Chapter Ten: It Cannot Be Real
Almost a week had passed since Kagome's last confrontation with Sesshoumaru. In those six days, she'd neither seen nor heard from the demon and she was slowly beginning to relax into her usual routine again.
I was right, she happily mused. He's too comfortable in his anonymity to risk making a scene. It was all just a pathetic scare tactic and now that I've called his bluff, I'll probably never hear from him again.
She grabbed her purse from the hook on the wall and walked into the kitchen. "Mama, I'm going to get a present for Hojo's birthday party. Is there anything you need while I'm out?"
Higurashi-san bit her lip and a worried expression crossed her face. "Kagome... I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with you leaving the house unnecessarily. After all you've told me about Sesshoumaru—"
"Mama," Kagome interrupted with a frustrated sigh, "it's been several days now. I have the jewel with me as usual, it's three in the afternoon, and I'm going to the mall. There's no way he'd risk drawing the kind of attention to himself that an attack in broad daylight would create."
Still fretting, the elder woman nonetheless nodded her agreement. She knew it was pointless to argue with Kagome on this matter. Still, "at least take your bow and arrow with you, dear. I'd feel a lot better knowing you were armed."
"If it will make you feel better, fine. Do you have an old department store bag I can hide them in?"
"Hai, I think I do," she replied with an eager smile. Higurashi-san flitted down the hall to retrieve a large plastic shopping bag, meeting up with her daughter at the bottom of the stairs. Kagome took the bag from her mother and stuffed in her bow and two arrows.
"Thanks. Sure you don't need anything?"
Kagome's mother shook her head, still smiling, and went back to the kitchen. "Just make sure you don't stay out too late. We're having dinner a little early tonight."
"I'll be back in a couple of hours," she assured. "Bye Mom!"
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"Arigato, Kaede-sama." Asako accepted her bowl of stew gratefully, settling more comfortably on the floor of the small hut among the familiar strangers. While she'd never met them before, she felt somehow connected with them. She was sure now that she'd experienced each one of them in her visions, even if only briefly.
"Talk, woman," Inuyasha demanded when they'd all been served.
Kaede frowned at him. "Inuyasha, Asako has made a very long trip to bring you this news. It is only fair of you to allow her a moment to gather her thoughts."
"No, it's all right, Kaede-sama. I'm just as eager to share my story as they are to hear it. Perhaps more so, since I'm still not clear on what it all means. I'm hoping you can shed some light on the details."
"We'll try," Sango answered her, "but I don't know that there's much we can tell you. You seem to know an awful lot about us already."
"Not really. I've told you pretty much everything I do know. It comes to this: the fates work in mysterious ways, but always for some purpose. Your friend, Kagome, was not brought here at random. I'm not entirely sure why – that's one of the things I've been trying to figure out – but there was a reason far greater than the defeat of Naraku. Well, maybe not greater, but different."
"Have you seen the future?" Miroku asked her quietly. She was holding something back, he could tell. In fact, the monk wondered if the young woman wasn't lying to them about her knowledge of the situation.
"N-no," she stammered. "But if I did... I'm not so sure I could tell you."
Inuyasha growled. "If there's something dangerous involving Kagome, then I want to know about it."
Asako regarded him nervously, turning her attention back to her bowl of stew. "It would be unwise to forecast the future. Any changes we make now, even with the best of intentions, might have the opposite effect. What I know of the present, and of the past, I can share easily. Anything else," she stiffened as she realized her mistake, "that I MIGHT found out later," a sigh of relief, "will have to remain my secret. Please, try to understand."
Inuyasha didn't, but he remained silent. "So what, I'm supposed to just sit around waiting for some message from above?"
"That's all you can do," she countered. "Until we know more, you'll just have to live your life as you normally would. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."
"Kagome was Kikyou's reincarnation," Sango said suddenly. "Where does that fit in? How do you know Inuyasha wasn't supposed to die with Kikyou to be reborn in Kagome's time?"
"He wouldn't have reincarnated," Asako answered sadly. "Demons have no true soul, and as a half-demon, Inuyasha only has half of one. Kikyou had a large enough soul to sustain him in the netherworld, but not to bring him back with her in the next life. Kagome's soul, if I read my visions correctly, is unusually large. She, and she alone, could save him from eternal nothingness."
Miroku scratched his head, deep in thought. "That makes sense." Sango looked at him warily, and sensing her confusion, he continued. "Remember when we first met Kanna? You told me that she'd attempted to suck up Kagome's soul into her mirror, but it was too big."
"It gets bigger with each incarnation," Asako agreed. She's ascending into a higher state of being with each life, and perhaps one day she could reach true enlightenment. But that's not relevant here. At least, I don't believe it is. The important thing is that Inuyasha stay here, alive, to fulfill the destiny fate has laid out. It may take years to determine what that is, but it's coming."
"You will keep us informed," Kaede questioned, "as you learn more?"
"Of course. I don't see that I have a choice. The visions get stronger each time I have them. More detailed. I'll continue to study them and come back when I learn more." She turned to the sullen hanyou who'd begun sulking in his corner. "I'm sorry if I've upset you, Inuyasha-san. I realize you probably think I'm crazy, but I hope to prove to you soon that this is all very real. Kagome was meant to meet you, and she was meant to leave you. You are to stay here and alive, and to let Kikyou rest in peace. I know this with all my heart, even if I can't tell you how or why. Just have faith in fate, and your path will become clear."
She stood at that, and brushed off her miko robes. "I apologize for this, but I really must be going now. I left my village at an inopportune moment because of my last vision – the one that brought me here. Thank you, Kaede-sama, for this delicious stew."
"You're welcome, child," Kaede replied. The young woman bowed a bit and then quickly exited the hut, leaving behind a group of three stunned humans, a confused demon child, and a disturbed inuhanyou.
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"Tadai..ma..." Kagome came to a halt in the doorway of her home, dropping her shopping bag as though the handle had burned her. It landed with a shrill crash when the glass picture frame within shattered to pieces.
"MAMA!"
Kagome raced into the living room, her heart beating so rapidly it seemed to be a steady trill in her chest. "No... Please, no... Kagome, you stupid girl! Wake up up from this nightmare—"
She came to a sudden stop at the lifeless lump that was her mother, pulling the woman into her arms and shaking her violently. "Mama! Wake up, Mama!" Already a large pool of blood had pooled beneath her, and it was quickly seeping into the tatami mats of the living room floor.
Glancing around nervously, Kagome took in the scene surrounding her with numbed consciousness, as though she were looking through the eyes of a stranger. The house was quickly darkening with the setting sun, but where the light struck she could easily see small splatters of crimson liquid sticking to walls, table tops, and the floor. Her throat constricted painfully as she tried to adopt a calm detachment to deal with the situation before her.
She laid her mother on the ground, pulling up the woman's wrist to feel for a pulse. Finding a faint throb, she quickly stood up to grab the phone. If she acted quickly, her mother might yet survive—
"Ji-chan..."
The old man lay a few feet away, his neck covered in darker crimson that told Kagome he was already dead. She shook herself back into action, reaching for the phone when a hand made contact with her ankle.
"Ka- Kagome..."
"Mama! I'm going to call the ambulance..."
"No, Kagome... please..."
Kagome fell to her knees beside her mother and took her hands in her own. "Mama..."
"It's too late... getting dark..."
"Who, Mama? Who did this?"
"Demon... white hair..."
"Sesshoumaru..."
"Kagome... must tell you... the secret vault—"
Kagome sat up suddenly, her eyes wide with fear. "Souta! Mama, where's Souta?"
The woman winced and her breath rattled in her throat. "Kagome, please... before I go I have to tell you..."
"Mama, no! You can't die, not now!"
"Kagome... please find it... find the ... the vaul..." her eyes blazed bright for a second, and her breath hitched sharply. Kagome leaned forward, pulling her mother into her arms and crushing her to her chest. As quickly as it appeared, the light in Higurashi-san's eyes faded and then, it was gone.
"Mama? Mama?! MAMA!!"
Kagome's calm detachment disappeared in an instant, replaced by such grief she was sure her heart would quite literally break into pieces. She sobbed loudly, her tears soaking her mother's apron which was already wet with blood. The offending crimson found its way onto her face and hands, streaking slowly across her body wherever it could make contact. The sun sank below the horizon and the house was plunged into total darkness.
Were she not so thoroughly distressed, Kagome might have thought to inspect the rest of the house and ensure her safety, but at the moment all she could do was hold her dead mother and cry out to the heavens.
Long moments passed until at last there were no tears left to cry. The young woman hiccupped, shook with dry heaves, and fell back onto her hands, not knowing what to do. At last she pulled herself together enough to analyze her situation. She had to call the police, that much was obvious. Then there was the rest of the house to secure, though at that point Kagome knew she'd never feel safe in her home again.
Souta.
Kagome rolled over onto her hands and knees and with great effort managed to lift herself to her shaking legs. Not wanting to see the blood surrounding her on the walls, she left the lights off and pulled a small flashlight out of a nearby drawer.
Deciding to start on the second floor, Kagome cautiously made her way up the stairs, her ears alert to the slightest sounds. Her room was empty, completely devoid of any sign of the carnage that had occurred down below. The hallway was equally clean, as was Souta's room. Please, Kami, let Souta be at a friend's house. Please, don't take him away from me too.
She was about to make her way back downstairs when a small scratching noise caught her attention. Again Kagome's heart throbbed quickly, and she silently slipped into her mother's room to investigate.
"Whoever you are," she announced in a quivering voice, "you'd better show yourself because I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it."
The noise sounded again, accompanied by a whimper. Kagome recognized that voice...
"Souta? Souta, is that you?"
"Nee-chan?" The young boy poked his head warily out from under his mother's bed, his eyes wide with fear.
Kagome dropped her flashlight and flew to the ground, pulling her brother out from under the bed and gripping him close to her heart with all her strength. "Souta! You're alive!"
"Kagome, I'm scared."
"I know, Souta, but you're safe now. I'm here."
"Where's Mama?"
Her breath caught in her throat and again the tears fell. "Mama is gone, Souta. So is Ji-chan."
The little boy stared up at her, eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Gone?"
Kagome nodded sadly, and hugged him to her again. "It's just the two of us now. We're all we have left."