InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fragments of Time ❯ The Other Me ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

The Other Me

 

Kagome lay on her back with her eyes closed. Her hands were folded and motionless against her chest as she focused on the world around her. The sound of the gentle moving water from the river sung to her like a mother singing a lullaby. The air was warm and soft as it ran over her body.

 

Karen was beside Kagome patiently moving her along with soothing words, “Let your body feel the wind as if it could float on the breeze, and then you will be able to reach out to the world around you with your power. Don't fight; your power will know where it needs to go.”

 

“Karen, are you sure that I'm strong enough to do this?” Kagome asked in a dreamy voice.

 

“Yes, my dear, it is merely your doubt that is holding you back from being the miko that you were born to be,” Karen assured her. “The land will tell you what you need to know. It will call out to you when it needs to be healed.”

 

Kagome, despite her doubt, did as Karen asked; pushing her power out as far as it would go. She tried to look for a message of pain from anywhere she could find it; what she found was Kikyou.

 

Kikyou was kneeling in the garden as a wave of energy washed over her, causing her to stand and search the trees that lay several yards before her.

 

Kagome's eyes snapped open, “Kikyou…!”

 

“This surprises you? You are one in the same,” Karen reasoned.

 

Kagome sat up, staring in to Karen's eyes with disbelief. “I am not Kikyou.”

 

“No, my dear, you are not, but her soul is a part of yours. Did you not have your soul taken from you in order to give Kikyou's clay body a soul?”

 

“Is there anything that you don't know about?”

 

“Not really. I make it a point to know many things,” Karen smiled. “What did you feel when your power touched Kikyou?”

 

“Anger, sadness…I don't know if I can put it all into words.”

 

“She carries the bit of your soul that has unfinished business with Inuyasha. When you think about their past together, wouldn't you feel sorrow as well?”

 

“I guess that I would. I can't forgive Naraku for what he has done to Inuyasha. I guess that I keep forgetting that Kikyou was betrayed too,” Kagome turned away from Karen and looked towards the river. “I got the love and she got the anger, is that how it turned out?”

 

“In simple terms…perhaps. However, I believe that she also loves Inuyasha.”

 

“I think that I knew that once. I mean that Kikyou loved Inuyasha, but I feel different now. It's because I'm taking on so much of Inuyasha's anger isn't it?”

 

“You are surrounded with a great deal of anger because of the youki that your carry,” Karen answered, taking Kagome's hand. “This is the reason I am teaching you to reach out and heal the land. When you can feel the land, and are attuned to it, you will be able to transfer your energy to it. You cannot start out with the living, because humans are too complex; you must work on healing simpler things first.”

 

“Why do you have so much confidence in me? You act like a mother to me.”

 

It was so difficult for Karen to hold back her emotion in that moment. She would have given anything to tell Kagome the truth. It was growing more and more difficult every day. Fighting back the desire to bring her granddaughter closer to herself, Karen answered, “I care for Inuyasha, therefore, I care for you.”

 

 

**********

 

With herbs in hand, Kikyou accompanied the children to a small hut, which the village head had offered her to use for her stay. As she walked questions about the energy that had touched her played on her mind. `Why would she be reaching out to me? Is she trying to take back my soul?' She wandered as the children danced around her.

 

“Kikyou-sama, will these herbs help lots of people?” a little girl in a red kimono asked, while tugging at Kikyou's sleeve.

 

“Yes, Aki, they will help many of the villagers. That's why is so important for us to tend the garden every day,” she answered as she smiled down at the girl.

 

Reaching the hut, she asked the children to place the herbs in several piles, and bid them farewell. Her mind was quickly coming to the conclusion that she would go to investigate Kagome's new ability to reach out to her. But first she would start the drying process for the herbs. `With luck,' she thought, `I'll be back before they are ready to be ground.'

 

**********

 

 

 

Once again Karen found herself explaining the importance of this task at hand to a very tired Kagome. “Please understand the need of these lessons, my dear. You must learn to channel the youki from yourself to something else after you change it to positive energy. Your human body was not meant to carry such a thing as this. Inuyasha can only deal with the weight of his youkai blood because of Tessaiga. Such power can drive a human to madness,” she paused and taking a rock in her hand continued on, “You should be able to purify the youki that you receive from Inuyasha, and then place that positive energy into this rock. Upon doing this you will have healed the rock and made it stranger; all things near it would flourish because of that purified power.”

 

Karen returned the rock to its resting place and waited for Kagome to reply. The smile on her face was encouraging. Despite all doubt, Kagome was trying her hardest insure that Karen's faith wasn't in vain. However, Kagome knew how long it had taken her perfect using her purification arrows. Seeing the shards and purifying them might have come easily, but being a true miko wasn't as easy of a task.

 

`Can I really do this,' Kagome wondered. `I don't want to let Karen down, but what if I can't?' Kagome took a deep breath and tried to relax, but it was not use; how could she relax after reaching out to Kikyou? `What if Kikyou comes looking for me now? Will she try to take Inuyasha way again?' She tried to shake the thought of to know avail.

 

 

Karen could feel the confusion growing in Kagome, and her heart was aching for the young women. This wasn't what she wanted for her granddaughter. She wanted so badly to make all this pain go way. Kagome wasn't like Sesshoumaru or Yumeko, she was a tender child. It wasn't natural for Kagome to be filed with such anger and confusion. More than anything, Karen wanted to be the parent to Kagome that she wasn't allowed to be to her other children-Kagome would accept her love. Instead, Karen had to hold it all in as her granddaughter fought her fears alone.

 

And still there were other reasons for Karen to tell Kagome the truth, it would prove to Kagome that she is more powerful than she realizes. Knowing that she is part Yasha could be enough to help her trust in her own power. As Karen reasoned it, “A human can only think and act as a human does, but a youkai knows that they are more than what the world can see; when youkai blood is in your veins, you have a reason to think and act beyond what is human.” Karen believed that just having the knowledge that Kagome was not completely human would help her to look past her preconceived limits, and help her to tap into the power that was waiting to be called from inside her.

 

However, things were at a stand still, and Karen could see that Kagome was hitting some self-imposed limit. With the afternoon quickly approaching, Karen decided that Kagome has had enough for the day.

 

“Kagome, you may stop now. Perhaps we are pushing to hard. Rest now and we will try again later,” Karen said as she reached for Kagome's arm and touched it gently.

 

“I'm sorry, Karen, I really am trying.” Kagome sat up and started brushing her self off.

 

“I know that you are. I do appreciate your efforts, and you are doing very well…”

 

“But I'm still not doing as well as I should be doing, am I?”

 

“You are holding yourself back. I believe that we should work at controlling the anger which you have inherited from Inuyasha's youki.”

 

“To be honest, I don't think that is the problem. I'm actually worried about Kikyou. What if she comes back and tries to come between me and Inuyasha?”

 

“I understand your fear of her, but you must trust in yourself; and your relationship with Inuyasha. I do not believer that Kikyou will separate you that easily.” Karen paused to and looked towards the river. “I do think that your emotional ties to Inuyasha are amplifying your fear. I can show you how to control the flow of emotion it you wish it.”

 

Kagome thought for a moment; to feel her own emotions without the weight of Inuyasha's would be wonderful. The idea of feeling for just herself would be such a relief.

 

“Ok, I want to do it. Show me how to control the emotional bond that we share.”