I know, I know this is late. But if any of you had read my profile, it said that I lost ALL computer access due to my family's apparent unluckiness involving computers. My mom's computer, which is the only computer in my house with Internet, shriveled up and died, and then my computer, which had ALL of my documents and pictures, DIED. I am computer-lacking at this time, and believe me when I say that I do everything in my power to get these chapters to you. I'm sorry!
So please forgive the lack of updates. I'm posting this chapter BEFORE Kimi4Life (my fabulously wonderful co-author) has read it, so it will be replaced with her edited version soon! Once again, my apologies! Now, on with the rest of the useless crap I put up here.
Disclaimer: If I owned Inuyasha, don't you think I would be threatening the people who made the anime and forcing them to finish the anime with the ending that the manga had!
Dedication: To my Grandma, thanks for letting me crash at your place so much recently, and getting me off to school, letting me use your computer. But most importantly: thanks for everything. My grandma is one of my favorite people.
Before fall break, I was hanging out with my friends afterschool in a friend's car. I was waiting for my bus, so I figured I would leave my backpack outside, so when the bus came, I would be ready to go instead of having to lug my backpack out of the car.
Big mistake.
My friend (who owned the car) decided to back up suddenly while we were all in the car. It was all fun and games until BAM! All of us stopped laughing at once, and someone said, "What...was...that?"
My hand flew to my mouth. "Oh my god..." I whispered. "My backpack was outside..."
J.T. (the driver), and my friends Matt and P.J. climbed out of the car, and were staring at something. They turned to me, apology already written all over their faces. Suddenly, tears were streaming down my face. The guys carried my backpack over to me, and the entire side was split open. I just cried. (All my stuff was in there!) Dezi and Steffanie tried to console me ("It can be fixed, honey!") When I felt pretty consoled, Steffy had an epiphany of sorts.
"Oh god..." she said, going pale. "Chibi, (my nickname), where's your iPod?"
According to Steffanie and the others, my face became pale as ice, and I tore through my back pack. "Oh no, oh no..." I whispered.
I stood up, unable to find it, and felt my pockets. Thankfully, my iPod was in my pocket. But that didn't solve the problem of the huge hole in my backpack, which my mother would KILL me for.
My grandma was spending the weekend with my sister and me while our parents went out of town. I showed her the backpack, and she laughed at me. "We'll just take it to the dry cleaners and have it fixed." she said comfortingly. Don't worry."
So the next day, my grandma paid to have my backpack fixed, and my mother never found out. Thanks Grandma!
Sorry, long dedication. But here's the chapter!
Okay this is what I came up with. I hope it adds something to what you already had. Let me know!
Folks, that was a message from none other than my FABULOUS co-author who is so awesomely wonderful for editing all of these chapters. I would like to tell her that her editing, to all chapters, including this one, MAKES THIS STORY WHAT IT IS! Thank you, Kimi!
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"Goodbye, Grandma!" called Kiki happily from the well house, waving. Sometimes she was so cute, I smiled at her antics. We were the same age and yet, she acted much older sometimes and much younger at others. Still, there was something about her… I prayed the sparkle that always danced in her eyes and made the world so much brighter would never be torn away.
"Goodbye, honey!" The Kiki's grandmother called, waving her hands just as energetically. Somehow I could tell where Kagome and Kiki had gotten their energy from. I winced when Kiki's elbow came roughly in contact with my ribs.
"Say goodbye!" she hissed, still waving. I quickly joined her waving, calling out a farewell to her grandmother.
"Goodbye, Tai-boy." She called back. Kiki whirled on her shoe, grabbing my hand, not noticing the sudden redness to my face.
"Come on, Tai, let's get home." She said, pulling me fully into the well-house. She turned to look at me, "Ready?" she asked.
"I guess…" I said warily. I still didn't like the well, but I knew it was the only way home so I had no choice but to trust it.
Kiki stepped over the edge and pulled me in after her, chattering the entire time as we fell through the blue never-ending space.
"I can't wait to tell Mom that I went and saw Grandma. Dad will want to hear about the marks that he put into the sacred tree still being there, and Kenai, he'll want to know that Grandma found his soccer ball. I can't believe I'm the first to know about Uncle Sota and Aunt Sarah in America. We'll have to go and see your parents and tell them that you came through the well too. Maybe they can come one day too. I can't wait to go see Aunt Rin… "
"Kiki…" I chuckled, loving every minute of her energetic chatter.
When we climbed out of the well Kiki was instantly tense, sniffing the air. She doesn't have a demon-strength nose, but…let's just say she can smell something a lot farther away then I can.
"Something's…not right." She whispered, confusion and fear lacing her voice.
"Kiki, what's wrong?" I asked anxiety and fear curling tightly within my chest, but Kiki didn't respond. Instead, she sprung up and started running full-speed towards the village.
When Kiki ran full-speed, I knew there was no way I could catch up with her. Still I bolted after her, running as fast as my legs allowed, until I emerged out of the forest only minutes after Kiki.
Instead of the bustling village Kiki and I called home, there was piles of burned wood and ashes. Even I could smell what Kiki had smelled at the well, what she had sensed at home. I smelled the fires that were still smoldering. I smelled the wood that made up our homes burning. Lastly, I smelled the charring human flesh.
Kiki suddenly bolted into the village, desperately calling out in vain, "Daddy? Momma? Kenai? Where are you? WHERE ARE YOU?"
My eyes filled with tears, and cold fear surrounded my hear. Suddenly, the only people I could think of were my family. "Mom? Dad? Kya? Kara?"
There was no answer…to either of our desperate cries.
I cannot tell you how long Kiki and I called out for our lost families, tears streaming down both of our faces, tearing through piles of still burning wood. I didn't even notices the burns and cuts on my hands, and neither did Kiki. There were no bodies…nothing at all except the remains of burnt youkai which was Kirara and Shippo's doing probably. Kiki and I tore through the remains of our village, searching in vain for the families we had lost overnight. The strangest of all was the only houses remaining intact were our own, as if on purpose…
Some hours later, I could not tell you how many, I sat on my knees in front of the river. My reflection stared back up at me, mocking me. Once in a while I would catch a glimpse of my mother or sister looking over my shoulder, but every time I turned there was nothing. I attributed this to hallucinations due to shock and I enjoyed their company, as long as they would stay before fading away as gently as they came. My family must be alive. The facts pointed to this conclusion… no bodies, our houses still intact but in chaos. It looked like the village had been silently attacked during the new moon while InuYasha would be at his weakest. Who ever had attacked had done their research and possibly a lot of spying. As it was, Kirara and Shippo would have been the only one to remain at full power on this night. Even Kagome would be slightly off, as she would have been concentrating on consoling her mate in his time of weakness.
When I had come to this conclusion, I realized I had not seen Kiki in several hours. However, I knew undoubtedly where she would be under these circumstances and I hastened there without incident. Her "secret place"...the one place she always went when she was distraught.
Sure enough, when I arrived, there she was.
She was sitting up in the tree, the God Tree. She only does that when she's really upset about something. But I didn't have to pry the reason out of her this time.
Sighing, I walked over to the base of the tree, and looked up. "Hey." I called to her softly, "Kiki, are you okay up there?"
"M fine," a muffled reply came. It was when a drop of water fell onto my cheek that I realized she was crying.
"Do you want me to leave you alone?" I ask her cautiously, hoping she wouldn't push me away.
"No." she chokes out, "I'm coming down." I sighed in relief.
Kiki climbs down from the huge tree, instead a jumping like usual, and looks at me forlornly. The despair written on her face tugs at my heart; so much that my heart skips. I gently pull her into my arms and hold her.
She breaks down again and I squeeze her a little tighter as she cries into me, "They're… they're g…gone Tai…" She hiccups. I feel like crying too, but I know I have to be strong… for her… at least.
"I know, Kiki, but we WILL find them. I promise."
It was too strange…such destruction, but no human bodies. There was no explanation, except that someone, or something, had done this. And both of us could feel it…our families…alive somewhere out there.
And it was the destiny of Kiki and I to find out what had happened.
