Reflections
by Elven Child
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Kagome does not belong to me. I am not retaining
Miroku in anyway. Sango is certainly not
possessed. Shippou is the keeper of
himself. As for myself...
well I do have that at least.
"So this is who I am,
And this is all I know,
And I must choose to live for all that I can give,
The spark that makes the fire grow..."
Chapter 1:
It was nearly one year. One year ago
they had set out together to recover shards from the Jewel of Four Souls. For an entire year, they had been battling
demons of all sorts, gaining strength and new abilities while at the same time sharpening
and retaining their old skills along the way.
It had been a year ago that their friendship had begun and throughout the year
that had been tested.
Nevertheless, that year was quickly ending and they had no more to show for it
than a half completed gem and a curse growing ever stronger on one of their numbers;
a constant reminder that time was indeed running out...
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Miroku trudged warily through the dense foliage of the forest. It had been five days since their last battle
and they had been traveling ever since. He
was exhausted but refused to admit it.
His mind was too busy worrying about other things to care. Like the fact that Jewel shard detections
were getting rarer and rarer. That fight
last week had actually been the first in almost a month.
He shivered at the thought. Was he
getting to the point were he started anticipating battle? No, that was Inuyasha. Still... he knew the Kazaana was growing. No denying that, and no matter how hard he
tried, there was no way to avoid using it either.
Unlike his father, who was cautious enough to keep the air void under wraps, he
himself always used it when the need arouse.
He was not careless, far from it.
Reality is it is his greatest weapon.
Even as a last resort, it saw far too much use.
Still he had at least another few years of fight left in him. His legs felt like lead, as though they were
going to sleep on their own accord. He
looked up at the other members of the party and saw they were slowing as well.
Looking over at Sango, he saw she was nearly asleep on her feet. That got his attention. Gathering his courage he called for a halt,
but instead of the usual resistance he mostly got, everyone shot him grateful
looks and happily complied. Even
Inuyasha didn't voice a protest as they set up camp
early that night.
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The wind was blowing and warmth was escaping into the night. Everyone huddled around the fire to catch
whatever heat they could before it was stripped away
mercilessly.
Blanket held tight around his shivering form Miroku gathered the last ounce of
his strength and looked up at the night sky through the clearing, instantly
regretting it as more chills were forced down his back by the breeze that blew
past.
That was an odd thing; the howling wind should not be able to cut through the
protection of a thick forest such as this.
His numb mind struggled to piece it all together but he was just too
tired to worry about strange occurrences right now.
He was in the kind of trance where a hoard of youkai could have come out of the
forest and he was not sure he would give them much resistance, lest he loose
the rest of the feeling in his body. So he thought...
He stiffened suddenly as it hit him, the awareness that something was indeed
out there. Forcing his legs to move he
dragged himself up onto his feet before trying to pinpoint where the feeling
was coming from. Looking every which
direction to find out what the
feeling was coming from.
This was a sense like no other and he felt his face turn into a silent snarl as
he gripped his staff ever tighter, letting the blankets fall around his feet. The feeling moved and he spun around ready but
not sure what to expect.
"Houshi-sama?" The
others were on their feet and wary but looking at him as if he'd
gone mad. "Something is coming," he told
them softly before continuing his search of the forest vigorously, barely even
daring to breathe.
"Look, I hate to break it to you monk but there is nothing out there." Inuyasha stated loudly making Miroku jump
against his nerves. "If there was, I would
have sensed something and I don't feel a damn thing. So get some sleep and stop jumping around like
an idiot," and with that said he jumped into the nearest tree and glared down,
indicating it was time for them all to get some rest.
Kagome and Shippou settled back down into their futons and Sango walked over to
him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Inuyasha's
right for once. All this traveling has
definitely taken its toll; you are just at your nerves end. That is all, so get some sleep and I am sure
you will feel better in the morning."
Her tone was reasonable with only the slightest trace of annoyance at being brought to attention so quickly and unnecessarily. He was about to voice his protest when he saw
that gleam in her eyes and sighed.
It was the look only women have been able to obtain and pass down over the ages
he knew it well. The simple expression
that said quite plainly: I know what I am talking about and you do not, I am right
and you are wrong, so do not even try to argue or I will beat you over the head with a blunt object and not only that but take pride in doing so.
How she could convey so much in a single glance was beyond him. Yet he knew that even if he said the sky was
blue she would find plenty of ways to convince him otherwise, not all of them painless.
Worse, she could have him apologize for every mistake he has ever made, whether
it was within the past ten days or ten years.
Not wanting to go through that right now he
nodded his head stiffly in compliance and headed off to sleep against a nearby
tree trunk.
The presence he had detected was gone anyhow, almost as if it had known he was
aware of it being there and left. Usually
he would not have been so startled and a bit more collected but that being had
felt a little to much like... like... almost like his own energy? That couldn't be it
though.
Maybe Sango is right, I am getting tired. Cannot even think straight anymore. With that he drifted
into an uneasy sleep but he found no rest there...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In his dreams, Miroku wandered through the ruins of his old
village and place of birth. Atop a hill
stood the first home he had ever known, the only thing that still stood
untouched and unblemished. Silently
opening the door, he made his ways through the long hallways and hidden corridors.
It was much bigger than he remembered but his feet seemed to have a life of
their own as they brought him without direction into his mother's old room. He stood silently, waiting for some unknown
person to appear or the surroundings to change as they normally do in dreams. Nothing happened though.
Confused he walked over and looked at himself in his mother's old vanity mirror. He stared long and hard, not realizing that
he could not move even if he had wanted to.
Time slowly passed by before the scene in the looking glass began to change. His reflection still stared back at him but
there was something else, something different, something wrong.
Something was moving in the shadows behind his reflection, a black mist was
slowly filling the glass making everything else in its path disappear. Still he stood firm. His reflection looked memorized then slowly
began to alter.
The real Miroku was horrified as he watched his reflection's eyes begin to glow
a dull red. Slowly the face elongated
and fangs grew in place of teeth, claws instead of fingernails. Then the most malicious grin spread over the
demon's face chilling him to the bone.
An evil cackle was heard as Miroku tried desperately
to release himself from the bonds that had captured him, holding him in place
in front of the mirror. Terror seized
his heart as the alternate him slowly reached out of the mirror and raised its
clawed fist. Then pain over took him as
he felt those razor sharp claws graze his chest.
He screamed while he fell into infinity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miroku awoke with a yell of agony. He touched his hand to his chest and pulled away. There, in the first rays of morning light, he saw his blood slowly drip off his fingers and onto the forest floor below. Then he saw no more as he blacked out into the safety of oblivion.
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Author's note:
Here is the first chapter to my first Inuyasha fan fiction. Please review! A whole another chapter filled with tons of excitement and a bit of a kick off on romance is on its way. What can I say? How can you not have romance when writing Inuyasha? *evil grin* Plenty of adventure as well I promise. In addition, I will not always be writing from Miroku's P.O.V. it was just fun for this time. Well see you there and make me proud. *^-^* (Final Draft)