Kikyo dawdled in the darkness of the woods, feeling thoroughly depressed. Kikyo had left Sesshomaru's castle earlier that day. In truth, she did not know what else to do. She and Sesshomaru had seemed, at this time, to have reached a stalemate in their relationship. Almost out of habit, she started walking in the direction of her old village.
Kikyo did not want to go there, her sister's death was still so raw and painful, it would be heartbreaking to be in the village without her.
Kikyo wondered what would happen if she just kept walking, past everything she knew and into a place unfamiliar. She could pretend to be someone else. If she did that, maybe the troubles that followed her would dissipate as well.
Her melancholy was punctured only by a fierce anger towards Sesshomaru. Perhaps he had arrived at his precious party already, and begun to make the connections he was so interested in coveting. The thought sent a shiver of fury down her spine.
Kikyo wandered on, so immersed in her preoccupation with Sesshomaru that she hardly noticed where she was going. Kikyo did not register how quiet the woods were, how no birds hooted in the tree, that there was no scurrying of creatures in the grass that brushed her ankles.
The forest was gradually split into two by a rugged and uneven stone path that had been clearly laid by humans. Kikyo stepped on the path carefully, looking down and being mindful to avoid tripping over any jutting stones. By the time she looked back up, he was already close, a small figure by the side of the road.
Kikyo jumped, startled by his sudden presence.
Jaken was standing by the roadside, looking almost like he was waiting for her. Kikyo stared at the little toad demon in surprise, her slim eyebrows raised. "Jaken? What are you doing here?" she asked. Jaken was smiling up at her, showing tiny, needle-like teeth usually hidden by his beaky face. Kikyo stared at Jaken's smiling face, disconcerted. The little demon had never smiled at her before and usually acted like her presence was chronically irritating.
"I've come looking for you, Lady Kikyo," he said, his tone of voice much more high-pitched than usual.
Kikyo looked perplexed. "Oh? And why is that?" Kikyo asked, leaning on her longbow with interest.
"Because Lord Sesshomaru wants to see you. Right now," Jaken replied. He was holding his tiny frame in an oddly stiff position, his creepy smile still plastered upon his green face.
Kikyo drew herself up again so she was standing straightly, her eyes blazing with impatience. She was always expected to be at the dog demon beck and call!
"I spoke to Sesshomaru mere hours ago and have no wish to speak to him again so soon," Kikyo snapped savagely. She could not believe Sesshomaru's audacity, rejecting her then hours later calling her back.
Jaken's face twitched slightly, but he still held that odd, stretched smile. "You must go to him. He has asked for you," the little toad said.
"He asks too much! Has he ever thought of that Jaken? He asks and he takes and I never get anything back!" Kikyo burst out angrily, grinding her teeth in frustration.
Jaken did not reply, seemingly lost for words. Kikyo huffed with exasperation and tried to calm herself. Kikyo did not want to see Sesshomaru, their last conversation still hurt her. But she knew deep down that she did not want to lose him completely, did not want to totally disappear from his life. Difficult and grumpy though he may be.
Kikyo stared up at the night sky, attempting to summon every ounce of patience that she had. "Where is he? Back at the castle?" she asked Jaken with a sidelong glance.
"He is at his mother's castle in the sky," Jaken replied, his rictus grin relaxing slightly now that Kikyo was cooperating.
Kikyo frowned in confusion. "How am I supposed to get there? I can't fly," Kikyo asked waspishly. But Jaken had already scampered away into the moonlight. Kikyo watched the tiny toad hop away, feeling bewildered.
Sesshomaru was a lot more mobile than she was, if he wanted to see her so badly, why not come and find her himself?
Kikyo shook her head numbly. 'Men! Are they oblivious to how infuriating they are?!'
Kikyo called to her soul collectors, studying the night sky consideringly. Her soul collectors arrived quickly, gliding around her serenely, waiting for orders.
Kikyo had no idea where Sora's castle was, 'the sky' did not really narrow it down for her. She guessed that the castle could not be far, otherwise why would Jaken suggest that she travel there?
Making up her mind, Kikyo asked her soul collectors to take her up into the air. Three of her soul collectors wrapped their scaly, snake-like bodies around Kikyo's waist and lifted her into the sky. Within minutes Kikyo was enfolded into the night and surrounded by sparkling stars. Kikyo's hair was flowing around her so much she could barely see. She brushed her locks out of her eyes impatiently, trying to get her bearings. It was very cold this high up.
It took what seemed like an age to find the floating castle but she eventually found it. The vast red building seemed to be suspended in the clouds, like the wood and mortar were weightless. It looked like something out of a dream or a fairytale.
Kikyo's soul collectors pulled Kikyo towards the castle, like she was a boat and the inky black sky was the sea. They headed for what seemed to be an endless looking flight of stairs. Once she had landed on the stairs she said goodbye to each soul collector, kissing their reptilian noses one by one.
Kikyo set off up the impressive array of stairs, looking around the place in awe. The size of the castle must be gigantic.
After walking up what seemed like hundreds upon hundreds of stairs, Kikyo reached the top of the stairs using her bow to aid her cramping legs. At the top, the chill bite to the air disappeared and was replaced with a warm breeze.
Upon reaching the last step, Kikyo was confronted by several female demonesses, all of whom were giggling loudly. They all appeared to be very drunk: Each demoness's vibrant kimono was askew and headdresses were lopsided. Kikyo recognised the demoness with blonde hair and a curvy figure- she was the demoness who had visited Sesshomaru.
Natsu spied Kikyo approaching through the slight mist hugging the floor.
"Oh! Who is that arriving?" Natsu said, a small involuntary hiccup escaping from her plump pink lips.
A leopard demoness with large yellow eyes with vertical pupils squinted at Kikyo suspiciously. Kikyo was entranced by the wide cat-like ears flicking atop the demonesses head. "Is that a human?" the cat demon said.
"My name is Kikyo," Kikyo said loftily, noticing the cat demon's unfriendly tone. As she stood before them, one exceptionally intoxicated demoness with delicate looking antlers sprouting from her head, slipped off of the wide seated throne they were all crammed onto. She seemed disinclined to get up again and instead lay there snickering.
"Well hello Kilo," Natsu said, and the demonesses around her chuckled again. Kikyo wondered what it was that they found so funny. "The security for this banquet is rather strict, did you get an invite to attend?" Natsu said, looking Kikyo up and down and seeming unimpressed.
Kikyo tried to keep her expression neutral. Natsu clearly had no idea that Kikyo knew Sesshomaru, and Kikyo did not want her to become aware of that knowledge. They may be drunk and in a good mood, but they could easily become dangerous.
"I…Lady Sora invited me," Kikyo lied smoothly.
"She did?" Natsu said, suddenly looking a little worried that she had insulted a favourite of Sesshomaru's mother. "Were we all meant to bring a human with us? Perhaps having a human companion is like an accessory in the Western lands?"
"Of course," Kikyo said, trying hard to hide her disgust. These frivolous, air-headed demonesses lived in a world of their own.
"Hmmm. Why don't you be my human for the night instead? Though you can't go in dressed like that! You look awful!" Natsu said, grimacing at the sight of Kikyo's priestess garb. Kikyo said nothing, seething silently. What did Natsu think she was? Some swappable toy for her to parade around before discarding?
Natsu waved over to some of her attendants that were hovering nearby. "I left some spare, emergency Kimonos with those servants over there. You know, in case of spillage and such. I will lend you one Keko," Natsu said, looking amazed by her own generosity.
"Are you letting a mortal wear your clothes?" the antler demon slurred incredulously from the floor.
"Hm. You're right. Keko, I will give you the kimono. My treat to you," Natsu decided, giving Kikyo a dazzling white smile. Kikyo rolled her eyes and strode over to the servants, who were standing beside a sweet smelling pine wood chest. Without waiting for an invitation, Kikyo walked past the rather alarmed servants and began rummaging through the carefully folded kimonos. The garments inside the chest were exquisite, all with intricate threading and laced with beads.
Momentarily distracted from her anger, Kikyo drew out a superb, amethyst coloured kimono decorated with white orchids stitched at the hem and sleeve. She selected a crimson obi, centred with a twisting gold thread.
Kikyo left the still snickering demonesses and snuck behind a mist-covered wall to hastily change. She tugged the silk kimono this way and that. It was surprisingly light and airy. Kikyo had never worn such a beautiful dress in her life. When she was alive, she never would have been able to afford such finery, no one in her small village could have.
Thinking it was probably unwise to walk into a throng of drunk demons armed with arrows, Kikyo leaned her weapons against the wall and folded up her priestess clothes in a pile. She would come back for them later.
Feeling that she at least looked less conspicuous, Kikyo braced herself and made her way inside the foremost building.
Kikyo delved into Sora's party and was immediately stunned by what she saw.
The palace was in a state of raucous pandemonium. Demons of every description were dancing around or falling over. Some demons and demonesses were coupled up in corners, locked in intimate embraces. It looked like part of the ceiling had caught fire and been haphazardly put out.
Kikyo had expected some drunken debauchery, what good party didn't have that? But the scene before her was closer to chaos. Natsu had told her that the security was 'strict', but the servants and guards inside seemed as wild as the guests, they had seemingly abandoned their posts with no repercussions. Kikyo waltzed in openly and no one challenged her or asked who she was.
Kikyo walked through the dissipation around her, utterly bamboozled. Demons bumped into her by accident and she was pushed hither and thither. There was no sign of Sesshomaru in any of the rooms that she could see. He was unlikely to be able to tolerate this level of rambunctiousness, Kikyo deduced that he was probably seeking refuge in one of the quieter rooms, away from so many unfocused, prying eyes.
Kikyo sidled through the crowd, her eyes peeled for any peaceful looking places that may be suitable for a dog demon to hide.
Kikyo ducked hastily past a crouching, red skinned and green haired troll that was retching with nausea against one of the papery doors. She shuffled past some phoenix demons whose flaming feathers were barely under control.
A small, darker room came into Kikyo's eye line. The shoji door frame was ajar and the room beyond looked shadowy and deserted. It seemed the most likely room to find Sesshomaru in.
All she had to do was cross a circular room of furiously fighting Kappa demons. The Kappa's room had the look of a miniature wrestling pit built for two. But for reasons known only to the several Kappa in the area, they had all decided to engage in what appeared to be a free-for-all sumo match. The dozens of Kappa before her scratched at each other with their webbed claws, they ripped at turtle-shelled backs with razor sharp beaks. Each Kappa had a ridged crater atop the crown of its head, all of which cupped a liquid of some sort. The liquid was splashing out of each Kappa's head amidst the brawling. The smell of fish was overpowering.
Deciding to brave an attempt at getting past the Kappa so she could explore the room beyond, Kikyo tip-toed past the wrestling Kappa, keeping herself pressed against the wall. Kikyo's feet slipped on queer dolls made of straw or plunged into scattered and squidgy dark meats that looked gruesomely like human livers. The Kappa, intent upon their battle, paid her no mind. After several seconds of inching past swinging claws and beaks, Kikyo had made it through. She breathed a sigh of relief.
The poorly lit room she was aiming for was now in reach. Kikyo was sure Sesshomaru would escape to a room like this. She self-consciously plucked at her borrowed clothes and smoothed her hair, certain she would soon be face to face with the dog demon.
Kikyo quietly opened the sliding door, hoping to force the room into a state of having marginally better light, but it hardly made a difference, the room beyond was perpetually gloomy.
Kikyo wandered into the centre, squinting to see if Sesshomaru was sitting in one of the black corners. Kikyo walked right past the pale demonic woman standing by the door, a demoness completely wreathed in shadows. Kikyo did not see the dead white hand holding a blood stained fan to her mouth, covering the demon woman's lower jaw completely. Behind Kikyo's back, the sliding door slowly slid shut as if an invisible hand had closed it.
"...Sesshomaru?" Kikyo whispered into the unnaturally muffled room. The Kappa's were skirmishing just outside, so Kikyo should have been able to hear them easily. But some magic seeping into the very walls seemed to let the silence steal any sound away.
"Do you think I'm beautiful?" a rather hoarse voice said behind her. Kikyo jumped with surprise, wheeling around to face the woman in the shadows.
"Oh! Forgive me, I thought this room was empty," Kikyo said casually, assuming the woman was one or Natsu's or Sora's frivolous entourage. "What did you say? Do I think you are beautiful?"
Kikyo frowned impatiently, the woman was surely one of Natsu's more unconfident underlings.
"I'm afraid I have more… concerning matters to think about besides beauty," Kikyo replied tartly, peering closer at the woman, who continued to stand in the darkness.
The hairs on Kikyo's neck stood on end as her eyes fell on the fan covering the woman's jaw, she studied the waxy, grey-tinged hand holding the wood. It was not the hand of a living creature. Kikyo's brain was struggling to convey to her comprehension a dire alert. The fan, the question the woman had asked….
The demonic woman shuffled closer to Kikyo. Her eyes had a milky film over them, the eyes of one who had been long dead. Patches of decaying scalp were visible through scraggy black hair, as if when she had been alive, clumps had been torn out in distress or fear.
The demon woman lowered the blood splattered fan slowly, revealing the ghastly mutilation of her face. Her mouth had been deeply split on both sides, so that the demon's lower teeth, jaw and cheek muscles were exposed. The cut was deep and long, almost up to her ears, giving the demon a terrifying, gory grin. Fresh blood dripped down from her grisly mouth and onto the floor.
"Do you think I'm beautiful now?" the creature said in a thick, guttural voice dripping with blood and saliva, the cuts on her face twisting horribly as she spoke.
Kikyo saw with a thrill of terror that the ghoulish woman held some bloody shears in her other, limp hand.
Kikyo froze, her wide eyes fixed on the scissors and the horrifying monster standing before her. The woman was less of a demon, more of a malevolent spirit: and a very dangerous one at that. Kikyo had never faced such a formidable spirit before, as this ghost was as unique as her story was grim and sad.
In life, this spirit was infamous, the legend said that her husband had mutilated her face long ago, after discovering that she had been unfaithful. The woman's rage, sadness and pain had tied her soul to the earth and there it had amalgamated into a type of demonic being. The creature was forced to walk the earth for all eternity, bound to her suffering, inflicting her own pain onto others.
Kikyo said nothing to the spirits lingering, fatal question. She recalled that the answer given could invoke a certain response in the ghost. If Kikyo answered 'yes', she remembered that the spirit may try and carve her face with those lethal looking scissors.
If she said 'no', the ghost would attack her out of rage.
Neither option was preferable. Kikyo was unsure of what would happen if a monster tried to cut her faux body into pieces, but she did not want to find out.
Kikyo was effectively stuck- if she left without answering, the foul demon would follow her, perhaps indefinitely. Kikyo refused to be stalked by a relentless ghost, she had too many other worries.
She could maybe walk away for now, try and find Sesshomaru and see if he could destroy the spirit for her. But this plan grated on her pride, she was a priestess famed throughout Japan for slaying demons and spirits alike. She could handle this herself surely?
The ghost continued to stand silently before Kikyo, looking horribly like she was grinning. Kikyo could not look at that mangled face for a moment longer. She vaguely half remembered that a neutral response was the best answer, one could escape the spirits clutches through faint praise.
Kikyo looked into those expectant, cloudy eyes. "You look…fine," she replied as nonchalantly as she could, fiercely wishing she had her bow.
It did not work. The creature's horrendous, deformed mouth puckered in anger, sending more blood spilling to the floor. The spirit raised her scissors and lunged at Kikyo.
Kikyo reflexively raised her hands, catching the demon's decrepit wrists in her palms. Kikyo clung on desperately, pushing against the spirit. The ghost was very solid, more of an undead zombie with icy cold flesh. The ghoulish woman tried to overwhelm Kikyo's physical strength, trying to push the scissors into Kikyo's cheek. The smell of rotten flesh became stronger the closer that mauled mouth got to Kikyo's face.
Kikyo had no arrows with which to defend herself. She instead released her spiritual power through her fingers, until her hands blazed with a vivid blue light. The split mouth woman's wrists began to disintegrate where Kikyo was touching…
The spirit screamed with rage, until its jaw looked completely severed from its head.
Kikyo hung on grimly until the wrist holding the scissors and the attached dead hand fell to the floor with a dull thud, sizzling with purified power at the break. The ghost howled in Kikyo's ear.
Out of nowhere, Kikyo was dragged backwards by a strong hand, so strong she was half carried, half pulled through the sliding doors, her arms and legs flailing. Kikyo was thrown bodily from the ghost room, landing painfully on her rump.
Kikyo looked up angrily, half expecting to see a disgruntled Sesshomaru, for who else would come to her aid against such a horrendous creature?
To her enormous surprise, Lady Sora staggered into Kikyo's vision, slamming the sliding door shut unceremoniously, so that the screaming spirit could no longer be seen. The Kappas in the circular room were no longer wrestling, and were now nowhere to be seen.
"What are you playing at? Walking around my palace and purifying my guests?!" Lady Sora huffed loudly, a full goblet of wine in her hand. The dog demon ruined the dramatic effect of her complaint by tripping over the hem of her kimono. Kikyo instinctively got to her feet and placed a steadying hand under Sora's elbow.
"That spirit in there attacked me with a pair of scissors, I could hardly stand by and do nothing," Kikyo said a little indignantly.
Lady Sora tripped over her hem a second time and grabbed at Kikyo for support. Kikyo watched her in amazement, torn between amusement and concern.
"I know why you're here," Lady Sora said, fixing Kikyo with an unsteady yet beady eye. Kikyo noticed her magenta lipstick was smudged in one corner of her mouth.
Kikyo hesitated. She knew perfectly well from her frosty reception when she had met Sesshomaru's mother that she was not well liked. Sesshomaru's mother would like to see her disappear from Sesshomaru's life. If Kikyo was truthful and admitted that she was searching for Sesshomaru, would Lady Sora get in her way?
"I'm looking for Sesshomaru. I was told by his vassal that he wanted to see me," Kikyo said, deciding the truth was the preferable way to go.
"He doesn't want to see you…he needs to see you. I've never seen my son worry so much about a woman, the way he fretted over you after you both escaped that barrier. He must be in love with you. He may deny it, or try to push you away to save himself...but I know its true."
"Why would he push me away?" Kikyo asked abruptly.
"Because being in love with you makes him vulnerable, when without love he would not be so," Lady Sora garbled so quickly Kikyo could barely catch her words, though what the demon was saying inexplicably made sense.
Kikyo looked away when she realised that Lady Sora was telling her that her son was in love. And from what she was saying, Sesshomaru had never been in love before.
Kikyo immediately felt childish: she had mulishly demanded that Sesshomaru acknowledge his feelings for her. Then, she had stormed off when he had not given the answer that she had wanted. Kikyo had loved Inuyasha once and so could recognise her shifting feelings for Sesshomaru. Perhaps it was not as easy for Sesshomaru to accept a new and mystifying power like being in love.
"I think I'll go and find him," Kikyo said, letting go of Lady Sora's elbow cautiously, worried she might fall again.
Kikyo glanced at Sora's face mistrustfully. "Will you try and stop me from seeing him?" Kikyo asked baldly.
Lady Sora, although clearly currently befuddled from drink, was a very powerfully magical demon. Kikyo doubted she would be able to fight her off if Sora decided to eject her and conceal Kikyo's arrival from her son.
Sora shot Kikyo a brief look of dislike, before wobbling over to the next room, as if she was checking the coast was clear. Satisfied with whatever she saw, Sora walked back to Kikyo in zig zags, like she was navigating the deck of a ship at sea. She thrust her goblet into Kikyo's hand and ordered her to drink. Kikyo nearly dropped the goblet in her haste to obey.
"I wish things were different. Sesshomaru should be pursuing Natsu. She is one of us, and she's a living creature. But I can't force Sesshomaru onto a different path if this is what he has chosen. I will let you go…And keep Natsu and her father away if I can," Sora slurred, looking bitter and slightly confused by her own words. Sora shuffled off back to the throne room. "He's somewhere outside, I think he's by the blue cherry trees."
Kikyo watched Lady Sora go, hesitating. "Do you need help?" She called to the dog demoness. Lady Sora waved her hand in the air impatiently, and Kikyo realised she was dismissed.
Feeling a sizzle of nervousness run up her spine, Kikyo took another swig of the wine Sora had left in her hands. The wine was so strong she nearly spat it back out.
Kikyo snuck through the revels, aiming for the sliver of sky she could see through the many sliding doors of Sora's palace. She kept an eye out for Natsu, but could not spy her brassy blonde hair anywhere in the scrum. Kikyo had no idea what Natsu's father Subarashi looked like, so there was not much she could do in that regard, though it was highly unlikely that Subrashi knew what she looked like either.
Kikyo pushed through the tumultuous throng and managed to reach the gardens. It was now a deep night and the air should have held a chill, but it continued to feel lukewarm like bath water.
Kikyo crossed over a curved red bridge and towards the lake in front of her. The lake was encircled by breathtaking, beautiful bright blue blossoms. The lakes banks and the little wooden bridge that led to the pagoda in the centre were covered by a soft carpet of azure.
Kikyo expected to see drunken demons cavorting outside, but it was almost eerily quiet. The demons seemed intent on their mischief indoors- perhaps this was because of the copious amounts of strong wine Kikyo had seen inside. Kikyo's head was already beginning to buzz with the two sips that she had taken.
Squinting against the magnificent deluge of blue petals, Kikyo caught sight of a lone figure, huddled inside the pagoda. A figure with long, salt white hair.
Kikyo approached Sesshomaru from across the wooden bridge, her footfalls muffled by the delicate flowers beneath her feet. Her ears barely registered the gentle breaking of the water as creatures within the lake's depths brushed the surface between water and air. Her fake impression of a heart twitched within her chest in anticipation.
She stepped into the pagoda, brushing petals out of her long ebony hair. Sesshomaru hadn't even noticed her approach. He sat amidst some intricately threaded cushions, staring blankly into space, his golden eyes vacant.
Feeling jittery and apprehensive, Kikyo edged towards Sesshomaru with a little uncertainty.
"Sesshomaru?" she said in a tremulous voice.