Disclaimer: I'm going to stop with this. If I suddenly get rights to either Inuyasha or Yugioh, I'll tell you. Until then just assume I don't.
Author's Note: I want to thank all my reviewers, it really makes me happy that you like my story. Thanks to: AnimeVampGurl, Lyn/Lin, Smiley-chan, Kyoko-san, yami angel, Steeple333, damsel, Mai-chan, and Katriel!
Warnings: I think I'll have to up the rating, it gets more violent later on, this is a crossover with Inuyasha after all. It also might take me a bit longer to update on the next chapter, I do have school.
Variables
Kagome stood in the morning mist, her mind roiling with an extremely important question. What to do?
They had finally defeated Naraku and put the Shikon no Tama back together, and it had definitely been hard. Sango and Inuyasha had nearly gotten killed, but they had persevered with Miroku's help, and later Kouga's, Kagura's and even Sesshoumaru's. Now the Shikon no Tama was back in its place on the necklace around her neck, but she didn't know what to do with it. Kagome walked back towards the village, deciding to ask Sango her opinion.
Despite the early hour, the village was teeming with life as everyone celebrated Naraku's defeat, took care of the wounded and rebuilt the village. The villagers parted respectfully when she passed, and Kagome felt slightly less uncomfortable by their near-worship, now that she truly was a full-fledged Miko in her own right. She came up to the hut where Sango was being treated, and walked in to find Sango sitting on a blanket, several bandages on her legs and torso, and looking rather annoyed with the world.
"Sango, how are you feeling?"
The black haired youkai exterminator looked up at her wryly. "Oh, you know me. I hate being hurt, I can't DO anything like this."
"You'll be ok," Kagome said to her friend, "sooner than you know, you'll be back on your feet and warding Miroku off again."
Sango blushed. "We- we've decided to get married, now that Miroku's curse is gone, and so is Naraku."
Kagome clapped her hands delightedly. "Sango, that's absolutely wonderful! You two will be really happy together, I just know it."
"After the marriage we decided to go on a trip, to find the Taijiya that are left. We're going to rebuild the village."
"Oh…" the new miko said sadly, "but you'll be so far from here, we won't get to see you that often."
"Don't worry," Sango said, "it's really not all that far. If you have Inuyasha take you, you can make that distance in no time at all."
"Inuyasha…" Kagome suddenly became more serious "I need your advice."
Sango immediately became alert. "On what?"
"On what I'm supposed to do with this," and she held up the Shikon no Tama. Sango looked at it in surprise. "I thought you knew what to do with it?"
Kagome shook her head. "When we started out, I only had to collect all the shards because I broke it, I never really wanted it for myself. But if we leave it the way it is, more youkai will keep coming after it, and there will never be peace."
"I see." Sango had no idea what to tell her. "What about Inuyasha?"
"He always wanted it to become a full youkai, but…"
"Give it to him."
Kagome stared at her in shock. "What? But that would be awful, he would use it to gain power!"
"You're not thinking straight," Sango said, with a serious look on her face, "Inuyasha has changed since the beginning. I think that after all he's gone through, you should trust him to make the right choice."
Kagome looked up in shock, the turned and ran out of the hut, towards the edge of the village. How could she even think that? After all Inuyasha had done for her, she didn't even trust him enough to give him the Shikon no Tama. She wiped away some tears of shame and went to find him.
After about fifteen minutes of searching, she finally discovered him sitting in a tree near the Bone-Eater's Well.
"Inuyasha."
The hanyou looked down at her from the tree, an unreadable expression on his face. "What?"
"I want to talk to you."
Inuyasha didn't answer, which surprised Kagome.
"What's wrong, Inuyasha?" Why aren't you talking to me?
He turned to look at her, then jumped down from the tree and stood in front of her. Inuyasha reached one clawed hand towards the Shikon no Tama, then stopped and looked at her again. "It's done."
Kagome clenched her fists angrily. "Is that all you can say?"
He gave her another unreadable look. "What else is there to say? It's over. You don't need to come back anymore. We got rid of Naraku, and everything's fine, you can go back you your weird time and stay there. The Taijiya village can take care of the Shikon Jewel."
So that was what had been bothering him! She smiled, and took off the necklace and handed it to Inuyasha. "Here, you wanted it. That's why you came with me in the first place. Use it well." Then she turned and ran off, leaving a bewildered Inuyasha standing and staring at the glowing glass ball.
Kagome went down to the river, nearly in tears. She knew she had done the right thing, but she was still afraid. Inuyasha had two choices; he could turn human, or he could turn full youkai. Trust him, Sango had said. She did, really, but…what if he decided that he wasn't good enough as he was, and that he needed to be more powerful? Without the help, there was no way he would have defeated Naraku, and he might become a full youkai because that was what he felt he needed to do to survive. She hugged her knees, and stared at the water flowing past her, light blue from reflecting the sky. Kagome closed her eyes. The murmur of the water was soothing, and soon she started calming down. Maybe he would become human, as he had promised to Kikyou, and then he could come back to modern Japan with her.
An indeterminable amount of time later, she heard soft footsteps behind her, and knew it was Inuyasha. Kagome turned to him, waiting to see his black-haired human form, or his insane red-eyed youkai glare. What she saw surprised her- he hadn't changed at all. He was still the same white haired hanyou with the fluffy ears on top of his head. Inuyasha handed the Shikon no Tama back to her with a smile.
Kagome accepted it with astonishment. "Inuyasha, why? Don't you want to use it?"
"No. I can't become a full youkai, I don't want to risk losing my feelings and becoming a cruel killer, like so many youkai are."
A wild hope rose in Kagome's breast, but his next words crushed it.
"But I can't become human either. I don't think I could live like that, not even for you," he looked away from the sadness in Kagome's eyes. "I've decided to stay here and protect the village. Just because Naraku is gone doesn't mean the danger is gone. I am powerful enough in this form to do that, and I have Tetsusaiga to help me. And Miroku and Sango and Shippou will be here as well. So you keep the Shikon no Tama."
Kagome's eyes filled with tears, and she flung herself at Inuyasha, hugging him hard. "But I don't want to live without you! I'll stay here!"
Inuyasha shook his head. "But you don't belong here, in this time. And you are a human, and I am a hanyou. It would never work between us." Kagome now saw that his eyes held tears as well. "I don't want to live on as you grow old, Kagome. You-you should stay in your time. Maybe I will reincarnate there, and then we can be together."
*********************************************************************
Yugi was getting ready for school, while Yami was watching him worriedly. After several minutes Yami opened his mouth to say something, but Yugi beat him to it.
"I know, you don't like what's going on, and you want me to watch out for the Tomb Robber."
Yami closed his mouth sheepishly.
"Stop worrying, Yami, I'm sure everything will be ok. He's done nothing bad, there's no reason to be suspicious."
Yami didn't answer for several minutes, then changed the subject- sort of. "I remember that in Ancient Egypt there was a time, at the beginning of the month that he never used to commit any crimes. I guess now we know why."
There wasn't much Yugi could say to that, so they passed the rest of the morning in small talk until Yami went back into his Millennium Item so Yugi could go to school. He met Tea at the corner again, and they walked on until where they usually met Ryou. Usually, that is.
"He's late," Tea said incredulously.
"That really isn't like him, I hope he's ok," Yugi answered.
About five minutes later a panting Ryou came running up to them. A panting Ryou, whose hair was back to its normal pristine color.
"Sorry, sorry," he said, "You really didn't have to wait for me you know!"
"Oh, it's ok," Tea immediately said, "that's what friends are for. But what happened?"
Ryou rubbed his forehead. "I've been having really weird dreams lately, I had another one last night."
"Really?" Yugi said, "what about?"
"I was in a forested place, similar to the places I've seen in all my other dreams. I was small, about the size of a ten year old, and I was returning from somewhere. Then there was this purple puff of smoke and a guy with brown hair appeared in front of me, who looked about fourteen years old. We started talking, he said something-I don't really remember what- about going to visit somebody else, I think someone I knew. And he asked what I was doing there, and I said I had to-um, I'm not sure actually, I think go fight something, or was it help with something? Never mind, something like that. So he said something like I was young to be doing that, and I said that he was younger when he'd started, and he laughed. Then we both started running somewhere, where I'd been heading to at the beginning, there was a house, a girl came out of it and said hi to me and the other guy, and his name was Sho? Ipo? Something like that…and then I woke up." He noticed Yugi opening his mouth to say something, and quickly went on, "but that's not what surprised me the most. When I woke up, I suddenly noticed that that guy had pointy ears, and he had a big bushy fox tail. Isn't that weird?"
Tea and Yugi both walked in silence for a minute, thinking about it.
"What did your yami say about it?" Yugi asked.
Ryou gave a sad sort of smile. "He wouldn't really talk about it, but I think it disturbed him. He doesn't know what these dreams are about either, that's why he's been acting so grumpy and out of character lately."
"He hasn't been taking it out on you, has he?" Yugi said seriously. Ryou looked startled at the idea. "No, of course not! I know you don't really get along with him," Yugi rolled his eyes. Not get along was the understatement of the century. "But he really hasn't hurt me at all lately, he wouldn't."
~I suppose Ryou believing in that yami of his isn't a bad thing…~Yami sent to Yugi.
~Yeah~
Their third period that day was history. When the bell rang, the class was surprised when another person walked in with their usual history teacher.
"Ok class, listen up. This year the school decided to do an experimental course with your grade, instead of the usual history lessons. This is Ms. Matano, an expert on the history of feudal Japan and the old Japanese legends. She will be teaching you during the history classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you will be learning about the legends of ancient Japan, and also about the verified history from that time." The teacher stepped to the side, and Ms. Matano took the stage. She looked around thirty, and had a sweet face surrounded by brown curly hair that was partially pulled back in a ponytail. She also wore small round glasses. She was wearing a knee-length jeans skirt and a light purple t-shirt.
"We have a very busy schedule ahead of us. We're going to learn about the different beliefs and legends that were told in the era of Feudal Japan up to modern times, and we're also going to go on a trip at the end around sacred and legendary places." Ms. Matano turned to her backpack, and pulled out several magazines.
"As you can see, these are modern magazines, that tell all sorts of supernatural stories. For next class I want all of you to bring an article, we will be looking for similarities between them, and we will start learning the basics of legends."
Until the end of the period, they discussed what they knew about legends, which wasn't much. They mentioned demons, which were an integral part of many legends, and Tea told how she had visited a shrine once with her family. Altogether, people found it an extremely fascinating class. Kaiba even closed his laptop and listened, and Malik didn't make any smart remarks, as he was wont to in many classes. Once in literature after reading a short story the teacher had asked their opinions on it. Malik had raised his and said solemnly that there was a run-on sentence on page sixteen, line seven. Talk about a conversation stopper.
They were walking home at the end of the day, still discussing that day's class.
"Where are we going to find time to get the magazine article? We have so much work, it's like all the teachers are out to get us!" Joey complained.
"Aw, c'mon, we don't have that much work," Yugi said.
"Besides, it looks like Malik found a magazine, see?" Tea said pointing. Malik was standing outside a magazine stand, reading avidly, as the group approached.
"Hey, Malik!" Tea called out. He looked up.
"Oh, it's the Yugi Fan Club. What?"
"Quit calling us that!" Joey bristled. Malik looked at him lazily. "Why?"
"C'mon, don't start fighting," Tristan said, not wanting to start another verbal- and maybe physical- combat session with Malik. "What are you reading?"
"Here," Malik showed them, his earlier animosity disappearing in the face of his object of interest. "It's a magazine from a company called Yougekisha. They've got a ton of stuff, how to get rid of the evil eye, a monster-of-the-week article, things like that."
The gang all looked over his shoulder at the pages he was flipping through.
"What's that?" Yugi pointed at one of the articles he flashed past, called 'The Sealed Away Boy'.
"That?" Malik turned back to the page, "that's the article I'm going to bring. It's about all these people who have written in to tell about this person they see, somewhere up north. They say that they can never find the place again, and that they can't get close because of some strange barrier. The eyewitness accounts aren't all exactly the same, but they all say that they saw a guy pinned to a wall with what seems to be a sword, and there was another sword at his feet."
"Wow, that seems totally unbelievable" Joey said.
"These magazines aren't usually the kind that are widely trusted, you know," Ryou commented.
"Ugh, look at this, they're talking about a monster that eats human souls!" said Tristan.
"Wah, what if it attacks us?" Joey whimpered, latching onto Tristan's arm.
"…It's not real."
Joey immediately stood up. "I knew that." Everyone sweatdropped.
For a moment there was silence, and it stretched out uncomfortably. Malik folded up the magazine. "I guess I'd better be going, I have some stuff to do. Nice talking to you. Bye, fan club!" he strolled off, and a few minutes later they heard the distinctive growl of a motorcycle engine, that rapidly grew fainter.
"You know, Malik really isn't so bad." Tea commented quietly.
Joey snorted. "When he's not being an arrogant jerk, you mean."
Ryou looked at them. "Are you sure you're not being overly judgmental of him?"
Tristan got annoyed. "What's there to be judgmental about? We're fine, it's him who has the attitude problem."
"Maybe you're just holding his past against him." Ryou walked off in the direction of his house, disturbed. Sometimes he just felt as if he didn't fit in anywhere. He wasn't a true part of the "Yugi Fan Club", as Malik put it, his yami saw to that. In school he was too shy and quiet to make very many friends, though bullies stayed far away from him, again courtesy of a certain tomb robber. Maybe that was why he got along with Malik, who was often alone as well. Ryou entered his empty house, the silence depressing him again. He wondered when his father would get back from his current expedition.
~You're such a wimp, making a fuss about a stupid house, and about you're stupid so-called friends~
Ryou winced. He wasn't totally alone. He was never totally alone, thought sometimes he might wish he was.
**************************
He was walking along a path in a mountain, immensely proud of himself for dealing with the problem several villages over. He looked down, hearing something clatter, then turned to look up the mountainside just in time to see a huge boulder tumbling towards him. He jumped, clearing the boulder, but was about to get hit by the next one when someone who looked incredibly familiar shattered it with blades of yellow light. The person landed next to him, and they grinned at each other.
"Dad!"
"Watch it Ryu, these youkai can be rather tricky-"
The rest of what he said was lost.
Yami Bakura woke up, taking over Ryou's body while the boy slept. Lately he'd been feeling very strange, and that disturbed him. Suddenly, his well-ordered life was coming apart. He had always known where he stood in terms of his goals, his hikari, and the rest of the world (namely as master or potential master), but now all these unknowns were cropping up. Suddenly, he was feeling a strange feeling of sadness, and some regret, as he looked out at the tree in his hikari's back yard, and the stars beyond.
"Dad…?" He clenched his fist, and banged it on the windowsill. "Why don't I know who I am anymore?"
He turned away from the window, and didn't notice the cracks his fist had made.
****
Any ideas of what's going on yet? I'll be happy to hear them!
