Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.


"Fate leads the willing and drags along the unwilling." -Seneca


She knew it was supposed to be cold. The constant echoes of dripping water from the ceiling and the dank, unused stale air around her told her that. She was also supposed to be feeling the dampness of the floor she lied helplessly one. But she didn't. Didn't feel the cold or the damp. It had been a while since she had experienced either of those sensations. The reason for it was why she found herself here now. For they had figured out how to make her weak. But thankfully, even if they killed her, it wouldn't be the end. It would just be a new beginning. With that in mind she closed her eyes to the darkness that was already engulfing her. Let them snuff her flame. They would burn for it later…


Kagome sighed for what she felt like was the fiftieth time. Maybe if she hit fifty one her point would get across to the surprisingly obtuse hanyou that was doggedly walking onward. Doggedly. Kagome gave a snort to herself. How fitting.

Inuyasha turned toward her finally as he heard her snort. "What the hell are you laughing at woman? This isn't a time for being happy! There are only a handful of shards left to gather!"

"I know Inuyasha. But we've been walking since the sun came up this morning and have only stopped for long enough to eat a fast lunch. The sun is starting to set. We should stop, set up camp, and rest." She knew her argument was going to be ignored. She knew why too. It had absolutely nothing to do with the shards. Her indication was the tugging she felt on her soul. The hanyou may think he had pulled the wool over her eyes, but she knew better. He was following Kikyou.

Now, there was a time when this might have hurt her deeply. As a matter of fact, when she had finally equated the gentle tugs with his consistent disappearances at night, she had cried quietly for hours while everyone else slept. But she was rather over it now. If he preferred a dead, animated clay body to a living, breathing person, more power to him. He was a big boy. Naive though. She just needed to make sure he didn't get sucked into hell until the shards were all collected and Naraku slain.

She was also beginning to worry about the tugs she constantly felt on her soul. Kikyou seemed straight forward in her agenda: take Inuyasha to hell with her and rest in eternal damnation with him. But something bothered her still. The woman was hard to read, and a whispering in her torn soul was making her suspect that her own life was in danger.

The hanyou huffed and turned to keep walking down the dirt road they were following. Tired of his childishness, Kagome decided to put a swift end to his determination. "Sit."

She watched impassively as his body slammed into the dirt, puffs of dust rising into the air from his impact. Hitching her bag on her shoulders a little bit, she promptly turned off the road and headed into the woods in search of a suitable clearing. Over Inuyasha's swearing she heard the rest of the Inutaichi give sighs of relief and follow behind her into the woods.

In the minute it normally took for Inuyasha to recover from his sitting, Kagome had found a nice little clearing in sight of the road and had sat her pack down on a small boulder. Having grown used to this routine for the past couple of weeks, she knew what to expect next. It appears even young dogs couldn't learn new tricks.

"Sit Inuyasha."

She heard her kit snigger to himself at the same time she heard the hanyou's mass hit the grass not even 5 feet behind her. As she pulled out a small tinder box and some water proof matches, she turned to eye the livid hanyou lying on the ground from his attempt to pounce her.

"Either you can stay mad and stay sat, or you can give it up and go hunt from some food. Or disappear for a while. I don't care. But I'm tired, and I'm setting up camp with Sango, Miroku, and Shippo. And short of me getting tired of saying the S-I-T word, you can't change my decision."

She crouched down next to her friend so she could look him in the eye. He growled as his golden eyes flashed angrily at her. But from the huff he gave afterwards, she knew she had won the argument. She stood back up and went to the center of the clearing to start the campfire using the wood that her other companions had returned carrying from the forest seconds before.

She smiled as Shippo came running up to her carrying the small twigs and leaves she would need to kindle the first flames to catch the branches alight. "Thanks Ship! What do you want for dinner? I have some of those spicy rice and beans you love so much."

She loved the fox kit so much. And it worried her to no end what would happen to him once the jewel was completed and Naraku killed. If she was sent to the future automatically, he couldn't follow. He had no place in the modern world. She'd had the discussion with her mother about two months ago about what would happen when the jewel was completed and wished into nothingness. It was a painful conversation to say the least. Her mother wasn't often prone to yelling, but the household that night was full of tears, harsh words, and broken plates.

But the end state was, that if Kagome had the option to stay in the past once the Shikon was completed, then she would. Shippo needed a mother. She was sure Sango would be more than capable of taking care of him, but Kagome wouldn't leave him by choice. He was HER kit.

Dinner had been finished and plates cleaned, leaving the band of friends sans one hanyou to sit and chat happily. Sango polished her hiraikotsu while Miroku entertained them with a few stories of exorcisms gone horribly wrong. Shippo lay on his stomach next to her doodling on a pad of paper she had bought for him.

"…and it turned out after all that effort that I was mistaken! I got chased out of that house by both the ghost AND the owner!" Miroku waved his arms around to emphasize his story while Kagome and Sango laughed amicably.

Of course, it being Miroku, Sango stopped laughing seconds after and slammed her boomerang against the houshi's head. "HENTAI! Can you not keep your hands to yourself for even two minutes?" All she got for an answer was Miroku's twitching, injured form. Kagome's laughter was now joined by Shippo's as Miroku finally righted himself off the ground and proceeded to start apologizing to their female friend. Even with Inuyasha's continual betrayals, Kagome would never give up these times with her surrogate family. Without them, even while home with her family, she felt a gnawing emptiness. At night the emptiness always returned, and it often haunted her dreams. On more than one night she awoke to Shippo nudging her in distress. He always spoke of her almost feverish murmurs and sometimes of her choked sobs.

She never remembered those dreams, at least not the details. But she could recall every emotion she had while asleep. Often it was loneliness, but on the odd occasion she would feel terror and something close to total emotional anguish. Like she'd never be happy again. Not enjoying where her thoughts were taking her, she picked up her kit suddenly and began to tickle him. His laughter was some of her best medicine and both Shippo and herself knew it.

She was truly starting to dislike sleeping more and more.


She whimpered in pain. This existence she was born to was unfair. To be something, yet to be half a soul. She was a partial void. It reflected in her appearance too. Her hair was a dull white, her skin ghostly pale, even her irises were milky.

And for someone who was considered youkai, she was also very sickly. If not for the shrine that had found her, she would be dead. An oddity of youkai she was also. Reiki had no affect on her. She absorbed holy power into her being. It did sometimes make her sick if she took too much in, but unlike other youkai, she wouldn't burst into flames and turn to dust.

It was the only reason the shrine had taken her in while she was young. What they thought was an albino child, was actually just a small, colorless, weak youkai. They had tried to purify her to put her out of her misery, but where shocked when their powers simply soaked into her form.

After being in the Shrine's care for almost 40 years though, she suspected that they knew something she didn't. There was no reason or valid proof for her to harbor this suspicion, but it didn't shake the feeling from her.

They had been getting anxious around her recently, whispering to each other when they walked by. How could she not feel that way? The head miko of the shrine had been keeping a closer eye, asking if she, Betsuni, had been feeling anything odd lately.

Well, she certainly had, but she wasn't about to tell anyone about it. Feeling like you were being compulsively dragged in a particular direction all hours of the day probably wouldn't win her any sanity points. That and her dreams…oh she loved her dreams. There were people in them, people she didn't know, but they were so nice! A fox demon, a fire cat demon, a priest wearing purple robes, a slayer with her giant boomerang, and sometimes a surly hanyou. She didn't much like the hanyou when he made appearances but his habit of sometimes biting the dust out of nowhere made up for her dislike of his attitude.

She had these dreams every night. She didn't know why either. And the people kept looking at her and calling her the most peculiar name…

Kagome.

She lurched off her seat in the Shrine garden as that odd, painful tug happened again. They had started two years ago, and had been getting stronger with each passing month. It was getting to the point where if she was walking when one struck, she would be physically compelled to step in a certain direction for a couple feet.

She groaned as the head miko walked over to her. She'd been spotted.

The older woman kneeled next to the wisp of a youkai. "Betsuni, are you okay? You literally just fell off that bench." Her grey eyes looked sadly at her charge. "You've been lying about not feeling anything. If you'd have just told us, we would have told you what was going on."

Betsuni looked up at her caretaker in surprise. "Nani, Seji-san? You know what's happening to me?" Tears entered her eyes in relief. If the miko knew, then maybe she knew how to make it all stop.

"Hai Betsuni-chan. I know. We've been waiting for you to tell us that you were feeling it. You may not like what we have to tell you though." The kind woman's face was full of worry. Whatever it was that she knew, something was not good about it. Betsuni felt on edge again. She just wanted this pain to end. Living each moment feeling like your soul was being sucked out of you was no way to live.

Seji helped her stand up, and supporting her, walked Betsuni to the nearest building that served as the sleeping quarters for everyone in the shrine. They ended up standing in Betsuni's meager room, consisting of a large trunk that held all of Betsuni's worldly possessions, a tatami mat that it had taken her a very long time to earn the money for, and a straw stuffed futon. Betsuni allowed Seji to direct her towards her bed. Sitting down with a rough thud, the demon glanced up at her current caretaker.

"So, what is it that is so important about these tugs that I'm feeling? Besides the fact that every time it happens it feels like I'm dying." White eyes followed Seji as the older woman stood and paced the room. The uncharacteristic look of seriousness and sadness had Betsuni off balance. Where most miko and houshi on the shrine were serious, Seji always made an attempt to be sunny. It didn't mean the woman was any less serious about her work, just that she felt happiness was something to be spread also.

"Not long after you were found Betsuni, a head miko entered a trance state and uttered a prophecy. It had to do with you, though how it pertained to you was and still is difficult to ascertain. 'The youkai that is not will dream and feel the pull of destiny. The miko who is half will burn with the desire to protect her own. Separate the two will perish, together they will succeed.' You are most certainly a youkai that is unlike any other we have ever come across. You are not purified by our reiki, so in many respects, you are a youkai that is not a youkai. As to the half miko…this has us confused. You either are a miko or you aren't. You can have miko training and not be a miko but that certainly doesn't make you half miko. As for the last part, well that seems fairly obvious doesn't it?"

Betsuni stared down at her delicately clawed hands. So this soul wrenching she was experiencing was called her destiny? Was she supposed to go out and seek it? Or wait for it to seek her? Because it seemed her destiny was a woman who was half a miko. But what about the part of the youkai that is not dreaming? Was she dreaming of her destiny? Because if she was, that meant her destiny was a woman named Kagome.

And that meant her dreams were possibly really happening. She was linked to this woman. And from the constellations in the sky whenever she dreamed of this woman Kagome, she was very close. Maybe that was why the tugging was getting worse and worse…she was sitting still and not moving fast enough toward the half miko…

"Seji-san…I've…I've been having these dreams…about a group of people. They look at me in my dreams and they call me Kagome…but I am not Kagome, I am Betsuni. Maybe the woman they call Kagome is the half-miko."

The look of worry that crossed Seji's face at the mention of the name Kagome made Betsuni nervous. The older miko turned to look out the small window into the courtyard of the shrine and took a deep sigh. "We know Kagome. And she is most certainly not half a miko. She is one of the most powerful mikos to walk the earth since the death of Midoriko." Seji turned to look pointedly at her demonic charge. "Kagome is the Shikon Maiden, the keeper of the jewel of four souls. But if you are dreaming of her every night than it is very possible your destiny is closely tied with hers. Maybe she will lead you to this half-miko."

Betsuni chewed on her lower lip worriedly. She'd never left the confines of this shrine since she had arrived. She was much too weak to survive on her own. She had no powers to her knowledge that would help her defend herself against other youkai in the wild. The only defense she did have was against other mikos. And that was because she could absorb reiki.

Her choices were to sit in the shrine and feel like she would die with each tug on her soul, or take the chance and chase after this Shikon Maiden and hope that she'd get some relief from the constant pain she'd been in for months.

It was truly a no-brainer. But it hurt to know that she would be leaving her home. They had treated her so well here. As close to normal as they could treat a demon they couldn't kill. Pale eyes rose to clash with the older miko's pale green. "I'll miss you Seji-san."

The miko gave a sad smile and nodded. "You were the child I never had Betsuni. I raised you as best I could for 30 years when the shrine got turned over to me. But destiny is something few of us can deny. Is Kagome near enough for you to venture out on your own? Or should I send one of the younger apprentices here out to accompany you until you meet up with her?"

Betsuni shook her head. "She is very near. I should be able to walk to her location in one day if I start tomorrow."

Seji nodded her head. "I shall get a small sack put together with food and clothing for you to carry with you. I'll leave room for your tatami mat as I know it is one of your most prized possessions. Until then, you should rest. You will be leaving early tomorrow morning." With a couple strides, the miko was standing in front of the nihilistic demon. She leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to the child's forehead then wordlessly departed the room.

Betsuni did have another prized possession. But it was never one that she had shown anyone on the shrine. She strode over to the trunk and opened it. Rifling through the clothes till she reached the bottom, she pulled out a long object wrapped in her best cotton kimono. Once unwrapped she admired a sword. It had been with her when she had first stumbled across the shrine with no memory of who she was or how she had come to be.

It was beautiful. And it was unlike any sword she had ever heard described before. The blade was red steel, and there was kanji inscribed on the blade for fire and eternal life. These kanji mysteriously glowed as if they had been shoved into a smithy's furnace and blasted until they burned an ominous orange and red. But the blade was always cool, chilly even.

After admiring it for a couple minutes, she rewrapped it and placed it back at the bottom of her trunk. She quickly changed into a light yukata for the summer air then lay down, ready for her dreams of the group of people she would soon be joining.


Sesshomaru walked quietly ahead of his small pack as he did his regular patrol of his lands. It wasn't something he was required to do, as he had plenty of retainers back at his palace to handle them for him. But it was one of the very few things he did enjoy doing.

The court life was not something he held in high regard. He was a warrior to his core, not a politician. That certainly didn't mean he couldn't handle being a politician, just that if he had his choice, he would rather clash with his opponent in a crossing of swords rather than with words. The drivel he had to put up with from nearby lords was just saddening and pathetic. It was like a bunch of little pups fighting over the same toy, only dressed fancier and using bigger words.

No, he much preferred his forays about his lands on foot. Minus the toad of course, but that was a necessary evil if he planned on continuing ruling his lands while walking about.

But lately, something had been bothering him. It rested on him like a sixth sense, an intuition. An instinct. Something was going to happen soon. Something big. He wasn't sure what it would be though. There was an air of tension settling over his lands, and he was fairly sure it had little to do with the hanyou nuisance of both his brother and the abomination known as Naraku. And it was maddening not knowing what it was.

There were no clues whatsoever. Just a feeling of mounting tension in the air.

He turned as he heard his ward running up behind him, trying to stifle her laughter. He smelled the bouquet of wild flowers she carried in her hands, and heard the angry cursing of his toad retainer as he galloped after the human.

"Sesshomaru-sama! Rin got you flowers! Lots of pretty flowers! Even though Jaken-sama tried to take them from Rin!" She hugged his leg, squishing the hapless daisies and daffodils in her clutches against his hakamas.

"My lord! I tried to stop her and tell her you would never desire a handful of flowers, but she wouldn't listen to me! Accept this Jaken's most humble apologies!"

Sesshomaru rumbled in his head. Why did he keep the useless kappa around? He couldn't do some of the most simple tasks. Keeping track of and controlling an 8 year old really shouldn't be beyond his abilities as a personal retainer. The taiyoukai made a note to do a search for a new personal retainer whenever he got back to his palace. This incompetence was embarrassing to be around.

Without saying a word, and without moving the leg his ward was still wrapped tightly around, he lashed out and punted the toad youkai into the air. He was sure that Jaken would only land a couple miles away so he would be back in 15 minutes or so. The toad was slow.

Rin's giggles drew his attention back down to her. "Poor Jaken. Rin knows he was just trying to do the right thing, but he's so mean about it. Does Sesshomaru-sama want Rin to hop on to Ah-Un so we can continue traveling?" He reached down with his one hand and gently patted her on her soft dark brown hair. With a toothy grin, the girl turned and ran over to the dragon youkai and quickly scrambled aboard it.

Without saying another word the Taiyoukai started walking forward, his charge following close behind admiring the forest and the sky around them. It felt to him like it should be like any other day, but that feeling of destiny was still looming over him. He hated destiny. It was in fact one of the few things he could not ignore.


Kagome awoke from another formless, indistinct dream biting her lip so a scream wouldn't work its way from her throat. Not knowing what they were about upon waking was killing her. Especially because the feeling didn't fade immediately. Thankfully she had made it through the night without waking for once.

She felt small paws tugging on her night shirt and she looked down to see her kit looking sadly up at her. "Come back to sleep Kagome. You need it. It's another hour until when you normally wake up." Kagome smiled down at her adopted kitsune son. He was her world. Short of the Shikon no Tama she would do anything for him. And she knew, as young as he was, he understood that if the decision came between him and the Shikon, the Shikon would win. And he never argued that point. A thing about demons, at least the ones gifted with higher power, is that they understood what duty and responsibility meant. It meant sacrifices. And her Shippo was okay with that. He would never let her make the decision of him over her duty. Especially one as important and dangerous as the Shikon no Tama.

Smiling down at the kit, she ran her fingers lovingly through his wild red hair that had been let out of its ponytail for the night. "Okay Shippo." She lied back down and let herself drift off into a light sleep. That increasingly annoying tug on her soul wouldn't let her sleep any deeper.


Betsuni huffed as she stumbled through the dense underbrush in the woods. This was by far more annoying than she had initially anticipated. Apparently expecting all roads to be paved was a little much. Not to mention that this was more physical exercise than she'd had in a while. Adjusting the small pack on her back again so it rested more comfortably on her sore shoulders, she continued trekking toward the feeling of her soul. With every step the pain got fainter, but the pulses of the tugs came quicker. It was a relief after all the time spent feeling like her soul was going to get ripped out of her body.

She cursed as her sword scabbard got caught on another bush. With all the noise she was making she was surprised she hadn't been attacked by something yet. Surprised, but definitely thankful. She'd been traveling for four hours already this morning and knew she was very, very close. Which might explain the lack of oni and minor youkai around. The hanyou named Inuyasha from her dreams was very powerful. His presence alone would be all that was needed to keep most curious and power hungry demons away.

Off to her right she heard the creak of a tree branch giving way to weight. Her colorless eyes snapped up to catch a flash of red before it disappeared. She knew who it was. She also knew he would be pretty ruthless if he thought her a threat. Stumbling in the exact direction of his pack probably wouldn't win her any good points with him, not while dragging a sword along. Even if it was half her size and she had no idea how to use it. But he didn't know that.

She heard the faint sounds of him zipping around her through the forest at speeds her weak youkai eyes couldn't keep track of. Knowing of nothing else she could do about her situation, she just decided to keep walking.

She gasped when he suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Oye, wench. Where the hell do you think you're going?"

As rude as ever, Betsuni mused. This caused her mouth to quirk up a little bit in amusement. Wrong thing to do, as Inuyasha went immediately onto the defensive.

"Stop smiling you little pipsqueak! Never seen a hanyou before? What's so funny?" He drew himself up to his full height in order to intimidate Betsuni. Having seen this already multiple times in her dreams, not to mention she was already comfortable with her small stature, it did little to phase her.

"Hello Inuyasha. I'm here to speak with a member of your esteemed pack. I mean you and all those under your protection no harm. You may carry all my gear if that is sufficient to prove my word." Betsuni said this softly, her eyes diverted in deference to his superior station to hers. In her peripheral vision she could see the hanyou gaping at the fact that she knew who he was. He quickly composed himself.

"Keh. Like you'd be a threat anyways. I'll take the sword. You can keep your pack. Who did you want to speak with anyways?"

"I would like to speak with the Shikon Miko in your party. I have a prophecy I must share with her, and I need her help in fulfilling it." She knew this might cause an issue. From her dreams, the poor girl she emulated wasn't allowed to have any responsibilities other than finding and purifying the Shikon shards. Raising the fact that she might now have a double duty with a prophecy on top of locating and completing the Jewel of Four Souls might not sit well with him. "I am honor and duty bound to bring it to her attention. If she should accept or decline is her business and her destiny. Please do not make this difficult because it is possible you could cause her great pain by doing so."

The hanyou in front of her grimaced at the word destiny. Most intelligent youkai would. Without another word he stepped off in the same direction she had been heading in originally. She followed quietly, untying the sword from her belt and holding in both hand in front of her to show she meant no ill will.


Her chest had been aching all morning and it had been getting worse. Inuyasha hadn't come back from wandering the night before and Kagome figured it was either Kikyou or he had discovered something worthy of taking care of in the immediate area. It wasn't entirely rare for Inuyasha to kill off a couple of more powerful and curious youkai near their camp just to make sure they didn't get ambushed.

A small groan left her as another chest pain spasmed. She leaned forward in her kneeling position until her forehead touched the forest floor. Shippo was immediately by her side doing his best to comfort her, and Sango and Miroku were looking bewildered.

"Kagome-sama, are you well? You've grown increasingly pale over the past hour and a light sweat has broken out across your brow," Miroku said, his face marred by a frown and his usually mirthful eyes filled with worry. The way his travel mate was clutching at her chest was not a good sign.

"I don't know Miroku. I've been having chest pain all morning. It's been getting worse with every minute that passes. Go into my backpack and pull out all my medicine bottles and bring them over here…I'm afraid to move and put strain on my heart."

The monk nodded his head and headed off into the depths of her yellow monstrosity while Sango walked over with a plastic bottle filled with water for her sister to drink from.

Not even seconds later, Inuyasha burst through the nearby bushes, his eyes immediately going to Kagome. "Oye, wench. You have a visitor."


It's a meh attempt at writing. I like the start of the chapter though.