AN: So I'm back! Even though I'm not supposed to be, and my semester isn't over (ughhh), and we're still preparing for our final exams XP. I just couldn't resist not writing for too long because you guys are awesome 3 (almost 6,000 views!) and I didn't want to do that to you :).
This chapter took a LONG time for me to write :/ but I think I'm finally pleased with the outcome so I hope you guys enjoy and please don't forget to review and let me know what you think (*cough cough*) about it.
And a special thanks all the people who did review,have followed, or favorited my story :D (*hugs for you guys*) I'm so glad you guys like it so far!
SN: Answers to reviews will be at the end of my chapters :)
Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Inuyasha (*cries into pillow*) or it characters. I do however own any and all OC's that may appear in this story and it's storyline ("my precious" Sméagol voice)
Kagome sat patiently, watching her mother, as Isane searched for the right words to begin. Finally, after a considerable amount of time, she began her explanation.
"Kagome, you must understand that this was a last resort option for your Father and me" she began, staring directly into Kagome's eyes "If we thought that there was any other solution, we would not be putting you through this. We know how difficult this must be for you."
Kagome couldn't hardly believe her mother actually understood just how difficult this arraignment actually was for her, but she wasn't about to tell her mom that. This wasn't some temporary stage in her life, or one that she could just up and decide that she didn't want to deal with anymore. It was a well-known fact that demons mated for life and once truly mated there was no way to revoke the mating bond, a fact that her parents seemed to be totally oblivious too. 'Or else they just don't care' Kagome thought bitterly and then quickly reprimanded herself, knowing that her parents would never do something like this just to spite her.
"What I am about to tell you, your father and I took great care to make sure that you never found out about" Isane continued "And we had hoped that you would never ever have to find out"
Isane turned her gaze to the window thinking carefully how to explain what she had to say to Kagome. There was a chance, knowing how stubborn Kagome was, that her daughter would not understand just how dire the situation they faced was and she still might not resign herself to this marriage even after she found out the reason behind it.
"For many years the Higurashi clan and the Ishida clan have been fighting a very long battle between many evil demons and entities, and our duties are far from finished" Isane said, bringing her gaze back to her daughter's.
"This I already know Mother" Kagome stated impatiently.
Kagome had heard many tales of battles throughout her childhood of the two powerful clans of priests and priestess that she was a direct blood descendent from. The Higurashi's, the clan her father hailed from, was a bloodline clan of the strongest Priest's that have ever existed. And her mother hailed from the Ishida bloodline, they were a clan that brought forth some of the strongest Mikos to ever exist.
Both clans had joined together many times in the past to protect the Eastern Lands, and beyond, from all types of evil for as long as anyone could remember. In fact, one of these past battles was how the Eastern Lands fell out of the hands of the powerful fire demon that once resided over it, into the hands of the clans in the first place.
"Yes" her mother acknowledged, ignoring Kagome's agitation "You have the story of how your father and I met, as well as our clan histories, many times in the past. However, there are many things we left out"
After gathering all her thoughts her mother finally began her story. She began to tell Kagome what she had come to know only after reaching the proper age, where she was expected to put aside all childish things, and take up the responsibilities that all mikos must take up eventually.
In the years past the Ishida and Higurashi clan fought many battles, both separately and together, against demons in lands far and wide. Although both clans were not extremely large clans, they were known, feared, and hated by many demons far and wide for their immense spiritual powers and strength. Many members of the clans lived the life of traveling nomads going from village to village and helping all in need, as was customary for mikos and priests, only settling down after marriage and to have a family.
Isane was part of the main branch of the Ishida family, the strongest line, and like Kagome she was an only child. Her mother, Midoriko, had been the head priestess of the clan and her father had been a strong demon slayer. They had met during her mother's journey to a village who's Lord had been possessed by a very strong dream demon. Many mikos had traveled to the village before her and attempted to purify or exercise the demon, but they had either just barely escaped with their lives or not at all.
Some had even fallen into some sort of dream state. A few who had suffered from this had been brought to Midoriko by some of the villagers, in hopes that she would be able to help them in some sort of way. However, no matter what spiritual magic or spells she tried, she was unable to find any sort of cure and could only watch as the victims perished and wasted away from lack or nourishment or some other ailment.
Finally, deciding that she could no longer sit by and allow others to suffer the same fate as those before them, she decided to handle the matter personally. When she arrived at the village she found that the number of villagers had decreased dramatically from the previous high population, and the few families that remained in the village looked as if they had suffered from many years of hardship and had lost all hope.
She immediately began to ask some of the villagers about Lord and what was going on in the village, and soon found that strange things had been happening for about four years before her arrival. On the way to the village, about three miles out, she had begun to feel an immense ominous evil presence and it was by far the most powerful entity she had felt thus far. However, because this was still fairly early in her beginning years as a wandering miko out of training, she underestimated the true strength of the demon.
She had forgotten that demons were extremely deceptive and tricky, and that they will often hide their true power until it is absolutely necessary to use it. After she finished questioning the villagers, the few that weren't too scared to talk to her, she headed to the lord's castle, where she was to learn that lesson the hard way. The demon was extremely powerful and just when she managed to critically injure it, and was almost sure of her victory, the battle was almost lost when the demon began to use an ancient artifact that boosted his powers to even greater levels than before.
Midoriko would have died that day if Isane's father had not been there to quickly finish the demon off before it could fully regenerate, having heard about the village and its mysterious occurrences and decided to investigate it himself. Isane's father stayed with her mother at the village inn until she recovered from her injuries and they slowly became, somewhat grudgingly, friends. When Midoriko had finished her recovery and it came the time for them to part ways, Midoriko had felt a sudden intense calling back to the area where the dream demon had been vanquished. Immediately Isane's father and Midoriko went back to the lord's castle to investigate.
After searching for the source of the strange feeling, she was surprised to find it coming from the artifact the demon had used. She had sensed it during her battle with the demon, but after it had been destroyed she had been unable to sense it anymore and thought it had perished along with the demon. But here it was in the very dirt that demon had fallen in.
As soon as Midoriko touched the strange artifact all traces of the demon vanished from it, and because she felt no evil intent, Midoriko decided to keep the artifact with her in order to keep it from falling into another demon's possession. Isane's father decided to travel along with her mother for a while longer and they soon became travel companions and went everywhere together. They were well known by everyone and highly sought after by villagers in need of aid.
Many years passed since the incident in the village, the artifact remained dormant and had just become a simple trinket that Midoriko carried around everywhere with her. They never thought that there could be anything more to it, or that it was special in any kind of way. Until one day Midoriko was called upon by the Higurashi clan leader to help them to defeat the crazed Eastern Taiyukai demon in battle. The demon lord had been abusing his power and sending his armies out to ravage human villages for many years, in his kingdom as well as in the other Taiyukai's territories.
"For many years our clans fought small battles against the demon lord's minions, but finally we had enough" Isane told Kagome. "And as the most powerful mikos and priests, we decided it was our job to finally put a stop to it once and for all"
Kagome sat in rapt silence listening to her mother's story. She had heard the story, or should she say part of the story, of how the clans came into possession of the Eastern Lands but she had never heard anything about any ancient artifact. 'I wonder what it could be or what happened to it' she thought 'Or better yet, what does this story have to do with me and my situation?'
"This battle between the Ishida and Higurashi clans and the Eastern Lands was not an easy battle, and it would go on to last for many years" Isane reminded Kagome.
Midoriko was around thirty-seven years of age when the war began, and she had just married Isane's father and was planning to finally settle down and have children. But when the Higurashi's had requested her and her clan's aid, she knew that she could not refuse and just sit back and hope for things to work themselves out. The Eastern Taiyukai's wrath had reached far and wide and it was of the upmost importance that the clans put a stop to his tyranny.
She began to gather the priestesses of her clan and they immediately began to collaborate plans of attack with the Higurashi priests, other priest and priestesses, and any demon slayers that were willing to join the battle. Even still they were at an extreme disadvantage. Their clan numbers were already small and they were not only fighting the eastern Taiyukai, but his armies and demons as well. Even though mikos and priests would usually never even think of working with demons, Midoriko understood that the likelihood of them winning the battle without the help of the other Taiyukai were slim-to-none, and managed to convince the Higurashi to request for a temporary truce with Western, Northern, and Southern Taiyukai.
All the Taiyukai refused to aid them in the battle, preferring to continue focus only on protecting their own territories and conserving their own resources and forces. The other Taiyukai had fought with the eastern Taiyukai in their own lands for years as well. But it had never turned into anything greater than small regional battles. Because of their refusal the Higurashi's and Ishida's, as well as many other families, lost many men and women. Both sides suffered great losses and all without even getting close to or facing the Eastern Taiyukai.
The battle raged for about three more years with both sides neither gaining nor losing ground. The Eastern Taiyukai continued to pillage villages, all while continuing to send forces to invade the other territories, and the clans continued to thwart them every chance they got. It seemed as if the battle would go on forever in a stalemate, unless one side surrendered, until the Higurashi and Ishida clans received a letter from Lord InuTaisho the Taiyukai of the West.
In his letter Lord InuTaisho expressed his regret for not taking greater heed in the war between lands, than he had. He explained how the Taiyukai, excluding the eastern demon, had agreed to focus on their territories in the hope that once shown that their armies and kingdoms were in-penetrable, the eastern demon could be dissuaded from attacking them. He said that he now sees the folly in their decision, even though the other lords do not, and has decided to aid the clans in their battle.
With the Western Taiyukai and his army backing them, the battle finally seemed to be making progress both clans' losses decreased. Six years later, after being injured in battle, Midoriko was sent home to her husband to recover. During her time there the battle took a drastic turn for the better and it seemed as if its end was near. The battle was now directly in the eastern kingdom with nothing but the castle gate separating the western and their own forces from the eastern Taiyukai and the remainder of his army.
Midoriko immediately set out to meet with Gennosuke, the Head Priest of the Higurashi clan, on the frontlines of the battlefield. Lord InuTaisho had returned to his own kingdom, to protect it from demons that had tried to encroach on his territory while his troops were away at war, and had sent his son Sesshomaru to lead his forces in the final battle.
It took them three days to breach the eastern walls and during that time Midoriko had discovered that she was with child. She was now more determined than ever to end this war, so that her child would be able to live in peace, and with renewed vigor, she and Gennosuke finally breached the castle where the eastern demon resided. Sesshomaru and his troops remained outside capturing and defeating the rest of the eastern army.
When Midoriko and Gennosuke arrived in the throne room where the Taiyukai was, she had been absolutely shocked when she felt the artifact that had remained dormant for so long, that she kept on a chain close to her heart, pulse with power. As soon as this happened the cat Taiyukai, who had been sitting patiently on his throne while his army was outside being slaughtered eyes widened and a wicked grin broke out on his face.
"Well, well, well. This is interesting." he began his head propped up on his arm, which was leaning on the armrest of his throne. "How did a little miko like you come into possession of something powerful like that?" he asked, pointing to the artifact around her neck.
Remaining silent Midoriko watched him carefully as the demon slowly stood from the throne. Seeing Gennosuke's questioning look at her adornment, and then at her, she shook her head slightly to let him know that she didn't know what the demon was speaking of. He said that it was powerful, but yet until now she hadn't felt any power radiate from it whatsoever, and to be honest she had forgot all about it being around her neck.
Seeing Midoriko's gesture toward her comrade the Taiyukai began to laugh. "You don't even know what it is, do you woman?"
"So what if I don't?" she said, trying to bait him into telling her.
"Well I guess I can't really expect you to know what it is." He said, shrugging his shoulders "You are just an ignorant human after all"
"I am surprised that you have such a big piece though" he said looking her up and down "You couldn't have possibly defeated a demon that was in possession of it, so that means you must have found it."
"Piece?" Midoriko asked surprised. "You mean to tell me that this isn't all of it"
"Of course not" he answered as if she should have already known "If it was, then he wouldn't be handing out pieces to all of us, now would he?"
Midoriko felt sick to her stomach at the thought of this already powerful Taiyukai, have something like this in his possession that could make him even stronger, and was afraid to ask the question that she already felt she knew the answer to but had to ask anyway.
"So you're telling me that you have a piece of this thing as well" she asked.
Grinning from ear to ear now, he looked at her chuckling deep in his throat.
"Yep" he said, placing his hands in the pockets of his black hakama.
Immediately Midoriko began to study him sensing for his piece of the artifact. Starting from his head down, she took in his long black hair that didn't stop until it reached his ankles. He was very tall and had a lean, thin, but toned body. Just by looking at him she could tell that he was light on his feet, which meant that he was going to be incredibly fast. She was glad that she brought her arrows along because if she had to fight him up close she would be at an extreme disadvantage, especially with her newly discovered condition. But just encase the battle did come in closer than she would like, she had been trained to fight with short blades and knives and channel her spiritual powers through them, and always carried some on her person.
He was wearing an all black haori and hakama, with a silver sash tied around his waist and lopping down on both his sides. She saw no weapon on him, but that did not mean that he was unarmed. The next thing she noticed was his blood red eyes, and she was not surprised to see just a hint of his insanity in them. Even though right now he appeared to act relatively normal, it had been said that the demon lord had long ago been driven mad and was highly unstable. His servants and people never knew when he would lose it and decided to end their lives, it could be over something as small as a sneezing while delivering a report or glancing at him out of the corner of your eye while bowing down to him.
"Can you sense it priestess?" he asked, teasing her and letting her know that he noticed her actions.
'He's reading me like a book' she thought, irritably. If she kept this up when it came time to fight he would be able to read her every move. Looking at Gennosuke, the both instantly transformed their faces into blank emotionless canvasses.
"HAHAHAHA!" the Taiyukai barked out laughing and clapping his hands "Very good, you two learn quickly!"
All of a sudden his laughing abruptly stopped and lowered his face so that they could no longer see his expression.
"Sadly though..." he began in a quiet voice.
"I don't feel like talking anymore. Now I'm more interested…"he said, voice growing steadily louder "in killing you BOTH and taking that shard away from YOU!"
Before either of them could react or prepare themselves, the demon lord vanished and appeared right in front of Gennosuke, swinging his arm backwards to hit the priest in the chest. Gennosuke was just barely able to erect a barrier with his staff in to weaken the blow. But the blow was still strong enough to smash through the barrier and send the priest flying towards the door they had previously entered from, albeit taking less damage than he would have if it had not been there.
Immediately Midoriko jumped back from where the demon now stood, notching an arrow in her bow while flying back at the same time. She took aim and let the arrow fly, with as much spiritual power she could muster in the small amount time allowed. She knew they had to end this battle as soon as possible, and the longer they allowed the battle to draw out the less their chances of victory were. They didn't have an extra source of power like the Taiyukai did, once there spiritual pressure ran out it would be over for them.
The arrow soared toward the demon quick as lightning, and it looked like it would be a direct hit, but just as it was about to make impact it suddenly kept going right through him. Now crouching on the ground where she had stopped, Midoriko tried to figure out how it was possible for the arrow to not have had any effect on the demon. Even if he had some type of misting or disappearing powers, just the act of her arrow coursing through his presence, should have injured him somewhat. Instead he was standing there head thrown back, laughing at their feeble attempts.
"Whew, that was close" he said, as his laughs died down "Your faster than I thought you would be if I wasn't faster that would have really hurt. Maybe I should focus on killing you first instead of the priest."
Notching another arrow in response, she dared him with her eyes to try it. Just as the Taiyukai took a step in her direction intent upon following through with his words, Gennosuke dived towards him, his staff channeling spiritual lightning intent upon frying the demon where he stood. The demon dodged his blow and, grabbing the priest's forearm, used the momentum to swing his own body behind Gennosuke, preparing to strike the priest from behind.
Before the cat demon could fully move into position, Midoriko let her arrow fly. Because he was already in movement he would not be able to dodge it. Even still, Midoriko took great care to watch his every move just encase he pulled another transparence act, intent upon learning his techniques as soon as possible.
She watched as the arrow flew directly towards the Taiyukai's face. She saw the moment that his eyes saw her arrow and the recognition that dawned in them when noticed that he wouldn't be able to dodge it. A frown crossing his face, he growled in anger as he had no choice but to grab the arrow or risk it hitting him straight in the face. He was a strong demon. But she was a powerful miko, that he could clearly feel, and if he took a direct hit like that he knew that even he would be instantly purified.
He was able to just barely grab the arrow when it was just millimeters away from his face. The moment his fist closed around the shaft of the arrow, the entire right side of his body was scorched by her spiritual powers and he howled out in anger and pain.
"Damn you, you stupid wench!" he yelled at her, casting the arrow furiously to the side.
Midoriko took no time and was re-notching her bow as fast as she could, quickly stood to prepare to defend herself from his next attack. Gennosuke was now holding blades, that he shook down from his sleeves, in both hands and was channeling his lightning through them in preparation to throw them at the cat Taiyukai. Not allowing the demon anytime to recover he let the blades fly, all of them met their mark hitting the demon in his chest and arm, which he used to block some of them. The blades had the effect of small spiritual pressure bombs, and where they hit, the demon's skin was instantly scorched and bits of his clothes were blown off.
With his haori now in tatters, and just barely hanging on his body from their combined attacks, the Taiyukai stood in the middle of the throne room grasping his chest and staring at the priest and priestess with fury-filled blood red eyes.
"Do you actually think that I would allow myself to be defeated by some weakling humans!?" he yelled.
When silence greeted him he continued "You haven't even begun to see my true power!" he said, eyes growing even larger with his craze. "Did you forget that I have a shard?" he asked.
Instantly his wounds began to heal themselves and his power began to sky rocket.
'There!' Midoriko thought in excitement. She could finally sense the shard and now knew where to direct her already drawn bow.
"Gennosuke" she yelled, getting the monk's attention. "Try to hit him with your staff directly in his chest! I have a feeling that if we can hit the shard, before he is able to fully use it, we will be able to neutralize the evil energy that's inside it rendering it useless!"
Gennosuke instantly swung into action, jabbing his staff at spot in the Taiyukai's chest that Midoriko pointed out to him, while the demon lord was still in his power drunken stupor. When his staff made contact, Midoriko watched as the energy instantly disappeared just as she suspected, and let her arrow fly just as Gennosuke spun out of the way so that she could land the finishing blow. Bright spiritual light instantly erupted in the throne room and all inside were blinded by it.
When it finally faded away the monk and miko were greeted by the sight of the great cat Taiyukai lying on the floor, his body gradually purifying into non-existence. As they both made their way towards him they noticed that he was still breathing, and surprisingly his eyes were now a startling green, and completely clear of their previous insanity.
"To think that I, the great cat demon and Eastern Taiyukai, Kenji would be defeated by humans" he said, a small smile on his face as he gazed at the ceiling with unseeing eyes.
"As a reward I will give you two a warning" Kenji said. "The deeper you investigate these shards the more danger you will invite around you. You should search no farther than you already have" he finished looking at Midoriko.
He did not even know this powerful miko but he could tell that she would try to take it upon herself to collect all the dangerous shards, just to keep them from falling into the wrong hands.
"I can't do that" she replied, looking solemnly at the demon lord.
"Heh," Kenji chuckled "just what I would expect from a priestess."
"If you really wish to help us" Gennosuke began "you can tell us more about the shard and how you came into possession of something so dangerous"
Turning his gaze to the monk he said. "The one who gave the shard to me was extremely strong and cunning. He was able to convince, a great demon like me, into thinking that I need something like this abomination to give me strength" he said, gesturing to the shard that now lay dormant in his chest.
"At first I refrained from using it, but soon the seductive call of the shard became too strong for me to resist. After that point in found myself using it constantly, and soon, I found myself going insane from the sheer power I felt from it and being unable to do anything to stop my downward spiral"
Directing his gaze back toward the ceiling he surprised them both by saying.
"In truth, I am grateful to the both of you" He said quietly.
"There is no greater disgrace to a demon like me…" the purification now reaching his chest and spreading fast "than to become a mindless vessel and lose all free will"
The stood in silence as the rest of the demon Taiyukai disappeared. Gennosuke finally broke the long thoughtful silence that now resided in the throne room, which only the sounds of the dying battle outside the castle dared to intrude upon.
"You know what we must do now right?" he asked.
"Yes." was her only reply as she stood, picking the shard up from the ground as she rose, from where the fallen Taiyukai once lay.
"After their battle with the Eastern Taiyukai, my mother and Gennosuke rejoined the battle outside and within minutes it was over" Isane told Kagome. "Lord Sesshomaru informed them, after the battle, that his father had no intentions of taking claim of the eastern lands. And that it would be up to the clans to decide what to do with it and its people."
This is the part of the story that Kagome knew. She heard about the battle that had led to the two clans taking over leadership of the Eastern lands, and the battles that followed afterwards in order to maintain that leadership. But she had never heard anything about a powerful artifact or shards in any of the stories. She could not believe that so many important facts about the clan's history had been kept from her.
'And more importantly,' she thought 'why?'
(To be continued)
AN: Soooo, this chapter turned out to be my longest one so far, and has just a hint what's to come, in it. Just to let you guys know, before you strangle me, the next chapter will probably jump ahead to the wedding ( yay! more SeeshyKag goodness!) and then we will come back to this part of the story where will find out even more of what's behind this strange wedding agreement.
***Whenever I write "to be continued" at the end of a chapter, it means that we will leave this scene to be explained later on (but not too much later) in the story. Most likely after something drastic happens(*hint*) where we will need to come back to it.
::::Answers to review questions (feel free to ask if you want me to explain anything) ;
llebreknit: Yes I do plan on bring in more of the Inuyasha characters, I just haven't quite figured out how I want some of them to fit into my story. As for Inuyasha and Kikyo getting together, ummmm, I'm not entirely sure. But she will be playing a big role later on in my story. How? We'll just have to wait and see )
alwayskogacola: First off, I LOVE your username. Second, I'm so glad you like it and I will try my best! It only gets better from here :D
