Dead Prophesy
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, or any thing of that matter that pertains to it.
I have decided that I hate the cliche stories that have Kagome seeing Inuyasha and Kikyo together and then running off into Sesshomaru's loving arms and living happily ever after. So, I have done a little bit of our little miko running, like every one else, but not into loving arms. A disaster awaits the poor girl, and no one will be unaffected, not even Sesshomaru.
In Which No Strength Can Kill Us
XXX
The well gives off a bright purple light, neon flashing to the sky strait to the heavens. No one saw, no one guessed. It was the end of a passage; it was an end to a later life.
Stuck in her past, whether she wanted to stay or not. The well had read her heart, it has chosen for her.
The orange moon shone eerie into the night, highlighting the trees with its glow. The purple and orange light clashed and started the prophecy. It was beginning, and the woman would loose her heritage to become the moon, the soul, and the goddess of life.
She will protect the strongest from them, and she will save the weak.
If she lets the man-beast break her, the power will turn black, lest she saves the strongest from their sorrow, she will not succeed. Pray to high she keeps her mind, and not let evil seep, she will love you all, and her other she will meet.
Let you not, man of ice, kill her twice, for the red could end all lives.
The prophesy had decreed.
XXX
She woke up with sweat on her brow, breathing hard. Today was her twenty first birthday, and her dream was not a good beginning. It was a voice as pure as silver, sweat and melodic. But the words scared her.
The well was mentioned. She thought. What is this prophesy that the woman spoke of?
Forget about it, she thought, I just need to forget it.
Kagome stretched from her bed and turned off her alarm. She was already up, and before she wanted to. It was only seven. She sighed and headed for the bathroom. She felt dirty and sticky from that dream. It scared her for some reason. There were no pictures or images, just that voice, and she could hear ever word, even now.
It was just so clear in her mind. It was no ordinary dream.
XXX
"Good morning, dear. You are going back to the feudal era today?" Aikiko, Kagome's mother was cooking breakfast. Her little brother Sota was shoveling pancakes into his mouth like a starving midget. It made her smile, she never got to see her family as often as she used to. Her grandfather was somewhere in the shrine like he always is this early. She would have to make an extra stop to say goodbye to him before she leaves.
"I don't have to meet up with Inuyasha till noon, so I won't leave for a while yet. Can I have some pancakes?" Aikiko laid a plate of pancakes in front of Kagome.
For a while, the day was fine. Kagome wanted to spend as much time as she could with her family. It had been weeks since she returned from the feudal era. Shard hunting was taking so much time out of her life. She barely finished high school, her grades were just passing. She couldn't go to college till Naraku was defeated and the jewel was whole.
Kagome gave her grandpa a hug and kiss, waving goodbye to her brother and mother as she opened the shed to the well. Inuyasha would be getting angry if she was any later. Tears came to her eyes obdurately as she opened the door and slid it shut. Her yellow book bag was slung over her shoulder and her bow and arrow scabbard was on her other shoulder.
"Well, here goes nothing." She jumped over the edge and was engulfed by the neon purple light. She was suspended for a long moment, longer then usual. Shimmering purple stars shot past her, missing her barley by inches. "Wha…what's going on here?"
The well had read her heart, it has chosen for her.
"What does that mean? What is going on here?" She kicked out her legs, hoping to catch some leverage, get some footing.
It was beginning, and the woman would loose her heritage
"Are you talking about me? Who are you?" The purple illumination intensified, glaring and Kagome had to shield her eyes.
If she lets the man-beast break her, the power will turn black
"Please, tell me what's going on! Let me go!" Her book bag had fallen from her shoulder, but it hung by her side like her body. She continued to struggle. It was her dream. The words, the voice, it was all like in her dream. What could it mean?
Suddenly, her feet found the well dirt floor and her body righted itself. Her pack fell to the ground with a thud. The light had faded, but the voice still rang through the hollow well.
The prophesy had decreed
"Well, that was scary." Kagome took in deep breaths and picked up her bag. Her equilibrium was off, making her stumble. "I think I'm going to be sick." The walls were too high for her to climb and the sun shone too bright in her eyes. "Hey, is any one up there? Hey, Inuyasha, can you hear me?" A shadow passed over the mouth if the well and Kagome smiled.
"What took you so long, wench?" Inuyasha jumped down into the well and lifted her back up to the surface. He held on to her unstable form for a bit, then let her stand alone. "I've been waiting all day. You said no later then noon, you could have gotten here before that." Kagome sighed, the well fiasco forgotten.
"I had some things to do at home. It's been so long since I had seen them, is it so bad that I wanted to spend some quality time at home? If you wanted to go see Sesshomaru, I would be a little freaked out but I wouldn't not allow it."
Inuyasha stood strait and pointed stupidly at his face. "Me and Sesshomaru? What the hell kind of thing are you trying to say? Idiot."
"Comical, wish I had a camera." Kagome picked up her bag and started walking towards the village.
"Where are you going? The others are waiting in Songo's village for us. We don't have time to mess around." He grabbed her arm and started pulling her in the other direction of the village. "We don't have time, now let's go."
"Sit boy!" He crashed to the ground and cursed. It was always nice having that necklace on him. But she remembered what happened in the well and her dream and needed to talk to Kaede now. "I have to talk to Kaede. Something happened in the well just now. It wouldn't let me go. I was trapped there while this voice was talking to me."
"Well why didn't you just say so instead of pounding me into the ground like that?"
"Because you are way to rash. You only listen to yourself."
"That still doesn't mean you got to sit me like that, wench"
"Sit, sit, and sit! And don't call me wench!"
XXX
"I see, so can you try to remember what this voice said to ye?"
Inuyasha sat by Kagome's side crouched like a dog while she put her finger to her chin to think. She knew, word by word what the voice had said. And her dream. "The voice in the well had only bits and pieces, but my dream said a lot more."
"Why don't you repeat it for me, child, and we'll see if we can't decipher it."
Kagome recited the words of the woman, first in her dream, then in the well. The old woman's face remained passive, letting no outward sign of her thoughts show. Inuyasha still sat sulking, not really caring what was said in his friends dream.
"It's a load of bull, I tell you. Dreams are nothing but your mind playing tricks on you. You must have been dreaming of some song or poem. It's no big deal." Inuyasha stiffened slightly, secretly nervous about the ordeal. Some of those words pertained to some events that were rising.
Kaede ignored the hanyou as she thought over the words. "Let you not, man of ice, kill her twice, for the red could end all lives. Could the prophecy mean Kikyo? She is the only one who has died by a hand as cold as Naraku's and now lives again. She has a connection to the well and a man-beast that had broken her heart. Man-beast meaning you, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha made no comment, but Kagome fought tears.
"Some of this does not make sense. Why would I get the message if it's meant for Kikyo?" Kagome took the offered bowl of miso from the woman and sipped cautiously. "Could Kikyo be the end or beginning of the world? She's not exactly alive; she is only living off the souls of dead women and half of mine. And the heritage, has she lost that?"
Inuyasha stood abruptly and walked out of the hut. Kaede sighted while Kagome mentally hit herself. He still loves her, I shouldn't have said she was dead, she thought. "Kikyo is indeed dead. Inuyasha does not want to admit that. But her heritage is here in this village as the miko and guardian of the Shikan no Tama. Those rights have been lost to her. She could very well be the woman in the prophecy, and you child, received that message because you share her soul. In a way, you are a connection to her. I doubt she can very well dream herself."
She reflected the words of the old miko with sadness. In a way, this prophecy had come in the way of her and Inuyasha's relationship. The words had a hint of binding, love. Companionship. If this prophecy indeed intended Kikyo, then Inuyasha would be the only one to help her in the path of purity and love. It put a damper on any mood that she had previously been in.
"It's late afternoon, Kaede, I think we might just stay the night here, and leave until the morning." Kagome reached for her bag and pulled out a paper and pen. Carefully, she wrote down the prophecy word for word and handed it to the older woman. "Here, for you to look over when you can. Maybe you could help us figure out the other messages. Really, I'm not to sure it is Kikyo."
Kaede slipped the paper into her sleeve and picked up her basket of herbs and bandages. "Well, child, until we can decide on who this woman is, why not help an old woman with her rounds?"
"Yes, and I suppose Inuyasha will not be to happy about us being delayed another day. It's best to put myself to work so he doesn't say I am lazy." The old woman put a comforting hand on the girl's arm and lifted the grass flap and exited the hut. Kagome followed the older woman, fully intent on putting matters to the side and helping some people. Kikyo could wait. The prophecy could wait. Every thing has to wait.
XXX
It was a little late now to head out to Sango's village. It was late afternoon and Inuyasha doubted Kagome would want to travel all night.
But, he didn't think he could travel with Kagome either. After all, who could walk around with the woman who looked exactly like the love who you were just reminded was dead? The deep brown eyes of Kagome were the exact same as Kikyo's. Those same sparkles of green that shone so bright in the moon, the same glossy black hair, and the gentle hands that would caress him so gently and lovingly. They both had the same soul.
Still though, Kikyo was dead, but her body still walked this earth. She was different, yes, but she was free. Free to love, to hate, to make her own decisions in life. To love him freely and openly. Wasn't that enough?
He alighted up to the crooked branch of a tree off of the forest. Kagome and he sat right under that very same tree when he heard of Kikyo's grave desecration. He had looked strait into Kagome's eyes, seeing his lost beloved.
Stars had started to peak early through the fading blue. Night was only so long away. He could see the young miko walking through the village with children following her. She looked more like his former lover then she even realized. He didn't know how long he watched the girl, but soon the bright orange moon poked its head through the clouds and the sky darkened. Lanterns were lightened and children headed to their homes for dinner. He watched Kagome head toward the old woman's cottage and then look around for any sign of him. Their eyes met from a distance and the hanyou looked away. How could he face her with the thoughts he was just having?
"If only she were Kikyo, then I could love her completely." He whispered to the orange moon just before a cloud engulfed it. It was suddenly very dark out. Slight whispers cut softly through the air and little bits of light were suddenly surrounding him. Soul collectors and souls alike came from nowhere and circled him. Inuyasha jumped from the tree and landed softly in the grass looked to the foliage near by for a form to appear. Sure enough, Kikyo stepped from the shadows and walked ever so delicately to him. "Kikyo,"
The woman stopped but a hairs breath away from him, nose to nose to her former lover. The hanyou wanted to take her into his arms but hesitated. He had embraced her once before only to have a blade pulled on him. He waited for her to make the first move.
"Inuyasha, you asked me not to long ago, if you had changed. If Naraku had never entered out lives, if you had become human and I had the chance to love you completely, I know that I would have been the one to make you like you are today. I am envious of that reincarnation of mine. She has taken my place in your heart, your life." Kikyo ran her hand around the frame of his face not touching him but acting like she wanted to. Inuyasha took her hand in his and nuzzled her palm.
"Kagome has not taken you place, Kikyo, no one can. I can live without her, but you I would die again if you were to be taken from me. I would give any thing to have a life with you still. Your life is mine, and mine is yours. It will always be that way."
A movement caught Kikyo's eyes but went unnoticed by Inuyasha. "Will you come with me to hell after Naraku is defeated and forget about that girl?"
XXX
Kagome lay in the dark waiting for Inuyasha to return to apologize. She knew how much he cared for the former miko, she knew he loved her.
And it hurt. It hurt her to know she would always be the second one, the shard detector. But somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she believed that he loved her too. Hoped to god that he would realize that before he pledged to die with Kikyo. The girl sighed and turned over on her side to face the fire. It was like her relationship with Inuyasha. You would never know which part of the flame would rise higher then the others, but after a while, the whole thing will simmer and calm down, and all that would be left were the hot coals. Calm and peaceful.
That analogy had a certain stupidity to it. Who would want a love that was so calm that after a while it would grow cold and lifeless? She was confused and didn't know if fire was even a good comparison to romance. Either way, it would soon die out. Leave you cold and alone.
It was completely dark outside now and quiet. Not even the crickets and cicadas were heard. Except a small whisper of a noise. She couldn't place it. It was like a small constantly ringing bell that never changed its note. Then…
It starts, go and start the destiny. Go to your loving man-beast.
She shot up into the air, frightened. That voice again. The one from the well and her dreams. It was speaking directly to her this time and not repeating the prophecy. It was commanding her to do something. To start her destiny. She remembered a part of the prophecy, the well gives off a bright light and the orange moon made the land glow. Kagome stood and walked hurriedly to the door and looked out into the direction of the well. The orange light from the moon shone strait into the little cottage room and beyond that she could see the bright purple illumination of the well shoot strait up into the sky.
The prophecy was starting. She had to get Inuyasha.
She picked up her jewel shard and slipped itaround her neck while grabbing her bow and arrows and headed out the door to where she last saw Inuyasha. Kagome slowed her steps though when she saw the souls surrounding the old tree. Slowly, she crept through the shadows to where she witnessed the two loves facing one another and completely stopped. She heard the last words of Kikyo and waited for Inuyasha's reply.
"Yes, of course. I told you only you matter. No one matters to me except you. I love you still Kikyo, even more then I once did." Kagome's breath stopped and she met the eyes of the woman facing her. Kikyo's eyes glinted and she placed her arms around Inuyasha, still keeping eye contact with Kagome.
"Then hold me close, Inuyasha, fore I love you most of all." Kagome watched heart broken as the two lovers kissed. It was not the sweet soft touch of lips, but the passionate embrace of two lost in love and desperation. Kagome took one step, then another back from the two. This was not something she should be witnessing. She turned around and quietly ran into the forest. Tears broke from her eyes and soft sobs choked her throat.
Her pajama pants and tank top caught snags off the branches. She didn't bother to duck them or even escape their reaching, just went through them.
She felt pathetic, to weak and feeble to control her own life, to fight for herself. Could she never depend on only her to make her life hers?
'Can I never give myself a life? Fight for it myself? My own?'
She had no were to go, no one to go back to. They had all fought to protect her for their duty. They risked their own lives for hers, to protect the weak.
'Damn the weak. If they can't obtain a reason and courage to get what they need and want, do they even deserve to survive? But am I justified to snuff out their existence just because they are in the way of my own existence?
'If I am weak, do I even deserve to live?'
The thought had her stopping. Ironically, the area in which she was in was non other then the Goshinboku. The tree stood above her in waves of strength. It's high branches reaching the sky, piercing the dark blue curtain. It's trunk was thick, rounded at the size of a few feet in circumference.
And she envied him. The God tree had stood for many generations, and would stand for many more to come till her time. He stood for many a moon, and still stood as proud and strong as any mortal creature could wish to be.
Some how, oddly enough, as you looked up into it's enormous branches, the moon would always be shining it's nightly glow through it. It was like the moon itself was giving praise to the Godly tree.
She envied both of them. 'The strength I need, is like the earth and the moon.'
The jewel shard at her throat pulsed slightly at her thoughts. Kagome fingered the fragment slightly while pondering it's own strength. 'The strength of moon, earth, and spirit. A strength unmatched.'
She fingered the jewel shard more, while looking through the Goshinboku's branches into the eerie orange glow of the moon. "I wish to have your strength, to protect myself, and those to weak to protect themselves."
"Wishing for strength is pointless. You have to work at it. And I doubt you will ever get the chance to try."
A cold monotone voice broke the calm of the woods. Kagome stiffened and looked around in the darkness frantically for the one who had spoken. It gave her chills, the only one who could ever burn fear into her body with only a softly spoken word was Sesshomaru, and she was alone, and unarmed.
"Were are you? Why are you here?" Kagome was still spinning in circles trying to find any white figure in the darkness, but she only saw orange tinted black.
"I am here, and you are my purpose, though I fear I might be late." Sesshomaru stepped from a shadow and calmly walked toward the girl. Kagome stumbled against the trunk of Goshinboku and Sesshomaru paused a foot from her.
"What purpose do I have with you?" Her voice was breathy with fear, a fact she hated. Didn't she just wish to be stronger? And here she is, cowering before a demon.
A dangerous demon, but cowering non-the-less.
"I can not allow your wish to be made, or the prophesy to become true. Power such as that could reek havoc upon this land. Cons outweigh the pros. I do what I must." Kagome had not a chance to breath as a clawed grip was crushing her throat. Struggling and kicking only made the grip tighter.
"I am not the prophesied one, it is Kikyo." It hurt to talk over the pressure on her windpipe. The demon eased his grip a bit to let her speak. "I have no power but the arrows. The only thing that pertains to me is the mention of the well."
"And it is the very well that is illuminating the sky right now that connects to you. The un-dead miko has nothing to do with it. If you are to live, the rest of the prophesy would come to be. That is why I have to kill you now, in order to stop the problem before it becomes even bigger."
Kagome tried in vain to hold tears back. They fell in sad streams down her cheek and on the demon's hand. Sesshomaru gently ran his other hand down the girl's hair to her collarbone were he grasped the shard at her neck. With a yank, the chain snapped and he held the purple shard between two fingers as he coated it with poison from his fingers. "Do not fear death. Be glad for it. If it is not me who kills you, it would be another to use you. That would not be much of a life. I do this as a favor for you and all living creatures."
Kagome's tears kept falling. Her eyes were blurring from lack of oxygen, but she could see the shard's purple shine coated with steaming green poison. The jewel was not tainted though, which confused her. 'He has no ill attempts. He is genuine in his decision. Though, I am still going to die.'
Sesshomaru drew his hand back, readying himself to take the life. He saw the pained look on the girl's face and felt a bit of regret. 'She really is strong. She should have seen that from the beginning. I hate ending it this way. Goodbye, young Kagome.'
"Close your eyes." The soft command had Kagome lowering her lids and relaxing. Accepting.
'This is were it ends. This too, is strength. Acceptance and not regret. I only wish I could have realized that sooner.'
With point blank accuracy, Sesshomaru lodged both poisoned shard and sharp fingers into the recesses of her heart. With a deft twist of his hand, the organ ripped and died, along with the girl. Her hands spasmodically clutched at his shirt sleeves for the briefest of seconds, till they dropped to her sides in dead weight.
Slowly, Sesshomaru lowered the body to the base of the tree. He laid her arms in her lap and positioned her into a peaceful looking position. She looked asleep, calm and serene. Omitting the gruesome and gapping wound in her chest. The shard, which was still lodged in her heart, tried vainly to shine, but it flickered out beneath the poison and quieted.
Sesshomaru stood staring up at the now blue white moon through the tree tops. A single white orb rose from below him and floated slowly up towards the moon. He watched it's flight till it disappeared within the moon's sky.
He kept watching the spot were Kagome's soul had gone, even when he smelt his brother's scent. He stood even as Inuyasha barged into the clearing with the un-dead miko in his arms. He stood still, even as Inuyasha brandished the Tetsusaiga at him.
XXX
Inuyasha couldn't remember a time he was most happy. Standing under the moon's orange glow with his love Kikyo, sharing his love with her. Never had a moment been so complete.
Even the soul collectors shared in the joy; flipping, circling, and in a seemingly gleeful dance.
"Inuyasha, I have waited so long to come to you. Now we can be together with no restraints."
Inuyasha pulled back from his love. "Why did you wait so long to come to me? I wouldn't have pushed you away, never."
"I had to wait until the opportune moment. The prophesy starts, and now I am free to have you all to myself."
Inuyasha ran his hand through her hair, marveling at it's feel. "This prophesy, what is it that you have to do to fulfill it?" Kikyo gave him a quizzical look.
"I have to do nothing for it. That is Kagome's destiny." Inuyasha dropped his hand and stepped back from his love.
"I thought it was you who was the one. You are the only one who has died and all that other junk. It can't be Kagome."
Kikyo pulled Inuyasha close to her, not wanting to tell him the truth about his friend. In fact, she pitied the girl. She would have to die, as she did, just to live again. And with no certain purpose. "The moon is orange, the well shines with a neon glow, and tonight, Kagome will face her first death. If the road holds to its place, the prophesy will continue. The worst that could happen now is that she does not come back."
Inuyasha jerked from her grip and started to run to Kaede's cottage but Kikyo grabbed him. "She is not there, Inuyasha. She ran into the woods when she saw us."
"But why?" Inuyasha cried out and pounded his fist against the ground. "What if she doesn't live? She has to die! I have to save her."
"Inuyasha, do you care for the girl more then you have told me?" Inuyasha paused in his retreat for the girl. He looked to be stuck on words.
"N-no, Kikyo. She is just to find the shards. She means little." He tried to take her in his arms again but she stepped back. Inuyasha looked about to cry out again.
"I know she is more then that. I have always known. You love her, not like you love me, but you still care for her. I am sorry to have put you through all this, but I have no ill feelings for her. I just did what I had to do to keep her from loving you completely, or else she would not be mentally prepared for her destiny. She can not love you and do what she must. If you have to go to her, I will come too."
Inuyasha did not know what to make of the confession, but he had little time to as he smelt something in the air.
"Sesshomaru! And he's with Kagome! Is he the one to kill her?" Kikyo shrugged her shoulders.
"We will just have to find out."
He quickly hoisted Kikyo into his arms and took off into the woods towards the Goshinboku. His brother and Kagome's scent was strong. A trace of Sesshomaru's poison was there, along with...
"Kagome!" Inuyasha skidded to a halt to see Kagome slumped at the foot of the tree and his brother, blood soaking her shirt. Sesshomaru stared up at the sky not turning to meet them.
The sight of his dear friend dead at his brother's feat had his heart clenching in an agonizing way. It hurt, the lose of his friend had a tear escaping his eye.
Putting Kikyo on her feet, he drew Tetsusaiga and pointed it at his brother. "Why did you kill her? You bastard, why did you kill Kagome?"
Kikyo looked sadly at the girl. There was no soul in her body. She was dead for good. The moon was back to it's brilliant white blue, and the prophesy had been broken. Kikyo mourned for the sad ending.
"I only did what I had to, little brother. She would have destroyed us all, either by her own will, or by another's."
"That doesn't give you the right to take her life. I will kill you for that."
"Enough, Inuyasha. You should put her body to rest. I only did what I thought best to insure the safety of mortal life. I had no pleasure in this." Sesshomaru never looked away from the moon.
"She was a strong woman. I know she would never hurt another, even if she was hurting herself."
"She was not mentally strong enough. The distress of her life would eventually consume her. I did not want that to happen."
"Don't give me that bullshit! You don't give a damn about any one but yourself."
For a second, Sesshomaru was quiet, then turned his golden gaze to his brother who instantly lowered his sword at the face of his brother.
His eyes were sad, his once bright eyes less gold and more bronze. His face was soft with emotion, which Inuyasha could not remember in his life ever seeing.
"She was strong, and I respected her. What human, or demon for that matter, has ever been like her? Never had I met some one who I cared for. I really hoped I could have known her better. But I had a choice; either watch the woman destroy what I found most respective of herself, or give her release now while she was still pure and content. I did what I had to do, for Kagome."
While Inuyasha stood staring at his brother with his mouth wide open, Sesshomaru disappeared into the foliage.
"I wish Kagome had never come through the well. She did not deserve the death she was dealt. You should take her body back to her home were she can rest in peace."
Inuyasha came from his stupor and knelt beside Kagome. He ran a finger down her already cold cheek. Kikyo placed a hand above Kagome's heart and a purple light emitted from the wound and the shard released itself.
"Kagome, I am sorry. Please forgive me for not being there for you. I know I never told you, but you are my closest and most dearest friend, and I will always love you." He sobbed the last of his confession before breaking down and crying. Kikyo laid her hand and head on his shoulder, silently comforting him.
Inuyasha tried to compose himself, but stray tears still fell. He picked Kagome up and headed for the well.
"Wait, Inuyasha." He stopped and turned to Kikyo who had a small knife in her hand. "For burial here, let me get a lock of hair."
Inuyasha smiled as best he could, though it came out in a grimace. "Thank you, Kikyo, for being here for me. I don't know how to explain this to her family, let alone my friends."
Kikyo cut a small lock of hair from Kagome. "Worry about that when you have to. For now, just get her home. You have a right to mourn as well."
With a smile that actually looked like a smile, Inuyasha started again to walk the short distance towards the well.
The well, when he approached it, looked old, like it had aged in the past few hours. The vines around it were shriveled and the wood was splintered and rotten. With one last look at the full white moon, he jumped into the well and disappeared.
Hopefully, he thought, life would move on.
But without Kagome, life would never be the same.
Ends are beginnings that initially end.
Happy endings? No. This particular story ends here. Though I will have another story soon that begins just as this, though ends different that will not be a oneshot, but a whole story. Will be coming out with that when I have my other stories progressed a little more. I hope people enjoy it, because I was tired of all the 'kagome runs from inuyasha and kikyo and finds love in sesshomaru' bit. So, I did it, but had Kagome die by the demon lord's hands. It is to be expected.
With love and no regrets,
Ymir-chan