Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot and the world building and the small army of OC characters. Actually, now that I think about it, I own a lot. But… uh… not the stuff that can make money… if you get my drift.
This is a collection of AU ideas branching out from my other Inuyasha/Naruto crossover story 'From the Garden of Gods'. Some of the AUs I have promised: Kumo AU, Clan War Era AU, among a few. None of these are full-blown story. Most of them will be written as bare plot lines, drafts, or one-shots covering the premise, plot hooks, and specific events in the story lines. If I have the time, I will try to turn these AUs into full-blown stories, but as it is right now, I have too many story ideas and too little time. If anybody reading this wants to try their hands at turning them into full stories, be my guest. And don't forget to send me a notice when you do. I'd love to check out people's interpretation of the plot lines I sketch out. Most of these AUs probably won't be beta-ed either as my betas are largely busy these days and I really don't want to bother them too much. I know I can be a big bother to them when I get too excited with story ideas. If you want to help me out once in a while by proof reading and such, send me a text (warning: I bounce around stories worse than a bunny in a carrot farm. I also get easily distracted). If you want to discuss story ideas with me or just want to bounce ideas, don't feel shy either. And now, without further ado…
Clan War Era AU – Part 1 (Kagome lands in Naruto world during the Clan War Era preceding the founding of the Hidden Village system)
A bit of background on this particular AU. Tumblr user azaliekauriu poked me with a proverbial stick. She asked me how I'd imagine Kagome in Clan War Era Naruto world and the effect she'd have on the timeline and ninja world… if she had any effect at atll. In response, my imagination spazzed a little and belted out a vague facsimile of a story premise. After a few days of cooking, that vague facsimile is now a story-line (a pretty bare-bone one but one nonetheless). Here it is in bullet points.
1/ FtGoG Kagome instead of arriving in Suna during the fourth Kazekage's reign actually lands in the Naruto world during the clan war era, around 5-6 years before the founding of the Hidden Villages system. The country she lands in is a tiny, nameless nation in between Wind, Earth, and Fire. It has only a single town and no daimyo, only a minor lord.
2/ The first year Kagome spends here is difficult. This is a chaotic era, so there's no such thing as homeless shelter service that neatly picks her up and gives her a place to stay. She wanders into town without knowing anything, not even the language. She is obviously a foreigner to the locals. For one, she's mostly clean (at least cleaner than them), looks well-fed and healthy (both rarities in times of war in a poor country), not to mention the strange clothes she wears and the huge backpack she tows around. Kagome is vaguely aware that she's drawing undue attention and this can get dangerous, but she doesn't know what else to do. She's lost, in both location and in her mind. This is right after the vanquishing of Naraku and the death of her friends. She is distraught and traumatized and numb and a little suicidal too. So she wonders aimlessly around not knowing what to do. Eventually her hunger draws her to a street-side diner where she attempts to communicate across that she would like to buy some food they have. She tries to pay with coins from her era and coins from the Sengoku Jidai era (which are made of copper and gold). The vendor accepts her money (on an exorbitant exchange rate) and Kagome gets to eat. This later leads to problem since people have seen that she actually has money (gold coins) and this is a very poor country with most people down on their luck because of the constant wars between bigger nations. Later on, Kagome is attacked while on the street by thugs and robbers. Leaving the pack behind, she manages to escape with her life (and her bow set). She makes for the forest next to town to avoid further troubles (also because she now has no more coins for a warm bed and bath).
3/ After a few days of wandering around in the forest, Kagome finds a run-down, abandoned church. She starts living there because it's better than sleeping on the forest floor and always having to keep an eye out for danger. For the first few months, her life is dictated entirely by instincts and habits. When she's hungry, she looks for things to eat (foraging in the forest, hunting small critters like squirrels and stuff). When she's tired, she sleeps. When she's hurt, she attempts to patch herself up while trying to reign back the suicidal thoughts brewing in the back of her head. She lives wild, almost like an animal. And since safe places to bath are few and far in between, she gets progressively more and more filthy. Though Kagome knows her past self would be horrified by the state she is in right now (ragged filthy clothing and body and hasn't bathed in weeks), the current her doesn't quite mind. She has nothing to live for, no school, no future, no family, no friend. She is tethered to life by a single promise and so she lives, but that's barely living.
4/ Eventually, this state is broken by a chance meeting. One day when Kagome is sitting in the run-down church thinking of nothing in particular (she's doing a lot of that these days, thinking about nothing in particulars. It beats thinking about the past and the people she lost), she hears the cry of a child. Pulled by the habit of her kind past self, she ventures from the church, makes her way through the forest, and eventually finds a distraught child with one broken leg - a village boy who fell down a shallow ravine and broke his leg). She heals the child with her power, then wordlessly points him towards the forest entrance. The child is terrified of her because of her appearance, but she hasn't hurt him yet so he obeys.
This sets the precedence for Kagome's encounters with the villagers in the future. The child remembers her and once he's safely back in his house, he spreads news of a crazy beast girl with mythical healing power living in the forest. Most of the adults dismiss this as the wild tale of a child with an overactive imagination (especially when he has no wounds on his leg to prove that encounter in the first place), but the children of the village are intrigued. Eventually, some daredevil boys and girls make it a dare to go into the forest and catch the 'beast girl'. They are not very successful at that because they are loud and clumsy so whenever they go into the forest, Kagome hears them and actively avoids them. But since they are children, sooner or later, they get into trouble. They fall down ravines, trip over roots and branches, scratch themselves up, encounter dangerous wild animals. When this happens and they cry out in fear and pain, Kagome finds them, heals them, and sends them back to the village (via wordless pointing. She still doesn't speak the language). This becomes something of a game for Kagome and the children (both of whom have little interesting things to do). They keep trying to find her while she keeps avoiding them, until one of the children is hurt and Kagome appears to heal them, call the game quit, and send them back to the village.
These children, of course, talk even more of the beast girl in the forest to their parents, but once again, their words are dismissed. Their hide and seek game with the forest kemono girl remains a children's made-up fairy tale in the mind of their parents.
5/ An event breaks the game one day. A plague arrives in the village, something similar to the black plague and most of the villagers succumb to it. News is that healers in big cities can do something about the illness, but none of the villagers have the money to make the journey in the first place. Slowly, they grow weak with the disease and some of them start dying. One of the ill people is the single mother of a child who participates in the game of hide and seeks with the beast girl. One night, as his mother lays panting and vomiting up blood, the distraught child can take it no more and he runs into the forest where he cries out for the help of the beast girl. Kagome appears as usual. She is puzzled by the boy's appearance. He appears unharmed but he is clearly distraught. The boy grips Kagome's hands and pulls her towards the village while babbling on about his mother. She doesn't understand a word and tries to resist but he begs and begs and his desperation is such that even the barrier of language can't stop it from reaching Kagome. Eventually, Kagome allows the boy to lead her to the village and to his house where his ill mother lies dying.
Once she sees the boy's mother, she understands what he's trying to say and without needing explanation, approaches the woman, touches her with her light and heals her.
This event effectively changes Kagome's life for the better.
6/ When the mother awakes, she is horrified because the first thing she sees after the joyous face of her son is a... a beast girl. Just as the children say, she is a terrible sight. Filthy ragged clothing, hair that grows so long it trails the floor, and the nails. She is about to try to drive the beast girl from her house and away from her son but then the boy starts talking of how the beast girl has saved her and so on and so forth. The mother is dubious but she is polite enough to refrain herself and leaves Kagome mostly alone (but not after giving her a cup of water to drink. They are poor, not mannerless).
Immediately, news that the beast girl has left the forest and is now sitting in a village house spreads through the ranks of the children many of whom have parents sick and dying with the plague. They come to Kagome then and one by one drags her to their houses and begs her to save their parents. She does as they ask and slowly the myth of the forest beast girl solidifies into reality in front of stunned parents and villagers alike.
7/ Once everybody is healed and back on their feet, they are faced with a quandary. What do they do with this beast girl? She's hideous and terrible to look at and some people are convinced she is a demon that unsuccessfully takes the form of a young woman. But others argue that she just save all of them and hasn't asked for anything, that it would be barbaric to treat her like that when she has done no wrong. Eventually, it is decided that the villagers will let her stay in the first boy's house. The women of the village say "She's filthy, let's give her a bath" and drag her off to scrub every inch of her skin clean.
Once the bath is done, lo and behold, the beast girl is no more. The young woman that stands now in her place is a little disheveled and thin, but looks perfectly human... even somewhat pretty to their eyes. This is certainly no beast, but perhaps a young girl who has lost her mind due to some tragic events. There are plenty such stories in that era of wars and chaos, stories of women going mad with grief at the loss of families and lovers. Once the women of the village think of Kagome like this, they unanimously adopt her (they are all mothers and know a lost child when they see one. Seeing Kagome like that promptly sends their matriarchal instincts into overdrive. Plus now that they think about it, she probably has saved their kids from gruesome deaths in the forest countless times). They dress her, cut her hair and rub down her scratched skin with herbal balm and tell her she can stay with them now and please don't go to the forest anymore. She has a place with them now.
8/ This is how Kagome's life with the villagers start. She becomes the de-facto healer of the village and in return, the villagers bring her things as payment: food, clothes, a new pair of shoes, a clip for her hair. Some villagers when they find that she's not a mute, take it upon themselves to teach her their language. This is how Kagome gradually learns the language and a little about this new world she is in.
9/ A few months after Kagome starts living with the village, the villagers receive a missive from the lord of the country turns out that the lord's son himself has come down with the plague and rumors of city healers capable of curing that disease is just that: rumors. The lord has heard of news of a healer in this village who is capable of healing the disease and though he is riddled with doubts and suspicions that she is no more than a fraud, he is desperate to save his beloved son. And for that reason, the healer named Kagome is thus summoned to the lord's castle to attempt to heal his son. If she succeeds, he will reward her. If not...
The villagers are puzzled by the missive. The lord of this tiny nation (more like a city state really, with the only major city being mostly a village) is not an unjust lord. They say perhaps he is made mad with the illness of his son and tell Kagome not to go, that they can hide her if he sends soldiers to take her forcefully. Those soldiers are their sons, brothers and fathers anyway so it's not like they have much ground to push the villagers around. But Kagome refuses. She says that she takes her role as the healer of the village seriously and will not reject anyone who is in pain or sickness. So she goes.
Kagome arrives at the castle (which is only a few hours ride from the village) to find that just as the villagers say, the lord is devastated by the illness of his son (which is as good as a death sentence in those time). He is an old man with white hair and a long beard and once he sees Kagome gets on his knees to beg for her help (at the admonishment of his advisers that a lord, even a very minor one, should never assume such position in front of a mere commoner). Ignoring the admonishment of his advisers, the lord tells Kagome that he is not rich nor is his nation a mighty one, he has enough awareness to know and admit that. He says that because of this accursed wars between greater nations, he has lost much, his wife, his brothers and sisters, his wealth. His son is the only thing of worth he really has left and he will do anything to save his son. He tells Kagome that if she saves his son, then he will give anything she wants, anything at all. But she fails and it turns out she's just a fraud who preys on desperate people whose loved ones are suffering, then he will kill her. He will have her tortured, her skin pulled and her head shaved, and then he will burn her slowly to death. Just as the villagers say, the lord is mad with worry and desperation.
Faced with these threats, Kagome is largely unaffected because a/she's been through worse and b/ she sees her past self in the lord. Once she was just as desperate and mad with grief, mad enough to commit atrocities far more than this old, feeble man in rich robes could ever hope to achieve. And so ignoring the whispering and accusations of the court, courtesans, and advisers behind her, Kagome goes into the sick chamber, takes one look at the son, and promptly heals him with a touch of her hand.
The court is shocked. The lord is deliriously happy. The advisers are wary. They say this may be a trick and that the prince may come down sick once again when Kagome is safely far away with whatever rewards she demands, so they 'ask' her to stay for a time so that they can fully verify that the prince is really back in health.
So Kagome does that (with not shits given. She's kinda blase about most threats now because she's been through much much worse). For several days, she is kept almost a prisoner in a room in the castle. She is fed of course and given many comforts but she is always accompanied by guards and is not allowed to leave the castle ground or indeed goes anywhere out of the guest wing at all.
On the fourth day of Kagome's stay at the castle, the lord comes to visit her without the company of his paranoid advisers. He strikes up conversation with Kagome. First, he apologizes for his behavior when they first met. He says regardless of the grief he was in, that was no excuse for him to act that way. Second, he asks Kagome what she wants for rewards?
She asks him if the court has decided that the prince is indeed well and that she plays no trick on them. The lord says not yet, but that they are simply obstinate fools who won't accept things that go beyond their understanding. He apologizes for their behavior and assures her that it's just a matter of time before they see this waiting is a pointless endeavor. He repeats his question on what Kagome wants for rewards.
Kagome says she wants nothing. She didn't become a healer for want of riches. She did it simply because people needed her to be one. Though this patient is a prince, it makes no difference to her. Even if he were a destitute peasant, a criminal, or worse, she will still not reject him.
The lord comments her for her commitment, then after a period of quiet, he asks Kagome if she has lost not only all she holds dear but also her reason to live, and that if this loss is due to her own mistake. Kagome is a little surprised and asks how he knows. The lord says he recognizes the same sorrow and aimlessness he once went through in her, that she too is now looking (whether she knows it or not) for a reason to live.
He tells her his own story, how he was once a young and power hungry lord. Though his country was small, it possessed special gemstones called Ttang ui Jinju (a.k.a. Pearls of the Earth) that can be mined in a couple mines located at the heart of this small nation. When he was young, the lord pushed for extensive mining of these gems and sold them to fund his army. War was the vogue of those in power of the day and the lord wished to build a strong enough army to conquer the neighboring countries and become a daimyo in full and not just a minor lord of some backward nation. For a while, this worked and he conquered two neighboring nations. But eventually, the mines dried up and so did the lord's funding. Left without a way to maintain a healthy cash flow for his army, he was forced to cut back on his military spending and downsize his own army. Without a large army, eventually he lost control of his two vassal nations both of whom turned back to attack his birth country. In the aftermath, not only did he not bring prosperity and power to his nation, he ended up losing much of his wealth, his wife and daughter (who died in a raid) and his brothers (died during battle). Parts of his own land was cut and annexed by those nations as war preparation when he lost. He ended up far poorer and weaker than when he first started out. And only then did he see how much he actually had before he foolishly let his greed lead him down the wrong path. He says that is when he lost most of his reason to live, having had his own life dream shattered and losing his beloved wife and daughter in the process. It took him a long time to regain the will to live via his one surviving infant son, the very son who Kagome just saved the other day.
He then says that he sees the same sorrow and regret in Kagome and guesses that she must have made a terrible mistake and lost all she knew because of it.
Kagome is shaken by the lord's query and does not quite know how to answer. The lord, when he sees this, presses no more. He simply pats her on the head (like a grandpa to a granddaughter), smiles at her and say there's no rush, one needs time to get over past tragedy and that he hopes she will find her reason to live soon, perhaps here even.
10/ A few more days go by. As the lord promises, the court finally recognize Kagome's ability as a healer and that she has successfully cured the illness in the prince. In front of this court, the Lord decrees that his reward to Kagome is through adoption. He hereby takes this girl (Kagome is around 17-18 at the time) as his own daughter, not by blood but by honor, and says that though she comes not from his line, she is to be afforded all respects, all rights, and all duties as if she were his own child by birth.
Both Kagome and the court are shocked by the lord's decree. The advisers try to tell the lord that this is a bad decision and that Kagome is a mere peasant whose origin they know not. She can be a spy for all they know. But the lord will not be moved. Kagome is now a princess and they best not disrespect her less their heads leave their neck (he's joking of course but with enough point to it that his advisers know if they reject Kagome or try to harm her in anyway, he will not hesitate to make that joke a reality).
11/ This event marks the second phase of Kagome's life. She still mostly stays with the villagers of course (who is awed by her new status as the princess of their nation, adopted yes, but still). Kagome tells them to treat her no different from before. She's still their healer and nothing has really changed about that.
She's wrong of course, because things will change. One day, the lord summons her to his room where he talks to her in private about the way she heals people. He says he has gone far and wide in his search for a cure for his son and nothing about her method of healing aligns with what he knows of the medicinal sciences. He also observes that while her healing ability is unquestionable, she also lacks basic knowledge that all trained doctors should know. He guesses what she has is a special ability like those possessed by the ninja hired by many richer and bigger nations. This is the first time Kagome hears of ninja with magical abilities in this world (since the villagers and most people of the court are just normal people). The lord calls in a personal guard who knows a little ninjutsu and has him demonstrate his ability to Kagome (a D rank suiton and a bunshin jutsu).
Then the lord tells Kagome that while he doesn't know much about ninja nor their abilities, but he knows that her power must be a rare one because while ninja are versed in the art of killing, few of them possess a power like hers. He says if she can do what most renown doctors in the country cannot with just a touch of her hand, then her power is already far beyond what is considered normal to these ninja, and that powers such as hers are usually hunted after... especially if the bearers are female of breeding age. He suggests that Kagome learns the science of medicine and healing in the way a normal person would to camouflage the true extent of her abilities. He also says that while such abilities are powerful, they usually have limits or drawbacks (such as drawing on the user's life force to heal) to them and that it is not prudent to count on them to the exclusion of other alternatives.
The lord is right. Kagome's exceptional healing abilities come from harboring the full Shikon in her soul. Every time she uses it, she fears of one day being overtaken by the evil in the Shikon or that the Shikon may leave 'side effects' on the people she heals (i.e. ala all the demons that try to use the Shikon to become stronger). Also, her healing abilities have limitations due to her lack of knowledge. There are times when Kagome has healed broken limbs wrong by not setting them before applying her healing power on them. Though those mistakes can be fixed (via breaking the limb again, sets it, and then heals it the proper way), she fears making a mistake that cannot be repaired out of ignorance one day.
So Kagome takes the lord's advice and starts training as a doctor. Since she is now his honorary daughter, the lord provides teachers, books, and other supplies for her. Since he sees that Kagome is also mostly ignorant of this world, he also gets her tutors and teachers in other subjects (i.e. history, written language, politics, court etiquette, world affairs, the general management of a country). When Kagome questions him on the extra classes, he merely says this is because she is now a princess of the country and the princess should not be ignorant on these subjects. Kagome doesn't really think so (I'm not an actual princess. I never wanted to be one. You were the one who insisted I become your daughter), but humors him because she thinks he is an old man who wants a little daughter of his own to dote on in the absence of the one he lost decades ago.
Anyhow, this sequence of events enables Kagome to deepen her knowledge and abilities as a real doctor and not just a person with magic healing hands. It enables her to prevent diseases and injuries instead of just treating it when it happens. Prevention is always better.
As part of her princess status, the lord orders her own home to be constructed in the village (at Kagome's insistence because she doesn't want her own wing in the castle that he first suggests). It's a small and cozy home, with an attached clinic so that she has space to work, a small nursery for her budding medicinal plant garden, and a rudimentary lab for distilling medicine. The creation of this home effectively enables the next part of the plot.
12/ Over time (a few years), Kagome's fame as a talented doctor grows and grows until her names become known beyond the border of that tiny nation. She has visitors and patients from other countries now, and as she promises, Kagome turns none away. She doesn't take money as payment, but asks for favors done for the public good of that country she lives in (she sees this as a way of repaying them for having taken her in and given her a place to stay and a family to care for. Because she has all these people to take care of and people who care for her well-beings such as the children, the villagers and the lord of the castle, her sorrow and heartache gradually diminishes and her suicidal thoughts cease).
Most people who seek Kagome's healing are poor and desperate, but among them are also those few who are rich and influential - great merchants or lords and ladies of minor countries from far away. Whereas other patients pay by items from their own home such as food or things they make themselves, these few patients show their gratitude by adding roads, bridges and community buildings to the small nation. This way, Kagome slowly but gradually brings more wealth and prosperity to the village and the country, eventually turning what was once a small backwater place into a still small but budding city state on its right.
This is when things begin to complicate. As Kagome's name as a talented doctor grows, so too does her reputation of never turning away a patient regardless of their origin, their wealth, or their allegiance. Because of the constant wars of this world, allegiance is a topic of extreme importance. Doctors and healers in this world are important personnel to their respective countries or establishments and since they don't have anything similar to the Hippocratic Oath of our world, they will often reject to treat someone not of their own faction or from a faction they deem not worth their attention (i.e. very similar to how doctors and healers are in eras before Hippocratic Oaths and in countries where they don't have similar institutions. Think Sengoku Jidai, the war of roses in England, etc... It's much the same. If you aren't anybody important or not from the same political faction, the best medical treatment you can hope for is from herb women or men of dubious skill). This makes Kagome a unique case... especially to a certain class of people. The ninja.
This is before the founding of the Hidden Village where ninja become an institutionalized and somewhat respectable caste of people. In this era, ninja is a dirty world, a name for those mercenary whose loyalty can be bought and sold and counted with coins, in other words, not people that the best doctors and healers of that time will give attention to (unless they pay their weight in gold of course). But here is this one doctor whose name is rising and rising among even the rich and influential and whose reputation says she turns none away.
Before long, Kagome is visited by her first ninja patients. They are a desperate bunch, wounded and near dying in the aftermath of a battle and have no other option but to try their luck with this 'healer Higurashi' they have heard about. They hope for nothing, and in truth half expect her to turn them to the authority immediately, but at least by doing this, it's still better than just lie down and die. They come into Kagome's home at night (yeah cause ninja at those days don't do the whole I'm a ninja in plain daylight) to seek her help. Kagome at first is terrified of their presence (strangers visiting you in the middle of the night and you are a young woman living mostly alone. Tell me you wouldn't be scared in her situation too), but once she calms down, she sees that these people are here for healing. So she takes them in, tend to their wound, keep their identity a secret, and when they are about to leave, ask for nothing but good deeds done for the sake of the people.
The ninja are puzzled and bemused. They honestly didn't expect to be treated that way (like normal people and not blood thirsty thugs out to kill everybody else. Ninja have bad reputation in those days and age, due mostly to their participating in wars and raids as proxy to other countries). They are the first. After them, more and more wounded, sick or dying ninja start seeking out 'the healer' (that's how they refer to her, as 'The Healer'). Kagome treats them the same as everybody else regardless of their allegiance or origin. She wishes to follow the creed she has set out for herself. But doing this is far more difficult in reality.
13/ Troubles come as the number of ninja seeking Kagome's help grows. Before long, enemies start running into each other in the healer's small clinic. These encounters are often violent despite Kagome's best attempt to establish control and order. She may be their healer but the other guy killed their family and friends. If she's so compassionate and can look past their dirty background as ninja, surely the healer can forgive them this transgression too (that's how those ninja think anyhow). These incidents are small and more or less contained at first mostly because when these guys run into each other, they generally are in no shape to duke it out anymore. But eventually, some groups get it into their own head that the healer's clinic is actually an excellent place to stake out and clean up weakened enemy ninja. That's when the violence can no longer be contained.
A major altercation leaves Kagome with a partially destroyed clinic, several wounded and near dying patients and herself truly angry for the first time in years. Using her barrier ability, she ejects the troublemakers out of the country (surprise mother fuckers! I'm not just a harmless young woman. I warned you and you didn't listen to me. Now watch as I boot your ass from here to kingdom come! Well ok, not really in those words but Kagome will say something similar) and isolate the other parties (who while they didn't start the episode did take part in the violence quiet enthusiastically despite Kagome trying to stop them). Because of this altercation, Kagome can no longer keep secret the identity of her patients any more. The villagers, when they find out about is, are worried but don't really reject her since the way they see it, she did save their lives and has been instrumental in making things much better in the country. They understand her desire to help those in need and she's young still so there's a reason for her naivete.
The lord on the other hand has no problem voicing his concerns to Kag. He says that all nice things in this world need protecting and while it's good that she is so committed to being a healer, she must also be aware of the danger she or her patients pose to the people around her. If she cannot control them, then best not receive them at all. The lord maybe indebted to Kagome and sees her as his own daughter but he is also a ruler and must be concerned for the safety of his people. These ninja that Kagome has been harboring, many of them are considered criminals under the law of the country. As long as they stay put within her clinic, that is fine, but it doesn't look like she can get them to stay put at all. Kagome takes his words to heart, and promises that she will come up with a way to resolve the situation.
Her solution is to rebuild her clinic in a location detached from the main body of the village. The location she chose is the run-down church she once lived in years ago when she first arrived in this world. It's not too far away from the village and the castle and since it's still standing after all those years, then she figures the foundation must be good. With the help of the lord, Kagome renovates the old church back to perfect condition and use this as her clinic. To prevent another violent altercation from taking place, Kagome sets up a barrier similar to one she once saw on Mt. Hakurei (remember that arc revolving around a dead monk corrupted by Naraku. Yeah that one). This barrier allows her to evict violent visitors at will (basically a DDOS denial of service system) or to barricade them inside the clinic and restrict their access to the village. The detached location of the clinic means that if there are fallouts she can't contain, then at least no villagers will be hurt.
This sets the foundation to the healer's clinic becoming known as a true neutral zone where inter-clan violence and revenge is absolutely intolerable in the ninja world. From this point on, the healer's clinic becomes an inviolable haven of healing. A miraculous feat considering the constant wars and bloodshed of this era.
14/ The next thing to happen is an event that shakes the small country and its citizens to their core. The horns of war have been sounded between two great nations. The daimyo of one of those two just so happen to be the regional daimyo to whom the lord of the castle owes his allegiance too. As soon as war is declared, the daimyo sends a missive demanding the castle lord to send his force as contribution to this war. The castle lord has no choice but to obey. Despite the demilitarized state of the country, he does have a small standing army in wait. Since the castle lord is too old to lead this army, the task falls to his young son (the one Kagome saved) who is only a few years older than Kag at the time. The prince departs with the army. Their departure is met with much trepidation from the villagers and the court. The prince is young and inexperienced, and in a war like this, their little army means next to nothing on the battlefield. But allegiance is allegiance and the castle lord must fulfill his to the daimyo. Such is the way of the time.
The small country follows the progress of the young prince with both eagerness and anxiety. They cheer and celebrate for his few small victories and send their solace with each setback. This goes on for nearly a year until at last, their worst fear becomes a reality. The prince and their small army are met with an impossible foe, beset by enemies on all sides and ambushed by ninja, they die in droves. The young prince falls in battle and only half his body makes its way home. The other half is crushed to a pulp by a doton technique by an enemy ninja. The lord of the castle is devastated at news of his son's death and falls into sickness. Though Kagome tries her best, he gradually grows weak until he is on his deathbed.
15/ The castle lord's dying scene is a pivotal point to Kagome's growth as a character. Kagome is distraught because she cannot stop his death She starts having vivid flashback to the time when she was helpless against the death of her friends. The castle lord sees this and as he lays dying, attempts to comfort her. He says she has tried her best. However, all humans must eventually answer the call of the death god. She maybe a very good healer, but in the end, humans are no god, and she must remember this because to harbor delusions of defying the natural order of death and life is hubris of the highest order and a road straight to madness. This part is homage to the clause "I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism" in the modern Hippocratic oath (this is a real problem in medical professions. Doctors can, at times, easily fall prey to zeal of overtreatment, thinking themselves capable of stopping all diseases, or to nihilism in realizing that even when they have staved off death today, it will still come to their patients eventually. It is a very fine mental balance for a lot of medical professionals)
Kag starts crying then. Over the years, she has come to see the castle lord as a father figure and to lose him is a major blow to her. The lord pats her head, tells her that he has lived a long life and by meeting her, he was able to lay to rest a lot of his regrets. He thanks her for her companionship in the few last years of his life. Then he turns to the advisers and top members of his court and declare to them that with his death, he henceforth transfers his rulership over to the new lady of the country, Kagome Higurashi of the 'so and so' clan. His court and advisers are stunned but they don't dare defy the wish of the dying ruler. Then, with his last breath, he turns to Kagome and says.
"I wished to bring peace and prosperity to this country, but I failed. This world is a place filled with cruel and violent men. A girl with a gentle heart such as you, I don't know how you will fare. I worry that you won't survive, that your dream will be crushed and your heart shattered by such men, but what do I know? I'm just an old, feeble man. You are stronger than you appear. My way of the sword already failed. Perhaps your way of compassion and acceptance will light a different path."
Then, threading his hand through her hair, his eyes losing life and focus, he says "Live, Kagome, live gloriously."
TBC in the next part… which should be up in 2-3 days.