InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Path You Follow ❯ Requiem of the Miko ( Chapter 4 )

"I have so many dreams of you, that I may never wake up again. I sleep at will, exposing my life to love and to you, the only one that matters to me now." -Robert Desnos, "Poem to the Mysterious" (The original is in French, this was translated by Alkemygirl from `The Wondering Minstrels' mailing list. Her translation was a lot more poetic then the `official' translation and if she by some chance reads this, hope you don't mind that I used your translation.)

The Path You Follow

Author's note: Yay! I finished the Rurouni Kenshin fic I was writing so now all writing time will be dedicated to this story!!!!! I'm so excited, can't wait to finish it! Anyways, you people are wanting to know `who is this woman in Kagome's dreams?' You all pretty much guessed that it was the kuroi miko. But even that is vague, ne? Because I haven't told you much about this dark miko. Well you'll find out soon enough, but I will say this: It isn't Kikyou. While I have nothing against Kikyou, she will not appear in this fic. It would just complicate things more and I've already made this fic confusing enough as it is. hehehe. Enjoy this chapter and please review!

Last time: Stunned, the elderly miko did not move, letting the woman approach her. A youthful hand touched a wrinkled cheek and the eyes, full of wisdom, widened. There was a gasp and a shudder before the figure crumpled into a mess of white and red cloth.

Chapter 4: Requiem of the Miko

~*~

The village was quiet and the sun was beginning to set when they arrived. Kagome was in Sesshoumaru's arms as he ran. Sango, Miroku and Yukiko rode on Kirara and Inuyasha ran slightly behind Sesshoumaru. The two children had been left at the castle in the care of Jaken. They had left when Kagome woke up, just before sunrise, shaking and blurting out that Kaede had been killed.

There were no bodies on the ground, every building was in tact; it was just how she had left it the previous day. Her dream had been a lie once again. As they walked to the center of the village a few people came out of their huts, one man approached the group, bowing respectfully.

"Kagome-sama, we are glad that you have arrived."

The young miko smiled kindly at him and nodded.

"Where is Kaede-baachan?"

Again, the man lowered his head, but this time it was because he was avoiding her gaze.

"She was found in her hut this morning, she appears to have died in her sleep."

No one said anything as the members of Kagome's group turned to look at her. Astonishment was on her face as the villagers began to form a crowd around them.

"Kagome-chan," said Sango a bit nervously, "what does this mean?"

She shook her head, still unable to speak. Sure she had made them all come here to be sure nothing evil had befallen the village but she hadn't expected anyone to actually be dead. Could her dream last night and Kaede's death be just a coincidence? In her dream Kaede had been killed and the village destroyed. But everything seemed so peaceful. Kaede had died a natural death in her sleep, right?

"Where is her body?" she asked suddenly.

One of the villagers pointed towards the deceased miko's hut and Kagome headed in that direction. Pushing aside the mat that covered the door, she stepped inside. Everything was as it had always been, neat, organized and smelling of herbs. Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango entered with her while Sesshoumaru and Yukiko waited outside. In the center of the hut, Kaede's body had been laid out. A thin piece of cloth covered her and Kagome approached the older miko.

Gently, she took hold of the cloth and pulled it away from her mentor's face. A few tears escaped her eyes as she though on how much the miko had taught her and helped her. The air surrounding the body was cold and it sent a shiver up her spine. Kaede's eyes were closed and the expression stuck on her pale face was serene, but upon either of her cheeks was a black marking in the shape of a sakura blossom.

"What's this?" Kagome whispered, brushing her fingers against the cold cheeks.

"What are you talking about Kagome?" Inuyasha said from his position behind her.

"These markings on her cheeks, they look like flowers."

"Kagome-sama you must be mistaken, there is nothing there." stated Miroku. Beside him, Sango nodded in agreement.

"Are you feeling okay, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked her distraught friend.

Again, Kagome traced the dark flower etched on the dead miko's cheek. `I know it's there, I can see it. But why can't they?'

"I swear, I'm fine and I'm sure I see the markings there." Her voice held conviction, but her friends looked uneasily at one another.

She looked back at them, catching the doubt in their eyes. `What's going on?' she thought to herself, `Am I really just seeing things?'

"I need to be alone," she said, standing to walk out of the hut. She felt the curious stares of her friends upon her back. Just as she was about to speak to Sesshoumaru there was a scream.

Somewhere on the other side of the village there was the sound of wood being crushed and screams. Kagome began to run towards the sound, but Sesshoumaru grabbed a hold of her arm.

"Let me handle this, you and Yukiko get out of the village."

Before she could protest he dashed off towards the source of the noise, but he didn't have far to go. Already there was a cloud of demons heading in their direction. Inuyasha and the others headed in that direction leaving Kagome with Yukiko. Looking at her quiet friend, Kagome could see the terror in the other girls' eyes.

It was best to run for now, Kagome decided. She grabbed Yukiko's hand and ran towards the bone-eater's well. Behind them they heard the sound of demon's tearing into buildings, the screams of the villagers. Also, she could hear Inuyasha cursing and Sango's cry of `hiraikotsu!' as she brandished her over-sized weapon. But loudest of all was the screaming within Kagome's own mind, it was the same thing over and over again. `The dream!' her mind said, `Remember the dream.'

~*~

The clearing in which the bone-eater's well stood was calm compared to the chaos of the village. The screams barely reached the distance and a pale woman dressed in a simple black kimono walked around the dry well. Her hands ran along its wooden sides and she closed her eyes as she heard footsteps drawing near. A few seconds later two women ran into the clearing. One of them was coughing and wheezing, holding onto the arm of the taller girl.

"It's you," whispered the blue-eyed woman who lowered her companion to the ground.

Recognition sparked in the black-robed woman's mind.

"You are the miko," her cold inflectionless voice said, "The keeper of the Shikon no tama."

Kagome stood her ground, wishing she had a bow with her. Behind her Yukiko was still coughing and panting on the forest floor. In any case she wouldn't have been much help. `She is the one, the woman from my dreams.' Kagome thought.

"That must be the girl then. The one I gifted with the ruby all those years ago."

Slowly, fear began to creep up upon Kagome. So far no move had been made against her, but if her dreams were to be believed she was just as powerful as any demon Kagome had faced. The miko stood perfectly still, willing her voice to remain steady.

"You are the kuroi miko, the one the spirit's told me about." Kagome said a silent prayer to Kami-sama for not letting her fear make her voice quaver.

The pale woman nodded once, the movement making her wavy tresses fall over her shoulders. There was a smile on her lips, but it never quite reached the dark pits of her eyes. Some memory stirred in Kagome's mind, the woman seemed so familiar.

"You can call me Koridomi," she replied, "I was wondering when I would meet you and the girl," she gestured to Yukiko who stopped coughing when the woman raised her hand.

In fact, the sickly girl stopped moving all together. She sat there, frozen. Kagome tried not to panic, hoping that her friend was all right as she turned back to face the threat before her. Speaking in a forced calm, Kagome began to move forward.

"Please, don't hurt my friend. Just tell me, what is it you want from us?"

The woman's hand went up and Kagome felt the strength leave her body, she was stuck in mid-step, like a statue. Her entire body was numb and the only things she could feel were her rapidly beating heart and her own labored breathing. She watched in terror as the dark-eyed woman walked slowly past her. The way she moved, it was graceful, ethereal as if she wandered through a dream and not upon the earth.

She couldn't turn her head to look behind her, but guessed that the woman was approaching Yukiko. It was confirmed when she heard a tormented scream come from her friend's throat. No matter how much she willed her body to move, it would not obey. The screams did not last long and in a minute she was staring into the abyss of her enemies eyes.

There was a cold burning on her cheeks when the woman touched her there, her icy palms resting against Kagome's flesh. Suddenly her body was no longer numb, although she wished it were. Pain flared through her limbs, she felt her eyes widening. A cold burning sensation consumed her she opened her lips to scream but nothing could escape. She thought of her dreams.

Every one of Kagome's dreams had been terrifying and painful and yet, they were nothing compared to what she was experiencing now. But this time she didn't feel like her body was melting beneath the heat. She was fully intact, but the pain continued, lasting longer because her nerves weren't damaged. They still took in every painful sensation. The sound of cold, maniacal laughter filled her ears. She felt warm breath touch her skin. Her eyes closed and she felt herself falling.

~*~

"Where the hell do you think you're going you pathetic bastards!"

Inuyasha's insult went unanswered as the demons turned away from the village, leaving as abruptly as they had come. Not waiting to observe their departure, Sesshoumaru turned and began to track Kagome's scent. His nose led him towards the well and he hurried into the clearing to find her laying on the forest floor with Yukiko kneeling beside her.

"What happened to her?" he whispered, his voice deadly and his eyes becoming tinted in red. The usually timid girl stood to face him, but her eyes were an icy blue. Somehow, the spirits within her were once again loose.

"It wasn't me, the kuroi miko was here waiting for us. She did something to the both of us, froze us so we couldn't move."

Sesshoumaru kneeled at Kagome's side, taking her shoulders in his hands and shaking her a bit.

"Kagome," he said, worry apparent in his voice, "Kagome, wake up."

She didn't make a sound, instead her body hung limply in his grasp but he could hear her soft breathing and the steady beat of her heart. He shook her a bit more forcefully but she refused to rouse. Gently, he lay her back down and touched her face. Her skin was like ice. He removed his haori and wrapped it around her.

`Stay calm,' he chanted internally. But the beginnings of panic were starting to form in his heart. He ignored the girl who stood behind him, watching his actions curiously. He sensed as Inuyasha and the other two ningens entered the clearing, the immediately began asking questions which the taiyoukai ignored.

"Yukiko-san," Sango said, "what happened to your eyes, they-,"

"Ah, I knew this would happen eventually,"

The taijiyaa turned to Miroku.

"What do you mean, Houshi-sama?"

"The spirits, remember what Kagome-sama told us about Yukiko?" Sango nodded.

"They have broken through Yukiko's barrier. She has been locking them away since the day she found out about them. Apparently, knowing about them allowed her to work up some kind of defense against them. Blue eyes, I believe Kagome said that this spirits name is Takehiko."

"What happened to Kagome?" was all Inuyasha asked, ignoring the others and stepping towards his brother who cradled the unconscious miko in his arms.

"I don't know," the lord of the western lands whispered. His confused tone stunned Inuyasha. Everyone stood still, not knowing what to say or do.

"The kuroi miko," Takehiko spoke, "she said her name was Koridomi. After she stunned the both of us she touched Yukiko. After that her thoughts they were scattered, her mind became jumbled and weak so that we were able to break out of Yukiko's defenses. But now, it's hard to focus with four entities wandering through this body. . . She touched Kagome also and then when she left Kagome collapsed and she hasn't moved yet."

The young woman's eyes shifted quickly, the colors mixing and changing until it settled at a shade of gray.

"It's a curse." Stated the gray-eyed entity.

"That would be Chikako," Miroku whispered to Sango.

Sesshoumaru stood, still carrying Kagome.

"What kind of curse? How can it be undone?"

Chikako approached the limp miko and put a hand on one of the miko's cheeks.

"I don't know, I've never seen a curse symbol like this before."

"Feh, what are you talking about? There's no mark on her or anything." Inuyasha stated, the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

"You don't see it? It's right here on her cheeks, a sakura blossom in black."

"Miroku, didn't Kagome say she saw-,"

The monk nodded, his face pensive.

"What did she say?" Sesshoumaru questioned. Sango stepped towards her dear friend being held by the irritated youkai.

"She said she saw symbols like the ones Yuk- I mean, Chikako sees. She saw them on- on Kaede."

"The deceased miko?"

The taijiyaa nodded solemnly.

Sesshoumaru's heart lurched painfully; he clutched the cold, limp body closer to him and sprinted off into the forest.

~*~

"It's no fair, everybody else gets to go visit Kaede's village and we get left here with the toad face," complained Shippou, sitting in the garden with Rin and drawing pictures.

The little girl ignored his pouting as she hummed a song that Kagome had taught her. The picture she was working on consisted of her and Shippou picking flowers with Jaken in the background waving his staff around. The kitsune peered over her shoulder to see what she was drawing, but Rin hit him lightly on the nose.

"No peeking." She said, trying to sound stern, but failing when she let out a giggle at Shippou's hurt expression as he covered his nose with his hands.

A shadow passed over the two children and both their gazes turned to the sky. Blocking out the sun was a huge bird, its wing span twice the length of a human body. It landed near them in the garden and Jaken stepped out before the children as the bird let out a burst of light before transforming into a golden-haired humanoid youkai. The bird youkai snorted in disgust at the two smaller youkai standing in front of his target.

"Give me the girl or die," he stated simply.

Without saying a word, Jaken swung out the staff of heads and flames flew towards the intruder. The attack was easily dodged and the youkai lunged at Jaken, knocking the weaker youkai into a tree and landing behind Rin. He picked the girl up by the collar and turned to leave.

"Oi! You jerk, let Rin go!" Shippou yelled, running forward and releasing some of his blue fire.

"Kitsune bi!"

The youkai smirked, and waved the weak flames away. The force of his youki was strong enough to send the young youkai tumbling backwards with just a simple flick of the wrist.

"Shippou!" Rin cried out, stretching her arms out towards her friend.

Standing quickly and once again running towards the youkai holding Rin, Shippou reached into his pocket and pulled out a lock of hair tied together with a blue ribbon. Kagome had given it to him a long time ago, before they had moved into Sesshoumaru's castle. It was her hair, he had asked for it when she said she was going back to her era to get a haircut. It was something he treasured and was now thankful he had asked for the small gift as he put some of his kitsune magic into it and threw it at Rin. The strands stretched, wrapping around both his and Rin's wrists.

Gathering his youki beneath him the kidnapper took to the sky, cursing when he noticed the kitsune was now connected to the girl. They left Jaken behind, still unconscious against the tree and headed east.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author's note: Just a quick one. Chapters 1 and 3 have hints as to where the kuroi miko comes from. This chapter has a tiny clue as to her identity as well. I don't really have anything I can give you guys but I'd like to see if anyone can figure out who she is, e-mail me if you have a guess because I don't want everybody knowing the answer should you guess correctly.

Reviewer responses:

Spirit element: Hehe, Sorry, I have no idea why you attract all the weirdos at school, I used to have the same problem. . . Actually I still have that problem and I'm in college now, I thought the torture would end after high school, but apparently not. Grrrrrr. . . The insanity continues! As always, thanks for the review. ^_~

RED HAT: I'm sure Sesshoumaru would be offended if he heard you doubting his ability to abstain from the pleasures of the flesh. . . hehehe. Don't you think he'd do it for his Kagome? . . .probably not, he'd last a week at the most I think. In any case if he's afraid for Kagome then I wouldn't mind taking the risk. . . Bad, bad neko! No more perverted thoughts! Anyways, I'm glad you brought up the part about Sesshoumaru being in Kag's era, I actually over-looked that. I'll have to think about it. Don't worry somewhere in my cluttered mind I have most of the big stuff worked. Ja ne and thanks!

Helen: ^_^ Glad you liked the lemon because I really enjoyed writing that one. The idea had been floating in my mind for a while and I had to find a way to stick it in. As you should know after reading this chapter, the woman in Kagome's dreams is the dark miko. Hmph, am I becoming predictable? Most of my reviewers seem to be a step ahead of my chapters, accurately guessing what will come next! Well, Arigato for the review.

Tessa3: hehe Well, the cats out of the bag, so to speak. It wasn't Kikyou, you don't have to worry because I won't put her into this story. Although it is sadly true, Kaede is no longer amongst the living in this story. Sorry, but it was the old miko's time to go. Thanks for reviewing.

Aira: You wouldn't believe how nosey my cousin is ~*sigh*~ It's not just her either, my entire family is like that. . . They should all get hobbies and let me write in peace!!! ^_^ Yay, you liked the lemon! I'm sooooo tempted to talk about my ideas for Sesshoumaru and Kagome's relationship!!!! It's frustrating, but I'm keeping it a secret! I'm determined not to blurt it out, I won't even tell my wall. . . Not that I talk to my wall. . . HEHEHE I know, fanfiction.net took down a lot of good fics and also left a lot of other lemon fics up to. . . Damn their little spies! But hey, if any of those `spies' are reading this, then I didn't mean it. =-P I appreciate the reviews, ja ne!