Disclaimer: InuYasha, its characters and components are property of their creator (Rumiko Takahashi) and do not belong to me. My depiction of said characters however does... Barring references to the anime or manga, of course.
:fan:
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Unbound
Chapter 1
She reached the top of the hill, the breeze tossing tendrils of her dark hair behind her from her high ponytail. The sensation of the wind on her skin caused her grief. She once rode it, controlled it. She hugged herself against the cold and defeat she now faced after having lost her grip on it. All that remained of her demonhood were her elfin ears and her crimson eyes. In all other discernible respects, she was human.
"There he is," she whispered to herself. At the bottom of the hill, not quite obscured by the early morning mists, was Sesshoumaru and his little group.
“Ah, and now he knows he has company.” She watched as he looked around above him, sniffing the air. Quiet shock passed over his face as his eyes located her form. She read his lips while he spoke to Rin and Jaken, ‘Stay here,’ and then watched as he surrounded himself in blue light, his energy bolting to where she stood.
"Kagura, what are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru asked. His glare tore through her as he touched his hand to Toukijin.
"I came to see you." Kagura attempted a confident smile but fell short somewhere nearer to sheepish.
"And why do you desire to see me? I thought you didn’t require my help. I know that Naraku has not yet fallen and so you are not free -"
"I am in exile, Sesshoumaru. Naraku took my powers and I no longer ride the wind." She studied his face. "What's wrong, don't you trust me?"
"You have betrayed Naraku on more than one occasion. Why did he not kill you instead of letting you get what you wanted - to be free of him?"
"Because, as I said, he took my powers. He gave me a human heart. I guess he thought that might be a more fitting punishment for my misdeeds against him."
"How human is your blood, Kagura? Shall I draw it and find out?”
Her face saddened.
“Go right ahead. Put me out of my misery.”
Sesshoumaru stood for a moment more, still glowering at Kagura, and then he took his hand from Toukijin. He turned, light enveloping him.
“Sesshoumaru, wait!” Kagura cried. The glow encircling him dissipated and he turned back, his brow furrowing. The former wind sorceress had her fists clenched and tears were streaming down her reddened face.
“I had no care for you as demon. Why should I concern myself with you as a human?” He turned away again.
“Damn these human emotions, I have no control over them!” Kagura threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Sesshoumaru. She planted her face in the small of his back and wet his cuirass with her tears.
“Unhand me at once.” Sesshoumaru stopped and stood with Kagura holding him at the edge of the hill-face.
“I can’t seem to let go,” she whimpered.
“Kagura, I’m not going to ask you again.” He remained facing the countryside ahead of them.
“I can’t - I can’t help myself. The urge is so great -”
“Kagura.” A voice filled Sesshoumaru’s head. It belonged to Rin.
‘I’ll bet she‘s secretly in love with Lord Sesshoumaru.’ That was what she had said of Kagura the day he rescued she and his companions from drowning in the river. Kagura had just left atop her feather, still half-naked from the blast which had given her the injuries that caused her to fall in the first place. Jaken was appalled by her flattery of his master, questioning why she would even say such things… and Rin’s answer had been love. In some kind of foreign human wisdom, was it possible Rin was right?
He dropped his head almost submissively.
“Why are you doing this?” His gilded eyes met her white-knuckled hands and he found himself weirdly transfixed by the desperate tightness in which they were clasped over his stomach. He drew his hand out to hers and left it hovering just above her tireless grip. She grabbed at the fur and garments that clothed his chest and stood herself upright once again. Her arms remained around him, though not as dreadfully tight. He turned his eyes back toward her, curious but determined to face forward uninterestedly.
“Sesshoumaru, do you remember when you took me from the river? When I had those terrible injuries?”
“Vaguely.”
“My only wish, as I believed I was dying, was to see you. If only for one last time…” She trailed off.
“These human emotions do not become you, Kagura. You should go. I do not wish to slay you. If you really are no longer connected with Naraku, I bear you no grudge and therefore have no further business with you.” His eyes shifted forward again. He could hear Jaken calling to him. Adverse to being seen allowing Naraku’s incarnation to cling to him, he unclasped her hands and dropped them from his body. “Go.”
Kagura sniffled and wiped her cheeks and her nose. She kept her eyes on the grass between she and Sesshoumaru when he turned in her direction. Jaken continued to call his master between morning bird calls and the sound of the wind.
“I apologize,” she sniveled, “Your majesty bewitched me once as a demon and, as human or human-like as I seem to be now, I cannot remove you from my thoughts. It seems this human heart wanted to feel your presence, even if for only an instant. Perhaps just to know what it must feel like to be human - the way Kagome and Kikyou fell for Inu- well, your half-human brother. I never understood some of their actions until now. I am weak, Sesshoumaru. And I am embarrassed to show you this weakness, the weakness that allowed me this display. Humans must be stronger than we credit them if they can keep it together with all these complicated…” She trailed off again. She turned away from Sesshoumaru, covering her face with her hands.
Jaken had given up calling to his Lord and was now bickering to Rin about their master’s always taking off with barely a word and his ungratefulness for the loyal imp’s service to him. He would be dealt with later. He took a step forward and placed his hand on Kagura’s shoulder.
“It must be frightening, having no understanding of what’s happening to you. No frame of reference other than memories of a fondness you may have had for me. I don’t know these feelings as I’m sure demons can’t really love or feel sentiment for anyone. I do pity you, though. You are clearly in a terrible state.”
“What about your father?”
“What of him?” Sesshoumaru withdrew his hand from Kagura’s shoulder. She turned to face him again, narrowing her eyes.
“Your father knew love. With a human, no less. Your brother is evidence of that. And your swords - did your father not feel sentiment enough to bequeath you the legendary swords you each hold? Why do half-demons exist at all if not for love? Are they not protected by their demon parents for reason of sentiment, if not love?”
“I have no such capabilities.” Sesshoumaru’s face showed no expression.
“You may pity me, Sesshoumaru, but I tend to pity those who limit themselves due to fear.”
“I fear nothing, Kagura. Fear is a useless emotion and one a demon, as you once were, cannot afford to feel.”
“You could afford to feel a few things.” Kagura turned and began to walk away. Sesshoumaru’s once stoic countenance was overtaken by confusion as he watched her descend the hill. He, oddly lacking a cruel quip in reply, was left with a strange desire to follow her - to stop her from leaving. She was slowly slipping from his view as she proceeded down the slope. He began walking behind her, his tabi sweeping gently through the grass for a measure before she stopped. He too came to a halt. Her head turned back to him, her body still facing the foot of the hill.
“What?” She said through clenched teeth.
“Rin would not be pleased if she knew I’d turned you away like this. Come back to camp with me and I’ll make sure she and Jaken look after your needs. You’ll be safe with us until you figure out what to do with yourself.”
“You’d do that? I mean, for Rin?” Kagura completed her turn toward Sesshoumaru. “You’ll protect me?”
“I didn’t say I would protect you. Just that you can stay with us for a while. No one bothers looking for a fight with me much these days. You will be… Safe.”
“Huh,” Kagura considered. She allowed a half-hearted smile. Sesshoumaru, much to her as well as his own disbelief, invited Kagura with his arm open to her. She accepted his summons, approaching him with hesitant, cautious steps. He held her to his side and orbed them to where Jaken and Rin were staying with Ah-Un.
They arrived just behind where Jaken was standing. The demon Lord took his arm from his guest and gave the imp a swift kick to the rear. He sent him flying, a little scream escaping him as he shot several feet from where he originally stood. Rin giggled a little, covering her amused grin with her hand out of respect for Jaken while Ah-Un gave a horse-like snort.
“Lord Sesshoumaru, you have a visitor,” Rin smiled at Kagura, “I knew you’d come back. See, Master Jaken, I told you that lady was -”
“Kagura is going to stay with us for a little while,” Sesshoumaru interrupted.
“Lord Sesshoumaru! You’re going to let that deceitful wench join our group? Do you really think you can trust -” Jaken came running back to Sesshoumaru only to be kicked again. “Whatever you think is best, m’Lord,” Jaken groaned as he landed.
“Kagura will be no threat; she is powerless. Naraku gave her a human heart and it has neutralized her powers somehow - perhaps even purified her. She is basically human.” Sesshoumaru explained.
Jaken got to his feet and stood well away from his master.
“Not to question too much, Lord Sesshoumaru, but don’t you think maybe it could be a trick? No disrespect, my Lord, but if she is bold enough to betray Naraku in the first place -”
“Jaken, do you wish to be kicked again?”
“No, my Lord.”
“Then I suggest you be quiet.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Sesshoumaru turned to Rin.
“Perhaps you and Jaken should gather some more firewood, some food as well.”
“Yes,” the young girl beamed. She scampered away, dragging Jaken along with her. Kagura made herself comfortable on the log that was set up as camp seating. She tied her hair up in a bun, the way she usually wore it, as the sun drew high and hot in the cerulean sky above. Sesshoumaru took a seat against a mossy tree adjacent to the log.
Kagura half-turned her head in his direction, peering guardedly at him.
“Sesshoumaru.”
He laid his head back against the tree and closed his eyes.
“Yes, Kagura?”
“Thank you.”
“Just don’t give me any reason to slay you.”
At this, she smiled.
“I won’t.”
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Chapter 2
Rin passed skewered fish to each member of the group, Sesshoumaru waving his away and it thus being offered to Kagura. She happily took the extra helping and tore at it ravenously with her teeth. As the morning meal was on its way to digesting, Rin settled in close to Sesshoumaru and all eyes turned to Kagura.
“So, what brings you to our camp, Miss Kagura?” Rin asked.
“Naraku set me free,” Kagura sighed.
“He set you free?” Jaken scratched his head.
“How did this happen, Kagura?” Sesshoumaru inquired. Kagura slid down and planted her bottom on the ground in front of the log she’d been sitting on and leaned against it. She hung her head in an ashamed fashion, avoiding the dog demon’s intense gold stare.
“I’m sure you have no idea what it is to be consumed by fear - with your power, I’m sure you’ve never had occasion to feel the need to look over your shoulder… ever. I decided, finally, if it was my destiny to fall by the hands of Naraku, then so be it. I would find him myself, - face my fate. Die with dignity…”
Dark clouds undulated overhead as Kagura approached the base of the mountain. Naraku smiled smugly at her arrival. She tried her best at being stone-faced despite her terror with little success.
“Kagura, what a pleasant surprise. I have something for you,” Naraku leered.
“I’m sure you do, Naraku. Well, here I am, do your worst,” said Kagura. She stood tall, chest out, face as expressionless as she could manage even in her anticipation of her own death. Naraku held up a beating heart. Perspiration moistened her skin, her eyes growing wide.
‘Is that my heart?’ She thought to herself. He tossed the organ in her direction and she closed her eyes. A thumping sensation filled her chest. She opened her eyes, a sense of relief passing as a sigh. The breath no sooner left her lips when a squeezing pressure took hold of her lungs. She couldn’t breathe, a feeling as though her veins were being gathered into a tight grotesque ball caused her to fall to her knees in agony. The gathering then changed to an outward pushing, as if her insides were going to burst from her skin.
Naraku’s cruel grin expanded.
“You know as well as I do that I could kill you, but this is so much more satisfying. Death would be too easy for you, Kagura. You should suffer more than that. I’ve given you a human heart. Each mortal joy… and inevitable pain shall be yours to know and relish. Enjoy your short and ultimately disappointing existence.”
Kagura, teeth clenched as she continued to bear her pain, lifted her face to Naraku. He held up a second heart for her to see, then crushed it into dust, thin streams of material like grains of sand slipping between his fingers and carrying wispily on the wind.
“You are free now. I have no use for you anymore. Be gone from my sight, your pathos makes me ill,” Naraku commanded. Kagura made her way to her feet and turned from her former master. She plucked a feather from her hair band and tossed it in front of her. It floated away on the breeze. Behind her, Naraku laughed, the sound of his delight echoing into nothingness as his presence dissolved.
‘Huh?’ She thought, ‘I can no longer produce plumes on which to travel?’ She tried again and again. Nothing happened.
“Dance of the Dragon!” She cried, spinning. Still, nothing.
“My powers - Gone!” Tears spilled from her eyes and she collapsed to her knees once more.
“What am I to do now? Where am I to go?”
That was when his gilded eyes flashed through her mind.
‘Sesshoumaru,’ she thought, ‘I must find him. If it is the last thing I ever do, I have to find Sesshoumaru…’
“Didn’t take you long to find us. Awfully lucky, isn’t it, that Naraku dumped you so close to our camp? It seems more than a coincidence if you ask me,” Jaken grumbled.
“Well, no one did ask you did they, you little green eyesore?” Kagura glared.
“Jaken,” Sesshoumaru scolded.
“My apologies, my Lord; my only concern is for you,” Jaken groveled.
“No one need concern for me. Kagura, how did you find me so easily?” Sesshoumaru asked.
“Let’s just say a little flea told me.”
“Myouga? But what reason would he have to help an incarnation of Naraku?”
“It was a happy accident. Apparently his grip isn’t what it used to be in his old age. He fell from the sky - from a crow, he said - and landed on me. He recognized me mid-snack. Found the taste of human blood coming from me a bit curious, naturally, so he asked me what happened. I told him and mentioned I was looking for you. He was quite helpful. Hopped off just as I arrived, said he’d forgotten business he had to attend to.”
Sesshoumaru’s gaze softened briefly.
“Hmm, I’m sure he did.”
Kagura’s mien took on almost comical confusion.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Carry on.”
“I wouldn’t say it was an easy journey here, though it may seem that way. For days I traveled with barely a drink of water - hunger, thirst, tiredness - never did I have such terrible need to satiate those urges.” Kagura moved back up to the log and swept her hair back from her forehead with a shaking hand.
“You will have all the food, water and sleep you need now, won’t she, Lord Sesshoumaru?” Rin smiled up at him.
“She may as well reap the benefits of your care while she’s here,” he replied.
Rin moved from beneath Sesshoumaru’s arm and pulled at Jaken’s robes.
“Come on, let’s go pick some flowers to celebrate Miss Kagura’s arrival!”
“All right, all right - stop tugging at me!” Jaken stood and stumbled, Rin yanking him by the arm as she skipped away.
Kagura shifted her eyes in Sesshoumaru’s direction. He was sitting quietly against the tree, looking at the sky. She pressed her hands against the log with the intention of moving closer to him but hesitated to lift her rump from her seat. Before she could reconsider her motion yet again, Sesshoumaru stood and began to walk.
“Sesshoumaru,” she found herself calling. He turned. A breeze lifted strands of his silky white hair behind him. She was dumbstruck.
“Kagura?” He plied.
“Oh, sorry,” she let out a nervous laugh, “Where are you going?”
“I have some things to attend to. You will be all right by yourself for a while, won’t you?”
“Yes, yes. I’ll be fine. I’ll take a nap or something.”
“Do as you wish.” Sesshouamru turned once again and walked to where Ah-Un was resting. The dragon stood in preparation for his master to groom him. Kagura got up from the log and gathered some foliage to make up a bed for herself. She lay on her makeshift mattress, watching the clouds cross the sky. Her heavy lids eventually closed and she dozed from late morning to mid-afternoon. As evening arrived, another meal of fish was prepared and eaten in uncomfortable silence. Nightfall came and so sleep was supposed to, but it did not come easily. At least not for Kagura.
She sat up and looked around. Sesshoumaru’s companions were sleeping soundly, Jaken with a huge snot bubble growing and contracting with each whistling breath. Sesshoumaru was seated by his mossy tree, facing away from the group and staring into the starry distance. Kagura got up and sauntered over, trying despite her knowledge of the demon Lord’s extraordinary senses to be as quiet as possible. He stirred as she stood behind him and turned his face up at her. His eyes moved over her face and her figure for a breathless measure. There was something remarkable about the way she was framed by the cosmos above.
“You don’t sleep?” Kagura produced a nervous kind of half-smile.
“No. Not often,” Sesshoumaru replied. He turned his face back to the nothing-in-particular he had been staring at. Kagura grinned, observing his beautiful long hair in the moonshine. It was the color of snow reflecting a blue sky in its shadows and looked so silky. How she wanted to touch it but feared the thought of losing her hand more. He wasn’t ready for that… yet. Maybe someday, if he allowed her to stay long enough, maybe she would get the chance.
“Mind if I join you?” Kagura’s voice was shakier than she would have liked, but she was happy to produce any syllables at all.
“As you will.” Sesshoumaru hardly sounded inviting and twitched not a muscle. He remained facing forward, watching the horizon. She plopped down beside him and surveyed carefully his apathetic mien. He turned his head to her and she quickly darted her eyes away. He soon returned his stare to the skyline and thus she hers to his lovely visage. Eternity passed and then Sesshoumaru finally broke through the thick silence which buried them in its hollow quiet.
“Are you happy, Kagura?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you happy? You’re free from Naraku, you are sitting by me in the night. Do those things not make you happy?”
“I suppose they should.”
“And they don’t?”
“They do but… I’m filled with this fear.”
“What are you afraid of, Kagura?”
Kagura sat agog for a moment, her face scrunched.
“You have a lot to sort out. I can tell you this much - as long as you are with us, you have nothing to fear.” He turned and looked into her face, a palpable electricity between them. His hand went to her cheek, his fingers gently tracing her jaw. With her hand, she pushed his to the side of her face. She turned, brushing her lips over the contours of his palm before pressing them into its hot center. Sesshoumaru began to detect a tingling in his nether regions he was unfamiliar with. A pressure was building in his groin. She withdrew her kiss and turned her cheek, losing herself in his honey-amber eyes.
“Sesshoumaru,” she breathed. Her face was drawn to his, as if by a magnet. As she got closer, Sesshoumaru removed his hand from her cheek and turned away. Kagura seemed to choke and dropped her face. She slumped her shoulders and leaned opposite the Lord of the Western Lands, bracing herself by one arm.
“I think I’ll be going to bed now,” she sounded as though she might cry, “Good night.” She stood falteringly and stole one last glance at Sesshoumaru’s face. A pensive expression had somehow burrowed its way through his usually stoic countenance. She turned with a heavy sigh and walked back to her bed. She dropped herself backward and folded her arms over her chest.
“I’m such an idiot,” she moaned softly. She rolled over and closed her eyes.
“Idiot,” she repeated.
Sesshoumaru turned slowly behind him as the words floated to his sharp ears. Kagura’s back was to him but he could tell she was crying by the way her body jerked and shook. He turned forward again, his head drooping.
‘No, Kagura,’ he thought, ‘But you have much to learn. As do I.’
~
Rin cooked breakfast in the morning. More fish. She presented to Kagura the crown of pinkish lilies she had picked with Jaken the day before. It remained proudly worn on the former wind user’s head until the sun wilted the blossoms a few hours later.
Kagura was warm under the virtually cloudless sky when something, or rather someone, obscured her light. Thin strands of silky white tresses tickled her arm. Sesshoumaru’s expression was hidden in his own shadow as he stood leaning between Kagura and the sun.
“You startled me.” She gasped.
“I’m going to have a look around - make sure you weren’t followed.” The dog demon moved from view. Kagura sat up and watched him leave the camp. She viewed the movement of his form under the folds of his kimono and beneath the skirt of his armor. What did that body look like? He was tall and slim-faced but she did not imagine anything that could be described as scrawny was hidden underneath his garb. ‘I’ll bet that ass is perfect,’ she thought to herself.
She laid back , sighing as Sesshoumaru’s glorious presence disappeared from sight. Her light was obscured once more - this time by two figures. Rin had run over with Jaken in tow.
“You really care for Lord Sesshoumaru, don’t you?” Rin beamed.
“Whatever gave you that idea?” Kagura returned. The corners of her mouth turned up involuntarily.
“You know, I believe he really likes you too,” said Rin.
Kagura’s face stiffened.
“What makes you say that?”
“Every time he sees you, he becomes very thoughtful and quiet - even more so than usual. He sits looking at the sky for hours, just thinking,” Rin explained.
“Really?” Kagura raised an eyebrow.
“When you left the last time I told him I thought -”
“Rin, we must get more firewood before our Lord returns,” Jaken interrupted.
“Okay! See you in a little while, Lady Kagura!” Rin smiled and ran off into the trees with Jaken.
‘Lady Kagura. My, that has a nice ring to it.’
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Chapter 3
“What are you afraid of, Kagura?”
Sesshoumaru became a little frustrated when she only scrunched her face and stared instead of answering what should have been a simple question.
“You have a lot to sort out, he had said, I can tell you this much - as long as you are with us, you have nothing to fear.” ‘Not even me,’ is what he wanted to follow with but the words were strange in his head. Not the kind of words a demon such as he should be thinking, especially toward a mortal.
He really didn’t know quite what to make of Kagura or the urges she sparked in him. Never before Rin did he feel compelled to embrace anyone. Never before Kagura could he recall desiring someone the way he had when she kissed his palm. These feelings were ones he was sure he didn’t approve of, but they came anyway. The sick feeling which used to fill his stomach at the mere thought of such affection was slowly fading with time.
‘I’m becoming weak. Like my father. I will not allow myself such an ignoble end.’ Sesshoumaru continued canvassing the area around the camp several times over, lost in thought. What were those sensations he felt the preceding night? Was he too, like his father and brother, capable of falling prey to the charms of a mortal woman?
‘She must go and soon.’
He approached the calm area of the creek in which Rin had been fishing. A mournful melody echoing from the direction of the water purloined his attention. He stealthily passed through the branches and foliage to a group of bushes by the water’s edge. From this cover, he could see Kagura standing with her back to him in the creek. She appeared to be nude, at least what he could see of her from about mid-torso up.
Her hair flowed down past her shoulders, the ends floating on the water like small black snakes. He caught a flash of the side of her left breast when she raised her arms to wash her dark tresses in the fresh water. She continued humming and swayed to her own music, whirling around and facing him with her eyes closed.
She seemed oblivious to his presence so he continued watching, expressionless though he felt that pressure again. She turned away and then faced him again, this time with her eyes open. The position of her arms lifted her breasts just above the water, her hands still in her hair. She curtailed her tune, her mouth open in a sort of stunned ‘O.’
Kagura closed her mouth and dropped her arms into the water with a thin plop. Their eyes connected with a familiar electricity. She took two steps toward him and then dunked herself underwater. She rose and combed her soggy hair back from her face with her fingers. She met eyes with Sesshoumaru again and gave him a sort of come hither look. His expression never changed and, after a few moments, he turned and walked back through the trees.
“I will never understand you,” she said just loud enough for him to hear as he departed, “But then again, I hardly understand myself right now. Maybe I need a human hand in the matter.”
He wasn’t sure that last part was meant for him but he took it anyway. He had an idea of what to do with it.
~
Kagura woke in the middle of the night feeling a hand on her, gently shaking her by her arm. She opened her eyes and focused them on the person causing the disturbance. She saw Sesshoumaru kneeling beside her, his hand still grasping her arm. Somewhere in the distant wakeful world, she could hear the shouts of two familiar female voices.
“I brought you something. Two things, actually,” Sesshoumaru said.
“Hiraikotsu!” One voice called and a thunderous sound approached. Sesshoumaru closed Kagura in his arm and they disappeared in a flash. Her bed was destroyed by Hiraikotsu, the weapon belonging to Sango of InuYasha’s group. Ah-Un picked up Rin and Jaken and flew them to safety.
“Careful Sango, remember that little girl is probably in Sesshoumaru’s camp,” Kagome said.
“I’m sorry,” Sango yelped. Sesshoumaru’s blue sphere of light landed in front of Sango and Kagome and dissipated. He stood Kagura next to him and took his arm from her, laying his hand at Toukijin’s hilt.
“Kagura. What, are you two working together now?” Sango asked. She gripped tight the strap on Hiraikotsu, otherwise looking rather unprepared to battle. Her face was puffy, her eyes sleepy and she was dressed her usual kimono.
“I seem to have neglected not only to elucidate the situation but to disarm the demon slayer, Kagura. I will remedy that mistake if you wish to do the explaining,” Sesshoumaru was a blur as he stole Hiraikotsu from Sango, only taking shape in afterimages as he carried it to the far side of camp. Ah-Un landed where he stood guard with the giant boomerang of demon bone and let Rin and Jaken down. Rin ran and hugged her master. He allowed her to snuggle to him, wrapping his arm around her.
“Damn, now what do we do?” Sango growled. Kagura tied her hair up as if trying to make herself more presentable and then looked thoughtfully at the two girls.
“Kagome, Sango, please don’t be frightened,” She offered, “I mean you no harm and, believe it or not, Sesshoumaru doesn’t wish to hurt you either.”
“Why are you doing this? Why did he take us from our beds in the middle of the night?” Kagome shrieked.
“Listen, I’m sure InuYasha and that monk are on their way here and it’s not going to be pretty when they arrive so - let me give you the short version,” Kagura began. “Naraku, before he exiled me, gave me a human heart in place of my own and it somehow disabled my powers and gave me human feelings I cannot seem to control. I since joined Sesshoumaru and his little group and, I can only imagine, he brought you here because of something I said earlier. I mentioned I might need human help in understanding my new feelings and the resulting turmoil I’ve been dealing with.”
“So, he brought us all the way out here in order to counsel you?” Kagome asked.
“More or less.” Kagura bared her teeth in an embarrassed false smile.
“Okay, well… what are these feelings you speak of? The ones you can’t control?” Sango appeared puzzled. Kagome, on the other hand, did not look the least bit baffled.
“May we sit and speak extremely softly?” Kagura whispered.
“Sure,” Kagome answered. The group of girls sat. Kagura turned around to see how close Sesshoumaru might be, but he was gone. Jaken and Rin sat with Hiraikotsu while Ah-Un stood by watching the girls hold their palaver. Kagura turned back to priestess girl and demon slayer.
“I had better just get to the point. When I’m with Sesshoumaru, I have these urges. I just want to be near him, to touch him… I can’t even believe I’m saying these things out loud. Anyway, some part of me believes he’s at least curious about such feelings because he - well, last night for instance…”
“Go on,” Kagome plied. She and Sango leaned in attentively.
“I told him I was afraid and he touched my cheek as if he wished to comfort me. I had this… ache in my core. I wanted him so much to hold me, I needed to press my lips to his. I attempted to kiss him but he turned away. I felt so stupid. I used to have such reserve. How could I have let this happen?”
Kagome and Sango shared a knowing glance.
“You’re not the only one who has had a problem like this” Kagome sighed.
“What am I to do?” Kagura lowered her head.
“Well, he does care for that little girl,” Sango nodded in Rin’s direction, “Perhaps some part of him has changed. Maybe it’s possible for him to know love now.”
“His and InuYasha’s father fell for a human woman - that’s how InuYasha got here in the first place. It’s possible he inherited more from his father than just his immense power,” Kagome added.
“Today, he saw me bathing in the nearby stream. I turned and there he stood, watching me. I thought it quite sexy when I didn’t hide after having been discovered by him but he simply walked away. When it comes down to it, though, I don’t know which I fear more - Sesshoumaru never wanting me or him actually taking me. If I was to bear his child, would it come out half-demon?” Kagura mushed her face with her hands. Kagome cleared her throat and began going through her pack.
“I may have something to remedy that - as a just in case,” Kagome said with an awkward smile. Kagura took her hands from her face and eyed the priestess girl hopefully.
“If you wish to pursue Sesshoumaru and you actually get somewhere with him, you could have him use one of these.” Kagome held up a flat square object with symbols that read “durex.”
“I brought these back with me a while ago when I thought things were moving forward with InuYasha. I don’t suppose I’ll have the opportunity to use them before they expire the way we go back and forth.”
“What strange and colorful vegetation, how does it work? Is it some kind of love charm?” Kagura asked.
“Sort of,” Kagome blushed, “If you should ever get so close to Sesshoumaru that you might take it to the next level - if you’re sexual attraction is mutual - then you use this,” Kagome paused, looking in the direction of Rin, “You use this to prevent him from sowing his seed, if you get my drift.”
“And how does it do that?” Kagura sneered.
“Well, Sesshoumaru would put this on his,” Kagome paused for censorship, “On his sword and then it‘s safe, you see.” Kagome opened the wrapper and demonstrated on her hand how to apply the “charm.”
“So, which sword does he put it on - Toukijin or Tenseiga?”
“No, you don’t understand. His other sword,” Kagome replied. She discarded the stretchy vegetation she had rolled onto her fingers. Kagura gave her a look of confusion and then leaned in agape.
“I think I understand now how this piece of vegetation works. Thank you, Kagome.” Kagura accepted the durexes and smiled in thanks.
“WIND SCAR!” Another thunderous sound this time followed by light and wind.
“Oh no, InuYasha!” Sango moaned.
Sesshoumaru dashed about, blocking InuYasha’s attacks effortlessly.
“Wait, InuYasha! Don’t hurt anyone!” Kagome called.
“Kagome! I’ll kill you for this, Sesshoumaru! WIND SCAR!" The girls collectively threw themselves into a gallop from where they had been sitting. Ah-Un took Rin and Jaken out of harm’s way again. The mossy tree by which Kagura had felt so close to Sesshoumaru was destroyed in a booming blast.
“InuYasha, SIT BOY!” Kagome screeched. InuYasha was instantly face-planted into the ground in front of Sesshoumaru.
“If your discussion is adjourned, perhaps you two should leave with the cur.” Sesshoumaru replaced Toukijin, retrieved Hiraikotsu and returned it to Sango. He then walked to where his tree had been and stood with his back to the others, his hand gathered in a fist at his side. Kagome and Sango looked at each other and then at Kagura. Kagura smiled sheepishly and nodded. The two girls helped InuYasha up and dragged him out of the all but obliterated camp.
The half-demon’s grumbling and shouting slowly diminished in the darkness. There was apparently some disagreement between he and his female companions as to whether Sesshoumaru and his new companion - Kagura, InuYasha newly learned - deserved to die this night or not.
Sesshoumaru stood observing the smoking fissure where the mossy tree he used to rest by had been. He frowned at the smoldering ruins before him. How did everything culminate into this humiliation?
‘Ridiculous. My camp destroyed by my ignorant half-brother… and all for this woman,’ he cogitated.
He could sense Kagura coming up behind him. He felt such anger he wanted to turn and rip her to shreds with his poison claws - just cut her right down the middle and watch each half fall in opposing directions, her guts spilling out between them. Was that too harsh? For the destruction of the camp, maybe. After all, it had been his decision to bring the girls who had lured InuYasha and his pesky Wind Scar to their location. But for the humiliation of the whole state of affairs - that was grounds for execution.
He tasted the air for Kagura’s position behind him and realized she had stopped so that, if he did turn in attack, she would be just out of his immediate reach.
‘Does the wench read minds?’
“Sesshoumaru… I’m sorry,” she bemoaned.
“We need to move camp somewhere else. This place is no longer suitable.” Sesshoumaru continued to stare ahead.
“Fair enough, where shall we go?” Kagura patted and smoothed her clothes.
“We’ll move to the wooded area by the stream. The calm part. I know you’re familiar with the place. Rin, Jaken, gather any items you care for. Guide Ah-Un, we are going immediately,” Sesshoumaru decreed.
‘She had to know what she was doing earlier in the stream,’ he pondered as they walked, ‘She lured me like a sea-nymph.’ They arrived at their destination and bedded down. The soil that now made their new camp was soft yet well packed. The trees provided some shelter and there were no bugs beyond the grassy area in front of the bank.
Sesshoumaru sat on a log by the water’s edge and settled his gaze on the trees that lined the other side of the stream. He couldn’t help letting his eyes drift down to the water. He pictured Kagura’s song and dance, the way the ends of her hair floated like little black serpents on the surface of the water. That pressure he dreaded - not because he didn’t like it but for reason that he didn’t understand it - returned down below.
He turned his head to look behind him. Jaken and Rin had fallen asleep by the new campfire. Kagura lay staring up at the sky. He turned his face forward again. She was probably waiting for him to ask her what she and InuYasha’s friends talked about. Like he cared… Or did he? It was he that brought them to her aid.
‘It may have appeared to be a kindness - a favor even - but I only did it so that Kagura might more quickly learn to deal with her humanity and leave us for good. I can no longer tolerate this distraction. This feeling.’ “This weakness.” His last thought came aloud.
“Sesshoumaru?” Kagura’s voice was a mere breath.
“Go to sleep, Kagura.” Sesshoumaru didn’t bother to whisper. No reply came but he didn’t think she’d done as he commanded. He turned to look behind him. She was laying on her side, her body kind of crumpled, looking fixedly at him. Through him, even. He turned and sat sideways on the log so he could more easily view and address her.
“Can’t sleep?” Though the question was thoughtful, his voice gave it a matter-of-fact, disinterested quality.
“Apparently not,” she replied, “May I sit with you?”
Sesshoumaru was loathe to respond to that question.
“Sesshoumaru?”
“Do as you please.” He turned his face back to the water, his body following suit.
Kagura got to her feet and padded softly over to the log. She warily planted her bottom on its rough surface, leaving a fair amount of space between she and the dog demon.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“For what?” His eyes shifted toward her. She lowered her head, kicking pebbles from in front of the log.
“For tonight. For last night. For my imposition in general,” she expounded. His eyes returned to the tree-line ahead of them, his claws drumming on the log between he and the irksome woman. She eyed him for a moment or two and then hung her head once again, sighing. She stood up and walked along the water’s edge to a tree whose branches stretched over the water’s face. She reached for a branch and touched some of the leaves, watching how they moved in the breeze.
She let her gaze fall to the surface of the water, the same zephyr rippling it gently. A hand fell upon her shoulder and she turned. Sesshoumaru stood behind her, a yielding expression on his face. His gold eyes connected with hers and his lips parted.
“It does you no good to miss it,” he said.
“Miss what?” Her brow furrowed.
“The wind,” he replied. She turned back to the water.
“You don’t understand,” she breathed.
“Still, thinking about them won’t return your powers. It will only cause you pain.”
“What does it matter to you?” She turned again, glaring with tear-filled eyes.
His stare sharpened.
“It doesn’t.” He returned to his place on the log and continued his watch on the horizon. Kagura’s breath caught in her throat and she leaned back against the tree, eventually sliding down to the ground and landing hard on her rump. She put her face down and hugged her knees, the same little jerks whelming her figure that shook her as she cried herself to sleep the night before.
Sesshoumaru did his best to ignore the sniffling and whimpers that drifted to his ears over the breeze. He looked behind him at his sleeping companions. They were hardly a distraction, even with Jaken's snoring. He was unable to tear his mind away from Kagura’s weeping. He stood from his seat and approached the sobbing woman, kneeling in front of her huddled form.
“Kagura.” He set his fingers on her bare foot. His touch sent a jolt through her and she pulled her hands from her face, her wide crimson eyes meeting his. He moved next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“Will this stop your tears?” He asked. Kagura sniffed hard and wiped her face.
“I think so.” She laid her head at his shoulder.
“Then hold on to me.” He shifted and rested his head against the tree behind them. She slowly slid her arms around the demon Lord and settled her head in the fluff of his mokomoko. Sesshoumaru observed the moon’s passage across the twinkling sky, slumberous Kagura embracing him still as shades of orange swelled from the east.
_______________
I'm on my shitty laptop that has little better connection than my apparently broken desktop does at present. Have no idea how long or what measures it will take to get it fixed - I might have to resort to doing some of the work myself, which could be dangerous as I'm not particularly technically inclined. Anyway, here's the latest edit of Unbound. Hope y'all like.
x
Chapter 4 Prelude
Several months passed and Kagura was ready to burst with child. Sesshoumaru held Kikyou prisoner. He agreed to free her under the condition she act as midwife when it came time for Kagura to birth his child.
The labor was much more excruciating than she had anticipated but the pressure in her belly finally lifted in that last horrible push. She could tell something was wrong by the look on Sesshoumaru’s face. His expression started with wide eyes and slightly dropped jaw. Shock. It then turned sour and his ‘O’ of surprise closed to a sneer. Anger.
“It’s a boy.” Kikyou hardly sounded celebratory.
“What’s wrong? Why won’t you let me see?” Kagura pleaded. Kikyou held the little boy up so Kagura could view him. He was light-skinned and had silvery white hair like his father but something wasn't right. He had little dog ears on top of his head and dark brows like -
“This cannot be. I cannot have a child that mirrors my idiot half-brother so. Not so much like InuYasha. I will not tolerate it.” Sesshoumaru glared. He stood and drew Toukijin. Light burst from him and it raged toward the two women and the child. There was a terrible din as they were enveloped by the light.
Kagura woke with a gasp, sweat pouring down her face. She darted her stinging eyes around the campsite. Neither Kikyou or Sesshoumaru were anywhere to be seen. There was no child. She held a quivering hand in front of her face.
"Get a grip, Kagura," she told herself.
A sharp pain seized Kagura's neck, burrowing into her shoulders. She sat up and examined her surroundings. She was still by the tree where Sesshoumaru had calmed her tears with his embrace.
'Gah, no more sleeping against trees,' she thought. She made her way to her feet and staggered to the campfire.
The only other person around, if one could call him a person, was Jaken. He was silently stoking the fire. He looked up when Kagura approached and averted his eyes when she sat down across from him.
“Where are Sesshoumaru and Rin?” Kagura asked.
“Rin is searching for roots. I don’t know where Lord Sesshoumaru is, he left before I was awake. He is probably on another canvass of the area to make sure you didn’t bring any trouble,” Jaken said.
“What is it with you? Why do you have this attitude toward me? Can you not see that I care for your Lord and that he reciprocates? At least a little bit.” Kagura shook her head.
“I’m only looking out for my master. The last thing he needs is to be distracted by a woman.”
“Oh no, better he be distracted by a young child or a bumbling fool of a servant who are always getting into trouble and needing rescued.”
“Good point and well made, Lady Kagura.” Jaken scratched under his hat. “What is that?” He pointed to the string of connected flat square objects hanging out of the front of Kagura’s kimono.
“Oh, these?” Kagura pulled out the objects. “Kagome gave me these to use with Sesshoumaru.”
“What are they for?” Jaken asked.
“Well, as far as I understand, they’re to protect me from your Lord’s seed. The vegetation contained inside these little packages goes on his-” She eyed Jaken for a second, “On his sword and then I‘m supposed to be safe from his seed being sown.”
Jaken took the objects from Kagura to better view them. He tore one from the many and returned her the rest.
“Interesting. Excuse me.” Jaken got up and walked from the fire. He slipped from view beyond the trees.
“Hmmm,” Kagura said to herself, “Weird little creature.”
Chapter 4
“Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!”
Sesshoumaru heard Jaken crying his name as he drew near to camp. The imp came running like a maniac and, looking every direction but straight ahead, collided with Sesshoumaru’s knees. He fell flat on his back and shook his dazed little green head. He looked up at Sesshoumaru’s irritated expression and struggled to his feet.
“Lord Sesshoumaru!” Jaken ejaculated.
“I heard you the first two times. What is it, Jaken?” Sesshoumaru asked.
“I have something to tell you about Lady Kagura,” Jaken panted.
“What is it? Did something happen to her?”
“It’s true you care deeply for the woman isn’t it, my Lord?”
“You ask such stupid questions, Jaken.” Sesshoumaru shifted his glare up to the sky.
‘My face shows my loss of resolve. The moment I hear of something to be told about ‘Lady Kagura,’ I fall to pieces. Why, Father, of all the useless things I inherited from you did this predisposition to care for others, simply because they concern for me, have to surface?’
“Shall I continue, Lord Sesshoumaru, or do you not wish to know?” Jaken began wringing his little hands.
Sesshoumaru lowered his head and turned away.
“Do as you will, Jaken.”
“I have reason to believe Kagura intends to betray you."
"Go on." Sesshoumaru's head lifted slightly.
"She was gifted by Kagome some kind of charm which you are to put on your sword in order to keep your seed from her.” Jaken held up the parcel he carried with him. The dog demon saw it from the corner of his eye and turned back to Jaken in order to receive it. He held it up and looked at it for a few seconds.
“Did you pilfer this from her without her knowledge?” Sesshoumaru felt a burning in the pit of his stomach.
“No, my Lord. She fed me the information and allowed me to see the charms herself.” Jaken replied, his voice beginning to shake.
“Charms, plural? You mean she has more than one of these?” That burning began to rise.
“Yes, my Lord. She said you are to take the vegetation inside and place it on your sword and then she will be ‘safe.’ Those are the words she used.” Jaken backed up a little.
"How did you manage to acquire this information?"
"I have my ways."
Sesshoumaru turned again.
‘She's been playing me for a fool. All those moments we spent together were a lie. What was she really feeling while she pretended to relish my embrace? How could she sleep fearing I may ravish her in the night?’ His thoughts grew uglier as his stomach churned in a vortex of disgust. He opened the wrapper on the durex, took the slick, stretchy object from the inside and examined it.
“Did she happen to say which sword it was supposed to be applied to?” Sesshoumaru asked without turning.
“No, my Lord but I believe her lack of mentioning it must have indicted your birthright - the Tenseiga.” Jaken replied. Sesshoumaru turned to Jaken and handed him the gooey vegetation. He drew Tenseiga, his eyes moving up and down the blade.
“Jaken,” he knelt down to Jaken’s level and turned Tenseiga’s hilt toward him, “Do you see where that piece of vegetation rolls up?”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Roll it down onto the hilt of Tenseiga.”
“Yes, my Lord!”
“If she truly wants to deter me, so be it.”
~
Rin returned not long after Jaken left, edible roots in hand. Kagura joined her for the chewy breakfast. They each washed in the creek and sat by the fire to dry. Kagura reclined, sighing, and watched puffy clouds cross the brilliant blue overhead.
“You seem to be feeling better. Are you happy?” asked Rin. Kagura’s brow furrowed.
‘Are you happy, Kagura,’ His words reverberated in her mind. The events over the last two nights flashed behind her eyes.
“If happiness is being here with you all, then I suppose I am.” A small smile spread across Kagura’s lips.
“Good,” Rin beamed and lay back herself. She and Kagura dozed by the fire through the afternoon. Rin fished for dinner when the time came and Kagura tried her hand at cooking.
“I’m sorry, Rin. I’m afraid I’m not very good at this.”
“It’s okay, everyone has to learn sometime. I’ll eat the burnt one.”
“Rin?”
“Yes, Lady Kagura?”
“Thank you for being so nice to me.”
“A friend of Lord Sesshoumaru’s is a friend to me.”
~
The bright sky began to dim behind the trees. Sesshoumaru returned to camp with Jaken and sat by Rin, whom was recumbent opposite Kagura.
“Everything all right out there? You were gone a long time,” Kagura noted. Sesshoumaru did not respond, only stared into the flames of the campfire.
“Lord Sesshoumaru, Lady Kagura and I cooked fish and I also found roots for us to eat. Please, have your fill,” Rin smiled.
“I’m not hungry,” Sesshoumaru said. Kagura turned to Jaken, who sat nearer to her.
“What’s wrong with him?” She asked. Jaken only shook his head in reply. As her eyes passed over the demon lord, she noticed a strange film over Tenseiga’s hilt. She recognized that membrane.
“Sesshoumaru, what’s on your sword?” She asked. His eyes stared out from under the white fringe that obscured the majority of his forehead, save for the blue crescent moon right in the middle, and she shuddered.
“Master Jaken, perhaps we should go find more firewood,” Rin stood, “Master Jaken!” Rin pulled at his sleeve.
“All right, all right! I’m coming,” he grouched. The imp and the girl departed from fireside and skittered off into the woods.
“Sesshoumaru, are you all right?” Kagura tilted her eyebrows in concern. Those amber eyes peering at her with such disdain. What had Jaken done?
“Sesshoumaru, please speak to me,” Kagura begged. Sesshoumaru rolled the love charm off the hilt of his sword and tossed it aside.
“You can tell InuYasha’s wench that this charm does not work,” Sesshoumaru ordered.
“Well, in all fairness, it’s not being used the way it is supposed to be,” Kagura swallowed hard, “How did you expect it to work?”
“The way you told Jaken it would work. You have a lot of nerve not trusting me. Last night; the incident at the stream. You behave strangely for a woman who would use a charm with the intention of pushing me away from you.” Sesshoumaru glared.
“All due respect, Sesshoumaru, but that is completely false. That is not what that charm is to be used for at all,” Kagura explained.
“Then how, pray tell, was its use misconstrued?”
“Well, first off, you had it on the wrong sword.”
“Very well then. I put it on Toukijin and then what happens?”
Kagura restrained a smile.
“No. It goes on your other sword, my Lord.”
Sesshoumaru didn’t look amused. Kagura sighed and dropped her head.
“This is so embarrassing.” She touched her hand to her forehead. “This is not the way I wanted this to come about.”
“Wanted what to come about?” Sesshoumaru’s glare sharpened. He lay his hand at Toukijin.
Sweat beaded on Kagura’s forehead and tears welled in her eyes. Sesshoumaru took his hand from Toukijin and laid it in his lap, his expression relenting.
“Kagura,” he plied.
“Sesshoumaru, it should be no secret that I have certain feelings for you and those feelings have not changed. I don’t know what Jaken told you, but if it had been anywhere near the truth-” she broke off and looked into space.
“What is the truth?” Sesshoumaru shifted on his bum, averting his eyes from the former wind sorceress. She got up and walked around the fire. He himself stood, his stoic mien almost faltering as Kagura stopped practically nose to nose with him. Her eyes, the color of blood, glimmered with anguish in the last rays of the sun.
“That is a good question. What is your truth? Be honest with me - completely honest. Would you be this angry if you did not share with me the very feelings you denied you were even capable of just the other day?” She asked. He pressed his lips together between his teeth.
Kagura’s expression neutralized.
“That’s what I thought. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, caring for another person. It doesn’t have to denote weakness; you can turn it into strength. Having such feelings has been known to cause people to fight that much harder, to keep them alive even in the most dire circumstances.”
Sesshoumaru let his lips relax and ran his tongue between them; he made no reply. Kagura wiped her eyes with her hand, smearing tears over her cheeks, which glistened softly in the fading light. She stood tiptoe and boldly pressed her forehead against his, the sweat-soppy fringe over hers giving his a light tickle.
“Sesshoumaru, that charm,” her voice shook, “Is intended to contain your seed so that, should you expel it in me, I do not risk becoming pregnant. That is what that vegetation is used for.” She pulled away and turned from him, folding her arms over her chest. “There, you know the truth,” she concluded. He felt his face tighten into an expression of remorse.
He stepped forward and reached his hand out to her shoulder but hesitated to touch. He could hear her heavy, labored breathing. He took a deep breath of his own and let his hand fall on her shoulder, as it had the night before. She turned and put her arms around his waist, smushing her face into his armor. He closed his arm around her, his hand grazing up and down her side.
“Can this be? Has the great demon, Sesshoumaru, broken his icy veneer to show concern for a pathetic woman?” Kagura mused. He squeezed her in response, laying his head against hers. She lifted her face and met eyes with him again.
His brow furrowed.
“If you want so badly to be intimate with me, then why the charms? Why are you so desperate to block my seed?”
“Because, if I were to bear you a child any part human, you’d slay us both,” Kagura replied. The first stars peeked through the dark cover of night and the moon began to rise. A mild wind tossed Sesshoumaru’s silvery hair behind him, the white moonshine casting over them giving him an almost ethereal quality. She reached her hand out and touched his snowy locks, letting the silky tresses glide between her fingertips.
He sighed softly.
“I can’t say what I would do if you were to have me a half-human child, but I doubt I could find any reason to kill my own progeny… let alone you. If it makes you feel safer, you may keep those love charms,” Sesshoumaru disclosed. Kagura dropped her face in teary laughter and then returned her eyes to his. Gold and crimson met yet again and stared for an eternity. Kagura closed her eyes and lifted her face until their lips touched.
That tingling pressure he’d come to know was overwhelming just then and Sesshoumaru found himself accepting her kisses open-mouthed. His tongue slid by hers and his hand drifted south down her back. She pulled at his cuirass and he slipped it from his body. He permitted her to pull him to the ground and straddle him where the source of his pressure pushed between her legs. She opened her kimono, let the string of small square parcels fall by Sesshoumaru’s side and the layers of garments she wore slide from her shoulders and down her pale arms to his lap. He slid his hand up her torso and over her right breast. She shivered, a heated exhalation escaping her lips. She bent to kiss him again and he let his hand glide over the smooth raised texture of the spider-shaped scar that covered her back.
“Sesshoumaru," Kagura breathed, "I love you. I always have." She slid her hands over his chest under his kimono, which was beginning to open and fall back from him onto the earth. She kissed his neck and he closed his eyes momentarily.
His mind searched the seven centuries he had lived for any likeness to this yearning he felt when she touched him so. Not even for power had he had this desire. He couldn't recall ever letting anyone get so close to him before and it was a little scary, even for a great demon like him. He slid his hand up Kagura’s thigh and let it rest on her naked hip.
“Have you ever been this close to anyone before?” He asked. Kagura moved her face over his and shook her head no.
“Are you afraid?” He queried next. Her face took on apprehension.
“A little,” she replied. He brought his hand up and stroked the side of her face.
“Don’t be,” he whispered and then kissed her lips.
~
“My, he must be really letting her have it,” Jaken said, “Judging from all her carrying on back there.” He and Rin rested by a tree several yards away from camp.
“Master Jaken, it’s very rude to eavesdrop. Besides, you don’t really think he’d hurt Lady Kagura, do you?” Rin started to turn to look behind the tree they were sitting against but realized she couldn’t see back as far as the camp.
“Whatever she deserves, Kagura will get what’s coming to her.” Jaken replied.
~
A cool breeze licked at their sweat and saliva sticky skin. Sesshoumaru wrapped he and Kagura in his mokomoko, which provided them a pillow at the point where it stretched between them. They curled their bodies under the fur’s shelter and faced each other. Kagura slid her hand over to Sesshoumaru’s and locked her fingers with his.
“Am I imagining things? Are you smiling?” she questioned, “I mean, it's barely perceptible, but I think it's there. I don’t think I have ever seen you smile before.”
“I smile when the situation warrants it,” he replied. She grinned and sighed sweetly. Her eyes fell to what remained of his left arm. It stopped just below his shoulder. He looked to the same place, then returned his regard to her face.
“What?"
“Doesn’t it hurt to lay on it like that?” She wrinkled her nose.
“No, it doesn’t bother me. Does it bother you?”
“What, to watch you lay on it?”
“In general.”
“No, but that looks painful. InuYasha did that, didn’t he?” Kagura let go of Sesshoumaru's hand and touched her fingertips to the muscular stub where his arm had been, then traced her fingers down his chest.
“Yes, he did," he answered.
“I can see why you would want to take his life, but he is fighting for a noble cause and I’m sure whatever quarrel you had between you then is small in comparison to what you’re after now. You’re both fighting on the same side - against Naraku.” Kagura lifted her hand to Sesshoumaru’s face and touched his cheek.
“But no more talk of that. I want to enjoy this moment as long as I can. I wish we could stay like this forever.”
“But we can’t. Not only are Rin and Jaken still out in the woods, lacking sufficient protection, but there is the matter of Naraku to discuss. You know I have to deal with him and you being with me is no doubt going to complicate things.” Sesshoumaru mimicked her gesture of affection, taking Kagura’s hand and locking fingers with her again.
“How do you figure?” Her stare hardened.
“Well, for one, we shouldn’t assume because he exiled you that it really means you are no longer bound to him in any way. For all we know, he may have planned all this from the beginning. We’re likely playing right into his hands.” He took his eyes from hers and regarded their interlocking digits.
“You think he planned for this to happen?” She raised her eyebrows.
“Perhaps. Is it so farfetched that Naraku might have wanted to use you to get to me?”
“Or you to get to me.” Kagura’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean?” Sesshoumaru’s own eyes amplified. Kagura sat up and let the mokomoko slide from her body.
“If Kagome had not given me those charms-” She stopped mid-sentence.
“Kagura?”
“It all makes sense now... If he was thinking the same thing I feared before. What if he gave me this human heart knowing it would turn me human - at least some part human - and that there would be a chance I could thus have a part human child? If we had been together without Kagome giving me that special vegetation, it is likely I would have conceived your child. It's possible he saw at least part of this coming. If that was his twisted plan all along, he expected you to kill me.” Kagura covered her gaping mouth with her hand. Sesshoumaru sat up, the part of the fur which covered him falling away, and touched the burn-scar on her back. She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut briefly.
“He would want me to be at the height of happiness before I watch the only man I have ever loved destroy me... and the child he'd given me. And here I am, powerless to defend myself against anything,” Kagura lamented.
“Nothing like that will happen. You have my word. I will protect you,” Sesshoumaru said. She turned her crimson eyes to his golden regard, unbelieving. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly, a tiny laugh escaping her lips.
Sesshoumaru sighed.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like to suddenly discover the powers you relied on so heavily are gone - stolen. I understand why you mourn them.” His hand slid down her back and off her buttocks as she rose to her feet. She bent, picked up the free end of the mokomoko and wrapped it around her slim body. She walked into the night zephyr; it blew the loose pieces of her hair behind her and rippled through the fluff of the mokomoko.
“Only when I step into the wind. Only then do I think I would trade anything in the world to have my stolen abilities returned.” She turned and faced Sesshoumaru again, her hair winding around her face.
She tucked her billowing locks behind her ear.
“Anything but this.” She smiled, closing the distance between she and the demon Lord.
She dropped the fur, took his face into her hands and pressed her lips to his. He curled his hand around the nape of her neck and fell backward with her against him. The wind caressed their bodies as they lay in each other’s encirclement under the journeying moon.
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Story expansion continues...