InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ An Obligation ❯ An Obligation ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I have come to an Earth shattering conclusion: I OWN INUYASHA! … wait… sorry. Let me rephrase that. I DON'T OWN INUYASHA!

[Eh. I forgot to post the latest version. Sorry 'bout that.]

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An Obligation

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I went to school today.

It was the first time in weeks I had returned to the modern era since the previous shard hunt had spread out a lot further than we had expected. However, once we had reached the village that had the rumoured shard, we had discovered that Naraku had played us for fools.

Again.

Of course, Inuyasha had fumed, cursed, and insisted on searching some more before returning to the Musashi region.

After all, I had to restock on supplies after all of the fighting one time or another.

I hadn't been to school in three weeks due to my severe 'leukaemia' that had seemed to mysteriously disappear. I suppose Jii-chan must have run out of quickly curable diseases.

My peers didn't buy it.

Who would blame them? After all, Over the past two years, I've attended school how many times? In fact, the longest streak I've gone without missing a day has been reduced to three days.

Three days before Inuyasha comes through the well to drag me back.

Back to the past for who knew how long.

Throughout the entire day of school, whispers seemed to follow me everywhere. Even my three closest friends seemed to be less than amicable. Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka. They had been my best friends since the first grade, yet they too had wandered away from me more than once. Truly, they are good friends, but there is only so much friendship can take before friends too, drift apart.

And it's been far too long.

The only person who didn't seem to be suspicious of me was Houjo-kun.

What a poor, dense boy.

Honestly, he was nice, but he couldn't protect me from the rumours in the school.

I could hear them talking.

I do have ears after all.

They said a lot of things. Some so nasty that I have hesitation to repeat it; that even Inuyasha would wince at the content.

Some people say kids are cruel.

Well, teenagers are crueler.

I failed yet another test. As the shard hunt drags on, I can no longer study for my exams and quizzes. There is too much to be done and too much to carry to bring my textbooks to Sengoku Jidai. My bag's now normally too full with first aid supplies, food, and other necessities to even consider bringing my schoolwork. And when I can't study, I can't pass my tests. Half of the work my classmates are doing is based on information I do not know.

Lately, I have begun to wonder why I still come to this place.

Is it really because I belong here?

I have to be true to myself.

No.

I stopped believing that a long time ago.

I come here to see my family. Education is no longer the number one priority in my life. Mama, Jii-chan, and Souta are the main reasons why I come to this era. That and the modern first aid equipment.

But my ideas of family are changing.

Heck, my family itself is changing.

Souta had grown two inches without me knowing. He had won the soccer championships. He had grown up in the past two years without me. Mama had quit her job, and was looking for a new one. Grandpa was selling charms that actually generated business.

My family is changing before my very eyes, and yet I cannot watch them. I cannot take part in the process. I'm absent far too much to be able to really know my household.

However, I have another family back in the feudal era.

And somehow, that family has become so important to me.

I don't belong here. In this strange world of concrete.

I had stopped belonging ever since my first kill. Ever since my first abduction.

During lunch today, I had taken a look around the cafeteria. I had seen smiling faces, joking faces, scorning faces. I would bet our shikon no kakera that none of the students had ever been through what I had. Most of them had never experienced true danger.

They lived in world where most everything was sugarcoated, and everybody was protected.

Most had never had to worry about their lives constantly and the lives of their friends. Their survival didn't depend on who could kill who faster. Yes, there are other risks here. But they never have to consistently be on guard.

And I wish they never do.

I can no longer relate to my peers.

I'm sitting on my bed. When was the last time I had slept here for a full night?

I look over at my desk. When was the last time I had worked there without having to cram for some test?

My fingers trace over my stereo. It's dusty. When was the last time I had listened to the radio?

When was the last time I had taken a shower without any worries? Gone shopping for things other than first aid supplies? Talked and laughed with friends about trivial things like boys and make up?

It's been far too long.

My room is foreign to me.

My world is foreign to me.

I look into the mirror on the pink wall across from me. My eyes are so much older. So much wiser. They contain so much more pain and emotion than two years ago. When I was fifteen.

I don't belong here anymore.

Inuyasha is at the window. I have been waiting for him to show up. He tells me it's time to go back home. I bring my bag packed with our equipment.

My necessities have steadily been moved to the feudal era. Everytime I bring something there, it rarely comes back.

The same has become true for my heart.

My heart now belongs there. With Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, Shippou-chan, Kaede-baa-chan, Inuyasha; all my friends. I belong in a world where fairytale creatures exist, and where travel in space is unheard of.

Not here.

School seems almost superficial compared to the history changing events that I am a part of in the past. I can't let Naraku get his hands on the Shikon no Tama.

I continue to fight to preserve a world of the future; A world that is far out of my reach.

But strangely enough, that doesn't disturb me.

My home is in the past, not in this world.

I will continue to visit this place.

But it will only be an obligation.

I don't belong here.

Not any more.

Translations/Explanations:

Musashi Region - The area where Kaede's village is located with InuYasha's forest and the well

Sengoku Jidai - Warring States Period

Jii-chan - grandfather (affectionate)

[Another oneshot.

Inspiration?

I thought about all of those 'illnesses' that Kag's grandfather keeps making up. Nobody who was sane would really believe that, so I put her situation in a semi-real life context. If it were truly corresponding with 'reality', she would have been expelled long before… speaking of which… that gives me another idea…

Perhaps this is playing up to "Final Decision'? I don't know.

In any case, it's almost at one extreme of the spectrum that is Kagome's attitude about her situation. The other would be she didn't care about the Shikon no Kakera at all, and just went home all the time (or stayed there).

Till next time…

Ja!]