Finding Peace through the Sacred Tree
Luna Silvereyes
A/N: In this story, I'm bringing in some characters that I created myself. They're actually from my manga that I'm struggling to get off the ground. I won't reveal which ones are the manga characters and which ones are merely OC, but if you manage to guess correctly, they are mine. I plan to release them into the world someday and I'm rather close to them. So don't steal them for your own purposes.
A Silhouette in The Night
Leaves from the majestic Sacred Tree floated gently down to the earth, landing peacefully on the hard ground below. A few strays landed in a graceful mane of raven hair belonging to a young girl seated at the base. Her chocolate brown eyes stared into space, melancholy and distant.
Something had happened yet again and Kagome knew it. Knew it from the moment she saw how InuYasha reacted to her when she arrived in the Feudal Era. From the moment he turned away quickly and stalked off, his ears twitching as though tracking a distant noise. From the moment she knew that he would not be coming back while she was there. She had done nothing but stand there and watch him, clutching the front of her school shirt as though her life hung in the balance. Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara all faded into the void of her life as she comprehended the new disaster that had caused a fresh rift to join its kin in her heart and in his. The name of only one person came to mind, now.
Kikyo.
Kagome choked back a sob at the thought of the priestess whom she was the supposed reincarnation of. The same priestess who had pinned InuYasha to the trunk of the Sacred Tree with an arrow five hundred and fifty years ago from Kagome's modern era. Kagome had been the one to free him. But now, ever since InuYasha had been gravely injured during her control by Hyoga, the Chinese moth demon and nearly killing InuYasha, he'd seemed so distant to her.
Kagome stiffly stood up and leaned affectionately against the tree. This tree was her lifeline. It was a wonderful, protective being, unlike other trees. Her mother said that it remembers everything, and that it remembers her. Thinking of it like that was somehow extremely comforting. To know that a peaceful and sacred being such as the Sacred Tree could somehow understand her thoughts and feelings.
" If such a concept is true," she murmured against the bark. " I wish you could tell me what I should do."
Kagome half expected to hear a gentle voice or see some sort of angelic being materialize before her, an answer to her wish. But, as the other half expected, nothing. No powerful being, no gentle wood spirit. Just sunshine and the Sacred Tree, the sacred chain waving in the breeze amiably.
Kagome sighed heavily and turned away. She looked back at the tree and smiled. Then, with the shadows in her heart lifted slightly, she slowly walked back toward the house.
Usually, her grandfather would be fussing and yelling at something or other inside the shrine. But today, all seemed peaceful, which was unusual. He was probably trying to devise new exotic illnesses to tell her friends at school as an excuse for her prolonged absences. She was lucky the medical society hadn't heard about her, or she'd be locked away in a museum to be poked and prodded by potential physicians and biologists.
Well, she thought bitterly. He won't have to worry too much more about that. I won't be going back for a long time.
Frankly, Kagome found that she was tiring quickly of the feudal era. She was tired of the near-death experiences every single day. She was tired of Naraku's monotonous traps and plans that never completely worked. She was tired of getting kidnapped by Sesshomaru, or Hyoga, or Kagura, or Naraku or Koga or anyone else who viewed her as bait to lure InuYasha out of hiding. As if he ever hid, anyway. She was tired of feeling guilty for shattering the Sacred Shikon Jewel. She was tired of hunting for the damned shards and she was tired of the blood, the deaths and the pain.
But most of all, she found that she was even beginning to tire of InuYasha and his constant indifference to her. She scowled as this thought came to conscious mind.
"Who am I kidding?" she wondered aloud. " InuYasha doesn't need me, he never has. Kikyo could easily find the shards. In fact, she could probably find them much more efficiently than I could. So why do I bother to go back?"
She hummed sadly. " Well, I would miss Sango and Shippo. They're family to me."
Kagome shook her head furiously. " No! I can never go back. Never."
She stalked off in a huff toward the house.
/ooo/
Kagome fell asleep easily that night after dinner. Her mother had instantly sensed something was wrong, but had been wise enough not to say anything. Unlike Sota, who ended up with a small lump on his head.
But a noise outside, a bird of some sort woke Kagome up suddenly and she bolted upright in a panic, only to have it dawn on her that nothing was wrong. Spending so much time in the feudal era had caused her to become a light sleeper. It took even the slightest noise to awaken her nowadays.
She sighed and flipped back the covers, getting out of bed and going to the window. She pushed the curtains away, staring down at the shrine with glazed eyes.
The shrine.
So much confusion in her life had originated there, as well. She recalled the incident with Sounga, InuYasha's father's sword, sealed in the netherworld. At one point, it had been their family's treasure under the name of some ancient prince Kagome could never remember the name of.
Kagome leaned on the windowsill, watching the yard and the leaves gently sailing around by the breeze, bathed in moonlight. She could hardly believe this piece of land used to be a quaint little village by a large forest. 'InuYasha's Forest', it was called, named for the demon pinned to the Sacred Tree by the priestess Kikyo. The more Kagome thought about it, the less jealous she became of Kikyo. After all, Kikyo had been betrayed, not by InuYasha, but by Onigumo, the bandit she cared for who eventually became Naraku. He betrayed her kindness toward him in his dying state and killed Kikyo. In the end, Kikyo had done nothing wrong. She'd died with no sense of purity in her heart: just vengeance, grief, hatred and malice toward the wrong person. Her soul therefore had always been at unrest, even before her resurrection. Thanks to Kagome, Kikyo was removed from her tortuous limbo in order to return to the living world as a walking corpse. And even through her blind hatred toward all things bound to time, her deep love for InuYasha remained.
Kagome had long since realized that she could never live up to all that Kikyo had done. Kikyo, despite her love for the half-demon, had put duty first and destroyed the jewel with her body after her death. But it had survived through the ages, hidden inside Kagome's ancestors, or so she believed, until it was finally revealed to have been lying dormant within her own body.
Kagome frowned. This was it, she figured. She could willingly give or take InuYasha, who seemed to only care about giving her away. To him, she was nothing more than a jewel detector. Well, no more.
She stared triumphantly down into the yard, proud of her mental accomplishments, no matter how menial.
Suddenly, her eyes widened. She could see the tree from her window. And what looked like a person stood at its base, one slender hand places tenderly upon the bark. In the moonlight, it was easy to make out that the person was a woman. Kagome watched carefully. This woman was strange. She had cascading white hair, reaching her knees at least, that shimmered and waved in the moonlight. She was dressed in an emerald colored strapless gown with a grass green collar that wrapped around her upper arms, showing the base of her neck. Kagome could see something shimmering at her chest, but from this distance, it was impossible to see what it was. The woman removed her hand and visibly smiled at the tree. Then, before Kagome could move away, she turned abruptly and her eyes met the girl's. Kagome found that she could not break the piercing gaze, and as deep as it was, Kagome felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her. An intoxicating calmness fell over her and she was stunned to realize that she smiled. The woman smiled back, her bright pink eyes shimmering as brightly as her hair. Then, Kagome blinked and when she looked again, the woman was gone.
" What the—?" she exclaimed, looking around. But there was no one anywhere within sight. Kagome frowned. " Who was that? Did I just dream it?"
Slightly disturbed, yet saddened at the same time by the loss of the beautiful calm feeling, she slowly turned and went back to her bed. She laid down, pulling the covers up to her neck. " I wonder who that was." She whispered. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
A/N: Okay, this was the first chapter. Kinkatia, you should already know who that woman was. After all, you're the one who helped me with her and the others, remember? Yes, the woman is my own creation, yet whether she's from my manga or not, you'll have to figure that out on your own. Anyway, tell me what you think.