InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Intended Mate ❯ We Saved the World, now what? ( Chapter 12 )

Wow. That's all I can say from my reviews. I got more responses for killing a main character than anything else! I don't know if I should feel glad about that…I feel more sad. I did not intend to alienate or anger you, my readers. I tried to make my story more different than most, and I promise you this is not the end of the fic. I have more in store, and what you read in chapter eleven, I wrote for a reason. I hope not to let you down, but I promise I wrote Inuyasha's death for a reason.

It may be hard to believe, but I actually don't like inflicting permanent damage on characters. It makes me feel bad. But, I hope some of you came back to read this. I did NOT write what happens in this chapter due to feedback influence. I had all of this planned weeks ago!

 

Honored place for Reviewers

 

Inugrrl, I promise, keep your head high and don't' worry about Sessh. He'll be sure to get his! I agree, it was rather cruel of him to do. But he would do it, I felt.

Andrea Moon Dog, hope you enjoy this one….

Sapphire Blade, don't cry! (hands a tissue over) Things will be all right soon.

Everyone else, thank you for sharing and taking the time to write me. I appreciate the emotions you shared, though like above, I promise to try and please you once more.

 

Great now I feel like I'm hosting a wake (Sigh) Well, I'll get on with the story. I hope you enjoy! And please, review. But please, don't review to tell me “I suck.” I delete and laugh at `reviews' like that. How juvenile can you be at expressing dislike? I'm a very sensitive inu.

 

Disclaimer: Penpaninu does not own the series Inuyasha in any way shape or form, but does claim to be Inu.

 

While there are mates, there can still be Intended….

 

“Intended Mate” chapter twelve

We Saved the World, now what?

 

Shippou clung to Inuyasha's chest, sobbing. Kaede and her village men had arrived after Kagome had been taken, and aided the group in their wounds. Shippou sported a bandage wrapped around his brow, and numerous band-aids from Kagome's magical kit while Miroku and Sango were half dressed and displaying far more serious nicks.

 

Kaede examined Inuyasha's body gently, and asked one of her men for needle and thread and water.

 

“What are you going to do?” Sango asked wearily. She sat close to Miroku's side, but not touching as both were too bone weary and injured to do anything but sit side by side. Miroku closed his eyes and offered yet another prayer to their dear friend. It was troubling him, but his prayers seemed to have no effect. There was some unrest hovering with Inuyasha's spirit.

 

Shippou's wail startled him from his concentration.

 

“No, don't touch him! He's already gone,” Shippou sobbed. Kaede gently touched his back.

 

“I know how you feel, child, for I'm saddened he could fall too,” Kaede whispered. Her good eye welled in tears, but she shook her head.

 

“He should at least be cremated with a whole body. I only wanted to sew his wounds and ease his spirit,” the old miko gently told Shippou. Miroku's eyebrow raised. So she could feel the unease as well…

 

“Kaede-sama, here are the tools you requested,” a young man ran up to her side and bowed his head. Kaede nodded her thanks and opened Inuyasha's haori. Sango spread Kagome's sleeping bag and they laid his body onto the nylon, and unclothed him. The two women gently washed his unmoving flesh as if he could still feel it, paying respects through their tender ministrations. Shippou covered his face with his paws and wept as the body lay there, unmoving.

 

The other village men knelt down behind Kaede and watched her work, some offering prayers to the protector.

 

“We'll rescue Kagome-sama, Inuyasha, and raise your child. So please, rest in peace….” Miroku thought, tapping his priest's staff for extra measure. A slight wail reached his ears spiritually, stopping his prayers.

 

Kaede sighed and shook her head, in the process of sewing the left arm back at the shoulder.

 

“That child is very much stubborn even in death,” she commented. Miroku's heart leaped into his throat.

 

“Kaede-sama…you felt it too?” he inquired gently. Sango looked up, curious as Shippou rubbed his eyes.

 

Kaede nodded. “His spirit hasn't gone to Nirvana after all, even though he died with honor. It's wandering around us even now.”

 

Sango's heart jumped and she looked back down at her friends' naked corpse, as if willing him to live from gaze alone.

 

“Could he…could he come back??” she dared to ask. Miroku shook his head, sighing, greatly troubled.

 

“It's a matter of the flesh being able to house the spirit again. He was wrenched from himself and died. His spirit's been gone almost too long.”

 

“And the flesh will rot and no longer be warm to receive the spark,” Kaede finished. It had been a few hours since the battle, and his body was decidedly cold already.

 

Sango shook her head. “But if his spirits here with us!… Couldn't you put him back? Something?” she asked desperately. Shippou bounced, eager for an answer.

 

Miroku and Kaede regarded each other seriously for a long moment.

 

“There could be a way, though it is dangerous. Our souls will have to stretch from our bodies for a time to find him,” Kaede said. Miroku's brows knit in determination and he nodded.

 

Sango and Shippou gasped, as well as some of the young men.

 

“But he's gone!”

 

“Kaede-sama, don't push yourself!”

 

“Please, Kaede-sama, for Kagome's sake!”

 

Kaede finished sewing Inuyasha's left arm and moved to his other wounds as Sango washed the cuts and tears out gently.

 

“We will begin after we fix his body. The form must be whole if the spark would return to it,” she said. Miroku sat back wearily. It was a long shot, but if Inuyasha hadn't moved on….it was worth it to try.

 

* * * *

 

Sesshomaru flew back to his castle, followed by Aun and Uhn carrying his followers. Rin was curious as to why Kagome-san was being taken back home with them, and Jaken was largely unsatisfied. But the decision was not up to them, and they watched their Lord carrying a human woman back tenderly in his arm.

 

Once he landed in his courtyard, Sesshomaru stalked into the hallways, allowing Aun and Uhn to take Rin and Jaken in to their own devices. He walked past several bowed servants and vassals, who all gaped at what he had brought back, but knew better than to voice an opinion.

 

“My lord!” One vassal dared to tag along at his sleeve and Sesshomaru growled over his shoulder. The vassal wilted and bowed low, his brow pressed to the hard wood boards.

 

“Will you…be requiring anything, my lord?” he shook beneath his master's gaze.

 

“Healers. And attendants. Perferably those that know their place,” he murmured. The vassal pressed his brow harder into the floorboards.

 

“Yes, Lord! It shall be done!”

 

As soon as Sesshomaru had Kagome looked after and tended to by his healers and maids, he allowed himself a private soak to wash away the battle's aftermath. He had commanded the maids to wash his Kagome Woman as soon as she was looked after, for he would not abide any one else's scent on her while she was living at his home.

 

He would be the only scent upon her from now on. Sesshomaru sank to his shoulders in the scalding water and allowed himself to close his eyes and rest. That battle had actually been an exercise in survival.

 

* * * *

 

It took another good solid hour to sew all of the open wounds covering Inuyasha's body, and several men trips to a stream to fetch fresh water to wash him with. While the miko and exterminator were busy with the more serious marks, Miroku and Shippou carefully washed the hanyou's face, and smoothed his hair back.

 

“He looks so peaceful,” Shippou sniffled, patting his idol's cheek softly. Inuyasha lay as if in repose, eyes closed gently.

 

Miroku sighed and stretched his right hand, the beads no longer tied across the palm but tied over his wrist. He shook his wrist and jangled the beads, looking exhausted.

“He may look it over there, but on the other side, he's raving,” Miroku murmured. His tired eyes were lined with dark circles of exhaustion and Sango looked worriedly at him.

 

First the battle with Naraku then a very major spiritual walking. Would her fiancée be able to endure? Kaede's brow twitched as she washed the soles of Inuyasha's feet, and moved to dress the body once more. Sango helped her retie the hakama and spread his haori under his bare torso. He felt so cold, yet he looked alive….it was a frightening contrast and Sango moved to the side to allow Miroku to sit across from Kaede, one on either side of Inuyasha so they could begin.

 

Shippou ran and leaped to hide in Sango's lap as the sun beat down on the group. Yet it offered to no warmth. They felt as cold as Inuyasha's still form and the kitsune was frightened to think that.

 

“What are they doing, Sango?” Shippou whispered. Sango traced his bandage carefully, eyes somber and tear-filled.

 

“I don't fully understand. But I think they can hear Inuyasha's spirit.” She whispered. It would be miraculous if they could achieve the bare minimum of what she did understand. Could anyone…do something like that? Even a fully trained priest or miko?

 

Kaede and Miroku pressed their palms together and regarded each other seriously. They then pressed their hands to Inuyasha's chest, mentally massaging his heart though their fingers lay still. They stilled their spirits and closed their eyes.

 

Then they reached out beyond. Their bodies did not breathe or move, but stayed kneeling as if guarding the hanyou's corpse. Sango and Shippou shivered and watched nervously.

 

The young men from Kaede's village looked around fearfully, feeling the cold even as the sun beat down warmly.

 

“What is that?…What are they doing?” whispers met Sango's ears. Shippou sniffled and looked away. One could only hope so much but what if it didn't work?

 

“Just wait, Shippou…” Sango murmured, weary in grief. “We'll see what happens.”

 

* * * *

 

Miroku floated weightlessly beside Kaede in a twisted chaotic version of the landscape their bodies sat upon. He thrust his mind's eye to reach over as far as he could go, Kaede guiding him along effortlessly. Vestiges of youkai spirits that had been slain that day howled and moaned softly. They did not stay a threat in death so the monk and miko traveled easily along, searching for a familiar wisp.

 

They followed traces of red garment and white hair around twists in the ethereal world, darting and reaching but never quite reaching.

 

`I think that may be him,' Kaede flashed to Miroku. He weightlessly nodded and the two bounded forward, far faster than they could in physical flesh.

 

A high keening met their ears sharply and their spirits quailed. But they followed even faster, following the almost dog like wail. A spirit dressed in a far more regal version of the fire rat robe drifted along, eyes wide in pain and heartache. His white hair tumbled to his feet, his ears stood proudly on top of his head, and his red kimono traced in yellow fell to the edges of his corporeal form and trailed to nothingness as he drifted. Bare traces of armour across the chest and forearms put one to mind of a warrior dog king. A shining white wakazashi stuck out of his elaborate bone-colored obi, crossed with a polished version of the Tetsusaiga. Kagome's subjugation beads shone simply across his collar, yet the link through those beads made them gleam brighter than the sun.

 

Miroku knew without looking his spiritual form also held a far more regal bearing and dress, but he didn't stop to contemplate his far more expensive and layered priest's robe or the set of three beads across his arms. His ponytail trailed longer, and at his side Kaede drifted looking like a chiseled priestess of the earth. She was garbed in an elaborate seven layered robe to rival a goddess'. Both reached for Inuyasha's wandering spirit with wide- open arms.

 

`Inuyasha….Inuyasha…' they thought in unison. The Dog King wailed and drifted to the side, eyes blank in pain. Kaede and Miroku followed him.

 

`Inuyasha….you can't move on that way,' they called. The Dog King screamed, pupils dilating.

 

Miroku was beginning to feel panic in his spirit's mind. He did not know how long their bodies could last without their souls anchoring them to life, and Inuyasha continued to elude him. That this polished and wordless dog spirit was Inuyasha was not an option to explore, as Miroku knew his friend and knew how he felt on every level. This pained spirit was their comrade and if he did not go on to his almost frozen corpse, he would have to haunt these plains forever. Having died with honor, and not having found Nirvana, he would have no other option.

 

Kaede and Miroku both thought the third option was clear. `Life. You want to live, don't you?'

 

The Dog King sobbed and hugged his chest, wide sleeves draping to the ground.

 

`You need to go back into your life bond,' the urged, holding the edges of Inuyasha's spiritual robe and pulling him the other way.

 

Inuyasha pulled away, speeding across the surreal twists of the afterlife.

 

`Miroku, we must go back!' Kaede flashed. Her good eye narrowed as she turned away from Inuyasha.

 

`No! I don't know if he'll still be here…' Miroku begged.

 

The landscape bent and twisted again, catching folds of the monk and miko's ethereal clothing. And pinned them unless they kept moving. Things were getting too dicey. They had to hurry.

 

`Inuyasha! This way! Inuyasha!'

 

The Dog King spirit once calling to that name, drifted on, not knowing what he was looking for, but sure those two did not hold it. He did not know why his heart had broken, or why he was here. He needed something, and didn't know how to get to it.

 

Those two spirits were annoying enough, but now he bumped into something far much taller and older. Inuyasha looked up, mouth agape.

 

“You don't belong here, son,” the other dog spirit growled, spiritual form tall as a mountain and twice as strong. Inuyasha opened his mouth and spoke once in the afterlife.

 

“Father?…..”

 

* * * *

 

Kagome lay in a deep sleep in a wide low bed. She was housed in an elaborate guest chamber in Sesshomaru's palace, quite near to his personal apartments. He had checked in on her an hour ago, and left her to her own devices. Humans really were so frail, and needed to sleep to gain any strength. Why was he so taken with this woman then? He would need time to think, and give her time to heal.

This Sesshomaru could be a benevolent lord if he chose the time to be.

 

Kagome's heart and mind were in a deep dream, wandering through dips and bends of a chaotic landscape. It reminded her of some of the freakier paintings she had had to study in school, so why she was walking through them now, she didn't know.

 

She was looking for someone…someone she loved and had been taken from her. Kagome's dream mind tried to tell her brain she would be all right, if she continued walking where she was and didn't wake up. Kagome's body lay peacefully, breathing slowly in and out.

 

But in her dream, she was anxious to find her loved one. Where was he? Why was he gone? Why did he leave her? Inuyasha, you're an idiot!

Why did it hurt to think of him then? The jewel wouldn't have granted a wish to bring him back, it didn't work that way. His body was still and his soul was gone. Why did she feel horribly wrong about that conclusion then?

 

Kagome walked by a pond and stopped when she heard splashing. Those gasps and moans were familiar to her. Dog ears broke up out of the water's surface, once in awhile, followed by a familiar face and snowy white hair.

 

`Inuyasha!' So that's where he went. Kagome ran across the dreamscape and knelt down, tugging at her lover's outstretched hand.

 

`Kagome! Help me…help me come back!' he cried out, desperate to stay above water. Kagome nodded and pulled on his arms. The water looked and felt like water, but sucked at her lover slowly, tugging him ever downward like jell-o.

 

They both grunted and cried, struggling to reach the other. His hands felt so cold in her dream….

 

`Inuyasha…if you leave me, I'll never forgive you!' Kagome thought desperately. Inuyasha laughed despite the circumstances and tugged on her hands.

 

“I don't want to, believe me! Help me come to you….”

 

Kagome awoke, startled and heartbroken as she tugged her lover out of the murky water, and into her arms. The room she was in was unfamiliar, and there was nobody beside her. The reality of what Naraku had done before she had destroyed him resounded in her mind and Kagome hugged her knees, weeping.

 

* * * *

 

“Son, you need to move on. You're fit enough to house your true self,” InunoTaisho snuffed, his words telling Inuyasha his soul could revisit his body.

 

“But…Father…. there is so much I want to ask….” Inuyasha begged. His father's spiritual armour and kimono were far more elaborate and beautiful, and his presence had all the feel of an Inu God. Was this being here truly his own father?

 

The God spirit who had been his father smiled as brightly as the sun. His fangs could have swallowed warriors whole, but his smile was warm for his second child.

 

`I do not wish to hold you to death merely to speak with me. You have a future if you move now,' InunoTaisho urged.

 

`But…' Inuyasha's spirit panicked. `I don't know how….I'm lost….'

 

“….Inuyasha!….Inuyasha!…” a voice as dear to him as his own heart broke through the afterlife and Inuyasha sighed happily. “If you leave me, I'll never forgive you!”

 

Both inu spirits laughed soundlessly.

 

`I think it's been settled. Hold on, son. This may hurt alittle….' InunoTaisho shoved his son's spirit hard across the twisted afterlife landscape.

 

Inuyasha tumbled over and over and hit something hard. He felt so much pain as if he died again…. Everything hurt so much. He smacked the object with enough force to flatten his spirit. And lay there in pain.

 

Sango jumped as Miroku opened his eyes with a large gasp, inhaling gulps of air readily. Kaede shook her head and came to, far more composed. The two looked down expectantly at Inuyasha's body as Sango and Shippou hurried close.

 

“Did it…work?” Sango dared to ask. Everyone watched Inuyasha's face, not moving.

 

After a few minutes of silence and stillness, and as the group started to grieve, Inuyasha's back twisted, arching the body up on it's shoulders, mouth and eyes wide. The eyes slit in pain and the body rested back. But the sole difference was that the chest was moving up and down on it's own. The fingers twitched. The eyes opened. Inuyasha wearily regarded the tears on his friend's face.

 

“Inuyasha!” Miroku called fondly. Sango rubbed Inuyasha's hands, trying to warm him. He still felt so cold…

 

“Inuyasha!” Shippou wailed, hugging a free arm of the hanyou. Kaede wiped her eye, smiling widely.

 

Inuyasha regarded them all numbly, eyes filled with intense longing and pain.

 

“Kagome…?” his mouth slurred before he fainted.

 

End for now.

 

Yes there will be another chapter after this one! Please don't worry. As you see, I wrote what happened with Naraku for a reason. Maybe it's not apparent now, but I did have this chapter planned since last month. I would never leave you hanging as I hinted at in chapter 11.

What was with the spirits appearances? Well I guess I was going for a glimpse of the `true self' here. And InunoTaisho, good stuff.

Kagome's heart knows he's alive from the dream link maybe, but the mind and waking thoughts are a cruel mistress to endure. We'll see what happens, won't we?

 

Like it? Didn't like it? Had a thought to discuss? Please review me. And if you can include emails, I like talking to you reviewers. I like to make it show that you all matter to me.

 

I state again, I had this chapter planned weeks ago. I hope it measures up.

 

Very sincerely yours penpaninu 9/25/05