Reflections of What Might Be

Chapter 5: Kagome's Past Returns to Haunt Her
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sesshomaru has long since left, and Kagome had led the others back into the house. Inuyasha was being difficult, but that was somewhat understandable. The poor guy…or, hanyou, to be exact…had awoken two hundred years away from all that he had known. He was a little apprehensive at first, but after some helpful prodding from Kagome, he allowed himself to be led into the house.
"So what is this place again?" Inuyasha asked for the fourth time. "And what happened to the village that used to be here?"
"One more time, Inuyasha. I'll tell you one more time, and if you ask me again after that, I'm going to say it." Kagome said, sighing heavily. "Miroku, I know ji-chan and okaa-san have gone out of town for the night, but please call them and tell them there's been an accident at the shrine. But don't tell them about Inuyasha, or his brother."
"Half brother." Inuyasha cut in.
"Just tell them that there was a brief but violent storm that passed over the shrine and knocked over one of the trees. Tell them it damaged the well house, and crashed into the house and trashed my room. Everyone's ok though, so she shouldn't worry." Kagome finished.
"Should I tell them that there's a chance there's a youkai may have caused the storm as well, or just tell them the storm was completely random?" Miroku replied.

"I don't think they'd handle the news to well over the phone that youkai were threatening the shrine."
"Very well. I'll get right on it." Miroku walked off to make the call.
"What's so bad about youkai, huh? Are we that bothersome to you humans?" Inuyasha asked coldly.
"There's nothing wrong with youkai, Inuyasha. There have been a few small incidents in the last few years between humans and youkai that have some people paranoid, and my ji-chan is one of them." Kagome answered politely.
"I'm sure it would make matters all that much better once they found out a half-breed's here. They would probably just discard me in the forest or something. Humans hate hanyou's for their youkai blood, and youkai hate hanyous for their human blood. I might as well get out of here and be on my own for a while." Inuyasha said with no emotion in his voice at all.
"Inuyasha, I told you there is no problem around here with youkai except for your bad attitude about it! There is nothing wrong with being a youkai." Kagome said.
"Even a hanyou?" Inuyasha questioned.
Kagome said with a slight blush creeping up her face, "Even if you're a hanyou. Especially with those cute little ears of yours."
Inuyasha noticed this. **Why's she blushing? How can she even stand to be in my presence? I've only met a few people who didn't give a damn about me being a hanyou. My mother and father, maybe a few villagers at Kikyo's village didn't care. Only Kikyo didn't care too much about my being a hanyou, although I could tell it bothered her sometimes. Maybe that's why she started to talk about me possibly being able to purify the jewel.** Inuyasha quickly faced away from the girl. "Feh,"
**I gotta stop thinking about her. She's long gone, besides: she's the one who betrayed you remember? She pinned you to that tree and left you there for TWO HUNDRED YEARS! You have no reason to think about her.** He sighed. **It's not that easy. I feel so at ease around her now that I know she isn't Kikyo…but there's something else about her. Her scent seems familiar to me, although that's not the fact that her scent is almost identical to Kikyo's. This girl looks so much like Kikyo, smells like her too…but there's something else I can't quite pick up. It seems like she's hiding something. She seems so care free though, so open about everything. What if it's something she doesn't want to remember and she blocked from her mind without even realizing it.**
"What was that about?" Kagome asked, snapping Inuyasha out of his daydream.
"You look very familiar to someone I once knew a long time ago. She's dead now, so don't worry about it." He said a bit too suddenly, even for his own liking.
"Gomen nasai, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories for you." Kagome apologized quickly. "Now, pay close attention, ok dog-boy? This is the LAST time I'm saying it…"
~With Sesshomaru as he heads through the forest~
What the girl had told him was eating away at his mind. ***A black cloud will devour me? Ridiculous.*** Sesshomaru thought to himself.
Although, something in the air made him feel as if the girl's words would somehow ring true. It was as if the girl's scent was following, trying to warn him of a danger he could not yet detect himself. He had barely noticed it, but it seemed like the scent was growing stronger, as if the girl were following him and getting closer.
***Wait a minute…getting closer? That mortal could not keep up with me, even if Inuyasha were to help her. And now that I am thinking about it, this is not the exact same scent that belongs to the girl. There is a strong enough difference between this scent and the mortals that I know they are not the same. It is time to let this game end.***
"There is no use hiding anymore, I can tell you are hiding from me." Sesshomaru called out.
Silence answered him.
"Fine. If you will not come to me, I shall come to you."
Sesshomaru leapt into the air in the direction of his unknown opponent, and slashed downwards with his claws at a pair of trees, and a dark figure jumped away into the opening.
"Now, what business do you have following me?" Sesshomaru questioned.
"I was merely observing your exchange with the young miko and hanyou a short while ago." The figure replied. Out in the open, Sesshomaru could see what this being looked like, although he was disguised with a pelt of an animal unknown to Sesshomaru. That was shaped in the same way a human was, or at least how a human disguise should look like. This was no mortal. Sesshomaru could smell the stench of a youkai coming off of this man.
Sesshomaru continued, not satisfied by the answer the youkai gave him, "That was not your only reason for being here. Why did you follow me?" He demanded.
"This is not the first time you have visited this particular shrine, Sesshomaru-sama. I have seen you here before. This is not the first time you have seen me, although it is the first time you have noticed me follow you. Why is this time different from the others?" The youkai asked him.
"I was given a warning that a dark cloud would pursue me after I left the shrine. Not to mention the fact that you failed to completely mask your scent. Although it is hard to detect as it is, your scent is very similar to those at the shrine. Especially similar, in fact, to that very same miko you were referring to a minute ago. What is your relation to her that has your scent so similar to hers?" Sesshomaru questioned.
The youkai stood straight up when he heard this question, and appeared to sigh. "It would appear that Kagome's powers are growing, even if they have yet to awaken completely. I knew this would happen eventually, I just never expected it would come so soon. I did not believe that her powers would grow so quickly or grow so strong. I believe the monk is to blame for how developed her powers are. He has been helping her train to control and use her powers ever since his family was destroyed. As a result, she is learning to control her strengths more easily. I fear the spell that is binding her true strength will not be able to hold for much longer. I believe her brother and friends, especially that hanyou, will be most surprised when the spell finally fades. I'm sure she will be as well, as she does not know what her true self is. Her life as it is now is nothing but an illusion forced upon her. The poor thing, she's spent most of her life believing she's human."
Apparently, the youkai got lost in his memories of the girl and had forgotten that Sesshomaru was there. He suddenly remembered who he was with and what he had just said when Sesshomaru asked him another question. "What do you mean, 'believing she's human?' What is she?"
"I fear I allowed my memories to overcome my senses and I got carried away with myself. You know far more than you need to, Sesshomaru-sama. And for that, I will allow you to give your life to repay me. Although it is not enough for me to stain my own hands with your blood, I will allow them to do it for me." The youkai said as a dark cloud started to gather behind him. He drifted backwards and into the cloud, "They will certainly be enough to take care of you, my dear Sesshomaru-sama…"
"It would seem the girl's vision is true after all." Sesshomaru stated.
The cloud split into three smaller clouds. What Sesshomaru failed to notice was the cloud gathering behind him. His attention was focused too much of the three clouds in front of him.
The youkai's voice came again, "Deal with him," was all he said. And with that, three youkai burst forward from the clouds.
"How simple an attack. You think that I will succumb so easily to these worthless creatures?" Sesshomaru asked to no one in particular as he slain the three youkai easily.
Behind him, a new voice spoke up, "Not to them, they are merely the appetizer. I am the main course."
Pain erupted through Sesshomaru's back and side. He turned to face his new opponent, only for more pain to erupt from his gut as the final youkai slashed at him again. A strong dragon youkai had come from a cloud behind him. Sesshomaru could see both of the dragon's claws dripping with his blood. With a snarl of pure rage at dropping his guard enough for this dragon to get a free shot at his backside before he could even hope to defend himself, Sesshomaru viciously slaughtered the dragon. In his anger, Sesshomaru forgot his pain and focused only on the death of the dragon. Once the beast was dead, Sesshomaru started to feel his injuries. Fresh pain swept over him several times, threatening to overwhelm him. He staggered backwards, managing to maintain his balance enough to stay standing. ***That damned dragon, how dare he attack me from behind. I hate to admit it, but he did more damage to me than I would have thought possible…I must retreat if I am to survive this.***
The youkai's voice came again to Sesshomaru. "I believe that will be sufficient enough damage to allow your life to end quickly enough. I believe that Naraku deserves something stronger than that motley assembly of youkai his body is made of. Your body, Sesshomaru-sama, will do just nicely. I will drain your body of life, and give it to Naraku to use as his own. I am getting immensely tired of hearing that stupid hanyou complain about that mortal heart in him."
"I told you, you shall not get me to fall so easily!" Sesshomaru roared out, taking to the trees to allow him to move faster away from his unseen opponent. After running for a short distance from his opponent, his side suddenly racked him with pain, causing him to misstep and fall from the tree. The one remaining black cloud he had seen earlier had been following him and took this opportunity to grab him. The cloud would drain his life from his body, all but killing him so that some hanyou could steal his body and power.
At the heart of the cloud, before Sesshomaru could be completely taken by the cloud, a dark light erupted from within the cloud and consumed Sesshomaru. The light flashed and vanished, taking with it the lord of the Western lands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"…Inuyasha, are you listening to me?" Kagome asked when she noticed Inuyasha looking slightly distracted. "I'm going to all this trouble to explain this to you AGAIN and you can't even bother to listen to me? Why you little…" Kagome stopped when she started to feel it. "Inuyasha…what's this strange feeling I'm sensing?"
"So you can feel it too, huh? Guess my brother was right about you having strong powers." Inuyasha replied.
Kagome looked at Inuyasha, "That was not the answer I was looking for, Inuyasha. Now try it again."
"Feh."
"Don't make me say it…"
"Fine! That energy your feeling is similar to the energy youkai use during a fight. I'd say there's a few youkai fighting in the forest a ways from here." Inuyasha explained finally. "It smells familiar though…Sesshomaru. It has to be him. The idiot can't help himself. He should be able to handle this by himself; we don't need to worry about him.
"Inuyasha, aren't you forgetting something? Kagome-sama said she saw your brother running through the forest, and then get devoured by a dark cloud of some kind." Miroku stated. "Don't you think we should at least check to see if her vision is partially true?"
"Keh. Fine, let's go. I should be able to get to him fast enough." Inuyasha agreed to it.
"I'll be right back Kagome-chan, I need to go get Kirara. I went and got her when you first passed out, I let her stay in your room to keep an eye on things." Sango called out, running towards the ruin that was once Kagome's room.
"Kagome, is Kirara a youkai?" Inuyasha asked.
"Yes, she is."
"I thought I could smell youkai around here."
"You did?"
"Of course I did. This nose ain't just for decoration, ya know!" Inuyasha growled back at her.
"Gomen. I forgot about that."
"Ok, we can go now. Kirara and me are ready to go. Right Kirara?" Sango said as she walked up with a small kitten in her arms. The neko jumped forwards out of her arms and landed on the ground in front of Inuyasha.
"This little thing is supposed to be a youkai?" Inuyasha asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
The neko responded by bursting into flames. A moment later, the flames subsided to reveal a neko similar to Kirara, only much larger, two large tusks in its mouth, with small flames burning at its feet.
"Kirara is a fire-neko, and can transform between its fighting form and its usual appearance. It also helps keep her protected from people who despise demons. In her usual form, she is nothing more than a simple house cat." Sango explained. "Uh, Kagome-chan…there's only enough room for me and Miroku to ride on Kirara's back. I'm afraid you'll have to find another way to go with us.
"Really? Great…" Kagome started off.
"Get on my back." Inuyasha told her.
"…"
"What are you waiting for? You wanted to help Sesshomaru, right? Then get on and let's go!" Inuyasha said impatiently.
"Fine. But you better not drop me, or I'll have sat you so many times it'll take you a month to dig yourself out of the ground." Kagome threatened as she climbed onto Inuyasha.
As soon as he felt her get on, he leapt into the forest. He was moving so fast it was hard for Kagome to really pay attention to where they were heading.
Sango and Miroku were surprised at Inuyasha's speed when Kagome climbed onto him. Kirara had taken off after Inuyasha. She then sensed something, something she had gotten used to since she had met Miroku.
"Houshi-sama, if you want to remain on Kirara, I suggest you don't do anything." Sango said dryly. "I already told you we'd talk about it later, and now is not the time for this."
"Of course Lady Sango. I keep telling you, my hand has a life of its own, it's hard to control it!"
"I'm starting to wonder if it may be possessed by a demon, I can always sense it right before it strikes." Sango teased.
Back with Inuyasha, he could start to smell something else in the air. It was very similar to…the girl he was carrying on his back.
He wasn't alone in that thought. Kagome also started to sense something new, something very familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out what it was.
"Hey Inuyasha, do you feel that?" Kagome spoke up from Inuyasha's shoulder.
"Yeah. Something new is close by. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it does seem familiar." He left out the part of it being familiar to Kagome. He wasn't sure is she needed or even wanted to know what exactly it was.
"I may just be paranoid, but this seems really familiar to me. I can't explain it, but whatever this is it feels real close to me somehow." Kagome said almost quietly.
But not quiet enough for Inuyasha to not hear it. "I wasn't sure if you would have wanted to hear this Kagome, but there's something else I picked up on this new scent. I also have a question for you because of it."
"Ok, go ahead."
"Has your family had any major run-ins with youkai recently? Or does anyone in your family have youkai blood in them? Inuyasha asked straight out.
"Nani!? Just what are you trying to say Inuyasha?
"I'm saying this new scent I'm getting definitely belongs to a youkai. There's a problem though. This demon scent is also laced with your scent."
"What does that mean?" She asked aloud.
"It means, that whatever youkai this is, it's somehow related to you, Kagome."
"That's not…possible…is it? Do I look like a youkai at all?"
"Not in the least. You don't even have the scent of youkai blood in you. You smell much too human to even be partially demon. Although…" he trailed off, remembering something he felt earlier.
~Flashback~
**. I feel so at ease around her now that I know she isn't Kikyo…but there's something else about her. Her scent seems familiar to me, although that's not the fact that her scent is almost identical to Kikyo's…**
~End Flashback~
"What is it?" Kagome asked.
"I noticed this earlier…there's something about you that makes me feel at ease. I can't explain it, but it seems like I've already met you once before. I can't explain it, but I think it has something to do with your scent."
"My scent?"
"Yeah. I've only felt that way around a few people before. My mother and father, actually. I know that they're my parents, but that's not it. I felt at ease around my mother because I knew her scent very well, and the fact that she raised me from a pup. But I felt at ease around my father because of HIS scent. He was a full inu-youkai, and the fact that I was also half inu-youkai meant that our scents were similar, and the fact that we got along well was comforting to me. I feel the same way around you, although I don't know why. I know your human, but something keeps making me think you're more than that."
"But what does that mean…maybe-" Kagome was cut off by Inuyasha
"Quiet. Whatever it is, it's coming closer."
"Ok. But now I'm kind of freaked out, this weird feeling is getting stronger…"
"Of course it is Kagome. It's only natural to feel secure around your family." An ominous yet familiar voice called out to Kagome.
~~I want to end it here, but I'm gonna give you guys incentive for me to keep writing later~~
"Who…who are you?" Kagome asked nervously.
"And how do you know Kagome?" Inuyasha demanded
"Now, now, that's no way to talk to a guest." A man covered in a white animal pelt walked forwards. Kagome recognized it as a polar bear, an animal that lives in cold places, nothing like Japan at all. She learned about them from a foreign exchange student who came over from America a year ago.
"Guest?" Inuyasha was confused. "Kagome, do you know this guy?"
"I don't know…maybe…that familiar feeling is coming from him…"
"We are still on shrine property, Kagome-chan. And I am visiting, so I would believe I should be considered a guest…"
"Nani…why'd you call me that? I don't know you at all!"
"Of course you know me Kagome; your senses are telling you who I am, even though you deny it. But then again you really can't use your TRUE senses they are well hidden. Even you don't know what you're fully capable of. Your hanyou friend there suspects something about you, and he is absolutely right. The spell will wear off eventually, so do you want to know who you are now, or wait until it passes?" The stranger asked.
"Kagome, get behind me. This guy is a youkai, and he seems pretty powerful. This could get dangerous. And try not to listen to what he says, he's probably trying to confuse you enough to let your guard down!"
"Kagome-chan!"
"Kagome-sama!"
Sango and Miroku had just arrived and saw what was happening.
"You guys!" Kagome exclaimed.
"I think I should show you know Kagome, since all your friends are here. I do leave the choice to you though." The stranger said.
*Why is he giving me the choice? And what spell is it he keeps talking about? Just what is he, and how does he know me? What's going on?*
"Why do you care about Kagome choosing? Just what are you planning?" Inuyasha demanded when he noticed Kagome looking downwards in thought.
"Inuyasha, why must you jump to conclusions about things? If I wanted to, you all would be dead right now. That brother of yours was no problem at all to deal with, so neither should a few humans and hanyous?" The stranger said again.
**Wait a minute…did he just say, 'a few humans and hanyous'? Who's the other hanyou?**
"You mean you haven't figured it out yet? Wow, your inu senses must be really weak today. You SHOULD be able to detect what she is without needing to see it. But then again, maybe you're just confused, so that's a good enough reason. You did only wake up a few hours ago, after a long two hundred year nap. And don't think I'll try anything foul just yet. I wouldn't want to hurt my own daughter before she even realizes who she is." The stranger revealed the secret about Kagome that only he had known, leaving the whole group confused.
~Owari~
Thanks to readers, and reviewers. Reviewers especially though, because they let me know SOME people like my fic and will take the time to tell me so.

And a huge-ass thanks to my queen and master, Tina. I am her puppy slave and I edit her fics for her. In return, she edits my fics for me, so I send you my thanks and my love for editing! Luv ya, ja ne.