Disclaimer: As much as I wish to own Sesshomaru, I do not. Nor do I own anything that pertains to the wonderful anime Inuyasha.
Thoughts are with hyphen in front of it.
----
Chapter 1: Pulled Back
She felt like she was floating toward a destination that was out of her knowledge and control.
She felt light, light like the air, light like the wind, and light like the translucent atmosphere surrounding her body.
Her body?
What body? She did not have one.
She had no physical body. It was just a feeling of being. She did not know what or who she was. She just was.
She had died.
She had died, yet she did not know it. She did not know what life was, and she did not know that she once lived it.
Was there a difference?
She still saw, still heard, still knew, still felt, still understood.
She felt the emptiness, but it wasn't a void. There was substance in that emptiness. A substance she had never known before, but its presence was predominating and was refusing any ignorance of it.
She saw a world, a different world, a world of oblivion. An oblivion that bore the earthly image of which she might have known once. It was a grotesque imitation with blurry shades of grayness that mimicked imperfectly its more colorful and livelier counterpart.
She heard the churning wind surrounding her wailing the most eerie cry mourning a loss. The echo it cast reverberated back and forth through her being, sometimes with the most disturbing and diabolical whisper that made her cringe back from an unrecognizable fear.
And she understood. She was in a place. It was a place that was a mere manifestation of her own memory of somewhere she knew before. It seemed that there was something in that place that she held on dearly even though she was already denied access.
But it was that something that was pulling her back; it was that something that was binding her to the memory of that place.
And she suddenly realized. There were only two things her fading memory could vaguely recall.
Freedom and Love!
Freedom? It sounded foreign to her. It was the one thing she never had. It was a hopeless endeavor and was beyond even the reach of her dream. No, it was not that thing that was pulling her back to that place. Because in that place, she did not have freedom.
Could it be love then? Love? What love? Was she capable of love? Was anyone capable of loving her?
And she suddenly knew! It was him. It was Sesshomaru! It was her love for him that was pulling her back.
Her undying desire for his love was so fervent that it would not allow her to drift into the oblivious and hellish realm away from that place; the place where she knew she would find him.
---
Chapter 2: Giving Up
At the realization that there was a person called Sesshomaru, a person that she once loved and still loved, all the memories flushed back through her mind.
Sesshomaru, he was a beautiful and powerful demon who had denied both to assist her and her assistance to him. He did not show any emotion towards her even if it would save his life to do so. He was so cold, distant, and so indifferent to her feelings no matter how much it hurt her, and he wouldn't even care if it did.
It was an unrequited love. It was a love in vain.
The object of her love was a cold solitude, an individual who knew no compassion or kindness. He resided in a distance concealed within an icy shroud freezing to the touch. His heart was unreachable.
It was like the freedom she sought in her living days, his love was just another illusion only existed in her dreams.
She could not obtain it when she had lived.
In that dying moment, the separation between the realm of this unknown place and the world of the living had turned the obtainment of that love into a despair with inconsolable sadness.
She was saddened by the memory. She closed her vision to the scene before her as an unnamed fury penetrating through the very fabric of her being.
The Wind Sorceress had given up all hope.
Her heart, if she did have one at the moment, felt like it was squeezed tightly. She felt her formless existence crumbled inward into an even more unrecognizable shape.
And when she gave back to her vision the freedom to behold, there was nothing but darkness.
Darkness engulfed her. A chilling darkness that froze her into an apprehensive submission.
She felt her spirit slowly disintegrated into an unknown realm far and beyond that place. Her memory was starting to fail her.
That was when the pain clawed her.
It was not the kind of scratches upon the superficial surface of her skin. The claws ripped her spirit apart. As she felt her spirit slowly restored into whole again, the invisible claws regenerated its sinister action ripping through her again.
The cycle repeated itself over and over and over again. The pain and the agony it caused was incessant.
She couldn't fight back and she couldn't escape. There was an invisible hand that bound her to that eternal suffering and would not let go.
In the mid of that unceasing pain, she felt emotionally drown. She felt emotionally cheated.
What did she have when she lived?
Nothing. Nothing but pain. Nothing but having been a slave and even stripped off of only one hope of being loved
And What did she have when she died?
Nothing. Nothing but pain. Nothing but pain, spiritual and emotional pain, and no trace of being loved.
She screamed. Her tormenting scream echoed into the wind and cast its shadow unto the universe with a sad melody pervading all space.
----
Chapter 3: His Understanding
And there, in that darkness, she suffered the eternal cursing of the Netherworld alone.
On the night of Naraku's death, Sesshomaru stood on a steep cliff with his unfathomable golden eyes gazing at the dark sky above with only a few scattered stars. Even the moon was too sad to show its presence. Tendrils of the invisible wind carried a few small white feathers prancing to and fro in the vacuum of space.
- Kagura.
The thought of her never evaded his mind. It had been with him since the first time she demanded his assistance for her freedom. And it had clung to him with an even stronger conviction after her death.
Because from the first time she revealed her wish for freedom to him, he understood.
He understood the Wind Sorceress.
The Wind Sorceress. A woman who had no reason for being. Her life persisted for reasons of others who always sought to exploit her. She was born without the right to live by her own free will.
The Wind Sorceress. A woman who, against all adversity, would suffer through every moment of that life to find her freedom, to find her reason for being, and to find love.
The enigmatic Wind Sorceress. A woman who had always been associated with evil by the cursed spider mark on her back. Yet, she would spend the last moment of that life to save a kid; a kid who offered her no benefit; a kid who had no association to her in anyway; a kid who only had association with her considered enemy.
The Wind Sorceress. A woman who did not care how others perceived her. She did not pretend to live up to the ideal of philanthropy. Yet, in the end, even without a heart, her action could match the most altruistic person on earth.
She was just like him.
She was just like him, yet much stronger.
She was stronger. For in the end, she had proven that she could accomplish a moral action that her will had always desired, even without the awesome power like his, even without the freedom to do it, and even at the cost her life.
And he had denied his assistance to her.
He denied that assistance because he did not know if he could fulfill it. The great demon would rather come across as a cold and unconcerned individual than making a promise he might not be able to keep.
But did he not advise her against the thought of betraying Naraku? Because he knew she did not have the power to carry out that action.
But did she not realize?
Did she not know? That all that time, he was hunting Naraku down with a fierce determination.
He vowed to destroy Naraku. And for what reason did he have to destroy that filthy vermin?
The reason was simple.
It was his silent promise to her.
It was for her freedom. It was for her heart. It was for her sake.
---
Chapter 4: His Conviction
Sesshomaru traveled through the night to the border between the world of the livings and the land of the deads. He landed softly on a boulder of the rocky hill above the tunnel that lead to the cave which housed the gate to the Netherworld.
At that moment, the lamenting wind wailed a mourning whisper of dread. It echoed a familiar name. It caressed gently on his hair and his freezing expression with loving tenderness, a kind of caress only a devoted lover could bestow upon the one she dearly loved.
As if by an invisible and unbreakable bond, at that moment, he felt her agony penetrating him.
- The Wind Sorceress Kagura, this Sesshomaru had let you down.
His mind cringed at the repulsive implication of his thought. He, the proud daiyoukai Sesshomaru, would not be able to live it down.
If only that woman could live just a little bit longer, just a little bit longer to see Naraku's demise.
If only he could see her peaceful smile one more time, the peaceful smile that she left for him before her depart.
If only he could see her hand holding tenderly the freedom she never had.
If only he could see her gliding through the air glancing back at him and proudly exclaiming that "I am the wind."
The Tenseiga could not carry out his will to save her on the day of her passing. It was a conundrum he was not able to unravel.
He had deemed the sword as useless before. After that day and its disobedience, its uselessness seemed to be exaggerated. He had even tried to abandon it after the Meido was stripped away.
He could not understand; not until the moment when Byakuya was contented in his death; not until Byakuya revealed that he would have been dead along with Naraku because he was just part of that vermin.
Not until then that Sesshomaru understood why he could not save her with his Tenseiga.
Because she did not have her own body; she did not have her own soul; and she did not have her own life force.
Everything about her was just an extension of that filthy mass that called itself Naraku. And when Naraku wasn't dead, her own death was just a discard of one very small piece of ... that thing.
Sesshomaru closed his eyes to the world around him so he could feel the embrace of the lamenting wind, and could absorb the melancholy from its touch.
Just for a brief moment.
After that brief moment, he stepped off the boulder he had been standing on. He carried his graceful stride into the tunnel and disappeared into its grim darkness.
It would be tried.
That day, it would be tried. Even if he must turn the whole Netherworld up side down to try it, he would.
For he was Sesshomaru.
For he was the one she trusted; the one she relied upon in her endeavor to attain her right to life and the freedom that should come with it.
As the gate to the Netherworld was opened by the keepers who subserviently submitted to the dim glow of the Tenseiga in his hand, he walked confidently into its light with his mind clutching on to one resolute conviction.
-Kagura. I, Sesshomaru, shall not allow your death to be a death in vain.
----
Chapter 5: And His Love
Sesshomaru was never aware of her love for him. He had always thought that she had merely wanted to use him for her own benefit.
But it did not matter what her intention was. Sesshomaru only and had always cared about his own intention.
And all he cared at the moment was that he wanted to see her.
He wanted to her to live, live as free as the wind, live to spread the spirit of that wind embracing the seasons and spaces of the earth, live to be entwined into the wonderful rhythm of being and to be saturated with the happiness of life; to truly live a life she had never had, not a mere miserable existence like her last attempt.
When his mother mentioned the words "sorrow and regret", he had known. He had known that the odd feelings invading his heart on the day Kagura left were the exact feelings of that sorrow and regret.
And in the moment that he was almost defeated by that evil spirit Magatsuhi, the thought of her infiltrated his mind as a strange force of energy spread through out his body.
Her smile was what gave him the power to overcome.
At he walked through the darkness of the Netherworld looking for a trace of the Wind Sorceress, the thought of her death broke his heart.
He wanted a chance; a chance to cradle her in his arms; a chance to caress her lips and taste the sweetness on them with his own; a chance to feel the free wind brushing against his body in a summer night under the crescent moon's illusory dreaminess.
Just a chance, a chance to show her love.
Because he had known, he had known what Kagura was.
What Kagura was, was the one he loved.
----
Chapter 6: Her Undying Love
She could feel her spirit slipping away, disintegrating into an irresible darkness.
As she felt her last string of endurance broke under the suffering caused by the merciless pain clawing at her spirit, she could hear her soul screamed one last scream, one last tender scream of his name, "Sesshomaru."
With the sound of that name, she continued to be. She continued to strugge despite the suffering of agony.
Her spirit was unbroken with an undying desire to love.
In that darkness,
He could feel the pulse of her wind whispering his name.
And he could feel her soul.
A soul? But how could it be?
She did not have her own soul. That was the reason why he was not able to use his Tenseiga on that day.
All reason and logic put aside, he followed the scent of the agony that threatened to crush her soul.
She was there, crumbled into a formless shape, tortured with an invisible claws mocking at her spirit, her heart squeezed tightly bestowing incessant pain.
It was only the essence of her that he recognized.
"Kagura!" He called to her.
He called to her with a tone endowed with all the sympathy and compassion combined from over the 500 years of his existence.
At that sound, the clawing pains suddenly and miraculously disappeared. Because the torture was a manifestation from the darkness of her own heart. It was a deed from her own frustration. She was suffering from her own fury and her own vexation, the predominant feelings she harvested from her previous bitter life.
At that sound, the formless clout of her spirit congealed into the shape of the Wind Sorecress. A dim halo glowed around her figure as it illuminated her face showing her lips spreading a gentle smile.
Love had successfully taken over the hatred that she bore.
She was finally at peace. Her soul was ready to take its leave.
The Tenseiga pulsed and bright glow as her spirit gathered and slowly floated away from where he was.
He had found her soul.
But there was no body.
There was no body for him to scoop into his arms to carry her away from the irksome grimness of that Netherworld.
He was ready to jump forward to grab at her non-physical soul. However, he was stopped by the second pulse of the Tenseiga.
He looked pensively at the sword. He could feel that his demonic energy was being tugged strongly with each pulse of the life-giving sword.
He understood.
A whirl that was a part of his demonic energy started to spring forth from his body. It moved toward her and engulfed her soul completely into its embrace. The Tenseiga in his hand pulsed vehemently one last pulse as it pulled on her soul that was buried deep within the field of his demonic energy.
Together in one flash, her soul and its protection disappeared into the sword's blade.
The Tenseiga became quiet again as it was contented to be carried by its master back to the gate that separated the deadly Netherworld and the lively earth beyond.
----
Chapter 7: A Mark Of Freedom
Sesshomaru came back to the burial ground of where the vermin Naraku fell the day before.
With the force of his power, he gathered the particles of Narku's body into the appearance of the Wind Soreceress. And into that physical body, he swung the Tenseiga releasing her soul along with his protective demonic power.
At the magical spell of the Tenseiga and the will of its master, the warmth of life started to course through the lifeless body that was still lying on the earthly ground.
Before she came into consciousness, he had carried her to a crystalline lake bordered by fields of purple blossoms from all 4 sides.
He was determined that she would wake up beholding tranquility, beholding nature, beholding beauty, and beholding peace.
Thus, in that field of dream, the Wind Sorcress Kagura entered back to life.
She sat up, her hands running smoothly on the new silky fabric of her kimono as she looked around at the fields of flowers surrounding her. Instantly, she felt her vivacious heart pulsing through her being spreading a vibrant life force.
Kagura stepped into the pristine lake before her. From all around her, she could discern a familiar scent, a fresh and beautiful scent. It was the scent that she once had loved.
It was him. It was Sesshomaru!
With a charming smile, she turned around expecting to see him. To her dismay, there was no Sesshomaru. The fragrance that she sensed was just her own.
-Hm, in this place, this beautiful place, alone!
She thought to herself as she dipped her whole body down in the lake. The water was warm and pleasing that she almost forgot to come out.
She finally came out of the water and stepped onto the land. As she put her kimono on, an image on her back caught her eyes.
- Hm, the cursed spider mark! How could I forget that?
She turned and looked over her shoulder.
No, it was not the mark of the spider. It was a mark of a crescent moon.
She lowered her head and let out a sigh, feeling her sarcastic and smug attitude resuming in her thought.
After she finished tying the obi of her kimono, she said to herself,
"So Kagura, you will always bear a mark of possession, hah? How pathetic!"
She planned to make a step forward not knowing where she would be going. Suddenly a slight rustle of wind rushed into her carrying a new but familiar scent engaging her attention to it. She turned her face up to look.
And there he was, as exactly as how she remembered him, as princely as how she remembered him, and as unreadable as how he had always been.
"Sesshomaru?" She greeted him with a confusing excitement.
He did not answer her. He stood gazing at her for a long moment. He was trying to understand something.
And he finally understood.
It was love, it was her undying love.
It was her experience of love that separated her from Naraku. It was that sacred feeling; a sacred feeling that was against everything that Naraku stood for; a sacred feeling that had disconnected her from that vermin and had formed for her an indivisible and distinctive soul.
That was how the Tenseiga had finally been able to save her with the life force of his demonic power entwined in its magic.
"Kagura, that is not a mark of possession. It is a mark of my love. It is a mark of my protection. A mark of freedom."
There was no more communication after those words. No more communication was needed.
There was only the melodious voice of the wind in the air. It whispered into their minds an unspoken desire, and united the beats of their hearts into a new rhythm.
A new rhythm of life.
A new rhythm of love.
---The End.
And he scooped her up into his arms and flew over a wooded forest where the tree tops were still covered with the purest snow flakes of the winter dawn.
Yup, it was spring just now in the field of the purple blossoms, and like just a moment later, it became winter with snow, Ok? And I wish that I was Kagura instead of Kagura being Kagura. :)
Thoughts are with hyphen in front of it.
----
Chapter 1: Pulled Back
She felt like she was floating toward a destination that was out of her knowledge and control.
She felt light, light like the air, light like the wind, and light like the translucent atmosphere surrounding her body.
Her body?
What body? She did not have one.
She had no physical body. It was just a feeling of being. She did not know what or who she was. She just was.
She had died.
She had died, yet she did not know it. She did not know what life was, and she did not know that she once lived it.
Was there a difference?
She still saw, still heard, still knew, still felt, still understood.
She felt the emptiness, but it wasn't a void. There was substance in that emptiness. A substance she had never known before, but its presence was predominating and was refusing any ignorance of it.
She saw a world, a different world, a world of oblivion. An oblivion that bore the earthly image of which she might have known once. It was a grotesque imitation with blurry shades of grayness that mimicked imperfectly its more colorful and livelier counterpart.
She heard the churning wind surrounding her wailing the most eerie cry mourning a loss. The echo it cast reverberated back and forth through her being, sometimes with the most disturbing and diabolical whisper that made her cringe back from an unrecognizable fear.
And she understood. She was in a place. It was a place that was a mere manifestation of her own memory of somewhere she knew before. It seemed that there was something in that place that she held on dearly even though she was already denied access.
But it was that something that was pulling her back; it was that something that was binding her to the memory of that place.
And she suddenly realized. There were only two things her fading memory could vaguely recall.
Freedom and Love!
Freedom? It sounded foreign to her. It was the one thing she never had. It was a hopeless endeavor and was beyond even the reach of her dream. No, it was not that thing that was pulling her back to that place. Because in that place, she did not have freedom.
Could it be love then? Love? What love? Was she capable of love? Was anyone capable of loving her?
And she suddenly knew! It was him. It was Sesshomaru! It was her love for him that was pulling her back.
Her undying desire for his love was so fervent that it would not allow her to drift into the oblivious and hellish realm away from that place; the place where she knew she would find him.
---
Chapter 2: Giving Up
At the realization that there was a person called Sesshomaru, a person that she once loved and still loved, all the memories flushed back through her mind.
Sesshomaru, he was a beautiful and powerful demon who had denied both to assist her and her assistance to him. He did not show any emotion towards her even if it would save his life to do so. He was so cold, distant, and so indifferent to her feelings no matter how much it hurt her, and he wouldn't even care if it did.
It was an unrequited love. It was a love in vain.
The object of her love was a cold solitude, an individual who knew no compassion or kindness. He resided in a distance concealed within an icy shroud freezing to the touch. His heart was unreachable.
It was like the freedom she sought in her living days, his love was just another illusion only existed in her dreams.
She could not obtain it when she had lived.
In that dying moment, the separation between the realm of this unknown place and the world of the living had turned the obtainment of that love into a despair with inconsolable sadness.
She was saddened by the memory. She closed her vision to the scene before her as an unnamed fury penetrating through the very fabric of her being.
The Wind Sorceress had given up all hope.
Her heart, if she did have one at the moment, felt like it was squeezed tightly. She felt her formless existence crumbled inward into an even more unrecognizable shape.
And when she gave back to her vision the freedom to behold, there was nothing but darkness.
Darkness engulfed her. A chilling darkness that froze her into an apprehensive submission.
She felt her spirit slowly disintegrated into an unknown realm far and beyond that place. Her memory was starting to fail her.
That was when the pain clawed her.
It was not the kind of scratches upon the superficial surface of her skin. The claws ripped her spirit apart. As she felt her spirit slowly restored into whole again, the invisible claws regenerated its sinister action ripping through her again.
The cycle repeated itself over and over and over again. The pain and the agony it caused was incessant.
She couldn't fight back and she couldn't escape. There was an invisible hand that bound her to that eternal suffering and would not let go.
In the mid of that unceasing pain, she felt emotionally drown. She felt emotionally cheated.
What did she have when she lived?
Nothing. Nothing but pain. Nothing but having been a slave and even stripped off of only one hope of being loved
And What did she have when she died?
Nothing. Nothing but pain. Nothing but pain, spiritual and emotional pain, and no trace of being loved.
She screamed. Her tormenting scream echoed into the wind and cast its shadow unto the universe with a sad melody pervading all space.
----
Chapter 3: His Understanding
And there, in that darkness, she suffered the eternal cursing of the Netherworld alone.
On the night of Naraku's death, Sesshomaru stood on a steep cliff with his unfathomable golden eyes gazing at the dark sky above with only a few scattered stars. Even the moon was too sad to show its presence. Tendrils of the invisible wind carried a few small white feathers prancing to and fro in the vacuum of space.
- Kagura.
The thought of her never evaded his mind. It had been with him since the first time she demanded his assistance for her freedom. And it had clung to him with an even stronger conviction after her death.
Because from the first time she revealed her wish for freedom to him, he understood.
He understood the Wind Sorceress.
The Wind Sorceress. A woman who had no reason for being. Her life persisted for reasons of others who always sought to exploit her. She was born without the right to live by her own free will.
The Wind Sorceress. A woman who, against all adversity, would suffer through every moment of that life to find her freedom, to find her reason for being, and to find love.
The enigmatic Wind Sorceress. A woman who had always been associated with evil by the cursed spider mark on her back. Yet, she would spend the last moment of that life to save a kid; a kid who offered her no benefit; a kid who had no association to her in anyway; a kid who only had association with her considered enemy.
The Wind Sorceress. A woman who did not care how others perceived her. She did not pretend to live up to the ideal of philanthropy. Yet, in the end, even without a heart, her action could match the most altruistic person on earth.
She was just like him.
She was just like him, yet much stronger.
She was stronger. For in the end, she had proven that she could accomplish a moral action that her will had always desired, even without the awesome power like his, even without the freedom to do it, and even at the cost her life.
And he had denied his assistance to her.
He denied that assistance because he did not know if he could fulfill it. The great demon would rather come across as a cold and unconcerned individual than making a promise he might not be able to keep.
But did he not advise her against the thought of betraying Naraku? Because he knew she did not have the power to carry out that action.
But did she not realize?
Did she not know? That all that time, he was hunting Naraku down with a fierce determination.
He vowed to destroy Naraku. And for what reason did he have to destroy that filthy vermin?
The reason was simple.
It was his silent promise to her.
It was for her freedom. It was for her heart. It was for her sake.
---
Chapter 4: His Conviction
Sesshomaru traveled through the night to the border between the world of the livings and the land of the deads. He landed softly on a boulder of the rocky hill above the tunnel that lead to the cave which housed the gate to the Netherworld.
At that moment, the lamenting wind wailed a mourning whisper of dread. It echoed a familiar name. It caressed gently on his hair and his freezing expression with loving tenderness, a kind of caress only a devoted lover could bestow upon the one she dearly loved.
As if by an invisible and unbreakable bond, at that moment, he felt her agony penetrating him.
- The Wind Sorceress Kagura, this Sesshomaru had let you down.
His mind cringed at the repulsive implication of his thought. He, the proud daiyoukai Sesshomaru, would not be able to live it down.
If only that woman could live just a little bit longer, just a little bit longer to see Naraku's demise.
If only he could see her peaceful smile one more time, the peaceful smile that she left for him before her depart.
If only he could see her hand holding tenderly the freedom she never had.
If only he could see her gliding through the air glancing back at him and proudly exclaiming that "I am the wind."
The Tenseiga could not carry out his will to save her on the day of her passing. It was a conundrum he was not able to unravel.
He had deemed the sword as useless before. After that day and its disobedience, its uselessness seemed to be exaggerated. He had even tried to abandon it after the Meido was stripped away.
He could not understand; not until the moment when Byakuya was contented in his death; not until Byakuya revealed that he would have been dead along with Naraku because he was just part of that vermin.
Not until then that Sesshomaru understood why he could not save her with his Tenseiga.
Because she did not have her own body; she did not have her own soul; and she did not have her own life force.
Everything about her was just an extension of that filthy mass that called itself Naraku. And when Naraku wasn't dead, her own death was just a discard of one very small piece of ... that thing.
Sesshomaru closed his eyes to the world around him so he could feel the embrace of the lamenting wind, and could absorb the melancholy from its touch.
Just for a brief moment.
After that brief moment, he stepped off the boulder he had been standing on. He carried his graceful stride into the tunnel and disappeared into its grim darkness.
It would be tried.
That day, it would be tried. Even if he must turn the whole Netherworld up side down to try it, he would.
For he was Sesshomaru.
For he was the one she trusted; the one she relied upon in her endeavor to attain her right to life and the freedom that should come with it.
As the gate to the Netherworld was opened by the keepers who subserviently submitted to the dim glow of the Tenseiga in his hand, he walked confidently into its light with his mind clutching on to one resolute conviction.
-Kagura. I, Sesshomaru, shall not allow your death to be a death in vain.
----
Chapter 5: And His Love
Sesshomaru was never aware of her love for him. He had always thought that she had merely wanted to use him for her own benefit.
But it did not matter what her intention was. Sesshomaru only and had always cared about his own intention.
And all he cared at the moment was that he wanted to see her.
He wanted to her to live, live as free as the wind, live to spread the spirit of that wind embracing the seasons and spaces of the earth, live to be entwined into the wonderful rhythm of being and to be saturated with the happiness of life; to truly live a life she had never had, not a mere miserable existence like her last attempt.
When his mother mentioned the words "sorrow and regret", he had known. He had known that the odd feelings invading his heart on the day Kagura left were the exact feelings of that sorrow and regret.
And in the moment that he was almost defeated by that evil spirit Magatsuhi, the thought of her infiltrated his mind as a strange force of energy spread through out his body.
Her smile was what gave him the power to overcome.
At he walked through the darkness of the Netherworld looking for a trace of the Wind Sorceress, the thought of her death broke his heart.
He wanted a chance; a chance to cradle her in his arms; a chance to caress her lips and taste the sweetness on them with his own; a chance to feel the free wind brushing against his body in a summer night under the crescent moon's illusory dreaminess.
Just a chance, a chance to show her love.
Because he had known, he had known what Kagura was.
What Kagura was, was the one he loved.
----
Chapter 6: Her Undying Love
She could feel her spirit slipping away, disintegrating into an irresible darkness.
As she felt her last string of endurance broke under the suffering caused by the merciless pain clawing at her spirit, she could hear her soul screamed one last scream, one last tender scream of his name, "Sesshomaru."
With the sound of that name, she continued to be. She continued to strugge despite the suffering of agony.
Her spirit was unbroken with an undying desire to love.
In that darkness,
He could feel the pulse of her wind whispering his name.
And he could feel her soul.
A soul? But how could it be?
She did not have her own soul. That was the reason why he was not able to use his Tenseiga on that day.
All reason and logic put aside, he followed the scent of the agony that threatened to crush her soul.
She was there, crumbled into a formless shape, tortured with an invisible claws mocking at her spirit, her heart squeezed tightly bestowing incessant pain.
It was only the essence of her that he recognized.
"Kagura!" He called to her.
He called to her with a tone endowed with all the sympathy and compassion combined from over the 500 years of his existence.
At that sound, the clawing pains suddenly and miraculously disappeared. Because the torture was a manifestation from the darkness of her own heart. It was a deed from her own frustration. She was suffering from her own fury and her own vexation, the predominant feelings she harvested from her previous bitter life.
At that sound, the formless clout of her spirit congealed into the shape of the Wind Sorecress. A dim halo glowed around her figure as it illuminated her face showing her lips spreading a gentle smile.
Love had successfully taken over the hatred that she bore.
She was finally at peace. Her soul was ready to take its leave.
The Tenseiga pulsed and bright glow as her spirit gathered and slowly floated away from where he was.
He had found her soul.
But there was no body.
There was no body for him to scoop into his arms to carry her away from the irksome grimness of that Netherworld.
He was ready to jump forward to grab at her non-physical soul. However, he was stopped by the second pulse of the Tenseiga.
He looked pensively at the sword. He could feel that his demonic energy was being tugged strongly with each pulse of the life-giving sword.
He understood.
A whirl that was a part of his demonic energy started to spring forth from his body. It moved toward her and engulfed her soul completely into its embrace. The Tenseiga in his hand pulsed vehemently one last pulse as it pulled on her soul that was buried deep within the field of his demonic energy.
Together in one flash, her soul and its protection disappeared into the sword's blade.
The Tenseiga became quiet again as it was contented to be carried by its master back to the gate that separated the deadly Netherworld and the lively earth beyond.
----
Chapter 7: A Mark Of Freedom
Sesshomaru came back to the burial ground of where the vermin Naraku fell the day before.
With the force of his power, he gathered the particles of Narku's body into the appearance of the Wind Soreceress. And into that physical body, he swung the Tenseiga releasing her soul along with his protective demonic power.
At the magical spell of the Tenseiga and the will of its master, the warmth of life started to course through the lifeless body that was still lying on the earthly ground.
Before she came into consciousness, he had carried her to a crystalline lake bordered by fields of purple blossoms from all 4 sides.
He was determined that she would wake up beholding tranquility, beholding nature, beholding beauty, and beholding peace.
Thus, in that field of dream, the Wind Sorcress Kagura entered back to life.
She sat up, her hands running smoothly on the new silky fabric of her kimono as she looked around at the fields of flowers surrounding her. Instantly, she felt her vivacious heart pulsing through her being spreading a vibrant life force.
Kagura stepped into the pristine lake before her. From all around her, she could discern a familiar scent, a fresh and beautiful scent. It was the scent that she once had loved.
It was him. It was Sesshomaru!
With a charming smile, she turned around expecting to see him. To her dismay, there was no Sesshomaru. The fragrance that she sensed was just her own.
-Hm, in this place, this beautiful place, alone!
She thought to herself as she dipped her whole body down in the lake. The water was warm and pleasing that she almost forgot to come out.
She finally came out of the water and stepped onto the land. As she put her kimono on, an image on her back caught her eyes.
- Hm, the cursed spider mark! How could I forget that?
She turned and looked over her shoulder.
No, it was not the mark of the spider. It was a mark of a crescent moon.
She lowered her head and let out a sigh, feeling her sarcastic and smug attitude resuming in her thought.
After she finished tying the obi of her kimono, she said to herself,
"So Kagura, you will always bear a mark of possession, hah? How pathetic!"
She planned to make a step forward not knowing where she would be going. Suddenly a slight rustle of wind rushed into her carrying a new but familiar scent engaging her attention to it. She turned her face up to look.
And there he was, as exactly as how she remembered him, as princely as how she remembered him, and as unreadable as how he had always been.
"Sesshomaru?" She greeted him with a confusing excitement.
He did not answer her. He stood gazing at her for a long moment. He was trying to understand something.
And he finally understood.
It was love, it was her undying love.
It was her experience of love that separated her from Naraku. It was that sacred feeling; a sacred feeling that was against everything that Naraku stood for; a sacred feeling that had disconnected her from that vermin and had formed for her an indivisible and distinctive soul.
That was how the Tenseiga had finally been able to save her with the life force of his demonic power entwined in its magic.
"Kagura, that is not a mark of possession. It is a mark of my love. It is a mark of my protection. A mark of freedom."
There was no more communication after those words. No more communication was needed.
There was only the melodious voice of the wind in the air. It whispered into their minds an unspoken desire, and united the beats of their hearts into a new rhythm.
A new rhythm of life.
A new rhythm of love.
---The End.
And he scooped her up into his arms and flew over a wooded forest where the tree tops were still covered with the purest snow flakes of the winter dawn.
Yup, it was spring just now in the field of the purple blossoms, and like just a moment later, it became winter with snow, Ok? And I wish that I was Kagura instead of Kagura being Kagura. :)