InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity ❯ Realizations ( Chapter 3 )

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

Kagome groaned softly and lifted her hands to rub over her face. She grimaced. Her entire body ached.

With a wide yawn, she sat up and swung her legs off the bed before arching her back to stretch. She'd had a weird dream. She'd been talking to a beautiful woman in the old well-house about wishes, and for some reason, Kagome had been really, really sad . . . She slouched and rubbed her eyes with balled-up fists, but try as she might, she couldn't remember anything else about it. 'What an odd dream.'

"Kagome!" her mother called as she gently pushed open the bedroom door. "Oh, good, you are awake. I thought maybe you'd overslept."

Kagome glanced up at her smiling mother.  Stifling a yawn with the back of her hand, she managed a contorted smile and tossed back the covers as she sat up.  "I'm up," she answered as she wiped away a couple tears brought on by the yawn. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

Mrs. Higurashi nodded. "No hurry, dear. I just started breakfast, anyway."

Kagome didn't answer. She yawned again and stumbled out of bed to wander over to the closet, rummaging through her clothes to find her prerequisite miniskirt and blouse for school.  The white and green outfit was gone, but the dark blue blazer and skirt that were hanging in her uniform's place were the only school clothes she could find.  Wrinkling her nose, she gave a mental shrug and pulled them down before wandering over to the bed once more.  "Maybe I slept too long," she muttered, wondering absently why things seemed a little off to her this morning.  'It's just like any other morning, isn't it?  Well, with one very notable exception,' Kagome thought as she broke into a wide grin.  Whistling a soft tune, she dropped the clothes over her arm and headed out of her room to take a shower.


Kagome sank down at the breakfast table across from Souta and jii-chan, completely oblivious to the conspiratorial way the two kept smirking at one another.  Mrs. Higurashi set a plate of eggs before Kagome and smiled as her daughter snatched up her chopsticks and dove into her food.

"Mmm!" Kagome sighed happily through a mouthful of food. With a wide grin, she looked like she was in heaven. "Delicious!"

Mrs. Higurashi set a small package on the table before Kagome. "Happy birthday, darling!"

With a delighted squeal, she tore the festive gift-wrap from the box. The small velvet jeweler's box contained a delicate keychain with a small gold charm shaped like a puppy. The head was hinged to the body. She shook it, and the puppy happily wiggled. Kagome stared at the piece with a wide, wistful smile. "It's adorable! Thanks, Mama!"

Souta leaned over the table and plunked a small gift bag beside her plate. "Open it! It's from jii-chan and me!"

Kagome cast him a quizzical glance before hesitantly lifting the bag. Her grandfather wasn't renowned for his ability to choose a suitable present, and her reluctance was obvious. "A dried paw of something?"

Jii-chan made a face and sat back with a pout, arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. "Disrespectful! Kids today have no respect for the wiser members of the community!"

Kagome rolled her eyes as she unwillingly dug into the bag. She refrained from comment as she pulled out a small wooden box. Hand polished and very old with intricate carvings all over the top, Kagome couldn't help but gasp as she stared at the beautiful piece. Her eyes rounded in wonder, and she lifted her gaze to meet her brother and grandfather's. "You two got me this?"

Jii-chan puffed out his chest proudly. "Of course! It's not every day my only granddaughter turns seventeen!"

She was staring so intently at the box that it took a moment for her grandfather's words to sink in. When they did, she lifted her eyes without moving her head. "Seventeen?" she echoed just before she tossed back her mane of midnight hair and laughed. "I'm only fifteen today."

Her mother's soft chuckle drew Kagome's attention. "Fifteen, Kagome? Really! You shouldn't tease jii-chan!"

She stared down at the box with a marked frown. 'They think I'm joking? Too weird. What about my last birthday? Why don't I remember turning sixteen?'

Blinking in surprise a moment later, Kagome gave her head a little shake as a sudden wash of memories flooded into her mind: a birthday breakfast not unlike this one with presents and lots of laughter.  After school, her friends had taken her to WcDnlds to treat her to a cheeseburger and a soda . . . but . . .

But there was a strangeness to those memories, even if Kagome couldn't really put her finger on what made her feel that way . . .

"Oh, look at the time!  Kagome, you'd better get going or you'll be late!"

Glancing at the clock, Kagome grimaced, sparing a moment to suck down the rest of the tea in her cup before scooting away from the table.  Gathering up the gifts from her family, she tucked the keychain into the box and slipped it under her arm as she reached for her dishes.

"Don't worry about those, dear," Mrs. Higurashi said, waving her hand in blatant dismissal.

"Thanks, Mama!" she called over her shoulder as she dashed out of the kitchen to drop off her presents and grab her book bag before dashing down the stairs and heading for the front door. The feeling that something was off still nagged at her. Just beyond her grasp, there was something that she felt like she needed to remember—like going to school was somehow wrong.  Heaving a sigh as she shook her head, Kagome brushed the silly feelings aside. "I'm leaving! See you after school!"

She didn't wait for a reply as she jerked the door so it swung closed behind her.  She took the stairs two at a time then stepped onto the sidewalk before the shrine with the thoughtful frown still in place.

A sudden image of a campfire, of three faces that she ought to know but couldn't place filtered over her but were gone before she could make sense of them, and try as she might, Kagome couldn't bring their faces back into focus.

'Happy birthday, Kagome-chan! . . . What is a birthday again?'

'Oh, Shippou . . .!' Gentle laughter . . .

Kagome stopped abruptly and blinked in surprise. The child's voice was vaguely familiar. The other one . . . was hers?

"Higurashi! Wait up!"

Kagome turned at the sound of her name and watched in bemusement as Houjou loped up to her, a wide smile on his face. "Happy birthday, Kagome-chan . . . Why didn't you wait for me?"

Kagome turned away to hide her frown and started forward again. "Wait for you?" she echoed. 'Why would I wait for Houjou? It's not like he walks me to school every day . . .'

Houjou mistook her tone for one of aloof irritation and hurried to catch up with her before slinging an arm casually around her shoulders. "You're not still mad at me, are you? I didn't really forget your birthday! I was just joking! See?"

She jerked back in surprise as he thrust a package under her nose. When she didn't take it right away, he sighed. "You are still mad, aren't you?"

Actually, she was trying to shrug off his arm without seeming too obvious about it. She took the package and managed to step away from him in what she could only hope passed for amazement. His arm dropped, and he grinned expectantly. "Go ahead. Open it."

For some reason, Kagome was nervous about opening the gift. She shot Houjou a nervous look before ripping off the decorative pink paper. A small box fell out of the wrapping, and she stared at it. "What's this?"

He grinned in a self-satisfied sort of way, the tips of his ears pinking noticeably.  "I told you. It's your present. Open it already!"

She did.  Slowly.  Ignoring the hint of trepidation that thickened in her chest, she lifted the small gold locket out of the box and carefully opened it. Her picture was on one side; his was on the other. "I can't accept this," she replied automatically as she extended the beautiful piece to him.

Houjou frowned. "Of course you can, Kagome-chan. Why couldn't you?" He took the locket and stepped behind her, looping the necklace over her and working the clasp.

"Houjou-kun—"

He gently pulled her hair out of the chain and let it drop over it. "It's fine. I wasn't upset yesterday. I knew you didn't really mean those things."

What things? Had they had some sort of disagreement? About what? She sighed softly. The feeling that something was just not right was growing steadily worse and worse as the moments ticked away. Why was Houjou acting like he was her boyfriend? And why did she feel like she was betraying . . . someone else?


InuYasha didn't look up as he tossed pallets around and rummaged about with muttered curses and discernible displeasure.

Kaede rolled her eyes at the wreckage he was leaving in his wake. "InuYasha, be ye all right?"

His answer was a hefty grunt as he dislodged a plank in the floor and bent down to peer into the open space.

"What are you looking for?" Sango asked, her tone reasonable, almost consoling.

InuYasha dropped the board back into place and scowled at the floor as he stomped it down. "Damn it."

"Where's Kagome-dono?" Miroku asked suddenly, his expression darkening as he narrowed his gaze on the hanyou.

InuYasha straightened up and abandoned his search when he caught the condemning looks he was receiving from every living being in the tiny hut. "What? Just because Kagome decided to run off you think I had something to do with it? I didn't do a damn thing!" he bellowed. 'This time,' he amended to himself with an inward grimace. 'At least, not on purpose.'

"What are you searching for?" Sango asked again, since InuYasha was finally paying attention. "We can help you if you'd tell us what you're looking for."

InuYasha heaved a heavy sigh, his hand reaching up to touch the place where the necklace should have been and wincing despite the prior knowledge that it wasn't where it should be. "The . . . The kotodama . . . I can't find it."

Shippou jumped up and landed on InuYasha's shoulder, peering deep into the hanyou's face with a suspicious eye. "Why aren't you happier? You hate that thing."

Breaking into a menacing growl, the expression on InuYasha's face said it all: he was about ready to send the kitsune flying. "Shippou . . ."

Shippou launched himself into Sango's arms. She shielded him from InuYasha as the latter made a mad grab to intercept the youth. "Are you saying you don't know where Kagome-chan went?"

InuYasha suddenly flopped down on the floor, his expression more woebegone than any of them could remember seeing before. "She . . . She went home."

Shippou struggled out of Sango's arms and skittered over to put his hands on InuYasha's raised knee. "What did you do?  Did you fight with her again, InuYasha?"

"Keh!" InuYasha snorted, jamming his arms together under the copious folds of the fire-rat haori.  "It wasn't anything like that!"

Miroku considered that for a moment.  "Okay, then, if the two of you didn't have a fight, did she simply go home for supplies?"

Gritting his teeth since he wished that were the case, InuYasha erupted in a low growl.  "Look, she just went home, all right? Damn it . . ."

Sango shook her head.  "She didn't mention having any tests," she mused slowly.

Shippou tightened his little fists, bunching up InuYasha's hakama in the process.  "She'll be back, right? Or you could go get her, can't you?  I mean, she always comes back."

InuYasha wouldn't meet the young one's gaze. Miroku shot Kaede and Sango a worried glance that they returned and exchanged without comment. "What aren't you saying, InuYasha?" he finally asked quietly.

InuYasha shrugged almost helplessly, his ears drooping as his head sank a little more. "She . . . Kagome . . ."

A collective gasp filled the air and effectively silenced InuYasha.  He glanced up, not surprised to see Kikyou standing just inside the doorway.  Kaede looked like she was near fainting, and InuYasha shot to his feet and stomped over to her, steadying the old woman in case she faltered.

"Onee-sama?" Kaede gasped out weakly as InuYasha helped her sit. "Is that really you?"

Kikyou smiled a smile that Miroku and Sango had never seen before. Gone was the sadness, the bitterness that the expression had once held. It was a true smile, a whole smile. "Be easy, Kaede.  It is me.  I'm alive . . . thanks to her."

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place, and Miroku gasped, drawing all eyes as he dragged his hand over his face and shook his head in denial. "She . . . She purified it . . . The Shikon no Tama . . ."

Kikyou's smile faded, and she, too, sighed, turning an apologetic look on them all. "She must have believed that InuYasha . . ." she faltered, then drew a deep breath to steady her nerves, "that InuYasha wanted to be with me."

Sango's expression turned mutinous, and her head swiveled to pin InuYasha with a fulminating glare. "Why would she think that . . . InuYasha?"

He flinched as he flopped back down on the floor again. "How the hell should I know? I didn't say anything!  She's the one who—" Cutting his tirade off abruptly as a vicious growl rattled out of him, he dug his claws into the planks so deeply that they groaned and creaked.  Kaede cleared her throat, and the hanyou relented, pulling his claws loose with a very loud snort meant to let them know that he was fast losing patience—if he had any to start with.  "Aw, never fucking mind!  Crazy bitch, anyway," he muttered, stretching out on his side in a deceptively relaxed pose and scraping his claws on the floorboards in an idle, almost methodic sort of way.

Miroku looked like he was about to knock some of the attitude out of InuYasha as he took a menacing step toward him. Sango reached over to stop the monk. They had a quick conversation without words as InuYasha continued to methodically drag his claws over the floor and set about to ignore the two completely. Finally Miroku nodded in deference to Sango's unspoken wishes and stifled the desire to sigh as he hunkered down before the volatile hanyou.

"What did happen then?" he asked in a mild tone. "Why would Kagome think you wanted such a thing?"

InuYasha didn't look up, but he shook his head slowly, almost as though he was admitting to some great defeat, and his ears drooped a little more. "I don't know. Nothing happened. Nothing . . ."

"Can't you go get her?" Sango asked, carefully measuring her tone.  She obviously believed that InuYasha was withholding something from them, but given his current mood, he wasn't about to try to explain a damn thing.

But the sound of Kagome's laughter still lingered in his ears, and despite his bravado, he couldn't help the way his shoulders slumped even further in utter defeat, and he sighed.  It wasn't the kind of sound he often made.  "Sort of."

Shippou hopped down and skittered over to InuYasha. "Sort of?" he echoed, his voice faltering. The kitsune was scared. InuYasha could smell his anxiety, and it dug at him just a little deeper, a little harder. "InuYasha?"

InuYasha stared at Shippou with a thoughtful frown. 'What about Shippou? He is too young, too small, to fend for himself.' He had always made certain that Shippou was safe, that he had food. As much as Kagome had treated the young youkai like he was her own, InuYasha realized with a start that he had, in a way, too. He cleared his throat nervously and lifted his face to stare at his friends. "I can get through," he said softly—a tone he rarely used with anyone—at least, anyone other than Kagome. "Kikyou said she can open the well . . . but I can't come back."

Sango gasped, her fingers flying up to flutter over her quivering lips. "You can't mean that!"

InuYasha let his gaze drop away, amber yes lighting on the kitsune child again. "Shippou? Do you want to come with me?"

Shippou looked stunned. Sango choked back a sob. Miroku wrapped his arm around her in a protective, gentle manner, offering her silent comfort. For once, he kept his hands to himself, and that, in InuYasha's estimation, was saying a hell of a lot.  She buried her face in the folds of his robe, unable to staunch the solitary sob that escaped  her.

Kaede stomped her foot one time, drawing everyone's attention.  Slowly straightening her spine, she let her gaze roam over each one before finally pinning Kikyou with an oddly challenging expression. "Do ye mean to do what I think ye mean to do?" she demanded.

Kikyou stared at InuYasha for a long moment, a steady resolve lighting behind her eyes. "He belongs with her, Kaede.  Surely you know this as well as I."

"Ye cannot!" Kaede insisted. "Ye know what it means; what ye have planned! Surely it will—"

Head snapping to the side to pin Kaede with a fiercely determined expression, Kikyou made a sound low in her throat suspiciously like a growl. "Enough, Kaede. Speak of it no more. I have made my decision."

Kaede looked as though she wanted to argue. She opened her mouth to do it. In the end, she snapped it closed again and sank down, as though she'd lost the very strength to stand.

Miroku didn't miss the underlying concern in Kaede's words. "What does she mean, Kikyou-dono?" he asked quietly.

InuYasha interrupted Kikyou's answer, however. He stood up slowly, and, carrying Shippou, he stomped across the floor and out the door. Sango let a strangled sob escape as she tore herself away from Miroku's grasp and followed. Kikyou said nothing, but she paused long enough to grasp Kaede's shoulder in a comforting gesture before she, too, left the small dwelling.

Miroku waited until the others were gone before he turned his attention back to Kaede again. "What were you going to say?" he questioned, careful to keep his tone as casual as he could.

The old miko didn't answer right away, but she took the hand that Miroku offered to help her stand, and she sighed before starting after the others. Kaede stopped in the doorway to face Miroku. He'd never seen her look so sad before. "Onee-sama can open the well for InuYasha," she said at last. "With all the power she possesses, Onee-sama can do this."

Miroku waited for the 'but' that he could sense coming.

"I fear it will kill her."

It took a moment for Kaede's prediction to sink in. When it did, Miroku shook his head. "Surely she can't mean to do that."

Kaede wiped a tear from her eye. "Aye, she can, and she does. Onee-sama wants what she always wanted when she was alive."

Miroku stared hard at the wizened miko. "What is that?"

Kaede sighed and smiled. It looked more like a grimace. Eyes brightening suspiciously in the subdued light of the hut, she cleared her throat, as though she couldn't get the words out if she didn't.  "Onee-sama . . . Onee-sama simply wants for InuYasha to be happy."