I'm happy to be spending
Another day with you.
For I know our days are numbered,
And there is nothing I can do.
I'm happy to be creating
Such great memories with you
So that I'll have something to look back on,
When the time we have is through.
I'm happy to be sharing
A piece of myself, it's true.
So that no matter what happens to me,
I'll still live inside of you.
~~ WaterLilly37 ~~
A/N: Sorry for the extremely late update. The holidays and Janauary have been a very busy time for me. I am hoping that I'll be able to get a few more updates out while I have a little bit of time to spare. Though, the updates still might be far inbetween.
Also, sorry for the mispellings and grammar errors you may come across. I am stuck using wordpad as my "go to" for writing my stories and it doesn't have spell check or any fancy correction apps. Mind you, I have read it over and fixed what I noticed, so it won't be a complete mess.
And thanks again! Here is the next chapter. Short and sweet!
~~ Inuyasha ~~
The hanyou paced around the hut, unable to stay still. It had been three weeks since Kagome disappear and they were no closer to finding her since the first day she went missing. Inuyasha had tried countless times to try and pick up her scent in the forest, but it was no use. It seemed to have disappeared along with the two others, one human and the other a demon. With each passing day, the chances of picking up Kagome's scent again lowered. By the end of the first week, her scent had completely disappeared from the place he had first picked it up.
"Damnit!"he heard himself swear under his breath for what seemed to be the millionth time. He hated the fact that he couldn't find Kagome and that if he paid a little more attention to his surroundings -to her -he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
"The last time I saw your face like that, it was because of my doing. But I assume that's not the case now."The hanyou quickly turned around to face the woman who owned the voice he was all but familiar with.
"Kikyo, should you be up already?"His face instantly softened when he saw her. It was also his fault for endangering Kikyo's life again. The Miko just sat down on one of the many mats Kaede had lying on the floor beside the fire as she stared at the hanyou.
Her eyes were glistening with the reflection of fire, but held no emotion. "I am not human. This body only needed to be repaired in which it has been. I am fine. I can't say the same for the young miko girl though."Her voice held no pity.
"Kikyo, listen I'm sor-"
"I don't need an apology."The miko closed her eyes as she let her body relax a little. She was wearing her infamous miko garb, with her raven black hair hanging loosely down her back. "However, the next time we cross path, I would prefer if you heed my warnings."
This took Inuyasha back. "Hey, I didn't mean for any of this to happen, ok? I smelt the demon and thought you were in trouble!"
"But instead, you almost cost me my life and allowed the demon to flee, did you not?"The hanyou balled his hands into fists. He couldn't deny this, as much as he wanted to. "Do you know anything about the demon you faced? Or do you always head into battles blind?"
"I didn't think I would lose."The miko signed as she looked at the hanyou, her eyes seeming to hold back on her feelings towards him.
"Listen, the main thing now is to save the girl, Kagome was it? With her, Naraku is one step closer to his plan."As soon as Kikyo spoke the name, Inuyasha began to tense up. What did Naraku have to do with any of this?
"Kikyo, please tell me what you know. I am the reason Kagome is in this mess to begin with. I need to save her."Inuyasha sat down across the fire from Kikyo, his eyes expressing all the hurt and pain he was in over this young woman. It pained Kikyo to see him this way towards another woman, but this hanyou was no longer hers. She knew this. And because of that, he would never know her true feelings.
"Fine. But I will share what I know this one time and then you're on your own."She stared at Inuyasha with a hard cold stare, letting him know how serious she was. He was not to meddle in her affairs again. The hanyou agreed, as much as he wanted to refuse.
"First off, Naraku needs a prietess, and not just any prietess but a powerful one."
"But why?"Inuyasha gritted, hating the idea that Kagome could already be in Naraku's clutches and being used as a pawn in his evil games.
"I don't know. I haven't figured that out yet. But I do know that he needed one and that's why he was after me. Something is keeping Naraku from doing the deed himself. Whatever that is, I have yet to figure out as well. So that is where the demon twins come in."
"Demon twins?"Inuyasha let this information sink in. "Wait, are you telling me that demon we were facing earlier is one of those twins?"
"Yes, her name is Yuko the Song of Blood. As you can guess, she gets her name from her ability of controlling demons through their demonic blood."Inuyasha remembered being under the demon's control and unable to free himself from it, no matter how hard he tried.
"So she can control any demons including hanyous?"
"If her victims have any demon blood within their veins, whether they are full demon or not, they can fall under her influence. The amount of demon blood in one's veins does not matter, its existence in the blood is the only thing that does."
Inuyasha now understood why Kikyo was better off without him showing up between their battle. Kikyo had no demon blood within her which meant that Yuko's powers were useless on the miko. But when Inuyasha showed up, it allowed her to use him as a weapon through song.
He punched the floor with his fist. "Damn her to hell! The next time I see her, I will break that flute of hers and kill her with my own claws!"
"I highly doubt that,"Kikyo interrupted, "Yuko's main method for fighting is using the blood within your very veins which if you remember correctly, she did easily. But even if you did manage to break her flute, which seems unlikely, that's not her only method. She is a demon Inuyasha. She has other means to fight and she's not one to take lightly."
"So what do you suggest I do?!"He could feel his anger start to rise. He hated when she was right.
"I suggest you try to avoid Yuko altogether. If you happen to cross paths with her, allow your companions to fight her while you get as far away from her as possible. If you don't, you might end up being used against your very friends and unlike me, they have flesh and blood that can't be so easily repaired."As much as this idea pissed Inuyasha off, he knew that he had to listen to Kikyo's advice. He didn't want to be the reason Sango or Miroku was harmed or possibly killed.
"So what about the other one? You said there were twins."
"Yes, the other one is named Euji of Lost Memories. He is much stronger than Yuko and I suggest you be cautious around him as well."
"So what is his main ability? And does it involve me running away again cause like hell I am running away from every battle."
Kikyo smirked. The same hanyou even 50 years later. "No, you may challenge Euji if your heart so desires. His main power is to steal one's memory and create new memories that benefit him in some way. Or in this case, Naraku."
"Wait, what?"
"See, Naraku needs a miko for whatever reason. However, he knew the miko would not come easily. So that's where Euji's power comes into play. He would steal the miko's memory and in its place, fill it with information on what he wanted the miko to know and do. Thus, use them as a weapon. Of course, this takes some time. He would have to extract the memory previously in the miko and then develop his own memories within her head. By the time he is finished, the miko would only remember the fake memories he placed there."
"So wait, are you telling me that if that bastard has Kagome, he is planning to erase her memories and replace them with fake ones?"
"Yes."Kikyo confirmed. "I am assuming the memories that will be placed inside of Kagome would benefit Naraku in some way. Make her a puppet of sorts for him. She would not only listen and obey his commands, but she may also fight against you if you were to try and rescue her. In her eyes, she would see you as the enemy."
Inuyasha couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no way Kagome would let that happen! She would never forget him or her friends. But then again, he was easily manipulated under Yuko's spell and she was known to be the weaker of the two according to Kikyo. His heart started to beat faster.
"If Kagome's memories were removed, how do I break the curse?"Inuyasha asked with a stern expression on his face.
"You can't. It doesn't work quite like Yuko's power. Kagome was able to break the spell that you were under because you were still there within yourself. However, if her memories are truly gone and replaced with the fake ones, you can't break the spell. Unlike you, what makes Kagome herself has been removed from her body. Which means no matter what you do, she won't remember you. Even if you were to try and force her to remember, she can't because her memories are not there. The only way you could possibly get her back to normal would be to remove the fake memories and replace them with her own."
"And how do I do that?"Inuyasha was standing again now. He couldn't sit still any longer knowing what kind of danger he put Kagome in. He had to save her, no matter what.
"Her memories will look like a small colored jewel and would more than likely be in possession of Euji. As for how you would remove the fake one and replace the old, I don't know."
Inuyasha felt his hands ball into fists again. This seemed to be a normal posture for him as of late.
"Kikyo, if I can find Kagome and bring her back here with the jewel that holds her memories, do you think you could bring her back to normal?"Kikyo signed as she looked into the fire once again. Still she showed no emotion.
"I can't promise you anything. But bring her to me and I will do what's in my power to try and save her."
Inuyasha gave Kikyo a small smile. "Thanks. I'm going to go find the others and share the information you just gave me. We'll bring Kagome back so place don't leave the village until I do."
Inuyasha made his way to the door of the hut. He might not know where Kagome was exactly, but at least he knew about some of the dangers he was to face and what he had to do.
"One more thing,"The Miko added, as she stood up from her mat and stared at the hanyou who was about to leave her sister's home. "There is a time limit you have to meet. The longer the real memories stay outside of her body, the harder it will be to replace it. So I suggest you find her soon before her memories will no longer be accepted by her body."
Inuyasha gave Kikyo a small nod before he jumped into the open air, disappearing into the rolling hills of the village.
~~ Kaori/Kagome ~~
The arrow flew from her bow and struck the target with a loud thud hitting dead center. It had been three weeks since there last run in with the demon Yuko and Kaori spent much of this time practicing with the bow, trying to improve her skill with it.
Like Daisuke had pointed out many times, her heroic shot was just plain luck. If called upon to do it again, Kaori would surely fail. So she promised herself to spend the next few days of her travel improving herself with the bow.
"Hmm, you are getting really good at this. You even managed to hit the moving targets almost dead center as well."
"Yeah,"Kaori responded as she turned her attention to her hunter companion, who was watching her from a distance. "It almost feels natural to use the bow and arrow."
"Well considering you can use purification power by releasing an arrow, I can safely assume this was the weapon you used previous of your memory loss."Kaori nodded in agreement as she walked over to Daisuke. "How's the foot?"
"I told you it was fine two weeks ago. Nothing has changed, honestly. I think I might have just twisted it a little. Besides, I have been practicing my combat skills with you, have I not? I might not be the fastest, but I managed to keep up with your lessons as far as I am concerned."Kaori sat down beside him and took an apple that Daisuke had already laid out and offered to her.
"Ok, just checking. Don't want to head out and have you injured halfway through."He gave her a small smile. "Oh, and when you're finished with that, we're doing a few rounds with the sword again."
Kaori signed as she nodded in agreement. She knew she couldn't refuse, that was the deal. If they were to continue travelling together, than she had to learn how to fight, both with a long range weapon and a short range one. Of course, she picked the bow and arrow as her long range weapon, which seemed to be the obvious choice since her last battle with Yuko. As for her close range weapon, Daisuke had purchased a small sword for her. The size was a little worrisome at first since it seemed so small compared to the weapon Daisuke wielded, but once she realized how sharp and lightweight the sword was, she had soon forgotten its size.
Of course, it took her a lot longer to get the hang of using the sword over the bow and arrow. And of course, Daisuke was training her on how to block and avoid attacks as well. The training was long and hard as she spent the majority of the three weeks under strict training sessions. The first week being with her bow and arrow since she was told to rest off her foot until it healed. She didn't need to move much to fire an arrow at a target. Then from the second week onward, she was training for both bow and sword. She was no profession at wielding the sword, but at least now she could defend herself in battle.
She bit into the apple hungrily as she watched the demon hunter begin his daily routine of caring for his sword. Never a day went by where Daisuke didn't care for his weapon, which made Kaori smile since she knew Katsu was alive. In fact, it kind of seemed like a fatherly thing for Daisuke to do.
I wonder if he would be this dedicated if it was his child...
Kaori stopped herself from going any further with the thought and shook her head. She did not want to start thinking of Daisuke as a father, especially if it meant that there would be another girl in the picture.
She bit into the apple again with a little more force, juice spraying everywhere. Daisuke noticed it and gave a little chuckle.
"The food is already dead, no need to kill it."Kaori snapped out of her train of thought and looked at the hunter.
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking of something."No way was she going to let him know exactly what she was thinking about.
"Let me guess, you're still worried about your memories"Now that he brought it up, she had been worried about that too.
"Well, I guess you could say that. I mean, you know who you are and where you came from and what your purpose is. Me? I don't know anything. I could have family who are out looking for me, risking their lives wondering where I am. I could have friends who have spent these pass three weeks searching for a body thinking some demon made away with me. Or, I could have had nobody and been travelling by myself this whole time. I just don't know and it's killing me that I don't."
"Well, I highly doubt you have to worry about the last one. I'm sure someone like you had plenty of friends and family who care a lot about you."Kaori looked at Daisuke who gave her one of his soft smiles. He tended to share this smile with her whenever she was worrying about something or needed cheering up. "Besides, I am going to help you get your memories back."
This sparked Kaori's interest.
"Oh? And how do you plan on doing that?"
"Easy. I was talking to some villagers from the neighboring towns we have stayed in. Not many people know how to fix your situation, but some of the village's wise men and woman suggested going to see a very highly skilled Priestess residing in a village not too far from here. They think she might be able to help you."
"Another priestess?"Kaori questioned. "And what makes you think she'll know what to do?"
Daisuke leaned back against a tree and put his hands behind his head, Katsu still lying on his legs with a rag gently laid upon it.
"I don't, but it's the only lead I have so we're going with it."Kaori just signed as she stared at the hunter.
"You said highly skilled. So she must be well known."
"Well, of course. She has done a lot for people and out of the kindness of her own heart. She is after saving people from all kinds of demons and wrongful humans. People really look up to her."Daisuke was talking about this woman as if she was a saint of some kind and for some reason; this made her heart go a little crazy.
"Sounds great. We're going to see the hero of all, the priestess of the people, the saint of all that is good..."
"Hey"Daisuke cut her off, sensing the sarcasm in her voice. "Are we a little jealous of the priestess?"He gave her a smirk which made Kaori's blood boil.
"No! Definitely not!"She turned her attention away from the hunter. Like always, he was completely off. There was no way she was jealous of him commenting about another woman!
"Well, don't let it get to you too much. She's probably well trained and hasn't had her memory taken from her. Besides, I am sure with a lot more hard work, you'll be at her level some day and people will begin talking about you."
She couldn't believe it. He thought she was jealous over this woman's abilities?! Was he an idiot? Of course she wasn't jealous of that! She was...wait, why was she even mad? She placed her hand upon her forehead. Was she actually jealous? It felt like it.
"Never mind, we'll go see the Priestess and hear what she has to say about my situation." She said, feeling the anger leave her body.
"Great! We'll leave tomorrow. Until then, we got some training to do!"
"Oh, does this Priestess have a name? I mean, if she is famous and all, her name must be pretty popular."
Daisuke grabbed Katsu and slung the sword over his shoulder before facing Kaori again. "Of course she has a name. Who doesn't?"He teased.
"Funny. So, what is it?"
"Kagome."
