InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Memories of Us ❯ Cleansing ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. And I do not intent to gain any kind of gain for this work of fanfiction.

~Memories of Us~

3. Cleansing

The morning sun found a raven haired woman dressed in traditional miko garments arguing with a certain silver haired hanyou.

“Inuyasha… I'm telling you, the only thing I'm gonna be doing with Kaede is a cleansing ritual.” She stared at his scowling face before sighing “nothing to worry about.”

“Keh!... the hell there's nothing to worry about!” he got a step closer trying to make her understand his point “Wench! You were gone for far too long for you to be taking off on your own!” at the end of his argument his tone changed making him sound as worried as he was trying to hide.

Kagome's chest felt heavier for a moment and almost gave in. But she knew that giving him what he wanted now meant he would not let her do anything on her own in the near future. She straightened her back and started again with her calm but firm voice.

“I know, I was gone for well…it was a really long time. And I know you are worried about me” he blushed but didn't deny it. “But I need to do this… I need to start training as a miko.” She reached for one of his hands that were crossed on his chest “I need to belong, to be part of the village”

Inuyasha turned to the side, looking at the woods. The woods she needed to go through to get to the waterfall where the ritual was going to be performed. With his ear still turned to Kagome. “I know all that wench.” Kagome relaxed thinking she had made her point.

He moved rapidly and look at her again. “Still… going with the babaa alone is too dangerous. I'm not letting ya go there.” The last sentence was enunciated in such way Kagome felt her anger flow around her. And Inuyasha felt a shiver across his back.

Kagome broke contact with him and raised her hand pointing one finger to his face. “You are not letting me?” Inuyasha started to feel nervous “letting me? As in: giving me permission?” The hanyou took a step back trying to make the space between them bigger, same step Kagome took toward him. “Listen to me Inuyasha! I will do this. And you have no word in this!” she was fuming. “I will do this today and for many more days as I need it. And you are no part of this!”

Kagome was expecting some kind of angry retort from the hanyou, or maybe an interruption of her speech. But not the sudden defeated expression that crossed his face before it became guarded. She changed her tone for one gentler.

“I know you want to keep me safe and close, but I really need to feel useful. I need to belong here. If I don't I could never call it home.” His face was still impassible but his shoulders were squared again. “I want to make a home here…” and with the softest voice she could muster, she added. “…with you.”

She was looking at him with her gray eyes begging. He sighed. He knew she had won the discussion. With blushed cheeks and bright eyes looking around her but not at her, he finally complied “Keh… go and do your thing wench.”

Kagome jumped in excitement and hugged him. “Thank you, Inuyasha” before letting go of him she stretched little bit and pecked him on the cheek. Too soon for him, her arms let him go and she went running to the waterfall, leaving the hanyou behind feeling her lingering touch.

Just as she was disappearing into the woods she heard his gruff voice shouting “I will still be around, wench!” she turned around, knowing that with his hanyou vision he could still see her in the partial darkness. She nodded and waved goodbye, smiling to see him waving back as he turned and started to walk back to the village. She shook her head to clear her head and started moving again. Kaede had been waiting for her before dawn.

She smiled at the memory. The plans to start with the ritual were set yesterday as the hanyou was out doing his nocturnal round. Kaede would go out leaving a miko uniform outside the hut. And the old miko would wait at the waterfall. Later Kagome would go outside, get changed and meet up with her. No one was to know of their plans. They would perform the ritual and comeback before the usual time for breakfast. But they missed a detail, a very protective and overbearing hanyou detail, with his very hanyou-ish senses.

So, when Kaede went out his ears started to flick around. Kagome tried to get up, putting Shippou on the bedding softly with her free hand, and when she tried to let go of the silver haired man's hand, she realized a very reflective golden eyes were staring at him and his hand was not letting hers go. She pointed to the door with her head, he grunted and let go of her hand. She knew he was thinking she needed to relieve her bladder.

But when the sound of different fabrics moving and no “relieving” happened before she walked away from the hut. The hanyou stalked behind her. Finding at the outskirts of the forest.

Kagome chuckled remembering the hanyou's face when she turned to talk to him. He had this special kind of surprise where nervousness, excitement and worry were mixed making him look like a confused puppy. He had recovered rapidly and with his unique brand of tact he had said “Oi Kagome what'cha wearing?” she had smiled and explained most of it to him. Letting him know she would join him for breakfast. And not telling him that she had training with Miroku in the afternoon. Obviously he didn't take it well, as expected and his discussion had started.

She reflected that actually that was a very good conversation. Still she was sure it was not going to be the last of today.

She finally reached the waterfall. Kaede was waiting for her in the closest part possible to the waterfall without getting into the water. She was wearing a plain white yukata.

“Inuyasha found out…” Kaede declared without even bothering to make it a question. Kagome nodded and went to change.

“Child… do you feel good enough in the miko garments to wear it all day?” the old miko's voice was serious as if a hidden meaning was imbedded in the question.

Kagome thought it for a moment and answered as truthful as she could “I could try it out for some days… If it feels weird I'll say something” Kaede nodded and when Kagome was ready she started to walk to the waterfall.

The young woman shivered as she entered the water. She didn't think this was going to be this cold. It was practically freezing. She looked at the old woman, who was walking effortlessly looking for a good rock formation and a soft current.

The old miko called her and showed her the correct pose. “To perform this you need to empty your mind and find a special kind of rest where you let your energy flow and welcome the pure energy from nature” Kagome nodded between shivers.

Kaede walked to the place she deemed appropriate and helped Kagome to position herself.

Kagome sat down below the stream and for a moment her breath halted feeling the cold around her flowing. It was only her will what kept her still. She heard the voice of the miko “concentrate on the purity of the nothingness”.

More than three years ago in a conversation Kaede talked to the Inu-gang abut nothing and the nothingness. She explained how nothing was a place that contained something, an absence of things but the nothingness is the complete and absolute absence of even nothing. The main difference is how the nothingness can be filled with anything, like energy, but nothing cannot be filled because is already filled by the absence of things and has the ghosts of the things that were there before. And only the nothingness is a fertile place for meditation.

Kagome tried to concentrate, emptying her mind and just feeling the water flow around her. Slowly her breathing became less erratic as the body stopped paying attention to the cold. Slowly she was capable of deep, long, slow breaths.

In her mind a slow calmness started to come over her. In her mind's eye she could see the white pure energy the water carried around her, taking her worries with it. She could feel how her body was cleaner, and lighter. The sensation was liberating, she felt part of everything that was around her, part of the original order of nature. She was a working part of the system, in harmony with every other part.

She was indulging in following the white, pure flow of energy the river carried when a small dot outside of the stream became too interesting and closer, she could see the small form, nothing compared to the immensity of the flow of energy. She knew it was not part of the ritual to focus on something that particular. But she needed to go to that energy. She felt the energy so different from herself, the energy was moving but not flowing, she could almost touch this energy, she could… if she tried hard enough. She needed to get close, to touch that energy.

Kaede was watching the young miko, and suspected something was not normal when she started to feel an unusual amount of sacred energy travel in the stream. The old miko called Kagome, but she didn't answered and didn't even flinch. She tried to reach her, when the water covering her repelled her. Kaede was worried about what her untrained powers could do if they ran freely.

Kagome was focusing on touching that energy, she could finally separate partially from the stream and touch it. That red hot and ever-moving energy reached for hers instantly. Suddenly Kagome could see the energy, the red energy slowly became a crouching figured, with silver on top. She noted it was a person, a man. She stared at him fascinated with the color of his hair.

Inuyasha felt a presence behind him. He tried to sniff without moving too much, no smell came to him, only the river and the woods registered in his nose. His ears flicked in every direction but no sound of crushed grass, steps or paws came to him either. He prepared to attack and turned to confront the presence. His eyes opened wide and his arms lost the fighting stance. Kagome's image was in front of him, she was not touching the field, her figure was white and he could not see real substance in her. Her eyes were full of wonder but lacking something in them, this was not the way Kagome looked at him.

“Kagome...?” he whispered in a deep voice. Staring into those golden orbs she didn't listened to his voice. The second time she did listen but this time his voice was treaded with fear “Kagome… why are you like this?”

The moment she heard her name all sense of individuality and the knowledge she was a person different from the stream broke the connection with the energy, making the connection with the man impossible to continue.

Inuyasha saw the translucent white figure of Kagome disappear and ran the fastest he could to the place he knew both mikos were training. Not bothering to even look at the old priestess he got into the water and reached for Kagome.

“Inuyasha! Don't touch her, she could purify you!” Kaede said but his entire attention was on the immobile miko under the waterfall.

“Kagome!” He said getting close to her. She open her eyes at the same time he touched her, bringing her out of the stream and sitting with her in his lap on the grass where the clothes were.

Kagome smiled gently at him “that was great!” Her smile faded when she noticed the scowling face of her hanyou “Great?! Great?! What the hell was that Kagome?” His voice raised with each word.

The young miko looked pensive to the stream and laid further into the hanyou embrace. “I don't know… It felt truly great.” She moved her head to look into his preoccupied eyes “But I found you” She smiled at him.

Before he could ask further the old miko joined and sat in front of them. “Child, you must not do that again” She admonished softly.

“But, Kaede… I don't know what I did” Kagome answered trying to move from the hanyou's arms but he grunted and tightened his hold on her. She debated for less than a second about moving but she let him win and rested her back on his chest. He rewarded her with a short rumble of appreciation.

Nothing of this short wordless discussion was lost to the miko who looked at them with accusing eyes. “Instead of using the energy of the river to cleanse yourself, you used it to play.” She shook her head slowly “You gave the river part of your energy to look for him”. Kagome's brow furrowed. “Child, you have too much power to be safe to play with it. Your sacred energy is raw and it does not know how to work on its own.” The old miko sighed “If you play with it you may cause yourself and your loved ones much pain” She looked at Inuyasha, then at Kagome, thinking he would back down or flush under her stare as years before. But with joy she realized he was looking at her accusingly, maybe for making Kagome feel bad.

“Tell me what you saw Inuyasha” The hanyou looked at the miko in his arms and he told her everything he felt, including the lack of sound or scent. Kagome told both of them how she had felt Inuyasha's energy and it called to her, but she didn't recognize him until he said her name. When they both finished with the explanations, they gave the old miko expectant looks.

Kaede sighed tired “Looks like she used her powers to let part of her become a part of the river for some time, and used the river to find you.” The old miko stood up slowly and started to pick up her clothing “this is something dangerous, it you let other's energy call to you and you go willingly, part of you can go missing. I'm not strong enough to do that, but my sister always told me to avoid merging completely with the nature's energy. Nature is the strongest of energies and can take part of you effortlessly. You need to focus on the meditation, not looking for someone.”

Kagome looked down ashamed. Inuyasha glared at the old miko. “That's is why as long as you are not strong enough to keep yourself from that kind of danger” Kaede look back at Inuyasha “Inuyasha will be away from your training places” Inuyasha started to show his fangs when she continued “Yours is the only energy or presence she would seek and the only one she would willingly follow. If you want her safe you will be away from her training.”

The hanyou stared at her for a long time before nodding.

The old miko walked away with her clothes and got into her miko garments while the young couple was still immersed in their thoughts. She sighed again and walked to the villages, alone.

Kagome's soft voice interrupted his somber thoughts. “I still think that finding you like that is amazing” she smiled looking at him with a smile in her lips. He didn't answer the smile. She noticed the seriousness on his face and raised a hand to caress his cheek. He lowered his head almost touching hers.

“Just don't do it again…” His voice was more deep vibrations in his chest that actual sound. He rested his forehead on hers. “What if you lose that part of yourself when merged with the river?”

His eyes glowed with ghosts of the past, for him the separation of her soul because of her reincarnation was still fresh. “You have already lost part of yourself before…”

Kagome gasped when the real meaning of his words hit him. He looked so worried and scared she wanted to comfort him. “I'll be careful… I promise” she answered with a soft voice at the same time she raised a hand to the back of his neck and closed her lips on his.

At the moment he felt her silky lips on his he responded to the kiss, tilting his head to have better access to her. Her lips were timid moving tentatively on his, he almost purred when her tongue touch him, his arms pressed her against him and she moaned into the kiss. The kiss became passionate fast, their breath labored and their hearts racing on their chests.

The sound of a throat being cleaned, didn't get to them, so he decided to throw a small rock to the hanyou's head. He wasn't stupid enough to get close to him now.

The kiss was abruptly finished with a feral roar. Kagome jumped in his embrace at the sudden change of mood. Then she hear a bright voice.

“I tried to wait for you to react but you two getting a little too into…” the little Kitsune motioned with the head back to them. Inuyasha blushed and hid Kagome's flustered face with his chest.

The kit was standing at their side with a few meters of distance. “Go away runt!”

Shippou smiled cheeky and shook his head “Nope, Kaede told me to bring you because breakfast is ready and Kagome needs to eat” Inuyasha blushed when the kit tried to peek at Kagome and then he smiled knowingly. No kid should be able to do that face he thought.

Kagome moved away from the hanyou, her face was slightly pink but she smiled “Thank you Shippou, let's get going”. The hanyou stood up and walked to the village with Kagome's hand in his and the little Kitsune on his shoulder.

The afternoon was incredible tiresome for her. The monk told her that after Kaede told him about the river incident the most important thing was to learn how to call and control the amount of energy used.

And the first exercise was to call her powers and pour them into her hands without attacking. She was bothered because Miroku had pushed the hanyou away telling him that if he didn't a barrier would be erected.

The explanation was simple. The execution was the tricky part. The practice would finish when she could complete the series three times.

The first part was to call her powers. She had never done it willingly without some kind of life threat. She tried to remember Miroku's words. “The power is within you, what you need is to find it, where does it rest, after that you need to build a path to make the access easier. You already did that with the arrows. But this time is without channeling into something. Once you build that path bring the energy to your hands. First to both of your hands, only your hands, then to only one and finish with the other. When you do that series three times, you can go home.” He waved goodbye and left.

It was late afternoon when the monk came back and asked her how it was working. She was angry at him for his lazyness.

“How do you think?” she asked with the sarcasm dripping from her words “If you didn't tell me how to reach my powers. I've never been trained in this kind of things!”

Miroku didn't say a thing before sitting down facing her “my apologies for that, a great oversight indeed” he looked at her apologizing and most of her anger went away “to reach your power we can try to do something like the waterfall meditation but instead of focusing on the flow, let's focus inside ourselves and look for the pure energy inside. Close your eyes and mind your breathing”

She did as told. With closed eyes and soon she found a white bright energy inside. Her first instinct was to pull but she realized the more she pulled the harder it was to touch it. Then she tried to invite the energy out, channeling calm and love into the light. A sudden bolt of energy came to her. When she opened her eyes her body was glowing with a pinkish white light, illuminating the praying space they were using.

She looked at Miroku, who was pleased to see her fast results. “Congratulations. Faster than I thought. Very good indeed”

Kagome smiled to the happy monk. “Now, what we need is that energy only on your hands. Try to picture it in your mind and wish for it.” Kagome nodded.

She tried to picture her hands glowing and the rest of her body without light. The glowing faded slowly as she pictured her hands glowing, she felt the energy moving to her hands but the glow also faded.

“Let's try it again” announced Miroku when Kagome's face turned serious. “Call the energy and from the beginning imaging it only on your hands” Kagome noticed how Miroku's voice was deep, silky and firm. The instruction were clear and precise. She nodded and closed her eyes again.

By the time she managed to do the three series the night had fallen upon the village, and the Monk offered to walk her home.

“How are you feeling?” asked the monk as they walk side by side.

Kagome smiled looking at the ground “A little tired but excited…It's the first time I did something with my powers at will” she turned to the monk “I can't wait to learn everything else I can do”

Miroku smiled at her with pride “You will be capable of many great things, I am sure”. His face became serious “I recommend you to be careful, the more you are in touch with your powers the easy they will work on their own, if you are not careful intense emotion can call out to them and hurt someone around you… and the most vulnerable to your sacred powers is our dear Inuyasha”.

Kagome nodded pensive. He was right, she must be calm until her powers are at check.

“Besides… Inuyasha will not stay still when the object of his affection is taken away from him… even if he knows is necessary.” He gave her a sly smile “Speaking of him, here he comes”

Inuyasha was stalking towards them with a frown and a scowl. Kagome ignored the hanyou's sour mood and smiled at him. Before he arrived the monk called to him.

“Could not wait anymore for our return, my friend?” Miroku said with a mocking tone.

“Can it, bouzu!” was the only greeting he got from Inuyasha. Kagome waited for Inuyasha to stand by her side and take her hand. She turned to the silver haired man waiting for him to say something. “Are you done?”

She nodded “for today at least, I am”. Inuyasha grunted in acceptance.

“Now that I am not needed anymore. I'll see you tomorrow my friends.” He turned to leave in direction to his home, he bid his good bye saying “Enjoy this beautiful night” he finished with his trademark perverted tone.

“Just go already!” Hurried Inuyasha with his own gruff tone.

When the monk was out of view they started the way to Kaede's hut talking about what they did on their day. Kagome excitedly showing what she could do and Inuyasha sulking because he had to babysit most of the afternoon.

The way home reminded Kagome how It could be in her own time, walking to their home after work hand in hand sharing their day. She hoped everyday could end this way.

Aaaand this is the third Chapter.

This Chapter starts Kagome's transformation as a true miko. She has always have this enormous powers inside of her but only in extreme distress can she reach them. I like the idea of Kagome not only being a healing miko, but as a powerful being. I have this headcanon where Kagome's powers are not entirely sacred, as Kikyo's were, I mean she was born with the Shikon no Tama inside, and never noticed something different from the rest. So part of this story is to explore (one of my ideas) of the nature of her powers.

I'm sorry if you think this is slow, I know it is but this development is needed in the next part of the story.

Thank you for staying with me until the end of this chapter (hugs and kisses for all of you)

I appreciate every review, thank you very much for taking the time to write something back and tell me what you think of all this.

Also, you can check my other stories, they're oneshots ;D

The last is to send kisses to the person who thinks this is only mine but I assure you my ideas don't flow if you're not there helping me.

See you all next week.

Nanna