InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ One Can Only Wander For So Long ❯ The Walking Dead ( Chapter 10 )

Tiny revision (AGAIN) - some of the lines STILL didn't italicize. Had to fix those... If it doesn't fix this time, just pretend everything's perfect... *SIGH*

Point to consider --- Does everyone understand that Inuyasha is the only one able to see his true reflection? Everyone else who would catch a glimpse of him in a mirror or in the surface of the water would still see a dog, except US, of course, because we're outside the story. ^_^;;

Challenges to overcome --- I think my first big challenge this chapter was whether I should or shouldn't give the woman's name. I mean, I've had it in my mind that she's the one behind this big mess since I started the plot outline, but, I'm starting to feel guilty about giving the evil woman that name, since I read a thread on `Everyone seems to hate her'... But then my big challenge came when I hit a huge bout of writer's block along with the baby dropping (I'm seven weeks from my due date) and my daughter being sick with a constant fever for half a week. So life goes on as life should go, just minus any thoughts on writing.

Apologies ahead of time --- Some of the things mentioned in this chapter are kind of weird, because I had to make up a couple of curse and possession `rituals'... I don't know ANYTHING about what I'm trying to talk about, this is *all* make believe... and you might have to suspend your giggling as some things sound odd, but hopefully I made it sound good enough to keep you coming back for more!

Good god, this chapter is long. I hope I don't bore anyone with the really long past/flashback. I tried to keep it interesting without dragging it out too much, but there was a LOT to say when it comes down to it... We need to know WHY she's done what she's done, and WHY she's suffering, and WHY fifty other things. I'll leave the reaction between Inuyasha and Kagome for next chapter.

Happy remarks --- Wow! You guys have reviewed more than I would have expected! I really appreciate the encouraging remarks, but the most helpful ones are the ones that point out confusing parts or unclear scenes in the story!! Don't hesitate to ask in an email (my profile has it!) or a review if I don't explain something enough for you, I'll either be clarifying it later in the story or I'll email you if it's not something I can really add in. I thrive off the emails and reviews, and ones that ask questions generally get answers - especially if I have a way of contacting you. Yes, most of the time I'm that bored. ^_^ And authors do listen to reviews! Kind of getting off topic here, but I didn't realize how many of the reviews I gave were actually read and appreciated until I met one of my favorite fanfic authors, and even with her bazillions of reviews, she remembered my name. :) *falls over*

This chapter's illustration -

http://www.mediaminer.org/fanart/view.php/156863

`This is thought'

"This is speech"

`This isn't speech or thought - you'll see near the end of the chapter.'

~* Starts a flashback

*~ Ends a flashback

~~~ Signifies a change in the point of view.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

One Can Only Wander for So Long

By Alesyira

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Chapter Ten - The Walking Dead

A lone, disfigured woman hobbled across the room, her focus set on a small, tarnished silver mirror placed carefully at the center of a dusty table. The intricate handle of a sheathed blade could be seen through the folds of cloth at her side, rustling softly against her hip as her uneven steps fell on the worn wooden floor.

Stopping in front of the table, one cold gray eye stared down at the barely reflective surface in disgust and hatred. She lifted a mangled left hand to her hip and pulled the blade free of her loosely tied waist sash. She brought it into her line of sight with the mirror and stared hard at both objects until they blurred in her vision, indistinct from the unshed tears that had surfaced.

`You're not good enough for him....'

Small, wicked looking eyes from the snake head that served as a fanged clasp gazed back at her as she lifted her other hand to release the blade with a barely audible *snick*; the sound of cold steel scraping against old leather seemed to magnify in the silence as it was slipped free from its sheath. She looked at the hand now clutching the blade for a moment, admiring the only appendage of hers without flaw. Carefully holding the blade, she pressed her right thumb against the sharp snake's teeth, drawing two small droplets of blood. No sounds were made other than the soft tap of the sheath against the tabletop as it was set aside.

She caught her scarred reflection in the dirty, reflective surface before she pressed her bloody right thumb to the mirror, leaving a small imprint. She closed her eyes and centered her thoughts and hatred on one being before touching the tip of the blade to the center of the mark.

An ugly green light spilled from point where the blade met her blood, engulfing the mirror in its unhealthy glow before fading, revealing an almost indiscernible image. The haggard woman set the knife aside and lifted the mirror to her face, watching the scene intently. A young woman sat on a small couch, petting a white dog while speaking to an unseen person. Her working right eye widened for a moment before narrowing into a small slit of fury.

`He'll find someone better than you...'

She wiped the blood from the mirror and calmly placed it back on the table as the image faded. Collecting her blade, she replaced it in its sheath before slipping the set back under her sash.

~~~

Kagome could feel the hairs on the back of her neck raise; someone was watching them - and she could feel the menace. But as quickly as the feeling came, it vanished again, leaving her to wonder whether she had imagined it or not. She glanced out the window warily; she knew she was safe in her home, but that feeling had made her uneasy.

Sesshoumaru and Rin had finished their little `history lesson' and were glancing through Kagome's selection of paintings. Rin had absolutely fawned over the first few images; they were portraits of Inuyasha lounging in various poses. She commented every once in a while, then finally stood, finished with her critique. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take these to the office when we get back from our trip. I'll make some calls while we're out, and I'll contact you as soon as we know when we'll be back in the area to pick them up, all right? I have a feeling these won't get much of a chance to sit around." Rin smiled at Kagome and gave her a hug before turning to her husband and taking his hand.

"All of them??" Kagome looked taken aback.

Rin nodded, then added, "Yeah, and I think I will be purchasing those portraits you did of Inuyasha to add to our own collection." Rin giggled. "Inuyasha does make an exceptionally handsome dog, if I may say so."

Inuyasha huffed indignantly, catching her slight teasing insult.

Kagome, after the few years she had known the two of them, was unable to bring herself to hug Sesshoumaru, so instead extended her left hand; her right slightly sticky from the last cake she had fed Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru looked down and took her hand in his to shake it goodbye, before frowning slightly and closing his other hand over theirs. Kagome looked on, a bit confused, as he closed his eyes for a moment. Her whole arm began to tingle from her fingertips to her shoulder as he held her hand gently, eyes still shut.

She jerked her hand free when the tingling turned to a slightly burning sensation. Sesshoumaru looked down at his own hand in amusement. "Interesting," was all he said as he turned to walk out the door. Kagome looked at him incredulously as he sauntered down the front steps to their parked vehicle, leaving Rin in Kagome's foyer.

Rin turned to Kagome and asked, "What happened?"

Kagome thought for a moment, examining her hand carefully. "It felt like I was burned..." Kagome muttered. Rin's eyes widened for a moment as her gaze flickered to Inuyasha's slightly confused expression and then to her spouse waiting patiently for her in the driver's side of the vehicle. She turned her attention to Kagome's hand as well, looking for evidence of injury. "It doesn't hurt much, though. That was really odd... I've shaken his hand many times, and that's never happened before." As she dropped her hand to her side, Inuyasha placed his head under it, rubbing her fingertips with his furry head. Kagome was mildly surprised to find the slight ache was quickly replaced by a soothing warm. She scratched him behind the ear gently.

"Don't worry about it, Kagome, I'll call you about it later after I talk to Sesshoumaru." She looked down at Inuyasha with a mean glint in her eyes. "Inuyasha, you had better behave around her!" She winked at Kagome and skipped down the porch stairs, hopping into the passenger seat.

Kagome watched them drive away before she and Inuyasha walked back into her house. "We need to talk, Inuyasha..." came Kagome's voice just before the door closed behind them.

~~~

The young woman sat back in a pile of worn pillows, watching her left hand in front of her face as she slowly opened and closed her fingers. The few working joints cracked and popped with each curl, and the bones, misaligned from old fractures set incorrectly wouldn't allow them to straighten correctly. Her pinky had been missing and her ring finger permanently numb and unusable for several decades now. They were the least of her worries, however, and she was thankful she still had the partial use of her left hand.

`He'll never love you...'

Decades that had passed since that day... the day she had lost control and cursed that stupid man; the day her life had become a living hell. She had unknowingly bound herself to the hanyou with her curse, and every day she lived, she was reminded that she had gotten the bad side of the deal.

Her life hadn't been too bad growing up. Her father had been wealthy and provided well, and her mother was very knowledgeable in family history, teaching her many things about the mikos of their past generations, and skills and powers they had developed and employed over the years. Her favorite ability was watching others with her mirror; she had learned it at an early age and used it quite often to spy on others. But some of the things her mother had taught her were a bit scary when she was a child, for her family had abandoned the happier aspects of miko training centuries ago in favor of the darker, more powerful ones.

Among the usually taught skills, she learned various curses, how to summon youkai and destroy them at whim, and her last lesson learned had been the art of body possession, although it took a life-threatening amount of the caster's blood to perform it correctly on another human. The caster usually lived only long enough to fulfill whatever deed was in mind before blood loss claimed their life. To die in the act of this dark magic was the ultimate fear of mikos following this path, for your soul, black with the evil of your final deeds, would be cursed to remain without rest... or so the stories went.

Obviously her mother never took much of those stories as truth until her last moments...

~*

A tall woman wandered the halls of her home, searching for her young daughter. "Kikyo, where are you?" Her steps brought her to the garden behind their house, where her daughter sat in a bright yellow dress, holding something shiny in her lap. "What are you doing, daughter?" Her brisk walk halted just behind her child as she saw the bleeding thumb lift from the mirror's surface.

"Looking for Father..." Kikyo said quietly as she touched the blade to the red smear. The strange glow faded quickly, replaced by the image of a nude male seemingly in the throes of passion with a woman. Her mother snatched the mirror from her daughter's grasp, looking carefully at the images displayed before they had a chance to vanish from sight.

"That bastard..." she hissed before grasping her daughter's wrist and pulling her to her feet. "Today, Kikyo, I shall show you how to fix situations like this..."

Her mother moved them quickly upstairs to the attic, where they had arranged a comfortable space for studies and practicing of skills; both sat in front of a large basin her mother had pulled from a random cabinet in the kitchen. "We must be quick; timing is essential in catching him off guard..." came her quiet voice as she pulled out her own blade.

The blades she and her mother carried, Kikyo had learned, were a type of medium that some mikos could use. Most common were the blades and amulets, but there were a few rings scattered around the world that were even more desirable. They were rare and powerful objects that magnified even the smallest bit of talent to grand proportions... But neither Kikyo nor her mother had such luck in having one, so they made do with what they had.

The glittering snake eyes on her mother's weapon were frightening, to say the least. Sometimes Kikyo thought the creature was alive, guiding her mother's actions towards cruelty and ruthlessness...

Her mother had pulled the blade free from the sheath and, to her daughter's horror, cut deep gouges in both of her wrists. The blood poured from the wounds on both sides into the bowl as she began reciting a long phrase over and over. The words burned into Kikyo's mind, as had the other incantations taught to her, and watched in amazement as the knife her mother held began to vibrate violently. Her mother screwed her eyes shut, screaming the phrase one last time as she plunged the blade into the increasing amount of blood in the basin. Upon contact, her mother fell over, eyes wide open and lifeless.

Kikyo looked on in horror, unable to understand what had just happened. She brought her mirror out once again and repeated the small rite, calling forth the image of her father once again. The woman they had seen him with only moments before was still laying underneath him, panting softly from the exertion, when suddenly her mouth opened wide and her eyes snapped shut, a vision of agony. Her eyes snapped open in fear, then, as she looked to the man lying halfway on top of her.

Kikyo watched in fascination as the woman pushed the man off her body and grabbed a heavy-looking ashtray from the nightstand. She could see the fear and surprise in the woman's eyes as she raised her arm above her head for the killing blow. Kikyo knew her mother had taken over this woman's body and actions... and it amused her in some odd way that the possessed woman could see and understand what she was about to do, but unable to stop it from happening.

The image thankfully faded just as the woman's arm snapped back down towards her father's head, and Kikyo fell backwards to stare at the ceiling in slight shock. She set the mirror by her side and remained lying there for a moment as she processed the event in her mind.

Her thoughts on what had just happened scattered when she realized her mother had yet to move. She sat up quickly and looked down at the still figure on the floor. "Mother?" Kikyo crawled to her side and saw her eyes still wide open and unfocused, her lips turning blue. She had lost a large amount of blood in the ritual, and her body had died while her soul possessed another, leaving it without a place to return to. Her mother had become the second victim to her possession and revenge. Kikyo took the snake-scabbard and blade to replace her own; it was far older and more powerful than the one that had been given to her.

Not even a week later, Kikyo discovered the woman her father had been with was hanged for murder - the third victim to a woman's scorn. She moved away after that, selling the large house and most of its contents, only taking with her a small number of possessions. Her bank account was sizable now from the sales, and she had no worries as she traveled from place to place, searching for some new location to settle down.

When she felt like she wasn't going to be happy anywhere she ended up, she consulted her mirror, asking to see what she was searching for. Her answer was a flash of silver-white hair, golden eyes and adorable dog-ears. That man... She had found her purpose in life, to get this absolutely delectable treat of a male.

She arrived in the small town in his territory a short time later, intent on taking this man as her own, and determined to use any methods available to her to attain her desires.

She purchased a small home in the middle of the woods, certain in her safety with her various magical abilities, and took to watching him as often as she could, using her mirror. At first, she had to limit the glimpses into his life as she began running out of fingertips to prick, but her obsession began to eat at her rather quickly. Her few glances during the day turned into long sessions of spying, particularly when she found he was bathing, for a larger quantity of blood allowed for longer periods of time the mirror would hold an image.

She found that everything he did was absolutely drool-worthy, and aside from seeing him in the nude, her favorite moments were when he would groom his hair, combing through the straight white strands with his clawed fingers. She had never seen a youkai this beautiful. The ones her mother had taught her to summon were all frightening creatures with ugly animal features... but his were always on her mind. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair, rub his ears until he fell asleep in her lap, or writhe beneath his sexy body in absolute rapture. Darker thoughts nagged at her occasionally as well, and she sometimes fantasized about how his blood would taste, and if he could be brought to tears with her touch. She had to know... She had to have him.

Kikyo wondered sometimes if she would be able to summon a youkai like him to her, but her numerous attempts always failed. One night before she retired to bed, she called forth his image and found a black-haired boy sitting alert, seemingly high up in a tree. She was confused; she was sure she had not botched such a simple rite. Certain she had found his actual location, even if she couldn't see his silver hair and golden eyes, she set out to see why he hadn't appeared.

After about an hour, she managed to locate the tree where the boy had been in the mirror, and upon looking up, she saw that same young man, seemingly oblivious to her presence. "Excuse me..." she said, rather quietly.

"Go find someone else to haunt, witch," he yelled down to her after a while. She looked taken aback. She wasn't a witch, so-to-speak, but... that was a strange way to greet someone new.

"But, I'm looking for a silver-haired young man..." She started, wondering why he looked so similar to her obsession. The young man was suddenly staring down at her, rather annoyed.

"I ain't seen him. Go away, little woman," he said sharply. Kikyo was getting annoyed. This human had no manners and was extremely rude.

"I know he's here somewhere, and I'm not going to leave until I've seen him or am satisfied that he is gone," she said in a huff, turning and sitting at the base of his tree. It was already midnight, and as the hours ticked by, she felt herself growing drowsy. But every time she looked up, there he was, still sitting in the same spot on the tree, staring off into the distance and ignoring her. `Well, he can't get down without making a little bit of noise... so maybe I can take a short nap...' She thought dimly as her eyes began to droop shut.

A short time later, a soft rustle woke her. She snapped her head up at the sound to find a flash of red and silver disappearing from view. The first tiny rays of the morning sun had just began to peek over the horizon, and in the soft light, Kikyo could see the rude young man had vanished. She hadn't heard him climb down the tree, so she stood up and stretched, a bit confused. She usually slept lightly, but perhaps she had let down her guard too much and allowed him to escape...

She returned home and picked up her mirror, seeking the image of the young man she had seen that night. Perhaps she'd be able to tell where he'd gone to, and since it was morning, he might not be so rude to her. But the image that appeared before her eyes made her thoughts of questioning fly out the window. Instead of the young, black haired man, she saw her silver haired youkai instead.

`He's not a youkai...' she thought wildly for a moment, unable to process the information. `No wonder I couldn't summon him to me... he's a hanyou!' She *had* to know more about this boy.

She continued to observe his movements, and over the next few weeks, she tried to meet him in his various favorite places, but he always seemed to disappear just before she showed up. It was beginning to frustrate her, and she had a suspicion he was avoiding her after their encounter in the woods.

He had called her witch... perhaps he was afraid of what she wanted with him? She wasn't sure. She tried a variety of methods known to lure in demon-blooded creatures, but none seemed to work directly on him, and only succeeded in getting her visits from other, less desirable youkai, which she unfortunately had to destroy before they could touch her. She was saving herself for her prize, and as time went by, she became more and more frustrated in her failures to get his attention.

The final time she attempted to approach him using one of her lures - this time she was at the peak of her fertility, which was a sign most demons wouldn't think twice about resisting - she brought along her mirror, and kept a constant eye on his activity as she tracked him through the woods. This was extremely taxing on her body, as she drained quite a large quantity of blood keeping the image open until she could catch up. As she drew closer, she caught sight of him clearly looking around the area in a start, his nose held up as if he were sniffing the air more carefully. His eyes widened for a moment, his mouth twisted into a snarl as he leapt off into the woods.

She frowned and put down her mirror, bandaging her hand securely to stop the blood loss. She grumbled to herself and slumped against the nearest tree, glancing at herself in her mirror. `Am I that hideous that he must run before he sees me again?' she thought miserably.

"Keep the fuck away from me, witch! I don't want anything to do with you! Stop following my every move; I don't want to see you, hear you, or smell you anywhere near my territory again!" His voice echoed from above, to her right.

"You don't even know why I want to see you yet, and you turn me away after avoiding me like the plague? Do I frighten you, little man?" she asked coolly, knowing he could hear.

And hear her he did. He leapt down to land in front of her with a soft thump, and picked her up roughly by the collar of her shirt, forcing her against the bark of the tree with her toes dangling above the earth. "I don't give a fuck what you want with me - all that matters is you forget about it and leave my woods. I will kill you if I see you again; make no mistake about that. You stink of evil, woman, and your actions will not be condoned in this territory. Get the fuck outta here, you disgusting woman." With that he released her and leapt off into the woods, his flash of silver hair the last thing she saw before the tears sprang to her eyes.

`He'll never love you...'

Kikyo looked up with a start. "Who's there?" she asked, her anger and sadness at his rejection forgotten with her sudden uneasiness.

`You know he'll find someone better than you...'

Her eyes widened at the slightly faded statement before narrowing in annoyance. "There's no one better than me for him..." she said softly. She stood and collected herself before starting back to her small house.

`You'll need to get him some other way...'

The small sentences continued as she walked, and she knew they were of a familiar voice, but it was so faded and indistinct that she couldn't quite place it. Upon entering her house, she set the mirror upon the table in her living room and laid the glittering blade next to it. The voice's owner came to her suddenly as her gaze fell on that set of evil snake eyes. `Mother...'

Her mother's disembodied voice fed her memories of her training, and soon her thoughts fell to a book she had picked up a few years ago that was collecting dust on her shelf. It was an odd book; full of various herb concoctions and binding techniques one could use in conjunction with... more pleasurable activities. Kikyo licked her lips in anticipation and picked up the book from the shelf.

`This is how you can have your prize...'

She thumbed through the book, taking note of certain chapters that appealed to her darker side and marking the pages with small scraps of paper. She spent the next few hours taking notes on everything that interested her and making plans for the evening to come.

She kept a close eye on her prize over the next few nights, and the time soon came when he was hiding in his human form once again. She saw he had chosen a very thought-out hiding spot, knowing he might not be as safe in his vulnerable state. Her lips twisted in a pleased smirk; she would have her prize, and she would have it soon.

She summoned a youkai to assist her in his capture and traveled to his location as quickly as possible. Using a small tranquilizer gun, she drugged him from afar before he was alerted to her presence, then had her servant carry his limp form back to her house. It was a few hours until midnight when he was finally unconscious, in her clutches.

*~

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One last section of Author's Notes -

Ack! I had to leave it here, everyone - I'm really sorry. If I waited until I got over the writer's block I'm having on this section, it would have been twice as long before this chapter was posted! So... We'll leave it at this for the lovely flashback sequence and we'll pick up with Kagome and Inuyasha in the next chapter.

The illustration for this chapter showed Kikyo as she is in the present, all scary and everything after her five decades of being stuck as she is. It was actually showcased on Mediaminer!

*Ales falls over*

When we pick back up with the Kikyo/Inuyasha bit, there will be, IF I can write it, a rating upgrade on MediaMiner, because I *want* to add some questionable material. Fanfiction will have a toned down version... But if I cannot bring myself to write about what I want to, I'll be sure to note at the top of the chapter with an apology to those of you looking forward to some ... `action'. I just don't know if I can do it just yet, and I think it's what has brought on this current bout of writer's block - the fact I *wanted* to write about it so soon, but couldn't get into the swing of it. I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter out, the illustration has been done since about the time I got to the beginning of Kikyo's flashback, and then I had a really hard time getting that next section onto paper. Sorry for the long Author's Notes at the beginning and at the end, I've got a lot of things to say about this fic.

And the prequel to this fic may not come about for a while, since I am so close to my due date, I think I'll take a wild stab at getting this one done in the next couple of weeks. If and when I start writing it, be assured that it will put no impact on the posting rate of these chapters. This story is an art/fiction writing collection, so each chapter MUST come with an illustration. It sometimes takes a while to draw for the chapters, though, so writing the other fic will only take up spare time I have at work when I can't think of future chapters for this story. :)

March tenth is the big day, and I don't think fanfic writing while nursing a new baby is a feasible idea, considering my experience with the first little one.

Until I post again, happy reading!