InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Journey ❯ 44 ( Chapter 44 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

"What comes next?" Kagura asked, worried.
"Nothing serious, but it will be trying."
"What?" inuyasha demanded irritably.
"You have to go through your coronation ceremony and go around and meet everyone. It's stanard with new rulers. You'll be on the road for a while, just making sure everyone can see you. You could also try out some of your new Gifts. I'd expect trouble. Youkai always have problems accepting new rules. Some might agree, but some might forfeit their honor and try to attack you. It happens to everyone, and you should probably return to Kagome's time for a while."
"What? that's all?" Kohaku asked. The Miko nodded. He laughed.
"That'll be easy enough."
"Be prepared to use your Gifts, and try to behave yourselves." They all nodded.
"Could we just visit my time first?" kagoem asked. The Miko nodded.
"Our last trip got interrupted, didn't it?"
*Next day*
They were all packed, and at teh well.
"Okay, let's go!" Inuyasha said, jumping in. They half-expected another visit from their future other-dimension selves, but they went straight through."
"Okay, let's go see what happened to my time." Kagoem said. They all knew that somethiing had happened. It was just a different feeling about the place. Kagoem climbed out and froze.
"What the-?" she asked. Instead of her shrine, there was a glistening blue palace.
"What is it Ka-" Inuyasha started to say, climbing out. He then saw what she had seen. Everyone climbed out after them.
"This is..... interesting." teh Miko said. "It seems that your past selves decided to build a palace on top of where her house would've been. Time's a funny thing."
"How'd I get down the well then?" Kagome asked.
"That one's easy. You were meant to, so you fell down there becasue I sent the centepiede after you. Time's altered itself after that, but not for you. This has always been here." A voice that didn't belong to anyone in teh group answered. Droplets of water seemed to collect into a solid form. An older Kagome stepped out of the drops.
"What?" Kagome asked. Seh was getting tired of her alternate selves popping up all teh time.
"You must be another one of Kagome's future selves." Miroku guessed. The older Kagoem nodded.
"You were meant to. Time was flowing strangly one day- you still have yet to come upon it by the way- and then I sent Shippo to attack you in the form of a centepiede monster. Very convincing illusion. Time had been flowing funny for you since that day. It allowed us to build the castle. Any variable in time that could be done has been. This was the last dimension that had to be crossed. Everything was important. The other dimensions are collapsing from being imperfect. Soon only this dimension will remain. Everything is as it should be here. Any questions?"
"Yeah. How do you know all of this?" Sango asked.
"I am Kagome's future self. You will have to pass through teh well one last time. You'll live up until here and be able to see your mom every day. Right now, I'm visiting her. You'll be busy until you can see her. When you do want to see her, then you may partially crossover and look, but be careful. Always have a barrier around you then. Soemone could hurt your soul- that's what you put out when you cross over partially. When you live as long as I have, then don't visit your mother until you know that you've defeated Naraku and everything else. You ahve to wait until you see yourself leaving. Then you can visit. I have to go now. Remember what I've said." The older Kagoem disppeared.
"That was awfully fast." Koga said.
"It still has my brain reeling." Kagura agreed. Everyone nodded.
"She wasn't lying. She was honest." Shippo said. Everyone stared at him.
"Why do you think that?" Kohaku asked.
"I just know!"
"He's an Empath- he can sense others emotions, so he'd be able to detect if someone was lying or not." the Miko explained.
"Oh." Nari said. "In that case, I think that we should return home for teh coronation. Can't Kagome just ask Koga if Koga could show her the present? Koga does have the Gift of seeing tehFutuire, right? Coudln't Koga just look and see what Kagome's mom was doing?" Koga looked a little perplexed.
"You're right! I could probably even project it onto a mirror or something, if I tried." Koga said. "Right now though, I'm kinda tired, so why don't we go back and rest?" Everyone nodded. Kagome and Inuyasha were the last to jump into teh well.
"I know you'll miss your mother, but you still have me." Inuyasha told Kagome. Kagome hugged him.
"I know, and if what my other self said is any judge, I'll be plenty busy until we can see her again." Together, they jumped into the well. On the other side was trouble.
"Are you the new rulers?" A demented but strong-looking youkai said. It was not all that tall- only about twice Sango's height.
"What of it?" Kohaku called. The youkai laughed madly.
"I was told to kill you and bring your skins to the other youkai....." It reached for Nari. "I'll start with you!" In a flash of what seemed like liquid, Kohaku slashed the things arm off at the elbow. It screamed in pain.
"Kohaku, Nari, this is your fight." Inuyasha called. Kohaku nodded, not taking hsi eyes off his opponent. Nari changed into her demon form.
"Get on!" she called to Kohaku. He nodded, hopping onto her back. She flew up into the air, careful to dodge the youkai's good arm. She flew straight at it when there was a lull in the attacks. She flew, aiming for a spot right over its head.
"Now Kohaku!" she called. Kohaku slashed the whip straight at the things neck, which propmtly severed. The youkai didn't have the time to scream. The head fell, blood staining the ground.
"That was way to easy......" Kohaku said. He was right. It was way to easy, but no second attack came. Yet.
"Lets go." Kagome said. No one argued. They decided to stop at Kaede's village for the night, instead of heading straight back to the Mikos house.
"Kaede!" Kagome called. Tge old miko hobble dout of a nearby hut.
"I am glad to see ye again child." Kaede said.
"What's going on?" Kagura asked. The few times she'd been to teh village, she'd noticed taht children were almost always playing in teh streets. "Where is everyone?"
"'Tis terrible. An illness that resists my remedies has been striking the young and old, strong and weak. We know not a cure."
"Is it a plauge or something?" Kagome muttered.
"I haven't yet found a way that it has been traveling." Kaede said.
"Could I see one of teh patients?" Nari asked. "I can heal......."
"That's right!" Shippo exclaimed. "You have the healing Gift!" Kaede seemed to weigh her options, but then allowed Nari to go see the afflicted.
"Ka-Kaede...." one boy called, when they were close enough to see teh makeshift infirmary. "Water......" Kaede fetched some water from a nearby pail.
"Here child, drink." She held the ladle up to teh boys' lips and he drank a few sips before stopping. Nari knelt by them.
"Hi. What's your name?" Nari asked the boy softly. The boy cracked open an eyelid.
"Ma-Matoru." The boy croaked. "Yo-Yours?"
"I'm Nari." Nari said quietly. She placed a hand on teh boy forehead. "Shh... Sleep." The boys' eyelids closed obediantly.
"What will ye be doing?" Kaede wanted to know.
"I'll be trying to find out what is causing this." Nari closed her eyes an concentrated.
*Nari*
"Hello?" Nari called. She coudln't see anything. This place...... was it a place? She was surrounded in a light fog, and she felt extremely cold. Occasionally, she could hear a thump-thump, thump-thump.
"I must be inside the boys mind. What's causing this..... it's mantal, not physical." Nari tried to exit, but was stopped.
"What?" She squeaked.
"You'll stay here. I didn't go through all this trouble to get you here just to let you go." Matorus voice sounded all around her.
"What?" Nari asked again. "What do you want?"
"You really are stupid, aren't you? Do you ever think that it's so easy to impersonate humans in this time? Mommy and Daddy get killed by bandits, by hanyous, by youkai....... It was easy enough to get the people of this town to take me in."
"You.... you're the youkai that's causing this?"
"Quick, aren't you?" Matoru materialized in front of her. "Do you have as quick reflexes as mind?" Nari noticed that he held a whip in his hands.
"Like my toy?" he asked, hold the strip of leather up to her. "Doesn't it resemble something else taht you know? Another whip?" With a sinking stomach, she realized taht itw as exactly like Kohaku's, except his was made of metal, not leather.
"You do? Good." He flicked teh whip expertly at her face. She didn't dodge. It wasn't close enough to hit......
But it did. It slammed sideways in midair, cutting her across teh cheek. She gasped and jumped, more from shock then anything.
"Baka." the boy said, calling his whip back. "Did you forget that I can use my mental ability to strike?"
*Rest of teh Group*
A cut appeared on Nari's cheek.
"What?" Kohaku asked, shocked. "When and how'd she get that cut?"
"I don't know....... maybe she tripped in that boys body? that's what ye must do for a healing.... reach in and draw things out." Kaede said. Her theroy didn't hold as several more cuts appeared on Nari and some on Matoru.
"What in the seven hells is gojng on?" Inuyasha asked.
"Kaede.... when did Matoru arrive here? I don't remember him..." Kagome said.
"About a week ago, same time the villagers fell sick. Itw as only few days after the poor child fell ill......" Kaede said.
"What happened to his parents?" Koga asked.
"Dead. Bandits." Kaede said. Shippo looekd up.
"Bandits? And his parents were killed? Impossible. The blood-smell would hang around for a week at the least, and I don't smell any blood. I didn't smell any coming here either." Shippo said.
"I didn't notice any blood either." Inuyasha said. Koga just nodded.
"But.... that's impossible....." Kaede said. "What, then, do you think happened?"
"Kagura? Do you know?" Kohaku asked her. Kagura looked at him funny for a moment, then she realized. Seeing others confused faces, she explained.
"I have Past and Present Sight! I can see what he was doing a week ago." Kagura closed her eyes and concentrated, reaching back in time.