little favors and empty promises. He was too powerful to be commanded. He was everything Kagura wanted to be.
That's probably why she was so attracted to him.
"You really know how to sweet-talk a girl." Kagura exhaled with a shudder. "I've spent months fighting for my life, and you somehow talk me into suicide in under ten minutes." A bitter chuckle followed. "And you won't even follow through with it."
His expression was still perturbed. "Kagura…" It was unnerving. Getting under her skin. Strange. Weren't you supposed to feel happy when the man of your dreams was concerned about you? That he refused to go along with her insane plan? That in his withered heart, there was the slightest spark of affection for her?
But that wasn't right. She was nothing but a nuisance to Sesshomaru. Kagura had offered to manipulate him. She'd guided him into an ambush at the gate of the netherworld. At best, she'd supplied him with information on how to kill their mutual enemies. He didn't care about her. She certainly wouldn't think of him as anything but a pretty face if their situations were reversed.
It was just a delusion. He wasn't stupid enough to care about her. She was just a woman at the end of her rope, trying to convince herself that some stray spiderwebs were lifelines. Any concern she saw on his face was just projection.
At best, the demon lord's trepidation came from realizing that even if he had power over death itself, he couldn't save her if he tried. By finally coming across a situation where he was powerless, for the first time in his centuries of life.
He refused to kill her because it was the only way he could regain some measure of control over the situation. He had no other reason. The same thing Kagura had spent the last ten minutes trying and failing to snatch out of thin air. The same thing she had spent her whole wretched existence trying to do.
"I'll be going, then." Kagura said quietly as she turned away from the demon lord. Her scars ached terribly.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kagura saw Sesshomaru's lip thin. Someone else might have looked at his posture and said that he looked like he wanted to pursue her. To say something. To reassure her in his own way. That he just didn't have any experience with this sort of thing.
But Kagura knew better.
Rin was still nursing her hand as she looked up, with those big sad eyes Kohaku sometimes had whenever they were alone. "Sorry, kid."
Anything else was lost to the wind as Kagura burst into the skies above. The cool breeze rushed across her face and through her hair. Above, she could see everything. Go anywhere. And until Naraku tugged on her heart again, she could pretend she was free.
What a fool she had been. That even with all her rotten Karma, with everything she had gladly done for Naraku, that she would somehow get away with a happy ending? That she might woo Seshhomaru, and live as the Lady of the Western lands by his side until the end of their years? Perhaps she would have twin children with him, and they could all come and go as the pleased, having merry adventures wherever the wind took them.
What a joke. Kagura wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It was as Sesshomaru said. She was doomed to die at Naraku's pleasure, which would be soon. She could sense it, now that she knew her master learned of her treachery.
All she could do now was float through the air and reminisce about her brief life, until death finally came for her. And what a life it was. A string of failures and humiliations, all culmination in what would undoubtedly be a short, painful death. At least she got to embarrass herself in front of a demon she fancied before the end. After all, wasn't that what love was?
She glanced down, back to the riverbank. She expected to see nothing. That Sesshomaru would have moved on now that he no longer had to deal with her antics.
But he was still there.
Even at such a distance, Kagura could see him, staring up at her, with his hand still gripping Tenseiga.
Kagura stared down at him until the wind carried her over the horizon.
I guess I'm on something of a Takahashi nostalgia trip, between this and Ranma.
Revisiting Inuyasha, I will say Its worst parts are much less tolerable than I remember. Still, Takahashi always did tragedy really well. This relationship is one of the two that stuck with me throughout the years. I probably have one more story about the other pairing I always enjoyed from this series, so stay tuned for that.