InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Synthetic Twilight ❯ IV ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: lesalee

She had sat in her car for twenty minutes and had thought about just turning around and going home. Maybe that frog had been talking about some other people, maybe he was just disgruntled about some ancestral pond. His 'they' didn't necessarily mean her 'they'. She imagined the frog pleading with Kikyo, only to have Kikyo turn up her nose. "This Kikyo doesn't consort with lowly frogs," the thought cracked a smile. She sighed, she knew that these thoughts weren't true. Hadn't Goshinbo shown her that?
Kagome stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the shrine and adjusted her grip on the bow carried in her right hand. Any other night, the breeze blowing would've been welcomed. Tonight, it rang hollow in her ears, and did little to comfort her as she climbed the stairs. She turned back to look at the city from the top, each lamp post seemed to have a halo around it, the purple sky spread out before her, becoming lighter shades as it reached downtown.
Every step seemed to require so much effort. There was Goshinbo, there her old home, there hidden amongst the storage houses was the old well. Her palms started to sweat as she reached to slide the door open, the grip around her bow was turning her knuckles white, though she didn't notice. The boards that her grandfather had placed over the well to keep her from trying to go back so many years ago, were now leaning against the mouth of the well. Slinging the bow over one of her shoulders, she began to climb down. The air was oppressive here, it closed in on her, her heart started to speed up. She'd be able to go home when she'd finished whatever it was that needed her help, wouldn't she? Fate couldn't be that cruel to her, after all she'd been through, could it?
She paused on the last rung of the ladder, that was the last step, if the well wouldn't let her through after all she could just go home and forget about the past. She wouldn't have peace if she just left without knowing. She took a deep breath before stepping off, here goes nothing.
It was odd, it didn't happen automatically, but the ground gradually began to glow with the strange blue light that had heralded her journeys through the well in the past. Kagome began to relax as her body felt a little lighter while passing through time, she supposed the lack of centipedes grasping for her helped somewhat. When her feet at last touched solid ground, she blinked owlishly at the stars shining in the black sky overhead. Adjusting the pack still strapped to her back, Kagome noticed that she still felt considerably lighter than she had entering the well from her time period.
My backpack still feels the same, she thought to herself while wondering what she had left behind. Oh no... The pistols that she had strapped to her were missing. She had brought them because she had remembered what the guns that the europeans had traded with the japanese did to demons so many years ago. Combined with her spiritual powers she'd be able to stop any demon if they decided to get too close for comfort, and now they were gone.
Maybe I dropped them on the other side of the well and didn't notice. I'll go back and check. Kagome carefully sat her pack on the ground before she climbed up the vines growing on the sides of the well and jumped off. She cursed softly at the pain shooting up her ankles as she noticed that she was still on the same side of the well. Kagome felt nauseous, Fate was a cruel bitch indeed.

She leaned against the well after her climb and stared at the night sky. No one was waiting for her here. What was I thinking?! She reached for the pack of cigarettes in her pants pocket, lit a cigarette, and took a long drag. I guess I'll have to quit eventually, but not tonight. She exhaled, her temples were beginning to throb. In the distance, she could see the pinpricks of light that marked Kaede's village. She didn't want to go there, but where else could she go? Her footsteps echoed noisily through the grass as she forced herself to keep walking towards the village. If she could have, she would have thrown her things down in the field and ran back to the well. She cursed herself, she cursed Inuyasha, she cursed the Gods, she cursed everything she could think of. To add a little flavor, a 'What was I thinking?!', came in to break up the monotony of cursing random things.

"Stop! Who goes there!" cried a shadow from the village as she was walking up to the torches.
Gee, being tied up and having villagers pointing farming tools sounds fantastic right about now.
"I am Kagome Higurashi. I am here to see Lady Kaede, you will show her to me." she answered back, slightly surprised by the demanding tone in her voice. Way to grow a pair!, she mentally cheered.
"L-lady Kagome? It really is you! Yamashita, please pick up my post, I must show Lady Kagome to Lady Kaede. Please follow me. You may not remember me, but I remember seeing you and Inuyasha when you'd stop here on..."
Kagome followed behind the guard silently, tuning him out around the time he mentioned Inuyasha. The guard appeared to be around the same age as her younger brother, Souta. So Kaede was still alive, things were looking up! Now all she had to do was to avoid Inuyasha for as long as she lived and things would fine. She could hear the blood pumping in her head as they walked through the silent village- save for the guard that was still excitedly talking in the background. Damn, this headache was a beast.

The nausea crept back in when Kaede's hut came into view, looking relatively unchanged from the outside.
Kagome placed her hand lightly on the guard's arm and halted him momentarily, "Thank you for seeing me safely to Lady Kaede's home, ah-"
"You can call me Taiki, Lady Kagome."
"-Taiki-kun but it's fine if I walk the rest of the way, really."
"Nonsense! I'll see you to the door, I'm certain that Lady Kaede will be very happy to see you again!"
With that he walked up to door and called out loudly, "Lady Kaede, please wake up! I've brought an important visitor to see you! Lady Kaede? Lady Kaede!"
Kagome heard some movement in the house before a tired voice answered, "Taiki, child, if this is something that Noriko could handle, go wake her up instead."
Kagome smirked, it seemed that Inuyasha had rubbed off a little on Kaede.
"Oh no, Lady Kaede! This visitor should only see you! See, Noriko-chan was only a child when-"
"Taiki-kun," Kagome said softly, "now's probably not a good time. Do you have an-"
With a speed that belied her age, the flap leading into the hut was pulled quickly to the side, revealing a slightly older looking Kaede.
"Kagome! Dear child, come in. Taiki, thank you for waking me, now off with you." she pulled the flap behind her. Taiki sulked for a moment before heading back to his post.
Kaede sat a pot of stew on the hearth while Kagome dug around in her bag for asprin.
Kagome chuckled, "I didn't think you could move that fast, Lady Kaede."
Kaede paused while ladeling the stew into bowls, "I'm only 65, not young, but I'm not dying either," she deadpanned. She laughed at the chagrinned expression on the younger miko's face. "Don't worry child, I surprise myself at times too."
"Kaede? Does-" Kagome stamped out the urge to ask if anyone knew that she was coming. "Did you know the well was open?"
The older woman sighed, suddenly looking much older than she had a few minutes earlier, "Yes child, I knew it was. Kikyo used the last of her powers to open it before she died. She bade me not to speak a word of it being available to you, however."
"Do you mind if I ask? How she died, I mean."
"Kikyo was wrong to think that a wish could dismantle the jewel. Reguardless of what the wish is for, a wish is still selfish in nature, and so she could not rid herself of it. She could only keep it pure, the effort was taxing on her. I suspect that the reason why it purifies merely when you touch it, is because she bound the jewel to you by sending it on to the next life. That is neither here nor there, she was hounded by demons for it. Inuyasha had been out at one of the nearby villages helping them defend against a demon when Kikyo was out teaching Noriko about various healing herbs when a demon attacked them. The demon targeted Noriko and Kikyo was felled while protecting Noriko. At the end, she confessed to me that you are the only one who could truly destroy the jewel."
Kagome's eyes teared, "Why didn't she open the well sooner? She could've just given me the damn thing!"
"Pride, child. She was just as jealous of you as you were of her." Kaede looked at her sympathetically.
"Jealous?" she asked bitterly. Kagome shook her head, "Where is the jewel now?"
"I know not. Inuyasha took the jewel away from here. I did not see him for many months afterward, he returned to visit many weeks ago and did not have it in his possession. Seek him out, it is the only way to know for certain."
So much for asprin, the headache returned and this time was accompanied by, "What were you thinking?!"

Kagome's mother lit a candle by the window. Her little girl was gone and the only sort of consolation she received was from the last yellowed page of the book her father in law had found.
To my family, forgive me, I don't know if I'll ever see you again. This was something that I had to do. -KH