Previous chapter Summary: Kikyo has been taken by Naraku to an island hidden by a magical storm that hides demonic energy. Kikyo tried to escape and failed. Having her in his clutches at last, Naraku forces himself on Kikyo and she slips further and further into an unconscious state as a way to escape. Sesshomaru has killed countless demons, humans and their ships in his efforts to find Kikyo, and is in bad shape after no rest and because his wounds are no longer healing. Sesshomaru is convinced by Inuyasha to go home and rest, so that when he finally finds Naraku, he is ready to fight him.
Sesshomaru returned to his castle just as the ominous crimson sun had set, pitching the land into shadows. The castle was pristine and quiet, but the quiet felt eerie after the chaos and the blood he had recently endured.
Jaken was not there, no doubt waiting for Sesshomaru to return to Inuyasha's village to give him further instructions, he would be waiting a long time. Sesshomaru could not bear to see Rin right now, not until Kikyo was found. The girl would certainly ask about the priestess and he had no good news to tell her.
The castle servants were around, but giving their master a wide berth. They had clearly heard about his three day killing spree. Their fear was keeping them at a distance.
Sesshomaru meandered solemnly to his room. It was queerly almost frozen in time. The black sheets were still thrown back, just as they had been when he and Kikyo had got up that fateful morning. He had grown accustomed to her drifting around his room. Their room.
Sesshomaru lay down on his futon, waves of black weariness crashing over him, begging his eyes to shut so he could get some sleep. But he was in a state of perpetual alertness. He felt heart sick and empty. He could smell the calming scent of lavender on the pillows. Kikyo. He could remember the weeks of her lying chastely in his arms, he could recall each kiss they had shared. Kikyo had requested that they slow their physical relationship down, and so they had, since the banquet, only kissed and embraced.
Sesshomaru remembered their night together after his mothers disastrous banquet. He had watched her sleep, protected her.
If only he had escorted her himself to Inuyasha. Cold guilt burned his skin and his insides writhed.
After a while of sinking into despair, Sesshomaru noticed one difference in his room. A wooden lacquer chest inlaid with gold had been placed by his sliding door, decorated with gilt mounts.
Groaning inwardly from his ice covered cuts, Sesshomaru went over to the storage box and opened it. Intricate kimono's lay neatly inside, in a rainbow of colours. Cream and pink, yellow and green, red and purple. The new kimonos he had commissioned for Kikyo.
Seeing the kimonos was an unbearable torment. Sesshomaru's face twitched with the effort to keep himself whole. Kikyo should be here, trying on these kimonos and laughing at how exuberant they were. It was Sesshomaru's fault that she was in danger, or even dead. The peaceful silence of his room compounded the agony he was feeling, until he felt sure he would burst with it.
With bleak eyes, he drew out a mauve kimono decorated lightly with white herons. Kikyo would have looked beautiful in it, the most stunning woman in all of Japan. The pale purple reminded Sesshomaru of Lady Miyu's extraordinary, eldritch eyes.
'Miyu…She told me I'd be covered in blood, riven with grief. She knew this would happen. This nightmare is what she foretold,' Sesshomaru discerned with a shock, he had forgotten their conversation with everything that was happening.
Sesshomaru was gripping the kimono so hard the fabric began fraying under his tense claws. He let the dress drop and it puddled to the floor, a thing of beauty ruined by his carelessness.
His determination renewed, Sesshomaru forgot about resting. He's stopped only long enough to clean the blood staining his hands and clothes in the bathhouse.
If Miyu could see him dripping in blood and distraught, then she could push herself to see more. At this point, anything she could glean with her mysterious powers would be better than where he was at now. And if it was not, well, she would just need to gaze into the future harder.
Once he was clean, Sesshomaru found his apprehensive, quaking servants. He stood before their trembling forms, his countenance stony.
"Destroy every boat and ship that you can find, not just in the west, but everywhere. Do it quickly. If you don't I'll lop off your heads," Sesshomaru threatened with a growl. The menagerie of demons nodded at their master and scampered off.
Sesshomaru half stumbled back to the castle entrance, pleased to be away from the wakening memories being home had incurred. He was little more than a walking wreck and his spartan wash had not quite extinguished the odour of blood or the stain of it. His handsome face was haggard and his expression was grim.
He would go back to the southern lands and demand an audience with Miyu, she was the only one who could help him now.
Sesshomaru made his way doggedly back south, searching for Subarashi's coastal palace. He had never been there before, but Jaken had once told him that the path to the palace was hidden from human eyes.
Sesshomaru scoured for the scent of Subarashi or even Natsu. He needed Miyu, but she did not strike him as a demoness likely to wander the countryside, not like he did. She was a quiet and troubled demoness.
He was travelling at a painstakingly slow pace because of his injuries and exhaustion. Alarmingly, he had to keep stopping to rest before dragging himself on, until the landscape around him began to lighten. Eventually, he picked up on Subarashi's strong, slightly salty smell at the southernmost tip of the mainland. The wind was warm and the sand beneath his feet was golden. For a while he was perplexed, there was nothing but yellow sand and the unending sea beyond.
Then, slowly in front of him, the air ripped like a mirage and a long, winding path of sand appeared, heading out into the water. Perhaps his demonic aura meant he was permitted entry.
Sesshomaru followed the path, made entirely out of snaking sand. The brilliantly sparkling sea was all that could be seen to the left and right of him. The empty sand banks that he traversed widened and narrowed lazily, sometimes expanding to the size of a small beach and then thinning so much the sea water lapped at his boots.
A water castle began to come into view, with white washed walls fringed with magnificent palm trees. Its moats were filled with seawater, and pleasure boats were buffeted on the water by the walls with the leisurely wind. The water palace was still quite far away, at least another eighty yards away, but he could spy the seaweed riddled rocks lifting the white castle walls above the tides.
Another widening branch of the beach opened up to Sesshomaru, the hot sand burning his ankles. At first glance the bank was empty, but Sesshomaru could feel a strong demonic aura approaching him.
Natsu was walking out of the sea and stepping onto the sand. Sessomaru could only assume she was enjoying a morning swim because she was completely naked except for some sea shells adorning her hair. Natsu's wet hair curled and stuck to her waist and her tanned breasts gleamed in the light with water from the sea.
She did not seem abashed by her state of undress. She stood before Sesshomaru proudly and inquisitively, finger combing her salt rimmed, wet hair.
"You're a long way from home, Sesshomaru. And looking rather worse for wear I see," Natsu said, looking at Sesshomaru's injured and bedraggled form. For once Sesshomaru was pleased to see Lady Natsu, she could surely lead him directly to Miyu.
"Where is Miyu? I must speak with her urgently," Sesshomaru demanded.
Natsu raised her light eyebrows at his tone, her deep green eyes alight with interest. Infuriatingly, she ignored his question.
"I heard about what has happened, that the priestess you've been so infatuated with has been taken by some rival demons. You should forget about her, she's probably dead already," Natsu said callously, looking wholly unconcerned.
Sesshomaru fought the urge to slap the annoying smile lifting off of her face. He gazed at her coldly. "I need your assistance, tell me where your mother is and I will be on my way."
Natsu shook her dark blonde head, as if she thought Sesshomaru was being ludicrous. "My mother could be anywhere," Natsu said in a non-committal voice, her finger playing idly with a wet strand of her hair.
Sesshomaru did not have time for Natsu's games. He needed Miyu and her ability to have visions, it was his last hope of finding Kikyo. But Sesshomaru did not want to threaten Natsu if he could avoid it, he was in a poor condition and fights took time. "Tell me now, Natsu. I will not tolerate any delay from you!" Sesshomaru's claw twitched for Bakusaiga, but he restrained himself from reaching for it.
Natsu's eyes caught the movement anyway. "What are you going to do, fight me?" she laughed with derision, "In the state you're in? If you attacked me, then you'd have to fight father and mother as well. Do you really have time for that if you are in such a hurry?" she asked mirthlessly.
Sesshomaru stared at her expressionlessly, but inside he was calculating. Natsu, Subarashi and even Miyu were formidable high class demons and he was in such a weakened shape with Tsumetai's lingering cuts and the lack of rest. Scrapping with them all would take too much precious time, an unacceptable amount of time. And if a battle occurred, how could he obtain Miyu's aid? He would have to use extreme force, a strategy that would not go down well.
Natsu watched Sesshomaru grappling for a few moments, clearly enjoying his predicament. Finally she seemed to relent.
"I will tell you where she is, but I want something in return," she said slyly.
Sesshomaru frowned at her. "What?"
Natsu came closer, her fey face full of mischief. "A kiss. I want to know if a dead woman's lips taste sweeter than mine," she said, looking at Sesshomaru hungrily. "Give me that and I'll tell you where my mother can be found."
Sesshomatu tried to hide his appalled surprise, his eyes gleaming with distaste. This is what she wanted from him? She knew he was searching for Kikyo…Did she really think a kiss would change that?
"I am not free to do this," he said finally after a moment's pause. Beautiful and alluring though she was, he did not want to kiss the demoness. All he wanted was Kikyo back.
Natsu shrugged tempestuously. "Then you can forget about finding Miyu."
Indecision tore at Sesshomaru. If he gave the wretched woman what she desired he could find Miyu and then hopefully Kikyo. But to kiss another woman still felt like a betrayal to the priestess.
Feeling he had no other choice, Sesshomaru nodded his consent curtly and reluctantly.
Natsu wasted no time in pressing her bare breasts against Sesshomaru's chest, planting a passionate kiss on the dog demon's mouth. He tolerated her touch as best he could and did not object when she wrapped her hands around his shoulders, or when she pushed her tongue into his mouth. Her lips were warm and briny. Natsu moaned lightly as she kissed him, lifting her knee up towards his hips. Sesshomaru stood stiffly, allowing the kiss to go on for as long as he could stand.
Her moaning began to irritate Sesshomaru, and he brushed her off as tactfully as he could.
"Forget the priestess and stay here with me on the beach. You and I are the same. Japan would be ours to rule if we were together," Natsu breathed into his pointed ear.
Sesshomaru muffled a sigh of frustration and stepped away from Natsu, he fixed a haughty look of contempt her way. "You will never come between Kikyo and I. Stop embarrassing yourself by trying," Sesshomaru said coolly.
Natsu winced like Sesshomaru had physically struck her. The water demoness huffed and wandered away, back into the lapping waves. She pointed up the sand bank towards the way Sesshomaru had been heading.
"My mother is there, in that castle. Goodbye Sesshomaru," Natsu said with a pugnacious tone. Sesshomaru watched her swim away until her head dipped below the waves.