Disc: Inuyasha is not, nor will it ever be mine. Neither is Kuroshitsuji. My imagination however, needs a life.
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"Did you really think I would give up my demon blood for you? A human?"
Kikyou fired the arrow between her fingers. The past combined with the present in that moment and once again it was Kikyou and Inuyasha and the God-Tree. The arrow thudded into the tree and the half-demon's eyes went wide.
"K-Kikyou?" The pale pink jewel fell from his fingers and rolled away. It bumped into a delicate hand.
"How could you Inuyasha!?" The priestess shook her head. "It was Naraku who said those very words to me and you dare to reuse them?"
"Kikyou…" Inuyasha reached for the arrow buried in his shoulder. He tried to pull it out, screaming as her holy powers battled against him. "I didn't mean it that way." Chocolate colored eyes met amber as Kikyou pulled back the string of her long bow.
"I hate you Inuyasha." She released the arrow and closed her eyes, unable to bear witness to her one love's death. When the dull thump reverberated through the clearing, her bow fell from suddenly loose fingers.
"K-Kikyou." Kikyou stifled a sob as she fell to her knees. She crawled over to the body that lay on the floor. "S'okay. You can use the Jewel now and have your own life." The woman's shoulders shook as she gathered the dying body in her arms. She pushed herself to her feet after grabbing the fallen Jewel. "W-what are you doing?"
"Sssh Kagome. Ssssh. I'll make it better." Kikyou walked into the forest, aware of the precious blood that fell to the floor leaving a trail; one so red and vibrant and wrong. Kagome wasn't supposed to die. She was supposed to live. To return to her era and live happily ever after much like the stories she read her little fox kit. Kagome wasn't supposed to be in her arms bleeding from a wound so similar to the one she had been given on her death day.
Kikyou hoisted the body in her arms closer, rushing to the sacred pond she had once discovered. It appeared in front of her with a sigh as the veils parted. She stepped into the cold water, pulling Kagome even closer to herself. She waded into the mist, stopping only when she met the island in the center. She laid the cooling body of a great woman onto the shore and dropped to her knees. When lights appeared, she didn't look up.
"What have you brought me revenant?"
"A great human, Mistress. She has not been in your lands long. I beg of you to release her."
"And the payment?" Kikyou closed her eyes. Her teeth tugged at her lips. Had she been human, blood would have pooled in her mouth and run down her chin. As it was, a thin trail oozed down the side of her mouth.
"A life for a life. Is that not a good payment?"
"But you are not alive." The voice was sharp and the light burned cold. "You are a revenant. Undead and unwanted."
"But I have a soul."
"If I am to bring her back, she will need her soul from you. You would perish from the process regardless." The black mists that lay on the island rose and shaped itself into a body. The light vanished. Kikyou bit through her lip when a cold palm clasped her cheek. "I find myself in need of a servant revenant. If I bring her back, will you work for me?"
"If that is what you desire Mistress."
"Then it is done." The hand slid below her chin and yanked her head up. "You and you alone shall follow me for all time Kikyou. You are mine." Kikyou stared into the cold gray eyes of the woman who held her. They were the color of the mist that surrounded the island, almost white but tinged with the slightest color.
"As you wish Mistress." The woman laughed as she waved a hand at the body on the shore. Kikyou rushed to the girl's side when she gasped in air and choked. She held her counterpart up even as her soul was ripped from her clay body and shoved into the human one. She held onto the Jewel's Guardian even when pain slammed into her, as the coppery tang of blood met her nose, as its taste ran down her throat, as her heart thumped in her chest like it had not done for years. When Kagome's eyes opened, she wanted to scream.
"My half of the deal has been fulfilled. Will you take your place at my side now?" Subtle malice slithered through the words. Kikyou stood after pressing a kiss to Kagome's forehead. Tears burned in her eyes as she stepped away from a great woman.
"As you wish." Lady Death smiled as she placed her arms around Kikyou's shoulders.
"Good pet." Kikyou wished she could pull her eyes away from the soft grey ones of the girl on the floor. "She has been touched by death and shall remain this way." White had threaded its way into Kagome's hair and her skin had lost its healthy color. Kikyou thought she looked much like the corpse she had been. Finally, the girl blinked. Kikyou wished she hadn't when madness awoke in her eyes. The petite girl blinked and then she screamed. As the black mist enshrouded her body, Kikyou hated herself for what she had done to the petite woman who had a special place in her heart. The two disappeared out of sight seconds later, leaving shrieking madness behind.
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Where was she? Kagome blinked at the fog that surrounded her. She walked forward to a light off in the distance. Why was she here? Kagome frowned when she realized she was getting nowhere closer to the light. She sat down and closed her eyes. Suddenly, the light was there, pressed against her, too hot, too cold. She screamed and wished she could be away from it. Anywhere but near it. Anywhere but in that burning ice. She blinked when the pain left her then cautiously opened her eyes. In front of her stood a shrine, with a row of trees on each side of the dilapidated path. She walked forward, drawn to the glinting altar. A form melted out of the mist as she walked forward, prostrate in front of the shrine. She knelt by it when she was close enough and studied the shrine. It honored some goddess she had never seen. Her gaze slid to the shaking form next to her.
"Hello? Excuse me; do you know where we are?"
"Sssh. Don't you know? She's here. She's here. She's here." The woman muttered, pressing her face closer to the ground.
"Who is here?"
"Her. The one who eats souls. The mistress. The divine. The ruthless."
"I don't understand."
The woman looked up. Kagome gasped as she caught sight of the seal on her forehead.
"You." Midoriko lunged at her. Kagome screamed as they topple over backward. The shrine melted away as Midoriko pulled at her hair. The older woman's nails sliced into her cheek. "You were supposed to keep me safe! But you broke me. You broke me. And I shattered into little pieces and I flew away and I hurt and I hurt and I hurt…"
Kagome's fingers scraped at the ones holding her throat. She gagged as the hand pressed in closer, as flesh parted under her nails, but still the older priestess would not let go. Her eyes caught the other woman's and she fought harder, bucking under the mad-things touch, eager to escape. Suddenly, Midoriko vanished. Kagome sat up, wheezing and coughing for air. She looked around and was surprised to find herself somewhere different. She was still in the forest but there was no shrine, only a peaceful sounding waterfall. She stood up and brushed off her jeans before walking away. She kept her feet on the path that had appeared in front of her, some base instinct ordering it of her. Sibilant sounds rose from the forest around her. Dread howls and whispered screams followed her path.
"Is anyone here?" The trees next to her rustled as something bound through the canopy. "Hello?" Kagome stumbled back when some white, hideous thing toppled from the trees above her into her path.
"Is anyone there she says." The Thing chuckled dryly before coughing. "We are all here priestess. So-called Guardian. We are here."
"Who are you?"
"I? I am but a piece of this cursed Jewel." The Thing hacked. It spat phlegm onto the path where it oozed its way through the ground. "The one that you splintered and fractured and drove mad." It hissed. "Drove us all mad. But some of us have always been quite mad so it was no change."It jerked forward and Kagome closed her eyes. Air rushed through her ears and the sound of the waterfall vanished.
"And there you are woman-child. So naïve. How is it that you are to be the Guardian of the Jewel?" Kagome opened her eyes and met cold gray ones. White hair fell around a beautiful face that seemed carved from snow and ice.
"Where am I?"
"You are in the Land of the Dead my child." The woman grinned. "As the Guardian of the Jewel you brought its spirits along with you. Because you and it are one."
"Why am I here?"
"Don't you remember sweet? You died."
Kagome froze when her memories played back. She remembered. The betrayal when Inuyasha had sliced into her side with his claws, when he had tossed her aside and taken the Jewel for her too-limp fingers. When he had told her his demon heritage would be part of him forever.
"The revenant has asked that I bring you back. And so I shall. But I will not help you gain control of your minds."
"What do you mean my minds? I have only one."
"Once maybe. But with your death the spirits of the Jewel were unleashed inside your own soul. They are as much a part of you as you are they." Kagome bit her lip, not liking the sound of what the woman was saying. "Fight well child, lest they destroy your mind."Then she was in that burning ice again. She screamed and she cried as it flared around her.
.Makeitstopstopstopstopstop!
And then she was no longer alone. Midoriko appeared, clawing at her face with too long nails. Gouging at her eyes and letting blood run down her cheeks. Kagome screamed with the mad woman. Fought against her and tried to escape. But there was none. So she screamed and fought and the battle raged. She felt as if she had splintered into so many pieces when Midoriko rested her forehead against her own and then there was true madness in her mind. So she fought and she fought and she fought.
.Whywasshebeingawakened?Whatwasthispain?!
Kagome shrieked as Midoriko's mind was pulled into hers and theirs screams coalescenced into one. And then the Thing was there. Clawing its way through her mind. Writhing in beatific pain and delicious agony. Both she and Midoriko found a common goal in trying to expel the Thing that was trying to worm its way into her, them. And then it was part of them, tied to them as they were to each other. Kagome screamed and screamed and screamed.
And then the world went black.
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Sesshoumaru stared at the petite girl in his arms. He had been drawn to the Banks of the Dead when he had heard her screams. He had left Rin with Jaken and run towards the sound. He had seen the bloody trail and the halfing's body. And then he had found her. The priestess had been screaming and thrashing and in so much pain and he had tried to ease it but been unable to. He wanted to help her, to save her if only for Rin's sake, he had knocked her out. She had slumped to the ground and he had picked her up to study her. Her smell had become tinged with ice and cold. Her hair was white streaked and what he had seen of her eyes grey. Had he been human, he would have doubted that the fragile form in his arms was actually the priestess he had grown fond of.
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Kagome opened her eyes slowly, aware of a dull pain in her side that throbbed in tempo with her heart. She found herself staring into golden eyes and smiled.
"Lord Sesshoumaru?"
"Miko."
Kagome frowned and something ugly flitted over her expression before it vanished. "Where am I?"
"Near the well."
"Ah." Kagome sat up; a vague sense of embarrassment rang through her when she realized he had been holding her in his arms. She dismissed it with a blink and stood. "Why here?"
"I thought you would wish to go home."He rose to his feet, daintily sniffing the woman in front of him. The ice smell burnt his nose but it confirmed what he knew. This was the miko he was fond of.
Grey eyes blinked up at him. "Oh. Okay." She stumbled to the well and peered down into its depths. She lifted herself onto the well's mouth.
"Where has the Jewel gone?"
Madness shone in the human's eyes. "We are one. One. I am it and they are I and we are they and she is us and I am them." Sesshoumaru frowned at the vague sentence. "I think I'll go home now." Without another thought, she dropped into the well. Sesshoumaru shivered and placed his hand on his sword when power radiated from the well. It vanished suddenly, eating away at itself. He backed away and stared at the hole in the ground where the well's wooden structure had once sat.
"Farewell."
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"So when am I?"
Kagome blinked up at the sun. She lay on her back in the center of a field. With a twist of her wrist, she gathered dirt and grass into her palm. It was deliciously warm. She repeated the action, sliding the dirt between her fingers. She sat up suddenly, and dropped the dirt in her hand. Tilting her head to the side, she held her breath as she heard voices again.
"Look! It's a child!" A woman in red rushed towards her and scooped her up. "Who would leave a child here?" The woman brushed Kagome's hair out her face. "Sweet thing. I'll take care of you. I'll love you." The woman crooned.
"Madame Red? What is it?" Madam Red turned to face the man walking towards her.
"I found this little girl here. I don't understand who'd do something like this."
"It takes all sorts to do something so vile."
"Yes." Madame Red bundled the child up in her coat. "It does." She walked away, towards her carriage. "Take me to the Phantomhive Estate."
"As you wish." Madame Red accepted his hand as she stepped into the carriage then shut the door behind her.
"I'll keep you my dear. We'll be together. Something as darling as you should never be thrown away." Madam Red blinked. "If I adopt you, I can ask Lord Vincent to have Ciel be your betrothed. Heaven knows it will be better than he and Elizabeth." A small smile crossed her lips. "Then it won't be Vincent and Rachel all over again. But what happened to your hair, doll?" Madame Red had uncovered Kagome's head to see the white that liberally decorated her head. "And don't you have the prettiest grey eyes?" Kagome blinked up at the lady once more.
"Glorious red. Like roses, like wine, like blood. Glorious blood. We can taste it."The Thing hissed sibilantly in her head. Kagome closed her eyes and fell into her mind.
"Can we?" She murmured. The mist surrounded her. A mirror sprung up in front of her after a negligent thought. She peered at her reflection. "Why, I'm but a child again."
"We should stay with the Lady Red. We want to know the woman who dares to wear the color." The Thing murmured softly. It coughed.
"Do you like my present dear Guardian?" A soft voice hissed. The Thing fled.
"If that is what it is." Kagome shrugged and tilted her head. "Where is here?"
"Victorian ages I believe. Much has progressed from the time you fled the world behind you."
"I see."
"Do you not wonder where the revenant went?"
"Should I?"
The voice laughed. "My, much of you has changed. How damning."
Kagome shrugged and returned to her perusal of her reflection. A two year old peered back at her with white threaded hair and grey eyes. She closed her eyes once more and faded away to sleep.
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"Lord Vincent! Lady Rachel!" Madame Red rushed towards the pair. Kagome woke up, but kept her eyes shut.
"Angelina? What is that in your arms?"
"My daughter." Madame Red looked down at the sleeping toddler in her arms.
"Do ring the other sister, it has bells."
Madame Red bit her lip and then smiled.
"I'm adopting her. I found her in a field. Her family abandoned her." Lady Rachel shrugged daintily and stepped forward to peer at the child in her sister's arm.
"What happened to her hair? It looks like she fell into paint. Surely you could have washed her before bringing to us."
Kagome opened her eyes slowly, calmly and shot the blond a glare.
"I think she's quite a beauty, Rachel. Much like your sister's uncommon red locks." Madame Red blushed at Lord Vincent's praise. "What is her name?"
Madame Red answered with very little hesitation. "Illya. Illya Durless."
"Not Barnett? Interesting. Come, Ciel should be awake." Lord Vincent took Lady Rachel's hand as they walked into their house. Madame Red followed. Ciel met them in the foyer, rushing forward to envelop his mother's legs in a hug.
"Mother!" He released her and spotted his aunt. "Aunty Red!!" He ran forward and stopped short of hugging her. "Who is that?"
"This is my daughter Illya." Looking down, Madame Red realized the girl was awake.
"How do you do Illya?" Ciel called.
"…Alright. And you?" Kagome turned to see who had spoken. Looking at the boy's blue eyes hurt. She had eyes like that once.
"I'm great! Would you like to play?"
"If that is what you wish." Kagome closed her eyes and smiled down at him.
"Isn't she darling? I'll take her and Ceil to the playroom and return so that we can talk."
"Don't be silly, Tanaka can do that." Rachel murmured.
"Be that as it may, I wish to do so." Rachel shrugged and turned to her husband. Madame Red ushered the two into a side room. Madame Red turned back to the girl in her arms. "You can talk?"
"Yes. My name is to be Illya Kagome Durless."
"Who left you in that park?"
Kagome shrugged. "I wanted to be your present. They said you were sad. I wanted you of the color red to be happy." Madame Red frowned at the implications that someone had been watching her.
"And you are loyal to me?"
"If that is what you wish." Madame Red knelt and set Kagome's feet on the ground.
"It is what I have wished for most dearly. Come. That was my nephew Ciel. He's Lord Vincent and Lady Rachel's son. I do hope that you play nice."
"I can." Kagome walked into the room, hand held by the woman in red. Madame Red frowned when she realized that in her haste to bring the child to the Phantomhive Estate she had neglected to actually dress the girl in clothes befitting her new status. Madame Red made a note to herself and left the two to play. Tanaka motioned a servant girl into the room and left to tend to the three adults.
"Illya! Would you like to play with the soldiers with me?" Kagome settled primly next to the cheerful boy. She smiled softly and picked up a soldier dressed in soft blues and whites.
"If that is what you wish."