InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ No Face, No Name, No Number ❯ Part II ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

No Face, No Name, No Number Part II  

 

Miroku and Sango’s marriage coincided with the week of Higurashi-sama’s death and the naming of the two as Kagome’s guardians.

Miroku had just reached his twenty-seventh summer, but it was the most thoroughly enjoyed turning of age ceremonies he’d had.

The monk had cared greatly for Kagome, and when her mother died he’d been left to help her pick up the pieces. She was turning eleven this winter, and he couldn’t help but think (in his new marital bliss state of mind) that she would one day make for a beautiful bride.

It was also around the Spring that Kagome had reported that she was having very surreal dreams involving both her dead sister and her mother. Sango said it was probably just a way for her to grieve, but quickly rethought that stance when she watched the girl convulsing in her sleep. Her futon had been moved into the small room when the current throne holder (as Kagome was not old enough) heard about these dreams.

The small group had come to a quick decision that there was something that the man, aptly named Onigumo, didn’t want the- self proclaimed- miko to see.

According to Sango, Kagome’s disability had matured her far beyond what “normal” at her young age of just eleven. She’d also often commented that she had made the revelation that Higurashi-sama knew when she would die. “Eleven is to be your most powerful year yet.”

For Kagome, eleven was one of the toughest years in her life, but unlike most girls of the age she’d been able to keep her soul pure. Through the nightmares, Kagome had been given a rare sight into the afterlife. The seven gates were said to only be accessible to those of necromancy heritage. Her mother had been a healer, sure, but the thought of her controlling, speaking or even communicating with the dead was a vast exaggeration.

Kagome had seemed to get the ability from the being that Miroku had entitled as “Kagome’s imaginary dead-boy.” She’d told her two protectors about the boy who sat high up in the branches of Goshinboku in the mid-Spring and told her stories of the far gone past. Sango had outright laughed and ruffled the girl’s hair while Miroku had seemed a bit pensive for a moment.

Then he broke out into a wide smile and assured her that there was nothing in the Jideji.

~*~

Kagome sighed. Normal girls in her village worried about what colour would look best as they prepared for the next festival. Most girls her age could also see the colour they wanted to wear, but Kagome brushed off that little thought as quickly as it had come to her.

She sighed again. She was sixteen winters. The air in her small room was frigid, and she wrapped her arms around herself in a lame attempt to keep herself warm.

“Stupid window, stupid tree, stupid boys…” she muttered under her breath.

Sango entered, opening the door wide and smiling equally as big. Kagome winced and threw her blankets over her head.

Sango clicked her tongue. “Well this won‘t do, will it Houshi-dono?”

The young monk chuckled. “Of course not, my love.”

Kagome groaned. “Cold. Shut the door idiots. Cold!”

“Oh Ka-Go-Me!”

“Yeah! Kagome-chan, Kagome-chan!”

She finally sat up fully. “This had better be good.”

A heavy bit of cloth fell on top of her head and she was amazed at the feeling as it slipped onto her lap. It was smooth, as smooth as…

Her countenance brightened several degrees. “Silk, Sango-chan! Miroku-san! Oh, Thank you!”

She knew it had to be an expensive piece by the feel alone. She could nearly hear the two smiling. They shuffled around the small area, trying to tidy things up a bit for the younger girl. One of the two had lit her a small fire in the hearth.

Miroku was the first to speak. “Well that’s only the outermost layer. The winter has just begun, Kagome-chan. We got a whole winter formality set.”

“You guys are amazing, did you know that.”

Sango scoffed somewhere near the hearth. “ ’Course we knew that, Kagome-chan.”

There was a small bit of silence in which Kagome used to feel the fabrics they had dumped into her lap. “Beautiful,” she breathed.

Miroku cleared his throat. “You know Kagome, Kaede-baa-chan has asked me to speak with you again.”

Kagome’s mouth formed into an ‘O.’ “Did she now.”

Her lips drew tight and she pulled her blankets from her lithe form slowly.

“Yes, Kagome-chan.” Sango chimed in. “We have to start soon, you know that, right?

“I would have to start soon, if I were going to do it, which I am not.”

“But Kagome, training is very important-”

“No!” the girl stood suddenly and made her way towards her door, counting steps. “Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean I will never marry! I will not take a vow! I will not become a priestess! I will not!

“Kagome, we-” Miroku was reaching towards the girl, but she moved to fast for him.

She was nearly shrieking now. “No!” tears shot to her eyes. “You don’t even come to see me anymore! You want me for your stupid cause! No!”

Sango was stricken. Tears flowed to her own eyes. “Kagome-chan we aren’t doing this for us…”

“You are!” Kagome opened the door and took in a deep breath. “I hate her, and I will never, ever help her!”

Miroku closed his eyes and took in a cleansing air to his lungs. “ Surely you don’t mean that. She is your sister.”

“Sister?! I have no sister!” tears streamed freely down the young girl’s face. “She leaves my mother to die! And then she senses some stupid power in me and now all of a sudden she knows what’s best?! She won’t ever know!”

Against her better judgment, she ran out the door. She knew her way to the sacred tree, she could sense the damn thing a mile away. She knew he would understand. She could talk to him.

Kagome called out to her friend, but got no response.

Sobs wracked her small body and she stood, inadequately dressed, under the branches of the tree. The chill signified the dark outside. Indeed winter was just beginning.

She could hear the crunching of dead grass behind her. She fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands.

“Get away from me!” She screamed. “Get away!”

Amber eyes softened behind her. “You call to me, and then call me away?”

Kagome gasped and shot to her feet. Her tears still leaked from her eyes, and she couldn’t help but turn her whole body towards the masculine voice that was so familiar.

“You… I thought you wouldn’t come anymore.”

She heard more footsteps and she reached out toward where she had heard the voice. “Don’t go. Not yet… please.”

He just smiled. “I cannot stay as they come, you know that.”

“Why?”

“I just… can’t. I’ll have to tell you another time, however.”

And with that, he was off.

“Kagome-chan!”

Once again, she fought off what she knew she should do. She set off at a blind run. She no longer counted footsteps, but she knew she didn’t want Sango to find her. Not yet.

You have denied this far too long. You know you must come to terms with it. You are what you are. Nothing more are they asking from you.

“They are taking away my life!”

All of a sudden, her run had been cut short. She’d collided with a soft female body. Both of them fell hard to the ground. Kagome tried to reach her spirit out, tried to catch who it was, but she could not.

She knew immediately who it was. She bowed her head in shame and made no move to lift herself from her position on the ground.

Kikyou stood and brushed the dirt from her robes. “Kagome.”

Kagome was silent and Sango caught up to the odd pair. Kikyou knelt down to help Kagome up.

Kagome spit at Kikyou, offering no explanation.

Kikyou sneered. “Disgusting.” She turned her back to Kagome. “You should rethink such disrespectful and distasteful actions, sister.”

“You are no sister of mine!”

A pair of amber eyes watched the solemn display high above in an alcove of trees.