InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Of Fates Unknown ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer I don't own much. Of course this means Inuyasha and his crew.

Of Fates Unknown

Chapter One

"Souta? Where are you?" Kagome's dark eyes searched the thick forest uneasily. She was always slightly nervous when they were so far from the village.

Then, just as she was about to call out again, her brother's grinning face appeared around the edge of a thick truck.

"Gome, come quick! I've found some- a lot of them!"

She picked up her basket and hurried after him, hoping he was right this time and they could gather the precious herbs and get back to the village.

Souta pointed exultantly to the large clump of purplish-gray plants that grew in the damp shade. "See? I'm right this time, aren't I?"

Kagome smiled at him. "You are right, and it's the largest bunch we've found yet. There should be more than enough here for Mother."

They knelt on the ground as she reminded without crushing them. Crushing them meant a loss of the precious juices contained within them, juices their mother would bring out by cooking them slowly and carefully, then boiling off the water until only a slightly oily essence remained. In that form, it became a healing potion for many ailments, a potion depended upon by the entire village- especially as winter began to sap everyone's strength.

Their mother was the village healer, a figure of great prominence among them, revered for her skills as her mother had been before her, and as Kagome herself would be one day, after her apprenticeship.

Happy with their find, Kagome forgot about her fears and even stopped to pluck some tasty mushrooms and berries as well. Then they began the long trek back through the forest-bright, with the only hint of fall being the reddening leaves of the wild blackberry and blueberry bushes.

Now that they were on their way back to the village, Kagome uneasiness about being so far from safety melted away. In fact, she was even disposed to think kindly of Hojo - which was certainly a change for her.

At eighteen, Kagome was the only unmarried woman of her age among their people. She had loved once, and when he had been taken from her nearly three years ago, she had been certain that she would never love again.

But now there was Hojo, seven years her senior and a widower with an infant daughter whose mother had died shortly after giving birth. He wasn't exactly a young girl's dream of perfect love, but he was kind- and in any event, she was no longer a young girl.

Yes, she thought as they walked along, it is time I accept his proposal and put away my foolish, romantic thoughts. He is good and kind and his baby daughter needs a new mother.

Besides, she should be producing babes of her own. As the elders said constantly, they were so few in numbers and only in numbers could they have the strength to guarantee their safety in this hostile land. Beyond the steep hills of their valley lived the Vali, who could, at any time, decide to overrun them. Only their isolation and the lack of riches in their adopted homeland had protected them this far from everything but occasional forays by roving bands of Vali.

Ahead of them, Kagome could see the end of the forest, where the steep narrow path lead down into the valley through rocky outcroppings that concealed many deep caverns.

She hated this part of the journey, because the caverns always reminded her of the precariousness of their life here. From the time the caves had been discovered, not long after their arrival in this place more then a hundred years ago, her people had kept them stocked with the necessities as a refuge to which they could retreat if the Vali decided to attack.

She was lost in thought as they neared the edge of the woods and the beginnings of the long, steep slope into the valley. Souta was a short distance ahead. Suddenly, he stopped and cried out.

"Gome, what is it?" She ran toward him then stumbled to a stop as she too saw what he had already seen.

For one brief moment, Kagome simply denied what her eyes saw before them. Such a horror could not be - but it was!

"Vali!" Souta said in a hoarse, hushed whisper that drew Kagome to him quickly.

From this spot, the entire village was visible far below them- or as visible as it could be beneath a spreading pall of thick, black smoke. Faint noises rose up to them: sharp, cracking sounds that Kagome benumbed brain was slow to identify. Gunfire! She'd never seen a gun because her people had none, but they all knew that the Vali possessed them. A gun had killed her beloved three years ago, at the time of the last major attack by the Vali.

Despite the horror below them now, Kagome's mind went back to that day. There was one narrow pass that led into the valley and it was guarded day and night by her people. On that bright, sunlit spring morning, she had walked out to meet Tarren, who had been on guard duty through the night. She was almost there when she heard the strange sounds- the same terrible noises she heard now in the village. Obviously, this time, the Vali had come in sufficient force to make it through the pass.

She stood there, transfixed by horror, her hands still gripping her brother's shoulder. Figures could be seen scurrying about, but they were too far away and too obscure by the smoke for her to know if they were her own people or the Vali.

"Gome," her brother asked in a voice thinned by terror, "are they killing everyone?"

She didn't answer for a moment- but not because she didn't know. His question forced her to face what was happening to her people. In all likelihood, everyone would be in the village now, since it was almost dinnertime.

Images rushed through her mind: her mother, her friends and their families, friends of a lifetime. It was a small village and they all knew each other well. She couldn't assimilate it yet- and she knew that she had, in any event, to think about Souta and herself.

"I don't know," she finally said to her brother as she forced herself to consider their situation.

Even seeing what was happening down there and knowing that she could do nothing to prevent it, Kagome had a very powerful urge to run down there and confront their enemy. For one brief moment, she had the strange feeling that she could do something. But she set aside that irrational thought quickly.

They had been taught as children to hurry immediately to the caves, to save themselves. They were the last of their people and had a sacred obligation to guarantee the survival of at least some of them.

"The caves," she said to Souta, releasing his shoulder and grabbing his hand instead. "We must go to the caves."

He followed her, because he too had been so instructed, but she could hear his sobs as they scrambled along the path, taking car to keep hidden among the boulders, at then, Souta was certainly old enough to understand what was happening in the village, but with the optimism of youth, he probably believed that the village would somehow survive the attack.

They found the first of the caves. Its entrance, between two rocky pillars, was well concealed and so narrow that only a child or small, slim adult like her could pass though. It was therefore a good choice for them. Even if the Vali came up here, they'd be unlikely to find it, and they'd never fit though the opening.

There where a dozen such caves, all of them deep and hidden, and children were taught to find them almost as soon as they could walk. Although she had not been in this particular one for years, Kagome remembered it. It was the deepest of them all and even had a small stream running through it that would provide fresh water. There would also be food and other supplies, but Kagome had no desire to check them now. Instead, she collapsed onto the cool stone floor and drew a sobbing Souta close, trying her best to console him even as her mind continued to conjure up images of the horror in the valley below.

Gradually, the light from the narrow opening dimmed, and once, she even thought she smelled the smoke. She stared fixedly at the entrance, hoping against hope that others would appear to seek refuge here- even daring to hope that it might be her mother or even Hojo.

Then she recalled seeing Hojo and the other men assigned to guard duty that day leaving the village early this morning to relieve the night guards. Although she still dared to hope that the others had survived, she knew that he must be dead, and her mind clung to that last sight of him, smiling and waving to her as he hurried off to the pass.

Then, in the last light of the day, she finally got up and crept to the entrance, after telling Souta firmly to stay where he was and to run quickly into the depths of the cavern if he heard anyone approaching. At ten, he often challenged her authority- but he didn't do so now, and even that served to reinforce the horror of the situation.

There was still some light in the sky, but the valley lay in darkness- a darkness broken by the glow of what seemed to be hundreds of fires. She stood there staring at the flames, trying to guess how many homes were burning and denying what her mind was telling her. They were all burning- even the large food storage buildings at the edge of the village, buildings that were just in the process of being filled with the harvest.

There were no more sounds from below. It was too far for her to hear the cracklings of the fires, although a faint trace of smoke drifted through the cool night air to reach her. Had the Vali gone? She could see no movements down there.

Would the have killed even the old people and the children? How could human beings be so cruel? Was it somehow the destiny of her people to be always hated, always killed?

She heard Souta calling her softly and turned to see that he had come to the entrance and was staring down at the scene, his eyes huge.

"Are they dead, Gome? Is Mother dead- and Roge and everybody?"

She wanted to shield him from the truth a little longer, especially when he asked about his best friend Roge, but instead she nodded. "Yes, I think they must all be dead."

~ )O( ~