InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Act Two ❯ Costume Change ( Chapter 4 )

"Act Two"

~E. Marie

E-mail: Emw712@aol.com

February 4, 2004: Two updates within a period of a few days! *gasp! What will people think? (Hopefully, they'll think, `hey, maybe I should review!'…but I'm not gonna push it! Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to share your thoughts and/or words of encouragement!) Feel free to be critical! My skin's as thick as an elephant's hide…metaphysically speaking, of course ^_^.

Chapter Four: Costume Change

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Kagome pinched her right arm with all of her might.

`Aaaaaaaaaany minute! Any minute now, I'll wake up, and I'll be back in the well, and Inuyasha will be smacking Naraku silly for trapping me at the bottom and making me have this awful nightmare where I'm going insane!!!!'

She could feel the little bruises beginning to rise on her arm, but this was the only answer she could come up with: pinching-still, there she was, in the forest under the bright sunshine. The wind played with the hem of her short school uniform, reminding her that she was still trapped somewhere other than where she should have been (and desperately wanted to be) at that moment. Admitting failure, Kagome sighed her defeat and opened her eyes, to face her living nightmare.

There Inuyasha was, sealed to the god tree, just as he had been before she had released him three years ago.

"No," Kagome said aloud, puzzlement creeping into her voice. "He's not the same. What is he WEARING?"

Inuyasha, this Inuyasha, had the same flowing silver hair, the same cute dog ears that she longed to pet, the same sharp canines poking out through his mouth, which was closed in slumber. Kagome would have bet a thousand yen that his eyes, underneath those shut lids, were the same glowing amber orbs that held all the love and anger the hanyou ever felt. His lean, muscular body, though slightly smaller than when she had last seen him in battle with Naraku, was obscured as always by his baggy haori…but what was most confusing was that the red fire rat's fur, a sight so familiar that she felt she knew ever thread in the fabric, was now a gleaming blue!

Putting a shaking hand to her temple, Kagome fought the urge to scream aloud her confusion and utter frustration.

"This is just too much…." She pushed herself to her feet and made her way pensively to where his body was pegged to the god's tree. Climbing the woody growth about the trunk, she was able to touch him for the first time all over again….

Laying her palm, cool with anxious sweat, on his cheek, Kagome almost jumped at how warm his flesh felt to her touch. Wrapping her arms around his body, (well, as best she could, considering he was still bound to a rather large tree), she nuzzled her head into his chest. Even through all the folds of the dark blue fabric, she could hear, faintly, the beating of his heart.

"Thank Kami, you're alive," Kagome murmured, tears welling in her eyes. "I don't know what Naraku has done to us now, Inuyasha, but I will free you, and he will pay for making us live through this all over again."

An arrow whizzed above her head, barely missing Inuyasha's right ear as it embedded itself in the bark of the god tree. A volley of arrows, all warning shots, did the same, as Kagome groaned aloud.

"Oh, not again!" she cried, turning reluctantly from her one-sided embrace with the comatose hanyou to glare menacingly at the village men, all armed with arrows ready to seek a home in her bosom if she made a false move.

"Are you a demon, girl? What are you doing in Inuyasha's Forest?" cried one of the larger men, clearly the leader of this small band.

Rolling her eyes, Kagome jumped down from her place at Inuyasha's side and began to walk toward the hunting party. The rest of the villagers tensed, drawing their bows more taunt.

"Honestly, Yoishi! You act as though you don't know me!" cried Kagome, as she stopped in her tracks, fear swarming her thoughts and choking her voice.

"Witch! How doest thou know me?!?!" cried the headman, confusion thick in his shout.

"I saved your daughter, Yume, from a demon attack! That was just two years ago…." Kagome stopped speaking. If this insane dream was more than what it seemed, then she wouldn't be saving the headman's daughter until months from that moment!

"TAKE ME TO KAEDE!!!!" she cried aloud, before the headman could strike her for her pernicious lie.

"We'll do just that, wench! It's been many a year since our elder priestess has defeated a witch such as yourself, but Kaede is wise and powerful still!" cried the headman, as he seized her roughly and, with the help of the other villagers, bound her arms and legs to carry her bodily to the village. With a sigh, Kagome decided not to put forth a struggle. If all went as it had before, Kaede would have her bonds cut free within the hour.

Villagers milled about the mat Kagome had been tossed on, afraid to approach but too curious to stop staring. Sighing, the alleged witch let her sense of déjà vu take over as she waited for the appearance of the elder priestess. The village was just as she had remembered it from this same day three years ago, with only a few minor changes, like the proximity of the yam hut to one of the hen houses. There were many of these subtle differences between her memory and the village she say at that moment, but often times, she had to look closely to notice them. The more tiny changes she found, the more the confusion sprang from her mind to take root in her heart.

`If Naraku shattering the Shikon no Tama and the well messed up the time travel process, why isn't everything the same as I remember it? If I'm back in the past, the past of three years ago, why have things changed?'

Her eyes clouded with tears of frustration, and Kagome looked down at her lap, to hide her distress from the slue of spectators who had gathered a `safe distance' from where she sat, bound. Yet, even her lap didn't afford her much comfort. Maybe she had just been too distracted earlier to notice…or perhaps the well was too dark….For whatever reason, Kagome had completely missed the fact that the uniform she was wearing was also just a little different; the color of the skirt was a little darker, and the cuffs and collar of her sailor blouse were a darker shade of green, to match.

"That's it! I'm insane!!!!" Kagome shouted, this new discovery setting her a little over the edge.

"That's what I'm here to determine, child," called a familiar voice from behind.

Kagome tried to turn to face the elder priestess Kaede, but her legs had been tied to her wrists, hogtied, and all she succeeded in doing was toppling over, causing her to hit the mat face first.

"KAEDE!" she cried, relief flooding her senses. "Please, untie me! Something has happened with Naraku, and-"

"Steady, child," cooed the old woman, as she grasped the stranger by her shoulders, helping to draw the girl back up to a sitting position. "What is your name, and who is this Naraku of which you speak? Better still, how doest thou know of me, and why were thou found in the dark forest of the wicked Inuyasha?"

Kagome's brow creased in disappointment, for she had hoped that whatever spell Naraku had her under would have allowed some of her friends to retain their memories, even if they had undergone a bit of a costume change. Looking closely at Kaede, however, Kagome couldn't help but feel a little relieved, for even though it appeared this Kaede before her had no recollection of the Inugumi and the search for the shattered Shikon no Tama in this era, she looked the same as she always had, with her priestess robes and eye patch.

Noticing the softening of the girl's expression, Kaede grinned and leaned in to cut the bonds that connected the prisoner's feet with her hands. The girl was still bound by her wrists and ankles, but now this familiar stranger could perhaps feel more at ease. The surrounding villagers looked at each other nervously but decided to hold their tongues. Before the elder priestess could begin asking her questions again, the girl from the future twice over leaned toward Kaede and asked in a heart-wrenching voice, dripping with desperation:

"Kaede-sama, look into my face. Who do I remind you of?" Surprise registered in the priestess' lone good eye, as she beheld the remarkable likeness of her elder sister Kikyou, just as she had looked as a young woman, over fifty years ago.

"What sorcery is this…?" choked the old woman as she leaned away, her emotions overcoming her.

"Kaede-sama, my name is Higurashi Kagome, and I am the reincarnation of your elder sister, Kikyou. I've come from-" Kagome paused, contemplating how much to reveal to the elder priestess now but decided that including that they'd already `been here, done this' might have been too hard to believe.

"I'm from five hundred years in the future!" Kagome continued, her enthusiasm and desperation to be believed making her words loud enough to be heard by all the surrounding villagers, who turned to each other with excited whispers.

"How can this be?" asked the elder priestess, more to herself than to the girl before her. "My sister died fifty years ago; her body was burned with the Shikon no Tama....how could this girl be here now?"

`Good question,' thought Kagome. `I'll tell ya how as soon as I figure this out.' "I was pulled through the Bone Eaters Well!" she cried, instead. "The Shikon no Tama, burned within Kikyou's body, is inside of me!"

At this, the crowd's whispers grew to a roar, which Kaede silenced with a single glare of her good eye. Turning back to this so-called reincarnation, she studied the girl's facial features with great scrutiny. Though there were many similarities between the profiles of this strange young woman and her deceased elder sister, there were too many subtle differences to count. The serenity of Kikyou's demeanor was here fully replaced by a willfulness of spirit and a degree of vivacity that the dead priestess had lacked. Where her sister's eyes had been as tranquil as a sea untouched by the winds of the world, this girl's eyes glowed with a nameless passion that was beautiful yet almost terrifying to behold. Shaking her head, the elder priestess spoke to Kagome in a raised tone, for the benefit of the on-lookers:

"I cannot make a clear judgment as to who ye are, stranger! We have faced the evil of shape-shifting demons and witchcraft before, but never have I been met with something this startling and confusing, in all my years as miko of this village. There is but one way to decide if you are who you claim to be: a divine test!"

The villagers murmured their approval of such an action, and in the interlude, Kaede whispered to Kagome, "Child, I want desperately to believe ye, for long have I missed my sister's spirit these fifty years hence. You have an air of innocence about you which I find endearing, and I pray ye pass the test."

"What if I fail?!?!" asked Kagome, afraid at this new turn of events. Things were not going as well as they had gone the first time through.

"If ye fail, the villagers will mostly likely want to put ye to death for your being found embracing the body of the devil-demon Inuyasha. Worry not, child. If ye are truly the reincarnation of Kikyou, her great ability and love of archery will not have left ye!"

At the mention of failure equaling death, Kagome gulped. `Let's hope not,' she thought, as Kaede cut her free of her bonds and helped her to her feet.

Fighting the butterflies in her stomach was taking all of Kagome's concentration, which was unfortunate, because the test of her life was about to begin. Kaede had given her a bow and a single sacred arrow. As the villagers gathered on either side of the field of the trial, the elder priestess counted a hundred paces from a tree at the edge of the forest and position Kagome at that point. Raising her arm, she pointed a gnarled finger at the now distant tree.

"Doth ye see the knot on yonder tree, just below the lowest branch?" Squinting her eyes and raising a hand to her brow to shield her sight from the bright sun, Kagome nodded tentatively.

Turning to the crowd, Kaede raised her hands to silence the excited villagers, who had started making bets on whether or not the young stranger would pass the test.

"Oh, my people! This alone will determine the truth of the matter! This strange girl, Higurashi Kagome, who claims she is the great Kikyou returned to us, must pierce the knot on yonder tree with a single arrow. This is a feat my elder sister was able to complete with ease when she was among the living, a task that no one else could accomplish. If Kagome is successful, then her identity is proved beyond a question, and we will accept that she is a miko from the distant future. If, however, she fails, then you may exact your justice on her come the morrow, according to the village tradition!"

Thunderous applause marked the villagers' approval, and as the headman Yoishi struck a ceremonial gong, silence seized the crowd. The test had begun. Drawing a deep breath, Kagome strung the arrow and looked worriedly at her target, a mere speck like any other speck in the distance.

`I've killed my share of Naraku's poisonous insects from a greater distance than this,' Kagome thought calmly, trying desperately to quench her nervous thoughts. An air of tranquility overcame her anxiety, and she tried to aim the arrow and draw the bow string taunt, only to find that her muscles ached from what should have been a simple, everyday movement.

`My arms haven't been this weak since-' She let the arrow fly. `Since I first learned to how to shoot! My BODY doesn't remember? So, that means, my aim….'

"GAAAAAHHH! MY LEG!!!" cried Yoishi, as the misfired arrow stuck into his thigh. Half of the villagers laughed aloud at Kagome's terrible aim, while the other half, the friends and family of the now injured headman, grumbled angrily.

"Failure!" cried Kaede, as she turned her disappointed gaze to Kagome. "Take her to the temple, and bind this witch fast. Sacred law prevents harming her until the morrow, so remember that, my people, lest ye face the anger of the gods!"

As she walked past a dejected Kagome on her way back to the village, Kaede murmured, "I'm sorry that there is no more I can do for ye now, child. Worry not, I will pray for the repose of your soul and make sure that you receive a decent burial."

Disbelief overcame Kagome's senses, but she lashed out desperately at the villagers who swarmed her, until she was overwhelmed and bond once more before being locked in the temple warehouse. In her distress, she wanted to cry for Inuyasha, but given her current situation, she thought it best to keep her thoughts to herself.

Light from the crescent moon peeked in through the sole window of the dusty store room, but Kagome was little cheered by the silvery glow. Who would be, with torture and death awaiting the rise of the sun?

"I DON'T GET THIS!!!!" she bellowed aloud, letting her head fall slack against the wall behind her. Her legs and arms were tied in front of her this time, so at least she was mildly comfortable…not that it really mattered, with self-righteous villagers waiting to kill her for no apparent reason in a few hours.

"My body is not the same! I can't do anything now that I couldn't three years ago, but I have all these memories and feelings that I had just yesterday, when I fell asleep next to Inuyasha! It's like my body's gone back to what it was, but my mind is the same, and my soul…my spirit…MY SPIRIT! Of course!!!" Closing her eyes, Kagome began to concentrate on reaching a tranquil state of being, chanting an ancient mantra that she had learned from Kaede, the first time through this adventure. The three years she had spent hunting the jewel shards had taught her how to channel her miko powers and to tap into her latent spiritual abilities. Though her body may have regressed into that of her 15 year old self, her mind and thus, her spirit, should have retained all the power she had gained through three years of nearly ceaseless training.

A faint pink hue glowed about her body, illuminating the dark temple warehouse and fighting back the shadows of the night. Furrowing her brow in deepest concentration, Kagome was able to channel her miko energy into her wrists, which began to glow even brighter. The ropes around her wrists were soon burned clear away, and rubbing the numbness from her fingers, she quickly went about untying her legs, the supernatural glow fading from the room. All possibilities of eminent danger aside, Kagome couldn't help but smile. This recent discovery was the first bit of good news she had had all day!

Before she could make her escape, her ears caught the sound of footsteps, belonging to a single person, approaching the door. Fearful of her escape being cut short by an early discovery, Kagome tossed the burnt pieces of rope behind a crate and wrapped the remaining cords swiftly around her hands and feet for the appearance of being tied in place. The door slid open, and the priestess Kaede entered the room. The old woman's eyes glowed with an indescribable emotion as she raised a finger to her lips, urging the young woman to remain silent.

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief before she gasped in fear as Kaede brought an ancient sacrificial knife, its blade gleaming menacingly in the moonlight, out from within her robes….

Author's Note: Please, don't forget to review! There are a lot of questions left unanswered, I know, but I won't know what I need to clarify if I don't get feedback! Thanks!

March 11, 2004: House keeping? Fluff your pillow? Just kidding! I decided to do some tidying up of the story as a whole, before I post Chapter Six. This is the "newly remastered" Chapter Four, predominantly typo free. Enjoy!