Clash of Alphas by sarhea

Riku Ryuu's Prompt - Storm

~ooO Storm Ooo~

Naraku threw himself on a pile of silken cushions. His efforts to tempt the ningen lords into offering allegiance were not going well. It had become very popular for the lords to include a miko or houshi in their circle of advisors. True ones with power, not a fake one. And the more powerful lords were careful to have the more powerful reiki users in their households. Every single one of his infiltration attempts had failed badly. If he wished to continue on this track he would have to expend more power to hide the taint in his servants/agents.

Thunder rattled the clay tiles of the estate he had appropriated. He glanced out one of the oiled parchment screens and saw the play of light and shadow upon it followed by another boom. The inclement weather was not helping either. His detachments/agents could not travel quickly or safely during stormy weather. Kagura in particular would be very vulnerable to the thunder and lightening in such storms. Then another idea hit him.

“Kanna!” The white-haired void youkai moved to stand before him obediently. “Show me InuYasha.” The mirror reflected a swirling grey mass. Naraku scowled ferociously. “Show me InuYasha! The silly miko! The taijija!”

The grey swirled but did not resolve into a clear image. The chaotic swirling reminded the kumo-hanyou of the storm raging outside.

“Sesshoumaru.” The grey swirls remained. “Kikyo.” The grey resolved into an image of the golem miko. “Is there anyone else or any place that you cannot see?” he demanded to know.

“Western Stronghold.” It had been protected even before. “The Place in the Clouds.” The daiyoukai’s dam was stronger and more terrifying than her son. “Anyone within hundred meters of the Shikon miko or the Western Lord,” Kanna confessed. “I only confirmed the last two days ago since the group is always together.”

“And you didn’t tell me!” Naraku yelled.

“The spells upon the Western Lord were set by his dam six weeks ago. His presence cloaks the group since he now travels with them. The protection on the miko is something new.”

Naraku forced himself to think. The inu-bitch in the Clouds had never acted, never! What could have driven her to get involved? Naraku was vaguely aware of the adversarial relationship between mother and son but he had never managed to get the details. But if InuKimi had decided to act in her sons favour…

“I want to see the miko.” The mirror swirled to reveal Kikyo sitting beside a pool. The kumo-hanyou snarled. “No not that one! The untrained one. Show her!”

For the first time in her existence Kanna looked afraid. “I can’t.”

“Do it!”

The little void youkai quailed but struggled to obey. Kikyo vanished in a swirl of grey. The irregular swirls twisted and turned on itself as Kanna struggled to penetrate the protection around her target. Small sparks of light formed in the grey swirls, making it look like a roiling thunderhead. The sparks grew bigger until they resembled lightening. Then they jumped out of the mirror and blasted around the room.

Kanna screamed and tried to control the power. She failed. Some of the lightening rebounded onto the mirror itself shattering the glass, leaving her covered in shards and holding the empty metal frame of what had once been her mirror.

TBC...