InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Dawn ❯ Lost Miko Found ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Sesshomaru or anyone from the hit anime/manga series Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does. I do own all OC's in this story and there are quite a few.

 

If this doesn't inspire some sort of reaction from my readers, I'm going to throw Sesshomaru back into Augustus' torture chamber.

 

Chapter Fifteen: Lost Miko Found

 

“A Miasma!” screamed a young kitsune, clutching a twin-tailed kitten. A whirlwind rose around Katherine and her friends, saturated with a pink gas.

 

“Fools! You can all die in this sea of poison vapor,” caroled a dark voice. She could just detect the satisfaction in his tone. A young woman, dressed in pink and green and bleeding from many wounds, pushed herself up from Katherine's lap and pulled a mask from her blue sash. She leaned toward a boy in a black and green leotard, kneeling on the ground and placed the mask against his face; the sad smile never leaving her face despite their impending death.

 

Katherine saw a glow in the boy's back and thoughts filled her mind. `I know! Naraku has jewel shards!' She rose to her feet and glanced around until she spotted the same glow shining through the wall of poisonous wind.

 

“Naraku! Take this!” she shouted as she drew and released an arrow. The head glowed and pierced the swirling vapor. An explosion echoed throughout the open area; the wind died and the air cleared of all traces of the noxious fumes. In the place where the shaft had parted the wind, a man in blue and purple stood, stunned, his right arm gone.

 

“Naraku! You are totally despicable. Now die!” she cried, anger burning through every limb in her body. The man stared at her in bewilderment and she thought she saw a touch of fear enter his dark eyes. She drew another arrow and took aim. “I will never let you go, even if you beg for forgiveness!” she shouted and sent the arrow flying. The steel head ignited once more in mid-flight. When it reached its target it paused, hovering before her enemy's chest.

 

“This is exactly the same as Kikyo's enchanted arrow! Don't tell me this girl is…” Even at that distance she heard his alarmed mutterings. He grabbed the shaft and threw it away, then his body exploded leaving only a head floating in the air. Pink wind swirled around him and he vanished.

 

The gales threatened to blow her away; she struggled to hold her ground when a hand gripped her shoulder. “Kagome!” a male voice yelled in her ear. She barely heard him through the howling wind.

 

A second man shouted to another, “Hold on to her, Shippo! Don't let go!”

 

The woman's distressed voice carried to her. “Kohaku! Kohaku!” Katherine was pulled to the ground. The man lay on top of her, shielding her from debris with his body as the building around them disintegrated. “Kohaku!”

 

BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!

 

Katherine jumped with a suppressed yell at the sound of her alarm clock then shook her head; the dream slow to fade. `Again?' she thought as she rose and pulled a robe over her nightgown.

 

Her room was large with spring green walks and leaf stencils along the top of the walls. Sheer curtains hung across her single window. Across from the window was the door leading out to the rest of her family's home. On the adjacent wall were two doors; one leading to the closet the other to her own private bathroom. In the space between these two doors hung a solitary picture of her family; her father, mother, and three brothers. On the wall opposite them was her dresser and vanity set complete with mirror.

 

She walked to the vanity mirror and stared at her disheveled figure. Her raven hair hung down her back and obscured part of her face. Chocolate brown eyes glittered from behind the strands. Bending forward, she picked up a comb and began untangling the worst of the knots.

 

`These dreams have plagued me ever since I was little. My parents thought I had some psychological issues and took me to a doctor. I ended up in a mental ward for three years until I learned to lie about having them.

 

`At first, they were sweet dreams of life in a time and place so very different from today. But since I turned fifteen, they have intermingled with nightmares. It's so strange. Demons are vermin, they deserve everything they get. Yet… in my dreams… I make friends with several demons. That young man seems so important to my dream-self. Like he was special no matter how annoying he was.' She put down the comb and leaned on the table.

 

“Friends… with demons. Maybe I am crazy.” She whispered, nails digging into the tabletop. She stood up straight again and stared into the mirror. “How could someone like me be friends with demons? Who is this Kagome that I become whenever I close my eyes? Who is the real me?”

 

She turned away from the mirror and walked toward her closet. “I can ponder the meaning of `truth' all day, but I have a ball to prepare for,” she muttered as she pulled a form fitting green gown from its hanger. “This will do to satisfy my mother and all those slobbering men she'll be showing me off too.” She gazed at the dress then threw it onto a nearby chair.

 

Pulling her nightgown off and letting it drop to the floor, she stepped into the shower. `My dreams aren't the only nightmares I suffer,' she thought as hot water streamed over her pale frame. `Mother is determined to find me a husband for my sixteenth birthday. How I hate it!' Katherine slammed her fist against the dark blue tile.

 

“I hate being shown off like some precious gem,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Nobody cares about me. I'm just the lord's daughter. A prize! A step up in the ranks! The string to create a blood tie between Lord Augustus and whomever he chooses to bless!” Grimacing, she pulled her hand back and turned off the water. She left the shower and toweled herself dry. In minutes she was fully dressed.

 

The emerald gown hung to the floor and the sleeves extended to her wrists. The neck line was square and low, but not to point of indecency. Golden leaves and vines outlined the borders and a gold sash wrapped her waist and hung down her left side to the floor. Matching slippers graced her feet.

 

Pinning her tiara in place, she thought with a sneer, `I'm not a woman; I'm not even a human!' Looking at herself in the mirror again, she stared at her reflection seeking the young woman of her dreams in her appearance. `I wish I could sleep forever. At least this “Kagome” didn't have to worry about being married off.'

 

Turning away, she stared at the picture of her family. `If I'm not considered human by my own family then maybe it isn't such an evil thing to be friends with a demon.'

 

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Katagai moved across the room like water between rocks. He had noticed Augustus earlier, but the lord turned away and the man felt his comrade was hiding something. `Bet it concerns capturing Sesshomaru,' he thought. Many of the guests at the party were conversing about their daily lives, an insignificant topic to Katagai and so he declined joining in. As he walked he spotted Katherine, Augustus' daughter. This was the first time he'd seen her beyond Augustus' family portraits. He had read her medical history, despite her parents' attempt to bury it, and found it interesting.

 

The young woman wore a painful smile as she pretended to be interested in the story a man twice her age was telling her. `Looks like this fair maiden is in need of rescuing,' he thought and, wanting to speak with her anyway, walked toward her.

 

“Excuse me, Baron, I have some business with the young lady,” he interrupted smoothly. The man glared, but upon recognizing Katagai backed away without fuss. Turning toward the surprised girl, Katagai offered his arm and said, “Now, shall we talk somewhere less crowded.”

 

“Most certainly, my good sir,” replied Katherine and took his arm. The pair headed out to the balcony garden.

 

“I heard you once had dreams of `another life' when you were younger,” said Katagai. The young woman tensed next to him, but didn't stop walking. She gazed up at him, her eyes searching. Sensing the problem, Katagai continued, “Unlike your foolish parents, I don't believe they were caused by insanity. I believe they are memories from a past life.”

 

“Why do you think that?” she asked, her slight form relaxing.

 

“In ancient times, people believed that reincarnation was common. Unless you achieved enlightenment you would eventually be reborn. Most of the time, though, the reincarnated soul would carry no memories from its previous life into its new one. There have been exceptions, however.”

 

“You believe these dreams are memories playing themselves out while I sleep, like a movie?” Her voice was filled with disbelief.

 

“You dream of walking out under the open sky in broad daylight, of trees and birds. Things that don't exist in our day and age you dreamed before ever being told about them. That is my proof,” Katagai said. The lord was certain Katherine still had such dreams, but had wisely stopped talking about them.

 

`I need to know her dreams so I can know who she is,' he thought as he gazed at her. `I must tread carefully; one wrong step and she'll deny she has them still.'

 

“Was there really a time where humans and demons hailed each other as friend?” she asked, her voice low and almost bemused.

 

“I only know what is written in books that survived the apocalypse. But some do speak of rare friendships between our two worlds,” he replied.

 

`She's opening up. She just needed a listener who wouldn't judge her mad,' he thought as he watched her, his expression conveying slight interest and curiosity.

 

“I'm not human,” she said with a bitter smile. He blinked in surprise. “You will think me strange for saying this, but my family says this with their actions. I'm not human; I'm an item, an accessory. They say it is unnatural for humans and demons to be friends; that demons are the enemy of humans for all eternity. That nothing will be right until demons are destroyed. But I'm not human, so why should I fear being friends with demons; they aren't human either.”

 

Katagai remained quiet, interested in what she had to say and where it might lead them both.

 

“I want to be friends with demons, but not just any demons. I want my demon. My precious demon who protects me from everything and everyone. The one I bound so long ago. The one that loves me no matter what, but is too afraid to say it. He loved me when I was Kikyo, he loved me when I was Kagome, he'll love me even though I'm now Katherine because our souls were bound together for all eternity. If he were here I could leave my family and live how I want, not how they wish it. I'd be a true woman, not some accessory to be shown off or sold off.”

 

She laughed softly and pierced Katagai's dark gaze. Raising an eyebrow, she said, “You must think me mad now. Your fault for telling me what I dream was once real; a lost past.”

 

Startled, he didn't say a word at first then he smiled, “Your father wastes you on alliances easily made with paper and wax alone.”

 

`The miko is mine!'

 

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It has been way too long!

Still brainstorming the mini-plot involving Sesshomaru and Dune. This chapter was primarily written as a stall tactic but I think it'll be fun. In fact this may make the cyborg arc even more fun.

…

 

Did I just give a vital piece information away?

 

Oh well, enjoy!