Incarnation of the Fated
Disclaimer I, wolfYLady, own nothing as I am nothing more than a humble fanfiction writer whose entertainment comes from manipulating fictional characters. Characters depicted from Inuyasha and other shows, unless otherwise stated, belong to their beloved and respected creators and owners. (THIS IS ALL IMPLIED AS THE STORY PROGRESSES FROM HERE)
Summary: Was Kagome truly the reincarnation of Kikyo? There is always more to the story when the Gods get involved. 'Why did his eyes look so familiar, how did he know her name and why did her heart flutter when he looked at her like that?' Story based off of previously written story "INCARNATED." (you can read it, but it isn't necessary as the stories are going to be different)
Starts before the show/manga
Pairing: Bankotsu and Kagome
Rating: M
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Prologue
Flurries of white drifted through the air before slowly making its way to the ground with its brethren that worked to cover the forest floor. The light dusting of snow was a clear indicator of a fast-approaching winter but until snow could layer the ground the blood that colored it would remain.
Forced to his knees by arrows that littered and protruded from his body, cobalt eyes looked up to the cloudy sky in despair. How had his once peaceful and promising life turned to one of murder and chaos? All of this could be traced back to her.
"Kagome," her name came as a broken whisper on his lips. The face of a beautiful woman captivated his mind's eye to overlap the clouds. Hair like a raven's wing curled around a pale heart-shaped face. Large smiling eyes the color of ever-changing sapphires beamed down at him surrounded by thick lashes. She smiled at him, and for a second he wasn't dying, he was back at the shrine with them, living the life that was wrongfully stolen.
Why had they taken them from him? Because she loved him; a half-demon?
'I miss you. Not a day has passed that I don't think of you, I wish I would have been the kind of man you deserved,' he was fading now, he could feel it. His mind grew hazy and vision blurred. Falling forward he heard the footfalls of the soldiers that had claimed the lives of his brethren and were no doubt coming to take him and finish the job. 'I love you,' He fell to the ground, more dead than alive.
Not bothering to behead Bankotsu the soldiers threw him atop a pile of body parts, the lifeless remains that were brothers. They had followed him, followed him here where he wanted to visit their graves. They died because of him just as they had. Even with death breathing down his neck, and the guilt of being the reason his brothers' demise, Bankotsu refused to die, a part of him held onto hope of finding her once more as the gods had promised. He wanted, no needed, to be there to protect her as he hadn't been able to all those years ago.
The band of seven was then sealed away, leaving Bankotsu, the only one still alive, to dream of his past. A past filled with the love of a woman who had saved him on a day where snow fell just as it had today.
He would dream of such peace for fifty years till such peace was interrupted by a spider who spoke the Shikon No Tama.
~o.O~O.o~ Years Prior ~o.O~O.o~
Flakes of white fell idly from dark clouds in visible clumps before descending to the ground with the rest that had been accumulating for the last several days. All around the landscape had been covered in the cold white of winter. From above the light of a crescent moon broke through the clouds making the ground sparkle while shadows of blue and silver colored the world on this night.
It was so beautiful no one would have thought of what the snow-covered, of the war or famine of the previous year, or the blood that had been spilled as demons and humans mindlessly slaughtered one another. And yet in the face of such destruction, the world looked so peaceful as it stood in white, otherworldly silence.
All that could be heard were the shallow pants of a boy who staggered through the snow nearly falling as he all but threw himself against a nearby tree for support.
His breath came out like smoke as it rushed pass cracked parted lips, swirling in the air like a milky white cloud before fading only to be followed by another breath. He panted softly, his lungs and throat burning as he pulled in the frozen air. Racing within his chest his heart thundered, the sound echoing in his ears. Cobalt eyes looked on in a daze unable to focus, but not from lack of trying.
Looking back, he could make out the indents of his dragging feet and a trail of droplets that colored the snow crimson breaking the beauty of the wintery scenery.
So far he had evaded his attackers, but that didn't mean he was out of danger, the smell of his blood could bring out a hungry demon at any second, and in his wounded state he wouldn't be able to escape much less fight back.
Gripping his arm in a painful attempt to slow the bleeding, he leaned heavily on the tree. Out of breath and his mind hazy from blood loss, he only had a few seconds to rest before he would need to move again. He didn't bother to look at the wound; it would serve him no point. Right now his focus had to be on escaping, or his mother's sacrifice would be for nothing.
Mother…
An involuntary growl rumbled within his chest.
Pushing himself from the tree, he started to walk when his world began to spin; his breathing came in rushed pants as he pressed his hand to his forehead trying to will the lightheadedness and pain away. Blinking he tried focusing but within a few steps his legs gave way, and he fell into the blanket of white.
His last thoughts surrounding the only person to love him.
Mother…
~o.O~O.o~
Pale ever-changing orbs the shade of sapphire looked over the land with a small smile in place. Even if she weren't pleased with the fact she had waited till nightfall to pick the herb she desired, it would help rile down the hyper kitsune that currently danced around her legs while picking up and then dropping clumps of snow.
He didn't look much of a demon as he jumped and dance in the same fashion as all the other children in the village. But then again she was bound to be biased as she looked on at the kit as if he were her own.
"Kagome isn't it pretty?" the small kit chippered happily while looking up at her with large innocent teal eyes.
"Yes, it very pretty Shippo," she cooed as she gently patted his head, brushing off some of the snow from his silvery red hair while being careful of the fox ears atop his head. He grinned happily, his buff ball of a silvery red tail wagging happily behind him.
Coming upon the clearing that housed the herb she needed Kagome froze. Something felt off; there was a demonic presence up ahead that shouldn't be there. No demons were allowed to cross into the shrine unless they had a pure heart. Had the barrier fallen without her noticing?
The small fox who had ran ahead of her played happily not noticing the change in his mother-figure.
"Shippo get back here," she called out making the fox freeze. He had only ever heard that tone if she thought there was danger. Racing over to her, he ducked behind her before crawling up her back taking his usual safe spot on her back. His small clawed hands gripping the collar of her haori while her cloak blocked him from view and the winter chill.
Gripping her staff, Kagome hesitantly walked forward, slightly cursing herself for not bringing her bow.
Stepping into the clearing, she first noticed small dark droplets in almost complete contrast to the stark white snow. They varied as they slowly grew bigger along the footsteps. Following the line with her eyes, she looked up to the tree only three feet away to see the same red against the tree and at the foot of it.
Even if she knew what it was, it was frightening nonetheless. 'That's a lot of blood,' Against her back she could feel Shippo trembling no doubt being able to smell it.
"It's okay Shippo," she cooed even though she was just as scared. But she would protect him now and forever; he was hers from the moment she found him abandoned at her shrine almost a year ago. She had waited for someone, anyone to come for him, but after a month he was already living happily within the shrine with her making it feel less lonely since grandma Nainai, had passed almost three months prior.
The drops went on for several feet before she came to an abrupt halt. Standing there she stared wide-eyed unable to move as she, in turn, began to tremble at the sight.
Blood pooled around a dark figure, their body having fallen forward into the snow leaving their back exposed with a thin layer of snow covering their back. They would have had to be laying there for some time to have that much snow covering them.
She momentarily thought the person to be dead when a pained whimper filled the silence.
Shaken from her daze, she rushed over kneeling down beside the person to see a pale face as white as snow with purple dusted cheeks and bleeding lips a pale shade of blue. Flakes of snow dotted his ebony hair as strands fell into his face. Small puffs of air rushed passed his lips proving he was, in fact, alive, even if barely so.
As a miko, she had a responsibility to help him, plus she wouldn't be able to forgive herself of she didn't.
Taking off her cloak, she momentarily shivered at the loss of warmth but pushed it to the side to cover him with it.
"Shippo remember the herb I needed?" Kagome asked looking over her shoulder to see the small kit. Seeing him nod she continued. "I need you to grab some for me, it's going to be under that tree," she pointed to a tree across from them next to a frozen stream.
Hopping off her back, he rushed to the tree and began picking the herbs. She would need these more than ever; they help with fever and infection and this man even if he didn't die from his wounds, he very well could get sick from being out here so long.
"Can you hear me?" Kagome asked the boy.
His eyes fluttered to briefly reveal glazed over cobalt eyes. A murmur of sorts left his lips. At least he wasn't completely out of it.
As best she could Kagome rolled the boy onto his back before looping his arms over her shoulders and stood to pull him up with her so that his front was to her back, she would be dragging him. At least he wasn't that much taller than her, or this would be a lot harder than it already was.
"Kagome I got them!" the kit yelled as he ran up to her the basket they had brought now overflowing with herbs, thankfully they all looked to be in good condition as he had pulled them by the roots as Kagome had taught him to.
"Good job," She grinned before adjusting the boy more on her shoulders making it so that his head rest against hers. "Let's make our way home,"
~o.O~O.o~
His senses came back slowly, warmth wrapped around him in a foreign embrace compared to the blanket cold white that he had been sure meant his death. Eyes clenched tightly in his desire to remain asleep. It felt so nice he didn't wish to wake, to face reality once more and live a life where he would forever be demised because of his tainted blood.
Wiggling his fingers and toes the boy slowly began to wake further, and in opening his eyes, he looked up with blurry vision at a wooden ceiling.
All he remembered was falling into the snow, so how did he get here? Where was here?
"So you're awake," it was soft voice mimicking the soft chime of bells.
His head snapped to the side to see a girl of maybe 12, a year younger than himself. She was closing the sliding door behind her, snow falling from her cloak and hair while shaking off the cloak to hang it on a hook to the left. Freed from the heavy cloth, raven hair fell to her waist in thick unruly waves, and with it, her scent filled the heated air. It reminded him of late spring as the scent of blackberries and sweet rain. Looking closer at her, smiling eyes the shade of every changing sapphires looked back at him.
His eyes grew wide, filling with fear.
Covering her were the standard garbs of a miko. This girl was a miko, and Mikos killed demons and half-demons alike on sight. His mother had warned him of them, and if he were to see one, he was to run as far as possible.
"Kagome! I missed you!" a high pitched voice yelled from beside him. Looking to the left, a small boy sat beside him. Dressed in burgundy hakama and a red haori with a purple checker design lining the hem of the sleeves and collar, sat not only a boy but a young kitsune. Silvery red hair topped his head in a shaggy fashion with twitching fox ears and behind him bagged a silvery red puffball of a tail only a shade darker than his hair. The boy looked at the girl with such love and admiration in his teal eyes it surprised him.
This boy was a demon how he could love a miko? And why would a miko let the kitsune or him live?
Jumping from over him, the kit rushed into her arms, nuzzling her cheek as he hugged her neck."I took care of him just as you asked,"
She smiled while nuzzling him in return. "Thank you so much; I am sorry I had to leave you alone when going to the village,"
"Your back now though," he sighed happily.
Bankotsu could only watch with wide eyes. They acted as if they were mother and son.
Her blue eyes turned to him. "And how are you? Are you feeling alright boy?" She asked.
He looked away with a huff. "I have a name,"
"And what would that be?" he jumped at hearing her voice so close, looking up she was now hovering over him with the kit resting on her shoulder as if he had always been there.
Pink dusted his nose before mumbling, "Bankotsu,"
"Well hello Bankotsu, my name is Kagome, and this is Shippo," She beamed happily.
"Why do you prolong the inevitable?" he looked away his thoughts turning towards his mother and her warning. Even if this girl were nice she was still a miko, and as one her job was to rid the world of demons, and that included a half-demon like him. "Just kill me now miko and be do with it,"
"Excuse me but who do you think I am? I would never hurt someone, let alone kill, without reason especially a hurt boy,"
He turned with narrowed eyes, a growl in his throat as he forced his protesting body into a seated position to stare back into her. "I'm nothing more than a worthless half-demon, if you were a real miko you would have left me to die or better yet kill me!" a part of him wanted to die, to join his mother in the afterlife.
Her eyes widen in shock and then drooped sorrowfully. "Why should any one life matter more than another's? I don't know your story or anything, but whether human, demon or half-demon someone loves you and that makes your life precious," She stood forcing him to crane his neck to stare at her. "I won't kill you Bankotsu, and when you're ready I hope that we can become friends until then you should rest your wounds were extensive," she walked away to the fire to prepare dinner.
All he could do is stare at her with wide eyes. Who was this girl?
wolfYLady: There you have it, hope you enjoyed it!
I know what is and isn't accurate to the original story, so no need for flames in the reviews and these are things to know:
Instead of 10 years, I am changing it to 50 to coincide with what happened with Kikyo and Inuyasha.
Bankotsu is not going to be 100% human.
And he didn't die from his injuries.
Shippo's appearance has been altered for the time being.
The rest will be explained in time till then please leave a review.