Huzzah! Here we are in the final "book" of Chronicles. I never thought it would end, but it finally did. Which is not to say it was a chore to write, it wasn't. But I just hate stories that go on and on for no reason. Likewise I hate stories that have a great build up, promise an awesome climax in the story then just end. Abruptly. Hence why I didn't do that.
While I may have already resolved something, there are other things that simply need attending to. Maybe you've forgotten all the extra pieces I've left floating around, but I haven't. (hardly likely, I seem to have the memory of an elephant when it comes to this fic.) But if you have the memory of a goldfish, like at least one of my friends claims, I encourage you to go back and look for the clues. I realize that It's a lot of material to go through, so if you feel like being lazy, ask me questions. I know where the clues are buried.
Buckle up and take a deep breath, you're in for a world of surprises! And only one is coming without any forewarning. And no, it's not THAT one! seriously people. Only one surprise I left no clue of to warn you. All the rest have clues, you just have to find the pieces.
Rumiko Takahashi alluded to most her surprises, but not all!
So read on, happy reader, the journey may be ending soon, but IT'S NOT OVER YET!!!
Round and Round
One can measure the desire a person holds for something in the efforts made to achieve it, to claim it, to find it. It is also just as easy to measure the character of the same person by the same means. How they go about the achieving, the finding and the claiming gives a view into the mindset and thought processes as well.
The fact that Sesshoumaru had wanted to approach Aki and catch her up the moment she stepped out of the barrier that kept her from him is no surprise. He hurt, in more than one way and all he wanted was the comforting warmth of the very woman he was hurt for.
But Sesshoumaru was held back by his own weakened condition and the mysterious interference of the wind user Aki had been so kind to. He didn't understand Kagura's reasoning for she gave no explanation but he suspected she had reason to hold him back from Aki as she had in the past when she'd done something similar so he had allowed it. The wind youkai might know something more about what was done to Aki to make her disappear than he did. It was usually wiser to wait and study a situation before entering it anyway.
Not that it would have mattered. Sesshoumaru was unusually shaky on his feet for reasons he was seriously ignoring to pay attention to Aki.
And with good reason, Aki was acting strangely. He had not missed her stiffening when Inuyasha seemed to close in on her fingers while sniffing at the bonsai tree in her hand. She had avoided contact with Kagome when handing off the gnarled plant. And, throughout the explanations given surrounding her, Aki's voice was noticeably absent. Her gestures and signals were silent and minimal. She moved as if afraid to draw attention to herself or some form of pain. Neither made sense to him.
True Aki had never been particularly desirous of drawing attention, but she had never seriously avoided it either. She never bothered to change her mannerisms or her costume, comfortable in her own skin and foreignness in the eyes of the people. The people and their curious stares had never been a source of fear for her. Now she seemed to curl in on herself the minute she became the center of attention.
And she had no reason to fear pain. Her gods had once again seen to it that she held no injury. Such behavior spoke of prolonged injury and great pain. Pain that might have forced her to go to ground? Sesshoumaru ground his teeth at the mere possibility. He almost wanted to take the little bonsai tree and rend the branches from it. Naraku would feel the pain a tree feels when torn apart and the liquid that would surface would be as blood. But again his weakness held him from it. Besides, it probably wouldn't be enough anyway and Aki would disapprove damaging something truly helpless, especially after she had already passed her own judgment on the dark hanyou.
Her reluctance to touch and be touched were probably also due to that Naraku's actions as well. Sesshoumaru wasn't fully certain what the villain had done, as he hadn't been paying attention when it was brought up. In actuality, he didn't even know it had been brought up in the first place.
Aki had never been touchy feely, she was self-contained but conscious of the feelings of others around her. If they needed to touch to feel comfortable she was certain to allow it, if only briefly. And she was always ready with a hug for any child that really needed it. But he was beginning to suspect it was no longer so. Now she seemed to almost flinch when anyone came too close.
The only two exceptions he had thus far witnessed were the undead miko who had assumably acted as her healer and the Ookami prince. Both had been exceedingly careful in what few moments of contact they happened to make.
More unsatisfying than Kouga's unexplained behavior upon his arrival was the complete absence of Aki's gaze upon him, Sesshoumaru. Always before she would acknowledge him in some way. A glance, a touch a teasing smile gifted to him when no one else was looking.
He worried for her; if this was what Naraku had done to her he worried for her greatly. And Sesshoumaru, in the most secret places of his soul, he feared for himself as well. With just the idea that Aki was forever divided from him he had allowed all his training to fall away and engaged in a battle with only rage as his weapon. And he was paying for it.
Now he knew she was alive but seemingly just as out of reach, driven there by the actions of the very evil bastard she'd turned into a tree. Sesshoumaru couldn't allow Naraku to win this one; it was too much of a sacrifice to make. He was ready to help her, to stand by her until she surmounted this legacy of Naraku for as long as it took because Aki was his promised one, his beloved.
Sesshoumaru blinked in surprise at the word. He should scoff at the very notion. He was taiyoukai, above such an emotion as love. Love indicated an emotional need and reliance on someone else that he couldn't afford. But…could he afford to let go of Aki?
The words he'd reluctantly spoken to Mouse all that time ago echoed back through his ears though he closed his eyes on them. The desires he'd expressed, even his reluctance to consider anyone else to fulfill them left him to conclude that he had already accepted his need and reliance on Aki long before the words for it had crept into his head.
Strange how it was him loving her that spooked him so when he so desired the emotion from her for him.
It was something to ponder later, for now Aki was getting away from him! The regal youkai barely managed a step before the pain he'd been ignoring reached up and dragged him down. His heart squeezed in his chest even as his knees hit the ground and Aki disappeared from sight.
"Foolish youkai!" Kikyou hissed sharply. "You should never ignore a head wound like this!" Hers was not a face he would have chosen to follow him down into the darkness.
Sesshoumaru's unconscious mind was plagued with the memory of Loki's geography lesson in the pink haired Kaoru's Nightclub office. He well remembered the inferred size of Aki's homeland. His troubled dreams compounded the size of that part of the map kept growing in size until it covered one whole side of the globe, displacing the water proportionately until he couldn't even see his native Islands above the seas. Then the ball on which the landmasses were marked began to spin, slowly at first and then going faster and faster until the colors were nothing more than a blur.
The office became exceedingly distorted as well. One minute it was a cavernous expanse of walls and ceiling, echoing the words Loki had spoken at the time until they became unintelligible. The next it was too small to hold more than himself and the nightmarish globe of hell. It went from being empty to overly full more times than he could count. People that couldn't have been present for the original conversation made nonsensical comments. And through the vertiginous feelings of these visions nothing compared with the slow burning fear of losing Aki to that great expanding plate of land.
Then, the lights in the office began a strange sequence of flickering brighter and dimmer until they ultimately remained stuck on an exceedingly bright state of being that fell in through a doorway that looked nothing like the entryway that had originally been there.
He blinked his eyes open to find the doorway belonged to Kaede's hut and the light was the sunlight streaming in the uncovered opening. Slowly he made the effort to sit up allowing one of his hands to bathe in the warmth of the light. It was terribly bright in comparison to the cool darkness surrounding him.
"You're awake!" A childish voice squeaked out in relief. The sound came from the darker area of the hut, causing him to turn his gaze and blink rapidly in hopes of hastening the adjustment of his eyes. "We were worried," Azusa added softly. The little girl fidgeted with pent up energy and residual nerves. "Kikyou said your injury could have killed you. Rin cried a lot after she said that. Kagome-Chan threatened to beat that mean ol' miko for it. She insisted that 'could' did not mean 'would' but Rin didn't believe it." The child studied him a moment and cocked her head to the side. "Inuyasha eventually calmed her down, sort of," she shrugged. "Shippou's been taking her out to the fields everyday to cheer her up." Azusa gestured to the flower-strewn interior of the hut. "Rin insists they'll make you get better. Kaede said to let her keep doing it because some of the plants she brought were herbs that needed to be harvested anyway."
On and on she went until he knew what everybody else was currently doing but nothing about what he wanted to know. Sesshoumaru suspected Azusa was just letting go of stress in her self-contained way though his head ached with the constant sound of her childish tone.
"Azusa," a wizened old voice called from the doorway. Kaede moved into the hut to relieve the healing taiyoukai of the wearying attentions of his rambunctious nurse. "Child, go fetch Rin. I think she might like to know the taiyoukai is well now." She sent the girl out into the bright sunshine gently. "Awake I see, Sesshoumaru-sama," the old miko's calming presence swept the last of Azusa's hectic energy from the dwelling. "Azusa has worried greatly for you these last days. She has seldom left your side because of her anxiety."
He nodded without surprise. Though Sesshoumaru and Azusa did not get along especially well, the child had no one else but him in this world to care for her…that is if Aki were to never come back. Of course he would not allow that to happen. He was going to track her down and somehow persuade her to return. Speaking of, how great of a lead did Aki have on him? "Miko," he demanded with a single word.
"You have been healing here for three days," Kaede took up a drying weed, testing it's readiness for the next step in its processing. "Aki passed through several days before that, if Hanako's information is to be trusted."
Sesshoumaru's horrified mind reeled. Aki had nearly one of her week's advantage on him. A thousand things could happen in seven days. He'd never appreciated the reality of that statement before knowing Aki. His nightmares of expanding maps flooded his conscious mind, filling his stomach with the cool dread of it.
Sesshoumaru pushed to his feet, lacking the strength for his standard fluidity of motion. Aki's lead would not be allowed to grow. Last time something that had shaken her to the core had happened she had moved to a different country with the intent of becoming lost in the foreign cities. If the small isles of his home could have such large cities, he hated to wonder at the number of large overwhelming cities her own country could sustain.
"Sit down fool," Another voice commanded from the blocked doorway. "You haven't eaten in a sennight! Eat before you do something stupid!" Kikyou snorted as she disregarded the growl he gave her, completely unimpressed. When the youkai snarling in her face made no move to resume a seated position she reached out and shoved him into one without ceremony. "And that's why you should eat. You have not the strength to stay on your feet let alone go hunting Aki." Kikyou glared down at him a bit longer grumbling about stubborn youkai and their inability to grasp the true effects of great injury and the need for rest in order to heal properly.
Kanna silently held out a basket for the taiyoukai from where she had followed the undead miko into the hut. Timidly she murmured his name and gestured with the basket for him to take it.
In the basket he found a bunch of sweet smelling berries and some lightly roasted stuffed river fish that was still warm. Sesshoumaru nodded to her in thanks and the pale child ducked her head before retreating behind the miko standing closest to her.
"You'd best eat it," Kikyou crossed her arms and glared at him. "The fish was stuffed with herbs to quicken your recovery. I wouldn't have thought you'd wake up today but Kanna insisted. We made the fish to humor her."
"Kanna has been most helpful," Kaede patted the child's white head. "She has a talent to be nurtured and developed."
Kikyou scoffed but said nothing as she glared every last berry from the basket.
"Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin's wailing voice hardly warned him of her approach before she was upon him and attempting to squeeze the air from his lungs.
"Rin," Kagura chuckled as she pried the little girl's tiny fingers off the demon lord so he could breath. The wind youkai got in a reassuring squeeze of her own in before fully managing to pull the child back. "Good to see you awake," she nodded to him.
"Keh, finally!" Inuyasha grumbled the moment he laid eyes on his conscious brother. "Thought you were going to sleep forever."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome slapped his arm. "He wasn't out that long and he had a good reason!"
"Keh!"
"Inuyasha is just anxious to collect the Shikon no Tama," Miroku explained for the uncommunicative hanyou.
At Sesshoumaru's raised eyebrow Sango took up the explanations herself. "Kagome believes that before Aki turned Naraku into the bonsai tree she made sure to take his shards from him. She thinks," Sango began, her brow creasing slightly in indication that this part confused her a bit. "Kagome thinks Aki touched it with her bare skin."
Sesshoumaru barely refrained from changing expression at this knowledge. Mouse's warning over absorbing jewel shards filtered through his brain. It was a wonder Aki survived past that point.
"When Aki touches the Shikon no kakera with bare skin the shards are drawn into a space Aki explained as being between her soul and her body," Kohaku informed her. "It was how she took my shard."
"What?" Sango gasped in surprise.
"Since Aki was with Kouga before the battle with Naraku and she stole Kagome's shards," Shippou ignored Sango's little out burst. "Kagome thinks Aki has the whole jewel with her."
"Which means," Inuyasha ground out incredibly irritated by the whole explanation of things he already knew, "that me and Kagome are going to retrieve it."
Sesshoumaru allowed the information to sink in. Despite Inuyasha making it sound as if retrieving the Shikon no tama from Aki's possession had nothing the do with him, he knew they expected him to come. As if they could have gotten away without him. Sesshoumaru could not pass through the well without either Kagome or his half brother to guide him; the Bone eater's well wouldn't allow it. And there was no way he was going to let a simple thing like time keep him from the hunt for Aki.
"Kagome believes it will not be difficult to find Aki on the other side of the well," Miroku added just to keep from being left out of the conversation or forgotten.
"We did ask Loki and the others to keep on the look out for her and there are always records with the pertinent location information needed to find someone," Kagome nodded with a shrug added just for flavor.
"Then why haven't we left already?" Inuyasha grumped. The inactivity of several days' worth of healing compounded by a restlessness caused by waiting another couple days for a slightly less than beloved sibling to recuperate had ridiculously strained what little politeness he'd ever possessed. The dog boy was more than ready for that final adventure that preceded the end of this great epic quest for a jewel he wasn't sure he still wanted. What had he to wish for? He was secure in the knowledge that Kagome liked him, he had friends, family that didn't actively seek to mortally wound him anymore and a kick ass sword. So he didn't get to personally maim and fatally injure Naraku, big deal. His disappointment wasn't enough to warrant wishing the evil bastard back from the bark of a bonsai tree just to beat into a bloody pulp. Although…Kagome had described the process of turning trees to pulp to make paper once. That could be fun!
But all that was for later. Right now he was rudely impatient to be underway. Inuyasha could almost feel that itchy sensation under his skin that he was certain Sesshoumaru was feeling. The need to find Aki and ascertain definitively that she was and would be fine was an ingrained habit for the dog boy, for inu lord, it was almost a physical need.
Kagome on the other hand, wasn't as concerned with catching Aki up in the overly protective and clingy presence of either inu. It was just the certain feeling she got that Aki might not be up for it just yet. She might not be up for it ever, actually. What Naraku had hinted at wasn't very informative, but bad enough that she was in no real hurry to lead the charge on her former tutor's poor nerves.
That and she was plenty tired of Inuyasha's rudeness that had only worsened over the course of days they'd been waiting for Sesshoumaru to regain consciousness. "Osuwari!" Kagome snapped. "I'm getting tired of answering that question already. Grow up Inuyasha!"
Sesshoumaru might have raised his eyebrow at the things Inuyasha said to the dirt in his face if the boy hadn't already smelled as if some of the things he muttered had happened previously.
"Keh, I'll show you grown up!" Inuyasha growled the moment the spell wore off. Before Kagome could adequately respond his mouth was engaging hers most pleasantly. This time Fred hadn't instigated it and he was beyond caring if anybody saw. If Miroku could solve his problems with Sango and Sesshoumaru could publicly pursue Aki to the ends of time, then he could kiss Kagome properly any time of day.
"If you are quite done with the needless displays of affection," Kikyou huffed. "Sesshoumaru has already departed from the hut." Just because she didn't want to kiss Inuyasha didn't mean she wanted to watch him kissing her reincarnation.
"I thought you were anxious to retrieve the Shikon no tama from Aki," Sango teased the hanyou on her way out the door.
"Yeah, Inuyasha," Shippou called from Miroku's shoulder.
"Shut up!" Inuyasha bonked the kit on the head knocking him to the ground from Miroku's height.
"Osuwari!" Kagome said absently.
"Really Inuyasha," Miroku teased the hanyou after Kagome had hefted her pack and gone outside. "Do wait for an appropriate time."
"This from the man who asks every woman he meets to bare his child at the first opportunity," Sango snorted with mild humor. Miroku was honestly getting better about his behavior, but she wasn't about to let him to backslide through something as simple as forgetfulness.
"Speaking of," Miroku wiggled his eyebrows at her as Inuyasha finally managed to escape the confines of Kaede's humble dwelling.
"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed at the smack Sango landed on the monk. Even he knew she didn't mean it anymore.
"Are you sure it's all right for Sesshoumaru to go through the well like this?" Kagome was asking Kikyou. "Head wounds are tricky."
"This Sesshoumaru is prepared to face the consequences," the taiyoukai growled over whatever answer the undead miko was about to give. He was going, and nothing was going to make him give Aki more time to disappear from his reality.
"The youkai will probably be fine," Kaede calmly placated the girl. "Aki has traversed the well many times, healthy, injured or confused. It has never harmed her."
"Yeah, but-"
"This Sesshoumaru will go regardless," he declared shortly. The female was getting on his nerves and he was impatient to be away.
"Keh! Let him go, Kagome," Inuyasha scoffed petulantly. "It's not like it could make him any more of an asshole."
"Inuyasha," Kagome began sharply.
Sesshoumaru cut her off before she could even begin to scold the hanyou properly. "I fear not the side effects," he growled shortly, quite done with standing around the old miko's hut.
"Stop stalling Kagome," Inuyasha warned her.
"Yes, the sooner begun, the sooner done," Sango nodded.
The taijiya's brother moved to stand in Sesshoumaru's path, blocking the way to the well. "You go to find her then?" the dead youth observed the taiyoukai coolly. Sesshoumaru glared at the boy to move out of his way, but Kohaku simply raised his hand up, fingers gently curled to cradle the glowing shard in his palm. "Give this to her then, she needs it."
"Kohaku!" Sango gasped as Miroku's hand settled on her shoulder to help weight her in place.
Kohaku glanced at his sister wearily. He couldn't live forever. Hell, he wasn't technically alive now. "I am done. I have seen justice befall the one who hurt us so terribly and Aki has taught me forgiveness. I am ready to face my next life without regret." The boy stared into the eyes of the taiyoukai as earnestly as he could, "She will need this."
Sesshoumaru allowed Kohaku to drop the sliver of Aki's soul into his clawed hand.
Inuyasha caught the lifeless husk of Sango's little brother before it could fall all the way to the ground. Sango was taking this badly without seeing her brother land like a sack of grain. This was one of the reasons Inuyasha loved that most of his family was youkai. Youkai mostly disintegrated posthumously and within seconds too. Something about watching them evaporate made it easier to believe they joined some greater whatever out there. Now Sango would have to watch her brother's body either be buried or burned. Secretly he was hoping she cremated the little bugger. Kohaku had seemingly arisen from the dead once–the poor brat-better to insure that it couldn't happen again.
Sango curled up on the ground next to her gentle and brave brother, her body seemingly folding up and shrinking with this final desertion of her kin. It had been a nightmare to lose him the first time; there was nothing worse at this moment than having to lose him twice.
Miroku tapped her shoulder gently before stepping forward to offer prayers for the departed. He could not do much for her, but this was one thing he could do to offer her some peace.
Rin hugged the taijiya she'd grown to see as a big sister. The child offered up her own silent tears at her friendly kidnappers end. Kohaku had been kind to her and she had rather liked him. Besides, it kind of hurt to watch someone cry alone.
Some members of the party were wholly unaffected by the passing of an already dead soul, especially when the passing was brought about to aid a particularly favorite person not currently in attendance. And if one death could help Aki out…
"You next, pot lady," Hanako poked Kikyou solidly in what would have been the fleshier part of the arm if the miko was actually flesh and blood. "Cough up Aki's soul."
"I will not," Kikyou snorted derisively. "For one thing I do not just 'throw up' souls on demand," the miko glared at the demon bunny down her nose. It was incredibly easy thing to do considering Hanako was at least a foot shorter than her. "And I won't be giving up Aki's soul until I've properly trained someone to look after her." The 'pot lady' crossed her arms over her chest like she'd seen Aki do a million times. "How many human healers do you know will treat youkai? How many youkai healers can treat human ailments? It is better to think ahead fool!"
"I am thinking ahead," Hanako scoffed at the miko. "I'm thinking that once Aki comes back to me she'll be through with all her trouble seeking and childish phases and finally be ready to settle down. With me."
"You sure she's not crazy?" Azusa asked skeptically.
"Hanako is fine," Kaede assured the child.
"Just as long as you discount her delusions about Aki," Kagura poked the rabbit with her fan. "When Aki comes back she'll hardly give you the time of day."
"Yeah, Aki is going to be Sesshoumaru's mate," Shippou declared as if the case were completely closed and the decision was final. To him it may have been but not to Hanako.
"Don't be ridiculous!" the rabid bunny exploded.
Though it all, Sesshoumaru stood silently engaged in a study of the shining sliver of soul in his hand. He was seemingly unaware of the argument brewing on one side of him and oblivious to the mourning that stung his nose on the other. This little piece of Aki was more important and he was trying to think of a way to carry it so it couldn't be misplaced.
A small hand appeared to block his view. It dropped something else into his open and already occupied hand before retreating to the side of its owner.
Sesshoumaru looked up into Kanna's pale eyes. She fidgeted under his gaze, dropping her eyes timidly. "Tell her," she began in a quiet voice, as if afraid to be heard. "Tell her I don't need it so long as she comes back."
He nodded at the child who bowed before scampering over to hide behind her arguing sister. Sesshoumaru closed his hand on two pieces of Aki's soul, one sharp like a piece of glass, the other a soft glowing ball. He was done with being here. He would wait no longer. Kohaku had declared Aki would need what he held in his hand and he wouldn't risk the boy being right with further delays.
Sesshoumaru deliberately stalked down the path to the portal through time. If he allowed them to stall him any longer Inuyasha's miko would demand they stay long enough for death and burial services in honor of the boy who died twice, a waste of energy. Death rites only needed to be performed once over a body. Besides, Inuyasha and his miko were of no relation to the deceased and therefore had no business attending. The monk could perform the ceremonies.
"Kagome," Inuyasha called to the ninth grader. "Come on," he lowered his voice as he drew her towards the path Sesshoumaru had taken.
"But Sango-" She tried to protest.
"-Will be fine, but we won't if we keep Sesshoumaru waiting much longer," he growled quietly. Actually, he was anxious to get a move on as well. He didn't properly know how to mourn somebody, especially not somebody he didn't know. It was a waste of time and effort on something that couldn't be fixed. Kohaku was dead and he would stay dead (he hoped for Sango's sake). It was better to focus on the living and keeping them alive.
Kagome was really dragging her feet about this and Inuyasha could tell she was failing to grasp the full precariousness of the situation. "Kagome will you hurry up?" he growled, his nerves alert and sending warnings to his brain about what he knew would happen if Sesshoumaru didn't get through the well quickly.
"Inuyasha, Sango just lost the last of her family," Kagome whined. "I'm sure Aki can hold out without us for a while longer."
"You don't get it Kagome," Inuyasha tugged on her carefully. "If we don't get moving we're the ones that won't be able to hold out. Sesshoumaru needs to find Aki. It's like an itch under his skin. I don't think he was really paying attention the last time we saw Aki so he's still stuck in that place where he's searching for her to make sure she's alive."
"That's absurd!" Kagome scoffed quietly back at him. "He saw her like the rest of us."
Inuyasha grit his teeth. He protested against the comparison of himself and his relations with the common canine every time the comparison was made. Here he was about to make the comparison himself. "When was the last time just seeing something was enough for a dog, Kagome? Inu don't identify with things by sight alone. They rely on scent."
"But you said Aki doesn't carry scent," Kagome objected.
"According to Sesshoumaru she does, it's just very subtle," Inuyasha muttered. "A blind man cannot see, Kagome, does that mean he can't identify things?"
"Don't be silly," Kagome snorted. "He can identify things by touch and smell and sound and…"
"Are you getting it now?"
"Are you trying to tell me he needs to touch her?" she demanded in disbelief, fairly growling. "You saw how she was! She won't be able to handle that!"
"I love it when you growl," he teased her and Kagome flushed scarlet. She reached out and slapped his arm for his comment, trying to get him to be serious.
"Don't try to predict what Aki can handle or not. She's survived a lot."
"Nothing like this," Kagome mumbled with a shake of her head as the well came into view.
Sesshoumaru towered over the squat wooden structure glaring down into it as they approached. He never had liked that he couldn't travel through the well on his own, not like Aki could, like Inuyasha could, like Kagome. He had not been paying attention to his hanyou sibling and his mate as they traveled through the trees. They were unimportant beyond their capacity to take him to where Aki now was. Clutched in his protective fist were two pieces of her soul and a fierce determination to track her down and reach a final decision for this whole mess that was him and her and not them.
