Breathless

Disclaimer: I don’t know either Inuyasha or Sailor Moon. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, etc; and Sailor Moon to Naoko Takeuchi, etc.


PROLOGUE


He’d been unusually stressed that night, having second thoughts on discarding the old bandit’s human heart. A spy had revealed what Kikyo had been secretly plotting; that was why he decided to return there, to Mount Hakurei, to get the heart back along with Onigumo’s old corrupted human feelings.


But what he found there, waiting for him, wasn’t all that he had expected…


…She was hanging from the rusty rocky ceiling, hair dangling in long golden tresses as she was tangled in what looked like dark pink ribbons all around her naked human body, acting as makeshift ropes that held her form in suspension above the water, like the soft threads of a spider’s web imprisoning a beautiful butterfly.


In the water beneath her, what should have been her reflection under the light of the moon morphed into a grotesque human face grinning smugly at his used-to-be owner.


…Onigumo…


“Ah” the bandit gave a satisfied smile “The hanyou returns, just as I’d predicted”


The new-comer regarded him in silence, his expression unreadable.


“So I have” He raised his eyes to give an assessing glance at the silent silhouette hanging from the ceiling, before setting them once more on his human counterpart, “I see you already had visitors”


The bandit-head raised itself above the water, looked up and whistled.


“So it seems” he said, then felt silent.


The hanyou clenched his teeth, repressing a growl of impatience; he didn’t like playing the games of this most worthless half.


“Well, then” he inquired, regarding the figure up again with an air of studied indifference, “who is she?”


Onigumo smirked at him tauntingly. “Oh I don’t know, dear Naraku. Given she’s not in a conversational mood, I haven’t had the chance to ask”


One single eyebrow arched. “She got inside the cave already like that?”


“Unconscious? Yes… Since she arrived”


‘For how long?’ “When did it happen?”


“Seven days ago, give or take one, I would say”


“…A week then”, he calculated.


“That is right”


“Hn”


When all Naraku did was get closer to the human head, it felt the need to ask.


“What are you going to do with her?”


This gained another arched eyebrow from the half-breed, yet he didn’t pause in his approach.


“You suggest I bury her? Unless you wish to bed her corpse, she’s already dead” ” he asked with amusement detecting a hungry note in the human’s tone. “But then again that’s never been a problem for you, has it?”


He couldn’t resist that little jab at the bandit’s necrophile obsession lingering for Kikyo…


It had brought them too much trouble, after all.


“She’s alive”


Naraku finally paused.


“Are you putting my senses under question, human?” Red eyes narrowed in warning.


The Onigumo Head smirked again, not the least intimidated.


“It appears letting go of me has deeply affected you more than anyone would have thought, Naraku. You didn’t use to be this unobservant. Perhaps, along with your human heart, you also left your wit down here with me in Mount Hakurei?”


This time, the hanyou known as Naraku did growl. Just this time… Just this time, he decided, he’d humor him; see what had caught the bandit’s attention, if only to keep him silent as he was reabsorbed into his body.


He looked up at the hanging figure intently for a couple of seconds, and then felt IT.


Power.


Pure and rogue power.


…Emanating from her in waves, like a pulse, with every beat of her heart.


Naraku felt his eyes uncharacteristically widen, he couldn’t understand why he hadn’t felt it until now…


…‘the Shikon no Tama?!?’


“It’s not the Shikon Jewel” Onigumo supplied as if reading his thoughts.


End to Prologue