Chapter One: The Journey Begins
A/N: Hey! This is my very first fanfic! So nervous for the outcome! Well, read, and please please reveiw! I will post more as soon as I can. Tell me if you like it, I hope to hear anything, flames and all. Everything will help me on my quest to become a better writer! Thanks, I'll leave you to your reading now!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha...yet. (This is the only disclaimer that counts for the entire story, it pains me to say this more than once!)
*Kagome*
Another day in seclusion. Well, she wasn't entirely by herself; Shippo was still snoring under a heap of blankets. It had always been like this…
Kagome couldn't remember anything different then the same old, dusty hut. Cluttered with some books, yarn, old books -almost anything and all stuffed in the small shack.
'I just want to be free…'she thought longingly, staring out one of the four windows.
The windows were set in the four cardinal directions; north, south, east, and west.
Kagome couldn't leave.
She'd tried before of course, edging farther and even farther from her home. Only to be stopped, by a barrier. If Kagome were to look, she'd she her side shine with a luminous pink aura before she was blown backwards by the sheer force of the flawless barrier. But no one, not even Kagome herself, knew what she was capable of.
*Inuyasha*
"Inuyasha, there's no sacred jewel here, we should just leave," Miroku said, standing up and dusting his robes off.
Inuyasha glanced at the monk, and then back at the clove of trees they'd been searching in.
"Sango still isn't back yet, and besides, I don't take orders from you." Inuyasha turned back around, using his Hanyou senses to try and sniff the jewel out. Then the bushes rustled, revealing a brown-haired, dark-eyed demon slayer, with her signature Hirakotsu slung over her shoulder.
"Let's go," and without waiting for a response, Sango stalked down the path. Miroku trailed after her with that lost puppy look, his eyes tailoring to his perverted ways. Inuyasha stuffed his hands in his sleeves and walked behind them, still sniffing for the jewel he knew wasn't there.
"Kirara!" Sango called.
Seconds later, a large two-tailed cat demon landed swiftly, shrinking quickly down into a more manageable size.
'No sight of Shikon no Tama then…' Miroku thought.
Even their air searches gave no clues of the jewel's whereabouts.
"OW!" Sango yelled.
Miroku was snapped out of his thoughts, and without thinking he rushed forward, worried for his love's safety.
"Stupid barrier," Inuyasha glared at said barricade, and pulled out his sword.
Tetsusaiga, his father's fang, slayer of 100 demons and in only one blow as well. It is extremely powerful.
Letting out a rather loud yell, Inuyasha charged.
And the barrier shattered.
*Kagome*
"Shippo!" Kagome cried, grabbing him and running out the door in one moment. The loud crash had led her to believe the barrier had been broken by someone—or something.
So now they had to move.
"What's wrong Kagome?" Shippo asked, his emerald eyes peering up at her from underneath a mane of wild red hair.
"Barrier…it's…gone!" Kagome gritted her teeth and kept running, ignoring the burning pain that scorched her sides, more so on one than the other…
'And I haven't even been running for very long!' Kagome chastised herself angrily.
"Let me down!" Shippo squirmed, squinting at the sun before rolling out of Kagome's arms and keeping up with her long strides.
"We can just ditch these!" he said, shrugging the last blanket off of his shoulders.
Was anything still after them?
*Inuyasha*
"I…" Inuyasha, after all of these years, he was so close! "I smell it!" he nearly howled in excitement before bounding forward.
'Take this Kikyo!' he thought angrily, 'your hiding place is about to be revealed! While you may be dead, the jewel is still here, and it's soon to be mine!'
The miko had protected the jewel, hiding it where she said it would be impossible to find. Several days later, both the miko and the sacred jewel had disappeared.
But no one had noticed the little girl from the neighboring village had gone missing as well. Being to busy with other events, no one had raised an eyebrow at the short statement: Kagome Higurashi has vanished.
*Fifteen years ago*
Kikyo did not want it to have to come to this. Stealing the little girl from her family, erasing her only memories? There was no other choice. At least she wouldn't be completely alone, if the little fox youkai that clung to her stubbornly was anything to go by.
He would be another memory to erase.
Then Kikyo arrived at the hut she had chosen, it was now or never.
Placing the child on an old cot, Kikyo began to murmur quietly. The pink aura of the miko's own power surrounded her; soon it was as dense as fog, and impossible to see through.
"I will become the barrier, the protection, the boundary, I give Shikon no Tama all of my power, and this jewel is what I give to the child…" Kikyo didn't know the girl's name. In the fogginess surrounding them, Kikyo saw the girl's memories.
"Sota, Kagome should be home soon…"
The mother.
"Old sutras, filled with my power…"
The grandpa.
"Hey Sis, will you help me find Buyo?"
The little brother, Sota. And yes, the cat.
So Kikyo spoke solemnly, clearly, one word that sealed the deal.
"Kagome."
It was done.
The pink mist cleared, and the miko was no more.
Just a rickety home, a sleeping fox boy, and Kagome, the child who's slim shoulders now balanced the world.
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