InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ This Time Imperfect ❯ Miseria Cantare-The Beginning ( Chapter 1 )

AN: Well this might get a little bit weird. I have no idea how I am going to get all of this out, but... Well, I am not so sure how this will turn out-it seems a little too extreme and out of the cliché genre to be accepted. This is a crossover, and I am pretty sure you will see between which animes. Well, tell me what you think. Ugh.

 

For Striking Falcon, who has such wonderful stories!

 

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This Time Imperfect

By: Concrete

 

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“Once you're lost in twilight's blue-

You don't find the way,

The way finds you…”—Joshua Home

 

 

Miseria Cantare-The Beginning

 

 

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* Japan, End of Sengoku Jedai Era

Outskirtsof the land of Tokugawa, east of Sesshomaru's lands

 

Fingertips of dawn blushed over the horizon, alighting the dew upon the grass like thousands of glittering jewels before stretching to encompass the once blackened sky. The breeze that whispered amongst the trees was merely that, a warm whisper to which birds and other creatures were relieved to wake to. And after months of bitter cold and frost ridden day-break, every villager in the surrounding area greeted such a morning with a smile and a prayer to their gods. To her, it was as if some god had ripped away the beginning of one of her beloved fairy-tales and stuck it here, in the middle of Japan.

 

In the middle of the end…

 

The era of Japanese time, known as Sengoku Jedai was coming to a swift end, marking the beginning of a new age. The age that would become placed in textbooks as the era of growth. Most of Japans ideas erupted from the chaos that would surround the on-coming period. There would be technological advances and a great deal of information on medicine and other such wonders: all of which had been sadly lacking until then… But she knew, all of these advances and ideas were to be born from endless years of war and unrest. Sickness would break out all across Japan, and there would be war. There would be plague, there would be devastation, there would be peace, and there would be bombs from foreign soils…

 

All of this would befall her land before she could ever return to her home that, at this moment on such a fair day, seemed so very far away. And now she could feel the sinking cold in her stomach that she always felt when she woke in the mornings, that pressure that weighed upon her conscience, that knowing that had been accompanying her for that last twenty years.

 

It was so hopeless! Every morning she woke to the knowledge of what she would have to endure in order to get to her last refuge… It was five hundred years away! And every morning, as these feelings of dread attempted to pull away her resolve, the murmurs of love and adoration would reassure her. Warmth would spread delicately from her heart, to reach her all over. All the while, the whispers of need and strength would continue to pour energy and life back into her in a steady flow. It was at this hour that she would smile and sigh in exasperation, and wonder to herself how Sesshomaru was able to stand these thoughts every time he opened his eyes.

 

`That is, if he ever slept.' Kagome thought to herself as she lifted herself off of the cold and thawing forest floor. Languidly she began to stretch herself to melt away the stiffness of her limbs, all the while she attempted to gain awareness of the area around her. It was always a little difficult to work the power that she possessed, and she was, by no means, a master of it.

 

`Hells, you are more likely to kill yourself when fighting a youkia.” Inuyasha had often told her so countless times.

 

She quickly took survey of the damage she had done to her meager supplies. “One cup left of Raman, four Twinkies, and a bottle and a half of Gatorade… Perfect.” She muttered angrily before shoving said items away into a rather shoddy looking back-pack, which seemed to be the essence of a faded yellow piece of grime. Kagome had often told herself it was far past due time to rid herself of the old and filthy pack, but every time she made to do so-a grip of ice found it's fingers wound around her heart and kept her still. And the food was old. Very old. But it was the only piece of home that she had left with her, and so she refused to eat any of it-besides, living things seemed to have made homes in a few of her items.

 

But besides her meager provisions of dried meat, provided in return for a demon exorcism of a local village, she carried few things. Her black and white priestess garb (for try as she might, the sight of red and white upon anything of hers, brought her to tears) and a change of her ancient uniform.

 

That was all that she carried around with her to keep her in relative comfort, she was able to maintain some level of hygiene from herbs and pumice stones that were rather plentiful. And if she ever had need of anything-all she had had to do was pull on that priestess outfit and be accepted with open arms to any village.

 

That was not so now.

 

As of late, her powers had been less and less required by anyone. It had been weeks since her last report of a mischievous demon. There was something happening to the Land of the Setting Sun, and it was striking down the demon population. She could feel it within her. Kagome knew that the youkai had inhabited this earth before humans had, and thus had first bonded with the land. And now, with so many youkai just up, and disappearing-the very earth under her feet cried out in agony. Kagome was tied to the land and to life itself: because she was a miko she was automatically tied to certain aspects of nature. The rest of her abilities…

 

She placed a hand over the dip between her breasts, feeling the warmth that radiated from her heart, and the energy that was continuing to merge with her completely. Kikyo had said that it would take time.

 

`And time is all you will have!' Kikyo would be laughing.

 

It was here, in this hallow over her heart that she felt the absence of youkai the most. It was like barbed fishhooks in her skin, deep within her, and slowly being torn out. It hurt her, sometimes more acutely than other days. And it was on those days that Kagome knew it was trying hardest to fully complete her. It loved her so much-it just couldn't wait until it was one with its body-until it could finally be connected to life again and become her.

 

Kagome still found it funny that what had caused them all so much suffering, were now the whispers of the day break that kept her despair at bay.

 

It all seemed faintly ironic.

 

Even now, she could feel those pieces of her fragmented soul call out to the youkai, and the magic, which was slowly seeping from her world-where at the same time pieces of her soul yearned to speed up the process of this disappearance. Yet Kagome knew that this was only a side effect of not being completely whole. And she hoped that once she was, she would be able to finally control herself and her powers.

 

And maybe use them to stop whatever it was that was hurting the land so much.

 

However, Kagome knew that she had to figure out what was going on immediately. Part of her being able to traverse the Western Lands was that she had to defer to its leader. Essentially she was to be Sesshomaru's eyes and ears wherever she went. Sometimes she still laughed at herself for not reading the fine print when Sesshomaru had offered her his home.

 

`How retarded.' She had cursed him over and over for that little clause of her unseen contract. Yes she would defer to Sesshomaru-and report to him all. Well, she figured she might as well work for her board right?

 

But all bitter thoughts of the youkai lord were fast and fading from her fully wakened mind, instead it was replaced by a rather nagging sense of foreboding and fear. Something was going to happen today. She could feel it within her essence! And quite contrarily, Kagome feared for Sesshomaru, because whether she (or he for that matter) like it or not, he was all she had left next to her boy…

 

“Mother, you smell agitated.” From above her head floated down the voice of her kitsune pup, Shippo. He had grown up amazingly well, he was responsible and courageous, ruthless in battle, and a firm negotiator. Those were all of Sesshomaru's traits she knew it! And he knew it too. On days, when Shippo was feeling mischievous-Sesshomaru merely grimaced and ordered her to keep her brat in order. Yet on days when Shippo had done a particularly good job at deferring insufferable nobles, or done well in spar-Sesshomaru would capture her with his patronizing gaze and say, `Perhaps there is hope for Rin's Lord after all.'

 

Which was fine, Sesshomaru could claim the kitsune on those days when he played the politician-but when she and Shippo were alone together all of the facades dropped `Almost as if nothing had ever changed.'

 

Kagome was startled from her wool gathering by Shippo waving a delicately clawed hand before her eyes, “Oh sorry runt!” She said sheepishly, using Inuyasha's nickname for him-a sure sign that she had been reminiscing, “What were you saying?” As she spoke she pushed herself into action, breaking their hastily made camp.

 

Her devious son eyed her specuteivaley with one brilliant emerald orb. Absently she reached over him to pull his russet hair into a low que at the nape of his neck. She noted that Shippo had picked up on his `fathers' style of hair dress. Long and unruly.

 

Sesshomaru was going to have to beat that out of him.

 

Shippo cleared his throat again, this time his eyes filled with feigned hurt and accusation. “Nothing I say matters.”

 

Kagome laughed quietly as she stuffed random objects into their packs. “I am sorry Shippo, please continue. I just can't seem to get my thoughts in order today.”

 

“That is what I wanted to talk to you about.” He began.

 

“My thoughts?”

 

The 27 year old kitsune sighed, “Not exactly-

 

“Nothing I think matters.” She pouted teasingly, and was further encouraged by the enthusiastic mewl from Kirara who sat picturesquely on a blossoming tree.

 

Shippo held up his hands in surrender. “Okay okay. I deserved that.”
But his smile quickly faded, “Now stop trying to distract me from the topic at hand Mother.” He said with Sesshomaru's tones of reproach. “I feel something changing. I am not sure what it is, but I feel uneasy. I think that we should head back to the castle. I am sure that Lord Sesshomaru already is aware of what is going on but..” He trailed off, he too was packing away miscellaneous items.

 

“You just miss Rin.” Kagome laughed at Shippo's rather pink face, but inside of her she could feel her chest cavity burn slightly. `No, she thought to herself, `nothing is going to happen.'

 

Still, she would feel better when she was able to cross over into Sesshomaru's immediate territory.

 

After all of the things that Sesshomaru had done to her and her friends during the hunt for the sacred jewel shards, you would think that anyone with a sane mind would run from him at his sight. Run far.

 

Well Kagome had long ago had nowhere left to run-and. Now, it had either been Sesshomaru or the world, and with such a heavy ominous feeling weighing upon her tongue, she thought perhaps she would find more safety with the former…

 

* Nearing the heart of the Western Lands

 

Shippou continued to send his mother strange glances as they made their way to the heart of the Taiyoukai's lands. He knew that Kagome and Sesshomaru did not particularly get along, and he knew that it was all the inuyoukai's fault. Kagome was a tool, and advantage over all of those who would seek to usurp his throne as Lord. After all, who would have such a powerful miko on their side?

 

In Shippo's eyes, it was Sesshomaru's only flaw, that and the fact that the guy couldn't crack a decent smile. Still, he just could not believe that Sesshomaru had not taken Kagome as his mate as soon as everything had been said and done! Even now, Shippo stared at his mother and could find no flaw about her. And to his embarrassment, he knew that it was this way of seeing Kagome that made his such a.. `How did Mother put it? Ah yes…' such a `mama's boy'.

 

Kagome was powerful, and he did not mean magically. Kagome had long ago trained with a powerful taijia. demon slayer, and a buhdist monk.

 

`Sango, Miroku..'

 

It had been so long ago since he had last thought about his lost companions. And vaguely he wondered how often Kagome thought about them.. He then prayed that he too would not be forgotten when he decided, if ever, to leave this earth.

 

And briefly he allowed a smile to cross his handsome features, for he knew that one sure way to cast you name into time, was to cast your seed into your wife! Sure, Rin was not yet technically his wife-but she would be! He had already managed to gain her hand from Sesshomaru, who had-if anything-seemed relieved that he had secured something of a future for his 27 year old ward. And now that he would have the love of his life at his side, he could ensure that his line and his blood would flow on forever… In fact-he wondered if perhaps Rin was already with child. That thought alone turned the young kitsune into a proverbial sun, he glowed so bright.

 

Kagome smiled back at him from upon Kirara's back, “Why Shippo! I do believe someone is feeling his ego.” She was mocking him all in good fun, and simultaneously she was showing him her approval.

 

He couldn't have loved her more.

 

“Of course, but what makes me so happy are subjects that are to gruesome for a mother to hear of.” His nose was turned up into the air in mock representation of those people his mother had once told him about. Those people against feminism? She had made a general comment towards the entire male population , but he had brushed it aside.

 

Kagome snorted, “Yeah, I swear Shippo, if this breeze blows any harder- I think I might just snap in half!” She cherished moments like these. Moments where she and her son, her link to the past (and consequently present) could momentarily forget all the sorrow that had perpetrated their lives, and the burden of duty that still lay upon her shoulders.

 

Kagome smiled down at the dirt path that they had been traversing for the better part of three-hours. She tried to focus on the sunshine and its warmth, the breeze, the forest that surrounded her. She tried to think of anything but the enigma that lay inside her heart, or the unsettling weight that was suffocating her. Stubornley she shoved these thoughts away from her mind, just wanting to spend time with her son! But it was to no avail.

 

Just then a sharp pain erupted within her chest, and her eyes flew open in bewilderment and pain. `NO!'

 

“Kagome!” Shippo raced over to the fallen form of his surrogate mother, trying desperately to inturperate the meaning of her hands clasped tightly over her chest. “Kagome, what is it!”

 

But Kagome could not find the breath to answer the anxious youkai, for the land beneath her feet was wailing in anger and remorse. Pain and grief such as she had never experienced began to overwhelm her. Even her thoughts seemed to be unreadable, to her! She couldn't sort through what had happened, everything hurt too much to think.

 

So, on pure instinct, Kagome reached for the one who had been her pillar, however stoic and annoying, throughout the time since The Merging. However, as her heart, and all the power it contained, reached for the Western Lord-she was shocked to find only emptiness.

 

“Gone!” She gasped, cobalt blue eyes growing even darker against her ghostly pallor. “He's gone!”

 

Shippo stared at her for a second, not comprehending anything that she was saying. And then it dawned upon him. Vast amounts of youkai had been disappearing. There had never appeared to be any sign of struggle, it was as if heaven itself opened to swallow whole the demonic population. From what he had gathered from Kagome, this disappearance directly affected the land, and that the spirit of the land itself seemed to be fading.

 

“Who's gone mother! Mother!” He grasped her shoulders frantically, fearing what would pass her lips.

 

She seemed to understand his turmoil, for she began to weep, “I never knew, that he meant so much to the land!” `Oh Gods Sesshomaru come back!'

 

Shippo clenched his teeth in frustration. If whatever had taken the other youkai, had taken Sesshomaru-then it was only a matter of time….

 

“No, NO!” Kagome now sat up, her energy apparently returned. Her lips were set defiantly in a firm line, and her eyes blazed liked burning coals. “You will not go, do you hear me? I will not let you go too!” Her aura was flaring and spiking alarmingly, and it was slightly hostile, forcing him to move away from her.

 

Kagome stay were she lay upon the road and held him with her gaze until finally Shippo nodded, “It won't take me Mother. Let's make towards the castle-I have to see Rin.”

 

Kagome nodded, pushing a rogue strand of ebony hair away from her face before unfolding her length in one smooth liquid movement. “Yes,” she whispered, “Let us make to the castle.”

 

* At Sesshomaru's Castle

 

Kagome hurriedly leapt from Kirara's back and rushed towards the silent estate that had once belonged to the late Lord Sesshomaru. Ever since his disappearance, and presumed death, Kagome had begun to feel the spirit of the land slipping away, faster than ever before. Almost as fast as Shippo had run into the estate, ripping away the shoji doors in his haste.

 

She clenched her hands into fists and told herself over and over that nothing was going to happen to Shippo, he would be right out in just a moment! And then she heard him roar, a terrible sound that resonated throughout the hillsides, it was a scream of sorrow and loss-and it froze Kagome to the bone.

 

`Your life is mine Naraku!'

`Inuyasha no! The Jewel!'

`Kagome!'

`Get up Kagome! Please!'

`Where are they?'

`Oh it wont stop bleading Inuyasha!'

`KAGOME!'

 

So much pain. And now, as Kagome stood blankly in what was once Sesshomaru's vast halls, her hand lay over the wound that marred her chest-she thought: What is wrong with the world? For even then she could feel the lands magic slipping away… And then.

 

“No!” She whispered fiercely, her hands holding viciously to her chest-she could feel that thing, whatever was sucking the life out of her world, attempting to harness the power that had yet to merge within her! “No.” She said again vehemently, she had no idea what this sort of power would do to the balance of the world were it to be unleashed-or sucked away. Once-a long time ago she had allowed someone to take this power, but she could not allow that now. Not when it was so clear that it would accept no other mistress. It wanted Kagome.

 

It would have her.

 

Kagome began to traverse the labyrinth in hurried steps, feeling out the aura of the one thing she would need to solve all of her problems. She knew that it was selfish of her to be leaving, to be thinking only of herself-but there was no one else around.

 

Yet just thinking of the next 500 years spent alone and isolated from both past and future struck fear into the very core of her being. She knew there was a way to preserve the Shikon's power until it had fully merged with her soul, and that in doing so-would be able to pass through the sorrows of time as if in sleep.

 

She had reached her destination, and without hesitation Kagome reached out to claim the sword Tensusaiga. It pulsed weakly in her hands, calling out for its true master, and in an attempt to subject it to her command she allowed some of her power to flow over the weapon like flowing bolts of silk, “Please,” she whispered hoarsely, her eyes shinning with happiness at the thought that perhaps she had finally found a way out of all the pain and suffering of life, she then closed her eyes before plunging the sword through her heart.

 

Pain-pain so intense she could not move at all. She felt the blade of life slide through the fading form of the Shikon no Tama, and felt the release of power it triggered into her. She closed her eyes as wave upon wave of agony fell over her. But patiently she rode them out, knowing that when it was over-she would be fine.

 

It was as her plan began to take effect, as her heart stopped beating and her quick spell ( a simple activation enchantment for anything, she preyed it would be enough for a weapon of this caliber) that he came to her. Even as her dark eyes began to flutter and close, his emerald eyes were wide with disbelief. “Mama.”

 

Oh he sounded so very young, just like when he was nothing more than a kit in her arms. Remembering this, Kagome managed a smile to grace her face. “Shippo, I will wake up, and I will be home again!” Tears flowed down her eyes, even as they did his.

 

Yet she had to look away from his face, for written their was grief, betrayal, love, and fear. “Don't leave me!” He suddenly cried, and reached as if to pull free Tensusaiga.

 

“No Shippo!” Kagome cried weakly before placing her wraithlike hands over his own, “this will keep the power in me, and when the time comes I will wake back up-thanks to Sesshomaru's sword.” She smiled up at him even as blood began to stain her lips, “You tell that man that one day he will have to remove that stick from his ass eh?” Her hand cupped his pale cheek and felt the warmth from the salty liquid that flowed over her fingertips. “I do love you Shippo. I loved them all you know?”

 

Her hand fell away from his face and her eyes dulled to a gray, “You were my light and laughter Shippo.”

 

And with that, Kagomes body gave a great shudder and her breath passed her lips in a strangled yet relieved hiss. And Shippo, poor Shippo could only hold tight to his mother's hands before that great think pulled his essence away, but not before he whispered in reply, “Forget Mother, but know that I love you too.” And with tears in h is eyes, he let his soul and body be lifted up and away, leaving Kagome to lay unmoving in the elegant stone halls, like a statue of misery she lay there.

 

But it had been his hope that one day the cold stone hall would crumble around her, and revile and revive to her life, love, and laughter once again. For if she remained forever in despair of her past and what could no longer be, then he felt certain this would repeat itself.

 

And that would not do.

 

So even as his spirit took its true form high in a new world, his heart and soul were directed towards Kagome, and how he could be sure to make her remember him, and thus the light and the laughter that the world had to offer her.

 

For even the barriers that were beginning to fall between his world and hers, he knew that that alone would never keep him or his from her. After all, he was kitsune…

 

* In the realm of the Makai or Spirit World

 

Emma stared at the scene before him with a mixture of both relief and frustration. Hopefully now, with the demons and the magic's of the human's world gone, the humans would actually have a chance to thrive. Separate from the other species that tended to feast upon their flesh and blood.

 

Still, he could hear the land scream in anger because of what he had done. And the wail had pierced his heart, still he knew that once the barriers were still, then the voice of the land would fall silent, or upon deaf ears again.

 

“How did I ever let you convince me into separating the worlds?” He asked the four figures who stood behind him.

 

The first, and tallest of the four flashed him a very fanged grin, “Oi, there really wasn't that much need for convincing, right monk?”

 

Miroku nodded his assent, “Indeed Emma, we are sure you would have thought of this yourself had we not come along.”

 

The two women accompanying them showed varying degrees of amusement. Kikyo then waited until Emma had ambled away from them before whispering, “Will she have a chance? Will they?”

 

Sango allowed her shoulders to slump in weariness, “Well I have to tell you both, this sort of death really sucks. I had no idea what a secretary was before this,” she mumbled while displaying various paper cuts.

 

“We are doing it for Kagome and the rest of them. She has to help them, or they will never succeed.” Miroku said quietly as he observed the broken yet beautiful body of Kagome amongst Sesshomaru's ruins.

 

Inuyasha grimaced “Don't look at that Miroku..”

 

Sango nodded, her eyes stinging from tears, “Oh Kagome-

 

“Will be fine.” Kikyo interjected, her dark eyes fierce. “Have some faith in her and in what she can do.” She smiled at the woman who had held her soul and thought sadly,

 

`It is now or never Kagome dear. Time to prove if you were worth dying for.'