A/N Hello guys! Let's start with saying that his is the first time since 2007 I am devoting myself to write fan fiction. This is going to be a Sesshoumaru x Kagome fic, so all of you who don't like this pairing, you have been warned ;)
I always try to stick to canon, but every fanfic writer knows that canon isn't always so easily depicted.. (And seeing how Kagome is 18 in this fic, some alterations to her personality has been done that I feel would fit one who has had her experiences) Therefore I appreciate ALL the help I can get by your lovely reviews!
(I work as an English editor for a Japanese company, but English isn't my native language so I'm NOT perfect. If the fic has a lot of errors, tell me, but please try to be gentle when pointing them out.. I work my butt of as an editor, and am very far along in my pregnancy, so I'm doing my best to manage getting the time to edit my own texts as well ;D )
This fic was inspired by the Sess/Kag doujinshi "Rain drops". I am NOT trying to plagiarize anything, that doujinshi is merely the source of my inspiration ;)
So go ahead and read it, it's free, AWESOME and INCREDIBLY well drawn!
Link: art/Raindrops-01-Cover-15629317 (Starting with the usual : / / w w w . but without the space in between ;) )
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Inuyasha, or any of the characters from the manga or anime. I do NOT own ANY of the events that have happened in the manga or anime! ALL of "Inuyasha" belong to Rumiko Takahashi!
Rating:M
Warnings: May contain lemon. May contain gore. May contain sensitive issues. Contains angst and foul language.
You have been warned!
Ugh. Longest author note EVER, let's not do that again, shall we? ;)
Chapter 1
Prologue
Long midnight tresses blew quietly in a slightly chilly wind. The autumn had just begun, the ground hardening and losing its vibrant colors, as it begun to change as it prepared itself for the oncoming winter. The trees' leaves had already gone yellow and orange, falling in heaps to the ground. The birds were quiet for once, too busy building nests to have the time to sing beautifully. The forest was peacefully silent as another gush of air ruffled everything around it, leaving behind a blur of leaves on the ground.
A lone figure stood below humongous tree, a pair of outstretched hands shaking a bit in the autumn cold. The figure was a girl in her prime years, already turning eighteen and in doing so, turning into an adult. Said girl wore her traditional bright white and red miko garment, a stark contrast to the dying colors of the environment. The long sleeves of the miko's outfit flapped in the wind as the girl kept staring at the huge tree in front of her with her hands still stretched out towards its massive trunk.
Goshinboku, the tree that always had been and always would be. The tree which symbolized so much... The tree where everything had begun, and not yet ended.
The girl knew that the tree would remain even five hundred years from the time she was currently residing in. It was a spiritual tree, said to have been granted eternal life. It was a tree that held so many memories, both good and bad.
The girl looked lost in thought as the tree in front of her slightly croaked just before a raindrop hit her rosy cheek.
Blinking, as if woken up from a trance, brown eyes looked up, taking notice of the way the clouds had been gathering above. The blue sky was covered, the morning sun long gone, replaced by a gloomy gray mass of clouds.
The miko had been standing there for a long time.
"Inuyasha..." She slowly spoke, and looked down at her palms.
Flexing her hands, the miko couldn't help but notice how calloused they had become from all the manual labor, and practice with the bow.
Had it really been that long ago the two of them had met here? Had it really been that long ago that her body and mind had begun its journey towards maturity? Had it really... been that long ago that her once rival in love, and in some ways enemy, had passed on to leave the main role of a miko to her?
Had she really been here in the sengoku jidai for... three years?
Sometimes... the miko felt very old. She had seen so much, and been through so much.. It was hard to stay the cheery and hard-headed girl she had been upon arriving in the feudal era of Japan. Back then, she had been somewhat naive, and trusting. It had taken her so little time to fall in love, and so long to get over it. In fact... was she even over it?
It is said the first love... is the hardest to lose.
Had she really lost it? Or just... not realized it was a one-sided feeling doomed to end in tragedy?
Thinking back on old times and old feelings, a terrible longing made itself known.
With a pain laced exhale, the miko looked up at the skies again.
Had it been the right choice to stay? To never see her parents or little brother again? To never experience love, marriage and children in an era where women had rights, and men did not run around wielding gigantic swords and love dead priestesses? Had she made the right choice to remain in the sengoku jidai, where danger lurked around every corner, and a miko's duty was to purify youkai and heal injured people? Was that really the life she had pictured herself living when she had grown up? A life without love, without children where duty ruled her every day schedule?
Maybe she had never been a girl with high hopes... but even the hopes she had once harbored had been destroyed. The jewel may be gone, and with it, her greatest enemy and burden.. But where had that left her?
Slightly turning her head, the girl looked towards the village in the distance with hooded eyes. Biting her lower lip, she blinked as her brown eyes begun to tear up.
"Inuyasha..." the midnight haired girl whispered.
Just as uttered that single word, the rain started to fall so heavily it created a curtain of grey around the lone girl.
Barely noticing the cold, the reincarnated miko stood there not moving as the fabric of the kimono quickly became soaked.
Kagome did not mind the rain. In fact, it reflected her mood so well, all she could feel was a pleasant numbness slowly setting in.