InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Fates ❯ Shattered Soul ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 1: Shattered Soul

Kagome landed in the well on her side, and didn't have the will left to even move. She could barely breathe, the pain in her heart, in her soul, just overwhelming, and she slumped down into the dirt at the bottom of the well, not caring if she ever moved from that spot - the darkness there aptly portrayed that within her soul.

As she sat there, she suddenly began to feel something coming towards her, and lifting her head, she saw a bright soul orb flash into place before her, and with hatred in her heart, and knowing exactly what it was, she threw a barrier around it... keeping it trapped, and unable to rejoin her. She refused to have any part of anything that had been a part of Kikyou.

She refused... with everything inside her. She'd already long become accustomed to the pain that came from that empty part inside her, so keeping the status quo gave her no qualms.

The orb quivered, managing to look forlorn, and Kagome laughed at it, a cold sound in that dank place.

"I don't need you, and I don't want you. You are Kikyou, and I am... someone else. I'm not your reincarnation. I'm just me, whoever that is. You can stay in here and rot for all I care - or be smart and go find someone else to take over and turn into another little copy of you."

She shivered, body quickly becoming cold as the fierce emotional agony that writhed through her sent her into shock. Tears fell, and time passed as her mind floated in and out; she was completely unaware of the passage of days - until suddenly, light invaded the darkness, and she whimpered, unable to even speak.

"Mama! She's down there, I can see her. Yasha was right!" Sota was horrified as he looked down into the well and saw his sister, lying lifelessly near a small glowing orb.

"Oh, kami, how are we going to get her out of there?" Aiko was sick with worry, knowing her daughter was down there and not knowing how long she had been.

"Keh. I'll get her out, if everyone'll move outta my way, so I can get into the well."

Aiko smiled at him, and pulled Sota and gramps back away from the opening. "Thank you, Yasha."

He grinned over at her as he hopped over the top of the well. "Keh. Don't hafta thank me - she's my other half, after all, of course I want to save her."

He disappeared into the darkness for a moment, and then jumped back out, tenderly cradling a now unconscious young woman, carrying a soul orb, and wearing a scowl.

He strode out of the well house, angrier than he could ever remember being... well, at least in this life, anyway. He remembered being quite angry in his last life... funny enough, quite a few times at the very woman he was holding in his arms.

Keh! She still knows how to pull stupid shit and piss me off - what the fuck was she thinking sitting in that damn well for however many days it's been? And this soul orb - I know what it is but why the hell did she put a barrier around it?

Aiko, Sota, and gramps followed behind the silver-haired young male that looked so much like Inuyasha - and yet, didn't. Same hair, same gold eyes, and even the same ears... but the features were a bit different, and his personality was, too. This young man, who'd introduced himself as Yasha, was much more open than Inuyasha had ever been.

She had been astounded when, five days ago, this young hanyou had shown up at her door - of course, he'd been behind a concealing spell that she'd since learned that all youkai and hanyou alive today used to avoid being seen. As soon as he'd introduced himself as Inuyasha's reincarnation, however, he'd dropped the spell, and everyone had been astonished... and a bit saddened.

They knew full well that if Inuyasha's reincarnation was showing up, they'd never see the hanyou again - he was dead, and they'd become anxious over Kagome's fate. They were properly relieved when they found that she was safe, and would be returning sometime that week through the well for the last time.

The group of people moved into the house, then up the stairs as the hanyou proved his past association with the house, walking right into Kagome's room and depositing her on her bed. Once that was done, he moved over to her desk and plopped the soul orb on top of it. A certain scent caught his nose, and he realized abruptly that it was Inuyasha's fading scent, and with a frown, stared out the window for a moment. It was a bit disconcerting to catch the scent you had carried in another lifetime - five hundred years past.

Shaking himself, he looked over at Aiko, watching as she looked her daughter over, trying to make sure that she didn't have any injuries they hadn't noticed.

After a couple of minutes, the older woman stood up, and he quirked a questioning brow at her.

"She doesn't have any injuries, really, besides a few scratches and half-healed bruises. I think she's just suffering from exposure and hunger and dehydration." She frowned. "I'm going to go downstairs and bring up some electrolyte drinks - they'll work better than water, at least at first."

Yasha glared at the figure on the bed. "Baka wench. I swear... she needs her ass kicked over this." He flashed a quick glance at Aiko. "Pardon the language, Aiko-san, but she just makes me so mad sometimes."

She smiled at him, then looked at the odd glowing orb sitting on her daughter's desk with curiosity. "Tell me, Yasha, what is that?"

He looked at the desk, and then scowled again at Kagome's form laid out on the bed. "That's the part of her soul that used to be Kikyou. I don't know why she put a barrier around it - it's supposed to be inside her, making her soul whole again, not sitting out here looking dejected. The wench has some explaining to do when she wakes, that's for sure."

---sSs---

Kagome groaned as she tried to open her eyes and the light hit her. It hurt, and at first, she didn't know why she felt so badly - but then, the memories began to trickle in, and her eyes went flat, dull. She wished that she was still at the bottom of the well, surrounded by the comforting darkness, and felt a distant bit of anger run through her for a moment as she wondered who'd found her and brought her out.

Why couldn't they just leave me the hell alone? I didn't ask to be 'saved'...

She closed her eyes again as she heard her door open, and was caught off-guard has she was enveloped in a youkai aura. It didn't matter to her though, funny enough, she wasn't even curious - she just didn't care at all. It felt like her ability to care about anything had disappeared.

"Oi, wench, quit fakin' it, I can tell you're awake. You never could fool me with that 'fake sleep' thing, you know."

Kagome's eyes popped open in shock. She knew that voice - but the aura was all wrong... she didn't recognize it, but how could that be? He had made his choice, and now he was dead. Weakly turning her head, her eyes fixed on legs, and moved up a torso, noting the silver hair almost disbelievingly, and then finally, on to his face, gold eyes piercing her.

Who is this? He isn't Inuyasha...

She tried to speak, but her voice was weak from misuse, and her throat dry, so all that came out was a dry croak.

"Who the hell are you?" She winced at the sound of it... pathetic, she sneered to herself. You always have been, and you obviously always will be. No wonder you were never as good as Kikyou - you'd never have been able to measure up to her in a million years.

Yasha stared down at her, frowning. Something was very wrong - her aura was seriously disturbed, it didn't feel at all the way his memories of Inuyasha's life told him it should, nor did it feel the same as all the times he'd watched her, hiding his aura from her but unable to stay completely away, waiting for the day her journey in the past was over and he could finally claim her for himself.

"Come on, Kagome, weren't you listening when Inuyasha told you I'd be here waiting for you? I know you were mad, but you can't have forgotten already."

Kagome turned her face away from him and closed her eyes in rejection. That was a road she refused to travel down again. She had no intentions of being a part of anything that had any ties to the past three years of her life that she'd wasted on Inuyasha... no, she didn't intend to waste anything on any man again.

Ever.

"Why the hell are you here?"

"What the fuck do you mean, why am I here? I know he told you about our souls, wench, so don't pretend you forgot. I'm here because I'm supposed to be here - you're my other half, and it's about damn time you got away from that previous incarnation of me, and got back here where you fucking belong." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as she kept her head turned.

"Look, I waited long enough for you to finish that shit in the past, and even though I know it was important and had to be done, I hated knowing you were going back there and dealing with all that crap, and that I wasn't there to protect you. So now it's done, and you're here - where you belong. With me, not with him. Man, I hated watching you with him... it really fucking sucked."

"Go away. You don't even know me, and I don't buy this 'souls being bonded' stuff. It's a load of crap. And how the hell do you look so much like him - and yet not? Just who are you, really?"

He glared at her, not liking the way this conversation was going. "The name's Yasha, Taisho Yasha. I guess the reason I look like him, sorta, is because I'm his and Kikyou's descendant - besides being his reincarnation, although that really doesn't have anything to do with it, I suppose. Plus the fact that I'm three-quarters youkai instead of just half."

She flinched, the reference to Inuyasha and Kikyou as the couple they had always been, and her futility in even caring for him, raking across her raw heart with talons of steel, leaving poison behind, and she had to force the bitter tears away - she'd not show her pain to his damn descendant - kami knew, he'd probably laugh at her, just as Kikyou had done when Inuyasha had finally chosen her.

"Good. Then you can take that damn soul orb - it belongs to your family. Frankly, I don't care what you do with it, but get it out of here and away from me... I don't want it anywhere around me. And while you're at it, you can leave as well. There's nothing for you here." She struggled to turn onto her side, weak as she was, she was determined to turn her back to him. Maybe then he'd get the message.

He didn't. Instead, he growled angrily at her, then sat down at the end of her bed, folding his arms across his chest. "You'd better listen to me, wench. I ain't playing your games. That soul orb belongs to you, and you need to shut the hell up and take it back. It's your soul - or at least a part of it, and it's about damn time you got it back. And I ain't goin' nowhere 'til you calm down and stop acting all crazy."

At that, she turned her head and glared at him with so much anger he almost jumped back. With a low, almost hate-filled voice, she hissed, "Get out! I don't want you here, or that bitch's soul. I'm done with all that - and I AM NOT KIKYOU! Get this through your head, Taisho," she spat, "My soul isn't tied to anybody but me, and my destiny is my own. I told that bastard then that he'd made his choice and that was that, and I meant every word of it. If I could find a way to wipe these memories from my mind, I would, and count myself grateful for it!"

She was breathing hard, panting, anger and pain twisting inside her like a tornado, and she was fast becoming hysterical. Yasha was horrified - this wasn't the Kagome that his memories of Inuyasha's life told him she should be, wasn't the woman he knew she was.

"What the hell, wench? What's wrong with you?!"

Her face twisted then, and suddenly, it was like a freezer in the room, as every bit of heat and emotion was sucked from it. He watched incredulously as the expression washed away from her face, and she closed her eyes again, a totally indifferent look settling there, frozen and cold... hard.

"Listen and listen well. Don't waste your time hanging around here, because I meant what I said - there's nothing for you here, and there never will be. I have no intentions of ever trusting another male anywhere near my heart again, Taisho, so go chase yourself another woman... 'cause it will never be me. Was that clear enough?"

As he stared at her in shock, she turned her head and refused to look at him again.

"Take that piece of soul and find it some other poor sap to feed off of... because that's something else I have no use for. I no longer have anything to do with that ghoul, and I certainly don't want something that was tainted by all her malice towards me. She hated me when I was around her, she tried many times to kill me, and she gloated when he chose her - I don't want that nightmare anywhere near me. I don't need it."

Aiko had walked into the room as she was speaking, and hand over her mouth, she stared at her daughter. She'd never, ever heard Kagome say anything like that about anyone - and suddenly, she began to worry that the things the kami had asked of her had been too much... she was acting like the heart of who she was had been broken... shattered.

Looking up, she motioned silently for Yasha to follow her out of the room, and setting the drinks aside, she followed him out, pulling the door to behind her.

"What was all that about, Yasha?" she whispered, not wanting her daughter to hear.

He still looked shell-shocked - shell-shocked and hurt. He couldn't believe the things that had poured out of her... and the things she'd said, the denial of their bond had caused a backlash of pain that he'd been completely unprepared for. Sure, his memories of Inuyasha, and the last time he'd seen her were there in his mind, and he remembered what she'd said, but he'd always thought, and so had his previous incarnation, that it was just hurt talking, and that she'd be okay as soon as he showed up, and she realized the truth of what Inuyasha had tried to tell her.

Obviously, they had been totally wrong.

"I... I don't know. I've never seen her like that - it was like she hated Inuyasha, and Kikyou, and me as well. She's refusing to take the rest of her soul back, Aiko-san - and she needs that. If she goes for too long without it, she'll go insane. But she won't even listen." His shoulders slumped as the first shock began to fade, and the hurt of her rejection began to kick in. He looked so pained Aiko felt sadness just looking at him.

"I think, in fact, that it's already started. Her mind and heart are degenerating because she's been so long without all of her soul, and now she doesn't remember who she is. If we don't get that part of her soul back into her, we might completely lose her, and I can't let that happen!"

Aiko pulled the anguished young man into a hug, patting him on the back soothingly. He was hurting tremendously, she could feel the pain in his aura, and it created a reciprocal ache within her. She sighed. She had a suspicion that this was going to be a long road.

Pulling back a bit, she looked down at the young man that the fates had chosen for her daughter, and said, "I will try to talk to her - it may be that she just needs a little time to come to terms with what has happened. It can't have been easy to go from that world to this and lose all her friends there in one moment, you know. Anyone is bound to be angry and hurt over such a thing."

Yasha sighed, then nodding, pulled away. "Yeah, you're right. I should have thought of that myself - it's just so hard. I've known who she was since I was old enough to know who I was, and watching all these years - especially since she went down the well the first time, it's just difficult. Watching the woman I knew was supposed to be mine having feelings for who I used to be took a lot out of me, and I wasn't paying attention to the fact that she'd be so hurt."

She smiled at him, holding out a hand she pulled him down the stairs behind her. "Maybe you should speak to your uncle - the one you said was Inuyasha's brother. Maybe he can give you some advice on how to handle things, after all, someone who has lived for so long..." she trailed off, hoping he'd take the bait.

He nodded. "Yeah. Sesshoumaru has a lot of experience... and I know that if things get worse with her, he can probably help heal some of the damage with Tensaiga, but only if we can get her to accept the soul back."

"Then go, speak to him. Call me in the morning and I will let you know how the talk with my daughter went."

Reluctantly, he nodded, and moved to the door. Slipping his shoes back on, he smiled slightly for a minute. "You know, that's the one thing I think I miss about my life as Inuyasha - not having to wear shoes."

Aiko laughed softly. "Yes... he certainly did hate wearing shoes of any kind."

"Yeah," he said, shaking his head ruefully. "I can't really blame him. I'm not overly fond of them myself." He looked up at her. "I'll talk to my Uncle, and call you first thing. Good evening, Aiko-san."

"Good evening, Yasha. Don't lose hope." She smiled again, encouragingly.

"Things will work out the way they are supposed to."