InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Changing the Past, Changes the Future ❯ Haunted ( Chapter 7 )

[ 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. The same applies to the song “Heart Without a Home”

Chapter 7- Haunted

*Dream Sequence*

“You changed your destiny, Kagome.” Kikyo looked at her while Kagome played with her pink bedspread.

Her head snapped up as she looked at the other woman. Kikyo smiled absently as she rubbed the Buuyo's stomach. “I changed it? How?” Kagome hoped it was for the better, but she felt that she wasn't going to like what had changed.

Kikyo's eyes looked at her with sympathy. Seeing that look coming from a dead woman, Kagome instantly grew terrified. Kikyo licked her lips and looked across the room at Kagome's computer. “What is that?” She nodded at it.

Kagome's eyes narrowed. Kikyo was trying to change the subject! She had told Kagome that she had changed the past, but ignored her when she wanted to know how. “Kikyo! What happened? How did my destiny change? He's still going to kill me, isn't he?” Kagome grabbed her arm.

Kikyo's eyes burned into hers. “That's not all he's going to do to you.”

Her head snapped back as if she had been slapped. “What?”

“The first time you were there, in your first life, you avoided Onigumo like he was a plague. When I mentioned him to you, you made up some excuse about why you couldn't go see him. This time you met him, talked to him, and somewhat got to know him. You fought with him, flirted with him…”

“I didn't mean to flirt with him! It just kind of came out.” Kagome defended herself.

“I know. The thing is that Onigumo didn't. I think you became an obsession to him. He wanted you as much as he still wants to destroy Inuyasha,” Kikyo informed her.

Kagome nearly panicked, grabbing Kikyo's arm. “What happens? You have to tell me!”

Kikyo shook her head. “No, I don't. I am helping you by guiding you. I refuse to tell you what will happen. You are getting another chance to live. It's not fair to help you anymore. I came to warn you. Do not be foolish, Kagome. All I can tell you is to not underestimate Naraku when he is in his first days. Just because he is nowhere near the power he is now, doesn't mean that he had no power. Even as a human man, Onigumo was stronger than you. Naraku is perhaps even more dangerous than he is now, in that time, because he is just learning to control his new powers.”

Kagome shook her head. This wasn't fair! How could she change the past if she didn't know what would happen to her? A thought suddenly hit her. Of course! It was so simple! “What if I go kill him now? What if I kill him before he gets the chance to change into Naraku?” She asked Kikyo.

Kikyo looked at Kagome sadly. “I'm sorry, Kagome. That won't work.”

“Why not? Why won't it work, Kikyo?”

Kikyo walked to the door and opened it. At first, Kagome didn't think she would answer. Then she did and it struck Kagome like lightning. “It won't work because the man Onigumo is dead and the half demon Naraku has already been born.” Kikyo closed the door behind her as she walked from the room.

Suddenly the scene changed and Kagome found herself in the middle of the field near Onigumo's cave. It was well into the night. She was wearing her priestess habit, instead of her normal clothes that she had been wearing seconds before.

She knew she was being watched and ran. She tore through the field into the forest, hearing Naraku's mocking laughter as he toyed with her. She didn't even know where she was going, but she had to get away from Naraku.

Her lungs burned as she pushed herself beyond a level she would have thought possible. Her lungs couldn't get enough air as she continued. Her feet hurt and she had scratches from the tree branches she had run through.

She gave a slight pause as she came to a fork in the trail. Her eyes glanced left then right. Going with her gut instinct, she went left. She couldn't hear him behind her anymore and turned to look over her shoulder.

Nothing.

She had lost him.

Bam! She hit the tree so hard, she rebounded off of it and slammed into the forest floor. A soft whimper escaped her lips as she opened her eyes. “Damn, that hurt.”

She froze when she heard the chuckling off to her left. She rolled her head to the side to see the being cloaked in a white baboon pelt emerge from the forest. She watched as he glided toward her. Kagome leapt to her feet prepared to run.

She hadn't even taken a step when his arm wrapped around her waist from behind. “You…You, Kikyo's sister, Tomi, are the way I will make both of them suffer. The half demon bastard and that lying whore of a priestess will be so easy to destroy, after your death.” He lifted his other clawed hand to her throat. He rested his hand on the rapidly throbbing artery in her neck.

Tears poured down her face. “Please…don't,” she whimpered.

“What a pity, Tomi. You really were quite beautiful.” His voice whispered as his claws slashed across her throat.

Kagome's eyes glanced down to see the rush of hot, red blood staining the white top, before her vision became dark, and her breathing stopped.

*End Dream*

Kagome jerked awake…And nearly fell out of a tree. `A tree? What on earth was she doing in a tree?'

“Whoa. Are you okay, Tomi?” Inuyasha's concerned voice asked her as his cheek rested against the side of her short black locks. His arms tightened their hold around her waist when he felt her jolt. He wouldn't be able to live with himself, if he dropped his mate from the tree. She had jolted, startling him, and nearly causing him to loosen his grasp on her enough to cause him to drop her.

“Yeah. I'm fine. I just had a bad dream.” She looked around to get her bearings. She was high in the sacred tree. Her legs were straddling a large branch as were his. She was leaning on him with her back against his hard chest. Her head on his left shoulder as she looked to the sky through the leaves of the tree. The pink and gray soft tones of dawn were upon them. It was dawn. Dawn! What had happened last night? Why didn't she remember? How and why were they in a tree?

Inuyasha's ears twitched as he sensed her moods shifting. Another advantage or disadvantage, depending on how you'd look at it, to being a half demon with spiritual powers was his ability to sense the moods of those close to him. He had always been able to do it to humans and demons since he was very small. That was part of the reason he liked to be alone. Without any formal training that humans received, he couldn't control his ability to feel the powers, and was often overwhelmed by them. Another reason he stayed alone was because of his powers. With his limited ability, he could sense the disgust and hatred of both humans and demons when they looked at him. The one thing he had learned about his powers were how to shield them. That way no one knew that he was such a rare creature. His kind of half demon were so rare, in fact, he didn't know if there were more, or if he was the only one.

He glanced down at the small human priestess in his arms. He knew his connection to her was even more powerful because she was his mate. His mate. He still couldn't believe it. She was the only person that had never judged him. She wasn't disgusted by him and she didn't hate him. She cared for him a lot.

`She cared for me enough to jump on me.' He thought. He loved how she treated him just like he was a normal person. That's why he loved her so much. The realization, caused him to slam the back of his head into the tree. He didn't even flinch as he sat with his eyes wide open.

Kagome, however, did flinch when she heard the back of his head collide with the tree. “Are you okay?” Her voice was concerned.

He didn't answer. He had never loved anyone, except for his mother and Kikyo, and those were two different types of love than the one he held for the girl in his arms. His mother was, well, his mother, and Kikyo, he loved like a friend, but Tomi…Tomi was his mate. They would always be together. She was his and he was hers. He loved her. The thought of not having her with him, took his breath away. He had only known her for three weeks, but she was the most important thing in the world to him. The idea that someone had this much power over him, terrified him, but he knew that Tomi would never hurt him.

He was shocked when her blindly groping hand reached up to touch his cheek. “Inuyasha, are you okay?” Her voice was even more worried.

“Yeah. I'm fine.”

“Good. I thought you might have hurt yourself.”

“Keh!” He scoffed. “Like something like that could hurt me.”

They both sat in silence in the mild, mid spring morning. Just being together made them happy. Kagome tried to keep her mind in check as he held her. She knew that he could feel her aura shifting as her emotions did. She sighed and relaxed against his chest. He lowered his chin to rest on top of her head. His right hand reached up to stroke the, no…his mark, on her neck.

She broke the silence when she began to sing to him. The song just popped into her head. Her voice was beautiful, just like her as it was carried on the wind. “I'll be a new sensation, one you never had before. I got a feeling if I gave you some, you'd probably want some more. Did you know that baby, you're the bluebird in my sky?” She sang to him. “I only wanna make you happy cause I love to see you fly. And if you feel lonely, you don't have to anymore.” She reached up, touched the hand on her throat, and squeezed his hand.

“If you're a heart without a home, a rebel without a cause. If you feel as though you're always stranded on the shore. Like a thief in the night, let me steal your heart away. Baby if a reason's, what you're looking for. I'll be yours. I'll be yours.”

He sat in shock. He couldn't believe that she had just sang a song like that to him. He had listened to every word and knew she meant it. He pulled his hand from under hers and wrapped both arms around her waist as he rubbed his cheek against hers. “Tomi?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Kagome gasped and her eyes filled with tears. She had always wanted Inuyasha to say those words to her. “I love you too.” She knew he could feel the tears on his cheek, but didn't care. “What happened last night after you marked me?”

She felt his face grow hot with his blush. “I took too much of your blood and you fell asleep.”

“Oh. Why didn't you take me back to the village?” She regretted it as soon as she said it. She knew how Inuyasha would take it. She had known him for three years and knew him well enough to know that he would take it the wrong way.

He didn't fail her. His eyes narrowed. “What? Did you want me to take you back to the village? You didn't want to spend the night in my arms?”

She sighed. “Don't be like that?”

“Like what?! You're the one who said…”

“I didn't say anything! You said it, not me. I was just curious. Of course I wanted to spend last night in your arms. Don't you remember me crawling all over you?” Her voice was somewhat seductive.

He felt his face get so hot, he thought it might catch on fire. “I wanted you to stay with me on our first night as mates.” He blurted. “Sorry I tore your shirt. I gave you my robe to wear though.” Kagome looked down at his fire rat robe. She hadn't even noticed that she was wearing it.

Both froze as the horrified scream sliced through the once again peaceful morning. “Did you…” She started.

“ONIGUMO!!!” The woman wailed.

“Kikyo.”

“That was Kikyo.” They both said at the same time. “Prepare yourself.”

She remembered the first time he had said those words to her. He had been trying to kill her, just after she freed him from the tree. “For what?” She felt him lift her leg over the tree branch, like he was going to throw her off.

He flung his left leg over the tree and leapt the twenty feet to the forest floor. His arms were wrapped so tightly around her waist, she couldn't breath. He released her, but he swept her into his arms so fast, she didn't have time to think. He sped toward the direction of Kikyo's screams.

Neither one even sensed the presence that had been watching them since before the girl woke up as it stepped from it's hiding spot.

Hate filled cold eyes the color of blood soaked dirt, had watched Inuyasha and his mate as she slept in his arms. He had heard every word they spoke to each other. Their vows of love disgusted him. When he heard Kikyo's screams, a smirk graced his lips. `This should prove entertaining.' He thought as he followed them to watch.

The being's identity was hidden from prying eyes…

Hidden under the pelt of a white baboon.

*At the Cave…*

Inuyasha moved as fast as he could toward Kikyo. What if something happened to her? What if she had been attacked? He totally forgot that she had screamed Onigumo's name. His ears pinned back as they neared Onigumo's cave. The scent of smoke mixed with the salty scent of Kikyo's tears. He could hear her agonized sobbing from the cave.

Kagome was strangely calm as they hurried to Kikyo. She knew what had happened. Onigumo was no more. Now only Naraku existed. She had known that since she had the dream. The second part, she knew, wasn't a dream. The second part was a memory of her past life. She remembered how Naraku had killed her.

The Kikyo in her dream was the one that was undead. Kagome knew her actions here were already changing the future. Kikyo knew what would happen to Kagome, but she wouldn't tell her. Kagome understood though. She thought back to the whole time paradox theory.

If Kagome hadn't hated Onigumo/Naraku before, she did once she saw the sight of Kikyo. The powerful, somewhat cold priestess was sitting in the cave. She sat near the place where Onigumo's body had been. The only thing that hinted the man had ever been there, was the human shaped burn mark on the ground. Kikyo rocked back and forth while sobbing hysterically.

Kagome knew that Inuyasha wasn't very good with tears, so she squirmed from his arms and ran into the cave. “Kikyo!”

She looked up at the girl she thought was her sister, as she fell to her knees in front of her. “He's dead!” She wailed throwing herself into her arms. “He's dead, Tomi!”

Kagome held Kikyo and rocked her back and forth. Her hand smoothed over her hair as she held her. Tears burned in Kagome's eyes and trailed down her cheeks. This was all her fault! She had known that this would happen. She hadn't killed Onigumo, because Kikyo loved him, and she had grown to love Kikyo like a sister over the past three weeks. She hadn't killed the vile bandit, because Kikyo loved him, and it would hurt her if he died. Duh! He was going to make her think that he was dead anyway.

Kagome looked over when she felt the person standing next to her. Inuyasha knelt next to Kagome. Tears rolling from his gold eyes. He had hated Onigumo. The fucker had tried to cut of his ears, but to see his friend in such pain, hurt him greatly. His ears were pinned back and his face was sad. He whimpered softly, drawing Kikyo's attention from Kagome and to him.

Kikyo threw herself into her best friend's arms. Inuyasha held her as she cried. Kagome leaned against Kikyo's back and wrapped her arms around her. The three of them sat like that for about an hour in the burned out remains of Onigumo's cave.

“Come Kikyo. Lets go back to the village.” Inuyasha coaxed her. Her only response was to wrap her legs around his waist and wrap her arms around his neck tighter. Inuyasha stood up with Kikyo in his arms. “Come on, Tomi.” He called from the entrance to the cave.

Kagome ran to him. She was surprised when he grabbed her right hand with his left one. His right arm still around Kikyo's back. Kikyo continued to sob against Inuyasha as they moved back to the village. There was nothing he could do for Onigumo now.

*Later that Night…*

“It's all my fault.” Kikyo looked at Kagome as they sat inside the hut. Kaede was playing with the other children while Inuyasha sat on the roof of the hut.

Kagome frowned. “How is it your fault? Did you light the fire?”

“We had a fight last night, before the fire.”

`No. I thought you had it after the fire.' Kagome tilted her head to the side. “I'm sorry. It's always hard to know the last words you said to a loved one were said in anger.” Kagome thought of her parents when she said this. She had been six when her mom and dad had gotten in a fight. He had been having an affair with a Korean woman, and she found out about it. Needless to say, Kagome's mom told him to go run off to his whore and she hoped he didn't come back. He didn't. The plane had blown up over the water.

“He wanted to use the jewel to make himself better and I told him no. As much as I love Onigumo, his soul was so dark that it would taint the jewel, even if a pure wish was made on it for him.” Kikyo's voice shook as she spoke.

“Did you tell him that?”

Kikyo nodded and her face crumpled. “He…he…called me a bitch. And a selfish whore. He told me to get the fuck out of the cave. He didn't want me there, so I left. Before I left, I called him an unreasonable asshole. We had never fought like that before and he had never said anything like that to me ever. I also told him that a wish for someone as pure as Inuyasha would purify it.”

`Oh, for the love of…' Kagome couldn't believe that Kikyo would tell Onigumo something like that. How could she be so stupid? Of course she had yelled plenty of things at people in anger that she would rather them not know.

“I'm sorry, Kikyo.” Kagome knew that things were going to be a lot harder for Kikyo from here on out.

“Demons! Demons are attacking!”

Instantly, the two women were on their feet, grabbing their bows and arrows. They ran from the hut and stared at the huge mass of demons flying toward the village. Kagome ripped the jewel from Kikyo and ran toward the demons.

“Tomi?”

“What the hell are you doing, Tomi?” Inuyasha yelled.

“They want the jewel! We can't fight them in the village! There won't be one left!”

They followed Kagome to a clearing and the battle began. They fought the numerous demons. “I've never seen anything like this before.” Kikyo shot another arrow.

“Iron reaver, soul stealer! There's so fucking many of them.” Inuyasha slashed through another demon.

Kagome had seen this before. Several times. Naraku had to be behind this. Naturally he wouldn't be anywhere close.

“Kaede!” Kikyo spun and shot an arrow at the demon preparing to attack the girl. When the purifying arrow hit the demon, it exploded into pieces, just like several demons before had. But this time, a piece of the demon flew into Kaede's eye.

Blood poured from the girl's eye socket as her hand clamped over it. Kikyo glanced back at her sister as she continued to fight. Inuyasha attacked a demon and watched as a human healer ran to them. “Don't worry about her, Lady Kikyo. I will see to her aide.” The man lifted Kaede into his arms and ran.

Kagome spun to her right to shoot a demon with an arrow. Dead on! Damn she was good! She gaped and lowered her bow as she regarded the white baboon pointing the demons in their direction. He looked down at her, in a leering manner.

She reached to grab another arrow. When she looked back up, he was gone. Kagome had just missed another chance to kill him.

The fight continued the rest of the day. Dusk was rapidly approaching when the last demon fell. Kikyo instantly ran to check on Kaede, after getting the jewel back. Inuyasha glanced up at the sky warily, before he looked at his exhausted mate.

Kagome threw herself in his arms and he hugged her back. He pulled back a little and pressed his lips to hers. They broke the kiss and he lifted her into his arms and he sped her back to the hut she lived in with Kikyo and Kaede. He picked a small flower and tucked it behind her ear. His hands cupped her cheeks and he stared into his eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She smiled.

“I need you to do something for me, Tomi.” He was serious.

Her hands covered his. “What is it, Inuyasha?”

“Tonight, I have to leave. I'll be back at dawn. You'll be safe in the hut. Nothing will be able to get in to get you. Stay in here, Tomi. There is a lot of evil out lurking during the new moon. Stay here and stay safe.”

Oh. Tonight was the night of the new moon. That's why he's acting so uneasy. Well, so much more uneasy than he should be acting.

“Did you hear me?”

“Yeah. I promise that I'll stay here.”

“You better keep that promise, Tomi.” His voice was gruff as he looked at her one last time, before running off.

Inuyasha had never been big on words about his feelings. But things might have been different if he had known one thing. That those would be the last words he said to Tomi.