Chapter 1
It was raining heavily on that day. The water droplets pelted on the clearing where the final battle took place. The place was a mess- there was blood everywhere, half-washed by the heavy rain, the other half absorbed into earth, or crusted on the dead bodies. And the dead. Oh, the dead! Mangled bodies lay everywhere, a once beautiful field turned into a graveyard.
There was somewhere in this graveyard, Kagome knew, that her son lay, waiting for her to find him. Poor Shippo got lost in the bloodbath, and thou Kagome hoped with all her might that her kit was alive; she knew that the chances of that being the case were extremely slim, almost non-existent.
However, that didn't stop her. So there she was- in her barely adequate uniform, hair stuck to her face, half-cursing, half-praying, carefully making her way through the corpses. She was alone.
She made a noise at that- a wretched laughing bark, that sounded more like a choked sob, tearing out of her throat before she could stop it. Of course, she was alone -others were too occupied with celebrating their success.
After the battle a proud lord Seshomaru had collected a giddy Rin from Kaede's care, looking perfect even with his minor scratches. Miroku proposed to Sango, to which she wholeheartedly said yes. Kohaku had been saved, and persuaded Sango to teach him the secrets of demon slaying. After that Sango would retire and become a housewife and the task of rebuilding the demon slayer clan would fall on the boy's shoulders.
Ayame had helped to carry a limping Kouga (his legs sported a huge slash from when Naraku took away his shards) back to the eastern pack's den. Kagome now could hear the joyous howling sounds over the rain (seems like Ayame got her prince at last).
Kagome sighed. Speaking of princes, Inuyasha got what he wanted too. Kikyo had died (twice), but her soul got absorbed in the Shinkon no Tama. Thus Inuyasha met her again, while he was saving Kagome from the jewel itself. Inuyasha made up his mind to stay with Kikyo in the jewel, and their souls got purified and freed when Kagome made a wish for the jewel to disappear forever.
It was just her luck that it had been the wrong wish. The jewel was purified, but it didn't vanish like she thought it would. Sure, it was useless now, no more than a glass bauble, but Kagome had a feeling that it would be one of those things, that started with a good intention and backfired at her terribly later on.
Everyone got their happy ending except her.
Of course she was happy for her friends, but she also couldn't deny the bitterness in her heart.
She kicked a little stone around as she went and realized that she was not doing her best to search for Shippo, not because she didn't think she would find him, but because she thought she would (she imagined him all battered and bruised, dead, in a pile of bodies, and knew that she would simply go mad if she found him in that state).
Kagome sighed for the thousandth time that day and looked up at the sky. The rain was almost done now and the cold droplets felt good on her face (she was, however, forced to bring her head down with a hiss when one salty drop landed square in her left eye).
Rubbing her left eyelid in an attempt to lessen the itching, Kagome deemed the day to be over and in an agonizingly slow walk and an unbelievably heavy heart headed to Kaede's village. It was well past midnight when she arrived.
The next day was Sango and Miroku's wedding combined with a grand feast to celebrate Naraku's demise. Little Rin even managed to get the icy lord to bring her to the party, now talking shyly to Kohaku, who was describing some kind of a battle to her. Kagome noticed that in the end of the story Kohaku came out as a victor, and Rin was absolutely amazed by the story and was asking him to tell more (it took Kagome all of her willpower to refrain from a matchmaking attempt).
Seshomaru was talking to Kaede about rebuilding the village and throwing from-the-corner-of-the-eye glances at Rin (and Kohaku) every now and then. Miroku was giving toasts and telling stories to those that were listening, pausing only to take a sip from his sake. Kagome had to admit that today he outdid himself with jokes (earning Kagome her first smile in days) and noticed with glee that he wasn't making any moves on the village women.
And Sango, her dear sister, was simply gorgeous in her white kimono. And she was making her way to Kagome (the crowds were parting like the Red Sea in front of Moses) with a cup of sweet sake in her hands. She came to say sorry for having the wedding when Kagome was grieving. Resisting the tears, Kagome choked out an "it's Ok. I'm happy for you" and was surprised how calm her voice sounded. Sango went after warm congratulations from Kagome, leaving the cup of sake with her. Shrugging, Kagome drank the liquid and in drunken stupor shuffled towards the well.
Once there she just sat on the grass her back leaning on the well, and curling into a ball cried out all the sadness and fear of the last days. It took her sometime to realize that someone had joined her pity party.
Looking up, she saw a woman with brown eyes and black hair, wearing an armored miko garb. It wasn't until her image flickered for a second, that Kagome realized that the woman was a ghost.
"Do you regret it?" She asked.
"Regret what?" Kagome stupidly asked.
"Everything" the woman simply said and looked her into the eyes.
"No." Kagome suddenly became aware that she was speaking with great Midoriko herself, but that didn't matter now- they were just two women talking to each other.
"I can make it all go away" Something in her voice made it sound like a suggestion.
"Send you back to your time and maybe you'll find your happiness?" Midoriko asked again in her offhanded way.
"That's nice" Kagome said and immediately wanted to smack herself for the stupid answer. "That would be nice- going home, forgetting that all of this happened and getting on with life" She expanded her answer to make it seem more intelligent.
"Then why don't you?"
"Why don't I?" Kagome dumbly repeated the question. The woman was still staring at her. Their eyes met for the first time and Kagome demanded with sudden authority "Help me do it"
"It will not be the same home you will be returning to. Will you still tame the risk?"
"Yes" Nothing could stop Kagome from going home.
"Fine" The woman chirped, seemingly pleased with the answer. Still seated, she recited a spell in a hurried whisper, throwing her hands up to the sky. The well reopened for the last time with a blurry of blues and pinks.
Kagome stood to look in the depths of the well and when she turned to thank Midoriko the woman was already gone. Bracing herself, Kagome leaped into the well and before time could whisk her away she heard Midoriko's voice stating something she knew she wouldn't forget no matter what.
"WICKED is good" she had said.
When Kagome opened her eyes she was standing at the bottom of the well. She didn't know what Midoriko said meant, but whatever it was, it had sent a cold chill up her spine. She shivered and climbed up the rope to sit on the lip of the well.
The shed was half-lit. Kagome was sure it had been night-time when she jumped into the well, but it seemed that it was a morning now. Shrugging, she slid open the door of the shed house and was assaulted by a brutal wave of heat.
Struggling to breath, Kagome took in her surroundings- everything was scorched, the metal of her bicycle had melted on the tires, Goshinboku was now nothing but a burnt brown stump of a tree, the main house was a disaster, everything looked run down and out-of-business. There was a smell of burning rubber in the air and someone was screaming in the distance. That someone was soon joined by others screaming and whooping and crying and they made an eerie chorus, sounding like they wanted to raise the dead. And the sun was hot and closer to Earth than it should've been.
Some thing was very, very wrong.
That's when she heard it- a rustling in the bushes. And she turned right on time to see a figure wildly jump at her. It tackled her onto the ground and started chocking her with both hands. Kagome's hands were free, so in desperation she threw a punch at the figure.
It took him by surprise, connected straight with his ear (Kagome wondered if she did boxing in her past life, then almost laughed at the image of Kikyo jumping around and knock-outing people) and she was able to throw him off her and get some distance between them.
She used her time to look at the person to search for weak points, but her heart almost stopped when she recognized that figure. With his black hair a matted mess, clothes ripped and ragged, stood before her Souta. She saw his shoulders tense for another attack and to protect herself Kagome threw her arms in front of her and formed a shimmering barrier.
"Souta? Souta! It's me-Kagome! Please stop!" She shouted at him
The insane haze in his eyes cleared and he whispered her name like it was his first time seeing her.
"Yes! Souta, it's me. What's going on?" Kagome tried to reassure herself that she was dreaming or this was one of Souta's pranks.
"Why are you here?" Her brother asked and took an unsure step towards her.
"I'm here to stay with you, Souta" Kagome tried using the best soothing voice she could muster.
"Go away. We don't need you. You left us to prance through the woods with Inuyasha, while we were suffering through hell. You always leave." He spat and turned to leave.
"Souta, wait!" So much for calming him down.
Suddenly Souta turned his head to look at her (so quickly that something made a cracking sound in his spine), the clarity left his eyes and he said.
"You shouldn't have screamed. Gramps will hear ya, you know. He'll give ya a hell."He said with an obvious glee. Kagome tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut.
Just than a head looked down from the top of the roof. Gramps. He was as ragged as Souta (from what Kagome could see). The old man looked at her for a long moment, and opening his mouth in a toothless smile, happily showed her the hammer he had in his right hand. He looked like a kid showing a medal to his mother, Kagome couldn't help thinking.
Just as unexpectedly, his face twisted in anger and he threateningly swung his hammer back and forth. Kagome noted her brother chanting "shouldn't've" to himself, but didn't dare to take her eyes from her Gramps. Suddenly the man's grip tightened on a roof tile and he pushed himself off the edge with a warrior-like war cry. For a moment, Kagome feared his safety, but the man landed on the ground, on all fours, and his hammer fell right beside his hand. Souta didn't react, off somewhere in his own world.
For Kagome, however, it was the last straw and when the man grabbed the hammer and smacked his lips, she ran. Without any warning, just bolted out the place to the woods nearby(most of the trees were charred and leafless) - there is something in old man ,that used to complain about having to walk, jumping down from the roofs like Batman, with a hammer no less, that tends to creep people out.
Souta stood unmoving in his place, but Gramps quickly bolted after her. Kagome ran on, jumping over tree roots and ducking over branches, her jogs in feudal era preparing her for this. The man was hot on her heels, shouting and cursing, but Kagome could tell that he was losing ground.
She ran on for a solid hour. Her heart ached and her legs burnt and she knew she should stop soon (unless she is to collapse from exhaustion). Risking a backwards glance, she was relived not to see her Grandfather. However she failed to see the figure right in front of her. Needless to say this resulted in a crash.
After the collision, the figure was sent sprawling on the ground, Kagome a few inches away from him. She noted the cleanness of the man (something she didn't expect) and focused on his Hispanic looking face. The said face slowly contorted in anger and his eyes shot open. They both jumped away from each other, readying themselves in case the other attacks. The stances were held for a minute until it was apparent that no one was going to attack.
"Ok. What's your problem, you bloody Crank?" The man (he looked about 20) bit out in English. Surprisingly his tone wasn't hostile, it was more... interrogative.
Kagome cringed inwardly-because of feudal era she missed most of her school, and English wasn't one of her strongest subject even before the whole fiasco. Looking up to the man's face she tried to calm herself down and break his sentence to parts ,examine each word and understand the whole meaning. Then she finally noticed the strange word he used and realized she didn't know what it means.
"What is a Crank?" She asked in her accented English.
This time it was the man who paused for a second, no bout trying to get past Kagome's accent. Thankfully, he seemed to catch on quickly.
"Well, that's what we call the crazy people in English. You know… the loonies." At that point he knocked on his head to visualize the crazy part. Kagome broke into laughter and the man gave her a smirk.
Suddenly bushes rustled and with the stealth of a hunter Gramps entered the clearing and stood a few feet away from the two, shoulders bunched up and ready to attack.
Kagome, startled, quickly hid behind the strange man. That was just the wake-up call he'd needed, because in a blink of eye he took a bazooka-like weapon (from a backpack near them) turned off the safety and aimed it at the old man.
"That is a Crank." The man said, all business. Gramps stepped closer. Kagome saw the man's face harden and before she could do anything a bullet exploded forward and ledged itself in Gramps torso. The bullet exploded with a buzzing sound and the man was on the ground, writhing in pain.
The stranger grabbed her hand and started dragging her into the outskirts of the forest.
"No!" Kagome screamed and tried to loosen his grip on her.
"Yes!" The man countered and run harder.
"He's family" Kagome begged. Sighing, the man stopped and showed her his weapon.
"This 'a Launcher. Gives a lot of pain. But won't kill." He looked at Kagome for a moment and when he started running again, Kagome followed at her own will.
After some minutes they reached a strange looking machine. It was huge and metallic, the shape of a half-circle. To Kagome it looked like a UFO.
The man punched some secret code in and with a hissing sound the latch opened like a mouth ready to swallow its food. Yep, Kagome thought, I'm going to be dissected by aliens.
A switch was hit, illuminating the insides of the machine. The man called it a Berg.
The man gave her a little tour of the place and stopped in front of, what could only be a, kitchen.
"And last, but not least... the kitchen!"
"You don't say." Kagome couldn't help it; there was just something about him that made her feel at ease. You know, like a big brother. The man let out a snort and Kagome found herself smiling.
"I'm really beginning to like you. Too bad I have to drop you off later" He opened the fridge and took out some ham, cherry tomatoes, cheese and lettuce.
"Then keep me!" Kagome chirped. The man looked surprised at that, and then let out a heartfelt laugh. When Kagome got why exactly was he laughing, she groaned and hid her face with her hands- that could've been structured so much better!
"Boy, your English sure needs a lot of work" He commented when he was done laughing. Kagome threw him a cut-it-out glare and slapped him lightly on his bicep (the man was a lot taller than her). He took a look at the withered leaves and threw away all the little into the trash bin
"I mean, that is better that going back to... Cranks." She explained, wrinkling her nose on the strangle word.
"I understood what you meant. But I'm not allowed to bring in Cranks" He took out some bread.
"I'm not a Crank!" Kagome snapped defensively. Then a thought crossed her mind.
"Are you a Crank?" She leaned away from him.
"Nope!"The man seemed proud "I'm Immune - the Flare doesn't work on me. The Flare is the virus that is causing people to go crazy." He explained, then with a resentful look towards Kagome continued" That thing is really easy to catch. Even if you didn't have it up to now...Unless..." Doing a quick once-over of Kagome he abandoned his task and went hurriedly away (not before giving instruction to stay put). When he returned Kagome had already made two sandwiches and put them in a plate.
He came in with a machine like a loud-speaker in his hands and took away the plate of sandwiches from Kagome's hands (then put it on a table). He clicked some button and the machinette in his hands started to emit a green laser-light. The man shone the light on Kagome and after a few seconds a beep sound was made. There was a little screen on the device. The man looked at it, then at her, again back to the device and broke into a grin.
"Good news-seems I can still "keep" you. A bloody Munie, you are!" Kagome was never this relieved in her life. Smiling like an idiot she took hold of the plate with the sandwiches and gave the biggest one to the man, (who took a huge bite out of it) and nibbled on the other herself.
"So, since you obviously are going to hang around for some time, I was thinking on telling you what are we going to do. (He paused to shove another bite into his mouth) Well, I'm a pilot, as you can see from the Berg. I do delivery jobs- weapons, food, medicine, important stuff. (He finished his sandwich)Sometimes even people. Actually we'll be flying to the HQ of the organization that I work in after lunch."
Then looking as he realized he left out an important bit, he added.
"Oh, and by the way I'm working for WICKED" Kagome almost choked on her sandwich, but did her best to seem cool and pry out more information (she wasn't about to let a hint from Midoriko just go away).
"So, what does WICKED do?"
"We fight to find the cure to the Flare. And, I shouldn't be telling you this, but oh well, we have a plan that will give us the information we need. I don't know the details, but basically we put groups of boys and girls into huge secluded mazes and make them play out different scenarios, in which they must figure out how to get out of the said situation alive. Their main objective would be to escape the maze."
"And your role in all that?" Kagome asked with a playful smile.
"Pshh. I'm the one who gets supplies so they can do all that. I'm the important one here, 'cause I fly this beauty" He said puffing out his chest and making Kagome giggle.
Suddenly there was a noise. It was coming outside of the Berg. Kagome and the man raced to the nearest window and were shocked to find a horde of Cranks trying to get in.
"What would you know? Your grandpa came back with a company" He said spotting Gramps in the crowd.
"I say it's time the beauty flies"
"Damn right" And with that he sprinted for the control centre, Kagome dutifully following after him.
Shaking the Cranks off was easy after the Berg was up in the air. Kagome tried her best not to think what would happen if her gramps was among the people that were shaken off in the air. She hoped he survived the fall for Souta's sake.
Now they were flying above the Pacific Ocean (seems that the HQ is in the US). They had used that time to talk to each other and Kagome learned the man's name.
Jorge, the ruler of this Berg- he introduced himself as. Kagome thought the grand gesture which he used to mention the Berg was incredibly cute. She pronounced his name with minor difficulty.
But when it came the time for him to learn her name, he wrinkled his nose and trying with all of his concentration to pronounce her name as flatly as possible (his English was getting in the way) he said something which sounded more like "Kugomay". Kagome had laughed and Jorge had complained about the complexity of the name (thou he forgot about the lingual barrier and talked with his usual speed-Kagome understood only half of what he had said).
Then he jumped up from his pilot's seat (apparently wearing a safety belts wasn't one of his habits) and in his triumph he made a little show of acrobatics, jumping and twirling in the air until his bottom finally connected with the pilots seat. Kagome wholeheartedly clapped but by the time he said what he thought of, Kagome's claps were slow and half-hearted - one of those mocking slow claps, meant to have people know they have failed.
"No"
"Why? That would be so much easier for me"
"No way I'm changing my name." Kagome was adamant on this one.
"Hey! You appeared out of nowhere and suddenly poof I'm supposed to take care of you. At least you can do is make it easy for me!" He threw his hands up at the end. Kagome inwardly cringed at that- he was right- but still changing the name?
"I will make our food and keep the place clean, but no giving up the name" She said her English grammar forgotten on the last past. At least this made Jorge smile.
"Look. Now that we are stuck with each other, you'll be seeing me a lot. Do you imagine me going all "KUGOMAY" in the ship when I need you?" To prove his point he hollered the strange accented name, now not even trying to keep the relative flatness of Japanese in his voice. Kagome giggled at that and shook her head.
Jorge clicked some buttons and the Berg started hovering in the air.
"So see- we need something simpler. You can still keep you real name, but you will be helping all English-speakers out there a great deal." Kagome finally gave in with a sigh.
"So... How about Katherine? It even starts the same way as your real name" Kagome shrugged her shoulders.
"Ok than! Katherine it is!" He stood with gusto. "It's almost sunset and we have
a long day before us. Why don't we go get some shut-eye?" Now that adrenaline wasn't pumping in her veins anymore she felt how truly tired she was. They went to the small guest area- there were no beds so they had to use the sofas. Kagome took the cream colored one, and Jorge took the other one (thou this one was bigger than Kagome's sofa Jorge still had to curl up to fully fit). They exchanged "goodnight's and lay facing away from each other. After a minute or so Kagome's paranoia kicked in (it was developed in feudal era, where they were sleeping outside, open for youkai attacks). Suddenly, she was grateful for this encounter more than ever.
"Hey, Jorge?"
"Hmm?"
"What if the fuel runs out and we fall into the ocean?" Kagome grunted and shifted, so she was facing Jorge. The man had only turned his head and was looking at her over his shoulder.
"Nah, the fuel tanks of this baby are bigger than a car." He barked out a sleepy laugh and added "But we will know if anything- the alarm is loud enough to wake the dead."
Kagome offered an uneasy laugh at that-the comment struck close to home. She thought about Kikyo and Inuyasha (surprisingly she preferred Jorge to protect her- he was no superman, but was smart and funny, not arrogant and grumpy); about their battles to Naraku (she would prefer one of those battles over shooting at crazed people). Then she grieved for her son and knew that if there was a slim chance that she would find him, that chance was already gone. It would be nothing short of a miracle if she ever heard his name again. She offered her prayers and blessing to him and her thoughts went in the direction of Midoriko.
And she was filled with sudden rage, because in her own random and confusing way the woman managed to give her one more adventure to do. Kagome cursed the woman, who started all the feudal era fiasco and didn't give her much choice into starting a new task (Kagome was asked whether she wanted to go back or not, but she was never told what state "home" would be in).
And in her mind she repeated what the woman had said, not wanting to forget it (surely it was a clue to what Kagome should do):
"WICKED is good"
NekoZukiN: I'm sure you're thinking "what is she doing? She still has to update her stories!" I know, I couldn't update my stories because of school and my part-time job. But now that I finally have my summer vacation I promise to go back to my story writing.
I'm so proud of myself on this one- this, by far, is the best thought-of opening to my stories, and the longest chapter I've written. You have to excuse the grammar mistakes and typos (I'm typing this on my phone). And, this is the first Maze Runner - Inuyasha crossover in this site. I'm so excited!
So, you already know that I like Inuyasha. So, here is a new thing I LOVE the Maze runner trilogy. It was recommended to me by my pen pal (Dean you're awesome!) and at first I was skeptical about reading an English book. But, I've read through the trilogy and its prologue (The kill order- I think Deedee is Teresa) in 4 days and I loved every minute of it! I absolutely love Newt and my heart was broken in two when he died.
This is going to be a Newt/Kagome (now Katherine- I thought it would be appropriate because the scientists gave new names to their subjects, something like a symbol of a new life) with a brother-sister relationship between Kagome, Jorge and Brenda (she will appear later) and maybe a one-sided Minho/Kagome. Looking forwards to your reviews.
I don't own Inuyasha or The Maze Runner trilogy (if I did Newt would've never died). I just own my crazy imagination.
See you! And remember:
WICKED is good.