InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ His Past, Her Present, Their Future ❯ Acceptance ( Chapter 2 )

*Disclaimer: Still searching for the spell to make Sessy or Inu real…care to help? Nope, no own.

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Kagome stared at the bodies in front of her, laid in a row. She choked back a sob. InuYasha, Sango, Miroku, and Sesshoumaru. Now nothing more than shells. Rin stayed inconsolable across the body of her Lord, and wouldn’t let Jaken near him. The only time she had let anyone close was for Kagome to try and wield Tenseiga. It hadn’t responded at all.
She held the completed Shikon no Tama in her hand, gagging on her sorrow in the waning light. There was only one thing left to try. ‘It’s a selfish wish, and with this it will become tainted. It will not disappear.’ Kagome didn’t care. She grasped the jewel in her hands, the tears still falling uncontrollably down her face as she concentrated, “Midoriko-sama,” she whispered, “Please, hear my call. Please. Just let my voice be heard. My friends did not deserve to die. They did not deserve this pain. Please, please hear me.”
The white filled her vision, leaving her in a room so bright she could hardly see. The vision before her seemed the source of the light, a vision of blinding ethereal beauty. She walked to Kagome and placed a hand on her shoulder, “My child, why do you call me from battle?”
Kagome’s voice hitched in her throat, “Mi-Midoriko-sama, please. I know I am meant to make a selfless wish. I know I am meant to p-purify the Shikon on Tama. I know all of this, but I cannot just let my friends be dead. Please, there has to be a way.”
The miko frowned and pursed her lips, “Kagome, my child, you know it is not so simple. If I were to allow this wish, you yourself would be changed forever, and there would no longer be a person in the world strong enough to overcome to tainting pull of the jewel.”
“But how can they just die?! They gave their lives for this STUPID jewel, there has to be a way for that to be given back to them!”
The older miko’s gaze softened and she took Kagome by the hand. The blinding light around her dimmed slightly, “I cannot be here long, the battle will be overcome if I stay. But you have a choice to make, my child,” she sat her companion on the stone edge of a pond, “There is a way, but it will take sacrifices.”
“Anything!” Kagome almost screamed, her grip on the older miko tightening, “I would do anything for them.”
“Then listen. If I were to give them back, it would have to be a wish for Naraku to have never interfered. Meaning that the jewel would be shattered once more, and you would have to collect the shards again.”
Kagome’s gaze lowered, “Then…they would forget all about me, all that we’ve been through, wouldn’t they?”
“No. I would not turn back time, simply take away the interference of the hanyou who was once Onigumo. And only recent interference. This means Kikyo still sealed InuYasha, Miroku still had his Kazaana, and Sango still lost all her family, including Kohaku. None of that changes, only today‘s battle.”
Kagome worried her lower lip pensively, “So, it will just be like Naraku hadn’t collected all the shards back, and like he never…” her voice cut off as she raised her sapphire gaze back to the priestess in front of her, “What else?”
“This is the most difficult part, my child. Until you have collected the Shikon no Kakera, you will not be allowed to leave the Feudal Era. I will allow you one passage to tell your family there goodbye, but that will be it. And then, once you have collected the shards together, you may no longer stay in the Sengoku Jidai.”
“I…what?!” her voice caught in her throat as she stared in shock at the woman, her hands flying to cover her mouth. She had to lose her family long enough to collect the shards…and then she had to lose her second family forever in order to get back to the first. Tears stung the back of her eyes like fire.
“It is the only way. Someday, if the need arises, the well may reopen, but as of now, when you finish the jewel you will be taken out of the Warring States era, and by that sacrifice it will purify forever.”
Kagome’s lower lip quivered as she nodded, agreeing to the conditions. She would rather her friends live on without her than for them not to live at all. She let her sobs through now as Midoriko rose up, turning away from the weeping miko, “Fear not, Kagome, sometimes fate is not as cruel as it seems.”

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Distantly, Kagome’s mind mulled over her meeting with the legendary miko, but her mind blocked her ability to consciously think on it. Her mind blocked her from doing anything. Her grief was still too fresh, her heart too decimated, her soul too weak and darkened to awaken. To be awake was to think, to think was to remember, and to remember would surely bring her death. Somewhere in the far reaches of her soul, a voice cried out. It howled and shrieked, its never ending lament of heartbreak resounding through the young miko’s body. Misery rolled off her body in waves, her aura tugging on the souls of everyone in the small hut.
None of them knew how they had been brought back, and none of them knew of the sacrifices their friend had made for them. Late in the night, as the group slept soundly, a whisper in the wind was all that signified another presence. He stood in the doorway to watch the young miko sleep. ‘Your destiny is upon you.’ he spoke to her consciousness. And then he was gone.

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“Kagome? You have to wake up now.”
“Inu…InuYasha?” she gasped out, her throat constricted.
“Hai, wench. Now get up.”
Her eyes fluttered open to see him standing before her in front of Goshinboku, pain crashing down on her from all angles, “But….how are you here? How am I here? Was I just dreaming?”
He shook his head and tucked a small lock of hair behind her ear, “No, it was no dream; this is. It’s the only way I could come to you. Kagome, you can’t stay this way forever, you have to get up and fight. There’s a lot left for you to do.”
“This is a…dream?” tears filled her bottomless navy eyes as she fought them away, staring into InuYasha’s golden eyes.
The sadness radiated off of her, and his eyes softened minutely as he spoke, “Hey, wench, knock that off,” he said softly, gathering her into his arms, “Kagome, you can’t mourn me. I made my choice.”
“But….why?” she asked as she pulled back, gold meeting blue, “We needed you here InuYasha, I needed you here. Why would you take my best friend away from me again?”
His eyes softened once more before he looked away, “Keh! You act like you lost me or something. I’m always here Kagome, but you can’t spend another month lying in bed. I had to do what I had to do. I thought we talked about this a year ago?”
“I didn’t expect it to be so soon!”
“Oh Kagome,” he said, kissing her forehead, “I love you, wench, your friendship was the best thing I could have wished for. Maybe in another life things can work out differently, hm?”
She nodded, “Maybe next time you won’t be so dense until after its too late.”
“Yeah? And maybe next time you won’t babble so much.”
“Oh yeah?! OSUWARI!” she yelled, as the silver-haired hanyou smashed to the forest floor.
“FEH! Bitch, what was that for? Isn’t being dead enough for you?” he called, his voice muffled in the dirt. He met her gaze, obvious amusement flooding both their stares.
“I wish you were here, InuYasha. There’s so much I need help with.”
“Keh, you’ll be fine on your own, woman. You have people all around you to help.”
“But none of them are you.”
His face pinked as he brushed the dirt from his robes, “Keep talking like that and I’ll think you’ve taken back that whole ‘loving me as a friend’ crap.”
She snorted, “No, InuYasha, don’t worry. I love you as my best friend, but nothing more. My schoolgirl love for you is long past.”
He smiled slightly and met her gaze again, “So, you gonna wake up or what? There’s a little runt who’s going crazy without his momma.”
“Shippou? How long have I been asleep?”
“I’ve been gone a month, and you haven’t moved. There’ve been times you were conscious, but you’ve had a strangle hold on your thoughts; you haven’t let all this sink in so you could grieve. You need to now though.”
“I know…” she looked up into his eyes with a smile, despite the stray tears that meandered down her ivory cheeks, “InuYasha?”
His sigh was heavy, though amused, as he met her shy glance, “What do you want, wench?”
“Can I…?”
InuYasha rolled his eyes heavily and walked up to her, dipping his head, “Go on.”
She giggled and reached up, running her fingers across the downy fur of his ears with a grin. ‘Just like the first day I met him. Fuzzy ears and Goshinboku…’
As he backed away she sighed, knowing it was time to part, “Will I see you again?”
“When you need me, I’ll be here. I’ll always be here.”
“Thank you, InuYasha,” she croaked out, the tears falling once more.
“Goodbye, Kagome.”

--

When she woke up, darkness was stiffly engulfing her. She moaned silently, her muscles and bones aching from weeks of disuse. And Kami did she need a bath. Her nose wrinkled delicately at herself. She moved slowly to sit up, careful not to call any attention to herself from the group that dozed peacefully on the futons around her. If InuYasha had been there she would have already been caught, but the group that remained was not nearly as sensitive of sleepers. ‘If InuYasha was here…’ she mind moaned as she choked off the tears. She would mourn, yes, but she would not be a slave to her depression. InuYasha wouldn’t have wanted that for her.
After long minutes of flexing her aching muscles, she was finally able to support her own weight and quietly stumble to the door. The air was crisp, and the darkness was nearly overwhelming in the moonless night. She smiled at the sky, ‘Well, at least he doesn’t have to worry about being a ‘pathetic human’ once a month anymore.’
She stumbled, less coordinated than ever, as she tried to fight through her foggy mind to get to the hot springs just outside of the village. As the darkness began to smother her, she remotely wondered why she hadn’t thought to bring her bow and arrows along, or even her bath supplies. ‘Because, that would have made more noise. And I am not prepared to be glomped and asked a million questions. Not yet.”
As the hot spring came into view she sighed happily and began pulling at her clothes. That was another thing she’d forgotten. With a sigh she yanked her blouse over her head and dropped it next to the steaming water, “Well, guess I’ll just take my clothes in with me and wait for them to dry. I think my skin and muscles won’t mind staying in for a while longer.”
She finished undressing and slowly dipped into the spring, relishing in the cold night air against her skin. The water nipped at her senses, her bones quickly turning to butter in the perfectly heated water. Her sigh was low and wistful as she pulled her blouse and jeans into the water, trying to scrub away the month’s worth of sediment and sweat in it. After she was satisfied with the results, she stepped from the water, shivering, to hang her clothes over a low branch nearby before running back to envelop herself in the heat once more.
Tears fell slowly as her mind drifted to InuYasha, but the tears were not anguished ones. Simply teardrops for the loss of her friend, and the knowledge she would never again be able to ride on his back through the beautiful forests of the Sengoku Jidai, or listen to him argue with Shippou over the last morsels of food. She smiled as she thought of those times, of those memories. But, because of her dreamtime meeting, she knew things would be alright. He hadn’t abandoned her, he just did what he needed to. And for him, she forced herself to go on.
Dawn was breaking as she finally pulled herself from the water, grimacing at her wrinkled fingers as she pulled on her mostly dry clothes. The day would be a warm one. As she rambled her way back to Kaede’s village, a sense of calm was over her. Maybe Midoriko was right, maybe fate wasn’t such a terrible thing.

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“Miroku! Sango! Wake up!” Shippou yelped, hopping up and down on top of a very annoyed houshi. He groaned and flung an arm at the kit, knocking him away from where the couple’s bedrolls were, only to have a bushy tail shoved in his face, “I said wake up! Kagome is gone!”
He sat bolt upright at that, and Sango did the same, “What do you mean?”
“I mean she’s GONE, she’s not there anymore, she’s vanished!”
They clamored about the hut, searching for any sign of where the miko could have gone, only to find none. Her backpack laid next to her cot, her bow and arrows propped near the head of the taijiya’s bedroll with her Hiraikotsu, “Shippou, can you scent her? She wouldn’t have gone far without her things.”
“Unless someone took her!” he wailed, his eyes streaming.
“Aye, child, but lets not be thinking of that. Can ye not smell where she’s gone?” Kaede asked, stepping from the adjoining room of the hut.
The kitsune stopped near the bamboo door, sniffing gently before bounding outside. With a small glance between them, Sango and Miroku followed the little youkai into the dawn light. As they exited, they could hear Shippou’s rejoicing howl of, “KAGOME!!!”
She was exiting the woods, her hair damp and with a small smile on her face as the kitsune leapt into her arms, “Kagome, Kagome, Kagome! I was so scared because you were gone and I didn’t know where you had gone and I thought someone had taken you and-”
“That’s enough, Shippou, give her a chance to breathe,” Sango laughed, lifting him from their friend’s arms. Her face was gaunt from lack of food; they had forced her to eat daily since she had been in bed, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the weight loss. The smiles she tossed her friends weren’t quite enough to reach her eyes, and Sango bit her lip sadly.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Kagome asked her, linking through her arm.
“Nothing, I was just wondering the same about you…” the demon slayer said, then caught herself, “I mean, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but…”
“Its alright, Sango. I’m not going to break if I’m asked questions. You all deserve the answers too,” tears sprang back to her eyes, the telltale brightness not getting past anyone as she sat in front of Kaede’s hut, “Do you want to know what happened that day?”
“We don’t need details, Kagome-sama, but it would be nice to at least hear it,” Miroku said softly, deciding not to be lecherous in the current situation.
“Fine, then short version. I came back from being in my time, I was already devastated enough…” she trailed off, remembering that InuYasha was the only one who knew about her inability to go back to her home for now, and her inevitable loss of her friends in the Sengoku Jidai, “But anyway, I sensed a lot of energy, and I was worried. I snaked through the forest and came across….” her voice broke off, her heart breaking gently with her silent tears, “InuYasha and Kikyo. She told him that that night was the night she wanted to take him with her to hell. He agreed, and as the earth opened up to swallow them, he turned to me. He just told me goodbye, and I screamed. Oh god, I screamed. But I couldn’t move…” a sob overtook her and she buried her face in her hands. She left out the words exchanged between them, or a few other details she didn’t want to think about.
“Oh Kagome,” Sango chirped, her eyes overflowing.
Miroku put his arms around his fiancé and grimaced, “He was a friend to all of us.”
Shippou was silent, but he just rocked back and forth and cried. It was one think for them to have assumed he was dead…it was another for it to be true.
“Well! I’m sure there’s stuff to do, so let’s get to it!” Kagome said with a false brightness, but they all knew she was right.


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A/N: So, what do you think? Ey? Please review if anyone even reads…will give me inspiration to write more! XD I know its slow to start, but unlike some stories, this will be a buildup with plot, not just “OMG within moments I am a different murderous demon. Rarr.” / “OMG Fluffy I luv joo. Lets make babies!” .. se yeah, bear with the build.