Summary: Kagome is thought to be killed in the final battle against Naraku, but does fate have something else in store? She is sent back farther in time to fix a mistake that was never meant to be. Inutaisho/Kagome
ALERT! 1/2/08 For any of you who may have read already or part of the story before this message has appeared, I would like to warn you that this story has undergone some changes (I mostly edited the middle and end on this chapter, beginning still isn't the greatest... nor is the rest of it...)!
It was almost over.
Two years have passed since the beginning of the conflict over a simple several ouce ball.
All whom have grudges against the illegitimate 'demon' temporarily banded together, even if not on the best of terms, to land the final move of the game. Their goal: annihilate the cause of their fear. It had been nearly two years of pain and anguish the vile hanyou has caused, yet they managed to survive long enough to fight the battle. Currently, Naraku had the upper hand for he was still, for the majority part, unscathed while everyone else had at bare minimum of several injuries or more, maybe a broken bone or so, with the exception of Sesshoumaru of course who only has 'measly' scratches. However, they were not paying attention to their wounds. It was as if they were numb to the pain, their minds set on that one task which end results would determine their future and those of countless others whether directly or not.
"Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled as he let loose his Kaze no Kizu, eradicating anything in its path whether it be inanimate or not. He turned and started screaming out as soon as he noticed she fired her arrow, filled with reiki, at the dark hanyou; too busy precisely aiming her arrow, combined with Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu, that she had not the time to notice one of Naraku's tentacles heading her way until it was all too late.
It was as if time itself was slowing down to a minimum speed, to expand and stretch as much as possible, allowing everything to appear in slow-motion. Inuyasha's eyes widened dramatically as he sped as fast as he could to her, the wind blowing gently against his face as if lightly protesting against his actions. His heart was beating a mile a minute; fear, just like time, crept at a slow pace into his heart, dread soon filled his whole being. "Kagome!" He yelled once more, she finally heard as she turned to him with a questioning look. Sprinting was not fast enough, the tentacle was gaining speed at a higher velocity than he could ever hope to achieve at his age and experience. He knew at that moment that he was not going to reach her in time. Finally, it seemed as time stopped completely as Kagome apparently met her end. The tentacle finally protruded into her heart, Kagome was none the wiser for it happened to quickly in the millisecond that she was as rigid and pale as a board before she hit the ground.
A small thud was heard in the eerie silence as a slowly fell to the already bloody ground, but not before the life was mercilessly taken from her, a gasping hole where her heart use to be. As they watched their friend fall to her doom, they could manage to do nothing but watch from the sidelines, frozen with fear and distress. They did not seem notice that her last attempt of righting the wrong did not go in vain as her arrow mixed with Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu had ironically hit Naraku square in the chest, currently housing the Shikon shards he collected. Seemingly to slowly purify to death, he managed to scream in a voice so primal and horrid it raised the hairs on the back of the necks of anyone who could hear. "You may have destroyed by body, but you will be too late to save her!" A sick sadistic laugh was heard throughout the clearing as Naraku's remains flew along with the cold and unforgiving wind, seemingly as if he was gone forever. The survivors were frozen with shock, so many things wonderful yet horrific happenings occurred in those supposedly "insignificant" few minutes. However, they could not seem to shake their lingering doubt of the reality of the situation... Naraku seemed to be beaten to easily...
Slowly getting up from their positions, they made their way over to her, deciding to see for themselves if this was truly was happening or was merely a nightmare they would soon wake up from. Looking over her bloody and battered form, they for a second couldn't breathe, a tidal wave of guilt had overcome them. Sango, of course, was the first to recover from her shock enough to say "Damn you Naraku, you continue to haunt us even from your grave." Currently sobbing into Miroku's robes, she tried to hold back, but the more she tried the louder it became. Miroku sub-consciously looked down at his hand and his eyes widened in shock. His kazaana was still there, even though they had slain the beast known as Naraku... Tucking the information away, he replaced his thoughts with those of comforting Sango... He must resist the temptation...
Inuyasha slowly made his way to the shards that were Naraku's piece and slowly picked them off the ground staring at them intensely as the gentle wind passed by. The shards seemed to glow in anticipation as soon as his claws came within a certain range. It was as if it were expecting of something, but he merely shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and then made his way back to Kagome.
"Kagome...?" Turning his attention back to the situation at hand, Miroku grabbed Kagome's shards from her bottle and handed them to Inuyasha saying "Lady Kagome would have wished you, Inuyasha, to have the jewel to protect and make a pure wish upon…" Miroku at this point in time was beginning to slowly tear up thinking thoughts along the lines of those in Sango's head; slowly his salty tears fell upon Kagome's slender and pale hand, which he had been holding at the moment.
Shippou who had currently had been silent until now, had managed to say "Kagome...? No! I won't believe it, you're not dead! Wake up, wake up Kagome! Naraku is dead; you can stop playing now and stand up and tell us you're fine… Tell us you are not…" Kirara mewing, nudging her head against Shippou's hand, trying to console his pain as well as her own as a single tear slowly made its way down from his eyes, gradually rolling down his cheek onto Kirara's fur... 'Kagome, you just can't be gone, what would I do without you?'
By this point, Sango had managed to control herself enough to say "Shippou, I'm sorry, but Kagome… is probably watching us and she wouldn't want to see us living miserable lives, she would want us to be happy…" Shippo just screamed "Liar!" as he blindly ran off into the woods, brushing away his tears as he ran. Sango helplessly looking at Kagome's once cheerful and energetic form, now lifeless, feeling regret that this was not her instead. Kagome still had her family and friends beside their small group, she still had way much more important things to do in her life…
Sango was taken out of her thoughts when Miroku's calm, yet quivering voice broke the silence besides the sound of sobs and sniffling. "Inuyasha, do you think we could wish on the jewel to bring Kagome back? I know it wouldn't exactly be a pure wish since its for our own personal gain, but it's worth a try."
"Damn jewel better work... I wish that Kagome could have another chance at living." As soon as the words left his lips, the now completed jewel began to glow a bright blinding pink, showering them in its warming florescent light, then as soon as it came it disappeared, the jewel had dissolved into dust in a flash as the wind blew it away, some of which traveled onto Kagome's body.
As soon as the jewel dissolved, many different yet spectacular things happened at once. Such as Kagome started breathing again; Kohaku had been brought back to life without the need of Shikon shards, Sango was weeping but with joy instead of sorrow; Kikyo to had risen from the dead with flesh and bones once more, immediately falling into Inuyasha's open arms.
Although they were to preoccupied with their new found happiness they not know that Kagome was fading away until they heard her saying "We won you guys! Naraku's dead!... What the hell is happening to me?! Why can I see through myself?! I'm not that thin!!" Kagome started to panic as her body started to fade, having no idea as to what is in store for her.
Randomly clustered shouts of "Kagome!" were heard as they all tried to run to her yet they could not seem to get there in time.
"Help me!" With that as her last words she faded completely, freaking out over the fact that she was transparent… Seriously,who wouldn't?
Kagome was just waking up from where she was and noticed that she was definitely not in her own time and she didn't seem to be in the feudal area either for some reason. It just felt different. Standing up from her spot on the ground, she noticed that everything around her seemed slightly different. Heck, she felt different, not only did she feel she had more energy and stamina, but she also seemed taller... unless everything else shrunk... Going to the pond she seemed know was just around the corner, she looked down at herself, she noticed that she no longer was human-looking but had youkai features... What the hell is going on? Not far from freaking out, she noticed the prominent details, such as being a couple inches taller then her height when she last checked it, her black hair longer than usual along with a pair of pink strips on each cheek, elf-like ears, claws, and last but not least, sharp fangs. Now Kagome started to freak out since most humans she knows do not sprout demonic features without even knowing it… So as to test her strength, she decided to do so by punching the closest tree to see if she could knock it down...
One Minute later...
She ended up with a very sore hand and a microscopic dent in the aforementioned tree... that is only if that dent wasn't there before...
Plopping herself onto the ground she lightly tapped her chin as she tried to figure out what happened. She looked like a demon, did she feel like a demon? No. Did she have the super strength or power of a demon? No. Was she feeling happy with the changes? No. Hmmm, what a curious thing indeed. There was one idea she hadn't tried yet, and that was whether or not she still had her purification powers. Getting up she found herself a stick and tried channeling her energy into it. Surprisingly, it worked. The stick began to glow a bright pink before she dropped it onto the ground with a smug expression on her face. So, after an analysis of her situation, she found that while she looked like a demon, she had no further strengths than an average human (if not less) while maintaining her miko abilities... Splendid, can you say easy prey?
Now, the only thing left was to figure out where in the hell was she exactly.
After much thought, she came up with the idea that she was probably thrown farther back in time then Sengoku Jidai by looking at the simple village just over the hill, she would say at least several centuries before, give or take a few centuries...
Kagome was now confused to no end, as she wondered what she would be doing here of all places. Destiny must have had something in store for her if she had been transported here, there must be a reason. There was a reason for the feudal era after all, so why not here? Picking up her infamous yellow bag she decided she would need find what her mission was and go to a youkai village due to the fact that ningen villages would not appreciate a youkai coming into their towns, even if that "youkai" is a miko in disguise...
Taking her chances, she closed her eyes, spun around, and the way she pointed when she stopped she decided that was the way she would go, hopefully there would be a demon settlement near by... So she headed in that direction, passing the beautiful scenery, much more lush and colorful when compared to the Sengoku Jidai or her own time. These flowers were not yet contaminated with the pollutions man kind was yet to bring. While too busy noticing the flowers, she tripped on something on the side of the road. "Oh God!" Kagome had finally looked at what she had tripped over, and was surprised that it was a small injured nekomata that seemed travel worn with his/her dirty and tangled hair with small scrapes all over its body, nothing major but it looked like it was a wild cat and perhaps needed a companion.
Picking up the unconscious cat, Kagome blushed as she realized the gender of the nekomata and made her way to the hot spring she knew to be about a five minute distance away if the geography is the same as Sengoku Jidai.
Upon reaching there, she put the cat down and then shed her clothes and picked up the cat once more and went into the hot spring; cleaning them both of the dirt they had acquired while traveling. Once she got out of the water, she quickly put her uniform back on and inspected the him for any major injures.
Finding nothing of necessity, she quickly placed opened her ginormous (AN/ It's a real word I swear! Look it up at merriam webster online and it is there!) yellow bag and took out the disinfectant as well as a band aid or two.
Once satisfied with her work, she then began to brush his hair, while he became conscious and started growling dangerously at her. She hummed softly and slowly as if to calm the skeptical feline, slightly wary yet being the optimistic person she is, doubted the cat would bring her harm.
Kagome then made sure that the he was in well enough condition prior to slowly getting up from her position on the grass and began to walk away when she noticed that the he was following her. "You want to come with me?" Kagome asked as he mewed in response.
"Okay! But if you are going to come with me, we need to give you a name… How about…Takahiro. Yes, I think that name will fit you perfectly! Besides, I've always liked that name, but that brat, Souta, had to claim naming Buyo first..." Kagome continued to mumble and grumble under her breath, slightly irritated as she remembered that moment.
Walking quite some distance, if Kagome had to judge, she would say it was about noon. Meaning she had enough time to go around town and acquire more supplies, which she could contain after trading some of her belongings.
Finally making it to the town, she was rather shocked to see it slightly cleaner and more advanced then the human villages in Sengoku Jidai, which is several hundred years in the future. It was fairly big, had a beautiful water fountain in the middle of the town, and with most likely every store necessary, probably had traders, jewelers, tailors, blacksmiths, you name it and chances were it was in the town square. Looking down at her clothing, Kagome blushed as she realized that when she grew her clothes didn't grow with her... Her skirt was already short to begin with. God, they will think she's a whore, but she needed to go into that village for supplies. With blood starting to rise to her cheeks, she quickly tried to calm down before going in.
Walking around the city with Takahiro following her, she could feel the stares from the people... rather youkai... stared at her as if she were from a strange and foreign land; some shocked, others perverted while some had the shame to look away. She just held her head up high, trying to hold a blasé façade (failing somewhat, keyword is "trying"), and shoulders straight; she looked like someone of importance but when in her school outfit... with her skirt a bit shorter... it's best unmentioned...
Upon finding a friendly enough face, she went up to him asked "Excuse me, I'm kinda lost. Where is the entrepreneur?" She asked as politely as possible without seeming too kind, for it would give away her status as someone of insignificance to them (in that skirt she thought she heard whisperings about being a prostitute...so that plan was already fried but she could hope, couldn't she?). So with the most impassive mask she could muster at the moment, she waited for an answer from him.
"Um-well-um… He is… um right over… there… Yeah…" With that said he ran in the opposite direction, into one of the stores, making Kagome feel slight regret for having to act in such a way, sadly from experiences she learned that it is best to be intimidating at times to get what you need. But nonetheless, Kagome continued in the way that the boy had pointed and minutes later found herself in the trader's shop.
"May I help you?" A smooth voice called out, Kagome turned around to see a young horse youkai with fiery orange hair and deep lavender eyes watching her every move. "Yeah, I want to trade this piece of jewelry in…" Kagome then took out a silver necklace with a gold heart shaped locket; she had received a mass of gifts from Hojo during his visits to make sure she was healthy. Although it seemed expensive, it was actually quite worthless in modern times since it was made of aluminum and coated in a common type of gold.
Ironically, it would pay a more than home since there was no modern technology so the metals usually had bents if they were curved, since they had to pound on it to get the curved shape, while this locket is smooth. Besides, the man (rather youkai) did not need to know that it wasn't fully gold.
"I will take this for 8 gold pieces and 10 silver pieces. Deal?" He asked looking up from the locket to her, expecting an answer. 'Wow, I can probably get some stuff with that!' "Deal… I think I have something else, one second please." She then dung into her bag, shuffling through various books she had for her tests (which would be no use if she couldn't get to her time), as well neccessary supplies. Fortunately, she was able to find a bracelet on the bottom of the side pocket, it seemed fairly decent looking with a silver coating and various charms each having to do with fortune and health. "
"Hmm… I will give you 16 gold pieces and 22 silver for these two pieces of jewelry, deal?"
"Deal, here you go… Now, point me out to the direction of the best tailor in this city."
"Sure. The local tailor's name is Chiyoko; she lives a couple of stores away from here, south bound. You can't miss it, the store resides right next door to geisha house. She is in fact a geisha so if you can't find her in the store she is probably…working."
"Thank you." With her new money, she and Takahiro left the entrepreneur market and immediately found the geisha house. Upon reaching the district, she was astounded to see some of the explicit and astounding things done within the area. As Kagome looked up at the building, she noticed men of high class were constantly coming in and out of the house and thatthere was something about this house that screamed geisha gone wrong. Stepping inside the building she looked around and prostitutes flirting explicitly with their customers and some even taking them upstairs… 'These people have not even the smallest amount dignity or decency. These people who call themselves geisha, who are according to custom are to sell their skills in the form of the arts not their body, blemish the name of all of the female species are quite scandalous! This is no geisha house, but a brothel instead!'
The minute she stepped in, a woman appearing around of mid twenties came rushing out to greet Kagome. "Good Afternoon! How may I help you?" The woman asked with a gleam of greed in her eyes as she noticed the men were ogling at this beautiful inu youkai woman that came into her geisha tea house.
"No, I came to see Chiyoko, the woman who is a tailor. I want to buy a kimono from her." Kagome asked in the high and mighty voice knowing this woman before her was not one to be respected.
The lady looking slightly displeased said "Okay, I'll be right back…" The woman then went in the back and came with another woman who said "Konnichi wa milady. How may I be of your assistance?"
"I am in the need of a regular kimono with geta." Kagome stated as the woman began to take measurements and every now and then recording them.
"I shall have it customized within two hours milady."
"Thank you, I shall come back soon, Chiyoko. Now, would you be so kind as to point me in the direction of the blacksmith." Kagome asked, hoping to get a pair of sai.
Once she had directions, Kagome, followed by Takahiro, left in the direction of the blacksmith, who goes by the name Kenshin, Chiyoko had pointed out.
Upon entering a small dark hut, she found a panther youkai pounding upon an almost complete sword which seemed to be the most beautiful she had yet to encounter. It was a pair of sai with the sharpest blades Kagome had ever seen, most likely sharp enough that if you dropped a single strand of hair it would probably cut it in half on contact. If the blades' shine didn't catch your eye, then their hilts defiantly would. They were both silver with tidy black wrapping and the absolute, deepest cerulean sapphire gems sparkling in the shape of the kanji of "perfection." Finally realizing she had just been staring at the pair of sai for quite some time, she decided to finally speak up.
"Excuse me, are you the blacksmith named … Kenshin?" She asked the panther youkai, who appeared about his mid to late twenties.
"Why yes Miss, how may I be of assiasstance?" The handsome youkai answered back in a deep and calming voice.
"It's Kagome and I want a pair of sai, preferably that one over there." Kagome said in a daze of looking at the shining blades of the weapon which did not go unnoticed by Kenshin.
"Why of course, just wait here." Kenshin went into the back for a minute before coming out again and grabbing the sai from their position on a desk.
"Here you go, I had a feeling someone might request to have a pair of sai. It's a lucky thing that I finished them this morning too." He said off handedly as he reexamined the weapons.
"So what do I owe you?"
"Well the pair of sai shall be about 8 gold and 9 silver pieces." Kenshin stated as he handed her the weapons as she handed him the money.
As she was leaving the store, she held the weapons in her hand instead of in her bag, looking more intimidating than earlier. For it was not everyday that you see a demoness with weapons in hand, ready to be unsheathed, and her confidence only added to it, sending the message that she would not hesitate. Earning many stares as the city began to wonder who this beautiful warrior was. Little did they know that she had absolutely no idea how to use her weapon at a mastery level... or at all. She just thought it looked pretty cool. Finally she and Takahiro left for the geisha house once again to gather her kimono.
"Come on, we have to hurry and set up camp before sundown." Takahiro mewing agreeing in response, following her as they made their way to the geisha house to pick up the kimono.
Upon arriving into the geisha house they saw that it was much more crowed the later it came, and tried to find Chiyoko.
"Chiyoko-san!" She yelled out, immediately attracting stares, many choosing not to believe that she would raise her voice to the point of yelling, let alone be able to shout that loud.
"Yes? I have your kimonos right here." Chiyoko then pulled out a dazzling patterned silk kimono; it was made from the finest silk of the purest of whites with light pink sakura blossoms and a dark magenta, almost crimson, obi; it also had another two layers beneath that completing her look of "nobility."
"Arigato Chiyoko-san, now how much do I owe you?" Kagome asked, hoping it was not a large sum. "Well, your total is about 8 gold and 11 silver pieces." Chiyoko stated and then exchanged the money and kimonos, which Kagome had placed in her bag and then she and Takahiro started walking towards the city exit, but not before they caught the eye of a specific tiger youkai, watching her every move, slowly becoming enticed…
Once she was about a good 15 miles away from the town, they decided to set camp for the night soon. So made their way along until Kagome found the nearest hot spring, so she decided just to set camp as close to the springs as possible without becoming too close just in case more than herself was there. So she went to take a bath in the hot springs once again. You can never be too clean as she always says. However, instead of changing back into her usual uniform, she changed into the kimono she had just ordered. Hopefully, this way she will not stand out as much as other times, especially when she had no Inuyasha here to save her.
However, as she examined her reflection and appearence from the spring waters, she couldn't help but be reminded of how much the kimono cost her. Picking up her now even emptier bag, she emptied the contents onto the grass and sort everything out. The end results were: lint, piece of gum (who knows how long that's been there), a paperclip... and 2 silver coins... Great, she only has enough to buy a meal or so, maybe a bowl of rice or two. Sighing under her breath, she gathered everything back into her coin purse and packed her bathing supplies up and headed back to camp.
Along the way back, a sort of groaning could be heard a small distance away and Kagome was torn between seeing what it is with the possibility of being ambushed, or just ignoring it. After damning her conscience to the deepest pit f hell, she came to the decision of heading over there to see what it was. You know what they say, Curiosity killed the cat… or in this case dog…
Finally making it too the source of the noise, she noticed it was none other than some guy that looked a lot like Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha… Wait a minute, could he be some sort of close relative? Looking down she saw Tetsusaiga and Tensaiga! But that would mean… Eyes widening at this new set of information, she hurriedly inspected his condition. It seemed that he was injured with a fatal wound to his chest, and would clearly leave the land of the living if not given medical attention hastily, regardless of the fact that he heals faster due to the fact that he is a demon.
'Oh God! Wait… How old is he now? Is he already mated and had Sesshoumaru yet? Uh oh… He looks about the age of 18 or 19 in human years… This is before Sesshoumaru is born probably! What do I do now? If I do something wrong, Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha may never be born! If I don't interfere by healing the majority of the serious wounds, then he will possibly die… God, do you enjoy seeing me struggle through these situations involving pest inu youkai?!'
Slowly making her way to him, she noted that he was unconscious, yet growling out of instinct. Digging inside of her backpack, she found her alcohol and other disinfectants and began cleaning his wound. "Takahiro, can you go to the hot springs and bring me back some water?" Kagome asked holding out a bowel for the neko to grab, Takahiro then changed into his bigger form and grabbed the bowel, heading of towards the direction of the hot springs.
The youkai whose name Kagome oh-so-conveniently forgotten was now slipping in and out of consciousness, yet he managed to take note of someone cleaning his wounds with a damp cloth, the blurry outline seemed to look like a woman, who seemed to be Inu youkai, but that didn't stop the snapping of his jaws at her. 'Who is that woman? How dare she lay a hand on me.' with his last second of consciousness, he memorized her bright cerulean eyes and stored it for future references, slowly falling back into unconsciousness…
'Dear Kami, what do I do now with him now? … I can't just leave him like this…He is helpless and vulnerable while his injuries are in this state…' Sighing, Kagome then set up camp a few feet away and brought out some ramen and started to cook it, watching his every move while doing so.
Toga looked around and then spotted the woman that had healed him, gently sleeping with her back to the tree apparently catching up on much needed rest.
He then took this time to completely take in her appearance consisting of long midnight black hair, a pair of magenta strips on each cheek, pale porcelain skin, and he knew from memory that she had icy azure eyes that appeared to look right into your soul.
Looking down at her apparel, she currently had on a three layered, white silk kimono, the under layers were just a plain white and a red, while they contrasted with her white silk outer layer with pink sakura blossoms flowing down from the top to bottom. What really caught his eye were her weapons at her side; a pair of sais, lethally dangerous when known how to be used in the precise technique and skill. 'She must be of noble blood, with silk layers such as that. I wonder what she is doing all the way out here…Yet with those weapons, she must still be a skillful warrior… Strange…a noble warrior woman… Very catchy.' As soon as his gaze went back up to her facial features, her electric azure eyes suddenly opened. "Good to see you are healthy again. Now I may finally take my leave now that you are capable of defending yourself…" She then picked up her monstrous yellow bag holding all of her belongings and called "Takahiro, we are leaving." The small neko then transformed into its bigger version, then allowed Kagome to ride on his back, and flew off into the distance. As Toga just watched helplessly as she flew off, for he knew moving would just open his wounds that she had closed, meaning her attempts at healing him would have gone in vain, but he promised to himself, that one day he will meet up with her again and solve this mystery that currently surrounds her… 'What a strange woman-child she is.'
AN/ Hi, did you guys like the story so far? I must admit it is quite slow and I have not yet proof read it. Please review!
1/2/08 Okay, I have done some EDITING to this story and some major components have been altered. Just a heads up for those who might have read part/all of this.