Fandom: Inuyasha
Characters:Kikyo, Ungai, with appearances of the Siblings Higurashi and Onigumo
Word Count: 1463
Warnings: Character death discussed. Bad writing.
Summary: what must be done will be done
Notes: since i'm writing this in chronological order now, sesshoumaru wont appear for a long minute. So for now, enjoy vaguely ominous, but mostly questionable foreshadowing. Chapter title lifted from The Glass Essay by Anne Carson
"Was all this," Kikyo pauses, the corners of her mouth tightening. Her eyes flick to the rearview mirror, narrowing on the small, unconscious children. "truly necessary? Master Ungai."
Beside her, Ungai closes his eyes, heaving a tired, regretful sigh. "Tonight was a loss for us all. I take no pleasure in anything that's transpired-
"However, what must be done will be done," Kikyo says, finishing for him. Her hands clench around the steering wheel, her knuckles stand out, stark and bloodless. Her voice remains untouched, and she smoothly maneuvers the gear shift and guides the sleek, unmarked car unto the highway. "I understand."
Ungai offers a pitying smile. "Truly there are no words for my regret. And yet, to leave the situation to unfold as it was… I shudder to think of the possibilities." He places his weathered hand over Kikyo's shoulder, the weight of it too heavy and it settles like a stone in her soul.
She knows, has known, what's coming next, even before she stepped over Mrs. Higurashi's pale, stricken face thrown along the dirt path, her clean arms blossoming with bruises from the ropes. The halo of red mixing with short black hair, staining her beige cardigan. Kikyo knew as she stepped through the splintered well house doors and saw that small, insignificant light shining from beneath the lip of the well. She knew the moment she felt it, beating against her ribcage like a bird. Ungai says, solemn, "And that is why I must ask this of you, Kikyo. It may be arduous, but I know you'll see my orders through."
His grip tightens on her shoulder.
"Yes," She says. "I will."
Ungai leans back in his seat, a satisfied smile sliding into place over his harsh mouth. His hands clasp in his lap as he flashes a calculating glance at the rearview mirror, "I have much faith in our chosen path.
Kikyo does not reply.
The complex inside the mountain has wide echoing halls and is always cold and damp.
The girl in her arms shivers and Kikyo briskly rearranges the too big suit jacket to cover more of the girl. Is chagrined when thin, scrape covered legs are left bare except for one scuffed shoe and a muddy hello kitty sock. She stares the stained sock, sees ruddy, bloodstains in hello kitty's bow. Kikyo's hands twitch where she's gripping the girl's thigh, nails biting into tender flesh. The girl squirms, creases forming in her young, round face, a small whimper building in her throat.
Kikyo forces her hands to relax.
Ahead of her, Ungai makes a thoughtful noise in his throat, the sound of it lost in the dim, empty hallway. Kikyo glances at the other, identical barren halls and sharp turns full of long lines of black tile and unassuming doors. It was not a regular occurrence for the deep inner reaches of the compound to be entirely deserted. Normally there would be several personnel milling about on their way to logistics from communications. Even to the altar rooms, the scent of incense cloying and faded. Mind turning to the loadout locker they passed by on their way in, a frown threatens to break over her tight mouth.
The retrieval team had not been there, stripping out of their tac gear and doing munitions inventory and inspection as she would have expected.
"Sir," she says, staring past the point of his shoulder where the other child, the boy, was resting. "The compound is strangely...still."
It wasn't empty, even though they had passed no one else since entering the main atrium through the mouth of the mountain. She could feel every one. Their lights, all pulsing with a mass of something unidentified, some brighter than others. The call of their souls, their power.
Out of them all-
She glances again at the girl cradled in her arms, sweat dotting her forehead, plastering sweetheart bangs there.
-the brightest one is here.
Her mouth sours.
Kikyo nearly doesn't hear Ungai's reply, looking up to meet his eyes as he comes to a stop in front of the Inner Shrine, turning to face her.
"Yes. I thought it'd be best if we were alone when we brought her into our world. To ease the way for her."
As if the girl was some sort of bird, imprinting on the first thing she sees. Kikyo had doubts. "I see. Her brother?"
Snapping his fingers, Ungai held the boy out to the figure who slides out of the shadows. Kikyo watches, nonplussed, as Onigumo transfers the boy to his own shoulder. An unlit cigarette is tucked behind his ear, a pencil holding his wild hair in place in a bun, his glasses askew. As disheveled as ever. The burn scars crawling up his throat and down his arms peak from beneath his rumpled, white collar button up are red and inflamed, irritated as if he'd been rubbing at them again. His scarred hands look out of place cradling the boys back, cigarette-stained and blunt.
"You," Kikyo says, unsurprised.
"Me," Onigumo agrees, cheerful. His smile is shit eating. "You put these kids through quite the ringer, Kikyo. Master Ungai asked me to do an unofficial check-up before sending them to medical."
"For now, it will just be the boy. As soon as Onigumo has documented anything of note, he'll follow the proper procedure for incoming trainees." Ungai says. Kikyo sees him throw another long, calculating look at the girl as he smooths his robes.
The implication there is... unfortunate. Kikyo asks, "Sir. The girl, Kagome, will she not also be registered as a trainee?"
"Pfft. No." Onigumo snorts. He shuffles around the boy to free up a hand to dig in his pocket for a lighter and a crumpled pack of Pall Malls. "Obvious questions aren't like you."
Aware of Ungai's gaze, Kikyo reigns herself in to only casting Onigumo a withering look. "This is a matter that doesn't concern you."
"That's quite enough," Ungai says, stern. "It's time to return the matter at hand. Onigumo, you've something to attend to. Tsubaki's sedative was quite effective, I suggest waking the boy soon."
Onigumo rolls his eyes, slipping another cigarette between his lips. "The civilian will see himself out, then." He waves himself away, clicking his lighter as he goes.
Kikyo turns back to Ungai, who has begun tracing seals into the heavy wood and steel doors of the shrine. "Will you truly trust Onigumo with such an important task?" It wasn't likely Onigumo's instructions ended at an unofficial preliminary check-up. For the children to be separated meant there was more than she originally considered, and she'd considered much since the call had gone out.
The carved patterns lit up beneath Ungai's touch, lighting a trail of power that arcs and races from the center outward, unseen mechanisms inside the door grinding to life audibly. There is a final, heavy clunk, a large lock sliding back, then the doors open slowly. Ungai goes forward, into the shrine, Kikyo following close behind. "He is capable." He says, at last.
It doesn't answer the question.
Once they clear the threshold, the door slide shut, a final pulse of power sealing them off from the rest of the complex. Ungai walks before the set of stairs in front of the crystalized statue placed behind the altar. A few paces behind Ungai, Kikyo stares up into Midoriko's serene face, a tangle of fearful, reverent emotions brew under her breastbone as it is every time she faces the ancient priestess. Feels the remnant of power in her petrified remains, steady and deep echoes, like the waves of an eternal ocean, locked away in a giant conch.
After a moment, Kikyo feels something she's never felt before. Those lingering waves of echoing power are...agitated. The faint tendrils of purity are roiling against themselves, lashing around Midoriko's remains. They slip along the edges of the tall ceiling and distant walls, rattling the surrounding artifacts in their place.
"Midoriko is..." Kikyo hesitates. There is an emotion, or an impression of one, riding the echoes of power. But it's hard to identify, and Kikyo doesn't know what ignited it in the first place.
"Excited. The time has come. Five hundred years in the making." Ungai whispers, something rapturous and unsettling behind his words. It jars Kikyo out of her reverent awe enough to notice something she almost missed.
The pulses of power coming from the remains were in response to the girl. To Kagome.
And. There was another, third presence there. Right over her heart.
Kikyo's gorge rose up to her throat as her stomach sank. In her arms, Kagome began to shift into the waking world, Tsubaki's poison purifying as the call of power continued to pulse.
"Mmm...mommy?"