InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Love and Deceit ❯ A Happy Soul; Shattered ( Chapter 1 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Kate the InuYoukai01 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Drama / Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.11.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 240 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Drama / Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.11.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 240 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter One: A Happy Soul; Shattered
The blue-eyed girl smiled as she tied the last thread to her package, absently tucking a strand of ebony hair behind her ear. She had made one of her close friends a new kimono for the upcoming festival to celebrate the coming of a new year. The girl, though a priestess of high ranking, made her living making fine kimonos, sending her younger brother on small errands like hunting and fishing, and using her powers to better serve the people in the village that she'd grown up in. Most of her work was for the unfortunate villagers who couldn't afford silk robes and meat. She wasn't born in the village, but was raised there after she and her younger brother managed to escape a youkai attack. Speaking of Souta... where was he? A teenaged boy impatiently poked his head into the doorway, a slight look of annoyance playing over his features.
"Hey, Kagome," he greeted her with a sigh, "are you done yet?"
She jumped slightly and looked at him with wide eyes, then smiled and lifted up the package, ruffling the teen's dark brown hair as she spoke, "Here. Be sure to tell Sango to come and visit me soon, alright, Kohaku?"
"Will do," the teen said as he smiled and turned to go. "Ja ne!"
"Oh, Kohaku?"
He poked his head back in the door, "Yes?"
"If you see Souta," she started.
"Don't worry," he said with a reassuring smile, knowing that the girl was getting worried about her little brother. He had gone hunting early that morning and had not yet returned. "I'll tell him to hurry home if I see him."
"Thanks."
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An hour passed by and Kagome was getting fidgety. Her little brother had been gone far too long and she was worrying more and more as time progressed. He was always on time when it came to things like food and training. The sixteen-year-old also absolutely hated the dark for some unexplainable reason, so his sister sent him out to hunt for lunch and dinner in the morning so as not to trouble him at night. She looked at the light coming in from underneath her hut's bamboo-flap door, only to see that the ground was stained orange and red from the setting sun. She sat down on a tatami mat by the door and waited for another hour. Where was her brother? She tensed when the unmistakable sound of footsteps and a human aura approached. She sighed when she found that the aura was familiar, but not her brother's.
"Kagome..." She lifted her eyes from her wringing hands and caught the worried face of her childhood friend, Jin Iwamura. He was the headmaster of the village and a dear friend to everyone in it; a handsome young man with long black hair and violet eyes, he was one of the kindest people that Kagome had ever met in her life.
"Oh, good evening, Jin..." She stood up with a brilliant smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, bowing politely. "Have you seen Souta anywhere? He hasn't gotten home yet and I'm really very worried."
Jin slowly averted his gaze, his hypnotizing eyes falling to the tatami mat under her feet. "... that's why I'm here, Kagome..."
Her face brightened, "You know where Souta is?!" She laughed lightly, relief filling her and suppressing the tightening and heavy feeling in her chest. "Please, send him a message that it will be dark any minute and he should be on his way home..." She trailed off in confusion and surprise when Jin shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Kagome..." he looked at her with pained eyes, but tore them away after a few moments. "A hunter came to the village just earlier today and said he saw a young messenger getting attacked by a demon... We told the hunter that there are no teenaged messengers in the village, but, " he held up an amulet that Souta had from their mother. The amulet was cracked, the chain that kept it securely around Souta's neck missing, and had specks of blood littering the crystal blue jewel that was it's centerpiece, "when he showed me this... I sent out a search party... and no one can find him..."
Kagome's eyes had widened in the short time it took for him to explain the situation, and she was now desperately trying to swallow the lump deep in her throat and the burning sensation at the corners of her eyes and the bridge of her nose.
She gently touched the amulet, "A-are you telling me.... what I think you're telling me?"
"I'm not for sure, Kagome... but I think little Souta might very well be... um...."
She cut him off, "Dead..?"
"We aren't yet sure, Kagome," he reassured her. "Maybe he was knocked unconscious and taken off somewhere, or perhaps he accidentally dropped the amulet while chasing an illusive animal that he had wounded.
"Kagome's body shook uncontrollably. The only family she had left... presumed dead? It was far too much for her to bear, but she knew she would bare it for the sake of the villagers she protected. She lifted her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose, pinching it slightly to hold back the tears. Despite this a tear made it's way down her cheek and seeped into the cloth of her miko robes. She suddenly felt a rush of anger. Why hadn't the hunter tried to save him? If he'd seen the attack take place, why did he just pick up the amulet and run off when he could have helped him escape?!
"Did the hunter see the demon?" Kagome bit out, straining to keep her voice calm.
Jin was surprised at the anger in her voice. He thought she would start crying uncontrollably in his arms, telling him it was the only family she had left; that she shouldn't have let him leave. Yet she stood strong, her body shaking slightly as she held back the tears and a mixture of sadness and anger twinkled in her deep blue eyes.
Kagome grew annoyed when he said nothing, and grabbed the front of his haori angrily."Well?!"
"The hunter said the demon was in the guise of a human man with silver hair and blood red clothes!" Jin hurriedly spoke of what little he knew."Where is he?!"
He quickly sputtered that he was in the village's inn and was surprised yet again when Kagome pushed him aside and walked out of the hut.
"Where are you going?"
"To get some answers!"
---------------------------------------------
S esshomaru could smell the blood from a nearby clearing. He'd been following his brother's putrid hanyou scent and it had led him to the smell of a young boy's blood.
Apparently, I am not the only one that Inuyasha seeks to destroy, he thought as he moved closer.
He stopped in the clearing to find that indeed, there was a young boy's body, marred with gashes and covered in his own blood. He looked the boy over, noticing that he was close to, if not the same age Rin had been when she was killed. His chest clutched painfully at the sight, but he didn't move away. His brother's scent was staling; he'd been gone from the area for at least an hour. The boy's soul clung to him, though, and refused to depart. He could faintly see it hovering over his body, afraid of what to do. The boy indeed looked strong, and he noticed from the appearance of the clearing that he had fought off his brother as well as he could. The boy appeared to have had a scythe and a small blade. Pieces of the weapons were strewn about the clearing, the scythe’s blade broken in half and the blade, without its handle, was stuck in a tree.
He would probably have defeated him if he were properly trained... he trailed off when he noticed something familiar in the boy's scent. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the scent reminded him of Rin. He stepped back slightly, looking over the boy's face and staring at it in complete curiosity, though his face remained an emotionless mask. Nostalgia began to grip him, and he wondered if this boy would act as she had when she had first been brought back to the land of the living. Sesshomaru suddenly recognized that he had unsheathed his Tenseiga of his own accord. The Death Dealer's of the underworld had gathered around the boy, engulfing him with an eerie blue light.Sesshomaru stood there for a moment, not really sure why he wanted this. It was only a mere human, after all. Rin... He closed his eyes, thinking about the girl he would have married. He made one swift movement with the sword.Brown eyes opened.
----------------------------------------------
"Why didn't you protect the boy?!" she snarled, her hands clutching the hunter's haori in a brutal death grip, lifting his feet slightly off of the ground in her anger.
"And be killed by a demon?!" The hunter scoffed at this, "There is no way that I would do something so rash! I'd rather the boy die than me!"
Kagome hit him. Hard. She felt his nose break under her knuckles, and he went flying into the wall next to a small table. "You are no more a human than the one that took my brother from me," she spat, eyes becoming empty as she sighed, her head hanging low. "Get out of this village and never return. If I see you again," she stopped there, allowing all kinds of thoughts to seep into the hunter's head as he moaned on the floor, his hand covering his nose in his best attempt to stop the bleeding. He stood and ran as fast as he could out into the night, haunted by the miko's icy blue eyes...
She now paced her hut in an enraged manner. How could anyone have the conscience to leave a young boy in the hands of death? It's not fair... What ever happened to honor? Selflessness? Kagome growled to herself, I should have killed him!
She gasped at that, her eyes wide and her hands flying to her mouth even though she hadn't voiced the words aloud. Never in her entire existence had she ever wished death upon another. She was becoming frightened of herself. What had happened to the selfless, loving Kagome who wouldn't harm anything unless it posed an immediate threat to her village? It seemed like, in just a few hours, she had changed drastically from someone people respected for their kindness to someone people respected out of fear for their own lives. She had seen the way the villagers looked at her when she left the inn shortly after the bloodied hunter. Their eyes were full of shock, fear, and most of all... pity... They thought that she had been stricken so hard by the grief of losing her only family, that she had gone mad with rage and sadness.
That is only half true, she heard a voice in the back of her mind whisper. Tears welled up in her eyes. What am I becoming? She jumped slightly when Jin put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.
"Calm down, Kagome," his voice was soft, yet demanding. "Souta wouldn't be happy if he saw you like this, now, would he?"
That did it. At one mention of her brother's name, all of the anger that she had felt so strongly seeped away and was replaced with an overwhelming loneliness. Her shoulders shook, tears spilling over her cheeks as she finally let the grief hit her. She fell to her knees, causing Jin to sit in front of her an pull her to his chest. He ran his hand through her smooth hair, allowing it to come free from it's ties and pool around her on the floor. Kagome suddenly realized that she hadn't used his name once after she'd discovered that he could possibly be dead. This had her sobbing harder in the arms of her childhood friend.
"Shhh," he spoke soothingly, rubbing small circles into her back through her hair, "It's alright."
"I shouldn't have sent him out there!" She cried, her voice muffled by his haori as she clutched to his chest. Jin sighed, he knew Kagome all too well.
He gently lifted her and carried her to her sleeping quarters, a small room covered only by a thin cloth on the other end of the small hut where only a bed could fit. He supported her shaking and sobbing form with one arm as he pulled down the shabby linens on the bed before gently placing Kagome in the softness of the mat. He slid in next to her and pulled the covers over the both of them. He held her close, watching patiently as the tears slowly subsided and she fell into a fitful sleep. His eyes grew heavy some time later and he, too, surrendered to sleep.
-------
Jin woke the next morning to find that his best friend was not in bed beside him. He sat up slowly and observed the area, then stood and lifted the cloth that led to the other room to find Kagome sitting at a small desk in the corner of the room, a long scroll set out before her as her hand moved gracefully over the paper with an ink brush.
"Good morning," Kagome muttered, not looking up from her work.
"Good morning..." He moved closer to her and sat down on a tatami mat on the other side of the desk. "Kagome, what are you doing?"
"I am writing a message to every village that is in the range of a ten day walk."
Jin's brow furrowed, confusion written clear on his face, "Why?"
She paused only to look up at him. "I have a plan that can bring to justice the being who either killed my brother or is holding him captive." She sighed and proceeded to elaborate when his confused expression did not shift. "These messages are to be sent to every village within the predetermined distance, telling them to immediately send word of demon sightings in detailed description. If at one point in time there is a description similar to the one I seek, I will travel to the village and proceed to hunt the demon down. Once under captivity, the demon will be interrogated until my brother's whereabouts are revealed, whether he be alive or not."
Jin's face took on a look of shock, "Have you even considered the dangers in this? The demon could be one of great power, considering it is able to take on a human form, and should not be taken lightly. You could be killed..." He paused at her determined stare, "Do you plan to do this all on your own?"
Kagome nodded, "Traveling with others would merely slow me down. If I am to succeed, I must do this alone. You are the only one that I will allow myself to confide in."
"And if the demon you are looking for isn't found?"
"Then I will just send the messages further out, until the entire continent knows of my wishes, if need be."
"This is madness..." he muttered as he turned to leave, but stopped. He walk back to her briskly, placing his hands on the desk and leaning forward as if to seem intimidating, "If you receive a message declaring the sight of this demon, then I am to accompany you, regardless of what you may say. I am not losing you because of this."
Kagome was looking at him in shock at this point. She wouldn't find him a burden, no matter what he did. He would probably do better in protecting her than she would... but she didn't want to see him hurt, either. She opened her mouth to protest, but at the determined look in his eyes she thought better of it and nodded.
"Very good, then. Finish the letters and I will have them sent out before the sun sets."
The blue-eyed girl smiled as she tied the last thread to her package, absently tucking a strand of ebony hair behind her ear. She had made one of her close friends a new kimono for the upcoming festival to celebrate the coming of a new year. The girl, though a priestess of high ranking, made her living making fine kimonos, sending her younger brother on small errands like hunting and fishing, and using her powers to better serve the people in the village that she'd grown up in. Most of her work was for the unfortunate villagers who couldn't afford silk robes and meat. She wasn't born in the village, but was raised there after she and her younger brother managed to escape a youkai attack. Speaking of Souta... where was he? A teenaged boy impatiently poked his head into the doorway, a slight look of annoyance playing over his features.
"Hey, Kagome," he greeted her with a sigh, "are you done yet?"
She jumped slightly and looked at him with wide eyes, then smiled and lifted up the package, ruffling the teen's dark brown hair as she spoke, "Here. Be sure to tell Sango to come and visit me soon, alright, Kohaku?"
"Will do," the teen said as he smiled and turned to go. "Ja ne!"
"Oh, Kohaku?"
He poked his head back in the door, "Yes?"
"If you see Souta," she started.
"Don't worry," he said with a reassuring smile, knowing that the girl was getting worried about her little brother. He had gone hunting early that morning and had not yet returned. "I'll tell him to hurry home if I see him."
"Thanks."
----------------
An hour passed by and Kagome was getting fidgety. Her little brother had been gone far too long and she was worrying more and more as time progressed. He was always on time when it came to things like food and training. The sixteen-year-old also absolutely hated the dark for some unexplainable reason, so his sister sent him out to hunt for lunch and dinner in the morning so as not to trouble him at night. She looked at the light coming in from underneath her hut's bamboo-flap door, only to see that the ground was stained orange and red from the setting sun. She sat down on a tatami mat by the door and waited for another hour. Where was her brother? She tensed when the unmistakable sound of footsteps and a human aura approached. She sighed when she found that the aura was familiar, but not her brother's.
"Kagome..." She lifted her eyes from her wringing hands and caught the worried face of her childhood friend, Jin Iwamura. He was the headmaster of the village and a dear friend to everyone in it; a handsome young man with long black hair and violet eyes, he was one of the kindest people that Kagome had ever met in her life.
"Oh, good evening, Jin..." She stood up with a brilliant smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, bowing politely. "Have you seen Souta anywhere? He hasn't gotten home yet and I'm really very worried."
Jin slowly averted his gaze, his hypnotizing eyes falling to the tatami mat under her feet. "... that's why I'm here, Kagome..."
Her face brightened, "You know where Souta is?!" She laughed lightly, relief filling her and suppressing the tightening and heavy feeling in her chest. "Please, send him a message that it will be dark any minute and he should be on his way home..." She trailed off in confusion and surprise when Jin shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Kagome..." he looked at her with pained eyes, but tore them away after a few moments. "A hunter came to the village just earlier today and said he saw a young messenger getting attacked by a demon... We told the hunter that there are no teenaged messengers in the village, but, " he held up an amulet that Souta had from their mother. The amulet was cracked, the chain that kept it securely around Souta's neck missing, and had specks of blood littering the crystal blue jewel that was it's centerpiece, "when he showed me this... I sent out a search party... and no one can find him..."
Kagome's eyes had widened in the short time it took for him to explain the situation, and she was now desperately trying to swallow the lump deep in her throat and the burning sensation at the corners of her eyes and the bridge of her nose.
She gently touched the amulet, "A-are you telling me.... what I think you're telling me?"
"I'm not for sure, Kagome... but I think little Souta might very well be... um...."
She cut him off, "Dead..?"
"We aren't yet sure, Kagome," he reassured her. "Maybe he was knocked unconscious and taken off somewhere, or perhaps he accidentally dropped the amulet while chasing an illusive animal that he had wounded.
"Kagome's body shook uncontrollably. The only family she had left... presumed dead? It was far too much for her to bear, but she knew she would bare it for the sake of the villagers she protected. She lifted her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose, pinching it slightly to hold back the tears. Despite this a tear made it's way down her cheek and seeped into the cloth of her miko robes. She suddenly felt a rush of anger. Why hadn't the hunter tried to save him? If he'd seen the attack take place, why did he just pick up the amulet and run off when he could have helped him escape?!
"Did the hunter see the demon?" Kagome bit out, straining to keep her voice calm.
Jin was surprised at the anger in her voice. He thought she would start crying uncontrollably in his arms, telling him it was the only family she had left; that she shouldn't have let him leave. Yet she stood strong, her body shaking slightly as she held back the tears and a mixture of sadness and anger twinkled in her deep blue eyes.
Kagome grew annoyed when he said nothing, and grabbed the front of his haori angrily."Well?!"
"The hunter said the demon was in the guise of a human man with silver hair and blood red clothes!" Jin hurriedly spoke of what little he knew."Where is he?!"
He quickly sputtered that he was in the village's inn and was surprised yet again when Kagome pushed him aside and walked out of the hut.
"Where are you going?"
"To get some answers!"
---------------------------------------------
S esshomaru could smell the blood from a nearby clearing. He'd been following his brother's putrid hanyou scent and it had led him to the smell of a young boy's blood.
Apparently, I am not the only one that Inuyasha seeks to destroy, he thought as he moved closer.
He stopped in the clearing to find that indeed, there was a young boy's body, marred with gashes and covered in his own blood. He looked the boy over, noticing that he was close to, if not the same age Rin had been when she was killed. His chest clutched painfully at the sight, but he didn't move away. His brother's scent was staling; he'd been gone from the area for at least an hour. The boy's soul clung to him, though, and refused to depart. He could faintly see it hovering over his body, afraid of what to do. The boy indeed looked strong, and he noticed from the appearance of the clearing that he had fought off his brother as well as he could. The boy appeared to have had a scythe and a small blade. Pieces of the weapons were strewn about the clearing, the scythe’s blade broken in half and the blade, without its handle, was stuck in a tree.
He would probably have defeated him if he were properly trained... he trailed off when he noticed something familiar in the boy's scent. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the scent reminded him of Rin. He stepped back slightly, looking over the boy's face and staring at it in complete curiosity, though his face remained an emotionless mask. Nostalgia began to grip him, and he wondered if this boy would act as she had when she had first been brought back to the land of the living. Sesshomaru suddenly recognized that he had unsheathed his Tenseiga of his own accord. The Death Dealer's of the underworld had gathered around the boy, engulfing him with an eerie blue light.Sesshomaru stood there for a moment, not really sure why he wanted this. It was only a mere human, after all. Rin... He closed his eyes, thinking about the girl he would have married. He made one swift movement with the sword.Brown eyes opened.
----------------------------------------------
"Why didn't you protect the boy?!" she snarled, her hands clutching the hunter's haori in a brutal death grip, lifting his feet slightly off of the ground in her anger.
"And be killed by a demon?!" The hunter scoffed at this, "There is no way that I would do something so rash! I'd rather the boy die than me!"
Kagome hit him. Hard. She felt his nose break under her knuckles, and he went flying into the wall next to a small table. "You are no more a human than the one that took my brother from me," she spat, eyes becoming empty as she sighed, her head hanging low. "Get out of this village and never return. If I see you again," she stopped there, allowing all kinds of thoughts to seep into the hunter's head as he moaned on the floor, his hand covering his nose in his best attempt to stop the bleeding. He stood and ran as fast as he could out into the night, haunted by the miko's icy blue eyes...
She now paced her hut in an enraged manner. How could anyone have the conscience to leave a young boy in the hands of death? It's not fair... What ever happened to honor? Selflessness? Kagome growled to herself, I should have killed him!
She gasped at that, her eyes wide and her hands flying to her mouth even though she hadn't voiced the words aloud. Never in her entire existence had she ever wished death upon another. She was becoming frightened of herself. What had happened to the selfless, loving Kagome who wouldn't harm anything unless it posed an immediate threat to her village? It seemed like, in just a few hours, she had changed drastically from someone people respected for their kindness to someone people respected out of fear for their own lives. She had seen the way the villagers looked at her when she left the inn shortly after the bloodied hunter. Their eyes were full of shock, fear, and most of all... pity... They thought that she had been stricken so hard by the grief of losing her only family, that she had gone mad with rage and sadness.
That is only half true, she heard a voice in the back of her mind whisper. Tears welled up in her eyes. What am I becoming? She jumped slightly when Jin put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.
"Calm down, Kagome," his voice was soft, yet demanding. "Souta wouldn't be happy if he saw you like this, now, would he?"
That did it. At one mention of her brother's name, all of the anger that she had felt so strongly seeped away and was replaced with an overwhelming loneliness. Her shoulders shook, tears spilling over her cheeks as she finally let the grief hit her. She fell to her knees, causing Jin to sit in front of her an pull her to his chest. He ran his hand through her smooth hair, allowing it to come free from it's ties and pool around her on the floor. Kagome suddenly realized that she hadn't used his name once after she'd discovered that he could possibly be dead. This had her sobbing harder in the arms of her childhood friend.
"Shhh," he spoke soothingly, rubbing small circles into her back through her hair, "It's alright."
"I shouldn't have sent him out there!" She cried, her voice muffled by his haori as she clutched to his chest. Jin sighed, he knew Kagome all too well.
He gently lifted her and carried her to her sleeping quarters, a small room covered only by a thin cloth on the other end of the small hut where only a bed could fit. He supported her shaking and sobbing form with one arm as he pulled down the shabby linens on the bed before gently placing Kagome in the softness of the mat. He slid in next to her and pulled the covers over the both of them. He held her close, watching patiently as the tears slowly subsided and she fell into a fitful sleep. His eyes grew heavy some time later and he, too, surrendered to sleep.
-------
Jin woke the next morning to find that his best friend was not in bed beside him. He sat up slowly and observed the area, then stood and lifted the cloth that led to the other room to find Kagome sitting at a small desk in the corner of the room, a long scroll set out before her as her hand moved gracefully over the paper with an ink brush.
"Good morning," Kagome muttered, not looking up from her work.
"Good morning..." He moved closer to her and sat down on a tatami mat on the other side of the desk. "Kagome, what are you doing?"
"I am writing a message to every village that is in the range of a ten day walk."
Jin's brow furrowed, confusion written clear on his face, "Why?"
She paused only to look up at him. "I have a plan that can bring to justice the being who either killed my brother or is holding him captive." She sighed and proceeded to elaborate when his confused expression did not shift. "These messages are to be sent to every village within the predetermined distance, telling them to immediately send word of demon sightings in detailed description. If at one point in time there is a description similar to the one I seek, I will travel to the village and proceed to hunt the demon down. Once under captivity, the demon will be interrogated until my brother's whereabouts are revealed, whether he be alive or not."
Jin's face took on a look of shock, "Have you even considered the dangers in this? The demon could be one of great power, considering it is able to take on a human form, and should not be taken lightly. You could be killed..." He paused at her determined stare, "Do you plan to do this all on your own?"
Kagome nodded, "Traveling with others would merely slow me down. If I am to succeed, I must do this alone. You are the only one that I will allow myself to confide in."
"And if the demon you are looking for isn't found?"
"Then I will just send the messages further out, until the entire continent knows of my wishes, if need be."
"This is madness..." he muttered as he turned to leave, but stopped. He walk back to her briskly, placing his hands on the desk and leaning forward as if to seem intimidating, "If you receive a message declaring the sight of this demon, then I am to accompany you, regardless of what you may say. I am not losing you because of this."
Kagome was looking at him in shock at this point. She wouldn't find him a burden, no matter what he did. He would probably do better in protecting her than she would... but she didn't want to see him hurt, either. She opened her mouth to protest, but at the determined look in his eyes she thought better of it and nodded.
"Very good, then. Finish the letters and I will have them sent out before the sun sets."