InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The End of Innocence ❯ Unravelling ( Chapter 6 )

A/N: Well, I know that it's been forever since I updated, but please bear with me - the beginning of my new semester has been harrowing, and I've had a lot of stuff to do. Anyhow, here's another chapter for you to sink your teeth into! Please read and review!

 

Disclaimer: No . . . they don't . . . belong . . . to me. Read . . . my . . . lips.

 

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“Kaede - the jewel has turned black. It must be tainted - but how? What could have - ?”, Miroku trailed off as he put two and two together inside of his head.

 

Sango took a step closer to Kagome, and reached out to the girl unconsciously as she said, “Oh, Kagome . . . “

 

But Kaede sudden jabbed out with her arm, gesturing for Sango to stay away.

 

“Do not touch her! This changes everything!”

 

Sango opened her mouth to ask Kaede what was the matter, but the elderly miko had already rushed over to InuYasha, who was just about to touch the jewel, his face filled with raw emotion.

 

Kaede slapped his hand away, and before the surprised hanyou could react, Miroku slapped an ofuda onto his palm.

 

The dark tendrils of miasmic energy that had begun to curl around his fingers dispersed, and InuYasha stared at his fingers like he had never seen them before.

 

“Wha - ? How did you - ?”

 

“InuYasha, ye should know better than to touch tainted jewel shard by now - they would corrupt your soul or be used to control ye! Oh, and thank ye, Miroku, for repelling the miasma,” said Kaede, settling comfortably back into her seat.

 

Miroku gave a slight, self-satisfied nod before leaning back against the wall and gazing serenely across the room.

 

“Kaede, what is wrong with Kagome?! Why is the jewel black?!,” said InuYasha, his face contorting into a grimace as he tried to remain calm.

 

Ignoring InuYasha, Kaede looked around the room at each of the others, and examined each of them carefully. Miroku had begun to meditate, his eyes half-closed, palms pressed together.

 

Although he appeared to be perfectly calm and utterly relaxed, Kaede knew that this was his way of dealing with the stress of the situation, and that he was agitated indeed if he needed to meditate to clear his thoughts.

 

To the other side of the aged priestess, Sango was kneeling, clutching her Hirakotsu with whitened knuckles, every muscle tensed with the worry and fear that she felt.

 

She was restraining Shippo with her other hand, her arm wrapped tightly around his waist as he struggled to free himself and jump to Kagome.

 

The tiny kitsune's eyes were large with fear, and he was frantically clawing at Sango's thigh with his hind paws and keening, the high-pitched whines tearing from his throat without pause.

 

“Hag, answer me! What the hell has happened to Kagome?!,” yelled InuYasha, slamming his fist through the floorboards of the hut.

 

Kaede turned to give InuYasha a look of stern composure that she did not feel.

 

“InuYasha, ye must keep your head. This behavior will not help Kagome. Do ye understand?” But InuYasha was past reasoning.

 

“Shut up and do something for Kagome, Baba! Can't ya see she's hurting?!”

 

Kaede turned her eyes to Kagome, and was more worried than ever. The girl's skin had become very pale, but she was sweating and her bangs clung to her forehead in damp clumps.

 

Kagome had been lying limply on the mat, but suddenly she began thrashing about, her arms flailing and disturbing the blanket. Kaede bent over the girl and tried to restrain her while InuYasha clenched his fists helplessly, unsure of what to do.

 

When Kagome calmed somewhat, Kaede adjusted the blanket carefully and straightened, finally turning to InuYasha.

 

“InuYasha, only Kagome can fight off the evil which is threatening her. The jewel is blackened because Kagome has been tainted by the crime that was committed against her. She is far away from us now. There is nothing that ye can do. Try to control yourself.”

 

Kaede reached out and dabbed at the sweat on the girl's forehead with a cloth.

 

“If she worsens, ye may try to take her through the well to her people.”

 

InuYasha released a sharp outtake of breath, and then stood up. His eyes darted towards Kagome again, but he pulled them away quickly, as though the sight had burned him.

 

He stormed over to the doorway and roughly pulled the flap aside, then stomped out into the night.

 

All was silent for a minute as the others stared at the doorway, stunned by InuYasha's sudden action.

 

Moments later, they all heard InuYasha's anguished howls, and a terrible tumult as trees and branches broke and fell with thuds that shook the earth.

 

Shippo trembled and hid his face in the crook of Sango's arm. Sango nervously ran her hand along her Hirakotsu, and Kaede could sense the girl's fear of InuYasha, whose madness put her on edge.

 

Kaede, too, felt InuYasha's cries pierce her mind, and it took all of her spiritual abilities to concentrate on remaining calm and refuse to succumb to her own fears.

 

Releasing the anger will be better for him, she said to herself, as she tried to shut out the noise.

 

He will recover from his madness.

 

He would never desert Kagome while she is alive, Kaede thought, more to convince herself than anything else.

 

The noises eventually began to subside, then stopped, and the miko breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Kagome was shivering now, and Kaede pulled another blanket over her after checking the girl's wounds. Kaede had placed fresh bandages over the gouges in Kagome's thighs and the gash next to her breast, but the aged priestess was worried.

 

None of the cuts had begun to close yet, and she feared for Kagome's life if the girl lost much more blood.

 

But there is also the jewel to consider, thought Kaede.

 

Only she understood the truth of what had happened to Kagome, and she knew that the jewel's taint reflected a larger problem than the others realized.

 

It was a myth that a miko who lost her purity would automatically lose her powers - but this belief was not without grounds.

 

For a miko to use her spiritual gifts, she had to be pure of mind, able to act without guilt, guile, or shameful motives. If a priestess saw herself as unclean, then she was unclean, because her thoughts and her soul were tainted by doubt.

 

A miko could not practice her craft of she formed relationships which clouded her judgment. Thus, few priestesses married, preferring to avoid the entangling emotional attachments that would most likely result, either in regards to a husband or to children.

 

A miko in love had to be able to sacrifice everything for the sake of others, and few could bear to forsake their families if duty called.

 

The violation of a miko was the ultimate evil, because it did not even bring the miko pleasure to deaden the pain of sacrifice.

 

Kaede had never heard of a miko who retained her powers after being raped - most committed suicide, and a very few became Buddhist nuns.

 

The act of rape caused the miko to feel unclean and doubt herself and her powers, and in turn, these powers deserted her. Kaede had heard stories of crazed women plunging over cliffs or slitting their own throats . . .

 

She shuddered.

 

No. That will not happen to Kagome.

 

She is strong - too strong to give up.

 

Kaede recalled Kagome's smiling face, her laughter, and she felt tears begin to gather in the corners of her eyes and roll silently down the leathery skin of her old cheeks.

 

She could not stop them from falling as she sat there in the darkness, gently stroking Kagome's limp fingers as she knelt beside the unconscious girl.

The others had all fallen asleep, exhausted by their travels and the events of the day.

 

But Kaede listened and watched her patient, her eyes never wavering. It was going to be a long night.

 

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