A New 'Leaf'
Disclaimer: I don't and will never own Inuyasha or Naruto, and if I do own those, then Jiraiya is not a pervert, Jiraiya, Itachi and Minato all wouldn't have died, Kakashi would NEVER wear his mask and Sasuke wouldn't be such an Emo asshole.
Chapter 9: The Sorrowful Past
It was night time in Water Country, and both civilian and Ninja alike were both asleep.
However, in the Higurashi shrine, there was no one asleep and everyone was in a state of panic; because they were slowly being killed off one by one. In the courtyard of the Higurashi Shrine, there was fighting going on. A group of people were all battling against a 10 year old Higurashi Kagome, but still, the odds were against them.
"You traitor!" one of them yelled out in the midst of the fight.
"You're a traitor you stinkin' bitch! Slaughtering your own clan like pigs!" that same person continued to yell at her, but Kagome ignored him and she delivered a kick that sent him flying a few feet away. Then she formed several hand seals.
"Hyouton: Sensatsu no Hyoushou!" she yelled out.
The water vapour in the air was condensed and took the form of needles. Then Kagome used her Wind Affinity to turn the water needles into ice. Then she aimed and sent those needles towards the person that called her a traitor. He didn't have the time to dodge so the needles pierced through his body, instantly killing him.
And all that happened in just a mere few seconds.
Kagome still had a few more opponents to fight, but fortunately they were not Ninja. They were only the priests and priestesses of the shrine, so they couldn't put up much of a fight against her. Kagome saw them cowering in a corner as they saw what she had done to her previous opponent. And they were probably too scared to move. Kagome formed several hand seals "Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" yelled Kagome as she expelled a fireball from her mouth.
As it travelled towards her remaining opponents, the fireball slowly took the shape of a dragon's head.
The dragon shaped fireball hit the majority of her opponents and they were burnt alive. Their screams of pain reverberated throughout the Shrine for a few seconds before it grew quiet again. Kagome stared at their dead bodies for a few seconds offering a silent prayer before she turned around and walked away.
They were still more people to kill…
--
The Higurashi Shrine was burning up in flames. The ground was soaked in crimson blood and there was a great stench of death in the air, complete with the smell of burning flesh. There were dead bodies lying everywhere and there was no hints of movement in the courtyard.
Kagome walked silently through the corridors, her senses sharp as she searched for the auras of any survivors.
She held a bloodstained Kunai in her hand; but her hand was trembling and white because she was clutching the bloodstained Kunai with all of her strength. Her face was devoid of emotions but if there was anyone then and there who had the abilities to see within the confines of her heart, then they would see that her heart was slowly breaking into little pieces. She may have acted like killing her clan was nothing, but on the contrary it was not as it seemed.
With each person she killed, she grew guiltier and a little of her soul was destroyed.
Kagome stopped outside the main hall because she sensed some auras inside. Her eyebrows furrowed when she recognized those auras and she bit down her lips so hard that it drew blood to prevent herself from uttering a distressed cry. Why? Why did she have to be the one to kill them too? All her precious people were inside of that room. Kagome really longed to cry now after all that has happened to her but she couldn't.
Ninja weren't allowed to show emotions, especially when they was in the middle of a mission.
With a heavy heart Kagome slid open the Shoji door and stepped inside. Then she slid the door shut and looked around, but the main hall was dark and there was no one to be seen. So she closed her eyes and expanded her senses, trying to find out where they were hiding.
"You know there's no escape for you all," she whispered out to the darkness, knowing full well that they could hear her.
Kagome sensed an aura not too far from where she was, so she made her way towards it. But as she took another step, metal sounded from the shadows and Kagome could see a barrage of Shuriken heading her way. She had triggered a trap. Kagome inwardly cursed and formed some hand seals.
"Mokuton: Moku Shouheki no Jutsu!" she yelled.
Wood rose from the ground, forming a shield around her. The Shuriken pierced the shield and when after a while Kagome undid the shield. "A clever trick Papa," she called out to the shadows "But did you honestly think that a weak attack like that was enough to kill me? Or are you underestimating my abilities?" she asked sarcastically.
A person stepped out from the shadows and shook his head.
"No. But I was hoping it could injure you and slow you down," he replied calmly. Kagome positioned her Kunai and took on a fighting stance. Her father drew a weapon and he did the same. In the next few seconds their weapons clashed and the two were blurs as they moved.
But after a while it was obvious that the older man was no match for his prodigal daughter.
Kagome had managed to puncture a hole in his gut that slowed him down a lot. He was panting heavily while Kagome did not even break a sweat from their fight. "You are not the powerful man you once were Papa," Kagome told him in an emotionless tone as she managed to break one of his legs.
Her father fell to the floor with a thud and he turned to face his daughter.
"I suppose I am," he murmured to himself, before he looked seriously at Kagome "And I also suppose I am not such a great Papa either am I?" His words made Kagome stop dead in her tracks. Her eyes flickered with emotion for a moment before she met his eyes and her father sighed deeply "I can pretty much guess why you're doing all of this Kagome. I'm no fool, and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that I was the one who dragged you into all of this. You were only a child, and yet I expected so much of you," he sighed deeply.
Kagome's lips quivered as he continued "The Higurashi clan started this rebellion, and now the rebellion ends at the hands of one of our own. I guess you could call this 'You reap what you sow' huh? But no one should ask a child to do this. I'm sorry that you have to be the one to do this Kagome, can you forgive me?" he asked her sincerely.
Kagome nodded stiffly and her father smiled "Thank you," he told her as he closed his eyes, waiting for her to deliver the finishing blow.
Kagome tried to blink back tears and contain whatever emotion that was threatening to show in her eyes again as she delivered a fatal slash to her father's chest. The skin and muscle tissue split apart easily and crimson coloured blood gushed out of his open wound. There was a visible view of his ribcage and internal organs; including his pumping heart. Kagome placed a hand in front of her face to prevent herself from uploading the contents of her stomach.
Her father slumped to the floor, dead.
Kagome forced herself to look away from his corpse and she now readied her Kunai again; this time preparing to kill her mother. Kun Loon had run out of her hiding place when Kagome struck down her husband and she was now crying softly beside his corpse. Kagome continued to approach Kun Loon stealthily. She tried to kill her mother the same way she killed her father; by a fatal slash with her Kunai but Kun Loon instinctively raised her hands to block the attack at the last moment, minimizing the damage.
Now she had a nasty slash on her arm that was bleeding badly.
Even though Kun Loon was a high priestess, she had lost almost all of her spiritual energy so she powerless against a powerful Ninja Priestess like Kagome. She couldn't defend herself much, so she could only look at her helplessly like a trapped puppy, knowing there was no escape for her.
"Kagome, my child, it's me, mama. Why are you doing all of this?" she asked in a broken tone.
Kagome looked at her mother with pain filled eyes "Because I have to," she replied sadly, and her mother's eyes widened in realization. "It's all my fault," Kun Loon whispered to herself "I should have never agreed with your Father's plans in the first place. It's all my fault," she sobbed. Kagome shook her head. "No it wasn't. It was my decision to make Mama, and I chose the benefiting option. I'm a pacifist to the end huh?" she asked her mother with a sad smile, which only caused Kun Loon to cry even harder.
The sad smile was still on Kagome's face as she closed her eyes and sighed, mentally preparing her self for what she was going to do.
Then when she opened her eyes again, her face immediately became devoid of emotions again. She took the Kunai near to her face and she gripped it with her teeth. Then she quickly combined her Water and Wind together to form shards of ice.
"Hyouton: Sensatsu no Hyoushou!" she yelled and without hesitation, she sent a barrage of them at her mother.
This time, Kun Loon couldn't possibly fend them all off without a weapon. Most of the ice shards pierced deep into her body, and she fell to the floor, a dying woman. Kun Loon was already turning pale from the blood loss, but if it were even possible, she turned paler when her eyes landed on the two figures standing behind Kagome.
"S-Souta, Ka-Kaede, run away while you still can!! Hurry!" she weakly cried out to them, and in a soft tone that only Kagome could hear, Kun Loon whispered "Kagome, forgive me… and please…as a dying wish…spare Souta…Please let him live…Please…" she begged her daughter and her voice started to grow softer and softer with each second. Kagome shook her head and she took the Kunai from her mouth, and without another word she plunged the Kunai down, stabbing Kun Loon's heart and silencing her forever.
"I'm so sorry Mama, but I'm afraid I can't do that," she whispered inaudibly.
Then she retracted it from Kun Loon's chest and turned around to face the two survivors left from this massacre. Her little brother Souta was staring at her in horror. He had just seen the big sister whom he idolized and loved kill their parents in front of his eyes. He was shivering in fear in Kaede's arms while the old woman was staring at the dead body of Kagome's parents. She shook her head sadly at the scene before looking at Kagome with pain filled eyes.
Souta yelled desperately to his sister "Nee-chan!! Why are you doing this? Why did you kill Papa and Mama?"
Kagome inwardly readied herself to play the part of the villain to them. She had to put up a convincing act in order to lie to the two of them. She didn't want them to know the truth about why she was killing everyone. If they knew the truth; that would only make her feel guiltier than she already was when the time came for her to kill them. The guilt was already bad enough to her just because both of her parents knew the truth.
And not to mention; besides killing everyone in her clan, her mission orders were also to not reveal the truth to anyone; so she couldn't tell them even if she wanted to. So, time to play the past of the bad guy. Hmm, the evil grin in place? Check. Next, the insane look in her eyes? Check. Last but not least, the insane laughter? Check.
Okay, she was good to go.
"What parents?" Kagome snorted "They were only interested in the powers I possessed. They didn't give a shit about me; they only gave a shit about whether I tarnished the name of the clan! It was always 'Kagome this and Kagome that' and 'You have a duty to the clan' and 'Do not dishonour the name of the clan!' Ugh, I was sick of hearing all that! Remember that goody two shoes precious 'Nee-chan' of yours? I only pretended to be like that," Kagome said without batting an eyelid.
Souta stared at her with wide eyes as she continued "I only pretended to be a kind, caring sister so that Papa would trust me enough and tell me all the clan secrets and teach me all our fighting styles. And once I mastered all of them, I saw no more use for that old fool and his death was inevitable."
"Then why did you kill everyone else?" Kaede asked calmly. Kagome felt her throat go dry but she knew that she had to keep the act going or else it would have all gone to waste.
She didn't obey her orders to this extent only to have it go up in smoke. "If I killed Papa, then of course there would be consequences in the clan. So killing Mother and everyone else was also inevitable, and it gave me a chance to test out my new skills, ignorant old Kaede. Did you see what I did to kill Mother back there? A nifty Jutsu I learned from father" Kagome asked slyly and she jerked her thumb behind her, motioning to her mother who lay dead in her own pool of blood.
Souta had his mouth open in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from his sister.
Kagome took this opportunity to strike. She quickly gathered chakra to her feet and used her 'Shunshin no Jutsu' to appear by Souta's side. She raised her Kunai, ready to deliver her brother a quick and painless death but Kaede pushed him out of the way, so she ended up taking the hit instead. Souta fell to the floor and Kagome decided to take out Kaede first.
She raised her Kunai and was about to strike the old woman when Souta foolishly stood up and grabbed her hand.
"Don't do it Nee-chan!" he screamed but Kagome yanked her arm out of his grip. She curled her fingers and drew back her fist, delivering a hard punch to her brother's face. Souta flew a few feet away from the impact, and he landed on the floor, unconscious.
Kagome then turned her attention back to Kaede, who was staring at her calmly.
"You were ordered by the village right?" Kaede asked her out of the blue. Kagome's weapon stopped in mid air and she forcefully nodded. Kaede sighed deeply "I thought as much. Well I can't say that we don't deserve this fate, after all, our clan was the one that plotted the rebellion first. But I'm sorry that you have to be the one to punish us Kagome. I'm very sorry."
Kagome clenched her fists and she started shaking.
"S-stop it, just stop it!" she yelled out, which surprised Kaede. Tears were starting to stream down Kagome's face as she looked at her old teacher, and all the emotions bottled inside her that had been building up throughout the entire massacre were starting to show in her eyes.
Confusion.
Sadness.
Guilt.
Fear.
Despair.
Pain.
Loss.
"Just stop it Kaede-obaa-san! Why are all of you apologizing for?! Why?! I don't understand! I don't want you all to apologize to me!" Kagome yelled, clutching her head, for images of her family were flashing through her mind; her smiling Father alongside her smiling mother.
"First it was Papa, then Mama and now you? I don't want your apologies! I don't want you to tell me that you're sorry!! I want you all to hate me! To hate me until the moment you die!" she sank to her knees and she let go of the Kunai. It clattered to the ground and Kagome's free hand clutched at her chest, the place over her heart "If you all hate me to the very end, then it won't hurt so much… It hurts a lot Kaede-obaa-san… It really hurts… I feel so guilty… And the pain won't go away… What am I supposed to do…?" Kagome mumbled in a dead tone, the tears continuing to flow.
Kaede stared at Kagome with slightly surprised eyes before a guilty look crossed her face.
Kagome continued to cry and Kaede stared at the bloodstained Kunai lying innocently on the floor. A thought crossed her mind and she looked at the still crying Kagome. No, she simply could not allow that child to destroy herself anymore than she already has.
Kaede smiled sadly as took the Kunai and she held it over her heart.
"Kagome, you are the brightest student that I have ever taught. But while you are a powerful fighter, you also have a heart as fragile as glass. And as your teacher, I hope that you don't have to suffer like this anymore in the future. No one should have to go through this type of pain ever in their lifetime…No one. I hope that someday you can find happiness again, that someday you can find someplace that brings you happiness you want; that you can find someone who can give you the happiness you need," she told Kagome in a sad tone
Kagome looked up in confusion upon hearing the old woman's words, and she saw what Kaede was about to do. Her eyes widened in horror as she met Kaede's gaze. The old woman smiled and closed her eyes, before stabbing her heart with the Kunai.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Kagome's scream could be heard throughout the Shrine. She stared at Kaede's dead body in horror, now crying harder than ever. Why?! Why?! Why?! She kept thinking over and over again in her mind. Why did this have to happen? To her? To do something this horrible? What wrongs did she commit in her previous life to have to be the one who slaughters her entire family? What wrongs did she do to have to feel this much pain? What?!
A groan snapped her out of her thoughts.
It was then that Kagome remembered her brother was still alive. She stared at his unconscious form with dead eyes for a moment. She still had a mission to do…and after she accomplished that mission, she could torture herself as much as she wanted. She was free to even kill herself after she accomplished the mission.
Kagome stood up and she dragged herself over to where her brother lay.
Then she took out a Kunai from her weapon's pouch and knelt down beside his unconscious form. Her hands were shaking terribly already and she cursed silently. Come on, it was just ONE more person to kill; she just had to take ONE more life before her mission would be all over.
Kagome raised the Kunai and closed her eyes, not wishing to see the moment she killed her brother. Then she brought to Kunai down on his head, but instead of hearing blood splattering and hitting a mushy surface, Kagome hit a hard surface and there was a dull 'thunk' where her Kunai hit. Kagome frowned in confusion and she opened her eyes; only to end up cursing some more. The Kunai was lodged in the wooden flooring, near to Souta's face.
She had missed…
She had never missed before, so why was her aim off now? Could it be because she couldn't bear to kill him? But she had to! She would be disobeying orders of she didn't kill him! Some words rang inside Kagome's head over and over again "Kagome, forgive me… and please…as a dying wish…spare Souta…Please let him live…Please…"
Her mother's dying words to her…
Kagome stared at her unconscious brother some more, before she realized that she couldn't bear to kill her brother. She wanted to honour her mother's dying words. "All right then Mama, you win," she whispered with a sigh. She smiled sadly at her brother, before gently ruffling his hair. "I'm sorry that you had to see me murder everyone like this. You're only 4 and no one your age should have to see this traumatizing experience," Kagome apologized inaudibly. Then she stood up and turned to leave the room, but another groan made her stop.
It seems her brother had woken up.
Souta sat up and rubbed his bruised jaw. He blinked and tried to focus his gaze, and when his eyesight got used to the dark room, he took a look around the room. He froze in terror when he noticed the dead bodies of his parents and Kaede. Tears started to gather in his eyes and he looked at Kagome, choking out a sob. Kagome turned away from him and she started to walk away. But she paused when she heard some metallic sounds coming from behind her.
Souta appears to have discovered the Kunai she had left behind.
Kagome took out another Kunai from her weapon's pouch and she quickly turned around, just in time to stop Souta's attack. She blinked in surprise when she noticed all traces of fear gone from her brother's face, only to be replaced by anger and hatred. Kagome grabbed on to her brother's arm and she sent a burst of miko energy into his body, paralyzing him.
Then she leaned close to his ear and whispered "Live."
Souta's eyes widened as Kagome repeated her words "Live, and train hard. When you think you're strong enough to defeat me, then come and seek me out. We shall see whether you will be able to kill me and restore the glory to our clan. If you aren't able to defeat me, then it's your funeral." Kagome slowly backed away from him with a sadistic smile on her face, but when she turned around the smile disappeared, only to be replaced by a look of sorrow.
"I'm sorry," she muttered inaudibly, and she left the Higurashi Shrine, with the sole intent of seeking the Mizukage out.
Later on Kagome had to go on her knees and beg him to spare her brother's life, but the stubborn Mizukage wouldn't agree. The uneasiness he felt in his heart wouldn't go away because of the fact that there was still one more person left alive from the massacre, and that the two survivors happened to be the Clan Head's children.
Kagome had to use blackmail to get him to agree.
She had told him that if he wouldn't let Souta stay here and be safe, then she would have left the village and revealed everything she knew about the village and more. She had even suggested that she would have joined another village and use her abilities to fight against the Land of Water.
The Mizukage had no choice but to agree, but on the condition that Kagome never set foot in Kirigakure so Sato ever again.
Kagome agreed, and she left Kirigakure just as soon as the sun started to rise. And true to her word, she never once returned to her village. Although thanks to Itachi and Kisame, she was still able to keep regular tabs on her brother.
Souta is 22 now and he was elevated to Jounin status 4 years ago, when he was 18.
He was doing fine after Kagome left and he was considered another prodigy of the Higurashi clan. He had an affinity for both Water and Wind, so naturally he could combine them to make Ice. But if he were to fight against Kagome, then the results would be obvious.
He would lose without a doubt.
So not wanting to kill her brother, Kagome had avoided him for years on end and their last encounter had been 4 years ago, at the time she was 24. Kagome had to pretend to want to kill him when she had met him again. And just because she didn't want to kill her brother, it didn't mean that she couldn't kick his ass. They fought, and when she won she left him alive; saying that he still wasn't strong enough to defeat her. Although she didn't kill him, she did manage to injure him rather badly.
And from what Kagome had heard; she had managed to land Souta in the hospital for a month.
End chapter
Thank you Pure Iciness, iheartanime43, kakashixangela, 4get me not, Smoochynose, LuLuCrazeD, cowgirlkitten2000, Yorukifon, Crystal Tsuki Tenshi, Bloodcherry, merlyn1382, omica21, Your Avenging Angel, j.d.y., Princess Fey, AnimeMixDJ, Gaara's Only Luver and Random Person for reviewing!
Okay I just realized that I haven't updated in the longest time. Well I apologize I was on Holiday in Nanjing for the whole month and so I didn't really have the time to update much less write. Anyway, the next chapter goes back to the present^^
Please review!
