A/N: This started out as an original story that I was writing (actually before I first saw Inuyasha) and I noticed several plot similarities, so I decided to make it into a fan fic. Some stuff is different, and it might be a bit confusing, but I did my best to make it into a genuine fan fic. If you want to see it as it was originally, just go to my fictionpress account. My sn is the same. I just submitted it as a GT project, so I don't think that I'm supposed to be doing this. Oh well. Updates will be nice and fast until I run out of stuff that I have already written, and then they will come in spurts. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, no matter how much I wish I did.
She rushed through the thick covering of trees, branches all around her snapping, snagging her clothes, catching in her hair.
"Kikyo!" she called, ducking under a low-hanging branch. A small cascade of leaves and twigs fell as a bird took off, startled by her sudden appearance, and she was temporarily blinded as a branch smacked her across the eyes, but it didn't matter. She had to get there before it was too late. "Kikyo!" she called again. The trees ended suddenly, and she stumbled to a hurried stop, staring at what lay in the center of the clearing in horror.
"Oh, no," she whispered, rushing to the side of her fallen mentor. "I was too late." The former priestess lay on her back, weak hands feebly attempting to stem the flow of blood. "Kikyo."
"The jewel," the dying woman rasped, staring up at her student blindly. "He took the jewel. You must retrieve it, Kagome. He must not have it." A cold hand gripped her heart as Saria gasped for breath. A demon? A demon took the jewel? The priestess of the seven souls, former protector of the jewel of Orthanc, went limp, the light fading from her dark eyes. Holding back a scream of rage and sorrow, Kagome picked up the bow that lay next to the body, and stood. A clearly marked trail lead away from the murder sight and she followed it swiftly, knowing that it would lead her to the demon.
She found him quickly, shocked to see a man, dressed in strange furs. He turned to face her as she neared, a wicked smile contorting his handsome face.
"Ah, does Kikyo's puppet think she can take the jewel from me?" The man laughed, dangling the pure white stone tantalizingly in front of her. "Come and get it then, Ayume." With a cry, she lifted her bow, quickly notched an arrow, and shot, watching her arrow arch towards the man who was emanating such a sickening evil. She opened her mouth to scream as her shot flew off target, but it hit the jewel before she had the chance. The resulting explosion knocked her to her knees, shards flying everywhere. The pain was intense, blinding her wholly, and her world immediately fell into blackness. Before she lost complete consciousness, her hand closed around a large shard of the jewel that had landed beside her.
"What happened to her?"
"What's going on?"
"I don't know. Mama just said that her father wanted us to watch over her while he went to get the doctor. Do you think she was attacked?"
"Of course you dim-wit! How else could she… shhhh! Look, she's waking up!"
She forced her eyes open, blinking at the sudden light rapidly until her eyes became accustomed to it. She grimaced in pain as her senses slowly returned to her. It felt like somebody had stuck a burning wedge down the center of her head and left it there, merely so they could watch her suffer.
Groaning loudly, she rolled onto her side, away from her stepsisters chattering, and tried desperately to remember what had happened. Kikyo… Something rather heavy rolled out of her hand, and she looked down in shock. It was a piece of stone, smooth on one side, and jagged on the other, as though it had been broken. In fact it looked as though it were a piece of the jewel…
Her breath hitched in her throat as she stroked a finger across the shard, feeling the power that rolled off of it like a breath of cold winter. If this was a piece of the jewel, then that meant…
"What happened?" she croaked, turning to look at her stepsisters. They fell silent, staring at her solemnly. "What happened?" Her voice was a bit firmer that time and not as raspy.
"Kagome," Erem, the oldest of the three stepped forward slightly, attempting to look sympathetic. "Kikyo… well… father found you in the forest, and he said that it looked as though you were in a terrible explosion. And Kikyo…" she blinked her eyes dramatically, lowering her lashes in order to appear sorrowful. "Kikyo is dead. Murdered. By a demon, father says."
"No…" she shook her head in denial, trying desperately to remember just what had happened. Memory came back in a flash. Kikyo… the man… the jewel… "No!" She shot up, clutching her head in agony as the sudden movement caused pain to course through her entire body. It couldn't be true… it couldn't be. The sharp edges of the jewel dug into her hand, and she opened it slowly, staring at the shard in horror. It was true. Saria was dead. She had broken the jewel. Her whole world focused on the glinting piece of stone she held in her hand, sorrow and fear building up in her chest, weighing her down. It was all her fault. All her fault, all her fault… She had failed to do her duty. All was lost…
4 months later…
The village was alive with whispers, and was unusually quiet for the afternoon.
"Have you heard?" Several old women chatted as they folded linens, staring at passing strangers suspiciously. "That poor Higurashi child."
"What has happened to dear Kagome?"
"So you haven't heard? You know how her father went off to serve in the army?"
"Yes, of course."
"They received a letter a few days ago. He will not be returning home. They say he was killed in battle"
"Oh my! How tragic! And so soon after the death of Kikyo as well. How are Merrim and the girls taking it?"
"Oh, Merrim's girls are fine. It's Kagome though. They say that she just couldn't handle the shock of losing both her father and mentor. Erem found the girl's body, yesterday, lying at the bottom of the gorge. Apparently, she killed herself…"
A/N: And so ends the prologue. The more comments I get the faster the updates will come so (hint, hint). Keep them coming. Well, actually… get them going.
