InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To Accept One's Fate ❯ - Follow The White Rabbit - ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: I'm sorry that it took me so long to update =( But I'm very optimistic that this won't happen again. I decided to split the third chapter in two parts, so I think I'll upload the fourth chapter soon. Again, I want to thank my very patient beta-reader XoxGaaraxoX - you're such a great help.

Thanks to all this great reviews I got from you guys! To be honest I'm a little speechless, because I didn't think that the first chapters of this story would be such a success.

Okay, enough with that :) Here we go, please enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

- Follow The White Rabbit -

 

 

 

You will see the answer with your own eyes.

 

The words echoed in her head as she leaned against the cold wall, her knees pressed tightly against her chest. She couldn't figure out what Tomoko had been trying to tell her. When she lifted her head to look at the old woman lying peacefully near the warm fire, she wanted desperately to ask her what this was all about. Kagome needed to know what was going on. She had the feeling that the answer to her questions lay directly in front of her eyes, but she was either too blind, or too dumb to see it.

 

The priestess sighed and turned her head so she could look outside of the cave. Soon the sun would start to rise. The first rays of light were breaking through the dense thicket of trees as the sky was colored in a bright red and yellow.

 

She had tried to sleep after she'd spoken with Tomoko, but soon realized that she wasn't able to. Every time she tried, she heard the witch's words echo in her mind.

 

Would you change the past if you could?

 

 

“Of course I would,” she repeated the words she had said to the old witch only three hours ago quietly.

 

 

But wasn't she already doing that?

 

On her fifteenth birthday a demon had pulled her through the old well, right into the Feudal Era of Japan. The Jewel of the Four Souls had been ripped out of her body by that same demon, and shattered into hundreds of shards by her very own hand. It was her destiny to collect the jewel shards to make the Shikon No Tama whole again, to protect the jewel and its purity. At least Kagome believed it was her fate.

 

Tomoko's words confused her.

 

 

This here is the past for you; but for me and for everyone else, it's the present. So when I speak of the past, I do not speak of this time.

 

Maybe Tomoko meant that her interference in the time-line of the Feudal Era had changed the time-line before she fell into the well too? She didn't know how this would be possible, but after all the years she'd spent in the Feudal Era, nothing could surprise her easily anymore.

 

She felt a headache begin to build in her head.

 

 

Maybe Inuyasha was right, and none of what Tomoko had told them was true. It could be possible that she was only a lonely, old crazy woman who tried desperately to hold them at her housing as long as it was possible. Another, more threatening option was that Tomoko was being manipulated by Naraku, but Kagome didn't believe that. Tomoko seemed fine, and she didn't appear crazy in the young miko's mind. There was a chance that she was just thinking too much. In the three years since she'd first arrived here, she had seen her friends turned against her because they were possessed by the dark power of the jewel. Comrades turned to enemies because Naraku took hold of their minds, and forced them to do his bidding. An image appeared in her mind of a young boy with empty eyes.

 

Kohaku.

 

Even as she felt the sorrow rise within her own heart, she knew that Sango's pain must be so much deeper. She hadn't figured out yet how she could both save the boy and take the shard from his neck to make the jewel whole. Deep in her heart she knew that there was only one option. She would have to take the jewel, even though Kohaku would die. She could not leave the Shikon No Tama broken. Kagome knew that there would be no other choice, but she just couldn't tell her friend about her concerns. Every time she looked at Sango, every time the older girl spoke about her brother, Kagome could see that there was still hope in her eyes.

 

Sango still hoped that Kohaku would survive this madness.

 

But it wouldn't happen. Kohaku would die. So many other souls had died, had lost their lives as they tried to defeat their beloved ones. Naraku took it from them without a care. He was a ruthless and cruel creature that needed to be destroyed, but even his death wouldn't bring the lives of the others back.

 

Kagome sniffed as she tried to hold back her tears.

 

No matter what she did, there was no way that she could take away the sorrow, and losses of those who had suffered by the hand of Naraku. The fact that one of her dearest friends would have to bear such painful burden... it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.

 

How would it be possible for her to survive all of this? Not only with her body, but with her very own soul? How would it be possible that her soul and her heart would remain pure after all the pain, all the death she had witnessed? The young girl was wondering if her heart was already broken and dark.

 

“No.”

 

Kagome straightened her shoulders and brought her head up again.

 

“Silly girl. Don't even think such things,” she spoke quietly to herself.

 

She turned her head to look at her sleeping friends. There was still hope. As long as she was with them, with her dearest friends... there would be always hope. Miroku and Sango, Shippou and Kirara, Inuyasha; they were all at her side when they fought against the evil. They always would be there. Even if she felt she was alone, she wasn't.

 

But, how would it be after their journey ended? She was certain that she was not the same person who'd fallen through the well anymore. Had her friends changed too? How would they be after Naraku was defeated? Would it be the same?

 

“No.”

 

There wouldn't be a cessation. Life would always go on. She would go on to. Maybe after the jewel was whole again, she would not be able to stay in this time. She was almost certain of it. She would go back to her time…forever; and her friends would live in their own time. They would fall in love, marry, have children, grow old and die without her. She would do the same without them.

 

 

Kagome felt the tears rise up again, but she swallowed them. She caught sight of the sun, which was starting to rise higher and higher. Soon its warming light would touch the ground that she was sitting on. Her friends and Tomoko would wake up to greet the new day.

 

Tomoko.

 

She wanted to trust her. Oh, how much she wanted to. She yearned for those times where she could trust anybody. She wanted it back. She wanted to trust the witch, and she knew that she really could. But why wouldn't the old woman give her the answers she needed so much?

 

 

“I want to know,” Kagome whispered. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Sango was stretching herself; Kagome knew that soon her friends would be awake. She turned her head watching how the red and yellow of the sky turned into a soft blue.

 

“Didn't you sleep at all?” Kagome heard Sango's voice say from behind her.

 

 

“No, not really,” was her soft reply as her gaze wandered to the horizon. When she heard a low rustle of fabric behind her, she turned her head to see Sango standing in the middle of the cave. The slayer stretched her tired body as she stifled a yawn behind her right hand.

 

“I think I'll never get used to this,” Sango told her, starring down at the crumpled remains of her blanket that usually held her demon slaying uniform.

 

“I prefer grass and moss. Not this hard rock,” she murmured as she rubbed her lower back. When Kagome didn't respond, she took a few small steps closer, and sat herself next to her younger friend. She followed the Kagome's gaze to the sunrise.

 

“What is it?” Sango asked her, not taking her eyes away from the horizon, “Do you still think that Tomoko will lead us to Naraku?”

 

The slayer's question hung heavily in the cave's atmosphere when Kagome didn't answer. The priestess sighed and turned her head so she could see Sango's brown orbs when she spoke to her.

 

“When you guys slept last night I spoke with Tomoko once more. She told me some things. She knows about me, that I'm not from this time.”

 

Kagome watched as Sango's eyes went wide.

 

 

“No, wait. She doesn't know how… or at least I don't think she does. But she doesknow - and I think I can trust her. She asked me if I would change the past if I could…”

 

“But you already do that.”

 

“Yes, I know. She wasn't talking about this past.”

 

“Huh?”

“Yeah, that's what I thought too. I don't know what she meant,” Kagome murmured. Sango laid one hand on Kagome's thigh.

 

“Didn't you ask her?” the demon slayer asked.

 

 

“Yes… I mean, no. I had the feeling even if I did ask; she wouldn't give me the answer. I feel so stupid, Sango.”

 

Kagome sighed.

“I should know where my fate lays; what my purpose is. But the truth is that I don't know anything. Why did Mistress Centipede pull me into the well on my fifteenth birthday? Why didn't it happen earlier… or later? We have to defeat Naraku in order to make the jewel whole again, but what will happen after that? What will happen to me? To us?” she wondered.

 

 

Kagome shut her eyes to prevent the tears from falling. When she opened them again, she took one deep breath before continuing.

 

“We've been on this journey for three years now… it's not like I'm going to give up hope. I won't, I never will. But… I wonder how we're going to defeat Naraku. What it will take to do so?... but you know,” Kagome chuckled hollowly “I'm more afraid of the time after the final battle. I just want to know,” the priestess whispered the last sentence.

 

 

“Hey, slow down Kagome,” Sango spoke as she took her hand. She locked her eyes with Kagome.

 

“I can't tell you why the centipede could sense the jewel in your body after all those years. But I think that it wasn't meant for Kikyou to die fifty-three years ago, and that it wasn't meant for Inuyasha to be sealed against that tree. Maybe you are here to correct those mistakes. Kikyou couldn't destroy Naraku… but I believe we willfind a way to destroy Naraku…together. We need your help. I won't lie to you and tell you that everything is going to be okay. But you have to trust me. We are together in this.” Sango told Kagome.

 

As Sango squeezed her hand a little the demon slayer added:.

 

“You worry too much. We'll take one step at a time. You aren't alone you know? We will find the answer.”.

 

Kagome looked down at their hands. A smile lifted the corners of her lips. When she looked up to see the love and truth of Sango's words in her eyes, she knew that her friend was right. She would find her answers, but she needed to give it time. There was always tomorrow.

 

“You are right,” Kagome said as she got up. She wanted to pull Sango with her, but the demon slayer was still sitting on the ground. When she didn't make a move to get up, Kagome took the free space beside her again.

 

 

“There is more,” Sango spoke softly and smiled. Kagome looked at her, she didn't understand.

 

“There is?” she asked innocently.

 

“I saw how you've been looking at Inuyasha the last couple days. I thought you two decided to be friends?” Sango said.

 

 

Kagome sighed and watched as a swarm of birds flew out of the brake of the forest, and high in the clear sky. For a second she wished she could be like a bird; free of sorrow and free of the cage that held her captive in the Feudal Era. Sango was right. She had thought a lot about the past three years lately, and Inuyasha was a big part of that. She couldn't deny it. Kagome heard Miroku softly coughing in the back of the cave.

 

“Maybe we shouldn't talk about that… here,” the priestess suggested. Sango nodded, looking behind Kagome to find a slowly waking Inuyasha.

 

“Just tell me that you're okay,” Sango demanded.

 

Kagome followed her gaze, and looked at the young half-demon. She was still wondering how it came to be that he didn't demand to guard the cave for the night. Maybe Inuyasha didn't think as badly about Tomoko as he'd first insisted. She smiled when she saw one of his ears flicker.

 

 

“I will be.”

 

Kagome turned around and stood up. She smiled, trying to push her sorrow away as she stretched her body. She looked down at Sango, offering the demon slayer her hand so she could pull herself up.

 

“Come on, we have much to do today. Don't let Inuyasha start on what a lazy bunch we are,” the younger woman laughed.

“It's already weird for him to be sleeping that long,” she added quietly.

 

Apparently not quiet enough. When she looked at a scoffing Inuyasha, he shot her a significant look. Kagome wasn't in the mood for a verbal exchange, she just wanted to enjoy the little rest of peace she and her friends would have.

 

“Well, good morning my ladies,” Mirokus voice echoed in the cave as he shook the sleep of his body and massage his stiff neck with one hand.

 

“Hey there Miroku,” Kagome greeted him with a small smile

 

She turned around, leaving the two men behind her as she kneeled down to the ground where the sleeping form of Tomoko rested. She reached out for the soft fabric of her kimono, moving her hand to gently shake the shoulder of the witch in order to wake her up.

 

“Tomoko…” she said, but her softly spoken call didn't get a response.

 

“Oi, what is it with the old hag? She was able to attack us yesterday, but can't get out of bed today? Keh!” Inuyasha scoffed. He stood right behind Kagome, and glared over her shoulder with his arms crossed over his chest. When Kagome turned her head slightly, she could see out of the corner of her eyes how her friend's nose wrinkled.

 

“Wait,” he told the priestess as his face turned pale. He moved closer to Kagome to get a better look at Tomoko. Kagome tried again to wake the witch. When her hands reached the woman's shoulders, she turned the old woman around. Her heart stopped for half a second.

 

“No,” she whispered disbelievingly, rising up to her feet. She looked down at the body.

 

“No”, she repeated and turned away. This can't be true.

 

“She is... dead,” Inuyasha said. Sango and Miroku stood with equally shocked expressions on their faces at the entrance of the cave.

 

“Dead?!” Shippou exclaimed, running around the sedentary witch to hide behind Kagome's legs. He had never, and would never feel comfortable around dead people. It didn't matter how often he saw them. It was a feeling the young demon would never get used to.

 

“But how?” Sango asked, taking a little step to get closer. She looked into Tomoko's half-open eyes, and turned around to put an arm around Kagome's shoulders. Miroku coughed slightly as he bent over the corpse.

 

“She probably died of old age,” he assumed, “But I can't tell for sure. Maybe she had an illness that she didn't tell us about... though she looked pretty healthy to me. Even for her age….” he fell silent.

 

For a moment the only thing that could be heard was the call of a distant hawk, and the rustling of the multicolored leaves. Somehow it seemed as though the world around Tomoko's housing was at peace, just as she old witch was now.

 

“But... but why now?” Kagome broke the silence, still looking down at the ground.

 

“After all she told me. I have so many questions... I...” she trailed off.

 

She looked up, noticing that the sun had risen above the tops of the trees. A life had ended, but a new day was born. The life around them would go on, and Kagome's life would do so as well. But, how would it be possible for her to go on after she had met Tomoko? Why did she have to die just now?

 

Oh my...

 

Kagome disengaged her body from under Sango's arm, and took a few steps away.

 

“Kagome?” she heard Mirokus voice from behind her.

 

How cold-hearted am I?

 

Tomoko had died, and all she cared about were the answers she'd wanted from her? When did she begin to get so careless about other people?

 

She looked at the awakening forest.

 

Was that all? Was Tomoko only a couple of answers to her? Wasn't there anything more? Didn't her heart feel anything? Kagome felt sick; really sick. She saw the world spin around her, and she stumbled a little.

 

“Kagome! Is everything all right?” Sango asked worriedly, holding her elbow so she wouldn't fall. Finally Kagome looked at her.

 

“I don't feel so well...” she told her, dazed. The priestess didn't feel anything as her body hit the hard ground, and then everything around her went black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

*****************************************

 

 

Kagome quickly realized that it was not a good idea to open her eyes the moment she tried to do it. She felt nausea rising up in her stomach, and swallowed hard to keep herself from throwing up. Cold sweat covered her forehead, her heart was racing, and when she tried to bend her legs, she felt her muscles spasm. She bit hard on her lip as she forced herself to stretch out her tortured limbs. When Kagome got herself in a slightly more comfortable position, she opened her eyes again. This time she only felt a little dizziness. It took all of her strength to sit up; she could hear nothing but her own blood swooshing in her ears.

 

The young priestess groaned, clasping her head in her hands. With clenched teeth, she observed where she was. When she could see nothing but darkness in front of her eyes and could only feel cold, wet stone underneath her, she knew that she was still in the cave. When she turned her head and looked at the outside, she suddenly realized that everything was different.

 

Snow was falling.

 

It dusted the world like powdered sugar, and swallowed every single noise. The sky was dark. Heavy clouds seemed to touch the whitened forest floor. She took one sharp breath of air. The world she was seeing didn't seem to be real. When she took a good look around her surroundings, she saw that she was alone. No sign of Inuyasha, Shippou, Miroku; not even Sango and Kirara. She watched the softly blowing wind whirl up some wispy snowflakes, and blow them inside. They rested lightly over her quiver of arrows, as well as her bow. At least she still had her weapons. Kagome sighed with a hint of relief.

 

“Tomoko?” she called quietly. Her voice was nothing more than a whisper as it echoed softly off of the gray walls.

 

She stood up and went to the opening. As she looked back at the inside of the cave, she saw that Tomoko's weapons were gone. She couldn't see the small stock of bread, herbs, and wheat either. It seemed as if nobody had ever lived there.

 

She grabbed her weapon and walked outside.

 

“Hello?” she shouted carefully in the direction of the deep, dark woods.

 

“Inuyasha?” she tried again, “Sango?”

 

No answer.

 

“Miroku, Shippou?”

 

“Ki…”

 

Before she could end the sentence she saw a white, blurry figure running through the clearing. It took a high jump, pressing its feet against a near large tree trunk so it could thrust itself into the sky, and look in the direction it came from.

 

Only half a second later, Kagome heard a very high pitched, loud roar. She looked back at the white figure that was hovering high in the air; the body all tensed and ready to attack. Kagome could easily see the blood dripping from the claws of the figure. She assumed that there was a fight going on. Her grasp around her weapon tightened.

 

The roar became louder, and as the young priestess turned her head to the right, she saw a creature that she would only describe as a griffin. She watched as the snow on the tree near the beast began to melt, falling down to the ground like a small waterfall. It had the body of a strong lion, except for the wings growing out of its back. Its tail appeared to be the tail of a dragon with two large, sharp horns at the end that looked like an anchor. Its head was that of a hawk. Sparks flew around its body every time it flapped its wings. The feathers were colored in beautiful oranges, reds and yellows that contrasted sharply to the pure white of the snow.

 

She had never seen a griffin. She'd only read about them, but she was sure that this creature could only be one of those chimeras. As it opened its big beak, a furious scream echoed through the whole forest.

 

 

As she looked back at the white figure, Kagome realized that it was actually a woman who was fighting the griffin.

 

 

Her hair appeared to be almost white as light a shade of silver it was. Her ears were pointed like those of an elf. Kagome couldn't make out her features because her hair was like a bright white curtain that hid her face from the world. Her kimono was white with dark red seams, and with her creamy skin, she almost appeared to be one with the snow. The woman stared at the beast before her. Kagome could see the tiny white clouds of air every time she took another sharp breath.

 

With her left arm, the warrior swiped at the griffin's chest. The beast ducked and flew under the woman. She realized her mistake fast, turning her body to alter her attack, and lifting her right foot before she let it crash down on the griffin's head. The pale woman pushed her body higher in the sky, using the force of her hard blow as leverage, so she could look down at her enemy. Before there was second to take a breath, Kagome saw the griffin twist its head in fury to strike after the woman with its paws and beak. Its chest swelled, and its mouth opened to produce a terrible storm of fire that was aimed directly at his opponent. Wood crackled and burned as the rage of fire hit the trunk of a nearby tree. Immediately the smoke thickened the air.

 

 

“Ah!” Kagome shouted jumping to her right as a big, burning branch fell down. It had almost hit her.

 

Maybe I should get out of her while I still can!

 

The grip around her arrow became firmer as she took one last look into the sky. She could only see smoke, sparks, flames, and the beast. The griffin seemed to be searching in the air for its rival. But then, out of a dark heavy cloud Kagome saw her again. With speed that the human eye could hardly witness, the demon broke through falling branches and ash.

 

The griffin was surprised.

 

There wasn't a sound when the white warrior's right arm pierced the flying beast's chest. The creature was too stunned to realize the pain that was inflicted on it. Kagome watched as its eyes rolled back in their sockets. The griffin wasn't able to hold itself up in the air anymore. It fell trundling to the ground. Snow, rocks, and dirt flew to the sides as the large body hit the frozen forest floor only half a dozen meters away from Kagome.

 

The griffin tried to pick itself up again, but its wounds were too severe. Immediately the ground beneath it begun to turn a dark red that almost appeared black at first glance.

 

Is it dead?

 

The pale woman landed elegantly at the side of the dying beast, watching it die with no emotion in her eyes. She stared down at the enormous, motionless body.

 

For Kagome it felt like an eternity. Everything inside of her screamed to run away; to get out of the situation as long as she was alive, but she couldn't move.

 

When the unknown warrior finally looked up, golden eyes met brown orbs. Kagome saw a small crescent moon on her forehead. The woman brought her eyes back to the griffin and watched as the beast took its last rattling, uneven breath before it went still.

 

She started to walk away. She didn't care about what had just happened. Kagome followed her white back not realizing what she had witnessed. Was this her lucky day? She'd just seen two demons... well, she wasn't sure about the griffin, but did that really matter? She saw two very powerful creatures fighting. She witnessed the death of one… and the woman. Did she not care that Kagome'd been standing there watching?

 

A small noise caught her attention. Kagome turned around to face the assumedly dead griffin. The beast was about to hit the pale haired woman with its mighty horns in the back. Before she could think about it, the priestess took her bow and arrow, and aimed for the tail. Before it could fulfill its intention, her small arrow hit it right at the apex of its tail.

 

A purplish-pinkish light wrapped around its body as it slowly vanished from the face of the earth. Strong winds blew from all sides of the clearing in the forest, and met in a giant vortex right were the griffin had lain only a few seconds ago.

 

Then it was over.

 

Silence fell once more over the old trees of the forest. Kagome turned her head to stare into the eyes of the woman only a few meters ahead of her. She was suddenly aware that her breathing had quickened; she felt like she had just run a marathon.

 

“That was not necessary, priestess,” the demon spoke in an icy tone before she turned again to look into the deep forest before her. She didn't move.

 

“I… I think I only wanted to help,” Kagome answered her. She looked at her hands which were still holding her bow, and shaking furiously.

 

“I did not ask for it,” the pale demon spat out. Kagome felt like the air was colder because of the bitterness she could hear in the voice of the woman before her. The demon sighed and straightened her shoulders.

 

“You are lost.” It wasn't a question. Kagome looked back to the cave. It was still empty. There were no signs of her friends or Tomoko.

 

“Ah!” Kagome screamed.

 

 

She clenched her head with her own two hands as she went down to the ground. The pain was intense. Like a wave, it rolled over her body making her feel like her head was being ripped in two. Pain consumed her as the world around her lost its form.

 

There was no forest, no woman…no snow. Nothing. Only pain.

 

“Make it stop...!” she gritted between closed teeth as she dug her nails into her scalp.

 

A storm of pain and sorrow started to form around her body. The coldness ripped at her clothes and darkness threatened to consume her. A high pitched scream echoed in her head from a voice she didn't recognize.

 

Chaos.

 

“Make it stop!” she screamed.

 

She could feel the wetness of the snow that was eating its way though her clothes. She could feel the cold wind cutting into her exposed skin. She was looking for the light that could show her the way out of this madness, but she didn't see anything.

 

Pain.

 

She closed her eyes, unable to keep them open any longer. There was a heaviness that pushed down at her chest; something that stopped her from breathing. Behind closed eyelids she saw a white light and it felt like it pierced right into her skull.

 

And then, all of the sudden, it stopped.

 

 

Darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**************************************

 

 

 

 

 

"It's her," the voice of the demon spoke into the quite forest.

 

 

"Just as I said," he told her.

 

 

 

The demon took one step forward as she looked at the young girl lying on the ground. It had started snowing again, and the first snowflakes covered her strangely clothed body. She lifted one foot and put it under the woman's stomach so she could roll her around to see her face. Her eyes were closed and her cheeks had a dark red color, but she seemed unharmed.

 

 

 

"Don't worry. She is just asleep. It took all of her strength to survive her journey," he explained Kagome's condition. "I believe that this is enough proof for you that I tell the truth," he added.

 

 

 

The demon lifted her head to look in the direction where the voice came from.

 

 

 

"You did tell the truth - that does not mean this Chiyoko is yet to trust you. I can tell there is more that you know," the demon spoke her words in an icy tone.

 

 

 

"Yes my lady, you speak the truth, but the middle of a forest is neither the right place nor the right time to discuss such issues. I assure you I..."

 

 

 

"Do not play games with me, demon. Speak or hold your tongue forever," Chiyoko whispered deadly as she jumped through the line of trees. She reached one of her hands out and grasped the demon's collar. Small trails of blood formed underneath her fingers as her claws pierced through the tender skin of the demon's neck.

 

 

 

A low chuckle sounded from the man's chest as he slowly lifted his head. His dark brown eyes locked with the golden orbs of Chiyoko.

 

"I do know a lot about you, my Lady. My knowledge can help you with your plans. This girl," he looked at Kagome's body, "is the key. You only have to reach out and take it. I told you she would be here - all alone. She is of great value. You saw what she can do. Even though she is not a properly trained priestess, her power is far from the ordinary. I assure you, you won't regret joining forces with me."

 

Chiyoko stared at him for a long moment. White clouds formed in front of her face as she breathed. Her heart skipped a beat faster. She felt restless and excited, just as she usually did before a good fight. She had wandered the path of earth for far too long to trust easily some wild demon. She could see it within his eyes. This demon was corrupt, ruthless and only went for things that would be for his own advantage.

\

 

 

"Why would you want to help me?" Chiyoko asked him and loosened her hand.

 

 

 

He showed her his perfect teeth as he smiled. One hand reached up to his neck to feel the damage her claws caused. When he pulled his fingers away, he saw his own blood mixed with cold water.

 

 

"It is simple, my lady. I help you and I shall get what I have been seeking for so long. All I want is freedom."