Bleach Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Life ❯ Ancestry ( Chapter 5 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Bleach or any of the anime/manga characters.
Warnings: Mild Language and Violence
Ancestry
 
Kagome's eyes opened to find herself outside of the Shattered Shaft, pieces of what appeared to be a mask similar to Ichigo's lying destroyed into hundreds of pieces around her.
She found Urahara standing back, a sword drawn and both of the children, as well as the man with glasses, lying bleeding and unconscious on the ground behind him.
“Wh… What the hell? Did I…”
“Yes, you did,” Urahara said, his eyes narrowed to slits. “You came out the exact same way Ichigo did. Only he didn't break completely out of Tessai's binds and manage to almost kill all three of them.”
“I… Oh, god,” Kagome said, gasping at all of the blood around the hole.
“Well, you've got your life, now. And you're probably going to end up a Vizard, if those guys are willing to teach you. Now get out,” he said, sword gripped tightly.
“I-”
“I don't think you should take it all so personally, Kisuke,” Shinji said, appearing out of nowhere.
What!?”
“Aren't you the one who's always apologizing for making us into Vizards? Well, you put her in there knowing it would probably happen. She wasn't a Shinigami to begin with, so it's not her damn fault the results were… unexpected.”
Urahara's eyes widened, his sword suddenly lowering. With a sigh, his usual composure returned, and he turned his gaze back to Kagome.
“He's right. Sorry I've assured you a future of pain and misery.”
“It's not really so bad,” Shinji said, shrugging nonchalantly.
“Then you'll train me?” Kagome asked, eyes wide.
“I can't give an answer to that, yet. I've seen what yer Hollow's like, but ya didn't even release that sword of yours. So I don't know what kind of power I'd be training.”
“Well then, let's get that sword released, shall we?” Urahara asked, power flowing. “Here's the last test, Kagome. There's no time limit, now that you're alive again. All you have to do is knock my hat off.”
Kagome stared at him blankly, thinking that it was a trick.
“I've never used a sword before,” she said, staring down at her massive blade. “I don't think no time limit's going to work for me, though.”
“How about five minutes, then?” Urahara asked, seemingly back to the way he was before she'd fallen unconscious.
“That much? I think I can do it in less than that.”
“Oh?” Urahara asked, eyes narrowing.
Kagome suddenly realized that Ichigo was down there with them, along with Orihime, and both were staring at her in speculation.
“Well, I think I can probably do it in three minutes,” she said, choosing to ignore them.
“Shouldn't be so cocky,” Urahara said, power flowing into his sword. “You just got these powers. Three minutes would take a miracle.”
“Yeah, but now I'm interested. If you can do that, I'd say you're already off to a fantastic start on being a Vizard,” Shinji said.
“So, if I can pull it off in three minutes, you'll teach me?”
“We'll see,” he said, a large smile covering his face.
“Scream, Benihime!”
Suddenly, a spike of red energy blasted toward Kagome, who dove away on instinct. She was surprised to find her sword gripped in her hands as she came up.
“Come on, then. Defense won't get you a hit in three minutes,” Urahara mocked.
Suddenly, she lunged forward, swinging a kick at his face. As Urahara blocked, his surprise at the sudden attack distracted him from her swinging sword. Just as it would have come up to his hat, though, he swung his sword down and knocked her back.
“Well, well. That was pretty good.”
He swung his blade for her throat, red power again glowing along the blade of his sword. And she brought her blade up, holding the attack off as sparks of pink energy came off of her own blade.
“Oh? You seem to have fought with swords before.”
“Nope,” Kagome said, focusing on pushing his sword back to give herself a shot at his hat.
Really,” he asked, his tone practically dripping with sarcasm.
“Yep. I just began paying closer attention to my friends when they fought using their swords. I'm in the Feudal Era, and recently came to the realization I might be more helpful if I could use period weapons. I've learned some of the basics, but never used a sword… Until now, anyway.”
“Huh… That's impressive. Unfortunately, just this sword's not going to be enough to beat me.”
“Oh? Why's that?” Kagome asked, getting closer and closer to his hat.
Suddenly, he brought his hand back, and swung his blade. She wasn't expecting much when it made impact, so she was shocked when he destroyed her sword, taking the hand guard and everything above it in one swing.
“What the hell!?”
“Hmm… Didn't expect it to break so easily. You must not be as strong as I thought. Well, what'll you do now?” he asked as Kagome dove backward, staring incredulously at the hilt.
Suddenly, she closed her eyes in concentration and power slowly built upward from the end of the hilt. Unfortunately, it broke down when Urahara's charge broke her concentration. She backpedaled, and found herself going down as her feet found a break in the ground.
She saw the blade coming for her throat, and adrenaline suddenly spiked, her heart doing triple its normal speed. Time literally froze with the blade an inch from her throat.
She looked to her side to find the woman from before standing there, frowning.
“The hell are you doing? You're going to die again, after going through all of that? Are you an idiot?”
“Just who are you?” Kagome asked, glaring at the woman.
“I told you-”
“How did you freeze time?”
“Is that really important?” she asked exasperatedly.
“I guess not.”
“Alright, fine. Just get the hell away from his attack, don't die, and call my name. Everything else will be explained, okay?”
“Alright.”
And then, the woman was gone, and Kagome didn't hesitate as she kicked at Urahara and dove backward. She came up as power exploded around her.
Kumori Suishou!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the ground around her exploded with power. She watched in fascination as a second blade hilt formed in her left hand. And then, to her wonder, a blade sprouted from both handles.
The right blade was a dark, crescent moon of obsidian with a bone-white, pearl handle. And in her left hand, the blade sprouted downward, making the hilt into a silver dagger.
And then, Kagome swung the right blade at Urahara. She watched as he brought his blade up, a bubble of red energy saving him when the shadow of her blade solidified and shot forward, sharp as a razor.
The barrier blocked the attack, but his hat fell to the ground in tatters before he dropped it.
“Well now, that's some power you've got there. Not anything like I've ever seen, for sure. So, congratulations, on becoming a Shinigami.”
Suddenly, he took a very long look at her, and his eyes widened comically.
“What?”
“You're not in a Gigai. You're completely human… But your aura's a quarter Shinigami, and your Zanpakuto…”
“What?”
Kagome suddenly realized that at her belt was a small, dagger. The dagger that had been in her left hand.
“This is-”
“I've never seen such a contained Zanpakuto. The one before was almost as big as you.”
“Then again, I have,” Shinji said. “I think you'll get along with Kensei really well.”
“Who?”
“You'll meet him eventually,” Shinji said with a shrug.
“Another thing that's off,” Urahara said, frowning as he scrutinized her. “Shinigami can't use their Zanpakuto unless they're in their Soul Form… Even I go into a sort of form like that to use Benihime.”
“Great. I'm a freak,” Kagome sighed.
“Yeah, you'll fit right in with us,” Shinji said, smirking.
“I guess… So, what's the next step?” she asked, turning back to Urahara.
“N… Next step?” he asked, blinking in surprise.
“Yeah. My power's nowhere near being on par with Ichigo's. Now, that could be because of battle experience, but I feel like I'm still missing something.”
“Well now, that's surprising, ain't it, Kisuke?” Shinji asked, a broad smile on his face.
“So I'm right?”
“Yeah, you're right… How can you tell? People can't generally sense their own power levels.”
“I don't know. I can just kind of… sense it,” Kagome said with a shrug. “So, what's the next step?”
“Why isn't this much power enough?” he asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Because the bastard that killed me is still alive, and I don't want to return to my friends until I'm damn sure I can hold my own weight.”
“Surely, you must be exhausted,” he argued, a frown on his face.
“I'll sleep when I'm positive I won't ever come that close to dying because of him again.”
“Well alright, then. Sounds like you've got revenge on your mind.”
“Maybe,” Kagome agreed. “For the first time, I don't want to just defeat him, I want him dead. All of my friends wanted that from the time I met them, except Inuyasha, who only found out the truth later in the journey. But I never understood it.”
“But?” Urahara prompted.
“But while I was down in that hole, I realized that if I'd died for good, I'd never have seen all the important people to me. And I'm going to make sure none of my friends have to experience the same thing.”
Urahara considered her for several minutes, his face a blank mask. Finally, he nodded, looking at Shinji.
“You can have her when I'm done.”
“Sure. Look forward to it,” he said, smirking. “See you later, Kagome.”
And then, Shinji was gone, and Urahara sighed.
“Alright, Kagome. I'll teach you the next step. There are two levels of your released Zanpakuto. Shikai and bankai. You just learned Shikai. And if you try to learn bankai now, you'll probably end up killing yourself all over again. So go home, get some sleep, and we'll start tomorrow.”
“Alright,” Kagome said, suddenly feeling how truly exhausted she was. “I'll be back tomorrow, as soon as I've got all of my energy.”
She turned toward the ladder, her exhaustion making itself more known by the second.
“Oh, yeah, one thing before you go. To have so easily taken on the powers of a Shinigami is nearly impossible for someone without Shinigami blood in them. Are you by any chance adopted?”
“No, I was raised by the family that gave birth to me… except-”
“Except what?”
“My mother's side of the family is Shinto priests and mikos, but I don't know anything about my dad's. He died before I was born.”
“I see…”
“Oh, yeah. I don't actually know where we are,” Kagome said, scratching her head.
“We're in a place called Karakura Town. It's about ten miles directly south of Tokyo,” Urahara said, slightly amused that asking where she was only came to the girl's mind as she was preparing to leave.
“I see… Thank you. Have a good night, Mister Urahara. You too, Ichigo. Orihime.”
And then, she was scurrying up the ladder, sensing their eyes on her the entire time.
She took off, using her new-found speed to get to Tokyo with unbelievable time. As she came closer to her home, she felt a presence closely following her, and decided to see what would happen.
Unfortunately, just as she made it to the border of Karakura Town, the presence lost its concealment. Suddenly, a massive, leech-like Hollow appeared from nowhere, its hellish eyes looking at Kagome with what could only be called hunger.
She quickly reached for her Zanpakuto, its sheath strapped to her left wrist as soon as she'd left. Before she could even grasp the handle, another presence suddenly formed.
She watched in awe as, from seemingly thin air, a massive barrage of glowing, arrow-shaped spikes of energy suddenly assaulted the Hollow. It let out a loud screech as its body dematerialized, and seconds later, a boy appeared.
“Umm… thank you,” she said, smiling brightly.
The boy turned around, surprised that she was staring at him.
“Uh… for what?”
“Killing that thing,” she said, smirking. “And yes, I could see it, and you, before you're another person that asks,” she rushed to explain.
“Really? And just who are you?”
“You should introduce yourself, first. Where'd you learn archery like that?” she asked, staring at the mass of energy around his hand that seemed to take the form of a bow.
“What?”
“All those arrows, and almost every one hit something on that thing. Where'd you learn to do that?”
“Practice,” he said, shrugging. “Mind telling me why you're not scared that a monster was just about to eat you?”
“It wasn't so scary. I've certainly seen worse,” she answered, shrugging nonchalantly.
Worse? You've seen Hollows before?”
“Not until recently, but I've seen worse things than them before.”
He eyed her warily, his eyes looking almost silver from the combination of moonlight and his glasses.
“I see…”
Kagome suddenly looked at the moon, and gasped.
“Oh, man! It's so late! Umm… excuse me,” she said, bowing before taking off.
“Hang on! What's your name?” he asked, still staring at her with an almost hostile posture.
“It's polite for someone to introduce themselves before asking someone else's name,” she said, a slightly pouty look to her face.
“Oh, right,” he said, his face slightly reddened. “Uryuu. Uryuu Ishida. And you?” he asked, a small smirk on his face.
“I'm Kagome Higurashi… Nice meeting you, Uryuu,” she said, smiling.
And then, she took off, using human speed until she was sure his presence was far behind. And then, she took off.
In very short order, she crossed through half of Tokyo and quickly ascended the stairs to the shrine.
As soon as she reached the top step, she could feel Inuyasha's presence. Quickly, she slid into the house and could almost physically touch the tension.
At the kitchen table sat her mother, her eyes red and puffy as her body rocked with sobs. Inuyasha was leaning against the wall, his eyes downcast and his expression grim.
As if they suddenly sensed her, both of their gazes came up to Kagome, and her mother's eyes widened. And then, they narrowed into hateful slits, and the gaze was directed at a bewildered and very guilty-looking Inuyasha.
“You bastard,” the older woman growled.
“Uh… Hang on! I thought… I mean there was so much blood, and when you said you hadn't seen her…”
The hanyo trailed off, staring in shock at Kagome, who was now caught up to speed.
“Mama, calm down. Inuyasha wasn't lying. I'm sure there was a lot of blood.”
“He said you were dead!” she yelled, still glaring at the hanyo.
“Umm… well, funny story,” Kagome said, laughing nervously.
Funny? The fuck, wench!?” Inuyasha growled.
“Not ha-ha, funny,” Kagome said, raising her hands in defense. “When I went through the well, I had been dying. I actually did die… Umm, how long have I been gone, anyways?”
“Eight days. We didn't all regroup and manage to get on your trail until this morning,” the hanyo growled.
“E… Eight days!?” she exclaimed, shocked at the time that had passed.
“Yeah. And when we got to the well, there was so much blood… I came here, and when your mother asked why you weren't with us after I'd asked if you'd been here-”
“I get it,” Kagome said, hand up to stop him. “Sorry for being such a burden, guys,” she said, looking from the hanyo to her mother.
“Fuck, wench, I'm just glad you're alive. Though the question as to why is bugging me.”
“Umm… Can you hold that thought? Mom, who was my father?”
“What?” the woman asked, surprised by the seemingly random question.
Inuyasha's brows furrowed in confusion as well, not understanding what the question had to do with anything.
“Who was my father? Was he a Shinigami?” she pressed, staring at the older woman.
Neither she nor the hanyo missed how pale the elder Higurashi suddenly looked.
“W… Where would you get such a strange idea, Kagome?”
“Because, I'm now a Shinigami, and the person that helped me said to do that, I would need Shinigami blood in me.”
The woman stared in disbelief at the girl, who suddenly turned to Inuyasha.
“Inuyasha, would it be possible for you to head back? I'll be back as soon as I possibly can, but I have something vital to do here, so I'll be useful when I get back. As more than a jewel-sensor, I mean.”
“O… Okay,” he said, still frowning in confusion as he turned to leave.
“Oh, and Inuyasha?”
“Yeah?” he asked, turning back to her before he could hide the darker emotions he was feeling.
“I'm sorry for worrying you. All of you. When you get back, could you tell Shippo that I'm especially sorry if I scared him, and that I'll bring extra pocky to make up for it?”
“Sure,” the hanyo said, placated. “Oh, and Kagome?”
“Yeah?” she asked, watching as he turned to leave once again.
“It's good that you're still alive. Be sure to come back soon.”
“Absolutely.”
And then, the hanyo was gone, and Kagome met her mother's pensive gaze.
“You can't be a Shinigami, Kagome.”
“I am. And here's the proof,” she said, pulling her Zanpakuto from its sheath.
“What's that?”
“Kumori Suishou. Mister Urahara called it a Zanpakuto. She's the weapon I formed when I came out as a Shinigami.”
Her mother stared at the weapon, an internal conflict obvious as Kagome stared at her eyes. Finally, she seemed to come to some decision, though she appeared hesitant.
“It's true,” she finally said, making Kagome almost jump at how suddenly she'd spoken. “My late husband, that is, your father, was a Shinigami.”
Kagome took a seat, the earth-shattering truth taking all the strength from her legs. She watched as a fond, reminiscent expression took over her mother's expression.
“His name was Kazuma Kuchiki. By the time we were met, he'd gone through quite a bit. The Kuchiki's are some kind of noble family in the Soul Society, or so he told me. When he decided to stay here and suddenly vanished with me, his name was stripped along with his rank. Of course, I hadn't known anything about any of this until he released his power to save me and my unborn child, Souta.”
“But if he was still around when Souta was being born-”
“You were too young to remember him, when he died, Kagome. And when you grew up and started asking questions, I told you he had died before you were born. Unfortunately, by the point where I found it all out, it had been a long time since he'd released his powers. He told me with his dying breaths after a Hollow attacked us, and he gave his life to kill the Hollow and protect the three of us.”
Kagome stared at her mother in horror, remembering all the times she'd asked who her father was as a child.
“I didn't know… I'm so sorry for making you relive these kind of memories so many times,” she said, tears coming to her eyes unbidden.
“You were young. And he told me that he wanted you to live as safe a life as possible, but that you'd probably grow up looking for adventure like him, and that I should let you live your own life. So, when you began going to the Feudal Era, I let you be. I'll still not interfere, but when Inuyasha told me you were dead-”
“I'm sorry, mama,” Kagome said, pulling her mother into an embrace. “I'm sorry for putting you through all of this. But I've still got things to do there.”
“I know, sweety,” her mother responded, caressing her daughter's head like a child's.
Without another word, Kagome gave her mother a kiss and headed upstairs. That night, she had a night full of horrific nightmares and evil, glowing red eyes constantly watching her…
 
A/N:
Well, there's the newest chapter! I wanted to make Kagome's blood be a noble house, and just decided on Kuchiki. I'd originally wanted to go with the Shouin family, but it doesn't seem likely that that family is vast enough to have an unnoticed family member, since Yoruichi's the only one seen in the manga, while the Kuchiki's seem to be a rather expansive family, with several branch families.
Hope you enjoyed, and be sure to tell me how I'm doing!