InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Existence ❯ Companion ( Chapter 7 )

Companion

It was just flash after flash. Sometimes the image would remain for a while and then

another would replace it. Other times it would zip right by and she didn't have a chance

to see what it was. But no matter what, she would always forget what the image was

after it disappeared. She would helplessly try to grab onto the image but it was beyond

her grasp. Picture after picture stirred up memories but simmered them down to

nothing after it was replaced by others. And throughout the whole time she was left

with the feeling of emptiness. The hole deep inside her would never fill up with

memories of her past and would always remain empty. She woke up with tears on her

face. A few drops had gathered at her lips and the salty bitterness brought along a

burden of sorrow. Kaede breathed deeply beside her, still asleep. The words from the

cloaked man came back to her.

"Naraku." she whispered to the dark, as if asking it to answer back.

There would be no sleep for her tonight and she felt restless. Her legs were aching to get

up and walk around. Kagome obeyed to the will of her legs and walked out of the hut

with her bow in her hand. The night air was refreshing and she breathed in everything,

the scent of old fires and the crispness of the woods. Without a thought she began to

walk randomly out of the village, Naraku still on her mind. She could feel an urgency in

the cloaked man's request. She knew it had to be done soon and without delay. Soon her

wandering legs took her to the place she least expected to get answers. He was awake

and his eyes were on her the second she walked into the dark clearing.

"So you come again." he said. His voice betrayed no emotion and it lacked it's normal

fire and anger. "But you won't get anything from me."

"I know." she said sadly. "Which is why I'm not asking."

"Oh?" his eyebrows lifted at her words. "So where do you think you'll get answers? That

old baba from the village? Or maybe that man from earlier? Why don't you just give it

up and accept your actions?"

"What actions?" she snapped, releasing the tension from within. "I can't remember

anything from my past, if I ever had one. No family, no friends, no home, no memories!

Nothing to connect me to this world except this....this face, which you seem to despise

with all your being!" Her voice which had grown almost to a shout died down to a

whisper as she touched her cheeks.

"No memories." she repeated.

She quickly turned away so she wouldn't have to see his expression at her outburst. She

let out a trembling sigh and closed her eyes.

"Can you keep a promise?" she asked him.

"From you? Never." the answer came quick and without thought.

"Please, Inuyasha." she whispered even quieter.

"What kind of promise?" he said after a long pause.

"If I let you go, don't kill me or anybody else in the village."

"You can free me?"

"I don't know, but will you promise?" she asked again.

"Fine." he spat, as if the word was poison. She turned around and slowly climbed up the

gnarled roots that created a hold on the hanyou's body. The arrow in his chest was old

but it would remain in the tree for an eternity, if it must. She gently grabbed onto it and

it disappeared underneath her fingers in little sparkles of magic. She quickly climbed

down and stroked the roots which slowly began to let go of the person it had trapped

for fifty years. There was a pulse of magic as Inuyasha began to feel his old strength

return and he began to laugh. Suddenly, Kagome was afraid that he wouldn't keep his

word as he jumped down, cracking his knuckles. He gave a grin and came close, deeply

breathing in her scents.

"I can smell it, your fear and your stubborness." he whispered in her ear, still breathing

in. "Don't worry, even hanyou's keep promises. But there are always loopholes."

She lifted her hands and softly placed them on his cheek. His eyes widened in surprise

and she gave a sad smile.

"I can feel it." she whispered to him.

"Feel what?" he asked, too surprised to wrench his face away.

"Your hate." she gave one last smile and slowly dropped her hands. She picked up her

fallen bow and turned, ready to walk towards wherever her feet would take her. To stay

here would mean time would take advantage.

"Wait." he called out. "Where are you going?"

"To my death. To my destiny. To Naraku." the word slid out like a serpent, venom-like

and ominous.

"Who are you?" Inuyasha said, puzzled. This Kagome was completely unlike the one he

had known fifty years ago. She was no longer playful and content but solemn and

serious, much like the Kikyo he knew.

"The image of the murderer you hate and the soul that does not remember the murder."

She swiftly moved through the forest and away from his questioning but he followed,

just as swift.

"Why are you following me?" she asked.

"You aren't Kagome." he admitted, still walking far off from her.

"No, I'm not."

He grabbed her hand and whirled around, carefully scrutinizing her eyes.

"Kikyo?" He said hopefully. She gave a blink then pried her fingers out of his hands

angrily.

"This will be the last time I ever say this. I am not Kikyo, I will never be Kikyo, and I

have never been this Kikyo. Hate me, loathe me, I don't care what you feel, just don't

ever feel that I am Kikyo because I am not." The burning sensation of rage

felt...satisfying and telling him exactly what her heart had been bursting to say felt even

better. She did not want to walk forever on this earth in the shadow of another woman,

especially one held in such high esteem by Inuyasha. Just thinking about it made her

experience an incredible sadness that she never knew she could feel. "Don't follow me,

you don't want to go where I am going." She added, and turned her back to him once

again. Inuyasha didn't stop her...but that did not mean he didn't follow.

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It had been a week since she had left the village. Various youkai had bothered her, but a

few aura covered arrows took care of them easily. However, throughout her journey,

she could feel someone following her. A youkai, to be sure, but not one with the usual

malevolence that other youkai held. It couldn't be Inuyasha, could it? She scoffed at the

idea. He hated her entirely, why would he want to follow someone he hated? But the

company would have been pleasant, she felt uncomfortable being alone. The only

positive thing that had happened so far was that she could feel tiny memories coming

back. Not ones that included pictures, but bits that told her what she was like. Such as

she didn't like being alone and she liked helping people. Not one village she had passed

had not been ravaged by youkai, and she usually spent several hours either killing them

off or helping the villagers rebuild a new life. She stopped in her tracks, looking towards

a mountain in the East. There was an immense amount of youkai energy coming from

there, angry and spiteful. She hurried her steps towards that mountain, hoping that she

could be there in time to save some people. After two hours of a walk that bordered on

to a jog she arrived at a fortress built of tall and strong logs. Masses of smoke filled the

sky but there was no youkai to be found, at least none alive. The fires had died down to

smoldering embers and demon bodies littered the ground beside smaller human ones.

Tears prickled her eyes as a compassionate heart went out for all these dead mortals.

There was a crack and Kagome whirled around to see a young woman with a huge

boomerang walk in. She froze and dropped her little bundle. Without even seeing the

miko, the woman began to run around to see if anybody was alive. She fell to her knees

upon seeing that every person had been slaughtered. Kagome hurried to the woman's

side.

"Are you alright?" She asked. The woman snapped her head to see Kagome. Tears and

ash stained the cheek of a woman who looked no older than the miko herself.

"Did you see the youkai who did it? Which way did they go?" The woman demanded,

already getting up and wiping her tears away. She unhooked the boomerang on her

back and thrust it on the ground.

"I arrived here just before you did. I felt the youkai but didn't see any of them...I will

help you bury them." Kagome said slowly.

"Iei, they are my family, the duty should go to me." The woman took another swipe at

her eyes but they kept falling down on their own. "I knew this would happen...Naraku,

that bastard!!!" She shrieked, taking her boomerang and hitting the earth with a large

crack. Rocks and dirt flew and when the dust cleared it revealed a deep hole from the

weapon. The woman fell again to begin sobbing uncontrollably and Kagome enveloped

her into a sisterly hug. She cried out her grief till every teardrop of sorrow had poured

out from tired eyes. When she was done she gently pulled away but still sat on the

ground.

"Nobody should have this duty alone." Kagome said sternly. "I will help as much as I

can."

The woman looked like she was going to argue but gave a dejected sigh and nodded her

head. Kagome stood up and pulled the other woman up as well. The began to silently

dig graves for dozens of people. As for the bodies of the demons, Kagome touched them

and they purified into particles of powder. Night fell and the two women camped out in

a house that hadn't been burnt like the others.

"I'm sorry, I never asked for your name. I'm Sango, Taijiya Sango." She gave a forced

smile but it wobbled on the edges. She poured tea for them both into hand painted

cups.

"I am Kagome. I have no last name because I don't remember it." The miko said

truthfully, though a little ashamed that she had no family name to offer.

"You don't have any family?" Sango said with slightly wide eyes.

"I-I don't have any memories of my life." Kagome smiled apologetically and sipped the

hot tea in her hands. "If I could, I would give you a story of my life but unfortunately, I

can't remember. But earlier, you called out Naraku, how do you know him?" Kagome

leaned towards Sango in interest, hoping she might find out more about her destiny.

"It all stems from the Shikon no Tama. Stories say that the high gods gave the jewel to a

powerful priestess but she turned it evil because of dark intentions in her heart. In

return, the jewel poisoned her mind further till she no longer was the pure priestess she

was. Rumour has it that something happened between a hanyou that had fallen in love

with the priestess and a local village girl who looked like the priestess's twin. Nobody

knows what happens because nobody saw it, they only found the bodies afterwards.

The hanyou was trapped on a tree with an arrow and the priestess was found lying dead

near him. The village girl's body was never found though there was enough blood to

indicate she was there. The Shikon disappeared and fifty years passed by. Though, as I

was passing a village before...before coming here, I heard them talk about youkai

activity going up and that the hanyou had awoken. Kagome, what's wrong?" Sango asked

worriedly. The miko's eyes looked distant as she thought about what Sango had just

said. *The hanyou, it has to be Inuyasha. The priestess....was it that Kikyo? And what

about the village girl?* Kagome shook herself out of the daze she was in.

"I'm sorry Sango, I was just thinking. Please, continue."

"It was said that Naraku desired the Shikon but couldn't touch it because of how pure it

was in the priestess's hands. So he wove a spell of evil intent so that the jewel could

become tainted with hate. However, since the jewel ended up disappearing, his plans

were foiled. People didn't hear of him anymore until just a few years ago. Youkai started

appearing in hundreds, most of them killing masses of humans. Which was why my

village was created, the village of youkai exterminators. We had heard of him, but since

he had not appeared for decades, we didn't regard him as much of a threat. Now," Sango

gave a sigh. "Now word of his return is on the lips of every youkai we had exterminated.

Warnings and threats that the age of humans is over and that it is now the youkai's time

to rule with Naraku as their king. We should have listened!" Sango slammed her hand on

the wooden table before her. "We should have at least been more cautious and more

alert! But we didn't....and look what happened. Me...the last survivor of the famed

exterminator clan." Her eyes glistened in the candlelight but no tears fell. "Now, there is

only one thing I can do. Track down this Naraku and destroy him before his plans start.

It's the only thing I can do...for my family and friends."

Kagome reached over the table and took Sango's hand.

"I will help. No, don't argue, I have my own reasons as well. My plans lie with Naraku

and it was where I was going before I came here. But at least now I can have a

companion for the road?" Kagome waited for Sango to accept or decline. Sango gripped

Kagome's hand tightly and gave a warm smile.

"Companions."

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