InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Light in Dark Places ❯ Chapter 2: Connection ( Chapter 3 )

(A/N): Thanks so much for all of the great reviews guys! I really appreciate all of them. I was hoping that people wouldn't mind a crossover too much, but the idea of a Harry/Kagome couple was just too good to pass up (and yes, it is definitely a H/K story). The plot last chapter was pretty obvious, but more twists are coming up, so enjoy this installment!

 

And a special thanks to my beta readers Nagia and FieryFaery!

 

Light in Dark Places

By: Eilan-san

 

ooo

 

Chapter 2: Connection

 

“There's something about you,

It's just the way you move;

The way you move me.

 

--John Mayer, “Back to You”

 

ooo

 

The morning crept by agonizingly slow for Harry until he finally looked up from the mess of papers that covered his desk and sighed with relief when he saw that it was time for his lunch date with Hermione.

 

The Yamato case was going absolutely nowhere and it frustrated the hell out of him. The case file, which had only comprised of four rolls of parchment, now comprised of six. The interview he'd conducted that morning was completely worthless.

 

Professor Yamato not only had no memory of how he arrived at Glastonbury, but there were also hours missing in his schedule. He'd been at a student bar near the campus until near midnight, and then began the short walk back to his apartment, but he never made it. The next thing he remembered was being found by some American tourists at the Glastonbury Abbey.

 

And to Harry's dismay, there was absolutely nothing remarkable about the professor. He was ethnically Japanese, but was born and raised in Manchester. He graduated with a PhD in Asian Literature from Cambridge in 1984 and taught at the University of Bristol until 1998 when he was offered a full professorship at the University of Oxford where he taught Literature, Mythology, Culture and Art classes for the Department of Oriental Studies and up until that fateful morning, he'd never even been to Glastonbury.

 

He sighed and began to gather his things so he could go meet Hermione before her class. The Ministry of Magic building was not that far away from the University, perhaps a ten-minute walk and he found the main quad with relative ease.

 

He stood on the sidewalk surrounding the green lawn watching students roam across the grass, chatting about quantum mechanics and Chaucer while otherssat in the shade reading. A frisbee game going on at the other end of the quad in the warm April afternoon. It was amazing that this beautiful park existed in the middle of the city.

 

He knew the café Hermione had indicated the night before was on the street adjacent to the quad, so he slowly meandered over to the small street lined with shops and enjoyed the warm weather, the sense of uneasiness that had plagued him since yesterday subsiding for the moment.

 

He found the café and sat down on a bench outside it to wait for her. He couldn't even remember why he had even agreed to come with her. How was her class on Japanese mythology going to help him find a power source for Death Eaters? Surely he would have heard of this object thing from the Japanese Ministry of Magic if they were concerned about it.

 

`But maybe that is the whole point,' Harry thought. `They don't know about it. And that's why it's so dangerous.' But that didn't make sense either. Every magical object, creature, spell and ability had been catalogued and documented as far as he knew.

 

Icy fingers inched their way through his system and wrapped around him as his eyes widened in comprehension. If that was true - that this was a completely new and unknown magical object - he was dealing with an entirely new animal here, one that the majority of the wizarding world was completely unequipped to deal with.

 

A voice calling his name broke him out of his thoughts, he turned towards it and saw Hermione walking towards him waving wildly. He smiled and greeted her with a friendly hug.

 

The moment he walked into the restaurant he understood why Hermione had asked to go there - it was something she would have loved. The menu offered fresh soups, salads and sandwiches of all kinds and the air was laced with the smell of freshly baked bread. They each ordered their lunches and sat outside on the patio.

 

“I'm so glad you could make it today, Harry,” she said, smiling warmly as she poured dressing over her Caesar salad. “This class is particularly interesting for me - magic for us is completely different than the kind of magic that the Shinto religion is based on, if you believe it exists. It's almost more of a spiritual energy that can be manipulated by the priestesses and priests than actual magic.”

 

Harry nodded and took a sip of his soup as Hermione continued, “Although no one has seen an actual priest or priestess use the purification magic in almost three hundred years. As people slowly stopped having faith in the gods that the clergy worshipped, the magic dwindled until now there's almost no trace of it left.”

 

Harry cocked an eyebrow at her. “And where did you learn all this? I'm sure your muggle professor didn't tell you about it,” he teased.

 

“It's me, Harry, where else?” she asked, grinning at him.

 

“The library,” the both answered at the same time.

 

Hermione giggled, “You'd be surprised at the sheer amount of magical reading material in the Ministry library. I think they've documented every possible occurrence of anything that had to do with magic.”

 

“So why am I attending this class again?” Harry asked.

 

“Er… well, there are actually two reasons. The first being that the lecture we're covering today happens to be about a legendary object that is the professor's specialty that seems to have similar properties as the one you were telling me about last night,” she replied.

 

She paused for a moment, blushing madly and staring at her hands and Harry suddenly realized that perhaps the reason she wanted him to come wasn't because of business and he groaned.

 

“You're not trying to set me up again, are you? One of your classmates or something?” he asked.

 

Hermione turned even brighter red. “Er, no. Not exactly.”

 

Harry glared at her. “Who then?”

 

“The professor,” she answered meekly. “Don't be angry!”

 

He hung his head in his hands and sighed, signaling his defeat. She always won anyway, even if they usually turned out to be disasters. “You never give up do you?”

 

“You know I don't,” she said seriously as she took his hands in her own. “I just want you to be happy, Harry. I want you to find someone and be as happy as you deserve to be.”

 

He gave her a half-hearted smile. He seriously doubted that it was even possible to have as happy a love life as Ron and Hermoine's, but if it made her happy to play matchmaker, a date or two couldn't kill him.

 

“I just wanted you to meet her, Harry. She's really very sweet and bloody brilliant and if you got on, I think it would be fantastic.” Hermione quickly glanced at her wristwatch, “And if we don't get there in the next ten minutes she'll have our heads for being late, let's go.”

 

They quickly made their way to the building that housed the East Asia and African Languages Department and Hermione led him to the lecture hall.

 

Harry had never been in a muggle university before, but it wasn't all that different from Hogwarts, really. The building was newer, and a bit cleaner but didn't have the, for lack of a better term, magical atmosphere that he had loved so much about Hogwarts. He and Hermione took seats in the middle of the hall and got out their note-taking supplies.

 

The professor hadn't arrived yet and students were still trickling in. Harry was surprised to find he was a bit nervous, and he had to remind himself that he wasn't actually a student, so he couldn't get in trouble if he hadn't finished his homework

 

He heard a brief commotion and looked up to see a strangely familiar face staring back at him. Their eyes locked and Harry knew he had seen her before but couldn't remember where. Her eyes narrowed as if she was trying to place him as well and he fidgeted under the intensity of her gaze.

 

His hand was already moving to matt down his hair so it covered his scar before he caught himself.

 

`Stupid! It's not like she knows it's there or anything!' he scolded himself.

 

Hermione turned to him sharply and hissed, “That's the Professor, Harry, stop looking at her like she's grown a third head!”

 

Harry shrugged and pretended his blank paper was extremely interesting and tried to hide his burning cheeks from both this woman and Hermione. He could still feel the Professor's gaze on him, although less intense. Eventually he felt her get distracted and he decided it was safe to raise his head again.

 

He felt like a blithering idiot. Who was this woman? And why did he suddenly feel like he was fifteen and sharing his extremely awkward first kiss with Cho Chang all over again?

 

He saw her glance at the clock and survey the room. Apparently satisfied with the attendance, she perched herself on the desk at the front of the room. She smiled and addressed the class, “Konnichi wa.”

 

Harry watched as the entire class, including Hermione, repeat back to her in complete unison, “Konnichi wa, Higurashi-sensei.”

 

He leaned over to Hermione and whispered desperately, “Please tell me this class is taught in English.”

 

She rolled her eyes. “Of course it's taught in English, Harry. It is a tradition in Japan for the professor to greet his or her students before class begins and for the students to respond in kind. She kept the tradition and taught us how to properly greet her in Japanese.”

 

Harry was flooded with relief. “Thank Merlin,” he muttered under his breath as he turned his attention to the now standing professor at the front of the room. She cleared her throat before launching into her lecture.

 

“The legend of the shikon no tama,” she began, “is about 500 years old and unfortunately for you all, you are going to hear the same story that I heard from my grandfather every day of my life until I was fifteen.”

 

“The shikon no tama, or the Jewel of Four Souls, was actually the talisman of my family shrine in Tokyo. If you want a plastic version that's attached to a badly manufactured keychain, I'm sure my Jii-chan would be more than happy to oblige. Just don't get him started about any of the other traditions he knows about, you'll never get out of there.” She paused and smiled, glancing quickly around the class as they tittered.

 

“Last class we covered the basics of the Shinto religion and the concept of a miko, or shrine maiden in folklore in addition to their antithesis, that of the youkai. Unfortunately, English-speaking scholars seem to have decided to translate youkai as “demon,” which is somewhat incorrect. Although `being with supernatural powers with tendencies to use their powers for evil' also applies to demons, the traditional Christian ideal of what a demon is does not apply here.”

 

Harry thought he noticed a mild smirk on her face, but any trace of it quickly vanished as she walked toward the chalkboard and wrote out three words in what appeared to be Japanese calligraphy.

 

“The legend of the shikon no tama tells of a miko,” she pointed to the first word, “and a hanyou, a half demon,” she gestured towards the third word. “But before our story begins, there was another miko.”

 

Hermione was frantically trying to copy down the kanji, but was getting frustrated by the intricacies of the marks. Harry grinned and shook his head, `Always a perfectionist.' He looked up and caught the professor looking at him again. He smiled, and she looked at him, then at Hermione, who was still frantically trying to draw the kanji as perfectly as she could, then back at him.

 

She smiled back, “Don't worry about trying to copy down the kanji. It's not only difficult, but considered improper to write it down in the incorrect way. It won't be on the test, so don't worry about it.” She looked back at Harry and winked before continuing with her lecture.

 

She told the story of how the Jewel came to be and the battle of the great miko Midoriko and of the youkai she fought and how the Jewel passed from hand to hand, human to youkai and back again, and of how the battle that continues to rage on inside the Jewel was influenced by whomever held it and the pureness of their heart.

 

“The four souls described as being inside the jewel are from the Shinto philosophy of Naobi: Aramitama, or courage, Nigimitama, or friendship, Kushimitama, or wisdom, and Sakimitama, or love. Midoriko, purportedly, had a positive balance of all four of these things inside her, and that is how she was able to create the jewel, and it is said to bestow immense power on anyone who holds it. But this is only the beginning of the main legend.”

 

Harry was drawn in by the story of the miko Kikyou who'd fallen in love with the hanyou Inuyasha and her untimely death at the hands of a betrayer. He almost missed her face fall briefly as she mentioned how Kikyou sealed Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree and he looked at her with concern evident in his eyes. She caught his gaze and smiled slightly, as if to tell him that she was fine.

 

He immediately looked back down at his empty notebook, cheeks burning. `What am I doing?' Harry asked himself. `I'm completely nutters, having pretend conversations in my head with people I don't know.' That feeling of knowing her didn't go away as she lectured, either. In fact, it grew stronger. The more she spoke, the more he knew he knew her from somewhere.

 

The class grew restless and when her eyes flitted to the clock and she sighed. “Alright, we'll have to continue the rest next class. Read the articles I assigned and remember that your term papers are due in three weeks, so I need your annotated bibliographies as soon as possible.”

 

Harry began to pack away his notes (not that he'd taken any, he'd been too engrossed in the story to actually write anything down) and glanced at Hermione. She grinned at him and whispered conspiratorially, “I'll let you borrow my notes.”

 

“Thanks,” Harry replied quickly. Something had caught his eye… A yellow backpack! He suddenly remembered exactly where he knew her.

 

“Come on! I want you to meet her,” Hermione said, dragging him up towards the front of the room. Harry allowed himself to be lead up to the professor by the hand, but when she (What is her name?) turned around to face him he was grinning broadly and she was grinning right back.

 

Hermione was about to make introductions when she noticed that they were both smiling like idiots at each other. She was about to ask why they were both smiling so much when Harry and her professor looked at each other and both said, “The Underground!” before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

 

“Did I miss something?” Hermione cocked her eyebrow, slightly perturbed that her matchmaking plans had taken a different turn.

 

The professor turned to Hermione, managing to suppress her giggles enough to answer, said, “I have just spent the past hour trying to figure out why I knew your friend here, and apparently so has he.”

 

Harry finally got a hold of himself as well, and in an amused voice said, “Yes, your dear professor quite literally ran into me while I was waiting for a train and knocked me clear over.” He turned to the professor and pointed at her bookbag. “The yellow backpack was what made me remember. I've never seen a more worn out backpack than yours and I'm surprised it hasn't disintegrated already.”

 

“Hey!” she said. “It has special meaning to me, don't make fun of it!” She squinted, “I don't remember your name.”

 

Harry chuckled. “It's Harry, and I never actually told you my name, so don't feel too bad.” His shoulders slumped, “I, however, have no such excuse. What's your name again?”

 

“Kagome,” she replied, offering her hand.

 

“Well,” Hermione said, crossing her arms. “I have another class I need to get to, so I'll let you two talk a bit.” She turned to Harry and winked at him, “Dinner at our place again? Next Wednesday?”

 

Harry nodded, “That sounds great. Same time?”

 

“Sure,” she replied. “Maybe I'll get Ron to cook this time.”

 

“Good luck with that,” he called as she tossed her book bag over her shoulder and walked out of the lecture hall leaving him with Kagome.

 

“Where do you know Hermione from?” she asked as she gathered her own papers and stuffed them into the ancient yellow backpack.

 

“Hermione and I went to school together in Scotland, along with her husband,” he answered. “We've all been best friends since we were children.” He paused. “I really enjoyed your lecture today.”

 

“Good,” she said. “I'm glad.”

 

`Come on, Harry, pull yourself together. It's just a bloody woman.' He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was sure that she hadn't covered the more important part of the legend in class and, now that he had thought about it, this shikon no tama was sounding like it was the object he was after. He had to find out the rest of the story.

 

“Tell me the rest of the story,” he said. Her head snapped up, her coffee brown eyes peering at him incredulously as he rushed ahead. “I can't be here for your next class, and I'd really like to hear the rest.”

 

`Well, that was lame.'

 

Kagome checked her watch and shrugged. “I have time before my next class, so if you don't mind following me to my office, we can talk there. And if you really want to research more about the legend, I have some copies of papers you can read.”

 

Although the idea of reading several academic papers didn't sound thrilling, he knew any information at this stage would be helpful, so he assented and walked across the quad to her office.

 

Her office was a lot like he expected: simple, a desk, two chairs and several bookshelves filled with old Japanese texts and binders full of articles. It smelt faintly of incense and green tea. Coffee mugs, papers and post-it notes littered her desk, and he couldn't help but smile. It looked just like his desk back at the Ministry.

 

He looked at the wall next to her desk and noticed a framed print and moved to get a closer look. It appeared to be a medieval Japanese print containing four characters - two women and two men. The first woman was in a white and red outfit and carried a bow and arrow, while the second was in some sort of armor and carried a boomerang on her back. The first man appeared to be a warrior, as he had a rather large sword, while the second a monk carrying a staff.

 

He felt Kagome behind him as he scrutinized the print. She pointed to the woman in red and white, “The main legend tells of a miko,” she said, her voice low, then pointed to the man in red, “and a hanyou.”

 

He looked at her, curiously as she sighed.

 

“50 years after the miko Kikyou sealed the hanyou Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree, her reincarnation appeared,” she began, sitting behind her desk and gesturing for him to the chair opposite her. “She dressed and spoke strangely, but when she was in danger, her voice woke Inuyasha up from the spell and it was she who eventually set him free. When Kikyou died she asked that the Jewel be burned with her body, and so when she was reborn into this new body, the Jewel was reborn inside her and released.” She frowned at the words she spoke, but went on.

 

“Eventually, it was shattered and the vast majority of the rest of the legend tells about the hanyou and the reincarnation of the famous miko Kikyou running around Japan trying to find all of the pieces before another youkai named Naraku finds them all and uses it for its own purposes. The Jewel was completed after the destruction of Naraku and the reincarnation of Kikyou disappeared shortly thereafter, leaving the shikon no tama in the hanyou's hands.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her eyes downcast.

 

“Who are the other two people in the print?” Harry asked softly.

 

“The woman with the armor was a taijiya and the man in purple was a Buddhist monk. They were the miko and the hanyou's traveling companions on the quest to complete the Jewel,” she said with an air of sadness. “No one really knows what happened after that. All primary sources of the legend simply end there, so what happened afterward is up for scholarly debate.”

 

Her eyes searched her desk until she located a stack of papers sitting on the edge of her desk next to her computer and handed it to Harry. “I did my doctoral thesis on this legend, you can keep that copy,” she smiled ruefully. “I'll even autograph it for you if you want.”

 

He looked up at her, surprised. `Well, she's just a wellspring of information now, isn't she?' he thought.

 

“Oh!” she said suddenly as she leaped to her feet and walked quickly to one of her bookshelves. She quickly selected a dark blue, obviously very old text and handed it to him. “This is one of the best books on ancient Japanese legends available, and unfortunately it's out of print, so I better get that back.”

 

`Youkai Monogatari: The Tale of the Demon,' he read. He scanned the rest of the cover, but was stunned when he read the name of the author. He could scarcely believe it, but there it was, plain as day: by Dr. Stephen Yamato.

 

“Dr. Yamato gave that to my family as a gift for allowing him access to all the historical documents at my family shrine. There's a brilliant chapter on my family's shrine and its connection to the legend of the shikon no tama,” she informed him.

 

Harry's eyes widened with alarm. The people responsible for the attack on Yamato were the dark wizards rumored to be after a powerful magical object, and it was now clear that the object they were after was the shikon no tama.

 

He had to think quickly. “And there were no other mentions of the Jewel in later literature?” he asked cautiously.

 

“It is mentioned, but only in passing and as a thing of the past. It, along with the miko, disappeared,” she replied, looking at him strangely. “Why?”

 

“Just curious,” he said quickly. A piece of the puzzle was missing and his mind raced trying to figure it out. `How on earth did these dark wizards even hear about this obscure Japanese legend?' he thought. He knew better than to question whether or not the legend could possibly be true - he'd learned that lesson his first year in school with regard to the Philosopher's Stone. The question at hand was did it ever actually exist, and if it did, where did it go?

 

Kagome cleared her throat, breaking Harry from his thoughts. “I have a class I need to prepare for,” she said hastily.

 

“Oh!” he said, “I'm sorry, I'll let you go.” Harry stood and gathered his briefcase and turned to leave.

 

“Wait, um…” she stammered, her eyes darting around the room nervously. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

 

Harry gaped. A woman had just asked him out on a date. “Yes,” he said automatically.

 

She turned, hiding her face, “I mean, that is if you would like to know more about this, we can talk about it and…” She looked up at him with her brown eyes full of hope and he softened.

 

“What time?” he asked gently.

 

“How about 7:00? I know a great Italian place nearby called Trattoria Roman Gardens.”

 

“I know the place,” he said. It was one of his favorites. “See you there at 7:00, then?”

 

She nodded, “Sounds good.” He gave her a lopsided grin before leaving the office and making his way to the main quad.

 

He was halfway to the street when he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

 

`Hermione's never going to let me hear the end of this,' he thought ruefully. He needed to talk to her again anyway and find out more about Dr. Yamato, so this was the perfect opportunity.

 

`Then why do I feel like a teenager again?' he thought. `Probably because I haven't been on a date since I was a teenager.'

 

He was going to need help. Lots of help. He found an empty alley and quickly apparated to Ron and Hermione's.