InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Changing the Past, Changes the Future ❯ The Memory Remains ( Chapter 2 )

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

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, and I don't make any money from the writing of this or any of my stories.

Chapter 2- The Memory Remains

Kagome crawled back into the hut and after tossing and turning, she fell asleep. As soon as sleep took her, she dreamt of the events that had helped to lead her here.

*Start Dream Sequence*

Naraku's laughter echoed through the field as he faced Inuyasha. “Do you remember when you thought Kikyo killed that little bitch you thought was your mate, Inuyasha? What was her name again?”

“Tomi. Her name was Tomi, you bastard!” He shouted at the evil half demon.

“She was quite a pretty little bitch. Even more beautiful than her older sister, Kikyo, wasn't she?” Naraku smiled. “Kikyo didn't kill Tomi. She could have never been capable of killing her own sister.”

“You bastard!” It dawned on Inuyasha that Naraku and not Kikyo had killed his future mate.

“Of course Kikyo thought it had been you that killed her beloved little sister and came after you,” Naraku cooed.

The other members of Inuyasha's gang stood in stunned silence as they listened to the conversation. Sango and Miroku looked at Kagome, who shook her head. They had always thought that Kikyo was the one Inuyasha had loved. They had believe that the conflict had been over the sacred jewel. Could they be wrong? “I didn't know that Inuyasha had loved anyone, but Kikyo,” Sango whispered.

“Me too.” Kagome agreed. “Of course, it's not like Inuyasha even speaks to me anymore.” She couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice as she replied to Sango.

“Shut up!” Inuyasha yelled, never once taking his eyes from Naraku.

Naraku's laughter caused everyone to cringe. “Yes. That's what he wants you to think. The only reason he had agreed to use the jewel was because he couldn't bare to live as a half demon without his beloved mate.”

“Shut the fuck up! You don't know what you're talking about!” He charged Naraku in a nearly blind rage.

The mocking laughter faded away in the wind as Naraku vanished. Inuyasha whirled around to face Kagome. His totally wild look made the humans take a small step back. “Where is he, Kagome?!” He shouted at her.

Kagome shook her head. “I don't know, he just vanished.”

“What the hell do you mean that he just vanished?” He sheathed his sword and stalked toward her.

“I mean what I said! He was here and now he's just gone!” Kagome yelled back.

Inuyasha's clawed hands grabbed Kagome's arms painfully. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He shook her hard. “Why can't you sense the jewel shards? What good are you if you can't find the fucking things?”

Fire snapped into Kagome's eyes and her whole aura flared. “Oh yeah? What about you, dog boy? Is your nose broken? Why can't you find him?”

His ears pinned back in his white hair. He shoved her away from him carelessly causing her to hit the ground.

“Hey!” She stared up at him.

“Inuyasha!” Miroku said sternly.

“Kagome, are you okay?” Sango knelt down to check on Kagome.

Kagome didn't reply. She couldn't believe that he had shoved her. He had never once talked to her or treated her like that before. He had made it very clear six months ago that he wanted nothing to with her once all the shards were found and Naraku was defeated. He didn't even want her as a friend. That was what hurt her the most. After the two and a half years they had spent together, he didn't even think of her as a friend. He had told her several times that she was just his shard detector. Hurt in more than one way, Kagome said the only thing she could to hurt him. “Sit!”

Sango helped her to her feet and watched as Inuyasha crawled from his crater. His gold eyes filled with a silent apology didn't match the rest of his angry face as he looked at Kagome. “Bitch!” He hissed, before leaping away from them.

“Come oe, Kagome. Let's go back to the village.” Miroku and Sango helped her over to Kilala.

“Kagome.” Shippo hugged her. “Are you okay?”

She smiled falsely. “Yeah, Shippo. I'm fine.”

“Lady Kagome, have you ever thought about going home and staying there?” Miroku asked as they sat in Kaede's hut much later that night.

“Do you really want me to leave?” She asked in a weak voice.

“No. It's nothing like that, Kagome.” Sango blurted, afraid that Kagome would get the wrong impression. “We are really worried about you. Since you have been changing into a woman, Inuyasha has become more and more volatile. He is so cruel and cold to you. Watching him slowly tear you apart, truly hurts us, Kagome.” Sango held Kagome's hand.

“If you wanted to return home and not come back, we would understand.” Miroku chose his words carefully.

“If I leave who would find the shards of the jewel?” she asked the occupants of the room.

Kikyo. The unspoken name reverberated through the room like a cannon after firing.

“Why? Why is he doing this to me?” She burst into tears, not being able to hold them back any longer.

Kaede watched the group closely. She, too had been noticing Inuyasha's violent tendencies toward Kagome of late. When she first met the girl, she had looked so much like Kikyo, it was nearly terrifying. Now that Kagome was nearly three years older, her face resembled their sister, Tomi's. “Tomi,” she replied.

“What?” They all stared at Kaede in shock.

“When you first came here, Kagome, you looked so much like Kikyo, it was incredible. But as you have grown older and become a woman, you look much like my long dead sister, Tomi.”

“Lady Kaede,” Miroku began. “Today when Naraku confronted Inuyasha, he told him that it was he who killed Tomi. Who exactly is Tomi and why have we never heard of her?”

Kaede sighed. She really didn't like to speak of the sister that she had only known for a month, but had loved since the day they met. She had mentioned her once to Kikyo since her resurrection and watched the cold, emotionless undead priestess begin to sob in hysterics. “We only met Tomi a month before Kikyo sealed Inuyasha to the tree. She was about the same age as Kikyo, perhaps a little younger.”

“Our father had not been the most faithful of men and was a womanizer. One day, she just showed up in the village. Kikyo knew at once she was our sister, so she moved in with us.”

“But we thought that Inuyasha loved Kikyo,” Sango said.

“Nay. Inuyasha and Kikyo were friends, nothing more. Kikyo felt sorry for him, because he was just looking for his place in the world, just like she was. That's why she could never bring herself to kill him. Tomi was shy and something about her drew Inuyasha to her. Kikyo said not too long ago that she thought Inuyasha's reaction to her was because she was his mate. He had been too young and afraid to take a human as his mate. Plus he didn't even know what happened when he found one.” Kaede told them.

“What happened to her?” Sango asked.

“Tomi was killed one day. I found her body by the well perhaps she had been planning to hide in it. She had the same claw marks on her like the ones Kikyo died from, but her throat had been slashed, killing her. It was that day that Inuyasha agreed to become human. He wanted to become human so he would die sooner. Only Kikyo knew how hurt he was. He decided that he and Kikyo would live together as husband and wife, but they would never have children. She didn't want children with him and he couldn't imagine being with anyone, but Tomi.”

“So, because they were friends, and both suffering the loss of someone they had only known for a short time, but loved dearly, they would live together as humans?” Kagome asked, shocked by the turn of events. “How sad.”

“Aye. The day they were to meet everything happened the way they said it had, but I believe that Naraku in Inuyasha's form told Kikyo that he had killed Tomi and did the same thing in Kikyo's form. That is why everything happened the way it did.”

“That about sums it up, doesn't it, you old hag?” Inuyasha walked into the hut and sat down far from his friends. He cradled Tetsusaiga against his chest.

“All this time we thought it was just about the jewel.” Kagome shook her head. “I'm so sorry both of you. I never knew that Naraku had killed anyone so dear to you. I'm very sorry about, Tomi.”

Before anyone knew what was happening, Inuyasha had Kagome by the throat and he slammed her against the wall. All of them so focused on what was happening, they didn't notice when his sword clattered to the wood floor. “Don't you ever say her name again! Do you hear me? Your lips aren't even fit to say her name!”

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it,” She rasped, her hands clamping over his wrists. “I can't breathe.”

Miroku jumped up. “Inuyasha, let her go! She didn't mean anything by it.” He pulled at Inuyasha's shoulder.

“Get off of me!” He slung Miroku off him like he was an insect.

Sango stared at the altercation, rising to her feet. She knew that the reason Inuyasha was so violent was because he was fighting his feelings for Kagome. He needed to mate and his demon blood was making him extremely unpredictable since he was denying it. “Let her go, Inuyasha. She didn't mean anything. Did you ever think that Kagome's your mate?”

He let go of Kagome and whirled to face Sango. “Tomi is my mate.”

“Tomi is dead!” Kagome bit her lip the second she said it.

Spinning around, Inuyasha's right hand flew upward, backhanding Kagome so hard that it lifted her from her feet before she hit the ground. Blood dripped from her nose and her lip. Inuyasha stared at her in horror as he fought the urge to help her to her feet and beg for forgiveness.

A very human snarl of rage echoed through the silence of the room as Sango's arms wrapped around Inuyasha's waist, slinging them to the side of Kagome. Inuyasha's eyes stared in shock at Sango. “If you ever hit her again, I'll kill you.” Her voice was a low, deadly whisper as she pulled out a hidden dagger, and held it against his throat. She pressed it against his skin drawing blood, to show him she was serious.

Miroku and Kagome's eyes locked, slowly moving at the same time to the Tetsusaiga, which Inuyasha had dropped when he moved to grab Kagome.

Sango gasped as she watched Inuyasha's eyes roll back in his head and begin to tint crimson. A magenta stripe appeared on each cheek. Suddenly, she was pulled of the half demon when Miroku's arms wrapped around her waist and jerked her off him.

While Miroku moved to pull Sango from Inuyasha, Kagome scurried to grab the Tetsusaiga. After the two humans were clear of the half demon, she lightly tossed it, so it landed on his chest. His back arched and a snarl ripped from his lips as his eyes once again rolled back in his head.

Now gold eyes stared at the human's in the room. The whole look of him appeared to be apologetic, but his next words were anything, but. “If any of you ever say her name again, I will kill you.” He leapt from the room and into the night.

Sango and Miroku both rushed to Kagome, who looked slightly dazed. “Are you okay?” Miroku reached out and touched her shoulder.

“Don't touch me.”

“Kagome, let me…” Sango grabbed her arm.

Kagome jerked away. “Don't touch me!” She grabbed her bag and slowly walked out the door, in shock.

“Do you ever think Kagome will come back?” Shippo spoke for the first time, drawing the attention of the shocked, slightly horrified humans.

“I don't know, Shippo,” Sango told him honestly.

Miroku shook his head. “If she doesn't return, none of us can blame her.” That was all Kagome heard before she was out of earshot.

Kagome stood at the well for a long time, just staring at it. “Will you return?” She turned to face Kikyo.

“Why do you care?”

Kikyo walked up to Kagome and wiped the blood from her lip with her fingertips. “You remind me of her very much.”

Kagome didn't need to ask who, so she said nothing.

“He never mated with her. That is why he is so off balance. If he was a full demon or a full human, he could let her go. A human will grieve, but live on. A demon would not have the emotion to grieve and move on quickly. Since he is half demon and never claimed his mate, his demon side still screams for her, and his human side refuses to acknowledge that she has passed on.” Kikyo stared at Kagome. “You need to stay away from him. For whatever reason, his demon half reacts to you like he would a mate, but his human half denies that you could be his mate, and that is why he is like this.”

“How do you know?”

Kikyo smiled at her. “Because he told me. Think carefully about your decision, Kagome.” Kikyo shoved her back and into the well.

This time, Kagome watched as Kikyo's clothing shifted from her priestess garb to clothing worn in Kagome's era. She stared into the well after her. “Good luck, Kagome. I hope to see you again. I guess I will know in a month.” She walked from the well.

*End Dream Sequence*

“Kikyo!” Kagome sat bolt upright, drawing both Kikyo and Kaede's attention.

“Yes?” Kikyo frowned at her younger sister.

Kagome shook her head. “Nothing. I just had a bad dream,” she lied. Her hands covered her face. `Holy shit! Did Kikyo know her secret? Did the future Kikyo suspect that Kagome and Tomiko were the same person?

“It's okay, now, Tomiko,” Kikyo told her as she sat down next to her. “You're with us, now. Everything will be fine.” Kikyo stroked her short hair.

`If you only knew,' Kagome thought. `If you only knew.'