InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Fates ❯ Shadows of a Dying Heart ( Chapter 6 )

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

Chapter 6: Shadows of a Dying Heart

Aiko came out of the room, shutting the door behind her, a shocked look still resting on her face. Mika looked at her questioningly as Yasha growled.

"She's resting again. She was just thirsty." Shaking her head to clear it, she asked, "What happened? She knew who I was, but didn't know who or what you two were."

Yasha frowned deeply. "What do you mean, she doesn't know what we are?"

Aiko looked at him, a somewhat dazed look crossing her face. "Just what I said. Apparently, she has no idea what youkai or hanyou are. If I had to guess from the few things she said to me in there, she's gone back in her mind to before she went through the well for the first time."

A dumbfounded silence met her words.

Mika inhaled sharply, then exhaled, slowly letting all the tension out. "Well." She glanced at Aiko. "You didn't try to tell her any differently, did you?"

"Oh, no. I figured you'd know what to do so I just spoke in generalities. She was still very tired, so she really didn't say much after you two left the room."

Yasha hissed, upset and doing his best to fight his youkai that was demanding he go take care of his mate.

"Keh! What the hell is going on, Mika? How long is she gonna be like this?"

She shook her head, suddenly tired. It had been a long day, and tomorrow was looking to be even longer. She made a mental note to have her assistant cancel all her appointments for the next two days. She would cite a family emergency. It was only true, after all.

She broke from her thoughts at Yasha's impatient huff. "Sorry, Yasha. You asked how long?" At his nod, she continued. "This is only a temporary thing, don't worry. What's happened is that her mind shut everything down - it's a self-defense mechanism, really. She will more than likely regain her memories a piece at a time as her mind thinks she can handle it, rather than all at once, and I doubt it will be any longer than two months - at the outside."

Yasha slammed his fist into his other hand. "Damn! So what do we do in the meantime?"

Aiko watched the young hanyou with sorrow. He hurt so much it literally poured off him, and her heart warmed to him so much in that moment. It was hard to watch the hurt flickering in his eyes and she wrapped her arm around him for a moment... silently giving him all her support as they waited for Mika to decide what to do.

"Well, actually, this might be a good thing in some ways, Yasha. This will give you a little bit of a chance to start letting her get to know you, without the interference of her broken heart trying to reject you. By the time her memories have fully returned, some time will have passed to give her a bit of distance from it, and she will have had a chance to spend a great deal of that with you. I doubt that she will outright reject you at that point like she has been doing."

Yasha's eyes had widened as Mika spoke, and a spark of hope lit them from within. He hadn't thought of that... and apparently neither had Aiko, as she smiled when Mika pointed it out.

"Well, that would be nice - to have something good come out of all this mess."

Mika chuckled. "Right now, I suggest we go ahead and go home for the rest of the night. We will be back first thing in the morning - I need to talk to Kagome and find out exactly where we stand with this, you know, where her memories end, and then go from there in explaining things to her."

Aiko nodded. "That sounds good." She glanced at Yasha. "Although, if Yasha would like, he is welcome to stay - do you want to?" she asked, smiling as he nodded eagerly. "I'll go make up the couch, then, and Mika, thank you for all your help - I'd invite you to stay as well, but I think you'd be happier going home and resting in your own bed, ne?"

"Very much so." She caught Yasha's eye. "I'll call your parents and let them know to bring over some clothes and personal items in the morning, okay?" He nodded, and she said, "Goodnight then, you two. No worries, things will work out. And please, try not to go into any details with Kagome if she wakes and begins to ask questions... I need to assess her first and decide what would be best to tell her, okay?"

The two nodded, and Mika smiled and turned to head downstairs. It was late and they could all use the sleep - and she still had to get home. "In the morning, then."

Aiko followed her downstairs and bid her goodnight, before going to the laundry room and pulling blankets and pillows from the cupboards for the young hanyou. "Yasha, would you like some sweats and a t-shirt to sleep in?" she asked quietly.

Not surprised when he nodded, she handed him an old pair of sweats, then turned of the light, prepared to head back to her bed. She patted Yasha on the arm, and gifted him with a smile.

"Sleep well, Yasha. I'll see you in the morning."

He smiled back, still obviously hurting, but carrying a small spark of hope now, and bowed his head.

"Goodnight, Aiko-sama. Sleep well, and dream brightly."

Maybe I can dream brightly, as well, since it looks like that's all I'll have for a while at least... dreams.

I've had so many over the years, but none of them ever began this way, and
I can only hope that getting all the suffering over now, will lead to more happiness later - I don't want any shadows hanging over us.

I think we've had enough of that to last three lifetimes - the both of us.

---cCc---

Aiko chuckled. When Mika says bright and early, she means it. Even Kagome isn't up yet, and I've barely started breakfast.

Yasha jerked awake the moment he heard her voice, popping up off the couch and cornering her.

"Hey Mika, did you get my parents? They gonna show up today or what?"

"No, Yasha, they just brought a bag over to my place for you this morning. They figured we didn't need more people over here crowding things." She handed over the black carry-all she had slung over her shoulder, and he nodded, before taking off for the downstairs bathroom, eager to get a start on the day.

Mika watched him go with a thoughtful look on her face. She'd spent a great deal of time last night after she'd gotten home considering things. This whole situation was incredibly tangled. Truly, it was a mess, and it was going to take quite a while to untangle it. Yasha was certainly going to need all the patience he could muster.

She turned with a sigh and looked over at Aiko. "Has Kagome stirred yet this morning?"

She shook her head. "No. It's all been quiet."

"Well, I'll go check in on her and get out of your way." Aiko nodded with a quiet smile and Mika moved out of the kitchen, heading for the stairs and the young miko's room.

I wonder what I'll find today. She is certainly full of surprises, father was right about that. Speaking of which. I'd better use my concealing spell until I've talked to her. Wouldn't want to set her up for anymore shocks.

She chuckled at that. Or maybe we should just shock her 'til there's no possibility to do so anymore - walk her out the other side of it, so to speak.

She huffed a quiet laugh at that. Yasha wouldn't appreciate that, I don't think. He'd probably try to pin me to the goshinboku. So very protective, he is.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she moved silently to Kagome's door, and pushed it open just slightly, peeking inside. Her brows rose at the sight that met her.

So much for her being asleep.

Kagome was very much awake, actually, and getting dressed, although it looked like that was only a side effect of what she was doing. It looked like she was pulling every thing she owned out of the closets and drawers - and not finding whatever it was that she was looking for. Mika listened in to her mumbling.

"Darn it! What is all this stuff? I don't recognize these clothes... and how did I get so fat overnight? This has to be a prank... I'll bet Sota did something, the little brat! Ohhhh, I'm gonna kill him!"

Well... she thinks the changes in her body and the changes in her clothes are a prank? Maybe it's time to start on that talk... reality's about to kick her butt, poor kid.

"Kagome?" She had pulled the door silently back, and knocked.

She started a bit when the door was yanked back, and a glaring woman looked out at her, brow furrowing when she saw who it was.

"Okay, who are you and what are you doing here? And why are all my clothes gone and all this other stuff shoved in my room? Did I wake up in the twilight zone?"

Mika stared at her for a moment, a little taken aback at her fast talking. "Uh, well, if I can come in and sit down, I can explain things."

Kagome stared at her, eyes narrowing suspiciously, then suddenly, she shrugged. "Fine. Maybe you can also explain why I feel different, inside. I went to sleep as myself, and woke up in some alternate reality where Kagome isn't Kagome or some crap like that. I'm friggin' confused."

"Yes, I can explain all of it." She looked around her in awe as she made her way to the desk and chair, and sat down. "Were you looking for something in particular?"

She snorted, irritation plain in her face. "Yeah. My stuff. None of this is stuff that I've seen before."

Mika sighed. "You might want to sit down, Kagome. What I've got to say is going to confuse you."

Kagome shot her a look, then plopped down on her bed. "Alright, out with it already. What the hell is going on?" She frowned. "And why do I keep feeling like I need to curse every other word? I never used to do that."

"Okay. Uh, tell me. How old are you?"

A confused look passed across her face. "I'm fifteen today. What's that got to do with all that other stuff I just asked?"

Mika shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Kagome. Actually, you're almost eighteen now." Disbelief bloomed in Kagome's expression. "You recently suffered a very bad shock, and are suffering from temporary amnesia because of that."

"You're crazy, lady... I'm not eighteen!"

"Well, that would explain why you do not recognize the clothes in your closets, and why you think you're bigger than you remember... and why you feel different. You've lost three years of your life, Kagome. It will all return, but it's going to take time." She sighed at the frightened look on the girl's face. "If you want confirmation, your mother is downstairs making breakfast. Why don't you ask her?"

With an angry glare, Kagome stood, and flinging her door open, took off down the stairs. As she skidded into the kitchen, her mother turned abruptly, and stared at her. "Kagome? Are you okay?"

"How old am I, mother? Is what the woman said true? Have I forgotten three years of my life?!"

Aiko cast a glance at Mika as she came up behind Kagome, and sighed, a downcast look on her face. "It's true, dear. Mika wasn't making it up."

Kagome stared at her for a moment, then shook her head, backing up, not even realizing that Mika was behind her as she turned on her heel and took off, yelling back over her shoulder, "I don't believe it! This is some horrible prank!"

Aiko started after her, when Mika grabbed her arm, tilting her head at Yasha, who was a mere streak as he took off after Kagome. "Let him go after her. He'll keep her from leaving the shrine, but let her cry it out by herself if she needs it."

Aiko's brow rose. "I didn't even see him come out of the bathroom. Quite fast, isn't he?" She shook her head to clear it, then looked at Mika. "Will she be okay?"

"Yes. Just give her a little time to process what's happened. We'll continue talking to her, after breakfast."

---cCc---

Kagome ran, and she kept running, all the way out of the house, and down the steps into the entrance courtyard - she ran until she got to the Goshinboku, and then she fell to her knees in front of it. For some reason, the aura of the tree just reached out to her, comforting her, and she needed every bit she could get right now, because she was very frightened.

How could I have lost three years? It's all got to be here in my mind somewhere! I just have to find it, that's all, right?

"What could have happened to me to make me forget? I'm not hurt so it wasn't an accident or anything... was it?" she whispered to herself.

'No, it wasn't an accident. It was an emotional shock."

Kagome stiffened at the sound of that voice. It seemed slightly familiar, but she couldn't place it, and she whipped around, searching for the owner of it. She growled when she saw him. It was that guy from last night in her room... the one who had left with the woman she'd just been talking to.

"Who the hell are you? Do I know you - you know, in all those memories I lost - did I lose memories of you, too?"

The young man sauntered towards her, a slight, sad smile on his face. "Yeah, you could say that, I guess. Name's Yasha."

Kagome flinched at that, his name reaching something inside her, but before she could reach out and grasp it, it faded, disappearing back into the depths of her mind like an echo of forgotten pain, and she grimaced in frustration.

"So, then how do I know you? Who are you to me?"

He turned his head slowly to face her, capturing her eyes with his, an intensity to them that she'd never seen in anyone's eyes ever before.

His gold eyes... who has eyes like that - and all that beautiful silver hair...

"We met first in another lifetime - I was your husband. And in this lifetime... I will one day be your husband again. That's what the kami have decreed for us - two souls bound by time to each other." He continued to stare at her, trying to get her to see in him what he saw in her.

She stared, mesmerized, but somewhere inside her, something fought his words. One part of her acknowledged him as her other half - but the other side refused to bow to that, warned her that he had caused her pain, in two lifetimes, and wasn't to be trusted with her heart.

One part of her told her that he'd destroyed her heart already, so that she didn't have one anymore...

And the other part told her that he told the truth - that she was destined to love him - in any life. This life, a past life, it didn't matter.

The funny thing about it was that it never occurred to her to disbelieve his words. She felt it all the way down to her soul... he was speaking the truth. They were bound.

But something fought the knowledge, screaming at her that he wasn't to be trusted, that things weren't quite so cut and dried. Tears began to leak from her tightly clenched eyes and muffled sobs broke from her.

The battle within her was too titanic, too overwhelming, and her heart, mind, and soul were too tired and fractured to contain the struggle anymore as her aura writhed in pain and confusion, and a barrier went up around her, effectively locking her away from Yasha and anyone else until she could calm herself... becoming numb once more.

Yasha watched, her aura spiking so high, causing his to also rise up in tandem with her own, and he could feel the agony that dwelt within her. There was just so much damage, deep, down to the bottom of her soul, and he wondered if either of them would ever be able to really be healed from the effects of the past - the effects of an evil hanyou that had died five hundred years before.

Inuyasha and Kagome and the others may have defeated that bastard Naraku in battle, but the effects of his betrayals were still being felt, spreading like ripples across time and space.

Would it ever end? Could they ever escape the grasp he had on them?

Looking back up at the tree, and the bare place his last incarnation had spent so long pinned to, he wondered if in reality, he and Kagome's souls weren't still pinned there...

And what it might take to get them down.

Who would pull the arrows from them this time around, if she was just as pinned as he?

---cCc---

A/N: Just a couple of issues I'd like to address here. This fic is not an Inuyasha bashing fic - so far, we have only dealt with Kagome's side of things, but as we move on, and Yasha gets more involved, Inuyasha's side will become more apparent, as well as his reasoning for why he did the things he did. Personally,I'm not all that attracted to Inuyasha bashing fics - I happen to adore Inuyasha. Just so people know.

Another thing that I would like to address is Sesshoumaru. While he has only made a small appearance in the story so far, and he doesn't have a major role in the rest, some of the readers contacted me privately with concerns that he is too OOC. I'm just going to point out here what I said to them... it has been five hundred years since the feudal era. I challenge anyone to tell me that a person, no matter who they are, would stay the exact same way for five hundred years. It's not happening. In this story, there are some character changes in him, although not major ones, I present the argument that time changes every person... at least a bit.

Last, but not least, I apologize that this chapter is a bit shorter - I had a family emergency come up and needed to leave the house, so I felt this was a good place to stop for the day, giving a decent chapter that I could post today before leaving. I am planning to post the next chapter tomorrow, as usual, barring anything unforseen, of course.

Ja Ne!

Amber