InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Condition of the Souls ❯ Kagome's Purpose and Possibilities ( Chapter 1 )

Name of fic: Condition of the Souls

Genre: Action/Adventure/ Romance (with some time travel, suspense and humor!)

Rating: PG-13 due to language and the fights

Description: Naraku is trying to destroy humanity by messing with time and creating more SnT. Being special souls, Kagome+IY'll use info from IY's father, Inutaisho, to coordinate different time period's attacks to defeat Naraku. Please R+R!

 

A/N- I don't own Inuyasha, although I would have lots of money if I did… Besides if I owned it, this would not be fanfiction!

 

 

BIG A/N: All italics denote internal thoughts. Japanese words in plural will not have the letter “s” on the end, like youkais, hanyous, mikos… In Japanese, there is no plural and although I am writing this in English, I will follow the original.[Author ID1: at Tue Nov 21 23:57:00 2006 ]

 

I have no beta, so give me a break about a few typos- just tell me about them and I'll change them. (I originally wrote the first five chapters in first person, so please forgive me! It's hard to find them all due to top-down processing in reading and editing my work, but I am trying.)

Condition of the Souls

 

Pt 1: Kagome's Purpose and Possibilities

“`Since I am possible…then all is possible.'

Data considered this a moment. `Are you saying that you are the keeper of time and protect it from trespass…but since every man's fate is in his own hands, you really cannot protect it from those who wish to affect it.' …

`In every moment of time that there is…then I am there. As you exist within all the moments of your lifetime. But you exist in the individual moments. I exist in all.'”- Peter David's Imzadi, page 11.

 

Seeing the life around him continue without ceasing, there is nothing for him to do but to watch, to protect and to wait. His power may be forgotten by those around him, but it is no matter, not to him. They choose to see what they wish to see and forget that for which they have no use. Another spring, another year, and another age of lonely silence passes. These measures of time have no meaning for him; time periods seem to melt into each other.

 

The Goshinboku watches over the small shrine with fondness. This is his family, for the moment. The young woman, Kagome, travels back in time and where he can still watch over her. “She is more special than she knows and her journey is only beginning. She sits under the shelter of my branches and wonders about Inuyasha, that young hanyou that was sealed to me so many years ago.” And yet, all that time seems to be but an instant to the wise tree.

 

“Some people call me the God tree and in my heart, I laugh at that. I am not a god or God. I do exist in many different times and in moments that belong to many others. Still, very few know me for what I truly am, a time tree. Kikyo knows me as I am, but ironically Kikyo is now as I am but is also completely unlike me. She is out of time; she is an oddity. On the other hand, I am in time; I partially help to define it simply by my presence. After all, that is my job. If Kikyo was still alive, I would think that it was her job to complete this task. Now Kikyo is incapable of helping me, not only because of her state of mind, but also because she does not belong on this Earth any longer. No, now is Kagome's time to step out and complete her mission.” He stops musing for a moment to watch Kagome run to the well house with a heavy bag on her back. As she disappears from sight, he continues to muse. “Yes, soon enough, Kagome, you will know of me and your destiny. You will also know more than you ever wanted to know.”

(break)

 

Kagome has grown in mind, body and spirit in the years that she has spent traveling between the two times. She has found ways to juggle all of her responsibilities and has managed to graduate from high school with honors. Her mental and emotional maturity increase with every day that passes; Kagome is growing up.

 

Kagome, now eighteen years old, climbs out of the well in dark blue jeans and a v-neck green t-shirt. She pulls her bag over the ledge and places it on the ground beside her. She sits for a moment to rest and think before returning to the village. Three years ago I came here for the first time and it was then that I met Inuyasha. Granted some things have changed, but the more that things change, the more that they seem to stay exactly the same. She yanks on her French braid in thought.

 

As the bright sun shines down on her, she wistfully smiles. Even worse, I am still not done collecting the Shikon no Kakera after three long years of work. Although we feel and hope that the final fight with Naraku is drawing ever closer, I am not ready for this journey to end. After the final battle, I will leave this time and will probably never be able to come back. I will be forced to say goodbye to everyone, even Inuyasha. At least we can all be together for now.

 

She stands up, picks up her heavy bag. Instead of finding herself in Kaede's village, she begins to wander aimlessly. She soon finds herself standing next to the Goshinboku for no particular reason. As she looks up at the huge branches, she thinks about how huge the tree seems even compared to the one in her own time. The Goshinboku has always protected me and watched over me. It is here that I met Inuyasha; it is here that he was imprisoned. She lightly reaches out her hand and lays it on the tree, below the mark of where Inuyasha had once been sealed. The tree feels warm to her hand, but she remembers that she always feels that warmth when she touches the tree, even in the coldest part of winter. With tenderness, she smiles to herself. This tree has always been a source of comfort for me. I could almost call you Goshinboku-jii-chan…

 

Suddenly, she feels a bit of energy come off the tree to warm her hand. Quickly, she pulls her hand away and stares at the tree with a look of complete disbelief and confusion on her face. Gentle tendrils of thought begin to enter her mind, yet she finds herself strangely unafraid. Oh my gosh, if this is real, that means that the Goshinboku is talking to me. Trees do not talk, Kagome, right? Well maybe they can or maybe I am hallucinating…

 

The tree projects, “Of course I can talk, so please listen. I admit that it is wonderful to converse with someone again. Few people know how to talk like this. I guess you can call it a form of telepathy. Oh well, dear Kagome, I have been watching you all of your life as you have grown up. You will scoff at me when I tell you this: you have a great task ahead of you.”

As predicted, she scoffs at his pronouncement. “I travel though time to protect the Shikon no Tama, but I knew that before. ”

“Well yes, that is true, but it is only the beginning. You have an old soul, Kagome. Your soul exemplifies the human condition; that is why you have such strong miko powers and that is also one of the reasons that you have the ability to purify the Shikon no Tama. Not only must you protect the jewel in the Sengoku Jidai, but you must also protect it throughout time. Only certain people can travel through time.”

 

Her eyes are completely wide open as she stares at the tree in disbelief. “It is my duty to protect the jewel by traveling through time. How can that be true when I must use a Shikon no Kakera to travel through time?”

 

“Some people might be able to use a Shikon no Kakera to travel through time if they train hard, but you, Kagome, you do not need a Shikon no Kakera to travel through time if you learn how to harness your powers. We are lucky that your training began with Kaede a couple of years ago. How do you know for sure that you cannot travel through time without a shard; you haven't tried that since you were 15, have you?” She agrees that she has not and allows the tree to continue.

 

Gently, but urgently, the tree continues. “You may know that I am a time tree, but that is why I need your help. The timeline has been, is being and will be disrupted. Your time and this time are being targeted the most but naturally it will affect the other time periods. You see, the youkai have found another time tree and are building portals so that they can wreak havoc on time and on the evolution of humanity. To be more accurate, they wish to destroy humanity. In order to accomplish this objective, the youkai will try and come after you in order to create another Shikon no Tama and thwart any of your efforts to stop them. They already know of your powers and capabilities, even if you do not. You can stop them and set the time line straight, with the help of your friends. That is why I need your help.”

 

Shock and anxiety cover her face as she begins to shiver slightly. Shaking her head and sighing, she manages to speak. “So why me? Why am I the one?”

 

The tree hesitates for a moment before answering. Lowering the volume in her head, he gently explains, “This task was prepared for you before you were born, Kagome. Obviously, it will not be an easy task.” His tone becomes warmer and more gently proud. “You may or may not believe me, but this is why you were pulled back into this time in the first place. What happened with the centipede demon was no fluke. I wanted to explain all of this sooner, but I could not tell you until you turned 18. You were not ready to bear this burden, nor did you have enough related training.”

 

Kagome's shock turns to cold fear and she turns away from the tree and places her bag on the ground and sits beside it. “Kaede-baa-chan has been training me, but I've never done anything close to what you are describing. I think that you have the wrong person. Please choose someone more talented and more worthy than I to complete this task. I can't do this. I just can't.”

 

To reassure her, he remarks, “You do have the power and you can succeed, only you doubt yourself. Fear is the opposite of faith, Kagome. Don't allow fear to keep you from your appointed path and mission.” The warmth in his tone calms the edge of her fears, but nevertheless, the enormity of the task daunts her. Kagome turns to face the tree and shakes her head in doubt. The tree continues to encourage her, “Don't worry; you will not be alone and you will receive special training. You must go and find those who have special souls like you or those whose souls were for some reason changed. Those are the ones who will be able to travel through time with you. For example, your friend, Inuyasha was bound to me, but not by mistake. Kikyo only meant to seal him forever; that was her reasoning. Still, those actions allow him to travel through the well. The combination of her binding spell and my magic changed him; the power seeped into his soul over that 50 year period.”

 

Meanwhile, Kagome's friends have been wondering where she is, so they come looking for her. Inuyasha quickly picks up her scent and leads them to Goshinboku. When he arrives with the others on his heels, Inuyasha walks behind to her as she stares silently at the tree with her bag sitting on the ground beside her. Since Kagome appears to be acting strangely, Inuyasha and the others try to break her out of the trance. At that moment, the Goshinboku begins to speak directly into their minds, just as he is doing with the young miko. Although they are all frozen by their varying degrees of disbelief, they listen to the explanation that Kagome just received.

 

A few moments after hearing the brief explanation of their task, Miroku scratches his chin and asks, “Goshinboku-sama, what about Naraku? Why are you telling us this now when we seem so close to destroying him for good?”

 

The tree sighs. “Naraku is partially behind this whole plot. Besides, he has already had a bit of success. You still do not know where he is hiding; he disappeared and you cannot find him. I felt the disturbance in the time-space continuum and knew that he had traveled to a different time. It was not the time to tell you, but please forgive me for my silence. Now Naraku is able to come back with the shards that he finds in other times. Unfortunately, he's clever and has made some temporal allies. Unfortunately, he has spread beyond this time and your own, Kagome. That is why Kagome and Inuyasha must travel through time and find more allies.”

 

Kagome thinks about this proposal for a moment but then objects. “But wouldn't we mess up the timeline and cause unwanted negative effects to the future? I have heard that we could endanger our own existence by changing the past.”

 

The tree gently answers. “The timeline has already been disturbed. You will be protecting it along with your own lives.”

 

Shippo softly asks, “Can I travel through time with them?”

 

“I don't think that you can, at least not as you are. If something changed then you might be able to. That also applies to you two, Miroku and Sango. Shippo, take heart- you will be able to help me in the future, because you are youkai and will live a long time. In the future you can continue to help us- you, Kirara and Sesshoumaru.”

 

Everyone balks at the mention of Inuyasha's older half-brother. “Keh, tree, Sesshoumaru won't help you,” Inuyasha informs the Goshinboku.

 

“Maybe not, but he will have good reasons to help us. He will not want the other youkai getting enough power to kill him or take over his Western Lands. I have already called out for him, so if he remembers any of his training, he will be here soon.”

 

As if he had been called at that moment, Sesshoumaru regally walks up to the group. He ignores everyone but the tree. With a completely straight face, he begins to communicate with the tree. “Goshinboku, why did you call me here? What business do you have with me, the Great Lord of the Western Lands?”

 

“Sesshoumaru, I am flattered that you still remember me and listen to me. I remember when you were a little pup playing my branches.” Sesshoumaru gives the tree a death stare. “I won't talk about that. Did you hear what I told you when I called you?”

 

“I did; that is why I bothered to come at all. What do you wish of me?”

 

“I wish for you to help me and join the little, motley crew that will put everything back as it should be. I'm sure that I don't need to remind you how horrible it will be if these youkai manage to obtain a great deal of power. I don't need to mention that they might be able to destroy you and/or take your lands.”

 

Sesshoumaru nods. “No, you need not remind me. I will help you, just as long as you remember that I am not doing it for you.” He glances at Inuyasha with disgust. “Is the hanyou involved?”

 

“Yes, he is one of the most important members of the team since he is one of the only ones who can travel through time.”

 

“Fine.” With an unreadable look on his face, Sesshoumaru elegantly turns to the hanyou. “Inuyasha, I promise not to try and kill you during this crisis. I suspect that you still possess enough manners to reciprocate. Evidently, both of us are required. This is not the best of all possible choices but it appears to have become unfortunately necessary.”

 

The tree sighs. “Your father would not want you two to fight at all. Inutaisho-sama is not going to be pleased when Inuyasha tells him that you have been trying to kill him. Regardless, thank you Sesshoumaru for standing with us; your strength will be a great asset. You will all soon see how necessary each of you is to this fight.”

 

Inuyasha sputters and stares. “Hold on, dammit- What about my father?”

 

“Oh, Inutaisho-sama has a special soul as well. He exemplifies the original youkai condition. Inuyasha, you and Kagome will go back in time and receive help from Inutaisho-sama. That should probably be your first trip. He can give you a good bit of background for what you need to know. He saw some of the future in a vision; that was one of the other reasons for the creation of Tessaiga and Tenseiga.” Everyone begins to voice their many questions, but the tree refuses to answer. “No, that is enough for you to know for now.”

 

(break)

 

Yep, that's all for now. Please review and tell me what you think. Alright, you can check out my other strange fic if you want- that'd be greatly appreciated!