Time Traveler Katsumi

Perchance to Dream

"Ah! Sesshoumaru-sama~!" Rin exclaimed happily when she spotted him upon his return, running up to greet him.

"Sesshoumaru-sama~! You have returned!" Jaken exclaimed, parroting Rin. Sesshoumaru's eye almost twitched. Not only was Jaken using that disturbing tone of voice again, but from the smell of things, another annoying person had paid his two followers a visit during his absence...

"Guess what, Sesshoumaru-sama! Katsumi-nee's onii-sama came to visit us!" Rin announced cheerfully as she smiled innocently up at him, completely oblivious to her guardian's chagrin.

"Fool! He didn't come to play with you!" Jaken scolded her. "Seigetsu-sama came here because he had business with Sesshoumaru-sama! Right, Sesshou—Geh!?" He squeaked in pain and surprise when Sesshoumaru's foot made contact with his face. You think the imp would have learned by now not to be so mean to Rin. Did he really think Sesshoumaru would let him get away with it simply because Katsumi was not around?

"Business?" Sesshoumaru asked, wondering what Seigetsu could possibly say that would be remotely of interest to him. As far as he was concerned, listening to that moron talk was about as beneficial as applying salt to an open wound.

"Uh-huh," Rin said, nodding, as she removed a letter from her kimono and held it up to him. "He said Rin should give you this, and then he left in a hurry after Rin told him about how Katsumi-nee is staying with her grandpa for awhile. Seigetsu-sama didn't seem to know anything about it..." she explained, watching as Sesshoumaru grudgingly accepted and opened the letter. Although it had been delivered by Seigetsu, he could smell Tsukihime's scent all over it, and she rarely made the effort to contact him, so it must be important.

Sesshoumaru,
I forgot to mention this during our last meeting, though I suppose you know by now... but the reason Naraku attacked Katsumi was to gain information on the border between this world and the next. In my vision he told her there was "something he wanted" there. If you want to find him, I suggest following the scent of that human boy he has under his control. Happy hunting!
Sincerely,
Tsukihime-sama

Sesshoumaru clenched the letter in his hand. He would have done that even without her saying so.

Meanwhile, in an immense cavernous space full of crystalline formations glistening in the light of glowing pools of what appeared to be liquid moonlight, Katsumi found herself amazed by the beauty of her fantastic and unusual surroundings.

"Wow..." she breathed, taking in the whole scene before her, while she addressed her grandfather and Una. "What is this place?" Katsumi wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting when they said they were taking her to a place that would help her find her True Name, but whatever it was paled in comparison to reality.

"The Pools of Reflection," Gean answered, gently pulling her away from the pool she had begun to lean over to get a better look. "They're for looking inwards. And by that, I mean you can see the brutally unaltered inner workings of your own soul. Any who enter are confronted by the true nature of their inner selves."

"It's beautiful..." Katsumi said, still mesmerized by the opalescent surface of the glowing liquid.

"And dangerous," Una added firmly. "These waters have been the doom of many men. Once you go in, you can't come out again until your quest has ended. The ones who make it back go mad. The ones who don't..." she trailed off as she turned her head to look at a handful of pools that still had unconscious faeries and human hybrids of varying degrees floating in them. "Some of them have been in there for centuries." Katsumi's brow furrowed a bit with concern at the sight of them.