Quicksilver�s Quill Offers:
His Will
mbsilvana@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Takahashi Rumiko, not me.  Enough said.
AN: Some blood.
******************************************************

	I don�t like that dogface mutt, but even I have to
respect his fighting prowess.   He may not be up to my
level, but if he wanted to, he could seriously hurt
me.   Especially since I lost my Shikon shards to that
bastard Naraku� Not that I�d admit it to him.   The
hanyou has enough of an ego as it is.

	When the call came, carried by his retainer, I
originally wasn�t going to answer.   I�m the prince of
the Wolf Tribe, not a minor youkai that can be ordered
around.   Still, my curiosity got the better of me,
and I found myself going to meet him at the edge of
the mountains, where my territory ended and that of
Kinoden, the youkai of the forest, began.

	To my surprise, he was there before I arrived.   I�d
planned on arriving early to check for traps, but he
was there already.   I saw him perched on a stump; his
golden eyes glimmered dimly in the dawn�s light.   In
the five years since we had met, I had never seen him
look so defeated- his posture was slumped, and his
fingers played with the hilt of his sword nervously.

	�Oi, dogface�� I called.  �Whaddya want?�

	He shifted his position, so he could meet my eyes. 
�Kouga� I need to talk to you.�

	I sniffed.   There was no way I�d be taken in by his
grave tone- even if he was using my real name, rather
then calling me by some kind of insult.   �What?   You
finally ready for that fight?   Ready to die?�

	Instead of rising to the bait, he became even more
solemn.   �I�m ready to die, but you won�t be the one
to kill me,� he said softly.   �My life is already
promised to another.�

	I blinked, processing his words.   They lacked the
challenge I was used to hearing in his voice; he spoke
calmly, with a certain serenity that terrified me.  He
was� fey.  That was the word- a man who could see his
death, and had accepted it.  �What are you talking
about?� I demanded angrily.   �This thoughtfulness
doesn�t suit you!  You�re going to fry your small
brain!�  I placed my hand angrily on my hips, striding
towards him.   If I hit him upside the head a few
times, perhaps he�d return to being the jerk I was
used to.

	He stopped me with just two words.   �Naraku�s dead.�

	I growled low in my throat at the name.   �What?� I
demanded angrily.   Naraku was supposed to have been
my kill, my revenge for the fallen members of my pack!

	There was no pride in the hanyou�s voice as he
explained what had happened to me.  �Naraku sent
Kagura and Kanna after us again.   Kanna managed to
capture Sango�s soul, and we had to go after her.  
Kagura did her best to protect her older sister, but
Miroku managed to shatter Kanna�s mirror using a ward
of truth, or something like that� and when the mirror
shattered, Kanna died.�

	It was good news to me.   I�d had two run-ins with
the Nihility youkai, and her death was a fine thing.  
She was creepy; I hated Naraku and Kagura, but Kanna
just made my flesh crawl. �Well, that�s good news!� I
declared.   �But why did Naraku get involved?�

	�Kagura� she just went nuts.   She started to destroy
everything� Sango was recovered enough to get on
Kirara�s back, but she couldn�t fight.  Kagome shot
Kagura with an arrow while she was trying to fight me,
and it actually got through.  And that got Naraku�s
attention.�

	�So he actually cared for Kagura?� I asked with
surprise.   Naraku seemed to care for nothing aside
from the Shikon no Tama, and manipulating people
against each other.   The idea that he could care for
one of his detachments, even Kagura who I saw as his
female self, was decidedly against what I knew of him.

	Inu Yasha shook his head.   �I think he was more
insulted by the fact that we actually managed to kill
her- Kanna was one thing� get by her mirror, and there
was no way she could defend herself.  Kagura, though,
was quite another.  She was strong.�

	I nodded slowly.   �So how did he die?  Can I hope it
was unpleasant?� I asked hopefully.   I had wanted the
bastard to feel my fists and see my triumphant face as
the last thing before he departed this world
permanently, but it looked like I was going to have to
settle for whatever Inu Yasha had cooked up.

	A vicious grin lit the hanyou�s face, the tips of his
fangs peeking out from his lips.   �Kikyou purified
him� and for Naraku, there could be no more unpleasant
way to go.�  His eyes shone with his joy brought about
by finally settling the score.

	I had heard to story.   Kagome had told me the story
one night when we had been alone.   I hadn�t kidnapped
her that time- it was the� second time she had gotten
separated from her friends?  Maybe the third?  It had
been a while ago.

	
*!*!*!*!*!*!**!*!*!*!*


I found her wandering the forest alone, an arrow
notched on her bowstring, and her shirtsleeve stained
with the red of blood- not hers, though.  It smelled
like the hanyou�s.   �Kagome?� I called, moving
towards her out of the heavy shadows cast by the
ancient trees.

	She looked at me, her reflexes causing her to aim at
the shadows where I was standing before her thoughts
caught up with her instincts.  �Kouga-kun?�  She
relaxed slightly as I stepped towards her.

	�Hello, Kagome!� I said cheerfully, picking up her
hands in mine and giving them a light squeeze.   She
blushed slightly as I wrapped a familiar arm around
her waist.  �Looking for me?�   I knew the answer, but
a guy could dream, right?   She was too obsessed with
the Shikon no Tama to worry about being my woman yet-
though she would.   As soon as I killed Naraku and she
finished assembling the Shikon (which she would, of
course, give to her devoted mate), we�d go live
together.   The tribe was already preparing Kagome her
own area for privacy- they liked her quite a bit and
were willing to put up with her human eccentricities.

	�I got lost,� she said, sighing.   �Kagura managed to
knock Tanuki-san off course, and he lost his
passengers- we�re scattered.�   Kagome�s eyes were
grim, and my eyes trailed to the blood on her sleeve. 
 

	�Is dogface badly hurt?� I asked.

	She started with surprise.  �How did you- oh.   You
smell his blood.   I forget about the youkai thing
sometimes,� she confessed.  �No, he�s fine- it was
hardly a scratch- and he should have healed by now� I
just have to find him!�

	�Well, it�s getting dark.  You�d best make camp, and
tomorrow I�ll help you look,� I offered.  �You�re
human- you can�t see that well in the dark, and the
youkai are starting to come out.�

	�But-� she began to protest.

	I shook my head.   �I�ll go get you some dinner while
you start a fire.  It�s not safe for you to be out
here alone,� I told her, though that was only
partially true.   Kagome still had her bow and arrows,
and no youkai messed with those and survived.   She
had power, and that was one of the things that
attracted me to her.  

	�Thanks,� she said.   She set down her large yellow
bag and started to rummage through it.

	It took me less then ten minutes to kill a couple of
rabbits.   Normally I would have just eaten it, but I
had learned that humans liked to burn their meat- some
kind of ritual, I guess.  I went back to the camp she
was building, carrying my prize proudly.  Kagome had
created a fire, laid out some bedding, and was now
nose-deep in weirdly bound scrolls she insisted on
studying.  �Oi, Kagome!   Got some rabbit!�

	She looked up and smiled, as beautiful as she was
powerful.   �Thanks, Kouga-kun� did you clean them?�
she asked as she set her scrolls aside.

	�Clean?   Should I go dip them in a brook?� I asked
curiously.   I didn�t get humans.   What would a
little dirt hurt?

	She giggled.  �Give them to me,� she said, pulling a
knife sheathed in heavy leather out of her bag.  �I
guess it�s something wolf youkai don�t bother with.�

	I handed them over and gasped as she cut deeply into
it, spilling its insides on the ground.   �Hey!� I
yelled.   �You�re ruining it!�

	�Huh?�

	I gestured to the entrails she had let fall.  
�That�s the best part!�

	She made a face.   �Humans usually don�t eat that
part,� she informed me.  �I�ll be more careful with
the second one,� she promised.

	�Bah!   Why burn it in the first place?�

	She looked at me.   �It�s healthier.   If you cook
meat, your less likely to get sick from eating it.�

	I took the rabbit she hadn�t skinned and ripped into
it with my fingers, reveling in the warm blood the
flowed into my hands.   The scent tantalized my
senses.  She watched me, and I was surprised she
didn�t seem disgusted.   �Does the mutt eat things raw
as well?� I asked as I pulled off the first strip of
flesh and popped it into my mouth.  The rabbit had
been young, and it showed through the tenderness of
the meat.

	�He was raised as a human, so he prefers things
cooked,� she answered softly.  She finished removing
the skin and speared a stick through it, then propped
it into the fire with evident practice.  

	The firelight reflected off of her hair, and I stared
at her in fascination.   She was a beautiful enigma;
one I wanted to solve.  �Can I ask something?� I
wanted to know.

	She seemed slightly distracted by the meat that was
just beginning to cook.   �What, Kouga-kun?�

	�What exactly is your relationship with him?  And
tell me the truth this time.�

	Her face flushed deeply- my eyes caught it.  �We�re
friends,� she said softly.

	�Just friends?�

	She seemed to deflate slightly, and I wondered if I
had said something wrong.   The last thing I wanted to
do was hurt her.  �We can never be anything more.  
Inu Yasha is in love with someone else.�

	The idea was unthinkable to me.  Inu Yasha was
blessed with Kagome�s presence constantly, and he
chose to love someone else?   How could he not love
her?   I growled low in my throat.   �Who is it?   Is
it Sango?� I wasn�t sure if I was glad for the news or
not- it would be much easier to get Kagome to live
with me if she wasn�t encumbered with the stupid dog
boy, but I could practically touch her hurt- it was
that tangible. 

	She shook her head.   �No.   It�s more complicated
than that.�  She turned the spit over to let the
rabbit cook on the other side.  �What do you know of
him?�

	�He�s a hanyou, annoying, and stupid to boot.  Naraku
hates him.  He has that sword Tetsusaiga, and he�s a
fairly decent fighter.   Right now he�s trying to put
the Shikon no Tama back together, with your help.�

	�Did you hear about what happened to him fifty years
ago?�

	�He�s that old?� I asked, surprised.   He�d always
struck me as young- I was fifty, barely beginning the
long life I could expect to enjoy, but Inu Yasha was
half-human.   I�d placed his age in the late twenties,
or maybe early thirties, the equivalent of a human in
his mid-teens.   Hanyous aged in a strange fashion.  
The idea that he was older then I was abhorrent.

	�In a manner of speaking, I guess you could say that.

	�Fifty years ago, Inu Yasha first heard about the
Shikon no Tama.   It was being guarded by a village
miko, a powerful woman named Kikyou.�

	�Kikyou?   That dead woman?�

	�You�ve met?� The question was out of politeness, not
genuine surprise.

	�She�s hard to miss,� I said dryly.   Kikyou: a woman
who reeked of the grave so strongly that I had ordered
my men to leave her to her business as long as she
returned the same courtesy.   Toying with her would be
embracing death.

	�Indeed.   Anyway, they fell in love eventually, and
Inu Yasha agreed to become human for her.  Naraku
tricked Kikyou and Inu Yasha into killing each other
before it could happen, though- that�s why Inu Yasha
hates him so overpoweringly.�  She rotated the rabbit
again.

	�They both look alive to me- well, Inu Yasha does at
least,� I pointed out.  I was still reeling from one
of the things Kagome had let drop, perhaps
inadvertently- Inu Yasha had once desired to become
human?  The thought was repellant.  One of the
strongest fighters I knew wanted to give up his youkai
heritage?

	�Kikyou sealed Inu Yasha to Goshinboku even as she
was dying from the wounds Naraku had inflicted on her
while disguised as Inu Yasha.  I freed him a few years
ago.�

	�And Kikyou?� I asked.

	�She was brought back to life a while after Inu Yasha
by an ogress.�  She pulled the rabbit out of the
flames finally, and let it cool before taking a small
bite.  �She hates him now, even though she knows the
truth.   He still loves her, though.�

	�And how do you fit in?�

	She was silent for a while, and I could see that she
was weighing something important by the introspective
look on her face.  �Kikyou is me- or rather, her soul
is mine.  I�m her reincarnation,� she told me finally,
her voice so quiet that I wouldn�t have heard had I
been a mere human.

	�What?� I looked at her in shock.   I believed in
reincarnation, but to actually meet the person -or
creature, as Kikyou was now- must be a seriously
disorientating and upsetting experience.

	She lowered her eyes.   �She hates me for that.  
I�ve got her soul.�

	My scowled deepened even further.   �Then how come
that mutt doesn�t love you?   You�re the same person!�
 He was my rival and I hated him for that, but I hated
him even more for hurting Kagome- she didn�t deserve
to suffer.

	She seemed to come out of her brooding.  �I am not
Kikyou!   She and I are different people!� she
insisted.   �We merely share the same soul!�

	I blinked in confusion.   �Isn�t the soul what makes
a person?�

	She stared into the fire, and I saw the mirror image
of the flames dancing in her eyes.  She took another
bite on her rabbit before answering.  �I�ve had a lot
of time to think on it.   The sum of their
experiences, and the value of their heart make a
person.   Some of what she�s done� I could never do.  
That means we�re different.   And I�m glad.�  I wasn�t
quite sure I got what she meant, but apparently Kagome
understood, and that�s what mattered.   �Naraku was
jealous of Kikyou and Inu Yasha, you know,� she said. 
 �He loved her.�

	I tried to picture Naraku in love with anyone,
especially the woman I thought of as the walking
corpse.  I couldn�t.   �Huh?�

	She explained it then, the entire twisted story of
Onigumi and his warped desire for the pure miko.  �Inu
Yasha has promised to get revenge for Kikyou�s death�.
And after, he�ll let her drag him into hell,� she
concluded.  After a moment�s silence she looked down
at her half-eaten dinner and then handed it to me.  
�You can have the rest of this.   I�m not hungry
anymore.�

	I took it from her and began to eat it without
appetite.   I wasn�t hungry, either.


*!*!*!*!*!*!**!*!*!*!*


	Inu Yasha watched me carefully.  I was overjoyed that
Naraku finally received his just desserts, but the
news that Inu Yasha was going to let Kikyou take him
with her to hell was certainly upsetting.   Loving
someone enough to die for her was one thing, but true
love meant that you loved that person enough to live. 
I clenched my fists, restraining myself from
strangling him only through sheer force of will.

	�So you�re joining Kikyou, then?� I asked.

	He seemed uneasy, sad, upset, and resigned all at
once.   �I promised her.�  His fingers rose to tease
his snow-white hair.  �But that leaves Kagome� and I
can�t just leave her alone.�

	�Let Kikyou go on her own, then.   She�s already
dead- how can you choose her over the living?� I
asked.  Kagome was going to be hurt, and though it
hurt me, I refused to let Inu Yasha just do it.

	�I owe her this.   I failed to make her happy once-
I�m not going to do it again.�   He set his jaw
stubbornly.

	�What about Kagome, then?� I demanded.

	�She can�t get home anymore.   Kikyou used the power
of the Shikon to get purify Naraku, and its gone now. 
 So Kagome�s stuck here.�

	A feeling of dread welled in my stomach.   I could
see where this was going.   Damn him to hell!  Even if
he wasn�t already on his way, he should still be sent
there!   He couldn�t ask this of me!

	�Miroku and Sango are talking about marriage, and it
isn�t fair to ask them to take care of Kagome when
they�re finally free to start their own lives. 
Shippou is only a child and doesn�t have the power to
fend off some of the powerful youkai that might come
after her, and Kaede is too old.  That leaves you.  I
don�t like you, but you�re strong enough to protect
her.�

	I swore inwardly.   I wanted Kagome, but not like
this!   �Does she know you�re asking this of me?�

	�Feh.�  He snorted, sounding more like his old self
then he had since this conversation had begun.  �The
stupid woman would probably start in on how she can
watch out for herself- but she can�t.�

	I was forced to agree.   Had she been ordinary, she
might have been able to survive, but even after five
years, Kagome was still a foreigner.   And her power
made her an enticing prize for any youkai seeking to
improve his own lot in life.  Even though she could
purify things with a touch� there was the strong
possibility that she could be overwhelmed.  �So you
want to send her off with me?�

	He nodded slowly.  �And if you�re going to be
Kagome�s guardian, then you are to take Tetsusaiga.�  
He sheathed the blade he bore so much pride in and
tried to hand it to me.

	I flinched back.   I knew one with human blood could
only wield the blade, not a youkai like myself.   �Are
you trying to kill me?� I howled angrily.   What the
blazes was the mutt thinking?

	He shook his head.   �The blade is partially made
from my tooth, so I can choose who I want to wield it.
  Any heart that loves humans can- that�s my legacy. 
And you love Kagome,� he admitted.

	I gingerly took the blade, afraid that this was some
kind of elaborate trap.   To my surprise, I wasn�t
blown back as I drew it from the sheath- in fact, it
transformed in my hand.  The heavy blade was balanced
perfectly, and I could feel the power emanating from
it.  Inu Yasha must have loved Kagome quite a bit to
give it to me, one of his rivals.

	�Take care of it,� he ordered.  The light in his
amber eyes was fierce.  �And her.�

	�I will,� I promised.   �Where is she right now?�

	�She�s back at Kaede�s- Miroku will be bringing her
to your mountain later today.   I� just couldn�t bear
to let her watch.�

	�Does she know?�

	�She knows� but she doesn�t know I intend to leave
today.   I just� couldn�t bear to say goodbye.�

	I was about to chide him for his cowardice when the
wind shifted, carrying a scent that was unmistakable:
clay, and bone� and the scent of the grave.  �Kikyou�s
coming,� I said.

	Inu Yasha rose to his feet slowly.  �Tell Kagome- no,
don�t tell her anything.  Sappy goodbyes aren�t my
thing.�

	�Inu Yasha,� I called to him, trying to think of
something fitting to say.   It was strange that of
everyone he knew, I was one of the last who would see
him alive.  Kagome or Miroku or Sango or even Shippou
had more right then I.  

	�Sayonara, Kouga.   Remember your promise.�

	I watched him as he moved towards where Kikyou stood
waiting for him in the shadows.  Part of me wanted to
use the blade he had just entrusted to me and strike
her down, to spare Kagome the anguish of Inu Yasha�s
death, but I couldn�t do that.   It was a matter of
honor, one that didn�t involve me.  I swore and stood,
dashing in the opposite direction.   I didn�t want to
watch Inu Yasha die like this.  A warrior deserved a
better death.

	As I raced back to the mountain to await Kagome�s
arrival, the sheathed Tetsusaiga bouncing against my
hip, I trying to decide if Inu Yasha had been
incredibly strong or incredibly weak to make the
choices he had-

	-Or if it was possible to be both.


END OF "HIS WILL"

End notes:
I wasn't sure I had the courage to post this since I
KNOW I've already managed to offend one of my usual
prereaders (a staunch IY/Ka fan)... but the show must
go on, right?
The title is several-layered.... one thing people may
not know is the first closing song is called "My
Will".
Finally, I welcome all C&C.... the harsher the better!
Hope you enjoyed!
QS


=====
"No matter what the bible says, the battle always goes to
the strong. And I am strong. I don't need to prove that to
anyone anymore."
-Excerpt from Sainan no Kekka- Act Seven, Scene VII

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/
http://www.midnightrevolution.org/gundam

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