Feudal era
The woman lay on the tatami of a large mostly empty room. She looked out of the open shoji screen and over the decking to the cherry trees in the garden bathed in orange light of a setting sun. She silently sipped her sake as Sakura patrols drifted in on the gentle breeze and ruffled the collar of her loose silk kimono. She was the sole inhabitant of the palace, ever since she had lost everything. She had built it to be alone from Sesshoumaru, leaving the western lands to him. First her daughter, then not long after her husband to a human and then he died because of the human. Her son had turned cold and they stopped speaking almost completely. The last time she saw him was when he came to her and his companion died. Before that, not for centuries. She had lost every shred of happiness in her life, and had rejected all contact. she felt a same whirling sensation in her chest, and then the blue stone embedded into a beaded necklace around her neck pulsed. The time had finally come, and she was tired of waiting to fix her sons mistake, to fix the future. Everyone would be happy this time, this was the task entrusted to her by fate. She got up and tightened her obi while straightening her clothes, while Sakura petals floated around her.
Sayuri stood at the edge of the thick white cloud her beautiful but empty palace was built on. It had been 400 years since that fateful day, and in another time, it had just happened again. However this time the future would be different. She gazed down at the Meido stone her mate Inutaisho had given her before he passed on, and with a smirk, she let her yokai spread out and wrap around her in a demonic whirlwind and her eyes bled red as she leapt off the cloud edge, transforming mid-air into her white shining, regal Inu Yokai form and gliding through the crisp dusk air towards the aura of her son, many leagues away.
Sesshoumaru felt his mothers presence long before she was close and leaned against a tree while he waited for her to descend. She touched down, momentarily baring her teeth at her son before sitting on her haunches. With a red whirlwind of demonic wind, she transformed back into her beautiful human form and briskly walked up to Sesshoumaru. "Son" she greeted coldly, eyes blank. Sesshoumaru didn't turn his head, instead staring at the moon, but acknowledged her with a "Hn".
"We haven't seen eye to eye or spoken much since that day 400 years ago, Sesshoumaru." She started.
He frowned at the sky.
"What day?" He asked, remaining facing away from her.
Sayuri frowned. "I see you have no memories of the past then. How Inconvenient" she spat. Sesshoumaru turned to look at her.
"Let me help you remember" she continued, and walked around to Sesshoumaru's front and placed a hand over his forehead. A crescent moon appeared on the palm of her hand and connected it's Sesshoumaru's. Suddenly, his crescent moon started pulsing and pain flooded him. 3 centuries worth of memories came pouring back to him all at once, as if a dam had burst, the force was tremendous and threatened to push him down. His first hunt as a young pup, the intercultural Yokai Moon tribe yearly festival, daily trainings to master the art of the sword, flying around on his cloud and admiring beautiful natural scenery in sweet peace through innocent eyes, meeting a strange girl, loving the girl for a split second, foolishly striking and killing the girl, a rift between him and his mother, his fathers untimely death at the hands of a weak woman bearing the uselessness known as his pathetic half brother. His heart wrenched, he was flooded with emotions he hadn't felt in centuries. He remembered the beautiful girl with the odd eyes who had momentarily captured his heart before he ruthlessly killed her. He was such a fool back then, a young, insolent naive fool. He looked down at his claws."Kagome" he whispered almost breathlessly, the sheer force of these memories and unwanted emotion forcing him down onto one knee.
He looked up at his mother, expression stoic but eyes betraying his exterior.
"Why now?" He asked, tone filled with venom.
Sayuri narrowed her eyes, a serious expression on her face. "After 400 years, the time has came for this to be corrected, I have been waiting patiently for this day." She explained.
Sesshoumaru looked at her, face like stone. "Correct what?" He asked in a cold tone.
"She was never supposed to die, this is why we must fix it". Sayuri continued.
Sesshoumaru was skeptical. "And how exactly do you propose we do that mother? It has been 400 years, even her bones will have disintegrated." He hissed.
Sayuri smirked. "That maybe so, however, the power of time is a vast thing. In a different time, Kagome has just died by your hand yet again. This time, you must go and save her. You must travel back 400 years and revive her with the Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru. That is the task entrusted to you by fate." She finished.
Sesshoumaru didn't say anything but raised an eyebrow. "Did you forget she died by my hand? Why would I want to save her?" He retorted. Sayuri clenched her teeth and quickly kicked him in the knee that wasn't on the ground so he fell over. She went up to him and grabbed him by the ear.
"Listen here son, I've had it with you. Because of your foolish mistake, both our lives became miserable and fate is disrupted. This is not the correct future you insolent child. There is future waiting for us where we are both happy and not alone like this. This is your fault, go and fix it, son" she venomously spat.
Sesshoumaru looked at her. In truth, it seems when he recovered his memories he had deeply regretted his mistake, he was overcome with remorse. All of the events of that day were the reason he had become so cold and emotionless. It was to drown out all the lingering emotions from her death. She had stayed with them for at least 5 months and he had spoken with her a lot. She had filled the void in his chest. However, she was never truly happy. Well things would change this time. He sighed. The weight of this task was enormous. Would it really change anything? He looked up at his mother, expression slightly soft.
"It seems fate has given me a chance to correct my mistake" he said in a reassuring tone.
Sayuri smiled for the first time in centuries. "Please change this lonely future, my son, it will change things for you also, and give you a better life." she said, before presenting the Meido stone she had around her neck.
Sesshoumaru looked at it. He remembered this from when Rin had died in the underworld and his mother generously revived her, seeing his compassion even though they were not on speaking terms. Truth be told, Sayuri only revived Rin because she looked like Kagome. She was also glad that this new human child had softened his heart, so when the time came for fate to be corrected, he would be nicer to Kagome.
He raised a silver brow. Sayuri smirked and placed his hand on it. "It has more than one purpose, Sesshoumaru. Your father commissioned Hosenki-sama to create this knowing that this would happen one day. It is not just a link to the netherworld, but a link to time. This is how I know that everything that happened is fate, and that it is your fate to change the future."
She smiled and looked at Sesshoumaru. He nodded. She placed his hands on the Meido stone and chanted a few words in a seemingly different language. Sesshoumaru's heart pulsed. Everything started going slow around him and started spinning towards the ground, he felt himself being pulled. Suddenly, Sesshoumaru was enveloped in a bright blue light, and he was pulled into the portal created by the Meido stone.
Sayuri stood for a moment before she placed it back around her neck and looked up at the moon. 'I know you can fix your error, Sesshoumaru'
She walked over to the edge of the cliff and sat. 'If he succeeds, the us from now will cease to exist and our past selves will continue from that moment on a different path.' Sayuri gazed deep into the moon. 'Inutaisho'.. She whispered in her mind. A shooting star blazed past and she smiled then put her hands together in a praying motion.
Sesshoumaru opened his eyes to find he was drifting at a fast speed through a tunnel which resembled the Meido's he could once create with the Meido Zangetsuha technique. It was pulsing with the feel of magic power and images flashed by as he continued to float towards an unknown destination. 'What have I gotten myself into' he groaned internally. A rough voice answered him. 'This is all your doing, your fault you fix' his beast sneered. Sesshoumaru breathed a little harder out of his nose to signify he had heard but wasn't about to give a verbal response. Images of his past flew by, his childhood. Many things lost to him through time. A demon parade at the festival, made of Inu Yokai, Neko Yokai, Dragon Yokai and water Yokai. Each of the 4 lands attended, and had a parade of Yokai forms, with singing and lanterns, group hunts, these things as a child were truly fascinating, but now, he could hold no such interest in things like that. 'Sometimes I wonder how I became this way, even before her' he mused in silent discomfort.
The images continued as he flew down the tunnel, fluff fanning out behind him. Ahead of him, he witnessed a white light appear on the horizon of the tunnel. He noticed the images were now his mother grieving and Kagomes funeral. He was close. The moment he went through his light everything would change. His eyes tightened in determination, and in his mind he mused 'this Sesshoumaru will never back away from a challenge.' And with that, he flew forwards into the white light, where his future was waiting.
A/N - Apologies for the short-ish chapter. I hope it wasn't rushed :s I have a really good plan for the story! I know it seems Kagome died pretty far on and I could have stretched it out more, but I didn't think about that :(. The next story I write I plan to add a lot of detail, I hope it will be wonderful :D
I'm planning to make this a long story. Tell me your thoughts and if you think there is anything I should have added or done instead! Next chapter comes soonish. I start writing it today ^_^
