InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Choice of Destiny ❯ Can't Change It Back ( Chapter 12 )

Inuyasha: Not mine, theirs.

Choice of Destiny: Not theirs, mine.

Choice of Destiny

By angelwings1

Chapter 12 ~ Can't Change It Back

Destiny walked into the clearing just as the time traveler disappeared into the pit. Automatically, the child pressed her fingers to her lips, "Shhhh."

Before her finger dropped from her face, her wall of energy damned the entire time flow to a stop.

She walked silent across the grass, her sight fixed on the stone circle. She passed the small crowd, their eyes blinded to her passing presence. Upon reaching the lip of the well, the child pulled herself over the top and peeked her head over the stone lip.

Destiny smiled when she saw the time traveler was frozen between times, her body already halfway into the future. Looking over her shoulder the child studied her handiwork.

Destiny smiled sadly, shaking her head, "You still wouldn't decide."

"You're still willing to make him happy over your own happiness. Your heart is too pure to do anything less."

Destiny crawled onto the stone top, staring down at the beautiful young woman, "The Shikon Jewel is a powerful source and not even I can undo such a wish, especially, a wish so strong as this one.

"Naraku was correct when he said that only harmful wishes spill out of the jewel when it is dark with malice. But, you, Higurashi, are pure and your wish is pure. Only someone who has a spirit of Four Souls is able to use the jewel properly.

"Courage.

"Wisdom.

"Friendship.

"Love.

"You should remember the story Sango gave all of you four years ago when she brought you to her village to explain the origins of the jewel.

"Did you remember the miko within the cave, her chest void of its heart? Remember, the jewel is most powerful when the possessor holds the qualities of courage, friendship, wisdom, and love.

"Dear, little Higurashi.

"Courageous when you went against Naraku alone . . .

"Wise when you fought with purity and not arrows . . .

"Held friendship when you put yourself before others . . .

Destiny's smile became joyful, "Love when you sacrificed your wish and life, for him . . ."

Bowing her head, the child did something that was not meant for a supernatural being. She began to cry.

Destiny didn't feel the wetness slipping down her cheeks, or the shudder in her throat, "You have given up so much, and few see it, especially him.

"If I could I would not let you throw away your happiness, let you disappear down into the portal, but the jewel is stronger than I. There is no way to bend its will."

Emerald eyes trailed over the hill, finding the hanyou. One of his feet was half-raised in hesitant advancement towards the Bone Eater's well. The tiny supernatural creature bit her lower lip, "He would watch you go."

Shaking her head in defeat she hopped off the stone, "Unfortunately I cannot intervene in this wish, only press it forward."

Her steps were light, passing through the unmoving air. The wisps of time trailed through her fingers, strapping down the stone audience.

Destiny stared up at the dog demon, and shortly then, towards the dead priestess.

Kikyo . . . a woman who, at an early age, took the positions as priestess in her village and segregate mother to her younger sister. Often perceived as a goddess by her townsmen, the priestess was given high praise.

She was beautiful.

Kind, sincere . . .

Alone . . .

She was on a pedestal they would never hope to climb Kikyo somberly watched them live separated from her. At first, she had been able to bear the empty solitude, but soon a nagging need for love crept into her heart, pleading.

She had to ignore the mortal lust for years, but she had come of age when woman were already bearing their first child. Men showered her with complements, some even offered her gifts, but they saw her as a priestess, a goddess, a being they could never equal.

When actually she was an ordinary human.

Inuyasha was the first who saw her as a regular person. His eyes mistook her for someone who would reject a hanyou.

He had expected her to kill him. When she denied him death, he was perplexed. He tried again and again to steal the jewel each time falling prey to her attacks, but never given death. If he could not have the jewel, his last chance at happiness, then he wanted her to kill him.

Fate would not allow it.

He was drawn to her because she did not follow the ways of humans.

She was drawn to him because he did not see her as a goddess.

They could see more than the outer layers and that's what led them to each other.

Together they proceeded with side by side hoping to fill their curiosity.

Kikyo easily fell for the hanyou. She had been waiting for someone to see beyond her title, and he had been the first. For a while, she was wary of growing near a demon, but her deep desire for a friendship love would not be silent. If he would accept her, then she would give him her heart.

Inuyasha was lost in his own confusion. When did a human accept a hanyou?

Fascinated by the woman's insane behavior, the demon kept close to her. It wasn't long before his fascination became more.

They saw each other as more than human and hanyou, more than friends. However, their hearts were weak, open to any attack that might be forged by the fates.

And, sadly, the fates have some sick belief in love . . .

Naraku appeared tearing their relationship at the seams. Broken at their weakest link, the two turned on one another, suddenly realizing their hopes were too well dreamed. From there the story unraveled.

When Kikyo returned to life, her heart was bitter, filled with hate for her lack of happiness in life. She attacked the focus of her downfall, Naraku and Inuyasha. She rejected her life, fed up with her empty past life.

She was misled into burning hate during her dead walk into rebirth. She was bitter towards Inuyasha and turned to aid the one who had destroyed her life.

Inuyasha had another woman by his side, and she was furious that he had ever found someone, so fast, to replace her.

She turned to Naraku, eager to get revenge on both men for ruining everything.

Destiny shook her head, pressing a tiny palm over the hanyou's heart, "You have lived a long sad life, Inuyasha, a life I know from beginning to present.

"Now the jewel has been bestowed upon you through the power of a wish ready to fulfill your greatest desire."

She stared hard at his stone expression.

"So, Inuyasha, what will make you happy?"

Destiny's emerald slid close, a light consuming her small hand. It didn't take long for the young being to read the demon's heart.

Her eyes snapped open, wide with surprise. She gaped and stared up at the golden orbs that looked passed her shoulder.

"You love her" she trembled, "Your entire soul is dedicated to her. I don't understand this."

Tears slipped from her eyes, "You're a lucky woman, Higurashi."

Kagome.

He had fallen for her from the moment they met. Was it fate's way of reuniting two mates? Or was it bringing two new loves together?

Inuyasha would always feel responsible for Kikyo's death. She had been the first he had ever fallen for. She had been the love of a youth's.

Even though Inuyasha was several decades old, he was by demon years still a young teenage boy when he first met her. He had never known love aside from his mother, and when he found a small bit in a single woman, why wouldn't he fall for her?

A boy in a man's body . . .

A woman with a girl's heart . . .

And then a girl with the soul of a woman . . .

The three of them were a jumble of emotions, blindly sorting out their directions in life.

Fate had actually done the right thing for a change.

Reincarnation was meant to bring to life a person who had yet to reach Heaven. You had to be pure of heart to reach heaven, and Kikyo had failed the moment her heart became bitter towards Inuyasha. Fate waited for the right moment and gave birth to the small Kagome, her heart becoming her own upon first breath. She was not Kikyo, but she was still a second chance.

A second chance at what?

Was she brought here to balance the world of evil and good? Or was she the only being who could stop a monster from wrecking the future?

No, fate is not so cruel.

When Kagome Higurashi first arrived in the Feudal Era, she was a girl who had no direction in life. She was lost in the immaturity of her peers, trying to find the ultimate purpose for herself. She had known since high school that she was not like the other students. She could sense fate was playing through her life, bringing her to some climaxing destiny. It had nagged at her for years, piercing her every moment with some thought of an unseen purpose.

When she had first laid eyes on the Feudal Era, she realized her mysterious destiny would be found there.

She didn't realize at first that she was the reincarnation of a beautiful priestess.

Or that she was a powerful miko.

Or that she would fall in love.

But she knew when her feet touched the solid earth outside her well that she was in for the biggest experience of her life.

She came in contact with a boy's heart that was bitter and confuse. Even though her temper was tested by his rude behavior, she unknowingly opened herself to him. Together they found a common goal, and sought each other's strengths to succeed. Even with them using the other for the retrieval of the jewel, they began to set themselves up as partners, even close friends.

They never noticed their hearts crawling closer together, until it was too late.

Inuyasha had never understood love when he met Kikyo, and neither did she. They knew what it was suppose to be like, but they had none for each other. They forced it in every way they could, but it was too unnatural, too artificial.

With Kagome it was pure, even holy.

Inuyasha cared for Kikyo, but it was not love. He was bounded to her through respect and loyalty, even pity for her never having her own love. However, love can never be so forced.

He even after her death, he tried to push himself closer to Kikyo, refusing to believe his time with her long ago had been only a vain dream. He was too stubborn and proud to let the memories blow away like dust.

But he was wrong.

Their relationship had lacked that piece that would make their love true.

Love was unconditional.

He and Kikyo had placed pillars between themselves, saying if 'you love me you would understand.'

'If you love me, then become human.'

'If you love me, then you will help me become demon.'

'If you love me, you will come to Hell.'

'If you love me, you will help me stop Naraku.'

As he traveled with Kagome in the last four years, he had begun to mature in spirit. Though still a stubborn child at heart, the man began to understand what true love was.

True love . . .

It was acceptance.

"It's time to fulfill that wish!" Destiny grinned widely, pulling her hand away and fading from sight. In a rolling turbulence, the damn collapsed and the flood banks opened.

Kagome's words whispered over the field in a fading echo, "Be happy."

All of time came back to a start, whirling into a wild tornado of motion.

"KAGOME!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The young boy raced across the paved courtyard, garden tool in hand, "Grandfather, I got it."

An aged man smiled broadly as he stood in the afternoon sun, "Good, Souta. Now hurry up, we need to get this garden started, before the sun goes down."

Together the two relatives broke into the patch of dirt at the corner of their shrine. The air was warm, summer brewing on the edge of tomorrow. The metal ran through the rich soil dragging open several long trenches.

"Do you think she'll stay the entire summer over there?" the boy mumbled quietly, watching his elder doing the hard work.

Already sweat was rolling down his old body, "That's what she said didn't she?"

The young preteen pushed a loose piece of pavement with the toe of his shoe, "Well, yes, but I was hoping to go to the park with her. Hang out and stuff. Ever since she's been to the Feudal Era, she doesn't spend as much time with me anymore."

"Well, she is in college, Souta" the man shrugged, irritably tired from the heavy strain on his arms and back, "She's grown up and begun to move into her own life. You need to understand your sister won't be around as often, but she did promise to return before her next semester. Perhaps you can ask her to go to the park before her classes begin."

"Maybe" he shrugged.

A clang resonated from the metal tool interrupting the conversation. The men's eyes fell as the elder nudged a small pile across the ground.

"What's this?" the grandfather hunched over and with a wrinkled hand wiped away the layers of dirt. A small, beat up stone box appeared from under the mess. Carefully the priest lifted the container, noticing their family name engraved into the lid. The metal hinges squeaked as the two men opened the stone box, anxiety growing with each moment.

There, sitting wrinkled and aged like the grandfather priest, was a yellow piece of folded paper. Since his relative had both hands full with the box and garden tool, Souta pulled out the parchment and read aloud the scribbled Japanese.

"Dear family,

I wish I could be there when I told you my sad news, but unfortunately I was never meant to return to the present. I have recently killed Naraku and finally completed the Shikon Jewel. I was granted my wish, but I did not think it would turn out this way.

I asked for Inuyasha to be happy. As a result Kikyo had been sent back to Hell and to peace, along with myself contained back in the past to stay at Inuyasha's side.

Although this was my dream, to be with him, I have sadly been taken away from you. The well is sealed and I have no way to return. I desperately wanted to contact you and could only think about burying a letter where you would be preparing the new garden.

I wish I could say I would one day return, but I don't think I'll ever find my way home, again.

I'm sorry.

Grandfather, please remember to take your medicine. Don't push all of the shrine's merchandise on the neighbors.

Mom, try not to baby Souta; he's becoming a big boy. Also, can you cancel my scholarships for the fall? I don't think I'll be returning to the university.

Souta, I'm sorry I couldn't hang out with you. I'm sure you wanted to go to the lake and canoe, or something. Remember to mind grandpa.

I love you all. I will never forget you, for I already miss you far too much.

How can one just pick up everything and leave? It's impossible to even consider, but here I am blocked from ever returning.

I cannot say I am completely sad, though.

In a way I guess this was foreseen. As we know I only had a few years left of college, before I took a position as a historian. I would have gotten married and had children (if I ever got over Inuyasha). I would have probably moved away.

It's just now I'm doing it a lot sooner.

I promise to stay in contact. I'll continue to write to you and leave messages throughout this spot.

Maybe you'll see me in the history books.

With Love,

Kagome Higurashi

The letter stretched in the boy's clenched hands, his cry for his mother bellowing throughout the courtyard. Flower blossom spiraled down from the God tree in silent tears as two men raced towards the young lady that was hurrying out of the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome bowed her head, words racing through her mind. It was almost a week since that day, when Kikyo had disappeared to Hell.

The young time traveler closed her eyes whispering a soundless prayer over the fresh mound.

'I love you.'

She bit her trembling lip as tears sunk into the naked earth. She did not regret her decision. It had been a painful scene to watch as the priestess had disappeared into the fiery pits, but she and Kikyo realized how right the fates had played out. There was no regret between the two when they knew this would make him happy. It had been, also, plain to Kagome that sad consequences would follow no matter what time period she would choose.

Both were homes, but she could not stay at both.

"Do you miss them?" he spoke soft, a tinge of fear in his tone.

She smiled with her head still bow and eyes still closed, "Yes."

She could imagine him flinching behind her, "Do you regret being here?"

Chocolate eyes opened, staring down at the funeral mound. In a graceful, proud pull the miko stood and faced the hanyou.

Her sights trailed up his fire rat robes, over his rosary, and stopped on his vulnerable amber eyes. His selfish wish had taken her away from her blood family, a foundation he wished to remember.

"No, I don't regret it?" she answered easily, staring straight at him.

He searched the deep pit of her eyes. Where was the doubt and regret? Even with the rain of tears pouring from her glistening jeweled eyes, he saw a warm twinkle of the reaction completely opposite of what he expected.

"How can you not regret leaving behind your family?" his voice grew loud, and frustrated, "How can you just be happy that everything you grew up around is gone?"

Kagome walked towards the scowling hanyou and nervously took his hand. His hand twitched in her grip, surprised by her boldness.

She held his hand, and unconsciously ran her thumb over the bruised knuckles. Holding the demon's hand was a tender awkward. Neither of them had an easy time showing their affection, especially him, but right there standing just a few yards away from the tree where they first met, it was the precise time to take his hand.

Kagome was uncomfortable with the foreign touch, but she was ready to open up.

Their inner desires had been unraveled, revealed upon the hill. Years of their youth were undone, spelled out word for word what their life had added up to.

Destiny had literally whispered into their ears and explained everything.

Now it was their destiny to continue where they left off.

"It hard to say goodbye" she admitted still staring at his rough hand, "but I was going to leave them one day."

"But you won't see them again" he insisted, desperate. He just couldn't accept her answer.

"Maybe" she mumbled, "And maybe I will see them again."

Her sight switched to his eyes, looking at the confusion in his heart.

"But that doesn't matter to me right now, Inuyasha" she confessed, "I'm here now and I can't change where I am. I, honestly, wouldn't have been completely happy, anyway, if I had made it to the present, and was locked away from this time."

Instantly at her words, a flame burst into his chest.

Her smile widened, "Remember, Inuyasha this is what I wanted to happen. I'm happier here than I ever would be in the future."

Before he could react, she released his hand and headed back to Kaede's village. He stared at the sunlight glancing off her crown. A smirk drug onto his face and he quickly caught up with her, his stride matching hers.

"I still don't understand why?" he urged, mischief dancing in his tone.

She smiled up at him, "Well, I have plenty of time to explain it to you."

They would take it slow through this new, frightening position. They didn't have to rush into this. Understanding your feelings and acting on those understandings were two different things.

Give it time.

Destiny grinned from her seat in the grass. Her melodic laugh danced through clearing between the God tree and the Bone Eater's well. Everything had worked out as plan, and she had barely played a part in the story.

Her eyes grew soft seeing the two lovebirds fading off. With a small hand she reached up and untied the scarf that crossed her brow. Smiling into the warmth of the sun she shook her head and led her glossy black hair into a dance.

The summer looked promising.

Surprisingly two dark triangles fluttered from the girl's head. Her white-rimmed demon ears swiveled towards the direction of the village hearing the sounds of warm, happy voices.

"Can't wait to see you in the future" the child echoed to her parents as her body gradually disappeared from sight.

For now, the couple had all the time in the world before they ever met her again.

The End?