InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Freedom of Choice ❯ The Strength within ( Chapter 1 )

AN: this is my first inu fic, I have another fic, but it's a beyblade fic, check it out if you like beyblade. Anyways, this was first going to be a one-shot but thanx to my friend Starry Nights, it's a full blown out story with lots of chapters, plot, villain, etc. hope u like the first chapter. ^ _ ^

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Translation:

Miko - priestess

Ki - spirit energy

Youkai - demon

Hanyou - half-demon half-human

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Freedom Of Choice

Chapter One: The Strength Within

The wind blew gently through the calm forest in the afternoon. It picked up ebony hair and blew it in front of its owner's face. The girl with blue-grey eyes was sitting at the edge of a dried up well, the Bone-eater's Well.

Kagome Higurashi had come to the Feudal Era, hoping that her friends were here, but from what she learned from Kaede, they had left in search for shards upon hearing a rumour.

She knew they would have been gone, seeing as they didn't expect her to be back for another week.

Kagome's school had finished for the summer. Actually, she had graduated. Now, the eighteen year-old miko should have been searching for a college to go to, but she decided against it. Going to college would be harder than high school, meaning that she couldn't keep on missing it. She had decided that she would go to college after the Shikon Jewel was complete and Naraku was dead.

She stood up and stepped away from the well. She didn't really want to go home.

`Might as well stay here and surprise everyone when they get back. After all, they are only one day away.' Kagome concluded starting back on the trail to the village.

Though she hadn't admitted it to anyone, in three years, Kagome's miko power had grown a lot and now she could control it well too. When she had reached the Feudal era, she had sent her ki in search for her friends and found that they were a day away. So, she went to the village to find out why they were away.

The reason Kagome never told anyone about her miko powers was because then Naraku would find out and get ready for her or try to find a way to stop her. She wanted to surprise him when they fight, so that he couldn't know what was coming when she did attack him. After all, a couple of years ago, she almost defeated him with her purifying arrows. That was when they had met Sango too.

Another reason Kagome never told anyone was because they might compare her to Kikyo and she didn't want that happening. She was always being compared to her and she was sick of it.

She was glad that Inuyasha had stopped comparing her to Kikyo a long time ago. Though she didn't know why.

"Maybe Kikyo will always be more beautiful and a better miko than me," Kagome sighed out as she entered the village. Even though that was what Kagome thought, it was far from the truth. In reality, Kikyo's power could never compare with Kagome's. Kagome's power was from a pure soul and she was more powerful than Kikyo could ever have been, but she did not know this. No one did.

Kagome knew Inuyasha cared for her, but to what extent she didn't know. She knew they were close friends, maybe even best friends, but Inuyasha had never said or defined what relationship they had. She didn't blame him. After all, he did spend most of his life by himself and not with others, so he didn't know how to act around others, though he had come a long way since meeting Kagome.

However, unlike Inuyasha, Kagome knew how she felt about him since the beginning. She was in love with him, Inuyasha, the hanyou, and she loved him for who he was inside. She loved him with all her heart and wanted to be with him forever, even after the Shikon Jewel was complete. She wanted to be his wife, his mate in youkai terms and wanted to be the mother of his pups (after all, he was a dog demon). Now Kagome was blushing at the thought of having pups because in order for that to happen, they would have to do THAT!

"Oh, I'm becoming worse than Miroku." Kagome muttered out as she walked into the hut.

Kaede looked up from her herbs as Kagome walked into the hut. She noticed that she was in deep thought as she sat down by her yellow bag.

"What troubles ye child." Kaede calmly asked as she crushed the herbs.

Kagome snapped out of her trance at Kaede's voice and turned towards her.

"Oh nothing Kaede, just thinking." She answered as she moved closer. "Need any help?" She asked while settling down beside her.

"No child. I thought ye be going home." Kaede said as she put the herbs in specific jars.

"No, it's not like I have anything to do at home since school is finally over." Explained Kagome.

"Oh, is it ye `summer break'?" Asked Kaede, repeating the words Kagome had used before.

"Yes, it is."

"How long is it? Is it two months like always?"

"Yes, but I'm done school completely. Want to see my graduation pictures?"

"What do ye mean done completely?"

"Oh, I'm finished. I passed all my subjects and grades."

"Well, congratulations Kagome."

"Thanks, Kaede."

"But ye better not tell Inuyasha or he will never let ye go home."

"Oh, I don't know about that. He'll probably miss ramen too much."

"Tis true."

"Well, here's my graduation pictures," said Kagome as she handed them to Kaede. "You get them done when you finally finish school," she explained.

"Ye look beautiful Kagome. Are ye going to show these to everyone else?"

"Yes I am."

Just then a child entered the hut.

"Kaede-sama, my mama is going to have the baby now." The child nervously said.

"Come child, let's go." Stated Kaede as she tried to get up.

"Oh, Kaede let me do it. You seem tired." Kagome stated, looking at the elder miko.

"Oh very well. Ye have helped me many times before to know how it goes."

"All right, let's go Sakura." Kagome indicated to the girl as she walked out of the hut.

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A few hours later………

Kagome stepped into the hut, still drying her hands.

"How did it go?" Kaede asked, not looking up from the stew she was cooking.

"Oh it went very well. It was a boy." Grinned Kagome as she settled down beside Kaede.

"That is good, they've been wanting a boy for a long time."

Suddenly Kagome stiffened as a familiar sense passed through her.

"A jewel shard is coming this way!" Exclaimed Kagome as she grabbed her bow and arrow and left the hut to go into the forest.

"Don't worry Kaede, I'll be all right!" Shouted Kagome as she disappeared into the forest.

She followed the sense of the shards and realized that the youkai had two shards and it was heading her way.

She pulled out an arrow, notched it into her bow, and held it up in front of her, aiming at the direction where the demon would come out.

She heard a rustle coming in front of her. Then a huge scorpion demon came crashing into the open space Kagome was located in.

"Shikon shardssssssss, give it to me you puny human!" It hissed out as it took a stab at Kagome with its tail. Kagome expertly dodged the tail after years of fighting many demons.

"I would like to see you try." Kagome stated as she pulled back at her arrow and concentrated her miko powers into it. The scorpion cried out as it ran towards Kagome, tail in the air ready to strike. Once it was a couple of metres from Kagome, she let loose her purified arrow in a shower of pink light. It struck the scorpion demon in the heart and started purifying it. The demon soon disintegrated into a pile of dust on the forest floor. Kagome stepped towards the mess and picked out the two shards purifying it instantly.

"All in a day's work." She said as she headed back towards the village in the dusk.

Once she had reached the village, she put the two shards into the pouch where the rest of the shards were kept. She then turned towards the setting sun as it streaked red, orange, and pink colours across the sky.

"I hope you're all right and safe Inuyasha," she whispered into the wind before she turned towards Kaede's hut to have dinner and go to bed. She couldn't wait to see her friends tomorrow.

Before she went into Kaede's hut, she sent her ki out towards her friends and where they had made camp for the night. She concentrated on the distance and guessed they would reach the village by mid-morning. With that settled, she went into the hut as the sun finally set in the horizon, basking the remote village with darkness.

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AN: next chapter, Inuyasha arrives as well as someone else, our other favourite dog demon!!!!!! ^_^

R & R for the next chapter

Ja ne