InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ THE MIRROR OF SOULS ❯ CHAPTER 3 ( Chapter 3 )

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

"It can't be…!" Kagome took a step back from the box on the floor, her heart thudding fast.

"Eh? What did you say, Higurashi?" Professor Phillips lifted his head up from a stack of books inside the tiny bedroom.

"Uh…" She gulped. "Professor, what is this?"

"Huh? What is what?" The older man stood up with a little difficulty, muttering about old bones.

She decided to point at the object instead, her throat as dry as the Sahara, her fingers were shaking. The professor shuffled out from the room and looked at where she was pointing.

"What?" He nudged his spectacles a bit higher on his nose.

"T-that…." Kagome dared one small step closer at the dreaded object but at an angle.

"What? This one?" The old man pulled the object from the stack of artifacts. "Eh, I think it's called 'Mirror of… something…" He flipped the object in his hand looking at it more closely.

"'The Mirror of Souls,'" Kagome blurted.

"Eh?" He eyed her askance." Ah! Right! That's the name!"

"Why…why…" She stammered as he eyes were glued to the object as if it’s a vicious snake about to strike.

"I found this at a mountain pass in Japan five years ago. It was strange. This is the only object in that area." Phillips scratched his head and then smacked his head. "Hah!"

Kagome jumped at his expletive. "What?"

"Now I remember! I need to take this back with me so I can run carbon dating on it!" He increased the pace of his head scratching,

Kagome returned her gaze at the accursed mirror. She wanted to tell her mentor that she knows how old the mirror was without carbon dating it but that might open up a proverbial can of worms of endless questions.

"Yes, that's a great idea professor." Good thing heart problem doesn’t run in her family or she might have had a heart attack then.

"Kagome, hold onto this for me until we return to the university, would you?" He held out the mirror to her. Kagome took two steps back again but hit the stack of blueprints behind her.

"Why me?"

"Because of my damn memory! I knew I had something I forgot to do…! Here. Here." He shoved the mirror in her hands. Kagome yelped as she clutched it. Her hands trembled but good thing she didn’t toss the object away from her.

"You okay? You look pale." But Professor Phillips was once more inside the room and muttering as he tried to locate the book he promised her.

Kagome's breathing was slowing down a bit seeing that the mirror hadn't done anything. She took a deep breath and found herself looking at it closely and remembered a young girl ….


Her name was Kanna. Her short silver hair adorned with flowered clips. Her pale porcelain skin the color of moonlight. She would have been around six or seven years old and would have been adorable had it not been for the blank expression in her dark eyes. She would stare at you with those soulless depths. But of all of Naraku's  incarnations she was the deadliest of all. A silver mirror was always seen clutched in her tiny hands facing outwards. With it she can drain a person's soul and trap it within.

Kagome shivered at the memory for the same mirror Kanna was holding is now in her very hands. Kagome still held the mirror at an angle away from her, not trusting its dormant state. You never know about these infernal devices from Naraku's minions they could suddenly strike at you without notice.

Naraku. It's been three years since Kagome and the gang, along with Sesshoumaru, defeated the power-hungry hanyou. But still the artifacts that he used to try to defeat his enemies have survived time.

I miss them…Kagome sighed. She thought about her friends and her kitsune son. She thought it ironic how this cursed mirror brought back good and bad memories.

Sighing again she inspected the mirror suspiciously carefully angling the mirror away from her. When nothing happened she slowly turned the circular object to face her. It was badly damaged from Inuyasha's attack, half of the once smooth surface was cracked and the rest missing from the silver frame.


"I found it!" Kagome started and almost lost her hold of the mirror. She turned as Professor Phillips emerged from the RV with the book. "The topic about shrine descendants are in…uh…chapter five?"  

"I'll read it later professor."  Kagome put the mirror on top of the book cradled in her arms.

"No charge on extended library fees, my dear."


The camp was in orderly chaos when she and the professor came back.

"What in blazes?!" The archeologist was aghast. The camp was hurriedly being dismantled and boxes of artifacts were carefully being secured in one of the trucks. Elena was in a spirited discourse with a man Kagome recognized as the village elder.

"Elena! The camp! What's going on?" Phillips strode to his assistant and the elder.

The Italian woman threw up her hands in exasperation. "He's saying that we need to pack the camp so they can prepare the procession route." She gestured at the elderly man beside her.

"But the procession won't be until late this evening!" He turned to the turbaned man.

"He was saying something about purifying the path of the procession and they need to do it before the sun sets." The turbaned elder was nodding at Elena's translation.

"But the dig! The artifacts!" Elena translated in rapid fire Egyptian for the American archeologist.

"He said that they will take care not to disturb the site but they need to have everybody out of this place. ASAP!" The village elder said something more to Elena in Egyptian.

"What?" Professor Phillips prodded.

Elena shrugged. "They need us to go with them so they can also do a purification ritual to us."

"'Us' means everyone in the dig?" Phillips asked disbelievingly. Elena nodded. "We can't! We need some people to guard the artifacts and the camp! Tell him we need people here!" The protest was met with more Egyptian and English explanation and in the end it was agreed with a little reluctance from the elder that people will go by batches so the camp won't be deserted.

The professor and Elena will go with the elder in the village so they can explain to the staff what is in store in the purification ritual. The staff will go by four batches. Kagome was in the very last batch along with the professor and Elena so Kagome can finish the documentation and prepare papers for the long transit to Cairo Museum but first they have to move the whole camp away from the procession route. The headman pointed half a mile south down the Nile.


"Hey Kagome," Keith, one of the male archeology staff stepped into her tent. "Need any help? Everyone's done with the ritual. The professor said you need to haul your ass over there."

"Already?" Kagome raised her brows. She looked at her watch: it was already seven in the evening.

"You're the only one left. Take the 'Beast.' " Keith jangled the keys.

"Okay. Uh, you only need to staple the lists together in the file according to the boxes. The reference number is on this list and on the boxes, got it?" She handed Keith several beige file folders. "And you need to arrange the file and the boxes in transport numerically."

"And that's it?" Kagome nodded in reply while she grabs her backpack.

Keith gave her the thumb up sign. "No sweat, baby."

"Do I need to bring anything for the purification?" Kagome was stashing some clothes and things in her capacious satchel.

"Oh, yeah!" Keith snapped his fingers. "Bring towels, extra undies and a change of clothes. They're gonna dunk you in the river after the prayer."

"Hm, I'd better take some more extra clothes, anyways, just to make sure." She made sure her bag was secured. Boy, was it heavy but Kagome was assured that she was more than adequately prepared. Four years of traipsing in ancient Japan taught her a lesson on being a Girl Scout. "Okay, I'm off!" She waived goodbye to Keith on her way out.


The night was cool, a stark contrast to the scorching heat that morning. The sky was filled with stars. It was so much like the nights at Sengoku Jidai, she thought as Kagome drove over sand dunes. She felt another pang of nostalgia for the second time that day. The gang would have been retiring around camp by this hour after a hard days trek looking for the shards. Inuyasha and Miroku would be leaning back against a tree. Sango would be cleaning and inspecting her Hiraikotsu for nicks, Shippo would be dead to the world on Kagome's bedding and she would be trying to muddle her way through Algebra or World History or the next test.

A painful lump formed in her throat. Gosh, I miss them! She cursed the Bone Eater's well for stubbornly barring her way. What are they doing now? Where could….

Her rumination was interrupted by a high keening sound. She hit the break. What the…? Kagome whipped her head around to find the source. There's it again! She killed the ignition and listened quietly. The desert felt suddenly so calm. This time she was sure it was coming from her bag.

The mirror.

Damn, I knew those things couldn’t be trusted to stay dormant. What to do? Kagome ground her teeth to stop them from clattering together. She felt sweat breaking on her forehead.

She dug inside her bag for the twice-damned artifact. It's stuck! Rats! In her haste to pack her clothes for the purification ritual the blasted thing must have been pushed at the bottom of her rucksack.

Come on, damn it! Come out! She tried shaking her bag in the hope it would dislodge the stuck mirror. There! It's loose! Kagome's fingers clutched the frame for better purchase but the razor sharp edge of the glass slashed at her forefinger.

"Ow! Damn it!" She hissed at the pain. She looked at the injured digit. Blood was quickly leaking from the slash. It's a little deep.

Kagome felt weird when she tasted her blood. And then the jeep, the desert, and everything around her disappeared in a flash of light.