InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shards of Destiny ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, etc., of Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the words from Drowning Pool. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for profit.

SHARDS OF DESTINY

Summary: Naraku has crossed over to the modern era, and our heroes must band together to try and stop him. But what troubles arise as old relationships are torn apart by new, and the dark spider sits spinning new webs of deceit?

A/N: Thank you, as always, for the reviews and encouragement. I just ordered a copy of the IY Final Act English dub, and can’t wait for it to come in. I haven’t seen any of them yet, and am really excited! Talk about an early Christmas present! =)

Chapter Two

Miroku stared up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the dull throb in his arm as Inuyasha slumped against the far wall, all bravado gone now they were alone.

“Damn it,” the hanyou bitterly growled, pressing his silver head, ears flat, against the tattered hilt of his Tetsusaiga. Miroku didn’t say anything, knowing empty platitudes wouldn’t help. He sighed, wondering what would.

A jaunty tap against the window disrupted their dark thoughts.

“Yoo-hoo! Hullo in there! Anybody home?”

“Er…” Miroku looked at Inuyasha, who lurched unsteadily to his feet.

“What the hell is it now?” he snarled, and almost fell over as the pain and exhaustion from his wounds caught up with him. Gritting his teeth, the stubborn hanyou dug the Tetsusaiga’s sheath into the floor as a crutch.

“Hey, dog breath, don’t you think the whole Superman act is growing a little lame?” The dark-haired youth suddenly appeared in the doorway, much to Miroku’s relief.

“Shaddup,” Inuyasha snapped, gold eyes flashing. “I can still take you on.”

“Not with those injuries,” the strange red-haired man crisply pointed out, joining the party. Inuyasha bristled.

“Don’t think I---”

A firm rap on the window drew their attention. “Yusuke Urameshi! I know you’re in there! Open this window this instant!”

“Damn it, Botan!” The dark-haired man---Yusuke?---crossed over and flung the curtain aside to reveal a blue-haired woman perched on an oar, calmly floating some two stories off the ground. A rather fetching young woman, actually, in a pretty pink kimono. “I wondered when you’d show up.”

The woman wrinkled her nose at him. “Well, as your assistant, I could hardly---”

“What do you mean, my assistant?” Yusuke crossed his arms, eyes narrowed.

“Why, haven’t you heard?” The girl beamed. “You’ve just been reinstated, Yusuke, as Spirit Detective!”

The tall redhead’s brows rose. His reaction wasn’t lost on Miroku, who wondered  what a Spirit Detective might be.

“No, thanks,” the youth declined sourly.

“But, Yusuke!” The woman was clearly taken aback. The red-haired man smiled faintly.

“Not interested.”

“But---”

“Not interested.”

“Look, I still don’t know who the hell you guys are, and I’m growing a little tired of---” Inuyasha fumed, still leaning on his sword.

“Do you ever stop barking?” Yusuke glared over his shoulder.

“Oh, my.” The girl blinked, shielding her eyes with one hand to peer through the window. “I see Prince Koenma wasn’t kidding.”

“Figures Old Diaper Pants would be in on this.”

“Yusuke Urameshi, show some respect! Prince Koenma went to a lot of trouble getting you reinstated---”

“I already told you, Botan, I’m not interested.”

“Oh, just open the window already!” She scowled.

Sighing gustily, the youth complied. “Just don’t start getting any ideas, Botan, that this means I---”

“Oh, do stop being difficult, will you?” The blue-haired woman proved that much more delightful in person as she calmly stepped through the window, oar dissolving in her hand. Her wide eyes---astonishingly the precise shade of cherry blossoms in bloom---took in those around her. Rather intrigued by the refreshing purity of her aura, Miroku allowed his eyes to linger over the fall of her kimono, which gave hints of a lush figure. Her hair, caught in a high ponytail with two long tendrils allowed to curl forward over her breasts, was the color of a light spring sky.

“Hello,” she said, returning his smile. “I’m Botan.”

“I’m enchanted,” Miroku answered.

“Oh.” She blushed very prettily.

“Oh, give me a break.” Inuyasha slumped on his sword. “Hell, Miroku, can’t you leave off your hentai ways for one damn moment?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Miroku sniffed.

“You’re such a hypocrite.”

The blue-haired girl now regarded him suspiciously. Miroku sighed at the inevitable. Inuyasha could be so counterproductive. But the girl’s narrowed pink eyes suddenly widened in realization as she stared at him. “You’re hurt!”

“A mere scratch,” the monk dismissed.

Her fingers---long, he noted, and appealingly feminine---lightly touched his shoulder. “Your arm---it’s broken!”

“A minor inconvenience, I assure you.” He smiled.

“The pain must be excruciating!”

“Barely noticeable,” Miroku said, blue eyes warming, “with you here.”

“Oh, bosh.” But she blushed, and her expression softened as she knelt down beside him.


“He’s good,” Yusuke muttered, drawing back beside Inuyasha.

“He’s constant.” The dog demon rolled his eyes.

“Please,” the ferry-girl said sweetly, laying both hands on the monk’s arm, “allow me to help you. I have some healing ability.”

“Only if it would please you,” he---Miroku, wasn‘t it?---gallantly replied.

“You weren’t kidding.” Yusuke shook his head, half in disgust, half in admiration as Botan, the others all but forgotten, knelt beside the bed. Gently laying her hands on either side of the fracture in the dark-haired monk’s right arm, the ferry-girl summoned her spiritual energy. A soft light grew under her palms, and Miroku’s drawn features relaxed as the healing warmth engulfed him.

“Nope.” Inuyasha scowled, his own disgusted admiration providing a strange feeling of kinship with the other man.


Kagome hugged herself as she watched her mother and brother depart in the ambulance, taking Gramps’s body with them. She shivered despite the warm day, her heart a leaden weight inside her chest. She wiped the tears away; she didn’t have time for them. Not yet, anyway. Later, after she had sorted everything out, then she could go hide away somewhere and let the overwhelming grief take hold.

Squaring her weary shoulders, Kagome resolutely turned towards the house. She should check on Inuyasha and the others, see how they were faring. She’d left Shippou with Kirara and that strange boy with the bright orange pompadour. He’d gruffly reassured the miko that he would take good care of the poor little kitty, his big hands engulfing the tiny kitten as he cradled her gently against him.

He looked like a street thug. But then, so did that other guy, the one with the slicked-back hair and red jacket. Kagome wondered who they were, although their help was timely. From what her mother said, it’d been that guy who had dissipated Naraku’s miasma, using some type of gun. Although her mother also said they’d been blinded by a strange flash of light.

Funny, but Kagome could swear that man wasn’t entirely human. His aura felt weird. Like Inuyasha’s, in a way, and yet unlike it. The other man---the handsome redhead---he, too, had a strange mix of demon and human energy. It was as if they were both half-demons, but not in the physical sense, like Inuyasha.

Kagome shook her head. It was simply too much to spell out right now. She just knew instinctively that she could trust them. She didn’t know why---but then, she wasn’t one to question her instincts. She just knew they were on their side, part of the good guys. Maybe it was because they came to their aid, but then again, maybe it was just the quiet look in a certain pair of dark green eyes.

Kagome bit her lip. Perhaps she put too much stock in one simple look, but the reassurance she felt, gazing into that man’s eyes---there was something about him, something she couldn’t quite put a finger on, or even stop to deal with. There was enough already on her plate, thank you. The fact they had all crossed over to the modern era, following Naraku through the well as he manipulated the Gate-Key to bend time to his whim, destroying it in the process---and not even knowing why, with most of the Jewel shards collected, and the final battle close at hand.

She couldn’t imagine what Naraku might do in this era, what horrors he might unleash. Kagome had always felt safe here, in her own time. It was so unlike the Sengoku Jidai, where the wholesale slaughter of entire villages seemed an everyday occurrence lately. That just didn’t happen here, in the modern world.

But with Naraku loose on Tokyo…who knew now what might happen?

Best not think of it. Not yet, anyway. Save it for later, when they were all recovered and able to do something about it. Right now, it was enough to make sure they did recover.

Kagome knew Inuyasha would need a full day at least to regain his strength, and Miroku and Sango were worse off. They didn’t have the hanyou’s ability to heal himself. A broken arm, that might require a trip to the hospital. Would they even admit the monk without proper ID? And Sango…even if that guy was able to withdraw the Saimyousho’s poison, she had sustained other injuries fighting off Naraku…

Hurrying into the house, Kagome paused in the entry to watch the tall redhead descend the stairs. Clad in slacks and a crisp white button-down shirt, his long red hair a living flame about him, she suddenly felt every inch the dirty waif in her torn uniform.

“Hi,” she said, self-consciously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Hello,” he said, reaching the landing. She had to tilt her head back to look at him, he was so tall. There was compassion in his dark green eyes. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,“ she lied, but he didn’t call her on it, as Inuyasha would have. She appreciated his tact.

“Your friends are sleeping. Well, Miroku and the girl are both sleeping. The hanyou is still guarding the door.”

“Yeah. Inuyasha’s like that.”

“I was on my way to check on the little nekomata.”

“Thank you,” Kagome offered, suddenly realizing she couldn’t remember his name. “Er…?”

“Kurama,” he supplied, smiling to ease her discomfort. He really was kind.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kurama.” Kagome smiled back, offering her hand like an American. “I’m Higurashi Kagome.”

“It’s a pleasure,” he said, gently squeezing in return. His hand was lightly callused, the fingers long and narrow. To be honest, his hands were as beautiful as the rest of him. Almost unnervingly so.

“I already told you, I don’t need any help!”

“But you’re hurt! If you would just let me---”

“Leave me alone!”

The argument echoed down the stairwell. Kagome froze, her hand still in Kurama’s as an angry Inuyasha appeared at the top of the stairs, a strange blue-haired girl at his elbow. The dark-haired thug in the red jacket wasn’t too far behind, standard smirk in place.

Inuyasha stopped, eyes immediately going to their joined hands.

Blushing, Kagome whipped both hands behind her back, leaving Kurama’s to hang out in mid-air.

“Awk-ward,” the dark-haired boy pronounced, smirk growing.

The elegant redhead shook his head. His smile was rueful as he gracefully turned the gesture into a wave to include Kagome. “Yusuke, Botan, allow me to finally introduce our hostess, Higurashi Kagome.”

His quick recovery allowed Kagome to regain hers. She still felt the heat on her cheeks as she nodded politely. “Hi. I’m Kagome, and that’s Inuyasha. You must be Yusuke and Botan?”

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you.” The warmth in the blue-haired girl’s smile proved even more tangible upon closer inspection as she swept down the stairs. “There’s been so much excitement. You see, you proved quite the surprise to us at Spirit World. But I get ahead of myself.” Gathering her kimono, she curtseyed in the English style. “I’m Botan, Grim Reaper and Detective’s Assistant for the Spirit World.”

“Not that shit again.” The dark-haired guy scowled.

“Yusuke Urameshi!” The blue-haired girl, Botan, pivoted on her heel to scowl up at him. “I’ll have you know, that---”

“Hey!” They all jumped at the loud bellow to their right. The tall carrot-top glared at them, one finger held up to his lips in an exaggerated sign for quiet. “Keep it down, would ya? Or you might wake the poor little kitty-cat.”

“Kirara,” Kagome breathed, embarrassed at having forgotten the poor demon in all the commotion.

“Is that the nekomata?” Kurama asked.

“Yes. She’s Sango’s---er, the girl you tended upstairs.” Kagome needed more reassurance. “Is she…?”

“She’s recovering,“ Kurama answered, motioning the large boy to lead the way into the living room. The giant glowered one last time at the two guys stuck on the upstairs landing.

“Maybe I can help,” Botan offered, following behind them. “Since somebody,” she pointedly glared at Inuyasha, “feels they don’t need my particular healing abilities.“

“I’m a demon. I can heal fine on my own, thanks,” came the sarcastic reply, muffled as Kagome went further into the living room to kneel down beside the sofa, where Kirara was curled up with Shippou.

“Kagome?” the little kitsune asked, and she cupped his rusty head in her palm even as Kirara opened her eyes to mew pitifully.

“Kirara,” she whispered, “it’s going to be all right.”

And hoped fervently that it was.


“So.” Crossing his arms, Yusuke turned to the half-dead mutt at his side. “Do you always front like that, or is it just for our benefit?”

“What the fuck you getting at?” the dog growled, revealing canines even Hiei might envy.

“She’s gone, now. You can stop pretending.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The dog sniffed.

“Look, Fido---” The joke, a rather good one in Yusuke’s opinion, was lost on the mutt. “---I get it. I do. Can’t go looking all wimpy around the girls, makes ’em worry. Annoying as hell. But even I can tell you’re about to pass out.”

“I ain’t gonna pass out.”

“No?“ Yusuke raised a thick brow. “I give you to the count of three.“

“Shaddup. This ain’t nuthin’,” the dog slurred, eyes growing a little dim.

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Spot.” Yusuke rolled his eyes, even as the dog swayed. He mentally counted two more beats, and then grinned at the dull thud of a body hitting the floor.

Humming the refrain from a popular Drowning Pool song, “Let the bodies hit the floor,” Yusuke hefted the dead weight over one shoulder and dragged him back to join his hentai friend in the first bedroom. Going back for his tatty sword, Yusuke started at the strange tingle of power that ran down his arm when he picked the ugly blade up.

“Huh.” Appeared the sword, like everything else in this weird-ass shrine, was more than what it seemed. Well, it was high time they all got some answers…


“There,” Botan pronounced, sitting back on her heels. “That should do for now.”

“Is she really okay?” Kuwabara hovered anxiously.

“Of course, silly!” Botan smiled. Kuwabara’s dedication to friends and felines alike was really sweet. She gave the big arm a reassuring pat. “Now, we should leave her alone to rest. She’ll sleep for a bit, and then wake up as good as new.”

“Thank you,” Kagome said, hugging the little kitsune in her arms. The poor girl looked like she had been through hell and back. Botan should know, having visited the Demon World on more than one occasion.

“It’s no problem, I assure you,” the ferry-girl said, glad to help in this small way. Now, if Yusuke would quit being so difficult, she might do more. But since he kept insisting he wasn’t interested in being Spirit Detective, then that put Botan in a quandary. Neither she nor Prince Koenma had entertained the notion that Yusuke wouldn’t jump at the chance to get his old job back. Lord knew the whole ramen gig hadn’t worked out, especially after he and Keiko broke up.

Now that wasn’t something Botan had ever seen coming. Keiko and Yusuke had always seemed so right together. Why, Keiko had been the one to save Yusuke the first time he died! And even accepted his demon side, after that second time he was resurrected as a Mazoku. But it was the third time, when Yusuke nearly died fighting off the Netherworld Wanna-Be’s, that finally cinched it. Keiko, who’d patiently waited through three years of high school while Yusuke went off to Demon World to fight, just couldn’t take the fact that he would never settle down with her into a “normal” life.

He’d tried. Botan had to give Yusuke that much. Without a high school diploma, there weren’t many job prospects for the young man. So Keiko’s parents, who owned a restaurant, had set him up with a ramen stand. But it’d been destroyed during the fight with Yakumo. And Keiko, who’d been caught in the middle of all that, had finally issued an ultimatum.

And just look how good that turned out. Stupid Yusuke. He didn’t know a good thing when he saw it---

“I hope you don’t mind, but I went and made us all some tea.” Kurama suddenly appeared in the doorway, interrupting the ferry-girl’s idle thoughts. He glanced apologetically at Kagome for rummaging through her cupboards.

“No; thank you---I’ve been so distracted.” The girl tucked a wayward strand of
black hair behind her ear in what had to be a nervous habit.

“Well, I should think you’ve reason,” Botan smartly replied. “And I think tea a splendid idea, Kurama. Just what the doctor ordered. Come on, Kagome, a cup will do you good.”

She chivied them from the room, leaving the little nekomata to sleep in peace, and towed a reluctant Kuwabara out by neatly tucking her elbow through his. They met a scowling Yusuke coming down the stairs.

“Hey,” he hailed Kagome. “I need to talk to you.”

“Of course,” she agreed tiredly.

Botan frowned at Yusuke over the top of the shorter girl’s head. “Tea first, then explanations.”

Yusuke looked ready to argue, but Botan nipped that neatly in the bud, getting a little of her own back in the bargain. “You cannot order me around, remember? Only Spirit Detectives can do that.”

She smiled sweetly over her shoulder as she expertly shepherded everyone into the kitchen. After a long moment, Yusuke stalked after them, muttering darkly under his breath.


“So,” Yusuke said, helping himself to a cookie, “how does a nice girl like you get mixed up with a dog demon with an otaku fetish?”

Kagome blinked.

“What’s a fetish?” Shippou asked, mouth dotted with crumbs. He’d made short work of the plate she’d set down before him.

“Never you mind,” Botan said, shooting Yusuke a dirty look as she passed the kitsune another cookie.

Well, Kagome supposed, Inuyasha’s Fire Rat robes might appear strange to anyone meeting him for the first time. Especially someone from the modern era. Although her friends from school had never asked. Maybe they, too, thought he had a thing for anime costumes.

“It’s a long story,” she said, wondering where to start.

“No, it isn’t,” Shippou argued, dunking his cookie into the glass of milk Kagome had poured for him. He’d gotten the trick off Kuwabara, who had declined the tea in favor of milk and cookies. Stale cookies, Kagome amended, knowing her mom hadn’t gotten to the store in a while. Who knew, now, when she might.

“Then why don’t you tell it?” Yusuke demanded, arms parked on the back of the chair he’d flipped around.

“I should get my crayons,” Shippou said thoughtfully.

“Uh, that’s okay, Shippou.” Kagome quickly intervened, remembering the last time Shippou pulled those out. The little kitsune had a talent for embarrassing her with his colorful artwork.

“Well, I don’t really need ’em.” Shippou shrugged. Guaranteed an audience, he hopped up on the dining table, bushy tail swishing. “See, Kagome fell down a well on her fifteenth birthday, freed Inuyasha and broke the Shikon no Tama into a million-bajillion pieces that we’ve been gathering ever since.”

“It wasn’t that many,” Kagome demurred, blushing. It seemed Shippou didn’t need crayons after all.

“Close enough,” Shippou serenely replied. He crossed his little arms over his fur vest. “There’s this bad guy named Naraku. He’s pretty bad. He killed all of Sango’s family and put the Wind Tunnel in Miroku’s hand. He even got Kikyou to put Inuyasha to sleep for fifty years until her reincarnation, Kagome, came back in time to free him.”

“Hold on a minute.” Yuuske raised his palm. “What do you mean, ‘came back in time?’”

“Well, that’s what I came by to tell you, Yusuke---” Botan inserted.

“You know about the Bone-Eater’s Well?” Kagome stared at the other girl.

“Well, we did and we didn’t,” Botan temporized. “It seems Spirit World records held information of a trans-dimensional well on the Higurashi lands, but as it’s been closed for the past five centuries, no one thought it worth investigating.”

“Typical.” Yusuke rolled his eyes. “Spirit World always seems the first to know and the last to actually do anything.”

“Well, we’ve a lot to keep track of Yusuke,” Botan defended. “You don’t know what it’s been like lately. Budget cuts, less staff, more for each of us to do…”

“Yeah, yeah. Crappy economy affects even Heaven. Wah.”

“That’s hardly called for.” Botan scowled.

“It’s not like Koenma ever paid me for being Spirit Detective.” Yusuke scowled back.

“Well, if that’s all you require---” Botan brightened.

“It isn’t. And don’t think I’m reconsidering, Botan. I’m not.”

“But---”

“No buts. I ain’t gonna be a goon again for Spirit World’s narrow-minded---”

“Yusuke,” Kurama said abruptly, a warning look in his green eyes. The dark-haired man shut up.

“Excuse me,” Kagome interrupted, brow furrowed. “But what, exactly, is a Spirit Detective?”

“Oh! That one’s easy.” Botan smiled. She explained in a few, succinct sentences how Spirit World appointed a human protector to defend Living World against poaching from the Demon World. There followed a rather crazy explanation about all three worlds, one that left Kagome’s head spinning. Being so tired and brain-numb didn’t help much. She missed half of what the girl said, but clung to one item.

“So, the three of you,“ she looked over at Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara, “all used to be Spirit Detectives?”

“Well,” Botan qualified, “Yusuke was the real detective. I was his assistant, and Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara were all part of his team.”

“Hiei?” Kagome asked.

“Oh, you don’t really have to worry about him,” Botan reassured her. “He’s content to stay in Demon World, thank goodness.”


“Hn.”

The eerie green glow faded from around the Jagan even as it shrank, the dark spill of his bangs feathering back into place to cover it. The short apparition opened his own red eyes, a thoughtful expression on his rugged features.

“Something catch your interest?” a husky voice asked behind him.

Hiei watched Mukuro emerge from underneath the castle’s turret before deliberately turning back to face the distant horizon. Green lightning played fitfully over the verdant Forest of Fools, where purple-black clouds boiled across the dusky sky.

“There’s a disturbance on the border.”

“There’s always a disturbance on the border.” Mukuro allowed some of her impatience to show, then cut it off, knowing recriminations would be unwelcome to the fire demon.

He didn’t bother to respond. For two who could share their thoughts so easily, they didn’t need to waste time on words. He acknowledged her frustration, knowing how much she begrudged his need to wander just as she acknowledged and accepted that any tie between them could only be temporary at best.

“I am here, now,” he offered, deliberately withdrawing his thoughts from hers. He knew she would find it a rejection, but didn’t care for the bitterness that faintly colored her thoughts. It was not his fault the demoness now sought more from their relationship.

“Yes,” she agreed, willing to take what she could for how little it lasted. “And I have cleared my agenda for the evening.”

“Good,” was all he said, turning to cup her face between his rough palms. He stared up into her eyes for a long moment, not flinching away from the scars she would only ever expose to him. Only he had ever accepted her for what she was. Just as she had to accept him for who he was, even with the ache of knowing he could never be hers.

And even as he drew her down to him for a long, searing kiss that ignited the familiar fire along her blood, Mukuro comforted herself that he could never be anyone’s, really…