InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Single Wish ❯ Scroll One ( Chapter 1 )

<i>A Single Wish</i>

 

By: OtakuSailorV

 

* ~ * Scroll One - The Girl Who Could Transcend Time * ~ *

 

She had been able to do it once, she knew she could. To just jump into that well and come out in a different place. To feel the exhilaration of crossing time, to feel the taxing fatigue of trying to exist in two times at times. Though that had been even more burdened when her former had come and taken a part of her soul. A part that she had regained. Or had she. . . ?

 

It seemed so long ago, like a different place and time, like a story she had read in some ancient novel, or a fantastic, wonderful dream. Sometimes she thought it really was a dream, but there were things that often came up that reminded her that it simply could not be a dream.

 

Her Jii-chan was asking for her help in the Shrine more and more often, doing jobs in which she would have to wear the sacred robes of the priestess. She would tie her hair back in that strange white ribbon and look herself over in the mirror. Once, briefly, she thought she had caught a glimpse of someone else, someone she had known long ago. Someone who was her, but at the same time, was <i>not</i> her. It was a very confusing feeling, and when she went to touch the girl on the other side of the mirror, to test whether she was real or not, the image had faded. Those blank eyes that had watched her so carefully had receded back, to where Kagome wasn't sure, but the strange woman was gone.

 

At the same time she had felt overcome with grief and frustration at having the woman there, watching her so coolly, as if she were above her, as if she were somehow better. Where did she know that woman? Where?! Her head hurt whenever she thought about it, and dancing around behind her eyelids was a thin young man with silver hair and a red haori. Why did she feel so hurt when she saw the two together? Why did she feel so empty when she felt the other girl's strange eyes on her? Why did she hurt and yearn for the boy with silver hair and dog-ears? It made no sense.

 

Briefly, she recalled their names - Kikyou, Inuyasha. She remembered vividly her `dream,' or whatever it had been that they were involved in.

 

Then there were the times when that boy from school, the one that liked her so much - Hojo - came to call. He would always bring things for her, claiming they were good for her health and leave again, sometimes asking if she wanted to see a movie or something. Yes, she had used bad health, as an excuse to leave school more often, hadn't she? In that `dream'. . .

 

And her friends were constantly making references to her `no-good-two-timing-boyfriend,' whom she had come to realize was the boy with the red haori, Inuyasha. At the same time she had recalled why it hurt so much when she imagined him near Kikyou. They had used to be in love. She hated that her friends kept pestering her about this, but they didn't know that she couldn't cross time anymore. . .they had never known in the first place. . .

 

Souta was the one that caused the most trouble. He was constantly questioning her about `Inuyasha-nii-chan' and making references to her other friends. He often would sigh, call her the `lucky one' and say something how he wanted to go to a different time and save the planet too. He made it sound so simple and childish, and she often got mad at him about it. She knew that she shouldn't, he was just a kid after all and didn't realize what she had gone through, but she wished that they would all be quiet and leave her alone. She was back home now, and she wanted everything to be regular again.

 

But everything would not go back to `regular,' as she had wanted it to; she often found herself thinking wistfully of her time in the Sengoku Jidaii. She missed them all so much. . .Sango, Shippo, even Miroku. She couldn't help but cry sometimes, and very often she found herself standing by the well, sitting on the rim, legs dangling over the side, staring deep into it's depths thoughtfully.

 

For several weeks she had tried at least once a day to transcend time again, just once more to see them. But it always proved useless, and she soon abandoned the effort, though that didn't stop her from spending time around the well. Sometimes she even went out of her way to do homework by it. There seemed to be something about it that soothed her, that made her slow down and think calmly for a while, that just made her feel at home again. Though truly her home was outside, and her family was inside waiting for her.

 

Once she had conceived the contradictory thought that her family was on the other side of the well, waiting for her, not inside of the house. It had vanished the moment she had probed it some, but it left a wondering emptiness in the back of her mind.

 

* * *

 

Kagome woke as her buzzer went off like any morning, completely awake. It felt like she hadn't slept at all, like she had just laid down, closed her eyes, and opened them again to find that it was morning. Her clocked buzzed annoyingly on its stand. Reaching over, she slammed her hand down on it, flicking the switch so that it turned off.

 

She stared at the ceiling a moment before going down to breakfast. She walked down the hall, the morning sunrises' rays were streaming in through the windows and warming everything around them. It felt good to have those rays shine on her; it put her in a good mood, well, in as good a mood as she could muster lately. The perpetual gloom seemed to still hang around her.

 

She gathered her usual breakfast things and ate in silence until her younger brother joined her. “Are you going to try the well again today, Onee-chan?” He asked brightly, smiling at her. She hated his bright optimism in that moment, though she knew it was one of his best qualities. It was one all kids his age had. An unshakable belief that everything would turn out fine that nothing could go wrong. But as soon as puberty hit him though, all those thoughts would disappear, unless he was just naturally optimistic, which Kagome thought sometimes that he was.

 

“No, I'm not.” She replied drearily, poking at her food with her spoon.

 

Souta gave her a worried look, this had become somewhat of a routine, she knew what he was going to say next, but let him say it anyway without interrupting.

 

“W-why not Kagome?” Ah, there it was.

 

“It doesn't work anymore, I can't get through, and obviously they can't come through to get me either. Not even Inuyasha.”

 

Kagome stood, gathering her dishes she washed them and stuck them in the dryer as her brother trailed after her, standing by her side and talking anxiously.

 

“But Inyasha-nii-chan could always travel through the well before, why doesn't he come now? Is it because the Jewel's gone now?”

 

The last question was new, he had never asked her that before, and it had never truly struck her. She had just accepted that she could no longer go back simply because she couldn't. Now it appeared to be that she couldn't get through because of the Jewel, and no one could come back because of the Jewel. But what of Inuyasha then? He had never had to use the Jewel to get through. This was all so confusing. . .But she broke it down at last. Inuyasha could not get through, no one could get through, because the Jewel was gone, and the Jewel was the one that had created the portal to the Sengoku Jidaii in the first place.

 

“I think. . .I can't get through because the Jewel is gone.” She confirmed. “I've tried a lot, Souta, but I can't get through anymore. It's just a well.”

 

Souta watched his sister until she had descended the steps to her room and disappeared. He felt sad for his elder sibling, but didn't know what to say. Glumly, he looked at the God Tree outside; the Sakura petals were falling. <i>`Onee-chan. . .'</i>

 

* * *

 

School proved to be even more tiresome than usual, though there was the slight perk of getting that herbal tea from Hojo.

 

She had tried to tell him that she was fine and that he didn't need to get her anything anymore, but he had only smiled and claimed that that was ok, she could have it anyway. She knew that was sweet of him, but couldn't bring herself to think of anything more of him than a very nice friend. She just didn't care for Hojo that way, though it was evident he thought of her that way.

 

She had ridden off on her bike, her mind on other things, though she was careful not to crash. She knew the path home by instinct and no longer really needed to know when she was coming to a turn or a stop. Her body reacted without her acknowledgement, like she was on auto-pilot or something. She would have giggled at the thought before, but at the moment it brought no humor.

 

As she got to the shrine, she climbed the steps with her bike in tow. Immediately as she reached the top, her eyes fell on the God Tree, the petals of Sakura falling gracefully all around it. It looked beautiful. Kagome gave it a soft smile. It was her last connection with the Sengoku Jidaii. Briefly she was reminded that Naraku was somewhere inside that tree, and a form of anxiety hit her.

 

Walking cautiously toward the tree, she pressed her palm flatly against it. The bark felt smooth underneath her fingertips, weathered by centuries of storms, battles and other such disasters. It had lived through worse things than she ever had.

 

She closed her eyes and let herself become lost in the moment. Here, too, she found comfort. The tree was there her entire life, and had been there long before her time, long before her mother, before Jii-chan, even before Inuyasha, Naraku, and Kikyou. Who knew how long it went back? It might be as old as the moon, as old as the stars; its power probably went beyond even that.

 

Underneath her fingertips, she thought she felt it pulsate suddenly. Kagome drew in her breath sharply and looked at it wonderingly. The branches swayed in a slight breeze, and the entire tree seemed to hum delicately. Something continued to pulsate within it underneath the bark.

 

“Hey! Kagome, what are you doing?” Her brother Souta was running up the stone steps toward her, breathing heavily from his sprint.

 

Kagome pulled from her reverie and blinked at the tree for a moment; the illusion had faded. Turning toward Souta, she gave him a curious look before smiling at him softly. “It was nothing.”

 

As he came up to her side, she directed her bike toward the house. “How was school today, Onee-chan?”

 

* * *

 

Kagome fell into her bed, thinking to herself deeply. Tomorrow they didn't have any school, but she would have a lot of homework to do. Her mother was planning something special to do tomorrow too; she would have to stay home alone then. Her mother wouldn't let her go thanks to the fact that she had accumulated so much homework and studying over her period of being in the Sengoku Jidaii that she wasn't allowed any time off. From dawn until dusk she did nothing but schoolwork. Besides, they were predicting rain for tomorrow, and she didn't feel like going anywhere when it rained.

 

Looking out the window idly, she though she saw a shooting star flash overhead in the sky. That was extremely lucky. People never saw shooting stars in the city, let alone on a cloudy night like this. But, yes, she was sure she had seen it - there, between the cloud-cover, an opening. Yes, there was Polaris, the Northern Star. She was sure of it, it had to have been a shooting star. Clapping her hands together swiftly, she hurriedly made a wish.

 

<i>`Please, let me know I wasn't dreaming, that it was all real. . .I don't want to forget them. . .'</i>

 

* * *

 

Souta looked out of his bedroom window at the same time that his elder sister did, and spied the same star. Blinking, his mouth was agape, his eyes were wide in childish delight. He didn't have to think twice to know what it was like his sister had. Clapping his hands together, he bowed his head and prayed silently to himself. It was a good thing that he had already been prepared with a wish too.

 

<i>`Please make my Onee-chan happy again. . .'</i>

 

* * *

 

Outside the God Tree's branches groaned eerily in the night, the boughs swayed by an unseen wind. Deep inside, encased in purple light sat a demonic figure; his eyes closed and head bowed as if he were asleep. His long, curly black bangs hung over his eyes, obscuring anyone's vision of his face, though there was no one to see him within the confines of the God Tree. He was perpetually trapped there, lost within a deep sleep. But something had stirred him earlier, making his blood flow in his veins again, and to make his lips move in the form of words.

 

His mind worked furiously, and, lifting his head for the first time in nearly 500 years, he flashed red eyes at the outer bark. He could smell it, sense her nearby. The miko. She who had foiled his plans, trapped him inside this unshapely tree, ironically cast him into the same deep sleep that he had set upon her beloved all those years ago. A smirk crossed his lips, a glint shown in his crimson vision. He was awake now, and it would only be a matter of time before he was out again, and then. . .then he would cut her down.

 

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