InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kagome: Goddess of Japan ❯ The Woods of Kagome ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Kagome: Goddess of Japan

Chapter one: the woods of Kagome.

Authors' note: I had a reviewer ask who will be paired up in this
story. Sigh. This story is not a romance. (Although, I hope to
include a couple of romantic moments.) If you want to a "happily
ever after" story, this isn't it.

Heavy Sigh.

If anything, it's a tragedy.


Begin . . .



The morning of the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
Kagome's first arrival thru the Old Bone Eating well.

At the old well . . . just before the dawn . . .


There is no well house and the area around it looks unchanged
even though centuries have passed. However, the trees around the
well are larger and more luxurious than they have ever been.

Around the well is a gathering of ghosts and spirits. They are
floating and circling around a person that is floating over the
well.


Floating in midair over the well is Kagome.

She is sitting, her legs crossed, in Inu-yasha's favorite
fashion. She is nude, but her long, two meter long, hair flows
over her body concealing her breasts and groin area. Her hair
moves, via magic, in and around her body, covering her. Her eyes
glisten, strangely, in the low light.

She looks older than she was during the quest for the Jewel of
the Four Souls. She appears to be perhaps twenty-five years old,
an adult fully mature woman.

IT is early in the day, just before dawn. The predawn light is
spreading over the eastern horizon.

Kagome waves her hand.

The ghost of the Wolf Demon Kouga appears. "Kagome." He breathes,
as his eyes travel hotly down her body.

Her lips twitch into a thin smile. "You are always the same,
Kouga."

"I still love you." He replies.

Kagome nods. "And, I respect your feelings, my old friend, but,
as you know, I do not feel the same."

The ghost of Kouga sighs in sadness. He smiles. "We've found the
spirit of Naraku again." His fangs glisten, "My tribe lives and
grows, and he is still just a rabbit, just food for us."

Kagome lets out a small sigh, "you still wish to continue to
torture and eat him?"

"Of course." Kouga replies, in a huff. "My dying curse forces us
to kill and eat him in order for my tribe to grow strong."

Kagome holds her face steady, as she thinks, ‘But, the last time
I meet Naraku's soul, I think, he, finally, is reformed. But, if
I release him from Kouga's curse, then what will happen to
Kouga's tribe? His curse has grown in power over the centuries,
if I break it, something bad will happen to his tribe, I know
this. Do I owe it to Naraku to free him from his curse?'


She shakes her head, mentally, as she finishes, ‘NO. The good of
the group is more important the good of the individual. If I free
Naraku, I hurt Kouga's tribe. They count for more than he does.'

She sighs.

"Kagome?" Kouga asks.

‘Is she sad? I would have thought that she'd love to hear about
Naraku.' He thinks.

Kagome waves her hand, dismissing Kouga and the ghosts. "No,
Kouga. I'm not sad. It's just another decision that hurts
someone."

Kouga blinks, obviously not understanding. ‘I hate it when she
reads my mind.' He thinks.

"Please go home, Kouga, daybreak is here. Go home and have fun
with Naraku."

The ghosts bow to her and they vanish.

‘Today.' Kagome thinks. ‘Today, it begins.'

She floats to the edge of the well. She unfolds her legs and
stands on the ground.

Kagome stands facing the eastern horizon.

The sun begins to come over the horizon. The rosy light of dawn
begins to spread across the sky.

Kagome bows to the sun. She clamps her hands together.

"Amaterasu, Thank you for the gift of another day." She says as
she rises.

The sounds of bronze bells ringing in the new day begin to echo
in the distance.

She bows again. "I will make this day better than the day before,
Goddess of the Sun."


She conceals a grimace, as she thinks, ‘today, though, one will
have to look, far in the future before that statement comes true.
Because today, actions that will change the planet will begin.'

She starts to walk away from the well. She begins to glow,
softly, as she thinks, ‘I can feel my power begin to grow. People
are waking up, and praying to me. Because of today's celebration,
even my worshipers in the Americas are staying up today, praying
to me. And the ones in Africa and the middle of Asia, will be
waking up early. The sun is hitting the plants and I can feel
them grow.'

Kagome walks through the tress of the forest. Every so often
she'll stop and talk to a tree, or a bush or one of the
squirrels, even one of the spiders hanging on a dew-covered web.

‘Even my woods can feel it.' She thinks. ‘Everything is calm and
stable, but, there is an undercurrent.'

A fox pokes her head from around a bush. She yips.

Kagome smiles and bends down. The fox steps aside and her pups
run to her. Kagome pets the three pups, plays with them, as she
talks to their mother.

Kagome stands up and continues to walk back to her house.


At the top of a hill, she looks down upon the city of Edo.
(Although, throughout the Japanese Empire and the World, the city
is called Kagome's City.)

‘Today, more than most, the differences strike me.' She thinks.

"No skyscrapers." She whispers, "I've saved the city from that,
at least." She looks out at her city.

It is a much different city . . .

There are no large buildings. The tallest building in the city is
a seven-story pagoda, her major temple in the city. The trees
that line every street and circle every building hide most of the
buildings in the city. What few buildings that are visible are
pagodas (temples to her and other gods) and a few buildings next
the embassies of the European Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

Kagome can hear the bronze bells in the pagodas still ring out
the new day.

She takes a deep breath, and smiles, ‘the pollution, even with
all the extra people in the city, is still minor.'


She can feel vibrations under her feet. ‘The subway, and all the
other mass transit systems in the city are being stressed today.
Everyone will be moving to line up to watch the Anniversary
Parade. I must remember to ask if everything is moving safely. It
feels like it is, but, it's best to be sure.'



She nods to herself, ‘hmmm . . . it will be interesting to see
how the subway system copes with the stress. Problems will be
brought to light, so they will be fixed. And, that will help in
the planning for the new underground growth.'

(See authors' note for more about Kagome's Edo)


Kagome, bows to the city, turns and continues her traditional
early morning walk.

After about fifteen minutes, the woods change subtly, from a wood
that appears untouched by humans into a manicured wood.

A large, three meters tall, wall of shrubs appears.

Standing in front of the wall is an old woman. She appears to be
full Japanese, and about age seventy. She is wearing a complex
kimono, with full facial makeup and hairdo. (Something that would
take an hour, at least, to apply.)

She is not looking straight at Kagome. Her face is turned to the
right.

Kagome smiles, "granddaughter."

"Grandmother." The old woman bows, deeply. Her right hand reaches
out. In her palm is a small case. Draped over her arm is a thin
silk-like kimono.

Kagome bows to her granddaughter, reaches out and picks up the
case from her palm. She flicks it open. In the soft felt is a
pair of contact lenses, a pair of massy, bejeweled pendant-like
earrings, and a massy bejeweled necklace.

Kagome inserts her contact lens. She thinks, ‘these are soo much
better than the mirrored sunglasses I had to wear for a couple of
centuries.'

She sighs.

"Grandmother?" Kagome's very old granddaughter asks, she is still
bent over.

"Nothing, Hoshi, my dear. I was just thinking about how much
better these lenses are to my old glasses. You can stand up now.
Bending over like that has to be hurting you."

Hoshi stands up, a smile on her lips. "I'm not that old yet,
Grandmother. I won't know about the glasses. You were wearing the
lenses before I began to work as your assistant forty years ago."

Kagome nods. "Yes, Kazuo finally developed them about ten years
before then."

Kagome smiles. "The day that I could look a person into the eyes
and not hurt them, was one of the happiest days I've ever had."

Hoshi licks her lips and nods. She thinks, ‘yes, I can understand
that.' Her eyes flick to Kagome's eyes as Kagome begins to put on
her earring.

(An author's note 2)

Hoshi thinks, ‘I once heard a western legend that said that the
eyes are the windows into a soul. But, the Goddess Kagome's eyes,
don't work like that. Her eyes are like a traditional story. Her
eyes reflect your soul.'

She purses her lips. ‘Anybody that looks into her eyes, when she
isn't wearing those lenses, will have their soul reflected back
to them. And, if they have anything weighing on their conscience,
that will be highlighted and you are forced to deal with it.'

Hoshi conceals a shudder.

Kagome's eyes flick to Hoshi. ‘She thinking about my eyes again.
I can tell that even without reading her mind. The first time
someone looked into my eyes and then covered their face and
started to cry, was one of the worst days of my life.'

She looks at the lens holder. ‘Ever since that day, if anyone
looked into my eyes, their conscience will be weighed, and if you
have anything bad on it, you will punish yourself. Almost any
person that looks into my eyes will scream, as they feel the
weight of their sins. Only a person with a pure soul, or a person
that is totally amoral and as such, has no conscience, can look
me straight into the eyes and not be changed.'


She sighs, as she thinks, ‘still, the powers of my eyes are
useful. In criminal cases, all I have to do is remove my lens and
have the accused look at me. If the accused is guilty, he will
scream out the truth. My eyes force that, although those amoral
human beasts do, occasionally, pass that test.'

‘But, for centuries I had to wear mirrored sunglasses, to protect
my family, loved ones, and friends. And becoming free from those
glasses is one of the happiest days of my life.'

A small smile appears on her face. ‘Ghosts and most demons are
immune to that power, so, I began my late night walks with the
ghosts, as a way to meet people, without hiding behind my
glasses.'

"Is there any last minute change in my schedule?" Kagome asks, as
she fiddles with her earrings.

"No, Grandmother." Hoshi replies instantly, "Why did you ask
that? Today has been scheduled for years!"

Her eyes narrow, "your husband was just called into a security
meeting. I thought that was scheduled, though. Is something
wrong?"

Kagome purses her lips, "you'll see in a couple of seconds." She
places the necklace around her neck. And, then, her hair
magically lifts making it easy for Kagome's telekinetic powers to
attach the small wires that connect the two earrings and the
necklace together.

"Yori?" Kagome asks, after she flicks a small, almost an
invisible switch on her right-earring.

"Yes, Mother." Yori, a mature male voice sounds in the earring.

(An author's note 3)

"Just testing the connection." Her right-earring is a small cell
phone.

She flicks another switch on her left-earring. She thinks,
telepathically, ‘Sayuri?'

‘Yes, Mother.' Sayuri replies telepathically. Her voice is that
of a mature woman.

Kagome's hand lingers on the left-earring, as she thinks, ‘It
seems to be working correctly, this time. I know that the
telepathic technology is still in the prototype stage, but, I
thought that it won't be this buggy.'

"Yori."

"Yes, Mother."

"The ghosts of the city have warned me that a suicide strike team
is in the city and is preparing to assassinate me today."

"Mother!" Yori calls out.

"Grandmother!" Hoshi calls out, as she almost drops the silk
kimono that is in her arms.


The end chapter 1.




authors' note:

1. Since Kagome doesn't want large above ground buildings, the
people of her city dig into the ground, most of them live
underground. With, of course, the proper bracing for earthquakes,
and she does have magic/tech that detects earthquakes to get
people out in time. (Also, there are a lot of people that live on
board ships in the bay.)

The many large parks in the city are always full of people. (If
you get cabin-fever, you go up and have a good time. This is
normal and expected. Your boss will understand. He'd better, the
last time some stopped a person from walking around, kagome
sentenced him to being placed above ground, but in a featureless
room. After a while, once he got cabin fever, she let him out.)

And, it should be noted, the population of Edo/Tokyo is a lot
less than it is in the real world. (A lot of the bureaucracy is
spread out throughout the world. Kagome's superior communication
network means that she can break up the bureaucracy into small
groups, and they can use the communication net to work together.)

Fyi: the first telephone was created about 1600. And Kagome made
improving the communication network a priority.

2. A traditional Japanese legend. The eyes reflect the soul of
the person looking into the eyes. They are not windows into a
soul, but, simply reflect whatever is being projected into them.


3. The "Mother" statement. As a rule, Kagome wants the people
that work with her on a daily basis NOT to call her The Goddess
Kagome. But, the people that work with her want to call her by
some title. (Calling her "Kagome," they feel is disrespectful.)
So, as time has pasted, the people that work with Kagome have
decided to call her "Mother." So, for her household, it is her
title. It's like "yes, sir" or "yes, ma'am"

Her own children and grandchildren also call her mother, so, to
someone that doesn't know who is who, walking next to Kagome and
seeing everyone call her "mother" can get weird. Kagome and her
household, though, know who is who, so it's not a problem.

General Author's note: expect the chapters for this opening story
to be pretty short. Try to think about the back-story and keeping
that right is a challenge.

If you have questions, just ask.

Since this is a huge project, I'll going to try something new.

I am creating a website for this story. On this website, I'll
post some of my notes, explanations. (I
do plan, that during the story itself, these notes will be used,
but, the storyline might hide some of
the details.)

The site has a message board, and a chat room, so, fans of the
story can post messages, etc. I do
plan on visiting the site, at least once a day and I will reply
to the messages on the site.

(I have been slacking off of responding to reviewers. I am sorry
about that. I fully intend to
better respond to reviews and comments on this story. Which is
one of the reasons why I'm
trying this site, to see if this will help me.)

The site is at: (remove the spaces for the link)

groups. msn. com/ jeffsfanfic

On it, right now, sept 14, I've got posted a rough time line, and
rough maps showing the growth
of Japan's empire. There is still a lot of work to do on the
site. I'm planning on posting additional
notes as time passes.

Thank you for reading
jeff shelton