Instant Replay

By socchan

For as long as Kagome had been alive, she could remember things from Before.  There weren't many memories, and they weren't very clear, but they were there.  It was a while before she realized that not everyone could remember that far back.

The memories influenced many things in Kagome's early life.  Because of them she had taken up archery when she was eight, and always paid attention to her grandfather, no matter how ridiculous he sometimes sounded.  Someday she planned to take over the shrine.

The shrine was in her memories, too.  It was smaller, and in a bit worse shape, but it was still there.  The shrine in her memories was also a greater distance from the well.

Kagome didn't much care for the Bone Eater's Well.  Aside from the fact that it 'ate' demon remains in her memories, she got a creepy feeling whenever she had to walk by it.  She tended to avoid it like the plague, and would have carried on living her life by her memories had it not been for one strange occurrence on her fifteenth birthday.

She was walking to school, giving the well house a wide berth, when Sota told her that Buyo, her overweight, sterile, calico cat had gotten in and wouldn't come out.  Fearing demons, as she almost always did despite plenty of evidence to suggest the contrary, she edged towards it.  She swallowed hard against the prickling at her senses when she put her hand on the door, then opened it and stepped inside.

She sighed in relief to find Buyo within sight.  "Buyo!" she scolded, "You should know better than to crawl in here." Kagome scooped up the cat and deposited him outside.  About to continue on her way, Kagome took one last look over her shoulder.  She almost immediately regretted it as a half-human centipede demon lunged from the well and pulled Kagome back down with it.

As she fell, Kagome's 'old' memories kicked in, and her powers flared, burning the demon to a crisp.  She was breathing hard when she finally reached the bottom.  Swallowing against her fear, Kagome looked for a way out of the well.

Grabbing the ivy that climbed the wall, Kagome hauled herself up.  She frowned; she was fairly certain that she hadn't seen any ivy on the way down.  It was also a little brighter than it had been in the well house.

As soon as Kagome managed to swing herself over the lip of the well and get a good look around, she was struck by recognition.  She fell to her knees and clutched her head—it couldn't be possible, but she could think of no other explanation.  Breathing hard, Kagome tried desperately to reconcile memory with reality.  When her breathing returned to normal, Kagome cautiously took another look around.

The scenery was a little different, but it was very much like where she had lived Before.  If the Bone Eater's Well were actually a time portal of sorts, it certainly would explain a few things.  Kagome put a hand to her forehead—it was beginning to ache from the sudden onslaught of memory.  There was a village and a jewel and, more 'recently', a boy with dog ears that she remembered feeling strongly towards.  Gritting her teeth, she stumbled in the direction of the forest, hoping that by escaping from direct sunlight some of the pain would ease.

The pain did indeed lessen in the shadows, but the earthy scent brought back still more memories—enough to tell there was one missing, one she could feel was important somehow.  She moved forward uneasily as she struggled with the new memories.

Kagome blinked as she stepped into a clearing.  A huge tree sprawled in front of her, and a more modern image of the Go-shinboku super-imposed itself over the current one.  Kagome smiled at the sight of it.  She frowned, though, when she noticed the dog-eared boy from her memories stuck to it.

Still more memories sparked as she walked towards him, but the one she was most irritated by remained elusive.  She stopped just a few feet from him, and her mouth formed words, unbidden.  "Inu—"

She was cut off by a rain of arrows striking the earth around her feet.  Kagome jerked around to see a hunting party of sorts behind her.  "Get away from the demon!" one of them shouted.  Her vision blurred for a moment, then re-focused.  She stepped away from the Go-shinboku and held her hands in front of her to show that she was unarmed.  Silently, she allowed herself to be bound and taken back to the village.  She watched the lifeless figure of the dog-eared boy until she could no longer see him.

When the party reached the village, Kagome was brought before the elderly miko who lived there.  The woman seemed surprised to see her.  "So, you think you're pretty clever, do you?"

Kagome blinked.  "Pardon?"

"You're impersonating my dead sister." The miko stated.

Kagome frowned.  "I don't believe I'm impersonating anyone."  A thought struck her.  "You aren't talking about a person named Kikyo, are you?"  The miko visibly paled.  "Huh… Dead… Well, I suppose that would explain why 'my' memories end when 'I'm' about sixteen…"

Still pale, the miko muttered an incantation and preformed a brief ritual.  She paled further when nothing seemed to happen.  "Untie this girl." She said, hoarsely.  "She's no demon—though how she knows what she does is beyond my comprehension."

Kagome kneeled opposite the miko in her hut.  She waited patiently for the questions to begin.  "So…" the woman asked, "How did you come to know of my sister Kikyo?"

"Well, you see, I come from a long ways in the future.  I've known about her as long as I can remember.  See, I have her memories."  Kagome answered, nervously.  She frowned.  "You keep mentioning that Kikyo was your sister—would that make you Kaede?"

The woman nodded.  "Aye."

Kagome ran her hand through her bangs.  "Gods, how long has it been, then?  You weren't more than eight in 'my' last memories."

Kaede's eyes widened.  "What do you claim to be, girl?"

"Well, as near as I can figure, I'm the reincarnation of this girl called Kikyo who lived in what my time called the 'warring states' era.  I think I have what we call in my time 'past-life regression'—things from my current life help me remember things from my past life."  Kagome explained.  She shrugged.  "It's mostly a guess, if an educated one."

"What are you called in this life?" Kaede asked, carefully.

"Kagome.  Tell me, how long ago did I—Kikyo, that is—die?"

"Coming on fifty years now."

"I see." Kagome gazed at the wall.  "I have no real way to prove that I am the reincarnation of Kikyo to you—or to myself, for that matter—but I hope you can still find a way to trust me."

The old miko grunted.  "We'll see.  You certainly aren't a demon, and I have doubts that a human could pull off a trick like this so well, so it may be the only explanation we have.  I don't know that we could convince the other villagers, or if I could convince myself to believe it, but I am reasonably certain that you mean us no harm."

Relief flooded through Kagome.  "Thank you."

Kagome waited until the middle of the night, then wrote a brief note to Kaede so the miko would not think she had run off.  That done, Kagome followed the slight tug she'd felt almost since she'd first arrived in this time to where the missing memory hid.

Kagome was not entirely surprised to find herself once again at the foot of the Go-shinboku.  She stared at the boy pinned there for a few minutes, and then closed her eyes.  The memory at last flooded back, and Kagome understood why she had blocked it—some things could be very harmful to remember.

Slightly dizzy, Kagome opened her eyes again and stared at the dog-boy.  Being able to have an objective opinion of a memory could certainly be helpful at times.  Very quietly, so quietly that she wasn't sure the boy could've heard it when he was awake, Kagome whispered his name.

"Inu-Yasha."  The hanyou stirred slightly, and an ear flicked in Kagome's direction.  She licked her lips and tried again, adding a touch of power to her voice.  "Inu-Yasha, wake up."

Slowly—almost painfully so—Inu-Yasha's eyes opened.  He became first surprised, then angry when they focused on her.  "You—!"

"Inu-Yasha," she said, quietly, "I'm sorry."

The hanyou's eyebrows shot up.  "What do you mean, you're sorry?"

"The day you were shot, we—that is, I, er, Kikyo—thought you stole the Shikon no Tama to become a full demon.  I still don't know how you could've gotten it, but I don't think it was you who stole it.  If you had stolen it, you probably would've had enough time to transform either way—or at least ingest it.  I'm sorry."

Inu-Yasha squinted at her.  "…Kikyo?"

Kagome flinched, and clutched at the hem of her skirt, nervously.  "In a sense, yes."

"What do you mean?"

Kagome couldn't bring herself to look at him.  "The same day she shot you, Kikyo died from wounds the jewel thief inflicted.  I… think… I'm her reincarnation."

Inu-Yasha looked hard at her.  He sniffed the air, gently.  "Come here."  Kagome inched closer.  "Can you take the arrow out?"

"I don't know; Kkyo put a lot of power into it.  I could try…"

"Would you?"

Swallowing, Kagome moved forward and clutched the arrow with both hands.  She was hyper-aware of every part of her body that touched the hanyou.  Tightening her grip on the arrow, she tugged.  She was rather surprised when it vanished in her grip, and she had to grab at Inu-Yasha's shoulders to keep from falling.  As soon as she got her balance, Kagome climbed back down, blushing.  Still a bit embarrassed, Kagome watched as Inu-Yasha painstakingly removed himself from the clutches of the vines.  She guessed, from what she remembered of him, that he probably could've gotten out a lot faster, but went slowly so not to spook her.  He dropped gently to the ground with more grace than she'd give a half dog-demon credit for.

Inu-Yasha stared into her eyes, his expression unreadable.  "Thanks."

Kagome swallowed.  She was nearly certain even a normal human would be able to hear her heartbeat.  "You're welcome."  She was uncomfortably aware of every one of Kikyo's memories of this boy—and of the fact that she was beginning to feel remarkably similar things to what Kikyo had felt around him.  "Um, listen… Kikyo… She—she loved you, you know.  Even at the end, she loved you.  She—I think she would've wanted you to know."

Inu-Yasha held her gaze a moment, then glanced away.  "I do—did."

"So, um… it's hard to live your whole life with someone else's memories without becoming like them—I mean… I mean…" Kagome licked her lips, nervously.  "What I mean, is I'd like to give things a—a 'second try', I guess.  If you would, that is.  We don't have to rush into anything or anything, but…" Kagome trailed off, not sure what to say next, and looked at him hopefully.

Inu-Yasha held her gaze for a moment.  "I don't think I'm ready for that just now…" he said, quietly.  "There's a lot I have to adjust to."

"Oh…" Kagome's heart fell, and she looked away.

"But…" Her gaze snapped back to Inu-Yasha's.  "If you could give me some time, I don't think I would mind a 'second try'."

Hope swelled in Kagome's chest, and she smiled at him.  "Okay."  She glanced around briefly.  "I'd better be heading back now.  Will I see you tomorrow?"

He smiled briefly—just briefly—and Kagome's heart leapt.  "All right."

"In this life, my name is Kagome."

"Kagome, huh?  Well, it was nice meeting you, Kagome.  I'll see you tomorrow, then."  Inu-Yasha vanished into the trees.

"See you." Kagome said to the forest.  She smiled, giddily, and started walking back.

What would've been the next morning in the time from whence Kagome came, an old man and a boy found a letter at the bottom of an old well near a shrine.

'Dear Mom, Grandpa and Sota,

'Please do not worry about me; I have not run away.  I am doing well and will be back for a visit sometime.  While I am gone, though, please take good care of yourselves, Buyo and the shrine.

'Love,

'Kagome'

=^-,-^= Beginning =^-,-^=

Just a brief distraction here while I try and get rid of my motivation block for HiT.  I have inspiration—just not the will to put it to use.

Apologies if someone else has already gotten to this idea.  Also for the slight OOC-ness, particularly in Inu-Yasha's case, as I feel that Kagome has a bit of an excuse here.

This idea could be continued, but I don't plan to do so at the moment.  I'm not going to start another running series while I'm having trouble with one that people actually read.  If you would like to continue it, please drop me a line to say you're doing so—you don't even have to ask if you don't want to.

Disclaimer: Kagome, Inu-Yasha, Kikyo, and the situations concerning them are the property of Takahashi-megami, and not me.

Comments, criticism, words of praise and, yes, flames are appreciated.

I think that's everything for now.

-socchan