InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Regrets ❯ Fate Steps In ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters related to him. That honor and privilege belongs to the talented Rumiko Takahashi. I am, however, the master of my own Fate and the keeper of my own Destiny. We should all be so fortunate.

Regrets

Chapter Three-Fate Steps In

It was a beautiful spring morning in Feudal Japan. The weather was fair, the birds were singing, and the cherry trees were in full bloom. Unfortunately, that just brought back the memories of what he wanted most to forget. Cherry blossoms had been her favorite. It was also the one smell he associated most with her. That scent only made the pain worse; he would never get her out of his mind and he didn't ever want to.

From his perch in the God's Tree, Inuyasha stared up at the clear blue sky and tried to make the pain go away. It didn't work any better today than it did any other day, and the days would only get longer; after all, five hundred years was a long time. He would wait that long if he had to, even if the thought of all that time alone depressed him immensely.

He wished that the day matched his mood; wished that it was dark and dreary, but it didn't look like anybody up there was listening to him. Maybe a run would help clear his mind, help mute his pain. Maybe physical exhaustion would help take away some of the sting of loss. It had been a year, but the wounds to his soul were still as fresh as the day she left. He hoped that time would at least dull some of the pain. Inuyasha knew, though, that it would never leave him completely; not until he found her again and held her close, never to let go.

His friends worried about him more than a little. He knew that they meant well and only had his best interests in mind, but he wished that they would just leave him be. Inuyasha knew better, though. They would pester him if he didn't put in some kind of appearance, so he decided that he would return to the village later and see if they needed anything before he took his daily trip to the well. But first, he would run and feel the wind in his hair and the ground beneath his feet, and try to think of anything but what he had lost and the years still between them..

~A Little Later, In the Village~

It was a fair afternoon, and Shippo was restless. He wanted to be doing something. It was just one of those sort of days. It almost made him wish that a demon would attack so that he could get a little exercise.

He had grown up a lot in the last year. After the realization set in that Kagome wasn't coming back and there was nothing he could do about it, he started to learn everything he could to survive without her. He tried his best to help Inuyasha and the others protect the village. He had actually gotten pretty good, even if most of his strength lay in illusion. It was amazing how a well-timed illusion could distract an enemy until Inuyasha or Sango could take care of it.

He smiled as he remembered the first time he had been a real help. Sango and Miroku had made such a big deal of him. They had talked about how good he had gotten the whole way back to the village. The two couldn't stop praising him. Inuyasha had just grunted and walked away. But that was like him - at least, that was like him now.

His friends all worried about him. Since Kagome left, Inuyasha had changed, and it wasn't for the better. He had withdrawn into himself and barely spoke to anyone. When he did speak, it was usually in a low voice that held none of his old fire and passion. He didn't even yell anymore, for goodness sakes. It was as if his heart had gone with Kagome; he just hadn't been the same.

Even his enemies noticed. Sesshomaru didn't even try to steal the Fang anymore. The last time he tried, he told Inuyasha that it wasn't worth his time to fight a weak and pathetic opponent. Inuyasha hadn't even growled at that, and that frightened his friends more than anything else. Oh, he still protected the village, but he didn't go looking for fights anymore and they were all afraid that one day he would just give up and let another demon get the best of him.

Shippo sighed. It was time they woke Inuyasha up. Everyone else had accepted it and moved on, it was time he did, too. She was gone and they couldn't get her back. Sure they still missed her terribly, but they had moved on. Even the sting of not saying goodbye had faded with time-time and a lot of tears. Yes, it was definitely time to shake the half-breed out of his depression. Shippo went in search of the one person who might be able to help him, the monk, Miroku.

Walking through the village, he saw Sango teaching a group of young people the ways of the demon exterminator. She still went out and plied her trade, but she had decided that she needed to pass on her skills. So she taught them to anyone who wanted to learn. He stopped and waited for her to sense him. It was never a good idea to interrupt one of her training sessions; he had learned that the hard way, he had become an impromptu lesson in "how to sense a demon from behind and disable it". It was not an experience he cared to repeat. After a few moments, she dismissed her students and walked over to him.

"Hello, Shippo. How are you today?" she asked him with a smile.

"I came to see if you knew where your mate was," he answered. "I thought that he might be able to help me."

"What do you need help with? Maybe it's something I can do," Sango said questioningly, cocking her head at him.

"I'm not sure. It's just that I thought he might be able to help me with Inuyasha. I thought that maybe we could help him get over…" he trailed off. He wasn't sure if Sango would approve.

"You want to help him get over Lady Kagome," stated a deep voice behind them. Miroku had come up on them without their noticing. "I'm not sure if he ever will, Shippo, but you can always try."

"I'm not sure that he should. Hasn't Inuyasha been hurt enough?" Sango said quietly. Of all of them, she understood the best. She had lost so many who meant as much to her as Kagome meant to Inuyasha. She knew what it felt like to have a broken heart. Of course, she still had Miroku…

"Your damn right I've been hurt enough!" said an angry voice quietly. Inuyasha had come upon them unnoticed. They had become so accustomed to his aura around the village that they hardly flinched when he was around. "Please, just leave me alone." He didn't raise his voice, didn't really seem to have the heart for it.

"Inuyasha, we worry about you. We're your friends. We just want to see you happy," Shippo told him plaintively.

"Unless you know some way to bring her back, or make the years between us disappear; that will never happen. Please, just let it go and leave me in as much peace as I can find." He turned and headed into his forest, leaving his friends to stare worriedly after him. They didn't follow him, for they had learned long ago that it did no good. He would just take to the trees and they had no way to bring him down.

I'm sorry everyone. I know that you mean well. I just can't deal with your interference right now, no matter how well-intentioned. I'm going to the well. At least there I feel closer to what I lost. At least there I don't have to look at you all and remember that, if not for her, I would never have met any of you. It is the closest to peace that I will feel for a long time and I thank you for leaving me to it...

He ran into the forest, heading for the well. He did not know that he was being watched; that he had been since before Kikyo. She had watched him grow close to Kikyo; watched as Naraku turned them against each other. She had watched all that happened before and after Kagome came through the well. She had watched as Inuyasha and Kagome drew closer. She watched them struggle with themselves and each other and she watched as he pushed Kagome away and both hearts were broken.

This is not how she had intended their story to end, not by any means. The girl's soul had been brought back for a purpose. Kagome was to complete the task her previous incarnation had been unable to complete. She was to right the wrongs that had been done and heal the half-breed's heart. Fate did not waste energy on reincarnations. Especially when the reincarnate came back to complete a task out of their own time!

They almost made it, the young girl and the half-breed. The Jewel was complete, although it was not completely purified; the young priestess' sorrow made it slightly impure. It was the Fates' design that the Jewel be broken, and these two souls come together to retrieve the fragments and defeat the ultimate evil. Even the resurrected priestess had been considered in their designs. However, she was supposed to stay dead. The fall from the cliff should have destroyed her shell and released her soul.

But Chaos reared Its ugly head and disrupted all the carefully laid plans that Fate had laid for the pair. The priestess survived and caused a rift between them. The half-breed's uncertainty and the young woman's forgiving nature almost drove them completely apart, even though they were made for each other.

That was what brought her here, these two beings that loved each other so very much, yet were still separated by time and stubbornness. Hopefully, she would be able to fix the mess the two had created for themselves. Sometimes she cursed the free will that Humans and Demons alike had been given at the beginning of time. She knew there was a reason for it, but still…

She'd given him a year to think about life without his love, and had decided that he had suffered enough. That he was brave enough to suffer the intervening years alone encouraged her to give him a break; one of few that they had given him in his life. Yes, he had proven that he had courage to spare, but he would need all the courage he had ever shown in order to change both their Destinies and reunite the two halves of their souls. He would have to convince her and her sisters that he was ready to change the situation he found himself in, ready to reclaim the love for which he was destined.

It helped that he did not curse Fate that he had lost her. Himself, yes; Fate, no. It also helped that all the three sisters knew with relative certainty where both hearts lay, although Fate needed the two lovers to realize the bond between them. Hopefully the trials ahead would open both of their eyes and bring peace to their hearts.

She watched as Inuyasha came to the well and looked into it. She knew what he hoped to find. She also knew that she was not yet ready to let him find it, although that was within her power. He had to convince her first that he was ready. Ready to accept the depth of Kagome's love and open his own heart.

"Kagome, my heart, the lost part of my soul; I would give anything to have you back with me," Inuyasha said sadly as he stared into the empty well. He sniffed the air; it was a useless gesture, but it was one he made every time he came here. She had been gone for so long that no trace of her beloved scent lingered anywhere.

"Would you truly give anything, Inuyasha?" said a woman's strange, otherworldly voice that seemed to come from nowhere, yet everywhere at once. Inuyasha dropped into a defensive crouch and scented the air again, every sense alive and alert. There had been nothing unusual a moment ago, but that voice had definitely come from somewhere.

"What if I told you that all you had to do was convince me and my sisters that you are worthy of the love you were Fated for? What if I told you that your love waits for you even now, on the other side of that well and mourns your loss as you mourn hers? Would you be willing to attempt to reclaim that which you have lost?" the voice continued.

"Who are you? How do you know me? Show yourself, damn you!" he growled.

The brush behind Inuyasha rustled and he turned to face the intruder; before him stood a hooded figure cloaked in silver. Her attire shielded her figure completely; had she not spoken, he would never have guessed her gender. No scent came from her and that bothered him more than his inability to discern any of her features. There was an otherworldly quality about her that went beyond what he would normally sense from a demon. What the hell is she? How does she know about Kagome? For that matter, how the fuck does she know about me? The woman moved gracefully across the clearing and Inuyasha realized that she wasn't making a sound now; it was as though she could have hidden from him if she had truly wanted to. It made him wonder just how long she had been watching him.

"I, Inuyasha, am one of the three Fates. I have the power to grant your deepest desire or to end your existence. My sisters and I weave the Tapestry of Life and we decide the outcome of all life, be it Human, Demon, or Half-breed. I can let you have your love again. But first, you must convince my sisters and me that you are worthy, and we are not easily swayed!"

---------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Oooh, cliffie. I hate them as much as the rest of you, but that was the natural end for this chapter. At least it is if you know what I know… Don't worry, you'll get more. Next chapter Prove Yourself. It may not be out as fast, for I have acquired a day job and can no longer sit all day before my computer and type. Don't worry, though. I have every intention of finishing. Just, please, be patient. Thanks to all who reviewed! Keep them coming! Patch

Oh, yes. Before you all start sending me flaming monkeys, yes, I know that Fate as I am describing it is a Greek concept, not a Japanese one. I do not know the Japanese equivalent or if there even is one. I apologize for taking liberties, but, write what you know. Right? J

Revised and edited - 8/14/03

As I'm sure some of you have noticed by now that I am revising this fan fic. I think that my unhappiness with some of the things in it is what is causing my writer's block. So, I'm fixing it. Hopefully, I have improved it a little bit. Let me know what you think.

Until we meet again, Patch.