InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Cannot Be Broken ❯ Recognizing the Past ( Chapter 11 )

Kagome could only just stand there, listening behind the door. She swayed slightly at all she had heard, every bit of it. Memories and thoughts swirled and melded, but nothing was making sense, nothing was right.

 

Otou-san holding her.

 

Sesshomaru is a murderous bastard.

 

Otou-san protecting her.

 

He ruthlessly killed countless villages!

 

Otou-san taking her away from the death and pain.

 

…sacrificed them all just for a sword he can't touch!

 

Otou-san leading the human refugees of war to his lands.

 

It was your village! Your monastery!

 

Kikyo…. Kouga….

 

Shippou's parents! All slaughtered!

 

InuYasha was very brave to rescue you from that evil monster.

 

Evil monster?

 

Sesshomaru.

 

Otou-san teaching her how to be strong, how to be brave, how to love….

 

He hates humans….

 

Rin….

 

His heir… will be a hanyou?

 

Otou-san adopting her as his own.

 

What true father would give up a daughter like that, honour bound or not?

 

You made an honourable agreement, if you should break it, Kagome-sama, I will cast you from my house and my memory.

 

He treated her like a human he could cast off!

 

He will always love you, Kagome, he will always come for you when you need him.

 

He didn't want her.

 

She opened the door fully and looked at InuYasha in despair.

 

Stand strong. Do not let him break your spirit. He loves you.

 

“Kagome?” InuYasha whispered.

 

He stepped closer to her but she raised her hand to stop him.

 

“No.” Her soft voice broke over the silence of the room.

 

InuYasha's ears drooped and he cast his gaze to the wall. What had she heard? Whatever it was she heard, none of it would have been good.

 

Sango and Miroku looked at them both silently before they moved to leave the room.

 

Kagome looked at them levelly. “Stay.”

 

Both warriors looked at InuYasha but he gave no indication towards them. He was still and unresponsive. They turned to Kagome and waited.

 

It was a few moments before the silence was broken by Kagome's shockingly calm voice.

 

“I know… that you believe that Sesshomaru is all you say he is.” She graced them all with his trademark stoic glance. “Now tell me… why?”

 

Sango and Miroku looked at InuYasha expecting him to reply but nothing came from him.

 

Miroku sighed. “Let us bring this conversation out of this hot room.”

 

He walked to the terrace doors and out to the bright morning. He rested against the stone banister of the veranda and Sango joined him by sitting on the banister beside him. Kagome glanced at InuYasha, who refused to look at her, before she followed them out. InuYasha walked slowly behind her.

 

Once they were outside, Miroku again spoke. “The best way to introduce any story is to start at the beginning.” He looked at InuYasha who was leaning against the manor's stone wall.

 

The inu hanyou had his eyes closed and arms crossed. It was apparent he was not about to say anything.

 

Miroku frowned and sighed again before he looked at Kagome. “How much do you know about InuYasha's and Sesshomaru's father?”

 

Kagome looked confused. “He was a great demon lord, who had control of the entire Western Lands until his death. His… first mate,” she glanced at InuYasha, “was Sesshomaru's mother. She was also an inu demon but she had died when Sesshomaru was very young. Otou… Sesshomaru… never really spoke of either, since he felt his father had become….”

 

InuYasha peered over at her and she felt slightly anxious to carry on.

 

“Had become what, my Lady?” Miroku asked quietly.

 

Kagome sighed, remembering what she had heard through Kikyo, Rin and other sources. “Sesshomaru had believed his father had become swayed by mortal ideals and had given up the honour and power of the youkai. His belief was confirmed when the Great Lord had… had taken a human mate.”

 

InuYasha growled slightly and Kagome quietly moved to sit on a bench near by, away from him, before feeling she was able to continue.

 

She rubbed her brow in sadness. “Sesshomaru felt his father had betrayed him and his kind when he mated with this mortal, and more so when InuYasha was born.”

 

“Go on.” Sango glanced at InuYasha, who was still growling, and then back at Kagome. She knew InuYasha needed to hear this, and that all would finally know the truth.

 

Kagome nodded and crinkled her brow trying to remember it all. “When the Great Lord died, he had given both of them swords made from his own fangs, his own power. To Sesshomaru, he gave the gift of life, to InuYasha, the gift of destruction.”

 

“Is that what he told you Tetsusaiga was?!” InuYasha barked, jumping from the wall in anger.

 

“InuYasha, quiet down. We will have our say once we understand where each is coming from.” Miroku replied.

 

Kagome gave InuYasha a cold stare. “Tetsusaiga has the ability to kill a hundred demons with one swipe. I would call that destructive.”

 

InuYasha just growled deeper as he leaned back against the wall.

 

“Please, Lady Kagome, continue.” Miroku smiled slightly.

 

Kagome sighed and shook her head, trying to relay all that she understood while growing up. “Sesshomaru had already alienated himself from his father, and to receive a sword that saved mortality was a mockery to him. And for InuYasha, a half human, to have the ability to gain the power meant for true demons was dishonourable. He could not understand what would possess a demon with the ultimate power to give it all away for a human and then to a half human, and worse, try to force Sesshomaru to hold the same love for humanity by giving him a sword that gave them life.” Kagome smiled softly. “That was until Rin.”

 

“Rin?” Miroku asked.

 

InuYasha had stopped growling and seemed pensive, but his ears cocked towards her waiting for her to continue. All this he already knew. Sesshomaru hated him because he was a half human and had caused dishonour to him. Also, Sesshomaru was jealous because he controlled the very power his elder brother had wanted from the start.

 

He smirked slightly. Serves the bastard right. To be able to wield Tetsusaiga meant that he had the power of their father. How that must piss Sesshomaru off!

 

“Rin is my adopted mother, Sesshomaru's mate. His human mate.” Kagome flicked her eyes up at InuYasha. His ears twitched towards her and his brow arched slightly.

 

“Rin was a small child when Sesshomaru found her in a battlefield where he and InuYasha once fought.” Kagome closed her eyes. “She was orphaned and close to death, or dead, when Sesshomaru saw her. Okaa-san was never entirely clear on telling me how they met. Sesshomaru had for some reason taken pity on her and, using his Tensaiga, revived her. It was that action that would forever change his view on humans.”

 

“Sesshomaru taking pity on something? That's rich.” InuYasha scoffed.

 

Kagome inwardly seethed and she refused to look up at him, trying hard to control her temper. “Whatever happened between them, I don't know. They are private about that situation. But what I do know, what ever had happened between them, she forever changed him.”

 

“Why?” Sango tilted her head. “What happened?”

 

“By reviving Rin, he had done something he had never done before; care for someone other than himself.” She smiled then shrugged. “Sure, he had Jaken, his toad minion, but I don't think he ever cared for him. So by him using the very sword he hated, to revive the very cause he hated, Sesshomaru was given a new perspective of the power he had been given. Mind you it was very slight.” Kagome sighed. “Since Rin had no one else, he had allowed her to stay with him, and he grew… fond of her.”

 

Silence from her listeners tempted her to continue.

 

“Rin was the first human Sesshomaru ever really knew. He began to see how humans lived and felt. I mean, what better way to see the wonder of life than through the eyes of a child?” Kagome smiled softly. “As she grew older, Sesshomaru began to love her. It was because of Rin did Sesshomaru come to understand the power of the swords, especially Tensaiga. It was not a mockery of demonic power or a reminder of his father's weakness, it was a symbol of his strength.” Kagome looked distant. “He had told me that because of Rin, he had more power than he ever knew he could have. He realized it was not through defeating others that you gained power.”

 

InuYasha flicked his ears in disbelief. Sesshomaru said that? He looked at her in silent shock.

 

“He told me he came to understand that when you have love, when you have others that need you, you have something to protect. When you have something as great as that to protect, there is no such thing as giving up. You have a power within you to be all you can ever be in order to keep it. He then understood his father's love for humans, for they had this power, and as weak as they are, they would give their lives to save what they love.”

 

Kagome stood and walked over to lean forward on the banister beside Sango. “It was that understanding that gave him fear as well.” She turned to look at InuYasha or more specifically… “Tetsusaiga, he came to believe, could not be trusted in your hands.”

 

“What?!” InuYasha leapt from the wall and stormed over to her. Both Miroku and Sango jumped in front of him to block his way.

 

Kagome watched him through narrowed eyes. “I had grown up hearing stories of what you have done with Tetsusaiga. You and Otou-san had fought for over fifty years and the power of Tetsusaiga has only gotten stronger and more vicious. He no longer wanted to take the sword to use, he wanted to take the sword so it could not be used by you or any who could kill as much as you have!”

 

“What the fuck are you saying, Bitch?!” He bared his fangs and tried to grab her through Miroku and Sango's hold on him.

 

“I'm saying that what I heard you accuse Sesshomaru of is exactly what I have heard about you!” Kagome's voice trembled in anger, resentment and denial. She shook her head. “So many people have taken refuge on Sesshomaru's lands because you destroyed their villages and homes! So many were killed! Nothing was left alive! Livestock, men, women… children!” Kagome spat out.

 

InuYasha pulled back stunned before he filled with rage. “I have never hurt a human! When we have fought against Sesshomaru it was always away from people! I would never put anyone in danger! Who ever told you this shit lied!”

 

Kagome watched him carefully. She felt and saw his light blue aura spike in rage, but what he told was the truth, or what he believed as such. She wanted so badly for him to be telling her the truth, but what about what she grew up believing?

 

She turned away and whispered sadly that only the dog demon caught it. “So who do I believe?”

 

InuYasha was floored. She was right. She couldn't very well take his word for it. She had to be told what they knew. If there was any hope, for anything, she had to know so she could finally decide for herself.

 

“Kagome?” He breathed. He was at a loss. He didn't know what to tell her let alone where to begin.

 

She did not look up at him, instead she turned her face away to look out at the garden.

 

Sango and Miroku stood between them uncomfortably and it was Sango that finally spoke.

 

“Kagome? You say you have heard stories?” Sango licked her dry lips. “Can you tell me who told you? What they had said?”

 

Kagome looked over at the demon slayer. She could witness pain pass over the girl, but a slight touch of hope for… something.

 

“The people who came to live in Sesshomaru's lands told us, but I couldn't tell you exactly from whom. Some came to the manor and I heard them tell of what they saw and lived through. All the stories I have heard growing up were the same. The villages would be completely destroyed. No one there was left alive. Those who escaped or were lucky not to be in the village at the time of attack told of death and destruction… and….”

 

“And?” Sango asked, flicking her eyes over at InuYasha inconspicuously.

 

“And a red flag with a white demon dog flying on the only standing hut.”

 

InuYasha paled. “No….”

 

Miroku looked at InuYasha with fierce determination. “This cannot be a coincidence.” The monk turned to Kagome. “I think it is time for you to hear us now.”

 

Sango nodded with a dark frown on her face. “I think we all have been misled.”

 

Kagome looked at each of them and slowly nodded. She wasn't sure that she wanted to hear it, but she knew she had to hear the truth from their point of view.

 

“Both Sango and I have tales of devastation.” Miroku once again leaned against the banister by the exterminator. “I, myself, was orphaned at a young age and was raised in a monastery. My father was well renowned for his spiritual powers as well as his more endearing qualities.”

 

“Take your hand elsewhere, Houshi, if you wish to keep it!” Sango held her katana tighter.

 

Miroku's hand quickly fell to his side. “Something that I have inherited as well.”

 

Kagome smiled slightly.

 

“One morning I was to be studying in the very monastery my father trained when I happened to be detained….”

 

Sango scowled.

 

Miroku coughed. “Well, when I arrived at the monastery it was as you have said. Nothing was left alive. All who I had known and trained with were dead. In a desperate attempt to find relief from my grief I had found sanctuary in a village. It was unfortunate that my stay was not as well met as I had hoped.” He pondered.

 

“You fucking monk!” InuYasha hissed, “You lied, gambled and swindled them out of their money and possessions!”

 

“Ahhh….” Miroku smiled guiltily. “Whatever the case may have been, it was InuYasha who had found me….”

 

“You had tried to steal my sword!”

 

“And had explained the cause of the desecrated villages and holy sanctuaries. It was at that moment I joined with him.”

 

InuYasha growled. “I had no choice but to take you with me, you lecher! They were going to kill you in the morning and Kami only knows how I got tied into it! I'm surprised I got out of there at all, no thanks to you, you damned monk!”

 

Kagome bit her cheeks to keep from smiling.

 

The two men began to bicker and argue over the `finer details' of the story, when Sango cleared her throat, giving Miroku a cold glare. “It was about the time when Miroku finally convinced InuYasha not to kill him and let him tag along when they met me.”

 

Sango's gaze turned sad. “I came from a village of demon slayers. I was coming back from a small hunt with my brother, Kohaku. When we returned we found our village was destroyed. The houses were burned and there were traces of a great demon battle. But all our people were gone.”

 

She turned to face the garden, shuddering at the memory.

 

“Kohaku? The boy at the village?” Kagome asked.

 

Sango smiled sadly, looking towards the village. “Yes. I brought him there after….”

 

Kagome moved to stand beside her to comfort her friend.

 

Sango chuckled darkly. “I was so angry at what did that to our home, to our family. I wanted revenge, so I tracked the remainder of the army, dragging Kohaku with me.” She shook her head. “I don't know what I was thinking. I really don't. I was just so blinded….”

 

Kagome put her hand on Sango's. The slayer leaned slightly towards her.

 

“I found the army, or some of them.” Sango shook her head. “At first I thought there was a few, so I forced Kohaku to fight with me, but then more and more came, like they were coming out of no where! We got hurt. Kohaku nearly died. I had run away, carrying him with me. They almost caught us, killed us, when InuYasha arrived and used the Tetsusaiga to kill them all.”

 

Kagome slowly looked up at InuYasha who was now quiet and distant.

 

Sango looked at Kagome. “I'm so sorry, Kagome. I really am.”

 

Kagome looked despondent. “Why?”

 

Miroku moved to stand on the other side of Kagome. “We had believed InuYasha that Sesshomaru was the cause. Because we saw the evidence in our villages.”

 

“What evidence?” Kagome looked from Sango to Miroku.

 

“Flags, white flags with a blue crescent.” Miroku replied sternly.

 

“Otou-san's flag?” Kagome gaped. “No, he wouldn't… he couldn't.”

 

“No, Kagome. I don't think he did. Not anymore.” Miroku frowned.

 

InuYasha growled in frustration but did not say anything.

 

“But at the time, we did believe he was the cause.” Sango said. “So we and many others who had seen the flag, had joined InuYasha to….”

 

“It was a war, Kagome.” InuYasha stated matter of factly. “Sesshomaru was our common enemy.”

 

“And what of you, InuYasha?” Kagome said sadly. “I knew of Sesshomaru's motives. I now know why Sango and Miroku thought as they did. But what had you against him?”

 

InuYasha was taken aback. He turned his face in deep thought. “I don't think you want to hear that.”

 

“No, InuYasha, I don't.” Kagome turned to look at him fully for the first time this conversation began. “But I have to know.”

 

InuYasha sighed in contemplation before his face turned hard. Kagome didn't think he was going to say anything until his gruff voice cut hard at her heart. “After our father died, my mother soon followed in grief. Contrary to what you were told, they did love each other.”

 

“I… I know.” Kagome looked over at the bath chamber.

 

“When he died, he not only gave me Tetsusaiga, he also divided the land. The western part of Western Lands was given to Sesshomaru, while the eastern domain was given to me.” InuYasha nodded his head to the manor. “Sesshomaru had for the longest time bore a grudge against me and he kicked me out of my home when I as a kid. I had practically raised myself and lived in the forests where you and I first met.”

 

Kagome looked at him in shock then sad realization. Before Sesshomaru had begun to care for others, he was very much a power hungry demon. She was lucky enough never to have known that side of him, but InuYasha? Sesshomaru would hurt his own brother even as a child?

 

“When I had grew old enough, I began to fight for what was mine. At first it was just me and Sesshomaru, then, as the villages became involved and demons started turning against demons, we started forming armies against each other. That was how I met up with these two.” InuYasha nodded to Sango and Miroku. “Eventually, I won back the manor and my territory and that would have been enough for me. I got back what was mine, but….”

 

Kagome looked up at him expectantly. “But you also believed Sesshomaru was killing these people for no reason.”

 

InuYasha looked back at her and nodded.

 

“And….” Kagome breathed in deep. “Has that changed? Do you still think he is capable of it?”

 

InuYasha looked unsettled. “Until what you had just said…. Gods, I was so angry at him, for what he did to me, that I really didn't care to see reason.”

 

“Reason?” Kagome asked.

 

“The villages… none of them were Sesshomaru's style. He may have hated humans, but he often avoided them. I used to think he thought he'd be tainted if he even saw one.” InuYasha scoffed.

 

Kagome raised an eyebrow.

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes. “Anyways, other than the flags, nothing about these places had evidence against Sesshomaru. First of all, his scent was nowhere to be found. If Sesshomaru was anything, he was a glory hog. He would have led the assault. Whatever the case, his smell would be there, but there was nothing. And every village smelled the same. Even the demons that went after Sango smelled of it. The same army had gone through every village and just killed. Nothing was taken, nothing was left alive.”

 

“But everything was destroyed or moved.” Miroku reminded him.

 

“Yes, as if this army was looking for something, and destroyed everything to find it.” Sango agreed looking at Kagome, then to InuYasha.

 

Kagome looked stunned. Flashes of fire and a woman's terrified face flittered in her mind. She blinked it back as it faded to a distant memory.

 

“And now you think Sesshomaru was not the cause?”

 

Sango shook her head. She looked distant as she gazed to the west.

 

“No, thanks to you.” Miroku bowed his head.

 

“Me?” Kagome whispered and looked down.

 

“Yes.” Miroku looked to Sango then InuYasha before casting his eyes on Kagome. “When we were told about your relation with Sesshomaru, at first it just hindered our beliefs. But as time passed, and we grew to know you,” his eyes flicked to Sango, “it was clear that our opinion of Sesshomaru was lacking the entire truth. It is never wise to enter into ignorance willingly when knowledge can just as easily be gained.”

 

“But now that we know what each other know, what of the villages?” Kagome darted her eyes at InuYasha.

 

He crossed his arms and looked away, growling slightly once again.

 

Miroku nodded. “The one thing that truly troubles me. Nothing legitimately points to Sesshomaru, or InuYasha from what you say, but there is the question as to why villages in these two territories are being attacked and why are the flags of the two lords being displayed?”

 

“There are only two possibilities.” Kagome bowed her head. “One, we may be lying to each other to make each other believe there is no one at fault except for this `army,' in order to make a false trust that can be manipulated, but there would be no just reason to lie, especially since none of you are.” She blushed when she made aware she was using her aura to sense them, before her eyes narrowed fiercely. “Or there is someone out there trying to keep this war going, framing each brother against the other in order to… to what?”

 

“Which again brings to question why these villages.” Miroku pondered.

 

“You said it looked like they were looking for something.” Kagome crossed her arms. “Do any of these villages have anything in common? In Sesshomaru's territory it was mostly shrines and monasteries that were attacked. But the odd villages that were attacked had no power or resources that any army could want, especially with the sickness going around. Many villages were quarantined by mikos and even they were too weak to cause any trouble towards any army. There would have been no need to kill these people or destroy the village all together.”

 

Miroku nodded. “Yes, here also it seemed that mainly villages that had spiritual purposes or powerful people were attacked. Yet there were a few small villages that also were taken that had no power, save for the odd miko.”

 

“Oh my gods.” Kagome's eyes widened. “The mikos.”

 

Miroku looked over at Sango and frowned. “Could it be possible that whatever is doing all of this is after the mikos? But for what purpose? Everyone was killed, the mikos included.”

 

InuYasha scowled and looked quietly at Kagome. “I don't know, but I don't like this. Too many had been wronged by who ever controls this army.”

 

Kagome glanced up at him and nodded. She understood what he really meant. For years she had been led astray by what she heard, by what others believed, but now here she stood, with the truth as they all now knew it.

 

Now that they were no longer hidden enemies, Kagome could feel the weight lift off her shoulders. There was, however, a new truth that needed to be revealed, but at least now they had each other to find it.

 

And for the first time Kagome smiled freely at the man she knew as InuYasha.