InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in Guiding Darkness ❯ Shippou's Plot and Dreams of the Past ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own it, so no one can sue me. I don't have any money anyway. I do have a collection of Barbie dolls (my sister's) that I'm willing to give away. Mind you, none of them have on any clothes, but you can have them free of charge.

_Chapter Eight: Shippou's Plot and Dreams of the Past_

"How long have I watched you now…" Sango wondered aloud as she sat at the foot of Miroku's bed. "I think since you were reincarnated into who you are now. "

She watched as he walked past her, a single candle in his hand as he reached inside a nearby chest for a sleeping shirt. She looked away with a blush when he tugged his shirt over his head, tossing the black smudged cloth to the opposite side of the room before shedding his pants. Sango waited for him to finish his nightly ritual, knowing that a quick wash off was the next to follow.

Kirara sauntered into the room, undeterred by Miroku's nakedness as she walked to the bed and sat at Sango's feet. Sango smiled down at the fire neko, her hand reaching down to pet her beloved feline stopped inches from Kirara's back. "That's right," Sango reminded herself as she pulled away. "I…I can't touch you like this."

Kirara meowed in sympathy. She tried to rub her head against Sango's leg, but her head passed through the transparent appendage to the bed sheets underneath.

"I'm sorry," Sango apologized sadly before turning at the sound of scrapping tin. She watched Miroku, now dressed in a white overshirt, drag the large tin bathing tub from the room and into the next. Sango listened to the sound of water slouching about before he returned.

"Kirara," Miroku greeted softly. He scooped the neko from her place on the floor and cradled her in his arms. "You know you don't sleep on the floor." He sat her down on the edge of the bed, unaware that Sango was occupying the exact spot at the time.

"There," he sighed as he tossed back the covers and lay down underneath them. "Now sleep my friend. Tomorrow is a new day and one must be ready."

Sango sighed as he closed his eyes, the violet orbs she missed so much disappearing underneath his tired lids. He fell asleep almost instantly, too tired to resist against the commands of his body. "Why…" Sango wondered mournfully. She reached up to touch his face and sobbed when she met nothing, her hand passing through him completely.

"It's not fair. Why would the gods reincarnate you and not me as well? Why leave me to watch over you? I want to be with you, to protect you and touch you again, not merely stand in the shadows and watch as your life plays out without me. I miss you…" Sango sniffed, and Kirara meowed again.

"I've watched you grow up, get older and become the exact man I loved so long ago. It…hurts, to be so close, yet so far away."

She smiled when he began to snore, the loud sound of sawing wood reverberating throughout the small room. Kirara growled in annoyance, one too many nights of having to withstand this torture grating on the normally calm neko's nerves. She jumped from the bed, changed into her battle form, snagged Miroku by the collar and flipped him onto his side. The snores stopped instantly, and Miroku hugged his pillow before falling into a deeper sleep.

"I guess I should be grateful for this little time," Sango said as he curled into a loose ball. "After all, where else would I receive such wonderful entertainment?"

_._

>Ring<

He knew this, and couldn't help the sudden leap of his heart as the sound reverberated throughout his darkened dreamscape. It always started out this way, with the ringing of brass rings the first thing he heard in the pitch blackness around him. He knew this sound and knew what it meant…

He was outside, and he was walking.

The blackness faded, becoming first gray before tendrils of blue, white, and lush green laced together in front of him. The blue and white became sky and clouds, and the green became the grass underneath his sandaled feet. He continued on toward his destination, a tiny black dot on top of the grassy hill. The strange black and purple robes swayed with each footstep, and the brass staff felt cool in his hand.

>Ring<

He breathed in deeply, always surprised at how fresh the air was here. 'It's almost as if I'm not dreaming,' he said to himself as he began his ascent to the top of the hill. The black dot soon took became a young woman dressed in black. Her fuchsia armor contrasted brightly, the matching sash fluttering by her side in the morning breeze. Dark brown hair was tied back in a high ponytail, and he longed like always to see it free. He was undeterred by the sword at her side, the shiny tip on her knee-high boots nor the gigantic bone boomerang at her feet.

She stared off into the distance, completely unaware of him as he crept toward her. His hand reached out, and not for the first time did he notice the purple wrapping and white rosary beads wrapped around it. He always wondered about it, but figured it to be some kind of weird dream quirk, just like-

Her body snapped to attention as he cupped her backside and he could hear a low growl moments before-

"Houshi-san, you hentai!"

>Whap!<

>WHAM!<

Miroku groaned, the splintering pain overshadowed by the bliss he felt as she glared down at him, cinnamon brown eyes fiery but affectionate. He stood slowly, his world spinning slightly as he shot her an innocent grin.

"Why such violence?" he asked her as she inspected the boomerang she used to hit him with. "I only wished to remove a speck of dirt."

"Sure," she growled in annoyance, obviously not believing a word he said. "You are a louse, houshi-san."

'Houshi-san,' he thought as he bowed in apology. 'Why must she always call me that?'

"I assure you milady, I didn't mean to offend."

"You can't charm me," she laughed and shook her head. She moved away from him toward the other side of the hill, her ponytail swaying slightly behind her.

'How does she wield that thing?' Miroku asked himself as he ran to catch up with her. She hefted the giant weapon on her back, using tiny clasped attached to the back of her breastplate to hold it upright. He soon caught up to her, making sure keep a safe distance away from her amazingly accurate swing. He observed her out the corner of his eye and felt a tugging at his heart when she glanced at him. He smiled and she blushed prettily, something he never expected from a warrior such as her but found endearing all the same.

"What have you been up to houshi-san?" she asked as they continued on their way. Miroku shrugged. "Nothing much. Merely walking and thinking."

"Thinking of what?"

He stopped and grasped her hand, his sealed palm resting against hers. She stopped and gave him a questioning stare at his smile.

"About you and our life once this threat is over."

She blushed again, her eyes lowering to their entwined hands as he pulled her into a gentle hug. He resisted the urge to grope her again, deciding to revel in the way she softened against him, her arms winding to meet around his waist. He embraced her in spite of the boomerang and his staff and his hand left hers to caress her back.

"Oh Miroku," he heard her sigh as she snuggled against him. "I can't wait."

"Me either love. If only the western tai were he-" He stopped as a new element began in his dream and the scent of smoke wafted up the field. "What is that?"

She leaned away from him and sniffed. Her face took on a confused look for a moment before panic gripped her. "Come on!" she demanded as she jerked away from him. She grabbed his hand and sprinted down the hill. Miroku ran behind her, his staff ringing frantically as it bounced along. They stopped once they reached the other side of the hill, their mouths agape at the flames below. The small village at the bottom of the hill burned, the smoke and flames leaping like hungry dogs.

He turned when she sobbed, the heartbreak and rage radiating off of her aura in waves strong enough to twist his heart. He attempted to stop her as she ran ahead, her boomerang now free as she called to a fire neko.

'What's happening?' he asked himself as he ran after her. 'This isn't the way things are supposed to be.'

"Do you fools really mean to stop me?" he snarled, his eyes glowing a fierce red as tentacles twisted around him. "You are nothing, and soon will be less than that."

"Houshi-san, be careful!"

He cried out as a claw grazed his side, but glanced back thankfully when a single yellow tail tipped in black wrapped around his waist and jerked him from danger.

"Kirara, protect Miroku!"

"No!"

He ran to her side desperately, his heart breaking as the claws extended through her back. She gazed back at him blankly, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she slid from the claws to the blood soaked and scorched earth below. He caught her before she could fall completely and cradled her in his arms, calling to her even as tears streamed down his face.

"Sango? Sango, stay with me. Please, stay with me. Don't leave me."

"The bitch is dead…"

He looked up into sage green irises surrounded by blood red. He recognized the furry white ears and felt his fury grow as the hanyou sneered down at him.

"How could you?!" he demanded vehemently. "She was your friend! I'm your friend! This village loved you! How could you?"

"I need no one, not even this pitiful village," the hanyou growled simply. "I have my mate, and that's all that matters."

"If your brother were here-"

"Don't mention that bastard around me!" the hanyou spat angrily, his claws flexing in hate. "I killed him, I killed her and you're next."

"I swear," Miroku growled as he lowered Sango's body to the ground. He grasped the beads around his hand, his violet eyes stormy and dark as the tears continued to flow.

"I will avenge her, him and every other person you've hurt. I'm going to kill you, even if I have to chase you to the ends of the earth to do it." His temper flared when the hanyou turned his back on him, leaving him standing in the middle of the of the battlefield, weeping, bleeding, broken…

…And mad as Hell.

"Don't ignore me!" he shouted as the hanyou walked away. "Do you hear me? DON'T IGNORE ME INUYASHA?!!!"

O.O

Miroku shot straight up and flopped back down, a sudden blow to the head blinding him momentarily. He blinked rapidly, his breathing ragged as he felt the loss and anger from his dream ebb away.

He sat up again, this time a little slower than the last as he looked around the room. Kirara sat above him, her tiny black ears flickering slightly as she looked at him.

"Meow."

"Yes, I'm fine," Miroku assured her as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and began his day. So distracted was he that he never noticed his tearstained pillow, nor the slight crimson stain on the dark sheets.

"Crappy sword," Shippou growled in frustration as he tossed the two pieces of the blade to the ground. "That's why the lecher didn't chase me. He knew it wasn't worth anything. Oh well," he said with a shrug as he turned north.

"I'll just go-" He stopped, his ears twitching slightly as a humming sounded through the forest. He followed the sound to the scent of water, where a young woman was bathing in a stream.

She shivered from the cold mountain water and bathed quickly, a little too quickly for his tastes as his eyes swept over her features. 'She's human,' Shippou determined. 'and there's something magnetic about her. There's a great power coming off of her from somewhere.' He stared at the pendant around her neck, a small black stone that rested between her breasts.

"I wonder what it is…"

Shippou jumped back at rustling in the tree above him, then backed off, determined to follow this little beauty and sate his curiosity.

'Every day is stranger and stranger,' Aragon mused to himself with a shake of his head. He watched as Kagome climbed down from her nightly sleeping place (cradled in the arms of an available tree) and began her morning ritual. Aragon found his charge to be a clean person, with a light carefree attitude despite the rough and hostile terrain around her.

He followed her to a nearby stream, his head instinctively turning when she began to disrobe. 'It's amazing how one falls into mannerisms of old,' Aragon thought before laughing at himself. 'Even if they have not been necessary for hundreds of years.' He waited patiently for her to finish, using his inner abilities to spread his aura to the forest around them. He detected two oni and a youkai on either side of her, but both were too far away to do any real harm. He sighed to himself and relaxed against the trunk, his feet dangling from either side of his branch while Kagome hummed and sang from below.

By the time he opened his eyes she was dressed and ready to go. Her kimono was different than the short ones she normally wore, this one flowed to her ankles in a country blue with darker blue lotus flowers imprinted in the fabric. Gold bordering lined her short sleeves, and the high split along her right leg complimented the high collar of the kimono. She had her quiver strapped to her waist like a sword, something she'd taken to doing since her last extermination.

'This is my fourth week following you Chorizon,' he thought as Kagome began walking, her bow in one hand and her green cape stuffed deep within her backpack. He stayed in the trees above undetected while she traveled the grounds below. Her fighting skill had improved since the last time they 'talked' and she was more accustomed to exterminating that he originally would have guessed.

Aragon jumped from the branch of one tree to another, his footsteps silent and sure as Kagome walked along below. 'I have yet to figure out who you're talking to,' he said to himself as he listened to Kagome's end of the conversation. 'but I don't think you're just another crazy mortal. There's a great power in you, of that I am sure.'

They walked all morning together, though Kagome remained unaware of her companion, until early afternoon. The forest ended abruptly and Kagome gasped in surprise at the meadow ahead of her. New spring flowers bloomed in abundance, tiny white and yellow blossoms heavily scattered among the lush green grass.

"Wow," he heard her whisper as she looked around. "It's so beautiful here."

Aragon stood by as she darted across the meadow, her bow, quiver and backpack scattering to the field below. She ran to the center of the field and danced around, her arms outstretched as she gazed at the blue sky above. Aragon took to the skies above her, watching with something akin to awed delight as she spun around, dual colored eyes hidden behind closed lids as her giggle rang out throughout the empty space.

She finally flopped down with a laugh, her hair fanning around her like a dark blanket against the grass. Aragon suddenly found himself deep within a memory, his conscious reminding himself of another he knew with such a free spirit.

'But that was a long time ago, wasn't it?' he mused with a sigh, sadness reflecting in his crystal blue eyes. 'Since then, much has changed. I'm no longer the man I used to be.' He gazed to the sky above, looking on as a cloud lazily floated past the sun. 'Redemption is so far away…it makes me wonder if it were ever really in my grasp to begin with.'

He sat in a mood for the rest of the day, with Kagome's happy laughter in the background of his thoughts. They stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, with Kagome having a picnic with her 'friend' in the middle of the afternoon.

"Alright," Aragon heard her sigh. "It's time to be off. Which way is Kyoto again?" Aragon watched as she waited, then nodded before walking toward the other edge of the field toward yet another forest.

"There are way too many forests here," he heard her grumble as she approached the line of trees ahead of her. Her short black boots barely made a sound against the grass, so…

'What is that I'm hearing?' Aragon asked himself as he settled into the first branch. He stretched out his aura toward the noise, his eyes closed and his brow furrowing as he detected a darker aura than his own. 'It's bloodlust, hatred and…confusion? What the hell?' Despite his bewilderment, Aragon recognized this aura, 'But from where, where have I sensed this-'

"Thank you…Inuyasha, right?"

"What's it to ya?"

"Just wanting to know, I suppose."

Aragon's eyes widened in realization, and the green bled back into his irises as his head jerked toward the horizon. 'I'll never be able to stop him,' he thought as he faded back to the trees. 'Let's just hope Chorizon stops him herself.'

Kagome walked along happily, giggling every once in a while at the surprisingly good jokes Raphael was telling her as the sun began to set behind her. She reached out to touch the first tree and froze, her eyes wide as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Her ponytail shifted over her right shoulder in slow motion, the only sign that she were real and not a statue before leaping back and to the left side.

A hooded figure slammed into the ground in front of her, it's clawed fist deep within the earth where she had momentarily stood. It stood slowly, a low growl ripping through the silence as Kagome attempted to back up and away from it. The sun finally disappeared behind her, leaving her in the golden glow of dusk as the figure jerked the hooded cloak away and tossed it to the forest behind him.

Snow white hair fluttered on a passing breeze, and cute triangle ears twitched toward her eagerly. Kagome nearly 'aw!'ed in admiration, but quickly realized that the dark aura she sensed was coming from this cute creature in front of her. It lifted its head and growled, olive green eyes swimming in crimson pools. Kagome gasped, her senses blanking out for a split second as he stalked toward her.

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye…

'She's so familiar,' Inuyasha thought as Kagome circled clear of him. 'But where do I know her from…'

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie…

'Surely I've never seen her before, so what is it about her…'

When the pie was open the birds began to sing…

Kagome's frightened face suddenly calmed, replaced by a cold determination as she put her back to the forest, raised her bow and returned his glare.

'I know that gaze,' Inuyasha realized in astonishment.

Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king…

Blood red eyes widened and faded to a slight pink as Inuyasha gazed up and whispered,

"Kikyou?"

----

SF: Yes, another cliffhanger. I know, I should be shot. I can't help myself.

Sesshou: It is better than what you've been doing Guardian.

Inu-chan: Don't you mean worthless crossbreed.

SF: You know, he hasn't called me that for a while. I actually don't miss it so don't bring it up.

Inu-chan: Yeah, whatever.

Miroku: What was with the poem?

SF: What poem?

Miroku: The 'sing a song of sixpence' thing?

SF: Oh, (shrugs) I just like it. That's all. This chapter was supposed to do a lot!

Kagome: It kinda shows Sango's relation toward Miroku-

Silver Fox: Miroku's dreams-

Shippou: Do the dreams mean that Miroku's remembering his past life?

SF: Sure do little buddy. There's that and a little more, including poor Aragon.

Sango: Anyway, the next chapter promises to have lots of surprises, including the beginning of Kagome's little group. Just because things look bad now doesn't mean that they'll stay that way. The next chapter for A Light In Guiding Darkness

Chapter Nine: The Sword of Life in the Hands of the Miko!

Responses:

evilfire4321, Kavfh, & ROW: Thanks a lot for the love! Another chapter's on the way!

DarkPyroPlanet: I'm so sorry that you're confused Jme. If you'd like me to explain anything please don't hesitate to ask. The Tenseiga is coming, as I'm sure you can tell by the chapter title above. The Feudal Era is the cannon universe. That's where the original story plot takes place. Glad you like the story so much and I promise to update as soon as possible.

CiCi: You know, I never thought of it like that. It is kinda like Underworld. I think I should add a little more blood.

Silverfangedtiger: Good to see you! I'm glad you can review now. Sweet and temperamental…hmmm, doesn't ring any bells. I don't know why you got the mailer daemon either. It's so weird. I agree, they should keep their hands off you! Shame on them!

Kagome: Hey, is he too wounded to grove? Because it's no fun if he is. (nods head) Must be able to grove. Hey, go right ahead and send it to me! I'd get a kick out of it! I already have the sash pic. I love that pic! If I could put it on my desktop (without my four year old sister running by and screaming 'Sesshoumaru's naked! Sesshoumaru's naked!') then I would. No threatening each other! Play nice.

Kura-sama: Yeah, Raphael has a real problem. Anyway, Aragon is trailing behind Kagome, as usual. However, there's someone watching unknown during the next chapter!

AnimeGirl4evr: A little of Miroku and Sango's past is in this chapter, but the jist of it won't come to light until a few chapters from now. It's not confusing, but it does explain Miroku's outburst (see above) and why Sango's so upset.

lovelykagome-wisher1: Hey, you can't go wrong with angels and vampires right? Glad you like it so much!

Tokia: Nope, Shippou isn't helpless in this fic. I think he's about the same age as Kagome's sister (in youkai years) Kagome's older sister isn't Ayame (though she's here in the story), it's not Rin (Rin died when Kagome's village was raided) nor any of her three friends (they and Midoriko died too). You know, I forgot about Yura. I wonder where I can put her….I'll have to think on that. The dark priestess…what's her name again…anyway, she's here too, except she's not exactly dark in this fic. You'll see. Vegeta, no hitting people, it's not nice.

BlueDove: The Dark World is the world where angels can't follow. (That explains a lot doesn't it?) I'm playing with you. The Dark World is Hell, where Sesshoumaru is. Remember, Kanna's home is called the Dark Plains.

Father Malvado: Of course you get a cookie. You're the first person to guess it. Kikyou needs an evaluation true, but would we enjoy her so much if she ever bothered to get one? Sango's condition is a little…complicated. She's dead, but with benefits.

Dark Neko-chan: It sounds like Sesshou's jealous. Tips on Raphael and Gabriel huh? Um…I would think that Raphael looks a lot like Miroku, except his eyes and hair are brown and he looks kinda Italian. Gabriel's hair is kinda like Usher's. It's really close to his head, in waves and it's really golden. I can't remember his eye color. I know I have it here somewhere. He looks like he may be native to Australia or something. I think that's pretty much it though. You holler at me if I confused you!

tessa3: Hi Kyo! I'm seriously happy that your plan is going well. You let me know if I can do anything to help out. Thanks, you guys, fore the compliment. My little tyrant is…entertaining too. I suppose that's one way of saying things. Oh, but I have a plan for Nikki too. I can't tell her, so if I tell you she can't know. You'll like it though. I'll send it to you when I send her the A Kiss chapter. Um…what's your email again? Never mind. I'm sure it's in my address book.