WARNING! Violent scenes ahead...
Kikyo dreamed…
She dreamed that she was at a banquet, much like the one Lady Sora had held. In a castle with an unknown origin and an unknown king. Elegant music played all around. Every person she had ever known, dead or alive, was present. Tiny lacquer wood tables held food and sake. The rooms were full of smiling happy people.
The part-goers seemed pleased to see Kikyo. They clapped her on the back and cheered as she walked around in a complacent daze. Most attendees were up dancing together, moving to the vibrant music. A heavenly sunlight filtered through the half open sliding doors, showing a bright cloudless sky outside.
Kikyo was completely untroubled, smiling serenely as she watched some old, long lost friends laugh and clap some unknown celebration. No one could or would bother her here, they were all people she wanted to be around. When she looked down at herself she was clad in a pure silver kimono that sparkled when she moved.
She was safe here, and she never wanted to leave.
A middle aged man stood before her, a still figure amongst the jostling people. He wore a blue and brown peasant hakama that stood out against the shimmering robes around him. His face was craggy but kind, his balding head tied back in a bristling, short ponytail. Kikyo recognised him instantly, though she realised with a shock that she could not remember his name.
"Father…" she whispered. Kikyo ran to her father and he lifted her up and spun her around with hands that were roped with veins. Her father had always been thin, but he was as strong as an Ox. It was like seeing a ghost she had loved and lost.
"Father?" Kikyo gushed, taking his weathered face in her white hands. "Is it really you?"
Her father smiled at her affectionately, he took her delicate hands in his own "My daughter."
He looked exactly as he always did, it was like looking into a mirror of the past. Tears of happiness welled in Kikyo's eyes.
"Father…It's been so long…I've missed you so much," she whispered, hugging him tightly. Her father had tears in his puffy eyes as well. He grasped her slim shoulders and looked her up and down proudly. "You've grown into a wonderful woman, Kikyo. A determined woman who can overcome anything," he told her.
These words meant so much to Kikyo. She had often wondered what life would have been if she had the crutch of her parents to prop her up when life became hard, and she had not had to be the crutch herself. "I hope you are proud of me. I-I did my best to be a good priestess, to keep Kaede and our people safe," she said with a voice shaking with emotion.
Her father gently stroked her ebony hair. "No father could be prouder than I am of you and all that you have done. Be strong Kikyo, you have to be strong," her father told her, his voice had taken on a strange urgency, and the urgency frightened her a little. Her father stoked her cheek with his rough, callused fingers. "Go," he said, "enjoy the time you have."
Her father disappeared into the crowd. Kikyo tried to follow him, but a flash of silver and red distracted her. "Inuyasha! What are you doing here?" she said as Inuyasha walked up to her, wearing his robe of the fire rat. He looked as boyish and handsome as ever.
"Kikyo! I'm pleased I found you! I've never been to a party like this before," he said amiably, he was grinning at her.
Kikyo eyed his robe of the fire rat. "You're not really dressed for a party, but never mind," Kikyo looked around at the dancing throng of people. "Shall we dance together?"
Inuyasha nodded and took her hand. They danced together contentedly, his familiar, youthful face was a comfort to her.
Inuyasha gave Kikyo a long look as they twirled around with the crowd. "Do you forgive me, Kikyo, for choosing Kagome?" he asked her dolefully.
Kikyo smiled understandingly as they moved around slowly, their hands entwined. "I forgive you Inuyasha, You and Kagome are a good match…Everything is going to be alright now."
Inuyasha gave her an odd look. "Is it Kikyo?"
Kikyo glanced up at Inuyasha uncertainly. "Yes. Everything is fine between us. You're my friend, Inuyasha, and I want you to be happy," she replied, wondering exactly what he meant.
Inuyasha looked over her shoulder with a small smile. He had seen something behind her. "Someone else is here, he's been waiting for you."
Kikyo's muscles tensed for a moment, unsure if Inuyasha meant someone dangerous or unwanted. Kikyo turned slowly and looked behind her, brushing her hair away from her face.
Sesshomaru stood behind her, looking more regal than ever in an armourless kimono of white and gold. Kikyo's heart skipped a beat just looking at him.
Kikyo let go of Inuyasha and drifted towards Sesshomaru like a sleepwalker. He really was the most handsome demon she had ever seen. Kikyo walked up to him and gently touched his angular striped face with her finger tips, staring into his lemon bright eyes.
"Sesshomaru…" she breathed.
"Kikyo," Sesshomaru said before leaning down and kissing her with warm lips. She did not pull away, Kikyo clung to him like he was a life line.
The music changed to a slower, more melodic tune. Kikyo hugged Sesshomaru's chest hard, like she was afraid to let him go. "I almost forgot how beautiful you are, Sesshomaru," she said looking back up at him. "I'm glad you're here with me. I wanted to tell you… that I love you. No man has meant as much to me as you do. I want to be with you forever," she confessed to him softly. Sesshomaru smiled at her, a rare quirk of his mouth that made Kikyo glow with happiness.
Beyond Sesshomaru's silver hair, Kikyo saw a nebulous dark shadow begin to form. It was spreading slowly, eating up the wood of the ceiling like a shadow creeping further as the sun begins to set. But it was still light outside, so where was this darkness coming from?
Kikyo placed her hand in Sesshomaru's claw, staring worriedly at the darkness beyond. "Let's go into another room," she suggested. Sesshomaru's palm was pleasantly warm against her own.
Sesshomaru frowned slightly. "Why?"
"Because…so we can be alone," she said quickly. Kikyo pulled Sesshomaru into the next room, sliding the door shut. The room was simple and elegant, it was also empty. Through the wooden panelled circular window, they could see the bright sunlight and the peacefully swaying trees outside.
Kikyo pushed Sesshomaru down onto the floor, she lay down beside him and placed her head on his chest. She listened to his heart beat, his chest rising and falling. She felt a sweet, comforting, nebulous sense of deja vu as she lay with him.
Kikyo wanted to keep her eyes closed, but she compulsively flicked her eyes up. The ceiling above them was like the other room, a diseased, rotten blackness spreading its fingers. The walls around them were cracking.
Afraid, Kikyo tried to pull Sesshomaru up roughly, she had to outrun the darkness, no matter how many new places she had to find to hide. Sesshomaru got to his feet, looking mildly annoyed. "We need to go somewhere else to get away from this darkness that is spreading," she said urgently, pointing at the blight above them.
Kikyo tugged at Sesshomaru, but he refused to move. He stared at her with a tinge of sadness in his golden eyes. He took her hands and ran his claws gently along her knuckles.
"You can't avoid it forever Kikyo," he told her solemnly. Kikyo squeezed his hands desperately, her peripheral vision noticing the shadows pushing in further around them.
"Avoid what?"
"What is happening to you. You have to fight him, try and get free," Sesshomaru said. Kikyo groaned and turned to the sliding door, slamming it open. She dragged Sesshomaru through the hordes of dancers with determination, until they were caught up in the centre of the scrum. "I don't want to leave here, I want to stay with you."
Sesshomaru drew Kikyo to him and enfolded her in his arms. "I know. But staying here is not facing anything. This can only last for a little while. If you stay, you'll lose yourself completely."
Kikyo pulled away abruptly, bumping into the revellers behind her. She gave Sesshomaru a quivering stare. "There is nothing for me out there, not even you. I won't leave, I'm not going back to where he is. Just…just stay with me, please," Kikyo pleaded quietly.
Sesshomaru put his arms around her waist, until all she could see was his locks of silver hair. "As you wish," Sesshomaru said in a weary voice.
Relieved, Kikyo willed the blight that threatened her peace of mind back, and it receded slowly, slipping away from the edges of her tranquil fantasy.
Hokai returned to Wicker Hollow gloomily, his tube shaped heart filled with an undeniably hopelessness. As a precaution, he had shrunk down to his smaller size as he travelled back to his home. Being so small dulled his ability to locate danger, but it was by far the safer way to travel. No demon would look twice at a tiny spider travelling across the seemingly endless earth.
He bitterly wished and hoped that Naraku would come to his senses. But he knew deep down that his brothers previously unrivalled leadership was now threadbare, his mind consumed by his trapped, unrequited love. Naraku had forfeited it all, the glory that he could have had, to keep Kikyo in his forced company.
Hokai scampered into Wicker Hollow, feeling crestfallen. What would he do now that Naraku had abandoned him? Hokai was determined that their clan would not fall into extinction, he would be the new weaver if that is what it took for them to survive. He would gather what spiders were left and find a way to flee this place, until it was safe to return.
He scuttled through Wicker Hollows complex network of caves within caves, each wall made slimy and white with the thick layers of webs that had been laid over the years. It was a deeper and more complicated structure than Naraku's new domain. Hokai was pleased and relieved to be home, in his familiar environment with his familiar comrades. For now, he decided he would meet with his remaining soldiers and then sleep for a time; curl up surrounded by his own comforting, cushiony webs. Then, after he had rested, he would think of a way to escape their current predicament, now that Naraku had callously discarded him.
Hokai entered his personal part of the caves and automatically morphed into his natural larger size. He moved further into the caves, so deep the air held a wet chill. He was so preoccupied with his troubles that he did not notice for some time that something was amiss. He halted his eight legs, looking around hesitantly.
No spiders had come up to greet him, he was certain that, even though their numbers were depleted, some spiders had managed to avoid the carnage that Sesshomaru had wrought. But no one was there. Whenever he walked into Wicker Hollow, his minions always ran up to greet him. He realised that the air was still and thick with the metallic smell and taste of blood…but he could see no bodies..so sign of an attack…
Hokai wheeled around wildly, a strong demonic aura was nearby.
In the cold gloom of Wicker Hollow, a pair of glowing yellow eyes watched him.
Sesshomaru stepped forth, a mutinous expression etched on his face. The dog demon looked terrible, his body covered in deep cuts and dried blood, but this did nothing to dull the screaming sense of danger Hokai felt. Sesshomaru's claws were drenched in the fern green blood of Hokai's underlings. "Don't bother looking for aid. I killed every single spider in this hollow whilst I was waiting for you," Sesshomaru said in a low voice filled with barely controlled fury.
Hokai's heart constricted with fear at the sight of the demon lord. How could he escape? What could he do in order to stay alive?
"You found me. I knew you would be hunting for me," Hokai said with a bitter edge, pushing against the urge to run.
Sesshomaru advanced closer. In all their altercations, Hokai had never seen the dog look so uncontrollably incandescent with rage. The dog demon looked half mad with it.
"Look at yourself…burning and raving with madness for your lost love. What is it about that priestess that makes so many demons lose themselves with desire?" Hokai said with fearful amazement. Kikyo was just a poor imitation of a human, what was so special about her that she could cause such calamity, such desperation in Japan's most apex demons?
Sesshomaru said nothing, only continued to glare at Hokai darkly. The dog demon raised his blood soaked claw, cracking his knuckles threateningly.
Hokai tried his utmost to look brave and unconcerned. As a middle ranking demon, he knew he could not defeat Sesshomaru, even in his dilapidated state. All he had left was his pride… and the location of Kikyo. There was a reason Sesshomaru looked so pathetic. He had not yet found her. Could he bargain his way out of being killed? But once he gave that intel, he would be vulnerable. He had to cling to his information as long as he could.
"What's your plan Sesshomaru, torture me until I give you Kikyo's location?" Hokai asked the dog, wondering how brutal the threat from Sesshomaru truly was.
In the blink of an eye, Sesshomaru was in front of him. With ruthless efficiency, Sesshomaru seized Hokai's front leg and wrenched it so hard and with so much strength, Hokai's entire leg was ripped from his body. Hokai screamed and screamed horribly, his pain echoing off of the cave walls. Green blood gushed out of the wound. Sesshomaru discarded the severed leg casually, his eyes were pitiless.
"You'd have to be blind and deaf not to realise that," Sesshomaru hissed dangerously.
Hokai staggered away from the dog demon on his remaining seven legs, twitching with agony. Pain encompassed his entire being, it was hard to imagine that any other pain could be worse than this, but that was the reality he was facing. Sesshomaru was going to rip him to pieces: slowly. Sesshomaru followed after him at a leisurely pace, eyeing different parts of Hokai's corpulent body as if he was choosing where to strike next.
Sesshomaru was going to torture him to death, and all for a makeshift woman he had only known for a matter of months.
"Don't you think you have stretched your rage too far? How long have you known the priestess, a few months?" Hokai groaned, fighting against the burning agony where his leg used to be.
Sesshomaru raised his claw again as he crept forward, his eyes flashing. "I don't care what you say. You should have stayed in this hole and left Kikyo and I alone, the lowly likes of you never stood a chance against me."
Already Hokai's body was trying to stem the flow of blood from his leg. Perhaps the threat of Naraku's omniscient mirror could save his life, direct Sesshomaru's fury elsewhere. "Naraku thought you would give up on her. He's been using a wretched magic mirror to spy on you and saw you in an embrace with a demoness. But I knew he was wrong. He could be watching us right now and already have sent aid."
Sesshomaru looked impressively unconcerned as he leaned in close to Hokai, so close he could smell the spider's putrid breath. "It doesn't matter what he sees, if I have to burn Japan to the ground to find her, so be it. Perhaps you don't fully understand the predicament you are in, Hokai. No matter how long it takes, I will find Kikyo," Sesshomaru took hold of one of Hokai's pincers, ready to snap it off. "And you will help me if you don't want to endure a slow and excruciating death."
Sesshomaru began pulling on Hokai's pincer, which slowly started to crack.
"What a horrifying beast you are!" Hokai cried in fear, unable to escape Sesshomaru's grasp. He did not want to be unhurriedly killed, his last moments ending in weakness and terror. "If I tell you where she is, will you let me live?"
Sesshomaru stopped pulling at Hokai's face, his head cocked to the side in consideration. Hokai's pincer began to throb but was mercifully still intact. "I suppose it could not hurt your chances," Sesshomaru said finally.
Feeling relief washing over him, Hokai relented. "She's on an island to the north."
Sesshomaru snatched Hokai's gargantuan head and pressed his claws into the skin around Hokai's eyes. Hokai yelped in fear. "I checked the islands, you worthless filth. She wasn't on any of them," Sesshomaru growled impatiently, digging his claws into Hokai's face. Hokai screamed and began gibbering. "Naraku has one island surrounded by a storm. If you looked at it, you would probably think you were seeing some peculiar weather. The island is completely concealed. The storm is magic, it prevents you from smelling them or sensing any demonic aura!"
Sesshomaru retracted his claws from the side of Hokai's head, thinking hard. He had roamed so far, seen so much, it was a challenge to sift through his memories. But he did remember it. On the first day…when he had searched the islands…a grey storm in the distance that he had assumed was off land. A tempest in the sea.
"That storm...she had been hidden behind it this whole time," he said to himself, cursing his own lack of inquisition. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have overlooked such a blatantly odd piece of information from his surroundings?
Hokai dragged himself out of Sesshomaru's now limp hands. "Well, now you can go back and save her. Are you satisfied? Will you let me go now?" Hokai pleaded.
With a blank expression, Sesshomaru flicked his poison whip into being. He struck Hokai with a lime coloured lash and the spider's abdomen erupted in a mess of blood and flesh.
Hokai choked and stuttered, collapsing on the cave floor, his eight legs crunching in a heap below him.
"You…said… …you… ..said…" Hokai gurgled as life left his bulky body. The glittering shine to his eyes ebbing.
Sesshomaru blinked back the weariness threatening to take over. He watched Hokai convulse on the floor with unforgiving eyes. "You can wait for your brother in the underworld," he told the dying spider quietly.