AN: I know the last chapter was super sad, so thanks for sticking with me! I rushed to get this one out so you wouldn't be left hanging in Tears-town for long. Thank you so much for reviewing! I love hearing your feedback!
Soul Magic
Chapter 2: Fickle Fate
Kagome, or at least her corporeal spirit or something like that according to these people, pulled her long hair over her shoulder to run her fingers through the strands in an effort to calm herself. She had just found out she was dead. Dead and deceased for a good twenty years, in fact. The last thing she remembered was being so hungry and thirsty, pain radiating through her body from the poison tipped quills that had undoubtedly come from one of Youko's damned plants, lying by the water in the cave alone in the fading orange lamplight, and knowing she was dying. The next thing she knew she was being pulled out of the darkness into sunlight by a beautiful, blue-haired woman who had introduced herself as Botan. Botan had explained to her that she had died and that she was there to escort her into the Spirit World. The kind ferry woman had even held her when she collapsed and cried, unable to hold back the immense sadness that suddenly overwhelmed her as she realized that her centuries-long limbo in that cave had all been for nothing, that she had waited out the centuries in the hopes of seeing her family again in the future only for it to come to a bitter, purposeless end.
After she had calmed down and been able to accept her fate, Botan had taken her to the Reikai and she now sat in a small yellow office facing a toddler named Koenma who was apparently the ruler of the Spirit World. Her chair was comfortable enough, and she seemed to be wearing what she had died in, a flowing green and ivory silk gown. Koenma said that when a soul arrived in the spirit world they were usually presented for judgment to decide their final destination, but that hers was a very special case.
They had been sitting here for a couple of hours now, Kagome, at Koenma's request, retelling every detail she could remember of her quest to reunite the shards of the Shikon no Tama and of how she had come to be captured and imprisoned by Youko Kurama in the past. Now that she had finished her tale, emotionally drained from reliving the painful past, she leaned back in her chair and took calming breaths, trying to focus on details in her environment the way Miroku had taught her to calm her thoughts so long ago. The little demigod sat behind his desk, fingers steepled and a grave expression Kagome found almost comically out of place on his infantile features.
"We were able to piece together most of your story on the other side of the well from first hand accounts of spirits who have passed on. However, I did not know until very recently of your imprisonment." He became quiet and for several minutes sat with a look of deep contemplation creasing his brow. Kagome didn't disturb him, taking the time to examine the room more closely. It wasn't at all like she imagined the afterlife would be. It was sort of… sterile and modern. It looked more like a business than a place for souls to be judged. When the demigod drew a breath to talk again, she focused once more on him. "Kagome, I have a proposition for you, but before I go into detail about that, there are some things you must understand.
A long time ago," he began, "when the world was very young, youkai and humans lived alongside each other on one dimensional plane, the physical world or what is now known as the Ningenkai, where you were born, Kagome. Life for the average human was chaos, constantly terrorized at the whim of the much more powerful creatures born of darkness. You saw for yourself what life was like in the Sengoku Jidai, and that was at a time when the majority of the most powerful A and S class demons had already been removed from the physical world, but I'll speak more on that later. The ancient humans prayed to the gods for deliverance from the monsters that dominated them, and the gods took pity on them. The gods themselves are creatures of light, or at least they all start out that way, the opposite in every way to youkai. The mere presence of a kami, a creature of light, will wipe a youkai completely, soul and body, out of existence in much the same way the light of the midday sun vanquishes the shadows. The kami created from themselves 1000 souls of pure light as a gift to the humans. These souls would be born into the human world in human bodies and, wielding the holy light of the kami, they would be humanity's protectors against the powers of darkness. They were called miko. One of the most powerful of these souls, the one you know by her most recent human name Midoriko, created the jewel that you now possess, or should I say possesses you," Koenma said gravely.
Kagome was quiet for a moment while she absorbed this information. "What do you mean by 'possesses me?'" She frowned. She didn't like the way that sounded.
Koerma sighed and steepled his fingers, the weariness in his eyes belying his true age despite his toddler-like appearance. "Unfortunately, the Shikon no Tama was never meant to exist."
"'Meant to?'" Kagome repeated in annoyance.
"I mean that it wasn't fated. Every soul has a fate that is foretold and cast at the moment of its conception, ningen and youkai alike. Fate is absolute and inescapable… at least, in theory it is. There is only one thing that can disrupt fate, and that is soul magic. This is an ancient and powerful kind of magic that only a handful of people in history have ever been able to wield. Many centuries ago my father, the former ruler of Reikai, led a campaign to destroy all copies of the ancient soul magic texts because it is so destructive to the balance of things, hence the case of the Shikon no Tama. Midoriko was one of those who could use soul magic. She cast out her own soul to trap the thousands of souls of the demons who tried to consume her. The object that was created as a result, the crystalized souls of the combatants, was never meant to exist on the physical plane and has wreaked unfathomable havoc in the world ever since its conception. The jewel not only has a will of its own, it distorts the fates of others around it like a lens bends light. Where that jewel is concerned, nothing is certain."
The weight of those words hung heavily in the air. Kagome found it hard to swallow all of a sudden. She understood that she was one of those souls whose fate had been bent to the will of the jewel. She closed her fist around the jewel that hung at her throat. "So… so how can we destroy it?"
The line of Koemna's mouth hardened. "This is the third time you've asked me that." Kagome looked confused and Koenma hurried to explain. "This is the third time I've had this conversation with your soul. You've been reincarnated twice since then, but a soul only retains the memories of its most recent life. Kikyo was the first in your line to die in defense of the Shikon no Tama. When she arrived in the afterlife, the jewel followed her out of the physical world and into the spirit world. It had attached itself to her soul. She begged me to destroy it, but I didn't and still don't know how that can be done. We conducted many experiments to that end but none were successful. The jewel always reappeared with her. So, we decided to take a risk and try reincarnation. We thought perhaps the jewel would be unable to survive a passage back into the physical world, and to be honest I really had no other idea of what to try. The second to die was Etsuko. She had been born with the jewel inside her body. When she was fifteen her god-given power awoke within her, she was sent by her family to apprentice with the local miko and was killed shortly later by a low-level youkai that had been attracted by the power the once dormant jewel exuded as it was now bathed in the girl's holy power. When she arrived, I had the same difficult conversation with her and we decided to try reincarnation again, but this time we would wait until the barrier between worlds was complete and there was virtually no trace of youkai left in the physical world. We sent you back into the ningenkai in your modern era in the hopes that ignorance would save you and that I would eventually be able to find a way to destroy the jewel while it was safely tucked away in a world that no longer remembered its existence. As it turns out, the jewel is so powerful it can manipulate time and space and, well you know the rest."
Kagome sat in shocked silence. She had never doubted that she was Kikyo's reincarnation, but she had never realized how little control any one person has over their own life, and to hear that her past three lives had been completely controlled and dominated by this damned jewel… She had never felt so small and powerless, so futilely indignant. Her cheeks burned and she gritted her teeth. Koenma, sensing her anger, gave her a few silent moments to gather her thoughts. After a pause, he continued softly, "I'm going to give you a choice I've never considered in the past. You disappeared from our radar over 350 years ago, but by your recounting you only died just after Youko Kurama died 20 years ago." Kagome flinched almost imperceptibly at the mention of the bandit and Koenma tried to pretend he hadn't noticed. "You say that when you reached your early twenties you simply stopped aging. I have a theory." He leaned back in his chair and seemed to look over some papers on his desk. "I don't know what the jewel's intentions are, but it seems to me that perhaps Midoriko is the one who bound her creation to your soul for protection. Knowing that youkai would seek out the jewel to augment their power and do great evil with it, if she had some control still over the jewel it is logical to assume she would try to find a way to keep it from them. I also think it was Midoriko's will to keep you young and fit to protect. I think the jewel manipulated time around you to keep you at your optimal age for well beyond the regular human life expectancy and perhaps indefinitely if you had not been poisoned. The point is, your soul was chosen by Midoriko to carry the burden of the jewel. It's not fair, but that's how it is. Out of the three women born to protect the Shikon no Tama, you were the most successful." The schoolgirl-turned-miko opened her mouth to protest that, but Koenma shushed her. "No, you were. You were able to keep the jewel for close to 400 years. I call that a success… My proposal is this: you will continue to hold the Shikon no Tama as you are in this life, Kagome. I will provide you with a body, but you will retain your personality and memories, so it's not exactly like reincarnation."
Kagome looked thoughtful, but not as though she fully understood the gravity of what he was suggesting. The demigod let that sink in for a moment while he gathered his thoughts. "Now," he continued, "I must admit also in this proposal a selfish motive. You see, things have changed in the physical world since you have been absent. Eight years have passed since you left your modern era for the last time. In that eight years, the barrier between the human and youkai world has been opened up to allow, for the most part, free passage between worlds for youkai. It has gone surprisingly well so far. There was of course at first some tension when humans rediscovered the existence of youkai, but youkai have come a long way in the last hundred years and most want to coexist peacefully with humans. There have, however, been two deaths in the past month, youkai deaths. In an unexpected twist, some human women have experienced a reawakening of latent miko powers and two have accidentally purified a nearby youkai. I'm afraid that as the youkai traffic increases in the ningenkai, more and more miko will be 'awakened' and their untrained power will spark a backlash of violence from the youkai. News of the deaths has already reached the higher-ups in Makai and they want answers."
The miko, having stood up from her seat when he had said youkai now had free access to the world she had grown up in, shifted from foot to foot and when that failed to release the nervous energy building in her she started pacing, absently braiding the length of hair pulled over her shoulder. "So, what am I supposed to do about it?" She had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer.
The demigod climbed up on his desk, stepping over papers to stand eye-level with the girl as she paced in front of his desk. "What I need is a liaison, a kind of ambassador from the human world to Makai. You would be this person. Youkai respond positively to shows of force. They are only going to listen to someone they respect, and in the youkai world fear equals respect. In addition to this, I have been reviewing your file and I have observed in you an incredible knack for collecting friends in the most unlikely places. I have a plan for dealing with the miko in the human world, but I will need the acceptance and support of the youkai in order for it to work."
"So, you're going to basically bring me back to life in exchange for me working for you?" Kagome asked, hand on her hip in indignation.
Koenma pulled himself up to his full height on the desktop, cheeks pinked only a little at the insinuation. "Well, you do have another choice."
"And what's that?" She looked hopeful.
"My first priority is to keep that jewel out of the wrong hands, and to tell you the truth the easiest and surest way to do that would be to hold your soul here in the Reikai indefinitely until we can find a way to sever the bond between you and it, which I'll remind you we have been working on for many years. Reincarnation again is out of the question as the last attempt has proven the jewel is powerful enough to send you through time in the name of chaos. But I know how long you've been locked away, and Kagome I don't want to do that to you. I'd rather use your talents to my advantage and give you your long-deserved freedom at the same time. But I will keep you here if that is my only choice," Koenma finished unhappily.
Before she knew what she was doing, as was often the case when her temper got the best of her, Kagome stomped her foot, face flushed with anger. "So those are my choices! Work for you, or rot in a cell. No rest, no judgement, no 'thanks Kagome for forfeiting any chance at a normal life to fulfill some shitty duty you never agreed to.' I thought I'd at least have some peace after I died, and then I get here and I'm being coerced by a toddler into once again getting neck-deep in dangerous, end-of-the-world bullshit. What kind of ruler are you, huh? You're telling me your only hope for saving the human world from the youkai you've let pass freely into it, which by the way I think was a terrible idea, is me? I can't do anything! I can't fight, I can't use a sword, I can't even control my own holy power. I can barely shoot a bow on a good day. No youkai are going to respect me enough to listen to me." She was panting, red faced, by the time she was finished. When she sucked in another breath to begin again, Koenma swiftly interrupted.
"First of all, if you don't stop feeling sorry for yourself, I am going to lock you in a cell. Second, youkai have come a long way from what you experienced of them in the Sengoku Jidai. Just like humans, they have advanced in morality and technology. After you've gotten out into the world and experienced it for yourself, you may agree that it was the right time to reintroduce them to humans. And third, I can take care of the fighting part," he said mysteriously.
"Oh?" Kagome crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "I'm not some warrior babe."
"No, you're no warrior. But that doesn't mean you can't learn to defend yourself. Listen, I need an answer. If you won't do this for me, I need to start making other plans."
Kagome clutched the jewel at her throat and closed her eyes. She thought about the ultimate sacrifice Midoriko had made, all the little sacrifices she made her entire life, to protect the weak from evil. She had never married, never had children, never had a day when she wasn't the target of bloodthirsty, vengeful youkai. Then, she had sacrificed her eternal soul to trap a great evil that could have lain waste to her home. And then, she had called upon another soul, a sister to help her in the fight. And all Kagome had done so far was break the jewel and then get herself kidnapped and imprisoned for four centuries. Kagome had never felt quite so pathetic in her (after)life. A wave of despair suddenly came over her. She had to do this, had to step into the shoes that Midoriko had chosen for her. But how could she? She was a klutz, a scatterbrain with little to no survival instinct and no conviction for conflict. She was a twentieth century school girl, for goodness sake, how could she be a warrior? Just when she felt herself slipping into hopelessness, she thought she felt a pulse of calming energy wash over her.
She opened her gem-bright gray blue eyes and found Koenma's small brown ones. "I have one more question. Would I be able to go to the human world freely? I mean, I could see my family?"
Koenma knew that she had already made up her mind, but he was glad to be able to allow her to see her family again. "Of course. You would be free to move between the worlds as you want. You'd just have to answer to me for a while until this crisis has been dealt with."
Kagome nodded. "Ok. I'll do it," she said with more confidence than she felt, feeling like she may have just signed her life away.
Koerma grinned. "Good." He reached for a black electronic box on his desk that Kagame realized was an intercom system. "Jorge, send Dr. Ito and Dr. Nakamura to collect our guest."
"Yes, sir," she heard a gravelly, male voice reply.
Kagome gave the demigod a questioning look and he obliged to answer. "They are the doctors who have been working your case since Kikyou first arrived in the spirit world with the Shikon no Tama. They will be the ones to replicate and put you into your new body."
"Oh," Kagome nodded, wondering what kind of experiments Kikyou had endured here and nervous about being put into a body that wasn't hers.
Just then the two doctors arrived. Kagome noticed right away that they were completely solid and opaque like Koenma and Botan had been, not transparent like her. One looked human with cropped black hair, glasses, and small black eyes. He introduced himself first as Dr. Ito. The man behind him, taller and broader with leathery green skin, green hair, and two little horns on his forehead, introduced himself curtly as Dr. Nakamura. With Koenma's encouragement she was ushered out of the room, anxiously combing her fingers through her hair. The two men walked on either side of her down the hallway almost as though they expected her to try and bolt. They watched her silently and Kagome became very nervous under their gaze.
"So, um, what's involved in the process of making my new body?" It felt so strange a thing to say, but she had to break the tension.
Dr. Ito, the human-looking one, answered with a smooth, even voice that was neither warm nor cold. "You will begin by stepping into a machine which acts as a kind of scanner for the soul's last life memories, and from that scan another machine will construct a replica body. It is very simple." Looking her over once, he reluctantly added, "And it is painless."
Kagome looked relieved. "Will my body be exactly as it was when I was alive?" she asked, more curious now that she had relaxed slightly.
Dr. Ito answered again. "Yes, down to the last scar."
The little priestess fell silent once again, wondering what to say as the tension seeped back into the silence. Why was this stupid hallway so long anyway? What were all these offices for? Just when she opened her mouth to ask, they stopped in front of a heavy steel door and Ito put his palm on a small scanner. The door slid open with a long hiss and they all stepped through. The room was dark but softly lit blue by various large machines all around the room, the purposes of which Kagome couldn't fathom. She shifted from one foot to the other, watching the doctors nervously as they checked dials and screens on one of the computers and talked softly to one another. Suddenly, Ito looked back over his shoulder in annoyance. "What are you waiting for? Get into the scanner." He pointed a bony finger at a clear tube and she stepped quickly into it. When she was inside a clear door slid closed over the opening and she was completely cut off from the noise of the room. She watched the doctors through the clear glass as they watched the screen in front of them. She couldn't make out what was on it. A whirring noise inside the tube startled her as a ring of little red lights descended around her, going all the way to the bottom of the tube and back up. This was the scan, she supposed.
After it was done the door slid open and she slipped out again, happy to be out of the enclosed little space. There was some noise coming from a machine on the far side of the room now, a large vat of viscous greenish fluid in another clear cylinder, this one larger and connected to another machine beside it via a black rubber tube big enough for a human to crawl through. She padded softly across the room, paying no mind to the two doctors who were engrossed in the readings on the screen of their computer, and watched fascinated as a little screen on the connected machine showed an image of a human skeleton. As she watched muscle, tendons, skin, and hair were layered over the bones. Features of the face and body emerged and she realized it was an image of her that she was looking at. Then, a noise like churning water came from the machine and Kagome watched as feet, her own feet!, emerged from the black rubber tube and into the vat of liquid beside it. Her legs followed, her hips, hands, torso, arms, breasts, neck, and finally head cleared the entrance from the tube and floated freely in the liquid. Kagome was too fascinated, too morbidly engrossed, to feel embarrassed by her body's nudity.
"This is so weird," she murmured to herself, unable to stop herself from putting a hand against the glass when the body's head touched it on the other side.
"Now the body must be drained and acclimated to breathing air before we can apply the seals." Kagome nearly jumped at the voice behind her. She looked over her shoulder at Dr. Ito who had approached her. The other, Dr. Nakamura, stood at the monitor still, his face turned away from her. He had not spoken a single word to her. She didn't know why, but he gave her the creeps.
She focused on what Dr. Ito had just said. "Seals?" she asked.
Ito looked like he was annoyed at having to explain himself again. "There will have to be a masking seal on the Shikon no Tama which will certainly follow your soul into the physical world again and materialize inside your body. In addition to the jewel, this body, even though it is a perfect biological replica, is not the body you were born with. Therefore, the bonds between body and soul are somewhat looser than would be naturally. This leaves space for your holy power to leak out around you, and with how vast your natural energy is seals will be necessary if you are to be working closely with youkai you don't want to accidentally purify."
Kagome's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh," was all she could manage. The thought of having to seal away her energy for the protection of those around her was a little bizarre and frightening. It made her feel a little like a walking bomb. She giggled nervously at the mental image. She had a feeling this wouldn't be the worst of it.
Yusuke grumbled under his breath in irritation as he climbed the what seemed like mile-long steps that led up the side of the mountain to Genkai's old temple. It had been two years since he had been to this place. Kuwabara and Yukina lived here; they had moved in after they got married last year.
Explaining to Keiko that he would be away for four months training some girl he'd never met had not gone over well. She'd thrown a fit at first, but eventually succumbed to reason. His business had been slow lately and they were trying to save money to have a baby soon. Koenma had offered him 5.5 million yen for four months of undivided one-on-one training with a girl he said needed to be able to defend herself. On that alone Yusuke had immediately agreed. They would be comfortable for a while with that much money. Then, Koenma had dropped the bomb. Apparently, just the touch of the girl's natural energy would wipe a lesser youkai out of existence. That had opened up a whole can of worms.
As the young toushin crested the steps, he heard a familiar voice shout "Yusuke!" and looked up to see Botan waving excitedly from the courtyard. Kuwabara stood beside her, broom in hand and typical goofy grin on his face as he called, "Urameshi, long time no see, punk!"
Yusuke threw up his hand in a casual greeting. "Yea, I coulda gone a while longer without havin' to look at your ugly mug. Hey, Botan." He came to stand in front of the pair, setting down his backpack and stretching his arms up over his head. "So I guess she's already here?"
Botan swept her long hair the color of sea foam over her shoulder and put a hand on her hip, the other thrusting a finger warningly at Yusuke. "She's inside. And I'm warning you now, Yusuke, you better go easy on her."
The young man scoffed and crossed his arms. "I don't think so. I was told it's my job to make sure she can take care of herself, and I don't care who she is or that she's a girl, she's getting the complete Genkai experience. If I held back that old bitch would crawl out of her grave to kick my ass."
Botan seemed a little dismayed at first, but then her demeanor turned sheepish. "Koenma wanted me to test you to make sure you'll be as tough on her as Genkai was on you. I was kind of hoping you'd back down a little anyway. She's so sweet, and she's really not much of a fighter."
Yusuke uncrossed his arms, scratched behind his ear. He was restless. "Koenma told me that. I'm supposed to make her one." He looked over to Kuwabara, surprised he hadn't heard an outburst yet from him of righteous anger over the potential treatment of this girl. He found the other young man mostly ignoring the conversation, craning his neck around to look back through the open sliding doors of the temple. "What the hell are you looking at?" he asked as he tried to peek around the much taller, broader man.
"Huh?" Kuwabara came back to the conversation. "Oh, I was just checking on my darling." He got the same dreamy look on his face at the mention of her as he'd done since the day he first saw her.
"How is she, by the way?" Yusuke asked.
Botan grabbed the toushin by the sleeve, virtually vibrating with excitement. "Oh, Yusuke, she's-"
Just then, a soft, feminine voice that sounded like little bells in the snow, interrupted "Bo-chan, don't ruin the surprise!"
They all turned to see Yukina descending the few steps from the porch to the grass. Kuwabara dropped his broom and rushed forward to gently take his wife's hand and help her down the steps. For the first time Yusuke noticed the swollen tummy beginning to show even under the thick obi the little ice maiden always wore. The young man broke out into a huge grin, missing the human woman who had followed Yukina out into the courtyard to greet the newcomer in his hurry to congratulate the couple. He slapped Kuwabara on the back, causing the taller man to balk slightly and cast a side glare in his direction. "So you're going to be a dad! Damn, you're an old man now!" Yusuke laughed when the glare intensified.
"I'm in the prime of my life, Urameshi, and I'll be glad to show you that any time. I've beat your ass down before and I'll do it again!" Kuwabara threatened.
Yusuke laughed. "When have you ever beat me, you senile old man!"
Kuwabara sniffed and mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Second grade," Kuwabara said a little louder.
Yusuke blinked owlishly, struggling to remember back through so many years of concussions. He burst out laughing. "I remember that! You were shorter than me then!"
Botan rolled her eyes, determined to get the meeting moving along. The morning was getting away from them and she had a lot of things to get done for Koenma today. "Alright, I love a trip down memory lane as much as the next person, but I've got things to do today, Yusuke. Let me introduce you to your student."
For the first time Yusuke noticed the woman still standing at the top of the steps, looking shy and more than a little nervous. She looked to be about 20 years old, smooth fair skin, striking blue eyes, some of the longest black hair he'd ever seen, overall very attractive. She was wearing tight-fitting black exercise pants that ended just below the knee, running shoes, and a gray hoodie to combat the early spring chill in the air. Peeking out from the sleeves around her wrists were white bandages he knew must cover the newly applied seals Koenma had briefed him on. "Let me guess: Higurashi Kagome." He strolled up to her and offered his hand. She looked a little surprised, but put her hand forward to shake. She smiled and looked a little more at ease.
"You must be Urameshi Yusuke," she answered. In an instant she was scowling as Yusuke's hand darted behind her to grab her by her long braid. He tugged almost painfully on the thick rope of black hair and Kagome balked, reaching up to try to swat his hands away. She was met with an iron grip and a steely gaze. "What the hell is your problem?!"
"This is going to have to go. This is a target for anyone trying to kill you." He gave the braid another meaningful tug before he let go. Kagome straightened back up, grabbing her braid back from his hands and pulling it defensively to her chest.
"No way!" she responded angrily. "Do you know how long I've been growing this?!"
Yusuke thumbed his nose. "Nope, but I know how long it would take to slit your throat if I got a hold of it. Not long."
Kagame's glare softened and fear flashed across her face for just a moment before her anger tempered it again. Her eyes looked a little wet when she growled, "I'll pin it up or something, but my hair is nonnegotiable."
Yusuke shrugged. "We'll see."
"No, not 'we'll see,' we won't see!"
"We'll see."
"If you touch my hair again, I'm gonna-"
"What are you gonna do? Hit me?" Before Kagome could see what he was doing Yusuke darted his foot forward to hook around the back of her knee and cause her to loose her balance and fall backwards. "You're too slow!" Yusuke laughed.
"Oh, you-! You-! OSUWARI!" she screamed, scrambling to regain her footing and get her hands on him.
"What the fuck are you talkin' about?"
Botan shared a look of exasperation with Yukina. "Well, this is going about how I expected it would. Tell Yusuke I'll be back in a month for an update on her progress. Bye, Yukina-chan. Congratulations, again." They hugged and Botan produced her oar, mounted, and disappeared over the trees in a blur of pink and blue.