InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Past, Hidden Self ❯ The Discovery ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter One: The Discovery

The breeze fluttered his silver hair as he relaxed in a tree. Golden orbs closed lazily, thinking of the task his father had set on his shoulders. How the hell was he supposed to find someone he hardly knew? For that matter, how was he supposed to find her when he didn't even know where she was? He opened his eyes again, scowling at the sunlight as it filtered through the tree's leaves.

His father had been a player, that's for sure. First Sesshomaru's mother, then his, and now another woman he'd never even known about. And as it turns out, he had sired another child; a daughter to be precise. In his father's grave, he found a note written in kanji, telling him all about this young priestess who had given birth to his only daughter. What stunned him the most was the fact that he'd lived after that attack that almost killed him and his mother on the day he'd been born. All this time, he'd thought he was fatherless.

The kanji told him the whole story: being found by the wolf tribe and being cared for by Koga's clan, meeting the priestess one day after wandering around from a dazed stupor that he himself couldn't explain, his feelings for her, discovering she was carrying his child, and witnessing the miracle of birth for the first time. The priestess had been abandoned for mating with and carrying the child of a demon, so she'd gone to him when the contractions had started. He said in his description that seeing his daughter fall right into his waiting arms was the most beautiful thing he'd ever witnessed. But his happiness was short lived.

He had gone to Toto-sai to have another sword made for his hanyou daughter. When he had returned, his lover was dead and his daughter gone. He'd found her body by Kaeda's village, next to the Bone Eater's Well. He couldn't find his infant daughter's body anywhere; even when he'd looked into the well, he'd seen nothing. It wasn't long afterwards that he finally died. A fatal wound during another battle finally got the better of him, but it had been the grief eating at him from the inside that had been his ultimate demise. He found no reason to live anymore and had died within a week of his lover's death and child's disappearance.

The sword had been stored in his body like Tetsusaiga had been. He had gone back to get it after Kagome, his companion and friend, had read the entire kanji letter to him. He had it safely tucked away in Kaeda's hut now, and it was patiently waiting for its owner to appear. The problem was that he didn't know where to look. His father had described to him in the letter that his daughter was still alive; he didn't know why, but he thought so too.

Not much later did Kagome mention that when she'd been about two a strange occurrence had happened at the Higurashi Shrine. She said her grandfather had found a baby girl in the Bone Eater's Well. She had been wrapped in cloth from the Feudal Era and was crying at the bottom of the chasm. She told him that the baby had looked human, except for her pure silver-like hair. Kagome's family had given the infant to the authorities for care and to find her parents, but none were found. She was eventually put up for adoption, but Kagome wasn't sure who adopted the little girl sixteen years ago.

For the past month or so, Kagome had done her research on adoptions from sixteen years ago. She knew how much this meant to InuYasha, the silver haired hanyou of Inu Taisho and Izayoi. Sesshomaru wasn't exactly what you'd call family since he'd tried to kill InuYasha a few times already, so if InuYasha found his sister, a living family member, maybe he'd feel some sort of connection with his father. Many of her leads turned out to be dead ends, but she couldn't give up. This girl was out there somewhere; nobody just fell off the face of the earth without being missed or noticed.

But as time went by, InuYasha was feeling less and less confident about finding the girl. Kagome was running out of resources to check, and InuYasha's patience was running thin. Every time Kagome came to him and told him that they may have found her, they always discovered that the girl wasn't the one they were looking for. There had been more dead ends than successes, and InuYasha couldn't stand waiting.

Thus he decided to wait for Kagome in the Feudal Era, perched on a high tree branch.

He could smell her scent before he heard her fast approaching steps. InuYasha sat up and watched Kagome run for the tree he was relaxing in, papers waving in her outstretched hand. “InuYasha! I found her!”

His mind couldn't comprehend whom she was talking about, until he saw the words `adoption records' printed on the papers. He leapt down from his branch and met Kagome at the bottom. Even though he knew it could be another dead end, his mind stirred with crazy thoughts of what she looked like and where she could be. “Well, where do you think she is?”

“No, it's different this time.” Kagome panted, catching her breath from the sprint. “I know this time; she's coming to my high school for a vocal competition and she's the top competitor. Here's her picture.” Kagome handed him a small photograph of the girl. His breath caught in his throat.

The girl staring back at him, coy smile and all, looking almost exactly like him. It was like he was looking at a more feminine self than his sister, but he did see some features that were clearly not his or his father's; it must have been from her mother. She was gorgeous; rich silver hair parted down the middle, blue eyes as deep as the ocean, full but not fat cheeks, and a big smile of triumph as she held up a peace sign with two of her fingers in front of her face. Add fangs, golden eyes, and little pointed dog-ears and she would look almost exactly like him. “What's her name?”

“Sugimoto Kane-Sakura, from Yokohama. The Sugimoto family adopted her almost immediately after we found her in the well, and they moved to Yokohama after she started taking voice lessons at these established voice schools last year. Apparently, she's got this amazing voice that has won her a chance to compete nationally. That's why she's coming to my high school in Tokyo.”

“And you're sure this is her?”

Kagome nodded. “Come on InuYasha, let's go get her.”

***

`Finally. It's about time the judges let me go.' The girl pouted as she walked out of the room. There, she met her friends from school along with her mom and dad.

A boy with short black hair was the first to speak. “Well, how'd it go?”

“Kaji, you know very well she won't know until the judge's post the results in an hour.” A girl with chocolate hair and eyes the color of emeralds said mockingly.

“Don't sweat it, Hitomi. Kaji doesn't know that; he isn't in the competition.” She smiled and wrapped an arm around each friend. “So, should we go down to the cafeteria and get some food?” She turned pleading eyes to her parents. “Mom, Dad, could we have some money for food, please?”

Her mother laughed slightly while digging through her purse. “Kane-Sakura, you don't need to act all sweet to us. You must be starving after that long time in the judges' room. We're going to look around the school for a while, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks mom.” She gladly accepted the money, but started looking around as she, Kaji, and Hitomi started for the cafeteria. “Hey, what happened to Kaske?”

Hitomi sighed. “He went down to the cafeteria about ten minutes ago. He said he was going to get something to eat and be back, but I don't think they allow food outside of the cafeteria, so he probably got stuck there.”

Kane-Sakura giggled. “I guess it can't be helped, but he still could've waited for me.” She thought dreamily of the boy she'd met only a month ago. They'd been dating ever since and they were moving into a more serious relationship. At least, it was serious in terms of a high school student's mind. “When I see him, I'm gonna mock him, and then make him feel better by giving him a big kiss.”

The group laughed, enjoying their time together as friends. Then Kane felt a weird tingle come from behind her, like someone with powers...She shook her head. `Powers? Where the hell did that come from?' She turned around and saw a girl in a green sailor school uniform and raven-black hair. Kane could've sworn that the girl was emanating some kind of power, but she argued with herself that it wasn't possible. Priestesses with miko powers didn't exist along with youkai, hanyous, and Onis. The girl was talking to some of her own friends from the school Kane was competing in. She laughed, turning to look at Kane when she realized she was being watched. The girl only turned, smiled, and waved.

Kane did the same, not wanting to appear rude, but it only invited the girl over. “Hi, how're you doing?”

“Uh, fine I guess.” Kane looked around, but her friends were gone and the girl was obviously talking to her.

“You're Sugimoto Kane-Sakura, right?” She stuck a hand out. “I'm Higurashi Kagome and I attend Tokyo High School.”

“How'd you know my name?”

Kagome smiled. “You're practically famous. None of the choir students from this school wanted to compete against you.”

Kane's chest puffed with pride. “Yeah, well…my parents are to take credit for that. They sent me to all the prodigious schools for vocal instruction.”

“There's no doubt in that. Hey, I have a favor to ask.”

“Sure, what can I do for you?”

“Someone I know wants to meet you at my place, Higurashi Shrine. Could you maybe stop by tonight?”

Kane's brow furrowed. “Um, why?”

“He just wants to meet you. Trust me on this.”

“Well, I guess I could stop by tonight. I'll just tell my parents where I'm going and I'll head over, okay?”

“Oh, that's fine.” Kagome almost sighed with relief. Now the only thing to do was explain to her parents and friends where she was going and wasn't going to come back to them. Hopefully they'd understand. Hopefully.

“Okay, I'll see you at Higurashi Shrine then?” Kane turned to go, but Kagome stopped her with a slight touch on the shoulder.

“There's one more thing. This person that wants to meet you, he's a little different. He also has something to tell you, so when he tells you these things, hear him out.”

“Just who is he?”

Kagome shrugged. “You'll have to find out when you come to the shrine.” She abruptly turned away and walked back to her friends. She acted as if she'd never said anything to her.

Something felt horribly wrong about all this. Kane shivered when she looked back at the girl again. She could've sworn on her own life that this `Kagome' girl had something different about her. She also could've said easily, “You're a miko,” and been sure of it. Funny thing was she didn't know what real miko powers looked like.

***

The sun set in the western sky as it always did and Kane was looking up at a long flight of stairs that led to the top of Higurashi Shrine's entrance. She'd come alone, without telling her parents or friends where she'd gone. Whoever was waiting for her here was different from her and her family and friends. She wasn't up to exposing them to something they wouldn't agree to.

At the top of the stairs, she saw what appeared to be an ordinary Shinto shrine, with a few extra buildings that could just be storage. She saw a small place for praying to the gods and she stopped and said a short prayer. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the sun had gotten considerably lower. She had to get going, or otherwise her parents were going to chew her head off.

She wandered a while longer, until she decided she had to go to the main house to see Kagome. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. A shiver went up her spine that made her turn and look over her shoulder at the giant tree behind her. She almost screamed when she saw a giant blur leap across the yard and into the tree. But it was gone so fast that Kane soon thought she'd just imagined it. She knocked on the door again. This time, Kagome answered. “Oh, you're here. Come on in.”

“Oh, no thanks. I need to get going really soon, so could we just talk out here?” Kane also didn't feel like entering a complete stranger's house.

“My mother just made supper and it's really good. Are you sure you don't want to come in? There's a lot we need to discuss.”

“But I thought you just wanted me to meet someone and listen to what he has to say?”

“That's what we need to do. You might as well come in and make yourself comfortable during the discussion.”

Suddenly Kane didn't feel like staying there anymore. “Um, you know what? I think I'm going to go home. Tell whoever it is that I don't feel like seeing him and to send him my regrets.” She turned to go, but Kagome called out to her.

“Wait, come with me.” Kagome stepped past her and started walking to a small shrine behind the main one. “I promise you, this will only take a second.”

Kane followed, looking at the sign that stood in front of the small building. It said, `Bone Eater's Well.' Kane felt her stomach jump with fear. What was in there? She stepped in slowly, looking around in the dark that she couldn't even see in and felt the door close behind her. Kagome turned on a flashlight so she could see everything and not trip down the stairs. She looked at Kane, who could only look down at the dirt floor and the dry well sitting in the middle of the room. Her breathing came in short gasps and her heart raced. “Ka-Kagome, what…I don't understand.” She felt her legs turn to rubber, and almost fell to the floor. She caught a side railing and continued to look down at the well. `It's…familiar…but how? I've never been here my entire life.'

“This is where my family found you sixteen years ago.” Kagome said, her voice even with conviction. “Back then, you were only an infant.”

“I…was found in the well?”

“Yes, and then you were given away for adoption…”

“I know I was adopted!” Kane whirled around to face Kagome. “My parents told me almost as soon as I could talk. I'm not ashamed of it.”

“And you shouldn't be.” Kagome continued. “I told you that there was someone here who wanted to meet you.”

Kane's breath hitched. “My…dad?”

“No, you're half-brother.” She said, turning the light towards the back of the shrine, and there Kane saw a man clad in red feudal wear, long silver hair like hers, and golden eyes that stared at her with such intensity that she wanted to squirm.

But she also saw his dog-ears and when he walked over to her, she saw his claws on his hands. “Y-you're…no! There is no way that this…this abomination is my half-brother! I don't look like that!” Kane backed away, eyes wide with terror. “Get away from me!”

“Calm down!” InuYasha barked, baring his fangs when he yelled. She only backed further away from him. “You'd better get used to me because you're going to see me more than just this once.”

“No! Stop it!” Kane tried to run for the door, but InuYasha leapt before her and halted her retreat. She backed away from him again. “What are you?! Are you youkai?!”

Kagome answered for him. “Yes and no. He's hanyou.”

“But hanyous and youkai aren't real! None of that is real!” Kane screamed, turning to look at Kagome with a burning gaze.

“Keh!” InuYasha retorted behind her. “Then why do I look like this? Explain that.”

“Tell him to move and let me out! I want to go home, back to my real family!” She ignored his question. “You people are crazy!”

“We're not crazy. All of this is real, and we need you to cooperate with us.” Kagome said with compassion in her voice, trying to get the girl to calm down.

The poor girl was near tears with fear. “What do you people want with me? Let me leave, now!”

“We can't.” InuYasha said. “First, we have a story to tell you.”

“Yeah, well you can kiss my ass and…” She saw his menacing glare and shut her mouth. One look at those fangs and claws had her thinking of blood and death. Tears streamed down her face, thinking her life was over.

“Nobody's going to hurt you. We just want you to listen to our explanation.” InuYasha began the story, the shortened version.

“You're my half-sister through my…our father. Your mother threw you down this well to save you from something we don't know about and it killed her. Our father died in grief of losing her and you. Your real life should be in the Feudal Era, about five hundred years in the past. And today, we're taking you back there.”

She couldn't believe it; some crazy looking guy was telling her a half-baked story about going back in time five hundred years and he wasn't even laughing. How the hell did they expect to get her back to the 1500's? She laughed hysterically, but it wasn't anymore laughing from him being funny than it was her being scared out of her wits. “Wow, what a great story.” Kane clapped her hands. “This is a great prank. Okay, Hitomi, Kaji, Kaske, you guys can all come out now.” She strolled up to InuYasha with confidence and raised her hands to pull one of his `fake' ears. “And you can just take these off…” But when she pulled, the fuzzy, warm appendages only stayed there and twitched from her tug. She pulled back immediately. They weren't fake. “Oh kami…”

“Yeah, they're real.” He snickered.

“Who…who are you?”

“My name's InuYasha,” He held out a marble for her to take in her hand. “And you're about to discover your demon half too.” He pushed into her trembling hand, forcing her to hang onto it.

The little ball of black stone pulsated in her hand and she instantly dropped it to the floor. “What the…?” But she could feel the changes almost instantly. Her head started to hurt along with the tips of her fingers. She clenched her teeth as the pain escalated to new heights. She wasn't going to scream, not in front of this demon. But the pain soon coursed through her entire body and she couldn't hold back her cry of pain anymore. She crumpled onto the floor, passing out during the worst part of it. Her world went dark almost as fast as her life had collapsed around her.

***

The change was done. She laid on the floor now, her once silver hair now jet black like his when he was human during the new moon, and her little dog ears drooping because she was unconscious. Her jaw was clenched in pain and her small, human canines were now longer fangs. And her perfectly manicured nails were long and sharp to a point. InuYasha knelt and picked her up. “Kagome, she's coming with me. Take care of her past here, okay?”

Kagome nodded. “I'm not sure her parents are going to like hearing she's missing, but I can't tell them the truth. They can't know what happened to her in reality.”

“What're you going to tell them?”

“That she never showed up at the shrine tonight.”

“Won't her family and friends go looking for her?”

Kagome shook her head. “My family has ways of spreading rumors about where people have gone. They'll be in America looking for her in no time.”

InuYasha frowned. “You do know that this is a complete lie. It doesn't feel right just taking her away like this.”

“InuYasha,” She came closer to him. “She's your sister. You need to take her with you now so she can learn to control her new powers, and so you can learn to trust each other.”

He nodded. “Okay, I'll take her to Kaeda's.” He almost jumped, but stopped himself. “Thanks, for helping me with this.”

She noticed how unhappy he seemed, and offered some words of comfort. “This really is for the better. Now you have a connection to your dad through your sibling.”

“Thanks Kagome. I'll see you later.” He jumped into the well, which lit up in a brilliant blue light as he descended into another time, Kane secured in his arms.

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

Thanks to my Beta Reader for editing the Prologue and Chapter One.