InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Kikyo's lonely journey ❯ A warrior's promise ( Chapter 22 )

Disclaimer: Most of the characters in this story are the actual work of Rumiko Takahashi. I do not own them in any way.

 

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Chapter 21: A warrior's promise

 

It was a while before the rest of the gang finally did decide to venture back into the room. Still, the spectacle that greeted them when they entered froze them in place and all they could do was gape stupidly, which caused both miko and child to burst out in a fit of giggles.

 

"S... Susune you're..." started Kagome, hardly believing what she was seeing.

 

"... Alive?!" finished Sango equally surprised.

 

"As you can see," replied the child wryly.

 

"The hell is with your attitude twerp! Do you have any idea how worried we were!" snapped Inuyasha angrily.

 

"Inuyasha..." cut in Kagome warningly and the hanyou promptly stiffened and shut up.

 

"Sorry about that Susune. But Inuyasha's right, we were quite worried about you. What on earth happened to you? How did you survive?" continued the schoolgirl in a much gentler voice than Inuyasha.

 

"It's a long story... but do you think we could get out of here first? I kind of miss the sun," answered the child tiredly.

 

"That is absolutely fascinating," said Miroku from behind the group. "I've never seen a creature quite like this before."

 

They all turned around to see him bent over the bloody remains of Kuro. "Keh! Only someone as twisted as you could ever find something like this interesting," spat Inuyasha in disdain.

 

"No, I mean it. Kuro was quite literally half human and half youkai, see?" insisted the monk.

 

And indeed, they all had to admit Miroku was right about his diagnosis. The body in itself looked to have been made of two different bodies that would have been split apart in the middle by a sword. The left side was human while the right side was distinctly youkai. It was definitively a sickening mix, especially with the right arm severed at the elbow thanks to Susune's earlier blow.

 

"I do not know how the youkai composing Kuro was named... but the human was named Nesumi... and she was a student at the Fujirawa temple over fifty years ago," confessed Kikyo somberly.

 

"Did you know her?" asked Sango.

 

"Yes, she was a fellow student. During our first assignment, she was attacked by the youkai we were pursuing. I could have saved her... but I was so nervous that I faltered at the last second and the arrow that should have blown the youkai to bits... only took his arm off. Thanks to that, he managed to take Nesumi down with him... and this creature was born," explained the miko, guilt and pain lacing her voice.

 

"Kikyo-sama, it's normal to be nervous in front of an opponent. I myself broke down completely the first time I used my sword remember?" comforted Susune.

 

"I suppose you're right Susune," smiled the miko. "But still I would like... to give her a proper burial. As a fellow student I feel it's the least I can do for her."

 

"Are you sure about this Kikyo?" asked Sango, her expression conveying something only the two women could understand.

 

"Yes. I know it may sound strange but... I have the feeling that if Nesumi hadn't been so bitter, the two of us might have been friends," she admitted.

 

"Kikyo-sama... I would be honored if you would allow me to lead the proceedings," offered the monk formally.

 

"You have my permission Miroku," agreed the miko.

 

******

 

"As you have asked, I have placed Nesumi's ashes in this... urn," said the monk, handing the miko a plastic container taken from Kagome's backpack.

 

The thing was normally used by the schoolgirl to carry food and as such, was hardly fit for a funeral urn, but it was the only thing they could come up with that could contain their former enemy's remains. But seeing as it was only a temporary measure, the Kikyo didn't object to the oddness of the arrangement.

 

"Thank you Miroku-sama. Until we can bury her fittingly, I will be hanging on to this," said the miko, gratefully accepting the offered pot.

 

"Well, now that this is out of the way, I think someone has a story to tell," cut in Inuyasha, looking knowingly at Susune.

 

"I suppose it's only fair considering how much you guys must've worried," smiled the ten years old a little sheepishly. "But truth be told, I really thought I was a goner."

 

--Flashback--

 

Stone walls whizzed past Susune and the puppet as the two plummeted down the pit. Still, the girl had more urgent things to do right now than worry about the fact that she was falling to her death: One of the creature's tendrils was currently crushing her windpipe and quite effectively choking her. Frantically, she stroke the creature with her sword, trying to make it let go, but the thing did not seem to feel any of her stabs at all.

 

Busy with her struggle, the child did not witness that their path of descent had brought them dangerously close to the stone wall. It came as no surprise then when Susune suddenly felt something slice deeply into her right cheek, causing her to wince in pain. Reflexively, she jerked her head to the other side and it once again altered their trajectory, sending her and her opponent crashing into the opposite wall, where she hit her shoulder. Opening her mouth to cry out, her voice abruptly left her as they both hit water at this very moment.

 

It felt like she had just hit a brick wall. The shock was so great that it paralyzed her lungs, which was what saved her life because it prevented her from swallowing water. Such was not the fate of the shadow demon beneath her however because she felt the pressure around her throat disappear as the creature sunk to the bottom, quite obviously dead. She herself was not in any better shape as black dots began dancing in front of her eyes. Only a desperate reflex of survival made her kick her legs weakly and propel herself toward what she hoped was the surface.

 

An eternity seemed to pass before she finally did pierce the surface of the underground lake. She then opened her mouth to suck in a more than needed breath but only managed to take in a very small amount as her lungs were still blocked from the impact. Again she tried, frantically, desperately to breath and stay afloat at the same time and, just as she was about sink, she felt her chest relax begin functioning again.

 

Words could not describe how good it felt to fill her lungs with air. She gasped, coughed, spat, panted until at long last she was able to think clearly once again. Having thus taken care of her more pressing need, she slowly began to take in her surroundings.

 

The first thing that caught her attention was that she could see, which was a definite plus. A strange kind of moss that grew on the walls produced an eerie greenish light that allowed her to distinguish at least part of her immediate surroundings.

 

From what she could gather, the lake she had fallen into stretched quite some way into the darkness. Not knowing exactly how far it went, the girl decided to examine the wall on which the moss grew instead. The water being icy cold, it was becoming increasingly urgent for her to find a way out of this place. But then, as she extended her hand toward the wall to touch it, something strange caught her attention: She could not see her fingers at all.

 

"What on earth?" she mused in surprise.

 

To be sure, she took her hand and placed it half an inch from her face and even went so far as to close her eyes... and still she could see the greenish light emanating from the wall. There was only one possible explanation for this particular phenomenon.

 

"This is... an aura?" she murmured, bewildered.

 

But what sort of aura could possibly grow on a stone wall. And what's more, how on earth could she see it when every other were disrupted by the fuyouheki field surrounding the caves? The question was indeed a good one, but definitively not one that needed an answer right away. What she needed now was to get out of the water and warm herself. So far though, short of passing through the wall, she could not see any way out of this.

 

"Passing through the wall?" she suddenly said, her eyebrows shooting up as an idea formed in her head.

 

She had assumed at first that the green light had been moss growing on the wall while in fact it turned out to be an aura. Auras however did not grow on rocks, meaning that the thing was not growing on the stone... but passing through it somehow. So if she could find the opening then there was a slight chance for her to be home free.

 

Encouraged by her reasoning, she started feeling the wall with her good hand as carefully as she could and as high as she could. Finally, after about a minute of searching, she found what she was looking for. There was a slight opening in the rock. From her position, she was unable to figure out how big it was exactly, but it was still better than nothing.

 

Assuring her grip with her good arm, she started pulling herself up as best as she could. It was not an easy task, especially since she had only one hand to spare and that the sleek stone wall provided little in the matter of support to help hoist herself up. Finally, she realized that she wouldn't be able to climb up with only one arm and gritted her teeth in anticipation of what she was about to do. Hissing in pain, she brought her injured arm up and grabbed the side of the hole.

 

"God this is gonna hurt," she muttered grimly.

 

Then, taking a deep breath, she gave one mighty pull, and, with a blood-curdling scream of agony, she finally managed to push herself up on a small dry platform, thanking whatever god had made it wide enough for her to fit on.

 

She lay there, on the small platform, panting, her left arm twitching convulsively and the rest of her body trembling in the throes of the pain she had just endured. She felt unconsciousness rear its ugly head again and considering the state she was now in, she could do nothing but let herself drift.

 

"Susune? That's a lovely name, I am Kikyo."

 

The child's eyes abruptly snapped open as the memory that seemed so distant now replayed itself in her mind. The smile she had seen there, the one so filled with warmth and kindness, the one which had persuaded her the miko wasn't evil, the one which had seemed so utterly lonely and empty. She hadn't yet been able to fill it with joy... she couldn't possibly give up now!

 

"I can't give up yet! I haven't seen... your real smile yet Kikyo-sama," she whispered fiercely.

 

And so she started crawling through the narrow opening in the rock. Following the aura lighting her way and hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't hit a dead end. Finally, after an unknown time, she noticed that she was beginning to see the outline of her fingers, a sure sign that real light was filtering through to her. Encouraged by her discovery, she redoubled her efforts and, after crawling a bit more, she saw the end of the tunnel get into view.

 

When she reached the opening though, she noticed that there was some strange objects blocking part of the light. Grabbing one carefully, she was surprised when she saw it was a book. As silently as she could, she pushed the volumes out of the way one by one until she had cleared an area large enough for her to pass her head through. Doing so, she was able to take in her surroundings for the first time.

 

She had emerged on the highest shelf of a library that was located in a lab of some sort. On her left, there was a strange kind of device that looked distinctly like an oversized pottery oven from where strange gurgling sounds were emanating. One semi-circular tube was protruding from a small door at the base of the oven, probably to allow whatever it contained to flow out and into a container of some sort.

 

However, the really important detail was that this was the source of the aura that had lead her here. Even now, she could see the greenish light sip out of it and fill the room like smoke. So close to the source, she quickly found that if she were to see anything, she would have to close off her inner sense.

 

That done, she examined the rest of the room, only to find it filled with various equipments that she could not identify. Strangely enough though, she quickly realized that, despite the fact that the machinery seemed to be working, no one was there to supervise it. This was yet another question to add to her growing lot. However, the first order of business was not trying to figure out the purpose of this room, but rather to get down on the ground without breaking her neck.

 

"Well, I survived a fall down a pit so I suppose I can manage climbing down a ten feet library," she sighed to herself.

 

Laboriously, she extracted herself from the narrow opening in the rock and started her descent, using the library shelves as makeshift steps. Thankfully, the temperature in this room was much warmer than in the cave she had just left so she did not risk freezing to death here. Finally, after many curses, countless slips and a lot of grumbling, the child reached the floor unharmed.

 

Breathing a sigh of relief, she leaned against the library and allowed herself a few moments rest as she took in her surroundings a little more carefully. All around her, there were tables lathered with different vials all filled with strange liquid. Shelves filled to the brim with different ingredients completed the whole picture. The torches in the room provided the only light in the room, leaving plenty of dark corners, which explained why she didn't see the slumped shape at the far end of the room right away.

 

Frowning in confusion, she carefully made her way to the unconscious person and recoiled in shock when she recognized him.

 

"Masahiro!" she exclaimed in surprise.

 

The youkai was so weak that he hardly reacted to her call at all. He only moaned slightly before returning to his slumber once again. Noticing his ragged breathing and the red stain on his clothing, it didn't take long for Susune to realize what had the youkai in such a state.

 

"So you're wounded it seems," she said while opening his shirt to take a look at his injury.

 

She gasped in horror at what she saw. The skin of his entire chest had turned a sickly shade of purple under the action of an unknown agent. As she brought her hand to touch the wound, Masahiro twitched slightly and opened his eyes. They widened slightly in recognition before he broke into a weak smile.

 

"It's ironic... that the one... to witness my... final moments... would be... you," he chuckled quietly

 

"These aren't your final moments Masahiro! Not if I can help it!" exclaimed Susune determinately.

 

This simple sentence struck the youkai like a lightning bolt and for a while, all he could do was gape stupidly as the child probed his injury with her good hand. "You... would try to... help me?" he wheezed. "Even after... all I did... to you?"

 

"Would you rather have me stand by and idly watch you die!?" questioned the girl sarcastically.

 

"But I..." argued the youkai, unable to finish his sentence.

 

"You destroyed my village, killed my family, caused me more pain than anyone in this entire world," admitted Susune, her eyes becoming watery in remembrance. "That's why I can't allow you to die Masahiro... because if you do then you won't be able to carry the weight of the lives you took on your shoulders! You lived for something Masahiro... so don't you dare die for nothing!"

 

At this, the words Kikyo had spoken to him earlier came back to the youkai, resonating into his mind until his head started spinning.

 

"... you should at least try to figure out what could be so fearful that it would justify you rushing recklessly to your death."

 

Could that be it? Could this be what he had been running away from? All this time spent in Kuro's service, all this time spent planning and killing and killing some more. Never stopping even once to question his actions. Yet... now he could remember well the feeling that gripped his heart every time his blade passed through an opponent. That feeling he had so desperately locked in the back of his mind, refusing to listen to it. That feeling that Kikyo had tried so hard to make him see before it was too late: Shame.

 

"All this time... I used to wonder why I could not find any satisfaction in what I did anymore. But it's all so clear now. I've strayed from my path. While in Kuro's service, I became nothing more than a common assassin. I so desperately wanted to be right... that I stubbornly refused to see the errors of my way," he mused, feeling something inside of him open up.

 

"You... are right... girl. I cannot... die just yet," he said, a little bit of strength coming back in his voice.

 

"Glad to see you're back Masahiro because I just might have a way to save you," replied Susune.

 

"Really?" questioned the youkai, hope filtering in his voice.

 

"I can see something inside of you spreading purification powers throughout your entire body. If we can take it out then you should be able to recover," explained the girl somewhat grimly.

 

"And... how do you propose we..." trailed off Masahiro, his gaze following the girl's and falling onto his sword. "Oh... I see."

 

"Are you strong enough to withstand this?" asked the ten years old when she saw he had understood her meaning.

 

"I will fight... to the very end," answered the wounded youkai firmly.

 

"Then let's begin. I'll try to make this as quick as possible," shot back Susune while unsheathing Masahiro's blade her own having disappeared in the lake when she fell.

 

Without further hesitation, she plunged the weapon straight in the youkai's chest and toward whatever it was that was spreading purification powers in Masahiro's body. She then aligned the blade perfectly in the center of the thing so as to prevent any slips and she gave one sharp push. The sword passed right through the youkai's chest and emerged on the other side... without bringing the offending thing with it. Looking again, she noticed that the thing hadn't even budged. The blade had gone right through it without affecting it at all.

 

"Damnit! I can't believe it, it didn't do a..." but then she froze as something unexpected started happening.

 

All around the blade, the auras started becoming distorted. The effect was extremely localized so Masahiro's own aura remained mostly unaffected. But for the thing producing the purification powers, it proved to be extremely effective. She started to see the range of its action shrink visibly as the youkai's natural youki overcame it.

 

However, the whole phenomenon stopped eventually as neither auras could get passed the disturbance created by the sword. "Take... the sword... out," gurgled Masahiro suddenly, making her jump in her boots.

 

"But that thing's still in your body. If I take out the sword then it'll try to purify you once again," argued the girl.

 

"Trust... me," begged the youkai.

 

Though his voice was weak, it was not the voice of a dying man. It was filled with determination and a desperate will to live. That was what decided Susune to comply.

 

As soon as the blade left, she was able to see Masahiro's youki converge toward the purification powers, attacking it before it had a chance to recover. The child was relieved to see that in no time at all, the thing was vanquished and the offending energy winked out of the youkai's body.

 

"Thank... you," said Masahiro weakly once it was all over.

 

"Don't thank me yet, you're still wounded," countered Susune.

 

"This is nothing... in a few hours... I will be well enough to... move," replied the youkai with a forced smile. "Then... I shall destroy... this lab... and leave."

 

"Destroy it? You mean this is..." trailed off the girl.

 

"Yes... this is where we produced the fuyouheki stones. We extract youki from lesser youkai and put it into this oven. Everything is then processes and crystallized into a stone... the fuyouheki stone," explained Masahiro briefly.

 

"But how can youki hide youki? That doesn't make sense," continued Susune, baffled by this sudden development.

 

"Only Kuro-sama... understood. He never... explained it to me," replied the wounded youkai.

 

"Kuro? Oh yes, I have to get back to my friends!" exclaimed the ten years old, suddenly remembering the whole situation.

 

"Knowing Kuro... he will lure them... in the throne room and... fight them there. When you exit this room, climb the stairs up one level... and take the first corridor... on your left. It should lead you straight to them," directed Masahiro.

 

"Thanks," replied Susune before turning around with every intention of darting off.

 

"Wait!" stopped the youkai. "I would like you to have this," he said, handing the girl his sword.

 

"Your sword? But why?" questioned the ten years old, confused by the gesture.

 

"As I am now, I have no right to use this sword anymore. I have strayed from my path and used it to slay innocents. That is why I would like you to hang on to it... until the day that I deem myself worthy of it. When that day comes then... I will find you... and challenge you for it," explained the wounded youkai.

 

Susune remained silent for a long time, pondering if she should accept such a heavy gift. The sword in itself was much bigger than her last katana and as such, was a lot more difficult for her to wield. Still, despite her hesitation, she felt that it was a gift she had no right to refuse.

 

"I will hang on to your sword Masahiro. And when the time comes, I will gladly accept your challenge," she said solemnly.

 

With that said, she grabbed the sword and sheath and balanced the two as best as she could on her belt. "You take care of yourself Masahiro," shot the girl before darting off, not even awaiting the youkai's answer.

 

"You too... Susune," whispered the wounded youkai to the now empty room.

 

--End flashback--

 

"After that I just ran and ran until I reached the throne room. I entered just as Kuro was trying to choke Kikyo-sama to death. So I just lunged in and severed his arm with this sword. That's pretty much it," concluded Susune.

 

"A rather... incredible story," commented Miroku.

 

"Yeah, what were the chances of there being an underground lake to cushion your fall," added Kagome.

 

"So Masahiro has found his answer... it is a good thing," continued Kikyo.

 

"Somehow, I doubt we've seen the last of him," huffed Inuyasha in a tone that made it difficult to determine if he was angry or happy about the whole matter.

 

"When the time comes, he'll come for his sword so it's only natural that we'll hear from him again," agreed Susune somberly.

 

"That's true, but there will be plenty of time for us to worry about that in the future. Right now, it's time for us to go home," cut in Sango before anyone could have a chance at being gloomy.

 

"Yeah! And let's have a party when we get back!" exclaimed Shippo enthusiastically.

 

"That's a good idea Shippo. Though I think it would be best if we were to get a bit of rest so that we may enjoy the event to its fullest," agreed Kagome, while picking up the kitsune in her arms.

 

"How about inviting the entire village? They too have fought so they too would probably want to enjoy themselves," proposed Kikyo, much to the surprise of everyone.

 

"A most excellent idea Kikyo-sama. It would be the perfect opportunity for everyone to finally put these events behind," said Miroku, visibly impressed by the suggestion.

 

"In any case, let's just get the hell out of here," urged the hanyou in his usually gruff behavior before walking away.

 

Not finding anything else to say, the rest of the group simply followed suit. As Susune was about to take her first step however, a low rumble that quickly amplified shook the earth. Turning around, the child was just in time to see the cave's opening collapse in on itself under the force of an explosion. Smiling slightly to herself, she resolutely put her back to the cave where so many things had happened and started her journey home with her friends.

 

"I'll be waiting for you... Masahiro."