Resplendence Ressurected

(Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Inuyasha or its characters, except for my own original characters)

sidenote: Before I do or say anything I'd just like to answer a question that someone had in a review. Unfortunately no, this isn't a Kagome/Sesshoumaru pairing story. The reason people may think it might be is because I have the main characters listed as Kagome and Sesshoumaru, not for romantic purposes but because story will mostly involve those two characters. True, the story includes almost every main character of the Inuyasha storyline but I just wanted to focus on these two particularly. Sorry if that upset anyone T-T. I do like the pairing BUT it's not gonna fit into this story properly. My intention for this story was to write a good action or adventure fiction that could keep people interested. I am considering however writing something like that (Kag/Sess) after I finish this one…it may not be for awhile though, seeing as this one took me almost a month to write; I'm not very good at multi-writing. But for everyone that has been enjoying the story so far and reviewing I want to thank you. Also I'm glad that a lot of you enjoy my style of writing, kinda makes me happy thinking my story isn't a total bomb. :D.

A/N: Warning. Long chapter. Lotta dialogue. :D. My favorite! Haha.

Dream sequence begin/end

Scene sequence begin/end


Chapter 28: Unpleasant Memories

The breeze had slowly made the transition from calm and soothing to angry in an instant. Sakura blossoms had been knocked off their branches, filling the clearing; it gave Kagome the feeling that was trapped inside a snow globe. As soon as the delicate flowers had touched upon a surface, they were once again ripped up in a torrent of never ending wind. Hishura stared at her beautiful surroundings; nothing had changed one bit in the hundreds of years she had been forced to sleep. She started to daze off into her own world as she lost herself in an old memory; she ignored the muffled voices the seemed to be calling out to her.


"Father! They're Beautiful!" said Hishura walking down the path full of sakura trees in front of them.

Her father let out a raspy chuckle as he looked at her fondly. "Yes. They are quite pretty, but not as much as my daughter."

She smiled at him as a response to his last remark, jerking her head back to the dainty trees they were walking past.

"I take it you like them then?" Her father asked with hope in his voice. Fir Hishura it was unusual that her father would come to visit her here, he spent most of his time in their castle, dealing with the neighboring villages that grew greedier by the second, pouring over books in his study and trying to figure out ways to boost their economy. She knew that outside he was a rough man, seemingly arrogant and cruel, but inside she knew him to be soft-hearted and sensitive. The slightest insult someone could throw at him would offend him very deeply and he would most likely take it to heart.

"I love them!" she said breathlessly, as she caught a blossom that had been fallen off its stem and had been floating in front of them in her hands. She stared at it, trying to figure out where her father had found such beautiful plants. She noticed the deep color of the petals, a passionate pink that had burst into a paler shade towards the ends. In the center an array of little yellow stems stuck out, covered in pollen. Her father smiled as he watch her study the blossom in her hand. Smiling, he took the flower from her hand and lifted his hands to place it in her hair, tucking it gently behind her left ear.

"Father?" she asked curiously, as they continued to walk down the path. "Not that I don't appreciate the gift, but why have you done this?"

He frowned and looked up into the sky. "Can a father not give his daughters gifts to show that he loves her?"

She took his hand and rubbed it gently, hoping that she hadn't offended him by asking such a question. "Yes you may, but I cannot help but sense there is a hidden meaning behind all of this. You've never cared much for this place."

He stopped walking as they left the cherry blossomed path behind them and had broken into the clearing. He turned his back to her and stared at the waterfall thoughtfully. "My…I never realized how beautiful this place was." He murmured. Her father suddenly turned around to face her with a smile.

"I know how much time you spend here Hishura and now when you come here, you'll have something to remember me by."

Hishura frowned at the remark and looked up at him, confused. "Remember you by? I don't understand. I see you everyday…does this mean you're leaving us?"

"I'm not abandoning you Hishura." He chuckled, apparently amused at her thought. "But I will leave for a long time. There is no way to avoid this situation any longer. Trouble is brewing and I cannot allow our city to waver to another."

She froze and hoped her father wasn't talking about what she thought he was. Her rears were confirmed as she noticed him looking at her with a sad glint in his eyes. "There is to be a war…I understand now."

He looked at her regretfully and nodded his head. He turned his neck and saw her holding her heads in her hands. "Do not be upset my dear. If you do not enter the tigers cave, you will not catch its cub. Our lands our being threatened by another. If we let them win, they'll kill us all. We must do this, it is our only chance. But you must do something for me."

She looked up at his face, worry obvious in her eyes. "What?"

"Listen to your grandfather while I am away…and be strong. I did not raise you to be weak in difficult times. I want you to follow your heart; anything you make of yourself will make me proud. I could not have wished for a better daughter."

She smiled and felt her father hug her, who was still smiling. As her flashback started to end she should hear a verse from the song he used to sing to her when she was upset as a child.

"…Every heart can take a step towards dreams, all of us, want to take a lasting happiness, whenever you feel sad, I wanna hold you and give you sound sleep…"

Kagome followed the woman's forlorn gaze and saw that she seemed to be focused intently on the cherry blossoms and the path they had hidden so well.

"You ok?" Kagome said placing a hand upon her shoulder.

Hishura feeling Kagome's hand on her shoulder snapped back from her trance like state and shook her head, wiping the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. "Yes, I was just remembering something. I'm sorry."

Kagome looked at the path once more and turned her attention to Hishura, who seemed more uncomfortable than she had before. "This is an odd place for these kinds of trees to grow, they usually prefer flat land, I've never seen them on a mountain like this.

"You're right." said Hishura agreeing with her. "They weren't originally here, my father planted them as a parting gift…" she looked at her fists which had started to harden and relaxed her grasp. "…before he went to war."

"That must have been horrible for you…" Kagome said as a shiver went down her spine; it was starting to get cold.

Nodding at Kagome, Hishura repositioned her foot that had fallen asleep from lack of blood and placed it on top of the other. "I had forgotten was this felt like as well…quite unpleasant."

As she started to get used to get used to her surrounding and the people around her she looked up into the sky and noticed the sun was beginning to set behind the mountains. She needed to tell them what they wanted to hear, but it would have to be quick. She could sense the demonic auras in the far distance.

"It's getting late and I'm afraid I haven't told you anything of importance yet. I'm going to put my doubts behind me and give you whatever you need to know. But it will have to be short, night is approaching quickly and there are things I still must take care of."

"Whatever is comfortable to you." said the Monk, waiting for her story to begin. Sango looked at him and realized he had made no attempt at fondling this woman. "Hmph! It's about time he learned some respect!" She turned her head again and scratched behind Kirara's ears. Kagome looked around and saw Inuyasha sitting far away from them underneath and old tree; she frowned.

"Inuyasha! Come over here with us."

"Feh! Why should—Ow!" He slapped his neck and found that he had squished Myouga once more. "Hmph! So you're back now that you're not in any danger again?"

The little flea looked at him indignantly. "I was off doing other things!"

"Yeah, like saving your own butt!"

Myouga huffed and tugged on his ear. "Master Inuyasha! Go sit by Kagome so I can hear what she's saying, after all this information will be very useful to us since nobody else knows. We could learn a thing or two."

"Whatever." Inuyasha got up and sat next to Kagome who flashed him a slight smile.

"Oh…Hi Myouga! Back again?"

"Yes, but only for a short while, I just came to hear the Lady tell her story. I'm quite interested."

"A talking flea?" said Hishura slightly amused.

"Flea-demon!" he corrected her. "And I am pleased to make your acquaintance! The name's Myouga."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Hishura of Ukiyo."

He grinned as he noticed the Hyoushikon around her neck. "I knew I was right about the necklace!"

Inuyasha looked down at him once more "What are you smiling at?"

"Oh nothing…" said the flea smugly and hushed himself so the lady could begin.

Hishura looked at them as her eyes took on a glazed look; although she was staring in their direction Kagome could tell she was lost faraway in her memory. She began to speak.

"It was hundreds of years ago, but I can still remember it as though it were yesterday. Shortly after my father had joined the war and I had sabotaged all of the arranged marriages they had planned for me, my grandfather found out that I had spiritual powers and was determined that I was destined to walk that path in life. I had tried to hide it from my family, in fear that they would send me away, but my grandfather snuck up and me in this very clearing and saw me experimenting. Even though my grandfather told me I was going to be a priestess I vowed to never heed his will. Although I was beaten physically and emotionally under his command, I never broke my promise, until he eventually found a way to get me to break my vow. He was going to kill a man that I had fallen in love with, but agreed to spare his life should I would become a miko. Unfortunately for me, my grandfather sent my love away from me, into the war to fight by my father. I thought he had died. Years later, my grandfather passed on and I quit my life; becoming a priestess was never my dream. At the funeral I was re-united with my father, for the first time in two years. After the funeral, my father had decided it was time to go back and fight. I begged him not to, I knew he wouldn't return…and he didn't. There was no one left but myself that could rule Ukiyo. It of course set the village elders, a council my grandfather had set up ages ago to aid him in times of need, into a frenzy; a woman had never ruled before. Nonetheless, I ascended to power. When my father had died, I mourned for weeks on end and ignored the problems that plagued our village; we were still involved in a costly war, our economy was struggling and many were losing their lives. The village elders had never liked the idea of a woman above them in status and they attempted to have me killed many times. Unfortunately for them, I had became a skilled fighter, as a child I had always watched my father spar with great interest, my lover had taught me how to use a sword and in my free time from being trained as a priestess I worked relentlessly on my technique. I thwarted each attempt on my life, but in a way they had helped me wake up from my trance. Their last attempt had set me free and opened my eyes and although my father had always made good decisions in my eyes, this war was his first mistake. I tried to think of many ways to end the war but only one could have a permanent affect. I needed to kill the opposing Lord. I quickly suited up and rode off into battle; although I should have been frightened I wasn't…I knew I would win because I had no other choice. I did indeed slay the Lord and stop the war, bringing my men safely home. Afterwards, Ukiyo's economy rose; the men had returned from war and our main export, blackberries for tea, was harvested once more under their caring hands. I had noticed that although I had never trained my spiritual energy since I had left my shrine, my powers grew. I protected my village with them, blocking out demons and those with impure intentions; my reign lasted for three years, in that time my people had come to respect and trust me. As Ukiyo flourished, it became heaven on earth for all of its inhabitants; families became rich and could now afford to support themselves, the city's army had grown three times, due to the massive amount of people that fled to our village and we had not been ravaged by demons in years, due to my protection."

"You village sounds wonderful!" Sango said.

"It was…" said Hishura sadly. "It truly was. But what goes up must return to the ground, and the same happened to Ukiyo; our heaven had been grounded from the moment Midoriko waked through our gates. She was about to fight hoards of demons and had heard of a woman in the west who possessed great spiritual energy. She came to seek my help, for some advantage that might ensure her victory. Upon hearing that she was to fight them a short distance away, I was horrified. I told her that I could not abandon Ukiyo, if I did then it would have certainly been ransacked by demons and many would be injured. She understood but gave me this necklace. I forgot what she had exactly called it, but she asked me to at least help her in this. She asked me if she were not to return to bind my soul into this necklace and seal myself away until I was needed once more. I thought her quite capable of defeating them, so I agreed to this foolishly. I had no idea that amount and strength of those she would fight. But I had also made one more mistake. Feeling sorry for her that she must face danger by herself I suited her in the best samurai armor I could find and put a piece of my soul into it, it was the only help I could give her and it eased my guilty conscience. She departed the next day and fought for seven long days and nights. I could feel her and the demonic aura from Ukiyo and was alarmed when it suddenly disappeared, I knew something had happened. After three days more of waiting I knew she had fallen. I thought back to the promise I made and decided I could do nothing but honor it. I followed her instructions and bound my soul to the stone, though I knew not how to dispose of it or what to do. In the middle of all this, the neighboring village had sent a one of their generals to propose a new trade route; they were interested, like so many others, in our export. I had agreed to see this man in hopes that after I had been sealed and assumed dead, that Ukiyo would still continue to thrive. When I first met him I realized that the lover I had assumed dead for almost for years had escaped my grandfather and fled to a nearby town, joining their army. He had always been a good fighter and ascended their ranks, in hopes that someday he would gain enough social status to be able to wed me one day. He came proposing love and a family, but I refused him and told him of my new duty and that he needed to let go of his love. I gave the necklace to him and told him to keep it safe…he angrily left, refusing to say one last word. As I watched him move farther and farther away I could feel my soul slowly departing from me… as I watched him exit the city gates I fell. That is where it all ended."

They all remained silent as her gray eyes returned to their soft, sad expression and stared back at them. "That is all I remember."

She stood up above them, her robes whipped about her wildly as she hardened her gaze and began to walk away.

Inuyasha's ears perked as he realized she was going to leave them. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

She remained focused on the path ahead of her, not turning around to look at them. "I have told you all I know…now, I wish to see Ukiyo. There are things there that I need to take care of."

She started to walk away once more. Kagome hopped to her feet and ran to block her from leaving. "Wait! We'll come with you!"

Hishura turned her head and stared at her through emotionless eyes. "Why would you want to come?"

"Well, we did travel a long way to find you…besides, you don't know what happened after you were unconscious. There's stuff you might want to find out about, like what really happened to Midoriko."

Her eyes widened and then shut with an unreadable expression. "Very well then."

The others began to get up from their spots as Inuyasha huffed, following behind them. Although it had been hours ago, the woman still made him slightly uneasy, he wasn't sure why, but he knew it had something to do with the power she had sent through him earlier.

"I don't sense it now…but I'm sure if I noticed it, then a lot of demons did and are probably heading our way to check it out."

He expressed this concern to the others who agreed.

"Where is this city anyway?" asked Sango curiously. "I have lived near in the demon exterminator's village and have never heard of such a place."

"It was probably destroyed after my death…" said Hishura. "It would have been long before your father or his father's time. They would not have known of it."

"True…" said Sango.

"But we didn't pass anything on the way to the mountain or up on the mountain."

"You wouldn't have." The woman said as she made her way through the path, back out into the mountains foliage. "Ukiyo was a hidden city, it was created in the side of the mountain, hidden behind what seemed to be an entire forest. It was our city's greatest defense before I had come along."

"A city in the side of a mountain…" commented Myouga. "That' not something you see everyday."

"This is true, however it took over twenty years to accomplish this task. The mountain is not ideal terrain for humans; it is dangerous and plagued by many demons. Before they had finished, Ukiyo was easy land to pillage, but once it had been finished, it was rare that someone could penetrate through our walls, let a lone find us."

Hishura spoke once more, focused on the road ahead of her, bringing them further and further into the mountain, towards the ancient city.

"Kagome told me that something had happened to Midoriko. I'm curious to know what had taken place."


A/N: This chapter turned out a lot longer than some of the others. I'm sorry lol. I'm hoping her whole ramble made sense, I really do. But if I were to pull it apart into bits an pieces it would really have no substance and it would seems quite shotty. So please read and review if you liked it. More to come !