Kagome gazed forlornly up at the sacred tree. Sooner or later she would get a crick in her neck from staring at the old scar in the bark, but for now she was happy where she was. Happy. Probably not the best word, but it was the only one which came to mind. It was the one she gave her friends when they asked if she was serious about forgoing a college education in favor of helping her mother run the shrine. It was the one she gave her mother when she asked the same question, her eyes earnest and searching. Sota never asked anything, but she made sure to feed him the same lie she had been telling since the well closed four years prior, just in case.
In reality, Kagome was stuck. After coming back to the present, and once the high of defeating Naraku and sending the jewel into oblivion with a carefully thought out wish had worn off, she very quickly realized that, not only was she unable to rejoin her friends in the past, but she no longer had anything in common with the friends had at home. Her final days of middle school had been lonely, and her poor grades ensured she ended up at a high school full of strangers. A few people had tried to keep in touch, but she pulled away from their friendly overtures. Now, she was lucky to see a familiar face at the seasonal festivals hosted by the shrine.
Kagome sighed, shaking her head to clear it of such depressing thoughts. She turned away from the tree and crossed the courtyard, sweeping as she went. With each step she wondered, as she often did, whether the stones beneath her feet had been laid by her friends, or maybe their children or grandchildren, if any part of the world she knew had been touched by the one she left. Voices caught her attention and she looked up as a couple of school aged girls reached the top of the shrine steps, immersed in their conversation. They were dressed simply, but the modern styles made Kagome suddenly insecure, her hands fiddling with the red fabric of her priestess' hakama. She'd liked dressing up once, but she was not that person anymore.
She gripped her broom in front of her, keeping it between her and the visitors as she smiled at them. "Hello, welcome to Higurashi Shrine! How may I help you?"
The girls shared a glance and a giggle, reminding Kagome of herself at that age.
"We heard the love fortunes here are really accurate," one of the girls said, blushing prettily. "Do you think we could have one?" She and her friend giggled with nervous excitement, clutching each other's hands in unconscious support.
Kagome smiled even as ghostly fingers squeezed her heart in her chest. All the fortunes at her family's shrine were accurate — due in large part to her status as an actual priestess — but it was the love fortunes which brought in the most guests. Many times, she'd been tempted to try the fortunes for herself, though she had never gone through with it — too afraid of the answer.
"Of course," she replied, gesturing to the lonely fortune kiosk which would be bustling come festival season. "Right this way."
The girls waited patiently as Kagome brought out two cylindrical omikujis, gently infusing them with her reiki. She handed one to each person with a smile, "Just think of the person you want to be with and shake. Good luck!"
They shook the omikujis eagerly, eyes alight with hope and anticipation. They each clearly had someone in mind as they read their lots numbers and rushed to the matching cubbyholes filled with hand written fortunes — they took Kagome hours to finish. One of the girls squealed in delight, flashing a Best Fortune in the air as she jumped for joy. Her friend was much more subdued, and Kagome feared she might have an angry customer on her hands. It had happened once or twice, and she clutched her broom anxiously. However, the girl simply showed her fortune to her friend and received a sympathetic hug. The two girls then bowed to her in thanks and added to the shrine donation box after a quick prayer.
Kagome watched them leave, simultaneously sad to see them go and relieved to be alone again. Her mother was at work and Sota at school, so the shrine was left to her — and her grandfather, of course, though he had lost a great deal of mobility over the years. Lifting her white sleeve, she glanced at her watch, the modern contraption so at odds with her traditional garb. Soon, she would have to go back inside to check on him, but for now she was alone. A sudden breeze tugged at her hair and sent leaves and bits of paper up into the air. Kagome turned her head to avoid the brunt of it and froze. Across the courtyard, the door to the wellhouse was ajar, light spilling out onto the stone from within.
She dropped the broom and bolted for the light. Her heart was in her throat, pounding with a fervor she hadn't known since leaving the feudal era. She stumbled over the threshold of the wellhouse, landing on her knees — hard. She looked up, brushing her hair out of her face in a manic motion, and felt her eyes fill with tears. The well looked much as it always had, old but not rotting, only now there was a light emanating from within it, casting large and ominous shadows about the room. It was almost reminiscent of someone travelling through time, and Kagome sat waiting for several agonizing moments before the light began to fade. In a panic, she lurched to her feet and vaulted over the lip of the well, hurtling downward into the dwindling glow. It was only after she made the jump that she realized no one would know where she'd gone, if she went anywhere.
Guilt filled her, mixing oddly with the euphoria of jumping through the well after so many years. Her grandfather would be home alone, with no one to care for him or call for help in an emergency. Her mother would come home to find her gone, this time without the explanation of a magic well. And Sota…
Kagome found herself awash in self-loathing as the lights of the well encompassed her. She was a horrible, selfish person, literally leaping at the chance the leave the safety of her home for the dangers of the past.
"Now, now, that's enough."
The voice was gentle, but loud, and it startled Kagome out of her thoughts. It was then that she noticed she was no longer falling. Instead, she seemed to be floating in a field of blue and purple light. No matter how she turned she could not find the source of the voice.
"Kagome," the voice said sternly. "I need you to focus."
"Why?" Kagome demanded, some of her old spunk coming back to her. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"I don't want anything. I'm just trying to fulfil your wish."
"My wish?" She repeated, confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Come, now, Kagome," the voice was still gentle, but there was a creeping edge of exasperation in its tone. "I need your help, and I don't have the time to explain every last detail."
Of course, Kagome had a suspicion which wish the voice meant, she simply hated to think what that might mean. "My wish already came true," she stated confidently. "Everyone who was hurt by the jewel had that hurt undone." The memory of Inuyasha's face when he realized Kikyo was no longer undead stung in her mind.
"Not everyone," the voice said sadly. "There is still one who has yet to find peace."
A chill ran down Kagome's spine. "Who?"
"Midoriko."
Kagome's mouth went slack at the revelation. The priestess Midoriko was a person Kagome had always regarded with a mixture of awe and sympathy. On the one hand, she was strong enough to expel her own soul from her body and contain a demon threat on par with Naraku in power, but on the other her soul was bound within the Shikon jewel for over five hundred years, stuck in perpetual conflict.
"What happened," she asked earnestly. "If anyone deserves peace it's her."
"Yes," the voice agreed with a sigh. "After your wish, Midoriko's soul reentered the cycle of reincarnation. However, after so long in the jewel her inherent reiki became much stronger than it was initially, and all attempts at rebirth have ended in tragedy."
Kagome almost asked what that meant only to stop herself at the last moment. "That's terrible. How can I help?"
"Please realize that we ask this only as a last resort," the voice said quietly, its distinctly sorrowful tone filling Kagome with dread. "We have reached the conclusion that the only body capable of bringing Midoriko's soul back into the world is the one which has already carried it."
It took Kagome a moment to realize the implications of that statement. Her hands flew to her face, covering the fiery blush that spread across it. "You can't be serious!"
The voice seemed remorseful when it replied. "I did say it was a last resort. We wouldn't ask this of you if we hadn't already tried every other option."
Kagome shook her head adamantly. "No, no, absolutely not! I am not giving birth to Japanese Jesus!"
"Please, Kagome," the voice pleaded through a poorly disguised chuckle. "You're the one who made the wish. If we can't fulfil it, the jewel will never be truly destroyed."
"What!?" Kagome screeched. "How is that possible?"
"Only once the wish is fulfilled will it truly cease to be," the voice explained. "Midoriko is the only one left."
Kagome started wringing her hands anxiously. "I don't understand. Is there really no one else who could do this? What about Kikyo?"
There was a silence. Then, "Midoriko's soul needs to be brought back into the world within a certain timeframe. Kikyo's human life will have already ended by then."
The news hit Kagome harder than she expected. The two women had never gotten along — due in large part to their shared love of Inuyasha — but Kagome had never really wished her rival ill. The voice's revelation also brought up another important question.
"I'm never going to see them again, am I?"
The voice hesitated but did answer. "Not everyone."
Tears filled Kagome's eyes, her heart heavy with the knowledge that she would likely never see any of her human friends again. She had foolishly assumed that she'd come to terms with that fact, but now, having it confirmed, it was like she'd been set on fire from the inside.
"We're not asking you because of your soul, Kagome," the voice said softly. "Yours is the only body to have carried Midoriko's soul since it entered the jewel. Every other woman we have chosen for this has failed. You are her only hope."
Kagome ground her teeth, wiping angrily at the tears in her eyes. "Fine!" She shouted into the nothingness. "I'll do it, on one condition."
"Name it."
"Tell my mom where I am?" She hadn't meant to phrase it as a question, but tears were quickly overwhelming her.
"Of course."
Suddenly, although nothing changed visually, Kagome knew the voice, and whoever it belonged to, was gone. The purple and blue light surrounding her began to condense into a single point in front of her, leaving Kagome floating in darkness. The little ball of light just hung in midair, pulsating. Hesitantly, she reached for it, poking at it with a finger. In response, it flew at her, entering her abdomen. Physically, Kagome felt nothing, but there was a tug at her soul. It was familiar, and for a moment Kagome thought she sensed the jewel.
That's not fair, she thought shakily. Mary got an angel.
Then, she started falling.
Hello, everyone. I've been fairly absent from the fanfiction scene for a long while now, and I apologize for that. I just finished my bachelor's in history, which is a writing intensive degree, and haven't had the morale to write recreationally in a long time. But I'm done — for now, ugh — and I want to try and get back into the fanfiction world. Obviously, this is a much more serious work than any of my previous ones, and I hope you like this premise. It's been nagging at me for a while now, and I'm glad to finally have it down. I ask for your patience and understanding as I continue being me and update as sporadically as ever.
Ciao,
Morrowyn