InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ It's an Oracle's Life ❯ Prologue: It's an Oracle's Life ( Prologue )

A/N - well, as you can probably tell, this is my first foray into the land of fan fic in general and Inuyasha fan fic in particular. so, umm... without anything else to say -- I hope you enjoy

(japanese translations are at the bottom)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything remotely similar...

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The young apprentice sighed as she looked at the sight in front of her. A large shrine, and in it, on a raised platform covered with beautiful multi colored pillows, a woman was sitting. Her hair was white with age, but her face was smooth. Her eyes shone with wisdom, and a small yellow circle above her brows gleamed almost pink in the light of the fire. It was the woman who made the young apprentice sigh. She was the Oracle, the wisest and oldest woman in Japan, even if she didn't look it.

The Oracle looked at the young apprentice, her brown eyes full of sympathy, but her voice was hard. “Kagome,” she started, but the girl interrupted her, for once not caring if she was rude.

“Iye, Oracle-sama. I'm only here because Kaede-sama asked me to bring you these.” Kagome said and thrust the basket in her hands towards the Oracle.

 

“And why not, girl?” the old woman asked her, knowing full well the answer she would get. And not only because she was the Oracle and knew everything, but also because she and the girl had been at it since the girl turned ten and the Oracle told her she had more power in her than the average Miko, and that she could become an Oracle herself. Every week the village Miko, Kaede, would send Kagome up the path towards the Oracle's shrine so the she could convince Kagome to begin her training as an Oracle instead of a simple Miko. Every week the oracle would ask the girl if she came to begin her training, and every week Kagome would answer that she could not be an Oracle, for one reason or another. Normally the Oracle would be easy on her. She did not want to take a reluctant apprentice, after all. But there was no time left. She couldn't be so lenient with the girl anymore.

 

“Because…” Kagome started answering, stumbling around words, trying to find another good reason that wasn't `because I don't want to'.

“Well… I can not be an Oracle, Oracle-sama. I hardly have power as a Miko, so how can I be an Oracle? I am too weak.”

 

The Oracle shook her head. Really, she loved the girl, but she hid herself too much in her pleasant world of denial. It was time for her to come back to reality.

 

“Do you call me a liar, girl? Or maybe you presume to think I don't know what I'm talking about?”

The young girl's eyes were wide with shock. And surprise. She disrespected the Oracle, and feared the punishment that no doubt awaited her.

“Gomen nasai, Oracle-sama! I didn't mean to—“

“It matters not what you meant, child. But remember; if I say you have the power to become an Oracle, you have the power to become an Oracle. I don't know what made you think you are weak, but I assure you, your spiritual powers are as strong, maybe ever stronger, than my own. Understood?”

 

Kagome nodded slowly, not sure of how to accept the fate she has been avoiding for the past five years.

“Good. I want to see you here tomorrow morning. Tell Kaede to find another girl to train. Bring your things with you, too. We don't have much time left.”

 

Kagome blinked away tears as she walked the path from the Oracle's shrine back to the village. She did not want to become the Oracle! She never even wanted to become a Miko! She was only fifteen, and she didn't understand what made her so different than the other girls in town. All she wanted was to be normal - to find a normal husband and have lots of normal babies and lead a peaceful, normal life. Well, as peaceful as it got in the Feudal Era, anyway.

 

She didn't realize she stopped walking till she found herself leaning against a tree - the tree where she and her best friend used to play in. The realization only brought back the tears - both Kagome and Sango were girls who hated what waited for them in the future - for Kagome, being the village Miko, and for Sango, being the wife. Sango was a `free spirit', and had always wanted to become a warrior, just like her father had been, but everyone just laughed at her when she mentioned that. `A woman warrior? Hah! There's a reason a woman is kept in the house.' That, and `Who would ever want to hire a woman Samurai?' were the usual responses she got. But Sango escaped her dreaded fate. She ran off a year ago, and vowed that she would come back as a great warrior, just like her father. Sango had offered Kagome to escape with her, but Kagome chose to stay. As much as the separation from her friend hurt, she could not leave her home, she cold not bear to part with all the familiar things that surrounded her.

 

A tear rolled down on her cheek, and another, and another. Before she could help it, Kagome was sobbing quietly into the bark of the tree. She could do nothing other than cry, so cry she did. She made sure any traces of her tears were gone, though, before getting back on the path and walking to the village that has been her home for the past fifteen years. After all, she should be happy for having the chance to become one of the most powerful women in Japan. Should be.

 

~*~

 

Intensive training managed to turn Kagome from the hearty, cheerful girl she was to a calm and composed `lady', in less than a year. At the day that marked a year since Kagome became the Oracle's apprentice, the Oracle tattooed Kagome's forehead, painting a small yellow orb like her own, only Kagome's had six jagged little rays coming out of it, like a sun.

 

The shape didn't really matter. It was the color and location that named her the Oracle - yellow and in the middle of her forehead. It was not a normally used shape - most oracles used to have an upside-down triangle. But then, most oracles were dead. The Oracle race, which had never been very prominent, was practically gone now, with only two Oracles still alive.

 

~*~

 

The next morning Kagome awoke to find herself alone in the shrine. She knew it would happen - Midoriko, the Oracle, had often hinted that her time was coming.

How she knew that, Kagome did not know. An oracle could see into the future, yes, but Kagome never managed to get a glimpse at her own. When she asked Midoriko about it, still an apprentice, the Oracle answered, “do not worry about it, it is completely normal,” and refused to talk any more about the subject. Kagome just thought that Midoriko didn't want to talk about the fact that while she knew what would happen to anyone in the world, even those not born yet, even those ages away, she did not know what would happen to her. Kagome herself didn't like to think of it much.

But then—how did Midoriko-sama knew she was going to die?

 

And why did it have to be now?!

 

Kagome could find no answer. And she had duty to do. She had duty to the village, she had duty to the world. She was the only oracle left. But first, she had to go to the village, to tell Kaede that Midoriko is dead, and to plan her ceremony with the old Miko.

 

It was just before she left the shrine that she noticed a pink gleam coming from Midoriko's now abandoned futon. Slowly, she walked towards it, almost reverently. Something inside her told her that this gleam, wherever it came from, was bound to be important.

 

On the small pillow, where the older Oracle's head used to rest, was a small pink sphere, glistening in the sunlight, just like the small circle of Midoriko's forehead. Kagome knelt before it and took it in her hand. She knew that she would keep the jewel with her at all time. Just the thought of being without it was enough to give her a sense of foreboding.

 

~*~

 

There was someone sitting under her favouite tree. Sleeping, more like. He looked… regal. His white hair and strange markings named him Youkai, or maybe even a Kami. His white clothes looked like the softest silk in Japan. She never knew clothes could be so soft. They were beautiful… and covered with blood. He was wounded! She looked sadly at the vegetables in her hands. He needed them more, she decided. She offered it to him.

“Do not do such a foolish thing.” He said. “Human food does not suit me.”

 

Maybe he needed meat? She didn't know what Kami ate, after all. The river was full of fish, and that was how the villagers found her, struggling to keep the fish from escaping her tiny hands, just like her Otou taught her. “I knew it!” one of them yelled. “So you were the culprit!” another grabbed her by her yukata, but she didn't say anything. She didn't even yell when he slapped her. Only a small whimper escaped her mouth as he let her go, and she stumbled back towards the woods, trying to think of another way to get food for the Kami under her tree.

 

Perhaps she had been looking at it the wrong way. Maybe he was vegetarian, and just didn't like mushrooms? She tried bringing him some wheat heads, or something that looked like it, but- “I don't need it. I don't need anything.”

 

But it was obvious he did need something, because he was wounded and could not even get up.

 

“What happened to the wound on your face?” he asked her, not bothering to look at her, but she stopped. It had been a long while since someone asked her what happened to her, how she was doing, or simply treated her nicely. The wound was a result of the beating she got from the villagers when they caught her in the river, but she did not tell him that. In fact, she did not tell him anything. She had not said a word since she saw her whole family die. She wondered if he would be angry at her for not answering, wondered if he would strike her. She knew he could kill her without putting much effort to it. He was a Kami, after all. Or at least a Youkai.

 

“If you do not wish to speak, that's fine.” He said, and she made a small sound of gratitude that soon turned into a grin.

“Why are you so happy?” he asked her. “I just asked what happened.” She gave him one last smile, and, leaving what she brought him behind just in case, she started hopping back to the village, to the rundown shack which was hers. Maybe there was something he would like there. She had stored some food to the winter. She hoped she would find something for him to eat. He needed to be strong.

 

There was a man in her hut - no, Youkai - she corrected herself, noticing the pointy ears and strange clothings. He was going through her things, and she hid behind the wooden plank that served as a door, looking at him. She continued looking as another Youkai came and killed the man. Her eyes widened when she heard the other Youkai tell his wolves that if they want, they could eat as many villagers as they wished.

 

She started running to the woods, to the wounded Kami. Whether it was to warn him or in hopes that he would protect her, she was not sure. She could see him in her mind's eye, though, his white hair flowing in the wind, turning around from her and walking away. She ran faster, the tears in her eyes blurring her view. She didn't see the root on the ground before her tiny leg got caught in it and she fell. I hope he is alright. She thought. And then, when the wolves closed in on her - Otou, okaa… I'll be with you soon.

 

~*~

 

Kagome awoke screaming when she first felt the wolves' jaws on her skin. This dream was nothing like the usual trance she had when having a Vision. In opposed to her Oracle Visions, that were like watching a scene from the side, and everything was always fuzzy and muffled and covered with white fog, this dream was… alive. She was the girl; she felt everything that happened to her.

 

Her hand caught at the necklace at her neck. The necklace she had made to hold the tama left behind on Midoriko's futon. Kagome had a feeling that it had something to do with her dream. As she closed her hands on the jewel, a Vision came to her.

 

In a world of white fog, the Youkai from her dream, the one in white, was towering over the body of a dead girl. The girl she had been in that dream. The youkai took out his sword, slashing at the air above the girl. A pretty stupid and useless thing to do, in Kagome's mind.

 

She watched as he returned his sword to its sheath, and pulled the girl closer to him with one hand.

Then the girl's body stirred. She took a breath, her eyelids fluttering, then opening completely. The dead girl was, apparently, very much alive. And somehow, the youkai did it.

 

Kagome could hear a muffled exclamation that came from an ugly green toad youkai, who stood near the Youkai in White.

“She has revived! Anno… Sesshoumaru-sama… Sesshoumaru-sama has saved that girl using Tenseiga?”

Both the girl and the White Youkai - Sesshoumaru, as the toad called him - were ignoring said toad, who continued with his annoying voice. “Sesshoumaru-sama has saved a human?”

 

At that point, Kagome decided also to ignore the toad, and watched the girl and youkai more closely. Well, the youkai. There was a reason she had dreamed of this. And she wanted to know how he did that, how he managed to bring the girl back from the dead. She wanted to know the youkai's secret.

 

The little girl followed as the youkai left.

 

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Japanese Translations:

Iye - no

Youkai - demon

Kami - god

Otou - more intimate form of father

Okaa - more intimate form of mother

Tama - jewel

Anno - something akin to “ummm”