InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomorrow ❯ Chapter 25 ( Chapter 25 )

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

The cold breeze drifted through Kazeko's hair. She loved the feel of the wind, but now she wondered if it was really her loving it, at all.

She was no longer clutching Tenseiga, but had put it on her lap, staring at it as she thought things over. Mitsuko was nearby- Kazeko could feel the difference in the air, centring on the place where she knew the tigress was- but she was out of sight and silent, and for that, Kazeko was both grateful and annoyed. Grateful because she needed a little alone time to think, but also annoyed, because her thoughts were going in circles, and she half-wanted someone to share them with.

“If Oji-san's half the youkai I think he is... “

“You look like someone I used to know...”

“He only cares about you...”

“I know who she may have been...”

You're almost her perfect double...

Kazeko didn't like that feeling- of being compared to someone else. Of knowing that every time they looked at her, they thought of someone else. It was even worse, knowing that this someone else was dead, and had died in great pain. Kazeko felt so sorry for Kagura, but equally, she was angry at her for being her preincarnation. She knew it was irrational, but she couldn't make the anger go away. She hated feeling Kagura's pain, the ghost of a memory, but it was that same pain that made it hard for her to hate the woman. Still, she wanted to be seen as herself- only herself. Kazeko dropped her head onto her knees. The absurd, circling thoughts were giving her a headache. The harder she tried to straighten them, the faster they twirled. She wanted to talk to someone, but who would understand? Kagome, maybe. But she wasn't here. Kazeko felt as if she was now burdened with an extra person in her head, a burden she hadn't noticed until it had been pointed out, but she had no-one to talk to.

She wondered who SesshoMaru saw when he looked at her.

“Onee-chan?”

Kazeko looked up. Kiki was running up to her, looking worried. Her ears twitched nervously as she ran to Kazeko's side.

“I was worried `cause you didn't come back,” Kiki said. “Are you okay, Onee-chan?”

“I'm...” Kazeko forced a smile for Kiki, which she was sure the girl instantly saw through. “I'll be fine.”

“Is it because of Kagura?” Kiki asked, with such uncanny accuracy that Kazeko nearly fell off of the stump. Kiki saw her face and knew that she'd hit the target. “I wish you could talk to Okaa-san. She'd understand.”

“Yeah...” Kazeko admitted. Kiki sat next to her, staring at the sky. “I guess i'm not quite sure who I am at the moment.”

“You're onee-chan,” Kiki said simply. “Kagura's not my onee-chan. Although maybe you'll be Oba-san someday,” she added with a giggle that made Kazeko blush. Then she shook her head.

“It's not that simple,” she said sadly. To her surprise, Kiki was feverently shaking her head as well.

“It can be,” she insisted. “I think it was easier for Okaa-san to accept that she was a different person from Kikyo because she met her. Her soul was in two different bodies at once, and each of them had a different facet in control.” Kazeko stared at the little inu-hanyou, nonplussed.

“Facets?” she asked in some confusion. Kiki nodded.

“Okaa-san told me about souls,” Kiki said. “She said, imagine that a soul is a big white sphere, right? Now, if a soul goes to the Next Realm and comes back in a new body, it's now a little different shape. The old soul is there, but it's only half of the soul now. Different facets. Maybe if you die, they separate, separate people. So there's two bits of your soul, onee-chan. And the first bit, Kagura's bit-” Kazeko couldn't help flinching inwardly at the name; it was causing her a lot of emotional difficulty at the moment “-Called out to Oji-san's soul. But it couldn't make him stay, because it wasn't the important bit anymore. The important bit is you, onee-chan. If Oji-san hadn't cared about you, rather than Kagura, he wouldn't have stayed with you.”

Kagura stared at Tenseiga for a minute. She was having a hard time wrapping her head around the story. She almost wished that she could have met Kagura, in person; it would have cemented her knowledge that they were different people. But thinking about it, it sounded like Kagura was her invisible twin; like a twin who'd hooked her up with a prospective husband who'd turned out to be perfect and, above all, married her because he cared about her, not because the invisible twin had told him so.

“I also know who she is.”

Kazeko suddenly reached out and hugged Kiki. Kiki grinned and hugged her back.

“Do you feel better, onee-chan?” she asked. “I don't want you to be sad...”

“You know what?” Kazeko said. “I do feel better. Thank you, Kiki-chan.” She stood and slid Tenseiga into her obi. Odd that a sword could feel warm under her grip. But, she realized, it did; metal and wood that would always have been cold had instead always felt as warm to her as living flesh. Did it care for her, as its master did?

“Ready to go back to camp?” Mitsuko said. “If that Kitsune heals enough tonight, he can run and carry his family tomorrow...”

“Oh!” Kiki said, grabbing Kazeko's hand and pulling her back towards the little hut. “You missed it, onee-chan! Something really funny happened! It started when Satoshi-kun...”

Kazeko giggled as she walked back, holding Kiki's hand, and knew that the happiness that was welling up within her was her own. Kagura never knew this kind of happiness. Though Kazeko would always feel the ghost of pain and bittersweet longing whenever she thought of Kagura, she also knew that the strong emotions, the real emotions- The joy and the sorrow, the love and the pain- were hers and hers alone.

The breeze blew softly through the trees, bringing with it the faint scent of rain.

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The huge bear roared as the arrow hit it in the stomach. A flash of light spread across its body, reducing all it touched to dust, until the bear itself was no more. Kirara pulled back up into the air, out of the reach of the paws of the largest of the giant bear-youkai, while Kagome nocked back another arrow.

Miroku pulled up a shield to block a descending claw. The bear howled as it felt a burning in its paw. While it was distracted, Sango thrust Hiraikotsu at its neck. Though the hide was abnormally tough, it could not stand up to Hiraikotsu; the youki-dispelling venom that was soaked into every inch of the gigantic bone dissolved the bear's skin, exposing the softer innards. The bear howled again in agony as it collapsed into dust.

“Watch your backs, there's still four've `em out there somewhere!” InuYasha yelled as he sliced his claws into his palm and let off a HijinKessou at the huge bear that was swiping at Kagome and Kirara as if they were tiny flies. The bear dodged back- they were fast, despite their size- but still, several of the sharp red crescents sliced through its side. It howled in pain.

Four of the bears had disappeared into the trees; InuYasha could smell them circling, but the problem was that they were fast, and running in the same circle meant that they were running over their own scent, making it hard to pinpoint their location.

There were three now; SesshoMaru had vanished some time before and there was a terrible roar of bear pain coming from some way away. Suddenly, the bear-scent concentrated; they were running to help their friend fight against SesshoMaru. InuYasha had no time to worry about that, however, not that he would ever admit to worrying about his half-brother's welfare. He narrowly dodged as the bear swung its massive paw at him. The weight of Kohaku's Kusarigama whizzed out, wrapping around the bear's wrist and jerking; but instead of breaking the bear's arm, as hoped, it just caused the bear to turn and attack Kohaku and Rin instead. InuYasha cursed and curled his fingers again, soaking them in his blood before the wound healed.

Another holy arrow, glowing pure white with power, whizzed past him and struck the bear in the centre of the back; like its comrade, the bear dissolved into ash in seconds. Sango ran over to check on Kohaku and Rin.

“So where's-” Miroku began, and cut off as his question was answered. There was a mingling of howls of pain, but not all of them sounded bearlike.

One of the gigantic bears suddenly crashed through the trees as if it had been thrown, straight towards them. Before they had time to dodge, however, it dissolved into dust. InuYasha ran through the new gap in the trees, but he didn't have to go far to see what was happening.

SesshoMaru had transformed into his giant dog form and was fighting the remaining two bears. Both of the bears had huge wounds, bubbling at the edges where SesshoMaru's venom burned them; but InuYasha caught a very familiar blood-scent, and sure enough, the white fur on the giant dog was marred with red in places. InuYasha cursed again, wishing he had Tessaiga.

“InuYasha,” Kagome called, “I can't shoot. They're moving too much.” The giant white shape and the two brown ones, only slightly smaller, were weaving and dodging as they fought. SesshoMaru yelped in pain as one of the bears bit down on his leg, and turned to bite off its outstretched paw in retaliation.

“InuYasha, we'd better draw one of them away,” Miroku called. InuYasha snorted.

“I don't need you to tell me that, bouzo,” he said as he unleashed another round of HijinKessou, only slightly worried about who he hit. Probably luckily, they all slammed into the back of one of the bears, who turned with a snarl and started lumbering towards InuYasha. An arrow to the head ended him. SesshoMaru bit down into the neck of the other; it howled as the acid burned away its neck, and dissolved.

InuYasha raised his head to smell the air, but it was saturated with the stench of blood and dead bears; still, he didn't think there were any more of them. Kirara seemed to agree. She landed beside InuYasha and Kagome dismounted. They watched as the stinking bear blood soaked into the ground; all plant life that wasn't already destroyed would die. Kagome closed her eyes and raised her hands in front of her face. A flash spread across the ground. There was no visible difference, aside from the colour of the soil being a little lighter. InuYasha looked at SesshoMaru.

He had returned to his human form, but it wasn't in the best shape either; though he walked over to them calm and composed as ever, he was just a little bit too pale, and InuYasha could both see and smell the fresh blood soaking through his shirt.

“SesshoMaru-sama!” Rin called, running past. “Are you all right?”

“No fatal damage,” SesshoMaru replied smoothly.

“Still, you need to at least wrap those before we start moving,” Rin insisted.

“Stupid bastard,” InuYasha grumbled. “Gettin' beat by a bear.”

“So next time, we'll let you go three on one against giant bear-youkai?” Kohaku asked cheerfully. InuYasha just snorted.

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Kazeko was lost again, in the mist. But this time, she was holding Tenseiga. It made her feel a little better. It was SesshoMaru's, after all. It made her feel safe. It led her on.

She felt the air shift again- the air changing in the way that it did around youkai. But it was a familiar shift. Kazeko ran towards the source. Suddenly, she tripped; but instead of falling to the ground, someone's arms caught her, a strong grip that gave her a sense of complete security. She looked up, knowing who she would see. His face shifted into that tiny smile, the golden glow of his eyes morphing from cold to warm.

“SesshoMaru-sama,” she said, standing up. “I still have your sword. You were right, it saved me.”

“I am glad,” he said. There was something about him that was a little different form last night's dream. He felt a little warmer, a little more solid, a little more real. Kazeko smiled too. Then her smile faded as she thought of the question that she didn't want to ask.

“SesshoMaru-sama?” she asked hesitantly.”I heard some stories about your past... about the search for the Shikon No Kakera and Naraku.”

“When did they tell you about all of that?” he asked. His voice was flat and calm as ever, but somehow, Kazeko could detect the tiny undercurrent to his words-one that told Kazeko that he was thinking of the same person as her.

“They also told me a lot about... Kagura,” Kazeko continued. It was a little easier to speak her name after talking to Kiki, but still, Kazeko was afraid of what he would say. She waited.

SesshoMaru's face was inscrutable. Then she saw it- The sadness pouring into his eyes, the faint creases of his face. “I often wish I could have changed what happened to her,” he admitted. “I wish that I was then the person that I am now- the one who knows that caring for another is not weakness.” SesshoMaru had still been holding one of her arms; now his hand slid down to grasp hers. “She suffered much because of my failures. I know what it is you want to know; whether I care about you for you, or Kagura?” Kazeko could not help blushing when he said that he cared about her. Her heart leapt and her stomach dropped. What would he say now? She could barely breathe, waiting for his answer.

“I will admit that it intrigued me, when I first met you,” he said softly, “How very much like her you were. Your face, your voice, your aura, your scent... all so familiar, and so comforting.” Kazeko felt her heart stop. Be he was not done talking. “And yet, similar as you are, you are also different. Perhaps you are Kagura reborn or not, but that does not matter to me. Your very spirit is so brave but, at the same time... you are to kind, too compassionate. I believe I met you because it was destiny, that her soul should draw me to you; and yet, I think that if you were not the person that you are, I would have left once I had healed and never returned. I did not give you Tenseiga because of Kagura.”

Kazeko felt her heart begin to beat again. She smiled gently, and saw the sadness dissipate from his gaze.

“And when we get to Hokkaido...” she ventured. “When I return Tenseiga...”

“I will still be there,” SesshoMaru said. Kazeko squeezed his hand back, the other clutching Tenseiga. For some reason, it was beginning to pull away.

“SesshoMaru-sama...” she said, leaning up until her face was an inch from his.

“You have no need to call me `lord',” he said quietly, his breath brushing over her lips. She closed her eyes...

... And heard a clunk.

Kazeko's eyes snapped open. She was in a hut. She was sleeping on the edge of the wooden floor. She had been holding Tenseiga, but she had rolled and it had fallen off of the edge. She hadn't been in that misty place with SesshoMaru...

Kazeko rubbed her eyes, knowing that she should wake up- out of the corner of her eye, she could see Haruka starting to cook rice, Yuki waking up Kazuki and Mitsuko- and then stopped. Slowly, as if moving too fast would make it vanish like the dream, she reached out and grabbed Tenseiga. Just as slowly, with her other hand, she pulled the blade just a little out of the sheathe. It was glowing blue. As soon as she saw it, the glow faded, but then flickered back, just for a second, as if it were winking at her. Kazeko slid the blade back in and held the blade close. It felt a little chilled, as if it had been left out in a cold mist.

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SesshoMaru slowly opened his eyes. Absent-mindedly, he registered that his wounds were almost fully healed, but that did not interest him. The dream did. It was strange. He still felt the lingering touch of Kazeko's aura as if she had been physically present.

Where had he been in his dream? He felt that he had been sleeping for some time before it had started, and then, as if called, he had been in that misty place. Something had been telling him to wait, an outside presence that was vaguely familiar. Something about the presence meant that SesshoMaru had no qualms about obeying. It was strange. He obeyed no-one. He'd never really obeyed anyone, anyway, except...

Kazeko had been there, wearing Tenseiga. It was the sword that had called him there, he was sure. And it had faded and vanished a second before the dream had. He smirked slightly. He knew that “not of the living world” did not exclusively refer to the realm of the dead. He idly wondered if it were true that part of a youkai's soul remained behind in anything that contained a physical part of them. It would explain the sword's tendency for working of its own accord. And for knowing what SesshoMaru needed better than he did.

He closed his eyes, remembering Kazeko's fears. He remembered Kagura. Yes, there was a strong resemblance, but Kagura was Kagura and Kazeko was Kazeko. He had never had any doubt about that. He also had no doubt that he could nto afford to lose her too.

Protect her, Tenseiga, he thought. Do not fail me again.

“I got to see you...”

Please.

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Thanks to Saphira404 for giving me my 10th review! Woo! I feel loved.

InuYasha is the property of Takahashi Rumiko-Sensei, and I claim no ownership of any of it. All couples not involving original characters will be strictly canon. Aside from Haruka, Yuki and Kazuki, I made up all of the kids, though since birthdates other than Kazuki's were never really stated in the manga, nor names, I've made these up as well. This fanfic will make little sense if you have not read the entire manga, and I'm afraid that to read the last twenty or so volumes you will have to (at the time of writing) venture into the internet, but I strongly suggest that you do buy the Tankoban volumes for yourself, so that Takahashi-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with her imagination. Anyway, hope you enjoy the fic. ^_-