InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten ❯ Tetsusaiga: Take Care, Kirara ( Chapter 32 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru, Inuyasha or anyone else from the hit anime/manga series. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's and plot in this story.

 

Part 4: Take Care, Kirara

 

Living world…

One month later…

 

Inuyasha stood on the edge of a mountain meadow. Two little girls were picking flowers and weaving necklaces with them there. He hated himself right then but he didn't have a choice. He and Kirara had recovered from the attack but Inuyasha had been unable to slip into the spirit border since his encounter with Satan. The burn on his hand had healed but a black line had appeared on his palm where he had held the thread binding his father to him. Every time he looked at it a cold dread passed through him, though he didn't know why.

 

Kirara had taken the longest to recover and Inuyasha had cursed himself for his impulsiveness. If he hadn't gone looking for reassurance like a scared little child he wouldn't have been weakened when Kuromakaze arrived. He could have fought harder and protected the twin-tale better. He couldn't stand the thought of Kirara dying. He wanted Kuromakaze to chase him but he feared if Kirara remained she would become Kuromakaze's next victim. He had to separate her from him, permanently.

 

Kirara remained unaware of his intensions. Though, she had to be wondering what he was doing out here, her trust and loyalty to him were absolute. Another reason why he hated himself, he was about to betray that trust. He stroked Kirara while quietly casting a spell of confusion. He focused it on everything that concerned him as well as Tenji's location. He knew she wouldn't accept the separation; the spell was to make it impossible for her to track him or find her way back to Tenji. He blurred her knowledge of Tenji because she would go there, after she realized he was gone, looking for answers. Someone would recognize the confusion spell he cast and remove it. Then she would be off to find him again. He didn't want that.

 

Earlier that morning, Inuyasha had suppressed his demon energy and now walked as a human. He knew he needed to train up his human body after that disaster in the village, so he was forcing himself to live as a human for the time being. All the girls saw approaching them was a simple samurai.

 

The two stopped picking flowers and stared at him, unnerved. He didn't blame them. Outside of Tenji, a strange man approaching girls who were by themselves many times resulted in terrible things happening to the girls.

 

“Go, Kirara,” he said and gestured with his chin. The twin-tale mewed then jumped down and ran toward the girls. Kirara stopped before them and then did her best to look cute and harmless. The girls immediately dropped their flowers and picked up the twin-tale to pet and cuddle. Inuyasha stepped closer then knelt down to be at their level.

 

“Is she your kitty, sir?” asked the oldest.

 

Inuyasha smiled and replied, “Actually, she was my late wife's best friend and comrade-in-arms. Her name is Kirara.”

 

“Your late wife? I'm sorry, sir!” said the oldest.

 

“Comrade-in-arms?” asked the youngest at the same time. The oldest glared at her sister.

 

“It's alright and yes, comrade-in-arms,” replied Inuyasha to both of them with a smile. “You see Kirara may be all cute and small now but if danger threatened she would quickly transform into a ferocious beast that can fight and defend the people she cares about. My life has been saved by her several times; I'm truly grateful to her. However, the last battle we were in was quite terrible and I want to give her some time to just have fun. You girls seem to be the perfect choice for that.”

 

“Really?” the two said. “Let's go play, Kirara!” The two girls ran off with the twin-tale to find a more suitable game to play with Kirara. Inuyasha looked after her in sadness. As soon as she lost awareness of him the spell would activate. He needed to be gone from this place before the girls came back at the end of their game.

 

“You'll be fine, Kirara,” he whispered to the air as a tear slid down his cheek. “You've always been good at making friends and can take care of yourself.” He rose and walked away without looking back again. “Take care.”

 

He was long gone when the girls returned to where he had been. They called and called but there was no answer. Kirara called as well. She'd come here with someone, someone she cared about deeply, but she couldn't remember who or what he even smelled like. Kirara mewed in despair. The two girls petted Kirara and cuddled her when they realized the man's true intensions.

 

“Don't worry, Kirara,” said the oldest. “You can come home with us. You're so sweet, I'm sure our father won't mind. We'll be best friends forever and never leave you behind.” Kirara rubbed herself against them but she couldn't shake her sadness. There was someone she wanted to protect, someone who needed her protection, and now she was no longer being allowed to do so. She couldn't remember who she was supposed to protect. She mewed one final time as if calling out a name.

 

****

 

At the border of the spirit world…

 

Kenhoshi, Izayoi, Jounochi, Sage Katsuya, Kohana, and Ginhana all kowtowed to an entity they could not see but could sense. The enma had arrived to pass judgment. Eternal alone remained standing. It was the moment they had been awaiting and dreading.

 

“We will admit to a grave error on our part,” said the watery voice of the enma. A voice that sounded like many as well as one. “We were not aware that there were any mortals still alive that were older than we were. We have thus searched the memoirs of time that occurred prior to our birth and have realized our earlier judgment was in error. Lucifer will not return to Hell.”

 

Kenhoshi did not allow himself to breathe a sigh of relief. His son's fate was more important to him than his own. “With great respect, Enma, what is to become of my son?” he asked dreading the answer.

 

“Though, we now realize you should not have been sent to Hell, the boy still committed the taboo. Our laws are absolute,” replied the enma.

 

“Is there no way for him to atone?” asked Kenhoshi. “I blame myself for this, for keeping secrets. If others had known there was a possibility I would be sent to Hell then they might have gone through the proper procedures of securing my release prior to his intervention. I believe he was seeking me at the time because of many unanswered questions and, because he did have the gift of speaking with the departed, he saw no reason to wonder when he could ask me directly. This happened because of the uncertainty I, myself, created in his heart.”

 

“He still made the decision to intervene on his own,” they replied. The enma were the ultimate polarized force. Emotions had nothing to do with it. If the act you commit was evil then you had better be prepared to face the consequences. However, good deeds could atone for the wicked ones. They did understand the concept of lesser evil deeds. If one did nothing when they could do something and allowed many to suffer when one act of evil could have spared them the deed of nothing would contain more evil than the act itself.

 

Kenhoshi gritted his teeth. Taboos were the ultimate sin that seemed unable to wash away no matter if you spent your whole life trying to atone for it. If the enma would not relent then everything his son did from now on would matter not at all. It seemed unfair that an impulsive act of love would condemn him for all eternity.

 

“However, it does not sit well with us that you were made to suffer for as long as you did due to our error. To atone for this sin we will grant a chance of atonement for the boy but he will remain barred from entering the spirit border. He must atone for his sin without further instruction,” said the enma. “A list of tasks must be completed by either he or his blood descendents for his soul to be saved.”

 

“Tasks?” asked Kenhoshi, barely breathing.

 

“The regrets of the dead that continue to cause suffering to the living,” they replied. “Various tasks that you, Lucifer, longed to see finished he must now complete. It is only natural that son take on the responsibilities of the father who has passed on. Until these tasks are completed, his soul will remain in Limbo. However, we will remove the cursed aura from him. His misdeeds will not affect the living.” The enma disappeared leaving the gathering in stunned silence. It was better than they feared but not the pardon they had been hoping for. Kenhoshi continued to stare at the ground unmoving.

 

Limbo was different from Hell. It was a transitory place where souls were sent only when the enma could not decide immediately as to a person's fate. Often those trapped in Limbo were reincarnated relatively quick. If the enma couldn't decide then they simply returned them to the lands of the living to start over. Souls residing in other aspects of the lands of the dead were reincarnated but they weren't as random nor as unpredictable as those who were in Limbo. The reincarnations of others were preordained, their new host bodies and time of rebirth carefully selected whereas those in Limbo got whatever was available at the time they were booted out of the land of the dead.

 

Kenhoshi, however, was not worried about the unpredictable reincarnation. The enma had said that his son's soul was to remain bound to Limbo until the tasks were complete by his blood descendents. This was far more troubling to the dog demon. Limbo was not a place to linger in. As a transitory place it was more comparable to individual jail cells except the souls that resided there could not use any of their senses and were completely alone. Imprisonment in Limbo might be considered worse than Hell by some. Limbo was literally a void, nothingness. Souls that lingered too long in Limbo, when returned to the land of the living, came back as impaired children. The lucky ones were born missing only one sense; the unlucky ones had no sense at all. It was an effect that lingered for several lifetimes. The souls of Hell didn't have any side effects that appeared in the next life when reincarnated.

 

Kenhoshi bowed his head in despair. How was his son to know to do all the tasks or even what they were if he could not return to the spirit border?

 

_________________________________________________________________ _____________

Oh dearest me!

 

I got the idea for Inuyasha's soul being trapped in Limbo unless he or his descendents can complete the assigned task from the movie “Van Helsing”. Fortunately, I can tell you that by the end of the manga/anime series, movies included, that Inuyasha Jr. does manage to complete all assigned tasks without even realizing it.

 

Did I just give something away within that explanation?

 

I designed Limbo so that at first it doesn't seem to terrible compared to Hell until you're stranded there.

 

I know it seems sad that Inuyasha abandoned Kirara but as she is the last link to Keiko he really can't stand the idea of her dying. It would be like losing Keiko all over again. This is the same attitude that spurred Inuyasha Jr. to attempt to trap Kagome in her time after their dangerous run in with Naraku-backed-Sesshomaru. Some things just run in the family.

 

Speaking of Sesshomaru…

 

Chapter 25: Beyond Reason

 

Temari plots revenge for her perceived humiliation. Can Sesshomaru protect Himawari from the deranged female and what happens when Noriko learns of the engagement?