Disclaimer: Not mine.
"I'm going to do what?" The shriek of a banshee was heard reverberating throughout the campsite. Demons lifted their heads from various tasks, eyes widening with surprise. In a time of war, everyone was expected to quietly do their job so as not to give away position.
Well, to heck with that. Little did they know, the chance to end of a war of a thousand years was now dangerously close to being blown to bits by a certain wind sorceress.
"I am not going to do this! No fricking way!" Kagura paused, panting, her eyes glittering wildly. "I absolutely refuse to even entertain this idea! Yura!" She turned to her assassin friend, seeking help. "Tell her she's stark raving mad!"
"Sango, you are stark raving mad." Came the deadpanned obedience. Yura didn't even look up from picking strands of hair out of her comb.
"...Not helping!"
"Please, Kagura. Listen to me." Sango, a demon hunter and accomplice of the southern-based renegades, placed a calming hand on the angered demon's shoulder.
"Sango! Listen to yourself! You can't be serious!"
"That's where you're wrong. I am serious. Kagura, this is a chance to end the war." Sango's eyes glittered with tears. "This is a chance to end the slaughter. Do you really want to sacrifice more people?"
"I..." At this, Kagura looked off to the side. Though she was easily angered and quick to speak, that didn't mean Kagura didn't think. She knew that Sango had a point.
Ever since she was a tiny girl, Kagura had been aware of the fighting around her. You would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to. Battles were fought every week, ending in pointless bloodbaths that only served to lead to more arguing. Wives without husbands, brother without sisters, parents without children: not a single family hadn't been affected. For every child being born there were two adults dying. The renegades didn't know if the other side was suffering the same casualties or not. All they knew was that a great clan, thousands of years old, was quickly becoming extinct from the thousand-year war.
And the worst part of all: no one could remember why they were fighting.
Kagura sighed. She trusted Sango with her life, but she knew the order had come from her father. And Kagura did not trust her father at all.
It was more like she hated him with all her being. He was a greedy man who sought to boost his own power by killing others. He had held on to his position as leader of the southern renegades by murdering those who stood in his way. He never did anything without some underhanded plan, something that no one else but Kagura would see. This was undoubtably one of those times.
Still, this seemed a little odd, even for him. He'd always kept a closed fist around his daughter Kagura and her life, so why on earth would he propose that she marry the opposite side's prince?
Whatever the reason, Kagura decided to make sure she found out. Her life, the prince's life, and the future of the clan as a whole could rest in the balance.
Two hundred or so miles away, Sesshoumaru was quaking in silent anger. His fists were clenched and he could feel his claws biting into his skin. He didn't feel pain, however. He was numb to anything but the blood seeping between his fingers. It plopped on the floor, staining the massive white youkai hide that lay there. Furls of acidic smoke twisted up from where his blood burned through.
"Sesshoumaru, you must understand."
"There is no logic here."
A taller youkai stood opposite of him. It was not hard to see that they were related: similar tribal marks adorned their cheeks and the same silvery hair spilled over their shoulders. The older one was a man of knowledge and strength, the younger of power and cunning. They were father and son, although they looked ready to engage in battle at the moment.
"Sesshoumaru, I have requested many things of you in your lifetime. You have obeyed each flawlessly, bringing me great pride. I wish to request one more thing of you, one more before you live your own life, and you refuse?"
"What you ask cannot be done." Sesshoumaru loosened his fists, letting the wounds heal over smoothly. He flexed his claws slowly, feeling the bones snap into place. "This is absurd."
"Is it so absurd to end a war?" His father's voice lost its diplomatic edge and fell into something akin to quiet desperation. "Is it so absurd to end this holocaust?"
"You are asking me to give myself to a heathen. I cannot do that."
"Sesshoumaru, I assure you- you will not be required to give any more than you are comfortable." His father chuckled.
"That is not what I meant."
"And she is far from a heathen," he continued, seeming to ignore his son's uneasy argument. "She has fine blood in her. You will not be disgraced. You are my eldest."
"Why can't InuYasha marry her?" Sesshoumaru asked before falling silent. He had almost become the whining brat that his brother was.
"Because he is far too rash and would not understand."
"Please, Sesshoumaru," a woman in the corner spoke up for the first time. "Please. For your people's sake, not your father's."
Sesshoumaru regarded her coldly for a moment before turning back to his father.
"Your wish shall be fulfilled, father." He said stiffly. "But remember this: the day will come when I will ask something of you for the first time in my life. I ask that you not turn your shoulder on your son when that day arrives."
With that, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving silence in his wake.
The sun was setting, smoothing radiant colors out over the hills of the renegades' land. It had remained untouched by the war as it was the core of the clan's kingdom, creating a haven of sorts for those unable to fight. For Kagura, it was what she viewed as a last breath of fresh air before she sold herself away. She would be leaving at dawn for the Western Lands. She had spent the entire day preparing herself for a new life, a new role, and even a new personality: her father had instructed her on the person she was to become.
"If you are bitter, you will ruin the plan," were his exact words. Kagura got the feeling that they were burned in her mind permanently. They floated over the surface of all her other thoughts and clouded her vision.
Gods, she hated him.
She wished everything was simple. She wished all she had to do was shake the hand of this "Sesshoumaru" and be done with it. She didn't even know what he looked like, much less what his attitude was, and she would be wed to him by the time the sun set again. It really didn't matter what he was like, but it would have been nice to know what her husband...
No, she was being silly. Who cared what the man was like? He was probably an exact match for every other powerful male she'd ever met. He would be corrupted, selfish, and interested in one thing: making everything he didn't have his. Kagura would be damned if she would let him have her.
That was her last stand, wasn't it? If everything else fell apart, she would not let him control her. She would remain headstrong and independent to the last of her days. She had sworn it angrily to Yura and Sango after she had met with her father. She had been in a rage...
Memory-
"You are to do everything he says. Everything. If he tells you to organize a desk, do it without complaint. If he tells you to work with the servants, do it without biting remarks. Make yourself his possession, make it so he will think you are utterly obedient."
"I'm not sleeping with him." Kagura had told her father that ask soon as he stopped for a breath, making it perfectly clear what she thought of this plan. "And I'm not going to polish any shoes over there."
"You will do as he asks," came her father's threat-laced reply. "And you will do it flawlessly."
Present-
Kagura ran a hand slowly over the grass, watching the ripples of air that sped off. Though by far not the most powerful in her clan, she did possess the unique power to control the wind almost perfectly. It came as naturally to her as lying did to her father, and the power had saved her life more than once.
As soon as she entered the Western courts, however, she supposed she would be required to keep it locked away. Without the wind to guide her, though, Kagura knew she'd feel almost... naked. Wind helped balance her, gave her bearings, stabilized her. It could be a weapon or a comfort, whichever she sought at the moment. It had never not been at her beck and call, and she was not looking forward to containing it.
"Kagura?" Sango's low voice broke the cloud of thoughts in Kagura's head. "Kagura, may I sit by you?" Kagura nodded her consent, not bothering with words. Sango walked over to her, the familiar pit-pat of her feet sounding in Kagura's ears.
"I'll miss you." Sango's words were clipped and basic with not even the slightest flux of emotion within them. They were not flat, however, and Kagura knew she meant them with all her heart.
"Yeah. I know."
There you have it. Short, stupid, and badly written. BUT! BUT! BUT! I swear the next chapter will be way better. Why?
Because Kagura and Sesshoumaru will meet.
Be prepared, everyone. It's going to get messy.
(Review?)
FL