InuYasha Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Miko ❯ Lovely Paradise ( Chapter 5 )

MIKO

By L.O. a.k.a. azn_otaku

Crossover: InuYasha and Trigun

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A/N: Whoo, I'm updating! I'm feeling like crap right now, my head is all muddled up and everything. But I just finished the last bit of this chapter today and I decided to post it before I started getting angry flames. Heh heh.

Anywhoo...

bluesky7: The seven makes you unique. I don't really have a lucky number but, seven is pretty cool! I'll try to get the next chapter out soon!

Daisaku: A Kikyou fan? Cool! I don't think I've had a review from a Kikyou fan before. But I think I'll keep the fic an InuYasha/Kagome pairing, just cuz I like that pairing too much to part with it. That cool with you?

Zander: I put Vash in this chapter! You can pat yourself on the back for that, I wasn't sure how to bring him in but when you reviewed, I thought, "Damnit, I'm gonna squeeze Vash in no matter what!" And I hope that my fanfic continues to please you.

Taedere Belletrist: I guess I do check up on my grammer, don't I? Wow, your comments really make me feel special! I feel so embarrassed, I blush! Heehee. You praise me so much, I'm not sure if I really deserve it. But ah well, it makes me feel good.

Moonmage: Don't worry, I'm not letting this story be anything else BUT an InuYasha/Kagome pairing.

Elle: Thanks! All these reviews make me happy.

Uber Rei Model 04: Okay, sorry, I got confused by your last review. I'm glad I'm so unique! I think I can safely say that I'm writing this story from my own imagination, without getting any sort of inspiration from anything else. It's a nice feeling. And I want to write the chapter where Kagome meets the Trigun Co., really I do! I'm thinking maybe in the next chapter....

Morlana: Is getting lost in the words a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not sure. But at least I know that I'm not putting out just a few paragraphs per chapter. I've put a lot of thought into this fic, to make it somewhat believable, can you tell?

Toshi-chan: Hey, did you know that there are some Trigun/SM fics out there? I've read some pretty decent ones. I'll keep the idea in mind though. Maybe I'll end up writing one in the near future, but you never know!

Iysel: Glad you like it!

elodie: I'm sorry if sometimes this can be confusing. Sometimes I write so much, I feel like it's a bit confusing for myself. But then I started reading a little bit more carefully, it sometimes helps. Anyways, InuYasha appears in this chapter! Well, sort of, anyways.

FACT: I've found this out recently, the garb that Kikyou is wearing is for a shrine maiden. "Miko" actually means "shrine maiden"! But shrine maidens are not aloud to involve themselves with another person romantically, so I'm going to keep calling Kikyou an actual priestess because in the manga she's having a semi-relationship with InuYasha and all that. A priest or a priestess wears the white robes with BLUE hakama-style pants. But, just for this fic, could we all forget this little piece of knowledge and know that when I say "Miko", I mean "Priestess"? Arigatou!

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"....." Dialogue

[.....] Thoughts

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Chapter Five: Lovely Paradise

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Badum.

Badum.

The sound of a heartbeat reached his ears. Was it his own? Did he have a soul?

It was black all around. He did not know if he had any real shape, if he was an actual being. This feeling of being one with the total vacuum of space was terribly, terribly lonely. Somehow he felt disconcerted, as if he wasn't born in this dimension. Something felt off in the air, what could have been a nose sniffed out nothing but emptiness, a dreadful cold that seeped into ever corner of space.

Why could he feel a heartbeat?

Something was tearing within, opening up his chest with a fierce wrench. What was before, nothing at all, now leaked images and sometimes even sounds. Vague noises, as if the hum of a voice were filling the void that had become him in the past time. Images of nothing in particular, and then everything that meant anything. He could feel the heartbeat quicken with each passing day, each passing week.

Badum.

What used to be a fuzzy vision now remained the solid form of a sad young woman. That was all he could recognize before she flickered out again. Each time she showed, there were tears in her eyes and a name formed at her rosy pink lips. Deep grey eyes looked towards him before she was shut off. This time he could almost make out what she was saying.

[Inu...Yasha...]

[Help me. I do not like it here.]

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Meryl did not get any sleep during the night. She watched the wee hours of dawn as she sat in her chair, holding onto an empty cup. Mike was with her, fixing up some breakfast for the early risers. Already, the time for awakening would come soon. And yet, Meryl could not feel like her mind was present. She felt like she was numbing herself, drifting away from the world.

He had said that there were youkai living in this town. Youkai! Wasn't he scared? Why wasn't he scared? Youkai were to be feared, to be dreaded because of their awesome powers and their bloodlust. The stories she had been told revealed nothing less than gore and unhappy endings for mortals who happened upon any youkai. Or even hanyou. She supposed that the beings here that held only a percentage of demonic blood could still wreak havoc on anything they desired. Why wasn't he scared?

"I know what you're thinking. But do not worry so much." Mike placed a skillet upon his worn stove, "The youkai and mortal humans have lived in harmony for over a century. There had been dangerous spats in the past, but they had all been resolved at one point. We know how to hold our own."

"D-demo, to live within the knowledge that these creatures could_kill_you..."

"They are not mere `creatures' to us Miss Meryl. Everyone is considered an equal, they are just as much a soul as we are. They just happen to have claws or ears or fangs and the like. We have almost no youkai that do not appear human. The ones that are the closest to animals and other such creatures, you have not seen them yet. But in all, daily life here is no different than daily life in any town."

Meryl was beginning to understand the sheriff's point of view. Already, children were playing outside as the sun rose up. The petite young woman could see a small lizard boy, his tongue flickering out, being chased by another young boy. The two were laughing as more caught up with their game, a little girl who had tiny wings sprouting from her back, an earthly sprite that floated in the air, two normal little girls with hair in pigtails. They all looked so peaceful, so full of laughter...

And yet more youkai joined up with them. Two crow demons, their eyes wide as caws filled the air. The children screamed delightedly and tried to catch the birds, their tiny hands grabbing upwards towards long skeletal tails and three eyed faces. The girl with the wings struggled to lift herself up off the ground, almost making it before the feathery attachments gave way to gravity.

"Mika! How many times have I told you before, your feathers have not yet fully developed! I don't want to see you trying to fly again!"

A young mother swooped down to check up on her child, her own wings curled around her arms to avoid hitting the other children. Upon her forehead were several odd markings, and her eyes were a deep amethyst coloring. The young girl cried fitfully as the mother kissed her bruised knee and helped her stand. One of the mortal girls hugged the winged child comfortingly and the group of kids resumed their games.

Meryl could not help smiling.

"Mika is constantly trying out her wings. Ever since they had started to sprout not two years ago. Her mother is a crane demon. Her father is one as well. Mika is one of the only pure-blooded youkai children out there. The other full blooded youkai children have mostly mixed parents." Mike saw where Meryl's attention one, and his eyes softened as he watched the children play, "We are all the same. Our love for life and for our children's lives are no different than from the youkai's. The youkai and we mortals have made peace ages ago, and it has remained that way ever since."

"Good morning Sempai! How are you today?"

Meryl and Mike turned to the wall where Millie now sat up, her light brown hair ruffled from the pillow. She smiled, clear blue eyes lighting up. Always the morning person, Millie stretched out and stood up, her tall frame towering over the sitting Meryl.

"Ohayo Millie, I am fine. Did you sleep well?"

"Oh yes Sempai. Um...." The tall brunette scratched her head sheepishly.

"I meant `Good Morning'. I am sorry. I forget that you don't know that much Japanese, my mind has been running back to my ancestral past while talking with Mike-san here."

"Good morning to you too then! Did you sleep at all Sempai?"

Meryl shook her head, motioning for Millie to take a seat. Millie nodded a cordial greeting to Mike who raised his own hand and turned back to the eggs. Millie yawned and smiled widely, her light yellow pajamas brightening up the room.

"Oh, I didn't actually sleep last night Millie. But don't worry, I couldn't have slept even if I had wanted to."

"Why is that Sempai?"

The superior insurance girl nodded her head to the window, "Millie, could you tell me what you see out there?" She finally gave her used teacup to Mike who placed it into an old sink to wash up later.

Millie craned her neck to stare out of the open windowpane. There were two women talking animatedly in front of a shop. One was a lovely young female with a beautiful caterpillar green shawl and a forest green skirt. The other was an old lady, her white hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She had wrinkly eyes...a lovely shade of amber....

"Sempai, do you see what I see?" Millie pointed, flabbergasted by the vision in front of her eyes.

Meryl turned to face the old lady. The woman was smiling kindly as she held up clawed hands to take a basket from her friend. She wore an old, worn silk kimono. Her ears were pointed slightly, the tips curling upwards with a tinge of blue.

"Ah yes, that is our doctor of the town. Her name is Rose, she's over two thousand years old. Sadly enough, her health has not been the best as of recently and she has predicted that her time will come to pass away in another couple hundred years. The youkai nowadays live out their lives peacefully, getting the chance to live life to the fullest." Mike smiled warmly.

"Y-Youkai? What...what are those?"

Meryl's eyes were also confused, "Mike, if a youkai chooses a mortal partner...does that mean that the youkai will outlive their lover for..."

"When a youkai mates with a mortal, the mortal is gifted with a life span as long as that of the youkai. Most of their life spans are at least two thousand years. Many don't show signs of aging like Rose does. Normally they stop aging when they're twenty, give or take a few years. Rose is one of those youkai that can look into the future, if only hazily. She ages as a mortal would, although her life span is no less than an average youkai."

Millie continued to stare at the window with wide eyes, watching more and more passerbys. Meryl had her question answered, and tried to explain the situation with her assistant, who was dumbfounded.

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They now sat upon the rubble that was the well house. Knives' tall frame bent over to rest his elbows upon his knees. He watched as the miko sat down gracefully, tucking the folds of her red hakama-style pants behind her legs. Deep earthy brown eyes stared into the distance, the white robes hanging over her slim shoulders.

"Tell me how you came to be on this planet. I expect that this is only a projection of your form?" She gave him a dead smile.

"I think I'm asleep on the planet of Gunsmoke. That's where the people of Earth went to on the Project SEEDS ships."

"Ah, the ships. I remember watching those from far off, a little more than a century ago. So they have landed and occupied another planet?"

"Yes. I was born on one of the ships, and my brother and I were two of the few survivors. But now, there a filthy spiders roaming around the entire desert. It's disgusting."

"I see."

"Now you tell me something," Knives turned to face the gigantic tree that branched out above the well house, "Who are those figures? Are they actually attached to the tree?"

He could see four characters semi-hidden within the foliage. There was what looked to be a young man no more than seventeen, with two white dog ears peeking out from his shaggy mane. Parts of a rosy red yukata could be seen through the leaves, as well as a necklace of prayer beads. There was a Buddhist monk, if he recalled his knowledge of their apparel correctly, with his right hand poking out. The hand was covered with some sort of cloth, a rosary strapped around the arm. A long staff was being grasped tightly, the rings dangling from the top clinking softly every time the wind blew. Beside him was a young female, her hair tied up into a high ponytail, a metal mask strapped to her face. She was wearing a skin-tight black bodysuit with shoulder guards, shin guards, and a large boomerang that seemed to be made out of bone laying at her feet, uncovered. The last figure was merely a child, with pointed ears and a ragged vest. His mouth was slightly open, revealing two sharp fangs.

"They are not human, are they."

"Only two. One is a inu hanyou, the other is a kitsune."

Knives noticed the uncanny likeness of the inu hanyou at the tree to the one in the locket. When his mind thought of the necklace, the thin chain was suddenly felt in his rough callused hands. He opened up a fist to finger the locket wonderingly, almost forgetting that he was not supposed to act like a child. He was a powerful Plant, a superior being.

"What is that?" The priestess' gaze fell onto Knives' newfound treasure. She watched, almost suspiciously, as the tall man opened up the clasp to look at the boy on the tree and at the boy in the painting.

"They're the same. Is that why I am here? To make this connection?" Knives held out his treasure to the miko who watched it in almost surprise, "Do you know these two? Who are they?"

"....How did you....come upon this...?" the miko examined the locket with reverence. Her transparent fingers danced over the still brightly golden chain, tracing over the swirly patterns engraved into the surface. She reopened the clasp to reveal the girl and boy yet again. Her eyes grew downcast, and she tilted her head.

"I found it near an abandoned ship. Must have been separated from its owner when they crashed onto Gunsmoke. It looks like you know the meaning behind the object, would you care to tell me?"

"Separated...does that mean..."

[The protection spells are gone, they must have been absorbed into her body while she lay in that cryogenic sleep. But there is something else in place of the protection spells....something else....]

She had put an enchantment onto the locket. The necklace had reached her hands during that final battle, and she had realized that Kagome must have dropped it before she was spirited off by Naraku's servants. She had remembered placing a spell, one that would have preserved Kagome's body in a sort of enchanted un-sleep, much like InuYasha was at the moment. Except that Kagome would have been awake, just unknowing that she would have healed extra quickly, her miko powers enhanced with Kikyou's blessing. She would not have been able to die until she saw InuYasha again. Because if she had died in the hellhole that she had been placed into with Naraku, then she would have become a wandering spirit, a vengeful soul which would have been an even worse fate than what she had been placed into at the moment.

Kikyou supposed that Kagome had worn the locket for so long during her sleep, that the blessing had been absorbed into her body, as if the blessing was not a separate entity. Now there was something else there...

"This is not as I have left it. When did you happen upon this Knives-san?"

"Just a day ago, it was covered in crust and the like. Took me quite a while to clean it up and open the thing. That was when I fell unconscious and woke up here."

"What is this...." the miko raised the locket in her palm, a white glow surrounding the necklace, indicating white magic. The music was playing around the pair's ears, a sad mournful melody. Images filled the air, as if from a large projector.

[Onegai...help....me...]

A girl was shrieking in front of Knives' orbs of blue. He stared as the girl from the locket screamed in pain and anguish, struggling with all her might towards what appeared to be her family. The setting was this very shrine, give or take a few ruined buildings. The stakes were still there, and the image revealed a mother, a grandfather, and a small boy. The small boy was shrieking as flames engulfed him. The girl was sobbing....

And just as suddenly, another image appeared. There was now the miko standing there, not looking as transparent as she did right now. She was beside another youkai, most likely a full-blooded inu youkai. The male had long white hair, blood red marks on each cheek, and two small traveling companions. They were watching as the inu hanyou from the locket battled another, blacker man. The girl who had been sobbing before now lay upon the scorched earth, her hair being yanked by one of the black man's servants.

Now there was only black, the only something being lighted up was the young woman, her clothes and body incredibly bruised and broken. Her eyes were glazed over, flickering to a locket in her hand that had suddenly appeared with a glow of white. She examined the golden oval, a sullied tear falling from her open eye. The locket sunk within her hand, as if melting into her very body.

"Sub-space...so that's how she kept it from Naraku all these years. I had been afraid that he would have found the necklace and dumped it from the ship the first chance he had."

"What was that? Sub-space?"

"Everyone has a sort of pocket within themselves, most do not learn how to use it. I suppose Kagome's raw miko powers were showing when she was the most vulnerable, and it helped reveal the sub-space pocket to her."

"Ah."

There were horrid images, of the girl being beaten to the verge of death. After the first couple of months, her eyes gained an undead look....very much like the miko next to him. But, she had not come back to life like the miko apparently had. It was as if...she had died....and could not remember how to kill herself. As if she was drifting in a limbo, between conscious life and the grayness of afterlife.

Each time, her body would heal itself at an impossible rate. Even faster than he could himself. And he had thought that Plants were the highest of beings. But it seemed as if this girl was so much more, stronger in spirit and body.

The music played on and on...as if the melody grew only more haunting with each brutal vision.

"These must be her memories...." The miko could not cry, but her hands clenched and unclenched fitfully around the locket in her lap, "She must be little more than a puppet on this Gunsmoke you speak of, she could not possible be Kagome without her memories."

"So...what is she now?"

The miko turned to Knives, her eyes shimmering.

"I don't know."

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Vash stared with wide eyes, his face poking out of the window. Long fingers clutched the wooden framing, green eyes blinking rapidly. His blonde hair had not yet been combed, strands sticking out in odd positions. His face was unshaven, and he still wore his pajamas.

"Well I'll be...."

There were people who were...just like him. They were different. And they were accepted into the society they had been placed into.

"...Mr. Vash?" Millie came into the room after washing up, her brown trousers and clean white shirt on. She smiled at Meryl who was sitting calmly at the table, her morning ritual already done with. Both insurance girls turned to the walking Plant with amused smiles.

[Would me 'n' Knives have had a better life had we been born here? With all the youkai and hanyou?]

He could not help feeling downcast, knowing what had happened to his brother in the past. He did not blame Knives, it took a really strong will to refuse to give in to taunts and torture. He had had Knives to protect him, Rem to teach him what was right and wrong. Knives had gotten most of the hurtful comments, and could not hold the anger within him any longer. Vash was just glad that Knives was trying to change, to give the mortals a second chance.

But would Knives have not had to go through all that pain, if he had just crashed into Youkai instead? If Vash and Knives had found this little hidden village a century ago, even when it was just beginning to form, would they have found kindred spirits? Plants lived for a long, long time. Youkai lived for a long, long time. Neither of them were truly beings that lived outside of Time, but sometimes if felt like it, when they watched their loved ones die from a short life span.

"It's amazing isn't it. This is almost like a small piece of paradise, an example for what we could live up to."

Vash turned his deep green eyes to Meryl, who sat there watching the comings and going of the townspeople. Her face was calm, an expression he rarely had the treat to watch. Soft wisps of hair blew across her forehead and a smile played on her lips.

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious, isn't it? When you and Knives had entered the human world, you were faced with fear and anger. But this town, this town shows the rest of us how it could have been dealt with, how humans could live alongside beings who seem so much superior to ourselves."

"Mike said that there were others that had come here before..."

"And they had refused to believe the paradise they saw before them. If only everyone could see this truth before their very eyes, if only they could see how everyone is equal. We are all different, but that does not make one better than the other. Mike made me see that reality."

[Youkai, Human, Plant. It makes no difference what race you are from. We all have a special place in this world. We are all equal in every aspect.]

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Naraku grinned up at his screen, an eerie smile covered with coldness. His pale face looked out from waves of black hair. Frozen blue eyes watched the forms of his three new targets.

[The first outsiders who managed to come into Youkai and not spread hatred. This could prove to be a threat.]

Especially the tall blonde one. He was not a mortal. He was not a youkai either. But, his aura was different from anything Naraku had felt before.

His Kagome would take care of these three.

His Kagome was special. She was a miko with extraordinary powers, powers that hadn't even surfaced yet. Naraku smiled again when he knew that this being that truly did live outside of Time, was his to control. She would be the bringer of death, the one who brought back the age of war and agony. She was not tied down by anything, not even memory. She was nothing more than His Kagome.

HIS Kagome.

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AN: Okay, for the JAPANESE DICTIONARY section, I'm going to put up words and define them in the way they're used in this story. So although "miko" actually means "shrine maiden", I'm going to list it as "priestess".

Other than that, review! Tell me what you like about this fic and even what you don't like!

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JAPANESE DICTIONARY

Youkai - Demon

Hanyou - Half Demon

Sempai - Senior, Elder

Demo - But

-San - Suffix used for respect

Hakama - As in the hakama-style pants that Kikyou wears. These are sort of like men's trousers.

Miko - Priestess

Inu - Dog

Kitsune - Fox, fox demon

Yukata - Summer Kimono. The type of outfit InuYasha wears.

Onegai - Please

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