InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Fates ❯ White Lies ( Chapter 8 )

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

Chapter 8: White Lies

Yasha stared up at Mika, who in turn looked over at Aiko. They were all a bit stunned at her demands - but really, Yasha thought, we shouldn't be. Sighing, he shook his head, and dropped his shielding spell, waiting for her reaction.

He wasn't disappointed.

She inhaled sharply as she caught sight of him, sitting in that same spot beneath her window, his features suddenly changing as those same dog-ears she'd seen on the red-clothed boy appeared, along with jagged blue stripes sitting high on his cheeks. Eyes wide, she dropped to her knees from the chair, and scooted forward, vision fixed on those soft looking ears, and reached out a hand to feel them.

Yasha looked a bit disgruntled as he growled, "It's always the ears with her. Last time, and this time."

She pulled her hands back quickly at that, flushing a bright red. "Sorry!" she squeaked. "I couldn't help it, they just look so kawaii!"

He rolled his eyes as her mother giggled and Mika laughed lightly. "Yeah, yeah, wench, I know. You always react like this over the ears, so don't worry about it."

"So..." she trailed off, eyes once again being drawn to the ears, "what are you?"

"Inu-hanyou. Mika over there is a full inu-youkai."

She sat back, astounded. And wasn't I just wondering about the tales of elves and youkai? Guess I wasn't far off - they are real!

"So when in the last three years did I discover the reality of your race?"

He tilted a brow at her. Smart girl... she always was - even back then, when Inuyasha was too much a fool to notice. Glad I'm not quite so dense. "On your fifteenth birthday."

She looked down at the floor thoughtfully, a slight frown crossing her face. "And how did it happen? Was it you that I met?"

She missed the once-again pained expression that crossed his face since she was still staring at the floor. He glanced at Mika, wondering what to tell her.

"No, it wasn't Yasha, but one greatly like him. He is the one you see in the red." She watched Kagome's face intently. "His name was Inuyasha. Yasha was named for him."

At the utterance of that name, she felt the same set of emotions as she had when she'd seen him in her minds eye - pain, betrayal, and loss. What part had this Inuyasha played in whatever horror had cost her her memory?

And even more, what part did Yasha play in this mess? Because she could tell - there were layers of meaning here, and nothing was as simple as the few answers they were giving... he had a large part in this story - but what was it?

Why was it that they wouldn't just outright tell her what was going on? Were they protecting her, or themselves?

So many questions - and almost no answers.

"So? How did I find out about the existence of youkai?"

Aiko, who'd been sitting quietly up 'til now, finally spoke. "That's not so easy to answer, Kagome. You wouldn't believe us if we told you - at least, not until you'd already gotten your memory back. There's just some things we can't tell you, you have to remember them on your own."

She growled at that. "So what's the point of even listening to any of you? Can't tell me, or won't tell me - it makes no difference, because it all comes down to you all hiding things from me, and even the answers you do give are couched in generalities and half-truths. I'm beginning to get the idea that maybe I don't want to remember, and that I most certainly don't want anything to do with you people at all."

Yasha narrowed his eyes at her, an answering growl spilling from deep in his chest. "Things aren't that easy, Kagome! Aren't you using your head? Think about it! Obviously, your mind shut your memories off for a reason, that reason being that you couldn't handle what was happening around you at the time - your mind needed some time to come to terms with things! So telling you all about it now would accomplish what? You going catatonic to get away from the heaviness of those memories? Sounds counter-productive to me!"

She stared at him, then caught the surprised looks on her mother's and Mika's faces. Apparently, they agreed with him.

"Then why are you even here?" She turned to look at Mika. "And you. Who are you exactly?"

Mika shared a glance with Yasha, then sighed, and turned to look at Kagome. "I'm a psychologist and an MD. I'm related to Yasha, and when you collapsed originally, before you lost your memory, they asked me to come make sure you were ok. You weren't. I gave you something to calm you down - and when you woke... you were like this. No memory."

Kagome stared at her, and knew that she was only telling part of the truth. Another white lie, so to speak. There was a large something or other in there that she was trying to gloss over.

"That may be so, but I'm no fool, Doctor," she said, sarcastically, "and I'm well aware that there's something you're not telling me. There's more to this story than that - and I can guarantee you, when I remember what happened on my own, I'm going to be pissed that I've been being lied to, so keep it mind."

"Kagome!" Aiko stared at her daughter, unsure where her manners had gone. "I know you're angry about this, but there is no call to be rude, daughter."

A soft laugh met her ears then, and her daughter fixed her with a knowing glare. "Isn't there, mother? Tell me... exactly what do I have to be polite about?" she asked, voice soft, yet deadly. "I've lost three years of my life, I'm being led around by the nose and lied to, and those that I should be able to trust, like family, are doing nothing to help me. Respect is earned - and no one has earned anything from me at this point."

She stood up and walked out her bedroom door. "I'm done talking to you people right now. When and if any of you decide to let me in on the big damn secrets around here, let me know. Until then, stay away from me."

Aiko flushed angrily, and stood to go after her daughter, but Mika grabbed her arm, and shook her head.

"Let her go, Aiko. Don't be angry at her. She's fighting for her sanity, here, and to her, at this time, if you are not helping, then you are an enemy. She can't help it, and getting mad at her won't do anything but further erode her trust."

She sighed, shoulders slumping a bit. "I know, Mika. I guess I'm just having a hard time accepting this." She glanced over at a silent Yasha, noting his distant gaze. "I'm sorry, Yasha. I know this is hard for you, too."

He re-focussed in on her, taking a moment to realize what she'd said.

"Oh... yeah, well... I guess this is the price I have to pay for being stupid beyond belief in my last life."

He chuckled sadly. "Hopefully, paying off that debt won't take up all of this life. I don't think I could stand it if I had to wait 'til the next life to finally have her again."

---cCc---

Kagome stomped down the stairs and out of the house, wanting nothing more than to get away from everything and everyone that seemed to be taunting her with the fact that they knew more of her life than she did. That wasn't right. But apparently, they felt that they had the right to make those decisions for her... it felt like they were saying that she couldn't take care of herself - that she was helpless and useless.

As she thought that, another memory flashed through her - one of the red-clad male telling her she needed someone watching her all the time because she couldn't be trusted to take care of herself... unlike Kikyou. She gasped out loud at the pain that filled her entire being when that name speared through her mind.

That was it - all of this had to do with some woman named Kikyou, and that boy named Inuyasha. Somehow, she was tied up with those two... and those ties were the cause of her pain. But who were they? And what was it about this situation that her mother had said she wouldn't believe if she was told?

Wandering blindly towards the Goshinboku, she wondered at the feelings the two names evoked within her. It was confusing, to say the least. The woman's name brought feelings of inferiority, pain, and anger - mixed with some hatred as well. But what was even more confusing was that those emotions, especially the hatred, felt as though she was aiming them at herself. How could that be?

As for the male... that was even more confusing. She felt pain, betrayal, anger, hatred... and love. How do you hate someone, but yet love them at the same time? The most heartbreaking thing, is that somehow, and she wasn't sure how, she knew that the male and the female, were both dead.

That, however, was the only thing she was sure of... and the most confusing part of all of it was that when her mind conjured the boy in red, that Mika had said was named Inuyasha, she saw Yasha, as though he was overlaid over the other male... like they were the same, but not.

Putting a hand to her head, eyes closing, she sighed, a mournful, forlorn sound. Her thoughts were so scattered, and she was so tired...

Opening her eyes, she moved to the tree, and clambering over the little white picket fence, she moved around to the side away from the rest of the shrine and the house, and curled up amongst the roots of the tree... somehow comforted by the aura of acceptance that she'd always felt when near the sacred tree.

Somehow, she knew that the tree would protect her - even when no one else would. Here, she was safe.

Her eyes closing of their own accord, she sighed, and drifted off into a deep sleep - calm and at peace for the first time in almost two weeks if she had but known it.

She was completely unaware of two sets of golden eyes watching over her as she slept - determination to keep her safe running through both... but much more strongly in one than in the other.

Yasha would not let another hurt her as Inuyasha had. His time was done, and Kagome had come back to where she was supposed to be. There was nothing he could do to take away the pain still to come as her memories came back - but be damned if he'd allow anyone else to hurt her further.

Not him, not Mika, not his parents, Sesshoumaru, nor her mother or brother or grandfather.

No one.

---cCc---

Sesshoumaru watched her sleeping peacefully for a time, well aware of his nephew's presence, and then, with a sigh, decided that she was safe enough for the moment, and using his orb, took off. He needed to get home, and think things through.

There were... circumstances that the others were unaware of - including his nephew. Things that Inuyasha had spoken to him of, and had requested of him. Inuyasha had not wanted anyone to know - not even himself in his next incarnation, and had asked, for that reason, that the last meeting between them be erased from his memory.

Sesshoumaru remembered clearly his reaction to his brother's request for a meeting - the only reason he had actually agreed to meet him was curiosity, nothing more. However, when he'd heard the reasons behind his brother seeking a meeting with him, he had reluctantly agreed to his brother's request, then wiped his memory, and left him asleep beneath the great tree... in almost the same spot that the miko was in almost two hundred years later.

He had been angry when Inuyasha had told him the tale of the final hours of the miko's stay in their era - of the way he had treated her, and how he had sent her home. Even knowing that what he had done had been right, he had called him coward for the way it had been done - and had made his dislike for his brother's mate quite clear.

It had always amazed him that this miko, Kagome, was the reincarnation of the other one. He had never liked Kikyou... and yet, he did like Kagome. She, at least, had honor, and he was sure that she would never have done to another what had been done to her.

Thoughts breaking off as he arrived home, he thought back to his promise to his brother.

For honor's sake, he would keep his word - Kagome had honor in abundance, and it had shown in everything she had done five hundred years ago. He would not fail her now.

He would be the first to tell you he wasn't doing it for Inuyasha. He had only agreed for Kagome's sake.

He would meet honor with honor.

When the miko was ready, he would tell her all the things that Inuyasha had never been able to say.

And then he would restore to her the only part of her past that he could.

The only thing that time had not taken away.

---cCc---

When Kagome woke, she sat up, and stretching, smiled. For the first time since this nightmare had started, she felt at peace. Apparently, during her sleep, her mind had come to some conclusions, and as she thought over them, she nodded firmly to herself. She would make her own decisions, and to hell with her mother and the others trying to take her right to do so away.

Technically, her mother still had control, since she wasn't yet eighteen, but it was only a matter of time, and Kagome wasn't going to let her mother force her into anything at this point.

Standing, she patted the great tree, and once again stepping over the fence around it, she moved towards the house, steps firm and chin held high. This was her life, and be damned if they would run it anymore.

Yasha watched her walk into the house and knew shit was about to hit the fan, so he hopped into her window and acted as though he'd been inside the house all along - it wouldn't do to let her know he was following her, at this point, she'd only get angry. He made his way quietly down the stairs as she cornered her mother and Mika in the kitchen, and as he walked in, she pointed at him, and then at the other two.

"All of you, listen up. Since none of you are forthcoming about what's been happening to me, I will just wait for my memory to come back on its own. However, you all will leave me alone. Once my memory is back, I will deal with you three, but until then, I'll just assist gramps with the shrine. I don't want any interference from any of you."

Aiko shook her head. "Kagome, the reason Mika is here is to help you, but she can't do that unless you talk to her."

Kagome laughed at that. "And what the hell am I supposed to talk to her about? Seems to me you all know more than I do about my past and what's causing me harm, so it should be you guys talking to me - but since that isn't happening I don't have anything to say to any of you."

"Well, as you remember things, you can talk to me, I can help you deal with the memories as they come - and the emotions that will be triggered by remembering. This isn't something that you should be trying to face on your own, Kagome." Mika was firm, the girl needed their help, now she just had to be persuaded to accept it.

Yasha held his breath, knowing that this wasn't going to go the way Mika and Aiko wanted it. Kagome had that stubborn look he knew all to well - from this life and the last one.

"Sorry, but I have no reason to trust you, and every reason not to. I mean what I say. Come around as you please, but it will be a waste of time for you, because I simply won't talk to you." Kagome held her gaze for a moment, letting her know she meant exactly what she said, then moved her gaze to her mother.

"I will still help around the house and carry out my responsibilties in the family - but that is all. For now, treat me as you would a roommate."

Glancing last at Yasha, she frowned then, a stern look passing across her face. "As for you? Stop following me - don't think I don't know you're there. I'm nothing to any of you, understand? Just leave me alone." Turning on her heel, she left a very shocked threesome standing in the kitchen.

Aiko stared wide-eyed a the doorway her daughter had disappeared through. "What do we do now?"

Yasha growled. "We do what she said. And hope that she remembers things soon, and understands why we couldn't really answer her questions."

Mika nodded. "It's the only thing we really can do - let her come to us. At some point, she will, I'm sure. Trying to force her at this point, however, would only be counter-productive. So... we wait."

I hope to kami I'm doing the right thing, because I can't think of anything else to do.